The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 & Out - Duke-UConn stunner, Tiger Woods' arrested, 49ers look into all the injuries
Episode Date: March 30, 2026A headline-driven episode of 3 & Out covering major storylines across football, golf, and college basketball. The show opens with Duke’s loss to UConn in the Elite Eight, breaking ...down what went wrong and what the result means as the tournament moves into the Final Four. Attention then turns to Tiger Woods following his latest DUI arrest, with a discussion on the implications for his future both on and off the course. In the NFL, John Lynch’s comments on the electrical substation situation and the decision to bring in an independent scientist are examined, along with what it means for the 49ers moving forward. The conversation continues with Browns GM Andrew Berry reaffirming that Myles Garrett is a “Brown for life,” and what that signals about Cleveland’s long-term plans. The episode wraps with the Jets naming Geno Smith as their starting quarterback under new head coach Aaron Glenn, and what to expect from New York heading into the season. All that and more on this episode of 3 & Out. Follow John on Twitter, and Instagram for the latest. All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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The Volume.
What is going on, everybody?
John Middlekoff, Three and Out podcast.
How are we doing?
Hopefully everyone's doing well.
If you're listening on Collins' feed, make sure you subscribe to Three and Out.
You want to watch any of our stuff.
It's on this little application called Netflix.
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You can see this beautiful baldhead.
I actually wearing a hat today, but we're there live every single day.
So appreciate everyone that's checked that out or continues to do.
There's a lot of football stuff going on.
The owner's meetings are here.
There were some stories floating around.
John Lynch gave a bunch of comments to my guy,
Cam Enman, fellow Cal Poly Mustang.
We'll dive into that.
The Browns are adamant.
They're not going to trade Miles Garrett, some quarterback news.
Probably going to start.
Obviously, the big news the last couple days was Eldrick Tiger Woods getting a DUI,
and you all know I'm a big golf guy.
And, you know, Tiger was most of my life my favorite athlete by a mile.
Now that he can't really play anymore, it doesn't really matter.
But he can't avoid trouble.
That's for sure.
So we got a lot going on.
We're going to have a really busy week.
the coaches, the NFC coaches, the AFC coaches do that kind of roundtable discussion over the next couple days.
It's mandatory that they talk.
It's the famous picture of Bill Belichick with the orange juice looking surly.
He was always, I mean, a peach of these events.
But this is when we get the picture, you know, the coaches picture when they all stand there.
Usually with Andy in a Hawaiian shirt, we get, you know, so much turnover every year, right?
We got 10 new, I guess we technically don't have 10 new coaches because John Harbaugh just accepted another job.
But most of these guys, you know, Sala wasn't a head coach, LaFlears, the Monkins, the mentors.
So we're going to have a lot of new faces in the coaches photo this year.
So it's exciting.
But before we dive in any football, I mean, that is, to me, the best part about March Madness.
And he kind of felt like there were a lot of blowouts.
you're watching Michigan, you're watching Arizona,
just kick the living, you know what, out of teams.
Obviously, the NIL world has changed this tournament a little bit
in terms of Cinderella's dead
because the Cinderella, the moment they get an NBA player,
high-end players, those players get stolen.
I mean, Cinderella's glass slipper has been shattered.
I mean, absolutely destroyed.
Which, listen, this is the new environment.
We've got Indiana winning national champion.
It's about money and the ability to take lower teams players has completely changed the game.
But that moment, Duke and Yukon, Dan Hurley, that was incredible.
And the tournament always, always.
And listen, I don't pretend to be some huge college basketball consumer.
Like most people, probably my age, watched a ton growing up in the 90s and the 2000s,
Big Monday, back when the conferences weren't necessarily football oriented.
You just had a lot of good basketball rivalries.
I mean, the majority of them were on the East Coast, and I was just a West Coast kid.
But even back then, you know, I grew up Jason Kidd at Cal, the great UCLA teams,
the Obanian twins, the Titus Edney shot.
We just, it just felt like this tournament was lacking a little juice.
And let's face it, today I'm at the gym, I'm watching Michigan win by about 50,
and then Duke, you know, Yukon can't hit water if they were in a boat in the middle of the ocean.
But then is, I'm like, should I just start the podcast?
And, you know, it's getting a single digits.
They're just kind of making the game weird.
But they were missing some free throws at the end.
They're still down four.
And then they're down two.
But that moment, what makes a tournament so cool.
Because in the NBA, like, for the most part, maybe it's changed a little bit.
But, you know, one, people don't really press.
and when they do, these guys are so good, so skilled.
I mean, most guys now, like, you don't have your traditional,
the guys only there to rebound, you know, and box out.
Like, most of these guys are really skilled.
The center position's kind of dead.
Everyone can dribble.
Everyone can move the ball.
I mean, you kind of learn that stuff how to move the ball up to court
in like eighth grade basketball.
But then you're like, oh, this is getting a little weird.
You got a bunch of 19 and 18-year-olds out there.
And then all of a sudden they turn it over.
and the freshman from Indiana lets that thing fly
and you're like, no, what?
And you're kind of looking at the score.
You're like, this would win it.
And it hits nothing but the bottom of the net.
And you see Dan Hurley jump up.
And to me, what makes the tournament so special?
Right.
In basketball and baseball, in the big leagues and in the NBA,
you play a series.
And I think if Duke played Yukon, I don't know,
10 times in the NBA-style version of playoffs,
whether it's a five-game or a seven game,
I think they win 90 plus percentage of them.
Honestly, they might win every single series, right?
And that obviously, Dan Hurley's an all-time great coach.
But it's fair to say this team isn't quite as good.
I mean, they played St. John's in the Big East tournament.
I watched that game start to finish.
You got the living, you know what kicked out of them.
So you're just watching this and John Shire.
And I was thinking this, when you replace, look at Kalin DeBoer.
When you replace the goat?
Like, I mean, Coach K to me is the most famous,
coach of my life. I don't remember John Wooden coaching. Obviously, he would be considered the most
famous college basketball coach in the history of the sport. In my time living and watching
college basketball, it was Coach K. Now, I get it's kind of unique. You had played for him. You're a
Duke guy. Still not easy. And I get it's a little easier maybe with NIL, but he's doing a great job.
He's recruiting and using that money to get the right guys. The boozer things, you know, obviously
Carlos played there, but I've been really impressed.
Seems like a high-level guy, easy guy to root for.
Coach Kay, you know, I don't know if everyone was a fan.
I've always been pro Duke.
I know the Duke had a lot of haters.
But, like, the guy's clearly crushing it.
But he has two kicking the, you know what?
I mean, absolute nut kicks the last two years.
And this one, I mean, it's just an all-time L.
It really is.
You're up huge, second half.
You have the ball.
You can basically just run out the clock if you get fouled.
if you just hit one of the two free throws,
they're not going to be able to beat you.
And more than likely, especially the guard,
if he just runs around,
he hits both of them, you win the game.
And not only do you lose the game,
they win it in a historic fashion.
So part of what made that game so cool,
and this goes back to some of the historic moments
in the tournament,
back with a Leitner shot against Kentucky,
it's like Michael Jordan's game winner for North Carolina.
These moments mean a little bit more
when it's Duke,
when it's Kansas, when it's Kentucky.
You know, the Jay Wright shot, you know, Jay Wright when they won the championship.
I forget the guys.
Was it Chris Dunn?
Was that the guy's name?
Who it's the game winner against North Carolina?
It's against UNC.
So that was, UConn and Duke are clearly two of, I mean, Duke's probably the most prominent
program of the internet era.
And Yukon's what?
I don't know, top three or four, especially now in the last five years, there'd be number one.
But that was fucking awesome.
And that's what makes the NCAA.
tournament so cool. This isn't a seven game series. This isn't a five game series. This is eight best
of three. You have a bad half. You have a bad 10 minute stretch. You're gonzo. And we all got to
witness it. And that was thrilling. That was exhilarating. That's why we watch. Now,
if I'd watch enough of the tournament to go, Duke was in trouble. I think it's fair to say a little
bit like the NFC championship game this year. Whoever wins the Michigan, Arizona game is going
to win the national championship. And this is what I said about North Carolina. It's like,
our history. Yeah, Michael Jordan played there in 1983 as 2006. Do you think Dusty May is leaving
Michigan or Tommy Lloyd is leaving Arizona to coach your program? It's like, boy, do you pay more? No,
not really. Do you have a bigger NIL budget? No, not really. So why is he leaving? Because
Michael Jordan and Rashid Wallace and Vince Carter played there, no one cares. So both those two guys,
I mean, one of them, to me, would be stunning if it's not a national champion,
and both of them are in the final four.
And like I said, I think it's actually easier if you can build a powerhouse at a football school.
Way less shit on you.
You don't have to deal with all the crap.
Nate Oates has an incredible job at Alabama.
He could be a top two or three seat every year,
and Kalin Dubor, or whoever's the head football coach moving forward,
is going to take all the heat.
He gets to just be like, God, he's doing a great job.
You're at North Carolina.
One, you've got to deal with Duke, who you're clearly not as good at as.
And two, like, you know, the world's changed.
And can you keep up?
You know, in theory, they should be able to.
They got this Jordan brand.
But I don't know if any of you have done any research on Michael, historically a little cheap.
You know, if it doesn't involve Michael, I don't know if he cares as much.
So I just think these North Carolina conversation about who are they going to get,
they got the pick of the litter.
No, they don't.
They don't.
This isn't 1998.
This isn't 2010.
This is the only thing that matters is NIL and good for Michigan and Arizona for kicking everyone's ass.
Obviously, the story of the last 48, maybe a little bit longer.
I think it happened on Friday afternoon was Tiger Woods,
who flipped a car on a residential road at lunchtime on a Friday afternoon.
Like most people, the first thing you think of,
Tiger was drinking in the middle of the day on Friday,
which, listen, I'd be a hypocrite if I said, like,
I've never done that.
Like, I've had some drinks on a Friday afternoon, especially at the golf course or Friday at lunch.
You know, I mean, it's like, so it's like, oh, that's kind of crazy.
Probably not a good idea.
Clearly, he's like, he's going to get a bad DUI.
This is going to be bad.
Then all of a sudden it breaks.
Well, he's blown to 0.0.
But he got a DUI and he's going to jail for eight hours.
And Bill Simmons used to have this thing called the Tyson zone when nothing could happen to Mike Tyson
in his heyday of craziness that you wouldn't believe.
And clearly, Tiger Woods now has.
has entered that kind of world where it's like he's dating Donald Jr's ex-wife.
He is flipping cars.
He's got DUIs.
He's shattered bones.
He tears an Achilles.
He just never know what's coming.
There is not a Tiger Woods story that hits my phone anymore that I'm shocked.
Now, that doesn't mean I'm not enthralled and I want to know more about.
But I would say this story is not shocking, which is kind of sad.
but this is kind of him.
And he was by far my favorite athlete most of my life.
He really is retired the moment that Genesis flipped in Los Angeles.
He has never been the same, never will be the same, and his competitive career unofficially
ended the moment his ankle, who, you know, I've had some accounts by people that were there
in the ambulance fire department world.
And clearly it wasn't good.
And obviously since he wears that sleeve, we've never seen pictures.
It wasn't good, and since then he's had other injuries.
And this guy before that moment was someone that had enough surgeries to resemble someone that played in the NFL in the 70s.
But these are the type moments where you're like, this thing's kind of sad.
And obviously, you know, he's got a young son who's going to Florida State to play golf.
He has a young daughter.
And this guy's life clearly like, listen, I don't have an addictive personality.
I've also never had 75 surgeries.
I don't have a back that's fused together.
So it's like it's hard for me to speak of like I can relate to someone addicted to pills.
Now there is not going to be because you've seen that picture of him in the bush talking on the phone.
Who do you think he was talking to?
His lawyer.
And what does lawyer clearly tell him to do?
Deny everything.
No piss test.
They have no evidence that he was on anything.
So I don't pretend to be like Judge Judy here to go like every he's going to get off on everything or he's going to get in trouble for this.
He's not going to be able to avoid.
flipping a car and reckless driving down a residential road in the middle of the day on Friday.
Clearly, he's lucky.
You're in residential areas where I live or you live where most of us live that don't live in city operations.
I mean, you get kids and people riding bikes.
Like, it obviously could have been really, really bad.
Clearly, no one got hurt, but, like, there are, you play this out 10 times.
This is probably the best case scenario, you know, but.
My thought was, I was kind of expecting the next day or maybe by tomorrow.
Tiger Woods has checked himself into rehab because we know for a fact that he's had pill issues before.
He's got a DUI for them.
Anyone that has had that many surgeries, he literally just had one, is having these things prescribed to him.
And clearly, and I said this to someone yesterday, Tiger Woods doesn't really look like a drinker.
You know, I look at Tiger Woods.
Like, I don't think he's some booze hound.
and you see him, it's like, oh, he's blowing zero,
which is clearly coming from the golf course.
My question was, how can you play golf all drugged out on these pills, right?
How can you function on a golf course and swing?
I'm sure he's playing with pretty high-level players and operate,
because he clearly can't drive a car.
There were a story that broke online the day that, like,
the Secret Service has banned him from driving any of Trump's grandchildren around.
I mean, he's clearly not a safe driver.
sober or not, but this is sad.
And the Tiger Woods situation had really the last 15 years,
had like a Michael Jackson, Mike Tyson element to it.
He's led a crazy-ass life, you know, for a guy nicknamed Big Cat.
You know, I don't know how many of those nine lives he's already used,
but he's definitely used a handful of them.
And this is a guy that, I don't know, man.
I just, the highs were high.
and the lows were pretty low.
And this is one of those, you know, in a couple weeks,
he wasn't going to play at Augusta.
But if you're a former champion,
for those of you that aren't diehard golf people,
you go to this dinner.
And the dinner is on Tuesday night,
where you put on your green jackets
and the defending champion,
this year it's Rory McElroy, puts on the dinner
and guy like Tiger Woods is standing there front and center.
I'd be a little stunned after this moment if he went.
But then I saw online that he was back at the golf course
the next day practicing.
So when I thought that he was going to go to rehab, you see something like that.
My daddy goes to rehab.
But this is not San Francisco, where you can break any law and not get in any trouble.
This is Florida where they take this ship pretty seriously.
Now, I've always said, you know, your bank account typically determines what happens do you in a court of law.
But there are some things that are pretty unavoidable.
And like, he might be able to avoid the DUI because they won't be able to prove what was in what wasn't in his system.
But there is no disproving that his car was.
was flipped in a road that I would imagine the speed limit was no higher than 35, where people that
live there have young children, and this is not only not a normal occurrence, it's probably
never happened. When do you ever see, especially in the middle of the day, a car flipped in a
residential area? To me, it's unheard of. I've been alive for 40 years. The majority of that
have been living in residential areas, and I don't think I've ever seen a car on the side of it,
on the side, you know, which his was, he had to climb out the passenger side of the car just to get out.
So, completely embarrassing moment for him.
You could see that picture of him getting picked up.
I mean, he spent eight hours in the jail where someone asked him, asked that bald sheriff, like, will he get special treatment?
It's like, guys, this is not, this is not Leavenworth.
This is not Alcatraz in his heyday.
This is Jupiter, Florida.
I would imagine if we peaked in to that jail cell,
not exactly the craziest criminals running around in that clink.
You know, there's a decent chance that Tiger was the only person that they put in a cell that day.
It's like, is he going to be with general population?
Like, hey, Jeffrey Dahmer is not in there.
You know, the Unabomber ain't hanging out in Jupiter.
So I thought that was like, what are we talking about?
But pretty sad.
just embarrassing moment for him
for a life that
let's face it, for the most part
in the latter half of his years,
every time you see him, it's like he feels like he's got it buttoned up
which he clearly doesn't.
So it's a good example that you never truly know
because he looks like he's in fantastic shape.
He's like, this guy's, it's like, fuck.
I mean, who knows what this guy's dealing with?
Guy has some serious demons.
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Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers, and guess what?
We have some big news.
What's the news, new?
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.
We're starting a trend.
But this one's extra special.
So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys?
I honestly don't remember.
I think it was on a call about what we should call it.
Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band.
Before Jonas Brothers was, we had.
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,
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.
And hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.
This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.
Where does your group perform?
We do some retirement homes.
Those people are starving for banter.
Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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 iHeartRadio app.
Search Learn the Hardway and listen now.
Let's talk some football.
John Lynch.
had an all-timer.
Asked about the substation by Cam Inman,
who just covered the Niners forever.
He said, we got an independent scientist,
and we want to let everyone know,
it's a big nothing burger.
It's a big nothing burger.
Like, that's what you guys,
it's a big nothing burger.
Now, the reality is what he tells me or you
or any fan on the outside,
it's kind of irrelevant.
It doesn't matter.
And I had a wise man tell.
me that when Jed York at the Super Bowl came out against this, and listen, I'm not saying
that he's lying. I'm not saying that he's wrong. Maybe they had an independent scientist,
do a study in a couple weeks, and find out nothing is going on. But someone told me not that
long ago that has put on that jersey, played for that team, really likes, like the operation,
Jed York, that Jed would 100% unequivocally have.
to push back against this because if it ever came out that there was any sort of truth
to the people that were pushing the potential theories that this was, you know, injuring or leading
to injuries, the amount of people and, you know, people being players that would sue the 49ers,
there's no way they could afford to keep the team.
They would lose billions of dollars.
It would be all she wrote.
So the 49ers, led by the owner, have no choice but to deny this.
Because they could never, ever, if there was any sort of truth, like, yeah, it's not ideal,
but they have to go 100% push against it.
So listen, I don't, this is not John Lynch's.
I mean, it's John Lynch's problem.
He did not create this.
This practice facility has been there well before he showed up.
And this is something that came up that, who knows, maybe he'd never even.
noticed.
But I don't think this is going away because all the players from Kittle to McCaffrey,
all of them have been asked about it.
And if you're going to come out and say this, if I was them, I'd be like, well, I want the detailed report.
Or can I get the scientist's number?
Because this is our livelihood.
And none of the, it's not like any of these guys want to leave the team.
But I do think it's fair of like, this is something.
and Kittle has talked about this,
that any player is looking for an advantage to be half, 1% better, right?
Just the smallest margins are the difference between winning and losing millions of dollars.
These are professions as players that are just not long.
If you have a long career, you play like 12 years as a non-quarterback.
You had an incredible career if you played in the NFL for seven or eight years.
the majority of guys that come in the league, i.e. or drafted or come in as an undrafted free agent,
don't even make it to four years. So the notion that this is just, oh, Big Nothing Burger going to go away.
And listen, I'm not talking shit about what John said. My point is, it means nothing that he said that.
Absolutely nothing. And I think the players are not only going to ask through their agents for like,
well, can we see the study? And I think Kyle is going to have to address this during OTAs with his team.
and I think some players are going to ask either to have their guy talk to the scientist
or to contact them themselves.
Because this is something that it's like, we got to figure out.
Is this, and I don't think he would come out and say this if he wasn't told this
because then you get caught in a lie.
But I just think that this notion of like, nothing burger, nothing to see here,
we're all good.
It's just over.
I don't think that's the way it works.
This is a complicated situation.
No one else is quite dealing with this.
I don't pretend to be knowledgeable when it comes to the impact of substations.
But I know there's enough smoke behind this that people are going to want more answers.
And to just think that you get to throw out a statement of like,
oh, nothing to see here.
You're all good.
Not really the way it works.
Which, he knows that.
Lynch is smarter than me, Stanford guy.
But this is a situation that is not going to be.
going to go away, and I'm sure Kyle Shanahan is going to be asked about this.
100% he will be at the coaches press conference this week.
The other thing John said, they're very close to figuring out this Trent Williams situation,
which they had no choice.
Like, you're starting left tackle, your offensive line sucks.
He's by far the best player, even at, like, he'd be the best offensive alignment on this
team at 55 years old, let alone at 38, 39.
So they got to find out a way to get financially take care of them and figure it out
with the books and that was all, it was inevitable.
When the story came out of like, the Niners could release or trade them, it's like,
who is leaking these stories?
This is so fucking stupid.
The other thing he said is that he expects Bosa, Kittle, and Mikel Williams, the guy they drafted
from Georgia 11th, to all be ready for opening day, which would be pretty big because
opening day is baseball, week one, is a huge part of the 49er success.
next year has talked a lot about is having their best players on the field.
And this gets back to the substation thing of like,
you can't have your best players getting injured,
having any shot to make a run.
You can get by when your coach is really good
and your schedules kind of sucks.
But most years, if you're going to lose all your best players,
it's a wrap.
It's why after they beat the Eagles,
it's one of the most remarkable wins in franchise history.
They beat the Eagles with like a practice squad.
and they were playing a $300 million roster on the field, right?
I mean, the Eagles were loaded with talent.
They just weren't playing well.
But the Niners had no business winning that game, and they did.
And they did double passes.
They had practice squad guys making plays on the ball and defense.
And it was an incredible achievement.
But that is, you can't do that year and year out.
And the reason Seattle dominated was because their best players played.
You know, this isn't the,
reason the Rams were right there with them is their best players were on the field.
If your best players are not on the field, you know, you got no shot.
The other thing he said is that they can't afford Joey Bosa.
It's pretty crazy, and this speaks to the NFL.
Injuries, you know, when you're hurt, you don't get to play, meaning you don't get to improve.
You know, Joey Bosa is a good example of a guy that top five pick early on in his career when he was healthy.
I mean, he was a dominant, powerful, excellent player.
Got a huge contract extension.
But you start getting banged up enough.
Like, you're either getting better or you're getting worse.
And when you don't play in games over the course of like a three or four year stretch,
it's kind of inevitable you're just going to get a lot worse.
So I think part of Joey Bose is a good example of a guy whose market is just not great.
Because I know he said we can't afford them.
I don't think people are knocking down the doors to sign Joey Bose.
The other thing is the NFL, and it's probably like this in most industries for most people,
what really separates successful people and non-successful people are just having like a clear vision of what you're doing.
And, you know, what makes the NFL unique is a GM or a coach could want to do something,
but they don't own the business.
These are W-2 employees that just happen to be really famous and make a lot of.
lot of money, but like if the owner doesn't want to do it, they don't have to do it.
And I never understood last year when Miles Garrett gave the Browns and out, he told them,
I want to leave.
It's like, guys, ideally you don't trade this guy, but your team's going nowhere, you're
going to suck, you have no quarterback, and the best player on your team is saying,
trade me.
And unlike most older players, he could have got them multiple ones,
multiple twos, could have got him a haul.
Then he goes on to have the best season of his career, has like 23 sacks.
They win five fucking games, and they just redo his contract.
Andrew Barry is quoted today somewhere in Arizona at the hotel.
Then Miles Garrett's going to be a career brown.
Brown for life.
It's like, what are we doing, guys?
How does this make any sense?
This franchise is just, you know,
Andrew Barry's this Ivy League guy
supposed to be really impressive and smart
yet you just watch
how they operate like if you
want to defend him you just say the owner
tells him whatever to do
and he has little to no juice
because extending
and not trading him last year made no sense
drafting the two quarterbacks
made no sense
now messing with his contract
and then coming out that makes
it more tradable but then come
out and say that's not why we did it
he plans on not only keeping this player, but we want him to end his career here.
You're going nowhere, and you're actually going nowhere fast.
Your division has some issues, right?
Steelers currently don't have a quarterback.
You know, the Bengals still have a lot of question marks personnel-wise,
though when healthy, could be pretty good.
The Ravens, a lot of weird stuff this offseason, lost some players,
new coach, new play caller.
Yet you feel like you're in the minor.
leagues compared to those operations.
And it just gets back to there's no vision.
There's no consistent theme of like, this is what we're going to do.
Say what you want about the Steelers and Ravens.
They've had a pretty consistent theme for a long period of time.
It's why since basically I was in high school in the early 2000s, they've kind of been the
same for 25 years.
Now they've been better or worse on a given year, but you know exactly philosophically what the
Ravens and the Steelers want to do, right?
And now, like, when you watch the Broncos or you watch Jim Harbonne the Chargers or Andy
Ree, like, they have a clear vision.
The Browns have never had any sort of vision ever.
And it's why it bothers me so much when people, and I see it was Stefanski, like, signing
Tua.
And then coming out with the quote of, like, you know, when you get fired, your backs against
the wall.
And it's like, I understand, because he's like, I can relate to Tua.
We both, because, you know, Tua got cut, which is fine.
firing in football terms.
It's like, yeah, that is true.
I've been fired too.
It's a motivator.
You start looking in the mirror.
It's fight or flight.
That's true.
The difference is for a lot of us,
when we find ourselves in the dirt,
when we find ourselves in the mud,
what do they tell you to do when they find,
you know, you're in a hole,
drop the shovel.
In pro sports,
when you find yourself in these situations,
you still got to, like,
you can be more motivated,
you can be more,
you still got to play the fucking games.
and you either have the talent or you don't have the talent.
It's like Kevin, you're signing Tua,
which he's surely going to start because Pennix is coming off this injury
and more than likely, like, I could see Tua beating him out.
You're not winning anything with this guy.
You're not winning the division.
You're not making the playoffs with Tua Tongue Vailoa.
That's not happening.
But Stafansky, like, doesn't quite understand
because for whatever reason in his mind,
like what he values a quarterback,
it's like, God, this is not going to work, man.
You need some help from the personnel people.
And then you look at Andrew Barry in this situation, it's like, God, this team's going to be terrible.
It's just going to be a train wreck, which is sad because Ohio's such a great football state.
If the Browns were ever good, it'd be really, really cool.
But they aren't even close to being good.
Now, listen, I understand, like, they don't need an extra first round pick this year.
They have multiple.
To me, you could trade him for this crazy haul in the future, right?
you could trade them two first round picks
and not even take one this year
because you'd want them for next year
when you can start moving up for better quarterbacks.
And there just clearly doesn't feel like inclined to do that.
But I don't see how anyone could argue,
including him, if you were in a closed room,
be like, Andrew, do you think you'd be better off
over the course of the next four or five years
with Miles Garrett on your team
or trading him right now for a ton of assets
while he still has a lot of value,
even though he's over 30,
which is pretty rare.
Like most guys on the line of scrimmage
aren't going to have a ton of value
at 30, 31, 32, 33 years old.
It's just not going to be the case.
Then there are certain outliers.
Trent Williams was like this five years ago
when the Niners traded for him.
Miles Garrett would be like this now.
Guys in their early 30s that are such elite talents.
Hall of fame, no doubt about it.
Every time he steps on the field,
he's the most talented guy on the field
just like, this guy still has a lot of value.
And if your team blows, which the Browns blow, he does nothing for you.
It's like in baseball, when you have a great pitcher on a team that wins 65, 70 games.
You get to a point where it's like you might as well utilize your one positive asset.
It's not his fault, but you're not a good team to try to improve the aggregate of the organization.
And for the Browns being this like forward thinking, Ivy League operations,
smart guys in the front office.
They do some dumb shit.
And the only way you could convince me, it's like, okay, I was wrong on everything.
If Andrew Barry said my owner makes me do all this stuff, which I wouldn't put it past him.
He seems like a nut job.
But I don't see how this is good for business.
The other thing that was funny today, I saw quarterback news that Aaron Glenn, he's already named Gino Smith, the starting quarterback.
I was listening to Todd McShay talk about this.
he must know the GM there.
They're clearly focused on
2007. They got multiple picks next year.
They're going to be bad this year.
I just think sometimes,
and we've seen this in basketball,
when you start thinking big picture
and you have never had any equity,
the team's already bad, everyone's negative.
It's like, you just never know, man.
Like you're not, this ownership has shown to be very
emotionally unstable.
all of a sudden can come out of left field at any moment.
It's like if this team wins three or four games next year,
which clearly would be the best case,
assuming there's a top quarterback,
that these guys are just safe,
that Aaron Glenn can go another year,
not winning many games,
looking terrible every week,
and just keep his gig.
And then the elephant in the room is,
would one of these quarterbacks come out and say,
I'm not playing there?
I refuse to go to the Jets.
We haven't had that happen in a while,
but I think you don't need to be a rocket scientist
to see that one coming, you know, down the train tracks.
So I just think the Jets, man,
are just in a really bad rut.
And sometimes you find yourself in this
and you keep trying to kind of bandating it,
hoping to get to the point where it's like,
oh, then we get to the draft,
where we kind of fix the franchise.
guys, people have been hearing that in New York Jets fans for 15 plus years.
There is no guarantee.
The draft is the ultimate crapshoot.
And I mean, last year, it's why everyone says, and I'm guilty of this too,
it's going to be some great quarterback draft.
I haven't been as aggressive on that one.
We said that about this year's class.
And then all of a sudden, a couple guys didn't live up to the hype,
some guys got injured, Fernando Mendoza came out of nowhere.
We'd never seen Ty Simpson play.
you just never know.
And I just think this jet situation with Gino Smith is going to be ugly, man.
It's going to be really, really ugly.
And like they were the last go-round, they hit on a bunch of picks.
Quinn and Williams, Soss Gardner, Garrett Wilson, Breeze Hall.
I mean, they had really good players in a lot of different positions.
And now none of those players are on the team.
And the reason is because they couldn't figure out the quarterback.
And it blew up in their face.
Now, the one-pass rushers on the Titans.
You got Sauce Gardner on the Colts.
You know, Brees Hall is on a franchise tag.
Who knows?
I can see him getting traded this season.
Garrett Wilson, like, what's the point of him on a bad team?
These things snowball.
And once they snowball, the negativity, it's hard to slow it down.
The other two news and notes around the league were Josh Allen is going to be cleared for OTAs.
He obviously had the broken bone in his foot after the Bronwyn.
game that he got cleaned up and when they named Joe Brady the coach he came out in crutches.
They're going to really need him this offseason.
Like he is now with this young coach who, again, I was really impressed when you watch
his press conference, talking to people with the combine.
I'm buying stock in Joe Brady.
But you need your best player who already is the team leader to even do more now
because you don't necessarily know what you're doing.
and there's going to be a huge learning curve for you.
Like all these young coaches, the mentors, Joe Brady's,
they've never sat in that seat.
That's why so many people are buying into John Harbaugh with the Giants
or thinking that Robert Salah with the Titans can turn it around.
Because they've sat in that seat before.
Obviously, John's had a lot of success as a head coach.
Sala hasn't, but he's comfortable in that decision-making seat.
He's been in a position where he's had a guy get a DUI.
He's had a guy get arrested.
He's had a store player break his foot.
He's had a store player tear his Achilles.
He understands what it's like to go to a news conference, you know, wearing those shoes.
And the reality is like Mentor and Joe Brady, these guys, the pressure on the Ravens and on the Bills is enormous.
And it's real.
It's tangible, right?
Both teams have been really close.
They've been on the precipice of breaking through in the AFC.
And two years ago was the break.
Raven's turn, couldn't get it done against Mahomes.
Last year, I guess that was three years ago now.
Last year it all broke for the bills, and they couldn't get it done.
And now on Lamar, on Josh, like, the pressure is just immense.
It really is to just, I mean, basically be like an assistant coach.
Because you've got to hold the team accountable.
You've got to set the tone every day in practice, which obviously all these guys already do.
but like he had John Harbaugh
who had already won a Super Bowl
who had a resume that was really long
and by the last couple years
like Sean McDermen had been a head coach for a while
accomplished a lot
like he was very comfortable
like whether you thought he was good or not
or a little overrated like he was used to being a head coach
and I'm just fascinated to watch this play out
I like it when teams like this have a bunch of pressure
it makes the league more interesting
but we've talked about the chiefs because I saw Andy just told, I think, NFL network.
We saw the video last week of Patrick Mahomes that Patrick looks great.
He's not going to make any proclamations.
I'm not going to say he's for sure going to start a training camp or be ready week one.
But we are very, very bullish on where he's at.
And if they have a good draft, right, they got pick, they got pick nine, they got pick 29.
They got a high pick in the second round.
If they can get impact, if they get three starters,
and two of them are impact players out of that group,
they could flip this thing around really quick
because you're going to get a motivated Patrick Mahomes.
Because let's be real.
He did not play well last year.
He just did not.
Honestly, he hasn't played that great the last couple years.
The difference was two years ago when he made the playoffs,
started playing well in the playoffs, right?
And last year he just wasn't good,
relative to his standard.
But you're going to get a guy very motivated off an injury,
off a down year with some new reinforcements.
I just think the Chiefs got a chance to bounce back really, really quick.
So the added pressure that puts on Josh and Lamar make to me the AFC fascinating
because you also got the Chargers, you got Vrabel and the Patriots.
The clips of Vrable, ASU's Pro Day was, what day was that, Friday.
We had looked in.
I had reached out to ASU about doing like a lot.
show there because, you know, they got Jordan Tyson who's going to be a top 20 pick.
They have an offensive lineman whose potential first rounder. He was the guy, the clips of
Vrable going at it with. But they just said, like, it was going to be such a zoo because their
guys hadn't, you know, Tyson hadn't done anything at the combine. They're not really equipped.
And they're just like, maybe next year, but we're just not quite equipped to do it.
I like, hey, no problem. I still want to talk to Dillingham. But the clips of Vrable,
Can you imagine
like when these offensive or defensive linemen
get in a position and they look at Pro Day
and there's Mike Vrable
who's like I'll run the drill
you mean like you'll run the drill
no I'm going to be in the drill
I'm gonna be in the drill
I've won a bunch of Super Bowls as a player
I'm fucking huge
like I saw Vrable at the Combine
you know he's big
like you see Jim Harbaugh or Coach Reed
like they're big guys
Vrable looks like
The classic of that guy played at a high level.
I'm not even sure what, but he just did something at a high level athletically.
He is just big.
And you can tell, like, he kind of misses it.
You know, there's a reason Jim Harbaugh wears cleats and throws at practice with the quarterbacks.
Because he misses it.
Kyle Shanahan, when they run scout team defense at different portions of training camp,
and I think during the regular season, he plays quarterback.
You know what?
He kind of always wished he was a player.
Did play, you know, at Texas, but like, just, he kind of likes the juice.
And when you get Mike Vrable at a pro day situation, it's where he kind of gets his rocks off.
And we don't get enough of that anymore.
So that's a pretty cool story.
That kid gets to tell all of his buddies that are like, yeah, how's the pro day go?
Yeah, he just went one-on-one with Mike Vrable for 45 minutes.
And even I saw Gronk and Edelman talking about this, a clip over the last like six months.
Oh, because they had Will Campbell on.
And Will Campbell was telling him about his workout going up against Vrable.
And like the thing with Vrable is you go for 25, 30 minutes.
One, you're going pretty hard against younger people who are just at this point in time stronger than you.
But you could get injured.
You see the flag football injury list?
Gronk got injured, hamstring.
You know, because the older you get, you start going through some of these drills,
like, he ain't scared.
You know, he ain't scared at all.
So I, I, we just need more Mike Vrable doing drills.
And that'd be the thing if you were an offensive or defensive lineman,
and the Patriots want you to do an individual workout.
I think the first thing I would ask my agent, like, is Coach Vrable going to be there or just position coach?
Because position coach, like, okay, I just get to work with some cuts.
some bags. If like Coach Vrabel's going to be there, you'd have to like kind of change your
mindset. Maybe carb load, you know, get a good night's sleep. I mean, kind of approach like a game.
Like, what am I fucking getting myself into here? So, uh, props of Rable for getting on a sweat
and going viral on a Friday afternoon before the owner's meetings. Talk to you. We're going to
have a great week reacting to everything coming out of the owners meetings. And we will talk soon.
Adios.
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