The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 & Out - 2026 NFL Kickoff: Patriots-Seahawks Predictions, Baker Mayfield gets PAID, Aaron Donald OUT for Week 1

Episode Date: September 9, 2026

The NFL is officially back, and on this episode of 3 & Out, John Middlekauff dives into the biggest storylines heading into the new season, from player news and international games to the latest developments across college football. John breaks down Aaron Donald and the latest surrounding one of the most dominant defensive players of his generation. He also looks at the NFL's continued push to expand its global footprint with more NFL International Games and what the league's international strategy means for the future of the sport. The quarterback market is also in focus as Baker Mayfield gets paid. John discusses the significance of the deal and what it says about how NFL teams value quarterbacks who have established themselves as franchise-level players. John then shifts to college football, discussing Lane Kiffin and Florida State and the latest storylines surrounding the Seminoles as the college football season gets underway. Finally, John opens up the Middlekauff Mailbag, answering listener questions and tackling a wide range of NFL, college football, roster-building, coaching, and football-related topics. From the return of the NFL and Aaron Donald to Baker Mayfield's new deal, international games, Lane Kiffin, Florida State, and the Middlekauff Mailbag, it’s all covered on this episode of 3 & Out. Follow John on Twitter, and Instagram for the latest.  #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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John Middilcoff, three-and-out podcast. Hopefully you are doing well. The National Football League is back. We have a game tonight. We have a game tomorrow. Hallelujah. No more guessing, hypotheticals, theories of what's going to...

We put the ball down and play, baby. And we got Seattle, New England, and then tomorrow on Netflix, obviously the 49ers and Rams. So we're going to talk a lot of football today. Baker Mayfield signed a contract extension. We'll do some mailback. questions at John Middilkoff is the Instagram firing those DMs get your questions answered

here on the show. You guys know the drill. Appreciate all you guys who have found me through Colin. You subscribe to three and out separate podcast. You'll never miss an episode. Fire on Netflix. We'll have a bunch of content there. Obviously

during football season, hit the alert button, never miss a show. A bunch of content on the YouTube channel as well as football starts. So let's just dive in. I was in the car this morning running errands. And I heard Colin Coward's opening rant about football being back and the importance of this sport in terms of what we all do. And now the media basically revolves around football season and then the off season is getting ready for football season with some big events sprinkled in.

And I was thinking about like, I feel fortunate enough to grown up in an era without the internet and in a world that was completely different than the world we live in now. And I've always been a diehard sports guy. Obviously, I chose to do this for a living. And when I was a kid, like, football was not necessarily bigger than the other sports. Michael Jordan was bigger than any NFL athlete. Baseball was, I would say it wasn't probably what it was in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, but it was massive.

The World Series was huge. When the Yankees became a dynasty, like that was the equivalent of like the chiefs or the Patriots. The home run race with everyone doing the steroids was McGuire and Sosa. And then when Bonds did it, it was must watch TV. And where we're at now, 25 years later, the gap between football, and I would include college football, which is clearly the number two sport in America, and everything else isn't even close. And the thing the NFL, and I would say college football has to a degree,

it's got the best of both worlds. In basketball, the Pablo Tori, Uncle Dennis, the scandal with the clippers, is as big of an NBA story as anything that happened on the court beside the Knicks, right? No one breaks down when the Houston Rockets play the Atlanta Hawks. Just like I've said this forever about baseball, they play 162 games. If the Yankees win or lose today, it doesn't make or break their season. Honestly, it doesn't really matter. It has no impact big picture unless you have a major injury.

in the game. Where in football, you get such a small number of games that in modern day society, our attention spans have never been shorter. I mean, I don't know how often you do, but I catch myself sometimes like,

John, put down the fucking phone. Just be present in life. Just try to enjoy whatever you're doing, no matter how mundane it may be. Just sit at breakfast by yourself. You don't have to just scroll aimlessly. Right? But we all do.

and those memes of like the people with all the newspapers back in the 20s or 30s on a bus or a train is now the phone. So you could argue we always did that, but there is definitely a difference in the way our brains are wired because of this phone. Hell, I see it when I just hand jack the phone that is completely off. Not anything, the guy won't let go of it. I'm like, God, they got something in these things. I mean, it's powerful and it's rewired our brains. and there's no going back, right, at least in the foreseeable future. And I do think football, with the impact of the importance of every single game,

has this unique combination of like, they got the drama off the field like all these other sports, and honestly, they got it more. I mean, in the last month, we had an owner go to a trailer park to try to get laid with a hooker. One of the star coached in the league was in a car accident that no one knew about for like 15 days. the coach that led the

AFC champions to the Super Bowl last year Mike Vrable who is a I would say a prominent player on one of the biggest dynasties in NFL history multiple times Super Bowl champion you know was basically caught red-handed in a relationship with a reporter

where they were clearly banging for over half a decade which again I don't care do whatever you want right but like those are things that resonate with everybody Those are the type stories if they happen in your town, if they happen in your friend group. Like those are the things that move the needle for human beings, like in real life. Right. And then when you factor in, when the game start, and that's the most powerful thing that football has, everything else becomes white noise. Like ultimately on Saturday night, all the Lane Kiff and all that drama, when the fucking ball was hiked and you watched LSU run around and you watch them play, you,

weren't thinking about Lane and hot yoga or doing this or doing that, you're just like, God damn, this team's incredible. Think about Michigan. Their head coach went with a butter knife to his assistant's house who had been banging for a couple years, threatened to kill himself, was arrested, and Michigan played Western Michigan, and all we thought about was like, they're actually going to lose. And then obviously what happened at the end became the biggest story in all of football. And that's what the NFL has. is once the game start, we not only judge the star players,

but the coaches are such big players in the reality television show that is the sport of football. And it's the easiest thing to follow. Because you don't have to, I've got to watch them again tonight, I've got to watch them again tonight, or even in the NBA,

you're playing three or four times a week. It's like a lot of people have real lives. But in football, you just got to have three hours a week for your squad. And if you can make some more time to watch other games, great. But it's pretty easy to consume. It's pretty easy to follow.

Which is ironic because it's by far the most complicated game. When you hear a quarterback or a defensive or offensive play caller start telling you the different coverages or the play call, it sounds like a foreign language. And I think if you would have told someone 30 years ago that in 2006 football would be by far the most popular sport, they would start their season on a Wednesday and that had become tradition

with the Super Bowl champ to host the game in the middle of the week but it typically happened on Thursday but the reason it's not happening on Thursday because there's another game going on with two awesome teams but that game is going on in Australia and that game in Australia is actually taking place

Friday morning you'd been like what are you talking about and now it doesn't even feel that abnormal So I think the explosion of football, the popularity of this sport, we've talked about over the years, all the different variables, we all know them. But no one can argue that when these games are on, for all the stuff that goes off the field, all the different people guessing and talking about who's going to win this, who's going to lose that, none of it matters once the ball snapped. And there's just nothing like it, right? There's just nothing like it. We judge the quarterbacks.

We judge the coaches. we judge the franchises, and it just emotionally moves us. So, congrats to football because it's a little like life. When it's like the middle of summer, you're like, God, it feels so far away.

I remember when just, I think about this a lot now because having the baby who's not that far away from a year, and all of a sudden you're like, I, we were just looking, I thought you were tiny, and now you're almost nine months old.

Like, how fast does life go? And you start looking back, all of a sudden you get a little older, you're like, God, time flies. Even though individual days might feel slow, the overall time. I remember when training camps and guys just first reported. And then boom, now we're hiking the ball in Seattle. Let me tell you about our new friends and an app I've now been using religiously for the last couple weeks, and that's Polly Market.

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Three OUT. That's polymarket.us. Use the promo code three out to get a $50 bonus. We need to deposit just 10. Download the app right now. Now speaking of this game, this franchise, which was just sold, I saw Mike McDonald talking about the transition. And he's like, you know, John's dealt with it more than me. I think the head coach is the general manager is in more of an administrative role. So dealing with this new family coming in, I think I saw a list. They have a bunch of investors as well.

They're the majority stakeholder. But this is a franchise now that has been, I would say over the course of the 21st century, you know, from Mike Holmgren to the transition to Pete Carroll and John. And then once John, you know, they got peed out and John really took over, hired Mike. It's been a pretty consistent good franchise. And definitely since Pete showed up, they have just been a high-level operation. And they are a team. I think they're going to be really good.

I believe in this head coach. I believe in the mentality that this franchise has that to me is led by John, the type players that they acquire, that they draft. There's just a violent nature, I would say, inherently, to the way they have operated now for almost 15 years. And tonight, it's one of the rare places. You know, Kansas City is like this. Buffalo will see in the new stadium.

It used to be like this. I think Lambo, I don't say Lambo has an edge, but there's a collegiate aspect to it. There is something kind of just electric about this environment. You know, Oregon, when it's rolling, I have never been there in terms of to a game, but I have no, you know, Fresno State used to play there all. all the time.

I remember hearing stories that you can't even you couldn't even talk to the guy standing next to you. People in the Pacific Northwest love football. Oregon Ducks and Seattle Seahawks and I think tonight's a good example

of I expect Seattle to win and we'll get into the predictions here in a second. But if the game looks somewhat similar to last week, it's kind of a muscle flex because Colin and I talked about this a couple days ago that if you just took the other two teams in the division,

the 49ers in the rank, If they had just won the Super Bowl, had gone 14 and 3, and brought back the nucleus of guys, their coach, their GM, the majority of the operation, I know they lost some players, that's football. Everyone would be picking them. This team gets to fly under the radar. I do believe it's a little bit of the market. I mean, Mike McDonald was just the first ever head coach

who was also the defensive play caller in the history of the NFL. It happens a lot with these offensive guys, and they get all this credit, yet with the defensive guys, they just really don't. You almost get more credit as a defensive guy if you're like the CEO type, like Tomlin, you know, kind of under that umbrella. Pete Carroll, you're like the Grand Poo-Baw,

the patriarch of the operation. But when you're the genius on defense, and maybe it's partly Mike's personality, but tonight's a big moment to be kind of show the NFL. Like, we are going nowhere. And Sam Darnold's going nowhere. I was listening to Albert Breer. I think he's writing something on this, which it's probably out on Wednesday.

You know, I think Sam's been pretty open internally. I don't know how much he's talked about this publicly. Like, he feels he plays... Because he didn't. He wasn't that good in the Super Bowl. If he was, that game could have easily been a 40-point blowout. If Sam Donald had played like he had two weeks before against the Rams against that Patriot team, that would have been one of the uglier Super Bowls in the history of the league.

And you could argue just in terms of the eye test, it was not a great watch because Seattle put their foot on their throat and just kept stomping them. And I think this is a big moment. There's still a lot of doubters. I think sometimes that perception, when we think something about you and it's over a multiple year period, it's really hard to ever shake that. And I think Sam Donald now is two years of evidence.

But it's like, I didn't play that well in the Super Bowl. You know, he had some games last year. I think he led the league in turnovers. It's easy to nitpick them. I don't know. I've watched him for two years, he's pretty fucking good. Is he Mahomes, Brady or Peyton Manning?

No. But it's like, would you want him as a starting quarterback of your team over, I don't know, 20 plus guys, without a doubt. And if you had to replace all the guys six through 12 with him, would those teams be that much worse off?

At this point in time, I don't think so. I'm a believer. I like betting on people. And every time you watch this guy interviewed the way he conducts himself, the way he handles himself. I'm just blown away. And I think that's why he's able... Alex Smith had a lot of this.

Alex Smith was a joke for years. Do you know what it turned out? It was the Niners with Mike Nolan and Mike Singletary and the operation was an embarrassment. Now, Alex didn't have the physical, definitely not the arm strength of Sam Donald. Was not, could not spin it like that. But once he had people that knew what they were doing around him,

he became a really solid player. and it took a while, but you forgot about those first four or five years. At one point in time in his career, the candlestick chanted for David Carr. How would that have aged in like 2016 when he was winning double digits every single year with the cheese? Even the year before his leg snapped in Washington, I think they were like seven and two. He looked awesome. So I think tonight's a big night for Seattle as just we ain't going anywhere. And I think on the flip side, like I don't expect.

this game. I think it's going to might just be a bad matchup. I still got a lot of questions with New England. You know, they're exposed to running backs out, like the left tackle. I know he was injured last year, but like this is not an easy matchup. This is a team with dogs up front. And we saw last year

that guy just struggled in a one-on-one situation to handle elite pass rush at the end of the season. You'd be like, well, this is neat. I don't know. There were a lot of people that questioned him. Some guys go really high at tackle. Like Joe Laine Johnson, Trent Williams. We haven't had that many of late,

guys that go in like top three or four picks. But usually it's like, this guy's a dude. This guy's an elite. A lot of people thought like Will Campbell, like he's going to play guard? Is he an elite player? And clearly the Patriots, either they thought he was the best guy on their board

or had the upside to be elite. We got to find out. And some people have back, like I think Andrew Whitworth and some other offensive line guys have said, like he has the, he'll be fine. his game is going to be all about technique. Like Jonathan Ogden or Jason Peters or Trent Williams can misstep. It doesn't matter.

They are more talented and truly like dancing grizzly bears. This guy is not. So he has to be like this guy is one of the best technicians in the league. Can he become that? You know, Jason Kelsey, Jason Kelsey didn't weigh 330 pounds. Jason Kelsey was an undersized center. You know how he became? a Hall of Fame level player.

One, with like grit, toughness, and just like instincts. Like he was a talent, you know, in terms of his mind. But like speed, technique, using his angles. And it's different playing at center where you have help with the guards than tackle. But not everyone's the elite of the elite. You know, Puka Nakua is not as physically gifted as Jamar Chase. But you put their numbers next to each other. It's like a lot of things come in different shapes and sizes in football.

which again gets back to what I talked about at the start. So it makes football great. You got fifth round picks becoming stars. You got number one overall picks becoming stars. You got coaches that play in the league becoming stars. You got guys that never played a down to football starhead coaches. So I think tonight is a big night for New England. Like I'm not picking them to make the playoffs.

Not because I don't think they're going to be a good team. I expect them to be in that 9-10 win range with a bunch of other teams. And I'm just giving another team the nod. But if you tell me that they go into Seattle and win, even though their schedule is more difficult, I'll be like, I'm probably wrong on that. This is probably an 11-12 win team. I mean, it would be an enormous win. And it's different.

But remember several years back when the Lions beat the Chiefs on opening night? It's like, okay, the Lions are just kind of, this is real. And I think a lot of people, you go back to last year, they had, you know, the schedule, how they looked in the playoffs. and then what happened once because, you know, Denver had a backup quarterback who I know Sean Payton thinks good. I don't know how good he is. Tough position to play in a win snowstorm. But still, it's like they don't win if Bow Nix is playing quarterback. So I'm fascinated to watch New England.

That's why I wanted to make some, we'll do this today and tomorrow leading into these two games, a little prediction segment brought to you by my friends at Polly Market. I'll say this, the Polymarket app. I've used a lot of these different apps. The Polymarket app, and I'm not just saying this because they are compensating our podcast, it is elite. I'm a big believer.

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if it's easy to figure out, Polymarker's app is fantastic. And for some of you, if you've never used it, I highly recommend downloading it. But everything's in percentage, right? You're playing predictions. It's not that much different than what you're doing.

I promise you that. For example, if you just want to take Seattle to win, 62% of people think Seattle's going to win. If you put $100 on that, it pays $157 total. So you'd win $57. Right? I think Seattle,

I don't know if the game looks exactly like last year. I don't expect. It's week one. Josh is going to have some tricks. up its leave. Mike Frable's going to have some tricks up his sleeve. I definitely believe it's a little closer. But to me, this is a 10 point game by Seattle. So when to Polly Market, scrolled around the app, found Seattle minus three and a half. You either choose yes or no. I'm choosing yes. And $100 on yes pays $206. So you can win $106. I'm just using that math, $100 easy. Maybe you bet less,

maybe you bet more. I like Seattle minus three and a half. That's an auto. yes for me. The other is the total. The total is 44.5. To me, this game feels like week one, adrenaline through the roof, the crowd going absolutely bananas, could see it look a little weird, I would say for the first quarter, quarter and a half. The other thing is, think who the two head coaches are. Mike McDonald, best defensive coordinator. I would say, definitely a head coach, maybe ever, you know, that actually calls the plays as well. Most defensive coaches. Once they become head coaches, they become like the CEO.

And, you know, Vrable is a defensive guy. I know he's, again, a CEO guy, but like defense is a baby. And it's why, for the most part, like when they've had good players, his defense have been pretty good. I mean, there's a reason he won a lot of games with Ryan Tanyl. Right? He's not like this guy, Drake May by far is the best quarterback he's ever had. And to me, I could see like 23, 15, 21, 13. kind of range, uh, that is less than 44 and a half. So if you look on the prediction,

49% say that this game is not going to go over 44 and a half and $100 pays 186. So you can win $186. Uh, very easy. Again, I'm not just saying this. I, I've used a lot of apps in my life. I'm sure many of you have. Check out the app. I, I've enjoyed it and I'm going to get much more accustomed to doing it as I've been doing the last couple weeks. Can I tell you about my new friends at Trees.com? Do you know that they're America's largest and most trusted online nursery? I don't know about you, but I added some Ficus trees to my backyard. We'll try to add to the feng shui, the vibe.

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is that Aaron Donald, who, let's face it, missed in the entire training camp. Who knows? I mean, we'll find more when he talks. Like, did he had planned on coming back? Was it something that he truly didn't know? Was it truly like, listen, I'm going to come back. I'll train on my own. I'm not going to training camp with half the team of guys that I'll never see again.

Just I'll see a week one. The problem is week one. is a 17-hour flight. So, and the Rams are going the day before, it's, you know, you're flying in a 60-hour period, 35 hours. Like, I'm 35, I don't blame them. Like, unless you were going to Australia for vacation or New Zealand to go hang out there for a while,

avoiding a plane flight of that length, I don't care how great the seats are, is something all of us would do. And I do wonder if part of the conversation when he was signed of, like, I'm not going to be part of this game. And Sean McVeigh is like, that's fine. You don't need to come with us. And let's face it, if Aaron Donald had not come back,

I don't think we would discuss this team that differently. Football, this isn't like, you know, Michael Jordan just showed up. Even though this guy kind of was like a Michael Jordan of defense in his prime, it's a little different at 35. To me, there's still some questions. I know physically he looks great, but how your body holds up, how you recover from, you know, kind of bruises and injuries. throughout the course of a season.

How many plays is he ready to just hit the ground running? How they're going to handle it? It's still yet to be known. He's inactive this week. I would imagine week two, which I think they play on Monday night football. This is just a memory. The Giants, if I remember correctly,

will he be active? I don't know. I mean, we'll have to just play this. It's like a fluid situation. I would bet he would be. But, you know, it's pretty big news just because like Aaron Donald, Miles Garrett, week one, Australia.

No, no Aaron Donald. Not even making the trip. So he's one of their inactives this week. You know, there's been a lot of conversation. We've talked a lot about it here about these international games and about growing or dying. And, you know, you're either trying to make more money. You're never trying to stay stagnant. That's just how people in business think, whether it drives you nuts or not.

And the NFL is clearly quadrupling down internationally. The London thing is not that crazy. I've never been to London, but it's what? It's a five-hour flight from New York City to London, five-and-a-half-hour flight, essentially Seattle or Los Angeles to New York City or Boston. It's a cross-country flight. So on the Eastern Sea board, it's not that crazy. Now, once you start going to Germany, Brazil, you know,

depending on where you're coming from, you know, Mexico City, obviously Australia. I do think these events, if the 49ers win on Thursday night, Friday morning their time in Australia, I think we better get very used to some of these crazy destinations. And my guess will be, and I'm saying this, whoever wins or loses this game, I would expect because Australia loves sports,

it's a really cool place, would not shock me if Australia becomes something they do every single year, year one. But the 49ers and the Rams, this has been a story that a million people have talked about, right? The way they're handling the travel. 49ers went out way early, the Rams are going right before.

And some people think a lot of it has to do with recovering after the fact, how the 49ers, it will be more difficult for them to get back their bodies in tune to like Pacific Standard time in America where the Rams is like they never even got on Australia time. I personally think it's pretty crazy to go that far the day before. But again, it'll be a major talking point whoever wins and loses. If the 49ers win though, everyone moving forward, these crazy flights, whether you're going to Brazil, which I think, I remember someone with the chiefs told me, it was like 12 hours.

You know, Germany, which if you're a West Coast or Midwest team could be farther. And obviously, Australia, every team in the league is going to go way early. They will just, it's football is a copycat sport. They copy your draft philosophies. They copy your plays. They copy your hiring practices. Whatever works, people just copy you. And it's been like that my entire life and it doesn't look like it's going to change anytime soon.

It's like, Saban hired you, you became a head coach. If Shannon and her McVeigh hired you, you became a head coach. Hell, even after Belichick's guys stopped working, people kept hiring them. It's like, well, they're having success. Pull the trigger. You know, and the 49ers win this game because these, like Brazil, Mexico City, Australia, I would put Germany in there. I think they're playing a game this year in France.

It's essentially like a barnstorming tour, right? It's like a circus going around. and it's trying to get there, promote it, market it, like a fight. Now, the thing is, if both teams aren't showing up, there's not a huge buildup

beside the day the game happens. But the 49ers, their media people, Grant Cohen, anyone that follows him online, he's been going to these AFL games, which is not rugby,

it's not soccer, it's somewhere in the middle, and like making polarizing statements about their star players and going on good morning, Australia and it's kind of become a thing. Obviously the players, you know, I got a day off over there. They went to different games. They've gone to different events. They have basically been the marketing arm for the NFL. I would expect this game to be a heavy 49er presence just because for the last week,

if you're just indifferent over there, a lot of people are just like, ah, these guys seem cool. They're just around. And they've been a huge part of the community now for like a week. And if you're the NFL and this works, well, everyone's just going to copy them. And then moving forward, if you get a game next year in Australia, you'll have both teams go there and just be free marketing for the league. No one is going to copy, especially if the Rams were to like not look great, or in the second half be heavy-legged or look exhausted. People are going to blame it on the travel, which I don't blame them.

The longest flight I've ever made is New Zealand. I was 12, 13 years old. I do not remember it at all beside it being really, really long. My dad was already over there. I went by myself and I remember I had a CD case with like Hootie in the Blowfish I had boys de men

I had quite I think a smashing pumpkin CD and like Snoop Doggie style and a CD player I mean that's all had I don't think I had a book a magazine I was 12 I can't imagine I had much money besides maybe 20 bucks or 40 bucks

my mom gave me which back then would have gone a long way I just know that that the time zone is going to be something that can really work in the NFL's benefit if the 49ers win because they can double down on this and everyone will copy him. The other big story today, I think Baker Mayfield deserves a lot of credit because, what is it, 40, 45 days ago, when training camp started and he wasn't getting offered a contract that he thought was worth it,

he kind of went on a long rant, which I said at the time, like, listen, I respect it. so often these quarterbacks because they're agent and their marketing team like if you ever heard like a Matt Stafford interview there's no way he talks like that when the cameras are off and he's just having a beer with his buddies no fucking chance

but he's become so robotic about and I don't even blame him Mahomes a lot of these guys are terrible interviews they're not good because it's not worth it for them to say anything Aaron Rogers is not an outlier not only because of the subjects he'll talk about just because at this point in time,

he does not give a shit about anything. And he can just speak, whether you agree or disagree. Like, that's how normal humans speak. They just say their opinions. Like, if you're just having dinner with a couple dudes,

having a cocktail, you're just going to hear some crazy things. And that's kind of the way the real world works. And you watch Baker Mayfield, you're like, you know what? I've always appreciated his authenticity. And let's face it,

some of us are immature. I know I really was when I was 21, 22, 23 years old. I can't imagine being in a position where you're, the face of the franchise. Not everyone's ready to handle it. Not everyone can just hit the ground running and be unfazed by the pressure

and everything that comes along with it, especially if like, I'm not quite good enough yet. But I know this. After he went on that rant, he basically ended it with like, I'm not talking about this anymore. We're on to football,

we're focused, and I'm going to be a great teammate and I'm going to grind. And clearly over the course of August, leading into early September, he has not only proven, I'm sure, in practice, has been really, really good to make them feel confident. And then just the way his character and operated as a team leader,

as the face of the franchise, clearly checked all those boxes for Jason Light. Because if you sign a contract, they gave him a three-year, $165 million contract extension. I think if you factor in this year, I saw Florio Road, it averages out to like $54, $55 million a year. And we'll see the guaranteed money. But the reality is, if he's just solid, he's going to see every penny.

Why? Because quarterbacks, unless you're two-ups, or Kyler and become a disaster, you see every penny of the contract. Like, the guaranteed money has never affected Dak. Why, he plays out every contract. Jared Goff, all these guys. They see it all. And Baker just was a pro.

And I think sometimes just be a pro. It's easy to say. It almost feels hollow when you say that out loud. I think what that means is just handle shit. To me, that's being a professional. It's like you never know what's going to happen. Some days, things are going to pitch. you off. You can't just go into the tank. You can't just quit. This is the real world.

And you got to keep your head up and you kind of keep moving forward because a lot of people are depending on you and we're still paying you. You'd like more money, but it's not like you're making $10. You know, you're making $27, $30 million. And he did. And clearly by the end of training camp, they went, you know what, there's got to be some sort of middle ground here. We're not going to give you a six-year contract. But we're going to get to a number that's going to be pretty difficult for you to say no, because we want you here. We appreciate you. We love what you represent in this franchise. We think you're a good player. And Baker knows, like, I'm going to prove it to you where you're not going to be able to find better than me. And I can imagine throughout

training camp, they're looking like, well, everyone's saying this quarterback, this quarterback, we're not going to be shitty enough to draft any of those guys. And the likelihood we see these guys hit or miss all the time. There's no guarantee that's ever going to become that. And I also thought, like, the Cleveland Browns have not had the opportunity. to draft quarterbacks very high very often. And several years ago in a draft with Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Sam Darnold, they chose Baker Mayfield.

And by the end of his tenure there, essentially, at least I could be wrong on all the detail, some of you Browns fans might push back against this. They clearly leaned with Stefanski over Baker, which maybe at the time didn't feel that crazy. Here's the problem. Staphansky might be one of the worst, quarterback evaluators in the history of the league that's also viewed as a good offensive coach,

which again, I can't even go that far because he had like a historically bad offense. And if you don't know quarterbacks, if you can't evaluate the quarterback, I can't take you seriously as a top flight offensive mind. It doesn't mean you can't miss on a quarterback. But he has now a long resume of like, I don't think this guy has any fucking clue. I mean, relative to everyone else in the league. I don't think he has a clue. and they chose him over Baker. And now Baker is at a place where Jason Light is considered,

I don't know, top five general manager in the NFL. I mean, last year he'd won the division three straight years in like 50 or 46 of the 53 guys that made the roster were all draft picks. Like, he's really good at his job. Does the coach survive?

Time will tell. But Jason Light went, this guy's good enough to give a second contract extension to. If you want to say they got a little lucky, giving them the one year $4 million to come compete with was a Kyle Trass, the quarterback from Florida, and then Baker beat him out in the rest of history. But they invested him once,

and they've invested him again. If you're a Browns fan, you're like, we wasn't that long ago we drafted this guy number one overall. Now he's someplace else signing a second big contract extension. And Deshaun Watson's a team captain on our team. How is this real life? So congrats to Baker. True success story.

I mean, Sam gets a lot of credit and rightfully so. To me, Baker deserves, I mean, right there with him. One interesting story is this SEC versus LSU and how they might kick them out. I don't know about you guys, but I got in a lot of trouble as a kid. I just, if there was a button, I pushed it. If there was a line, I crossed it. And a lot of my friends were the same way.

Not like, I wasn't going to jail trouble, but I just, I was just, found myself just in situations looking back that not ideal that if I was my own parents I would have been very very angry

and I got in trouble I wouldn't say I was like a trouble maker but I definitely was a pain in the ass to parent and every once in a while you needed to come in to my room and fucking draw a line in the sand

and I had to be parented hard I needed it and I do think looking back it was it's been very beneficial to my life. And I think sometimes when all you hear is yes, whether you're a star athlete, a star singer, a star coach, you can start kind of feeling yourself a little too much. And I think Belichick, let's face it, has battled this. You know, for 20 years, no one could really beat him. Even when he got in trouble, he's still won. Most personnel moves he made just kind of worked.

Everything he did kind of worked. Guys would leave. They would fail. He would keep winning. And look him now. I mean, it's kind of turned into an embarrassment in North Carolina. You know, I think Lane is in the peak of his powers as a coach. Lane is really good. It's impossible to argue. But in the last decade, how many people

have told him no? Ole Miss was on their hands and knees begging him to stay last year. Nick Saban, who fired him, the week of the national championship game, which they ended up losing, was kissing his ass on Game Day of

other day. Kissing his ass. Jimmy Sexton, you know, if you're a major agent for coaches, there's usually a kingmaker. And when I worked for Andy Reed, it was Bob Lamont represented everyone under the Mike Holmgren tree, John Gruden, Steve Marucci, and then as Andy started putting all these guys out, the Ron Rivera's, Harbaas, I'm, I'm pretty sure. he had a lot of those guys as well. But at the top of the food chain forever, it was Mike Holmgren. Why? Because he was the kingmaker.

And forever with Jimmy Sexton, it was Nick Sabin. Everyone under Nick Sabin, regardless how much money you made, whether you're Kirby Smart or Sark or Dan Lanning or whoever, DeBoer, Nick came first.

Well, then Nick retired. Mike Holmgren retired. So someone bumps up into that spot who essentially becomes, client number one. If you were like a manager in Hollywood, if you had Leonardo DiCaprio or Denzel, it would be impossible to have a bigger client than that guy.

And he would get the majority of your attention. And you do whatever it takes because that guy's your cash cow. And that to me is Lane Kiffin now. So you got from Jimmy Sexton to Nick Sabin to Ole Miss to LSU, he doesn't hear no at all. His off-the-field antics are well documented. Clearly Co-eds ain't saying, Listen, Lane's a good-looking guy.

And Lane's clearly got some game. Because, I mean, even his ex-wife, babe, like, Lane's pulling left and right. And he's not even shy about it. Not shy about it at all. Well, I think it got to the point where it's like, I'm going to bring college players. It's like, Lane, you don't even need these guys.

Well, yeah, I just want him. I want to bring, these guys were with me at Ole Miss. I want him here. Like, Lane, don't do this. No one was telling him that in his inner circle. And clearly he didn't listen. if they did. And eventually someone said, you know what, Lane, we need to

give you a little humble pie here. If you go through with this, we plan on kicking LSU out of the conference. Do I think the SEC wants to kick LSU out of the conference? Of course not. Because there are certain conferences like the Big Ten. I think Ohio State's bigger than everybody.

Ohio State is just more important. If Ohio State ever went to the Big Ten, like, yeah, we're thinking about going independent. It would be a problem. I would say if you look some of the basketball conferences like the ACC or the Big 12, you know, you kind of like having the Kansas, North Carolina, Duke, those brands, right? They're a little more important than some of the other brands.

In the SEC, while it's the most profitable football conference, they're a little like the NFL, right? If you just look at the NFC, like are the Eagles more important in the Packers? Are they more important than the 49ers, more important than the Cowboys? They all kind of work in unison to dominate. And that's kind of the SEC. Like, is Alabama bigger than LSU, bigger than Georgia, you know, bigger than Texas? Even Texas is kind of the newcomer.

You know, now Oklahoma. Like, they all kind of work together to print money for each other. And it's like, listen, Lane, we'll kick you out so fast your head we'll spin. We don't want to do it. And it's clearly a bluff. But like, it's also kind of not. if you do this, there's going to be held to pay. And we'll just grab Miami.

We'll just fill that spot with you. You are not bigger in this conference. Because your university is not bigger in this conference. Because no university, Bama, Georgia, whatever, is bigger in this conference. We are unified here. That's how we print the money, which is now paying you $12 million a year.

And I do believe for the first time, in a long, long time, someone told Lane no. around LSU to like call off the dogs, you're not doing this. Because the last time really Lane heard no was when Sabin retired. And he desperately wanted the Alabama job. And they wouldn't even give him the time of day. Because everything he did when he was in Tuscaloosa,

which is now just completely forgotten about by Sabin, which no chance it actually is, but he's going to play the part when the cameras are on. You know, the underrated part about Sabin for being like this hard-ass, maniacal, like general, kind of can turn to a politician when the cameras are on, especially now.

And maybe you get retired, you're 74, you're like, I don't have the energy to battle it. But like the saving you see on TV is not really the saving that we, whether you, I always like Bama that I fell in love with, like roof of the program.

It's like a different guy. And it's a little bit more like putting on a show. You know, the cameras are off. He's completely different. Like to me, Herb Street and McAfee are just two examples on that show. That's just how they act, where the cameras are on or off.

Like that's just, who they've been. I mean, Pat McAfee once got arrested when he was a punter for being wasted, like jumping into a river. You know, it's like, some guy, Sabin to me is a different person, which again, I, he doesn't want to fight, you can't just be a hard ass 24-7, 365, but bro, you couldn't fucking stand lane. And the, the Florida State, I had the game on mute. You know, Jack was crying, we had a lot going on in the house. And I just kept, I was like, what is, you see the game delayed? And then I get a text from a buddy Chris.

He's like, bro, are you seeing this? They're not going to have a play clock. They're not going to have headsets. They're not going to have replays. I'm like Florida State. It's so funny. You know, some people, I had Derek Ray, who was the general manager of Florida State for years,

who just left. He's now with Bob Chesney at UCLA. And he came on the podcast a couple years ago. The year after they went, you know, they had been undefeated and they got left out because their quarterback was hurt. And then they had a couple bad years. Well, after 2000, whatever,

22, 23 range, think of what's happened the last couple years in college football. The payments to players has grown dramatically. Three or four years ago, you could land a player for 100 grand. Some guys won't even call you back for like $900,000. The numbers haven't doubled. They've like 5, 6ed in a two or three year period. And, you know, I just heard some things like, Floresa has no money. And all these people are like, Mike Norville's going to get fired.

Someone's going to stroke a check for $50 plus million to Mike Norville. they can't even pay the power bill. Florida State, you're watching a program that is broke. Like to me, Clemson is poorly run with Davo with the transfer portal and some of his ideals of loyalty with players he recruits that can't play dead in the Western. Florida State looks like a program with no money.

And last night was the most symbolic moment of there's a two-hour delay because they can't get the lights on. They couldn't get the power turned on. I'm not trying to overreact. here, that's as embarrassing of a moment in the NIL era that also symbolizes the state of a program is I can remember. I think everyone thinks Mike Norvell is the village idiot.

I mean, a couple years ago, they were undefeated with like three different quarterbacks and a bunch of NFL players. They don't have NFL players now, it looks like. Why? They don't have any money. If you don't have any money, you don't have a shot. You have no shot. Florida State now is much closer to Fresno State than it is Miami.

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Concerned about your gambling or that of someone close to you. visit connectsonterio.ca. When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and held captive for nine months. I survived, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the survivor files. I just remember this low, taunting voice next to my ear saying, shut up, don't say anything. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinker. I knew if he woke up, without a doubt, he was going to hurt me.

I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed, and I just started screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. But these aren't stories about what's taken from them. There's stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle.

I chose option B. I'm Julie Pinero, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita, trading the pity for possibility. Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people and they were like, you smiled at us. Not a lot of people smile around here. It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is and not the lies you're sold about it. It can be a time where you push your limits, change your mind, or wake up to a new version of yourself.

So whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous to book your first trip, I hope you listen to Solita on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're, got your podcasts. Okay, let's do a couple mailbag questions and then get you out of here, get you ready for this football game. Okay, let's bang out some questions. Just heard the pod this morning. And you had the Steelers to make the playoffs over the Ravens and the paths. Could you go a little deeper?

You kind of did the coward thing where you look at the coach quarterback duo, but then talked yourself into taking the worst duo of the three options. You said yourself, Rogers is the worst of the three quarterbacks present day. I'd agree. Drake, May, Rogers. If you could have one of, you know, if you were a team, Rogers would be the third pick of the bunch. So you're saying McCarthy is so much better than Vrable and Minter

that he is going to drag a corpse of Aaron Rogers over the line. You also said the Ravens have a first-time play caller. Things can get weird. What has Lamar done in his first year with a new OC both times it's happened in his career? He won the MVP. Here's the problem with that argument. Greg Roman had been Harbaugh's offensive coordinator

for multiple years in San Francisco where they won with Alex Smith NFC championship game they changed the entire offense to Capradic in the middle of 2012 and then was able to morph so he had an experience with that type offense with Lamar Jackson

and I'm pretty sure Todd Bunkin had called some plays before he showed up to coach Lamar Jackson so you had two guys with a lot of experience Now, we can nitpick both of them. You know, Roman, obviously, is a guy that's pretty polarizing, and Munkin shit the bed against the Chiefs in the AFC championship game. But to compare those guys to a 30-year-old Declan Doyle to me is not a parallel. McCarthy is as accomplished as Mike Tomlin or John Harbaugh.

I think his resume actually, I heard someone say it's not that much different, Sean Peyton, either. McCarthy, his resume is way longer than Mike Vrable. and I'm pro-bike Vrable. So I would rank those McCarthy, Vrable, and then Minter's just unknown with a major unknown at play caller. I also said this.

The Ravens won at games last year. It's not like the Ravens like the Bills. Like they fired their coach. They were a player two away from being in the AFC championship game. It was just time. The Ravens were kind of in shambles last year. Had some major, major issues on defense.

and now they've had some turnovers with players. There's just some unknown with the franchise. Historically, 18 years of John, they transition. They transitioned. I don't know. It's fair to say, I just don't know. And I think the schedules is a lot harder with New England. Do I think New England could easily take that spot?

100%. I think the Steelers, one of their issues, they had one wide receiver last year. They had D.K. Metcalfe, who let's face it, a number two. So they had a sweet number two wide receiver. Now they have multiple number two. two wide receivers with him and Pittman. Their offense, they have a bunch of tight ends.

Their offense is going to be better. And I think defensively, they're can't be any worse. Again, I just picked one out of three. I think all three have question marks. Rogers last year played pretty well. The other thing is, we're ranking Rogers while he's the third ranked guy of the three.

We're acting like he's two. I mean, Roger's pretty solid. To me, it comes out. Can they run the ball? I think McCarthy's resume is pretty good. I would probably rank it. If you told me the paths are a playoff team, I can totally see that.

I think there's just a lot of question with the Ravens. I see some people picking them to win like 13 games. I'd be a little surprised. I heard you in Colin Pickett in Seattle to make Super Bowl. I'm fade in Seattle. Losing Kubiak is a big deal. Think about the Eagles and the Lions, both in recent examples.

I got the Bills Chargers, AFC champ, Rams, Cowboys, NFC, champ. What do you think? I think the Chargers could be really good. I think defensively, their front is going to be excellent. I think Messador is going to be a guy in the mix for like offensive rookie of the year. I think offensively, I saw Dana Jeremiah had on Joe Ortiz, and they were talking about Jamal Lewis,

who they were both around with the Ravens back in the day with Ozzie Newsom. And they compared Omar and Hampton. to him like this physical back. They got a big time running back or they got a big time offensive line with the two tackles. A quarterback's good. Yeah, I mean, I think the charges could be pretty good. I think the bills are going to be good. I mean, I think a lot of people like, I don't know. Something about Joe Brady. Listen, I'm not claiming I'm right, but you meet a guy you're like, I kind of feel his aura, kind of feel his swag. Like that feels like a head coach. You see Jesse Minter, he's like, doesn't really feel like a head coach to me. Now, I think

Jesse Minter's been a really good defensive coordinator. Kind of has some like Mike McDaniel vibes to me. But again, maybe I'm off. And I'm not even trying to be a hater. I believe in the Harbaas, and the guys they hire. But you're just telling me he's going to be the next Mike McDonald? I don't know. Rams, Cowboys, you guys know I love the Cowboys. I think the cool part about this season

is you could make the case for like six, seven teams in each conference being in the Final Four. I think the NFC is a ton of teams in the mix. and some teams that won't end up being in the mix, you could sell me on right now. Like, I don't believe, hell, I don't have the Packers in the playoffs. But, like, if they're able to, like, stabilize everything, Josh Jacobs case just goes away, like it happens a lot with rich people.

And all of a sudden, Micah comes back fully healthy, Tucker Kraft, Golden takes a step, LaFleur is dialed in. They're an 11-win team, and boom, they're competing to win the division. Mike, I can see it. Question for the pod. this guy's from Santa Barbara. Can you talk about Trent Mosley? I know you're not the biggest SC guy.

Fight on for O.S.C. I'm not anti-S-C. He was grossly underrated coming out of high school considering the run he went on in the CIAF. And then looking like an All-American in his first two games, breaking tackles. You know, I've obviously watched because they played on Friday nights,

watched both their games. He, to me, he's the wide receiver at USC number four. he's got a little, I'm not saying he's going to be this good, but last year, Tony, you know, assuming USC's a 9-10 win team, Tony just was a true freshman, and by the end of the year, like this guy's elite, I think Mosley's got a chance to be like, I'm the best freshman wide receiver in the league. They played San Jose State, they played Fresno State,

hard to judge. He's a Southern California guy, what's it going to look like when he plays in some of these colder weather games? So a lot of question marks, but just his play speed is pretty elite. I mean, his movement in the open field when they just show some of the ISOs after some of his touchdowns or routes. Guys, guys got some ability.

Hammer the Iowa Hawkeyes to make the playoffs. Look at the schedule. They could honestly make it with two losses potentially. But after what we just watched with Michigan and Bryce Underwood and Washington, I could definitely see them going 11 and 1. I'm not even sure losing to Ohio State is a lock either. Could be a night game in Iowa.

Google what happened the last. time they came. Trust me on this. John, source, quote, trust me, bro. I think we'll see how good Ohio State is this week when them in Texas play. I mean, those two teams played, I mean, what a joke week one is for those two guys. I mean, they'd be sitting at half time. It's like, what are we doing? You know, I think you and Penn State have opportunities with the schedule. I think they're really trying to stay away from that. You know, it's like a 10 and 2 team, I feel like a nine and three team is eventually going to make it over 10 and two team that plays a way harder schedule and proves themselves. And I wonder if that's on the table this year. I think this year for

the first time it's going to get really weird. I mean, last year was Miami and Notre Dame in that conversation, but Miami beat Notre Dame. Like they played. Miami won. This year I think there's going to be a lot of like, especially some of these big 10 schedules. Okay, a couple more questions. Love your work. You've been my gardening soundtrack now for years. Question. We struggle in Australia to get people in the NFL largely due to the pace of the game. Our games, rugby, Ozzie rules, all move fast, no ad breaks, 80 minutes, end to end.

The biggest objection we get as NFL fans when recruiting mates, quote, friends, I know what mates are, is, but it is too slow and takes forever. It's crazy, a game takes three hours and there's like 12 minutes of game time. I have the NFL app and can watch games on their ad-free sped-up mode

if we watch them delayed, which is usually not drama. But my question is, what do you all do during all the ad breaks in games when you watch games live? Any tips? Do you all have Red Zone on separate TVs, multiple games? I get watching with a large crew and making a real event of it, but what about just chilling at home on the couch?

How do you keep up the vibe when watching live? Well, I think, I don't know, we just watch the game, and when the commercials hit, we plan our phone, we eat a snack, we take a leak. I mean, maybe our vibes, you know, I think a lot of us watch the game either by ourselves or with other friends that are fans of those teams. So if you're like a fan of the Cowboys or the Giants or the Eagles or whatever, you're watching the game with your buddies that are all the same fan of those teams, you're excited or complained that you just talk about the game during the break.

I don't even think about it. I don't know, just we're so used to the flow of the, it's a great question. I don't, we're just, maybe we're not into vibes. We're just into like the next play. We just have a next play mentality. So we just start talking about what's going to happen the next play. We end on this.

Ari Aaron Donald. On some level, could this move disrupt the Rams locker room? Especially Miles and Fisk. The players would never admit it, but Garrett was supposed to be the final piece, top dog, the alpha of the defense. Sack leader, first ballot hall fame, or etc. and now all anyone is talking about is Aaron Donald.

And for Fisk, playing next to Garrett was his chance to really break out. Where now he's sharing time with Donald. Maybe Donald's subs in on passing downs on occasion. How is this playing in on the locker room? I can't imagine as the type to stay quiet in the corner. I can't imagine Donald's the type to, yeah. I think this would be a bigger issue in basketball.

I think in football, I bet everyone in that locker room was excited. Miles Garrett is paid like the alpha and he's an edge guy and even Fisk like honestly you play less reps you're more you're more equipped on a down-end-out

basis to make more play I think it's more of an issue on offense it's like well this guy's taken away because there's only one ball to go around on defense you rotate everyone no matter what I think the one position group that is just doesn't matter is truly the defensive lineman. I don't think they care at all.

The volume. I'm Brett Coleman. And I'm Trevor Sycambe. If you love football and want to understand what's really happening on the field, check out our show, NFL Pro. Every week we break down the biggest plays, trends, and matchups using exclusive next-gen gen stats insights and NFL content you will not find anywhere else. Whether you're new to football, a fantasy football fanag, or a diehardy.

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and an all-star cast of co-hosts as we preview and recap every game. Listen to NFL Daily on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. College football will hijack your weekend, ruin your sleep, and break your heart. And that's why we make the Solid Verbal College Football Show. I'm Ty Hildenbrand. He's Dan Rubinstein. Every week, we preview the games that matter and the storylines that are going to

Ignite your group chat. And you can join us in the aftermath as we react to what happened, why it matters, and how the sport went completely bonkers yet again. Listen to the Solid Verbal College Football Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Mike Yam. And I'm Trevor Sycamma. And together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Show.

Are you ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Because if you aren't locked in with us on the NFL Fantasy Football, show, you're already playing from behind. Whether you're a first-time player or a grizzled vet chasing another championship would give you the advantage and the confidence you need to make every move counts. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast.

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