The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 & Out - Tom Brady's roast, NFL Schedule Release, OBJ signs

Episode Date: May 7, 2024

John dives into the Netflix roast on Tom Brady and how it was surprisingly very funny and gave us a chance to see Tom, Belichick, and Julian Edelman as real people. John also talks about Dolphins owner Stephen Ross turning down a $10 billion offer to sell the team, Aaron Rodgers' recovery, how the NFL schedule release is bigger than the NBA playoffs, and OBJ has a new team. Lastly, John answers your questions in this episode's mailbag segment. 6:45 - Tom Brady's roast 20:42 - Stephen Ross 25:31 - Aaron Rodgers' recovery 28:51 - NFL schedule 31:11 - The Patriots 33:27 - OBJ signs 40:45 - Mailbag  Follow John on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest. Check out Gametime - the fastest growing ticketing app in the US, and the official ticketing app of 3 & Out and GoLow -  for tickets to all of your favorite NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA teams. Concert and comedy show tickets, too. Go to Gametime now to create an account, download the app and use code JOHN for $20 off your first purchase. #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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How are we doing? I watched the Tom Brady roast, and I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it was fantastic. Made me laugh. So I wanted to talk about it today. One, just how awesome it was, and two, why would Tom Brady agree to do that?

Obviously money, which we all know kind of rules today, but was it just simply get a paycheck? I have some theories behind that. Stephen Ross, talking about a paycheck, was allegedly offered $10 billion for the Dolphins. He said, no, I'm good. The timing on injuries and their impact on this upcoming season, we'll just fly around some other stories.

Pats searching for a GM, though Elliot Wolf could become it. The schedule release right around the corner, Burroughs Thoreau throws, Beckham Jr., on the Dolphins, and the mailbag. I need you guys to fire in the mailbag at John Middlecough, Instagram, DMs wide open. Offseason, baby. I need you. This is the people's show.

So fire in those DMs at John Middlecough is my Instagram and get your questions answered here. We'll do a mailbag today, like every day. And other than that, I think the game plan is full speed ahead. Got some guests coming up. College and pro. And we'll just start rocking and rolling because, you know, we've got another month and a half OTAs, offseason, you know, guys start practicing and then we'll go on a little summer break.

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Complete transparency here. We've all been seeing the ads if you flip into Netflix or social media. Instagram, Twitter, wherever, LinkedIn, I don't know, wherever your TikTok. My first reaction over the last couple weeks leading in until Sunday night was, this is going to be stupid. Like, honestly, I'm probably not going to watch because my expectations were low. I think it would probably be pretty cringy.

I was not expecting a NC17 version of what I want in a roast. And I didn't start it when it started live. I'm cooking some steaks, made some nachos in the air fryer, highly recommend, for Cinco Day Mile. And I'm out by the barbecue, getting the meat ready. And I'm just kind of scrolling on Twitter. And I'm seeing all the clips from Edelman, from Belichick, from Kevin Hart. I'm like, God, they're kind of letting it rip. So when I got into bed, give or take about 9 o'clock, I'm an old man, I know.

I turn that thing on. Now, it's long. No spoilers here, because it just came out. I know a lot of people just, this isn't 1998. We're not all watching the same thing at time, but it's three hours long. And I ended up going to bed probably like 1145. I fast forward through a couple things. I knew Affleck, according to the internet wasn't that good.

But I'm telling you, I was blown away. I laughed out loud constantly. And like I said, my expectations couldn't have been higher. because if you told me something like this was going to happen with someone of Brady stature, I would expect it to kind of be closer to PG than X-rated. And I got news for you, this thing is basically, this is not for kids.

So if you have an 8-year-old, a 10-year-old, you know, when I was 10 or 12, I would have found a way to watch it. But I know a lot of people, a lot of swearing, a lot of vulgar stuff, which is what I want in one of these events. And here's where I give Brady credit. Now, we'll get into why he did it, so ultimately you're doing it for money, but he's already insanely wealthy. Can you imagine, let's think of a couple other athletes that are his fame, if not more famous, right?

Tiger Woods or LeBron James. There's no amount of money you could pay those guys to do what Tom Brady just did. Zero. It would not happen. Obviously, Tiger would never even think about it because the roast would be so incredible, but he would never do it. and for Tom, whose image, and I go on Gottlieb show, he does a radio show for Fox Sports, I go on every Tuesday.

And I think last week we talked about it, like, what's the point of this? And he had a theory that Tom's trying to kind of change his image, because there was a huge negative image at the end of his New England run. Right, he was kind of a villain. A lot of people didn't like him, I guess. I never really felt that way. I guess if you were a Jets fan or a Dolphins fan or a Chiefs fan or a football fan, you rooted against him.

But I've never met anyone that's like Tom Brady's a scumbag. You've literally never heard one teammate, not one teammate that he's ever played with, say a bad word about the guy. Not one. I've never heard it. Obviously him and Bill butted heads, but as a human being, like people love the guy. He's got this weird way of being this super famous, super rich, super accomplished guy,

but kind of relating with practice squad guys, relating with random players, let alone his star group of players. And when he did this, and they were just letting it fly from the jump, talking a ton about Giselle and the karate kid that she's now dating, I was blown away. It was excellent.

It's one of the most shocked. Like sometimes you turn on a show, because if you read about it and then it's really good, like this show, I think it's called like Reindeer Man or something. something pretty good show pretty entertaining but i didn't have necessarily any expectations besides yeah it was kind of crazy this my expectations couldn't have been any lower because my expectations of these super famous guys they love to control the message and it can be really cringe and it's just can get really weird and that wasn't this way at all they came out of the gates swinging so

props to netflix who obviously has business um you know they have a dog in this fight right all the comedians that were there. I'm sure they're all intertwined doing specials on the platform. So this is good business. But to get him, no matter how much money you are paying him, to give the thumbs up, a lot of credit. Because I think what we want, what is really in, I listen to some of the Eddie Vedder interview with Simmons, Pearl Jam lead singer. And I think, and listen, I'm a sucker. Like the most, I would say the genres of music, I'm a music guy. I listen to everything, but I would say the things I most consistently listen to would be like 90s music in general, but specifically like grunge rock and country music. I would say country on the pie chart's pretty high, but grunge music is right up there.

And there was a raw and realness to that group in that era of music. And I think it really resonated with a lot of people. And I think what's then we got very corporate for a long period of time. And now we're shifting back to the corporate. Lingo BS, we tune out. We don't watch you. I'm sure many people have seen some of the stats of some of these legacy media, television, newspapers.

They're in the tank. We just don't really consume them anymore. And some of these unfiltered, answer to nobody, independent, quote-unquote content creators, that could be Rogan, that could be whoever, crush. I mean dominate. I'm in the golf world. I love golf. Do you know who dominates in the golf world?

independent YouTube creators. They get more people to watch their stuff and they can do whatever the hell they want. They shoot their own videos, put it up, them playing golf, and they get more people to watch than PJ Tour tournaments. You know why?

Because we like people that we think are being real. And that's what that was last night. It was a lot of stuff that was real and they were letting it fly. And it got a little weird at times. Now what's not real is, you know, what's weird about Tom is clearly as fake hair.

He's got some work done. Same with Affleck. Yet he still feels in a weird way kind of relatable for being a guy with hundreds of millions of dollars, married to supermodel for everyone, forever. Looks kind of fake now.

It's like, God, Tom seems pretty cool. Even in a weird way. He obviously does some weird stuff with his health. How do you blame him, though? It worked. He played until he was 45. You won a Super Bowl at 42, 43 years old.

But I can't recommend it enough. and I would have thought a week ago, if I was, one, I wouldn't have watched, and two that I would ever have given it like two thumbs up, no chance. Couldn't have seen it. And I like raw. I like things that make people uncomfortable.

And that's what good comedy is. You should be like, damn. And there was a lot of that. So, excellent production. Now, here's the question I have. Why would Tom do it? And one constant joke is the crypto scam. He lost, you know, they say 30 million.

If they're saying 30 million, shit, it might have been 50 million. If I had to take an educated guess, I don't exactly, I've never done a Netflix special. How much Netflix paid him? I don't know if they do it over how many people watch, how many people subscribe, if it's a flat rate. My guess would be, that number is way higher than you imagine. My guess would be closer to 50 million than like 10 million. I would be stunned if over the course of a week, I mean, tens of millions of people don't watch that show.

If you told me that over a month span, 100 million people watch, I'd believe you. At least bits and pieces of it. Like, that's what I would expect. Tom Brady's trying to buy a piece of the Raiders. He already did. And then the NFL said, no, you can't buy it at that price. Why? Because the NFL didn't want Mark Davis to set up.

him while it's a tiny piece of the team, whatever percentage it ends up being 1%, 2%, 5%, at a discounted rate. We're not into diluting our assets. So if your franchise is valued, let's just pick a number, you say 5 billion, Mark Davis could easily sell it for more than that. Let's say 5. Whatever the percent he is buying that, it's based off that number. You can't just say, hey, we'll give you a couple percent, give us $30 million. dollars. And the value of these teams, as we'll talk about Stephen Ross, is astronomical. Well, just because you're super rich doesn't mean you're super liquid. So maybe Tom went, listen, it's going to be uncomfortable. And I bet the one thing that he had to think long and

hard of is they were going to come at him hard for Giselle. And even if he can't stand her anymore, he does have children. And those kids are going to watch that. And that's where it gets weird. Like Tom, and I'm just assuming, does not give a shit what she thinks at this point in time. But he does care deeply about his children and what they're going to think about, you know, talking about who her mom's sleeping with, even though Tom probably doesn't even care. I mean, he's got a lot of options. But I wonder if they made that number that like, okay, now I'm much more liquid to be able to pull this off. Because the NFL pushed back about that initial number, whatever Mark Davis was cool with taking.

And like, that's not enough money, which I totally understand from the NFL stand. We don't give away. I don't care how famous or how cool the guy is. Like, the number is a number here. We're in the business of boosting these valuations. We all benefit from that. That's my theory, is that this number that he got last night or we'll get over the course of the next couple months is huge.

And instead of having to sell assets or whatever he has to. a dude to liquidate himself, he can just get a large piece of that from this. And we've seen over the years, Netflix throws a lot of money around. And they've gotten much more specific about what they do now than they did seven, eight years ago when they just paid and probably wasted money. They had a pretty good idea this was going to work. And they clearly paid a premium for a lot of people. Kevin Hart, Peyton Manning's there, Bill Belichick's there.

It was excellent. I mean, the heavy hitters were there. You got Harbaugh, Kyle Shanning. hand in attendance, Kardashian, it felt like a big, big event. And we just don't get those anymore. Now, it's different because when I was

a kid, the equivalent of this event never would have looked like this because it would have been on ABC or CBS and you wouldn't have been able to swear. Which I like this world we live in much more. Like this is how people talk, especially in the football world. So let them, and comedians, let them talk how they're going to talk. And it just goes on Netflix, which last time I checked, have hundreds of

millions of people that subscribe. I would say Netflix currently is infinitely larger than CBS, ABC, NBC. More people on a nightly basis click to go to Netflix when they're in their bed

or in their living room, then they do those channels now. And obviously those channels still function well with the older demographic, but when you factor in the entire population, just domestically, is probably not a fair fight. and that pie chart will only grow and grow for Netflix. So my guess is they paid $100 million plus just to put this on,

pay for everyone to come, and this will help Tom kind of maybe get over the hump and officially become that Raiders minority owner, which will also put an end to his ability to play anymore. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashes.

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Stephen Ross, I think a lot of people are like, damn, these NFL teams aren't normal bidding processes. You're not putting it on the open market like you would with a house or a car or any, even a normal business. Like, hey, what's it worth? Because the NFL doesn't typically sell to random people. And obviously, the pool of people that can afford. to spend $3, 4, $5, $8 billion is very, very small.

But if you look at the recent people that bought in to the NFL, it has been minority owners. Jimmy Haslam was a minority owner. David Tepper was a minority owner. These people have already been involved in the league, and then they just basically get the first right when these teams become available. If you put some of these franchises on the open market

and had a true bidding, like the Miami dollar, dolphins, which is obviously one of the most desirable cities in this country. It has massive tax advantages from the ability to build your team for your own business, for yourself. And then you just factor in the leak, how much the league guarantees you, you can't lose money. It's impossible to fail.

It is truly one of the great American businesses going on right now. They have a fixed contract with the television. networks that ensure their ability to be positive. No matter what. Because the highest cost that they'll ever have is the salary cap and the number they get from the TV deal split between 32 teams is dramatically higher. The salary cap's $210 million. They got a $410 million check. You do the math. You're in pretty good shape. And I'm not even factoring in anything else. Nothing involved with the stadium, nothing involved with any other sales. So when I read the, that Stephen Ross turned down 10 billion.

I saw a lot of reaction like, that's crazy. It's not crazy at all. One, even if he thought about selling it, if you sell it for 10 billion, you're only seeing half. You couldn't spend that money. Stephen Ross is an older guy if you try.

So the money for a guy that's already very, very wealthy, it's kind of in a weird way irrelevant. Two, his entire life, he's part of this business where his entire life is built through the business. Everything he does, the majority of it at least, is expense through his business. He lives through the dolphins.

Factoring in the lines of credit, he gets to operate because of the value of the team. It would actually make no financial sense to sell the team when it is valued as much as it is. When you factor in what you get back, you get the cash, great. you lose the most important thing you have. The asset that has the cash and the value

where you don't have any risk. It's a risk-free business. Think about Mark Davis, who in the Davis family have always, at least until recently, been one of the more cash-poor organizations in the league. If you put the Raiders on a true open auction when you factor in the new stadium,

when you factor in the city they live in, when you factor in just projecting how many people are moving to the state because of its tax advantages and the growing market that is the greater Las Vegas area, I think he'd get $8 billion. But why in the hell would he ever sell? Now the thing with him, he doesn't have children, Stephen Ross does and he wants to keep it in the family. There are obviously variables at play, but I just saw Mark Davis built a $20 million house in Henderson, Nevada. I didn't think he did that. Who do you think's giving him the loan?

Why do you think he can get a big loan without even flinching? Because of the business he has. Doesn't have to use his own cash. It doesn't even matter if he has cash in the bank or not. He gets it through his team. For white people that own businesses, you get massive, massive advantages. The game's little rigged. Now you've got to take the risk.

Now, some of these people were born into it like Mark. Stephen, I think, bought the team. But when you have something that's valuable, it makes zero sense when there aren't, you know, rocky times ahead. It's one thing if you like, hey, see some weird shit going on in the future. Okay, get out. But it doesn't really feel like that, at least for the foreseeable future when it comes to be an NFL owner. So when I see that Stephen Ross turned down 10 billion, I think every owner would turn that down.

You know what's funny is Aaron Rogers is full speed ahead. they say he's going to be full go at OTAs. He was last year, and remember he like pulled a calf muscle, but like he was able to practice and it brought all this positive buzz and he was going to hockey games and MSG and it was just fun, right?

It was like, God, Rogers is changing the Jets and then he gets hurt on opening night, Monday night football. If you are going to get injured, now let's factor this in. The Achilles injury when I was growing up, in the 90s, ended careers.

You were never the same. You were done. It clearly is much closer to what the ACL became over the last 20 years than what it once was. It does not ruin a career. You could not only come back,

but play at a pretty high level. Now, unlike a lot of guys that have torn Achilles in younger years, this guy is 40 years old. And even before he tore his Achilles, when you watch the move around, he didn't quite move the same. But when you get injured with a massive injury,

whether it be an ACL, whether it being Achilles, your timeline is dramatically different than, say, Kirk Cousins, who basically got injured two months later, who's not going to be available at OTAs. It's why it brings in the question of, well, what's going to happen when Michael Pennix has taken all the one reps and he looks good and all the teammates like him? Drake Greenlaw tore his Achilles in the Super Bowl

It's fair to say that he won't be ready Any means the first couple months of the season That's why the 49ers tried to sign Eric Kendricks Who ultimately flip-flopped And went to the Cowboys Because he's boys with Mike Zimmer And I saw some quotes from him He's like, yeah, I just wasn't really guaranteed a role

I knew at the end of the day If guys are healthy I'm playing a backup role but they were signing me basically as a contingency plan if Greenloves not able to go. But if he is and looks okay, then he's going to play because he's a better player in 2024 than an older version of Kendricks.

The timing of injuries is so big when it comes to a season ender. When you get injured in the playoffs, when you get injured in the Super Bowl, that timeline, you're talking early on in the season. I can't count on you. for as shitty as the Achilles injury was for ruining the jet season

and it ruined their season. Who knows how good they were going to be? But once he went down, they had no chance. None. Even though they won that night against the bills, their season ended the moment that guy got carted back to the locker room. On the bright side, he's going to be raring and ready to go.

So if you also would have missed the playoffs and he would have torn his Achilles in December, it might not have been the same. I don't give a shit what doctors are telling him and what rehab he was doing. It also gave him the capability, kind of look in the mirror right away, and like, I want to battle back.

So, listen, the first glass half full thing I've said about the Jets in a while is, like, the timing of that injury, if he was going to get hurt, I would say worked out pretty well. Let's fly around the NFL. The schedule release is, they don't come out with a specific date,

but it's looking like, either within the next 14 days. Isn't it crazy how big the schedule release is? You could argue that the schedule release in the NFL and the buzz it creates and the interest that people paying attention is bigger than any regular season baseball or basketball game. We already know who's playing who. Hell, we even know some of the games.

Eagles, Packers, Brazil. Still, we're just finding out when they play them. When your buy week is, when your Thursday week is, who's playing on Christmas, how many Monday night games you get. But we know, as of today, like we've known for a while, every one of your opponents, home and away. So it's not like you don't even have the home schedule, you know exactly who you're playing. They just tell you the order. And on what network? And even that is subject to change.

Who's good, who sucks, flex schedules? I would say the schedule release more than any other thing in the NFL in the offseason post-sup ball is the most symbolic moment of the entire operation's importance. I've never heard of anyone talking about like the baseball schedule.

My entire life in the off-season. The NBA schedule? Who discusses this stuff? This is not only a discussion point. It's a really, really, really, big deal. Now I get it. Football, every game is much more important. Days you play, travel, flying east coast to west coast or west coast to east coast or short weeks or you got to stay in one area because you got to, you know, you play out if you're a West Coast team, you play Tampa and then

you're playing the Panthers the next week. So you're just going to stay at, you know, wherever. But it's pretty wild the power of just this basic. one hour, schedules get released, things get leaked. Yeah, it's just, it kind of leaves me speechless sometimes when I think about it. The Patriots, I've been saying for a while, I'm out, I've been out, like I'm just, I'm not in. Even though I like Drake May, I do. And I'm not a Patriot hater. For 20 plus years, I not only admired them in a weird way at times, I rooted for them.

love Belichick and Tom I'm a Fresno State guy a ton of Fresno State guys played for them over the years I got to know guys that work there in the front office but I think their operation feels very weird

they fired Belichick they had the opportunity to start from scratch Elliot Wolfe who has been in the mix to be a GM at different places for like the last five years basically got elevated to run the offseason. But they didn't give him the job.

Why would you during a transitional period? And he may end up getting the job and maybe he will. But not just give him the job when you gave Gerard mail the job. Why would you leave it to chance that like, yeah, this guy might not be the guy. We might go in a different direction. It just feels a little chaotic. And Bob Craft at the Roast really tries to like, make it less awkward that it's become like, Bob, you guys trashed fucking Belichick.

Trashed him. Which, again, you could, you fired him. You told us you were ready to move out. That's fine. But to like try to trash his legacy, it feels like this, I don't know, insecurity with the craft family. But this feels a little weird. Now, maybe, listen, Bill didn't give coordinator titles a lot of times with some younger coaches officially sometimes to the season.

Sometimes he didn't have them during the season. Obviously internally he had him. So maybe they're trying to do a little bit of that. But I just don't understand letting a guy run your entire off season unless you've given him the wink week handshake, but I don't think they did. And I understand there are logistics behind it. You can't officially give him the job, but you could have just ran a normal search and still giving him the job.

So it just, the Patriots just feel a little chaotic to me. O'Dell Beckham signed with the Dolphins And I know a lot of people get mad Like why did people talk about Odo Beckham so much He hasn't been relevant in a long time He's way more famous than he is good as a player Obviously Baltimore paid him too much last year Now there were

Circumstances in terms of Lamar pressured them and they did that to make Lamar happy One thing I heard from people in Baltimore They fucking love the guy how hard he worked, how good of a mentor he was to the younger players, how hard he blocked. So the Odell Beckham that we used to talk about, the one-handed catches, some of the Diva stuff, I actually think he's much more embraced the type player that he is currently in his early 30s. He's just a really, really good role player who tries hard.

Look at Clowny. Like Clowny now is just a really, really solid role. player and a guy you won on the team, a guy that you can win with. Well, the Ravens had both those guys last year. And up until the Chiefs kind of punked him and Lamar and Todd Munkin went into a shell, they were the best team in football start to finish. And having, and they valued those two guys. So like sometimes the perception when you get really famous follows you around.

And you as a player slash person aren't the same guy that you were five years ago. We all mature, we all change. Well, ideally, high-level people do. And I, from talking to enough people, O'Dell definitely has. And this number, you know, in the low millions, makes a lot more sense. Because he is a good role player. And he will block, which is something that is very important to Mike McDaniel in an offense that when they're not throwing bombs to Waddle and Tyreek,

like he's going to try to run the ball. Joe Burrell threw for the first time, at least publicly, put out a video. looks good. And when we're doing our hierarchies of, you know, the Chiefs, the Ravens, the Niners, the Lions, if this guy's healthy, the Bengals are a major factor. You could argue, of all the games played, he played the best game I saw,

and I watched, I don't know, 85, 90% of NFL games last year. As the season went on, like, I wasn't watching Panthers, Falcons. But any game that mattered, and most people listening probably did too. The game he played against the 49ers was like, I had a scout at the combine and say he thought that was the best film he saw all season long from anyone.

This was a pro scout. I'm like, yeah, I concur, man. That was like Joe Montana meets Tom Brady meets Peyton Manning. So if this guy's healthy, the Bengals, and let's face it, there's been one team beside Brady and Belichick in the AFC that has beat these guys in the playoffs. It was Burrell. on the road too. So if he's healthy,

which is a fair question, can he stay healthy? I hope he does because I like watching great players. The Bengals are going to be a fucking problem. And when he started getting healthy as the season went on before he hurt his elbow

or wrist or whatever he ended up injuring, they were a major problem. They were coming. So they're just a team and I do this disservice sometimes. You forget about him. You can't forget about him when he's on the field.

And healthy. You know, last year he had the calf and training camp. Obviously, the elbow, he's had the knee. He's got to find a way to keep him on the field, because when he's on the field, he's a dominant, dominant player. Last but not least, 18 of the 32 first rounders who were eligible for a fifth-year option

had theirs picked up. That's a pretty good year. As Schefter ran the numbers before the draft, it was under 50%. That's 56%. some of those guys The Sewells Devante Smith

Parsons and Chase Will got big extensions so I just think that it was a good draft it does feel a little bit more like an outlier the year before had 13 out of 32 so over the course of two years it was 31 out of 64

which is under 50% to me if you said over the course of 20 years what would you expect I would expect the number to be like 15.5 or 16.2. 18's probably about as good as you're going to do. But it does just show you, for as excited as we are, and every fan on their first round pick,

at minimum on a good year, 14 guys are not going to get it picked up. Now, just because you don't get it picked up doesn't mean that you can't have a huge fourth year and I give you a contract extension. But I would say if we did a study on that, guys that don't have their fifth year option picked up, they'd sign a second contract with the drafting team probably pretty low it's very very rare very rare i remember it happened once with the bears with the corner uh fuller i think his name was

is that who it was yeah but it doesn't happen very often so celebrate when teams get it right imagine an olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged it's the enhanced games some call it grotesque others say it's Enleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast, Superhuman, documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clipper Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions.

my journey from basketball to college football or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite

athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show, isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told,

and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, And so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tontons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The NBA playoffs are here. We'll be breaking down all the action on the Colin Coward podcast. You'll get my best takes. Great guests like my buddy Nick Wright. Check out the Colin Coward podcast. Part of the volume network available on Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, Middilkoff mailbag time. Ad John Middlecoff.

Add John Middlecoff as the Instagram. Fire into those DMs. Going to need a lot more DMs. So fire in. Offseason, heavily involved with the people. So make sure you fire in there. Love the pod. My name is Larry.

I'm not on Instagram. This is my wife's. I moved to Scottsdale recently from Fair Oaks, and you had us cracking up about the self-checkout story. I'm a Raider fan, and I keep hearing we desperately need a quarterback. AOC, I think he means Aden O'Connell, was clearly the second best rookie quarterback.

Bar was low, I mean, but I hear you. So why is he being dismissed? but not Levis Young ETC. His QBR and completion percentage were roughly the same as Minchus. Five and four record, after all the McDaniels nonsense, seems respectable. What happened to give giving rookies until their second Thanksgiving second year? What was so horrible after the entire NFL world is out on Aiden? You have the good work.

Well, I don't think anyone's... Bryce Young was the number one overall pick. from Alabama. So I think people are giving him the benefit of the doubt in the sense of team was awful, chaotic, no talent. But I think a lot of people are very, very cautiously pessimistic. Like it's going to be a disaster. I would say the general consensus is Levis sucks.

The other thing is, in your division, you got Mahomes and Herbert. So Aiden O'Connell, if he's your starting quarterback, what was he? a fourth-round pick. I mean, you guys won a game last year against Kansas City when he didn't complete a pass in the second half. I just think it's fair to question the Raiders' quarterback

situation this year. Now, big picture, are they equipped with some talent? For sure. Is it like a disaster situation with your team? By no means. But your quarterback situation, can you guys make the playoffs

in the AFC with a Minchu AOC connection or combination. I don't think you can't. I think you'd have to agree. No. I think that's fair.

Is Aiden O'Connell even going to be the starter? Can he beat out Gardner Minchew? And I think that Gardner Minchew would be as good without Shane Stuyken to me would be a stretch. Now listen to Devante with Crosby on his pod.

He's very, very comfortable in this offense, and this offense is very quarterback friendly. If you can just distribute the ball, something field struggled a lot with. The reason they crushed Luke Getsey when he was the O.C. in Chicago. So could those guys be better for sure? I do think you're just playing two quarter...

The gap between your two quarterbacks of the teams that you're going to have to beat is just pretty high. You'd be like, well, they beat them. They got Jim Harbaugh now. So the Chargers are going to be a problem. And we know the Chiefs are a problem. And ultimately, like, yeah, it's a divisional game. Maybe you can beat them.

How do you get to 9-10 wins? How do you get to 10? Because even 10 doesn't guarantee you in the AFC a playoff spot. I think part of the problem when people are critical of the Raider situation when it comes to quarterbacks is you just look at the conference. Like the two we talked about in the division, the AFC North, Burrow Lamar. Who else am I missing?

Rogers is now with the Jets. Obviously Josh Allen. Trevor Lawrence, who most people think suck is still way better than your guys. CJ Stroud, obviously a star. I just think it's going to be very, very challenging. The Lions extended Penae Sewell

after his third season. Since he was his first round pick, wouldn't he have two years left with the fifth-year option? why extend them now? Does the extension kick in later or what? Well, the extension wouldn't kick in technically. You know, they give them up front signing bonus,

but on the books doesn't kick in until after the fifth year. The reason you do it now is the reason high-level guys, that happened to Josh Allen, it happened to Mahomes, it happened to Herbert, it happens to star players, is because you know, like, this guy is going to be our starting right tackle for 12 years. So if we extend them next year, it's only going to be more expensive.

And we know for a fact we're not getting rid of them. Like there's no question. Like my pushback on Tua is like, are you sure? Are you sure? Like they're sure. So if we can guarantee him, I don't have the full contract in front of me, but if I remember correctly, it's like $85 million. Well, if we wait a year and he's a pro bowler, all pro, we're good.

He's clearly one of the best, if not right behind lane. Johnson as one of the best tackles in the league on the right side, you go, is that number $105 million? So you just save, you get cost certainty, you're betting on him being a great player for a long time, and you have no hesitation in doing it because he's not going anywhere. So I think you just, you know the number only goes up, and you know he's not going anywhere. So it's an easy deal to do. But yeah, they did not have to do it.

100% did not have to do it. Now part of it is to build the finances, how this Jared Goff situation plays out, but I think deals like Sewell are the ones you want to do. You want to draft guys high who you have no hesitation signing to after their third year. You do not have to do it. I would say with a guy like him at his premium position,

with how good of a player he is, clearly how much they like him, how much he means their culture and their toughness. Probably an easy one. Love the show. Big Seattle fan. My question is how much do you think the Malcolm Butler interception

affected the team locker room in the following seasons? To me, it just felt like they were never the same. Injuries had a little factor, but they went from a clear-cut top in the NFC to just okay divisional round exit. It's good, I guess. To keep it short, my question is,

How much you think the Butler interception affected the Seahawks in the next two or three seasons? I've seen the players talk about it. You know, the Sherman's, the core group of guys, I think they thought they could have a dynasty. And if they win back to back, now, are they going to win three in a row? Probably not. But I think they have a chance to, you know, win three and four years. Or go to three, go to four Super Bowls in five years, something of that kind of level. It derailed their franchise at the highest level.

I mean, it's one of, I think it's the craziest moment in Super Bowl history. At least the craziest moment I remember watching live Bam Bam. We've seen 28 to 3. We've seen some collapses. We've seen some big plays. I don't think we've ever seen an altering moment like that. What it meant for New England and what it meant for you guys. because the rules changed a couple years later,

but no team was more equipped. Russell was young, Pete was in his prime, all your defensive guys were in their prime. Now, you never know, you win a couple, do you work as hard, but from everything that was reported after the fighting in the locker room, I think did Bruce Irvin have to be restrained from going after Pete? It's just something you don't shake.

And then the animosity that the team had toward Russ, because they thought Pete was trying to get him, the Super Bowl MVP, regardless of what was factual and what wasn't, why they ran the play. We could argue till we're blue in the face. Was it the right move? Was it not?

It was second down, right? It was just an incredible play. They had it scouted out. But the franchise never shook it. Now, Russell went on to become a star after that, but clearly defensively, they kind of dismantled it. And like you said, some injuries creeped in. I mean, Richard, a couple years later, tears his Achilles,

Earl has contract issues, Cam hurts his neck, but you win that, you're the favorites next year. So yeah, that sucks. I mean, that sucks. It's just a huge tipping point for a franchise, like to become a dynasty, you do need some things to go your way. And let's face it,

and a lot of football games, unlike a lot of sports, like when you're really good, you win the World Series. Would the Rangers win it? Five games? Once the Warriors got Kevin Durant, they just dominated, right?

With a big three with the heat. Like, once they kind of figured it out, they just kind of cruised to a couple titles. Football's not, I don't care how. I was thinking about this watching the Brady Dynasty or Brady Roast. obviously they talk a lot about the dynasty. He easily could have nine Super Bowls.

He also easily could have three or four. Like, think how close most of the, what was the easiest Patriot Super Bowl? Eagles, they had a couple touchdown lead or a double-digit lead in the second half. The Rams only scored three points. I would say those two were the easiest. and then the Rams won.

They had to drive their first one, drive the field with less than two minutes to go, kick game winning field goal. They kicked the game winning field goal against Carolina Panthers. Seattle, they easily could have lost. I mean, should have lost. They were down 28 to 3

in the second half. So the margin for error and it's what makes football so great. I don't care how good the teams are. Look at his last Super Bowl. Went to overtime. I mean, the Niners and Chiefs have played in two crazy Super Bowls. Honestly, one of Brady's easiest Super Bowls

was the one they played the Chiefs when they had lost both their tackles. And they couldn't block. Crazy when you think about it like that. So the key is you've got to win it. And at the end of the day, for as shitty as it kind of unraveled for you guys, you guys were Super Bowl champs.

It would have really sucked. Now, the one Super Bowl you guys won. you destroy that's actually probably one of the bigger blowouts in recent memory when you guys killed the Denver Broncos does the league tell every team that the pick the pick as soon as it's submitted watching on TV Godell doesn't seem to announce the pick until sometimes five minutes later the next team drafting and everyone looking to trade would need to know the draft pick right away well what happens is the league has like a I don't know the name of

it's like a website you sign into. It might just be like the NFL official website for the teams and you type in. So when you see the draft rooms and when you see some of these videos coming out of the all access, which is really cool. I mean, it's one of the positives of this world we live in where cameras are in the draft room

when someone turns around and goes, they picked pennics. the draft room knows 15 minutes before we do if we're not on social media because when I'm the Falcons and I turn in my card, a.k.a. someone in the draft room, calls someone in Detroit and says, we're going to select Michael Pennix. Before they hand Godell the card,

they type it in to the program that every team in the league is signed into. So every draft room has that program up on a computer and then usually one guy's job is to announce. The pick is in, it is, you know, you pick the player. Roma Dunez, Michael Pennix, whoever. So they know immediately. So the clock doesn't start until that name is in and every team knows it.

So what we're witnessing is a lot different than what the teams are experiencing. It's why these people that break the stories on Twitter they're either getting it from a team or from someone in the league tells them. Like when I'm texting with a buddy in a draft room, I go, who did so-and-so pick? He can tell me.

Because the draft room knows. So yeah, it's... Goodell, our experience on the outside is a lot different than the 32 teams. They know. There's not a lag. Because like you said, it'd be messed up. question. Do you think Cousins signed with Atlanta

if he knew they were going to draft one of the top quarterbacks? Albert Breer actually wrote about this today in the Monday morning quarterback. One of the reasons he was not just cool with leaving Minnesota, which is kind of why he was not that interested in coming back, they were very transparent with Cousins about their desire to get a quarterback high in the draft. They told them this last year. They just said, listen, just so you know,

we are going to be in the quarterback market when it comes to the draft. And when they negotiated in February and March, it was one of the things they were very open about. Now, I don't think they clearly weren't willing to pay the contract, but a big reason that they, that Cousins was kind of ready to move on from Minnesota is they said, like, listen, you're not going to be the starter here much longer. We are going to transition.

Atlanta clearly didn't tell him that. I do think if he knew that they were going to take a quarterback at 8, he would have played the market a little more. I don't think he really shopped himself around that much once Atlanta got so aggressive. And in fairness to cousins and his agent, once Atlanta's offering the $100 plus million dollars guaranteed, not in a million years do you think they're going to use that pick on a quarterback?

So even if they take a guy in the second or third round, whatever, but you never would have thought they would use the eighth pick on panics or whoever. He was stunned, just like we were stunned. The only people that weren't stunned were those people in that room, which they clearly fell in love with them over the course after free agency, which to me is a little crazy. I still, I think it's a complete waste of resources. You do one or the other.

And you would have known before a free agency if you liked the guy. And I think this is a clear indication. The coaching staff has a lot of juice. We'll get Michael Lombardi's coming on the pod next week. I'm texting with him today. He's, I totally agree with everything he said. Part of being the planning aspect of your scouts of knowing, like you would have known everything about,

Michael Pennix has been one of the most famous college players the last 24 months. so this isn't something that should have come up on you. So to me, cousins, I see both sides. One, like, this is what the money's for. We gave you all this money. You're our starting quarterback. We're not really into feelings,

which I do subscribe to, but also we are dealing with humans. In this situation, now with him injured and panic's getting the reps and it's just weird. I just think it's bad team building. When you put your team in this weird, situation. I'm all for investing in the quarterback position, but once you invest in cousins, which you could

argue is a question mark, he's coming off of Torn Achilles at 36 years old, and he's not a mobile guy. But they did that. So I don't know. I just think it's a bizarre situation. But back to your question, maybe he still would have gone there if he would have known March 15th that they were still going to take a quarterback at 8? Because the money's the money.

And one thing Cousins has shown is he fucking loves the money. He's been all about the money, which is completely his prerogative and something 99.9% of pro athletes have to be all about because their career is short. Like you're not, people aren't just handing you $100 million in the real world. It takes a long time to build something up to get to that point. And he's going to end his career as being probably one of the top five most. compensated players in the history of the league. So once you, I don't want to call him a mercenary,

but like, when you're just playing the open market, whoever's going to give you the most, they're not as invested in your feelings. You know, I'm paying you to play quarterback at a high level. We're going to do what we have to do for our team. You're 36.

Even if we all agree it's kind of a weird move, it's more than bizarre, and a waste of resources. but like they aren't as indebted to this guy emotionally. The sweat equity is not there. He's never, and the fans aren't going to care. They're just going to want to see the best player. Now when it comes to building your team, if your cousin's like, hey, you sign me because

you said it's time to win. And then we have this very, very valuable pick, the eighth pick where only offensive players are getting picked. We have a good O line, receivers. running backs, tight end. Our defensive line has sucked for a decade. And they're like four defensive linemen. Sweet defensive tackle, a couple pass rushers.

Hell, just trade back and get one of those guys, let alone just use that pick on one of those guys so we can try to win the NFC this year. We're trying to beat San Francisco, Detroit, Green Bay, Dallas, Philly. We're not good enough on defense to do that at the defensive line. Because that's how you win. Think about the final four teams, the Lions.

When did they really change? When they drafted Aidan Hutchison and their offensive line was sweet. Now they got a sweet pass rusher and an awesome offensive line. Playing the 49ers who have invested a boatload in the defensive line. The Ravens, awesome defensive line. Chris Jones literally, I don't want to say he single-handedly, but he was a major reason in that Super Bowl, the Chiefs won.

Niners couldn't block him. I play the Falcons like, how are they going to rush the passer? And then even the guy that they took in the second round, everyone I've talked to that literally does this for a living was like, I can't believe they took the kind of more of a project

over the Illinois pass rusher. I've had people say it wasn't even close on their boards. In regards to the fact, Falcon's selection of Pennix, is it possible that the impending penalty for tampering with cousins will be next year's first round pick? If Falcons leadership considered this a probability, that's why they would reach for Pennix. Penix isn't a reach. That's the weird part about this conversation. Penix, in a vacuum, really good player. How you could make the argument

second best quarterback in this draft. Obviously there are variables, his age, injury history, but just on tape for two years. It doesn't get that much better. Michigan game was tough, but fuck, Michigan dominate a lot of people. Made C.J. Stroud look pedestrian. So,

it kind of is what it is. When originally signing cousins, the plan could have been to draft his replacement in 25. They would have to expedite that plan, knowing the chance that a 2025 might be picking the mid-50s.

I do think, okay, they're talking to Cousins, quote-unquote, tampering. They're going to get the first round pick taken away. That feels like it'd be pretty, pretty penal. It feels like it'd be pretty extreme. I personally think it's all stupid. Everyone's tampering. There's literally a tampering period. And what do you think happening at the Combine?

When do you think Cousins and the Falcons ball got rolling with the outline of the contract? Do you think it was two days before whatever, that Wednesday on free agency? Or do you think it was at the NFL Combine in February, in early March? That's when everything happens. It's when all these trades take place. That's when business happens. I struggle with when leagues do this, when they get mad, when information gets leaked out, but we all know it's going on.

It's just, it's one of those things that kind of pisses me off. I struggle. I think it's so stupid. Now, it's also just a reality that, yeah, that they, is the, yeah,

could they for sure? Could that have played a factor? Yeah, that's actually one of the most logical reasons if you go, listen. We're going to get our first round pick taken away next year.

When are we going to have this opportunity? Makes a little more sense. But I, that seems pretty nuts even from Goodell. Take away their first round pick for just talking to cousins or having whoever on their team reach out to him before the tampering period technically started. This is Neil from the UK.

Curious what your take is with the Cowboys. They didn't sign Henry during last season. Then they try and sign them this offseason and now they signed Zeke, who has passed his prime, not an every down back, and is maybe a goal-line threat, short yardage player at best.

It feels like they are tanking instead of going all in. With the Giants and commanders drafting well and the Eagle signing players to contracts are the Cowboys the fourth best team in the division. I would say obviously injuries can derail things

in this sport. The Cowboys are easily the second best team in this division as we sit here on May 6th. So the hype on the Cowboys when Jerry says going all in was, hey, you've won 12 game for three years straight, how are you going to get over that hump and finally be in the NFC championship game, then he doesn't sign anybody and he pushes back saying,

well, I'm talking about signing her own guys, Mike is going to cost a lot of money, which we know Mike is going nowhere, this DAC situation. Well, are you going to extend DAC? Or are you just playing this out? Because if you're playing it out, I don't blame you. I would probably do that as well. Like, you're situated under the contracts, you know,

under the salary cap situation with his, I think, his cap hits like $55 million. But still, I mean, the Cowboys with McCarthy should 100% be better than Washington and Jane Daniels and the Giants and Daniel Jones. Now, are they better than the Eagles? On paper, they are not. On paper, the Eagles have improved

and on paper, the Cowboys, at best have just stayed neutral. Like, they were running game last year. Let's not forget, of himself. He's proven to be a role guy. The good thing is if the one position everyone says you're going to need is a running back, like you can find random guys.

An undrafted free agent can pop. You can trade for a guy during training camp. If they had needed a tackle and had been drafted running backs and linebackers, I'd be like, yeah, we're going to find a tackle. I have a hard time ever being critical when you invest in the line of scrimmage. Because when you're dominant up front,

O-line D-line, that can mask a lot of situations. The other thing, if their D-line is good, like, they got good D-Bs. Bland really kind of became a player last year. Diggs comes back off the injury. If he's solid, like, those are two impact D-Bs with a good defensive line. And if you've got a good offensive line,

which they invested in Guyton, right, that's his name, the Oklahoma offensive lineman, they took Tyler Smith last year. He's a good player. Still got Zach Martin. They got some serious talent up front. You add Mike Zimmer, you lose Dan Quinn. To me, that's the most fascinating part.

To me, Dau should be very, very competitive to not just win the division, but be in the playoffs. They should be a wildcard team. But Dan Quinn is like a positive, uplifting. You know, he's intense, but I would not call him like a negative crumudgeon. And I think Zimmer is an elite defensive coordinator. What he did in Minnesota, what he did with the Bengals when he was a coordinator. Mike Zimmer knows what he's doing when it comes to defensive football.

But he's kind of a throwback. It's kind of like 1980s, 1990s vibes. He's not Mr. Happy Go Lucky. So from a personality standpoint, going from that to this is a lot different. Is a lot different. Honestly, it's not that different from Philly Obviously, Fangio is a massive upgrade Over to what they had last year

But Vic's not Mr. Happy Go Lucky either And when they had some success with Jonathan Gannon Like Gannon's more of like the modern day Again, generations change And I'm not saying Zimmer doesn't know football But he's just The modern day player, him and Micah's relationship, is going to be something that we're all going to talk about, it's tough.

Because when your head coach is also the offensive coordinator or offensive coach, the defensive guy gets a lot of just rain. Rightfully so. When you hire Fangio or I saw it with the Niners hired Domingo. Like they get to do what they get to put their stamp on it. But your positive or negative energy plays a huge factor to your unit. Now, defensive guys are used to getting yelled at a lot. But going from Dan Quinn to Zimmer, personality-wise,

does feel like a pretty strong swing. Could work. Could be awesome. Because let's face it, a lot of people listening that are Cowboys fans were, like, did you see Dan Quinn? That game against the Packers? What the fuck are we talking about? I'm like, yeah, I'm not acting like Dan Quinn is Vince Lamberti here.

But he clearly resonated with his. this group. And two years ago, when they lost to the Niners in the second round, they easily could have won that game. Dack was just atrocious. So maybe it's really more on Dack playing well, which you could argue, are their weapons good enough? CED's a star, Ferguson's good. I just, would you like Sequin or Christian McCaffrey? Of course. But we've seen a lot of teams win with random backs. It's a little different in Baltimore because Lamar can run, but who have been their star running backs the last couple years.

Look at who the chiefs are playing with. Now, they're more of a past-oriented offense. But Pacheco, they got him in the seventh round. That's the thing with the draft. We talk about the draft grades. It's like, we see a lot of random guys that no one pays any attention to in the fifth, sixth, seventh round,

an undrafted free agents that all of a sudden in October, like, look at this guy. What's this guy's deal? Oh, he's a seventh round pick. Oh, this guy was an undrafted free agent. obviously all the hype goes with the top guys. And whenever you take linemen, especially offensive linemen high, it's kind of boring.

Let's face it. It's just a reality. When you take O linemen in the top like 50 picks, specifically with your first round pick, especially in the 20s, people just think it's, people get pissed off. But that's how you win. That's how you win.

Do I think the Cowboys are going to be playing the Super Bowl? No. But I've said this over and over about Dak. If he could just have a stretch where he gets hot for three weeks, they would have a chance. We've had three years now where he's had bad playoff games. The Ravens would not have won in 2012 if Flacco hadn't played at a high level. The Giants wouldn't have two Super Bowls if Eli didn't get hot at the right time. They need to find a way for Dak to get hot at the right time.

he made huge plays all throughout the season. He played at a really high level. And then when the lights are the brightest, he shits the bed. And I'm not going to act like he can never just have even a two-week stretch, where all of a sudden they're in the NFC championship game. I do think he could,

but the longer this goes, people are just going to bet against him because he's been pretty consistent now that he leaves a little something to be desired. But you go back to his, was his rookie year? I think the year they lost it, the Green Bay Packers at home, and they were like 12 and 4, 13 and 3, and they lost, Aaron Rogers was unreal,

but he was good. So he's had good, two years ago, I mean, the bucks were kind of in shambles, the 8 and 9 Tom Brady here. He threw five touchdowns. I'm not looking for five touchdowns, but can you just have back-to-back games where you don't throw any picks?

We could talk until we're blue in the face about the running back, about Jerry's comments. that can't just throw the ball he has five interceptions in three years in the three in elimination games. I mean, when your defense is playing shitty and your quarterback has a half like he had, you had no chance.

Three years ago against the 49ers at home when the Niners were underdogs and they came in there and beat you, he was not good either. So it's, it's, the reason these quarterbacks get drafted so high, the reason the guys that get extensions to get so much money

is because you're so predicated on them. And that's just kind of the sport we're living in now. That guy, his importance, the pie chart, unless your team, like this year, Patrick Mahomes wasn't as dominant as he's been in the past. Obviously, the team, skill-wise, wasn't as good. But their team was much more balanced. Their defense was elite.

They didn't need him to be. Well, when Dak had an elite defense two years ago, I think they lost like 17 to 16. I think that was a score two years ago to the 49ers. Can't get me 24 points? And you could get, ha, going up against D'Amico. I don't know.

I just, I think we spend so much time on all this stuff with the Cowboys. Like, to me, it gets down to Prescott. Can he be good in the biggest moments? This year against the Eagles. He was awesome in the one game they lost, and he was awesome in the one game they won. Like, if he just plays well in big games,

you got a chance. if he can just play like a top 7-8 guy which he has moments when he's doing it he has stretches when he's doing it just doesn't happen in the playoffs you need the guy

or just dig deep and find a way to make plays Purdy was very up and down in those first two playoff games against the Packers and the Lions but in big spots when the Niners back you know were against the wall

he made some huge plays with his legs with his arms and just came through even though he was having shitty guys games. And Dack just hasn't found a way to do that. But I also get back to this with the Cowboys.

They've drafted pretty well. So everyone's shitting on Jerry, like, what's he talking about? What's he doing? Like, I actually, they've proven to have, or should have proven to the fan base. Like, hey, guys, we know what we're doing on draft day. Look at our team. A lot of homegrown guys. We don't have a lot of, like, free agents on this squad, kicking ass and taking

names. Our best players, Parsons, CD, Zeeke for a long time, Zach Martin, the left tackle who's now on the Jets, Bland, Diggs, like, we drafted all these cats. We did. These weren't like random trades during the pre-t. Like, no, these were guys we drafted in all sorts of rounds. Kind of know what we're doing.

Ferguson, the tight end. Who drafted him? Jerry. I know Jerry's not watching the film. Will McVeigh, you know, the Cowboys front office. Feels like most of their good players over the last three or four years have been mainly homegrown talent. I would say Howie and the Eagles is like more of a mix.

They have a lot of guys. They got a homegrown talent. Some guys that have been there for a long time. But they also get like the ancillary pieces. Go get a sleigh. Go get an A.J. Brown. Now they get Sequin. they had and if you want to say why can't Jerry do that it's fair

I saw someone wrote an article one thing how he does I know the Niners do this they do all these voidable years on these big contracts so the cap hits are so small but they're just kind of kicking the can down the road and it puts you in these weird situations and then when you want to pivot like the 49ers with Eric Armstead you're kind of stuck

and you've got to eat a lot of money so I think what the cowboy I think Cowboys are well-run. I really do. We can be critical in McCarthy, but I think their downfall has kind of been the quarterback in big spots. When the Eagles made the Super Bowl a couple years ago, what happened? Jalen was awesome.

I mean, he outplayed Mahomes in the Super Bowl. I know they ended up losing, but it sure as hell was not his fault. It was the defensive coordinator in the defense, blowing coverages against Andy. It's like one of Jaylen's best games of his career. When you factor in the importance, it's easily the best game of this career. When you play well and you lose, I will never be critical.

Josh Allen has played well in playoff games when he lost. Dax losing playoff games not playing well. And you're paying him so much money. You need the ROI on him. Look at some of these NBA teams. Sons get rolled. Well, of course they did. Kevin Durant was just not even close to good enough.

The Mavericks kick at everyone's ass. Well, no shit. They got Luca and Kyrie dominating. So, like, your highest paid players have to excel in the biggest moments. The 49ers went to the Super Bowl last year. Christian McCaffrey, Nick Bosa, Trent Williams, like, their best players make a bunch of big plays. I can't.

Obviously, you need some random guys to do some stuff, but I need my best players in the biggest games to dominate. I don't care what sport you play. Yankees always get bounced in the playoffs. Why? Because it feels like they're big hitters, don't do anything. Last year, the Phillies, the last couple of years, making runs. Harper's hitting all these home runs in big spots.

The Dodgers, shit the bed in the playoffs. Like, yeah, they're big guns. Don't come through. Clayton Kirshaw for a decade gets shelled in the playoffs. If he's throwing eight innings, complete, you know, seven, nine strikeouts, probably goes the other way. You're very dependent in pro sports

on your best players playing the best in big. spas. Because you just can't depend on random guys to come through. It's gravy when they do. But you need the big guns to dominate. The Cowboys are going to be good. You're going to see like Micah CD all pros. Your young offensive linemen are high level starters.

And DAC has a great season. It's really that simple. Their team is more than good enough. I don't care. The media obviously overreacts about them because it's the Cowboys. But I would not act like the world is just coming to an end in Dallas when it comes to football. Appreciate everyone listening. The volume.

Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

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

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it.

Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.