The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 & Out - Best of The Week: 49ers lose more guys, Eagles offseason, Free Agency

Episode Date: March 15, 2025

This week on the podcast John discussed a bunch of free agency and how the 49ers have lost a ton of players, how despite the Eagles losing players they still have one of the best GM's in the league and fans shouldn't lose faith, and if the NFL free agency is overrated. All that and more! Follow John on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest.  #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Volume. What is going on, everybody, John Middlough, that'd be me, Three and Out Pod. A little weekend edition of the Best Up, where we throw together a couple topics. Obviously, it was a very, very busy week with a little thing called NFL Free Agency. and yeah, so we'll just kick it off talking about free agency as a whole.

The start of some of the big free agency moves. You know, the Eagles obviously let a lot of guys go as the defending champs and what the outlook looks like for them and really why they made some of their decisions. And then just a big picture question because when the week ends and you kind of look back and you think about the years, like, is this week a little overrated? Obviously individuals have big moments for teams. but as a whole, I think I kind of wanted to dive in as free agency overrated. So make sure you subscribe to the podcast.

If you listen on Collins feed, we got a YouTube channel, all of our content up there as well. So go check that out. Let's talk about some football. I do think just in general, the free agency period, which is really fun. We love transactions in sports, and I'm all for it. I do think there's a little janky, right? to have trades and stuff be able to happen before it becomes official. You could argue like five days, maybe not even a couple days after the combine, just let it rip.

Just start free agency on a given day you don't need the tampering, right? Because free agency has been going on now for several weeks. It unofficially really gets going at the combine. So if the combine ends on a Monday, you could start. And I get it. It's based on the work week. you wouldn't want to start all these deals later in the week because you want to own the news cycle. And I totally understand that.

But maybe even put more emphasis on the combine, start free agency on the Monday right after. And just let people start signing and trading and let it go because that's where the trades and a lot of these moves happen. I just think this tampering period is just a complete joke. It really is. Free agency starts Wednesday. I think at like noon Eastern or 4 Eastern or whenever it does well all these deals are already done

so Wednesday is kind of a useless day it's essentially Monday but they keep saying well Monday it's actually legal tampering guys can't actually sign I think we could just cut out the middleman here and just rip the band-aid off and just let people do what they're actually doing making transactions

doing deals right I mean how often it's very rare I can think of one Emmanuel Sanders but how often a guy re-nigs on a deal, right? So once these guys, like Milton Williams all of a sudden come Wednesday afternoon, isn't just going to be on the, I don't know, Carolina Panthers or the Arizona Cardinals, like he's going to be a patriot. So I just, I don't know, something, it feels, starting to feel these last couple years like kind of a waste of the setup of the buildup because there is no

buildup. Stuff just happens. So just let it happen and let it be official. Uh, something that was official today, and he was on the unemployment line for, I don't know, an hour, was the 49ers. And I think it's pretty easy. And yesterday, I did a little rant at the end of the day after they had officially cut Kyle Hughes Check. And just about the way the 49ers have gone about this and the ramifications of a disastrous negotiation last year with Brandon Ayyuk when he took him to the cleaners. I mean, he bent them over and took them for more money than I thought that they should give him. And they clearly immediately regretted it. And that was before he had a major knee injury.

Things got weird and hell, they've put them on the trade block for the last couple weeks. They don't like them anymore. I've never seen a team sign a guy to $75 million guaranteed after 75 catches and then immediately can't stand the guy. So it's just a disastrous contract. and the 49ers have let every guy go on their team. And I think on an individual basis, it's really easy to justify each individually,

you know, not connected to anyone else. Drey Greenlaw, injured a lot. Torn Achilles two years ago, got injured a bunch last year when he tried to came back. Tyler Nola Hufunga, injured a lot. Like, it's easy to go through the list. Jalen Moore, he's been a backup. Can't start.

I go, well, you got Trent Williams, but you can't pay a backup of premium. Like, I get it. But today, Leonard, Floyd, who started every single game for them, is a pros pro, super high character guy, I mean a pretty high end pass rusher, not a superstar by any means, but a guy that you could go to the playoffs with as one of your rotational defense end slash starters, they just cut.

It was like, well, would totally understand it. Like, I got why the Rams cut Cooper Cup. He was going to cost them $20 million. It's like, you're not paying Cooper Cup. In 2025, $20 million. No one is, right? But Leonard Floyd, $7.5 million, kind of the going rate for a guy that is going to give you nine or ten sacks and never misses any time.

Like, that's what they cost. I just do not understand it. It makes no sense. And I have to be fair because we're often critical of these teams that are cheap. And I've been on the Bears for years, the Bengals, the crafts. and the 49ers spent more money than any team in the league last year in actual cash. Obviously, you have to be under the salary cap or with the salary cap on any given year because it's a hard cap in the NFL.

That doesn't mean you can't spend way more cash than the $200, the $240, the $250 million salary cap, right? In signing bonuses. And then you can manipulate the cap. Well, last year, the 49ers, in 2025, spent more cash. cashed than any team in the NFL at $334 million. What was the cap last year? Like $250 million? So almost $80 million more of actual cap space they spent in cash.

I mean, it's a lot of money. No one's arguing that spending on a workforce of you end up having way more than 53 guys, let's say, $70, 80 over the course of a season. $330 million in compensation, it's a lot. I mean, that's the business these people are in. And the Yorks have the team because once upon a time, one of the greatest owners in the history of sports, Eddie DeBardolo, got caught giving a brown bag to a politician,

trying to get a casino on the water down, I think it was when Louisiana. And the feds came up, and he got in big trouble and had to give it to his sister, who the family is notoriously cheap. Now, Jed York is the figurehead. They named him the president, and he's on the day-to-day operation.

He's there a lot. and he deals with Kyle and John. But ultimately, it is the parents' team. Jed York could not do anything without his parents' approval when it came to selling the team, a huge contract to Brock Purdy. Obviously, when they're signing a practice squad guy, and it depends on the operation.

For example, the Eagles spend a shitload of cash on a yearly basis. Not always one, but always in the top five, top 10, in the way they do signing bonus, especially the last couple years, have a highly paid team. Jeffrey Lurie doesn't have to ask his parents for any fucking approval. He's the boss. He's in charge. Just like if you go around the league, even the cheap teams.

Clark Hunt doesn't have to deal with anyone else. If he wants to have a cheap facility and a bad weight room and get D's, that's his prerogative. He answers to no one but himself. No different than Robert Kraft. Jonathan Kraft isn't in charge. Robert is. And I think when you look at the 49ers, your team, as Tim Takawekami tweeted today, they are making a $140 million in profit.

Honestly, my guess would be it's higher, but I was talking to my brother at the wedding. And, you know, he deals with a lot of different business. He isn't farming, but they deal in construction. They deal with so much different stuff. And we were talking about some of these venture capitalists that come in and purchase companies. And typically they like to get like a 5 to 8% profit range, right?

So your profit based on your total revenue, if it's like 5 to 8%, you're doing pretty well. If the 49ers are making $7 to $800 million, which I think is a very fair guess, especially when you look at their valuation of $9 billion, I mean, they're making 15 to 20% net profit. That is money taken home. So when I look at the 49ers pulling back, I'm all for not being reckless and not giving out stupid deals. have no issue with trading Debo Samuel. But you all of a sudden have one season where you go six and eleven and start pitching pennies, like I'm sorry,

when you're the 49ers, when you're the Lakers, when you're the Cowboys, Jerry's been crushed over the years for not spending that much cash, when you're the Laker or the Yankees, the Red Sox craft over the years, that's fucking embarrassing. It really is. Like, no one wants to hear you cry poor. And we talked about this yesterday.

You cannot give Purdy an ungodly amount of money and cut corners like the Rams just did and expect to win. Matt Stafford is a better player. He can carry your team if you're going through a rough patch. He's proven that. Brock Purdy, if you're going to have a team that is not going to have dramatically less talent, you're going to be in major trouble. Now, if you're cool with going back-to-back, five, six, seven wins, okay. but no one wants to hear that bullshit.

So when you cut Leonard Floyd, like I just don't see how you justify that. I really don't. Who again gets a job in 25 minutes. It makes no sense. And I think the Yorks are kind of going back to their roots of this cost-cutting bullshit and being cheap.

And listen, the other thing, like Mike Silver and some of these guys writing these articles, I do think it's pretty embarrassing to go basically four or five years in the NFC championship and a couple Super Bowls to have one awful season. And don't get me wrong, it was bad. It was a joke. Highest paid team in the league, six and 11, I'm all for not tolerating that. But then to just completely change your business plan and try to go cheap is something like,

it's hard for me to get behind. And you go through a little rough seas and some rough waters and we start getting a bunch of leaks. about Kyle and John and the owners. Like, that's low-level bullshit. I mean, it really is. Because, again, this is a business that is their future revenue is set in fucking stone.

A lot of people, including myself, like recession hits, advertising change, like you would go, it would change your business dynamics really, really quickly. Most people listening are in fickle industries. Right? Can be huge swings.

Good times are great. Bad times can be rough. I just married a woman who works in real estate. Like, seen the ups and the downs. That ain't the NFL. They just signed a $100 billion contract a couple years ago, which they can easily opt out. We just saw the NBA whose viewership has been more than cut in half,

triple their revenue. The NFL's in a different stratosphere, and those networks that paid for the NBA would go under without the NFL. So the NFL, I think it's fair to say at least for the next 15 plus years, is borderline recession proof. As much as that is humanly possible in any business.

So whenever you come out like cutting costs, like that's just a bad look. It's really kind of embarrassing. No one wants to hear Jeannie Bus, the Steinbrenners, like those type people talking about it. And just within the last month, it comes out, well, the 49ers are valued at $9 billion.

And they're going to sell maybe 10% for a nice little $900 million cash infusion. And now you're just cutting Leonard Floyd to save a couple million dollars. I just think that's impossible to justify. But I do think if you follow this team for a long time, this is the York's operation, you know, at their core when things get weird.

When things are going good, everything's great. Everyone's, you know, giving Jim Harbaugh, his flowers, everyone's, but all of a sudden you lose a game, something happens weird. It's like everyone starts pointing the fingers. I saw this happen 10 years ago. And now they're kind of doing it again with their roster all of a sudden because one, six and 11 season, it's the NFL, it's hard. It sucked.

It was hard to watch. I watched every snap. But I think you've got to be very careful. People will turn on you fast. And the consumer is, you know, I just, they cannot comprehend this. And they will not comprehend this. Because I'd argue based on the math and the numbers, it's kind of difficult to comprehend.

It really is. It's like, well, we got to pay pretty a lot of money. And then you're coming out saying you're going to negotiate hard with them, all for it. Not against it. I'd be like, hey, three years, $120 million, all guaranteed, take it or leave it. Fuck you. I'm not, I'm not playing for that. Okay.

See in camp. This is when it's, what are you going to do? Hold out. we're going to go. I'm all for that type business. I am pro negotiating like that. I'm not anti. This isn't some pro player. You got to give them all the money all the time. Bull shit. We saw that last year with Brandon Iuke and it was awful. It was stupid. You know, so I'm all for a very, very difficult negotiation with Brock Purdy. But when you start cutting Leonard Floyd for basically no reason, that one's a head scratcher. Okay, some big name trades. I got to be a

honest, this one made me scratch my head. The Pittsburgh Steelers traded a second round pick for D.K. Meckaff and then reportedly plan on giving him a ton of money. I like D.K. McHaff. And I defended like, hey, Seattle, you better be very careful. You trade this guy. I get it can be a little different. And he's falling off a little of these last couple years of injuries.

Get some penalties. You just drive Pete nuts. But his talent elite. To me, he's like the little lesser version of like Torell Owens in his prime, complete freak show. And just him being on the field, like Tyreek, changes your offense. It makes everyone on the other side a little scared.

But when I think the Pittsburgh Steelers, it's like you guys have no quarterback. It's like, yeah, you need some more offensive weaponry. But like the last thing I would have done until I can just like, you did not have a court, Justin Fields was not signed. Even if you sign Aaron Rogers, he's 41 years old.

To trade for D.K. McHath, I like Rapsheet. But he's like, the Pittsburgh Steelers finally land their star wide receiver. It's like, yeah, that's usually cool. Like when the Eagles landed AJ Brown after they had other shit figured out. Like, I watched your defense last year. It sucked down the stretch. And again, I'm pro D.K. Metcalf. But trading a second round pick for him, pretty high one, you can just, where was D.K.

drafted? In the second round. Like, what does Pittsburgh Steelers do better than most? develop sweet wide receivers. I just don't quite understand that one. If you would have told me the bills did this, the chiefs did this, the Ravens don't technically need them, but a team like that, the Chargers,

who I saw people tweeting like, and maybe I talked about this last week, people were like, Jim Harbaugh, gonna trade for D.K. Metcalf. You think if you've watched Jim Harbaugh's coaching career for the last 15 plus years, Stanford, Niners, Michigan, and now the Chargers, you think he would trade a second round pick,

which is extremely valuable in the NFL, especially in this draft, where people are saying there's not much difference from the 15th overall player to the 50th overall player. So the talent discrepancy is not wide and give that guy a lot of money, even though that wouldn't even be that crazy a move. I think he'd be sweet on the chargers.

But philosophically, Jim Harbaugh just doesn't believe into that. If Jim Harbaugh had done it, I'd have been like, damn, Jim kind of got out of his comfort zone. Maybe they think he's a player away. What did Jim do? Gave $18 million to Cleo Mac. And I just, I don't know, man. I just, my first reaction was I don't like it.

I just don't think it makes that much sense. I really don't. And you just like adding more just weirdness to that room. Even though D.K's proven to be like a winning player, you can't say the other thing for Pickens. I don't know. I just, I didn't see that one coming. We saw D.K. getting traded coming, but just not to the Steelers.

Okay, Laramie Tunzel traded today. This is another example of the Sam Darnold thing. It's like, what? The future, just traded Laramie Tundzel? He's in the last year of his contract. And right before we took off, I just saw the plane or the trade happened on my phone. Right before we were leaving, I'm like, what's his contract status? Well, he can be cut next year for no dead money.

So I would imagine his current contract has no guaranteed money. So what do you think Laramie Tunzo wants right now? An enormous contract. He's going to want, what do top tackles get? 120 guaranteed on a $200 million contract. So the Texans clearly were not comfortable giving them that contract. So if you're not comfortable giving him that contract, what do you do? You shop the guy.

Because he's got value. And this is what the Washington commanders did when they attacked free agents. It was like, well, you can just pay a bunch of guys. Well, it's like free agencies kind of hit or miss. I like Adam Peters. Don't quite understand the Ken Law contract. I don't. I get you need a defensive tackle and I get you've been around them.

That one was, we're going to disagree on that one. But the Laramie Tunzel one, like the Debo one, makes a lot of sense. You get two former, I mean, Tunzel is a better player than Debo these last couple years. But you get high-level winning players that are in contract situations. and you trade draft picks to acquire their salary. Instead of paying 20, 15, it's actually incredible for the owner. And it's also why when we talk about cap space, it's like, well, who are you going to go buy? Well, you can also use picks to acquire players and fit in that cap space.

So they get Laramie Tunzel and Debo, and maybe within the next couple days, maybe by the time you listen to this, Laramie Tunzel will sign an extension. Or maybe they just go, listen, if you ball out this year, if I'm Adam, like I've been around, on Trent Williams. And we broke him off when he was older than you, Laramie. So if you dominate this year, we got no problem giving you a big contract. And they acquired him like, guys like Laramie Tunzel don't hit free agency. Look at who's supposed to be the best tackle in free agency this year.

Ronnie Stanley doesn't hit free agency. So you kind of got to understand, like the only way to acquire that player is to retreat. And I think Adam Peters, the Debo move and the Laramie Tunzel move are just good moves with your cap space. if you're not comfortable paying the whoever their equivalent is in free agency where you have to give way you know crazier contracts to and you're stuck for several years so to me that was the i don't have all the details i wrote down they're giving their third round pick this year and their second round pick next year so there is they're incentivized for laramie

tons will to play well and if he does they extend them and they'll go well we make the playoffs again we give you a late third round pick this year next year if we're in the second round that's the 24th pick of the second round so I think if you're Adam Peters I like that move a lot now if you're the Texans I think whatever's going on there you just weren't comfortable with the player

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Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Start with the Eagles and Howie Roseman. Because you win the Super Bowl, and everyone is sky high, rightfully so. Second Super Bowl in what, seven years, second Super Bowl in franchise history. Squad is absolutely loaded.

Then all of a sudden, they re-signed Zach Bond. Everyone's like, hell, yeah! Give Sequin a little extension as a thank you. And then free agency tampering period hits. And sweat gets a ton of money in Arizona.

Milton Williams gets broken off by Vrabel. CJ Gardner Johnson, who I think brought a physicality back to that defense that they were clearly missed. last season and everyone's like, what the hell is going on?

And I think the modern day version of football money ball right now for the Eagles, and I would just say in general in the NFL, is utilizing elite coaching. Because when you have an elite coach on a side of the ball, sometimes you can overcome stuff. We have seen Andy Reid do that since they got rid of Tyree Kill. We have seen Sean McVeigh do that the last couple years leading back-to-back playoff teams and hell they went toe to toe with the Philadelphia Eagles this year the only team that gave them a game and I think clearly the 49ers with Kyle Shanahan plan on doing that this fall and I think when you're the Eagles you go we have so much invested into our offense

financially and that's just a fact I mean Seiquant is the seventh highest player on the offense we have one of if not the best defensive coordinator in the NFL and he is being paid an absolute premium. And we're lucky we have hit on some sweet draft picks, but we're going to utilize him. We're going to be able to let the defensive linemen go. We're going to be able to trade CJ Gardner Johnson because our ability to make guys, develop guys, and find underappreciated assets is under Vicks tutelage and watch. We just did it last year was Zach Bond. We plan on doing it again. And they did it. They also do it on the offensive line with stout. They've done it with Jordan Milata.

They did it last year with Bechtin. They are attempting to do that in the trade for C.J. Gardner Johnson with the former top pick from the Houston Texans. 15th overall pick, Guard, Green. Now, you're not going to hit on all these. But this is Howie, and this is why I push so heavily when it comes to the draft free agency. This stuff is all an economic exercise.

It really is. How much do I have to pay for the player? What type assets do I have to pay a premium for and what type guys can I get on the cheap? Like one thing's pretty clear right now in free agency. If you want a competent guard or tackle, you got to pay a lot of money. But I will say this, when you are paying a ton of money for a starting guard or a starting tackle that has proven he could start at those positions, it's like at least you know I can plug this guy in and he can start for me and he can function.

Do I feel comfortable giving Aaron Banks that much money if I'm the Green Bay Packers? Of course not. Do I feel great if I'm the Chiefs about signing Jalen Moore, who was Trent Williams' backup to $30 million? Of course not. But those guys have proven they can start in enormous games. Banks has been a multiple year starter on one of the best teams in the NFL. So yeah, do I have to pay 150 cents on the dollar? Probably.

But I witnessed what happened last year in the playoff tournament. game to the Green Bay Packers at left guard. It was a joke. It was a complete embarrassment. And I'm not going to allow that to happen again. Plus, unlike free agency, like a guy might get hurt that you sign, but you know what you're getting in free agency.

Why? Because the guy's been playing in the NFL. And if you run the same scheme, it literally is plug and play. It's the only time in football where stuff is plug and play when another team runs your offense. Because there's not often you go,

because in college football, that's not the case. When you are drafting a college prospect, there is a huge projection, not just his ability to play in the NFL, but how he will work in your scheme, even if there are similarities to what he did in college. But like, you pay premiums in the NFL for these offensive linemen. That much is clear when you watched how much they got.

Same thing with defensive linemen. Because if you watch them do something, exactly what you're going to ask them to do, feel pretty good about it, because they've been doing it for several years, typically, for whatever team they've been playing on. And like, Howie Roseman understands how talented Milton Williams is, but he goes, I've watched Fangio for 20 years in the NFL, find guys like that, and develop them. I've watched him take guys like Nolan Smith and develop him into a good player and then turn them into a Pro Bowl level guy. And then take really good players like Jalen Carter and Quinion Mitchell

and Cooper DeGine and turn them into like all pro. level guys. So part of the Eagles' economic outlook on their squad is we're going to have to trim a little bit on defense, invest in the draft and let Fangio coach and develop.

That's why we're paying him so much money. We've been doing it on the offensive line for years with Jeff Stalwin. For years. Before he showed up, Howard Mudd was that version for the Eagles. It's why he believed in Jason Kelsey, an undersized athletic center. And that's how you

have to do it in football. Because you can't just find a bunch of AJ Browns and pay them all. We just saw the 49ers. They got to get rid of a lot of guys. Because eventually you get to a point where the cap space just limits you. And that is why coaching is so important. It really is. And I think the Eagles are in an excellent spot because of the guy running their defense.

So yeah, some of the household names might be gone. Clearly those guys got a ton of money and rightfully. on the open market, but I wouldn't lose one second asleep if I was a Philadelphia Eagle fan. I guess I'm just going to ask a question. Is free agency overrated in the NFL? Obviously, it's not in baseball and it's not in basketball. But is it overrated in football? And don't get me wrong.

I, like you, get excited. It is fun to watch these transactions. It has been something I've looked forward to. a sports fan my entire life. It is cool. I enjoy this week. I enjoy watching guys star big names get traded, guys get signed, teams get really aggressive with cab space. I'm not acting like I am not into this. But after you give it a couple days, you take a deep breath and you look back and you go, isn't this always the most overrated time of the league year? because first of all, the best dynasty of my life was Belichick.

He never really dabbled in this. He always waited for the second tier guys that he got for no money or older players who were high-level Pro Bowl guys willing to give him a discount. He rarely, if ever, broke the bank on guys that weren't his guys. The current dynasty, the Kansas City Chiefs, their core guys have been three people they drafted. Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelsey, and Chris Jones. And they won their first Super Bowl with Tyree Kill, who they also drafted.

And then they flipped, and how they continued this dynasty, was basically through that draft, was a huge part of it with Big Duffy and Carlisks. But when you think about like the Chiefs, who has been their huge signing over the last five, six years? An offensive lineman here or there? Like, they are not signing Justin Reed.

You know, they are not. they are not out there fishing in the deep end of the pond. And I thought about last year. And again, I'm not trying to hate on any team that signed players. Totally understand if I'm the Minnesota Vikings or if I'm the Chicago Bears. Basically, if you take those two teams, they had five starting offensive linemen. Right? The Vikings did two and the Chicago Bears did three.

Totally understand why they would do that. If I was in their shoes, I probably would do the same. but like when I see Aaron Banks get $88 million from the Packers like yeah they need a guard is that a good contract like I mean I understand people around the league go that's kind of rich but look at last year you could argue the best signing of the year when you factor in the money was Zach Bond how he gave him like one year four million dollars he was first team all pro he was honestly one of the better players non-quarterback in the NFL.

Obviously, Sequin had the best running back season, but Derek Henry had the second best running back season. The Baltimore Ravens gave him $8 million. $8 million guaranteed. So some of these contracts that are getting thrown around, Milton Williams gets a huge amount of money. All my buddies with the Eagles love the guy. I mean, he's a stud.

He had an incredible season. I don't even think he played over 50% of the snaps. and he also got to play the majority of the time next to what many consider the best and most talented young defensive linemen in the league in Jalen Carter. So you have a guy, you're given, I mean, I hate talking about it this way, it's just easier sometimes, like $25, $26 million a year. He was never even become close to a full-time player

and really benefited from playing next to a superstar. And I'm not anti-the-Patriot signing him. but these contracts that get thrown out for these players set enormous expectations because you're no longer talked about like, let's face it, the core of the chiefs over the last however many years have been guys they've drafted it developed. Same thing with the Patriots for a long time.

Same thing with a lot of the good teams, you know, in the NFL. When you look at the Eagles, the 49ers, the Detroit Lions, it doesn't mean you can't supplement players. but we talk so aggressively about this time. Like, this is going to change, this team, this team. It's like, I don't know, we'll see. The cohesion, the chemistry, that is built over time. Like, I love what the Bears did.

It was a no-brainer doing all that. But, like, offensive line chemistry isn't just built overnight. It takes time. And same thing with the Minnesota Vikings, adding two new starting offensive linemen. Now, I would say adding guards and centers, in theory, should be the easiest plug-in-play in all of the sport. But I just think this time of year, it's kind of a tried and true way we react. And we're all, including myself guilty of this, is the way we talk about these moves usually isn't the way they actually play out.

So is free agency overrated? I think it's fair to say in the National Football League, it is a little bit. I was watching Sam Darnold give his press conference today, and it's pretty clear that that game that he had against McDonald and Seattle that essentially knocked them out of the playoffs, and I would say was his defining moment from a positive standpoint for Sam this year, that game winning touchdown on the road, was a huge, huge reason that Mike felt very confident about supporting the signing.

And even he talked about it, obviously having a front row seat in that game, but it was the way that we had game planned against them throughout the week of essentially watching all of his snaps. And I think sometimes you've got to be careful with that. But like that held, it was held in high regard when it came to their head coach, that performance and his performance previously, because that was before the last couple games. But watching Sam Darnold talk and right before that they tweeted out like the, I don't think it's called Periscope anymore, but YouTube wherever it's streamed at on Twitter, is Seattle had put something out on Gino Smith,

who clearly resurrected his career in Seattle and became a really solid player. And you start thinking about some of the players in the NFL. Like, it's a no-brainer when you talk about the star players. Like, Patrick Mahomes is good immediately. Right? Josh Allen after year one was sweet. Lamar Jackson was pretty incredible from early on.

Right? Joe Burrell's been pretty fucking good as long as he's been healthy. Justin Herbert had like one of the great rookie seasons we've ever seen and he was thrown in because Tyrod Taylor got a needle to his kidney. Most guys see a lot of crap. Honestly, historically, a lot of like great players. You know, Drew Breeze was basically told, you're out of here for Philip Rivers.

You know, Steve Young was a backup for a long period of time to Joe Montana, but before that was not viewed as a good player in Tampa Bay. And I think sometimes with quarterbacks, you know, so many other players, because you get to rotate in, kind of battle through stuff, and when you're bad early on your career, most guys aren't incredible day one.

Most guys aren't just like Aaron Donald or Justin Jefferson, even great players. They go through adversity, and that's usually, and I think most people would agree in any line of work, that's how you learn. Like, you usually don't learn that much when everything's going well.

Why is that? Because you don't look that much inward. You don't have that. much perspective on things because things are good and you don't have to overthink anything and when things are bad you kind of got to like lay it on the table and look yourself in the mirror and I think Sam Darnold I think Gino Smith and I think Baker Mayfield are good examples of like P. Carroll just traded a third round pick for a 35 year old quarterback why because he kind of swears by the guy

and I think he thinks that like Gino's a really impressive person obviously on top of a solid player and when you look at what what Baker Mayfield has done down in Tampa, how much, I'm not even talking about how well he's played, but how much the guys on that team like him, I don't know if they would be where they're at without kind of going through the Andy Dufrein sewer and coming out on the other end.

And listen, I'm done psycho-analizing what Aaron Rogers, you know, or why it's taking him so long, when he's going to make a decision. At this point in time, I'm assuming he's going to continue to play. Like, that is my assumption. He's either going to play on the Giants or more than likely the Pittsburgh Steelers. And I think a lot of people think that he's waiting to announce it at McAfee's deal, which I was like, oh, that makes some sense.

McAfee's doing this live show in Pittsburgh. But then I Google it, the McAfee shows not until like April 9th. Like that would be insanity. If that is true and he announces on April 9th, like that's, we've jumped the shark on that. And I don't think he's going to wait that long. Like I understand like doing some, you know, thinking long. and hard, though, from a football perspective, I think the Pittsburgh Steelers is an easy decision,

assuming that they want them. But, you know, for the first time in a long time, Aaron's really kind of hit the skids. Like, they were really, really terrible. And people are talking about, like, is your career over? Like, it's not, the box score doesn't look that terrible. But when you watch you play, you're a shell of yourself. And you're kind of done.

And that might be true. But, like, that humbled all these other guys. Everyone talks shit about Sam Darnold. Everyone talks shit about Baker Mayfield. People thought Gino Smith was like a joke. And look at them now. They're all making $30, $40 million. And Baker Mayfield second the league in touchdowns.

Sam Darnold just had a team in the playoffs. You know, Gino Smith, I think, three straight years, nine, nine, ten wins in Seattle once they kicked Russell Wilson to the curb. like we've seen Russell Wilson no matter what happens negative is the same guy same cheesy optimistic BS like Russell's time to pivot bro this ain't working

and I think Rogers in a weird way is a little more real but also like he's been so used to held to such high esteem by every human being one of the greatest ever you're so good you're going to carry the team hell even the jets you're going to save our franchise

and it's like not only you're not going to save our franchise and it's like not only you're not going to save our franchise, you're going to be an embarrassment. And if he does come back to play, I do wonder if there's a little like self-reflection and a little humility to like make you a better player, a better teammate, because it clearly works for these other guys.

Now, it's usually harder on the other end when you've been a superstar to change. You know, the old sayings like you don't teach an old dog new tricks. And at this point in time, Aaron Rogers made, I don't know, 400 million dollars. MVP's. Maybe he just is what he is. And I, listen, I'm not saying that he's going to change. But like, smart guy.

Like, there's no chance that maybe it's like a little humility moving forward. Time will tell. 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 asked 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, Street. Reader 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. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, and on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be? I call on my Gen X squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS. Unfiltered conversations from night sweats to futas to scheduling sacks. Wait, what sex? Is it just me or does every woman my age want to look at Pinterest instead of having sex sometimes?

They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Deanna Maria Riva 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. 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 hungry.

You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in 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.

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