The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 & Out - NFL considering replacement referees for 2026 season? NCAA Tournament Best Bets, NFL Offseason Mailbag

Episode Date: March 19, 2026

On this episode of 3 & Out, we dive into a potential shake-up around the league as questions arise about replacement referees possibly returning. What’s behind the discussion, and how could it impact the NFL if it becomes a reality? We also break down a proposed rule change from the Cleveland Browns — what they’re pushing for and how it could affect the game moving forward. Plus, we highlight De’Von Achane and his impact, along with expectations for what’s next in his development. Outside the NFL, we react to the latest from the World Baseball Classic, and take a look at the best bets for the NCAA Tournament, giving you insight into the biggest matchups and angles to watch. Finally, we wrap things up with the Middlekauff Mailbag, answering your questions and hitting on topics from across the sports landscape. Follow John on Twitter, and Instagram for the latest.  All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet #Volume  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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

you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the ice. Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcasts presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah. This is my best friend, Janet. Hey. And we have been joined at the hips since high school. Absolutely. A redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip.

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

Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, and on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be? I call on my Gen X squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS. Unfiltered conversations from night sweats to fupas to scheduling sex. Wait, what sex? Is it just me or does every woman my age want to look at Pinterest instead of having sex sometimes? They say we can't polish it turn. but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter.

Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Deanna Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Volume. What is going on, my people? How are we doing? John Middilcock, Three and Out podcast. Hopefully you are having a fantastic day. I'm having a good day. A little warm in Arizona.

But we're going to talk a little football because replacement refs are they back? the Miami Dolphins said we're done trading star players and I was watching the WBC game and thinking why are some guys clutch Bryce Harper and other guys not Aaron Judge in relation to quarterbacks? So let's talk about that. We'll hit on the NCAA tournament.

I got a couple bets. Your boy's hot right now. Cam Young nailed that one. Got a couple teams that I'm going to sprinkle a little juice on to make runs. and we'll do a Madoff mailback. We'll do a quick one. We'll probably do a big one tomorrow,

but I'll do some questions at the end. At John Middlecough, at John Middlecough, is the Instagram firing those DMs. Questions on the show. You guys know the drill. Make sure you subscribe. If you listen on Collins feed, we also were on Netflix,

so if you guys want to watch the video and see my beautiful face, get on it because we're up there. If not, let's talk some ball. But I did want to start because there's a lingering story out there. Schefter reported on it. Florio was writing about it that the NFL, who is always, it feels like, in some sort of negotiations with the referees. I mean, these dudes are principals, they're lawyers, they got side plumbing businesses.

All they want is to be a full-time employee. The NFL doesn't want to do it. They just can't find the money, I guess. And we've been down this road before. and it was called 2012. Now, like a lot of things, things have changed since then. And the NFL specifically, if they are going to get, and we've got a long way to go until the season.

So I'm not acting like I feel confident that they're going to be like high school and random college referees Monday night football and Ravens Bill's games. I'm not going to go there yet. But like the NFL can be very cutthroat in these situations. and they are going to try to screw the referees every chance they get. And you could argue the referees aren't that good to begin with. One thing we learned, and listen, being an official is very difficult.

We've all been on the bad side, whether as a gambler, whether as a fan, of a bad call, it comes with the territory. But it does feel like the officiating has been very hit or miss over the last couple years. Here's what I do know after experiencing that because I'm old enough to remember. is now that you're balls deep with the gambling community, like in 2012, obviously people gambled on football, but it's nowhere near what it is now, especially because the league is in business with everybody.

So once you get into business with everybody, you have to do everything possible to keep things above board. Like, that is a huge element. The world we live in in 2012 to compare to now is like a completely different universe. I can't even relate to the times in 2012. You know that viral video, Dad, what were you like in the 90s? Do you know how long ago the 90s feel right now?

I mean, how do you know how far away 2018 feels right now? So the 2012, the NFL, which is obviously exploded since then. It was very, it was popular then, it was rolling. It is nowhere near the powerhouse that it is now. and the eyeballs that are on it, the partners that are involved, this is one of those situations where you simply have to get it fixed. Because you cannot have people out there having the bright lights on them and not coming through.

Because we already have that happening now, and these guys are used to calling these games. Like they are used to being on the field with NFL players and NFL coaches. And if you start funneling up Mack guys or high school guys, it could be overwhelming and we could get a situation 10 times worse than we had last year because the amount of gambling and the aspect of that

that comes into the conversation. Whether you like it or not, it's here and it's not going away. So when I look at the NFL, I think this referee situation will be taken care of by the time we get there. And I think these are somewhat of threats

to whatever the negotiation is, try to get what they want. But I do know this. In 2006, you cannot do what you did in two. 2012. It's not only not acceptable, it's something that you would have to avoid. And I think there would be direct pressure by everyone in business with them, including the gambling companies. And rightfully so. Like, we can't tolerate this. This is not one of those things that will be okay.

So I would expect something to get done. And let's face it, we all bitch and moan about the officiating. I'm as guilty as anyone. But I've lived long enough to see what it looks like on the other side. It can be hard. And listen, I, my, I think my high school senior year, me and my buddy Juan, who, great football, baseball player, first at Davis High School, he got me into reffing on the side or umpiring little league games. And this was like AAA, you know, this was like fifth and sixth graders. And you're behind the dish, you're making, I don't know, $30 a game, getting a free hot dog in a slurpee. and I remember blowing some calls.

It's not easy. It's like I do respect how difficult the speed of the game and how hard it is. And sometimes you just kind of freeze. It's human nature. You kind of question yourself and then you make the wrong call. And I've always had an issue in basketball with technical fouls and people getting teed up for saying the F words. Like, guys, this isn't a little league.

This isn't, this isn't high. We're not teaching life lessons here. This is a billion dollar business. It's all about winning and losing. Just stay out of the fucking way. So the NFL's not as bad about that of screaming back and forth. It's just bad about like, was that a penalty? Was that not a penalty?

And we never quite know the answer. But at least we know these guys are comfortable doing NFL games. I could not have high school referees on the field. The other thing that's pretty interesting, there have been some proposals that have been thrown out for this owner's meetings in a couple weeks. And one rule change, of course, the Cleveland Browns, Paul D. Podesta leftover. I tried to read this article on Paul D. Podesta today on ESPN.com by Buster Only.

I made it like a quarter of the way through. I'm like, I don't even care. I can't stand this guy. Like I'm not reading this article and what he thinks he's going to do with the Colorado Rock. He's like, what a scam artist? I mean, if I'm a Cleveland Brown fan, it's like, what the hell did we just experience for the last decade? And it's that guy who got to live in San Diego the whole time, work remotely, and dictate a lot of your terms.

Like, that had to suck. And now he's running one of the worst baseball teams in the league in a division with the Dodgers, the Padres, the Debacks actually are pretty good, and, you know, the Giants have way more money than Colorado if they ever choose to spend it. But that's a conversation for a different day. The rule change is right now, if I want to trade for Joe Burrell,

it's like, let's say, obviously, I actually think the Bengals are kind of a pretty live under the Raider dog to be a really good team this year, if their defense kind of comes together, assuming Joe play 17 games. Like, they'd probably be my pick right now to win that division. But we can get into that later in the offseason.

But when I look at, so if I wanted, let's just say, Bengals have a disaster, and Joe Burroughs on the block, I can offer three years of picks. Three first rounders, three second rounders, three, whatever. I can't go past that.

Right? In basketball, you can offer like 2035 first round. picks, right? You can go way far in advance. And that's been a thing with the NFL is they cap it, which I think if I'm an owner, I like. Like, even if you could talk me into a trade, like I, you just never know. This sports too fickle, injuries. You could go one year being a playoff team next year. I mean, the Super Bowls, the Chiefs went to five Super Bowls in six years, and they're drafting in the top ten. So the year Seattle traded Russell Wilson to Denver. they ended up with like the fifth pick.

You never know year to year, let alone four years out. So I would imagine a lot of owners vote against this. I get why Andrew Barry, this analytical nerd, is into this. He would love to make some sort of trades like that. And I do think the aggressive teams would be very interested. I would be all for this passing because I am for anything that creates more action, that creates more transaction, that creates more interesting conversation, when trades are made, whether that be draft day trades, player trades, four picks, whatever.

My guess is, though, that will get voted down. So, listen, I've been hard on the Browns, talk a lot of shit. I like them throwing this out there, though I don't think it will come through. The other big story today was Schefter put out, and maybe I didn't quite realize this. I'm not a huge fantasy football player, and, oh, I don't play at all. I used to play a little daily, but I'm not in leagues. The Dolphins were such a joke last year. I wasn't super dialed into them.

Definitely the second half of the season. But Devon A-chan, who I think that's also Travis E-TN's last name, Travis A-chan, but we've all been calling him E-T-N. That's what he said at the press conference was like, whoa, didn't see that one coming. I didn't quite realize how good this guy is and how Alidi is in the passing game. And right now, football at the running back position is a lot less like Adrian Peterson, right? Now, he was an outlier, an all-time great running back. Didn't pass block, didn't catch.

But he was so good between the tackles and just handing or pitching him the ball, it didn't matter. The league is really looking for Bijon Robinson, Christian McCaffrey, Alvin Camaro's, Jamar Gibbs, versatile players, Jeremiah Love can really catch the ball. Basically adds as another wide receiver in the passing game. Well, Devon A. H.N. in three years, has 172 catches. and 13 touchdowns in the passing game. On the ground, he's accounted for 22 touchdowns. So you're talking about a guy that has 35 touchdowns in three years.

I mean, he is an extremely productive player. And what else does he do? Well, he plays in the system that the majority of teams run. And I was texting around like, you know, his contract, he makes nothing. This year, I think he's on the books for like $1.5 million salary cap and like $1.2 million in cash. Now, maybe that goes up because there are some, like, production bonuses when guys aren't, you know, first or second round picks, and you produce, you get a raise. But still, he's not making, Kenneth Walker's making $14 million a year. The Chiefs just guaranteed him $27 million.

So you can get a guy who has produced 35 touchdowns in three years. For a team, it's not that good. With two at quarterback, and this year, a lot of like Quinn yours at quarterback. Like, damn, explosive player can run inside. You can, the outside zone, obviously throw the ball. So I was like, I think they can get a second round pick. I did a little digging. A couple people said,

I wouldn't shock me if the equivalent of the value would be like a first round pick. And I started thinking like, if you're Seattle, you just lose Kenneth Walker, would you trade the 30-second pick for Devon A-chan for a year of him really cheap? And then you give the contract the chiefs gave him after this year? I think you probably would. Would a lot of teams right after them, 33, 33, 3.3. 34, 35, 36, whatever that group is, be interested in his services?

100%. I'd say the Kansas Chiefs, but they signed Kenneth Walker, but I do think his value is much higher. Here's the problem. And this is why I think Miami says we're not going to trade him. Because, one, they do need some players on the offense. And you bring in Bobby Slowick, like to McDaniel, you're going to have a run-heavy offense with Malik Willis.

and two, he's cheap and productive. Part of the reason they got rid of Jalen Waddle is like, why do we need a guy making $30 million a year who is probably at most going to catch 80 balls this year when we're not going to be any good? His value can get us a first round pick. But let's just say you could get pick 28 or 32 or whatever. If you're Miami, you don't need three first round picks.

This year, there are five teams with multiple first round picks. Obviously, the dolphins are one. The Jets, the, who are the teams? The Jets, the Chiefs, the Browns, right? So you have these teams with multiple first-round picks. It's not viewed as a great draft. And I think you keep them in your back pocket. Best case scenario, you build up the team this year,

and you just extend the guy next year. Because running backs are incredible value. Part of the problem with Waddle is you go, we're not going to be that good. And even next year as we're turning the corner, he's going to need a contract extension. Well, he's already got, he already makes a lot of money. Usually guys who are good players don't take pay cuts.

He's going to need a pay raise and an extension. So you go, we're out of that business. This is a guy that you go, yeah, if we like this guy, he's a high character guy, which I've never heard a bad thing about him. We have no problem extending him at the end of the year with Malik Willis and some of our young guys as we start trying to turn the corner in 2027 and 2008. But I think the calls came in fast and furious on Devon A-chan, which I guess I'm not as dialed in on Miami Dolphin football, but texting around, I think the interest was really,

really high. So I think when they put out, like, we're not trading them. I think it's because they're getting a ton of calls and they don't want to deal with it. Like, they're just not interested in getting rid of them because they don't need the extra first round pick. They already got multiple. And they just want them as a player. Who doesn't want cheap and productive? It's like, why do companies love interns? Because I don't have to pay health insurance. I pay you nothing. You do a bunch of work that I don't want to do.

Right? I shit, I've sat in those seats before. It sucks. I mean, it's cool because you get your foot in the door. And then there's a lot of value to it as your life goes on because those getting inside those doors is more valuable than whatever they're paying you. And that's a different conversation. If AI takes away all those jobs, that sucks.

That's going to be hard in all these different businesses. But again, conversation for a different day. I just think Miami is doing the right thing by keeping them. And I underestimated. I mean, I knew he was a good explosive player. I didn't realize quite how productive he'd been. Today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor Hard Rock Bet, Florida Sportsbook.

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Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, news? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it.

We just contributed to it. to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember.

I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Oh, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast

for people could call in and say, hey Jonas, and then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy,

not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying,

and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them.

Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The other thing I was thinking is watching the WBC. I was thinking if baseball could have their games, I mean, that game felt like an NFL playoff game, Venezuela versus America.

And so did Italy versus. versus Japan, so did, or I guess it was Italy versus Venezuela. So did America versus the DR. These games have felt great. They have felt like playoff level games. And some of the players said it felt bigger in the World Series. Derek Jeter was offended, which I get it. I mean, his career is defined on winning all the World Series and coming through.

And it's not like he was some big WBC guy. But I do understand when you're in it, you feel like, God, this is as big as anything we did. I think you'd get a lot of players saying, like, the Ryder Cup feels bigger than like the majors. And the majors are obviously more important to your career than winning the Ryder Cup. But when you're there and I was just at the one in New York, it feels like, I don't know, like an SEC football game. I mean, it's insane. But one thing that has always interested me, because when I got into radio, and we talked about this when I was in scouting too, because one of the reasons,

Andy Reed and Marty Morning Wig liked Nick Foles. I was with the Eagles when we drafted him. He played on a shitty Arizona team. Shitty Arizona team. But like when the games were close, he was really good in those games. And like he played really well in second halves. He was really good down the stretch in a lot of those games and made a lot of big time throws in the games that they were competitive in.

And you value, right? Like you could make a great throw in the first quarter. But what are you doing in the fourth quarter when you're down four points on the road? Like, how do you react? That's how you really evaluate guys, right? And Bryce Harper, who I remember going to a Giants playoff game back when he was with the Nationals as a really young player, just hit one of the clutchest, longest home runs I'd ever seen in a game. He was, when I think Bryce Harper, and I know he just had a bad playoffs for the Phillies,

he has had a ton of big moments, clutch hits in regular season and playoff games. Like he is a bright lights player. And for the American guys, if you needed a big hit, it does feel like he would be near the top of the list if not one. And we've seen a lot of guys over the course of the last 25 years in baseball because a lot of the Paul D. Podesta say there's no such thing as clutch. There's no such thing as pressure or,

feeling nerves in the batters box. It's no different than your second A, B, in a June game as won in October. And that's completely bullshit. And I've seen it forever with all Billy Beans, good teams. They always kind of shit the bed in the playoffs. He's like, well, it just, my shit doesn't work in the playoffs. It's like, well, your guys just kind of got tight, didn't come through. And there are certain guys, like Big Poppy came up, it felt like he came through.

Mani Ramirez came up, it felt like he came through. Derek Jeter came up, it felt like he came through. And in baseball, you're only going to succeed. You're a Hall of Famer if you get three. You know, 10 A-Bs, you get three hits. So, like, watching Bryce Harper, you just, you kind of felt it when he came up. I didn't know he's going to hit an absolute bomb, but it's like something, he's going to hit one hard here. And he did, and it went out of the park.

And Aaron Judge looked completely overwhelmed the whole game. And let's face it, one of the knocks on him is like, doesn't do that well in big spots. Because there's no dispute. He's one of the greatest regular season players we've ever seen. He's rattling off MVP's or putting up his stats last night. And I love Aaron Judge. Fresno State guy, fucking badass. I'm a huge fan. But, like, some guys kind of struggle in the clutch for whatever reason.

And you can be like, well, it's just baseball. What happens in all sports? Some guys just crumble under the pressure. And one theory I've had for a long time, I do think a lot of it is built when you're young. When you have success in early on in your career, you become much more comfortable in that moment. When Bryce Harper got up in that spot, he's been in a million big spots, and a lot of him he's come through.

So he's very confident when he steps up. Right. And you can go through the list of Derek Jeter, successful immediately when he came up to the Yankees. Tom Brady, Super Bowl, year one starter. Tiger Woods comes on the PGA tour, starts kicking everyone's ass. Well, he had just won three straight U.S. amateurs. And the last one, which I think was a T.P. Sawgrass, he was down big and came storming back. It's one of his iconic fist pumps when he was a super skinny kid.

So it's like you get to these moments, your confidence is built through experience. Sometimes people ask like, middle cuff, how do you just talk into a mic? I've been doing it for a long time now. This is my first rodeo. If this was episode two, I'd probably fucking have no clue what to do. I might make it 10 minutes. But the longer you do something, the more you're successful, the more that gets, you know, drilled into you that you can do it and do a good job.

whether that's an A.B. in a big spot, whether that's a podcast or whether that's making a sale, the more confident you are walking into the most important spots in whatever you do. And I think that goes, Patrick Bahams is going to go down, like so far his career, besides like Brady or Montana, it's kind of unprecedented. Well, he immediately had success. He got to the league. The first year as a starter, he won the MVP. And honestly, they beat the Patriots and they don't have a awful defense. By the next year, they have a comeback win against the 49ers, a bunch of comeback wins.

You could also argue his first Super Bowl win against the Niners when they're down late with like five or six minutes ago. They had just been down the previous two games. The Houston Texans and the Tennessee Titans, remember? They were down big in both those games and came storming back. So his confidence in that moment, it had literally just happened to him over the course of the last month. I don't think you just get in these spots

and start going like, I can do it when you've never done it. When Scotty Sheffler or Rory McElroy is coming down the back nine with the lead or chasing the lead, they're much more comfortable because they've done it many times than a guy that's never won on the PJ tour. It's no different in football than the longer it goes. Like, Josh Allen's been really good in the playoffs. Obviously, he wasn't that great for his standards in the Denver game and missed an enormous pass at the end of the regulation that would have probably won them the game. Now, it turns out he was injured or whatever, but the longer it goes,

and I would throw Lamar in there as well, who has not been good in the playoffs until the second half of the Bills games when he actually played really well, but a lot like Peyton Manning, the longer it goes, you can't win the big one, you can't win the big one.

Once you become a pro slash superstar, it kind of grows. Like at this point in time, Aaron Judge, he could hit 58 home runs, 150 RBIs, bat 400, it's like, okay,

he's fucking awesome in the regular season. What are you going to do in the postseason? I saw it when I was a kid with Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, And it happens in football too. I love Peyton Manning as a kid. And you went in up until that game where he comes storming back against the Patriots in the AFC championship game, the knock on him was couldn't win the big one. Why? Because he had never won the fucking big one.

Couldn't win it in Florida or couldn't beat Florida in college. And then he just kept getting beat in the playoffs with these great regular season teams. And then once he got over the pump, he kind of never looked back. Won another Super Bowl, went back to two others, like had a lot of success. But when you look at Patrick Mahomes, he doesn't really have to deal with that. Aaron Rogers got to knock off the Super Bowl early in his career. So when he would lose playoff games, and some of them were not his fault, you'd be like, well, it's not his fault.

I know this guy's won. I've seen him do it. So you could never say anything. And I'm looking at Justin Herbert. I think the Chargers are going to be really good this year. Why? They have Jim Harbaugh. They already have a good team.

They're just, they're a well-run operation. They're going to be in the playoffs. But for, like I'm talking about Josh and Lamar, it's going to be extremely loud on Justin Herbert. Because he's not going to be judged on making sweet plays in the regular season. I've seen him do it for years. He is easily one of the most talented players of the Internet era. I mean, 6-5, huge arm can run. High character, teammates love him, like checks all the boxes.

He plays great in the regular season. It's proven he can play hurt, tough SOB. It's like, well, can you win playoff games? Because you're at this point, like, that's all you're going to be judged on now. You know, that's it. You've already got the big contracts, or you're not trying to, like, just stat pad here. It's just, can you win a January game? Fair or not, you haven't even got close.

And you've been atrocious in most of them. So I think, and that's, it's really hard to, you know, kind of that momentum starts growing and growing and growing. It's hard to slow it down. It really is. And once you get over the hump, I think it really frees you, right? We've seen it with coaches. When I was a kid, Roy Williams forever at Kansas gets to North Carolina. gets one and then wins a bunch.

Once you get over that hump, it was easy. Villanova. When I lived in Philly, it felt like they underachieved in the tournament. They would get K.O., they'd always be a top seed. They'd be a top one or two seed. They'd be heavily favored. And they'd get bounced in the first weekend. It was like, I just don't think.

And then all of a sudden he just won back to back. You know, I was like, we look at Jay Wright. Like, remember when he won multiple national championships? So, like, if Aaron Judge, like the Yankees are going to be in the, the playoffs. He's just going to be judged simply moving forward, like how he does in these big spots. And baseball's tough, right? You only get a couple A-Bs. Obviously in the playoffs or these big spots, you're facing the best pitchers. But if you don't come through, like, you do get judged a little more harshly. I'll never forget for like, Steph Curry is a great example.

A couple years in, once he fixed the ankles, you just thought he was always going to come through. It doesn't mean he always came through. But in these big spots, it's like, down 10, and Steph's going to pull some shit out of his ass. And countless times over and over and over he came through. You know why? Because in his mind, he'd been doing that since Davidson. He'd been doing that in tournament games against teams with way more firepower and figuring out a way to win.

And this is the question when it comes to quarterbacks, right? Like if you play at a great university with a stack team, that's not the NFL. That was the thing with J.J. McCarthy. his team couldn't have been any better. Coward thought it was the best Michigan team of all time. From a talent standpoint, definitely from a coaching standpoint, they have two NFL head coaches. One of them's a big-time guy,

and Jesse Minter is very highly thought of. So, I mean, it's like, you had two NFL coaches on the staff, one guy kind of operating more of the offense, one guy leading the defense. You had NFL players everywhere. Like, that's not normal. So it's like, yeah, you get confidence from winning, but like, what are you doing?

Meanwhile, Steph Curry is carrying Davidson against Kansas when it's like they have no business winning the game. They're probably a double-digit favorite. It's like, we'll figure out of way because of me. And then that confidence grows to the pros because you have done it before. So once you do it once, you've felt that feeling. And I think we see that with athletes all the time.

And the one thing was social media, the amount of podcast, the television shows, it's only grown in the pressure. I think people, and I'm still a huge person. Peyton Manning guy. He's one of my favorite players of all time. If you're younger, you know, if you're in your early 20s and you didn't quite live through that, you can't even imagine the conversations. You know, Herbert Connagets talked about a little bit. Peyton Manning was viewed as one of the poster childs of the league.

He was viewed as the best regular season quarterback. That that would be a conversation that would lead this show, that would lead television shows, that would lead everything surrounding the NFL over and it'd be treated like the way we talk about the Cowboys, or if you talk about basketball, LeBron, and the Lakers, it would be a nauseating conversation because he wasn't winning. And it didn't feel like he played that well in some of those games, right? So I'm fascinated by Clutch. I do think it exists.

And I do think having confidence from previous experiences when you've had success, even if it's not at the same level, right? Even if you've made a sale for 20 grand and now you're doing a deal, hopefully for $20 million, You have landed deals, you have gotten, yes, we will do that. There is something in you to go, I can do this. If you've never done it before, you go, I don't know. So when Bryce Harper hit that home run, it's like, I feel like I've seen him hit that home run 15 times. You know, of course he did.

And the next guy came up. My first feeling was, I don't know if he's going to strike out again, but I didn't feel like he was going to get a hit. And what happened? Didn't get it. So it's like, I mean, I think we kind of know it. Now, I've said this before. I think Dak Prescott could win a Super Bowl if the Cowboys were good, right? I thought they had a Super Bowl winning team.

I've seen Dak Prescott play well at a really high level in the regular season. And then he gets to the playoffs and he kind of crumbles. And back to what we were saying. It's one of those things that, like, he gets in a big spot in January. He hasn't gotten over the hump. Like, he hasn't won one of those tight games. Like, beating Tampa when he throw five touchdowns and they're terrible, doesn't count. Are you able to, like, get it?

get over the hump in a 17-15 game. And I've seen him in those spots not play well. But I do believe he could. But it's what's so fascinating about sports and the best highest paid players is some guys do it. And some guys just never do. Before we dive into the mailbag, I'm gambling on the NCAA tournament. And listen, I know last year had four number one seeds. I don't think that's going to happen every single year.

And clearly with NIL, the top, I don't know, 15, 20 teams are pretty stacked. I mean, Kansas is a four-seed, and they have a guy that up until like two months ago was viewed as a lock number one pick. BYU is a six-seed and they got a guy that's probably going to go number one. Obviously, Duke has loaded NBA guy Boozer who's a stud who's the one seed. But weird stuff happens in this tournament. we have seen so many times pre-NIL teams get bounced. Now, I saw a stat, I think Big Cat said this, and this shows the NIL, that all four top four seats, so the 16 teams that are one through four are all double-digit

favorites. Now, obviously the one and two seats are always big favorites, but sometimes like the four, 13 is a little closer with maybe nine, eight points, they're all big favorites. So I think mainly Thursday and Friday could be a little underwhelming, which is fine. Once we get to Saturday and Sunday in the Sweet 16, it could be on like Donkey Kong. And listen, I'm not the biggest Big East guy anymore. Times have changed. But I'm no dummy, big events, I'm paying attention.

I watch St. John's in Yukon. And Patino, we talked about him the other day, he's one of the greatest coaches in the history of sport. And his team's clearly pretty good. They just beat the shit out of Yukon. Now, it was a home game, but still. I do think that Kansas St. John's second round matchup, whoever wins that game, we talk about confidence and momentum. The next game is going to be against Duke.

But the momentum that they get and the confidence they get of beating whoever wins that opponent, right, whoever, if Bill Self and Kansas take down St. John's, they're going to be feeling pretty good going in that Duke game. And same thing vice versa with St. John's. You can get Kansas 10 to 1 just to win the region, so they'd have to beat Duke and then take care of, you know, Michigan State or Yukon or whatever chaos is on the other side, or the Johnny's 9 to 1. I also think you could make an argument that whoever won that game could have enough momentum.

You got Bill Self, Rick Bettino, these guys have won national titles. Obviously, Kansas has a bunch of NBA guys. I don't know if St. John's quite does, but they're clearly really well coached. They've won a ton of games. I threw $50 each on them both 60 to 1 to just win the national title. Because I want just a little action and feel pretty good about hedging my bet. Like I didn't want to pick one or the other. Whoever wins that game, I'm going to give them a pretty good chance against Duke.

And the other one is Arkansas, who you can get, I think, like 50 to 1 on Hard Rock Bet. You can get them 10 to 1 to win their region. Now, like St. John's and Kansas, if they take care of the first two rounds, they're going to they'd probably play Wisconsin, potentially in the second round, though Wisconsin go cold from outside. They would get Arizona, who was really, really good. There was no disputing anyone that watches college basketball. They are a fucking juggernaut.

Here's the thing about Arizona. They kind of got like a Buffalo Bills thing going. It's like they just don't really get it done when it really matters the most. Like Arizona over the course of the last 15 plus years has had a lot of good teams. Google the last time they made a Final Four. Pretty sure it's been like two and a half decades. It's been a while. And I think there is just that we talk about pressure.

It is a blue blood basketball school. Arizona cares about basketball, the University of Arizona, deeply. It really matters. They have been doing everything possible. They were doing NIL well before NIL with Lute Olson. As Jerry Tarkhanian said, I offered him a car, Lute offered him a van. So it's like they will do whatever it takes to get good players

and they have excellent players. But I do believe there's a pressure when a program just hasn't figured it out. For whatever reason, despite all the success they've had, they just won the hardest league in the country. Arkansas has the A-Cuff kid who is just phenomenal. And I think there's an element, and this is what makes a tournament cool. Every once in a while you get like a Steph Curry moment. You just get a guy who is ready to.

hot. They just won the SEC Conference Championship. You can get them 10 to 1 because if they won that game, I think they would be the heavy favorite to win the following game and make it to the final four. And they would be a team that, I mean, how many straight games did they

had won? Obviously, they won the SEC tournament, then they would have beat Arizona. I think Arkansas is a very, very live just under the radar, like non-one or two seed that if their star gets hot now, what makes you a little nervous? Coach Cow lost a lot of games in the tournament that he should have won. But that will be a game where

he kind of gets to play the underdog. Most people are not going to pick Arkansas against Arizona. So I do like dabbling on Kansas and St. John's, whoever wins that game, momentum going into the Duke game. And I'm just taking Arkansas, Coach Cow, and they're just red hot. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, Nick? Huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it.

We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band.

Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down. Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's Chosen, Kingdom on. earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this plant to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive.

The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Okay, let's do a couple of mailback questions. At John Middlecoff. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram.

Fire in those DMs. questions answered right here on the show. We will start with David. Question for the back. I just got my head shaved with some of my fraternity bros for charity. Good for you guys. A bunch of us shaved our heads to help raise money for veterans. Look at these young college kids.

Giving back to America. Appreciate you guys. I'm leaving for the beach. Love a little charity and then a little party. on Friday and going to be there for spring break. Any suggestions to help prevent my head getting sunburn? Before I started shaving my head, which I've been doing probably since 2013, 14 range maybe, with like a Mach 3 or Mach 5.

The first several years I just took like the equivalent of no free ads, but like the manscape thing and just went as low as it would go. The first time I was bald, at least the first, probably six months, I went to the lake in Tahoe with one of my good buddies, Ryan, and his girlfriend at the time, who's now his wife and a bunch of her friends, and we just got smashed. And we were on the boat all day. And if you've had hair your whole life,

you don't even think about putting sunscreen on the top of your head. So you just live life like you had hair. And then probably four or five days later, my entire head peeled off. and I never made that mistake again. So I think there's two keys. Because one, if you have hair, the top of your scalp is not used to sing sun. Especially if you don't wear a hat, right? It never gets any, it just, I mean, if you do wear a hat, it never gets any exposure.

So if you're not going to wear a hat, which is probably the easiest thing to do, a bucket hat, a cowboy hat, a backward hat, whatever, is you've got to put sunscreen like you would on your back, like you would on your neck or your arms, you just put it all over your head. Because if you do not, your head will peel off. And I never forget, it was like a week before Fourth of July,

there was a big Fourth of July party and my head was just peeled off. So I had to wear like a hat because I look like a lizard or something. I mean, it was a crazy experience. But this is what we're going to teach my young son. when you make a mistake, not always bad. You learn from it and you never make that mistake again. Unless you're just an idiot and you make the same mistakes over and over.

Why is Ty Simpson talked about going in the first round? Is it just hype and excitement for him? He'll get drafted too high by a bad organization like the Jets because that's just what they do? Haven't we seen this type player get drafted way too high because of one good season? Simpson was a good quarterback, but it's his only season in college and watching about half of the Alabama games, he never looked like a guy to take in the first round, especially with the talent pool that lines up this year, but also the projected quarterback debt next year. To me, Simpson would be a good third or fourth round pick, potentially a backup. The hype machine's real. And this time of year, if you're a GM, if you're a scouting

director, if you're the front office, you've got to be very careful about when you listen to these people talk over and over about these prospects. It's one thing, you know, Daniel Jeremiah has scouted in the league. He talks to people in the league. So it's all kind of connected. Dan Orlovsky, who, again, I have nothing against Dan. I kind of like Dan. You know, just he entertains me.

But he's never scouted in the league. And he's going on these rants about how great Ty Simpson is. That's how you get in trouble. But that type momentum, and then you get a couple more guys agree with them. I am not in the business of taking lower ceiling guys in the first round of quarterback. You know, we have examples recently of Kenny Pickett, who was like a five-year starter. Mac Jones, who was like a one-and-a-half-year starter.

Like, Ty Simpson could be Mac Jones. Well, what is Mac Jones? He's a good backup. Who can win you some games? Mac Jones is a starting quarterback. He's, you know, he'll never be a top 25 quarterback in the NFL. But in short periods, if he's got the right, you. team, he can win you some games. I'm not into drafting those guys. I'm with you. Whenever I watch

Alabama, I get he was a little dinged up and they couldn't run the ball. I could not take him in the first round. So I think a lot of teams will not have him in the first round. I'd be a little surprised if he goes in the first round. I mean, last year people thought Shador, shit, maybe I was guilty too, was going to go in like top five to the Browns. He went in the fifth round. So I think sometimes the buzz is a lot different than the way the league in internally views, guys. Why is Daniel Jones being so heavily criticized? I know that everyone wants to take a dump on him

because of the Giants, but he won a playoff game and was playing really well until the injury. You can say he's injury prone, which is true, but he suffered fewer injuries than guys like Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow, Herbert, Lamar, love, DAC. His contract also helps the Colts out since it only counts around 20 million against the cap, which is

19th among NFL quarterbacks 93rd overall. It's kind of a smart move and everyone seems just to be bashing the guys. You compared him to Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Jordan Love, and Lamar Jackson. I mean, even Trevor Lawrence now. I mean, Trevor Lawrence has had a couple good seasons. He's won a playoff game before. I, and I would take Trevor Lawrence over Daniel Jones for sure. I just think the criticism comes from Daniel Jones, no one's ever done less. consistently made more money and got to keep starting. We've seen a lot of backups.

You know, Chase Daniel is just, I would say, he's kind of the poster child of the guy that made a ton of money, never had to play, which is a great gig if you can get it. But Daniel Jones, he's been franchise tagged multiple times. Think how crazy that is. You'd be like, well, one's a transition tag. Okay. Who was paying Daniel Jones $37 million?

That's what I... Part of it is just basic business. Who was paying Daniel Jones? Jones $37 million. He has a fucking torn Achilles. I just, I don't see who was paying on that. I really don't. Maybe I'm, maybe I'm being too negative. I don't know. Mac Jones makes two-year $7 million. Daniel Jones makes, signed a $88 million contract. What are we talking about? Question for the mailback. Anybody been talking about Joanne Jennings from the Niners? Even the local Bay Area radio doesn't seem to talk much about the contract negotiations with him.

Is the market just low form or are they having a falling out? I think sometimes guys, and this happened to Trey Hendrickson, though he pivoted really fast because the Ravens put enough on the table. Trey Hendrickson at one point in time was telling GMs he wanted like $40 million a year. So you go to the market, your agent figures out what teams are willing to pay you, and you already have a number in mind as a player. like Juan butted heads last year with the Niners because he wanted a big race.

A couple years ago they gave him a two-year, $15 million contract. And they gave him some incentives, and last year he made like $13 million. But he's thinking, like, I was one of the best wide receivers, or the best wide receiver really last year, on a team that just was in the second round of the playoffs.

I've been highly productive for the 49ers. I just made $13 million. Rumors are he wants like $20 million a year. And as someone told me at the Combine, unless he's your guy, other teams aren't enamored with people that don't get open for a lot of money. He's a good blocker. He's a physical player.

He's made a bunch of clutch catches. I think a lot of teams would offer him like two for $15 million again. You know, he had, he's become a high-level aggressive teammate. But, you know, some of these teams had character red flags on him coming out of college. Now, I think he's definitely shrugged those off. But I think the way he views him. If he was willing to pay for like $6 million, he'd be signed right now. If he was willing to play for $10 million, maybe he would.

I think a lot of teams don't value what he thinks is important, which is important. Like driving guys into the Gatorade buckets, blocking, coming through with some big third down catches. But he's not fast. You know, he's pretty scheme-dependent guy. And he has a false sense. Like, listen, he's young and he's been around. He saw Brandon Ayuk get $30 million and quit on the team, so it's like, you can't pay me $18, $20 million. I think the people in life that are most successful have the most common sense and EQ about what they're worth at a given time.

So sometimes, and I've been doing this now for a decade where I've been negotiating my own deals and going back and forth. And sometimes you've got to go, listen, the other side's got to win too. or like I'm asking for a little bit much here. Or this is like they're bringing a lot of stuff to the table too. And I think sometimes when you get a false sense of like, I'm worth this, especially in football, the numbers that the teams view you as worth are not even close. So when you see some of these bigger names guys,

Joanne Jennings almost made $14 million. I bet he's got a lot of offers that aren't even paying him that a year. Joey Bosa, even last year, made $12 million. So when his best offers are like three or four million dollars, you're like, that's the best I can do. So I think that's a big reason a lot of like older players that are bigger names don't sign. And some of those guys are like trending down. I think Joanne is just, he has some flaws that are non-negotiables for some teams,

especially when you're talking a substantial amount of money. So I think the reason he is still on the street is his view of, of his worth and the market's view of his worth are in different stratospheres. I mean, there are teams that would pay him like $6 million a year, $9 million a year, maybe. I mean, some teams just don't even value them. That's the other thing. When you are a specific type player, right, like if a high-end guy comes to the market, we can debate Jalen Phillips, but Jalen Phillips could play for anybody.

Now, how much he's worth or whatever, but every team would be interested in Jailin Phillips. For the right price, every team in the league would be interested in Trey Hendrickson. Obviously, the top guys, everyone's interested in those guys. They're not scheme dependent. Well, there are certain players that not every team in the league is going to be even interested. You don't even fit what I do. My offensive coordinator, head coach to calls plays, doesn't like your skill set. So we wouldn't even, we might not even take you for free because you wouldn't even play on our roster.

And guys like Joanne Jennings fit that mold. Like they are, there are going to be some coaches and some general managers that philosophically, like what he brings to the table, they value little than nothing. Which I think there's a value, like he's a winning player. But like he's not just getting open on everybody. And if, and a lot of people say, and this definitely hurts him, is like, well, he's got Kyle Shanahan. He's the guy scheming him open. And it's kind of true. You know.

Or it's like George Kittle would get open for fucking the Jets. Listen to your show now I'm doubling down on Max Can't give them three days to have second thoughts Gotta get on that plane immediately And to add to that Max isn't a road scholar As he is mad as hell

He can't play while needing surgery And is still battling For the number one pick Kind of crazy but probably what makes him An incredible player I don't have that Once the trade goes through Like I haven't seen the video

Is Jalen Waddle in Denver yet But once Sean Payton and the Broncos trade for Jalen Waddle, who do you think will greet him either at the door or he'll go see immediately? Sean Payton. What is going to happen with Jalen Waddle and Sean Peyton and the Denver Broncos?

He's just going to be on the Denver Broncos. When Trent McDuffie was trade, he's just on the Rams. Whether he shows up there the next day or in three days, once a trade goes through, you just assume I'm on that team. So he had a prior engagement. I could make it, you know,

he could have made it Sunday, but I bet the front office and the coaches want the day off, and then they got to fly him out Monday. I actually don't think it's that crazy. I, you just assume it's going down. Now, I'm in agreement. It led to them falling into Trey for cheaper and then pivoting. But the more and more I think about, I'll guarantee you this. When Jalen Waddle and that video goes of him showing up, Sean Payton will be a guy that greets them pretty close to immediately. If not the first guy waiting for him at the door, would be my guess.

So I just think that you don't even think about the trade being the givebacks, the we're out, the back out. When does that happen? This is not, I don't even think it was crossing anyone's mind. I think we can all agree.

Once we saw the trade had gone through, the next day, you just think, Max Crosby's a raven. And the trade can't even technically go through till Wednesday anyway. So whether he shows up on Tuesday or Sunday or Monday, it can't become official till that day no matter what. Where I am in agreement is his delay

change the calculation. If he shows up on Saturday, maybe he's still a raven. Maybe my guess is he probably still is. I honestly think the Niners had a really strong offseason. They trade for Osa, Osa, Adigazua, that was a good move. Third round pick, big-time pass rusher, this scheme. That's an excellent trade.

Adding Nate Hobbs, Christian Kirk, I got a pump the brakes a little bit on those. Interesting guys, but if I had to flip a coin, one of those guys will have an impact. I agree on Mike Evans. They also did a solid job building some depth on the O line. overall it looks well-rounded and productive. Still some things to tie up with Trent, but otherwise, I'm really impressed with guys coming back on IR. I'm in agreement.

I like Mike Evans. I like bringing back Dre Greenlaw, who there's way less pressure on them to be good now. I do think the key for the 49ers next year are going to be... Obviously, you need Fred healthy, you need George healthy, you need Christian healthy, you need Trent healthy, like, clearly. Like, if they're going to be good, those guys got to play. They drafted three guys last year really high, or really two of the last three years.

They need Ricky Pearsall to play. Because when Ricky Pearsall plays, he's good. When Ricky Pearsall is dressed and healthy, he is an impactful NFL player. I don't know what his ceiling is, but every time I've watched him when he's healthy, I'm like, I, that's fucking guy's player. And the other two guys are the two D tackles last year. You know, they drafted Collins in the second round. A lot of people thought it was pretty high.

Robert Saul loved him, made a couple plays last year. If he can be just a solid player, and they're going to need Mikel Williams to become some version of what Eric Armstead was. And he tore his ACL last year, but that's a guy that you draft 11th overall. They need Ricky Pearsall. They need Michael Williams. They obviously got some other guys in the draft that were good last year. You know, CJ West, the Indiana kid was good.

They had a couple, I'm blanking right now, kind of out of sight out of mind, haven't watched them play in a while. But I do think it's really, really important. Like, if they're going to take the next step and sustain this, is like Mikel Williams and Ricky Pearson have to be impact NFL players. Pearsall is, he's just got to be on the field.

And Mikel, coming off that ACL injury, I think the jury's out, like, what is exactly his skill set? He's not the twitchiest guy off the edge. He's more of like an inside kind of hybrid defensive tackle more than like an edge rusher, but he's, you know, in theory, good against the run. So it's, you draft guys in the first round, the 11th pick. Like, you need that guy to be good.

I mean, when's the last time the 49ers drafts that I? One, they didn't have first round picks forever. And even this year, they're drafted in the late 20s. You get the 11th pick. So I think a ton of pressure on him to be good. I do think Collins and CJ West, like, they'll have enough defensive tackles now with OSA. But you get Mikel Williams back. Now you've got a deep defensive line.

Like, Bosa's the same thing with Trent and Fred. Those guys have to be healthy. Like, if you're going to beat the Rams, if you're going to beat Seattle, Like, their best players are healthy. So your best players need to be healthy. For as great as the Eagles win was, and it was an incredible victory, kind of, that's not going to happen that often. Where you're going to play teams in big games that have way more talent,

and you're playing with like four stringers, you're going to be able to beat them. It was really cool. I'm not going to lie. But I think they'd be the first to say, like, that's an outwire situation. We need our guys. We need to go to war with our best players. And in theory, that includes Ricky Pierce Hall and Michael Williams. Okay, a couple more questions.

I'd love to get your perspective on coaching hierarchies. Fans hear titles like assistant head coach, passing game coordinator, associate head coach, but it's not always clear the real chain of command. For example, Terrell Williams was recently named the assistant head coach, while on staffs, it feels like the offensive coordinator like Mike McDaniel was under Jim Harbaugh with the Chargers functions as the true number two. From your experience inside buildings, how does the hierarchy actually work behind the scenes?

Who's really the head coach? Who's in their ear and decision-making priority each game day week to week? I think it's very team-to-team. I think the Terrell Williams thing is like, he was Rabel's guy, he was a defensive coordinator. Then he gets sick and they elevate, I forget his name, but the younger kid.

And then their defense was really good, so he keeps the job. But Vrable loves Williams, so he wants to keep him on the staff so he makes him the assistant head coach he's probably more of now of a roamer guy i think it's fair to say terrell williams has rables ear and now josh has proven in their year working together he's going to have brable's ear right and i think in some situations like is seriani telling vangio what to do and that's not a shot at you think like andy's like riding spags like there's a lot of kyle with uh sala like there are a lot of situations shula now with with shan mcgson

they has like once you get a little equity built up like on the other side of the ball they kind of leave you alone obviously they talk to you all the time but they're in your ear about like if this guy's screwing up or this guy's not focused for sure but you're not micromanaging them and i i think that's where assistant head coach sometimes is to take care of a guy that you can't name the coordinator so it's more of a money thing but i think mike McDaniels Is he the true number two? Like I would say that's with Harbaugh, that's more of the defensive coordinator. Because Jim's pretty active with the quarterbacks.

So I think it's just so team to team. You know, Kyle is kind of notorious. He's, I think he has, every meeting room is miced up and videoed. So if he's in his office and you're running the linebacker room, he can watch and listen. And part of that goes back to his dad in Walsh. So like when Rahim Morris comes in, like you can use his teach tapes and stuff. But he has access all the time to everybody. You know, Belichick would have been the same.

So I just think it's so team to team. How much your GM has juice telling you what to do as well? Like, I also think when you have turnover with the staff, like if Kubiak could come back with Seattle, I bet he, I don't know what, how involved Mike was. I'm sure he was a little involved. but he would be like, I'm not even, this Clint's baby.

But he leaves, you get a new offensive coordinator who's never called plays. I bet Mike is going to be a little more hands-on. So it's like, in theory, you're the offensive coordinator for a defensive head coach who's calling the plays. That should be your baby, but who knows?

Maybe Mike gets a little more active. I think titles in general in life are really, really overrated. Unless you're the CEO or the head coach or whatever. that there have been a lot of, I remember living with a guy who very, he's very successful now. But at the time, he made a big move, he worked in the finance world, got with a big bank. And he was like, I was so adamant about a title. I wanted this vice president title. And he was at the time, probably 30 years old, Ivy League guy.

And he said looking back, and he like had a bunch of issues with bonuses and stuff once he started working there. he's like all that should have mattered was I fought for my compensation package. They could have called me an intern. Who cares? So I think titles sometimes can be a little overrated. And it's one of those things internally. Players know and definitely the coaches know. But it's really hard unless someone tells you the exact story,

you don't really know. Like a lot of offensive coordinators who's head coach, if it's LaFleur, Sean Payton, who's not calling plays anymore, or Kyle McVeigh or whatever. Some of those guys probably have a bigger role than others. Some guys, hell, some of their coaches let them call plays during the game sometimes. And others, it's like, yeah, I'm just kind of there to cut up some tape and give some ideas,

but he runs the show. So I think it's very dependent on the individual and the, every staff's different, right? Trust the big thing, too. So it's like if you have a brand new staff, like some of these guys like, Kubiak or mentor, McCarthy. If you haven't worked with a guy or you haven't worked with a guy in a long time, like there's still a feeling out process. Even the good teams, you lose players or coaches all the time.

So you're constantly like onboarding a new guy. It's a classic tech term and getting them up to speed and having them speak your language and then them proving that they're good enough that you can trust them, not micromat. manage. It's complicated. I guess that's a long-witted way to say. Question for the back. What about Kyler of the Vikings makes you think they would be worse than last year? They were likely a playoff team with a healthy Carson Wentz. Even with all the injuries and inconsistent quarterback play, they were 9 and 8 and a half game from the playoffs. Is Kyler not a half-game upgrade over Carson Wentz? Colin seems in on the move.

Well, here's my thing. If you go to the Minnesota Vikings' schedule from last year, they, them, like the Lions, it was a fantastic division, right? They had three teams win nine, and then obviously the Bears won 11. So back-to-back years of just being a loaded division. If you go to their 2025 season, they won their last four games. Actually, they won their last five games. Here were their opponents. So at one point in time, they were one, two, three, four widths.

So they had four wins going in to December 7th. Again, November ended, Thanksgiving ended, they had four wins. They played Washington, who was fucking horrendous. And let's see, the box score there, who was the quarterback for the commanders? It was Jaden Daniels who went 9 of 20 in an interception and threw 78 yards. But they had been, they were terrible. Dallas, whose defense was atrocious, and they won that game 34 to 26. Okay, now they're 6 and 8.

Then they play the Giants whose quarterback at the time was, that was Jackson Dart, had to be one of his last games, 7.13 for an interception and 33 passing yards. So Flores punked them, J.J. through 100 yards. They won that thing 16 to 13. They played the Lions. They won that thing 23 to 10. That was, that's a good win. Then they played the Packers who didn't try.

So they played Washington, who's drafting in the top 10. They played Dallas, who his defense was horrendous. They scored 34 points. They played the Giants whose coaching staff was all fired. And they played the Packers who tanked. Not tanked, but I mean tanked the game. Right? They didn't, it was over.

And won 16 to 3. So at one point in time, they were four and eight. I think we got to be a little careful talking about them as they were a competitive 9 and 8 team. Because if you go to the Lions, like the Lions were 7. The Lions were 8 and 5 and kind of fell apart. They lost three of their last four games. They lost the Rams. They lost to the Steelers.

They lost that Minnesota game, which was a devastating loss. Golf was terrible. Brian Flores. Again, their defense is good. But again, that Minnesota team was 4 and 8. and I'm not acting like Kyler some scrub, but I also think he gets talked about like he's going to be really impactful.

This was not a team like the Lions who were 8 and 5 and then fell apart. They were 4 and 8. That would be my counter to that one. So one of their wins, team not trying to win, another win, giants who were an abomination, commanders who had a terrible season, some of those wins were not great.

Because I think when you look at their records here, if I go to the standings and I go to the NFC East, the commanders won five games and the Giants won four. So combined they won nine. And the Cowboys won seven, but how many games did they lose down the stretch? They lost one, two, three. They lost four of their last five. So they actually were competitive until that Lions game and then they kind of crumbled.

That would be my pushback on that one. The volume. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what?

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