The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Middlekauff - 3 & Out - Russell Wilson/NY rumor, NFL Combine thoughts; XXL Middlekauff Mailbag

Episode Date: February 26, 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 explains why Russell Wilson getting to New York is easier said than in the NFL, his thoughts heading into the NFL Combine, and answers a ton of listener questions in an extended Middlekauff Mailbag. Follow John on twitter @JohnMiddlekauff and go to www.theherdnow.com and subscribe to find the latest content. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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 Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel 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 I-Heart 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 Clivert 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. That's how personal it got.

Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in to her, 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. Using your Aspiration Zero credit card helps fight climate change. It's true.

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Attacked it with vitamin C. I think I avoided it. But I'm good. But there was no podcast Friday. So what I've been thinking about doing, because I have so many messages in my inbox, making this basically entire podcast, the Middoughoughmail bag.

And you can get up into the Middoughoughoff Mailbag anytime you want. I do it on every podcast. But I got so many questions. I'm just going to try to clear out the inbox. You can go to at John Middlecough. That's my Twitter handle. That's my Instagram handle. But where I answer these questions is from Instagram.

So you go to my Instagram, you slide up in those DMs, and I answer your questions. But before we get into the Middle Coff mailbag, I just wanted to hit on two things really quick. I was pretty fired up to talk about this on Friday. But again, my toughness scale, one time I broke my toe, this old apartment I used to live in, I wasn't paying attention. and all I did was had my shoes off and I ran into the wall. And I ended up going to the doctor and that doctor had been the doctor

for the Raiders and the Warriors and the A's like he knows what professional athletes pain tolerance. And I asked him after I broke my toe, I could barely walk. It was my big toe. I was in so much pain. I'm like, if I was a starting right tackle for the Raiders or the Niners, would I be able to play on Sunday?

And he looked at me and laughed. He's like, yeah, of course you would. And so that's relative to my pain tolerance. So I can't afford to get sick, but I avoided it, and now we're here. So we're just going to go Middle-Koff mailbag. But Colin touched on something on last week, either on Wednesday or Thursday. It might have been Wednesday about Russell Wilson and how Ciara and some people in his camp, the agent talk, want him to go to the New York Giants.

And I believe in agent talk, and I believe it matters. And they have a lot of power in the whole grand scheme of things. Because players, probably one of the only places in business, I mean, these players make so much money. A guy like Russell Wilson's making 30, 35, his next contract plus million dollars. This contract was making 20 plus million. Look at these NBA players. I'm seeing it in my own backyard.

Kevin Durant's like, stop asking me about free agency. It's like, Kevin, your agents are the one playing in the stories, and no one cares about these random games. So yeah, we're going to ask you about free agency. Well, in baseball and basketball, free agency really matters a lot. That word really resonates. You're like, damn, Mike Trout is going to be a free agent in two years. Damn, Kevin Durant's going to be a free agent this year.

That matters. In football, it doesn't mean a damn thing. It literally doesn't mean anything. And I say it all the time. We as fans benefit because our best players, even if they want to leave, if I want to keep them, they're not leaving. You can call it un-American. You can call it whatever you want.

Anti-employee. It's a shitty rule for good players because you want to hit free agency. You'd make more money. Now in the NBA, there's a cap on how much you can make. And in baseball, there's not. And we just saw Mani Machado got $300 million. But I believe, Colin, and clearly he knows more people in the agent world than I'll ever know. So this story to me is real.

but the reality of the story is it's not up to Russell Wilson. So if John Schneider and Pete Carroll don't want to get rid of Russell Wilson, which he's the best player in the history of their franchise. Is there even a close second, honestly? Like he's a Hall of Fame quarterback. You get a Hall of Fame quarterback in the history of your franchise. For the most part, that guy's going to be the best player in the history of your franchise. He's 30 years old.

He's just kind of stuck in Seattle. at minimum. He'd play out this year in his contract. They'd franchise him two years in a row. And hell, they'd probably franchise him a third time. Like, unless you could work out some crazy deal where they loved Kyler Murray or something this year, which I just can't see happening.

Because they already have Russell Wilson in the peak of his powers. And the team's good. And I also think that if you're the Seattle Seahawks, even if you're like, God, you probably would like to be in a bigger market, even though in football, NFL, like, Russell Wilson's so damn famous. He's on countless ad campaigns.

He already makes just a ton of money. Like financially, I don't know how much more he'd make in New York. But it can't be argued he would make more in New York. But at the end of the day, he doesn't control the situation. And the other reality is Seattle would be willing to pay him whatever he wanted. They got private jets. Get a G4, have Sierra hop on it and fly to New York. So, story's fun, and it's cool.

baseball or basketball, that story would be 50 times bigger because the player would be in control. It's why when the Knicks story with Kevin Durant has taken on a life of its own, because if he wants to go to the New York Knicks, he's going to the New York Knicks. If Russell Wilson wants to go to the New York Giants, me or you are just as likely to be on the New York Giants as him next year. shitty part about being in the NFL. And then the Combine is this week. I wasn't able to make it just because some other business things that I have to handle this week. But it's a really big week. And I think by Friday show, the best part about this week is it's basically the start of free agency and trades.

And you have all these GMs in the same building. You have all these coaches that are also decision makers in the same building, sitting down and talking to each other about player transactions. So whether it's Antonio Brown, whether it's O'Dell Beckham, you're going to see a lot of trades. And it's a really, really exciting time for the league in terms of movement. this is kind of when the league makes a big muscle flex for the next month. I know the NBA thought that they had a big week leading into the Super Bowl when Anthony Davis, the trade rumors, well, guess what, he didn't get traded? You know, it was all fluff. Like, things actually happen.

People are going to get traded. Big names are going to get traded. Big free agents, because free agency in the NFL is a little overrated as I just talked about with Russell Wilson because of the franchise tag. Like DeMarcus Lawrence is not going to hit free agency. Jadevion Clowny, more than likely, is not going to hit free agency. The top players just don't hit the market So there's a lot of hype And there's I think over a billion dollars worth of available money to buy players

But there just aren't the players on the market A lot of B and C tier level guys Your Blue Chip All-Pro guy is just not hitting the market Even last year the Killelea trade was like unheard of Usually the team that draft you You know the Rams you just pay Aaron Donald Most teams every team in the league would have just paid Kaleel Mac even Amari Cooper. All these guys get extended.

So I think at the end of the day, what really is fun about the combine is you start getting a lot of buzz about trades and transactions. And then we also find out the measurements because that does matter. I know Twitter, because the average guy on Twitter is 5 foot 9. Let's call what it is. A lot of scouts are shorter people. They root for the overachiever. I'm the opposite. I'm like 510.

I hate midgets. I root for big guys. I like scouting bigger players. I'm not really into the little overachiever, you know, Johnny Tryhard. But I do think they kind of separate themselves over this next week at the Combine. How tall you are, how much you weigh,

how fast you are, how agile you are, and just what you look like on person. Because your tape speaks for itself. So if you're a really good player at Oklahoma or LSU or Bama or USC or whatever, I know you're good, but now what do you look like? Do you look the part? Do you carry yourself the part?

This is the big leagues now. We pay a premium for you. We're going to draft you high. We're going to pay you a lot of money, and we expect you to succeed. I've got to get a feel for your personality, even if it's just kind of a snapshot. I don't get that much time around you,

but it's the first time every head coach in the league is meeting all these guys. And for the underclassmen, the guys that didn't get the chance to go to the Senior Bowl, it's the first time that all the general managers get to meet all the underclassmen. And most of the top players, typically in a draft,

in the top couple rounds tend to be juniors. So it's not like when you go to a school, and a lot of GMs don't get to make school calls over the years, you know, over the year because they're traveling with their NFL team, that you're just not allowed to talk to underclassmen, because at the time you don't know if the underclassmen are going to go pro, and it's just kind of frowned upon. And again, I don't think general managers get to go to school visits that much,

especially with schools like Alabama or Oklahoma that aren't next to, you know, a quote-unquote NFL team. So if you're not playing, you don't get to see LSU if you don't play the Saints because you never go to New Orleans. You'll be up in Seattle. Now maybe you can swing by Washington, but you might not have time. Hell, they might not be there the week you play them. So the logistics of it is the first time everyone's in the same building

and it's just an exciting time to get just some quantitative numbers. We act like the NFL is late to analytics. 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 controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes 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. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeart Radio 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, 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. Trip Fontaine, Ryan Clark.

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Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Cliver Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes,

hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam?

This Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano and our podcast. The 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 Reed. He has to guard you. Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis 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 run up the court, licking his fingers while 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 podcast. What do you think the combine is?

How fast you are, how tall you are, how much you weigh, how much you lift, how fast you are in all the drills. It's all numbers. It's all analytics. The NFL's been doing this forever. The combine's really important. Now, it can be overrated, but it does matter, and it does impact guys' value for the draft in what round I can get you in. Because if you're a guy, and I think you're going to run fast, and then you run slow, you might drop around. That doesn't mean it doesn't change your good or bad player.

It just your market value changes. It's like if I go to buy a condo and the sink and the bathroom are broken, I might get $40,000 off. You know, if the sink and bathroom and flooring are not screwed up, I might have to pay full price. If I go, it doesn't mean the house or the condo is any worse. The player is the same. He just might run slow at the combine. But that also means I can get him in the third round instead of getting him in the late first or early second. Just a reality of the deal.

So this is a really, really exciting week. Can I tell you about my friends at LinkedIn? Listen, it's a new year, 2022. We're all trying to find people that hire, for those of you listening that are in HR, running small businesses, wherever you are. And LinkedIn makes it easier than ever to find people you want to talk to faster and for free.

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the candidates you want to talk to faster Did you know that every week nearly 40 million job seekers visit LinkedIn? Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash john. That's LinkedIn.com slash J-O-H-N John to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Can I tell you about my friends at Shopify? It's the sound of another sale on Shopify, the all-in-one commerce platform to start run and grow your business.

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Okay, first one. Hey, John, Mike McCagden has been crushed for the job he has done since taken over in 2015. That's the Jess General Manager. I do believe he deserves his share of the blame on some bad moves. However, his first round picks have been Leonard Williams, Darren Lee, Jamal Adams, and Sam Donald were at least all justifiable. I think people forget that Tannenbaum Idzic were some of the worst GMs we've ever seen.

Their first round picks since 2010. Kyle Wilson, Quentin Copels, D. Milner, Calvin Pryor. Yeah, I think Mike McCaghan's terrible. There was a story last week that they're already having buyer's remorse on Tremaine Johnson. Whenever you're the general manager and you hired the coach, he hired Todd Bowles. And it was a disaster.

and by the end, classic NFL, there's a bunch of finger pointing by McCagnin and the front office at the coaching staff. Well, like you said, I mean, some of the guys that they paid for were not very good. Tramaine Johnson didn't change once the Jets got him. He wasn't kind of an overrated player

when he was on the Rams. He was a good starter, but worth the whatever they gave him was crazy. But they were so desperate for a free agent. What's he going to do with this offseason? Are they going to overpay Levy on Bell? The problem is they need talent on offense. They don't have any skill guys.

So it's not that crazy if they were in the Levy on Bill sweepstakes. Last year, them and the 49ers were the ones bidding for Jerich McKinnon, so they are desperate for a running back. But are you really going to pay Leveon Bell $15 million a season? I would not do that. But they have a ton of money to spend. Again, I just don't think Mike McAggen is great. Like you said, he's had some moments.

The trade, I hated the trade from six to three, but it ended up netting them Donald. Now they gave up however many second round picks, and you do that in a heartbeat for your quarterback. I'm a big Sam Donald guy, so it worked out well. Now, maybe they would have told you, and I think they did tell everyone that they liked at least three quarterbacks. I just thought the move was kind of crazy at the time. Now, again, it worked out, and the aggressive guy in life, usually benefits in high-stakes poker. You know, sometimes you got to roll the dice.

So at the end of the day, the result is all that matters there. But, you know, is Mike McCagnan, you know, this Adam Gase thing? Are they going to work? Is Adam Gays going to respect him? I don't know. I just, I don't really see it. Maybe I'm not working off as much tangible. I'd have to pull up every transaction he's ever had.

But I don't know. man, I just, I would not feel great if that's the, I just don't feel he's dynamic enough at the end of the day. Can he go against Howie Roseman? You know, can he go against some of the best general managers in this league? Hell, just look at his division. Belichick runs circles around him. I think what the bills have going on is just they're a more well-oiled machine. Now, I like Darnold a lot more than Josh Allen, so at the end of the day, I'd rather have the better quarterback

and deal with the shittier GM. but this is a big year for the Jets. Thoughts on Jim Beheim killing a person in his car. No thoughts. Okay. How do you become a scout in the league and also how do you scout offensive linemen and do you think that scouts have gotten lazy at looking at film? I think there are a – we've talked about it a little before.

My career path maybe a month ago. You know, I think there are a million ways to end up being a scout in the league. First off, you can just play in the league, which most of us will not do. You can play in college football, which, again, most of us will not do. kind of go from there. You can go from coaching, which anyone can do. Start in high school, work your way up to college, then work your way to the NFL, and then eventually become a scout. You can just start in recruiting, and that's an area that's really blown up in college football, is these recruiting positions. So many major programs now essentially have a general manager

working for their program. So you can just start off helping them. Whatever college you go to, you know, try to work in recruiting. That was the kind of the path that I took. In offensive linemen, I think it's harder than ever to scout offensive linemen just because of what colleges do. They never really ask any of their guys to run block. Definitely not physically run block a lot of these schools because they run such a spread kind of system.

I don't think, honestly, I thought scouts spend too much time on the film because at the end of the day, the person, and the way the guy is wired and knowing the human inside and out, to me, is kind of what determines success and failure. Now, the film really matters. But, like, I'm just trying to think of a guy, like Nick Bosa.

Like, how much film you got to watch? He's really good. I got to find out as medical in the person. Most guys in the first round have the baseline talent to be first round picks. And that's why they go that high. What are they wired? How hard are they going to work? All the intangible stuff that really the hardest stuff to measure in any walk of life.

You can interview any human, but you never truly know until you start working around them. And the X factor with football and pro sports in general, unlike most jobs, if you got a job, like my first job working out of college was a graduate assistant. I made scholarship money. I mean, I made nothing. And then my first job in the NFL, I think I made 20,000. $1,000 when I was 24, 25. And I didn't even get health insurance.

So my first full-time job in the NFL made like $50,000. I made nothing. I couldn't afford to live off that now. But it didn't matter. And most people are like that. Even if you get a good job. I mean, I worked in the NFL, and I had friends that were working for KPMG or Wells Fargo or whatever tripling the amount of money, maybe not tripling, but making six figures.

Now it's California. But still, and I think if you get a good degree, a lot of people, you make a decent amount of money, maybe $70,000, $90,000 out of high or out of college, but you don't get a $3 million signing bonus. And most of us wouldn't handle it very well. I wouldn't have handled it that well. I wouldn't know what to do with all the money. I might have wasted it at all. Now, the older you get as you acclimate and slowly make more money, it's easier to kind of understand how to make more, where to put it, what to invest in. I think it is a challenge for a lot of guys. and it's just the hardest part to me about evaluating is what makes the guy tick.

Is he doing it for the money? Is he doing it for the fame or is he doing it for the love of the sport? Because it usually separates. You can eventually become both. Like Peyton Manning, it was notorious around the NFL, loved his money. But he clearly loved the sport more because that's what drove him. He was an absolute grinder. Tom Brady, these guys have so much, so much freaking money.

I'll even give LeBron credit. if you follow me on Twitter, I'd give them a lot of shit. But you don't become that good without being an absolute grinder. And when no one's looking. Now, you could argue nowadays with social media, you can always kind of take a video and people are always kind of looking because you could make them look with your own videos. But to me, that's the, I think scouts spend too much time on film

because you can, to me, once you watch three games, you can kind of see if a guy is good enough or not, then I got to find out the way the guy's wired. My first question is, do you think the one-and-done rule in college basketball should be taken away and does it hurt college basketball altogether? And secondly, this is kind of a, you never know what you're going to get in the middle-cough mailbag. Listen, I don't care. I like college basketball. The one-and-done doesn't faze me at all.

You know, I know some people that work in the NBA in the front office, and I've heard, like, Woj's podcast and other podcasts talk about it. that the NBA is not rooting for one and done to go away. You think they want to go into high school gyms? That's the one huge benefit of the NFL. Now, physically, because of the toll it takes on your body, maybe one or two guys would be ready every year that aren't non-quarterbacks that are like an offensive, defensive line. And they're just position players that would be ready

after their first or second year in college. So it would be such a tiny, tiny percentage of players. then it's never really gotten that big of a deal, you know, in the NFL. But in the NBA, some of these guys are ready to go at like 17 or 18. But they're not mentally. Even Zion Williams for as great as he is, and I saw Dabo Sweeney say that he would be an unreal football player, and he probably would.

I mean, he's 285 pounds, and he moves like a cat. But is he ready mentally? Like, think how much more mature he'll be in four or five years. Now, you could argue the employment, and I'm a big believer, just the, the cream always rises at the top. You know, it's like just because he had to wait one year at Duke, his life didn't suck that bad. Most guys go, that are quote-unquote going to be one and done guys, a lot of guys hurt their stock.

For as many of them that do well, Zion, a lot of them kind of get exposed. So again, I always think the cream eventually rises. Now, whether it's fair, whether it's not fair, there are rules. We all have to follow them, right? There are certain jobs that will not hire you without a, a college degree. Is that fair or not? In 2019, should we even care? You can't be a college coach in Division I. I know for a fact, maybe one double A, but I know like Division I, Power 5, you could not coach at Oregon or Texas or whatever if you did not have a college degree.

You can't coach. You have to have a degree to coach there. Like, is that a stupid rule? But guess what? They're rules. We all have to follow them. Some rules suck. So if the guys got to go to college for a year. I'm not that bothered by it. He went to Duke. He played for Coach K. It's sweet. So what? Jadavion Clownie had to go to stay at Clemson or South Carolina for three years. He played for Steve Spurrier.

They played in big time games. He's now either going to get franchised or paid. It all worked out. Matt Barclay was the number one high school recruit in the country. And everyone's like, I can't believe he went back to school for a senior year. Do you know what it turned out? Matt Barclay was just a average NFL player. And he stuck around

the league a lot longer than I thought. But we all get exposed in life. You're either good enough or not. Whether a rule hold you back a year or not. Eventually the cream rises and in sports, the great meritocracy probably in all of America, it's just impossible to dispute it.

Unless it's baseball and they give you Brian Kennedy's of the world, give you 8 million stats that make it not even fun to talk about. Okay, being a guy from Cleveland, I've always stood by the Browns. Now the thing they finally look good, where do you think they go on the draft after the picture of DJ Metcalf, D.K. Metcalf, the dude that went viral on the internet for looking like The Rock meets Arnold Schwarzenegger. I mean, he's absolutely freaking

enormous. Borderline too big for my taste. Now, I've watched him a little, but he's a pretty good player, but I don't want my receivers looking that big. A lot of people were comparing him to David Boston, who was on the Jews. And why doesn't it? anyone talk about Ken Zampines, who was the quarterback coach for Baker, not Freddie Kitchens. Just always thought he deserves more of the spotlight for his work. Well, I'll start with the latter. I think Freddie got a lot of credit because Hugh Jackson and Todd Haley got fired. So the two quote-unquote offensive geniuses, the guy, Hugh Jackson had been a longtime offensive coordinator and he had been column plays for the Browns and they

brought in Todd Haley, who had been kick it ass for the Steelers. And Freddie Kitchens was clearly way better than those guys at playcalling. So anytime you're a play caller, you are going to get quadruple the amount of credit as a position coach. And the position coach can get a lot. Think about two years ago now with the Eagles. They won the Super Bowl. John D. Philippo was getting interviewed as the quarterback coach for head coaching jobs.

He eventually got the Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator job, but he was getting a lot of credit. Like, damn, this guy works with Wents. This guy works with, you know, had Foles ready, doing a great job. but he didn't get anywhere near the credit Now obviously Doug was the head coach But Doug got all the credit because he was calling the place You know that's what kind of put

What's his name who turned out to be pretty good Frank Reich Like what's he actually doing No one kind of knew Well it turns out all three guys I'm still a believer in flip And I think he'll bounce back this year in Jacksonville Because Folls probably be his quarterback Frank's really good and Doug's good

That's just a think tank of really good coaches To me you need just more than one Like Zampesi and Freddie Kitchens Maybe they're just both high level coaches coaches. Did they move Zampi up to quote-unquote the offensive coordinator? Is he still just the quarterback coach? Either way, I think the Browns are going to be fascinating. It's crazy when you look at the Browns. I don't have the draft order off top of my head. I think they're like 16 or 18. It's weird looking at the top 10 and not seeing the Browns. And then look at the top

15 and not seeing the Browns. Like, what is going on here? So that speaks to kind of Baker Mayfield. They are going to. to be, I would say, the sexiest pick to make the playoffs this year. Like, everyone's going to pick them to make the playoffs preseason. Not to win the Super Bowl, but kind of what the 49ers were last year. It shows you, you are very, now the Brown's roster is a lot better than the Niners, but you're very dependent on that quarterback. I mean, Baker's got to play 16 games.

And even then, Freddie Kitch has never been a head coach. To make the playoffs, you probably got to win 10. When's the last time the Browns won 10? Now, Baker's, all he's done his whole life is win, but they're going to be a fascinating team. I would imagine they go wide receiver in that first round. You could also go tight end. There are a couple tight ends.

A tight end now these days, they're catching for over 1,000 yards. They operate like X wide receiver. So just draft one of the sweet tight ends from Iowa, and play them in the slot and throw them 80, 90 balls a year. Or try to get them 80, 90 catches a year. and throw them 150 balls a year. That wouldn't be a great ratio. Maybe 140.

Okay, more likely to make the college football playoff debut next year. Penn State or Michigan? Well, Penn State is replacing their quarterback. That's a pretty big unknown. Now, I don't fall recruiting closely or know their roster closely enough. I know they've been crushing it, so the guy they have, the backup quarterback is probably a pretty good player. But to me, all the pressures on Michigan.

Urban's gone. Jim's got this returning older quarterback. I'm not the biggest Shea Patterson guy, and he got exposed in that Ohio State game, but he's returning. He was a big-time recruit. They got a bunch of just other big-time recruits the last couple years. Like, it's time to kind of, you know, Pitzer get off the pot here, Jim. I'm a Jim Harbaugh guy.

I've supported Jim Harbaugh, and I think he's a big-time coach. But he's got to win this year, and he's got to win that damn conference. No more excuses. This year there weren't any excuses. Got off to a tough start against Notre Dame. At Notre Dame, turns out they were a college football playoff team. So it wasn't that. As the year went on, it wasn't a bad loss.

But then for all the Marbles on the line, to go up against Ohio State and just get outmatched and look like they were in a different world, it wasn't embarrassing. I thought that was the worst loss of Jim Harbaugh's career. I know he lost the Super Bowl, but that wasn't a bad, to me, you lose the Super Bowl. It's like whatever.

To lose like that against Ohio State when you never beat them in four tries, when you had a team that in theory should have been able to go toe to toe, it was bad. They looked like they were on a different level. Speed-wise, Shea Patterson didn't look good. So I don't know how they're going to make up that talent gap just in 12 months, but the big gap's got to be urban just being gone. To me, that's where I think the gap gets closed.

How much longer do you think the Falcon's Super Bowl window will be open and what position upgrades do you think helped them get them over the hump? I think they're going to be pretty good this year. It felt like they had five or six major injuries in September. You know, they lost a couple players that opening weekend, especially the second weekend. So they lost Dion Jones, the safety bell. They just said lost them, or not the bell, but whoever the big hitting safety they have is, Bell plays, I think, for the Saints.

Big hitting safety from Florida. He's sweet, but he tears ACL in that game. Their starting a linebacker goes out. Their offense was actually really good. Their defense was atrocious. I mean, it was terrible. It was really bad. Now, Dan Quinn's calling defense.

Their passing game, I know there's kind of been some sneaky rumors that could trade Julio. Why don't you just keep Julio? You got Calvin Ridley. Matt Ryan's still crushing. Freeman's coming back off injury. You paid him some money. Your offense should still be dynamic.

If you're just better on defense, why couldn't they compete to win that division? Now, I don't know if they're ever going to go 15 and 1 again or 14 and 2, whatever they did that Super Bowl year, but they definitely could be a double-digit playoff team. So I'm a Dan Quinn guy. I think he's a really good coach. I think it was tough that Super Bowl hangover slash when you factor in all the injuries.

It was just one of those weird seasons. Everyone has, I think, the Carolina Panthers are coming back to Earth. The Tampa Bay Bucks are in a period of transition. but they're going to be better fast. But I do think the Falcons could compete, at least with the Saints for the division, and probably 10-11 wins win a wild card. I'm an avid yet realistic Browns fan.

I have having discussions about Nick Chubb versus Sequin Barclay. Do you think Chub could end up having a better career? Chub is a really good player. But better career, I mean, Sequan. Buddy in the league put it to me first. perfectly this year in about December. He's like, I think Seekwon might be the best running back in the NFL right now.

Catching the ball, running inside, running outside. Really is only not getting a little bit better breaking tackles, but his top end speed is just elite. He's more instinctive. Like Todd Gurley, for his greatest Todd Gurley is, and he's awesome. He's 6'2. He can run like a deer. And he can fly. He's like Seekwan. Elite top end speed. Catches the ball really, really well, like a lot.

a wide receiver, so to Seque Juan. But he's not the most instinctive runner. Now, his instincts to me got a little bit better this year. It's where Zeke, Zique has great instincts. But his top end speed, just as he's gotten a little more thicker, he's not quite as fast, he's not as fast Sequin. Shady's not the same. David Johnson's, you know, his team was so shitty, he's hard to even judge. Nick Chubb can be a really, really good player. But I, and I'm talking Pro Bowls, He could make a couple Pro Bowls But is he ever going to be better in Sequin Barclay?

No chance Hey John, diehard Browns fan God, we got a lot of Browns fans that are listening Or at least they're active on social media Who are some realistic free agent targets for this offseason? I've heard Tyrell Williams is one of the possible outside threats for Baker What about a guy like Emmanuel Sanders? Appreciate any input

Emmanuel, what did he, Terris Achilles last year? Williams clearly is not going to be back with the charges. that's not a bad one. Golden Tate, get an older veteran guy in there. To me, you can always have a veteran guy. I don't think the receiver list is great. I would imagine they'd be more active in trading for guys. With all these new coaches all over the NFL, Miami, the Jets, the Cardinals, the Tampa.

You're going to be able to acquire guys that do not fit the new coaches scheme through a trade. So the free agent market I have to go through it a little more As it comes up right around the corner actually But look at it in the fall It just was terrible I mean golden tape was clearly the best guy And he's quite he's not quite what he once was

So if you're depending on free agent wide receivers In this year's crop You're gonna be let down It's just not that many good players I'm a massive Colts fan from all the way over here in New Zealand. I see you, Kiwi. I was wondering with the Colts

having the most cap space in the league over 100 million. Is there any chance the league rules that would force Chris Ballard into using a certain amount of the cap space? I can't imagine other owners around the league would be very happy with Ursa having a small payroll and making the playoffs this most recent season.

I don't think anyone really cares. You can always roll it over, but I think if it hits after three or four years of not hitting a certain threshold, you then have to pay everyone on your team more money. It's a mandatory floor. But it doesn't kick in every year. It kicks in, I think, every four years.

Because the Raiders were in danger of doing it a couple years ago. That's part of when you, really, your only highest, you have one highly paid player in luck. Ty W makes decent coin. Most of their good players are young players. I mean, draft better. I don't think anyone gets mad. There's not enough players to pay. I did the math, the top 10 teams going into this free agency have over $700 million in available

cab space. So if you factored in the other 22 teams, the number is surely over a billion dollars. Just Google NFL free agents. There's going to be three or four guys immediately franchised. Lawrence, Frank Clark, hell, Robbie Gold is going to get franchise. A kicker. D. Ford might get franchised. these guys just do not hit the open market.

Gidevian Clowny. So where's all this money going? I just don't see it. Because when you look at the players, they're just not good enough. What are the Colts supposed to do? Just sign a bunch of guys that they don't really want, or don't think are worth that much.

You got to overpay in free agency. And that's just the nature of any open market bidding when there are multiple people bidding. It drives up the price, just basic economics. But I just don't think the talent is there for people to be worthy of all the cash that people are going to want. What are the chances that Jimmy G. is not as good as the Niner Empire hopes he is turns out to be, and he becomes an average quarterback? Would that be on top of a lackluster season be the end of the Lynch-Shannahan era?

That's a good question. if he is not good and I am someone who believes he is a really good player it would be devastating for the 49ers for them to be competitive they are very dependent on Jimmy to be good I think he's good now he's got to stay on the field

right now he's an injury prone player you can say they were freak injuries whatever he's an injury prone player he started 10 games he got hurt twice second injury cost him the season the other injury cost him multiple games so I got to see that he can say on the field because right now that's his big

red flag to me. When he's on the field, I've seen him he's good. And I know people like, he didn't start great this year. He was fine. He had a rough game at Minnesota when Minnesota was viewed as one of the best teams in the league. He bounced back the next week against the Lions and really started coming on in that Chiefs game until he tried to run the DB over and towards ACL. I think he's an uproch salon player. I will be shocked if he stays on the field, which I'm not confident in. That's my red flag. If he can play, The next five years, he never misses a game. He will be a top eight quarterback.

If he gets hurt a lot, yeah, it's just a problem. The Niners have all their chips in the middle of the table on Jimmy Garopla. What should the Seahawks do about Frank Clark? If they keep him via the franchise tag or just resign him, what do you think they'll do in the draft or free agency for defense? I'd like to see them sure up the secondary by either picking up Landon Collins or drafting Deonté Thompson, kid from Alabama, who I just read this morning

that he had wrist surgery, he's not going to be able to do anything at the combine. Landon Collins could play that, you know, kind of Cam Chancellor role. I think under no circumstances is Frank Clark, not on the Seahawks next year. They franchise them. You don't draft a guy,

and then he becomes that good, and then you let him walk. So I think Frank Clark will be franchised. In a perfect world, you extend them. But it's hard for these guys to sign extensions. If I'm Frank Clark, I go, well, I sign the franchise tag, and what's the franchise tag for a pass rusher?

$16, $17 million? I mean, it's a lot of money. But if Frank Clark were to hit free agency, if Seattle just went, I'm going to let Frank Clark walk, he would get $20 million a year. The amount of teams, like I said, the top 10 teams, 700 million, just of the top 10 teams.

Off the top of my head, do you know the teams that could use them? The Colts, a ton of money. Niners, a ton of money. Raiders, ton of money. The Jets, ton of money. All the teams in the top of them. 10 could use them.

Because it's hard to find pass rushers. So I think they franchise them and they're kind of in a tough spot, but you just can't let them walk. Pete Carroll's best attribute since he's been with Seattle is he makes his second

dairy players really good. Look what he did when he first got there. What was Cam? Third round pick? Fourth round pick? Richard, fifth. Earl was a really high pick. Brandon Browner was playing in the CFS. So look at what they did this year with the guys. I mean, once Earl went out, them able to just kind of patchwork it with younger players was pretty incredible.

The dude, what's the twins, the one corner, Griffin. Shack Griffin, he's the one with the one arm. He's not that great of a player. Great story, but he's more of a backup special teams guy. But his brother is a really good corner. So I think that you just, Pete's really good at drafting and development. developing defensive backs. That's his baby.

He's DBs. He's a secondary coach kind of at his core. As the Cowboys look like they aren't renewing Garrett's contract, do you think the Cowboys fire him early in the season if they have a bad start? I think when you look at their staff,

you know, now they've kind of rebuilt and retooled their offensive staff. Their offensive coordinator's 30 years old, Kellen Moore. So if you were to fire Jason Garrett, Jason Garrett doesn't call the plays. He doesn't call the plays. He doesn't call the defense or indefinitely doesn't call the offense.

So you might as well just keep him and write out the season. Because if you did fire him, who would be the head coach? You wouldn't make Kellyn Moore do that in his first year as an offensive coordinator. John Kitt is the quarterback coach. I think his first year ever coaching in the NFL. I guess you could maybe make Mirinelli the head coach because Chris Recharges is the defensive coordinator. I think Jason Garrett coaches out this season no matter what.

And I think Dallas is going to be pretty good. They have some money under the cap They don't have to extend DAC this year They got all these guys coming back They get a year of Amari What's his name? The kid they drafted from Colorado State Gallops Pretty good

I like him I like what the Cowboys have going on Hey John Long listener since the radio days Who has the most approved on the Niners and Raiders roster I think we talked about it earlier on the Niners Jimmy's got to prove he can stay healthy from a playing standpoint

Solomon Thomas showed some signs of life last year down the stretch Can he take another big step? Anyone that's followed me for a while knows I'm not a Solomon Thomas guy But I hate writing off young players That are 22, 23 years old

If Solomon was 26, 27 I'd be like, I don't know But he is really young He was one of the youngest rookies a couple years ago He was young last year I'm not totally just over him as a player yet. On the Raiders, I don't know, man. I think their roster stinks.

Maybe Colton Miller, because they drafted him last year in the first round, can he prove to be a legitimate starting left tackle? Because Garyon Conley last year proved that he was a really good player. Probably the best player on their team. Assuming Derek's back, to me, Derek has to play a lot better. But Colton Miller, the offensive line, they invested number 15 overall pick. all they got from going from 10 to 15 was a third rounder,

which they traded for a guy that can't put down the bong in Martavius Bryant. So it'd probably be Colton Miller has the most approved. Okay, let me... I'd like to give a little thumbs up after I read your message because that lets me know that I read it. Okay, love the podcast. I'm curious about the attention that special team plays get when evaluating a college player before the draft.

For instance, does a player like Terry McLaurin, wide receiver Ohio State, who is primarily known for great punk coverage stand a chance at being drafted even if they think is unlikely to be a starting wide receiver in the NFL? Do you think there's value in special teams being a primary consideration for teams in the draft? 1,000%.

To me, I haven't studied this guy, but any time that you're just an ass-kicking punt and kickoff cover guy, and you can play all the core special teamers, look at Matthew Slater. I've said before, and I feel more confident now than ever, to me, I have no problem putting Matt Slater in the Hall of Fame as a special teams player. He's the greatest cover guy of my life, and he's been their team captain for eight years

or whatever on the best team in the league. So if Matt Slater does not play offense, I would imagine if I went to NFL.com, he has like 15 career catches. He is a special teamer, and he dominates at it. And he got drafted. So, yeah, if you kick ass on special teams and you can cover, you're tough, even if you don't return. Like Matt Slater doesn't return.

He just covers him blocks. And Belichick, I would imagine when he retires, Belichick will give one of his great, you know, like team-issued press conference or team-issued statements ever. Remember when he traded Logan Mankins? He's like, Logan Manchin's the best offensive lineman I ever coached. Matt Slater's probably the best special teams player he's ever coached. And he drafted him, he keeps extending him.

So yeah. I think that's on the area scout. If I'm going into Ohio State or I'm going into whatever school, I got to know that. And usually you dig and you find that out and someone, you know, you talk to the special teams coach. Or even one of the coordinators tell you, this guy can't play offense for us, but he kicks ass on special teams. that's why you put in your scouts and then you tell your special teams coach about it

and your head coach and then you evaluate from there so it definitely plays a role. With the draft coming up in about a month it's a couple months there's been a lot of hype around Kyler Murray but I haven't heard much talk about Nick Bosa do you think there's a chance of him going number one overall

or at least top five in Bosa I think part of it is just the nature of the sport, we talk the most about quarterbacks. We just talk quarterbacks, quarterbacks, quarterbacks. Every show I do until the season, I could just do a different something on quarterbacks. Starting quarterbacks, backup quarterbacks, college

quarterbacks. We love talking quarterbacks. We always have. It's why they get paid the most money. They're the most important player. And Kyler Murray is such a polarizing, fascinating player that he just kind of trumps everyone else in the draft. Is he the best player in this draft? No. Nick Bosa, better player? For sure. But there are questions on Nick Bosa.

Nick Bosa missed the majority of the season because he had a sports hernia. Is Nick Bosa healthy? That's one of the big questions at this combine. I know Nick Bosa when he's healthy is a badass. We've all seen the film. His brother's a badass. He's a badass. They're just badasses.

Can he stay healthy? I got to get my doctors, get a look at that, and see what's up with his injury. Because right now he's not healthy or he hasn't been healthy. I think that's the biggest question mark. Because I've heard they like him. Joey was kind of a partier. I actually heard Nick's a little more mellow. That whole class of dudes that came out for Ohio State.

Him and Zeke, you know, there were some questions about those two like to party. Now, it turns out four or five years later, who gives a shit? Those guys are ass kickers. That whole team was full of ass kickers. Bosa, Zeke, Michael Thomas. That team was sweet. The guy that I thought was the Florida guy, but he's actually Bell, all the corners.

Garyon, they had the kid they drafted. He probably wasn't playing, but Marcus Latimore. The team was stacked. Taylor Decker, but Zeke and Bosa were their best. And Nick Bosa is a lot like his brother, so

my concern with Nick Bosa, and a lot of people around where I live are like, should the Niners take him, should the Niners take him? Should the Niners take him? Because I don't think he's going to go one. I've been saying over and over, I think DeWain Haskins is going to end up going number one overall. Cardinals are going to trade back. Nick Bosa will be there at two.

I think the Niners could take him, but I also think they got to be comfortable with his injury. Here's the other thing. Joey Bosa held out for who knows forever with the Chargers over some stupid little rule in the contract. So the Bosa's are somewhat of a pain in the butt. Look at his brother this year, had an injury, no issue with left this team,

but some people might look upon that a little negatively. I think he's going to be a fascinating. player at this combine and if it goes well because i know he's big his tape speaks for itself if he gets a clean bill of health i think you'll get a lot more buzz on nick bosa coming back to be you know a top two or three player in this draft appreciate everyone listening try to bang out a bunch of your questions i only got a couple left i'll save them till friday if you got more questions slide up in my dms ad john middle cough middle cough mailbag do it every week uh it's going to start start getting fun here combine starting this week

free agencies right around the corner, then the draft's not far away. Let's buckle up, baby. Thanks for listening. Tell your friends. Adios. If you love to be remembered as the person who gives the best birthday gifts, I'm here to tell you that 1-800flowers.com is your ultimate birthday gifting destination. 1-800 flowers has thoughtful and artfully created options that are guaranteed to deliver the best birthday surprise.

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