The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Middlekauff - Julio Jones’ future, Todd Gurley contract, plus Middlekauff Mailbag

Episode Date: July 26, 2018

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. 3 and Out with John Middlekauff, is part of the Colin Cowherd Podcast Network. 3 and Out is an unfiltered podcast covering the biggest stories in the NFL and college football. John brings his unique perspective as a former NFL scout, NFL analyst and radio host. In this week's episode John talks about the Julio Jones holdout, Todd Gurley's contract, the issues surrounding Josh Gordon, plus answers listener questions from the Middlekauff Mailbag. Follow John on twitter @JohnMiddlekauff and go to theherdnow.com to find the latest content. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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John Middlecombe, three and out podcasts. Brought to you by the Colin Coward Podcast Network. Back at it again, I think we're all excited. It's here. Football season. All these teams are reporting the training camp all over the country. in the next several days, the 25th, 26, 27th, all the veterans should be probably in by the end of the week.

It's time. And as it's time, I'll probably amp this up. Game plan, hopefully, let's do more than one. I mean, it's going to be so much information. I got takes. I got thoughts on everything that's happening, and we'll just keep the ball rolling. We've got a big show today.

We've got some thoughts on Julio Jones. Todd Gurley just signed a big contract. Josh Gordon, MIA, the Raiders, debacle. But I want to start with Julio and his holdout. And there was a good article by my friends at the Athletic. And The Athletic, a subscription-based site, full disclosure I write for, I'm biased. It's incredible. It's the best sports writing on the Internet.

I really don't think it's close. Right now they have 17 different teams covered and they're expanding. It feels like every day. Jason Butt of the athletic. wrote something, and by the way, if you go to the special link and you use Theathletic.com backslash J.Mittal, you will get a year subscription for $3 a month. That's $36. I want to talk about Julio.

Jason Butt wrote this article on The Athletic, the Atlanta site, and if you subscribe to the athletic, you will get access to every city, every team, every sport, you name it. You get full on access. I've been thinking a lot about Julio. I recently put a large five-figure investment into Netflix. And for me, the investment relative to how much I'm worth and what I make was a lot. It was a very bold move. And for the first couple months, I would say six months of my investment, it was just, it was incredible.

I mean, I was making so much money. And I hadn't planned. I trade stocks on the side, but I'm not. I wouldn't consider myself a day trader. I'm more of a buyer. And I hold on. And if it gets to the point where I've made so much money, I sell. But I'm not trying to get a quick fix.

I just saw something that I believed in. I put a large sum of money for relative to myself. And I plan on holding it for a, I would guess the equivalent of a long-term hold, you know, five, six, seven years. I'm in no rush to sell. But at one point in time, I will move on. but recently the money has come back and it's basically trading for now what I bought it for which was really expensive I paid a lot it was $350 a stock when I bought it which anyone that knows

the stock market I'd say anything above $200 is a really really expensive stock so it was expensive but it's a long-term play but one day I have to pick a point I haven't really done it in my mind that when I get to a threshold, whether that's $800, whether that's $1,000, or worst case scenario, it starts going the other way, let's say it gets to, you know, drops $100 a share, that I'm going to have to sell. That's the stock market, right? And I look at Julio Jones. The Atlanta Falcons originally invested so much into Julio Jones. Remember, they traded, they basically went from pick 27 all the way up to six. They gave multiple first rounders. It was a bold move. Belichick told Thomas Demetroff, one of his pupils, do not do it.

I had a lot of friends that are in the business world when I told about my future investment in Netflix. They're like, don't do it. I'm like, well, no, I'm going to do it. Thomas Demetroff didn't listen to Belichick. He did it. And unlike me, with the Netflix stock, we'll see what happens the next several years. Julio was a royal hit.

It was a home run. They have experienced seven years of one of the best wide receivers in the league. You know, he's a borderline Hall of Famer if his career ended right now. Just maybe his stats don't quite show it because his stats aren't quite as great as when you think about it. But if you watch him, he's a dominant player. But I would say this. Not many players in the NFL non-quarterbacks are worth three contracts. The Atlanta Falcons paid him a lot as a rookie.

Then they extended him several years ago at a premium, made him the highest paid wide receiver in the league, as he had earned it. They have now got seven years, made the playoffs several times, made it at the NFC championship. I think was it, you know, 2012 or 13 when they lost the 49ers in the year. I guess it would have been like January of 2013. A couple years later, they're in the Super Bowl, end up losing. But they've got, you know, he had a stretch in 2014 and 2015 where he got 140, 104 balls, 136 balls. The last couple years in the mid-80s. only three touchdowns last year. I'd argue it's probably time to sell. I'm not into giving

Julio Jones a third contract to find the Atlanta Falcons. I bought high and then he exceeded the value of what I paid for him. The seven years were well worth it. He has been a good guy, a dominant player, helped me win a lot, but things change. And in the NFL, things change rapidly. I talk about it all the time. You can't get emotional with players, non-quarterback. They just probably overpaid Matt Ryan, but Matt Ryan is exponentially more important to their success than Julio. They have also, and one thing that Bud talks about in this article is how well they've drafted recently. You know, guys like Dion Jones. You know, that's Vic Beasley. If these guys keep going where it looks like they're going, they are going to be really expensive. Well, guess what? That's the way. That's the

the NFL works. You start paying second contracts to the elite guys you draft later. You don't give a third contract for a guy based on what he had done previously because more than likely Julio's best football is behind him. He's 29 years old by 2019. I think he'll turn 30 early in 2019. Usually once you get over that 30 year old threshold, most guys aren't Larry Fitzgerald. I would bet against that. You know, most guys peak in their mid to late 20s. You also just drafted a wide receiver in the first round. Now, I'm not saying Calvin Ridley is Julio Jones. He's not.

But you have to be willing, take the emotion out. If you could get a first rounder right now and get away from this contract, to me, it's a no-brainer. I would be shopping Julio Jones heavily right now. And there is just no way, on God's Green Earth, I'm giving him a third contract. I'm just not doing it. I would let him play out these couple years, which are, you know, 10 plus million for the next two years. no problem, but he's clearly uncomfortable with it. And I don't really want an uncomfortable superstar because really it's Matt Ryan's team,

but it's, the Atlanta Falcons are pretty synonymous right now with Julio Jones. And if he's going to be a problem or not happy, I don't really want him around. I'm trying to set a tone. We're trying to win a championship. And let's face it, it's been proven over and over. You do not need a star receiver of Julio Jones ilk and level to win championships. You just don't. So I'm on the phone right now.

If I get the 49ers to give a first round pick, if I could get the Dallas Cowboys to give a first round pick, the New England Patriots to give a first round pick, you name it. I will trade Julio if I'm Thomas Demetrov, who, as news broke this morning, just got a three-year extension. So he's not going anywhere. He has stability. You get credit for making this trade and for hitting on Julio.

You also get credit on moving a year early. instead of a year late. Like, that's a smart move. That's why you just drafted Calvin Ridley in the first round. You may, he may never be Julio, but he's still a big time talent. So I personally, you know, you have to draw a line in the sand that you go, you know, I'm not giving this guy a third contract. Not because he's, quote, unquote, not a good player anymore, but because I'm betting

against him maintaining this level of play for the next five or six years. You can find so much great sports writing on the athletic. I've been reading it since the beginning, since the day it opened in the Bay Area, which was last, I think August 1st. I write for it twice a week during football season, mainly cover the 49ers and the Raiders, but I also talk draft. Their college football coverage right now is extensive, covering all the major brands, Stuart Mandel, Bruce Feldman, two of the best in the business,

you could argue the best two in the business. And they have everything covered. The great part about reading the athletic on a daily basis, anyone knows this if you read all the sports websites out there, is that every article you read constant pop-ups, you read one paragraph, a video comes up. You read another paragraph, a huge ad. You don't have to worry about that with the athletic.

It's just a article by itself. Zero pop-ups. It's smooth. You start to finish, you just bang out. the article and its high level. And 17 NFL cities right now are covered on a daily basis. And if you follow The Athletic, it's growing at rapid rate. So I would expect that number to rise.

It's a subscription-based site. That's part of the deal with not getting the ads. And if you use my link, theathletic.com backslash J.Mittal, you will get a year's subscription for $3 a month. or $36 total. Again, that's $3 a month. $3 a month. You'll never have to see an ad again.

You also get access to literally everything that's written on the site. From New York, all the way out to California, encompassing everything in the middle, down to Florida, over to Texas. I mean, everything's covered. So you're crazy if you don't sign up for this. I really think it's just that simple. I read it on a daily basis. It's the first thing I click in the morning when I,

want to read sports, if I want to read myself, I'm telling you, it is incredible. Theathletic.com backslash J. Middle. Let's dive into Todd Gurley. He just signed a big, a massive new contract yesterday for $45 million. It was an extension. And I think there's two elements of this I want to hit on. First, I want to talk about the running back market. And second, I want to talk about his contract and Brandon Cooks.

contract and how that, you know, why those aren't included when we talk about Aaron Donald. But let's first start with the running back market. Yesterday on Twitter, all I heard was, the running back market has been reset. Levy on Bell is going to cash in this spring. Leveon can't wait to hit free agency. And I just thought to myself, like, why are the sports media so dumb with this stuff? And really the fact is they're so clouded by being so pro player that they don't quite understand. And a lot of reporters are very pro-agent because that's where they get all their information.

So their tweets sometimes are a little skewed. But I don't think Todd Gurley's contract does anything to do with Levion Bell. Just like in any business, certain people to certain organizations are just more important than other people to other organizations. It's just black and white. despite that guy in the separate organization being really good at his job, producing. He might be more replaceable than the other guy. And I'll tell you right now, for the Steelers, Leveon Bell is more replaceable than Todd Gurley just based on the simple fact that Pittsburgh has Antonio Brown and Juju Smith.

The Rams do not have that. They think they have that in Brandon Cooks. I personally think that that contract was pretty terrible. But Todd Gurley, I heard comments. Colin Coward say this, that when he does not rush for a thousand yards, or I mean, excuse me, 100 yards in a game, they're a sub-500 team. He also is so vital in their passing game because he's a past catching running back. Now, people say, so's Levion Bell. True, and he's phenomenal. I actually, if I just had a game or a, you know, a probably one season,

I might take Levian Bell. Levian Bell is, in my opinion, a better player. I think Todd Girlie is actually a little flawed as an inside runner and when it comes to his instincts as a running back. But I'll tell you this. Leveon belt, two things that I never see discussed by NFL reporters when they're talking about. Leveon deserves his money. His leg was snapped two years ago. Literally snapped in half. Now, big picture, his game isn't predicated on speed. So it's not a, you know, it's not a deciding factor in terms of judging him, he's going to play in the future, as we just saw last year, he's still a great player. But having been someone that worked in a front office, when someone gets injuries, I was the person that input them into the system.

Every injury is accumulated by every team throughout the NFL. So again, his leg was snapped. Also, he's been suspended. Regardless what you think of marijuana, I personally don't care. You can smoke, you cannot smoke. Do you? The NFL has rules, just like a lot of business has rules. And people bitch and moan all the time about the goddamn rules, but the rules exist.

You know when you're going to get tested, you know you can't get in trouble. And three or four years ago, he was driving to the team plane and got caught hotboxing. So, I mean, not the smartest individual going. And then on top of that, now Antonio Brown has been too. So it's not like Levians by himself. and in fairness, Big Ben is somewhat diva-ish as a quarterback, but you get to be, he's somewhat of a pain. He's somewhat of a pain. If I was a Steelers, I'd let him walk.

And I also think that if this guy hits free agency, no one is going to pay him as much as Todd Gurley. Todd Gurley is also three years younger. So Levyon Bell and Todd Gurley are both looking for their second contract. Todd got his. Todd's three years younger. Never been suspended, never had his leg snapped. Now, he did have an ACL injury, and as we've seen the last several years, for a guy that hangs his hat on high-end speed, that's how he separates himself,

it has not affected him. He can still haul ass. So when I hear the running back market has been reset, no, it hasn't. No, it has not. Todd Gurley is just an outlier. Like David Johnson right now wants a new contract. How, in God's Green Earth, is David Johnson going to get close to as much money as Todd Gurley just got? He just missed the entire season last year with a broken wrist.

And I think David Johnson is awesome. Personally, 35-ish million. I'd pay him $10 million less than Todd Gurley. And he's fantastic. And I would, you know, clearly as people, it feels like Todd Gurley and David Johnson are a little easier to deal with Levion Bell. But you're going to hear this all year whenever Levion shows up, probably before week one. That Levion's going to break the bank.

He is going to just pull up to Wells Fargo and say, pay me my cash. No, I can't see a team in the NFL giving Levion Bell next year when he hits free agency. As a 27-year-old with a suspension in his past, with a shattered leg in his past, with some holdouts in his past, with issues not getting along with the easiest organization to get along with. And clearly not even the most important player on his offense. Non-quarterback.

We're just saying non-corterback. We're Todd Gurley, it's not even a question. He's in his own stratosphere when it comes to importance of what he brings the table in that offense. Like, that's not even arguable. So I promise you, the narrative will take on a life of itself. Levy on Bell is not getting paid. Also, I see people in Twitter the narrative nonstop is,

God, Aaron Donald's got to be mad. Look at their paying all these other guys. Well, I view it like this. If you're going to buy something that's worth a lot of, $100 million and you're going to, you're also purchasing things that, let's say, and this is crazy amount of money, most people can't relate to this and I can't either, but if you were prioritizing buying something that's worth $100 million and you were a business, that would be a pretty substantial buy. And then if you were buying things like between $30 and $40 million,

those might be a little easier to buy, right? Might be easier to negotiate. It's easier to part with that amount of money relative, you know, 30 or 40% of the big purchase, it's just easier to do that deal. You buy those two things, they add up to the other one thing. So when I see people like, oh my God, I can't believe they broke off Brandon Cooks, which personally I don't think that's a great contract, I would not have done that, or paid Todd Gurley before Aaron Donald. Well, those deals are just easier to do.

Obviously, Aaron Donald is going to get way more money. Maybe he'll get the amount of money that those guys got guaranteed. combined. Hell, he might get more. Would it shock you if he got $90 million guaranteed? No. But that is a very complicated deal to do. He is going to be the highest paid non-quarterback in the history of the NFL. That is a complicated deal, regardless of how much you love him, regardless of how talented he is. It is just easier to go, hey Todd, here's $45 million guaranteed. Todd probably ran his four three legs to the facility to sign that contract. Brandon Cooks, when he was handed his contract, I still haven't seen the exact guaranteed

money. I think it's 20 non-injury and 50 injury guaranteed. So combined, that's, you know, 50, $95 million between the two of them, guaranteed. Brandon Cooks has just been traded by Belichick and Sean Payton in the last 12 months. He would sign that deal so quick. if you put either one of those contracts in front of Aaron Donald, he'd puke in his mouth. So it's just people need to, social media with sports journalists are just so clueless when it comes to business. I mean, it's just a fact.

I respect many of their opinions and their ability to break news and have insight on teams. But when it comes to business and when it comes to numbers, I really put zero value in anything they say. So no Aaron Donald shouldn't be shocked. and no one around the league with, you know, a general manager or people in front offices are shocked at all. They might be shocked at like, why did you give Brandon Cook's that amount of money? But no shit, those guys are going to sign the deal. Like, they've probably put countless contracts in front of Aeron Donald that might have been for a lot of money. 75 guaranteed.

And he might just say no. I would imagine he's saying, I'm not signing that. Well, if you can get other players that don't affect that player to sign a. contracts, it's just good long-term business. So these two contracts have literally zero effect on Aaron Donald. They're just much easier to sign. Let's go out to Cleveland Brown's training camp. Obviously, Hard Knock's going to be there this year. They just inked yesterday. Baker Mayfield, the number one overall pick, I think a deal worth over $32 million, fully guaranteed. But I would say the big story coming out of Bray Ohio right now,

and you can read all about it on The Athletic. Just go to Theathletic.com backslash J. Middle. My guy, Zach Jackson, I've been following them forever on Twitter, and now obviously read this stuff on Theathletic.com in Cleveland wrote about Josh Gordon yesterday. And the thing that came out yesterday with Josh Gordon is that he's basically taking a leave of absence to get health and wellness, and he's not going to be around.

And I probably developed this life philosophy three or four years ago. It's hard to stay true to this in football. But if I was a GM, the one thing I would do in the draft or signing a free agent, and I would do this in my own life if I ever caught wind of doing a partnership or doing a deal, I would never ever do business with an addict. and I know people on Twitter and the PC police would be like, how can you say such a thing? Well, I would not.

When I say, I would never do business with an addict. Why? Because in business, it's all about in a capitalist society that's known in America, it's about producing. And to produce, typically you have to be available.

You have to be there to actually do something. And as we've seen with Josh Gordon now several times. And again, can say whatever you want about marijuana and I hear this all the time about marijuana I'm not a big smoker you know I'm not to say I've never done it before in my life it's obviously legal in the place I live people tell me all this time about marijuana whenever I've been in arguments or whatever on social media not that necessarily means anything it's not an addictive drug well everyone I know that smokes basically smokes every day and some people can function just like some people can

function on alcohol. They're called functioning alcoholics. Some people clearly cannot. Josh Gordon clearly cannot function. He can have stretches where he functions, and then he has stretches where he can't. The Cleveland Browns that have a new general manager, a new face of their

franchise in Baker Mayfield, are now in the position where they're depending on players. They just traded for Jarvis Landry, paid him a lot of money. Just drafted Denzel Ward really high. Last year drafted Miles Garrett number one overall. They have Jamie Collins, as their star inside linebacker.

They are trying to take a step, trying to win some games this year. And Josh Gordon, because his talent is so tantalizing, you hold on and you hold on and you hold on. And he just let you down, let you down, let you down. And obviously I'm rooting for the guy to get his life right. That's the most important thing here.

But if I'm in the Cleveland Browns organization, we're trying to win. We are playing football. And he is not available because he has to take care of himself. Now, I commend them for staying by him, but let's not act like it was all because they truly cared about the person. If he stunk, they would have got rid of him. It was because he's an elite player. And the reason they continue to stand by him, and again, it's a great personal story for them to say, we care about the person.

Yet you conditionally care about the person. If he wasn't a flat-out baller, he would have been gone a long time ago. and when I say I wouldn't do business with addicts, it's easy to not do business, you know, in the football world with a bad player that's addicted to something. You just cut them. Or in the business world, a guy that can't make any money or a company, whatever. You just, yeah, I'm not going to do it.

It's easy, it's more difficult to say that, right, when you have an all-pro level town. Or if some dude wants to partner with me in some podcast venture, that's an addict, but he's like, hey, man, I can make you like 400 grand, a year doing podcasts. I'd be like, oh, call me,

what, when can we meet? You know? And I just think, the Cleveland Browns, the best move, and I know that PC Twitter would crush him.

You can't depend on this guy because he has addictive qualities that clearly derail his life. And right now, clearly for him, his life is the most important thing. He should work on it. I hope he has a,

you know, healthy and prosperous rest of his life. But if I was John Dorsey and I was leading the Cleveland Browns, I would never hang on to Josh Gordon anymore for dear life because it's been proven over and over and over again that he's just not a dependable individual. And right now, in where the Cleveland Browns are at with their kind of maturation and growth as a football franchise

and this youth movement they have going, do they really need this? If I was a Cleveland Browns fan, I'd ask me, like, why are we doing this? I get that he's really tough. But what's the point? You know, we just traded for Jarvis Landry. We have all these other stars on offense. Our offense could be really, really good.

And I don't think we need to depend on this guy. I think we stay helping him out any way we can. But from a football standpoint, it's now proven that he struggles to help us out mainly because he's not there. And I think if more gentle managers now in a typical year, there aren't that many addicts coming out in a draft. But if I ever found out, and you've seen this with Randy Gregory, and he's finally coming back, and you saw this forever with the 49ers standing by Alden Smith with some of his alcohol issues, when you stand by those guys, they borderline consistently will let you down. Well, let's get to the last topic of the day before we dive in.

to the Middilkoff mailbag, as we always do. I got a bunch of questions. We'll try to bang them out in the next month leading up to the regular season. But I got to dive down the black hole that is the Oakland Raiders. And I'm sure we'll get in the Cleo-Mack situation because I would expect a major holdout. I'll probably talk about that next week. Aaron Donnell will probably hold out too. So that'll be probably a consistent theme.

but I just want to talk about the organization as a whole in the Oakland Raiders. And I said this several years ago, and people thought I was just kind of an asshole and just picking on the team. Nothing changed about the Oakland Raiders the last several years beside Derek Carr and Khalil Mack showing up. The organization was still run very ass backwards and behind the times relative to most teams throughout the NFL. And nothing was more on display than that this week.

They made a change in the radio booth. At the end of the day, in an NFL team, it's not that big a deal. Full disclosure, I used to work with Greg Papa at a radio station, the voice of the Raiders for 20 plus years, easily one of the best, if not the best, in the business, radio play-by-play. He had a famous touchdown Raiders call. He was beloved by the fan base. Why?

Because he was freaking good at his job. Well, him and Mark Davis had somewhat of a falling out because of something he said about hiring Mike Shanahan several years ago, and Mark Davis could never let it go, ultimately fired him this week for an 80-year-old Brent Musburger. I love Brent Musburger. Absolute legend in the business. But I say this all the time. If you're 80 years old, I'm sorry, in the broadcasting world, you shouldn't be broadcasting

at 80 years old. You just, you can't do it. You're a shell of yourself. You're a name. You are not good anymore. I say it about Marv Albert. I grew up on Marv Albert. On those NBC games with Michael Jordan in the mid-90s.

He is probably the best TV commentator for play-by-play in basketball ever. He's not good anymore. I'm sorry, if you watch him, he misses plays players all the time. Hubey Brown for ESPN is 84 years old in calling NBA. That's an embarrassment. Brent Musburger, I don't think, is ever done television. vision, or I mean, excuse me, radio play by play, it's going to be a disaster. The game's too fast, he's not going to be able to see.

It's going to be really bad. But the Raiders, who everyone's like, they've turned a leaf. Mark Davis, look at how the franchise has grown in value. Well, in the last 10 years, everything in America has exponentially grown in value from homes to businesses to especially NFL franchises. He didn't do that much. You know, let's not act like he's the reason that they've doubled in value. Like, no, every NFL team has doubled in value the last several years.

But the thing that happened last week is Tom Flores, who won two of the three Oakland Raiders Super Bowls back in the 80s. Living Legend, some people argue he's a Hall of Famer. I don't think he's quite a Hall of Famer, but just a high-level, high-quality individual. Met him several times. Went to Sanger High School in the Valley, California. guy, just as nice of a human as you'll ever meet, and was the head coach on two teams that

won Super Bowls for the Oakland Raiders in the 80s, just a legend inside the franchise. He's been on the radio broadcast with Greg Poppa the last several years. Probably shouldn't have been around. You know, probably should have been, you know, moved off the duty years ago. Well, this week, when Greg Papa was fired for Brent Musburger, Tom Flores, again, that was head coach for two of the three championships. All you have to do is give him a simple phone call. He reads on the internet that he is being replaced.

That can't happen. Like that is so low level. But that is the Oakland Raiders. Like, again, not much has changed except Derek Carr and Khalil Mack. They got some better players. They hit on a couple draft picks, which they hadn't really hit on picks in 20 plus years. They had to pay. And I see this, John Gruden has said this multiple times.

When he was introduced at his press conference, someone asked about his contract. And he said he didn't know anything about his contract. You'd have to ask his agent. My jaw hit the floor. Then this week, he said if he doesn't come through, he will give his money back. I can't believe it. There's not much more that I hate than fraudulent people when it comes to money. And you see this a lot, and I see this living in the Bay Area with tech people.

Like Mark Zuckerberg's like, we all own Facebook together. No, Mark, you owed it, and you did $41 billion in revenue and you profited off it. All of us gave you our information willingly, but you own it. Bezos loves to be like, I'm all about the charity. No, Jeff, you're about wiping other businesses out and making huge margins, as you should be in a capitalist society. But don't act like it's not about the money. Gruden. to pretend you didn't know your contract

and then say you give your money back, it's bullshit. You came back first and foremost. Obviously, Derek Carr, Khalil Mack, coach of the Raiders, where he got traded from, you made them pay you $100 million. An owner that is the most cash poor owner in the NFL.

You bet him over the negotiating table, which again, in Capitalist America is fair, but you don't get to pretend that it wasn't about money. You could have come back for $60 million. Like, made me a coach. I think Andy Reed just got a contract extension last year. It was like $50 million. I mean, the going rate for sweet coaches is like around $50 million.

It took double that to get John to say yes. He could have come back for $65. He made them pay him $100 million. So I just struggle with the Oakland Raiders in terms of that their organization has taken all these big steps. They're now turning into like the New England Patriots, you know, or the Pittsburgh Steelers. No, they still do business when

one of the most famous individuals in their organization, they were going to fire him. He had to find out in the newspaper and by media people calling him. And then their head coach who I'm actually bullish on from, I have buddies on the staff. I think he's really, I've heard he's good.

I mean, I've heard he's really impressive in meetings that he knows offense, defense, and the special teams could install them all. So I'm not anti-Grudon. Like, I know Collins is a little down on the Raiders. I think they're going to be pretty competitive. But I do think Gruden's been a little fraudulent about his contract. It took him $100 million to come back.

He didn't come back. For the love of the game. For the love of the Raiders. For the love of Oakland. No, bro. You came back for $100 million. More power to you. But just, I don't even expect you to say that because people resent wealth in this world.

And it'd be a bad look. But don't go the other way and pretend. you're something you're not. You love your money. You love your money a lot. And you need to do more work in helping out your organization that's trying to take this new step in credibility that when you're firing Tom Flores and he's finding out on the internet or the newspaper that's getting delivered to his house in Fresno, California, that is beyond an embarrassing look. That's low class. That's just something low-level organizations do. It's one thing to fire a broadcaster, though I think it's a huge downgrade. It's another

thing to embarrass a living legend in your organization through social media. That should not happen. Everyone trying to tell me that the Oakland Raiders have changed, I'd argue nothing's changed. Some things just stay the same. Well, let's get

to my favorite segment of the day. The Middle Coff Mailbag. If you go to iTunes, in the review section, leave a review. And some people have tweeted at me. What if I don't have, you know, I don't listen on iTunes. I listen on Google Play or Iheart Radio or all these other these avenues where you can listen. I also do this. If you don't follow me, you're missing out. Go to on Instagram at John

Middlecough. My DMs are open. You can slide up in them and ask me questions and I will answer them either on Instagram or on here. And I'm going to start doing that next week. So if you go to at John Middlecough on Instagram, follow me. Shoot me a DM and I'll holler at you. Okay, let's get to my first question from a guy named Titus. He says he's a pulling guard from Fresno, California, Bullard High School. Hi, John, first time, long time. My question for you is this. What's the deal with Josh Allen?

Do we believe the hype, or is he going to be a Brady Quinn situation? It's a hell of a question there, Titus. My answer to Josh Allen is I don't like quarterbacks that can't complete balls. You know, the most basic attribute that you have to have at a position. You know, if you're a corner, you have to run. If you're a salesman, you have to sell. If you're a doctor, you know, a surgeon, you have to do surgery.

If you're a quarterback, you have to throw the ball to your wide receiver. That's like the most basic element of the position. And he does not do that very well. Now, buddies in the league, we're telling me when I went to the combine. I'm telling you, John, you work with the, this guy, his talents immense, you watch the right games, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And guys I really respect and guys that are of my friends the best in the business at what they do, like the guys that I just know are some of the best scouts in the NFL.

They liked them. I just struggle with his inability to complete balls. And historically, it's been proven over and over and over again that inaccurate quarterbacks in college are inaccurate in the pros. Some guys get better. most of them stay the same. So I think he's going to tantalize with his talent. Their offense, their roster is terrible.

I had a friend when Shady got in trouble, and it looked like, I guess he didn't get in trouble, she might be lying. We don't have all the information. I mean, he's showing up to training camp. When it looked like, God, is Shady going to miss the entire season? Said if Shady disappears,

they might have the worst roster in the NFL. Like, that team stinks. So it's going to be difficult for him with the guys he's throwing to. I won't go as far as Brady Quinn, but I think more than likely, I would bet on him. If you had to bet on hit or miss,

and when I say hit, like become a starting quarterback in the NFL for the same team for the next 10 years or miss, just not very good for the Buffalo bills. I would bet on miss. So I'm with you, Titus. What's the deal with Josh Allen? I'm beyond lukewarm,

and I'm betting on him to fail. Okay, let's get to Jordan. Roberts. What are your thoughts on the Foster suspension in Ramsey's comments about scheme? I think Ruben Foster, when it's all said and done, given how the beginning of the offseason started, you feel pretty good about two games. Now, I'd argue should he even be suspended two games. I know America loves to freak out about guns, but last time I checked, guns are legal in America. And he had legally purchased a weapon. He had legally registered it in Alabama. He just didn't bring it correctly to California or something.

His mistake was keeping it loaded. But again, I got news from you. I'm not a gun guy. I come from a long line of gun owners. A lot of my friends, you know, are farmers. They hunt. You could find they have loaded weapons, too. So it's not most people that,

especially the sports media that talk about guns, I also got news for you. They probably never touched a weapon or been around a weapon in their life. So I really don't respect their opinion when it comes of that. I don't judge Ruben Foster with that. And marijuana, again, you've got to be careful in the NFL,

but in the state that he plays, it's legal, more stupidity. I get it. I think he could have avoided suspension altogether, and I think it would have been fair, but at the end of the day, two games, okay, it's not that bad. Now it's on him, he should never get in trouble again. Ramsey's comments, Jalen reminds me a little of Draymond Green.

He just talks and just basically not. never shuts up, has an opinion on everything. He's really good, though, like Draymond. If you are an elite player and you want to talk a lot, that's your prerogative, so just run your mouth. But the thing here is, Jalen, you got your ass kicked by Jimmy and Kyle. Like, they took you to the woodshed. You were playing, you know, trying to get a top two seed to get home field advantage,

and they kicked your ass. And at the time, it's not like they, They were a one-win team coming in. They had won three straight games. They had some momentum. Everyone was kind of blowing Jimmy. The hype was starting to really grow, so they didn't really sneak up on you.

And you just got beat. Sometimes, just tip your hat. That's my only thing with, like the one thing I respect Draymond will do, if you do kick their ass, he'll tip his hat to you. Like, Jalen's not at that point yet. A, Jalen, sometimes you just get beat.

So the scheme, guess what? Scheme is a big part of football. And scheme is a, massive part he should know as a cornerback of offenses. What routes they're running, what, you know, what their play action game is based off their run game. They're just a million elements. And the one thing, I would say the 49ers now with Kyle Shanahan hang their hat on

more than anything, whether pre-Gimmy Garoppolo or post-Gimmy Garoppolo, is their offensive scheme. Like, so yeah, the scheme is important. I mean, what do you think here, Jalen? So whether it's the scheme, whether it's the route, whether it's the player, if you're giving up touchdowns, bro, that's on you guys. So I don't put much stock into that. I think, and I'm a huge Jalen Ramsey guy. I love a guy that just talks, just runs his mouth and that can back it up.

Those are some of my favorite people in America. If you just talk a lot of shit because you're good and you deserve to. But sometimes you lose, right? Sometimes you get your butt-wooked. You just tip your hat. So to me, Jalen's wrong on this. And it'll be interesting to see if they have a little bit of a down year. Just Jalen keep on talking.

I'd probably bet he does. Okay, great format, easy listen. Give the podcast a shout. All meant no fluff. Okay, John, my question for you is, do you think the Falcons have the talent slash coaching to get back to the Super Bowl in the next two to three years? 100%.

To me, the only detriment and obstacle for them is not necessarily talent and players. Dan Quinn, he's proven he can get you there. It's just the NFC. It's absolutely stacked, and plus their division. I mean, they're going to beat each other up. Clearly, I was bullish on Tampa. That was before I've sold all my stock in Jamis, and I'm out on Jamis.

I don't take them seriously anymore. But the other three teams, I mean, the Saints are unreal. Carolina is going to be solid. This is a really hard division. So you could have a 10 or 11 win season, and you are a wildcard team. More than likely, that happened. Look at last year.

The Falcons were good. They had to go on the road in the first round. Now they took care of business. But part of being a wildcard team is you typically have to go on the road two weeks in a row. And you may only, if you keep winning, you may have to go three weeks unless the seed, if you're the five seed and the six seed makes a run too. So more than likely you're not going to have any home games. It's just hard to get to the Super Bowl. And then, you know, once you get to the Super Bowl, it's kind of a coin flip.

But just getting there for the Falcons, it's all about winning the division. all about getting home games. If they get home games, they got a legit chance. If they're the wild card team, which may come down for them, that might be the difference between a play here, play there against the Saints. This is the difference of who wins the division. Your wildcard team, more than likely, you're not going to make the Super Bowl, just because of how difficult it is. Hey, John, I'm curious to see how you feel about the Raiders move to Las Vegas will positively affect the 49ers now that they are the only team in the Bay. will the Bay Area stores remove raider gear?

Will bitter fans even start rooting for the 49ers? Thanks, Sean. You know, I'd say the 49ers, and I know this from working with the athletic and seeing the readership numbers for Niners articles, working in radio forever, and seeing listener numbers relative to the 49ers and Raiders, and then working in television, knowing television ratings.

It's a blowout in terms of fans. I would say it's probably 80, 20, maybe even 85, 15 of just numbers, just pure numbers. I'm not saying like, clearly the Raiders fans are crazy. The Niners have the market cornered here. So I don't know if much will change from just their popularity in this area. They are the most popular team. It's part of the reason Mark Davis, you know, had to take a welfare check to leave because it was somewhat difficult for them always, the stomach being the second.

Like they viewed themselves. I didn't. I thought they had a huge growth potential around here with Derek and Khalil, but they viewed themselves like the red-headed stepchild. They never, the crazy thing is it feels like they never truly believed in themselves in this area. Like they could never go toe to toe with the Niners. And maybe realistically, they could never have been like a 50-50 split. But I do think if they were to won with Gruden and they were staying here,

they could have made up some ground with Derek Carr, Khalil Mack. They got a fun team. they don't feel like quite as edgy as the Al Davis Raiders. And then John Gruden, if he were to win, he'd have a Harbaugh-like field to him. So they chose they couldn't cut it. So they chose to run. Will Bay Area fans leave? I think it's as simple as I was born in 1984.

I live right now, obviously, in the Walnut Creek area, which is 20 minutes away from downtown San Francisco and 20 minutes away from the Coliseum where the Raiders and A's right next to Oracle. My parents, you know, about 45 minutes east of me, and I was born in 1984. And my dad was a big 49er fan, but I just naturally grew up on the 49ers too, partly because the Raiders weren't here. So once they leave, and let's say I have a kid, no plans on having kids yet, but let's say I have a kid in five years.

When he's born, I'm just assuming it's a he, and when I do the gender reveal, it's blue and not pink. So let's just say I hit the bat or the golf ball and it comes up blue, and then my kid's born, you know, I call him, you know, like Hunter or, you know, Wyatt or just some sweet name. I don't know. I wouldn't call him Wyatt. Well, I'd probably just name John, John Jr.

So John Jr., he's going to grow up in a Bay Area where the Raiders don't exist. So even if he was open-minded and didn't want to follow my lead of just, because by then, in 10 years, maybe I'm just talking about the Nires because the Raiders are long gone, that he would go, well, I'm just going to be a Niners fan too. They're the only team here. The Raiders wouldn't even be an option. Like me, part of the reason that so many people from like age 25 to 40 are Niners in the Bay Area is we were born into an era where the Raiders were not here, you know, and now they're going to be gone.

So in 20, 30 years, the majority of the Bay Area, they already have the majority, but I'm just, that number is going to double. Like that 85% will, you know, or that 15% will be cut in half because those people, the older versions will eventually die off. Don't root for death, but just inevitable. The only thing in life that are guaranteed are death and taxes. So there's just going to be an amount of people in this area. They won't even know they were here. It's really that simple. Sad, because they'd have one of the great iconic brands. And I always felt bad for them. And the Raiders hated when I used to crush their dreams of going to Vegas. And it drove them nuts. And I did it for two reasons. First off, I'm from here.

I speak for these people. This area is what matters to me first and foremost. And I knew a lot of people that were Raider season tickets and how much they cared about their team and how they were always texting me over the years about their team. And when I worked in the league, what do you think about the Raiders' moves? Their passion was just special.

And they got somewhat railroaded in this whole situation that was out of their control. And I always feel bad for them. So do they remove Raiders gear? Business is business. I mean, if people are buying it, They won't remove it. If people aren't buying it, they'll remove it.

Love the podcast. Have a Pack 12 question for you. Okay, I like it. I'm a little biased, but I feel like Oregon has a really good chance of winning the conference and playing in the playoff next year. In the league with Justin Herbert, they can go 6 and 1 when he played last year. We also have a great defense, which should be pretty good. And obviously, Jim Levitt.

I don't think Taggart was a good game manager at all, and we honestly won't feel the departure in anywhere else, but recruiting. Many teams in the pack 12 are down, and we will have Washington and Stanford at home. Good point. With three Cupcake non-conference games. What are your thoughts on the Ducks chances next season?

I do think they're pretty good. I would put Stanford and definitely Washington on a different level. To think that Mario Cristobal is going to outcoach Shaw and Pete, even though those games are at home, and anyone know if they're good, and they have good records going into those games, Ottson will be rocking. They have a legit home field advantage.

My cousin back in the day in the mid-2000s played at Fresno State, and I think they had like a four straight years where Fresno State went to Hudson every year. Oregon ended up coming to Fresno one time. But he's like, the guy standing next to you on the sideline, you can't even talk to him. It's so loud. But the quarterback's pretty solid. I got to watch a little more of them before I just anoint him as the guy. But I struggle with the head coach.

And I'm with you. I don't know how great Willie was, but Willie, I mean, clearly he's doing something right. It felt like Phil Knight and the Oregon Brass was so terrified of losing all these sweet recruits that Willie was coming in. They kind of went with the easy choice. Like, is he the best football choice? That's where I would struggle with. Do I ever see Mario Cristobal? I never see him being as good as Shaw or Pete, but, like, is he ever going to be as impactful as Mike?

Leach, do I think, if I had to bet on one guy right now for the next 10 years, I'd probably go with Justin Wilcox first. Now, if you told me that Oregon and their roster were in the South, I'd say, hell yeah, you could win the South and then take your chances in the Pack 12 championship. But I just can't see them winning the North. I can't see it. Maybe I'll be proven wrong at years end, but I would bet against, not their players, but against the head coach. Okay, let's get one more, and then a couple more of these questions I'll get next week. Keep asking these questions. You can send it on Instagram, at John Middlecalfa, right here in the review section. I have two questions. Will Andrew Luck be the same when he comes back from injury?

And then he goes off the beaten path. This is Luke Bless. Also, I feel the Cowboys are very slept on team that have a lot of talent. What do you see them in the future? When I woke up this morning, Frank Wright, the head coach for the Colts, said he not only expects Andrew Luck to be full go once practice starts, but you'll see him in the first preseason game. I'd assume if he's healthy,

I mean, I don't know if he's like Andrew Luck in his prime four or five years ago, but I do think he should be pretty good once he kind of gets his comfortable back there and once he has a full year of training camp. So if Andrew Luck's on the field, I would expect him to be good. Now, superstar Andrew Luck, that might take some time,

but definitely a quarterback worthy of beating anyone on any certain week. I think they are definitely almost like a sleeper just because if he is good Andrew Luck, they could win 7, 8, 9 games. For a team that struggled to win two or three is now tripling that win output. It's definitely a question,

and I don't feel comfortable saying he's just a pro bowl right away. You've got to see him play. But you see the pictures. Physically, he looks healthy, and we'll just have to see him in a couple of preseason games. I'm not going to judge him in the preseason games if they're moving the offense or not, but just how does the ball look coming out of his hand? He's never had a rocket, but he's always had an above-average arm.

And also on the Cowboys. I think they're going to win the NFCs. They're probably going to be my NFC's pick, and I'm going to have the Eagles second, because I think the Cowboys can win 11 and 12 games. I think the Eagles will win 10 or 11 too. Like both those two teams are really good. They went 9 and 7 last year.

Z-Calb. to go to Cabo for six weeks. Cabo. He disappeared because he got suspended. If Zeke doesn't miss those six games, they are in the playoffs. It's just simple. I mean, they win 10 or 11 games.

They definitely are in the playoffs. He was that important. He's their best player. So I view them not a sleeper pick. I mean, you're picking a team that's made the playoffs two years ago and obviously won the division. But yeah, I think their roster is very talented. and I think they just have blue chip game-changing players,

especially on offense. Jason Garrett's feeling some heat. I think they're going to be good. I'm going to pick them to win the division. I mean, obviously it wouldn't shock me if the Eagles won the division, but I think they're that good. I think they are division champion caliber team. Appreciate everyone listening again.

Covered a lot today. Middlecoff mailbag every week. Slide up in these reviews or slide up in my DMs on Instagram at John Middilkoff. I'll be back. Might have to start doing too. of these because we got so much going on. I got so many thoughts on just football stories coming out every day.

Right as I'm finishing it up, I was looking on Twitter as I was talking because I'm a millennial and I can multitask. Antonio Brown just showed up to training camp in a helicopter. What a legend. Incredible move. But I'll see you next week. Thanks for listening to the Three and Out podcast on the Colin Coward Podcast Network. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

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