The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 & Out - Seahawks’ Mike McDonald is ELITE, Patriots’ Will Campbell’s Future, Dad Diaries, Post-Super Bowl Mailbag

Episode Date: February 10, 2026

Former NFL scout John Middlekauff starts off the podcast by talking about what it means to actually be considered a bust in the NFL and how being a bust is different than just being drafted too early. Next, John dives into what an elite coach Mike McDonald is and how lucky Seattle has him as their coach. Later, John discusses how the Patriots should handle Will Campbell's future, and the return of the "Dad Diaries." Finally, John answers your questions in this episode's mailbag segment.  Follow John on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest.  All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet Use promo code “3ANDOUT20” on https://nicokick.com/zone for 20% off at checkout! 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. #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick.

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Your husband is not who you think he is. Your body is not what you thought it was. Your identity is formed by a secret history. I'm Danny Shapiro. And these are just a few of the stunning stories I'll be exploring on the 14th season of Family Secrets. He kind of shoved me out of the way and said, move. And he went out the front door and he jumped in a car and drove off. And that was the last time I saw him. Listen to season 14 of Family Secrets on the IHeart Radio Act. Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Turn someday into right now with Body by Jake Radio.

Non-stop workout music and expert tips 24-7. Hey, head over to iHeart.com. Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free right now. Awesome health and wellness tips 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Remember, stick to the fight. When your hardest hit, it's when things seem worse that you must not quit. Don't quit. Body by Jake Radio, where hope meets momentum.

Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it. For free. Have a great day. I heart radio. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. Is everyone lying to me about who they are?

I felt such desperation. I felt it was what I had to do. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The volume. What is going on, everybody? How are we doing? John Middlecock, Three and Out podcast.

Hopefully you're doing well. A little Super Bowl come down. And the realization that football is over. That makes me sad. It really does. But we keep chugging here because I've got to keep the lights on. So we'll talk some football because Sam Donald is just, I can't get enough of this story. Mike McDonald, Will Campbell, Dad.

A little Middilkoff mailbag at John Middlecoff is the Instagram fire in those DMs. And I will answer your questions here on the show. I will, I think I have one more podcast this week. And then you never know. I mean, we're in the reaction business. So crazy things happen. I will do a show. But I think the game plan is Thursday through the following week, no podcast.

So take a little time with my family. I got my mom and mother-in-law coming this weekend. I'm actually doing the herd with Colin on Friday and Monday. Those are quick just day trips back and forth. But I'm going to just take a couple days off, just take a deep breath, spend some time with my little man and my wife, and help out a little more around the house. And then in two weeks we'll be at the combine.

Going to the combine, and we will try to do. do some fire content because I might have actually got a text back today from a GM that literally just won the Super Bowl yesterday. So we'll see if we can effort Schneider back on the show. And I got a bunch of other guys that I'm going to reach out to and see who we can get on this little old podcast. It happens to be on Netflix, so make sure you check that out as well. And that will be the game plan as of right now.

And other than that, make sure you subscribe if you listen on Collins feed to the three and out feed. Appreciate all you guys that do. And let's talk some. football. Let's start with the idea of the term bust. Because that term gets thrown around. And obviously we have some

legendary individuals that fall under that category. Right. Jamarcus Russell. Ryan Leif, guys that were drafted number one or number two overall that just were out of the league really, really fast. Johnny Mansell. Now, he wasn't drafted as high

as those guys, but just a disastrous tenure in the NFL. And then you have guys like Marcus Mariotta. who was drafted really high and who hasn't been a starter in a long time and is a career backup. And I think there are two different categories because Sam Darnold, that word gets used a lot. I think you either fall into the category of you're not mature enough, you don't have the EQ at the time in your early mid-20s to handle the situation and you are a disaster as a person.

And you get washed out because the league says we can't trust you. You're not good enough, and clearly you're not working hard enough, and this is just not for you. And those guys, it's pretty rare that happens, right? But when it does, it's just a pretty historic moment that we talk about forever. And then they're just the guys that aren't talented enough. And that's where I think Marcus Mariotta falls under. But he's going to have a long career. I struggle to call those type guys bus.

He was just overdrafted. If you play in the league for 10 to 15 years, you had a long, successful NFL career. It turns out you wanted a starter. Happens to a bunch of guys at a bunch of different positions. They have long careers that are backups. To me, that's very, very successful.

It just turns out you were overdrafted. I remember when the 49ers drafted Solomon Thomas, number three overall. It wasn't his fault. Should have gone like the third round. and we would look back at his career and go, Solomon Thomas had a hell of a career. He played in the league for 12 years.

Instead, he's the third overall pick, and you go, ah, didn't live up to the hype. No, I just think he was overvalued. And at the end of the day, the draft is a marketplace, and you were judging their character, the person, which is by far the most important thing, which clearly Marcus Marriota, for example, checks all the boxes off the field.

Loves football, works hard, great teammate, everything you'd want in the locker room. He just lacks the talent to be good enough to make your full-time starter and win games. Right. So I think when Sam Darnold got labeled a bust, it wasn't fair because he didn't lack the talent. Right? You see these guys all over the league that are backups. He's way more gifted than those guys.

Like Mack Jones, who's going to play like Marcus Marriota in the NFL for a long time. His skill set is not great. not a great athlete, not a great arm. You know, nothing about him you would categorize as above average, let alone elite, when it comes to his physical skills. Now, mentally is something I think he's worked a lot on to build his confidence. Clearly can handle a playbook, he's played for Josh, now he's played for Kyle. But like his physical skills are probably average to below.

Where Sam Darnolds are pretty elite. He is an elite arm and he is extremely mobile. a running quarterback, but a very mobile quarterback. And then when you look at the guys that flame out of the league, you go, well, low character guy, couldn't trust them, immature, didn't try. I mean, a lot of guys that flame out of the league don't try. And then they look back and they go, God, I wish I would have put in a little more effort. That clearly was not a Sam Darnold problem.

When you look at the people that Sam Darnold came into contact with early in his career, the Jets, and then the Carolina Panthers under Matt Rule, you'd go, those places are failures. Matt Rule was a failure as a head coach. He was not good enough in the NFL, and juries out at Nebraska if he's good enough in college, given how much money he makes. Pretty sure they just went seven and five.

And while the Big Ten has some high-end teams at the top, I wouldn't exactly call it murderous row in the middle and the bottom. So I would say that Sam Darnold was failed by the people he was working for and coaching him. And once he got in the right system, situation, his talent shined. And definitely his character shined. And I thought, he said this multiple places last night, and it really hit me about where his character and the way he carries himself comes from. And he gave all the credit to his parents. And it wasn't some long, like,

you know, his dad taught him all the skills, how to throw, worked with him every day. It was just they believed in me. And I think that's a very powerful, obviously, we have a lot of young parents that listen to this. We have people that are older with, you know, older kids. We have people that will one day have a family. And I can only speak from my own experience. My dad was a tomato farmer. Like, he couldn't have envisioned his son probably when I was 10 years old working in the NFL. And it wasn't something that he pushed me to do or ever brought up as an idea. But as my life kind of took that road, you know, to work in college football, not only did he never push back against it. And he wasn't, my dad was not some emotional, sappy guy.

So there wasn't some talk in his office of, John, you can do anything you put your mind to. I believe in you. But he always supported me. And he never said when I got hired at Fresno State out of college, how much money are they paying you? You don't have health benefits? You're just getting paid like $800 a month? This is your job? Never said that. He actually, with my mom, came to bowl games. And we weren't exactly playing at the orange or the rose bowl. We played in the New Mexico Bowl. And they were there twice.

And then when I got hired with the Eagles and I was making like $25,000 at 26 years old, he drove my car across the country. And watching Sam Darnold talk about his parents, there is something so powerful. And listen, whether it's your parents, whether it's a coach, whether it's your grandparents, whoever plays, a strong role in your life when you're growing up, especially for boys in their teens and in their early 20s. Most of us are kind of immature. To have people that support you, you honestly

become driven to do it for them. You know, sometimes, especially in a lot of you guys have brought this up, as you have children, you know, I lost my dad, 2018, you become sappy in certain situations. And you think about things you accomplish in life, whether it be personally or professionally, And you get sad knowing that that person's not there to even see the experience or you can share the experience with them. And for those of you that, you know, have the opportunity to still be in those positions with your parents or, you know, you as a parent with your children, you know, you got to really take advantage of that because you'll look back one day when that's not available and goes, God. But it also drives you to go, you know, this person supported me. person wanted me to be successful in whatever I wanted to be successful in. Not something they

were living vicariously through, not something they pushed on you. And it kind of serves as a driving mechanism. I was watching some of cowards. I did a little babysitting duty, even though I've been told when it's your own child, it's not technically babysitting. But I like to consider a babysitting. So I basically did dad duty from about 5.45 a.m. until about 1 o'clock in the afternoon. So I was just a lot of time on the couch. with him sleeping, me and the iPad and the TV. And I was watching Coward, you know, talking about the difference of Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnel.

And Baker has this huge chip on his shoulder, which, again, he's not alone. Brady, huge chip on his shoulder. A lot of coaches, big chips on. Sean Payton makes $20 million a year. It looks like he's got a chip on his shoulder to the size of a boulder. We're all driven different ways.

But I do think when you're driven to try to do it for the people that supported you from the jump, back when no one might have known who you were. No one envisioned you being an NFL starting quarterback, let alone winning the Super Bowl. No one envisioned you starting whatever company you started. No one envisioned you doing whatever. There's a level of pride that you take in that. And I also think there's a level of humility that comes with that as well. Because you just look back kind of in simpler times.

and I just find Sam Darnold one of the more likable guys in recent memory in sports and I think sometimes sports and listen I've been in it I know kind of how the sausage is made I've been around other pro sports when I worked in radio

you kind of can become jaded to it all and I think there's something in this story and watching this guy have success with his teammates I mean in a weird way everyone tried to make it about him yet the way he's wired he made it about everyone else, starting with his family,

to his teammates, to his coaches. Something just makes you feel good about watching all this. Because, I mean, sometimes, and listen, I'll just be watching football, which I love to do. But you just kind of become numb to it all. It's like, what's my take? What's the angle?

What's going to be the most entertaining thing? What's the thing I'm fired up on? And this is just like, I just don't think you'll talk to anybody that won't go, that was cool. Like, that was a cool moment. And in a world, we just don't have that many more of them.

I mean, a lot of things in society just look like one giant Fugazi. The Sam Darnold's story was just kind of well-needed, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I'm going to find myself rooting for the guy the rest of his career. A lot of you guys, especially younger people, ask me for advice. How do you get in somewhere? How do you get a hold of someone? How do I break into sports?

How do I get a job working for a team? I want to become a coach, what do I do? And I saw this clip, it was actually from a couple years ago, of Mike McDonald when he was the defense coordinator for the Ravens. He was being interviewed, I think, by a big Georgia Bulldog podcast, where he was an undergrad and got the start to his coaching career. And he discussed how he broke in to the business. Because Mike McDonald was an undergrad that did not play for the Georgia Bulldogs

that was a finance major. I looked at his Wikipedia today. He was summa cum laude, something I definitely was not. And something when I see, like, I'm impressed. Because if you can go to college and stay focused and stay disciplined, like your parents, your teachers, like, no one gives a shit. Like, it's on you to excel in that environment. So you do that, especially at bigger schools and certain departments, like that, that's

really impressive. There is no disputing Mike McDonald's really smart. Like Mike McDonald, from an IQ standpoint, if you just, if you just, if you just canvas the landscape. I'm not even talking head coaches. I'm just talking coaches in the NFL. He's probably in the top couple percent. I mean, there's probably half the league that

are glorified gym teachers and if football didn't exist, they would struggle to make a hundred grand. And I'm not trying to be a dick. It's just a fact. And I think it's why so many people in the business, there's so much resentfulness. It's a unique industry. I mean, you can be a position coach making 900 grand.

Like how many humans you know that are W2 employees that make $900,000? It's like, well, are they the CEO or the boss of the company? No. Well, are they like the number two? No, not really. They're just like middle management. I mean, it's very replaceable.

Yeah, they make 900 grand. They sign a three-year contract fully guaranteed. It's a very unique business that way. And I think Mike McDonald, who clearly is really, really sharp, could have ran a bank, right? Could have been a partner in some VC firm. Like, I say this all the time. Like, I watch Matt Ryan's press conference.

If Matt Ryan wasn't a football player, he would have been successful doing something. You watch Drew Breeze, like, that guy would be successful. If football didn't exist, Mike Tomlin and the Harbaugh brothers would have been just fucking fine. I promise you that. And you watch Mike McDonald's, you're like, football, a lot of coaches in the league that probably wish he would have taken a finance career.

Because he's clearly elite at his job, and he's only 38, 39 years old. But he discussed the way he broke in. Like, he didn't know anybody. He wasn't on the team. So it's not like he knew the coaches. It's not like he was some blue-chip athlete that everyone knew his name. He would show up at the facility once a week for years. And he wouldn't really get yeses.

It's not like they hired him to the staff. But he just kept up and kept going and finally something broke. Ironically, he said he ran into Todd Grantham, who was the defensive coordinator at the time, at a Starbucks, but it'd already been wearing those guys out so they knew who he was. And I think there was a power. is why I always give the advice, do something and fall away passion. Because when you follow a passion, it is much easier to go above and beyond to try to accomplish what you want to accomplish.

Because if you're not passionate about it, it's really easy to tap out. Or go, I don't need to do this today. Or I'm not really going to go Sunday afternoon and do some extra work. I'm not really feeling it. But when you are, and listen, he's lucky. He's passionate about something that is a lucrative. profession, right? If you're like selling, you know, Pokemon cards, who knows, that might be a lucrative profession too. But certain things are going to have a higher ceiling in terms of earning power. But Mike McDonald really benefited from, I wasn't going to take no for an answer.

I was going to find a way in. And I really respect that because he's a guy. I mean, there are a lot of coaches in the league that, I mean, there's a decent amount that played in the NFL. or just played at a high level of college. You are just going to have the ability to network doing that that is a huge advantage for you, right? I mean, I was a GA at Fresno State.

We have a ton of guys that are now coaching either in college or the pros that played for that program. And a huge advantage they had, just like me when I became a GA at Fresno State, Pat Hill got on the phone and recommended me to Andy Reid. I never would have worked for the Eagles if I didn't have that network of working for Coach Hill. If I just tried to break into the NFL, it never would have happened.

And I got lucky that my cousin had played at Fresno State. Mike McDonald didn't look like he had any of that. And he got the opportunity to never look back. But he's also a product of, like Sam Donald, like Sam Donald got drafted the Jets. And then Matt Ruhle wanted him. Shocking, he failed. Once Kyle Shanahan, Kevin O'Connell and Mike McDonald got their hands on him,

he shot up like a rocket ship to the moon. Mike McDonald's first job in the NFL as an intern came with John Harbill. I think Mike would be the first to tell you if Mike would have got hired by some random coach that was two and three years and done, his career is probably not here. That's the crazy part about life. That's the crazy part about football. Whoever get you you're in, whoever you work for early, on your career takes you along a journey that you can't really plan for.

I got very lucky when I worked for the Eagles. We've had a ton of head coaches that were on that staff. I have a ton of guys that either became GMs or number two throughout the league or scouting for different teams. Like if I had worked for some random franchise that coach got fired a year later, probably wouldn't know anybody. And I think when you look at Mike McDonald, you go, shit just worked out. But he also kind of created his own luck.

and you watch him coach, he's elite. I mean, there is no disputing this. He obviously, like when you are a coordinator for a Harbaugh brother, like, it's your baby. And clearly that defense a couple years ago in Baltimore, it's like, okay, number one defense. What's it going to look like when you're a head coach? Because I'm guilty as anybody, it's like, well,

it's one thing being a coordinator, try being the head coach. Two years in, once he gets with John, and they kind of establish exactly what they're looking for, best defense in the league, absolutely curb-stopping opponent in the Super Bowl. So it's just like sometimes you just see a guy and you go, this guy is better than everybody else. This guy is simply just better than everybody else.

And I think he'd be the first to tell you. A lot of my success, I accepted a job with the right organization, with the stud GM. And Mike McDonald has associated with the right guys. John and Jim Harbaugh and now John Schneider. and his career has been a absolute rocket ship for the last six, seven years. Today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor Hard Rock Bet,

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call 1833 playwise. In Indiana, if you are someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1,8009 with it. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler. Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name?

Huge news. We created our own podcast. called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts.

We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Oh, we were thinking, I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going.

down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, Hey Jonas, and then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. The story I've told myself about love or relationships can then shape my behavior. And that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown

and explore the journey of healing, self-discovery, and returning to yourself. We explore higher consciousness, emotional well-being, and the practices that help you find clarity, peace, and self-mastery in a world that can feel overwhelming. The world is becoming lonelier. We're not becoming more social and connected. We're becoming more individualized, but we actually meet people in connection. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole, this podcast is for you to hear more.

Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody! But there's so much more to me than me. I'm an actor, I'm a comedian, and recently I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives,

helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant, and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary. Oh, cream of chicken suit.

Hey, cream, cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrat, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from a Hypocrat as part of the Mike Coutura Podcast Network available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about Default. define the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed.

And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reed. He has to guard Julius Randall.

And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He run up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Oh, yeah. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball.

So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, actress, mother, lover, and a Gen X woman walking through life one hot flash and hormonal crying jag at a time. You ladies know what I mean. I'll bet you a parameda apostle chin here you do. So let's talk about it. Join me on my new podcast. How hard can it be with Deanna Maria Riva, where I call on my Gen X squads from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate midlife's most fantastic BS. All of a sudden, I'd had hanginess happening on my own.

I was like, what the hell is that? I was married when I had her, so I didn't even consider how empty that Ness was going to be. Mood swings, night sweats, fupas, sex drive. Wait, what sex? Dating at 45. How high can it be getting naked at 50 with the new guy? That one's kind of hard. Well, that's lighting.

They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter, and dive into it, unfiltered and unbothered and ask, how hard can it be? I cannot believe I'm about to say this out loud in public. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva as part of my Cultura podcast network available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Will Campbell. Can he turn it around? And this is going to be a fascinating question all offsees. Obviously, Drake May was terrible, but any time you were under duress, whether you're Peyton Manning or Tom Brady or whether you're Tuatonga by Loa, you're going to be in trouble. Now, Drake was bad, but as the game went on, it got worse because he was all out of sorts because his offensive linemen couldn't block me or you.

And when you're playing the best defense in the league with team speed at an elite level, you're going to be in major, major trouble. I mean, their DBs are blitzing like they're Troy Palomalu. All of their linemen can pass rush. Like, you're in trouble. And when your left tackle has one of the worst games, I think I've read in like the internet era, You got to ask yourself, is he the right guy for the job? Because it wasn't just the Super Bowl.

It was the playoffs. The Chargers destroyed him. Will Anderson made him look like a practice squad player. And here's the question, from a scouting standpoint. He's not some freak God-given all-time, just elite talent. He's not Jason Peters or Trent Williams, who has the speed of a linebacker, who has the feet of a running back,

who has the strength of one of those strongman competitions, who has it all. He's not that. And you watch him go up against powerful players, he gets tossed around like a ragdoll. He doesn't have the length or the physical features of like a joalt, right? He's a short stubby guy who honestly looks kind of pudgy. Now, can he reimagine his body with a better diet, with a better workout plan?

Sure. But he's never going to be viewed as some elite talent. He's just not. In most drafts, he would never be the first tackle off the board. But they were desperate. He is a high character, work hard guy. And they said, listen, he's this R-type guy. It was a weird draft.

And they took them. But the better competition he played, the worse it got. and I'm not just going to sell the guy like he could never pull this off and just say get rid of him, this is never going to work. But I do think if he's going to be a successful player, like part of what made Peyton Manning a success was not his athletic ability.

It wasn't his arm strength. It was his fundamentals. He was the most fundamentally sound player probably in league history. I saw this clip of John, Gruden, he was talking to some quarterback, and he said Peyton Manning would make teach tapes of every single play in the playbook with the specific drills on the footwork and the timing of like 20 to 25 snaps of each individual plays and study it throughout the off season.

To make sure his fundamentals were perfect. Scotty Sheffler, best golfer in the world. Do you know the first thing he checks? His alignment and grip, the most basic element of the golf swing. Not even the golf swing. It's just when you stand over the golf ball. And clearly his fundamentals, he's just lost in Will Campbell. But if he is going to be a functional good starter,

to me, he's going to have to be known as the most fundamentally sound player in the league. because the guy that we witnessed was just holding on for dear life. And you can't function in the NFL if your left tackle cannot block. There are just the shitty teams have pass rushers. Think about that. The Cleveland Browns, who are a joke, have the best pass rusher in the league. The Raiders who are drafting one overall have Max Crosby. I mean, think about the Cardinals who are drafting high

have some good defensive linemen. They got sweat. probably put Walter Nolan over him. Bad teams have pass rushers, let alone the good ones. So they're going to have to go in the lab and ask themselves, is it his fundamentals? Can we get him fundamentally sound to make him a solid player? Or do we just have to move him into guard? The problem is, left tackles don't grow in trees, so where do we even find one?

They're not just available in free agency, and now because we just went to the Super Bowl, we're drafting at the end of the first round. And even in this draft, the best tackles are actually right. tackles. Miami guy, the Utah guy, like, they're not left tackle. They literally play a right tackle. So I think the Patriots have to ask themselves, because listen, he had an awful game, he's clearly banged up. He didn't have a good playoffs. But no one argues when they've seen Drake May healthy, like, that's a guy that every team would want. That is a young player with a ton of upside, just what you want in a quarterback. That's not the case when you watch

Will Campbell. Listen, I was hesitant to go. You know, Joe Walt, I see it. Because I got Joe Walt, you're like 6-9, 6-10, you're going to play tagger. And then you watch him move. He's got feet like he's Lane Johnson. You're like, this guy's a big-time athlete. And he's powerful. He's just really good.

His bend is not an issue. Like, it's not a big-time talent. That's not the case of Will Campbell. And I think Mike Vrable, who is an in-the-trenches, tough guy, has got to ask himself some tough questions this off-season. Can we make this work, or do we got to make the pivot right now? and if we make the pivot right now, what are our options? Because most of them are not going to be that good.

Before we get into the mailbag, I just have a quick dad diaries. Last week before I went to San Francisco, I had to record some interviews. I did one with a couple of our podcasts on the volume and just some other random people. I just didn't have time to go to this doctor's appointment. and my wife was just taking him for a checkup, but he also had gotten circumcised like a week before, and it's just, it's tough. I mean, when you watch that,

the process of like the week or two before the little thing they put on top falls off. It doesn't look great. And, you know, if you've never seen a kid circumcised, so she's like, let's just double check everything's okay with the doctor. So she gets there, turns out our doctor, I don't know if a car accident or something, but he just wasn't there. They said he was injured. I still haven't heard what his injury is, but he was just injured out of the office.

So essentially, and I'm here in the office, she's at the pediatrician's office. So they give her like a backup doctor who she said felt like, you know, a borderline intern, didn't really know how to answer the questions when it came to the circumcision. So she called one of the main doctors and put him on FaceTime. So he's like, hey, let me check and look. So obviously, you got to take off the diaper and go the FaceTime. And right as their FaceTiming, he unleashes, and anyone knows this about young children, they are not taking hard poops.

They are taking waterfalls. And if he's at the right angle, a little tipped, that waterfall will shoot. And she says right as they point to go for the checkup, for this guy, who knows where he is, some other town, whatever, in Arizona. It just explodes. And they all have to, like, jump out of the way. And as we like to call it in this house, he did a jack attack. And I'm very, very sad that I miss that moment.

His first FaceTime came with a gigantic shit that he fired right at the phone. And it turns out the doc said, yeah, it looks completely fine. And now a week later, it looks like he's got a normal penis. One day he'll listen to this and be like, dad, why are you talking about that? But it is what it is. I found out from some of my Jewish buddies, they do like a ceremony. We just sent them off and get that thing sniffed about a weekend, which I think they said, we had heard that it's better to do it like a week later.

I think I just got sniffed inside the hospital. It might be TMI, but is what it is. But you just never know. You just never know. You put that diaper down. It's free game to come out any hole. And it could go high, too. So you got to keep your head out of the side.

You got to keep a diaper or something ready to kind of protect yourself like a shield. And that young doctor or nurse or whoever she was that was helping out Maria didn't know what was coming. And Jack fired. And Jack won. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new?

Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. starting a trend.

But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was...

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

But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. The story I've told myself about love or relationships can then shake my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown, and explore the journey of healing, self-discovery, and returning to yourself.

We explore higher consciousness, emotional well-being, and the practices that help you find clarity, peace, and self-mastery in a world that can feel overwhelming. The world is becoming lonelier. We're not becoming more social and connected. We're becoming more individualized, but we actually meet people in connection. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become I'm whole. This podcast is for you. To hear more, listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody! Please! But there's so much more to me than me. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian, and recently, I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, I was ho from a hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant,

recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary. Oh, cream of chicken suit. Hey, cream. Cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know.

Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Pulura podcast network available on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, actress, mother, lover, and a Gen X woman walking through life one hot flash and hormonal crying jag at a time. You ladies know what I mean. I'll bet you a perimenopausal chin here you do. So let's talk about it. Join me on my new podcast. How hard can it be with Deanna Maria Riva, where I call on my genitaliara. X squads from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate midlife's most fantastic BS.

All of a sudden, I'd had hanginess happening on my own. I was like, what the hell is that? I was married when I had her, so I didn't even consider how empty that nest was going to be. Mood swings, night sweats, fupas, sex drive. Wait, what sex? Dating at 45, how can it be getting naked at 50 with a new guy? That one's kind of hard. Well, that's lighting.

They say we can't polish a turd, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears or tears of laughter, and dive into it, unfiltered and unbothered and ask, How Hard Can It Be? I cannot believe I'm about to say this out loud in public. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva as part of my Cultura podcast network available on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What's up, fam, Ms. Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron Head in a podcast. into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows.

Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night. the night bases on offense.

And when IT's friends stopped by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it out real quick.

Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, let's do the mailbag. at John Middlecoff. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram fire in those DMs. Get your questions answered here on this little old podcast.

It's on Netflix. Let's start with Jesse. Big fan of the show. I'm wondering if you have any insight on what it is about football that makes nepotism work so well, especially in coaching. In most industries, nepotism seems to bring down the overall level of excellence, but it seems like, especially in the offensive side of the ball, there are so many sons of great coaches who are doing extremely high-level work.

Curious, what you think. I've actually thought a lot about this. And let's use the example of you and I own a company, and that company is wildly successful. Let's say it makes $100 million a year. We just have a cash cow. And we're doing high percentage of, net profit, like life is good.

We're both 60 years old, and our kids are in their mid to late 20s, and we're going to make those guys partners, and they're going to run it. Well, let's say that one of them, if not both of them, don't really care about the business. They've obviously grown up pretty well, pretty rich, maybe you and I did not, that those guys can just kind of come into the company. Let's say the company is self-sustaining. They don't have to do much. Our clientele is already well established.

It's already a train rolling down the tracks that those guys can screw things up, right? If anything, just stay out of the way. But if you put those guys in management positions where then they have to deal with people, those people might not respect those individuals. And those guys could throw off the vibes, the business, and ruin the company. It happens all over the place. that might not be the best example but

clearly people in any industry that are just given a job quote unquote nepotism or given the opportunity because of a name because of a family member if I'm just doing it because like well my dad did it

or my uncle did it or whatever but I don't really care about it but hell it's just gonna make a lot more money doing this than I would any other job probably not in it for the right reasons and that's usually where the problems, you know, arise. Where in coaching, let's use Kyle Shanhead as an example. His dad, legendary coach, probably should be in the Hall of Fame.

His first job in coaching is with John Gruden, who actually Sean McVeigh replaced Kyle Shanahan, or might have came a year, might have been the guy, replaced the guy who replaced Kyle. Once you go work for John Gruden, who is getting to the office every day around 3.30, 4 a.m. You are the lowest guy in the totem pole, and if you are in that position, your job, he's the offensive coordinator, you are basically his personal assistant.

Do you think that guy gives one flying, you know what, who your dad was, what your name is, or like what your problems are? And here's the other thing, especially early on in your career. None of the other coaches really do either. So you kind of got to prove yourself to those guys. or else you're just not going to make it. And the hours, if you don't like coaching, like if I don't like using that example of a different business, if the business is operating, I don't even need to show up. I just go on vacations all the time.

I can't just not show up from the start of training camp through the end of the season. And it's every bleepin day, early, late. You are just there. So you could half-ass it maybe for a little. it maybe for a season, but you couldn't do it for many seasons. And you couldn't earn your way up working for people who are not your father. The Cuviacs, the Shanahan, these guys, their careers started not working for their father.

So once you start working your way up, those guys have to respect you. And then once you become a position coach, you then go into a room where the head coach and the coordinator are not present. So it's you, let's say you're Kyle and you're the wide receiver coach, you're Sean McVeigh and you're the tight end coach, you're Clint Kubiak and you're the running back coach. It's just you and however many of the players from August till hopefully middle to late January

and you have to earn their respect. Do you think they give one flying unit who your dad is, especially when your dad is not on that staff? The answer is no. so you can't you can't hide you will get exposed you either have the knowledge you either have the willingness to connect with these guys or you do not i actually think it is a massive advantage because shanahan or kubiak when they are kids they understand what coaching is in terms of the hours why because when they're in junior high in high school their dads are not home so if they

aspire to get into that industry, they understand the hours to come along with it. Right? They're not getting into it blind. I think sometimes players have a false sense of how much you have to stay in the office. And the more they dig into it, they're like, yeah, I don't want to coach. Where if you are some of these guys' sons, you go, listen, I'm going to do this. I'm going to be gone for a long period of time for five, six months a year. My family, my wife, my young children, you saw Mike McDonald like he sees his baby, Jack 30 minutes to an hour a week. I think he's making that up a little bit because Friday's like a half day and Saturday if they're at home. He's home most of the day.

But his point was Monday up until Thursday, I see my kid 30 to an hour. And he wasn't bragging. He's just saying this is the gig. And whether we agree or disagree with the allocation of time, right? We could disagree, trust me. but it is what it is. That's what those guys do. So I think for these young guys, Kubiaks and the Shanahan's, I mean, McVeigh's grandpa was the GM of the Bill Walsh 49ers.

But once you're in it, you can't fake it. You can't fake it with the coaches you're working around, and you definitely can't fake it for the players because they simply do not give a shit. So for you to be good, you kind of just got to be good. There's not well, and we've seen stories come out about like Pete Carroll's kid, which is kind of embarrassing. But that's more of a reflection of Pete,

like the only guy Pete Carroll's kid works for is Pete. When you look at McVeigh, like, he's worked for the Gruden's. Right, he's worked for the Shanahan's. You look at Kyle. He worked for Gary Kubiak and he worked for his dad. And then he worked for Mike Petton and Dan Quinn. So he, and John Grude. Like, so you work for other people that don't necessarily have a connection

or aren't a relative. And once you're in that environment, whether it's, you know, me or him, Like, we're kind of on our own to figure it out. And you're either going to be good or not good at it. And I think most of those guys, their passion for football, like, is probably pretty elite. And I don't mean, like, me and you just being a huge fan watching the games.

I mean they eat, breathe and sleep it. It's honestly not healthy. And most coaches are, whether your dad was a coach or whether you're Mike McDonald and you were a finance major who just wanted it. you are an addict and football is the crack and they can't get enough of it. And luckily, with football, you know, you can't overdose. Well, you kind of can. You can burn out. But I just think that no matter who you are, you know, Arthur Smith, we can debate how good

of an offensive coordinator was. He was good for those couple years with Rable with Derek Henry. His dad was worth billions of dollars. He did not need to be doing this. And now he's at Ohio State. but he clearly likes the grind to football. And he played in college, and football means a lot to him. And he's willing to put in the hours. Because it's not, you can't half ass it.

And I think we all know or work for people that had an inn, whether it be a family member, however, it's like, this guy's a fraud. This guy's a phony. It's hard to be a good coach in the NFL and be a fraud or a phony. It's actually impossible. It really is. because of the energy it takes of putting in from a film standpoint and a game plan,

schematic standpoint, and then to the connection with your players. Because if you don't connect with your players, you'll get, especially in this day and age, you'll not only get exposure, get run out of the league. And I think that's happened to a lot of guys that just don't care about that, and it's not possible. And I think a lot of those guys are very, very comfortable around football players. And I think that's a huge advantage. You know, I saw Kyle Shanahan say on the broadcast yesterday, he'd been in nine Super Bowls.

I'm like doing the math. I'm like, your dad won two, you've been to three, isn't that five? But he went to a ton as an assistant coach with the Denver Broncos that he lost a bunch of them. I was like, I didn't realize that. And I think part of it is once you see that, you go, this is all I've ever wanted to do. And there might be some psychological thing of trying to prove to your dad. regardless, you become really, really good at it. And your knowledge and understanding of it is pretty special.

I was reading a book, something about, it might have been a Belichick book. And Belichick and Mike Shanahan were very good friends, even though they competed against each other in the AFC and had played a lot of playoff games. They both were close. And I don't think Mike Shanahan was friendly with that many people. But there was this one scene after like a playoff game I think the Broncos beat the Patriots.

It would have been the earlier mid-2000s. Or I guess it might have been the 90s. I forget the exact game. Belichick might have been an assistant coach, but they were talking to his office, and Kyle was in his office. And Mike looked at him and said, Kyle, get the hell out of here.

And Kyle was like a high school kid. So I think part of it is proximity to greatness does not equal that you're going to be great, but it does have a huge advantage when you're a young kid and that mold your, thinking. And those guys, let's use the Kubiaks and the Shanahan's, like, their dads kind of know what they're doing. And they've mastered their offense. It's just like some people in certain industries that are born into a business are good, right? Because they're passionate about it. I think where you get

exposed is when you're not passionate about it. And you're just doing it because this is a family business, it's money, and you don't give a shit. It ain't going to work long term. It'll be my take. As the confetti settles, the name trending on X has been Bo Nix. It has become the great what if. If Nix doesn't break his ankle. Or the refs call that egregious hold in the end zone against the bills to end the game early. Knicks is in the Super Bowl with a more aggressive defense. Who could force Donald into mistakes, quarterback, is more battle tested than May.

He has been a better playoff performer as the best O'Line in football, and Bo loves the type of muddy game that Seahawks play. all the thinking heads know that with Bo the Broncos are in the Super Bowl and would be looking at a win with how the style of game played out is that now the greatest what if in league history? I can't go that far. To think that, listen, to think Bo Nix who had a very up and down season would just go to Levi's and excel against that defense,

I can't go that for. Would the Broncos with a healthy Bo Nix have been a better team, 100%. Are the Broncos healthy with Bo Nix a better team in that Patriots team? Yes, they are. Do I think if the Bills would have beat the Broncos and played the Patriots in the AFC championship game? Do I think the bills would have won? I do. I mean, clearly, Drake May was injured and he did not play very well in the playoffs. So I think it's fair to say that the Bills and the Broncos, the winner of that game should have been in the Super Bowl. but Josh Allen missed a throw late in the game and Bo Nix broke his ankle and it broke Patriots

and then we had to witness the Patriots get curbstombed. But I'm not confident to know what if Bo Nix is there. I would imagine Seattle still would have been a favor. It would be my guess. Everyone is going to say it was a situation around him. He couldn't do anything but Drake May has had one of the worst playoff runs ever. He was missing wide open throws last night. Everyone in the media tells me they would pick him number one for the next 10 years.

To be honest, I would pick Sam Darnold, Caleb Williams, Jordan Love, and many more over him. There isn't his playoffs for bad. I think I heard seven turnovers. If it's a shoulder, he was not good. He was not good. Like I told Colin last, like I told Colin last night, he's never been in these moments. This is not a guy that played at Alabama for Ohio State. He played in North Carolina.

The ACC is terrible. And North Carolina is not good. So, and last year his rookie season was, like, one of the most embarrassing season for the Patriots in the history of their franchise. So it's, like, this was a big, like, welcome to the league. And let's face it, I mean, when he based on the schedule, play two bills games. Play two bills games.

And one of them, he kind of self-combusted at the end. I'm a Drake May guy. Same thing with Herbert. I don't just jump off the bandwagon. Playoffs are hard. I'm old enough to remember. I loved... I was a Peyton Manning fan before I liked Tom Brady.

I rooted for Peyton Manning against Tom Brady when I was in high school and college. And that's like 2000 to 2007 until Peyton won his first Super Bowl. Peyton used to shit the bed in playoffs. He was terrible. Belichick and the Patriots owned him. He was horrendous.

So it's like you can have bad games. Does anyone act like Peyton Manning couldn't get it done in the big games? No. So he's 23 years old. He's got a long career ahead. Yeah, it was ugly. There's no way to put it. Hope you enjoy the Super Bowl. Just looking ahead the next season, free agency. Do you think in light of the Niners injuries and openings, Kyle Pitts and Joey Bosa would be good additions? Pitts may cost some money, but effectively play wide receiver and tied in.

Bear in mind, Ayuk is off and we're not sure about JJ. Boza could sign on a short-term contract. I think Juan Jennings probably gone. I think someone, you know, wide receivers like him

that are productive either, you know, saw several years ago Christian Kirk, remember he got a huge contract, he's a different type

player. But when you're a productive player and you've been a winning player and you have certain skills, the one thing Joanne Jennings winning teams are going to like,

he's fucking nuts. He blocks, he kind of like, he's a crazy competitor. I think good teams are going to really valued Juan Jennings. So I think there's a decent chance he's not there. You know, the Bosa thing, I would probably get out of the business of paying 10 to 15 million one-year deals for players

that are older. They kind of missed their window. Last year would have been the window and, you know, they couldn't, they couldn't land them. I would say on Kyle Pitts, I haven't really dove in to free agency in terms of money, but there were going to be some teams. The cap went up with with an enormous amount of cap space. And I think whatever you imagine the Niners would be willing to pay, like he's had one good season. And he did look good. I mean, at times this year, like, damn, that's Kyle Pitts I remember.

In free agency, there is no bargain shopping. And with guys like Kyle Pitts, he's going to get overpaid and overpaid relative to, like, his career so far. Now, maybe he's turned around, maybe he becomes a great player. but whatever contract people are going to be like damn that's what happens in free agency because there's people bidding and these teams with cap space

are just willing to spend money I don't want to say like a drunken sailor sailor sailor but I can't even speak I'd be a little stunned if they end up with Kyle Pitts because I think it's going to be really really expensive Just a thought in your take on Tom Brady Not having a dog in the fight

What if he's just a psycho Winner and doesn't have Doesn't want his old team To win a Super Bowl without him You know he kind of backtracked He posted something on Instagram About Robert Kraft I do understand

The guy that he just hired Is going to be the coach of the Raiders He's coaching for Seattle I do think it's pretty easy though To be like Robert Craft's like a father to me I've known Mike Vrable since I was a rookie He's a close personal friend of mine Of course

Like my allegiance to the franchise that made me I'm a Clint Kubiak fan as well I think he could have played it politically Better than I got no dog in the fight And I think he kind of regretted that And I think it's why a lot of former patriots are like Come on bro Come on man

That's kind of absurd But maybe he doesn't Like they did say we don't want you back. And maybe he holds that against kind of the franchise. Because even if they would have won, what does that really diminish for Tom? I don't necessarily think it diminishes for him. But I also think it's like, why would I root for you guys?

Last team I played for was in Florida. I didn't move back to Boston. I stayed here. Now, part of that is, as Belichick said, Taxiuchich. You know, Florida is a little easier on his $37 million a year, Fox job. But regardless, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think there are a lot of variables there. But I do understand the fans, like, oh my God.

Especially because, which is definitely fair, Patriots and Tom have been in some controversies. And that fan base got his back. They went to the mat for the guy. I mean, they were extremely loyal to that individual, right? And then it feels like you just forget about, we didn't kick you out. Bill did.

We fired Bill. Come on, man. I think the Vrabel thing, too, it's like, that's like one of your best friends. You weren't rooting for him? Maybe Tom wasn't. From the oil fields of Midland, Texas. Landman, baby. I thought Landman this season was terrible.

I thought it was really boring. Even if the Raiders reboot with Kubiak and draft Mendoza and trade Crosby for players and picks, do they have a chance to compete in two or three years? Division is loaded with Andy, Peyton, and Harbaugh, is it just the wrong place and the wrong time? This is why I think hiring Kubiak makes sense. You have to have a big picture, kind of holistic view of building this team.

You cannot have short-term vision when undertaking this off-season. Part of taking Mendoza is like we want to be in position probably definitely be much improved by a second and third year. when we can really take advantage of his contract. But the Crosby thing, I mean, there's a lot of smoke with that. Someone, I think, Lock and Forre wrote that Crosby told Brady, I'm done playing for you. Obviously, Glazer said that he's done with the Raiders. Schefter went on McAfee. They asked him about it.

He kind of tiptoed around it, but it sounds like Max is ready to move on. And I think they can take advantage of it. I think they can get two first-round picks for Max Crosby. Now, if you're trading with the Bears or the Bills or the Patriots or one of these teams, these are picks in the 20s of a draft that's not viewed as great. So I think you kind of go, well, is it worth it? Two picks in the 20s. You know, the thing with football, you never know.

My guess is sitting here right now is they kind of reset and trade them. That would be my guess. Because how many more years, you know, once you get to around 30, are you going to be able to trade the guy for multiple first round picks? Especially if you're not going to be winning next year. Maybe you'll be better than you were last year, hopefully, but you're not competing for the playoffs. And I think Crosby's market, hell, it might get you two ones and a two.

Two ones, a two and a player. Like, you probably get you a hole. There's a question about Max. Huge fan. I was just wondering where you think the best landing spot is for Crosby. My first pick would be Buffalo, but I wanted to hear your take on it. I think Buffalo would be heavily involved, though their GM has shown kind of the opposite in terms of aggression. I would imagine Seattle would be very, very aggressive.

They've already done a deal with the Gino Smith. So Schneider and Spitech have worked together. I would say the Bears would be a team to keep an eye on. I would say the Eagles would be a team to keep an eye on. The 49ers would be interested, but Mark Davis would never allow them to trade to the Niners. Rams have two first round picks. Could they be involved? The Cowboys.

I mean, I think it's kind of the normal cast of characters. Who am I probably missing? The Patriots. I guess he likes Vrable a lot. They would never trade him to the Chiefs. They would never trade them to the Chargers. The Ravens, they're desperate for pass rush. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers.

And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it.

We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it.

Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad,

Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. The story I've told myself about love or relationships, can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection.

This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown and explore the journey of healing, self-discovery, and returning to yourself. We explore higher consciousness, emotional well-being, and the practices that help you find clarity, peace, and self-mastery in a world that can feel overwhelming. The world is becoming lonelier. We're not becoming more social and connected. We're becoming more individualized, but we actually meet people in connection. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole, this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Jared Adano.

You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help! the internet. Help! Somebody! Please! But there's so much more to me than me. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian, and recently,

I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, hope from a hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike! I'm a comedian.

I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff rant and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice.

One ring is too scary. Oh, cream of chicken suit. Hey, cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Coutura Podcast Network available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, actress, mother, lover, and a Gen X woman walking through life one hot flash and hormonal crying jag at a time. You ladies know what I mean. I'll bet you a paramedipausal chin here you do. So let's talk about it. Join me on my new podcast. How hard can it be with the Adamani Arriba,

where I call on my GenX squads from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS. All of a sudden I'd had hanginess happening on my own. I was like, what the hell is that? I was married when I had her,

so I didn't even consider how empty that nest is going to be. Mood swings, night sweats, fupas, sex drive. Wait, what sex? Dating at 45. How high can it be getting naked at 50 with the new guy? That one's kind of hard. Well, that's lighting. They say we can't polish a turd,

but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter, and dive into it, unfiltered, and unbothered and ask, how hard can it be? I cannot believe I'm about to say this out loud in public. Listen to how hard can it be with Diana Maria Riva as part of my

Cultura Podcast Network available on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the play. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall.

And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court licking his fingers while he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it up. real quick. Get your ass up and down the court and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Every season there seems to be a player where scouts and media say this guy was a steel in the third round. And more times than not, that player gets drafted in the third round and ends up being a steal. So as a former scout like yourself, you'll have a better insight as to why this may happen. I'm curious. If most degree the player would be a steal, why doesn't he go higher? Well, the draft is an economic exercise. So if you are a corner, well, let's use a wide receiver, and you play at a smaller school and you run kind of slow. Yet every time I watch you, you're the best player on the field.

When you run a 4-6-1 and you're only 5-11 or 6 feet, historically guys that fit those criteria don't get drafted in the top 50. Right? It's like the real estate market. When you're looking at a house, what's the first thing you do? Comps. It's like, well, I want to sell this house for a million dollars. Well, the three comps on this street, the high is $875,000. So I'm not paying a million dollars for that house.

So part of it is a market value of what I have to pay for the player in terms of draft capital based on the metrics really matter. They just do. It's why a lot of people went, Will Campbell's arms are just too short. I'm not fucking with that. And people are like, well, he's the best tackle. And look, I mean, a lot of people go, I would never have taken him that high. I bet there are some people that go, I would have taken Will Campbell in the second round. But they took him forth overall.

And that could be, you know, analogous to like the housing analogy, I just said, you know, the market value says $8.75 and the Patriots paid $2.5 million. Which could be a disastrous investment, right, if he's just a below average player. So I think a lot of it has to do with a guy run slow. Character is hard to determine. I think sometimes guys flip because character can simply be coaches kind of badmouting the guy. And I'm not saying it's not true, but like he knows he doesn't listen.

He's not a great teammate. He doesn't love football. Like you can be a great college player. But if everyone in the program tells you, I don't think he really likes football. I think we have a long history. If you draft guys like that, they tend to let you down.

But you go get, this guy was just like a second team all-American. You got him in the third round? I think it's very hit or miss. But you look at a lot of players, you know, who funga is a good example, Bronco safety. Who funga is a high-end player. But he ran slow.

In college, he didn't really have a position. Like, was he a safety? Was he a linebacker? Historically, a lot of guys like that find themselves position list and not very good in the league. So he goes in, I think, if they're six round. He's been an all-pro.

Every time you watch the Broncos, he's crushing people. But he's a good example of like the character, the want-to, the leadership, like all those boxes he checks. And he's got with good coaches, and he's excelled. But I think the variables usually are measurable.

You either run slow, you're kind of shorter. You have small hands. If you're a quarterback, you have poor testing. because it's typically on a guy who was very good in college, so he produced, but then he does that testing because historically, testing kind of matters. Like there aren't many guys that are going to be pro bowlers

running a 4-7 at wide receiver. But there is Keenan Allen. But if you make a living on drafting Keenan Allen types, you're not going to find many Keenan-Allons. There are some defensive linemen who are just six feet tall that are excellent pass rushers. Most of them are not. So I think you've got to balance it out,

and there's no right or wrong way to do it. It's why the valuing of the person matters so much. Are we drafting the right guy? Because typically the guys that get drafted high fit the measurables. But there's a difference. Like the guy the Raiders took a couple years ago,

Wilson from Texas Tech, fit all the measurables, but can't play dead in the Western. Right? And then Lucas Van, Lucas Van S, I think it's his name, never started at Iowa, never started in college. But his measurables, he was a freak. So he fits the mold of the type guys that have had success that were drafted in the first round.

But it's like, this guy never started. Even though I think he actually kind of came on toward the end of this year, it's just these are the type conversations that are, a lot of these teams are in meetings right now. And you're just having these conversations like coach, or whoever my GM is, I love this I know he's a little shorter, I know he's a little slower, this guy's going to play. And the first thing that that guy at, who's his comp in the NFL? Who does he remind you of? What type player can you use as an example that he plays like?

Again, the comp thing, like in real estate, is enormous in football. I remember my last year doing it, I had Robert Woods. And he's not as good as this guy, but I went, you know, there are some similarities to Reggie Wayne. That's the way he's going to play. but that's the best case. It's rare that you use like some random slot receiver. Usually you use like Julian Edelman, Wes Walker, right? This guy reminds me of D'Andre Hopkins.

You typically, when you're pounding the table for a guy, you use the high-end comparison because easier to sell the room. But that's why the draft is just, it's an economic exercise. and even if you go, I think this guy has a chance to be an all pro, if you know you can get that guy in the third round, you would never take that guy with pick 28. Because that's terrible value. And you only have so many, you know, so much draft capital

that you've got to be very careful the way you utilize it. Congrats on the new family and the Netflix partnership. Recently you mentioned that Drake May could go one overall on a redraft. Who would you take in your top five? first thought jumped to Caleb. Well, if you're making that argument today, I'm going to look like an idiot. Right? I mean, Drake May, after the performance in the playoffs, it's just something to monitor. Like, was he injured? Was it the offensive line? Was he just

overwhelmed? Because I'm a big Justin Herbert guy. I do believe that if you did a draft from scratch, Justin Herbert would not make it past five. But people would go, have you watched a guy playing the playoffs? Like, Jalen Hertz said way better playoff games than guy. But no one the league would take Jalen Hurts over Justin Herbert. So I think if you factored in young quarterbacks on rookie contracts, assuming Jaden is healthy, I think Drake, Caleb, and Jaden would all

definitely go in the top five. You know, CJ's an interesting one. I mean, I don't feel that comfortable with what I've witnessed. I have a hard time with humans in any walk of life that don't embrace their strengths. and understand their weaknesses. It's one thing as a rookie.

It's like, okay. Like, you've been in a league now three years? Like, why were you trying to play with Josh Allen? What's going on, man? Can we watch some like Alex Smith tape? Like, be the better version of Alex Smith. There's nothing wrong. Like, you'd be like, no, I am fucking Joe Burrough.

No, you're not. Let's relax a little bit. You cost us, Kyle Shanan said he, like, cost him the Super Bowl. he didn't specifically say that, but he said, like, there were two defenses, they were good enough to win a Super Bowl on their own. It was Seattle and Houston. Basically, if their special teams and their offense didn't screw it up, they could have won the Super Bowl.

And the 49ers played both of them. So he's essentially saying CJ Stroud screwed up their Super Bowl. He ain't wrong, because he did. So I couldn't put him in the top five based on that playoff performances in those two games. I got to have you play a little under control. I don't know, my mind's not firing on all pistons right now. So who was just Cam Ward? I couldn't do that.

Tyler Shuck might be a sleeper. A lot of Tyler Shuck buzz right now. Hey, a falcons fan here. You got to be kidding me. Pierce looked like a stud. Good enough that trading our first round pick seemed worth it despite getting roasted by the media. Quotes, you.

This has to be the most Falcons thing ever. What are your thoughts? I talked about it yesterday. You know, when you draft these character guys, it's a roller coaster. And you can look like a genius for a period of time, and it can end in the blink of a moment. And that's what it feels like. I don't pretend. I always say, like, listen, I'm not, I don't go to the NFL for, you know, teaching me life lessons.

So I don't give a shit how the Falcons handle it. I do not care. It's not my problem. but it doesn't look good. And it does look like their hand. It might be out of their control. Might be into the league's hand. So, I mean, you're facing five felonies.

And this isn't like alleged. Like, I mean, pretty sure this, all this stuff happened on camera. So he in trouble. But when you make a move like this for a person with major red flags, like no one to blame about yourself, but who am I blaming? They fired everybody. So it's like Rahim and Terry Fontenow. It's like, good luck.

Ian and Maddie Ice? Sucks. I mean, he was... By the end of the year, I'd be the first to admit. Like, you watch, what was this, 27? Coming off the edge, like, God damn, this guy looks good. That guy was a monster. Is anyone actually going to put some respect on Seattle?

This past week, on the build-up to the Super Bowl during the game, has been absolutely embarrassing. I don't know what to tell you. Who cares? I think sometimes we worry about that stuff. Way too much. It's like, the Patriots has been in so much. many Super Bowls, a lot of contingent of the media is from the Northeast. It just comes

to the territory. You won. You've won your second Super Bowl in a decade. You got a star young coach. You got Sam Freakand-Darnold. Story of the NFL. Who cares who talks about you, glowingly? Like, all that matters, you won the Super Bowl. Question for the mailbag. I'm curious what specifically makes Mike McDonald's such a great defensive coordinator. Is it the scheme, the way he calls the plays, or both, or neither. Thanks for taking my question. That's a good question. I would say from my vantage point, it feels like his ability to manipulate the defense is like what these coaches do on offense. You know, it's like window dressing. It's like Kyle Shanahan. He runs the same plays, but he does it out of a million formations.

Andy Reid's ability to scheme offense is just second to none. It's pretty rare. Like defensive guys, Flores, right? Very aggressive blitzer. He's great at calling blitzes. Fangio. Doesn't run an exotic scheme, but knows it like the back of his hands. When the players buy in, the best fundamental scheme,

everyone knows their job, hard to operate against. When I think Mike McDonald's like, you got no clue what's coming. You got none. I mean, yesterday he's blitzing. I'm pretty sure they were in the bottom five in blitzing this year. Like, they didn't blitz. And then they got Witherspoon coming off the edge like he's Troy Paul Malu. And he's like jukeing out offensive linemen.

They didn't see that coming. I think he or one of their guys said that there was a tip that they noticed on film, that they knew that they could exploit. I mean, I think Mike McDonald's clearly really smart. I think there's a Belichickian angle to him. Belichick's greatest strength as a defensive coach is he didn't really have a defense, especially by the 2010s.

He would do whatever it took to beat you if he needed to have one defensive linemen or seven defensive linemen against a certain play. Like, Fangio does what he does. And for the most part, when you got it good players, it's going to work. I feel like Mike McDonald's like, I don't know. What coverage is Mike McDonnell?

McDonald going to run here? Ask Kyle Shannon. He said, fuck, I had no clue. I remember Purdy saying after the game, it's like, we would get to the line and see, okay, this is what they're running, and then the ball would be snapped, and they would do something completely different. And because they have so much team speed and going back to the Ravens, all their DBs can run, cover, and hit. So when you can do that, you can manipulate stuff and really throw guys off. I mean, part of offensive football, right, if I'm calm. a play, whatever, just some basic route concept to the left. I'm scheme this play up because I think your defense that you run on second and longs,

you tend to run this specific defense. And I know this route concept against that defense, this guy's going to get open in this area. So Mike, we've practiced it in the game, we get the look. It's like, this is going to work. We're going to get a first down here. Maybe we're in the red zone. We're going to get a touchdown. Well, if you show me that look, but then the coverage is completely different when the ball is snapped,

all of a sudden my quarterback, who's just kind of dead set on throwing that route because we've got the look we wanted, hits your guy in the breadbasket, or your guy is in a position he didn't see and makes a PBU. All of a sudden, the play doesn't work. And that's what it feels like Mike, with versatile defensive backs, can really manipulate the secondary. And clearly, you know, you either have defensive linemen that can be. beat guys one-on-one or you don't. Like, I'm not giving Mike that much credit for, like, Leonard Williams or Hall or some of their defensively Lawrence, right? I mean, you either got, he'd be the first to tell you. Like, Mattabuke when he was there, or Kyle Vanoy or who, like, you either got good

front guys or you don't. But your back seven, can your linebackers run and cover? Can all your DBs be versatile and play different positions? And his guys can't. So then he can play chess. and that's what it feels like he does is he throws curve balls that a lot of defensive coordinators just don't. Flores does this. Flores does this. Flores is a smart guy. Like Google Flores' background.

He's an intelligent individual. So a lot of times defense like, let's beat him up. Like Mike Zimmer, we're going to blitz up the A gap, which is nothing wrong with that. I'm all for that. I like a good tough guy. But like, can you be a tough guy?

who is really intelligent, because if you are, then you become like SEAL Team 6. And that's what it feels like. Mike and Flores and some of the top guys. You know, Fangio just, his defense is baby, but like it's, I don't want to say it's vanilla, but I don't think he's really known

for throwing that many curveballs. I mean, a lot of his defenses that have been really good, have had, like, the best players in the league. And I'm pro-Vic Fangio, don't get me wrong. But I think Mike is more like an offensive coach, same with Flores, where you could put them with different personnel and they could figure it out. Or if you gave Vic guys that didn't fit, it ain't going to work. And these are, to me, the best defensive coordinators in the league.

So I'm never a big fan of like, this is what we do. It's what drives me nuts about Shanahan. It's like, come on, man. What you do works, but we've got to add some other variables there too. You know, Kevin O'Connell and McVeigh, it's like, guys, let's run the ball a little bit more. It's not be so hard-headed here. I feel like Mike there's like what does he do whatever needs to be done

whatever I think's gonna work and if it doesn't work we'll do something different I think he's I don't think he's like I think he's the least tied to doing one specific thing like if you just gave him just pick some random player that didn't necessarily fit them

I think he'd make it work I think that's like his greatest skill and I think part of that might be his upbringing of like being an undergrad, not playing in college, kind of having a fresh set of a fresh mind, a fresh set of eyes, not being built as a player on a certain scheme and then getting into it.

Like he kind of came in, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and open-minded. And I think you go to the Ravens who have a lot of versatile players, he was able to kind of mess around. You know, I was talking to Daniel Jeremiah on the phone a couple weeks ago, and we were talking about Jesse Minter, and you go back to Wink Martindale, who have those guys as young coaches and it's just when you're around other talented people,

especially young people, you kind of push yourself. And I wonder if both those guys thrown different ideas. It was almost like the equivalent of what Washington was with LeFleur McVeigh and all the Mike McDaniel and all those guys on offense in Baltimore with the defensive side of the ball. Because it kind of feels that way.

Like I would imagine Jesse Minter has a lot of similarities as Mike McDonald. they just do whatever it takes and that's a bell of checking and quality to what made him so special he could throw any pitch it's like some guys just throw 98 it's like well you can throw it down the middle

like hey Aaron Judge can time this and hit it out I throw 98 it's like boy do you have a curve ball do you have an off speed pitch no I just throw 98 that ain't gonna work some people will a lot of guys it will a lot of guys ain't gonna be able to hit it especially if you can locate it that would be my take on like Adios. See you tomorrow.

The volume. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts.

We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Your husband is not who you think he is. Your body is not what you thought it was. Your identity is formed by a secret history.

I'm Danny Shapiro. And these are just a few of the stunning stories I'll be exploring on the 14th season of Family Secrets. He kind of shoved me out of the way and said, move. And he went out the front door and he jumped in a car and drove off. And that was the last time I saw him. Listen to Season 14 of Family Secrets on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. Is everyone lying to me about who they are? I felt such desperation. I felt it was what I had to do. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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