The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - Stafford Trade Ripple Effect; Remaining Offseason QB Dominoes; Sirianni Disaster Presser L; Mailbag

Episode Date: February 2, 2021

In this episode, John looks at the impact that Matt Stafford to the Rams will have on the NFL, and how the remaining dominoes will fall around the NFL for the rest of the teams looking for a QB. He also looks at the top storylines around the league, including new Eagles Head Coach Nick Sirianni's disastrous intro presser, 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.

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Three and out podcast. Super Bowl week, live from my house. It did not make the Super Bowl this week or this year, like last year, which was awesome. But no dice. You know, Corona restrictions with the players and coaches It just, it doesn't make any sense, really didn't, you know, never even looked into it. I just fall in the league this year and watching the way other media people, it didn't add up.

So we will just live and in charge from the home base. Luckily, there's a lot going on. There was this guy named Matt Stafford. He was traded for a guy named Jared Gough and all these picks. We will, of course, dive into that every single angle. Several teams, as Albert Brewer and Peter King were reporting, that were in on the mix for a lot of picks. and first rounders and maybe not first rounders. I'll give my take on the teams that didn't get them

and kind of where they go from here. And then we'll hit on some other stories like Siriani's Disaster Press Conference. Tom Brady says he wants to play before Pass 45 and a bunch of other stuff. Gutikins on Rogers. And of course leave a review if you could, Three and Out podcast.

If you listen on Collins' feed, greatly appreciate that. Also three and out podcast, separate feed. And, and, Middlecoff mailback at John Middlecoff is the Instagram handle. You guys know the drill. Leave a direct message. They call DMs.

Some call it sliding into the DMs. And I will answer it here on the show. Or I'll answer it manually with you, which is basically like text messaging. So we'll just text back and forth. Either way, we'll do some interaction. But let's start with the trade. And my overall, like whenever there's a trade, this is why I love pro football.

because with free agency and the draft and any trades, any transaction, it is a economic exercise. It's all about the value. The value in the player, the value in the assets giving up for the team acquiring said player, the value in what other teams were willing to pay. It's fascinating. And nothing is more fascinating than a quarterback trade. We've seen several high, you know, priced big blue chip names traded over the last couple years, right? From Diggs last year to Jalen Ramsey to Jamal Adams to Khalil Mack, net in first round picks and second round picks.

So we have a pretty good idea if you wanted Jamal Adams, if you want a Jalen Ramsey, what the bidding price is, right? Two ones and a two. That's the going rate for a pro bowl level player. Like it or not. It's just, it's the precedent. I'm not a lawyer. They use that word a lot. The precedent has been set.

It's why Deshawn Watson is so fascinating. It's like, is he really going to cost four ones? I'm pretty sure you could only trade first round picks or just picks in general four years out. So that's the max you can trade besides clearly players. But we'll see on that one. I'm not as sold as he's going to get traded because this is not the National Basketball Association. Agents don't dictate the terms. And I have a hard time seeing Casario getting pushed around.

round, not because I think Casario is some big bad tough guy, was some rumors, it might be a burner account going around either by Jack Easterby or Nick Casario. Either way, he's spent 20 years with Belichick, I just, I don't know. I also know the way GMs think, and I'm sure many people listening to you, if you just follow the league, how often do you see four first rounders traded? So I think we can pump the brakes on that trade a little bit. It feels a little more social media driven than reality driven. But the Stafford trade to me was fascinating. Here's the number one thing you have to realize. If I'm offering you $10,000 right now,

that is worth more than $10,000 in two and a half years. Right? Anyone that's taking finance classes, time, value, money, money now, more powerful than money later. And the way picks are valued, and I talk to several lucky enough to know people that are in charge of the salary cap and in charge of the trade charts.

and they will tell you a first round pick this year. So if I'm the Panthers or I'm the Niners and I give pick eight or I give pick 12 from Matt Stafford to the Lions, that pick is viewed as 100%, right? You are getting my first round this year and you can use it on a player. Well, like the Rams, they gave first round pick in 2022 and a first round pick in 2023. Unlike my money analogy, the amount is not set because it. it's dictated on a roster, right? This is basic football.

You guys all know that. We don't know where the pick is going to be. But I think we have a pretty good idea based on history that the Rams are going to be really good and the pick is going to be in the 20s. But the pick in 2022, so the first rounder they got in two years, is viewed as, give or take, depending on who you talk to, about 85% of the first rounder this year. And the pick in three years, technically two and a half, 2023, is viewed as a lot. at about 70% based on the trade value chart.

I saw Peter King writing about it. Jimmy Johnson just viewed, if it's a first rounder next year, that's basically a second rounder in present value. It's a little more complicated than that, but you get my drift. So they are not trading, quote, unquote, three first rounders. I mean, they're getting three first rounders, but when they're based two years away, that is not 100% of the value. To me, the Lions, they basically, here's what I don't understand,

about this and I've used this. I use this on my other podcast. You just tweeting about it and on Instagram and all these places. I'm calling this an inside job. And that sounds like I'm diminishing the transaction. I just don't think this transaction happens anywhere else. Because there is not a team that's not only going to take Jared Goff, but take all the money, 45 whatever plus million dollars for the next couple years. Because the Rams, they got to buy Matt Stafford with a credit card. And unlike credit cards that me and you pay for, we get charged interest. No interest for the ramps. They get Matt Stafford, they get to put them on layaway. Meanwhile, the team with the powerful asset, the one that people were lined up to get, Matt Stafford, paid cash. They don't get anything now,

and they're paying cash for Jared Goff. To be completely candid, I don't really understand the trade. And I know people like Peter Schrager, who's locked in, say there was a market for Jared Gough, and I don't pretend to know everyone in the league. Hell, I know, you know, a smaller percentage of people in the league. But I know people that are in the Super Bowl, people that are on teams that need a quarterback. I have a pretty good variety of friends on different level of teams. And every single person I asked, they go, yeah, Jared Gough's not been good the last

couple of years. Below average player. One person used just a guy. That's not even, that's just talking about the player, not factoring in the contract. Who the hell was going to take Jared Goff? The Rams, or excuse me, the Lions. And as someone who used to work in the league in the money in the finance department, with the cap and stuff,

told me, and it makes a lot of sense, salary cap space is an asset. The Colts used it forever. You can roll it over. So next year, or in two years, you can roll over space and use that maybe you're good, maybe then you can do a move where you can't acquire. a DeAndre Hopkins, a Stefan Diggs,

uh, Jamal Adams, with one of your several picks. Cap space is valuable. You don't just waste cap space, right? Unless you're taking, you want a good player. Jared Goff is not a good player right now. And the Rams, this is the easiest deal they're ever going to do. I mean, it's just, they got Matt Stafford for first round picks. They do not care about.

But the Lions paid cash when they had the most important mess it. I also have a hard time understanding all first rounders are not equal, right? I remember last year when the Buckner trade went down. I think it was pick 13 for DeForest Buckner. By then, we knew the picks for Killeleel Mack. They were both picks in the 20s. I think one was 24 and the other was 20. Could be misremembering. And I remember someone in the league texting me and said, basically the Niners, pick 13, given the two picks that the Raiders got for Khalil Mack in the first round were borderline equal to each other. Because picks, as you start getting in the top 15, think about this.

Pick 8. If the Carolina Panthers offered pick 8, and that's been reported by Albert Breer, I think it's true. Props to David Tepper and Matt Rule. David Tepper didn't make all these billions of dollars. Matt Rule didn't leave a pretty good job at Baylor making $7, $7,8 million. to lose. They put all their chips in the middle of the table, said, hey, Detroit, you ready to roll?

We'll give you pick eight. I think it's a fair assumption, unless a disaster happens, which I have a hard time seeing because all these sweet players are under contract. But the key with the Rams, they have a good coach. The coach, all he does is win.

Now, he may not win the Super Bowl, and every level one, it's Super Bowl or bust. Is it Super Bowl or bust? The Rams have been an unbelievable success since Sean McVeigh has got. there. I think he's 43 and 21. He has more than double the amount of wins of games he's coached. He's won three playoff games. I love Kyle Shanahan. Kyle Shanahan has two playoff wins.

Sean McVeigh, for example, if you just put him and Kyle Shanahan next to each other, one guy's made the playoffs three out of four years. The other guys made it one out of the four years. They've both been to the Super Bowl, so if those two cancel out, the other guys made a Super Bowl, or excuse me, made the playoffs a bunch. Sean McVeigh's big time. He's not going to lose. Unless just a catastrophe happens. But even I think if John Wolford was his quarterback for like eight games, he'd find a way to go like three or four wins. So when you get offered the eighth pick,

if both McVe's picks are in the mid-20s, and I think it's fair to say it's been in the mid-20s two out of the last four years, Stafford has an upgrade over Jared Goff, those two picks will not equal the eighth pick, let alone when you factor in the future value of those picks that are discounted one at an 85% clip and the other, give or take, 75% to 70%. It's just bad business. It's what I get back to the term.

It was an inside job. There was another team that I, like, would have been beaten down the doors for Jared Gough and not forcing the Rams to eat any of the money. Yeah, we'll take it all. Give us all his guaranteed money. The Rams got away from paying the guy like $44 more million guaranteed the next couple years. How's that possible?

I still don't understand it. Now, I applaud the ramps. They take huge swings. Let's get into them. I've seen many people draft people on Twitter, people on ESPN saying it's reckless, saying you can't do this. Why the hell not?

It's literally working. What do you often hear like coaches say or business leaders say, there are several ways, you know, to skin a cat, right? You're not, we're not, there are several ways to get to your destination. In football, not all teams are built the same way. Some teams, you know, draft Tom Brady.

Some teams like the Saints, sign Drew Brees. There are just several ways to build it. Some teams always trade first round picks. Some teams hoard picks. Every year we see different type teams. make it to the dance. And what the Rams are doing right now is 100% working. They literally, with their backup quarterback, who got hurt in the game and then were

forced to play a quarterback, clearly they didn't want, because they just traded, didn't just beat Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson? They kicked his ass. Well, two or I guess a month later, their team is now better. They have dramatically upgraded. and all their good players are under contract. Jalen Ramsey, Star, Aaron Donald, arguably the best player not named Lawrence Taylor to ever play defense. Cooper Cup, Robert Woods, ballers, Cam Acres, looks like a future stud.

You put Matt Stafford there with Sean McVay, it's going to work. You know what, reckless, you know what people keep using that term? Because they never had the balls to do that. Now, is it going to work? I don't know. But every one of their moves and Sean McVey has been there, everyone's like, oh, that's crazy. Oh, that's dumb.

Oh, that's crazy. All they do is keep winning. All they do is keep winning. And it's like, oh, what if they have these picks? What do they have these picks? I don't know. What if I had hair? What if I was five inches taller?

I mean, what if I was born in China instead of in Davis, California, in the mid-80s? I don't know. Who cares about these hypotheticals? I have evidence. what they're doing not only works, it consistently gets them in the playoffs. And now two out of his four years as a head coach,

he's won a playoff game. His first year there, they hosted a playoff game. You don't think they're going to be better with Matt Stafford? You think Sean McVeigh gives a shit about first round picks? Because here's the thing. First round, and we've learned this in the NBA forever, first round picks are not all equal. Picks in the 20s where the Rams consistently draft

or not top five picks. And you go, well, what if that happens to Houston? I don't see the Rams turning into Houston. You know why? Bill O'Brien was insane. Sean McVeigh sure doesn't feel insane. The Texan's defense was God awful. The L.A. Rams defense.

Been consistently pretty damn good since he's been there. Why? Because they got really good players. So another thing I consistently see, too, on social media. And reporters, like throwing a pity party for, Jared Gauth. This is professional sports. You sign contracts for a lot of money. Ultimately, they can trade you. It's the shitty part about the business, right? Most of us in normal people jobs, if you work at an insurance company in Los Angeles or you work at an accounting firm in Chicago,

more than likely one day your bosses are going to knock on your door and say, Bill, you've been traded to Tampa Bay for three junior accounts. accountants. That's not going to happen. You also, more than likely, you know, even if you're a good accountant, make a couple hundred grand. You know what Jared Gough has made? 80 million fucking dollars in his career. You know what he's owed the next couple years? Over 50 million dollars. Seven years into his career, he will have made 130 plus million dollars. He's not any good anymore. He's not terrible, but he's definitely not worth that money. You know what happens the moment you're not quote-unquote worth the money the team is paying you?

They look to get rid of you. It's the nature of pro sports. But this pity party for Jared Goff, he's not losing his money. He gets to keep it. And you know what else he gets to do? He gets to keep playing in the NFL for another NFL team. In the history of football, in the history of sports, it happens all the time. You know what's going to happen moving forward for the next 20, 30, 50, 100 years?

It's going to happen a lot more. We've got to stop throwing pity parties when guys get traded. and the guy that obviously shouldn't get a pity party should act like he won the lottery is Matt Stafford. The guy spent his entire career in probably a bottom five NFL franchise. They have, I think, you know, one playoff win in the last 30-plus years. They're two best players in the history of the franchise

is both retired at 30 years old. I give a lot of props to Matt Stafford. Unlike everything that's going on with Deshaun, I don't blame Deshawn, but it's just getting out of control. Matt Stafford, in a much worse organization than Deshawn, Deshawn's been the playoffs several times. Matt Stafford, in his 12 years, I think, got there what? Twice? He worked with Dan Campbell.

I read that they had like an hour conversation last week just talking the roster. Stafford was helping him out. Stafford, the moment the season was over, went to the owner, went to the president, just said, hey, guys, I think it's time for divorce. Acted professional, you know what they did? They did him a solid. clearly the inside job. They sent him to Los Angeles, to Sean McVeigh.

Now, his taxes are going to go up. Luckily, for Matt Stafford, we don't have to play the tax game. Why? He's already made $210 million. So, yeah, his paycheck's probably going to get dinged a little more living in California. You know what he'll finally be able to do? Win some football games. Probably win the NFC West.

Depending on what happens this offseason with the Packers and the Bucks and the Saints quarterback, they have a decent chance. I don't know to be the number one overall seed. Matt Stafford hit the lottery. And a reason he hit the lottery is because the Rams, unlike all these teams that are like, no, we can't part with the extra two. We can't part with the extra cap room.

I'm talking good teams. Bad teams should value those things. But good teams, too often overvalue those things. I love my second round pick. And trust me, I love the draft as much as the next guy. But when it comes to a quarterback, and we talked about this for months and weeks and forever, they are dramatically more important than these position players. Dramatically more important than Jamal Adams, then Khalil Mack, than Jalen Ramsey,

and those players are fucking awesome. Excuse my language if your child is in the car. Don't use that around your parents. That the quarterback matters infinitely more. And someone texts me today, a dude in football, just knows his stuff. He's like, is Jared Goff really that much worse than Matt Stafford? Yeah, I mean, Matt Stafford is dramatically more talented than Jared Gough. And I love this well.

What about the stats? What about this? What about that? Matt Stafford just spent the last however many years playing for Matt Patricia. I couldn't pay, you know, if I had the money, and I said to just a random owner, I'll give you hundreds of millions of dollars to hire Matt Patricia. There is no chance on God's Green Earth, Matt Patricia. Patricia is not hireable again.

No one would hire him to be his defensive, to be an NFL defensive coordinator. He had to go crawling back to Belichick to now be his special project advisor. They just made up a role for him. Why can Belichick do that? Because Patricia's still getting paid by the Lions. So the Belichick and the Patriots don't even have to pay him anything.

No one. There were seven NFL openings. No one even thought about hiring Matt Patricia to be their defense. offensive coordinator, let alone their head coach. Now Stafford goes to Sean McVeigh. If we had a coaching draft, everyone was just a free agent. Where would Sean McVeigh go? Top five? Right? Belichick, Andy.

I mean, he'd be right in the mix to go three, four, five. That's where he gets to go now. With an offensive scheme that works, with players that work, with a culture that wins. And the Rams don't, I mean, they hadn't been faking it, but they get rid of Jared Gough, who they believe, to their core, was the reason they weren't winning. And I think it's fair to say, that might be true. I look back at the stats in the Super Bowl. They didn't get blown out in the Super Bowl.

They lost 13 to 3. The lowest scoring Super Bowl in the history of the NFL. If they had just scored 14 points, I bet if we did a study, if you score 14 points in a Super Bowl, you would lose every single one. In the history of the Super Bowl. Yet if they had scored 14 points,

14 points. They would have won against Belichick and Brady. Goff completed 19 balls. They scored three points. How does Sean McVeigh ever get over that? From what I hear, I mean, it's public knowledge. He gets the office like four. 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, 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,

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And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped 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 a little kill. Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jay. 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.

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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 middle health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark.

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Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. For 35 a.m. You think he wants to work that hard for a quarterback

that's constantly skipping balls to guys wide open? Of course not. Is Matt Stafford going to do some reckless things and have some hero ball syndrome? Probably. Because he probably has 12 years of bad habits. Some of him he's going to have to shake out. But he has the talent when Robert Woods or Cooper Cup is beelined it across the field on one of those deep crossing routes or a deep go route and a guy is open.

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Learn how it belonging begins with us.org. Brought to you by the ad council. Walk a mile in my shoes. So props to the Rams, for one, just knowing the GM of the Lions, for somewhat fleecing them. and getting them a massive upgrade to quarterback. Well, part of this whole trade, I'm a little thrown off because there is a timeline to football.

There is a timeline maybe different than most industries, but maybe not. I'm trying to think, like, my accountant works on the same timeline every year. I think last year got pushed back a little bit because of Corona, right? They pushed the tax day back. But for the most part, depending on what business you work for, every month or every quarter has several check marks. And in football, this type Matt Stafford situation would have come to fruition or taken place at the Combine. Not before the Super Bowl, but because the Combine doesn't exist, because it's kind of a free-for-all right now in terms of no one's going to see each other. I guess they did see each other at the Senior Bowl.

and the dominoes started falling, that this period of time and any team that didn't lay in Matt Stafford, whether it's the Colts, whether it's Washington, whether it's the Niners, whoever, that, you know, think to themselves they need a quarterback,

I think most of you fans, if you're a fan of one of those teams, you're freaking out right now. It's February 1st. Free agency doesn't start until the middle of March, so we need to pump the brakes a little bit. And I'm guilty because it's like, oh, Matt Stamford, when's the next Domino?

We haven't even played the Super Bowl. But I do think timeline this year in the business of football is thrown off dramatically because there is no there's no indianapolis there's not that you know that's the equivalent of you know it's the nfl's convention when business gets done for free agency for definitely for trades and it feels like we're off and running so with matt stafford probably being the biggest domino because he's in his early 30s i think he's viewed at with a huge ceiling more talented than like matt ryan Kirk Cousins, Jimmy Garoppolo, whoever, is off the board.

So let's look at some of the teams who were in the mix. What do they do now? The Panthers. They have an owner with huge cast. They have an owner that clearly wants to operate like a big wig. They want to throw their hat in the ring. They just offered the eighth pick, which back to what I said a little earlier, seems a little reckless by the Lions not taking that pick.

You know what you can do with the eighth pick? is move back for several first rounders. You could probably trade back to like 20 and get a 20 and a first rounder next year. But if I wanted to play devil's advocate, this year, probably the hardest year to scout ever, because your scouts haven't been allowed to go to schools, all these kids played a small amount of games,

some guys opted out, other guys played limited amount, some teams weren't able to practice on weeks they played. So it's a little weird. If you wanted to give me that excuse for the Lions, I would hear you. I doubt they use that one, though. But I appreciate the Panthers.

I like David Tepper. I watched a little bit of the Senior Bowl. I don't pretend to, I mean, talking like the practice during the week, I watch none of the game. But I like Matt Rule, like what he's got going on. They got Joe Brady, they wanted to throw their hat in the ring, and they want to make the playoffs next year. Why wouldn't they?

This is the National Football League. This isn't the NBA, you don't have to keep your fingers crossed and hope for like a LeBron James to win. If you get Matt Stafford, boom, they could win nine games, they'd be in the dance. Hell, it only took eight wins to get to the playoffs this year in the NFC. If Matt Rule is worthy of his, you know, $9 million a year contract, get him a quarterback, they got some weapons, Christian McCaffrey, they got Joe Brady, improve the defense a little bit, boom.

Saints don't have a quarterback, Brady's old, it could fall off a cliff at any moment, and the Falcons have a new coach. I guess Brady's not going to fall off a cliff at any moment, but he is old. So I like what they're doing. Now, what do they do now? I think they can slow play it. Think about drafting a quarterback, but as Chris Ballard said, you don't just draft a quarterback to be like, oh, look at fans, we drafted a quarterback.

I think the same thing with relationships. Like, guys, I'm married now. Do you like her? Not really, but society said I needed to get married and have a child, so you can't stand her. Yeah, I don't really like her at all. I think sometimes that happens with quarterbacks. How do people you know that are married that are miserable? How do people draft quarterbacks are like, yeah, we kind of liked them, but we needed a quarterback.

Don't do that. Draft guys you love, right? Mahomes, Deshawn Watson, when Seattle did it with Russell Wilson. You feel better about it. It's easier to build around that guy because you're all in. I think a lot of times, you know, and it doesn't always work. I mean, Ryan Pace loved Mitch Trubisky. That failed.

But at least he had some conviction. I think sometimes with quarterbacks, guys force themselves to draft a quarterback. And it doesn't always work. So the Panthers wouldn't shock me if they roll back with Teddy Bridgewater. He has a seven-year contract. keep building, and just wait for your moment to land your Matt Stafford or a quarterback you fall in love with. But I don't think they're a lock, because I would imagine,

because they were so terrible this year, they've done massive studies on the rookie quarterbacks. And they probably thought none of the guys that would be around when they're drafting hold a candle to Stafford. I would agree. The Washington football team. Ron Rivera just beat cancer. You think he wants to wait for a young person?

quarterback to develop. Plus, he's not an offensive guy. The one quarterback he nailed was the number one overall pick in Cam Newton. They just made the playoffs. They're not drafting that high. So I like them being all over Matt Stafford. Matt Stafford was on Washington. I think

they would probably be a sexy pick to win that division. What do they do now? I think they should sniff around James. I think they should sniff around if Matt Ryan's available. I think they'll be sniffing around on all these veteran quarterbacks. Trade for Marcus Marriota, get a veteran quarterback in there.

The 49ers, in a little bit of a weird spot. Like, you know, I appreciate, it was hard, right? For all the reports, and I don't know this for certain, but I'll take Brewer at his word, I know he's locked in, they did not make a concrete offer of pick 12. Unlike the Panthers, the Niners really value that being drafting that high. To me, if the Niners had Pick 31, they would have, easily offered him for Matt Stafford.

But Pick 12 is very, very valuable. And are there going to be guys that are undervalued in this draft? Kyle Shanahan probably makes between $9 and $11 million. He's in year one of a six-year extension. If I'm Jed York, I'd say, Kyle, I pay you all this money because I think you're an offensive savant. Draft a quarterback, a guy you feel comfortable with, and build the thing around him.

He's a cost-controlled asset. We just saw it when a veteran guy, when he gets hurt and his contract in Jimmy Garoppolo, it doesn't work. Go draft a guy. And we're at 12. It's not crazy. Go from 12 to 7 because the Lions clearly don't need a quarterback and are building for like five years from now. So get to 7, maybe Justin Fields falls. And you'd be like, Middlecock, you watch Justin Fields, he's pretty raw.

He needs some work. Didn't they say the same thing about Josh Allen? Coach him up. make him a player. It's what you get paid all this money for. To coach. Right? Everyone said, Patrick Mahomes, Raw.

Doesn't know what he's doing. He's reckless. What happened? Andy Reid got his hands on him. What's going on now? Chiefs are in the back-to-back Super Bowls. I'm not saying that the guy they drafts is going to be Patrick Mahomes.

But my point is, you got to have some conviction as a coach with a young guy. It gives you a lot of wiggle room. I would also kind of look to pivot away from the Rams. The Rams are going to be very top-heavy. If I'm the Niners, I want to get a cheaper quarterback

so I can build a more depth on my roster, and that's my point of difference against them. Because they're going to have better players. They just do. Seattle's kind of in the middle of that. But they have a star quarterback, too. So in the Cardinals, like, I'm sorry, as long as Kingsbury's the coach there,

they're not a playoff team. So I would imagine the Niners draft a quarterback. and then depending on Jimmy and the Patriot situation, maybe trade Jimmy on draft day. I also think Matt Ryan, for this other team too,

is kind of out there. You know, Arthur Smith is new to the Falcons. He had a lot of success these last couple of years with Ryan Tannihil. One thing Ryan Tanyhill has that Matt Ryan 1 million percent does not have is athletic ability. He can run,

and they can run just their running scheme. He can keep it and move around. round. To me it makes a lot of sense to draft one of these mobile quarterbacks in Arthur Smith's offense, trade Matt Ryan, here's the problem. If I'm the Colts, I go, I just won 11 games and really went toe to toe with the bills with Philip Rivers, who was on his last leg. If I had Phillip Rivers at 36 and could have had him for four years with the team that I have around, I would have been consistently in the playoffs every year. Is it crazy to think if you're the Colts? Because if I'm the Niners, I can't trade my number 12 for Matt Ryan. I'd like to trade

like a third round pick. But then I start thinking, why wouldn't the Colts just trade their first round pick for Matt Ryan? And I think the way you'd have to do it is like post June 1 for cap implications. A little cap nerdy, but it's what my people in the loop have told me. But if you're the Colts, you get a first round pick, trade for Matt Ryan straight up, helps the the Falcons rebuild, and all of a sudden you got Matt Ryan and you're going to be a double-digit win team. Now, can you win the Super Bowl? Probably not, but you're not going to draft a quarterback in the 20s, a guy good enough, unless you're willing to go up, but that means you're going to be willing to probably sacrifice several first-round picks. Matt Ryan can keep you in the loop right now.

So I would imagine Matt Ryan would be in the mix if he's available, and I think it makes some sense to make him available, if you are the Falcons, the Niners and Colts have to be sniffing around. And then the Bears. I'm not exactly sure what they do because they're drafting too late to draft one of these quarterbacks unless they trade up to get a guy. But then the pressure on a rookie seems pretty crazy. They could trade for a guy like Marcus Marriota, who I think makes about $10 million for the Raiders.

Because it doesn't make sense for the Raiders now with Derek Carr playing this well to have a backup quarterback making $10 million. Can your defense be, get back to what it was a couple years ago? And Mariotta, who actually in just the one game that he had to play when Derek got hurt, I think it was Thursday night football against the charges look really good. That should be a huge upgrade over Trubisky.

Could you win eight and nine games with Marietta and just kind of save your jobs? Because I don't see many other options. Are they going to sign James Winston? Can't see Matt Ryan. That doesn't make much sense in that offense. The Vikings' cousins, I don't really think is available, but they would never trade them with the Bears. So Mariotta might be their only option besides drafting a guy in like the second round. So as you see, like, you do realize why Matt Stafford was kind of a big deal.

Because all these teams that made the playoffs that are drafting past like 20, it's hard to get up in the single digits to get a quarterback. One, two, you might not love any of those guys. And three, like, you're kind of in no man's land. I mean, the Colts, Rivers retired and Jacoby's a free agent. Say one thing, the Niners do just have Jimmy. Now, I don't find Jimmy that valuable because he never stays healthy. The Bears have nothing.

Washington has nothing. The Panthers do have Teddy Bridgewater, but as we saw last year, like, Teddy Bridgewater is a great guy. High character, awful what happened to his leg. He's just not that good. He's a good backup. If he's your starter and you're paying him $20 million,

you're going to lose, and you're going to draft 8. So I think these teams, like, they're going to have, this is why they get paid. They have to figure this out. I do not envy their situation, though, because it won't be easy. Okay, let's go rapid fire, just some stories over the last three or four days. I saw that are kind of interesting.

One's kind of funny, actually. The Los Angeles Rams, before they got Matt Stafford, turns out Sean McVeigh, I follow his fiancé on Instagram. You know, they were just in Cabo. It turns out Matt Stafford was in Cabo, too. They went out to dinner, him and Matt Stafford's wife and his fiancé and drinking and having a good time. But before that happened and the trade became official, they had reached out to the Green Bay Packers.

It's like less need. I get your buddies now working in Detroit. No, the Green Bay Packers do not want Jared God. And the Green Bay Packers sure as hell are not going to trade you Aaron Rogers when you have no picks. I mean, I give them credit for trying. Be like me, you know, DMing right now, Cindy Crawford, J. Lo, and Jennifer Aniston,

see what they're doing this week. But, come on. Like, let's just keep your eye on the prize of someone you can get, the Packers don't want Jared Goff. And they definitely aren't trading you Aaron Rogers. And Brian Gutakins, he claimed, like, absolutely not, we're not trading

Jared Gertr, or I mean, not Jared Gap, Aaron Rogers. I guess he gave a talk today to the Green Bay Media. And a lot of people, I saw like people that cover the Packers or fans on social media, were like, see, this story came out of nowhere. The Packers did not

create the story. It didn't start with the coach. It definitely didn't start with the GM that they would be interested in trading for Rogers. The story was Aaron Rogers saying that like, who knows, where I'll be, you know, my time, you never know, life is funny, just see where I end up, you know, this business is crazy. He said that. So we, meaning people like me, started going, God, is he going to ask out? No one thought like, oh yeah, the Packers are going to get rid of Aaron Rogers after he won the MVP for

Jordan Love, a guy that couldn't be a guy named Tim Boyle because he skipped balls in training camp because he can't even complete, you know, a basic 15-yard out route. No one believed that the front office was going to try to do that. We just questioned whether Aaron Rogers wanted to stay and whether he was happy with the situation. So Goudicans coming out and everyone being like, see, no intention. Yeah, they never said that. I mean, they kind of did when they drafted Jordan Love and then it turns out Jordan Love might not be that good. Even though I saw Gudecans was like, and developmental project. He's not lying there.

Aaron Rogers was not going to get traded unless he forced their hand. And it doesn't seem like he's going to do that. Video went viral of him driving around in like a, look like a 2007 or 8 GMC truck with Bud Light. You know, I'm more of a Coors-like guy myself, but, you know, the beer's free, you drink, whatever. The Eagles. Nick Siriani.

It was a tough watch. It really was. Now, do I think this guy's a bad coach? I don't know anything about him. And I've heard pretty good things, actually. But his press conference did have some Jim Tom Sula vibes. It really did. Now, I've been talking for a living for, you know, about seven years.

And when I first started talking, I remember I'd go on a podcast and I'd listen back to it and be like, how did I sound? This was like seven years ago. I'm talking podcasts and no one even listened to. or a radio interview, I'd be like, what did I sound like? I was really nervous, and you just become comfortable doing something, right, over time. You're allowed to be nervous if you're not used to public speaking. And that could speak for someone in like a college class.

Anyone that's taken public speaking in college knows, first time you get up, especially if your class like 50 people, you don't know any of them. There's a couple of babes in there. Your heart kind of gets pumping, and maybe you fall on some worse, right? Though, as a football coach, I would say the number one thing you have to be able to do is communicates, and he communicated very, very poorly. Now, he was nervous, he was jittery, it's okay.

Like, I'm not going to say the guy's going to suck because he had a terrible first press conference, but he had a terrible first press conference. If he can coach, if he can fix Carson Wentz, no one will care. Here is the one issue. Jim Tom Sula had a terrible first press conference with the 49ers. It's a viral, legendary NFL. moment, you know, for like the bloopers. Remember, if you're, if you're my age or older, the NFL used to do these bloopers. I remember growing up, we had a bunch of tape cassettes.

I mean, people in their 20s, like, what's a VHS? We used to have these VHSs like bloopers from the 70s, bloopers from the 80s. Jim Tom Sulla's an all-time blooper, his press conference. It was an utter train wreck. But the reason Jim Tom Sula was such a joke, now, that set the first impression for the rest of the year, but was he was a terrible, He had games. We didn't know how many timeouts he had. His team was unprepared. His coaching staff was awful. It was a debacle. But the media after that kind of went easy on him. It's kind of easy out here on the West Coast. You know, it's not Philadelphia. It's not New York. It's not Boston. Philadelphia is insane. They are going to come after this guy left and right. Not because of a bad

first press conference. That's the way the team's covered. The bow and arrows, I mean, you're getting at every single press conference with questions that you might have nothing to do for. It's the nature of the beast in that market. It's really, really hard. And if you're nervous as a public speaker, it's going to make it really difficult. But if you're a good coach, none of it will matter. Now, it helps like Doug Peterson or Andy Reid or even Chip Kelly. They can just handle themselves in a press conference. This guy is going to have to learn really fast. He's crazy as it sounds. He might need to take like some classes or work with the PR guy to get a little more comfortable in that environment. It will make his job easier because his job is already really

difficult. He has a major, major quarterback problem, right? He's got to fix wins. He's got Jalen Hertz. Are they going to trade them? Are they going to keep them both? Whatever. He's got to win his locker room back because there's fractions right now, clearly. It's difficult. I'm not even counting whether he can have a press conference. But if his press conferences are going to go like that, and if he's struggling a little bit to start off with, which isn't inconceivable, I don't know how good their team's going to be and they might, you know, kind of reset, could get ugly for the guy. So he's going to have to make a conscious effort to improve at the press conferences.

Tom Brady. He was asked today, does he plan to play past 45? And remember like three or four years ago whenever he made that statement? I think most of us thought, that's pretty nuts. Like Tom, come on, Tom. Like, we've all been watching sports long enough. You're already, you know, pushing the envelope here. You've already kind of got to the summit.

Mount Everest. You push the envelope as far as it can go. Your career's going to be over at 41, 42. Now he's 43 years old. He's in the Super Bowl against Mahomes. What if he wins this thing? His arm still looks good. His team is good. Why would he quit? Why would he retire? Why wouldn't Tampa just keep signing him to one-year deals? I actually think there's a pretty... Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotes. Some call it grotes. 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.

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Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. A chance, Tom Brady, he's definitely playing next year. Could keep, just keep doing one-year deals. Could he play no 50? I don't think it's inconceivable. You would think eventually someone breaks his foot, breaks his hand, he just would get hurt. I mean, I get injured going on a jog.

Think how often you do things in life as you get, if you're in your late 30s, if you're listening in your early 40s, like you play golf for the first time of the year, you're like, God, my back is sore. Eventually, you would think. I don't care how great as TB12 diet is.

I don't care how discipline he is. Father Time, if it truly is undefeated, it's going to take him down sooner or later. But until it does, he's going to keep on going. Oh, the other thing I saw that the Rams and the Packers need a defensive coordinator. And one name that's out there, and I've been asked about this name before, I don't know if he'd do it. All these teams in the league would hire Jim Leonard.

yesterday. He played in the NFL for a while at safety. Rex Ryan loved him. He's a defensive, he was a smart player, and now he's been the defensive coordinator at Wisconsin for a while, and Wisconsin's defenses are awesome. And they're not exactly rolling out, you know, Chase Young and, you know, Patrick Sertane and all these sweet defensive players in Alabama, Clemson, in Ohio State. He's actually doing it, kind of getting guys to overachieve, because he's just a really, really good coach. If I was Sean McVeigh, if I was Matt LaFleur, I would be all over Jim Leonard. I would ask my owner, well, first I'd ask Jim, I'd say, Jim, what would it cost you to be my

defensive coordinator? And maybe he'd say no. But I'd say, Jim, what is your number? As I say, make me, what is an offer that you can't refuse, right? He could say, make me the offer that I can't refuse. But you know what I'm saying. And I would, I'd convince my owner to pay him that much money. I think he would be an excellent defense coordinator.

I think he'd be head coach in the NFL relatively fast. If you love to be remembered as the person who gives the best birthday gifts, I'm here to tell you that 1-800 Flowers.com is your ultimate birthday gifting destination. 1-800 Flowers has thoughtful and artfully created options that are guaranteed to deliver the best birthday surprise. Shop thousands of unique gifts at 1-800flowers.com for exclusive offers and great values. To order today, visit 1,800flowers.com slash tune in. That's 1,800flowers.com slash tune in. What grows in the forest?

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right here. Let's start with Ryan, who usually I go into new DMs but if you're at the top of the heap and I see that question for the pot, I'll just answer. Is there another layer to why the Los Angeles Rams soured on golf? Seemed like they liked and adamantly defended him up until a month or so and cut bait fast. Were they just being professional, or did Jared rub coaches, teammates the wrong way?

Some inside sources that I've heard is that it wasn't anything like he's not a bad guy, people like him. I just don't think he was the hardest worker. And McVeigh's a guy that's getting there at 435 in the morning. From what I've heard, he's one of the hardest working guys in the league, and the league is full of grinders. I mean, the Andes, the Belichicks, it's a grinder league. And McVey, because I think he's young, he's a good-looking, he's the hair done, and he's, you know, he's just, I don't think he gets that.

Like, people don't view him like that, and he is. He's getting up at the butt crack of dawn to go to work. And he's investing all this time to dial up all these plays, and Gough just wasn't good enough. And Gop was killing him. And I actually think my theory a little bit goes back to the Super Bowl. They lose 13 to 3. He has 19 completions.

And they lose. And then the next two years, he's not very good. And I think every game that goes by, McVeigh's thinking to himself, why am I working this hard for this guy that keeps screwing up my offense? And eventually he just drew a line in the sand. He couldn't take it anymore. You're paying him all this money. you have a star player in Aaron Donald

that I was told is the hardest worker you'll ever see. You know, I think when you see a guy dominating on the field, we just assume God-given gifts and power. I've heard his weight room, his practice habits are just elite. And I don't think Goff was like that. And one thing I also heard is, I don't think Goff lost the locker room, but I don't think the locker room treated Goff like,

He was their dude dude. They liked the other guy Walford. It's why they didn't hesitate to make Walford the starter. So I just think it was for football reasons, and they did get a little lucky that some team wanted them, though. If Brady wins the Super Bowl over Mahomes, what would Mahomes have to do in order to surpass Brady as the go? There's nothing you can do.

If Brady beats him, Brady's going to have seven, ten appearances. How does Mahomes ever get to seven? championships. I just, if Brady wins this, it's already probably set in stone. Like, I mean, Mahomes would have to attempt to pass them, but if Brady wins this, what are we even talking about? Michael Jordan, Tiger, you name it, move over. Like, Tom's going to the top, top of the mountain.

Love the pot. Here's a mailbag question for you. If you're up for it. I am. Angela. I'm a rank. I'm pumped about the addition of Stafford, regardless of the picks we had to give up. Late first rounders are overrated.

Completely agree. And that we found a way to dump golf in his contract. I've had a bunch of folks criticize my optimism about the move, saying that I shouldn't expect Brady to the Bucks level impact. I don't think it's at that level, but it reminds me a lot of Carson Palmer wound up with the Cardinals, quarterback nearing the end of his prime, teaming up with elite offensive minor head coach. Do you think that's a good comparison?

and do you think that the Rams will have more, less, or the same amount of success that the cards did with Carson? Funny you bring him up, I texted him last week and see if he wanted to come on. That reminds me, he said text me this week, so I'll see if I can get Carson on before the end of the week. I will ask him that question. I think that's a pretty good comparison. You know, big physical, big arm quarterback that had spent,

now Carson had more success. he had won a little bit in Cincinnati. The Raiders, I don't even put against him. So he had moved teams. But yeah, I like some of the parallels. Came to Ariens. I'd say the difference is when Carson got traded to the Cardinals, the Cardinals were kind of a joke.

Then they got Carson, they drafted the Honey Badger, Patrick Peterson, you know, they draft David Johnson. They get, you know, Calais Campbell's. They just boom, boom, they started nailing all these picks and moves. And all of a sudden, they were sweet. in a division, remember, that had L-O-B and the Harbaugh-N-Nin. And they were like, damn. The Rams are already good.

Like, Carson was a huge part of changing the culture. The Rams don't need that. The Rams just need Stafford to come in and be what he's, you know, just be solid player. Just be like a fringe Pro Bowl guy. The Cardinals needed Palmer to come in and be elite. And he was. I think the Cardinals needed more out of Palmer than the Rams need out of Stafford, if that makes any sense.

But I'm with you. If I'm a Rams fan, I'm hell of happy. I am jumping for joy. I don't care at all about those late first-round picks. Because I just look at it like this. We get rid of Jared Goff from Matt Stafford. There was not a team in the National Football League, beside the Lions,

that would do that swap, not one. Why would the Rams trash Goff so much if they thought they might deal him? Seems like the impression they gave of him lowered his value in trade talks, right? I think some of that's overrated. His contract is what it is. His tape speaks for itself.

Unless they're saying that he's, you know, like a malcontent and a bad guy, they're just saying he's not good enough. And this also gets back to my theory of the inside job. I don't think it mattered what they were going to say because they knew they had a pretty good chance with their dude that's the new Detroit GM to land him. And maybe he had told him, or maybe they knew he likes to, like Goff, and then he calls Les Need and tells him Dan Campbell likes Goff.

I'm telling you, if you had to use two words to describe this trade lines of the Rams, it's inside job. You can't convince me otherwise, because you're right. It's very reckless. The 49ers would trade Jimmy Garoppolo yesterday. Yet when you Google what Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch, have said about him, and then have leaked about them, you'd think they're talking about, like,

Philip Rivers. It's like, damn, I didn't know Deshawn Watson was the quarterback of the Niners. No, it's Jimmy Garoppolo. But they speak so highly of the guy that they want to hype up his trade value, which, let's face it, kind of stupid. You think Belichick's ever like,

hey, uh, hey, Billy, get me the Twitter print out of what the coaches in the media are saying about Jimmy Garapolo, right? Or like what has Pete Carroll been saying about Russell Wilson? Like most coaches, like they don't even care. They just watch the tape and they look at the contract unless it's something really bad. But like no one holds it against it. Like did you remember when Sean Payton said that Taysam Hill missed that third down when they were in cover two and he had the guy over the middle and Sean Payton said he should have seen the flat defender and he threw the pick?

No one's paying attention to any of that. So, yeah, I think some of that's so overrated. If Jimmy goes to the Bears and makes the playoffs and things don't work out with Stafford in San Francisco, this feels like an old fireable offense. Every Niners fan is so desperate to ditch Jimmy, but it seems that the stakes and the pressure would automatically ratchet up,

especially if Jimmy's good elsewhere. Well, here's the thing. If the Niners trade Jimmy, they will be judged on Jimmy's success, so how well is Jimmy playing, and how well their guy is playing? Right? But the key will be their guy.

If they're having success and they're winning double-digit games in the playoffs, unless Jimmy Garoppolo is like 15 and 1 on the Patriots, who cares? If Jimmy's just solid, that's fine. If the Niners end up with Maddie Ice or Trey Lance or whatever in their winning games,

no one will really care about what Jimmy's doing. But you're right. If they trade, Jimmy, let's say to the Bears. And they somehow end up with Kirk Cousins. That makes me want to puke in my mouth. And the Niners go 7 and 9 with Kirk Cousins and the Bears make the playoffs at 9 and 7 is a disaster.

For sure. That's part of the game here. Like, what if the Lions are good with Jared Gough? And the Rams aren't with Stafford, which I don't see conceivably as possible. How are the Chiefs able to afford Kelsey Hill Honey Badger since Mahomes received the massive contract? Well, see the thing with Mahomes.

is that he did, his contract was not up. Patrick Mahomes cite a contract extension. So like when you hear about Jared Goff's big contract, it just kicks in next year. Same with Carson Wentz. Because these guys get their fifth year option picked up and they sign these contracts after three years. So when Mahom signs the 10-year contract,

it's actually, as they said, a 12-year contract because it's a 10-year extension to his five-year deal. and he had two years left. So if I pull up Patrick Mahomes' contract right now, this year they paid Patrick Mahomes $10 million. Something in my throat. Maybe I got the Rona. That the chiefs paid him $10 million.

Next year, Mahomes makes $22 million. The cap hit at $24. His cap hits are kind of crazy the next. Yeah, they're kind of nuts. His cap hits don't get crazy till the next several years. and they get pretty outrageous. In 2007, Mahomes' cap hit his $60 million. Yeah, he'll restructure, so they're good.

Mahomes is going to make a lot of money. Reading this, if Mahomes were to play out his contract and never restructure, never change, I think we, I mean, we already know this, but it's just, let me read this out loud. In 2013, Mahomes will be 36 years old, and he will have made $477 million. Oh my God.

Can you imagine that if you're Mahomes? I would just go home. I'd pull up Spot Track and I'd go, you know, if I'd just play this thing out, I'm going to make $477 million. You're like, well, Patrick, what if you're not playing well

and you only make it until 33? You're like, well, I'd make $329 million. I mean, Patrick Mahomes, has the world by the balls. Making a ton of money, kicking everyone's ass, on the best team in the league. He's got a good thing going right now.

A lot of cashola for Mahomes. Or as they say, on the State Farm commercials, Mahomes. Huge fan of the Three and Out podcast. I don't need to read that always, but sometimes I'm just reading the text. I'm not trying to boost myself up here. Big time Minnesota Vikings fan.

In Minnesota, people want Zimmer out bad. I personally disagree with that. We lost our three best defensive players, Barr, Kendricks, and Hunter, also lost our best free agent, Michael Pierce, to COVID opt-out. And with our young secondary, when we weren't going to be that good this year,

kind of surprising we finished seven and nine. What do you think about the Vikings for next year as a Dark Horse team to win the NFC? Also, what do you think about the Vikings doing in the draft? I personally like a couple of these guys, I don't even know who they are. What do you think about offensive line help? A couple other things I'd like your opinion on.

Okay, let's just start. with the Vikings. I would keep Kirk Cousins. You got Justin Jefferson, you got Delvin Cook, you got Thielen, Erf Smith, like their offense is good. They have a defensive coach. So if you just coach those guys up, their defense should be good next year or better. They easily could be 9 and 7. The draft, to be completely honest, I haven't even thought about the draft. And I don't know some of these random guys. A couple other things I'd like your opinion on. Justin Herbert, the next Matt Stafford? I'd say he's more like a Josh Allen.

A better version of Josh Allen. Rex Ryan be a really good college football coach. Really good feels strong. I don't know about that. Texans trade Watson to the Dolphins for two first round picks and Tua and take Penae Soule, and they have Sule and Tunzel as the tackles for the next five years. Not crazy.

I just don't know why they'd want Tua. I saw Tua today say that he thought his rookie year was below average. average. I had someone in the league text me, and they're like, bro, I just watched Justin Herbert. I had to put a grade on him in our system. He's like, I don't think people can even comprehend passing on this guy for Tua. I'm like, how good can this guy be? He's like, the sky's the limit. I just, you got to cringe every day after the Miami Dolphins. That has to hurt so bad. I can't even imagine. You spent a couple years bottoming out. out, you get the opportunity with the fifth overall pick, and you take two, which, let's face it,

was not that crazy, but it's not about what me or you think. They are paid to get it right. As fans were just paid to watch or me pay to talk about it. Actually, fans, we actually pay as fans to watch, right? We get cable bills and go to games, cost money. They're paid to get that right, though. And they screwed it up. Now, it's only one year, but I, I, that one's hard to shake, man. Because if I told you right now that dolphins had Justin Herbert, we'd be like,

are they, are they the chief's competition for the next five years? Bio major here. The reason Coke Zero and things like that are able to have zero calories is because of an ingredient called aspiratame,

I probably said that wrong, which tastes like sugar but cannot be digested by your body. It goes right through you. On my other podcast, I had this take, I was like, the craziest thing about Coke Zero or anything beside water was zero calories,

how is it possible to have zero calories? Like, I get water, there's nothing in it. But with like Coca-Cola, Coke Zero, Pepsi Zero, Gatorade Zero, you're still drink, there's still stuff in there. How's that zero calories? I don't believe you. I believe there's like 10 calories in there.

And I'm not even quite sure what calories are. I learned way back in the day, like high school. But I was, I pushed back at that. So this is a good answer by Jack Malone. Coke Zero has this. I'm going to try to say this one more time. Aspartumy, I'm not very good with words as someone that talks for a living. I'm really not.

I cannot even begin to say that word. That's a hard word to say. Appreciate everyone listening. Have a good Super Bowl week. And I will be back Friday. Godspeed. Get right to the romance and find the way to wow this Valentine's with 1-800 flowers. From classic roses and bouquets to decadent chocolate-covered berries, gourmet treats, and more.

Surprise your Valentine with 1-800flowers.com. Right now, get the 18-stem enchanted rose medley for $39.99, or upgrade to 24 red roses for $10 more. Go to 1-800flowers.com slash tune in. That's 1-800flowers.com slash tune in. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guide, not quite. on Humor 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. 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. On the Look Back at a Podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me.

I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year.

It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart 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, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Cliford 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. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.