The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Reaction to Packers & Dolphins signing Jordan Love & Tua, Jim Harbaugh playoffs?

Episode Date: July 29, 2024

Colin Cowherd is joined by '3 & Out' host John Middlekauff to discuss the latest news  in the NFL.  Colin & John start off talking about USC and the excitement for the upcoming college football season (6:00).  Next they react to Jordan Love becoming the highest paid QB in the NFL & the Dolphins giving Tua a massive contract extension. Did the Packers & Dolphins make the right move (20:00)?  Will Russell Wilson work out in Pittsburgh or is Justin Fields destined to be QB1 for the Steelers? Colin & John explain why the Seahawks are a darkhorse playoff team (25:00). They go back to Packers signing Jordan Love and why it's working in Green Bay without Aaron Rodgers. WIll Jim Harbaugh have the Chargers in the playoffs and what were their takes from the first few days of the Olympics (30:00)? (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates!  #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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John or I may miss one Sunday, but this is kind of the official start as we move into August very quickly. John, former NFL scout three and out. You know, I was thinking about it this weekend. That it's been an interesting summer, Copa, the Euros, the Olympics.

There's just been a lot of big, big events and my kids are doing a lot of traveling, is that I used to O's view like August as a kid, Fourth of July to Labor Day as summer. And I still have a little bit of time I have to burn before the football season. But it feels like August now, these damn schools, high schools and college

start by like August 12th. And it's like, what happened to August? Like, my kids are starting college, like early August. So do you have a big August plan or to you as August football? Yeah, to me, July, we've been gone for a month. We were in Tahoe and home with our family. But talking to, you know, I don't have kids yet, but a lot of people's kids go back to school early to mid-August, the latest.

When I was in high school and even at Cal Poly in college, we didn't start until probably a week into September. The quarter system, UCLA, Oregon, they always had a big advantage in college because their first couple games, the kids weren't, the school hadn't started. So when I see these schools, junior high, high school, and college going back in a week, that's crazy to me. That's insane. Yeah, to me, I'm back in the football mode a little bit, but I'm a podcast or can podcast from wherever, but I don't really have any more to go.

I keep telling people before we get into NFL, I don't recall a year. I'm more excited for college football, and I'm a Pac-12 guy, and it, you know, employ. loaded. You know, the big networks, Fox included, you know, wanted an AFC, NFC in college football. Venture capitalists will probably own the sport within five to ten years. But it was so I got into this discussion over the weekend with a friend up the food chain at USC. And I said to this person, I said, you know, take out Sabin. I said, this stuff takes longer than you think that this person, we were talking about Lincoln Riley. And I said, when Harbaugh got to Michigan, he actually overachieved in the first year. They went from five to ten wins. I watched his first game. It was a win at Utah. I said, they weren't that good.

They really didn't have a lot of NFL guys, but just power of personality. They got very physical, very fast, and the Big Ten wasn't as good as it is now. And they won ten games. Two years later, they won eight, and he was getting ripped because he was polarizing. And I said this. I said, what Brady Hoke did to Michigan is sort of what Clay Hilton did to USC. Didn't kill the brand, but the rosters were so depleted. And I said this to the person that was critical of Lincoln.

I said, does everybody understand how bad it was at USC? They weren't only four and eight. I was told that Lincoln and his group looked at the players and thought they had 33 guys that they could use, like could play. So as I look at their schedule this year, you know, it's full of Penn States and LSUs and Notre Dame. They're not playing, you know, these regional schools. They got LSU and Notre Dame is out of conference schools. What does USC have to win so you, John Middilkoff, go? I'm good with that.

Well, my buddy Guy Haverman and Yogi are doing Big Ten games, and they were back in Indy for the Big Ten, you know, the media days, which is like four days long because they got eight. 18 teams. And you start looking at the conference, are we sure they're not a 7 and 5 team? Is that possible? I mean, I know you're a USC homer. And listen, I root for West Coast teams, but same, same. Is 7 and 5 on the table? Do you acknowledge that? If they can't beat Michigan, so Michigan lost 18 pros, new coach, and then really lost their best coaches, assistant head coach. So I think it's a much bigger rebuild. than people think at Michigan.

So my guess is if they can beat Michigan and go one in one to start, I think they win eight to nine. If they go 0 and two, seven's on the table. I think the problem, and you use Harbaugh as an example, Jim was a Michigan man, right? So he resonated with the people there. He was part of them. And in college, more than the pros, that's a big deal.

No one gives a shit where you're from in the pros, right? You can be an L.A. guy coach in New York if you're winning great. vice versa. In college, it kind of matters. And let's face it. Lincoln is a Texas guy, had all his success at Oklahoma, came here because they paid him a lot of money. And I do think the money factors in. Are they paying $120 million if they go even eight and four? And this isn't his doing, or his fault, but Oregon's going to be really good. Dan inherited a much better program. They had a lot more talent because of the way Mario recruited. But if they're 11 and 1 or in the conference championship game and in the playoffs, and they're eight and four, not even sniffing

the playoffs, I do think it just gets weird because you're not one of them. And we see this in college football a lot. Our buddy Jim McElwain, he was having success at Florida. I mean, look at that place before and since, you know, after Urban Meyer in the last four or five years, they ran him out of town, ran them out of town. Now, it's different with Lincoln than Jim McElwain. He's a much bigger name, bigger brand, has more success at a higher level. But if you go eight and four, you start asking yourself, 10 states rolling. I mean, if their quarterback is just decent, they should win 10 games. Like you said, Michigan, okay, they take a step back. Ohio State's got the best roster in college football. Oregon can't be

far behind. Matt Rule knows what he's doing in college football. Luke Fickle, it's just a really hard conference. The other thing is like random teams in that conference, an Iowa or a Minnesota, always have an upset throughout the season. So it just becomes very, very difficult. And you know these people, a lot of rich people behind the USC program, and they're cutting enormous checks. And the bigger check that you start cutting, I think the more the questions get crazier. You see it in the SEC all the time. The reason there is crazy in terms of the turnover with coaches when they stop, because the amount of money they're paying to not just the head coach, but the assistants.

You have GMs in college football now. I got buddies making $300,000. They're just in charge of recruiting. So, I mean, I have buddies that scout in the NFL for 15 years that don't make that. So it's just, it's a money thing. And the expectations, you could argue it should be easier in theory with the transfer portal to get better fast. By the way, what's going to happen in college football in the next year? This is really a thing that's happening. So I've talked to two different athletic directors is these college programs are going to hire general managers. Because right now, these guys don't know how to work their cap. So let's say, I'll just take USC.

They're making somewhere between 13 and 15 million NIO. That's what I've been told. You're saying that's their budget to pay players? That's their annual budget. They're building new facilities. That money's always easy to get. Boosters love facilities that they can feel. Put their name on it.

Yeah, right. NIL are getting about 13 million a year in that ballpark. They don't know how to spend it. They don't know. They just don't understand quite. They need a general manager. So I think what's going to happen in college football in the next 18. months. A guy like a Chris Peterson who works at Fox. A guy like a Chris Peter, you hire Chris Peterson,

you give him a good salary and see Chris, you just run the cap, you organizationally kind of run our personnel, you don't get the heat of the coach. And I think guys like Chris Peterson are going to have schools throw seven figures at them and say, can you run from a personnel standpoint, organize our football program? Because these guys, these schools now are paying high high schoolers, not seniors. They're paying juniors to announce they're going to the schools. So I think there's a massive shift going on. UCLA can't compete at all. Thank God they're moving to the Big Ten because the home attendance will buoy their revenue, but they have a debt service every year. They're in big trouble. Did you see the highlight of Deshawn Foster?

Not good. That's, which is crazy because he was a high level college player, a good NFL player. It's not like he's never been in front of the media. He's not some lifetime Coach, it was pretty, it felt very UCLA right now and kind of Mickey Mouse and they're going to be terrible. Jake Rosenberg, who I was DMing with this weekend, who I used to work with with the Eagles, who was one of Howie's right-hand men with the Cap, who worked in finance before he got hired with the Eagles, left the Eagles and created a company and is now working with Oklahoma. He's literally signed contracts and worked with these contracts. And his business will only grow exponentially quick. because, again, obviously 13 million is less than 200 million NFL salary cap, but it's still, these guys aren't used to, and philosophically, you know, Kirby Smart, I've heard is very uncomfortable getting to a certain number with a high school kid. Yeah.

He will pay his own guy once he gets established or pay a transfer portal guy. But in terms of a high school kid, I mean, Nebraska, Dominic Riola, who I think is the dad. Yeah. I forget the kid's name, who's the quarterback. You know, there are rumors he got $4 million. And you fall college recruiting probably closer than I do. We have seen a million number one, number two overall guys. The guys that turn into Andrew Locke and Trevor Lawrence and Caleb Williams, those guys are actually the minority.

The majority bounce around, become average, get benched. That's a very risky proposition. Like you said, you don't have 50 million to deal with. So if you're going to allocate several million, wasn't the thing a couple years ago with USC? I guess it would have been two years ago when they had Jordan Addison and Caleb. weren't those guys taking like 80% of their NIL money to the two players? Yeah. Now, they were worth it, but still, I mean, you better get it right.

It's a much bigger mess than anybody in the sports media is talking about. It is a shit show. It is these schools are paying juniors in high school. Some of these guys take the money and then they flip their senior year to the school that comes to Lincoln, Oregon and pays more money. So it's a mess. So general managers are coming. I think venture capitalists could own chunks of college football programs, but it is, it's pro football. And the other thing, you know, the other thing athletic directors are going to have to go through over the next couple of years, John, all these sports are driven by football.

Basketball makes money for men and women at a lot of colleges. After that, they all lose money. A lot of money. A lot. I mean, so, but it's hard because if, let's say you have a swimming program or a golf program and it loses a million a year, but your third biggest booster in the athletic department supports their kid who's on the swimming team. So it's very, you get, you have to be very judicious with your decisions because a lot of times the biggest boosters, their kids, you know, they got a scholarship in golf or swimming or water polo or fencing out east. hockey and it's like the sport loses us three million but the guy gave us eight million. I think if you really privately asked athletic directors what they could do, they would all shave off 20 programs, 25 programs.

You can't make money. And so I said years ago you should privatize football. But a lot of the biggest boosters at these schools are not football boosters. And so, but I'm here to tell you those, there's guys out there, the Chris Peterson's, Bob Stoops. Those guys now, people are going to start calling them and say, do you want to run the program? You're the GM. Here's a million a year.

Just organize this stuff. Run our cap. Or XGMs at 55 who are just burnt out from crazy owners. There's a new industry starting in college football. General managers are a year away from being hired everywhere. Well, that's why you're going to see it this year and it's only going to grow. the next five years is the wiping out of all the random colleges when it comes to football. I was at the gym today, and this guy who looked like he played football was decked out in Washington State football gear.

It kind of made me sad. We grew up on that program playing in big games. They're going to turn in closer to UC Davis in the next five years than they are back to Washington because the money the SEC has made. I mean, look at the SEC the amount they pay college basketball coaches now. I mean, they're a college basketball conference now. I fall college golf because a lot of the top guys go on to the PJ tour. All the college golf programs in the SEC, they fly private because like you say, they have big boosters, they have the football money behind it, and the Big Ten is not going to be far behind as they start making gobs of cash now that they've got in Oregon and USC. And it's inevitable.

It feels like Notre Dame, you know, and those programs go and the SEC gets Florida State in Clemson over the next decade. It's going to wipe out the little guy. And I started at Fresno State. they don't have a snowball chance in hell to survive. And it's just, it's going to become the NFL light. Because I get a lot of questions. Like, why doesn't the NFL invest in minor league football? I said, why would they?

College football produces all their talent and they don't have to spend a penny. So why would they spend any expense on developing players, besides once they have them in their own building, when college football is doing it for them? Yeah. They're spending all the. And football, like you said, makes all the money in college. sports. It's also the most expensive program to run. It's why, you know, where I grew up in

Northern California, St. Mary, Santa Clara, when I worked for Pat Hill, he played at Riverside. Those programs back in the 70s, Pete Carroll played at, you know, Pacific school, Pacific. They all cut football after a while because they couldn't afford it. And that's back, I mean, they were bare bones. So it just becomes how does Washington State or Fresno State or New Mexico whose programs forever? I mean, they were playing real football. how do they survive moving forward? And the answer is they just don't. That's just the way kind of business works, right? Yeah. And I, for the record, you bringing up Pete Carroll, Pete Carroll is somebody that USC could hire and just say, you're our general manager. Pete would be great. He loves the school. The school loves Pete. So keep your eye on for anybody listening to Chris Peterson, Bob Stoops, Pete Carroll. These schools, they're looking for those guys to step in. I mean, Pete Carroll, wouldn't that be a great way to call? close out your career. He's got great energy. Pete's on USC's campus. He's the ambassador

running USC football. Why do you think most people would agree that Bill Belichick more than likely is going to at least get interviews and probably get a head coaching job? No one thinks Pete Carroll is ever getting a head coaching job again in the NFL. And I'm sure you saw the story last week. I mean, Kyle asked Bill Belichick if he wanted to be his defense coordinator. Bill wasn't interested. Why wouldn't he ask, he didn't ask Pete Carol, who'd gone against for eight years, didn't even cross his, he runs Pete's defense. And it feels like Pete, in a weird way, is like this relic where Bill who didn't have, I mean, Pete had more success the last couple of years than Bill.

And listen, I agree I would hire Bill over Pete because if you really followed Pete, like their defense was terrible, some of his moves, like, but it feels like Pete is just done. He's too old. And Bill's like, yeah, he's old, but he still knows what he's doing. Yeah, it's interesting. I think, you know, all those rings and trophies for Belichick just puts them in a different class. And, you know, it's like I always sort of laugh. If you look at, you know, these bands that haven't had a hit in 40 years, they're still making millions a year playing at Foxwoods Casino.

Once you're a legend, you are. Garth Brooks hasn't had a hit since the 90s. And you're still making 10 million a year minimum. Celine Dion. So I think I think Belichick is just such a legend that he'll just make. money on being Bill Belichick forever. Pete had he won that second Super Bowl and that interception by Malcolm Butler, maybe he would be in more legendary status. He's more in a Mike Tomlin thing. But I also think Pete's got a place. I think in the North Shore in Hawaii, he's happy.

I really think for Pete embracing USC, they love him. You know, he's just, he is the most popular coach in the history of USC is Pete Carroll still today. I wish he would literally sign up and run their football management team, because I think that's where USC is going. So you have an upcoming fantasy football draft? Well, then you need to check out the fantasy pros draft wizard. When you sync your fantasy football league with draft wizard, you'll get an instant report that shows you how the rest of your league drafts. You'll see who overdrafts rookies in early rounds,

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So I'm looking at all these new contracts. And you know, it really is interesting. I'm totally comfortable with Jordan loves. And some of it's just this, because I fashion myself. as a poor man scout. He's bigger than Tua. He's faster than Tua. He's got a better arm than Tua, and Green Bay almost always gets offense right. I really, that's my bias, whereas Tua is smaller, don't love his arm, not as athletic, and Miami screw stuff up. The Tua, $212 million, I'm a little uncomfortable with it. I don't think I would have gone there. But I think to myself

all the time what Jay Glazer once said, the worst great job in America, is being a football coach driving to the stadium knowing you're going to win six games. And if Tua is upright, you have a chance to win 11. So I just think I trust the Packers, Jordan's bigger, stronger, faster, better whip. Where are you on Tua? 212 over four years. Would you have gone there? And $170 million guaranteed is insane to me.

I think there's two ways to look at it. That contract to me is jaw-dropping. I think most people that have watched them play go, that's crazy. That's insane because you have no shot to beat any of the top quarterbacks who are all in your conference. And we just saw last year, you were like, what were they, eight and one or nine and two, and the other bills were six and six, and they still ended up winning the division. Why? Because Josh Allen translates in November, December, and January, and your guy doesn't.

But there is value in just being relevant and competing to make the wild card everything. So why can't we find some middle ground of like Alex Smith never made Peyton Manning, Aaron Rogers, or Tom Brady money? But like he was getting Harbaugh and Andy Reid to the playoffs. And there was value in him. And now we've got to the point of like, well, you just got to make this much. Why? Why couldn't you just offer him Daniel Jones money?

Like $90 million guaranteed. Cut that guarantee in half. Who are you bidding against? Like the thing with Dak, you know if he hit the open market, other people would be interested. the Raiders would take him in a heartbeat. And he's proven, like, every single year you can win 12 games. It still feels like, is he even that good? But he clearly, you could win with him.

You have a good offensive coordinator. He's a good guy, like the character stuff. But his physical flaws, one, he's a relic. He's a true pocket quarterback, bad athlete relative. And I heard you, what was your analogy about the furniture with your quarterback? I like my quarterbacks, like my furniture, big and hard to move. Okay, so the old school quarterbacks, anyone that's ever met one of these guys, Carson Palmer, Eli, or Peyton. Did you see the pictures of Peyton at Team USA practice standing next to all these guys that are 6-7 and 6-10?

He does not look that much smaller than any of them. I know. The mannings are huge. Carson Palmer is a giant. Philip Rivers is huge. Well, that's how to a place. The problem is he's six feet tall. Yeah.

And he's got a weak arm. so he doesn't translate to the winter. Well, he plays in the division with cold weather teams. So I just, I get investing in him. And if you would have said, hey, they signed him to a three year,

a hundred million dollar deal. And they guaranteed every penny. I kind of get it. But to pay him enormous money, I think is insane. I just don't know. Like, when it comes to Jordan Love,

if you and I pulled every GM we know and said, who would you take for this next five years, Jordan Love or Tua. They'd all take Jordan. It'd be unanimous. It would be 100%. So Jordan Love technically signed for less.

That's what I just think. Listen, I don't get it. I'm short in the dolphins for the next three or four years. I'll tell you that. And here's the other issue. In 32 years since Brett Farve arrived, it's been 32 years since he stepped foot. He was a Packer. The Packers have the number one rated offense in the league.

second winning his team to New England and have never in 32 years that I recall have a bad offensive line. So if you look at the ancillary reality of Green Bay, Jordan Love will get better protection, on average, and better coaching on average. So Jordan Love got paid less and has much better support system.

So, I mean, Stephen Ross is one of the richer owners, but do you really trust him? He's always been a distracted owner. And Miami hasn't had a great offensive. 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.

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I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement

to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for Raw, filtered 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 Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on to Ernie Stewart the chip. I'm Todd Ramos. I'm Tom Bo. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, you'll get the real storylines.

I'm not worried about Polisic. I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney. My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals.

The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. lines since Don Shula. So my take is not only don't I love the two of contract, but let's just be honest over five years of it, he'll have middle of the Paco lines. And there's the possibility that they won't draft terribly well.

I mean, Green Bay is, I said this the other day, like there's certain people, if Spielberg makes a movie or is involved in something, if you go to his like movie page, it's almost always good. He doesn't, he has B projects. He doesn't have any C's. Like Green Bay, if they had a bad season, it's because a quarterback got hurt.

I mean, there are B to A minus virtually B plus to A minus every year of my life. So the other thing I don't like about Tua is Marino had Shula. I don't think Mike McDaniels. I guess the way I would say it's this. there are about four organizations and four ownership groups I just trust implicitly, and Miami's not one of them. No.

I think people often ask why have the Ravens say it's so consistent over now two and a half decades. They've had the same people there forever. So Eric DeCosta, who's now in charge, worked for Ozzie Newsom for 20 years. Well, when you look at the Packers, it's kind of similar. Maybe coaches, you know, they go from McCarthy to the floor. but Goudicans worked for Ted Thompson, who worked for Ron Wolf. I mean, the carryover of the philosophical beliefs of the organization have not changed. The non-negotiables of what you look for in players, the way you develop.

Obviously, in Green Bay, they love offensive coaches. And I think when you look at Jordan Love, I don't think they get enough credit because we just, the way our society works, we're always on in the next, for when they pulled the trigger on drafting them. I mean, it was pretty ugly. they got destroyed. You know, Charlie Munger says, if you can't handle, you know, the 50% downturns, you deserve the mediocre returns.

Well, they, that was ugly. I mean, it created this weird dynamic with Rogers. It was crazy. Even though Rogers remember was coming off that kind of weird season their first year, but when they did it, well, three, four years later, it's paying off big dividends. Now, there's still risk involved, but there are still some unknown with this player. He's only had eight good games. But I don't know if you have watched any of just, I won't.

watched a little bit of his press conference, I think yesterday, and I saw a clip today with NFL networkers there. Just because he's been the backup, you haven't really hurt. He's pretty impressive. Yes. Just as a guy, and just his maturity, I was like, damn, this has a Mahomes, Josh Allen, the way he carries himself.

And obviously, like you said, first off, you have to have the physical, Alex Smith checked every box except weak arm. Yeah. If he had a great arm, he would have been Aaron Rogers or something. You know, and that's what this guy has. He has these physical characteristics.

He has the infrastructure around him. And then he has the maturity. I think you just, I don't know if he's going to be that Aaron Rogers 2.0, but how's he not going to be pretty damn good? You know, and that's, it's, listen, my life, Joe Montana was a little bit before me. I remember as a kid he was more on the Chiefs than Steve Young. And then Jeff Garcia, who was nowhere near as good as those two, but he was still damn good going to pro bowl. I think this guy has a chance to be like

their version of Jeff Garcia but the but actually closer to Rogers or Farth and that's why I think they are they feel really good. Now he got 75 million dollar signing bonus he will get 75 million dollars

I think it's three 25 million dollar direct deposits between now and like mid December. So I mean they're pushing all their chips in the middle of the table on this but I think you ask people around the league any person that watch them if you're a fan of the Packers you go yeah,

get it, I would do it. Or the opposite reaction of Tua, like, did you need to do this? That's my question. Did you need to do this? Well, the other thing is- The little NBA. You know when NBA teams just max out guys? Like, you're a 40-win team.

You have to pay this guy $200 million? You don't. Right. I also think last year when I watched Green Bay, I actually thought it was Matt LaFlewer's team. When I watched them, I thought, oh, I feel like I'm watching Matt LaFleur's play calling. and I think you have to kind of, you know, I mean the Jets or the Packers with Aaron Rogers, it's kind of Aaron's team. And that's, you know, you just deal with that.

Even Brady as great as he was, especially in New England, maybe less so in Tampa. I mean, Tom kind of let the coach call the plays. Peyton always kind of ran the offense he wanted. So I feel like that's the other thing with Jordan Love, really coachable, really easy. The other thing I wanted to kind of jump into is I don't know. why I'm so interested in this, but I am. This is my, this is kind of my thing. I talk to Dave Wanshton about this. So this is not an opinion by me. This is the truth. When, when Russell Wilson gets married, he doesn't have 10 players at the wedding with Ciara. He's never been

wildly popular inside of his locker rooms. And he's been good. It's like generally good looking, rich guy, beautiful wife. You'd be just by, you know, just the way the world works, you'd be kind of popular. He's not really. We've seen players in Denver. We've seen players in Seattle coaches take shots at Russell. I like him, but he comes off to a lot of people as inauthentic. So, and I don't think he's changed. In fact, he's befriended, I've been told, Mike Tomlin more than any teammate. Like he's, because Tomlin, by the way, is like Russell, wealthy, you know, worth 75 to 100 million dollars or more. So he's befriended, you know, Tomlin, not a teammate. And then here comes Justin Fields, who to the last day in Chicago, despite being the worst fourth quarterback in like a decade, players loved him.

He's young. He's a nice guy. He's supportive. He's secure in himself. He just doesn't, he's got a Zach Wilson thing. He struggles post-snapped or read a defense. He just struggles with it. He doesn't identify certain things. Zach and Justin, I see everything except that. But now Russell's banged up. and Justin's guarantee is a great practice player. And here's my thing. You look at that Pittsburgh schedule. There are a lot of two-game losing streaks in it. I mean, if they don't get that old line right, there's a lot of two-game losing streaks. And you tell me, having worked for the Eagles, Russell has a two-game losing streak.

And like right now, Justin's crushing it at practice. It's a young roster. Players like Justin. Like, I think that's a fascinating potential mess. Do you think they replace Russ, or do you think he's been guaranteed a starting spot this year? I think it's already getting weird. I mean, he's already injured. It's late July, pulled calf.

He feels like a weathered guy that's 34, 35 years old. And partly is the way he's looked the last couple of years. I've said forever if I was a Steeler fan, I would want no part of Russell Wilson starting. Because we hire Arthur Smith, who we've seen resurrect Wright. and Tanny Hill's career. Now, I would say Tanny Hill, then a little more accurate. This guy's a better athlete. Can you get anything out of this player?

The other thing in Pittsburgh, what's that territory? Like right by Ohio State, a lot of those fans watched Justin Fields succeed. Remember the game he had against Clems in the playoff game? I think he threw six touchdowns. Yeah. There's stuff there. I would just want to see that guy. When I think the Steelers, going back even before I was born to throughout my youth to this team now,

they just have guys guys like when you think football players in the like t j wott feels like cam hayward's the man of the year yeah because fitzpatrick's like one of sabin's favorite players and it doesn't feel like those guys are going to be into this at all i know i mean at all and the other thing is let's face it russell's more of a dink and dunk guy now and they have explosive players on that roster i my guess is i think we now who knows we'll see if he can by the time within a week and pads are on if he's back at the start of the start of the It would not shock me if Justin Fields is a starter very early on. I wouldn't even put week one out of the realm possibility.

They're not invested into this player. I mean, they're in for a million dollars. It means you can't get a player of his status any cheaper. You know, it's amazing. So John Snyder was number three. It was Pete, Russell, and John Snyder. Snyder almost left because Pete was taking over too much of the personnel. To the Lions.

Didn't he almost leave the Lions? Yeah, he basically almost agreed to terms. Pete got fired, Russell got traded, and now John Snyder overwhelmingly runs the Seattle organization. So I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. I think he's a very good drafter. And as much as I like and admire Pete Carroll, I thought he underachieved with his talent the last couple of years. I am a team that's completely under the radar is Seattle. So Gino's not the future, but more than capable.

to win 10 games in the NFC. I think of all the teams in the NFL, and I try not to be a homer on this stuff, but from there, and I'm, so they hire McDonald, the young defensive coordinator from Baltimore, and people are like,

he's Domingo Ryan's 2.0, super smart, comes from a great organization. Schneider's a funny guy. I won't go into too many personal things I know, but he enjoys his life. He's tremendous at what he does. I think Snyder's great at what he does.

He's a top. 5 GM in the NFL 81 and the league would tell you that. Yeah, he's an excellent drafter. And I think he got frustrated the last two years of Pete. I mean, he hit on a couple of really nice offensive players and they're just, it's just not working. So I actually think, and again, I like Pete, I think this young coach is going to, I think they have a chance. Now, they don't have the right quarterback to be a little bit like Houston where they're forgotten. So McVe and Stafford, I mean, that's just they get a lot of attention. The Niners get attention. Kyler gets attention. The Lions do the Packers do.

I have this weird feeling that Seattle is going to shock people. And they're not a Super Bowl team because I think there's limitations at quarterback. But, you know, much like Brady left Belichick went to Tampa and you're like, shit, Tom really overcame Bill a lot in the last few years in New England. It's not great for Pete if this new guy comes in and they crush. But I went and looked at their two deeps. morning. John, they got a ton of talent. They have a, they don't have a great edge rusher outside of that. They're receiving core. They're running backs. Their corners. Jesus. Their tackles, they are, they are talented. Well, let's not forget. They made the playoffs two years ago, and last year they were in the

mix, basically the last two weeks, right? And you could argue they're receiving core. The top three guys are best in the league. You know, one, you know, the three, the group of the three. I have a hard time. I think there are two major question marks for me. One of the division's good. So do you like Gino Smith against the Rams and the 49ers? I mean, the Niners haven't lost to him in a long time now. And anytime you get a new coach,

I had a buddy that worked with him in the Ravens. They called him Boy Genius. I mean, he's special. D'Amico did get C.J. Stroud and his division was kind of down last year. Anthony Richardson gets hurt. Yes, that helped C.J. And the Jags were weird. I mean, by the end of the season, even the Cardinals, if they're one of the worst teams, they're a problem.

The other thing is, I always struggle with coaches. You saw this with Urban. It was a different scenario, but a guy that has zero NFL experience. Matt Ruhl had one year as an assistant aline coach. They were head coaches. But Ryan Grubb, who was DeBore's right-hand guy, went with him to Alabama, then John Snyder and McDonald offered him the job. He's never coached in the NFL. Now, he's clearly been an awesome offensive coordinator for a long time.

But that's a pretty big jump. And like you said, listen, Gino's an incredible story. He's a guy to root for. But I just don't like him against the Niners, and I do not like them against the Rams. But they have the talent to win nine games for sure. And if they're better on defense, because of their offensive talent, for, yeah. I mean, Kenneth Walker, that guy's a baller. Yeah, I thought they should have.

It was my take last year on the draft. should have taken a big swing and gone for a quarterback. I think what my concern is next year at Shadur Sanders, just too much about himself really worries me. The kid at Georgia is great, but he'll be gone. Seattle has a chance to get into quicksand here, where they're winning like eight games a year, drafting 13th and have to sell the farm.

You become the Raiders. You have a lot of good players, but you have no quarterback. Yep. And I think, although Gino's more than capable, You know, I get into this discussion with GMs and executives in the league. The league's gotten smarter. First of all, fans have gotten smarter because gambling's legal. So fans are more analytical now.

So football fans 10 years ago and football fans today when I talk to them, fans are much smarter the day. If the media guys like you that commit to it are much smarter today. The coaching's much smarter. Belichick and Pete Carroll looked outdated. Tomlin offensively. Shit. How many years do you get to fix the? offensive line, Mike. It's like six. Andy Reed did it in one year. McVay did it in a year and a half.

Like, it can't take this long. So I just look at Seattle and I think, oh, defensive coach. But I think the fascinating story with the Seahawks is John Schneider, this guy who was sort of suppressed under Pete, he survived. And, you know, Paul Allen died. Pete kind of filled that void, used a lot of that power, made some mistakes, which, by the way, Pete, if you asked him, I've been told, acknowledges those mistakes. But to your point earlier, Pete and Russell Wilson have fallen off the football map virtually overnight. I think it's very difficult. Like, if you're a computer programmer or you're some guy at Google or Apple making millions of dollars, but you're just in an office, it's like if you're weird, who cares? Does it?

I think it's very, very difficult to be a weird quarterback. Obviously, different people have different personalities. Yeah. But, like, you can be a weird guard or a weird safety. But as a quarterback, you're so reliant on not just the face to the fans, to the owner, to the coach, to your teammates. It's why most guys are just pretty smooth cats. Like, they can just hit. You just go, that guy could be the CEO of a bank.

He could start his own company. He could be a high school football coach. He could do whatever he wants. And with Russell, the most bizarre thing is that everywhere he's been two places, but they just have a lot of like, I would say those Seattle teams, they had aggressive guys, but they're pretty authentic, like sure, authentic guy. They just had a lot of just Doug Baldwin, high level guys. And none of them just, they like sniffed out.

Like he couldn't just be normal, like wouldn't give out his phone number. You got to call my people. It's like, bro, what are we talking about here? And at first I thought, is he putting on like a, saw it as he tried to be, but I really think maybe he didn't start as his person, he's morphed into this guy, but whatever it is, is too far gone, and

I just don't think the Pittsburgh, wouldn't you say? Pittsburgh, Ohio, the last place that that type stuff. Seattle, progressive, West Coast, whatever, he's the best, most talented quarterback they'd ever had, whatever. But I just think

I think Justin Fields, if this injury lasts at all, and Justin is just serviceable in practice, it would not shock me at all if he's the starting quarterback week one. Would it you? No, not really. What do they have to lose? Well, again, I guess it would surprise me

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on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. But I do think people are just saying it's Russell's team. I think it's, I've been told that he's really connected more with Tomlin than any teammate. But I also look at, you know, I was really close to my teachers in high school. was my football coach, my basketball coach, the women's PE coach. I was closer. I had two or three really close friends. And, you know, Russell came from, there's some Ivy League connections here.

And we all kind of beat up on Russell, myself included. But, you know, Russell just doesn't have a lot of immaturity in his DNA. You know, he just doesn't. He's like Kirk Cousins. He feels like he was 27 going on 4. 43. And Russell to me is like, he's just not one of the guys. And I feel bad for him. My son is a little bit like this. My son, he like skipped junior high. Like he was talking politics with me when he was 13. Someday I'll write a book and put an incident that happened. It is high school in

Las Vegas. He was creating security systems. Some of the it's intelligent. Some of it is just he's a unique kid. So I have a soft spot, you know, that for people that just don't hang out with their age group, their peers, and I feel, sometimes I feel bad for Russell. To me, that's, I struggle with that excuse because wouldn't you say Tom Brady pretty early on and Peyton Manning? I mean, they're maturity levels. And maybe it's just they could balance to like be one of the guys. I mean, Tom, Tom Brady was resonating with people in his locker room that were 22 when he was 44 years old. Like you either kind of have that or you don't.

Maybe that's what you're saying is he just doesn't have that capability. You have to have that capability, though, to play that position. Think about that. It's impossible to play that position if you can't resonate with anyone on the offensive side of the ball. It's hard. I mean, remember this. This is almost implausible. He got benched.

His college coach. He was a great player. said, we're going to move on. He had to transfer to Wisconsin. Jesus Christ, he was great. It's North Carolina State. It's not Georgia. North Carolina State's like, we're moving on to immobile Mike Glennon. I messed up that one up. But it's interesting. I mean, there's the, there's the sign. Like the coach is like, I'm going to go wave. Yeah. I was thinking about this today. You know, Jordan Love, do you think it was easier for him just to sit, keep his mouth shut? Obviously, he had a lot but he's coming from Utah State.

You know, Josh Allen coming from Wyoming. Patrick Mahomes coming from Texas Tech. I think sometimes, like, let's face it, Caleb is an incredible prospect, ton of hype, but like I don't think he could just sit for a year. I think it would be very difficult. I think it's very hard for some of these guys coming from these big programs, these spotlights in this modern-day society where you get some of these guys from these smaller programs who turn out to be awesome players,

it's easier for them to kind of mix in because of their, Well, they're not used to fly in first class, essentially, when it comes to the football world. I think it's much harder for young athletic quarterbacks, Josh, Lamar, Vic. I think when you're athletic and you know you're a better athlete, and that matters so much in pro sports, you're a better athlete than the starting quarterback. They're not cognitively line of scrimmage pre-snap. You're not in the same class. But I do think players are impressed with athleticism. And so I think when Russell walks into the league in that camp and they had Matt Flynn and three weeks into his Seattle tenure, Pete's like, players like that guy.

So I think it's easier to be Jared Goff to sit back and go, I'm going to wait a while. I think it shows maturity that Jordan Love, who, you know, in the end, the last couple of years he was in Green Bay, he was much more athletic than Aaron Rogers. And he didn't say a peep, which tells me he's a pretty mature kid. You could argue his story, Colin. Do you remember last year, I think, around the buy week, Goudicans went on record. It had not been going well. Yeah.

And said, like, yeah, I'd be lying. These next 11 games are kind of going to determine his future. And I was kind of out just because it was like, oh, this guy's been around a while. And then he turned into Aaron. So was I. Yeah. And within, I mean, I don't even know what's July.

Under 12 months, he made $155 million. And they deserved a lot of credit. Remember, they worked out that kind of, a weird short-term contract. Because they're like, I don't even know if he's worth the fifth-year option yet. Yeah. And it just shows you, I think they were set on the guy. But ultimately, football, more than any other sports, truly about production that leads to wins.

Listen, in the NBA, you can produce and lose and still get paid. In football, you could not produce and lose and stay on that team. I'll make an argument. Jordan Love is a bust with 80% of the teams in the league. And that Trevor- You go higher in that. Trevor Lawrence and Justin Herbert with the Packers would now be considered top four quarterbacks. Agreed.

Is that Green Bay, fans tend to think it's just a zero-sum game. It's like, you got talent, you play, you're great. Jordan Love goes to the Raiders. He's done. He's a backup in the league. Is that even in Green Bay, he just needed support, support. Then he played, and they gave him support. And Green Bay last year had, I mean, Aaron's last year in Green Bay, their O line, PFF had it at

third best. They're never bad offensively. But Jordan Love is a case study on Green Bay. This thing, he had a pot busting college. He sat for three years. He was awful as for six weeks. The organization gave him a wonky two-year deal. He is a backup in the league on virtually everybody except Green Bay, which is just a credit. I mean, Trevor Lawrence, people are doubting him now. If you put him with Andy Rita the Packers. What do you think Trevor Lawrence is today? Give me a break. Give him Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVeigh. He's not as bad. I think it's more that it hasn't been the hype. Like he didn't look like Andrew Luck or Peyton Manning and he got $200 million. It felt like a pretty aggressive investment based on the way he's looked. But I talked to Doug at the

Combine and Doug loved him. And he kind of wrote off last year. He's like, I don't think people realize how banged up he was. Obviously the turnovers, the fumbles, he's got to figure that out. I do you do you ever bet over unders on the season? Oh, no, yes. So I love future bet. So two years ago, Minnesota was at like eight and a half and I just sold the farm. I said, that is a terrible mistake by Vegas. They won 13, I think.

Last year, I said, do you realize the Rams were at six and a half in Vegas? I said, time out. They're just an older chiefs, great offensive coach, great quarterback, one great defensive lineman. outside of Cooper Cup, we don't know what they are. But pretty good protection and kind of young on the defensive side. I said, now, Mahomes is better than Stafford. I said, but they kind of line up with Kansas City a weaker version.

They're winning eight, nine games. So the team this year, listen, I don't think they're great. Denver's over under is five and a half. Left tackle, excellent. O-line was rated seventh by PFF. One of their guards is top four in the league. excellent offensive coach, two solid NFL running backs, an elite corner and safety, linebackers move well, one good defensive lineman.

They drafted an edge rusher. That's a weakness. Mims could be an excellent two. Cortland's sort of a weak one, but two dependable receivers, serviceable tight ends. If Bo Nix just runs the plays, and I do think there's a Drew Breeze thing here, they can't go seven and ten? Yeah, to me that's, that'd be a pretty easy overhammer. There are some, can they make the playoffs or whatever with a rookie quarterback?

That's different. Five and a half feels insanely low. Way low. I was looking on our friends at Draft Kings. I usually don't do over unders because for me to get the juices flowing, you know, the number's got to be like five or ten thousand dollars. And I don't want to just have it sitting there. But I saw something that I'm like, I'm all in. The chargers to make the playoffs are plus 110.

So you're not even having to pay a Vick. You're getting plus one odds on this. This is the best quarterback he's ever had. They invested in another offensive linemen. They're going to be able to run the ball. We know wherever he's gone, they've been good on defense. Yeah. And let's face it, you get to 10 wins with that quarterback.

You're probably the seventh seed. I like them a lot more than the dolphins this year. I think that was my favorite, just long. long-term. I think the charges are in the playoffs. I mean, Jim Harbaugh has a long history. The other thing is, I've watched a lot of just charger content. Jim, and I was around him for a couple years when I kind of got into radio, when he was with the Niners, and I think early on Stanford, he had this huge chip on his shoulder. He was just hard to be around, I think. Yeah. I don't know if it's the championship for the last couple years of Michigan. He feels a lot lighter. I know you know the

Spanos says he feels a lot easier to be around. And there's a lot. looseness, like a, I don't know if it was insecurity, but he just tried to beat his bull in the China shot nonstop. And it feels looser, but he clearly is better at his craft now than he's ever been in his entire life. He's been good at it since he started coaching. How are they not really good? I actually think if you just go, well, I can see the chiefs kind of just cruise control. I don't know, they just won the last two Super Bowls. Is it out of the wrong possibility? They win the division? Well, first of all, it's San Francisco. That was a great team. But they weren't. It was Crabtree and a lot of guys at receiver.

At Michigan, it was Colin Wilson and just a bunch of guys. His great teams have always been okay on the sideline. He's never needed it. And so when people say, well, they're not great at receiver, that has never been an issue. Stanford, did he ever have one great receiver at Stanford? I don't think he did. Baldwin, who was like a seventh round pick? Yeah.

So Niners. I remember crab tree, and that was about it. They missed on a couple receivers. Michigan last year didn't throw the ball in the second half on the road against Penn State. And so I kind of look at it and I think in the NFL also, and I love it. This is the opposite of the WNBA, which couldn't figure two years in advance. We should probably give Caitlin Clark an easy opening schedule, let her go like six and five. Did you, the schedule, they basically gave the chargers.

just if Herbert's upright, they're four and one. They gave their weakest games early. First of all, they want Harbaugh to win early. It's good for the league. They want Aaron Rogers and Mahomes to win early. But that charger schedule, and remember, Herbert and his entire high school college pro career has been hurt once last year. Sixty quarterbacks played in the league last year.

You start looking at that schedule, it's reasonable to say in the league now. If you have a Josh Allen that doesn't get hurt or a Herbert who historically doesn't get hurt. You're going to face backups. By Thanksgiving on, you're going to face backups. I think the Chargers are, that Joe Alt pick was so Jim Harbaugh. I mean, by the way, Notre Dame and Northwestern, super smart physical tackles. Herbert, tough physical kid. He went and got two running backs, I think one from the Ravens. You can see what he's doing. Like, he's just laying out the blueprint of what he's done his entire career. Well, have you watched the Giants Hard Knocks?

Oh, yeah. So when you watch, the GM seems like a nice guy, day ball, just your classic football guy, they're just kind of freelancing. They're like, what do you want this year? I think we need some O-Lyman, let's say, Kwan, maybe we'll bring them back, maybe we want. Where Jim, everyone that falls football goes, it's laughable that anyone thinks he's taking a wide receiver at five. He's taking the star tackle who clearly wasn't going to get drafted in the top four. He's going to be sitting there for him. And that's exactly what happened.

And then he took a slot receiver in the second round, right? I mean, these are the type players he likes. Well, the Giants are just kind of freelancing. Yes. And in football, philosophically, the way you – it doesn't change year to year. You make tweaks. You hear McVeigh and Kyle and Andy. You tweak it.

But their football philosophical beliefs have been set in stone. I mean, Jim Harbaugh has probably thought about this since he was talking about coaching with his dad when he was in college playing for Michigan and both. Yeah, yeah. Right? I mean, it's the way Andy's thought about football since he was set in. playing at BYU, it hasn't changed that much. And you watch the Giants and you go, when I was with the Eagles, and I, listen, I was a West, spent my whole life on the West Coast.

I was more of an NFC West guy. You go to the NFC East. I'll never forget being on the sideline, those Giants team came out. Huge on the defensive line was massive. I mean, every guy was 6-5 plus, and the offensive line were all big tough guys. And it was like Eli and a bunch of tough guys and old Tom Coughlin. And now you watch him, you go, the Chargers, who have a clear idea. identity, and Harbaugh's only going to keep doubling down the next couple years, and it's

going to look exactly like a Jim Harbaugh team. With the Giants, you just have no clue. Let's just take a sweet wide receiver who is really talented, but that makes no sense on your team right now with the average arm quarterback, right? And you just see, and I remember telling you this when I went to the Combine, because sometimes when you just fall in the league on TV or when you're around the teams and you see it, you're like, 70% of this league has no shot. I mean, none.

None. McVeigh and Kyle and Andy and the Ravens. the advantage they have, it just grows by the offseason. You know, the Giants, you know, back in the day when you were living out there and I was in Philly, they were a well-run Jerry Reese, Tom Coughlin, they had a true identity. Like, there was a reason they had an identity, a true identity. And now they got none. And this notion that like John Mara only wanted to keep him as a popular player, no, he was their best player.

And where did he go? Did you go to some shitty team? No, he went to the best run team in your division. I understand exactly. Are we sure? And then you go, well, how much did he cost? Well, Howie paid him $26 million guaranteed. It's not like he costs $50 million. These running backs now, it's like anything in society. They used to cost a lot. And now they're cheap. Now they're a bar. I can get Sequin Barclay for $26 million. I don't love them at $45 million guaranteed. But I'd get them well under $30. Easy deal if I'm Howie. You know how that's going to play out. Awful. Everyone's fire. Well, yeah, I mean, he's going to have two things. Because they have excellent receivers, Devante Smith and AJ Brown, you can't put your safety in the box against the Eagles.

And a good tied end. So against the Giants, battle line, safety jam the box. Sequin's going to have, there's a chance he could lead the NFL in rushing. And they're going to play the Giants and they're going to cook up special plays. You just see how this is ending with the Giants. And it's so funny. I said for years, I thought the New York Giants were the accounting firm of the NFL. Boring, but strategic and efficient.

You trust them with your money. I don't think they're well run. Watching hard knocks, they just feel like they're making stuff up. I like Daible, but there is a component to that show that I'm like, if I'm a Giants fan, I wouldn't feel great. Well, the one thing in my experience about Howie and still know them to this day is like, he has the answers. Like, his capital is his information. Like, he has to know everything because you can't make decisions with investing in players

and making trades if you don't have all the information. And you saw it during the offseason, it's like, yeah, we think he's going to go to Chicago. No, he's going to go to the Philly. I mean, it doesn't get any, especially when the owner does not want to lose him because he's their best player, most marketable player, and he's just a high level good guy. And then he goes to the team that's one year division, two out of three years, went to the Super Bowl two years ago, even with a disastrous ending to the season, was still in the playoffs where you die to be.

It's really crazy that the Maras, clearly they're a high-level family. It shows you when you hire the wrong people in football college or the pros, GM or head coach, you got no shot. And it just derails you. And since they fired Tom Coughlin, which it was time, they have just consistently hired the wrong people, coaches, Gettleman. And it's made them. just feel like not that relevant in the NFL, which is pretty crazy.

John Middlekoff, former NFL Scout, three and out podcast, Go Low Golf. We are back, mostly. Mostly, we may miss one more. A lot of Olympics to watch, Colin. I was watching Simone Biles. She was battling through a calf injury. By the way, how long do we have to keep pretending that Embed's a winning player? Jesus, give me a freaking break.

Yokic, when he was on the floor, Serbia played the USA 81-81. When he was off the floor, the USA outscored Serbia 28 to 3. And I mean, in my lifetime, there have been three basketball players. Magic

LeBron and Yokic that make every teammate better. Michael Jordan didn't make every teammate better. I mean, there were times that he's, Durant doesn't. There's a lot of great players. They don't make everybody better. Yokic take Yokic off that team.

team, what are they? Embed was so bad in stretches in that game that, and it's so he now can't elevate his team to a win in the second round of the Eastern Conference. He's a bad fit on the Olympians. He can't really be a complimentary player. He clogs up the offense. I never want to hear. Remember, they gave Embed the MVP over Yokic. It was sort of an anti-yokic vote. I'm watching him today, and I'm like, only Magic and LeBron. do what Yokich does. Yeah, I had three takeaways. One, I think four of the best

top 15 players in the history of the sport were on the court. Obviously, LeBron's like the second best player. Curry and Duran are top 15 players. Is Yokic that much different than those two guys? No. I think he's one of the most remarkable athletes I've ever seen in any sport. I mean, he was, I think he's underrated. I mean, I saw why?

I think he's underrated. Second, I'm out on the Sixers. Like, you got no shot. Darrell Maury, listen, smart guy said, we're coming after the Celtics, you got no shot. And three, Anthony Davis takes a lot of shit. And rightfully so, he's been banged up. And it feels sometimes like he's always hurt. He's in a different universe as Embed.

I mean, you look at him in the playoffs, how good he's been the last couple of years. Like, this conversation with Embed, let's just, what are we even talking about? Like, he's closer to the Paul Georges and the guys in the teens and the 20s than he is to the big dogs. Like him and Yokic, it's like Mahomes and Tua or something. I mean, when you really break it down. Nobody cares about scoring 70 points against the Kings in January. It's like James Harden. Nobody cares.

Yeah, no, Anthony Davis, if you turn the sound down and you just watched what you're seeing. It was awesome. He is just, he doesn't look like, here's a fourth take. When you put Jason Tatum around alphas, he is invisible. So we always said this for years. Jalen Brown was the alpha. Tatum was more talented. But this year in the playoffs,

Brown wants the ball. When you put Tatum around other Alpha as an Olympic team, he didn't get on the court. I mean, so Steve Kerr didn't put him on the court. Like, Tatum is so passive and so collaborative. And I remember somebody said this years ago is most of the great athletes like the Michael Jordan, you'd never want him as your boss.

You'd never want to work with him. You'd just be miserable. You'd want to work with Tatum. You wouldn't want to work with Kobe Bryant or Michael or Bird. They're too feisty. Brady or a Manning. You're just really super intense. Tatum's a really talented player and a really nice guy.

But there were games all through the playoffs. And I've noticed this watching the 5-0 exhibition run. He didn't play against Serbia. I don't know when he's on the floor. I can't tell when Jason Tatum's on the floor. He's just not aggressive. And when you put a guy that's kind of passive around, other super aggressive guys.

It can be in a car and a, in a kegger on a basketball floor. Dude shrinks. Isn't it crazy that the other two dudes on the Celtics are playing like major roles? And the $300 million players on the bench and no one even thinks it's that weird? It's pretty wild to watch because obviously, I mean, it's it's LeBron, Steph, and Kevin Durant's team. And even Anthony Edwards. I mean, the moment he gets on the court, he's just. just, he sucks all the oxygen up.

It's, it was pretty fun to watch this morning. Because for a minute, you're like, is Yokic really going to play one on five with four other guys? It wouldn't even make the JV team of this team USA? And then obviously they just ran out of gas. But he, I thought if you watch that and you love basketball, you're like, this is one of the greatest players I've ever seen in my entire life. Yeah. Yeah. The NBA is always style and aesthetics have always mattered in the league.

I mean, Westbrook can't shoot has bad hands, but he can be, you know, optics are, God, he is so hyper-athletic. I've had people tell me I hate watching Yokic, and I'm like, he's kind of a much bigger Larry Bird. Like he just shoots Pat. I mean, just like, take Larry Bird at 38 pounds and four inches. That's what he is. My takeaway, would you be shocked if that team medals?

Like, beside USA, he can go toe to toe with any other team. I think they will metal. They should get like the bronze. It's crazy. All right, John, good as always, buddy. We'll talk soon. See you, Colin. All right. The volume.

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