The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3&Out - Caleb Williams REACTION, NFC West Preseason RECAP, Greg Olsen STOPS BY

Episode Date: August 18, 2025

John reacts to Caleb Williams' preseason game against the Bills and how it looks like Ben Johnson may have gotten through to Caleb Williams to help him take his game to the next level. Next, John talks about how some of the top rookie QBs have been doing during the preseason and who is standing out and who may still need time to adjust to the NFL game. Later, John recaps the first two preseason games for the NFC West teams and which teams look like they will be a team to watch out for this season and who may need to look in the mirror if they want to have a good season. Finally, John is joined by longtime NFL TE and current FOX Sports broadcaster Greg Olsen to talk about the NFL, broadcasting, and managing life as a father, coach, and broadcaster. 04:54 - Caleb Williams reaction 20:53 - Top QB Draft picks 31:58 - NFC West Recap 42:06 - Ashton Jeanty taking big hits 48:35 - Houston Texans update 56:50 - Greg Olsen Interview 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. #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The Volume. What is going on, everybody, John Middlecough, three and out podcast, live from Los Angeles. I will be on with Colin down in Southern California for the next four days. I think he's here for two and then he's in Chicago for two. But I'll be on the herd. so you can watch us on Fox Sports 1 and I got here earlier today and I recorded a podcast

because I was going to do like an intro part of the podcast talk about a bunch of preseason football that I watched and I interviewed Craig Olson last week and he's going to be we'll put him on the back end of the show so he'll be on with us today and then I realized the bears were playing the night Caleb was starting and Greg Olson

was calling the game so I was like you know what I'll do a little reaction to Caleb. So we'll do a reaction to Caleb, some thoughts on Jackson Dart, Cam Ward, some NFC West thoughts, Howie Roseman makes a trade, the Colts. Anytime you can't decide on a quarterback in the middle of the late August, that means you've probably got problems. So yeah, we'll talk a little football.

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I think for the majority of players, and the majority of situations, you judge the preseason on, was that positive or was that negative? Was that good or was that bad? Because there's so many different variables. It's hard to put this into context. Who's game planning? Who's not game planning? How many starters are out there? How many starters are not out there? And then there was Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson making their, well, Ben Johnson made his debut last week, but Caleb Williams didn't play. So the debut of this offensive mastermind and his quarterback who was drafted number one overall. And listen, there have been a lot of stories flying out the last three weeks. Fair or not?

Him missing the net. Him being overwhelmed by Ben Johnson. Ben Johnson calling practice is sloppy. Unless you're there. And even if you were there, it's like, listen, you're just going to have a take. And whether it's fair or not, it's just a reality. And then there was the game. They're playing the bills.

Caleb comes out. The dude like muffs the kick-on. off, so he's got to go to lead a scoring drive, basically the entire field, and then he was awesome. And the knock on Caleb last year was like, the timing in the NFL is a lot different than college. You've got to get rid of the ball. Playing hero ball is not something, honestly, if you look at the last 10, 20 years, Russell Wilson was able to make a four, five year stretch of a career out of it, but for the most part, it's not a way to play.

and Ben Johnson's offense is all about timing. So to me, the number one question with Caleb Williams, can he play on time? Can he play in rhythm? And listen, I mean, he played two drives, but it's really the first drive. Ball snapped, ball out of his hands. Ball snap, ball out of his hands. You're like, holy shit. That was the biggest question mark because we know Caleb has the big arm.

So the first, the big explosive play to commit over the middle of the field, you see him throw the 90-mile-an-hour strike. but the key to playing at a high level, and Bears fans know this, do you know what Mitch Trubisky could not do? He could not layer a throw. He didn't have touch, and it was the reason a guy drafted really high, and listen, I'm just using him as example because he played for the Bears. There are a ton of players that have been drafted high

that struggle in the NFL that can't layer the throw. Over the linebacker, under the safety. And that is a way, if you're going to play quarterback in this league, you've got to be able to do it, especially in rapid speed, when your first option is taken, he's your second option, Loveland coming across the middle of the field, and Caleb hit him in stride. I know the touchdown pass is like the sexiest play of the drive,

but to me that was the most important pass. And it was like getting rid of the ball. And even on the second drive, there was a pressure. Rome ended up dropping the ball, but he got rid of the ball quickly. And to me, that is the whole thing if this thing is going to work. Because Ben Johnson's offense, and Ben Johnson as a play caller,

became a star with Jared Goff. Jared Goff can't move much faster than me or you. So his entire game is predicated on letting the coach scheme guys open and doing what he tells me quickly because I can't run away from anyone. Caleb can, but there's a balance of like every once in a while we're going to need you to do it. And there was a play on the first drive where he scrambled away. I bet Ben Johnson might even say throw the ball away, but he hit the wide receiver pretty low and he dropped the ball.

whatever. I mean, it wasn't his fault. The guy comes unblocked or guys break through the offensive line. You've got to make a play with your feet. But there are going to be a ton of plays throughout, especially week one against Minnesota, when you're playing a really good defense and an excellent defensive coordinator, where you got to do what Ben Johnson wants you to do, but the key to it is getting rid of the ball. And Caleb did that tonight. So to me, it's like, I've seen Caleb make explosive plays and it's exciting.

But the number one thing, if I'm a Bears fan, I'm excited about, is like under a couple seconds, under a second, ball is out of his hands. Because they got DJ Moore, they got Rome, they got multiple tight ends. I mean, the guy they just drafted 10th, and Greg Olson said this, when you draft the tight end 10th overall

or really high in the draft, you're not just expecting him to be a good tight end. You're expecting him to be an extremely productive player in the passing game, a guy that can essentially operate as like your number two wide receiver. I mean, there's a decent chance that as this season goes, that it goes, DJ Moore is their one, Loveland is there two, and Rome is

their three. And you saw Rome drop the ball. Listen, I'm a Rome guy. I think it'll be fine. It's one pass. But if Caleb can play on time and play in rhythm, we know this offense works, because we've just seen it. And what did the bears do this offseason? They fix the interior of their offensive line. Because Caleb is not six foot six. So he is going to need to step up into throws. And John Payton made a living off doing this in New Orleans with Drew Breeze. They were good at center and they were good at the

guard spots. Because stepping up for a shorter quarterback is really, really important. And protecting up the middle of the field is key. And now with so many of these teams having good interior pass rushers and their two guards in center, I mean, are not only highly paid, but they're good

players. And we know their offensive skill guys have a lot of talent. We know Caleb has a lot of talent. But you have a drive like that, like, I'm not going to poo-poo the excitement that's going to come out of Chicago over the next 24-48 hours. Because it should be all the preseason shit, no one cares about it. Because I say this all the time. You know, coaches do this like, hey, he doesn't understand. He's not doing it right at practice.

He struggles in the meeting room. Then he goes on the field and does well. Like, that's all fans care about. How do you do? It's why that Shador Sanders, like, no one's going to care what Stafansky says, well, this, that. It's like, we saw it on the field. Fair or not? And listen, so for all the different stories coming out in the preseason, people, you know, the media that were there, even a fan that were there, obviously the coaches and players have a better feel for it.

But for those of us that are not there, it's like, this is kind of weird. It's been kind of crazy. All that kind of goes out the window after that performance. And listen, I was critical last week. It's like, hey, you're new with this guy. Like, how come you're not playing him in this preseason game? I kind of also understood it. It was a nationally televised game if it doesn't go well.

but same deal here. Nationally televised game, Sunday night, kind of a muscle flex by Fox. Just to remind everybody else, and I bet the NFL loves doing this during the preseason, they used to have a Monday, I don't know if they have a Monday night game anymore, but they would have a couple Monday night games,

have like a Sunday night game, just to flex their muscle, like a game that after about 10 minutes, it's like no one even knows who's playing, and it'll do like 11 million people watching. I would imagine the ratings for those first two drives with Caleb Williams in the game against the bills who were just, you know, been in two AFC championships in the last like

four years in the playoffs every year, even if Josh isn't playing, had to be pretty freaking high. So that was cool. That was fun. And their excitement is going to be justified. This is, at the end of the day, we're talking about football and for as ugly as things have been in Chicago. Like, here's what I'll also say about Ben Johnson. In theory, it was like, this job is a no-brainer.

This job is kind of complicated. I mean, let's face it. You're working for Kevin Warren, who, is like this business guy, yet he kind of gets to run the organization because the McCasky family is doing who knows what. You get a GM, which in theory everyone likes, but his track record's pretty iffy that you have to work with. And you get a quarterback that was just drafted number one overall that is not a project,

but it's going to bring a lot of scrutiny because he's extremely famous. He's a Heisman trophy winner. We've been talking about him since he was 18 years old. It's just a lot going on. and like no one argued about Ben Johnson, his offensive acumen when he ran the show for Dan Campbell in Detroit. You become the head coach. The microscope's a little brighter. It's, you know, it's crazy because Chicago, I would say for like the last 15 years, for the most part, hasn't been that good. Yet they're talked about all the time. They're this massive market. The city loves football. This little team up the road, haven't been there last week in Chicago. And just see.

seeing how the, the geographics of like, I never spent much time in Chicago. So you see the Green Bay is right at the road. This is a little ass town. They always beat their ass. Minnesota's been like a high-level organization for a long time. It's like, are we ever going to get it right? And listen, the pace thing is still a little weird. The Kevin Warren thing definitely is weird.

But if Ben Johnson can figure out Caleb Williams, none of that shit matters. A wise man told me a couple years ago with the Jets, when they were hitting on all these picks, he's like, John, if we hit on of these eight picks of a bunch of high-level players, if we hit on seven of them and they become pro bowlers, all-pro, sweet players, Garrett Wilson's, you know, Brees Halls, the left tackle, Quinn and Williams, you name it, all the different players, the Sauce Gardner, but the quarterback's a whiff, we're all going to get fired.

Yet if we hit on the quarterback and we whiff on all the other players, we will get extensions. And listen, it's not just that black and white and just that simple, but it kind of is. Now, clearly the Bears have good players, but if they hit on Caleb Williams, and they don't need them to be Mahomes, they don't need him to be Josh Allen.

But if he can just be a playmaker and just be a pretty consistent player and do what Ben Johnson wants them to do, like Jared Goff did, bears are going to be fine. And the Bears are going to have a guy that they can function with and win with. Then it comes, this football,

it's a team game, how good your defense, how good your run game, things that are out of Caleb's control. But in terms of when this play is called on third and five, and that guy's open on that quick slant, you've got to get rid of the ball on time. Because he will be open. I will scheme him open. But if he's not open, just in case I will have this number two running over here that you've got to get off him quickly and get over there and he will be open. And that's what makes it so complicated because a scout tell me that a coach told him a couple years ago, that like you could take, let's say, 64 quarterbacks, the starters and the backups, every single guy, and take them in a room with McVeigh, Shanahan, Andy Reed, Sean Payton,

and they can all just talk football. And the overwhelming majority of that group of quarterbacks, just in terms of the speaking of the schematics of playing quarterback, they're all going to be on the same level. Then you go out to practice, and some of them will fall off. It's a little quick for them, but still a large percentage of that. that group will still look pretty good. Then you get to the games,

especially the regular season of games, they're game planned, and you have to adjust on the fly, you're getting pass rush, you lose a offensive guard, your backup tackles in, and all of a sudden there's a very small group that can operate in that environment. And that's what makes this so difficult, and that's what makes Caleb such a fascinating case study,

because you want the arm's pretty elite. His athleticism is pretty high end. I mean, his arm's really explosive, and he's an accurate quarterback. And now can he play within the construct of this offense that we know works? And he did, and I said, there's good and they're bad, and then there's that. Like, that was pretty exciting. That was enjoyable.

As someone that, like, I think a lot of people are like, Middle God, you just hate the bear. I don't care at all. I'm not emotional about any of this stuff. If he's good, great. I wish there are 32 teams at 32 sweet quarterbacks because I'd rather have all these teams matter. Like, we all know we get, you know, a couple months into the season. Like, there are 10 teams that are unwatchable. So I hope the bears are good.

That would make it fun. But that was a really, really good start. And I'm excited for every Chicago fan that has just seen a lot of shit and seen some rough times. It felt, I'm not trying to go overboard on the preseason version of like the Andy Dufrein moment. Like, oh my God, this might be possible. We might be set free of this. quarterback purgatory and have an offensive coach that knows what he's doing. The rivalries, the marching bands, the upset.

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Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But This one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was...

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

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

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

I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense.

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

This week on Crimless, we're joined by our first ever guest. Sorry, our first ever human guest. I don't think I could be in the same room with Shamrock the parrot. I'd be too nervous. That's right. The very funny Will Ferrell joins Rory Scovel and me, Josh Dean, for an episode dedicated to the many crimes committed by people also named Will Ferrell. They called to his fellow officer for the nippers.

What are the nippers? Very good question. No, I was thinking, would that be a good name for like a salad dressing? Simple assault. And it's a play on word, salt? Maybe not. I say we invest and we see. There's only one way to know.

This did not amuse the cops. By the way, normally the cops are amused, but this did not abuse the cops. Will even comes clean about some of his own crimes. I didn't get caught. You know why? If you don't want to be suspected of anything, you whistle as you walk. Listen to crime lists on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Okay, let's dive into some other things from around the National Football League. I was watching so much football.

I didn't do anything on Saturday. Beside, go to the gym in the morning, eat, and watch football literally all day. And I realized, you know what? I should probably take some notes. I'm not breaking down these games, but things that I see that I want to talk about. Because I had watched Cam Ward the night before. And I was like, you know what? Let's talk about the two rookie quarterbacks that were drafted really high.

Obviously, we talk a ton about Shador. Dylan Gabriel went viral for a comment that he was talking about the media. It was clear he was talking about the media. he's right. We're in the entertainment business. We're not in the win football games business. That's the job that Kevin Stefansky's in, the Dylan Gabriel's in. This is the entertainment business. And what he said was not wrong. But obviously they tried to make it about Shador. It had nothing to do with Shador Sanders. I was watching that game as he said it. And listen, I'm not the biggest Dylan Gabriel guy as a player, but from a character standpoint,

that's not really his M.O. Cam Ward, I want to say this. I always feel bad. Like, last year the Bengals, Like they didn't make the playoffs. Why? Their defense wasn't very good. Their owner had been cheap in recent, I would say, over the last couple of years when it came to investing on that side of the ball. Obviously, you know, their head coach is one of the lower paid guys in the league. That's kind of what you get sometimes. Like that if I'm a fan, I'm like, well, we have this great quarterback.

We have these great weapons. But we are the Bengals and Mike Brown owns our team. So we're going to have seasons like that. I don't feel any sympathy. The Alabama Crimson Tide went nine and four. You don't get any sympathy points for me. It shit happens. Like, welcome to the real world.

But when your quarterback is just unwatchable, and you can't even function as a football team in college, like last year with Oklahoma, or in the pros, like last year with the New York Giants or the Tennessee Titans, like, I do feel bad for you a little bit. I don't know the Titans actually ruin the season were kind of competitive, but Will Levis was the worst player in the NFL. fell at his position. Honestly, it might not even have been close. And then everything that happened

with the Giants with the Daniel Jones saga and coming back for injury, how anemic their passing game was. I mean, they cut them by the end of the season. It was just, it was an embarrassment. It was really, really rough to watch. And when you draft a quarterback, the Titans, you draft to the guy number one overall. So the hope, and listen, I don't think there's anything more powerful than hope in life, right? The hope of a new relationship, the hope of a new job, the hope of a new quarterback. It is a powerful, powerful emotion that drives human beings forward. And when you have the hope of a quarterback, a young quarterback, you'd be like, Middle God, it's only preseason. I totally understand that. We saw the same thing with Shador a week

ago. That's a powerful thing when you see a young player making place. Now, Cam Ward is very, very physically gifted. I think he's going to be pretty good. Actually, the Titans could be a little bit of a sleeper. Not maybe to make the playoffs, but just relative to what they were last year, the number one overall, team the drafting number one overall to what they could be this year. Wouldn't shock me if they won seven or eight games, if Cam Ward's really good. But the Giants are like one of the marquee franchises, in theory, in all of professional sports. They're the biggest market in America. They're this franchise that over the last, I don't know, 20 years have won a couple of Super Bowls. They've taken out Belichick and Brady.

They've had just some historic moments over the course of their franchise with Parcell. and L.T. and Eli Manning. But let's face it, the last, I don't know, decade has been pretty rough. And anytime you take a guy, I would say late first round, early second round, it's kind of that sweet spot where it's like, is this guy any good? Like if you take a guy, I would say in the top 10, 15-ish, any, like that 12, 13 is right, that sweet spot. You're expected to be a store. You're expected to be a Pro Bowl level guy. Fair or not. And obviously, it doesn't turn out

that way. But when I draft you like six overall, my expectations for you are really, really high. And that's what happened with Daniel Jones. And I remember thinking at the time, like most people, like, what are they doing? I had a couple buddies who were really successful in the NFL. Like, John, I think he can be the next Alex Smith. Well, part of Alex Smith's success is he got Jim Harbaugh and he got Andy Reid. I mean, his career was headed down a pretty ugly path until those guys showed up. Daniel Jones was kind of thrown in the fire. Clearly, it just hasn't gone well. And we'll find out I would imagine over the next couple days if he's the starter with the Colts and can resurrect his career. And he might have to do that, right?

But Jackson Dart was in that spot, like, did they overdraft him? Did they get him like, did they get a steal here? No one really knows. And I'm basing, like, I'm not breaking down old miss film. My, I would say, exposure to him at the highest level was that Florida game, which is hard for me to ever forget. and then you turn on these last couple weeks, he's 26, 35, he's thrown a couple touchdowns, he's run for a touchdown, but listen, it's not about the stats. To me, it's always about the eye test.

I'll never forget watching Mitch Tribeschi early in his career. So he's got no touch. And if you have no touch in the NFL, you have no fucking chance. Excuse my language, little kids, none. If you can't layer the ball over a linebacker, under a safety, you cannot function as a quarterback in the NFL. And you know me. I kind of a, I have a soft spot for the physical traits. I do think that matters over the course of time, right? Tom Brady had a big time arm.

Why does that matter? Because he could handle cold weather. And we see some guys with weaker arms struggle in cold weather a little bit. I think that's a big line of delineation from Mahomes, who obviously is a better player than Alex Smith. But like his arm strength is so much more superior, they immediately had success in the playoffs where they couldn't with Alex. It has limitations. And people are like, how good is Jackson Darts physical traits? We heard the same thing last year with Bo Nix. Well, I'm watching Sean Payton talk right now.

He's like, physical traits are awesome. He has a plus arm. He moves well. And I think people crush you sometimes in your college offense because they're like, we're just throwing bubble screens. Well, yeah, I mean, that's kind of what a lot of these colleges call. You know, I think it was easier to judge that 20 years ago. Kind of the rinky dink.

I mean, that's what it was considered by NFL people. You know, spread offenses. you know, definitely Mike Leach, but what it's really become, well, a lot of NFL teams, you know, run, I would say, iterations of those plays. I'm watching Jackson Dart and I go, listen, I don't think he has Josh Allen's arm, but he definitely has a strong arm. But watching him layer throws, right, Cam Ward, same thing. That ability, like, that's going to translate. Obviously, then the intangibles, your work ethic, we saw Cam Ward a couple weeks ago, talk about why he shows up so early. He's like my dad had a job he hated and he showed up early.

So if I have a job I like, which also pays a premium and I can't show up early, I might as well just quit down. He's right. And so to me, if you get the work ethic, you've got the intangibles, they have the physical traits that translate. And the thing you never really know at the highest level until you start playing is the toughness element when you start getting hit. Like, how do you react?

Because you're going to get hit. I saw this Abdul Carter clip that went viral of him getting. getting absolutely leveled on a chip block by a tight end. And then I think the offensive tackle took them out. It's like, everyone's making fun of them. It's like, guys, this is the NFL. Like, unless you are like Trent Williams, I mean, I bet Aaron Donald got blocked and thrown to the ground at points in times,

like on a given snap. It happened to probably JJ Watt or Lane Johnson. You know, Trent's probably got smoked. It's the highest level, the highest level of competition, of the best athletes, especially for a young guy. if they don't every once in a while get absolutely worked, and if you are a defensive or offensive lineman, it's going to be physical, like, welcome to football.

Welcome to the National Football League. But if I'm a Giants fan, I don't just have hope right now. Like, I'm pretty fired up. I'm pretty excited for what I've seen of the young quarterback, and here's the problem. We saw it last year with Russell Wilson. Now it was different because Russell was banged up, and they went with fields, and then they transitioned.

Clearly, Brian Daibald is like, we're going with Russell to start. Now, their schedule is really, really difficult. But this is this thing with Flacco. This is, you know, Cam Ward starting right off the bat. But whenever you have a highly publicized young quarterback, whether it's a first round pick or a third or like Shadour or a fifth round pick, no one wants to watch the old veteran guy. You know, you have, like Russell Wilson has no equity with the fans. Honestly, I would imagine most fans view Russell Wilson like a washed up has been. And they're not totally wrong. I mean, he's getting passed around now. eight to $10 million bridge quarterback.

And we draft this guy really high. And if you're probably in day ball, it's like, well, you look at the schedule. I think everyone is somewhat realistic. Probably not winning 10 games. Like best case scenario, if we had a great season, we won eight or nine, I should be in the mix for coach of the year again.

But how do I save my job? And what do I do? Because part of saving your job, if you're not going to make the playoffs, is that hope thing has to like, oh, this guy is connected to the quarterback. The quarterback loves him, and he's got to show promise.

So when you look at the schedule, it's clear he's not going to start right away. I mean, the beginning of their schedule is brutal. But I would say by mid to late October, if they're not winning many games by Russell Wilson, no one's going to want to hear. He's not quite ready yet because coaches love saying that. The coaches love, you don't see what we see in practice. I got news for you guys, no one gives the fuck. The owner doesn't really care and the fans definitely don't care.

And a lot of times the front office doesn't care. It's like, we get it. You know all these plays on a whiteboard and your quarterback. only knows 80% of them. Now, if they clearly don't know what they're doing, a lot like Anthony Richardson in that first preseason game, when it doesn't even know the protections relative to the pressures, it just gets himself cold clock.

I totally get it. But I think people can live with that as a rookie. They can't live with that as a third year guy. But like Jackson Dart, there's going to be a learning process. Cool with it. But like that physical talent, that ability, that's why once upon a time Russell started. Remember, it's like, well, he's not quite ready.

It's like, no one cares. And I'll give peak credit. And this is why Pete, like, obviously what he did at USC made him a Hall of Famer at the college level. But then him choosing Russell Wilson, you know, as a rookie, like changed the course of his career, made him a first ballot football Hall of Famer, college and pro. Right. And sometimes you got to have balls. And that's the thing with Brian Dayball. You know, this guy, this kind of like Belichickian, work for Sabin, kind of tough guy, really became a star with Josh Allen. Like sometimes he's got to put your nuts on the table. So we'll see how long he's willing to just write it out with Russell Wilson

because I just know football fans. I've lived in the Northeast. Part of that division, they are not going to have a long, you know, a lot of patience when it comes to Russell Wilson. I watch a lot of NFC West football. The Niners, the Rams, the Cardinals are all, and really Seattle. Four things stand out to me about all four teams. One, the 49ers, I don't know how this is possible.

Yesterday when they were playing the Raiders, it felt like every other snap, they lost a player. They've already lost, I mean, it felt like 40 guys in practice. This happened to them early on in the Kyle Shanahan tenure. A couple years ago, they did not have this happen and they made this Super Bowl. Last year, they were near the top with injuries. And right now, it's not quite quantified because the rosters are so fluid with 90 guys. But they've got to be near the top, if not leading the league in injuries.

I don't know how this happens. Stanford Medical right down the street. They're just losing player after player after player. They're starting guard, who's actually a really good player. They drafted last year in the third round, got hurt on a fucking field goal. So I don't know what's in the water right now in Santa Clara, what's happening in the training room, but guys are dropping like flies. But that was not their biggest issue.

The reality is most NFL teams are going to play in a ton of games or a ton of close games, right? Kansas Chiefs who were in the middle of a dynasty, played in like 14 close. games and they just happen to win them all. Playing in close games is part of the NFL. Good or bad. The majority, I think it's like well over 80% of games. This is not college football are one score games in the fourth quarter. As a wise man once told me when I worked in the NFL, that team could be winless. They got a lot of guys that live in big ass homes that drive nice-ass cars.

So it's like they pay a lot of money for their team as well. and the 49ers field goal situation or kicking situation when it came to field goals was an abomination. And they used a third round pick on Jake Moody, who Jim Harbaugh, who I just saw got a 10-year show cause. How is the NCAA still operating? Like, who's listening to them? How do they still exist? I don't, and I'm not trying to act like Jim and Connor Stallions are innocent on this one. I don't know.

I don't really care. You know, I really don't. but how will we still go to the NCAA? Listen to Michigan. Sharon Moore gets two games suspension this year. He gets one next year, but it's two games this year, a game three and four, because they're playing Oklahoma Week 2. It's just what are we doing?

At least in the NFL, whether you agree or disagree, it's like Roger, who works for the owners, they got the CBA. Like, it's kind of black and white what happened. Now, we can argue over certain suspensions. I saw that he was going to give Rashie Rice like a 10-game suspension. Who knows? ultimately my point is if you're going to take a kicker in the third round

I don't mind doing that if your team's really good he just better be a star and when you look at kickers throughout history but definitely in like the last 25 years a lot of guys you know either are undrafted or late draft picks have success

for their second team pretty sure that Justin Tucker was an undrafted free agent so you typically don't have to draft obviously Sebastian Janakowski guys very high because it's one of those positions where it's like, you can just find guys who can go on to have a lot of success for you. And they drafted them, and it's been kind of a debacle.

Last year was pretty embarrassing. I mean, bad enough where they had a kicking competition. And then I'm watching him against the Raiders. He misses a long field goal. He almost misses what essentially was an extra point. It's like, I think this guy's going to get cut after this game. And then he bangs a long field goal and hits a game-winning 59-yard field goal. And Kyle Shanahan said something, which I give him credit,

at least he admits this. Like, I don't even talk to kickers. I just tell him make kicks. Kyle Shanahan despises special teams, which I've said all along, most people do not care. Even special teams coaches, little quirky, a little different.

But like when you're the head coach, you do have to put some emphasis there. And the 49ers simply do not. And they might get lucky here that Jake Moody just maybe resurrected his career because they treated them. I mean, they might as well have just carried them off the field their reaction because everyone knew it.

that if this guy had missed a couple of the long field goals, especially the game winner, it would have been like they're just, they're going to have to cut them. And now, and whether this is fair or not, like sometimes you can hit five balls out of bounds and then finally stripe one down the middle, and that might be the case here.

But this might, if he goes on to have a successful career for the 49ers, might have been the turning point. We've been talking about this for a while. We've been hammering this home. Something is weird with the ramps, right? And in fairness to them, like, they might not even know. They're like, hey, he's got something with a disc. We're hoping this epidural.

We're hoping that, but no one knows. This is not an injury where it's like, you know, he rolled his ankle, he'll be back in two weeks. Right. He sprained his knee. He'll be out this long and time. You don't really know with the back. And then sometimes, like, he's ready to go and then you throw him out there and all of a sudden he can't get out of bed the next day. But like a week ago, he was supposed to throw on Saturday.

The Rams play a game. And he wasn't going to play in the game, but he was going to throw his own regiment. Everyone's asking, you know, the Rams, McVeigh, which is cool, lets assistant coaches kind of operate during the preseason like a lot of head coaches do. I know that Brian, Kevin O'Connell does this. You know, a lot of play callers will let other guys, you know, call plays during the preseason. Some guys even let them run it. Like I think Aubrey Pleasant, it was the head coach yesterday.

I think McVeigh did this last year as well. But he's like, I'm not talking about Stafford. You got to, McVeigh will talk about that on Monday. and then all the reporters are going to the Rams like any comment on Matt Stafford did he throw and they're like no comment. So it's like, listen, you made a story which a little out of your control. And I don't even believe it's like nefarious that Stafford this offseason knew that this was coming. Maybe he didn't. If he did, that's pretty good business because this will be the last contract he ever gets. And they just have a problem on their hands. He can say whatever they he wants and he can hype up Jimmy Garapola.

If Jimmy Garoppola is their quarterback, they have no chance to make the playoffs. I think we all acknowledge that. I mean, they were winning 10 games with Matt Stafford. So this is not like the Eagles, you know, where you could probably piecemeal quarterback situation to 10 wins because your talent's good enough. But I would imagine, and listen, I like Peter Schrager, and he's McVeigh's guys, like they're not freaking out. Like, bullshit.

They got to be losing some sleep over this. The Cardinals. You know what's funny? It's like a couple days ago, I was just randomly thinking about Jacoby Berset. I'm like, I wonder what ever happened to him. Just a couple years ago, he's getting opportunities to be a star. Carter in multiple places, and now he's just out of the league. And then I flip on the game, and it's Cardinals, Broncos, and all of a sudden, Jacoby

Brissette runs in. I'm like, oh, yeah, I don't want to screw up the GM's name, Mottenfort, Ossey, Montenfort. I totally just butchered his name. But he was a former New England guy. He brings Jacoby, he knows Jacoby. And it kind of hit me. It's like, well, clearly Jacoby, who's super high character, mature, just. salt of the earth human being, type guy that any team, especially if you have a young quarterback

or is an immature quarterback would like in the quarterback room. And I was like, okay, I get the maturity. And then you watch a play and you realize his skill set and Kyler Murray skill set couldn't be any more opposite. Like they are on the polar opposite end of the spectrum. And typically, I think ideally you want a quarterback with somewhat of the similarities to your starting quarterback. So if they get injured, which a guy like Kyler Murray has proven, like, he can get banged up, that there are some parallels with the play calling, with the offense. And so it's not some crazy, like, remember a couple years ago, it was like Anthony Richardson to Garder Minchew. And I remember Ballard said one off season, he's like, what Shane Siking did with that

offense is pretty remarkable because they're completely opposite players. And I also understand sometimes like the best you can get. But like, let's face it, they brought in Jacoby Percette, even though I think Kyla Murray has matured from the guy that everyone was making fun. of for the call of duty. Clearly, they see a benefit there of having him around Jacoby. I just know this. If he gets injured, there is a dramatic difference of the guy that comes in. I just think that there's got to be a balance, you know, and I don't love that if I'm

the Cardinals, like from a coaching standpoint or even a player standpoint, if we have to change dramatically the scheme because what Kyler's going to do, I mean, Jacoby can't move. I mean, he's one of the worst athletes at his position by far in the NFL. So I just thought that was kind of interesting. Now, the 49ers play Seattle week one. I'm not trying to overreact to a preseason game. Andy Reid has as physical of a training camp as any coach in the NFL. I bet they're guys in the middle of August, their legs are dead.

So my expectation for them in a preseason game coming, playing late at night in Seattle, whatever. I'm not judging them. But Seattle, if you just watch their intensity, their physicality, they clearly, a lot of people think had a really good draft. I thought they had a good draft last year. Like, they could be a problem. And I said this when we talked about some of the division winners, like, you know, I like the Packers, you know, I love the Texans. I think there's value in the Denver Broncos. I think at this point in time, it's either going to be Denver, obviously, just Kansas City is going to win it for an eight straight year. But like, of all the teams that have like kind of flyer odds, I thought Seattle was like, we know their coach is really good, right?

Mike McDonald is one of, if not the best defensive mind in the NFL. they have drafted really well on that side of the ball the last couple years, have a lot of young pieces they're going to fit his scheme. Sam Darnold knows Kubiak because they work together in San Francisco. Like that scheme works and they got some pieces on offense. They won 10 games last year. It's not like, well, it's like they won six. Like they won 10 games like four more than the 49ers.

I think that is a really, really tough spot for the 49ers week one. Like I think if Seattle's going to be the real deal, I think they, especially with the, The 49ers just banged up as they are. That's a really, really tough spot. So, yeah, NFC West. I'm kind of interested in that one. Ash and Genti, one of Frank Gore's, I mean, he had a lot of great characteristics.

I mean, he was just a very, very good all-around player, and he's going to be in the Hall of Fame one day. But part of the reason he played for like 30 seasons in the NFL is Frank Gore never wasted hits. Right? If he was in the open field and he could just get to your corner, your left or right shoulder, and just kind of avoid a big hit, he'd do it. If he'd get out of bounds, he'd do it. He just wasn't like trying to run over everybody. And Ashton Genties built like a little tank, and listen, he's really, really talented.

But he had two plays yesterday, one where he took on a linebacker just in the open field. And it's like, and this is a backup linebacker, but still, you're not going to have a long NFL career. And I would imagine, P. Garrow, and listen, I'm all four. Like, I want tough guys. I want no one questions your toughness, Ashen. but I can't have you trying to run over linebackers in the preseason when we got 17 games. This is not the Mountain West. You're not taking on New Mexico or Fresno State.

You're not taking on a bunch of guys. They're going to be farmers and insurance salesmen. As a lot of you guys forwarded me, the Jake Fromm picture of he's literally selling insurance now. And there's nothing wrong with that. He's going to make a ton in Georgia, former Georgia quarterback. But we've invested in you to be a star in this league. Watch some Barry Sanders highlights, right? He was avoiding hits.

So to be a healthy player, to be a successful player, you got to play smart. And no one, I totally understand, like trying to prove as a young player to your teammates, to your coach, it's like, I'm a tough SOB. Just we got to be careful because he gets this hit and he immediately goes to the tent. Now he comes back, but it's like you are too important. If we're going to be a team that's on the rise, not even this year, but over the course of the next three or four years, you're going to be one of the of our most important players.

I was thinking about this because it happens in college football a lot. You can get buying college football sometimes with multiple quarterbacks. I mean, the Florida Tebow's rookie year won the Super Bowl, not the Super Bowl, the national championship with multiple quarterbacks, Chris Leake and Tim Tebow. It happens sometimes. Now, typically one guy separates from the other. But in the NFL, if you do not know who your starting quarterback is in the middle to late August, you're just not, I can't take you seriously.

Like the Browns, most people don't take them that seriously. We don't think the Browns are going to be that good. Rightfully so. Flacco, Kenny Pickett, obviously Dylan, Gabriel and Shador, like they're all going to play. In what order, at what time, no one knows, but I'll promise you this. Maybe they cut Kenny Pickett to go with Flacco, or maybe they

cut Flacco to go with Kenny Pickett. I would imagine Flacco ends up starting. But Dylan Gabriel and Chidor Sanders are starting games. I would bet four figures on that immediately. How many starts compared to the two of them? I don't know. But Dylan Gabriel and Chador

Sanders will both start games this year for the Cleveland Bros. Bad teams, that happens, right? Even I'll give Brian Dayball credit. He just nips in the bud right away. Russell's a starter, Russell's a starter, and they said this way back four months ago when they were doing spring ball.

The Colts, like, this is why I'm out on them. It's like, we'll know who the quarterback is soon. That's what Shane Syke keeps saying. If you don't have your quarterback, picked at this point in time, like I just can't take you seriously as a playoff contender. Even if I do like your roster

and think you've got a good coach and think you got, you know, a well-run schematic advantage. I got Lou Amaruno, good coach. If you got some defensive players, I bet Colts are way better on defense. I think Shane Steichen's a good coach. But if you don't know who your quarterback is

on August 17th, like I'm kind of out on your franchise. And one thing's clear. Howie Roseman just loves doing trades. I mean, the guy just loves making trades. And he said to Will and Taylor on Bustle with the Boys last week, it's funny, Bob Lang, the PR guy who have known forever 49ers, I was like, Howie said he'll come on my podcast in the spring. He's like, oh, yeah, we're really busy. I guess I can go. I could go to Philly.

I've just known the guy for 15 years, these guys, you know, went on part of my take, when I'm bustling the boys. They did go out to NovaCare. I just wanted to do a Zoom, so advantage them. Maybe I should next year I'll have to go to Novacare to get that in-person interview. But how he basically said one thing, my biggest regret as a general manager was what everyone talks about, passing on a guy that's going to be a first ballot hall of favor one day and Justin Jefferson. One of the more talented players that we've seen in the NFL in recent memory, right? And he took Jalen Rager. And that's my mom can see that's a fuck up.

It's not like he's acknowledging anything that we already don't know. but he also said that like sometimes you don't need to overthink this and just take good players from the best teams like and that's really what the Eagles and even he mentioned this like maybe we don't go to two Super Bowls in the last three years if we don't have that you know historic screw up I mean it was because of that draft and you know Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer were on Zoom and we saw that clip of them high-fiving and they couldn't believe it but John Mechie I saw today who they just traded for with the Houston Texans. They gave up a backup tight end. And they like, they gave a fit. The Texans gave a fifth and the Eagles gave a six. I mean, the draft picks are just late

picks. Metchie was a guy that played at Alabama, that hurt his knee, was there with James and Williams. I mean, it looked like they were going to win the national championship. Then both those guys got hurt when they replayed Georgia. They lost because they didn't have any wide receivers. But I would say his careers never really got on track. And this will now be the ninth player from Alabama that will be on the Eagles. And I do think they, believe they have an advantage with these guys getting them around their crew. And what have they done? They've littered their roster with guys from Nick Sabin and Kirby Smart, which essentially

are the same guy because Kirby Smart is just the mentee to Nick Saban. And listen, he likes value. He sees a guy that was drafted really high. Clearly, METI was not going to work with the Houston Texans for whatever reason. but I feel like how he's already made multiple trades this preseason, and it wouldn't shock me at all if over the next couple weeks that he makes another trade. Yeah, I mean, speaking of the Texans, and this is one area, I saw CJ Stroud.

They joint practice with the Panthers, and he's known Bryce because they both are from Southern California. I'm actually sitting probably not too far away where they grew up. And CJ is just pretty high-level guy, super just impressive. guy whenever he talks. And it really got me thinking is like one area that I might have screwed up when it came to Bryce, and I would say any, especially any quarterback that played, like say what you want about Tua. He's got some limitations physically. But like, he's pretty solid. And mentally, he's pretty tough, right? And clearly Bryce Young, sometimes I try to quantify. It's like, well, he's way too small. And listen, he's not very big. I think he's one of the smallest quarterbacks

we'll ever see in NFL history, right? And definitely when he first got drafted and he played in a preseason game as a rookie, you're like, this guy looks tiny. But you can't underestimate at that quarterback the importance of all the stuff that doesn't get, all the intangible stuff, all the unquantifiable stuff, how tough you are, how mentally tough you are, how smart you are, how unfazed you'll be by adversity, or how well that you can handle the tough times. And if you've played for Nick Saban, like, you've been getting MF from the moment you step on campus.

And I was talking to someone about the Panthers. And actually, I think their line of scrimmage on both sides are pretty good. And if offensively, some of their weapons, you know, they draft the guy in the top 10 at wide receiver, if they can be pretty good. But like, Bryce has looked really, really good this preseason. And clearly the way everything happened last year that he couldn't have been much worse to start the season is this is this is why, and we talked to. about this last week with Jason Light talking about like we don't draft

douchebags and assholes. And I think on the other side, it's why you emphasize character and intangibles because this stuff's really, really hard. And playing quarterback in the NFL is extremely difficult, even if you are talented. So mentally,

how tough you are, how smart you are, how willing you are to grind, that helps separate guys. Because a lot of people, Like in any line of work or any walk of life, the easiest thing always is to tap out, is to quit, is to make an excuse. I'm just not good enough. I saw Tom Brady talk about this with Greg Olson. He's like so many people I played with or played against would just, it was so easy to be like, didn't have it today.

Yeah, just not feeling it this week. It's like, what? Like, you can, it's so easy to get a negative mindset for all of us. I don't care what you're doing. and to go down that rabbit hole and to make an excuse. And especially for C.G. Or, I mean, for Bryce. He could have been like, well, I'm just with a shitty organization.

They put me in a bad spot. It's not all my fault. Instead, it just felt like kind of kept his mouth shut, went to work, and then bounce back. And while I think there's like a legit chance, if you told me Seattle wins the NFC West, I would not be shocked at all. I don't think the Carolina Panthers can win the division. But if you told me like heading into December, they're like, in the wild card discussion, I think that's very, very possible.

Now, I think if you had a redo and you gave the opportunity to every general manager in the NFL, would you take C.J. Stroud or Bryce Young, you would take C.J. Stroud. But I do think there's a chance within the next year or two, we look back and go, you know what, Bryce Young is a solid player. Well, no shit. We saw him at Alabama, played a really high level. We knew the competition or the competitor was in him. We knew he was tough. I remember watching him against that Georgia team that had a hundred guys playing the NFL.

Him just getting peppered, mollywapped, like every other play, with Metsie and James injured and just kept getting up and kept swinging. I'm like, God, I like this guy. And I think it's why a lot of NFL people will drawn to him, even though he doesn't check a lot of boxes. I mean, he's $5.9 a buck 85. But the intangibles with him are going to be the reason, you know, the guy has success if they have a good year.

And honestly, I can see the Panthers just being a little sneaky this year. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there.

But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And, well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this.

We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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 I-heartedly. radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what.

He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall.

And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers while he got the ball, like,

after you go through a training camp with that, I say, you figure it out. real quick. Oh, yeah. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This week on Crimless, we're joined by our first ever guest.

Sorry, our first ever human guest. I don't think I could be in the same room with Shamrock the parrot. I'd be too nervous. That's right. The very funny Will Farrell joins Rory Scovel and me, Josh Dean, for an episode dedicated to the many crimes committed by people also named Will Farrell. They called to his fellow officer for the nippers. What are the nippers?

Very good question. No, I was thinking, would that be a good name for like a salad dressing? Simple assault. And it's a play on word, salt? Maybe not. I say we invest and we see. There's only one way to know. This did not amuse the cops.

By the way, normally the cops are amused, but this did not abuse the cops. Will even comes clean about some of his own crimes. I didn't get caught. You know why? If you don't want to be suspected of anything, you whistle as you walk. Listen to Crime List on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Okay, very, very excited to have a 14-year NFL vet and critically acclaimed broadcaster, a man who I think a pretty unprecedented move, started broadcasting while he was still playing. Greg Olson, live from Charlotte. What's going on, my man?

Doing great. Appreciate you having me on. How are you guys doing? Doing good. Doing really good. I thought, let's just jump into what you got going on with you think. My wife told me a couple months ago that she's pregnant, and we are having a son here in early January, and I was just watching you with Tom, that'd be Tom Brady, talking a lot about, you know, raising children, what goes on with athletics.

And you and I are the same age. We graduated high school the same year. and we grew up in an era. I know your dad was your high school coach, but my dad just dropped me off at practice and pick me up. You know, you played high school sports. The travel leagues might have gone within a 60 mile radius. I mean, I have families that, you know, I live in Scottsdale, and I got a bunch of family that still lives in California,

and they're traveling baseball team. Like, this is a short trip for them from California to Scott. I'm like, this is insane. And it's just, it's kind of a completely, it was very simple, I would say, growing up in the 90s when it came to athletics. You either good enough like yourself or you weren't like me. But it wasn't the traveling sports, the camps for football. I mean, how do you navigate it as a dad?

Yeah, so I think the best way to put, you know, the best way to kind of summarize everything you just said is so spot on. The best way really to summarize is back in the day, there was no decisions to be made. You played for your town rec league. If it was winter, you played basketball, if it was spring, you played baseball or lacrosse or soccer. And if it was the fall, you played football.

And that was pretty much it in our lives. Those were the only offerings. And you played with the same kids every season and everyone did the exact same thing. Nowadays, every day is the decision. What level of competition do I want my kid to play? What team should they play for? What if he's not batting or playing the right position? Does he play enough?

What school should he go to? What high school should he go to? Should he go to multiple high schools? Should you go to a sports academy? I mean, there are unlimited options right now. And when done right, there's no better time to develop as an athlete than there is right now. The access to information, resources, the training, the skill development, the way kids are using the weight room, the eating, the nutrition, just everything about youth sports now you used to not get until you were in college. That's now creeped down into the middle school, you know, sports teams at schools.

But with that, everyone loses track of what is the ultimate goal. And the ultimate goal is to keep long-term athletic development as the core driver of everything you do. And when you race development and when it's a race to 12 and a race to 13, you skip over a lot of really important steps. You skip over adversity. You skip out of sticking with it when you're not getting playing time or when you're not the best kid on the team. And you don't just get to flip-flop and go to 50 different teams until you find out when you're the quarterback. Like those are the realities of the world. And for a lot of kids, we're skipping those steps.

So it's a, everything you said is so spot on. There are so many different things being thrown at these kids, these families. And as someone who grew up in this world, you know, from the time I was a little boy around my dad's high school teams and obviously made a career out of it. Now as the other side of the, as things have come full circle and now I'm a dad, there's a lot of things about this world that I don't know what to do. And I really have a lot of understanding and patience for. parents who reach out to us and say, we don't know what to do with our son or our daughter. We don't know if we're on the right track. Help us get better information. And a lot of those conversations are the ones that we're having on you think. And you know, it's funny as I think

about all the time. Like it's so easy if you have a son be like, well, he's not going to play in the NBA or the NFL. So why even waste time if he's not that good playing high school football? And it's easy to push him away. And listen, I was never like you. I was never going to play division one football. But playing in high school made me fall in love with a sport. create relationships with guys, you know, 20 plus years later I'm still close with. Because of my love of football, I got to work for Andy Reid. I do what I do now. It changed my life.

But looking back, it's like, well, he's not any good. Why would he play? But my dad and my parents were like, do whatever you want. Like, they were very supportive because it was an era where it's like, you want to be on the swim team. You want to play basketball. You want to play, you just kind of did everything. You know, it's like, let's go play golf. Let's go try tennis.

Like, who cares? Just do whatever you want. And it's kind of sad because I would imagine playing basketball for you. as you went on in your football career, some of those attributes that you learned on a basketball court in high school translated to try to get open against safeties and linebackers throughout your NFL career, right? Yeah, so I think the multi-sport argument, I would say, is twofold. Number one, like you said, there is a physical development component to playing different sports

that are unique to said sport, right? In basketball, it's footwork, it's change of direction, it's plyometrics, it's jumping, catching the ball above your head. It's landing on one foot, being in balance, defending. Like, there's a lot of movements in basketball that are really good carryover to football and vice versa. I think baseball brings a mental component of struggling and failure and, you know, you're in an 0 for 10 slump, but you can't just pack it in and walk off the field. So I think it's a slower game, more of a mental game, more of a mental grind than it is a physical demand. I think a lot of those qualities will serve you well in other sports. So I think every

sports, unique culture, and demands, both physically and mentally, are a really good way to broaden your horizons a little bit on, but not only you're just your physical capabilities and your physical development, but also your ability to be mentally tough and deal with adversity and all of those sort of things. I also think there's an element. When I think back to my time in high school, when I walked onto the football field, come sophomore year in high school, it was, it was a given. I was going to go play college football. That was my path. That was my future. Everyone in the area knew it. Everyone that came to one of our games knew it.

When I walked in as a high school junior into the basketball court, there was no pressure on me to be the best player on the field. It was amazing. Like I loved high school track and field. I loved high school basketball. I was not going to be a college Olympic track and field athlete. I was not going to be a college anything basketball player. There was something freeing about just going out there and just playing with my buddies.

it wasn't the end of the world like football was. Football was very serious. The expectations were that I was going to be the best player and I had to make every play and we had to win the state championship. There was a lot of burden as a young high school kid that you felt because that was the expectations of your future. It wasn't that way in basketball. So I love basketball season because I could just go out and play and we'd win, we'd lose, you're with your buddies. It wasn't the end of the world. So I also think, even for these kids that clearly have their future laid out by sophomore and junior year, and it's a given this sport is the sport you have, there's something very liberating about playing in the other sports where there are no expectations. There is no pressure and just go out and be a high school kid and compete. And no one, you don't have to be the best. Just go out and compete. Like, I just believe so wholeheartedly that that's going to serve you so well as you continue to move forward.

And I look back as much as I loved high school football is the, you know, it's the best moment of your life. It's the best times of your life. I look back on my high school days as a basketball player and a track and throwing the shot put and running into four by four relays. Like, we didn't win the state championship. We weren't the best team around, but it was a blast. And I think those high school memories kids are missing out on it. You win, I think viral a couple weeks ago when you were all with Will and Taylor talking about the youth team that you coach. And, you know, I grew up in Davis in California, so we had a small college.

And when the UC Davis guys would show up to either Pee-We football, it was actually called midgets back then or to recess or whatever. It was a big deal. But I can only imagine what it's like when you guys initially committed. I would imagine because your son's on the team for you, Luke. What's the turnout out there with the other dads whose sons are playing? Because I'd imagine a lot of guys, your age, right? Yeah.

They grew up watching you grew up. I mean, we're in their 20s and 30s when you were playing. How's the experience of the intensity of it? But like those dads, how after they ask me to come hang out? Yeah, we welcome, and all the sports that we coach, we welcome families to be around practice. I love when our families come watch what we do. I love when they listen in on our team meetings and our team huddle

and the end of practice review. I want them to hear me tell you. Are you the head coach? Yeah, of the middle school team, just of the middle school team. So I love when the parents hear us tell their kid how good they did. But I also like when their parents hear us coach their kid and correct their kid and tell them that their effort's not good enough or we need to be better. Like I think they need to hear the truth and they need to hear it firsthand. I don't like when kids have to go home and, hey, why did you do a practice?

I did good. What did coach say? I don't know. If they're, you know, kids, at least my own kids, like they can't relay what happened. They're teenage boys. They don't even know what day it is. So we, first of, we welcome people to come to our practice. We don't get a ton of family parent coming to our practice.

We have a full-time coaching staff of like six guys. So we have plenty of helping hands devoted to just our middle school team. So, but they're welcome. As far as the environment that we're trying to create, like we don't shy away from it. We are trying to emulate a water down, but a very like high school football type of environment. And we do summer workouts three days a week all summer long. Kids are expected to be at them. We're doing strength and conditioning.

We're in the weight room. We're doing speed and agility. We're training. We are preparing these kids to what high school football commitment looks like for some of them a year from now, some of them two years from now as they enter high school. So it's a blast. We're hard on them. We coach them hard.

We demand that they do things the right way. We preach physicality. We approach run into the ball and be in vital. violent and we just we really try to teach them the game the way the game is played as they continue to get older and I think to try to teach them the game in any other form or fashion is doing them all a disservice so they respond to it they're young boys they love it they they you know even the kids that haven't played before maybe they're a little hesitant early they don't quite know but if you bring them along in the right stages all of a sudden that light bulb goes off

and they let it rip so we we got a lot of fun. fun with it. We got about 50 kids on the team, seventh and eighth graders, which is a good turnout. And we love it. It's a blast. Could you envision yourself? Obviously, your broadcasting career has gone pretty damn well, but ever coaching at a higher level than you're doing now? I know your dad was a long-time high school coach. Your dad's on your staff now, correct? My dad's on our, yeah, so our staff is full-time staff. We got six full-time guys. We got me, my dad, Luke, Jonathan Stewart, and Todd Blackledge. And we have a new staff. member, a new kid, one of our members of the team, he played college ball at VTEC, just a dad that has the

flexibility to come help us. So we have a full staff of guys on site. We can do a ton of individual work, a ton of small group, try to really limit the amount of standing around as much as we can. You know, we don't do the whole practice of just 11 on 11 and then the other 30 kids just stand on the sideline. I know what that's like. I know what that feels like for those kids. That is not a good way to develop everyone. So it's as much. much small group and individual as we can possibly do. And then, of course, at some point, you've got to bring everybody together and put it on. It's a little harder to get the kids, the reps there.

But we've been doing it now four years at the young level. And we feel like we're still learning and still figure out exactly the best way to kind of do it age appropriate. But for the most part, we have a pretty good feel of what it looks like. You know, what's cool is these kids, I mean, they're young. But, you know, when they're 25, 30 and they're working at Wells Fargo or Goldman Sachs or any tech, this will be a legendary story that they will tell about Jonathan Stewart. I was a running back on my middle school team and Jonathan Stewart was telling me about the angles to hit in the C gap. I hope so.

I hope the kids look back on these. And you brought up such a good point before. We are not coaching any of these kids or all of the time we're putting in and the entire summer and the four and a half hour training camp days. We just had one this morning. like we're not doing any of this under any false pretense that these kids are going to become professional footballers. Maybe some of them will. I don't know. But if none of them do, it's still all worth it. And that's the point like we have to continue to get across to these kids. If the idea of youth sports was to generate professional athletes, everybody should just stop doing it

because the odds of that being your kid are so small. It should be about everything else. You know, we tell them, it's supposed to be hard. You're going to be tired. It's early mornings and you're not going to want to wake up. But guess what? Life's about showing up and working even when you don't always want to. And that's going to serve you well at Wells Fargo in Goldman Sachs. It's going to serve you well in your marriage. It's going to serve you well in the classroom.

That's the point of all of this. In the process of teaching these kids football, we're teaching these kids what life looks like and that life is not vacation and life is not everything always going to go your way. But you're going to have to battle through some stuff and you're going to have to be held accountable. and you're going to be pushed hard and you're going to have to, you know, it might be a coach you don't like or a teacher you don't like or a boss you don't like. Guess what? That's, that's the real world. And we got to start showing these kids what that looks like and there's no better way to do it than through youth sports. You know, it's funny. You and Tom were talking about

the transfer portal and obviously it's a polarizing topic. I don't think you could meet any human being that you would respect that has any issue with anyone making any real money now in college athletics. But the transferring all over the place, I mean, most people, and the knock is always like, well, if you were a student on campus, not a football player, you could earn whatever. Most of those people weren't bouncing around colleges, though they stayed. They developed relationships. And those people might hire three of the people for their company that they lived with in this little apartment. And especially as a football player, you playing at Miami or any college, could be D1AA. The struggle you went through, those guys would go on to be your good friends,

godfathers of your kids. And I start thinking, I know a bunch of people that work in college. I mean, they get kids that have been to three schools in like a calendar year. It's like the relationships. How could you even meet any human beings and forge any sort of relationships that are extremely important when you're 18, 19, 20 years old, looking back when you're our age and these people that you still text on a daily basis? Yeah.

Everyone's just a mercenary. Right. We've just created a sports culture of mercenaries. And again, everyone has to do what they feel is in their best. interest. Everyone's now just playing by the rules as they're written. This is not unique to college. High school has really just become mercenary, bounce around. If you don't like the school you're at, go to the school down the street, either rent an apartment, go to a public school, or obviously, the private schools are just easy and they're getting anybody in. And it's just to accumulate as many

good players as you can. There's everything about the youth sports scene, no, even not everything. So much of the youth sports scene right now from high school on down. And even obviously at the college level, even though I don't consider that like youth sports anymore. more is development is now secondary to player acquisition. Everything is just about player acquisition. If kid A is not good enough, you're just going to go out and get Kid B. And it's a dangerous game. I think we're losing development in the long run.

I think everybody's always looking for where the grass is greener. And it's ultimately a challenge. But the situation you just laid out about relationships, it all comes down to there's, it just it affects your culture. and it's hard to establish, it's hard to establish culture and consistency. And we're all going through the hard times together. In our freshman year, none of us traveled. And then as red shirt freshman, we traveled, but we didn't play.

And then all of a sudden in year three, you carve yourself out a nice role and then year four, you're a starter. Those days are over. Those days don't exist. And I just hate that kids don't learn the value and the lessons of long-term grit and long term just pushing through an adversity because at the first sign of adversity you can just go somewhere else and I think it's a dangerous game but again we're playing the hand that we're dealt that the simple solution to all of this is you can either take NAL money or you can be able

to transfer you can't do both I think that would clean everything up you want the opportunity to bounce around to find the best fit no problem you can't make a dollar the second I give you a dollar you cannot break your contract with me. We cannot have NFL free agency every single year. Everyone's fine for the kids making money. But if Nebraska pays you $4 million a year for the next four years and you never become the starting quarterback, tough business.

You took $16 million and you went to the wrong school. That's on you. Like you can't have it. You can't shop your service. In my opinion, you should not be able to shop your services every single year. and then sometimes bi-annually because of the way the transfer portal windows, you can really enter the portal multiple times

in a calendar year, and just, in essence, just shop yourself to the highest bidder. It's just, it doesn't exist in any other framework of sports anywhere in the world. I know. Except in college athletics.

Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it.

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

Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert 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. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano,

and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game.

We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson,

we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash will get that thing. That man, hell get to fly. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court,

and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Agency, the ability to know that we're the experts in our own body. On the podcast, cultivating her space, Dr. Dom and Terry Lomax create a space where black women can show up fully and be heard. I wholeheartedly think, you know, you hit 30. You shouldn't have to share one with anybody.

Mm-hmm. From navigating friendships and healing to setting boundaries and prioritizing your mental health. These are real, honest conversations. We don't always get to have out loud. Totally unreasonable with different parts of life, right? Like, oh, have all three meals and make sure you're mindful during all of them? Absolutely not. During one meal, I'm standing.

That's not realistic. I'm standing and handing my children food. Because healing, empowerment, and resilience aren't just ideas. Their practices. And this Mental Health Awareness Month, there's no better time to pour back into yourself. Listen to cultivating her space on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I mean, how many guys that you played with when you went to Miami and the peak of their powers? I mean, where I grew up in Northern California, DJ,

J. Williams was like a mythological figure. I mean, it was like Ray Lewis meets Walter Payton. I played against his two younger brothers that played at Grant High School. One ended up, I think they both ended up going to Cal. DJ went to what, Dayless Al. DJ went to Dalai Sal his brothers played in Sacramento. But, I mean, that guy, I mean, these, and those guys back in those days, the world wasn't as flat.

So like Tom going to Michigan from Northern California or DJ going to Miami, wasn't you going from Jersey to Miami? It wasn't all these guys, like now it's very normal for California kids. going all over the country. It was more of a one-off situation or a small percentage of guys. But, you know, your roster at Miami, like, I'm not starting as a freshman, like, I'm out, right? I just would have gone to Clemson or Alabama or whatever. I just think those days of these programs, and you see it right now in college football, Georgia, Alabama, even Ohio State on a year-a-year base, I'm out of good season. But over the course of five years, they're just not going to

be as deep. Yeah. Well, that's really what it comes down to. The days of accumulating great depth up and down your roster are done. I had lunch with a prominent college coach earlier this offseason and the way they looked at it is, in the old days, you tried to get as many layers deep on your roster as humanly possible. And if you're Georgia, Alabama, Miami, USC, Ohio State, Penn State, those kind of those programs, you can really have, in the old days, you could have four-year running cycles of top-tier four-five-star recruits

from senior year to freshman year and capture it. everyone nowadays is just trying to get to at least too deep. Anything passed too deep on your roster is gone. You have to assume that anybody who's not an immediate backup at the minimum, the next rotation of the transfer portal, they're going to be on somebody else's team. That's just the way of the world nowadays. The freshman third string guy is not willing to wait to be a junior to start and get 200 touches.

It's just he's either going to transfer down, he's going to transfer parallel, or he's going to move somewhere where someone promises him via NIL money or just promises him through depth chart evaluation, you're the guy day one when you step on campus, come here. And I get it. No one wants to sit. No one wants to practice all day and not play. But again, did you earn it? I could make an argument that you didn't earn it.

I can make an argument that you just went to the path of least resistance. And even though you did play and for a lot of guys, it works out, like there's there's a callousness that gets that gets built up over working your way through the system. I think back to my freshman year at Miami, I redshirted and I was on the scout team. My redshirt freshman year, I was the second tight end and double tight end and I probably played 20 snaps a game, 25 snaps a game. And then my third year, my redshirt junior year, I was the starter that I started that year. I started one more and I went off into the NFL. But that, that redshirt year where I was the scout team trying to get open on a Wednesday practice against

Sean Taylor and Antrell Roll and Jonathan Vilma and DJ Williams and Vince Wilfork. And that was the defense in 2003, my senior year. Like that was good for me. I mean, my freshman year, that was good for me. Like that was a big part of my development. I could have probably gone to 30 other schools in America and started as a freshman. But I wasn't going to start at Miami. I wasn't going to start at Miami. I wasn't going to start at Alabama. I wasn't ready. It was good for me for that stage in my life at 18 years old to have to go be on the scout team and be a grunt for a year because that was very different than my high school career, but that was good for me. And I think it's good for a lot of these kids to see the real world and not always have to be put on a pedestal and be told since they were

12 years old, you're the greatest player we've ever seen. Our team can't exist without you. and then we wonder why there's a sense of entitlement across the culture. How much is your perspective on the sport change from transitioning to a player to now doing your role of probably forging pretty close relationships with not just head coaches but coordinators and probably a lot of personnel men around the league to kind of just view football differently for maybe all your years as a player in college and pros? It's been the coolest part of the process. It's fun as sitting in the stadiums and calling the games and all.

all that. The coolest part of the process is the insight into how a lot of these teams work just organizationally, both through structure, through communication, through processes, through what they have in place of how they evaluate talent and how they roster construct and how they do the draft. And you know, when you sit down and you talk to general managers and front office personnel and they really give you a clear vision of why we've done certain decisions over the last two or three years to get to this point, it's an unbelievable insight and process. In terms, and how much time and thought is put into why certain teams are really good. And then you talk to other teams and you get off and you're like,

these guys have no idea what they're doing. And it's no wonder they're not good. Like there's countless times a year where I hang up off of some coaches conference meeting. And I'm like, I get why Sean McVeigh wins a lot. I get why Kevin O'Connell wins a lot. And there's a million guys. And then you also get off some other calls and you're like, they have no clue. They're just making shit up.

Like they're just, and it's amazing at the NFL level, but that's real. So that's the most interesting part. And then from a schematic standpoint, just keeping up to date with the trends and the ebbs and flows of professional football. It's very different than college football. It's very different than NFL football when I first came into the league in 2007. So staying up on where the game is going, how are defenses constructing fronts, how are defenses constructing coverages, how do rule changes, something as simple as the kickoff rule, changing where the touchback is.

what does that do to fourth down decision making on the goal line? Like all of those aspects, I don't think when I was a player and I was worried about playing tight end against your defense, I didn't really have to waste my time being concerned with any of that stuff. It was above my pay grade. Now to be able to wrap your head around the entire picture is really cool. Is there a specific coach that you kind of lean on if you ever have questions throughout the week?

maybe even if you're not calling his game. Yeah, so I try not to bother the guys if I'm not calling their game. But there's a handful of guys in the league that I can text them on a Monday or Tuesday and like they'll text you right back or you say, hey, coach, when you get a free minute tonight, I wanted to run by something. And it's less to say like give me the game plan. Like you never want to make the coaches feel like you're trying to like pry for information. But you can just talk philosophically with them and say, hey, coach, tell me if I'm just

completely off base here. Like, as I'm watching them, I see your strengths being here, there, blah, blah, blah. And more often than not, they're going to be like, you're spot on. I think a lot of the things that you're talking about, I think you're going to really like our plan this week of what we're doing. And you go, got it. You know what I mean? So, you know, I could tech, you know, guys like Dan Quinn and Siriani and McVeigh.

Like, these are guys that, like, you're texting them. Like, they're genuinely interested in you, your press. They want to know about your kids middle school football game. Like they're just genuinely really good dudes. And there's a handful of guys that when I jump on the calls with them resumes like this, the first 10 minutes of the call, we're talking middle school football. And they're asking me what our new wrinkle of the week is. And they're asking us how the game went and how are we being able to teach double teams?

And I'm asking, you know, on the sideline, I'm asking Dan Quinn, hey, we're having a hard time getting our defensive linemen to stunt correctly on their stunt games. He's like, what's a good drill? And here he is. He's the defensive coordinator of the Cowboys at the time. And he's demonstrating in pregame, hey, here's a really good drill for young kids to teach him, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like, it's really cool.

They genuinely care. And more often than not, that's the experience with most of the guys in the league. Okay, I'll get you out of here on this. If I would have told you three or four years ago, the tight end you wouldn't just be the biggest off-season NFL event, but it would have been headlined by Taylor Swift. would you have believed me? No. There is no question.

When we started that event in 2021, just George and I texting initially just, hey, congrats, you retired. If you're ever down in Nashville, a bunch of young tight ends live down here. We train together. We'd love you to come by from that conversation to getting Travis involved to where it's grown five years later is pretty remarkable. I think it's a testament to the position. I think it's a testament to the type of guy who plays the position where, There's enough pizzazz and fun and excitement that makes the position there's enough to talk about. They're athletic.

They're tough. But it's really just their mindset. They're hungry. They want to learn. You got Kittle and Kelsey in 100 degrees in the, you know, between mini camp and training camp, they could be anywhere in the world. And they're in Nashville and 100 degrees fully cleaned up on the field, running full speed routes with guys who've never played a snap in the league and are just taking it all in.

And like, that's the special nature of the event and the position. And that's why it all works. I remember running to Kelsey maybe a year or two before he started dating Taylor out here in Scottsdale, the golf course. And I know Andy and V, so I go up to him. And he couldn't wait to get back to OTAs that we're starting in a couple weeks. And I think that gets lost sometimes now when it started. I'm like, that guy, George, it's easy to see. But Travis is a football junkie.

Yeah. And they all are. There's no good player that I've ever been around or played with or played against that didn't wake up every single day fully consumed with the craft of improvement and the craft of their position, the game, the sport, you know, develop any of that. And we try to drill this into our young middle school kids. They're in seventh and eighth grade. I say, guys, the path of development and the art of learning, the day it ends is the day you stop playing.

If it ends any time before that, you will never maximize. I don't care how good you are now. The idea of perpetual improvement in time forever, that's the goal. And that's why guys like that have gotten better as their careers have gotten longer. They've gotten better. They've gotten older. Like, that's not a mistake. You can't have your best season in year five.

If your best year is in year five, you're probably going to play seven. If your best year is in year 10, you'll probably play 14. Like, that's kind of how it all works. and the guys who get that and the guys who never give up on that quest for improvement, no matter how many pro balls I've made, it's about the next one. No matter how much money I make or how many contracts, I want the next one. Like it never stops until you literally just can't physically do it anymore. And those days come for everybody.

But man, the guys that live it, eat it and breathe it, it's amazing how their days, their days take a little longer to get here. Well, Greg, I appreciate all the time. and you're probably going to have to get on the horn now with like Dr. Dre or the Rolling Stones to try to top this year. So congrats on everything. And the you think thing, that's awesome, man. And hopefully you guys have a big season on the football. You said undefeated.

So I'm going to be checking those scores. We're going to try. Put a target on our back. We'll see. See you, Greg. I appreciate it. Hey, guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers.

I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called. Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it.

We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

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

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 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. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast. Podcast Point Game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments.

If we didn't talk ever again, I was primed. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to him. He's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs.

This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.