The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 & Out - Trent Williams is back, College Football Today, The Return of John Gruden

Episode Date: September 4, 2024

John dives into the latest news surrounding the San Francisco 49ers starting with the new contract extension with Trent Williams. He discusses how this negotiation was always going to end this way and why the talks took this long. Later, John talks about the Ricky Pearsall situation and how scary and awful everything is. John also talks about the latest in college football and how the landscape over the years have changed so much and in order to win in college football you now need to have an NFL ready QB. Lastly, John dives into the latest news around the NFL including John Gruden finding his way back into the media world. Later, John answers your questions in this episode's mailbag segment. 6:57 - The latest with the 49ers 19:30 - Ricky Pearsall 27:18 - College football landscape 35:42 - John Gruden returns 42:18 - 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.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Therapy is fantastic, but once again, it does not have a monopoly on healing. That's why I create the resources and that's why I create the community because I really just want you to have more access.

On the podcast, cultivating her space, Dr. Dom and Terry Lomax create a space where black women can show up fully and be heard. It's tough because we're suppressing our emotions and so many of us are like high achieving individuals. listen to cultivating her space on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The story I've told myself can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown if you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole. This podcast is for you to hear more. Listened a deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, and on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be?

I call on my Gen X squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS. Unfiltered conversations from night sweats to futas to scheduling sex. Wait, what sex? Is it just me? Or does every woman my age want to look at Pinterest instead of? of having sex sometimes. They say we can't polish a turn, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Tiana Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The volume. NFL week one is here, and a new season means new ways to get in on the action at Draft King's Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NFL. Fans have spoken. We want touchdowns. draft king's heard us and is delivering. Draft King Sportsbook is the number one place to bet touchdowns. Ready to place your first bet?

Try betting on something simple, like picking a player to score a touchdown. Ready to do a touchdown dance of your own? New Draft King customers bet five bucks to get 250 and bonus bets instantly plus one month of NFL Plus premium on us. Download the Draft King Sportsbook app and use the code John. That's code John for new customers to get 250. and bonus bets when you bet just five bucks. And get one month of NFL plus premium on us. Offer ends 9-9. Only on draft kings. The crown is yours.

Gambling problem, call 1-800-Gambler. In New York, call 8778-8-Hopen Y or text Hope & Y 467369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-889-7777 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas, 21 and over, age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. void in New Hampshire, Oregon and Ontario. Bonus bets expire 168 hours after issuance.

For additional terms and responsible gaming resources, see dkng.com slash FT Ball. NFL Plus premium offer available only to new and former NFL plus subscribers. Additional NFL plus premium terms at NFL.com slash terms. What is going on, everybody? How are we doing? Week 1 is finally here.

We have a football game, not very long, and then we got another football game, and then we got a weekend of football game, Saturday and Sunday, and then Monday. It's hard not to smile. It really is. It's just air smells a little better. Sun looks a little brighter. Life's good.

But life's definitely good for Trent Williams, who showed up and got a lot more money. So I want to dive into the Niners because they had a lot going on today. Trent Williams back. Ayuk had kind of admitted some stuff. the Pierce all situation. What a roller coaster ride. Colin and so many people are down on the 49ers, I got to push back on that a little bit.

Something I saw in the college football world that I think has changed pretty quickly. Obviously with the transfer portal, NIL, it's just a different world than the college football. I think we used to know in terms of parity and quarterback play. It was on full display all weekend, but it was evident in the Florida State game.

And I think Nebraska is a pretty good example of that. We'll hit on a couple other NFL stories. Gruden, John Gruden Grinders, has a YouTube channel. And then some other stuff as well as a Middilkoff mailbag. At John Middlecoff is the Instagram fire into those DMs. Colin and I did something yesterday. I did a reaction on Sunday night for Monday to all the college football weekend. and we'll obviously have podcasts for this week's games on what a reaction.

Thursday night, Friday night, your boys working. You know, I've got to pay the bills around here. Definitely something Sunday with Colin. I'll do something else Sunday night after Lions Rams and Monday night. We'll just keep on rolling. I'm shooting a golf video tomorrow. We'll get on YouTube next week. So we've got a lot going on.

We got a lot of moving parts, fun times, great time of year. My juices are flowing. But make sure you subscribe. to the podcast, make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel, and yeah, we'll keep the content flowing. But first, if you want to go to one of these football games, I always get so amped up when I see the videos of college football teams doing singing, whether it's singing Tom Petty, whether it's Alabama, Dixieland Delight, and everyone's,

it's just so cool. And if you want to go to one of these college football games, there's really no atmosphere like it. The NFL is so unique because the tailgating and going with your commute, unity, right? If you're a Bengals fan, an Eagles fan, a Giants fan, or whoever, it's just, it's a fun event. And if you want to go to one of these games, I got you covered with the official ticketing app of this podcast. They also do concerts, comedy shows. Listen, you're going to want to go to a football game this fall and do it on us because take the guesswork out of buying tickets with

Game Time, download the Game Time app, create an account, use the code John for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply again, create an account and redeem the code John, J-O-H-N for $20 off. Download the GameTime app today. Last-minute tickets, lowest prices. Guaranteed! I remember Colin said something years ago. He has a couple sayings that have stuck with me,

and I can't even remember what I did three weeks ago. But this saying is something, if you like business, if you work in the business world, that I think is something that you should keep in your back pocket, because it's very true. For most of us, you know, especially younger people, you don't have much leverage. When I first got hired at Fresno State, with Philadelphia, even in radio, like, hey, here's 50 grand, here's 70 grand.

Like, you weren't negotiating. No, I want triple. It's like, they kind of got you. And the older you get, the more successful you are in any industry, you know, you get a little more power. And his comment was simply, you don't often have leverage when you get it, use it. And then if you become a bohemist, like what Apple is now, you can charge Google. $10 billion to use Google Chrome on the iPhone, because that is on the homepage when you search.

It's Google Chrome. Well, how do you think that gets there? Google pays a lot of money. Apple takes a lot of shit for how they operate in their app store. Well, guess what? Most businesses, you got to be in the app store. Why? Because the amount of money that flows through there from a business standpoint.

And a lot of companies, and I'm sure many people listening to this, like you're kind of dependent on a couple people right i know a lot of businesses are dependent on their distribution channels are dependent on maybe a certain contact or two i've had these situations in the podcast world when i had the right contact for a certain company and they advertise and that changed and then the advertiser went away and things can change really really quickly in basically any industry right i don't care who's on top for how long you never know rome fell Apple can fall, the Patriots can fall. It happens.

It's life. Things go in cycles. And as a player, as an individual player, you know you can only play it for so long. What Tom Brady did is an all-time outlier situation. So every contract holdout negotiation to me is not the same. It's like scouting a player. Every player is their own entity.

Some hold out. So I'm like, yeah, it makes sense. some are like what are you doing i e levy on bell i remember when that was happening so many people in the media were like he's standing on business

he's doing what he thinks right and even him like six seven years later called it a massive mistake of course it was he gave up fifteen million dollars you're literally 15 million dollars richer whatever after taxes eight or nine

then you would have been currently like that happened what a son redic is doing right now. Assuming, let's just say he never plays a snap for the Jets. He will be $14 million poorer. Like, that's a fact.

It's not debatable. It's black and white. And Brandon I, you, because they're offering you this contract, man. It's pretty damn good. You should probably take it. And then there's Trent Williams. You go, well, I'm an 11-time pro-buller. I'm widely considered the best left tackle in the league. And a future

Hall of Famer. And I like Kyle. And I like playing for the 49ers. It's been incredible for my career. It's the first time I get to consistently win. But this is a business. And I've seen enough guys, including some of my great peers, Tom Brady was told by Bill Belichick, essentially, we don't want you. I'm shorting you as a player. And even Tom Brady, if you look back, didn't have that many options. The 49ers went with Jimmy Garoppel. They had the conversation. Sticking with Jimmy. Titans. Sticking with Ryan Tannhill. The Raiders. sticking with Derek Carr. That happened.

Peyton Manning was cut. We have seen countless other players. Derell Revis, some of the best players of the last decade, cut or forced out Lou Keekely. He had a chance to become one of the great linebackers of all time. And then he started getting concussions, and they wouldn't stop. And he had to retire really young. No sport.

Do things change on a dime like they do in the NFL? Trent Williams literally got sick years ago with cancer and the doctors looked at him and said, you might not make it. So he knows just from a human element how short life could be, potentially. And from a football standpoint, he's played long enough to see his peers at the highest level

get thrown in the trash. So when he said today, this was about security. It's a volatile league. He's 100% right. Now, the only time you can make a play like this as a player when you got three years left in $80 million, even if it's not guaranteed,

when you have 100% of the leverage. Because that's what he had. The 49ers need him. They don't have a replacement, and no one does when you have a player like that. But the 49ers specifically, their offensive line is kind of not great. And he's not just their best offensive lineman. He's the best arguably offensive lineman in the league.

and one of the best players in the league. So he had the opportunity to bend him over a barrel. Now, he probably wanted even more than he got, but they got to a number that he felt comfortable and was worth flying back and getting ready for this game. And I also think this is a combination of he knew he was going to win this negotiation when it started. Why? Because he had all the leverage.

And two, at his age, yeah, I don't really want to spend the month of August in Santa Clara. And I don't totally blame him. And there is a small, small, small, percentage of players in this league that could pull that off. There's literally not a quarterback who could pull it off. You'd be like Patrick Mahomes could. Yeah, but you can't operate in training camp without your starting quarterback.

You need that guy around. Pass rushers, we saw Michael Strahan do it back in the day as he got older. It's like, I don't want to be at training camp. And you don't like making exceptions for individuals, but sometimes like Trent Williams, now granted, they did fine him, I think over $4 million, but the way they did the deal, he essentially got it right back. So I just think Trent Williams is a good example of a player who's seen so many guys that if he would have just shown up on the contract, which was still pretty lucrative, right?

And the 49ers don't plan on cutting him. But what if he got injured? Or what if his play dipped? They get rid of him. And they wouldn't even hesitate. Because that's the way the NFL works. It's what we like about the NFL. Unlike baseball, you sign one of these terrible contractors.

stuck with the guy. In basketball, how many contracts throughout the league, if you gave the GM of that team, you can press a button and this contract immediately evaporates and this guy is a free agent. Can you imagine how many NBA teams would press that button? Everyone's like, the NBA is giving away all this money. Most of it is to players. You're like, you can't, you're doing what? But you're stuck because it's all guaranteed. Football's the opposite. It's why so many teams can get good fast because you're never stuck very long. And Trent played his

card and he won. And ultimately the 49ers win because as long as he's still good, you're in great shape. You can't overpay Trent Williams if he just maintains his Pro Bowl level of play at left tackle protecting Brock Purdy so he can throw to Debo Samuel, George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey and Brandon Ayyuk. It's why

I've said this whole time, all this reaction, Colin mentioned this yesterday, the 49ers are in shambles. Well, Brandon Ayuk was never going to be on the Pittsburgh Steelers because they had nothing to offer. Trent Williams was never going to retire because the 49ers were always going to pay him. Now, what date that happened, we didn't know, but it was kind of inevitable. And now they got these two guys. They already have a great defense. They have a fantastic coach.

And they have a very, very productive young quarterback who's played at a pro ball level last year. So I would imagine they're still going to be really good. What about Seattle? You mean a guy that's never been a head coach with Gino Smith as his quarterback? Yeah, I'm going to take the 49ers on that one. So, I... What about the Bears over...

Matt Eberfluse? Got good hair, good-looking beard. I like Caleb Williams' future, but let's punt the brakes a little bit there. So I think everyone's trying to anoint these... What about Rahim Morris and Kirk Cousins? say that again out loud. 49ers are going to be okay.

Are they going to win the Super Bowl? I don't know. They got eight guys making over 15 million, so from a cap standpoint, better now than never, but they're going to be really damn good. And they're going to be right in the mix as they've been for the last three or four years

unless they have a couple catastrophic injuries like any team that you can't overcome. I'll give Brandon I.U. credit on this. He said today, I made this more difficult than it had to be. Because he did.

Now, I appreciate guys that can acknowledge, like, I played a role in this. Because it'd be easy for him to be like, I'm not talking about, that's what coaches always do. The conversation was between me and him. I'm going to keep that private. We're going to keep that in the family. Any of you that grew up in old school homes know, like, this does not leave the house. Now everyone's on social media posting their entire life. Back us kids that were growing up in the 80s and the 90s, it was like, this is.

not leave these doors. That's how coaches and executives talk. I'm going to keep the contract talk between me and his agent and me and the player private. Brandon Iuk's like, yeah, I made this more difficult than it had to be. But I mentioned this last week. Like, is this going to be

a guy that was bitter and angry? And he wasn't. He seemed very, very happy. And ultimately, the 49ers add Trent Williams. They add Brandon I, U. Christian McCaffrey's back at practice. I've heard nonstop. You know, I've heard Bill Simmons say this. I've heard a lot of people. Christian McCaffrey, like, what's his situation

this year? He said like three weeks ago, if there was a game on Sunday, he would have played. I've been going to these practices long enough, and a lot of teams do this. They don't ask that much out of their star players. Why? Because they're star players, Christian McCaffrey works out 365 days a year. So does Nick Bosa. Trent Williams at training camp, the last couple years that I've been going, I wouldn't exactly call his regiment the Bear Bryant, Junction Boys, the double days of Bobby Bowden's Florida State teams in the early 90s. It's not what it looked like. There was a lot of just kind of kicking it on the sideline.

Why? Because he's ready to roll, and he's also old. Now, Brandon Ayyuk, his rapport with Purdy, they have a good one over the last couple years, but, you know, he's missed the last 40-plus days where Soss Gardner and all the Jets guys, they've been training. So they're just in the mix of football. He's been doing the mental stuff because he's been there, but I think there is a question mark how he's going to look on Monday night.

And the way our society works, including myself, I'm guilty of this, to react to the games, that if he looks bad, people are going to be critical. Now, over the course of the year, if he plays well, it'll all subside and quiet down. But I would say there's a lot of pressure on him on Monday night to look good, to look really good. And there's pressure on this game.

because pressure on the 49ers. There's a ton of pressure on the Jets. But like, can you imagine the, if you just compared the reps between Garrett Wilson and Aaron Rogers and Brock Purdy and Brandon Ayuk, it's not even close. Why? Because Brock Purdy and Brandon Ayuk have practiced and played in games for the last year and a half. Those two guys have never played in a real game together

besides four plays. So it's why the Jets, And I get everyone, because it was fun, and I did it last year. I picked them to win the division. There are way too many unknowns for me to just feel comfortable about that squad, right? I just think the coaching situation, just the age and the health of the situation. I'm not saying they can't win on Monday night, but just the long-term view of the team. It is a week-by-week operation, given the kind of health status of some of their guys.

The other thing that, and I've talked about this for a long time, is when you're a scout coming up or an assistant coach, there is no handbook. It's like this in most jobs. Were you ready to be the head coach? Were you ready for this position? Hell, it could be, were you ready to become a coordinator the first time? Were you ready to become the director of college scouting?

Is anyone truly ready? Like, obviously, you have experience doing something specifically and hopefully you can grow into the role. and depending on the job, the industry, you might have to produce immediately or you might get a little bit of a runway. But as an assistant coach or as an assistant GM or college director,

you don't have to deal with the major problems. When someone that gets drafted in the second round gets a DUI, if you're the college director, like people aren't talking about you on podcasts, on the radio, on local TV, in the athletic, They're talking about the GM.

When the second rounder from the Browns got arrested during training camp, even if his biggest supporter was the defensive coordinator or the second in command of the scouting department, it's on Stefansky and it's on Andrew Berry. No different when someone gets in an accident or something happens. It's on that guy. When you're an assistant coach or an assistant, you don't have to deal with that. So when Ricky Pearsall gets shot and thank God he's alive,

as his mother said, by the grace of God. Because when you just say the words, he got shot in the chest in an attempted robbery, if you didn't know anything else, that he probably died. First, do you think probably got hit in the heart? He's dead. You didn't even know who the person was,

whether it's a famous person or not famous person. But usually when someone gets shot in the chest, you die. and there was a video that went viral of the police officer that showed up and she was kind of almost in tears that when she got there and she started holding the wound he kind of started freaking out just in terms of breathing hard and just kind of getting worked up looking at all the blood and looked her in the eye and said am i going to die And she got pretty emotional recounting this. Like it was a really powerful thing that happened.

One, just the incident is fucking insanity. San Francisco in Union Square, which used to be one of, I have spent so much time in San Francisco. As a kid, I lived in the city for two years. I lived in the Bay Area for 10, a couple years in Emeryville, which is right across the Bay Bridge, another, I would say six in Walnut Creek, which is about 25 miles away, and depending on traffic, anywhere from 25 to 45 minutes. How many days, it's just a single guy hanging out, partying.

It was such a vibrant place when I moved back from Philly. What it has become, and Union Square specifically used to be, I would say, the most popular, definitely the most famous shopping area in Northern California, has become robbery central. Now, a lot of these robberies don't involve a gun, because California and San Francisco specifically murder rates. I mean, we're not talking about some of these areas in Chicago,

but it's no place has more robberies right now. I read an article that you are 50% more likely to have a crime committed, robbery, some sort of violent interaction in San Francisco then Compton, California. San Francisco, what has happened to, it honestly makes me sick. It's an embarrassment.

and for Ricky Pearsall to escape losing his life over fucking getting robbed by a Rolex. One, it's not, I mean, it's shocking when he gets shot, but like that someone tries to rob him is not shocking at all. And that's the sad part because no one gets in trouble. There aren't any rules anymore in San Francisco. I mean, one of the reason I'm sitting here a couple years later is because it just, Northern California in general, it's kind of became like a lawless place. You're like, I'm spending all this money, I'm getting taxed up to wazoo. How does this make sense?

And for me, it no longer did. And there were other variables. Obviously, she played a huge role in it, but that was something that really bothered me. And I remember going at the dinner in San Francisco, taking a scouting buddy who was in for a trip to go to a nineer game. And we were walking to this cool restaurant on the water. And where you walk on Market Street, which isn't very far away from where it happened to Ricky Pearsall, I mean, it kind of turns out. into zombie land. I mean, you've got people taking enormous poops on the sideline or on the side of the street. I mean, it's crazy. Like, you read this, you hear this. The media loves pushing back. It's not

true. It is true. Like, as someone who spent a lot of time there, and it gets worse. And that's what's crazy. And for the Niners, my first reaction, if I was Kyle, and it's hard because, like, these are pros. Like, I don't know if we should be going to San Francisco. And definitely, no autographs, none of that stuff there. It's just not worth the risk. And I would imagine after this, that will not take place in the near future. But, you know, John Lynch is in the hospital on Saturday night to make sure his first-round pick lives. So the 49ers, what a crazy roller coaster of the last, you know, five, six days.

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, 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. The story I've told myself about love or relationships can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown and explore the journey of healing, self-discovery, and returning to yourself.

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

Effect Podcast Network on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help somebody, please! But there's so much more to me than that. I'm an actor, I'm a comedian, and recently I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff rant and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice,

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

Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Cultura Podcast Network available on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1020, And I'm Kunky, his best friend and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1021 podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports.

And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramers sending on to Ernie Stewart for chip. I'm Tab Ramos.

I'm Tom Boe. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balligan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers,

he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the game. the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen to Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

wherever you get your podcast. Something that really jumped out to me with college football is that most of my life, the top programs, didn't need to have the best quarter. back. Like, you could compete to win national championships. You could win 11, 12 games every single year and have a guy that was never going to play in the NFL. That never had a shot to play in the NFL.

And when fans watched them, you'd be like, yeah, that's not an NFL player. But it didn't matter because you could load up your roster. And that guy just basically was truly, this comment gets thrown out a lot in the NFL. It is a lot harder to be a quote-unquote game manager in the NFL because you do have to make a lot of place. You play in close games, even if you're a good team a lot. In college football, for a large portion

of my life, the top teams, they played in two or three tight games. They would destroy, destroy 75% of their opponents. I mean, fucking railroad them. Well, with the transfer portal, most

teams aren't going to have a second string redshirt sophomore that goes, I'm an NFL player, sit there for three or four years, at lineback or at safety, at wide receiver. So you're not going three deep, like let's even go to the Urban Meyer or Nick Saban era,

you know, back in the late 2000s and early 2010s, of just NFL players, because those guys leave. But to me, the thing that has completely changed, and I'm going to use Nebraska as an example, you could have a really good team and an average quarterback and still be really competitive.

Those days were over. it has a lot of parallels now to the NFL. If you have bad quarterback play, you're going to lose. Or back in the day, like Georgia might have a team or Bama has a team. Like, is this quarterback even good? And then they go 11 and 2, right? Those days are done. If you don't have a good quarterback, you're going to lose.

Florida State. If we took Florida State in Boston College, it's cool to see Bill O'Brien. Anytime you're kind of chubby and bald and you get put in a humid, hot situation, you are going to sweat. And he was sweating profusely. I'm a sweater. If you would put me in that situation, I would have been soaked. He's absolutely soaked.

As they are just working Florida State. And I might have jinxed him because I had my guy Derek Ray on, the general manager of Florida State this offseason. They had just gone 13 and 1, had one of the best seasons. long time of Florida State, now they're O and 2, and looking like a disaster. But their problem isn't the roster. I watched Lewis Riddick with Scott Van Pelt last night.

He was like, when you walk out to practice or you walk out to warm-ups, their defensive line looks every bit as good physically as any NFL team. They're huge. If you said Bill O'Brien, you can draft 25 players, not

quarterbacks, but just every other position but quarterback. Your roster, Florida State's roster. Do you think Boston College has one guy, Bill O'Brien picks? Probably not. But DJ Ungule is so terrible at quarterback, you have no shot. Last year, Nebraska went 5 and 7,

and their quarterback play could not have been worse. I look today, 5 and 7, they lost three games 10 to 13. Three games 10 to 13. They lost another game 17 to 20 and they lost a game to Wisconsin 17 to 24.

If you put the quarterback they have right now, and he's still a lot to learn about Dominic Riola, but it's pretty clear he's in a different universe than what they had last year. I don't know if they went all five of those games because he's a freshman, he might have... Are they a 9 and 3 team? They ain't 5 and 7.

And you watch Boston College, with Bill O'Brien, he has a quarterback that looks like the poor man's version of Kyler Murray running around, making plays. If you flip-flop the two quarterbacks, like, that's the game. And the sport was never really about that because for so long, the top 10 programs

were so much better than everyone else. Like, truly, does anyone believe Clemson's roster sucks? I'm not Rivals.com here. But I follow recruiting closely enough after signing days. They are typically. in the top five or top ten of recruiting classes. So they are recruiting the best high school players.

And for the history of time, that always mattered. Their quarterback play is atrocious. DJ was bad. This club neck guy is not good either. And you just lose. What did Saban realize after that first iteration of his era? Like, I can't win with Coker and Sims. So what did he start doing?

He started getting NFL quarterbacks. Jalen Hurts. Tuatanga Viloa, Mac Jones, Bryce Young, what happened? They kept kicking ass. They weren't as good on defense as they once were, but they were dominant on offense. LSU, 2019, what happened? Joe Burrow showed up. That's modern day football.

We aren't going to see these teams, like when I was a kid or even into high school and college, some of the late 90s, Miami. defense is Florida State defenses, Ohio State defenses. You could have a good defense, but you're never going to be as deep because guys aren't going to stay. So if you get the quarterback wrong, like in the NFL, you're fucked. It's really that simple. And college football has mirrored the NFL now.

It's such a quarterback-dependent sport because of the rules. because of how difficult the discipline defense. I stand by saying this. Nothing angers me more in college football. No one in 2024 is trying to hurt anybody. Nobody. They have been coached now for years. If you're in college football,

when they start changing around the hitting rules, you are like in peewee football, JV football. They've been coaching you for a long time, not lead with your head, no, you know, cracking guys across the middle. one's trying to break people's arms and clavicles anymore. That used to happen a lot. Those days are over. And when a guy goes in full speed and his helmet hits the other team's helmet, if you want to throw a flag, targeting rule, whatever, to me it's football, but I get it,

the world's changed. To throw the kid out of a game is beyond egregious to me. No one is trying to injure anybody. That is the most penal penalty. The majority of people in college football, whether you're at Alabama or whether you're at Fresno State or Boise State, are not going to play in the NFL. They're never going to be on the Packers, the Cowboys, the Niners, the Eagle. They're not. Their career is going to end after college. End after college. To take away this guy from a football game to me is just, it's borderline un-American. I mean, it really bothers me.

And I try to contain it, but it happened a couple times this weekend, and I went, can somebody change this rule? Can we remove that part of it? Maybe it was necessary early on. It's not necessary. It happened in the USCLSU game. He wasn't trying to do that. No one is.

I get it. It happens. They're kids. To throw a player out of that game, this isn't baseball. You don't play every day. You get 12 of these a year, and six or seven of them really matter. And that was one of them.

And when that happens, it really pisses me off. A couple of their NFL stories. It's great. Forever, you know, if a guy left TV and they got fired in coaching, he would just disappear. You wouldn't see him. And now, like, a guy like John Gruden, you know, he's kind of toxic because of the way it ended there, and he's suing the NFL, and ESPN can't really get back into bed with him. because they're trying to be in good grace with the NFL

and they want the Super Bowl and I get it. You just would never hear from John Gluten again. The only time you ever hear from is when you see him in pictures like, oh, Andy Reed invited him to practice. Right? Kalin Dubour had him speak to the team.

Like, I don't even know if that happened, but you know what I mean? We started a YouTube channel. It's just him just talking ball and just kind of doing his Monday night TV schick. So, one thing cool about YouTube is, it's an incredible platform. If you just want to start,

you just start loading videos. It's pretty easy. And he's doing it. Now, I watched a little bit of his Eagles Packers one. It felt like he was playing up. I think the one thing YouTube will expose, like being on Monday Night Football,

you could kind of play this caricature, which I think is part of him. It felt like, John, just be yourself. Like, this isn't all you. Some of it's you, but not all. of this as you. You just, authenticity really shines through in the modern day landscape. It's what I consume, definitely as someone that watches a lot of these videos of just a bunch of different people.

And my advice to you, as someone that is a, consumes hours of YouTube a day, just try to be a little more like you would be talking with your brother or talking with Andy. It's, the Monday night sticky thing, you can add elements of that, but it's, it's not needed. People are coming from you. You're really famous. You obviously been around football a long time. You know what you're talking about. Just act normal.

Robert Sala said the day, because the Niners and the Jets, because of the long weekend, had a practice a day, then they're off tomorrow and they back Thursday. Asked about Asson Redick if he was in the building and if he was practicing, and he said zero status change. So his holdout continues. I don't quite understand the long-term play here. I just

We kind of jumped the shark Early on I get it But like what are we doing now You're going to hold out for the season You're going to hold out The Jets aren't going to pay you Are you hoping that eventually They just crack because

They traded a third round pick for you It doesn't feel like they're going to do that Don't you almost make a million dollars a game My recommendation would be Play That's a lot of money Cam Hayward signed for a lot of money A little like the Trent Williams thing, you know, divided by two.

Stallwork for the organization, team captain, man of the year, good player. In a perfect world, he retires a Steeler. And they take care of him. And last but not least, this, you know, this has been reported on for a while. The day ball going back to OTAs and in training camp was the play caller he had taken away from Mike Kafka. He confirmed that today. I guess if you wanted to look at it from a point that if the offense sucks this year, it was easy to just, it was Kafka's fault, Daniel Jones' fault.

Well, now you are playing a role in that. When you're the CEO guy, it's like, you know, I'm just, I'm giving big picture philosophical beliefs. Well, now on third and seven, if you run a route that looks terrible, you're part of the criticism with Daniel Jones. So maybe the Mara said we want you to call plays. I think there's a chance that that happened. Because if I was John Mara, I'd be like, we did hire you from the Buffalo Bills because of how awesome you were with Josh Allen.

Shouldn't you maybe call the plays? Especially when we look around the league and McVeigh, LaFleur, Kyle, Kevin O'Connell, all these guys are calling the plays that are offensive guys. And I do wonder they'll never admit it. If there was some internal pressure there with the powers that be that said, Brian, we want you with the offensive play sheet for 17 weeks.

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

Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021. And I'm Conky, his best friend and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1021 Podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became. one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports.

And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Joe Donno. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet.

Help! Somebody! Please! But there's so much more to me than me. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian, and recently I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant, recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man.

If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. one ring is too scary. Oh, cream of chicken suit. Hey, cream, cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Cultura podcast network

available on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The story I've told myself about love or relationships can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the podcast. possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown and explore the journey of healing,

self-discovery, and returning to yourself. We explore higher consciousness, emotional well-being, and the practices that help you find clarity, peace, and self-mastery in a world that can feel overwhelming. The world is becoming lonelier. We're not becoming more social and connected.

We're becoming more individualized, but we actually meet people in connection. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole, this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the Iheart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on the only store at the chip. I'm Tab Ramos. I'm Tom Boat. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic.

I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here.

Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Okay, Middlecough mailbag time. Easiest way to get in the mailbag at John Middlecough, at John Middlecough on Instagram, fire in those DMs. I'm do it right now. Mailbag, William Belichick.

Good morning, sir. My question is this. Is there a chance that, owners are going to keep Bill out of being a head coach because of his past relationships and attitude toward everyone. Could they be set in an example in making sure he doesn't become the all-time wins leader? You know, what's funny is Colin asked me about the Tom Brady situation. If you haven't heard, there have been a lot of stories reported that he's not allowed to go in the other facilities. He's not allowed to be critical of the officials. I'm pretty sure he, like, can't

be critical and say certain things about teams and players. So it's a weird story that doesn't seem necessary. But think about this. Belichick and Brady, think how much money he costs teams over the last 20 years, both those guys, beating them in big playoff games. Think if they only had won three Super Bowls instead of six. Well, those three might have gone to three other teams. Maybe the Ravens have another.

Maybe the Colts have another. maybe the Steelers get one, you know, over that time when Belichick owned them. Like, I would imagine a lot of owners don't like those guys. Not necessarily personally have a huge problem with them, but like this is a competitive business. So to me, the Tom Brady thing is not shocking. The Belichick thing, though, if you were consistently winning, like the Packers, the Steelers, like the Niners for the last 15 years, but you can't win a Super Bowl,

but you're in the playoffs all the time, you're making a ton. Best case scenario, you win Super Bowls, the Chiefs, the Patriots, you win a bunch. That's obviously what everyone wants to do. But there is a big difference between being under 500 all the time and winning and making the playoffs,

where you can charge people, just the amount of money you make off advertising in terms of the placement in your stadium. It's a big deal. And Belichick, cost a lot of those teams probably playoff victories, extra home games, the chance to cash in even more like Robert Kraft did.

So I do wonder if owners have it out for those two guys, but if you have the opportunity to hire Bill Belichick and he can help you do that win if you think he can, I don't think owners will care. So I don't think there's like collusion on the fact that I think the bigger deal is his age, his coaching staff, the power he wants or doesn't want. Like, I think those are the fair questions more than trying to screw them.

Because I don't... The only person who cares the most about you is you. The only person who cares the most about, let's pick these teams. The Giants, the Eagles, the whoever. Their owner, like, it's... They're the ones cashing in on it if it works. So I would be shocked if he does an interview for basically every team that's opened this offseason. We're a long way to go there.

You know, we haven't had anyone fired yet. Why doesn't the NFL and their experts just admit, they don't know how to evaluate quarterbacks, then try, or they try, but they are no better than the bozos like me in guessing this stuff. So much more to it than stats and measurements. Totally agree. I think the hard part about evaluating guys

is you can never measure the intangible stuff. And in football, more than the other sports, it matters the most. Because you practice five times more than you play. Because the weightlifting that comes along with playing the sport is so intense. Because the physicality of the sport is so much different than baseball or basketball.

And you can't measure how bad that guy wants it. Like, T.J. Watt, let's use him as an example. I know you're talking quarterbacks, but I think it works for a lot of positions. You watch that guy play, you're like, this guy's intensity, he's like his brother. How the hell did this guy last until the late 20s? You see guys like Richard Sherman or George Kittle or just the countless guys in the fifth, sixth, seventh round that make it. Like, why is Brock Purdy a really good quarterback? Yeah, he benefits from play.

playing with good players. Patrick Mahomes got to play with Tyree Kill and Travis Kelsey when he started. Because as Sam Darnold said, I've never seen a guy prepare like that in my career. That's what Sam Donald said, who was the backup for Brock Purdy, and had already been in the league for five years. So you can't measure that stuff. You're like, ah, it's kind of short, arms not great. And it is such an intense sport. in terms of preparation, in terms of film study, in terms of cognitively how fast you could see something.

Listen, I love Justin Fields coming out. I would have taken number two overall if I was the Jets. I would have been wrong. Because I saw someone, Florio wrote the other day, he's like, Mike Zimmer takes a shot at Rick Spielman. Because one of the things Zimmer said is they fought the last couple years they were together, and one of the reasons they fought was over drafting quarterbacks. He wanted him to draft other positions.

And Spielman, I guess, wanted to draft Justin Fields and wanted to trade up. And one of the things Zimmer said is, well, he hasn't done anything in the league. And Florio, like, took exception with that. It's like, well, yeah, he's played in the league, just not very well. And if you did a redraft on that draft, trading up for Justin Fields would have been an abomination for the Minnesota Vikings. because none of those quarterbacks besides Trevor Lawrence sniff the first round.

Trey Lance might go undrafted. Think about that. He went third. He might go undrafted. He's a third-string quarterback in year four. You don't draft third-string quarterbacks in year four. Mack Jones probably goes in like the fourth or fifth. Same with Fields. And Zach Wilson probably probably he'd still go in the seventh probably because of his physical abilities.

So it's like, yeah, I mean, it was a disaster. I don't know how I got off on that tangent, but oh. Because like you watch Fields. I was like, well, coach him up. Figure out how to do it. Some guys, you can coach them as hard as you want. If they can't feel comfortable reading a defense and staying calm instead of taking off in the pocket, the offense isn't going to work

over the course of time. People saying how Bill only has six rings is a blatant twisting of the truth. Bill is eight, six with the Pats, and two with the Giants. I know he was only a coordinator, but his game plan against the Bill's number one offense was a huge part of the game

and yet no one talks about them. Well, it is 2024, and that was 1990, but I hear what you're saying. If you can't tell him a Pats fan, who's very cynical about the future with Gerard Mayo as a coach. My dad is a Niners fan and a diehard Rams hater. He thinks the Rams bought their Super Bowl in 21, and Sean McVeigh is the biggest cheater in the league,

with him not kicking the field goal in the game not to hit the spread. That wasn't even a question. My question is, I acquired Sequan in fantasy football. 1K, oh, I know you don't play. He fell to me. and I never got him in a mock draft. So when I saw his name, I immediately had to scoop him. What do you think this year projects of Saquan?

Mainly, how do you think the red zone will work? You pay back good money. I would expect him to take some of the workload in the red zone. Just wondering what your opinion will be looking forward to this year. I think he's going to have a massive year. They have a really good offensive line. they should run the ball if they're up in some of it. If you think they're going to be a 10 or 11 win team,

well, they're going to have the lead in the second half. So what do you do? You run the ball. He can catch the ball. So it's easy to run screenplays for him, wheel routes, screen routes. He's a great checkdown wide receiver, which Jalen has no problem doing. The red zone stuff, you know,

is the tush push still a thing? Are they still going to be as dominant with the tush push without Jason Kelsey? No one knows. We'll see. If it's not as effective, you give it to him. I would be stunned if Sequin doesn't have... I'd put his over under a touchdowns 10.5.

I would say that 10 to 12 range. And from a yard standpoint, I think he should be a 12, 1,300-yard rusher. Question for the bag. Do you think the Bengals' cheap owner will prevent them from winning a Super Bowl with Burrow and his prime? how do they overcome the Scrooge and Mike Brown well we'll have to see how this Chase situation plays out

because that was it was like he was holding in and then it felt like things were progressing like he was going to practice then Zach Taylor said he was going to play week one and then it felt like he disappeared so is news going to break

by the time you're listening to this they've extended Jamar Chase he spent a lot of money over the years on players, especially the last three or four of the Joe Burrow era. So he gave Joe Burrow $212 million. It's hard to call him cheap currently. I'm going to withhold judgment. Obviously in the past, there have been major question marks.

Carson Palmer days, no issue there. Calling him that. But I would say the last couple of years, they've been pretty invested. I'm a Cowboys fan. Any hope this year? Yeah, I got you guys making the playoffs. And hypothetical question,

if Patrick Mahomes requested a trade, who do you think would have the best offer and what would a deal look like? Would it be like five first round picks and like your best defensive player or maybe like a good young offensive lineman? Or could we see teams offer quarterbacks like Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson?

Well, the Ravens would offer Lamar Jackson and Brett Veach would hang up the phone. You know, I'm a sucker for these questions, even though they're so stupid because I guess players that you didn't think we're going to request a trade, request a trade so you never know. But I would say Patrick Mahomes, the one thing that Chiefs have going for him, even if Andy were to retire in the next couple years, is that whole time they've been with Brett Veach. And if Andy were to retire, Veach wouldn't retire. So Veach's relationship with Patrick knowing that he was the reason that he pounded the table for Jeff. John Dorsey to draft them, the way they talk about them. I think they're pretty lucky that way that their relationship is so strong.

But if he did request a trade, I mean, I think every team in the league's picking up the phone. I don't think you can trade more than three first-round picks. Could be wrong on that, but I'm pretty sure there's a league rule that you can only trade three years out. Again, don't fact-check me on that. I'd probably need like Jake Rosenberg on the horn. give me the thumbs up or thumbs down on that one. But I've heard that before because I don't think we've ever seen a deal

bigger than three years out. But I think that's part of the reason why. But yeah, take it all. Is there... Patrick Mahomes, this is how you know how good of a player is. He's so good that there is no offer that you could give to the Chiefs

that they wouldn't hang up. Like, they're not even having a meeting. not even having a meeting. Where I could call, there was not another quarterback in the league that I couldn't call and not get a meeting from the other GM and the coach. What the Bears called the bills?

We'll give you Caleb Williams and three first round picks for Josh Allen. Now, I wouldn't do that because in the best case scenario of Caleb Williams, he becomes Josh Allen. But, like, you might have a meeting. Like, hey, we get this rookie contract, we get the three first round picks.

every other quarterback you get a meeting. It doesn't mean that you would do it. There might not be enough to trade for Josh Allen or Joe Burrow. Joe Burrow is a little different because he's injured. But you know what I mean? There is zero offer that you could get Brett Veach and Andy Reed to even take a meeting. To even get Veach to be like, hey, Andy, I think we need to talk about this. Instead, it's like, coach, do you believe what these fucking idiots called me about?

Let's go grab a hot dog. Packers fan from Australia. Question for the bag. With the season about to start, I was surprised Green Bay are underdogs against the Eagles. The Eagles have had a lot of woes this offseason, while the Packers have addressed the secondary with McKinney

and the new DC as well. I'm pro halfly. I think it's going to work. But just because you hire a defensive coordinator, who in a perfect world is, better than your last defensive coordinator, does not mean just because you made a change to DC, it's going to work.

And this guy's never been a defensive coordinator in the NFL. So to just plug halfway in as a positive addition, to me he's an unknown. Like the Eagles and you hired defensive coordinators. One hired Vic Fangio, who I think it's safe to say has been one of the better defensive coordinators of his generation, and the other hired a guy who's never been a defensive coordinator.

Now, the Packers could be better than Eagles. on defense. Time will tell. But today, we can't say, you know, before they kick off on Friday, the Packers edition of Halfley is a positive. Now, you can say it's a positive simply from the fact that they got rid of the old defensive coordinator. Joe Barry, right? That's who was the last defensive coordinator? But they've gone through a lot of defensive coordinators over my late 20s and 30s. And you guys have been consistently bad on defense. So to me, someone's got to be favored in the game.

Like, the Chiefs one's easy. Chiefs at home, Ravens, we just kicked your ass in the playoffs. That's an easy three, four, five-point spread. You're not going to be a touchdown over a team with Lamar Jackson. But you're not going to be a field goal. So I think last time I looked a couple days ago was four and a half. I haven't even looked at the Eagles line yet. But someone's got to be favored in the game.

And also it's based on who's betting who. I would make it a pick-em. because who knows? Honestly, I think either team could win 13 games best case, and I think both teams' worst case could win like nine. So the other thing, the game's in Brazil, I don't know how far a flight it is for Green Bay, but I think it's like an eight-hour flight from Philly.

So I think the Packer ceiling is really high. But I do think there are question marks with the defense. A lot of unknowns. In theory, it should be better. But you've got to do it with a guy who's never been a coordinator in the NFL. And listen, I don't judge you, there's a huge difference between being a head coach and a coordinator.

But like, Bill O'Brien's a real head coach. He goes to Boston College, first game, they look like a real team. Was Jeff Halfley any good as a head coach? Now, again, his job with the Packers is not to be the head coach, to call the defense. But you know what I mean. When you moved to Arizona, did you sell your condo or keep it as a rental? I'm in real estate investing, so just curious.

I thought that was the IRS right there. Second question. Last year was such a weird year for the Eagles because they were winning games, but something looked off. Do you think they'll bounce back to 2022 from where they dominated and made it to the Super Bowl? When I left, I left my shit there originally

and I was going to Airbnb it. And then I quickly found out it was a little more complicated than I thought in terms of the ability to get like longer term tenants. Like, I didn't want a guy year round, but it was a fully furnished place and the plan was to have like traveling nurses or whoever, someone that works for Chevron that's coming in for two months, run it out and charge a lot. And my payment was pretty low. And it was just going to be a lot more difficult than I had thought about in my mind. And then I bought this place and

sold it immediately. And yeah. So, I sold it to do the remodel here and I didn't want to keep it. And I wasn't going to Airbnb it. So yeah. Might have set the record in the place too. The last couple condos that sold didn't sell as high as me. So got out on top.

It's just a headache. You know, it was hard. If it was going to be a cash cow, I would have had no problem keeping it. Maybe my idea. I'm sure I could have rented it out empty. but I just I just offloaded it I think the Eagles To get back to 2002

Jalen's got to be really good So if Kellen Does a good job with Jalen And he's an MVP candidate If I tell you right now Jalen Hertz is an MVP candidate You'd be like the Eagles are really good Even if the defense is up and down Shit the Packers been winning for 15 years

With average defenses Like you don't need to have the 85 bears on defense Now, they've invested a lot on the defensive side of the ball, drafting corners, investing in corners. The defensive line, they pay a lot of money to. So the defensive line, just based on talent alone, should be solid, but it's on the offense. They have high-paid left tackle. They have a high-paid right tackle. They got a high-paid guard.

They have a high-paid, obviously quarterback, running back, tight-in, multiple receivers. And then they just traded for a former first-round receiver, who's actually, you know, definitely a pretty good third. receiver. So, to me, it comes to the offense. That's the thing with the Eagles Packers game. No one really has any question marks like, we just assume the Packers are going to be good on offense. With the Eagles, like, what's this going to look like? Callan needs to run the ball. One thing they got away from last year is they get so pass happy. Now, part of that is the analytics and the building, they love passing. Run the ball. Just take a deep breath. One thing Kyle Shanahan has taught me, you can drive me nuts sometimes.

run the ball. It will wear the other team out. Stick with it when you have the talent. And they got the talent. Fucking lean on them. If I was an Eagles fan, that's what I'd be like. I want to lean on these dudes. I'm trying to beat everybody 40 to 20.

I have a mailbag question for you. I don't think that Jaden will have much success this year. The commies have one of the worst ranked offensive lines in football, according to pro football focus. Jaden had a very bad pressure to sack ratio in college. The commanders are in the division with three good defensive lines, and they also play the AFC North. I think all these factors will lead to a very difficult season.

A lot of people are high in Washington this year, but I don't see how a rookie that gets sacked a lot can succeed in these circumstances. Do you think there are real concerns to have about the team? I've been going back and forth. Should I do like my top 10 teams? I might end up doing like a power five and bottom five. But I was thinking about my bottom five, my seller dwellers, my just teams that are going to compete for the number one overall pick.

They're one of them. I don't think they're going to be any good. I really don't. You know, it really crystallized watching Jaden Daniels or LSU the other night. He played, those two tackles would start. for the commanders. His two tackles in college that are still there would start. Malik Neighbors went seventh overall, or sixth overall.

Brian, the number two wide receiver on the team went in the top 25. Because his tight end at LSU looks like a stud. That team, that was an all-star team on offense. And I'm not trying, he was really good. But just running around and freelance and make him play. plays. Now, he's accurate down the field, but I'm with you. You know, if your guards and centers can't block, you get pressure up the middle, you're scrambling around for your life, the talent he's playing with now relative to the league

is so much worse than the talent he played with last year relative to who he was playing. So his one year succeeding, and it was awesome, was with the best of the best. Now, if he can prove he can do it in the NFL, more power to him. I'm not acting like he's going to be a scrub, but I'm out on Washington. I think Washington is not going to be good this year. Because you've got to win from within the pocket. And when you're getting hit all the time, it's hard. Their offensive line, a lot of often.

Remember Joe Burrow was rookie year? He was getting killed. His leg got stabbed. You can't function as a young player who's kind of learning on the ropes, new defensive coordinators, new players, just quicker game. And you're just underdress like every other snap. even if you can run like Jaden. It'll just wear your ass down.

Mailbag. Outside a quarterback, when looking at the Steelers roster, what holes do you see? I saw Tomlin say today that coming into camp, he had a lot of questions with the wide receivers. He feels better about that now. I'm on the other side. I got to see it. Obviously, George Pickens is a big time talent. But do they have enough beside him to kind of help Russell Wilson out?

the offensive line while they drafted three guys that everyone in the scouting community liked one of them got hurt I think the tackle got hurt in training camp I would have met I don't know if he's going to play in week one or he's back maybe he's already been back but the offensive line looked very very shaky the mismatch group they had which I think is a little bit of question mark why they invested so heavily in the drafts are going to be depending on very very young players they drafted a guy last year in the first round. So is their offensive line good enough?

Because Russell does not sit in the pocket. He doesn't sit in the pocket if Trent Williams, Larry Allen, and Anthony Munoz are blocking for him. Dude just likes to move around. So you get offensive linemen that aren't great, all of a sudden it's just, it's a hodgepodge of just craziness happened back there. I don't know why I used hodgepodge right there,

but I felt like I wanted to use that sometime. So I think they're defensive lines. really good. DB should be solid. The defense should be solid. Should be really good. But offensively, the line, the quarterback, and the receiving options outside of pickings,

I think are a major, major question mark till proven otherwise. There's nothing wrong with that. You got a question mark sometimes it gets answered. Right? You got question marks when you start doing business with someone or start dating with someone, then over time, you're like, I feel pretty comfortable with doing this. She's cooler than I thought.

doesn't bother me as much or this ain't going to work that's like football it's like yeah I think we're pretty good at the two guard spots and then three weeks later defensive tackles have nine combined sacks over that period of time

you're like yeah we're screwed question for the bag it's from Kyle I just saw a poll below and was shocked to see the NFL most overrated player was Josh Allen less surprised about Purdy

I agree with your stance on Alan being a generational talent. But just curious to hear your thoughts on other players believing he's overrated. I don't know. I don't see how you could play Josh Allen unless you're asking

like I guess maybe the Chiefs. But he's beating most teams he's playing. And he's doing it. Throwing these ropes, running around. And his team, it's not like some balanced squad, especially last year.

I don't know. Maybe there are just players that are jealous. Maybe because he throws some interceptions. I don't know. You're right. Like, I get the Purdy thing. Purdy's just a polarizing guy, but I don't see how you could play Josh Allen and think he's overrated. Because the coaches don't believe that.

If you read Sandow's quarterback piece, if you got Andy Reid or Mike McDonald or Mike McDaniel or John Harbaugh or whoever in the AFC on the horn, Robert Sala, ask them what they thought of Josh Allen. I'll promise you this, they'd be singing his praises. Why don't team structure contracts for key position star players differently than most of their other contracts? I'll use Purdy as an example, because he might end up being the highest paid quarterback next off season. Wouldn't it be in Purdy and the Niners' best interest to set the terms of the contract based on a percentage value of the cap versus an arbitrary dollar amount that they would, will have to restructure in a couple of years? Let's say they agree on a five-year deal at 20% of

the cap each year. Then every year the salary cap goes up, Purdy's cap goes up proportionally. It seems like this would be a better way to structure contracts for star players at important positions to keep them happy while providing predictability and stability for front offices. Why would you do that when you don't have to? Because you're eventually going to extend the guy again if you really like them but I get I want a guy on a fixed cost I don't want to get a guy on a variable cost right like why do we when we do the mortgage it's great to be on a fixed mortgage for 30 years you know exactly what you're paying and the more money you make the easier it is to make that payment so you can project out 30 years well with a contract if I signed the guy five years

by the second or third year, that number technically is coming down relative to the salary cap. So why would I want it? If I was the player, I would 100% want what you just said because I would always be making more money. I would get built-in raises on a yearly basis. It'd be like a rolling race.

I'd be guaranteed a race. Where when I pay these quarterback contracts, the hardest hit I get is early on in actual cash. I give you, like Jordan Love, he's getting $75 million in the first, whatever, three months of the season. And then it slows down a lot in terms of the cash I have to pay them to find the Green Bay Packers. But if every year he's getting 19% of the salary cap, that's a lot of money. So I think part of it is, like most human beings, I'll deal with this later. and I think that's the mindset

that these teams take if he's going to have a problem in four years I'll deal with it later the 49ers knew when they pay Trent Williams four years ago or whatever it was going to be a problem we'll deal with it when we'll cross that bridge

when we come to it so your idea is something that I'm sure agents and players talk about all the time it is something teams want to avoid like the plague because it saves them money. So I don't think we're, that's happening anytime soon, I guess is the long way around of saying that.

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 I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Therapy is fantastic, but once again, it does not have a monopoly on healing. That's why I create the resources and that's why I create the community because I really

just want you to have more access. On the podcast, cultivating her space, Dr. Dom and Terry Lomax create a space where black women can show up fully and be heard. It's tough because we're suppressing our emotions and so many of us are like high achieving individuals. Listen to cultivating her space on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. The story I told myself can then shape my behavior and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This mental health awareness month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole.

This podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Deanna Maria Riva, and on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be? I call on my Gen X squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate Midlife's most fantastic BS. Unfiltered conversations from night sweats to futas to scheduling sacks, Wait, what sex? Is it just me or does every woman my age want to look at Pinterest instead of having sex sometimes?

They say we can't polish a turn, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.