The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 & Out - Justin Jefferson gets paid, Lamar's a no-show, Commanders cut Brandon McManus

Episode Date: June 4, 2024

John reacts to the breaking news from the day which saw Justin Jefferson sign a WR record 4-year $140 million contract extension with the Vikings and how this contract not only changed the landscape for WR's, but for all players. He also dives into which player in the NFL is most likely to benefit from the Jefferson contract. Later, John dives into how Lamar Jackson missed out on a $750,000 work-out bonus by not showing up to OTA's and even though the work-outs are voluntary, should Lamar have been there. Next, John talks about the Commanders cutting Brandon McManus and how kickers and punters have no leash if they screw up like other positions may have. Lastly, John answers your questions during this episode's mailbag segment. 6:12 - Justin Jefferson gets paid 19:27 - Lamar Jackson is a no-show 24:42 - Larry Allen passes away 27:38 - Brandon McManus gets cut 33:13 - Caitlin Clark's treatment 40:30 - 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. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen to learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

The volume. We are this close to crowning an NBA champ. And with action heating up on the court, it's even hotter at Drafking Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. There are only so many games left, and Drafking Sportsbook has you covered. With same game parlays, live betting, odds boost, and, much more. Don't miss out, or you'll have to wait until the next NBA season to place your bets. It's super easy for first timers to get started. Try betting on something simple. Like picking a team to win, go to Draft King's Sportsbook app, select your squad and place your first bet. It's that simple.

New to Draft Kings, listen up. New customers can get a no-sweat bet up to $1,500. Just deposit at least five bucks and you'll get a bonus bet back equal to your first bet if it doesn't hit. Download the Draft King Sportsbook app now and use the code John. That's code J-O-H-N for new customers to get a no-sweat bet up to $1,500 bucks if your first bet doesn't hit. Only on Draft King. The crown is yours. Gambling problem.

Call 1-800 Gambler or in West Virginia visit 1-800 gambler.net. In New York, call 877 8 Hope N.Y. or text Hope and Y 467369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-777-7 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly on behalf of Boothill Casinoin Resort in Kansas. 21 and over. Age varies by jurisdiction.

Void in Ontario. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance. See dkng.com slash B-Ball for eligibility and deposit restrictions, terms and responsible gaming resources. What is going on, my people? Summer is here. We're into June. It's hot.

Sweeting, especially here in Arizona. You know who's not sweating, Justin Jefferson, whose bank account got a lot larger today. Historic contract we will dive into. It's never been a better time to be a good NFL player, that's for sure. The Minnesota Vikings, the outlook of their team. Micah Persons, probably a big winner today as well. Lamar Jackson, giving up 750K to not show up at OTAs.

Can't imagine the Ravens are happy. RIP to Larry Allen, Brandon McManus, who is in the middle of some not-so-good stuff, got cut today by Washington, and something Ben Johnson said last week that has been making the rounds that was a little alarming

if you're an owner or GM interested in him as your head coach. And you know, it's tangent Tuesday, so we got to, I got to chime in on Caitlin Clark and the situation of her just getting destroyed on a daily basis in the WNBA physically. But before we dive into some football,

we have a mailbag as well, at John Middlecoff is the Instagram. Yesterday I went on with Colin for about an hour talking NFL college football, just BSing about some football here in early June. And subscribe to Three and OutPod. We also got a YouTube channel. All of our content is up there.

Always tweet out and Instagram out, links. LinkedIn too. I try to be active on the old LinkedIn sites Where are you professionals hang? I guess I'm a professional too It's why it's a big Big website So I post everything there as well

Before we dive into some football I've been saying for a while I was going to go to a concert on Saturday night Had a few margaritas at the house Swimming in the pool Got a little Uber ride there Had a few more pops there And saw Luke Holmes

And it was very very fun First time I've ever been to State Farm Where the Cardinals play Okay, nothing great, kind of in BFE, but really enjoyed myself, and now I've gone to multiple concerts, multiple games. I was watching some highlights of the Yankees, Judge hitting Homer after Homer, Soto hitting homers, Stanton hitting homers. And I was like, God, it looked like a Yankee home game. Well, if you're a fan and you want to go see your team and you don't live in the city, it's why you got my friends at game time, the official ticketing app of this podcast.

I have been using them consistently now for a while. cannot recommend them enough. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use the code John for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem the code,

J-O-H-N for $20 off. Download the GameTime app today, last minute tickets, lowest price is guaranteed. Before I hopped on here, I just typed into Google. Randy Moss, career earnings. I would have guessed $70 million

and the number turned out to be a little higher it was a little over 80 and I think most people agree that he is the second best wide receiver all the time. I didn't pull up Jerry Rice's because whatever his number was wouldn't even be applicable to the day.

But Randy Moss, who thrived not that long ago, I mean, had a historic season in 2007. I mean, that's not 1996. And his prime was in the 2000s, made a career $82.5 million. Justin Jefferson, who is 24 years old and who looks like a ascending, potentially transcendent player for his generation, just got a $110 million guaranteed. And I'm a huge believer of this. Like, we throw around the word hard work a lot.

I struggle with that. Like, my job is time consuming, but like I've worked construction. My dad was a farmer. Like, I've been thrown on the ranch. Like, that's hard work. Some work is just time consuming. Obviously, the world has changed with the internet. But timing changed my life.

Being born in the 80s and coming into my own in my 30s when podcasting existed. When social media and Twitter enabled me to meet Colin, coward through DMs. You would not be listening to me if this was 2002, because you wouldn't have the opportunity to. Even if I had been born in the late 60s, early 70s, you would never know who I was. This would not, this platform wasn't even a thought in some engineer's mind.

And I say this all the time. The highest earners I know are mostly women. and chicks that I went to college with. Because when I graduated in 2008, when I first showed up at Cal Poly, I rushed a fraternity. And obviously you're bullshitting with the older guys. And a lot of guys would be like,

well, you only move to Northern California and San Francisco if you're going to work in finance, either banking, venture capital, accounting, something in that, or there aren't really jobs there. Yet in 2008, when I graduated, that's when all these tech companies Facebook, Oracle was becoming huge, and everything under that umbrella,

were about to take off like a rocket chip. And they were going to hire a lot of people for sales. And if you got in at the right time and you were good at your job, you were about to print money for the next 15 years. And that's what a lot of people I knew in college when I was making 20 grand working for the Eagles were crushing it, living high on the hog, and have been for a while now. but they benefited because it wasn't

1996 or 1983 they graduated college and entered the workforce which all you read at the time it was the worst time ever to be a college graduate not if you were moving to San Francisco and about to get involved with all these companies that weren't that old and were about to take off to the moon

and a lot of players in the history of the league I've never been a big believer in when people get on TV it's usually younger, newer people and try to talk down about people in the 70s or the 60s. I met Jerry West. He's enormous. I'll promise you this. If Jerry West had played in 2004, he'd be elite just like he was back in the 60s or 70s. I met Mean Joe Green. He's one of the biggest human beings I've ever seen. His hands are like bare paws. If you put Mean Joe Green in 2024 at 25 years old,

he'd be a dominant, dominant player. But those guys, if you had been born then and were a great player, you didn't make that much money. And for a long period of time, a lot of guys worked second jobs. Then it started to explode as the expansion of television, but when Randy Moss, who TV was full on going, pedal to the medal, made $82 million,

which is, don't get me wrong, is a lot of money. I mean, I, like many of you, would gladly make $80,000, make $82 million over the course of our 20s and 30s. But relative to what guys are making now, it's not even close. Justin Jefferson is assigned for $110 million. Dionne Sanders' career earnings were $42 million. If you put Deion Sanders in his prime right now in the NFL, he'd be the best corner by a country mile.

No one would even be close. He would easily make $30 million a year. He could cover everybody. But he played in the late 80s, 90s. You just didn't make as much money. And I've always understood when older players sometimes get bitter over the money, even though it's out of all of our control. We don't determine when we're born, when we enter a workforce, when we enter an industry that's either, you know, the arrows pointing up or the arrows pointing down. But there has never, ever been a better time to play in the

NFL when it comes to your financial ability. I'm talking about average players. We see what you know, above average starters get in free agency. We had guards making $17, $18, $19 million a year. If you are an elite player right now at wide receiver, as a pass rusher, as an offensive tackle, quarterbacks have always made a lot.

You are going to break the bank. For a long period of time, in my sports fandom, it was like, well, football is probably the coolest, but basketball you make more and baseball you definitely make more. And it's all guaranteed. Well, now some of the things.

these numbers, like, we're only kind of at the beginning. Because guess what? The popularity of football seems to be expanding. And this television contract, last year, the salary cap was $255 million. Well, it's growing on average by about 10%. So if you just do the math over the next couple years, it could be at $300 million by 2026. It could be at $400 plus million by the end of the decade. and guess what happens at the end of the decade? A new television contract. Well, we just saw the NBA more than double their contract

and their ratings are down. So what do you think is going to happen here? I've said forever. I've lived through the 90s when baseball is really popular and it's nowhere near the same. I am not arrogant enough because I do this for a living

or naive enough just because I love the sport to think football will be on top forever. That's not the way the world operates. I don't care whether you're a country, whether you're a business, whether you're football.

Things ebb and flow. But for the foreseeable future, the money flowing into the NFL is only going to grow and grow and grow. And no one has benefited more than high-end guys. Quarterbacks are now making $50 million. Pass rushers are making over 30. And now wide receivers are flying.

by that 30 number and getting guaranteed dollars over $100 million. It wasn't that long ago. When I was a kid running backs used to be the first guy off the draft board. Google the history of the league how many times a running back went in the top two or three picks happened all the time. And now that shifted to a different position at wide receiver. And Justin Jefferson, you could make the argument. He's the best wide receiver in the league.

But I saw a video today. He was super happy. should be. It's got to be an incredible feeling. But he would have been probably this sweet in 1987 or 1973 or 19, 2004. He never had the opportunity to make this type of money. And all these players in the league coaches as well benefit from this financial windfall. And it's just, I promise you this, because I was thinking about it this morning, it's only going to get bigger and bigger, at least for the foreseeable future. It is not going to slow down. And the next time we see, you know, a Trent Williams,

Jonathan Ogden level talent at offensive tackle, that number is going to be historic. We've already seen it with the defensive lineman. Who won today? I'll tell you the winner today. Micah Parsons. Because I follow this stuff, obviously, for a living. My guesstimate, just in my head,

I was like, I bet Justin Jefferson, once you see some of these other numbers, 70-ish guaranteed, 75 guaranteed. I was like, you know, I'll probably get 90, guaranteed, you got 110. I would have guessed Michael Parsons, he'd get a little more than Nick Bosa. No, you'd probably get $15 million more than Nick Bosa.

And when his contract comes out, he'll get $140 million guaranteed. And $37 million on average year. And you know where I stand on the average per year. I think it's a little overrated because of the way the sport is, the injury risk, things change so rapidly. A guy that you think's going to have a 15-year career ends up only playing at a high level for seven or eight. but the money, if you are a pro bowl high-end guy at these premium positions,

the quarterback got crazy several years ago. Now these other positions are right behind them. And it's a good time to be an NFL player. And it's a good time to be if you're a Minnesota Viking fan. Because essentially what they did is they shorted Kirk Cousins. They said, we don't want to be in this business anymore. and the money that they would have given him, because that's give or take what he got,

guaranteed wise, with the Atlanta Falcons, they got rid of him. And they inserted a rookie quarterback. And when you insert a rookie quarterback, for the next four years, it gives you an insane amount of flexibility. And it makes you feel pretty good about giving a contract to a guy

that you knows an elite player because you have more room to do that with other players. Because your quarterback, relative if he hits. And listen, if he hits it as a quarterback, people think, ah, Baholms, Joshua Allen, Lamar, if he just can be Derek Carr five years ago

or Kirk Cousins five years ago or Jimmy Garoppolo early on in San Francisco career, you're in pretty good shape. You can compete with those guys if you build your team well around them. And obviously, just Jefferson, you get Jordan Addison who's really good, they got a young stud offensive line,

and Hawkinson tore his ACL, but if he comes back, you have a head coach who's also a play caller that many believes really, really good. Minnesota Vikings fan this year might be the fourth best team in your division, partly because your division's loaded. Lions, probably a top three or four team in the league. The Packers, if their quarterback, just sustains a level of play, are going to win double-digit games. And the Bears probably just upgraded greatly a quarterback. and add us some talent this offseason. So it's going to be difficult. But big picture, you know, in three years,

if J.J. McCarthy just becomes a solid starter, you're going to be a very, very competitive team with a lot of cap flexibility. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all,

embedded in the games and with the athletes, for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying.

Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became. bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk

about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and

at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far far away, such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two.

Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Lamar Jackson. The big headline is that he forfeited 750 grand by not showing up at OTAs. And I did the math. If you make $100,000, it'd be the equivalent of giving up $1,500. If Lamar Jackson, I just basically said he made $50 million. So it'd be the same thing as giving up $1,500. Now, it's not the same because you're purchasing power with $100,000 and after taxes and everything is obviously a lot different than $50 million.

So if you give up $750,000, you, you... he can still get a loan without even blinking an eye for a $15 million house. He basically can do whatever he wants because the amount of money he has flowing in from his contract. So it's not the same. But on a relative basis, that's what it would be. If you made $200,000, it'd be $3,000. So big picture, it's not that crazy if you're him. It is not necessarily a number that is going to impact his life.

Though, I think we would all agree if we represented, Lamar. Like we ran, I was his agent, I ran his money, I was just in his life as a confidant. I would not recommend ever giving up large sums of money when you are doing that thing anyway. It's not like he's not working out. It's not like he's not spending time working on his body and his craft on his own. So why wouldn't you just go to the Ravens facility and get paid to do that? it doesn't make that much sense to me. But there is a big V in front of all these weeks beside one in the spring.

And that's voluntary. You do not have to show up. Though in your contract, there are workout incentives for you to show up. But when I'm an NFL team, and I pay my quarterback the amount of money that these guys are making. We've seen Burrough, we've seen Mahomes, we've seen Josh Allen,

we've seen Jalen, we've now seen Lamar. We've seen a lot of guy, Kyler Murray. There is an expectation that it's more, obviously I'm paying you to be a really good player to help me win a division, to help me compete in the playoffs, to throw a lot of touchdowns, to be just a high-end guy.

But I'm kind of paying you for a year-round operation. Because in OTAs, which in 2024, this isn't 1986. This isn't Buddy Ryan having you do tackling drills and shorts and a t-shirt. It's a country club operation because the rules mandated so. Hell, John Harbaugh, within the last decade,

got in trouble for being too physical in these practices. And the players turned them in. And they got popped. It's not allowed. You're basically working out with the strength coach, going to some meetings. It's like a five, six-hour day, three days a week.

And then you're going to games and hanging out, going to dinners with your teammates. If I'm the Ravens, I'm pretty pissed off. Like part of the reason we went back and forth forever, one, we had concerns, durability or whatever, you immediately answer that, you win the MVP. But you're my quarterback, you're my leader,

you're the face of the franchise all year round. And if I'm in Lamar's camp, I'm like, Lamar, the only thing is, what's Patrick Mahomes doing? If Patrick Mahomes go to the OTAs? Oh, he does? Then we should do that. Like, that's the guy you're chasing. Is Tiger Woods, if I'm chasing him 2004. Is he hitting balls? Is he practicing? Is he working on his game? Because if he is,

I better be. Because I'm not as good as him. So I got to do whatever he's doing and then more. And part of it in the off season, when you bring in a rookie class, when you add free agents, like you're the leader of the franchise. You're the guy everyone is looking at. And these practices are such a joke. Hell, you could take half the reps. You don't even need to do it all. But to not even go, I don't care about the money because like I said, relative to

how much he makes, he won't notice it. Though not a good habit to just be giving up that amount of money when your career in the history of this league is not that long. But, to me, the bigger issue is, like, what's going on here? Why would you

not just be for four or five weeks in the off season in the facility, on the field? With the team, that you are the captain of, the best player on. It's part of the deal. Part of what the money is for. The entire operation year round.

Right? That you are held to the highest standard at this spot. It's the most important position in sports. It's the highest paid position, obviously, in the league. And when your competition, like if Josh Allen, Joe Burrow and Patrick Mahomes are on the field with their coaches during this period, time and you're not, you're getting worse. Period point blank end of story.

A couple of NFL stories. Larry Allen, who I think is widely considered one of, if not the best guard of all time, passed away at the young age of 52 years old. Most well known as just being a dominant, dominant cowboy, did finish his career with the 49ers, a ton of all pros, Hall of Famer, 11-time Pro Bowl, or. And just one of the more dominant physical specimens in the history of the trenches. There's a lot of videos going around the internet of the NFL used to have these like strength competitions where dudes would just like, it was like a just strong man. And you would just throw on 225 and see how many times you could rep it.

And I'm pretty sure he did 750 reps. There's a famous clip of Troy Aikman throwing interception against the Saints and Larry Allen ran down the line. backer, just an all-time freak. So the NFL lost a legend today. Another guy that passed away within the last month, and I forgot to mention something, was Hall of Fame Center Jim Otto, who played for the Raiders his entire career in the 60s and the 70s, played when they were in the NFL and then when they came to the NFL and John Madden was the coach. And I bring them up because when I was at Fresno State, Coach Hill during training camp,

I think a lot of, obviously, programs do this. Every single night at training camp, for the most part, a different person would come speak. And sometimes it would be a businessman. Sometimes it would be like the chief of police, Jerry Dyer. And one year, I don't know if it was 08 or 09, Jim Otto came and just talked to the team. And at the end, there was kind of a Q&A. And at the time, you know, this was 15 years ago, he was, he could struggle to walk he was in bad shape.

Just from the physical pounding that he took in the NFL. I can't imagine the concussion protocols existed back then, the pads. I mean, he could barely walk. But someone asked him, one of the dudes on the team was like, who's the toughest guy you ever played against? And I would imagine most, especially the older people in the room, expected him to say one of the legendary defensive linemen, maybe even like mean Joe Green.

And he said, honestly, the toughest guy that I, ever encountered in the NFL was easily the person I saw every morning when I looked in the mirror. It was me, Jim Otto. And the whole room kind of went silent. And he was dead serious. It's like, what a badass. What a legend. I just want to tell that story.

But RIP, Jim Otto, obviously RIP to Larry Allen. And it's tough whenever, you know, Otto was older, but lose the guy later. Larry Allen of 50 years old, that sucks. Brandon McManus was cut today by the commanders, and I think it's a good example. Kickers and punters, their margin for error when they get in trouble is zero. Whether they did it or they did not do it. Remember a couple years ago, Matt Ariza, I think I'm saying his name right, the punter who's now on the chiefs, was accused of stuff at San Diego State.

Well, a year later, it turned out it was all false. Chick made it up. He had nothing to do with it. the bills cut him after like two days but he didn't even hesitate and I think you consistently see when guys get in trouble at other positions you see what the chiefs will Rishi Rice

it's like yeah we'll let the situation play out and that's universal in the NFL this isn't there's no morality in football this is a business and the bottom line is winning and losing so you you always just like let this thing play out let's see if it goes away let's see how much trouble he gets into yeah with kickers and punters

and there's a story about last year on a Jacksonville flight when they played in Europe flying back that he was super wasted touching chicks I don't know I wasn't there

but neither the commanders and clearly they don't care they ain't gonna see this through yeah we're out of this business you're a kicker it's not worth any blowback while this is taking place

and if you are guilty we want no part of you and if you are innocent that's your issue not ours so if you are kicker or punter, you better avoid any controversy at all costs or you will get cut immediately. Ben Johnson last week, my guy Jeff Schwartz forwarded me the video where a lot of these

coordinators do press conferences during the offseason and he was clearly asked about his head coaching aspirations and the situation last year. And he gave a pretty bizarre answer. One thing he said that you hear from like NBA players, like I want to go some. where I can get a second contract. I want to go to the perfect situation. And I'm sitting there thinking, the reason most head coaches get fired is because it's a pretty bad chaotic situation.

The team you're with right now, the Lions, who are considered one of the better teams in the league, were about as chaotic as you got. And then three years later, the reason they're good is the head coach and the GM. Like, it's kind of on you to change the situation. That is why the job is available. Most jobs are not like 2019 or whatever. The Green Bay Packers, hey, it's a Green Bay Packers.

We got 35-year-old Aaron Rogers. Anyone want it? It's usually Brian Dayball gets fired this year. Yeah, Danny Dimes and Tommy DeVito and not many good players. Interested? That's typically the NFL. So I think he's got a warp sense of going. And listen, if you're a Lions fan, I'd actually be pretty excited. Maybe he's just cool with being a number two most of his life. And luckily, talk about timing in 2024, top offensive coordinator and defensive coordinators make three, four, five million dollars. So you get paid a ton of money.

You don't have pressure of half the team. You don't have to deal with any of the problems. But you watch his speech for two minutes. He doesn't sound like most. aspirational coordinators. Sean McVey and Kyle Shanahan are viewed as two of the better coaches in the league. Kyle Shanahan got to the 49ers. They were 2 and 10.

They were a joke. Their roster was awful. Sean McVeigh, when he got the Rams job, and listen, I'm probably guilty of this too. You watch Jared Gough's rookie year. You're like, I don't know if this is going to work. They might have a problem. This is awful.

And then three, four years later, you're like, yeah, not awful anymore. Why? Because coaches change it. Is Alabama a great job or is Nick Saving great? Obviously, it's a really good job, but not everyone's doing what he's doing. The coach makes these operations in college and pro in football because of the impact they have on everything. So, like, yeah, the Giants, they fire Brian Daibald.

They've run through a bunch of coaches. So the New York Giants, like, it's a pretty good opportunity. A lot of aspirational people in the NFL would be lined up to try to get that gig. Ben John's like, eh, this is a little weird. I don't know if I can get a second contract. I've just never heard a coach talk like that. And listen, I respect it.

If he just wants to be a number two offensive coordinator the rest of his life, that type thing though, GMs and these owners see, they got a red flag on it because they're already a red flag on him. Last year, his second year of being in the cycle, he called Adam Peters and Josh Harris

as they were flying to talk to him for the second time. He's like, yeah, I'm out. Like, what? Couldn't have just told us after we talked to you. you and faked it? So I don't know. Something's a little off with this guy.

Nothing to do with his coaching. Offensive coordinator, he's awesome. But part of the way we talk about these up-and-coming coordinators, like, is he the next Mike Shanahan? Is he the next whoever? Once upon a time, all these guys, Bill Belichick, Andy Reid,

Andy wasn't a coordinator, but the majority of guys around the league fall into that position, offensive or defensive coordinator. I want a piece of this guy. I don't know if that's the first tree. action when other owners, which again is incredible if you're a Lions fan because you will keep Ben Johnson forever

as long as he's willing to stay. But maybe there aren't going to be that many teams interested. After hearing him continue to talk. Okay, last but not least, Tanger Tuesday. I was at the gym on Saturday morning trying to get less fat. And like most gyms in the cardio area,

we have probably three or four TVs. I guess we've got probably six TVs. Three TVs on one side, three TVs on the other side, like lined up for the ellipticals and the treadmills. And they most of the time have games, games, baseball games, football games, whatever. And I looked up at the TV when I got there. And it was 10 or 11 in the morning. You know, I'm not trying to be a hero on Saturday. And it's Caitlin Clark. She's playing. Then I get on the treadmill. I look to the guy next to me. He's probably mid-50s. Pretty good shape. He had the game on as well. I'm like, shit. I'll get a little sweat on,

watch Caitlin Clark play. That never in a million years would have happened a year ago, let alone five years ago. So the amount of popularity and interest she has brought from sports fans, I'm a good example, just like many of you are. Been a sports fan now, as long as I've been able to talk and watch television.

For 30 plus years, never consumed any WNBA content. And I've watched everything. Soccer, tennis, random sports, car, F1, obviously the big sports, no WNBA content. Now I pay attention. I'm paying attention to Caitlin Clark. She has brought me as a consumer.

There are clearly players in WNBA who are envious and don't like her and are like taking her out, which is part for the course. That's what happens in sports. Michael Jordan showed up, people tried to take them out. Tiger Wood showed up at first, a bunch of guys were talking shit. Bryce Harper showed up, everyone was thrown at his head. when you get a bunch of hype, people push back right away. You're competitors. Not us to consumer, but the competitors.

Because consumer, I just want to watch. But competitors, and they're going after. Which I understand. If you put me in their shoes, if I'm just some chick on some random team, I might try to take a route too. But what cannot be argued is, they say a rising tide lifts all boats.

the interest she has brought to the sport is quantifiable. It's undeniable. There is some pressure on her because I use Tiger Woods and Bryce Harper as examples. Well, Tiger got there and immediately started working everybody. Bryce Harper really early, you realize like, this guy's a star. So after a while, like, what are you going to do?

Michael Jordan, like, Isaiah Joe, you want any more of this smoke? Because I plan on destroying you. There is pressure on her. like this is cool, but I'm not paying attention in three or four years if she's just average. Now, I can't speak to the roster construction. I saw Draymond tweeting that they need like a goon. Like they need a Dremont. So I don't know, do those exist in WNBA?

Clearly, their team's not very good. They have the number one overall pick. But it is incumbent if this is going to be a sustainable thing. Because she's going to have it this year. But if she starts rattling off MVP's and becomes one of the better players in the history, of the sport, it will not slow down. And obviously there's pressure on the team to build a good squad around her. And I can't pretend to know if she's some future all-time great or not.

Because I remember I was watching the draft because I wanted to see her get drafted. And they showed like a montage of Reggie Miller's sister, Cheryl. And she was before my time. My dad used to always say, he's like, she's the best women's basketball player of all time, not even close. I watched that highlights. There can't ever be a better women's basketball. basketball player and Cheryl Miller. If you put Cheryl Miller right now in the WNBA and her prime,

she would eviscerate everybody. So if Caitlin can become a version of that, which I'm not, I don't know. I hope so, but I don't think it's guaranteed. This will end. I'm not saying next year, but it's to sustain the hype. Like Tiger started winning the Masters. Bryce Harper started hitting balls 450 feet off every pitcher. It has to come. Like LeBron James, by year two or three, was like, hey, is one of the best players in league. And it's going to be fascinating to watch. But these girls aren't going to stop going after.

But like, I hope everyone realizes she is your potential to financial windfall. Most of us in business when someone brings positivity and money behind them, like you embrace them with open arms. Like, come on in! You need my chair?

You thirsty? What do you need? It's different in sports because you're competing. But it does feel like there's a little, little people lose sight of this. And the pushback on Tiger is a good example. And I'm not pretending she's going to be remotely close to Tiger.

But after a couple of years, everyone realized like, yeah, this guy's bringing a lot more eyeballs and a lot more money for us all. Let's embrace this dude. Try to beat him. But hey, come on, Tiger. You want my tea time? And it's going to be fascinating to what, because a lot of think pieces out there. A lot of people thinking like it's exhausting.

But I do think for this to. keep going, she's got to start kicking everyone's butt. And they got a ways to go. I've watched a lot of basketball games. The end of that game was tough. They could barely get the ball past half court. But she's a fascinating story. There's no disputing that.

But we've seen a lot of those over the years. Tim Tebow was a fascinating story. Till he couldn't hit a slant route. And you're like, this guy stinks. I'm not saying she's that either. But we've got a ways to go. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way,

this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or we're you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related

episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tontons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith Rule of 2. Listen to Stuff to Bo Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, Middlekopf Mailbag,

you guys know the drill at John Middlecough is the Instagram, fire in those direct messages. And we will start with Ben. In your opinion, what would be the trade value for a top coach in the league

like Kyle Shanahan? or Andy Reed. Coach trades have happened before, more in the past, but now are pretty much non-existent. What is your theory and the reason for this? Well, I would say the most historic trade of the last 25 years was Gruden to Tampa and the reason he was traded because Al Davis didn't want to pay him.

So most of these teams, like when you have Andy Reed or Kyle Shanahan or Sean McVay or John Harbaugh, if that guy's successful and other teams want him and he wants more money, you just give it to him. Andy Reid just got a huge contract extension. Last year, Kyle Shanahan got a huge contract extension. Last year, Sean McVeigh got a huge contract extension. You just keep your own guys.

You know, Sean Payton was kind of unique in the, it was a scenario where he was just burnt out, didn't have a quarterback, and just took a year off, deep breath. And then was like, oh, I'm coming back. Well, they had Dennis Allen. And I don't think he, I think he was ready for a change. They still had to trade for him, right? I think they obviously gave a first last year. I think a second this year.

I just don't think Andy Reid, like those coaches wouldn't be available. And I don't think we'll see a scenario where a guy with a lot of value isn't wanted by his own team. Because if you're winning, you just keep that coach. but like I said I think the Sean Payton scenario kind of a one-off but if another coach

like if Kyle Shanahan was like I need a break took a year off and the 49ers hire another coach and he's still under contract for several years the same thing would take place a couple ones their true value on the market like if the chiefs are like

we'll trade Andy Reid several first round picks but it's just it's not it's just not going to happen. I think you go back in the history of the league. It was about money. Teams were cheaper. The league wasn't making as much money.

So when you were going to give a guy at the time, what did Gruden get from Tampa? $5, $6 million a year. It was because Al Davis, one, he didn't believe in paying coaches a lot of money. And two, I don't even know if you had it to pay him that much money. Good question, though. It'd be cool if more and more of that happened, but I think we're at a day in age where those days are kind of done.

Who's higher on the hot seat? Dayball or Iberfluse? Well, I think Iber flus just has more pressure on them this year because of the hype with the team. You get the number one pick, now you've got a sweet quarterback. You won, was it seven games last year? You improved the roster dramatically on offense. Right, yet Caleb Williams upgrade.

You add Keenan Allen, you draft Roma Dunze. Is there a scenario? If he won 10 games, and let's just say he missed the wild card because tiebreakers or whatever, I think he would keep his job. But at 9 and 8 and the Bears missed the playoffs, like not, no tiebreakers or whatever, you just needed to win 10 to get in. Probably depends how it ends. Like does he lose the last week against the Packers to get into the playoffs? Probably gets fired.

I... Eber Fluss's pressure is unique because of the pressure. around the franchise. Everyone thinks the Giants are going to suck. Everybody. Probably including a lot of people around the Giants. They're not going to be very good. Their quarterback situation is a disaster.

So the other thing is their ownership has fired a lot of coaches. They just, I mean, look at post-Tom Coughlin. It's been a lot of guys in and out. And if the similar situation happens where they're a tough watch, the worst thing to be in sports is boring. There's nothing worse. I don't watch San Francisco Giants anymore. Why they bore me?

They're not entertaining. Like give me Aaron Judge, give me Soto, give me Bryce Harper. I want to be entertained. And football's tough because you wait all week, the hype, and when a season goes bad, and I did radio for the Raiders when they were awful, it's rough, man.

I was in the Bay Area when the 49ers went to a rough stretch post-Harbaugh pre-Kyle. When you stink, like you can be a fireman. or six-win team and unwatchable. And the hard part is the pressure in the New York market, if the Eagles are good, if the Cowboys make the playoffs again,

if Washington looks like they're on the come-up, there's going to be a lot of pressure there. Now, how long does Dayball, how much equity does he have from two years ago? Makes the playoffs, wins a playoff game. The thing with the NFL, man, not for long. Things change quick. It's like, stock up, stop down

Because he was, I thought he was like the next Bill Barsels This chubby tough guy And then last year happened, which was pretty embarrassing I'm not putting the whole Wink Martindale thing on him Wink's a big ego guy too But that's an embarrassing situation for the Giants That's not, John Marr doesn't want that crap Question for the mailback

This might be a bit of a delayed question But with all of the changes in NCAA sports, including NIL, and what seems to be the inevitable college football becoming privatized, why hasn't the NCAA done more to work with professional leagues and organizations to create more of an academy, academy, academy pipeline, to help athletes be more prepared for potential professional athletics? I know the percentage of college athletes becoming pros is small, but the NCAA to become a middleman and work with the professional leagues and the universities on curriculum based around what it takes to be a pro athlete, PR, financial responsibility, social media. There are plenty of organizations who have similar professional relationships, but this could bring true value to the universities and create more sports-oriented professional careers.

Would love to hear your thoughts. This may even be a vehicle for the NCAA to save face. I think the NCAA as it becomes, you know, much more to mimic the NFL, the NCAA is SOL. I mean, they are DOA. It's over. I don't think the NCAA when it comes to football has that much longer of a runway. And I think what you're saying, the programs provide that.

When you go to LSU, when you go to Texas, when you go to Ohio State, when you go to When you go to USC, when you go to Oregon, like they deal with, they help you with that stuff. Dan Lanning has people. Nick Saban has people. Kirby Smart has people. Like they have literally everything you could possibly want. And I'm sure now financial advisors,

PR stuff, you have a PR team in college football. What the hell is the NCAA going to bring to the table? I think the NCAA, one thing, and we've known this for a long time, is going to get rendered more and more relevant. I don't understand. you know, the NCAA doesn't own the college football playoffs. In basketball, it's a little different because they own the March Madness,

so you kind of got to play by their rules. Why does college football care about anything anyone in the NCAA says? Honestly, I don't get it at this point in time. Like last year, the situation in North Carolina with Tess Walker, who transferred like 15 times, but ultimately became eligible, like in the middle of the season and Drake May and Mack Brown were really outspoken for it. I forget what round he was drafted in maybe the fourth or fifth.

I don't know what team, but he was drafted this year. Why wouldn't they just say, yeah, we don't care, we're going to play him anyway. What are you going to do? Vacate, vacate what? We don't agree with you. You're not the government.

You can't arrest me. You can't fire me. I don't understand why some of these schools and it's probably up the food chain with the president. They don't want to deal with it. But I think the NCAAs is, is I would say dying a slow death,

but I actually think the death is in full swing. I think they're done. And like you said, all those programs and stuff, that's what these college football programs provide. And the reality is the overwhelming majority of guys on these teams are not going to have NFL careers. So the preparation's about much more than football. It's about life.

And I think all the good coaches in, programs provide that. Now, it's on the kid to take advantage of the situation. Because if I walked into Oregon, Texas, you name it, Ole Miss, I mean, any, even the bad Power 5, Florida, I mean, Penn State has no offense. Every single starter thinks they're going to the league, every single one, and every young backup thinks they're going to the league, every single one. We know that's not the case. But while you're there, and I don't blame a kid for thinking this at 19 or 20 years old, it's hard to diversify, you know, your mind, but you have an opportunity to get really ahead because of all the resources provided for you at these big programs.

It truly is, hell, when I was at Fresno State in 08, 2009, and we had none of the resources compared the avenues to help you set up for life were there in spades. So I think it's just going to be fascinating when the damn kind of breaks, but I think it's, least, leaking water right now, and there are cracks in the cement. It just, when does it open up? When do some programs be like, yeah, we're not dealing with them anymore. We don't need them for football. Basketball's a little different.

Love the show. This may be way out of left field, but with the Dolphins, if they know Tua can't get it done in the cold, would it make sense to trade for a strong-on quarterback prospect for McDaniel to get the most out of the quarterback position? I don't see how his limitations get him paid. It seems unlikely they could get a top-end prospect, as they are too talented to be a bottom feeder. Someone like Joe Milton or Browning seems to be great for the scheme and offense talent level.

You know, as crazy as Jake Browning, whose arms definitely better now, in college, he probably had one of the worst arms that was on a really, really good team. His arm was below average. It shows you like you can improve. And I wouldn't say Jake Browning now has a high-end arm. The problem with this, I mean, Browning's played. you've seen them in, I don't know how similar are the Bengals and Dolphins' offenses are play for play, but obviously there are some similarities.

Like, you've seen that guy have some success. When you trade for a Milton, that type player, you have no clue. You really don't. It's pretty rare that the backup, I mean, we've seen cases for this, right? Matt Schaub once upon a time was Vick's backup, Jimmy Garoppelow, Brady's backup. You see backups that get traded and then end up becoming. really good starters, but it's few and far between. We've seen a lot of backups with a lot of hype, a lot like a draft pick.

It's pretty risky. You do know you can win games and compete to make a wild car with Tua. But there are bigger pictures at play once you start talking about $45,50 million a year. Because that Justin Jefferson contract, the floor for Tua's contract is a hundred and Jared Goss. That to me is insane. That picture of him being really skinny, jealous. I need to get what he's on.

OZMPIC maybe, but he looks small in that picture for sure. Finn the show. In your opinion, what team do you think could have a season like the Texans did last year? A team that no one thought would be good at the beginning of the year, but turned out to be must-see TV, very competitive. A few candidates, in my opinion, the Cardinals. I don't think they're even close to talented enough. The Colts and Washington.

The thing I would say about the Colts is they were a dropped pass in the flat potentially away from winning that division. And the Texans wouldn't have been in the playoffs. I think the Colts are going to be good. I would expect the Colts to be a double-digit win team. Now, I don't know if they'll be better than the Texans, but they were good last year with Minchu. With Minchu or is a Flacco?

Yeah, Minchu trying to keep up with it. I guess Flacco's there now. A lot of quarterback moving chairs. I just think the Colts, most people are going to say they're going to be a solid team. The Cardinals, their division stuff, they have the least talented roster in the division. The Rams and Niners are legit squads.

In Seattle, we'll have to see how the coaching change works out, but they just have a much more talented roster. Now, Kyler can freelance and make things happen, but I have a hard time seeing them be in the playoff mix, maybe a year away. They do have a lot of young players. I would say the commanders, but they would have to, you know, he would have to be right there with all the,

whoever the top rookies are is like, this guy's rookie of the year, offensive rookie of the year. If you tell me right now, Jaden's offensive rookie of the year, I'd be like, yeah, nine wins, would definitely be on the table. It's just so much unknown with young quarterbacks. I think we often think that everything's going to be seamless. I don't care who you're playing with it.

It can be difficult. and maybe were jaded to it because Herbert, when Tyrod took the needle to the kidney, came in and was awesome. Obviously, CJ last year had a historic year, but there are a lot of rough patches, right? There are a lot of like, hey, it's going to take a little time.

For a lot of good players. I mean, Jared Goff was terrible. Bryce Young looked like an AFL player. You just never know. It's why I'm a little, I'm hesitant. No different with Caleb. I think he's going to be an upgrade over Justin Fields

and this year could have some rocky moments. Maybe I'm nuts. Maybe he's just sweet. Did you see the clip of Bosa saying Purdy will get paid next year? Thought this was interesting coming from a player. Do you think he knows something for sure, like management telling veteran players, Pretty is our guy of the future?

Or is he just backing Brock? Well, one thing I noticed a couple years ago with the 49ers. They have a core group of guys. And they either believe in you or they don't. I think they knew Jimmy had limitations, but they were cool and felt comfortable going to war with Jimmy Garoppola. When Trey Lance started, it got weird and it got weird fast. Debo wasn't that big of a fan.

Fred Warner never supported him like he did. Brock Purdy. So Trent Williams, I mean, all these guys gravitated toward Jimmy and then Brock and never did Trey. it's not a personal thing. This is a business trying to win. And I think they know they can win with Brock Purdy because they've been winning with Brock Purdy. So I just think Nick Bosa thinks he's good.

Why? Because when he's been on the field, the 49ers have kicked ass. So this Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch like, hey, hey, Nick, here's a contract that we're going to give Purdy. No, I don't think that happens. But I think it's pretty clear. One, Kyle loves them. And two, I just think it's simple results on

the field. Nick's been there a while now. He's seen it all. He played with Jimmy. He's played with Tray Lance and he's played with Brock Purdy. He's won a lot of games. And the guy he's won the most with and the team been the best with has been Brock by, I mean, a country mile. Jimmy had moments when he was a good player for the 49ers. He was definitely much more of a game manager, but he was a good starter. Brock Purdy is way better than Jimmy Garoppola. Not even close. Throws a better deep ball, much more mobile, much more just under control. Was listening to the podcast

and just want to know those pool cleaners are called both on the top and for the bottom. My top pool cleaner, I don't have the names in front of me, the bottom one is like the most, it's like $1,700. It was a lot of money,

but my pool guy swore. He said just buy the more expensive one, all the other ones you get for $5,600. is going to Amazon, type in pool cleaners, and it's a lot of money. And I was like, this is insane. But he's like, I'm telling you the other ones will break down. This one is sweet. The top one, type it into Amazon.

I think Beretta maybe is the name of the company. It's solar paneled. So you just put it in the back of your pool. You never touch it. It just runs on sunlight all night long too, because it gets so much during the day. It's pretty damn good. I've been very impressed. even though I dropped the little bucket

because there were a bunch of bees in it and I didn't want to get it on my hand so I kind of held it over the fence which behind is like kind of a wash to the street but there's a decent amount of over like a 10 foot kind of wall

retaining wall I guess they call it in the construction business and a bee was falling on my hands as I thought I was going to get stung and I let go and I had to scoop it up took me about an hour but I swear by this thing it is good

and luckily I still had the manual pool cleaner because I used that thing to sweep it. I thought I was going to get stung because they say, I don't know if this is true or not, that even a dead bee can sting you. I've been stung by a couple of bees and I don't know if I'm allergic, but I remember the last time I stung it looked like I got shot. Why doesn't a coach like Kevin Stefansky that's clearly a good coach, but in a bad situation, leave for a better opening when their contract expires? like the Chargers are the bear's openings last year.

Well, obviously the Chargers, you take Jim Harbaugh over Stafansky. I think here's the problem. Like anyone in any business, when you're in a contract, you're making a lot of money. And Stafansky, I don't know exactly how much he makes, but let's just pick.

He makes $8 million a year. Maybe $9. I think he got a contract to it. Maybe $9 million. If you have two years left on your deal, you're like, I'll play this out and I'll become a free agent. What if it goes,

poorly. What if it doesn't go well? So when they go, hey, we're paying you eight, here's a three or $30 million contract extension. So you will guaranteed make money for the next five years. Whether you win another game or not. I just think it's very hard to turn that down. No one ever does. You're not guaranteed anything in the NFL. It is a bizarre situation, right? The Deshaun Watson, now Vrable works there. Stefancy's clearly a really important. impressive guy. He's a good coach. Browns fans probably think I'm a hater. I'm not.

I like Stefansky. I think the GM has done a good job. I don't think you can win with Deshawn Watson making as much money as he makes. He's not a good player. We have no data for years now that he's any good. And now he gets injured a lot. So I don't care if Stefansky's Bill Walsh,

you can't overcome that. And then it's like, well, bring Flacco back. Well, they couldn't do that. Why? because you factor in the team dynamics. What if Watson looks poor early on? Who are the fans going to want to see? The guy that led us to the playoffs last year. So they let Flacco walk and they bring in James Winston.

James Winston is not as good as Joe Flacco. Both guys got the same amount of money. One guy went to the Colts, the other guy went to the Browns. So you chose to not bring Flacco back with a guy who's now missed a bunch of time for injuries for several years and just has not been objectively bad. He's had one good half, really, in his Brown's career, because you were worried about what I would consider the inevitable.

Browns fans like, hey, give it time, okay. But you didn't even want to deal with that. And in fairness, you've given him all this money, and he's guaranteed all this cash. It's probably not worth it, but people have asked me before, like, what would be the hook on him in the sense of, like, when would you go to the bullpen if it's not going well? I think you're all in.

I think it has to get really bad. he's getting this year to sink the ship. Like if he's just a bad player and you win 7, 8 games because he's average. And it's easy to see in the AFC, especially in his division. Think about the quarterbacks you're playing.

Like, you guys know. You know what looks good and what doesn't look good. And what you invested in this guy and traded for him, it hasn't been remotely close. You didn't think you were getting Patrick Mahomes, but you thought you were getting like a pro bowl level guy. Love the pod.

I actually switched to an iPhone just to make it easier to access your content. What kind of phone you had? Would you have a Samsung? I think iPhone, don't they? 85% of the cell phone market iPhones? So welcome to the crew. Question for the back.

Longtime Lions fan. If the Lions go on to have another offensive, successful season, Ben Johnson is likely finally going to take a head coaching opportunity. Can you give me insight? into the search process for hiring the next OC for most organizations. Do you think Brad Holmes already has some names in mind knowing

Ben Johnson is a hot name? Are they possibly already grooming someone underneath him on the staff? Curious how it works in the league. Well, big picture, I would not feel you're always worried because if a coordinator dominates

which he has now for a while, he's always going to be in the mix. I do think that press conference and what happened last year with Washington and two years ago the interview cycling. I think there are some weird vibes about him as a head coach. Fantastic coordinator. Awesome for you guys.

You guys benefit from this. I do not think he's a lock, even if you have the same exact season to become a head coach. Now, if he goes, there are two ways to look at this. One, if there's a young guy on the staff or someone on the staff, when I was with the Eagles, we had Matt Nagy, who was a quarterback coach,

Doug Peterson, offensive coordinator, Marty Morningwick. It was clear when someone left who would be the next job, and it ended up playing out that way in Kansas City. So Andy's always grooming guys on offense because he's working with him. I've seen it with Kyle. Does the same thing.

There's like a hierarchy. And when a guy takes a job, the next guy kind of takes that role. Now, when you're the offensive play caller as a head coach, it's a little different, but it's similar. You're kind of getting guys ready, for that next role to help you out. Obviously, in Dan Campbell's situation,

he's more Mike Tomlin, John Harbaugh, in the sense of the CEO head coach. Is he doing that? I don't have their staff directory out in front of me, but do they have a couple guys, the quarterback coach, maybe a run game coordinator, that he feels confident

that could step into that role? Because that wasn't Ben Johnson coaching tight ends and wide receivers or quarterbacks when he became the offensive coordinator two years ago? So when you have a guy on staff, that you feel confident doing or giving him the gig who's never been a play caller,

it's risky, but that's part of being a head coach. And then if he doesn't feel that way, they definitely have lists. And I mean, the list become pretty obvious. You start looking at the best offenses and you start interviewing quarterback coaches.

You know, so why does Kyle get so many coaches taken? Or McVeigh, because you just go right to whoever is, quote, unquote, their offensive coordinator or quote unquote, their quarterback coach.

You start talking to them. So I think that's the way it usually goes. Ideally, you have a guy on staff. But sometimes you don't feel good about that. And let's face it, unless the guy has a track record of doing it, you're taking an educated guess. But I would say it's a part of being a head coach. We give so much, you know, we talk so much and put under a microscope how the team looks,

the play calling, the execution, the timeouts, the chance, challenges during the season. I would say their biggest role outside of that, outside of the players, getting them ready for the game, the scheme, leading a leader of men, is that staff. And when you're good, you're going to lose coaches. How do you, is there a pipeline? Do you feel good about other coaches you know?

If you hire outside, you better get it right. And it can be risky. And you're going to miss on some guys. But I don't know specifically. their situation. Like I said, I would feel pretty good about Ben Johnson, having a pretty good chance of just him staying for four or five years, even though that never happens anymore.

But I do not think he's some lock, almost a goat because I was reading an Instagram here, but a lock to be a head coach. Not saying it won't happen, but I don't know. Something to keep, something to monitor, something to keep our eyes on. as a Chargers fan, it's hard to gauge my own expectations for the team

after so many changes. Do you think they're currently more underrated or overrated by the general public of football fans? Well, you've clearly been pretty overrated for like a decade, right? A lot of people, I'm guilty, thought like

Chargers 12, 13, look at this roster. And I was like, ah! You got Anthony Lynn or you got Mike McCoy or you got Brandon Stan Staley. Your roster's not as good as five years ago, but your coach is, I mean, borderline elite. He has consistently won and one big everywhere he's been. So I think fair expectations are this year, 10 wins. I don't think you're winning the Super Bowl this year. Hell, you might not even win a playoff game. I'd be stunned if you're not in the 10 win mix. Now, we'll see how

the wild card shakes out in the AFC, it's obviously hard, right? You got Buffalo, playoff lock. Chiefs, playoff lock. Ravens, if Lamar is playing, playoff lock. Big question mark with Burroughs' health, but if he plays all season,

like, they're going to be good. The Texans or the Jags or the Colts, like, I mean, you're getting a playoff team there. So you start looking around, like, what's Pittsburgh situation at quarterback? The Browns, what's their quarterback situation? To me, you're right in that mix. The Jets, a lot of question marks with 40-year-old quarterback,

a bunch of older injured guys. You guys are going to be good. Might not dominate, like you will, in a couple years, once Harbaugh gets more of his own guys in there. And he, the team that he won with the 49ers, he inherited, obviously they weren't winning. It was loaded with players. He had a left tackle.

He had a running back. He had a tight end. He had a linebacker. They drafted immediately a star pass rusher. Justin Smith was already on the team. Crabtree was there. They draft Bowman right away. I mean, they had impact guys everywhere.

Alex Smith, they resurrected that career. So, if I had to guess right now, 10 and 7, could change my opinion after three weeks and be like, shit, maybe they won 12. Because one thing with the Chiefs, are they going to win 15 games this year? Probably not. Like we saw last year,

kind of cruise control a little bit. Their team, their margin for error is not as, big in the playoffs, but they got a little Golden State Durant feel. We'll see you in January, guys. See in the playoffs. We like our chances. Make sure Mahomes is healthy.

Make sure Chris Jones is healthy. Make sure Andy Reid has a headset. We'll see you in the cold. From London. Never been, but actually was, we had dinner with a dude that was from an hour. I forget the town.

Hour outside of London. What's the town? It's a famous school. I can't think of it right now. But we were having some cocktails, and he was telling him me all about. I'm like, God, I kind of want to go. Check out London.

I started watching the NBA in 2005 and only started watching the NFL around 2015. In your opinion, what would the NFL need to do to extend the match in London, Paris, and fun? But from my point of view, playing the pro ball outside of the U.S. and in Europe, as an example,

would be a huge benefit for the league. I don't know how realistic that is, but as a non-U.S. fan, I would be really hyped up, and I bet some of the players would too. I don't know if the players would be because the game doesn't exist anymore. Like, that's part of it.

The game doesn't exist. They do not play football. It went from a flag football game to a skills competition are the player I mean I think the farthest thing when it goes like Vegas or Miami I don't think one you would get great player participation over there and two you don't get player participation in the game anymore

so the game is it's over no unvoid no moss I mean it doesn't exist anymore so sending a bunch of dudes to screw around I don't think it would really work and I think it just gets back to one these guys are out on it in the U.S. I don't think when their season's over,

some of these guys haven't played in a couple weeks, want to get on a flight and go to London. I just, I hear what you're saying. I think they're better off just continuing to, if you're going to do stuff over in that area, just play normal games, which obviously they're continuing to do. But the Pro Bowl, in theory,

I think, you know, you should be on to something. The problem is that game, and that week is done. It's over. And in fairness to the players, I don't even blame them. I wouldn't want to get tackled. Hypothetical Pennix question for it. This would be the last one.

Let's say Cousins is playing well through the first four games and then suffers a non-related injury and is out for a couple weeks. A rib, a concussion, whatever. It's just light. Just a little pain. Sideline. I hear you.

And then Pennick steps in and plays at the same. level of Cousins, maybe a tad below. When Cousins is cleared and ready to play, do the Falcons stay with Pinnix and have a $45 million a year backup? Or if Cousins, if Pennix comes in and plays better than Cousins, yet to me, if he's a little below, I think it's pretty easy. It's an easy one to sell.

Hey, listen, we've invested this money. It wasn't an upgrade. He got to get his feet wet. He goes back to be the backup. That's an easy one. if he were to come in and Cousins was solid and Pennix is equally as good or better and you're winning, that one's tough.

Because like I said, the players impact on this, the players aren't dumb. These guys, you spend all this time training, practicing, studying, working on your body to win, to try to win. And whoever gives you the best chance to win,

no one cares. Obviously, if you're friends with a guy, you want him to excel. But there have been a lot of dudes that have played professional sports that your friend struggling and the backup, even if you're not buddies with them, gives you a better chance to win. You want that guy to play.

And I just think the natural, you know, the age gap is going to work against cousins if it doesn't go well. They have a young team, especially on offense. A lot of young skill guys. Who's more likely to be friends with those guys by the end of training camp? Eating dinners, hanging out with their girlfriends, doing whatever young people do,

playing video games, you name it. Penix or cousins with several kids. I mean, I think it's fair to, I'm not saying cousins won't try. You just gravitate when you're younger to someone younger than 10, 15 years older than you. If you're Bejohn Robinson, who are you going to have more in common with?

Michael Panics or Kirk Cousins. Now, if you're winning, you don't care. Tom Brady paid Manning were 15, 20 years older and guys at the end of their career didn't matter because they were good. Cousins is good, none of this matters. But if he's not,

if he struggles or in your hypothetical situation were to get injured and Pennix comes in and gives them a jolt, I think Cousins would be in major trouble. And I think in the NFL, I think in the history of, like, when I was young and a lot of people listening that are my age, a little older,

you know, in the 80s and 90s, when you invested in a player. You could even argue in the 2000s. These teams and these leagues did not have the same cash. So if I'm paying a guy $10 million, $20 million, I remember being in high school

and the Sacramento Kings, they had this little like three-year run where they were incredible. And they signed Chris Weber to this massive contract extension. And he was their best player. And then he screwed up his knee, really bad. And he came back.

And the Kings, I... I think at the time they might have had the best record in the NBA. And he came back. He was a shell of himself and it derailed their season. I think they lost in the first round that year. Maybe to Minnesota, the KG team. Might have been 04. But at the time, it was, yeah, I mean, you're paying a guy a lot of money.

He plays. That was just the mindset in team sports, baseball, basketball, football. You make a lot of money. You're ready to play. Off an injury, you play. I don't think it's the case as much anymore with young players. The guy's ready, if he's balling, we're trying. to win. Rahim Morris, it's not his money. So if you're four and four and that injury happens

and all of a sudden, Pennix comes in, and three weeks later, you're seven and four, and he's thrown seven touchdowns in three games and one pick and your team's vibe in and you got a ball. Think how much we would talk about if that situation happens and Pennix was good. I don't care what else is going on. It would be one of the biggest stories in the NFL because of the situation that happened on draft night. I'd be talking about it. TV shows would be talking about it. Cower would be talking about it. People would be talking about it. And I think most

people would be like, I'd keep wrong with the kid. It'd almost be controversial if they went back to Cousins. It's like, we're paying them. Yeah, who cares? It's all monopoly money at this point anyway. Arthur Blanks got more money than God. If this was 93 or 2001, it'd be borderline no-brainer. It's why it was so crazy. So crazy.

thought the Apple documentary, I stopped watching it after like episode five. The Belichick Bledso stuff, which we've seen a million times, is very enlightening. Like that stuff never happened. Ever. Hey, I think this young guy's better, but we're paying this guy $100 million, 10 year $100 million contract, which is crazy. That's what Bledso got back then. It was a lot of money. $10 million a year. But the point in Belichick's like, yeah, not going back to him. Not doing it. I just think that stuff happens a lot more now. You just ride the hot hand. This guy's not good enough, whatever. I think everyone's kind of on board.

Yeah, play Pennix. The Volume. 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 Acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starting. For Bancor. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble to stop it. the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing.

How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability, that does not mean that you need to. Listen to learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human.