The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - Russ/Seattle Soap Opera; NFL Eyes Amazon Cash; NFLPA Weakness; Reflecting on Tiger's Impact; JJ Watt Watch

Episode Date: February 26, 2021

In this episode, John discusses the fallout from Russell Wilson's emerging power struggle with Pete Carroll over the direction of the franchise, why the price for the NFL TV deal is going to keep getting crazier as Amazon enters the picture, and why the NFLPA should pony up for better representation. John also offers some somber thoughts on how much Tiger Woods has impacted his life as a sports fan, and looks at the latest on the JJ Watt watch and other top headlines from around the league. 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.

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. 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. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games.

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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 Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversation. with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it.

Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Get right to the romance and find the way to wow this Valentine's with 1800flowers.com. From classic roses and bouquets to decadent chocolate-covered berries, gourmet treats, and more. Surprise your Valentine with 1,800 flowers. Flowers.com. Right now, get the 18th stem enchanted rose medley for $3999 or upgrade to 24 red roses for $10 more. Go to 1800flowers.com slash tune in. That's 1800flowers.com slash tune in. What is going on everybody? John Middell Cobb, three and out podcast, February 25th, rocking and rolling.

Big news of the day, which we will dive into off the top, is our star quarterback in Seattle. Well, not ours, but just the star quarterback in Seattle, Russell Wilson. Pete Carroll, articles coming out. We got some stuff going on. I'll give you the thoughts there. There was a good article. I actually saw a couple interesting articles I thought this week.

Wickersham had a big article on the NFLPA and the NFL, and the NFL. and a couple things jumped out to me there. Another article on the negotiations, how they're in the two-minute warning for the new TV deal. A couple of things jumped out to me there on some of these networks and where football's kind of headed. Something Tiger Woods related I have a thought on,

maybe why I was such a big fan and how there were a lot of parallels with the NFL. Some other just little news going around. Let's start with the drama. going on right now in Seattle. And let's face it, as big as the Deshawn Watson's story is, this one feels bigger. Russell Wilson's won a Super Bowl, he's been to another. Seattle is become one of the stalwarts, the powerhouses, the major franchises in

this country's number one sport, and that's football. Seattle Seahawks of the last decade have probably been a top three or four franchise. You know, you'd say New England of the last decade was number one. I think you could make a sound argument. Seattle was number two. We could nitpick that all day long, but you get the point. It's a big fucking deal, bottom line. It's a Hall of Fame quarterback that, listen,

we've all seen countless documentaries on bands, on major companies, on basically major breakups, famous people that have these huge, public lives and I was just thinking like what do they all have in common it does feel like most of them go their separate ways or have issues because of ego and what usually encompasses that right money or power and you can argue with power comes money well I think when you look at this situation like we've all fought in our normal lives and our normal jobs and our normal

relationships like you have disagreements welcome to the real world. People disagree every day. I mean, I could drive down to McDonald's right now to grab a burger and I would not be happy with someone that didn't pull, you know, get in a lane fast enough. We have disagreements with people we're not even talking to, let alone people were talking to our wife, our business partner, our boss, an employee, whatever. That is human nature and not out of the realm of possibility. And then when you factor in competitive jobs, right, Wall Street, any sales job, the NFL, a lot of alphas, a lot of contention. People butt heads.

Again, not abnormal. If you're not having that, I think you're either you're in denial or you're not successful. Now, there is a point where you draw a line in the sand and the two people look at each other, whether it's a football team, whether it's a marriage, whether it's a business partnership and say, do we have to go our separate ways? Because in this situation, you'd go, well, it's not money. Money is not the reason.

And I think if you read that athletic article, Schefter tweeted that he gave his four teams or the four teams are out there, and not that Seattle's looking to trade them, but let's call it what it is. Let's call a spade a spade. There is enough smoke to know, you know what?

There's a fire in the fucking building. Now, is it a fire that's not, it's not capable to put out by the firefighters? It doesn't feel like that. Is it a fire that feels to be growing relatively rapidly? And if the firemen don't get there quick, it's, it's going to burn down this quote-unquote relationship. That's where it feels like it's going. And it's all because of ego, right? Pete Carroll, who the last 20 years, what I love about social media, everyone acts like Pete's the village idiot.

I watch him go to USC and kick the shit out of everyone. Absolutely dominate. Sorry for all the kids in the cars. I'm excited about this topic. Don't mean to swear, but as I told my mom, I talk like I talk. You know, I just, I'm not a Harvard grad. I just speak like I speak. And clearly Pete Carroll is viewed like an average coach.

He's well above average. He wins and dominates for these last two decades. In college and in the pros. Now, if you want to say a large percentage of his success has died to Russell Wilson, I'd say, well, when they really won, and they've been winning for the last five or six years, right? They go to the playoffs every year, they win the division, they win a playoff game or two, but when they were going to the Super Bowl and came within a play of the Super Bowl, Pete Carroll won his way. Defense, run game, hit you directly square in the teeth.

As Russell got paid, and they had to skimp at other places, and they've played, quote, unquote, a more offensive brand of football, right? Their defense just hasn't been as good. They had to let guys go. Guys got old. They have not been as dominant. And so Pete goes, well, when you've listened to me, check out USC, I dominated.

Check out when you first showed up and I built the team the way I wanted to build it. We dominated. Remember, we had the number one scoring defense for four straight years, and we were one of the best rushing teams in the league with Marshawn Lynch. In the last three or four years,

Every booger eater on Twitter is like, Let Ross cook! And listen, I am not a Russell Wilson hater. In my lifetime, he's as just a consumer of football. He is one of my favorite players to watch. Though, I think the way some fans, social media talk about him might be a little much, right? They act like he's, as they said in the article,

people think he's Dan Marino. He ain't Dan Marino. Well, who knows that? I don't know, a guy who's 70 years old and been coaching football for 45 years, Pete Carroll. Now, is Russell Wilson the best quarterback Pete Carroll has probably ever had as a head coach? Of course. So, then there's Russell where he goes, well, I'm a star, I get paid like a star, I produce like a star, I've helped carry this team, not partly because of my contract or whatever.

He ain't thinking like that. So I think I should have more juice. and clearly they're budding heads and they're at a point right now of can we fix this? Well, typically in a situation, who is going to fix this problem? And you'd say in most NFL situations, the Brady-Belichick situation, there was a guy named Robert Kraft

and he could be an intermediary, he could talk to both because he realized the value of both. And I'm not saying Pete's Belichick and I'm just Tom. But Paul Allen is no longer around. and there is not anyone necessarily to fix this problem unless these two men Russell's made hundreds of millions of dollars Pete probably made a hundred plus million dollars

in the last decade have a lot of money have enormous egos so can one of these two men put their and really both of them eventually put their ego to the side and have productive conversations. Now, you could argue John, could John Schneider maybe, possibly, but he's also in a tough position

because he naturally is going to lean at this point in time probably Pete a little bit because he's an administrator. He's an executive. Like, he's closer to a coach than he is a player. Even though Russell, as everything we've ever learned about his playing in Seattle, was strictly because John was pounding the table. he told Pete who check his teams at USC check his teams what he built in Seattle

he does not like small players including the quarterback and remember when he was first introduced to Russell he was not into it because he was so small John talked him into it they drafted in the third round the rest is history but there Pete's type players Marshawn Lynch Jamal Adams Cam Chancellor

Richard Sherman fuck DK Metcalf again excuse my language kids excited he likes enormous blue chip guys and Russell is a better talent than he is like his physical attributes which are special right is keeping plays alive but he's tiny

and I wonder if there's part of Pete that has never quite got over it has never really just enabled him to be Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen and maybe because deep down he doesn't believe he can or at least sustain it he did this year up until the second half of the season when their offense was putrid. But I don't see how this situation gets solved. How many 70-year-old men,

and I'm pretty sure Pete's like 69, so he'll be 70, like at that age, with an unlimited amount of money, with countless pelts on the wall, go, you know what? And I'd get Pete a lot of credit if he can do this, but I don't think we can expect it. Older, successful people do not just, I'll swallow my ego.

I'll take it. I can't see that happening. You know the other person that rarely swallows his ego? The young in his prime artist. Whether it's a lead singer, whether it's an actor storming off a movie, whether it's a star quarterback or a star shooting guard. Usually those guys, once they get in this,

I don't even want to say diva mindset, but just in this tunnel of I am the best. And I don't even blame Russell for thinking that. I am untouchable. I am greatness. he ain't swollen his ego and the owner ain't around so who is fixing

this problem I don't think the problem is fixable now do I think that Seattle wants to trade Russell Wilson of course not do I think though the more this goes the more Russell kind of

puts this PR campaign out there of you know I don't want to go but I'm kind of open to it I respect to Sean Watson he just said I don't want to play here Russell doesn't want to do that. Why? Because he has this image where he doesn't want to be viewed as the bad guy.

Go Hawks, right? So, honestly, I'd respect more of Russell if he just said, I want out. People be like, okay, he just wants out, even though I'd say, hey, listen. I think a lot of times with deals, we always think one side always wins. I think both sides won on this. Russ is very, very lucky to be drafted to the Seattle Seahawks. a team when he showed up, had a great defense in a run game, and gave him a landing spot to become and blossom into this star player.

Just like I think Pete as a coach was very, very lucky to have drafted Russell Wilson and let him become the quarterback right away and then blossom into the star. But to act like one side of the ledger here is taking advantage of the other side is just wrong. So I think you have these two hard-headed people staring at each other, Big egos, money ain't an issue. They both have unlimited amounts. Russell has more, but pizza coach, coaches don't. What does he even need to buy?

Pete's been making huge money forever, right? Coach multiple NFL teams, USC for a decade, now Seattle for a decade. Big time coin. I don't see how this is fixed. I don't see how Russell Wilson, if truly he wants out, and I don't even think it's arguable that he wouldn't mind leaving. He's ready for a change. that Russell Wilson will be traded in the next couple months,

which would have sounded insane if I would have said that a month ago. But you can see the way Russell is kind of scalping this PR campaign to like try to get out, but under no circumstances, look like a James Harden, look like a Deshaun Watson. And if I was Russell's, you know, PR guy, say, listen, people are numb to this, Russell. Who even cares? Just go where you want to go, make it.

get known and let's just move on. Society, we don't remember two weeks ago. No one will remember, you'll move on. Now, what sucks is being a Seattle fan. So I put myself in the situation of a fan of this team. I don't care how many first round picks we get. I don't care. Derek Carr, Dak Prescott, whoever's coming back,

I'm not trading the best player in the history of my franchise. I would be furious. You could give me the next four Raiders drafts. I do not care. I would not, I would, I understand where the fans are coming from. We cannot trade this guy. But I just wonder with the owner gone, Pete Carroll having all this juice, like I just, honestly, where I'm sitting right now, I don't know who, where he goes,

I could see the list expanding. I expect might be strong, but I will not be shocked in the least. So I guess I'm just awaiting a tweet that, you know, there have been legitimate talks of Russell Wilson and these three teams about a potential deal. A couple weeks ago it was like, you know, I don't know, it's up to Seattle. A couple weeks later, it's now like, yeah, you know, he'd be open to moving and Seattle'd be open to listening. And these are the team. So it just, the snowball is coming down the mountain and it's growing. And I think it all gets back to

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 I'm saying.

Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement 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 Cliverts 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 was 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 for finishing that sentence. Yes, I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years. for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. 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 or are you a good person because you're afraid because that's two different

intentions bro absolutely and that that's two different levels of trust I want you to just really be a good person join me Keer Gaines is we have real conversations about healing growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app, search Learn the Hardway, and listen now. Because neither one of these guys are going to flinch. You know why? Because big ego guys with big bank accounts typically don't do, they don't flinch.

They don't change, and they definitely don't give in. Think you got to stay old mate. Clear where this is headed. Now just where does he end up going? Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in the nation. Catch all of our shows at Fox SportsRadio.com. And within the IHeard Radio app, search FSR to listen live. Get right to the romance and find the way to wow this valentines with 1800flowers.com.

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Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the ad council. Okay, let's dive into something that I saw. I think front office sports is a website and they're good on the business of sports and specifically the business of the NFL. And there have been information

and I think someone reported to them that, and let's get, it was something we talk about a lot here, but let's just hammer it home. The major difference between the NFL and baseball and basketball, the team sports, their business models, is the NFL is all in on television, right? That's where they get the majority of their money. Now obviously the other sports make money on television, but when you have 81 home games, as we saw last year, if you followed baseball, the country, Corona issue when they only played 16 games. Depending on what Jeff Passon,

Hayman, those guys, that like 40 to 50% of their revenue came from the gate. And the NBA is 41 home games. Ask Joe Lakeb of the Warriors and Vivek of the Kings, who just got new arenas. They make a large percentage of their revenue from the gate.

The NFL, I think last year, I guess we'll find out by the new league year. It's like $300 million. might have been slightly less from the media rights. Every single team. Think about that. Every single team gets a check, well, it's paid, I think, over the season, accounting for about $300, $200, $285, $300 million.

Well, we know what the salary cap is in the NFL last year. It was like $198 million. So they're over that by $100. Literally all your players are paid for by the television money. Then what's your coaching staff cost? $15 million a year also all paid for. What's your staff cost of your organization? The media pays for everything.

That's why the NFL is such a cash cow right now. Everything that Jerry, you name it, whatever owner you want to pick, Jeffrey Lurie, Kraft, York, Cronky, what they make from, you know, the stadium, the suites, the tickets, the concessions is gravy. The NFL's printing money. But it starts with the television product. Because the television product right now, now it's different because the NFL doesn't have the inventory as the other sports. But one thing we know, when we put an NFL game on television, it dwarfs the other two, you know, team sports, right?

The NBA, the NBA finals last year, now granted, it was in a bubble, but it'd been trending down for a couple years. the number they do is like putting the Jags and the Titans on a Thursday night. Thursday night football does huge ratings. Sunday night football, which I'm going to talk about right now, is the number one television show in America. Think about that. The number one television show in America is an NFL football game. For me, at 520 on Sunday night.

If you live in New York, kicks off at 8.20. whatever. That is the number one show in America. When I was growing up, whether it was Seinfeld, my dad was a huge fan of MASH, the major television shows did like 50 to 60 to 70 million people watched an episode. Well, in 2021, those days are over. Those days are done. I just got a new smart TV. I'll talk about this actually in a minute.

But Monday Night Football for the last decade, ESPN, Disney, ABC, whatever, however you want to consider it, paid $2 billion for the rights for Monday Night Football. And for the first half of that decade, right, they were getting crappy games. The second half, and definitely the last couple of years,

they've been getting better inventory. You know the best deal? You could argue the best business deal for any media company in America over this last decade? Was NBC's deal with the NFL? NBC, for Sunday night football, for the last decade paid less than half of what Disney paid for Monday Night Football.

They paid $2 billion. NBC paid $950 million for the number one television show in America. Now, while the NFL, as they wrote in this article, it's not like the NFL got screwed while clearly it was worth more than that. It's good to have the exposure. You want people watching. Like it was a fruitful deal. But it's a deal that at the end of, it, you go if you're the NFL, we're going to double that thing. And as they wrote in the article, expect that number to double. And really NBC has no choice. Because like I talked about MASH or Seinfeld or whatever the show is, there are not hit television shows anymore on TV that draw millions upon millions upon millions of people. What was it like probably

the biggest show of the last six months? The Queen's Gambit. Where was that? Netflix. and back to my smart TV forever and maybe I'm a little weird I did not put a television in my room and girls I dated will always get mad or whatever and I'd be like you know I have multiple televisions in my living room I got TV in my office

if I needed to watch something in my room I'd bring an iPad my thought process and in theory it made a lot of sense to me I was going to use my room to sleep to read and obviously do the other thing but mainly I didn't want a television in there because I wanted to read.

Now, I didn't do much reading in there like I thought. So I finally just, I had it installed, I put it up there, hung it the other day with a buddy, the other day. And I had called Comcast because I'm one of these crazy millennials that still has the cable box. And I go, listen, do I need to get another cable box? They said, actually, if you have a newer TV, you're going to have apps. I'm sure many people listening know this. You can just download the Comcast streaming app and just watch your normal. cable box, all you have to do is plug the television in and connect it to Wi-Fi.

So I turn on this new Samsung TV, which it's crazy how cheap televisions are, or at a 55-inch Samsung TV off Amazon for like 400 bucks. Maybe it was 450. With the sound bar came out to like less than $600. It's just, what have I been waiting for? And I just go to my apps, Netflix, Amazon Prime, streaming, I can watch whatever I want. And part of this article said also that Fox no longer wants Thursday night football.

Well, who do they want involved in the NFL? A fellow bald guy named Jeff Bezos. So expect Thursday night football, and they kind of hinted at this, to be on Amazon, which I think forever, it's like, we can't be on one of these apps. In five years from now, it's going to be more likely that everything is watched through apps than it ever will be basic cable. It's clear basic cable is kind of like newspapers were a decade ago. not quite dead yet but gonna die fast right radio still kind of hanging on doesn't have that much longer

of a shelf life it's clear where we're going so the nfl is smart one it's an easy one for them but it's also like even jerry jones or geoffrey lury or any of these old guys that go i don't want let's just keep it on these main channels well it's like if i'm stephen i go hey dad you just press the home button you click amazon prime and boom you're there and they did it this year i think with a 49er game. You press two buttons and the game comes up. It's actually really, really user-friendly. And what's the other thing?

Forever, it's like, well, I don't want to deal with one of these tech companies. Let's go with the blue bloods. They got all the cash. Amazon's got more cash than all these companies combined. So Thursday night football, it looks like it's going to be on Amazon. NBC is going to have to double their investment, but it's an easy investment for them to make. Because they have no choice. Because the masses do not watch their un-a-law.

other content, besides live sports and some news. So the NFL is in complete control. It's always my issue when I hear these NBA guys talk about, well, live rights are so powerful. The NBA, even as the consumer dips, it's going to be okay. I kind of call bullshit. Because of the amounts of money these leagues are asking for. And like the last NBA deal, for example, they got a ton of cash from TNT, from ESPN. The ratings are plummeting.

I'm not saying they're going to go away, but I'm saying they're going to come back to Earth. The NFL is the opposite. They're about to double down. And we'll talk about this article on the NFLPA and what they fought for, but the big cash is coming. And as a player who was involved in negotiations last year, said why the owners were so willing to negotiate early,

be open-minded, and even give a little, it's because they wanted labor peace and labor harmony when they were at the negotiating table for this. Why? Because this to them is all that matters. This is their number one thing in their business model. The television rights or the streaming rights or whatever you want to consider it, right?

The verbiage is changing as our world changes. But the money for them comes from us watching it. The NFL is consumed by us sitting in our couches and watching football. It's the number one television show in America. And it's clear they're about to double down on all these investments. They're going to involve Amazon, and they're going to print more money. Now, one thing, I'll be the, I'm not going to be arrogant or be naive enough to know this is only in 10 years.

They're going to double down. Who knows? Things in society have never changed faster. And I'm not going to just sit up here and say, football is going to dominate forever. But right now, they're kicking everyone's ass. with as Gary V would say attention. And attention is the most important thing. Because for the NFL, they don't actually need you to hand them the cash.

They just need you indirectly to get Amazon Prime, to get your cable subscriptions, and give them your time, which indirectly is giving them your cash. It's like I always say, the reason these leagues, basketball included, baseball, the PGA Tour, whoever, can have money and the players get paid, the coaches get paid, the people involved get paid are the fans. The fans are the consumer.

And even if you never attend an NFL game, the rest of your life, if you consistently watch football every Sunday, you're more important to them. They would rather have you do that than show up in the second deck. One million percent. And as long

as you keep doing that, but honestly once the deal assigned, this is where the NBA The NBA signed their big deal. So their ratings are down. It really doesn't matter. Now it screws their partners. It does not screw them. Luckily for the NFL, the partners know currently their product is important.

And people do watch. Now, could that change over the next decade? You never know. But right now, once this deal is signed, the NFL is going to have a lot more money coming in, and they already had a boatload to begin with. Okay, let's get into one other kind of businessy topic. and it's somewhat rehashing old stuff.

Seth Wickersham, who's an excellent journalist, wrote a long article about Demora Smith, the NFLPA union lead lawyer, I guess he's the just lead guy, and the negotiation stemming back from 2011 to where they're at now, they just obviously completed it before the season of new CBA, and just some of the inner workings of their business.

and on the most basic level if one of you listening right now was negotiating against me and you're negotiating against me and only me yet you have 10 partners so it's 1 verse 10 I have an advantage because the only person I have to answer to

and the only vision I have for whatever we're negotiating right is mine and I know what I want and don't want at least at the time time of the negotiation. Where you, speaking for nine people, including yourself, makes

a 10, could be a lot of visions. Maybe three guys think alike, but then everyone else is fractured. It's difficult. It is always easier to negotiate with less amount of people. So I'll never hold it against the players that they just

have a shitload of them. Again, excuse my language to the kids. I'm in an excited mood today. And there are a lot of players. There are dramatically more NFL players than even baseball, 25-man roster. Well, there's more than double the amount of NFL players on an actual roster in season. And then you talk about off-season, fringe guys, practice squad guys.

It's more than that. You have a ton of players. And like in all sports, but the NFL, you have a large percentage of the workforce that does not make that much money. in the NBA, for example, the average salary is $7.5 million. Most NFL players are making closer to the minimum. I think the average salary is a couple million bucks. But, like in the NBA, like in the NFL,

the powerful rich players have the most juice. Right? So just on the most basic level, you get, and you don't have 32 owners negotiating against the players. Let's face it. You got two or three that speak for them all. Jerry, Kraft, maybe Ziggy Wolf, right? There's a group of them.

And they're not going back and forth, right? Mark Davis, Jed York, whoever, some of the guys, they're just, Jerry, and you, we trust. You keep the money flowing, we'll keep cashing them checks. With the players, if I'm a fringe backup linebacker, my views for what I want in the CBA are probably a lot different than Aaron Rogers, who remember, I think it was last year in the off season when they were negotiating the CBA and was getting kind of ugly over the off season notoriously said he wanted to cancel the off season well of course one of the greatest players of all time wouldn't need the off season you know who needs the off season the majority of the

league why they need that to impress coaches to try to learn the scheme to try to make the team so everyone is going to come at it from different angles you know who i don't blame for thinking that I don't necessarily blame Aaron. Because if I was in Aaron's shoes, I wouldn't really want to practice in, you know, April either. Like, what am I really getting out of it? Now, there's a team aspect to it. I get it.

But if you got a big ass house in Malibu, do you think I want to be in Wisconsin? In early June? No, I don't. But, so it's complicated. It's not an easy job. And you always got to be at least cognitive or, and wonder where and what angle this article, why it was written.

And I honestly don't know, because there were parts that made D. Smith look good. They're a part that made them look bad. There were parts that made the owners look bad. Regardless, one thing that really jumped out to me, I think the players did themselves as disservice. One element of this article is the players argued that D. Smith's compensation was too much. They're arguing over billions of dollars. And if you're going to sign a CBA, let's say, for a decade,

if the NFL right now is a 10 to 12 to $15 billion a year business, if you're talking about a decade, you're not even factoring in it going up every year. If let's just say, we'll just pick a number 10, $10 billion a year. If I'm signing a 10-year deal, and let's just say in this world where it stays, you know, it does not go up, which is not the case, but just for mass sake, that's a $100 billion deal. DeMora Smith was paid one point, I think a little over $1.6 million.

And some of the people in the executive committee did not want to give him a million bonus to take his compensation up to $2.6 million a year. I red flagged the players. My take, you guys are morons. If I'm going into a $10 billion a year negotiation, and like I said, a hundred plus billion dollar deal, my lawyer better be making $10. to $15 million. Do you know who...

Listen, I don't claim to be like super successful in business. Doing pretty well. Know some people that are multi-millionaires crushing it. The first thing they always tell you, don't skip on accountant, skimp,

and don't skimp on a lawyer. Because those guys can do things for you that you can't do for yourself. And there's a reason that the big-time lawyers and the big-time accountants when you roll into the nice neighborhoods and the country clubs,

they tend to have some of the big houses in those neighborhoods. Because they're worth their weight and gold. And the players were arguing over a million dollars to a lawyer. To me, Gene Upshaw, who obviously was a former player, made six. For me to feel comfortable, how did none of these players that make a ton of money,

that have a ton of powerful people around them, I'm sure have some powerful lawyers, not realize, you know what we need? Is it like a $10 million lawyer to go into war with these men that have unlimited resources and money. So the players did themselves a disservice by not getting the best of the best. And D. Smith might be good.

I mean, the owners claim to love them, which is not an ideal thing. But to me, when I read that their union chief makes under $2 million, I'm sorry, I read flagged that thing. Because like I talked about earlier this week, money's all relative. And if we're talking billions of dollars and basically well over $100 billion that we're going to sign a deal,

I better have an elite lawyer. And guess what elite lawyers do? They cost a lot of money. And their guy doesn't cost enough for my liking. Would you like, what if I told you this? What if I told, you know, Aaron Rogers this. Your best wide receiver, he's a million dollar player. Your best safety, million dollar player.

They'd be like, what? We can't get a blue chipper? Devante Adams underpaid like $15 million. Like your money in your industry does represent how good you are. Eventually. Now, obviously guys on rookie contracts, but there are no rookie contracts on you're hiring a lawyer. You guys have big cash, hire the best of the best. So they did themselves a disservice there.

The other thing I'll never forget, I think players, because the only thing the owners have ever thought about is the money. They do not care about practices. They do not care about preparation time. They do not care about the off-season. Like we had just discussed, what the business of the NFL is predicated off the television product. As long as they play games, no matter how you get to that game, you can practice once, you can practice 10 times. They just need the game to happen.

Because they know right now, nothing lasts forever. As NBC would know, they just had one of the greatest deals in American history. We just need the game to happen. So however you get there, we don't care if you take no snaps during the week or whatever. And the players were adamant. Too many double days! Too many practices during the season! Making us wear pads during the seasons!

The owners were like, have at it, Dee. tell them all, no more paths during the season. No more double days. I'll never forget in 2010 when I was hired. My first year was before the lockout. And that first year, we had double days. We had physical practices. And I vividly remember Deuce Daly.

Love Duce. And, you know, being an older guy, right? And he was a young coach. It was his first year. He was like an intern coach. He's like, when I first got here, our practices were way more physical. And I remember people telling me coaches on the staff

and scouts on the staff, we have one of the more physical practices in the league with Coach Reed. I mean, running goal line drills, and I had come from Pat Hill, where pads were always on. So it just felt like a real physical practice, right? It was legit. But I think for NFL standards, it was headed toward a, you know, nowhere what it was in like the 90s, right?

The following year is when the lockout happened. And when finally the go-ahead and the lockouts lifted and everyone comes back, double days were no longer allowed. And I remember it was my second year with the team And usually as a scout You go to all the practices training camp Well with no more double days The afternoon was a walkthrough

We didn't even go Because it was pointless Right? We just stay in our room and work Imagine an Olympics Where doping is not only legal But encouraged It's the enhanced games Some call it grotesque

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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 which I'll say it. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football,

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Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. And I just remember, honestly, I couldn't even fathom what was going on. I was like, God, this is just way easier for the players than the last year that I saw. and all the players were really happy. You know who the happiest, though, were the owners. Because they got way more money in the deal. They traded money for that. And part of the reason is that the players

had a union chief and a lead lawyer that just not highly paid enough. Like, you get what you pay for in life at the highest level. And you could argue even at the lower levels. My dad always taught me this. When you go, when you're buying something nice, I'll just use a golf analogy. Like, if you buy some used cheap golf club

for $100, instead of buying a nice brand new golf club for $400, you can't get mad when that golf club snaps the cheap one in a month. You can use the car analogy what's more expensive.

When you buy a used clunker because you're trying to keep some cash, when that car breaks down in six months, when you could have spent 5,000 more, 10,000 more got a newer car that would have had a warranty,

you can't complain when you end up spending more money for that. And now the players are complaining, they're not getting their fair share, well, you guys traded the wrong things. And the one thing the owners always have is they only care about one thing. They don't even care necessarily about the product because they are arrogant enough to think that fans, and listen, all you guys listening are clearly big football fans are never going to stop watching.

And I know this, like it pays my bills. I haven't worked in the NFL since 2013. And I've made money for seven straight years because of the power, you know, predicated on talking about the sport because the sport's so popular. If I had worked in baseball instead of football and been out of baseball, I would not have been able to do this. The interest just would not have been there. I'm lucky. And a lot of people profit off the sport just because it's so big.

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Okay, I want to talk about Tiger for a second. He obviously got in the terrible crash, and I think it's fair to say his legs are pretty screwed up. He's in pretty bad shape. And one thing, I'm very jealous of a lot of you guys that listen and shoot me DMs, something that I can't relate to anymore. Growing up, I was a massive 49er fan. I'm saying, just like any one of you, whoever your team is, they were my squad. And then as I worked in football, and even through college, they started sucking, and I became

probably more of just a fan of the league and Peyton Manning and Brady. but then once I worked in football and ultimately got to the league, it kind of left me. My days of being a fan, I'm numb to it. And for the last, you know, five, six years, but ever since I've been in the podcast space

with my other podcast with Guy, we talk a lot about the 49ers, and doing this, like, I'm very numb to who wins and loses. Even the Niners now, I make, I care about the Niners, I just need them to be interesting so I can profit. Ideally, I love it when they make Super Bowl runs

because I can make more money, but it's become, it's all money related. My days of being tied as a fan are died with football. I mean, are absolutely dead. And part of it is I know people in the league, so you just root for them. I'm like that in life now. When I meet someone and I become friends with them

or even acquaintances or, hell, we might follow each other on Twitter or Instagram, if we go back and forth, I'm just going to root for you. Lucky enough, in my position, I get to meet some of these people. It's fucking cool. I'm still a fan of that. but my fan of the sport died. I don't really deep inside even any of the sports, like the San Francisco Giants is probably the last team I was a fan of,

and I really don't care anymore, partly because I just hate Gabe Kapler, and I miss Bruce Bochy. I can't even take the franchise that seriously anymore. Like, I like, I guess I would consider myself a Warriors fan, but I'm only there because I'm a Steph Curry guy. If you remove Steph Curry and you brought in James Harden, I wouldn't care.

I am jealous of any fan. out there. Now, I, all my friends are fans. Like, I still relate very well the fan. I still like going to games and sitting in the stands. At least I gained a love of that the last couple years because I hated sitting with the media. It was so stiff. And honestly, when anyone says, like, Middle God, if you're a member of the media, honestly, it makes me cringe. Like, I, maybe I once was, but I pay for tickets now. You know, I guess the only thing I'll get a credential now is go to, like, a training camp, the Niners and the Raiders. And the Raiders eventually stop letting me show up to theirs. So I can,

only go to the Niners. And I obviously, I could travel around if I wanted to do and go see other teams, which is cool. So I guess still have some media there. But if I go to a game, I'm not sitting with the media. I'm going to pay for a ticket. So I'm jealous of anyone who's a fan. And I think I understood, in high school I played football and I played golf. I was not a good football player.

I was a right guard who played, you know, started a little bit of senior year and played a little bit on JV in and out of the line. up. I was 190, 5-10, not a great athlete, not strong. We ran the wingtie. But I loved playing football. Love it. All my friends played football. And it was, it's still, it's awesome. It was some of my best memories as a kid, playing high school football, which I can imagine many people listening that never made it past high school football. It's a fucking blast, right? Especially if your friends are on the team. I think my senior year were like five and five. It doesn't even matter. At least it didn't for us. I mean, like De La Salle. down the street from my house right now, it does.

But I was way better at golf. I've always loved the sport of golf. And if you follow me on social media, you know, I like golf a lot. I'm a huge Tiger Woods fan. And I was thinking he's probably the last person before I became numb to everything over the last decade that, like, still competed, that I still have that high school, junior high version of me that's still a fan of.

And when I got the tweet and looked at the TV, that, I mean, when I just saw the picture I was hoping he did, didn't die. And the information coming out that his legs are shattered, I think it's fair to take an educated guess that we might never see Tiger Woods competitively again, which sucks. And honestly, I was, I was pretty rattled when he got into the car. And it's like, I don't know the guy, right? I mean, we would probably never be friends. I hope, I hope if we met, we'd be cool. I mean, I know he's a big Raider fan. I definitely could talk Raiders with him, but never met the guy. stood next to him in a bathroom once,

partly because I was at, for the Pebble Beach Pro Am, he was putting at Monterey Peninsula Country Club. He went in to take a leak, and me and my cousin waited like five seconds and a couple other guys and, like, fall them into the bathroom. No eye contact, but we're about five feet away. That was cool.

But I understand, like, and I think the media consistently shits on fans because you become numb to it. You lose that. And luckily, like, I'm not friends with media people. My friends are normal people. My friends are season ticket holders with the Raiders when they were here, definitely with the 49ers now. And I understand it because, like, it feels like Tiger's over, and it sucks.

Like, it's pretty devastating. And I also think he has a lot of parallels, even though he's a golfer. And obviously, it's not a physical sport. Before the car crash, he had, like, football-level injuries, right? In 2008, I remember I was just about to move because the U.S. opens in June. And my mom and my brother and my dad were coming with a trailer, and we were going to pack all my stuff in San Luis Obispo and take it to Fresno, where I was about to become a graduate assistant, and clearly he was about to change my life.

I didn't know it. I mean, I had a decent idea. It was going to be a pretty impactful time, but I didn't know what was coming. But I had a couple days to wait, and I remember he was, it was the U.S. Open. And it was the U.S. Open he won with a torn ACA. basically a crack knee, like just stuff that when you hear

Emmett Smith played an NFC championship game with a separated shoulder. Like it's just, it's legendary shit. It's why when you saw Tiger Woods play the match with Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, those guys act like Tiger is their equal because they think as just in terms of greatness, in terms of mental toughness,

because he was. And listen, I don't know, if you're listening to this, you're not a big golf guy, I think we all respect the shit out of this human being. And the thing I admire most, and definitely Brady has this. And it's actually different because Brady's never had, he had the one injury. Three or four years ago, before Tiger just won that Masters,

I think it was, what's his name, Wright Thompson of ESPN had wrote that long article about Tiger Woods. And he's in his backyard. This is when he's having all the back problems. and he'd hit the ground and he couldn't walk. And he'd have to call for his daughter to call for help to maybe like get Noda Bagay to come over and pick him up. I mean, these are stories you read about guys

that played in like the 70s for the Steelers or the Dolphins or the Raiders. Not a golfer in his early 40s. Couldn't walk. Here's the other thing. And this is where it parallels Tom. If you go to Tiger's bank account five years ago, 10 years ago,

when he's having all these health problems, he has more money than God. He does not need to do it anymore. But his drive, Tiger Woods, like Tom Brady, Tiger got into golf, Tom got into football, and I think Belichick, and I know Coach Reed is like this, and this is why I admire the hell out of Coach Reed. They didn't get into it for the money.

The money impacts them. It changes, like, the way where they live and what car they drive. It does not change their love and their driving their addiction of the sport. And the thing I admire most I saw with Coach Reed. By the time I start, working for the Eagles, he was rich.

He was making a ton of money. Now, he had never won a Super Bowl, but I'll never forget his work ethic was unlike anything I'd ever seen. And then when I'd go to the combine these last couple years and be like, you know, Coach Reed, he's still just working away. His work ethic is incredible.

And Tiger and Brady, these guys' dedication to their craft is just unparalleled. At the highest level where the competition is the highest. They are the 1% of the 1%ers. And this guy's drive to come back and ultimately win that Masters, after all the injuries, and all the shit he'd been through,

some of it self-inflicted definitely, but the injuries to a golfer, more like a middle linebacker, it's insane. We'll never see anything like it again. And unlike Brady, I don't think his fame will ever be matched, because this guy's world famous. This guy's fame is like, and I say the same thing about Michael Jordan, if you became super famous before the internet, you are stupid famous.

Remember growing up how famous like Michael Jackson was, or Mike Tyson or some of these people that were just like, God, the Beatles. Like, the fame now, like, LeBron's really famous. But he's had the internet and social media. Like, obviously, Tigers had that too.

But we all know Tiger was famous like 97 when he went Hello World and Nike signed him. And back to what I was saying about being a fan, I think he's one of the last guys I'm like a true fan of. This might sound corny, but I kind of got emotional when he won the Masters. I really did. Because he kind of like connects me to my childhood.

and that is dead for me. And I think if you listen to me long enough, it's why I think I'm pretty good to talk about football. Because I'm biased maybe to a couple guys I know, but just with the players and the teams, I don't care. It takes me to gamble on sports now to get the juice that I used to have when I was 14. And I could watch sports 24-7, 365.

I can't really anymore. And I still watch a ton, but I profit off of. of it. If I wasn't making money off it, I would not watch nearly as much as I do. And I just, this week was, it sucks because I think we saw, I just don't see how this guy ever comes back from this. And if I had to Google some of the words and his statements about his bones being shattered, but I'm just glad as a big sports fan at my heart and who I was growing up, that like the last three years, we got some badass moments with the guy. I remember when he was making his comeback, 2018, almost won the British.

Then he won the Tour Championship, who my guy Haberman, who I do the other podcast with, was there calling it for virtual reality. Called it for virtual, he was in the build. He said it was incredible. Remember, there's that visual of all the fans Fallen Tiger. Then six months later, or less than that, he wins the Masters. And then just this year, in Corona, my least favorite time in the history of my life,

besides like, you know, non-deaths in my family or something. I mean, it was the most miserable year ever. I think we'd all tend to agree there. Is him, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady? Like that, that event was made for me. I don't know what you thought of that event. That's one of my favorite viewing experiences of my lifetime. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson.

Oh. So, you know, I just think we're addicted to athletes that are addicted to their craft. And I think you hear so often guys talk about, like, I want to be a brand. I want to do this. Maybe I grew up on guys that became a brand because they dominated. The Jordan brand happened because Michael Jordan won six championships. The TW hats and the Nike polos. got, you know, Phil Knight was slinging those things, like they were drugs because Tiger was

dominating. Now everyone has a logo before they win a game or like, oh, we're starting to business. Like, what have you done? Like, I grew up on Tiger, Tiger and Michael. And I, you know, I remember my dad, we'd always argue about how great Joe Montana was. When you grow up on someone, I do understand, I will go to my grave arguing the Tiger, Michael, and probably now Tom Brady, like, I don't see how they're being topped. When I'm 70 years old, arguing with my, hopefully like my grandkids about, you know, they're up and coming whoever, none of these guys are getting knocked off my perch. Okay, let's bang out a couple quick, just stories that are kind of going around.

And I think what we'll do, because we're almost at, are getting close to an hour, plus once they put in ads here, I'll put the middle cough mailbag. I'm just going to put it on YouTube. I think I did that last week. I'll record that either tonight or first thing in the morning and put it on my YouTube page, John Middlecoff. Have a YouTube page, John Middlecoff, go check that out. Have just different content up there.

Football, a little golf, mainly just football and golf. I'm a football golf guy. A Brady extension. Do you know how crazy it is? Like, listen, you might be as big of a tiger, or I mean, Tom Brady Homer as a guy as a Tiger Woods Homer. it's pretty nuts that we're talking

Tom Brady extension going into the year that he's going to be 44 and it's really not even that weird right they gave him two years 50 million dollars he's got 25 million dollars guaranteed this year

and is this crazy just give him like a 25 million dollar extension and basically just kind of kick the can down the road I mean what's is this ever going to stop do you guys ever just think about that like is this ever going to stop because I think at this point in time

you'd be say, well, maybe not. Eventually it will, and it'll probably take an injury because his arm looks normal and he moves like he's always moved. It's not like he moves great anyway. It's basically, I think at this point in time, it's going to take an injury to end his career. Because that happened to Peyton, right?

Was his shoulder or his arm? Remember, it just, it fell off. He couldn't throw. We think Drew Breeze's arm struggled this year. That Peyton year, I attended a mid-season game against the Raiders. It was embarrassingly bad. I remember going to that game.

The irony, actually, is because they both go into the Hall of Fame this year because they retired the same year. Charles Woodson had never picked off Peyton Manning. He got him twice in that game. The ball just floated in the air. He had no zip. That's not the case with Tom. I just, where's Tom going?

I would just keep paying him $25, $30 million a year. Keep having to be the quarterback until he can't. Keep on like one-year deals, keep building the team around them, let them live in Florida, no state income taxes, hang out at Jeter's pad, get wasted in the off-season, TB-12 in the regular season, keep kicking ass and taking names. J.J. Watt, Diana Rusini, she used to be NBC Diana, now she works ESPN, wrote that he has an offer between like $15 and $16 million. That's crazy. Now, I don't blame him if someone's going to give him like two years, $30 million and guarantee $20 million of it. He doesn't have to take the deal, but that's a massive deal for him. Like to me, I view him as like $6, $7 million player,

unreal locker room guy, great like rotational defense event. Ideally, just kicks ass on third down. It's like a team captain and just big part of my squad, right? but I don't want to depend on him every snap like I would Aaron Donald or JJ Watt five years ago, partly because he gets hurt a lot. Like, I don't know. I won't be able to blame him if he goes to the Browns or something for like two years, $35 million and they guarantee $25 of it.

Like that's a lot of money to turn down, or the Raiders or whatever. If I was him, it's easy for me to say, but he's got, he's made $100 million on the field. he was one of the most marketed athletes of the last seven, eight years. I'd imagine he's made millions off the field. Can you imagine we've talked about this before? If when I introduced JJ Watt in 10 years, I'm running Oracle or whatever company and I'm bringing J.J. Watt to talk to my employees.

And I go, I'd like to welcome Super Bowl champion J.J. Watt. Changes your career, man. So, I mean, Tampa, Kansas City. Now, obviously, those type teams, it's going to be way less money. Buffalo, they make a lot of sense. But it's still pretty risky. Like, they got as far as they've been in basically 30 years this year to the NFC championship.

And they get their ass kicked by the Chiefs. If I was him, I'd probably go to the Chiefs for a million bucks, or whatever his minimum is. Easy for me to say, if he's turning down $20 million, that's a lot of money. I'm not, and I'm as pro money as anybody. but when you already have a lot of money you can operate from a position of strength now there are other variable

this is the last contract he'll probably ever have if he has a major injury like his career would be over so I get it but like he's going to go to the Hall of Fame so it's going to be a Hall of Famer can he get the Super Bowl like that would change his career Super Bowl champion because then you make money the rest of your life

in whatever town and just I just think he's way more marketable that would be my recommendation assuming he saved one which he seems like a smart guy. I think he's going to be fine financially. He's got generational wealth. I would prioritize winning one, two, and three, and then money.

I'd be thinking chiefs. I'd be thinking bucks. I'd be thinking packers. Ben, big Ben, I think the Steelers are kind of stuck. I do not think they want Ben Rothesberger back. I just don't think they really have a choice. They're drafting in the 20s because they made the playoffs. He makes huge money.

I think in a perfect world, if there was no dead cap space, they'd cut him. I even bet they've probably contemplated cutting him, but he's probably agreed to maybe give some money back or something to facilitate him staying on the team. But to me, you just short Ben Rothesberger like a stock. Just because you saw him last year, he just kind of fell apart. And that's normal. He's 39 years old.

He was coming off a terrible elbow injury. I don't think he's just going to get better with age. as it gets cold, they play in a cold weather city. They play cold weather teams in their division. It's hard for him to avoid that. They've got really good defenses in their division in Cleveland and Baltimore. It's going to be difficult for an old guy that can't move anymore and just kind of breaking down.

And as people have alluded to on different shows, he's not Mr. He ain't Tiger or Tom Brady in the offseason. He's not doing TIE. B12. There's not much pliability. He's doing 12 ounce curls, which, listen, I like 12 ounce curls as much as the next guy.

You know, and I don't mind my quarterback drinking. Like, I'm pro drinking. But Rathesberger, like, you know, he's aged hard. He really has. KJ. Wright, who's been just an ass kicker for Seattle, and I don't blame any of these players

for saying this. I'm not taking a hometown discount. Because you have position of power when you've won before. Like, KJ. White's a winner. Pretty sure KJ. Wright won a Super Bowl. To me, once you've won a Super Bowl, like, the Dadaaman Suu. To me, he loves money.

He finally won. Like, to me, if I'm Nadehoku and Sue, I'm trying to get paid again. Trying to get some cash flow. I got my ring. KJ. Wright, Super Bowl champion. Of course he's not taking a hometown discount. Time to get paid.

When you've won, and you've made money like KJ Wright's in the ultimate position right he's won he's he's got a ring he's been a part of awesome teams he's been he just wins every year like you could argue just whoever offers you the most bread just take it he's 31 years old he'll probably get like a two or three year deal try to get as much money as you can and if that means going to the Jags you go to the Jags you just kind and sometimes remember Clayas Campbell is like God Clay's Campbell going to the Jags what a he's kind of crazy what happened? The Jags were sweet. Same Malik Jackson. Like Malik Jackson just all that money. Yeah,

because he had won. And then all of a sudden they're good. So you never know. You take the money when you've won big. That's back to JJ Watt. When you haven't won and you're already really rich, like once you're really rich in business, you don't just take every business deal or especially every business deal just because it's the most money. You can kind of pick and choose. You have different priorities. Now it's hard. Like most in the business world, you know, I'm 36. I hopefully I live till long time. I got time on my side. JJ's career, you know, is coming down the home stretcher. But I would love to see a player of his caliber.

You know, I think the Patriots, if Belichick was still in New England, you know, excuse me, if Brady was still in New England and they had just won the Super Bowl, we would all be saying, JJ, go to New England, right? I think JJ Watt would have been the biggest Locke Patriot of the last two decades. He'd be like, yeah, he's going to be a patriot. Take a little less money, go there, win a championship. Now it's like a little more open-ended. Packers, a little risky.

You know, it makes a lot of sense from there. They're good. They've only been to one Super Bowl in a decade. At least the Chiefs have been back and back. Tampa feels like they're going to be right in the mix. I'm a JJ Watt fan. I'll never forget seeing him live at the Coliseum in the peak of his powers.

It was stupid how good he was. Stupid. You know how we talk about Aaron Donald? That was JJ. They were equals. Unblockable. Unstoppable made every play. I mean, it was, I think both those two guys,

best two players the last decade on defense. Like, even Khalil Mack wasn't quite that good. What Aaron Donald's become these last couple years and what J.J. Watt was for like two or three years in his peak. It was awesome to watch live. Unless that day you were a Raider fan. He scored a touchdown that day, not by like a fumble because they threw him a touchdown.

He was a tight end. It was sweet. He was in his peak. And he's still damn good. He's a baller. Okay, I'm going to put Middilcoff mail back. I'm going to put it up on the YouTube page. John Middlop, check it out.

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