The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Russell Wilson A Great Fit For Steelers, Mac Jones Traded, Baker Gets Paid, Broncos Blowing It Up

Episode Date: March 11, 2024

Colin’s joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” to talk all things NFL! They react to the news of Mac Jones being traded by New England (6:30) and finding out how rocky the relationship between Tom Brady and Bill Belichick became in the latest episode of the “Dynasty” documentary (13:30). They give props to Baker Mayfield for betting on himself and getting his big second contract (19:00) and why the weakness of the NFC South could allow him to flourish in Tampa (23:00). They dive into the mess into Denver where Sean Payton is beginning the long overdue rebuild (27:30) and why the only winner from the Russ trade was actually Seahawks GM John Schneider (31:30).  They point to all the reasons why Russell Wilson would be a great fit for the Steelers (35:00) and why he should choose them over the Giants (39:00). They predict a major step back for the Philadelphia Eagles after losing some key veterans (47:00) and predict how Caleb Williams (56:00) and Jayden Daniels (01:05:00) will do in their rookie seasons. (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Volume #Herd See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The volume. The thrill and excitement of Marchmania is here. It's one of the best three, four-week periods in sports in America every single year. And Draft King's Sportsbook, one of America's best, top-rated sportsbook apps,

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John Milikoff and I chop it up for about an hour. Mostly things NFL, I will say, is I was in Chicago over the weekend. My favorite really, really downtown area in North America. There's other cities I like, but I was dancing at midnight with my wife last night. So, you know, if I'm a little uneven today, we tied one on last night. It was good. I slept on the plane and got, by the way, American Airlines, I'll say it again. flew it again, John. I'm going to have, I'm going to have an airline affair. I was a Delta guy forever.

Third flight, American. What do you fly, by the way? Well, the west coast, I usually go southwest. Yeah. But it go across country, usually American or United. But, you know, from Scottsdale to Sacramento to the Bay Area to Southern California, the Southwest is just a couple hundred bucks in and out. Yep. Hop on the plane, go. Yeah. You're not there long. I never check a bag. Yeah. I also tied one on, but it started in the day. I went to the Dodger game. Colin, I heard you mention this the other day. Yeah.

You go to a Dodger game. Otani didn't even play. I mean, they are an all-star team. Yeah. There had to be 20,000 people there. You're waiting 25 minutes for a margarita. The vibes at spring training for these teams, especially the Dodgers, it's a remarkable experience.

It was fun. Now, the guys, you know, Mookie, bets, and those guys come out after five or six innings. But talk about a guy. I mean, they got Otani who pitches and hits. Mookie Betts play second, shortstop, and all the outfield positions. And then there's Freddie Freeman, and I looked at their line. They're good. Yeah, I looked at their lineup.

I think yesterday, their spring lineup, and I listened to the Dodgers here in Southern California radio. And I had a guest on recently. We talked about that. I don't know if it helps baseball. But just in terms of lineup, it's got a 1975 Cincinnati Reds when it was Rose, Morgan, Foster, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez. I was like, there's just all-stars everywhere.

Now, it all comes down, as you know in baseball. It all comes down to the healthier staff. If staff can't get out, it doesn't matter how many guys. Position players are great. But, no, I had a guy in my staff, Greg Tuey, big baseball fan. His kids play baseball. He said he went to a Padres game. Padres have an all-star team.

They got big names, walked right in. Dodgers, the minute he came in to sitting down was like a 45-minute experience. It was an absolute zoo. It felt like now they share with the White Sox. and you can go with spring training and watch people practice. I mean, they got 18 fields out there. It felt like 50,000 people in the parking lot, like an SEC football game or something. It was quite deep.

I went to a Dodger game last year, and it felt, I would say 2, 3X, the buzz, you know, just the vibes. Otani didn't even play. And you never know in spring when a guy's going to play or not. So you just kind of show up hoping. A lot of Otani jerseys. I mean, you talk about that guy moves the needle. Listen, football, you see all the money. Money flowing in this sport.

Every team has it. In baseball, obviously, there's the haves and the have-nots. I grew up with a big Giants guy. I'm supposed to hate these guys. They're a well-run operation right now, the Dodgers. Well, the thing about this, too, they average seven. The Dodgers averaged 7,000 more people per game than any other team. And they're not charging Cincinnati red prices for beer.

I go to a Dodger game every year. It is, and again, it is the best. $18 for a margarita yesterday. What am I going to do? Not pay? I want a cocktail. They are. They're just a bank.

And then they push all this money down the road. So, yeah, I mean, they've kind of done the ultimate. It's like money ball, but with real money. Like money ball, they've kind of figured out how to work the system. So let's start with this. So Mac Jones only goes for a six-round pick. So first of all, it's 75% of first-round quarterbacks don't make it. Very rarely, Sam Darnold got a second team to start for, Justin Fields-May.

you know, Mack Jones isn't. I thought it was a little low. If Trey Lance goes for a four, and I'm not sure he can play at all, I kept thinking to myself, so Mac Jones was a high school, All-American quarterback, college all-American quarterback,

and rookie of the year is first year. How much of it is the dude can't play and how much of it is, this was a bad spot with a coach that appeared to be tone deaf to offense and a little bit of a grudge holder? Do you think he can play at all?

Well, I was never a fan, and that goes back to when the four, in terms of drafting them really high. Because when you draft a guy in the top 15, you got to pay him a decent amount of money. There are a lot of variables of this. And first off, I like this deal for the Jags. Six-round pick for a backup quarterback. It makes $2.5 million.

He got traded for less than Trey Lance, though. And he's accomplished way more than Trey Lance as a full-time starter in the league because his contract. Right. They're not going to pick up his fifth-year option, which is going to be well over $20 million. So you're basically just trading for one year of his services. And then you never know. Maybe Trevor Lawrence gets hurt and he's good and you get, you know, strike oil. I was thinking about this today, though, Colin.

And this is why I'm a big believer. When you draft guys really high, there is no such thing as a high floor. It doesn't exist. Right? You like, this guy, he's going to be Kirk Cousins. Or maybe he's just not going to be that good, right? It's why I had no problem taking big swings on Zach Wilson and Trey Lance because the likelihood of the guy, you're trying to hit a home run no matter what.

At best, Mac Jones was always going to be a. stand-up double, maybe rounding second looking at third, but he was never even going to be a triple. His best-case scenario is going to be a fringe top-10 quarterback, and that's if everything went perfectly. And I don't know. I just, I think it's very telling that Gerard Mayo is a former player, spent a lot of time around Tom Brady, has been there this whole Mac Jones experience. It's clearly like, I don't want this guy around. Let's face it. Part of Mac Jones was, okay, he's going to be like cousins or Jared Gough. What do those guys have in space? Character, this guy was kind of viewed pretty immature, right?

That, to me, was a huge red flag that I didn't quite see coming, but that came to Roos really quick with some of his, like, come on, Mac, let's get it together, buddy. Well, I mean, listen, Jay Cutler was really gifted, and he wore people out. I mean, Jay is the best bear quarterback in a long time. And Jay won games, but at the end, people just didn't like Jay Cutler. They were just, I mean, Aaron Rogers, Green Bay said, yeah, hit the road.

I mean, that's essentially what Green Bay did at the end. So if you don't have Jay Cutler or Aaron Rogers' gifts, and you are just, I mean, you can go back and look at his first year. Listen, he is a kid that played sort of in a pro offense down in Alabama with really good people where, so you can argue. Bama had better players than offensively, at least skill position players than New England. I don't even think that's not even arguing. Well, he played with four wide receivers that got drafted the top 15. So, and I think what happens is, but his personality, people put up with a lot of shit if you're gifted. It could be our business.

It could be the NFL. If you're not gifted, you got to be. That's why most of these quarterbacks are good guys because this league just doesn't, this is not the NBA. There's no nine-year contracts like baseball. And in the NBA, where marginal guys have no cut deals, you just, you're, see ya, hit the road if you're not a stand-up guy. And I think Mack came with a reputation that he was a bit of a brand. I was told by somebody I trust. I was told this last year.

And this is somebody that is a great source. He said, you couldn't coach him hard. You just couldn't coach him hard. Brady got annoyed with it after about 15, 20 years of it, but you could coach him hard. Like, Mac, you couldn't. He pouted petty. And there was just, you know, he just, that's what I heard. And when I heard that, I'm like, well, that's the wrong.

culture. That's all they do in New England. But he came from that in Alabama. It's not like Nick Saban was holding his hand, right? So I think Bill always felt comfortable drafting an urban guy, drafting a Saban guy, because those coaches were in their players, you know, in their face, 24-7, 365. And it turns out, listen, we can make excuses for Mack a couple years ago with the Patricia Joe Judge embarrassment. And it was. But last year, he had Bill O'Brien, and he constantly was throwing the ball to the other team. And confidence is a powerful thing for any young person. He clearly lost it. But like you said, Jay Cutler and Aaron Rogers throw a better ball with their left hand. He doesn't have a, he doesn't have a very good on. I'd say historically, a guy with his physical attributes,

average athlete at best, very average arm, forever, just because you played at a big time program, a lot of people, those type quarterbacks typically didn't get drafted that high. I think he's a third or fourth round quarterback in the history of the draft. But these last, what do you think, five, six, the quarterback inflation. And let's face it, Bill was really desperate. He had no backup plan. Hell, even when Tom left, he had to sign Cam in the summer. So Mac, did he truly want Mac or did he just need a quarterback in three years later? The other thing, and we talk about this a lot, the clock in football now is rapid. This is not, I'm giving you four or five years. See you later, buddy. Thanksgiving second year, I've been told. By Thanksgiving by the second

ear. So you've got about, if you started your first year, you got about 26 starts, you're around there. People are making decisions upstairs. They're raising their hand. That's why the Daniel Jones thing is a mystery, because I think one person raised their hand. It was the owner. I don't think anybody else in the room wanted it. Well, it's why the, you know, the Steelers get talked about right now. Should they be, obviously, they're meeting with Russell Wilson, who maybe they're a sleeper to sniff around on Kirk Cousins. It's insane. Like, they already kind of know what Kenny Pickett has in the bag. And it's not great. And Mac Jones is worse than that because Kenny Pickett at least can move. Yes. Right. Brock Purdy can move. Like you got to be able. And that's why I was like Adam,

Kyle Shanahan, you cannot draft this guy. I. Because his, the route, the margin for error with him, like the margin for error with the physically gifted guys, even Jalen Hurts. Like he can play bad and still his numbers look pretty good because physically he's pretty gifted. He can throw the ball. He throws a beautiful deep ball. Can run the herberts. Like, Mac Jones never. sniff those guys physical attributes. Yeah, he, you know, people have rolled their eyes, you know, at the Tom Brady footage, Dad Bod, but at least Brady was in, looked like he was in shape. There are pictures of Mack Jones.

He just looks pudgy and doughy and soft. It's bad. By the way, we'll touch on this. Easy pivot here to Deflate Gate. So I'm through eight episodes. So, you know, it's obviously leans more craft family than it does, Belichick, who, you know, Listen, Bill ticked off a lot of people over the years. There's no question about that, and there's a price to pay for it.

But the one thing I came out after watching episode eight, if Mahomes had a defensive coach who almost felt like he had a grudge, once Garoppolo, once Kraft stepped in, remember Tom went to Kraft and said, get Jimmy G out of here, it almost felt like the relationship changed. Bill was pissed at Tom, resented it. You know, you can see Bill, like the old parcels, I'm cooking the dinner, I want to have the groceries. And mostly Bill did, but that was the one time Kraft stepped in and said, no, get him out. Even though Brady won the Super Bowl in Atlanta, it was almost a hostility toward Brady.

And I was, you know, I was thinking Mahomes is more gifted. But if you gave Mahomes a defensive coach that didn't know anything, didn't know the language, especially early in his career, I don't know. I think my takeaway after episode eight is Tom's resilience is remarkable. He got the verbal shit kicked out of him for 20 years. And at the end, because of the Garoppolo move is my hunch, Bill was just not nice to him. Like all those rings and all that money and that legacy, and you're not getting that with 99% of the quarterbacks, is that I thought to myself, Christ, if I had a lot of,

boss like that? I wouldn't last 20 years. I just could. It's bad. I mean, if you're natural, and I've defended Bill through the last couple months of him not getting a job, which I still think is insanity. But if you're a natural cremogen, angrier, negative guy, as you get older, you usually don't get happier. So I also think, listen, society and the world we live in when it comes to sports, because of the money, the power of the superstar has. Football is never going to quite be the NBA. but Jalen Hertz talks to Howie Roseman. Patrick Mahomes texts with Veach and Andy all the time. And I'm not talking during the same.

I'm talking in the off season. You know, one of the big parts of Ty Dunn's article was like, God, Sean, you need to work a little more with Josh Allen. Yes. Right? This is, you want to. Why wouldn't you want some of their opinions and be on the same page as them? You go as they go. So I think that's at the forefront of kind of the world we're in right now with quarterbacks in their front office.

You want to be tied at the hip. and be, I would say just your relationship is much more unique than all the other players who still have the old school, a little bit of a widget. Like if you're not playing, we'll get rid of you. We can replace you, you know, beside what, 50 players in the NFL, the Aaron Donalds, the Trent Williams, but they're few and far between. Most guys, I've been in these meetings. You're constantly talking.

Can we upgrade here? Is this guy worth the money? Can we draft a guy in the second round to get 90% of the value? And in three years, he's way cheaper. But the quarterback is not that spot. It's why you see, you know, Baker Mayfield get a lot of money because what else are they going to do? Kirk Cousin's going to get a ton of money. That position, you know, Bill, he became a star right in the 80s.

I mean, you, I don't remember it, but obviously his game plans against Bill Walsh. It was a different time. I mean, Bill Walsh was always trying to get rid of Joe Montana. Bill Parsells, you know, him and Phil Sims were just screaming at each other constantly. The quarterback was viewed as an equal. Even with Montana, it's like, well, next man up, his back goes, Steve, you're in. And it's just, and that was kind of the world he grew up on where I think Andy was right at that time in the 90s, the power of Fav, I think just looks at it a lot differently. Yes.

And that's why you think, and you've been saying this for the transition of this timing for him. It's just, it's the ultimate, it's perfect, right? He's made for this era of football. That's why he's kicking everybody's ass. No, he really is. The, you know, and the dynasty is, the other thing my takeaway is that, um, that, Holy shit. The most

unforgotten play in the history of Super Bowls. People just forget about this because of the Malcolm Butler Interception.

People forget that Seattle was dead. Russell Wilson throws it up the right side line. The announcer's

out of the guy's leg, didn't it? It's like the crazy, it's like, I mean, it really is,

it's almost the equal to Edelman's catch. But Edelman's catch is, as it should be, noteworthy winning team.

Because of Malcolm Butler's play moments later, if New England would have lost that Super Bowl, they had it done. Seattle was at midfield. It was over. It was well defended. So one of the things I like about sports documentaries is, you forget a lot of these stories inside the stories.

Like they talked about how Belichick wouldn't call a timeout because they were watching Russell Wilson, unorganized on the field. And Bill's sitting there watching him. He's like, I'm not bailing these guys out. I'm just going to sit here. And I had heard that story before, but I will say this to people on the Flakegate, whether you like the Patriots or not, there is, it's storytelling.

And it's fascinating to hear these players talk and that I appreciate it. All right, let's move to Baker Mayfield. It's three years, $100 million ordeal, 50 guaranteed. It feels a little bit like the Daniel Jones contract, where it's probably closer to $50 million than $100 million. Your thought on the fit, the contract. again, I don't have a problem. Again, this is not the division with Mahomes and Herbert. That's not what we're talking about here.

I think it makes sense to me. I think he's actually, you know, he's a little bit of a loose, a little bit of a, he's got a little bit of a pirate feel to him, right? Like he's one of those guys that he's got a chip on his shoulder. I think the fit works, your thoughts. When the season ended, I would have guessed like three years, 60 million and guarantee 40 or 50. So the guarantee would have been similar, but the average, you could push back and say the average per year a little overrated. It's all about the guarantee money.

And when you factor in so many teams, like you're telling me the Raiders wouldn't have given him a similar number just to kind of get there, you know, an operation like that. Get a guy. Yes. We were talking about this before you hopped on. I think the division plays a huge part where you feel good. I was talking to Jason Light at the Combine. They feel very comfortable with. Baker. I think Baker, like you said, feels very comfortable in their operation. They have a lot of

star players who really like them. That matters, right? Like, why do the 49ers have so much trust and purdy? Obviously, he plays well. Their star core trusts them, likes being around them. They value that. Tristan Worf's, Winfield, Mike Evans. They rally around Baker Mayfield. So that's worth, you could argue, 10, 20 percent over what you'd like to pay right away. That's right. And this is really a worst case scenario. It's a two-year deal. Look who he's playing. David Teper is a fantastic stock trader. He's a god-awful NFL owner, right? That operation is in Chambles.

The Saints have Derrickard, Dennis Allen. And we'll see, like cousins, if he ends up in Atlanta, which a lot of people think, he is coming off in Achilles with an operation that hasn't really been winning in the last six. So their players don't even know how to win. That's the one thing Jason Light talked about. Baker got to come in here with a chip. We have a lot of guys who spent the three years around Tom. So we have the winning culture.

here with our star guys. These guys have been in huge games for three years. And they just rallied around Baker. I think if you watch Baker on the right day in the playoff game, awesome. I watched them a lot during the year and I'm like, I'm not really seeing it. New offensive coordinator now. I get it.

A little rich for my taste, but totally understandable. What were they going to do? Let them walk. They're drafting in the mid-20s. They don't have any other options. Yeah. And I think there is something to be said about,

Baker got, you know, a little bit of the crap beat out of him by the media in Cleveland. And I do think he's matured. I really do. I think Baker's grown up. And I think he's one of the things I've always said about Baker, he's smart. He's great on the whiteboard. He can read a real defense. Sam Darnold got a second shot, right?

In Carolina, Baker Mayfield throws a better ball more consistently than Sam Darnel. I don't think he's quite the athlete doesn't move as well, but he moves okay. For me, I think to your point, the division matters. I mean, again, I'm not paying Derek Carr if it's Herbert Harbaugh, Andy Reid, Mahomes. I'm really uncomfortable paying him a lot. In that division, I mean, the NFC has been probably the weakest division in football, 10 in the last 20 years. I mean, it's like the SEC. I don't know what it is.

Is there less revenue to fans care less? Are the owners not very good? It's just not a very good division. It's just, you know, some of it, too, John, is passion. There have been down years, but the Giants have Super Bowls. Washington has Super Bowls. The Eagles have Super Bowls. You know, I mean, all these teams, the Cowboys, the Eagles, that division cares because college football is irrelevant in the Northeast outside of America.

For sure. I do think in the South, Saturday is such a big day that it's just there's not, if you listen to sports talk radio on a Monday, they're not crushing the NFL team. They're ripping their SEC head coach and quarterback. And I do think there's a, you know, it just doesn't feel as big. And so that division to me is best quarterback wins it. And this morning, this afternoon, Baker's arguably the best quarterback. And one thing if you're Jason Light and Todd Bulls, you go, well, Baker, sneaky bright light sky, right? Oklahoma three years excelled.

A couple years into Cleveland played really well that one season and won a playoff game. So you've seen him have success in the league. And then last year had, you know, eight to ten really good games for you and played well in the playoff game. against the Eagles. And he wasn't terrible in the Lions game by any means. That was kind of an ugly game, but made some plays down the stretch. So you've now seen him in two playoff games. You clearly feel comfortable.

You got a year with them studying, how hard he prepared. You go from $6.85 million, though, to $35. You know, do you get the same level of chip on your shoulder? Some guys excel. You know, not everyone's Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods and Tom Brady. They can have a chip on their shoulder until the day they die. Some guys ebb and flow with that a little bit. So I do think there's going to be some pressure on Baker next year.

So everyone was counting them out last year. This year everyone's going to celebrate them. We'll see. I still think Tampa, I guess we'll know with Kirk Cousins in the next couple of days, but I'd still give them a very, very good shot to win that division, wouldn't you? Yeah. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

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

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clipper Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger.

So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right what 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. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to? do a little kill. Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but yeah, yeah, literally. But just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack.

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS. on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people

in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So there's a couple other things to talk about. First of all, the Broncos traded Jerry Judy, who I always, I never... Jerry Judy's one of those guys. Cortland Sutton, I think,'s a little underrated. I think Cortland's a really good player. And I also think they have a young

tight end I like. They have a back I like. They got to make some moves here. You know, they're eating money. So they trade Jerry Judy. They cut Justin Simmons. You know, six months ago, everybody was lamenting how we treat running backs, but Seattle cut two, got rid of two good safeties. Justin Simmons for Denver is a really good safety. Nobody wants to pay a safety. So, I mean, I think you see what they're doing here. They're like, listen, we've just, We have to get, we have to hit on six draft picks. The only way to make that whole Russell Wilson thing work, and it can, you get Bow Nicks at 12, you hit on four to five other draft picks, and it is amazing how you mitigate cap problems.

You know, you're... Look at the Rams last year. They had a bunch of cheap talent. That was good. That's a great point. They hit on the tackle was great. Both are defensive linemen, the edge, and the kid from Wake Forest to de-tackle was good. Outside of the Stetson Bennett pick, and I think he had some men.

Yeah. Everything else worked. Pook and everything else. Everybody was productive. So if Denver goes out and gets a quarterback who's functional, I think Bonix works in their system, whether he's great or not, I don't know, or a J.J. McCarthy, if he hits and you have, you know, four other picks that play, I think it'll hurt them for a year, but I don't think it's one of these death knells.

I think that's what's great about this sport. You start accumulating picks. It's a numbers game. you hit on six or seven, you get through stuff like this. Well, ultimately, if the Yankee sign a $300 million contract and the guy sucks by year two, there aren't ramifications because you can keep buying other guys. In football, when you sign a $160, $170 million guaranteed deal like they did with Russell Wilson, and it's a disaster.

There are massive ramifications. There's a title wave. So the trade, when you look at the collateral damage of the trade, it's not just the picks they gave up to Seattle, which Seattle hit on those guys. and the players they gave up, you have to include all these guys they cut, right, because they had to free some money, that they had to be able to breathe. So, like, listen, you know, I don't know Sean Payton, but I can't imagine he doesn't want to cut the safety,

but Jerry Judy probably would have been traded no matter what. They cut some guys because they have to get money that they need to kind of balance everything out. So to me, the Russell-Wilson contract, you saw the title. These guys getting cut and traded are part of that. The Buffalo Bill, same thing. To a lighter extent, they gave Vaughn Miller $55 million. It's a disaster. So they're cutting all these guys.

They're cutting all these guys. Well, the ramification of they can't cut Von Miller. It'd be $25 million on their salary cap. So they got to cut high. They got to cut Poir. They got to cut the center. That's part of the deal. It's why these front offices, and football's hard because of a guy gets injured.

But Vaughn Miller was 30-plus years old. I understand the Russell-Wilson deal at the time. but they're paid to get it right. And they got it wrong. And let's face it, they wanted Aaron Rogers. That was what they did. And then the moment he went back to Green Bay, they were so desperate that they got overaggressive to John Schneider when he's sitting in his hotel room in the combine, George Payton, a couple years ago.

And he gave him the farm. John Snyder tried to trade Russell Wilson. Remember in 2018, he wanted to give him to the Browns to draft Josh Allen. And Russell said no. So they made a huge swing. And they also, listen, I understand why they did it. They were all in. They didn't have to give him a contract.

He was under contract when they traded for him a couple years, but they wanted to get him up there and they thought he was going to be a star and it backfired. Think about that. Epic proportions. You know, it's interesting. I'm in the take business and I, you know, I have strong opinions. But there are times, and I always try to, I don't ever say anything I don't believe. But the Russell Wilson, Denver Seahawk, nobody won. Pete Carroll got fired.

Hackett was a disaster. Russell didn't work. Payton now is under the gun. Players are getting moved. You think to yourself, well, Schneider kind of won, didn't he? Because he got to take over Seattle. There you go.

John Snyder won. And he hit on those picks. I mean, let's face it. Pete, when Paul Allen died, there was this moment in time that Pete had too much power in the building. And like a Belichick, he had too much influence. I was told by two different people in the building over the years.

Pete started kind of taking over the draft. John Snyder threatened to go to Detroit said there's no, what's the point? They bring him back. He takes control. The drafts have been great in Seattle since. These coaches, you know, they hate to admit it, but they don't watch football on Saturdays. They're not sitting around on Saturdays watching these. Andy Reid will tell you that.

I don't have time. And so all of a sudden you want to be a man. The GMs I know. I mean, I know Tom Telesco, Brett Veach, Saturday, they're sitting watching college football. for hours. They're going to games. You can't enter late on that stuff and go, well, here's some film. You got to watch the games. Andy told me at the Combine, and he's done the job, head coach GM in Philadelphia.

He said it's not possible anymore. There's too much time. Or there's not enough time. You're spending too much time on your own team for six months to attempt to catch up. And then when you attempt to catch up, you kind of end up, most guys probably cut some corners instead of watching five games on a guy. you've got to bang them all out in two months. You're watching one or two games.

You don't get a great feel. If you have confidence in a John Schneider, in a Brett Veach, in a less need, let them do their job. They spend 365 days, even during the season. And I've been in the, you know, from Monday through Friday, the general manager will spend some time. He'll go to practice, evaluate his own team, watch free agents. He also watches draft picks. I'm talking September through December during the week, right?

like his scouts are doing. They're funneling him. So by the time the season ends, or you get to the playoffs, he's watched probably the top 150, 200 guys on their draft board. Yeah. And has a really good feel for him. And has evaluated all the reports on their character. He knows these guys pretty well, where the coaches come in kind of blind to the combine, meet the kid for the first time.

Like, how about this guy? It's like, well, this guy can't really play. I know he's a great personality, and it kind of gets convoluted that way. So these best organizations are able to kind of split. with it. Or even if the coach, if he's making $12 to $18 million, he's the highest paid guy in the organization, but he's willing to give like, hey, we shouldn't do this coach and he listens. And anytime that you're not willing to listen, let's face it, it happens a lot around the league, but Belichick wouldn't listen to anybody. Yeah. And that was a huge downfall for him.

And he's had excellent personnel guys throughout his career in the building, but he just won't listen. How about he just will not? One of his guys, Nick Cazario. Casario, yeah. New England of Houston. First draft, he aces it. He's crushed it. Okay, so let's, I thought about this. So you're Russell Wilson.

You're a star in the Pacific Northwest, but you're kind of geographically isolated. Then you're going to be the culture setter. You're going to be the man in Denver, disaster. So he has visited the New York Giants and the Steelers. So I think he's a really good fit with Steelers. He doesn't have to be the culture

center. They've got Tomlin. It's an organization that I think has historically drafted and developed pretty well. They have some really nice personnel at wide receiver, running back, tight end. You know, O-line is what it is. It's not terrible. It's not great. And you think to yourself, that's a better fit than the Giants. Could I argue this, that go look at the Super Bowls, go look at the playoffs. Defensive coaches, they're not getting there, is that the Giants, you're entering great entry point. It's like being a morning show on a radio station. You don't want to replace Howard Stern. You want to replace like a guy that is awful. And so any success feels big. So the Giants have been irrelevant for about 12 years, roughly, one double digit season 12 years.

You have an offensive coach. You have a very good left tackle. You have a star back, but you actually have some pieces. You have a pass rusher. You have a decent defense. I like the GM. Now, the coach is a lot, but he is an offensive coach, and we have seen him. I think Daniel Jones, I think that he got him to the playoffs, is a fairly remarkable achievement by any coach. Would you automatically say, if you're Russell, take the Steelers better organization? Now, they don't have the same GM they had for years, so it's a whole different ballgame in Pittsburgh now, many suggest. Giant Steelers, is it as cut and dried as we think that Pittsburgh's the better fit?

I would be begging the Steelers to hand me that one-year veteran minimum contract assigned. I wouldn't touch the Giants with a 10-foot pole if I was Russell from the sense of he has no equity in that market. You talked about a pressure cooker that if it's still ugly, he would be getting crushed. The magnifying glass on that division, right, playing the Cowboys, playing the Eagles. Now, Washington is going to be much more competitive. It's the highest-rated division in the league. So everyone's paying attention. and if it continues to be ugly,

I don't know if their team is good enough to overcome that, and it could really just end his career. Well, I have a hard time, even if he just is average now. Well, the Steelers have been competitive with below average quarterbacks. Right. So if he's just average, they could be competitive, right? To me, the Giants, I mean, Colin, they were really, really terrible last year.

They lost their quarterback to a torn ACL. It wasn't like every guy was hurt on the team. There's an argument. And Sequant's probably gone at free eight. agency, you would think. I guess you never know the owner could resign them. But I said this last week on the show. The Giants, Daniel Jones without Sequin Barclay, only Carolina's offenses worse. That is a disaster. That is the bottom of the well. Yeah. I mean, here's the thing about Pittsburgh that, you know, I go back to this. I really like their roster. But, and I tend to think that Tomlin sort of lets players. I mean, we've had Levian. I mean, I know. I there's like eight different players, including Big Ben, that were dramatic. There's always drama. It's always with their offense.

It's never with their defensive players. It's always with it. So my takeaway is Tomlin just not pay attention to offense, which Russell could say, great, all run it. Or, you know, he walks into a building where they, all their money, it's, they all spend it on defense, the number one defensive spending team in the league. How do you view the Steelers as a quarterback? You know, Kenny Pickett can't play, we think.

How do you view the Steelers as an operation for a quarterback? Well, to me, if I'm Kirk Cousins, I'd be very interested there. I think that would be a place, right? I mean, Atlanta, I'm sure, can give him more money, but that's a place where you could win. And that is, I mean, they've been, you know, kind of a disaster relative to their standard. They've still been making the play. They've just been a one and done team. So that they have a bunch of guys, I mean, they have really, really high-end players.

And T.J. Wad, Mika Fitzpatrick, they have a second pass rusher. Cam Hayward's still around. Like you said, they always have skill guys. The running back duo. Naji Harris really came on at the end of the season. Warren, the little back's really good. Yeah, Warren's good. There's a chance.

What if Russell's not really functional in this modern day NFL and the way he's playing now? These coaches want you to have more than the one read ability. And every single person, I watch five guys come on your show last week. It's like, well, he won read. All the guys around Denver, watch every play. Takes off. And you watch him. Like, where's this Russell?

And maybe he was always doing it. He was just such a spectacular. athlete and such a, you know, instinctive playmaker, you get older, you're not quite as quick twitch, you lose your confidence a little bit, and it's hard to just maintain that style of play forever. Steve Young said this 35 years ago, to sustain quarterback play, you've got to learn to play in the pocket, right? And that's how a lot of these guys play forever in their older age, where he, it feels like,

aged overnight because you can't just run around and freelance. Well, also, it's pretty telling. When Sean Payton took that job, he wanted to be able to. it to work because he knew the ramifications if Russell didn't, which is dead cap hell. So, and it felt like to me almost in camp, like it didn't work. You know, stop kissing babies. We're not doing the, I mean, Sean got real curt and real short with the media. So my takeaway was he's looking at all this film by the time camp, he's watched every snap for Russell. And my take is Sean just said, this doesn't work. I do think that lifetime. How many lifetime politicians ever change their tune?

They always act like that. And Russell's always kind of been this feels like a caricature of something that he's trying to put. And maybe that's just actually who he is. But he's been like this pretty consistently now for a decade. I don't ever expect him to just be, oh, he's one of the boys, having some beers with the old line at the burger joint. That's not, we're Tom and Peyton and a lot of guys. I mean, Josh Allen, Lamar, all these guys just really resonate with their teammates. No question.

Even a huge thing with Jalen Hertz when they Wally Pipp, Carson Wentz, it was like, guys just liked him. And there's always been this weird gap of like, Russell's a little more famous. Why, I could see him being interested in New York, the brand, all that stuff that comes along with it. And that always feels like with Russell Wilson, there's this kind of element, which when he's playing great, who cares, you deal with it. It drove Seattle a little nuts, but they were always competitive. The moment that turns, it feels like, I don't even want to deal with it. I could see some of these teams. Listen, everyone gets desperate.

You eventually pull the trigger, but I don't know. I mean, remember, once upon a time, Cam Newton was just sitting there in a summer. Are we sure Russell Wilson's a lock to be signed by the end of this week? We'll see. I've been very fascinated to watch how this thing plays out. And listen, for the first time in his life, yeah, we kind of want you. These teams aren't going to be kissing his ass. Well, think about this.

It's really, somebody had a good line. They said, on my staff, said, is he more concerned with sponsorships than a relationships. But there is never, even for bad quarterbacks, Zach Wilson may not have been popular. People didn't publicly hammer him. Jay Cutler was a bit of a pill. People didn't publicly hammer him. Aaron Rogers, you know, prickly, very well liked by players. Russell got hammered by Seahawk players. He just got hammered by Carl Mecklenburg. Pete wanted him out. It didn't work with Peyton, that's almost unheard of for a two super

bra one trophy quarterback where people taking, I've never heard any teammate bag on Tom Brady. I mean, Peyton Manning was intense. I just some of this, like I said before, if there was a documentary tomorrow on Russell Wilson, you'd

name it, there's something about Russ. Whatever it is. It just, Seattle had four different players come out and take shots at him. Well, we've seen a couple guys like guys that had high-end careers. When it ended, it was clearly they were holding on for dear life. Philip Rivers and Matt Ryan, right? And Matt was done, done. Philip was not quite the same, but he was functional. They were beloved in the, Philip Rivers, that one year in Indy,

you know Ballard, those guys loved him. And there, you either have it or you don't when it comes to interacting with people. And the quarterback position, I think a lot of these guys get it early on, like in high school, maybe even junior high, that natural everyone's kind of looking at them. And it just grows your confidence and you're very comfortable doing it. When you look at the history like Dan Marino, just go throughout the list of names, guys drafted high, not even like Hall of Famers, Carson Palmer. They just kind of get it. The crew of guys we have right now.

I mean, how natural Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar, their ability to just, the respect's even the wrong way to put it, but like, that's my guy. The kicker says that, the D-line says it, all the offensive guys say it. And Russell's really kind of an outlier, high-end player. He's no longer, but even in his prime, where it didn't feel like everyone, there's a gap there. And I don't know what was missing. I don't know the guy personally. But even the guys that know him personally always felt like it's just weird.

It's like he's not giving you his number. You got to call my people. It's like, Russell, I'm sitting right next to you in the locker room. It's so effing weird. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential.

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

I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at Tickford. TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs?

Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jek. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s.

clear 84 is big to me not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcasts. Philadelphia Eagles. Fletcher Cox, great player. There was some erosion in the last couple of years.

He retires. Jason Kelsey, not much erosion at all. But if you play center and you're the architect of the tush push, you age fast. I don't love Philadelphia this year. First of all, there's no proof, and I do like Jalen Hertz, but there's two Jalen Hertz. There's the Shane Steichen calling plays Jalen Hertz.

Then there's the rest of his career. and there's a lot of turnovers and a lot of average. They had to hire two new coordinators. Siriani, to me, feels at times over his skis. You know the organization well. You know, I said there's always, the NFL is getting more predictable because it's more quarterback coach-centric. So Houston was clearly a surprise. They hit in the coach, they hit in the quarterback.

By and large, Cincinnati would have been good at Furl plays. There were no big surprises last year. I mean, the Chargers went ass over tea kettle because of Brandon Staley, but nobody liked them anyway. And then Trevor Lawrence got hurt. That was the – Jags were playing with the quarterback at about 60 percent strength. But we have minimum four and on average six new playoff teams every season. It's gotten as high as eight. I said, I think Washington, with a cap space could be an interesting team.

If Jaden Daniels comes in or Drake May and they can play a little bit, they've got some good players. I don't love the feeling around Philadelphia. Now, they'll pivot quickly if they're struggling at Thanksgiving. They'll make a move. So I don't love. You're losing. It almost reminds me when the Patriots lost Bruske and Vrabel. And you replace them with young guys.

You're like, hey, these guys are good players. You know, you lost the soul of your team. And Patriots, even with Tommy, came back the next year, they were just a kind of a mistake-plug mess. I don't love the vibe for, and I'm very pro-Eagles on my show, but I don't love the vibe I feel now. Your thoughts? I think it's very, very difficult for any organization to replace two guys that have a combined 25 years experience in the same building. Jesus. Both of them, I would say, I mean, Kelsey for sure, Fletcher as well.

I mean, guys going to get their numbers retired be up in the, you know, on the stadium, 91 and 65 or whatever number. Kelsey, 62. Yeah. I think the pressure, you know, on the barbecue, when it's low, went up to high on Jalen Hertz in terms of not just display, but the leadership to run the organization. You had two guys. I mean, Fletcher Cox is the top 15 picks. So he was a highly touted guy, was a really good player. Kelsey late, bloomer.

But these guys have ran the organization for the last seven, eight years. So you lose that, that void. And then you're paying the quarterback 45 million. the coach in a little turmoil of like, okay, Siriani, you got pressure on you. Sometimes when you have a really good organization internally, right, the Patriots had it forever. They had Tom, but they also had McCordy, Slater,

High Tower, Edelman, like they had a court. You start removing some of those guys. Now the pressure goes, well, you lose Fletcher Cox. Okay, it's on Jalen Carter that has a ton of question marks, just as a human, let alone the player can he sustain? Jordan Davis. These are two highly touted high picks. okay, can you guys become the next Fletcher Cox?

Because he's no longer around, right? And they always draft linemen. So it's like, okay, they have a really good player to fill in for Jason Kelsey. But it's not quite the same. His void that he leaves from, you know, just verbally. And anytime there's an issue, the reporters go to those guys. They went to Fletcher Cox last year when everything was imploding. He's like screaming at the reporter, like, calm down, that's bullshit.

Kelsey always could just simmer the moment. And in Philly, you need that. It's why the Russell Wilson thing in New York, I'm like, that pressure is a lot different in Seattle. And even Denver, which is a high-level organization in terms of its coverage, it ain't New York. And Philly is the ultimate. And you just, to me, anytime you factor in a huge quarterback contract, I think the pressure on Siriani, but I don't hurt next year is just you could argue the combo right going into the season with like McCarthy and DAC, like the level of like, let's see. This is just not, not, you're not going to fire Hertz after the season because of the contract. But we've seen them move on fast from Wentz before.

So he better play really well, like a Pro Bowl level where they're going to have problems and the leadership. It's not even just the play. Like everyone's now looking at you. Like it doesn't always feel like he's super verbal on the sideline, right? And it was reported like they're kind of working on that. Well, now he just has a choice. Yeah. And I think there is something he's a bit undersized.

Tua's a bit undersized. Kyler's a bit undersized. Russell Wilson undersized. Two has been the only one that's acknowledged. Yeah, at times I have trouble seeing down the field a little bit. So I think with Hertz, my two takeaways are the undersized quarterback generally are not end up being the great pocket quarterbacks of our time. Secondly, they get banged up a little bit more because they have to create alleys and they move more. Yeah.

I swear to God, the last two years, I'm not sure if Jalen Hertz has had a three-week stretch where he's been healthy. I think he's always hurt. Well, the other thing is last year after the contract, clearly he didn't run as much. I mean, it was pretty obvious. Because early on in his It's one of his great attributes. He's not the fastest, but he's very natural with the ball in his hands.

But I don't care who you are. Whether you're built like, you know, a little truck or whether you're super skinny like Bryce Young. If you're running a lot, you're going to get hit and you're going to get hit hard. Yeah, this league is not, you know, John Lynch and Steve Atwater hitting you. These guys are still hitting you pretty hard.

And we've never had faster players on defense. So clearly the wear and tear, not enough typically to like knock him out for a month, but I wonder if he's just in a lot of pain. But how do you balance? He's probably never going to be, I mean, he's never going to be a top two or three pocket quarterback in the end of the middle. But when he's playing really well, he's this hybrid player. Well, what happens to all these guys? As they age a little bit and the money comes in, they don't, I don't even blame him. I don't want to get tackled down the field. But you have to do that to be a great player.

Like, Lamar is pretty unique. He's so fast, he can avoid, and he's really good at getting down. Most of those guys don't have his like four, three. Or Josh Allen is so big that he just, you know, like, it's big. And we'll see how long that's going to last. That's right. Right. So I think Jalen, I would just live in the moment. And we got to run them, but be smart about it. But I need him running a little bit more because the pressure on their offense now,

this with removing Kelsey, they're going to have to obviously be a lot better than they were. And Kellyn Moore had a lot of success with a younger DAC. You would assume Fangio. But like you said, this organization. they work at rapid speed. They are not like, let's just give it a couple of years, see how it goes. They will pivot and they will pivot fast. Yeah, no, they're the opposite of the Steelers.

They don't let stuff bake. They're not really interested. That's why Pittsburgh's so fascinating to me because, you know, I mean, like, I remember talking to a general manager when Kenny Pickett was coming out, and he said, listen, Pittsburgh needs to find a quarterback. He's the best one in a terrible quarterback class, and I was told he was a top to a middle of the third round guy. That's just what he is.

Well, that's what he looks like. He just, he doesn't have a ton of confidence. You know, he's the classic. He could win you a game if he had to start for two mid-season. But by and large, God, Mason Rudolph came in and at least threw the ball to the right people. It felt like he limited as he is, better arm talent, got the ball to Pickens. It's like, gee, it's not that hard. Target that guy 13 times, get it to him nine.

You're going to score some points. So, you know, it's funny. Philadelphia is the kind of organization. After a while, you know, like the Rams are very progressive. They are just always taken swings. And that's just how less need is. I know him pretty well. And McVeigh, that's Stan Cronkey. They're they take big swings. Green Bay, little more reluctant to do that stuff, let it bake. Pittsburgh, let it bake. You know, I was sitting there. flying, it was in Chicago this weekend, as I flew back, I thought, at least I know what those teams are. Like they have a, they have a, you know, Rams, aggressive, San Francisco, aggressive, Dallas, they draft and pay their own. Pittsburgh, Green Bay, they let it bake. The bears don't have an image. And so they really don't. And I was thinking about this with Caleb Williams, anybody with a functional brain, if your kid was going, it was a quarterback, a star quarterback, and was going number one, you wouldn't pick the bears. But here's my thing that I think he's going to

end up looking a lot like Kyler Murray and Josh Allen year one where you're going to have no doubt in your mind. He's an NFL franchise quarterback. He's just going to lose a lot. And that's kind of, and a lot of that was Kingsbury probably not a great head coach. Josh Allen, let's be honest, He wasn't nearly as slick as Caleb coming out of Wyoming. He was kind of a turnover prone mess who completed 55% of his throws. Give me your belief. First of all, I think the division, I think Green Bay, Minnesota, and Detroit, the coaching staffs are good.

I'm sorry, they are. I think Iber Fluse feels like a coordinator. Give me realistic numbers on Caleb Williams for a franchise, again, that doesn't even really have a brand since the 80s. I would say this. their roster, in one thing, just every single move that happened in the NFL, it's so evident that the money flowing in has allowed these teams to pay all these people so much money. I mean, the Bears make that trade for sweat, immediately pay them. Then they franchise Jalen Johnson and immediately give them a ton of money. Their talent on defense is pretty good. I mean, we saw them down the stretch defensively. They're pretty solid. They have DJ Moore. They have some solid offensive linemen after last draft. I think the question just is the organizational pressure on the coach that if you start a little slow, because anytime, he was losing games last year at USC tight games. Like, it's hard. I mean, their team's not going to be as loaded offensively

as a lot of the teams are going to play. I mean, Green Bay and Detroit are clearly better. So what happens if they start three and five is there pressure to fire Iberflus and are they already going another coach? I would say, I think he's going to be pretty solid because a lot like a young Jalen Hertz and some of these young, they'll just run around. So he's not going to be afraid to do it. He was doing it all last year. Yeah. So as long as he's willing to do that, he can make plays because his arm is so great outside

of the pocket. And that's an attribute that he brings to the table immediately is the scramble ability, not to run, but Deshawn Watson had this early in his career. And he does not have the arm that Caleb Williams has. He would, and Russell did this, made a career out of this, scramble behind the line of scrimmage to keep a play alive, and then hit a big play. I think that's what he's going to have to make a killing on early.

And luckily, he can't. And that's where a lot of players, they look good early on, Deshawn, Russell, and then as it goes on, they don't want to keep playing like that. And it's like, can you? And if he can't develop into it, then he'll be a top 10 quarterback. If he can't, and there are some questions. Some people think he's not good in the construct of an offense. You watch all the SC games last year.

It was such a mess. It's hard to even. I know physically he has the gifts. People think he's pretty solid. I know there's a lot of pushback about his team and the brand of the money. Well, it's college football now. I mean, he's been how much Caleb Williams make the last couple years? 10 million?

If I was making 10 million as a college kid, I'd need a team too. I wouldn't know what was going on. This is where I really, if you take the top four or five teams in college football over the last several years, Ohio State, Michigan, Georgia, Alabama, take those kind of teams. You can argue only one USC player beyond Caleb Williams would have started for those teams offensively, Jordan Addison. And on Ohio State, they have so many good receivers. he may not have been the number one, is that when people look at those numbers at USC,

there is a sense that they have this, this, they really have had very average. I mean, a Jerry Rice's kid is probably a fourth or a fifth round receiver, really worked hard, absolutely an NFL player, doesn't really separate, but the league now plays zone, everybody in the league plays zone. So he's a smart kid. He finds openings. He's got a little pukkaho where he's strong physically, in zone coverages. dad's a legend. He's a smart kid. He always finds crevices. That's really Pooka's big and Puka in his own league.

Because Puka is not a huge separator. The truth is Puka just finds good hands and finds space. Then breaks tackles. And breaks tackles. So does Cooper Cubs. Their Rams have big receivers. And Brennan Rice is strong. But that's where I'll defend Caleb is that he had one star player, like one high end player. He was carrying, I mean, Arizona. Arizona, arguably had won that game. Arizona had more high-end offensive players than USC. Arizona Wildcats, a basketball school. So I think it's going to work. I think he's going to look a little bit like Josh Allen,

or sometimes he's running just to run, and he'll be a combination of both. He'll be a better, Kuyter was a better thrower right out of the gate than Josh. Josh was just bigger, stronger, and insane. I think he's going to be a hybrid. He's going to be a little bit of both. I do think a lot of times when you get drafted with the first, you know, overall pick, you go to a team, even if it has an offensive piece or two, the Panthers were kind of an outlier. They had nothing.

The defense usually stinks. So you have to do, like, their defense could be pretty good, right? I mean, they got some high-end defensive players. Iber Fluse might not be a great head coach, but he's a pretty good defensive coach. So what if they're just, it might not be on his shoulders like it is a lot of times with these young, quarterbacks because their defense is getting shredded on a weekly basis. So maybe it's actually going to be a little easier in the sense that his defense in the pros is going to be way better anything he experienced in college, Oklahoma or USC. How about this too?

The Lions will probably have to give Goff a bigger deal. Jordan Love's going to get paid. So those defenses, that's not a great defensive division. No. So the best defense next year arguably will be the one Caleb Williams faces at practice. So once you pay Goff, you can't go out and spend the money. And by the way, most of the really, really good players for Detroit, Amarong, St. Brown, Penae, Sewell, Goff, Swift, you'll pay in three years. You're going to retain your offensive players.

They don't have Hutchison is the one defensive guy you'd pay. So my take is Caleb's coming into a division. He may have to win by shootout. But this is not going to be the AFC North. You know, or like when Matt, you know, honestly, when Tua came in, or, you know, I mean, you had Belichick twice a year. You've got McDermott. You know, at one point, hell, Brian Flores was in that division.

It's like, oh, Jesus, those are tough matchups. So I think Caleb's going to go in a division where most of the talent, it's an all-star team offensively, there's not seven great defensive players in that conference. And I think Sweat and Jalen Johnson are two of them. For sure. I mean, they're really good. One thing last week, I didn't watch that much LSU during the season. and I just flipped on.

I wanted to watch the wide receiver. Malik Neighbors, who's supposed to be a top 10 player and obviously with the quarterback. I came away thinking, Jaden Daniels, geez, he actually really good pocket touch, big arm, big time athlete.

I started texting around to a couple of college directors. I said, is this the number two quarterback prospect? And every single one of them hit me back, yeah, when it's all said and done, they think he's,

because it gets back to, is it going to be a great NFL player? Nobody knows. Right. But you might as well take the guy with the more physical gifts. He's got a big arm. He's really accurate this year. And he can move. No, he's, you can tell he's really skinny. He refused to weigh in. But he's tall. He's like six four. Exactly. So over the next couple years, he can get up to 205, 210. Let's say, I'm assuming maybe low 190s right now. It'll be fine. And he's really fast. But again, arm wise, very accurate, throws a very beautiful deep ball and has a powerful arm. So I came away thinking that guy. There are actually some similarities there. I wanted to hate them just because what I watched at ASU was so ugly. Sometimes you get that initial, you watch them play a couple games. Like, this guy couldn't play.

And then you watch him what he did this year with Brian Kelly in a real operation. Like, this kid looks like a star. Obviously, he won the Heisman, but from an NFL prospect, I wonder if the gap, clearly Caleb's going to go one. But I think physically, he brings a lot to the table. He's not as thick as Caleb. Right. I mean, Caleb is. But he's almost four inches taller.

much taller. Much easier for him to see. Yeah, he didn't have much to work with at Arizona State. He played with a running back. It was kind of, you know, it was Herm Edwards. So it was most of the attention and the athletes, Antonio Pierce and Herm Edwards were on the defensive side. He had a running back that was pretty good.

He didn't have a ton to work with. So O-Line wasn't very good. But I remember when he went from Arizona State to LSU, I went on the herd on FS1 and Fox Sports Radio, and I remember saying he's good. He can play. I remember his first couple games. My daughter went to Arizona State, so I was kind of like, you know, and I knew Herm,

so I was kind of like, I don't know, I don't watch this. And Jesus was he, I remember this first start in college. I'm like, you know, Arizona State games are at night because it's so hot. So you have to make a point to watch him. They don't like fall into your lap. There's no day games, right? So I would stay up and watch them and I was like, shit, man, he may weigh, he may weigh 160, but he throw, if you go back to his first year starting, he had total poise.

He absolutely looked like the best freshman quarterback in the conference. So now you give him LSU's protection and you give him an offensive coach. So, you know, sometimes you look back and you go, yeah, of course Lamar Jackson was going to be good. He was moving all over the field against Clemson. I think you're going to look at Jaden Daniels and go, he was moving up and down the field against SEC defenses. I don't know if you saw this story, but I was looking a couple hours ago that Bob Myers was in the, went to the combine and was in the interviews for the quarterbacks. did you see that? And I can imagine a lot of the warrior GM.

Yeah, the former warrior GM who helped them consulted with Rick Spielman to kind of hire Adam Peters and Dan Quinn. I think a lot of people in the NFL that are natural reaction would be like, what the fuck's this guy doing in there? And then I started thinking, well, he kind of knows what it looks like, right? What guy sound like? What makes them tick? He's been around, I don't know. I mean, one of the greatest NBA players and one of the greatest athletes of all time. And Draymond and Clay, I'd say had pretty unique careers from a success standpoint.

point. I was like, I think Washington, it's going to piss some people off because the way they're doing it's a little differently with Bob Myers and thinking outside. I think they got a lot of high level people around that building. They're my surprise pick in the league, Nick. They're my Houston. I think they're going to surprise people. I can see Jayden Daniels, good draft. They got some money, buy some players. They already have some young talents, right? They got some draft picks, trading Chase Young, trading sweat. If they have a good draft and the quarterback is just solid, doesn't even need to be C.J. Stroud, but it's just in the running for like a rookie of the year type player, why couldn't they be eight to ten wins right away? You're seeing Philadelphia losing

some of these Vrable, Bruske, heart and soul guys, Kelsey, Fletcher Cox. Dallas is going to become very top-heavy because they're going to pay DAC, Micah, C.D. Lamb. Everybody else, I mean, there's just, and, you know, Dallas is very reticent to go pay somebody outside the building. They love to draft and pay their people. That's why they never have any money for free agency. Their team, they always pay their own guys. Yep. And then I think the Giants are a mess.

I just don't think, I, again, I'll say it, Brian Dable, getting Daniel Jones into the playoffs. And we're going to look at that in about a year when Daniel's not a starter and just coach. Jesus. So, no, I think. And you know, the reality of this league is if Jaden can play, and again, a lot of starts, two different conferences, two different styles of quarterbacks, to your point, he moves. Most of these guys that move well by themselves about two years of the light going on. Russell Wilson told me this.

All these running quarterbacks, Mahomes said year three, the light went on. You're like, oh, everything slows down. Well, that's why pocket guys like Mack Jones. No, you don't get those two years. That's Jared Goff, by the way, his first year when he had a bad old line. Couldn't run to save his life. So I think Jaden, even if he's not great in the pocket, will move enough. They're going to buy some offensive line pieces.

Terry McLorren. They got some backs I like. That's my surprise team. And again, they brought the guy Adam Peters from San Francisco, who I know of but don't know. But when's the last time somebody came out of that Niners operation? The Rams and the Niners, McVan-Shannahan, they hire, guys hang around for a few years. Now, Brandon Staley didn't work as a head coach. But by and large, the hit rate on Niners and Rams, assistance, and people in the building,

and not a lot of failures. Almost all these guys hit. Well, because you can't function in the building. One, it's a little more inclusive, right? It's got some Andy Reid characteristics. Like everyone's communicating with each other. And clearly, you're around teams that are pretty high level at a lot of different positions,

so you know exactly what it looks like. Didn't you think, I mentioned this earlier, but the amount of money these teams are thrown around? I mean, the Bears just probably gave out $60, $70 million over when they signed sweat and then Jalen Johnson, and they are not some big money team with just Dallas Cowboy, you know, David Tepper level money sitting in the bank account. Everyone has so much money now in the NFL that, oh, I want to give Baker-Mayfield 50. You don't even think about it.

And historically in football, people, half the teams in the league were hesitant to give these big numbers. They didn't want to get stuck. Now no one's like, oh, it doesn't work. We'll move on next year. The money flowing with this television deal has made the league, which is good for fans. Most players, if the team wants to keep them, they stay. Yeah. Well, that's what I said.

I mean, $95 million guaranteed to Chris Jones, who's probably at the end, near the end of his peak. He's probably got one or two more peak years. But I do think when I looked at the salary cap move up because the gambling money and the TV revenue by take was, this is really going to help the good teams. So Baltimore has that defensive line in there. Pay them. Pay them. Give me $80 million. No big deal.

Chris Jones, you're like, God, how do we pay them? all the good teams. I mean, you know, it's like Aaron Donald, the Rams go back and forth. Aaron Donald was the number two interior defensive lineman according to PFF. It's like he may be kind of the Brady of defense. Like Fletcher Cox, you could see erosion.

Yeah, he was the same guy. I don't, I thought last year, I was like, if the Rams get another pass rush on the draft on the edge, so it's harder and harder because the first kid worked, Aaron Donald looks like he is still a top three defensive lineman in the league. So I think to your point, the money's just flowing now. And we've talked about this before is the NFL is so big now. It really feels like hockey in Canada.

Everything else is just a stepchild. It's English Premier League in London. Like nothing else, they have cricket, they have tennis. It just doesn't matter. And I think gambling has, I know at Fox, people don't turn off bad games anymore. You stick around. Nobody, these bad games used to have, they'd fall off the cliff. They don't.

They just stay. And also, the other thing is the big brands, Green Bay is good again. If Chicago gets good, Philadelphia is always good. The Niners are good. The Cowboys are, you know, they're winning 12 games with Dak. The Steelers underachieve, but they're okay. Right now, you got a lot of Midwest teams hitting, which is, you know, I don't know. I just look at the NFL and I'm like, I remember five, six, seven years ago.

ago when I was hearing these Northeast sports writers say, oh, the CTE to the end of football in America. And I'm like, guys, stop going to baseball games. Football is not going anywhere. Well, this next week is NFL free agency, which is big. But I actually think it's kind of the opening act for the draft. I mean, can you imagine how big the draft rating is going to be? Chicago, Washington, and Boston draft one, two, three. I mean, I bet it's going to 15 plus million people are going to be watching night, Thursday night. Right, right. Oh, I bet you. That might be low.

It might be 20, 25. Thursday night, draft night will beat nights of the NBA finals. No question. Easily. Honestly, it might, with those big brands drafting high and he stretches it out for 35 minutes, it might be 25 plus million people watching the first hour of the NFL draft. It's just going to be insane. I can't wait for it.

John Midlakov, former NFL Scout, his podcast is three and out. We do this for an hour or so. tonight we went over it, which is great. Good to see you, buddy. Like I said, keep an eye on the Dodgers. I think they're going to be pretty good. The volume. Thanks so much for listening.

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