The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Middlekauff – 3 & Out – Belichick hits the beach during free agency; Giants embarrassing OBJ deal; Le'Veon lost; Middlekauff Mailbag

Episode Date: March 15, 2019

In this episode, Middlekauff looks at Belichick spending free agency on the beach in Barbados, gives his reaction to the Odell Beckham trade and Le'Veon Bell signing with the Jets, and answers questions in a massive Middlekauff Mailbag. Follow John on twitter @JohnMiddlekauff and go to www.theherdnow.com to find the latest content. Subscribe now! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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What is going on, everybody, John Middilcoff, three and out podcast, spent the week in L.A., Back up in the Bay Area office recording this podcast. It's been a hell of a week. Absolutely crazy week of free agent signings. As I'm recording this, Jordan Matthews just signed with the Niners. Niners signed Jason Barrett earlier today, former first rounder of the Chargers. It once was a really good player.

So you're starting to see a lot of the low money deals, like the one-year deals, guys that, like Ha Ha ha, Clinton Dicks today with the Chicago Bears. What a genius move by him to go to that defense that's absolutely loaded. Two good corners. Eddie Jackson, two good linebackers, and an elite front.

Ha Ha ha is going to redeem his value and a good defensive coaching staff. A lot going on today. I'm going to do a heavy middle cough mailbag. I just have so many questions. I'm just going to bang some out. That'll probably be the majority of the show. You can always slide up in my DMs.

at John Middilkoff. You slide up in those DMs, and I will answer the questions. A couple of the big things that I didn't get to talk about earlier in the week on Tuesday's pod, because it happened after. We didn't know what was going to happen with Levy on Bell. I've talked a lot on my Periscope show

and on Twitter about O'Dell Beckham's Trade. Well, maybe I'll dive into that a little bit, too. I guess I haven't really talked about it here. But to me, the number one story, I don't even think there is a comparable to this. Can you imagine NFL free agency, if you are an NFL general manager or even a head coach, and this guy happens to be a head coach and he's the general manager in Bill Belichick, whatever you do for a job, we all have, you know, like my CPA, his busy season is the next two months,

or the next, it's been the last month and this month, right? if you're getting ready for taxis. If you are, like if you're in the media business, usually if you cover football, the fall is pretty important. The fall, the draft, and free agency. It's pretty, you know, you're busy time. You're off time. OTAs are slow. The summer's really slow.

Once training camp starts, it's full go. I don't know, whatever you do, you know you have certain times of the year, whether it's the end of a fiscal quarter, order, whether it's certain time in your individual business, when things are acquired, whatever, that you've got to be a little more locked in, that there's just kind of more money on the line. And I've lived it. I had a front row seat to Howie and Andy. It was intense. Free agency was intense. Now, Howie, clearly, it's a big deal for him. He takes it seriously because he's a wheeler and a dealer. Bill Belichick and Cougar Linda went on vacation. Not last week, but all week. Like, they're in Barbados, I saw on the UK Daily Mail, this week.

Belichick, every other picture I've seen of him, he's basically half naked. He's just wearing swim shorts. And Cougar Linda's wearing a thonged bikini jumping into the water. Again, this is free agency. And the Patriots have some money. They have some wiggle room. He does not give literally one shit. I could not care any less.

It is pretty wild. I'm trying to think what would be a comparable. I was thinking driving earlier. It'd be like the president, not showing up to the state of the union, but that analogy doesn't really parallel because there's only one president. You know, there are 31 other teams and guys are getting signed. I can't even think about it. Honestly, it's beyond nuts, and it's the ultimate,

like he's kind of got two middle fingers up at the league. Like, I'm so much better than you guys. you can do whatever you want. It does not matter. Because when the dust settles, and it's the middle of January, we're going to be playing games. You guys might not be, regardless of who you sign, regardless who you trade for.

I know for a fact, the Patriots, we're going to be there. I'm in Barbados with my girlfriend, half-naked, just having the time of our lives, in the middle of free agency. We're making fun of it, and I'm laughing about it, and I have been all week, seeing the pictures on social media. But I don't think from a serious just element, how crazy it is when you take a step back. Best coach, best GM, just went on vacation during one of the three weeks where you can acquire players. This week, the draft, and the big cutdowns.

That is the big player movement in the NFL. and Bill Belichick went on vacation. I don't think you would see that in any other major business. It's not like he never acts. People are like, oh, he never does anything in free agency. He bought Stefan Gilmore two years ago. He was an all pro. He bought Revis a couple years ago.

He consistently makes trades. It really is wild. What a different level he's on. And he's gone full that just old guy doesn't give a shit mode. I'm going on vacation. Who's going to yell at him? Bob Kraft? Bob Kraft's fighting prostitution charges.

You think Jonathan Kraft saying anything to Bill? Please. You think any of the coaches are saying anything to Bill? Come on. Bill is, life is good for Mr. Belichick. Okay, let's get into Levion Bell and Odell Beckham Jr. Let's actually start with Odell Beckham Jr. First off, I've been saying forever, they were going to trade O'Dell Beckham Jr.

The Giants could say whatever they want. People in the NFL knew they were dead set on trading him. Which has to be one of the dumbest ideas ever when you factor in. They just signed him to a massive contract. They could have easily traded him last year when he was going into his fifth year option for probably like a one and two-twos. Hell, maybe even more. I mean, they could have got a boatload for him.

You know, like the probably 70% of what the, you know, the Bears gave up for Khalil Mack. It's what you could have got for O'Dell Beckham. But they signed him. And it last year was a disaster. Eli is a disaster. So then they decided to trade them this year, which, again, you can trade a player whenever you want. I don't recommend trading good players. It's typically not a great idea.

Khalil Max, O'Dell Beckham's. I would hold on to those players. Antonio Brown, I think you'd go. argue the Steelers didn't really have a choice, but like Beckham would have kept playing for the Giants. Cleo Mac wanted to be a raider. Keep those guys. Especially when you have them under contract like Odell Beckham Jr. Especially when the goal is to get a good quarterback eventually around your star receiver. But then, I know on pretty good sourcing that the New York Giants had multiple offers that were better than what they accepted.

Now, in most walks of life, you don't always need to accept the best offer you get, you know, if you're selling your home, if you're selling your business or whatever, if you're selling it for the right reasons, right? If you're giving it away, maybe you're selling your home to like a family friend, you sell it to them for 50 grand cheaper.

You know, maybe you're selling your business, you know, for 10 million bucks, and someone offers you $9.5 million and whatever. whatever. It happens, right? But I think when you're selling a player like this in trading, your most important asset, you have to get, by far, a haulback, especially when you have the leverage. So one thing I have consistently heard is the Giants were dead set on not trading them in the NFC.

Now, I get not trading them in the division. I wouldn't trade them to the Eagles. I wouldn't trade them to the Cowboys. not saying that they'd even make offers because they know. They wouldn't even get a callback. I also wouldn't trade them to the Patriots. But so that's 27 other teams or 28 other teams that would be on the table. So if the 49ers make me an offer that is 30% better than what I just got, because what I just got is basically a poop sandwich.

The 17th pick is cool. O'Dell Beckham, I think, was the 13th pick. The third rounder means nothing. It's the New England Patriots third round pick. so it's at the end of the third round and Peppers, whatever. I could trade any, I could find a strong safety in the fourth round. So you're trading this player, who's your most popular players,

one of the most popular players in the league, one of the rare non-quarterbacks that fans will buy a ticket to go see. And then I trade them to the Browns who don't give me that much. Also, where he's going to have success, they have an accurate quarterback, they have a slot receiver that can work the middle of the field, they have a tight end that can also work the middle of the field, and they're going to have a run game.

You traded them to a place. They not only didn't give you much, you put yourself in a position to look really dumb, because he's going to play well there. If he's on the field, he's going to ball. They just have too many options. That's been one problem for the Giants. You know, before Sekewon got here,

it was easy to know where the ball was going. Now I think you look at his situation in Cleveland, he's going to make them look bad. So at the end of the day, you're going to end up with a me, safety, a third round pick that more than likely will not amount to didly squat, and the 17th pick, which is fine, but even if you get a good player at the 17th pick, you basically traded the 17th pick for Odo Beckham Jr. Dave Gettleman should be ashamed of himself.

Honestly, it's a fireable offense. It's the most embarrassing. To me, it's worse than the Mac trade. The Mac trade was insane, because at the end of the day, who the hell trades Khalil Mack in their prime, but at least they got back two first round picks. So you can go, we got back two first round picks. Again, I would not have traded Khalil Mack basically under any circumstances. But if you are, you better get a haul and they did get a haul back. That cannot be said about Odo Beckham. The best player they've had in years, most popular player they've had in years,

one of the most talented players they've probably ever had on offense. To give them a way like that is shameful. It really is. Giants fans. If I lived in New York, I can't even imagine my reactions. I would be incensed. Because again, if you were going to trade them, okay, I get the Cleveland Brown's first second and maybe they're next year's second round pick. Like I get a haul, and that's not what they got. They got a first round pick and then nothing really after. It's a joke. It really is embarrassing. And Dave, as I call him, Meathead Gettleman. Dave, I'm terrible at my

Gettelman just really got exposed, really, really got exposed. And John Mara, the quickest way he can fix this thing is to fire him and Pat Schumer. Those two guys are not good enough to be in their position to be running this iconic franchise. Because right now, the dumpster fire is in midfire, and the firemen are nowhere around. The fire is spreading everywhere. And if no one comes with some water, and you know those planes that dump all the water, on top in the near future, the fire is going to spread. It's going to burn

the whole building down because that's where it feels like they're headed. Let's get in really quick to levy on Bell. Not going to spend that much time on this because my take has never changed. What he did last year sitting out his franchise year at $14.5 million. He was not making $850K.

He was not making $2 million. They had an offer on the table for $14.5 million. Every single penny there's 100 pennies in a dollar there's 14.5 million ones in that much money you do the math it's a lot of pennies he passed up on that that was on the table

it was all guaranteed every single penny he turned it down because he didn't show up and he was applauded by social media and clearly I mean social media I got the Duke game on in the background social media wanted zion Williamson to quit college basketball He not only didn't quit, he traveled with the team, he came back to Duke, and he just had one of the greatest first 10 minutes in a conference tournament game I've ever seen. He looked like LeBron meets Shaq.

So when players don't do what social media tells you to do, they usually make the right decision. Social media was like, Leveon, don't give it to the man, show them what's up. Which is a great line of thinking if you're like some union worker and you're being paid. $7 an hour and you're fighting for 12. Like, okay, I get it. You stand for something. When you're being offered $14.5 million, no subject in recent memory in sports

gets me more just fired up than Leveon-Bell situation. It was so dumb. Think about this. Every free agent that signed, let's just name the top couple that come to mind. Trent Brown, C.J. Mosley, Anthony Barr Golden Tate just got a big contract from the Giants

Those guys All the free agents that signed All around with all these teams Earl Thomas Right Honey Badger They were also in the same situation As Levy on Bell They were gonna be free agents

Why the hell did they play last season Why did they just sit out the season Wait till the offseason to get paid You know why? Because they wanted to get paid for 2018 and play well, and then get paid again in 2019. He would have made $14.5 million. The likelihood of him having a career-ending injury is slim to none, like one happens every other year. So more than likely, even if he got hurt, he was still going to get money.

So even if he got a little less than he actually got from the Jets, which he did not get $35 million. That's like with injury guarantees and other contingencies. He got $27 million at signing, but he didn't actually get $27 million because he's 14 and a half in the hole. So we got like 13. That's what he made because he's just got zero for the last year because his agent who is just a moron recommended that. Or Levion's a moron and thought that that was a good idea. It wasn't. Levion, you play running back.

Let's say he had played quarterback. Maybe I would get it. or defensive end, but it made no sense at running back. He was going to have made $27 million for being franchised twice at running back. And here's the other thing. We act like Levion was an innocent bystander. He had been suspended twice. Suspended twice.

He'd also had a major injury. Like Levion, you have red flags. So that money to turn that type cash down was stupid. Because you would have played, and you wouldn't even have played as much of the previous two years, mainly because James Connor was kind of on the come. He would have split some carries with you. And you would have got the same contract that you probably just got. Hell, if you were playing, your team might have been better,

might have made the play. You might have got more. Then you would have had $14.5 million plus like $30, $35 million. You do the math. That's like $50. So instead of having $50, he's got $27. It was idiotic. And Twitter applauded them

because they hate the man, they hate the powerful. But it's one thing when the powerful are holding you down. It's another thing when the powerful are offering you $14.5 million. I don't know where you come from, Leveon, or your representation comes from.

But where I come from, that's a pretty good partnership. I'd enter in that bad boy. Especially when $14 million, it's a big raise. When you had just made 12, a half million dollars. It was baffling

when it happened. It was so stupid to see the consistent talk about why he was sitting out and he was making this move for the bigger picture. No player's going to not sign that tender.

They talk a big game. They always do it. Why? Because it's so much money. The second year of the tent, ask Kirk Cousins how that went. Remember when he was pissed off? he got franchise twice? I wonder how that worked out for his bank count.

Let me tell you, he got franchise once, he got franchise twice. He banked about $45 million on those two franchises. It might have been a little more. I think it was like 47. Do you know what happened after those two years? Yeah, just like most players, he just kept playing. He got a contract worth $84 million.

So imagine if you would have sat out, sat out twice, or sat out the franchise just to get to that $84 million. He would have been $45 or even if he would have sat out one of them, $24 million, less rich. Instead, he banked it all. Earl Thomas, who is 10 times smarter Leveon Bell, was furious, right? They didn't extend his contract.

And I don't blame him. He'd been a lifetime Seattle Seahawks. He'd won a Super Bowl there. He'd been like a Hall of Fame level player. I get him being pissed off. But you know what he did? When week one came around, he showed up. Why? Because he was making like $11 million.

He's not an idiot. He played. And you know what? happened to him, he had his leg shattered. Then do you know what happened to him once a free agency started? The Ravens gave him like $30 million. So instead of being not playing all season and being healthy and getting probably the same contract, he's $11 million richer today than he would have been if he would have taken

Leveon Bell's tactic. I was shocked by what Leveon was doing. I would have supported it if he was making $1 million or $700. $100,000 and it was a high character guy and they loved him. But you know the reality. If he had never been in trouble and never been hurt, they would have signed him. Look at Todd Gurley. Now it's backfiring now because he's got arthritis,

but they drafted him, they liked him, he'd never been in trouble, he'd been a model teammate, and they signed him. It's usually the way the NFL works. If you act well, play well, you get paid. But when you get in trouble, you risk teams not feeling confident about you. would you feel confident in whatever you did if you had some billion dollar business paying someone 14, 20, 30, 40 million dollars if you couldn't trust him? I don't know about you, I wouldn't.

And football is the best example because we know about these guys' lives, but it happens in other businesses. People that get nervous with humans don't do long-term deals with you. And Levion, you know, he stood for something on social media, but in reality he said himself. back $14.5 million. Okay, as we do every week, let me get to the

Middle Coff mailbag. I'm a little behind of some questions here, but okay, let's start. Pat's fan and fan of the podcast. Long shot scenario here, but being that it's Tom gonna retire soon, and rumors are the Patts are interested in Josh Rosen,

do you think the Patriots could replicate the success they had with Brady with Rosen? Well, no, because they won, six Super Bowls. And in Tom's first, you know, four years of starter, you won three. But I do think they can keep something going. And I haven't really talked about it,

but Kyler Murray's Pro Day was this week. I talked about it with Colin when I went on a show. It was a pretty big red flag for me that Kyler didn't run, mainly because he weighed 205 pounds. He's not normally 205 pounds. I think he plays at 188 probably. and he knows he wouldn't run as fast. Now, is Kyler Murray going to go number one overall?

Because if he is, then Josh Rosen is not going to be on the team. But what if we've been kind of being played this whole time? I have to leave that option as a potential kind of outcome here. They ultimately trade the number one pick to like the Raiders for 1 and 27 and keep Rosen. Now, I thought Rosen would be traded this week, but as I'm recording this, Thursday night, still not traded. It doesn't feel like he's going to be traded anytime soon. But are they going to...

My question is, are they going to start OTAs and just let him come to the building and then trade him on draft night? Maybe they would do that. But I'm not 100% sold right now that Rosen's going to get traded because I would have thought he would have been traded this week. Now, maybe they'd tell you we get better demand come the draft time. I'd say, well, guys, I guess it helps that Teddy Bridgewater went back to New Orleans.

you know, the Bengals have, I guess, Andy Dalton's still there, but the Miami Dolphins are surely going to release Tanny Hill. Jacksonville has a quarterback now. The Giants need a quarterback, but they could draft one. Maybe they got nowhere to send them. But I think a lot of teams, the Giants, the Pats, you know, would be really, really interested in them. Okay, this is like a life question.

Big fan of the pot. I've noticed a clear trend in the NFL. The last five quarterbacks, drafted the top 15, not including last year's draft, Goff, Wentz, Trebisky, Watson, Mahomes, all made the playoffs in their second year. Good trend. After the Odell moved to Cleveland and with the Jets and Bills all active in free agency,

is it possible that we see all three of those teams in the playoffs next year with their second year quarterback? Well, I think it's fair to say if the Browns don't make the playoffs, it's an enormous letdown. They should have, I would say, on paper, the best offense. in the league. You got Odell, you got Jarvis, you got Nijoku, I don't know how to say his name. Nick Chub, I just know he's sweet. Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt

and Baker Mayfield and a good offensive line. That's an elite offense. Now as Freddie Kitchens, a good enough head coach to also be the offensive play caller and dominate, we're about to find out because I don't know for sure. I think Baker makes the playoffs. I think they'll win nine or ten games, at least. I think the bills, as a buddy in the NFL texted me,

he said, do you have an inaccurate quarterback and you sign two midget receivers? How does that make sense? Say that out loud. You got Josh Allen, who is not very accurate, so you go get him Cole Beasley? You know who's ideal for Cole Beasley? Like Brady or Drew Brees.

Not Josh Allen. He is not a Josh Allen type player. Now, maybe they tell me we need to get that guy around Josh. John Brown, super deep threat. I get it, but still, I don't really like either one of those. I think the problem for the bills moving forward is that their coach is pretty good. And the culture they're building is pretty solid. They got some positive things going their way.

But I don't know if the personnel side is going to be good enough. Now, when you look at the Jets, you go, well, Adam Gays made a lot. the playoffs before with probably less of a roster in Miami's first year. So you go, the AFCEs, you got the Pats, but the Dolphins are going to be terrible and the bills are just kind of meh. Why couldn't the Jets win nine or ten games? You got Levi-on-Bell, he could have a big season. You nail a couple draft picks here in this upcoming draft, get some more talent to go with Sam, to go with Levion. The defense is now much improved. They have a really good defensive coordinator in Greg Williams.

that I could see two of the three making them. If I had to pick, obviously Baker's the easy pick. I think that's probably consensus, right? Most people think the Browns are going to make the playoffs. And then the other way you'd have to lean, or at least the way I'd lean, would be the Jets over the bills. But that's a good nugget. So this year, between Darnold, Baker, Josh Allen,

Lamar Jackson, I guess Lamar made the playoffs his first year. Who am I missing? And Rosen. I guess Rosen could, if he was like the backup of New England. But again, the Rosen thing's weird to me, because if they end up trading them, they just held on them to the draft to hope to get a bigger package because they knew they were trading them all along.

Now, I was talking to a buddy in the NFL today as you driving home from work, and he brought up a good point, because I've been thinking this, what if they don't know? What if they really don't know what they're going to do? That might just be the case. As we're sitting here, March 4th, middle of March, the draft a little over a month away they just do not know. And I think that's

probably a fair potential. Hey John, big fan. Here's a question for you. Where are the Colts in free agency? They have about 100 million in Capsed, many draft picks, and with luck are contenders in the AFC. Wouldn't you go after a few big names in free agency?

Spend money and try to make a push to the Super Bowl? Here's what I think. I think most deals are not great deals in free agency. I wouldn't want to sign Trent Brown to the biggest offensive tackle contract ever, average per year. I wouldn't want to pay C.J. Mosley, $50 million. I don't mind getting like a D. Ford, but even the Niners overpaid a little bit.

But part of having cap space, and I'll use the Niners as an example, they don't sign that many big-time free agents. They went after O'Dell Hard, but because they consistently have a lot of cap room, they can get a D. Ford. No different than the Colts. If an opportunity like that presents itself, they can go land that player. Instead of just signing Preston Smith or C.J. Mosley or those type guys, they obviously don't need C.J. Mosley. But my point is, you get in a situation where you're like, I don't really, that's just kind of dead money. That guy's not a good enough player to be making that type cash. The culture are always flexible.

What if, like, Julio Jones becomes available? The cults are like, oh, we'll give our first. Because we have all this cap room. What if, you know, whoever becomes, you know, available. They can always make a move. So to me, it is never undervalued. It never gets

overstated. Or I guess the way to put it is, you can't overstate this enough. Because I think in free agency, the cap room, the cap room, the cap room. Having cap room is valuable because you can make moves. Howie Roseman would die to have that much money. Not because he'd sign

a bunch of free agents. He'd make trades. To me, that's where the Colts are sniffing around. Who am I going to trade for? Can I go get a Patrick Peterson? Can I go get a Julio Jones? Can I go do something like that? I'd rather do that. Get guys that are actually worth 16, 17, 18, 19 million. Can I go get a Cleo Mac? Worth 15 to 20 million dollars? Because that's what you have to pay for the top guys in free agency, but you don't want to. D. Ford wasn't really a free agent. You had to trade to get them. So you had to trade, the Niners had to trade next year second to have the rights to sign them. But that was worth it to them. And I think it's the right move. Because he's a better pass rush than Trey Flowers.

He's a much better pass russer than Trey Flowers. Now he got a lot more money, but he should. Better player. But the Lions didn't have to give up a second round pick in 2020 to get Trey Flyers. He's a free agent. But I'd rather do that. Now, I think your argument could be, should the Colts be sniffing around some of these players with some of their draft picks, probably.

But it takes two to tango. As we saw with the Niners and Odell Beckham Jr., the other team's got to trade them to you. Now, if, I think you could argue, well, if they were offering next year's second and the Colts offered next year's second too, you would say, well, the Niners are going to be worse than the Colts, so that second round picks are going to be better.

So I will take the Niners offer. So it might really just be that simple. Is Tiger golfing tomorrow? Oh, this is a day old. Yeah, he golfed today. He shot two under, I think. My shot, yeah, he shot two under. John, thought this was interesting. Saw on Twitter that all 32 teams sent scouts to Oklahoma's pro day.

With Kyler obviously being the big show, I know all 32 teams aren't in a position to draft a quarterback that high, so why does every team attend? I know OU probably has other quality guys, but all 32 seems tough when other schools have pro days on the same day. Well, you split up your pro days, And two, whenever there's a top prospect, you have to be in attendance. You just do.

Because eventually, it might not work out for Kyler Murray. So he might be available. And you were there. You experienced it. You have notes on it as an internally as an organization. That is important. So yeah, sometimes it can be, you know, kind of overkill, I think. Like in your question, you're basically asking, why the hell are,

like, what are the Patriots doing there? What are the Kansas Chiefs doing there? Well, I also think they have, it's not a lot of those guys are there to watch or meet with Hollywood Brown. They have a running back, Rodney Anderson. They have several offensive linemen. You just, when big-time schools, like back in the day when Ohio State or USC, some of these schools, whatever, they got top guys, you just go. And that's the way NFL teams think. and if I was a GM and I had Jared Gough or Russell Wilson, whoever, it wouldn't matter. I would be in attendance at that pro day. John, do you think free agency this year has been huge due to last year's Los Angeles Rams success?

If so, who do you think we'll have instant success this year? I think the Jets will be a lot better. I think the Jets will be a lot better. The Lions bought a lot of guys, but I don't think they'll be that much better. I actually think the Bears had a pretty good. good little under the, they didn't sign any big time free agents, but they got Buster Screen a good nickel corner. They got

Haha Clinton Dix, you know, a four-year starter in the NFL. They got Cortero Patterson who can play like seven different positions. He can play right receiver, he can play running back, you kick return, punt return. He's a good player. Those are solid players to a team that's texting with the buddy of the Bears today. He's like,

I think we got, we're better today. I'm like, yeah, you are. And you look at the Bears roster last year, they had one of the better rosters in the league, and they got better. I think a lot of these younger GMs, the Howies, the Ryan Paces, the less needs, and less started at last, even Chris Ballard, I know he's not that aggressive, but he's willing to make moves. Belichick always is, even though he's not that crazy in free agency.

Would it shock you at any moment if Belichick traded for Josh Rosen while he's in Barbados, half-naked? That, yeah, I don't think it's as much as the Rams success last year. just think it's more that Team C deals. Team C, you've seen a lot in the last 24, 48 hours, a lot of shorter term, like one, two-year deals. It's really cheap for teams because a lot of this money is fluff. Do you know the stupidest part about reports on player contracts?

Like, I don't care, like, five years, $77 million means nothing to me. Average annual value means nothing to me. What are your guarantees? What are your true guarantees? When they go, when he signs a contract, he gets $30 million. I'm like, okay, so he's got a three-year, $30 million contract. That's how I'd look at it. You know, like in the NBA, you sign a $5 million contract.

It's $500 million contract. In the NFL, it's all fluff. What are your true guarantees? Like, if you died tomorrow, what would you get? And until I see that number, I'm always kind of uneasy criticizing, because my natural inclination is to crush or commend the contract, but I've even had to pump the brakes a little bit. Until I know the real money, how do I even judge this contract?

Because at first, like, oh, Levion Bell signed for $52 million. Well, you don't need to be Bill Belichick to realize, well, that number is not real. And then it comes, oh, he's got $35 million guaranteed. And you're like, well, injury guaranteed. His true guarantee at signing is $27. So it takes you a while, takes you like 24 hours just to get the, the root of the money. Do you think Solomon Thomas changed positions now that D. Ford is on the roster?

I wrote about this today in The Athletic. What D. Ford is, the parallel I'd use for D. Ford is Cliff Averill when he left the Lions to go to Seattle. I used to watch Cliff Averill when I was in the NFL when he was on Detroit. And I thought he was a one-trick pony. Now his one trick was, he was a speed rusher, and he was good. I think he added like 11 sacks. but they didn't think he could hold up versus the run.

Well, the great thing in the Seattle scheme, you just kind of play the one gap and you just go. He's the perfect type Leo. Solomon Thomas is a strong side defensive end against the run. He's actually really physical, but he's not a great pass rusher on the edge. But when you go to, you know, in passing situations,

D just stays at Leo. You bump Solomon in with the forest and you've got to find another pass rusher. But that's, or Nick Bosa, or whoever you get, that's a pretty good little pass rush scheme. I like what you got going. So I think Solomon Thomas stays at defensive end on first down when they think you're running or any down when they think you're going to run because he's their best run defender

or right up there with DeForest Buckner, but he's a really good run defender. He's just not a good pass rusher from the edge. He's decent. He showed signs inside. But yeah, I think D. Ford, that was a really nice get. and I was telling people on Twitter part of being disappointed and again I'm selfish, I'm biased,

I do a Bay Area centric podcast, Odo Beckham would have been great for business. I write for the athletic that write about the Niners and the Raiders. I'm not complaining with O'Dell Beckham and Antonio Brown in my backyard. Like that's interesting.

It's a lot better than Marcel Leitman and Dante Pettis, I promise you that. But D. Ford, they weren't, you know, They didn't go get D-4 because they didn't get O'Dell Beckham. They would have got O'Dell Beckham and they would have gotten D-Ford. Now, they wouldn't have had the number two pick anymore. Now, maybe they would have picked swap.

Maybe they would have given up the number two pick. I'm not sure. But that was, to me, it kind of sucked. Like, you could have both those two guys. Then all of a sudden you're going, God, you got O'Dell Beckham, D-4. You still got the 36 pick. You got something going now. And they're desperate for a wide receiver.

Their defensive line is going to be good. Their defensive line, I think, is going to be really. really good, because they're going to draft a really good player at number two. But they don't have a wide receiver. They got Kevin Coleman now, Jerich McKinnon, Kittle, but they don't have any more receivers. I don't know how they're going to get one. Atlanta Falcons aren't going to give the 49ers Julio Jones for a second round pick.

And the Niners ain't given number two for Julio Jones. So to me that deal is not really realistic. Are the Bengals really just going to give away AJ Green? Would I give my second. round pick to get AJ Green? In theory you would, but in reality you got a guy who's over 30, who's been banged up, excellent player, I probably would.

I don't love doing that, but if I get Bosa or Quinn and Williams and A.J. Green as my first and second round picks? Yeah, I can live with that. Where can we see some of your takes on the herd? I don't know. I need to text someone to get that video. I'll do that tomorrow.

His pickup game is definitely not NBA ready. See, this is Zion. Zion got to be careful. I hope. I guess he's DM and chicks. You never know what you're going to find when you just go to DMs. Just start answering questions.

You have a video for the herd? I got to get a video. People want that video. I'm going to get that tomorrow. I thought I gave a solid performance. I have a question for the middle-off mailback. If you had to rank the top quarterback prospects in this year's draft, Murray, Haskins, Drew Locke, and Daniel Jones.

How would you rank him? I'd go Kyler 1, I'd go Haskins 1B. I'll be honest, I haven't watched that much, Daniel Jones, and I'm not a huge Drewlock guy. So I would have those guys distant, second, and third. To me, there's two quarterbacks that I view as first round guys, and no one else. But again, like, I'm not studying these guys probably like Dave Gettelman here. but I watch a lot of college football on Saturdays

and I watched Drew Locke multiple times and he never did it for me. But it's clear that people in the NFL like Drewlock, which I don't know why I'm going to have to dig in a little deeper as we get closer to the draft. You think the Giants are playing the long con and tanking this year to get the number one pick and snag Trevor Lawrence? I don't buy them going after Kyler Murray at all.

The problem with the long game in trying to get Trevor Lawrence, he's a freshman. so he's not he's not even draft eligible next year and if they were playing the long game why would they give Golden Tate all that money? I just got a text from a guy in the NFL like an hour ago that just tweeted me

the contract for Golden Tate and just said morons. Why are they signing Golden Tate? How do you trade Odell Beckham and then sign Golden Tate? How does that make any sense? What are you guys doing? It feels like the Giants are just lost at sea. They're lost on a river without a paddle. kind of floating around. They really are a dumpster fire of a franchise right now. I don't think

that can really be, uh, really be, you know, everyone's saying that. I just think it has validity behind it. Just finish watching the YouTube live stream. I was just wondering what in your position was the best acquisition of the offseason by a team. Do any stand out? It'd have to be to me, Odell Beckham. I think, I think that one's a pretty easy one. I'd go Odell Beckham. I mean, O'Brown is pretty damn big for the Raiders too. I'd go those two. They're right up there. And I'd probably put, the D-Ford moves pretty big for the Niners. I'd say, because they were so desperate for an edge pass rusher.

So probably those three. But those were the three best players. You know, those were the three best players that were moved in the last... I guess A.B. was moved over the weekend, but the last, you know, five or six days. So, yeah, I mean, the best players to move are the best acquisitions. Now, like, a solid acquisition that I liked. Honey Badger to the Chiefs. That's a really good one. I think Honey Badger was the best safety on the market.

He goes to a team that's desperate for defensive leadership. They cut Eric Barry, they cut Justin Houston, they have a void there, and they get a guy that's been a captain on multiple teams. He's just a badass. Honey Badger don't care, and he's going to make plays. I love that signing by Veach and Andy.

I'd say Honey Badger beside the main guys. And really, Honey Badger. He was injured, you know, would have been viewed on the AB, Odell Beckham. He was better than D. Ford. Obviously, D. had a huge year, but I'm just saying, like, in his prime. I mean, he was like defensive player of the year type candidate. He was that good. People sending me DMs making fun of Hugh Jackson.

Okay, last one. When this on the Middilkoth Mailback. Do you think that a luxury tax type rule like they have in the NBA would work in the NFL, but relating to dead money? I like where this is going. A team with $20 million in dead money can pay $20 million to get rid of it Oh, can pay $20 million to get rid of $10 million in dead money

The most you could get rid of in a season is half So you have $30 million in dead money You can pay So if you have $30 million in dead money You can pay $60 million Maybe I'm not doing the math Maybe I'll just say it, I'll use your analogy $20 million to get rid of $10

Okay, I got you So if you have 20 million in dead money, you'd have to pay 40. Yeah, so if you have 30 million a day money, you've got to get 60. Okay, yeah, you just double it. Asking because the Saints keep pushing Drew Brie's contract hit, and it will hit all when he retires like Romo and Dallas. You know, I have always believed that dead money, like once the guy retires, it should be off your books.

And a lot of people on Twitter argued with me, well, you can't just keep pushing back your credit card payments, credit card payments and pay the minimum, pay the minimum, and then eventually be $50,000 in the hole and just cancel the credit card and not owe. Eventually, you can keep Robin Peter to pay Paul, but eventually you've got to pay Peter too. You know, you've got to pay someone. So I think the NFL competition committee and the way the general managers and owners think,

you should not get rewarded to be able to buy your way out of it. All these teams have so much money, they would just buy their way out of it. The Cowboys definitely would. They would just pay that to go down. If you keep moving the cap on your quarterback because it's a huge hit, you can't just circumvent the rule forever. Eventually it comes to roost, and it did on the Cowboys. I think the numbers this year was like Romo had a big cap hit it, and Des Bryant,

neither guy was on the team. One guy was cut and the other guy was retired. To me, if you retire, again, I do stand by this. If you retire, I think your money should be. just go away. Now, I think the argument would be, well, a guy like Tom Brady or Ben Roethsburger or some of these older quarterbacks would just keep pushing it back. And if they're never going to leave the team, they're going to retire on the same team. They would manipulate the cap pretty easily. So I get that. But I don't know. It feels weird to me that you can retire and still have a huge

cap hit. Like, I'm sorry, especially Tony Romo. He just kind of randomly retired. They didn't know he was going to retire. He got injured and then DAC took over and it all kind of happened. organically. So I like where your head's at, and I wouldn't be opposed to that. I just know the NFL would 100% never allow that. It would never get voted through, I don't think. Because it would benefit the dumb teams. And when I say dumb, I just mean teams that just do the basic,

move the money around just to push you back another year. Like, why would Howie Roseman, that'd be an advantage for teams that don't know how to manipulate the cap, you know, the right way. and the good way. The Paragues, the Howies, even the Belichicks, they never get in really those situations. The Cowboys do, right? The Rams probably will.

The Raiders have historically. So, yeah, I like the idea. I see where you're coming from, but I think it's not even close to being an opportunity that ever happens. Thanks for listening. Three and Out Podcasts. Tell your friends. Enjoy the weekend.

It's been a pretty damn good week of football. I mean, we've had a lot of action. I feel like next week's going to be a pretty big letdown. But this week was fun, and I'm excited, and we'll get ready for the NCAA tournament next week, and we'll talk to more football. Adios, have a good one. See you. Get right to the romance and find the way to wow this valentines

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What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, Hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, rec, my mama want you to wave at her.

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