The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - “Can’t Miss” Draft Prospects, Turbulence Ahead For Jets? Best Fits For McCarthy/Penix/Nix, UConn
Episode Date: March 31, 2024Colin’s joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out”! They start with UConn basketball and why they are the best college sports program that nobody talks about (7:00) and why basketball is tr...ending away from small-ball and towards dominant bigs like Zach Edey (13:00). They debate which top ranked QB prospect is at most risk of becoming a bust (23:00) and pick the best potential landing spots for J.J. McCarthy, Bo Nix and Michael Penix. They project some bumpy times ahead for the Jets and Aaron Rodgers (31:00) and why Jordan Love is currently a better QB than Rodgers (38:00) They list their “can’t miss” NFL draft prospects (51:30) and give their “dream” summer vacation destination (58:15) (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Volume #Herd #3andOutSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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terms and responsible gaming resources. So this is our Easter edition. We are taping this at around
noon on Easter so John can be with his family. I spent this morning with my daughter and which is a great
Easter present for dad. You know, it's interesting. My wife had
I, she deals with some designing real estate stuff. So we're apart about half the year. And it really
works in our relationship because I'm annoying and she needs breaks from me. But one of my favorite
presence, John, thinking of Easter, one of my favorite presence is finding a documentary I like.
And this morning, I stumbled upon one on Apple TV about Steve Martin. Now, I think generationally,
he's not in your wheelhouse.
So I grew up...
A little before my time.
My dad loved him.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So there's about six comedians in my life that I think kind of shaped how I looked at comedy.
Carson, Albert Brooks, Gary Shandling, Steve Martin, probably Letterman.
I mean, a lot of brilliant guys out there.
Jerry Seinfeld later.
Ricky Jervais, I think, is laugh out how's funny.
Chris Rock.
But I want to say this for people out there.
Documentaries are my kind of favorite thing to do.
like I work out every day, obviously time with my wife, my kids, you know, career.
For you, it could be hitting golf balls.
Everybody's got this thing that just genuinely every day makes them happy.
So my gift today on Easter was finding a Steve Martin, Apple TV, two-part documentary, a lot of Martin short in the second one, a lot about his career I knew, a lot I didn't.
If I said you on Easter, somebody could give you a surprise present, something that makes you happy every single time for two hours, what is?
it? I would say it would be food. We're having a lot of people over, and I have the prime rib I just put on the
smoker. I've never done this before, Colin. I feel tangible pressure on my shoulders. We have friends,
you know, their families, they live in different states. They're all coming over here. If I mess up
this meat, no one's going to remember the mac and cheese or the bread, but if the prime rib is not
done right, they'll never forget that. And, you know, another thing I found out, prime rib isn't
cheap. So I, the older you get, you realize, you know, I used to have my mom or they'd all cook. I
didn't have to do anything. I just got to sit there, watch the lead eight hang out in the older.
You know, you take on those responsibilities. This might be my last time. We'll see.
But I just put it on the smoker here, Colin. So we will in about three hours see how that bad boy tastes.
But in all serious, you know, I'm pretty, I'm pretty simple. I'm a lot like you, I think.
Pretty simple. I don't do much. I work. I try to work out every day.
You know, I golf a couple times a week.
I mean, that's kind of the extent of my life.
I'm with my girlfriend a lot.
You know, my friend group is kind of gets smaller as you get older.
I really just don't do that much.
I mean, obviously, I watch a lot of sports.
But other than that, my life is real, I don't need much to be happy.
You know, and people ask me all the time for advice.
I make more money now than I ever have.
But early on in my 20s when I worked in football and even when I first got into radio,
it was never.
even thought about money. And being around football coaches, when I went to work for Pat Hill,
he was one of the first million dollar non-power five coaches. And obviously, Andy's was that well
into the millions by the time I met him, you never felt like their passion for their sport and
their love. And it's why when you do what you like, it's easier to work more. And I think your
life becomes a little more simple. You don't need all these other, you know, auxiliary things
on the outside that you're constantly chasing for happiness. Your work kind of brings you happiness.
Yeah, I tell my kids all the time. Gratitude is a great gift. Some people have it, some don't.
My mom was a nurse very, very early. I don't remember my mom being a nurse. I was right, and, you know,
she probably stopped when I was about six, but she used to always say, I've seen people in chronic pain.
If you have your health, and my mom was always way ahead of her time with food. I never ate a piece of
white bread my childhood. Like my mom was very much into... We were the opposite. Yeah. But that's,
I think a lot of the was she saw bad diets, the repercussions of not eating right. So my mom was always
grateful for her health and she passed that along and I tell my kids this all the time. You got good
genetics. We don't have the big C in our family. You know, we don't have a lot of cancer in our family.
We don't have a lot of depression in our family. So here on Easter, I'm grateful for a lot of things.
one of them is a great documentary, our friendship, friendships. I have pruned my tree like you over
the course of time. You have a handful, 20 people in your life that really matter. You're certainly
one of them. You've been a wonderful part of the volume, and I love watching you grow. One other thing,
before we get into football, I was watching this with Yukon. They're a fascinating program.
They're going to win this championship. If so, they'll be tied for the third most, more than Kansas.
You know, Michigan footballs had two natties since like 1950, and it's a huge brand.
Yukon is the greatest program in the history of college sports, men, women, baseball, football,
basketball, women's basketball, nobody ever talks about.
They're going to have six different titles if they win this one.
And I'm watching them the other night, and I'm like, I don't know exactly why this is.
Because by the way, the biggest college basketball program in the Northeast now,
which is where all the main media is.
But think about the biggest basketball programs ever.
UCLA, Kentucky, Kansas. Think about the biggest basketball programs, Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State, USC, Texas, Oklahoma. There is something weird about Yukon that the state doesn't have any players. They're going to win a six national championship, and they're never a national story. And is it because they've had downturns? It's been three different coaches instead of just one great iconic coach, although I think Jim Calhoun is the Bill Snyder of college sports. Like,
You know, just never got the credit he deserved.
But it is so weird to me watching Yukon kick everybody's ass.
I think I talk about him twice a year.
I'm to blame as much as anybody.
And by the way, they're right down the road from ESPN.
They're still never discussed.
I think college football and college basketball parallel each other so much in terms of it's all about your coach.
When you get the right guy, obviously Jim Calhoun, when I was a kid, was a legendary figure in the sport.
it does feel like Dan Hurley's thrown in his hat in the ring.
Like, is he the new Kirby Smart of college basketball?
Yeah.
I'm always fascinated just because I, you know, when I got out of the NFL and I was close to the 49ers, the brother dynamic.
And obviously you watch Jim and John.
I mean, Jim was this, I don't want to say superstar, but he played in the NFL for 15 years.
He was way more famous than John, who starts as like a quality control guy.
And then they both kind of end up at the same level.
You saw Peyton and Eli, Peyton, infinitely more.
famous, way more MVP's, but for a while, Eli had the two Super Bowels. Payton only had the one.
You look at Bobby Hurley, I mean, one of the prominent figures, wouldn't you say, the last
30 years in college sports in general, basketball or football. I don't know. His brother
clearly was not some star player, but Bobby's hanging on here for Dear Life at Arizona State,
his coaching career. Now, you could argue this isn't a great job, but it's not going great.
And this guy's becoming, I mean, he's got a long way to catch like John Wooden or Coach Kay,
but you start rattling off a couple early.
You build that momentum.
I mean, he is, he's a rock star.
I mean, they used to coach together for a split second.
I mean, they're both kind of crazy.
It does feel like Dan's calmed down a little bit, but they feel like, I mean, maybe Florida
in his heyday in football or USC or Bama or a couple of those Florida basketball.
Like, they're on a different level.
I mean, you just watch it's crazy.
No, it reminded me watching them beat Illinois.
And, I mean, the second half, like Illinois did.
score. They went on like a 32-0 run. Yeah. And I thought to myself, this reminds me of Alabama
was saving year three to about year 13. And you're like, oh, they're like humiliating other really
good programs. I mean, there was a run there for Alabama when they would have nine NFL first
or second rounders on defense where, I mean, they, they would just humiliate. Like, like,
high level SEC and Big Ten teams.
And I kind of feel that with Yukon.
There's a grit.
There's a,
they always have NBA dudes.
They're almost like a Syracuse.
When you watch them,
you see the NBA length and talent.
But there's a fight.
There's a fight with Yukon.
So,
you know,
just watching them discombobulate teams
is something to behold.
You know what,
one thing I noticed yesterday watching Alabama,
who is going to the first,
I mean, they went to their first elite eight, let alone final four in program history,
is immediately, I always Google the coaching salary.
And he's making almost $7 million at Alabama to coach basketball.
And, you know, I follow the sport at golf closely.
Their golf team travels private.
I mean, the power of that, even Clemson, and I know they were an 11 seed, so it was a little bit of a Cinderella,
but I don't think their basketball, the power of this football money infused into the basketball conferences.
this is where, you know, Yukon and everything when it broke away for football only.
It was because the economics, right?
It's why the Big Ten has no excuse to not be consistently.
They feel like they haven't been as good at basketball these last couple of years.
The money that's about to come in for them, I mean, we're looking, we're two or three years away from every basketball coach in those two conferences, well over five million in the top dogs.
Not making maybe football coach money, but they're probably making, you know, seven, eight.
And then obviously an Izzo or something might make 10, 11.
But the money, because of football, you know, they say a rising top.
lifts all boats. That's clearly what it's done for the SEC and basketball.
Well, and I also think, John, you know, a lot of people, I grew up with Pac-12 football,
and there was a lot of anger when the PAC 12 dissolved. But I had been saying this for
eight or nine years to people, and my buddies out west would push back. I'm like, guys,
we have pro sports. We have beaches. We have moderate summer temperatures. We have mountains.
It just doesn't matter as much here. In the south, you know, in the summer, you're inside,
in Braves baseball. It's too damn hot to go outside. In the fall and the winter, I mean,
you go down to a convention, you go to a hotel in the south. It's all SEC hats. They were the
last region to get pro sports. The Big 12s, two spread out, small towns, not a lot of media centers.
Big, eat small. I've seen it my entire life. The SEC and the Big Ten are going to control all the
sports. We always sort of had this charade. We always sort of played this game to include everybody.
But the reality is the big 10 now is got the LA market, the Seattle market, Phil Knight, Michigan, Ohio State.
It's going to separate from everybody except the SEC.
And I do think it will get bigger than the SEC.
Your point about basketball is fascinating because I watched Zach Eady take apart Gonzaga for the second time.
And I thought to myself, God, Purdue has been back to the Gene Kady days.
They've been great forever.
They just never can quite get there.
But as I watch Zach Eadie, I want to pivot to this.
I thought, years ago, there was this sense, you know it was a warrior guy, Smallball.
And you look back on it, and it's a lot of nonsense.
It was the Warriors, and about 20 teams trying to be the Warriors, none could do it.
Smallball was really Stefan Clay, surpassing Gail Goodrich and West as the best shooting
back court of all time. Everybody went, well, the games, it's getting faster and you don't need size.
And after about an eight-year run of small ball, when only the Warriors truly mastered it, Houston tried, a lot of people tried.
Now the league's pivoting back to size. The big guys are dominating. And I'm watching Zach Edie,
and I'm thinking, isn't he worth 13 to 14 minutes a night somewhere? I know people tell me it doesn't work.
I'm not asking him to defend the wing.
I watch them and I'm like, Christ,
Gonzaga can compete with everybody.
They got shelled twice by him.
I think the problem in basketball,
I think football follows this too,
is when there's an outlier situation,
you know,
Dremont,
who's going to be one of the great all-time small ball centers,
he has arms the length of a seventh footer.
It's a unique attribute he has,
and he can do all this other stuff, right?
And he doesn't need to score.
So he's a defender who can run the point.
I mean, he's Russell Wilson, all these small quarterbacks.
No, I've never really seen anything else like Russell Wilson.
So if you keep drafting little guys, you're going to have some problems.
And what happened?
We've kind of pivoted away from that a little bit.
Right.
So I'm a, listen, I'm a Michael Jordan baby.
It always bothers me when people, you know, the younger generation or even some older
people that try to shit on the 90s.
Obviously Michael was the premier player.
The majority of the great players were bigs.
And if you think that David Robinson or Patrick Ewing in his prime or,
or Shaquille O'Neal wouldn't annihilate 99% of these guys.
You're great.
Beside Embed and Yokic, they'd have no shot.
Even Anthony Davis, he is much slender.
Now, he's a great athlete he could hang.
But even he's somewhat of an outlier athletically.
So I'm with you.
I think sometimes if you've ever been to an NBA game and when I was in radio,
I used to go pregame a lot or an NFL game for pregame warmups,
you want more big people than little people.
This isn't that complicated of a strategy.
Yeah, George Young, the late great GM of the New York Giants, said, when in doubt, draft big.
Even in guard play in the NBA, Luca, you can't really defend Luca.
He's 6-8-240.
Yeah.
I mean, LeBron is a three.
Six, eight and a half, 250.
He's a big three.
I just, I watched Zach Eady, and I'm like, I've seen Gonzaga go toe to toe with everybody in college basketball for the last 15 years.
Don't have to win titles.
Villanova, Carolina Duke, Kansas.
I've seen them blowout teams.
Zach Edie eats them alive.
They have no answer for them.
And it's like, no, I understand, like, there are certain quarterbacks.
Tommy Frazier was not going to be an NFL quarterback.
They just didn't throw them.
Charlie Ward.
I mean, there were some unique smaller guys.
I get it.
But, geez, 7-4 with a really nice touch, you can't tell me there's not a space for him somewhere in this
freaking league.
Well, if it was 96, he'd be the second pick in the drafts, probably.
So I'll never, when I first got to the NFL and some of those Coughlin Giants teams, you'd go out in warm-ups and you'd watch their defensive line.
And he'd be like, who are these human beings?
And obviously, because of that defensive line, they won a couple Super Bowl.
So when you can be, the Warriors had Steph Clay and Kevin Durant, like you said, using them as like, oh, small ball, all-time outlier situation.
Right?
We're never seeing that again.
Right. The history of the league is mostly big wings or a dominant center. And I think everything's cyclical. And back to the quarterback thing, look at the first quarterbacks that are going to go. Caleb, relative to some of these guys recently, a Kyler Murray or Bryce Young looks like a giant. Right. And then Drake May, Jaden Daniels is big. Penix is big. Even Bo Nix, you around him, is thicker. I wouldn't consider him small. He's probably in that like Jimmy Garoppolo size range.
I would lean to stay away from smaller players whenever possible.
High in a draft.
I understand taking mid-round.
The NFL's draft is longer.
But the Brock Purdy situation, again, outlier.
That's not going to be the norm.
You're not going to find starting quarterbacks in the fifth, six, seventh round.
Yeah, Sean Payton told me he had sort of a rule.
He said, you know, and he comes from the school of Bill Parcells.
Let's just not draft undersized players at any position in the top 15.
Like Tua. Let's just not do that.
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I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.
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A win is a win.
A win is a win.
I don't care which I'm saying.
Yep, that's me, Cliver 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
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Do you remember when Diana Ross
double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs?
Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people.
I know what you're thinking.
What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim?
Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast.
I'm Sam J.
And I'm Alex English.
Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.
Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s.
To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack.
I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know.
I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack.
So I'm starting to see that there's a through line.
We also have AIDS on the table right now.
Thank you finishing that sentence.
I don't think there's a more important year for black people.
Really?
Yeah.
For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.
Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
We talk a lot about these quarterbacks.
And I have said before that I think Caleb Williams is the most talented.
And like an Andrew Luck, he will succeed at some level, even if he got their own coach, G.S.
O-line roster. And I do think Ryan Poles has had, he's redeemed himself. He's had a very good six to nine months. So I think he may have the right former offensive lineman. Looks like the O line. There's some hits there with his draft cap on the last three years. But let's go. Let's reverse the telescope. If I said to you, we know of these top five or six, two are not going to work. We know it right now. And I've said, I think Caleb's good enough to overcome.
come, everybody else will be as good as where they land.
I think J.J. McCarthy in New England is a bust.
I think J.J. McCarthy in Minnesota with that talent and coach, that division, which is light on defense, heavy on scoring, works.
If I said to you guess, give me two that if you had to put the odds on, it won't work.
See, now I think Bo Nix is going to fall and end up falling to like a McVay or a Peyton.
You know, I kind of think Bo Nix is not talented enough to overcome, whereas I think Jaden Daniels isn't either, but is going to go top three or four, and that's problematic.
So I would get Jaden Daniels to me as like, oh, no, I think he can succeed.
But the top three quarterbacks are going to defensive coaches working with new OCs, three for three.
So give me the guy that you worry about.
Yeah, to me, he'd have to be first given, you know, I don't want to, it's unfair to compare him to a guy who.
he's won two MVP's, but his game is parallel some of Lamar, right?
He throws it pretty, he probably throws it better outside the hashes down the field.
But I do think that type player early on in his career, Lamar went to the Ravens,
who literally pivoted midseason, changed their whole offense around.
It's not just one of the highest level, you know, sports teams, like one of the higher level
businesses probably in America the way they've operated for 20 plus years.
So he got, I know it sucks fall into 32, but he got pretty lucky.
Jane Daniels, that's probably not going to happen, right?
He's going to go in the top five.
And more than likely, you're not getting a competent operation.
So if he goes to the New England Patriots, that's pretty scary.
I mean, their offensive talent is a disaster.
Listen, I'm not trying to judge you on the coach's picture,
but Gerard Males wearing like a t-shirt and he looked dishevelled.
I know he's a high-level impressive guy, but I don't know, man.
I'm saying that tongue-in-cheek, but in all seriousness,
the drop-off that's about to come from Bill Belichick to what's going
on. The crafts refused to name a general manager.
Elliot Wolff kind of doing it.
I think it's going to be a rough go for that
organization. So the lie. And then the J.J.
McCarthy, my comp for him is Alex Smith.
Alex Smith has success when he had
Jim Harbaugh and Andy Reed. One guy's
basically a chubbier
version of Bill Walsh and Jim Harbaugh
is one of the more successful college
NFL coaches we've ever seen. When he had
Mike Nolan and Mike Singletary, it was
a disaster. They were chanting for David Carr.
So that's very fickle.
Right? Certain physical talents.
Like Josh Allen probably would have succeeded no matter what, right?
He's just physically too gifted.
Even Herbert, even his down years ago, I still see a lot there.
Tua is a good example.
Kind of like Jared Gough, much less physical attributes when it's not going well.
You're like, what the hell is this?
Good coaching, good offensive weaponry, good protection.
You're like, okay, I see it.
Yeah, Tua and Goff are very much about protection and coach.
Herbert has gone to the playoffs and is yet to get even a remotely competent coach.
And I would take Jared Gough all day over Tua, just on the simple fact, he's bigger.
I think he just throws a better ball.
And on the flip side, you know, I don't know if you saw all those numbers from PNex,
but you and I have talked about this before, a lot of comparisons to Tua.
And then you see him run like a four, five, five, and he jumps 37 inches.
I think Kobe jumped 36.
So I'm not comparing him as an athlete to Kobe Bryant, but he's a really good athlete.
Yeah.
So I know you don't see it as much on film because he wasn't.
asked to play that way. They had, you know, I think they thought they had the best offensive line
in the country than they met Michigan, but they had an excellent offensive line, right? So he
wasn't getting touched. I think he was only sacked like, what, 11 times? It's like average in less
than one a game. But he clearly can move, right? So you could get a guy in some of these Shanahan
offenses or Sean Payton to get him on the move a little bit. He has it in him. I,
clearly his film as a pocket passer is pretty special, questions with injuries. That's scary.
but I heard a podcast
probably within the last six months
of DuBour talking about
when he first got to Indiana
and they recruited him
was he was recruited as more of a dual threat guy
and then he had the injuries
and they just got away from it
but he physically
I was pretty
that was an eye-opening experience
to see those I would have guessed
he's like a 4-8 guy
and not a great athlete
but he's not like Tua
remember he heard his hip
his last year in college
so he couldn't work out
he ain't running a 4-5
He ain't sniffing it.
No.
And listen, two as a pocket quarterback, which I thought Pennix was too, but you see these athletic
numbers kind of like the CJ Stroud.
Now, he did it more on film in that Georgia game, but one thing we know about CJ,
pocket quarterback, but has athletic attributes to kind of move around when shit hits the fan,
which in the NFL, it inevitably does.
Yeah, I think J.J. McCarthy only works if he goes to like, let's say, a Minnesota.
I think that that's a furnished apartment for a young quarterback.
Everything set up.
They don't have to pay rent for a year.
Donald's paying rent for a year.
He'll take the hits and the bruises.
Then you step in.
What about the Giants?
Oh, I don't like anybody to the Giants.
I don't like anybody right now to the Giants.
Tough landing spot.
I would say Pennix to Miami to be the next two.
Penix to Seattle works.
I think they're kind of ready to roll his offensive coordinator.
I think McCarthy and Minnesota works.
But the Rams is a sleeper.
him. Well, the Rams
a sleeper for a lot of people. So
they're one of those teams that has been
very successful without first round picks. This is
their first, first rounder in a long time. And they're
at 19. I could see the Rams sliding
down if Bo Nix is
there. And you start, I've been in a war room before
you have. And you slide down and you're like,
well, the next four teams don't need quarterbacks.
If it's, you know, at 19, you're getting
into like Dallas, May,
but they need some pieces. I could
see the Rams going and saying, we're going to
take Bo Nix and he's going to sit for two years. I
could totally see that happening. So I think Bo Nix to me, again, like a Panics, like a J.J. McCarthy,
it's going to be the spot. But Bo Nix may be the luckiest of all, because the truth is,
if he goes, and I think he probably will. I think Denver is the last chance for him.
Then there's going to be a long stretch of people that aren't going to move up. Like, if you start
looking at the teams that need quarterbacks, it's not a surprise, they're mostly in the top 12 and 13.
That's why they're bad teams.
Yeah. So I think Bo Nicks, I think the Rams would roll the dice on Bo Nix because the Stetson Bennett didn't work.
Stafford feels like he's heard at least once to twice a year. That one's interesting. So I want to talk about a move that you're well aware of. I was reading Ian O'Connor gave me, you know, several chapters of his book on Aaron Rogers. I'll just tell everybody, Ian is a relentless reporter. You get background, the first chapter,
on Aaron's family, which is it's got a history of World War II. It's just fascinating, fascinating, and it's master class storytelling. So I've read about four or five chapters. I'm giving him a little blurb for this first book. I could not put it down. I flew through it. So the first year, it was kind of like, let's get friends of Aaron, Nathaniel Hackett, Alan Lassard.
Randall Cobb. This offseason for the Jets, it's been like, let's just get some older players and let's go all in, Tyron Smith. So they get Hassan Redick, who I think is a very good big play pass rusher. He tends to make his best plays in the biggest moment. Eagles got to get, you know, they're paying Jalen Hertz. They've got to move off some salary. So I think Hassan Reddick has something in the tech, maybe a little bit of a Vaughn Miller here where there'll be moments you'll be like, oh yeah. And then you'll be like, he's old and he's not in his prime. But.
But I do think it's interesting.
The Hassan Reddick to me felt like, oh, shit, this Aaron Rogers thing, it not only has to work.
It has to work by like October 15th.
Or otherwise, I think you start losing the owner, the GM.
I think you start losing people with Aaron, right?
Like so much of the off-field stuff, the book will come out with Ian O'Connor.
And there's some parts that you look at it and you're like, boy, Aaron's a lot of work.
So your take on the Reddick move and kind of where the Jets are with this right now.
Did I read on the internet that Ian said he worked for a long time and Aaron finally agreed to sit down with him.
So he got him for a couple hours.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And Ian, now he's done the book on Belichick.
His Mike Sheshefsky book is, God, it's good.
The Belichick's good.
I've listened to it, but it's good.
Yeah.
And so, and I've only read like five.
chapters, but, I mean, the first chapter, the storytelling is insane. I don't even know how the hell
you know, Connor gets it. But where are the Jets with you right now? I think, let's use LeBron and the
Lakers for an example. If the NBA salary cap was a little easier to maneuver like the NFL,
this offseason, they would sign Clay Thompson, DeMard de Roe. They would sign every old guy
who has ever had any success in the NBA. They would do it immediately. And I think that's,
that used to happen in the NBA a lot, right?
when I was a kid, these older teams kind of get together at the end of their prime.
Happens a little bit in the NFL, but you kind of fall off a cliff so bad.
And guys can't kind of team up together because usually one guy gets his money here,
one guy gets his money here.
It does feel like they're, I mean, one, they're clearly desperate.
That's not even debatable.
My take last week on that story that came out about Saul and Woody was like,
unless you were standing there, no one knows what the hell was going on.
But sometimes in life perception becomes reality.
And if that would have been like John Lynch was yelling at Jed York, he'd be like, no way, right?
Or Sean McVeigh was arguing with Roger.
Like, I don't believe that.
But when it's the jet, you're like, yeah, I could see that.
Right.
100% because Woody Johnson's reputation is pretty well established, kind of a crazy guy to work for.
Not an easy way.
And the organization's, you know, win-loss record kind of speaks for itself.
Everyone's entire job, like this whole group and era, is all in the line.
And at one point in time, well before Aaron, when they made that trade with Jamal Adams,
it looked like they had a bright, bright future.
And things change fast when you miss on the quarterback.
They really do.
And they had to double down on the situation because they missed on Zach Wilson,
made the Aaron trade.
No one knew he would get hurt.
But newsflash, 39-year-old guys sometimes get hurt in sports, right?
Yeah.
I hurt my back the other day working out.
It wouldn't happen at 30 years old, but at 39, it still doesn't feel quite right.
So it's not weird at all.
And I don't know.
I mean, Mike Williams seems like a great guy, awesome player.
But he's always hurt.
You know, the Reddick thing, the Eagles aren't just in the business of getting rid of talented guys.
Like that one's a little weird.
I get their contractual situation there.
But they just took the Jets pass rusher who's way younger and then they traded them Redick.
Right.
Who would you say is a better run organization when it comes to picking players and trading for guys?
I'd say the Eagles.
So that one, that's kind of a weird transaction.
even though the Jets had nothing to do with Huff going over there,
he was just a free agent.
I just think most times,
listen, I was with the Eagles of the Dream Team
and some of these Ronnie Browns and Jason Babbins,
old guys,
you just age fast in the NFL.
You're not a kicker or a punter.
You're asked to explode, change direction,
and the moment that starts slipping,
injuries happen,
the pressure that comes with New York,
unless Aaron is playing at a top five level,
a quarterback, I don't see this team having any chance in hell.
Yeah.
Because there's too much noise around it.
That's part of it.
In the NFL, that's really hard.
Look at the Ravens.
This year, once they got the Lamar situation figured out this out, there was just no noise.
They just played football.
Even the Alliance.
They just played football.
No noise.
Even the Packers this year.
It was bumpy because win-loss record, but it was just like, oh, they're just
normal football team playing away.
Yeah, I was telling somebody the other day, I was having a conversation with a athletic
director in the country.
And this person called me a coach was leaving under their watch, a major coach.
And the advice I said is, and there's a little anxiety with that, you have to hire a new coach.
And one of the things I said is whenever there's a divorce, you just have to realize that your wife could end up marrying George Clooney.
You have to, if you're going to get a divorce, think long and hard about it.
It's going to disrupt kids.
going to disrupt your business, like if you get a divorce from a top employee as you own a company
or your wife, you and your wife split. You have to be comfortable with that person succeeding.
And I told the athletic director, that coach could go, you know, undefeated next year.
When Farve left, he had about two good years left. And then Farv's personality, a little bit of a
gun slinger on and off the field, got him in a little trouble. And then Aaron, by that time,
and established it. And when Aaron left, Green Bay was sitting there thinking, yeah, for two years,
we're going to have to eat it. Peyton Manning leaves the Colts, goes to Denver. You got to kind of
eat it for two years and be comfortable with it. But Andrew Luck pretty quickly, everybody went,
oh, yeah, I get it. Aaron pretty quickly with Farr, I get it. What's interesting, I thought Jordan
love by Thanksgiving of the first year, it was like, and I really believe this, is he better than
Aaron right now. He way more athletic.
100%. There's not a GM in the NFL that would obviously factor in age, but he was been,
Aaron didn't play well the year before for the Packers. And I, and I sat there and I thought,
this, that doesn't help Aaron. Like, it did help Aaron when, when Farve kind of dovetailed.
It's like, we made the right move, right? And it does help when, when Peyton Manning got hurt in
Denver, you're like, yeah, luck was the right move.
Shit, Jordan loves better right now.
And I don't think that's a hot take.
No, I don't have the Minnesota Vikings 08 roster off top of my head, but I remember
being pretty good, the one Farr of that year they had.
Yes, they were great.
Adrian Peterson, I think, was young on that team.
They had a time.
They were terrific.
She should have gone to the Super Bowl.
Yeah, the defense was good.
That roster, I bet if we went player for player compared to this, Jets, not even
remotely the same.
Obviously, Far have had that one last throwback year.
I had a DM the other day that I was like, I didn't really thought about that.
He's like, everyone's mocking either a wide receiver or the tight end to the Jets, right, get a little more offensive firepower.
Someone young.
And they're like, Aaron doesn't like young players at that position.
He's got that.
Tom Brady was a same.
They don't mess.
They do not throw him the ball.
So you draft Brock Bowers or you drafts Roman Dunezay.
Well, if he doesn't, if they're not on the exact.
That's why he likes Randall Cop, right?
It's why he always pounded the table for James Jones, the wide receivers he likes.
He really likes Devonty.
He trusts them implicitly.
Young players, it's a lot going on.
So that's something to keep an eye on who they end up drafting high because if it is a skill guy,
and maybe you'd say, well, they just signed Mike Williams.
They don't need it as much.
Well, I don't know if Mike Williams is the most dependable individual going at that position.
So I just think the Robert Solow thing, he's a really good guy.
He's easy to root for.
but sometimes you just go to an organization.
Like maybe it's just not,
it's a borderline impossible there to win right now
with the way Woody is and the Johnson family.
I'm not absolving like Robert,
some dynamic coach so far.
And it all gets back to the Zach.
I mean,
this Aaron story dates back to the Rogers or the Zach Wilson pick
because if they had hit on that,
now you could argue that after Trevor Lawrence,
they all,
you know,
are on different teams, right?
I think Woody came out and said at the owner's meetings.
This is a great,
you know, tell sign of an organization where it's like, what is this guy saying?
If we can't trade him because no one's trading for his $8 million since a backup quarterback,
he will be on the team.
It's like, why wouldn't Woody just go, hey, this is their job.
I stay out of it.
That's what most owners do.
It's why most owners don't talk that often, right?
They just, it just makes it more complicated.
They don't really have a choice of the owners meetings.
They kind of throw the local guys a bone.
But for the most part, they never say anything because the moment they say something,
and that's the headline.
So, yeah, I'm just betting against the Jets.
I really am.
You know, I was thinking about this.
John Lynch is very liked.
I covered him as a player.
He's a great guy, as a broadcaster, and as a GM.
But it is interesting.
Now, Brock Purdy's, obviously, that goes on the tombstone.
You know, he got him in seventh.
But I was thinking about this the other day is that San Francisco,
the Niners are fascinating, missed on Trey Lance,
missed on gray at the SMU receiver.
They've missed on two third round running backs,
is that Kyle tends to make a lot.
They have not drafted well recently.
At all.
And it's like Kyle makes a lot of stuff work.
And I was thinking about you on this.
If I was, now, Les Sneed last year hit on multiple defensive players.
So, you know, multiple guys, then he hits on Puka.
and then the offensive lineman out of TCU, we knew was going to be good.
But I was thinking about this in the NFL.
So Ryan Poles played offense, but he's got a defensive coach.
So you can argue Ryan knows offensive personnel better.
You know, he should draft offensive lineman.
He was one.
And I thought to myself, Lynch has had so many misses.
And Shanahan makes virtually everything work offensively that
do you have ever situations in the NFL where a GM, like I think to myself, I'm a GM,
what is my coach's specialty?
I'm going to hit on a much higher percentage of my draft picks, like McVeigh and running backs,
McVey and receiver.
He makes two, two at well work now.
He was a bust.
McVey has saved a lot of less needs,
misses. Now, Les hasn't had a ton of them, but he's had a couple. And when you don't have
first round picks and a second rounder's a miss, Logan Bruss, Wisconsin Guard, 2-2-at-well,
you're not getting players to the third round. Do you think in the NFL that there are GMs
that literally, to elevate their stature or protect their job, that they are drafting on sure
bets based on the coach?
I think the good teams don't think like that.
I mean, John was rich well before he signed up to be the Niners GM.
And now he's probably a top two or three high paid GM.
He's got multiple contract extensions.
I don't think he's worried about that crap at all.
I think sometimes when you come up, maybe less early on in his career, I mean, this was
his life, right, a scout or a guy like that, they know this is their one shot.
I mean, if John had failed at it, he'd go right back to broadcasting.
And like I said, he was already a multimillionaire.
as a player.
I think sometimes, I always defended this because I saw it with Trent Balke,
is when they had a couple years of building the great Niners team before Harbaugh got there,
and he, McLuhan was kind of the GM, but he was his right-hand guy.
It is a lot easier to draft when you suck, because you don't just draft if I have the fourth
pick.
Look at the Rams last year.
I know they didn't have their first round pick, right, because Detroit had it.
But they had a high pick in every round after that.
And when you win, like they have this year, or the Niners or the Niners or the
Ravens, you're picking at the end of the round. So the pressure on that pick, your pool of picking people is
just smaller, right? It'd be like any company trying to hire a group of 20 people, well, you can't
get the pool of the top 20 people. What if I removed 14 of those people? And the people that other
companies in your industry thought were the best. So you only have the pool of six. It just makes it more
difficult. And the Niners, because of the Tray Lance trade, obviously didn't have high picks. And then they
weren't picking to the second and third round. I mean, a lot of their picks have come with these,
like, diversity hires. They've gotten these comp picks, and they've whiffed on a lot.
And sometimes, I think the Kinlaw example is good. Their first ever draft pick, they took Solomon Thomas.
Didn't work. Didn't work. But he's still in the NFL, right? He's just a solid player. He probably
should have been like a second or third round pick, but he was drafted. But a lot of it was super high
character, super hard worker. And that's why he's still going to be, he's going to have a 10-year career.
But it was, there wasn't a high ceiling guy.
Kinlaw's the opposite.
A lot of questions, but holy shit, you see them.
You see the flashes.
And then they whiffed on both.
And you start kind of, Nick Bosa, you, my mom, my neighbor, anyone can pick that.
The other picks are difficult.
So, and your previous misses impact and your roster, right?
It was a lot harder to make the Rams three or four years ago.
It was difficult.
It's why they could justify it.
We'll get rid of a first round pick.
get Jalen Ramsey, get Vaughn Miller.
We don't have room on the roster.
Well, this year, they had a ton of room they needed those picks.
Right now, the 49ers these last couple, it's been difficult.
It hasn't helped.
And I think you saw the depth in the Super Bowl.
Chiefs just had more depth.
Well, the Niners gave away first round picks.
The Chiefs actually inherited some because they got rid of Tyree Kill.
So they just had, and they hit on more picks.
So that depth, it could just be a player here or two.
Obviously, it helps having Patrick Mahomes.
But I think that you obviously, the other thing is, Kyle's the boss.
You know, I think a lot of these organizations, the head coach, once he's, if he wants to, like, I want this guy.
Now, they have a good relationship, just like a lot of teams with powerful head coaches.
But the GMs will tell you off the record, you know, I don't always get to do what I want to do.
So you just got to capitulate to your coaching staff.
And it's not even just the head coach.
It's the assistance.
The assistance have takes, Colin.
be like if everyone had a podcast in the coaching staff, well, their podcast gets listened to by the head coach, not the personnel people.
So he's like, oh, my guy wants this.
And you just kind of trust him a little bit more than maybe your area scout or your college director.
That's an underrated part about the NFL is the assistant coach's impact on a draft because they streamline right to the head man.
If they like a guy through the head coach, you want that, you want your assistant coach to like them and believe in them,
especially when you have a high level of trust in that assistant.
So that's where things can get a little wonky.
Right around this time, really, these next three weeks are where a lot of the boards getting set.
Assistant coaches are flying in with takes out of left field.
You know, all of a sudden, we had a guy in the fifth round and he thinks we should take him in the top 50.
I mean, because he knows his dad or he loved him as a player or he's tight.
He's a college teammate of the guy's position coach at Alabama or USC.
This is when things start getting really weird.
and most teams their meetings start this week.
So buckle up, personnel people.
Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged.
It's the enhanced games.
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Others say it's unleashing human potential.
Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all,
embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.
Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.
I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.
Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
A win is a win.
A win is a win.
I don't care what I'm saying.
Yep, that's me, CliverTaylor the 4th.
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Do you remember when Diana Ross
double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs?
Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people.
I know what you're thinking.
What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim?
Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast.
I'm Sam Jek.
And I'm Alex English.
Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.
Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s.
To be clear, 84 was big to me, not just because of crack.
I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know.
I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack.
So I'm starting to see that there's a through line.
We also have AIDS on the table right now.
Thank you for finishing that sentence.
I don't think there's a more important year for black people.
Really?
Yeah.
For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.
Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Like you, I love the draft forever, but you are a professional scout.
I always feel there's like about two players per draft that can't miss.
So take out quarterbacks.
Take quarterbacks out because they are very dependent on where they land.
but a guy can rush the passer or he can't.
A guy can catch or he can't.
This draft does feel like to me it's got about five guys.
I don't see Marvin Harrison Jr.
missing.
I think he's just, I don't think Brock Bowers is missing.
Joe Alt.
Those guys jump out to me.
Is the kid at Oregon State the right tackle who, like you can't find bad tape on him?
It does feel like this draft, but like the, there are players in this draft.
I think sometimes receivers can be very dependent on the environment.
Big down.
And the quarterback.
Quarterbacks are very dependent on several people, including the play caller.
But if I said to you, two guys in the draft as a former scout, because I always thought Patrick Willis, the Ole Miss linebacker, I was told by a GM, 32 teams he'd work for.
I was told Aiden Hutchison out of Michigan, like, that's going to work.
I'm trying to think of somebody.
Calvin Johnson was going to be.
Fitzgerald, Julio Jones.
I mean, they're sorry guys.
They're going to work.
Give me the two guys here.
Let's say they go to a lousy situation.
You cannot see failing.
Well, I don't see how it's possible for a kid from Napa, California, to go to the best program in the country of Georgia.
And Brock Bowers, I would say, pretty immediately as a freshman, in the, definitely the most athletic conference in the country, was one of their best players.
And by year two or three, he's arguably the best player in the country, pound for pound, as good as anybody.
Maybe the best, most productive tight end I've ever seen in college.
So you get this guy that goes, it would have been easy for a West Coast guy, go to Oregon, go to USC, even in Oklahoma or Texas.
He went all the way to where the pressure was brightest and dominated.
I don't see, and I know there's a comparison, it doesn't really block.
Well, the game's changed a lot.
We have a lot more of these hybrid tight ends, a lot more of the Travis Kelsey style.
he's very like any receiver dependent on a quarterback to throw him the ball, obviously.
But how's he not going to be a good NFL pro?
I saw some of his measurables.
They put right next to Leporta, very similar size.
A little harder to judge, I think sometimes those Big Ten tight ends because you're like,
well, who's he, you know, defenders he playing against?
There's no debate.
Think about the guys he went in practice against Colin.
If I was a scout, I wouldn't even need to watch Game Tate.
I'd be like, can I just get your Georgia practice tape from a year ago?
Your entire draft, when the 11 guys on defense went.
So I think they had 18 guys on defense go over a two-year span.
I can imagine Kirby's like, yeah, we couldn't cover them there either.
So I don't see how it's possible.
I was texting about sometimes height at tackle.
Like there's 6-6, like Trent Williams, Jason Peters, I think Lane Johnson, 65.
Like 6-8, 6-9 can get a little tall because Vaughn Miller or Nick both of these guys.
where they are to the ground, it's just hard to touch them.
But from what I've heard about Joe Alt, it's just his athleticism.
I just don't see how he's not going to be good.
Now, the one thing with him, because I was texting, I was like, should the chargers,
if they get stuck, just take them.
And they're like, well, you already got the left tackle.
Just get a touchdown guy for Herbert.
You can get a right tackle maybe in the second round.
You've already got that position.
You don't need to force it.
If you do get stuck there, just take whoever you think the best skill guy is.
And there are some talented guys.
And most people believe the three wide receivers
And you and I talked about
I saw James Jones
Which I understand a lot of the players are like
God it's bullshit Marvin Harrison isn't doing anything
When all the other guys worked out
All the quarterbacks all the wide receivers
I heard neighbors at the LSU Pro Day
Which I don't know if you saw some pictures
That thing was a zoo of NFL people
Yeah
I was like okay Marvin watch this
Because he thinks he's going to go number one
I defend Marvin in the sense
Everything he's doing it's because dad's telling him
And when your dad's in a Hall of Fame
If he tells you jump
you say how high.
So I don't believe it's his own choice.
I'm not saying he's not agreeing to it,
but what's he supposed to do?
Tell his dad, he doesn't know what he's talking about.
But that neighbor's,
Connie, ran a four,
he's a fantastic tape.
I mean,
dominated in the SEC,
ran a four,
three, five and jumped 42 inches.
I mean,
pretty rare athlete.
So,
you know,
it's hard.
I don't know what to gauge on Harbaugh.
I think I said,
you and I talked about this last week about the wide receivers.
And someone hit me up like,
the Ravens have taken wide receivers over the years.
Yeah,
in the 20s when they're good.
When they've drafted high,
it's Lodi Nata.
It's Ronnie Stanley.
Now, I don't know if that guy's really here, right?
There's not a great pass rusher in this.
The Bama guy,
I don't think he's viewed as a top 10 player.
Like we talked about,
they don't need a left tackle.
You could, I guess, take the Oregon State guy there,
probably be a little rich.
But I don't know.
You know, if Harbaugh didn't take Marvin Harrison,
he's seen them back-to-back years, right?
And seen them on crossfilm for three years at Michigan.
That'd be a little interesting.
thing. Neighbors is from what, you know, he's had some incidents over the years, but his talent,
I think they feel he's pretty buttoned up right now. Rome honestly feels kind of like a Harbaugh guy.
But I don't know. I think the Chargers are fascinating. But yeah, I would go, Brock Bowers,
I don't see how he's not. If you got, if you gave him, if you just put him on the Chargers,
which I don't think, you know, that he would immediately make like nine, 10, you know,
ish million dollars and a tight end the franchise tax 12 so ideally taking a tight end that high you're
already paying him premium money but i think he'd be a premium player immediately i think he would
dominate if you told me brock bowers is on the chargers next year i'd be like he catches 88 balls
wouldn't you nine touchdowns i mean here's the other thing letting gerald everett go to the bears
they don't have i mean they're they're they're well below average in the nfl at tight end and so
and herbert i mean can you imagine
him having a 6-6-6 target, you know, because he was so, he's been so effective with
Keenan Allen and Mike Williams.
I mean, so he's one of those guys that will throw guys open.
A lot of young quarterbacks don't.
No.
He throws young guys open.
All right.
So, you know, we kind of get ready.
You know, I was, it's interesting.
I, as I get older, you know, I used to hate to take time off.
I just didn't like to do it.
Maybe it was some insecurity.
But as I've gotten older, I like to travel with my kids.
I like to travel with my wife.
And so I was talking to my son today about going, we went to Iceland last year.
It had an absolute ball.
He doesn't like heat.
He likes cold.
So we're going to go to Ireland here in a couple years, maybe this year.
And in the summer, you know, I'm kind of fighting to get my staff time off and I'm going to get some time off.
I love to go to the northeast in the summer, which is Nantucket.
I've been to Hamptons twice, but it's not my favorite. I have a place in Rhode Island.
So if I said to you, John, because you live in Arizona and it's hot, I said, okay, you can take your beautiful girlfriend, you get 10 days, it's paid.
And everybody now are moving into spring, you know, golf vacations, I'm going to go, I'm not going to play golf in Ireland, I'm going to go to the castles and Dublin, that kind of stuff.
You and your girlfriend, 10 days, all expenses paid. Where is your summer vacation?
Well, she's on me right now, Colin, because I think I can relate to your younger self.
I could just, we got this thing rolling.
We got momentum.
You know, I'm not a big take things off.
I don't like being away.
Now, obviously, even in the month of July for football, it slows down.
But I could find a way to do podcasts.
She likes to travel a lot.
And, you know, that's one area we butted heads to come working.
Now, I can also take this with me.
So I don't really have an excuse.
This isn't 1997.
I don't have an excuse if I want to.
We looked yesterday pretty closely at Costa Rica.
Oh, it's nice.
It looks pretty beautiful.
She wants to go somewhere to the beach.
Her mom a couple years ago, her dad had passed and she bought a condo in Tahoe so we can go up there.
But she, you know, we've both been going to Tahoe most of our life, which is awesome in the summer.
But something that we haven't done.
We looked a little at the Bahamas.
I've never been to either.
Hell, I've never even been to Kabul.
But she kind of on me about Costa Rica, so we look pretty closely yesterday, and that feels like where we might end up sometime in July.
Yeah, I don't, my dad later in his life went to Russia and he went to Egypt.
And so my dad, you know, it was a different way to travel back then.
But it is weird when you look back at your parents and how they, you become hopefully a, you know, a better version of your parents or, you know, a more aware version of your parents.
I mean, there's, we're all a little self-consumed now just because of social media.
But it's my dad traveled a lot.
And I always enjoyed traveling on my turns.
But I've, I've gotten a travel bug here.
Maybe it's because my wife is such a great travel partner.
She's funny.
She loves food.
Her son's a chef.
So he gives us all the places to eat.
But I got to tell you, my son chose Iceland a year ago.
I said, choose anywhere in the world.
We're going to go in May.
He chose Iceland.
I had so much damn fun.
And by the way, I was cold the entire vacation.
Volcanoes, waterfalls.
He and I, like, we talk about it.
Like every third time we talk, we're like, God, I miss Iceland.
So I think I'm going to go to Iceland for a day or two.
Then into Ireland, and that'll be it.
My dad and his dad was a big fly fisherman.
Love to fly fish.
Yeah.
And when I was a kid, his dad used to take him for about 10 to 15 days to New Zealand.
And they did my entire life up and
until my grandpa got really old and wasn't able to do it. And they, my grandpa had taught a Cal and he was an academic, but he was a big, I don't even know how he would fit in nowadays, big hunter and fisherman, big outdoorsman. And he befriended like one of the main guides there. So these guys would always take care of them. And when I was 12 years old, you know, this was different. My dad would, it's like the family went, just those two ones. And I got to go in sixth grade, fly to New Zealand by myself. And I still have picture. I mean, it, it.
It was, and I told him, I said, bungee jumping was invented there.
The first place bungee jumping ever happened.
So I was like, Dad, I'll do it.
Let's drive there.
So he rented a car.
We had to drive three hours.
I forget the city.
Maybe it was in Auckland.
And when I got there, you had to be 13.
You had to sign a waiver.
And, you know, this is in the 90s.
There's not like IDs or anything.
And I was like, I'm going to do it.
And then we kind of walk and we get to the spot where I'm going to do.
I'm 12 years old.
I'm 12 years old.
I can't do it.
And I ran away.
It was, but it, the, the, the, it's one of the most, it's got to be one of the most beautiful places in the world.
I mean, Jurassic Park, you know, film there.
It's just, it's, if you like the outdoors, there's not much to do that I remember.
I mean, it's pretty mellow.
Yeah.
I wouldn't say island vibes, because it can be a little colder, but it's just, it's a mellow, just absolutely gore.
At least in my experience, it's why he liked going there.
So it's a long trance.
I mean, you're coming from California.
It's, I think it's like 17 hours.
Years ago, I was.
I had an Australian bug.
And I remember asking Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert's son, who now runs Fox, about, I think he invited
me either to a fight or to a party at his house.
And I said, you know, I've always wanted to go there.
He goes, you live in Manhattan Beach.
It's the same thing.
He goes, it's the same weather.
He goes, you know, it's a bigger city.
He goes, there's a million places to go.
He goes, I love Australia.
It's amazing.
But he goes, Manhattan Beach is like 65, 7.
70% of it. And I was like, all right, that's a guy that's traveled everywhere in the world.
I will tell you, have you done Italy yet?
I did it when I was in my early 20s. But, yeah, I did chingotere. I did Rome. It's a powerful place.
Rome was really powerful. Yeah. Yeah. Florence, Rome. Yeah. Cicely, powerful is a great way of
I would go. I would go back there again. And I will in a heartbeat. I thought that was. I did Spain. I'm not, Spain wasn't as much for, I was. I was.
party and it was cool for that. I wouldn't need to go back. I would, I could move to Italy,
it feels like. I mean, it's, it's pretty awesome. I told my wife, I said, I would have, and I can be a
little impulsive on stuff like this, but I said, I would have no problem in retirement going and
living in Italy for, I'd want to be out of there by like June 15th. They don't have air conditioning
as well as maybe here. It's swampy. It's swampy. And I said,
But if you told me mid-February to mid-June, whenever I retire, and I'm not retiring late,
I'm not working until I'm 75.
I said, I'd have no problem.
Florence is a walking city.
I lost seven pounds in Florence, and all I did was eat pasta and pizza.
Well, you're always on your feet.
That's the thing.
And you go to Europe, and you go, God, I'm eating a lot, and you feel lighter.
That's their motor, I mean, we never go anywhere without.
hopping in a car.
Also, their stuff.
Avoid walking at all costs.
Their food doesn't have the preservatives that we have.
That's true.
Much cleaner.
All right, John Midlakov, former NFL Scout,
Go Lose's Golf podcast,
three and out the football podcast.
Happy Easter.
Hope you had a great one.
And we'll talk next week, buddy.
Happy Easter, Colin.
Talk to you soon.
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