The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 & Out - Rashee Rice and the Chiefs, Ryan Poles impresses, Tangent Tuesday

Episode Date: April 3, 2024

John dives into the latest with Rashee Rice and the Chiefs, and discusses some of the information that we know about the car cash, what we're still learning, and the importance of learning as much as you can about the guys getting drafted. John also talks about how he's done a complete 180 on Ryan Poles and how he's been extremely impressive in recent interviews about how the Bears are approaching the NFL draft, Wentz signs with KC, Haason Reddick on the Jets, and the latest installment of "Tangent Tuesday." Lastly, John reads your questions for this episode's mailbag segment. 6:01 - Rashee Rice and the Chiefs 20:27 - Ryan Poles impresses 27:47 - Wentz has a new team 30:50 - Haason Reddick talks 35:16 - Tangent Tuesday 40:52 - 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.

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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, everybody, John Middilcoff 3 and Out podcast? How are we doing, my people? It is recording this on Tuesday. Here's the game plan. We're going to do a little football stuff today. The situation going on with Rishie Rice and the Chiefs

and how that impacts, just stuff we talk about in the draft constantly. Something I saw Ryan Poles and the Bears are doing, which I think's pretty cool when it comes to including your scouting staff, and then just some news and notes, Wentz, signs with the Chiefs, son Reddick was traded to the Jets, and a little tangent Tuesday on women's college basketball. A couple games I watched, which who would have thought I would

have said that a year ago? But we'll discuss some of that. I did, I had Mayock, Mike Mayock, on yesterday, if you haven't had a chance, that podcast is out on the feed, as well as the YouTube channel. It was really good. I highly recommend that. He was, he was excellent. And Colin and I, we did a podcast on Easter Sunday, which came out Monday or maybe Sunday night. So we talked for about an hour about some different stuff. So we've had a lot of content here in April. No rest for the Wicked around here. But other than that, the game plan is going to be podcasts all week.

I'll probably do a golf podcast. You might have heard this thing called The Masters is next week. So we will definitely have, be talking about that the next couple weeks. And other than that, let's see. We'll also include the, do a little Middlecoff mailbag on the show. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram, firing those DMs. Get your question answered on the show. Very, very easy to get involved.

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and use the promo code John, J-O-H-N, J-O-H-N, at checkout, save $20. Obviously, if you've been listening or watching this podcast, I know the guys that run the Chiefs pretty well. Andy and Veach and a lot of other guys in the organization. And I would say clearly, I mean, they're a current dynasty going on right now in the most well-run operation in the NFL. And it starts with Andy and the quarterback Patrick Mahomes as well as Veach.

But one thing Andy has always kind of hung his hat on over the years. And I would say Belichick, you know, was kind of the opposite. though it's impossible to be an NFL head coach and not take some quote unquote flyers on guys is he's willing to look the other way when it comes to town. And part of winning in professional sports is you don't have a choice.

You have to do that. Right. Now, ideally when you do that, a guy matures and changes. But a huge part of this draft process and we talk about it constantly on this show. I talked about it constantly when I was in the NFL.

And we talked about it when I was in college football under Pat Hill at Fresno State. His character, is maturity. And it's not always black and white with a guy. Like, he's been arrested, he's a bad guy. He had a situation. He's an awful human being. Something's like, yeah, he's just a little immature.

You know, I don't, you know, he's got some stuff to work on. He didn't always treat his teammates the best. And then you have to decipher, is this something that a young man at 19, 20, 21 years old can get better at? Can grow inside your organizations. It's why the best organizations, when they take flyers on a guy with some question marks, can get them on the straight and arrow inside their operation because of the character, because of the type players they already have.

right if you if the Ravens or the chiefs or the 49ers draft a guy with some question marks it's going to be hard for that guy to act like an idiot inside a meeting room at practice it's not going to be tolerated it's why forever now belichick didn't do it often but it was hard you wouldn't last they'll eat you alive and for the most part once you get a guy in the season starts in training camp like it's really hard to not color within the lines as a player, even when you're young and quote-unquote have some maturity. And I've said this forever. I think we as guys mature a little later, right? I can't imagine at 21, 22 years old. I'm very fortunate that cell phones and social media and all that stuff

did not exist when I was in college. And I was not some star athlete. I was just a normal college kid. And anyone my age, probably in their mid-30s or older, probably would agree. Thank God, high school, college, this stuff did not exist. So times are a lot different. But the thing with the NFL, unlike college, is when the season ends, you have months of free time. You don't have to do anything with the team. Now, when you play for a team like the Chiefs, your season ends much later, right, in the middle of February. Then from about whenever the Super Bowl is over until whenever over, until whenever,

OTA start, you can do whatever the hell you want. That's not the case in college. You get, hell, if you're on a good team, you don't even get Christmas break. There's no Thanksgiving break. The only break you really get as a college player is spring break. Other than that, you are around your team, your coaching staff, your strength staff, the majority of the year. I'm talking 365.

The fall, the spring, the summer. you're not just going home for the summer and dicking around. You live in Athens, Georgia, at SC, in Austin, Texas, and you work out with the squad. Now you're not going to class or whatever, but three, four, five days a week, you are training hard. And in football, you know, in college football now, you know, top guys have money. But I think we talk about it probably a little too loosely about how much money's getting thrown around. Like, quarterbacks have a lot of money. some of the star players have money

but most of these guys aren't rolling in hundreds of thousands of dollars let alone millions. So you see this Rishi Rice situation which I know as much as you do. I saw the initial story then I saw the TMZ video of the two cars racing in the crash happening. Clearly everyone

left right which any older person would be like hey bro if that's your car whether you were driving whether you were not driving and you just leave it like this thing called car registration a license plate, they're going to figure out who owns the fucking car. Now, the video, it's clear the guy was there.

But to me, this speaks to, and this is the unquantifiable part of drafting, is like, yeah, the guy might be immature. And I don't know that much about Rishi Rice off the field in college. Did a little digging, couldn't find anything too crazy. You just hope guys make good decisions. You just hope guys surround themselves with the right people. You just hope, and you can do all you possibly can't, just like a parent. Think how much stuff.

My parents literally couldn't have been any better in terms of discipline, in terms of forcing me on the straight and arrow, being on my ass about who I was hanging out with, about going to school, about having good grades. Yet so much of my life was out of their control. They couldn't keep me around a leash as I got into high school. at night with my friends, especially in college, those decisions came on me, just like anyone listening. Those decisions were you. Now, you were molded and shaped by who taught you things growing up,

life lessons, how to act, what's the difference between right and wrong, when to say no. But you ultimately have to do that. And I think this is the scariest time for NFL teams with their young roster, because for months on end, these guys can do whatever the hell they want. And this situation, at least from what I've read, no one is seriously injured, thank God. But clearly he's going to get in trouble with the NFL. Like he's going to be suspended.

How long? I don't know. We'll have to see how some of this plays out. But I always get very angry around this time of year. And it actually seems like it's been pretty tame so far with a lot of the draft picks is when the media gets very angry

when stuff comes out about players like this is the business trying to decipher is the guy's character is the guy's wiring worth paying investing in and drafting because ultimately these are not widgets

these are human beings talking to Mike Mayock yesterday Henry Ruggs had never had an issue at Alabama that there's a famous go on YouTube, type in Nick Saban on Henry Ruggs. Ruggs had zero issues at Alabama.

Not one. He would have been a guy viewed, I wouldn't call him like, elite character, but he definitely was not a character red flag. And yet, on his second year, he drove 500 miles an hour into a car, killed a young girl and her dog. He will never play in the NFL again. He's currently in jail.

So these decisions, listen, I'm not a huge car guy. I've had an F-150 at Tahoe. I don't give a shit. I could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. You're not going to see me with Ferraris and corvettes. I don't care. I also think that those cars, I'm not a huge racing guy, but the overwhelming majority of humans shouldn't be driving cars to go 180 miles an hour.

They can't handle it. right you're not Dale Earnhardt Jr. Denny Hamelin or Lewis Hamilton Now when you have the money this is a free side of you can do whatever the fuck you want But these situations happen

And he's very very lucky That his car Whether he was driving in the passenger seat I don't know Only he and the group he was with knows Did not result in a situation Like rugs Because at the snap of a finger

Your life can change You just, you just screwed your team. There's no way. Your decisions in February, in March, in April, in the summer, because in the NFL, you get 40 to 50 days off in the summer once OTAs end until the start of training camp. That's on you to make the right decisions, to hang out with the right people.

And this is why character is so highly discussed around the draft. We can flip on the top 20 players in this draft. They all can play. They all have a lot of talent. Roma Dunezay, Malik neighbors, Joel, the quarterbacks, pass rusher from Alabama, you go through it.

All the top guys. A lot of talent. If they are wired the right way and focused, they will have success. Now, some specifically guys fail in the NFL. They don't have the physical attributes. They're not fast enough. If they're a quarterback, they have no pocket presence.

If they're a DB, they don't have any instincts. Obviously, there are limitations at the highest level. why guys do and don't succeed. But I think consistently, and here's the sad part, clearly this guy's season went on, and Andy talked to me about him in the interview at the combine, that he helped kind of change their offense as he came on toward the end of the season

and throughout the playoffs. They are relying on him. The best team in the NFL is relying on this individual, last year and moving forward. And now he let him down. He let him down in a big way, because not only does he tarnish his own name, his own family's name, his own reputation,

but he hurts his teeth. He hurts Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelsey, Chris Jones, Andy Reed, Brett Veach. And this is, everyone gets up in arms historically about, like, oh,

this shouldn't be discussed. Bullshit. This stuff leading into the draft should always be discussed because this is what separates guys in the NFL. Are you getting in trouble? Are you not getting in trouble?

Any human being, whether you're a good guy, bad guy, whatever, can get in trouble at any moment if you choose to make the bad decisions. If you put yourself in harm's way. My late 30s, I'm not staying out very late. I'm really more of a day drinker. But my dad used to say, just like any human being used to say and still says to this day, bad things happen later at night.

I know this was during the day. I just mean in general. Like when you're out partying, when you're out drinking late at night. I'm more of a day drinker now, partly because I can't stay up that late. But you start talking 11, 12, 1 in the morning. That's when a lot of guys historically have been in fights. If you avoid those situations, those problems don't fall in your lap. Now, I'm not saying don't go out at night.

I'm not saying don't have a good time. But these discussions over the next month leading into the draft about all these individuals, will be a lot about their ability, will be a lot about their talent, how they fit the scheme, how they fit whatever play we're going to run or whatever defense and what we ask our players to do

at different positions, but a majority of it will be about the guy. And this is where the work of your scouts, of everyone that went through the program, of your team's connection to that program, and inside the building, inside that campus to truly get to know these guys

and even when you truly get to know these guys you don't get to hold their hand Nick Sabin Kirby Smart these guys can hold your hand basically all year long it's not the case with the NFL and part of it like this is a business I don't even want to hold your hand

if I have to then we probably have some issues already so sad situation and I think this these are the type situations they get talked about in draft time. So we'll have to see how this continues to play out. 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. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, CliverTaylor the 4th.

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Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I got to do somewhat of a 180 because the first year I was really hard on this guy. And I had heard really good things. Obviously, knowing the guys from Kansas City, everyone really liked Ryan Poles. just high-level guy, had a front-row seat

and been a big part of everything the chiefs did in their personnel department but people just really liked them and kind of, I always heard like humble kind of low-key guy and then his first introduction as the Bears GM he said something that I was like, oh my God,

he said basically we're going to take back the north. Then within his first year, he's trading for Chase Claypool. I think if he could, he would walk back the statement on the north and obviously the trade of Chase Claypool. Now, I give anyone a little bit of leeway early on a job.

I don't care what you do. You're going to make mistakes. You're going to have things you would like to take back. And as a GM, in a very public job, we get to see all those mistakes and warts. In my, there are things I'd like to take back that no one will ever know. Just like if you're listening.

There are things when you started a company, when you first started working for somebody, when whatever, when you first started dating someone, maybe your first marriage, a bad breakup, you would like to change, you don't get to do that. But for the most part, it's not public. Ryan Poles, the last, I would say, 12 to 18 months, has been one of the best GMs in the league. And every time I watch him talk, if you just watch him on McAfee, I went and watched his interview with the local press at the owner's meetings. You go, this guy's really, really impressive. And this is the guy, the way he communicates, the way he carries himself, is the guy that I had heard about with the

chiefs. And one thing he said at the owner's meetings, which I don't think a lot of teams do. And I think a lot of times in the NFL, scouts can feel like independent contractors. They're just out on the road, collecting all this information. They're kind of part of the draft meetings, but ultimately, They feel kind of irrelevant. The coach, the GM are going to do whatever they want to do. Thanks for collecting the information. We're paying you 150 grand. Keep on working, man.

And you just feel like, and I know I used to feel like this, what am I even doing? Like, what's the point of all this? And Ryan Pohl said that when they get back, I don't know if their draft meeting start this week or next week, they're going to split their scouting staff into teams and basically argue what they should do with the ninth pick. Some people are going to argue for offensive linemen.

Some people are going to argue over wide receivers. Some people are going to argue over defensive players. And obviously trading back, they have a limited number of picks this year because of previous trades. Is an option. But I do think empowering the people you work with is very, very important. Because to get the most out of anybody, like money goes so far. Whether I pay you $50,000, whether I pay you $5 million. If you don't feel like the work you're doing matters,

you're not going to get the best out of that individual. And I don't think it's shocking that an offensive lineman, who let's face it, they're very team-oriented. Harbaugh, Jim did at the owner's meetings, went on this long kind of diatribe of the importance of the offensive lineman, right? No other position is dependent on everybody else quite like them. they get no credit. They really do. And if they fuck up, we all see it and crush them. But if they do well, no one really mentions them. It's like, yeah, they should have. And I think typically those

guys, one, they've always made good coaches, but two, anyone who's ever met a college or an NFL offensive line, they're typically pretty smart guys. They're pretty well-rounded guys. And I've always had the theory of they get yelled at the most. They're constantly getting yelled at by their coach, more than I would say any other position, offensive and defensive linemen, but specifically offensive linemen. And they are also tasked with the job of protecting the highest paid guy and the most important guy in the quarterback. So not shocking that Ryan Poles understands the importance of inclusion with the staff. Now, I'm not saying this exercise of including these guys is going to lead to a better

draft pick. But I do think it's very important. And I think if you, you never would because these guys can't go on record, but just went around the NFL and talked to individual scouts on individual teams, a lot of them would say, yeah, I don't, I know my job is important. they need me to do what I'm doing. But sometimes I don't feel that important. And one thing specifically, like position coaches in the NFL,

historic amount of money. A wide receiver coach in the NFL makes $6,000, $700,000. Both coordinators making millions, D-line, O-line coaches, make seven figures, tight-end coaches. I mean, random coaches are making $400,000. The pay scale for scouts is nowhere near that. I mean, there are a ton of scouts all over the NFL.

especially the younger ones, making under $100,000. Yet their job is to accumulate this information on first and second and third round picks. But they're not compensated like coaches. And it's a huge thing that scouts talk about a lot, that they feel underpaid. Most industries, I mean, listen,

most of my friends do not work at sports. I'm not exactly in the media crew. Work in the private sector. I've been making a lot of money for a long. long time because you start at a much higher rate. In scouts, you don't make anything to start with. And same thing with coaches, but even a quality control coach, the lowest guy on the totem pole typically starts like $80,000. That's not the case. So including people in your operation to me always leads to a healthier building, a place where people want to work.

I stopped watching the dynasty. I just think it's it kind of pisses me off the treatment of Belichick. Now, they didn't really talk about this in the documentary, but I know it's true because I know a lot of people were... Belichick did not care what any of Scouts thought.

That's why a lot of scouts were pretty miserable there. Didn't pay well, and he did not give a crap what you thought. Now, there was a benefit to working for the Patriots over a 20-year span. you became a Super Bowl champion and when you interviewed other places

I worked for Bill Belichick I was a part of Super Bowl teams I kind of have a piece of the secret team I'm not talking coaches I'm talking scouts and a lot of them have gone on to other jobs and made a lot more money because of it but he was not very inclusive

at all so props to Ryan Poles for getting that part of it and I'm pretty excited to watch where the bears are going the chief signed Carson Wentz they were interested in Carson Wentz last year and I don't know if they were quote unquote scared off but clearly Carson Wentz did not sign till the middle of the season

a lot of teams were not feeling the guy there were a lot of perception and become reality hard to coach not an easy guy to have a round kind of played the victim mentality I know the victim mentality plays on on Twitter doesn't really play in a lot of high level organizations No one wants to hear you got screwed over.

And I think Carson had to look in the mirror and take a huge, huge slice of humble pie. No one would mess with a guy until Sean McVeigh did. And sometimes you need a high-level person to throw you a lifeline. And then the perception can change a little bit. And I think Sean McVeigh is a big part of this signing. Because not only did he sign him, nothing came out about Carson Wentz being weird. weird throughout the season. And when he finally played in the game against the 49ers,

let's be real, he didn't look that terrible. Now, the Niners were playing their backups, but still, he looked like a functional NFL player. If that Rams thing had not happened, and he had been out of the NFL for a year, I don't think the Chief sign him. But it's easier for Andy and Veach to go, listen, if we're going to put a guy in a meeting room every single day

with the guy carrying our organization, we can't have no question marks here. It's why they were so comfortable with Chad Henney. The character really matters. It's why last year, who'd they sign? Blaine Gabber. Well, he had just been the right-hand man for Tom Brady for years. So I know he can be a good backup

in terms of just showing up every day, doing the work, and helping the starter out. That was a massive question with Carson Wentz. Well, last year he played that role because Stetson Bennett was nowhere to be found and he was sitting right next to Matt Stafford who was obviously having one of the best years of his career. So I think Sean McVeigh,

anytime a quarterback finds himself in the wilderness, you've got to try to get with the right coach. Because look at Sam Darnel. Sam Darnold was kind of a joke. A lot of people are like, this guy sucks. This guy's not an NFL quarterback. What are you doing? Gets with Kyle Shanahan.

The moment Kyle Shanahan signed him, Trey Lance was done. He inevitably got traded. couple months later. And then a year later, after just a handful of snaps, Sam Donald's signs for $10 million to be the bridge quarterback from Minnesota. I don't know if that happens without the Kyle Shanahan situation. So you get with Kyle Shanahan, you get with Sean McVeigh, you get with Andy Reed, it can change the way the league views you. So interesting signing. Obviously didn't cost the Chiefs, I'm sure very much. I have not seen the amount of money they

paid them. I would imagine it's pretty cheap. But, uh, yeah. Hassan Reddick. You know, it's funny, in the NFL, more than most sports, you can be a really good player. But as you age and your contract gets bigger, if I have a high-priced team, I have to make tough decisions. I have to go, I don't know if this makes financial sense anymore. Even if it's clear you're one of the best players on my team.

No one would argue that Reddick is not a really good player and is an impactful player for the Philadelphia Eagles who every single year, especially these last couple and going into the season, their goal is to like compete for the NFC championship. Not to just win the NFC is to compete for the NFC championship and be playing in the Super Bowl. And Redick helps you do that. Now you could say two years ago he was better,

this year he chased some sacks, whatever. But your contract plays a big role. and the Eagles, once they signed Huff from the Jets, who's a younger player, and kind of betting on the cum moving forward, Redick was done. And this story played out even before a free agency when they basically told him, like, listen,

we're not extending your contract, we'll give you the right to sniff around, see what you can get. And they traded him for a 2006 third round pick. Now, that pick can go up to a 2024 or 26 second round pick, but clearly it was like you're not coming back to this team and this is the hard part about the NFL like it's not like Howie and Vic Fangio think this guy can't play you just have to kind of build your puzzle and it constantly

changes based on other guys cap hits based on who you drafted based on who you sign and I think the Jets and I told Colin this a couple days ago and this has been a theme with the Jets all off season is they're all in this season like a 1990s, New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians, some of the Houston Rockets team

when they signed Charles Barkley and trade for Clyde Drexler. A lot of older guys. A lot of guys that if this works and everyone plays their potential, we should be pretty good. But if these guys get banged up, can't stay on the field,

it could be a disaster. And I think the pressure involved with this team going into next year. Because I had someone, because I said, I think Miami's worse. A Dolphins fan hit me and like, I know you think Christian Wilkins,

but we signed all these other guys. I don't know. I'd rather have impact players and like five other starters, especially guys with some questions with injuries. But that's beside the point. The bills lost a lot, but they still have Josh Allen,

and the Patriots, I think, are going to blow. To me, the Jets are an all-time boomer bust. I'm betting on the bust. Just history would say. and someone, one thing I told Colin, because we were talking about Fav when he moved to Minnesota, the Minnesota Viking team

in 2009, when Farrv had one of the best years of his career, he was almost 70% completion percentage. I think it was like 68-5. That team was fucking loaded. They had 10 pro bowlers, multiple defensive linemen, multiple offensive linemen, they had a young Adrian Peterson.

Obviously Fav was awesome. And they had three Hall of Famers. I mean, obviously, Farr, but Adrian Peterson and Steve Hutchinson, they were just really, really good. I don't think his Jets team is remotely close to that talented. Now, they do have some young, talented players, but that New York market, I saw it in Philly, my second year when the quote-unquote dream team,

if it doesn't go well immediately, things can fracture. Why? Because there's not like this built-up group of equity. One thing the chiefs have had last year, and even two, two years ago, remember when they went through that rough stretch, when Mahomes wasn't playing that well, it's like, all these guys have played together for a while. And you can lean on like, we'll be all right. The Jets are kind of built this mercenary culture,

which I don't blame them. They don't have a choice once they traded for Aaron Rogers, but that's how it kind of feels. And typically that's not how it works in the NFL. So they're going to be one of the more fascinating teams this year. If it goes well, it'd be cool. I'm not against it going well. I'm just telling you where I sit right now, I'm going to bet against it.

And, you know, tangent Tuesday, which I usually do on Monday, but because of Mayox's podcast, we had to push this podcast back until recording it on Tuesday, come out on Wednesday. I got home from the gym today, and my neighbors, who are from Philadelphia, older couple, big Eagles fan, and she walked up to me, she's like, did you check out that women's, she knows, I'm a sports guy. Women's basketball game? How incredible was that? She's like, I was just at the gym.

Three people were talking about it. I was like, yeah. Not in a million years. Well, I mean, in my lifetime, I have never, ever sat down to watch a college women's basketball game. I've never watched a dribble besides, like, on social media of the WNBA.

And I would imagine a lot of people listening have not either. Again, this isn't a shit on that. It's just the ratings speak for themselves historically. Now, I think this is a unique occurrence. Like, I'm no dummy. When Otani's doing something crazy, it's like I'm watching every baseball game, I'm paying attention. You can't not pay attention to Caitlin Clark.

I mean, she's scoring 40, hitting fadeaway threes. It was a cool moment. It really was. And not shocking to see high ratings, but also people are like, oh, it's so much more popular in the men's game. I just heard on the radio when I was driving back from the gym this morning that the men's games on Sunday did the highest rating since 2019. Now, part of that, I'm sure, is gambling.

Part of that is Duke, who got their ass kicked. But 15 plus million people watched. I don't think sports is that complicated. The reason why a lot of people came in to check out Caitlin Clark is because she's gained a lot of fame, a lot of star power. guess what we like, Star Power, right? Tom Brady, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods. I mean, when they play, as your star builds,

more and more people pay attention. I think the NCAA tournament in the men's game has more to do with probably the gambling, clearly, and just the nature of the one and done, or not the one and done, but if you lose your out, so there's a lot of urgency there. But I can't lie, I thought that was a pretty cool night, watching Caitlin Clark

score all those points against the defending champs. I even stayed a little bit to watch the next game in Yukon, take down USC and the star player that USC has in Juju.

But listen, it just shows you. This stuff is it's not that hard to figure out. Now, she's clearly a generational player. I don't think there's ever been a player quite like her

in the women's game. This isn't something. I wouldn't expect this. to keep carrying over unless something like her happens again. And when they happen, like, I understand golf is not for everybody. Like, I'll be the first to admit, like, when I do these golf podcasts, it's more of a passion project for me. I'm watching.

I know the audience is much smaller. But we'd all agree that you could not say the words Tiger Woods to anybody and not have them know who he is. And they've known about him for 25 years. Football, a huge reason why it became infinitely more popular the last 20-plus years was Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. I've always said they are the magic and bird of the sport of football. Took it to a whole other level.

When baseball came storming back in the late 90s in the steroid era, if it was just me, you, and three other random guys hitting 60-plus home runs, it wouldn't have been as big. It would have been a big story, but it went to a different level when it was Mark McGuire and Barry Bonds. Starsell. They always have. They always will. 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.

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 imagine.

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 gas, 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 two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcasts. Okay, time for a little middle cough mailback. Very, very easy to get involved. You just go into my DMs on Instagram. It's my name. Two Fs. And ask a question. Any question.

Get your question answered here on the show. So we'll start with EA. I think it's his initials. For the bag. Coward and others have said this, so obviously it is known. But quarterback success is often a product of the roster, coaching, culture, etc. Sometimes I think we call quarterback's bus without ever getting to see them in a winning environment. anyways, who are some quarterbacks that have truly been bus and or what percentage of buss are truly, quote unquote, bus?

It's a good question, because I think some guys clearly are overdrafted, right? Let's use Marcus Marriota. He was drafted number two overall and is just not a starting quarterback. But when the dust settles, you're going to look and Marcus Marriota is going to have a 14-year NFL career. So by no means, was he a failure? But relative to his draft status, he did not live up to it.

So to me, like Marcus Mariotta, there's a difference of a guy that plays for a long time. Like, he's not a bus. He just was overdrafted. Jamarcus Russell literally didn't try. Didn't try. Didn't study, didn't care, didn't give. didn't give a shit.

So, like, Marriota tries. He's just not good enough. Jamarcus Russell, Johnny Mansell, if you watch his documentary, which honestly I thought was kind of cringe, I really do. Kind of bragging about screwing around, which I get it.

I mean, is what he did, but it's like, I even saw Edelman and some of those guys were, like, offended by it, which I don't blame anyone in the NFL because the work ethic that it takes to sustain your spouse. and what you are given as a high pick is the chances you get over the non-high picks.

Like, you're a bust when you don't give a shit, when you don't try. Now, think about this quarterback class right now, or, you know, the guys that are all moving on. Trey Lance, Justin Fields, Mack Jones. You can't make statements on young players who their career's not done. Are they going to be bus? I don't know. Are they out of the league in a year? Because if they are, then that's a disaster. But right now, all those guys clearly were overdrafted. Right. Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Fields, and Mac Jones, Kenny Pickett, but you have to see the totality of the operation.

Now, any guy that's Ryan Leif, I mean, he's even told you, right? Just didn't have the maturity, work ethic and the injuries. To me, you've got to be washed out of the league to be a bus. I think we overuse that term sometimes. Mayock talked about it with Cleland Farrell, who he drafted number four overall. And I put him and Solomon Thomas under the same umbrella. Both those guys are going to play in the NFL for 10 years. They were not failures because teams continue to want them to play.

Hell, the 49ers were like massive injury when Farrell got hurt. Now, you look back, should have been a second. If he's a third round pick, it's like, you got a 10-year player as a third-round pick, that's a great selection. But when you draft a guy in the top 10 or top 5, the expectation that comes along with it happens immediately. So I hear you.

I think that kind of word, just in general, is probably used too liberally. It is used too often, right? To be a bus, you have to just want no part of football. and you're out of the league quick. I'm excited about the NFL keeping the Christmas Day schedule. They mentioned there would need to be a couple games on Saturday, so teams have enough rest.

In my opinion, they should choose the AFC Division winners from the same conference last year to play on both Saturday and then again on Wednesday. Chiefs, Bills, Ravens, Texans, all have stud quarterbacks. It would be fantastic. What are your thoughts on scheduling? You know, it's funny is we had a bunch of people over on Thursday. Thanksgiving, or not Thanksgiving, Easter.

And, you know, booze was flowing. Honestly, it was kind of struggling. I'm not a big Sunday drinker because I like doing work on Monday, but I was hurting yesterday. But I battled through. And booze was flowing, and we were talking about, like, how are they going to do that? And I started thinking,

I wonder if they take the two Thursday game, or the Thursday game from the previous week, and both those two teams play on Wednesday against different opponents. And then maybe a team coming off a bye week because no one's going Sunday to Wednesday. So I do think it's going to be pretty complicated

and I wonder if they're working through that right now. Now you could argue if it's a team off a Sunday buy into Wednesday that's an advantage of a team Thursday to Wednesday but I think it's going to be a little complicated. So I cross my mind too. Love this show, three and out, listen every episode. This is from Henry.

I'm an artist. living in New York, 26 years old, and the only thing I'm passionate about as art is football. Been a lifelong commanders fan, once the Redskins. I knew that. First game I've ever watched was the last time they won a playoff game. I'm thinking about trying to find my way into a career in sports media, or maybe another role in the NFL.

I've got a good college degree. I'm a strong writer, and I have a creative skill set I've developed through my artwork. was wondering if you had any advice for someone in my position, things to do, jobs to look at. I know it's a competitive field to break into, but I figured, I think when you just ask a general question like that,

you kind of got to narrow it down. Like you want to work in football. Well, do you want to try to be like a scout? Do you want to try to be a PR guy? Do you want to try to be like a sales guy? I think you kind of got to pick a lane to get your foot in the door. And once you pick a lane,

you know, the easiest place to probably get your foot in the door would be something sales-wise, but you're creative. So if you're creative, maybe it makes more sense to try to get into the production side of an NFL team. All these teams now have big operations behind the scenes, whether it's YouTube, whether it's the website, whether it's doing everything surrounding about the in-house media team.

Now, I don't know what your background is, you know, even in art, but I would try to do something that way would be my best advice. But I think the hard part is when you're really general, you know, it's like casting a huge net into the ocean. It doesn't really work that way because they're going to ask, well, what do you want to do? Right. So, like, what are you doing when we hire you? I guess would be my question. Huge fan of the pod. Two questions.

As a Rams fan, hopefully that'd answer your question. What position did the Rams draft with their first round pick? Which is kind of crazy. They haven't had one in like a decade. I play in a pick-ham league every NFL season for $20, and this year I won, take it home $200. Being a small wager from the beginning, I rolled it over to the Chiefs win the Super Bowl and turned it in a $400.

Look at you. I haven't cashed it out yet. I was wondering which Final Four team I was, put it on to win the national title. Yukon has been dominant, and ED for Purdue may be the biggest match in college hoops. But should I take a chance on Alabama, 13 to 1, or NC State 20 to 1? I wouldn't touch either one of those. To me, the value for betting on the Final 4 simply would be Purdue.

You're getting them basically 2.5 to 1. And I know NC State is one of the crazier stretches we've ever seen. I mean, they were about to not make the tournament, then they win the ACC tournament, and they just rattled off four straight wins. I'm pretty confident Purdue's going to beat them. And then you just get in this one-game situation, can Purdue beat Yukon?

Alabama's been an awesome story. Hard to see them beating Yukon. It really is. But, I mean, that dude Nelson, they got from North Dakota State. Sears, the point guard, he looks like a little Jalen Brunson or something. But I think if you were going to take one of the non-UCon teams, because of Yukon right now is like minus $2.50.

so you'd bet 400 to win, I think, like 150 bucks. I wouldn't necessarily recommend doing this, because I think Yukon is going to have to fuck up to not win the national championship, but it would take Purdue to win it. If I was going to bet on one of the three underdogs, it would be them. Because basically you just look at it like,

they're going to beat NC State, they're big favorite. Can they just, I don't want to say, shock the world, because they're a one seat, but could they, what are they going to be? Five, six point underdog in that game? Depend on how both teams look, you know, assuming Yukon and Purdue win. Maybe a seven point underdog,

could they just win that game? That's what I would do. I would say the Rams, I mean, I would say a defensive lineman, you would think that they're going to be in the mix for one of the defensive tackles with Donald retiring. A little bit of a sleeper.

What if Pennix is there? That to me would be the sleeper. but I would say defensive lineman. Question for the pod. Watching your podcast with Mayak was awesome. He's one of the people who's really increased my overall interest in football and the draft. So thank you for having him on, same impact as well. The conversation had me wondering about your career as a scout.

If you can talk about it, what was your biggest success in your career as far as player you may have pounded the table for before the draft while at Fresno that turned out to be a great player. That's so long ago now. You know, the recruiting process, when I got there, Derek Carr was already committed. We had the recruiting classes we had,

we had some pretty good classes, but also had some whiffs. You know, the thing is at Fresno State, Robbie Rouse, I mean, he was, Coach Hill loved him too. he went on to be the all-time leading rusher until Ronnie Rivers, who's now with the Rams, broke his record. I'd be lying if I said, like, they were picking the players.

Again, these guys, in college, it really was more about your college coaches going out, and then you would just watch and kind of confirm if that's who you're going to offer or not with the head coach. It wasn't as much like the NFL where you were like, hey, we should draft this guy in the fourth round. It was less of that. I was at Fresno State, and Coach Hill were, I mean, just kind of ran the recruiting process.

He was the GM slash team president, essentially. Here's a good one. You and Colin are clowns. Appreciate the note. How did the prime rib turn out in the smoker? What do you think of the reddick trade in return? What do you think the disconnect was? I did for Easter.

I bought a prime rib from the, Scottsdale Meat Market, which is elite. I mean, the options you have, if you're ever in Arizona, if you live in Arizona, and you're going to barbecue, Scottsdale Meat Market, this is unpaid ad, fantastic. My brother's been doing this for years is smoking the prime rip, so I'm like, I'll do that. And I got an 11-pounder, bone in, and smoke that bad boy on the Trager for about three hours. I probably could have left it on there for another 20 minutes. I think the hard part with prime rib,

and I don't pretend to be some meat master here, and I'm a relatively newbie to the smoker. I've had the traeger since Thanksgiving. Is with a prime rib, and maybe it's like this with some other meats too, is it's supposed to cook once you take it off the smoker, another seven to 10 degrees, you know, once you take it off and put it on your cutting board

and you kind of wrap it in tinfoil. And it's a really hard thing to gauge because different parts of the meat, I would say are more cooked than others. The one thing with prime rib is like it actually tastes pretty good closer to rare and medium rare, but it kind of scares you as someone that does steaks. Like you have a pretty good idea what medium rare, medium, you know,

I don't really eat my steaks rare, but you can eat prime rib rare and I think it tastes pretty good. So one thing about prime rib, if you get a big one, I got 11 pounder. Shit was expensive. It was like 350 bucks. But it was fantastic. And I don't want to toot my own horn because the smoker did most of the work. And the guy at the meat market gave me the dry rub.

I said, what's the best dry rub you have for this prime rib? He's like, well, I got this bad boy right here. He's like cut a couple cloves of garlic, put it in a bowl, mix it all together, put it on. My brother said add a couple sticks of butter to the top. Highly recommend smoking a prime rib. And I would say the Reddick trade, I talked about on the podcast. I just think it's simple value with the Eagles. They weren't going to extend them.

He's older. It's not that they don't think he's a good player. They need Nolan Smith to kind of come on and the Jets are just in win-now mode, so they don't really have a choice. I know this is very random, but I was hoping you might be able to do me a favor. I listened religiously to your podcast.

About six months ago, Colin and Nick were on together discussing ideas for the NFL. Nick brought up an international week. I thought it was very interesting. I ended up making a presentation on the idea, and it circulated it as a networking tool to a bunch of folks in the league.

Anyways, I ended up getting a job out of it, working in corporate strategy at the league office, dream job. I don't know if you have a relationship to Nick, but I would love to send him the presentation, thank him if ever possible. Thanks a million. You have really inspired me to go all in? That's cool.

Little league employee. I'll see what I can do there. Would an international week, so you're saying like every team in the league play internationally on a given week? That's interesting. I didn't hear his theory, but clearly the league is very, very active internationally.

Maybe he was on to something, and maybe you are too. Now, Raj is hearing your idea, so that's fucking cool. I'm a diehard's Colts fan and grew up on Peyton Manning and then Andrew Luck into high school and college. As such, Colts fans got used to a lot of winning over the course of a 20-year period, and I think we have high standards for the club. Ballard has been the GM of the Colts since 17.

Since then, he's never won the division. embarrassing. We've won one playoff game and only made the playoffs twice. He values the draft very highly and he's reluctant to use free agency to fill holes in the roster. He also has a tendency to double down

on guys he's drafted that can't perform. He's made the comment before that he'd rather go young with the roster than pay A plus money to B players in free agency. Before we dive deeper on him, I don't necessarily disagree. agree with that? Despite all these facets, I constantly hear he's a great GM and talent

evaluate. I'm wondering what metrics people around the league use to judge other GMs. I think he's well liked. So I think people like him a lot. And I think there's a balance, right? Because clearly they invest a lot in their own players. Now, you could say, well, you're not exactly investing into like fucking Trent Williams and Micah Parsons. Like, who on your team do you have to have. Like Quentin Nelson. Like on your team right now, who is a non-negotiable, we got to have this guy? When you close your eyes, think about the colds, like, how many are there?

So you could push back like why we keep doubling down on the guys we drafted. But it's not like we're drafting Ray Lewis and Derek Thomas and Barry Sanders. Jonathan Taylor, okay, really good pick. We invested them, keep him. Quentin Nelson, really good pick, invested him, keep him. like Michael Pittman really good player, good player but like is he maker breaking you?

And again, I understand signing him but like that's kind of the core of the team and is that good enough to compete in the AFC and the answer is clearly no. And I agree with the overall sentiment that you just overpay right in free agency. Not really debatable. But it's like the housing market right now.

If you live in a nicer area that's popular, you're going to have to pay more than you want for a house. Welcome to life. Like, do you want to live there or not? Because if you don't, then move. And eventually in free agency, you've got to fill some holes. So yeah, you got to overpay a little bit, but pay a guy or two.

It's not that crazy. Then just be bottom feeding. So I think it is fair to wonder why they're never active at all. And like you said, if you're of a certain age and you grew up the paid manning teams, Hell, even the luck teams, you were used to starting the season to go, we can compete with anybody. Whether that turned out to be the case at the end of the year or not, like you thought you had a chance.

I think it's fair to say these last five years, it's not been the case. Now, the Trump card with this team moving forward is going to be the quarterback and the coach. It looks like you have a Shanahan, a McVeigh, a LaFleur, like a pretty special play caller. So if that's the case, you're in good shape. But then it's on him to mold the quarterback to be.

a really good player slash it's on the quarterback to figure out ways to stay healthy. So you have this big like kind of variable that can change your franchise. If he becomes a top 10 guy, you're going to be good. If he cannot stay healthy or has struggles, you're going to be in trouble. And then everyone's going to get fired, probably except the coach. Been a fan of the pod for a year now. I'm pumped when I get the notification for a new episode. If you could play a golf with any three people,

who would it be in which course would you play? You know, this question gets asked a lot, right? If you could play golf with anybody, if you could have dinner with anybody, I think it's a tough question. Because, like, there would be people that you would want to have dinner with or play golf with

that aren't, quote, unquote, in the sporting world. Like, it'd be kind of cool to, I don't know, spend five hours with Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos. I mean, there'd be, certain individuals that if you like certain things in life that are bigger than sports. But if we just kept it to sports, I mean, it would be hard to not want to spend four hours on a golf course with Tiger Woods. So if I was just keeping it to sports, I'd probably go Tiger, Brady, Michael.

I'd keep it pretty simple. but if we were opening it up to anybody, it probably wouldn't be any athlete or a coach or anything under that umbrella. I want to revisit the take you had on January 4th, saying Pennix is the clear number two in the 24 draft. I said that after the Texas game. I was excited.

He just made me $8,000, so we've got to take it somewhat with a grain of salt, best game of his career. But, you know, sometimes I get excited after a performance. I know he didn't play great in the national championship game, but I really don't understand why you moved off this take. I'm a commander's fan, and I really don't see it with Daniels or May.

It's frustrating to me that Pennix and Knicks, two guys who put out so much great tape, aren't even being considered as potentially the number two guy. As you put it, we overthink this one. I moved off the take a little bit because in the national championship game, he played an NFL team. And that NFL team had a shitloader.

of NFL defensive linemen. And they hit them, and they hit them, and they hit them. And it phased them. And when you play the Eagles, Jalen Carter, Jordan Davis, Huff, sweat, Nolan Smith, these guys are lined up over you and they're going to hit you.

The Giants, I don't know how good they're going to be. Offense has a lot of questions. Their defensive line is rolling out some dudes. The Cowboys have my... Micah Parsons. So six games a year, you are facing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of NFL defensive line talent. And I just watched that guy get peppered, and it really fazes his game. Now, obviously getting hit as a quarterback faces Tom Brady

or Peyton Manning. But it was like he could barely get up. And it was like that in the Oregon game. I've never disputed, and Mayock talked about it just on individual throws. He throws as good as anyone not named Caleb Williams, if not better. But you watch the physicality of it. If you took him at two, you're not going to, I wouldn't act like you were crazy. But he is 24 years old. The injury stuff.

I think it's fair to go. That'd be very, very bold. No one disputes in the clean pocket throwing the ball. It's as beautiful as it gets. NFL or college. The deep ball, it's unreal. But you do have to factor in like getting hit. I mean, you're,

team's not going to be as good right away. So I didn't necessarily... What I hadn't really thought that, I watched that game, I was excited. The more and more information, I don't agree with people acting like he's a second round pick. I would take the guy if the Raiders or Broncos or whoever takes him in 13... I do understand though comparing him to other guys that are 20, 21 years old, more physical upside, more durability, guys that don't have durability question marks.

I get it. in a vacuum, kids a fucking baller. I think he's on a different level than Bo Nix. But it just gets back to, it's hard for that visual to get out of my mind because they hit him. And it's why I like Bryce Young.

When he played Georgia two years, when they played him back to back, right? They played him in the SEC championship game and then he played him in the national championship game and Georgia beat him. He beat Georgia once and then Georgia beat him when Metchie and

what's his name? Not Jonah Williams, but the hell's the first, my brain is not working. The dude on the Lions. They both tore their ACLs, one in the Georgia game and the other in the semifinal game.

And then Bryce had nobody relative to those two guys. And he was just getting pepper and he just kept getting up. God, this guy's unfaced. And Pennix a couple times looked like he couldn't really get up.

it made me nervous. I don't question it's toughness or anything. I do just question like when the durability stuff's in the back of your mind. But I hear you. Like if you took Michael Pennix at number two overall, it would be, whoa! Now, I saw today the gambling lines. Jaden Daniels for a while was the favorite. Now it's flipped.

Drake May technically is the betting favorite. It's still relatively close. But it's pretty clear it's going to be one of those two guys. and most people I know think it's going to be Drake May. But if you just throw on the tape of Drake May versus Michael Penix, like one guy is better than others in 2023. During the season, 2003, Michael Panix's better player than Drake May. But part of drafting is the future.

If we just went off like, you'll never be any good, Josh Allen would have sucked. But that's not the way football works. You keep improving. Chiefs fan here. While we have been very blessed recently, Kelsey is most likely retiring the next couple years. and we don't have a replacement option as of now.

Do you think they should draft the tight end in the first three rounds so he can learn and develop under Kelsey? Also, do you think the player voted grades where overall the chiefs were bottom five in the league impact the team going forward? I've said this before. I don't think they matter at all. This is not college football.

I'm not recruiting you. I recruit you with my money. Now, is it ideal for, is it kind of embarrassing for the teams? Yes. But I pay you, right? I pay you $20 million. Sorry, your seat's not a little nicer. Now, you could argue doing that is not an ideal way to run a business.

And we could argue that all day long. It's probably a lot of truth in that. I don't know all the details. Only the guy going to work there every day truly knows. I'm not going in any of these buildings. I can't speak to it. Obviously, the newer buildings like the Raiders or the Chargers' new building, no one's going to complain.

some of these older buildings, people complain. And there's a difference of like Michael Bidwell's terrible owner. Clark Hunt's a little cheap. Like, historically, he's been a little cheap. Does he need to change a little bit? Yes. Does that matter at all as long as Andy Reed and Patrick Holmes are there? Because they're chairs instead of stools or whatever the hell.

So I don't think, I think that stuff's pretty overrated when it comes to some of those NFLPA grades with the good teams. ideally if you're a team you'd like to have you know A pluses across the board but that clearly wasn't the case for the Chiefs one thing I've heard

besides Bauer's terrible tight end draft so maybe the Chiefs will like someone I just don't know if there's a tight end you know they're drafting the end of the rounds maybe they take a guy on the second day but yeah

I mean I think this Rishi Rice thing you know wide receiver tight end offensive line, I think it's pretty clear who they're going to take in the first couple rounds. I'd be shocked if they don't take a tackle and a wide receiver. Love the pod. About the hip-drop tackle. I can't bullshit about player safety as long as they use artificial turf. They could get rid of way more serious injuries by just switching to grass. I know they won't do-do because the poor billionaire owners would complain, but the hip-drop tackle almost seems like a scapegoat.

I totally understand. Hate hypocrites. Listen every day. What are your thoughts on the new hybrid kickoff? I think it's weird going away from the original kickoff we've grown up on and watched our whole lives, but I don't think I hate it. Gives better chances for returns and less boring touchbacks

and bullshit fair catches. Totally agree. I do understand a couple teams voted against it. I know the Niners were one of them, and they were asked why they voted against it and simply because it's like a pretty dramatic change. But the NFL, like, is not really afraid of change. And it's not that complicated.

I just think we want more action. And that play had become irrelevant. That play for a long period of time. I don't care whether you played pee-wee football through the NFL. If you had a dynamic kickoff return guy, you had to be on your toes. Because that guy could take it, let alone to the house, but like 30, 40 yards and get to the 50-yard line.

Now, I just think we're going to see so much creativity. I think it's going to be interesting to put cool, exciting players back there. What if you're the Niners and throw Christian McCaffrey there? What if you're the Eagles and you throw Sequin Barclay back there? What if you're Tampa Bay and you throw the white guy back there? What if you just throw guys back there? And you might not do it all the time,

but like tie game, second half, in a big divisional game. Like, why wouldn't you want Debo Samuel back there? Or, you know, a player like that. I think you're going to see more and more of that, which never would have happened before, ever. But now you go, that's like one of his touches. He's not taking a huge collision.

And I think it gives the opportunity for good special teams coaches to really show creativity. It's going to be a shit show early on. I'm still a little confused by the rules. I guess I need to reread them. I guess it's, you know, from the 20 to the goal line, you have to return it. And if it goes in past the goal line,

it comes out to the 35, and if it goes out of bounds, it goes to the 30, or excuse me, the 40. I got to reread back on the rules, but clearly, teams are going to try to kick it between the 20 and the goal line and then tackle the guy within the 15-yard line. So there are going to be some guys that kick it out of bounds trying to get too tricky on the little kick. I also think this impacts, because touchbacks now aren't great. Again, I forget the exact yard line. I don't have it out top of my head. the 49ers drafted Moody in the third round because he had a powerful lake.

So a lot of these kickers that just kicked it out of the end zone, that attribute is not as important. Not that that was the end-all-be-all to begin with, but that changed a little bit. Was listening to the Joel Clat show, and he brought up Pennix to the Dolphins, wondering what your take is on that. Well, the only way you would draft Pennix,

if you're the Dolphins, is if you're not going to extend Tua. If they extend Tua in the next month or plan on doing it after the draft, you're not taking Michael Penix. Maybe they're waiting to see if they can draft Michael Penix. I would say if the dolphins drafted Michael Penix would tell you everything you need to know what they think of Mike, not Michael Tua,

of Tua Tongue by Loa. So I think that would be a little stunning, but I also think paying him $200 million is insanity. But, you know, who am I? Question for the mailbag. Eagles fan all my life. think Howie does a good job and Lurie's a good owner. But this blind spot with Siriani is concerning.

He's not a good coach, and you can see it. I think this upcoming year is a disaster waiting to happen. They lose two or three games in a row in the beginning of the year, and this city will be pitchforks out. But another problem is if they win and the offense is awesome, Kellan is now looked at as a head coaching candidate, and we are stuck with Nick and looking for a new OC, or do we fire Nick and make Kellynne the head coach?

See disaster even if we win. Let's face, if the Eagles had a do-over, and this is impossible to do because you are winning, and I don't blame them for not doing it, but there's not a team in the league that would take Siriani over Shane Steichen. Just based on the, when we've seen a year, if Shane Steichen compete with Gardner Minchu, but he's an elite play caller.

Siriani is a motivator, who, as we saw this year, didn't look like a great motivator. Now, people within the Eagles like the guy, but from a schematic standpoint, I just don't know what he's bringing to the table. I struggle with an offensive coach, who's a CEO.

I can live, because we've seen it historically work a lot, defensive guys, CEO-level guys. Tomlin, Harbaugh is a special team slash DB guy Parcells Forever was a CEO defensive guy I just think as an offensive guy like why can't you call the place

and I know we saw him for a little bit with Jalen's second year and it was a disaster but like three years later you just have no ability to do it Kellen Moore is making a lot of money the Eagles paid him a lot of money I do think that they dramatically upgraded at the position

or the assistant, you know, the two coordinators in Vic and Kellan. But I hear you. It's hard to shake what happened last year and it falls on Nick's feet. It's one thing, like McCarthy is a good example. That game was embarrassing. It was bad. But like, they had played pretty well up into the playoff game. It's why that game was so shocking.

And they got their ass kick. But say this about Mike McCarthy, who takes a lot of shit. I've seen him call plays and it works. Aaron Rogers, Dak Prescott, like people can make fun of Mike McCarthy as a head coach. No one can dispute

the guy can run an offense. Nick Siriana cannot run an offense. He'd be like, well, he's 65, you know, he's old. No, fucking guy's like 43 years old. So yeah, I'd say it's pretty concerning. And I hear you. Like, if it goes well,

let's say you have, you're the number one seat, and your offense is incredible. Well, Siriani's not. getting the credit. Kellyn Moore would get to credit. And then you have a problem on your hands again. Now, let's just hypothetically say you have the best

offense. And Jaylen's an MVP candidate. Is Kellan a lock to be an NFL head coach? I would say no, but it's higher in 50-50, because he's been viewed highly before, had a rough year with the Chargers. Though Brennan Staley gets most of the

criticism. And then you boom, resurrect yourself again. He would definitely get interviews. Anytime you're getting interviews, as you can be the head coach. So I hear you. It's, I don't think it's a blind spot. I think it's pretty well documented.

They were very close to firing Nick Siriani. And if Nick Siriani had been fired, I don't think anyone would argue he got screwed. But, like, you invest in a guy, he just a year ago, I mean, he wasn't calling the place. Dikin was, but he was the head coach. You were in the Super Bowl.

So you're getting one more year, but he's just to go in with a guy on a hot seat, and the Cowboys are going to face this too in a lot of other teams. Like Saul is on the hot seat, that pressure, if he doesn't go right, immediately can just crumble. It's like a brush fire turns into the whole house burned down.

And you're right, if it goes well, the conversation is like, well, we can't let Kellan Moore get out the door. You could argue Siriani goes well or goes bad. Might not be the head coach in 2025, no matter what. Good call. Volume. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and Friends.

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