The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Out on Kyler + Middlekauff on ‘Quarterback’ vs. ‘Hard Knocks’, Belichick Hot Seat, Lincoln Riley/Chargers Fit

Episode Date: July 14, 2023

First Colin explains why he’s out on Kyler Murray after defending him against critics for his first three seasons. Colin and 3 and Out podcast Host John Middlekauff discuss why Netflix’s Quarterback is a welcome change of pace from Hard Knocks, if Sam Darnold has a shot to resurrect his career with the Niners, if Caleb Williams should refuse to play for the Cardinals if they have the 1st pick, if Lincoln Riley could replace Brandon Staley with the Chargers, if Bill Belichick is really on the hot seat in New England, if the Ravens are making a mistake by trying to make Lamar Jackson a pocket passer, if Sean Payton can convince Russell Wilson to run more, if Justin Fields can convince the Bears he’s their long term franchise QB. Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Herd #Volume #3andOutSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

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So one of the reasons you should be a nice guy or a nice woman is because if you work at a company long enough, many of the people you work with will splinter off. They'll leave. They'll move to another department. They'll move to arrival. They'll move cross-town. They'll leave. And so companies more than ever are fluid. Employees more than ever are mobile. And so your reputation will travel. My dad used to say all the time, be nice to people, lubricate society because at some point your career will be decided by rooms you're not in you know people management will vote on you owners will discuss you and so kiler murray is viewed recently as being dysfunctional but cliff kingsbury he was his coach cliff left has all sorts of info on kylem

Murray. Steve Kime, GM, left, has all sorts of info. Kime also had a staff. Kingsbury had a staff. Look at the people over the last three years that have been with the Cardinals, executives, coaches, players, Larry Fitzgerald, that are now gone. And when people ask all those people about the Cardinals, they ask about one person in particular, Kyler Murray. So I defended Kyler Murray pretty righteously for his first three years. He kept getting better. He threw a beautiful football. He reminded me of a smaller Russell Wilson, who I think is a Hall of Famer.

And it's a dysfunctional organization starting with ownership. So tough division, weird ownership. I kind of defended him. I said, I'd sign him. You're trapped. You got to have a guy. But what's interesting this offseason as the Cardinals once again have blown up their coaching staff and made changes in the front office, it's amazing when I went to UFC or when I go out or when I'm at any sports function that involves anybody in the NFL, how many people are talking about Kyler Murray? And it's not good.

So I always say, new information equals new opinion. If you were on a flight and you got new information from the radar, would you want the pilot to avoid a lightning storm or fly through it? If your doctor takes an x-ray, your son, your daughter gets new information, would you want to stick with what they thought the problem was? Or would you want them to function based on the new x-ray? Fans are always so beholden to, You said this a year ago!

Yeah, no shit. information changes. So my feeling on Kyler Murray today is different than a year ago. There is so much information now that has left that building that it's just incredible. Scouts, coaches, executives, people in this sport talk. And they talk about Kyler Murray. And I have a hard time with indifference. It's Ben Simmons.

It doesn't matter how good you are. If you don't love it, if you have to be prodded into prepping, prodded into playing, You don't want to run because you don't want to get hit. Oh, I struggle with it. You can have so many flaws. I can't live with indifference. I can deal with ego. I can deal with soft.

I can deal with emotional to some level. I can't deal with indifference. Like when I hire people at the volume, are you ready to compete? Do you love your job? There's nothing you can do with indifference. So Kyler Murray, there's all sorts of comments he made in the last couple days about last year. It was a negative vibe.

It was this. it was that. I don't have Kyler Murray as one of the top 10 quarterbacks in the league, and I was jotting down a list yesterday morning, just kind of going to the season. And you can say what you want about Kirk Cousins and Dak and Derek Carr, they're not his talent. I would sign them before Kyler Murray. That's how far my opinion has fallen, and it's all based on new information. As Netflix, first partnership with the NFL, quarterback is a new docu series that takes a unique look at each season, told through the lens of NFL quarterbacks. For the first time ever, the NFL allowed quarterbacks to be

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You know, they, I said, I don't think it's a coincidence that Hard Knocks announced the Jets the day that thing debuted. Like, HBO has owned that space, that insider space for a long time. Yeah. The Netflix series comes out. HBO's like, Jets, Aaron Rogers. And by the way, the Jets, 24 hours later, signed Quinn and Williams because they didn't want HBO in the building and a holdout happening. They didn't want any. I mean, you know how it goes. When you're in that building, if you had to have this intrusive film crew,

you're just putting out fires before they get there. My take on Hard Knocks is every series we've ever watched either comes to a conclusion like Seinfeld or Friends, they tap out, or it gets canceled. Well, why does Hard Knocks have to go on in perpetuity when all these shows, you know, Hard Knocks has to play to everything, right? The coaches, the players, obviously the star quarterback, but also the guy trying to make the team. I'm watching the quarterback docu-series, and I'm not trying to pub it just because we've been talking a lot about it. It's just the quarterback. I mean, it's just the quarterback,

the offensive play caller, the head coach. That's all I want. Yeah. Because the Hard Knocks is not giving me the inside. They don't talk shit about the players anymore. It's very, it's what I can get on all the team's websites. To me, it's rand as course. Yeah, I think it's very PR heavy. I mean, you can literally tell HBO, turn the cameras off. There's no insight. Also, it's one of the reasons the NFL network's never been as successful as people thought it would. But there's so much duplication on the market. FS1, ESPN all day. All these radio shows talk NFL.

So there's no unique conversations. Whereas baseball, the national talk shows don't talk it ever. ESPN Fox. So MLB Network, those discussions aren't being had anywhere else. And it makes MLB Network the best of all the networks. It's like really, really. really strong, unique takes

that have never been out in the sphere. And I think it's the same thing with HBO. Everybody's got access. It's ramped up over the last 10 years. And I just think it's sort of a milk toast, seen that, heard that, viewed that. Last two years, I've just watched bits and pieces

and sort of thought I was bored with it. For sure. If it wasn't for Aaron Rogers, I would be out. I would say the one thing, that stood out, I just watched the one episode on the quarterbacks, is it was just such an insight over Mariotta is a good example of high character guy, physically has the tools, just isn't good enough. He's just not an accurate, he's just not a good enough passer. Cousins, your classic overachiever, gives you everything he has, but it's not the most, just a little different, kind of weird. You know, he's not, I would say, beloved in a locker

room. And Mahomes is just the total package, has all the physical attributes and is absolutely beloved. Growing up in Northern California, you talked to anyone that played with Montana. They still love him to this day. He was just one of the guys. And obviously he was a great player. Brady had that. Obviously, great player, but those guys swear by him the human. Mahomes,

Travis Kelsey goes everywhere with them. I mean, they are tight at the hip. Knowing people in that building, it's the human, because all these guys have the talent. Like, Cousins is more than talented enough to be atop a little bit better than he is. But something's just missing. You know, and you

watch my homes, you just go, God, the chief struck oil on that bad boy. Well, there were several raiders this weekend in Vegas, several raiders, and maybe a coach or two at the UFC event. And so I asked them about Derek Carr, and they all liked him. But they were all like, yeah, it was time. There wasn't that deep reservoir of allegiance, loyalty, or love. Respected him. Thought he was a good dude. But there is something different. There are guys that it's a connectability. It's what I said about Aaron Rogers.

The guys liked far more than Aaron. Aaron's just a smarter version. You know, Aaron, they're both kind of difficult, little bit ad libber off script. But I always preferred Aaron. I thought he was more efficient, less risky. But Aaron connects with a finite number of people. Boktiari, Randall Cobb, you know, Jordy Nelson, there's been guys.

It's not that he doesn't connect. But, you know, Aaron's not for everybody. He's kind of a Hollywood guy. He's a little too cool for the room, never married, no kids, older player, almost every old player in the NFL is married with kids. Everybody over 30 times. Look at Mahomes. He's 26, 27.

He's got a kid and he's married. So there's not many quarterbacks that are older, never married, no kids. I mean, you can name them on one hand. Just ever. So, no, I think what quarterback on Netflix illustrates is that there is, the guy matters a lot, not just the armed talent, the guy. Yeah, I was thinking about, I was listening to this morning about Caleb and being in Scottsdale now, they're going to be pretty terrible, I would imagine, the Arizona Cardinals.

And I was thinking, I was on a walk last night. if I was him, I would have, think about Mahomes, gets Andy Reid, Brady, Belichick, Montana, Young, Walsh. Where you go determines a lot of your success as a court. A lot of stuff's out of your control, you know, and Sam Darnold's going to be a good example, right? Who's clearly never going to live up to the, what if he resurrected his career with Kyle Shanahan? It just shows you the power of infrastructure or coach. I would be very hesitant of just the number, he's already rich, just going to the number one pick if it's a shit organization,

call it. Also, poor owner, defensive coach, no head coaching experience, bad roster. I mean, John Elway and Eli Manning were like,

not going there. If I was Caleb Williams, I would not go to Arizona. What I would say is, I would trade my number one pick. I would take Harrison, the receiver at number two with a number two pick,

but I would trade the number one pick and I would get as many great players as I could. But Arizona has earned the disrespect. Arizona's, reputation has been fostered and created through years of what players view as neglect to the facilities, neglect to them the players. So I would have no problem with, you know, I saw Elway and Eli Manning do it.

Why can't Caleb Williams say, I'm not going there. Totally agree. I mean, you watch all these guys go into these terrible organizations. Bryce Young, we'll see how it plays out. Got a little lucky, right? Goes to an organization owner has a ton of money, hires a real NFL coach in Frank. He has a fighting chance with the organization. They also have a defense.

To me, a situation like that, I completely understand. But some of these teams, in recent memory, that are drafting number one, derail your career. Let me throw this at you. So, I mean, one of the coaches that's clearly on the hot seat is Brandon Staley with the Chargers. 100%. No question. If they don't make the playoffs, defensive coach, third year, wasting just a lot. in Herbert's career. It'll be the only elite quarterback in the league that's not like growing,

right? So my takeaway is if they don't make the playoffs, and in the AFC, you've got to win those close games chargers, which historically you haven't, right? You just can't give away games when you outplay teams. If they fire Brandon Staley, I think they'll make the Calder Lincoln Riley, but what saves USC is that he makes over 10 million a year and that he'd want 15 because he can stay at USC as long as he wants. And I think Kellyn Moore would get the job because the Spanos is historically don't spend on coaches. You could give Kellan four and a half, you know, four and a half, five and a half, six

and a half. But I think the two coaches, because you can't go from defensive coach to defensive coach. No. You'd have to go offense. And my guess is the people in L.A. would say, take Lincoln. Bruin fans would certainly scream that. but I think but I think

Kellyn Moore will be next in line so to me Brandon Staley has the most heat on him in the league. Is there a second? That's a good question. I think Jerry's shown to be a little more patient in fairness Mike for two years that they have been

successful and it's not like they're going up against the bar where it's NFC championship or bust right? They haven't been in one in two and a half decades. I would say you know, it feels like the Tomlin and the Harbaugh feel a little bit untouchable. I saw a story today, and you and I have talked about this over the last several months. It's unique because this guys want six Super Bowls.

But there is a weird elephant in the room pressure on Bill. I think there was tangible pressure of him being aggressive and stealing his offensive coordinator from his good friend Nick Saban. Obviously, they have a relationship, but, you know, Nick doesn't love losing offensive coordinators all the time. Like, he fights to keep those guys. They usually go on to be head coaches, not another offense coordinator. I guess Brian Dayball did it too.

But I think there's enough smoke where there is no one's acting like Belichick's the village idiot. But isn't there just a time where every coach? Well, usually it doesn't go like Popovich, where you just don't win for seven, eight years and kind of get to survive. Usually during that period, it ends. I don't care how many championships you have in the history of sports. And how are they going to be that good relative to the AFC, Colin?

And also, if you read Ian O'Connor's book on Belichick or Jeff Ben, Menadix, when you start reading these books, it's pretty clear that the Kraft family, Robert Stephen, somebody, has been at least one of the sources for some of the Belichick criticism. 100%. So it's they, you know, Bill, my wife used to say this. She was in HR for a long time. She said nobody, and it's not true, but she said very rarely in her career when she fired somebody, were they surprised, right?

Now, now, we just had some horrible media layoffs, but very rarely is a coach fired and everybody goes, whoa, when Belichick, he's always had kind of a, you know, he's short with people. He can be sort of condescending, right? Media certainly. For sure. Obviously, he didn't get along great with Brady,

no dinners together in 20-some years, so it wasn't great. but for the crafts or somebody in their circle, there's a lot of inside information critical of Bill in those books. It had to come somebody in that family or near it. I think they would first go to him and talk about a consulting, seven-figure consulting role. But fourth place is fourth place. And I think the minute he went defensive coordinator to offensive coordinator,

he sort of laid the groundwork. Because what happened is he not only made the offense worse, it's a little bit of a speed bump for Mack Jones. And reportedly, Ben Boland said this week that Mack Jones and his family have forged their relationship with the crafts. So they're hearing things. They're hearing the frustration. I don't think it's outrageous after the year if Bill steps down and there's a backdoor deal of some monetary, noteworthy monetary value. I just don't see in the AFC.

I mean, they would have to have the number one defense in the league. league, they would have to just be an incredible special teams team. Now, granted, they've been good in those units, but I'm talking the cream of the crop. Because just look at their offensive personnel. It's not explosive enough. And you can't just go 1987, you know, try to run for 2,800 yards in this league, especially in the division they're in, which can all score points, right, have explosive quarterbacks.

That's the other thing. When you're an owner or, you know, and the fans, you get to see the Miami Dolphins offense and Josh Allen and now Aaron Rogers. That's six games, right? You're watching start to finish. And you kind of really know. And they've had a front row seat now on Josh Allen kicking their ass for a little while. And now with Tua being more explosive or even if Mike White has to play, the amount of talent they have on offense, they're going to score points in Miami.

So I'm with you. I think he has, I think trouble is ahead. You know, it doesn't make him like he's got stupid overnight or now he's an idiot. And I think other teams would be very interested. But that would also be interesting, right? A guy over 70, very stuck in. his ways. It was used to making a lot of coin.

I mean, is someone just giving him four years, $80 million? It used to be that Belichick would work young front offices and poorly owned and run franchises. Like he did a lot of deals with Cleveland, you know, Buffalo. Yeah.

The fact that he re-signed Devonte Parker, who was last in a league three years in a row at separation, the fact that they signed Juju Smith-Schuster, the chiefs worked the Patriots. The Chiefs got the value in the ring. Didn't have to pay Ju-Ju. So the Chiefs now are working the Patriots. People are working the Patriots.

It used to be New England work the other teams. So by signing Devante Parker and not having really a high-end tight end, what does it do? It makes Mack Jones less crucial. This team can win one way now. Run game and defense. That's it.

Yeah. There is no, because Max's not an off script player. So what it does is it forces, I mean, Devante Parker can only be schemed open. He doesn't get open. So what it does, it forces Mack Jones to be incredibly coachable. I mean, who in the world in this league? What offensive coach would resign Devante Parker for three years?

None! It's insane. It's insane. So it really forces Mac Jones. to play Bill's way. That's what it feels like to me. I mean, Juju Smith-Schuster,

kind of a slot guy, doesn't really separate. Devante doesn't separate. By the way, what did they do in the draft? Two kickers, three guards. Again, speed deficiencies offense never addressed them.

They went three defensive players first, three guards, two kickers. Didn't go to receiver until the end. So again, he's creating a team that can win in Bill's worldview, not Max, not where, remember when Brady,

and Randy Moss really lit the world up. That's kind of the beginning of where Bill lost his leverage. It wasn't in the Super Bowl. It was like, oh, Tom's the greatest quarterback ever, literally shattered records. That's when Tom started doing more commercials, was more comfortable speaking out. And I think that's kind of the tipping point where Bill felt, I'm not going to do that again. I'm not going to make a guy and then lose control. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but in

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 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.

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on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search learn the hard way and listen now. One thing that's just been out there now for a while is the Ravens. Hire a new offensive coordinator. You give a quarterback all this money. You want to pass the ball. And it's just I struggle with when you do something really well,

stick with that and then mold around that. I mean, one thing Lamar has had a lot of success is obviously running the ball. Now, you have to adapt an offense. Everyone does. But I think it's pretty risky to just try to spread that bad boy out and let her rip. And I know they invest in O'Dell Beckham. They drafted a first round wide receiver. They are, I'm sure, going to try to get away from that three running backs behind Lamar,

the zone reed, just hammer you because that's what he wants to do. Yeah. And historically, when you pay a guy, you know, you want to mold him into more of a passer. But to me, that's a very slippery slope, Colin, because when you're good at something, you ride that his speed in athleticism is really what makes him an elite player when he's rolling. Yeah, I mean, you're a former scout. I thought in year three, I thought he started, I thought the label of can't throw, not that I dismissed it, but I thought in year three, he became situationally a little better thrower than he gets credit for.

Like his first year, he was a runner. His second year, he was a runner, good thrower leading in a game or play action. He needed clarity. He needed space in year two. So when they were leading, but when he was behind, remember, he struggled to win from behind for the first couple years. So when coverage, that's where Mahomes is the best quarterback ever. It doesn't matter if you drop eight in the coverage. He'll find space.

Lamar's first year and a half was mostly played well with a lead, great on second and two, third and one, play action. I did think in year three, he became a better, I thought he was better throwing when you knew he was throwing. So, I mean, there's a lot of guys, like, not everybody. Like Russell Wilson's not a great pocket passer, is he? No. There's nothing wrong without, most people are not going to be Brady Manning or Breece. So when you have the athleticism attribute that makes, I think Mahomes is probably in the middle, good athlete, like Josh Allen, high-end athlete, Andrew Luck when he was playing, high-end athlete. That's what separates your skills, right?

And Lamar's skill, I don't even mean always running down the field. I just mean scramble plays. like some of the place Kyle Shanahan uses the boots and the naked to just get you moving, keeps the defense a little bit on their heels. Like Jared Goff, guys don't really have the ability to do that, Kirk Cousins. So when they get themselves in a predicament and everything's not on time, it's kind of fucked, you right? Because they can't ad lib.

And that's the Mack Jones thing. And I tend to lean just being around Andy Reid likes more athleticism, back to the West Coast offense, which they all learn from Walsh to Holmgren, to, they like a guy to just be able to move, just because it opens up the playbook. And a lot of times, plays. If you don't have Manning or Brady, most guys can't just make things happen on their own from within the pocket if it's not there.

So your feet can keep you alive. Really what makes Russell such an elite player in his prime was not necessarily running down the field, like Lamar Jackson or Kyler Murray. It was behind the line of scrimbage keeping it alive and then pushing the ball 20, 30 yards to get explosive plays. And I think that's the Caleb Williams, the Drake. That's really the modern day player, right?

Is much more Trevor Lawrence, the herberts, the, it's much more of an athletic position than it used to be more of these Eli's, rivers. Those guys maybe are more likely to play baseball now and pitch than they are to be star quarterbacks. I have kind of a theory on Russell that, remember how Maddie was when he went to the Super Bowl and watched Brady win another one? And he was reportedly upset because Tom had so much to work with. And he was sitting next to.

a Gooddale at the Super Bowl. And he was frustrated because he had a defensive coach and Brady had Bruce Ariens. And he felt he didn't, it was a run dominated offense, whereas Tom could throw to Gronk and A.B. and Mike Evans and Chris Goodwin. And so it was reported that he was very, very frustrated, very, very frustrated. And he went back and that kind of blew stuff up. And so when he went to Denver, it wasn't a shock because he had a no trade clause and Denver had, remember, good young receivers, Hamler, Jerry Judy. They were thought of as having some

very interesting young pieces. Garrett Bowles left tackle, who eventually got hurt last year. But it's interesting because last year as I watched Russell, it wasn't that he couldn't run. If you went to late game situations, he was still highly effective. He's never been a burner. He was just elusive. He bought time. And so you'd get into these late game situations, and you're like, Russ, you're cooking. Well, why can't you do this in the first three quarters? And my belief was that Russell wanted to prove when he got this contract with Denver, I can throw it from the pocket.

I'm not going to be run around guy like Kyler Murray. I'm not going to be run around guy. He didn't like me pitching. But the truth is, when I talked to Sean Payton, when he was on the herd, he said, he needs to go back to playing basketball on grass. That's what he is. And so I think what you're going to see from Russ this year is Sean Payton saying, listen, lean into you. Like you're not a pocket guy.

Like Tua acknowledges us can't see over the line. Kyler admits I need to create space. I think Russell got into a, okay, now I'm making 50. That's the Tom territory. That's the Peyton. And I think psychologically he fell, hey man, I'm not going to get beat up. I'm going to throw up in the pocket. And when you combine that with a left tackle that got hurt, injuries to receive.

receivers and a horrific offensive coach, it all, it all unraveled. My guess is, Russell looks a lot like Seattle Russell this year. Your thoughts? My take is that Sean Payton is going to easily be able to come at him and go, I had one of the great pocket quarterbacks of all time. And as he aged, I yearned to get a more athletic guy why I went with Taysam Hill in some of these packages because it opened up the playbook. it makes our offense easier to run.

Now, you can argue whether, you know, it didn't always work because Taysam wasn't a true quarterback. Russell, with you, I'm already getting the combination of the two guys, right? You're the athlete who has proven to be a good thrower of the football. I've proven I can dial up the offense. Trust and believe in me. I think the problem was with Russell going last year is that he had more equity, had more juice than the coach.

Those were all the stories. You know, if Russell wanted to do something, that's not the way football works. Not that you don't give in sometimes and utilize what your star players or any player in your offense has an idea. But it was clear the hierarchy of power was anything Russell wanted to do. That's what would happen. And then the stories about the signals being off, the verbiage, it's just a lot going on. That's not going to happen with Sean Payton because it's his way or the highway, but he knows what he's doing. So I'm still hesitant to feel confident about them being back because we've seen players like him once they start turning the wrong way.

If athleticism is starting to diminish, that'd be a problem. But if like you said, it was just more a hesitation, he was trying to prove something, which listen, any human being and any field tries to prove something, I understand it. If he will take the ego out of it and just listen to Sean Payton, he has proven that he can score on anybody and their defense is already good. that's another thing with Brandon Staley. If they are better, right? You know the chiefs aren't going anywhere. The rest of the AFC is really good. That would be a problem for the chargers who have no business,

not being a really good team. I think that we thought that division was going to be the best last year coming in, the AFC West. I think this year it's more the year because now Denver is legitimate. Herbert should be even better. I think Kellyn Moore is pretty good. I actually think that he's, if they ended up doing that, transition wouldn't be the craziest thing.

Because the other thing with Lincoln Riley, right, at the end of the day, USC can always cut a check to match whoever. Right. Jerry Jones, definitely Dean Spanos, who has the money, he's just sometimes hesitant to pay it on the coaches. And Kellan now, you know, Lincoln, I mean, I think he's pretty

comfortable in his situation. He got it rolling, getting all these SEC transfers. The transfer portal is going to change their operation that they feel like that, I wouldn't want to say heavy favorites, but they should win the Pac-12 this year, definitely not get beat by Utah twice. So, yeah, I mean, I think Denver is kind of a wild card because if you get even not the A

Russell we've seen, but last year, if we gave them a grade, let's say a C minus, if you get the BB plus with that head coach, are they a 10 win team? They definitely could be. All right. Finally, I've got to ask you, I'm going to ask you to put your Swami hat on and make a prediction. So I think if you ask you and I for our predictions, they would be most. aligned. I tend to think Carolina is going to be the surprise playoffs team in the NFL, largely because it's a bad division.

And I think their front sevens go defensively. They ran the ball. The O-line's getting better. And Bryce Young is plug-in-play. Limitations, but plug-in-play. So I have them in a really weak division and an incredibly weak conference, Carolina being the shock. But a team, I'm just going to ask you about one team. Because I am fascinated and I don't know the answer. by Thanksgiving with the Chicago Bears, are we going to say Justin Fields is it? Justin Fields doesn't work because I argue tight end wide receiver group this morning is more than capable. Commet, Tanya, Mooney, DJ Moore, Claypool of Third.

Like, that's more than adequate. O line was PFF had him 15th. I think they found a left tackle. Last year, remember they went heavy into the O line a couple years ago. A couple of those guys hit. Your prediction on the Chicago Bears season. I'd bet against it just because he hasn't shown anywhere near being the passing. That element of the position is such a major question mark and hasn't even been remotely close.

Now, I know everyone's like, he hasn't had the talent around and they got DJ more. I just, I would bet against it. History would show that doesn't work. And I think they kind of knew it. But there was a big picture. They had to reset the franchise. The trade was so lucrative. It didn't matter.

Getting DJ more if they ended up drafting a quarterback this next year is the right big picture move. And he's a good guy. People like him. And he's such a great athlete that he could just function. But Colin, they, I think the stat is that last year, the Colts, for example, who were down all the time. I think average like 36 passing attempts a game. The Bears were well under 25, I think at 22. So that shows you.

the coaches who are still there coming back, did not even, when you're shitty, you pass it, whether you're, you and me are the wide receivers, whether you got Jerry right, you're trying to win, right? And they just refuse. So to think that there is going to be some dramatic jump, especially that they have unproven coaches. It's the other thing. If you told me that he was around Sean McVeigh and Andy Reid, a Powell Shanahan, you go, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt with his physical tools. I loved him coming out. I remember I would have taking them. Besides Trevor Lawrence, I thought the jet should have taken him at two.

The Niners definitely should take him at three just because of the physical tools. And then it's on the coaches to mold it. But I think it's pretty concerning. And he's a classic guy where everyone gets bullish in an offseason where nothing's really changed, besides some talent around them. But you've seen DJ Moore dominate on some teams that lose a lot of games, right? So it's just that that would, I would bet against it. Now, are they going to be crappy enough to be drafted in one or two?

Probably not. But they do have some now draft ammunition, you know, to get up. I think we talk a lot about Caleb Williams, but I think Drake May is going to be viewed as, you know, like a 1B level guy. I mean, I think the buzz on him, my scouting buddies, Caleb just is a wow guy, anyone to sees him live. But I think Drake's pretty damn close to that. Big, huge arm. Sabin was all over him out of high school. Again, tried to buy him last year in the offseason.

I think he's the real deal. So I think the, you know, it's one of those draft class. that's going to be viewed coming out. You know, now things change once you're, you know, the Zion John Morant, like two can't miss guys. And their talents can't debate. They got some eating problems and some gun problems. But I think Caleb and Drake are going to be viewed as just a pretty special.

And the difference of some of these classes that have been viewed like that a couple of years ago, the Zach Wilson and Trey Lance, clearly that year with the COVID was all messed up. These two guys are going to play a lot of football against a lot of big time teams, night games with the lights on, with all these scouts coming through for multiple years. So there's going to be a lot of evidence on both of them, which there already is. I mean, I would imagine if you went around the draft boards right now, they're pretty entrenched at number one and number two. John Middlekoff, host of Three and Out and Golo podcasts on the Volume.

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