The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - Tiger, Brady/Dolphins Reports, Jets/DK Trade Buzz, WR Value Boom, Pre-Draft Perspective, Flores Suit

Episode Date: April 8, 2022

John gives quick thoughts on Tiger's resilient Masters 1st round, and if pain and fatigue will be a factor if he makes it to the weekend. Then, he reacts to Tom Brady reportedly almost joining the Dolphins as a minority owner, explains why the Jets shouldn't trade for DK Metcalf, why the wide receiver boom isn't going away anytime soon, and how NFL teams make worse evaluations of prospects the further into the pre-draft process, and thoughts on Steve Wilks joining the Flores discrimination lawsuit against the NFL.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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To get started now, sign up with promo code Colin so they know we sent you. What is going on, everybody? Johnny John Middelloff, three and out podcast back at it again on this beautiful Thursday afternoon. Tiger Woods just finished playing. He is one under for the tournament. Still three days ago. A lot of golf left.

A lot of ball game left. And Tiger. I'll touch on Tiger before we dive into some football a lot going on, some rumors about D.K. Metcalfe. The Jets potentially trading pick 10 and Seattle saying no. Step on Diggs. and just I think the blowing up and the growth of wide receiver value, these star, not star, but these future, you know,

guys, they're going to be rookie quarterbacks, all the top guys are visiting teams, have a couple thoughts there. And then some draft meetings kind of taking place. There's just a lot going on in a draft meeting once the coaches get involved. A couple things I want to hit on there, as well as some more of the Brian Flores suit. and I want to hit on Steve Wilkes,

who became part of the suit today. Three and Out podcast, subscribe to the podcast. If you listen on Collins Feed, greatly appreciate that. It's separate from Collins Feed, three and out, so go subscribe to that as well. Middlecoff mailbag, which we do now on the weekend for this podcast,

we go a little Middlecoff weekend mailbag at John Middlecoff is the Instagram. Slide up into those direct messages. Just my name, pretty easy to do. Slide up into those direct messages. and get your question answered here on the podcast. Very, very easy to do. Share it with your friends.

Share it with your enemies. Share it with your people. Greatly appreciate that. We're grassroots campaign here on the pod. Just pod for the people. Pod for the people. Before we get into football, what we just witnessed out of Tiger Woods is truly remarkable.

He has a fuseback. He has reconstructed knees like he's an NFL player and he has a rod in his ankle. Now, golf's a unique sport where you can play till basically you can't walk and Tiger can still walk, he can still play. It's not like basketball. If he was a football player or basketball player,

even in his 30s with these injuries, it'd be over. So I'm not acting like he's blocking linebackers here. But what we witnessed, and I say it all the time, he does not need to be doing this, but like Tom Brady, like Michael Jordan, he's addicted to the juice. He's addicted to the competition. Now, you're listening to this probably on Friday morning,

potentially if you're on the East Coast before he even tease off. My question moving forward is the fatigue. How does he maintain? You know, how much pain is he in? Does his back start to hurt? Does his ankle throb? Is he going to be able to maintain and just keep playing?

Like honestly, I watched every shot today. He played pretty damn well, given the, you know, that he hasn't played a competitive round in well over like two years now. Pretty nuts. So to me, it's the fatigue factor. It's the pain management factor. A couple times a day he wins. and you went, oh, and you're like hoping he doesn't hit the ground or fall to his knees,

but he didn't. So we just, I'm going to keep my fingers crossed. Like I said, I'm the biggest Tiger Woods fan beside maybe his family that you're going to meet. So I thought today was simply awesome. That was a really, really cool morning. And I see a lot of people complaining like, well, why is it not on television? Like, I'm sorry, you could have that argument in 2018. It's 2022, homie.

Like, I got a $300. Cabra Bill. I also have Hulu. I also have Netflix. I also have ESPN Plus. Like you got to get, we got to get with the times now. There's no more complaining. I'm not going to deal with any complaining this fall. Like, where is the Thursday night football? This ain't 2014. It's 2022. We're all paying premiums for all this shit. Streaming services, Comcast, Xfinity, DirecTV, whatever. I'm paying for so many freaking things. It's outrageous. But since the cost is doing business nowadays. You know, I probably don't even need cable, but I feel comfortable just having cable.

And then I also have all the streaming. So you are not allowed to complain about where can I find this? I don't know. Type it into Google. And then if you don't have it, subscribe. If not, shut up. No one wants to hear from you. We could complain a couple years ago.

We're not allowed to complain now. You can't do it. It's not allowed. So I'll get off my soapbox on that one. but this morning was a lot of fun watching Tiger Woods. I don't know, just play Augusta National. That was badass. I guess before one football story I want to hit really quick.

Tom Brady, some rumors that he potentially was going to be a part owner, Florio, put out a story today, part owner with the Miami Dolphins. You know, Sean Payton was going to be the coach. my overall take on the Dolphins and Stephen Ross is this just always something? There's just always these rumors with that franchise. There is a reason shitty franchises stay bad and stable franchises stay good.

Like to me, these type of, and I don't blame Tom if you wanted a piece of it, but like who else is giving Tom a piece of their team? You know, it's just always something with that franchise. What a weird place. Not Miami, which I've only been in. once and it was awesome. I just mean the franchise.

They just got some weird juju to him. Good luck to Mike McDaniel. You know, at any moment, he could be fired. They could hire Sean Payton. Tom Brady could come there next year. Miami is just not, when you think stable NFL organizations, you do not think the Miami Dolphins. It's just one thing after another.

And listen, I don't blame Stephen Ross for wanting Tom Brady as my quarterback. But the ownership thing, like, it's a little weird. It's just a little bizarre. I mean, think of just a couple years ago, all the teams in Miami, besides Pat Riley, who basically just took it over a couple decades ago, and they've been a stable place that wins. The Miami Marlins, I mean, they just like hired Derek Jeter to run their operation out of nowhere and then he quits this year.

Just the Miami baseball team, the Miami football team, even the Miami Hurricanes up until Mario got there. Just too much going on, maybe too many variables. But just zero stability in any of these places down there. Florida's just got some bizarre pro sports. But the rumor about the Jets, I understand the Raiders trading Devante Adams. Their star wide receiver is going to jail for who knows how long,

maybe the rest of his life, gone. They needed a number one wide receiver. And two, their quarterback's connection with DaVante Adams, Devante, super high character guy, star player. Yeah, you had to pay him a premium, but whatever. That to me is the easiest trade the Raiders have ever made. The Dolphins felt a little desperate. Like, back to my Miami thing,

didn't quite understand the Tyree Kill trade for them. It's like, you guys aren't a player away. But as I defended them, they have a rookie contract. You got to take advantage of the cap space. So there are only so many players worthy of a big time trade available. Don't love the fit. You already have Jaylen Waddle,

who's like a poor man's version of Tyree Kill. He's also very small. But, like, I kind of understand. I just don't think you want to. make deals. And any book I've read from successful people, any successful person I've ever talked to, you don't want to do things out of desperation. Because when you do deals out of desperation, they usually don't go in your favor. You want to do deals ultimately where you're comfortable saying no. Like yeah, we don't want to do that. Like ultimately there's a lot of, you know, where there's

smoke, there's fire, Debo Samuel. Like I'm sorry, I'm not getting into him scrubbing his Instagram page. This isn't the NBA. Like they're not, he's three years into the NFL. The 49ers are not trading him. One. And Debo, you don't, like, you haven't earned the money as these other guys. You had an eight-game stretch, which was remarkable. Dix has been doing this for four years. Tyree Kill and Devante Adams have been kicking everyone's ass for half a decade.

Like, you got to put in a little more time. You know, you can scrub all your Instagram. Like, I don't care. This is good luck, buddy. We'll see you at OTAs. But I understand the Jets wanting to get some firepower to go with their young quarterfew. I do not think though trading for DK Metcalf

is the right move because the number one thing I'd ask myself is one the entire point of being a general manager being John Snyder is to draft suite players and then extend them that is the goal like what's the job of a salesman right

to sell and to make money isn't that the entire isn't like that their goal right what's the job of a parent to raise a good kid The job of a GM is to find good players in either free agency or the draft, acquire them, and keep them. Like, that literally is the job description.

He got D.K. Metcalf at the end of the second round. It's easily his best pick over the last, like, half decade. He made a career off Richard Sherman, Cam Chancellor, drafting all these guys, Cliff Averill, drafting Russell Wilson, trading for Marshawn Lynch. That's the whole point of your job. And he gets D.K. Metcalfe who gives him, 29 touchdowns in three years, you keep them. It doesn't make any sense to trade them.

And if you're the Jets, you're not even remotely close to being a player away. And like I said, part of having the rookie contract is taking advantage of the cap space. But I go, hey, there are wide receivers in this draft. And listen, this rumor came from Howard Eskin, who covers the Eagles. So I'm not even saying it's necessarily substantiated. But I think it's fair to say that they were all over Tyree Kill, which made no sense for the Jets. that trade would have been really stupid.

This trade would make a little more sense because Zach Wilson last year was one of the more inaccurate quarterbacks when it came to catching radiuses. Like when the ball was around the wide receiver for quote unquote catchable balls, he was the most inaccurate.

His ball was the hardest to catch for any wide receiver when the ball was around the wide receiver. Saw some like a deep stat dive on that one. So I would want a bigger wide receiver with the player. Well, draft Garrett Wilson from the Ohio State. Don't you want to get a young guy and then build with him? Because ultimately, when you drafted Zach Wilson number two overall,

you did it for the next decade. You didn't just do it for the next three years. Well, you can get a star receiver in this draft. This draft is loaded with wide receivers. Chris Olive. If you really wanted a speed guy, if you were interested in Tyree Kill, why don't you just take the speed guy from Ohio State? Who's a star and no one can cover him?

Wouldn't that be the move? And then he's also kind of cheap. And then next year, if you find out Zach Wilson, can actually play, he splurge on some players. But the jets are in a weird spot right now, because they suck. They are terrible. And trading, when you make moves for like D.K. Maccaf,

that's stuff the Rams do. The Raiders are trying to become a consistent playoff team, right? The Dolphins, they don't know what they're doing. This would feel extremely desperate. And if I'm Seattle, I'm just not trading them. Like, well, if you can trade Russell Wilson, you can trade anyone. That's not true. was in the NFL for a decade.

They had extended him multiple times. He had been on their team for a long period of time. So he finally told you, I won out. And your head coach, which is a little weird. You're staying loyal to him. He's seven years old. But you did. Didn't want really to coach him either.

He can say whatever he wants. They wanted a divorce from each other. Pete and Russell. This one, like, regardless of who your quarterback is, you want D.K. Metcalfe on your team. Because he's a difference-making player. and if you have a lower-end quarterback, which they're going to have, he's an enormous target to throw to.

So to me, the Jets should not be interested in trading pick 10, and 100% Seattle Seahawks should not trade D.K. Metcalfe, just like the Titan shouldn't trade A.J. Brown or the 49ers trade Debo Samuel. They all can get up in arms, get mad at the money that digs, that Tyree Kill, and Devante Adams got, and the thing that I would just send them is the picture of those guys' resumes compared to their resume. And when it comes to wide receiver, forever, Colin used to have this take. And in fairness, he's changed it.

That wide receivers were the icing, right? Because for a long period of time in the 80s, the 90s, you know, obviously if you had Jerry Rice or Randy Moss, but you could win with dominant defenses running the ball and just play like old school early 2000 Patriot football. Like, you can't do that anymore. You can't mess with the wide receivers. You're not allowed to hit them going over the middle. The rules are in their favor. They're allowed to run all over the place.

They can do whatever they want. So when you get talented guys like Tyree Kill, like Devante Adams, and like Stefan Diggs, they are unstoppable. It's why defensive linemen still get paid a lot of money. Same with offensive linemen. Why? Because that is the one area on the field. Like regulations, and it's like this in life, right?

as regulations and laws and different things change, you have to change as a business. It's the best part about the internet right now. It's the wild, wild west. But slowly but surely, things have changed. Like if you do business on YouTube, they've changed some of their rules. But in the podcast space,

it's kind of just a free-for-all, right? On Twitter forever, you could steal people's information, repost it. It doesn't matter. Who knows, in 20 years, that might be a crime. Like, there's a chance that my grandkids, the way they're like, what's going on on the internet? And I'll tell them, well, in my day, you know, the way I made my money to feed grandma,

you know, the things are going to change. Well, in the NFL, the rules literally did change. And it's very pro-wide receiver. And we can argue whether it should be that or whether it shouldn't be that. I liked a more physical game, but I also understood when, you know, Rachel Nichols was pounded in the table to try to end the NFL because of concussions and Roger Goodell was the worst commissioner ever, even though the NFL is printing money like they were Bank of America, they did have to pivot a little bit because the concussion movie with Will Smith tell the truth

and everyone was coming after their throats. So they completely pivoted away from hitting anybody and made it much more of a seven-on-seven league. Well, who thrives in a seven-on-seven league? The wide receivers. And Stefan Diggs, Devante Adams, Tyree Kill, those type players, Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase, would have been able to play in any era. They are not just dominating because of the rules.

Now, it makes it easier for them, but they would have excelled no matter what. And if you're comfortable with them, right? Like, ultimately the Raiders, they're probably different than Miami because their quarterback knows Devante. And if you just are an NFL fan, any Packer fan listening to this,

Devante is like, he's a plug-in-play player, plug-in-play person, incredible character. every organization would take him. Tyreek a little more unique, right? Been in some trouble. Andy can handle some stuff that some coaches can't. Kind of a unique player, but they go, well, my coach kind of can handle the gadget players.

Look at what he just did with Debo. And I'd be like, okay, fair. But when it comes to Diggs, who I liked in Minnesota, but clearly there was some Diva stuff, and it turns out like, was it Kirk Cousins? Was it Diggs? Was it Zimmer? Who knows? Well, he gets to the bills with Josh Allen. and for two years, 230 catches, 18 touchdowns, 2,700 yards.

Kicking the shit out of people. So you're one of the best teams in the league. You make this trade, which is a rare kind of total win-win, right? You get Diggs, he's a star. They get Jefferson. He's top five wide receiver. Now, you could argue if you could do that over again if you're the bills. You probably just take Justin Jefferson because you get the rookie contract, but whatever.

Like, ultimately you're happy. And they like the person because if you're going to sign the player to long-term deal, you're going to have to feel very comfortable with the person. He clearly gets along with everybody. And he gets along with their quarterback, which is the most important thing. Because when you have a star quarterback of Josh Allen's level, you know, you're not doing this deal if he doesn't love Dix.

And clearly he loves Dix because just look at the production. Speaks for itself. Those two guys dominate. And here's the other thing that's unique about Buffalo. It's so cold there. It is so cold. Getting a guy who's comfortable in that environment, is probably not easy.

Not every wide receiver would be comfortable in that environment. I mean, Green Bay is going to find that out, right? They have had some guys, Jordy was, Devante was, but who knows, maybe the guys they draft this year aren't comfortable in the cold. I know me, I wouldn't be. Have you ever tried to play catching like 40 degrees, let alone 10 degrees?

It's hard. You know, takes them getting used to. And digs now for a couple years is comfortable in that environment. You're not going to upgrade on them. You might as well extend them. Now, all this money, makes it complicated for the AJ Brown, D.K. Metcalf, Debo Samuel group.

But all three of those teams simply say, like, those guys have been doing it longer. They're 28 years old. They're on their third contract. Like, you don't get as much money as them. But I also understand where those three guys are coming from. It's going to be some ugly negotiations. For John Robinson, for John Lynch,

and for John Snyder. But that's part of the business. I mean, ultimately, you want to have good players to get in tough negotiations with. That's a good problem to have. This baseball season turned K's into cash and big hits into big wins with Fandul sportsbook. Right now, new customers at Fandul. Step up to the plate with a risk-free first bet up to $1,000.

Risk-free. I like betting money lines, totals, players props, same game parlays, bet a little, win a lot. Just sign up, place your first bet. Fandle will refund you up to $1,000 back in site credit if you. you don't win. Listen, Fandul, get paid fast, safe and secure, great promotions every day. Download the Fandul Sportsbook app, sign up, use the promo code, Colin to get started. Risk free, first bet, up to $1,000.

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com slash RG and Colorado, Indiana, Georgia, and Virginia. 18777-7-1-1-1-1-1-7-1-1-1-1-7-1-1-1-1-7-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-Gbler. for confidential help in Michigan. 1877 H-O-P-E-N-Y or text H-O-P-E-N-Y 4-6-7-369 in New York, Tennessee. Redline, 1-800-8-9-9-Tennessee. Visit 1-800-Gambler.net in West Virginia. The quarterbacks. I was thinking about this.

Like, as a single guy, you can see someone on Instagram. You can see the pictures. You know, if you're on dating apps, you can see all the pictures. You can exchange pictures once you start texting or whatever. And you can be like, damn, she is really hot. Beautiful girl. Like, she looks. fantastic. And you can, hell, you can even talk on the phone. But there is a different

interaction when you finally go on a date. When you sit down, over food, have a couple drinks, and just like, do you have any chemistry? Do you mesh? And let's face it, you kind of know right away. Like, do I got something here or do I not? But you can kind of fake it over the phone. You can definitely fake it through texts or exchanging, you know, on the apps, DMs, you name it, right? But if you go. But if you go, go out with them like hey meet you for happy hour at you know tiki tombs or whatever the fucking bar is in your area and you you know 10 minutes later you're in the bathroom you're like how do I get out of this or maybe you're thinking like damn this is sweet it's not that much different like

ultimately with a lot of positions you can deal with some weird cats if they're good enough and you're going to in the draft that's coming up right you're having you're flying some of these players your coaches are going to meet some of these players your general manager's going to meet some of these players. But if they can cover the pass, or, you know, if they can cover a wide receiver, if they can bend the edge, if they can block a, you know, Aaron Donald or you think they can, you're going to look back some of their weirdness and quirkiness. At quarterback, the standards are a lot higher.

Think about Baker Mayfield. Like, ultimately, a lot of shit is being talked about Baker Mayfield. But I haven't really heard anything tangible. Beside like, yeah, he's really immature. He just kind of rubs people the wrong way. But it's not like, you know, he kicks the janitor. when he walks by. Or he won't look the head coach in the eye.

Like there's nothing specific. It's just like, yeah, he's just, he's just not mature enough. Like, but again, no one ever cites any example. And I'm not disputing. I've heard it from enough people. There's smoke. There's fire. There's something there.

But it's not really like, you know, he's got six DUIs. Like, we can't point at anything besides the rumors that are coming out, which have a lot of substance behind him, that he's immature. sure, and that he's not, as coward would say, quarterbackian, right? He lacks a little something. Whatever like the Matt Ryan's and the Jimmy Garoppos and the Philip Rivers just being like high-level guys have, Baker lacks. So when you bring these quarterbacks who are going on the circuit right now of all

these teams that need quarterbacks, right? Malik Willis, Kenny Pickett, Matt Corral, Desmond Ritter, even Sam Howlett, North Carolina, who had kind of an up-and-down season, but is pretty talented. I've seen the tape. I watch you at the Combine. I watch you at the Pro Day. I know you can spin it or you can't. I know how big you are.

I know what your production is. Like at the end of the day, all that stuff, my evaluation on you as a player by this point is completely set. I think you're either a good player. I think you have a chance to be a good player or I'm not that interested. But what I need to get to know,

and I say this all the time about quarterbacks, it's one of the rare positions I would say in life that truly incorporates this, but how you are as a person is almost as important as what your talent, right? And in football, a quarterback, like throwing the ball, reading defenses, running the offense. But if you are not a super high level person, it is hard to be a good quarterback. We've seen it over the last several decades.

Most of the best quarterbacks had special characteristics. High level guys, super smart, natural leaders, everyone liked them. like just kind of the alpha of the room. And it's pretty rare. Like you could go, you know, think about like if you went to college or even high school, there aren't that many of these human beings walking around, right? Just in general, let alone guys that can throw the football and play at an NFL level. So when you're meeting with these guys and sitting down with them,

you're really trying to get a feel for, is this guy high level enough? Is this guy an NFL? And listen, I think the most of the most of the guy. fascinating part about the draft. And I was thinking about this yesterday, making a little dinner. That's what I think about when I make dinner. It's so easy now two years later or three years later. Like, how did everyone miss?

Everyone missed on A.J. Brown and D.K. Metcalfe. And even Debo Samuel. Like, how is that possible? How did Devante Adams last to the second round? What? How did Lamar Jackson go pick 32? What are these guys doing? do these guys get paid to do this? And it makes sense.

Like you say that three or four years later, like how did Lamar Jackson go pick 32? Like Baker Mayfield, Josh Rosen, Sam Darnold, all went way higher than Lamar, right? Dramatically higher.

One went three, one went one, the other went 10. Lamar went 32nd. But at the time, the information you had, it's under, like, hell,

I didn't like Lamar Jackson. I'm like, he's not accurate enough, running quarterbacks, they always get injured. And then he gets to the NFL, he's more accurate than he was in college. He actually, beside this year, is a pretty smart runner. He does not take these, he doesn't get mollywopped and destroyed running around like guys like Michael Vic and RG3 did.

He's pretty good at a voice. Same thing with Kyler Murray. Kyler Murray gets in trouble when he gets, when he gets, they get him in his grass, behind the line of scrimid, he gets tossed to the ground. But in terms of him running around, he's got this great baseball slide. can avoid and get out of bounds. He's really good at it. Lamar is too.

But at the time, with all these prospects, it's like, like Kvon-Tibodeau right now, is one of the more polarizing prospects in this draft. Because a lot of people go, well, from a playing standpoint, played in the shittiest Power 5 conference, so he wasn't going up against that many NFL guys. Effort, you know, I think is questioned by many.

He's not a natural bend the edge guy. He does not have what, you know, they call him tight in the business. Like he's tight. Von Miller, J.J. Watt, Khalil Mack, these guys were loose. They could turn the corner like a hula hoop around an offensive tackle. People do not believe Kay Bon can do that because he's stiff.

He kind of just, he has to turn his whole body to turn, where those guys can kind of get low to the ground and bend. Now, I do think Kvon has some physical attributes that are very desirable. He's long. When he plays hard, he's powerful. He's explosive. He can, when he's around the quarterback, he can get the guy. Jim Washburn, who's one of the best defensive line coaches of all time, thought that sacks did matter.

You either get close and miss. And some guys historically that don't have a huge sack count in college. And it's like, well, they got all these physical attributes. And then they can't figure it out in the pros. Well, guys that can figure out how to get the quarterback usually can figure out how to get the quarterback at every level they play. It's like rebounding. That shit translates. Now, like Clowny coming out, who Kvon compared himself to, you know, doesn't have that many moves.

One thing Clowny, who was a much better version of Kvon, just dominated physically. That's what he did. He just overpowered people. And when he tried, he was able to overpower people in the pros. But you can't do that every snap. Like, that was Kaleel Max thing when he first came in the league. All he could do was Bull Rush. Well, eventually, he figured out an inside counter, how to kind of bend the edge, and then he became the defensive player of the year.

Now, part of what made Khalil Mack a great player is like, super focus, super big chip on his shoulder, super hard worker. Like, Kvon talks about brands a lot. Like, I'm sorry, the media loves when you talk about brands and getting bags off the field. It's like, bro, can we just try to play some football? Your brand, like ultimately Michael Jordan's brand or Tiger Woods brand or Tom Brady, they have a brand because they dominated on the field.

All these guys now want to have a brand before they've done shit. you know who I don't hear talking about brand is Will Anderson in Alabama. You know what I watched Will Anderson do last year? Absolutely beat the living piss out of every single guy he played. Never heard him say the word brand one time. That turns a lot of people off. The media loves it.

NFL people don't. Ultimately, the media doesn't pick the players the NFL people do. And I say it all the time, like balance is something that sounds really good on the internet. It's not really what people are shooting for. Union's not the most balanced person, Aaron Donald. You know what he's become? The best player in the league. Peyton Manning, Tom Brady,

like limited balance. Patrick Mahomes, all in in football. Josh Allen, all in on football. Doesn't mean you can't have a wife. Doesn't mean you can't play golf. It just means like, what's your number one priority? Is it branding or is it dominating? Because if it's dominating, the brand will come and then you'll print money.

But I think a lot of these guys open their mouth because it's the cool thing to do on the internet. It's not what people want to hear. Especially when you're not the most dominant player. So, I mean, these quarterbacks, like, they better be just very on their P's and Q's about what they're saying. Because if you talk about branding as a quarterback,

they're like, oh my God. Now, you can talk about it in five, six years. But when you do it early on, you know, to me, that's what the scouts and the executives are all looking for. And these draft meetings that are in full swing, right? You now have, you've unlimited tape. You have their pro day.

You have the combine. You've met the guy. So you have all their testing. You have all the football information you need. And most of the, these guys now, either your coordinator, your coach, have met. And I think here becomes the division sometimes in these draft rooms. The scouts, like if you're the South, the Southeastern scout, you've done the SEC. You've evaluated these guys for the last nine months. And really,

if you've been doing it for years, you've been around the dudes at Georgia, the dudes at Alabama, the dudes at LSU for years. That's where you spend all your time evaluating these guys. So you know them personally. You know the coaches personally. Like you just know the player, like the back of your hand. And you have a take. Like you have a belief on good, bad, indifferent, where the guy should be. Well, then the coaches get involved.

Well, the coaches don't get involved until about the middle of February. And they come in steaming hot. And they got takes. Well, simply put, and listen, not every scout's a great evaluator. But I would say less than half of assistant coaches know what they're talking about. when it comes to evaluation. A lot of them know how to scheme or know how to coach individual positions.

They don't know how to evaluate individual players. So they get these takes, which often are wrong, but depending on the organization, they can have a lot of juice inside the building. If they have a take, then a lot of people will gravitate toward that take. Being at a GM, being at the coach, who obviously have the most influence.

And I think you have to be very, very careful because, you know, a lot of, lot of position coaches end up being coordinators and they leave. A lot of coordinators end up being head coaches and they leave. Like a lot of your head coach and your GM if they're good, you know, can be there a long time. John Snyder, Pete Carroll, Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch. Les Need, Sean McVeigh, for example.

Think how many coaches Pete's fired over the years and McVeigh and Kyle have lost to head jobs, through other jobs, through promotions. It's part of the deal. So if you're listening to this guy pounding the table for a player in like the second or third round and you listen, even though you're like, you know, we think this guy's probably more of a fourth or fifth rounder, but that guy influences you and then you overdraft them, what if that coach leaves in a year to become a coordinator? Then who even in the building is promoting this player?

I want to say promoting, I mean, really invested in the guy because you kind of half-ass picked them and the front offices that have a clear vision of who's in charge, who they're listening to, who's stacking the board is best off during this time. Because let's face it, the farther and farther, or closer and closer we get to the draft, the farther and farther we get away from them last playing. So the paralysis by analysis, and I think this can happen in any industry, sometimes thinking too much is a problem. It's why, you know, us in the private sector and academia, we're not often on the same page.

because if we operated like academia, America would be under. We'd have problems. Now, I'm not saying academia is always wrong, but they're big on the whiteboards and the theories. Like, in this world, you just got to do. You just have to dive in and try stuff. Sometimes you fail, sometimes you succeed.

But if you could draft a month ago or two months ago, much closer to the season, you would probably have less misses. But instead, we get farther and far, away from them actually playing football and more emphasis gets put on their pro days, their workouts, what they do in shorts and t-shirts and not football pads and helmets. And ultimately, unlike basketball where you can have a pickup game and, you know, you can play real basketball.

In football, the only way to play real football is either Saturday in college or Sunday in the NFL and it happens in college 13 times a year and in pro 17. There is no other pickup games. Even I'm going to 49ers OTA practice here in a month. That's not normal football. They're in shorts and like a dry fit shirt. So you got to be very, very careful, one of who gets to put the emphasis on the players they want. Ultimately, it's the GM or the head coach picking the player.

But listen, they're all taking in all this information. That's what any good leader does. And then they use all that information to make the best decision. but the more and more information you get, it sounds like it should be easier, but I'd argue sometimes it makes it more difficult. Sometimes having whatever the right amount information, there's no perfect amount,

but I think you can get information overload and then you can start whiffing because you just start overthinking it. So it's fascinating time. And last but not least, listen, I can't speak to the Tennessee Titans, Ray Horton, Mike Malarkey, Mike Mularky went on a podcast and said that he was told he was getting the job.

They were going to do a fake interview for the Rooney Rule. But when it comes to Steve Wilkes, he is one of the worst head coaches I've ever seen. He went one and done. I saw Jim Tom Sula. He went one and done. He was terrible. Freddie Kitchens, he went one undone. He was terrible.

Steve Wilkes, to me, was on their level. It was a clown show. An absolute embarrassment as a head coach. And one of his arguments is Steve Kime, who got a DUI, got extended. And I said at the time when he got the Dewey, I'm like, well, if they fired him, I'm like, listen, it's a fireable offense being a general manager in the league and getting a DUI. Now, he was not fired. But there was a big difference in Steve Kime and Steve Wilkes. Steve Kime had built a team that had been in the NFC championship.

Steve Kime had hired Bruce Arients. Steve Kime had orchestrated a trade for Carson Palmer, had drafted all these sweet players. Steve Wilks had done none of that. came in, Steve Wilkes is what I'd call. Tommy LaSorta used to call them a limousine. I call it an UberX. He's an UberX coach. You send the UberX to the hotel the day of the game

because under no circumstances, do you want to make sure that he's not late for kickoff? Because you can't wait for him being on the other sideline so you can beat the shit out of him. He was terrible. Brian Flores was a good head coach. We saw it. But I've said the same thing over and over about Steve Ross,

Stephen Ross firing him. Like, he chose not to tank. And it led them to Tua and not Joe Burrow. That is a organizational failure. It just is. They won three of their last five games. That's a debacle. Like, that can't happen.

But, like, listen, Brian Flores should be a head coach again. Steve Wilkes never should be. I don't even think he's in the NFL right now. He was a defensive coordinator the year after. He's been out of the league because he's not any good. And sometimes there are coaches. black, white, whatever, who are just terrible.

Freddie Kitchens was a joke. Jim Tom Sula was even a bigger joke. Well, probably equal. Steve Wilkes, like actually, unlike those two guys, could give a press conference. He couldn't coach the team out of a wet paper bag.

So sometimes you're not meant to be a head coach. You do not know what you're doing. And using Steve Kime getting an extension, like, yeah, check his resume. He just somehow, him and Kigsbury got to the, It's like, well, they hired Cliff Kingsbury. Yeah, who three years later has them in the playoffs. They had 11 wins.

11. Like, that happened. Your team, when he was the head coach, had the number one pick in the draft. You know the reason they got Kyler Murray was because Steve Wilkes was the head coach? Like, that happened. I witnessed it. Unlike a lot of people, like, I watch all the NFC West games. I saw that team.

And the Cardinals, listen, as someone that, they've given the 49ers for a decade. The only time they didn't was like, their team, this is going on? This guy? That guy? And actually, you might even beat him that year. But just watching that team play. See, I mean, they were just a joke. So I don't know if there's going to be much merit behind that one. Now, the Titan situation, that could get dicey.

Steve Wilkes, like, give me a break. Have a good weekend. Enjoy the Masters. And, yeah, have some fun. Enjoy, if it's sunny where you are. Enjoy catching some rays. Get a little vitamin D. Enjoy your family.

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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?

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I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfields of college. conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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