The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 & Out - The Vikings FIRE Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, Raiders HIRE Klint Kubiak, Cardinals FINALLY hire a HC

Episode Date: February 2, 2026

Former NFL scout John Middlekauff opens the show talking about the Vikings surprisingly firing their GM, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and why if this was going to happen, waiting until February was a very interesting decision. Next, John discusses the Raiders hiring Klint Kubiak and why he feels that this is the right move for Vegas. Finally, John dives into the Cardinals hiring Mike LaFleur in what looks like a very "meh" hire for Arizona. All that and more. 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. #Volume  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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

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

Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless. And at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast for no-nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garris. She can win.

She's an outsider to win the French fame. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any service. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcasts on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. and we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12

and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The volume. What is going on, everybody? How are we doing? John Middlecock, Three and Out Podcast. Hopefully you are doing well out there in the real. World. Big week. Super Bowl. You ever heard of it? It's here. Well, Super Bowl week is here. And I had originally planned to, we recorded with Stucky at the end of the week last week.

And I was going to put it out today. But then Cuescy, the Vikings fired their GM. The Raiders hired a coach. The Niners hired Rahim Morris. Cardinals hired a coach. Seattle Seahawks up for sale. I said, you know what? I need to do a podcast. So I'm just, doing a normal podcast today. We will talk with Al Guido, the president of the 49ers tomorrow. What it's like to be the host city of the Super Bowl? What that entails from a business standpoint?

And then I'll put out Stucky probably Wednesday. That's the game plan as of right now. Other than that, I'll be in San Francisco for like 36 hours. Just doing a little work, doing a little meet and greet with my people at the volume. Not like meeting and greet fans, but like party, we got a bunch of clients and kind of all get together, you know, kind of a, not a normal company because we're all remote so we don't all work together.

Well, some people do. There's an office in New York and an office in Los Angeles, but, you know, I'm Scottsdale, so I don't ever see anybody beside remotely, besides Jackson every once in a while, which I'll see him here in a couple days. But that's neither here or no there. And, yeah, we'll have podcasts out all week fired up. You guys know the drill, subscribe, three and out podcast, wherever. You listen, Apple, Spotify, we got you covered.

Also, Netflix, you ever heard of it? We're up on Netflix every single day. All of our podcasts, all of our videos up on Netflix, so go check that out and enjoy. But let's just dive right into the Minnesota Viking situation. Anytime you fire the GM going into the Super Bowl, when you didn't make the playoffs, it's a little weird. It does feel a little dysfunctional.

It does feel a little bizarre. I will not deny that. The timing typically when you're going to fire someone, give or take the week of Black Monday. It doesn't have to be on Monday. Sometimes it happens like John Harbaugh on Tuesday. But typically if you miss the playoffs, you get a decision that week.

Sometimes it's spur of the moment, right? Things change. There was a power struggle. Someone loses. It might happen by the end of the week. Like Mike McDaniel, remember, he's safe. Then all of a sudden, the middle of that week, week, he's not safe. So shit happens. You never know. But when Quessie was at the Senior Bowl,

I talked to multiple scouts who were there that literally talked to him. So it's safe to say that he did not see this coming, though there have been enough reports that, like, it had been rumored about really for a year. Remember last year? It's like, are they going to extend them? But they did. So this is a guy who, I say it all the time, the American dream is not a couple kids in a white picket fence. It's being paid millions of dollars with the kid in the white picket fence not to work. Doesn't get any better. It's as good as it gets, right? This is, this guy signed a second contract as a GM, I would guess, over $5 million because that's the going rate. And living well doesn't have any responsibilities. But my number one takeaway, like,

and there's no arguing this. Let's use the Harbaugh situation and the Sean McDermott situation. Clearly, Brandon Bean did not fire Sean McDermott. Hell, he didn't even see it coming. I think that's fair to say, regardless of all the criticism of him getting elevated after the fact. He was not pounding the table to get Sean McDermott fired. Eric Dacosta, John Harbaugh's best friend who was in tears when he found out the news and he told the staff that John Harbaugh was fired. Did not fire John Harbaugh.

Those were owner-led decisions. This one to me feels pretty clear. Now, ultimately the decision-making power is with the guys that signed the checks, the Wilf's family, right? I mean, the dad and the son. But Kevin O'Connell wanted him gone. Because if Kevin O'Connell liked him,

enjoyed working with him and wanted them around, guess what? Questi would still be around. And then there have been reports that Brian Flores, who's now making $6 million a year to be the defensive coordinator, say it all the time. Like most people, aspirational people, aspire to be the top dog.

If you're going to be the number two, NFL coaching is a pretty good gig to be the number two. Fangio, who knows, after his fake retirement, might get $10 million a year. Flores just got six. Who knows how much Rahe Morris just got? It pays a premium to be a coordinator that people want in the NFL. Didn't, wasn't a fan, didn't like him.

So the coaching staff, like we talk about power struggles, there was a clear power struggle here. and the coach is one. Now, I think another thing is clear. On merit alone, his drafts were really, really bad. His last three or last four drafts, I'm going to give you some stats that I was reading about that are like, God, it's pretty terrible.

Because I don't follow the Vikings, like, break down every pick, follow them from a macro perspective. Obviously, the talk of the quarterback and the Darnold and the JJ. A lot of different variables there. everyone had their hand, you know, or was involved in that situation. I don't think you can absolve one person and put all the blame on the GM, not on Kevin O'Connell. Everyone played a role. But when you are the GM, you're really paid to do two things.

Get along and work closely with the coaching staff. I mean, the head coach is mostly always going to be making more money than you. And in the case of Kevin O'Connell, let's just pick some numbers. Let's say Kuezki is making $5 million. dollars. Fair to guess that Kevin's making 13 to 15. So 3x. When you work with someone, even if in theory you're on equal footing, when one guy makes 3x what you make, that guy's got more power. Welcome to the world. So you got to work with closely the coaching staff and get along with them, which, listen, it's pretty clear. They weren't on board with them. And you're paid to acquire

players. It's why guys like Howie Roseman, John Schneider, our views like Hall of Fame GMs, Because their ability to make acquisitions. Now, this is, you're dealing with human capital, right? Questi's got a Wall Street background. When you're in Wall Street and you're making acquisitions, when I lived in San Francisco, I lived with a guy, a buddy named Bobby. Bobby played baseball at Brown, Ivy League guy, worked in VC, banking, finance, his whole career.

Big, big mover and shaker. I mean, it was probably a millionaire by the time he was in his early 30s. and I remember living with them and him just talking about some of the deals they were doing that is you just kind of become numb to people. You're just buying assets, whether it's hotels, whether it's companies. And the people inside those companies tend to be widgets to these companies. And when you work on Wall Street, you're kind of numb to human capital because it's really about the product. Whether it's hotel business, I'm just picking a couple random ones, right?

Let's pick Costco or let's pick whatever. whatever, you're just acquiring the company or the asset. Where in football, your assets are people. And he clearly struggled at acquiring people. Because let's just pick his first three years as GM, right? 22, 23, and 24. He drafted 22 players. Those 22 players have made 153 starts.

That is the second lowest in the NFL over that period of time. and if you factor in the 25 draft and just compare it to his division, those guys, like, so 22, 23, 24, and 25, relative to the bears, the lions, and the Packers, 12% of those guys, or I mean, of the drafted players, have made 12% of the starts. Meanwhile, with the other three teams, which I think it's fair to say, are all well-run. I mean, the Packers are like the cream of the crop in terms of the decade-long run. of consistency. The Bears have really kind of turned it around with some good drafts, high picks, and the Lions are just a high functioning organization now. Those teams average between 30 to 34%

of the starts of their drafted players. So almost three-xing Quessie and the Minnesota Vikings. So we'll get into the other story that went pretty viral today. He got fired because the coaches wanted him out and it was pretty easy to justify it when you looked at his track record. Now, the Sam Darnold thing did not help. And it has not become public. Who wanted what? Clearly, I don't think Kevin O'Connell threw his body in front of Sam Donald.

I said this before Sam Darnold did not, I mean, was atrocious in the Lions game. Any human being sat on their couch and watched that. It was really bad. I felt like I was one of the only human beings alive that was critical of Kevin O'Connell in the, they played the game in Arizona because of the fires, against the ramps.

He did a terrible job that night. So when people say Sam Donald fell apart in his last two games, Kevin O'Connell kind of gets absolved from any responsibility. He was not good in that spot. He did not do a good job of running the ball, of slowing down the game. He just treated Sam Donald like he was Patrick Mahomes or something. And obviously they just got curbstombed. But to me, he got fired on his capability to acquire players.

And it was atrocious. Now, if you want to go, what's up with Minnesota? Why they take so long to make this decision? We'll just have to wait for more stories to come out to truly get the dirt. Now, a couple things. Just because you hire outside of the box doesn't mean it's the right move. They got a lot of credit Minnesota did for hiring this guy who had never played football, who honestly didn't work in football up until like 10 plus years ago,

came from Wall Street. So made the transition, took a huge, pay cut got his foot in the door, I think with the 49ers, and started doing projects. Because the 49ers, they got a genius money guy in Parag who might as well be a Wall Street guy and has ran their cap and ran their money forever, now runs the York businesses, soccer teams across the world. Like, the guy's a fucking badass when it comes to money. And they've always been forward thinking that way and stuff like this.

And then Questig kind of worked his way up, got with the Browns. and was hired to be the GM. And they got a lot of, like, look at them hiring the non-traditional old guard, not those scouts with chewing tobacco, black, you know, tinted windows, so they can just watch tape, sun up to sundown, and never see the outside world. We got this Wall Street guy. Well, it's like, yeah, can you do the job? Like, does he know what he's doing?

Let's use basketball as an example. Rob Polinka and Bob Myers were viewed as outside. the box hires because they were not traditional scouts. Rob Polinka played for the Fab 4 back in Michigan in the early 90s with Chris Weber, Jalen Rose, and that crew. He was on that team. He played high-level college basketball. Bob Myers, several years later, played on dominant UCLA teams.

I think Polinka was a better college player than Bob, but both of them were part of pretty historic, collegiate programs and like runs of that program, right? Early 90s, Michigan, late 90s UCLA. Then both guys became prominent agents. Polinka, obviously, with Kobe,

several other guys, Bob negotiating contracts for a long list of guys. That transition from doing that to GM to me is not nearly as crazy is just going from Wall Street. to running a football team. Right. If you are a lead chef at a restaurant,

it's not inconceivable if you have some fuel for business that you could then just run the entire restaurant. It's not that crazy of a transition. But just because you're a chef or run a restaurant doesn't mean that you can just run an HVAC company.

They're both businesses. They both have overhead. You're right? They both have client relations. They both are complicated businesses. But they're completely different. They both deal with money. But when I look at the Quessie hire, they got so much credit because like, look at this.

Thinking outside the box. Well, look at what thinking outside the box got him. Historically bad for your run of drafts. Now, the story that went pretty viral on Sunday morning was the athletic putting out a story about his paternity leave. And I had heard about this last week when he got fired. It was, you know, something people talked about in the NFL for a while. He did not get fired for going on paternity leave. This happened years ago.

He literally got an extension after the fact. If you work at Apple, Amazon, you name it, some major corporation and are just whatever your position is, I would never blame you for taking paternity leave as a guy. Take everything that is allotted to you. They will get rid of you in the blink of an hour. I. And relative, you know, I'm just assumed, let's say a $150,000 job, a $250,000 job, whatever, $500,000 job, you 100% are insane if you don't take paternity leave. Let me state that on the record. Then there are other jobs that like, yeah, I don't think that's

going to fly. Part of being the GM of a team, there are certain times of the year when you are kind of obligated to be there, or a head coach, or an assistant coach, or a play, or a play You have to miss shit that you don't want to miss. Even LeBron James this year on Christmas, who I'm sure he's played in 20 plus straight Christmas games, kind of said, I wish we weren't playing. I'd rather be at home with my family. Guess what he didn't do, stay at home with his family.

He played in the game. Because it kind of comes with the territory. As Don Draper once famously said, that's what the money's for. So there are different levels of jobs. No one's asking you either to miss the birth. of your child. That's not what anyone is giving them shit about in the NFL. It's then taking off several weeks and working remotely. This ain't Amazon, homie. And Sean McVeigh this year had a game on a Sunday.

His wife gave birth to their second child Sunday night and he was still able to coach the game on Thursday. Guess where he was probably not on Monday and Tuesday at the hospital? He was in the facility getting ready. Is that ideal? Is that something most humans would want to do? Of course not. But that's not the way this business works. And if you want this role in this spot, it kind of comes with the territory.

Do you think John Schneider or Howie Roseman would take two weeks off during training camp and cutdowns? Part of the business as a GM, as a head coach, as a coaching staff, listen, I'm not condoning and celebrating this. but it is what it is. And players are no different. Like, yeah, you get to see the birth of your child, but you usually don't miss a game. That's not the way it is. You don't get to miss like a week of training camp for it.

And so when he's getting crushed, and of course some of these legacy media is like, this is sick. People are, no, people are just like, well, Sean McVeigh. Kevin O'Connell is a big family. I think he has like three or four kids. Do you think he took two weeks off, wherever he was at the time, when he was having children?

You think he said coach? When he was assistant coach for Sean McVeigh, I'm going to need two weeks off. Kevin, it's week three. We kind of need you. It's kind of what you sign up for. And as people in the league has described it to me, he comes from a corporate background

when you can just do O, oh, oh, oh, out of office. That's Howie Roseman, John Schneider, less need. These guys don't just do out of office during the season, during training camp, during the draft. Now, again, that did not get him fired. But you can't tell me that Kevin O'Connell ever looked at him the same.

Because I'm in this bunker of absolutely grinding. All my players are working there, you know what off. And I look around and you're just at home? We're trying to put together, like, who we're going to claim? Like, that's not really the way this thing works. So when I see people in the league going, what? And the word used was disbelief, kind of. understand it. There are certain jobs and certain roles in this society where it's like, hey,

cable, a couple weeks off. Godspeed to you. And again, no one's asking you to not go to the hospital. Hell, go back and forth and spend the day or two there. It's the two weeks of just going remote is a little weird to everybody because none of them do that. Why? Because it's not really on the table for anyone else, not the coaches, not the players. So this isn't like being under fair to him. If Justin Jefferson has a kid or Kirk Cousins have as a kid or Sam Darnal were to have a kid or Kevin O'Connell as another kid or Brian Flores,

they just disappear for two weeks? Of course not. So that story to me has a lot of weight. He becomes kind of a joke in the league because you factor that in with people watch what he's doing and doesn't really feel like he knows or is any good at it, which is the main part of the problem. So when you have this stuff that no one else

does. If you're the best in the business, what are they going to say? LeBron can do shit that no one else did. He used to get people traded for 20 plus years. He's the best playing in the league. Do you know who can't do that? The 75th best player in the league. No one gives a shit what his opinions are in the front officer of the coaching staff when it comes to player acquisition. So if you would, if Howie Roseman wanted to take a week off, probably pull it off. Never really saw him do that. Honestly, never disappeared at all. so he was creating a family at the time. So I just think that the paternity issue is your classic social media,

polarizing kind of headline. But I completely understand, like, do you think Sean McVeigh wanted to sleep five hours from Sunday night up until the Thursday night game against Seattle? Of course not. It's not ideal. He didn't have a choice. What is you going to do? Hey, Stafford, you handle this one, bro.

I'm going to be at home. I'm being home. Changing some diapers, my man. I'm pro-changing diapers, done a lot of it. But that's embarrassing. There's really no way around it. So that's all I got on that situation. Today's show is brought to you by our new presenting sponsor Hard Rock Bet. Florida's Sportsbook.

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Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, 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 throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how did we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it.

Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember. going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say, hey Jonas, and then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late

night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends. Me and hilarious. guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and headwriter, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis, and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs, and on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris, every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Genschen win. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface, because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open.

Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind

the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Can I tell you about my new friends, Zbiotics? Let's face it, after a late night with drinks,

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risk. Subscriptions are also available for maximum consistency. Remember, to head to Zbiotics.com slash three and out and use the code, three and out at checkout for 15% off. The Raiders. you got to give the Raiders some credit. This feels for the first time like, I see what you're doing there. That's a good hire. That makes a lot of sense. It was announced that they have hired Clint Kubiak,

the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator, to be their next head coach. And let's just run through a little bio on Clint. Obviously, Gary's son, and I've always said the Kubiaks and the Shanahan's are basically cousins. I know they're not technically related. They might as well be.

and Clint played safety in college at Colorado State, where he was a captain as a senior. I was reading a little bio on him. He was a team captain at Colorado State where he played safety. So it's not like he was an offensive guy, but he was born into the family. He was born into football. And to me, what I like,

it's not like he worked for Gary his whole career. Honestly, only worked for him for a couple years. He's worked for Mike Zimmer and Kevin Stefansky. He's worked for Kyle Shanahan. He's now worked for Mike McDonald. Last year he worked in New Orleans when Dennis Allen and Dennis Allen got fired. But he's seen a lot of different things. So for a guy who turns 39 here in a couple weeks, he has a ton of experience.

And to me, from a football standpoint, what fires me up the most and would if I was a Raider fan, his offense is tailor-made to Fernando Mendoza. When I watch Fernando Mendoza play, I think that is a Kyle Shanahan offensive player. He's accurate, he's mobile, and he's going to thrive under center. Like when I've watched him play at Indiana, I thought he is ideal for the LaFloor in Green Bay, Kyle in San Francisco, Kubiak in Seattle, an offense that is going to be run-oriented, which he did in Indiana and have ideally less than 30 attempts a game.

And you're going to have to make a small percentage of really, really hard plays. Obviously some games change a little bit depending on the score. But that's how ideally they want to play. And if you're Clint, you come in with the number one pick, Mendoza, who's going to fit your offensive scheme. They just drafted a running back in the top 10 who, Genti did show signs at the end of the year. He had some big games late.

Just, you know, it's a very talented player. Is he ever going to live up to being the six pick? Time will tell, but he's definitely a starter in the NFL. They're going to need more out of him. He's going to need to push him. I mean, look what happened with Kenneth Walker down the stretch of this season. He's been excellent. And they got Brock Bowers, who is a superstar when he's on the field and healthy.

So you have some core pieces there on offense. You've got a star tight end, a running back that you need to take up a level and the number one pick on offense. I also think as a young guy, you come in with SpyTech, another young guy, and you get to build it the right way. Pete Carroll, like any old guy, they're not thinking about the next 10 years. Pete, now, he's probably going to live long because he looks fantastic at 75. But like Pete Carroll was living day-to-day game-to-game.

Pete Carroll, if you're like, hey, should we have a conversation about entertaining, seeing what we get on the open market about Max Crosby last year when they took over the job, which they should have done, Pete Carroll would have thrown his body against that because he would not be into that at all. because he was trying to win week one, week two, he was obsessed with the short term. And the Raiders, the way they currently are, should be a big picture long-term operation, especially in the division they are. Now you get a younger guy with a big picture view, SpyTech and him can do it the right way.

And to me, the number one thing they have to do, and this is not easy because he's everything you want in a player, but for the health of your organization is you have to entertain trading Max Crosby this off-season. You don't have to do it. But you're insane if you don't go to the combine and you talk to people and just go, hey, could we get a couple first round picks and just change the course of our setup here and invest in the offensive line and just kind of start over? And in fairness, kind of throw Max Crosby a bone, let him go to a place that can win.

A Chicago, a Philly, a Detroit, a Buffalo, you name it. But a team that's going to compete for the playoffs, because the Raiders just simply are not going to compete for the playoffs. next year. And if you're Max Crosby in the prime of your career, you play your ass off, you kind of deserve that. It's kind of got an NBA like Kevin Garnett, Yannis feel. It's like, this ain't working. We're not on the same timelines here. And for the first time, it feels like the Raiders now have a vision in a couple years. Because they've just been off kilter with all the firings. And you bring in a young guy and you just let him in spite tech cook and just see if they can build it around the quarterback.

And they're lucky that, you know, some drafts have a quarterback that you feel very comfortable with. And this is a guy to me that fits this offensive scheme perfectly. So if I'm a Raider fan, I'm pretty excited. We get a young hot shot who really resurrected his career over the last couple years in terms of just becoming an offensive coordinator, being a guy like, God, this guy knows this system like the back of his hand. Of course he does. It's literally his dad's family business, this offense.

This offense, we talked to. so much about the Shanahan family. Go back and look when Kyle was Gary's offensive coordinator with the Houston Texans, when they had the likes of, I'm trying to think of the running back. I don't know why I'm blanking right now. He's from Tennessee. Arian Foster and the number one rushing attack in the league. They had Andre Johnson and the tight ends thrived.

The offense was football poor. It didn't get any better. It was unstoppable. Matt Schaub was a quarterback. and they were going to the playoffs every year. Now, they didn't go anywhere in the playoffs, but it kicked ass and took names. So, props to the Raiders for finally doing something that goes,

oh, that makes a lot of sense. Kyle Shanahan, Robert Saul left, and he needed a defensive coordinator. And a lot of signs pointed to, like, Gus Bradley, who had been on the staff. I think they had kind of brought him with Robert because they knew that Saul could get a head coachy job. And obviously he did.

He was like, oh, he's just going to name Gus Bradley, the guy, and Kyle even said at the end of the year press conference that Gus Bradley is the number one internal candidate. But the moment Rahim Morris got fired and obviously when Jim Schwartz became available last week in theory, who knows if the Browns let him go, you couldn't hire Gus Bradley. Gus Bradley seems like a great guy,

but the 49ers, I couldn't name my defensive coordinator. One, I think he's not a great defensive coordinator. Great guy, probably great position coach, great guy to have in the operation. But if you had the opportunity to get Rahean, Morris. If you had the opportunity to get Jim Schwartz, you had to do it. Especially Kyle and Rahim are like really good friends. Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVey are like Rahim's guys.

So love to hire. Part of the 49ers, you know, Robert Salah, D'Amico Ryans, they have not only had great defensive coaches, those guys really resonated with their players. There was something about Fred and Bosa about what. the way they talk to those guys and the way they interacted with those guys, that just inspired something that other guys have not. And I think that was something that Rahim brings to the table. I mentioned this with Brian Flores.

Not a good head coach, clearly, right? I'm talking about Rahim Morse. But there's nothing like being a number two in the NFL when you're a highly thought of and, you know, desired individual. You make millions of dollars. So I think Rahe Morris makes a ton of sense. And honestly, I don't think the 49ers will really skip a beat. I actually think you could kind of maintain that level.

He just had a ton of success before he went to Atlanta with Sean McVeigh in L.A. He's a really, really good defensive mind. He's just a fantastic. Certain guys, Sala has this. They're just elite with players. I mean elite with players. And Rahim is. And there's something that I don't know if he's missing when he's a head coach.

Maybe he's just the accountability isn't there. You don't need to do that with the 49ers. Kyle handles that, right? The organization handles that. Rahim just gets the coach. Just gets to fire guys up and fucking scheme the defense. So love the hire. The Arizona Cardinals have hired Matt LaFleur or Mike LaFleur.

Matt is the coach of Green Bay Packers. Mike and Matt are brothers, obviously. And my number one take is like, whatever. And this is nothing against LaFleur, who probably got a raw deal a couple years. ago when Woody forced him to fire, Robert to fire him. This Arizona job's horrendous.

I know they got some players. They have no quarterback and they're in a division with Sean McVeigh, Kyle Shanahan, and Mike McDonald with an owner who is one of, if not the cheapest guys in the league. The league would love to have himself the team. That's a Roger Goodell wet dream. That Bidwell calls him one day. He's like, I want out.

I want to cash in, get my, you probably sell the team for five to seven billion and just cash out. They would love that to happen, but no signs point to that happening anytime soon. So you've got to deal with him. This organization is just, it's been terrible since I was a kid, and I don't see much changing.

So I don't blame LaFleur for taking this job. You get a huge raise. They fire you in a couple years. I've got to pay you to go away, and you can just be an offensive coordinator somewhere else. But what is their path? How do you find a couple of? who are the quarterbacks even available?

One in free agency, and this draft is terrible. So, and you obviously don't have the number one pick. This is nothing against LaFleur as a coach, which I'm sure he will be fine. Like Kubiak will run that thing. But I would say the same thing, kind of about the Raider job, if there was no quarterback to be at. I'd be like, what are you going to do? And that's my question to Arizona.

What are you going to do? And the answer is, I don't know. Neither do they. Because there is no answer in the immediate future. So if you have no quarterback in this league, we saw last year. Jacoby actually didn't play bad. And they were getting their ass kicked every single week. So I just think Cardinal fans, I don't know how many there are of you.

I know producer Jackson's a big one. I think you're in for dark days ahead. I just don't see much changing. I really don't. And another big story that was reported at the end of last week that seems kind of all but confirmed. is the Seattle Seahawks are going to go up for sale. You know, Paul Allen, the owner of the Blazers in Seattle and the Seahawks,

passed away several years ago, and now it's in his family. There was a report by the Wall Street Journal that the NFL fined them for $5 million because of some sort of ownership. I don't even, you know, they didn't meet certain standards. It was kind of confusing. I didn't quite understand it. The NFL has pushed back saying that was not true. The Seattle Seahawks denied it.

Either way, it all signs due point to this franchise becoming available. And it's just, you know, the commanders became available a couple years ago. They had no quarterback. They had no coach. It was kind of, they have a changing name all the time. They need a new stadium. It's just, it was a lot. Right?

And that franchise went for what, $6 billion? dollars. Seattle could potentially be coming off a Super Bowl. I mean, they're the heavy favorites to win this game. I think most of us, unless you're some Patriot diehard, expect Seattle to win, unless Sam Darnel plays a terrible game. They have a star young coach. They have a superstar general manager. It doesn't get that much better. I look at the Lakers. The Jeannie sold the percentage, it was valued on $10 billion. I think it's a little. bit, not overvalued because it's an all-time great brand, but is JJ Redick any good? You know, it's like, okay, you got Luca, well, okay, LeBron's about to retire.

The local television revenue is going to slowly disappear. It's actually more of a, and you've got a salary cap that's hard-capped. It's a little more challenging than just like paying a premium to buy the Dodgers. To me, this NFL team that has an incredible fan base, and this is not me shitting on the Lakers, my point is, taking over that job is going to take some work. It's not like, it's just, hey, ready-made, Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant, Shack, boom, Jerry West, take it and run. Like, that's not quite Seattle, but they're much closer to that than they are, like,

the Washington commanders a couple years. So whatever the number is, now, how many humans on this earth can't afford to pay $5, six, seven, $8 billion for something, right? It's why a lot of these groups now or teams are bought in groups. You know, there have been rumors about Jeff Bezos. Could he purchase it? Does he want to? Like, does he want to own an NFL team?

Could he? Yes. Does he want to? Because if you don't want to, why do you want the hassle? So how many Jeff Bezos types are there? There's not as many as you think. And here's the other thing. The NFL's does not sell them to anybody.

They got to feel comfortable like David Tepper was already a minority owner. Jimmy Haslam was already a minority owner. Both those guys were already in the circle. I've said this forever about commissioners. They are never going to hire a commissioner that's from like the number two for Jamie Diamond. It's like, oh, the NFL, just Roger Goodell's replacement was coming from JPMorgan Chase. That's never happening now. There's too many bodies buried, too much shady shit going.

You keep it in-house. It's like a membership. It's like a gust of national. Once you're in the club, you're in the club, but everything stays in the club. Anything gets leaked, you're in fucking big trouble. That's not going to fly here. It's why Brian Rolap, the new PGA Tour Commissioner, why do you think he took that job?

Because he wants to prove to the NFL owners when Roger retires. Look at me. Look at what I've done. Like, you already knew me. You're already comfortable with me. You know I know what no one else is supposed to know. But now I've proven that I can run this, which is way more difficult and way more niche

and had way more shit going on than you guys do. It's pretty, like, I would be stunned if Brian Rolap is not the next commissioner of the National Football League. They're not just going to hire like some random business guy. That's not how it works. Look at all the other sports. Manfred, Adam Silver, he keep it in the family.

So I am fascinated, is there a guy, a minority owner on a different team with a bunch of money that wants his own team? Because clearly Jimmy Haslam, David Tepper. Josh Harris was kind of unique to this is an ultra-rich guy who already owned a team someone like that which again I don't know who's going to be but they're going to get a ton of money

and whoever does buy this team is going to be pretty lucky because this team is a pretty unique buy typically like you buy the Browns right you buy the Panthers you just buy something that's in shambles that is not the case here when's the last time let's assume they win

so they win the Super Bowl a championship team within a week or a month just is available for purchase. I'm sure it's happened before, way back in the day. Doesn't feel like it's happened anytime recently. So the Allen's are going to make out, Paul deserves credit. I mean, he made a couple purchases and they've been financially pretty lucrative. Pretty good ROI on buying that bad boy.

So, you know, Seattle, he gets a lot of credit. That John Schneider, P. Carroll tandem, and then just obviously keeping John has just kept the thing rolling. So I'm sure that'll be a story this week about the potential sale. Who would be interested? What would be names to keep an eye on? But we'll follow that one. Adios. The volume.

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