The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 & Out - Deshaun Watson was a swing and a miss, 49ers and Brandon Aiyuk, Jets buyout 170 employees

Episode Date: April 1, 2025

John dives into the comments made from Browns owner Jimmy Haslem saying that the signing of Deshaun Watson was a big swing and a miss, and talks about if he thinks Watson will ever play another snap in the NFL. Next, John discusses the latest with the 49ers and Brandon Aiyuk and how big of a mistake it was to re-sign Aiyuk to a contract extension last season. Lastly, John answers your questions during this episode's mailbag segment. 5:29 - Owners meeting update 12:29 - John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan 17:46 - Steelers and Mike Tomlin 26:16 - Update on the Colts 32:38 - Jets clean house 36:32 - International Games 43:22 - Vikings looked into Rodgers 50:47 - 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. #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart 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.

Listen to Hey, Jonas, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. 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 ice.

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The volume. What is happening, everybody? How are we doing? Hopefully everyone is having a great day. I'm John. This is the three and out podcast. And today we're going to be talking a little football. The National Football League.

Owners meetings. A lot of stuff coming out. Jimmy Haslam, he just acknowledged the Sean Watson's career over. John Lynch, Mike Tomlin, Andrew Locke, a lot going on in the football world, a lot of comments, a lot of headlines, Woody Johnson, trying to fire everyone in his organization,

but willing to give out some golden parachutes to some, depending on how long you've been there. So we will dive into it all as well as the Middilkoff mailbag at John Middlecoff. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire in those DMs and get your questions answered on the show. We did a podcast Sunday that was out yesterday.

So if you missed it, we got a podcast for Monday. And this will be Tuesday. And I think I'll do a golf podcast tomorrow, so keep an eye for that. If you want to get in on the golf mailbag at Golopod, any golf questions. We have the masters next week. So any questions you have at Golopod, we'll do a mail bag on the Golop pod tomorrow. But that's the Instagram, at Golop pod and fire in those DMs and any questions. but we'll just keep the football.

Podcasts rolling. We will know if the tush push gets banned or not. I will react to later this week. Who knows? I mean, I'm not confident in either way. It's going to be fascinating. If it gets banned, Howie and Siriana, you're going to be pissed. But other than that, subscribe to the podcast.

If you listen on Collins' feed, subscribe to our YouTube channel. And before we dive in to the old podcast talking about some football, Can I tell you about my friends, my partners, and the official ticketing app of this podcast? You know what I would love to do? I'm born and raised about 15 minutes away from Sacramento. They now have the A's are playing in a 15,000 AAA stadium. The size of the stadium fits about 15,000 people. And I think the A's are going to be pretty good.

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If I owned a team, I would not take the Jerry Jones approach. I would only speak when it was kind of mandated that I speak, like at these owners meetings when you really can't hide, or after a monumental decision for the organization, a hiring of a coach, a firing of a coach, even a big signing of a player. Like, ultimately that's why I pay my GM and the head coach, millions of dollars.

And I gave Jimmy Haslam credit when Miles Garrett demanded his trade and who's represented by Clutch and Rich Paul and they wanted a one-on-one meeting with Jimmy Haslam. Jimmy Haslam simply told him, meet with my GM. He's in charge. Now, ultimately, in a weird way, it all kind of work because Miles Garrett got a historic contract. But I do think for a guy that has, you know, a pass that's more than questionable with Flying Jay in the trucking company, who's had a disastrous ownership.

There is no disputing that no owner has spent more actual cash than Jimmy Haslam over these last four years. Now, clearly that hasn't equated into dominating the NFL, but it's not from a lack of cutting checks. He is doing things that a lot of teams take a lot of shit in this league. Hell, Jerry Jones, who is an extremely wealthy man, is often criticized. for sneaky I pay some of his top guys, but not spending as much cash as other owners. And Jimmy Haslam spares no expense when it comes to his football team, specifically the players.

Now, I remember reading an article within the last month, or maybe it was within the last couple months that said, you can't always buy your way to championships. Obviously, culture, the right coaching, the right players, who you're actually paying really matters. So there are a lot of variables to this. but you know it's it's pretty rare that you get a microphone in front of an owner a guy that you have on your current team who you are paying a lot of money even if it is an epic all-time disaster that you get them to be honest that you get them to be candid because let's face it you know we use the term coach speak a lot when coaches just basically say nothing yet they're talking a lot it's like he just talked for 15 minutes i don't think he said anything of value and they're good at it. And I don't ever blame them for doing it. And owners and GMs do the same thing.

Jimmy Haslam came out today and said, in regards to Deshaun Watson, quote, it was a big swing and a miss. I was like, damn. Even though every human alive, whether you're in Cleveland, Ohio, whether you're in Scottsdale, Arizona, whether you are in Dubai,

if you fall football, you know that Deshawn Watson trade, contract has been an all-time disaster. But usually they just give you a BS. Listen, we're going to keep trying to add to the football team. Deshawn's doing everything possible to rehab and get his Achilles right. And, you know, he has the right attitude. And just all the BS cliche stuff is typically what I would have expected. If you told me Jimmy Haslam today at the owner's meetings is going to be asked about Deshawn Watson.

I would not have expected this. And you know what? we have to acknowledge because I think with this, Deshawn Watson will never play another game for the Cleveland Browns. His career for the Cleveland Browns is over. Because I don't think you say a comment like this without basically acknowledging like, this thing is a wrap.

Obviously, we can't cut him because it accelerates the contract, but he's got a torn Achilles. We never plan on making him our quarterback again. And the 90 million plus we owe him, we will pay over the life of the next couple years. and it is what it is. And over the next couple of years, he will be, I'm sure, released from the Cleveland Browns,

whether that's 26 or 27. I'd even go as far to say, I don't think Deshawn Watson will ever play in the NFL again. And if you've listened to me long enough, you know, I'm not some moral high horse guy when it comes to the private sector, whether that's whatever industry you work in. Specifically, obviously I talk a lot about the NFL.

Like, the job of an NFL, GM and an NFL head coach is not to teach society life lessons. There have been a lot of bad guys, questionable characters who have played a lot in the NFL. Why? Because they could play. And that is the job of a team to get the best players possible that gives you the best chance to win. But the moment you can't play,

and DeShan's clearly proven the last couple of years, he can no longer play at a high level. Honestly, he's awful. Like he's objectively one of the, worst players, his time in Cleveland that we've seen in the NFL for decades. Now you factor in extensive injury history, shoulder, Achilles. Then you factor in the baggage off the field. I don't think he ever gets signed in the NFL again. Because if he had been a high level player and became available, you would be naive and ignorant to think a lot of teams wouldn't line up

to acquire a quarterback, right? That's why the Cleveland Browns gave him $230 million. because they thought they were getting a star player from Houston. All the stuff off the field was being discussed, what was out there. Didn't matter. They didn't care. And then Deshawn's like, I'm not going to Cleveland. And they said, what will it cost you? And they gave him the contract terms, and Jimmy Haslam gave it to him.

But the reason this contract has been a disaster, he's awful. And now he's injured. And now to the rest of the NFL, I think he's untouchable. when you factor in just the toxic nature of his name, you just say Deshawn Watson, an NFL fan goes, but he can't play. It's the reason a lot of guys with questionable off-the-field situations,

whether they are guilty in the court of law or not, that's not the NFL's job. This isn't the Justice Department. Honestly, if you are a free man walking, they don't give a shit if they think you're a high-level player. It's been proven over and over and over. and it will continue to be proven over and over moving forward. If you are a high, impactful, talented guy, you are going to get countless shots.

Deshawn Watson no longer is. And when I think you factor in the baggage and the toxicity that he brings moving forward, I think his NFL career is done. And I don't throw that out lightly. Like I said, zero moral stance coming here. It's just simple of like his production to baggage, talent rate is all out of whack. And there's going to be no way to prove it

because clearly he's never playing another snap for Cleveland. So I think we have seen the end of Sean Watson. John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan. One, the coach's photo came out today. You saw a lot of smiles. You got McVeigh, huge smile, Andy looks happy. Jim Harbaugh looks like he just hit the lottery. Just a lot of good vibes.

Offseason, not much going on. These dudes are in Florida. They're all flying private. Jets are first class there. Mike Tomlin sweating his ass off so you know it's good weather, especially for these guys coming out of cold weather cities. Yet Kyle Shanahan

looks like someone just stole his dog. I mean, looks miserable. And I was thinking about this today. By all reports and all accounts is Brandon Ayyuk will not be traded by tomorrow when they owe him a large sum of money. I think it's like $25 plus million

dollars, give or take. And it's pretty clear that they wanted to trade them. They went into this offseason hoping someone would give them something of value where they could unload this money. And I started thinking, like, I just got married. Brandon Iuke was signed right before the season started.

So basically September, October, November, December, the 49ers did not make the playoffs. So starting in January, and by the combine, that's five months, if you count January. By the combine, it was rebrand. reported and John Lynch did not push back of like, yeah, we'll trade them. Like, we're open. We're listening to everybody. If in five months, and they just gave this guy a massive contract, besides Nick Bosa,

I think it's the most guaranteed money they'd ever given to a player. $75 plus million. A guy, they drafted. Just got married. If in five months, I'm like, yeah, I'm telling people, I, yeah, I wouldn't be, I'd be open to a divorce. That'd be a problem. and that'd be a reflection of like what were you doing in the first place

so the 49ers who had this back and forth with Brandon Ayyuk after being on this rookie contract essentially in my analogy dating for a long time why wouldn't you have just pulled the trigger and traded them before the draft like what could have happened?

Did it get that weird and toxic once you gave him the money? Kyle had to kick him out of a practice for wearing the wrong clothes but like that is enough to just be totally out on the guy? I don't quite understand how a mistake like this could happen. And clearly, they view it as a mistake.

This is not an opinion. Because you would not, even after the injury of like, listen, we believe in this guy is one of our core players. Like the way they talk about Nick Bosa or Fred Warner or George Kittle. They don't ever talk like that. Yet Brandon Ayyuk, they immediately treated like most NFL players are treated. Like, yeah, we'd get rid of them for the right price. you just gave this guy $75 million.

I don't quite get it. Listen, some mistakes, the Trey Lance thing, he's still not signed to a team. It's been well-documented, awful decision. A lot of variables playing apart. COVID's going on. No season. They took a swing. Backfired.

They got very lucky to pivot off that. Like, that happens. We've seen a lot of teams make awful decisions in the draft. The Jets did was Zach Wilson, right? He was on what? His third team in three years. Justin Fields, Mac Jones, all these guys are on different teams. So you'd be like that's even Trevor Lawrence who got paid $200 million.

Most of us would argue is even that good. And I think the jury is definitely still out. But Brandon Ayuk was a guy you drafted in the first round, a guy that you had been with for years, won a lot of games with. And then five months after giving him a historic contract, you're like, this sucks. We went out of this business. And listen, I think it's always.

easy to criticize these situations. And it was easy to criticize last year, which I did a lot. I thought they never should have paid him a lot of money, mainly because he had just got 75 balls, which was a career high. It's like, guys, in your offense, paying him what top receivers are going to get, it's never going to work. It's always going to be, you're not going to have a hundred catch guy. That's not the way your team's built, and most specifically, your head coach, who's the coordinator, runs an offense.

So doing a deal with him like this from a financial standpoint, even separate from however weird it got off the field and the injury, didn't make football sense. But what could have happened within five months where you're like, yeah, we just, we're not really into this guy. And they can say whatever they want now. Hey, we still are guy. Like, bullshit. You don't entertain a trade like this. And let's face it. want to trade them, no one's giving you anything of value for a guy owed basically 50 million over the next

couple years who has a torn ACL and MCL, right? It needed major surgery and it's not even going to be ready until the next, till the middle of next year. Now, maybe this was, they knew they could never trade them and they're playing psychological games with him because they thought that he fucked with them last year, which has been well reported, and they did not like the way the negotiations transpired, but what a bizarre situation. It really is. The Steelers and Mike Tomlin. Now, Tomlin was asked about Aaron Rogers, and he gave one of his classic like Tomlins, I'm comfortable being uncomfortable this time of year, and I'm used to the weirdness of, you know, free agency, which I don't think he's really lying. And I think all signs right now.

now point to Aaron Rogers being on the Steelers. I heard, I think some people had believed that Rogers was going to make the announcement on Pat McAfee's, like, I think he has like a show. I don't know if it's actual like live show when his show's on air or just a show at night, but it's in Pittsburgh, and most people think that Aaron Rogers is going to come out, you know, during that period of time. and when I first heard, I forget where I heard this. I was like, I don't know. That's so long to wait. Like, he's really going to, no.

Now I kind of feel like, yeah, maybe there is some validity to that. And that's ultimately what's going to happen because there was a picture going viral today of Rogers thrown with D.K. Metcalfe, who is obviously no longer on Seattle and on the Steelers. You're like, this thing's going to happen. But that's not what I want to talk about Mike Tomlin. He had a quote today that I thought, which I, I'm kind of torn on. And he was asked about, you know, the reseeding, which is getting pushed in these owners' meetings, about teams with better records than division winners having to go on the road. And obviously, there are teams pushing to have a team like the Minnesota Vikings would not have.

Now, technically, that game ended up in Arizona, but would get to host a game because they won 14 games. Instead, they're going on the road to play a 10-win division. winner. And Mike Tomlin supports division winners getting to host playoff games because he thinks basically winning the division matters. And he's a big believer in rivalries, which I am too. I'm all for it. And I used to believe this. If you won your division and it was one of those weird crappy years and your team was under 500, which we've seen before in rare circumstances, I think the Panthers one year, the Saints on the, was it the Beast Quake in Seattle. They had to go on the road.

Seattle was like 7 and 9, won an awful NFC West, like Pete Carroll's first year. I'm all for you don't get to host a playoff game. And I'd even be for in that situation, you don't even make the playoffs. But I think guys like Tomlin would push back against that. I think if you're under 500 and you're like, well, if you're not one of the top seven teams, you just don't get to make the playoffs, I'd have no problem with that. But I do think this.

If you win your division, and this is going to be like, you know, I'm going to pull some stuff. I don't want to say out of my you know what, but this is just, I was thinking about this. If you win 10 or more games, let's use the Rams as an example.

Like, they didn't feel like a random playoff team this year. But they weren't Minnesota, Detroit, Philly. Like they weren't 13, 14, 15 win team. But they were clearly, pretty good. And they went 10 and 7 and they won their division. I have no problem with them getting the right to host a playoff game. But if you tell me you go 9 and 8, which in 17 game season is essentially 8 and 8, now it's not under 500, but it's still like you're 9 and 8 and you're always

going to be more than likely the fourth team. If you go 1, 2, 3, 4 in the divisions, you're hosting a team. I would say if we just look back on the last decade, is probably on average going to have two, potentially three more wins than you, feels a little out of whack. So I'd have no issue with this. Under 500, you're not guaranteed a playoff spot if you win the division at 8 and 9 or worse. If you go 9 and 8, you get to make the playoffs, even if you're not one of the top seven rosters, or I mean, records because you won the division. But you get to, you got to play on the road.

and if you go get 10 plus wins, you get to host the game. And you'd be like, well, why do you just choose those numbers? Well, it's like, I was thinking about this today. Where did they get the 15-yard penalty? Why is it not 10? In a hundred-yard field, and we're at the 30-yard line, I mean, you're talking, that's a huge, huge advantage.

Why is it 15 yards? Automatic 15-yard penalty, automatic first down. Why can't it be 10? They just chose 15 and we just go along with it, which I'm not against, but when you really think about it, the field's 100 yards. So if you get a 15-yard penalty, that's 15%, and that's assuming you're basically at the zero-yard line. If I get a 15-yard penalty, I'm at the 50. Shit, I'm already in field goal range.

Well, that's 10 and it changed a little bit. So we already kind of do that with penalties. Why can't we do it in this situation? I do just think that something about under double-digit wins, we got a question. The finals for March mania are here, and the only thing for sure is it's the last time you can bet on college basketball this season. Get in on all the action, expected and unexpected, with Draft King Sportsbook. With live betting, exclusive content, promos, and parlayes,

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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 a... 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 did 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. Oh, 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, 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me,

your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase

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

or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves.

Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer-beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. A couple of things in regards to the Colts. Andrew Luck is now the GM of the Stanford Cardinal.

And he just fired his coach, Troy Taylor, who ironically is a former Cal quarterback. and coaches Stanford, just like Mark Madsen, former Stanford great, Cal's basketball coach. But there was an article within the last, I don't know, three or four weeks. I haven't talked about this on the show

because I read the article and it said he was doing like really mean things to women within the office, but it didn't really give details. So it was like, it was hard for me to have a take when I don't know, like, is he just football coaches can be dicks.

A lot of stress. They're not winning. Is he just not, not being nice, or is he doing specific things? I need examples to have an opinion on like, yeah, this can't be tolerated, or it's like, yeah, welcome to football, but he got fired. And Andrew Luck fired him, and today it was announced that Frank Reich, his former coach, and obviously former Panther coach, former Eagles offensive coordinator, former quarterback in the NFL,

will be the interim coach with Stanford, but only for this year. Now, if Stanford wins like eight, nine games, maybe he just keeps the job. But they're claiming that he, they fired Troy Taylor, which, you know, was I guess Andrew Luck's decision, potentially the president's decision. You fire a guy in the middle to late March. You can't just go on like a normal coaching search. But Frank Reich will be the coach. So listen, the Troy Taylor experiment, he'd gone three and nine, he'd gone three and nine. Stanford's kind of in shambles.

They're now playing in the ACC. good opportunity for Frank to kind of get his swag back because it kind of feels like Frank's never going to be a coach again and all of a sudden if he can resurrect Stanford in a year, I don't think it's inconceivable that he just keeps the job. I listened to Chris Ballard. Oh, Florio. He sat down with Floreo and I listened to that interview.

And then I read some quotes from Shane Steichen. It's pretty clear that the Colts like Daniel Jones. And one thing Ballard said is the last couple years We've just tried to sign the best backup quarterback we could. Gardner Minchew two years ago, Flacco last year. But those quarterbacks, their skill set, didn't have anything in common with Anthony Richardson. So when Anthony Richardson would leave the game, injury, suspended, whatever, I guess he wasn't technically suspended. He was his bench.

We'd have to change the offense. And this year, we went into it thinking, like, we need to get a more athletic quarterback where the offenses can be, pretty similar. I think they like Daniel Jones. And I think Anthony Richardson's job, and again, I'm not pro Daniel Jones, but he better play well. Because if Daniel Jones, if all things are equal, I think they'll go with Daniel Jones. I think they are very, very unsure right now on Anthony Richardson. I don't blame him. And Sikin mentioned the day, like, he's got to be more accurate. He used the Gruden quote, you can never go broke, taking a profit, you know, the spider two wide banana. The whole point of that was like, you can

dump it to the fullback. It's an easy. play. And the one thing with Anthony Richardson, you don't really get easy plays because he's pretty inaccurate. And I'm not saying Daniel Jones is any good. Listen, I don't even think I would have signed him if I was them. But clearly

they are not comfortable with Anthony Richardson. And right now, I would say it's a coin flip, week one, who the starting quarterback is. Shows you how fast things change. And I think they have a front row seat of watching these other situations. Like, you kind of know, you know. And they saw it with the Niners and Trey

Lance, they saw it with the Jets and Zach Wilson, they saw it with the Justin Field situation. Like, you just kind of, once you kind of start questioning a guy, it's pretty rare that you pivot back with a super young player. And maybe over the course of a decade, maybe he can figure it out. But as I'm sitting here right now, March 31st, 2025, if you tell me Anthony Richardson becomes like just a solid starting quarterback in the NFL, my guess would be it happens with someone other than the Indianapolis Colts. This was an interesting story.

The New York Jets, it was reported by, I think, the Sports Business Journal that of like 220 employees, they offered like 170 or 180 of them the opportunity to quit and basically get paid to go away, which I've always said. Some of these coaches like Josh McDaniels got like $50 million to leave. you know, no human can relate to that. You read some of these articles about like CEOs getting the golden parachute. I remember when I got firing radio and they owed me like 10 grand over the course of two months. I thought I was like, I'm getting 10 grand for two months to not do shit.

This is awesome. Most human beings, when they are laid off or fired, not only don't get much, a lot of them are at-will employees. They get nothing and have to take unemployment and it sucks. I've been there where you're just like have no money. coming in, you don't even know what to do. I feel little sympathy, the way this is going to work with the Jets, where a lot of these people are 10 plus years, some of them are 20 plus years. You get three-week severance for every year you work there.

So if you work there for 10 years, you would get 30-week severance. I mean, that's more than six months. Some of these people up to 80-week severance. Do the math. I mean, you're talking a year and a half. So, like, it's a pretty, if you, it's pretty clear if they don't want you to work there, and they're offering you a year worth of severance, it's like, I'm not feeling bad for you. I'm not looking at you like the dude at some job that just gets laid off and now has no income coming in.

That sucks. That's not the case here. Woody Johnson's throwing this out. He's copying Elon and Donald, who did that. I actually know a guy who got offered this, I think, was it early February, late January? and he took it. He's being paid by the U.S. government till I think September

to just, he got paid to leave. And he was in a situation where he was between jobs. He took this job. He didn't like it. And they offered him that. He's like, see, I'm out. This situation, which I would say is a little unheard of. The difference in the government thing that's going on is

there's administrative change. There is a new boss. And there are people, if you don't align with the values and you are not going to want to do what they're going to want to do or you think that they're going to bring in people that don't align with the way you view things, you ultimately will get fired or forced out. You're like, okay, I'll take my quote unquote golden parachute right now. In this situation, Woody Johnson is not leaving. So the ownership, there is no change of leadership. The reason the Jets haven't made the playoffs in, I think

it's the longest standing professional team in all of all of sports all the four major sports in america it's not because of any of these individuals sure some of them you could trim some fat probably you could upgrade but woody johnson looks at it like we need a full scale change let's fire everyone in the building and start from scratch whatie you're not a startup the reason your team hasn't won many games, you've picked the wrong players. You've hired the wrong coaches. You haven't figured out the quarterback position. The third dude in the marketing department who's worked there for six years has no impact on winning and losing. I promise you that. I've been in these buildings. They do not impact it. It's not their fault. So like, I understand what he's trying to copy,

but I think most people would tell you he's the problem. And as long as he owns the team, nothing's going to change. So they could get all these people, 200 plus people could basically agree to pay me to go away, which for some of these people is a long time. I'd argue it's an American dream. But I don't think it's going to have any impact if Justin Fields can't complete an outrout. if the defense can't get a third and eight stop. If Soss Gardner plays like he did last year,

not his first two seasons. If their pass rush isn't very good. If Aaron Glenn's not a good coach. If this dude they hired from Denver is not a good GM. They could replace all those fucking people and it will have no impact on whether they can beat Mike Vrable or Sean McDermott. So sexy headline. And I would imagine that a lot of these people,

people end up taking these once they realize that they are not wanted anymore because the one thing I look back at when, you know, I've left places was like, why would you want to be somewhere that doesn't want you? Now, at the time, it's very difficult when you're hearing that news. It is not fun. But when time passes and you look back, you're like, why would I want to work with these people? And the answer is you wouldn't if they don't want you there, especially the guy that owns the team. If he wants you gone, I mean, this is, I promise you this, this is his idea. He's clearly good buddies with Donald. Their wives were models in the 80s or whatever. And he's copying Doge and Elon. I just, I just think, to think that the dude selling sweets

is the reason the Jets get made fun of a lot and have had issues over the last 15 years, I just think is fundamentally like barking up the wrong tree. You're just, you're trying to fix something that is not going to change the thing that matters the most to everybody, which is the on-the-field product. A couple other things,

the international games, they're looking at Greece and the United Arab Emirates. My take on this has been pretty consistent. I do believe that this is not, about international expansion of putting a team in England or Spain or in any of these places. It's just about building an international fan base for Netflix and Amazon and Apple TV and Hulu or whoever they end up going into business with. That's what I think they're doing.

And they're going to play a game in Greece. They will play a game in Dubai. Like this is all inevitable. It's pretty clear where this is all going. But to me, it is all based on the. the ability to stream these games and have more and more people watching outside the United States. That is important to them. And when they inevitably sign a big deal with Netflix, they will have hoped to have built that base over the course of the 2020s. And they are actively

doing that. Thursday night football, they've added the ability to flex games over the last couple years, they just had to give you a 28-day heads-up. So if they were going to flex your Thursday night game, and, you know, if they were going to put you, you're on a Sunday game, and now they're going to flex your game because it's better to Thursday night football, they had to basically give you a month. Well, they've cut off a week, and now they only have to give you 21 days. I think they are dead set on selling this package for way more money than they just did do Amazon. And they understand that when you're getting 10 to 15 million people to watch these

games, how valuable is that? We just saw the NBA almost triple their deal and they've lost half their audience. They won't have one game this season, including the NBA finals, unless the Lakers or Warriors make it. That will get over 10 million people. Yet the NFL on Amazon Prime is disappointed when only 10 million people watch. So I think the league, is licking their lips on upping the value of all these packages. And they don't want a game that looks good at the beginning of the season. And then all of a sudden is a disaster sitting there on Thursday night. And all of a sudden, it's not as important to watch.

I'm going to watch. I don't miss any Thursday night games. But it's much more enjoyable when it's Bengals Ravens or Chiefs Broncos than when it's, you know, Jags Titans. And I think they've made that. decision and they will keep getting aggressive and this is probably as close as you can get the detractors will say what about the fans what about the people who have made the decision to travel in to buy a hotel room and buy tickets they don't care about you they care about the

dude on the couch they care about the person that accounts for one of those 11, 12, 13 million people. That's where they derive their cash. It's where they make their money. The value of you sitting in the game used to be really valuable. It's really valuable in baseball because I got 80 home games. It's really valuable in basketball because I got 41 home games. I value my season tickets.

I value the people that buy game day tickets. They are just not nearly valued by the last. league office that views things from a macro perspective. So a lot of people are going to write articles and complain about this, which I get. And listen, it sucks if you make a decision to go to that game, especially, you know, a decision if it's like Raiders Broncos. And all of a sudden, I'm not trying to show them the Raiders, but they just have no chance to make the playoffs.

And all of a sudden they move that game for, let's say, Rams Packers. And it's like, well, I've already bought my tickets to Vegas. I already preserved my room at the Aria. I already was going to go fly in Thursday morning and stay through Saturday. They're just going to tell you shit out of luck because they're not really worried about you. And for the money that you used to generate them 20, 30, 40 years ago, you're such a small piece of the pie now. and the only thing they care about is Amazon Prime and whoever's going to buy that deal in a couple years

sees the big numbers and the bigger the game is, the more people they're going to watch. Last but not least, Kevin O'Connell said that two things can be true. We really like J.J. McCarthy and we're all in on J.J. McCarthy, but we would not be doing our job

if we didn't thoroughly discuss and go over the scenarios about Aaron Rogers. I think he's right. You could argue like, listen, Aaron, we are going to offer you a contract. One year's $5 million. One year, $5 million. What's you going to say no?

I was like, okay, go to Pittsburgh for $25 or whatever. We're offering you by far the best opportunity with the guy, as Kevin O'Connell said, I've known since I was playing. One year, $5 million. You've made $450,000. You've probably made $600 million on and off the field. Whether you get paid $20 million or $5 million isn't going to change anything in your life,

your future children if you choose to have them, anything about the rest of your existence on this earth. But we are going to give you $5 million. And that would give them the wiggle room. Like, if it's not going well, we just cut you. That's what I would have done if I was Minnesota. But yeah, I'm not giving you $25, $30, $40 million. here's our offer. If you want to be a part of what we're doing

and somehow end up on the same path that Farrv ended up on, the guy that you, like, detested because he was mean to you and then you played for the same teams. And clearly Rogers was hoping the Vikings offered him a contract. You could argue like, hey, league minimum. And Rogers' league minimum has been the league 20 years, might be two or three million dollars. But this is what we'll offer you.

what's he going to say no? Like, okay, cool. This is what we wanted. We wanted the wiggle room of like, if this doesn't work out, we can bounce because we don't want to be tied to you. But we do value, like, maybe you're better than J.J. McCarthy right now.

Maybe you're not. I don't know the answer. Obviously, you know, three or four years ago, you wouldn't, Aaron Rogers had already been on the Vikings. It would have been a no-brainer. But at this point in time, he's 41, he's declining.

what if JJ actually is good, but what if he's bad? I understand why they had these conversations. But if it ever got down to making him an offer, I think the offer would be for a very, very small amount of money and basically put it in his court. Like, how bad do you want this? Because we got the leverage. You want to be here more than we want you.

So I'm a little surprised that they ended up not pulling the trigger on just basically a low-ball offer. I don't even want to use the term low-ball. Just a, listen, we want you on this team. We think you still have something left, but financially this is the wiggle room that we have. And basically don't even pay them more than J.J. McCarthy. So if J.G. McCarthy actually hits,

you know, there's not resentment big picture. But they chose not to do that. And they're all in on J.G. McCarthy. And now the hopes of Minnesota Vikings fans and the future of a franchise that's absolutely loaded on paper falls on a guy that's never taking a regular season snap. 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. 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. Oh, 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, where 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 on Humor Me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L'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. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible

guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely.

And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast. Learn the Hardway. Open your free, Our Heart Radio app. Search, learn the hard way, and listen now. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth.

He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies, I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levan this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive?

The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcast. Okay, mailbag time.

At John Middlecoff. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram. Fire in those DMs. I have a lot. So, if I haven't got tears, I'm going to try to just keep banging them out over the weeks, the offseason. We'll just keep up.

Hopefully I can get most of them before the draft, because obviously once that happens, then we have a whole new influx. And there's just, you know, if I don't get you by then, you probably get lost in the shuffle. so I got to start grinding over these next couple weeks. From Landed.

Love the content. Been a listener for years. Huge fan of NIL. I think it's great because college athletes can make money off their popularity and branding. My question is, how much money do you think football icons like Johnny Football and Reggie Bush would have made in their college careers? You know the irony of you saying off their branding and likeness, their image, you know, that's name, image, and likeness.

That's not what these guys are being paid to do. I think Dion Sanders said it. He's like, beside like Shador, who do you see in commercials? These guys are just being paid to play, which again, I don't care. But it's basically, I'm just paying you to play football. I'm not using your name image and likeness anywhere in terms of like commercials, like businesses. It's just like, I have $500,000 for you here. So it's kind of out of whack.

But in this system, I think both, I think they would have been them, Cam Newton. I mean, talk about, and more Johnny Football and Reggie, because they had a build-up Cam, just had the one year with Auburn. I mean, he would have been asking for a raise by like week four. But Johnny Football would have made a lot. I mean, after that huge was his red shirt freshman year. after Reggie sophomore, yeah, it would have been millions of dollars. As a former scout, how much of your time was spent traveling to watch players live versus evaluating them on film?

And did you enjoy the travel side of the job? Or do you prefer breaking down the tape? That's a good question. I would say, I liked driving. You know, I could drive for hours. Now, the problem in that business is, You know, when I drove from Arizona State to Vegas or L.A. to Cal to Cal and Stanford, you just spend a lot of time in your car where you can't get any work done.

So it's like at least when you're flying around and in the airport, you can work. Like when you're driving, it's just kind of dead time. And it's just time when you are from three to eight at night. if you're on a five-hour drive when it's you're just getting nothing done listen we all have to commute at times and you waste an hour or two

but when you have consistent four or five-hour drives it's just a lot of extra time that you're going to have to spend when you get to your hotel I'm very comfortable in a hotel I can work in a hotel turn the AC to about 65 degrees

I can you know eat and snack and beef jerky and subway sandwiches I can live that life, no problem. I mean, I don't think I'd want to do it as much now, but I didn't have a problem with that at all. I don't travel nearly as much now, obviously, for this. But every once in a while, like, go to the combine or go to the Super Bowl

and just stay in hotel. It's like, I'm very comfortable in that environment. I'm very comfortable in a hotel room. And maybe it goes back to that. I don't know. And this is someone as a kid, like we didn't, It's not like, this term gets thrown out a lot. Vacations.

Vacations. It's like, you know, Maria's like, I need a vacation. Like, when I was a kid, we didn't go on many vacations. Like, I don't think most people in society are just getting a couple vacations a year. Like kids get spring break or whatever. When I got spring break, I just was with my friends at home or I'd go with my dad to work. So I didn't get to travel as much. I definitely didn't fly a lot, like throughout junior high and high school, like with my family.

We didn't really go anywhere. If anything, I went like with my friends when I got to go on, quote, like to Lake Tahoe or whatever. It was like to my friend's house. It wasn't ours. So maybe I value that ability to do that now. Sure, there's something psychological to it, but I love a good Marriott. As an aspiring NFL NBA content creator on YouTube, what tips do you, suggest for getting started. How do you grow to have a following that you have now?

Well, I've been in this business now, you know, the podcast space for going on nine years. I've been doing YouTube stuff for five plus. I've made my living off the internet for a long time. So I would say my number one piece of advice to any human just do. Like you got to stop talking. you just got to do it. Some stuff is not going to work. The best part about the internet business, there aren't really that many rules. Just do whatever you want to do.

And if it works, double down. If it doesn't stop. It's just, it's the best. I mean, it's, for all the industries we have in the world, I would say content creation is a little bit podcasting, YouTube, TikTok, you fucking name it. Kind of that world is still like the wow, wow. West. It won't be forever.

But right now, like, you look at some of these worlds like banking or real estate and some of these things that are very, very corporate and you've got to follow a bunch of rules. Ain't many rules. The number one rule you should follow is just try to do content as much as possible. You know, I don't have to, I didn't have to do a podcast Sunday. This could have been my first podcast of the week. Record on Monday for Tuesday and just essentially take Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Sunday, off because I don't record anything Friday for Saturday.

But I, you know, I start questioning myself, like, am I being lazy? And the answer I gave myself was, yeah, let's do something. So I recorded something. Like, the best part about this world is, like, you don't have to do anything. Like, you get to choose what you, now once you've got ads and people in business, like, there are certain requirements based on certain deals, but like, you kind of get to pick and choose when you want to do stuff. so pick and choose to do stuff more often

and then through that you can figure out what works and what doesn't since we're in the off-season can you walk us through the process comma activities and schedule from the draft until the regular season game one players coaches and rookies I've always wanted to know what's going on behind the scenes well that's a long period of time I'll just walk you through the next couple months

uh March 31st So once the owner's meetings end and all the GMs and the coaches go back to their facilities, I don't know whether they fly out Tuesday night or Wednesday, either by Thursday or Friday or maybe next Monday, you will start intense draft meetings of taking everything that you have gathered since the combine at the pro days, all the information, and really hammer home the end of your draft board. Now your coaches will be involved. They will have worked guys out. They will have evaluated players on film.

So their opinions will come into it. The coordinators, the position coaches, and you will all work to get your draft board situated over the course of two or three weeks. And like, I know Veach and the guys in Kansas City, they spend a lot of time in that room anytime there's a question or an argument on a guy watching games together as a group.

And they just kind of work their way through it. Some teams do less of that. So every team is a little different. And then you just set your draft board and the draft comes. Obviously, you pick the players. And then within, I don't know the exact time, usually after not the first weekend, but the second weekend you have a rookie mini camp where those guys, you know, your Friday, Saturday, Sunday, all the guys you just drafted,

all undrafted free agents and then a bunch of like random tryout guys. and you just run pretty discombobulated practice. And over the course of that time, you know, your OTAs phase one, but it's really just working out. Guys are in town working out. They're in there during over the course of April. And you're just kind of all integrating together that leads to OTAs. And OTAs, you know, for a place like Kansas City or Baltimore or Buffalo or the Rams or the Niners,

Niners have a lot of new players But some of these teams with like pretty established rosters You know, it's it's I wouldn't say the Eagles It's a three day work week Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Thursday And a lot of times you're getting three day weekends Friday, Saturday, Sunday off Monday's relatively chill

You work out some guys who are on the street Maybe older free agents during that time But when I was when I worked for the Eagles Like we were playing a bunch of golf you know, they weren't crazy long days, like eight to three or four. Now, it's intense for the rookies and some of these teams, like, you know, if you're the Titans or a new coach, you know, Pete Carroll, obviously some days are longer. Like the Chiefs and the, you know, the Eagles, like certain teams, it's, it just depends where you're at. And then you basically do OTAs, which are just, I don't know, I mean, kind of stupid at this point with all the rules.

till summer break, which is about, give or take, 35, 40 days where you just do it to the hell you want. A lot of these guys, you know,

a lot of coaches are rich. They go to cool places. And then you reconvene for training camp. I'm not going to do a training camp breakdown right now, but the off season, once the draft ends,

becomes pretty chill. Becomes, I would say, very relaxed. It's a good time, you know, for like me, I'm going to try to get out and interview some of these guys

during the months of May and June because it's very relaxed time. The spirits are very high for all these teams. Who do you think is the best contender to go from worst to first in their division this year? I mean, it probably have to be the 49ers. Just because when you look around, like, is it going to be the Carolina Panthers?

Is it going to be the New York Giants? You know, even the New England Patriots who could have a massive bounceback. Like, they're not going to have a better record in the bills. So I think the most realistic team would have to be the Niners. Yeah, the Patriots, I just, even if they were to get a wild card, they're not taking the bills out. Browns, no chance. Titans, feels hard-pressed.

Raiders, no chance. Giants, definitely no chance. I do think the Bears could be a lot better, but, I mean, their division, 15 wins, 14 wins, and 11 wins. so they combine for 30, they combine for 40 wins, the three teams they got to take out. Saints, I'd say probably no chance.

It feels like the Niners would be the only guess you could have. It could be real. Good question. If you were going to build an NFL team, wouldn't you build through the trenches? This seems like an obvious concept, but the bottom 12 teams in the NFL seem to constantly be rebuilding over and over.

Are these coaches and GM scared of, getting fired and that's why they bring in new flashy skill position players, would you approach it as a GM? Well, I think if you, if you're, if your fundamental football belief is to draft big guys, I think most people say that, right? When they get introduced as a head coach, when they get introduced as a GM, when they do interviews, like we believe in the line of scrimmage. But then you're on the clock. Let's say you're the Cowboys, right? You're at Pick 12. it's like you should probably take an offensive or defensive lineman. Zach Martin just retired.

You've just lost some defensive players over the course the last couple of years. Like you could definitely add a young, talented guy to go with Micah, especially a detackle. All these GMs often also say is like take the best player on the board. So if we get to pick 12 and the best player on our board by far is Ashton Genty and let's say McMillan from Arizona. who I saw kind of went viral because someone got him for saying he doesn't watch film. It's like, guys, a lot of college players don't watch a lot of film outside of the coaching staff. Like he's not abnormal. Now, will he develop into that?

Time will tell. But like, I don't think he's alone. But if those are the best two players on the draft and you don't have a defensive or offensive lineman on the same level as those guys, that's when often you get in trouble is when you reach for a need. So I do think it's easy for us to criticize them. And then when they take a need and it works, they look like a genius. And when they take a skill guy and it backfires, they look like an idiot. It's really, really difficult to draft.

It is. It's so much easier for us all, including them to play Monday morning quarterback to look back a couple years ago. I'm like, great pick, awful pick. You don't have any of the. that information in a month. You can only go off what you are projecting. Then in two years, you got a bunch of film and you know certain guys been arrested and broke his leg and like, God, I wouldn't have fucked with that guy.

It's so easy to say after the fact. And I'm as guilty as anybody. But I think if you just draft good players, no one's really going to complain. Look at the Eagles last year. They just, they desperately needed DBs and they drafted the two DBs. Well, you know what turned out? both the dbs were sweet. What if those dbs sucked?

It's like, ah, those guys can't play. Dijin's a stiff white guy. Mitchell overrated small school guy. He'd be getting crushed. The key is to hit on the picks. Keys to hit on the picks. The Bengals took Jamar Chase over Panezool. Which if I just pulled every GM,

hey, star tackle, star wide receiver, which one are you going to take? Take the star tackle. But if that guy's Jamar Chase, don't feel really bad about it. Especially in their offensive line still sucks. I was wondering your thoughts on the Ravens' chances do finally make it over the hump. I feel like our roster is stacked and can beat any team.

I know Lamar has been disappointing in the playoffs, but I think the improvements we've seen the last two seasons have been big. Do you think we will win the Super Bowl this year, or Lamar will continue to struggle in the playoffs? I'll say this if I'm the Bills or the Ravens. you keep giving yourself enough swings. Eventually you're going to hit a home run. Eventually it's going to break your way.

I've seen it play out with other teams. Lamar and Josh are clearly the next two best quarterbacks in the league. Peyton Manning forever couldn't get over the hump against the Patriots. And then he finally did. And then he went to three more Super Bowls. It's like one of those two teams is, I would say in the next two years, hell, I would say this year, it's a coin flip for the Chiefs. Are the Chiefs going to go to six Super Bowls in seven years?

Yeah, they have one of the best coaches of all time. They have a great quarterback. But just history would tell us, Belichick didn't go to the Super Bowl and Brady every fucking year. He got beat occasionally by Flacco, by Manning. Like, it's just going to, by Mark Sanchez. So eventually, it's just going to be like, oh, Bill's Ravens in the AFC championship game.

Bound to happen. This is going to be your year. year, I don't know. I thought two years ago was your year. If Lamar keeps playing an elite level and you guys just keep building good teams like you've done for, feels like most of my adult life, yeah, you're going to have a shot. In your opinion, what do you think

was the best decade of football? I'm 24, lifelong Pats fan, so I grew up watching the dynasty in New England. But I love watching old highlights to see how much different things were. My personal favorite was the 2010s. I would say the best decade of football for my personal enjoyment would probably be the tens or excuse me, the zero, just the 2000s. It still had like a 90s, 80, 70s level of you could get killed.

Like it was so physical and intense that only gladiators could do it. But there was still such a high level of like Brady and. his prime, Manning in his prime, Farve was still playing, Breeze really hit the scene, Philip Rivers, Big Ben, Eli,

so you just had pretty high-level quarterback play, especially in the playoffs, and there was like this gladiator element. I think the league was deeper than it was, definitely when I was really, really young. The salary cap,

I think changed the world of parity. But like, you know, you came over the middle, John Lynch or or Brian Dawkins or some of the Troy Paul Amalu and Ray Lewis

there was just an element of this is crazy I mean these guys are nuts and there's still an element of that but you know the violence has just been officiated out of the game because they don't want to get sued

which I totally understand if I was in their shoes I'd do the same thing but there was a level of violence up until whatever, the mid-2010s that just doesn't exist anymore. I'm not ashamed to say I miss sometimes. And I think some of these players get away with poor play, quarterback specifically,

that wouldn't have been tolerated back then because you would have got guys killed. You wouldn't have been able to play. And I do agree with Brady. You know, Mahomes, Josh, Lamar, these guys would have played in any era. but some of these random guys that are able to excel, like could Gardner Minchew have played in 2004?

No, I do not believe that. I don't think he would still be in the league. I'm not trying to take a shot at the guy. I just think you watch him play any kind of little gunslinger. Like, I don't think it's possible. He would have got people killed. So I'd go my personal favorite, the 2000s. Do you think as more and more different head coaches and GMs win Super Bowls,

Shanahan and Lynch will slowly become an overrated coach and GM combination? It always seems like he has a stacked roster and just coaches, just like other coaches such as Siriani, but the difference is that he can never take it all the way home. Hell, Zach Taylor made a Super Bowl and Doug Peterson won one. Lynch overpaid Jimmy G. he used two first rounders on Trey Lance, three,

and could have whiffed on Mac Jones, got lucky with a limited seventh rounder. Yeah, I mean, these guys just, until you win a Super Bowl, you always have that hanging over your head. And how close they've been, they're going to pay their quarterback. Yeah, they will get criticized.

But here's the thing. Kyle Shanahan could have two awful seasons. he would immediately get hired. Immediately. It's like Andy Reid. Andy Reid got fired in Philadelphia. There were three or four teams lined up to hire the guy. John Lynch is the overrated, underrated?

His resume speaks for itself. He's drafted a lot of really good players. And Jimmy Garoppolo was not necessarily overpaid. Won a lot of games with him. Now was Jimmy Garoppolo a franchise quarterback? Turns out he wasn't because he got injured a lot. And then he kind of diminished as a player. But, like, when they paid him, what were they supposed to do?

They just made the Super Bowl. If Tua had just taken the Dolphins of the Super Bowl or Trevor Lawrence, I would have been like, yeah, I have no problem with them signing that contract. Like, those guys couldn't piss a drop in the playoffs, especially Tua. It's like, you can't. Jimmy Garoppolo is, like, making plays in the playoffs. And in huge games to get them the number one seat in 2019. team. So they were kind of like, what are they going to do?

And then he just kind of fell off a cliff because he was injured a lot. But I don't have as big of an issue with them paying Jimmy Garoppel. That was not the reason. Like, that didn't derail their team at all. The Trey Lance thing is a way bigger issue. But they got out of it because of Brock Purdy. Now it's like Purdy's going to be judged differently because he's going to be paid a lot of money. Question for the bag.

Does the height of Genti really concern you enough to hesitate on him being one of the best running backs in the draft. I understand he's only 5-8, but what about backs like Frank Gore? I'm from the Bay and have the privilege of meeting Frank and Willis at a birthday party in the San Jose Hills. He was listed at 5-9, but in person didn't seem taller than 5-7. Tackle-breaking ability like Gore. You're making my point, though. Frank Gore, who's, I mean, one of the more consistent players of his generation, was pick 65. I've never said that Ashen Gentie isn't one of, if not the best running back in this draft. My issue is, are you going to take a running back who's 5'8 in the top 10?

When you could find a starter, no problem in this draft. It is considered one of if not the deepest running back drafts in years in the second or third round. Aren't you better off taking a defensive lineman in the first round and then taking the third or fourth running back? in the second round, that's my whole argument. I'm with you. He's not going to be a bust or a great play. His height is not going to determine his success. He can excel and be a pro bowler at 5-8.

100%. But am I taking a 5-8 guy in the top 10 at running back? That's where I struggle with. And I'm with you. Frank Gore is a stud. But he was a third-round pick. Now, part of that was because, of his knee injuries.

But that's my argument. Why don't you just draft Frank Gore in the third round and take other positions in the other rounds? So when I look at the 49ers who took Frank Gore in 2005, they took Alex Smith with the first round pick. They took David Bass with their second round pick. I think played a decent amount. He was on the team for five years.

So they got their starting quarterback and their starting center, and then they're starting running back in the third round. That's my whole argument here. Take, get your starting tight end, Tyler Warren, and then take whoever the fourth best running back, or the seventh best running back in the third round, who might be the next Frank Gore. Happens all the time.

Alvin Kamara, third round. Nick Chubb, second round. LeShawn McCoy, second round. You don't need, less the guys like Adrian Peterson. I'm just Sequin Barclay. I'm just not taking the guy that high. When you were talking about guards and centers

having elite toughness like wrestlers, it got me curious. Did you catch any of the NCAA wrestling championship this past weekend? As a Penn State fan, it's one sporting event where I get to experience winning Natty's. But the event overall had some awesome moments.

Like I said, I just watched the highlights of of the dude that upset the guy from Minnesota, which was awesome. I think the bills last year either drafted in the seventh or as an undrafted free agent took the national champion wrestler from Minnesota. I don't even think it was the guy that just lost. Could be, probably shouldn't bring that up. I don't have the information, but I'm pretty sure that they brought a wrestler to the team.

DMing you from my fiance's Instagram account. I think I have a great addition for Fugazi Friday. Decorative pillows. We currently have seven decorative pillows on our bed. And none of them are ever used. What is the point of having and paying for seven pillows to take them off and use your actual pillows when you sleep? They are annoying. I hear you, brother.

You know, the one thing is when you... One thing ladies bring to our lives... is the fungshue, the, the, uh, aura, as the kids say, that the vibes of the house. Because when they don't exist, my house looks much worse in terms of decorations. And like, I would, I never had any pillows on my bed beside the ones I used to sleep. And I think my mom, before I moved to Arizona, like, the only reason my bed had, like, the extra pillows because my mom bought them for me. But there are things I'm with you.

They just are there for looks. And how often even when you bring people over to your house, like friends, they're not hanging out in your bedroom. But maybe this is an old school thing. My dad taught me. One thing I am good at and I'm disciplined with is making the bed every day. It's kind of my job versus I just end up doing it. And I don't mind doing it.

It's like get out of bed. get out of bed, make the bed. Your bed does look better with the pillows, but I'm with you. When you sleep, we have like a chair next to the bed that you just put all the pillows in. And then when you make the bed, you just grab all the pillows and put them back on. Like you said, one, they're not comfortable. So even if you wanted to lay on them, they're always like harder. They do improve the look.

and that is something that ladies bring to our life is that they add the vibes of the house would look worse without them even if these things that they bring to the table aren't functional because from a functionality standpoint

they bring the pillows do nothing you never use them you only take and subtract them from the bed when you actually use the bed sometimes they go on the floor and then they get dirty kind of gross

but when they're all on the bed the bed does in theory depending on the color of the pillows and the duvet and everything look better but I hear you I hear you that's uh you know big pillows got us by the balls

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 Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman helped make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and headwriter, 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. This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us.

From I-Heart Podcast, Saigon. You don't think I'm serious about of free Vietnam. One city, a divided country, and the war that tore America apart. This is for Vietnam. They're pouring patril all over here. Freedom for Vietnam! There's a fire coming to this country,

and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down. Gorsha accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They hold and Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew.

Pinky has financial issues. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real House Wise franchise, the drama, the alliances, and the T, everybody's talking about. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the King on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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