The McShay Show - Mendoza vs. Beck Tape Study, a Wild-Card Losers Flash Mock, and Muench’s Minutes 1.0

Episode Date: January 12, 2026

Welcome to The McShay Show! Todd and Steve are back to break down the tape on Fernando Mendoza and Carson Beck ahead of the CFP national championship. Then, they reveal the best prospect fits for NFL teams that lost in the NFL wild-card round. To close, the guys debut “Muench’s Minutes,” a segment that goes behind the scenes with the big guy.0:00 Welcome to The McShay Show!6:18 CFP tape review: Fernando Mendoza21:05 CFP tape review: Carson Beck29:15 CFP Championship Preview: (10) Miami vs. (1) Indiana [-7.5]35:00 Wild Card round draft implications37:15 19th pick: Carolina Panthers42:40 20th pick: Dallas Cowboys (via GB)46:45 21st pick: Pittsburgh Steelers46:58 22nd pick: LA Chargers50:30 23rd pick: Philadelphia Eagles54:12 24th pick: Cleveland Browns (via JAX)1:00:25 Muench's minutesThe Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available.Host: Todd McShayGuest: Steve MuenchProducers: Tucker Tashjian, Conor Nevins, and Daniel ComerSocial: Jon Roemer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We got a busy week, Stevie boy. I'm telling you, outside of draft week, this might be the busiest week we have. You get the NFL playoffs in full kick. National championship games a week away. And underclassmen have to declare all underclassmen that are not playing in the national championship have to declare this week as well. So a lot to get to. And guess what? Just 101 days until the NFL draft.

Mitch, you good? I'm good, man. Tucker roll that beat, please. You get nervous, Mench? A little. One is kind of a weird number, huh? Yeah, 100. I'll get nervous.

So today, I'm all right. So tomorrow you'll get nervous. Okay. Yeah, tomorrow it will be worse. All right. Exciting stuff, though. I mean, we've got the underclassman this week. The NFL playoffs are in full kick.

The McShay show is presented by Fanduel. Fan Duel's got it all. Same game parlay's, quick bets for jumping in live, in your way so you can build the bet that fits your play. Plus, don't miss out on all the action during the rest of the show. of the college football playoffs. Download the Fanduil app or head to fendul.com slash mcshay to get started.

Must be 21 and older in President Select States or 18 and older in President D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler or visit RG-Help.com. Call 1-888-889-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut. We're going to get to the teams that lost and where their new draft positions are. You know, you're kind of depressed if you're one of those teams. If you're the Jaguars and Green Bay, it's kind of double depression because you went on all in on this year

and traded away your first round picks. And now you don't have them. And so teams like Dallas and Cleveland are thrilled that you lost. So we'll get to that. And we're going to kind of remod. We'll do like a mock five of the five teams that lost. Obviously, we have one of the AFC wildcard. games tonight, Pittsburgh, Houston.

And we can get back to back to that maybe next week and where their draft slot is with some of the division losers as well. But there are a couple other things I want to get to today. We have a surprise segment at the end that Mench is even more nervous about than the 101 days until the draft.

I'm excited to unveil that. Nobody knows, except Tucker and I, actually. Oh, Tucker news? Yeah, I had to tell Tucker a few minutes so that he could build maybe some animation or a graphic or something to to go along with it. And I do want to make note, because I've had a lot of questions.

Congratulations, by the way. Amy Poehler, wins the Golden Globes last night. Gives a nice shout out to the Ringer, right, with her new podcast. Yes. Yeah, the first ever award, yeah, for the podcast. It's awesome. If you haven't checked it out, please do. Exciting things going on at the Ringer, Spotify, podcast world.

And we obviously were announced going to Netflix. I just want to say we're going to be on YouTube for, now. We have a, as everyone's calling it, a robust content schedule coming up with the college football playoffs, with the senior bowl coming up, didn't want to make this transition. We're protecting our audience for the moment and a large chunk of our audience because when we started, we were a video podcast and a large chunk of our audience, thankfully, and we appreciate everyone who has been involved and supported this show, joined us via YouTube on the video there. So, and we have our live shows in the national championship live show that we'll be doing next monday night come join us we've

been doing it for every saturday night primetime game if you're not familiar and we also have done it throughout the college football playoffs so we'll be back for one final college football you know post game show but also with a break into the late late in the national championship game um but right now we we care deeply about our audience and there's some things to work out i want to let everyone know this isn't like breaking news it's like, what's going on? Why isn't the McShay show gone with, you know, Bill Simmons show and all the other podcasts that were announced with the ringer with Netflix?

We're actually just kind of trying to do the right thing by our audience right now, and I want to make it abundantly clear. No person. Very few people I've ever worked with have been more supportive. No person has been more supportive of making sure that we're comfortable, this show is comfortable, and that our audience is comfortable with the progressions that we're making. We've only been around 15 months, not even 15 full months.

So we're just we're making those progressions. Hopefully things will work out. We'll be part of the second wave, if you will, to Netflix. But for now it's status quo. So I just wanted to give our audience an update. I feel like they deserve that as yesterday, I believe,

was the launch of the some of the shows going to from the ringer going to Netflix. And I know Bill Simmons had his Sunday night show after the Patriots won their playoff game. So against the Chargers. And so that's the update. We're going to have the McShay report coming out this week.

Everything else, everything is normal. Nothing changes. Google, subscribe. All you get to do is Google the McShay report. We're kind of launching things off for the NFL draft and getting a little deeper into the weeds. Had a huge Mach 1.0, the, you know, the subscriptions and everything. and the audience has been wonderful. And we're expecting a monster few months here on the show.

So with that all said, I want to revisit it. And on when, well, we'll tape probably Wednesday late night and then Thursday morning we'll release the show and do more of a preview to the national championship game with just a few days away. Today, though, I promised on Saturday night, Steve, and I want to fulfill our promises, that we would go back and just kind of,

I don't want to say gloss over. We're not going to do this long, deep dive into Mendoza versus Beck. But I wanted to point out a couple things when you go back and watch the coach copy tape, because we said as we were reviewing those games, I'm really excited to watch the tape. Okay. And when we come back on for Thursday's show, we'll get into the defenses and Bain and Messador and all those other things in preview that national championship game. But today, I wanted to get to Mendoza and Beck.

I started with Mendoza, okay? Yep. And watch that tape versus Oregon. There were only like 13 key plays when you do the cutups, right? It felt like there would be a lot more. There were 21 for Beck. I watched the whole game, but I also went and really study those 13 key plays as well.

A couple things jumped out. A couple of them are Indiana-based and schematic, and a couple things are Mendoza, okay? Let me rip through my notes, and I want to get your responses to what I'm saying, okay? IU offensively loves to go four-man receiver sets, and sometimes it's three receivers with a tight end, sometimes they'll flex up running back out there,

but they especially like to go two by two, meaning two receivers to the right, two receivers to the left, two guys that are going to go out and run routes. It's a four-man route tree, if you will, a route combination, two by two, okay? that allows Fernando with a motion typically pre-snap to identify Manor Zone and then have a recognition of who what the read is. A lot of times that read is based off of the cornerback, right? So if you motion a guy from one side to the next to the other or within that, you know,

the structure of right to left, you're going to get a sense whether a linebacker or safety's traveling with, if that's the case, it's man to man. If there's no travel, which was the case frequently against Oregon, it's zone. And so with that, then it becomes, all right, that identifies what my read is and where I'm going to determine. Can I interrupt real quick? It also affects safety alignment. So like play two of the game, I'm saying the exact same thing as you're saying, right?

You're using motion, your motion to Cooper left to right. You got Sarat, a wide left. You motioned Cooper left to right. And the safety drops. And as soon as that safety drops, Mendoza knows he has access to Sarat. The corner's off. He knows he's got Sarat underneath if he wants him.

So it not only affects whether you're seeing Manor Zone, it's affecting defensive backs alignment and giving him bigger windows to throw into. Sorry, go ahead. No, it's exactly it. So if the read is the cornerback, not always but frequently, the initial read is the cornerback.

If the cornerback squats, right, then you're going to work to the perimeter-wide receiver. somewhere between that corner and the safety in that zone area. Whether it's a cover two-beater between the corner and safety along the right or left rail, whatever it is. If the cornerback carries that perimeter receiver, meaning he turns and runs with, which would be man-to-man or like a cover three, right? Then you're going to typically work to the slot receiver and whatever he's doing

because that typically is a matchup that they're looking to create with their slot receiver versus a running back or a safety. Advantage at you, right? So with that as a backdrop, when Oregon sent five, this is the other thing, when they did pressure Mendoza versus those two-by-two looks, two receivers to the right and left, two targets each, I saw a calm in Mendoza that I really, like, you know,

evaluating quarterbacks for 25 years. now, you really come to appreciate. He knew where his read was. He knows the pressure's coming. He had his protection set, right? And then it was typically targeting the outside receiver. Because they're sending five. There's going to be a safety rotation. That safety rotation is going to tell him right or left. And it becomes a half field read. And a lot of times in those situations, he like to go that back shoulder to Surat because I've got a man, I've got a one-on-one situation on the outside. Let's go to Sarat. And in a throw that he has become a masterclass at and a route that Surat has become

master class at running. Even like the Charlie Becker touchdown, you remember that play? Yep. There was a 36-yard touchdown catch. Again, it was two by two. And after an entire first quarter, actually doing the two-by-two combos, they showed. showed two by two, we kept the number two on the, the outside receiver is the one and then you work inside. So the number two would be the next receiver in, which would be the slot here.

And in this case, it was the tight end number 31. They kept that number two on that side into block. So what did that do exactly what you're talking about, match? It affected the safety. The safety has to move up. So it's like you always see coaches do this, right? That's the safety. It's inverted.

So if this, and I learned this a long, long time ago. Picture when you're reading defensive coverages. Like when there's a rotation or a blitz, there's always someone on a string. So if this safety, if there's two high safeties here, right? If you're watching on YouTube or Spotify, you can see, if not just visualize, I've got two fists in the air. If one, it kind of look weird.

If one safety comes rotating down to help cover, he becomes more of an inbox safety. This safety has a string on him and becomes more of a center fielder, right? Because they've got to make sure they have coverage behind it. So when 31 stays in the block, you've walked that one safety up into the box. And what is that done? That has made it harder. If you have two high safeties, the one on that side can get to the sideline a lot easier. By walking him up, you've put one center.

fielder who's got to kind of cover deep on both sides. And the second the ball snap, Mendoza's eyes go to his left. That brings that safety cheating just a little to his left. And then he pops his head back around, man to man, perfect placement, head top catch, and it was allowed by the offensive structure and by Mendoza's eyes. He's doing a lot of those things. Listen, I saw the same thing. It was amazing to me.

He saw the, so Becker was into the boundary. boundary safety walks up a little bit. Mendoza's like, I don't even need to mess with you. Like, I know when you're here, you can't get back and defend that route. And I know that that, and Oregon got into trouble a little bit there too, because they try to mask the look a little bit instead of rotating what you might call the free safety or the deep safety or would you would call. Instead of rotating him early, they waited, I think to try to muddy the look. Yep, of course. By waiting and Mendoza using his eyes to freeze him a little bit, they're.

There is zero way that guy can get over and make that play. Now, that's the mental part of it. But the execution of the throw, there's still a corner running with Becker. I mean, that is an absolute dime that he throws the Becker. So you've got the mental aspect of it, understanding how they're attacking this defense, what the defense is trying to do to him and processing it lightning fast. And then there's the execution of the throw. I mean, I'm seeing a lot of the same plays that are jumping out,

are jumping out to me that we're jumping out to you. And then you have like 1420 third quarter, right? Recognizes the cat blitz, a cornerback blitz. Again, everyone's on a string. The cornerback's going to come. There's going to be defensive back rotation with it. But the cat blitz comes. He recognizes it.

That creates a one-on-one for the, of the safety versus Surat. This wasn't a huge play, but it was a 15-yard comeback route. And these are the things as evaluators that you're watching. Like, all right, corner blitz. Is you going to pick up the matchup, the mismatch? Now you get Sarat, who's their best receiver versus a safety. Love that matchup all day long. But you've got to identify it.

You've got to get the ball out on time because now you've got a fifth rusher. And he does both of those things with ease, with a calm about him, balls out on time. Surat goes to come back. It's right there along the sideline. Bang, first down. my takeaway is schematically, I use not reinventing the wheel. They're blocking things up.

They don't make, they hardly make any mistakes. So yeah, your guy might be bigger. He might be taller. It might be longer. He might be stronger. He might be faster. But if we're always doing the right thing in terms of where we're supposed to be, pre-snap recognition, protection set, proper angles, proper technique,

by just enough time for Mendoza. Mendoza's eyes are where they should be. He understands where his reach. There's no indecision. And that's where they get opposing college teams. If you almost always are decisive and making the right reads and blocking with the right technique and making the right throws,

the odds are stacked in your favor. And I have to laugh when people are like, you know, they're going to go back and they're going to figure out that there was sign stealing. It's like the Michigan thing or the, you know, they're, like, get out of here, man. I get, I get why people are saying it because not only Mendoza, I, it's ridiculous. You know, without, without any kind of proof, it's ridiculous to say that. Let me, let me start.

When we went back and watched Michigan. I'm not feeding into this. When we went back and watched Michigan with that, with that information, we could, oh, they didn't, oh, yeah, they did know this. They don't, that's not normally what they do, but they did this here because you go back and watch Indiana. it's like, no, they're doing what they do. They're just doing it at such a high level of execution. But if you're luck stopping it. If you're looking at it, it just, Indiana has all the answers.

They have all the answers to what, they had every answer to what Oregon's defense was trying to do to them. But they also executed it. Correct. But it's not just Mendoza. It's the offensive line. It's the backs. It's the tight ends. It's the receivers.

Mendoza deserves all the credit in the world. That entire offensive unit, what their responsibilities are in protections, how they need to adjust their route to a certain coverage. If they need to make a contested catcher or just have to make a play, all of them are executing. It is, I mean, it's just incredible to watch at the level that this team is playing at is unique. It's just unique. I'll make two final comments in Mendoza, and we can swap. when I'm watching him, it's pre-snap recognition,

it's fast eyes post-snap, it's deciphering coverages, it's ball placement, it's precision, it's occasionally utilize that mobility and throw on the run, occasionally utilize that mobility and take off and run. He's just a machine right now. Swinging it forward to the NFL, and we're not having this conversation today, but it's going to be a lot of fun for the next few months.

When he doesn't have these answers that are, I don't want to say simple, but are very like, they're drilled into him and what they're doing and defensive structures in the NFL are going to be more complex. That first read is not going to lead to as many answers to the test as is happening at Indiana. How far back to the pact does that bring him early in his career? What's that going to look like? Those are conversations I'm excited to have over the next few months. But right now, his efficiency level in this system doing what he's, is asked of him is it's as high as you can imagine.

He's not Joe Burrow. I'm not saying, but like it's hard to find a better example of a quarterback within the structure of their offense. It's playing at a level since Joe Burrow in 2019, right? That's fair. That is, I think that's 100% fair.

I will also say this, that every time I criticize Mendoza, I catch heat about, you know, I just don't like Mendoza, which has been, I mean, ridiculous. I've said all along that I think he's a high-end quarterback prospect, but I don't give a shit. So I'm just going to tell you this. He also got away with a couple, I think, in this game. And he's not, he's human. He is human. I mean, the touchdown pass to Sarat where

Surat cuts in on the three-yard line underneath the outside receiver in the Oregon corner is for some reason just reading Surrott the whole time and doesn't jump. It kind of shades of the Malcolm Butler play against Seattle where Butler actually jumped their route and picked off the pass. It was a great defensive call by Oregon. It's the exact defensive call you want because the corners aren't getting rubbed. They're not bumping into each other. They're sitting and reading on that. And for some reason, the corner instead of getting his eyes on Mendoza on the ball,

just watches Sarat. That's a play that, I mean, he got away with one, I think, there. And it ends up looking like a touchdown. It looks like a great play. True. There was another one where he had the ball tipped, where if I think if the ball hadn't been tipped at the line of scrimmage, it was going to be in harm's way. That's two out of the plays, two of the plays he had.

There was also a drop, I think. He was unbelievable in this game. But as we're going to spin this forward to next week, let's not pretend that Fernando Mendoza is, you know, can't be stopped or can't be defended or they can't slow him down enough. There's some things that jumped out too that I think are worth noting. Pressuring him up the middle while keeping contain and doing it with a four-man rush is about the only way I can think of

because you've got to have extra defenders. Right. Back in coverage. And Miami has proven to be capable of that, which makes it an interesting matchup. I think we can like Mendoza without putting him or love Mendoza's game and love the way that Indiana is playing right now without like while keeping some perspective. I think that would be nice. Sorry.

Just thought. No, no. Yeah. And we'll have this conversation. You know, he's not, he's not borough. He's not Caleb talent wise. He's not Jaden talent wise. He's not Drake May talent.

So, yeah, there's a lot of conversations to have. So then I go and put on the Beck tape, Carson Beck versus Ole Miss. And which almost isn't fair. It's not. And it wasn't. It was hard. I had to keep that in mind. I wish I had done it the other way around.

I did it the same way you didn't. I started to think that and I said, but you know what? Life isn't fair. So this is a great way to do it, actually, you know? Because the bar is set really high. It is. And then, you know, early on, he misses that throw to Tony. Tony breaks free.

There's a breakdown in coverage. He throws the ball. And maybe there was a slight miscommunication on where Tony was supposed to break. But the throw is off target down the field. I'm trying to think there were other. And there's a down the throw. Oh, yeah, the skinny post is down fourth quarter. 313 remaining fourth quarter.

That skinny post. Play 79. When he was, yeah, play 79, where he was a terrible thing. Yeah, receiver's got inside leverage on the corner. He's on the inside of the numbers. He's not in position to come back in the middle. Yeah, you're not dropping the ball over and trying to hit him in stride. You just need to drive that ball and hit the receiver in the numbers.

It's an easier downfield throw, and he was short by a lot. And he had time and his feet. And it felt like no conviction to that throw. Right. That's a number. That's a ball you want a pro quarterback to complete nine out of ten times. And that wasn't, it was not a good throw. I'll say this.

And we'll get back to, there are some positive, a lot of positives to take from Beck too. Yes. I did like, first and foremost, I think Beck, and I know we wear it out, but the 2,881 snaps and the most experienced guy. And by the way, I just looked it up. Now we have had four teams playing the national championship during this 12-team playoff, all four of them with 2,100 plus snaps coming into the playoffs. I'm just saying. I love it.

Experience is critical in this tournament, if you will. But back to Miami. They like, while Indiana's more high percentage of two by two, four receiver sets, two by two, when Miami's in a four receiver set, which is quite often, it's a lot of three by one. Okay. With the bunches, yeah. With the bunch sets, right? And so they'll have three receivers, it could be a tight end or a fullback or a quarterback.

Right. But they'll have three men going out for. some kind of combination on one side and that will isolate a receiver on the other side, right? And by doing that, there's two things you're trying to accomplish.

If the defense is given too much respect to that isolated receiver on one side, it means they're probably going to be in trouble versus the three on the other side. And the other thing they're trying to accomplish, especially versus man, those bunch sets, three guys going out,

deploying on one side of the field, creates a lot of traffic. And a lot of mesh opportunities, picks, if you want to call them, right? And that came to fruition. There was the one, Marion, who had a monster game, best of his season, you know, the senior I've talked about, who I think is a day three prospect, but kind of a later round guy, but stepping up big and big moments, also a return guy. But he leaked free due to a miscommunication with a three by one, right, to the left side.

What was interesting on that play, and it leads me to something else, Carson Beck starts rolling, his pressure starts to come. He starts rolling a little bit to the right, which would get him away from those three receivers and would really kind of limit, but then he stops and pops down the field when Marion comes open. And by rolling to his right,

that corner for Old Miss, who was covering Marion early, got his eyes caught in the back field, and he's like, oh, he's not throwing back here. So I'm going to go help out to that side. cheats over there and Marion breaks free down the middle. So some interesting stuff from Beck. The point that brought me to is he's not Jaden or Caleb or Lamar or any of those guys, right?

But my goodness, the added element of mobility in his game since he's come to Miami, inside the pocket, sensing pressure, occasionally taking off and running so the defenses have to be aware of him. has really opened up things and I think has really given evaluator something to look at with Beck because I felt like at Georgia, it was a lot more like confined to pocket, go through the structure, just in playing tight and all that stuff. And we started to notice it in the very, you know, very earlier in the season against Notre Dame, right? I think this about Beck, the maneuvering, anticipating the pressure, all those things, the mobility part is very much improved.

obviously big strong arm has the ability to make a lot of throws with energy he's gotten smarter and by playing a little bit more loose and free but also drawing on his experience he struck a pretty good balance between when it's time to roll and let it rip and carry an offense versus our defense is great we're running the football let's play smart efficient ball security brand of football if you will. I also think I'm seeing a guy who's the biggest difference in favor of Beck for me, he's more easily and more comfortable,

comfortably working through full field reads. Whereas Mendoza, in part because of the scheme and how effective he is making that one read off of what he sees pre-snap, it's a lot of half-field reads. Now, I've seen Mendoza plenty of times this year, work right to left or left to right. I'm not saying he can't. He's tall.

He's got a lot of experience. But Beck is like, it looks more NFL-E. Yeah, Mendoza is a little smaller sample size. We've seen him do it. And it's not something we're saying he can't do it, but it's a smaller sample size we've seen of him having to go through those kind of reads. So just some things to look at.

I think Carson, go ahead. Yeah, I was going to say this. When they, I do like when Miami goes two-by-two, they do a stacked release and they do a really good job of using the guy in the line of scrimmage to clear out space for the guy underneath. A couple of things on Beck is that I thought the ball placement could have been better at times. I felt like, you know, we talked about that in the past.

The downfield stuff is still an issue for a guy who's a... Even some of the completed passes. Let's put it in a place where you get a little more yak. I felt like there was a couple of them that he could have been a little more accurate, could have been a little bit crisper with what he was doing. But I will say this. Play 90, third and 10, late in the game. they run this kind of concept where it's almost like play action with how the linebackers are reacting to Malachi Tony.

The Ole Miss linebackers are probably kicking themselves for this. But they have Tony in the slot and he runs a whip route and you see the linebackers from Ole Miss jump up. If he catches that ball as good as Malikaitonias, I would say that it's like 70, 30 they're going to tackle him before he gets the verse down. But the outside receiver curls behind those linebackers. And Beck sees it. He waits on it. He doesn't rush it. Wait to the receiver to clear the corner.

And then delivers an absolute strike for the first down. I mean, season. And he wasn't playing all that well at that point. He was playing okay. But that ball was like, I wrote down that made the throw of his career. Maybe the biggest throw he's ever made in his career. It was an unbelievable play. And then on the next play, he makes another,

I think that was the play you were talking about where he throws outside on the comeback. And then he didn't, he. runs in for the score on the same series. To me, I was, in the very next play, I wrote, okay, game started to slow down for him. And not as only he's starting to slow down for him and he's starting to get a rhythm, it's at the biggest point of the game, the biggest point of the season. To me, Carson Beck, almost on those two throws showed me more than he had showed me, you know, in a long time.

A couple things that are interesting for the national championship game. And again, on Thursday, we'll do a much bigger breakdown. I'm dying to get into this right now. I know, I know, but let me just, let me, this will be a teaser. I think we got to keep the flea flickers and some of the trick stuff that's been really, really effective for Miami. Keep it in the bag. Indiana doesn't, unless you completely catch them off guard and it's completely out of character, Indiana is just like, it's just not going to work. They're too disciplined.

I think this is a game where Miami has to line up and be like, our guys are bigger and stronger. starting with Maui Noah at right tackle 61. And pound away and then hit your spots, play actions, and create some one-on-ones with Tony. That matchup against DeAngelo Pons is going to be fascinating to watch. Will they move Pons around, you know, all that? But this is a game where you have to walk in and say, we're the you.

We're bigger. We're stronger. We're faster. We got to stop with the. penalties over a hundred penalties this season. We got to stop being cute. We have got to show them we are the most talented team in the country and we're going to win on talent and by just shoving it right up, you know where, okay?

The other part that's fascinating to me. Still might not be good enough, by the way, but go ahead. Don't disagree, but we'll get into that. All right, you know what time it is. It's time to get into a special segment of the show called Home Field Advantage, brought to you by our good friends at the Home Depot, the place to go build your dream game day set up on your own home field, whether it's the tailgate, your backyard, or your living room.

I've been telling you all for months, I'm in love with Home Depot. I'm also in love with their delivery, man. I live in a coastal town. It's like 20 minutes to get on the highway anywhere. I told you, I had a major project in the backyard setting up in an outdoor shower. I had some issues going on with my grill. We had a big party for Tate's birthday, and we needed a heater because it started to get cold in late October. You know what I did for all three of them? I got in contact with Home Depot. I got a

delivery set up. I actually went the first time myself and got about half the things I actually needed. And so I had to do the delivery as well. So I'm a big Home Depot guy as I'm getting older and I'm starting to try to do things myself around the house. I can't do it without Home Depot. And since we're talking about Homefield and the advantage that it brings, Munch, you got to admit, it was a deal with that Oregon game against Indiana. And it's going to be a deal. in the national championship game. Home field advantage is a thing, man. Like, we saw Indiana, like, where,

it was like witness protection for the Oregon fans, right? And Indiana rolls in this, people were saying it was like 80, 20, it might have been more. The crowd noise, the, like, you sensed it from when they first walked on the field. Indiana had, like, this whole, they were in an arena, like, gladiator days, you know?

And they had everything working for them. now it's fascinating because you've got this like it's not like we're going to kneeling nilin stadium or the big house or you know or the shoe we're going to miami's home stadium but it has not historically been this massive home field advantage necessarily and you got that same indiana fan base that's been waiting almost a hundred years for something like this in football they've seen it in basketball but they are starved and we saw it in this most recent game.

You're telling, like, they're going to empty the bank accounts to get down to Miami. Good time a year to get down there too, by the way. Let's spend a few days. Let's get in the sun. And then you got Mendoza coming back home where he grew up half a mile away from the campus and Coral Gable.

So it's going to be home field advantage in the national championship game. Is it going to be 50-50? You would think it would be 70-30 minimum because it's in the home stadium. but this is not an SEC or a Big Ten home stadium advantage. This is Hard Rock Stadium. So I want to see what it's like in the first like five minutes when we come out.

When the teams come out of the tunnel, I'm going to turn up the volume and listen. Because home field advantage was a Indiana was beat in Oregon no matter what. But it's certainly, you know, played to their advantage in that game. And I think I could see Indiana coming in and kind of shoving it in their face. Like, hey, I don't care you play. play your home games here. This is our home tonight. You know, that's going to be fun to watch.

Interesting to see. And it makes a difference. It makes a difference. And again, Oregon was losing that game anyways. But don't tell me that those Indiana players after that big hit on the kickoff and the crowd's going nuts. And then, you know, Dante Moore's got to come out in that first nap and barely hear himself think.

I mean, it could be a big thing. It's going to be fascinating. Which team, home team, if you will, Indiana or Miami, in Miami, in Miami, has the serious edge. But you can create your home field advantage, whether you're tailgating at the stadium or watching from your own backyard or even living room. The Home Depot has everything you need

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delivered free to your door subject to availability. See Home Depot.com for details. The Home Depot, how doers get more done. All right. I want to now transition. And I'm excited about this is your brainchild. We've never done this before, but I think it's brilliant. Mensch texted me yesterday and said, you know what?

Like the NFL playoffs are going on. We just did a mock draft, mock 1.0. We covered all the bases and where the picks are. But we've got right now currently, as we sit here on Monday morning, we've got five fan bases that now have locked in their draft spot. Three of which are the depressed fan bases of teams that lost in the wild card round of the NFL playoffs. The other two, as I said in the open, like it's a double dip of depression because not only did we lose in the wild card round of the playoffs and two teams in Green Bay in Jacksonville that. really had. I mean, you think to the end of the season for Jacksonville

and kind of the early midseason for Green Bay, these are teams that legitimately, if they got on the right run and won this game, and confidence was building, could have been playing in the Super Bowl, truly. Right. If Jacksonville gets by Buffalo, I think they make a run. But those picks go to,

because of trades for Micah Parsons and for Hunter, to Cleveland. As you can see here, Tucker, you putting this together last minute. Cleveland for the pick 24 and Dallas earlier than that at pick 20 via Green Bay with Micah Parsons. Okay. So here's the wild card round losers and their new draft slots.

Carolina now is picking it at 19. Dallas with the Green Bay pick is at 20. Pittsburgh asterisk, if you're watching this on Tuesday, Pittsburgh currently, as we sit here before the wild card game between Houston and Pittsburgh has the 21st pick. I do want to mention this. If Pittsburgh beats Houston tonight, the Chargers will move up to 21, the Eagles will move to 22, and then Houston will be slotted in at 23 with their 12-win regular season, okay? And then Cleveland with that 24th pick via Jacksonville now knows where their second pick is.

They'll be picking at 6 and 24 in the first round. So with that as the backdrop, Munch. let's get into this a little bit. So are we, this is, I should have clarified with you, are we going to talk about what Cleveland would do with that pick and what Dallas would do with that pick? Are we going to talk about it? Oh, okay.

I was looking at like what Jacksonville might do after. We can mention that as well. Yeah, whatever you want. But let's, let's go. No, we'll get into it. Carolina now picks it 19. What does that mean for their draft slot? Does it change anything from a week ago,

probably not significantly. I look at it and you tell me, it's interesting. They have needs at positions that are not considered high priority. This also is a draft class that has a lot of the most talented players are at some of those positions of non-priority,

if you will. I view safety linebacker tight end as three of the higher priority positions for Dan Morgan and that front office for Carolina to address. But I also recognize that edge and probably interior offensive line are more likely spots for them to go

maybe with this first pick at 19. What do you see here for Carolina? They got to get that. They got to get the pass rush right. To me, I mean, it was 29th in 2024 and it was 28th this year. They got to get an edge guy. Someone who fits that three-four scheme too.

So a guy who's a little bit smaller and might not be as attractive. All defenses are multiple in the NFL. It drives me crazy. We go 34-4-3. But they can use a small, for their fit, they could do a smaller outside linebacker tape type like David Bailey from Texas Tech, who will be long gone.

But there might be a player that pops up at that point who could be. Is this too rich for Akeem Messador from Miami? Because I think we agree. The guys that could go a little earlier will be David Bailey, as you just mentioned, from Texas Tech. There's a lot of mixed opinions on Ruben Bain that continues to be. but I think he'll be off, I would suspect he'll be off the board by 19.

Chess Howell? Where do you have him? I think he'd be a great fit. I'm interested to go back and really study his tape and isolate the matchups. I've talked to a couple scouts now where really go and study him against NFL caliber offensive linemen. And it's not as pleasing the tape as,

as, you know, maybe just if you're watching him in the rest of the games. So I'm interested to go back. There's mixed opinions on Bain. There's mixed opinions on Messador. There's mixed opinions on Cassius Howell. So it's going to be interesting to see how it plays. The workouts, the arm lengths, the measurables,

all those things are actually going to factor into kind of how these guys come off the board. And we got obviously the Combine and ProDays following that coming up. But yeah, I would say Messador, Cassius, Howell will kind of be names that you'll hear right now for Carolina. Do you think R. Mason Thomas is more of a day two guy now? That would be a guy if they got on day two. I think that's

absolutely most likely. I agree, but I think he's a guy to keep an eye on. I might be pushing, we'll see. I've got, I want to finish up his tape. I've watched a lot of it. I want to get his true measurable as I have a very good sense of it. Undersize.

There's a lot to sort out with where guys are going to end up. And now we're getting into information time, which is exciting, right? Yeah. We're going to, now we can really sort them out. But those are the kind of players I think you want to keep in mind for Carolina. Okay. And then safety, I mean, if it's not Caleb Downs, you're not taking one.

I think Sonny Stiles would be in the mix here. If the right, you know, if we have a run on, Keldrick Falk is another name that you're going to hear. I don't, not necessarily the right fit there. Right. At 6-7, 270, one of the youngest players in the draft class coming out. Auburn, okay? But I think when you're looking at linebacker,

if they have a significantly higher grade on a sunny styles maybe, then whatever edge is still available at that spot. Interior offensive line, like, could a Caden Proctor as a tackle, you could kick into guard, you know? Yeah. What is it, Eone from, from Penn State? Penn State. So I don't know

Those are things to kind of keep an eye on Yeah, I think it's a little rich for interior I don't love this interior offensive line class Got to dig deeper there I don't love it right now I think it's good Emmanuel Pregnon from Oregon's good I think 19 feels a little rich for one of those guys

But we'll see I talked to a scout recently who absolutely loves Pregnan There's a lot of tough guy Physical nasty Blockers that when I'm starting to talk to people They're like we can get a dude on day two. We don't have to get mixed up in that first round.

We can go address something else. There's some guys on day two that we're, the Freeling from Georgia's the name, I keep hearing. Oh, I promise the person I talked to, I would whisper it. I'll go back and watch. I don't go back to say, no way, but I got to go back and watch. Hopefully the tape this year is better than last year's.

Go ahead. Okay, so now we get to 20 with Dallas picking for Green Bay. I'll go through the needs for Dallas because it seems like you maybe were focused more on Green Bay, and you can circle back at the end and tell me about Green Bay. Dallas is picking at 20 with that pick. When is their first selection? Will you look that up? I have it in my mock draft here.

18. I think it's 18. So now they get picks 18 and 20. Great opportunity for the Cowboys. They've got a defense that they've got to address. I look at their needs as, I mean, it's across the board. It's edge. it's cornerback, it's linebacker, it's safety.

It's basically everything but interior because you brought in Quinn and Williams, right? Again, picking at 19, we got Carolina looking at edge, it's going to be the same names for Dallas at 20. Right? I mean, what, yeah. So, yeah, it is. Is this a spot where they go cornerback?

But you just said they pick at 18. So maybe at 18 Dallas has addressed their edge need and they scoop up the edge that Carolina wanted, you know? Yeah. And then you're sitting at, 20 and if you've gotten the edge you want, then it's cornerback. Is this where Jermad McCoy from Tennessee, Mansour Delane from LSU? Could this be a spot where a corner comes off the board?

I mentioned Sunny Stiles before. Arvel Reese is going to be a very high draft pick coming out of Ohio State. His teammate has gotten overshadowed. Sunny Stiles is also 64, 240 plus. like the wind, like this guy can flat out play, doesn't have the edge component that Reese has, but has like unbelievably improved in terms of instincts, angles, tackling skills. He became a much more complete player this year, I thought. So that's another spot at the linebacker position where I think Stiles could come off the board.

And it won't be for Dallas a safety at this spot. I think you're talking day two for Dallas. But what do you got? Keep an eye on that George Pipp. pick-in situation too. He's a free agent who's going to cost a boatload. And I don't know, I don't think their cap space is, yeah, their cap space isn't good. So they're going to figure out how they're going to keep pickings.

There's going to, Dallas is a developing story, really, how they're going to manage the players that they have, can they get pickings done? And will other needs open up because of what they can afford to keep or sign? So that's going to be interesting to going forward. I looked at Green Bay and they're interesting because I think they, they're left tackle is a free agent. Romeo Dobbs is a free agent. They got some needs there.

They could definitely go corner. So you got corner offensive tackle or edge. I forget what I said. Or wide receiver. Yeah. The receiver is interesting. Yeah. Golden showed a flash or two.

They have a ton of bodies there. Christian Watson, Golden, Dobbs. I'm missing. Wicks. Wicks. They have a ton of bodies there, right? but if the right name were to slide, do they go ahead and pull the trigger? It doesn't seem like they're going to bring back dogs.

I can't imagine. I can't either. After that drought, we'll go two years in a row with wide receiver. But I can see them. This is a really deep class on day two, adding another body to kind of replace Dobbs for a lesser price. As you get down the list of the receiver, like a Jeremy Bernard from Alabama would be a good replacement.

Chris Bell. Yeah. I don't know he'll be available that late. My God tells me. KC. Concepcion. on, you know, those kind of guys, they'll take the best offensive linemen available or they will take a corner if the right corner is there.

I don't disagree. Yeah, so we'll see. Yeah, but they, I've failed to, like, they're all going to be round two picks because they don't have their first round pick, obviously. Right, right. That's what I'm saying, yeah. In grabbing Michael Parsons, which went healthy,

I think we can all agree was, and you see the decline after Parsons' injury of that defense. It was stark. Yeah. All right. So that brings us to 21. which is Pittsburgh, which I think we just revisit later, whether that's Pittsburgh at 21 or, excuse me, it's Houston,

I mean, yeah, or Houston at 23. But that brings us down to the Chargers. I look at the Chargers and I say, my gosh, they drafted the right guys. Yes. They had the offensive tackles. This should have been a healthy Herbert with protection from the two offensive tackles.

drafted and developed, and they should have been rolling. But for some, I don't know if it's the water out there. I don't know if it's, I've read recently there's like, this was in San Francisco, like an electrical field nearby, the practice field, like I don't know what it is, but it seems like the same organizations are dealing with more significant injury bugs year over year, okay? I think interior offensive line is going to be an important spot.

and I don't know if it's with this pick at 22 or early in day two. Like I mentioned, there's a lot of guys on day two that are going to fit the bill. But someone who's got some swing potential. So a Caden Proctor here. You know, a Blake Miller, one of those, a freeling, a guy that if an injury were to become recurring for one of their tackles, could kick outside and give some help, but would be plug and play starter at guard. I also think interior defensive line. is a spot.

And you look at this year's class, and you've got obviously Peter Woods. I don't think I'd be shocked if he's still here at 22 for the Chargers. But I do look at Banks, Caleb Banks from Florida. NFL scouts are still bullish on him, even though he only played, you know, fewer than, I think fewer than 50 snaps or whatever it was this year. Banks is a big physical presence.

They need someone along that interior defensive line. they also could use edge help, cornerback help, safety, and wide receiver, some of the positions I looked at. What do you got for the Chargers? I'm with you. I mean, you did name a bunch of positions. And I'm with you the whole way, though. Those offensive tackles come back with me. It's easy to say how much it would have helped Herbert, which is correct, but it also would have helped them more in Hampton and the rest of that run game.

I mean, that was just a monster loss. But Kai Bexton has not played well. Bozeman has not played well. They need to get an interior offensive lineman. Feels like it's a little rich there. they hit again you talk about the guys that they hit drafted right jammari call well the defensive tackle is played really well yeah they got to figure out my guy as a senior bowl yeah you got to figure out if they're going to resign tart the other defensive tackle um

so i'm with you on the positions it's going to be about what's the best value there i i wonder if again could a receiver sneak in here with keen and allen getting older i like my guy tray harris i think he's he kind of flashed a little bit last night i think he's he kind of flashed a little bit last night i he's a good player, but if you saw the right wide receiver, would you go and get him? They got McConkey. They got Johnson. I mean, they've got some players there. But if you could get, again, because this is a team that if they get right medically and healthy

and they can keep some of the guys that they need to keep, they're not far off. I mean, really. They're really close, actually. Watching that team last night was almost tough to watch because it was just what could have been. It was a shell. It was a shell. It was what could have been with this team. It's been a shell, yeah.

So they are actually in a, they're not as, they're not as need oriented as maybe some of these. Yes, they need to get, but again, interior offensive alignment, I think you can find on day two. I think there's, they can maybe, I don't know, maybe a receiver sneaks in there for them. It would be interesting to say. Philadelphia at 23. Okay. Man, you get some, you get some, you got a hangover in Philly. This is not a place that accepts.

losing. There's going to be a lot of offensive changes. Let's put it that way. I, it'll be, I almost feel like at this point, it might be an upset if A.J. Brown's back. I know. That was a hard one to work. Suriani said all the right things after, by the way.

Yeah, but he didn't say all the right things in the moment. And quite honestly, with some receivers, I ain't mad at that tactic. but you got to know which buttons to press, right? But let's also not lose sight. They're still the defending Super Bowl champions, you know, like, and Howie's always going to be maneuvering. Like, not very... He's got some stuff to do, though.

He's got... He recognizes that. Jalen Phillips, the edge rusher, free agent, re-blankenship free agent, Jacoby Dean, free agent. Now, he's already addressed some of these with the way he's addressed the roster, but he's got some decisions to make.

And you're going to pay Jalen Carter. You have to. Jalen Carter monster contract is coming down. No question. How he's got a busy offseason here. He does. I think picking you 23, believe it or not, I think they could go edge again.

I think Howe is really comfortable with that. I think they just keep rolling guys in and be prepared for another edge. I think cornerback is a possibility. Dallas Goddard is a free agent, right? tight end. Tight end is a possibility. So, and he had a monster year and was unhappy about his contract situation coming into last year, but maybe they can mend that fence.

Safety's another spot. So what's interesting. Go ahead. They're not going to find a better tight end at where they pick in the draft. So that's going to be, that's going to be interesting for them, but see if they bring them back. I agree. Kenyon Sadiq will be gone.

and there's not going to be a replacement who can provide Goddard production on day two, at least immediately. And this is about filling immediate needs. What we've seen from Howie is he does it the way that all great GMs have done it. And we've done, we did extensive work on it last year and explained to our audience. And we'll kind of revisit all that. Build from the inside out, make sure you're getting offensive linemen, defensive linemen, impact players of those impact spots. And then handpick and pluck in free agency, Sequan Barkley, A.J. Brown, you know,

I could envision if A.J. Brown's gone that they're going to go pluck another one. Maybe it's a pickings, which was like, can you imagine? The same headache, the same talent, you know. But get Sequin from New York one year and then get pickens from Dallas another year? I mean, his status is a villain. You think Howie's not already thinking about it? Oh, it would be amazing.

It would be great. But to that point, I think, look for this to be another trenches pick and for them to be active in just maybe one or two splashes and free agency. But I also know when we talked to him last year before the combine, he's like, this is going to be two years of shuffling hard times. We're not going to have the free reign to do some of the things because we, you know, we put this team together to win a Super Bowl and that cost us. But that would be fascinating to watch. And excuse me. And then finally, Cleveland is picking it 24 thanks to Jacksonville. No fan base was happier about Jacksonville losing yesterday.

And so they now have the 24th pick in addition to six. Brown's needs to me are this, Steve, these. Quarterback. We'll have a lot of discussion. You're going to get killed for it. But yep, go ahead. Shador tracked. Shador outplayed the expectation based on off of a fifth round pick.

Had a fringe first round, you know, early second round grade on Shador. But I think for all the progress, there still was a lot of questions at the end of the season. New coach. Like there's just right now sitting right here, are they hiring someone who can elevate Shador and move forward that way? or is this new regime going to come in and say, you know, can we trade Chador or keep developing him as a backup? Like, I don't know. That remains to be seen.

Outside of quarterback, receiver and offensive line. Go ahead. They're not drafting a quarterback in the first round. So we can say that, I mean, like, we could say whatever one. They're not because Mendoza and possibly more, but will be gone by pick six. So are you, here's what? I would say. You think you don't be played well enough where if the right quarterback was available,

you wouldn't pull the trigger. This, I can't believe I'm saying this to you because I feel like this is something I would say, I feel like the role is reversed. Good. Yeah, yeah. If I, if I can get Fernanda Mendoza or a Dante Moore or, you know,

what if the Raiders aren't in love with Mendoza? And they recognize we got a lot of holes in Phil. So Cleveland can patch those picks. We now know are six and 24. and go move up. You would, you would, you would laugh at me

if I propose this to you. And, but I'm just saying, yeah, I hear you. That's not happening. So if it's not happening, I'm not wasting,

I'm not wasting is a harsh word. I do believe in drafting quarterbacks in, in the later rounds just to take flyers. But I'm using those picks to build around a quarterback that I'm probably going to bring in. In 2027. Yeah.

And if Shador in the meantime improves, And great, great. But I'm not saying, this is what I'm saying. After maybe the second quarterback of Dante Moore comes out, maybe the third with Ty Simpson, because I'm kind of circling back on him, there's not a quarterback better than Shador Sanders. I don't see that.

I really don't. He went way too late last year. And so if that's the case, then what are we doing? Like, you give Shador another year. Now, if Fernando Mendoza is available, he's a different kind of cat than you take him. but it's not going to happen. Okay.

It's something to do. No, I'm not there. You're need a Browns fan. How do we have a conversation about the Browns? And now that we know they pick six and 20 and 24, and we don't mention the name Shador Sanders. It would be irresponsible.

Yep. How do you, would you take Ty Simpson at six? No, that's too early, right? Too early. Yeah, I agree.

Too early. And now, and now, if I'm drafting a quarter, quarterback with Shador, it better be a clear cut. This is our guy. Let's maybe move Shador. Let's get some trade value for him and let's move to him. And then Gabriel can be our backup as a third round pick, which all kind of falls in line. I do think it's a 2027. I think this year's about building around. They're not going to go from picking six overall with that record to playing in the

Super Bowl. So let's do this the right thing. Let's make this a two-year reclamation project. And maybe three years from now we're like a serious playoff contender, but let's stop doing the Brady Quinn, Johnny Mansell, throw a bandaid at it. You know what I mean? Gabriel, which I know is in later around, but it's a third round.

I wish I'd gone back and look at, I looked at who the players were that were drafted around them. You can't tell me that they could have found a player. No, around Dylan. Oh, yeah. When Dylan was drafted last year, you can't tell me they couldn't have found someone that could have helped their team. in that area.

You know, and no offense to Dylan Gabriel, he's just, I didn't understand the pick at the time. I didn't either. Where are they, like maybe fourth, fifth,

but anyway. But I do think offensive, if we're digging in now, I think offensive tackle, guard, take the best offensive line that you can get. That's what I'm thinking.

And maybe that's at six. Maybe it's Maui Noah. Maybe it's fan of it, if you love them as much as much as much. And then at 20, 24, it's a wide receiver here. Yep.

And maybe one of those three falls. Maybe McKay Lemon doesn't work out well enough for some teams and falls to 24. I think all three will be off the board at 24. I think, I think Jordan, in any order, Jordan Tyson, Carnell, Tate, and Mackay Lemon. It would be for me, Tate, Tyson, Lemon, but really closely bunched earlier in the top like 15, okay? And then after that, are we getting into, what about a Denzel Boston here? He's a 22nd player on my board.

I would be very comfortable with that. So perfect fit. Okay. Yeah. Casey Concepcion, too, by the way. You're a guy who you told me to go back and watch, and I went back and watched. Yeah.

I texted you on covers as well as any receiver in this class. I mean, that dude just gets open. However, he's another guy. Tell him what do you also text me? What else did I say? He's small. No, I don't know if he loves, I don't know if he loves extending and taking big hits.

There's a couple of plays that I, maybe he made some tough plays, but there were a couple of them that I was like, yeah, he feels that safety coming down on him. If you're going to reference a text, I'm not going to let you just mention me positive. Trying to stay positive.

Come on, man. Speaking of which, oh, God, here we go. Speaking of which. Might have technical difficulties all of a sudden. Take a deep breath. All right. I don't know why.

hit me as I'm watching the playoff games yesterday. I was trying to think of something like, what do we want to do tomorrow? And we cover Mendoza Beck, we'll go through the five teams. Not that we ever run short on time, but I feel like the, let's give the people what they want.

You get draft Santa. You get mens here with a nod literally of the to Grateful Dead. Okay. Bobby, we are. Rest and peace. I, well, I throw this back out to you in the audience.

and the supporters of this show. I'm open to a name for this. I came up with Mench's Minutes. Okay? I'm literally sweating right now. Good. I came up with Mench's minutes. And essentially, like,

we need to log some minutes with Munch. I feel like people probably know me a little bit more over the years. So your surprise segment is centered around me. This is great. This should go well. It's all about METCH. It's MENCH.

It's MENCH's minutes, okay? Here's how it's going to work. We're going to have rotating questions for Munch. And I'm hopeful that this is going to take off, and it's going to become the best part of our show. We're going to rotate between questions. I think the audience would be intrigued to find out more about my good friend, Steve Mench. And then also mix in a little content.

I don't care if it's one word answers, but get a little draft content in here as well. I talk too much on this show. A layer of my sweetheunter tells me every single day. So does Marissa. So does everyone on social media. So this is an opportunity to get to know our good friend, Mention, a little bit more. Draft Santa is some call them.

Do you ready, bench? No, go. Good. Let's start with the fun stuff. How many of these are there? I'll tell you. Just be quiet and answer your question. Let's start with the fun stuff.

stuff. A trip that you, now that you're like a flying madman, you're flying all over the country, all, I want the people to know, and I know that Montana is a place that you love to go to. And now you're flying out to L.A., all that. But if there's one trip, like a bucket list trip that Steve Mench would want to take. Oh, that I haven't gone on. That you haven't gone on. Somewhere you're saying, like, maybe in the next five years, things go well in this gig. Maybe you get a little bit more scratch and put some money away. I want to take a dream vacation somewhere. There's some place you have your eye on that you'd like to go, you and Irish or family,

whatever it is, and just go to that location. It would, I would say this, that Banff in Canada is a place that I really would like to go check out. It's beautiful. But it would have to be Ireland. I have a German last name, but three of my grandparents are Irish. I have family that still live, like my cousin still lives in Ireland. Really?

Yeah, I have family. Even I didn't know that. Most of my, you know, we go to family, I go to a family reunion, I have been in a while. We go to a family reunion and there's Irish accents. And most of my family or a lot of my family are dual citizens, Irish and American. So it would have to be Ireland to go out and check that out.

Who would have known? I know. A McShea and a mensch just about the same amount of percentage in their blood. Okay. Both my grandmothers are born in Ireland. Yeah. Pick a player, and we're going to rotate. Pick a player in this draft that you're kind of bullish on right now.

Bullish on. That's a good question. It could be second round, third round. Chris Johnson, the corner from San Diego State. I think he's a first round talent. Great job. I just think he's that good. He's a ball hawk.

His tape is awesome. Chris Johnson's in San Diego State. People usually ask this question with the death row thing. I don't want to make it morbid. If I were to say to you, you're celebrating something coming up, massive signing bonus or promotion or an anniversary. Something about you, though. It's your night. 50th birthday, whatever it is.

And I opened up the piggy bank for you and said you can have one meal, anything you want. And you're not going to be on death row the next day. You just like, this is your nightmensch. And what I'm gifting you is, it could be the finest chef in the world, whatever it is. Give me one meal experience that you would love to have if you had every opportunity and financial backing. It would be seafood oriented. It would be somewhere on the coast. There is a place called Cabbage Island off of Booth Bay in Maine where you actually take a boat ride out to this island.

And they do kind of like a clan bake thing where you get clans. and you get clam chowder and you get two lobsters that they're literally pulling the lobster out of the ocean as the boat pulls up and they're cooking it on fires. That's the kind of thing that it would be. All right. People don't know this about much,

but he's a culinary connoisseur. Day three quarterback, you're most intrigued by. Day three quarterback. back. I don't know if there's this one's a good one. I mean,

is Nussmar going, is Nussmeyer going day three or day two? Nussmeyer's fine. Let's keep it out of the first round. It's fine. Sawyer Robertson, your guy from, from Baylor, I'm a little concerned about who's going back

and who's coming out. I wanted to get that sorted out. I think Sway Roberts is this guy has got a ton of tools. He's got to keep an eye on. I think Luke Altmeyer is the guy that just, flies under the radar out of Illinois, won a lot of games.

Don't think he's going to be a starter in the league, but could be a really good backup. I don't know. There's a couple of those guys. We'll see. I'm not super excited about this quarterback class. I wrote this question before you put on your Grateful Dead Hat, so you can include them in that if you want, or you can go three others. But give people a feel for you love music, play the guitar. Ever since I've known you when you were 18 years old, you're just a, you just love.

of band jam bands and music, man. I'm noodling, man. I'm busy. I'll be back tomorrow. Three bands that are, you're like, if you could only listen to three bands the rest of your life or you had an opportunity to see three bands in one show, who would they be? It would be fish, first and foremost.

I've seen them, I don't even know how many times live, trying really hard to figure out a way to go see them at the sphere the week after the draft. Oh, I love it. Like, tickets are not cheap, but I'm trying to figure out a way to make it happen. That would be really cool. The second would be the luminaires. I've seen the luminaires a lot.

And then the third, really, as much as I love fish, the third band is the band that I, I think is the best band around. And that's the national. I think the national are incredible, incredible band. So good. I've seen them once. I need to see them again. I saw him once live at Boston Calling.

Before they were even like much of a thing. That was like 2010 or something, whatever it was. It was awesome. Yeah, my father-in-law got me a record player for Christmas, and the first album I got was the live Rome show for the national, and it's unbelievable. Love it. Okay.

Give me a player that you've watched so far that you think is kind of underrated and you're intrigued to see, like, as we go through this process, the combine, pro days, all of that, that you think could kind of rise a little bit. Again, I would go back to Chris Johnson. This is a good one. Eli Stowers, the tight end from Vanderbilt. I really want to see how he tests.

I'm not necessarily sure that he's going to be that guy. We'll see. I guess those are two names that would throw out just off the top of my head. That's kind of a tough one. There's other players that I'm sure I'll think about as soon as we get off of here. But on the spot, those are the guys that I'm thinking about. All right. Last personal one.

And I want you to be honest, because I think this is important for the fan base. in the audience to actually know the truth. You're making a road trip, let's say, driving from New Hampshire down to New York or out west. You decide you're going to drive late at night, easier, less traffic. Get on the highway, you get your snacks right there, you get your drink, music playing, jamming out, right?

You get on the highway. There's almost no traffic. It's you, a couple truckers in the right lane. Which lane are you, And most importantly, and I want an honest answer. When you set that cruise control button, what does it say on the miles per hour where you're most comfortable? You feel like I'm cruising, I'm good, or I'm in a rush, but you're not, you want to get there. And you're going to try to go maximum speed that you're comfortable with on the highway where traffic's not a factor.

Which lane and what is the mile per hour read? I know you want me to say the right lane because you know how slow I have to. in the past. I've actually gotten better. We're going travel lane. We're going middle lane. And I'm going five over. I am a firm believer in the, nine is fine, 10, your mind. So if a state trooper sees you going nine miles over the speed limit, they're probably not going to pull you over, but 10, they will.

It's worth their while. I think the tickets go up. So it's middle lane, and I'm going five over just to play it's safe. So if it's a 60 mile per hour zone, you're going 65. Yeah. In the middle of the night, the highway's all yours. You're going 605. Yes, yes. And if I get annoyed that I will, I will pick it up.

There are definitely times where I get frustrated. Also, can I quickly tell, and I'll try to be quick here, our best driving story is early days when we worked for the sporting news. We did, I would think it was my first few months working with you. We did an NFL training camp tour. And because we were going from Buffalo to Detroit, I think people in the north know this. You have to cut through Canada.

I still get Adjita when you tell this story. So I was driving and I missed some kind of turn. And we were going, all of a sudden we were headed like towards the northern province. And I was drive. I drove 80% of that trip because it's you. You did. And so I finally said, I got to take a nap. I'm exhausted.

We've been traveling the entire country meant you're in charge. Go ahead. So we figured out. And now we're back on the way track. But it's. congested and McShea is in a mood and he just turns to me and I'm like kind of like just going along with traffic he goes I don't care what you have to do but you have to be better than the next man you have to be better than every car out here and find a way to get me to that hotel right now

he was so mad I fell asleep and we're on that we're heading in the right direction America I wake up and we're lost in Canada we're in the we're like in the Arctic circle all of a sudden it was bad it wasn't close it was bad so 65 and a 60 in the middle of the night in the middle lane That's wild. All right. Last one, Bob, if you could bet on one quarterback, a futures bet, 27. Ooh. And now, let's say Dante Moore's in this class doesn't count next year.

Who would you bet on? Right now, it can change, obviously. I'm going to say, I'm going to say, Arch, because I think that he's going to, I believe that momentum helps you. And with them getting Cam Coleman, the receiver from Auburn transferring there and Wingo there and his second year of starting. I think he's going to have a lot of momentum going into the draft. I am concerned about South Carolina,

Lenora Sellers and what that situation is, but he's still my guy. I still love Sellers. So I got to mention him, but it's probably, I'm probably taking Manning. This is my new favorite segment. I can't wait to see what the response is.

It's my new favorite segment. You did great. It did all right. It's not that nerve-wracking. You did great. We're back on Thursday. Then Monday night, Don't forget, live on YouTube, national championship game.

We'll break into that game late, do a whole recap and get things kind of moving forward towards the NFL draft. But, Mitch, I mean, is it any question five stars for you today? Thanks, man. Must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in D.C., Kentucky or Wyoming. Gambling problem? call 1-800 gambler or visit r g-g dash help.com.

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