The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - No Excuses for Wentz; Panthers' Deshaun Chase; Mac Jones vs. Tua Debate; Cap Casualties; Headlines; Mailbag

Episode Date: February 23, 2021

In this episode, John discusses why Carson Wentz has zero excuses after forcing a trade to the Colts, why David Tepper's billions can't solve his QB problems, if Mac Jones is a better NFL prospect than Tua, and what goes into a team cutting veteran cap casualties. He also runs down some of the top NFL headlines and answers listener questions in the Middlekauff Mailbag, Follow John on Twitter and SUBSCRIBE now to get all the latest content!! 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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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 I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but the show. 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's podcast network on TikTok. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite

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Thank you guys for coming. I'm John Middilkoff, the host of the show. As you guys probably know, appreciate all the positive feedback from Friday show Blair Walsh the kicker who was awesome I got texts from all sorts of people in DMs and tweets and I know he did too so I appreciate everyone listening and enjoyed it I mean I knew he'd I had a good hunch he'd be good and he was he was fantastic it is I mean you get these stories of these guys that you know play in the

SEC playing the NFL and I think sometimes we talk and I know I know I do. I'm guilty. Talks so much about the quarterbacks and the stars. Sometimes the other players have really good stories. I mean, kickers are definitely really unique. He was fantastic. We got a pretty packed show today. You know, it's a little slow, right?

Just in terms of this year last time, I was at the NFL Combine. And the Combine is not happening. So we're just rocking and rolling. We are about three and a half weeks, I think, until free agency kind of opens up. and right now it's a little bit of a slow time but got some information on Carson Wentz

David Tepper reminds me of something Albert Breer wrote something today about Tua slash Mac Jones that I want to dive into I got some questions in the mailbag I put it on the YouTube channel John Middilco search it about cap cuts and cap casualties and they've always happened but I think this year it's going to be really unique with veteran players

getting injured or excuse me getting released, healthy players getting released. And then I'll just dive through a couple stories that I saw. Of course, Middlecoff Mailbag at John Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire up in there, DMs. Also, for everyone that has, appreciate if you left a review on Apple or iTunes. If you could do that, you know, if you have time this week, I'd appreciate it. It helps.

Thank you, everyone. Subscribe to the Three and Out podcast, separate from Collins feed. and yeah, leave a little review. Let's start with Carson Wentz. And I think there's this overarching theme just in general in the NFL that the teams and the owners are in full control, unlike, let's say, basketball where the players are in control. And I do think there historically has been a lot of truth to that.

And baseball is somewhere in the middle. Baseball players always acting like they're getting screwed. The top ones always get a stupid amount of money. So it feels like everyone economically there, if you're good, you get paid, right? I mean, Bryce Harper pits like $2.50, he's making $35 million a year. Tatis, he's played 150 games, not even, and got $340 million. So it's just, every league has its own, you know, I would say issues, complaints, things that players think, thing that owners think, and, you know, fans are kind of split.

And I think overall, where I always land, I always lean with the fan. And the fan is always going to root first and foremost for his team to do well. So sometimes that's rooting for them to keep a player. I mean, Seattle, there are rumors that they might trade Russell Wilson the starting points three ones. Like, no fan is going to side with Seattle. Not a soul, right? None.

Every fan and every person that I know is siding with Deshawn Watson. But sometimes, like, you side with the team. When a player's not any good and you cut them, you trade them, it happens. So these issues are complicated. But as I read today, Peter King and, Albert Breer about the Carson Wentz situation is Carson Wentz somewhat dictated where he went like Carson Wentz

No team like the Bears for example They were not going to trade for Carson Wentz If he told them I don't want to come there Which let's face it is kind of bad business And back in the day in the 80s the 90s I think the mentality was Fuck it Excuse my language any kids in the car

You're coming to the organization no matter what. Right? Al Davis was king of it. He'd always trade for guys. A lot of players, especially as he got older, did not want to come to the Raiders. He didn't care. And I think that was kind of a mindset around the league.

Well, now it's like it ain't worth it. And especially with the amount of money you're paying high-priced guys, specifically quarterbacks. He wanted to go to the Indianapolis Colts. The Eagles were at somewhat of a position, a disadvantage. Now, you can say they created the situation. Here's what I do.

Let's start with one thing. because I think sometimes that people go, oh, John, you're just, you're an eagle, Homer, even though I was never, I didn't think about the team until I worked for him. But yeah, friends with Howie, know a lot of people in the organization. I want them, root for them to do well.

Did this situation go well for them? Of course not. But let's say something. I don't like Jalen Hertz as a player. I, in a million years, if I was a general manager, never would have drafted him to be my quarterback. When I watched him play, and I watched a lot of his career,

because the guy that hired me at Fresno State is Lincoln Riley's, basically is GM. So I watch all the Oklahoma games, and I'm just a huge football fan, so obviously I watch all of Alabama games. Who can't? I mean, they're always on television. So I feel like in college,

I watched 20 plus games this kid played. Hell, maybe more. Definitely all of his, at least the majority of his Oklahoma games. I thought he was a running back. So when they drafted Jalen Hertz, I thought it was crazy. I don't know. Help.

People don't always agree with my friends in the league. Just like when I worked in the league, I didn't agree with everything we did. We're humans. No different to any business you're in. You might be buddies with your boss. He's going to make decisions you're not going to agree with. It's part of life. So now I'm just an out.

It doesn't even matter what I think, you know, in the sense of it's not going to change. They're going to do whatever the hell they want to do. But so once they draft the guy, Carson Wentz, clearly for them to pull the trigger on that. And I've never asked. the exact thought process behind it. I know it's been reported. I was there.

We loved Russell Wilson in 2012. And the one thing I really learned when I was in Philly, and I still talk about the draft this way, is value, when to draft a guy. You don't want to pay a million dollars for a $700,000 house. But the one thing in the draft is when you try to match up your values to what round the guy's going to go,

sometimes you get burned. You know, it's like, we can land this guy in the third, and then all of a sudden the Seattle Seahawks take them. Now, the irony is the Eagles ended up getting Nick Foles, which I know he left, but then he came back and he won him a Super Bowl. So in a weird way, it all kind of worked out. But I think everyone agrees if you could do it all over in 2012, they would have drafted Russell Wilson, right, in the second round.

And he just would have been their quarterback for this decade. But they saw that in Jalen Hertz. They liked him. They didn't think he was going to be there in the third, so they pulled the trigger in the second. But Carson Wentz had been, there was no competition. He was going to be the starter. and when they brought this kid in,

clearly he crumbled under the pressure. He did not play well. He started losing the locker room. It was just a bad situation. Now, every decision creates some sort of reaction. You ideally hope in player acquisition, just like in any asset acquisition in your business, it has a positive impact on your company,

on the people in your company. In a business setting, obviously makes you more money in a football sense. It makes your team better. That is not what happened here. It had a reverse, you know, impact of negativity. It was awful because Carson went in the tube and less than a year later he was traded.

It was a disaster for them. But I think they would say they kind of saw Carson's true colors. And then back to what I was talking about, Carson, he dictated where he went. Him and his agent went to Frank. They wanted to go to the Colts. Colts knew he wanted to come there. They knew all these other people weren't going to trade for him.

Why? Because he didn't want to go anywhere else. So this notion that GMs and owners just control everything, that's just not true. Like, the information is being reported here. He pretty much dictated where he was going. And really, the Eagles didn't have any leverage. Their only leverage was, it's like, we just got to get rid of this guy. And he's now at the Colts. Here's what I do know about him in Indianapolis.

He has no excuses. He wanted to go there. He basically, in a weird way, I don't think he attempted to play his way out of Philadelphia. He was just really bad. But ultimately, he's gone, and he wanted to be gone, and then he got to the place he wanted to go. And the place that he wanted to go is really freaking good. They have a great offensive line. They have a star young running back.

They have a young wide receiver Pitman Jr. That I'm a big fan of. Their defense is really good. Their coaching staff is good. Can't ask for anything more. The excuses for Carson Wentz are no more. They're done. It's over.

He dictated his way out of Philly. He got to go where he wants, and he's going to a good team. He's going to a team that just won 11 games with Philip Rivers that was hanging on by a thread. I think we'd all agree if you put a top 10 quarterback on the Colts. I'm not even talking like Rogers or Brady. Let's just go like, hell, let's go like Kirkland. Cousins. If I put Kirk Cousins on the Colts, they'd win 13 games. If I put, like, Deshaun Watson on there, they might win 15.

So Carson, like, I just, there really isn't any pressure on the Colts. Just in the sense, obviously they want him to do well, but it's like, it's all on Carson. And here's the one thing about it being, you know, Philly, listen, it's a pressure cooker. It can eat you alive. It ate Carson alive. He couldn't handle it, right? it just mentally broke him. The competition from the organization, the outside pressures, his own play.

There wasn't even fans in the building, right? He was playing in an empty stadium. But he still just, he crumbled. And listen, I'm not some Carson Wentz Hater. A couple years ago, he was one of my favorite players in the league. And I'm still, it's just kind of, I got a little Al Davis in me, as Brett Veach once said in a draft meeting. I'm still enamored with the guy's talent. But, like, the way it all played out, like, I, you know,

just no more sympathy, and not that he was getting that much sympathy, but it's like he can't point the finger anymore. There's no Doug Peterson, there's not enough talent at wide receiver, there's no, we're not drafting good enough players, like all that's over. Now it's just time for the guy to produce. And he's also filling the shoes. While the guy was only there one year, Philip Rivers is one of the most beloved teammates that you just ask, I mean, I've been lucky enough to know people in the league and guys that have played with him. He couldn't have any more respect. And now Carson's coming in with some of these players. I know if I was in that locker room, I'd be excited to kind of see if this guy can help take us to another level, but I'd also

probably be a little apprehensive. Like, what's this guy's deal, man? We're all humans. We all kind of read some of the stories, or hear some of the stories. It's inevitable. The NFL is just a small little high school of rumor mills. It just happens that it's public and fans, media, the coaches, the players. We all know them. So, you know, not that he's going to get side-eyes, but I do think he's going to have to earn everyone's respect because he's making more money than everyone. And they have a ton of good players.

So he has to raise his play. He's got to be a good teammate. And just the excuses are done. If he fails in Indianapolis, he failed. It's on him. No, you can't blame anyone else. And if he succeeds, the Indianapolis goals just got themselves a quarterback for pretty cheap.

But the reason they did that, They didn't get to fleece the Eagles. He dictated his way out of there. And one thing I've heard about the Bears is they weren't willing to mortgage a bunch of picks for somewhat of an unknown. This guy's not playing well. And for a guy that didn't want to come there.

And I think you're going to see that with some of these rumors for Deshawn Watson. I see all these players. Like let's say the 49ers wanted to trade for him. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, actress, mother, lover, and a Gen X woman walking through life one hot flash and hormonal crying jag at a time. You ladies know what I mean. I'll bet you a paramedipausal chin here you do. So let's talk about it. Join me on my new podcast. How hard can it be with Deanna Maria Riva, where I call on my Gen X squads from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate midlife's most fantastic BS. All of a sudden, I'd had hanginess happening on my own. I was like, what the hell is that?

I was married when I had her, so I didn't even consider how empty that Ness was going to be. Mood swings, night sweats, fupas, sex drive. Wait, what sex? Dating at 45. How hard can it be? How can it be? Getting naked at 50 with the new guy. That one's kind of hard, you know? Well, that's lighting. They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears or tears of laughter, and dive into it unfiltered and unbothered and ask, how hard can it be?

I cannot believe I'm about to say this out loud in public. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva as part of My Cultura Podcast Network available on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game.

His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate. the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reed. He has to guard Julius Randall.

And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get to fly. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball like, I think. You go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Fred Warner, all pro linebacker. I've seen the Panthers who might want to trade for Deshaun Watson. Christian McCaffrey. What if both those players are like, I don't want to go to Houston? And we act like this is some like owner GM league, like I said. everyone would support either Fred Warner or Christian McCaffrey. I'd be like, yeah, I wouldn't want to play there either if I was him. I'd refuse to show up.

And I do think players, they like to act like they got no juice, but when you're good, we're highly paid. You do have a lot of power in this league. And we're live here outside the Perez family home just waiting for the... And there they go. Almost on time this morning. Mom is coming out the front door strong with a double-armed kid carry. Looks like dad has the bags.

is bringing up the rear. Oh, but the diaper bag wasn't closed. Diapers and toys are everywhere. Ooh, but mom has just nailed the perfect car seat buckle for the toddler. And now the eldest daughter who looks to be about nine or ten has secured herself in the booster seat. Dad zips the bag closed and they're off. Ah, but looks like mom doesn't realize her coffee cup is still on the roof of the car and there it goes. Oh, that's a shame. That must was a fam favorite. Don't sweat the small stuff. Just nail the big stuff.

Like making sure your kids are buckled correctly in the right seat for their age and size. Learn more at NHTSA.gov slash the right seat. Visit NHTSA.gov. Slash the right seat. Brought to you by NHTSA and the Ad Council. Adoption of teens from foster care is a topic not enough people know about and we're here to change that. I'm April Dinwiddie host of the new podcast, Navigating Adoption, presented by Adopt U.S. Kids. Each episode brings you compelling,

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Let's dive into a story that I saw Monday morning. They kind of made the rounds on, I think Peter King wrote it, saw it on social media that, let me use the exact verbiage, that David Teper, the stock Maverick. I don't even know if that's the right term. Super rich guy. I mean, I googled his net worth Monday morning.

13 billion. Let me repeat that. 13 billion. I remember when he bought the Panthers, I was reading this article, and he cashed out $780 million of Apple stock, if I remember correctly,

to just get the extra cashed. cash that he needed to make up, you know, he had the other one point whatever billion cash in a bank count. He needs an extra cash. Sold some apple stock. Bada bing, bada boom. There's your 2.2 billion or whatever he bought the Panthers for. Paid in cash. Reminded me a lot of another crazy billionaire named Steve Balmer who bought the Clippers. I think $2 billion was the exact number. Might have been a little more paid cash. I think we get our decimals off when we're in 2.2, 2.1. For most of us, I'd be, I don't know, an extra $100 million. It'd be a problem for me.

I'd be like, you know, John, you're just $100 million short. I'd be like, ah, let me check my e-trade account, see if my weed stocks have hit 50 grand yet. I mean, what? Can you imagine? Like, you know, we know you offered $2 billion in cash. If you could just get to $2.15. $2.15?

Oh, yeah, it's $150 million more. Oh, yeah, no problem. Let me go sell some Facebook stock. Boop, boop. who be in your account tomorrow. It's got to be a great feeling. And David Tapper right now, the word was, he's obsessed with finding a franchise quarterback. Don't blame him. I mean, if I own a team, I think every fan of a team right now that doesn't have a franchise quarterback, we talk about franchise quarterbacks all the time, I'd say we're

all obsessed with franchise quarterbacks. But I can't imagine paying that much money for a team and then not having a franchise quarterback. That's all you'd think about. Here's the problem. when you're David Tepper, and I'll never forget this, I was playing golf, my buddy Scotty, who we actually played golf a little bit last Friday, got a little too intoxicated on Friday night. I was struggling come Saturday, long weekend of not doing anything.

I just, you get your mid-30s, you just don't respond well to alcohol. It's like, it just, being hung over for two days is not fun. But I remember we were playing, he's like, you know, I watched this, I was watching this talk with this billionaire, and this guy asked him, what is it like to be a billionaire?

I think I've said it on the show before. And the guy responded, he's like, listen, I don't really like talking about it. It can be uncomfortable. But the best way I can describe it, everywhere I go, everything is free.

Think about that. Even if you got, you're a millionaire, everywhere you go, not everything is free. And you're going to be priced out. You go certain places, right? Hell, you make $100,000. You live a pretty good life.

there are certain places you go, you're like, yeah, I can't afford that. Literally everywhere David Teper, Steve Ballmer, those type guys go, everything is free. Now, obviously they have to pay for it, but they have an unlimited amount of money. Well, when you have an unlimited amount of money, do you know what it's pretty easy to do? Make more money. If you gave me $50 million, I can invest it into 10 different things. an office building some stock some crypto

some just some residential real estate could buy a couple condos rent them out I could diversify you know what I would do I would make money David Teper situation I just had 50 million

a billion dollars just easy to make money hell you could play it safe into just basic ETFs and start pumping out cash it's easy it's never been easier the more money David Tepper made to make more money.

Like, business just gets easier and easier. I'm not saying he doesn't miss. But you ever meet a rich guy, and I'm not talking like a guy worth a couple million, I'm talking a guy worth millions of dollars. Like, you know, older you get, it actually gets easier to make more cash. It's much harder to make cash when you only got like 10 grand, 50 grand. You have someone $50 million to actually invest. Pretty doable, right?

Especially these guys that already know all these people, people in the business world. It is, Dave Tapper could make cash with his ice close, doing basically anything. But the one, and so anytime he fails, when you're used to only succeeding,

you get kind of frustrated. It's like Tom. Why does Tom sometimes knock, shake guys' hands after the Super Bowl, or when he loses the Nick Foles? He's not used to losing. All he has is win.

So yeah, like, they always like, Belichick, sore loser, Tom's sore loser. Of course they are. I'd be a sore loser too if I was them. They never lose. They only win. What did Vince Lombardi say?

Show me a good loser. I'll show you a loser. I never got caught up with Tom Brady being a sore loser. He loses like 15% of the time, right? I mean, he's literally been to 10 Super Bowls. He's won 70% of them. I understand the other 30% being pissed off. But I think the problem for David Teper,

and you saw it a little with Bomber, though Bomber was able to do some shady shit and have himself in position to get Kauai Leonard. I don't know if you follow the story. Remember, they sent a guy up to Toronto that was watching them every game. Like, listen, business is shady. If you're not doing shady things, I'm not saying breaking laws, but you know, you got to color outside the lines.

You want to get things done. Steve Balmer did it, and in basketball, it's easier to do. Because I just have to get one player, and as we've seen the last three or four years, they're always on the move. So if you just set up your organization right, you can poach them. In football, it's much more difficult.

One, if you don't land a star quarterback in the draft, other teams don't ever get rid of those guys. It just doesn't happen. Aaron Rogers, Russell Wilson, we'll talk about that a little later, but it takes crazy circumstances for them ever to become available. Tom Brady did not become available until year 20. Rathusberger may get cut, but he's been there 18 years. Just think about the star quarterback.

They don't leave their teams. They signed Patrick Mahomes to a 12-year contract extension. Josh Allen, like Lamar Jack, none of these guys become available. Deshawn Watson, it took the organization hiring this former preacher who's a crazy man, who's firing and cutting all these guys, and Bill O'Brien losing his mind for Deshaun just to lose it. And who even knows? We think he might get traded, but as of right now, they have no desire to trade them. Right?

I think everyone on the inside is saying that. all of us are reading it. It's like, yeah, I'd try to keep them two. Why would you trade how are you going to upgrade on Deshawn Watson? And it's like, who would want Deshaun Watson? They're like 15 teams lined up. Of course they are. Those players never become available. I think this is difficult part for David Tepper is he is so rich. A lot of these NFL owners have owned these teams for so long, right? Jerry is really rich, but we've all read this story when he bought the Cowboys in the late 80s. He didn't have that much money relative to like owners. He risked it all and he just kept parlaying it and the Cowboys, you know, were such a big

brand and he won big right when he got there and he just parlayed, parlayed, parlayed, and made a ton of money. That's just, you know, kind of the way he became a star. But he does not have David Teper money. And I think it's going to be very, very difficult because he's going to go, I want to start quarterback. And Matt Rule is going to go, well, they won't trade us to Sean Watson. Matt Stafford wouldn't come here. What about the draft? What if the head coach Matt Rule doesn't like any of guys in the draft?

You know, I don't know. I'm not feeling any of these guys. You can't, unlike business, he can always find places to put his money. It's the easiest thing to do in life. Find places to park cash. And when you have that much, you can hostile takeover good businesses

and pump your money in there. It's easy. To find a quarterback, though, it takes two things really a little bit of luck because more than likely you're going to have to hit a draft pick or get draft really high and once upon a time

the best player in their franchise history second best player I'd say Keeckley most best player overall Cam most famous second best player but I'll be the first to admit Cam's the more important player because it's more important a quarterback but Kikley overall

better player if I was doing Madden rankings like Pee Kee Kee Kemp's Keeakley was like a 98. Cam was damn good. I mean, he had the MVP year where he was high 90s, but most of his career, he's like a low 90s guy. And, you know, I think people would call me somewhat of a Cam Hater, but listen,

as a guy that gambled against him, watched him play live, freak talent. You know, his body gave out on him this year. I don't even hold it against him. But the way they got Cam Noon is they draft the number one overall. Well, they're draft an 8th. And I think, besides Trevor Lawrence,

and let's face it, Zach Wilson's going to go in some form of fashion. You're going to go to number two. Either the Jets are going to take them or they're going to trade the pick. Now, could the Panthers trade up to get them for sure? But this is predicated. Just because David Teper wants it, what if Matt Ruhl goes, yeah, I'm not a huge fan of him. He's not, you know, we don't want that.

Or Joe Brady, the offensive coordinator. Like, yeah, I don't really like that guy. What if they don't love one of these other three guys? And I think it tells you because clearly if Matt Ruhl and David Teper, they've been thinking like this all season long, they would have started looking at these quarterbacks during the fall. And if they didn't, they're not doing their job. And it's not on David Tepper, but I'm saying it's on the football staff.

Well, right now, why did they go so hard after Matt Stafford? Why are they going so hard after Deshaun Watson? Now, obviously those guys are really good players. But they must not love any of these quarterbacks. To me, that tells you something. And I think David Tepper's impatience because he realizes he can't, he can't just fix this with money. Honestly, his money doesn't mean a freaking thing right now.

It doesn't do anything for him because he's an equal to all the other 32 partners. Like, they all got money. And there's salary caps. You can't just buy players. And like I said, quarterback's never become available. So for the first time probably in his business life,

you know, in a long time, because even when he had quote unquote losses, we're that rich, like whatever. Like he's probably pretty frustrated. It sucks. And I think owning just pro sports, teams in general, you come into whatever fields you're in and you start dominating, it just starts multiplying. And then you get all this money and you become an owner of a basketball team,

of a baseball team of a football team. Everyone, especially when you're an older guy like Tepper, 50s or 60s or whatever, everyone for probably the last like 20 years has been blowing you. Not literally, potentially literally, but figuratively. And saying like, you're the smartest guy in the room. David Tepper, you're a genius. You're the greatest investor. CNBC wants to have you on Blunberg wants to have you on. Jim Kramer wants to talk about you. Can you write a book? Can you speak to the Harvard Business School?

Everywhere you go, people love you. Call you a genius. And then all of a sudden, you're just kind of powerless. I can't relate. I've never been that rich. I've never owned an NFL team, but it's got to be pretty frustrating. And I think these rumors are coming out

that he's obsessed with a franchise quarterback because he realizes like, shit, we might be in no man's land for a while. And my response would be, welcome for the NFL. I saw something on on Monday morning that I found pretty interesting. It was an Albert Breers Monday morning quarterback,

and he has, like, every week, some really, really good nuggets. And at an All-Star game, like the Senior Bowl, a huge part of it, for a lot of players, it's obviously the game and the praxis and playing, but it's also the interviews. The way it works is they come to this, there's a hotel room where you go, and I guess this year was different with Corona.

But typically every guy or every team, you know, sends their brass to like a room or they kind of wall off spaces and you get to interview whatever players are there. And you kind of sign up, same deal with the combine. You know, 15, 20, 30 minutes, whatever the exact time is. 15 minutes is like speed dating. And Albert Brewer had a nugget from Devante Smith who did not participate in the Senior Bowl

but he went to the game as just to meet teams, which was smart. I mean, this guy's going to be a top 15 pick, but super high character, super smart, why wouldn't you go and just talk to teams? Meet some decision makers. And one team, I'm going to read from the article verbatim, one team asked Smith point blank, Tua or Mack Jones.

The question was barely finished before Smith answered Mac Jones. He was bold and definitive about it, as I was told. Think about that. And I think I tweeted this out, it kind of went a little viral, and a lot of the responses that were hating on it, and again, I just posted the, I didn't give an opinion. I guess my opinion was, which I'll get to here in a second.

If you were a team, one, you'd have to ask that question. And a natural question in a scouting sense, when you interview a player, especially a big-time program, who was the best player you played with, who was the best player you played against? This is when you have a situation where you have back-to-back quarterbacks that are going to get drafted high, I mean, obviously, Tua got drafted high, and Mac Jones will see,

but, you know, a guy that might be a first rounder, you're going to ask that question. That question is probably getting asked to every single team that interviews Devonte Smith. And once Jalen Waddle and Najee Harris get interviewed, they will be asked the same question by all the teams. Whether they need a quarterback or not, that's just part of the duty of scouting.

You ask those questions. And some of the pushback was, well, of course, DeVante chose Mack Jones. He won a Heisman trophy. And my pushback would be, well, Devante was all these guys that Bama played right when they got there. He played a lot with Tua, right? He played two years with Tua, basically a year and three quarters, right?

Tua got hurt at the end of the season. and Mac came in. I don't see why Devante Smith, which I have been told whose character is like elite, like he checks all the off-the-field box, he's beloved,

like really, really high-level guy. Why he'd lie, he gave his opinion. He thinks Mack Jones is better than Tua. And even if you say, well, he's got a little bias, here's what I would say. If I was in Miami Dolphins, the brass,

I would probably puk in my mouth reading that. Now, the information's already in. Like, we already know some things. There's not a team in the league that wouldn't take Justin Herbert over Tua. So they whiffed on that. Now, is that mean Tua's bad? No.

But that we know for a fact that every single team in the league, including the Miami Dolphins right now, if you gave them an A or B choice, Tua or Justin Herbert, they would all take Justin Herbert. Everyone listening agrees with me right now. Shake your head. We all agree. That is not an arguable or debatable topic.

Now, that does not mean independent of Tua's talent, was not great this year, was benched multiple times for Ryan Fitzpatrick. He came in and he let him do a victory against the Raiders. The other one, I think it was the Denver Broncos, almost let him do a victory, right down the field. Ryan Fitzpatrick, who actually is a pretty good player, was light years better than two of this year. Because all I ever heard was, well, they don't have any offensive weapons,

they don't have any wide receivers, and then Fitzpatrick would come in and he'd start slinging around like he was Dan Marino. Like, well, Fitzpatrick's throwing it to somebody. Too is not. And that comment to me makes me go, I think you can look at it two ways. You can either go, well,

maybe two is really overrated or two, maybe Mac Jones is pretty good. And I think the hard part about Mac Jones is he played out an All-Star team. Last year when Tua got injured and he came in, he didn't just have Jalen Waddle and Naji Harris and Devante Smith.

He also had Jerry Judy and Henry Ruggs. Henry Ruggs was the 12th pick in the draft and Jerry Judy was the 15th pick in the draft. There is a decent chance that Waddle and Devante Smith both go definitely in the top 15. I mean, it's not inconceivable

they both go in the top 10. Probably be a little shock, but you never know. I don't think it's out of the realm possibility. So they had four wide receivers two years ago with Tua, and really that's who Tua played with. They were top 15 picks.

Then this year, year with Mac Jones, he had two in Smith and Waddle, but then Waddle broke his leg. Now, he also had Naji Harris, who was much better this year than he was with Tua. But still, like, maybe Mac Jones is really good. Because part of Tui you go back, he had four, four wide receivers. And I remember Daniel Jeremiah talked about it during the season. Again, I don't really think this is a hot take either. There are several teams in the NFL that would have taken the 2019 Bama wide receiving core over their own. I mean, hell, the Patriots, the Jets.

It's not that hard to think of some, right? They're just all four of those guys. Four top 15 picks. Now, that doesn't mean all four are going to be good pros, but probably two of the four of them are going to be really good, and at least one of the other two is going to be decent if one's a quote-unquote bust. So that's a pretty freaking good unit.

Mike Go Down is the greatest, most talented, depending on what their wide-receiving NFL career is, wide receiver unit in the history of college football. I mean, it's just stupid. Four top 15 picks, all playing at the same time. And a running back that might go on the first, you know, end of the first round? That's pretty nuts.

And two quarterbacks that go in the first round? Like, hat tip to Nick Sabin. Holy moly, that guy can recruit. And just, not just recruit, but like, he identifies the right guys. Does the guy ever miss? But I've been really trying to wrap my head around, and it's going to be hard.

We won't know the answer. Because if you throw on the film, Mac Jones is just good. he looks awesome. Now he's got a lot of time, he's got guys that are wide open, but he's hitting them in stride. What if Mac Jones was at another program

just would have been viewed as like a Matt Ryan or a Joe Flacco or an Eli Manning? And remember those guys were viewed really highly because you went, God, they're just good players on kind of average teams. Eli, the Ole Miss team, Flacco, a Delaware, Matt Ryan was on that crappy Boston College team.

Remember he had the crazy comeback. I'll never forget, I think it was in college against Virginia Tech where they were down like 14 with five minutes left he tries that touchdown where he rolls out, throws it across his body and he was like, God, this guy's pretty good. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal

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available on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Mac Jones didn't have to do any of that stuff. So it's hard, like there's just so much unknown. I don't know how good he was. I assume he's just pretty good because he's putting up these crazy numbers and kicking everyone's ass, but kind of like Tua is going to bring this negative perception of is he playing on an All-Star team. Well, his team, while it was technically better than Tua's because they won the national championship, was actually not as talented as

Tua's because they lost some of those wide receivers. Now, this year, comparing it to Tua's last year playing, right, aren't really comparable, no fans. I guess in the SEC there were fans. I'm living in this California bubble where, you know, hell, we're still locked up in middle of February. But you definitely know fans at arenas. But I do think you could come around on Mac Jones to go, maybe this guy is just good. Maybe if this guy was at a program where he had to do more, he could have. And that's the questions I think people are going to answer. Because that type quote, let's say you were a team that didn't talk to Devante Smith, right, for whatever reason. You read that quote,

the first thing I would do if I was a GM, a director of college scouting, I'd be like, we need to do a little more work on me. If I'm a quarterback needy team, like, is this guy someone we'd be interested in? We need to do a deep dive on this guy and not just be like, yeah, he's a second rounder, he's a third rounder, because that's what I've been saying. You know, I wouldn't take him in the first round. But are we sure? Because when I've been told by my buddies that do the SEC that Devante Smith is the dude in that program.

and he says that I'm sorry that carries weight because that's part of scouting when you have the highest level player on a program and you ask him questions what he tells you matters it does when you go into a program

and you have just a blue chip high character guy you ask some questions about players he played against and played with and when he said this guy is kind of overrated I don't think this guy's that good or damn this guy was really good

if your grade was a little low on them, maybe you go, well, I just want to do more work. It doesn't mean it's going to change anything, but it makes you think. And I think Devante Smith, well, it brings it to light the disaster that is the Miami Dolphins pick. Because we can say all we want of like, well,

looking back, it's not their job to look back. Their job, they're not the fans. They're not me and the media talking into a mic. It's their job to get it right. And they got it wrong. And then a dude on Bama, says that the quarterback, the backup was better toa, not a great sign, but potentially a good sign for a team that wants Mac Jones.

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Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the Ad Council. Okay, let's fire through a couple of things. Let's start with the cap casualties. And these are something that you prepare for every free agent. Free agency. Older players that are going to be released. And it's a big, I'd say that's a major difference in the NFL than the NBA in baseball. An older player that's under contract in baseball or basketball, contracts are guaranteed.

they're not going to get cut. Maybe they get bought out in the season, but going into free agency, they're just on a roster. They get traded. In football, those players get released. And I think I answered this

maybe on a mailbag a week ago. I might have put this, the last mailbag I did, check out the YouTube page, just John Middlecock. I answer some of you guys questions. I'm going to do a mailbag here on the podcast, but someone had asked me about Preston Smith

and why they're going to cut them and not trade them. And the biggest reason a player gets cut and he doesn't get traded even for a late round pick when the guy's a good player maybe not like a star player but just a solid starter would start on most NFL teams and I'm just he's a he might be a bad example I'd be lying if I studied him if he feels like Preston Smith's solid player but they're going to be a ton of guys cut and a big reason those guys can't get traded even on a non-corona when the cap you know goes down year is because Preston for example I think I looked it up his salary cap number, his cap hit, is going to be $16 million.

So a team, even if they go, President Smith would start for us, but we think he's a $7 million player. We're not going to pay him $16 million. Well, the moment you trade for him or just that cap hit, you incur it on your books. So it's why a lot of guys ultimately get cut, not because they can't play. And that's the one thing that happens in the NFL where I think we see guys get cut. even JJ Watt, which we can argue teams would have traded for him. He's not a $17.5 million player. And that was his cap hit this year.

Now, just because he's JJ Watt, maybe someone would have traded for him. I know that was out there. I don't know. You know, to me he's probably like somewhere between a $9 to $12 million player. Hell, might even be like seven or eight. I think ideally he's like a rotational third down pass rusher. And we'll see how much he ultimately gets. but 17 and a half in a year when the salary cap is coming back is a lot of money.

And you see that the Eagles released a bunch of guys. Now, Deshaun, old gets heard. But I'm talking about guys that legitimately start. It happens every year, right? Guys that are like 29 to 32. They feel like, God, these guys are good starters. It's because their contract exceeds their talent. And their contract is cuttable.

Like a lot of guys, I'm sure you can think of on your team. You're like, I wish we'd pay this guy a little less. But if his contract's guaranteed, the dead money, you're kind of stuck with them. You're not going to cut them. But when you have zero dead money on some of these players, you go, listen, if we can't cut them, we'll just, or I mean, if we can't trade them, we'll just cut them and we'll save the money. And then we will either get back to below the threshold or use that space. Hell, maybe bring them back or get another player that we think's better at a cheaper rate.

Because this is, the salary cap is an economic exercise. So you're going to see a ton of names that you go, damn, they cut that guy, especially this year. Because for the last decade, the salary cap has basically gone up $10 to $12 million a year. And last year, everyone thought by this year it was going to be like $210, $215 million. From $199 or whatever it was, now it's going back to $180. So that's $20 million, but it's actually like a $35 million swing before Corona.

And think about it, last year, like at the end of the season, you had kind of signed and done extensions. you didn't know Corona was going to hit. And even by the time free agency happened last year and Corona was kind of taking shape, we didn't really know what was going on. So much unknown. Hell, I mean, in California, flatten the curve two weeks.

That's what everyone told us in the middle of March. If I had heard that in March when free agency was going on, flatten the curve two weeks, pandemic. People didn't even know what these words meant. So I don't blame any team that's kind of scrambling right now. are going to be some decisions where you're like, I can't believe they cut that guy. It was out of their control. It really was.

Now, maybe big picture they had signed some bad contracts, but they're in this position where a team could, might be at, you know, $210 million. And they would have thought coming into the year that number or even before Corona last year when they were talking to their owner building out for years to come because that's what GMs and contract negotiators do is they would have thought, 210 will be right around the threshold, we'll be good. We'll figure it out from there. Well, now that's, you know, if it's 180,

and I don't think we have an official number, but that's what everyone's writing at 180 to 185. You know, if you were prepared to be 210, that's $30 million over. That's a lot of money. That's multiple players at $15 million, maybe three players at $10. I mean, a lot of talent.

So that is the reason why guys get cut and they don't get traded because of their cap number, not because they can't play. Mike Upotty retired. When I was at Fresno State, we played Idaho. And Idaho was not good. But they had this guy at right guard who looked, you know like some of those dudes and game,

and I'm not a huge Game of Thrones guy. I mean, the only, I'm not into, you know, I would say any of that type shows. But when you give me violence and nudity, I watch. So I watched it. I was not like a Game of Thrones truther. I did watch the entire thing. just because it was entertaining.

But that's not really my genre. But he looked like a guy that could have easily been a warrior in that show. I remember being at warm-ups like, by then I knew some scouts, and they were like, yeah, this guy's going to be a dude. And he was road grading, and the Niners ended up drafting him, and he was awesome. Four-time Pro Bowl, he had a bad injury in that NFC championship game against Seattle, and was never quite the same.

But before he had his knee shattered, that guy was a bad MFer. he destroyed people. He was so strong. I mean, God, that guy was good. Michael Pittman, Jr. Will not be giving his number to Carson Wentz?

I like it. He goes, well, I've been here a year. I was a high pick last year. This is my number. I don't blame him. And Carson's like, oh, no problem. I was going to take a different, I love the hate.

Carson was like, yeah, no problem. I was going to take a different number anyway. Like, no, Carson, you wanted your number. Michael Pitman wasn't going to budge, and he got to change. I think sometimes change is good. Wasn't Peyton Manning, if I remember correctly, it was 16 in Indy, or 18 in Indy, and 16 in Denver? He definitely changed his number in Denver,

if I remember correctly. So it's, I mean, if anyone needs to change to, it is Carson Wentz. So whatever the number changes, I think it's a smart thing to do. Let's bring up some Getty images of Peyton Manning. Yeah, 18. I guess he was 18 both times.

Maybe I'm wrong. Okay, I'm wrong. That was dumb. That's a bad miss by me. I felt like he kind of went Kobe Bryant, but maybe I was wrong. Clearly. Sam Darnold.

Here's what I've been saying, and we've talked about on the podcast before, until your coaches do, and, you know, the general manager feel very, very confident about the non-Trever-Lornell. Lawrence quarterback's in this draft, you're not trading Sam Darnold. And I need LaFleur's brother, Mike, which if Mike's a baller, we'll just know him no longer

as Matt LaFleur's brother, we'll just know him as Mike LaFleur. And Sala, to be really, really confident that Sam Donald's not the guy. Because can we win with Sam Darnold? Could we just take a sweet player at number two? Could we trade number two for like pick five or six and accumulate more second round picks and still get a sweet player there? I need to know this, and basically what has been reported. They will not trade Sam Darnold until they,

get, you know, a solid, just a concrete opinion on everyone else in the draft, aka the quarterbacks, because there's no reason to get rid of Sam Darnold if you're not in love with one of these quarterbacks. My gut says, I think there's a decent chance he stays. Derek Carr, there's been some rumors that the Raiders would give him an extension. Unless the Raiders are willing to give him like $100 million guaranteed, I see zero incentive for Derek Carr to sign a contract extension. Because why would he take quote-unquote a discount? If Derek Carr was a free agent right now,

the Bears, the Washington football team, he'd get like $120 million guaranteed. Now, he's got two years left on his deal, so maybe they go, hey, would you take $90 million guaranteed extension? If I was Derek, like that would probably be my minimum number, but I can not imagine that's the Raiders offer. I would think they want to do like a Kirk Cousins, who recently got two years, 66 million,

so basically 33 a year and 51 guaranteed, on to his last year of his deal, which was also fully guaranteed. And Cousins, between that $50 million and the 86 he had signed for, he was over $130. Derek's contract was $70 million guaranteed the first time. And, you know, say what you want, has he lived up to it or not,

like his demand on the open market would be high. I don't see the incentive for Derek to sign any contract extension, regardless what you think of them. It's just what his demand would be on the open market. Plus as a quarterback, I say this all the time. When you sign a deal, like another player, we just talk about the cap casualties, right? When you're like a guard and you sign a four-year,

I've got to do an even number. Okay, $40 million. So you sign a four-year, $40 million. So $10 million a year. and let's say the team guarantees me $25 million. They're basically giving me like, you know, a two-year deal, right? Like, you know, the guaranteed money is kind of paid up front. The signing bonus, let's say, is $18 million.

So it's a two-year contract for sure, and I could probably be cut the third year. So I'm not guaranteed to see definitely the last year of that deal, and I probably won't. Derek signed a five-year $125 million deal with $70 of a guarantee. he's seen every single penny of that year of that deal. And he's either going to be the rate or starter this year for, you know, $22 million to get closer to that $125 number or get traded and play on that number. He is going to see every single penny of that contract. That's the one thing with quarterbacks.

Like Mahomes, they're going to have to probably change up his contract a little bit because his cap number is so high in like year 6 and 7. But most of these quarterbacks see the entire allotment of the cash. where the other players, like Amari Cooper, last year signed a five-year, $100 million deal for $60 million. To me, that's a three-year contract. Now, if Amari's a top five wide receiver, he'll probably play it out at least a four years.

But he's not guaranteed to see that fifth year. If he was a quarterback, you'd probably see every penny. So you've got to be very cautious to me when you're a quarterback, like, I don't see, unless the extension is a lot of cash, why you would sign a contract extension if you were Derek R. The other thing is this guy named Kima Silverland, I think is how you say his name. He was the guy, I think he was an undrafted free agent who the Seattle Seahawks had in training camp. And remember, Corona was in full swing.

Everyone's testing crazy rules for the NFL. And you couldn't leave the hotel or whatever. And he had snuck a girl into his hotel room. and he got caught and he got immediately cut. So today, I'm on the internet and I'm just trying to put together a show looking for some stories

and I see this guy, this Raider player, got arrested. I'm like, you know, I watched Raiders pretty closely. I've never heard. Who's this guy? And then I read in the fine print he was the guy that got in trouble for sneaking the girl in his hotel room during Corona

when no one was breaking any rules. only Gruden would have this guy on his team. That to me is such a John Gruden player. John Gruden is an absolute, I mean, he's the modern day Al Davis. I mean, no one would touch this kid. And he's got him on the team. And then he gets arrested in the offseason. Because of course he does.

The guy's a moron. He showed you when he snuck the girl in his room. When every single person in the league is following the rules, just trying to get to the season. and this was the one guy that we all made fun of, a nobody, right? A guy that probably wasn't going to make the team, and he was probably fighting for his practice squad life, still breaking the rules.

Then the Raider signed him with some future contract. A month later, he gets arrested. Of course, he was a Gruden guy. Okay, let's go Middilkoff mailbag. And funny thing is the first question that I opened, John Middilkopf, Instagram handle, slide up in the DMs, is it's about this chema, uh, uh, Siverran.

His name's kind of hard to say. And he says, the player, who tried to sneak from the girl dressed, oh, that's, that's the best part of it. This is where I, this is where I screwed up. He tried to bring in a girl dressed up as a player, gear into the hotel. And my take at the time was essentially, you wouldn't sign them. Uh, it was a good move for Seattle to cut him. Yeah. Today, she after tweeted that the kid, now on the Raiders, of course, was arrested for street and felony evading charges?

Does the NFL have programs to help younger players like that that enter the league to mature and avoid future issues? I would say when you're on, this guy pretty sure, if I remember correctly, went to Oklahoma State. When you go to these big programs, you are taught constantly. That's all they talk to you about.

Football and maturity. Football in life. Football in growing up. I've sought firsthand at Fresno State. Always, I don't even want to call it handholding, but just helping guys grow and pushing them. And at most of these programs, you have so many examples

because you've put so many guys in the league good and bad that to look for. And I always think it's unfair that college coaches, you know, get kind of thrown into this, realm kind of like pro coaches they don't care. All the college coaches I've been around really do care.

And once you get to the league like this guy had his moments. He couldn't mature after getting cut in training camp? Like I don't know what you can do. Like yeah, individual teams have stuff and have mentors and have people in their programs for sure. But I don't

know in this situation like eventually as a kid, right? Put yourself at 22, 23 years old. and you get a job. Now, I know being in the NFL pays you more, but it's still a job. Like, you have the weekend off. Like, it's on you not to crash your car and get a DUI.

It's on you not to be caught drag racing. Like, eventually, at some point in life, you know, you have, now, to me, if it's addiction, stuff like that, the NFL, you know, there are people in every program to try to help people. Definitely in college too. And I know people act like there aren't. I've seen it. But I don't know.

Like, what are you supposed to do? Like, hey, hey, my guy, Kima, probably not a great idea to be going 100 miles an hour down wherever you're driving. And then when you see those lights flashing, do you know what the smart thing to do is? Even though you know you're probably in deep shit,

we've all, you know, some of us have been pulled over and we knew we might get in some trouble. You got to pull over. Because the moment you keep going and that starts going evading the police. I don't know if he was actually in a high-speed chase, but this guy's just a moron.

Some guys are not mature enough to handle it. It doesn't mean one day, maybe 10 years, this guy matures and realizes he blew it. I hear Johnny Mansell talk sometimes, and he's pretty candid about like he wasn't ready. But not everyone matures at the same time, but like this is basic stuff. I mean, listen, we all like getting laid,

but there's a time and a play, Sneaking a girl in when you're, you know, trying to just make the practice squad seems like insane. I mean, that's just dumb behavior. That's, that's, I mean, you're tempting your fate of your career. And it cost them. I mean, this guy's never going to play in the league. And even though Gru, not know why he likes him so much, clearly like them. It's my favorite football podcast.

Appreciate it, Ben. I have more of a general question. How do you determine the success of a GM in the league? How do you know when they need to be fired? As a Giants fan, I'll take Gettleman as an example. He's made some good moves, solid draft last year, especially with some good later picks,

good free agent signings, Bradbury and Martinez, the OBJ trade turned out well, the judge hire. I don't know how much he was a part of the judge hire, but I hear you. But he's also had some bad picks, and of course it's translated into many abysmal records. In your opinion, how much of the team record should be placed on the GM, what makes a good GM, in how many years should the GM get

without putting together a team that actually succeeds on the field? To me, here's the key. You can't have a GM that just is getting independently evaluated. This is why your GM and your head coach need to be paired together. They need to come in together. Right? It's like, I'll give Dan Campbell and Holmes in Detroit, Fawtono, and Arthur Smith credit in, I mean just the organization credit in Atlanta. You just bring in guys together. Seen it with Les Sneed,

brings in John McVeigh, John Lynch, Kyle Shanahan, go together. Pete Carroll gets hired, he hires John Schneider. They're a team. So they both bear responsibility of the mistakes. Gettleman feels like, well, is like, did he hire Shermer? Did he throw Shermer under the bus?

Is he having anything to do with Judge? Is he just kind of fighting for himself? I think it's very, very difficult when you have multiple coaches because I don't know who bears responsibility. And I always say this about GMs. It's about more than the draft. It's 100% about hiring the coach. But for those of us on the outside,

unless you know John Mara, like, did he hire the coach? Or was that ownership? Now, he clearly liked Daniel Jones. So to me, if you put all your chips in the middle of the table on a quarterback, even if you do, drafted well at other positions, it's hard for me to take you that seriously. Because I go, how can I trust you to pick a quarterback if I just saw you and you missed? Ryan Pace, out on.

He went all in on Trubisky, couldn't have been any more wrong. Who were the other two guys in the draft? Mahomes and Watson. You don't shake that. At least, I guess, Gettelman could say, well, what do you want me to do? Take, you know, what's his name? Dwayne Haskins? You go, yeah, good point.

I don't think David Gettleman is that good, but I'm with you. I don't think he's terrible. It is very difficult because, like, what is a true miss of a draft pick? What if a guy's a special teamer? You get credit for free agency, like you say, with Martinez and Bradbury.

But I need to know, the quarterback clearly was his choice and something he believed in. Now, Judge, like, looks like a pretty good coach. He might have been told, like, he gets to bring in his own general manager. But then when that general manager has been there, well then Judge has been there for a couple years.

To me, the only way to truly evaluate if the coach and the GM come at the same time and you can just independently evaluate both guys. And I can't really do it with Gettlement. It's hard. It's why it's very subjective. It's why a lot of GMs keep their jobs when most of us in the outside think they suck.

Because here's the other element. Like the owner talks to the guy a lot, probably likes them. And it's difficult to hire a new GM. I mean, how many GMs have the Giants had over the last couple decades? They had Jerry Reese, they had Ernie O'Corsi, and Gettleman, right? Is that the three guys, basically, in my adult life?

Like, they're not big in, like, going through GMs every couple years. I know this isn't like, I don't necessarily have an answer, because I don't think there is one. Right? It's pretty easy with a coach. Do you win or do you lose? It's why a lot of general managers survive. Because they just, oh, blame the coach. The player would have been good.

It was a coach's fault. And another thing that happens a lot to GMs is players they cut because their coach doesn't like them go on and play well for other teams. So you always have that in your back pocket where you go, see Mr. Mara? I don't know exactly who this example would be for the Giants.

I'm trying to think of the top of my head, but it happens to a lot of players. You go, I like this guy, drafted him a six round. You know, our old line coach didn't want to keep him and look, he's starting for the Patriots. Look, I told you this DB would be good. He started for the Steelers. They have the best defense in the league.

it's a weird position because unlike a coach or a player, it's hard to exact. And if you don't know in the draft room, like, is Gettleman really picking these players last year? Or does Joe Judge pick them? You'd know better than me, like following those stories, but even the stories, like, unless you're in the building, I don't know. I hate not being able to have like a specific answer there, but it's a tough question. How would you explain the importance of the quarterback position to a person who is not familiar? familiar with football. I was born in Brazil but moved to U.S. 15 years ago and was trying to explain to my friends back home, who are not NFL fans and don't live and breathe football

like me. Why quarterback is the most important position in sports, big fan. Well, I watched a documentary on Messi once, and maybe I'll, let me use a soccer analogy. It does feel like when you get a messy, when you get a Ronaldo, I remember I went to Europe in the mid-2000s, Ronaldinho, had the bad teeth and long hair, when you get these like Beckham, in his prime, and I don't know if he was ever as good. I don't pretend to be some sweet soccer dude, but I do enjoy the star players. They're important, like, Messi's importance, right? He's the best player in the world. He's an unstoppable force. When you get a really good quarterback, you have such an advantage. Every game you show up, you have the best player. When you have

Peyton Manning, when you have Tom Brady, Aaron Rogers, you never step on the field and don't have the best player. They also, unlike soccer, they literally touch the best player. They also, unlike soccer, they literally touch the ball every play they're on the field. So when you're on offense, they control the ball. That's right, you'd probably, the baseball analogy, like the pitcher controls the game. Because he's the only guy that guarantees the pitch or hold the ball every single inning and every single play, right?

That's a quarterback. So they just dictate the pace of the offense. And the better your quarterback is, the better the other 10 guys are, right? the better your skill guys are, the better your running back is. Obviously, your running back is a skill guy. He can make your offensive line look good. I mean, Peytony did not play with great offensive lines.

But you wouldn't know because they had Howard Mudd and they had Peytonnack. They just got around it. So I would just say the CEO of the team. As the CEO, the player version, obviously the coach is also CEO. So you got co-CEOs. The coach and the quarterback. You can't win without, you need them both. I'm an Oregon guy.

Marriota can still be special. team is the best move for him to realize his potential? It's not Gruden. Thanks for your insight. I would probably lean the Patriots. I would say if the Patriots like him, they could probably get a lot out of him. He's mobile. He's smart. I think the knock on him is he like a pure passer. He's been, you know, pretty erratic in his career. I thought he was a little bit overrated as a passer coming out of college. But he is physically gifted. Like his arm's pretty good. His legs are awesome. He's actually met him a couple times. He's way bigger than you think. And he's beloved. Like, people love the guy. He's just a high character.

Honestly, he kind of feels like a patriot. I think the Patriots would make a lot of sense. If the Texans offer to Sean Watson to charges for Justin Herbert, is there additional compensation needed? One has done well for a year on a rookie contract, and the other is a top five quarterback that wants out. I think the most valuable thing you can have in the NFL is a player of Herbert's caliber on that contract. So I think under no circumstances, and who knows, it'll bear itself out over the years,

and there is no guarantee Herbert is going to maintain this level of play. But based on his one year, you would bet on him being a star. And betting on a star under that contract, he's the most valuable player in the NFL right now. Now, Mahomes is better than Herbert, right? But his contract's really expensive. Josh Allen, once he gets extended, it's going to be really expensive. Deshawn Watson is really expensive. Brady, Rogers.

You guys make a lot of money. It's Herbert Make like $6 million. If he can be a top six or seven quarterback making $6 or $7 million, you have the best deal in the league. So I just think the Chargers would say, listen, Sean's a star, but we're not interested. And I think the Texans would do that deal yesterday, obviously.

Under no circumstance if you're the Chargers would need to do that deal. Because you try to build a championship team around his cheap contract for the next three years. It's what makes Herbert really so valuable. I'm from Chicago and would love a competent quarterback. Do you think Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy have what it takes to draft and groom a quarterback? Ryan Pace, no.

Like I said, he thought Mitch Trubisky was better than Deshawn Watson and Patrick Mahomes. That happened. Literally, it happened. Matt Nagy, I do. He learned under Coach Reed, seen Vic Foles. then he goes to work with Alex and Mahomes' rookie year. I do think he would be very, very good with the young quarterback. And I think it's clear Trubisky just kind of is what he is,

and he was just capped being probably average and best. There was nothing madden. If you gave Trubisky to Andy Reed, Sean Payton, Kyle Shanahan, I don't think he would be any good. Maybe he'd be a little bit better, but not much. Not much. So I think yes. Now, am I biased on this one?

Of course I am. Madaggy's my guy. But I can't judge him off Mitch Trubisky. I can't and I won't. Because I think we all have to come to the conclusion, Trubisky's not any good. Relative to the second overall pick. He'll probably have a 10-year career.

He actually might be a pretty good backup. It's pretty mobile. He could come in and start a couple games. I would love Mitch Trubisky at like $5, $6 million in my backup. Kind of like a Mariotta. I could deal with that. I think Trubisky's got a good backup potential. But when you draft a guy number two overall,

you don't think in four years you're going to be a backup. Think about Mitch Ribicki. Did not have his fifth year option picked up? How much money is Mr. Biscay going to get? The Bears cannot bring him back. I read that sometimes as an option

to me under no circumstances can Mitcherbisky come back unless you're going to bring him back as the backup and how do you do that? It's over. Let's just let it go. And I think they will. Appreciate the DMs.

Again, slide up in those DMs. I think I'm at, I got a bunch. I got to respond to do, but I got to go through them. But I need some more. Yeah, have a good week. Adios. Get right to the romance and find the way to wow this valentines with 1800 flowers.com.

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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, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes.

Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

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I don't care what you're 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 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.

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