The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Flacco another Elway QB head-scratcher; Lamar Jackson unsustainable long-term; Antonio Brown and OBJ trade talk

Episode Date: February 15, 2019

In this episode, Middlekauff looks at John Elway trading for another "meh" QB in Joje Flacco, why doesn't think the Ravens building around Lamar Jackson is unsustainable, Antonio Brown and Odell Beckham trade rumors, and answers questions in Middlekauff Mailbag.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Let's ride. Hey, what's up, everybody? John Middlecock, Three and Out podcast. Back at it again. Recording this on a Valentine's Day. I'm sure you're getting ready for it, or actually, you just had it because you're listening to this on Friday or the weekend.

Hopefully you guys had a good week. Kind of mellow time right now. Not that much going on. But we'll get through it. The combines right around the corner. and I mean a big trade happened yesterday. I'm going to dive right into that. Joe Flacco goes to the Denver Broncos,

where that leaves the Ravens. Kind of some thoughts on this never-ending drama that Antonio Brown, and listen, as someone that uses Twitter for their business, and it's literally, since I've been in the media, helped me get financially, take big steps. I just don't agree in his stance what he's doing. It really doesn't make any sense.

And then we'll get into the middle, Knoff mailbag. You can always, we'll do a big middle cough mailbag. I got a bunch of questions. And at John Middlecoff is my Instagram handle. Fire me a DM. They're wide open. Same thing as my Twitter handle. You can just fly up in the DMs. They're always wide open. Ask me anything. College, pro, personal. I don't care. And I'll answer it on this show. But let's start with John L. Way and Joe Flacco. My first reaction when I saw Adam Schaefter's tweet was gross. That is disgusting. I can't believe he just did that.

I have been someone that has supported John Elway as a general manager. His career speaks for itself, right? One of the top five quarterbacks ever. He actually had a pretty dominant and lucrative business career, owned a bunch of car dealerships, became a multi-millionaire after he was done playing. He might have been doing that while he was playing. Stanford guy, he's really sharp.

I've always admired John Elway. And then he became a GM, and one of his first moves was get rid of Tim Tebow, kind of this circus that surrounded him. Even though he had just won a playoff game, he goes and lands paid Manning. And I think we forget, like that was a pretty intense, you know, kind of coup for them. I think Harbaugh remember was sneaking into it. Jim Harbaugh, the Arizona Cardinals, who actually had a decent team then. Tennessee Titans were like offering him ownership, and he got him. and then it changed the franchise for four years.

And whenever you get good in football, I think people crush general managers when they have bad years drafting. It is so hard to draft in the late 20s. Usually means you're good, right? Because you're going to the playoffs. And then you're picking at the end of the rounds. Well, what happens at the end of the rounds?

Most of the good players are going. It'd be like, if you're listening to this and you hire people, if you interviewed 15 people and the first 10 get people you wanted to hire, were all off the board and you had to pick with one of the last five, it's not easy. You might end up with some shitty employees. It's just a numbers game.

And then last year, when the team was bad, he crushed his draft. It was awesome. Hell, his undrafted free agent, I think, became the first undrafted free agent running back to ever make a Pro Bowl, Philip Lindsay. But he has a major problem. He can't figure out the quarterback,

which is kind of ironic. John Elway is a quarterback. But ever since Peyton Manning, it's been Paxon Lynch. I actually kind of like Trevor Simeon as a backup, seventh rounder or whatever he was. Last year, Case Keenham, which I understood, whatever, a little Band-Aid. But you can't go, like, once you get a hole in your boat and then another one pops up, you can't just keep putting silly putty in it. Like eventually your boat's going to sink.

He basically just got a better version of Case Keenum. Now Joe Flacco's career, much better player. But this is 2019. This isn't, he won a Super Bowl, 2012. It was a 2012 season. The Super Bowl happened in 2013. That's a long time ago. I think sometimes we talk about some early parts of this decade, like they were last year. We're almost in 2020. I mean, we are a long way removed from that Super Bowl year. The last four years, I have it down. He's 64 and 46 touchdown to interception ratio. But the last three, if you subtract this season, where he played early on and then he got benched and Lamar came in, he kind of got hurt. He's 52 and 40.

Touchdown interception ratio. It's basically a one-to-one. Now, I get like he's just a better version of Case Keenham, but I'm not into the whole Band-Aid situation when your team's not good. I like Vic Fangio. He's the best defensive coordinator, arguably in the NFL beside Bill Belichick. But he's not a head coach. It's just that simple. And I get Elway, you know, you often do this, and you always see this in sports.

It probably happens everywhere in life. When you hire someone, and he's one way, either a hard ass or a softie, whenever you replace that guy, you always go the opposite. So last time he went Van's Joseph, who had no business being a head coach. Again, that's on John Elway. He's the guy hiring. So what does he do this time? Hire like a lifetime coordinator with 50 times the experience,

who's been passed up for 10 head coaching jobs because he's not a head coach. Just a gruff, tough, you know, and I get it, he really wanted Fangio because the best element of his team is his defense. But you can't just hire a coordinator to put him as your coordinator, so you had to hire him as your head coach.

I think the whole thing is a disaster. And last year was the first time, I remember hearing the stat during the fall, it was like the first time in 30 or 35 years that they had missed the playoffs in back-to-back years. The Broncos are a high-level franchise, and I think John Elway is a high-level guy. But for whatever reason, at this position, subtract Peyton Manning. He can't figure it out.

Now, ultimately, this should not stop him from drafting a guy. And free agency comes before the draft, so you have to be aggressive. And that's probably what he'd tell you. I don't know where we're drafting at 10. I don't know who's going to fall to me. I don't know if I'm going to be able to trade up. I just don't know. So you always want to have somewhat of a contingency plan.

through trades or free agency, just because if you're not drafting one, you don't control the draft. And there have been a lot of rumors that he likes Drew Locke. I'm not a huge fan. But you see how he could double down. If he were to miss on a quarterback that he drafts in the first or second round and Flacco's terrible,

the Broncos could spiral out of control. The people that should have been the most happy yesterday can't see Chiefs. I mean, we've got to play Joe Flacco? I mean, are you kidding me? The Chiefs are, I haven't looked yet on the odds. To me, they're a lock to win the AFC West next year. A lock.

Because the AFC West is terrible. It's got the Chiefs who are elite, I mean, one of the best two or three teams of the league. Chargers, who are an awesome regular season team, don't really trust them in the playoffs. You have the Raiders that are borderline minor league team. And then you have the Broncos that I just don't really know if they know what they're doing. They just, two years ago, when I saw a lot of, that John Elway said after the season, he had to sleep on it the night before the last game of the season in Vance Joseph's first year as head coach if he was going to fire him or not. And he kept

him. I said, if you have to think about it, I mean, what are you doing? How did you keep him just, you know, bite the bullet? So some cost, just cut him. And he didn't. And it set their franchise back another year. And then this year he reacted so strongly to how any experienced Vance was to go overboard in a lifetime coordinator, and now they find themselves in no man's land. With Joe Flacco, that has been about as meh

as any quarterback in the league for the last five or six years, who has been one of the more overpaid players in the National Football League, and who just isn't very good. And the Broncos are a high-level franchise, their history speaks for itself, their fans have high standards,

but I'd be all over them winning like five or six games, this year. I think it's going to be ugly. Okay, let's look at the other side of this trait. The Baltimore Ravens. I said after the playoff game, when it became kind of clear that John Harbaugh, even though the Ravens had tweeted out late in the fall that he was going to be their coach, but they hadn't worked on a new contract, I had an idea for John Harbaugh.

I would leave. Simply because their best asset, excuse me, the most important asset on any team, I don't think he's a great asset, but the Ravens asset was Lamar Jackson. I don't think you can win with a guy like that. If I was John Harbaugh, I would have jumped ship to the Dolphins, to the Broncos, wherever. Someone would have paid him a lot of money. He ended up getting a lot of money for the Ravens and stayed. I get it.

He feels loyalty there. He likes the owner. You know, he's comfortable. Also cash, money talk, shit walks. He got paid. but I don't think what he has now is a sustainable way to win. In 2019, it's probably always been this way, but with the given rules that we have now,

if your quarterback can't complete balls, you have no chance to win in the NFL. It's like if you have a business right now and you can't deliver on the internet, like if you can't deliver it to my house, you're probably in trouble, right? It's just nature of the beast. If I want a shirt, if I want Apple, if I want dinner,

if I want shoes, if I want a computer, if I want TVs, everything I want, everything possible. And whether this is good or bad for society, it's just the way it is. It can be delivered to my front door. If you can't have a pastor right now that's probably with ease in the low 60s, you're in trouble. Lamar Jackson wasn't accurate in college.

He clearly wasn't accurate his first year with the Ravens, well under 60%. I'll give him somewhat of a pass. Playoff games are hard, but he was well under 50% in that game. It was an abomination. And I think it was somewhat of a microcosm of what his entire career has always been. He just struggles to do basic passes. I'm talking basic passes. I know this guy has become pretty polarizing over.

over the years. Colin Kaepernick, I actually experienced it. I didn't helicopter in at the end and make it a social justice warrior topic. It's simply Colin Kaepernick, and I'm not even comparing him to Lamar Jackson, Lamar Jackson will never be as good as Colin Kaepernick was,

was not a consistent thrower of the football. He actually wasn't that accurate. Like if you just watched him, you can nitpick stats all you want. I watched him. He struggled throwing the wheel route, basic out rounds, but he could hit just extra,

extraordinary place. He could hit like a 70-yard bomb, or he hit like this 30-yard just rope. And you would forget about just the basic lay-up passes. My guy Daniel Jeremiah at the NFL Network always calls it lay-up passes, like just a basic wheel route, just a basic five-yard-out route. You have to be in the NFL, you have to be able to hit that in your sleep. It's like in the NBA.

If I give a good player a 20-foot jumper, he's uncovered. he should hit it like 90% of the time. If I give Drew Breeze a basic outrout, he should hit that like 95% of the time. Lamar Jackson can't and doesn't. So I get that they changed their entire offense and they basically ran the option with Lamar Jackson, and you can do that in a short period of time.

The 49ers actually did that with Colin Kaepernick. They were a little more expansive because they still had Vernon Davis and Crabtree. The Ravens actually have Crabtree too, but they had some more weapons, but they were a run-heavy team, and Kaepernick ran a lot, just like Lamar Jackson ran a lot,

and they had Frank Gore, the Ravens need better running backs, but it's not a sustainable thing. And when they attempted to spread everyone out, Jim Harbaugh's last year, he couldn't do it. Not only could he, I mean, it was a disaster. The next year with Tom Sula,

the Arizona Cardinals, people forget this. I don't, though. I never forget. Tony Jefferson and the Honey Badger, who were on the Cardinals at the time. Both one of them before the game and one of them after he ended up throwing four picks in the game and two or pick sixes were openly making fun of him as a passer. Now, no one would ever say that now because you wouldn't get any retweets on Twitter, but that did happen.

I actually had a radio show, I played the sound. I'll never forget it. And Lamar Jackson's kind of similar. No one in the NFL is going to fear this guy as a passer. And if I don't fear you as a passer and you're a quarterback, you can't sustain winning. You can Band-Aid winning a little bit like they did last year because they had an excellent defense.

They had this run game that no one else was doing because they were basically just running the option with Lamar Jackson, the running backs. They're not going to be able to do that in 2019. They're going to have to expand. And I don't think they're going to be able to expand. And here's the problem. John Harbaugh is a special team's coach at his heart.

Like that's who he, he did not an offensive guy. He's gone through like 10 offensive coordinator since he's been with the Ravens. He knows nothing about it. offense. So what's he going to bring to the table? You're paying this guy $10,11 million, and he can't really even help the most important guy on your team. That's Lamar Jackson. I think the Ravens, like the Broncos, I mean, it's going to be different and it'll look different, but I think they're screwed too. So you get rid of flaco and everyone's ripping

the Broncos, including myself, I thought it was pretty stupid. But it's not like I think the Ravens are any better off. If they were a stock, I'd short the hell out of them for the next several years. I got disaster written all. Maybe not disaster because they do play elite defense. Like they're going to be good on defense. But playoffs, kiss the playoffs, as Jim Morris Sr. would say, bye-bye. Making the playoffs anymore.

Now, they'll be competitive because they can run the ball and play defense. But at the end of the day, against good teams, as you saw against the Chargers, you have to make some passes. Like, when it's third and seven, you can't run the ball. Hey, guys, can you complete a pass? Lamar Jackson can't. So ultimately, John Harbaugh, you made your bed, now you got to lay in it and have fun, not making the playoffs. Let me tell you about my friends at Robin Hood.

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O'Dell Beckham Jr. reported, I don't know if it was necessarily ported, but Jay Glazer said, that he could see him being traded this summer or this spring, which I could too. But let's start with Antonio Brown, the social media star, who had one of the great tweets I've ever seen. I was at the gym getting my pump on. I can't push that much weight around. And, you know, like most millennials,

check my phone between sets. And I look down, you know, between my 120 pump. And that's on the shoulder press, so it's really not that much. and I see, thank you, Steeler Nation, for a big nine years. Time to move forward. Peace emoji. Hashtag new demands. I was like, damn, they cut Antonio Brown, and he had this sweet video that I don't know if he

self-edited or he had his people self-edit. I mean, it was just him making play after play. I'm like, that's kind of crazy. They really just cut them or they trade them. And I go to Schefter's Twitter page and I don't see anything. and I keep refreshing. I'm like, what is going on? And then Schaefter tweets out probably 20 minutes later, like, yeah, nothing happened.

He just said goodbye. But the NFL is not the NBA. Antonio Brown is not in control of this. He was last week, and I follow him on social media because he has a funny follow. He has his mustache. You know, he has like a beard, but he dyed the mustache part blonde. It's pretty funny. I don't know if he's a sharpest tool in the shed,

but he entertains me. And I saw last week, or maybe it was two weeks ago now, right after Super Bowl, he was hanging out with the clutch guys, LeBron James Camp, that is just the hashtag player empowerment, player movement. So I can imagine they said, you know what, Antonio? You know the way we do in our league? We tell the owners, you're going to take it. Bend over.

Here we come. We want this. He's like, yeah, that's what I'm going to do to the Steelers. Go to social media, tweet. So he tweeted this. And, you know, we're four days later, Friday, nothing's happened. Right. Antonio.

Two things. One, you're not in control of this situation. And I think Antonio Brown is as remarkable a player as there is in the NFL. I mean, he is dominant. He is uncoverable. I think he's the best wide receiver in the NFL. He had 15 touchdowns last year. He's on like a five-year streak of just dominance.

And if you follow him on Instagram, he tweets out these. all these acutalates, right? He's like one of three other players in NFL history to have 400 catch 10 touchdown season. It's like him, Marvin Harrison, Brandon Marshall. Jerry Rice only got three. He's got four. So it's just, he's incredible.

I'm not diminishing his skills. But he's clearly a pain in the ass. He's clearly, I mean, he puts a capital D in Diva. And he's living in an ulterior universe. Like, who is advising him here? Because Antonio, if you do want, want to be traded and keep this contract, which is pretty lucrative, like, this is probably not the way to handle it.

I get probably LeBron's guys told you, like, you take control of your life. In the NFL, they pay you a premium and they kind of control you. That's just the way it is. And you know what? Most NFL players that are good when they're highly paid are pretty happy. Like, I'm not quite sure what happened. Maybe Antonio Brown hates Ben, which I wouldn't totally blame him. I would imagine Ben is probably not the most fun teammate to be around 24-7 when you're a wide receiver.

But I would, Ben might clap back and say, listen, even if I am an A-hole or tough to deal with or whatever, I throw him the ball all the time. So like, what is he bitching about? I feed him the rock consistently. Like, you know, that's all I do. I look 484 first and often. And then again later. Like he's my number one target by a mile these last five years

But it does feel a little Unreparable But he's not helping his Cause here Because now the whole league is like They look at Antonio Brown like he's crazy Because the Steelers They're going to get the benefit of the doubt

They've been a normal organization They've been a stable organization They've handled every single type of player for years So when Antonio, it kind of feels like Antonio's the loon. here. Like he's the nut job. When in fairness to Antonio, now I don't necessarily think this is the case, it might be Ben and the offensive coordinator and Tomlin. It might be on them.

But right now it feels like he's the crazy one. Now the great part about pro sports and probably most businesses, when you're that good, people look past it and no one truly cares. So someone is going to trade for him. But I don't think they're going to trade a lot for him. Now maybe he's intentionally trying to ruin the Steelers' trade. trade value. I don't know if he's quite that intelligent and his camp quite is thinking like that. I just think they're very emotional. I think they're very aggressive about this. And I think that they are,

I don't really know if they know what they're doing. They just want out and they're attacking this, but that's not really the way the NFL works. And thank God. And I say this all the time. Like it's, I make fun of LeBron and stuff on social media. But the NBA is what it is. Like you do have to kind of kiss LeBron's ass. You know, you do have to do what Kevin Durant wants. It's the way the NBA's always been. But in the NFL, like, as fans of whatever team that you're listening of, whether you're a Bengal fan, whether you're a Giants fan, whether you're a Seattle fan, it benefits you that your team's in control. They can get rid of guys when they're bad. It's not like most teams, most teams are not John Gruden. They're not getting rid of Khalil Mack. They get rid of bad players and bad

contracts. And when the guys are good and they become free agent, they got this thing called the franchise tag. So we all benefit. Whatever fan of a team, that's why so many teams every year make the playoffs. Because teams are in the control. If players were in control

in the NFL, it would be a mess. And as fans who really pay for the entire league, not really, I mean, they do. Just that's the way the business model works. You benefit. We all benefit. But this is kind of jumped the shark

a little bit. Antonio Brown officially did jump the shark. There was a good article on the athletic about a guy that covers the Steelers who, I forget his name, but his take was basically like, Antonio the first three or four years was great, easy to talk to, was this very normal. Clearly, I mean, he was a six-round pick. He came out actually early, was under the radar those first couple years because they

had Mike Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders, and then all of a sudden he became AB. And he's become this persona of the last four or five years, and he's living in his own little world. Like, he's operating like an NBA star. But the problem is, and again, the NFL controls you. The coaching staff controls you. Hell, your quarterback kind of controls you. Now, again, I do side with him. I wouldn't want Ben bossing me around either.

But, I mean, check Ben's resume. It's a little better in Antonio's. So I think it's just a disaster. I don't know. They're not going to get much for him. Whatever he gets traded for, my guess would be it's not equivalent to what he is as a player. just because in a vacuum as a player,

he's the best wide receiver in the league. He's worth first round pick. Don't be shocked when they end up getting a third round pick. And then Odell Beckham Jr. I think they were uneasy about signing Odell Beckham Jr. Last year, but he was such a star on a team that sucked in a market that's that powerful as New York. They had no choice.

Like they kind of just, they had to keep him. They had to pay him. It's one of the. rare times in the NFL where you're just kind of screwed. You know, the player kind of has you, you know, by the balls, basically. Like, Odell was in control, and he got paid. Well, now they got Sequin Barclay. And I don't think Sequin is quite, when I say sexy, I don't mean like looking.

I just mean, you know, just the star power. Like, Odell is a star, an absolute superstar. Now, if you check out as NFL.com page, probably doesn't quite equal the hype, though no one disputes when he's on the field and he's playing well, he's dominant. And then the hair, the whole persona, the craziness, he's just a star. Sequin, I don't even know if I've ever heard him talk, but on the field just dominates. And he is a superstar for them.

So they have somewhat of the equity now that if they wanted to move on from Odell, and I've said I would trade for the Niners, for example. I would trade the Niners second round pick, which is 36, and next year's one for Odell Beckham. I would not do that for Antonio Brown. I think Odell is almost five year or four years younger than Antonio Brown. So there's a huge age factor in it for me. And I think most of the NFL will look at it like that. He's just way younger, even though he's been banged up. And health is a concern. But age does matter in the NFL. And Antonio Brown is 31 years old. Now, you can play, and I think his style is going to be able to translate for several more years at a high level. But if I'm going to

take two divas, I'm just going to side probably with the younger one. And O'Dell has kind of got along, it feels like, a little better than Antonio. Again, we're nitpicking, you know, pains in the butt here. But I would side with O'Dell if I had to pick one for a franchise just because I think I'd just always lean with the younger guy. And here's the other thing. O'Dell was a blue chipper coming out of college. He was a top 15 pick. Everyone in the NFL, last night, of A blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying,

and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions,

the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, From buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

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to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you,

but don't ever feel like you don't belong. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs, Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeke. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything.

Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of I Heart Women's Sports. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back.

Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies. I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant, this went to a billion-dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know.

Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you've. get your podcast. And you loved him. Who didn't? I mean, he was an elite prospect.

Antonio wasn't. He was a late bloomer. Now, he, you know, hit the scene and basically became a Hall of Famer. But you go, I think there are going to be way more people in the NFL that look at Odell Beckham. It does feel has been a kind of low key

for the last couple months, unlike Antonio Brown. If he does become available, much more willing to sacrifice and spend draft capital, which it won't be cheap. to get O'Dell, but I do think he can be had. Obviously, Antonio Brown can be had, but I don't know how many teams want to have him for a high price. Now, every team in the league would take

him for like a third rounder, but do you want to give like a future one and maybe a high two? I wouldn't. And that doesn't mean he's not worth that on the field, but it's not just on the field. It's about 365, dealing with him every day. Well, you like my quarterback. And I take my chances with Odell Beckham Jr. As crazy as this all sounds, but it just shows you. When you have a Larry Fitzgerald or, you know, Doug Baldwin's like this in Seattle and he's not as good as these guys. But you know what I'm saying?

Like, you're pretty lucky because most wide receivers, Mike Evans like this in Tampa is pretty low-key. I mean, most of these diva wide receivers just wear you out. This episode is brought to you by Royal Caribbean, an award-winning global cruise line. A vacation is what you make it. So are you ready to make the most of it? A Royal Caribbean adventure is the perfect opportunity to not just take a vacation, but to take it for all its worth.

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Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash John. That's LinkedIn.com slash J-O-H-N John to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Can I tell you about my friends at Shopify? It's the sound of another sale on Shopify, the all-in-one commerce platform to start run and grow your business. Shopify gives entrepreneurs the resources once reserved for big business,

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com slash John. Okay, let's get to the Middilkoff mailbag. I got a bunch of questions, so I'll go rapid fire. A little bit shorter to podcast. You know, it's Valentine's week, slower week. We'll have a lot more stuff coming down the pipe. But you can always DM me on Instagram at John Middlecough. Same thing as my Twitter handle, and it's the easiest way to get a hold of me.

Middle Coff mailbag. I've always been curious. When it comes to the NFL draft, do teams view a draft where you get one premier player, say a perennial pro bowler, or where they get three or four average to above average players as a more successful draft? I think any good draft involves three or four solid starters. Obviously you want a Khalil Mack and Aaron Donald, you know, an Antonio Brown or something out of the draft.

But I think any draft where you can go, I got a starting guard, a starting linebacker, a starting safety, and a second tight end. You know, where you get three or four positions, always better than a one-man band. Now, in a perfect world, remember Reggie McKenzie won the executive of the year a couple years ago, he drafted Khalil Mack, Derek Carr, and Gabe Jack.

Jackson and it was like damn you got three pro bowlers uh one couple of them have bounced around the pro bowl obviously they're not consistent pro bowlers but that's to me the best thing you can do now if a draft you need a quarterback if you get your franchise quarterback everything else is kind of written off but i i would imagine if you polled every gm they would take three or four solid starters so just because you're a starter if you're not if they're looking to replace you and you're not a good player, then I wouldn't put you on that level. But if you're like an above-average starter

and you can start for basically every team in the league, then I think they would always take quantity over one equaling quality. Mailbag question. With first-round picks usually hitting at a third, at a 33% rate, I thought it was a little higher in that. Would it be terrible if the Raiders gave up their last first-rounder for Antonio Brown? Get a known product and possibly go hard and free agency

still with three high draft picks, obviously with the other one in the top of the second round. I do not think you can trade Amari Cooper and Khalil Mack and then use one of the first round picks for Antonio Brown. The whole reason you traded those guys was to start over. Then you trade for a guy. I don't blame you for wanting Antonio Brown. He's a really good player.

But to me, part of it was you're starting over. You were basically doing a one-year Sam Hinky. So you don't band-aid that with a 31-year. year old diva wide receiver. I would not support that slash. I just think it would set a bad, it would just show they had no plan. They just kind of did it at a whim. And I think there is a decent chance that that's what happened with this quote-unquote

Raiders rebuild. But I would not trade a first round pick for Antonio Brown. Now, if you told me they traded pick 27 for O'Dell Beckham, you got a guy that was 26 years old. I can dig that. But I can't trade one of the first round picks for a guy that's 31 years old. And I've said over and over, he is a remarkable player. But for the Raiders who went Sam Hinky on the season, quit on the season, tried to lose, actively tanked,

which we've seen once in the last 10 years in Sachi Brown and the Browns. You can't trade for Antonio Brown. Can you please explain how do teams conduct the quarterback interviews, assessments. What kind of questions are being asked? What are they doing in the room for a few hours with the quarterback? Well, if you bring a guy in, you have 30 visits during the draft process. You get to go to the combine and you get to interview with your general manager and head coach 60 guys, but you only get 15 minutes.

So if you really like a guy, you bring them to your facility, and you get them for 24 hours. I used to, my first couple years, definitely my first year, I'd pick these guys up at the airport and bring them. Sometimes we go out to dinner. You pick up a couple of citizen coaches. You can go to dinner, and you just talk about life. Usually their day is pretty mapped out. They meet with a position coach. They meet with a coordinator.

They meet with the head coach. They meet with the GM. And if they are a big-time prospect, sometimes they meet with the owners. I think the position coach and the coordinator usually just drill on football. They watch their own scheme. They ask them questions. Kind of get a feel for their football knowledge.

Same with the head coach. I think every team is a lot. little different. In my experience, I wouldn't say it's basic, but there's only so much you can ask a guy in a 24-hour period. Part of it is doing your work all year long, so you feel comfortable with his knowledge or not with his knowledge, because you can only ask him, you know, are you going to waste time on the most basic stuff? He should already know that, right? But some of these guys in the offense they play, you know, we saw it for years with the Gruden quarterback camp. It's pointless drilling him on stuff that he's not going to know.

if his offense was either a look at me offense or just like a number system. You know, the Kyle Shanahan, Andy Reed, Sean McVeigh is long verbiage offense. Well, if I'm coming from Oklahoma State or Oklahoma or wherever, my play might be 21. That's the play. And if I want to audible, I look at the coach and he gives me the play. So drilling him on that and seeing, you know, that's what he knows. So I think part of it with a lot of these guys in the kind of spree, is finding out or feeling comfortable that they're capable to learn because they're going to come in and they're not going to have this extensive offense.

That's just not the way college works. So I think it's more figuring out if he is going to be smart enough. So maybe before a guy comes, I've heard this. I don't know if we did this in Philly, but you'd send a guy a playbook. So when he shows up at your facility, you start asking him questions about the things you send him and seeing if he can retain it. because you can only ask him so much about what he did if what he did isn't that, you know, extensive or that it parallels the NFL that much. Like Andy Reid, I talked to him about it last year.

He, the way they evaluated Mahomes is they siphoned out every quick screen. So any pass that they evaluated him on was past the line of scrimmage. And then it's evaluating the person. Obviously, his character was high. He was a smart guy. And they felt comfortable, but part of it, there's a reason you pay these offensive coaches $7, $9 million. There's a reason your coordinators make $2 million in the league because you have to coach them up. That's a huge element of the NFL and a reason that you feel comfortable hiring and paying these coaches so much is they can take a guy and take them to the next level.

And that to me is coaching, right? Coaching is basically teaching. It's just football instead of U.S. history, right? You get a guy to learn and it's hard. I mean, it takes the best quarterbacks. Matt Ryan said the year before his MVP, him and Kyle Shanahan were at odds. He struggled with the offense. Smart guys, to me, the cream always rises for smart quarterbacks.

And it's the opposite. Dumb quarterbacks always get exposed. But I do think it's a big reason why so many quarterbacks in the NFL miss. Because think how hard that is to truly evaluate a guy's intellectual capacity at 22, 23 years old. It's really difficult. and then knowing that if you draft the guy high, you're going to give him a ton of money, he's going to be so famous,

everyone in town is going to want to hang out with them or sleep with him. There's just an element of unknown that will never be, unless we can look into the future, you'd ever be able to figure out or quantify. It's all kind of a guessing game. Now you can mitigate your risk if you go, God, Drew Breeze in college, you know,

or Peyton Manning, super high level, smartest guy in the room, straight-A student, you go, this is a high character guy, He's married or whatever. You feel good about it, but I think it's all kind of a guessing game. Okay, John. Let's go to my...

Do you think the Jets will become a playoff-worthy team soon? And if so, how long? It's a good question. We talked about earlier this week. They have some issues with their coaching staff already, and I like their coaching staff. I think Adam Gase is a high-level guy. Greg Williams has a long history of kicking ass as a defensive coordinator,

but the egos in that coaching staff are huge. Now, if Gase can get to Sam Darnold and then they can start kicking ass, they have no weapons. Robbie Anderson is not bad. They need to go sign Levion Bell, draft a receiver. They need help and they need help bad. Memory serves me correctly. They traded their second round pick right to the Colts last year,

so they don't have a second round pick. So they have a high first, but there's not like a Julio, or that type player in this drafts, you probably have to go defense, but you're going to need to draft some offensive guys. You're probably going to need to sign some offensive guys. To me, the key is going to be get offensive skill guys,

and they don't have any. You have to surround Sam Darnold with a better offensive skill guys. And then I just think there's a natural maturation for Sam Darnold being an older player. You know, he's going from his rookie to his second year. So usually there is a huge step when you do that. So I'd say two years. It all goes perfectly.

Three years, you know, if this works out, now if Gase was a bad hire, it could just be a disaster. I'm a lifelong Bengals fan. But now that Marvin is gone, I'm excited for the reboot of the franchise, and Praying Zach Taylor can bring us out of NFL Purgatory. I know it's a risky move, but what do you make of the hire? And do you think he took the job with the understanding the Bengals move off Andy Dalton this season or next?

I think he took the job just because they offered him the job. He's a young guy. You don't turn down NFL head coaching jobs. All I know of him is the press conference that I watched, and he was really impressive. He was really sharp. Unlike the other guy that was hired from McVeigh staff, well, he's not, I guess he was on the Titan staff, LaFleur with the Packers. I was not impressed. I was really impressed.

But I got a red flag somewhat on this. He went to the Bengals, and he had obviously all January and then early February because he was in the Super Bowl to kind of put together his staff. He does not have a defensive coordinator. No defensive coordinator. Think about that. He was just turned down by Todd Grantham that feels like he kind of played him

for a race from the University of Florida. But I'm recording this on Valentine's Day. So if you're listening to this, it's Friday or Saturday, and they don't have a defensive coordinator. That's not ideal. It's actually kind of a little bizarre. It's a little weird. And it's not really a good sign.

Now, I don't know if that's a Zach Taylor sign or a Mike Brown sign, but that's not good. The Andy Dalton thing, Andy Dalton's played well in this league. So to me, maybe Zach Taylor can get to him and get him going again.

They do have good skill guys still. They always do. And I think maybe you can resurrect him. He's cheap. He doesn't cost that much money. I think you just kind of take it as it goes. If he's bad, you can get rid of him next year. But you play with him this year

and just kind of see what you got. Hopefully you can resurrect him because it wasn't that long ago, I guess it was like three years now, when Hugh Jackson was the offensive coordinator, that Andy Dalton was a legitimate MVP candidate. So we've seen him play well. Now, his ceiling is capped, but you can win with that guy if you have a good team and a good offensive mind.

So maybe I'm a bigger Andy Dalton guy than most, but I'm definitely not writing him off. I was very disappointed this past year by the Monday Night Football Broadcast team. Jason Witten is awful, agreed, and looked like a deer in the headlights. He had many awkward exchanges with Testator. How do broadcasters get rated and how long do we have before Monday night football switches up the broadcast team?

Also, do you think the broadcast terms drive football game ratings at all? Or are they 100% driven by the quality of the matchup? Yeah, I'm a big believer. Not everyone, just because you're famous and a former player, that doesn't mean you're meant for the media. To me, you watch Jason Witten, he just doesn't have the personality. Tony Romo's personality is kind of the opposite and he's perfect. Jason Witten's just kind of a stiff.

He'd probably be a better gentleman. manager than he would of media personality. Tess at Tor is just too much. It's Monday night football. The game speaks for itself. You don't need to be hooting and hollering and screaming and going nuts for every first down. And the Booger thing is just weird. It just doesn't really flow. I don't think Jason Witten and Booger for being football of former players know the game that well.

They never give insight on what the guy was like coming out of college, what his maturation's been since he's been in the league. They don't really know it feels like coaches' schemes. They're just terrible. It's a god-awful broadcast. I hope it's not back. I'd be a little shocked if they cut it after one year, but I would expect it to be the broadcast next year. And I don't know.

I'm not a TV executive. It seems like from a rating standpoint, the game kind of speaks for itself. Now, that article on the NFL getting taken to Fox, John Madden used to matter. I think there's a rare guy. Maybe he's the last true broadcaster that really impacted ratings. I think it works a lot more in local ratings.

You know, if you have an NBA announcer, you're going to watch the local broadcast over the national broadcast. But I think in football, you're just, if you give us Patriot Chiefs or you give us Jimmy G versus Russell Wilson, we're just going to watch because it's football. Whether I'm calling the game or whether Joe Buck's calling the game, you're going to watch. Now, you might complain, but you're going to watch the game.

What are the chances that Cardinals draft Murray and Trade Rosen? If they did, could the Dolphins be a potential trade partner? 100%. I don't know what Brian Flores thinks of Josh Rosen, but they're going to need a quarterback. I think it's already been reported that Ryan Tanniel's done, as he should be. He's a glass man. He can't stay healthy. I also think the Patriots to me are a prime destination.

The Cardinals and the Patriots did a big deal before when the Patriots traded Chandler Jones to the two Ariens and Kimes. So Belichick trust Steve Kime, which is a big thing with Belichick. He doesn't just do business with trades like this with anyone because you're not. not allowed to talk. He doesn't do clutch LeBron James leaks, like the Lakers. Like, things do not come out of New England. And they just need a quarterback. A lot of people have hit me up the last couple weeks. What are they going to do? Like, who's going to be their backup? My thing is, I don't know. I get they like Brian Hoyer. And the stories that came out during the Super Bowl, he was an integral part of their preparation

for the Super Bowl, playing Jared Gough and giving the defense look. for that offense. Clearly it worked because the defense was ready, but he's not good enough. You know, if Brian Hoyer started 16 games next year for the Patriots, probably win nine games just because Belichick's so good, but it'd be a struggle. He's not a good enough backup.

And you just need a young guy, which they had with Jimmy, but now they no longer have. So to me, the Patriots, I can see them even taking a little less just to do a deal with the Patriots. If he's not on the team, that would be my, guess that he gets traded to the patrons.

Now, more than likely he's on the team. Hey, John, uh, love the podcast. Same with me. Here's my question. I'm sure the bills aren't too high on your radar of NFL teams, but which rebuild would you rather be a part of right now? The Jets or the Bills. Obviously, your feelings on Josh Allen or Sam Donald could swing the choice one way or

the other, so assume they turn out to be equals. Okay, let's assume they turn out to be equals. is hard because Sam Donald is a better player. I hated Josh Allen coming out of college. He's grown on me. I like the person, high on the character. I do think there is a chance for him to improve, though some of his big plays this year

either came on the ground or like big flash plays. He was not the most accurate quarterback. Now, the Bill's team is just a lot better. They had two first round draft picks last year. They got a quarterback, but they got the other guy, the linebacker. Their defense is just good. Fabius White, the corner from LSU is a really good player. Sean McDermott is just a really good coach.

Now they don't have much, neither team has any skill guys. So how are these teams going to improve from the skill position? Assuming Shady McCoy is gone. Probably lean the bills, but I like Sam Darnold more than I like Josh Allen. And I know Adam Gase is pretty good. I know Sean McDermott's good too. But if you told me you get two above average. younger coaches. I'm going to lean with the offensive coach.

Now, as I said earlier, I got a little bit red flag on the cohesion right now with Adam Gase and with Greg Williams, but the bills have had a lot of turnover too. It feels like Sean McDermott's firing a couple of coaches every year the last couple years. I know he kept the offensive coordinator this year, but I'm pretty sure off top of my head, didn't he fire the offensive line coach this year? He just, he goes through some coaches now. So I would lean the jets. But I think it's pretty close.

I think both these two teams, because of their young quarterbacks and because they both have good young coaches, McDermott's proven a little. Now, Adam Gays made the playoffs, so both of them have made the playoffs as a wild card and were won and done. So let's just call them equals. I think they're both pretty good. I would take either one and feel pretty good about it. I'd probably lean the bills just because they have better players. But I think it's easier two things. To get free agents to come to the Jets, you're going to go to New York before you.

go to Buffalo. And two, I just like their quarterback more. So when all else fails, it's hard to assume they're equals because they're not equals. Though I won't dispute as a pre-draft Josh Allen Hader. He did show me flashes where I kind of went damn. I kind of like

this guy. I'm definitely rooting for him. So the bills are farther along. They're really just, they're good on defense too. That's a tough one. I think both these two teams, whenever Brady ends, which hell might never happen if he keeps TB12 in and kale smoothie in and avocado ice cream in

and Belichick doesn't seem like he's going anywhere. It's going to be hard to win the division. But I think these two teams are light years ahead of Miami. Now, it's just going to be what team has a better draft? Do the Jets land levy on Bell? Which I think they're going to be in the mix for, that's a great question. So my answer is the bills, but it's also the Jets. I think it's kind of a coin flip. I think we'll know a lot more after the draft. We'll see free agency and we'll see the draft with these two teams because I think they're kind of neck and neck. Appreciate everyone listening. Another podcast in the books.

Hope you guys had a good Valentine's Day. Have a good weekend. Combines right around the corner. And we'll just keep talking football. Peace. If you love to be remembered as the person who gives the best birthday gifts, I'm here to tell you that 1-800flowers.com is your ultimate birthday gifting destination. 1-800 flowers has thoughtful and artfully created.

options that are guaranteed to deliver the best birthday surprise. Shop thousands of unique gifts at 1-800flowers.com for exclusive offers and great values. To order today, visit 1-800flowers.com slash tune-in. That's 1-800flowers.com slash tune-in. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the north. breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline.

And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel,

help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Life is full of hurdles. So how do you keep going?

On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we're talking with the most. most inspiring women in sports and wellness from professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions, about the challenges that shape them and the mindset that keeps them moving forward. At our level, at this scale, being able to fail in front of the entire world, like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest,

Alliance I've ever reported on, a Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multimillion dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Thank you.