The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - Taylor Leverage-less, Pats QB(s) 1, Cards Tanking Talk, Riverboat Gone, Mailbag

Episode Date: August 30, 2023

John explains why Jonathan Taylor has no leverage in his standoff with the Colts, why the Cardinals cutting Colt McCoy isn’t tanking, what the Pats will do with 1 rostered QB as camp ends, why the Bills should keep Von Miller around, why Ron Rivera’s seat is hotter after his latest unforced media error, and how front offices handle scouring camp cuts around the league for potential signings. He also answers listener questions in the Middlekauff Mailbag. Follow John onTwitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest. Check out Gametime - the fastest growing ticketing app in the US, and the official ticketing app of 3 & Out and GoLow -  for tickets to all of your favorite NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA teams. Concert and comedy show tickets, too. Go to Gametime now to create an account, download the app and use code JOHN for $20 off your first purchase. #Volume #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Thank you everyone that has. Let's dive into the Jonathan Taylor situation. He has officially been put on the Pup list, also known as physically unable to perform. I guess he's injured. The ankle injury, not ready to play. But they obviously did not trade him. They gave him a little deadline, said, find a trade. We have a certain value on you.

We're not giving you away. And this is not Adam Silver's NBA. I grew up loving the NBA. Basketball when I was a kid was Michael Jordan. It was every bit as big as the NFL or Major League Baseball, which was enormous when I was in the early mid-90s. With Cal Ripkin the Yankees dynasty to Barry Bonds. Like baseball was massive.

Clearly, not doesn't have the stranglehold it once has. But I love the NBA. up until really Adam Silver's reign. And I still like the Warriors, but I don't really like the way the businesses run. I don't like that when I turn on the television that I don't know if the star players are not going to play or not. Not because they're injured, just because they don't really feel like it. They need a rest.

Like, that's good for them. Not great for me, the consumer, right? And never forget this. No different than you listening to this podcast. You are in control of all these businesses. The reason the NFL talks about ratings, ratings, ratings, ratings, ratings, because they need you to watch to make their money. Obviously, the deals are set and paid for,

but if it wasn't for you constantly watching their games and more of you continuing to come and watch the games, they could not operate in which the level they do financially. No different in baseball, no different in basketball. Well, the basketball rest just turned me off. The other thing that I can't stand is, listen, I'm all for changing jobs. I'm all for needing a change of scenery.

I'm cool with that. My entire life in sports, guys have been traded. Football, basketball, baseball, you name it. Guys, move teams. For a variety of reasons, don't get along with the coach, don't fit the system, don't want to be there anymore, disagreement over money. This is a business. I'm cool with that.

I have a major problem with, hey, I want to be traded and I will only play for Team X. That's not how this works. And Adam Silver has clearly tried to draw a line in the sand. We'll see if he can put the genie back in the bottle. He's fine in James Harden. He's telling Dame Lillers' agents, shut up. Good luck, buddy. You've waited about seven years too long.

In the NFL, they've never operated like that. They will trade players who are, quote, unquote, malcontents or want to change. But they'll trade them to where they think they can get the best offer. Not where it matters to them. Like, the 49ers just traded Trey Lance. They traded him to a place where he's going to be the third string quarterback. They traded him there simply because they got the most. and when it came to Jonathan Taylor

always laughed at the notion that he had any leverage in the situation. One, coming out the worst season of his career. Two, he's literally injured. He can't, he's physically unable to perform. And three, he plays a position that we all agree is by far the easiest to replace. Every single team you look around the league, I mean, how many teams, if you're a fan of,

kept a running back that was a late round picker and undrafted free agent? I would imagine if we went through and I was going to break down all 53 man rosters player by player, but I thought that would take us a little too long. So I skipped that exercise. But I would imagine a large contingent of teams kept running backs over the last couple of years that they drafted in the fifth, six, seventh rounds or an undrafted free agent. Normal protocol, right? That's the way the league works.

And those guys, if they don't play a lot early, will eventually get on the field. And half those guys will eventually be. their starters within a year or two. And Jonathan Taylor, like, I love the guy at Wisconsin, was a huge fan of them in Indy. I just think this situation gets back to that phone call when all these guys were leading the charge. It was a bunch of rich guys who were under massive contracts. Or guys that are currently franchised, they were also going to be broken off.

And the guy that caused the biggest stink is someone on a second round deal, who, if he just came in, played well, he controls his own destiny. They're either going to be forced to franchise them for 13 or 14 million, whatever the number is next year, or forced to let them walk or force the franchise and trade. They would have to make a legitimate decision. But he controls this. I would completely understand if Jonathan Taylor was like 27, 23 years old. So the Colts who showed everybody like, this is a national football league. And if we don't want to trade you, we're not going to trade you.

We're okay with making this a little weird. Football can be a little weird. Football can be a little uncomfortable. And I would say teams, coaches, and GMs are much more consistently okay with getting in the mud, with it getting a little ugly. Hell, they have a first year quarterback who is a major raw product and a first year head coach who, let's face it, hasn't really been some guy on the top of, you know, all the hiring future charts for the last eight years.

Like he's a name that's really come in vogue around the league over the last like 12 months. So they got two guys who are now swimming in the deep end. And they're like, yeah, whatever, we'll just deal with it. We're okay with it. The owner's talking shit. The GM didn't flinch. This is the NFL. And it's why it's past all these other leagues.

It's the most fan friendly. Because in some of these other sports, and in baseball forever, a lot of times the quote unquote lower budget teams or the teams that don't have the money would always have to trade star players because they couldn't sign them. Think how shitty that is for the fans. In basketball, like the moment a star player is like, I want out, they have just forced themselves out in recent memory.

That sucks. In football, it's like, yeah, we're going to figure this out. You can be bad. We're cool with it. Hell, Andy Reid has a guy who was the second best defensive player in the league last year, a guy who's been on the team forever, who's clearly one of the better players in the NFL, And they're just like, yeah, we'll figure it out.

Trey moves on. We're just, hopefully he calls us. Like, he's just cool with being uncomfortable. And I think that's why the NFL resonates with all of us. Because that's how we're treated in our normal jobs. The overwhelming majority of us, even the talented ones, even the revenue producers, I don't care what your position is at the company. Don't just get to force your way around.

It's like, well, middle coffee, you can't compare normal people jobs to the NFL. True, but those normal people are the people that watch the NFL. And I think it is still the job that is based on meritocracy. You can get replaced if you don't produce. If you're hurt and you're in, listen, it's no one's fault when people get injured. But next man up, we keep moving on. It's like that in life. And it's why football for so many reasons just resonates with people.

Jonathan Taylor, who I'm always been a fan of. This year's a little weird. And caused a stink and they said, whatever. See you at practice. see you in the trading room. Good luck. Have fun. And man, I give the Colts credit because we're just going to give you away because you're unhappy.

That would be a terrible deal for us. You got to get healthy and see if we can figure something out. If not, it does behoove you to come back and play well. That is in your best interest to dominate again. One, it increases your value around the league, whether it's, whether we, you know, agree to trade you to if you end up hitting free agency, or if we franchise you, maybe we'd still be open to trading you, right, depending on how our team looks. So I think from Jonathan's Taylor standpoint, he's got to get healthy, come back and play as well as he can.

But this notion was that he has to get paid, like, bro, you've been in the league three years. Like, you still got another year, you played running back, and one of those years was really shitty. Let's not act like you're Nick Bosa here or Lane Johnson or some player that's not really replaceable. play running back. I think I'm pretty confident if I'm Chris Ballard. Like I can find another one of you this upcoming year in the third round. I found you in the second. It's not like I drafted you second overall.

So this situation is over for now. I think this is how consistently it happens in the NFL. I remember last year, Debo Samuel out of nowhere. I was like, I want to be traded. And then I was like, yeah, we're not trading them. We're not interested at all. The Jets are like, we'll give you a pick 10. They're like, no, we're cool.

We're good. We'll figure it out. We'll deal with them. We'll handle it. We're okay with being a little uncomfortable. We're okay with having some uncomfortable conversations. Most of us have uncomfortable conversations all the time. And I think that's one thing, listen, harking back to the NBA. Like the moment all these guys over the last seven, eight years have demanded to be traded and tell exactly where they want to go. Like, that's not good for your league. And it clearly hasn't been. And they've tried to put,

you know, tried to, you know, rain it back in. The NFL's never had to rain it back in because they don't roll like that. And that benefits us, the fans. Because why would I just give this guy away for no reason because he just doesn't want to be here. And they clearly did not. The Cardinals. I think the media can be really disingenuous sometimes. They obviously have agendas. I think they get very uncomfortable, especially the writers. Like, when talk about clicks, well, that's the business you're in. If you're a writer, you need clicks. And I don't blame you. Like, you're in the business. Like, this is not a charity. Like, you need people to read you to generate money. The athletics literally subscription base. Peter King just,

wrote the reason they signed Diana Rossini away from ESPN is because they thought that she can drive them subscriptions. That's a good model. I wrote for the athletic for a couple years. And listen, we in the Bay Area, Tim Kawakami, Ethan Strauss, the Warriors, the Niners, were driving a lot of subscriptions, very successful area for subscription. But that's what it was all based on, not how great the article was. And just because you wrote a great article doesn't mean people were going to subscribe. If you wrote an article to get people subscribed, people were really happy. That's the business you're in. And I think the everyone's in agreement, universally.

If you talk about the NFL, if you're a fan of the NFL, we all agree the Cardinals were going to suck. They sucked last year when they had some players. Now a lot of those players are they're injured or traded away. We know they're going to be worse. And I heard over and over today, I did a call in radio show to Fox and I was asked this, if I thought that it was a slap in everyone's face that the Cardinals are already, waving the white flag on the season because they cut Peyton Manning. Actually, his name was Colt McCoy.

I looked it up today. Cole McCoy will be 37 in September. He has started. Let me repeat this. He has started 11 games since 2015. Pretty sure we're about four months away from 2024. So since 2015, the guy has started 11 football games. games. Now, one of those football games, I remember watching vividly. He played the Niners a couple

years ago and lit him up. He looked like Dan Marino. But for the most part, it has been consistently ugly. I'm a Colt McCoy fan as a human being. Loved him at Texas. But this notion that them cutting Colt McCoy is some indictment that they don't give a shit about football, like they just cut Carson Palmer or Kurt Warner off a Super Bowl. What are we talking about? Their team sucks. Colt McCoy is old. They get no benefit of him playing. It's not like I watched them play with him last year. They lost all the time.

He also got injured. So you might as well just go with the fifth round rookie from Houston. Who cares? We just drafted this guy. Here's the other thing. In the sport of football, right? Who you bring in and this gets back to the Colts. Ultimately, Chris Ballard drafted Jonathan Taylor.

So he would love in an ideal world for Jonathan Taylor to be a good player for him. but he's also like from a trade perspective like that is his guy he scouted him he drafted him he's not just going to give away his one of his best assets for nothing the guys they've traded away or cut like dandre hopkins isaiah simmons none of those were this GM and this head coach's guy we talk about this every single year when a new head coach comes and a new GM comes they bring in their players and just because you are a good player or a highly drafted player it all starts over. Those guys that they're given other teams, when they were coordinators or assistant GMs, might not have liked you, might not have had you high on the draft board, might not

want to have had you on their team. So when they come, it's one thing when you inherit, it just coupled pop to mind. Like when Jim Harbaugh showed up with the 49ers, they had been terrible, but they had a lot of good players on the roster, right? Patrick Willis, Frank Gore, Vernon Davis, Joe Staley. It's. stupid to just like, hey, we'll trade Patrick Willis and Joe Staley. That would have been dumb. Andy Reid showed up in Kansas City. Remember, they were off a terrible season. He inherited some really talented players. They had Tom Ball Lee. They had Jamal Charles. At the time, you know, Duane Bow was still a functional player. There was guys on the team that he could win with.

Both guys took a lot of those veteran players that were on their team and won with those guys, obviously added around them. And then there are times when you show up, LaFleur, same thing when he, him and Goudicans took over with Rogers, right? Some players on the team. Sometimes you show up and it's a joke. It's an embarrassment. I remember Pete Carroll when he showed up to Seattle, when he left USC. I'm pretty sure they sent an NFL record. Maybe it's been broken since, but I'm pretty sure it's still stands. They cut, traded and turned that roster over a year period. The amount of players coming in and out that roster was like historic. It was crazy. team sucked. Who cares? I remember when Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch took over the 49ers, players in, players out, cutting guys, whatever. When you blow it up because the team sucks and

there's nothing to work with, like it's not tanking, it's just resetting the team. So when they get rid of Colt McCoy and people act like, oh, they're just tanking week one. No, they're going to try to win week one. They just probably won't. I don't even know who they play. I would imagine they win two to four games. That's going to because they suck. I can give them Peyton Manning in as prime and they probably only win like six or seven games. Their roster's awful. None of these players are theirs. It's not their fault that they have some of these terrible contracts. So I commend them for just like, what just rip the band-aid off? What's the point? And anyone that talks about football for a living who gets mad at this is a complete phony because that same person a month ago, two months ago,

three months ago have said how much this team sucks. They're awful. They are God awful. So cutting Colt McCoy just represents, yeah, we're just cutting an old quarterback that maybe we think our rookie fifth rounder is, if not just better, has a chance over the course of a year to maybe next year when we draft Caleb Williams and we trade Kyler Murray to be our backup. a guy who has a bunch of experience. Why not? Who cares? None of it actually matters.

We didn't snip the playoffs last year when we actually had some players. So I have absolutely no issue with the Cardinals, not only cutting Colt McCoy, getting rid of any of these guys. Even Isaiah Simmons, like, listen, one of my buddies on a team that's pretty damn good. I remember him telling me, he's like, I can't, I hate this guy as a player in the draft. I wouldn't touch him. I don't know what he does well. He's not a very physical player, and he's like this hybrid linebacker.

He doesn't have the speeder range to play safety. He was much more of a flash player. And he was your classic Steve Kheim. Like, Steve Kime drafted a lot of guys who can't play recently. He had a really good early run when he had a good coach. And then with Cliff, it got pretty ugly. But do I think Jonathan Gannon's going to be any good? I would probably bet against it.

I don't know much about Monty Awesome, though I know he's worked for really high-level guys with the Patriots in the Titans. And he's taking a grenade to this thing, as he should. 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, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions,

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or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. A couple other highlights of the day. This is a very fluid day. So it's, I can't really like, for example, the Patriots today cut Bailey Zappy, their backup quarterback and Cunningham.

Kind of what looked like could be their third quarterback, this hybrid wide receiver quarterback. Cut them both. So as I'm recording this, they have one quarterback on their roster. Well, it makes no sense for me to do some take. Like, what is Belichick doing? You can't play? Of course they're going to add another quarterback.

So until, in really these next couple days are a very fluid process. So until I see what they do, I can't really have a take. Though it is kind of funny that last year, Bailey's app came in, there was a moment. And every Patriot fan listening to this and I was like, God, could this guy be better than Mac Jones? and now they cut him. And I think I saw a headline, even Matt Slater, who was basically like the coach player still on their team, probably future Hall of Famer,

if you value special themes, said it shocked a lot of us. Bill does some shocking shit. They're going to have another quarterback on the team. They currently just have Mack Jones. A little weird. Maybe Bill O'Brien didn't like him. Usually Bill doesn't care as much about his coordinators,

right? Like if Bailey Zapier was cut because Bill Belichick thought he wasn't good enough, but the Pats are in the quarterback. market, we'll have to see what they do over the next day or two. I think the big news of the day, because I heard Brandon Bean talk about this, I heard Vaughn Miller talk about this over the last month. And maybe it changed if you're a Bill's fan, the conversation coming out the last couple days.

But I felt like a two weeks ago, three weeks ago, it's like it was like 50, 50, maybe 60, 40, if Vaughn could play on that Monday night game, September 11th against the Jets. And if he didn't play then, he would be play early in the season. Well, today, they officially put him on Pupp, so he's gone for the first month of the season. And clearly, if I had to take an educated guess, I would imagine they pay this guy a ton of money. And the only goal to have Vaughn Miller, a lot like when the Rams traded for him was for the stretch run. Why did the Rams win their second Super Bowl? The dude had a sack in week 17 in every playoff game and the Super Bowl.

He came through in the biggest games. So to me, if you're the bills, and you have any question, you're like, listen, we probably could. push it. What the fuck's the point? We signed you to win big games, the most important games in November, in December, and obviously January. We need you in a game like last year against the Bengals when we're getting shoved around because you clearly are going to be one of our toughest players. And I would imagine, I haven't seen any quotes come out. That's their mindset. That why don't we just lean on the side of caution? We have too much money invested in you. And you are just too important to us for our potential upside because we can't have you tweaking something.

You're already an older player coming off your second ACL tear. So I just think that they, assuming that there's no setbacks or anything, just took the cautious route, which I completely understand. Ron Rivera, it's pretty laughable that his quotes coming out. I think he told Albert Breer that if he would have known Sam Howell was this good last year at practice. Like, if you would have been paying more attention, he would have played him a lot earlier. That's pretty insane to say. It really is. I'm a Ron Rivera. I've always liked the guy, Bay Area guy, Cal grad. I've always rooted for him. But he's had some quotes the last couple

years. I mean, last year, not knowing about the playoff scenario, this year not knowing, I mean, I guess Sam Howell was looking awesome in practice. A huge part last year with the 49ers feeling good about Brock Purdy was how good he was in practice. Well, at practice, he's, he's, against the defense. Obviously, the head coach is the offensive play caller. Well, the head coach also watches that tape. Like, part of being the boss is keeping tabs on everything. There's a difference between micromanaging and keeping like a macro view and you kind of hand on the pulse of what's going on. That's the point of being a head coach. That's the point of being a CEO. You're not in the weeds with everything every single day.

But at a position like quarterback where they clearly were struggling a lot last year and had a rookie who clearly was playing well in practice, maybe he's just saying that to try to sound kind of cool. But you can't keep having these statements of, you know, wait, we're still alive for the playoffs? God, if I would have known this guy was this good last year, I don't know when he was dominating in practice and we had nothing to lose. Why we could have started him?

It's not good. And they got a brand new owner. I've said over and over, they could probably even make a wild card and he could still get fired. This situation in Washington, man, it just, it's pretty laughable. It really is. I saw McAfee, I hadn't heard this that I guess part of the reason Sam Howell even got to start the last game of the season was because, like, Tyler Hinekeke was like, give this guy a shot. He's been kicking ass in practice. I mean, if that's true, what are we doing?

but Washington just needs, they just need some people that know what they're doing. And right now it feels like Ron, I don't know if he's mailed it in. I don't know if he just doesn't pay attention. I don't know if he's just completely a defensive guy and he's just not even paying attention with the quarterbacks. Just weird, bizarre stuff constantly coming out of his mouth.

And last but not least, we haven't talked about this. I'm recording this before Hard Knocks comes out. They announced last week that Mackay Beckton would be their starting right tackle. This is going to be a huge conversation. Obviously, week one, Monday night football, but just with Aaron Rogers, the team is just the offensive line. And when we say the offensive line with them, we're really talking about the two tackle spots. Dwayne Brown and Bechton, can those guys get it done? Can Bechtin a former high pick who's battled knee injuries, who's battled?

Listen, I'm fat right now too. I'm trying to lose about 10, 15 pounds here in the next month. I'd be lying if I said I can't relate to people that struggle with some weight issues. Got a sweet tooth, like the booze a little. But this is a guy that clearly has just been a disaster. This is the equivalent of the 49ers swinging for Trey Lance. They took a huge swing for all this upside. Sometimes just not good enough.

Now, a tackle, clearly he has the physical measurables, but can he block anyone? In week one, we know he doesn't have to deal with Vaughn Miller, but, you know, the bills have other dudes. I mean, and with Mackay Beckett, it's not like, can he handle T.J. Watt? Can he handle the Bosa brothers? No, it's like, can you just block just normal players? Can you be a functional starter? No one's looking for you to be Lane Johnson this year. Can you just be a functional starter?

And I think that's a major, major question mark with the Jets that I'm fascinated to watch. A little bit on just this process before we get out of here. Because for two years when I worked in the building with the Eagles, I was a pro scout. And the way we did it, I always thought this time of year was easily the hardest. I remember I slept in the office both years when I worked there during this time. So many players, and the rosters were even smaller then. They were only 80. Now they're 90. They've increased the 90 and the practice squads are obviously more now. They used to be like eight when I was in the

league. Now they're 16. Maybe they were 10. So it's dramatically increased. So it means even more work. And the way we did it and a lot of teams do it is they take your pro scouts, usually have a GM, a pro director, several pro scouts. Some use their college scouts too, some do not. And you basically just split up the teams. So your pro director gets eight, 10, 10 teams. Each of your scouts and maybe an intern kind of split up the other 20. And you write up all the late round draft picks, the undrafted free agents, and then just younger players, guys that have been on practice squad.

And you give them grades throughout the preseason. So every single week when, you know, the games are happening. preseason game one, preseason game two. You're just flying through tape, banging out guy after guy, right tackle, right guard, wide receiver, quarterback, all these positions. And you're just giving these guys grades.

And guys that you think are worthy that would be an upgrade on your roster. So if you're a team like the Patriots, and you go, listen, this team's going to cut a couple, we got three or four quarterbacks that we think are better than Bailey Zappy. And then they get cut. Maybe you're like, fuck it.

Cut Bailey Zappy and we'll claim that. guy. Now, if you claim a player who has been cut and a player with under four years of service time, they have to go through waivers. And the way the waivers set up, at least I think it's through four weeks, but obviously right now, is based on the previous year's draft order. So just because the bears traded to the Panthers doesn't mean the Panthers have the number one spot. The Bears do. So it goes the Bears, the Texans. I can't even think of the draft order off top of my head. but whatever the draft order was, uh,

three, four, five, it stays like that for the first several weeks and obviously over tomorrow. But if I claim a player and I am awarded that player, because if I'm like, you know,

pick a team, like the lions or the Steelers and I want to claim a linebacker from, let's just pick a team, the Vikings. And I put a claimant on them. That player has to make, if I drafted,

you know, 17th or 19th or 15th, has to pass all those teams ahead of me. And if the, If they don't put a claim in, I'm awarded that player. And if I'm awarded that player, that means someone that made my team today. So when you see whoever your squad is, the 53-man roster, I then have to cut a guy off that initial 53-man roster to put the guy I claimed on the roster.

So just because you made the team today does not mean you're going to make the team tomorrow or the next day. Because there are going to be a ton of guys claimed all over the NFL. And when those players are and awarded to the team, team because they were the highest team in the claim order that got the guy, they have to remove a guy on their roster to keep them. And you can't just like unclaim him. He's yours. So it's a very, this week is very fluid. It's why you saw a ton of guys today getting traded for six, seventh round picks, right? Those guys were going to be cut. So if you were going to cut a player, you're like, wait, you want them? Well, if I'm the Denver Broncos or,

any team, the Cowboys, the Eagles, the Dolphins, they're a better example because Denver drafted pretty high. But if I'm the Miami Dolphins, I made the playoffs last year, and I like a guy, I'm better off trading a six or seventh round pick for him to make sure I get him on my roster because there's a decent chance. If he's waived, he'll never make it to my team. So it's why you saw, I don't know how many guys today it was,

but seven, eight guys traded for late round picks. Because those players were going to get cut, and that team traded for him thinking that this guy probably won't make it to us in the claim order, or why even risk it? We'll just give a late round pick. We don't actually care that much. We just want this player. So this time, a ton of names, a ton of guys,

and then obviously you get 16 practice squad spots. So once all these guys clear waivers, they're all free agents. And any team can offer those guys a practice squad spot. Now, it is, you know, it's to the player's advantage to stay with the team where he's just been in training camp. if that team wants them back, right? Already knows the position coach,

already knows the coordinator, already knows the playbook, especially if I'm a rookie. So it's why a lot of players just go back to their team. But there are a lot of guys that really showed out during the preseason that a lot of teams have high grades on

that don't end up getting claimed. They will have like eight, nine teams wanting to get them on the practice squad. And what you can do is forever, right, the practice squad payment, we talked about this yesterday, is like $11.5,000 a week, or it's over $200,000 a year

if you make it the entire season on the practice squad. So it's not, you know, 23, 24 years old, decent little salary. You're not even playing games. You just service the team in practice and some teams travel them. Some teams don't. You just watch home games and your sweats.

But you have to make a decision if another team goes, hey, listen, we'll pay you $20,000 a week. We'll pay you $500 grand. Hell, we'll give you, a, like if you had made the active roster salary. So you can manipulate practice squad player's salary. You can pay them more than the minimum amount that they have to make.

And that's where it gets dicey. But also, you know, depend, some teams have philosophies. Like, what's the point in doing that? Like, if some other team wants to give them $800,000 or whatever, it is, 750K to be on their practice squad, let them do that. And some owners are cheap. And some owners give their GM or head coach, carte blanche.

area and just say, hey, listen, you do what you feels best. If you want to keep this guy, you do it. So right now, the amount of phone calls that are happening with agents, the amount of negotiation going on is pretty insane. But everyone, if you're listening to this, it might already be out. Everyone's kind of waiting for that moment to find out who got claimed, who was awarded the player. And if we were awarded a player, hell, you could be awarded two or three players. Right. I remember when Andy Reed and John Dorsey first took over the chiefs, they claim like six guys because remember they had the number one overall pick. Well, the moment you claim and the bears could do this too, let's say you claim five guys because you're the Bears or the

Texans and you're awarded the five or six guys. You have to cut five or six guys from your roster in the next 24 hours. That's why, just because you make the team, now that guy, right, that player that you have to cut, a lot of other teams might like that guy. And that guy might get claimed the following day or you immediately bring him back to practice squad if he doesn't make it. This is, this is a hectic time. I remember just being nervous that I misgraded a guy or that I wasn't on the right guy or just a lot, a lot of moving parts, ton of names out there. But this is also when GMs and scouting departments can really make a name for themselves, right? If you need a guard, if you need a linebacker, if you need a corner, if you claim the right

guy, another guy might not start for you week one, but by week six, if you you've had an injury and that guy ends up playing and hell he might be better than your starter. You go, God, what a fucking great claim. What a smart move. This is really the last time of the year. The trade deadline, kind of, but how many players are really available at the trade deadline, where you can really impact your team. So many names, so many young players that have a future that right now you can base,

especially your college scouts, can kind of go to bat for younger players from a character standpoint, from guys we really liked in the draft. that we wanted to draft. We just didn't have the opportunity to draft because someone else picked them or we needed to pick another player or whatever. So this is easily one of the most tense and just time-consuming times for your front office. And your coach is a little bit, but your GMs and your scouts really kind of earn their money the week of the 28th.

Okay, I'll bang out a couple mailbags because why not? on Middaloff is the Instagram fire in those DMs. Get your question answered here. On the podcast, Corey, question for the pod, brother. Say Caleb Williams doesn't like the first few teams in the draft. Can he declare for the draft and legitimately get away with saying, I won't play for them if they draft me?

This gets back to the Jonathan Taylor Sports NBA. In the NBA forever, guys consistently navigated their way. away from teams. And in fairness, like, I wouldn't want to play

forever with the Kings or the magic or whatever. In football, it's only happened a handful of times, right? Elway did it way back in the day

in 83. Eli did it in 04, but it just rarely happens. You just kind of go to the team and, you know, whatever. Cardinals draft one, Bears, Panthers, draft one.

You just go and you just figure it out. I would expect because the thing is he doesn't want to go there, you just say, well, we're going to draft you. What are you going to do? Not play? We'll call your bluff. So he could say that,

but I have a hard time thinking, what does he do when they offer him, you know, the $39 million contract? He says no, she sits out of year, goes back into the draft. I have a hard time seeing that happen. But he could. But to draw a hard line in this,

like ultimately Nick Bosa and Chris Jones. If they really want their 140, 150, 150 guaranteed, they can't show up. They have to keep holding out and just demand to get paid and refuse to play. Hey John, love your stuff.

What's your stance on switching teams as a fan? As a lifelong Pat's fan, it's been a little tough to watch this team play, knowing it'll be a long time before we're contenders again. If I were a Cowboys fan, I'd be able to root for a team that will be consistently relevant

and make my girlfriend happy. Would I be a sellout? Thanks and be well. Now my overall stance is this. Depends on the situation, right? If you, when I was in the Bay Area, the Oakland A's, every couple years would trade away all their sweet players. Now, the overwhelming majority of people in Northern California are Giants fans.

But it was just like, how do you guys, and it was cool, Billy Bean, the movie. but every like three years, they'd be good and then they trade everyone. I would never blame any fan for being like, this is fucking nuts. What are we doing? Let me use the other Oakland team,

the Raiders, forever it was just chaos. Always trying to move. The team always sucked. Like, what the hell are you doing? I'm just using examples in my backyard. I do think with the Patriots, they've earned a lot of equity with you.

I don't know how old you are, but I'll just pick an age. Let's say you're 30 years old. the overwhelming part of your adult and childhood of just being a sports fan was incredible. Belichick specifically in Kraft, because Brady's gone, have earned your fandom. And they have backed it up with just the most incredible memories you'll ever have. And last year sucked. And if last year was the norm, guys like Matt Patricia, your offensive coordinator,

they don't get forever. But I do think they've earned your equity at least a couple more years. I'd argue that number should be closer to five. Right. Like you should stick with the team until you see the next coach. Now, if Robert Kraft becomes the next like old Al Davis and you guys are a joke, I get it. But wouldn't you regret this if like, okay, you guys go seven and ten, Belichick's fired and you're like, I left for the Cowboys. And then Tom Brady is like running the team, you'd want to be in.

I do think you get some leeway, they get some leeway with your fandom. A Knicks fan for like 20 years. Like this sucks. What am I doing? This is not fun. Like I'm sorry if you're a Yankee fan. Okay, yeah, the worst year and forever. Like for the most part, yeah, I know you haven't won a title since 2009, but it's been pretty

damn good, right? Most people are not Alabama or the Chiefs. You're winning all the time. But I do think the Patriots have done a lot. So my take is on switching teams is you're allowed to do it if it's just always a joke and you're just always a punchline. What's the point of all this?

Right? Like if a Houston Texans fan had jumped ship, like I would kind of get it. Right? The Jags after Urban Meyer. Like, what are we even doing? Right? But I'm sorry.

Like, if you're, I'm trying to think of an example, the Yankees, the Patriots, like, yeah, you have a rough couple years. It's been pretty damn good. Do you think the NFL will ever expand in the near future? Like within the next 10 years? If so, what cities do you see the most likely to get a team and how many teams will the NFL be willing to add?

I don't. I think as we can tell now, and we'll know this by the end of like the first month of the season, it's hard to find enough quarterbacks. So 32, we know half the teams in the league, their quarterback's going to look terrible. So adding two teams, one, what cities are not? represented.

Like the NBA and baseball, for example, like Vegas and Nashville makes sense. I would be in Vegas and Nashville yesterday for baseball. I would move the Tampa Bay Rays to Nashville and I would move the A's to Vegas. Obviously, the NBA is clearly going back to Seattle and they're going to Vegas, which makes sense. But the NFL is in Seattle. It's in Nashville. It's in Vegas.

It's in California. It's in New York. What major market is not represented in the national football league? in America. Now, you can say the London thing, and I know everyone's like, well, Chod Khan's building a practice. Okay, I get it.

But I don't see it happening. Though they could, if there were available cities that made sense, can you imagine what they would charge? Question for the mailbag. As a Niner fan, I'm starting to get a bit concerned that Bosa hasn't signed yet.

Let's say hypothetically, talks break down, and they're too far apart in numbers. When would they start to consider a trait? If they do look to trade, what kind of haul could they expect? I ultimately hope this doesn't happen. To me, you can't, like, you can't do what John Gruden did with Kalil Mack. Because the expectations with a guy in his prime, even if you got, like, think about what they got for

Kalilmak. They got two ones, and somehow they didn't get a two. They flip-flopped and they got a third. To me, Nick Bosa, at minimum, the diners, one, they can't. can't trade them, but if they could, like the starting point is like two ones and two twos. And even then, like, what are the chances that the four players are going to equal Nick Bosa? Now, here's where I think it gets complicated. The most money ever signed for by a defensive player, according to my research yesterday,

was Joey at $102 million guaranteed. That was three years ago. Now, a couple years ago, Aaron Donald signed that like contract extension where you had added money to his already existing contract. And it was like $90 million. She makes $30 million a year. What if Nick Bosa's like, listen, we all acknowledge I'm one of the best

non-quarterbacks in recent memory. I'm a dominant player for this franchise. I don't give a shit how much other people are making. This is not Jonathan Taylor. Like, I know you need me. I want 140 guaranteed. And the Niners are offering like 115. So I think that's where,

I think the nine are willing to pay a lot of money, like $1.15 million guaranteed. What if Nick Bosa this whole time, the reason that they're not close is because he thinks he's worth 145 guaranteed? Or he wants five years,

$30 million a year, every penny guarantee. Like he wants to go to Sean Watson. And the 49ers go, no. What's the precedent for that? So these, listen, business, the shit gets uncomfortable. This shit gets weird.

And this is, we're talking, nine figures. It should get weird. These contracts should not be easy to negotiate beside with quarterbacks like where the numbers already set. Nick Bosa doesn't care what the previous contracts were.

He's trying to shatter records. And the Niners are like, yeah, precedent's precedent. So they're just kind of in a staring contest. I don't know how this is going to play out. I know this. The 49ers have traded players before. DeForest Buckner. This guy's on a completely different level.

So he's got to figure out a way. and if for the initial signing, you feel like you got bent over a little bit on the team side, sometimes in life that happens. But you usually don't get screwed forever paying a premium for a premium. I think that's a Jerry Jones line. Like I've never been disappointed when I pay a premium for a premium. When you buy a house, one recommendation I'd always have,

the neighborhood really matters. It really matters. Where you buy, the city you buy in, impacts in five, 10 years how that thing will work. I bought a shitty condo in the Bay Area, but it was in like the nicest suburb and it appreciated by several hundred thousand dollars. It is not nice. If I put that in other cities, it would not have been worth a quarter of what it went for. But the location matters. It's why I just bought this place in Arizona in a nice golf gated community. Now, it's a fixer upper. I haven't even, I've owned it for three months. I

haven't even moved in yet because I'm doing a bunch of construction on it. I kind of had a vision, but location, location, location, players at premium positions, tackles, pass rushers, quarterbacks. If you got to quote unquote overpay in a couple of years, you won't even feel that bad. 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 which 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,

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

get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. You have some great takes I don't always agree with, but enjoy hearing them. Question, what do you think the Steelers ceiling is? I think as long as TJ Watt and some other key players stay healthy. They have the roster to win some playoff games. They won a Super Bowl and Ben's second year. Can Kenny do the same? I think they're going to be really good.

If I had to bet right now, I'm thinking 12, 13 wins. I'm going to pick them to win the division. And I think the Bengals are awesome too. I'm picking the Steelers to win the North. I think they could easily win week one against the 49ers. I think that defense, obviously health permitting for any top team,

is going to fucking dominate. And I think Kenny Pickett, what he should they got a lot of talent on offense. So I'm guessing 12, 13 wins. And then it's just on them to play well in the playoffs, right? You win the division, you host playoff games. It's going to be, it's going to be snowing, it's going to be cold. You're going to be playing the Chiefs.

You're going to be playing the Chargers. You're going to be playing the Jags. They're going to be playing really good quarterbacks, right? And Kenny Pickett, more than likely, is going to be one of the, Josh Allen, Aaron Rogers, is going to be one of the worst quarterbacks that makes the play. in the AFC, even if he's good, right? Just based on all their resume. Think about the guys I just listed.

Burrow, Allen, Mahomes, Herbert, Lawrence, Rogers, I mean, Lamar. So, I mean, even if Kenny Pickett has a breakout year, like, these guys are established MVP-level players. You just got to get it done. And we talked about this, I think, within the last couple weeks, they haven't won a a playoff game since January of 2017. It's a long time. but I feel I don't do future bets

because I'm just not a very patient person but I would place a future bet on them winning the AFC North and I definitely place a future bet on there over. John, I don't know what podcast I can get on with you guys but on Trey Lance. Kyle is playing chess versus checkers. Coward always says,

I want to hear something new. So how about this? Shanahan effectively transferred the whole quarterback controversy to Dallas, a team in the same conference with a playoff picture on their mind and mega media market of the NFL. Kyle is that ballsy to do it. If he feared Lance, he would have wound up in Tennessee, not on a playoff team in the same conference. I don't know why everyone is so up in arms over the wasted first round picks. The only good players we've got out of that,

out of the first round, are Nick Bosa. Thank you, Jimmy G. And Iyuk. The rest of our studs have been homegrown late round picks. They are that confident in their system to swing big and miss on tray and still wound up in back-to-back championship games. Come on, man. Give me a mic. With Shermer Colin or you, the hate is ridiculous on this.

You know, Richard Sherman, we've been efforting him to get him on the podcast. I want to talk to Richard. It feels like he's all back in on Seattle. Last I remember Richard, he was wearing 49er uniform, all pro 2019 in the Super Bowl. I know he became a legend in Seattle, but, you know,

some pretty good moments in the 49ers. You can't just kick the 49ers of the curb. I think, I understand what you're saying, and they definitely, you know, traded their problem to a team that has just historically had some problems in the media market as well. I just, I don't think it's that complicated, though. They don't think Tray Lance is any good,

and they just traded them to who offered them the most. And the Cowboys offered them a fourth-round pick. If the Eagles would offer them a third-round pick, he'd be on the Eagles. he would have been anywhere for the right price. It's not, I don't think he looks at it like, Trey Lance is the third string quarterback. And I watched Mike McCarthy talk today.

He wants Will Greer on the practice squad. You know why? Because he probably likes Will Greer more than Trey Lance. As Jerry Jones says, I didn't even ask Mike McCarthy. I think that's the bigger issue for Trey Lance. It's like, he's not even remotely close to playing. I don't even think the head coach wants him there. Jerry might.

Jerry does, clearly, but Mike doesn't. I don't think it's as much chess checkers as just they got a fourth round pick. I think they thought they were going to get like a sixth. Okay, last question. Love the show. Keep the great content coming. As a fellow Niners fan, I'd love to get your thoughts on this. I can't help but think of the narrative behind Trey Lance pick being completely overblown.

Yes, in a vacuum, three first round picks. Sounds atrocious. True, it does. I agree. Let us unpack the trade a little. 2021, pick 12, Micah Parsons, that one hers. Totally agree. I think the 49ers would like to have Mike and Parsons.

2022, pick 29. The one and only, Cole Strange, who actually is a good player. He plays for the Patriots. 2023, pick 29. Brian Breezy. Can't tell you much about him. This trade, as bad as it seems, on face value, is not nearly what the media is making it out to be.

worst trade in league history is a bit of a stretch. All these great players from 2021 that the Niners apparently could have drafted went before Pick 12, except Parsons. So no, the Niners did not miss out on drafting Chase, Waddle, Sartan, Pitts, Sewell, Horn, and then stayed at 12. They certainly weren't going to trade that much capital to draft anything beside a quarterback. What am I missing?

I do think, listen, in trades, like when I say, hey, I have to trade you several first round picks. When I just tell you, if we're sitting at a bar having a beer, probably a Guinness, and you're having a Guinness, I'm having a Guinness, and I go, hey, I'll trade, I would trade multiple first round picks for this guy. We usually don't view them as pick like 25 through 32. In a weird way, they're usually viewed as like top 12, 15 picks, which is stupid. And I go back to Jalen Ramsey on this one. I remember Jalen Ramsey was traded.

well the Rams were good. So the picks the Jags were getting weren't high. That's part of the Russell Wilson, like when the trades blow up in your face, is when you suck and you have to give a top 10 pick. So all first round picks are not the same, right? And last year is a good example. Last year was a shitty draft.

So the Micah Parsons draft, yes, if they could do it over, they just would have stayed at 12 and drafted Micah Parsons. But if they could do it over, does that mean every team could do it over? Because if you could do it over, Do you know what the draft would be? Trevor Lawrence, Micah Parsons.

Micah Parsons would go two to the Jets. He would not make it pass the Jets. So there are no do-overs. And I hear what you're saying. The only reason they traded up was for a quarterback. But has any team ever traded three first-round picks and not have the guy on their team on the third year? So I think you can remove the vacuum of breaking it down individually

and look at it from a macro perspective. They traded three first round picks And the dude did not make it to week one year three Like there's no way around Two things can be true It's a fucking disaster And GMs and coaches get paid to win Not make draft picks

If you win No one cares who you draft or sign up free agency And the 49ers have whiffed Just like other teams They just won Right Steve Kime was whiffing Why did he get fired? They started losing

So if you win We look past all the stuff That you screw up on Why? You're always going to screw up. Nick Saban doesn't hit on every recruit. But no one cares. Why?

He averages like 11 wins a season. Not every guy that Kirby Smart recruits plays. A lot of them transfer. Do you think he cares? No. Back to back Natty's. Right. Ryan Day is a good example.

Like, wait, you didn't recruit this guy? When you're going to the playoffs, no one cares. You miss the playoffs. You lose to Michigan a couple times. People start looking. What was the undoing of Mack Brown at Texas? Wait, why didn't you recruit Johnny Men's how'd you miss on Baker Mayfield?

Right? No one cares right now about Zach Wilson. Why? They got Aaron Rogers. If they wouldn't have been able to land Aaron Rogers, we'd be like, God, are these guys going to make it through week 10? These guys might all get fired in the season, but they fucking landed Aaron Rogers.

So you're paid to win games in the NFL. You can make terrible trades. It's why it's so disingenuous is even the wrong way to put it. It's just so stupid. Anyone saying, hold them accountable. For what? Winning 13 games last year and being in the end? NFC championship game.

Literally, do you know what Jerry Jones would have done to win that 49er game? Like, he was exactly where Jerry Jones and Mike McCarthy and Dak Prescott wanted to be. So the whole point of this entire sport is to win games on Sunday. Whether you trade for guys, whether you draft guys, whether you claim guys, no one cares. If the guys you're rolling out there with, you can win with, that's all that matters. I don't like Mac Jones as a player. I'm glad the 49ers didn't trade him. But if Matt, and I think he's going to get Belichick fired this year.

But if Mac Jones has a Pro Bowl season, the Patriots win 11 games, that's all that matters. That's the, hell, Mac Jones could be average. If the Patriots find a way to win 11 games and make the playoffs, that's what, whether he's draft picks, free agent signing. Who cares? I just think it's so stupid that we nitpick draft picks when your team sucks or when you're not winning. Right? Like last year with the Steelers, we're like, hey, is this really working out? and then they start winning at the end.

You're like, okay, now this year. They start winning 12, 13 games. No one will care. You go 8 and 9 or 9 and 8. People are going to start having a problem. Like this is not really working anymore. Right? Mike Tomlin kind of gets a little bit of a pass

because even when he missed the playoffs because he always goes above 500. But this year it feels like there's a little more pressure. Like, okay, you should win 1112, which they should. But that's the whole point of the sport is to be in the playoffs and win the games. not to not screw up draft picks. Ideally, if you don't screw up draft picks,

your team's going to be better, but we've seen a lot of good players on crappy teams. It's a coaching league. If you've got a good coach, you'll be okay. Appreciate everyone listening. Adios, talk soon. And let's just keep taking in all the football content we can. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy,

not quite, unhumored 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 I-Heart 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 huge. human potential. Either way, the podcast 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-Hart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an I-Hart podcast. Guaranteed Human.