The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - 2020 QB Misfires, Patriot Way Outdated, Saleh O-Line Evisceration w/ Middlekauff

Episode Date: August 18, 2023

First, Colin explains the numerous ways how disengaging from Elon’s dumpster fire Twitter has improved his actual life. Then, 3 and Out podcast Host John Middlekauff joins Colin to discuss their take on the upcoming college football season following a summer that saw the B1G finish its decimation of the Pac-12, why so many people massively overrated the 2020 COVID QB draft class, if Jalen Hurts will regress without Colts HC Shane Steichen as his OC, why Belichick opted to sign a shot Zeke Elliott instead of paying more for Dalvin Cook, the reason behind Jets HC Robert Saleh flipping out on his o-line in a viral Hard Knocks clip, and which late round rookie QB they think could pop like Brock Purdy. Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Herd #Volume #3andOutSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The volume. Hi, everybody, and welcome in to the Friday morning podcast. By the time you listen to this, I've flown overnight, and I'm in an undisclosed location with my wife at a beach. You know, I was thinking about something. I had a conversation recently with a friend, and I, and I, he was going through a tough time.

And I said, you know, there's a old saying about there's always a silver lining. And I think about this stuff all the time is I remember when my daughter was a, you know, not great, but a pretty good athlete, volleyball player, basketball player. And she started playing volleyball and liked it more, kind of the community feel. She liked the girls better in volleyball than basketball. And, you know, I had talked to her coach one time. She was doing like summer league where you get in the van, travel all weekend and play. It was in San Bernardino.

And her coach, a former college player said, you know, your daughter's pretty good player. She could play. And then about a year later, six months later, my daughter comes to me and says, I don't want to play sports anymore. And my ex-wife was a jock, played college sports. Now I'm kind of jocky. And I remember there was a day or two where, you know, I kind of pouted and thought, this is no good. I really was looking forward to kind of, you know, traveling with her and watching.

in our games. But what came out of it in that little moment of didn't get my way was actually the greatest thing that I think that had happened in our relationship is that our relationship changed. We got out of the sports realm into a more social realm, traveling realm, was like an adult to adult. It was like an adult to adult relationship. She was aging. and I didn't have to be a sports parent, right? Just a taxi cab driver taking your game to game tournament to tournament. And it goes to something that I really believe that the moments in my life that, and you see it in sports all the time that you think are the pits,

there's always a bright side. I remember when Michigan football was struggling with Brady Hoke. And I remember saying this on the air. Michigan is never bad for a long time in between Rich Rodriguez, Rich Rod, and Brady Hoke. I said they're going to go spend Big Boy money. And they did, and they got hardball. And this is the best Michigan roster this year that they maybe have ever had. It's loaded, potentially 15 NFL draft picks.

So, you know, the Colts got Andrew Luck, the Cavs, get LeBron James because they're awful. Victor Wembenyama to the Spurs because they were awful. There's always some sort of silver lining. It's the great duality of life. Life's never as good as you think or as bad as you think. And I was thinking about this the other day in that in what I do for a living, I have a very large team of people that support me, assist me, and just sort of lubricate either my broadcasting at FS1, IHeart Radio, or the volume.

So I'm very thankful for that. And we rely to some degree on social media, TikTok, a platform we're growing quickly in, Instagram, Twitter. And so initially when Elon Musk took over Twitter, my takeaway was the media has an agenda. They'll be anti-Elan Musk. I'm just going to go in and just watch it develop. I'm not going to take a side. Immediately, too many annoying ads.

Soon after that, too many violent videos. And I had filters on, but just too much stuff was getting through that was gross. And I didn't think it just would put you in a good mood watching it. So my point is, what's the good news? I am never on social media anymore. I have somebody else run the accounts. The addictive quality of that account has disappeared. And that the truth is, I have now worked out for 13 straight days for at least an hour, mostly 90 minutes.

I've got a little passion project on the side, which I won't disclose now, but I probably will soon in a few months, that I developed just because I had more time and have reconnected with a couple of people. I haven't seen it a while. And I thought to myself, Jesus, I was wasting a lot of time staring at my phone. And so I guess my point being is that we live in this outrage blender. You know, everything's the end of the world. and virtually nothing is. And if you have a bad day or a bad team or a bad moment, I see Yankee fans freaking out now.

It's like folks. It's your first bad season in forever. Your standards are high. Your expectations are through the roof. Braves are great. Dodgers too. Houston's viable. It's a bad year for the Yankees.

How'd you like to be the Mets? And it's the standard. It's normal. It's consistently bad or underachieving. stuff's never as bad as you think. We're going to go into a football season. Everybody's going to overreact on Sunday nights and Monday afternoons and Monday nights to the results. Take a deep breath.

Enjoy life. If you're outraged on a regular basis, put down the phone. There's a lot of good out there. It's officially the dog days of NFL training camp. And as I was alerted to, yesterday, we have a football game a week from the day. And it includes Colin Cowards Trojans, who ironically are playing on the Pact 12 network to open up the season. Yeah, you know, that's been such an interesting topic because you and I grew up, I think we spent a lot of our formative years as Pact 12 fans.

And you know what's really happened with all this realignment? is that if you were precious or idealistic or snooty, you got kicked in the head. Stanford has tried to win at football. They've spent money. Cal never really has. They did the basics. They got better facilities.

And with that, they've still put a lot of good NFL players, quarterbacks in the league. But the programs out west that said, and they're good academic schools, USC, Washington, you know, those are real schools. Texas, the schools that have said, wow, there is one athletic program that makes a lot of money and we're going to commit to it.

If you have a good football program, you had multiple suitors. Like, it's hard for me to feel bad for the PAC 12 when in a world where pillow fighting is on the air and slap fighting is a business that you as a college football conference could not get a television deal. I work at a TV network. We're dying for content. But arrogance, too precious. I mean, when you hire somebody from a tennis channel to run your conference and they consider the Sears Cup as viable as the Rose Bowl, you get what you deserve. And so you either commit to football as an athletic department or you're lost. You just don't understand the way the entire pyramid of college sports works.

The most embarrassing part of this whole deal is that I think the Big Ten and definitely the SEC understood that football not only pays for everything, but the more success it has everyone benefits. Yes. It's why in the SEC, their basketball programs now pay coaches, elite money. I was watching the U.S. Am golf tournament. It's full of SEC kids from all over the – they're great at the college baseball tournament. And Larry Scott viewed this as some equitable endeavor. that's not the way college sports has built. Football pays for everything and then everyone benefits. And what I wonder, though, is how do they ever get to the point when the top 50,

however many programs under the umbrella, you know, fighting to get to the 12 team playoff, all abide by the same rules, same amount of conference games, no more playing Weber State and UC Davis. Those days, how do they ever get there? Because essentially, you're going to need a commissioner or a governing body that mandates basically universal rules that Alabama, that Ohio State, right. Oklahoma State. And it feels like we're still a little bit far away from that.

Yeah, I've always felt you need a scheduling czar in college football. I mean, why did the UFC and mixed martial arts, but UFC overtake boxing? Because they had a commissioner, strong-willed, a definitive,

Dana White, I'm on a lease an island. And boxing continually ripped off fans. Once a month, you get a UFC card, even my wife enjoys going, you always get quality, entertainment, and your money's worth. Where college football has struggled to me, John, in my life is not passion, is not branding. It's too few great games.

Everybody's avoiding an out-of-conference loss. So to me, the bigger the tournament becomes 12 to 16 teams, the more willing Texas and Alabama are this year to play each other. USC, Michigan. Now they will play each other. But those are the games. I mean, go to starting next week until the first Thursday of the NFL. There's about 15, 20 days there.

And there's like three good college football games. So the sport's going to change. The tournament, like college basketball, is going to become the focal point. It's not going to erode the sport. What's eroded college basketball isn't the tournament. What's eroded it is the one-and-done culture. The teams aren't very good. The players aren't very good.

So college football still has the three-year minimum rule. But the sport's going to shift, and it's going to shift to a, the tournament is the centerpiece of it. More teams will be allowed in. A little bit of an arms race. But I do believe more than a commissioner, because I'm not sure if you'll ever get that. I think we need a scheduling czar. Everybody plays minimum 10 conference games, one out of conference game to help. Like Ohio State can help out Youngstowns.

state. Washington could help out Eastern Washington. Bama could help out Troy. If there's a regional team you can help out. But I think the sports changing and pivoting. I'm here for it because I believe it will deliver more really big games. Yeah, I mean, 100

percent. That's the best part about the NFL, right? Week one, you get Steelers, 49ers. That's like the equivalent of Georgia USC. Let's rock and roll, baby. Bill's Jets. Yeah. Giants, cowboys. You know, that's really that one o'clock window, that red zone window, there's always four to five games in the one o'clock window are down to the final possession.

Then you get the Fox window. Then you get sunny night and Monday night. Now, Thursday was, you know, it was awful. But by and large, the NFL's quality, every window, you get great games. We may go through Labor Day window. I think LSU plays Florida State. It's like, I can live without seeing any other game. you have this huge three-day weekend to just own the world.

And it's a bunch of teams afraid to play each other. You know, one theory I have going back to the 2020 college football season that was all out of whack. You know, from a training regiment, from a scheduling regiment, beside Trevor Lawrence, who had a long resume and was destined to be a good NFL player. The other four quarterbacks, we got two in limbo right now in Fields and Mack Jones. we'll see. I mean, by the end of the season, they could be not viable for their team anymore. And then you got Zach Wilson and Trey Lance not even close to seeing the field. I think we look back and that's an outlier for quarterback because it was built as

great quarterback draft, but Zach Wilson played nobody. And BYUu typically does, right, on a normal season. But remember, the Pact 12 didn't play any out of conference games. I think the Big Ten did to. They play all those teams. They didn't that season. Obviously, Tray Lance didn't even have a season. Right. So, and Mack Jones, one thing, in the scouting circles I always heard is, you know, Alabama didn't exactly tap out and go home for the summer in 2020. They were lifting. They were ready to roll. They obviously are already talented. And they had a huge advantage that season. And you clearly see it when you get to the pros. Some guys, another theory is some of these quarterbacks, like a Brock Purdy or, you know, Mahomes that don't play on the most talented teams in college are used to figuring out ways to win. where some of the Ohio State and Alabama guys have, they're rolling in with like Kevin Duran

and Steph Curry on their right and left shoulders. And it's just not even fair. Right. They have a stacked team. So I think you see 2020, that college season all out of whack for the quarterbacks. And I do think you see with the quarterbacks, you don't have to go to the elite school. Sometimes you learn going to the second tier power five school. You kind of learn how to play, learn how to win.

No, this has been something. I think I wrote about this in my first book is that it's amazing that the greatest quarterback, there's a quarterback from Miami of Ohio better than any Ohio State quarterback ever, Big Ben. At one point, North Carolina State had Philip Rivers, Russell Wilson, and Mike Glennon in the league, and USC had like, nobody. If you really look, I believe this, you should go to the college, and not just sports, you should go to the college that best prepares you for your first job out of college. What prepares you for the NFL? Never getting touched as a Buckeye quarterback, throwing drag routes that go for 70 yards to wide open five-star receivers with perfect protection. Or playing at Purdue or NC State or Boston College or Miami of Ohio or Cal where Jared Goff got the you know what kicked out of him for three or four years.

So if you look at where quarterbacks come from, you know, Lamar Jackson, Louisville is a basketball. school. I mean, go up, go up and down. If you go up and down the league, like Josh Allen, Wyoming, like Mahomes, nonpower. It's almost universal if you go up and down. And even the guys that went to the big schools, Jalen Hertz, got kicked around, had to transfer. Joe Burrell. Joe Burrell had to transfer. So getting pushed around, roadblocks, duress, not getting your way is a huge component. what job prepares you for the NFL at quarterback? One, throwing into small windows, running for your life, often the second best coaching staff on the field.

Drew Breeze, Purdue. You know, Tom Brady goes to Michigan, but was battling for snaps at Michigan. So I think that Peyton Manning for a long time was the only quarterback for long time. Number one high school, number one college, number one pick, great. I mean, he was for a long time. Elway was that way. High school college, you know, pro, and he delivered. But it's usually, I mean, even Justin Herbert goes to Oregon, good school. Totally doubted. You know, three-star recruit grew up right next to Oregon.

They were not loaded with skill guys on offense, which historically they usually are. Yeah, he had good old linemen, but not good receivers. One thing I thought when Trey Lance was drafted by the 49ers, and I've 100% changed my thinking, and I've seen it with James Wiseman and the Warriors, is, you get this raw product on a great team and it's actually easier. I actually think it's the opposite. And you look this year with the rookie quarterbacks, Anthony Richardson, C.J. Stroud and Bryce Young, right? I'm a little different than you on Carolina. I think it could be a little bit of a rough year.

The other two teams for sure, but it doesn't matter. Like if all three of them are drafting in the top five next year, it's a big picture play where Trey Lance came into a spot where it was like, we're competing to be playing late in January, anything less is unacceptable. And the core guys on the team, they're not into losing. They're not into you figuring it out.

Like, who on the Colts is really going to get super mad if he's struggling? Right. I mean, they're going through a transitional period right now. So I think when you are a young quarterback who's raw and the expectations are super low for your team, it's actually way easier. You get to figure it out. And that doesn't mean you're going to become a good player.

But, you know, it's very rare. Like, look at what Kansas City did. They gave them some breathing room. And he's turns out. not Mahomes an all-time outlier. Like, Mahomes is not someone to be used as an example. Even Josh Allen.

They had blown the place up. They ended up making the playoffs that year, but it was a little lucky. Remember, I think there was like an Andy Dalton thing that got him in, beat the Ravens or something. They were a wild card. But the expectations were low. And he got an easy transition into the pros that if a top team drafts you and the

expectations are high, if you're not like ready and especially clearly Tray Lance wasn't, it can be overwhelming. and probably derail your career. The new movie Grand Turismo is based on an unbelievable true story about a team of unlikely underdogs, a struggling working class gamer, a failed race car driver, and an idealistic motorsport executive. Together they risk it all to take on the most elite sport in the world.

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It's the game time app. Last minute deals. Lowest prices guaranteed. $20 off your first purchase. 20 bucks. Terms apply. So, you know, I was thinking about this with Trey Lance. A four-year jet scout came out and just said, like, this doesn't work.

He doesn't, he looks overwhelmed. And it just goes to show you how hard. drafting a quarterback is. And I'll give an example. So Mack Jones came in with several red flags, not athletic, had a temper, one-year starter, surrounded by great players,

then lands in New England with a defensive culture. Yet he had an excellent rookie season. Trey Lance comes in, winning culture, Big Kid, Mobile, Kyle Shanahan, it's bad.

Like, one of the reasons I bought into Trey Lance was, Kyle Shanahan will figure it out. So I was like, oh, this will work. So does it show you that if Kyle can't make it work, it was just a whiff? I mean, part of me is like, like, I understand James Wiseman for the Warriors not winning. And it's not because Wiseman can't play. He doesn't, he's not synced up to Steph Curry's timeline.

Right. Like I get them just saying, hey, we got to get guys who can win now. NFL's different. Like if Trey could play, they would just figure it out. And I watched Sam Darnold with the same personnel play. And Trey Lance, Sam looked like, Sam looked excellent. And I'm like, we all talk about Lance. Purdy has not a great camp.

Is it possible you live and spend time in the barrier? Is Sam Darnold potentially the starter? Well, I've heard that Kyle's had a long love affair would be strong, but he's always liked the player. And he saw what his strengths are and his offense. And let's face it, he views the quarterback position. If you remove Trey Lance, I would say a little different than most. Like what the Andy Reid's of the world and some of these, you know, coaches in the league want a little different than what Kyle Shanahan wants.

And some of his stuff, you know, he's never had in all of his successful years. You know, they had success with Matt Schaub in Houston, obviously Matt Ryan, Jimmy Garoppolo. Sam is the best arm of any of those guys. Yes. And I think Sam, fair or not, was in shitty situations that if you put, let's just say, a tray or guy, it would have been worse. I mean, no one was winning in the situations he was in with Adam Gays and even in Carolina. And I do think that Brock Purdy is not going to get treated like some top 10 quarterback.

And if things are rocky and don't look like last season, he won't go to the bullpen. It was no different than last year. If Trey Lance hadn't broken his ankle and gone. four, five, six games, I don't know the exact number. And Ben up and down, he would have gone to Jimmy Garoppel. He was not giving him 17 games because that's not how this team is built. So I think there is tangible pressure on Purdy, who, as he stated, over and over, is going to be his lock starter for Pittsburgh.

But he doesn't get to just go like 0 and 3. If they lose week one, which is a very loseable game on the road, they're a favorite. So that means Tomlin's an underdog. It's just going to be a tough environment against a really good defense. I just, he will go to the bullpen. Now, I don't know if that's week two, week four, but Purdy doesn't just get the leash of most of these blue chip, highly paid quarterbacks.

And that's, you know, part of this conversation. Have you ever seen anything like a conversation over these backup quarterbacks for an elite team? It's, it's, they're an outlier situation, right? A Super Bowl contender who does not have a $40, 50 million dollar quarterback. All the other teams, even in the NFC, DAC and Jalen and then the top teams in the eight. AFC, Mahomes, obviously Josh Allen and Burrow, right? I mean, these are the premium players in the league.

And then you got the 49ers. It's like Purdy and Sam Darnold. So it just, but we all kind of believe in them because we saw what they could. They could have beat the Eagles if Purdy doesn't get hurt the way they were playing. But there is like this kind of elephant in the room weirdness with their quarterback. And that's just kind of the way it's been since Kyle's been there because ultimately Trey Lance didn't work out because they were hoping that he would become that guy. So I think an interesting situation.

I had a buddy, Steve Kime, used to run Arizona. Yeah. He was at the Eagles camp last several days. And he texted me the other day. He's like, they are really good. And, you know, Shane Steichen is one of these guys. This was Brian Daibel. So Brian Daibel was being talked about.

I was getting comments about him, like three years. When he got the Buffalo job, I'd get guys or like, watch this guy. And then everybody figured out, like, when Josh Allen exploded, it's like, oh. So I thought the Chargers were going to hire Brian Daibble because he had a relationship. Daibald did with Tom Telesco, the GM. I think they roomed in college or they knew each other somehow. And they didn't.

The Spanos just actually said, hey, we want Brandon Staley because he was with the Rams. You know, you take somebody that's valuable away from the Rams. Maybe he'd already been on the West Coast, whatever. So, and you get situations like this. Well, the Chargers also told me several years ago, Shane Steichen is. really good. And Justin Herbert behind the 32nd ranked

offensive line with Anthony Lynn literally through 31 touchdown passes. Then he goes and he kind of resurrects, and that's the wrong word. He takes Jalen Hertz's talent and essentially makes him co- MVP of the league.

So he leaves, much like Daible left Josh Allen. Josh Allen's still good, but the mistakes go up. there's a drama this year and you could sense they missed dayball a little no knock on ken dorsey i'm really interested i think jalen hurts like josh allen he's a franchise guy moves throws great leadership qualities but you know you work with them and you still have contacts i i look at last year's eagles team they played a bunch of injured quarterbacks backup quarterbacks and weak

quarterbacks schedule is much different this year. And I am interested. I'm really pro indie because of Stuyken. And I remember, when Siriani called the plays, it was a bit of an S show. He handed it over to Stuyken. And instantly, next week they were good. What do you expect from the Philadelphia Eagles this year, the offense? Well, a lot of players in the history of the league have had great seasons, right? But to be a great player, doing it year in, year out, especially a quarterback, right? That's what separated Brady, Manning, Breeze, whoever, all the top guys every year. So there is pressure now on Jalen.

They didn't have a choice they had to pay them. Listen, one thing I've learned from in the scouting world talking about players and seeing guys that you've kind of bet against that failed, you bet on the person. And these guys, I think they didn't think three years ago he was going to be this good, but they hammered home how impressive this dude was. Yeah. how coachable he is. Like, Siriani can yell at him.

He's a coach's kid. Doesn't mind it. Sabin, Lincoln Riley. He can handle it. This is a tough, mentally driven football is his life. Teammates love him. That's why they,

Wally Pipped Carson went so fast. Everyone gravitated to this guy. And this is when he wasn't even that good. Yeah. And so to me, you don't bet against now. Is he going to maintain like the Super Bowl game, every single game?

Of course not. But I have, I'm betting on him because I think he proved last year. He's a much better thrower. And like Kimes Techs, their team around him, elite offensive line. Him and AJ Brown are perfectly, this guy is kind of like the younger version of

Russell Wilson. Jason Kelsey says he throws like one of the best deep balls he's ever seen. So he's a great go ball thrower. Devante Smith's a stud. They have a tight end. They always got a million running backs. You're right, though. Anytime you move the coordinator and if Stuyken to get to him, I mean, he could be the next

McVeigh, Shanahan. That's right. If you take a day ball, you take a quarterback as a coordinator, and then you take Anthony Richardson. I mean, this guy would be a legend around the league pretty quickly. Right. But, you know, I think the coordinator, Ben Johnson, I think that's his name, the long-time Utah guy and bounce around the league. By the way, this is a good point.

Stafford was at his best with Jim Bob Cooter, the coordinator. Okay. So they got a lot of guys in Siriani. There's a lot of cohesion there offensively. So I, the schedule is going to be harder, right? I think the NFC East is the Cowboys. those games are going to be more difficult. The Giants, the mismatch last year was pretty evident when the Eagles play the Giants kick their ass.

I think that will get a little more competitive. Washington beat him one game last year. They play the Niners in the regular season. They play Seattle in the regular season. So it's just going to be a little bit more difficult. But I think when you get a guy that's proven that he can play in his lineage shows, Alabama, Oklahoma, right from college, blue chip guy. And he's such an elite character, football, intangible stuff.

That's who you bet on. So is he going to be an. MVP every single week or year? I don't know. But is he going to be a damn good player? I would say yeah. You know what? You made just a great point. You said in scouting, you bet on the guy. And I think with quarterback especially because you ask so much of that position and that guy. But I didn't like Will Levis. I didn't like his attitude. I didn't like Baker. I didn't like Jay Cutler. Once I learned about it, nothing against Baker Mayfield, but I didn't like the hutzpah and the cockiness. Cam rubbed me the wrong way. James Winston, I thought, was silly.

I liked Bryce Young. I liked Andrew Luck. I liked Trevor Lawrence. I remember meeting Russell Wilson as a rookie. It's such a great point. I ever thought about it that way. The guys I have been hypercritical of. I mean, I had somebody tell me about Will Levis between the girlfriend on draft night,

the gun show at the Combine. They're like, this guy loves Will Levis. Bryce Young loves football. And just because you're a great guy and love football doesn't mean, I mean, this is pro football. It's hard, right? The 49ers bet a lot on. on Trey Lance. Part of it, he just doesn't see it when he's playing. Right. It's a fine line. This is one of the most competitive industries, probably in all of America,

to be a high-level quarterback. But I do think Jalen proved last year of just seeing the field being much better as a passing quarterback and clearly benefits. You talk to the guys with the Colts. What was a big part of betting on Anthony Richardson? They like the person. My scouting buddies were like, he's really impressing. These guys seems like a good guy. So you kind of bet on that with a talent. No guarantee because, you know, you're taking a big flyer. on the talents, but you kind of bet on the guy you feel better about it. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app. podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way,

this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. I mean, I've said this before. I, you and I, if I went to a bar and I sat next to you and we were having cocktails and talking, I would know within six to eight minutes. Oh, I like this guy.

Right? Like the first time we met. 100%. That happens to me all the time in Manhattan Beach. I'll go out and I'll go to my little private club I got buddies at and some people I don't know. And I just talk. I'm a talker. And I can tell instantly, it's the same in Uber. You get in an Uber. I was in an Uber recently about two months ago. And so I met this guy.

So just immediately I'm like, man, he's articulate. I'm asking him about his life. And it's about a 20-minute drive. Well, about halfway through, we start talking about the homeless issue in Los Angeles, and he was homeless. and we go into detail about the situation. And by the end of it, I'm like, that was one of the best 20-minute rides I've ever had in a car with a stranger.

And it's one of those things. He told me his life story. He was just willing to talk about it. He was a real vulnerable guy. When you sit and interview these quarterbacks in this room and you get 20 minutes, John, you tell me, you're a scout. I think you can size a guy up. I heard Levis was got very defensive.

in the scouting rooms when you asked him about his habit of eating the whole banana, skin and all, well, he's the one that put it on social media. And scouts would ask him about it. And he got defensive with a couple of teams.

And it's like, I think you can size people up. Look at the market value on him. Because I thought early on in the season, I guess, junior or senior year, whatever that last year was equivalent to his years in college,

he had a chance to be the number one overall pick. And then the season kind of derailed for him. And then even by draft time, he was viewed as a guy like he still could go in the top 10. But sometimes the way things you hear, if you only talk to a couple guys, you don't actually know. He didn't go in the first round. So in a quarterback star of league for a guy with his talent because he, two years ago, he was really good for Kentucky. Big arm. Yeah.

Yeah. And that tells you everything you need to know. And I do think the team that drafted him, little quarterback desperate, right? Tanny Hills last year. But look what's happening right now. Malik Willis, clearly a high-level guy, has really improved, and Will Levis can't beat him out. So, yeah, it's what makes this so difficult is because, you know, you're involved in so many businesses, right? So many of it are pretty black and white on an Excel spreadsheet.

This is making money, this isn't. We acquire this. We add this building. It's going to cost us this. It's just with human beings, which sports is, that's who you're acquiring for seven, eight figures. you can't actually, you have ideas, and sometimes you're right and sometimes you're really wrong. And you can be fooled, too. That's the other thing.

Like some guys, you got to be very careful. We used to call him in Philly cons, because you could just be conned. If a guy ever showed up to your top 30 visit wearing a suit, it's like, yeah, he's got something to hide. Because, you know, Bryce, the average players are showing up in team sweats. He's flying city to city. He's not, like, you already, I've already talked to him. But anytime that suit, it's like, oh, this guy's got some red flag. And you already know about them.

So you're asking questions that you already know the answers to. But then where you get burned is if that guy goes on to be really good and your owner starts looking at your GM and coach, like you guys didn't like this guy. And he's kicking our ass on Sunday. So it's where some of these people start second guessing themselves. And it's the hard, you know, Belichick. He doesn't really like taking a lot of flyers, right? He kind of likes, you know, high character, super smart. This guy played seven sports.

And sometimes the ceiling's not as high. And it worked with Tom Brady. My thought on the Zique thing was Belichick forever has been like Warren Buffett. He invests pretty boring, right? But it's always worked when he had Tom Brady. Buffett has so much money. He ain't not looking to double his money. He just wants his 7, 8, 10% returns.

Now he's got to be a little more aggressive. But he's not comfortable. And he's 71 years old. Like he's not going to change his stripes. So what does he do? He signed Zieg for $600,000 signing bonus. He wasn't going to get into a bidding war for Dalvin Cook or Deon. That's not who he is.

And he did it one year and it backfired on him. Well, also, the world's changed. So, like, Greg Popovich could never embrace the three-point shot. All right. Belichick is still seeking value with offensive players. That ship, that's, it's sailed. You could do that with Brady and you could do that 12 years ago. You have to pay for Tyreek Hill.

Right? You have to pay for Travis Kelsey. And I think so, and I think. one of the things, I'll read a business book every year. I'll probably grab one, gravitate to one and read it. And the only thing that kills a successful business is there's a cultural change and you're too arrogant to embrace it. And I feel like Popovich, now he got rewarded with Victor Wenbinoa.

We'll see. But I think Popovich and Belichick, you kind of fall in love with your culture over personnel. If you take Brady and Tim Duncan out, we're not talking about Popovich and Belichick, right? So I think my thing with the Zeke signing is they could have had Dalvin Cook, but Bill has not, he's toned deaf to this. I mean, think about this. Think about all these defensive coaches. Ron Rivera won't put his arm around Sam Howe. Brian Flores wouldn't put his arms around Tua.

Mike Zimmer wouldn't put him around Kirk Cousins. Bill Belichick won't put him around Mac Jones. McVeigh, even though Goff could drive him nuts, I love Jared Goff. Dan Campbell. Look at the offensive coaches. Even when the quarterback is flawed, Kyle Shanahan, I love my guy. I trust my guy. The world's changed.

Quarterbacking now is $100 million a year. These guys are going to sign 500 billion our contracts. They make seven figures on endorsement, seven figures on social. Guys show him a little love. And I just think those defensive coaches struggle with it. Well, think about this. If you went to a meeting room, Andy's on the nicest end, right? He's not a, he's not a swear or anything.

But even Kyle McVeigh, the offensive coaches, when they are acknowledging their team, their unit, their position, it would not sound, even though he was acknowledging the offensive line like Robert Sala. How did Robert Sala come off in that clip on Hard Knocks? That's a defensive coach. Why? Everything's aggressive. Everything's hitting. Everything. and he went around the offensive guys very carefully,

but he attacked that group. Now, they can handle it, but that show, like that's how defensive coaches talk. I'm not saying offensive coaches won't swear or yell, but that's, you can't be like that every day with the Debo's and the AJ Browns and your quarterbacks and your tight ends,

your running backs. They're a little closer to like NBA players, right? But your linemen and all your defensive players gloves off. And that's why Sala just lit into him. Now, he's just telling what he saw. They're getting worked, which is kind of concerning. But yeah, I think there's just a different communication with the defensive side of the ball

and the offensive side of the ball as a whole. And I think it shows consistently when it comes to the coach's messaging and anytime we get an inside look behind the curtains. Yeah. Finally, I'm going to give you a player I looked at. I'm going to throw this out there. So Brock Purdy is rare. But there's about a quarterback every two years we find in a later round. Dak, Kirk Cousins.

That Aden O'Connell Raiders from Purdue, that dude can spin it. Now, in college, it was mostly a shotgun system. You know, he got it, got it out. He's not going to move the pocket a ton, right? And maybe it's a little old school. But I'm watching him against San Francisco. John, he made two throws in that game.

And I'm like, oh, shit, those are big boy throws. and he was a fourth rounder. So fourth rounder gave us Stetson Bennett, this kid from Purdue, and also, is it Jake Hainer from Fresno State? Yeah, it looked pretty good too? Yeah, so three fourth round quarterbacks. Now, they may all be able to play.

Stets and Bennett's been hot and cold in practice all over the map. But my guy, my quarterback this year, I'm going to go with this Raider kid because Garoplo has an injury history. I mean, if you can get a quarterback that is free, for four years. It changes your entire franchise. I don't know if it was the end of their second joint practice or before the preseason game,

but I know the Niners guys, because obviously whenever you joint practice with the team for, you just, the coaches end up BS and talking. And they basically said that we love this kid coming out in the draft too, but we just have a pack quarterback room. We weren't going to take a quarterback in the draft. And think about this. The type guys, the Shanahan crew likes Stetson Bennett.

The Packers took Clifford, who's looked pretty good too. Josh McDaniels in the Belichick tree kind of has a similar vibe. Jimmy Garoppelow, Mac Jones. They kind of like the similar type quarterbacks. I'm with you.

Now, preseason game, we've been fooled before. You couldn't watch that half and go, one, if Kyle Shannon would have looked at Josh McDaniels at halftime, will you trade me straight up? Trey Lance for Aidna,

he would have laughed at him, right? No chance. And yeah, I mean, I think anytime, I would immediately make him the backup because

immediately. Over Brian Hoyer. Now, if they want to keep him around to kind of hang out in the quarterback room. But yeah, I mean, it would not shock me. Like you said, Jimmy doesn't stay healthy. He gets in. Even when he's playing, he's injured. So at any moment, Aiden O'Connell, you go to the bull.

They gave him Derek Carr's jersey number in a New York minute. I mean, they ended that thing out fast. I texted a scout and he goes, he said, I talked to two NFL execs yesterday. Well, one exact one scout. And they both said, oh, our guys loved him. we just didn't need a quarterback. So you talked to the Niners, they loved him and didn't need a quarterback. I think the Raiders found themselves a gem.

He had a lot of buzz. And I'm not trying to overreact to preseason. They beat the Niners pretty well in practice, too. They held their own. I do think, you know, I know you're Sean Payton guy. I'm worried about that team. That team could be, you know, they got some figuring stuff out to do. What if the Raiders, because they do have a lot of high-end talent,

their problem was defensive as a unit last year was pretty hit or miss. And obviously Carr had his worst year as a pro once he became an established starter. If they can just get solid quarterback play, Josh Jacobs, Devante Adams, Crosby's stud. And Josh, Josh was much better last year than probably even I said it. But they were in games and weren't getting their ass kick. They could pay Josh Jacobs. So then you'd had Devante Ante, Devante Adams, Hunter Renfro, Josh Jacobs, Colton Miller, Aidan O'Connell, right? Then you can go on the market and grab a center.

go on the market, get a defensive tackle, because they have Crosby. When you can go free for four years, it allows you to basically go get three high-end players. That's what you're allowed to do. And their team was better, probably whatever Mac Jones, the year that the Patriots made the Super Bowl, I guess they were not Super Bowl, the playoffs two years ago as a wild card and got their butt kicked by the bills. But I think I wonder if in his mind, you know, Jimmy's basically, he signed a three-year contract money-wise just on a one-year deal, that if they're not thinking like that because they could go on a two-year run, that gives them a lot of leeway, buy a corner, make a big trade.

You've got a lot of wiggle room with money. John Midlakov, buddy, I'm heading on a plane tonight. I'll be back late Sunday night. Good to seeing you. Thanks for those who listened on AMP. John Midlakov host a three and out and go low. Great golf podcast. Good seeing you.

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