The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 and Out - Wentz Collapse Continues; No Brady Sympathy; Ranking GM Jobs; Darnold/Stafford Future; Weekend Thoughts; Mailbag

Episode Date: December 1, 2020

In this episode, John looks at Carson Wentz's MNF debacle, why the Eagles are stuck with him, why he doesn't have sympathy for Tom Brady struggling to get on the same page with Bruce Arians, how he ranks the 4 current GM openings, and what's next for Matt Stafford and Sam Darnold. He also gives his thoughts on the football weekend and answers listener questions in the Middlekauff Mailbag. Follow John on Twitter and SUBSCRIBE now to get all the latest content!! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games.

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

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

I just finished. Well, there's actually two minutes left. Carson Wentz, what a debacle. We'll dive into Carson Wentz and the Eagles. Not really much of a take on Seattle. I mean, they're eight and three. I mean, their quarterbacks are a star. They're going to be, I mean, they're going to win 11, 12 games.

And probably win the NFC West. No, let me repeat. They're going to win the NFC West. But the story of the Monday Night Football game was the Eagles. and Carson Wentz is just I was texting with a buddy in the league I haven't watched their game start to finish probably in like a month

I've watched bits and pieces and know he's struggling when you watch a Carson Wentz game start to finish holy moly so I have a take there we're going to dive into a lot of stuff today Tom Brady you know he created he's the one that wanted

to get a divorce from New England so I don't feel much sympathy for him the GM jobs. Jacksonville was fired. We got a ton of GM jobs open. Some weekend thoughts about just a bunch of different things that I saw on Sunday. Sam Darnold, Matt Stafford. I think both those quarterbacks could be on the move come this,

I almost said this fall, I guess this spring, you know, once free agency, you know, before the draft. Because we've talked a lot about the draft quarterbacks, but what about some veterans in the league? And then, of course, the Middlecoff mailbag at John Middlecopf is my Instagram, handle. Just if you want to get on the show, leave a message. I will answer your question either on the show or I will get back to you personally.

Just kind of text with through DMs. Interact with a lot of the people. Of course, if you like this show, I would greatly appreciate if you listen through Collins feed, subscribing to the three and out podcast and leaving a review. If you could leave a review, it really helps us. The business element, I guess the popularity of the show. I don't know, it helps the business side of it for sure. So I would greatly appreciate that.

Subscribe to the podcast, leave a review. Start with Monday Night Football. And listen, I've lost my confidence before, and it happened both times professionally when I was afraid of losing my job. And when I worked in the NFL, when I was scouting for the Eagles and Chip Kelly came in, and it became abundantly clear at an NFL combine,

Chip Kelly never made eye contact. with me. After I'd talked with them and, you know, I'd been a big part of the draft meetings and my antennas went up. Something's wrong. And I was just in a bad place for the next three or four months. I had lost my confidence of like, these guys want to get rid of me. And it led to good things. I changed careers, went to the radio business. The same thing happened in the radio business. The manager that hired me and promoted me and gave me a show left. And I had a new. boss who I despised. I thought was the biggest clown I've ever been around. Still to this day, in my 36 years of life, I've never been around a bigger, just, I can't, I don't even have the

adjectives to describe him. Might be the dumbest person I've ever been around. And I didn't necessarily lose my confidence because that guy, more just like, am I going to lose my job? And ultimately I did. And a lot of it had to do with external stuff, with the Raiders and, you know, office politics. But still, when things are going bad, especially if you're young and the Eagle situation happened to me in my, you know, I was probably 26, 27 years old. The radio stuff happened to me when I was like 31, 32 years old. If you don't have a lot of experience to fall back on, it's easier to kind of crumble

mentally. You know, it's easy to say, be tough, be tough mentally, be tough mentally. You know, it takes a long time to develop mental toughness. there's a reason like in the Marines in any sort of military they train you for that and in football they train you for that

but eventually you have to go through it in the games I'm watching Carson Wentz and he's not like some rookie player he does look like an individual who does not have confidence and whatever you do you have to have confidence doing it, especially if it is a difficult job and in a job like football where you're going up

against an opponent. Like the job that I have right now, I'm literally just talking into a microphone. I don't see my opponent. I have opponents, right? I want you to listen to me over all the other podcasts out. My opponent also is, I want you to like what I'm saying. So, I mean, there's pressure on me, but I get to do it solo. I don't, I'm not like debating someone.

I'm not having a live audience watch me do it. It's a pretty controlled environment. Kind of like football practice. You hear all the time, like, you know, Mitch Rubisky had the best practice he's had in my three years being around him. Carson Wentz had a great week of work. Well, to me, to you, to anyone that is not working for the football team, our response is, who gives a shit?

It does not matter. the only thing you get judged on in football is how you play in the games and the unique part about the sport is that it only happens once a week. In baseball you go 0 for 4, you get to be in a lineup the next day. Take a couple more hacks

unless you play for an analytically driven organization and maybe they'll platoon you. But forever, you got to just keep playing. Same with basketball. You get three or four games a week. In football, you get one of these bad boys a week. And the way to develop your confidence is through the reps and having success in practice, but then you have to do it on the field.

I was listening to Tony Romo was on Bill Simmons show, and he had a good point. He thought that confidence and stuff is a little overrated, that like in terms of to gain it, it's about repetitions and doing things well over and over. It's about having internal confidence, knowing that you can do that. Well, you can rep a deep out all week long, all training camp long, and you can hit it constantly in practice. Just like in his, he was talking about golf.

If you want to hit good golf shots, you got to practice the golf shots, and then you go out and do it in a tournament. And my pushback would be like, I can practice all day long, whether I'm a pro athlete, whether I'm an amateur athlete, whatever. once I go into competition, it does not guarantee that that's going to happen. And the moment it doesn't happen, and you're not at the highest level of confidence, like a Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant, or even like a Tom Brady, it's easy to lose it immediately. Hell, I once witnessed Tiger Woods, get the chipping yips. Greatest golfer of all time, get the chipping yips, and it was just lost.

I would imagine if you watch his practice sessions, this happened like six or seven years ago, probably pretty good at chipping. But anytime a tournament would go on, he was got. awful. Like Carson Wentz, there's a chance if we got access to the practices, he might look okay. But then the moment the games happen and the live bullets start flying, his offensive line can't block, his receivers aren't playing as fast, and the ball where he's trying to put it is not going there. Because I watch Carson Wentz and I see a guy that has zero confidence. His physical skills, he has him, right? He's big, he's strong, he's fast, he's got a big arm, he's what you

want it to look like. But when the ball leaves his hand, I have no fucking. clue where the ball is going. And clearly he does not either. And I'm just talking about it as a viewer on my couch. Just like we're all watching it together. Balls are flying all over the yard. I watch Russell Wilson. I see a guy in complete control.

He has complete confidence of what he's doing. Whether he's thrown a deep to decay, whether he's going to go on a little scramble drill and slide, he is very calm. I watch Carson. He's kind of frenetic all over the place and just does not know where the football is. going to go. And I can't imagine, I've never really played quarterback, especially in the NFL level,

but if you just go play catch with someone, imagine if another guy is 15 to 20 yards away and you're playing catch. And you think every time you're going to throw, it's going to go right to him. And sometimes when you throw, because you've got people running at you, the ball flies way high or it skips on the ground. It has to be a miserable feeling. Now, I've been saying for a while, I think Doug Peterson is in trouble. Because if I'm Jeffrey Lurie, I have invested a historic amount of money for my franchise in this player.

Highest paid player in the history of the franchise. Also, when you factor in what it cost to acquire this guy, it was crazy, right? They had to give up multiple ones. They had to trade up. It was a lot. Like, part of Seattle getting Russell Wilson is they got him in the third round for nothing.

He just fell to them. So he was cheap for a couple years. And then they paid him and they paid him. Now, clearly he's been really good. But the cost of their acquisition, was a third round pick, which at the end of the day, most third round picks don't amount to anything.

They got a franchise quarterback. The Eagles to get Carson Wentz just to acquire the guy, remember what they had to do? They had to trade players to get from like 13 to 8, then they had to give 8 for 2 and another 1 and another 2.

It was very, very expensive. And then they doubled down after he got injured because they thought he was on a trajectory to be in that Russell Wilson, Aaron Rogers, tier. And it turned out,

and I thought he was, just like a lot of people thought he was, and then it turned out he's just not anymore. And now he just stinks. Because right now, Carson Wentz, watching this Monday night football game against Seattle, which, Jamal Adams is like the Reggie White of safeties.

Can't really cover, but gosh, he can pass rush. And he's a tone setter, but their defense as a whole, I know Griffin came back is pretty average. They're probably not as bad as they were earlier in the season. They're definitely not as good is the numbers are going to look against the Eagles, probably just middle of the road.

But they, you should be able to score 20 plus points. The Eagles, I just watched, they hit this lucky play to Richard Rogers where Carson Wentz, like throw up a Hail Mary. So the final score is going to be 23. Now they're going for two. Like, the score, the score really is 23 to 9.

That's what the score is. And the Eagles are just a team that struggles to get it past midfield, let alone in the end zone. but it starts with the quarterback, and it starts with the play caller, and just their offense is just hideous to watch. It does not work.

When your quarterback doesn't have confidence, when you can't block anybody, when your coach, it doesn't feel like knows what buttons depressed to fix it, it kind of just tells you, it might be time to blow it up. You see Jeffrey Lurie, there was a story last week

that he didn't travel with the team. It's a problem. And it's probably a little bit like the Cowboys when you go all in and Mike McCarthy, When you go all in on Carson Wentz and then it immediately doesn't work, you have massive problems. Unlike the Cowboys with Mike McCarthy,

they can just fire Mike McCarthy. There are no cap implications on a head coach. There are cap implications with a quarterback. And Carson Wentz is stuck with the Eagles. He's not going anywhere. He's going to be on the team for the next several years because of the cap, because of the dead money. He's just stuck.

They have to find a way to get him better. What's crazy is like Russell Wilson on the other side, never really went through a lull in his career. He just kept ascending, ascending, ascending, ascending, just getting better and better and better. And now this version of Russell Wilson that we see in 2020 is the best version ever of Russell Wilson. Just like in 2021, 2021, until his physical attributes fall off,

he's going to get better. Now, he might not, like the jump he took from like 14 and 15 to where he's at now is exponential. He'll probably never take those exponential jumps. It's impossible when you're that good. But he's only going to keep in front. improving. Like most of us, hopefully me as a podcaster and someone that talks for a living, I am only going to get better. I'm only going to improve. Ideally, with Carson Wentz, you get a guy

in his middle-late 20s, like 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, 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 IHeard radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jay and I'm Alex English Each episode we pick it here

unpack what went down and try to make sense of how we survived it Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill Waxing all about crack in the 80s To be clear 84 was big to me not just because of crack I'm down to talk about crack on day But just so y'all know At this point Mark this is the second episode where we've discussed crack

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line We also have AIDS on the table right now So Thank you for finishing that. sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years

for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness

month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests, I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid?

Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different. levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Be improving. Instead, he's falling off a cliff. And when that shit happens,

when the amount of money is invested in it, there really is just one move to make. Because as we know in sports, when a player's on a big contract, you can't fire the player. So you usually fire the coach and some of the other cheaper players. And Carson Wentz's career with the Eagles won't end anytime soon. But more games like this, you'd have to think to yourself, Doug Peterson's probably will soon. If you love to be remembered as the person who gives the best birthday gifts, I'm here to tell you that 1-800flowers.com is your ultimate birthday gifting destination.

1-800 flowers has thoughtful and artfully created options that are guaranteed to deliver the best birthday surprise. Shop thousands of unique gifts at 1-800flowers.com for exclusive offers and great values. To order today, visit 1-800flowers.com slash tune-in. That's 1-800flowers.com slash tune-in. What grows in the forest? Trees? Sure. Know what else grows in the forest? Our imagination, our sense of wonder, and our friends of wonder.

family bonds grow too, because when we disconnect from this and connect with this, we reconnect with each other. The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest near you and start exploring at Discovertheforest.org.

Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the Ad Council. And we're live here outside the Perez family home just waiting for the... And there they go. Almost on time this morning. Mom is coming out the front door strong with a double-armed kid carry.

Looks like Dad has the bags. Daughter is bringing up the rear. Oh, but the diaper bag wasn't closed. Diapers and toys are everywhere. Ooh, but Mom has just nailed the perfect car seat buckle for the toddler. And now, the eldest daughter, who looks to be about nine or ten,

has secured herself in the booster seat. Dad zips the bag closed, and they're off. Ah, but looks like Mom doesn't realize her coffee cup is still on the roof of the car, And there it goes. Oh, that's a shame. That mug was a fam favorite. Don't sweat the small stuff.

Just nail the big stuff. Like making sure your kids are buckled correctly in the right seat for their age and size. Learn more at nhtsa.gov slash the right seat. Visit nhtsa.gov slash the right seat. Brought to you by Nitsa and the Ad Council. Okay. I mean, the story is just the story that keeps on given. It's one of the biggest stories in the league.

He's one of the most famous athletes of all time. Thomas Brady. To me, this is pretty simple. And I watch the game. I watch bits and pieces on Sunday, but I watched the whole thing back on Monday morning. And, like, I don't think it's that complicated. Tom Brady chose to get a divorce from Bill Belichick.

You know the great part about relationships? At least with everyone I've met, no one's holding the gun to your head. I've known people in their late 70s that got divorced. and said it was the best thing they ever did. And I know people that have stuck together through tough times and also said it's the best thing they've ever done. It's your choice.

It's the great part about American relationships, just like sporting relationships when it comes to free agency. You can do whatever you want to do, whatever you're comfortable doing. But decisions have consequences. When you leave your wife of 20 years and you've had a great marriage, maybe you've made a lot of money when you guys were together,

you've had some children. If you choose to get a divorce, we know what's going to happen. It's going to be expensive. It's going to be tough on your children. It's going to be tough on your friend group. It's going to be hard. Now, if you hate each other,

it's why I never judge people, you know, their relationships. I try not to judge relationships. No one knows what's going on in their bedroom, except those two people. No one knows what's going on when people aren't looking, hanging out with them,

Instagram, that doesn't count. I'm talking about when you're by yourself. That is the true mark of any relationship. Same with a coach and a quarterback. Like we saw publicly, we couldn't have seen any more with Brady and Belichick. But here's what I do know. The facts are pretty simple.

They won, and they won a lot. And they became the goats together. Like the relationship was good. But Tom, like a lot of people, you know, Midlife Crisis, whatever, wanted something else. And you know what? He was a free agent. that was on him.

He chose to go to Tampa. It's like a lot of people choose to get divorces. But when you go your separate ways from someone that the highs were really high, you've had a lot more highs than really lows, I'll promise you that. You know, wherever else you go, and Tom Brady knew he was getting with Bruce Ariens,

whose track record speaks for itself. He was fired from Pittsburgh for not protecting Big Ben. Like, that happened. I think Bruce Ariens is a good coach. Question a little bit this year with his inability to adapt, but he hires good assistance. He pretty consistently wins. You know, obviously in Arizona, he won an indie when he took over for Pagano.

He's winning in Tampa, you know, this year with Brady. But it's somewhat of a roller coaster ride. With Belichick, for the most part, we'll get into it a little bit later, even in the worst possible year ever in Corona. His entire defense opt-outs, he has to sign Cam Newton, who I think we all can acknowledge isn't very good, still going to end up going like 8 and 8. It couldn't be any shittier.

Did he win three games? No, he's going to win 8. Ariens, like, if it doesn't go perfect for him, it can, you know, the train can fall off the tracks. And that's what Brady signed up for. Two years, $50 million. Some shiny toys. It'll look good, you know, in theory,

but it's been a lot more difficult than I think, even I thought it would be, especially at this point in time in the year. It's not October 1st in here. anymore. You're listening to this might be December 1st. They played on November 29th and we're still struggling. One of the picks he

threw was tipped, but the other one was a bad pick. Part of it, I've never seen him throwed downfield this much because that's not really his gig. But Brady chose this. He's the one that said, sorry, New England, I'm out. Here are my divorce papers. For him, it was just, I'm a free agent.

I don't want to stay here. Robert, Bill, thanks, but no thanks. Peace. Deuces. Adios. Now, depending on who you read, I don't know Belichick. Never met him, never talked to him. Really don't know anyone in that building. But I followed them like most people. I feel like I know a lot about him. And it sure felt like, it's not like Bill was on his knees begging for time to stay. Because you know what he realized? You're 43, bro. This is the NFL. I'm not going to beg you to stay here. I think your best is behind you. So go to.

to Bruce, have a good time, Godspeed. And Robert Kraft was a little bit probably like a parent or a good friend in the relationship, even though technically he's the owner of the team, but he empowers Belichick, which is the right thing to do as an owner when you have that talented of a coach slash GM, and he just let him do his thing. If you don't want him and Tom, you want to leave, nothing I can do. They went their separate ways. But when I see Tom last week struggling on Monday night football throwing those horrendous picks against the Rams, when I see them kind of just getting worked by the Chiefs, I think in the back of my head,

well, Tom, this is, why are you shocked? You beat this Chiefs team a couple years ago with New England in Kansas City to go to the Super Bowl. That's what Belichick had in his back pocket. He's a winner, an all-time great, the all-time great. You went with Arians who runs a completely different offense than you. You went to Tampa Bay who kind of like, I think, their area, You know, just like Colin says, it's a loocy-goosey ship.

You know? They were once called the yucks. They had a moment with Gruden. But for the most part, they've sucked. I haven't made the playoffs in 12 years. Really, when most people think about Tampa Bay, the franchise, it's kind of a joke. Kind of a joke. Kind of a laughing stock.

Be the equivalent like up the road for me and the NBA like the Sacramento Kings. They had a moment, but now I get the Bucks won one Super Bowl. other than that, been pretty underwhelming as a franchise. That's where you went to go, Tom. And we know you wanted to go to San Francisco. They told you no. The Raiders didn't feel like even wanted you.

Maybe your options were limited because the equivalent of a 43-year-old quarterback wouldn't be the equivalent of Tom Brady on the bachelor market, right? He actually wasn't looked like this ascending star. If anything, he was looking like Arrowdown. But I will feel no sympathy for if they're won and done in the playoffs, if he's really terrible in the playoffs.

However this thing ends, and more than likely, they're not going to win the NFC, I would highly doubt, just because Ariens, who's now proven to be pretty stubborn. I Wikipedia at Bruce Ariens on Sunday, and there was a line in there when the Pittsburgh Steelers equivalent, they fired him the year after they had won the Super Bowl, and he's like, yeah, it's a little weird getting booed at the Super Bowl party. He was getting booed at the Super Bowl parade Because Big Ben was getting his ass kicked

From a standpoint of they wouldn't run the ball They'd just throw it So when I see Ariens have quotes Like we need to get Ronald Jones the ball more No, you don't actually believe that, Bruce Like one thing I appreciate it by Arians He's an authentic human being But he's lying when he says that

He doesn't believe in running the ball He believes in throwing the ball deep Like go routes Throwing bombs I've been around Andy Reid He loves throwing the ball too You know what he likes He likes throwing screens.

He likes throwing weird, tight-end screens behind the line of scrimmage. Like, he likes passes that work that you can get completed. Ariens likes running go-routes and post-routes, which, as a fan of bombs, I like to. But when I watch the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, I go, you know, you need to mix and have a balance to what you're doing. But back to Brady, he chose to get a divorce from the New England Patriots. And this is what he signed up for. A team probably go 10 and 6 and be one and done. Like, who can say they're shocked?

I think if you ask the casual fan of the NFL, how many NFL GM jobs came open this year, they'd be like, oh, you know, several every single season. Because in the back of their minds, like the back of all of our minds, and I don't even think I would think like this if I hadn't worked in the league, you just see all these coaches fired every year.

You know, on average, like five to seven coaching openings, every single season. Right now we currently have four, right? Atlanta, Houston, Detroit, Jacksonville, while the coach is still there, he will get fired. And then surely we'll have a couple more, right? So I'd say this year probably five to six head coaching jobs come open. But what makes 2020 and really 2021 in January and February very unique,

We're going to have a ton of general manager jobs open. And typically, sometimes we have years where no general manager jobs are open. Sometimes it's just one. It's not very often that you have four GM jobs open. And who knows with Gettleman, he might get fired. That could be another one. And I think sometimes we see these random ones that happened that we didn't even expect to happen. So you can never know.

And let's start with this. I think a lot of people thought that because of the pandemic, money would be tight. Well, guys, have you followed the NFL? The amount of money they get from TV is so enormous. Then even if you get a $280 million check, your payrolls for players is $200 million. Your payroll for coaches is probably like 12 or 13.

Your scouting staffs like another couple million. You're still just on the media money alone paying for all your main employees. The amount of money these owners have to fire and hire people is basically unlimited. You've seen it in college. And a big thing in college, like you've seen Will Must Champ get fired,

Derek Mason get fired with Vanderbilt. And a lot of people are like, I can't believe these guys got fired in Corona and a pandemic. Yeah, those guys were hanging on for Deer Life before back when we thought Corona was a beer. You know, so I, those guys were getting fired either way. Tom Herman, whether he gets fired, Harbaugh,

you heard all these names. But the reality is in the NFL, you have way more cash, because there's no such thing as Title IX. I don't need to use my football money to pay for my men's and women's soccer team. That ain't happening. In the NFL, you pay for football, football,

and then more football. So when I see these guys get fired, I go, there are going to be a lot of people around the league licking their chops and circle in the wagons to try to get these jobs. People often ask me, how much money do people make in the scouting community? Well, for me, I was hired, I think,

at like 24 years old, in, you know, 25, 26, I was making like 50 grand. You get, you get, uh, when you scout on the road, I got money for my car, so it might have been, got to 60, but I wasn't making that much money. And the average scout probably makes anywhere between 60, 70 to, you know, 130, 140. And then you get your executives, your college scouting director, your pro personnel director, you know, probably getting the high ones, low twos, depending on the organization, depending on your tenure, it might even be higher in that.

But when you're going to see the names that are going to be in the mix for these GM jobs, if they're not former GMs, if they are like the number two in command to a GM, you know, they probably make anywhere between 350 and 550. So they make a lot of money. You know, depending on where you live, a very good chunk of change. Obviously, $400,000 in Atlanta is a lot more than 400K for the L.A. Rams. But, like, give or take, you know, you're making half a million bucks,

maybe a little less, maybe a little more depending on your stature. But for example, Joe Douglas, when he was hired by the Jets, almost got $4 million a year. Now, he had a ton of leverage, remember, because the Jets had fired their GM well after the draft. The only guy they wanted to hire was Joe Douglas, so he was able to bend them over a little bit. But let's just say a low-end GM is making $2 million. Well, there is a massive difference, as anyone knows, if you've ever made like $50,000, once you got to like $150, you know, that's a huge difference. But really, it's only a hundred grand worth of difference. But that difference is dramatic.

And depending on where you live, it's impact your taxes a lot too. But there is a massive difference. You're making 500 Gurr, regardless where you live, it's a lot of coin. It's a lot of money. But if you can go from 500 where you are not a decision maker, you don't get to make any decisions. You might get to help influence decisions, but basically you get zero decision-making power.

You don't get to draft anybody. You don't get to tell your coach what to do. don't really get to interact with your coach in terms of major decisions. You might be in the meeting, but ultimately your voice, like, it's just going into the jar of suggestions, because the head coach and the GM are the ones making the decisions. So if you can go from $4,000 to $500,000 to make in $2.5 million and be a decision maker, and again, like, part of the deal is you get to be in front of the cameras, you get to be the voice, you're the guy everyone that's writing about and talking about and the fan base knows, it's a big deal.

So the amount of names that you're going to hear over the next couple months circling the wagons for these jobs is going to be plentiful. And let me start with the Detroit Lions, because I saw one of the dudes that writes for pro football talk. He used the quote like Matt Patricia acted like he was born on third base and acted like he hit a triple. And you've probably, we've all heard that analogy before. I thought it was one of the more idiotic, moronic descriptions of Matt Patricia's career. Matt Patricia went to a college that no one's ever heard of.

He literally started in the football gutter. He's not a famous former player. He didn't, you know, it's not like he went to Alabama or USC, so he was at some sweet program. He started nowhere. And I know this having worked for Coach Reed, who's probably him, Belichick, is on the short list of biggest grinders in the NFL.

The amount of hours were intense. To make it for Andy Reed is really, really intense. I've never worked for Bill Belichick, but I know for Andy, it's a much more pleasant experience. It's a more friendly environment. I remember when I was with the Eagles, we used to have our box used to be right next to the Patriots. And we'd be like eating sandwiches.

Every day we'd go out and get a bunch of these special sandwiches that Coach Reed, just Howie Roseman, and a bunch of us liked. And I'd go pick them up or someone go pick them up and everyone would be eating. You'd be watching football. I mean, it's a focus environment, but it's also a little loose.

You look at the Patriots, everyone's super tight. there is no one smiling over there. And I've known a couple people when I was definitely at Fresno State and then even scouting on the road. I got to know a couple of Patriot guys. It's not the most pleasant experience. Matt Patricia from 2004 to 2017

worked his way up from probably and I, my uncle, played junior college football with Dante Scarnacia, the famous offensive line coach made he consider him or Howard Mudd like the greatest offensive line coach ever. And whenever I see Dante,

I always go up. to him and bullshit with him a little bit and he gets excited to hear about my family or whatever and he used to tell before I even got into the NFL he used to tell my uncle what they called the guy that gets an entry level position like Matt Patricia once did with the New England Patriots a 20 and 20 you work 20 hours a day for 20 thousand dollars that's how Matt Patricia started now Matt Patricia turned out was a terrible head coach I mean god awful but he earned his head coaching opportunity He worked for the number one organization in football,

worked his way up as a defensive coordinator, and won several Super Bowls as one of Belichick's right hitting that. Like, he earned his shot. And here's the thing with the Detroit Lions. A lot of people are shitting on them for firing Jim Caldwell for hiring Matt Patricia. I don't blame the Lions ownership. They did the right thing.

They hired a general manager and Bob Quinn, who also turned out to be terrible. They empowered them and they let him make all the decisions. Isn't that what we want of our owners? You know, I aspire to own a business one day. I have a couple ideas. We've got to pull those out in the next couple years as we bombs out of this corona recession. And one thing you always read about and hear about, and I've seen it on my own end, like when I worked for Andy Reid or Pat Hill, like they got empowered. They were paying a lot of money to run the show.

You hire Howie Roseman, Andy Reid, Sean Payton, whoever you hire to then take over and run that part of the business. That's why you pay them a lot of money. is what I think we consider why Robert Kraft, Jeffrey Lurie, Paul Allen was Seattle. They were considered really good owners because they empower their people. I've seen it in my backyard with Joe Lacob that runs the Warriors. Hires Bob Myers, hire Steve Kerr, you do whatever you need to do. When they hired Bob Quinn, they said, this is your show. We're giving you a five-year contract, a couple million dollars a year to be the GM.

You pick the coach. You do what you want to do. And he chose to get rid of Jim Caldwell to hire Matt Patricia. and that was a terrible decision, but the ownership did a good job. I actually look at the Detroit Lions like, you know, pretty good ownership. Their problem is they consistently always hire the wrong people. I look at the Atlanta Falcons and go, I actually think Raheim Morris might get the job. I just watched him play the Raiders.

They won 43 to 6. Like, they're playing really well. They play hard. He's still, you know, in his mid-40s, he's been a head coach before. He's worked for the Shanahan's. He's, you know, obviously Quinn had hired him to work. work for the Falcons. He'd work for Gruden. His resume is actually pretty good. Now, the thing is, if you're going to keep them, you have to kind of, it's almost like an

arrange marriage then with the GM. That gets a little complicated. But it's in Atlanta. You're in a little bit of Capel. Division is going to have a lot of turnover with Drew Breeze and Tom Brady going to be retiring relatively soon. That's a really interesting job. We know that the owner, Arthur Blank, has a lot of cash. Also, like the Lions, empowers his people. they've had more success, clearly, than the Lions, but I view those jobs, like, people are going to be lined up and try to get their hands on those two jobs.

I think Jacksonville Jaguars is arguably, and I know they have a lot of picks, and I know they have some cap flexibility, and I even think they have some talent on their team. I think it's one of the worst jobs in all of sports. Hear me out. I remember when I got hired from Fresno State to Philadelphia, and I get to Philly, and I go,

everywhere you went, you'd see an eagle's logo, an Eagles logo, a Sixers logo. The Phillies really good at the Phillies, a Phillies logo. It meant like, this town, sports are a big-ass deal in this town. Why is Alabama football and Texas football and Oklahoma football and LSU football and Ohio State football and Duke basketball and Kentucky basketball and, you know, the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers and the Pittsburgh Steelers? Why are these jobs so highly thought of? because they really matter in their cities.

Why do you want to take these jobs if you're a head football coach, Ohio State or USC, or whoever, over the other jobs? Clearly they pay a lot of money, but because you can win and it matters a lot in the city. Could the Jacksonville Jaguars be any more irrelevant? They probably have the smallest fan base in the league. No one cares about them.

They have no national relevancy. Even if you're good, I don't think anyone would care. I'd be more likely to talk about like a three-win Dallas Cowboy team or a Pittsburgh Steeler team or a Green Bay Packer team that wasn't making the playoffs than I would about a 12-win Jacksonville Jaguar team. It's just a fact. So you can tell me all you want about how much money the owner has, how much capital they have.

I just think that's an irrelevant job. The moment you're the GM for the Atlanta Falcons and just the jobs that are available right now, I think you're way more on the map, plus they're challenging than you would be if you're the general manager of the Jacksonville Jaguars. They never win, just a bad culture there. I also thinking that kind of that southern belt, the Saints had to win so big.

College football runs supreme. I like going to a pro city if I'm a GM or a head coach. Look at Kansas City. Look at, you know, Pittsburgh, Philly, Washington, New York. I see it in the Bay Area with the San Francisco 49ers. You're the GM of the San Francisco 49ers. You're a big fucking deal. deal. If you're the general manager of the Jacksonville Jaguars, hell, even the Houston

Texans, I would imagine there are more Texas Longhorn fans in Houston than Houston Texans fans. Now, they're a little unique. City is so enormous now. But that job's bad from the sense of they have no picks, also kind of in Cap Hill. They do have a quarterback. The division, I mean, Vrabel's an ass kicker. The Colts who did just get their butts kicked, clearly are better than that. They had a bunch of dudes on Corona. I mean, the best player on their team, defensive Lyman DeForest Buckner on the list. So I just think that division's pretty hard. I just view Atlanta and Detroit are going to be the job

that these general managers or potential general managers are going to circle. Because now, like I said, if you're making 400 grand and the Jacksonville Jaguars offer you their general manager job and a four-year contract of $10 million, obviously you're going to take it. I'm not saying people will turn that job down,

but any guy with options will want these jobs. And here's the hard thing about being a general manager. You, especially I was reading a little bit, Albert Brewer was writing about Dan Quinn's job with the Detroit Lions. 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.

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Open your free I Heart Radio app. Search, learn the hard way, and listen now. I remember reading, you know, about Ryan Grickson with the Colts. Like, he was in charge. He had his hands in so many different fires. Whether it's dealing with marketing people, whether it's dealing with the team website people,

on top of them running the roster, on top of if you're the decision maker. That is very, very challenging for a lot of these guys, especially if you're just a college scouting director and you've been on the road and your job has basically been to run the list and put together the college draft board. Then all of a sudden, you go from making 400 Gs

to making 2.2. Everyone knows your name. I don't expect you just to run the draft board. I expect you to run free agency. I expect you to help the coach and the practice squad and the game day roster. Also, I need you to influence marketing and keep an eye on the team website

that nothing crazy gets out. It's a lot going on. These jobs are very, very difficult, especially in 2020 because a huge part of the job for the GM is to kind of be the spokesman of the team when the head coach doesn't want to do it, especially during the off season.

And depending on your head coach's personality, like not everyone's Mike Tomlin. Not everyone is Pete Carroll that wants to talk all the time. I want my head coach to be able to talk a lot. But I also, the main thing I need to do is be able to pick the right players. That's the number one thing. If you can do that, you can overcome some of your deficiencies in the other areas. But bottom line, a ton is put on your plate. Clearly the same thing with a head coach. If I'm an offensive coordinator and then the next year I become a head coach, immediately I don't longer have to control of half the team,

I have to control the full team on top of the draft and free agency that I might never played a big role on. And on top of speaking two to three times a day, or I mean a week during the season, it's a very, very difficult public job. Now, as they said in Mad Men, that's why you're paid all that money. You're paid all that money for all this responsibility. It changes your life the moment you become a head coach or a general manager from a fame standpoint, clearly from an economic standpoint, but it's very difficult. And for the first time, in a long, long time, at least that I can remember, unlike coaches, there's always a ton of jobs,

high-level college, and definitely the pros available every year, for GM jobs. Currently, it's only, I'm recording this on November 30th. By the time we get to December 30th, that number could be six, seven, who knows? So it's going to be a fascinating kind of race to see the guys that want a piece of these jobs.

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Justin Fields, obviously Trevor Lawrence, who just as a junior participated in Senior Day. I love that when a sweet player participates in Senior Day and he's like a 20-year-old sophomore. He's like, yeah, I'm out. Joe Burrow did that last year. But we talk a lot about these quarterbacks. But the way the league is set up, free agency and trades happen before the draft. So there is going to be movement from quarterbacks on NFL teams, veteran players,

that impact the way the draft happens. And to me, the two most intriguing names right now in that conversation are Matt Stafford, given the lions, like we just talked about, fired everybody, and whoever the GM and coach comes in, they could just press a whole new reset. Matt Stafford's been the league for a decade, trade them and start over and draft one of these top quarterbacks. To me, probably the right move.

And then you have the New York Jets who, Sam Darnold, is he good, is he not good? I'm a big Sam Donald fan. He's not very good. You would have to do a deep dive on that. It's going to get traded because they're going to take Trevor Lawrence. So more than likely Matt Stafford and Sam Darnold will be on the move. But whenever you talk about quarterbacks in the league under contract, it's an economic exercise.

It's why I love it when like the PC media crowd is like, you can't talk. We got to stop talking about players like assets. It's like, no, this is big business. Matt Stafford has a $34 million cap hit. Like if you're not having that conversation, you shouldn't talk about the NFL. talk about high school football. It's probably more in your lane. But when you're talking about Matt Stafford, you were talking about acquiring an asset and how much you're willing to pay for that asset. And when you're talking about Sam Darnold, you're talking about, to me, Sam Darnold, because he's

on a rookie contract, and next year his, the cash you would owe him would be under $5 million, his cap hit is under $10 million. It's a very, very cheap asset if he can turn out to be just an average player, let alone above average player, which he was once upon a time drafted as. Then you'll have to pick up probably his fifth year option. It gets a little complicated, but he's still on a rookie contract. Well, Matt Stafford has been one of the highest paid players in the league for a decade. You're acquiring a lot of money.

You're also acquiring an older player guy that will be in his early 30s where Sam Donald just turned 23 this summer. But I think both those guys could be on the move. And I think you have to look at it. Here's the reality with Sam Donald. I have a couple friends that are in like the real estate flipping business, and they love it. They lick their lips when they find a piece of property that they can buy for like 250 grand.

And they're like, if I put 100 grand, I can flip this bad boy for 500 grand. Now, the first thing they'll tell you is every time you make a quick flip and you make six figures, it's incredible. But there's also a lot that can go wrong. We saw it in 2020. Corona could happen. A recession could happen out of no way. an area wherever you are might not be recession proof and it can be a disaster but it can also you know be really really fruitful because i read this a long time ago and it's so true the

profit is in the buy not the sell so when you buy something for cheap and then you sell it for a lot you didn't make a huge profit because of what you sold it for you bought it the moment you made the profit the moment you bought it so sam darnald is a fixer-upper and you might be able to get for, you know, a third round pick. Because simply he's not very good right now. Now, will more than enough people be able to talk themselves into? It was the coach. It was the situation.

It was, he's been sick, whatever. Here's what I do know. He throws a lot of picks. He's been injured a lot. And whether it's his fault or not, like, he, durability is a major question mark. Matt Stafford, he's been with the Detroit Lions. The two best players in franchise history literally retired.

hired at 30 years old. So that tells you everything you need to know. He is way more talented than Sam Donald. But he also makes a ton of money. And there's a decent chance that he wouldn't come cheap. You might have to trade, you know, if you're the Colts or the Steelers, you have a late first round pick. You might have to trade your first round pick for him.

Or Sam Donald at this point in time, I see under no circumstances he get traded for a first round pick. But here's the thing when you trade a first round pick from Matt Stanford. because when you use a first round pick on a guy like, you know, Patrick Queen or Brandon Ayyuk or Clyde Edwards Hilaire, they're cheap. They don't cost you very much money. Well, you'd use your first round pick if you're the Steelers or the Colts on Matt Stafford.

You take his contract. And like I said, you owe him $20 million and his cap hits $35 million. Now, maybe he could rework it to, you know, constitute a trade. He could play a part in that. but it is kind of complicated. You're buying a premium piece of real estate. It's going to cost you a lot of money. Where Sam Darnold is going to be a cheap piece of real estate

that you hope you can flip, aka he becomes your starting quarterback, takes you to the playoffs. It was well worth a couple third round picks. He also, you might not be able to flip that piece of property. Where I know if I'm the Indianapolis, Colts and I get Matt Stafford, I'm going to be good. He's made the playoffs before. His raw talent and physical ability is there.

I think Sam Darnold, you could see a big picture coach go, listen, I'm going to blame the Jets, I'm going to blame Adam Gase, I'm going to blame his surrounding cast. Economically, he's way cheaper for me. We might not have enough money in terms of our cap space. I don't want to give up a first round pick for an older quarterback. If I get this guy for a couple threes, get Sam Donald and go that route. But I think you see these two quarterbacks, and they're both going to be on the move. And Matt Safford's going to get traded, I mean, if, depending on who comes in,

it's going to cost a lot to acquire him. It's not going to cost like multiple ones, but it might cost like two-twos, or a one and a four or something. Or Sam Darnold, his value goes down every week. It simply just does. Because even if you had a good draft grade on him, I'll raise my hand.

If I was working in the league, I would have. I loved him. Lewis Riddick told me this. He's like, it's so crazy how a guy four, fifth year in the league, we still go, well, we had a first round grade on him. Yeah, well, he's played in, 50 NFL games, he's terrible. He's no longer a first round player.

He is what he is. He's a marginal starter. I'm not talking about Sam Darnold, but just anyone in general, because you often, as a fan, you read, like, you know, my team, we acquired this player because we loved him coming out of the draft. Well, yeah, that draft was three, four years ago. We have evidence now that he's

not as good as we thought. Now, the quarterback position, like a lot of positions, a lot of stuff's out of your control, who's blocking for you, who you throwing it to, who's calling the plays, and as we've discussed, the Jets are basically, if you had to give a letter grade, it would be Fs in all those positions. But Sam Darnold, in a vacuum, hasn't been great either. And has he developed bad habits, they're going to be harder to coach him out of.

I think it would be easy to talk yourself into. He's only 23 years old. Where Matt Stafford, you're acquiring Matt Stafford. There is no changing Matt Stafford. Now, you could change the offense around him, but he is what he is. You're getting that. He's been in a league for a decade. You don't teach an old dog new tricks because,

He has his tricks. He does what he does. And you just hope you can give him from guidance. Your team's better than their team. Your coaching's better than their coaching. And he can lead you to the playoffs. Because if I told you Stafford is on the Steelers or the Colts next year, you go immediate, you know, Super Bowl contender.

Obviously, the Steelers are right now. And as of recording this, who knows, I don't know if that game's happening or not. The Colts, I think, would, they'd have an immediate upgrade with Stafford over Phillip Rivers. Right? To me, Stafford makes sense on win now teams. Maybe the Niners would be thinking about that.

If they got rid of Jimmy, trade Jimmy back to New England, and then go for Stafford. But it's complicated because you might have to give up your late first round pick, or maybe like two-toes, like it's not going to be cheap. Or Sam Darnold, like to me, Sam Darnold interests me more. It's why I like betting more on underdogs as a gambler, right? I like buying stocks more that are $20 than a $250 stock, even if I like the $250. company because I like high rates of the potential for high rates of return. Now it doesn't always work.

Sometimes I get burned. I may have, because I bet on the Mike Tyson, Roy Jones Jr. fight, I pick Roy Jones Jr. Because he was basically a two to one underdog. And then they called a draw, which is insane. Mike Tyson kicked his ass. I just put $100 on the fight. I looked at my account the next day.

I'm like, I still got $100 in there. So I put money. I'm like, well, might as well take an enormous flyer. the Denver Broncos with the dude, the practice squad guy, was like 8 to 1. So I'm like, I'll put $100 on the Broncos to win that game, 8 to 1. It made no sense. It was a dumb bet, but I just liked the value.

Even though the value, once you start watching the game, you're like, yeah, they got no shot. But I like things that are able to return a high level. And that's what Sam Darrell. Like, most of these good teams couldn't have ever dreamt of getting Sam Donald. He was going to get drafted in the top 5, and now just a couple years later, he's available. So I think those are the two names to keep an eye on as we head in the offseason.

Let's do a little rapid fire weekend thoughts. Start with Saturday. Nick Saban gets Corona. I read today he's doing fine. It's not like Corona was going to get to Nick Saban. And Sark coached the game, and they beat the living hell out of Auburn. Here's a reality. Alabama is a machine.

LSU loses a bunch of players. They stink. to me there's three programs on a completely different level right now than everyone else. Three. Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State. And I'd even put just Alabama, they've been doing it for a decade. They lose a ton of players last year in the draft. They lose their coach for a rivalry game.

They lose arguably their best or second best player in Jalen Waddle, you know, a month ago. Have not skipped a beat. They are beating the living piss out of everybody. It can't be. overstated just how sweet Nick Sabin's program is. Like they are the cream of the crop. It's just awesome to watch, awesome to see,

and they just stay kicking ass and taking names every year. It's just remarkable. They can lose coaches. They can lose first rounders. As long as Sabin is either in the building or at his house virtually calling into the building, Bama is just a force. I think two coaches,

and they'll probably both end up going like eight and eight. and they won't get talked about for coach of the year, but what these two guys have done has been remarkable. I'm going to start with Belichick, aka the hoodie. His team is 5 and 6. They just beat the Arizona Cardinals at home. Basically, his entire defense opted out. He played all season with Cam Newton,

who's making a million dollars. It's called a spade of spade. Cam Newton ain't that good. The talent on this roster, it's Belichick's fault, stinks. This team's going to go 8 and 8. In Corona with the opt-outs, lack of talent, this is Bill Belichick. Just an elite coach.

You could convince me this year going 8-8 is more impressive than what they did last year win the division and losing the first round of the players of the Titans. Honestly, it might not be close. The other coach is Kyle Shanahan, who's also 5 and 6. Basically, different parts and time of this season has had close to $100 million on injured reserve. his best offensive player, George Kittle, out. Nick Bosa, his best defensive player, out. His quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo.

Hurt foot, nowhere to be found. He beat the Los Angeles Rams twice this year, but yesterday or Sunday with Nick Mullins. Nick Mullins. I don't think Nick Mullins would start, whenever the college football playoffs happens, Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Clemson. Nick Mullins wouldn't start at any of those schools.

Literally right now, he would not start for those schools. He couldn't beat out Mac Jones, couldn't beat out Justin Fields, obviously couldn't beat out Trevor Lawrence. You know, he couldn't beat out. The Florida makes it, Kyle Trask. These guys are better than him in college. He stinks. This team's going five and six.

How are the hoodie and Kyle doing this? I'll tell you how. They're really good coaches. I actually learn more about coaches. when times are bad than when they're good. Like, this is why Sean Payton and Andy Reid, like they make so much money. Like, I know if I give Andy the team he has now,

he's going to go 14 and 2 and kick everyone's ass and probably win another Super Bowl. But where his value really comes in is like if Mahomes was lost for the season, he'd still, like, split every other week. He'd still get his team. If he had to play all season without Patrick Mahomes, like he'd get to 8 and 8.

If I gave a Matt Patricia or an Anthony Lynn or just, most coaches in the league, these type roster, they would not win. It's why a small select few of coaches should actually make the big money. It's why I say all the time about quarterbacks. There are like a small handful of guys that should make the max money. I've been saying it forever in the NBA. We give maxes to way too many players.

The majority of players that get maxes in the NBA are not maxed players. They're simply not. If you pay them max money, will lose. The Browns are 8 and 3. Let me repeat, the Cleveland Browns are 8 and 3. Now, I tweeted this yesterday. I said,

I would not pick up Baker Mayfield's fifth year option. If you watch the Browns, they're built on defense and definitely their run game and Kevin Stefansky, who has turned out to be a really, really good coach. Very, very impressive. to come in Corona to this organization that has been arguably the laughing stock in the league for a decade and get a team to, I mean, just check their schedule, they're probably going to get to 10 wins.

They might get to 11. I mean, they're going to be 10 and 6th. They're going to be a playoff team. That is really, really impressive. But to me, doing it with Baker Mayfield, who is, let's just face it, averages the day as long. And a lot of Browns fans are in my mentions going, you're an idiot, they're going to pick up his fifth year option. We haven't had a franchise quarterback in 20 years. Yeah, your bar's low, but you're not paying Baker Mayfield $30 million.

That is terrible business. We're seeing it with Kevin Sofansky. He's won before with average guys. He can win with... Produced with Kirk Cousins. At the end of the day, Kirk Cousins is probably like a $20 million quarterback. Who's making $30? Baker Mayfield, like, he's an NFL quarterback.

I don't mind paying him $7, $8 million. I can't pay him $30. because if I pay him 30, I got to get rid of a lot of players that I have on the team that are a big reason why they're winning. We see Baker Mayfield. He's not that accurate.

His physical attributes are pretty average. He can't carry you. You know who can carry you? Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt, Jarvis Landry, Miles Garrett when he comes back, Stefansky's play calling. So if I can extend Baker Mayfield

into a team-friendly contract, I would think about doing that. Under no circumstances, will I pay him $30 million. And when you pick up the fifth of your option, it's guaranteed for injury only. Why would I want to risk him getting hurt next year and having to pay him a huge chunk of change? I'm not doing it. And if he vastly improves next year, we can think about the franchise tag.

I just can't see it. But to me, under no circumstances can he franchise him. The most important guy in that building right now is not Baker Mayfield. It's the head coach. We saw it a couple years ago with Sean McVeigh. I want Sean McVey. I don't want Jared Gough. When you pay Jared Gough, I think right now he's the third or second highest paid player in the league. league, you're at a disadvantage. Because if Sean McVey just had Baker Mayfield, the Rams probably be the same, paying him $7 million a year. You can't overpay average in this league.

Because if you do, it limits what you can do at other spots. And if you hit on enough picks, you're eventually going to have a $100 million defensive player. You're going to have a couple of expensive wide receivers. You're going to have an expensive offensive lineman. It adds up. So I don't mind paying Aaron Rogers 30,000. million or Russell Wilson 30 million or Mahomes 30 million because they can make up for a couple

players I have to lose Baker Mayfield cannot Jared Gough cannot McVey and Stefansky can so you but the thing with coaches is there's no salary cap you got to be smart with that I don't think there's any chance on God's green earth if Drew Brees can't come back and the last thing I read he had all those broken ribs so I think his just ability to play this year is just in question if he can't come back the Saints cannot win the NFC Taysam Hill is just too frenetic of a player. He's just not going to be able to consistently beat good teams. I don't think if they did not get the number one seed,

they couldn't win three straight playoff games with Taysom Hill. They might not be able to do with Drew Brees, but at least he is a legitimate quarterback. Now we can nitpick, and I've said before, his arm doesn't look like a shell of itself and it's never been great. He has his limitations, but to me, you can win playoff games with Drew Brees. You're not going to be able to do it with Taysam Hill. And their team's good.

I mean, they are, if Drew Brees, their quarterback right now, to me, they'd be the favorite to win the NFC. But as long as Taysam Hill is their quarterback, to me, they just can't be the favorite. Even if they end up being the number one seat. The Seattle, I'm recording this part before Seattle's played on Monday night, they're clearly a flawed team. Obviously, the Packers are a flawed team, but I'm taking Russell Wilson or Aaron Rogers against Tazam Hill. Like, if you just tell me that's a game in the second or third round of the playoffs,

I'm going to pick that other team. I have to do it. The Bears are in shambles. I mean, there's just no way around it. They've lost five straight games. It looked like the defense kind of quit, and I don't totally blame them. Trubisky's awful.

I say it all the time. I'm biased. Nagy's my guy, but even he would admit, I mean, the offense is embarrassment. It just is. Ms. Trubisky stinks. But I say it over and over and over again.

If Sean Payton was their head coach or Kyle Shannon was their head, they would not be that much better. Their quarterbacks are awful. Now, Nagy, I'm sure I didn't ask him, probably played a huge role in getting Nick Foles. Nick Folls sticks. He's awful. Matt Nagy had nothing to do with Mr. Trubisky, who with Foles getting hurt had to play.

Who was just awful. And I tweeted this last night during the game, he will be able to tell his kids he threw three touchdowns against Aaron Rogers on Sunday night football. Because that happened. Now was garbage time, but it did happen. If I had to guess what's happened, what will happen, and I don't know this for sure, because I don't know anything about Bears' own. To me, Ryan Pace has to be fired.

You hire a new GM, you kind of do that one-year process, try to get a new quarterback. He gets to evaluate Nagy and then decide after. But to me, I got to judge Nagy with a legitimate quarterback. Mr. Trubisky and Nick Foles, that to me is not fair. He didn't, he inherited Ms. Trubisky. I got to give him a shot with a real quarterback. He wasn't the guy that traded up from three to two to get Mitch Trubisky. who will probably be out of the league in 2021.

Think about that. He drafted him to overall. He will be out of the league. Like that happened. So me personally, again, bias on this one, I think I would fire Ryan Pace, give the GM like a year period to evaluate. Again, Nagy was coached the year a couple years ago.

The team was good. And try to make a quarterback change. If it doesn't work, go there's separate ways. But to me, Ryan Pace would be the fall guy there. The Jets are cruising to O'N16. I mean, to me, it's not even a question. Like, are they going O'N 16? They're going O'N 16.

They have no shot to compete in any of these games. I mean, the Dolphins didn't even play well yesterday, and they just sleptwalk to a victory. Clearly, the dolphins, you know, I mean, their record's not bad, but they're not exactly the 1985 Dan Marino-led squad here. So the Jets are awful. And everyone's acting like the Jets are,

because they're getting at Trevor Lawrence, we do need to acknowledge, when you have the number one overall pick and you're using on a quarterback, you have so many other holes to fill. Your entire team, your left tackle's got a chance to be pretty good, is terrible.

You're playing with like a 50-year-old running back. God love him, Frank Gore. You don't have a running back. Don't really have any wide receivers. Quinn Williams, I saw Daniel Jeremiah tweet, like he looked good yesterday. Okay, you got one good defensive player. I mean, you're basically starting at scratch

with a quarterback. To me, it's going to be a worse version of what Joe Burrow was with the Bengals. He's got nothing around them. So you're going to be depending on some of these guys that you write that you draft clearly. Now you've got Seattle's picks. It's going to be a late one. And those guys are going to have to play and contribute immediately. If they're not good immediately, your team's going to really be bad. I mean, the Jets can be bad for a couple years even once they get Trevor Warrens. Let's get into a little Middilkoff mailback. at John Middilkoff is my Instagram handle. Slide up in those DMs,

and I will answer your questions here. Kind of crazy to us hurt again, before we dive into the mailbag. Like, he was hurt in college. Now he hurt his thumb. You know, it's just, it can't be ideal for the dolphins. It just can't be.

And when Fitzpatrick plays, he's arguably better. Now, I said I understood why they benched him, but they probably are going to make the playoffs if they just let Fitzpatrick keep playing. If Tua comes back, they might not win. I mean, they have a really big game in a couple weeks with the Raiders. It might be for like the seventh seed.

So I just, you know, I don't think there is a bigger headache. Like whatever your individual business is, there's a headache. Whether it's a certain regulation, whether it's a certain cost, whatever it is. I think in football, injuries and injury history, because you just have no control over it. I'll never forget that feeling of being on the sidelines and seeing guys go down. I hated that.

And I was just a nobody scout. I can't imagine be the head coach, the GM. Obviously, you feel it as a fan when I'm watching games, but it doesn't impact my livelihood. You know, I mean, they are, they're so dependent on him being a good player. They drafted him fifth overall. They drafted him injured. Now he's hurt again with a thumb.

Just you can't even evaluate the guy. It's just not an ideal situation. Huge Bears fan. Do the Bears have one of the top defense in the league and are just on a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest every week with Falls and Trubisky under center? Also, should the Bears make a play for Wentz or Darnold or even Garoppolo? Do they have the assets? Thanks.

I think the defense is kind of quit. I thought they quit, you know. Imagine an Olympic. where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all,

embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying.

Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the kids.

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 Podcast,

or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at It podcast. I'm Sam Jett.

And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because, of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know.

I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah.

For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we

don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid?

Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way.

Open your free, our heart radio app. Search learn the hard way and listen now. On, when was it, Sunday night against the Packers. Nagy, I saw he said today on Monday morning, he thought they kind of did too without saying it. And in fairness to them, like, when your offense is that terrible, it's hard to play hard. Khalil Max just doesn't play hard consistently anymore.

Now, is that part of just the team sucks? I don't know, but he's not playing very hard. So in theory, with Akeem Hicks, their defense is excellent. but it's hard to judge them when their offense is just horrendous. I think if I were them, I'd offer a couple twos for some of these quarterbacks. Darnold, Wince is not going to be available. Garoppolo might be. I mean, all these would be huge upgrades for them for sure.

I'm watching the Chargers' Bill's game. You like how I threw that in, big fan? Of course you are. You're not your DMing me. Bill's game, I want to jump through the damn TV, and give Anthony Lynn a shake. They had first and five inside the Bill's 20 and ran the ball twice, then they ran a quarterback option. Am I crazy or do they not have to let Herbert do what he's done on one of those downs?

Maybe take a shot on first, and then if you don't get it, run the ball, try to move the chains. Is Lynn's decisions making as bad as it looks, or am I tainted from listening to you and others talk about how shitty he's been this year? And how's he wasting a historic all-time year from a rookie quarterback? Yeah, it's just he's terrible. Now, he's not the offensive play caller, but he's the boss. So every play comes through his headset. He can either say, don't do that, do this.

Let's run the ball here. Whoever the OC is is calling the plays. He can at any moment interject, I want to run this play. I want to do this. So while he is not the guy calling in every play, every single play that's called in is on him. He's the boss. When you look at the hierarchy and the chart,

like the organizational chart, on game day, there is no person higher on that chart than Anthony Lynn. So everything that happens on the field, especially with offense, which is his background, is on Anthony Lynn. I watched the highlights of the end of the first half and the end of the game. It's an embarrassment. But he is what he is.

I wanted to like him after hard knocks because he is a great guy. He'd be fun to drink some beers with, smoke a stogie with, bullshit about ball with. He'd probably be a really good assistant coach. I think he is. Rex Ryan loved him. Parcells loved him. He's highly thought of.

He's just not a head coach. Not everyone is meant to be you know the cook. Sometimes you've got too many cooks in the kitchen. That's a bad analogy actually. Not everyone's meant to be the chief. Some guys are just the Indians. That's probably a better analogy, right?

There's only, it's really hard. It's very, very difficult to be the boss, to be the CEO, to be the head coach. The overwhelming majority of coaches, of employees, of whoever are not meant to be at the organizational top. They're just not. myself included probably most of you listening we're not meant to be like the boss maybe i mean maybe some of us would be okay if we got the shot but one thing we consistently see is that when when these guys

like the right-hand man right i've watched a ton of mob shows over corona and you see some of these mob bosses that get to the top like take out the dude that runs the family then they get in top and they just struggle and then you see like i watched a teflon Don, I watched the show on John Gotti, and it's like, you know, he was a pretty good boss. He took out one of the bosses, he became the boss. And most people thought, like, you know, he's kind of a street guy, he's not going to be able to handle. He handled it pretty well. No, he had his own downfalls, but like, he handled the family.

And once they handled the family, I mean, this was a family that was like killing people for business. Not a positive thing, but we all love mob shows. It's just a reality of life. It's also why they make so many shows on El Chapo and Pablo Escobar, because they're fascinating. but most people that run like gangs, businesses, whatever. Football are terrible leaders. Being a leader is really hard.

I just think he's not good at it for whatever reason. What grows in the forest? Trees? Sure. Know what else grows in the forest? Our imagination, our sense of wonder, and our family bonds grow too. Because when we disconnect from this and connect with this, We reconnect with each other.

The forest is closer than you think. Find a forest near you and start exploring at Discovertheforest.org. Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the Ad Council. Look through your children's eyes to see the true magic of a forest. It's a storybook world for them. You look and see a tree. They see the wrinkled face of a wizard with arms outstretched to the sky. They see treasure and pebbles.

They see a windy path that could lead to adventure, and they see you. Their fearless guide through this fascinating world. Find a forest near you and start exploring at Discovertheforest.org. Brought to you by the United States Forest Service and the ad council. Adoption of teens from foster care is a topic not enough people know about and we're here to change that. I'm April Dinwiddie host of the new podcast, Navigating Adoption, presented by Adopt U.S. Kids. Each episode brings you compelling real-life adoption stories told by the families that live them with commentary from experts. Visit Adoptuskids.org slash podcast or subscribe to navigating adoption presented by Adopt U.S. Kids.

Brought to you by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families and the Ad Council. You often hear that teams have scripted plays to start a game. Could you explain what exactly you mean by that? I'll hang up and listen. Well, when you script plays, you know exactly you've spent all week studying what defenses they run, especially early in games. And to me, the main part about scripting plays, and maybe I'm wrong, I'm sure there are coaches listening, is finding their weaknesses. Not necessarily their given scheme, the defense they run, but they're weak links. Whether it's a defensive end biting on playfakes, whether it's a corner biting on double moves, whether it's defensive tackles not being able to hold up against the run.

And you can't exploit that. And so you script the first 10, 15 plays or whatever to exploit their weaknesses. And then eventually the defense maybe adjusts, maybe puts a different guy in there, maybe changes the look, and then you adjust. But you basically just scheme against their weakness because when your offense, you get to dictate the place, right? Defense is reacting to what you're doing. When you're the offensive side of the ball, you get,

the action. So you get to be like, okay, their right defense event sucks. We're going to run sweeps. I think I see it all the time with Kyle Shanahan. The moment he thinks your corners can't tackle or your linebackers are slow, he runs outside sweeps, pitch plays. He just gets outside with his run plays. Because he thinks your corners are pussies or your linebackers, you know, can't get sideline to sideline. And like the moment you see a game starting and they're running like, sweeps, end-arounds, is because they think your perimeter defense stinks. You know, that's to me typically what you see.

I guess that would be a very cliff note, basic version of explaining it. Probably have a coach that could explain it in much detail, but that to me is the most basic level. You find their weaknesses. I saw Belichick say this on the NFL top 100 players during Corona. Football isn't that complicated. The art of war.

You find a weakness, and you take your service. strength against their weakness and you try to win, right? And your weaknesses, you try to avoid. It's pretty simple. It's football is pretty basic, right? Like, why are really the Chiefs kicking everyone's ass? And he's a fantastic play caller. But the moment he knows your corner can't cover, he's putting Tyree Kill on it. The moment he knows your linebackers can't cover, they're thrown to Travis Kelsey all the time. Like, their offense is just exploiting your weaknesses. If you can't stop the run now with the little guy they drafted,

they're just running down your throat. Now, he does a lot of window dressing with motions and movements, but when you just look at the most basic levels of the plays, they didn't think that Davis number 24 for Tampa could cover Tyree Kill one-on-one. Guess what? He can't. And he didn't. And they eviscerated him. Absolutely destroyed him.

Tyree Cad, I forget sometimes. flipper Anderson has the record for all-time yards in a game by a wide receiver. Tyreek for a split second felt like he was headed there. And this is like, I find your weakness and I exploit it. Now, as the game goes, then you got to adjust and maybe they'll saw double in a guy or they'll yank a player out and put another player in. That to me is what football is so fun. There's so much strategy behind it.

But the most beginning, the strategy to begin the game as an offensive coach, I get to dictate the game. Now, if it doesn't work, I got to pivot fast. So if my first couple series are three and out, I got to throw that script away and start adjusting. Lions lost 20 to nothing to the Panthers, missing Bridgewater

and McCaffrey. Will you please rant about how worthless Patricia is? So this was kind of old. Obviously, they've been fired. And this is back to Anthony Lynn. Some guys are just going to be terrible head coaches. Patricia is a rocket scientist.

He's really smart. Belichick loved him. He had a lot of success with Belichick as an assistant coach, as a defensive coordinator. I guess defensive coordinator. Some Patriot fans would say it was hit or miss. The one game against the Eagles, okay, but for the most part, he was pretty damn good. And he was just a bad head coach. He was just horrendous head coach.

Bob Quinn, his general manager, was equally as bad. Consistently, terrible, free agency and draft moves. Consistently bad. he was awful. So sometimes when you're Matt Patricia, who again, I think is terrible, his general manager could not have helped him any less. It couldn't have been a worse job.

I think, here's what I think. I think Bob Quinn is worse at his job than Matt Patricia. Think about that. What are your thoughts on Denver's Drew Locke? Well, I'll say this. I would imagine everyone heard Fangio, obviously they played a game with no quarterbacks. Fangio after the game did not blow.

blame the league. He didn't blame anybody except the quarterbacks. He said this is on them. And I got a couple of buddies in the league that constantly text me. They're like, you know, the book on Drew Locke is he's a little immature. Maturity ain't really his thing. Like, I think there are some comps with him and Derek Carr, physically, arm strength. One thing Derek has, and he just was a starting quarterback for one of the worst offensive performances I read today, the Raiders against the Falcons, in league history. It was that terrible. But Derek is really mature. And Derek's work ethic is not a problem. Like, I think with Drew Locke, you just, what's going on, bro? Like, part of being a quarterback, and I differ with coward a little bit, like the backwards hat stuff. I know what he's saying,

but I think you can be quarterbackal. You can, there's different types. Rogers, Manning, Brady, Russell. You know, to me, Russell's kind of inauthentic, elite player, but, you know, I just, it'd be hard being around him all the time. You know, Mahomes is just, he's kind of a very young, millennial, you know. Now, he's very mature. He works very hard, but like, he's going to wear on backwards

hats. You know, you're having some fun with the guys. I mean, Brady Forever. Like, you can be, fuck around with the boys. Brady Forever takes everyone to Kentucky Derby, drinks beers with the guys. Like, there's a balance to it. I think Drew Locke is just on the immature balance. Johnny? Worst case.

Right? Blake Bortles, like those types? that just don't. It's like, what is going on here, bro? Like, can you guys figure it out? James battled it for a while. I think he finally kind of, once Ariens got around him, just at least got on the straight Nero.

He was headed out a path. Uber drivers, screaming in the quad. I just thought he was kind of a slapy. And I think Jameses has kind of just got it together a little bit. Got around Drew Bree, got around John Peyton,

Bruce Ariens, and just kind of got him headed on the right path. Drew Locke, to me, is going to be at that tip of, point of like, bro, the rules are the rules this year. There's a ton on the line. Like, just wear the mask when you're supposed to wear the mask.

It's pretty black and white now, the rules, to get this league finished this year. And so to me, Drew Locke, you know, you watch him play, it's kind of hit or miss. And then you see this, you go, I don't know. I don't want to have to worry about my quarterback. Just want to go to bed. So say what you want, like Russell Wilson, you know, little. cheesy. I never have to worry about him. I never have to worry about him. Hell, you can

be kind of like Jimmy Garapolo, I don't have to worry about. You know, Jared Gophe I don't have to worry about. Herbert, I'm not going to have to worry about. Tuah I'm not going to have to worry about. I have to worry about maybe their play, but like, do I got to hold blocks hands? Like, come on, man. This isn't that complicated.

Appreciate everyone listening. Have a good week. And I will see you. I guess I won't see you. I'll talk to you Friday. Peace. Hey, pet parents. Have you heard of Just Food for Dogs? Since 2010, we've been helping dogs everywhere live healthier, longer lives through the power of fresh, whole food nutrition. Our meals are formulated by an in-house team of veterinarians, and we only use human-grade meats and veggies with zero preservatives. After transitioning to Just Food for Dogs, pet parents report seeing more energy, firmer, stools, improved health, and even longer lives. Give us two weeks, and we'll change your dog's life forever.

Visit Just FoodforDogs.com slash mobile and save 10% on your first purchase. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert. Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kare Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor?

It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen and learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. On the Look Back at it podcast. For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.