The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - NFL Win Totals, Jim Harbaugh’s Mind Games, Deion Sanders Hurting Shedeur? Bears A Wild Card Team?

Episode Date: March 26, 2024

Colin is joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” to talk all things NFL! They react to Draftkings released their 2024 NFL season win totals (3:30) and the effect Kirk Cousins had on the number for both the Falcons and Vikings (5:15). They debate whether Jim Harbaugh has an ulterior motive for hyping J.J. McCarthy prior to the draft (7:00) and how the Chargers could end up “stuck” in the draft if QB’s are drafted 1-4 (10:00). They talk about why Deion Sanders saying his son Shedeur and Travis Hunter could pull an “Eli Manning” could hurt their draft stock (17:45) and give their take on the latest NFL rule changes (27:30). They also give props to Bears GM Ryan Poles (32:00) and explain why the Bears could be a wild card team in 2024 (33:00) and why they aren’t worried about Marvin Harrison Jr. skipping the combine and his pro day (44:00) Colin explains why he’s not bothered by the Shohei Ohtani gambling scandal and why he buys Ohtani’s story (51:00). They also pour cold water on the Jets win total being set at 9.5 and why Aaron Rodgers is likely to disappoint as a 40 year old quarterback (01:04:00). (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Volume #Herd See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque.

Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes.

Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule. of two. Listen to Stuff to Bole Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The volume. All right. The NBA season is in full swing, coming down the stretch. Then we move right into the playoffs in April, May, and June, I can't wait. Spice things up with Draft King Sports

Book and official sports betting partner of the NBA right now. All you have to do is put down five bucks and get $150 instantly in bonus. bets. Pretty good trade-off. I pay five, I get $150. North Carolina listeners do not forget. Welcome to the party. Draft King Sportsbook now live in your state, North Carolina. Download the Draft King Sportsbook app. Takes 90 seconds. The code is Colin, C-O-L-I-N. Again, 90 seconds, download Draft King Sportsbook app put in Colin. New customers bet five, get 150 back in bonus bets instantly. That is the trade. Code is always Colin. The crown is yours.

Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or in West Virginia, visit 1-800 gambler.net. In New York, call 8778-8-Hope-N-Y or text Hope-N-Y 4667-369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-777 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino and Resort in Kansas, 21 and over, age varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. One no-sweat bet per new customer.

Issued as one bonus bet based on amount of initial losing bet. bets expire 168 hours after issuance. See dkng.com slash promos for deposit wagering in eligibility restrictions, terms, and responsible gaming resources. All right, a day later, but never a dollar short. John Middilkoff, former NFL scout, we do our 50 minutes to an hour, chop it up. And even though this is the NFL's off season, there's all sorts of news going on. Draft Kings released its NFL win totals.

There's a couple of weird ones. God, did Kirk Cousins get respect? The Falcons are 10 and a half. That is ultimately Vegas and Draft King's telling you, Kirk Cousins is a very good, capable quarterback in this league. Ten and a half, by the way, is the same number for Josh Allen and the Bills and Joe Burrow in the Bengals and Tua and Mike McDaniels. So I think it's funny.

There's certain people in every industry that are way more respected than the public understands, John Middilcock, the former NFL Scout, three and out. That of all the draft kings unders and overs. Falcons 10 and a half was like, holy crap. And most, I mean, they do have a good old line for Kirk, but I think Kirk Cousins is way more respected in the league than he is outside of the league. Well, think about it. The previous year, right?

They won 13 games. They were in the playoffs. They started slow this year, but they were coming on. He was playing his best football. They would have been a clear factor to make a wild card. I mean, he's proven. I mean, if he's healthy and the team solid, he's a playoff might not win in the playoffs, but he can get you there, which, let's face it, 90% of owners would sign up for an heartbeat just to be, you know, playing football in the middle of January.

I think people, you know, obviously you want to win the Super Bowl. All these teams just want to make the playoffs. Right. In football, a lot like March Madness, it's not a seven-game scenario. The Giants were not as good as Minnesota two years ago, but they beat them. And they played in the second round, and then they got their break speed off by the Eagles. You just got to get to the dance. And then we saw the Giants win two Super Bowls as Wildcars.

teams. They went on the road. Football is kind of unique that way. Yeah. And also, to give you a double shot of Kirk Cousins value, the Vikings, despite a loaded offensive roster, I think what's considered one of the sharper offensive coaches, the Vikings are only a sixth and a half win team. Well, that's Kirk Cousins. And we both like Sam Darnold athletically, but they're telling you there's a gap of like three to four games between Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnel. So if you just look at the overrunners on the Falcons, 10 and a half, Viking six and a half, and we know the coach with Minnesota in an offensive pivoting league is a really effective coach, won a game without a practice with Josh Dobbs. The Vikings are one of the more talented teams in the league offensively, six and a half

wins. So that doubles down on Cousins is viewed inside analytics, Vegas, draft kings, the league, much higher value than everybody outside of the league. Well, of all the guys, right, not making huge money or a young player who's going to ascend to make a lot of money like a C.J. Stroud, Sam Darnold either is going to set himself up to be a starting quarterback for the foreseeable future if he has a good year and he's successful. Or he's just going to be a lifetime backup. I mean, that's because he's going to get judged. I mean, even if they end up drafting J.J. McCarthy, he's going to start. It'd be hard for that guy to beat him out come week one.

but if he plays well, and there are definitely people to play well with, right, at wide receiver, but if it does not go well, like his days of ever being discussed anymore, and I'd be done holding on as well. Not that I have much stock, but I haven't sold it all.

That's right. I feel the same way. So J-Mack on our show today that heard FS1 brought up a really interesting point. He's very good at this because he's got a lot of contacts with agents and stuff. So here's Jim Harbaugh, just continually saying, J.J. McCarthy is the best player in the draft. I mean, this guy's unbelievable.

Well, as he brought up today, Minnesota is poised to move up. Every rumor on every board as Minnesota is moving up, they've accumulated two first picks. Well, they don't want to move up to first, second, or third probably, because then you'd have to give up multiple ones, you know, for a college player. But you could move up to five with the chargers and probably get J.J. McCarthy because we don't believe, unless the Giants move up spots, to go to Arizona spot. It really is very, nobody, Chicago's not given up their pick. I don't think Washington's given up their pick.

Now, New England's open for business at three, but I think there's some misgivings with Jaden Daniels size, some of this style of play to put him up in New England and that weather. My guess is, so J. Mack said, what they're doing basically is Harbaugh is saying how great McCarthy is, because if you like J.J. McCarthy, he'd be a reach at one, two, or three. but at five, if he is a reach,

it's not a huge reach if he's projected to be 9, 10, 11, 12. And all Harbaugh is doing is saying, oh, this guy's great. He wants you to spend more to get his fifth pick. And I thought, yeah, that's exactly what he's doing, right? Well, Adam Peters told the local guys today they're not open for business. They've listened, but they were never open for business. That's Washington's GM. That's Washington's GM.

I do think the Patriots saying that, Here's the problem for the Chargers. Ideally, they would love to do that deal, right? 11, 23, maybe next year's two, big hole kind of help reset their roster. Monty Austin Fort, the Arizona Cardinals GM, said we have flashing lights open for business, right? Flashing lights. Gerard Mayo said within the last 24 hours, we're open for business too. If teams trade up before the Chargers, it takes two to tango.

Teams often say, hey, we wanted to move back or we wanted to move forward. we couldn't get a yes on the other end of the line. What if quarterbacks and teams trade, either the Patriots take a guy or trade back, and the Giants and the Vikings take three and four? What happens to the Chargers if they get stuck there? Because I have a hard time, Colin, envisioning them. And I know these wide receivers are viewed very highly, and I know they just got rid of two. Google Jim Harbaugh's history.

And his GM just came from the Ravens. They would much more be inclined to take a lineman. That's more of their style high in the draft. But they already have a left tackle. Googling alt, he's only played on the left side. I think it's a little rich for the Oregon State guy who's more of a right tackle potentially. Yeah.

They already have two defensive linemen, but you could always take a defensive lineman. I don't think there's a guy viewed as a number five overall pick in this draft at that spot. They could get stuck pretty quickly. Now, they could just take a wide receiver. Do you envision a Ravens GM and Jim Harbaugh taking a wide receiver with a fifth overall pick? I can't. I can't.

So I have envisioned if they. got, if the Chargers got Minnesota's picks and it was two firsts, my first thing I envisioned would be they move back to like, what is it, 11 or 12? What are the Vikings 11? Yeah. My takeaway is that they would take the Oregon State tackle at 11, maybe a bit high, but he's a bruiser. And they could also use him on the interior of their issues. And then I think their second pick would be a defensive tackle from like Texas or one of the big interior linemen. Right tackle, defensive tackle. And I'm like, That's exactly the how. And then they'd go get a center.

They got two fourth round picks. They're going to get a center of the third of the fourth round. That's what Jim wants to do. He wants to get big. You know, George Young, the legendary Giants GM, used to always say, when in doubt, go big. That's how Harbaugh and Baltimore and the Harbaugh's draft. They just go big a lot. Hell, I can make an argument.

Zay Flowers is the first home run wide receiver hit that Lamar Jackson's had where you're, I mean, O'Dell didn't make any impact. Mark Andrews has been ready the star of the, receiving game. So yeah, I'm with you. And they took him in the 20s. Yes. Right? The Ravens, the Helodinadas, those types they take higher. Ronnie Stanley.

Zay Flowers, are they taking, even though Malik neighbors and Roma Dunes, they are viewed as top 10, Marvin Harrison, I just, I have a really hard time. Now, maybe Marvin Harrison, he's seen him up close and personal. Maybe he feels very comfortable with that player. But I can't imagine that's what they want to do. But I can already envision them getting stuck because if if a quarterback goes one, two, three, four, whether that's tradeups,

obviously Arizona would have to trade back, but let's say the Patriots even stay there. What if there's no one to trade with the Chargers? Well, yeah. So today, the New York Giants, the Mara family said that they can draft a quarterback at number six. The Mara said they will allow the GM and the coach if they think it's necessary. Nice of them. nice of them to say you can draft a quarterback. So I think they will.

I could see the Giants actually, you know, my guess, I don't know if I knew Jaden Daniels in that weather. I would much rather have. So don't we both agree? It's going to go Caleb Drake, May 1 and 2. Do we agree with that? Pellasaro said today from the league meetings that he's heard a lot of J.J. McCarthy with Adam Peters.

And when you think of Adam Peters history, right, even recently, they won a lot with Jimmy Garoppel. And then they had immediate success with Brock Purdy. Now, obviously, these two guys are two of the best, I mean, Brady's the best player ever, and Peyton Manning's a top five quarterback. He was around those guys in Denver and then New England. So prototypical, and the one guy that he completely whiffed on with the group was Trey Lance. So I wonder if they're more inclined.

I heard Drake May forever, but when I saw that, I don't think that's just getting thrown around because if JJ could go four, what the hell's the difference of taking him to? If people like him at four or five, it's not crazy to think someone would like. I'd like him at two, right? It's the same pick, essentially. You either think the guys are starting quarterback and a high level or not. Right. Here's, you as a former NFL scout with the Eagles, take me inside. So I got into this thing today. I said, Denver's in a weird spot. So were the Raiders. Gardner, Minshew, and Aidan O'Connell can't be the future in that division. All right. But what if you have Boe Nicks at, let's say, 24? Your scouts say, we think he's the 24 best player. Do I take him? Now, it's quarterback, and I do believe I'm willing to reach at pass rusher or quarterback. Receiver, I won't because there's a glut of talent.

There's not a glut of receiver or quarterback talent annually in this league. Max Crosby, fifth round, is a complete outlier. Brady in the six-round outlier. So what do you do if your scouting department says, listen, we have him like 24, 25, and we've got the 11th or the 12th pick of them, Denver, I'm the Raiders. And, I mean, what do you do? do? What's the discussion in the draft room? I saw a quote today from Joe Shane, the Giants GM, and he said what makes it very unique at the quarterback position. And Chris Ballard talked about

this forever, right? Everyone always wanted me to take a quarterback. Well, if I don't like the guy at pick 18 or 15 or 20, just because he's quote unquote falling, it's not a defensive lineman or a wide receiver or a defensive back that I can mix in. He can just ultimately become my nickel corner. Or, you know, he didn't turn out to be a tackle, but he can be my guard. He can be my run-stuffing defensive tackle. Even if it clearly was the wrong pick, he can still... Quarterback's bad. He's awful. And he just doesn't play. So I think it gets very tricky just because a guy, quote-unquote, falling. Guys that falling and then are picked, it's because that when Aaron Rogers fell to the Packers, they liked him a lot. Same with Jordan Love, right?

He felt other teams didn't like him, but they valued him and they took him. So I think of a quarterback is, you know, if Bo Nick's there in the mid-teens, you either like the player or you don't at that value. And if you don't, you know, if you're unsure, I would never pick the quarterback because that's where you get in these positions where you're kind of stuck where even these other, the Chargers wide receiver last year was a disaster. What, you don't, it's like, well, maybe we figure something out, maybe becomes our third wide receiver. Maybe there are a couple things he can do well for us. That's right. A quarterback, he either can play or he can. That's right. And that's why J.J. McCarthy, I looked at some of their athletic testing numbers. Alex Smith was taller.

I think there are a lot of similarities with Alex Smith. And once Alex got real coaching, Andy and Harbaugh, he was a really solid court. Never Josh Allen or Mahomes, but he was damn good you could make the playoffs with. And I think, and just because a guy has a high physical ceiling, Jaden Daniels, there's no guarantee. So you have to like the guy. And then you have to be able to everyone puts the comps always like, this guy's the next Patrick Mahomes. I've been watching football for 30 years. I've seen one Patrick Mahomes. Remember when Draymond was drafted for five straight years?

Like, this guy's going to be the next Draymond. There hasn't been a Draymond since. But no one ever wants the comp like, you know what? This guy might be Alex Smith because everyone always wants the guy to be a higher in the first round. Sure. You can do that with mid-round picks. But no one ever comps like, yeah, I think this guy's a third wide receiver.

Well, we're taking the guy at 20. Like, that's a problem. So I think you've got to be very careful with quarterbacks. high in the draft. That's why I think teams get very comfortable when a guy falls to the second. You've seen a lot of success stories. Matt Schaub, Derek Carr, Jimmy Garoppolo. There's a lot less pressure. You don't have to play them right away. Let's face it. In modern day football, if I draft a guy, Raiders, Denver in the top 15, no one wants to see Gardner Minchu or whoever Denver Jared Stidham for long. Might give me a game or two, but just throw the other guy in.

And that sometimes can just get yourself in a massive, massive problem. That's why JJ McCarthy makes sense for Minnesota. They don't have to throw them in right away. Lamar Jackson, back in the day with the Ravens. They had Flacco, right? So he didn't start until the middle of the season, kind of got to ease in. Even Brock Purdy. Now, he was a seventh-round pick, but he wasn't forced into action right away. Some of these guys get forced into action. I don't care who you are. As a young person, your confidence is very, very brittle. I mean, you saw Bryce Young. He has another year like that. It could just ruin his career. Right. We've seen it happen. What Alex Smith overcame with Nolan and Singletary is one of the greatest accomplishments I've ever seen.

Most guys, it just ends him, right? But he didn't break and then Harbaugh kind of resurrected him. So I think that you have to be realistic with your expectations at quarterback. But no, it's very black or white. There's no like, well, we can mix this guy in 25 snaps. And that's where I think you get into a lot of problems with the position. Yeah, I mean, if you whiff with a quarterback at the 12 spot, you're just, you just wasted a pick. I mean, it's one thing if you trade a first round pick like the Rams had done for years to get, you know, Jalen Ramsey and good players. It's another one you don't have it because you whiffed on a quarterback. It's just hard to overcome. The, you know, there was, the Dion Sanders thing is interesting. Like, listen, Colorado football has been irrelevant outside of the Bill McCartney days

most of my life. There was the Eric B. NME. There was that four or five year run when they just got a lot of L.A. kids and they were fun. And it was really, really a really interesting program. for about five years. And so when Dion got the job, you know, my take is he'll make them interesting and he'll recruit. But I wonder if he's doing a disservice to his son. So he's talked about this whole, my son doesn't want to play in cold weather. Well, shit, in January, take out Miami and domes. You know, 27 of the 32 teams are cold. Like, you know, it's, you know, there's more, you know, Detroit, thankfully, he's in a dome in Minneapolis. Minnesota's in a dome. But there's just a lot of cold weather football. I mean, the chiefs, the Bills, the Ravens, the Patriots, the Seahawks for a while,

the Niners can be very cold in January, December. They've dominated most of the last 25 years of NFL football, 27 years, Pittsburgh. I think Shadur Sanders is really interesting. I wouldn't take him over Caleb or Drake May, but I do think there's an argument I could take him over Jaden Daniels. When his dad says there may be an Eli Manning situation, Boy, my takeaway is Elway was probably the greatest quarterback prospect ever. That's why he's even referenced today. Eli Manning's brother, Peyton, won the MVP the year he's coming out.

So there's a, oh, oh, here we go. Peyton now is the best young quarterback. Let's get his brother. There was a lot of leverage. Does Sador Sanders, even with Deunazad, have any leverage to do that? Well, I think both those guys said it when they were established as the number one pick going into the draft. You know, this guy still has another year of college where, let's face it, anyone that watched the second half of Colorado football, it was a fucking disaster. His last four games, he had six touchdowns.

He was not very good. Now, his first couple games were pretty remarkable. It fell off a cliff. Obviously, it doesn't take, you know, an NFL scout to watch his physical talents, right? He can run. He's got a big arm. But by no means, if you just pulled NFL GMs that watched him on tape, would they say he's some lock top pick?

Dion's one of the greatest prospects of all time as well. And he was in one of the great drafts with like Barry Sanders and Jim Kelly made. I forget exactly. Now, that was way before him. But whoever his draft was was incredible. Derek Thomas. I remember Deion had a famous story about someone wanted him to take a cognitive test. And he asked him what pick you're taking.

It was like the Giants. And they were ninth. He's like, I'm not going to be there. I mean, Dion had a lot of leverage because he was an all-time great prospect. Let's just let us see how these guys, we don't even know what position Travis Hunter is going to play. Is he a DB or a wide receiver? Right. I mean, he eventually has to establish a position to play in the NFL.

He's not going to go both ways. Well, so to put this pressure, and I understand he's like a father. He basically is a father to Travis as well. I have no problem having confidence. Like, these guys are going to be great NFL players. He's going to have a big season. But to make that statement already, let's face it kind of puts a bad table. into everyone's mouth coming in there.

Because like you said, one, you end up, whether you're playing in L.A., San Francisco, or Green Bay, you end up playing cold weather games all the time, right? With cross-rivals, even teams in your own division end up being cold. The playoffs turn cold on the road. He plays in Colorado right now. It's not warm. What's the weather right now in Denver?

Probably like 35, 40 degrees. So I understand that. You know, he's a Texas, Florida guy. But one, we just, this guy is not Caleb Williams or Trevor. Lawrence. Not everyone's universally agreeing that he's some elite player. Elway, Locke, Trevor, and Caleb going into the season were a unanimous MVP. Should do or isn't. I think people forget this. If you take Jordan Addison out of the equation, S.C. Pittsburgh to S.C. to the Vikings. The last two years, without an elite offensive teammate, he had 93 touchdowns, Caleb Williams,

and 10 picks. Those are, and, and this year was the best to pack 20. 12's been in my adult life. I mean, it was really as good. I mean, Arizona was good. I mean, Oregon, Washington, it was excellent. Washington State was solid. Cal was frisky. Yeah. So it's like, guys, come on, what are we talking about here? Utah's always good. So I like, I can like Shadur Sanders. I don't think he's close to the power thrower of Caleb Williams. I mean, and both had bad offensive lines this year. Look at the numbers. I mean, down the stretch, Shadur, and I liked him against TCU, the more I saw of Shadur, the less I liked him. That's probably...

Yeah, I mean, I think if you had to go off today, Travis Hunter is a better prospect than Shadur Sanders. Now, obviously, that can change, and he plays the most important position. But there were a lot of eye, I mean, there were a lot of eyeballs on him, at least early, once they started being terrible people, you know, fell off. But I think this year, and it's going to be fascinating. Let's face it, he plays in a crappy conference. I mean, I would imagine the Big 12 of now the four, the Big Ten of the SEC.

I would say the ACC is going to be viewed as better than the Big 12 going into the season. So when it all said and done, what if he's kind of playing nobody's and he's not that great again? I mean, are we talking about some for sure top 10 pick? I'm not saying that he can't, he could be the number one pick, but he also could be a second round pick. Right. There's just no, I would not put the rubber stamp right now. He has some lock top 10 pick. That's just not the way it works.

And things change. Think how often J.J. McCarthy wasn't viewed as a top 10 pick coming into the season. season. Hell, even after the season, I don't think universally the average person would be like, that's the top 10 pick. Now he's going to go like top five. Jaden Daniels kind of had the Joe Burrow ascension. No one was talking about that guy. Wins the Heisman. Now he's talked about as a beau knicks. I mean, things change very rapidly in football with the prospects at the quarterback position. So if they're going to talk a big game, which Dion does, because Dion can back it up. I think sometimes he talks for his kids. And, you know, last year, that kind of

Colorado State situation talking before the game, what happened? Well, his best player got destroyed, ruptured a kidney, and like almost died on the field. So Deon's coach now, right? He's not the player. So you put this added pressure on him and he'd say, well, they have pressure no matter what because of my name. And that's true. But I think this is another level. I mean, that's going to be a major talking point all next fall. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Clever 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. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tontans and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two.

Listen to Stuff to Blow Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So they're at the league meetings. The hip drop tackle was banned. The defensive players are objecting to it. It's very hard for a smaller player to tackle a big player. It puts the defense at a further disadvantage. I don't think the league cares. Also, yeah, yeah, it means more passage to the tight end. It might take away is they're going to throw the ball to the pigs more. replay assistance will now be permitted to change incorrect calls for roughing the passer and intentional grounding. People could argue, God, that's too much complexity to the replay system.

I actually like that. None of these bother me. I don't think, you know, one of the things that has changed in football and for the better, people often say they like defense. They like their team having a good defense. They don't really like defense. So if I said to you the Super Bowl was nine to six or 2827, fans would take the latter. People love defense when it's theirs.

But people, fans will watch any great offense. It doesn't matter if it's the greatest show on turf. It's Mahomes in his biggest year with Tyreek. And so I think the league's very clearly saying, we're trying to keep the players healthy, we're going to lean offense. It's good for fantasy. It's good for TV. Almost everything to me is just safety or TV product.

That's how I view all these rule changes. Well, my initial reaction is I don't think it's necessary because I think the defensive player, you know, the pure football element, if I'm trying to get, most guys are not Ray Lewis, Patrick Willis, and Brian Erlacker that just form tackle anybody in space. I'm doing whatever I can to get Christian McCaffrey, Alvin Kamara, or Travis Kelsey to the ground. Well, who did I just name? Beside the quarterbacks, the most famous players in the league have the ball in their hand. They want Debo Samuel, Alvin Kamara, Christian McCaffrey, Sequin, Barkle, they don't want them to get injured, right?

Those are the people for fantasy football. People watch the casual fan, which the NFL has more of, they want to protect those guys. So I think it's just simple. Do they truly care about safety? I don't think they even did it with the head. They just didn't want to get sued anymore. It was all a cover your ass move. And that's been regulated out of the game, right?

There's no, people don't launch themselves anymore. The quarterback, and you've been saying this forever. The quarterback's the most important position for all of us fans to watch. No one wants to watch the bills play the Chiefs with two backup quarterbacks. Even if we get mad on ridiculous roughing the pastors, the intention is to keep those guys safe. And I understand that. This one, I'm not going to freak out until I see the way they call it because as a defender, the overwhelming majority of players are just trying to get the player to the ground.

Right. No one's trying. Even the guy that hurt Mark Andrews, obviously he was not trying to injure him. And I think this is where the players have been saying this forever. Once they cut the quote unquote head hunting, they go after the knees. Well, what pays the bills for these guys? They're legs. And so we've seen a lot of knee injuries because guys get their knees blown out.

It happened to the taller players like Gronk forever. So listen, I think they overreact to stuff like this. And the writing was on the wall a couple weeks ago when they were all openly talking about in the league office. I would imagine a lot of coaches don't like it. But as we've seen, they don't give a shit what the coaches think. You know, so it's all, like you said, it gets back to the TV. It's why whenever you see these rules, 90% of the time, the coaches would always vote. They have no power.

It's just the league, the owners, and the money, which then the coaches and the players all benefit from. But some of these rules back to, remember the CBA, there's no practice anymore. Well, yeah, that limits the development of young quarterbacks and offensive linemen. But Roger Goodell and his team is not thinking about that. They're just thinking about revenue growth, revenue growth. Yeah, and safety. They've kind of figured out a formula and safety for the offensive players. You know, it's interesting.

I've always had kind of a theory about what I do is that if I get new information, I change my opinion. And I'm not your classic journalist, obviously. I'm not a boots on the ground guy. But I'm texted NFL, two NFL GMs today about something. And you have the same contacts and the same kind of effort is that. We're both seeking information constantly, and sometimes I just get new information. And I was very cool on Ryan Pohl's, you know, former offensive lineman, the Bears GM. A V-Lis Jones pick, I could not stand at number three.

I just thought it was a complete whiff, and I thought they just didn't do their homework. Or their SEC scout didn't do their homework because at SC, he couldn't track the ball. He was a returner, Max. I didn't love the Chase Claypool move, but I understood it. Mooney was a smaller player. Chase was a big body, had a great rookie year. Distracted player didn't work. But I got to tell you, as a former offensive lineman, I think he's put some effort

into draft capital, and I think their left tackle and right tackle can both play. They had another tackle. They moved inside. They've saved his career. I thought, the DJ Moore move, Keenan Allen, DeAndre Swift, Gerald Everett. I've got to be honest. I did not, a year ago, I did not trust Ryan Poles the GM of the Bears. But I've got new information.

The other thing they're doing, which the Steelers aren't, the Steelers and the Bears are defined defensively, their cultures. I mean, outside of Bradshaw and Ben and some talented receivers, it's a defensive culture. He is saying, no, that's not what we're going to do here. We're going to spend money on offense. That's what the Rams do. That's what the Browns are doing. That's what the chiefs are doing.

It's the opposite of the Steelers. So I find over the last two weeks when he went and got Keenan, D'Andre Swift, good past catching running back, 25-year-old kid, good player, not a great player, good player. And then Gerald Everett, with Cole Commet, those are functional, smart players. I've got to be honest, between Caleb, who I really like, between these offensive pieces, I almost feel like I've got new information. I think the, I think the Bears got the GM right. How is he viewed inside the league? Well, I mean, I think he had what has potential to be one of the great moves in the history the league in that trade that he made last year with the Carolina Panthers, right? Because

for a while it looked like he was going to be defined on some of his worst moves that was early on. I mean, that Chase Claypool move was pretty embarrassing because his pick ended up being really high. And I think the Steelers ended up drafting Joey Porter Jr., who's a really high in-play. I mean, that pick at the beginning of the second round is very, very valuable. But that Carolina Panther trade, I mean, truly was a game changer. And if Caleb, he does not have to become Patrick Mahomes, If he just is a top 10 NFL quarterback, which would be probably the best quarterback in the history of the franchise, it would change their franchise forever. And he took advantage of a team and an owner who was desperate and cleaned up. And he also added one of their best players who was under contract and DJ Moore.

Because my first thought last year when they traded for sweat, I'm like, God, that's a little much. Well, then they immediately got them. They started winning games. Their defense was better. So their draft pick actually ended up not as bad. They got them under contract. Actually, that aged pretty well. I had to kind of eat that.

I was like, well, it's not as crazy as it looked. So, yeah, when you work for Andy and Veach and John Dorsey, he was around a lot of high-level people for a while. And I think it's fair. I'm sure you would agree and you've done this, just like most people, every human being makes bad business decisions. Right. Most people's are not public. As a GM, every move you make is very public, right? So you're going to have bad ones.

But it doesn't have to define you if your great moves are awesome. Joe Douglas has had some really good moves for the Jets, but his quarterback moves so far have just not worked out and it's going to ultimately get them fired if they don't work. Right. So if you figure out the quarterback situation, which they are primed to do in Chicago, all these other kind of,

they're not even ancillary moves because they were kind of big, have a chance to, if DJ Morris is in the Pro Bowl for a couple years and sweats a pro bowler, I mean, we're going to be talking about this guy like a top 10 GM. And if he can get the Bears as a winning operation, now as a GM, you're also very dependent on your head coach.

There is no great general manager that doesn't either have a good degrade head coach. So you don't, once the season starts, you're not implementing anything, you're not with the player, you're not doing anything really. So he's very, Chris Ballard's. If he gets a second. Yeah, Chris Ballard's reputation is going to improve

over the next two years because of Shane Snyckin. I mean, he has, might have the next Kyle Shanahan. Right. So it's going to change his life. It already did this year. The quarterback got hurt. We're all like, oh, culture screwed. All of a sudden, they're in the playoff mixed weeks.

17 with Gardner Minchew. So there's a lot of pressure on Iber Fluss. And most GMs get two coaches. So this was kind of a package deal. Polion remember was involved with the hiring of these guys. He was. Definitely Iber Fluse. So if this doesn't work out, you get another one.

You've got to get it right. Because if he gets it right with Caleb and the players, he could be viewed as an elite guy. But if he doesn't, a lot like the quarterback position, just because you have a good quarterback, if your coach isn't good enough, you're going to be in trouble. I think the pressure on Iber Fluse, Siriani and McCarthy, because of their markets,

I mean, it's the Cowboys. He has no years left on his contract. They almost fired Siriani like two months ago. Those guys are going to be in their own little stratosphere and the way we talk about it. But I think Iber Fluse, the pressure starts immediately because of their roster, because of the talent, and because they have a quarterback that we've been talking.

It happened in Jacksonville, right? Part of Urban Meyer, obviously there was a lot going on, but you got handed Trevor Lawrence. so to me the pressure gets multiplied by like 10. You know, that Frank Reich, all of a sudden we draft this guy at number one. We trade our franchise. I got to fire you. That adds an element of pressure with the high quarterback pick.

Or it makes you. D'Amico, get the guy right. Like, God, Demico's a shooting rocket ship. He might, he would have been probably saw it. He would have figured out because Domingo's pretty special. But I don't know. I mean, heber flus looks like he's changed his look. Feels a little younger.

Have you noticed that? Yeah. So his team's good. I mean, there's no disputing, though. The roster talent is, I mean, Keenan Allen's a real, they have multiple receivers, they have a tied end,

they got some good, they have picks. It's not like they just get Caleb, then it'll pick again until the second round. They have the ninth pick in the draft. So the ability to either trade back or take a player, imagine if they get that right. So they have this really talented roster on paper already,

and they had Caleb Williams and Player X, if that guy becomes an immediate impact player, We're talking about this team as a wild card? Well, if I was Chicago, I'd trade down at nine. I really would. Again, you're in a, we've talked about the chargers and the giants. I think those positions like five and six are too rich for some of these quarterbacks. Nine, you know, if somebody wants to go Raiders 11 to 9, that's different than 11.

Denver sitting right there too. Yeah, so I could see where the Bears would move down just three spots because this draft, I've been told, has 18. first round players. It's usually about 15 to 16. This feels like 18 or night. The UCLA end is kind of the end of perceived first round talent. You know, the end of the first round, those last eight, nine picks, it's no man's land. Everybody would rather have top of the second picks. But I've heard the UCLA rush end is probably in that small group of last considered elite start day one players, be very productive. So I do think the bears are in a good spot. I, Jalen Johnson, the Honor Montes-Swatt defensive line. I would think if they've got two receivers now, my take was

their offensive moves in free agency signal that that number nine pick is going to go defense. They got to give Ibrough flu something, right? You can't just keep saying, I got receivers, I got tight ends. And for the record, I think they probably, they probably need, I mean, if you look at that position, there's a verse from Florida State, they could probably use another rush end. Yeah, you could take the Bama past rush. as well. You could take one of those two guys for sure if you get stuck. The one thing with Chicago, you'd say that division, Detroit kept their offensive coordinator, who I think a lot of people view as the linchpin of that operation. So they're going to be good again. The talent on that

roster is not really debatable. It's top five, six in the NFL, the Lions roster. And like most people, it's hard to bet against the Packers if Jordan Love is going to be a good player. So it's like it's going to be easy for them. Right. They're playing in, and if Minnesota is just a credible operation with a lot of good, talented players, it's going to be a challenge. And even if Caleb is really good, the NFL's hard. I mean, Peyton Manning set a record for interceptions this rookie year. So it's just the pressure that comes along with it. Now, Caleb, like a lot of guys in recent memory, has been under the spotlight.

He's used to it. He's used to getting paid so the money shouldn't overwhelm him. But there's, when's the last time the Bears had this much pressure slash interest going to the price 15 plus years ago. When's the last time they had this much offensive talent? When's the last time the Bears had a legitimate star number one receiver and a legitimate star number two receiver? That's just not that, you know, and a star quarterback. I couldn't tell you the last time he had Jay Cutler, didn't he have Alshan Jeffrey?

Yeah, he had Alshon. They had Brandon Marshall for a minute. They had those two guys. They were solid. They were a real team. And that's kind of what this. But Jay, by that time, was a veteran player played. You know, Caleb's been in Lincoln Riley's offense.

There is a little bit of a jolt. You know, you get Waldron runs more of the Shanahan operation. There's time to just get use to playing in a system where you're probably under center a little more. Now, part of it is as an offensive coordinator, you're not going to force him to do things he doesn't want to do. But you also have to kind of find a middle ground. So I'm fascinated. Like you said, Ryan Poles, I give him an A plus for about the last 12 months. He's been kicking ass and taking names.

No, I think he's done a really good job. And that's just one of the things I believe to be true. Like, I never understood. Listen, you could criticize me all day long. But it's like, I change my position all the time because I get new information. The other thing I think is funny about being in a public job, whether you're a quarterback or a mayor or a talk show host, things that look like a hot take end up not being a hot take. I mean, if I'd have told you a year before it happened, Kevin Durant's going to go to the Warriors.

You'd be like, what are you talking about? Oklahoma City is a finals level team. And, you know, if you just said, you know, Sean Payton is going to take that Denver job. I mean, I remember when he took it. I was, he wouldn't talk to me the last couple days when the rumor got out. And I'm like, he wanted the charger's job. He doesn't want that Russell Wilson thing. That's not going to.

There are so many, there are so many situations that I would have said 10 years ago, it's a hot take. Like, I didn't get J.J. McCarthy at all. And then all of a sudden, I got two people from the combine. One said, yeah, we just talked to him at the whiteboard. she was unbelievable. And I was like, oh, that's what I heard about Baker before he went one. And then all of a sudden I saw 21 extra pounds show up.

So the J.J. McCarthy stuff is kind of one of these, if you'd have said it a year ago, there's going to be a wild pursuit of J.J. McCarthy to be a top five quarterback. A year ago, I would have been like, you're out of your mind. A year ago, I would have said watching the Penn State game, you know, three, four months ago. They're nuts. The Ohio State, he played, he made some plays against Ohio State and Alabama. He made two great throws. Yeah.

But here's the thing. When you draft a guy, you're not really just thinking about week one, right? You're really thinking about 2007, 2008, 2003. You're thinking about him being your quarterback for a decade plus. He just turned 21 years old. For example, Will Levis is going to be 25, right? So it's like the age matters. What he was asked to do matters.

I saw John Lynch talk to the press today and he's like, he's like, you know, I wanted to go to the USC Pro Day. And he's like, one of my main scouts is like, don't waste your time. Go to the Michigan Pro Day. They have 18 players. We ain't taking Caleb. Go watch the talent. So he played on a team, Colin, that is going to set potentially the NFL record for players drafted in one individual draft.

They already set the Combine record. They set six offensive line. Only five guys can play. I don't even know how that's possible. Right. But that shows you, it's like USC. Matt Castle's getting drafted. He's now you taking a snap.

shows you the talents at a different level. When I out talent most people, I don't need to be playing like Lincoln Riley and that, you know, try to score 45 points. That's not how Harbaugh's ever played. So I think you start, you know, judging him on the context of everything. And character and all the intangible stuff, let's face it, it doesn't matter as much as the other positions.

Jalen Carter has a ton of red flags. He's a 6'5, 320-pound interior rusher. He was never falling out of the top 10. Right. If a quarterback had those, I don't care how talented he is. He's not getting drafted. I, he's just not. So wide receivers, defensive linemen, people like, I will figure it out. So that quarterback matters. Marvin Harrison, Jr., I think benefits from his dad's very sort of quirky personality. His dad, you know, it's very well known. I've never even heard the guy talk, his dad or Marvin Harrison, Jr. So it was very well under, I mean, I had a source tell me, I've had two sources. once when he was playing and once recently talking about Marvin Harrison's dad. Like he didn't, like after practice, sometimes he wouldn't shower in the facility.

He would literally go home. He didn't hang out with the players. So he was an odd ball. Like, first of all, he only played on one side of the field with Peyton Manning. He was sort of kind of a rigid, rigid personality. There was a story about gun charges, Philadelphia, murder. I mean, there's a lot of shit out there. So his son goes to the combine.

He won't do a pro day. He won't go to the combine. And my takeaway is, well, his dad, you can watch him play. He just doesn't look like anybody else. I love Roma Dunzee, but he doesn't have quite the explosiveness. The kid out of LSU is good. He doesn't quite have, you know, Harrison's just, he's like Calvin Johnson. I just don't see any holes.

And the truth is, Ohio State does a good job with receivers. and his dad is probably given him all sorts of insight. So it's funny about, like, people are getting caught up in hair Marvin Harrison, and they're like, oh, he doesn't talk, it's odd. I'm like, that's dad. I mean, people, Marvin Harrison, there's a 30 for 30 there. Like, I mean, I know everything about Randy Moss. I know a lot about Calvin Johnson, who's a pretty reticent guy doesn't talk.

I don't know anything about Marvin Harrison. There's two great 30 for 30s that have never been done. Michael Jordan's wizard years. They were... That won't get done either. It was a S show. And Michael won't let any of that stuff out. And the second one is Marvin Harrison in Indianapolis.

I mean, he was... I mean, it was... He was on the team, but players would tell you he just wasn't one of the guys, like, at all. So that's his son. So I'm like, I kind of chalk it up to, like, father-like son. Yeah, well, one thing I saw with texting a... I don't know if Marvin Harrison was going to run like 4-4-5. Yeah.

And if you run 452, you know, when we're talking about the elite, Larry Fitzgerald, the Julio Jones, Julio Jones ran like a 4-4-4 with a broken foot. Remember at this pro day? You know, the Calvin Johnson's of the world. He's not quite that. And his dad's like, none of this stuff matters. Just it doesn't matter. So he's not doing any of it.

He's at any other position or I mean at the quarterback position, it would be weird. Like even Caleb threw at the pro day, right? Which I give him credit because when you work out at a pro day, who does it help? Brendan Rice. It helps your teammates. Marvin Harrison's in his own little world. No one cares if wide receivers are in their own little world. You watch wide receivers during contract negotiations in the NFL.

It's always a big hooplau. It's just not like that in other positions. So you talk to people in the NFL, they don't all believe that Marvin might be the best prospect in this draft, the kid at LSU. but he's got some off-the-field questions. Rome is probably a little safer, bigger, but is he as fast? Is he as crisp? You know, it depends who you talk to.

All these guys are getting drafted somewhere between six and 12. So, I mean, at the end of the day, that's the other thing that bothers me, like, he fell in the draft. He went seventh or ninth. You know, it's not falling in the draft. Quarterbacks push guys down, offensive linemen push guys down. If you get drafted at 11th overall,

you're pretty highly viewed in. In NFL circles, I think it's safe to say. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm 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 Cliverts 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. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast.

Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of Tontons and Wampas

on the Ice Planet Hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith Rule of Two. Listen to Stuff to Bo Your Mind on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So one of the things, John Midlcoff, three and out, former NFL Scout, one of the things people come up to me all the time when I mention my podcast or they ask me about the volume and you've got a lot of fans out there. And one of the things that I think is strength is you're a very relatable guy. You like your vodka, you like your gambling. you know, you're just like a relatable guy. You like your golf. I want to talk about the

Shohei Otani story because my takeaway, and I know it came off as sort of maybe callous, but as long as he didn't bet baseball, I don't care. First of all, our life experiences shape us. My first job out of college was Vegas. I just knew gamblers. It didn't mean anything. I didn't think they were bad people. I mean, people are doing things on Wall Street with my 401K. I have much greater concerns that what they're doing in a sports book at the Hilton. The second thing is, when you're young and you're making a lot of money, and like, I'm not talking like a million dollars, I'm talking like Mahomes, Shohei Otani. You have people that are really doing a lot of your work for you. You're not doing your books. You know, everybody in Hollywood, even be actors,

they have entertainment attorneys and accountants. Shohei Otani is not looking at his checking account, like the rest of us are. Like he has no eye. He may have multiple checking his accounts in Los Angeles to avoid taxes. You know, you've got LLC's S-Corps. You're doing whatever you can. Now, he's a, he's an employee, so there's limitations on what he can do. But, you know, you're all trying to in California with 13 and a half percent, you know, state taxes to avoid it. This part, I totally believe. He's not watching his checking account. Like that money is going to his attorneys. It's going to his stock portfolio. I heard when Tiger Woods was in his crime, he was sending a check of, and I'm not just like 20 million a month to his financial advisor. Like they just off the top, $20 million, $240 million. It was something absurd like that. Yeah. It was. He was making $100 million a year.

So if he was writing a $15 million check or $10 million check, it's not that crazy. Maybe it was $20 million a year off the top. Just went to the market. So it was some absurd amount. And, you know, you're not, you've got people that do this. I can buy Otani saying, listen, man, he's a friend. I have a checking account. I gave him, you know, it's like power of attorney.

I allowed him to take some stuff out because I just, I'm busy. And it goes sideways fast. That's a lot of money. If you're drawing stuff out of Otani's account and it's $7 million, you're thinking, I'm taking $4,000. He doesn't have a clue, which he doesn't. I can buy that Otani didn't know and feels completely burned by a friend. I can buy that. Can you?

Yeah, I actually played golf last week with a guy that owns a big insurance company in Boston. And he has actors and Major League Baseball players, basically their life insurance accounts. And he said he's never talked to one of them. He just was on the phone getting business with one of the, he wouldn't tell me the name. He's like, you know, rules. But one of the main actresses in Hollywood. And he talked to the person that runs all of her money. and all she has to do is say yes or no, and they'll do it.

And that he runs the point. She's not checking or checking account every day like you said, like me. Right. So to me, I think there's twofold on this. One, the overreaction that gambling, I grew up around, my dad was a farmer and knew a lot of people that risked a lot in business. And that was their mentality. And they gambled a lot.

I've been around a lot of gamblers my entire life. People have been gambling since the history of time. It's got to be one of the longest. running professions in the world. People have been doing it well before any of this stuff existed. It goes back to the early 1900s with sports, right? Think about some of the scandals. So this reaction of like, well, this is getting crazy. This is Michael Jordan, one of the things he's known for is he's gamble all the time. So how it's this notion that guys don't think like that. Now, he denied it today. He claimed that he knew nothing about it. Right. And I heard you say,

if he had done it, as long as he's not betting on his team to lose. which I understand. I don't even think it would be that big a deal if he was gambling. One, you're gambling on football or EPL soccer. Who cares? And two, it's very realistic. He just signed a $700 million contract

where he was cool getting $20 million over the next 10 years. Does that not show you how rich the guy is? Yeah. Name me another human. Do you know, like Warren Buffett that would agree to do that? I mean, people forget how much money

like Kobe Bryant made in Turkey or Brad Pitt made overseas. Like American audiences have no idea. When you're George Clooney, you're Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington, you're making $30 million a year, Leonardo DiCaprio, European commercial. You go to Italy and Leonardo DiCaprio is like commercials in Italy. Kobe Bryant made a fortune in China, in Turkey.

So can you imagine what Shohei Otani makes in Asia? Well, it's reported that it's 60 million this upcoming year. It easily could be way higher. I remember when Hadeki Matsiyama won the Masters and Paul Asinger is like, he might be the next billion dollar athlete. just Japanese golfer. There's a small percentage. Remember Yao Ming, we talked about forever. The Asian market is huge.

One, like, they were very close. Clearly, they'd known each other for a while. Not crazy that he stole. I think it's crazier that a bookie, I'm fascinated by this bookie to be able to run lines at $4.5 million. Like, how you have the ability to run a line of credit. Like, even Vegas, right, a big money guy. I mean, a million dollar line of credit for a super rich guy with a company

that's worth hundreds of a month. That's pretty big. So you're giving lines of credit. This guy must, I'm fascinated by this whole bookie when it all comes out, this operation. Probably pretty big, which probably hence why the feds were after this guy. Right. Maybe some Hollywood guys. But one, I just don't really care. And my first reaction is, I just want to see this guy play. Now, Ethan Strauss or buddy wrote an article. I couldn't disagree more. Like, I just think that. What was his article? basically saying that gambling is like, I don't want to, not ruining society, but just getting so aggressive and we're becoming numb to it. I'd say, well, what about alcohol?

I mean, alcohol has been a driving force in society, the history of time. Well, here's one of the things. Whenever I see journalists, you know, and they can be, I think journalists, I've said this before, my top criticism, they have agendas, acknowledge it, we all do. And secondly, don't be naive. If you're going to be a journalist, then be a true journalist. Do you know the average bet with Draft Kings is $4? It's hard to ruin your family if you're betting 10 of those a day, right? It's $4.

I used to work for another gambling company. They told me their average bet was $4.5. That includes big betters. The second thing, the disturbance or distortion rate among gamblers is 1% of which Every time I read an ad, I have a 1-800 phone number I have to give out. The distortion or disturbance rate with alcohol is 6%. Should we close all the bars in Chicago? Like, and they don't read, they say, please drink responsibly. That's about the only warning you get. So my take on this. I do both. It's not even arguable. Alcohol is way worse for you than gambling. I don't care who you are. Yeah. It's bad for your brain. It's bad for your finance. You're bad for your liver. You know, and also when you look at gambling, look at the whole. hold the state lottery has. Look at how much money people give to the state lottery and the small amount, the small amount, the public a winner gets back. The hold in gambling, I bet 50 bucks in a game. And I don't, I mean, I make a good living. I bet 20 bucks on a two, three team parlay. The hold on a

straight bet, 50% chance I get it back. Ethan also defended Otani in the sense that if he was gambling, it is complicated if you're foreign, you come to this country and wait, I can, I play in Arizona, it's legal, I come to California, it's illegal, I go to Texas, it's illegal, but then I go to Chicago. It's like, it is kind of complicated, right? So in the leagues jumped head first into this. Yeah. And I think for the players, the NFL found immediately that it was a complicated scenario and they got really aggressive with the punishment. Obviously, you can't cover, you know, gamble on sports. you're allowed to gamble on other sports, you'd have to leave the facility. Yeah.

But it's, they jump so fast and then they expected everyone to follow the rules. But money's all relative. I mean, I, I play golf with a guy that caddied at the big country club in Arizona, and he says there are countless gambling games where putts can be $2,000 to $300,000 by the 18th toll. So money, which to that guy, if he's worth $500 million, is no different than if I'm worth $100,000. And I'm betting $1,000 a lot of money to me. So money, $4.5 million sounds a lot of money to 99.9% of people to show A. Otani, let's face it, it is a tiny, tiny percentage of his yearly income, let alone the guy's net worth. If he's even gambling, if you want to believe him. I simply don't care. I just want to watch him play baseball. Yeah. I mean, the greatest basketball player ever in many eyes is Michael Jordan, prodigious gambler. The best analyst in NBA history is Charles Barkley, noted gambler.

like we think of football and gambling. The truth of the matter is basketball players, golfers, it's just part of our culture. And I think if you look, you know, I'll be honest with you, John, when I'm out, I've been a public figure for a while, right? Maybe the 13th rung of a public figure in Los Angeles. People know you, Colin. People know you. So when I go out, the overwhelming thing people say for six months of the year,

hey, what's your blazing five this week? I've been doing that for, hold on, I've been doing Blazing Five for 19 years. So this is not like Draft King sponsors the show. I'm pro-gay. I've been doing this forever when I made nothing on it. Now I do. Draft Kings helped support the volume and other ventures. But I think you have to understand Europe's been way ahead of us on this.

And people may say, oh, there's just, there's ads everywhere. You don't have to watch the ads. There's also tire ads, mattress ads, have dominated sports my entire life. beer ads. There's, I mean, college athletics, there's like, like hard alcohol ads, like binge drinking alcohol. So I'm not just saying this because of my relationship, our relationship as a company with this. In the end, I think if Ethan Strauss did make that argument, and I'm sure he did, that it's confusing for Otani. I'm making the argument that when you make that kind of money, people are running your bank accounts. And I could

absolutely, you say to yourself, they have $4 million to make. if you just kept taking out 20 grand, 20, you start looking at that account. I bet you he doesn't even see that account at all. 100%. I also think that the overall discussion, I think about some people that I'm still friends with, either that I grew up with and that I went to college with, one of our binding connections is gambling. And one thing, a lot of journalists who and people in the media, I would say, that have the

journalistic background that talk about this stuff, wouldn't you say a large percentage of them, not only have never gambled, but will never gamble. That's right. It's not really, it's not their thing. It's not in their DNA. You said, I'm a normal guy. I just do what most people do. Like, most of my friends in life, and I don't mean they gamble thousands of dollars, but they just I get texts all the time during footballs. Who do you like this weekend? Who do you like tonight? I mean, that's just how people discuss. And we were discussing, we were talking like that well before draft kings and these other companies ever came around. That's right. It's like, it's like, Like, I was the other night, Anne and I went to a Bulls game.

And I was laughing. I'm like, I said, you know, Anne and I go out, we like to have a cocktail. And we'll have a couple cocktails, watch the game and we're just having a ball together. And we went out later that night. And I said, are we the only people in this arena having fun? Like everybody else is watching the game. And I'm like, we got cocktails. We're having a good time.

30% of Americans don't drink. 50% of Americans don't bet. I mean, Jesus. Half the men, I mean, 50%, I think it's all the intimacy in America is by 50% of the men. There's a lot of people, not gambling, not drinking, not sex. And it's like, thank God I'm on the other side of that. Thank God. It's a shitty life.

I don't want to know anything about. I'll punch you that. I've seen your beautiful girlfriend. You're in great shape. All right, Draft Kings did release its win total. So we both talked about the power of Kirk Cousins. Atlanta is a shocking 10.5 over under, and the Vikings who I think are staffed offensively are at 6.5. That's Kirk Cousins. Let me throw another one at you. This one, so when the Jets last year had Aaron Rogers, I said, listen, the history of old quarterbacks is they got to have good old lines. Russell Wilson's first year in Denver, they didn't. He stunk. Stafford Rams did. Then his third year, I think it was, they didn't. He struggled. Brady's first year in Tampa.

Actually, they had injuries. It wasn't as good. You can't have a 40-year-old. That's why Atlanta for Kirk Cousins works. That's a really good old line. That's why Jared Goff works. He's younger, but great old line. So the Jets have signed some kind of like Tyron Smith,

who will play about 13 games a year, a kid from the Ravens. The Jets are nine and a half, and I'm like, time out. If you look at the AFC, Deshawn Watson's back, you know, Herbert's got a legitimate, legitimate coach. C.J. Stroud is moving up fast. Trevor Lawrence will be healthy. You know, two of Mike McDaniels are going nowhere. Josh Allen now has between Kincaid and Cook,

has some really nice offensive weapons. I look at the Jets and nine and a half and I think, boy, you are, that's a battle line for an old quarterback off an Achilles surgery. I said it this year during the season, Aaron being relevant in January to me is over. It's nothing against Aaron. It's just old quarterbacks and crappy all lines don't work. What do you make on? I would bet the under on that all day. Well, I've been down on them, but if I wanted to make the case, Miami just lost a ton of talent. Yes.

They had a lot of guys walk out the door. They also lost Vic Fangio. And their defense was already in question. And Vic called them out thinking like no one wants to focus. And I think a lot has to do with the city they live in. Are they about to pay to $45, $50 million a year? Because if they do, I'm out. And so to me, Miami still has some questions.

question marks, even if we all agree, Mike is a great play caller. Quarterback, I'm definitely not sold on. And defensively, I mean, they just lost their best defensive player. He just walked in free agency. The Patriots, now the Jets finally beat him, I think we, whatever, the last week of the season, have owned the Jets. Didn't Bill beat him like eight straight seasons, swept him? Well, Bill's gone.

I think the Patriots got a couple years of coming to Jesus and Robert Kraft is about to find out what the NFL is really like. It could be ugly there. And then the bills, like, whenever I see the Super Bowl windows closed, I laugh, as long as you have Josh Allen. When you have Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrell, Patrick Mahomes, your roster can be in flux. You got a chance.

But the Jets did beat them in one game last year. So I'd have to look at the rest of their schedule. Eight to nine wins, best, that's assuming Aaron Rogers, who, let's face it, you go back because part of Russell Wilson isn't just the last two years. Remember the last year in Seattle. So now it's a body of work going. the wrong way. Aaron, the last year in Green Bay, something was off. It might have just been age. In the history of sports, most guys at 38, 39 start trending in the wrong way. I know he's

healthy guy. He looks good, but he wasn't quite as fast. His arm's still there, but a huge part of his ability was the ad lib, and that made him a great play. John, the analytics, Greg Kosell and Warren Sharp and others were on this. Aaron's analytics says he just didn't run anymore. Like, and if he doesn't run, I mean, say what you want. He's not as fast probably anymore. So he doesn't want to risk getting tackled or hit. Yeah, old guys don't want to get hit. I mean, you know, Eli Manning and Brady mastered it. Get rid of it quick or figure out how to roll and not get hit.

So I don't think Aaron, I also think Aaron isn't quite as committed as a lot of the young guys that are really bigger, stronger. And I think the only way to be good is sort of to be focused like Kirk Cousins later or obsessed like Brady. I don't think there's a way to be casually. And Aaron, you know, I've heard this from multiple people. Aaron, he's not going to sit and watch game film all weekend. That's not what he's going to do as a personality. He's going to read some things and listen to music and do his own thing. He is not Brady on the film.

He's not Peyton. He's not Breeze as a workaholic. Aaron is one of those guys. It's almost like... He had more physical capability than those guys. It's like a rock star. You know, the Bonos and the band's edges that have survived didn't have long periods of drug use. Like they took care of their body.

They partied. But they have aged very well, the bands that didn't haven't. Like, I think Aaron didn't quite take the same level of care. And I think he's aging faster than other guys. Yeah, I think if he can't move anywhere remotely like he used to, that's a problem. The one thing he has going that Peyton lost, Breeze lost, their arms failed them. You know, Roger's arm is still strong. So to me, he's still going to be able to function.

But I think the day and age of him just being some Lockhelead player, it's been gone now for a couple years. And I just think the question now is the pressure on the offensive coordinator, which let's face it, if you just pulled people in the NFL, is Nate Hackett any good or is he not any good? Most people would say he's not any good. And then the other reason he's there is because he meshes with Aaron. So is Aaron just telling him what to do?

Like there's got to be a little give and take. And you saw how many times this year with Aaron shaking his head, you know, with play calls when he would show up. It's just, I think it's got a chance to be a pat. They do have some players. There's no disputing that. They have impact players on both sides of the ball. But if you can't protect a quarterback who now can't really move.

Jared Gough, like you said, can't move. We've got arguably the best offensive line in the league doesn't need to move. Well, if these guys, if Smith gets hurt, if Moses gets hurt, if their interior offensive line isn't any good, you're sitting duck. Even Zach Wilson kept them alive last year's because he just kind of scramble around. And so, yeah, I think the jets are fascinating. That division, though, I think Miami could be in for a comeback. to the average a little bit, and the Patriots are in for real NFL life now.

I saw the Cowboys like 10 and a half, too. That seems a little high. I mean, they've lost a lot of players. So, by the way, Niners, Ravens, Chiefs, 11 and a half. I tend to bet the unders once you get into that space. Lions, Packers, Eagles, Bills, Bengals, Dolphins, Falcons, Cowboys, Falcons, the head scratcher a little bit, 10 and a half. Texans, Jets, 9 and a half. I'd buy that with the Texans. I don't with the Jets. Rams pull back to eight and a half. I think Aaron Donald, they subtract a win. I thought they would be nine and a half-ish.

Vikings very low. Kirk Cousin's not there. And Patriots, Panthers at four and a half. Titans, Broncos, five and a half. Again, I do believe with the Broncos, I think they're going to draft a quarter. And I think, to be honest with you, Bo Necks would win immediately because I think he's got 61 starts. I just interviewed. I talked to the kid last week for 30 minutes, 35 minutes on and off the air.

he's just a grown-up. He's ready to play NFL football. Whether or not you think he has this high ceiling, that kid's seen it. You know, he's had five offensive coordinators in five years, and he's worked with all of them. He's going to work. I think adversity has proven to matter a lot with a lot of these quarterbacks that have had some struggles in college. Like, Mahomes wasn't winning a lot. Josh Allen was told, we don't have scholarships for you, right? Lamar Jackson tumbled in the draft. Boenick's got his ass kicked in the SEC. I mean, he was, even when he transferred to Oregon. So, yeah, I'm fascinated by him.

I think he needs to go to the right spot. And Sean Payton, I mean, let's face it, they're kind of desperate right now. I guess they could just kind of roll it over a year, but I don't think Sean Payton's making $18 million. a year to try to win four or five games. Like he's going to try to compete immediately. And that division now with hardball and it got a lot harder. Even the Raiders, I don't know if Pierce is going to be a great head coach. They do have impact players.

They're not like an easy team to play. No, no. They've, they've said this for years. The Raiders have five or six and they have key positions, star receiver, rush and left tackle. Like if they could get a quarterback right, I don't doubt the Raiders. Because at the end of the year, I thought they were really competitive, playing with a lot of fire and purpose with Aidan O'Connell. So I'm okay with it.

By the way, I was in the car today, and I turned you on right as you were talking to Mick Cronin about his struggles, and he gave the line, I still turn left on sunset. That's one of the greatest lines I've ever heard. I don't think whether you win eight games or you win 30, I still turn left on sunset. That's an all-timer. Yeah, he comes over that hill from Encino. It's left right by the circular hotel, and you go left on sunset into Belair, then Beverly Hills, then right to UCLA. It's a pretty good life. I haven't been to every campus in America, but when you walk on UCLA's campus, there's got to be a short list of campuses to compete with that.

Oh, no, I don't think it was anything like it. I mean, USC, Stanford, you know, it's L.A. It's the Bay Area, but nope, there's nothing like UCLA I've ever been to. John Middilcoff, former NFL Scout. His podcast is three and out. Chopped it up for a little over an hour this week. Loved seeing you, buddy. We'll talk in a week.

Okay, see you, Colin. Thanks so much for listening. If you've enjoyed the podcast, take a moment, rate, and review. 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 band. Listen to Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tontons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith

rule of two. Listen to Stuff to Bo Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.