The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 1593 - Going Campin' with Art Stapleton, Lindsay Thiry, Mike Tannenbaum, Ian Rapoport, Eric Hosmer, & AJ Hawk

Episode Date: July 30, 2026

On today's show, Pat, AJ Hawk, and the boys go camping again as they bounce around to a few different training camps including Art Stapleton of northjersey.com with the Giants; Lindsay Thiry who is at Cowboys camp but has also been a National NFL reporter with ESPN for the Rams and Chargers; former GM of the New York Jets, Dolphins EVP, and ESPN NFL analyst, Mike Tannenbaum; and lastly, National (junior) NFL Insider for ESPN and NFL Network, Ian Rapoport. Later, 13 year MLB veteran, 4x Gold Glove, World Series Champion, WBC Champion, 2016 All-Star Game MVP, and MLB analyst, Eric Hosmer joins the show to chat about the trade deadline, where Tarik Skubal might go, and if anyone can compete with the Dodgers. Make sure to subscribe to ⁠youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow⁠ or watch on ESPN (12-2 EDT), ESPN’s Youtube (12-3 EDT), or ESPN+. We appreciate the hell out of all of you, we’ll see you tomorrow. Cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to our Humble the Bowl, the Draft Kings Thunderdove, on this training camp in Thursday, August 30th, 2020, 26th, this program begins now. Football! It's July 30th. It's almost August. Yeah. I said August 30th. Boy, we are very close to August 30th because it does feel as if we are fully into football season.

We got drama. We got highlights. We got storylines. We got money. We got lack of money. We got tweaks. we got injuries, we got updates, we got everything happening around the NFL world

that we are elated about. And don't look now, baseball's also got some drama coming right down the pipe. Terrick Scoobel of the Detroit Tigers, if you listen to Jet Passing, which we do, saying he's going to be traded within the next day or so. But that happened while we're live, we shall see who are the possible suitors?

Well, the Dodgers are obviously potentially in the running for the best player that's available at any given moment because of what they do. Terrick walked off the mound last night, after a seven-inning run that he had. And all of Detroit knew is potentially his last one. This was what it sounded like. Scoop.

Some mid-afternoon on a Wednesday. Yeah, pretty good. In Detroit. Now, did Scoob's understand in the moment that they were certainly clapping as a thank you as you leave Detroit, probably. Is he so locked in after his thing that he just wants to get off there

as kind of uncomfortable? Does he think they're clapping just for the performance he just had, or does he know the reality of the bish that this is an entire goodbye type thing? We'll never know until he tells us. but I will say this, it's a bummer at these small market teams just can't keep our super super. I know. I mean, Paul Schino, you know, Pittsburgh Pirate, he's unbelievable.

Well, it's soon where a decision is going to have to be made and a lot of money is going to have to be given. Everybody's telling me that they got five years of Scheno control. It's like, I don't think so, pal. I don't think that is necessarily how baseball works. This scoop guy was potentially going to be a Cy Young winner, all these types of things, best thrower in baseball. Obviously, he's got a contract dispute that's kind of, or not dispute, a contract situation that's right around the corner.

That's going to pay him hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. Clearly their best pitcher in Detroit, one of the best pitchers in all of baseball. And now everybody's like, well, he's heading to the Dodgers or another team. In Detroit's like, well, what about us? Yeah. We're supposed to be one of the best teams in baseball. We're supposed to have this deal down before the season. We're supposed to be running for a World Series, right?

right now and instead we stink. We're not going to make the playoffs and Scoob's gone, our best player. That's Detroit football. Yeah, it's awful, man. And we are incredibly proud of you for that. So Scoob's movement will certainly be something we cover. We'll be talking to Eric Hosmer in the next hour. Former first baseman, also a World Series champion for Royals, which might be the last small market team to win a World Series, which is obviously a huge part of the discussion around baseball as a whole because the CBA and the next negotiation is currently taking place and lockout, holdout, no baseball next year.

potentially comes at the cost of what does a salary cap look like next year? Because the small market teams want to have competitive fairness is what everybody is looking for from the MLB side. And the players are saying, hey, if they want to pay $700 million over the next 20 years, 30 years, Bobby Benia had this thing. That's not our fun. And baseball is healthy right now. So there's a huge brawl.

I think he will be a good person to chit chat about. Also, who's going to win it all? Baseball is starting to matter. Not as much as football, obviously. Toxic is here at AP tone and at Ty Schmidt. con man we love you we hope you're enjoying the hell out of your celebration of love training camp's awesome tone and i saw some people saying that you were maybe shaking in your boots a little bit whenever we were showing what was going on in cincinnati because i know in the a fc north the pittsburg steelers and the balsamo ravens have kind of been the kings

now there was a run where joey burrow obviously made it to the super bowl and we thought that was going to be the thing then injuries take place now they haven't been back but after seeing cincinnati fighting each other Not only day one, big brawl, Jamar Chase is in there. Gisicki's getting into it a little bit too. Same guy. Now, who is the 35 fellow that jumps on the back? Davis Watson, Jaylon Davis. Jalen Davis, number 35.

He's one fighting Jamar Chase. He's also on the back of Giske here too. And then there's a video that the, I believe, the Bengals, or maybe a media reported, of Sexy Dexie, new addition to Cincinnati Bengals. Walk about Joe Burroughs saying this. I want to see it today, Mr. Durrell. room. You see it every day, brother.

Oh. Well, see. Okay, then you go to Jalen Davis after starting fights, you know, with multiple people. And this is what he had to say in the locker room afterwards. Yeah, and obviously we all kind of saw the little scuffle out there with Jamar. Can you talk about what happened? We're just competing. That's all it is.

We're just competing. Always feel like the energy got to be like that. It got to be like that on both sides of the field. I hope it's a fight every day. I hope it's a fight every day. Like I said, to get the energy going. Like you said, we're just competing. And that's it.

Okay, so I want to let you know the fire that I'm seeing from the Bengals' defensive side. Sure. Okay, with the addition of Dexter Lawrence. Everybody knows that the idea of the Bengals is if their defense is good, they're going to be a good football team because the offense is going to handle their part. And now we got the offense getting attacked, basically, by the defense first couple days of training camp. I'm assuming Zach Taylor and the offensive side of the boys say, who do these guys think? We carry this team.

And now the defense is kind of taking it to them. I like what I'm seeing out of Cincinnati. Not great to be fighting this early. Sure. I think, you know, normally at least a day or two, Kumbaya. But the Bengals got an edge going into camp. They're not the only ones, but people are saying Pittsburgh Steelers also had maybe the best day of camp that they've had in a long time tone. AFC North heating up with a lot of new faces.

Yeah, I heard from someone yesterday that was in La Trobe at St. Finns in for Steelers Camp and said it was one of the best practices they've had in a long, long time. Things were quick. Things were fast. Things were planned. Things were organized. So take that how you ever you want to take that with Big Mike. Things were good there. Yeah, the Bengals, I mean, if they can keep their offensive players, healthy during training camp if they're not going at ACLs and knees and jumping on backs and stuff like that and their players make it to the season then yeah they're definitely Well update Shamar Stewart who was part off yesterday. I had a hyper extension looking injury turns out just hyper extended knee Everything is kind of good and in place. Going to hurt obviously in time you hyper extend your knee. There's also a potential for bone bruising happening and everything like that When I hyper extended my knee, uh, one of the times I think I did it on numerous times whenever I was kicking

actually dislocated my patella you know which is your knee cap I heard of some people on TV called the Patelor, which I respect that. But I think it is, the Patelah. I had a dislocated one, and anything can happen. When you hyper-extend, there's a lot of different little problems that can happen in a knee. Them saying he's good, huge deal, because the knee's not supposed to go that way. No.

Ripley's, believe it or not, I can't believe this human exists. Those types of people's knees go backward, and they go on tour to showcase it. Like, hey, look how weird my knees are. Knees aren't supposed to go backwards. So whenever they get hit, the fact that he's good, I think, is a testament to the way

His body is constructed. But also, maybe that's football gods. You know, letting a Cincinnati Bengals have another defensive piece. I like what I'm seeing out of Bengals camp. Now, is that because we have to talk about it every single day? And they are providing a lot of stuff. Yeah. Helmet throw already.

Yeah. I think we like that. But the Bengals back in the day, that's what they were. It's like that was Bengals throwback kind of mentality and attitude, whatever they were good. So maybe we're back to it. Now, Ty, on your particular world, we've seen a lot of videos.

Siri on you have a great, team speech. He did. Chop boy, carry water. Mm-hmm. He said, pay attention to fall in love with the small things. You know, and things are going to have to happen in the dark that are going to come to the light. And you've got to be addicted and infatuated with just a small. It's not sexy, he said a couple times. And he said, I'm going to read this from the book. And it says, great, this is not sexy. This is the furthest thing from sexy. I appreciate, though, that what we're seeing here is not only a man trying to motivate his squad, a man who has had a

team that has fallen in love with him every single year that he has been there, but also a guy who is showcasing what people do and what coaches have to do to find stories that can motivate a group of men who are highly paid, highly successful, most of them very stubborn, a lot of personality, a lot of egos in that room. How do you address them and say, hey, this is our mission? He's saying, well, I use a little AI, okay? I'm not scared to do that. I also read a book.

I took some other people's words. They're trying to find inspiration from everything, and his ability to relate to his team, I think is something that never gets talked about. Good on Siriani, not sounding like a dipshit in this, and everybody on the internet saying, hey, he's not a big dumb dips shit. I think it's good for the Philadelphia Eagles. Yeah, I would agree. And I think a lot of people probably don't.

I mean, that all seems like coach speak. Like, you know, he basically said, I need to figure something out so I can get a fresh message to the team. But they've had so much success. Like, at a certain point, though, like, this is a new team. And last year didn't go or didn't finish the way they wanted it to. So, like, you do kind of need to reframe everything. And, you know, after a while, guys, I mean, you would know better than any of us.

Like, you probably don't want to hear the same thing. in, year out. It's like, okay, like, do we got, you have anything new to provide us? Like, what, what's going on here? We didn't win the Super Bowl last year, so, like, are we going to, are we going to change anything? So, yeah, exactly. Like, those guys can sniff through the bullshit. And then Siriani said that when he first came on with us. He was like, you know, I maybe tried that when I first got the head coaching job and, you know, would say certain stuff. And, like, guys would, they'd keep me honest and be like, hey, coach, like, that didn't make any fucking sense. Like, throw that one out. Don't use that one again. So, like, at least

he's not too brash or overconfident in terms of he'll go up there and he knows that those guys are going to keep him accountable. So he wants to make sure that message is fresh because obviously the expectations for them are to go win a Super Bowl. Devonte Smith now clear number one.

No AJ Brown looks like everybody's bopping around and I'll tell you when their social team started posting highlights, it's like they got dudes everywhere on that team. You can't forget Goddard's still on that team as well I do believe. And Jalen Hertz looks good. Jailen Hertz looks good. You know a big storyline was offensive play caller. And then on

Defense aside, they paid a lot of folks. We are very lucky that we have a chance actually to go boots on the ground here. Let's go camping, shall we? Go, we go, camp. All right, boots on the ground at Philadelphia Camp is actually defensive coordinator, Vic Fangio. Okay, Vic, we appreciate you for joining us. We were wondering, do you think your team's going to win the Super Bowl this year, Coach? I'm going to be like Fauci and just take the Fifth Amendment on questions.

Okay, I understand you wouldn't want to say if you're going to win a Super Bowl or not. that can certainly backfire. Yeah, definitely. It kind of make you look like an asshole if you want to do that. Okay, well, is the defense going to be like much better or no? What do you think? I'm going to be like Fauci and just take the Fifth Amendment on our questions. What the hell?

Okay. Why do you come on the show? This feels, do you have a question? Yeah, hey, Vic, do you think you guys overpaid for Jalen Carter or was that the right move? I'm going to be like Fauci and just take the Fifth Amendment on questions. Why is he doing that? I don't know. Coach, I thought, like, the reason why you are such a good coach because you can

reach your, Tone actually has a question for you. He has an AP vote now. Don't be an asshole here now. He has an AP vote. Please, Tone. Maybe you can reach him. Coach, obviously you paid Bond last year. You pay Carter. You paid Davis. Are you able to pay Kupitijin and Quinejian Mitchell? Those are your cornerstones on the back end?

I'm going to be like Fauci and just take the Fifth Amendment on questions. I really thought because you're Italian, he was going to show you a little bit of respect. Let's go to an attic in Ohio. Let's go to a college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Routa Cup winner. ladies and gentlemen, AJ Hawk. AJ, you're the all-time leading

tackler for the Green Bay Packers. Can you ask Coach Vanjew? Maybe he'll answer you. I don't know what this is all about. Yeah, coach, what do you think about the reports we hear that you guys are really heating people up in camp this year? You're going to try to really bring more blitzes, more multiple looks here as far as defense goes for you.

I'm going to be like Fauci and just take the Fifth Amendment on a question. AJ, what is that? All-time leading tackler for the Green Bay Packers. Vic, did you know that? Did you know AJ's the all-time leading tackler prick? I'm going to be like Fauci and just take the Fifth Amendment on questions. Fuck that. Yeah, that's ridiculous.

Do you like Big Dom? I'm going to be like Fauci and just take the Fifth Amendment. Oh, okay. Wow. Wow. I don't know how you just walk in there and do that. I don't know how that is what it, but it is crazy. I guess everybody can kind of just do that now.

Yeah. That's in there from my understanding. Yeah, that's right. Okay, do you have anything to say, man? Do you have any, like the Philadelphia Eagles fans are certainly going to want you to say something about something at some point about your defense or your defense or your defense. team. How about the culture? How about the, you know, AJ Brown's out of time. Is that a good thing? Can you just say something, please?

I'm going to be like Fauci and just take the Fifth Amendment on questions. It's disgusting. You're just going to take the Fifth Amendment, I guess. I guess that does work in football press conferences. It could. Maybe he's on to something. Just did it. Wow. Well, since, let's not lose hope and go and camping, just because what just happened. What was he referencing, by the way?

Huh? What was he referencing? I think it was a Chappelle skit. Oh, okay. Cool, cool. Right. Is that what it was? Yeah, maybe. Probably. That's what I saw. I saw a lot of that.

Yeah, well. I saw a lot of that. I think that's what he was referencing. I think you might be right. Okay, let's not lose faith in camping, though, just because one person just not to do that. Agreed. Okay. Okay.

Hey, ladies, it's time. We hold you in our hearts. Let's go camping. Let's go. Okay. Let's go to the New York Giants camp, shall we, ladies and gentlemen, from North Jersey.com. That's the entire northern part of the state. this guy runs it

ladies a gentleman Art Stapleton Art we need answers What's up fellas? Well I'm just gonna be like Fauci and take the fifth This cannot be what this We got a daily show we got to talk to people We need answers Yes yes take the fifth

Don't get it out of it Get it out of here okay art Let's talk about the Giants training camp Thank you so much for joining us We are very appreciative but I think the Giants Obviously a massive piece of the storyline going into the season because huge market, huge brand, huge name, huge change. John Harbaugh coming in there, and it's his world now, as we all see it.

Him and Shane getting along, both getting deals together. Harbaugh's camp, how has it been different or similar to things you've seen of the past? And what are you guys expecting out of this training camp under John Harbaal? Well, we got 11 days down here at the Greenbrier in West Virginia. I don't know if it was your old stomping grounds, Pat, but certainly familiar with what goes on down here. a good old state of West Virginia. John Harbaugh, out of 11 days here, they are practicing 10 days. So you know the NFLPA spies will be somewhere in attendance, making sure that they

tow the line during this acclamation period. And we don't see any more hitting that needs to be. But look, I mean, there's optimism because it's John Harbaugh. And regardless of that viral video, the first 50 seconds of his speech to start the offseason program, this. team buys into this coach this coach walks in the building everybody sits up a little bit more he's got the pelts on the wall he's got the ring to prove it and he's got the wins and i think uh the giants believe in harbaugh and i mean they are new your giants uh go ahead a jay yeah or obviously the guy on the screen

jackson dart i guess what are the expectations for him from the outside i guess from the fan base there for the giants and for you guys in the media like what do you expect from him this year well it's interesting, AJ, because off the field in the offseason, there was that complaint of, ah, he's doing all this stuff. What's he doing? He's introducing the president. You know, he's throwing footballs off of yachts. He's, you know, hanging out at the SPs, all this stuff. The reality is, the reason why Harbaal loves him so much is that when it's time to go to football, he goes to football. I think there are expectations for Jackson's Dark. I wrote today just in terms of where he needs to go in camp. He needs to wing it. He needs to make

mistakes. He needs to see what he needs to improve on. You know, and I've dug up research on quarterbacks like Aaron Rogers and Tom Brady and even going back to Phil Sims. These guys said how you go from good to great. And that's what Jackson Dart wants to do. You can't be afraid to make mistakes this time of year in training camp. Try that throw. Try to test that receiver, test that corner that you may not do in a game, but you got to see if you could make it today. He had one yesterday to Isaiah likely. Corner was right on him. Likely boxed him out, did his job, caught it, went for a 60-yard touchdown.

I mean, those are the plays that you either make or you don't make in training camp, but you can't put your head down and say, man, I'm going to start getting worse if I start making mistakes and practice. That's what it's for. Well, all right, let's make sure we're covering these things properly then because there's like ESPN Cleveland that's like, hey, this guy was 12, 22, two picks, and it's like, well, hey, was the wide receiver in the right spot? Was there a different coverage?

were they trying something? Were they attempting something? What was the situation? Is this last play? So who cares if it's in or so many things that go into so many practice reps? And in the world that we're in now, it's hard not to overreact everything.

So if Jackson throws one into double coverage deep, the immediate reaction is like, this guy's regressing and seeing the field. Like that is a part of the game now. You know, like that is a very real thing. And you just have to hope that you're able to be mentally tough enough to work through that because I'd never forget when Sherman got to the Niners,

right? Sherman is working on like a new leverage and he gets cooked. And they're like, this guy's old, we wasted money, get him out of here. What are we doing? And it turns out. Yeah, he was just fine. I think he was all pro that next year. It's like, we certainly get excited and overreact, but it's your job, especially in North Jersey,

to make sure that it is reported accurately. Tone has a question for you about to wide out. Yeah, all right, it felt like the big news of the day yesterday coming out of the first practice was Malik Neighbors and how good he looked coming off of that injury, especially coming off of maybe the videos that we saw from the softball game this summer where people were judging him very, very harshly. But great news yesterday with Malik Neighbors, how well he looked and what was the takeaway there? Yeah, no doubt. I mean, I think, you know, it's kind of like that the Undertaker meme. You know, everybody had him in the casket. Now all of a sudden, Malik Neighbors gets up out of it

and he's running routes. Wait a minute. He's actually cutting in the first day of camp. I think it was a good sign. I didn't put him on the physically unable to perform list just because they want to see him with the team. He goes on the Pup list. He can't do anything with the team. So he's going to be in individual drills. He's going to work with the offense on air, no defense. But yeah, Malik neighbors, I mean, everybody on this offense, it's Malik neighbors and everybody else. I mean, even, you know, the energy of SCAT, there's nobody to that level, a talent level playmaker like they have with Malik neighbors. And I think this entire team gets a lift seeing the way he was moving yesterday. And it certainly wasn't running out or not running out a ground ball in

Brian Burns' charity softball game back in May. Yeah, well, it was kind of a limp out, but if he was out on that field, what I felt, and I think AJ talked about this as well, the amount of doctors and money that is around him. So a lot of people are like, he looks bad, wisey out there. It's like, you know how many people had to approve for him to go out there? And his teammates are there. So his teammates don't want him to be hurt either. So it was like, I think the reaction to the limp was certainly a little bit overblown about

this guy's going to hurt himself in a charity softball game because the amount of money that's going to be invested in this guy by the New York Giants Organization. Let's assume they're keeping an eye out for it. But I'm very happy that he's back being healthy after how terribly he looked in that softball game. Yeah. Because if that was the new generation where, yeah, we just roll out to a softball game look like shit. And then we actually do show up looking like shit. It's like, that can't be the case. He's worked his ass off to get back healthy.

If we saw where he's at at that softball game, first where he's at right now, the amount of work and pain that's gone into that. Now, and also, what was it? His stiffness, right, Art? That was the original problem. Was he had stiffness after the first surgery, the scar tissue? Yeah, the scar tissue. Pat, you know better than I do. A.J. knows better than I do.

You know, when you get into that rehab situation, they use those bars to get the scar tissue out. And man, it is painful. It is grueling. I mean, it can become a dark place when you don't feel like you're getting out and being able to see that next step. So he had that scar tissue removed again. They felt better. And I'd really think and talking to people even yesterday here, upper management and everything else, it was psychological for Malik.

I mean, he was in a rehab. You know, you got to remember, he got hurt in the first quarter. of Jackson Darts first start last year. And then he was away from the team because he's rehabbing the entire time, surgery, everything else. That was a mental hurdle at that softball game. Everybody saw it as a physical situation. It was mental.

He was with his teams, you know, who's hitting home runs. They're jumping around celebrating. They need that. Like, Malik needs that competition. He needed that adrenaline boost. And I think he came back the next week and looked at it and said, you know what? I can do this.

Like, I got to get to that next step. I got to get back with my gun. eyes. And I think that's why it was such a huge boost. So it wasn't just one run to first base? No. Or one limp to first base? No. That was a breakthrough.

Lockhole. That was in an enlightenment trip down that first base line. And I'll say this, if it was stiffness, we got heels going to butt on those routes and also knee drive happening, AJ. And also a couple of like stallouts, which is the worst thing for your knee in the middle of those routes. So I feel like he feels very good. And if the way the Giants fans talk about Malik neighbors is real.

Okay. because Schrager came on our show, what, last year, and was like, Terry McLaurin, pretty good. Malik Neighbors, okay, is the guy, and the way you just talked about, is like, nobody on this field is anywhere near as athletic as Malik Neighbors. It's like, I'm excited to watch this guy blow up.

I am, especially with him having a battle through some injuries, excited for him to get going. Okay, last question here, Arden. You mentioned his name a little bit, but it's not just him. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Art, what are the expectations for Camp Scadabo this year? Obviously, everyone saw him at the Fanatic's Gofowell Fest,

do the backflip and not exactly. it. And, you know, maybe some people were saying, hey, what's going on here? He's not completely healthy. Why is he doing that? But how do they kind of see this year going, especially with the addition of Patrick Ricard coming over? Like, what are the expectations for that backfield as a whole? They, you know, John Harbaugh, you know Greg Roman is here. He's not a coordinator, but he is a senior assistant. I mean, they want to run the football first. They think Jackson Dart can be most effective in that kind of power running game. And Scataboo, you know, all the talk

about Malik yesterday. Skadaboo had a full practice yesterday. The idea of this gruesome ankle and lower leg injury from the Philly game last year is really gone. I mean, he looks 100%. He's the number one back on this team. Now, will they do some things on the back end? Maybe bring it a veteran later on in camp. Maybe because Harbaugh wants to make sure that he has enough pieces in that backfield. But Scatabu is definitely the guy. I mean, you know, we're talking to Joe Shane, general manager before practice yesterday at a nice press conference, state of the giants, all this stuff. And all of a sudden you hear a guy screaming the Rick Flair woo.

Hold on, Art, here you go. There you go, Art. We got you, buddy. Perfect. It's like we plan this kind of stuff, you know, but you guys are pros. I think Scataboo is definitely a big part of this team, both emotionally. And we'll see how good he can be. He was great for that four-game stretch until he got hurt in Philly. and that will obviously be the situation.

Can he stay healthy? What towns are in North Jersey? What is kind of your times? You know, not this time. Not any of my five times. Wait, what are the towns of North Jersey? All of New Jersey, Pat. Come on.

We go from Paramus to Rochelle Park to Hackensack, to East Rutherford, Carl Statt. We're all over Bergen County in North Jersey. Okay, because obviously I know the South Jersey because of not only Jersey Shore, but like a lot from West. West Virginia, New Jersey folks from there went to West Virginia. So I know like,

you know, the Manusquan area down there on the beach and the shore, the Jersey Shore, down there. Obviously, we've walked a boardwalk a couple of times, got to do that. I don't know North Jersey much, though. I don't know much. Did you know James Gandlefini when he was playing Tony Sopranos said that Art Stapleton was his favorite sports writer? That makes sense.

That would make sense. Hey, that's true. Hey, you know what? I mean, there, up in the Metalands, they say Jimmy Hoff is buried somewhere. I know there's got to be somebody, buried down here in the Greenbrier. I'm just not sure. Well, have you tried the governor's favorite

cookie? Are you at the golf course? Have you done? So I've only been down to the Greenbrier one time. Obviously, West Virginia, there's different parts of the state. Morgan Town is up almost near and in between Ohio and Pennsylvania. And then Charleston's down the south, which is obviously the Capitol. So there is, there's a lot of different

space. Greenbrier, the casino was good to us. I think I had shorts on. They gave me a rental pair of pants. Yep. Because I couldn't wear shorts into the casino. They gave me a rental sports coat to put over my shirt. Yeah, got a chance of golf with John Daly. I mean, we had a good like 24 hours down there for sure, one at the casino. But, yeah, I'd assume there's a body in there, around, you know, everywhere.

Yeah, exactly. It's above my pay grade, though, Pat, right now. I mean, maybe you can help me out and hook me up and figure it out how to get on the course down here. Okay, yeah. The one thing I hear, though, is that outside the Greenbrier is everything is advertised. Inside the decor of the rooms that the players are staying in, one of the players put on social media, it's like we're camping at grandmas from 1980. So it's very interesting.

They've kind of captured, you know, and look, the Giants out of any franchise in the league has always lived in their past when things have gone bad. So live in the past a little bit down here in the Greenbrier and we'll see what happens. So a good start for the New York Giants. It is nostalgia city. I mean, every day, as soon as you walk in, the decorations. It feels very haunted. Yeah.

What? It does. No, it feels royal. Royally haunted. Majestic. Does feel lived in. Yeah. Does feel lived in.

I have to wear pants. Here, put these pants over your shorts so I could go into the casino. The casino, there was no wall. Everybody in casino could see me standing where I was at. They saw me put the rental pants on. That was a fascinating time. Then the sport coat coming out, size 70, I think it was. It was awesome.

I'm not judging. anything. Don't please don't do that. But it was a special place down there and the Giants you know, maybe they win it all. Maybe. Maybe they figure it out. You're the best. We appreciate your. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Art Stableton. There are. Thank you very much. Who I went down there?

I was there. You were there? Uh-huh. Were you there, Foxy? No. Oh, you're in Ireland, probably. No, don't get me started. Yeah. I don't think I have the invite. I'm pretty sure I was working back at home editing something. No, you guys are all out there. I don't think so. I don't think that's what happened.

You're probably on vacation. We were talking about those days. Wait, that's weird, because when I was in Ireland, you were in Hawaii. No. I think we were probably drinking ice cold beers and playing risk all night. Invite a guess. There was some of the time down there. It rained so bad.

And we got a chance to go meet the governor. That was the first time. Yeah. And then we ate his chocolate chip cookies. I remember J.D.'s tour bus or whatever the hell it was. What's that? John Daly? Yeah, he was tour bus?

Yeah, we were on his bus or whatever. He had 18. I know, was that his house? No, he did a tour bus. Thank you. You could drink. I forget. forget what his beer choice was, but you could either drink.

Miller Lite. There was an 18 case in Miller Lite or chocolate milk. I knew I remember. We had a great time, yeah. Had a great time. Grimpet and Siffitz. Oh, those were, they were having come around to good boys. And then someone had a house on the golf course that we went to.

On the right side. Yeah. He had to go reload. Had to do it. It had a good time down there. Greenbriars, good place. Saints trained down there for a lot. Never.

I don't know if I would want to train in New Orleans ever. Too hot down and a buy. Yeah, they got up to Greenbrier also a hot place. Okay, let's continue to go camping, shall we? La. NFL reporter for the entire league. Cowboys Camp exclusive. Covered the Rams for four years.

Chargers before that, ladies and gentlemen, Lindsay Theory. Thanks for having me, guys. Lindsay, how's it going? We appreciate the hell out of you joining us. Obviously on the Cowboys right now. You were with the Rams, so we're going to hit you on absolutely everything. Thank you for joining us. Let's start with the Cowboys. Jerry Jones says, hey, listen, if there is a wagon,

that's a better wagon than a wagon. that we currently have, we will swap wagons so that our wagon can get us to where we need to go right now instead of the wagon of the future. So he basically said he's willing to make a move. Everybody reacted as if that was Max Crosby. That was just a shocker to me. I did not expect that. But whenever Jerry starts talking like that, he's obviously selling attention, he's selling everything. But obviously everybody thinks he's thinking big. What is kind of the thoughts? And how do you see that all working out? Yeah, I love Jerry said he's like not going to stir things up. And then he's like, I'm willing to give a top pick.

We're going out there for somebody. Look, I mean, the obvious choice right now, they once had interest. We're very interested in Max Crosby. Jerry made very clear that Max Crosby is happily a Raider. He's a total raider. Like, Jerry was very cautious on the tampering front. But this would make sense. I was with the Raiders during the draft.

And I do recall them talking out there, John Spitech saying and telling me, like, we have a lot of guys on the edge, and they might not all be here come to start. of the season. So like that perked my ears up. Obviously, right now, I saw Max when he was out there. He said he's happy. He's glad to be there, happy to be a Raider. But that would be kind of the first inclination of like maybe that's where Jerry's looking again. But Jerry's made it very clear. He's open for business. He's tired of trying to win a trade for today and for tomorrow. He's watching what all these other teams are doing. And he just says, he don't want milk toast anymore. And I personally, I don't know what milk toast is, but he says he wants to win for today.

Yeah, plain. I think plain, flat, boring. We can, context clue, you could kind of figure it out. Yeah, context clue. You could figure it out, but I think he could have used other, you know, more Jerry Jones like ways describing that. That'd be like an egg McMuffin with no salt. Yeah.

You know, like we learned that from him. And then who is the company that he had to make up? What a burger. Yeah. Man, they said I love those egg McMuffins, but everybody, ask anybody. buddy. Waterburger. He's the real burger that I love. Jerry's always working and he keeps things

obviously incredibly exciting. Is it the right move to make your team Super Bowl relevant or just relevant? Is what everybody asks. You know, like that is always the question until they win again. I think Jerry would like to get that off his back. I think Jared would like to win one obviously. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, Lindsay, as far as the defense goes there in Dallas,

I know defensive coordinator, Christian Parker is excited to get Caleb Downs in there. Obviously, first round pick. We haven't heard a ton about that defense and about Caleb. What do you think, I guess, from what are you hearing what his role is going to be and how involved he will be in this defense? Yeah, they're going to try and get him out there as soon as possible. And when it comes to Christian Parker, I know Brian Schenheimer has gone on and on about

how impressed they have been with him. Obviously, he comes with the Vangio tree. He has learned with Vance Joseph. And what they're really kind of emphasizing that he is taking things that he has learned from Vick, things he's learned from Vance, but he's really being who he wants to be as a D.C. and implementing what he thinks is best while sprinkling in from those other guys. Obviously, they're very excited about Caleb Downs

and we can bring out. There's only been one day of practice. So we weren't really able to see too much of what was going on with how they're going to implement the rookie, but he's certainly in the early plans for those guys. The grass is disgusting. I'm watching that tape. Did you see it, AJ? Have you seen it first day at camp?

Yes, first day of camp, that's a tough look. The first day at camp, they just got like brown dirt kind of out there on the field. I'm like, This is the Cowboys, because he had a nice stage, remember, where he was talking from. Nice stage was built up. You know, he's in the middle of that thing. We're right next to a housing complex in a parking lot.

You all sit on a cement place. I got a stage for me to tell you that I'm going to go make a play. I like that. And you think of Jerry, you think everything's big. And then we look at this practice. It's just like, that field shit. That's day one. That's day one right there.

That is not what training camp grass, NFL Greens. Like, that is not what it looked. I was very, I was dumbfounded by how shitty the grass was. Were you not, AJ, as well? They might have some restrictions on how much water they're allowed to use. You know, we've been places where you can't like, hey, take a two-minute shower because we're trying to conserve water. Yeah, you're right. I didn't even think about that.

There is a chance that this is a water conservation. I mean, because some of the clips, I'm like, geez, at least this is a high school? This is the NFL. Remember, these guys are like worth the change, worth the switch. Now, on that note, let's go do training camp on some dirt slab out there. I mean, it is. but hey, Cowboys, this year a little grittier. That's right.

Go grittier, a little bit more job. Okay, let's pivot away from the Cowboys. Obviously, four years covering the Rams. We appreciate you for doing that. Tone has a question about them. Yeah, Lindsay, I'm going to read this because I want to get it right. Ian Rappaport said, more likely to be a discussion for next off season when in regards to Puka Nakua in his contract and what he's going to do and maybe play out this season, not on a new contract and deal with it in the off season.

What are your thoughts on that? With your time with the Rams, what did you hear with? that and what do you think will be eventually when will Puka's contract get done? Yeah, I would tend to think it would be more of a next off-season thing. Like the Rams love Pooka Nukua. Sean McVeigh

made very clear through all of this that he is so supportive of Puka. I mean, he's been nothing but like a bright light. Truly for this team since he arrived. He's got a really infectious personality. Obviously concerns, right, with everything that came up in the off-season with Puka. That has never

impacted. I mean, Sean was adamant. Obviously, we watched what Pupa did in the playoffs. It didn't impact its play on the field. We know what kind of receiver he is. They just want to make sure off the field that he is doing everything that you would expect of a guy that you're about to make the highest paid receiver in the league. So Puka has some proving to do. Like they very much have given or given him the benefit of the doubt that he can do that. And they want him to be around for the long term.

They just need to make sure that that is the most savvy and sage business decision they can make before they give him that kind of money. Puka and McVeigh, very tight. And I think Puka has a lot of trust in the organization. The organization has a lot of trust in Puka. And they've kind of been sidestepped along the entire way. That's a tough thing to get dropped into the limelight, be the best wide receiver in football, be single in Los Angeles with a lot of opportunity

and a guy who is upbeat, open, and friendly to everybody. So you can kind of see how there's a lot of to the recipe there for maybe losing a little bit of focus on the main thing. I like that they course corrected a lot. I like that he was, I don't want to say smart enough because it's not really smart. It's like putting your ego aside type thing to say like, hey, I need to, you know, I need to lock in a little bit here. I think he realized that. I think the Rams helped him realize that.

I think that's a special relationship long term. We're talking about 10 years from now. Hopefully, that's obviously how we feel. And we love Us. And doesn't feel like Us lost his juice at all. Here's Puka talking yesterday about him and Devante Adams. I think there's something where he felt like, when we came, and he came into this, the wide receiver room, the physicality, I think, that we play with.

Obviously, he's going into year 40 or whatever it might be. So he didn't lose juice. He hasn't lost his happiness, it seems like. So we're happy about that. We'll see how the season goes. They got the Avengers over there, especially if Aeron Donald comes back. We've beaten that completely dry. So we're going to pivot away from that.

We're going to go to the other L.A. team. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Lindsay, I know that you have covered the chargers in the past as well. From what you're hearing, what is the dynamic been like between Jim Harbour? and Mike McDaniel because on the surface, that just seems like something that would never work. Harbaugh seems like he would absolutely hate McDaniel's guts, but we've seen clips coming out, and they seem pretty jovial, and they're joking with each other. What have you heard about these two?

You guys, it is like, it's truly crazy when you think of these two guys, like the guy who wears the same outfit every single day and the guy who just will put together the most eclectic look you think you've ever seen. Jim Harvaw has done nothing but talk about how brilliant Mike McDaniel is. So far, so good. I mean, it just like you said, the styles of the two don't seem like they would go at all. But Mike McDaniel has found his way in with Justin Herbert. Obviously, that's the key to this entire offense in L.A. for the Chargers.

So I think it's going to be really fun to, like, monitor the social media videos between these two. But so far, it's like the complete opposites attract, apparently. But when you talk to Jim Harbaugh about Mike McDaniel, just kind of waiting for these anecdotes of like the weirdness-taking part behind the scenes. And I'm sure there's not going to be any shortage. But so far, he just goes on and on and on about how brilliant Mike is. Well, congratulations on a phenomenal career at ESPN as it continues to grow. We appreciate you.

Ladies and gentlemen, that's ESPN NFL, national reporter, Lindsay Theory. Yes, I am excited for McDaniel and Harbaugh. Yeah. clips, you know. You had a little bit of an interesting reaction immediately to the clip that we just watched with Harbaugh and McDaniel. Do you recall what your immediate reaction was whenever you saw it, Todd? Yeah, I don't really like Mike McDaniel. I don't know why.

I just, I don't think he's funny. I don't think, you know, everyone thinks everything. Hey, Jay, I'm telling you. We showed that video and I was like, yes, I love what we're getting in time. They love ball. Two guys love ball. Love ball. I'm not disputing that.

Just because he loves football doesn't mean I got to like the guy. And I don't. So, you know, I would like to see Justin Herbert thrive under him, but I would also maybe like to see Harbaugh give him a wedgy and hang him on the back of a door or something. Yeah, it was a great reaction at Ty. I appreciate it. And I think there's people that feel that way about him. But I do think he is a super genius. I think he's hilarious. He's been very kind to us whenever he stopped by a couple times. But him and Harbaugh should be a special pairing just for the season as a whole. I can't wait to follow it. Let's continue to go camping, shall we? Ladies and gentlemen, a former general manager of the New York Jets and the Miami Dolphins EVP. He was founder of the 33rd team, which is...

North Carolina football? No. They're not going by that anymore. Oh, they're not? No. Are you sure? It's probably smart. Did they come out and say that? People do they love that.

Are you wearing that shirt? Is that a... You know what? Until we get the full breath of what's going on down there, I'm not going to publicly, you know, but yes, I don't see anything besides the Nike Jack. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, ESPN legend, Mike Tannenball. Yeah, Mike. 33, not the UNC Tar Heels.

We appreciate you joining us, Mike. How are you doing, brother? Camp seasons around. I'm assuming you are just like us, get a little bit antsy. Yeah, great time of year. Good to be with you guys. Lots of good stories already. Okay, so we just chatted about the Chargers with Harbaugh and McDaniel,

obviously their relationship. We chitch out about the Rams with Puka, you know, and his contract next year. Everybody being understood there. Aaron Donald, until he signs back, I don't think there's much to say. For you, big storyline of camp. Is it Travis Kelsey looking fast? I don't know if you saw that.

Travis Kelsey's looking quick. He's coming out of routes. He's shaking. He's baking. Patrick Mahomes is hitting him in stride. They look like they're all the way back. Is this a storyline for you, the storyline for you, or is there something else, Mike? Yeah, I would start where you go in Kansas City.

For them to have a chance this year, Travis Kelsey has to turn back the clock path because when you look outside, Rishie Rice, obviously we know he's in with an injury. incarceration and Xavier Worthy hasn't worked out. They don't have the firepower they once had, so this is going to look more like Travis Kelsey. And look, they're going to run the ball with Kenneth Walker. That's how they're going to have to win this division,

because I do like the Chargers. I like the Broncos to score points. So I don't think this is the same old Kansas City Chiefs, and I've been around quarterbacks coming off of an ACL. This is his left knee. I think it's going to take some time. I think he'll be Superman again, but I don't think Patrick

Mahomes will be the same quarterback from day one. So I think they can win. I think it's just going to look a little bit different, especially early in the season. You remember their last Super Bowl run was a lot of running. You know, a lot of defense, a lot of running. And I think Patrick Mahomes was willing to adapt.

I think last year he was excited to run people over. I think he thought he had to run people over. And he's even admitted that he can't be doing that. So the evolution, he's so young. And he's already a Hall of Fame and he's already in the goat conversation. I think they can continue to be special. And once again, I'd like to reiterate, there's a tight team over there, I believe.

Let's talk about a tight team. You know, it's making a lot of big time decisions. Let's go to Cleveland, Ohio. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, Mike T. Can you maybe try to take us inside the Cleveland Browns organization? Obviously, Andrew Barry's the GM there. He was the GM when they brought in Deshawn Watson. Maybe that wasn't his decision or not.

Maybe that came from the owner, but he did do it. And then Todd Munkin, as the new head coach, he tried to draft Shudur Sanders to Baltimore. Now he's the head coach here. What are they dealing with because they are paying Deshaun Watson a ton of money? And then they have Shudur Sanders, who is this young quarterback, who's exciting and did win a couple of games from last year. How do you think that's going in that situation? And who do you think potentially comes out of it?

Yeah, it's a no-brainer. You've got to go with Shador Sanders. And part of the privilege of being... 230 million, Tannenbaum. You're telling me if that guy can stand on a football field, they're not going to put them out there? Pat, one of your responsibilities is you have to admit when you're wrong. And look, as a GM, I had plenty of practice of doing that.

You've got to put your losses. Like, this guy could walk on water and lead him to, to a Super Bowl, they're not going to extend them. And if I'm Todd Munkin, I got to know what I have in Shador. Shador physically has all the measurables you want, has a good arm. Look, last year was a disaster. That wasn't

his fault. I'm intrigued. I thought there was enough good tape you saw in Colorado that he can make all the throws. He could process well. I don't think he's a great athlete, but I think he's a good enough athlete. We got to see what we have in him because if we can win, whatever it is, eight to 12 games with him,

that could change our plan going forward. There's no way that Sean Watson is part of this organization in 2027. We've got to cut our losses, admit our mistake, and move on. We are a pro-sodor show. I think we have been. Even whenever, you know, the stats didn't necessarily look like it. As soon as you got on the field for the Browns, they had a spark. They were winning games.

I don't want the Browns to do classic Brown stuff, which is like Baker Mayfield won for us, but we didn't like it. We didn't like how it was. It's like, sure, it was winning for you guys now. Do you have to go back in the past because of the mistake that you made? given the largest guaranteed contract in the history of sports and give him an opportunity. I would assume yes, you know, but a Mike T, who has been a general manager before and has been in these buildings, says, nope, get him that cut your losses. Get them out of there now. How much you owe them?

90 million? Sick. Sweet. Go do it on the street somewhere. Don't do it here. I like Shador's chances. I like, we saw Shador. He looked fit. He looked in good shape. Shador looked like he was in great shape. Obviously, he's saying he's from Cleveland. I think he wants the job. I'm pumped to see if the Cleveland Browns can find somebody. He was leading as well yesterday. There was footage that hit the internet. He stayed after practice with the rookie quarterback from Arkansas. Talen Green was working with him and trying to help him out too. So maybe he's trying to take that number one role

as well as far as like off the field as well. Since day one, like literally before the draft, he was in town doing philanthropy stuff. So he knows the deal of how to be a pro. I think they're growing into it. We'll see the Cleveland Browns. Okay, last question here from Ty for you, Tannenbaum. Yeah, Mike, we saw that Caleb Williams showed up in better shape this year and

a lot of the conversation last year was, hey, he's just not quite good enough and that's why the Bears maybe can't get over the hump. But then we saw a lot of his late game heroics down the stretch and into the playoffs. Do you think this year, being another year under Ben Johnson, that Caleb

is going to kind of make that jump and maybe be an MVP conversation? Because it seems a lot of people seem to think that that is going to be the case. Hey, Ty, first of all, I agree with you about Mike McDaniel. I don't like him either. I can't his metabolism, I would give anything for Michael Daniels' metabolism.

So we're totally aligned there. As a relates to Taylor Williams, I have one, that's Foxy. Hold on, hey, we hate this guy too, Foxy, this guy's a model. He's an H&M model. I look at a carb and put on weight. I would give anything to that metabolism.

But look, I think to be an elite quarterback, you have to be able to throw at a much higher completion percentage. I think Caleb Williams has a chance to be super-success. star, but when you're under 60%, which he was last year, that is a concern. So I work with Ben Johnson, Miami.

I think he'll get there. But I would take Jordan Love and that Packer offense over the spare offense. He's got to learn how to get the ball of his hands, hit the check down, hit the singles and doubles, and then go make plays like that that very few people can. So I think it's a step in the right direction. But I don't think, I think there's a, they're a year away from being a year away. Come on. Come on.

Someone else had that line on the show. A year away from being a year away, which then inevitably leads, guess what, to being a year away. Yeah, that's why it sounds like you think they're hunting some fools gold. How about some stats and facts here from Caleb that maybe you need to hear because of your little carb issue you got. How to eat and things like that. Loss some weight, so it's good.

I'm excited about that, be able to move a little bit better, be smoother. You know, all these different things. just being able to also bring that into the facility with the Strim staff and things like that. Things I've done, things that work well with me and being able to adjust and be better for the season. How much did you lose? Tim 10 to 15, something like that. How'd you do it? Yeah.

Eating at certain times, going to bed and not eating after seven and just eating consistently, eating well. Huh? Think about it, Tannenbaum. Yeah, so look, we know that Mike with Daniels. Caleb Williams has been hanging out on the offseason. That's what we work today. That could help. Ladies and gentlemen, that's Mike Tannenbaum.

Thank you, too. Bye. I like that he just, the follow-up questions there from Chicago Media. How much weight you lose, huh? I've been looking to do that myself. 10 to 15? How'd you do it?

Well, I stopped eating after seven, you know? It's good sleep. Yeah, intermittent fast. That's a real cut there. Yeah. Because he suffers from the same thing I think I do. AJ will say he suffers from it too, but he's just been able to do that.

I love pizza. Yeah, man, I do it. Late night. Late night. Sweet night. Tooth, late night's sweet tooth for me is problematic. I mean, it is, we're on a Delta yesterday. It was. As American.

It was. It was. Frontier. Whatever. They had snickers. They had snickers available. Yeah, right, dude. A little bit tired.

This is right here staring at me. I'm going to have one. And then just like Pringle says, once you pop that thing, can't stop it. Caleb has a similar problem. We need to shut it off, I think. That's what we need to do. hard shut off at a certain time, no matter how tired you are, no matter how much longer you're going to be awake,

no matter how much access you have, there are Reese's as well. And then, oh my God, you put a little apple pie out. And then, is there double stuff for Oreos? I'm sure there are.

Definitely. Cinnamon toast crunch? Yeah. And then all of a sudden it's 10 o'clock and you just had 4,000 calories. And it's like, whoa, my God. I'm sure I'm not going to pay. Did you even mention your little drumsticks?

that you've been getting... Oh, the miniature drumsticks with the miniature snickers. And then all of a sudden you wake up 4 a.m. and your body is trying to have a mass exodus. And it's like, what did I do? Oh, yeah. That's what happened late night last night. So I'm happy Caleb was able to address that, move on. Because he's still young enough. He didn't look fat last year, obviously. But at

some point, your metabolism does kind of slowed down and start hating other people. It's like, if you can get a hold of that and kind of find your routine, you can do that for the rest of your life. It's a lot of commitment, though. AJ, how long you've been locked in on what you're doing right now? And I know you have cheat days, yada, yada, yada, yada. But has this been like your whole life?

Like high school, you're locked in this? No, like, towards the end of high school, yeah. The guy that ran EAS, I watched the thing with him, and so I started to pay attention to how I was eating, yeah. Yeah, E.J. I like going with the late night jams instead of some sweets. There's been very helpful. I plow right through a box, four of them.

Four of those things. And wait until the grapes come. Wait until the grapes are right around the corners. The grape is unbelievable. The grape jams that's coming is. unbelievable. We just have strawberry and berry mix right now, Walmart and Target. The grape one coming around the corner is a late night sweet tooth problem, I would say. Need to maybe make these things have like some sort of equation, you know, like a blow and go that D.E.

There you go. Speaking of. Way. Let him off. No way. He was going to see the great appearance. Well, so could have been their headstead. You know, you never know.

People are very well. You can't go to the cemetery and see your Graham and Grandpa anymore. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, he might have more information on all of it. He is in the middle of his training camp tour, and we appreciate him for that. Currently live with the Philadelphia Eagles, junior NFL insider for ESPN, senior NFL insider for NFL Network, Ian Rappapoor. Hey, Rocky. What's up? What's up?

What's going on? Okay, you know this better than us. He did a full warm-up routine for the sobriety test. I've never seen that. You want these slides on or off? I'll take whatever you want. I'll take them off. Excuse me, I got to...

I mean... It's pretty amazing. Hold on, please, yeah. No problem. I'm only using two points of contact right now. Do you think that anybody that is under the influence will be able to do this one? I don't think so.

All right. Rap is the insider to ask about this. That passed. What? What? Where do you need me to go? What do you mean? Right down here?

Oh, my God. Hold on. Hold on, please. You know, he said, Can I call my PT in here? Theoretically, you could call, I don't know what was true. I have not, I do not have sources on this. But you could say grandma and papa about your parents.

Sure. Like, you have kids, you know, like you could theoretically, I might say to my kids, like, we're going to see grandma and papa, and it means not mine, but there. Yeah, and you're talking to your kids there. the police, but I do. I've been talking about it's four iron, though. Yeah, who knows? Yeah, because he might have left his iron in a pond.

Yeah. Did he shot like 100 or something? 35 over, yeah, but that's a four day. It was a tough course. It was 11 over on the final round. Yeah, and plus three was the winner. So why don't you just have a little bit? On that note, hey, Tony, cars forever.

Love you, Tony. We're done with it. You get a driver. We're done with it all. Tony, just don't even, we don't even need to see you in that particular situation. We don't need any negative thoughts about Tony Rambo. No.

Tony Romo in that video. Tony Remo in the booth, Tony Rambo on a golf course, Tony Ramon on our show. We like, let's just get you a driver and not even have to have these conversations. It's 2026. We'd like to reiterate that to everybody. It's 2026. Get yourself a driver.

Live your life. Everyone. Live your life. But also, let's not be stupid in this entire thing. Okay, we just talked about a lot of things happening around the NFL with all of our beat reporters and also Tanenbaum joined us. He has a little bit of a hatred for McDaniel

because McDaniel's in shape. So I don't think that's necessarily the biggest storyline, but for you, what are you? Your boots on the ground in Philadelphia are doing a training camp tour? What are you learning? What are the vibes over there without A.J. Brown? What's not being talked about enough maybe in Philadelphia? Well, first of all, the no A.J. Brown is certainly different.

I mean, we've talked about A.J. Brown as it relates to the Philadelphia Eagles for two years. And here, it's like, it's just much quieter. Like, there's always noise around the Eagles. We, you know, in the news world, always are going to talk about them. but it's not the same. It's not like a, you know, AJ said this today. How do you react? It is for sure much quieter.

But this is an interesting Eagles team. Like Tannamon was talking about the Packers offense that he likes, right? This organization wanted to be in a new direction, wanted to run the ball a little better, wanted to have better answers for a defense. So when they were looking for an offensive coordinator, they sought out this system. And they ended up with Sean Mannion, who is 30. was a backup quarterback like three years ago or so, and it was really one of the up-and-coming minds in the NFL,

who installed a version of that here, and they are really excited about it. It sounds like the quarterback is really excited about it, and it's just like for the first time, a fully new system here with what they hope is a better way to answer what defenses throw at them. Well, and also everybody all in. You know, nobody else that was there was really making, you know,

public, hey, I'm not happy situation. So, AJ Brown finds happiness, hopefully up with Drake May and the Vrable era of the Patriots. And in Philadelphia, everybody kind of knows exactly who they are to the team, right? We know exactly who we are. We know exactly what we are. And we just got to get back to it. I like that they're all in. I like that Jalen's all in.

But Jalen knows he's taking a lot of shit right now. You know, that fall off last year. Petulow got blamed for a lot. Jalen got blamed for a lot, especially with AJ. From anything we've learned about Jalen, he's going to want to write that, right? That's kind of how it goes. Is it stay in Philadelphia? Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Rapsheet.

After Jalen Carter's massive deal, what kind of implications, if any, are there now with Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeGine, potentially getting extensions, because obviously those guys have been unbelievable for them, and they're going to be up here soon. Yeah, I mean, I would say this year,

I mean, obviously Jalen Carter was, you know, certainly the biggest. There's a couple other guys, theoretically they could extend this year. Morrow Ojamma, who is a interior defensive of Lyman, really, really good. You know, I don't know if they dedicate that much money to one position, but, you know, maybe someone they might take a look at.

But I think those guys would be more next offseason. But, like, the Eagles have the kind of problems you always hope to have, which is a bunch of really good young players who are going to want huge salaries because they deserve it. And so, you know, if you're the Eagles and you're going to pay those guys, not this offseason, but probably next offseason or. potentially. Then it's like you have to draft well and you have to do a really good job of finding you know really cheap deals of guys to contribute like Rik Wollin who's a really talented player came to Philly on a one year prove it deal that's probably below what he should be getting.

And like if he becomes a big time contributor like that's how these teams get good and stay good by finding those really good values. And if Rik Wollin gets a deal here or somewhere else like that's that's okay. You know, that's okay. Then they'll pay the corners they drafted, essentially. Yeah, it's an ever-changing roster for everybody, you know, trying to figure out who gets money, who doesn't get money. You give Jalen Carter that deal, which we are incredibly pumped for.

Obviously, others are going to have to, you know, kind of take for it. Are they getting blamed for all this? People aren't allowed to be on TV. And is there actual salary cap and other businesses too or just like a professional sports? That's a good question. Is that it brought up a lot, it feels? Listen, I don't know if you know this, but when things, don't go great. It's the guys who are at the top, the high-salary guys and also those in charge

who take the blame. Now, in Philly, Jalen Hertz is the guy taking the blame no matter what. It was an offensive coordinator issue. You know, he's the one who stands up there and has to answer for it. In other businesses, the guy who stands up there with the microphone, I'm not naming any names, but those are the guys who get blamed. A lot of times it's not fair. those are the guys that get playing. Yeah, thank you, Rap, for breaking that down. Like, because you're a pretty shallow individual. You know, he's not very tall.

You know, you can't say, that was a pretty deep. You were, it felt like you were really talking deep there. They never said. Rap, okay, rap, the Eagles got 10 fewer edge sacks in 2025 than they did in 2024. Obviously, Fangio won't answer any of our questions, this is outrageous. But AJ has a question about that.

Yeah, rap sheet. Obviously, Jonathan Grenard, he's on the PUP. I know they paid him a bunch of money. traded for him to bring him into town. What is the timetable like? Have you heard anything about when he could possibly back from that peck injury? Yeah, it does not sound like it is a major, major peck injury. I haven't gotten specifics there, but it doesn't seem like it's the kind of we're like,

all right, you know, he's going to be back in four months or so. I have not sensed the kind of alarm that you might. Now, I mean, you know, Jonathan Gernard is a good player. And you hope that, you know, he kind of bounces back and has the kind of year he did a couple years ago. You know, new place, new scheme, probably, you know, what they hope is a good fit for them. But, look, sacks are important, obviously, but think about where the money is in Philly. I mean, Gernard's making some money, but think about where the money is. It's that interior defensive tackle. I mean, you got Jordan Davis and you got, you know, Jalen Carter, both making

a ton of money. Like, these guys are going to be the ones counted on to really be the disruptors. Sacks are great, but like the entire front is going to be counted on to kind of make, to make up for this and be more productive. I loved, we put a stat up from Hembo as you were talking about. You know, hopefully he's like he is a couple years ago, because last year the guy's sixth in the league, basically, and pressures. But obviously, pressures and being disruptive are all such a judgmental thing. But nonetheless, him getting heard being on PUP, I think alarmed a lot of people

because that particular position is going to need. Jalen Carter gets money. You assume they're going to be able to handle it. But, you know, if the middle is pressing, you know, You can eat outside, AJ, right? You can eat outside. You got two good detacklers. Because they're scaring you.

Yeah, I think it's a good setup for fan-tio. Like rap sheet, rowing back in the day. Exactly. Great opportunities for everybody. That's right. I'll take on two, three coxmen. Bingo. You guys just need to be one coxman.

I'll be a three coxman. You know, and that's why you were all bulked up because you're trying to be three cox in that day, right? Is that right? I was getting on the Caleb Williams diet. I need that. Now, you, when you were, rowing, you were fat. I mean, you were

almost bringing the boat down. Remember we saw that photo? No, I was Jack. No, the glasses were trying to pop off your head. Remember that? Because they were so tight in your face. The hat was really too tight, so it made the rest of it. That was what, it was prospective thing. Yeah, but that was Max, because you were all juiced up to. You're on the,

you know, all the Balco stuff. Yeah, we remember all those. Anything for the team. That's why you were three Cox. You were three Coxmen out there. And anytime you can do that, it's obviously spectacular. Yesterday, You were in a nickel city, I do believe. Go ahead, Tone.

Yeah, wrap, you were up at Mills Camp, holding a normal size umbrella. It looked huge, though, because you were holding it. So rude. So rude. Boyco looks great, too. Boyco's got a good power stance. What was the vibes up there?

We saw videos of Joe Brady. He looked like he was in charge. It looked like he was having a good time. What's the vibes up there for one of the NFF, or sorry, AFC favorites? First of all, I offered Boyko the umbrella, and he goes, like, people can't see me. with an umbrella. I'm like, people know that you're soft.

He's like, no, I'm good. I like that. By the way, I like that because people do the same for me with an umbrella, and I'm like, please, are we kidding? Water? We're going to be a little drops of water are going to be the problem here? It was cold, my shoes were wet. It was rough. Also, your makeup, your hair was done.

You got a pedicure? I made it. I actually, I made it through. I talk about perseverance. I stayed to the end of practice. It's pretty good. Hey, junior might become senior someday. You keep fighting through this adversity. We appreciate that.

Joe Brady, obviously, in shorts, eating it. You know, the trainers there, no hoodies on there in Buffalo. Obviously, they respect it. Then it's got to Ian again. Where's Ian at this camp? Or does he look like? Oh, there he is. Okay, okay.

Yeah, just setting a tone, Jr. I like it. I respect it. But what were the vibes up there with Joe Brady? Yeah. So it's so interesting because, you know, I'm going around. I'm trying to meet a lot of the, you know, new coaches and just, you know, kind of see what they're all about, see what's going on. a weird different situation because the team is already good.

Like this team is good every year. And so he's not like a first year coach taking over a team where he's got to like get him to a place like they're there. They need to be like a couple plays better. So a couple interesting things from this one. One, like a lot of juice from Joe Brady, right? Like I remember talking to people who worked with him at LSU and I was like, are you surprised he's the head coach in the NFL?

It's like no. Like they are not. They thought he was head coach material. even as like a young past game coordinator at LSU just because he's pretty dynamic, right? And so I think the players like that, they have kind of bought into the new energy. And then the other thing that,

and this surprised me a little bit, was when they did the coaching search, you know, you talk to coordinators who are you interviewing, but also you try to get intel on yourself. And some of the feedback the bills got about themselves was on defense. They were way too predictable. And like, honestly, if you think about it,

biggest plays, like their defense would sometimes, it just wasn't quite good enough. And hiring Jim Leonard, they think is going to change that. He's another really good, bright young mind, like, liked a lot of what he was having to say. So I would say some pretty good positive vibes in not Buffalo, but Rochester. Being Boiko, Brady, Leonard, that's a young. Oh, yeah. And putting Boiko in there is hilarious. Boyko is not that young.

Boyko, I do like the way you're talking. about Boyko, because we all kind of feel the same way. You know, like, Boyko, one of the good ones, for sure. Certainly one of the good ones. But you know what you're getting into whenever you sign up to have a conversation. You know, you know what you're kind of get into. And we respect and appreciate that. We genuinely do.

Did you hear what Baker Mayfield had to say down in Tampa Bay? He spoke for three and a half minutes. We were going to have it be like our gone camping thing. Let's go to Tampa Bay. And we'll ask Baker Mayfield, like, hey, how do you feel about your contract situation? How do you feel about Vita's contract situation? How do you feel about the bucks last year? How do you feel about the bucks coming into this season?

What do you think the future looks like? Because he answered all of those in one. And basically he wants Vita Vaya to get paid. Obviously, you'd like to see that. He felt disrespected by what Fowler would go on a report as a two-year deal. Obviously, nowhere near the $50 million a year club, which is where a lot of quarterbacks are sitting out right now. And Baker, obviously, this is his first real home home.

Like, this is his first real place that has called him home. He understands what's happening behind the scenes. They leave. Mike Evans ends up leaving. Levante David retires. He said he set a deadline. They whatever maybe didn't think it was real. So he did say he was disappointed.

He did say he felt disrespected. But he did say, I'm going out, I'm all ball. Here, I'm going to do this. Feels like he's thinking about maybe next stop while utilizing this year as a chance to play his best football. What should we take from everything he said, which was he also mentioned last year. A lot of new guys were thrown into the fire.

So that was him trying to say we had a lot of injuries. Okay, last year we ended up playing very well. We got those guys back. He addressed everything. How should we look at what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are right now? With Vita Vare requesting a trade, Baker Mayfield feels disrespected, Levanté David's retired,

and Mike Evans is a San Francisco 49er. It feels interesting down there right now. Interesting is right. First of all, I love Baker. I mean, he's the best. I'm about to finish the Netflix quarterback dog. He's a big part of it. And for those who have not seen it,

you will probably like Baker Mayfield even more than you already do, just based on his trash talking, like, just does not give. You better come. You better come correct. You better come correct. That's right. You know, it's so, I sort of thought. That's you, AJ.

You're going to talk shit on Baker. You better come correct. I'm not talking to them. Nobody should. At all? You didn't talk on the field? I'll say nice things, no. Does he talk on this show?

No. Some people are born for that. Some people are born with that, Ian. Yeah, I'm sure AJ would pop into a fight, though, and grab and do a little face washing. He was certainly a lot of it. I'll help with teammates. You always help your teammates, yeah, but not verbally, just physically.

Yeah, he actually was doing the Fauci, plead the fifth on the field. Yeah. Actually, that's what AJ was doing. Not answering anything. Oh, man, I would. I feel like I would have been, I really missed my calling as a kind of like third party heckler's trash talker. Not the guy in the middle, but the guy right on the end. You'd be like, that's right.

Yep. Like that guy. What would you say? Would you just say, yeah, that's right? Or would, like, let's say AJ and you were, AJ was kind of getting into a, you What would you say to AJ as you were on the outside, maybe to instigate a little bit of a... I think what they would call you as a pilot fish, by the way,

a little fish. Then he's going to see me, then he's going to see me and pummel me. And in real life, I don't need to get... If I had a helmet and pad, then I could get pummeled, but in real life, I don't need AJ to pummel me. Okay, so you're saying you'd be too good of a trash talk

and he'd get so upset. He'd fight you in public the next time he saw you. You'd be able to say something that would get AJ so upset that he'd remember the next time he sees you, he'd pummel you and beat you. That's how good of a trash talker you are? That's what happened at Starbucks. I feel like I'd be really good.

Yeah, I mean, Shulte. How's this coffee? Ass. And then Shultz said, that's my dad. Grabbing my throat. Yeah, immediately. Yeah, that was. I didn't drink Starbucks for like a year.

After that? Yeah. I like, quote, a good grudge. Yeah, you guys are back. Yeah. Your junior in ESPN now, you got to do what you got to do. And Shulte's still latteing out there. He's not doing stuff cooking.

But go back to the question. So Baker, yeah. Yeah. So, he, he, he, he. He's mad. He's got a chip on his shoulder. He doesn't care who knows it. And, you know, I think the team knew that this was a risk. Like, if you're not going to come to a deal, like, you knew he probably wouldn't take a two-year deal without money this year. Like, he was really just a future deal. Like, it wasn't really a raise for 2026.

You knew there was a chance he wouldn't take it. I believed his deadline was real. And it certainly seems to be because he doesn't mess around. And so now you get an angry Baker Mayfield. But here's kind of, well, first of all, that's not bad. He has played well in this situation where he feels like everyone's out to get. He wants to prove it. But I've been interested that they haven't made a new contract for Vita Vaya beyond this year. Nothing for Baker beyond this year.

Like it certainly seems like in this organization, it's like we are going to go out this year, play as well as possible, and then figure it out afterward. And that, you know, usually you see teams invest. in the future, that doesn't seem like it's happened as much here as you might think. Yeah, I mean, move on let Mike Evans out of the building. You're trying to win the Super Bowl this year, you know?

Yeah. That seems like the right play. But hey, listen, Light's been a good GM, so they got a lot of faith and trust in him. I think we should probably do the same. But I And their roster's good. They're talented. They really are. And I appreciate that they want to win the ESPN Super Bowl, you know? Yeah, they do. Like, it's this year and

our year. We want to win the ESPN that's the big one. Let's go. ESPN, NFL Network, you know, from my understanding, from what I heard. Two become one. Seems to be. Symbiotic. Mike Fosses Towns Hall last yesterday. It was nice to see you were there.

I was there in spirit. I was listening from my United flight, but actually United. No snickers on that flight. I'm just saying we didn't have snickers. Okay. And last question, we need to address this because it is a big deal. some hills going to be an Indianapolis court? How's this?

You know, that was an interesting statement. I wondered if he would retire. His body's been through a lot, a lot of injuries. And I just, I don't know. Not to be sentimental. But don't you think some guys should just play their entire career with one? I mean, he's a perfect member of the Saints. You know, obviously not going to be back.

That was cool to see. I don't know if he's going to play again. I don't know if his body can handle him playing again. but God, he was awesome. He was, like, one-of-a-kind type weapon. And if this is it for his career, like, it was a lot of fun. Yeah, we loved watching Taysam Hill. We appreciate how athletic he is if he is retiring.

But Sean Pagan can certainly say, hey, Saints Forever, bro. Come on. Yeah, exactly. Come on. Come on. Saints forever, dude. Keep the house down there. Certainly.

Denver gets real, you know, you definitely wants a house in New Orleans, but come on up to Denver. And then the Indianapolis Colts, Shane Segment and say, shoot. Yeah. Shoot. Watch this touchdown right here. Shoot, shoot, shoot. That's good call. Hey, that's good play. What did you think of the guys? They were great today. I mean, today was really good. I don't know if you saw it. Defense, good job.

Taysam Hill. Holy hell. He's going to throw. He's going to run. He's going to pass. He's he's going to Warren, just a little bit more athletic. We got a lot of guys. That is past interference right there. Absolutely not. They're fighting for the ball. That's what they call it 50-50. And Taysam Hill says when I'm involved, yeah, it's 70-30. We appreciate you, Rapidport. Safe Travel is on your training camp tour. Where are you at next? People can buy tickets to see where. I'm going to Pittsburgh. I'm going to go to talk to a certain quarterback. We'll see if he'll hang out with me. Are you going to be there on Monday?

No. We're going to be there on Monday. Only tomorrow. Monday I'll be, I've no idea where. I have a different place every day. You'll be at the Ravens on Monday from our understanding of your schedule that we are keeping track of better than you. Shout out to you doing that. And we will be at the Pittsburgh Steelers training camp on Monday. Can I wait to be there? First Day of Padded Practice.

Wow. Obviously, we've got a lot of friends in that building, but obviously brand new era. Excited to get eyes on the field. excited to see Pittsburgh Steelers fans. Can't wait to get in there and feel the environment. Last year, I think we knew that they probably weren't going to win a Super Bowl fresh out of that practice. This year, from all understanding, is that there's a lot of... Hold on. You're serious or joking?

100% serious. Yeah, there was no juice in that practice last year. I've never seen anything like it. I was actually kind of embarrassed for them that that is something that fans were getting to see. AJ, is that not how you felt as well? A little bit. Yeah, there was a weird kind of vibe about it. Yeah, there's no juice. There was just zero juice. Not even a punter or a kicker who's doing nothing in practice screaming.

Nope or yop. Like none of that. It was just like no juice at all. I think this year it's going to be vastly different. We'll be there on Monday. Ian's come to a city near you and we'll be back on the other side of this three minute break. Be a friend telling a friend something nice. It might change their life. Take three. Three! In a sunny California suburb, one family's home is unusually quiet. When detectives walked into that house, they said that it was like time just stood still. It's 2010 and the McStay family is nowhere to be found. Inside the home, no clear answer where the family could have gone. Husband, wife, and two children all gone, like, poof, disappeared. The search for the mixed days quickly captures the nation. But for years, the search for answers only brings more questions. Who's ever heard of an entire family going missing? A family of four doesn't just drop off the face of the earth with no contact.

Is this a family on the run? Or is the truth far more sinister? From ABC Audio in 2020, this is what happened to the mixed days. Coming August 11th, wherever you get your podcast. Or subscribe to 2020 True Crime Plus on Apple Podcasts for ad-free episodes, early access to new episodes, and so much more. It is the absolute greatest, and we are so lucky that obviously we are a part of the sports world, but NFL training camps taking place tell us that we're right around the corner from epic Sundays,

and epic Mondays, an epic Thursdays, this year, Tuesdays. Wednesday? What? Saturday's obviously college football is about to be. Oh, haven't really got into the college football conversation nearly enough because it's been a lot of media days.

It's been a lot of corpo stuff. It's been a lot of suit stuff. It's been a lot of politics stuff. That's A.J. Hawk. The toxic tables here, AP Tone, and At Ty Schmidt, we love you, con man. Lawmakers have put a deadline on to conference commissioners to agree to a new pitch of the Protect College Sports Act

that is hopefully going to be able to get on to the floor before there is a recess for the lawmakers for one month. These fuckers take a summer break. Are they in school? Are they teachers? What are we lawmakers take a month long recess?

Okay, sounds like we don't have enough going on anyways in our society. How long are they serving our community? They take a month long recess. So now we, I'm sure there's a hundred other things that need to get figured out, by the way. Go take a month off. Yeah.

Yeah, that's, and then on the other side, I guess it's election time. So then there's no real, Heather Dynich told us this like last week, and I didn't really truly respect and appreciate the word she was saying in the moment enough. Pat, if this doesn't happen in the next couple weeks, it's probably never happening, because they got the month recess, then they got a campaign, then you obviously got your first 100 days, then you got the reaction thing. So this is, what, two years potentially that this gets put into a blender of politics and bullshit if it doesn't get done very soon.

So I didn't know the expedited timeline that we're certainly sitting on. But AJ, it does feel like we are on a very expedited timeline. We got a bipartisan type bill. Well, the commissioners buy into this. The commissioners, Big Ten, Petiti, and SEC Sanky were like, nah, there's things in there that we don't like or whatever. It's like, we might not have an answer for college sports for two years if it's not done in the next four days. That is a crazy thing to kind of experience, I think, in real time, AJ.

Yeah, it's crazy that that's actual, like, that's the reality. of this whole situation. When you say bipartisan, like, I would have said, like, does everyone say it's bipartisan? Like we said, there's people on all sides that have issues with it, correct? No, I think it's mostly the commissioner. I think it's mostly Pekini and Sankey. Now, joining us is a man who will have a lot more information on whether or not we're going to have any type of system for college football for the foreseeable future, I guess,

the authority on college sports as a whole for this particular conversation, the authority of college football from college game day. Ladies and gentlemen, Pete Dammell. Yeah, Pete. It looks like you might be in Washington, D.C. right now, actually, with the way the building looks behind you. Potentially Chicago's still for the Big Ten Media Days, nonetheless. Protect College Sports. This has to go through, like, right now?

Is that what we're all kind of understanding? Is that the reality of this? And how much urgency does everybody kind of understand about it at this particular point? Pete? Yeah, Pat, I think it's certainly in the crosshairs right now. But the overwhelming sense today is there's been like three. three straight days of like drop dead deadlines that have been blown through. And the Big Ten presidents and athletic directors are actually meeting about this as we speak.

There's an overriding feeling of pessimism that anything is going to happen. And again, if anything happened today with the Big Ten and the SEC and the SEC presidents are meeting later today about this in about three hours. If any, you know, this is still to get it to the Senate floor, which is still like three steps away from being three steps away. But right now, the critical juncture here is if this one doesn't work at this moment and this doesn't get to the Senate floor at this time, it just remains very unlikely that Congress is going to be an option for college sports to help fix itself. And that's especially comes into play with that when you get all these state-by-state laws that are coming in, right, eligibility things. And the things that really need fixing and they need congressional helping for are there and core in this bill. But there's just so much other fat and other things that have pushed in by the different agendas. What happens when you bring in Congress, right?

You bring in new problems. So, yes, but I would say right now as we sit here today in the Big Ten meets on this, there's an overriding feeling of pessimism that there's going to be any congressional help. And if this bill doesn't make to the floor in August, there's an overriding feeling that the congressional help is a long shot. But let's be honest, Pat, congressional help was always a long shot, right? This was early behind. No, I saw a big circle meeting.

There was a bunch of people there. It felt like everybody understood, especially with maybe the, the breaking point being the Texas Tech Sorsby situation where everybody was kind of on the same page? It's like, hey, maybe this is the inflection point that brings everybody actually together. Now, you talked about Congress and bringing in a bunch of fat and things that people don't agree on, even though we do agree on. I think they needed Congress right to give an antitrust to the NCAA, so the NCAA can actually rule over its leagues and over its constituents. But if they don't have that, each individual state can find a judge, I can actually override them, especially

with the money happening now. So is that the basis that everybody agrees? on is like, hey, the NCAA needs power? It's all the other stuff? Or what do you think the Big Ten and the SEC are mostly out on? So the crux of what's in the crosshairs right now, what's ultimately going to stall this, is the language that's going to set up the system for how college football,

especially, but college sports work and the finances of it. So there's about a $40 million pool, some of it is a salary pool, some of it is a retention pool. That number has gone and dwindled. But it really all reverts back pat to an age-old conundrum, enforcement. So basically, they were going to have to write the rules for what the future of college athletics looks like in like 48 hours with Senate input. And that's just simply an

improbable road. But this comes back to something very simple. Like there was the, there was a house settlement, right? Number is going to spend 20 million bucks. Great. Well, now people are spending $50 million. You know, and I spoke to a few big 10 coaches about this yesterday. Let's just say there's a salary cap, some of its retention, some of its, you know, incoming, right? And say that number's in the $40 million range. Does everyone, does every big brand in the country that's spending over $40 million

expect everybody to revert back to the cap? There's simply a century of mistrust here because every rule that's ever been written in college sports, people have found ends around it. Now, this doesn't happen in professional sports, right? Like, you don't hear about, you rarely hear about NFL teams averting the salary cap.

Happens once or twice, strictly policed, and the punishments are punitive, Pat, right? Like, they're punitive. So what has to happen here is there needs to be a paradigm going forward for how this works with enforcement that actually matters. And that is a tricky wicket, and that is not something that's going to get solved this week. There's always competitive people trying to beat systems. Like there's always going to be that. And whenever you said in professional sports with a salary cap kind of dancing around it, the NBA certainly has had their stories.

Baseball certainly had their stories. The NFL, though, it feels like we do have it pretty long. locked in college sports. Is it still college sports? Or is it professional sports that are happening at colleges? I mean, that's kind of the conversation, I guess, that is trying to happen in real time as they make the rules. But what it sounds like you're saying is, we got nothing for at least two years. That's what it sounds like, because they got a recess like their 12-year-olds. Okay? They go to, did you get all your chocolate milk and did they pack up the oranges? Did you guys get your jobs in your, for your summer recess that

you're going on? These are adults? Put in position. I'm just learning that they go on a summer recess. What do we, what do we do? You're serving a country. They do not like that sports are just getting a little bit more spotlight on us, not doing shit ever really is coming in here. I don't like that, you know, Pete, you need to keep a straight face

because you're going to have to go talk to these people. We'll never be in that world. Figure it out, okay? We need you to do something. One time. Now, there are some disagreements amongst the sports folks, I guess. tone has a question for you, Pete. Yeah, Pete.

Big Ten media days is going on right now. It's the last of the power for media days. And as I've digested all of these media days and the coach is talking and the commissioners talking, it feels like every single coach and every conference wants to go to 2014 playoff teams, except for one. And that's Greg Sanky. Why is he the only one that doesn't want to go to a 2014 playoff? Well, that's an interesting question.

Thank you. And look, usually when you look at the first, the history of the playoff and how it's changed, it usually follows what Greg Sanky wants, right? So I think that's important and instructive here. He is open to growth. He is open to other models. Remember, he wanted to go to 16. Yeah. And then Tony Petitia's leverage kind of kept it the same. So it's an ever-changing conversation. I think a lot of times, especially because it's media days, tone, it's rooted in coaches, right? Yes, for sure. Like the coaches would go to 72, right? They'd just keep going because they don't want to keep their job and they want to act.

And I think there's a feeling on campuses, and especially in coaches' offices, tone, that if we're spending 20 million on a roster, like the cheapest Big Ten roster is basically right under 20 million this year. If we're spending that kind of money annually, we want a carrot, right? We want to carrot. And it would be hard for a Purdue Northwestern, Missouri, Mississippi State to finish 12th. But, you know, 24th, like, you can all dream and pull a couple upsets and finish 24th. So they want that carrot of hope. Hope's a powerful drug, right? And they want that carrot of hope.

Yeah, but the SEC's main complaint tone when you go to 24 is, and it's not a complaint. It's something they want to, they want to see the effect it would have on the regular season, and they want that quantified. And that's really hard. For all the Big Ten's dominance on the field, and you won't catch me, like, flinching on that. Like the Big Ten has dominated on the field. They've dominated the biggest games. They've won the championships.

They've won the CFP games. Like for all their dominance on the field, the SEC is still dominating in the ratings. Like those aren't even close. So that's a huge asset for the SEC. And if you start giving away, you know, if you start veering eyeballs to the postseason and devaluing the regular season, what's the cost of that? And that's the existential question that they're still trying to wrestle with when they look at 24.

Yeah, Sanky's like, yeah, we're all playing the same sport. We love the same sport. Now, our games get some eyes, every single one of them, even the lower mid-tier ones. Now, Big Ten has big brands, big names at the top that carry massive ratings as well. Let's not get crazy. That happens. But in the SEC, Sanky understands, like, tickets, ratings, interest, everything. That's his business.

That is our content is what he's saying. If everything just becomes a super-duper playoff game, you know, like. It makes sense. Is everything playing for fourth place? Do we get, you know, the teddy bear, the bear coming out of halftime and wrestling Jackie Moon? Yeah, because I think that is potentially. Plus they also, if it goes to 24, it definitely devalues the SEC Championship,

which I assume they make a pretty good penny on that as well. But also, I think if you add teams, it gets you out of the conversation about people not wanting to play in the SEC championship. Yeah. Right? Because wasn't that a big thing? Like, well, if we play in the SEC championship, we have two losses and our third losses in the SEC championship, they say,

they're not going to judge us, but they certainly are whenever there's three losses. If there's 24 teams, those people would automatically get in, and then the SEC championship maybe isn't devalued as much. Maybe people do care about it because it's still a thing. I mean, you can combat anything. It's all in theory. Nobody has a clue what's going to happen. All we know is money is going to follow football. So I think in the end of the day, they're all scared of like, what's the best option for us? What's the best this? If you're good at football, money's going to follow you. That is just ratings are going to follow you. Money's going to follow you forever. And on that note, it feels like money is following these rosters in a huge way.

Ty has the last question for you here, Pete. Yeah, Pete, you mentioned how, you know, I think it was in 20, 24, 2025 when Ohio State won. You know, they said they spent like $20 million on the roster. And then last year, now we're hearing, like, a lot of teams are spending 50. When we're in this kind of period where there are no rules, there are no guidelines, like what's stopping one of these schools who has the ability to spend $80 to $90 million on the roster and just going to their boosters and basically, saying like, hey, we have a window right now.

We're not going to get in trouble for this. So if you guys want to, you know, really donate over the next two years, we can put together by far the best roster in college football and go win two national championships before they kind of put the guardrails in and we're all playing on a level playing field again. Yeah. It's a, it's a multi-quagmire day tie, one of your favorite kinds. Absolutely.

What's that called? A quagmire, a murder of quagmire? Myers? Is it quagmai? Oh, maybe a herd of them. Sorry. That was a very, a front weirdest, talking Scots. That was front.

Big pop out of Pete. I like that. Yeah, okay. We'll get into more like that type of jump. My one joke of the year, Pat. That's what instead of singing that song at LSU, that's about the most you're going to get out of me. Oh, my God.

So if we go to, if we go back to Tide. If we go back to Ty's question about roster and cost, it is a remarkable shift tie that the vaunted $20 million roster that everybody talked about for Ohio State two years ago would now basically be the cheapest roster of the Big Ten, right? And that is a salary path that many have called unsustainable. But what you're mentioning basically is the Dodgers Yankees theory, right? Can we just outspend everybody and win big and do that? Now, there are still ways you have to quote unquote wash this money, right?

Through multimedia rights, through partners, through everything like that. So it's not as simple as direct payment, but with no real cap and no stopping to it, like, you know, people are going to just keep spending. There is no cost going down. And, you know, like the financial component of this bill flashed that, you know, the roster was to go about $40 million. Well, nobody who's spending above that really thought anybody would go backwards, right? Like, you know, Pat, you said it, follow the money in football and in sports. The cost doesn't go down for these things. So what college sports leaders are going to have to do quickly now is try to figure out a way.

And some of the language that they've been discussing with Congress may end up just being the language that the Big Ten and the SEC and others use to push forward. There's been a lot of conference calls with the CSC and the big four commissioners to try to like, you know, get the language ready for Congress. So the conversations may end up yielding, you know, productivity down the line here because everybody's kind of had to focus in on what they really want. want and work together, it just doesn't appear like that's going to go with Congress. But to your question, Ty, the cost is going to keep coming up. And I don't think there's ever been more of a through line between investment in roster and in winning, right? It doesn't guarantee it.

But if you're 18th in the big tenant spending, there's a pretty good chance you're going to finish with a teeth in the standing. So what you're saying is we've happened upon a field of quagmires, but we have certainly planted sheeds to reap what we show potentially in the future whenever there's a more realistic situation of getting something accomplished. Fair. Fair assessment, Pat. For the man, ladies and gentlemen, that's Pete Thamble. Yeah, Pete.

Because a quagmire is a soft, muddy area. Oh, sure. So a bunch of them would be considered a field, I guess. But in the situation definition, a hard, complex or messy problem, that's very tough to escape. That's just simply called quagmires. Okay. But listen, if you want to do a fun game,

what the fuck was that? That was my phone. It sounded like a phone. Jumping off a cliff. Okay, not used to this type of... Sure. Scary times. Scary times.

You guys got two days. Get the wording right. Good luck. How many pages? 400. They were on late calls, though. We had sources. Very late.

says in the CSC, which is the committee. Is that the College Sports Commission? The College Sports Commission. There it is. They're the ones that would be approving NIL deals for everybody. I believe that is kind of the role. They had a late-night call that involved all the commissioners, including PAC 12 and the American.

And the American, I believe Notre Dame was on there. Pete Pavok was on there. Yankees. Yeah, Randy Levine. was on there and they were, I think it was with Ted Cruz and Cantwell, I believe they're all on a call. And we were, we heard late in tonight. We heard it was a very, very, with a lot of big names on that call, trying to get the wording of it all. Like, we just need the wording to be in a position that it is what we wanted to be.

And from our source says they were very worried about the wording and how it was, you know, going to potentially get politicized. and I think that's what they mean by like working things in. Like I think they all have agreed on certain things. It's like, yes, we can do this. But if we're going to get something through, I think there has to be a bunch of other shit too that clarifies or maybe does others. So I don't know, man.

Pete said like it's worth it would be three steps away from being three steps away though. Like it sounds like this is a long shot. Ultimately isn't it kind of seems like the Big Ten and the SEC agreed on stuff after initially not being okay with it. Like, they do not view themselves in the same universe as the Big 12 or the American. So, like, this comes out and it's like, actually, you know what? We're not okay with this because you guys aren't playing the same sport that we are. And I would like to say that no matter what that first round of bills would have said,

I think SEC and Big Ten are letting everybody know immediately that we are not the same. Yeah. Like, no matter what would have happened there, I think Sankey and Petit. Pitti, both naturally would have came to this argument, but I think they have certainly said, hey, whatever everybody's saying is good for them, let's make sure everybody knows that we get final look at this shit. Like, let's, uh, I think they wanted to publicly have that leverage point. I think. So that's off, that makes sense. I think in, from their perspective, it makes sense. Now people are going to hate that to do. And then you guys are holding up everything for

the good of, is this for the goose or the gander, you know, or what is this all for? And Pettiti and saying you're like, we've done a really good job with our conferences. Yeah. I mean, Capitalism, not communism. We've done a very good job with our conferences and how we've built it and what people think of us. And what we're trying to say is, let's make sure they're able to survive, Sanky and Petiti. Agreed. We have reached out to both of them for comment over the last few weeks. And what have we got?

Crickets. Hmm. Huh. Are they? They're not doing what Fangio did, right? They're not. This is kind of what it sounded like when I'm like, so what's the deal, boys? I'm going to be like, Fouchets.

and just take the Fifth Amendment on questions. That's what they said. No, because I'm hearing Sanky talk nonstop about the SEC. He is talking nonstop, is he? Yeah. He sounds like you're being a little negative about it. There was a lot of, there was a lot of excuses coming out of there last week. They're talking about how they got to play nine conference games now.

Oh, how long has the Big Ten been doing that? Miss Laura said that yesterday. I was a part of the mentions there. Oh, I forgot about that. Yeah. Boy, that is, that is as good as. Yeah. She knew what she was doing.

Oh, my God. Yeah. It did feel like she knew exactly what to do to the Big Ten folks. Our conference is so good. We beat each other up by the time we're tired. Yeah, right. Yeah, right. You try to play Northwestern in fucking December.

It was awesome. But I do believe she feels as if she is a representative of the SEC. I love the part of college football. Went to an SEC school. She should be doing that. Hosted SEC Nation. Yeah. It's like she feels.

And I don't know what it's like for her on a regular basis with NFL Live and everything else she does. and I assume with SEC Nation there was inner. Welcome to the thudderdob. Bingo, yeah, there was a lot. And then there's people fighting back too. And I think she got in there a little bit too. I was like, holy fuck.

I did not expect. That's the beauty of college football. Boy, that's the one if you really just want to get people going. Oh, yeah. I guess that is the one. But that's the thing is like there's no guarantee. We've talked about it. But like the way things are right now, like what SEC, like Michigan, if they wanted to,

they could spend $100 million on their roster this year. Multiple Big 10 schools could do that. Could any SEC school, round up $100 million for their football team in the next? I think obviously, I think Lane could get it down there to issue. Probably. Probably. Because remember, we aren't paying this coach. Yeah. And then it turns out, they are.

Where all the money come? He's like, oh, everybody. Okay. We're going to win? I want Mike the Tagga out there to watch, if we're going to do that. Texas could do it. Texas could do it. A&M could do it. I think Kirby, I don't know what Georgia, but they got a lot of khakis and a lot of You know, a lot of very wealthy people, I think, coming out of Georgia,

just from who we've met, literally. I think Georgia could do it. But that is the game. Yeah. Ole Miss, I mean, they were able to keep Winidad there, so I assume they got. But, like, Northwestern could do it. Like, if they really wanted to. They just built that new state.

Exactly. Northwestern could spend $80 to $100 million on their football team next year. What's Arkansas, dude? Don't they have Jerry and Walmart? Yeah. Actually. It's a tough investment, though. What are you getting back?

Any money? No. No, you're right. You get a good parking store. It's a donation. Yeah, so it's like the Northwestern business people might be a little bit too smart. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, man, we love that you guys are maybe going to win games.

Are we getting any money back on this? Sick barking spot. Come on, greedy. Is it even a write-off for them? No. No. It should be. And then guess what?

We're going to hit you up in about six months because we need a bigger payment next year. And guess what? The guy you paid, turns out he didn't play any transfer. Did we get anything out of him? No. No, he was really good to lock. But this next guy, this next guy is going to be legit. We'll show you to film on this guy.

He's got good fit. And we talked to his coach, loves ball. He never leave us. Okay, turns out he doesn't want to commit to us. So we need to find this other guy. We need to get money. I think some of those super smart schools can get that money, but I think it's going to be tough to get it from the people who have that money

when there's literally zero good business in it, other than your school is going to do good at football, which is good for your school. But they don't care about that because academics at the end of the day matter much more at Northwestern than any of the sports programs. Yeah. The smart meatheads is who you're looking for. Penn State's got a lot of them.

Penn State has like a bunch of the sea level people in every business. And they went to Penn State. They all went to football games. So they all feel as if they are giving actual back to their friends, their family, their cult, no offense. But that is really what it is. That's why Pat Kraft's been able to kind of like rally them because they're kind of sports people who are in there. Northwestern super smart people who maybe like sports or watch sports. Right.

Penn State's like sports people who went to a super nerdy, super successful business type school. Yeah, they're not in the big time, but Notre Dame is very similar. Yeah, IU. Notre Dame, IU. Yes, exactly. Because Northwestern just spent how much on that stadium? A lot. I think it was like 500.

And that stadium looks sick. Sick. Yeah, it may be a nicer stadium. Chip Kelly said, hey, look at this thing. Put his hard hat on. Yeah. It says 862 to 870 million. Yeah, and they had somebody donate that.

Kansas did the same, I believe, last year, for the. there's new stadium. And all the coaches are saying we're playing a parking lot. We don't need a new stadium. I'll get a quarterback. I'll get an edge rusher. You know,

you're okay over there, AJ? You got a fly. He's going to attack me. I got a assault fly gun downstairs. I wish I had it with me. I think you can go get that. We'd like to see you maybe bring that gun out. Where is it?

Have you found the queen yet? I'm a snatcher my hand. Oh, I'm about to get back in the high. I've been letting them. Dude, you're fully shit. They're gone. All right. I'm not talking about the bees anymore.

You guys are ridiculous. They're dead and gone. Your bees are gone. They've left you. They're there. They're there, buddy. We need proof of life. Yeah, no, you don't. Did you know 20 years ago today?

You signed your deal with the Green Bay Package. Wow. There you all go. I'm not for it. Ted, man, the late great Ted Thompson, good to see him. Yeah, rest in peace, Ted. Thank you for a contribution to sport and to Packers, obviously. But yeah, at 20 years ago, sports, sport has been doing this.

you were the presentation of the morning. 20 years ago, something special happened in Green Bay, and we're still getting celebrated today. The all-time leading tackler, this guy in the oversized suit with the long hair who didn't do any medical records for anybody before this moment right here out of Centerville, Ohio, would go on to become the all-time leading tackler for the team. I think that would be a good draft pick.

I think people would say that's a good use to come a fifth overall pick. Congrats to you, AJ. Got a big, hoggle. Yep, thank you. I was seconds after he, you know, Andrew Brandt has told us the story many times. He had to go down. He had to basically pull AJ by the ear to get him out of the waiter and come up and sign his deal. Yeah, he was sweating.

Yeah. This guy. Vita Vaya gone, Baker gone. I don't think people fully understand what I meant whenever I said. Baker covered everything, but also said he was disrespected. Maybe let's go camp. Hey, let's go camping. Hey, let's go down in Tampa Bay.

We got Baker with us joining us from yesterday, but live, if you will. Baker, how do you feel about your contract negotiation that's stalled out before your deadline? How do you feel kind of the Buccaneers view you? How about Vita Vaya? How'd your team end the season last year? How do you think this season's going to go? I know I kind of asked you a lot of things.

Kind of take it wherever you want to, Big. Yeah, I mean, obviously I've told you guys have been pretty upfront and honest about my feelings about Tampa. It being home for now our family, we're raising kids here. We love it here. I wanted the deal done and set the deadline.

and told them it was going to be all ball after that. And I did mean that. And I don't know if they thought I was just going to take some of the offers that they gave. But I'm at the point of my career and understanding what I've brought to this franchise. One, I'm very, very thankful for the chance they gave me. Do not get me wrong on that. But I've also know, I really know what I've brought to this franchise leadership-wise and even play-wise. It's been some of the best years of my career.

And I think it's only going to trend upwards. Okay. Just being comfortable and feeling that. So disappointing in that regard to not have, you know, to feel disrespect a little bit. And that's really the disappointing part to feel undervalued after, you know, thinking you've earned it. This is not a poor me thing. There's a lot of other people that have it way worse off. But I can sit here and look at other quarterbacks and peers and evaluate myself based on that

and put myself in certain categories that I deserve to be compensated for that. And I think I'm a franchise quarterback. I've been told I'm a franchise quarterback. It's been said publicly from ownership down here. And so to not have a deal done is very disappointing. But I said the deadline was a deadline. And I addressed the team to let them know. I meant that.

It's all ball. I'm with these guys. I think all the guys that have been here know exactly who I am. The guys that are new here, I wanted to address that because they might have had a notion prior to come in here about who I am as a person. But it's all team. It's all about winning here now and what we're going to do. And, you know, hopefully Vita gets his back fixed and gets his deal done.

I mean, he's the second longest tenured buck behind C.G. And Vita deserves that. He's the anchor of our defense. And so I hope they take care of him. All right. It's disappointing to say the least, but it's all ball here. And I know I'm going to have a good year. I know this team, the things that we went through last year put us in a good spot for this year.

Depth-wise, a lot of guys been thrown to the fire to be able to grow and learn fast. And it didn't go the way we wanted, but it's a new season. And it's going to help us in the long run this year, added some new pieces. And so I'm excited about it. It's all ball from here. You know, after today, like I'll answer a few more questions about the contract. But after today, I'm not answering anymore because I'm not negotiating anymore. I understand.

Yeah, I understand. Yeah, I understand. Yeah, I understand. But in some way, they can make those always better on himself to do it again. Mario Lopez. Yeah, it is. Looks great. They can always franchise tag.

There's other options that they have. Yeah. What is it due for your relationship? It's disappointing. I'm not the first one to go through it like this. It's kind of historically how they've done negotiations, which is disappointing when you think you're a cornerstone of the franchise to be treated like that. But disappointing, I know, I'm no dummy. I know the contract and salary cap, what's going on. Franchise tag isn't exactly in play for them. It'd be a lot of dead money. So it's.

It is what it is. And like I said, unfortunate, but I'm excited. I'm in the best shape I've ever been in, in a really good place. and I'm feeling really confident with the staff that Todd's put together that we're going to have a really, really good team. Hell yeah. All right, thank you, Baker. All right, well, you're going to answer more questions, send him out of here.

Thank you, Baz. Baker Mayfield. Kind of covered it all there. Disappointed, disrespected. It's kind of how they do it here. That's kind of a bummer that this is kind of what they do around here. It's got Tampa Buccaneers logo right above his head. He's wearing their uniform, you know.

Don't really love the way this whole thing went. It felt like it was kind of a smack in the mouth. Whatever the case. they've set up a franchise quarterback. Didn't feel like it during a negotiation, but we're going to have a good year this year. Sounds like, okay, Baker's going on in terror with a,

and is that how everybody in the locker room feels, you know? It's not good if it is. Like Vita Vaya saying, hey, I want to be traded. He's beloved in that locker on the defensive side. I think coaches love him too. You got Baker coming out and saying,

it's the way this organization does stuff. Like, that's not good. That's not great, but he did say he's going to play good, and we all believe he's going to play good, AJ. Yeah, we do. I just, I wonder, okay, so we're not negotiating anymore. Is it possible that the team could send his agent another?

Like, hey, here's a four-year deal. Here's a three. Does that happen? Feels like he's pretty hands-on there, right? Yeah, it definitely does. But, I mean, what if his agent's like, hey, man, I'm just to let you know. They doubled them. They doubled the offer.

They sent you first. Like, could that possibly happen? Could this spur or something like that to happen? Yeah, and then it sounds like Baker just wants to be all ball. I don't want to deal with when the money's coming, how the money's coming, why the money's coming, what an incentive is, which incentive matters more than another incentive. It's like if he feels like he's pretty invested in those negotiations, which I respect, by the way. I respect and appreciate that.

But it does take a lot of your mental energy, you know, to kind of figure out what you deserve, what you're okay with, how much you should give up, you know? Because there's contracts, negotiations that we've been a part of where it's like, what monetarily wise is peace of mind worth and what is working with this person versus this person worth? And it's like, I think Baker just wanted to remove himself from that. Once football starts, I want to be all in on ball. Now, to your point, though, can the bucks just present them a $50 million a year, but three-year deal?

$150 million. You're good, you're in a $50 million club. It's a three-year deal. That's pretty good. You're 31 years old. You'd be 34. You'll be able to hit the market again. That could happen any time.

But Baker ain't signing it. No, and I think he probably has enough confidence in himself that he thinks he could have an MVP-type season and get $60 million from someone. We might be at $80 million a quarterback here very soon. I mean, it's only a matter of time. Who knows what Nando is going to potentially get in four years. when he is up if he and the Raiders have a fantastic run. Let's pivot away from football.

Let's go baseball. Baseball's got a lot of storylines. Ladies and gentlemen, four-time Golden Glove, World Series champ with the Royals. Man whose father was a firefighter down in Miami for like 29 minutes. Shout out. Shout out. Ladies and gentlemen, friend of the program,

Eric Cosmer. What's happening? What's happening, fellas? Big fan of the program. Yeah, we appreciate the hell out of you. I learned of you, whatever you wore a four-the-brand sleeve for a batting practice back in the day and we felt like we

I want you to know this. It felt like we arrived a little bit whenever that happened. That was a crazy situation for us. So we are very appreciative of you and how much love you've shown us and on that note, baseball has become a bigger part of our program. I think you have probably seen that over the years. I'm fascinated by the drama around it right now, especially with

scoops. Okay, this scoop with situation is fascinating because you won with the Royals, the World Series. You were potentially the last small market team. I guess the Rangers, Nationals are in a conversation. C's a big market, Texas and Dallas big market, Royals, 2015 team you were on, last small market team to really win the World Series.

Now, allegedly, the Dodgers are in play for Terrick Scouble, who's obviously the best player, which is obviously a massive piece of the convo. Is baseball broken? And where do you think Scoob's is headed? And why do you think this is just so like assumed to happen whenever one of these small market teams get a good player?

It's like, well, he's only going to be, it's like a farm league almost. Is this what Terrickson's to be? or why do you think we've gotten here, Haas? Well, I will say this, Pat, first and foremost, I'm all about respect. So first time on the program, I wasn't about to come on here with sleeves. Respect. You guys, man, hey, you guys put me through a lot of training room days in Boston.

I would put the phone on, throw the McAfee show. My son was born that year. Same thing, these feedings throughout the night. So I've been a big fan since day one. So appreciate those words. Well, thank you, man. That's so cool. We're okay.

Thank you. Thank you for saying all that. We are lucky to be a part of that. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your life. Now, let's get back to baseball. Scoobel leaving is a big part of this entire new negotiation that's happening, right? And especially if he goes to the Dodgers, it's going to be really loud. What do you think about baseball? You said it's fine. I agree. More interest, but it does feel like we're at a tipping point, no? Or am I wrong? Yeah, I said it's fine, but it's not fine at all, Pat. I'm kind of panicking. I'm not going to lie about this situation because first and foremost, we don't know what's going to happen next year. But the scubble situation, I mean, this is where the Tigers, honestly, I think the day that they became $10 to $15 million apart in arbitration, that's the day they knew they were going to trade Scoobble because this is the situation. When you come up as a small market team, Max Clark, he's a young star out there. Foxy, you've got to know all about him. Apparently Detroit's calling him up today.

So when he gets called up today, the team has you for seven years right now is what the current CBA is. And usually those first four years, you got the rookie season. salary and then the last three, you go to arbitration. Once the players start going to arbitration, that's when you start making big money. So what these small market teams do is that first year of arbitration, they try to lock a guy like Terrick Scoobble down before that because that's when they know they're going to get expensive. And if they're not able to lock them down, that's when the GMs in the front office know, hey, okay, this is where we're going to have to get a return for our investment. So now you guys were at the derby promoting the game, which is awesome. And you saw Junior

Cameronero out there. Allegedly, so allegedly, the Angels could have traded Otani to Tampa and got in return junior Cameronero. So obviously you see that set back that franchise a lot. So the Detroit Tigers cannot let Terrick Scoobel walk out of that building and not get anything in return. And it's pretty obvious that they're not getting a deal done. That's kind of where Foxy is landed. It's like we need to get something. And that's why Detroit clap for him, basically. He's not going to be here long term. At least we can get something. for the city from them, and we appreciate how great you are. But the pirates, as soon as Skeen's got there, already started chanting, sell the team

because they knew his ass was going to be gone. They knew he was going to be gone. Maybe not, though. Who knows what the negotiations happen? All right, let's continue to talk baseball, a lot happening. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Haas, I mean, it does seem like the Dodgers are the leaders in the clubhouse for Scoobel, even though a team like Milwaukee could probably put together the best package.

But when you look around the MLB, how many teams do you think can legitimately do something at the deadline to compete with the Dodgers this year in, you know, October? Or is it, do you think it's kind of a foregone conclusion and that, you know, they're going to add scubel and they're probably going to win a World Series that's potentially going to lead to a work stoppage? So, so right now this is what's so interesting about the deadline is Detroit, they're not saying we're going to trade scoble and we want a full return of young players. Like, they still believe that their team has a shot this year and they have every reason to.

They got this young Kevin McGonagall, Riley Green's a stud on the pitching side. They got Troy Melton. They got Montero. They got arms. So they want big league ready starting pitching and young players back. So it's really interesting too because Casey Mize, who's also balling on that rotation, he was their first pick overall in 2018. He can possibly be in a package deal with Scoobol because he's a free agent next year too.

So Detroit really has to take advantage of this situation and get a big return, but they still want big league players ready as well. So it's going to be so interesting this deadline because, again, a small market team like Milwaukee and Tampa, you know realistically that you're never going to be able to sign a Terrick Scouble on the free agency market for $400 million. So you're going to say, okay, I'm going to go ahead and get Terrick Scouble at the trade deadline for half a season. It'll probably cost me, what, $10 million if you pro rate whatever he's making this year. and then if you go ahead and make the playoffs, you get that playoff revenue in return.

So this is the small markets team chance to really strike. And I think Tampa and Milwaukee come into play. But if they want big league ready pitching, the Dodgers have that best package possible because they have the young talent and they have this Justin Robleski kid, this young lefty who's a stud, and he's doing it in the big leagues this year.

Okay, you talk about small market teams, maybe renting scoble for a year. Hold the phone. Let's go to Pittsburgh. Go ahead, Tone. Yeah, yeah. The Buccos could absolutely do that. But the NL wildcard race is insane right now. There's seven teams within two games.

The Pirates being one of those. And I would be an idiot not to ask you about the Bucco since that's who I root for. They they obviously have the starting pitching with Ashcraft and Skeens, it seems like. And then Jared Jones is coming along as well. And Bubba Chandler. So they have the arms there. The bullpen has been absolutely horrendous. But the offense is going to get O'Neill Cruz and maybe Connor Griffin back at the beginning of September.

How do you feel about the Bucco's chances? And you think there'll be buyers at the deadline because that hasn't happened since 2014. I mean, you hope so because, I mean, if you need a starting pitcher to win one game, Paul Skeens is your guy. I mean, that's America's starting pitcher. Everything about him, you love. And then on the position player's side, Connor Griffin, this kid is a stud, man. His swing, his body, his makeup for shortstop. I mean, there really wasn't a shortstop like that size that's so young since A-Rod. And this kid, he's got the smooth actions, especially from the right side, just a clean swing. So this is what kind of the MLB season as players, you kind of break it down into parts.

And the trade deadline is huge because you want to give your front office. You want to present your front office a case to be buyers at the deadline. And the Pittsburgh Pirates, in my opinion, have given the front office every reason to believe in this team and be buyers. So I think they should go out and get some arms, get some bullpen help, and add whatever you can. I think the Pittsburgh Pirates are winning it all this year. Chance. Yeah, it's going to save baseball forever. Because if the Dodgers win, baseball's done so.

It might be. If Scoobel goes out to the Dodgers right now on a half-year rental thing, and they just... I tell you what, when your guy, when your boy, Jason Kendall takes over in Pittsburgh one day, I don't know when it's going to be. That's when it'll happen. Hold on. Okay, you just said that publicly. I had heard that privately as well in a couple conversations that Kendall was trying to get involved in the pirates in a pretty big way. And I would like to say, everybody knows how I feel about that.

Yeah. More Jason Kendall, better. More Jason Kendall. It was a legend. So a lot of people don't really know this, but he was in Kansas City. He ended his career there, and he stuck around Kansas City and was basically a coach. So Jason Kendall was like one of my mentors in Kansas City, and I was a young guy, didn't have a family at the time. So he'd always be like, come on, let's go.

Get some dinner. Let's go. Let's do this. And man, he was the best, man. He was like a role model for me. Still is. So he's a legend. Yeah.

Okay. Jason Kendall's exactly who I thought he was. I also like the fact that they call you. Hawes, okay, because we went with that and just assumed that was the natural nickname and it worked, so I'm pretty pumped about that. Nailed it. Tell Father Haas, we appreciate his service to the community

as well. That's incredible. We appreciate you, Eric. We'll talk to you soon. Appreciate you, fellas. Appreciate you having me on. Ladies of gentlemen, it's Eric Hosmer. That's a good baseball talk, A-Day. We said good baseball talk. Yeah, did you ever cross pass with the Benito Santiago? Probably. Do we know?

Haas. Another role mark. Haas, you still on there? Yo, yo, I'm still there. Do you know Benito Santiago? He was with the Florida Marlins back in the day. I watched him as a fan, but he was a little older than me. He changed the game, didn't he, Hans? All right, thank you.

He changed the game, dude. Hey, fun fact. Jay, you're nailed. You're locked in because his daughters went to my high school about four or five years before I did. So big brain over there, AJ, you're locked in. Thank you very much. Eric Osmer, thank you. Thank you.

He changed the game. You heard it from Oz. Yeah, but you didn't like the Jason. Kendall was getting all that shine. You know, that's what you... I love him. There's a Benito Santiago Jersey in a New York hotel for you.

It's there. The Lae Meridian, yeah. It's kind of waiting on you. It's a good jersey. Yeah. It's a good jersey. Might have forgot that one there. Dude, Jason Kendall coming up to us at the home run derby.

What a moment, man. That was awesome. That was huge. I thought he was taller. I was, you know, because the way that bat looked in his hand. It just looked like he was spanned. It looked like here was a fuck toothpicking out here. I didn't like to hear that you play a kid's city.

I didn't remember that. It just at the end of his career. No, he was a one buck-o-hack guy. But then it sounds like he did stick around in Kansas City for a bit and kind of called that home. Well, they gave him a job. So what's he trying to do? Is he trying to, he's trying to. Be the GM, maybe?

GM skipped it. Is this real? Has this been rumored or no? No, not that I've heard, but, you know, my ear is not super close to the ground. Hosmer brings that up, and I'm like, yeah, I've been saying that to me. You said it publicly. I guess I agree. We do need Jason Kendall back in there.

Maybe the owner. Baseball is cooking. The NFL is obviously. Absolutely scorching hot right now. Scorching hot. Baker Mayfield's disrespectful. Vita Vez got a back tweak he once out of time. Tampa Bay, what's going on, Donner?

Is it really the Saints time down in the NFC South? After a couple years of saying, we're going to suck, but that's the way it is. Panthers? They already got the injury bug, though. Well, not only the Panthers with the injury bug, got an ACL down there, but, I mean, how about everybody else that's currently starting their trek to the top of the Lombardi Mountain? You got Chop Wood-Cary Water in Philly. You got Sean McVeigh in L.

LA. You got shitty grass in LA with Dallas. There's so much to talk. We're back tomorrow. Goodbye. What a lead. What a lead into a brand. Yes. Just what an absolute. So much hope for like 30 teams. Arizona Cardinals have no hope. I don't know. Jacoby's

kind of slinging. He is kind of spinning. Yeah. So what two teams are you talking about then? The bucks. Oh, okay. They got Baker Mayfield as a quarterback. Let's remember that. Bad vibes, though. You don't want bad vibes. I mean, horrendous vibes. He was wildly transparent there, and that was just, hey, how are you feeling about the contract?

Well, thanks for asking. So, disappointed, a little disrespectful, I think. And then he started talking about how whenever you compare me to different quarterbacks that I certainly am allowed to be compared to, it's just what they offered versus what I am and where I think I've earned and what they've said I am. I think just, you know, a little bit, a little bit disappointing, a little bit disrespectful. It's like, whoa, okay, that does sound very negative. And the fact that he was saying it at a Tampa Bay Buccaneers press conference after he just got done with Tampa Bay Buccaneers practice

saying this team normally operates like that. It's a bummer, dude. I'm going to be honest. It kind of stinks how this is all the things going. It does feel like bad vibes. But could it be the best Baker Mayfield because now he's hunting a bag again and hunting respect and hunting like, you know, everything. His entire legacy, it feels like.

Potentially this is an entire angle by Baker to start cooking a little bit. Yeah, I mean, it's bad vibes right now. but, you know, this kind of does underscore what he said, like, hey, I'm going to, I'll address all the contract stuff right now and then I'm not talking about this shit again. So as opposed to having to answer these questions for the, you know, the entire season or the first, like, 10 weeks until he says, like, hey, I'm done. He's, you know, like, let's get all the dirty laundry out there right away. This gets really bad. And then by the time the season comes, you know, it probably blows over a little bit. Let's ask Coach Fangio, what do you think about Baker's response about Tampa Bay Buccaneer stuff?

I'm going to be like Fauci and just take the Fifth Amendment on questions. This guy. What's his problem, you think? I don't understand. He doesn't know. Maybe he has. Maybe it is Fangio over. Could be Fangio over. Maybe we could ask a guy on Monday, see if he takes a fifth. He did like a 400-page document on it.

500. 500 pages. Sure, he's not taking a picture. Do you mind if I, I believe, was the thing? Go ahead. after consulting with many doctors having many tests run also Joe Rogan RFK Jr. I've come to the conclusion that my body and this not good now I will be taking care of myself and everything I have

access to a lot of things but that's case this guy's fucking killing people for a while time oh yeah I'm done with it he agrees on it. I don't know. His phone's just saying I'm out of here a couple different times. What's the deal? Don't want to be a part of that? That's a pretty big moment in our life history.

I think whenever they're going to tell that story, being absolutely buried by the entire globe. Yeah. He's certainly a part of that. That was a wild time to be alive. That was a wild time to be alive. And the good news is, it seems like we're only going to learn more and more. Yeah.

Yeah, it sounds like we're going to learn, find out about it all. Let's just keep it all. Let's make sure we remember for the future, though, everything. Right? That's on us. I don't think people are going to forget. I hope not. Well, that's what I'm saying.

That's kind of on... No, they tried it again this year with that one disease, and we're like, no, we're not doing that again. Okay, so that's within a couple years. We're talking, we gotta remember this. I'll write a history book. That was crazy. You'll write a history book?

I don't know. Is it going to be in your serious voice, or is it going to be in your... What is it going to be? About what? About taking notes and never forgetting. That should be the name of it. I like that.

Chop Wood, carry water. Take notes. never forget. I didn't love that speech. The internet loved it. And for Siriani, I'm happy for him, because that is very rare for anything that he said. But it covered all the thing. Details, work hard, you know, buy in. Kind of a theme. Like, every team, I would assume, has kind of

a coach has kind of a theme going into each season of what what it's going to be. All the same tenets. You know, it's just like, how do you deliver the message? Which is why books, searching, AI, other people, other coaches. Because when the message is not being delivered in a manner that is worthy of paying attention to. It's probably not going to be hurt.

So that was Chopwood-Carywater. He said he was sending these books two players on the team. Feels like as soon as he was reading that, Siriani was like, yes, this is exactly what I'm looking for. And they'll buy into that. Teams have mantras. It's got to be hard. Like, what is he?

He's, you're five there, you're six there? And like, majority of that team is, they've been together for so long. So it's got to be hard for coaches to be like, all right, New Year, I've got to find a new message for these guys that have heard me talk. No, same message. Same message. New wording.

Yeah, new delivery. Yeah. Yeah, that's work hard. Details. Accountability. Yeah. That is every speech that is given in any football thing, you know, buying in. It's where college coaches have the event.

There's no secret. That's what's tough. Like, there's no secret to, like, it's all, like, work, consistency. It's all the boring stuff. But how do you present it to get the guys to digest it and not just like, all right, here we go again? Chuck Pagano with the Belgian pretzel. That was my favorite. I'm like, how?

You must be getting so bored, so bored. Guy did a banana split, but he was Belgium, so they call it the Belgian pretzel. He said every time he goes to wrestle, they would expect the Belgian pretzel, you know? They wanted to do it. Prezzo, pretzel, pretzel. Prachel. And then one day, he didn't do it. He did something different and got to win.

He kept people guessing. Some message about it. You got to take whatever play is there for you. You don't have to do what you think is supposed to be done. It's like, I forget what the message it was. And all I remember just going is, that was the most ridiculous tie-in I've ever fucking heard. Because he was trying to chant in German, too, I think, for us.

Yeah, it was unbelievable. And now we know Chuck a little bit. Yeah. It's a show up there. Well, that's what it is. Yeah. Trying to captivate people, you know, especially this generation, they're on the phone.

We're scrolling. We need 10-second increments of everything. It's like, you've got to get up there and reach people. That is a tough thing to do. And you know, sorry, but don't. And you know that you're being filmed, and this is going out to the world as well a lot of times. That makes it, that's a whole different dynamic for those head coaches.

Like, hey, some of them walk in there nervous to speak in front of a whole team and the coaches, but now, they're going to throw this thing on the internet and they'll see how everybody responds. And those social media teams certainly have a good sense of feel. You heard our today. Oh, man. Man. They're bad, dude. It's getting bad.

I think we have an epidemic here. And I don't want to, no, I'm not going to get any of it. Positive vibes going into a C-C. Yeah. Positive vibes going on the season. Positive vibes. CJ Straub should have never had that happen to him. No.

Somebody should have looked at that, had a little bit of an idea or a thought, like, hey, we should protect our fucking quarterback maybe. You know who had to do it? Paul Wall, baby. Paul Wall had to come into our comment section in TikTok and say, we stand with our brother, C.J. Strout. Especially when the next day, when he's walking down the steps and he has his uniform on his hats on backwards,

and it's like, okay, that looks like C. Yeah, you take the video, you look at you're like, why did he wear this outfit? Why is he walking like that? we can't put that out. Yeah, bingo. Just like the Russell Wilson, that's ride. Yeah, yeah.

It's like, you got to watch that and just automatically know that, boy, this guy's going to get fucking smoked. Absolutely fucking fried. It's going to be an air frying, okay, which, by the way, is operating in the Thunderdome as we speak right now. AJ, we're taking a trip back in time, man. Taking a trip back in time today. With an air friar?

Yeah. Well, what was the name of the pizza? How many sides did it have? Five, six-sided. I think it was six-sided pizza. it was on Wednesdays in Plum High School's cafeteria and people would sprint down to get it. We found them on Amazon.

We got our hands on them. We got our hands on them. Yeah. So we're making about 30. Mexican pizza, though. Yeah. Oh, it's awesome. It was titled Mexican pizza, but I don't know what necessarily made it Mexican pizza.

But I'll tell you, Wednesdays, Mexican Pizza Day, move the needle. I think it's because it's salsa instead of red sauce. And Plum High School, maybe it tasted. So Plum High School's, not me. I was always a me and. or I didn't, I was never, you know, which I did kind of sometimes wonder why I didn't want to run like everybody else. You know, I often thought about that. You want to conform.

That might be a bigger part of the story here. We go in Wednesdays for lunch. Anyways, people sprinting out of classrooms to get down here because the line ends up being long. And you might have to wait, eight, nine, ten minutes to get your hands on some of this Mexican pizza. So we found him and we're having it. And Nick doesn't have to punch anybody or punch any books out or run and sprint or check them. to get this like it is a normal Wednesday back at Plum High School. We made it, AJ.

Yeah, we finally made it. We did. Look at us. You arrived. You know, the strip, you know, basketball when you're lazy. Yeah, was Nick big on that, like knocking books out from behind or? I think it's the first time I saw him. Yeah, I think at first time I was like a freshman walking in.

Obviously, the whole school is under construction. Okay, Plum High School, he's what it is. A lot of people know me because of the soccer shit, you know, what's going to happen. I'm walking in there a little bit nervous and anxiety. And I legitimately think it was the first fucking set of stairs. I think it was the first thing it was like right in front of me. Boom, got punched it out,

fucking Nick. His books go flying. He was giving swirlies, peeing in people's locker. I'm like, oh my God, dude. I'm like,

oh my God. What did you do? What did he do? Yeah, it was like, in my head it was like a movie. I don't know what happened in real life. I don't know what happened in real life.

But like, I was like, all right, never walking around with books. You know, those books went right in the locker. I never brought those things out one time. Not going to be dealing with that.

Yeah, right. That was when they banned the backpacks. It was what had to be done. Oh, you were standing against authority trying to take away our freedoms of having a backpack. Yeah, I loved having that backpack. It was a nice place to keep all your things.

And then once they took that away, everyone had to carry everything around their hands. You'd see people carry it. I remember, a couple of kids had some lists in our school, so people wanted backpacks to not be around because, you know, those types of things. That was a big day for me when I found out from Guy that I was not on his list from two years ago.

That was so cool to find out. A happy Gilmore moment. It was. Yeah. That was real. That actually happened, AJ. That was fucking crazy thing. Kid leave school, obviously.

They go get him. He goes to, you know, mental hospital or whatever. Comes back. Similar, but clearly different, you know? I just go up and start talking to him. Like, excuse me, I just need to know. I've been thinking about this. Told me I was good.

That was so fun. That was such a good day. And then I want to start rattling off like other people's names. I was like, all right, tell me about a star monster, star monster. Yeah. He was, yeah, okay, got it. Tone Diggs, you know, yeah, okay, he's a little younger, okay? How about Nick?

Did he? Yeah, yeah, got it. Right at the top. I only bullied my friends. Yeah, well, I didn't look like that the first time I saw it, but, I mean, that is how you have to do it. And nowadays, can't bully because, you know, you shouldn't. Exactly. You can't bully because you should.

You can't, boy, because he shouldn't. You're right. That's real. I remember having some real anxiety walking in that place and then seeing that, like the first thing being like, oh, fuck, here we go. Dude, we are in it right now. Had my shaved legs in my hair, you know, spiked up.

I was right in the middle of my suck tanning. You know, that's beginning of school year, too. I'm in the best shape that I've ever. Just look like the biggest, hey, fuck this guy. Walking in, you know? Yeah, there was a lot of that. Just, oh, my God. I'm going to get murdered around here.

Palm High School, you know, I think you get through there, especially in our time. I do feel he was quite a feat. You know, there's a lot of distractions, a lot of opportunities. That's right. And we did it. Shout to the Mustangs. That was your motto? What's that?

Armandt. We're all Mustangs here. We're all Mustangs here? We're big group. That's the one where you say players play ballers ball. That was a secondary. On the outside of the school? That was a secondary motto.

Yeah, we didn't know that was the motto until we left and looked back and we're like, you know what, that's fucking where ballers ball and the players play. Got it. I did read an article. It was sent to me in a screenshot version by Drew Schaffino talking about and this is a very niche group of people who didn't know we're talking about here.

Club Jets, which is an under 21 club. So we had the East Hills of Pittsburgh multiple under 21 clubs whenever we were teenagers. And I don't know if that's a normal thing. Did you guys have that? That wasn't really a thing in Iowa. Maybe a couple places, like certain bars

would do like, you know, teen nights or whatever, but no, not like a place that was dedicated to like under 21. AJ, did you do, uh, did you guys have under 21 clubs? Yeah, they did have something. And then they got to give you the big X's on your hands if you're not 21. Yeah, no, I'm talking. Only, only, so you didn't have any, there's no booze, no one over 20. Yeah, I was 14 going, 13, 14 going to the club Quake, which was in, uh, Monroeville. And then club Jets was over at Harmerville. Drew Schaffino, Great Hooper.

He wrote an article about it. Somebody's screenshot in the center of me. He was a nice trip back in time. Shout to Pittsburgh, man. I cannot wait to get back there for training camp. Now, granted, that's late show you about part of St. Vincent University. It's not necessarily Pittsburgh, but like such a football community, such a football town.

And us going to training camp, I think it's going to start feeling even more real. Like, hey, we're fucking in it. Especially it sounds like this Steelers training camp, like there's going to be ample juice. First day of pads. There's going to be some popping. Anxiety, like we just talked about walking into high school when you watch Nick just bully somebody immediately. It's like there's to be a little bit of juice, a little bit of anxiety.

Even for 10-year vets like T.J. Watt, first day of pads, always brings a little bit of extra something. Coach McCarthy's first full day of pads as a Pittsburgh Steeler coach, obviously a lot of people back in Pittsburgh have been talking about how big of a yinser he is, how long he's been a yinzer, and how much he loves representing the Steelers. And we mentioned it earlier, and I saw it got a little bit of run on the internet. there was no juice at that practice last year. I mean, AJ, I don't want to talk out of pocket because obviously we like Aaron and Aaron's quarterback and everything like that.

But I don't think the quarterback is necessarily the person that's bringing juice at practice. You know, the quarterback's got a lot of shit going on. It felt like there was no juice on the field. And I guess we kind of just, oh, they're super professional here. Like, oh, it's just kind of do your job, kind of keep it moving. But the more I thought about it, it was like, man, I don't know if I'd even be able to stand on that field.

It was so hot. too. Hot, quiet. Yeah. It was like, it was just a weird. Big mic change practices to the morning. Yeah, because of how hot it is, actually. And he's probably heard a lot of complaints.

I assume he heard from a lot of people about what would be best, and he obviously has his own ideas, his own system. He's won a lot of football games. But it's like that juice last year, the lack of juice was palpable most, AJ. It was a weird, I mean, my first time ever being there. But yeah, I remember going to Bengals camp when I was a young kid. I figured where college, and it was. They went to now that Georgetown College.

go to. I remember watching those guys run from drill to drill. Like there was a ton of juice there. It felt like at least as a youngster for me. So yeah, seeing that at Pittsburgh was, it's also like the setting too. Like what a, what a unique historical place that they go and all the people. Like it is, they have a special thing going on. I would imagine big Mike and the boys have everything really amped up over it. I think so too. And I think they're all all in. I think everybody's like really excited for everything that coach McCarthy's brought. And we just talked about messaging. I mean, Coach Tomlin was there for so long. So like, you know, He steps away at the end of last season abruptly out of nowhere, seemingly,

but I think a lot of Steelers fans were potentially excited for maybe a next chapter. I think he is as well. He'll do good on TV. We know that he's great speaker, but McCarthy's come in, and just like we talked about, he's super diligent, man. Coach McCarthy is a super diligent guy. He was with us. It appears that's the case everywhere.

And if he wins in Pittsburgh, oh, jeesh. He's already got McCarthy Avenue over in Green Bay. Sure, sure. He has that in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, he fucking died with small on his face, what he said. Oh, man. I assume that's what he would say. We don't want him to die, but I'm just saying that's what he would say.

Yeah, he would. And that would be awesome. AJ, I did want to ask you because he came out, they're not going to live tackle in camp. He said he learned a lot about his first time coaching in Green Bay that there's a lot of live tackling. Did you see him say that? I did see him say that. I was a bit surprised.

I mean, I think I've told you guys on the show. Mike came in and told us years that, like my first. year in Green Bay was his first year in Green Bay. Well, his first time was head coach. And he told us a couple years. And he's like, well, I should have been throwing him jail how I'll practice you got earlier, like when he first got there. How we used to, like, it was, it was pre-lockouts.

I think my first five years before the lockout situation. So there wasn't the rules really on training camp. So first practice was 8 a.m. full pads. Second practice was 6.30 p.m. full pads. Huge chunk of time. No nap time. Just lifting in meetings for all day long. Yeah, it was, it was a great, for me, it was a great, like, introduction to the

NFL. I'm like, all right, this is what we're doing. And then there was never a question of whether we're wearing pads or not either. It was like, yeah, what are you talking about? It was football. Yeah, and I like that Mike McCarthy has been able to change, you know, like I think he, because you look at him, you hear him talk, you think this guy definitely stuck in his ways, definitely whatever. And it's like, I feel like he is vastly different than anything you could just expect.

Mark Caboli, our correspondent on the Pittsburgh Steelers beat, he says, hey, you just chill out. Jeez. Steelers catching up with the times. by not tackling at camp. You don't think Mike McCarthy is a tough guy? He's a tough guy. We don't need to be taking people to the ground, okay, here in training camp. We got an old roster. We got a lot

of guys who made a lot of tackles in games. Let's assume they'll be able to tackle. But I saw the local people saying, if we can't tackle where's the fuck the first couple weeks, this is all on fucking McCarthy. I think that is what they're saying. A thousand percent. And if that does happen, that will, 100% will be said a million

times on public radio, public sports radio the entire day. But yeah, I mean, this is I mean majority of the teams I feel like to do this though I don't know you're still hitting you're still yeah you're still hitting they were not hitting there's still plenty of contact but you don't have I mean if you want to thud and drive your feet on a ball carrier yeah but to say you're not going to the ground I understand Aaron was playing linebacker yesterday hey J do you think uh

excuse nobody said hey J you get excited whenever you watch a little film to maybe put that riddle right onto somebody's Adams apple again do you think about that maybe a cobra strike somebody especially with all these highlights we're seeing him from around camp. These boys are getting after it. They're thud and they're throwing helmets. They're fighting. They're scrapping.

I mean, it's early, but are you getting jacked up? You know, just 20 years ago, today, you signed your big deal with the Green Bay Packers. You get jacked up to go fucking cobra strike somebody again, AJ, right now when you see these people. No, I'm not realistic. I understand I'm not going to be doing that with anybody at the time. But there's something about this time of year. This actually made me feel good about the Bengals.

You know, the Bengals have been, they've had a slow start these last, last, what, two, three, four years, whatever it is, maybe this is what they need. Maybe this is what they need, a little instigator on the defense to get the offense going. I'll tell you what, Dave is certainly instigator,

not only hear with Chamar Chase, and he said afterwards that he wants to fight every day. Shit, that's what's happening. He also just was a backpack on Gisicki as well, and there's a little bit of a sprawl and a little bit of a scrum there. Joey Burrow and Dexter Lawrence shared some words there. Davis 35 on top again,

trying to strip, sack him, not even wearing pads. They're wearing skelly right there, I think. and he's going taking him to the ground. I love it. And obviously, if they didn't want him to be doing that, they'd be telling him to stop. And then Dexter Lawrence and Joey Burrow at Ken,

wait a seat today. You see it every day. It's like, wow, the defense has kind of been the problem in Cincinnati. Now it feels like the defense starting day one is trying to change that narrative. Actually, we're kind of the ones around here. But if it gets a week one, two, three, four, and they're just getting 50 to 49 games, a lot of people are going to wonder

why 35 are starting fights with the motherfuckers they're actually doing good. You know, people are going to wonder that, you know? And I assume that's what Jamar Chase and everybody's wondering. Like, who the fuck? What? What are we doing here? You're coming after us?

No, no, no. You guys need the, I like the attitude. If it works, I love it. But if it doesn't, there's going to be a lot of, like, do you remember when Jamar Chase is maybe our best player and Jalen Davis is trying to fight him the first day at training camp? Like, people are going to say that if it doesn't work. But I feel like I like the mentality from this defense.

defense saying it is our job to carry this team and maybe if they're able to piece it together that a fc north is up for grabs a j a lot of people saying that tone diggs is scared of the big bad Cincinnati bangles that would be a wild accusation they're saying scared would it you're watching his highlights going they're not even tackling in Pittsburgh and he's been a two team division for two decades Joe burrow made a Super Bowl he's won air he did make way from winning a super ball he did he did that was that one year yeah you're not wrong They're back to doing what they do, though. A little sense of urgency would be nice,

because I think everyone knows, hey, if we don't win this year, then our head coach is getting shit-canned. D.C.'s probably following him, and who knows? This might just be the ticking time bomb on Joe Burrell, wanting to get the fuck out of Cincinnati. No. There's a chance. God, it's not a full red emergency 911 situation.

I think they're going to play good. They've got a 10-and-a-half over under at Traff Kings. Pittsburgh Steelers, 8-5. People love the Bengals this year. They are the trendy pick to win a Super Bowl. I like that they're fighting. 10 and a half. It's a lot of wins.

Yeah, that seems like a lot. Baltimore Ravens, new head coach, 11.5. Where the hell are the Cleveland Brats? Five and a half? Who's playing QB, AJ? Because did you hear what Mike Tannenbaum told us? He said, you've got to cut ties with this to Sean Watson. I don't care how much you're paying them.

Get them out of town. that could be on your roster next year. Put Shador in there right now. Let's learn about what we have. How do you feel about that situation? And five and a half over under, they're getting a lot of chatter, which is very abnormal, I think, for a team with five and a half over under. Yeah, there is a lot of chatter.

But when I heard Tannenbaum say that, it did make me kind of reconsider how I've been looking at the Brown situation. You're like, I thought, yeah, of course, Deshaun will most likely be the guy. They hope they can ride him, and hope he plays well. If not, you plug Shador in there, give him some energy, and he becomes the dude. but to think that Chador could be the guy from day one, I don't know. When Tandemam said that, I'm thinking, all right, you might be on to something there.

If you feel like Chador is equipped to be your guy, to be your franchise quarterback moving forward, then why not throw them in there early? Well, it's kind of how I feel about Nando, you know. Like we heard what Coach Kubiak said out there in Las Vegas. He said it's competition. Best player's going to play. He didn't come out and say,

Kirk Cousins is definitely our starter. We're going to kind of slow roll for Nando. He came out and said, best player's going to play. It's going to be obvious. You'll be able to see it. That's what I believe is. I think source says close or saying, yeah, it's competition. They like each other.

Obviously, they're getting along. Both sides want everybody to be good. But I think it's been made clear that whoever is the best player is going to play. So you assume that's Kirk Cousins, who has the current lead because he's played a lot of NFL football. And obviously he was brought in there to do that. You assume Kirk is going to continue to do well. But if Fernando, who's six foot 100, number one overall pick is slicing and dicing in practice and figuring it out and picking it all up, you do wonder when they're going to say, hey, we've got to get him reps too.

We've got to get his ass out here because that's always the constant dilemma. Do you want them to get to the better time to get onto the field? Or do you want them to learn and become the better time sooner? Do you need reps? Yes. Do we want them to be bad reps that kill their confidence when they're not ready? No. Okay, so finding that time, I don't think anybody's ever gotten it perfectly right, but you certainly say, well, New England got it right with Tom.

Feels like that was a perfect amount of time behind Drew. Aaron was a perfect amount of time behind Brett Farv. You know, you'd be able to say those types of situations that have. Patrick Mahomes behind Alex Smith was a good time just because it worked out. But Peyton Manning started his first year was terrible. And then obviously he becomes much better, much quicker and carries a franchise to relevance and success for the first time ever. So who knows how it's going to work out. But he said better players are going to play, Ty.

Yeah, definitely. And, you know, I mean, I feel like in these situations, a lot of times in the past, they don't want to throw the rookie in there because they're worried about, like, the offensive line being shit and him just getting beaten to hell back there and losing all of his confidence. they spent a shitload of money on their offensive line. Like, I don't know if that's necessarily going to hamper. Like, I can't see if he starts that Fernando Mendoza would take 80 sacks. Now, if he doesn't know the playbook as well as Kurt Cousins,

obviously you're not going to throw him out there. But from everything we've seen and, you know, we've talked to him plenty of times. Like, I just, I don't know if you get any indication that he is not prepared to start week one if he needs to. A lot of drama around the NFL, a lot of drama in MLB. Yeah. We got WMBA on the back half of their season. A lot of drama in that, too. A lot of drama. Maybe less drama.

Maybe. We'll see. I don't know. Be your friend, tell her friend something nice. It might change your life. We're in this thing together. We're back tomorrow. We can't thank all of you. Enough for allowing us to do this for a living.

All of you. Are the greatest people on earth? All right, AJ, we appreciate you. Team on me. Team on three for the good of sport, baby. One, two, three. Team, three. Goodbye.