The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - Steelers Hire Flores, Wentz's Indy Future, NFL Combine Bubble, Belichick's Assistant Recycling, Weak QB Class

Episode Date: February 22, 2022

John discusses the upside of Brian Flores taking a job as a Steelers assistant, if the Colts could part ways with Carson Wentz, why the NFL's combine bubble never made any sense other than for PR, why Belichick recycling fired former assistants is a problem, and why this year's weak QB class will define the entire draft.Follow John and The Volume on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest content and updates and check out FanDuel for the best wagering and daily fantasy action! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You're probably listening to this on Tuesday. It felt a little weird not doing one on Sunday, but there wasn't any football. There was no football, and I got to be honest, it threw me off. I didn't like the way it made me felt. I thought I felt hollow. I felt like I was missing something in my life. It's because I was. Because basically for six straight months,

every single Sunday something football related I'm doing a podcast and there's no football so I took the day off and it felt kind of good to just even though I ended up not really doing anything

because there wasn't anything to do I just watched TV I binged uh binge would be strong watch some different shows nothing really great I need something if you have anything good to watch

any good shows on any of these streaming services I only have 75 of them hit me up in my DMs like at John Middilcoff is my Instagram because we do the middle-coff mailbag, but I need something to watch. I mean, this is the off-season.

I obviously watch a lot of golf. We'll have a big go-low pod coming up for Wednesday because a lot going on. There's a lot of breaking news and golf. That kept me entertained this weekend, but I miss football. I really do. We'll hit up the Brian Flores is back. The Went story just will not die. Some Combine stuff.

Roger Goodell, going to resign. some thoughts there. And something, I saw a headline today. Joe Judge is going to coach the quarterbacks for Belichick. Something hit me today with Bill Belichick that I'm going to red flag a little bit. And then, yeah, Middokhov Mailbag at John Middilcoff is the Instagram. Fire in those DMs. Hopefully everyone had a good weekend, long weekend.

I think we've got a couple long weekends now coming up. Free agency isn't that far away. We're going to have a lot of quarterback movement. Some we're going to talk a lot about these next couple weeks. Once we get to the Combine, really this combine is in every single combine is the same operates is when business starts

people have been doing draft meetings people have been doing free agency meetings you go to the combine you meet with the agents and you talk deals you talk deals with your own players you talk deal with other teams players you negotiate deals players will be on the move can't wait

can't freaking wait so let's let's dive into the show okay um Friday, I think it was Saturday morning. You know, weekend runs together a little bit. You know, I hope many of you did. Had a few pops. Had a good time.

Play a little golf. Hung out with some friends. Enjoyed the weekend. Enjoyed the first truly football-less weekend. And I remember opening my phone. I got up early on Saturday. You know, as you age, you can get after it and still wake up at about 6.30. We stayed at my mom's house.

I went to go pick up some bagels on Saturday morning. not for her. She was asleep, just for myself. Just had a bagel in my car, listen to a podcast downtown at like 645 in the morning of downtown Davis, California, and had a Starbucks coffee. It was actually very nice, nice day outside. And I opened up my phone. I think I ended up getting home and I look. And Brian Flores has been hired. Maybe it actually happened. I went to the gym. Oh, no big deal. Went out. If you're going to run with the big dogs, you can't pee with the puppies. And I'm sitting in the driveway and I get a bunch of

text and then I look at my phone, Brian Flores had been hired by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Mike Tomlin, the Roonies, hired Brian Flores in a capacity, you know, an official capacity. He's a senior defensive assistant. Sometimes some of these titles, unless the coach comes out and explains, it's hard to know exactly slash linebackers. So I think he's going to coach linebackers, right? Now, he's coached DBs, he's coached linebackers. He's done a lot of things in his career because if you work coming up for Bill Belichick,

you end up doing a little bit of everything. But clearly, he's a defensive guy, defensive, you know, he's been a defensive coordinator. He can coach linebaggers and he can coach DBs. And it's obviously a polarizing headline because of the lawsuit that involves him, which is from him that happened several weeks ago, right? So when he was hired, if it was normal, a guy like him fired and then is hired, I don't think it would have been that big of a deal.

But because of the lawsuit, it clearly made. makes it a big headline. And my first take was kind of a win-win. And I think most people in business will tell you whenever you do a deal and anyone who's done a deal, ideally it's a win for both sides. When you are always the guy on one side of the deal, someone's getting screwed, it's usually not going to go that well. Now, with coaching, unlike a trade or, you know, a business acquisition, it's a little bit different. Part of why you get, you take a job like this, because I would argue, listen, I thought he could have been a head coach. Most of us did when he was fired by Miami.

Even though I said, I understood why Miami would fire him. You would never, in a million years, would be able to look past winning those last couple games in 2019, given the two quarterbacks it produced that we missed out on. One Joe Burrow, which we tanked all season for, and then we picked Tua over Herbert. Now, only internally those guys truly know. I've heard stories that Flores wanted Herbert. I've heard that's not true. I don't know what to believe.

I don't know the guy. But I do know that Flores is a fantastic defensive coach. But here was a simple reality that regardless of the lawsuit, that every single person I know in the NFL, assistant coaches and personnel people, all told me the exact same thing. And this has been widely reported. He did not treat people well in Miami.

His reputation in Miami as a person, like all the Belichick guys, they're not very good with people. The difference with Flores, which I always said, he could coach. Joe Judge, couldn't coach. Right? Matt Patricia, sucked. Mangini, I mean, I don't know what the hell was going on there.

Definitely wasn't the man genius. Josh McDaniels, they ran out of Denver in a year and a half, couldn't coach. Brian Flores can coach defense. So the Steelers who really care about defense and organizationally, they aren't just one of the highest level organizations in pro sports. They're one of the model businesses in America, led by just one of the coolest cats also in America and Mike Tomlin. Because someone sent me a text like, do you think he's like, you know, trying to prove something or get a win? My personal take is Mike Tomlin's trying to get back to the playoffs and make runs.

I know they made the playoffs this year, but it was a little lucky. He's trying to be better than what they've been. And Brian Flores is a really good coach on the open market. And the Rooney family is not necessarily worried about like what the NFL. thinks about them. Because did they have to go through the NFL with the lawsuit? I don't know. Really, I don't quite understand the lawsuit.

He also put the Houston Texans on there. How are the Houston Texans involved? They heard Levy Smith. What does that have to do with you? Just because you knew Casario? But I'm not a legal analyst. I can just speak on from a football perspective. Brian Flores, at minimum,

should be a defensive coordinator in this league. Now, clearly the lawsuit played a part in that. So the Steelers, they didn't have a defensive coordinator were opening, they were aggressive and they were smart to hire them. I also think it's a very, very smart move for Brian Flores to take and accept this job. Because let's face it, he doesn't have to. Now, we'll see with the lawsuit. Is Stephen Ross going to pay him? I don't know. So maybe the money is not going to keep coming in. He's got to fight in court. It's going to be a pain in the ass. But here's the thing. His reputation, Miami wasn't very good. Because all these

Belichick guys know is Bill Belichick. And we're going to be a pain in the ass. And we're what did Patricia and Joe Judge do? They went running back to Bill Belichick. What did ultimately Josh McDaniels do? Went running back to Bill Belichick. I give Brian Flores a lot of credit for going somewhere else. Now, you could argue would Bill Belichick have been an option? Probably not. He put his text message. It was like the opening thing in the lawsuit. Was that Bill text him about Brian Dayball and it turns out that he was texting the wrong Brian. So that relationship, based on Bill's history, when you cross him, is probably over. So he didn't have a, the option to go back wasn't there. But if he was asking me, should I go back to the Patriot? Should I go somewhere else?

The first thing I'd tell him, go somewhere else. And could there better be a better place to go than the Pittsburgh Steelers? A place whose coach is known for knowing how to get along with people, having great relationships with players, operating while it being somewhat old school when you think the Pittsburgh Steelers, they don't feel as miserable and as negative as the New England Patriots. and I'm not even trying to take a shot at the New England Patriots. They do it well because check out their history. But that's because Bill knows how to do it. All these other guys do not. So Brian Flores now gets to learn under Mike Tomlin,

who is also a defensive guy, and gets to see from a different organization, like you don't have to be a dick to everybody. You don't have to treat people like this. You can treat people well and still succeed. Ask Andy Reid. Ask Pete Carroll. Ask Sean McVey.

It's not everyone has to be walking on eggshells 24-7, 365. So I can't speak to the lawsuit. You know, if he's going to go through with that, hell, it could get thrown out in court. I'm no lawyer. I've watched enough CSI shows to think, unless he has actual hard evidence, which he claims he does on the Stephen Ross thing, though that has nothing to do with race. That just has to do with getting paid to tank,

which, let's face it, was the right move. Was the right move. I don't, I defended him for turning that down. He was making $6,7 million a year. $100,000 ain't getting it done. But tanking was the right move, especially to get the Joe Burrow, look what he did at the Bengals.

Super Bowl, no big deal. They didn't win him, but they got there. And they actually had a lead with whatever, five minutes left in the game. This could help just get his career. Like, I don't think it's inconceivable that he's a head coach in two years. You go to Mike Tomlin,

your defense is good. He gets the defensive coordinator job in a year. Boom, he's off and running. And he comes back, kind of like Josh McDaniels. I'm a changed guy. I don't treat people like I used to. Because that is the number one knock with the Belichick guys.

They just struggle with interacting with other humans in a somewhat normal way. They can't do it. Somehow Bill has figured out a way to do that. These guys have not. College basketball is heating up and Fandualsports book has you covered with an offer you don't want to miss. Right now new customers can place their first college basketball bet risk-free. And if you don't win, you'll get up to $1,000. back. Bet college basketball any way you like. Take a chance with a save...

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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 Jett. And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence.

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And I thought a lot about this this weekend. It's not out of nowhere because ultimately they lost to the Jacksonville Jags week. week 18, all they had to do is win that game and make of the playoffs. Though they haven't beat the Jags in Jacksonville since 2014. So it's somewhat of, it isn't just random. Like, they always lose to them. Hell, remember last year they lost to him, Philip Rivers' first game? But I started to theorize like, who, why is this out there?

And I think we talked about in the last podcast, the two stories about the two quarterbacks, my theory, both coming from the owner. Kyler Murray, the Cardinals, funnel all that information to Chris Mortensen, I think that's coming from the owner. Chris Mortensen's take on how the Colts could cut or trade Carson Wentz, I think that's all coming from Jim Ursay.

But then I thought, why? Now, part of it, I think Jim's really mad. There was a story that after they lost to the Jacksonville Jags, you know, they kicked off at 1 o'clock, so the game ends at 5. By the time they're getting back to Indy, it was like probably 11 or midnight, that the story was that he grabbed Chris Ballard and Frank Wright

and told him to come into his office and he screamed at them for a long time. It's like, oh! It's like, Jim, you're all mad. Like, just be happy you own an NFL team and fucking smile and go play your music. Like, shut up, bro. What's, some of these owners, man. Jim, you're just screaming at him for what? You know, like, coach better.

Coach better? What does that even mean? Sometimes these owners makes me shake my head. But, like, who knows? If I was in that position, I probably would have been mad to, and then I would realize like, yeah, whatever. I'm going to go home in my huge house and just relax. But clearly this guy who's on edge feels like, you know,

so he's a huge substances. And I mean, it got pulled over a couple years ago with a ton of pills in like 30 grand cash. It's like, bro, or are we a drug dealer or are we an NFL owner? Remember how that story just kind of went away? I think this is because the Indianapolis Colts want him to take a pay cut. And I don't totally blame them. Because you are going to hear in the next week

when the combine happens, of a lot of teams are going to go to active players on their roster right now that are under contract, and we'll go to Player X. Let's just say I'm just going to pick a guard who's making $7 million. And go, listen, we will cut you for no cost, or you can take that $7 million salary

and put it down to three and a half. And you can stay on our team. And if that player is comfortable, with doing that because he likes playing for that coach, he's in a good situation, he'll say yes. If his agent goes, you know, actually I think we can get you more on the open market. We can get you a multi-year deal.

We're not going to take a pay cut. We're going to call your bluff. Cut us. Because ultimately, I bet the Colts go, you know, you're 30 plus million dollar quarterback. How about you play this year for $15 million? And that $15 million bonus we owe you in two weeks, How about you cut that thing down in half?

How about we owe you $6 million? And his agent and his representation can either say, yeah, you know what? Frank believes in us. Chris Ballard traded for me. We'll do that for you. Or they can go, you know, cut me. Because I believe that someone will give me that $15 million that you're refusing to pay me. I think I can get that on the open market.

I think right now it's more. than just Jim Ursay being all hot and bothered and pissed off that his team didn't make the playoffs and more that I think they're thinking like, you know, we're not going to do any better in this. How are they going to upgrade on Carson Wentz? They do not have the first round pick because the Eagles have it because of the trade. It was a mistake. If they could do it over again, they would not have made that trade. But they did. And now they have this guy who is clearly not an ideal starting quarterback given how much he makes. But he's better than anything they can get.

Google the free agents on the open market. How are they upgrading that position? Who are they? Okay, let's say they could trade them. Who are they getting? This is a, you know, potentially, it's hard to say because we'll look back in two or three years and go, actually, it was a pretty good quarterback draft. On paper, it is a terrible quarterback draft.

God awful. I mean, in pre-quarterback inflation, there might be one guy that would go in the second round. Instead, they'll end up, you know, three guys will go in the top 40 picks and two of them will probably be below average. Just the way it works. I think the Colts want this guy to take a pay cut, as they should. And they're just going to have to, we'll see if they're tactics of going public, going through the national media. Now, you could argue if you watch Chris Ballard when he gave the goodbye press conference,

he kind of crushed him. But really when he says he questions him, this is where I struggle with it. It's like he crushed him because he says he doesn't make layup throws. He doesn't make the layup throws. We all saw it. This is no longer 1987,

where you can say one thing publicly and like, no, we all have all direct TV, we watch all the games, we can watch every snap the guy plays. You can't, you know, tell me he's a great thrower of the football when he can't throw. You can't tell me he's a great three-point shooter when he doesn't shoot three points.

You can't tell me this guy's home-run power when he hits two-home runs a year. You can't lie to the fans anymore. So I never actually have that big of an issue with people being honest publicly, but players do sometimes. Like clearly, Kyler's all up in his feelings. Though it's like, well, Kyler, you were terrible.

So you're mad that the team put it on you? You were bad. Who are the team supposed to put it on? Like, AJ Green? They're supposed to blame? J.J. Watt? We watched you play 28 million people on that Monday night football game and you were the worst player

for any starting quarterback in the playoffs besides maybe the Tanny Hill performance. But Tanyhill got shit on. So it's just part of the territory. Now this is also part of the territory when you're a quarterback. Quarterbacks take a lot of heat. Right or wrong. It's the reason they make all the money. You notice who we don't get that much heat to like the random right because he might make $4 million. He's easily replaceable.

Once I start paying you $30, $35, $40 million, there's a reason that takes a lot of arrows. It makes $40 million a year. There's a reason Derek Carr over the years with the Raiders, despite their dysfunction, and it's been high. It's taken a lot of crap. They paid him $120 million since the last, since like four years ago.

$120 million. Give them a lot of cash. So when you make all the money, you get all the heat. And I think the Colts want at least to go into this season and potentially, you know, incentivize his contract, change some things. And we'll see if that takes place. I think they're about to get to a stalemate.

A couple things on the league. You know, when I, I never thought this when I worked for the team, just because, you know, I worked for the GM. You know, once I worked in radio, there was a huge line of delineation between, like, the suits and the talent. Now, I guess I worked in the NFL. I didn't view myself as the talent.

Like, that was the players. I was part, I guess, of the suits. Even though we just wore like khakis and a collar shirt to work. But like in radio, there was a clear like the bosses and then the people talking. And it was, I was out of touch with a lot of their decisions. You would disagree with. Most you wouldn't understand. And then they would get mad at you for things.

It was hard to be on the same page because they were doing all the selling and you were just told to produce. And then once I've got. went in the podcast business, I saw it all because I had to sell. If I didn't sell, I didn't make any money. So I basically became the suit and the actual product, right? So I understood both sides. And when I was growing up, he's still a good buddy of mine now. My buddy's dad became the CEO of a big health company in California. And he ultimately became the highest level suit, right? He was making millions of dollars. It was all public information. But he started

as like an intern when he graduated UC Davis. He was a football player there. And he got into the job in like the 1980s and worked his way up. His way up health administration. Now he never was a doctor. So ultimately when you're the CEO of

you know, a major company, there are two of them in Northern California. There's Sutter Health and there's one other one. And he had a unique perspective because a lot of his family members growing up became doctors. And for whatever reason, I remember he had bad eyesight or something, he couldn't become a doctor. So he just was kind of forced to get into health administration.

But he knew every single thing about the business because he worked his way up. He worked his way up from a nothing, a nobody intern all the way up to eventually became CFO. And then when the CEO job came, it was between him and a couple guys and he got the job. It was a really big deal. So he knew every single element of the business. business. So when he was in these big decisions, which obviously health companies often are, he could understand every single person in his company because he had held a lot of those jobs beside being a doctor, but all of his brothers were actual doctors. And I'm pretty sure his dad was

a doctor too. So he's had a unique perspective. So sometimes when you hear about the suits, a lot of times people resent the guy at the top if he hasn't done the majority of the jobs that he's controlling. And sometimes when you see the NFL, like a huge beef that NFL people have with the league office is there aren't many people in the league office that have ever been a GM, that have ever been a scout, that have ever been a coach. Yet those people are in charge of everything that you're acting on. There are a couple players like Troy Vincent, but now even he's 20 years removed. But they don't have any former GMs and they don't have any former coaches. It's why it was a big deal when John Madden died.

Roger Goodell used to get him involved to, like, head some committees because he wanted some of these coaches on these committees. But the reality is, is their job in the league office. We'll get into Roger Goodell in a second is all about money. And it's all when really you're talking money, you're talking CYA covering your ass so you don't ever lose money. That term gets used a lot, CYA. Well, I think the number one thing for CYA in business is to cover your ass so you do not get sued.

Here's what's clear. Is the combine's going to a bubble? The NFL does not give a shit about COVID, about the Omicron, about vaccines anymore. They do not care. They stop testing in the playoffs. They can't even pretend to care. Testing went away. Notice in the NBA, no more testing.

None of these leagues care. But they obviously want to CYA cover themselves in certain areas where they feel they're not covered. Well, they are on the same page as the Players Union. So when they stop testing, the Players Union obviously gave. them the thumbs up. Well, there is no players union for the players that aren't in the NFL yet. So I think the NFL

they ain't worried about some Omicron outbreak in Indy because they have forced all these players to go into a bubble which to me is moronic, stupid and makes no sense. I would understand if you told me operate completely as normal as you did 2019

and before and all you have to do is when you show up, you get one of those tests in your nose and if you're negative, move on. If you're positive, then I don't know. I wouldn't even know what to do. That's above my pay grade. You send them home? You know, that's not ideal.

Make a mask up, walk around. I don't know. But putting them in a bubble at this point, I live in California. We've literally dropped everything. It's February 21st. In California, by far there's been the strictest state of Indian America. I know for a fact, Indy, they don't care.

So the league doing this to me is very, very out of touch. But it also makes sense because the league truly doesn't care. Roger Goodell has no clue truly what happens at the combine. There's some workouts on the field. There's some interviews, some medical.

He couldn't walk you through a day-by-day breakdown of what an assistant general manager does or what the offensive coordinator. He has no clue. And in fairness, he doesn't really care about that. But it's a huge reason this disconnect between the league and a lot of people that run teams because they go, this guy doesn't fucking understand

what we're doing. Now, it's clear you don't need to be a former GM or former head coach to be a good commissioner. Roger Goodell is a fantastic commissioner. He is renegotiating his deal right now. You could argue, I mean, what has happened under his watch has been complete and utter domination. The three biggest sports in America. One, two of them are NFL related. One's the NFL, the second's college football, and the third is the NFL draft.

And number one, the NFL is in a completely different. stratosphere than college football, which is way bigger than baseball and basketball. And I got news for you. The PGA tour two weeks ago, same number as Golden State Warriors against the Lakers. The NBA's two biggest brands. So waste management, same number as the NBA. So is golf just as big as the NBA? That's their two biggest brands Saturday night. Well, Adam Silver, if you look at Twitter, every single person in the media loves Adam Silver. He's super nice. I think he has been historically. terrible. On his watch, the NBA has precipitously falling off a cliff in terms of interest.

It's not even close. Because you know why? David Stern, when he was the NBA commissioner, they dominated. But you know who didn't like him? The media. You know who doesn't like Roger Goodell? The media. You know why? Because let's face, what does he stand for? Revenue, big business. What does Adam Silver feel like he stands for? Politics. Super nice guy. Pro-plice. player. Of course the media is going to like that. That's like it like represents them. He plays right to them. Yet on his watch, the league is falling apart. He got so much credit a week ago for saying like, this New York mandate for Kyrie Irving is so stupid. Yeah, no shit, Adam. We all thought that six months ago. You just didn't have the balls to say it. David Stern would have that bad boy

lifted. Roger probably would have too and the media would have freaked out, even though now all the media is saying, God, this is really stupid. Well, yeah, it's easy to say that. now, where was everyone six months ago? It never made any sense. It also happened to me in the Bay Area with Andrew Wiggins. We have the same rule. Two cities in America, same rules. Make no sense. The outer town player can play without a vaccine, yet the player on the home team is not allowed to play. How could anyone say that out loud, whether it's today or whether it's a year ago, and that makes any sense. It can't. It doesn't. But Adam Silver wouldn't say that because on Twitter, that wasn't cool to say six months ago.

Yet it's cool to say now, so he did it. When you govern like that, you're in trouble. Roger Goodell doesn't govern like that. Now, he's not perfect. But he's going to get a contract extension. The media doesn't like him. He should be applauded.

Because on his watch, whether he deserves all the credit or not, the league prints money. And the reason that some of these coaches get mad at him, listen, I understand like Bill Belichick or guys can get mad at him, especially this week for the combine. But the reason Bill Belichick makes

$25 million a year and not three is because the league is doing the numbers in which they're doing with revenue. So when you look at the combine this year and this bubble, it is beyond stupid. It's beyond moronic. And the reason is because the suits, the NFL people don't understand what actually happens at the combine. They're just trying to cover their ass, even though when you logically take a step back. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

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

I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clever 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

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life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-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 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 picket here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because, of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack.

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. 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 Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

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Search learn the hard way and listen now. You go, how does this make any sense? You guys didn't test for the last month of the NFL playoffs. You guys admitted you actually didn't give a shit, as you shouldn't have. We've all moved on. Yet you're going to make these players, these college players coming in that are just trying to get medically checked and go to these interviews. And now they're threatening to boycott the on-the-field workout, which is smart, which is very smart. Because the one way the NFL makes money off this is through the NFL network.

and that's a lot of their program is on the field. Now, I think ultimately they'll maybe drop the bubble. We'll see. I would imagine Roger is going to start calling some GMs and coaches this week to figure out what actually happens at the Combine. Because listen, for as great of a commissioner he is, and I would give him a huge extension, he makes $50, $60 million a year.

He's worth every penny. The amount of money he's made these owners, the coaches and the players, everyone in the NFL is printing money. Every single person. Position coaches. A wide receiver coach makes $450,000. Right?

The offensive line coach makes a million. million dollars. A random right guard makes four or five million dollars. Everyone's printing cash. And it starts with the growth of the NFL. But still, sometimes the suits, you know, because there's a huge disconnect, does things like this weekend and creates problems. Okay, we had breaking news after I recorded that. I recorded this middle of the day on Monday. So before I sent this end to my people, Adam Schaefter had a tweet that they've gotten rid of the bubble. And the bubble no longer exists. So I didn't want to delete my rant on the suits because I believe everything I just said. But here's also why I give Roger Goodell and the suits credit in the NFL. They will pivot at

any moment's notice. They will not hold on to things long. Boom, something's wrong. They change it. This, the bubble, moronic, changed. So while they make some dumb decisions, which clearly they did with the bubble, this is also why the NFL dominates. They, they, they, they, they, they, they, they They can hang a left the blink of an eye. They're not beholden or holding on to anything. And it's actually the NFL's greatest strength. Now, maybe they just, you know, put this out there. I don't even know why.

Maybe it truly was just a CYA move. Maybe they truly believed it. But ultimately, they got rid of it. Because like I said, they did not actually care. They do not care. As you saw with the testing going out the window, this was never about COVID. This was a CYA move, which they got feedback.

This is not going to work. And ultimately, the feedback was going to impact the television product because the workouts. And now, everyone will work out and we'll all watch NFL Network during the combine and watch guys run around in shorts and t-shirts. Are you looking for the hottest gambling advice out there? Check out the Moneyline Monaco podcast powered by Fandul every weekday. Our guy Alex Monaco will give you his best best. bets including game picks,

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A dream they said was impossible, can become unethical. can become undeniable. We got speed. We got power. A name that is unknown can show us the future. His testing off the charts. Because here, life can change in an instant. I'm going to make him the face of the franchise. The NFL Combine, presented by Verizon, live from Lucas Oil Stadium, March 3rd through 6th on NFL Network.

Adoption of teens from foster care is a topic not enough people know about, and we're here to change that. I'm April Dinwiddie host of the new podcast, Navigating. Adoption presented by Adopt U.S. Kids. Each episode brings you compelling real-life adoption stories told by the families that live them with commentary from experts. Visit Adoptuskids.org slash podcast or subscribe to navigating adoption presented by Adopt U.S. Kids.

Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families and the Ad Council. And then last but not least, let me say that I think Bill Belichick is the best coach in the history of the league. I think he's the best coach I've ever seen any sport. I think he is elite. But I do think, and I'm not an ageist.

I've said before, I don't care that McVeigh and Shanahan were young. They had unique experience. I don't care, you know, when Bruce Ariens and Mike Zimmer were hired in their 60s, you know, it was clear that they had been overlooked for years. We can get age wrong on both sides. But I do think when you hit a certain age, even in, coaching and in coaching you're lucky because you're around young people. I think it naturally keeps you young. Like I, you know, I'm 37 years old. I haven't had kids yet. I haven't met the

person I'm going to have kids with yet. So, I mean, there's a decent chance that my first kid pops out at like 40, 41, 42 years old. So, you know, potentially in my 50s, I'll have a teenager, which I'm already okay with. They'll keep me young. I need that youth, that exuberance every day. Like, you know, hopefully make enough money if I need to get an opair or whatever because I like doing my own thing. I'm not going to be, you know, a Disneyland day. or anything, but, you know, I'm going to spend a lot of time in my 50s around children, definitely probably teens, where some of my friends, you know, by the time their kids are teenagers, they'll be in their early 40s. But I'm already thinking as a podcaster and someone that talks

for a living, it's going to give me a good perspective. Keep me young, kind of like a coach. And I'm cool with it. I'm actually fine with it. It'll keep me, make me stay in shape, make me keep energy. I don't have a choice, you know. But clearly Belichick gets a lot of shit for, he's 70 years old, but he understands young people, clearly. He just won 10 games in the NFL. But he does kind of have a weak spot now. Is forever he was able to kind of recreate these star coaches. Like he had his initial crew that he brought with him to Cleveland.

He had spotted all these guys, right? Nick Sabin, Pat Hill, Kirk Farrins, Eric Mangini, Scott Pioly. He had a crew of guys. That then he parlayed when he first got to New England and added the day Balls, the Josh McDaniels, added Flores, Patricia, and all these guys. And he had reinforcements. So when his crew left, Mangini, Weiss, and, who was it, Romeo, he had guys waiting in the wings, right?

Josh McDaniels. Obviously, he reloaded with Bill O'Brien. Brian Daibald wasn't up-and-comer for him. Then Brian Flores and Matt Patricia, he had dudes. Casario, when Pioli left. I think he's run out. And I think it's a little bit of a problem. And I also think it reflects the guys that are coming back.

Like, ultimately, Joe Judge just had to run back to Bill Belichick to go coach quarterbacks. Like, that's not ideal. Now, you could argue, because I've said before, Joe, you need to learn how to call offense and who's going to let Joe Judge potentially call offense. Nobody beside Bill Belichick. But did nobody else want Joe Judge? Like, did Joe Judge not have to call offense?

have any other options. Did he have to go back to Bill Belichick? Like, even Josh McDaniels, when he was ultimately fired by the Denver Broncos, went to St. Louis before he came back to New England. Matt Patricia was unhireable. Nobody would touch Matt Patricia with a 10-foot pole. They had to go back to Bill Belichick. Like, that's not ideal. Even Josh, like, Josh has really only had success with Bill. So it does. It does. feel a little bit like Bill didn't have this next crew of guys coming up, which is, again, somewhat understandable. It would be hard to have dude after dude after dude eventually like the draft. You're going to miss on some young coaches. You're going to miss on some young personnel

people. And people just leave you in the NFL. And some people left Bill and never had to come back. Jason Light never had to come back. Hell, even Bill O'Brien, like got a head job and then he went to Nick Saban, did not have to come back. Casario. We'll see, but, you know, who knows? Some of these guys do not have to go back. And, you know, when I see that Joe Judge is going back, Joe Judge has to go back because he's desperate. No one else will touch him.

Matt Patricia had to transition into be his next Ernie Adams. Like, I just wonder if Bill, who still, at this point, is elite at his job. That performance he had against Sean McDermott and Josh Allen in Buffalo on Monday football is one of the highlights of the schematic X's nose NFL 2002 season. But I'm starting to wonder, like, is he losing his fastball with the people around him? And it's just as simple as like, you know, Tom's not there anymore.

Are the best and the brightest one that hits their wagon to someone that is just miserable 24-7, who's also 70 years old? What if I was a 25-year-old? And I was some up-and-coming offensive guy and I just wanted to break in the NFL. would I call Kyle Shanahan or Sean McVay for I call Bill Belichick? I might. Maybe his John Carroll connection is just kind of run out because it does feel like the Belichick train of coaching and just quality people around him is running out of steam. And that, more than Tom Brady leaving him, might kind of be the end of the Patriot reign. I think for the Middilcoff mailbag,

what I'm going to do, I'm going to need some more mailbag questions. So if you got a question at John Middlecoff is the Instagram firing those. I'm going to save those probably for the weekend. Just because I only have a couple. And I don't really want to waste them yet because I was going to use them for Fridays, which I've now pushed to the weekend. So the weekend mailbag comes out now, at least for the foreseeable, you know, in the next couple weeks we'll see when things pick back up.

Maybe we'll just go back to mailbags on every show. It's much easier in the regular season. and there's a lot more going on. I got to spread out my content a little bit. So probably no mailbag right here, but I didn't want to hit on one thing. Daniel Jeremiah tweeted out today that basically this draft at the top is not very good.

In the sense of he has no clue who's going to be picked and went. And usually that's a tell-tale sign. Like last year we knew a group of six, seven guys beside Trevor Lawrence, in some order, they were going to go two to nine, right? And it was off a little bit, but looking back, last year's draft was elite. And I said today that if it was like 1970s in the NBA, remember Larry Bird was on the Celtics while he was still in college. The NBA, you could draft people who were still going to be in college.

Can you imagine if you could do that right now? Because if you could, Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Will Anderson would for sure, even in a non-quarterback draft, 100% unequivocally, Will Anderson and Alabama would be the number one pick in this draft. It'd be him and then a wide gap before the tackle at Bama, before the defensive line in at Michigan,

before Tibido, who I think is going to be very, very polarizing as we get closer to the draft. But this draft, and listen, at the time, it doesn't matter. We might look back four or five years ago, that was a really good draft. Or we might go, actually it wasn't a great draft.

But as of right now, based on these prospects from people I've talked to in the NFL, from just, you just watch, you know, Daniel Jeremiah, clearly there are no quarterbacks. When there are no elite quarterbacks in the draft, your draft's not that great because the most important position is quarterbacks. It's like if you don't have many NBA All-Stars in your NBA draft, your draft's not very good.

Just the reality. And I would say most seasons, or excuse me, let me rephrase that, in years before quarterback inflation, there's probably not a quarterback in this draft that would go in the first round. If this was 2004, most of these quarterbacks would go in like the third round, fourth round. That was normal, you know, unless you were a big time prospect, which none of these guys are. There's nothing wrong with that. I used to get offended and I still kind of do.

It was like, this guy fell in the draft. He went pick 38. Now, falling in the draft is going in like the fifth round. If you get drafted early on in the second round, you get to say the rest of your life I was an early second round. pick. That's pretty, you're pretty talented guy. You know, there are only so many guys, there are only so many teams, there are only so many positions, right? Not everyone needs a wide receiver. So if you're the fourth wide receiver off the board, now you can be mad that you were the fourth wide receiver off the board, but if you go pick 37, that doesn't mean people

thought you were sucked. Maybe half the teams in the league didn't need a wide receiver. It was a lineman heavy draft and you just got pushed down the board. When you get drafted in the second around, people still think you are good. So this draft, to me, lacks some star power. Last year's draft is as good as it gets. I think next year's draft, given how many quarterbacks are going to be, good as it gets.

A draft is powerful in terms of, you know, talking points and the importance as its quarterbacks. Just a fact. And you could argue even the wide receivers, too. Like Jamar Chase, Waddle, Devante Smith, added some juice. You know the crazy thing

looking back on last year's draft? is that I think Micah Parsons was kind of flying under the radar. Now, he still went, whatever, 10th, 11th. Was it 10th? 11th? Would have been 10th because the Cowboys traded with the Giants who traded back to 12 and then traded to 20. Was it 11? I forget now, because Justin Fields won 11.

Or maybe they traded with the Eagles. That was it. And the Eagles got then Devante at 12. Regardless, like, can you imagine Michael Parsons in this draft? Now, also part of it was they had several guys in that class, Penae Sewell, Chase, Parsons, who didn't play. Pretty sure all the top guys this year played.

So when you're out of sight, out of mind, you know, if you could do it over again, I got one for you. I love Kyle Pitts. Who doesn't? Loved him at Florida. But he played last year. So he was awesome.

Well, what if Jamar Chase had also played? Is taking Kyle Pitts over Jamar Chase the right choice? Because I would say through year one, that's not the right choice. The chance that Kyle Pitts is good as Jamar Chase, I would say is not probable. And that doesn't mean that Kyle Pitts can't be an awesome player. He's really good. Jamar Chase looks like he's going to walk right into the Hall of Fame. Maybe Kyle Pitts will too.

But it's going to be hard for Jamar Chase. Now, obviously, who your quarterback is matters. But would Kyle Pitts has been as good at Jamar Chase if I put Kyle Pitts with the Bengals? I don't know. I don't know. I can't say no. Because I'm not, again, I'm not a Kyle Pitts hater. But this draft, it's going to be very, very fascinating. One guy I'm telling you is going to rise on the board. And this is a position typically that does not go that high,

but this guy's going to go in the top six or seven picks is going to be Kyle Hamilton. He has a podcast for Colin Coward, and he also is sweet at football. He's tall, he can run, he can hit, and he can make plays on the ball. And I know that middle linebackers and safeties, you know, get shoved down the board sometimes. I guess middle linebackers, you know, Devin White a couple years ago went really high. Kee Kleeve went eight. They've gotten higher than safeties. But if you think a safety can be a Hall of Fame safety, especially now in the hybrid guys,

you're covering tight ends, you're covering running backs out of the back field, you're doing a lot, you blitz, you're in the box, I can move you all over the place. I can play you like a pseudo-linebacker. If you think Kyle Pitts is a Hall of Famer, I'd take him in the top. five over, you know, trying to force like, I kind of like this offensive tackle. And I'm pro taking offensive lineman high. But it sure doesn't feel like Tyron Smith's in this draft. It sure doesn't feel like Trent Williams is in this draft or Lane Johnson in this draft. Could be wrong. But I don't know, man. This draft is going to be very, very fascinating. We're going to

learn a lot about it over the next couple weeks of the combine, the testing, you know, stories just come out. You know, people start drinking cocktails, start telling you what they think about these players. So slide up into those DMs at John Middlecoff. We'll do the middlecoff mailbag a little bit later for the weekend, at least these next couple weeks, to stretch out a little content, a little inside the pod. And yeah, we'll have Golop pod. Follow that on Instagram as well. If you like golf at Golop pod, we'll have that and we will have a golf pod for Wednesday and we'll just keep rocking and rolling. Adios. May the peace be with you, Godspeed. See ya.

Dog. Cat. Giraff. Giraff, really? Giraffe. You're not going to get it all right. Just make sure you know the big stuff, like making sure your kids are buckled correctly

in the right seat for their age and size. Get it right. Visit nhtsa.gov. Slash the right seat. Brought to you by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Ad Council. Look for your children's eyes and you will discover the true magic of a forest.

Find a forest near you and start exploring at discovertheforest.org. Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the Ad Council. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.

Guaranteed human.