The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1121 - Texans GM Nick Caserio, 49ers GM John Lynch, Eagles GM Howie Roseman, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: May 2, 2024

On today’s show, Pat, AJ Hawk, and the boys chat about last night’s playoff action in both the NHL and the NBA and how we’re being blessed right now while both leagues keep us entertained when there isn’t a whole lot else going on. We are also joined by three incredible GM’s to talk about both their drafts and their teams as a whole as we look towards the next part of the offseason including 6x Super Bowl Champion and now Houston Texans GM Nick Caserio (30:43-54:50), Hall of Famer, Super Bowl Champion, 9x Pro Bowler, 4x All-Pro, member of both the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Denver Broncos’ Ring of Honor, and now GM of the San Francisco 49ers, John Lynch (1:14:25-1:46:21), and finally Super Bowl Champion and GM of the Philadelphia Eagles, Howie Roseman (1:55:22-2:28:26). Make sure you subscribe to YouTube.com/thepatmcafeeshow to watch the show. Or watch on ESPN (12-2 EDT), ESPN’s Youtube (12-3 EDT), or ESPN+. We appreciate the hell out of all of you. See you tomorrow. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello beautiful people and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome. On this 3 GM Thursday, May 2nd, 2024, this sports program starts now. Sports! Oh wonderful, we're incredibly lucky to be talking about them every single day and obviously with the NBA playoffs and the NHL playoffs taking place, there is a plethora of shit to chit-chat about for the next couple hours and we are lucky to do so but the story of today for our particular program is that we have not one not two but three nfl general managers on the program today nick casario the houston texans will join us in about 29 minutes john lynch of the san francisco 49ers will join us in the second hour. And then Howie Roseman will join us at 205 Eastern,

which will be live on YouTube, ESPN Plus, and TikTok, which, once again, let's find. Okay, we need somebody to buy that. We need that. We need that. Stick around. It's a great community over there. But we are excited for the conversations we're about to have.

Might have a hockey convo and guests dropped in there. You know, some of our friends of the program that are in the hockey world might have some other stuff scheduled, but also might find some free time in there. So we'll chit-chat with them. It's going to be a glorious Thursday. The Talks at Table is here at Boston Con and at Ty Schmidt. That's not animals.

No, yeah, it is. It's Cat Kong. Oh. You see the cat on the Empire State Building, it looks like. Yeah, a little kitty cat out there. Yeah, kitty Kong, cat Kong, kind of either or. It's up to you how you. I'll tell you what, it's better that that cat is on the Empire State Building

instead of inside of it because cats inside of a house, I've been learning. Nightmare? They just do whatever they want. Yeah, is that right? They're great. They got great personalities. They're friendly, you know. Wow.

But they will piss and shit wherever they please. That sounds like all your animals. Well, Val's great. Val will piss and shit outside. Okay. Okay, which is very nice of her. She is the half pit bull, half sharpay, 11-year-old dog. Still doing it.

Still jumping up on bed. 11 years old. Okay, that's... So got it. Yep. So got it. Got to help her up sometimes. But hey, she has battled through a knee injury like two months ago.

She is in a great spot. She's the best animal that we have. Now, the other ones, they're all great personality and everything like that. But those cats will do whatever the hell they want. And they'll tear whatever the – they will tear apart whatever. Like that Empire State Building, if that cat is that big, that thing's ripping those – there's no problem at all. Throwing it all over the city. There are little lions roaming around your house yes it is phenomenal and also terrifying whenever they

start bickering you know these things start to bicker they talk yeah these things like to talk to each other you don't want to get in there because honestly there's no stopping them and you you'll end up oh yeah maybe even love cats though oh yeah they're never want to have them as pet ever again sure okay after these four you know but this is a great run with these ones i think my wife agrees with the same exact thing dogs obviously gonna have to have those around you for companionship and snuggling and everything like that cats are great too but they don't play by any rules no they don't and that's why it's on the empire state building yeah exactly i mean there's cat cracking i mean there's plenty of cats that are all over the place these days. I would like to say congrats to your

Boston Celtics. Thank you very much. Closing out last night. It's an honor. I really appreciate that. After this Bruins debacle in Game 5 two nights ago, it felt as though maybe that the Celtics would never get over this Miami Heat hump, and then, lo and behold, they scored

10 straight baskets from the first quarter to the second quarter and just beat the dog shit out of the Miami Heat. A lot of people, I don't know who they are making stuff happen for the Boston Celtics, which is why Brad Stevens probably won executive of the year for the team that they built. Everybody's talking about the Celtics are supposed

to win it all, supposed to win it all, all year they've been saying that. Going into the playoffs, they're saying that and now they knock out in a gentleman's sweet fashion Miami Heat. Now the Miami Heat have a guy named Tyler Hero. Let's start watching for a guy maybe to be the next fashion god. There's Jack. Of the United States of America. He dressed like Waldo one of the times.

A lot of people say this guy looks like an asshole. But you should see him play basketball. He's phenomenal down there. This Miami Heat team normally comes alive in the playoffs, but this Boston Celtics team is different than years past. They're going to go and do it this year, aren't they? Well, I mean, I sure hope Kristaps Porzingis got

hurt the last game. Yeah, but you got Hauser. Sure, we do have Sam Hauser. Derek White might be the best player in the NBA. Derek White should be the MVP. I completely agree, but there is a chance that with no Porzingis, if we're talking finals here, that might bite us in the ass when we're talking about Jokic and Chet Holmgren. Boston Celtics win

118-84. There's Porzingis' calf strain. It wasn't an Achilles, but it was a calf. I assume it was near the... I mean, both legs look to be injured there. Yeah, so what do I...

He rolled an ankle as well. He looks like he has a cramp. Maybe an Achilles. It's the right one. Okay, so he had the sleeve on the right leg. Left one, he's got the tape going up down. With how tall those humans are, you would think those ligaments could be in potential danger

because they're doing more work than anybody else. There's a soleus. It's kind of the soleus connects to the gastrocs. It also connects to the Achilles. Pretty important little piece there. In Achilles, we all know if that thing goes, you're screwed for at least four months. Now, Aaron Rodgers found a fast pass with Dr. Elitrosh, and I think there are some Achilles high-risk surgeries where you can get back faster.

But everybody thought it was in Achilles. It wasn't. Actually, it was in between the Achilles and the gastrocs with the soleus, which is certainly devastating, but he'll be back. They say he'll be back. I hope. I do hope. But, you know, there is some time here we should just roll through,

especially if we end up playing the Pacers. And the – I'm just saying. Let's have a – Big game tonight, 630 in Indiana. Yeah. And the Gainbridge get crazy – Get crunked up. The Gainbridge G crazy get crunked up.

The Gainbridge Gainside. You get it. Tyrese Halliburton's back at home. The Maestro's going to do his thing tonight against the Milwaukee Bucks. The Pacers can put them away. Now remember the Pacers got all the way to the finals of the in-season tournament, lost to the Lakers. They hung a banner because they beat this Pacers

team. This Pacers team is not easy to beat. They fill up the bucket. They had a bad game they beat this Pacers team. This Pacers team is not easy to beat. They filled up the bucket. They had a bad game the other night against the Milwaukee Bucks B team. All our players are hurt, see the Bucks win. That's not the Pacers' fault. Welcome to the NBA playoffs. Have your guys be out there then if you want to not bitch about it.

The Pacers can win, though. And obviously, eight and a half point favorites, they should take it out. And if they get the Celtics, good luck. We won't need it, brother. Watch your mouth. All right, anyways, basketball has kind of sucked the last couple nights. A little bit. The game's been big blowouts.

118-84 is what Boston beat Miami. Mavericks beat the Clippers 123-93. That thing was never seemingly close. Kyrie had a couple splash plays, didn't have a lot of points, but that man, Luka, took over. 32-some points, double-digit rebounds, was in the paint doing a lot of his work. Say, you know what? I'm a powerhouse in Los Angeles and do their thing. Dallas Mavericks,

Clippers, obviously a series everybody's interested in. Kawhi Leonard, one of the superstars for the Clippers, yet again not playing basketball because of an injury. It's just basketball is interesting because you can just change a channel in the NHL zone. Yeah.

And the NHL has been electrifying. Congrats to the Oilers, McJesus and the Oilers. For one, gentlemen, sweep of the Kings who we are fans of. We enjoy the Kings organization and make it in the playoffs. They lose to the Edmonton Oilers with McJesus, who is one of the most magnetic players to ever step onto the ice. He's fast. He's quick.

He dekes. He shoots. He does it all. I think he had more assists this particular series than he had ever had in the history of his playoff series runs. 12 points, I believe he had. He's a weapon. But the other game was a dogfight.

It was. It was on during primetime, which is fantastic news. Edmonton and L.A. was late. That one was late. I went to bed at 3-2, and I think it was like midnight that night. Tonight, I think Sixers-Knicks starts at like 9 p.m. or something. These games are running real late,

but they're running concurrents like March Madness. That Knights-Stars game last night was fantastic. And to be 100% clear, the Vegas Golden Knights have been the nicest hockey program to us out of everybody in the NHL. We love the Vegas Golden Knights. They gave Ty Schmidt a make-a-wish

night, Super Bowl week, when we were there, and obviously he is not, you know, suffering from a terminally... No terminal illness. There it is. Fateful illness or anything. They just took care of us over there. We're thankful for it.

They are in one right now with Texas Hockey and this Dallas Stars. And the goalie for the Dallas Stars, this dude's name is The Otter. Fans in the Dallas barn are wearing Otter masks. This dude's standing on his head. There's the Otter mask from a fan in the stands. He had a stop of a breakaway. In the third period late. Up one.

Uh-uh. Does a split. Stuff. See ya. Saves the win. Saves the game. But this being on TV at the same time as the NBA games, I think has not been good for the NBA. When it's 30, 40 point blowouts.

And then you turn on the NHL and it's every game is tight, and every game is high energy, and the barns have been loud everywhere. It's been magnificent to watch these NHL playoffs. Yeah, for sure. And obviously, you know, Gump and I both have skin in the game, so we're going to be watching it regardless. But you and Diggs both said, like, hey, I locked in on this game last night. Like, it just, I don't know.

I mean, there's something about these playoff games where I feel like every single time I watch them, I just get, like, the skill in which these guys play with. Like, once you actually start to watch hockey a little bit more and you kind of understand, like, the flow of the game and everything, like, it's just so much more impressive. I still think they need a little tail on the puck. That would be great. A little blue tail on, not a big one, not a big one.

When Fox was doing it, and back in the day, it was too much. It was too Mickey Mouse. It was too video game. I enjoyed it because I was like a kid when it was happening. I'm like, oh, that's cool. But the hockey fans were all pissed off. Are they saying a video game? This is real life. Stop doing it. If they had a little tail,

I think, on the puck, it would help out a lot of the casual fans because a lot of times you get lost where the hell the puck is. But if you're actually watching hockey, you're not supposed to just be watching the puck. You're also supposed to be watching people moving into the zone, where they're setting up for, what's happening, because it all moves so damn fast.

So I think a little tail on the puck could make the viewing experience better. But even if you know jack shit about hockey, you can watch this be what, what, what, what, what for three periods, basically an hour and 45 minutes of your life every single day. And I think the biggest difference between this and the NBA, like it's obviously not like that

in every NBA game, but like a couple of these games, teams will get out to massive leads. And it's just like the game is like, that doesn't happen in hockey. Like, yeah, it was 2-2 at the end of the first period, but then it was just edge of your seat, pins and needles for the rest of the game. The Golden Knights had a bunch of chances. Otter obviously stood on his head, but it really did.

It went down to a minute and a half left when Vegas pulled their goalie, and it was like you're invested in the whole game because it's not just a blowout, and you can see how, like, these guys put everything out there. And I feel like in the NBA, in some of these games at least, it's like we're midway through the second quarter, and it's like, all right, this game's over. One half of the hammer.

Dad. Cowboys time digs here looking fantastic. Brought Pizza Hut in for the crew. Yeah, what a move. What a move. We appreciate that. Good work, obviously. Made everybody...

I mean, everybody wants six to midnight. Yeah, I mean... As soon as that pizza came in, it's gone, I think, now. It is being cleared out by the entire office, and there's going to be dumps

all over the place. Shout out to Dude Wipes taking place. There's already people dumping. I already had a dump, yeah. Okay, I mean, that's going to happen when you're eating delicious pizza. Yeah, it is.

That is... Your taste buds are happy. I suppose. And you're enjoying it. Big old dumps, you cannot lie. And dude wipes are in there. You go ahead and one per flush, but let's make sure we're getting a nice portable bidet with our friends at dude wipes. You said last night, and you noted, not massive hockey guy.

Grew up in Pittsburgh. Obviously got a chance to reap some of the benefits of the Pittsburgh Penguins being good and the celebrations are happy. But you've never been an all-in hockey guy openly. These playoffs have been different. I think if you have not watched hockey before, these playoffs have been a great introduction for a lot of people. And numbers are through the roof, Tom.

Yeah, I would say at this point in my life, I am strictly a playoff hockey guy. Me too, by the way. When I lived in Pittsburgh, full-time hockey guy because it's on every night. It's on the local, so you're watching Penns pretty much every time they're on. But then once you move out here, and I've been here for eight years now, it's hard. Impossible to find these games. Impossible.

It's also – it's like – because it's easy when the entire city around you is that's all they're talking about and that's all they care about and it's at work and that's all you're talking about and stuff like that. Once you move out to a non-hockey city gets a little more difficult but once playoff time comes on boy like it's it's unbelievable and both those games last night were unbelievable the entire toronto and boston has been my favorite tonight hell yeah toronto and boston we go No, no. Not a photo. No, no.

None of that. Real life. And is Toronto going to break the hearts of the Boston Bruins fans who thought they were just going to shh, shh, shh, shh, shh. Marshawn said this thing's over in five. Well, guess what? We're into game six right now. And if this gets to 3-3, the Toronto Maple Leafs will have all a big mo on their side, not only on the internet, which will have all a big mo on their side.

Not only on the internet, which they have been loud and pissed and not laughing. What's a joke? We don't know those. Okay? This is not time to laughy-laughy. That is not what we're here for. This is the NHL playoffs. If they get big mo and they make this a game, oh my God, con man.

But you're right, Tone. It's been high intensity, a lot of shit talk. Seems like there's a lot of personality. And the skills have been like McJesus. People say McJesus, the way he plays during a regular season. And for those that don't know, this is Connor McDavid. He's one of the greatest players of all time. He plays for the Edmonton Oilers.

Where's that at? I think it's up left. Good question. Way up there. I think it's way up left in Canada North of Montana he's been there for a while, he's been there for a long time always been electrifying

must watch television if he's on TV but once again he's not on TV much because once again he's top left Canada way over there but like everybody wondered can this guy just not get it done in the playoffs? Is his style not the style that'll work in the playoffs? And it's like, this could be the year where Mick Jesus goes bananas.

You got stars being born. You got people being introduced to not only the game, but to these players. And all the games have lived up to the hype, seemingly. It's like, we got old school rivalries kicking back in with Toronto and Boston. All things are turning up aces for the NHL. Yeah, that's why I like the playoff layout. Obviously, it stinks for those top teams that aces for the NHL. Yeah, that's why I like the playoff layout. Obviously, it stinks for those top teams that want to play the worst teams,

but because of the matchups like Bruins and Maple Leafs and even Stars, Golden Knights, which is turning into a rivalry, that is what has made the first round great. Now, if the Bruins lose tonight, it's going to be devastating, but let's never forget that the Maple Leafs were up 4-1 with 10 minutes left in a Game 7 against Boston. They still lost. So even there, you still have to have faith as a Bruins fan. All right.

Well, we'll continue to chit-chat about it all. And thank you to the NHL and the NBA for keeping us entertained every single night. And baseball is happening. And the big story out of that is the once number one Pittsburgh Pirates this year have gone 3-13 over the last 16 games. On a bit of a schneid. Yeah, baseball sucks again. It's a long season.

I was having so much fun with baseball when we were good. I was like, Yankees, we're tied with you. You guys go 0-0, 10 innings. You guys suck. You should see what the Hundo boys in Cutch the Legend are doing with the Buccos. Well, they go out to Oakland and just get swept 3-13 in their last 16. That's Pittsburgh Pirate baseball, baby. Yeah, a bit of a drop-off.

Things aren't going well. They cannot hit to save their lives. Just the worst hitting team you've ever seen. That's Pittsburgh Pirate baseball. Why isn't Skeens playing? Because he's here in Indianapolis. Well, he should be playing for the Pirates. It wouldn't matter. The other boy is going seven and giving up one

and losing every single game because they can't hit for shit. Yeah, maybe they don't want to waste Paul Skeens right now. Could be. Maybe right now they're waiting for somebody to figure out how to hit a baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates to bring them back. What about the cruise missile? Listen, the Buccos baseball, we said it about the Chiefs. We said it about the Patriots. Their season doesn't start until at least May.

Okay, so now we go. You're talking about the Pirates? Yep. Okay. Don't you ever. I didn't know the Pirates were still playing baseball in May. That's normally how it goes. You guys are always good neighbors.

You know what? Nick is right. Don't you ever compare the Pittsburgh Pirates to the New England Patriots again, you son of a bitch. Or you can't say cheese. I know Patrick Mahomes has kind of turned a little bit of heel. Yeah, a little bit. You see the Darkfeet's guy judging WWE.

You turn Patrick heel. Patrick Mahomes heel in his hometown? Heel in his hometown? What are you guys doing? WWE is like, do you remember they went into Buffalo? I don't know how to tell you guys this. Patrick Mahomes is in his heel era right now. He is. And I think it's only going to continue. He's a little bit different

than Tom Brady. Tom Brady was always super press conference, buttoned up, had the hat. You know, I was having so much fun out here. Patrick Mahomes like embracing being booed. Patrick Mahomes is not scared to run down the hat. You know, I was having so much fun out here. Patrick Mahomes like embracing being booed. Patrick Mahomes not scared to run down the middle of a field, do one of these, do this. He's actually perfect for the WWE. If Patrick

Mahomes wasn't the next goat as a quarterback in the NFL, he'd actually be a phenomenal WWE guy. Don't love that he was teaming up with Logan Paul even though they got the prime deal. But once again, I stand by it after J.D. McDonough gets busted in the forehead with some platinum knucks that are three Super Bowl rings, a full dynasty.

He was trying to buy time for Jey Uso. That's what Patrick Mahomes is doing. So he said they turned him heel. I don't think that was the case. Also, just watch quarterback one time. He talks a lot of shit, and he's pretty fiery. Guess what? He's not just, like you said, he's not just a buttoned up

poster boy of the NFL. Pat Mahomes, yeah, he's ready for that action. Patrick Mahomes is the perfect guy to be the next one for us. In my eyes as a football person. I am very thankful. He drinks beers. He talks shit. He's part of the boys.

Got a great physique for the goat. Look, look. I mean, he has addressed it before, and we can say it openly here. He's very comfortable with it. He just won back-to-back Super Bowls, okay? Sure, he's got a dad bod. There's nothing wrong. I mean, it's not like I'm saying that.

I'm a dad. What does that mean? What are you saying? Nick's a dad. Yeah, you know what a dad is. John's a dad. Exactly. Ty's a dad.

So you guys know. Zito's a dad. What? So what's a dad? We got a bunch of different bodies. Foxy's a dad. Tom's a dad. Ty's a dad. Zito's a dad. So what's a dad? We got a bunch of different bodies. Foxy's a dad. He's got pets. I'm just saying there's a physique that fathers tend to gain, if you will, as children.

You're saying he's fat. I'm not saying that. I'm saying he has a dad body. Are you going to tell him he's fat to his face like Braun Strowman was about doing before creating Trey Smith? What are you doing here? Is that what you're saying? I would tell him, but he already knows that. He has said, hey, look, it's

dad bod season, baby. That was during the playoffs. I don't believe that he... Look, Brady. Brady has admitted it, too. Brady was never a clear cut, hey, look at me, guy. He always had the quarterback body. Hey, look at me, guy. He hey, look at me guy. He always had the quarterback spot. Hey, look at me guy. He wasn't a look at me guy. Yeah, he wasn't.

Hey, look at me. He wasn't. He wasn't one of those guys and neither is Mahomes and that doesn't matter because they still won Super Bowl. The fact that Mahomes showed up at Monday Night Raw is the only story that anybody should be talking about. Oh, he turned him heel. He was at Raw. He's like the greatest football player. The biggest star of the NFL. He's the greatest football player on earth right now and he was at Monday Night Raw. He's like the greatest football player. He's the biggest star of the NFL. He's the greatest football player on earth right now,

and he was at Monday Night Raw. That's the story. We're thankful for it. Atta baby, Patrick. Yeah. And Creed. And Trey. What?

And Paul Contreras. What? And Trey Filter. What? And Joe Borgonzi, the kid, I believe is his name. It was an Italian last name. Sounds right. I think it was Borgonzi. What a great crew. And Mercy Hospital stopping name. It was an Italian last name. Sounds right. I think it was Borgonzi.

What a great crew. And Mercy Hospital stopping by. That was a magical thing. Let's stay in the NFL. Daniel Jeremiah. Move the sticks. Who we are a fan of. Who does have connections around the league and information.

He does that mock draft every year really good. That's right. Now, Schrag's won this year. He did. And he's been taking a victory lap around the internet as he should. Congratulations, Schrags. Schrags has been giving himself the emoji trophy. I don't know if you've seen that. He's been quote-tweeting people that have been

doing the math on who had the best draft. It is he. He put the emoji of the trophy up there, and I want to let you know I hope they give you an actual trophy, Schrags, because everybody's trying to do what you're doing, and you've been great for a while. Now, the person that won it last year, Daniel Jeremiah, a man who does color commentary for the Chargers and is plugged

not only with the NFL Network but with the NFL. He says he thinks Drew Locke can potentially win a starting quarterback job for the New York football Giants. They were comparing Daniel Jones and Drew Locke, emphasis on Drew Locke, to the QBs that were going to be there at six, and the line for them was Drake May. So whenever they're talking about taking another quarterback, they're like, wait a second, we got Daniel Jones, obviously, and his eyes are bigger than

they've ever been. He's seeing more of the earth than he's ever seen before. Maybe it'll help him on the field with those big old eyes. That's a nice fish. Big in eyes. But that's a nice fish. Daniel Jones had some fish eyes at a press conference

and all of us judged him. Then you start looking at his output the last couple years with how much money he's making, you're thinking to yourself, wait, is he potentially going to be a guy on his way out of New York? They've got to be taking quarterback. They've got to be taking quarterback. Then Shefty came on here and said, they're looking for Joe Alt. Maybe the reason why they weren't so high on a

quarterback is because Drew Locke came in there and said, call that bitch my bodyguard. Yeah, that's my bodyguard. Talk about some moxie. Guy made some plays for Seattle. Has handled the trade from Denver to Seattle. Being a backup. Having to go about redefining who he is

as a person in the NFL. Now he's at the New York Football Giants. Why not Drew Locke? And Daniel Jeremiah is saying there's a chance that's reality. And the last time we saw him, Drew Locke was spinning the rock. We were talking about the Eagles game earlier. That was one of the most electric scenes, I feel like, of the season last year

because the Seattle Seahawks weren't really playing for anything. The Eagles were in a slump, but it was still the Philadelphia Eagles, and he's throwing dimes to beat them in primetime. Daniel Jones, I don't know if he's been looking over his shoulder with Drewie Locke in the building, but now he might have to. Yeah, I mean.

For sure, brother. Why not? And, you know, he was out there with Geno. He could have learned so much from Geno from his story. Remember, had a great start with the Jets, was supposed to start with the Jets. Altrication happens. Then all of a sudden there's a couple character assassination stories that come out about him. He goes to San Diego,

backs up Phil Rivers, goes to Seattle. Then he gets a job. And he takes it. Gets a deal. It's like, why not Drew Locke? Same thing. Denver's supposed to be guy. Then he gets traded out of there. Back up. Learn some stuff. As at another home, it's like, why not

Drew Locke go and do it hey drew good luck out there against daniel jones and this might be like the move i mean tampa tampa's going with baker and if you were to say that two years ago you'd be a lunatic to say that baker mayfield was going to be the next quarterback for the next 10 or 5 years with tampa bay like maybe this is kind of becoming the new thing in the nfl especially because people are so quick to move on from quarterbacks. I mean, I'm not going to say it, but look out for Mac Jones, perhaps, if he gets a shot somewhere because he could have a nice little redemption story. Well, he's down there in Jacksonville.

Trevor Lawrence, obviously super high hopes for Trevor Lawrence in the Jags, especially because Doug Peterson's the head coach. He's been there, done that, and radiates cool. Yeah. Just radiates. Oozes machismo. He does. He does.

He does. He's what Doug Peterson does with that visor, and he's been to the mountaintop, so he knows how to get there is what you would assume. He's former quarterback, so his relationship with the quarterback's huge. But if Trevor Lawrence gets hurt, which happened last year, even though he never misses games,

Trevor Lawrence, if you look into how many games he's missed, it's like none. Tough. And it actually hurt him last year because I think he went out there very injured, both with a knee and a shoulder I think. And he played bad football

down the stretch. It's the reason why the Jags didn't go on to do what they were doing. Now people are judging Trevor Lawrence. It's like, I think he was pretty hurt. I think he was pretty hurt at the end of the year. But he just chose to still play because he's a tough, handsome, long-haired guy. Now you got Mac Jones down there

who has some football hours behind him. Big year for Trevor Lawrence. There's a video going around the internet right now about Gardner Minshew's numbers versus Trevor Lawrence's numbers over their last 50 games. Gardner Minshew, way better. Well, Gardner Minshew, whenever he was at Jacksonville, was selling headbands and jorts. He was. He was.

There's another guy, Gardner Minshew. Yes. Starts in Jacksonville, takes over the world. There's a full turnover. He gets sent out to Philadelphia, learns his stuff, does his stuff, gets ingratiated with the place. Actually asks if he could be a starter over Jalen. Gets shut down quickly.

Handles it like a professional. No big deal. I'll be a great backup. Shane Steichen then from Philly comes over here to Indianapolis. They sign Gardner Minshew. Gardner Minshew does their approval with the Indianapolis Colts as their starter for basically 12 games of last year. Michael Pittman Jr. gets a new deal out of the entire thing.

Our belief in Shane Steichen is real. And now he's the starting quarterback for the Las Vegas Raiders. So it's like these stories of work, not work, move, move, move, learn, develop, kind of grow, not only physically, but maturity-wise. And I'm not saying Gardner needed that or any of these other guys, but just naturally you're going to become a more calloused human being if you're going through all this. It's like, why not Drew Luck?

Maybe he's another person to add to this story list. Well, and he's been in this situation his entire career, so it's not like this is new for him. I don't think Dan Jones has ever really been in an actual open competition going into the year. He just kind of – I mean, and especially for Dable. It in an actual open competition going into the year. He just kind of – I mean, and especially for Dayball. It's not an open competition. He's getting paid $40 million.

Well, right, but you understand what I mean. If Daniel Jeremiah is saying, hey, there's a chance this guy could start, that was never even – up until this point in his career, that's never been talked about. Dan Jones is the starter no matter what. How many times will we see Dayball throw his headsets because of daniel jones that's what i mean like those guys know hey like if if we don't win we're gonna get fired so like what why are we why are we just gonna put all of our chips in dan jones's basket might as well give drew lock a shot and see if he can do

something nick casario who'll be joining us in about five minutes uh he chit-chatted about kade stover the tight end out of ohio state who had a john deere deal in college because he comes from a farming family here he is stories about kate stover things you guys heard yeah whatever it is it's elite i mean this guy is as tough and hard nose a player that they had in the program just kind of going back to the question and domico's answer about developing players let's say kade's a good example of a player who's only played tight end for two years, so he's certainly not a finished product, but he has the mindset and the work ethic to improve. I mean, how he was raised, I mean, this guy is everything you want in a football player, and then more. I mean,

he probably played hurt this year. I mean, I think he had an MCL or had an issue where, quite frankly, it would have limited some other players, but he just braced it up, and he just kept playing football. So, I mean, I don't want to speak for D'Amico, but I think we feel the same way. This is probably one of our favorite football players in the entire draft, regardless of position, because of his mentality, because of his mindset. And he still is developing as a player.

I mean, two years ago, he was playing defensive end in the Rose Bowl against Utah. Now he's played tight end for two years, and here he is getting picked in the bottom of the fourth round, and his position is, you know, we think tight end. That's why we drafted him. But, I mean, blue collars, they come from a makeup, traits, toughness mentality. I mean, this is an elite guy. Okay, elite guy. They just signed dalton schultz to a deal yep obviously he's the tight end from the dallas cowboys that comes over

to houston he and cj stroud have an immediate connection and cj stroud seemingly has an immediate connection with everybody anyone he wants you see him and micah oh yeah oh yeah i love that connection micah needs to stop doing what he's doing. What's that? Where did that come from? What? We're all faking it. He keeps saying dumb shit all the time.

I'm not faking that. Oh, no, no. He's talking. This all started with the T.J. Watt thing when Micah said that T.J. Watt was the lead. That was the tip of the spear. He also said he could average 25 in the NBA. I think he said 20, not 25. You're kind of.

He said the NFC East was the greatest division of all time. What's he supposed to say? Well, CJ didn't say the NFC South was the greatest division of all time. Well, we need CJ to speak up a little bit more. CJ's had to go to battle and defend the right side like eight times against Micah. I'm getting sick of it. Well, he said that Micah's naturally delusional. But to be 100% clear, Micah has to have that to do the shit that he

does you know like he has to be a uh absurdly confident damn near arrogant egotistical human being to be who he is on the football field because he does everything he thinks he can take on anybody at any time for he thinks he's faster than everybody he thinks he's stronger than everybody he thinks he's smarter than everybody he thinks he's tougher than everybody. He thinks he's stronger than everybody. He thinks he's smarter than everybody. He thinks he's tougher than everybody. So let's just assume that anybody who has all those thoughts probably going to be wrong on some shit. But with that being said, need him to keep doing it. I mean, Micah just bullshitting on podcasts and interviews

and just spotting out his actual genuine thoughts. We need that to continue for sure. But with that being said, him and CJ Stroud, they're a nice little tag team on this podcast. They they did draft together I think they're doing a podcast together obviously we saw them at the celebrity basketball game together it's like we need them to keep going but back to CJ Stroud I don't feel the way you feel about Micah well he also was attacking everyone who said the Atlanta Falcons pick was a bad pick because he thinks that what's his name? Penix is good.

Well, Micah, no one thought the pick was bad because it had anything to do with Penix. It had everything to do with that. They just guaranteed a quarterback $180 million. But, you know, read the room, whatever. Do what you gotta do, Micah. Okay, this all starts because he said DJ Watt doesn't actually affect games.

He's all stats. He doesn't affect games. And then the next interview he said, well, look at the stats. Who's good? Who's not? So he's talking on both sides. He's not a professional analyst. No.

This guy's a football player talking shit on podcasts. I appreciate what Micah does, but I appreciate C.J. even more because after having the greatest rookie year in the history of the NFL, arguably everybody could say that, he's so natural, he's so calm, he's so comfortable. And now they're adding another weapon for him in Cade Stover. Now they bring in Stephon Diggs. Now they're mixing it.

I mean, it's like the Houston Texans are a wagon, an absolute wagon. Daniil Hunter gets brought in there. It's like, what the hell? They were supposed to suck. And I think a lot of these people want to go play down there because of this dude right here, who obviously was not the best quarterback in the draft last year. Obviously that's Bryce Young. So the Houston Texans just have this guy fall in their lap. And now the Houston Texans who are supposed to suck forever are all of a sudden a real Superbowl threat. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is the mastermind of this entire operation. Of course, he has a great team around him of scouts that we got to meet at the Combine

as he was hiding somewhere in a stadium and did want to talk to me and Mad Mel. Ladies and gentlemen, the general manager of the Houston Texans, Nick Serio. How we doing? Thanks for having us. First off, Pat, before I start, just wanted to wish you a happy birthday. We have a bunch of gear here. Everett and Omar, we got some gear we're going to send. I know you have to pick your poison in the AFC South, but if we send you some gear,

we'll see if you actually wear it on the show. I know Ballard might get mad at you, but happy birthday nonetheless. I appreciate you, Nick, obviously. I think I missed a few of your birthdays as well. Happy birthday to you too, Nick. Happy birthday, Nick. Happy birthday. I appreciate that. I can't wait to see that new H that you guys

made and the new uniforms, lo and behold, are awesome. Everything you guys are doing is good. I was hoping maybe you guys would roll out new unis and it'd be like the Denver Broncos situation where everybody's like, those uniforms suck. But no. Of course not. Everything's rolling for the Houston Texans.

We just watched a press conference from you and D'Amico talking about Cade Stover being your favorite football player in the entire draft. After you have the offseason that you have where you bring in Stephon and Mixon and Daniil Hunter, what is the mindset? Like, are you just trying to add every good player that is available in the world? Or how have we kind of pieced this together? And how do you feel about where you are right now with your team? No, seriously, appreciate the support. You know,

we obviously took Cade because he went to Ohio State, but no, nonetheless, we're excited about where the team is. We feel we put ourselves in a position to hopefully be competitive and build on some of the things that we did last year. We also understand that every year is its own entity. Every year is going to be different. I would say when you look around the AFC South, we're just trying to keep pace with the competition. I think when you look at what the Colts have done this offseason, a lot of respect for Chris and Shane, the team they put together. The Titans have done a good job. They made some changes there, brought in Coach Callahan. They drafted some good players. They signed some good players in for

agency. And then Jacksonville, I would say they kind of kept together what they had, especially offensively, added a few key players. So the league league changes every year and so our job is just try to do the best we can put the best team together and give ourselves an opportunity to compete the margins are very small in this league i mean i think we were in nine or ten one score games so nothing is guaranteed other than an opportunity so we're just trying to put together as good a team as possible with the right people have the right mindset and give ourselves a chance on sundays yeah you talk about the nine or ten one-score games. I mean, the AFC South Championship came down on one play. That was in a loud house, Nick.

I don't know if you remember that. Your team earned it, though. Then you get a big-time win in the playoffs. Obviously, young team that has a lot to learn from and grow from and work off of as you go forward. Quarterback and a lot of different weapons that are young. You bring in, though, OG, Stephon Diggs. That was a big deal, big move.

Obviously, I was immediately pissed at Brandon Bean for allowing him to go to the AFC South, but when you start thinking about that move, what is it? You want another weapon for C.J. Stroud? You want a veteran in the wide receiver room? And did you think about everything that has taken place with Minnesota towards the end? Obviously, Buffalo there seemingly towards the end,

even though nobody has said anything outright. Do you think about that as you're making all the moves? We're massive fans of Stephon Diggs, but we've seen kind of how things have maybe gone in a couple places. Yeah, sure. Every decision that you make, you have to be thoughtful about it and try to get as much information as possible. And we have a lot of respect for Steph

and what he's done over the course of his career. I was asked about this a few weeks back. Really, we're not going to judge a player or any individual based on what may have happened in the past. What we're going to focus on is when the player is here, how does he assimilate to our program, how is he with the rest of the group in the locker room. Steph's been a really good player for a number of years.

He's been very consistent. He's very durable. He's instinct Steph's been a really good player for a number of years. He's been very consistent. He's very durable. He's instinctive. He has really good hands. He has position flexibility. And when you look at over the last few years how we've kind of constructed the team, it's kind of a balance of veteran, established players

who have come from some winning programs and then supplement that with some good young players that hopefully get an understanding of what it takes to win in this league by looking at the people next to win in this league by looking at the people next to them in the room. And I would say Steph kind of fits into that category along with some of the other folks that we've added during the offseason. It feels like D'Amico and CJ and Steph and Tank and Nico, like if Dalton, now Cade, and

then you bring in Mixon. Laramie. Titus. Do you need some water? Shut up, Nick. It does feel like this was the plan. Like, okay. Because just a few years ago, I've mentioned it a lot.

And it's a compliment to you guys, even though some of your fans don't get it. But when I'm saying it, like the Texans were supposed to be not only a dumpster fire, because that would mean that it would be entertaining to watch because there's a fire happening. Just a dumpster, no fire, with trash inside of it for 10 years. And now we're sitting in a situation where it's like, you guys are legit Super Bowl contenders with weapons and great players everywhere. When you were planning a couple years back, did you see it going this way? And is it easier now that you guys have had success to get people to buy in? Like, what is life like now versus maybe like three years ago with the Houston Texans?

Yeah, sure. And I think even when I took over, I mean, I think the goal was let's just start to make some progress. And we understand nothing's going to happen overnight. It's going to take a lot of work and a lot of effort from a number of different people. You have to be disciplined. Quite frankly, you have to have a certain level of mental toughness just to kind of push through to the next thing and focus on what's ahead and not worry about what's happened in the past.

So I was fortunate to be in a great program for 20 years where I think some of the things that I learned in that building, hopefully we've been able to apply. You're never guaranteed anything, and I think our vision, more than anything else was just to try to put a good solid foundation in place with the right people to give ourselves an opportunity to compete on a consistent basis. And I think as we've kind of pieced it together kind of year by year and different players that have come through the building, I'd say obviously

the hiring of D'Amico was a key part of this as well. I mean, I'm biased, but he's one of the best coaches in the league, period. I don't I'm biased, but he's one of the best coaches in the league, period. I don't think anybody could argue that. So I think when you start to add some of those elements in place, and then we've added a number of young players over the last few years, I mean, CJ and Will performed at a really high level. So, you know, we're very fortunate and we're excited about what's in front of us, but we also understand the challenges that are ahead, which are significant, and we're certainly not going's in front of us. But we also understand the challenges that are ahead, which are significant. And we're certainly not going to take anything for granted.

Okay. Well, I'm happy for you, Nick. Yeah. Nice. I'm happy for you. Genuinely, it's awesome to see because the fans down there. And JJ got all mad when we showed a photo at the beginning of the year. But then you look at the end of the year, like the fans down there, I've always said it,

loudest stadium I ever played in. Every single time we went down there was for an AFC South championship. It was always a primetime game. That city loves football. So now that there's a team that's like easily lovable, it's great for the NFL and for football as a whole. So I am genuinely happy.

D'Amico though, you mentioned that, former player there, now he's back as a head coach. And obviously he just picks it, just no problem. Yeah, supposed to be a head coach. Greatest rookie quarterback season in history. Obviously, none of that credit goes to the head coach managing it all and figuring it out. Will Anderson comes in as a rookie, takes over. Obviously, shouldn't give the defensive head coach any credit at all for this. Why has D'Amico done so well, and what have you seen from him this offseason that's maybe different from whenever he first got the gig? Yeah, I think, and I've said this from the beginning, D'Amico is just so consistent day-to-day. He has his core philosophies

and beliefs, what's important to him, and the way he messages that to the team is so consistent. Everybody understands what the expectation is on a day-to-day basis. I think I'm certainly appreciative of the relationship that we've established here over the last however many months it's been. Philosophically, we see football through the same lens, so that helps as we're putting the team together. We espouse a lot of the same philosophies and have a lot of the same core beliefs.

So my job and my seat is just to support him as much as possible and do everything I can to give him an opportunity to be successful. But the players respect the hell out of him because he's so real. He's passionate about what he does. He does it with enthusiasm. And it's the same expectation that we have for the players as well. He's got that massive smile. Oh, yeah. You know, handsome guy. He loves what he's doing. It's important. It absolutely makes a difference. The players feel that, and they see that.

If you love what you're doing, you also do all the extra shit because it's not shit. It's just like a part of it. And I'm not saying that that's abnormal for a head coach in the NFL, but when you can feel that, it is something that spreads. They talk about, obviously, it's nowhere near as serious, but when you bring a cancer into the locker room, the reason why it's described as cancer is because it starts as a small cell one person and then it spreads and

spreads and spreads and takes over everything normally that gets chatted about they don't talk about the other side of this entire thing when you drop an energy giver into a room that thing spreads as well it feels like D'Amico is one of them and you have that entirely in your building is that a is that a good observation from outside in absolutely pat no energy vampires are allowed and domico has talked about that to the team but we don't have a lot of team rules you know one is protect the team and number two it's no energy vampires so just come in have the right mindset have the right attitude be consistent day-to-day with your performance the coaches are going to give you the best that they have in turn that's all we expect is the players for them to give them our best. And we've seen that with the

start of the offseason program here. We have just about everybody here participating. So it's about work and it's about improvement. And that's what the focus is here over the next few months. We're all lucky to be here. I think that's a nice little reminder sometimes mid-season, start hitting that wall. It's like, hey, you don't have to be here. You can go shovel shit. You can go do that entire thing. We're lucky to be here. Last question from me before the boys have some bison. Well, I guess I'll have two, but this one football-related.

Don't you think in protest of nobody hiring Slowik as a head coach, you should maybe not let him coach this year just because the NFL is screwing this guy? He should be a head coach, you should maybe not let him coach this year just because the NFL is screwing this guy. He should be a head coach. He's not supposed to be back with CJ. He's supposed to be gone. You guys need to take a stand. Don't let that man on the sideline for the good of football.

We'll lock him in his office, I guess, and not let him call plays. Perfect. All right. Perfect. Just two games a year. Two games a year. I think you should take a office, I guess, and not let him call plays. Perfect. Perfect. Write it down. Deal. Just two games a year. Two games a year. I think you should take a protest.

Make it the Indianapolis Colts. You obviously assumed he was gone. I assume everybody did down there. Well, you never know. I mean, Bobby is a bright coach. He's very well respected. He interviewed for multiple teams, and deservedly so. I mean, Bobby's going to be a head coach here at some point.

So we're just grateful that we have him for another year, for however long it is. And it's great to work with Slow and the rest of the offensive staff and the coaching staff on a day-to-day basis. All right, let's talk about your hoodie. You were happy that he finished his story? Is that what – you were happy that our tribal – I just thought on the heels of WrestleMania

and then you had McIntyre on yesterday, I just felt it might be appropriate to don this gear. So I figured I would wear it. I was going to wear it for my pre-draft press conference, but Omar probably looked at me like, you probably can't do that. But it's more appropriate on this show, so I figured I would wear it for you. Well, that's a massive honor and a compliment to our show for you saying what you just said. And I would assume the NFL would have some questions too.

Hey, don't we have new hoodies? Don't we have some new merch we're looking for? Did you watch that? Did you see that? Hey, obviously it was two nights in Philly. You're very busy. It's draft season. But you're talking, I mean, Cena, Undertaker, Roman.

I saw the clips. I went back. I went online, and I saw the clips after. I mean, it looked like a phenomenal event. I mean, and WWE, Triple H, you all do it. You do it great. You do it well. There's just something about when you hear The Undertaker,

like when you just hear the bounce, like literally. And it's funny. So not too many GMs have a walk-up music, I guess, but when I go on a local 610 program with Pendergast and Payne, they play DX. So we've played that introduction, the D-Generation X theme song. So they changed it yesterday to The Undertaker. I'm not really sure why, but that was the intro yesterday.

But, yeah, I'm a big fan. I'm an unabashed supporter. I'm not going to hide it. So I enjoy it when I can get it. Specifically the WrestleMania, I just went to the website and just tried to watch the clips. But it just looked like a tremendous environment. And congrats to Kelly Rhodes.

American Nightmare. Finish the story, Nick. Finish the story. I think pregame you go down to the field, right? You walk? I'm down on the field before the game, yep. Yeah, we need that. Yeah.

Going to have to. You know, because we need, yeah, when you make your entrance, stadium is probably, what, a quarter full at that time? There's not many people there very early. Yeah, we need lights down. The whoa. Break it down. Oh, you want a Tony Rose?

I'm just saying the whoa could easily be turned to Casario. Oh, you can definitely. Yeah. All right, good call. That's sweet. Tell Pedigrast to do it. Well, that needs some work, but yeah, we'll work it. No, no, it was good.

Needs some work. Hey, go to hell, Bob. We're a finished product. To hell? You're trying to build your roster down there. We already got it. Jeez Louise. I do love that you're go to hell, Bob. We're a finished product. You're trying to build your roster down there. We already got it. Jeez Louise. I do love that you're a wrestling fan, though.

And it makes sense. That's why I assume at the beginning before we knew each other, when we were talking shit, wrestling fans were like, this is just the way this goes. We're thankful that you continue to come on our program. You're building a monster down there, and I hate it, but it has to be wonderful for all the people in Houston. Connor's got a question for you, Nick. Yeah, Nick, you also helped build a a monster down there, and I hate it, but it has to be wonderful for all the people in Houston.

Connor's got a question for you, Nick. Yeah, Nick, you also helped build a monster in New England, and I was going to actually thank you for all those Super Bowls, but kind of like Pat said, we acknowledge our tribal chief here. One thing that Bill Belichick mentioned to us while we were doing the draft coverage is that when they were picking guys in New England, a lot of the times, absolutely, you want the rookies to come in and be great right away and be the guys that you want them to be as a rookie, but also knowing like,

hey, we're drafting this guy for what he will be year two, year three. Is that a philosophy that you guys also use in Houston, or is that something where you expect to draft C.J. Strouds at every position and have him come in and be incredible right away. No, I think the point that Bill made is very relevant. I think the most important thing that any rookie can do is just come in with the right mindset, be a good teammate, have a good attitude, and just continually improve. And whatever their timetable is, some get on the field quicker than others, some it may take a little bit longer, but you're never going to pigeonhole a player or say, well, this player's not going to play until week 10, or he's not going to play until next year. So all younger players and a lot of college players, they're all developmental players.

The reality is they're all starting from ground zero when they walk in whatever team drafted them building. So the big thing is, are you a good teammate? Do you have a good attitude? Do you have a good work ethic? Do you have the right mindset? Are you going to improve? And then it's the coach's job and it's our responsibility to provide the resources to the player, make them available so that they can improve and optimize their performance when they actually have the opportunity to step on the field and play. So again, a lot of what I learned, I mean, I owe a debt of gratitude to Coach Belichick. I know you have the good fortune of having him on here on a, it sounds like a regular basis. Great fortune. I'm sure the draft coverage was incredible, which anything that Bill does, he's great at.

And I'm certainly grateful for the opportunities that he's provided for me. And, you know, he's a big reason why I'm sitting in the chair that I am here today. He smiled, you know. He smiled, told stories. He was affable. Funny. Charming. Charming.

I mean, it was four and a half hours. He did go to the bathroom, which is weird. That's the first time I've seen him go to the bathroom. I didn't know that. He might have the best bladder in town, or he's peeing directly into a bag already ahead of everybody. Nick knows, actually. Yeah, Nick, can you tell us that? Is he peeing into a bag?

I don't have any intel on that. I can't comment on that. First time we had dinner, it was like three and a half, four hours in his back room. I peed four times because I was hammering Jack in diets. He was drinking some specialty cocktail. He can't comment on that. First time we had dinner, it was like three and a half, four hours in his back room. I peed four times because I was hammering Jack in diets. He was drinking some specialty cocktail. He didn't pee once. I'm like, what is wrong with you? We had some long staff meetings, that's for sure. I do remember those.

Oh, that's him alphaing you. Oh, you guys got to pee, huh? Peeing's for the week. That's the MacBook. It's amazing. Tone has a question for you, Nick. Yeah, Nick, I just heard a lie when you just said, I'm sure his draft coverage was great because you weren't doing anything on Thursday night, so I assumed

you were watching the spectacular. Thank you for watching that. But in regards to that, obviously I assume it wasn't as hard because you got Will Anderson with this year's pick, but how is it for a GM that doesn't have a pick on night one? Is it a lot of just seeing

how the board falls and and seeing if you want to get back into that first round or did you have a have a plan going into night one on potentially what you guys wanted to do no you articulated it very well it's even if when you don't have a pick you're always prepared for an opportunity that presents itself and I mean honestly we were probably as busy thursday night than maybe we were last year because once we traded up last year from 12 to 3 to pick will like we were essentially done for the night so this year it was a little bit different circumstance and situation we were at 42 initially if there was an opportunity to maybe get back into the bottom of the round i mean that's part of my responsibility is to entertain those ideas

and if it presents itself great if it doesn't then be it. Then you're prepared to pick the next day. So I would say we've kind of been on both. I've been on both ends of the spectrum. You know, we picked high last year, I think in New England. I mean, our highest pick the one year when I was there was Gerard Mayo. We were at seven, moved back to 10. But then there were plenty of years where we were kind of at the bottom and then we moved out. I want to say it was 09. I think we moved out of the first round completely and we ended up stockpiling like four second round picks so you're always prepared if an opportunity does present itself and you're going to make calls and be proactive because you really never know you know what what's going to

come about unless you actually entertain it and actually investigate it yeah 09 draft was a big one that's where legends were born. Do you guys have any punter grades or kicking grades up there in New England in 09? We spend as much time on a kicking game as probably any team in the league. So my guess is, and you probably have talked to him, I'm sure he evaluated you, Pat. He knew your stats and everything coming out. Yeah, you're going to have to prove a little bit to me in evaluated you, Pat. He knew your stats and everything. Yeah, you're going to have to prove a little bit to me in the NFL, Pat. You're going to have to.

Yeah, we heard about Morgantown. I've done Morgantown two nights. I've heard about you. Yeah, there's no way now is the time to drive. You're going to have to prove yourself. And he was right. You know, he was absolutely right, Nick. Now, what are you in right now?

What time is, what are we doing right now? Yeah, just kind of transition, cleaning up some things here from last weekend, kind of going through a kind of a draft recap, kind of analysis, who ended up going where, some of the studies that we do. And then looking at maybe where we are roster-wise, we're full right now, but you've seen some movement league-wide.

So we'll kind of transition. We're in phase two right now. So the players have been here in the offseason program. So it's probably a hodgepodge of things. But we also have our eyes on 2025 as well. We'll kind of start some of that spring prep, some of that spring work, just familiarizing ourselves with some of those prospects. So it's probably not as breakneck,

but there's enough that goes on on a day-to-day basis to keep us busy for sure. Yeah, arbitrarily watching film on somebody that's never going to make it in the NFL. I love it. Yep, a lot of those. busy for sure yeah arbitrarily watching film on somebody that's never going to make it in the nfl i love it yep a lot of those um uh being told us about like now's the time to also figure out your scouting department because everybody normally makes the scouting department moves after the draft it's kind of just like an understood thing across the league it's like let's get through a draft cycle and then we figure it out is that true and what does that look like are you are you

thinking about other people from other places people People are talking to you about your people. How does that go amongst the GMs? Yeah, Pat, it's all that. I would say it's kind of case by case. I would say when you look at there was some front office general manager movement back in January, February, AP was hired. There was some change. So there's some movement that takes place at that time, because if you're a new GM, you're trying to get kind of your staff in place. But by the same token, you're probably cognizant that somebody's not going to be available until after the draft because a lot of those contracts go through May or June. So there'll be some movement on the front office in the front office area. So, you know, if you have a spot or if you have a hole or you're somebody that you're trying to replace then you'll spend time looking at those opportunities and situations yep that's kind of what goes on this

time of year for sure we got an english football suit we're thinking of ty is a question for you yeah nick uh if i'm not mistaken jj watt is currently boots on the ground in houston for his charity softball game now last year on the show he didn't exactly say it but he basically said that he'd come out of retirement for another run with the Houston Texans. I understand you guys signed to Neil Hunter this offseason, but it's out there. Is that something you'd be willing to

maybe kick the tires on and say, JJ, let's bring you back in. Let's win a Super Bowl this year. One year, $35 million. Fully guaranteed. Up front, actually. So you can do some salary cap gymnastics with it.

We need them. What is your conversation and relationship like with JJ? Yeah, I think JJ's focused on softball. No, I have a lot of respect and appreciation for JJ. I mean, when I took the job

in February of 21, he was one of the players, one of the first players that I actually spoke to. So certainly respectful of JJ, his career, what he's done for the organization, what he's done for the city of Houston. I'm not going to speak for him about what he wants to do relative to playing football. I'll let him disclose that on your show.

Hey, what's everybody's talking like around this? Yeah. Isn't it? It's weird. Everybody. Domingo? It's May. It's very early. It's May. The season it? It's weird. Everybody. Domingo? It's May.

It's very early. It's May. The season doesn't start until September. And then you look at players end up October, November. So case by case. So between him and Brady, we'll see who jumps back in first. How about Tom sitting in that barber's chair? Did you see these clips?

Do you watch the clips? I have not. I don't want to comment on something I haven't seen. So he's with this guy, Vic Blenz, I think is the name of the show. Vic is the barber. And he's just sitting there getting his hair cut. He's like, yeah, yeah, maybe. You know, get back there.

It's like, what? That's a massive piece of news right there. Is he just bullshitting for Vic, or is it real? It's like, with the right offer, it feels like, especially with where Houston's headed, I mean, what if J.J. Watts back on the damn field? Why not? He's in great shape. He's about to get his ass kicked in the soccer tournament. I assume he's going to do great at his softball

game tonight where he's raising... How much did he raise? 43 million or something for Houston? What a legend down there. With the hurricane, no. Nobody was more of an ambassador for the city and for raising funds for people in need than J.J. was. That's why he's so revered in the city, and that's why he always has an open door,

both organizationally and in the city. He's earned that, and he absolutely deserves it. What a weapon. Just like you down there. They're going to love Nick Casario when it's all said and done, I do believe. Up here in Indy, we hate you. I hope you're happy, Nick. I hope it's worth it, pal.

We appreciate the hell out of you, man. Thanks, fellas. Always appreciate the opportunity to visit with you. So I hope you're happy, Nick. Hope you're happy. Hope it's worth it, pal. We appreciate the hell out of you, man. Thanks, fellas. Always appreciate the opportunity to visit with you. That's right. Do you want to put your ones up, Nick, or what? Acknowledge him. Oh, we're acknowledging. Sorry.

That's right. I like that. I like what you did. You played defense. That was very tone bigsy. Yeah, that was great because you got the hoodie on. But also, you're the man. Ladies and gentlemen, Nick Casario. Thank you, man.

You can tell when you're talking to him, it's like, oh, I'm talking to a super genius right now. Yes. He has that Rain Man type hey, I know everything, basically. Yeah, I'm talking to a guy right now who is a genius. But then also, human. Remember, our first conversations about him and the Houston Texans are, it's a dumpster fire down there, and that guy's wearing a headset

right down to the coaches. And it's like, who does this guy think he is? Oh, this guy knows better than the coaches. Okay. They just won two games or whatever. What a cluster the Houston Texans are. Even the GM doesn't even know what role he is. And then it turns out, like, I did that with the Patriots.

We won a lot of games, right? Yeah. Okay, thank you. why don't you shut up and then also as we really put our fingerprints into this organization we're going to go on to win the afc south and win a playoff game and restart quicker than everybody else and it's like what they got down there special and i talk a lot of shit obviously because uh you know i'm a season ticket holder for the indianapolis gold in the texans colts rivalry has been great for a long time a lot of big games between the two of those teams a lot of very important games between those two teams i was lucky to be a part of some of them and it's like that fan base is awesome so we're just hoping that they were never going to be a monster again you know just kind of hoping yeah they stink forever because when jj was there

they win they get in the playoffs but they wouldn't win a playoff game. Then whenever Bill O'Brien was towards there, he was the one that started the Kansas City Chiefs dynasty, pretty much. They were up three scores. Or two scores in the playoffs. No, three. You're right. Yeah, three scores. And it's like, now, they're all the way back to being built. We started rattling off players at each position.

Studs. It's like, oh, so even if they have injuries. Yeah, they're pretty set, yeah. Yeah, they're still deep. And they became a team because Texas with the taxes and then Houston is a great city that people want to live in. D'Amico, players, coach. Yeah, like, Stefan Diggs, I think, was down there immediately because he wouldn't mind having a house in, you know,

Houston, Atlanta, Vegas. Wonderful. I love them. Yep. Sports are the greatest thing on earth. You know, sports are the great equalizer. Cuz sports, you have to find out who's better and who's worse. There's no talking about it, there's no potential, there's no, I could do this.

And then we never actually find out like in some other buckets of society. In sports, you find out. And right now we're getting a chance to see best of seven series either wrap up or get close to wrapping up in both the NBA and the NHL. Every evening has been electrifying, and sports have given us something to continue to escape from reality

a little bit. And we're lucky to talk about it every single day. The talk table is here at Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt. One half of the hammer, Cowboys 10, Diggies here. Tony, the two chains with the hat and the shirt today, phenomenal look, pal. Thank you very much. You know, it's just so easy to come in here and try to look good

when it's beautiful outside. You want to be beautiful inside here as well. My wife and I were talking about this as we were taking a walk with our baby, and you do look beautiful. Thank you. Yes, you do. Gumpy loved that one. Gumpy got a big pop on the tone.

Diggs called himself beautiful. Good heat. Good heat. Hey, I'll tell you what, Gump, you look. Gumpy loved that one. Gumpy got a big pop on his tongue. Dick's calling himself beautiful. Good heat. Good heat. Hey, I'll tell you what. Gump, you look beautiful, too, with that shirt. That is like just a very interesting combo front-back shirt. You look amazing. This is a one-in-a-million T-shirt, some would say.

I don't think anyone's ever going to have it ever again. Well, why is that? Why would you say that? Well, on the front, it's 1996 Chicago Bulls NBA champions. Okay. And then on the back, it's Bayern Munich 2013 treble winners. I don't understand what you mean. So what are you talking about?

Can you explain? Can you show it a little bit maybe? Or is there any way you can do that? I mean, why? Yeah, that's what's the correlation. So that's who? Turn a little bit more. That's the 2013 Bayern Munich treble winners.

Can you turn them a little bit more? Jesus, guy. It's all right. Okay. Bayern Munich on the back, Chicago Bulls on the front. Come on. It's got to be a misprint. No correlation. So when you saw it, did you think it was the Bayern shirt,

or did you think it was a Chicago Bulls shirt? It's supposed to be Chicago Bulls. I kind of just took it out. It was brand new. Took it out of the package. Put it on. Didn't think a thing about it until somebody told me Is that a new age reversible? And your back right there may be. Yeah, that

legitimately might be. Did you get that from Fanatics? Oh, geez. Allegedly. He did not get it from Fanatics. All these oversized shirts now, they all just kind of sit like a trench coat. No, not a trench coat. Like a boxy suit. Yeah.

One of those things you put on. Poncho. Poncho, yeah. Like a poncho is how the shirts kind of all fit. So it's front, backwards, who cares? It doesn't matter. You might be onto something there, Zito. That is probably what they were thinking there.

You got two shirts, seven days in a week. You got two of them knocked out here. One's in front. But you thought that was Chicago Bulls on the back. That's amazing. Which is why you look so beautiful. Just like Tony Diggs looks beautiful. My wife and I were chit-chatting about it yesterday as we were walking with the baby girl in the stroller. It's like, wow, this is so nice.

Yes. It's gorgeous. This is like amazing to be doing. The checkered flags. And then you start thinking about the things going great here. Yeah. Not. What else? Not at all. You can't run from that either.

The truth is coming out. But you think about how you know what I mean? How nice it is to be outside. People live though though, in... This should not have popped up right now. Did you see the text that came in? No, I didn't.

What happened? Reports have come back. ESPN bets got a lot of room to grow. Not everything's up and running. Bets got a lot of room to grow. Hey, good luck. Hey, what's going on? Hey, you get knocked down, you come back. Boom. That's what it is.

That's what we do. That's literally what it is. Legit. Good luck. Pulling for it. Because we are on ESPN, and obviously we're a part of ESPN, so we would like ESPN stuff to succeed. Absolutely. Now granted, ESPN bet, I don't think ESPN people are running the book.

I think it's somebody with the whole thing. With that being said, let's go. You got ESPN on. Let's get it. Come on. Come on. Yeah. Let's get some brainstorming going.

Let's take a couple more B's into it. Let's go. Let's get into this. I'm just seeing it. I'm just seeing it. That's your fault, Fox. Yeah, that sucks. In the middle of the opening, too, and I'm still, who knows where we're heading.

It's crushing our heads, too. That was, you're Oppenheimer. Yeah, that sucks. In the middle of the opening, too, and I'm still, who knows where we're heading. It's crushing our heads, too. That was, you're Oppenheimer. He just created that. Unknowingly. Anyways. We've never met anybody from the company, but don't go good. They're going to be fine. They're going to be fine.

Just fine. They're going to figure it out. So, whenever we're walking around with that sun out. It's so nice. So nice. It's like, this would be so cool. All the time? Yeah, people live in like Florida and California and like Texas.

And I understand there's days it's like 118 or whatever. Sure. And there's other stuff you got to deal with. Like in California, I guess earthquakes and everything else and the high prices and the taxes that are absurd and everything else that's going over there. But like every day being able to go outside, what a weapon. Yeah, but do you think they ever walk outside and say, damn, it's a nice day like we do?

Do they even appreciate it? Oh, you're saying like they just get too content with it. They kind of desensitize to the greatness that is the sun whenever you can actually see it. Because over here, I just want to let people know that I live in one season or two season climates. We haven't seen a good day consecutively in like four months. Yeah.

It's been a while. There's been little spurts, but we made it. We're through it. Yeah, we did it. It's May in Indianapolis. Yeah, it is, baby. We did it. It's racing month.

Hey, good for us. Seasonal depression and stuff. Gone. Gone. Done. Now we live. Now we have the sun. Now we enjoy the hell out of it.

Now we get a chance to chat with a guy who has the greatest jawline in the history of sports media. He's a college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion, a Ryder Cup winner. Ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Ha. A.J. Ha. A.J., it's beautiful outside. I couldn't even imagine all those kids you have over there,

how pumped they have to be. Yeah, it is beautiful. And by the way, I mean, you guys all look very beautiful in the studio as well. So credit to Tone for bringing that on himself and letting us know. Yeah, we need to appreciate how everybody looks today. Yeah, it is beautiful Thursday,

May 2nd, isn't it? We've been calling it 2, 3 GM Thursday. That's been wrong this whole time. You look beautiful over there too, AJ. Those teeth! Wow. You look beautiful. Did you get a haircut? Big. No. I did not get a haircut, no. I do every couple weeks now, Wow. You look beautiful. Did you get a haircut? No. I did not get a haircut, no. I do every couple weeks now, every two or three weeks.

Did you get a spray tan? Did you get a tan? I did not get a spray tan, but I've been outside in this beautiful weather the last two or three nights, and I do the same thing. I walk out, and I'm like, man, it's amazing out here. I'm sitting here watching lacrosse games or practice or whatever I'm doing, throwing the ball around, and all I do is talk about how nice it is, and nobody cosigns. People just kind of move past it. I'm like, you guys already take this for granted. What are we doing? Oh, so you're having one-way conversations in Ohio

about that? All the time, like, man, it's so nice out here, and then people around me or whoever I'm talking to just kind of looks at me. What's the deal, Kyle? What's the deal? We're supposed to enjoy this. I think we need to appreciate it. We can't take this for granted because we don't live in Texas, Florida, North Carolina, where they have unbelievable weather most of the year. Yeah, what other cities and states can we add into that? I mean, like New Mexico. Yeah, Georgia.

It's very, very hot down south. Arizona. You've got to deal with those monster humidity days. Yeah, and Las Vegas, you know. I guess Las Vegas has it. Phoenix. Oklahoma. Phoenix is what, like 130? Oh, yeah.

Hey, dry heat. Very dry heat, but you can't walk on a tile or pavement in bare feet if you've got a pool. What category did you just put Oklahoma into? I put Oklahoma into the low, warm climate category. Why not? It gets very, very, very cold in Oklahoma. I've never been, Tony, so sue me. Oh, no.

Real quick, that's a learning lesson for me, too. I didn't know that Oklahoma gets... Because you just think Texas, Oklahoma, Red River rivalry. I just go Texas straight to Oklahoma. But then you think about some parts of Texas. Like Dallas had that ice storm. And they got that entire cold. Louisiana, Mississippi.

I don't know. Thick heat. I couldn't survive that. My particular Caucasian skin could not survive that shit. Because I cook from the inside and the outside at the same damn time. I'm getting baked and I'm broiling. That is a problematic situation. What's that? You get baked by the sun, yeah.

Yeah, of course. And if it's legal, we'll potentially try to cook some of the local herbal remedies as well. Like a three-oven kitchen. Yeah, triple-baked potato is me. That is me in any of those. Or twice-baked potato in any of those places. A lot of things happened. I don't know if you heard the first hour.

We got a chance to chit-chat about what happened in the NHL last night and in the NBA last night. Our kind of takeaway is, as people that are lucky enough to be watching these at night, it's starting at the perfect time. Baby girl's going down to bed, 7.30-ish, so I miss, like, the beginning of some stuff. But then it's, like, perfect timing. We just kind of go lay down. We'll watch some sports. We'll go to bed.

Got a new breathing technique that basically puts you out like this. Have you heard about this, AJ? For you or for your daughter? For me. She goes, she's a good sleeper she's a good sleep no i don't know what are you doing okay so i got influenced for good this is for good reason do box box breathing what are you doing it's not a box because then it's not same time so this one guy said navy seals can fall asleep in two minutes no matter what, because they use this breathing technique. It was an older white man sitting in a box, obviously, on Instagram, and it said, learn to sleep quick or something like that. And I am a historically terrible

sleeper, so I can't fall asleep. I'm going, I'm going, I'm going. Don't look at your phone. It's like, okay, how am I not? I'm awake right now. How am I not supposed to do that? I just can't sleep really well. That is a problem I've had my whole life. So there's a breathing technique where you breathe in through your nose for four seconds. Then you hold it for seven seconds. Is that what this is? That's what they call box breathing. Hold it and then blow it out all the way and then hold it again while all the air is out

and then continue to repeat that? No. So while it's out, I did not get that memo. I only got the four in, seven seconds hold, eight seconds blowout through your mouth. And then put that cycle like five, six times. And I was like, look at this bullshit. You know, how are they even selling this? But it's immediately findoutable.

So like that night I tried it. I was like, out. And I'm like. You're out? You actually went out? Like you got to sleep pretty quick? Yeah. And then I woke up like I was like, out. And I'm like... You were out? You actually went out? You got to sleep pretty quick? Yeah. And then I woke up, I think, whenever my...

Circadian rhythm. Yeah. And I normally piss throughout the night, too. I'm a light sleeper. It's like not right through. It was amazing. So they found the up, up, down, down, AACC for your body to fall asleep. It's been amazing.

So, Old Huat, I didn't get your name. I don't think they gave you enough credit or whoever created this. Thanks for figuring that out. Think about how long that took to figure out. Forever, I assume. Because you don't know his name, we could just say, hey, thank you, Jack Carr. He's a CEO, so we can just give it to him. Hey, Jack Carr, thank you.

Thank you, Jack Carr. For God and country. Jack Carr saw that post today. Anyways, laying down watching these games, it's been amazing. Thank you to the NBA. Thank you, Jack Carr. For God and country. Amen. Jack Carr saw that post today. But anyways, laying down watching these games, it's been amazing. Thank you to the NBA. Thank you to the NHL. Thank you to TNT. Thank you to ESPN for every night having options.

And last night seemed to be another night for me where I wasn't watching the NBA games because they were decided and kind of boring and the atmosphere wasn't really real. And then you go over to the hockey games and it's like, we got a game. We got an environment. We got people wearing otter masks in the crowd going bananas. Bingo for the goalie for the Dallas Stars. It's like playoff basketball and hockey has been amazing for us, but hockey has been on top of it.

AJ, are you finding yourself doing the same thing after all the kids pass out? Because these games are going until like 1 a.m. in these sports. Yeah, so I don't watch a ton of regular season hockey or even, I mean, I watch a decent amount of regular season basketball, but I feel like even if you're not a, I mean, I just say if you're a sports fan, but you're not even a huge hockey fan, you still find a way to get pulled into these NHL games, like in the playoffs, just how fast it is, how much energy is in these barns, how they show everybody in the crowd. It just feels so different than, yeah, I think you're naturally

just attracted to it. And the NBA games too. Every time I watch these playoff games, I'm amazed at what these guys can do. Kyrie, Luka, everybody. They're all freak shows. Kyrie had that steal, drive, dive thing that he did last night. He only had I think in the teens. Here's a steal. Oh, the ball, you lose it. that he did last night. And he only had, like, I think in the teens.

So nobody saw it. Here's a steal. Oh, the ball, you lose it. No, I don't. Let me dive in front of you. Lefty, lay up, opposite side, and one. I'm Kyrie Irving. Like, there's those moments.

But I'm seeing those in clips on the internet. He goes behind the back. Full speed. Yeah, sprinting. It just feels like he's gifted more than... He's got two right hands. Yeah, or two left hands, depending upon who you're talking to. If you were a lefty, I think you would say.

But the amount of hours he had to spend. Oh, yeah. Right, AJ? And continues to spend probably every day. Still working on ball handling, all of that stuff. Think about him as a four-year-old, five-year-old, six-year-old, seven-year-old, eight-year-old in the summer. You know, other people are going to do stuff. What's he doing?

Probably in the driveway, just dribbling a ball, shaking every tree or pebble that is on the street, just full time, all the time. Because, yes, people can obviously be blessed from the heavens with talents that no other people have. But you also got to work your ass off to get honed in on all this. The amount of time that dude has spent with a basketball, I wish they were able to track it. I wish that was trackable for other people to be like, hey, here's the blueprint to be the filthiest handled guy on earth right now. Now, I know people to bring up AI in the past and multiple others who have filthy handles. And Steph Curry, I think he's even a guy who's talked about it for having nasty handles.

It's just like, when you watch Kyrie, there's always some ridiculous, incredibly smooth thing coming that seems to be an anomaly that nobody else can do. And it's, it's awesome to watch. It is awesome to watch Kyrie Irving, which is what the NBA playoffs have, especially with him alongside Luca who goes at the speed of maple syrup. And it's like, it's dynamic to watch.

But then they just get up 30, and it's like, okay, this thing's over. These two aren't going to let it up. You know, AJ? Yeah, but with Kyrie, like how, it's got to be tough being a young kid and you're trying to come up, hey, I want to play like Kyrie. I want to do what this guy can do. But nobody can really move like his body control, what he's able to do right and left-handed. You can't

really... I don't know if you could teach that much of that. You could try, but there's only one Kyrie, how the dude moves, I feel like. Yeah, I think you have to have a natural ability, but then a work ethic that's absurd. To get back to the NHL games, it's like a flashlight on in the bedroom, though.

Can't watch it in bed because you can't fall asleep during those games. I look like Daniel Jones staring at these damn games. Plus, the barns are so loud. Well, not Dallas. It was loud last night. Did you see they watched the show? What?

They saw what you said. I complimented the place. It worked for them. Look what happened last night. Guy was in an order mask. How about that? Guy was in an order mask. Does that happen?

What happened? What did the Dallas Stars? What happened with the Dallas Stars? Big win in the quotation, loudest or quietest barn in the league. I never said that. That's what people were saying. You didn't say it. I never said that.

I told them. I informed them that people were saying that. I feel like I'm just a relayer of information, just like yesterday with Marvin Harrison. Just a relayer. Hey, this is the information we have been given from the other side of this. This is how it's going to go. I hope that gets settled, AJ, for the good of everybody in Arizona

because I saw a lot of Cardinals fans like, oh, great, for the first time, I would like to have somebody's rookie jersey or rookie card in a while because it seems like he's a can't-miss and going to be here for the next 15 years like Larry Fitz. And I can't. Why? Because there's a tiff between the Harrison family and fanatics. It's like, I hope they do get this worked out. I think they will.

Ruben has seemingly been able to do business with literally everybody. Much to the chagrin of a lot of people, been able to do business with literally everybody much to the chagrin of a lot of people but he does do business with literally everybody I would assume he can get this done with Marv I hope so at least he has to it that's it was I heard you guys talking about so your sophomore year of college they can sign you to a deal through your first couple years of the NFL that's how it was being described to us and then we were told by a couple people were like that's not legal, but then there was some sort of business. Fanatics, I think, in Marvin Harrison's team,

something either was offered that they didn't like or not offered. But they should be able to sit down and figure this out. They have to hash out. You got to be able to get his stuff. And they sell hats. Everything. But make it right, though. They got to make be able to get his stuff. Well, and they sell hats. Everything. You know?

And they're going to want – But make it right, though. They've got to make it right for Marvin, obviously. Like you said, price is not the same as it was when I was 19 years old. Yeah, just do business. You know, just do business. That's all you have to do is just go do business. And I think they both will because, you know, it's for the good of both parties for this to kind of take place.

Well, you would think with how much blowback they're getting with all the other stuff, whether it's – I mean, I don't know about, like, the fan much blowback they're getting with all the other stuff, whether it's, I mean, I don't know about the fan merchandise, but with all the other leagues, the issues they've been having with the fanatic stuff, you don't want to be fighting a three-front war. You have this top-five draft pick who's

maybe a generational talent, can't-miss prospect. This should be an easy thing to just be like, alright, let's sit down, let's get this solved like we don't need to be taking heat for this too when we're taking heat from all this other shit as well so arizona cardinals fans we say it's all gonna work out yep it's all gonna work out we think now that's not from new information only have one conversation with the source says but as you sit

back and kind of watch the reaction from everybody it's like oh this is an easy answer here let's just figure this one out and move forward. Speaking of figuring something out and moving forward, this man has had to do this a lot of times. On the football field, he's in two different teams' ring of honors. Dang. Okay? Two teams' ring of honors.

You get into one ring of honor, it's like, holy hell, one of the best players in the history of the franchise. Wow. That's phenomenal. Two teams. There's only 32 teams. Two NFL teams he's in the history of the franchise. Wow. That's phenomenal. Two teams. There's only 32 teams. Two NFL teams he's in the ring of honor for. He also was a minor league baseball player.

Yeah. Jeez. Minor league baseball player. Has the first win ever for the... Through the first pitch in the history of the Florida Marlins franchise. In the minor leagues, but that was what... I mean, so we're talking professional baseball player, two ring of honors. Wow.

He's got to be a big, dumb dipshit, though, doesn't he? He can't be this athletic and have a brain. Yeah, he's not. He can't do that. Of course not. He can't do that. Well, then he'd go and be like the best commentator on TV. And then what does he do?

Well, he's so good on TV, he actually gets a general manager job for the San Francisco 49ers, who have been to the NFC Championship or the Super Bowl like every single year that he's been there and he has the greatest last pick of the draft in the history of the drafts. Ladies and gentlemen, a superhuman. Oh, he wants Stanford. Jeez Louise. Yeah, seemingly everything, John Lee.

Yeah, John! Holy shit. What's up, fellas? How you guys doing? You got an 8K camera over there. Look at... Oh, my God! You look good, John. You go on the McAfee show, you bring in the big dogs. We got our studios up here.

I came in my office. I said, what the hell's going on? I thought we had a little Zoom. Happy birthday, man. I heard it's your birthday. It is. Happy birthday, dude. Thank you, John.

This is a great gift, getting a chance to chat with you. We've been a big fan for a long time. I think I got to tell you that on a Thursday night game up in Stanford when I saw you on the sideline. I'm like, hey, man, I am a massive fan. And that wasn't me just like bullshitting because there was nobody else to talk to at that time. It was kind of an uncomfortable situation.

But it was the actual truth. We're big fans over here, man. Thank you for making time. Yeah, big fans of what you guys do. What's up, AJ? It's been a while. I know it has. Congrats on all your success, man. Thank you for making time. Yeah, big fans of what you guys do. What's up, AJ? It's been a while. I know it has. Congrats on all your success, man. I think it's been since we

played golf at Tahoe. What is he? Is he good? AJ, he's good? Of course he's good. Look at him. You know he's good. He can play. This son of a bitch. So hold on, Lynch. So you... So two Ring of Honors, obviously. You know, Tampa and Denver do the whole thing. Then you're a Super Bowl champion. Like, this is absurd. Just this in of itself is absurd as a player.

Whenever you get into the GM role. Okay. And we all know guys that are in locker rooms that are going to be like a coach or front office personnel. And I think a lot of people normally doubt I'm like, nah, that guy. Okay. We get it. You're going to be a great coach for you. Do you know you would be a good in front office? Did you know that you'd be great businessman? Because that's what you have to do in your position right now. And now you're the president of football ops as well. It's like, did you know that this was going to be something you would succeed at? Did you go in just like kind of blank slate? How did you get into this? And did you predict this to yourself whenever you took the gig? Yeah, I didn't know I'd be good at it. I didn't even know I'd be doing it.

You know, it's an interesting story as to how I ended up here. I ask myself that often. But, you know, I think the thing that probably, you know, way back when I was a kid, I did love, like, the NFL draft. My dad used to pull me out of school, out of St. James Catholic School. So, you know, it's back when it started on Thursday. And at half day, he'd come pick me up at lunch. We'd go watch the draft. So I love that. Throughout my career, I'd piss my wife off by not only watching round one through three, but then watching round seven. And I'm filling out sheets and doing all that. And she's going,

really? I'm like, come on now. We've got better stuff to do. So I've always had an interest like that. But I think the had an interest like that. But I think the thing that probably piqued my interest, I was living in Denver after I got done playing there and had become friendly with Elway. We played some golf together and he looked out for me. We had the same high school coach. We went to Stanford, played football, baseball, same fraternity. That was like the poster on my wall but Elway took the the leap at the Broncos and and in his first year you know he asked me he said Johnny you know I'm keeping a lot of the scouts but I don't know them um and I I love the way you think about football could you watch the

safeties this year and write some reports and so I did that for him and it was I remember it was the year of like Mark Barron and Harrison Smith and I took a lot of pride and I had no idea how scouts did things, but I just watched it. Like I would watch film and I sat there at the computer and wrote some reports and Elway was blown away with like the detail. I, you know, if I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it right. The next year, he says, you know, that was awesome, Johnny, why don't you do the DB? So I did the entire DBs. I added the corners.

The next year he invites me in for their draft process. And this was all like, you know, it was a lot of work. It was a lot of time. I went to Indy. I went to the combine with the Broncos that year. And so that started piquing my interest. who ended up bidding for the Carolina Panthers. And he didn't get the team. Tepper got it. But there was another gentleman by the name of Ben Navarro. And I worked with his brother at Fox. And he one time asked if he could meet with me. And out of the blue asked me if I would run his team if he got the Panthers. And I said, really?

Are you serious? And he asked me to kind of put together a vision statement for how I would run a team. And so I spent a couple of weeks doing that. I met with him. And from that point forward, I kind of just said, you know, if the right scenario ever came about, you know, this might be something I want to do. I love the folks at NFL on Fox. I was working with Kevin Burkhart, who's now at the top and so, so happy for that dude. He's going to be working with Brady this year. Same, same. You know, I was missing like competition. I was missing scoreboard. I was missing the wins, the losses, all of that. And, um, then, you know, it, it, out of nowhere, um, you know, something was keeping

me up at night one year. And I, and you know, I, I didn't even know what it was. And my wife said, something's on your mind. I know you, when you're you when you're acting like this, you can't sleep. And I had done a bunch of Falcon games that year. And Kyle Shanahan was the offensive coordinator. It's the year they went to the Super Bowl against the Patriots. And, you know, I heard something like Kyle Shanahan's going to get this Niners job and that's the one he wants. But somebody said he's struggling to find a GM he wants to work with.

And so something was on my mind. I had done a bunch of Kyle's games to find a GM he wants to work with. And so something was on my mind. I had done a bunch of Kyle's games that year and I gave him a cold call and I just said, hey, dude, I want to thank you for all the time you've given me all year in these production meetings. I heard something that you're struggling to find a GM. And he goes, I am and it's killing me. I think I am going to take that Niners job. And he goes, why are you asking? And I said, well, consider me, you know, like, I don't even know if I do it, but, you know, just think about that and see what you think. And his first question, he's like, dude, why would you do that? You got a, you got a great job. You got a great life. Like, why would you even consider doing that?

And I said, you go play your games. He did. He called back and he said, man, I can't stop thinking about what you said to me. Would you do that? And I want you to come meet this dude named Jed. Well, that dude named Jed was our owner here. Jed York came and met Jed. We flew cross country to Atlanta. I was offered the job on that flight. We meet with Kyle and the whole thing's wrapped up. I hadn't even talked to my wife or family yet. It all moved kind of fast. And here we are eight years later. So sorry for the long story. I'm hoping we get three or four more of those. That was phenomenal. Hey, thank you for blessing us with that information. And also shout out to you being somebody taking initiative and being like, you know what? Yeah, this is something I want and diving right in and being prepared and knowing that you're prepared. Hey, those private planes, good meeting spots.

You can't go anywhere. Can't go anywhere. And if they turn off the wi-fi you know which is just a little i mean you are you're trapped yeah dude you are you're only in there with the people that you're with i've heard a lot of high value humans potentially do that i'm happy to hear jed did that and get you the gig and then when you get dropped in there is it like first day now you're calling john elway saying what's the first job here other than getting my office? Like, how is the, is there already a relationship between you and Kyle Shanahan decided upon? Like, hey, this is how we're going to work together. Here's what every day looks like. Like, how does that all come together at the beginning of this whole thing? Well, you know, first there, like I've

always been a somewhat confident person, but I've always been realistic. And so I remember some of the conversations before I went and met with Jed. I was like, John, I've never done this. And he goes, no, you've sat in our meetings. I've seen your reports. He goes, Johnny, look, two things. You know football and you know how to lead. And if you know those things, you surround yourself with a great team and you'll figure out everything else.

And I think that was wise advice. It gave me the confidence that I could indeed do it. But, yeah, it was a leap of faith. And so, you know, I had to find people. Adam Peters was my first hire. Martin Mayhew, a guy I had played with, you know, who had sat in my seat, you know, in the general manager seat. But he was one of my mentors in 1993 when I went to the Bucs. He was a guy who came from Washington as a free agent. And so Martin was my second hire. And we started putting together a team and Kyle and I just

figured it out. You know, we started, you know, I think the thing that drew us together is then when we talked, we had a lot of similar beliefs. Kyle started his professional coaching career on the defensive side at Tampa, working for Monty Kiffin, who I played for for years. We were both big believers on, man, a team's got to be, yes, you've got to find your quarterback, but then you've got to find the guys that knock down the quarterback, the guys up front. How do you know that? Well, I knew it because I played in Tampa with Warren Sapp and Simeon Rice. And then I went to Denver and I had some great dudes out there, but they weren't Warren Sapp and Simeon Rice. And I, you know, I once had the quote, five Mississippis a lot harder than three. My job got a lot harder. And

so like beliefs like that get entrenched. And then we just figured it out. And we went about building a culture with the right type of people. We went to great lengths to define what we thought, build a championship organization. And this is a place who had a long history. I was drawn to the Niners because of the history. I went to school right up the road. Bill Walsh was my coach my senior year. And the Niners culture is special. And, you know, I walked by five trophies and, you know, we've been to four or five NFC championships. We've been to a couple of Super Bowls. But man, it kills me that

we've come close, but we haven't knocked down that wall and we need to add a sixth trophy. And so that's what I'm committed to doing. And that's what we're committed to doing. And it's, you know, there's been some heartbreak, but the only thing I know how to doing and that's what we're committed to doing and um it's uh you know there's been some heartbreak but the only thing I know how to do is you go back you try to find a way to get a little bit better uh you keep your belief up and you take some more swings at it and that's what we'll continue to do yeah let's start to climb over again it feels like you're the perfect guy for the perfect job in the perfect place at the perfect time yep I don't know just from what I'm hearing right here good good for the Niners, man.

Good for the Niners. Go ahead, AJ. John, you mentioned earlier before you were the GM, you kind of missed the scoreboard and kind of having something, I don't know, competition, whatever it may be. What's it like, wins and losses as a GM compared to when you were a player? Like are the wins sweeter as a GM and the losses tougher now as a player? I would imagine when you don't have control over it

and you're not on the field physically making plays, sometimes I know that can be difficult. Game day sucks. It's awful. Not a damn thing you can do about it. And that is really hard. It really is. And, you know, I remember my first year doing this,

I'd be up there and the cameras were on you a lot because you'd come from a different background of doing this and the cameras would constantly, and I'd be pounding the table or whatnot and people my dad would say you know hey don't let them see you sweat some poise you're gonna have to learn to do that but you I'd become so accustomed to doing something on game day and I can't do a damn thing I mean like if someone gets hurt you start calling guys for the next week for tryouts or something. But, you know, I think what you come to know is that your job is 365 days a year, helping run an organization, help lead an organization, bringing in the right people. And, yeah, hay is in the barn come game day.

But I can still be passionate, and I live and die with these guys. I've been through what these players have been through. So I respect the heck out of what they do. I know how hard it is, how difficult it is, how difficult, how much sacrifice their families make. And so really more than anything, I just pull for these guys and try to be there to support them and support our coaches. And it's fun until that game kicks off and then realize, and it's still, it doesn't get any easier knowing that there's nothing you can do come game day. You're a pacer during the games? You pace back and forth?

Yeah, I'm a pacer. I'm a pacer. I'm standing up. I try stupid superstitions. I stand up on defense, sit on offense. It's just, you know, I get the first, the cool thing that, you know, I like doing, I go to every night before meeting. I don't think a lot of, I just like feeling in tune with our team.

Yeah, what's our last message? What's our last message before we're going out there? I want to be a part of that. Yeah, hell yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And I like hearing the script, the offensive script, the first 24. Kyle puts in 24 plays. It gives me a feel for what's going on in the game.

I sit in all those meetings. So you feel that connection. I think that connection, knowing what our players are going through, helps you make the necessary moves to try to help complement what we need at the given time. Oh, I didn't even think about like knowing what one of your – not that you don't know Shanahan's offense from watching him work and everything, like how can I make this roster better for what he likes to do like hey this is what he likes to do

clearly this is what these coaches like this is what defense guy likes to do not that you wouldn't know you're john lynch you're in two rings of honor in the nfl which would be three yeah which yeah you're gonna be in three yeah that is a that is an absolutely absurd thing i love to hear that you look jock too are you working out with the boys, too? Are we in there with Bosa and Kittle and the boys? Are we in there working out? No, I've redistributed the weight, but a little more linebacker than safety these days. But I try to stay in some shape.

Yeah, fast linebackers are good in 2024. You know, hey, is that coming? Hey, what do we think? Got smaller for speed, the defense, right? We kind of lost the big jaw meathead from Ohio, A.J. Not that A.J. was slow. He ran a 4-4. Even though one of his defense coordinators thought he couldn't be on the field with Michael Vick at the same time.

That's right. Yeah, people thought that was a situation where, you know, jawline over there was not happy. Still talks about it. It still talks about it to this day. But do you think, especially with the way you guys play, which is a lot of hard no's, Debo is obviously somebody that's going to get brought up in this conversation, but that style of football is something you guys are known for.

Do you think it's going to be cyclical, not just your team, but like football as a whole? You think you're going to have to get beefier again because there's going to be more power in football as opposed to wide open like it has been here? The league's always cyclical. You know, I find it fascinating. When I first got in the league in 93, the remnants of the run and shoot were around. But the bigger back, the Jerome Bettis's, I remember people asked me the hardest I've ever been hit on a field. Without a doubt, it was Craig Ironhead Hayward.

on a field without a doubt it was uh craig ironhead hayward he got in shape one year and i think that put him at 280 in uh in atlanta and they were running the run and shoot and they would run this you know we called it atlanta draw and it was like the parting of the seas they had four receivers everyone and herm edwards i remember him telling me like lynchburg uh i know what you're gonna do man you're gonna run up there but I'm telling you this dude's different you're gonna come out faster than you went in and go low on him go low do not go in there going high and you know that's like just telling me he might as well said go in there and try to hit him high because as soon as he told me go look you know you got to go low of course this guy's calling me out oh okay oh is that how you think this guy's name's ironhead okay full speed and uh i learned why they called

him ironhead and uh and my whole body just and i've never felt that like toes to head it just went numb and i shouldn't be telling people that but um i was okay but i learned my lesson and i learned why that guy was called Craig Ironhead Hayward. But my point was it went from the bigger back later on. You know, speed is always going to be important, but things shift. And we went through that shift when we brought Debo in here. You know, we were all into separators at the wide receiver position, but there was a trend going on that teams were pressing the rules on defense in terms of holding wide receivers within those five yards. And if you're not strong enough

or powerful enough, you can't get away from that. So Debo was kind of our response. We need a bully. We need somebody who plays with power. And Debo lit the league up. We watched a guy at South Carolina who was so strong. We had him at the Senior Bowl and just saw how thick this dude was and the power that he played the game with. And so, yeah, it's fun to watch the cycles that go on. I think the game is much more spread out now. And so the ability to play in space is critical. But I do think that, like, we're in a league right now

where you got to have the ability to play with power and um you know it i think um we talk about during the draft like this last week and we drafted a bunch of niners and that's that's guys who love to compete guys that can run who can you know we always want to be a fast team but then physical guys guys that play with knockback we hear so much about health and safety measures and that taking the physicality out of the game. I don't believe that's true. I think, you know, whoever's the aggressor,

whoever's doing the knocking back is going to win. And we try to add players that do that. Yeah, you talk about Cade Stover and you talked about him being banged up. I think he had an MCL. He played through what a lot of guys probably wouldn't play through. And you just mentioned Debo,

but you talk about George Kittle and then Iooks down the field blocking. I remember there was a time last year where another team, Pittsburgh Steelers, had a wide receiver that wouldn't block because he didn't want to get rolled up on. And then literally, like, maybe the next game was you guys and you're number one in the NFC, potentially going to see what teams want to be. And all your wide receivers are 20 yards down the field, blocking and bodying.

And it's like, hey, that's part of the culture right there. That is literally a part of the culture. You can feel that, I assume, whenever it settles in. And at this point, finding Niners easier or harder than maybe when you were trying to figure out your culture? I think it's easier when you've had that continuity of Kyle and I working together. And I told you early on, you know, we went into great lengths in terms of defining exactly what we want in terms of the talent and the spirit.

You know, what are the qualities that we want in a Niner? And those things are fluid and they change. But, you know, we have a saying around here, our wide receiver coach, Leonard Hankerson, and he tells those guys, block no rock. So you want the ball you best be blocking for your teammates. And you see Christian McCaffrey doing it for Debo Samuel. Brandon Ayuk is a tremendous, I love the way that guy plays his spirit. Jawan Jennings taking the dude from Green Bay into the Gatorade. Bam. I mean, that stuff is contagious, and that's what we talk about. We want guys that are contagiously competitive.

We have a standard. Once that standard's set, if you think the guy's made of the right stuff, he may not have been asked to block like that in college. So you have to do some predicting of let's get to know the person. What was he asked to do? Are you willing to do that? And so those are the people we try to bring in like-minded people and we have a standard in which we play and the players it's up

to them to uphold that standard Kyle says often you know his roots are as a wide receiver he played wide receiver in college he coached wide receiver as the first position but those guys set the tone for an offense on the physicality of your team. And you often think that's the offensive line, but I, you know, I've come to really believe that, that when the receivers are out there blocking, it is, it, it, it raises all the offensive alignment. Yeah. The offensive alignment better be blocking. If the wide receivers are blocking, I didn't even think about that either. Cause it's just like natural that the offensive alignment are going to have to be physical. But if you have a bunch of dogs on the outside, everybody sees that.

It heightens everything. And that's brilliant. I don't think I've ever heard that either. Yeah. And it's cool because it's something that, you know, like the link to the past here with the Niners, that's something Jerry Rice and John Taylor and Bill Walsh used to always talk about. You're not playing for me if you're not going to block at wide receiver.

And so it's a tradition that is carried on, and it's something we're real proud of but you got to redo it you know you got to recreate it every year it doesn't just show up that has to be your standard and that that comes from the work we do on the practice field okay so last question for me before the boys have some and we can't thank you enough for joining us you just complimented ricky pierce immensely i think from what i just heard yep you said this is the only type of guys we're going to take it's like, okay, sounds like we just learned a lot about Ricky there, who you just drafted. Now,

you just sat up, good, smart play, because this one's going to be talked about. Yeah, smart, John, you know it. Obviously, Stanford brain. Wide receiver room. You've got a lot of business you're going to have to do. And I think you've even mentioned before, like, we've had to do this before, too. Seemingly always us having to do this, And it's because of the eyeing of talent,

the finding of talent, bringing in of talent, success, a lot of eyeballs and everybody wanting, you know, everybody that you have seemingly on your team, especially when you have a plethora. That wide receiver room has a lot of business that has to be handled. Is that how you see it? And what are your thoughts on how you're going to, you know, kind of navigate it all, knowing that humans are involved, money's involved, and having a football team ready to go this fall that needs to win a Super Bowl so that we can add a sixth trophy to the wall there in San Francisco?

Yeah, well, here's my thoughts. You know, I love our roster. I love the way it's comprised. As I said, we were right there, and we've got to find a way to get just a little bit better. And I'm doing everything in my power to keep our roster together. And that's my goal. And I don't question that. I've got so much belief when you talk about guys like Brandon Ayuk and Debo. They're guys we drafted. They're guys we take a lot of pride in what they've become, who they've become, and we couldn't be more proud of those guys. And so, you know, during the course of drafts and off seasons, do conversations happen? Absolutely, they do. We're past that now.

And, you know, we're thrilled to add to that group, Jawan Jennings, Brandon Ayuk, Debo Samuel, Chris Conley, Ronnie Bell, Danny Gray. And now you add Ricky Pearsall, Jake Cowan. I think we made an already strong group even stronger. And part of my job is to think about the now and then to think into the future as well. Think out. But we don't do that without thinking, can these guys contribute right away? And we have a vision for both those guys, how they can contribute and be a part. And they represent a lot of the qualities that we like in our players. And they were the best players there for us at the time. And so we're thrilled to add those guys to an already strong room and we're ready to roll forward. Then we've got to find a way like us

just to get that much better. And we think we really helped our roster throughout this off season, free agency into the draft, and we think we really helped our roster throughout this offseason, free agency, into the draft. And we're fired up about our team. John, you're awesome, dude. Yeah, I did not expect this. I mean, I should have with everything that we let off about the rest of his life.

You know, banger after banger after banger. Hall of Fame life. Hall of Fame, like everything you did. You're awesome on it. I am so thankful you took time. Now, a lot of the roster stuff i think is potentially because you have the uh cheapest draft pick available contract at the highest priced position connor has a question for you yeah obviously someone who

loves wide receivers brock purdy and we all know in this room that two years ago you guys had purdy as the number one player in the draft you just luckily didn't have to take him until 262. What did you see in Brock, John, when you guys were looking at him and drafting him? And then now here you are two years later, two NFC championships, one Super Bowl appearance later. What do you see from him now and kind of his growth? And are you mentally prepared for a $500 million check

or how are you going to do that? Way to set me up for success. But no, like, you know, you always I think the people you don't hear about the unsung heroes like in these organizations. And and that's to me, it's our scouts. It's our coaches. And, you know, I think two people deserve so much credit for Brock Purdy. And one of them now is in our pro department. He's a guy by the name of Steve Slowick. His brother's Bobby Slowick, the office coordinator down there in Houston. But Steve was the college scout that

we'd go through Iowa State. And we thought Brock might come out into the league the year before. We had high grades on him, actually a little higher his junior year than his senior year. But Steve was a guy who had the benefit of going into that school here. And Matt Campbell, who did such a great job at Iowa State, turning that program around. And Steve would always come during these draft meetings, in the fall meetings, in the draft meetings, and just speak so glowingly about Brock and the culture changer he was, how Iowa State would not be where they're at without Brock Purdy. And Steve was making his own, seeing it with his own eyes, but he was also telling us what Matt Campbell was saying. And Matt Campbell had been,

you know, there's good recommenders and Matt had always proven to be a really good recommender. When he believed in a guy, it usually translated. And so Steve was very integral in that process. The other guy I'd say was Brian Greasy. Brian was incredibly impressed once we kind of gave Brian to him and said, hey, get on these Zooms, start talking to Brock. And Greasy came back extremely convicted. And then it's in Kyle's hands, it's in my hands, and we start watching and you know we were so smart we waited till the very last pick to to draft him and thank god he was there um he's been tremendous for our organization and you you you really could see

it right away you know I think he was fourth on our depth chart um and there's a corny saying that people say you know about training camp and like't count your reps, make your reps count. And the one thing we saw about Brock, he'd get like three or four reps of practice when we first started. But man, he did not. He didn't come in and just play it safe. He was ripping it in windows that were small and doing so with confidence. That's a hard thing to do because it's an easy way to get run right out of here when you're the last pick in the draft and you're trying to make these bold plays. But he just

played with a confidence, a poise, and you start seeing that. Then it's like Kyle says, well, let's give them six reps and then let's give them eight and ten. And he just kept kind of doing it over and over and over again. And he eventually, Trey got hurt, and he eventually just kept getting better. And then ultimately, Jimmy Garoppolo, who had come back, got hurt versus Miami. Brock goes in, and kind of the rest is history. He played with an incredible – I'll never forget that first game against the Dolphins. I mean, they – Ryan Flores was the defensive coordinator –

excuse me, the head coach then. And if you watch Minnesota, they come at you harder than anybody. They blitz more than anybody. Well, that's what they did with Brock out there. And the poise with which he took that challenge on and led us to a victory, man, you started to think we might be on to something. And then it just kept getting better. And Brock's been awesome.

And we're thrilled to have him part of our organization. He's an awesome kid. And he's got a lot of ability. And it's a great story, but it's more than a story now. He's our guy, and we're thrilled to have him. Yeah, he's awesome. And there's a bunch of rumors every offseason about conversations that you have potentially or Shanahan has with people, and you just saying there, he's our guy, and it's awesome, or Shanahan has with people.

And you just saying there, he's our guy and it's awesome, is a beautiful thing because, like, you know, when Mr. Irrelevant comes around now, everybody's going to say, this could be your next Brock Purdy. Look out. That's what they're going to say. And guess what? They're not.

You know? They are. This dude is an anomaly, I think. From everything, from the way he dresses, the way he responds to things, the way he acts, the way he throws, the confidence in which you say he talked about on day one, four reps, trying to throw some seeds. If those are pick six, this guy sucks. Why are we wasting a body on him? Instead, he becomes your guy. He's jacked too, huh? Was that Photoshop I saw on the internet or is he? Yeah, Brock. Brock's taking good care of himself. He's a worker. He's always going to work.

I mean, last year, remember, he, you know, against Philly in the championship game, tore up his elbow and just kept watching him beat timelines. And he kept saying, I'm going to be fine. I'll be there, you know, come training camp. And, you know, kind of against all odds, he made it back. And we're blessed to have Brock Purdy around this organization. Yeah, last question.

We thank you so much for your time. It comes from Ty because it is kind of involved with what you just chatted about. Yeah, John, and now it doesn't matter because you guys have found Brock and you've been to a Super Bowl and an NFC Championship with him, but how difficult was it navigating the whole Trey Lance situation, whether it's kind of the pressure from ownership because you guys did sink so much draft capital into him, and then on the other side, you see the potential and the talent

that he could have envisioning him a couple years down the road. But how difficult was it navigating that situation when you have two other guys who clearly are know, clearly are just, you know, they're giving you the better chance to win. And at what point was it like, okay, maybe it's best if we just kind of give him a fresh start and a new opportunity elsewhere? Yeah, it was difficult. You know, we invested a lot in Trey, and we had a lot of belief that he was the right guy.

It was during the COVID period. It was tough to get out and see players a lot of belief that he was the right guy. It was during the COVID period. It was tough to get out and see players a lot. But ultimately, we had belief in the young man, and we had a vision for how we were going to play with Trey at quarterback. Unfortunately, he got hurt a couple of times, and when he hurt his ankle, Brock came in eventually, and Brock kind of took it and ran with it. And, you know, at some point then you ask yourself, you know, like what's in the organization's best interest?

And some amount like, you know, we still believe Trey can have a really good career in the NFL. You always got to look out for your organization. But at the same time, can we put Trey in a good position? And so, you know, we started talking to some people, the thing came about with the Cowboys and, you know, I'm hopeful that, that Trey gets his opportunity. Couldn't ask for a better, better guy, a stud human being. And I really do believe that he's going to have some success in this league and wish nothing but the best for him and his family. Yeah. That's, that's NFL. There's only a certain amount of spots, you know. I appreciate you saying that about Trey.

And we're pulling for him, too. Good luck out there, Trey. John, you're a legend, man. Thank you so much for taking all this time on this glorious Thursday to chit-chat with us. Yeah, thank you guys, man. And congrats on all your success. It's fun watching what you guys have become. It's really cool.

Peyton used to tell me about you, Pat. So I've watched this kind of from afar from the start, and it really is a remarkable story. And what you guys do on a day-in, day-out basis is really cool. Yeah, it's all dumb, John. It's all very, very dumb, but, you know, we're enjoying the hell out of it. It works. Just like it sounds like you are as well.

You're the man. We hope to talk to you again. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it, fellas. Thank you. Super Bowl champion. Two ring of honors. Big brain Stanford guy.

Professional baseball player if he wanted to. John Lynch. Yeah, John! There he is. That's one of the ones. Yeah, for sure. It's one of the ones we need to send whenever the aliens come down. All right, John, we'll try to figure this whole thing out.

Like business-wise, it didn't sound like you did much business, right? I was excited because John Elway was in the car dealership business. So whether he was boots on the ground selling the cars or he was just negotiating the rights to have his name be a part of the car dealership, still a part of business, a lot of business. Lynch has had to handle a part of the car dealership. Still a part of business. A lot of business. Lynch has had to handle a lot of business over there with the Niners because of how good their players are. A lot of the guys are top five paid in a lot of positions,

and they're still able to truck on. That's a talent in and of itself in 2024, AJ. I mean, go down the list. Look at their roster. Every, like, meaningful position. Edge rusher, you've got Bosa making tons of money. Christian McCaffrey you're bringing. Yeah, you guys have all this.

It's ridiculous the talent that they do have and the fact that he is able to retain the majority of it. It's crazy. So now, are you going to get them done? They're going to get a deal done before the... He said we're moving on. We added.

We added. We didn't replace. We added this entire thing. And I guess we could have pressed a little bit more if we were better journalists. You know, we could have said, well, you're trading Debo, are you? Just say it. But he said he still believes

firmly that they'll be able to move forward with the entire group they have, adding a couple pieces to it. Let alone Cade Stover. Oh, no, sorry. Cade Stover's going to Houston. That was Casario. Yeah, worse for you. Remember. When it comes to Cade Stover, just think, oh yeah, sucks for me. How about Lynch? There. That entire thing that just happened yeah with stover no lynch here with the fool

so good oh i mean the cold shanahan yeah i did not know he's cold calling kyle shanahan said hey give me why don't you uh let me get that gm job buddy like that's awesome dude every answer every answer had something that was just like he was was great on TV, by the way, too. He was great on Fox. Yeah, I could see it. Yeah. Yeah, I could certainly see it. And his press conferences, he handles them incredibly well. I think he's just one of those guys who can figure out anything, you know?

Yep. 100%. Thankfully he came on. Absolute headhunter on the field as well. Yeah. Dog. Dog. We were watching some of the highlights back here before he came on.

What an absolute beast. All right. This particular program is wrapping up, and we'll be back tomorrow for a feel good Friday. AJ will be at the Derby. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. Goodbye.

Nailed it. Right on the screen. Right on the screen. You're going to the Derby. Let's go, dude. Yeah. We'll see. Weather's going to be perfect.

Good to see some buddies. Is it really? Oh, yeah. I mean, it's very close. It usually rains. It always rains. It's supposed to rain here tomorrow. I don't know about Louisville. Oh, no. Yeah, that'd be beautiful. Saturday's supposed close. It usually rains. It always rains. It's supposed to rain here tomorrow. I don't know about Louisville.

Oh, no. Yeah, that'd be beautiful. Saturday's supposed to be beautiful. Okay. Luckily, I'll be underneath. Saturday, beautiful. Yeah, you're in Billionaire Row. Yeah.

No, wherever it is. Luckily, yeah, there is a roof, but rain, yeah. Rain can cause some issues down there. There's some mutters out there. Oh, yeah. There's some mutters out there. You are in Billionaire Row. Enjoy the hell out of yourself.

We'll watch on. And that's the one horse race I'll probably watch each year. I don't like the five-hour build-up to it, though. I'm like, oh, Kentucky Derby's on. I'm kind of excited, and then it's like, race four? Turn in about 6.05, probably.

6.05, you said? The Derby race usually goes sometime around 6, 6.15. Will you gamble on to bet the races all day long. 6.05, you said? The derby race usually goes sometime around 6, 6.15. Will you gomble on all of the races? Happy birthday to you. Happy

birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Pat. This is cool. Thank you. Happy birthday to you. They're singing to you too, pretty girl. They're singing to you too.

Yay! Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot of lights, huh? A lot of people Thank you, that was awesome, good to see you baby Good to see you baby Hell yeah, happy birthday You know that you're on the internet right now This is what daddy does

Every day whenever he's not home I talk to that guy with that mustache Uncle Connor Nope No, she's I've seen him Her birthday is two days from now Uncle Connor. Nope. No, she's... I've seen him. Her birthday is two days from now. Here we go.

So all eyes have been looking to... She was kind of fascinated by the screen. What's back here? What's going on over here? Oh, that's Mama. Hey, there's a lot of shit to go crawl on and point at. That was really cool of you guys. Thank you for doing that.

Thank you for bringing baby girl on. I'm pumped we didn't do it on TV. Thank God. You know, they don't deserve it. I mean, we almost did middle of John Lynch, but we might as well wait. All right, thank you, John, for the filibusters there. Great answers. Got us to the internet.

Girl, what are you thinking? What do you want to do? You want to go to a break? You us to the internet. Girl, what are you thinking? What do you want to do? You want to go to a break? You want to go eat some cake? What are you thinking? Cake looks good. Thank you for stopping by. You can do this more often.

I'll just give you this microphone when I'm done. I'm out of it. Her hair is awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Mom put the ponytail in. So, you know, this baby girl right here is obviously uh the cutest thing i've ever seen in my entire life she is uh i see her every morning and every night but mondays because

of raw and obviously my wife samantha is kicking so much ass but like watching her develop has been like maybe the cool it's the coolest thing i've ever done in my entire life she will learn balance and i get like jacked up like genuine genuine jacked up she starts crawling and moving i'm like so excited she starts standing on her own i'm so excited all of it comes with uh you know a little adversity at the house of course because once she starts moving there's stairs there's corners there's the whole. And there's a pretty girl. There's going to be so much. She's doing great, man. Most kids would come on here and be crying. She's doing awesome.

She's chill, man. She's super chill. She laughs. She smiles. She yells. She crawls. She poops a lot. Don't you?

I poop a lot. That's a good thing, man. Great thing. And she's not scared to eat. This girl will eat. Hey, you know, your dad's old now. 37 years old. You know that?

What are you thinking? You going to say anything? You want to talk to anybody? You're just chilling. You want to wave? These people aren't worth it anyways. No. All right, let's get to a break.

Me and Baby Girl are going to hang out for a bit. This is work. Somehow. Yeah. It's not real. This is not real life. I like this everywhere. This is not real life, Baby Girl. Okay? You need to remember that. Your birthday's coming up. It's going to be bigger and grander than all of this.

Alright, AJ. We're going to take a five-minute break. other side we got hallie roseman general manager of the philadelphia eagles a team you will never be a fan of don't you worry about that pretty girl you're in here like six days into your existence right we brought it yeah yep oh yeah i remember that yeah yeah she's almost so she'll be one in two days yeah may 4th look at her just just walking thinking so many lights so many screens so many bright lights yeah a lot of bright lights all right where we had a lot to grab well let's not grab that you want a bottle or what what are we thinking

You want a bottle or what? What are we thinking? Imagine if she was there when Red Panda was in the studio. Now we're talking. Yeah. Bite it. Yeah. There it is. Get it.

Get it. What are you thinking? You bite it. What do you think? Good grip strength. To hell with it, she said. All right, girl. You want to go hang out for a little bit?

Go to the bathroom, then we come back for hour three? What do you think? All right, that's You want to go hang out for a little bit? Go to the bathroom, then we come back for hour three? What do you think? All right, that's what we'll do. Thank you all so much. That was very cool. Thank you, baby, for bringing the baby girl up. There was a balloon over there. You said, get the hell off of me?

Is that what you... What's going on, dude? Hey, say, be a friend, tell a friend. Something nice. Say, go Bruins. Go Bruins. Don't say that. Go Bruins.

Say, go Bruins. Don't even think about saying that. Do it, do it, do it, do it, do it. Don't even think about saying it. No, no, no, no. Go Bru it. Say go for it. Don't even think about saying that. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Don't even think about saying it. No, no, no. Go for it. J.D. McDonough fan? Whoa.

Whoa. She is seen. Respect. We all are now. She's asleep when J.D. McDonough is getting knocked out in different ways. She's been acknowledging it day one. She will. She will point.

The final boss. Which is good. Oh, there we go. See you, everybody. Yeah. All right. Boards are amazing. That's A.J. Hawk.

He's been a champion at the college level and the professional level. The Talks of the Table is here at Boss of Conner and F. Ty Schmidt. One half of the hammer. That Cowboys turn digs here. And joining us live from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the general manager of the Philadelphia Eagles, Howie Rosen. What's up, guys? How we doing? Hey, thankful that you joined our show today. I know we kept you waiting a few minutes, so thank you for the patience and uh we appreciate you man let's dive

right in well what an awesome well i'll tell you what i hear it's a special day happy birthday brother thank you great thing that's very kind of you i appreciate that a lot of people have been saying it i've been overwhelmed with uh the amount of kindness that people have sent my way today so i was going to try to power through you even saying it so i appreciate you making that happen holly uh okay appreciate you let's dive in Hallie. Okay, appreciate you. Let's dive in. What an offseason for you. Honestly, you and the Philadelphia Eagles have had a massive offseason. Obviously, the way last year ends is not the way anybody associated with the city or the organization want to have happen. But this offseason, you sign extensions to a bunch of

people. You bring in Saquon Barkley. You make a trade to get Cooper Dejean. It's like, did you feel the need to be super aggressive this offseason, spend money, make a big play? Or why are we at this point, you think, Howie, in your mind? Yeah, I think obviously the disappointment of last year and not wanting to feel like that again to the extent that we can. Obviously, it's hard to win championships. Kind of being to the couple of Super Bowls over the last few years we've been to, I think our standards are really high of what is a successful season, especially when we have the capabilities. And the capabilities are on and off the field, having the right people on and off the field.

And that's my responsibility. That starts with me. And so when we don't have the end of the season that we want, I think that starts with my responsibility. That starts with me. And so when we don't have the end of the season that we want, I think that starts with my responsibility and what can I do to do a better job to give us a chance to win and go into next season with the right people. And so I think that, you know, as we sit here today, we still got a lot of work to do. Obviously haven't been at any on-field practices, but I'm encouraged by the people that we brought in and the people that we still have here. Okay, and before A.J. and the boys have their questions,

I have to bring up Saquon. Hey. How are you? He's a great player. Made a lot of people pissed at one place, made a lot of people pumped at the new home, and it feels like a weapon that's dynamic that will only add to a Jalen Hurts offense.

Was this a pretty easy decision for you to make, or how did we decide to get Saquon over to the Philadelphia Eagles? Yeah, it's hard to get difference makers, and he's a difference maker on and off the field. The way he plays, kind of his skill set is unique. Obviously, I've had a front row seat on the receiving line of some of these runs that you're going to show. You can certainly show some of the runs against us that have been explosive and then he can really do it all he can run routes he's an unbelievable pass protector and again just a great person and obviously he played college ball in this state and you know so being able to watch him from afar. And, you know, I guess sometimes, you know, you kind of try to get on the front end of things or at least kind of do something opposite.

I've always felt like the league's a little bit of a bell curve. And like, if everyone's doing the same things in the middle, you're probably in that middle range. And you got to do things that maybe put you a little bit at risk, but also give you a chance to have that confetti fall on your head in the end. And obviously we got a long way to go to do that, but you know, where the running backs were and, and these guys are touching the ball 300 times for your football team. They're not touching the ball. They're touching the ball more than anyone, but your quarterback in your

center, hopefully. And so they do have a huge impact. And you know, that goes back to with coach Reed and Brian Westbrook. And then when I was the GM, LaShawn McCoy. And so it's not so out of left field for what our philosophy has been here since, since I've been here. Huge though, coming from the giants to the Eagles,

obviously with the entire, just like Patrick Queen went from Baltimore to Pittsburgh. There was a few of those that happened this off season, as opposed to years past. And I don't think I saw one person for Philly who a lot of staters, Penn Staters, Philadelphia area, a lot of that. Getting him back in town is obviously a glorious move. Good for you, Howie.

Go ahead, AJ. Howie, you mentioned the center position. Obviously, you guys, huge loss with Jason Kelsey retiring. Obviously, unbelievable player for your organization for a long time. How do you replace a guy like that? Can you talk a little bit about what he actually meant to that franchise and the people there and everything about it? Because that guy is just

a real gem. He seems to be somebody I feel like from all corners of the earth. You have to love that dude. And you don't replace that. And I think that it would be disingenuous to even pretend like we're going to replace Jason Kelsey. The person and the player.

I mean, this is a first ballot Hall of Famer, both on and off the field. And so, you know, I think for us, we got to just, you know, we got to continue to build the team. It's the ultimate team game to understand that he is a huge loss. Fletcher Cox is a huge loss for our organization, our football team. The only thing we could do is we tried to get our young guys around them as much as possible so that they can absorb it, so they could see what amazing players and people they were, but also that

it doesn't come easy in this league to be great at whatever job you have, that you have to work at it, that those guys were our hardest workers. They had an unbelievable love of the game. They had an unbelievable love of this team and this city. I feel like I certainly wouldn't be sitting here today without Jason Kelsey, and I'm including Fletch, too, because obviously we lost him as well.

Hell yeah. Fletch, Cox, and Kelsey have been two guys holding down the trenches in Philly for as long as I can remember. When it comes to Jason Kelsey, he said it's all but inked. He's coming to ESPN. Hey, let's go. Here we go. The world's lucky.

You don't got to rub it in, dude. You don't got to rub it in. Oh, yeah, hey. He came to our team, Howie. Sorry about it. Yeah. I know. You know what, though?

I mean, the other thing that we talk about is just for me as a GM to be able to have these guys, and we still obviously have Lane and BG and those guys 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 drafts boom boom boom to get those guys and be through been through everything that we've gone together you know and to have those guys and to be able to call them and say hey I'm thinking about this how do you think it would affect the team I mean special now you know never replaced those guys, but I feel like a lot of the guys that we still have in this building have the chance to be this 10-, 15-year Eagle players

with a chance to go maybe even to the NFL Hall of Fame. Yeah, especially with a Super Bowl, a lot of that conversation amplifies. You guys certainly did, and you talk about 2010, 2011 through now, how you've gone through it all. You have the departure of Doug Peterson and Carson Wentz and everything from outside looking in. You know, we are a regional show, but we're not boots on the ground everywhere, so we don't hear it. It sounded like Doug and you guys had a mutual agreement. And then Carson Wentz and the Eagles seemingly mutual agreement to go separate ways.

There was just a statue put up about both of them for winning a super bowl like a year and a half before that so it's like well nick foals i mean but it's like and he leaves as well it's when you're the guy that's making these decisions i assume you can get on the shins a lot through all that like how do you decide that and then when you get back with jalen hurts how pumped are you to be like yes I made the right do you feel vindication there even though it looks different how do you how do you balance all that no I don't know that in this job we ever have a chance to really think about what we do like somebody asked me this morning like when you're going through the draft do you get a real good

sense of what's going on and what you're doing and I legitimately you know I take a big drink of mezcal on Saturday night and I look through kind of the draft and where we were and what you're doing. And I legitimately, you know, I take a big drink of Mezcal on Saturday night and I look through kind of the draft and where we were and what the decisions we made were for the first time really on Saturday night. And I think there'll be a day that hopefully, you know, I'll get a chance to sit back and kind of think about everything that went on here. But these jobs are too hard to really kind of get stuck in the moment. And you got to just keep moving forward. And you talk about two people, you know, certainly won a championship with them, great people, you know,

really good people, and those are hard decisions. And I think, you know, these jobs, that's why these jobs are hard, because they're not the easy ones. They're not, you know, being able to sign Devontae Smith and A.J. Brown, guys like that. Those are easy, right? Congratulations, byontae Smith and A.J. Brown, guys like that. Those are easy, right? Congratulations, by the way. You're not done.

Congrats on that and a lot of other guys. I think the hard ones are where, you know, you feel like you got to make those decisions. And the coaching staff, Jeffrey, our owner, who's unbelievable, he takes care of the head coach, and that's his responsibility. But obviously, you know, Coach Peterson, he's shown in jacksonville tremendous coach and uh for us with carson uh we knew that the most important thing was what would what we were going to do with the results of that trade what we were going to do with the money what we're going to do with the picks that we got from that trade and none of it would have mattered unless we made the right decisions and and we got to continue to make

the right decisions all the time to give our team the best chance of winning. Well, congratulations on it all working out, seemingly, because there was a conversation like, holy shit, Philadelphia's at the promised land. We've got people eating poop, horse poop, on parade routes and climbing telephone poles. And it's like, okay. Beautiful thing. Only in Philly, baby. Only in Philly, baby.

Those Johns over there there we appreciated the opportunity to watch them celebrate something that hadn't happened in 50 years amen you want more horse poop getting eaten over there I don't really care about that I'll watch and I'll laugh

that's a beautiful thing we got to get back but it's a long road and obviously a long process and a lot of good teams. I'll watch these Johns eat that horse poop, but I'll laugh. We're trying to get to that point again. Connor's got a question for you. Howie, it feels like because you

led Philadelphia to the promised land and that guy did eat horse poop, he's been up and down, pretty pissed at you, then pretty pumped with you because of the fact that the Eagles have gone through some turnover. I think it was last year or two years ago at the Saints. I think you guys were playing in New Orleans,

and there were Eagles fans there, and you basically walked up to them like, look how we did again, bitch. But how is that love-hate relationship? We remember. If we really wanted to, we could pull the trigger. I don't think it was exactly how you're describing it. I think it's cooler how you're describing it. How is that relationship, though, like handling a city that is so passionate,

which is what you want in a fan base, while also realizing that you do have to deal with people who will eat poop, whether they're pissed or happy about the team? Yeah, I think it gives me the opportunity um to constantly reinvent myself and make sure that i'm doing my job to the best of my ability um there are such high standards here and so i can never kind of sit still i gotta constantly try to figure out ways to improve this team because i am really like my job i'm not gonna be here forever my job

is a steward of this franchise you know I owe it to certainly our our players our coaches our staff our fans our ownership to do whatever I can to make sure we're the best possible situation and that's not only for the short term to the long term and so you know for me I love it I love the fact that you know um when we have if we have a down moment, like, you know, I got to do whatever I can quickly. There is no rebuilding here. It's retooling. You know, I am proud of the fact that, you know, we've had a chance six of the last seven years to go to the playoffs, obviously sick about the year that we didn't get there and a chance to compete because the only way you can win a championship is to get in the tournament and um i think that's the first step of it and obviously it's due to uh great people

that we have on and off the field great staff and you know great players you know we're nothing without our players and i i think for us um you know we try to do whatever we can to support them and put them in great spots and um our fans um you know, it's one thing they can say it to us, but, man, if you come from – if you came from Dallas and you started talking – if they started talking smack to me, somebody else is eating horse poop. Okay. Hell, yeah.

Hell, yeah. Howie, you know, the Eagles fans have always had, like, that reputation. You know, there's a jail in the stadium. Where's that? Philadelphia. How come? Well, you know why. You just heard the city it's in. And then all of a sudden, you win, have success.

Sirianni told us one time, he said, we're in the middle of trying to rebuild. I was getting booed going into half of my first preseason game. People were telling me about my shit. It's like, hey, we don't have time for you to figure out what football is. You know, that is not what we're here for. And you want that. You need that. But I could assume

there's some nights where it's a little bit uncomfortable hearing what some people are saying about you. You've got to be a strong-minded person, Howie. Way to go. Yeah. Yeah. I think at the end of the day, you know, you got to want that challenge. And I think when we win, there's nothing better. There's no place that celebrates it better than this city. I like the challenge. I mean, you reminded me of a story we played on the Thursday night game after we won a world championship. We got shut out at half, and we got booed off the field.

Oh, yeah, better than I did. Yeah. And, you know, I was – last year after we lost in the Super Bowl, I was speaking at an event, and, you know, the first question raised their hand. It was like a 12-year-old kid. And they're like, hey, Howie. He's like, how are you going to make up for picking Jalen Rager over Justin Jefferson? And it was 12.

I mean, they're like being raised, you know. So I get it. I understand the market we're in. They're being raised. I kind of embrace the challenge of it. And it's a proven mentality. We've got to all have this proven mentality, and that's year to year. That's pre-agency.

That's draft. That's here in the next few months trying to find every edge. And, you know, I feel proud to be part of this fan base and this city. That's a 12-year-old. We're just in a Super Bowl. 12-year-old. We're just in a Super Bowl. I mean, what are we? We won one. We're young. That's a 12-year-old. We're just in a Super Bowl. 12-year-old. We're just in a Super Bowl.

I mean, what are we? We won one. We're young. There's a couple of Super Bowls. These kids are being raised to ask me what the hell I'm doing. That is fantastic. I'm thinking of Vince Papali. Yep. That entire bar.

Some kid coming in being like, you see that face right there? You ever get a chance to talk to him? You ask him what the hell he was thinking when I'm in a sort of like, that's amazing. That's beautiful. That's what you want from a fan base. But also, I'm happy I'm not in your position. Couldn't handle it.

Go ahead, AJ. Howie, can you speak a little bit about your first-round pick, Mitchell the Corner from Toledo? It looks very good when you watch him on film. And leading up to that pick at 22, were you calling around? Were people calling you? Were you trying to move the beginning of that first round? Did it play out like you thought it might?

Yeah, I think there was a point in the draft room where Jeffrey looked at me and he said, I'm not used to you not really being on the phone as much as possible. Are you okay? Is something going on? I think that we're always moving and shaking and trying to figure out ways. But we got to a point in that first round based on where the offensive players are going based where the quarterbacks were going where our board looked good for where we were picking and it felt like patience made some sense at that moment I'm not sure it makes a lot of sense in a lot of moments in my life but at that moment in time it did and felt really fortunate to get to get him um certainly one of the guys that was in the mix

uh was our second round pick at 22 and so um we kind of spent uh really even come back from my press conference right after the draft like trying to figure out a way to see if we could go up and get him and get you know two two guys that we had rated as first rounders and we certainly don't usually have you know 32 first rounders we didn't have them in this draft so to have the opportunity uh to get two of those guys and and great people you know we talked again like not only guys who have a chance to be really good players in this league but two really really good people and we're we're trying to make sure that not only do we have great players but we have great people and um we know we got to develop them too you know nobody comes in and finish a product.

You know, I always felt like, and you didn't ask me this, but I'm going to say it anyway. But I feel like, you know, I feel like this is the only profession in the world where you come in and if you're not good right away, you know, the expectations are you're not successful at it. And so I feel like we have an obligation to develop our players, to develop them as players and people and understand, you know, like, man, I'm certainly glad there weren't phones and cameras around when I was 22 years old or 23 years old. And so that's on us. And we got to just kind of do the best we can to surround them and give them every resource possible to be the best that they can be. I don't know if you got to see our draft spectacular at all with Bill Belichick, but that was his big angle pretty much leading into it.

He was like, I would like to let people know that none of these guys, they all have things they have to work on because the normal draft process is like Hall of Famer, Hall of Famer, Hall of Famer, Hall of Famer. And Bill's like, this is not how this is. Like there's a lot of shit, you know. I was just watching. I wish I did watch it because i i could listen to coach belichick talk for freaking days and just even talking the story about the randy

moss the trade and and how that went down and just listen to though i will tell you the first highlight randy moshi threw like an eight yard slam where he went for like 12 do you know how many highlights i could find of randy moss that are better than that first highlight. I agree. What is going on here? Had the exact same thought. That's the most boring. What? Yeah.

I'll tell you what. That's on us, though. We just grabbed a Randy Moss package. That's literally. We have access to these things. We just grabbed a Randy Moss package. So I don't want to point accountability out of this building, but you're right. I mean, Randy Moss.

A lot of touchdowns. 12-yard play. Randy Moss. He actually has a play called Mossing somebody. I couldn't even get over it. I'm watching it, and I'm just thinking if that was like, you know, our website showing A.J. Brown, you know, our PR director Bob Lange, he does an unbelievable job sitting right here.

I'd be calling him and ripping his ass. I'm like, that's the best we can do for A.J. Brown? I mean, come on. Are we trying to sell A.J. Brown here? Okay, A.J. Brown, basic-ass wide receiver. All right. That's beautiful. I appreciate the way your brain works, Howie.

Now, we talked about the draft a little bit. I believe somebody you know also would like to talk about the draft. Coach Sirianni's here. Yeah, Howie, first and foremost, would just like to say it's an absolute honor working with you day in, day out. Best GM in the business. There's no two ways about that. Is Howie a dog or no?

Howie's an absolute fucking dog. I'm not feeling this. I was expecting a little bit more accent, a little more enthusiasm. Coach Turiani has never talked at that level to me. Well, it's not game day, Howie. It's not fucking game day. Oh, it's always game day here.

It's not game day right now. It's off-season program. So why don't you just let me get through the fucking question, Howie, and then we can get to it. You're about to see the dog come out in the fucking second here, Howie. But just curious, I know I told you come off the field not too long ago, hey, O-line, D-line, Howie. O-line, D-line. That clip's been everywhere.

Obviously, first two picks of the draft, we go cornerback, a position of need for us. I believe Cooper Jean, a lot of people say he might be the best player in the draft. He's the great white hope. Everybody knows that. Is that a situation where we were just kind of shocked that he fell to where he was at in the draft, surprised he was still there, and did you jump the Packers because you knew, hey, they're going to get Cooper DeGene right now? Listen, I love the pick.

He's an absolute fucking dog. I'm going to love adding him to the soil in order to grow as a full, mature plant with the rest of the... A tree almost now. A lot of people will argue he's already. Well, I mean, a lot of people will argue he's already a tree. He just needs

a little seasoning in the soil. But what was the impetus behind trading up for Cooper Ajean? I already know, obviously, we've discussed this. But if you want to fill the people in, that would be great, Howie. Yeah, I would say first, I mean, you said something that hit me, Coach. You talked about O-line,

D-line, and that's where it always starts. And I think when you look at our offseason, being able to extend Jordan Malata, being able to extend Landon Dickerson. You know, Cam Juergens, we drafted in the second round, started a right guard, was a Pro Bowl alternate last year. We drafted Tyler Sheehan in the third round last year. And obviously Lane Johnson, in my opinion, is a first ballot Hall of Fame fame player as well so it starts there with being able to have those guys you know we also we signed a couple guys in free agency we just signed another guy in free agency so it's got

it's got to start there you know and then you look on the defensive line and getting the opportunity to get bryce off here bring back josh webb we drafted nolan smith in the first round and then you know obviously brandon graham and we have a bunch of young guys we like. And then inside, we've spent a lot of resources on the defensive tackles, you know, with Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter and Millen Williams. And we're young there, but excited about that. But until those things get settled to a point, it's hard to do anything else. You know, I think that's really where, you know, to use your words, coach, the roots of the team come from, right? So I think it then allows us to kind of build out and get playmakers and playmakers on both

sides of the ball. And when you talk about Cooper, Cooper's a playmaker. You know, I think that at the end of the day, football instincts, any sort of instincts are huge in whatever you do. And he's got elite instincts. You know, wherever you put put him he is a playmaker he has a nose for the ball um you've seen it do it in clutch moments you know um obviously you saw what happened that minnesota game that was bullshit how everybody knows it yeah i i hear you know but even when he was a freshman you know in the bowl game against kentucky chasing down wendell rob robertson and at the one yard line and his ability to play all around the secondary and make plays. And so, you know, for us, certainly we don't know what anyone else is going to do, but it was important for us to try to get that guy. We thought this guy was a culture guy. We

thought this guy had a chance to be an elite player in this league, just like we did our first-round pick. And so we were aggressive there in the second round to try to bring him to Philly. Coach, I think you said all around the secondary there. Are you guys thinking safety for Cooper DeGene or is he going to play corner, Coach? No. Well, listen, Howie's not going to be making that decision, okay? I'm going to make the ultimate decision on that. Cooper DeGene, he's going to play cornerback, okay?

I'm hearing safety from what I heard. Well, anyone who's saying this guy's a safety, he's not athletic to play cornerback, he's a fucking idiot, okay? He is an elite athlete. I mean, I don't even understand that. Elite, elite. I mean, the guy's coming off an injury and still running low 4-4s

and freaking jumping out of the gym. Do you need to put his dunks on instead of watching you kick around that soccer ball, Pat? Oh, watch it, Allie! We've already got enough tread out of the Cooper-DeGene high school basketball highlights. We were running it a bunch because, obviously, you know, Seahorn was a dog. Seahorn was an absolute dog.

And then we see, you know, and then the whole, you know, Cooper-DeGene. There we go. Yeah. I mean, he was a beast. Now, he's playing against elite competition out there in Iowa as well. Iowa basketball is known. Very good. Everyone knows it. Everyone knows it. Absolutely.

All right, Coach Sirianni, we appreciate you stopping by. You're best in business, Howie. That's why we love you. You're my guy. You guys do kibbles and bits on Thursdays or what is the whole dog mentality between you and Coach Sirianni? Like, no offense to you.

The first thing... Maybe. We'll see. Anytime somebody says that, normally something offensive is coming. Let me reword it. With all due respect. Again, no respect is coming. No respect is coming. All due

respect means no respect is coming. Whatever you got, I can take it. I work in philly take this however you want boom there it is when i think of you and i think the way you've been described is like a incredible like not only salary cap guru but number analytic like super nerd like super super and then you got sirianni comes in. It's like, fucking dog. We're eating kibbles and bits. That's all we want.

Like, are you two a perfect match, you think? And how much do you think you guys share a belief of how football should be between you and Coach Sirianni? Yeah, I think that's the great part about going through the interview process when you're interviewing head coaches is trying to be aligned on how you build a team. And obviously, you know, I've been very fortunate to work for Coach Reed when I first became a GM and kind of like the whole time, the success we have with Coach Reed, I was really affected by it. And when you do the interview process, getting someone to talk through

what they believe in and making sure you're aligned, you certainly wouldn't want to have a relationship. I think it's really your football marriage. It's no different than when you get married and making sure that your values are aligned so you don't get into arguments about things that are philosophical. And so Coach and I definitely believe in how to build a team. And we've had a lot of examples of just kind of watching players separately and coming together and saying things at the same time and what we're looking for. But also, you know, having trust.

You know, I'm not looking to coach the team. I'm not looking to make a play call on third and seven. And he has total trust in me and what I'm going to do in the offseason, you know, to kind of build this team. And I think that's the most important thing. You've got to have trust in the people that you work with. Otherwise, there's no relationship without trust. And I think that comes over time. And really proud of the fact that he's been our coach for three years.

We had three playoff appearances. Again, last year didn't go the way we wanted to at the end of the year. But also, you know, we've seen what it looks like when it's good. And winning the NFC was a great accomplishment for him in his second year. From that opening press conference to what we've learned about him and the success, it's like, what a change. We love this human. Then the way he reacts after games, getting mic'd up,

and then learning about Big Dom. Oh, man. Learning about Big... I've heard that from everybody. Jason Kelsey shouted him out in his retirement speech. Big Dom, I appreciate. Everybody talks about him. He was kicked off the sideline, obviously,

for the altercation during the San Francisco 49ers game. That was when the world was kind of introduced to him. Do they have, like, an Italian night that you go to? Any guys just kind of chit-chat about life? Yeah, you know what's funny? I'm surrounded by all this. You know, my kids call my mom Nona. Like, I have this inferior – like, I have this complex. I think I'm Italian anyway. But, you know my my kids call my mom nona like i have this i have this inferior like i have this complex i think i'm italian anyway but you know you mentioned dom and you mentioned dom

and um what he does for this team and i think you know he he is the protector of this team he's always looking out for all of us you know any type of adversity that i've had he's always been the first person to call me come find me um you know He's got a great sense of players and kind of how they're wired. And so he's a big part of this football team. I'm glad that he's gotten some of the attention that he deserves because of the person and really the addition that he is to our football team. Yeah, I love just learning about him. Plus those super cool glasses.

Yeah. And then I saw him in Mania. He had a little boot on. I hope his foot's okay. I don't know if it was his foot or his ankle, but he'll survive. Yeah, you know, luckily we got those short-term IR spots, right, so we can bring him back so we're not losing him for the year. You know, he's a quick healer.

And he's a better athlete than you think, too. You know, like you can't throw him a ball he doesn't catch. Now, he doesn't want to throw it because he's a better athlete than you think, too. You can't throw him a ball he doesn't catch. Now, he doesn't want to throw it because he's got shoulders and freaking feet, and he's got all these sort of issues. I don't know that we're signing him on the field to a long-term contract, but man, off the field.

When you're spearing people that are saying bad things about the Eagles literally every day, there's a chance that a little Mots on them can potentially build up, you know, in each one of the old AC joints. I enjoyed the world talking about him last year just because strictly hilarious situation that never happens in the NFL, but also how much love everybody over there seemingly has for him.

You done good, Big Dom. You done good. Even though the NFL says get that Italian piece of shit off the sideline. We don't agree with that at all. We don't like that. We don't like that. Go ahead, AJ. Howie, a guy you guys got later in the draft actually feels like a great Philly move for you is Will Shipley.

We know this dude runs hard. He's, I think, watching him in college, it's a lot of fun. What do you envision his role might be? I've read where Saquon's already reached out to him and everything. What does that backfield look like and what kind of role do you think Will could have early in his career? Yeah, you know, there's not a lot of things that get me more excited than when underclassmen come out into the draft in January and I look and we don't have a lot of reports on them and I feel like I could, you know, like I could be the first time I write the first report on guys and um you know watching will just his skill set um his ability um to to contribute as a route runner to contribute between the tackles

he's got unbelievably quick feet he's got balance um he's got a mentality i mean this guy is like you know all-amerAmerican person as well. If I remember correctly, I think he was like a Gatorade Carolina player of the year coming out of high school, five-star recruit. And, you know, when you watch him, he's got a lot of the great skill set that the great players in this league have. Obviously, we've got a great player there. But it's a long season.

You want to have guys in the backfield. We still have Kenny Gainwell. We had signed a couple of guys after the draft, but he just stuck out to us on the board of the kind of player he can do, be the skill set he can be. You can put him as a slot receiver. He can return kicks. So really was excited to get him in the fourth round.

Okay, last question here, and we can't thank you enough for your time. It's about later in the fourth round. Okay, last question here, and we can't thank you enough for your time. It's about later in the draft. Go ahead, Tom. Howie, it felt like you guys had a lot of trades towards the later rounds, day three, end of day two, day three picks. How has NIL affected those later rounds? Now, I don't know how many players. Say there's 100 players who would normally be in the draft

but are staying in college because they're making money now. How has that affected those late rounds in the draft? Yeah, not only NIL but the COVID year, you know, being able to come back to school because of the COVID year, and that will be gone next year. And we were short a couple picks in next year's draft. We had traded a fourth round. We had traded a six-round pick.

And so it was important as we started the third day to to see if we can recoup some of that and get us a chance uh to kind of go back into it uh next year with with more picks you know as we pay our players who are deserving i mean there's nothing more important to culture than people feeling like if i do the right thing i can stay here i get a chance to be here for my my career and so when you do that, though, you know, you need young players to supplement it. And the only way to do that is through the draft, really. And so you need as many picks as you possibly can get. And I think that that's a huge part of what we're trying to do here. And it's trying to get some of these young guys on

our team with the right mentality, the right skill set, because we know, you know, our goal is to try to play, you know, certainly 20 games. That's a lot of games. That's a lot of players who we're going to need to contribute through that process. So depth is no more important than anywhere in the National Football League. Amen. And the amount of backup quarterbacks that had to play, you know, last year is making a lot of people make certain decisions and the way salary caps are being constructed in the future. You've got your guy in Jalen. I know you don't have a lot

of time left, but I assume you love everything about Jalen Hurts. I mean, it seems like the internet, he's so perfect seemingly, the internet actually hates him. He's so powerful, attractive, talented, and rich. It's like there's no way this guy could be real.

Wait, wait, wait. You missed an a great person. Oh, yeah. They never talk about that. That's not a good thing either these days. That's like let's hate on the person who just cares about others. But listen, I get it. Obviously,

I get it. It is what it is. We just got to keep working hard and good things will happen. You love Jalen, though? You're lucky to have him? Love Jalen. Lucky to have him. You know, feel really, really honored to be around the people that I'm around every day and the players.

You know, nothing makes me more proud. I got four kids that when they can walk around and see our players and knowing how good of people we have. And then they get on the field and they're just freaking, I mean, wouldn't want to be with any other group. Bunch of dogs you got over there. Just like you, Howie, way to go. A hell of a ride since you became GM. We've seen the mountaintop. Now we're trying to get back with a whole new team. We you brother thank you for joining us happy birthday brother many many more thanks for everyone taking the time and the questions coach sirianni i'll see you about five minutes we got a team meeting i heard oh yeah coach is already at team meeting obviously right coach you down the hallway yeah

yeah get there quick how are you dragging ass pal okay let's go we need some more fucking dogs in here. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, Howie Rose. Thank you. Yeah, howie. Tye, never thought Howie would come on, and then we get a chance to chat with both him and Coach Huron at the same time. I know. Funny way the world works, right? It's crazy. Yep. Truly.

He was seemingly sitting right there. Hey, you just missed him. I had my pizza hut poop, so I didn't. Oh. I missed it. Tastes so good That's the price you pay I'm good with that

Pizza Hut Do you get breadsticks too? No breadsticks I did that yesterday I actually had Pizza Hut yesterday Anytime Pizza Hut gets brought up in the morning, just in conversation, because we're trying to do business with Pizza Hut, obviously, because it's like, hey, there's a lot of food people that potentially want to get involved with this particular show.

We, for shoot, love Pizza Hut. Yeah. Have been very wide open about Pizza Hut. Now, we love others as well, but if a deal was to get done with pizza, that would be monumental. That would be the pinnacle. That would be the pinnacle of this entire thing. So anytime it comes up in a conversation earlier,

I'm talking to somebody or pitching something, Ty will look over and go, that's right. And then Pizza Hut shows up. He got the full spread. We got a personal pan pizza. We got wings from the wing house. Wing Street. Wing Street.

And then we got the breadsticks with cheese as well. It's a matter of fact. If it gets brought up once, if it even floats. It's the idea. We'll tap the table. I am going to do that. And it's awesome. That's why this office is the smartest place on earth.

That's right. I think that's how people would describe it. Shout out to SeatGeek, by the way. SeatGeek are the greatest group of people on earth. They are today's sponsor, and they're the best ticket-buying platform on planet earth. And the moon! Now the football season is over. SeatGeek is extending their $30 off promo to all events.

Wow. How many events do they have on there every single day? Like 10,000 or something like that? It was some stupid number. That is, I don't know if that's... I think that was what the number was, yeah. Every event that is happening seemingly has tickets on SeatGeek, and SeatGeek will let you know

whether or not you're getting a good deal or a bad deal. There'll be like a green dot next to it that's like, hey, good deal here. Red dot means, hey, our little algae and AI just scanned the internet. You can get a ticket that's better than this somewhere else cheaper. So that's cool of SeatGeek to do that. They won't catfish you. The ticket you buy is the ticket

that you get. And SeatGeek has extended to remain on the SeatGeek ticker. We've been partners for seven, eight years at this point, and that's going to continue. Shout out to SeatGeek. Hell yeah. Shout out to SeatGeek. We appreciate the hell out of them. Use code McAfee30. M-C-A-F-E-E-3-0, and you'll get $30 off tickets to any event.

Does not matter if you've purchased with SeatGeek before. $30 off with code M-C-A-F-E-E-3-0. Restrictions apply. Shout out to SeatGeek. We appreciate you, SeatGeek. Shout out to SeatGeek. ESPN bet? Okay. We got time CK. We appreciate you, CK. Shout out to CK. ESPN bet. Okay.

We got time to work. Got to make some calls. All I see is a lot of opportunity. Exactly. Right? A lot of opportunity for ESPN bet. Ain't that right? They do.

Yeah, they do, I feel like. Right? Well, a lot of work. Yeah. There's going to have to be a lot of work. Only one way to go. You know, but this is a perspective putter, you know, and then it's like, here we go. Now we got to go do some work out there.

So big shout out to everybody that has allowed us to do this for a living for, because SeatGeek was our first partner, you know, when we were with Barstool immediately upon retirement, literally one week after I retired, I did a podcast for two weeks after I did, retired, I did a podcast. They were the first, they were like, yep, we're in. That's awesome. It is right. And I retired at 29. And, they were the first. They were like, yep, we're in. That's awesome. It is, right?

And I retired at 29. And still around, too, huh? Yeah, very, very cool. Shout out to Ian, you know. Oh, yeah. Ticket Stooge, who's now ad agency Stooge. Oh, yeah. That's okay.

Yeah, you guys used to always reference him. Yeah, Ticket Stooge now has his own ad agency. So, I mean, he is leverage media. Yeah, it is leverage media with ian but like we're very thankful for that and as it got resigned it's like timing up like exactly with my birthday here i'm 37 today i retired when i was 29 okay so eight years is the amount of time that i've been retired eight years was how long I played in the NFL. I am so incredibly lucky for all of you motherfuckers, okay, that I get to share this life with every single day,

work alongside every single day, learn from every single day. And now that the baby girl, you know, Mackenzie, got on camera, look for her to start doing some segments in the next couple months and everything like that with my wife. camera. Look for her to start doing some segments in the next couple months. With my wife and as I get older, like 37 when I was in high school was a dinosaur. I didn't think I was going to make it to 30. That was the plan.

We are living and making decisions as if this ride is over at the age of 30. Now, I have more that I want to live for than I've ever had in my entire life. I can't thank everybody that watches and listens for being a part of this and allowing me to do this for a living. For all of you boys, for working here,

choosing to do this every single day. And for those of you that moved here to work in this particular company, on this show, it's like, obviously, perspective. And whenever a birthday comes around, you look back, because that's what it forces you to do. Like, oh i'm the luckiest motherfucker on earth and uh i can't thank you all enough aj you're the man boys thank you so much brother to my family friends everybody that i've experienced throughout these 37 absurdly ridiculously lucky years thank you so much for helping make me the human i am and i can't wait to see you all soon. And for everybody that texted me today,

I love you. I thank you. I'm sorry. I would like to say I'm sorry, but the next time I see you, I have read your message and I can't wait to catch up again. You're the best. All right. From all of us to all of you, Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. We're in this thing together. Let's never forget that. You know, as people yell and fight against each other, let's remember this particular world that we're on.

We're in it together. And the quicker we can all realize that we have a lot more in common than we do that separates us, I think the better off. That's going to happen this year. The next trip around the sun, the entire world is going to agree on everything. That already started. And I'm pumped.

That's when I closed my eyes whenever I blew out the candles. Boom. I wished for the health and safety of my baby girl and my family. And then I said, I hope everybody gets along about everything and realizes that it's all a bunch of bullshit

let's keep it moving and blow out the candles next 365 days unless it's a leap year 366 I think it's going to happen so I love you all I thank you all and we'll be back tomorrow with a feel good Friday safe travels down to Louisville pal and be a friend tell a friend something nice

it might change their life that's a real statement we're in this thing together. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye.