The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Middlekauff – 3 & Out – MLB vs. NFL deals; Witten un-retirement theory; Giants need an Eli divorce; Combine scouting philosophies

Episode Date: March 1, 2019

In this episode, Middlekauff explains why the NFL deal structure is so far superior to MLB deals like Bryce Harper's, his theory behind Jason Witten's surprise return to the Cowboys, why the Giants need to divorce Eli, what he's looking for at the scouting combine heading into the weekend, and answers questions in 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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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. 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, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season, and I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. You just understood.

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eBaymotors.com. Let's ride. What's going on, everybody? It's your boy. Or it's just me, John Middlough's Three and Out podcast. Combine Week. I went last year. I just wasn't able to go this year.

I'll go next year. We'll go in every other year with the three-in-out podcast. That will be maybe my game plan. A lot going on. I mean a lot going on. I had like three topics. I'm recording this on Thursday. I had three topics with Eli Manning,

with just Kyler Murray, and just in general, just reaching on guys in the combine and how different teams evaluate on Wednesday. then this morning Jason Witten returns to the Cowboys I have a theory

on what really happened if you follow me on Twitter follow me on Instagram we do the Middlekopf mailbag at the end of every podcast so you can slide up in those DMs I answer questions I got a million questions

I'll probably have to answer some of you just manually over DMs but you can find me at John Middlecough everywhere we're going to get into all of that But the big news of the day was actually baseball news. It was Bryce Harper signed a contract for 13 years and $330 million. And I say it all the time.

And part of it I think is I've never, you know, I've worked in the management side. But I saw things that happen on the management side I didn't necessarily agree on. I'm not anti-player, even though most of my takes. would be anti-player if you were a player viewing my thoughts or you listen to me talk. I think some of it is driven because so much of social media and I probably spend an unhealthy amount of time on there drives me to just take the opposite stance because it pisses me off when I see the group think. But I understand both sides and I'm a believer I have no problem with paying good players. I would have paid Khalil back $90 million and don't even flinch.

But when you see a deal, and free agency is not that far away, and the one thing that I don't think people quite realize, because the combine is technically a draft event, it's when all the GMs and all the coaches and the scouting staffs get to meet, especially all the underclassmen. They've met a lot of the seniors at the Senior Bowl. But it's really the start of free agency. Now, football, unlike baseball and basketball,

guys don't really hit free agency often because of the franchise tag. but let's just say they did. Because I've been thinking a lot about it ever since really Mani Machado signed the 10-year deals or a deal with the Padres, I think it was last week, Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network, which actually he has a big week coming up. He's taken over from Mike Mayock.

I'm personally indebted to him. I took over the West when he left NFL Network, and he's been a big advocate of mine in the media. I'm a big DJ fan. I'm glad he's getting this shot. I should be fine. I can't wait. I've got all the combine DVR if I can't catch it live.

But who would you give a 13-year deal with just in life? I mean, how many people get married and feel 100% confident? Now, I've never been married, been to a lot of weddings, feels like they're pretty confident on a wedding day. 13 years a long time. 13 years ago, I was a junior in college. Now, in the NFL, you know, even Patrick Mahomes, when Patrick Mahomes becomes a free agent,

he's got a four-year deal, he's already going into year three, and then he's got the fifth-year option. So Patrick Mahomes, I think he's like 23 years old, so in a couple years it'd be 25. I wouldn't feel comfortable giving Patrick Mahomes a 10-year deal, let alone 13 years. And I think it just, it really is crazy when you see these deals,

the difference in the NFL and basketball, and especially baseball, One problem for football, players, and just that camp, the agent camp, the union camp, and I'm not anti them. The game, you need players to play a game. So they are important. I never disputed that. And the top players, you know, drive the bus, just like in the tax system, right?

15% of people pay 85% of the taxes, whatever the exact number is. You know, Brady, Manning, the max, those type, the garage. Those type players carry the NFL from a marketing standpoint and just an interest standpoint. But you need special teamers, you need kickers, you need backup running backs to function. I just don't, the problem for NFL players, just in this fight for more money, is always going to be because of the nature of the sport. There's just a huge injury element that is just not there in the other sports. Think about a couple weeks ago now when Zion got hurt.

It was kind of a freak deal. I mean, his shoe blew up. But to play basketball, to even train for basketball, what do you do? You play basketball. In baseball, you don't really do, if you're going to play a baseball game, what do they do in spring training? They don't like simulate practice. They practice for like four days. Then they just start playing games.

In basketball and in baseball, you just play. You can just play the sport. In football, practice is so much different than games. you really have a smaller segment at the end of practice when you go one-on-one and actually go 11 on 11. And you could argue, and I would imagine NFL people would tell you, because of the rules, now you can't really do that. When I first started working in college football in 2008 at Fresno State, we had back-to-back

double days for, I think, two weeks, and we would scrimmage every other day. So you would, in training camp, and in the history of the league, I remember when I got to the NFL and Deuce Daly would look at me and tell me, God, camp is so much easier. We used to scrimmage. You don't really scrimmage anymore. So the only time you play in football is in games, right, is the 16 games. And part, bits and pieces, depending on who your coach is, in the preseason. So it's so unique and injuries are so prevalent that the contracts, this next CBA with football. the players are probably going to get a, you would think, a little more cash, but you will never,

ever sniff the guaranteed money in the years at these other sports. It's because it's not really possible. The majority of deals, if you could ever sign a 10-year deal in the NFL, would be absolute disasters, even if it was the best players. Think in the last 10 years how many players, if you would assign to a 10-year deal, you'd actually feel that good about it. It's a pretty small list. For the most part, if you look back over the history of the league, the last like 30, 40 years,

and you just factored in once a guy was four or five years in the league who you would give a 10-year deal do, it would basically be only Hall of Famers. And even then, some of them, a lot of guys in the Hall of Fame had a solid 10 or 11 years, so you would get terrible the last three or four years of the deal. Like Jason Taylor, who I wasn't a big fan of when he went to the Hall of Fame. But when he looked at his resume, he played for like 17 years or what. whatever, or Ray Lewis. Those guys are really even outliers in the Hall of Fame crew, non-quarterbacks. So it really is fascinating. I wouldn't give 13 years if I was a record

label to like Lady Gaga, let alone a player, a Bryce Harper. That is crazy. And I would imagine that we will never, ever see anything close to probably 10 years in the NFL. I don't, It's just been on the top of my head, and I think it's just fascinating element to the business of football. Okay, let's get into the other big story. I'm not exactly sure of the time. I'd have to go check the Cowboys' tweets when it officially happened. But when it happened, I think like all of you, I was shocked. And then, and this isn't the healthiest way to live.

I wish it wasn't like this. But I'm pretty cynical and pessimistic of any announcement, just in America, let alone with sports. If you announce something, I immediately red flag it. I'm like, uh, I'm going to look into there. I'm not, you know, tinfoil on my head, conspiracy theory guy, though I do have theories. And when I actually just got a text from my buddy Scotty Rayber. and he says, and I thought he nails this. Doesn't Witten completely unprovoked, saying, and he said this in a statement,

this was completely my decision, and ESPN definitely didn't force me out. What I'm talking about here is Jason Winton has been resigned by the Cowboys. He's unretiring, and he is now the starting tight end or backup tight end for the Cowboys. And he's left Monday Night Football. my first reaction was the same thing. When you go out of your way, first, when I saw the news, I said ESPN was going to fire him. He was not going to be back. That was my first reaction.

And then, and I already saw this quote, but my guy Scotty nails it. Like, doesn't him unprovoked saying that? No one's, this isn't that press conference. You're putting out a statement. Pretty much mean, that's what happened? Yeah. My theory is 100% ESPN was not going to have him back. on Monday Night Football.

Now, could they economically fire them? Would they move them around, put them on countdown? I don't know what their game plan was, but he was not going to be calling Monday Night Football games anymore. I don't think you've got to be tinfoil on your head, super negative, pessimistic guy, to come to that conclusion. Because I think, first off, Monday Night Football, I'm going to watch football games no matter what.

One, I love it. Two, it's how I pay my mortgage. three, it just, I want to tweet about it. And I just, yeah, back to one, I really like watching football games. Like most people listen to this podcast, we're going to watch Monday Night Football regardless. What Gruden, what John Madden, what Tony Romo is doing now, it brings in the casual guy. They're really fun. And when you have Nash, you know, people hate on Collinsworth on social media.

And he's not as important because you got Al Michaels. I mean, Al Michaels is a rock star. He's been in anyone's life if you're an older person for a long time. He's a big deal. He brings the casual fan in. Monday Night Football is a stand-alone game. You can't have a guy that has zero personality. They got pretty lucky with John Gruden.

Do you know who didn't like John Gruden after a while? Football people. Because I'm like, oh, he doesn't say anything. I'll throw my hand up. I was like, God, you know, Gruden will never crush anyone. You know who liked John Gruden? My mom. The casual dude, you'll see at the store.

that doesn't really like football. Most people that just casually watch like them. That's good for business. Because you know what? The football people that don't like John Gruden are going to watch Monday Night Football no matter what. You couldn't roll Jason Wittenback. It was over.

He was terrible. He was not good. He's not a media guy. Not everyone is meant for the media. Just because you're a former player does not mean you're going to be a good media member. You have to have a personality if I give you a microphone unless you are just so, you know, famous.

And even then, it's been proven. Emmett Smith, Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, a little bit before my time. I don't vividly remember, but you can YouTube, was bad. I've always read stories. Bill Walsh wasn't that great. Some guys are good. Some guys are bad. Usually naturals that just have a big, gregarious personality, you have to kind of come off to.

Because if you're a 10-plus year vet and you get into the NFL, you're not like normal people. You were a millionaire in your 20s. You left a really, really difficult, physically demanding lifestyle. your life has just been unique. You don't relate to that many people. John Gruden woke up every day at like 3.30 in the morning. He relates to nobody. But on TV, he came off very relatable.

Same with John Madden. John Madden was making $8 million a year. You go to the Ringer article, and when Fox got the NFL, gave him $8 million in 1993. $8 million is a lot now. It's 2019. Imagine 25.

years ago to call a game. He was the least relatable human on television. How many television personalities, like Johnny Carson, like Jay Leno, were making $8 million on TV. John Madden, and he was the most relatable guy on television. Jason Witten wasn't. He kind of had, he just,

he didn't have a great personality. That's part of the problem. Great guy. Tony Romo's best friend. Be the guy I want, be my neighbor. Guy would want to like teach my son how to block. But I just don't. I don't want him entertaining me on Monday night. My Monday night, you're, you know, I don't claim to have a tough job. I talk and write and YouTube.

Actually, you just started a YouTube channel. Go subscribe. John Middilkopf on YouTube. I actually didn't just start it. Last night, a blown call changed the 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 controversy. 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, wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic 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, Kear 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, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are

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Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before.

And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night bases on offense.

And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball, like, After you go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball.

So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. 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? Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, Red. My mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker.

Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Been started a long time ago, but it's up and running now. I go live there every day. But I want to be entertained. and that's a huge part of Monday night football. And you can take Jason Witten at face value and believe what he said, and the Cowboys would clearly never throw him under the bus.

My other part of this theory is I think Jerry kind of threw him a lifeline. Now, it does make sense from a football perspective. They have a young team to get him around all their younger players for leadership in a big make or break year for Jason Garrett. But I'll never, I mean, I'll go to my grave thinking ESPN was going to fire him, slash reassign him and it was over on Monday and a prideful winning, you know, he's a winner. That's what Jason Witten is. He's a winning, he's a high level, not a Hall of Famer, but, you know, the Hall of really good. He's the type guy you want on your team. You know, didn't want to be a part

of the public shaming, even though he had been getting destroyed on social media forever. But it was over at ESPN. 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. We know you're eager to get back out there, and with Royal Caribbean, you can make the most of the moment and rise to the vacation. This is not just a cruise. This is the biggest, boldest vacation on land or at sea. This is pushing the limits of what could be done at sea and on land, breaking records and earning honors along the way.

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Go to Shopify.com slash John, that's all lowercase, for a free 14-day trial, and get full access to Shopify's entire suite of features. Grow your business with Shopify today. Go to Shopify.com slash J-O-H-N, Shopify.com slash, John. I've never been married, but I've known a lot of people that have gotten divorces. Now, I have consistently dated since high school. I've been in several, I wouldn't necessarily call them serious relationships. They might. Dated monogamous people, one person, but every single one, because again, I'm still unmarried, there has come a point in time when I was hanging out with

that other person, that female, that I realized that I was not going to make. I was not going to marry him. So the moment I realized that, our ability to, you know, we were a ticking time bomb. It was going to end. And that happens with me. I want to meet someone, spend the rest of my life with. But, you know, you play the cards you're dealt. I've met people, dated, have fun. I'm open-minded to it, but just haven't met the person. And every time, I know. And there's either a moment, you know, a period of moments, a series of things that happen, whatever, where you just, yeah, I'm probably not going to marry them. And some people that have been married would probably tell you that you kind of know early. But I've also heard from other people that are happily married that it took, you know,

some time. Not that you don't like the person right away, but you like, I spend the rest of my life with this person. But again, I think once you know the healthiest thing to do, like once you know you're not going to marry the person is probably to break up. Now, we know that's not usually how happens. You continue to hang out with them for whatever reason. We usually know the main one. And it eventually ends. But when you know, you know. And I think you see the Eli Manning and the Giants, he was the right guy for them to marry. And their highs were incredibly high. But it's time for a divorce. If we related them and paralleled it to a relationship, they were like Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. I'm pretty sure they never got married. Like their highs were high.

They won a couple of Super Bowls. It was incredible, but it's time. For the Giants and Pat Shermer even said, Eli was good. It's not all Eli's fault. We want Eli back. Dave Gettleman didn't quite ring the same endorsement, but clearly the ownership with the New York Giants

is smitten for Eli because of what he did for him. And they just can't forget it. But I got news for him. Guys, the first Super Bowl was, 2007. The second one was 2011. It's 2019. He can't move. He is a statue, and he's

not a very good player anymore. We all love Eli. I personally bet on him twice. Made a combined, like four grand. And the first I think it was like 1800 or whatever, 1400 or 1500, back in 07 is the equivalent

of a lot of money now for me, relative to what I had. So Eli, I was personally invested in Eli. I believed in Eli. And then when I worked in the league and had to play him in New York, well, he never felt like he played that well against us in Philly. I respected him because of what his ability, like him going on the road and winning that 49er game, their highs were high. I would understand being in love with Eli the sports equivalent if I'm the Giants. But it's over. And we've known for a couple years. And listen, I've been in situations where I've known it's over,

but she's so good looking and she's fun. It's just, what are you going to do? You don't dump her on the spot. So I don't even blame the Giants for holding on. I kind of do last year because they should have taken Sam Donald. But I 100% will blame them if they hold on an extra year. Like you knew, you definitely knew last year, but for some reason you held out hope.

Then he showed you, he's not good enough to carry you. You could argue he's never really been. But when he peaked, he was awesome. But it's time. It's 2019. draft a freaking quarterback. Whether you got to trade up with the 49ers to get one of these two guys, whether you got to, I don't know, trade for Josh Rosen, do something.

You cannot. I repeat, cannot have Eli Manning as your starting quarterback next year. And if I was a Giants fan, if I was an Eagles or a Cowboys fan, I'd be licking my lips because it kind of feels like Eli Manning might be the starting quarterback next year. But the Giants have to come to grips, look themselves in the mirror, and they can't keep holding on to this relationship. They can get out financially. They don't owe them anything anymore emotionally.

They already kind of screwed them a couple years ago with McAdoo and the streak. Like that ended. And then they kind of felt bad and they overcompensated. And they spent an extra year and a half with them. It's ugly. Like the only way you can get back to relevancy is with another quarterback. So whether that's a guy that's already in the league, Josh Rosen, goes on to sign Nick Fools.

I don't know. I'm not claiming to have the selection. But I 100% and this is not, you don't need to be Bill Walsh to figure this out. No, the solution is not to continue to be in this business relationship with having Eli Manning be your starting quarterback. So go trade for Rosen, sign falls, draft Haskins, trade up for Murray. I don't care what you do, but you got to do something. When you know, you know.

And I get, they knew and they still held on. But there was, you know, maybe one excuse last year. Like, oh, Sequant's a generational play. There's no excuse now. Eli stinks. It's over. Just come to grips with it, Giants. Someone asked me a good question on the middle cop mailbag.

And before I started doing the podcast, I'm like, you know what? I'll use this kind of as a topic because I do think a lot of people are unsure of this. Football has been using analytics forever. I know analytics is the sexy new term on social media and the way we talk about sports and it's overwhelming in baseball. Basketball is somewhere in the middle, and football's trying to catch up. That's what the combine is.

Height, weight, speed, hand size. Like, they really value numbers. Old school guys. Like the old, old school organizations, the Giants. I think Michael Lombardi, former general manager, tweeted this. It might have been Greg Gabriel. One of the former NFL guys on Twitter,

it might have been Greg Gabriel. Former, he worked for the Giants forever, worked for the Bears forever. So the Giants are not going to draft Kyler Murray. They have size requirements. And I've talked about this before on the podcast. And the premise of the question on the middle-coff mailbag was, how do teams evaluate players at the combine? You know, how do they rate different guys?

And my answer is pretty simple. Like probably any company, you look for different things, for different people. You know, obviously in football, different schemes dictate who you want. some teams care more about size. I know some GMs don't care about size. Andy Reed and Brett Veach, they have had so much success with smaller players, they do not care. Deshawn Jackson, Tyree Kill, they will go with a smaller player high

or a premium player with a smaller guy. The Bengals, the Bengals typically don't. They are usually, it had been, when they were really humming the last, not this last year, but kind of in the heyday of Andy Dalton and Marvin Lewis, the second go-round with Andy Dalton and that team that was super loaded. They acquired all those picks from trading Carson Palmer. Size, sigh, size. What happened?

They went against the grain because a guy ran a 4-3-2-40, and the rumor came out this week. They're looking to trade John Ross. Now, I know their general manager, I think his name's Dick Tobin vehemently shot that down, called it fake news, but I think he'd tell you, we went again. what we stand for. We typically draft AJ Green, Tyler Eifford. I mean,

big, we like big size. And the Bengals are our team. The AFC North in general has been consistently pretty big. But John Schneider, he doesn't care. He's kind of from that Andy Reed. I think those Green Bay Packer guys because they just, they were just around kind of a unique thing with the Packers

in the mid-90s. Now, granted, they had some really big players. I mean, Brett wasn't huge, but Reggie White, Gilbert Brown, Dorsey Levin, they had some, you know, they weren't tiny, but for whatever reason, and the Packers have always been like this, they like height, weight, and speed, and just speed in general. I mean, Al Davis forever, you know, the running joke and sucks that he's not around on Twitter, because when someone runs fast, you would know they'd want him, or he'd want him. And there aren't as many teams like that anymore. But certain teams value and grade you based on starters on their own team.

Like I've always heard the Patriots base it on, are you better than my starting right guard? Doesn't matter where you fall in the draft or whatever. That's up to Belichick to figure out value. If you go into, let's just say you go into Cal tomorrow or Texas and they have a starting right guard, you grade them, not based on the league, you know, is he going to be an all pro? Is he better than our guy? Would he be a start? Would he be a backup? Would he be a practice squad guy?

And every team's kind of different. Now, some of these teams, because they have so much carryover of, you know, GMs from one place, like all the Green Bay guys, somewhat think alike, all the Belichick guys have a similar system to do it. The Giants guys forever. That's where Belichick started. You know, have a similar system. So, you know, the guys, Joe Douglas that now runs personnel for Howie, He brought that Raven system, and the Ozzy Newsom guys forever kind of spread around the league.

So there are, to me, six or seven general ideas that are different between groups of teams. But I think teams would ideally, Kyler's an exception because he's such an elite player. I think it's becoming pretty clear. And maybe it's just because it's the combine. But he measured in at 5'10. He has big enough hands. His tape speaks for itself. It's incredible.

I saw Brett Veach on today with Andrew Siciliano on the NFL network. I text him. I said, Vee's, you look skinny. He looked good. But he dropped a quote, and to me, this means something. Because last year, Brett Veets said something. He said, Patrick Mahomes is the best player I've ever evaluated. And Mahomes, I mean, that was Veech's guy.

He said, Kyler Murray makes Mahomes S throws. So to me, that's not getting thrown around cavalierly. Like, that's a guy that loved Mahomes since college, drafted Mahomes and has built his franchise around Mahomes. So him throwing that out there isn't like the other GMs. That means something. And as someone said on Twitter, oh, he's just trying to hype him up, you know, to make a player fall.

Which you can argue sometimes in the draft. The Chiefs are drafting 29th. Kyler Murray is a lock, I mean a lock, top 10 player, let alone probably top five player. So he's not worried about that. He's not worried about Kyler Murray. going before pick 29. That's going to happen.

But I think when you do the John Rosses, and this is why we made a big deal, Jonah Williams, many consider one of the best tackles in this draft, had short arms. And I saw Joe Staley, the 49ers left tackle, tweeted out. They said the same thing

about me. And Joe Staley did have shorter arms. My rebuttal would be, Joe, you were an elite athlete for your position. So if you're going to have a characteristic or quality at the combine, short arms, slow, you better balance that out with doing something great. Joe, you were one of the best tackle athletes we've ever seen. One, two, you were not considered a top ten pick. You went at the end of the first round.

So the reason we make a big deal of these measurements, because they matter. I've stood next to Jason Peters. There's a reason they talk about reach in boxing and fighting. Because if I can hit you and you can't hit me, more than likely I have a chance to win. Jason Peters, Tyron Smith of the Cowboys, the tackles, arm length does matter. Now, can you overcome it? For sure. Again, Joe Staley overcame it by being a top-notch athlete. Can you overcome size?

Would Kyler Murray be Kyler Murray if his athletic ability was Tom Brady-like? Of course not. The reason he's such an elite prospect is because he's an elite athlete, and he throws the ball really well. But it's a combination of that. if he was 5-10 and was a statute, we wouldn't be talking about him going number one. But if he was 6-4,

we would be talking about who's going number two because it'd be a lock who's going number one. So these numbers, these stats, and the NFL has been in the analytics business forever does matter. So back to the basis of this question was how do teams judge these guys? And the answer is not trying to be, you know, not answer your question directly, but it's just, it differs team to team, and every team views it

a little differently, and let's call it what it is. You do get emotional, it's easy to say, I'm not emotional, I'm not emotional, really one GM is the best of that, Belichick. Other teams fall in love with players, you'll see a guy and you're going to really want them, and that's happening right now. That's the fun part of the combine. You get a guy, you meet a guy, you're like, God, I like that guy. I love his tape. Then you watch him work out. You're like, God, I love his workout. It's natural, right? You're just going to like certain guys more than others.

You might have a guy on your draft board. Let's say you rank the top 50 players. You may like the guy at 20 more than you like the guy at 4. That's happening all over the league. You like guys that aren't necessarily the top guy on your draft board. Your favorite player in the draft may be a dude you can get at the end of the first round. That may be the guy you super like, right? For whatever reason, super like.

I don't even know if that makes sense. but you get my drift. So this is a, I'm looking forward to the combine, my guy, Daniel Jeremiah. The reason I got the West Coast job with the Eagles was because he went to NFL network and he was a big reason having my back and helping me campaign for the job. And we've been friends ever since. And he's been a big, I mean, I've admired him from afar. Not a far.

I mean, he lives in California too. But I just mean, like, has his career's gone, he's always helped me out. And when I got fired with the Eagles, he tried to help me get a job. with the NFL network writing on NFL.com and he's been awesome. So I really look forward to watching DJ. You know, he's a great balance of being fun and knowing his shit. So the combine should, it should be a fun weekend. Okay, I'm going to get to the middle cough mail bag.

I have so many DMs. I'm probably not going to answer them all. So some of them I'll probably just respond to you manually if you don't get on the podcast. Some of them I'll just say for next week. but I'd imagine we'll have so many over the weekend because of the combine. The combine basically is a made-for-TV event. You know, it's when Kyler weighed in today and he was 207, I got a lot of text. Like, does he run later today?

First thing in the morning? No, he runs Saturday. So the quarterbacks, wide receivers, running backs, de-linemen, linebackers, corners, safeties, all Saturday, Sunday, Monday. So by the time that my new podcast comes out next to, Tuesday. The combine will be over and we'll have a pretty good idea. Some dudes that jumped off the screen. Some crazy things probably going to happen. But if I don't get to your question, I apologize. I appreciate everyone getting to this. We're going to keep doing it. And I respond

to a lot of people just manually. So if I don't get to you here with my words, I'll text with you on DMs. Do the Jets follow a recent trend of the second year first draft quarterbacks making the playoffs? It's a good question. I would say, that is a pretty good question. Last, I think, podcast or maybe a couple podcasts ago, I asked, who had the brighter future? The Bills are the Jets. I like the Bills infrastructure.

Just Sean McDermott's proven he can make the playoffs. Now, so is Adam Gase. But he works well with his general manager, which he basically brought from Carolina in Bean. My problem with the Jets is just their cohesion. They already had some issues with the coaching staff. They haven't even got to OTAs yet. This gay is going to listen to the GM.

I'm a big Sam Darnold guy. I believe in Sam Darnold. I think he's going to be a star. So if I was just going to bet on one of the two teams, you would bet on the Jets just because I think he's vastly superior to Josh Allen. Though, if you follow Carson Palmer's brother, Jordan, that works with all these guys, Sam Darnold and Josh Allen, who, you know,

one of the reasons that people love Josh, despite his film sucking, was he was because of a great kid. Well, Sam's a high character. They're like best friends. I'm rooting for Josh Allen. Even though I did not like him as a prospect, he's a type kid you root for in life.

Regardless of what you do, let alone when you're a quarterback, he's a type guy you want to see succeed. He's a high-level good guy. So Jets playoffs this year, it feels like it'd be a pretty big stretch just based on, they got a long way to go. I saw Adam Gay says,

they're going to run a 3-4 defense. Greg Williams has consistently been a 4-3 guy, so there's going to be some transition there. Though the talent, I don't know. I would bet against the Jets making the playoffs next year. I would actually say if somehow Josh Allen can't get a step, I kind of like the bills. With the Colts cap room and four draft picks in the top 60,

would you consider trying to get a defensive free agent to help? Maybe someone like Landon Collins or Clayton Gathers walks this offseason? Let me see. Oh, if Clayton Gathers walks, obviously I follow you. Yeah, to me, the Landon Collins thing, the key is, are you comfortable with his limitations? He's not a cover guy.

He's basically like the new age hybrid linebacker. He can get exposed in space. Now, if you can use them like Cam Chancellor, and a couple years ago with the Giants, when they had that unreal defense, and they had the good cover corners, and Janoris Jenkins was balling, then you'd be in pretty good shape.

But if you expect him to be something he's not, When you buy players in free agency, they're not like the draft. You can't expect them to change. Now, Landon Collins is still relatively young. I would imagine he's 26, 25 years old because he came out early. Remember, he was the guy that when he committed to Alabama, his mom was pissed off because he was from Louisiana. He was supposed to go to LSU.

I like Landon Collins. I just think my defensive coach would have to know and be comfortable with what he's good at. So, yeah, I don't mind it. I would just have to know. that my coaching staff and Uber Fluse are okay with it. Now, the Colts, to me, their offense is going to be good because luck

elevates guys, their offensive line clearly took a big step. Eric Ebron looks like a really good player. Ty Y is still really good. I would imagine they'll draft a wide receiver to go with Doyle's coming back from injury. So they got some weapons. Kind of under the radar, no one really talks about.

They'll be fine. It's defense. Defense, defense. If their defense plays well, because look at, in the division. Deshawn, I almost call them Deshawn Jackson. Deshawn Watson is excellent. But that team is a big time defensive team. Their fronts, awesome. They've had pretty good corners over the years in the Texans. The Titans defense has been

very, very solid. The Jacksonville fell off a cliff this year, but I mean, when they were really good two years ago, they were awesome on defense. So being good on defense in that division does matter. Even in Peyton Manning's heyday, when their defense wasn't great statistically, what did they do really well? They rushed the passer. So they just have to improve. They don't have the blue chippers. That was the one thing when

Peyton Manning in his heyday, Dallas Clark, Reggie Wayne, Marvin Harrison, Pierre Garson, Austin, Austin Colley. They had so many guys cycling through the running backs, a die, starting with Edger and James. Rhodes was a good player. I thought he could have won the MVP of that Super Bowl. But

they, offensive weaponry, when have Peyton and then luck is not going to be the problem because those guys are going to make guys better. It's just defense. You got to get some blue chipper. So whether it's signing them, Landon Collins, I wouldn't be opposed to. Another Colts question. The Colts are young and talented and on their way back. I guess this is kind of what I just talked about, but the premise of this question is, are they legitimate Super Bowl contenders in years to come? I don't know how you would say anything otherwise. They have when he's right, you know, besides maybe Mahomes, you know, of anyone 31 or 32 or younger,

the best quarterback in the league in luck. With the offensive line being good, when you have a player of Lux caliber and your offense's line is good, how are you going to lose? You know what's crazy when you look back at the Colts in their heyday with Manning? Their offensive line was never that good. Howard Mudd was such a good offensive line coach, and I worked with him for a year.

Maybe it was two in Philly. Dude was like a mad scientist for an old guy. It's just so good at getting random, drafted free agents to overachieve. Say what you want about the Patriots. They've consistently had some pretty good offensive linemen over the years. I mean, their offensive line this year was excellent, was really, really good. They traded for Trent Brown, who a year ago, I went to Denver Broncos and 49ers to joint practice. Vaughn Miller, who was just coming off two years ago, the Super Bowl MVP, called Trent Brown the best right tackle in the NFL.

So that's just the random guy they replaced our first rounder with. Tom Brady, he was. Tom Brady, had played on dramatically better offensive lines. So my point is that if your offensive line's good and you have a guy of Lux Calibur, you're going to be in the Super Bowl mix. Now is Frank Reich, you know, Bill Belichick, no. But the division's a little harder. The division is hard. The AFC South is good.

The Texans are good. I think Bill O'Brien's good. You know, the Jaguars, let's just say they're the worst team. And then the Titans are solid. Again, I don't know if the Titans are ever going to be a 13-12 type win team, but they'll be in that 8 to 10 range and if Marriota can just stay on the field they are a pain in the ass to deal with

so them getting there is going to be impressive it's going to be hard but yeah I think if they have a good offseason and have a good draft they'll be right in the mix okay firstly with the release of Crabtree and John Brown a free agent

please tell me Baltimore will find a true young number one receiver for Lamar if so who is this guy Secondly, I've heard it a million times. Lamar Jackson needs to improve on his passing ability. Do you really think he can become a consistent 250 passing yards per game guy? Does he have it?

Let's start there. 250 yards a game, I would imagine if we check the averages, I don't want to do it because it'll slow us down. But if you're averaging 250 yards a game, even if you're a runner, that's pretty low. Now, if you're an explosive passer slash runner, if you check Kaepernick's, in Pete Kaepernick, he was not throwing that many games for 300 plus. It would be between 250 and 300, but he also added a rushing touchdown. And two of his passes would be deep bombs. So if you have explosive plays, which Kaepernick was fantastic, the one year with RG3 was fantastic,

you can get by. Russell Wilson back in the day, they hit some big plays. Right now, Lamar, I mean, they're running the triple option. So who are they, you know, who's going to be there? number one option, could they draft a wide receiver in the first round? I guess that would be an option. Check out the free agents, they aren't really there. Crabtree clearly was not a great mix.

Having been around Crabtree a little bit and just watch his career closely, I can't imagine he enjoyed, he didn't like playing with Cabernick. No chance he liked playing with Lamar Jackson. And a $7 million, it didn't make any sense. To me, and I've heard people some rumble about this, would it make sense to just go all in on the run game, get like Levi-on-Bell and just run the triple option or whatever the hell you call that offense with Levi-on-Bel and then maybe draft for running back in the mid-round's two while also drafting, I don't know, uh, D.K.

Metcalfe or Nekiel Harry or whatever in the first round. Because their first-round pick, they were a playoff team, so it's not like they're drafting the top 10. But they missed right on the last receiver they took. So you got to nail this. one. This is a big draft. Ozzie Newsom consultant now, not actually the GM. I'm not

a Lamar believer. Just because I think the strides he has to make are just so long and so wide. He's got so far to go. It's not like, you know what? He's just got to work on the mechanics a little bit.

He's just naturally not a very accurate guy. Not only not accurate, he's not really close. Just the basic stuff. And I, I I'm not Bill Walsh or Mike Holmgren or Belichick. I'm not sure that stuff can be taught, man. I'm really not. What do the Packers do with Nick Perry?

He's not worth 12.5 million and can never stay healthy. But the Packers are weak at outside linebacker. Do they cut him and let him walk? Or do they just ask him and take a pay cut? I think he asked him to take a pay cut immediately. I would guess, I haven't read anything, but they kind of insinuated it at the end of the season. Clay Matthews is probably done.

Now could he come back at a super, super, super. Cheap number that's always on the table. You can't pay Nick Perry $12.5 million. But he is pretty talented. You did draft him once upon a time really high. Could you try to justify him taking a big pay cut? I think the problem with the pay cut guys for just talented players that even if they're often injured, Zigianza, a little different story than Nick Perry.

But you get what I'm saying. There's so much money on the free agent market, you'd be like, yeah, I'm not taking a pay cut. Cut me. I'll get paid. I'll get overpaid. So if I'm a player that has any resume, when the guy says take a pay cut, or it tells my representative that over the next couple days of the combine,

or in the next week leading up to free agency, and I have a resume, I say no. I say cut me, because I'll make it back easily on the free agent market. There's just too many, there's too many teams with money, and they're not enough good players. So the Nick Perry's, the whoever's, Coletio Semley's won with the Raiders. He's owed like $10 million next year.

You can't pay him that. But if they asked him to take a pay cut to six, he's just like, okay, cut me. Someone will give me at least two years, $20 million. I think that's going to be a lot of problem for any smart agent. Call their bluff because there is just too much cash on the open market to get your client. God, I'd be a pretty good agent. I got another Colts question, see if it's any different than what I already asked.

What are the chances he's traded this season's second round pick? Ballard said he's blown away by the offer. Think a second round pick would do... Okay, let me reread this. What are the chances he's traded this offseason for, say, I don't know. I think you left out the player that he's traded for a second round pick. You mean T.Y?

You just said, what are the chances he's traded? I don't know who he is. But resend me the question, and I'll try to answer it. I know guys like Chris Ballard, they value draft picks. Just look at last year. He went from three to six. one of the best trades. It was clear it was a good trade at the time of the trade.

It looked way better when he got Darius Leonard. I didn't like quitting, Nelson. Not as a player, but at number six overall. But if you're going to be an all pro, shut me up. You shut up all the haters and say, you take a guard at six? Yeah, I do when he's the best guard in the league. Then what are you going to say? As a Patriot fan that lives in Pittsburgh, kind of tough,

it's always interesting for me to contrast the two organizations. The Patriots are low on talent, Brady Don was standing, but incredibly high on accountability and discipline, while the Steelers are high on talent and low in accountability and discipline. This is a deep question? In your opinion, is talent or accountability slash discipline more important in generating championship teams? Is there some middle ground there? And why are teams chasing the next Sean McVeigh rather than the next Bill Belichick?

Well, I just, Bill Belichick's an all-time out liar. I think it's really that simple. He is just a unique coach. I don't necessarily think the Patriots get this kind of, you know, reputation for overachievers. And they do consistently have some overachievers. They've also had some Hall of Famers on some really good teams. I mean, Randy Moss, Hall of Famer.

He was, now he never won a Super Bowl. Logan Mankins, Borderline Hall of Famer. Again, never won a Super Bowl, but they had some pretty good players when they were kicking ass. Let's just view this group of players Brady, greatest quarterback ever Gronk, first ballot hallfamer I'll argue with anyone on that one.

Defensively, Belichick's just so good and they really haven't been that good on defense over the last five or six years with Patricia. This year they were good, but they really, you know, two years ago when they lost the Eagles, they got sliced and diced. Edelman, he's not a Hall of Famer, but he's a damn good player.

They have a great kicker, They're always coached up at the highest level. You can win a championship with Levi-on-Bell and Antonio Brown and Big Ben and Juju and all those guys. To me, their problem has always, it was never offense. Remember the game we watched two years ago against the Jacksonville Jaguars? They couldn't stop anyone. To me, it's just fundamentals and in big games. The difference between Belichick and the Steelers is they just get stops.

Just scumat when they really have to. They can get off the field. To me, that's been the difference of the two teams. Pittsburgh, if they would have been consistent on defense in playoff games, someone's blown me up, in playoff games, and just get off the field, they would have won that Jacksonville game. There was a moment that sticks out in my mind. I remember sitting on my couch. They were making this crazy comeback. Ben hits a couple sweet shots to Antonio Brown. They couldn't get a stop to save their life. And the Patriots, besides, I mean, sometimes in the Super Bowl, I can live with not getting a stop in the Super Bowl. But I can't live with not getting to stop in the second round of the playoffs. Because to me, over the last, five or six years, and it came to a head two years ago when they played each other, and Tomlin

was, to me, pumping out his chest two years ago was ridiculous, when Tomlin was like, yeah, we're already looking forward to them, and then they ended up losing in the second round of the Jacksonville Jaguar. To me, that was a big difference. So you do need talent to win. You need elite players to win, and you need overachievers, you need a team to win, but you also need high-level schematics in the biggest moments because everyone in the playoffs have good players and I think sometimes the Patriots get undersold a little bit on that

I mean Gilmore was a first team all pro this year first team all pro Devin McCordy is a damn good player Hightower really good player Trey Flowers good player I mean they got good players and a first team all pro so I don't think the gap is quite as wide is, and I'm guilty of this too, as we just casually talk about. Oh, the Steelers, man, the last

couple of years. No, they just, the game where Jesse James got, you know, whatever they called the incomplete, that was a freakish loss. But does anyone believe in a big game in Pittsburgh or New England that Tomlin's out coaching Belichick? Like, I do believe that Big Ben when he's on could beat any quarterback in the history of the NFL. I do not believe, though, that Tomlin and his staff on defense. When it really comes to nut cutting time, back in their heyday when Tomlin was winning big seven, eight years ago,

didn't they have that guy named Dick Labo? It felt like they could get off the field, and it doesn't, to me, that's the difference. And if Belichick would have taken the reins from Patricia a couple years ago, maybe they would have had, how many championships would that have been in a row? Three, because they went Atlanta,

lost to Philly, and then they just won this one. So they won two and three years. They could have easily won three straight. they could have had on their resume three straight and another three and four years it'd be like the Warriors Meet the Lakers

I got a lot of questions here feels like you know when you're doing a school project you're like you know I'll just bang out all the reading and then you get to page 20 and you're like oh my God I got to read 150 pages tonight and I'm only on 20 how am I going to do this

well John Middilcock the student would usually just quit I just wouldn't do it maybe go to Cliff Notes but if I say I'm going to do the DMs I'm going to do him. Hey, quick question. Is LeBron's starting to remind you of Aaron Rogers? The bad attitude feels like he's got a foot out the door. Yeah, the LeBron, Aaron Rogers' comparisons to me are a little different. I think Aaron's weird. You know, I think he's just a different

cat. But I also think that football means a lot to him, and he plays really hard, and he's a good teammate when the game's going on. LeBron's at the point now where he's not even trying. Now, LeBron has three championships. Aaron's got one. and the other thing is Aaron I got a new iPad and I don't know how to silence the buzzer part of Aaron's legacy

if you're going to be known as the most talented quarterback ever and he's kind of got this Elway vibe like he's just one of the freak talents of all time. With the end of the day Elway got to five Super Bowls and won two like Aaron you're not sniffing that right now. You've been to one buddy one

these next three or four years for Aaron Rogers I can't even put Aaron Rogers, and LeBron's wearing me out, but I can't even put them in the same sentence right now. Aaron's got to do something. He's got to really do something these next four or five years. And it's shitty for him that he's got this coach that might be over his head. Now, a couple years ago, I won't forget it.

He was awesome. What was that, Dax rookie year when they won two straight playoff games, they ran into Atlanta and their defense was bad. That was an impressive year. And I think Aaron, a top six or seven quarterback ever. But he should be talked, you know, right behind Brady, right in that mix. If he can win another championship, I do think we'd talk about him like Elway.

Though, how's he going to win that other championship? I don't know. This is a crazy long question. I'm going to have to get to this one later. Aside from your Odell-Bekam trade scenario, you discussed on Haberman. That's my other podcast, Haberman, Milkoff, check it out iTunes. which I didn't like it first, but I'm now on board with. Would you pay big money for Trey Flowers if New England lets him walk?

This question is in regards to the 49ers. I'd have to really study Trey Flowers as a player, but when I've watched, and I watch New England a lot, but I'm not locked in on him. To me, I don't know if he's a great scheme fit. The 4-3, they already have, you know, with Buckner and Solomon Thomas, they need a true, true edge guy. You know, a twitchy, fast, explosive.

I don't know if that's Trey Flowers. To me, he's more of a hybrid 3-4 guy, and he's a good player. But for the 49ers, see, I don't know, especially what he's going to cost because he's played at such a high level. He's been in so many big games. He's going to command pretty big money.

When I think Trey Flowers, I do not think a 49ers fit. But again, I'd have to go and really study him or text him in the league, and maybe I'll do that this weekend about what his fit is. But to me, the 49ers, what they are looking for, I watched John Lynch's press conference today. He's like, we got Buckner, and Solomon Tom's going to play more inside. We got inside bodies.

We need an edge rusher. We need a Bosa. We need a Josh Allen. We need, I mean, that's why they tried to trade for Khalil Mack. We need that. We got inside pressure. Now, Trey Flowers is a edge rusher, but I need a guy that can bend the edge that, I mean, is a speed rusher.

I mean, ideally, a Vaughn Miller type. Now, that's, of course, ideally, Von Freaking Miller. But they do have the second overall pick. So either Josh Allen or Bosa, one of those two guys got to be the guy. With our top, the Falcons question for you. Okay, I like it. With our top need being an elite edge. rusher. A lot of people need edge rushers.

And I thought John Lynch, oh, I saw him with Colin today. He had a good point. He's like, me, he's like, I'm saying I need an edge rusher. Every team needs an edge rusher. When I played in the NFL and won a Super Bowl, we had Simeon Rice and Warren Sapp. Now, Warren Saps aren't an edge rusher,

but just rushers. People want defensive linemen. You can never have enough defensive linemen, ever. With Adrian Claybourne, with the loss of Adrian Claiborne, do you see any chance we trade up from 14 to be able to draft Josh Allen from UK. He's tall athletic, gets after the quarterback and can cover. I think he would be a perfect fit in DQ system. Agree.

It would be almost the equivalent if somehow he fell to 4 or 5. You'd trade up from 14. Kind of the equivalent of what the Saints did last year. Different numbers, obviously. You'd be going from 14 to like 5. They went from mid-20s, I think, to 14 with the Packers. But they thought Marcus Davenport was the missing piece. he wasn't, but that's what I'm trying to parallel those situations.

The more I think about it, and I'm interested to watch this guy work out, I think Josh Allen might go too to the 49ers. Read a story about him. Actually, it might have been a tweet. I read more tweets than I do stories. And the tweet was he could have gone out, he could have called Pro last year. He was like a fringe, you know, probably early second round pick, but he had a kid, and he stayed at Kentucky.

He came back to school. Well, what do you do this? You're 17 sacks. He's a can't miss potential top five pick. And he's a high character guy. I'm telling you right now, just knowing the way the Niners think, I think the 49ers are more likely to take Josh Allen than they are Bosa

if they're both sitting there two because Kyler Murray or Haskins goes one. That's my guess right now. That's my way too early prediction. The 49ers take Josh Allen over Bosa. You heard it here first. That's my bold prediction as we sit here February 28th. So when's the draft? Usually 27, 28th of April.

We're about two months away. So two months to go, I think Josh Allen goes too. So I like your idea. I just, I don't think he makes it past the second pick. Let's find some questions. Well, hey, how are you from a babe? Okay, last one. Big fan of the podcast and a Seahawks fan,

I was wondering if the NFL is any. rules of stopping Shakeem Griffin from using a prosthetic hand, especially with the technological advances in robotic prosthetics. This is a deep question. Or would this be considered of having an unfair advantage? That's a hell of a question that I don't have a great answer to. I just, my gut reaction. If they made the technology that made it the equivalent of a normal hand, you know, not like Robocop or Terminator, basically like a super strong hand where he could just grab people and pull down. I think you'd have to entertain it. If it was just the equivalent, you'd have the power. But if I was him, I'd want a hand that was extra powerful. So if I grabbed you, you just couldn't break it.

And I don't know how they would regulate that. Again, I know nothing about this. And I'm the wrong guy to ask. My gut reaction when I just read your question, first would be no. That they would just, they would not want to do that. So that would be my first reaction. But in fairness, to him, he's, hell, he carved out a career without a hand. That's pretty incredible. I think it's fair to say. Thanks for listening, everyone. Another Middilcoff mailbag. I'm going to start answering

all you guys' questions. Thanks for everything. Thanks for listening. And I'll be back Tuesday and we'll break down. I got it all DVR. Can't wait. Combine, Combine, and then a little more combine. Get right to the romance and find the way to wow this Valentine's with what 800 Flowers.com.

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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 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 SportsSlic on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo's Slice Life 12. and 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, podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. 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? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42. A rep. My mama want you to wave at her.

What? Where's he at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliffer Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs.

We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to, he's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love.

This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.