The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - NFL's Amazon Game Changer, Tyron Smith Loss, Overhyped Vikes, Bad Bucs Vibes

Episode Date: August 26, 2022

John discusses the significance of NFL games streaming on Amazon, why the clause in Nick Saban’s  contract that guarantees he will always be the highest paid college football coach, if the devastating loss of Cowboys LT Tyron Smith to injury will be too much to overcome, if the Vikings have become overhyped heading into new HC Kevin ‘Connell’s first season, how the Raiders are still reeling from bad Gruden drafts, and if the signs are pointing to a rough season for the Bucs. Subscribe NOW and follow Middlekauff and The Volume on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest content. It's always  FanDuel for the best wagering action! #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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Now sign up with promo code Colin so they know we sent you. What is going on everybody? John Middlough, three and out podcast. Up and Adam again. I've been up for a little while. It's about 2.30 in the afternoon here in nice and warm Scottsdale, Arizona. Might have a little golf on tap for Mniana.

We usually do a weekend mailbag at John Middlecough is the Instagram. You guys know the deal. Just fire into those DMs. I don't know if we have enough. So I might move, might not be anything over the weekend. And we'll have podcasts probably Monday, Tuesday. And then maybe I'll do a mail bag on like, Thursday because next week's Labor Day, I think a lot of people are going to be screwing around.

So I might move up the day and just do the mailbag on a Thursday and then we'll just be rocking and rolling the following week. NFL season, week one. Let's go. Also, share this podcast with your friends. Share it with your enemies. Share with anybody. I don't really care. But just share.

We're big into grassroots here at the volume. I definitely am. If you're Dreyman, you know, you just throw up a video on YouTube to like 7 million people watch. But, you know, a little little little middle coffee. Needs all the help we can get. So I appreciate everyone that listens and shares. And I couldn't be doing it without you. If you listen through Collins feed, subscribe to the three and out feed.

I know a lot of you guys that listen through the three and out feed. But so, you know, Collins feed is pretty massive. So, yeah, that's where you listen. Also subscribe to the three and out feed. And I greatly appreciate it. and let's get rocking and rolling. So I'm recording this before a pretty historic night in the National Football League. They're going to, for the first time, be on strictly a streaming platform.

And I'll be sitting on a couch about 20 feet away from me watching the game. 49ers Texans on Amazon Prime. Now, I'm not going to try to belittle or make fun of, you know, the older, I'm going to consider you guys the older archaic just always angry at something that screams, oh my God, Amazon Prime, no, take it off CBS or NFL Network or ABC. It's like, guys,

it's Amazon. It's one of the biggest companies in the world. Everyone I know has Amazon Prime and I've already checked. It already has all the games laid out all season. I think it's going to be very seamless. Now, Al Michaels, who's, you know, one of the all-time greats. I do think the Kerr-Hurbs Street thing little weird, a little bit of a stretch.

And I'm a Herbie guy. I would have liked an NFL guy. But as we've seen over and over, you can't just take random NFL people and turn them into it, right? Jason Witten failed. Drew Breeze never had a chance. I mean, God, awful. Right?

And that's no offense to them as players, their fame. Obviously, Cowboys Star tied in, Future Hall of Fame are probably. Drew Breeze, who many people think I'm a hater. I'm really not. One of the all-time great quarterbacks. They're just terrible at media. Like, if you're going to put a mic in front of your face,

you better be able to entertain. And those guys couldn't do it. Again, not shocking for those of us that kind of look at it from that angle, but it's difficult. So I understand Herb Street, who's been doing it for a long time, pretty seamless transition. You know, they wanted Sean McVeigh. He's obviously having a lot of success.

They want it and, you know, he got paid a lot of money to stay at the Rams, and he shouldn't have left. He could always go to television. Television's going nowhere. A Rams roster. loaded, ready to win another Super Bowl. You'd be crazy to leave. He made the right decision.

John Lynch, a little less crazy because GMs make way less than coaches. But John Lynch, already super rich. Unlike Sean McVeigh, he'd worked in television, it would have been a seamless transition. But he turned it down. And don't totally blame him. He feels like they have a Super Bowl caliber team. And you're much more famous if you become Super Bowl champion, general manager, John Lynch, who's also in the Hall of Fame,

than just calling Amazon games for a lot of money. So I completely understand why those two guys did it. And this is going to change the game for sports. As you've seen, Apple TV now has baseball. I think the NBA, which, listen, has lost half its audience over the last decade. But one thing where they might not lose television revenue money is to get the streaming services involved. And whether it's Apple, whether it's Netflix, whether it's obviously Amazon Prime,

who's been sniffing around now for years, pretty sure they had a trial run last year or maybe the last couple years and now they've gone all in. Who's to say next year with DirecTV, it's no longer going to have the NFL package. Next year, the NFL package is going to be on one of these platforms. And here's the one unique part about these platforms. A little like Liv Golf, everyone's like, how is Liv going to survive? It's like, guys, they don't give a shit. They have an unlimited amount of cash. They're not in it to make money right away. And historically, like these big startups, they get funded with all these monies from the VCs, they're cool with them not making money for a while. Now, right now, the economy's a little

weird. Then they want results. But when times are good, people are cool with pumping a lot of money in to lose it in the short term to make it long term. Now, Amazon is not exactly live golf and funded by the Saudis. Like big picture, they would like to make money off this. But I think they know we're going to be able to make money off this. I saw Florio wrote that they sold it based on 12 a half million viewers. Now, you know, are they going to get that many viewers? Who knows? But unlike CBS and NBC and Fox, they're not going to be judged by the Nielsen ratings. And the irony of the Nielsen ratings, like clearly the NFL is the most watched television product. But they actually have no clue how many people are watching the games. It's based on meters, a couple people in

every market that represent millions of people. I always thought when I worked in radio, and it's not shocking to me, well, radio's dying not necessarily because of the ratings, even though their ratings are dipping all around the country, terrestrial radio. It's because of cars now, you can't get into someone's car, especially if they're under 50 and their car is less than 10 years old without them connecting to their phone. Historically, radio had the market corner because when you hopped in the car, the only way to be entertained and hear anything, clicked on the radio. So they kind of had you by the balls.

Now, they got this little thing called the iPhone, and I can listen to Spotify, I can listen to Apple music, I can listen to whatever the hell I want. And it's not like, I'm in the podcast business. now. I know exactly how many people are listening. In radio, like in San Francisco, for example, there's like 8 million people in the market. And it's represented by a total of 20 meters that represents the whole market. It's a complete Fugazi. No one has any fucking clue how many people are actually listening. And television ratings are a little bit similar, though I think they get a closer grasp, like clearly a lot of people watch the NFL. But they really don't know if it's

12, 15 million, 10 million. Now, Amazon's going to know exactly how many people. people are streaming. And that number, whether it's $5 million, $8 million, who knows. But they will know every single human being where you are. And honestly, they'll have all your information because if you're an Amazon user, they know exactly what you like. A little Facebook style. It's one of the greatest advantages that these kind of internet-based companies have over the archaic way that media has always done business. It's why they're slowly dying and dying and dying and dying because they can't represent the actual consumer. I tell it all the time. It's like dirty recruiting. this since I've been in the podcast business and I started selling for my other podcast. I always

told potential advertisers, when you spend on radio, you have no clue who's listening. And then at first, they're like, well, my dad, he's such a loyal listener. And then as some of these younger generations have taken over, they realize, yeah, you're right, partly because a lot of people are not listening anymore. And when I tell you, I have X number of people listening, that's not a guess. That's not an educated guest. That's a fact. We know exactly how many people listen every single. month, just like Amazon will know exactly how many people, specific demos. I actually think it'll be a more profitable advertising business, big picture once they get a couple years of data. Because I'm like, well, the Nielsen ratings based on 75 meters in the market. It's like,

give me a fucking break. You guys are pulling this out of the crevices of your butt. And Jeff Bezos, well, he doesn't technically run the company anymore, will not. So I think tonight, if you're listening this on Friday, you know, hopefully it went pretty well. I can't. I can imagine it being that bad. It's Herb Street now that are pros. But this is the way of the future. Everything will eventually be streamed. It's the reason all these companies are slowly pivoting that way. The cable box dies and dies every single day, every single week, every single year. I mean, we're probably a decade away from those not even existing. Hell, maybe even less. You know, and listen, the older demographic, like, hell, I still have cable box, but I meet more and more

of people, my friends, people younger than me, that do the YouTube TV, that have all the same. like, what am I? Now, you could argue it's the same price point, and that's ultimately what it kind of became. But that is just the way that we're all shifting. So the NFL was, you know, I don't want to say on the forefront because baseball's already done this. But the NFL has been dabbling now for a couple years. Now, here's the thing. A lot of their owners are still old. You know, Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft, the Maras, the Roonies. And those, that generation of people are very, very loyal. I've said it all the time. My generation just isn't that loyal when it comes to business. Like, oh, you can get me a better price? Like, my mom.

use the same people to cut their grass or to clean their house or to paint their house. They would never pivot off the people that they use in business. Like, I've been going to this guy forever. My generation will be like, yeah, you know, I know my parents love this guy, but I found this other guy for half the price and he just is just going to work. I mean, so many people like my parents and their friends stick with people for different services that they all complain. They're like, you know, this guy's not even that good.

But God darn, we love Bill. It's like, my generation would be like, yeah, this guy sucks. We're going to use someone else for either, hell, we'll even pay more if the guy's better. And that was the one reason that the NFL was never going to pivot off Fox, CBS, and NBC. One, they've been so profitable to them, but two, the loyalty. And I think this next probably eight, ten years away whenever they renegotiate. And a lot of those people, you know, I'm not rooting for their death, but, you know, when you're 75, you're going to be 85, a lot of those people will not be around. and their children will be representing the league in these negotiations.

Who knows? There's no guarantee that these people survive. When I say people, I mean Fox, NBC, depending on how powerful their products are. And let's face it, Apple, Netflix, now, who knows, the changing landscape. You know, they could all come back to Earth, lose a bunch of money. Things change at rapid speed now. If they offer more money, the league will pivot this next time around.

So this might be the last time these next seven, eight years of just watching. these games on quote-unquote basic channels. Another thing I wanted to get into college football-wise, Nick Sabin got this new contract. He's making almost $12 million a year. It turns out that whenever Nick Sabin is not one of the highest paid coaches in the country, I think it's like top three. His contract has this clause that kicks in.

He can automatically renegotiate. And I used to say this about Jim Harbaugh, because what he did at Stanford, then when he did it for the 49ers, and then his relevancy when he got to the University of Michigan, he was just the ultimate cash cow. You brought Jim Harbaugh in, whether you paid him $5 million a year, $8 million a year, and you printed money. Now, that slowed down a little bit these last several years

up until this last season when he beat Ohio State. But he was, you got in the business with Jim Harbaugh as an owner, as an athletic director, as a university. He printed you cash. I think when it comes to college athletics, Nick Saban might be the greatest cash cow in the history of the sport when it comes to coaches. College football or college basketball.

Now, hear me out. About two weeks ago, my brother plays at this club in Sacramento area. And every Wednesday night, they have like a men's skins game. I'm talking golf. And I went to it with them. And I go, you know, three, four, five times a year. And I play in this game on Wednesday night. get to go home, see my mom.

It's an easy one. Play a little golf. You know, try to win a little money. But, you know, it's hard. You got to make a birdie on the tough holes. It's hard to win a skin. But we're playing with this guy who actually is a family friend. He's probably in his mid-50s and has a couple, has three children who are all college ages.

They're all going to colleges. And this guy played football at UC Davis in the 80s. What's funny is when we were playing golf, he told this story. He was when he was there, Dan Hawkins, Mike Bullitts, Mike Bellotti, Chris Peterson, and Gary Patterson at TCU. So all these coaches that became head coaches and all these Division I schools all across the country were there. And he's telling me about Gary Patterson at the time.

It was like a coffee runner. He's like the one guy who was like 22, 23 years old at the time. He was like a player coach basically. He just finished playing. He went right into coaching who we all, every single one of us, offense or defense, was like, this guy's going to be a star. This guy's a genius. was Chris Peterson.

He's like, I'm not saying that now because it's 2022 and I've seen his resume. I'll promise you. All the guys on the team went, this guy's going to be a stud. And if you've ever been around Chris Peterson or obviously people that have listening that have followed his career, you know, the dude was genius. I mean, he was fantastic. Elite coach. Elite coach.

But we're talking, and I don't know him that well. My brother knows him a lot better. And he starts telling me about his kids. And I'm like, oh, where do your kids go to school? He's like, well, my daughter just graduated from the University of Colorado. but I have two boys. One's a freshman in college and the other's a sophomore in college. One goes to the University of Tennessee and the other goes to Ole Miss.

And I just, you know, just through family, know a lot of people I think that have like college age kids. And I can't tell you how many of them have sent their kids to the SEC. And these are all people from California. And you can't tell me without Alabama's run. And let's face it, Alabama's run, has made the SEC. The SEC before was just a conference that played at one o'clock for us in California on CBS. Well, once Nick Saban got there and they started winning national championship after

national championship, and let's face it, a rising tide lifts all boats, LSU won, Georgia won, their conference made way more money, they became way more relevant. It didn't just drive the applicants for the University of Alabama, in my opinion. It did it all. over the SEC. And we've seen it in college recruiting. All these California kids, Naji Harris, was my neighbor. Where'd he go? Alabama. Now, you could argue once upon a time, like when I was a sophomore in high school, DJ Williams at Dalai Sal went to Miami. So the best in the bright, Tom Brady once went to Michigan. California guys have been nationally recruited, but at the rate that they're consistently going to the SEC, but I, listen, it's not just about football players. These guys are just

students. I can't tell you how many stories I consistently hear about parents sending their kids to SEC schools. And listen, it's my theory. I don't necessarily have data to back this up, but you can't tell me that football and the cool, quote unquote, coolness and relevancy of those schools hasn't added to this. Because before, like, when I was in high school, where'd you go? Well, you couldn't get into UCLA or Cal, you fucking just ended up at Sac State or Cal Poly or San Diego State or Fresno State or wherever. You didn't maybe Oregon or Arizona or Arizona State, but you didn't venture to the South.

I didn't know one person. I knew a lot of people in Sacramento schools. Obviously, my high school was pretty big. Woodland. I didn't know anyone that went to the SEC. Not one. Now there's countless kids. And I just hearing some of these stories all the time.

So I think Nick Saban won. He's dramatically underpaid. Whatever the highest paid coach is, he should make double. And I actually had this thought. Every single school in the SEC should probably chip in a million. So if Alabama's going to pay him $12 million, all the other 13 schools should chip in another $13 million each and get him to $25 million because of the money he's made them. It is, you could argue, the greatest hire in the history of sports.

If you factor in his impact to the conference. Now, you know, Bella Jack or Phil Jacks, I mean, there have been. been great hires. But those guys, like Bell Belichick made Robert Kraft a lot of money. He didn't, the league, like he didn't impact. He just beat the Steelers. Right. I mean, he didn't do anything for the Raiders or the chargers or the cowboys where Nick Sabin impacted everybody. And when I see these numbers, my first thought always is, God, he's underpaid. There was a huge breaking news today about Tyron Smith. The, a lot of people say this. Now, I'd be lying if I know he's a, he's a really good.

player when he was younger. He's been injured a lot. First ballot, I don't know if he's a first ballot. Obviously, he's one of the best tackles of the last, you know, several decades when he was right, but he got hurt a lot. He hasn't played a full season since 2015. And part of the, when you draft, right, part of drafting is they always say don't draft for need. And that's true, but you don't just draft, there is a balance. And part of the reason the Cowboys took an offensive lineman and definitely a guy that projects to be a tackle in the first round, was big picture Tyron Smith one, he's just getting older and two, he's injured a lot. Plus, they had other offensive linemen go. You do have to factor in who's on your team, right? Because why wouldn't

they just drafted another pass rusher or another? Like they, I don't want to say they drafted for need, but that impacted their draft. And when this guy got hurt, there was a story yesterday that his hamstring ripped. And it turns out his actually, what happened was, is like the knee injury that Becht had where the hamstring rips off the back of your knee. It sounds incredibly painful. Like when you read it, you're like, I don't wish that upon anybody. But that's a major blow. And the Cowboys, because when you win, right, if you have a playoff level season, you're going to draft in the 20s. So you don't get to pick the best players in the draft. Now that sometimes looking back, five, six years later, you got T.J. Watt or whoever late in the first round, ironically, I think the Cowboys once passed on T.J.

Watt for Taco Charlton, but that's a whole other story. But the reality is, I didn't know much about this guy. this offensive lineman from Tulsa. And reading some articles from people that cover the Cowboys, like who's going to fill in for them? Because let's face it, you lose your left tackle. When you have a $40 million quarterback, it's never ideal. But they also let their right tackle walk in free agency. They have kind of a domino effect on your offensive line.

Now, I've seen it before in the season. You can patchwork something together for five, six, seven games. It's hard right before the season when you know seven. 17 games, the guy is not available. The Cowboys would have them available for half the season. Give us seven or eight, and we'll figure out the other seven or eight games. I saw the 49ers, the year they made the Super Bowl in 2019, Joe Staley broke his leg and McGlinchy tore his MCL,

and they still were the number one seat. Hell, last year, they made the NFC championship, and Mike McGlinchie, I think tore his hamstring or tore something and missed the majority of the season. So it can be done in season. I do believe it's a lot more difficult when you have. to go the entirety without your star pass rusher, your star left tackle, obviously a quarterback, you're completely screwed. Now, they will have an opportunity to make some claims, but the problem's

going to be is the claiming order once the big cuts come. When you draft, it's based on draft order. That does not change till week four. So if the Cowboys, let's just say, because they're going to be some offensive linemen to get cut that will get claimed. Now, most guys that get cut, I don't think will be viewed as immediate plug-in-play players and at best their backups. The problem is, let's say the guy is pretty good. That guy is probably not making it past the top 10 in the waiver claim order. So the Cowboys who, I think their draft picks like 22, 23, 24, wherever it was, more than likely the guy that they would want would never get to them.

And doing some research about the kid that they drafted, whose name is Tyson Smith, it kind of throws you off because one's Tyron Smith, this guy's Tyson Smith. is he is a pretty raw product. He came out after his redshirt sophomore year, played at Tulsa, definitely talented, but Texans some people in the league, like he needs a lot of work. Now, I have no problem with the Cowboys taking quote-unquote a project with a ton of talent in the 20s. As someone told me in the NFL, he had 10 holding penalties last year. Like that that was a major issue for him.

But this is a team that, let's face it, is not just cool with winning six, seven games. And they're not even trying to. win 10 games. They're trying to win in the playoffs or their coach is going to get fired. Now, you could also argue that, well, what do you guys think was going to happen? This is an aging player who has played a total, I think of 13 games the last two years. In 2020, you only played two. Last year, I think he played 11. So it's just part of the deal. When you got older players that are often injured, the problem is it's one thing. If the guy's a linebacker or a slot corner or a wide receiver, it's another one is your starting left tackle. It's just a

Just a massive, massive blow. NFL kickoff is still a few weeks away, but you can get in on the action now on Fandual Sportsbook with their NFL Super Win bonus. Right now, anyone who places at least a $50 Super Bowl winner bet will get $5 back for each win your team has during the regular season. You can get the Rams to repeat at 11 to 1. You get the Ravens at 20 to 1.

Sneaky kind of like the Ravens. I actually think they're almost flying a little bit under the radar. They missed the playoffs last year, some of the Lamar drama. Do not forget. The Ravens had like 7 million players injured. I think they're going to be a powerhouse this year. There are also a ton of other future market available, like team win totals, division winners, player props, and so many more.

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18778, Hope, NY, or text, Hope, N.Y, 467-369, New York, Tennessee, 888-9-9, Tennessee, 1-800-5-2-2-4700. Wyoming, visit www.1-800 gambler.net, West Virginia. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all,

embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me.

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

and the next we'll talk about life. mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream,

this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people.

I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill,

waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day But just so y'all know I mean at this point Mark this is the second episode where we've discussed crack 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 And 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 podcast 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 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, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose

on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app, Search learn the hard way and listen now. And thinking about a massive, massive blow, it feels like just all the reports reading about the joint practices is the Las Vegas Raiders, who Belichick called their facility the Taj Mahal of football. If you haven't seen it yet, I think they went to Dana White's offices for the UFC.

Obviously Dana White, Boston guy, diehard Patriot guy, invited their whole team there. Belichick put on one of the championship belts. he had a big smile. It was pretty funny. If you haven't, type it into Google. It's a funny watch. But by all accounts, the Raiders kicked the you know what out of the Patriots

back to back days in their joint practices. And the one guy that everyone kept reporting on that couldn't be stopped was Devante Adams. And I would say for me personally, Devante Adams is probably my favorite player in the league. Now, I'm biased. He's a Fresno State guy. I mean, I followed his career.

I couldn't follow it really any closely. but part of the reason is knowing people that know him really closely I've never actually met him but I know, I mean his mentor who now is a coach for actually the Ravens who just tells me that they look pretty good. So I think the

Ravens are going to have a big season. Everything that Devante stands for is what I would want if I was a general manager and drafted a player. And everyone that's ever been around him would reiterate that. He is beloved as one, he's just an elite player but the way he conducts himself

the way he is as a teammate, just the type guy he is. But when you play with Aaron Rogers, who is one of the greatest players in NFL history, also kind of a polarizing guy, and just a bigger star than you, I wouldn't say you're overshadowed, but you're never the star on the team. It's always Aaron Rogers team.

And he's going to play with a quarterback who now makes, I think, $40 million, and Derek's well-established as one of the better top 12, 13 quarterbacks in the league. I think we all agree. He's a good player. But Devante is now the best player on the team. This is now, to me, Devante's team.

Like when you think the Vegas Raiders, the first guy you think about, in my opinion, is Devante Adams. And I'm not saying he's necessarily the most important because the quarterback always is. If Derek got hurt, they would be in trouble. But as long as Derek is healthy, I do think this is Devonte's, like, he's the guy. And he, you know, he's already a quote unquote star. but I think the way that we look at him now, he's got a chance to even take his legacy game

and everything to a completely different level. And by all accounts, that's what he's doing. Now, you could argue the Patriots, he lose J.C. Jackson, you don't have anyone to cover him. Bad matchup. I think the Patriots, I get more and more nervous by the day with the New England Patriots. Because part of the problem is that the Patriots tweeted out this picture

of when they went to Dana White's, the UFC thing. And it's the entire team and everyone's smiling, having a good time. front and center is Belichick, and then flanked to one side is Patricia and the other side is Joe Judge. Now, those guys had proven to be solid coaches for Bill Belichick on special teams and on defense. Now one guy's coaching the quarterbacks and the other guy is coaching the offensive line and calling the plays. I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be a hater. Bill Belichick's the greatest coach I've ever seen. That is fucking nuts. That is, that's the craziest thing I think I've ever seen in of the NFL in terms of coaching. That is, that is wild. And ultimately, I think it's going to,

now you could argue their team is not as talented, but I just can't view you as anything, but a team that's not going to be that good relative to their standard. I mean, they still might get to seven wins, but I can't view them as a, as a playoff team with Bill. Even if he takes over the play calling, he is still depending on Joe Judge to coach Mac Jones and Matt Patricia to coach the offensive line. I'm out. I'm out. But I'm telling you, I think Devante, I don't want to quite go Cooper Cup season because, I mean, we may not see one of those for a long time. But I think he'll pretty quickly, it's like, this is Devante's team. And that's a good thing for, I think even for the Raiders takes a little pressure off Derek in a weird way for a guy that's had to kind of carry, you know, a debacle of a franchise.

I mean, what Derek has been forced to kind of carry over the years, whether it was from moving, whether it was from coaches getting fired. whether it was from last year, you know, Rugs killing the dude in Vegas to the John Gruden emails. Like most quarterbacks, Brady Manning don't have to put up with that crap. Let's transition really quick to another quarterback. There's a lot of hype on the Vikings. Obviously, Coward is picking them to potentially be like the one seed.

He thinks they're going to be a team that's going to win 12, 13 games. I've heard a lot of people just the cover football talk about them being really good. And if you listen to Colin had Kevin O'Connell on, on his podcast this week. He's good. Like Kevin O'Connell's an impressive guy. Six-five, good-looking dude, former quarterback. He's like Kingsbury, but feels like he's much more my type offense, right? The McVe-Shannahan, like an NFL-style offense.

Not running the spread BS, but unlike Kingsbury, he's off. I think he's married and he said he's got three or four kids. Actually, I think he said he's got his fourth kid on the way. So I'm a Kevin O'Connell fan. but part of their their main issue in my opinion the last several years they've had two fatal flaws the offensive line has not been that good and last year their dbs were a joke i want to say dbs i mean corners and let's face it the amount of pass rushers that consistently come to the NFL has like come in it just at rapid rates right more pass rushers every year coming in the league than

offensive linemen so i don't necessarily blame you if your offensive line is average. It's hard to find offensive line and they haven't been shitty enough to draft high. But DBs, like, they miss on a bunch of picks. And I texted with a guy with the Niners and I said, you know, because they just joint practice with them. And I said, do you think that their offensive line and DBs are going to be a major problem? And he's like, I actually think their offensive line is better than most people think because I said that because I saw a bunch of, you know, videos going viral of Nick Bosa and Kinlaw and these guys just destroying them. And he's like, fairness, Bosa was just on a mission those two days.

Anthony Munoz might have struggled with the guy. But he's like, his point was, I actually think their offensive line's going to be okay. And ultimately, their offense has not been their problem. They average 25 points a game, which, you know, could be a little better. I think they could be better on offense this year than they were last year. But then he said their DBs are going to be an issue. Their corner play is going to be a problem. It's a passing league.

This is not 1998, where every single week you're facing Barry San Francisco. Emmett Smith and Ricky Waters. Ricky Waters is the only other running back I could think of off the top of my head to the late 90s. Marshall Falk. You know, so you need to be able to cover on the outside. And if you tell me their DBs stink, I'm going to have a hard time. I'm not saying that they can't compete to be a wild card, but so many people are picking them to win the division, I just don't see it.

Not when your major flaw is outside corner play, because that is a position that so many teams that you're going to play are going to try to explain. point why many teams have capable quarterbacks into their star wide receivers all over the place and even non-star wide receivers you can find random wide receivers and get 70 to 80 balls. So if you can't cover people on the outside

and let's face it, John Randall ain't walking through that door, their defensive line is okay but it's not as good as it was four or five years ago. I think they could have some issues on defense. Now their offense, let's just let's even assume they're top six, seven offense in the league. Well, if their corner play is bottom five, eight in the NFL,

that to me, I can't pick you to win the division. Let's fly around a couple things. There was a video that went viral today of Aaron Donald's swing his helmet. Just a massive, massive brawl against the Bengals. I get like, you don't control who you play in the preseason. And I've said over and over, these preseason matchups are so dumb. why you don't just play the opposite of your division. If you're in the NFC West, you play the AFC West.

If you're in the AFC North, you play the NFC North. It keeps logistically everyone close. None of these games matter. 90% of these teams don't take these games seriously at all. It's just pointless travel. Someone responded on social media like, why do you care about the travel? I mean, I don't personally.

I'm not traveling to the games. It just doesn't make any sense for the Rams to go out and play CINC. Now, these two teams played in the Super Bowl. So ultimately, and Aaron Donald specifically, you know, was one of the main reasons. The Bengals do not have a ring on their hand. So the animosity in some of these practices I get. And even watching Hard Knocks, which was probably the worst episode so far of the season. Though there was the funny clip when Deuce Daly lost his voice and was trying to coach the guys up and he could barely talk.

Is there are fights in all these joint practices. How could there not be? Right? Because it's not a game. So even if the coach goes, if you swing you kicked out of practice, it ain't the same. getting kicked out of a game. It's like, whatever, I don't even want to fucking practice anyway. And seeing some of these clips now, ultimately, a lot of people are, I don't think anything should happen to Aaron Donald. It's practice. This isn't a game. I don't actually care. But it's going to

be a big deal. It'll be interesting. Maybe they find them or something. Who knows? I, again, I doubt anything happens. But I, you know, I just think some of these matches are insane. Now, whether logistically, you're close to the team or not, you think you would still fight if you had a joint practice with the team in your opposite of your division, whether you're, you know, the Niners, Raiders, or it's, you know, Niners bangles or Rams bangles, right? But still, I just, I don't understand why everyone travels so far for these games. Like the NFL, like, what are we doing? Speaking of the Raiders, last year, one of the more head scratching picks, let's face it,

the Raiders had a lot of head scratching picks with Mayalk and Gruden. They drafted a lot of guys high in the draft. for several years that did not make that much sense. And I would say the two that are the biggest most baffling was Damon Arnett a couple years ago, who at Ohio State was a major character red flag all over the NFL. He's currently in jail. He's literally behind bars right now.

Now, ultimately, they cut them last year or whatever. I don't know for having machine guns on Instagram. Like that, that's just a type pick where the entire league goes, what the hell are these morons doing? Now, Leatherwood, to me, is a little different category. And there were some question marks to him at Alabama. He had still been a several-year starter at Alabama. So, you know, Damon Arnett, too, but his character read flags from everything I've heard

were in a completely different category than Leatherwood. The problem with Leatherwood, despite being a starter for Ohio State's awesome, too. But Damon Arnett, people didn't question his ability. Well, actually, there's some people that thought he was a little overrated, but the character stuff was really, really bad. The Leatherwood thing, a lot of people kind of question, like, is he that good? And should he, like, a lot of teams had him like second round, maybe even third round. Just because you played Alabama, Ohio State.

And your starter doesn't mean you're a locked top 20 pick. And when they took them, I think a lot of people around the league kind of scratched their head. And he immediately was a disaster. Like, he couldn't play last year. They had to keep removing him from games. And I saw a headline the day from one of the guys that covers the team that said, everything is on the table right now. Cutting him, trading him, benching him, moving positions.

It is a disaster pick. And one of the reasons the Raiders, one thing Mayak and Gruden did a pretty good job of is drafting in the middle rounds. If they just would have hit on one or two of their high picks and missed on some others, they would be loaded. I mean, honestly, they could be the Chargers. If instead of taking Cleland Farrell,

they had taken Devin White. Instead of taking Damon Arnett, they had just taken another player. Who's good? We could be talking about one of the best teams in the league. But those miss picks to me are why, yeah, I could see them win 10 games. I could also see them win eight games. Their offensive line stinks. Sequin Barclay said on a podcast, the sad part about Seyquine Barclay in college, he was remarkable.

He was like Barry Sanders, but bigger. I mean, he's one of my favorite college players in the last couple decades. And he gets to the Giants. And you didn't need to be Bill Poling or Bill Walls to realize, holy shit, this guy is good. Now, you shouldn't take a running back at two. I don't care if he's Walter Payton or Barry Sanders. In 2020, 2021, 2019, taking a running back that high is a fireball offense.

And that's why Dave Gettleman will never, you know, be a general manager in the league again. But he was really talented. And he was, like, once upon a time when Zeke went in the top five early on, it was clear. Zique was one of the best players in the draft. Sequin immediately one of the best players in the draft. But then he gets hurt. He's never been the same. To me, now part of it is offensive line has stunk,

but he really hung his hat on. He was so much faster than everyone else. He was so much faster. And he also had like kind of wiggle. He could make you miss and he could outrun you, which to me the number one thing that you don't need as a running back, like I can live without, is top end speed. You don't need to be a 4-4 guy to be a great running back.

It helps if you are. But if not, who cares? This guy had that. And actually, he was like 4-3. But he's never been the same. Now, he claims that he's going to come back better than ever, which I'd be rooting for. I hope that's the case.

But it doesn't feel like the last several years he has been even remotely close to that guy. And watching just, you know, I don't know. I'm rooting for it, not necessarily expecting it. The Broncos are. potentially going to trade Mike Gaseki. And then when Mike McDaniel was asked about it, he's like, you know, it's a story's a little misleading, a lot of guys potentially. And he kind of caught himself. Like, they're clearly might trade the guy. The problem is because he's on the franchise tag, his cap hits pretty high. Maybe they think because they have so many weapons on the outside right now,

they're not going to use them. I've always kind of like Gaseki, just as a past catching tight end, a guy that can run, a big target. I don't know why they would move them. him. Maybe, I don't know, maybe he doesn't fit the offense for McDaniel doesn't think he can block. Maybe he got spoiled being around George Kittle having a tight end and they can block, but I like Keseki. Kenny Pickett, a lot of buzz. Every day, the buzz, he's making progress. He's making progress. He might be the starter. I'm going to say it over and over. I expect him week one to be the starter. Now, I don't have any inside information on this, but it just feels like the Steelers are going to pull a rope adope because it makes no sense for their,

him to put out that he's going to be the starter, you just prepare for Trubisky, and ultimately Trubisky just becomes the backup. They paid him like a backup, though I do think they hoped he was going to be the starter, but Ms. Trubisky is not good. And I often get DMs from Bears fans that one say I'm a hater. I'm not a hater. I wish the Bears were good. They're just not. I wish, you know, I thought their coach was going to be good. I just don't. I can't tell you I think their coach is going to be good when I think he's going to be bad. Now, I'm not, you know, Nostradamus here. I could be wrong. I can predict the future. But I feel pretty good about making the educated guess that, and a lot of people like, say his name correctly. It's not Uber Fluse. It's like,

yeah, I don't really care. You know, this is a guy that was not going to be a head coach anywhere else. So I'm not going to worry about if I'm miss saying his name. Like Belichick, Andy Reid, Pete Carroll, like those guys deserve to have their name say correctly. Mike Tomlin, Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVeigh, Matt LaFleur, Michael Flore. I'm sorry, this Uber Fluse, like, I don't really give a shit. He wins some games, I'll figure out how to say his name. But I expect Candy Pickett to be the start. Jay Gruden, who has just been out of the league for a couple years, he's a Sean McVeigh guy because he made Sean McVeigh on offensive.

The Grudens took pretty good care of McVe over the years. John Gruden gave him his first job. When the Shanahan's were fired, Jay Gruden not only kept him on, he elevated him. He eventually became the offensive coordinator. I've seen Sean McVeigh. I think he said it in the article that Wickersham wrote about him, that I would never have been a head coach if it wasn't for Jay Gruden. And those are the type

relationships, whether it's football or whether it's real life and business, you take care of the people that took care of you. So seeing the Jay Gruden is going to be a consultant for, it's going to work remotely. You know what I envision? Jay Gruden's on the staff full time next year.

I would imagine part of the reason they're doing that, Dan Snyder's still paying him money. Maybe he's still cashing checks. Maybe he's just still easing his way in. But I would expect Jay Gruden to be like Sean McFay's offensive coordinator in the next couple years. And last but not least,

I saw that Tom Brady is going to play in the preseason game on Saturday night. Let's just face it, this Bucks thing feels very, very weird. And I know everyone's saying that, but it's because it does. Tom disappears in the middle of training camp. Now, I've heard stories about people

that said, if you just look at it like he had told everyone when he retired that he was going to go on a family vacation, and then once he unretires, he's like, you know, I got to stick with that. I'm sorry, when your kids, it's one thing if your kids are 40 and they got kids, and once you set dates, it's hard to change with schools. It's another thing when all your kids are 15 and under. Like, they do whatever you tell them to do.

So he could have easily rescheduled the vacation. I don't know, by week after the season. He's Tom Brady can do whatever he wants, and his kids are like 8 to 13 years old. Now, I think it's pretty clear that his wife does not want her to play in the NFL. She wants him to stop playing football. She said that years ago. And this is a situation that anyone that's been in, their significant other, their wife, their girlfriend,

it does feel like there's some tension there. Now, this is all educated a guess, but let's just put two and two together. A guy that is more addicted to football than anyone not named like Bill Belichick, Andy Reid, just leaves in the middle of training camp for a vacation? Give me a break. And his offensive line are dropping like flies.

I just think he's kind of in this weird spot. And if I wanted to put on her hat, I'd go, well, Tom, what are we doing this for? You're not doing it for money because it's not like you make, you're not even close to the highest paid player in the league. We don't need any cash. We're already super rich. You've literally accomplished everything. You've won seven Super Bowls. You got the one up on Bill.

You won. You left. You immediately won. The MVP's, the personal accolades, the team accolades, like, what are we doing this for? And he'd say, because I love it. And I'm still really good. I don't blame him for saying that. but it's pretty clear like this is not like is he kind of half in half out i see a lot of people

saying that like is tom brady already somewhat checked out in the moment you do that especially in any industry let alone a football player it's hard now i did see some clips and everyone came out his first day back like best practice of the of his time as a buccaneer i saw someone with the buccaneer said that his first practice back from the vacation was his best practice which may be true, but it feels like Tom Brady takes practice pretty seriously. I've known people that have joint practice with the Patriots. They're like every single practice. Every time you see him, he's a monster. So I think most Tom Brady practices are pretty high level. But it's weird. There's just no way around it. Their season, it's not weird when you get injuries, but they just have lost, I think, four of their five starting

offensive linemen. And I see a lot of people, it's eventually he's going to fall off a cliff. The way most guys fall off a cliff when they get older is arm strength. Well, it's doesn't, his arm hasn't remotely slowed down. Peyton Manning couldn't throw. Rathesburger couldn't throw. Tom still can throw. Now, he can't move so you could argue maybe the demise of him if their offensive line falls off a cliff with a bunch of injuries and he's just getting peppered. That could be the downfall and maybe you get to the point where you don't want to get hit. Now, you could argue how often is Tom Brady really get hit. It doesn't feel like you get touched that often. But the buck season, man, I don't want Tom to necessarily go away. But if I

was a betting man, you know, if you told me Tom Brady retires in the middle of the season at this point, like, week seven, he's just like, I'm out. I would never in a million years would have believed that, like a year ago, two years ago. That's how, but who knows at this rate, especially if, you know, he's trying to save a marriage. Subscribe to the podcast, firing those DMs. I need some more DMs for a little middle cough mailbag next week at John Middilcoff as the Instagram. And I hope everyone has a great weekend. Talk to everyone soon. Peace. The volume. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. Help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app,

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I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app. or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away,

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