The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - Deshaun Demand, Mitch-Burg, Chargers No Excuses, Belichick Contract Philosophy, Free Agency Overreaction

Episode Date: March 15, 2022

John looks at the remaining QB market following the return of Tom Brady, why Deshaun Watson is still in high demand despite his myriad of off-field issues, why Mitchell Trubisky to the Steelers shows how thin the market is, why the Chargers and Brandon Staley have no excuses for not making the playoffs after adding JC Jackson and Khalil Mack, why Belichick was willing to let Jackson walk, and why there's always massive overreaction to early free agent signings across the league,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! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The volume. 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.

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Listen every Tuesday and join me on the bench. Subscribe now and listen to the Benched with Beneta podcast on the IHeartRadio app on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. The Three and Out podcast is presented by Fandual Sportsbook. There is no better place to bet every moment more than with Fandual. With football ending, we have the NBA rolling, March madness right around the corner, and my personal favorite betting on the PGA tour. I cannot recommend it enough. You get winnings fast, and winnings are also delivered in under two hours.

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It's like 7.30 at night. Well, inside the podcast. I waited today because I just, you know, I didn't want to record at lunchtime and have a bunch of stuff happen. But for the most part, there hasn't been that much happened in the last several hours. So I've already recorded the podcast, just actually finished it. Now I'm doing the open. Just saw DJ Jones. Actually, a pretty good player.

Just signed with the Broncos. I think three years, $30 million. That's a good signing. Well, I talk a lot about the quarterback movement, some thoughts on the chargers, the Jets, Belichick. Anything that happens, obviously Tuesday, Wednesday, stuff that becomes official. You know, when Deshawn ends up getting traded, Jimmy G. Some different things shake out. I'll react to all that come Friday.

Middlecoff mailbag, we're going to do it all on the weekend. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram. Slide up into those direct messages and get your question answered on the weekend Middlecoff mailbag. That's where we've been putting it. I usually do a middle cough mailbag on the show, but I'm just going to save it all. for later in the week. Just because we got a lot going on. Obviously, we'll have a golf podcast out on Wednesday.

Just watch the players. Nice little win by Cam Smith. And let's dive into what's happening. Also, three and out podcast, if you listen on Collins' feed, please subscribe to the three and out feed separate. Share it with your friends. You can also share it with your enemies.

You know, we don't discriminate here. Friends, enemies. Share with whoever you want. So subscribe to the podcast and tell everyone you know about it. We're big into grassroots movements. and let's talk a little ball. Okay, let's dive right into the quarterbacks.

And to piggyback off what we did on Sunday's podcast, on Tom Brady returning, you know, I think it's all been said in the last 24 hours, how he never wanted to retire, forced into it. Regardless, the outcome is he's back. And it had dramatic ramifications on the franchise. He saved the Buccaneers. because to me if he's not returning,

that franchise is no longer is viable for free agents. Jensen, the center returns. Davis, the corner, returns. Godwin won't put up a stink being franchise tag. People want to be there. People gravitate toward greatness. People gravitated toward him when he was in New England.

Now they're gravitating toward him when he's in Tampa. Now, these guys have already been around him, but they want to stay. It's not like they're staying for free. but let's face it, like to me, if he had really retired and was having a good time with his kids and his wife and was like, I'm done. It's over. I don't think they bring all these guys back. I'm not saying that they don't try, but the incentive for these guys like, yeah, I'll go test the market, go see, I can go play somewhere else. I might not be able to win here anymore. Now, there are benefits right when he returns just Tampa Bay, no state income tax works to their benefit. So they give a guy $30 million. you go to San Francisco, New York, or L.A. or some of these other places, you make more money.

But let's face it, Tom Brady is the straw that stirs his entire drink. And he wasn't that totally to me in New England. He was a big part of it, but you just knew it with him and Belichick. To me, you're going Tampa strictly for Tom Brady. Pretty special to say you got to play with Tom Brady. I think these guys know how good they have it. They've just been living it the last two years. and it's one of the great, you know, swing decisions, I think we've seen in recent memory. It's going to have massive, massive implications on the field because we talked about the odds.

I mean, they're immediately the NFC favorite. Now, I think just regardless of Vegas, you know, I think there are three or four teams that you go, yeah, they could easily win the NFC, they're going to win their division, and it's, you know, the final four of the NFC, Packers, Rams, Bucks, and, you know, if Trey Lance is just solid, probably the Niners. Like, it's pretty good.

Then it's hard to win in the playoffs, right? We saw how hard it was for the bills and the chiefs in that game. It can go either way. But that's all you can ask for. Have a shot. Come mid-January. And the bucks now have a shot. And because of quarterbacks.

And ultimately, for as great as the day was, and we'll talk about a lot of different things, guards moving places, corners. Quarterbacks make this league go. And they are by far the most valuable asset right now in all of sports. Because if you have a good one, you're guaranteed to win. And if you win in the NFL, you're guaranteed to make money in the NFL,

no matter what. You will make money regardless. Your team can win three games a season. The Jags have been atrocious for years. Every single season with the revenue sharing check, Shod Khan gets $250,000, $300 million. But when you win, you make so much more money through sweets, excitement,

you're able to profit off your own. local fan base. And the easiest way to do that is not building a great team, it's landing a great quarterback. Because once you land a great quarterback, you're able to build the team. And your mistakes get covered up fast.

It's basically makeup, right? You can completely whiff on a second round pick. Like if you have Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes, and no one would notice. When you whiff on picks, when you have averaged to below quarterbacks, you get destroyed and you ultimately get fired because your team's just going to suck.

But when you miss on free agents and in the draft, which is not ideal, but let's face it, it literally happens to every franchise. Belichick's missed, the Steelers have missed, obviously Seattle missed for years. If you have a Hall of Fame quarterback or even just a high-level Pro Bowl guy, you're going to win.

And there's a reason that Deshawn Watson, good quarterbacks, one, they don't change teams, right? At the end of the day, Aaron Rogers will have played in Green Bay whenever his contract is official. you know, for 20-plus years. Tom Brady played in New England for 20 years.

Peyton Manning was never going to move teams, but he had his major neck injury. If that neck injury never happens, he plays for the Colts for 18 years. Rathesburg, never changed teams. Rivers did at the very, very end, and they just played one season. Great quarterbacks, pro-ball quarterbacks,

in their mid-20s. One, they don't change teams. Two, they're not available. Like, there is no availability with Patrick Mahomes. They're in a marriage. There's a difference between a girl that's single and a girl that's married. Patrick Mahomes is married. Josh Allen is married.

Herbert is, you know, not official yet because he's got to sign the big contract, but he's going to get married. Those guys are going nowhere. So you have no access to them as other teams. Like, for example, the Eagles right now, they would do anything. Can you imagine what they would trade for Justin Herbert? They would take my three ones, take two-toes, I'll give you next year's one.

You want DeVante Smith. What do you want? Right? But that's not even on the option. Telesco would just hang up. So when Deshaun Watson, obviously he, you know, had this thing happen

over the last year with the massage therapist. But don't forget that he had demanded a trade before that came out. Now, we'll see as time goes on, was him demanding a trade knowing that was going to come out.

As of recording this, I don't know. I don't have, I've kind of Deshawn Watson out on terms of the whole story. Just tell me when it's final. Tell me when his situation is either figured out, he's going to get in trouble. I'm not a lawyer. I can't predict this stuff. I have no really opinion because I wasn't there.

I just know as a player, he's really, really good. And when he's on the field, he's a top six or seven player. And he also happens to be 26 years old. In those top six or seven players, Brady's 44, Rogers is 38. You know, Russell Wilson is, you know, 33. And then you got the Mahomes, the Allen's and the Herberts that are really, really young. So having a guy that's in his mid-20s, you can have that guy for another decade in his prime. And you don't need to pay this guy. He's under contract. For the next several years, he's making $35 million. So when these guys, when Matt Stafford signs his contract extension, when Aaron Rogers signs his contract extension, this guy is going to be making a lot less money. So it's a huge advantage to get a guy on a cost-controlled contract.

to why I'm a huge believer of trading picks for players over dabbling in free agency for the best player in free agency because when you're going to dabble in free agency for the best available player one it's usually not an elite player but two you usually have to pay elite money where I can get Khalil Mack for a second round pick

he's on a cost control deal now it's a lot of money but he's under contract for the foreseeable future right when the Eagles traded for Darius Lay he was under contract I like trading for guys that are under contract. Now, good players, it usually costs a premium pick, but I would rather do that than trade, you know, or pay for a free agent.

And at quarterbacks, they never become available. The best quarterback to hit the open market. I mean, truly hit the open market. Brady, that's such a unique circumstance. He was 43 years old. I'm talking about a guy in his late 20s, early 30s, that's a pro bowl, or not even a pro ball, but like a guy that every team's going to want

that has a quarterback availability. The best one of the last decade's Kirk Cousins and even going back would be Drew Brees, but he had a major injury. So guys like Deshaun Watson in his prime, Mahomes, Allen, Herbert, Lamar, these guys never hit free agency. So the only way to get a hold of them,

one, they either have to demand a trade like situation or off the field something has to go down. And because of Deshawn, he actually is not making as much as some of these other guys, but he was smart because he put the no-trial, trade clause in there. And as of recording this, you know, he's meeting with the Saints, the Panthers. He told Seattle to kick rocks, hard to blame him, because you just go, well, listen, Russell, like I said, a little bit of a diva. You know, I don't think he gets enough.

The diva, you know, that aura doesn't, you know, follow him hard enough. So I'm going to keep on the table. I can deal with divas if you're great. You know, I can deal with LeBron James, right? I can deal with Aaron Rogers. You better be great. Like, I don't, you know, it comes a couple more years, like Antonio Brown get out of here. Right? You can only deal with divas at other positions for so long.

At quarterback, you can deal with them. And you can deal with them forever as long as they're good. So Deshaun Watson, who actually was once upon a time, Dabo Sweeney called him Michael Jordan. Clearly, the blooms off the rose a little bit because there's some red flags on them right now. These teams are meeting with them. And to me, the team that has the most on the line,

like ultimately the Saints had an incredible 15. year run with Drew Brice. And now they're going through a transition. Do they want to continue to be good? For sure. Do they have pretty good players on their roster? 100%. But if they end up with Jimmy Garoplo or rollback James Winston,

it's not the worst case scenario. Because their fan base has had it pretty good. To me, the Panthers are pretty desperate. Like, they have a brand new owner who paid cash for the franchise, who's one of the great stock traders in the history of America, and is desperate to be good.

And since he's on the team, they've kind of been a joke. Now, I give him credit. because I talk a lot of shit about the Chargers ownership because I always feel like they're cheap with their coaches. And it's one thing to be like, oh, they're signing players. Yeah, every team has money to sign players. Right?

You have a salary cap. You get the money from the league, from CBS, from ABC, from NBC. You have that money. You kind of choose how much you want to pay a coach. And whether you're right or wrong, I appreciate, I say this all the time. I admire people to take big swings. You're not always going to be right.

some of your big swings, you're going to miss the ball. But every once in a while you're going to connect. You're going to hit some doubles. And you might hit a home run. So he went all in and other people were interested on Matt Rule. Now it has not gone well. And the one thing I questioned with Matt Rule, he's already on a second offensive coordinator.

Like, what do you do, bro? Like, are you just CEO guy? Because Tomlin had worked in the NFL for a while. John Harba had worked in the NFL for a while. You spent one year in the NFL as an assistant offensive line coach. And now you're just CEO guy. And our offense sucks. but the easiest way to make CEO guy look good

because let's face it. A couple years ago, John Harbaugh was CEO guy with Joe Flacco at the quarterback and was about to get fired. And then they put in Lamar Jackson in the game and they've never looked back. So part of being CEO guy,

Tomlin's been CEO guy for 15 years. He had the big guy from Ohio slinging the ball around. He's gotten like seven contract extensions. So if you're going to be CEO guy and you don't have a quarterback, you're fucked. It's over.

And I think, Knows this from a franchise standpoint. They just need some buzz. Two, that obviously Brady comes back, but he is 45 years old, and this might even be his last year. Like, part of it is competing in that division. Atlanta's got going nowhere fast. Tampa, as long as Brady's there, they're going to win the division. But that could end, as we know now, any year.

Like, do we assume he's going to play two years after this, or is this his last year? Because he said he wanted to play until 45. Well, now he's playing until he's 45. And if you get Deshawn, that means the Saints don't get to Sean. And you're kind of in the driver's seat. And then from a Deshaun's standpoint, you get to rely on David Tepper. The guy, you know, the owner puts all of his chips in the middle table on you. It's a no-brainer for the Texans, right?

You trade pick six. So I want him to go to Carolina. That means I got two top six picks. I get rid of Deshaun. I get a couple more picks. And here's the other thing. We don't know for sure that Matt Ruhl knows what he's doing in the National Football League. So it could go poorly.

Now, if you had Deshaun, you know, in that division, you'd still probably win five or six games, but that could be a pretty good pick. Like, it feels like pretty... I don't know why I would think so differently. Their teams is a lot better. The Broncos are going to win 10 games with Russell Wilson. Because we've seen, as long as Russell Wilson's your quarterback,

no matter how shitty your team is, you're going to compete to win 19 games, if he's healthy for 17 of them. We've seen the Sean Watson have an unreal year. They went 4 and 12, right? And the dolphins ended up getting their pick. The Niners ended up using that on Trey Lance with a tree. but that's how they got it because of the Texans disastrous season.

So if I'm Deshawn Watson, I'm interested in Carolina, go back to the homeland, go to an area I'm comfortable with, if I'm David Tepper, all my chips from the middle of the table. One, I do not want him to go to the Saints, right? I'd much rather have me get him and force the Saints to play with James Winston or Jimmy Garoppolo. And then obviously I got Deshaun Watson. And if I'm the Texans, like I am praying this gets figured out. The Browns, if I'm Deshawn Watson, I want to go to Cleveland. Now, it makes sense why Cleveland is interested.

Baker, they're not going to give him a long-term contract. This, like I said, there just aren't that many opportunities to get a guy like this. They do not become available. And hell, you see, I've said it over and over. Everyone acts like Kirk Cousins is the worst quarterback they've ever seen. There's a reason he keeps getting extended. They could do way worse. They had worse quarterbacks before he showed up.

Ideally, do you love paying them $35, $40 million? No. But you're kind of stuck. Because he's still way better than anything you can do, and the draft sucks with quarterbacks. That's the other part of this. The draft sucks with quarterbacks. So these teams that are like, I'm going to draft Kenny Pickett, who's like a poor man's Mac Jones. I'm going to draft Malik Willis, who is a major project, who's six feet tall. I'm going to draft Desmond Ritter, whose comp is like Marriota.

Like that's what we're talking about here. Like last year we had Trevor Lawrence, best prospects since Andrew Luck. Justin Fields, elite prospect. 6-3, huge arm, big wheels, Ohio State. Trey Lance, characters, elite, physical attributes, major project, kind of like Josh Allen,

but more accurate. Long way to go, but like that's Mac Jones, ready-made Kurt Cousins. Like that was the draft. This one is not even close. So that even drives up the price on these quarterbacks. It's why the Steelers, like, listen, the Steelers are excellent at drafting.

They're excellent at team building. They have produced offensive linemen, running backs, tight ends, wide receivers that have been unreal, defensive guys at every level. Pro bowlers, all pros, they're as good as it gets. They can build a football team. But let's face it, they have been pretty spoiled. And they get credit because they drafted the player, but he went on to have like a 15, 16 year Hall of Fame career, maybe even longer in that.

04 is when he was drafted. They haven't had to find another quarterback. They literally have not even had to worry about it. And the first time they did, as he started to age, they drafted Mason Rudolph in the third round. Mason Rudolph is not a good NFL player. To me, he's a below average backup. So they can draft and trade and sign their way out of anything.

They've proven it at every position. but quarterback is the one spot you cannot do that. You can't just figure it out because there aren't that supply and demand. They're just aren't that many available. And then when they are, everyone's fighting for. And you look at the Steelers who, I don't even blame them, like, what are they supposed to do? But they signed Mitch Trubisky. And to me, Mr. Bisckeys is not very good at football.

Now, I get why they did it. If I was them, I would have gone Mitcherbisky over like trading for Jimmy Garapolo and paying them $27 million. As of recording this, I haven't seen any of the money on Mitch. I'd assume it's not that much money. But, and listen, Rothesberger was a shell of himself. But if you watch Rothesberger at certain points, like he's still pretty smart, he could still have his moments.

Like, I do not trust Ms. Trubisky at all. I don't care how much talent you have around him. He is not a natural player. He is a thrower, not a pitcher. Right? He just, he is not an artistic player. And that's probably even the wrong way to put it. He just doesn't have any touch. And then he has to plan a division against Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson.

And listen, I don't love Baker Mayfield, but that team should be pretty good. Like, I don't know. Like, if Baker Mayfield is healthy, I would take Baker Mayfield over Ms. Trubisky in a heartbeat. And I'm not a big Baker Mayfield guy at all. So you have the fourth best quarterback. And listen, I don't, like I said, I don't necessarily, I don't know what their options were. They don't have many, they don't, I don't even think you could argue they have a better option. If anything, it might just be equal. Signed Marriota. Jimmy just cost too much,

but I can't expect them to win. And I think they've been pretty spoiled that this is the first time. Like, it's hard to pivot. It's easy to get stuck kind of in quarterback purgatory. And this goes back to Cousins. Everyone's like, why does it keep getting paid? Do you know what the Pittsburgh Steelers would do for Kirk Cousins? They would do anything. I mean, they would trade their first round pick right now to have Kirk Cousins be their starting quarterback. Could they win the Super Bowl with him? Probably not. But could they make the playoffs pretty easily? Not like

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I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford 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

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Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jek. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what we. went down and tried to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the AIDS. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so you all know.

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Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your 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.

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fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app, search Learn the Hardway, and listen now. Last year, let's face it, they got pretty lucky. Like, legitimately be a 10-11 win team. Yes. I just can't see them competing with Ms. Trubisky.

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Visit nhtsa.gov slash the right seat. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. On the chargers, I gave them credit for Kille-Mack. because when you have resources available to you, you have to use them. When you have the rookie quarterback who is not making any money, meaning you have cap space, you have to utilize that to your advantage.

It has to happen, right? And the resources available to them, they had a lot of cap space. They've used it well and they've been aggressive on high-end players. Trade for Khalil Mack, it's my favorite move of the last week. because you get a guy who, when healthy, is an elite player for a second round pick who's on a cost-controlled deal.

It doesn't mean he doesn't cost nothing. He costs a lot, but it's controlled. You know exactly how much you owe him, and you have them under contract for several years. Resigning Mike Williams, smart move. You got this elite route runner in Keenan Allen. You got this big body, big playmaker with Mike Williams. Now go add a speed guy in the draft.

Now add defensive guys, because I said over and over, They need to add to the defense. Because everyone keeps saying, Middokoff, you're so hard on Brandon Staley. Well, now I think the pressure has ramped up. They signed J.C. Jackson basically three years, I saw up 60 million or five years. I don't know.

They get $40 million guaranteed. So J.C. Jackson's on their team for the next several years. Add Khalil Mack. To me, the pressure keeps ramping up on this guy. Understandable. You had to double down. Russell came to the division. The chiefs are still sweet.

The Raiders' big. beat you last year in a must-win game. I would say this, and I said it last year, people thought I was crazy, that if he didn't win that game against the Raiders, it was a fireable offense. He had a dramatically better team, and of course he lost by doing stupid stuff.

Now, I didn't think he was going to get fired. Dean Spanos lives, you know, to make sure if he's going to pay someone, they're going to work for him. So he was going to fire him. And clearly they like him, his analytical, whatever you consider. it. But now, anything less than the playoffs, when you have a top five quarterback and now you've

added talent to the defense, they got all their draft picks, I guess they've out the second round pick, but they still have their first round pick. They're going to add another sweet player. I think the pressure on Brandon Staley, now it's not like Philly or New York or Boston, because ultimately their second fiddle in their own town. They are a tenant in a building where the Rams literally just won the Super Bowl. So you can tell me, oh, middle cop, the Rams aren't even the top team? No, when you start winning Super Bowls, that's how you develop fans. Because the majority of fans aren't super diehard, unless you're talking like the Steelers and the Packers. Most fans are casual. The reason the Lakers have so many fans is because they've

accumulated so many casual fans over the last 30 years. The reason the Cowboys have the biggest numbers on TV, because they have the most amount of casual fans. So the Rams, because they're all fighting for in L.A., and you have Lincoln Riley, the Dodgers are sweet. There's a lot going on. But they also have 18 million people or something live in LA County. So you have a large, large market. When you got to do something, when you have this star young quarterback

who is unreal to watch, who watches Justin Herbert and go, goddamn, this guy's not sweet. I'd love this guy to play for me. So to me, there's just tangible pressure on brand staley. Like anything less than not making the playoffs this year, what are we doing? Like, you guys just

wasted two years of Justin Herbert. I think all the pressures on them, zero excuses. It's going to be difficult. That's the other thing. It's going to be really, really hard. It's not like they play in the, you know, the NFC East. I guess actually the division had a couple of playoffs teams. But just a terrible, the NFC North is probably a better example.

Right? Russell Wilson, Mahomes, Derrick R. Good luck, buddy. Give the Jets some credit. They had to, like, listen, I'm about the biggest. Zach Wilson guy. Some of my friends in the league that, you know, have rings on their finger, aren't the biggest Zach Wilson guys.

They actually kind of influenced me and then watching him like, listen, he's got a long way to go. Does have some physical attributes. But you're all in on it. You drafted him second overall and it was just one season. You have to help him out. So what did they do? They went out and they signed CJ Usama, the tight end from Cincinnati, comes from a winning

culture. The team was just in the Super Bowl. Really good player. I like that. player a lot, actually. Whenever I watch the Bengals, I'm like, who's 87? This guy is a playmaker.

And they added Lank and Tomlinson, the guard for the Niners. So they had two guys who are used to winning starters on playoff teams. One guy started in the Super Bowl, the other guy started in the NFC championship game. Immediate plug-in-play starters for your team. On offense,

that can impact your quarterback. So now the Jets, who, let's face it, need to start winning some games. Like the Jets can't, just continue to be a joke. They also have two first round picks, right? They have their own, which is in the top 10, and they have Seattle's because of the Jamal Adams trade, which is a top 20 pick because Seattle went 7 and 10. So they have the opportunity to really, really improve

their team. And when you look at the Jets now, they have Bechtin, who I know Salas said he's got to have to earn his starting job. Bullshit, he's going to be the starting left tackle. They drafted the kid last year from SC, so now they have two guards, who in theory should be really good. So you You got two guards, you got a starting left tackle. You probably draft another offensive lineman. You add a tight end. You drafted last year Elijah Moore in the second round. It should be a really good player out of Ole Miss.

You drafted one of the running backs from North Carolina, who's a good player, I think, in the fourth round. So you started accumulating some players like now there's going to be some pressure for Zach Wilson to play well. Because the Patriots, and we'll get into Belichick here in a second, are going to be solid. and we know the bills are a powerhouse. So I give the Jets some credit.

Good day. Do I love paying 31-year-old guards, $28 million guaranteed? No, but if I'm going to do it, I'm going to improve an offensive line with a young quarterback. I'm all for it. If I'm going to overpay, I'll overpay an offensive lineman. Now, he better not be like Nate Solder, and luckily LaFleur worked with him when he was with San Francisco,

so he knows him well. Easy scheme fit, easy transition. A lot of free agents that fail, right? When I, if you're a sales guy and I, we work in construction and I sell, let's say I need a guy to sell alarms and then another guy to sell, you know, uh, doors. I am just making it. I don't even know if you sell doors. Well, if you're on a construction sites all the time And you know a lay of the land Like if you're a good salesman I can steal you

You can sell alarms You can sell doors You can sell roofs You can sell the concrete Like if you can sell in the industry You can sell Right well in football Just because I can play guard

If I can play guard for the Steelers That does not mean that I'd be a good guard for the Niners It's not that easy of a transition Even though it's a guard right Just like salesmen Most salesmen kind of translate Most players in the NFL translate to the scheme

they're having success on. There are certain players, right? Kaleel Mack could play in Aaron Donald, you know, Devante Adams, Jalen Ramsey, Mika Fitzpatrick, right? The high-end guys can do anything. Just like in society. A smart guy, I was listening to Josh Brown's podcast,

The Compound, and they were talking about the Kyle, Carl Icon documentary. I think I've mentioned it before. It's on HBO. You know, it's basically I think Gordon Gecko, was portrayed parts of him after Carl Icon. This guy is just a business killer. And he was the guy with the airline in the original Wall Street

that Gordon Gecko made bankrupt and fired everybody. Same thing happened to Carl Icon. But their point was that Carl Icon, whether he was going to become a venture capitalist, a stock guy, whether he went to Hollywood or whether he ran a tech company, the guy 100 out of 100 times was going to be worth a billion plus dollar.

The guy was going to be worth a billion plus dollar. going to nail it in any industry. Translated no matter where he went. Too smart. Too relentless. 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. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford 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 conversation. with some of your favorite athletes, creators,

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so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so. 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 Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games.

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learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search, learn the hard way, and listen now. Too much just grit and vault also combined with intelligence. Like that combination, when you show me someone who's super intelligent and relentless, that guy is almost impossible for that guy to fail. Unless he's got like drug addiction or something, that guy's not going to fail. It might not happen immediately.

but he will have success. We're just like good players. You can put him anywhere in football and they will succeed. Most players are not that. They don't transcend scheme. So when I sign a free agent, I better know for certain he fits in my scheme. It's why it's a lot easier to find

when you get new assistant coaches or a new head coach or new coordinators to bring guys from their former teams. Now, you ideally don't want to overpay it, but you know it's going to work unless the guy is over the hill or has an injury because you've seen it work. It's a plug-in-play thing.

That's just not the case for most players. It's why free agency can be pretty dicey. I also think Belichick, who let, you know, J.C. Jackson walk. I think Belichick has a pretty good history of not overpaying guys that aren't worth overpaying. This knock on Belichick

that he doesn't give second contract or doesn't pay anyone is kind of bullshit. He has extended a lot of good players in his tenure, right? Think about it. Logan Mankin's got a second contract. Richard Seymour got a second contract. Devin McCordy's now got several contracts. Gronk got multiple contracts. Like, he gives, if you're an elite player and you're worth the money, he will give you a second contract. He paid Gilmore as a free agent, which was before his spending spree of last year, because Gilmore had elite talent. To me, J.C. Jackson, it's, I understand letting him walk.

The only problem is, is they've been pretty good, right? They got Malcolm Butler, drafted free agent. J.C. Jackson, unique story because he was kicked out of school, like he's clearly would have been drafted in like the second or third round, but had some burglary stuff, you know, some character stuff, and made him fall in the draft. But how many times is this going to happen? Like, it's just, I don't think you just get an unlimited amount of these hits. And one thing the Patriots really hung their hat on last year to make them a competitive team and get them to the playoffs and really solid team is they were excellent. on defense and they ran the ball.

Well, they're losing their number one corner. So who are you replacing them with? Now, they got draft picks and Belichick, for the most part, historically, is much more patient than aggressive. I would have, and people around where I live wanted the 49ers to give J.C. Jackson, like, I'm cool with not giving them huge money. I get why the Chargers did it, but it is pretty risky. Like, is the guy a $20 million dollar player?

I know technically average per year doesn't make $20, but when you guarantee $40 million, to me, I always look at it. like, that's like two-year contract. You know, I look at the guaranteed money. Because a lot of the other money doesn't mean anything to me. Like Christian Kirk, Trent Balke, the village idiot. He gave him, you know, $85 million over, no, he gave him $37 million guaranteed. So basically he's tied to him for two years.

But that's a lot of money. Like to me, Christian Kirk is like a third wide receiver. But that's what happens when you're desperate. And there's no more desperate team than the Jags because they always suck. I mean, they always suck. And they have all this cap space. So you got to use it on. someone and there aren't there aren't really any receiver what are they going to do

re-sign allan robinson right you can't he alan robinson ain't going back to the jags so this is probably the only option of guys you can sign where it's like i you know i don't know i just i don't necessarily love that but it's the jacks i don't expect them to be very good but we'll see are you looking for the hottest gambling advice out there check out the moneyline monaco podcast powered by fandle 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. Hi, I'm Flo from Progressive. Being a baseball fanatic like me can be stressful. It's not all sports points and 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 gold point score, think about the name your price tool from Progressive letting you choose coverage options based on your budget,

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Tape heads draft season. You may be saying, wait, isn't the season over, but hey, it's draft season. and this NFL podcast gives you the inside slant on all the top prospects. I'm Bob Waushausen, and I'm joined by NFL films Greg Kosell, who studies the tape and provides the real story on which prospects fit which system and which are likely to make the most impact in the National Football League. Give us just a look from 30,000 feet, Greg, at this quarterback class as a whole and how good they might be.

I think one of the things we will get into detail about Bob is the balance now between movement by quarterbacks, what we call second reaction movement, the ability to make improvisational plays. What's the balance between that and pocket efficiency? Tapeheads, draft season takes you from the combine right to the draft stage in Las Vegas. Listen to Tapeheads draft season on the IHeart Radio app on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I also think if your team, you know, your team by the time you're listening to this, you know, I'm finishing recording this about 7 o'clock at 9.

there's no, you know, I can't control the breaking news, but if your team didn't sign a bunch of people the day, historically, like, this is not a day when you nail big players, right? You fill holes, but for the most part, you don't find stars. Every once in a while, there's a Drew Breeze, a Charles Woodson, a guy that changes a franchise. But a lot of times, you just get a really good player. You know, if you hit, right? And if you miss, like, it can have some ramifications because you overpaid. But, you know, I don't think for as much fun as the word free agency is, because let's face it, today and this week represents the most fun part of the year for fans. Because, like, you can kind of put your GM hat and go, that's what I would have done. I would not

have done that. I wish we would have done that. This guy got too much money. It's really one of the only industries because it's so public and there are only 32 options for employment, right? Like when a lot of people, people change jobs all the time. Imagine if LinkedIn just had updates on your friends. It's like, you know, James, this guy you knew from high school, went from making 95K. He just got an enormous raise Apple VP now making 210.com. thousand dollars with some stock options and that was just non-stopped on LinkedIn and you would just have opinions right that's kind of what this is but of way more money it's not like normal people jobs you know uh bill your buddy from college just signed uh as a salesman with this new startup

base salary relatively low $65,000 but the opportunity to hit bonuses make up to 375k big risk here incentive-laden, but with his skills, he can probably at minimum hit 300 Gs. You know, that's kind of what we're doing just with professional athletes. Now, you're just, you know, I'm dropping numbers like $200,000, $300,000. You're talking about guys signing for $28, $30, $50, $60, $40 million guaranteed. Right? I always think it's funny. You know, in other sports, like, dude, finally got the bag.

It happens a lot in the NBA when a guy signs his first quote unquote max. It was like 80 million or 100 million. It's like life changing money. Wait, you mean, that guy was a top five pick. You know, his previous contract was $28 million. Last time I checked, that's life changing money.

So we're talking just boo-goo bucks. This is all monopoly money because of how much interest we all have. But I just think that guys hit free agency for a reason. This is not professional baseball. where, you know, in my backyard, one of the biggest poverty franchises in the history of pro sports because of their ownership, the Oakland A's, never pay anybody and always trade away their best players.

We're in the NFL, the Green Bay Packers, you know, it's not like they're in New York City or L.A. If they want to keep Aaron Rogers and they want to keep Devante Adams, they're keeping both those two players and they are paying them a lot of money. If that was the equivalent in Major League Baseball, those guys would not be on the Green Bay Packers anymore. In the NBA, I would say both those guys would probably stay too. So what makes the NFL a little like the NBA, the difference in the NBA is guys are always demanding trades. In the NFL, for the most part, like if you get Devante Adams or you get Aaron Donald

or you get, you know, whoever, Micah Parsons, right, sweet Fletcher Cox, regardless of the city you're in, you can pay them. and I would say that 98% of big-time difference-making players that aren't like, you know, get in trouble off the field, get extended by their home team. Never change, you know, laundry. Because in football, you don't, like, you're not letting Justin Jefferson play wide receiver for someone else in a couple years.

You're going to give them a massive extension in two years. Just what you do, right? There's no, you're not flirting with free agency with your top players. They stay on your team. So really the group of names you're looking at, and listen, if you follow this today, which if you're listening to this, you probably did, it is a lot of random names. Right? It's like, CJ Uzama signs.

That's not George Kittle or Travis Kelsey. Right? Those guys aren't hitting free agency. It's like Roger Saffold sign. That's not Quentin Nelson. Lakin Tomlinson, 31 years old. Who the 49ers was a bus traded a fifth round pick for once upon a time, ultimately let walk and now we'll get a fourth round comp pick.

Because if you're them, you can't pay a guard that much money. They just have too many needs. I'm not a huge believer in paying guards and centers, big money and free agency, unless you have a rookie quarterback and are desperate at offensive line. Then I think you can justify it. But even then, it gets a little risky. If you hit on it, you feel pretty good. But if you miss on a center and you're overpaying like last year,

and for the most part, that should be a plug-in-play position. It should be last year The dude from Green Bay Corey Lindley Linsley I think Hit free agency Chargers sign them Boom immediate starter

It's easy Obviously all these guys Once you pay them Are immediate starters But It really is one of the times of the year I would put it second

Behind the draft When you really change your team Right The draft Free Agency And the waiver wire Cutdown And I would include

In the waiver wire Cutdown trades You can make a lot of trades during training camp. Now, they're on the margin trades. You can trade a fifth round pick for a guard. You can trade a six round pick for a corner.

You can make little moves, and those guys can end up starting for you. The draft is when you change your franchise. Free agency is when you plug holes in the boat. And the waiver wire is when you incrementally improve your team right before the season. That's the three times a year when a general manager and a front office get to impact the football team. Other than that, coach them up. Coaches really impact the majority of, you know,

obviously once the season starts, they're in control. And the front office really turns their head and turns their mind. The cool part about free agency from a scouting perspective, if you're a pro scout in the NFL, you have been working on this since training camp, evaluating guys that were going to become free agents, cap casualties, right? People that may not be resigned,

like practice squad guys that might become available. So this is a little bit like the draft. The draft is truly year-round. This is, you know, five, six months of work, though. So, you know, you get to put it together. And really the good teams, you isolate and you pick a couple guys. The Eagles are great at this. They pick two or three guys.

They get their side set and they attack. They did it a couple years ago with Hargraves, who's an awesome defensive lineman form. They did it today with Hassan Reddick from Carolina that had 11 sacks. You know, you're not, this isn't a shotgun blast. right? You don't just blast your shotgun and hope a couple people sign on. This isn't college recruiting. You isolate a couple guys that you really want and you get really aggressive. But you also have a number that you're like, I'm not going above this. I'm not going to, we're not

playing with fake money here. We're playing with real dollars. So I have a number and I also have to fit it into the cap that makes sense. I can't go any higher in this. But I leave myself a little wiggle room. Like if I need to add a couple million dollars, the agent kind of knows I can. Especially if he knows I really want the player. So really you have to court. It's like a girl, right? When you're first, you know, kind of getting with her, you don't want to seem overly aggressive. You want to play it just perfectly.

Then you get to that stage, it doesn't matter anymore. But early on, you kind of got to play it cool, but you can't play it too cool. You got to let her know she likes you, but you don't want to look like obsessive. There's just kind of middle ground. And then, you know, once you go on a couple of days, sleep together, then you're off and running, right?

Same deal. Like the last couple weeks, you've been feeling it out as a GM, You're like, you know, we're really interested in your client. We have about this much money. And the agent, you know, I don't blame him. He's always trying to get the most money because he's got a percent of that money. So the more money, I did the math, Mike McCartney, the dude that represents Kirk Cousins, in all of his contracts, just for the Vikings, just for the Minnesota Vikings,

I think he's made up to like $185 million. His original contract was $85 million. Then he just signed a $35 million extension. And a couple years ago, he signed a $66 million extension. So you do like 66 plus 80, now you're at 146 plus another of 35. I mean, you're at $1.180 million. Well, if you get a couple percent of that, you're talking $3.5, $3.8 million just for the agent, negotiating the contracts.

So you want, there's nothing like a quarterback. You get a Josh Allen, hell, you get a Kirk Cousins, you get a Dak Prescott, obviously Mahomes, a Matt Stafford, they print you money. You know, tight ends and the wide receivers, those guys are good. There ain't nothing like a quarterback. Nothing. But the other positions, you know, you gotta be careful with your cash. And there's a back and forth with the agents and it's fun.

You know, it's the fun part in the, you know, kind of the chess game that goes back and forth between the two of them. Probably a little bit less now just because, you know, like when I was, if you're listening to this, you're my age and your 30s, You know, in the 90s, the cap was a lot smaller. There wasn't as much money. The difference between making a million dollars a year and $3 million was a big deal. Now, I mean, is making $10 million and $11.5 million dollars that big of an issue? Is it going to change your life? It won't change where you're going to live.

It won't change the amount of cars you can buy. It won't change the amount of free cash you're going to have, really. You know, especially if you get the right accountant. You know, back in the day, you really had to fight for the margins. Now, I mean, we're talking, what the hell? when your tax bill comes in four years, is the difference between getting $38 million guaranteed and $365 million?

You wouldn't even notice. It's a line item. You're talking so much fucking money anyway that it's just... You're talking monopoly money with 99.9% of human beings. And it's the agents. They got to work. The agents versus the GMs.

But it can't really be too contentious because ultimately they got to work together and once you sign the player, you want to carry on a good relationship. it's a business partnership, right? And it's different than a true business partnership because you're really dealing with the human being every day. If me and you buy a building and we go in havesies on it,

if there's a building worth a million dollars and you go, you know, we need $200,000 for the down payment. You give $100, I give $100. We are, we're going $50.50 on it. In a couple years, that building is worth $4 million. So now we've got $3 million of equity or $1.5 a pop, right? It's pretty black and white. might, you know, depending on, like, did one guy find the tenants or whatever? But if we just

split it 50-50, it's pretty easy. Where, and we're not doing it, the building is, it's in itself, right? But ultimately, if you and I, if I'm the GM and I sign you and we're doing a contract and now we're, you know, ultimately partners because I need you to be good. But it's, you're still, you're still the product. So I have to massage, depending on who you are. It's why line men tend to be pretty easy. They don't need much massaging. Sometimes, you know, you get a wide receiver. or you get a DB. You know, if you don't know the person, that's what's great about the draft.

You get to draft the player. You get to get a good feel for him during this time. You know the character stuff. Then you get to draft them and then you get to mold them. It's like when you get hired out of college and you intern at a place and then you get hired full time and then you work there for several years, the company culture kind of sculpts you

as much as yourself sculpting to the company. You kind of become one. You know what they have. expect, you know how you operate well to do to excel. It's like a pretty good marriage. It's why the Patriots have kept Slater and McCordy and these guys forever. Because they've same with his coaches, why he brings these guys up. You know, he's not into the occasional he'll bring a guy in. But for the most part, historically, before last year, he was very, very careful with the guys he brought in. Because you just don't know how they've been taught. You can hear

rumors all you want. But unless you have a coach on your staff that's been around the guy, when he was in the league, you know, you don't really know, right? It's not like, because if I got to sign you to a three-year contract, right? When you get, if you're going to marry someone, usually go on several dates, usually date the person for six months, a year, a year and a half, before you hits each other, right? But in free agency, you've evaluated that I'm on tape. But as we know, there's more to players than just the tape.

You're dealing with them six months a year every single day. day in the building. Is he a good guy? Is he simply a free agent because the team let him test the market? Was he simply replaceable? Did they have a backup? I mean, you've got to ask these questions to feel comfortable with doing these deals. I mean, these are big investments. You know, the number one investments that any NFL team will make, besides like their stadium, is going to be, you know, free agent and draft picks. That's where you're giving all your money to, extending players. It's your players. They're your talent. They're your product. So it's a fun time

of year. Obviously by the time you listen to this, hopefully none of this is too outdated. And see in a couple days, keep it rocking and rolling. And who knows where we go? Gilmore, Jimmy G. We've got some names out there. We'll keep all head on a swivel.

And we'll see how this all shakes out. The draft, though. I like the draft a little more in free agency. But free agency is fun. If you're some of these teams, I'd be excited. Now, Deshawn Watson moves team. That's a good free agent transaction. That's going to be something to keep it on. Appreciate everyone listening. Adios. Godspeed. Talk soon.

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brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families and the Ad Council. 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.

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