The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - Fans Drive TV Deal; Pats FA Spending Spree; Wentz Rebuild Timetable; McVay/Shanahan Rivalry; Headlines; Mailbag

Episode Date: March 23, 2021

In this episode, John explains why the NFL fans are driving the insane money behind the league's new TV deal, what's behind the Patriots atypical free agent spending spree, why the Colts unified coach/GM front will weather setbacks in the rebuilding of Carson Wentz, and why Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan's rivalry will only intensify in the coming years. He also runs down the top stories form around the league and answers listener questions in the Middlekauff Mailbag. Follow John on Twitter and SUBSCRIBE now to get all the latest content!!5. NFL StoriesMailbag Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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Yep, that's me, Clivert 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 Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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 put on 10. I was having trouble

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1,800 Flowers has thoughtful and artfully created options that are guaranteed to deliver the best birthday surprise. Shop thousands of unique gifts at 1,800flowers.com for exclusive offers and great values. To order today, visit 1,800flowers.com slash tune in. That's 1,800flowers.com slash tune in. What is going on, everybody? John Middellcock, that would be me, the guy talking, three and out podcast. That would be what you're listening to. And pretty excited.

Got a lot going on today. big show, big tournament weekend. Hopefully you enjoyed it. I lost a little cash. It's been fun, though. The Pac-12 has resurrected themselves after years of, you know, self-inflicted. They've been terrible at football and basketball, let's call a spade of spade. Having a good week.

I'm recording this. A couple more teams play tonight, but their team are rolling right now. It's a good thing for us, West Coasters. You guys live in other parts of the country Probably just think we're good at swimming and like soccer You know, we used to be good at football And we used to be pretty damn good at basketball too So I like being good at the sports that you know

Generate the revenue that matter That have a lot of people that watch it Obviously this podcast we talk a lot about football Why do I do that? Because a lot of people care about football And that's what I'm going to dive into off the top Some stuff on the media deal I thought a lot about it

And the Patriots I think we got a potential really special rivalry And I went down this this Sylvester Stallone. Fantastic Instagram follow. Very kind of inspirational. Old Sly he's kind of tatted up to about him and Arnold in the 80s. And it was really, really good.

And then some stuff on Carson Wentz and then just kind of fire around the league, some other little things that happened this weekend. Of course, if you guys subscribe to the podcast, if you listen through Colin, I would greatly appreciate you subscribing to the Three and Out podcast separately. It just, it helps. A lot of people have asked over the years,

and I always said it didn't matter. It does. Three and out podcasts. Go subscribe to that one. Leave a review if you could. Five stars. If you hate me, leave one stars. I don't really care.

I just leave a review. I know a lot of you had. We're almost at 2000 last time I checked. Thank you very much. And then, of course, the Middlecoff mailbag at John Middilcoff is the Instagram handle. That is, you know, the equivalent of like sports radio, how they do calls. That's where we do calls here. Instagram DMs.

Very easy to do. I want to start on the media deal and talking about the networks, including Amazon, paying over $100 billion. I think I read today the number will probably hit in a 10-year span $113 billion.

It's weird. Being a normal human being, like we all are, maybe there's some pretty rich people to listen to. I doubt they're probably billionaires that are listening. When you see like the billions,

you know, like, I always say this, money is relative. It is true, but, like, there are certain numbers that I don't care,

even if you're a millionaire, when you start talking $100 billion deals, that's out of the stratosphere, I'd say, for 99.9.999% of people and businesses, right? It's a very,

very small percentage of people that deal in that water. So when you see that number, it smacks you across your face, as it should. It's fucking massive. It is a lot of cash. It is a lot of money.

And one thing that I've always seen makes the media very uncomfortable. It can make the players very uncomfortable. But it's just a fact. The fans pay for everything. And I don't necessarily mean with their wallets, right? Like they pay for a ticket. Do you know what this media deal shows? that the lifeblood of the league is dependent on fans attention,

dependent on fans watching the sport. And we've been talking about for a while during Corona why the NFL was the most equipped to handle the short, we didn't know, you know, last year and the summer what was going to happen. It's pretty clear. We had this 2020, places are opening up, half the states in America, rocking and rolling, Texas Rangers going to have full stadiums.

They're going to be full stadiums this fall 100%. I mean, it's just happening. And the NFL, though, the year that no one was able to have fans, I guess some teams were, but basketball, baseball, and football, the NFL was the most equipped. Why? They by far have the most amount of people watching. And you as a fan, when you watch the sport,

you were making them money. And as you saw these numbers, one thing is just abundantly clear that your attention and your time and Gary Vee, I don't know if you know who that is, good follow, energetic, businessman,

kind of life coach, just a cool personality has been saying for a while the currency now in this internet age is attention, aka time. And if you ever meet someone older

that has a lot of money, they'll tell you all the time. You know, my time is the most valuable thing I have. I turn down money and different deals all the time if it wastes my time. And think how much, and I just know me personally

now obviously I do this for, I get paid to watch football. But a lot of you guys sell insurance, run a fucking deli, have a mortgage company, do whatever. You know, work in real estate. You watch football as a fan. And that time that you give the league is printing them money. And they

clearly understand, and they have for a while, valuable thing they have are these games. Because when they put a game on television, a lot of people watch. And like I said, without a lot of people watching, this number is not this massive. Without fans, if I take away all the fans, there is no money.

The reason the media companies, Amazon included, are willing to spend all this money is because of you. Because of the fans. The lifeblood of the cash. I've seen NBA players last couple years have really complained,

fans blah blah blah it's like where do you guys think this money comes from this little bank in the sky no they're always like well the media rights well yeah why are the media rights so high because a lot of people watch all the sponsorship why does anyone sponsor anything because especially in pro sports people are going to watch people are going to attend it's all about the people it is all about the fans and the NFL has done a better job one of monetizing the fans but to a of growing their fan base. When you look around at the other sports, the NBA is at a precipitous drop-off.

I watch, most of my peers do not. Major League Baseball has become very, very regionalized. When I was growing up, I'd argue baseball was bigger in NFL, at least it's equal. Now, it ain't even close. And if you put both of those right now, Major League Baseball and the NBA up for bidding

for 10-year deals, which no network would sign a 10-year deal with either of them besides locally, they wouldn't sniff probably half of this deal. I'm talking both of them combined. So it speaks to the fan, and it speaks to the power of media because these companies, if I spend,

if I'm CBS and I was part of this package, and let's say my number was $30 billion, I think over that $30 billion life cycle, I'll be able to make $40 billion. I'll be able to make $35. And part of it is using these platforms, right, one of the only things in 2021 that actually gets millions upon millions of people to watch every week to drive you to my other programming. Now, as we know, most of those millions of people will not go to the other

programming, but if they get 10, 15%, they can make it in other ways. Amazon, one thing I read today, they're interested in doing a Black Friday game. Obviously, you get the three games on Thanksgiving. What happens on Friday? Amazon. It used to be Black Friday. You go wait in line it best buy. You'd go wait in line at Target. You'd go wait in line at Neiman Marcus. Trust me, I've never waited in a line in my life on Friday. I'd rather eat dirt than sit in the line to shop with the masses on Black Friday. Well, you know the best part about 2021? If you're going to a store, you're a moron. It's all online. I mean, the deals online are incredible. You don't even need to leave your house. Who's better at monetizing that and getting it to you better than anyone, Jeff Bezos.

So I don't exactly know if this is more of an ego play because he's already making so much money if this is to even grow his business in just a higher quantity, get more people, even if it is going to be a small percentage because most of us, I'd imagine the average NFL fan is already on Amazon.com and already order stuff. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm crazy, I don't know.

But the Black Friday game is genius. Because the games on television is how they make the money, how they make the huge money. How they pay for their quarterbacks, right? The sweet money, the revenue in the stadium is great. It's extra cash. It helps make these guys millions of dollars, but it's not the hundreds of billions of dollars.

And it's all because of you. And I think forever we thought, well, you had to go to a game. You had to purchase a suite. No, they don't even need you to do that anymore. They just need you Thursday, Sunday, Sunday night, and Monday to be in your couch and watching. And right now they know for a fact the most amount of people

are going to be watching football games. More than basketball games, more than baseball games, more than news, more than everything. There is not a television show in America that sniffs this type viewer.

And it's all because of you. It's all because of the fans. Now, it's kind of like the Green Bay Packers. Like you all kind of own the league. Now, you actually don't have any power. just like most consumers don't have any power over the business, but your power is your time. And as long as you keep watching,

the league will keep thriving. And it crossed my mind, listen, nothing lasts forever. I've lived through multiple recessions. I've lived through this crazy coronavirus like everyone listening has as well. Maybe some of you older than me have experienced, you know, things in the 80s that I didn't, I can't grasp. but one thing's clear is this won't last forever. The NFL, like I said, with baseball, when I was born, baseball dominated.

Their stars were the equivalent of like Patrick Mahomes, LeBron James, Cow Ripkin, Ken Griffey Jr., Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds. These guys were rock stars. This is not really the way it is anymore. Now, I do think the NFL's leadership is much more savvy than they are, but let's face it, a lot of the owners, the Robert Crafts, the Jerry Jones, I'm talking the heavy hitters,

the people that have taken this league to New Heights are old. They're not going to live forever. Now, hopefully if all their kids, you know, turn into Clark Hunts, the league will probably be okay. But we know the percentages of people that inherit money is very hit or miss. So this might be the last great 10-year run of the league before it takes a step back.

And who knows, the way society goes, maybe people change, maybe people aren't as interested in football. But we're going to go on a hell of a minimum of a seven or eight year run of football right now. Think about this too, the gambling aspect of sports. I've gambled now for the thing with the media, most of these people who are even now involved in gambling, don't. They never have. They can't even pretend. They don't even know what they're talking about. I actually think that's always helped Colin stand out

because he was into it. Well, why? Because he lived in Vegas. He understood its power. He's been around gambling since like the late 80s, early 90s, when he worked in Vegas and covered Tark. And that gave him a huge point of difference because every single person in my life that consumes sports

either gambles or is now talking about it. And I think that we don't bet the NBA. I've tried. It sucks. You ever tried to bet baseball? It's awful. I do like betting golf. Betting MMA, if I knew what was going on,

would probably also be fun. But there's no sport to bet quite like football. College and definitely pro. And so when you hear, oh, the boom of gambling. Yeah, for football, it's going to be huge. For the NBA and baseball, I don't know. I'm not saying they're not going to benefit, but nowhere near.

Football was made to gamble. It is literally the gambling sport. Ask any casino, ask any sports book, Besides March madness, there is no time like the fall. 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, Cliford 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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway 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,

in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keir Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now.

For one, it's Ryder Strong and Will Ferdell from PodMeets World. And now the Podmeets Twirled podcast. We're two men who were completely clueless to reality TV, who now have covered Dancing with the Stars, traitors, and we're gearing up for the season finale of Survivor. So yeah, now we're experts. I know we annoyed a lot of our listeners by our severe lack of survivor knowledge. That is the point of the show. I'm just going to remind you. I have watched some survivor.

I obviously haven't watched enough. Did people not like it? Yeah. Just because we? Yeah. We'll be recapping the big conclusion in the 50th season from the final attempts at gameplay to the desperate pleas of finalists to a bunch of who. Again, we are experts.

So make sure to tune at a pod meets twirled. for all our Survivor 50 takes. Listen to Podmeets twirled on the IHeard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. That is when we deposit our money and make our bets. We don't do it as consistently the other seven, eight months of the year. So this league is about to go on an unprecedented stretch of cash. And every single one of you know this. You played a small role in all this money.

Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk. lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsportsradio.com. And within the IHard Radio app, search FSR to listen live. If you love to be remembered as the person who gives the best birthday gifts, I'm here to tell you that 1800 Flowers.com is your ultimate birthday gifting destination. 1,800 Flowers has thoughtful and artfully created options that are guaranteed to deliver the best birthday surprise. Shop thousands of unique gifts at 1,800flowers.com. for exclusive offers and great values. To order today, visit 1,800flowers.com slash tune in.

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They see a windy path that could lead to adventure. And they see you. Their fearless guide is this fascinating world. Find a forest near you and start exploring at discovertheforest.org. Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the ad council. I saw something on Monday that Robert Kraft said that, you know, just kind of perk my interest. Not that when you take a step back, obviously he's just telling the truth. But when you think about it, you just wonder if it adds a little urgency.

because like I talked about with the television deal and the NFL's popularity, nothing lasts forever. Sometimes great coaches retire, right? Bill Walsh retired after the third Super Bowl. Cower retired young, never came back. Most guys, though, get fired. Tom Landry, I mean, I don't remember this, but if some of you, I'm sure, some cowboy fans that are older than me remember this moment.

Jerry Jones fired Tom Landry. the greatest coach I mean I sure many people would argue in the history of the Cowboys between him or Jimmy Johnson right fired him now that had to do with a new ownership

but still like no coach is just like a made man in the mob they are an employee they don't have equity they are not a partner they're an employee a highly paid employee and there is from what I've always heard

there is no higher paid employee in the league non-player than Bill Belichick. I think it's safe to assume he makes $15 million. His time as the head coach for the Patriots, Tom included, right, their 20-year run, the amount of money he made the Kraft family is astronomical. He helped them print cash, right, once they moved into a new building, the sweet sales, the ticket sales, the merchandise, the whole thing. when you win for that long,

you become an economic powerhouse and that's what the Patriots became. But Robert Kraft, the way NFL contracts work is somewhat antiquated to the rest of the league. Now, I think we've seen in recent developments in baseball over the last half decade. Some of the Scott Boris guys,

I remember Max Scherzer with the Nationals, they started putting money in escrow accounts that would pay them, later. And football, the way their contracts have always worked, and I get a lot of DMs, I'm not a contract negotiator. Actually, just a state school guy that scouted a little bit in the NFL. Never negotiate contracts.

Do know a couple guys that I think are considered the top negotiators in the league. And I text them all the time when I have questions about the way contracts work. If I sign you to, let's just say, a $50 million guaranteed money, true guarantees. you were getting that money basically within the first 12 months. That's why when you see, remember Rogers, he got $80 million in the first year, DAC got $75 million in the first year.

I think Trent Williams, I read, is getting like $40 million or $35 million in the first year. You get a massive amount of money right off the bat because I had to put an escrow. Every penny that I guarantee you, I have to have on hand.

Like the Chicago Bears, when they signed Khalil Mack to $90 million guaranteed, they had to have the $9,000, million dollars guaranteed. It was always why people questioned around the parts where I live, did Mark Davis have $90 million guaranteed? And at the time, I think that's widely up for debate, and my sources say he did not. Some people will say he did. But regardless, to have, and now, most teams, including the Raiders, once they open the Vegas Stadium up, you have an unlimited amount of money. You should have hundreds of millions of dollars in cash reserves. Clearly,

the crafts do. He mentioned, and he used a special. He used to specific word, he said, I've never had to come up with this much capital. He also mentioned that we used to laugh at teams that made headlines in March. So Robert Kraft, who experienced, besides like Eddie DeBardo, the greatest success for a 20-year stretch in the history of the league. Now, the league isn't technically that old, right, because it merged, what, like 68 or 69 or 78, sometimes I get my history wrong, but with the NFL. So the league, it's not like baseball.

It hasn't been around since the 30s. Now, football's been around a long time, or the 20s or the whatever, right? But the actual national football league really got humming in like the late 60s, early 70s. So when I say you go on 20 or decade, I mean, there's only been 55 years of the league, right? Whatever Super Bowl were we on, 55. But Robert Kraft gave an historic amount of capital because he had to have it on hand to sign all these guaranteed signing bonus, all the money. Then the rest of the money, that's signing bonus, there's a reason you sign four and five year deals

because you can amortize it over the life of the contract. Even though, like, we'll get to Ghaladay a little bit later, his deal is essentially a two-year $40 million deal. But when you sign them to a four or five-year contract, you ease it throughout time. And it's always why the dead money and the cap hits always are all over the board. You do it based on your other players

and the way that you're building your squad. But last year was not ideal. Now, part of it is, did the crafts, Belichick, the whole, every Patriot fan get a little fat and happy? Of course. I saw it. I grew up a huge Niners fan. And I grew up, Joe Montana was already on the Chiefs when I really came into my own as a football fan. And what do we do?

We had Steve Young, Jerry Rice, kept on kicking ass and taking names. It eventually ends, though. Now, that situation, Eddie de Bartolo was kicked out of the NFL for trying to brown back. a politician in I think Mississippi or Louisiana for a riverboat casino he had 400K in cash you know so he got booted out of the league

and that kind of indirectly ended the dynasty I don't think Robert Kraft is going to get caught brown bagging anybody and I think that that politician was wearing a wire honestly it was like a movie scene I texted someone a couple weeks ago I said can you imagine like Robert Kraft had the little deal

with the Orkits of Asia and it turned out Everyone's like, oh, the human trafficking. And listen, I'm not pro-human trafficking, but it turned out no human trafficking was going on. And the person that did it was the owner of the place, right? So that was kind of a scandal, but it wasn't that crazy and nothing happened to the guy. Eddie DeBardo got popped with cash.

It was like a mob scene. You might want to Google the DeBardelos. Like, you know, some ties. That's just how business was done. This was the late 90s. It's not like this was 1978. But Eddie DeBartolo was, was classic, and I'm reading, aka millennial listening, to the Steve Young book.

And having met a lot of these Niners on some of those teams and knowing people that was around the Eddie de Bartolo squad, he would become incensed when they'd lose. He would be so angry. It wasn't about the money. He would spend an unlimited amount of money, but when they would lose, it would just be an epic failure. And because when you're used to winning, when you're used to having success in anything, if you're listening, when you do fail, which is inevitable for all of us, it can't be jolting.

And not everyone handles it well. And the thing I read with Robert Kraft, now, do I think they're going to fire Bill Belichick if they win six games this year? I don't. But I do wonder if they start asking themselves, listen, it didn't work last year, Belichick had no plan once Brady left. Now, part of that is potentially Kraft kicking Jimmy out of town, but it is what it is. Then this year they spend all this money and all these players.

Now, I don't think any coach in league history, at least in my lifetime, is better at identifying a player, asking them to do what they do well, and circumventing or avoiding what they do poorly, and not putting them in those positions. Now, sometimes it's inevitable. Like if you're a corner, like they can't tackle, if a guy's running at you, you've got to tackle. But put them in situations where they can excel.

So when I see all the names from Aguilar to Bourne to obviously the high, high-priced guys. You go, well, Hunter Henry, John Hussmith. I think they re-signed Kyle Van Oye. I mean, they just signed a bunch of people, right? Judon, you go, listen, all these players have weaknesses, but no coach is better at understanding those than Belichick.

So it should work. But there is a time and place in the sport of football where time matters. And who knows the way OTAs work this offseason? who knows what training camps like, even though I think it's going to be normal. Hell was normal last year. But to me, offseason activities, when you have a lot of new people,

are pretty important. They're going to have a bunch of draft picks that are relatively high in the round, higher than they've ever been. How do those guys get integrated in? It's going to be a work in progress. And if they are not able to land Jimmy Garoppolo, who I still think ends up there,

but the only way for Jimmy Garoppolo to end up in New England, they need San Francisco to get a quarterback. They need the 49ers either, to trade up in the draft and get a Justin Fields or a Trey Lance, or to land to Sean Watson, which I think we all realize right now is up in the freaking air. Like, he's got some shit going on.

It might take some time to figure that all out. So that's going on the back burner. And if none of those things play out, Jimmy Grappolo might just stay, and they're just going to have Cam Newton again. And the Cam Newton we did see, even though I think it's fair to assume he'll be a little healthier this year, and they were able to go seven to nine with him

when he wasn't able to throw. Part of it was his weapons suck. Maybe with all these added weapons, it will help. But there's no guarantee. And you just wonder if Robert Kraft, and definitely Jonathan Kraft, because listen, have you ever been around family business? My experience being around family businesses

is if the dad, in this example, Robert Kraft, is very close with certain people, right, in the building, whether it's obviously Belichick, but just other people. The chances that, Jonathan Kraft likes all those same people equally as much as his dad is probably zero percent. The chances Jonathan Kraft tells his wife, tells his close confidants, tells whoever that's really close in his life, I would fire this dude, this dude, and this dude tomorrow if I was

in charge. It's probably closer to 100% than it is 90%. And if Jonathan, listen, Robert's old, who knows how long. much longer, he'll be able. Same with Jerry. Like, these guys, it's not going to last forever. Belichick's time is just ticking. Now, I'm not saying, I think he's the best coach ever.

And if he became available, half the teams in the league should hire him tomorrow. But my point is, things eventually come to an end. And there is now tangible pressure on this team. All the money, the checks Robert Kraft just cash to sign all these guys. Like, these guys have to be good.

These guys have to play well. They have to succeed. else he might start asking himself, how are we going to win? Like, Bill finally splurged it, and it failed. And if they find themselves without a quarterback, you just wonder if you go, is Bill coming down the home stretch with the Patriots? If this does not work out. If it does, then Robert Crafts is in the clear.

And he just keeps on chugging along, and they make the playoffs, and they keep printing cash. But it's just something to put in the back of your mind that Jerry Jones fired Tom Landry. Now, Robert, it's different. Robert hired them. They've worked together forever. But, you know, all great things eventually come to an end. And it's just, it's just something I'm going to monitor this year.

It's funny, when I see people that I haven't seen in a while or I introduce myself and, you know, it eventually, I guess it's part of life as you get older, people just, what do you do? It's always my go-to question. It's just a good, easy conversation starter. So what do you do? and then usually they're eventually going to throw it back. What do you do? And I just go now, I'm a podcaster. And I think most people, when I say a podcaster,

are like, God, how's this guy getting by? How's this guy, you know, paying the rent? How's this guy making any money? You're like, yeah, actually the podcast business is pretty good. But the one thing that you realize, in my business, my podcast business, I'm partners in this venture with Colin. And in my other podcast,

I'm partners in that venture with Guy. And the Colin thing's pretty easy, right? He just, he just lets me do my thing. I load it. I send it off to my guy, Mike. We put it up, and it just rocks and rolls. There's not, it's a very seamless transition. My other podcast is more hands-on with both of us.

The decision, whether we, to move to a different hosting platform, what ads that we're going to take or accept, and listen, we're going to accept 99.0.9.000. 9% of ads, but there is just a partnership and a relationship to get things done that you have to communicate, right? And it was the same when I, when I worked for people, you had to have a line of communication. That's very, very key because whatever you're doing, and I'm sure many of you know this now, probably especially over, you know, the, when you were working from home during the coronavirus, that the communication, it's probably never been easier.

communicate, whether it's through email text, voice texts, you can do whatever. So it is easy to communicate. It doesn't mean communication actually happens. And we've read countless stories, right? And I think football is a good example because it's such a public business. So we hear when the GM and the coach don't get along. I had a front row seat for probably, I'd say the biggest blow up. It was bigger than Chip and Howie because this team had gone to three NFC championships

and a Super Bowl in Trent Balke and Jim Harbaugh. And it was really, really ugly. And rumors had come out. They didn't speak. They hated each other. It was a disaster. It was very, very toxic. You cannot do business and you cannot run a successful football team in the NFL.

I'd argue at any time. But definitely right now, if your GM and your head coach are not on the same page. Because really one of those individuals, and I'd say in 2021, the overwhelming majority of the decision-making power is in the coach's hands. Sometimes, I'd say a small percentage is still in the GM's hand. But whoever has that decision-making power has to be able to work with their, you know, quote-unquote partner. Because as a GM, you're only as good as your coach. And as a coach, you're only as good as your GM.

I say it all the time. Ryan Pace is letting Matt Nagy down. But Ryan Pace is ruining you. the Bears. Is Matt Nagy a good coach? I think he is, but I don't even think you can judge him with the situation the quarterbacks that Ryan Pace keeps giving him, because he's in charge of the roster. When you see some of these situations in Seattle, you go, well, is it John Snyder's fault or is it ultimately Pete's? Because he's the boss. Like, when the 49ers traded to Forrest Buckner, that has to get an okay from Kyle Shanahan to happen. That might be a John

Lynch idea, that the Colts might have run it through him. But without Kyle saying he, he's yay or nay, that trade never happens. He's the boss. But even when you have a boss, you have to be able to work with each other. And I think what you've seen, and I read this article today about the Colts and the Carson Wentz situation,

is that Frank had gone to watch Carson Wentz because he didn't want to rely on just his own experience. So he watched 2018 and he watched 2019, and he watched some of this year. And he felt comfortable about what he saw. but he needed Chris Ballard to also feel comfortable. So Chris Ballard went and watched basically his entire career. And they communicated not out of desperation,

not out of Frank saying, I have to have this guy, but out of ultimately coming to the conclusion that Frank felt comfortable with what he saw and then also what he heard because they had added coaches from those Eagles teams, right? I think Press Taylor and grow the wide receiver coach, were both with the Eagles over the last several years.

But Chris Ballard was not. And the great part about being a GM or being any front office person as an evaluator, if you haven't been around the player, it's easy to pretty have an unbiased opinion on what you see on film. And reading this article

in Albert Breer who talked to Frank, he was just like, I was really impressed. Chris Ballard never said no off the bat and he never said yes off the bat. He just said, I'm going to need some time, I'm going to evaluate the guy, you have your opinion, I'll get mine, and then we'll come together.

And ultimately, they came together and agreed on, let's make this trade. That is how high-level deals happen. Because you can't force-feed a player on your coach, and as a coach, you can't force feed a player on a GM. I'm not saying that that doesn't happen. I think it happens all the time. But when that happens,

you have two people kind of pulling in opposite directions, and that's not healthy for a football team, because really your goal should be the same thing, winning. And I think too often that you see in toxic teams, teams that aren't successful, sometimes you have a coach who's kind of rooting for a player to fail because they didn't want the GM to draft them. They wanted another player who ended up on another team. And the guy that they were forced-fed in the third round,

they don't quite spend as much time coaching up or maybe giving all their effort. You think that sounds crazy, but I promise you it's true. or vice versa. You see GMs that force players on coaches that they don't want, right? So you get these situations where they're not all pulling in the same direction. They're not all rowing upstream. One guy's rowing one way, the other guy's rowing the other way. And I think the one thing you see when you watch the Colts,

and you've seen it over the last couple years is how much talent they have, is everyone's on the same page. And this goes back to Chris Ballard, just his character, how good he is at his job. He deserves a lot of credit for getting screwed by Josh McDaniels, how he pivoted with Frank, and found a guy that turns out to be a pretty solid head coach, but who's also open-minded, who's not forcing anything.

And I think their success with Carson Wentz, they have an opportunity to make this, you know, get his career back on track. I heard Colin. 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 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. Yep, that's me.

Clever Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skis. The reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment,

and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Game. 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.

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Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Hey, everyone. It's Ryder Strong and Will Friedel from PodMeets World. And now the Pod Meets Twirled podcast. We're two men who were completely clueless to reality TV, who now have covered Dancing with the Stars, traitors, and we're gearing up for the season finale of Survivor. So yeah, now we're experts.

I know we annoyed a lot of our listeners by our severe lack of survivor knowledge. That is the point of the show. I'm just going to remind you. I have watched some Survivor. I obviously haven't watched enough. Did people not like it? Like, what was just because we? Yeah.

We'll be recapping the big conclusion In the 50th season From the final attempts at gameplay To the desperate pleas of finalists To a bunch of Ha, ha, ooh, ha, ooh, ha, ooh. Again, we are experts. So make sure to tune into Pod Meets Twirled

For all our Survivor 50 takes. Listen to PodMeets Twirled On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, Or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm thinking they're a lot to be in the AFC championship game. I think Carson's going to be good. But I don't 100% think he's just going to hear. hit the ground running. There's an elephant in the room

with him. The moment that first game goes, what if he throws a couple picks? Which could happen to like Tom Brady. How does he respond? Because the moment that happens is like, oh, is he a shot fighter? Is he done? And that to me, when you go through adversity and it's impossible not to,

whether it's a football team or life, right? We all go through it all the time. Think about your significant other, whether it's your wife or your girlfriend. You actually find out how strong your relationship is when times get a little tough. So what happens when the Colts, maybe it's not week one, maybe it's week five, maybe they start like three and one. And then week five, he throws three picks.

And everyone's like, oh, the Philadelphia Eagle 2020 Carson Wentz has poked his head out again. Well, when Frank and Chris Ballard are rowing the same way, which they clearly are in this situation, it's easier to get through. It's easier to support the player. in a weird way, one of the guys is not rooting against the player, which back to what I said originally, I think many people, many fans would be shocked with when the GM and the coach are not, you know,

have a good working relationship, how often that happens. And I'm excited to watch the Colts for the first time. I mean, they were kind of fun with Phillip Rivers last year, but the problem is his ceiling was just so small, right? His ceiling was just so limited. his best football was clearly way behind him. Saying the same thing with Drew Breeze. Those rosters were so awesome.

If you just put a big-time player on that team, either one of those teams could have competed to win the Super Bowl last year. They were just missing a quarterback. And now Carson has the talent. Can they get them back on the right track? Can they get them back to playing football? I'm not even talking MVP level of football. Just good football.

And clearly the coach and the GM both want to see that happen, Which is not the case always. Becoming a magician takes thousands of hours. Right, Ashley? Oh, I'm not a magician. I'm a design specialist at the container store. But you transform closets and pantries. Well, I turn your most frustrating spaces into ones you love.

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Visit nhtsa.gov slash the right seat. Brought to you by Nidza and the Ad Council. Okay, let's get into a potential rivalry and I think a competition that you're just going to see grow and grow because of an aggressive nature of a certain NFL team and the impact that it's going to have on a team that's kind of chasing them in an indirect way. Being at the Rams and the 49ers.

And really, Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVeigh. Now, personally, I think, would take Kyle over McVeigh. But listen, I don't pretend to not be biased. I watch the Niners much closer in the Rams. I thought last year when the Niners somehow won six games is one of the most remarkable things I've ever seen. You can't dispute McVeigh's record.

They have both been to a Super Bowl, but Sean has not had a losing record in any of his other seasons. And I stumbled upon last week Sylvester Stallone his Instagram page. He actually gives some pretty good motivational-like talks. And remember, I think I've mentioned this on the show before, instead of selling Rocky when he did not have a pot to piss in for like $400,000 the script, he refused to sell the script to the studio

who offered him hundreds of thousands of dollars because he wanted to play Rocky. He held out, he held out, they finally allowed him to do it, the rest is history. But when I stumbled upon this rabbit hole, I went to YouTube, I stumbled upon a rivalry and a competition that I didn't truly know existed. I actually, you know, kind of growing up in the 90s,

remember Universal Hollywood, I thought of Sylvester Stallone and Arnold was like really good friends. And I watched them give interviews together. And the one thing they mentioned is in the 80s, they hated each other, even though they really respected each other. Why?

Because they were competing against each other. They were the two biggest action stars by a mile. And what was the biggest genre in the 80s? Action movies. And those guys were the guys in Rocky, Rambo, Terminator 2. I actually watched Terminator 2 a little bit before I went to bed on Sunday night. And Arnold and Sylvester both admitted when they would see the other guy succeed or do a movie, it would drive them to do a better movie.

And they'd even joke like, we would run into each other in L.A. And Sylvester would be like, in my last movie, I killed 85 people. and Arnold would look at them. In my next movie, I'm going to kill 95 people. And my last movie made $275 million. And Arnold would say, my next movie is going to make $300 million. And there was a competition that drove those guys

to obviously superstardom in the movie business, to economic greatness. I think both guys have had great business careers. Arnold, probably a little more unique than Sylvester, got into politics and did some other stuff. But both those guys just are all-time great. Hollywood actors and an impact just on society. Like, you don't meet anyone between probably 30 and 70 that doesn't know those two guys

and can list off a bunch of their movies. And they were driven by each other. And I think watching the Rams, and I give them a lot of credit. And I did a segment probably within the last couple months on, I think draft picks get overblown. Like the Rams, since Sean McVeigh has been there, have not had any draft picks high in the drafts, right? No first rounders. It hasn't mattered. They've made the playoffs three or four years and the one year they missed and went nine and seven. And if the seven team rules had been in place, they would have made the playoffs that year.

Sean McVeigh is proving that like, yeah, you can do it that way. I'm not doing it that way and it's working because I'm a big time coach. And then this year they got extra aggressive. And I appreciate that. Like I give them credit because I, that's if I was an owner, if I, you know, I'd want my general manager and my coach to always lean being aggressive. Never lean just, if you have two options and you feel comfortable doing it. I'm not saying be aggressive just to say you're aggressive,

but if you're confident on it, take big swings. Say this about the Rams, they take big fucking swings. And they just did it with Matt Stafford. There has to be a sense of urgency in the 49ers building if you're Kyle Shanahan and going, I would say most people, most people listening would agree,

Kyle Shanahan is a really, really good coach. But when you look at his record, he's only had one good season. Now, I would defend him by saying, Sean McVeigh, even though Jared Gough had diminished, he didn't miss any games. Jared Gough was very reliable. In 2018 and 2020, Jimmy Garoppolo missed 70% of the games. When you're starting quarterback, even at Jimmy's level,

which is probably middle of the pack in the NFL, right? somewhere between 17 and 12 on a given week. He's a middle of the pack starting quarterback. If the Packers, if Seattle, if Tampa Bay, lose their quarterback in multiple seasons for 70% of the games, it's over. You're going to lose. Remember the year Patrick Mahomes is neat,

you know, went out of the socket or whatever? He missed two games. They went one and one. It's hard to win without your starting quarterback. When the guy's good, top 10 quarterbacks, most of those teams don't have good backups. It's why it was so remarkable a couple years ago when the Saints lost rebrees,

they had Teddy Bridgewater. They had a starting quarterback as their backup. Now, he's not a great starting quarterback, but still, most teams have like a backup that sucks. I saw it with the Niners, C.J. Bethard and Nick Mullins, they're just not very good. Right?

They're just, the more and more they play, the more you're just going to lose. You can win maybe one game with one of them, but if you play 10 games, you're going to go 3 and 7. It's just hard to overcome them. And the rival, and the competition of Sean McVey in that mindset,

and we'll find out, like, ultimately they get over the hill, a ton of pressure this year on doing it, has to create some urgency of like, we don't only have to win, but we need to be aggressive to match these guys. And to me, that's trading up in the draft. And I've been saying it over and over and over again. If Kyle Shanahan likes one of these quarterbacks a lot,

I don't think they can hesitate they've got to get to number three. And I've heard rumors, and I've said this on different platforms and podcasts, that they've already inquired about doing that. My guess would be Justin Fields, but Trey Lance, I don't think you could discount either. But competition should drive the best out of you. Especially competition, like, if you're going up against Arnold Schwarzenegger and he makes Terminator, the next movie you make if you're Sylvester Stallone, better be damn good.

Better be Rocky 4, right? You can't come with a crappy movie because he's going to lap you. Whatever the 49ers do next to quarterback, they better get it fucking right. because right now the Rams are loaded. I would say beside Tampa, and we'll see after the draft where Green Bay is with their roster, but I'd say the Rams are the best team, you know, second best team in the NFC.

And if that doesn't drive internally Kyle Shanahan to go, this guy works for me in Washington, worked for me and my dad. We kept him on the staff. Or I guess they hired him from Washington, or excuse me from Tampa. but this guy was I was his mentor

and now his franchise you know kind of run circles around me now I beat them in the last two years I've kicked his ass but he keeps making the playoffs and I have it and I just hope

and I'm not saying you ever do a move because of what another team does but when that team is in your division and it's kind of set the bar the last couple years and same with Seattle but Kyle doesn't have a relationship with Pete.

Like, Sean McVeigh worked for him. He runs his scheme. And now the scheme that Seattle's running is because they hired a guy from Sean, who Sean taught that guy

from Kyle. If that doesn't bring out the best in you and to make you want to excel at the highest level, whatever that means. But as we know, now more than ever,

if you do not have a dominant quarterback, it's going to be very hard to sustainably win. Actually, it's impossible. You can't sustainably, winning in the NFL if you do not have a difference maker at quarterback. If you have just like a pretty good player, Derek Carr, you still could lose big.

If you have a consistent pro bowler, your worst moments, you're still going to be competitive and go above 500. And then if I factor in you have a good coach, you're going to be a playoff team consistently. The Niners, they have a high-level coach. They do not have the quarterback situation figured out. Under no circumstances, can I rely on Jimmy Garoppolo. like I said between 18 and 20 70% of the games if I told you or if you told me

he was going to be healthy the next two years 100% I've done okay you can keep because I know I can be competitive and win games with him but I can't even rely on the player at any moment he can just goes down and they disappears for games not like you know he only misses a quarter he misses games and months you can't win that way and especially you can't win that way with the Rams taking massive swings to upgrade positions,

but mainly upgrade the quarterback position. A big reason, the 49ers kick Sean McVe's ass the last two years because they ate Jared Goff for lunch. He was a sitting duck. He couldn't scramble and he couldn't make the throws. Well, guess what? Matt Stafford, who was introduced last week, who gave an excellent,

who gave like an eight-minute video on the Lions social media accounts about what Detroit meant from just a high-level guy, but he's a high-level talent. And Sean McVeigh, who's a high-level coach, is going to get the most out of that talent. So hopefully, a little like Arnold and Sylvester, back in the day, going at it and competing and always trying to one-up each other,

hopefully that's the mindset in the 49ers front office and with their head coach. Because if it's not, they're going to get lapped. Okay, let's fire around the league on just some things that happened, and I'll give you my opinion. Kenny Galladay, big signing with the Giants. They gave him a lot of money.

And texting around a little bit, I got some shocked emoji faces back from people in the league. And I asked someone, how would you describe Ghaladay's game? And they said he's a good player. Think like a younger Alshan. It might not be that good, but big catching radius, not a burner, not much after the catch, but just very, very good in contested catches. a big physical guy. Good player, like a legitimate starter, solid starter.

But the amount of money they gave him, I think, was a little rich. But they're invested in a quarterback. And I stole this from Albert Breer, and he's right. They need to find out if Daniel Jones is any good. I actually think Daniel Jones is pretty talented. But through two years, it hasn't been great. He's turned the ball over at rapid rates. He's had a lot more misses than hits

when you're just watching them play. Now, this year you get Ghaladay, you get Evan Ingram, you got Sequin coming back, they got Golden Tate on the team, like they actually have some offensive weapons. And I think hopefully at the end of the season, you just go, this is our guy or he's not our guy.

You've already, I mean, you spent the sixth pick on Daniel Jones. So if you have to overpay to get a wide receiver to ultimately figure out if this guy can play or not, I understand it. I do get it. Now, is he going to be good enough to live up to that contract? Probably not. But if he's good enough to be productive on your team

and make your quarterback look good and help you win games and maybe even make the playoffs, it's all worth it. Deshawn Jackson went to the Rams. No-brainer. Him and McVeigh worked together in Washington. I haven't seen the money. Doubt they're paying him anything.

I got some people on Twitter like, you gave the Rams credit for signing Deshaun, but you hated A.J. Green to the Cardinals. the Cardinals gave AJ Green over $6 million. As a wide receiver coach told me, his film was tough to watch. Why? He might be shot. Someone was like, well, Emmanuel Sanders got the same money.

Emmanuel Sanders hasn't been getting hurt the last couple years. He's a healthy player. More productive, too. Urban Meyer, already complaining, does not like the way free agency works. Because unlike college, for years when he can recruit, meet, get to know their families, and get to know the players and those around them. Not the way it works in the big leagues. We sign guys without ever meeting them. Now,

you get to meet them during the draft process, but you don't, guys don't take visits in free agency. This ain't 1993. They sign on the dotted line. Now, Urban's used to giving cash to players, did it at Florida, did it at Ohio State. He's just used to knowing them much better. Obviously in the NFL you give more cash to players, but he didn't like it. So he complained. I got news for you, Urban. No one gives a shit.

You wanted to come to the league. This is how it works. It's a lot better than college because you don't have to worry about recruiting. But you're never going to get high-price-free agents to take visits when they have multi-million dollar offers from multiple teams. I don't even get why he's complaining. Isaiah Wilson. The 29th pick in last year's draft has already been traded to the Miami Dolphins from the Tennessee Titans and then cut.

I don't know much about this player. I mean, I know from Georgia was a talented guy. I just know what's happened to him in the NFL. Clearly maturity or immaturity is a problem. But this guy has potential to go down as one of the biggest bus ever. because right now he's toxic, no one can touch him. Someone needs to get in this guy's ear and just direct him back to sanity.

Like, hey man, there are only so many 6-5-330 good athletes in this world. You're one of them. You can play tackle. Tackles make a lot of money. Figure it out, bro. Kyle Fuller to Denver. The Chicago Bears contract guy is clearly,

clearly not very good. Because they are constantly having to restructure and move money around. They do not have a $35 million quarterback either. How are they so messed up in the cap? That cap guy is clearly over his head because they had to cut Cow Fuller who now immediately goes to the Broncos for like $9 million. Why would he go to the Broncos? Because he was a pro bowler of Vic Fangio.

Good player. I just don't understand how you have. all these cap troubles without a star quarterback. Like, I understand how the Eagles or the Saints have some cap issues. They've had $30 million quarterbacks. Drew Breeze is still on the books. Obviously, so is Carson Wentz. Chicago Bears have never had a quarterback in my entire life.

How is this possible? Like, do you not know what you're doing? I don't get it, but clearly I don't think Ryan Pace's guy does. Okay, let's go a little Middlecough mailbag. At John Middlecough is the Instagram. handle, slide up in those DMs, and get your question answered here on the podcast. Wanted to know what you thought about Washington's free agency. I like Curtis Samuel Moof, me too, William Jackson as well.

I'm not quite sure about Fitzpatrick. Here's what I know about the Washington football team, formerly known as the you know what's. They have a good team. They have a playoff level coach. They just need to get consistent quarterback play. If Fitzpatrick played like he did last year For the Miami Dolphins

I watched him come to San Francisco He looked like Dan Freaking Marino The reason they won 10 games Was not to Atanga Bay Loa It was Ryan Fitzpatrick If he can play like that Which usually he's a very up and down player They will be in the playoff

They will win that division I think it's fair to say that he might not But if he is just 85% of last year They'll be all right One thing he can do that Washington does not need is turn the ball over because they're going to play good defense.

But part of Tua's games pushing balls that he shouldn't throw. I remember John Gruden last year when he came in and they beat the Raiders was like he was just going to make throws the two it wasn't going to make. But he'll also throw picks that way.

Question for the mailbag from Zach. With all these accusation, coming out against Deshawn Watson, thinking like a conspiracy theorist for a minute, any chance people in the Texas organization, Texans organization, have a part in this news coming out as a way to try to keep him around a little bit longer.

Dig both shows, thank you. Appreciate it. There's a lot of unknown. But here's what I do know. This whole thing, it just feels weird and fishy. If it ever comes out that the Houston Texans were a part of, Like most people, if you sexually assault a woman, you should go to jail. Now, if things get made up about you, that person should go to jail.

To me, it's very black and white. The problem is in court, it's hard to prove. And a lot of times these situations, we don't even know how it ends. I think as of recording this, there are 22 different individuals, females, accusing Deshaun Watson. That was the last I heard. If the Texans are associated with this, here's my opinion. opinion. If they were behind this setup and this takedown of Deshawn Watson, if it ever comes out

that way, Cal McNeer will have to sell the team. Jack Easterbee's career would be over. It would be period, point blank, end of story. If the Texans are behind it, it would be over for Cal McNair. The league would like to kick him out to begin with, but like Donald Sterling, you need a reason to kick him out. If they're behind this, this is a reason. It would be one of the biggest stories in the history of sports. Was just curious about your thoughts on Kenyon Drake signing. It seems like a lot of money for a backup, but I'm wondering if Gruden has seen the success of the Cleveland Browns duo

and wants to try to replicate that. Do you think the overall of the O line was to get younger and more athletic for reasons or strictly cap reasons? I think that one thing I had heard is that Rodney Hudson was very, very good friends with Gabe Jackson. And Gabe Jackson was obviously going to be moved. He was either going to be cut or traded. He was eventually cut or traded to the Seattle Seahawks.

That Rodney had become kind of a negative Nancy. Now, here's the one thing. Like, I'm sorry, Rodney Hudson, pristine character, been around the Raiders for six years. Now, granted, he was paid a premium, but being in that organization could drive any sane man down a bad path. I'm sure many people listening have worked in toxic places, and it can put you in a fucking terrible mood.

We're all humans. I'm leaning Rodney Hudson over John Gruden. I would not have got rid of Rodney Hudson. Kenyon Drake, I like Kenyon Drake. Don't love paying multiple running backs because you drafted Josh Jacobs in the first round. But here's a simple reality with Josh Jacobs. He gets banged up a lot

because his style, he's a physical back, so you need reinforcements. And Kenyon Drake's a more, just a different type player, right? speed is elite Yeah, I like it And clearly Gruden I think was quoted as saying

He's been enamored with this guy for a long time So I do get it I've been seeing a ton of comparisons Between John Hsu Smith and Hunter Henry To Gronk and Hernandez What are your thoughts in the comparison Personally, I don't think it's that close I think both guys in the mix of the old tight end group

Can block catch out run guys Gronk was never burning anyone Hernandez was basically a big wide receiver I love Grunk's game and play, but these guys are both Swiss Army knives. Yeah, I mean, Gronk and Hernandez were way better in these two. I mean, Gronk is arguably the greatest tight end is peak in the history of football,

and Aaron Hernandez turns out absolutely despicable, trash human being. When I was with the Eagles, we played him, he was fucking unreal, unstoppable. But these two guys can't hold those two guys' jocks. Now, neither one of these guys, they're both kind of much more like an Aaron Hernandez

because they're not blockers. They're really glorified, I'd say, slot receivers. Especially Hunter Henry. Like Hunter Henry's just a really good pat. So is Johnny Smith. And Johnny Smith hasn't really produced that much. But Belichick, you know,

I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I would say neither one of these guys have anything in common with Rob Grunkowski. What do you think on Collins' take on the Niners, setting themselves up to draft a quarterback and do you agree they would need to trade all the way up to three or could they hold out until six or seven?

I think they need to get to three. I would do a deal. Pick 12, four pick three, next year's one and like a third round pick. And I'd go get Justin Fields. That's what I would do if I was Kyle Shanahan. And like I talked about earlier, like you see what the Rams are doing?

Like that's in your division. I say it all the time with the San Francisco Giants. Like you're in the division now with the Padre who are up and coming and have a loaded roster and the powerhouse of the Dodgers. If that doesn't inspire you, you're in the wrong business. So I don't like chasing other teams,

but when they're in your division, that's who you got to beat. And while the Niners have been beating the Rams, Jared Goff's gone. And like, you're not going to, I watched Matt Stafford play the Niners a couple years ago. He beat him. Why doesn't Sean Watson retire

and sign with another team after next season? Go the Carson Palmer route. Well, if you remember, Carson Palmer, you can't, like, the team hold your rights. Carson Palmer was traded to the Raiders for multiple first-round picks. So that's just, it's just not an option. I was wondering what's your take on Sam Ellinger. I feel like he's not getting enough attention. He's a great talent, but it seems everyone is more fixated on the big four in the draft.

Completely honest, I don't watch that much Texas football. And the little bit I did watch, I thought he was all right. you know, mid to late round guy. You know, maybe could be a backup. Obviously, he's really athletic. It felt like he played in college for 25 years. But I'd be lying to you if I said I had a great scouting report on Sam Ellinger. I think for the most part, I know there's a Dak Prescott and obviously a Brady.

I'm not into mid to late round quarterbacks. Like most of those guys are just not going to be any good. I'd rather just get an undrafted player. Why did the Packers draft A.J. Dillon if they were just, going to overpay Aaron Jones. Love the pot. I don't think they overpaid him. They basically gave him $13 million guaranteed.

One year $13 million. They let Jamal Williams walk. Aaron Jones, you know, I know his comps kind of Kamara-like, right? He obviously catches the ball. A.J. Dillon is like, I'm trying to think, like a Brandon Jacobs, like a big runner between the tackles. Like a Chris Carson.

Like, that's ultimately, I think, what you envision him being. That's not Aaron Jones. So you get a little like thunder and lightning. And EG Dillon's cheap. Plus like you can't go best player available and then not pick best player available. They stuck, they have a best player available mentality and that's what they did. I don't hate it at all.

I just started listening to your pod recently and enjoyed it so far. I appreciate that. I wanted to ask a mailback question about Eric B. Enemy. Despite being a successful coordinator of a wildly successful offense, Andy Reid calls the place, but I hear what you're saying. I think a lot of people are a little confused about why he hasn't been able to land a head coaching job while coordinators less successful of offensive half. Offenses have.

It seems like he's been unable to convince teams that the chief's offense is his doing. Because it's true. I mean, it's Andy's offense. Why wouldn't it be plausible route for him to take a college head coaching job? I bet Texas or Auburn would have jumped at hiring him if he had any interest in the last hiring cycle. Does NFL view more of those jobs as a down move or lateral, move for his or other coordinator gigs? It's a good question.

Based on who they landed, it seems like schools such as Texas or Auburn would have been all over them. I'm a huge USC fan and feel like that's just one example of a major job that might be open soon. I hear what you're saying, and these jobs now in college pay a premium, right? You can make $6, $7, $8 million being a head coach. I think Sark's making like six, right? Sark's making huge money.

And Eric B. N.M. probably makes, let me just take an educated guess, 1.3. million with the chief. Eric Miedem, he's a millionaire. I think it's a lot easier to work in the NFL just because of the recruiting, even though I think BNM would probably be a good recruiter. He also was the offensive coordinator at Colorado

when I was scouting, when John Embry, who's the 49ers tight end coach, and it was a disaster. So maybe none of those colleges are interested. Part of the deal is we can't keep going, and listen, I mean, I know Andy gives him a ton of credit, and I'm not trying to speak out of turn here, but this is Andy's baby.

It's Andy's offense. Now, I think he should be hired. But clearly, the one thing that keeps coming out is he doesn't interview well. Like these teams, I mean, they go in kind of unbiased, we'll hire whoever, and they just don't hire them. Like Brandon Staley. Now, you know, an interview doesn't mean you're going to be a head coach, but it doesn't mean you're going to get a job or not.

Brandon Staley for the L.A. Rams who interviewed with the Chargers, they wanted to hire Brian Dayball, and then they interviewed him with the charges, and he blew them away. You got to interview well. It's part of the deal to become a coach. How do you feel about the Steelers going forward? As a fan, I think they're one of the worst built franchises going forward and are going to have a hilariously hard time rebuilding over the next five years.

Big contracts on guys due to regress, like Hayward, Hayden, and Nelson. Let them walk. Minkin, T.J. need to get paid. Pay them. And in my opinion, our receiving core is grossly overrated. To be honest, I can't think of a single position they don't need help at. And they don't have a lot of draft capital. God, it shows you the Steelers fans, man.

Fucking high standards, right? Used to winning. You know what the Raiders, what, like the Arizona Cardinals, what the hell, the Niners would do for the consistent success the Steelers have had over the last 20 years? Do you know what, the multiple Super Bowls? but I like that. That's a great part about having powerhouse franchises.

There's a reason most Alabama fans, like anything less than SEC championship in a Final Four bid is a failure. For the Steelers, anything less than like a home playoff game, failure. You got an elite coach. Elite might be strong, a damn good coach and a damn good general manager.

Now, you're going to need a quarterback. So for all the other fluff, you've had Rothesberger over many years who's covered up a lot. Now, you've obviously had other great players, Antonio Brown, like you said, some of the older guys on defense, Levy on Bell over that time. You're going to have to figure out your quarterback. To me, that's the number one thing you have to do. Devin Bush coming back off the injury, really good player.

T.J. Watt, elite player. Minka Fitzpatrick, elite player. Like, you've got some elite core pieces on defense. You always draft well on offense. You always find running backs. You always find offensive alignment. You always find skill guys. But you've been spoiled.

You've had the same guy behind center for since 2004. And you're just going to have to find a way to replace them. And I don't really have, you know, a great answer for it. And I'm sure neither do you and neither do the Steelers. Like, what are they going to do? So I don't think it's as dire as you think. Also, like, in your division, the Ravens aren't going away. But, like, until Lamar proves that he can become a great thrower,

like, they're not going to just be some consistent Super Bowl champion. And Baker has some limitations. So it's not like you're going up against Aaron Rogers or Russell Wilson in your division. Question, there's always the most focus on the quarterback position, and this offseason seems like more of the same. It feels like the Saints may move forward with Tassum and Winston. They did. Do you think it could work out for teams in the future

to carry two mediocre quarterbacks that have different strengths? Obviously, Tasem more of a running quarterback where Breeze Winston are more traditional pocket passers and give the majority of the snaps based on a game by game, whichever gives you the better chance to win based on the defense you are playing and the score of the game. have Tassum grind the clock out with the lead or let Winston channel his TB days

of chucking it down the field and hope the best when they get behind. Any chance this becomes a new trend where you see Baltimore acquire more of a passing quarterback with a low-cap hit for all those games where the defense just matches up well against a running quarterback. I see what you're saying. In baseball it's called platooning, right?

You have multiple guys to play left field. One guy's a left-handed hitter, one guy's a right-handed hitter, and one guy plays depending on the starting pitcher. That's just how the Billy Bean mindset and philosophy that is spread all over baseball, including the Dodgers and like the Yankees do it a little too. But all the Billy Bean guys in Tampa, they platoon.

Problem isn't quarterback. You need an elite quarterback to sustain winning. So anytime I hear the word mediocre, he'll get exposed. And you can't just play the other guy because then whatever his weakness is, he'll get exposed. So you just need to find a way to find a well-rounded quarterback. And I think in 2021, it's a mobile. You don't need to be Lamar Jackson or even Taysam Hill.

You just need to be able to move around or keep plays alive with your leg. James actually has pretty good pocket presence and can move for a guy that's not, wouldn't be known as a great athlete. So I would just go with James Winston. And then just keep using the TaseM Hill packages. But I don't see that being a trend. because no team, no owner, no coach, and definitely no general manager, would ever feel comfortable thinking that they're starting quarterback for a given game by choice.

It's one thing if your starter goes down. But by choice, you're putting in an average or mediocre player at quarterback. Because usually that equals losses, right? Think of the teams that win. Rogers, Russell, Brady, Rothesberger, you know, that's just Lamar, Mahomes. like you're going to need pro bowl players to sustain winning. And the longer you roll with multiple mediocre quarterbacks, good thought, but it's just, it's not feasible.

But again, I like you thinking outside the box. We need outside the box thinkers. Appreciate everyone listening. Middle Coff mailbag. Tell your friends about the podcast. I'm a big word of mouth, grassroots. Enjoy the week. Godspeed.

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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 acapella 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 Smygill and friends on the eye-heartedly radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career

in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliford Show. This is a place for raw unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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.

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