The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Middlekauff – 3 & Out – Gruden and Mayock; Quinnen Williams vs.Nick Bosa; Middlekauff Mailbag

Episode Date: April 12, 2019

Subscribe here to the 3 and Out with John Middlekauff Podcast https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/3-and-out-with-john-middlekauff/id1352730623?mt=2.  In this episode, Middlekauff looks at Jon Gruden and GM Mike Mayock's relationship as they head into their first draft together, of Gruden will listen to him, if the Niners should pick Ohio State's Nick Bosa or Alabama's Quinnen Williams, and answers listener questions in Middlekauff's 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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Come seek the Royal Caribbean. Visit Royal Caribbean.com to learn more. What is going on, everybody? John Middlecop. Three and Out podcast, back at it again. We're what? It's the 11th. The draft is in, it's not next week but the following week.

So hell, I mean, we're 15 days away, a little under two weeks. How awesome is that? You know, we've been waited basically all off-season. I mean, free agency in the NFL, as we've talked about before, is a tad bit overrated. The draft is by far the number. number one offseason priority. Free agency would be a bigger deal if franchise tags didn't exist, but they do.

So, you know, I'm just, I'm fascinated with this draft. I just wrote an article today on The Athletic about Nick, about, I wrote last week about Nick Bosa. I wrote today about Quinn and Williams. As of today, I meant Thursday, if you listen to this Friday. You subscribe to the athletic, you know, it gives my thoughts on them and some of my friends in the NFL's thoughts on him, and they love him. I think he's the best player in this draft.

the best defensive linemen in this draft. Now, he's a tackle, but he's pretty special. I'm not the biggest Nick Bosa guy, but we'll get into that a little later. Obviously, we always do the Middlecoff mailbag. Fire into my DMs at John Middlecoff, my Twitter handle, my Instagram handle, easiest way to get a hold of me. But for this podcast, three-in-out podcast, we do Middlecoff Mailbag. I know we get a lot of new listeners every week.

And I answer questions, so you can ask me literally everything, in the middle cop mailbag and I will answer it here on the podcast. Good, solid Thursday. I've been watching the Masters. I waited for it to end. The Masters was just absolutely fantastic today. I mean, if you don't like golf, I can't really relate to you. I love it.

It's probably my second favorite sport besides football and there's nothing better than the Masters. You know, maybe the Super Bowl, maybe the Final Four. So I've been dialed in. I'm recording this about five or five. o'clock on a Thursday afternoon. But I wanted to start with this. I thought Mike Mayock, this time of year, every general manager, it's mandatory that they speak. So you look around the league, I think Belichick spoke the other day. Mayok spoke Thursday. And I thought he had just a great comment that really got me thinking. It's something I've been thinking about anyway, just with the

Raiders. And I think it parallels a lot of franchises. And honestly, it doesn't relate to a lot of the ones necessarily. I think there's a balance in every building. In our building, I think John will roll a dice a little more, and I think I'm a little more conservative. And I think that's a good balance. You know, we bounce that off ourselves all the time. We have some spirited meetings with the coaching staff where they're banging the table for a kid, and I might say he's got way too many red flags. I don't even want to consider them at that spot. And then we get into it. So I think that's healthy. and I think everybody that I've ever talked to that's sat in this chair has talked about the same thing. Healthy discourse between the coaches, the scouts, and trying to come to those kinds of agreements on those kinds of players.

There's no question for me that your coach is always going to be the highest paid guy in the organization. But if you look at any business in corporate America, right, they have the CEOs. And all these CEOs, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Google, wherever, any of these businesses, major companies, Netflix, just make an ungodly amount of money, right? Well, it's funny, is my accountant works in downtown San Francisco, and I'm probably his poorest client. Now, I'm pretty confident I am his poorest client. And I'll just ask him questions, like, what kind of money do some of these guys make? And he'll tell you stories like, yeah, I got this guy at Google, he's got a W-2 of like $20 million. And again, I don't live in necessarily a normal area.

We have outlier executives. But when you hear some of these stories about, yeah, the CFO of so-and-so company. He won't necessarily give me exactly who it is. But yeah, his W-2s, you know, before bonuses are $19 million, $23 million. These people in Silicon Valley

make an athlete money. But they're not even the CEO of the company. But these companies rely on that person. And if you've ever listened to a CEO talk, there's a reason they have COOs and CFOs, chief operating officer, chief financial officer, chief marketing officer, you hire those guys to do a job.

And in a big company, yeah, your CEO might make just stupid money, right? 50, 60 million, whatever. Roger Goodell, $50 million. His right-hand guy is still making good cash. And you depend on him. And like Mayak said, to me, talked about the discourse and healthy discourse. To me, there is no growth in any high-level business. That's what an NFL team is, without a little confrontation.

like confrontation is healthy, the PC America would tell you, no, everyone be nice to each other. Let's all hold hands and kumbayao. And as Tom Izzo would say, good luck getting bounced in the tournament playing that way. But to me, the scariest thing about John Gruden and Mike Mayock, most of us, if you listen to this podcast,

you clearly follow the NFL. Mike Mayotte's really smart. And we've all seen his work for the last 15 years. It's been very transparent. he's for the most part he's nailed a lot of the guys I think he is an excellent evaluator and John and even when he was hired

he said you know what this is a coach driven organization John is the boss he said it again today and the thing that makes me nervous for my Raider fan friends is that Mike Mayock like the thing every CEO in the country is not good at everything

but there's a reason they're a CEO and usually if they're a successful CEO they're probably a good decision maker or whatever whatever their strength is. But they also have weaknesses. So usually when you have weaknesses, you put people around you that can make up for that. And that's that person's strength.

Well, Mike Mayock's strength is going to be the draft. And the thing that would terrify me, and the Raiders to me are one of the great, I mean, they're in one of the most unique situations we've ever seen, that we've ever seen. They have three first round picks. They have four picks in the top 35. I don't ever remember that happening.

going into the draft. You might have to do some research. I don't think it's ever happened. Now, there have been teams. I remember several years ago, the Minnesota Vikings picked three players in the first round. I think Anthony Barr,

Teddy Bridgewater, and Floyd, the defensive tackle from Florida that ended up messing up his knee. It's kind of out of the league. I think he's actually suing the Vikings. But they traded back into the first round. To me, this situation for the Raiders,

one of the reasons they have two first rounders is because, one, they traded away if we'd say Aaron Donald's the best player in the league, non-quarterback, Khalil Mack, what's he, the second best player in the league? They traded away the second best player of the league. So that's one of the reasons you got him. And then Amari Cooper, who flawed player, but you still drafted him fourth overall. And Mayock, as people, like, when Mayak first got the job, I'm like, yeah, it's pretty

nuts. Then I started texting my buddies, because when I worked in Philly, Mayok worked in Jersey, he used to come through Philly, how he used to back before iPads and stuff. What's crazy is iPads haven't been around that long. last year in the league in 13. That's when iPads came into the NFL. So the first couple years, a guy like Mike Mack, he wanted to watch film, he'd either have to go to NFL films

or come into the actual Eagles building where we had all the film, and then he'd watch it. So a lot of guys on that staff knew Mike pretty well, and they said, you know what, he's not going to take much BS. And from what I've heard, he stood his ground on several times with Gruden. And from the information

that I have took the right stance, but Gruden overruled him. So I never understand what is the point in saying someone's your general manager. John, we know you have the power. You make all the money, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't empower this guy. Pete Carroll makes more money than John Schneider. John Snyder picks the players.

Andy Reed makes way more money than Brett Veach. Brett Veach now picks the players in Kansas City. Those two franchises are extremely healthy. John Gruden, out of probably all the coaches in the NFL, now some of these younger guys, I don't know anything about LaFleuars or whatever. I can't even speak to their... ability to evaluate players. But I know for a fact,

like I have information. John Gruden is a terrible evaluator. And I always find it funny on like Twitter when you go like, John Gruden cannot pick players. They're like, oh, he knows way more football than you. Yeah, coaches know a lot of football. But there's a reason that a ton of coaches

are not allowed to draft players. They do not look at it like a guy, a personnel person like myself would, GMs, even like some of the fans, they can't see sometimes the force before the trees. Trees before the forest, I might have screwed up that analogy. But my point, they can't see the big picture.

They think so short term, because in fairness to them, they're kind of living short term. But Mayock, who could really help Gruden and who likes fighting, who likes being aggressive, one of the reason Gruden ran all over, ran all over Reggie McKenzie.

He's perfect for him. But you got to listen to him. and he's banging the table for players and he's telling you, hey, listen, the thing that, I heard this story probably two months ago. Chip Kelly, one draft. I think it was like Levion Bell,

Devante Adams, Jarvis Landry. I'm pretty sure all these guys were in the same draft. Chip had taken all these guys off the board, whether it was character, whether he didn't think they could play, for whatever reason. And my buddy, a while back, was like, you should have seen our do not draft board.

It was basically like the 2017 Pro Bowl. Chip, who's probably worse than Gruden, had, for this quote-unquote super sharp guy, knew nothing about value and understanding, hey, listen, you can take this guy in the second round, you don't need to take him in the first round. He's like, I'd take Jordan Matthews in the top 10. You would? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

And some of these coaches, they would do that. Like, if you just gave John Gruden full reign, he'll do what he did last year. He'll draft Arden Key, who stinks. P.J. Hall, who looks like an undrafted free agent. agent. Brandon Parker, that was going to get Derek Carr killed. Those were three picks, one in the second round and two others in the third round. You cannot let, I mean, he can let himself do whatever he want because he has absolute power. But if he's smart, he has to think

like any empowered CEO, you have to trust your people. You do have to trust your, there's a reason you hired Mike Mayotte. And he's uniquely qualified for this job. Now he's never done it, but we have, like, there's a lot of transparent information. I know what he's thought about players for the last decade. I know that he thought Khalil Mack was the best player in that draft several years ago.

He was an outlier on that. Everyone's like, you gotta take Clowny! He's like, no, I take Khalil Mack one. Everyone's like, Mike, you're an idiot. Well, five years later, it turns out actually clown, he's pretty good too. But he was right. And that was

a tough thing to say. And he's a guy with balls. He's a guy with conviction. But if Gruden doesn't listen to him, this great situation in this opportunity with pick 4, pick 24, and 27, is Gruden going to be picking the wrong players?

That's where, if I was another NFL team, I would actually be kind of glad that knowing that Gruden's probably not going to listen to this guy and the wrong players are going to come off the board. If he does listen to Mike and a guy that's going to have conviction, a guy that's going to believe, just like any good executive that's not the CEO in a major company does, then they could be really successful.

talking to a guy in the NFL I think it was actually earlier this week. He's like, actually, when you look at the Raiders offseason, they added Antonio Brown, if he can just keep his shit together, Tyroo Williams is a good player, they got rid of Brandon Parker and Trent Brown. If they crush this draft, again, when I say crush the draft,

if they hit on three of the four picks in the top 35, even if they missed on four, let's say they took Roshan Gary, and he's just not any good as a rookie, well, if they hit on two players in the 20s, and then pick 35, get like three legit starters, that's a lot. You know, if you think about it, most teams are dying to land three starters in a draft, if you have seven or eight picks.

Just get three starters. The difference is if you're drafting in the top 35, you're not just getting starters. If they are starting, you're getting potential impact players. But I have zero faith on him doing a good job because I don't think he'll listen to Mayok. And I've already heard some sources or some stories from sources that, like, yeah, they're already buttoned heads. and Mayock feels like he's not listening to anything he's saying because and Mayock knew what he's getting into

and people are like everyone, I get this on Twitter a lot he knew what he signed up for yeah but you also think like listen we're both grownups here why wouldn't he listen to me he's paying me whatever they're paying me a couple million bucks a year why wouldn't he listen to me what my expertise is like I do this well

and some people are just so stubborn whether it's ego whether it's just an inability I really think with most guys just ego. It's just ego and power hungry, and I think Gruden has a lot of that. But I'm really fascinating the way this draft's going to go for the Raiders, because I don't think at the end of the day he's going to listen to anything Mike says.

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It's kind of weird. Josh Rosen has not been traded, but I do get, I actually heard some rumblings, some rumblings. And I heard this rumbling in the fall that the Arizona Cardinal, that Steve Kime was going to get fired,

and then he didn't, and then he hired Cliff Kingsbury. But I know there's some rumblings out there right now. Again, I don't know how substantial they are. that that group, Steve Kime, and his scouts might be in trouble. Now, I didn't necessarily, it almost seems far-fetched, because, well, what's Cliff Kingsbury going to do? He needs a good GM.

But I do think there's a reason that they hadn't traded Josh Rosen yet. I do think there is pressure right now coming from the owner whose franchise just got embarrassed for the last year to get a franchise. first round pick for Josh Rosen, and it doesn't feel like they're going to, so they're almost holding out hope. But at the end of the day, I do think Josh Rosen gets traded, and I do think Kyler Murray's on the team. Well, and I've been saying this for a while, it feels like a Bay Area podcast I'm doing, but it's what happens when your two teams drafts really high and stink around this time of year, is that whoever John Lynch takes with the number two overall

pick, assuming Kyler Murray goes one, will immediately tell you who they view, who they view as the best player in the draft. Now, that guy isn't necessarily going to be the best player in the draft. I mean, the best player in the draft, or even, you know, the best defensive alignment of this group. Could be sweat, could be Roshan Gary, could be Quinn and William. Could be whoever. But whoever he takes it to will tell you who he viewed as the top dog. And I wrote an article yesterday for The Athletic.

If you're listening on Friday, it came out on Thursday. So, yeah, yesterday, I actually wrote it three days ago. But I said that Quinn and Williams, in my philosophy, when you're taking in the top, five, I'm not trying to hit doubles. I am swinging for the fences, because I would rather strike out in a draft situation than just hit a single. I watch what the Niners did with Solomon Thomas.

Solomon Thomas is never going to make a Pro Bowl, never going to sniff a pro bowl, but he's got to play in the league for like nine, ten years. If Solomon Thomas was like a fifth, fourth round pick, no one would be saying shit. Everyone would be like, guy, that's a good fine late in the draft, but they took him third overall. Now, he was a low ceiling guy, but it felt like he had a high floor. Well, it turns out his floor is not even that high.

And that's the risky part about just trying to hit a double. Is you're thinking, I'm taking a low floor. It's like an investment. You can think you're making a good investment. And I played in this golf skins game the other day with this guy that built these condos, that he was going to be, it was like 16 units, and he's only sold six of them. And he thought he was going to have all 16 sold. He thought it was the easiest deal he'd ever done.

He thought he'd have them all sold a year ago. And now he can't get the other 10 off his hands. And it just shows you any time and anything in life. And anyone will tell you this. In any walk of life, there are no sure things. Whether it's players, whether it's investments, whether it's relationships, whether it's anything. So when you look at the top five in the draft,

if you're drafting like the 49ers at number two, I am taking the guy that I believe has the highest ceiling because it would be easy to justify Nick Bosa, and I wrote this in the article. I think he's a really good player, and I think he's ready-made. I think he can come in, get you nine, ten sacks. But I don't think he's as good as his brother,

and his brother's fantastic. His brother was a better college player than him. And I compared him the last group of players, Miles Garrett's ceiling, clearly much higher. You know, the Vaughn Miller's, the Cleobacks, the clownies, those guys are in a different class, I would put closer to the Bradley Chubb mold. And Bradley Chub, probably a better player. I actually think if I had to rank them, I would take him Bradley over Nick Bosa.

And Bradley had 12 sacks. Now, I don't ever think Bradley Chubb, for the next 10 years, I'll take Miles Garrett. I guess 10 would be long for a defensive line. In the next six years, I'd rather have Miles Garrett than Bradley Chub. I'm taking the guy just with the higher ceiling. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that Bradley Chubb is going to be, or Miles Garrett will have a better career than Bradley Chubb. but I am swinging for the fences.

I'm trying to hit a Bryce Harper grand slam. And to me in this draft, if I'm the 49ers or if the Niners are willing to trade the pick, it's not even a question. I haven't really studied Josh Allen, but just from talking to the people I trust the most in the league, I feel pretty confident that Quinn and Williams of these top three guys has the highest ceiling. He's been a one-year starter, and you go, why do you only start one year? I don't know, this guy, Duran Payne that went 13th in the draft last year, was starting above him. sometimes at Alabama, it's really difficult to crack the starting lineup.

Because the guy above you, it's not like, ah, that dude's selling insurance now. No, those type guys usually go in the top 20. So the guy above you was a lock first round pick. But then when he got his chance, like he's a better player than Duran Payne. And that's why he's going pro. But I think to me, like just comparing him, now him and Bosa play different positions. But any good drafter will tell you, you can't worry about that crap. That's what coaches worry about.

take the best player available. And it's easy to say that not a lot of people live by it. Because coaches do not live by it. They like to fill needs. And when you fill needs, you get in trouble. When it's a situation where, yeah, you already got D Ford. You get Williams or Bosa. You're getting pressure.

And the thing I wrote in that article, and I was tipped off by a friend, and I think we've all been talking about this, and I've been thinking about this for a while, it's easier to get interior pressure right now than it is outside pressure from the sense that the tackles in this league actually aren't that terrible on the whole the guards and centers for the most part are average to blow whoever you are listening to this you know I know there's fans of literally every team

for the most part I bet you go yeah we got a center's okay but our guards stink or yeah we got one good guard but our other center and guards suck that's usually the way to that's why Aaron Donald Fletcher Cox Chris Jones DeForest Buckner last year on the Niners played on a team with no other good defensive linemen. Solomon Thomas stunk. Eric Armstead got hurt.

Cassius Marsh was their best past record. Cassius Marsh. Yeah, most of you guys have never heard of them. And he dominated. Because most of the guards he's facing on a weekly basis stink. So if you can get Quinn and Williams to go with D. Ford and DeForest Buckner, who... Last night, 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,

answer. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kier Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase

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anything. I can, like, 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. and you get D4 to double-digit sack guy, how do you block Quinn and Williams and DeForest Buckner? I don't know. The other thing about Quinn and Williams,

a lot of people compare him to Warren Sapp. Like he's that type, gets on guy's angles, his quickness, his just instincts for making plays in the backfield. I'm just not passing on Warren Sapp for, you know, I'm not going to call Nick Bosen overachiever because he's not. He's a really good player. But I just don't see some perennial pro bowler. I definitely don't see some elite all-pro.

Quentin Williams can be an all-pro. And again, I think if you stick by the philosophy, not just the best player available, but if you have the guy stacked the same, like I view Nick Bosa and Quina-N-Wilin-William, let's say I view him as the same level prospect. You've got to take the guy with the higher ceiling. If you consistently do that,

because you're going to miss no matter what. But when you hit on the guy with the higher ceiling, sky's the limit. I mean, you get all pros. You get all pros. So if I was the Niners and I was John Lynch, again, assuming Kyler Murray goes first, which I think is safe to assume,

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Pursuant to License by MasterC International Incorporated. Beneficial State Bank member FDIC 2021. Terms and conditions apply. Visit aspiration.com slash zero for more information. Okay, let's get to the Middlecoff mailbag. At John Middlecoff is my Instagram handle. You slide up in those DMs and then I answer your questions hereup on the podcast. John, I'm from Ireland and a big cold.

fan. In reference to the PI and the reviewable challenges changes, in rugby when a wrong decision is made, the television match official, so there's, you know, I guess if you had a rules official in the TV crew, is in the ear of the ref and points it out. This is normally if it's an obvious penalty. Would this not be a better option instead of adding more delays, challenges to the game process of a ref going to a TV booth? That's interesting. Baseball kind of does something like this. They get back with the league office. I guess football does the same thing.

I don't know if it's that realistic. I do think you kind of have to stop the game. Because what if, and we see this a lot, seems like Stereotor is right, but some of the other rules officials in the TV booth have been wrong. I forget the one guy's name, but he was on, yeah, I think the dude was on Monday Night Football. Whoever the old guy was on Monday Night Football was,

was terrible, consistently wrong. I just don't think the standard, maybe that works in Ireland, maybe rugby, I don't know enough about rugby penalties, maybe they're a little more black and white in football, and it's going to be a problem this fall, is they're going to be really, really subjective. They're going to be a lot like NBA fouls, where you could reverse it, you could keep it.

I think it would be difficult, and I think just as a football fan and I don't no longer really have a team anymore but because I gamble I root for certain teams I would be incest if the team I was gambling on

that happened and instead of the coach being able to review it or challenge or whatever the TV booth whoever was in the the referee on the set was in charge of giving it like a thumbs up or thumbs down

I wouldn't be cool with that I don't think the league would either. Has DAC already earned his contract extension, or does he need to engineer a deep playoff run this season? Depending on how that goes, does Jerry keep an eye on the quarterbacks in next year's draft? The thing about football, you know, probably, I guess the other sports are like this too,

but in football you evaluate every position every year, basically to the max. So I think you're always locked in. Your area scouts or whoever is, you know, if you're going into Clemson, you're going to Alabama, Just because you have a quarterback does not mean that you're not evaluating those positions. So that's never a worry. To me, Dak, to earn it, he just needs to play well.

You know, if they win 9, 10 games and they're competing for a wild card, I got no problem paying him. But if he plays poorly and the team is just good, like on paper, they're a playoff team. If he's just solid, they should be in the playoffs. So if he's just solid, I got no problem paying him, at least decent money. I'm not paying Dak Prescott historic cash, really unless he makes a legit, gets me to the Super Bowl, maybe if he gets me to the NFC championship game, I think about it, even then. Unless he takes a huge step, I'm not in the pay Dak big money no matter what.

He just doesn't have the physical skills to be at Aaron Rogers, to be a Russell Wilson. But if he wins and keeps playing kind of like he has, he needs to be a little better earlier in games. I think his, my favorite attribute about him is these good, late in games when you're like, God, it's kind of nut-cutting time. That's when DAC is really under control and plays his best football. But to be an 11-12 win team this next year,

he has to have more games where he plays well in the first and second quarter, not just in the second half. He's got to start hitting some of the deep balls. And yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, if they don't pay him this off-season, I would expect they're rooting. Not obviously they'd be rooting for them,

but expecting him to make a deep playoff run to get paid. Hey, John, big Falcons fan. What do you think they should do this offseason to make another playoff run? One, they got to get healthy. I thought last year they wore a playoff level team and the injuries just decimated their defense. I mean, their defense was absolutely decimated. One thing I was thinking, you know,

it's kind of the elephant in the room right now, or the Texans going to trade Clowny? If you're the Falcons, could you double down and maybe trade your first round pick for Clowny? The problem is for them, I'd have to look at the draft, or what are they drafted in the late teens, mid-teens. I mean, they didn't have a very good season. What, they win five or six years?

Are they drafted in the top ten? So maybe, never mind on that one, actually. I have to look at what they're drafting, but it's not as low as I thought. So you probably wouldn't trade for clown. You just draft a guy, Ed Oliver, someone like that, and you just let your guys come back on defense. Because on offense, you got Maddie Ice.

Say what you want about Maddie Ice. He's fine when you got Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley. They got players. Devante Freeman should be healthy. They lost Kevin Coleman to the Niners, but backup running backs are replaceable. Yeah, I think the Falcons will be a bounceback team for sure. I seem to be one of the few fans that actually liked and appreciated Taney Hill,

sad to see him go. Do you think the dolphins are planning for an off year in hopes of drafting Tua in 2020? I'm with you. When Tanyhill played, he was solid. The problem with Tanyhill, and I think why Miami had to move on, you can hold on to a guy like Tanyhill for 10 years because he has these moments like how do we ever upgrade

you win some games when he's there and then he gets hurt and then he comes back and he does the same thing and then he gets hurt then he comes back and he does the same thing then he gets hurt you just can't depend on him I think Tanyhill's better than a lot of us thought that he would ever be when he was healthy like what he became those first couple years with Adam Gase really what he was doing before he got hurt that first time when they made the playoffs and Matt Moore came in

To me, though, you just, when you get a guy like that and he's kind of like a poor man's version of what Sam Bradford was, they just tease you and tease you. It's like, you know, we've all, any guys experienced that with girls, like, just tease. Eventually, you're just like, okay, I'm out. I'm not doing this anymore. And I think that's what their ultimate decision was with Tanyhill. Like, I'm over this tease. I can't do it anymore. I got to take the sunk cost and just move on.

on the flip side, I think it's a good move for Tennessee getting him as the backup quarterback. If Ryan Tanyo is your backup quarterback, you're in pretty good shape. I'm thinking about it right now. He's the best backup quarterback in the NFL. Now that Foles isn't a backup quarterback, I mean, who has a better backup quarterback than Ryan Tanyo?

And the great thing about it, he doesn't even have to play, right? Hell, but if Marcus Marriota is struggling or gets hurt, maybe he does play. First, can I get to fall back? I don't ask for fallbacks Second What is the percentage that Kyler Murray

Going to the Rams? Zero No chance Like none Absolutely none He's gonna go to the Cardinals You know I'm not a big fan when you go fallback Like if you do good stuff

And you're entertaining on social media On Instagram on Twitter I'll follow you You know I'm open-minded I don't You don't just have to have Kim Kardashian or Peter King or Colin To get a follow You know, I follow the people.

If your shit's good, you know, you've got to be creative. Hey, John, big fan over here in the UK. God, we got a lot of international listeners. Colin must have a big following in the UK. Do you think the NFL will ever change kickoff times for Sunday games to make them more UK and European friendly? No. Zero chance. Their bread and butter is America.

So to me, the entire television schedule, they don't even care about me living in California. They care about one consumer, and that's the Eastern time zone, and maybe the Central Times Zone, too, like Dallas, Chicago. They care about the Eastern Seaboard and a couple of the major cities, Chicago, the Packers brand, and the Cowboys. They put the Niners and Raiders in Seattle, they don't care at all. They care about when's the Cowboy game, wins the Giants game, wins a DC, wins Philly, wins the Steelers, the Patriots,

even the Jets. Those are enormous. enormous markets. So I don't think they'll ever build it around the UK. When is the UK? So they are ahead of us. So I guess that won, the early, early morning game that happens for me, like out west, the 630 kickoff, which is a 930 Eastern kickoff, which is actually a what, a 1230 UK kickoff. It's kind of cool for you guys.

I guess you get that once a year out of 16 weeks. Do you think there's a possibility of the Cowboys getting in on the Josh Rosen Market and moving off Dack Prescott to avoid the big contract. I actually haven't heard this from anyone, but that's kind of genius. Here's the problem. The Cowboys don't have a first round pick. They have a second round pick,

but would you give up a second round pick when you already have Dack Prescott, who's better than Josh Rosen right now? And also, where I stand on Dack, you don't have to pay him right now. So this year, I don't know exactly what he's making, but he's making like 800 grand. he's not making any money.

Josh Rosen's making more money this year than Dak. Now, obviously, you don't have to pay Josh Rosen, maybe ever, but definitely not for several years, where Dak, it's really this offseason or next off season. Even if you franchise them, it's still a lot of cash. $25, $26 million, whatever, the franchise tag would be, hell, it might even be more than that, given what the average salaries are and how they're going up.

Not the craziest of ideas. you that. I just, that is very, very risky. And I like Josh Rosen, but I know for a fact I can make the playoffs with Dak Prescott with my team being good. I do not know that if that's Josh Rosen at all. Like, there is a chance

that Josh Rosen is just not good. And you put him on the Cowboys and he stinks. Though, I actually think he'd be pretty good. Their defense is good. He's got Zeke. Jason Witten's back. You got Amari. You got Gallup. Maybe they draft a couple of offensive skill guys, this draft.

Yeah, it's actually not that crazy. I like where your head's at. Looked into Bosas' dad and why his career ended, and he was quoted as saying he blew up both of his knees. Joey has missed 13 games in three years, and Nick, as we know, has missed more than half the season this year, also towards ACO, a senior year in college. Is this a concern that he's still a top three pick,

considering the whole family is riddled with injuries? 1,000%. To me, I wrote this in the article. on Bosa Williams is that Nick Bosa is benefiting from Joey's success. And that's not a bad thing. Like part of Nick, one of Nick's positive is this lineage that he comes from. Dad played in the NFL. In a draft room, that's important.

You know, this guy's been around in his whole life. It's like when you hire our coach. Well, this guy's dad was a coach. They just think a little differently. So his lineage in his last name are important. Then his brother is not just a good player. he's a dominant player So you go, that works in his favor.

You go, well, a lot of people thought Joey wasn't going to be that great of an NFL player and he's exceeded everyone's expectation. So Nick, who actually physically is very similar to him, he's getting kind of like propped up based on that. But I also think you have to look at it on the flip side, you go, like you said, his dad, his career washed out because he blew out knees.

His brother has had some weird injuries. A foot, a knee, a hammy. just kind of been an injury problem. I don't think he's as good as his brother. Whatever Nick Bost's medical check was, you had to check his knee because he's torn his ACL, and the sports hernia that he had this year, I got to rely on my doctors.

That's the thing if you're John Lynch or Mike Mayock or Mike McCagnin or any of these guys, you're not a doctor. You're a glorified, I mean, you are a scout, you're more of a glorified manager, you know, being the gentle manager, are dealing with a lot of stuff, but you do not know anything about medical stuff.

So you are very reliant. And the great part is, if you're the 49ers or the Giants, I mean, you've got like the Stanford medical team. If you're the Jets, you know, you've got the best doctors in New York. So you've got to rely on those guys. It's the one thing in football where you can go gut, you know, this guy's going to be okay. If the doctor, and this is where I always kind of supported Trent Balke,

he took all those ACL guys. Well, the Stanford medical team that the 49th, nineers employee told him that all those guys were going to bounce back. I mean, what Trent Balky's supposed to say? No, man. I know you've got a Harvard medical degree and you've worked at Stanford Hospital for 20 years, but I think this guy's never going to bounce back. You are very dependent on your doctors when it comes to injuries.

So if the doctors go, you know what? I think Nick Bosa, if you look at his family's medical history, which I'm sure came up in the doctor's meeting, going, you know, I'm not quite that comfortable. Then as a general manager, you better not be comfortable either. But if the guy gives you the full bill of health and says, you know what, he's fine. You got to just kind of think he's going to be fine. Last weekend, I bet my buddy $100 the Raiders would win five or less games.

Six is a push. And after the fact, I checked in Vegas has them at six and a half wins. Not going to lie, there may have been a little alcohol and shit-talking involved. Been there. Do you think I'm going to be $100 richer, fine? January, come January? Well, I think here's the thing with the Raiders.

They've had a... I mean, they have added a lot of talent. Antonio Brown, he's nuts, but he is an unreal player. Trent Brown is a massive upgrade for them. Tyrell Williams is a really good like two, three wide receiver. Their defense is shitty, but they have

all these draft picks. After the draft, their team could be much improved. Now, if Derek doesn't play well, and I thought last year he was average for most of the season and some games below average, Now he had a couple moments. But if Derek, if Derek's good with all this increased talent and they hit on a bunch of draft picks, yeah, they could win seven or eight games.

But if Antonio Brown gets off the rails and he starts throwing shit at John Gruden and they miss on some draft picks, you'll be $100 richer. That's, I mean, $100, who cares? I like that bet. As a Titans fan, the mock drafts are all over the place. Analysts have us anything between a tackle, a wide receiver, a tight receiver, a tightest, side end, a linebacker, a defensive lineman, what do you think is our biggest

need to show up in the first round? Well, I haven't been there at practice last year. The kid they drafted from Boston College, Heraldandry, they got a good defensive line. To me, their young front seven is good. Their corners, a little hit or miss, but they paid Malcolm Butler a lot of money.

He's going to play. And obviously, Adory Jackson, they drafted in the first round, he's going to play. They drafted Corey Davis, who actually showed some signs of life, but he's really the only wide receiver they got. Could they justify a Nikiel Harry, you know, an AJ Brown, a Keene Butler or something like that in the first round? I do think so.

The other thing is last year, was it last year Delaney got hurt? I think it was last year or two years ago. Yeah, it was last year. Because Delaney went out and it kind of messes them up. The problem with Delaney is he's their best receiving option, but he's an older player. So I think tight end, to me, wide receiver or tied end feel very realistic and I might even lead tight-in because you need Marcus Marriota, who's not this explosive thrower of the football, get him a tight-in.

So if you've got to draft Noah Fant, who's kind of a Travis Kelsey, Zach Ertz type, he's not a blocker, but who cares? I love this. Well, these tight-ins can't block. Don't ask him to block. Put him in the slot. Who's going to cover a 6-foot-4 guy that runs a 4-5-40?

I'll tell you, nobody. That's why Travis Kelsey and Zach Ertz dominate because Ertz definitely can't block. Kelsey's okay. I mean, tries, kind of. But they can't cover them. That's all I care about. Okay, talking to some relatives in the Jacksonville area

that rely on me for sports info, what is their biggest need in the draft? Any thoughts on T.J. Hawkinson or Ed Oliver? Who cares, though, is Jacksonville? Well, they got Foles. Their wide receivers, Alan Robinson left, right, last year of Chicago. Marquis Lee tore his knee.

They don't really have a tight end. Mercedes-Lewis is gone now. So they need an offensive playmaker. As of the recording of this earlier today, Leonard Fournett got arrested for driving with a suspended license after a traffic stop. I didn't really read much of the info. All I know is that he got arrested.

He's already been in some trouble. That's not good. That's a problem. You're not going to take a running back again in the first round. But I think clearly they still have a bunch of of players on defense, even after cutting Malik Jackson. They still got Clayas Campbell. They still got, I guess Dante Fowler's not on the team anymore. But they got the other dude, I can't even say his name, but he had a bunch of sacks a couple years ago, a good player.

The linebackers are solid. Still got the two corners. I would go wide receiver or tight end, for sure. But you're right. Who cares to Jacksonville? The other thing about Jacksonville, how good is that division? The Colts are stacked. Texas are damn good. And, you know, the titans are solid. I mean, I think Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Jacksonville. Jaguars are the fourth best team in that division. Unless Nick Foles can just really strike some Nick Foles magic this year, it's going to be really hard. Okay, enjoy the weekend, enjoy the masters, go Tiger, we're close to the draft, thank God, because I'm ready, you know, I like these hypotheticals.

I'm ready for some actual picks. I'm ready for some actual players. Let's do this. See you next week. John Middlecock, three and out. Tell all your buddies, tell all your friends. Appreciate you listening. Peace.

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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 noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headlines. 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 Slicel 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 acapella 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 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 the front of the entire world.

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