The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 & Out - Anthony Richardson OUT in Indy, WHAT IS GOING ON rankings, Jon Gruden BACK to coaching

Episode Date: August 20, 2025

John dives into the news of the day that came out of Indianapolis when the Colts named Daniel Jones as the team starter. With Jones as the starter, what does that mean for the future of Anthony Richardson and could he go down as one of the worst picks in NFL history? Next, John talks about the Bengals playing Joe Burrows for multiple drives in the second preseason game against Washington and if that was a good idea or not. After, John dives into how impressive Jayden Daniels looked in his first preseason action even though he only played four plays. Later, John ranks his top three "What The F" moments in the NFL, and gives you his take on if he thinks Jon Gruden is going to be back coaching in either the NFL or College in the near future. Finally, John answers your questions in this episode's mailbag segment. 05:05 - Anthony Richardson not the starter in Indy 13:48 - Who is interested in Richardson 14:43 - Joe Burrow update 21:27 - Jayden Daniels is a real talent 30:50 - "What The F" rankings 38:26 - Jon Gruden back to coaching 46:48 - Mailbag Follow John on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest. Check out Gametime - the fastest growing ticketing app in the US, and the official ticketing app of 3 & Out and GoLow -  for tickets to all of your favorite NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA teams. Concert and comedy show tickets, too. Go to Gametime now to create an account, download the app and use code JOHN for $20 off your first purchase. #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick.

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It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, Point Game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was funny. You just understood. That's how personal it got.

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Just a little bit bigger hips. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drinks. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? Oh, they had a bogo. Well, then you got it. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The volume. What is going on, everybody? How are we doing? Hopefully you're having a great, beautiful day out there in the streets of the real world. I'm recording a little podcast in Los Angeles. I actually can see the city from where I'm sitting. A little foggy overcast as L.A. typically is. It's kind of hot and humid down here, to be honest with you.

But I was like, you know what? Let's fire up the old computer. It's been a long day. Been up since the crack of dawn. And do a little podcast because Anthony Richardson was benched officially today. And Daniel Jones was named the starter. I did want to hit on a couple things from Monday night, Joe Burrow, Jaden Daniels, that Monday night game, at least the first quarter, which was kind of interesting. I do think there is a guy in college football, a name that used to be really famous and rumored for a lot of jobs for a long period of time that now is kind of.

out of the circle but says he wants to coach that, let's face it, the John Gruden rumors and the SEC are not going to go away. And I also want to do a little, what the fuck's going on here? List. Excuse my language for the kids. But WTF with some of these teams in the NFL just has me scratching my head. And one of them might be in South Beach because I'm not quite sure what's going on down there.

We'll also do a little mailbag. At John Middlecoff. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire in those DMs and get your questions, answer. here on the show. So we got a lot of DMs. I'm going to try to bang out a bunch the next couple days. So I appreciate everyone firing in there. But again, at John Middlecoff is the Instagram firing those DMs and get your questions answered here on the show. So good show today, fired up. You guys know the drill. Subscribe to Three Now Podcast if you're listening. And

on Collins feed, also the YouTube channel, have you covered with a bunch of content there. So make sure you subscribe to the channel as well. Well, before we dive in to the podcast, you know I've got to tell you about my friends. You know I've got to tell you about my partners. Best Ticketing app in America. I've been using game time for a long time. And what do you want to do? Do you want to go to a football game?

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Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem the code, John for $20 off, download the GameTime app, last minute tickets, lowest prices, guaranteed. You know, I get asked a lot, like, how different is your life as a married man than it was before?

And I often say that it's not very different. Now, granted, I had been living with her for several years. I would say when you start living with someone, as anyone listening to this knows, that lives with their significant other that's been married a while, like it's a pretty dramatic change from being by yourself. And not just learning how to cohabitate, but learning that sometimes you just need to take the L, admit you were wrong, even though sometimes you weren't, or definitely you don't believe you were. And sometimes you legitimately are. I think we've got a baby outside. And the draft is not a perfect science, and you are going to miss on players.

And I think the most embarrassing thing teams do, like most fans aren't Bill Walsh or Bill Belichick, but they have a pretty good idea who's a good player and who's not. and after a while, like, it becomes pretty established. Like, yeah, this guy can't play. You're just holding on to him because you drafted him. And I've said forever, I have philosophical belief when you draft really high. I am never against swinging for the fences because there is no such thing as a high floor player. They do not exist.

We're dealing with human beings. This is the NFL. There is no such thing. Whenever I hear, like, this guy's got a really high floor, I don't know if he's going to be a star. Or he might just stink. right? So when you swing for the fences, sometimes you hit a walk off grand slam, and sometimes you strike out. There have been investors that, like, hey, I invested into Uber when they were, you know, a company built out of a garage. I heard a story a couple years ago on the golf course about these

two guys. One of them now is pretty famous. You'd know his name if I said it out loud. They were on the initial funding of Google. Let's just say it changed the course of their life. But I promise you this, for every million dollar investment into Google that 500 X's, there's a lot of them that just disappear, that go to zero. That's kind of how it works. It's no different with drafting. Chris Ballard said forever, I'm not just going to take a quarterback to take a quarterback. And honestly, I agree with that philosophy.

You can't just pick a guy if you don't like the player. And sometimes the draft board does not fall to you. But they got to a point after just the luck retirement, and all the patchwork of Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz, right, Matt Ryan, it was just, they were going to take a big swing. And they just happened to strike out. And even his biggest defenders, the moment Anthony Richardson, a couple weeks ago in that preseason game, stepped back to pass on the second drive of that game and didn't know where the pressure was coming from, where I don't pretend to be Kyle Shanahan or Andy Reid or Sean McVey on a whiteboard. I never pretend to be some schematic genius here. But when every single former player and former coach and guy in the media and guy on social media,

every single one of them said, that's day one install. That mistake cannot happen. One, and I wasn't alone with this thought. I thought Anthony Richardson's Indianapolis career was in major jeopardy the moment they signed Daniel Jones. And I've said from the jump, if I was a betting man back in the spring, I would have bet on Daniel Jones being the starting quarterback. Not because I think Daniel Jones is going to resurrect his career and become like Rich Gannon in his 30s, but just because we've seen this song and dance.

Hell, a couple years ago, the 49ers, you know, Anthony Richardson's going to go down as one of the worst draft picks we've seen in recent memory. I would imagine in the next 10 days if they get any bit of value of fifth round pick, he's traded. It's over. The 49ers, which was even a worst pick because they traded so many first round to trade up had a similar situation. They swung for the fences, they struck out, and going into year three.

Not only Trey wasn't going to be their starting quarterback, he couldn't win the backup job. What happened? They got Jerry Jones, who's kind of the sucker right now, to give him a fourth-round pick, and they unloaded them. Now, I don't think you would get a fourth-round pick for Anthony Richardson, but I do think there'd be enough teams around the NFL because talking to my scouting buddies that really liked AR from a character standpoint and off the field, it was just like, hey, he's a major, major project on the field.

And these type guys didn't used to get picked, right? 20, 30 years ago, that never happened. Josh Allen kind of changed the game. You're like, wait, you're telling me this guy with those stats at Wyoming, he's going to draft 7th and become one of the best players of his generation? Anthony Richardson and Trey Lancer, two examples. These guys barely played. And obviously, Anthony Richardson played at Florida,

but beside the Utah game, there were a lot of question marks. And obviously, he didn't answer any of them in Indianapolis, from injuries to not understanding the offense, to the protections to just not being able to function. I mean, the guy literally tapped out in the middle of a game, which again, every player to a man was like, you 100% can never do that. That is a, that's frowned upon in this establishment.

It's like, whoa. I mean, I would have imagined that'd be pretty bad, but at the NFL level, every guy freaked out. You could argue it was unofficially over then, and it officially became over now. But you can't keep forcing this just because you draft. them. That's where you get in really big trouble. And I also think you

sign this guy and listen, Alex Smith resurrected his career six, seven years into it. It takes a coach believing you and specifically an offensive coach. He got Jim Harbaugh, then he got Andy Reid, and I think we look back on Alex Smith's career pretty fondly. Because you typically remember the good stuff, not the bad stuff.

It's kind of the way our memories work a lot of the time. Like no one really talks about it. Remember like 07, Alex Smith? No, we're talking about, Hey, remember him with Andy Reid? Pretty good player. Win like 11 or 12 games. Honestly, before he heard his leg, he was like a top 10 quarterback in the NFL.

And that was always my comp for Daniel Jones. But this is why that's the best case scenario. Your floor, when that's your best case scenario, is really, really low. And this is a guy that's not the most explosive thrower, that's not the most dynamic player, that I would say is not the most instinctive player. But he's tall, he can move, he's got a solid arm,

and coaches like him. Why he's pretty smart. And clearly, teammates like them. Remember, the New York Giants, a lot of their players thought that he got screwed in the way that was handled. But this is also a guy that was cut in the middle of the season last year. After that team had given him $80 million $14 months previously. So I said this a couple days ago, and I will reiterate this point. When you don't know who your quarterback is in the middle of August, you got major problems.

And maybe if Shane Steichen was sitting here, he'd say, honestly, John, we knew Daniel Jones was our quarterback three weeks ago. We just had to let the process play out. I said, okay, but if Daniel Jones is your starting quarterback, you also got issues. So I say today on the herd, like, I am going to hammer the Texans. I'm going to hammer them to win this division. I'm going to bet them outright, plus 110. I think they've actually got out of plus 105. I'm going to parlay them with some teams. But the more I think about it, like, I never trust the Jacks. I just don't. You know, I'm sorry. Until they prove otherwise, I am going to bet against them or not taking that seriously.

And the Colts, like, I think could be a really, really weird season because you have a head coach and a GM that, let's face it, are kind of in a make or break year. And it feels like if this goes bad, which I would imagine most people think that it could, they're going to get fired. Now, Daniel Jones could save everyone's job. He could resurrect his career, and we could see these guys, sign them to an extension and go on and everyone has a smile in their face.

But for every, and this is like the Josh Allen situation, for every Sam Darnold that all of a sudden four, five, six years in, throws 35 touchdowns and becomes a highly paid quarterback, most guys do not. And I will always bet on the majority, right? Yeah, you can invest a million dollars in this company hoping it's the next Google or Uber. But more than likely, it's going to be some company you never hear about and your money is going to disappear into the ether. So I think the Colts were kind of up Shits Creek without a paddle. They didn't have many options. This was their best option in the offseason to sign Daniel Jones, at least they thought. But I think the question now is, who's interested in Anthony Richardson?

You know, does a good team, does like an Andy Reid or a Baltimore, like do they sniff around? If you're the Colts, do you even unload him to that situation? Well, if you don't think he's good, you don't really care. And if you're not going to be around, you definitely don't care. So this situation got ugly and it got ugly fast. I commend them for trying. I never have a problem with the team being really aggressive. But the moment you know that it's not going to work in the NFL, which operates at rapid speed now,

you got to pivot. And the Colt pivoted today. And as Shane Steichen said, I don't have a short leash. He's the starter for the season. even though that's, I don't want to say it's cliche, but what he's basically saying is, we don't want Anthony Richardson to start. That's not what we want.

The players and myself. Two guys that you do want to start, Joe Burrow and Jane Daniels, let's start with Joe Burrow. He's an exceptional talent. He is, if you're a Bengal fan, you know this. He is just,

that's just a fun player to watch. When he's on, I think a couple years ago, against the 49ers in the middle of the season, he played one of the best games I've ever seen. It was like, that's quarterback porn. He is, he's got a chance to be an all-time great. I mean, he already is like an unreal player, Max player. He's got a pretty good resume so far, but he's an exceptional player.

He played more snaps so far this preseason than he has in his previous five years combined. I'm not pro playing in the preseason or anti-sitting your guys in the preseason. You can do whatever you need to do. And getting your juices flowing and sweating a little bit is a good thing. Andy's been doing it with Mahomes forever, and they've been kicking the shit out of everybody. So I'm all for, if you want to get your guys some reps, you want to get Joe Burrell some reps. But on Monday night, they brought him in, let a touchdown drive. Then they like kept him out there.

It's like, guys, he's good. get him a little sweat. I think three drives, a little overkill. Him, Jamar, Higgins, they are the least of your worries. Your defense stinks. And this is the thing when people talk about a mom-and-pop shop operation. And let's face it, there are some organizations, all of these organizations, kind of are mom and most of them are run by a family.

Like, this is not when we have 10 investors in the company, and everyone has a say. That's not the way pro sports work, right? You saw it in the NBA. That guy bought the extra portion. The bus family is out. They can still own a portion. They have zero say in anything that's going on.

The Celtics sold, boom, we don't care what you think anymore. Mark Cuban, like, I love the Mavericks. I'm selling, but I'm still going to run it. No, you're not. You have no say anymore. That's the way this ownership stuff works. So from Jerry Jones to the Yorks, to the Cronkies, to the glazers, all the blanks, the families own it, and what they say goes.

And the Brown family, who actually are pretty passionate football people, I think they know what they're doing. It is very difficult. I've had this theory forever and it's never going to change. When you are ingrained with a cheap mentality, even once you become financially solvent and have a lot of capital behind you, whether you become a millionaire, whether you're like the Browns and have an asset worth billions of dollars. That mindset never changes. All of us have certain qualities that even as we age, we change, we mature, as we get into our 40s, our 50s, that we've never shook from when we were 10, 15 years old. And there is a cheapness with the Browns of arguing over these pennies that has got them in trouble in the past

and is currently getting them in more trouble now. Their defense is not very good. And Trey Hendrickson, I didn't realize this until one of the stats guys, one of the guys on the herd, showed me the stat of last year, Trey Hendrickson, accounted for 48% of the Bengals sacks. Basically, half their sacks came from one guy, which you'd be like, well, put that into context, John. The next guy, Miles Garrett, who's one of the best players in the league, accounted for 34% And then most of the other guys were in the 20s. So you get a guy at 50% kind of shows you,

this defense ain't very good. And they're also then depending on a guy that they drafted in the first round, Shamar Stewart. You might want to Google his production in college, because let me tell you this, it wasn't exactly a double-digit sack guy. Pretty sure he has four and a half career sacks. So I think when I watch the Bengals,

who clearly are trying and making an emphasis to take the preseason seriously so they don't start slow, the offense is not going to be their problem. But we have seen a lot of teams in football history. High school, definitely a ton in college, and some in the pros with just elite offenses. But if you can't stop a soul, you have no chance to win meaningful games.

You do not need to have an all-time great defense. You just need to be solid on defense. And the Bengals, surely are not. So if you're a Bengal fan, you just need to enjoy Burrow. but to just think that think how crazy it is that if we just talk about the top four quarterbacks that we all agree and you can order them

however you want. Mahomes, Josh, Lamar, Joe. When I say Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, we are all in agreement. Playoff lock. The Ravens, the Bills, and the Chiefs will be in a playoff game.

Whether they win the division, honestly we think all three are going to win the division, Maybe the Chiefs finally don't, but the Ravens and Bills. I mean, the bills have won at what, five straight years. It feels like the Ravens would be shocking if they didn't. But they're going to be playing in playoff games. It's like, yeah, the Bengals, maybe. I mean, last year they missed, and I don't know, has anything changed?

But no one's like, well, Burroughs going to throw 45 touchdowns. And they could win 9-10 games. And maybe get the 7-seat, maybe not. So it's a pretty big indictment of the franchise. The other thing I was thinking, and this speaks to Joe, football isn't that complicated. It really isn't. You get, obviously you need an owner who supports you.

But even the Browns like, or I mean the Bengals, all these teams have money. So this is not baseball where it's like the A's will never spend. The Tampa Bay raise, they finally did spend and the dude had some serious off the field issues. So that's never happening again. But, you know, in basketball, the difference of revenues of the Lakers and the Memphis Grizzlies is dramatically different. where in football, like everyone has a ton of money.

So if they want to pay guys, like the Bengals are just deciding not to pay them, not because they don't have $60 or $70 million to guarantee him. And listen, I think there is some argument to be made about drawing a hard line of like what is the number. And unless you're part of the negotiations, we're all just kind of guessing what's going on. But you need an owner with the money. All the NFL owners have the money. But then that owner needs to hire a good coach and a good GM. And if you get a competent coach and a competent GM, you're just going to have a chance.

But if you get the quarterback right with a competent coach and a competent GM, you're just going to be a high-level franchise for the foreseeable future. And Jaden Daniels, that's a talent, man. That kid's got a chance to be a big-time player. Obviously, his rookie season, but part of being a great player, consistent all-pro, Hall of Famer, guy wins MVP, is doing it every year. That's what makes the Joe Burrell Mahomes, obviously Lamar and Josh so impressive. Every year you know you're just getting big time quarterback play.

You're just getting winning quarterback play. Some of those guys are getting incredible stats. You know, and I just think you watch that guy change that franchise. And that franchise was kind of a joke. Look at the Lions. Right? What did they do? They got a good GM, they got a good head coach, and they got a solid quarterback.

They had a great quarterback for a long time. But their coach at GM were always a joke for Stafford. If Stafford, in his prime, could have played for these two guys, who does? The Lions might already won a Super Bowl. So the commanders finally got it right. Now, are they going to go as far as they did last year? Honestly, they could be better and win less games. But that's a franchise that just feels like they kind of know what they're doing.

And this is the thing. And listen, I'll defend owners on this one. I was talking to someone today in the Fox building, like, if you could do it over again, how would you look at things differently when you were scouting players? And I would say, one thing I've learned from doing this for a living and just being around these teams from more at an arm's length is you realize the power of the person, how important the character and the mindset and the wiring of a player is. Because in most of these owners businesses, they're dealing in some form or fashion with a widget with just a product.

Like Jimmy Haslam, trucking, right? Some of the, crocky, real estate. You're just dealing with things that their assets are not human beings. Anytime you deal with human beings of being worth hundreds of millions of dollars, it's just pretty risky. So you better bet on the right person. And it is difficult because most guys, coaches and, and GMs when they walk into an interview, probably pretty impressive. Usually one of the best coordinators, usually a married guy with a couple kids, or if I'm a

GM, like I've worked for Howie Roseman or I've worked for less need. It's like, God, he looks at the part, he's got good hair, he's got a 33-inch waist. You know, it's like, God, this guy looks like he's a GM. And then they get the job in there completely over their head. And if you or I were an owner and we tried to hire a coach in a GM, we could easily get it wrong, right? You definitely could get it wrong. But when you get it right, and there's a, there's a lot. an element of luck in this. I know

Robert Kraft, I saw a couple weeks ago, was like trying to brag that when he hired Belichick that a lot of people called him an idiot. Yeah, I mean, there's some, I don't want to, you hired him, but I don't think anyone envisioned him taking you to nine Super Bowls or whatever. I mean,

you couldn't even envision that. He couldn't envision that. So there's an element of luck to this all, but when you get it right, and it's easier sometimes with a coach when they have done it before, right? Like Mike Vrable, you have a pretty good idea what you're getting. Dan Quinn, you got a pretty good, but some of these GMs, most of them are first-timers. Wise man told me, GMs don't get second opportunities typically, right? If you go around

the league at most of the GMs in the NFL, I bet the majority of them it's their only job they've just start working your way around the league. It's not a lot of guys like three-time, like Mike McCarthy, if he gets hired next year, it'll be his third head coaching job. How many GMs are you going to find in the modern era they're going to get three gigs? So if I'm a commander fan, I'm pretty happy. rivalries, the marching bands, the upset. Saturdays just got way more fun. College football is back, baby. Think you know the game? Put your college football knowledge to the test with Draft King Sportsbook and turn your picks into big payouts from live betting during the rivalry week odds boosts and so much more. Draft King Sportsbook has everything you need to stay in the action from the kickoff to the

final whistle. Here's the thing. We got a top 25 matchup happening this week in Ireland. I state taking on K-State. I've been listening to a lot of people, my guy, Josh Pate, Iowa State, a little bit of a sleeper this year, you can get them right now, odds are subject to change, kind of like Iowa State plus three this week. Across the pond, Iowa

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Void in Ontario. Bonus beds expire seven days after issuance. For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.com slash audio. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember.

I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, for people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey, Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game.

His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us

on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball, like, After you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick.

Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This week on Crimless, we're joined by our first ever guest. Sorry, our first ever human guest. I don't think I could be in the same room with Shamrock the parrot. I'd be too nervous. That's right. The very funny Will Ferrell joins Rory Scovel and me, Josh Dean,

for an episode dedicated to the many crimes committed by people also named Will Ferrell. They called to his fellow officer for the nippers. What are the nippers? Very good question. No, I was thinking, would that be a good name for like a salad dressing? Simple assault. And it's a play on word, salt? Maybe not.

I say we invest and we see. There's only one way to know. This did not amuse the cops. By the way, normally the cops are amused. But this did not be it's the cops. Will even comes clean about some of his own crimes. I didn't get caught. You know why?

If you don't want to be suspected of anything, you whistle as you walk. Listen to crime lists on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I thought I'd do this. A little what the fuck is going on here, rankings. Because there are a couple teams that I just, I don't even know what to say. And I got three of them. And we're going to start at three. Three has to be the Cleveland Browns.

By all accounts, and by every report, Schefter said this, Albert Breer today, double down on this. They're going to keep three quarterbacks or four quarterbacks. Flacco's been named their starter. For whatever reason, they love Kenny Pickett. Do you know what Kenny Pickett reminds me of? Speaking of hiring, it's like you hire this guy to run your finances for a company. It's like, hey, he used to work at Goldman Sachs,

went to Princeton. This guy's sharp. then you find out his dad was the biggest booster of Princeton and was the president of the branch that he worked at at Goldman Sachs. Not quite as impressive. It's like just because Kenny Pickett went in the first round does not mean he's a good player. He had one good year in college. It was like a historically bad quarterback draft the year he came out.

And I'd say he got overdrafted by 75 spots, yet somehow coaches still love him. You have two rookie quarterbacks, which makes absolutely no sense. and one has like this cultural following, which clearly the head coach and GM didn't want. The other one made this comment, which clearly wasn't taking a shot at the player, but everyone, it's just become a circus. And I don't understand.

They were giving an out to truly blow this thing up. Miles Garrett asked for a trade. So if they would have traded him, it wouldn't have been like, you know, they just traded him out of the blue. He literally wanted to leave. And you could have got a absolute, you could have got multiple ones, multiple twos,

because you're not going to be any good. But instead, the owner, he's kind of like, I don't know, he's fly by the seat of his pants sometimes, gets very emotional, gives him money. And I'm not against investing into players like Miles Garrett, but given their circumstances, it made no sense. I just, I think this theme's going to be a disaster. And listen, I always say this.

The he said, she said shit. I never even pretend to have a clue. And clearly some of these guys, what she said has been a complete lie. And I am always on the side of, why don't we ever go after when she just completely mix it up about a domestic violence situation where you criminally go after her

and then civilly go after her? You're like, Josh, she doesn't have any money. Well, every dollar she does get moving forward, I'm going to get a piece of. Because that's what she wanted to do to me. So I'm not acting like all these guys that the Browns have signed are a bunch of turds, but it got printed out and it's all over social media.

The list of guys with domestic violence attached to their background, like, it's pretty crazy. I mean, and I say this all the time. They got an Ivy League head coach and Ivy League GM, and they signed some character dudes. So they don't even pretend to give a shit. What Jason Light said, like, no assholes and d-bags? I mean, last year, their second round pick got arrested for pointing a gun at his fiancé. Like, that's not an alleged. Like, that happened.

You know, some of the stuff this offseason is hard to know exactly what. And listen, I am all for if she made it up going after her ass and ruining her life because that's what she attempted to do to you. But not everyone is just, I mean, they got a quarterback making a ton of money that has a pretty sketchy past. Number two's got to be the Dallas Cowboys of just, I've tried to mentally support because it's so easy to shit on Dallas. Everyone's like, you're going to suck. It's like, well, are they? And now it's like, I don't know. there eventually gets to a point of like a line where it's like I think they've kind of passed it of how do you take this operation seriously.

And I think Mike McCarthy, who was a real NFL coach. The guy won a Super Bowl in 2010, coached the Packers with Aaron Rogers, which was a marquee brand and had them kicking ass playing at a really high level for years. So had everyone watching them, had a magnifying glass on their operation, like just knows what he's doing. we can nitpick him. Obviously, the playoff performances were pretty ugly. But to go from him to Brian Schottenheimer, and with every year, Jerry feels like he's getting a little more, I don't know, out there losing a little bit. The pistons upstairs aren't quite firing at the same speed. And you have to wonder if eventually it's just going to blow up and be really ugly. And that's kind of what it feels like. I mean, every day there's a report like,

yeah, Jerry and Micah just aren't talking. Like, well, let's see. going, how is this happening? I don't, like, I get the Browns being like, yeah, Trey, listen, you're a 30 year old guy, we signed you an extension a couple years ago, like, this is a tough negotiation, like, Jerry, you drafted this guy in the first round. He became a high-end, all-pro, pro-bow level player for you. Like, all these guys, Jerry's extending,

are literally guys he's drafted. But he's, the Al Davis quality comes more and more to light by the day. And then number one, I don't know, think there is a close second. Dallas and Cleveland are shit shows. What the fuck's going on with the Miami Dolphins? I mean, seriously. There was a Lions player.

I didn't write it down, but when they joint practice, essentially, he's like, yeah, I'm not really sure what's going on over there, which is kind of unheard of. You usually don't see other players taking shots or even questioning what's happening. But I said this last year, and I, listen, Shane Steichen is not getting off scoff-scot-free on this either. When Mike McDaniels said, like, yeah, I don't really know what to do when guys show up late that finding them doesn't phase them. It's like, when guys are showing up late to you, they basically are telling everyone, they have no respect for you, not as a coach, but as a human being.

Because if you respect another human being, especially a superior, your boss, you show up on time. Football, it's like, hey, meetings at 8.15 in the morning, 8.30 in the morning, right? It's pretty bit, you're already there eating breakfast, working out, training. You're either in your seat or you're in your locker room. You typically, you're probably not at home. And then the Tyreek Hill situation. And it's not all Mike McDaniel's fault, right?

The GM bears responsibility. The roster stink. This team's got a chance. This thing can unravel really, really fast. And I will say this about the Miami Dolphins. I do wonder if that's a desirable job. If that's one of those jobs where it's like, I don't even want to mess with it. I don't know if you can win there.

I know it's a glamorous place, no state income tax, great weather most of the year. It's starting to get a feel where it might just not be like, oh, they're just hiring the wrong coach. That might be a toxic area. That might be an area where it's just never going to work. And Mike McDaniel clearly's over his head. You know, Flores, who was better than Mike, was awful with the offense and the quarterback, which can't happen in 2025. So it's like, I don't know what they do. but I would imagine everyone's going to get fired,

and I think the question is, well, who do they hire? And who would even be interested in the job? Okay, last but not least. Josh Pate has been talking about this, and I completely agree, is the expectations for all of these top SEC teams are really, really high. Texas thinks they're winning the Natty.

You wouldn't meet a Georgia fan that doesn't think they're going to go back to, like, at minimum the elite eight, final four. Florida fans think that they're going to be a serious contender this year. Alabama was like our nine wins last year was a negative outlier. Get ready for us to win 10 or 11. LSU fans are like, well, we got Garrett Nussmeyer, this or year. Some of these South Carolina's like Lenora Seller could be a top 10 pick one day.

Some of these teams are going to end up with eight or nine wins again. And it's going to feel like a disaster. I mean, it truly is. Cowher talked about it today that the best. Bengals last year 1-9 and the Broncos 1-10, and Bronco fans felt like they struck oil, like they found gold at the bottom of the river. Meanwhile, the Bengals fans felt like the franchise was about to fold. So the expectations going into a season kind of dictate your happiness at the end, right?

You look at a team like SC is a good example. Their expectations sometimes are out of whack. And when they win seven games and they view themselves as a playoff team, even though they were never going to the playoff teams, they're probably closer to an eight-win team. Even if they won one less game than they should have, it feels like a disaster. It's like, actually, you guys weren't that great. And I think when you look at the SEC, some of these guys are going to get fired. Auburn, Florida, Brian Kelly, something drastic is going to happen, mainly because there's a name floating out there. He's putting it out there.

John Gruden wants to coach. and I can't quite decipher everything going on with these NFL lawsuits. I know there were reports that he won like an injunction in Nevada and it moves up the court system. I don't know if anyone's hiring him in the NFL. I can't see that to be their head coach. But luckily for him, the SEC pays big money. And essentially now, major college football is like the NFL light. And he keeps saying over and over and over again that I want to coach football.

And there is no place that looks like the NFL. If you got some questionable character stuff and have some, you know, legal stuff in your background, if you can play, they don't give a shit. Never have, never will. They are not the moral police. They're trying to win games. They're running a business, and their business is scoring more points than their opponent. The SEC has a similar vibe, especially when it comes to coaches.

I mean, look at Hugh Fries. Look at some of the coaches they've hired in the past that they look past and they are completely unfaced. Now, ideally, they would just like to get a guy that checks all the boxes like a Nick Sabin or Kirby Smart, but as we know, those don't always exist. I think there is above a 50% chance John Gruden is coaching in the SEC. Now, I don't know how this is going to play out. It's what makes a college football season such, the anticipation leading to this exciting year, because you could come up with like seven different scenarios in college football.

Who wins a national championship? who's in the final four, who's good, who's bad. No one has any clue, which we haven't been able to say pre-transfer portal in NIL. I differ with Colin from, there should be some traditional nature to the sport, and we're losing a lot of that. The pageantry of college football, the alumni base, the fan base, the game day atmosphere is a big part of why we love the sport, which is different than the NFL, which is not as predicated on that type stuff. but it's become a big time business and the little guy is getting destroyed and they simply don't matter. We're never going backward. We're only moving forward.

So the little guy will get more and more literally pillage for their players, but shittier television deals and will become more and more irrelevant. And the emphasis on the big boys winning will only get amplified as the money grows and gross. So it's like, and listen, these buyouts are insane. So I don't pretend to know how it all works, but we've seen crazy things happen in the past. And I think John Gruden's name, LSU, Florida, Auburn, he's going to be a major player. And I expect him to be coached in the SEC in 2020. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers. And guess what?

We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. First people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts.

We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down?

Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast. but we could call in and say, hey Jonas, and then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam?

It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game.

We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by like Quentin Richardson,

we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash will get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah. You figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This week on Crimless, we're joined by our first ever guest. Sorry, our first ever human guest. I don't think I could be in the same room with Shamrock the pair. I'd be too nervous. That's right. The very funny Will Ferrell joins Rory Scovel and me, Josh Dean, for an episode dedicated to the many crimes committed by people also named Will Ferrell. They called to his fellow officer for the nippers.

What are the nippers? Very good question. No, I was thinking, would that be a good name for like a salad dressing? Simple assault. And it's a play on word, salt? Maybe not. I say we invest and we see. There's only one way to know.

This did not amuse the cops. By the way, normally the cops are amused, but this did not abuse the cops. Will even comes clean about some of his own crimes. I didn't get caught. You know why? If you don't want to be suspected of anything, you whistle as you walk. Listen to crime lists on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Okay.

dive into a little thing we call the Middlecough mailbag at John Middlecough, at John Middlecough is the Instagram firing those DMs and get your questions answered here on the show. We will start with Dylan. Question for the pod. Love the show. But I've been hearing quite a bit of Rams slander and a lot toward Jimmy G, saying the Rams have no chance at the playoffs if Jimmy G is playing. I know Jimmy's last outing with the Raiders wasn't pretty, but they did not have a serious

head coach or team surrounding him in any sense. Last time Jimmy was on a good team, he led them to Super Bowl, and then again to the NFC championship. I believe this is his best roster Sean McVeigh has had and with lots of depth. With that being said, do you think Jimmy G just has regressed as a quarterback and doesn't have the capability of leading a good team to the playoffs? Or do you think Shanahan just was a much better coach than McVeigh? Yeah, no, I mean, I think a lot of people would say McVeigh is better than Shanahan.

He's got a Super Bowl, Kyle doesn't. And these last couple years, you know, last year's a good example. Like Kyle went 6 and 11 and Sean, you know, went on a pretty good run. But, listen, I think when Kyle's on, he's damn good too. But my point about Jimmy is independent of Bill Walsh or Andy Reid coaching him. I think he has so many injuries that he regressed as a player within the pocket. And there's a level of his frenetic nature. he's never been the most accurate player.

He just has physical limitations. And then over the course, he's torn an ACL, he's fucked up a thumb, he shattered a foot. He just has a lot of wear and tear for a guy that started early on in his career as a backup. So, yeah, I think he's regressed as a player. Now, you know, if Matt Stafford,

if you tell me he can play 12 games this season, could the Rams make the playoffs? 100%. Could they win some games? Jimmy Garoppolo. Yes. If you tell me Jimmy Garoppolo is the full-time starter, 17 games, and Matt Stafford's just gone, then I think they would have some problems. And I would not pick them. I mean, they won 10 games last year with Stafford playing. Big listener, daily listener, big fan. Do you truly hate the Raiders? Oh, this has got to be an old school email. It seems like any time they get brought up when something good happens,

you throw a wrinkle into it. I'm very pro-raders. John Spitech, love that guy. Huge P. Carroll guy. I am pro the operation. I think Spitech is going to be an excellent GM in the NFL for a long time. My true question would be, do you feel Denver and the Chargers are much better football team than the Raiders? I do feel like that, or I don't feel like that. Obviously a Raider fan, but would like to hear your thinking on the matter.

I think the Denver Broncos are much better than you guys. I think offensively, you know, Gino's solid. He's definitely an upgrade. You know, Ashton Genty, I mean, he saw him in a preseason game. He went to the Blue 10 after a stinger. So that's, we'll get into a Genty question here a little later. Brock Bowers is a superstar. Crosby's a superstar.

But your wide receiver core is pretty questionable. You have a good defensive coordinator and a good defensive head coach in Pete. But do you have enough weapons and personal? personnel on the defensive side of the ball. I mean, this is not their fault. They drafted that kid a couple years ago from Texas Tech Wilson, who does not look very good. So they've just had some misses in the draft.

I think they're a year away to me from being a playoff team. I'd be stunned if... Like, you can be last place in that division and have a really good season. God, he's got so many sirens in L.A. Middlecough, big fan of the show. Found your stuff. A year ago, I've been hooked. My question is this.

Do players coaches front office personnel that work for an NFL team secretly still cheer for their childhood squad? How did you handle your 49er fandom while employed by the Eagles? Lifelong Giants fan here. And I think I'd rather resign from the NFL than work in Dallas. It's a good question. I think it's hard to relate like this situation to most jobs. because for most people there's not like a personal connection of like, hey man, I just got this incredible gig with, I don't know, Bank of America. You should see the contract that Oracle just put in front of me.

Like you would be loyal to these companies if they're Amazon, you should see what Bezos is going to have me do. Where you grow up as a little kid, probably not idolizing the company you work for. Where if you're a big football fan, you probably like football since you were really young. I do think, like, relating that to the industry stuff, when you start working in quote unquote the business, you do naturally become a little numb to it. Now, for me, like a lot of people in my life are Niners. And, like, I root for the Niners if I have money on them or I'm just casually watching them. But I don't like live and die like I did when I was a little kid.

And I think a huge piece of that truly died when I went to the NFL just because you're spending, you know, 18 hours a day in this office, like, I want the Eagles to win, because if they win, that's good for me financially, for my career. So you just, and I, and then I got into the business I'm in now, someone asked me actually the last couple days at Fox about that situation, like with my fandom, what I root for. I'm like, honestly, I'm, I just kind of root for stories. if you tell me that this will double my listenership, I'm rooting for that. This is my business.

This is what I want. So I think you just kind of become numb to it. Like most of you, whatever industry you're in, I was telling Maria this the other night. We were watching some show. There was a doctor involved. I'm like, you know the crazy thing about doctors is how numb they are if you're a doctor in the ER to tragedy, right? Or just if you're a, you know, we're having a baby. Think about all the doctors that literally deliver babies.

how numb they get to just delivering a life, move on, next one. It's kind of like that in this business. Though I still love football, I love talking about football, but my true fandom, like, it's just way, way different. And I think if you love football and you're working in football and you grew up a diehard Giants fan, and Jerry Jones is like, I want you to run the fucking Cowboys. Like, you would show up, he'd show you the office,

you'd start being like, I get to run the draft, your tune would change pretty quick, I promise you. Are you ready for the Seahawks to win the Super Bowl, John? I think they could be pretty good. Why is it somehow recognized by the media that Drake May is a hit and Caleb is not? Including Colin, who constantly states that Jaden, Bo, and Drake are hits and were waiting on Caleb. Caleb had a better year by all accounts and showed much more flashes and was being held back in terms of throwing down the field and avoiding turnovers. and showed just as much flashes and held back,

decided to take some dumb sacks instead, which could have been 25 touchdowns in 12 picks like Bo Nix, with a worse situation. I think they're both in the same situation. I don't judge either of their rookie seasons. Like, I think Drake May is an intriguing player, just like Caleb Williams, but I can't judge any of his production last year.

In most of the games, he was down. His coaching was a joke. I think both guys are big question marks. I think there has been less noise around Drake May than Caleb this offseason. I think you would say that Josh and Vrable are just an easier landing spot because they're going to be very run heavy. They have a defensive head coach. It's just going to be a quieter place where the Bears and Caleb are more of just a marquee story.

So I think that's part of it too. He was the number one overall pick. He was the most hype draft pick in a long time. He's just a highly polarizing individual the way we talk about him. So I think there are a lot of factors like that as well. But I don't think you can consider Caleb, or excuse me, Drake May a hit yet. I would not give him a hit. I would say the one for sure hit, Jaden Daniels is a hit.

Like who's fucking anyone want to argue against that? Like I just, I don't have the energy or the time. I would say it's going to be pretty hard to bet against Bo Nix. I don't know how good he's going to be, but like his coach. of Sean Payton, their team's good, like he's going to be solid. I think we just got a lot of unknown with all the other quarterbacks. Chief's season ticket holder. What's your take on the Chief's chances of returning to and winning the Super Bowl?

These guys, you guys are living well, man. You guys are living really, really well. You just talk about like, can we get back to the Super Bowl for the six time in seven years? Our division is tougher. The Broncos in charge is possibly the fourth and fifth best AFC teams. Still, I believe Andy Reed and Patrick Mahomes can win the division in complete and compete and compete for the number one seat. Is the media sleeping on Josh Simmons, a potential draft steal?

If he's a top 10 left tackle, our offense could fix, we could fix our offense with our lack of explosive plays with Travis and Chris Jones aging, can our defense draft picks keep the defense strong while Pat and Andy carry the offense. I think if he's a top 10 left tackle immediately, that's one of the better draft picks we've seen in recent memory. you get a top 10 left tackle at pick 31. If that happens, which by all accounts, I mean,

Texel with, the one thing when you, my buddies with the Chiefs, their expectations are so high. They're very, they don't create the media hype. Like, obviously, he's very talented. He was going to be a top 8, 10 pick if he hadn't blown out his knee. But I think people are very hesitant. Like, the Chiefs have played in the most important games in the playoffs, and obviously the Super Bowl for the last six,

years. So like just doing it in practice, you don't get a gold star for that. Like, okay, what are you going to look like in November against Denver when you're tired and we're on CB or, you know, we're on Romo and Nance are calling the game, or we're on NBC or on prime time against the bills? Like, how are you playing then? Like, the standard is really, really high, you know, so I think they're very quick to kind of pump the brakes a little bit. Not that they're not excited, but one of these years, someone's going to knock them off in the playoffs, it's just going to happen. So I've bet on it the last couple years and it's blown up in my face.

So I'm just done betting against them, though it's like it's going to be really, really difficult. But Coward today had the Broncos and it's heard hierarchy above the Chiefs. I think, Colin, the Broncos haven't won a playoff game in almost 10 years. The Chiefs just won the AFC for like the third straight year. I mean, there's no way that they couldn't even be the highest rated team in their own division, let alone having the Ravens and bills above them.

They beat those two teams in the playoffs every single year. So if I'm a cheese fan, I'm pretty cocky. Until someone beats us, I'm feeling good about our chances and really, really excited about the left tackle. But if he becomes a high-end left tackle, that obviously it's a great pick, but I think there would be a lot of teams around the league. Like, why did you pass on this guy? When you were recently talking about the Rams and their potential debacle at quarterback, why not mention Stetson Bennett?

I'm a dog fan. So I'm a bit biased, but do you not think he has a chance to step in for Jimmy Garoppel? Love the show. Maybe I just, listen, maybe it's biased. I didn't take him that seriously in college. They draft him, which I think a lot of people thought that, like, he was, you're going to draft this guy. And then he disappears. I've obviously had some, you know, substance, whatever issues, which people go through stuff.

I know people have been bullish on them, but I'm just not my cup of tea. I don't know what else tell you. Not my cup of tea. If he proves me wrong, he proves me wrong. But I'd rather play against them than play with him in the NFL. Incredible college career. Great story, right? Shows up, walks on, leaves, comes back, leads him to Natty's.

Leads him to Natty's is strong. is part of national championships. Question for the bag. I'm a lifelong Cowboys fan. Jerry has basically admitted he's more interested in the drama than winning. With both hands figuratively tied behind his back, what is Brian Schottnheimer's path

for coaching a successful football team? It's a great question, man. I do think now it's not even debatable, seeing some of Jerry's quotes about his love of all this stuff. I mean, the documentary that's coming out, there was an all-time quote today by Michael Irvin that I think he gave to People magazine that in the documentary that's coming out on Netflix about the White House, which is not the White House in D.C., it's the White House that was in Dallas that they put their hookers and drugs in. This is Michael Irvin. I just wanted to read this quote.

We had five rooms. And in that room, you may be smoking weed. This room, you may be doing X or some blow. Whatever. There was a group of girls in each room, and you just kind of bounced from room to room. Think about what Michael Irvin just said. I mean, this was as good of like a five-year stretch of football that has ever been played in the NFL, and they were just banging hookers and doing drugs.

And OKC this year, when they won the NBA finals, half their team had never tried a beer. Meanwhile, this team is taking out Brett Farve and started. Steve Young and the 49ers on X after just banging two hookers. I mean, it's just an all-time squad. But I think ever since that moment, I don't know if Jerry got cocky, emboldened. He just won't really listen to anybody. And now he's at the point, because I was thinking about this today, think of the disadvantage Jerry is up against, where Jeffrey Lurie is obviously the Eagles

and the Cowboys have a big rivalry. Jeffrey Lurie, a really rich guy like Jerry, own the team for a long period of time. But he goes, you know what? I'm going to let Howie Roseman do all my football stuff. Keep me in the loop. I'll give you my opinions time to time. But you run it.

Meanwhile, Jerry goes, I'm going to run it. Jerry, you're in your 80s. What are you doing? When the New York Giants were winning Super Bowls with Tom Coughlin and Jerry Reese, that ownership group was like, you guys do it all, man. and we'll reap the benefits.

Now with the commanders that they're probably going to be good, what did they do? They're like, hey, we're going to hire Adam Peters, and you hire Dan Quinn, and you guys do it. So when you guys have a football issue, you run point on it. There was a story the other day about Brian Robinson, Jr. Dude who got shot a couple years ago. They might trade them.

And you know who sat down and talked to him? Not the owner. The GM and the head coach. Dan Quinn and Adam Peters talked to, in those situations, Jerry is always running point. and I understand it to a point like the football stuff is the fun stuff but it's not working

and honestly it feels like it's getting worse earlier this year I was kind of like I was bullish on the Cowboys because sometimes if everyone's hanging right I just like I'll hang a left on this one I can see a path and I'm just like I don't know how is Brian Schadenheimer a guy that no one was going to hire to be a head coach

that most people on his team don't even realize that his dad was once a famous head coach is going to be able to handle the situation. I don't think it's possible. I'm just, I think this thing could get really, really weird. They are an injury or two away. What if, when they ever, they finally sign Micah Parsons, what if he's not right?

And what if it just looks kind of weird? I don't know. What are you going to say now that Ash and Genty, is he still too small after running through Diomador Lenore's teeth? Well, I hope he can run over a corner. he did hit a linebacker and go to the ground and then go to the blue tent. I'm not anti-Aschen Genti. The guy's a stud.

I just, one, get a little nervous with smaller guys from small programs. Obviously, he's built like a little tank, but you can't just run over guys in the NFL. It's not going to last. First collision he had, he went to the blue tent. I think Ashen Gently could have a long, illustrious career and be a very, very productive player. but you can't just lower your shoulder on every guy in front of you.

That's not a way to sustain in the NFL. What Adrian Peterson did is not normal. Question for the bag. We're all watching Hard Knocks, and I know you are too. Was wondering if you could talk about the bills specifically in the job Brandon Bean is doing and Sean McDermott, as Colin says, a hoist the trophy guy? Josh Allen is so elite, but do you see the offensive weapons it takes around him?

Defense. Thanks, John. defense question mark. I think the bill's going to be pretty good. Maybe I'm just buying it to the Hard Knocks hype. Maybe it's the way they spliced together the highlights. Josh looks like a guy in the peak of his powers that has kind of mastered the sport. Obviously, you know, defensively, I don't know how they beat the Ravens last year.

Obviously, they got helped out by a couple drops. I think offensively they're going to be pretty awesome. I mean, Cook's a stud. I think Keon Coleman's going to come into his own. You know, they have high hopes for their tight-end group. They drafted Kincaid high a couple years ago, Dalton Knox, Shakir, I think he's injured now, but he's a stud. I think they're going to be fine.

I think there's a 50-50 chance they're the number one seed. I expect them to win 14 plus games. Huge fan of the pod and appreciate your knowledge slash platform. Do you think Mahomes is oddly underrated? While Mahomes is looking up at a small group of players above him, Brady Manning, all time, everybody is ranking Lamar and Allen above him. I get his regular season numbers are low these last two seasons, but this has been a heavily injured team,

and yet they have always made the AFC championship game. Hell, he's basically always made, if it wasn't for his first year starting against Tom Brady, and the year Joe Burrow, which I don't know what the hell happened to the Chiefs in the second half of that game, but he would have been in basically a Super Bowl every single year he's played. I think he's underrated because we're in a stats-based culture. Most people, the easiest way for them to argue about someone is to quantify it in sports, right?

He scores this many points. He threw this many touchdowns. He ran for this many yards. So the last couple of years, his stats haven't been as good as the guys that, you know, are his peers, right? Joe Burrow, obviously Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. yet in back-to-back years in the AFC championship game, he's made enormous plays against both those guys to end their seasons, especially, I mean, he outplayed Lamar a couple years ago.

And Josh, like, you just have more faith in, you have more faith in Patrick Mahomes when it matters and it's all in the line than any guy in the NFL. And you said he's looking up at Brady and Manning. You know, Peyton's one of the best players I've ever seen any sport. but he's got two-told Super Bowls, and he went to four. So Patrick's already been to more Super Bowl's and won more Super Bowls than Peyton Manning. Now, will he ever eclipse him from an individual accolade standpoint? The MVP's probably not, but I think when it's all said and done, Patrick will rank ahead of Peyton.

Fair or not, and I mean, we could make arguments definitely sitting here today, but we got a, Patrick's, how old is Patrick Mahomet? 30 years old, 29 years old. He's got a lot of years to play football. Love the podcast, got a thought, something for the mailbag if you do one in the near future.

Today I was watching some clips of Fields. That'd be Justin Fields. Being god-awful on some short to intermediate throws, all caps, in practice. I don't know why there's such a big crowd of people

who think he hasn't been given a fair chance or an organization just didn't put enough pieces around him, quote, Chicago. And while I don't think he's been in a perfect situation, by far, when I watch him play, I just don't see it. I don't think he's a starting NFL quarterback. He's a great athlete and a hell of a runner. But I don't see anything that says anything besides he's going to be a backup quarterback when I watch him play. I think the Jets are crazy to rely on him for this upcoming year. So basically a question, am I missing something or being unfair to think he's, you?

is what he is at this point. I would agree. He has not been in the perfect situations, and I liked him a lot coming out of college. I remember thinking the Jets and the 49ers are crazy for taking Zach Wilson and Trey Lance over Justin Fields. And that year with Ohio State, with Ryan Day, I mean, he looked good. But I remember one of the stories coming out was like, Kyle didn't think he saw it well enough and processed and could operate his offense. And clearly LaFleur, who was with the Jets, agreed. And when you watch him play, he just operates really, really slow. And he's not a very accurate touch passer. He has good physical gifts. He's kind of like a version of Anthony Richardson, probably a better version of Anthony Richardson, where it's like you like a lot of the stuff that

he has. Strong arm, athletic, explosive plays. But like most of quarterback play is like throw a quick out, like run a quick slant. Like most of Patrick, Holmes, especially like this last like three years, has not been just throwing go routes for touchdowns. It's a lot of like, oh, it's third and six. He got seven yards on a slant. He had a great like a 10-yard comeback to continue a drive in a tie game in the fourth quarter. Like that's kind of football. Or it's like, you know what, his first second read wasn't open. He had an incredible he scrambled to his left and made a play. It feels like those guys, fields, everything's kind of in slow motion. And then when he does release it, it's late.

the ball's off. And one thing I saw Shane Siken talked about today, part of the decision-making process was like ball placement. Like sometimes it's not even just accuracy, completion or not completion, you know, assuming that they're in practice, right? Because this, you know, JJ Watt and some of the reporters nationally were getting into it, like should we care about practice stats or not? Because if you just say, hey, so-and-so quarterback at training camp went 11 for 15 today And two of the incompletions were drops And then the coach might say

Well when we broke down the film Three of those 11 completions In a game would have been problematic They were not accurate If they were playing a good corner Might have been picked off or tipped So it's like you've got to put context in with everything So when you watch Fields play

It just feels off I do think they were a little desperate in New York They wanted to get off Aaron Rogers I don't know I listen I don't care how much he makes doesn't bother me but the NFL is a salary cap league

so when you pay a player X amount of dollars that is the difference of you having if you pay them 10 million or you pay them 20 million that's the difference of you being able to buy other players or invest into your own team you know re-sign guys and they gave them

them two years, $40 million, I think guaranteed them $30 million. Like, who are they Bitt? Were the Steelers interested in numbers like that? I have, they benched them last year in the middle of the year. So, I don't know. Maybe Aaron Glenn just really liked them

because of, as a runner, but I think they're passing it. I think the Jets could be like one of those teams that's tough, that's physical, that tries hard, and it's just bad. Like, Aaron Glenn's a good coach, good guy. I think the effort and the energy, like the give a shit factor is going to be high. But I don't think they're going to function at all.

And I think offensively, they are going to be a tough watch. The volume. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what?

We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being and ask questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes.

Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season, and I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments.

If we didn't talk ever again, I was part of it. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to you. He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love.

This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHart Podcast presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah. This is my best friend, Janet.

Hey. And we have been joined at the hip since high school. Absolutely. A redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger. hips. This is a podcast we're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey with all the snacks and drinks. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer? They hit a bogo. Well, then you got them. Listen to soccer moms on the Iheart radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.