The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 & Out - RGIII's comments on Caleb, Chase Young signs with NOLA, Jerry Jeudy gets a contract extension

Episode Date: March 20, 2024

John dives into Robert Griffin's comments about how Caleb Williams should pull an Eli Mannings and not play for the Bears and if that could be the right move. He also talks about the difficulty of the QB position, the Jets signing Mike Williams, the Saints sign Chase Young, and how the Browns are giving a contract extension to a player that hasn't played a snap for them.  Lastly, John answers your questions for this episode's mailbag segment. 5:37 - RGIII's take on Caleb Williams 18:18 - Only 2 QBs from the 2019 draft are set to start this season 30:18 - Jets are signing Mike Williams 33:13 - Saints sign Chase Young 35:21 - Browns extend Jerry Jeudy 39:00 - 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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Hopefully everyone's having a good day. Here's the plan. I wanted to dive into some comments. Robert Griffin, the third had about Caleb and Justin Fields and talk a little bit about quarterback drafts in recent memory that did not go well. And then just dive around the league.

The Jets signed Mike Williams. Judy and Chase Young signed pretty big contracts, as well as the Netflix show coming out with the wide receivers, as well as George Kittle. We will also have a mailbag at John Middilkoff is the Instagram firing those DMs on Instagram. My golf bets, not going to lie, I've been on fire. I've made a decent amount of money this last month,

and I was in the hole big time. I mean major red, five figures in the red after NFL. And I've battled back, hard. So, right, your boy's hot. So I will post those on, because we did go low reacting to the play. players, I'm not going to do a breakdown of the Vowspar, but I do have three picks I like for top 20s. So I will post that on all the social channels as well as the volume will too. So I will get that out for anyone asking. If you're listening to Collins feed, make sure you

subscribe to three and out. All this content is up on the old, this thing called YouTube. It's a website owned by Google. Has a lot of videos. We got you covered there. Just type in John Middilcoff, three and out, go low. It's all up there. And the volume.com, we have merch. But the game plan, keep doing some football pods the rest of the week. And let's just keep cranking out content because a lot's still going on. But first, I don't even know where my cell phone's charging. I was going to grab my smartphone because that is where you download a little app. And that app is called Game Time, the official ticketing app of this podcast.

I'm sure you'll see the NCAA tournament going on these next couple days, the quote-unquote playing game, which I'm not opposed to. do, it just adds a little more drama to the tournament. And here's what I would do. If you want to go to one of these games this Thursday, this Friday, this weekend, if it's coming to your area, just download the GameTime app and use the promo code John, J-O-H-N, J-O-H-N, and save $20. Very, very easy to do. promo code John, $20. Concerts, comedy shows, any college or pro event as well, just use the promo code John, save yourself $20. Don't even need a thank you. Just hammer

that promo code. John. Robert Griffin the 3rd, who has a podcast, I guess, and had some comments that I saw, I think like SportsCenter kind of cut it up and retweeted it. It was kind of going viral

over the last 24 hours. Basically said that Caleb Williams should pull in Eli Manning and refuse to go to the Bears, essentially because of the way that they treated Justin Fields. Now, before we dive into why this is a dumb take,

all of our opinions are biases based on our experiences. Every single one of us, especially the older we get, are based on things from our past. Right? Listen, I talk, I would say pretty negatively about Chip Kelly. I was with the Eagles when he took over,

and I got fire. You could say I have a bias there And I would say that's fair Now I believe he's pretty fraudulent Not that good and treats people pretty poorly Because I have first-hand experience of seeing it And seeing my friends that had to deal with them In their experiences

Now you can say I'm wrong But I would say my first-hand experience Lends me to have You know a very educated opinion When I state something about that the guy. And I think part of my role in doing what I'm doing is I can talk about the sport from a unique perspective that you're not going to hear anywhere else because of my experiences and because of the people that I continue to talk to in the league. Yet I'm not a reporter and I'm not

trying to go back in the NFL and I simply don't give a shit. So I'll just say whatever and bring it to you pretty unfiltered. Where RG3, like his experience in Washington changed his life. He thinks he got screwed. Whether that's the Shanahan's refused to help him out as his career went, whether it was whether they threw him out too quickly off an injury and derailed his entire career, whether it's just simply that those guys didn't want him. Like that's not an opinion. That's a fact.

Mike Shanahan and Kyle Shanahan did not ever want RG3. They did not want to make the trade. They did not want to draft him. The owner forced their hand. That's why they drafted Chris. Kirk Cousins, who clearly they liked a lot more. So if you're sitting in RG3's shoes, you go going to a place that is the wrong spot to land can ruin your entire career.

Because listen, I'm not the biggest RG3 guy at all right now. I will not dispute in his younger years before he got injured. An explosive prospect. Had a pretty high ceiling. Would he ever been Lamar Jackson? I don't believe so. but he definitely would have had a very, very productive career that clearly didn't happen. And a couple years later, he's benched for Kirk Cousins and the rest is history.

And he's still bitching and moaning about it. Kirk Cousins, meanwhile, is making $450 million, kicking ass, taking names in terms of the bank account and still playing. Coming off of Torn Achilles, team lined up to get him for $100 million. So I understand if I put myself in RG3 shoes, his bitterness and his perspective on this. even if I disagree. Because one, I'm sorry, Kyle Shanahan kind of proven he knows what he's doing, especially when it comes to a quarterback.

He might say, well, look, he ruined Trey Lange's career. And I'd say, Tray Lance never could play. She never picked him that high. Look what he did with Jimmy Garoppolo. Look what the Raiders tried to do with Jimmy Garaplo. It's pretty difficult to play with a quarterback who's not any good. But that's beside the point. RG3's comments about, let's start with this,

did Justin Fields not get a fair shot? I'm calling bullshit. Early on in his career, like a lot of young quarterbacks who go to bad teams, there's not much talent around them. So it is a difficult proposition. Yet this last season, when they traded for DJ Moore, Cole Comette was becoming a very solid tight end.

They drafted good offensive linemen. They had Mooney. There was more than enough to show that you were worth keeping around. and he didn't do it. That does not mean his career is going to be a disaster. That does not mean he can't resurrect his career. But this year, when they had the opportunity because of a great trade to have the number one overall pick,

he didn't even come remotely close to showing enough with enough talent to at least show that. He didn't. Here's the other thing. Like when RG3's case, when someone doesn't want you, doesn't believe in you, and this is even different, because ultimately Mike Shanahan was the head coach

when RG3 was drafted. Ryan Poles didn't draft Justin Fields. Welcome to the real world. If you work for any company and the guy that hired you leaves, gets fired, moves on to another job, and someone else comes in, your job is in jeopardy.

No business quite like football when new management comes in, either a new GM or a new head coach, are players' positions in question. Keenan Allen is one of the greatest players in the history of the Chargers. Just had a season where he had 110 catches in like

11 games. Jim Harbaugh comes in, trades him. Welcome to the National Football League. Justin Fields not only didn't get screwed, he honestly got the opportunity to go start for the Steelers. He was never going to start

for the Bears. Even if they kept him around and they drafted Caleb Williams, he's never beating that guy out. It's just not happening. So that is its own conversation. Fields did not get screwed. And I see that a lot on social media. They did him a disservice. Bullshit.

He had the opportunity like most players in the NFL, and most people in life. You either run with it, and literally he tried, or you come up a little short. And luckily, when you have a lot of talent, like Fields has, he's going to get other opportunities.

Now, Caleb Williams should hold out and pull an Eli. that to me is insane because, and I've stated to this the last, I think, 20 years just thinking about it, I think this is easily honestly, there might be a large gap between the second team,

the best opportunity for a number one overall pick in terms of a roster he gets to inherit as a quarterback. Typically, these number one overall drafting teams fucking suck. They have nothing going for them. They don't have talent on offense and they definitely

are awful on defense. It's one thing when you lack people on offense. When your defense is awful you have no chance because you're always playing from behind. So you're always in past first situations because you're down in the game with bad offensive lines, limited skill

guys and you're not able to run the ball which can be a young quarterback's best friend. So you're at a huge disadvantage. You're playing basically with your hands tied behind your back. Look at Bryce Young this year. Even if, regardless of what we think about him, sitting here right now, I think it's fair to say. He was at a very, very difficult position.

It wasn't exactly advantageous to have some star a year. Caleb Williams gets to inherit DJ Moore and Keenan Allen. Number one drafting teams never have that on their team. He also gets a tight end, some young offensive linemen. Here's the other thing. His team, this isn't their only pick. They didn't have the number one overall pick. They won seven games.

They have the ninth pick, meaning they have draft capital, meaning they might draft some other sweet player that can help this guy. Now, the one thing that is fair to question is they have a coach who I read the day that when they traded fields, Iber Fluse called some of the team leaders on the team that were close to fields.

One of them was Cole Commet. Cole Commet's quote was, I was getting ready to hit the town in Chicago, go out with some buddies and have a good night. And I got the phone call from the head coach, and it kind of rocked me, even if I knew it was kind of inevitable, and I ended up not going out,

I just kind of stayed in, drank my sorrows away. But my takeaway from that was, listen, is Iber Fluse a good head coach or not? We're about to find out. Pretty high-level guy. Clearly a pretty solid defensive coordinator. and just a good person. So you're not going, historically,

some of these teams were such jokes because economically they had limited ability to be flexible. One of the problems in the latter years of Al Davis was his team didn't have any money. So it was very difficult for them to operate. It's why these high draft picks would hold out. Greg Popper told me these stories forever. He did not have the cash to give them the signing bonuses.

That was less than, you know, less than 20 years ago. And he was not alone. A lot of these teams that didn't have these multi-billionaire owners were somewhat, you know, at a disadvantage because they didn't have the cash and as these salaries were rising

at just quick rates. Well, nowadays, everyone is flushed with cash. Whether you're Mike Brown or whether you're Jerry Jones or David Tepper. Everyone is swimming in money. So the world's changed. you could be like, yeah, the bear's owner, kind of old, little out of it, who cares?

The franchise has cash. They have a general manager that clearly sees, you know, knows what he's doing, and if Iber flus can't get it done, they will be a very, very highly desired landing spot for a coach next offseason. So this notion that he should pull in Eli Manning is not only laughable, it would be bad business for Caleb. Like, this is a spot situated to go have success. Honestly, you could have a year where we're talking like, holy shit.

We got CJ Stroud last year, and now we got Caleb Williams. They have that much talent on the roster. And they potentially have a really good defense. Maybe not like the 85 Bears. But how many rookie quarterbacks get to go to a team with the top 12-ish defense? Never happens. If you suck in the NFL, it's rare that just your offense sucks. Typically, your defense is a joke.

That's just not the case here. And obviously this is, you know, I do the draft daily every week. This is all kind of tied into that. Sometimes it'll just naturally happen in the show. There was, I saw this thing floating around on the internet that in 2021, which was the Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Tray Lance, Justin Fields, Mack Jones draft. Then the following year, which was, you know, Kenny Pickett and some other dudes, 19 quarterbacks were picked. Over a two year span, 19 quarterbacks were drafted. As of today, going into this season, week one, only two of them are scheduled to be starters. Trevor Lawrence, who a lot like Caleb Williams was viewed as the number one pick when he was like 18 years old, and Brock Purdy. That's a pretty insane stat. Even if that 2020 fall season when it comes to college football is one of the great Fugazis of all time. right. I mean, the schedules were all over the place. Half the teams only played league games. BYU

schedule was a joke. Trey Lance's team didn't even play a season. Justin Fields had to beg Kevin Warren to play because he wanted to cancel everything. Him Jim Harbaugh and Ryan Day were like, fuck out of here, you moron, we're playing football. That one didn't age as well. But, you know, now ironically, Kevin Warren is running the Bears. But the Big Ten and the Pets, Pack 12 really, really had to fight to play where the SEC's like, we're playing. We're rocking and rolling. And that's obviously, depending on where you live, things operated a lot differently in 2020. Hell, I remember in the Bay Area, it was insanity in the summer.

And I came to Arizona on a golf trip and it was like completely normal. This was in the summer of 2020. It's like, I already was on the fence about moving before 2020 even came about. I'm like, I'm going there. And don't regret it. But I think it brings to a lot. that a couple things. I don't care how talented the player is.

I don't care how big of a can't miss the guy is. This shit is really hard. It is very, very difficult. It's hard to play professional sports no matter who you are. No matter what sport, no matter what position. Whether you're a goalie in hockey, whether you're a reliever in baseball, whether you, you know, a sharpshooter in basketball or a punter or a kicker in the NFL. it is difficult.

And at quarterback, where by far, you have the most amount of pressure. Talk to the media three times a week. You basically are in charge of relaying what the coach is telling you to your other teammates and then running the play, knowing absolutely where all other 10 guys are doing and what the defense is doing, anticipating what they're going to do, and then when they do that or do something different, adapting on the fly. And like I've always said,

the most underrated attribute of a quarterback isn't size, isn't arm strength, isn't accuracy, it's toughness. Because ultimately you're going to get fucking hit. And you're going to get slammed to the ground by guys that run 4-840s that are 310 pounds. They're littered all over the league right now. It's impossible to quantify that.

It really is. So, drafting always has been and always will be very, very difficult. difficult. In general, let alone at the quarterback position. There is no such thing as like, this guy has a high floor. Bull shit. Mac Jones had a really high floor. No, he does not. Every player is the same. They're either going to maximize all their talent, or they're probably going to be average or suck. There's not like this middle ground usually, especially when you

draft guys high. It's why Mac Jones, another team. Trey Lance, another team. Justin Fields, another team. Zach Wilson, they can't even trade him. He is not a tradable player. Because I haven't looked at his exact salary. If I had to guess it's $8, $9 million this year, no one, if he was a free agent, would give Zach Wilson a one-year $8 million contract. Honestly, his market would be like one year,

$1 million. It'd be veteran minimum contract. So no one's trading for that. I would guess the Jets are going to have to cut Zach Wilson. Kenny Pickett the following year was basically just Mac Jones reincarnated, who could run a little. a little faster. But the other thing that is at the forefront of this league, because of the money, because of the society we live in, there is no patience anymore. No one's giving you four years

to figure it out. We don't got time. I was thinking about this. I was watching the Warrior Knicks game. Jalen Brunson, God, that guy is a badass. Looks like a little NFL running back. Guys like Christian McCaffer or Saquan Barclay. He was just working the Warriors. I'm like this game. This game sucks. The Knicks are kicking the Warriors ass. I'm not watching this. So I went in the other room and I watch Love is Blind, which I don't pretend to. I watched the first season a long time ago and I'm watching this. It's the most absurd show I've ever seen in my life.

To say I love you to someone that you can't see and are talking through a wall, let alone get married to that person, is. Now, this all could be fake. It probably is. But if there is any truth and reality to this show, it's the craziest thing I've ever seen on television from human beings. And maybe it's just the cameras are on. They're trying to become quote unquote stars or Instagram famous or something. But if they're actually meaning the things that they're saying to each other without ever meeting each other, I mean, getting married to someone you've never seen is the crazy. And I'm like on episode two and these two gets engaged.

It felt like after like two days, they're kissing and loving. It's like this thing has no chance to succeed. These people will be divorced in less than a month. but it's very entertaining though I'm not too cool to admit that I was pretty entertained just because it was so absurd it was so over the top

and I almost want to believe that these people actually believe it and listen there's enough crazy people in the world now that I think there probably is some sincerity of some of the things they're saying but none of us have time anymore and time is always you know and has been forever

the most valuable asset will ever have. And the older you get, you realize that. You start realizing, God, I'm almost 40. How much life do I have left? Like, what you just, how much money is worth to you? Like, no, my time is worth more. Doing things you want to do are the most valuable thing you'll ever have, whether that's with your family, whether that's with your children, whether that's with your own company, whatever, whether that's at your job. But like, the time, what you allocate, the older you get, you don't get infinite amount of it and these teams and these coaches

there is so much money in the line these jobs are so important to have because of what they pay in their profession obviously they're only 32 head coaches 32 GMs they're just not waiting and it has been on the forefront these last couple years of like Kenny Pickett you're bitching him on and see you get the fuck out of here

Trey Lance you're not even close to good enough go to Jerry Mac Jones, head to Jacksonville with your parents. See ya. I mean, it's just, Jack Wilson, please someone. We will take some footballs, a 12-pack of Gatorade zeros, and some chicken wraps, and we will pay for his flight to you guys, please.

And people are like, nope, we're good. We want our chicken wraps and our Gatorade zeros. I mean, that's where we're at. So we're just, which I enjoy. patience is someone else's problem now in the NFL. Like, hey, maybe you'll figure it out, but we don't have time. Because we're all going to get fired. Our owner in forever, and this gets back to the Yale Davis,

and just I think the league was in the 2000s. It was much more difficult for teams. I think how many owners, pre probably 2010, when the money really jumped at the new CBA, kept a coach that they wanted to fire, they didn't want to pay him to do nothing. I've been paid to do nothing one time in my life for about three months. It was an incredible feeling.

I mean, it really was. I'm not lazy. I would say I'm relatively ambitious, relative to the rest of society. And paying to do nothing at the time I was probably 31 years old, making like 85K, and just getting those checks of like, what if this was $10 million? and I was an NFL coach or one of these players that just gets bought out and told to go home.

That is, historically, people do not want to do that to anybody. You don't want to pay someone to do nothing. And historically, a lot of companies or professional leagues couldn't afford to do that. So you just kept people now, it's like, get this guy out of here.

Coach, GM, player. Obviously, players make more than coaches and GMs, but the urgency is rampant. up. And I think it reflects the world we live in. Patience, and I'm an impatient person normally, or naturally, but I would say what I'm at currently has amped up tenfold, just because the way the dopamine hits from the phone, if something is boring on television, you've got a million other options. Why do you think Netflix is doing this wide receiver series? Like, they've gone all in on these shows. Why? Clearly people are watching them. I'm not a NASCAR guy at all. I mean,

I could list 10 NASCAR racers in the history of the sport, but I was bored probably within the last month. No, what it was is I was flying to indie and I needed something to watch and I couldn't find a good movie on Netflix. And I found basically the F1 full swing version of NASCAR. I'm like, I'll download a couple for the plane if I get bored. And I was glued. And it was like, God, this is pretty entertaining. And I think what a lot of these shows are, F1, what the golf show is, I didn't watch the tennis, but I would imagine that's pretty entertaining. NASCAR, this wide receiver show, what the quarterback show was,

is it's not diehard people watching. Not that they don't watch. It's the casual person. And now I'm more inclined, like, oh, what's Joey Lagano doing? How's Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan doing? And, like, I understand, like, I watched the golf one. I'm like,

yeah, this kind of hit or miss. But if I'm a casual person, some of the stories might grit me. And that's where, like, when I used to get sick

in the 90s and stay home from junior high or elementary school, I had five channels. I had ABC, NBC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and like the local 31, which was like a lot of local stupid shows.

And you only had whatever was on those shows, those channels were what you watched when you were stuck in home. That's why most people my age watched the prices right. Because that was on at 10 a.m. when you were sick. I didn't have, like, unless you had some VHS movie, which back then you had to rent at Blockbuster if you didn't own them. So you were kind of limited to what was on television.

Well, now I got 10 million options. What's on Apple Plus? What's on Paramount? What's on the Peacock? I think these quarterbacks and coaches think like that with quarterback. million quarterbacks every year coming through easy to upgrade if this guy stinks we can't keep playing him and whether he's making seven million on a top 10 quarterback contract or whether he's a mid-round pick like sam halel get out of here see you we're on to the next one so all these

quarterbacks in this draft starting with Caleb because there is no such thing as a can't miss to jaden to may to jay jay half those guys are not going to be good at all and half those guys are going to be lose their starting job within a couple years because that's the world we live in. 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. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clivered 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. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George

Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here. unpack what went down and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line.

We also have AIDS on the table right now. Then you're finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I feel like the Jets, who I just read right before I hopped on, are signing Mike Williams, former Charger wide receiver, which totally, if I was them, I would do that too. I would say it happened a lot in like the 90s and 2000s. It happens a little less now because professional sports teams are just small.

smarter. I remember it happened with the Rockets when they signed Charles Barkley. They had a keen. They had like Clyde Drexler. They just got all these big name dudes that were older and hope they could like find some magic. It still happens occasionally in the NBA for sure. I mean, shit the sons with Kevin Durant and Bradley Beale. Happens still in the NBA because of big name guys. In the NFL, a big name guy usually has to take pay cuts and he goes and everyone acknowledges like he's probably not as good as he once was. Like when JJ Watt left the Houston Texans and went to the Cardinals. It was like, yeah, he's probably going to be nowhere near what he once was in this prime.

And he was still actually pretty solid when he was healthy. But we all knew when he was going. Tyron Smith, still a good player, but no one thinks he's like in the peak of his powers. Mike Williams, like, always hurt. We all kind of acknowledge it. But it does feel like the Jets. And I don't blame them because they can't go all in on hoping like young players succeed. Like, they're all in on Aaron Rogers.

So when you trade for Morgan Moses, who I've always sneaky kind of liked, signed Tyron Smith, you sign Mike Williams, obviously your offensive line, you can't afford for it to be as shitty as it was last year or you're screwed. But it does feel like a throwback team. Like this doesn't happen as often in the NFL anymore because teams are always balancing like the future and the present. It feels like the Jets are strictly just focused on like week one.

Let's just find a way Because if they don't And they're not in the playoffs Like everyone's getting fired Like that's going to happen And to me the crazy part is If we just assume their defense will be solid Which it's been up and down a little bit for the height

But definitely hasn't been ultimately their problem Over the last couple years The pressure on Nathaniel Hackett And Aaron Rogers at 40 years old Coming off an injury Is pretty high and if I was a Jets fan I'd rather have

obviously Aaron Rogers even off an Achilles and Zach Wilson but it feels like it could go bad really quick and I've been hammering this for a while hard to see it going well I think if it goes well

it would be one of the bigger surprise in the NFL because older players get hurt and they're literally signing some guys that are big name guys that have made a lot of money that get injured a lot

so I think the Jets are like the ultimate case study of like, yeah, this feels like a team that someone would have put together back in 07, typically not in 2024. A couple other things that happened. Chase Young signed with the Saints for $13 million. One year fully guaranteed, according to a guy named Adam Schaefter, which that's a lot for my taste, but totally understand teams being interested in him.

He plays a premium position. And then I read today on pro football talk that he needs neck surgery. And he will not be available to hopefully early on in training him. That's crazy. I don't think I could sign him if I was a general manager to a guaranteed contract at a number like that until he was healthy and past physical. Now you go, well, hey, other teams were willing to do it. Yeah, I'd let another team take that risk.

We've already seen this guy be injured before and be a shell of himself what he once was as a rookie and definitely what he was as a college player. Now you're getting someone coming off a neck surgery that plays a position where literally you hit you with your neck like every play. I find the risk on this signing extremely high. Now, maybe I'm biased, maybe I'm down on the guy. I think he's pretty overrated. I think he's as stiff as a board. I watched him go through the motions in the NFC championship game. But $13 million for a guy who immediately's needs neck surgery. I just have a hard time sitting in a free agency meeting with the GM, the head coach, the defensive coordinator, the assistant GM, how we come to the conclusion like, this is

worth the risk. It feels like there's way more risk than the upside. Because what's the upside? When's the last time he showed to be like a borderline pro bowl level guy? You can be like, well, we're not quite paying him like that. Well, you're not paying them nothing. It's like you're paying him $3 million. It's paying him $13 million. The other thing I saw that was pretty nuts I'm all for trading for disgruntled players or a highly drafted player from another team especially when you don't have to give up much compensation

so I get the Browns trading for Jerry Judy you go listen situation's been weird they soured on him even if he's a little overrated given his drafts position we still liked him coming out we want to get a hold of this guy then I saw today that they gave him a kind of

contract extension with $41 million guaranteed. How could you give a player who has been extremely underwhelming a huge contract extension when he's never played a snap for your team? Like, I understand trading for T. Higgins or Brandon Ayuk or Ligerius Sneed, hey, we'll give you some picks, we give him a big extension. Like, you know, guys been a really good player. Put him in your system. You feel confident. A.J. Brown happens all the time, right, with high-end guys.

to trade for this and to extend him, that seems like bad business. That seems a lot like Chase Young, like, what's the point of this risk? What was he going to do? Hold out? You go, well, what if he has a great season? Then we deal with it then.

I don't know. And I think they'll go, well, if he has a good season, this is a discount. Seems like a lot of things have to go well, you know, for this all to align. because if he is just 20% better than he's been, which would be a drastic improvement, he's still not worth this.

Sometimes I see things in the NFL. And I understand the cap's gone up, some money. 41 is the old 28. Why would you be in the business of extending players who haven't shown to be high-in, impactful guys that haven't played for you? Don't you want to wait and see, like, oh, how he fits in the culture,

how he gets along with our coaches, how him and Deshawn Watson have any chemistry. Wouldn't that be something that you might go, yeah, let's figure this out. We literally just might assign one of the worst contracts in the history of sports. Let's just be easy when it comes to some question marks with players once we trade for them.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball. to college football or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show.

This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream,

this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-taped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little kill? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick

it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but yeah, yeah, literally, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed correct. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, let's dive into the middle cough mailback. See if I can say my own name right. Middlecoff mailbag Just my Instagram at John Middlecoff 2Fs DMs wide open

Fire on in there Get your question answered here Little thing we call the podcast Adrian Want to shout you out Big fan of your work I had a comment a while ago that you had on your mailbag

So I wanted to hear your opinion On something With the likelihood that the Vikings Or the Giants Look to add a quarter in the top five, a blue-chip whiteout or lineman could fall to the bears. In your opinion as a scout, what should the bears benefit more from drafting? Someone like Joe Alt or Malik neighbors, if either are available, we can do the other guy

plus O'Donze. I think it's a pretty tough question. What I would do, if I was them, is you have a pretty good. good idea right probably you're taking a quarterback at one and then i think you would factor in three other quarterbacks go before you draft the nine so let's just for the way we're doing this exercise say they go two three four and then i think it'd be fair to assume not another quarterback is going to go till you pick so five six seven and eight so you have a list of your top five players not named caleb williams in the draft

You know Caleb's probably your top player. You're going to take them number one overall. And then you get five guys. One of those five guys is a 100% lock to be there. Potentially, a couple of them could be there. So you just have to decide, I think they're in a position. Take your favorite player on the board. I don't think you could go wrong taking a wide receiver.

Because if you assume you're going to be back. better this year. Even if you miss the playoffs, but you won nine games, you might never have the opportunity to draft one of these wide receivers that are really, really good. So Adunze or Malik, and you give him right to the quarterback. So he basically gets to inherit a veteran and for the next five years of his career build up with this guy. Because Keenan Allen is a one-year rental. I guess they could look to extend, but if I was a betting man, he'll only be on the team one year. Detroit Lions fan here. Still riding high from last year. Should be. We were expected to take a big step, but nobody, including yourself, had them on the same tier as

the Niners or the Eagles. Some even put Dallas ahead of us most of the season. Now Mike Greenberg on the Crab Poll Show Get Up is claiming we missed our window. How can a team miss a window if they weren't supposed to be there in the first place. Wouldn't last year have only proved our window just opened? You have to understand these people, podcasting is why I like this medium so much. I can talk about whatever I want. I don't need to manipulate these topics over and over and over again. Now, you are playing the hits.

I mean, we're going to talk, we talk a ton about Caleb Williams. I'm not breaking down the guards in this draft. I, like you, don't give a shit. But to like the window conversation in February and March in the NFL is a stupid conversation. It's such a wasted exercise. And like you said, and I saw that happening with the bills on first take. It's like, no, they don't, the window doesn't close as long as you have the quarterback guys. How could the window close when all their players are young and ascending?

Now, is it going to be harder? Yes. Should the Packers be better? Yes, they should. Should the Bears be better? Yes, they should. But are we sure the Eagles and Cowboys aren't going to be worse? The Rams just lost Aaron Donald.

So, yeah, I'm in agreement. I like Greenberg, though. But that's a stupid cut. The Lions, of all the teams that, quote-unquote, their window closed, they're rolling back the same team. AFC was better than the NFC prior to free agency, but seems like the gap is now a bit wider. The Texans, the Steelers, the Ravens, and the Jets all improved.

Thoughts. Bears, lions better, but Cowboys, Eagles, Rams are worse. Just seems like the gap between the conferences is primarily due to quarterback. Yeah, you know, I... I mean, the Niners easily could have won the Super Bowl. They had the lead in overtime. So the conference in the AFC, or I mean, the AFC is the conference, but the depth of teams in that conference is clearly better. They have better quarterbacks.

But the way, who cares? Like, once the playoffs start, the Packers don't have to play Josh Allen, right? They get to play Dak Prescott. So, like, yeah, you intermixed during the season, right, as. an NFC team, you play one of the divisions. Like last year, the NFC West played the AFC North. So yeah, you play Burrow and you play Lamar. One time, then I don't have to see them any of those guys again

until I get to the Super Bowl. So I think that can be somewhat overrated. In baseball or in some of these other sports where you play more games, but you're not playing that many out-of-conference opponents. So I don't, I guess, I don't know if it matters that much. I guess this is a long-winded way of saying,

like, ultimately if, let's say the NFL is 100, let's just use it as a math equation. Like all the teams equal the power of 100. And ideally, if the two conferences are equal, they'd be 50-50. But let's say the AFC right now is like 65-35. Ultimately, does it matter? If, like, the 35 percentage,

if two of the three teams make up 20 of them, it and if they're in the conference championship, I think it's definitely fair to say the Niners could have beat the Chiefs, and if the Lions had won that game, they already beat the Chiefs earlier in the season. This is not a scenario, this isn't a seven-game series. If this was basketball or baseball, I would say that would matter more. It's just a one-off scenario. And it's like the NCAA tournament.

It's why you see so many upsets. You get 40 minutes, right? You don't get best of three. All your videos get me through the work day. Appreciate your hard work. That being said, longtime Steeler fan. I keep seeing reports that we're going to be aggressive

throughout the offseason. Today, somebody reported we are possibly looking at an Ayuk trade. I saw Ayukes, tweeted at Mike Tomlin, said, do we look like each other? I would say not really, but... How much sense does it make to give a first rounder either in 24 or 25 for a guy do a boatload of money. Well, the only way the 49ers can

trade him to you is for a first rounder this year. They can't trade him to you for a first rounder in 25. So if the trade was going to happen, you would have to trade. I'd have to look at that. I don't even know. What pick do you have? You won 10 games, bouncing the first round, I'd guess. If I had to educate a guest, pick 21. I said this yesterday. Like, pick 21 for Brandon Ayyuk, you could argue it could be a win-win. Steelers get Iyuk, he's good for them, he helps Russell Wilson or Justin Fields, he helps them win a playoff game.

The 49ers pick an excellent player with their two draft picks in the first round, and both teams are happy. Or the Steelers give IUk $25 million a year. He's good, but he's not great, and then the Niners miss on the pick that they get. It could be a disaster for everyone involved. It'd be less likely for it to be a problem for the Steelers because I know Iyuk's good. But like, I think the problem with Iyuk,

and I like him a lot, I want them on my team. It does get complicated when you have to start talking these contracts. I would love Brandon Ayuk for $18 million a year. And I understand the cap has gone up. But to pay him a ton of money, it's just like I struggle to pay any wide receiver a ton of money

who's not an elite guy. You could argue the 49ers were cost to the Super Bowl because Debo Samuel couldn't get open because he can't really run routes. And against most teams, it doesn't matter. You get him the ball, he'll break tackles,

get him some quick screens, and against a lot of teams he's able to get open. But against the Chiefs, who had elite corners, he was fucked. And the Chiefs knew it coming into the game. They weren't worried

about Debo Samuel. They had the advantage. Which you could say, hey, it's like if that's the only place, well, yeah, I gave him $60 million because he's a great player. But then in our biggest game, he can't really function. And this is like first class NFL problems,

but these are the discussions you're having. I think Iyuk is a lot like T. Higgins. And this is the problem with the complicated, and I understand if you're those guys, you've got to try to break the bank. But if you break the bank on them, are they ever going to be a top seven whiteout in the league? I don't know.

I don't know the answer. I don't. But I think the Bengals and the 49ers, if you were sitting down with John Lynch, Kyle Shanahan, and Zach Taylor and Duke Tobin, they'd have a take. Because the answer's either yes or no. Like, yeah, I don't see them that good. Or yeah, we believe IUC keeps getting better. He could be the, you know, fringe top five wide receiver in the NFL. Have three-year stretch where he's catching 100 balls every single season. But they have an opinion. I promise you that. I'm torn. I just probably lean no, and I like him a lot. But if I'm going to pay him a boatload of money, I can't, both teams fall under the same category of like, you know, the 49ers already pay Debo Samuel a lot of them. Can you have two wide receivers making a ton of cash?

the Bengals are going to have two guys I just don't know if you can build your team that way I mean technically you can choose to is that a good decision for the Steelers like if you're Tomlin I would do that trade I would do that trade because I'm trying to win a

playoff game this year I've got time to wait do you think Chase Young is on the similar path as clowny extremely talented but production never really seemed to show what was expected. I think Clowny is a way better player in Chase Young. You could argue Clowny is an underachiever,

but I think he's in a different universe than Chase Young. I would rather have Clowny at every step of the way than Young. Clowny feels like he's a much better run player and definitely in his younger years. He just, his sacks aren't there, but I think that they're not really comparable. I mean, Clowny had a really good year. How old was he this year?

23, he came in the league at 24, or 2014. He is, he just turned 31, so he was 30 this year. I will be stunned, and I mean floored if Chase Young is still good at 30 years old. He's 24 now. I don't think they're comparable. It's interesting to hear your takes on the tipping culture, and I was having a discussion with my friend about the automatically added gratuity.

I find it interesting that restaurants may add 18 to 25% gratuity and the servers might expect even more on top of that. Are restaurants keeping their gratuity? It was my understanding that they pooled and split it among the servers on the shift. That's a good question. If you automatically add gratuity, you know, it usually happens like if you're on a bachelor party or with a big group dinner for work

and you have a big bill at a nicer restaurant. It's typically automatically kicked in, right, at 18, 20%. So if I have a $1,000 bill, let's pick an even number. And you add automatically 20%. So I'm giving you $200 on top of the $1,000. So my bill with taxes is like $1,300. I should not be obligated then to add more tip. Because even if I added a tip, let's say it was 10% on top of the $1,000 bill,

I'm giving you a 30% tip assuming that the gratuity gets split and pooled between everyone, which that's my assumption. Could be wrong. Anyone in the restaurant industry, I don't know if the automatic, the auto gratuity is pooled differently. I would have assumed it was. To me, if it's auto gratuity, you do not need to tip it. at all. Unless the server has been really cool and you've been like the point person and you want to leave her 20 bucks or 50 bucks or

something. But you are not obligated in my opinion to leave a tip after that. I'm traveling to Tucson next week and wondering if you ever spent time down there. Any recommendations to do in that area in Arizona in general? I'll definitely be checking out Scottsdale at some point.

I've only been down there for work back when I scouted, I went through Arizona and I went to an all-star game there once as well. But I've never spent much time in Tucson, to be honest with you. I don't people that do really like it, but I don't really have any recommendations. If you come to Scottsdale, hit me up. Not because I'd necessarily want to hang out with you,

but I'll maybe point you in the right direction. Just kidding. I probably would hang out with you if I knew you, but I think you have the best takes. God, I think you guys are. great. Now that the bears are officially taking Caleb Williams at number one, what position do do they take at nine? I get asked this question a lot. And this gets back to the RG3 conversation. This is what makes the bear such an awesome place to go. It's like, wait, so I'm going to a place

with a number one pick that already has a ton of veteran talent. And we also have the number nine pick where we easily could take one of the sweet wide receivers for me or take one of the offensive linemen for me. It's, the Bears went from pretty questionable, but less than a year ago, to now with the DJ Moore, sweat ads, having the ninth pick as just a destination that Caleb Williams should be excited to go to. He also can become a star in one of the biggest cities in America that loves sports and specifically loves football.

If you resurrect the Bears, and this gets back to RG3's bitterness, like, he's. he had a chance to resurrect Washington, which is a historic brand. And because of injuries, because of ego, whatever, he blames, of course, he's always pointing the finger. Like, yeah, it was the Shanahan fault. Some of it could have been your fault. I remember your dad demanding a different offense.

And who knows? You know, there's been some questions with Caleb and his dad. But in the NFL, no one gives a shit what your parents think. No one cares. Just like in the real world, your boss does not care what your parents say when you are a salaried employee. This is in high school.

And Caleb has the opportunity to do what RG3 couldn't do. Change a franchise for a decade and resurrect a franchise. The difference here is, like I said on the podcast, the Shanahan's didn't want Robert Griffin, the third on their football team. They didn't. And he knew that. These guys want Caleb Williams.

Anytime someone wants you, it's a little bit more powerful than when they not only don't want you, but they kind of resent the fact that they were forced into taking you. The volume. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all,

embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the

Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of Tontons

and Wampas on the Ice Planet Hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.