The Pat McAfee Show - PMS 2.0 192 - PACKED Thursday. Justin Herbert's About To Get Drafted Tonight, He Stops By. Also, Carson Palmer, Takeo Spikes.. And Of Course Legend, AJ Hawk.

Episode Date: April 23, 2020

On today's show, Oregon Quarterback and potential top 5 pick in tonight's NFL Draft, Justin Herbert joins the show. Pat and Justin chat about what this process has been like for him, which teams he ha...s been in contact with the most, if he has signed a Nike contract yet, what he has been doing to prepare during quarantine, and what he plans to wear on draft night (00:00:50-14:57). Next is another installment of McAfee & Hawk Sports Talk, as Pat and AJ react to the Gronk news, and AJ gives his best guess as to how teams will try to defend the Buccaneers. Plus WWE commentator and Pittsburgh native, Corey Graves joins the show to give his thoughts on Gronk coming back, whether anyone in the WWE thought he was staying there for good, and what he hopes the Pittsburgh Steelers will do in tonight's draft (18:08-1:20:49). Later, former #1 overall pick in the 2003 NFL Draft, 3x Pro Bowler, All-Pro, and friend of the program, Carson Palmer calls in. Pat and Carson chat about his relationship with Joe Burrow and whether he has given him any advice, why he thinks Burrow has the chance to be very successful in Cincinnati, his thoughts on being linked with Burrow potentially not wanting to play in Cinci, and what he sees for the Bucs offense this year with Brady at the helm (1:24:00-1:41:32). Lastly, the 13th pick in the 1998 NFL Draft, 2x Pro Bowler, All-Pro, and host of the Behind The Mask Podcast, Takeo Spikes joins the show via FaceTime. Takeo chats about why he thinks Joe Burrow is going to be successful, what he looked at in a rookie quarterback to see whether or not they were going to be any good, which is more important to draft in his opinion, a stud defensive lineman/end or a cornerback, and who some of the toughest running back's he ever had to tackle were (1:41:34-1:58:01). Don't forget to tune in to tonight's McAfee & Hawk Primetime NFL Draft Super Special at 7:30 PM EST at youtube.com/thepatmcafeeshow. Keep sending in photos of where you listen to the show with the hashtag #ThisIsWhereImAtPat for the chance to win some free merch. Be safe out there. Come and laugh with us, cheers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Well, hello. It is Thursday, April 23rd. The draft is tonight. Here we go. A lot of football news to be talking about. What team is going to change its trajectory tonight? Answer, none of them. Who's going to do something exciting? Who's going to make some moves? Who's going to draft somebody that nobody expected to get drafted and they're going to get booed off the internet, and then it's going to turn out being okay, like the old Danny Dimes draft pick of the Giants last year? Justin Herbert joins us today, and I think you're going to enjoy this conversation with him.
Starting point is 00:00:36 Cool kid. Good convo. Where the hell is he going tonight? I asked. I asked, and I think, by the way, by the way he was talking, maybe you can find out. Let's get to it. Joining us now is a man who's about to hear his name called virtually tomorrow night.
Starting point is 00:00:55 Nobody has a clue where he's going to end up, but I know he's going to be a wealthy man. Coming here because of head and shoulders, wait till you see his incredible flow. Quarterback from Oregon, ladies and gentlemen, Justin Herbert. Atta boy! Look at that hair. Look at... Glad to be here. Thanks for having me. Hey, Justin, that hair looks beautiful.
Starting point is 00:01:15 Thank you. It does take some work. It's kind of the past few years I've realized how much work it is. Fortunately, Head & Shoulders has sent me enough products that I've been able to take care of it. It's been good. Hey, that's a veteran sell right there. I just want to let you know. You might be about to be a rookie. That's a veteran sell right there, Justin. All right, let's dive into it. How are you feeling? Nervous? Anxious? Excited to get this whole thing over with? What is it? I'm fired up. I'm so excited for this whole thing. This is something I've
Starting point is 00:01:43 been waiting for for so long and it's such a great opportunity. And'm so excited for this whole thing. This is something I've been waiting for for so long. It's such a great opportunity, and I don't have a whole lot of control over what's going to happen, but I'm going to make the most of wherever I go. Okay, so everybody said that if you were to come out last year, you would have been top five pick. You come back to Oregon. You win games, obviously.
Starting point is 00:01:59 Now you come into it this year. COVID-19 has come out of nowhere. What has been the experience been like versus what you might have thought that it would have been like if you were to leave a year ago? Yeah, it's been tough. It's been a weird situation and we've done our best to stay safe,
Starting point is 00:02:12 stay inside as much as we can. But fortunately, I've been living with my two brothers and my family. So my two brothers have caught a patch for me and we've been lifting, running, doing everything we need to. So we've gotten all our work. It's just not at the normal facilities.
Starting point is 00:02:24 How have the meetings been going? Because Jerry Jones in the Cowboys released, he was sitting on his couch, okay? He had a clipboard. I think he was taking notes. And on his television was Jalen Hurts, right? And he had a FaceTime or a Zoom conversation with that. Has it been virtual meetings for you daily?
Starting point is 00:02:43 Have those slowed down? How is that whole process of getting to know people, trying to get to know you throughout this entire quarantine? Yeah, they've definitely slowed down. I would say the first couple weeks, early April, late March, were definitely a lot of Zoom, FaceTime calls and things like that. But the past couple days, they've been pretty quiet. I didn't have them up on my TV like Mr. Jones did, but i had them just on my laptop how many times has miami called you uh only a couple times
Starting point is 00:03:10 how have those conversations gone not just with miami but with every team in general what do they want to know about you i saw you i think uh combine you're on with florio and i think his one of his questions or sim's question was the thought that you're from Oregon and you've never lived outside of Oregon is a question for people. Is that something people, oh, great hair flip, great, great hair flip right there. I want to let you know, head and shoulders, that thing looked delicious, but the, what have the questions been for you? Have they just been trying to get to know you as a person trying to figure out, have you talked to anybody other than coaches and GMs? Have they brought any psychologists or anything what have the conversations been like yeah shoot that's that's a really packed question so i'll do my best to unravel that um quarterback a lot a lot of there's
Starting point is 00:03:53 a lot of psychologists that you do i think three or four teams that i've talked to and um a lot of them it's about uh being people think i'm pretty introverted pretty quiet things like that and um i've kind of had to answer that and i don't think i'm very quiet at all and uh if you ask a lot of the guys in the locker room they'd tell you differently and i talk too much sometimes um but it's a lot of just that and uh gm's coaches and things like that so um it really hasn't been too bad it's it's been a fun experience and um something i've really enjoyed this is a two this is this was a two-headed race for the quarterbacks everybody's talking about joe burrow tua joe burrow tua joe burrow tua and i would assume that you were sitting back listening like hey i've been having a lot of conversations with a lot of teams i've done great in my workouts everybody knows
Starting point is 00:04:35 that i'm athletic everybody knows that i'm an academic all-american was there any thought in your team or your camp like hey we should be getting a little bit more of this conversation because here as of late the herbert conversation has come on very strong towards draft time. Or were you guys just kind of like, it doesn't matter who they're talking about right now. Let's wait till the draft. Yeah, I think it's kind of been one of those things you have to filter out information and a lot of everything's going to be said. Everyone's got an opinion on what's going on.
Starting point is 00:05:00 And I think those two are really talented, really special quarterbacks. And it's been a lot of fun. I wish I had more time to watch them during the year just to see how special they truly are. I know how athletically gifted they are. It's been really fun to be able to work out with them, go to the combine with them, and things like that. It's been such
Starting point is 00:05:16 a fun draft process. I've really enjoyed these past couple weeks. Just to be in the conversations, it's really cool. When I was watching you, I forget, maybe you were playing Utah? That was a primetime game, I forget, maybe you're playing Utah. Was that, that was a primetime game, right? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:05:26 Championship. Yeah. You're playing Utah. I think every time they zoomed in on your face, you just had the same face. It was like the same demeanor. It was like, I think you're being perceived as this cool customer.
Starting point is 00:05:38 Is that kind of how you are at all times? You've got the great hair, the head and shoulders flow. You seem to be like this, like very cool, calming presence. Is that an accurate description of the air bear? I'd got the great hair, the head and shoulders flow. You seem to be like this, like very cool, calming presence. Is that an accurate description of the air bear? I'd like to think that.
Starting point is 00:05:49 I would say that being a quarterback position, like you have to handle yourself that way. And the highs are never too high and the lows are never too low. So to kind of be somewhere in the middle and be that guiding presence through adversity
Starting point is 00:06:00 is something that I try to do. That was a great answer. How many times did you give that answer to NFL teams? That was a great answer. How many times did you give that answer to NFL teams? That was the first time. Really? Was there any, like, I don't want to say stupid questions because if you say it and the person that asked you the stupid question
Starting point is 00:06:15 is like, well, we're not drafting him because he said our question was stupid. Was there any questions from those psychologists from teams that you were, like, blindsided by? For instance, when I hired people here, I asked them what kitchen appliance they would be if they were a kitchen appliance a lot of people said fork and knife that is not an appliance i immediately dropped them off the books i'm looking for a microwave more so than anything did you get any questions that were kind of interesting that you
Starting point is 00:06:38 thought like i did not expect to get asked that yeah i could ask uh which coach i'd rather punch in the face head coach offensive, offensive coordinator, quarterback coach. And that was really out of the blue. Who'd you say? Who'd you say? I said the quarterback coach. And why was that? I had kind of a relationship with him, so I knew he'd understand.
Starting point is 00:07:03 Was that a team representative? Was that a GM? Or was that like one of those psychologists? It came from the head coach. And so I was sitting there with all three of them, and they kind of pointed to each other and said, which one would you rather punch in the face? And I kind of looked around and I said, I have to give you an answer.
Starting point is 00:07:20 He said, you have to give me an answer, and just pointed right at the quarterback. Punch him right in his suckle if I heard it. Have you been working out with your brothers? Have you been staying in shape? I would assume that nobody has a clue. Normally when you get drafted, you go to rookie minicamp the next week, and then you go straight into OTAs.
Starting point is 00:07:39 Obviously that's not going to happen this year. What have you been thinking about looking ahead, whatever team you go, how it's going to go forward? I want to get down to the playbook as quickly as I can. From the moment that the draft happens, I want to get the playbook, I want to get everything dialed in and start working on that. We don't really have an idea of when everyone's going to return to normalcy.
Starting point is 00:08:01 So whatever happens, I'll do my best to pick up whatever i can we're one day out from the draft biggest night of your life do you have a sense of what's going to happen no idea really so you're just like everybody on television right now everybody on tv has no idea what's going to happen we have no idea what's going to happen you have a sense you don't even have a sense of what's going to happen not not really. I'm going to do my best to kind of stay out of all the projections and everything like that. I don't have any control over the situation, so whatever happens, I'll make the most of it. You need to get better Wi-Fi before tomorrow night. You need to get better Wi-Fi.
Starting point is 00:08:37 What is the setup going to be? Are you going to be in the basement with the family? Probably just the living room. They sent a bunch of cameras, so my brother set that up, and he'll just be just my family and I in the living room we've we've they sent a bunch of cameras so my brother set that up and he'll just be just my family and i in the living room so what is it it's like they got like one of those like kim kardashian round light things that you put on the uh is it like is one of those setups what is the setup that's that's only for the interviews so that'll be after and uh for the living room it's just a big light bar and an iPhone,
Starting point is 00:09:06 and it's just recording. So you got a free iPhone from ESPN NFL already? No, we have to return it. I knew they were going to get your ass. Hey, by the way, we have enclosed a stamped return for every iPhone that we send you here that's absolutely beautiful. How will you spend tomorrow? You're fired up. You got to be a little bit anxious.
Starting point is 00:09:28 You can't leave the house. Well, you do. Just try to sleep as much as you can so you don't have to overthink what's going to happen. Your whole future, by the way, is being decided tomorrow night. I don't even know if you know that. You're moving to a brand new city
Starting point is 00:09:40 starting tomorrow night. Your family's going to be fans of a brand new team starting tomorrow night. Your mission of being the face of a franchise starts tomorrow night. And I assume you to be fans of a brand new team starting tomorrow night. Your mission of being the face of a franchise starts tomorrow night. And I assume you can't wait for it to get over.
Starting point is 00:09:49 How will you spend from now until then? Because waiting is the hardest part. That's a song. See, that's good. That's really good. I would say probably just
Starting point is 00:10:00 hanging out with my family, kind of just doing things around the house. And I think I'm going to go lift. we've got some good weights in the backyard so uh kind of find things to do throughout the day and just stay busy you going to the dolphins or not i have no idea i don't know just tell me like 305 you know you and rick ross down there huh down there on south beach we'll sling the rock in Fort Lauderdale a little bit. I wish I knew.
Starting point is 00:10:28 I wish I had an idea. I am sick of it, Justin. I am sick of it. Head & Shoulders told me. He's coming on. He has great hair. He uses Head & Shoulders products. And he will tell you exactly where he's going to get drafted tomorrow night.
Starting point is 00:10:41 That's what I was told whenever I heard you're coming on the show. They told you that? No, no. I was just trying to force you into it. Trying to force you tomorrow night. That's what I was told whenever I heard you're coming on show. They told you that? No, no. I was just trying to force you into it. Trying to force you into it. Hey, I can't thank you enough for your time. Diggs, you have any questions for this guy? I was going to ask it. Are you still wearing a suit tomorrow?
Starting point is 00:10:55 Great question. We were actually told not to wear it, so I'll just probably be in some casual wear. I feel like it'd be weird to be in a suit and sitting on the couch so uh just something to wear normal and kind of just look good i guess i'm not too sure have you signed a nike deal yet i've not really out of oregon i would assume that phil knight would have locked you down immediately he wants to see what happens tomorrow night too huh that's wild that is absolutely wild.
Starting point is 00:11:26 I mean, I've always been loyal to Nike, and I will be, so I know one day... Justin, shut up. Stop it. Listen, don't say that. Justin will wear Adidas if Nike doesn't come to the table with a massive... Your agent didn't say that. You're from Oregon. You didn't say that. I am here
Starting point is 00:11:42 saying that if Adidas comes with the bag, Justin Air Bear will head right to the three stripesville is that right nope i can't comment on that oh my god justin you need a little leverage here they think they got you because you're a kid from the town where nike was created they think they got you they're gonna try to come in there and lowball that is not the justin herbert deal that i am looking for with that could have hair that could have a there and lowball. That is not the Justin Herbert deal that I am looking for. With that good of hair, that good of a brain, and potential number five pick overall to the Miami Dolphins, I think we need a big-time Nike deal.
Starting point is 00:12:12 What's your fee to represent people? I'd say standard 45%. I'm not great. I'm not a good agent. But I'll get you a good deal. I'll get you a good deal. Do you play video games or anything like that? A little bit.
Starting point is 00:12:27 What's your game? Call of Duty? I have played that a little bit, but I'm not very good at all. What's your game? Madden. Well, it's not really my game. I'm not very good at that either. I'm not very good at any video games.
Starting point is 00:12:40 I think they're just kind of fun. What are hobbies for you? I like to golf. Oh, so you're a classic quarterback here. Yeah yeah you're just quarterback through and through how's your game pretty good you got like a handicap or anything like that uh not really it's i can hit the ball long ways but it's just not very straight do they have golf courses in oregon yeah they do a lot i've never been i've never been i've heard it's awesome i've heard great things i've never been to o've heard it's awesome. I've heard great things.
Starting point is 00:13:06 I've never been to Oregon. I have never in my entire life been there. What do you think? Do you think your athleticism is underrated? I would say so. I think so, by the way. The last two games of the year, Utah and Wisconsin, are kind of games that we kind of have more read aspects,
Starting point is 00:13:25 more zone read type stuff in the game plan. And I thought that really helped our team. Utah and Wisconsin are kind of games that we kind of have more read aspects, more zone read type stuff in the game plan. And I thought that really helped our team. And that's kind of one of the things that we looked at, thought we had an advantage with. Yeah, because stupid Orlovsky, okay? Dan Orlovsky, stupid, stupid Dan Orlovsky, okay? He's on ESPN.
Starting point is 00:13:39 He's on Get Up Every Morning. He was in the NFL a long time. He said Tua is a thrower. Herbert is more of an athlete who's going to have to learn how to. And I'm like, well, why is that a bad thing? I don't think that's a bad thing to have a guy who's athletic on there. So anything Dan says,
Starting point is 00:13:51 I hope you understand that that dumb guy has nothing to do with what anybody else thinks. I think he's pretty smart. I've gotten to know him a little bit. He's dumb. He normally has good things to say. You can call him stupid if you want. would actually enjoy that i can't i'm on ladies and gentlemen from head and shoulders camp great hair we don't know if he's going to be with nike or adidas or even underarm
Starting point is 00:14:19 let's keep those options on the table justin This is now a business and not a game. Tomorrow night, about to get very wealthy with incredible hair from Oregon. Justin Herbert. Thank you, Justin. Thank you, guys. Hey, good luck, man. Before you go here, who did you do your most interviews with? There were a few teams.
Starting point is 00:14:40 I would say probably the Chargers, the the the dolphins are probably the two most teams i interviewed with okay thank you so much i'm putting together a mock draft right now you just made me sound a lot smarter ladies and gentlemen thank you man good luck dude you're gonna do great enjoy the hell out of this you guys see ya sorry for interrupting this fabulous conversation i mean we were really talking good huh oh yeah hey i was proud of what we were talking yeah great stuff i mean you're not gonna hear that anywhere else i was like you know what those guys right there the way they're talking good you know i hear you really good um with the ever increasing number of makes of cars you know you got fiat. Sure. Kia. Yeah. Hyundai. Yep. Honda. Mm-hmm. Jeep.
Starting point is 00:15:25 Yeah. GM. Yeah. Yukon. No, I missed it. Chevrolet. Chevy. Ford.
Starting point is 00:15:30 Yeah. Cadillac. The list goes on and on. Genesis. Eagle. Lincoln. Saturn. Ferrari.
Starting point is 00:15:41 Tesla. Lamborghini. Audi. Volvo. Beamer. ferrari tesla lamborghini audi uh volvo beamer mercedes did you already use that no but i was just in germany though that's like in my head i couldn't maserati go to italy ferrari lambo anyways there is a never-ending number of car mix these days and models now let's go pacifica civic wrangler camry yukon escalade sport i'm done i'm done it is now impossible to stock all the parts you could potentially need for a car in a traditional chain storefront. Why endure the often pointless or seemingly intimidating questioning?
Starting point is 00:16:30 Excuse me, is your car the Odyssey LX, PX, DX, OX, or EX? It's like, I don't know. I fucking bought it two years ago. They're like, well, what type of thing is this? It's kind of an intimidating thing because you feel like an idiot because you don't know every single thing about your car, which is what the people at the chain storefront need. And all they're going to do is type it into their little computer and they're only going to be able to offer you whatever they have in the store. And that's why rock auto is a very rock auto.com is a very different operation.
Starting point is 00:16:59 They have everything your car could potentially need. And it's very easy to utilize rockauto.com is a family business business serving auto part customers online for over 20 years go to rockauto.com and shop for auto and body parts from hundreds and hundreds of manufacturers they have everything from engine control modules and brake parts to tail lamps, motor oil, and even new carpet for your damn car. Everything you could possibly need, rockauto.com has. Your traditional chain storefront just can't have everything that they have at rockauto.com. Best of all, prices at rockauto.com are always reliably low, and the same for professionals as do-it-yourselfers.
Starting point is 00:17:41 Why spend up to twice as much for the same damn parts? Go to rockauto.com right now and see all the parts available for your car or truck. Write McAfee in there, hey, how'd you hear about us, box, so they know that we sent you. That's right, McAfee in there, hey, how'd you find out about us, box, so that they know that we sent you. Amazing selection, reliably low prices all the parts your car could ever need right now at rockauto.com with the news that broke just yesterday in the nfl with gronkowski and then cory graves commentator for friday night smackdown wwe wants to come on the show we had to go live i am pat mcafee sitting to my left with the blue shirt blue eyes incredible jawline a j hawk how's it going aj good man what were you uh so when did the news break like officially for gronk yesterday everything sometime right
Starting point is 00:18:33 everything cooked in like 15 minutes there was always the rumors right that gronk isn't officially done with football he's thinking about maybe coming back tom brady going to tampa bay everybody was assuming maybe this means Gronkowski we said on our show that this probably means Gronk is going to come back other people had it and then bang 15 minutes it went from rumors are circling that the Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in the middle of a potential trade sending Rob Gronkowski and then like 10 minutes later it was like bang Rob Gronkowski is back he's been traded from the Patriots to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers alongside a seventh-round draft pick for a fourth-round pick in return.
Starting point is 00:19:09 A couple quick questions for you, AJ. I've covered this ad nauseum already for the last 24 hours. We haven't heard your take on it yet. Do you think adding Gronkowski to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers makes them an unstoppable offense? Before we've ever seen them take one snap, they haven't done a virtual snap on that offense. They don't know Bruce Arian unstoppable offense. Before we've ever seen them take one snap, they haven't done a virtual snap on that offense. They don't know Bruce Arian's offense.
Starting point is 00:19:29 I'm not sure they've met Mike Evans or Chris Godwin yet, but does that offense become unstoppable with the addition of the greatest tight end to ever play whenever he was healthy and playing again? I mean, on paper, absolutely. They look unstoppable. I don't know what you're going to be able to do defensively. You better hope the Tampa Bay offensive line doesn't hold up
Starting point is 00:19:48 and you can get to Tom, get a ton of pressure on him, force him into some poor decisions. But, no, adding Gronk is gigantic for this Tampa Bay team. They already have Godwin and Evans on the outside. Now you have Gronk in the middle to kind of stretch the field and attack the middle of the field. And Gronk's not a burner, but I think just strictly off of his physical tools and what he has, he's just such a threat there in the middle.
Starting point is 00:20:08 Who do you cover him with? Do you put a safety on him? Do you put a linebacker on him? Do you put like a slot corner? You double him most of the time, but it doesn't matter. A lot of times Gronk is big. He's long enough. He's physical enough where he can get open.
Starting point is 00:20:20 So I think he's gigantic for the team. And, you know, by the way, he's a great blocker too. Stud blocker, which doesn't get talked about enough because you see his spectacular catches and his his gronk spikes and his demeanor but he's an animal on the line takes a lot of pride in that a lot of people are saying he's washed up because he retired he's 30 years old I would say that he's almost rested as opposed to washed up it feels like he's probably rested and revitalized to get to a new place alongside Tom anybody in New England that's talking about that is spinning the narrative that Tom's old Gronk's washed up this means absolutely nothing a fourth round draft pick is good enough I think that's insane I think Gronkowski's maybe going to play his best football he's ever played
Starting point is 00:20:59 and with Mike Evans helping him out I mean that's like having Randy and Gronk on the same team you can't have a safety on top of Mike Evans which I assume they had that's like having Randy and Gronk on the same team you can't have a safety on top of Mike Evans which I assume they had to do a lot of because he's a deep ball threat but now that Gronk's there they have to have a safety covering there how do you cover everybody this is like the Kansas City Chiefs but instead of Travis Kelsey and the outright speed they got just physical specimens in Mike Evans Godwin and Gronkowski I mean it feels as if I don't know what defensive setup it could be, because if you bring the pressure, then that's a quick dump to Gronkowski, isn't it?
Starting point is 00:21:29 So it's like a live by the sword, die by the sword. I don't know how the hell you're going to stop him. I have no idea either. It's kind of pick your poison. Who do you want to try to double? Okay, let's say this series, we're going to go out there, we're going to try to double Evans, and then Gronk and Godwin tear you apart. And so every game, you're probably going to be playing this little, you're going to be mixing double Evans. And then Gronk and Godwin tear you apart. And so every game you're probably going to be playing this little –
Starting point is 00:21:47 you're going to be mixing and matching different personnel groups. Okay, let's try to stop them with big dudes. Let's double Gronk now. And then all of a sudden Evans is going off and Godwin. And then who knows who they're going to be handing the ball off to. They may draft a running back. So, yeah, there's just so many different ways that you have to try to stop these guys.
Starting point is 00:22:04 It's like when I was in Green Bay and we played against Calvin Johnson in Detroit twice a year. We would roll our coverage. We'd have somebody over the top all the time because Calvin Johnson was that much of a monster. He was so good. Would still catch deep balls in double coverage at times. And when you're thinking about defending the Tampa Bay Bucs next year, you can't just focus on one person, obviously. But now you have two, three, four guys you've got to cover. Is O.J. Howard, is he going to be gone on draft night?
Starting point is 00:22:32 When's he going to be off the team? Are they going to keep him on and have three really good tight ends on this football team? Well, allegedly the O.J. Howard-Washington Redskins deal was almost done, sending Trent Williams down to Tampa Bay, sending O.J howard and probably some other things to the washington redskins that fell through that could still be cooking nobody knows what's happening behind the scenes but it feels like these super teams kansas city chiefs are like
Starting point is 00:22:54 a super team i mean that's yeah they are especially if they're looking to get another weapon in the draft like everybody's saying they're thinking about getting old rugs here whatever the fastest guy out there then you look at the 49ers that team's loaded that team and now you look at the the the tampa bay buccaneers they are loaded i mean this is just a place that free agents retired players percy harvard's running up parking garages i mean this is a place that people are going to try to flock to kaka to get down to the buccaneers that old conk call that tom brady did and it was to rob gronkowski that is to everybody in the nfl that's a free agent and potentially retired.
Starting point is 00:23:26 Like, hey, we are building something awesome down here in Tampa. It's warm. There's no state tax. The Super Bowl's here. A lot of our home games and away games are in good spaces. The Saints have a dome. Atlanta has a dome. Carolina's warm.
Starting point is 00:23:41 The NFC South is going to be tough. But, man, what a setup down there in Tampa Bay. Were you a bit surprised that the Patriots only got that fourth-round pick for Gronk? I love that Bill Belichick. Gronk has the leverage, though. Does he? I don't think he does. Yeah, he did because he could have put him in a weird spot.
Starting point is 00:23:57 If he would have unretired, that $10 million salary that he has is instantly on the cap for the New England Patriots. But, no, Gronk waited around, I guess, and they worked worked out the trade so the patriots didn't really have a whole lot of leverage when gronk said he wanted to come back that's interesting to think about because they don't have a lot of salary cap over so it's like 1.2 in the cap but they're one of the lowest teams in the league right now but i think i like to think of belichick just going fuck it bruce arians by the way getting us a seventh rounder too from also hey by the way with gronk we also would like something else and bill's like a seventh or anyone seventh rounder
Starting point is 00:24:31 yeah i'll take that you get a fourth runner okay sounds good i think for a guy who's known to be a ruthless businessman a savage businessman bill belichick here just did not give a damn about this deal and just said as long as we don't have to deal with it get him the hell out of here have him in little tommy boy go have their little fun down in tompa bay the gronkineers will be a lot of fun to watch that's what people are calling it by the way gronkineers could have done that if he really wanted to hold out and say all right hey hey if you want to come back gronk cool you unretired we'll take your your the 10 mil cap hit we'll cut some guys we'll move some money around and make enough space and then gronk could have stood
Starting point is 00:25:04 there and said no i said if i'm coming back i want to play with tom i'm not i don't want to play for the patriots so it could have gotten into a really weird situation good timing right before the draft too because belichick's got a lot of other stuff going on you give belichick like a couple days where he had nothing going on be like yeah yeah we'll have you come back man we'll cut some players too you can come play for us and gronk's like well i'll go back to being a white tiger i guess you know what i mean like mean? I think that is a very interesting way this thing played out. It happened all so quick. I assume conversations were happening kind of over the long haul here
Starting point is 00:25:31 the last couple weeks maybe. But, man, from the moment it was like, hey, things are actually happening to it actually happening was very, very, very quick. AJ, I have a question for you, a hypothetical. Which offense would have been harder to defend, them getting Gronk or them getting antonio brown great and they by the way let's not completely rule out antonio brown yeah bruce arian says they're not going to get him uh i would say getting adding gronk brings another i think that's a little bit more difficult just because it's such a he's he's such
Starting point is 00:26:01 a game-changing guy and so is antonio, but he's another receiver added to that already very deep receiving room. So I think when you put Gronk in there – He's an anomaly, isn't he? Isn't Gronk an anomaly? He's just an anomaly. Yeah, he's 6'6", 265. He never looks like he's really running that fast because he almost looks like he's laboring, but it doesn't matter.
Starting point is 00:26:19 He is fast. He's so long and physical. Like, tacklers can't get into his body. Like, his yards after the catch, not only is it huge for field position and everything and making plays, but it's a gigantic emotional lift to his team, to everybody in the stands. Everyone, we know when Gronk catches and throws three or four guys off and he's just stumbling down the field, the whole place comes alive.
Starting point is 00:26:41 There's so many things, so many boxes i guess that that gronk checks we're not even talking about his him as a red zone threat and oh by the way he's one of the most clutch pass catching players to ever play in the nfl his last catch in the nfl was maybe the most clutch catch in super bowl now that one in the back where they call it the white clark yeah that's the but the one where he's down the seam he makes an insane catch which leads to them winning another i mean it's just anybody that's saying he's washed the one where he's down the seam and he makes an insane catch, which leads to them winning another. I mean, it's just anybody that's saying he's washed up, I think is very confused about what they're about to see from Gronk.
Starting point is 00:27:10 Will he get hurt? Probably. I mean, he's 6'6". He's a big target. He'll probably miss some games, I'd assume. But when you need Gronk, Gronk will be there. He's an anomaly. And what you said was 100% right.
Starting point is 00:27:20 He doesn't get enough credit for how good he is on the line, too. He is Stonewall Jackson, if he wants to be. mean he's just i saw him carry i saw him carry a guy in the stands i saw him block a guy in the stands against us touchdown happened and he's still running the guy into the stands tossed him out the club because he's gronk that's where he is i'm great you know why people also don't give him enough credit because gronk is such a big physical like imposing guy. They say, well, yeah, look how big he is. Of course, he should be able to push guys like that.
Starting point is 00:27:49 No, he shouldn't. There's tons of big guys all over the world that can't push professional athletes and defensive ends on the goal line. They can't get any kind of push. So not only can Gronk do it, he cares enough to do that and help his team. That's the big thing is cares enough. Because Florio and a lot of people have been on this big kick. You can't expect tight ends to block people right in the modern football.
Starting point is 00:28:08 That's like a narrative that gets painted. And then you see Kittle just demolish people. And you see Travis Kelsey even sometimes get in there. He'll throw his body in, but then you see Gronk. He's an extension of the offensive tackle. He is like another offensive tackle out there. And he just has the ability to move.
Starting point is 00:28:23 I mean, it's and Peyyton manning uh clyde christiansen told us that down chattanooga tennessee peyton manning and tom brady had like a two-day summit way back in the day just those two working out talking about football and tom brady told the story on the nfl 100 team when he was there that in that meeting he got a play design that the colts had for d for Dallas Clark basically they pull a guard to the right or something like that everybody would think it's a run and then Dallas Clark would slip out behind the line linebackers it'd be a quick drop overhead he was like we use this
Starting point is 00:28:54 all the time the New England Patriots put it in and Rob Gronkowski scored like 400 touchdowns with the same play like the pulling guard because as soon as you see a pulling guard right as a linebacker you're coming down because you think it's a run right yeah you i mean that's what they're trying to do when they pull a guard and they pass yeah they want you to go up there and try to blow them up and that's the play and i guess now clyde christiansen who is peyton manning's offensive coordinator and quarterback coach through that entire era is the quarterback coach now down at tampa bay with bruce arian's years of knowledge I mean there's a lot of football there's a very high football IQ down there in Tampa Bay I think now granted no OTAs are not
Starting point is 00:29:31 being around each other they're gonna have to learn a lot about each other very quickly when it comes to training camp and such like that but man when you have that many big brains in a building I think only good things can happen and I'm pumped to kind of watch it happen and when you have older guys like Tom Brady and Gronk's not what he's 30 years old, you can't call him old. Yeah. I understand. He's had back issues. Washed up is what somebody said. I mean, that's just asinine to say that he's washed up, not having the off season,
Starting point is 00:29:54 even though they are like Tom and Gronk are both coming from different teams. Gronk's coming from retirement. It's not a bad, like for them not having the off season program, they're going to be fine. It's just extra rest for Gronk's body where he can work out and do what works for him. And Tom, the same thing down in Tampa, throwing footballs off of trees and parks, getting kicked out by the cops.
Starting point is 00:30:12 They can do that, and they don't have to be in there doing what the team is making them do sometimes where it wouldn't be at times, I guess, best for their body. Somebody tweeted to me, is Isaiah Simmons the prototype to cover these athletic tight ends? Yeah, but how many Isaiah Simmons are there? One. Isaiah Simmons is a freak, can play free safety, slot corner, gunner on punt team, and linebacker.
Starting point is 00:30:34 Oh, and he can play DN. Okay, so that's like the people that are like, is Lamar Jackson the quarterback of the future? It's like, okay, if there's another Lamar Jackson just showing up, go ahead and grab him if you can. If you can grab him, go ahead and get it. It's just like I feel like people think that a prototype means this person's going to come around on a regular basis. I don't know if there's a lot of Isaiah Simmons out there. I don't know if there's a lot of Lamar Jacksons out there. And there certainly is not a lot of Gronks out there.
Starting point is 00:30:58 I mean, I understand George Kittle is also a monster and an animal. I understand Travis Kelsey puts up a lot of yards for that offense. But Gronkowski immediately became a game changer for the New England Patriots as soon as he got there upon arrival. Boston Conner's been having a rough morning, dude. Boston Conner's been having a rough morning. Morning, year. But, Pat, Roman Harper was on the show I think last week or two weeks ago.
Starting point is 00:31:19 He mentioned guys like Greg Olson kind of not going for those extra yards like the way Gronk is you know famous for is he going to change his game a little so he doesn't you know get injured like he has in the past that's a great question Connor and good point there because we talked about how T.Y. Hilton had this incredible ability to get down Reggie Wayne had this ability to get down Marvin Harrison had this ability to get down I got to see it personally where whenever they first do it everybody's like oh he's soft doesn't care about the team doesn't want the extra yards and then when they're playing for 10 11 straight maybe years without getting injured it's like oh that's actually being smart Gronkowski does have
Starting point is 00:31:52 that yak and I think Gronkowski has that the trait inside of him where he's not going to slide or go down that just doesn't feel like a Gronkowski thing but maybe a year out of the game realizing how good his body does feel now maybe he will be a little bit work smarter not harder type guy bruce arians talked about how he doesn't mind him being a smaller uh build because he doesn't look as big as he was whenever he was with new england he got smaller he is adding pounds right now because they might be able to flank him out might make him faster do you think gronkowski will have the ability to go down and maybe not take as many hits or is gronk gonna gronk? No. I mean, did you see draft day when all of the Gronks got on stage
Starting point is 00:32:29 and started at a mosh pit right next to Roger Goodell? No, I think Gronk, that's just who he is. And he, I think he lives for that to, to break four tackles, to run a guy over at the goal line, get up and spike the ball. Like that's who he is now. He may at times I'm not, he's never going to slide, but I don't know. I hope for his his sake he steps out of bounds a few times instead of lowering his shoulder on the sideline when that's just the ultimate like okay i'm tougher than you let's just see who can let's have a nice stalemate here on the why why i am going out of bounds like those are the unnecessary hits that hopefully grunt can stay away from do they make eye contact with you do people make eye contact with you when that's about to happen running towards the sideline could just go out turn lock eyes with those
Starting point is 00:33:09 blue eyes of aj hawk and be like i'm gonna fucking give it a go here let's see what happens bang no reason for that just went out of bounds let's take an extra shot those are some of the worst ones too a lot of times neither player will go down the play it doesn't look like a huge shot but if you've been part of some of those you you know you can feel like both guys like oh man that was like a just a nasty stalemate that nobody in the stadium understood but the players on the field could hear it and they've been there and they have felt it and then you get done with it you're like man why do we why why didn't you just go out and i kind of nudge you out of bounds. What are we doing? What are we doing? That was
Starting point is 00:33:45 my classic, by the way, on the sideline hit. I would always bait people to get to the sideline, think that they were faster than me, and kind of then tackle. A bait and tackle technique is literally what I called it. Let me bait them to the sideline, and then I'll kind of close the gap. There was a guy that was a returner for the Kansas City Chiefs. It was when Bruce Arians was acting as our head coach. It was freezing cold. I forget his name. He was a stocky guy. And he was kickoff, I believe. He's running down a sideline, and he makes eye contact with me. And normally, you know, like guys will like either slow down, speed up,
Starting point is 00:34:14 or they'll even kind of drift out of bounds. He made eye contact with me, and I was like, oh, no. Like I know what's about to happen. I threw my entire body at him, right? I like left my feet, threw my entire body at him, and he just like kind of shrugged me off. I did like a little bit of a spin down or whatever. I felt it through my entire spine.
Starting point is 00:34:30 Like my back, like my tailbone was hurting, and I like got up. And Vinatieri was like, how'd that go? I was like, fucking terrible. The guy didn't go down, by the way. The guy just kind of got bumped out of bounds or whatever. And I hope that he felt the same way you're talking about, how he felt a little bit of a shot. But I know entire body hurt i was like i don't know how these guys
Starting point is 00:34:48 do it we're gonna find out who that guy is and ask him if he even remembers that if that was like a memorable thing for him somewhere 34 or something like that it was a memorable moment for me man i'll never forget my entire body hurting on something uh rob gronkowski people don't know this uh we have to call this person so you gotta hang up on aj very quickly uh rob gronkowski people don't know this uh we have to call this person so you gotta hang up on aj very quickly uh rob gronkowski whenever he decided to retire his agent announced that he was going to retire for a lucrative hollywood career something like that right is that right that is correct lucrative hollywood career while he was in the nfl he went and did something for the wwe because mojo r Rawley is one of his best friends.
Starting point is 00:35:26 Okay. So he was a part of the Andre the Giant Memorial Rumble. I believe that happened at WrestleMania. Something along those lines. He came out, gave a shoulder tackle to, oh, what was his name at that time? What was his name? I can't remember who it was. He's an Indian guy.
Starting point is 00:35:45 Jinder Mahal. Jinder Mahal. He's an Indian guy. Jinder Mahal. Jinder Mahal. Gives a shoulder tackle to Jinder Mahal. Mojo Rawley pins him, wins. Gronk then proceeds to chop Mojo Rawley in the chest 10 times, and then they walk off. As soon as Gronk retires, everybody goes, Gronk is going to go to the WWE.
Starting point is 00:36:00 Gronk is going to go to the WWE. Never really happened until WrestleMania. Gronk was the host of WrestleMania, and he walked out of that thing after taking a fall from a 20-foot-high platform, 15-foot-high platform, as 24-7 champ. To talk about that, voice of Friday Night SmackDown, the handsome Pittsburgh native, Corey Graves. Yeah!
Starting point is 00:36:22 That was a more rousing ovation than I've received for anything I've done in the last six years, so I appreciate that greatly. Yeah, but people are supposed to hate you, right? That's true. That's true. And before we get out of the blocks, I want to apologize to Hawk for all the terrible things
Starting point is 00:36:37 I said about you in 2011 when you were beating my Steelers in the Super Bowl. Hey, no hard feelings, man. I get it. All right, cool. Now that's out of the way, we can all be friends and have a great time. Corey, they just showed that game just a couple days ago. We got a chance to watch A.J. Hawk at his absolute finest.
Starting point is 00:36:52 Visor Ben was damn near unstoppable, but the Packers were the trick. You're from Pittsburgh, diehard Steelers fans. We'll talk about that, the moves that you want to see them make in the draft. We'll also talk about potential Ben Roethlisberger coming back from tommy on but the subject of the day rob gronkowski goes back to the nfl did you think rob gronkowski in his first real debut at wwe became a champion did you think he was potentially going to stay with the wwe forever cory no okay that never really crossed my mind i i figured we'd see a little more of him than just over the WrestleMania season. But now in hindsight, I look back and I think maybe Gronk had planned on breaking this news at WrestleMania,
Starting point is 00:37:34 which was supposed to be in Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay. What an ovation that would have been. Oh, my God. Everything is wrestling. Everything is theatrics to me. So I feel like it was a real missed opportunity. But I don't think anyone was truly shocked. That said, he's still the 24-7
Starting point is 00:37:52 champion. So I'm advocating that Gronk is not stripped of the title. I think he should still have to defend the title on the NFL field. Could you imagine that? Like, the Gronk spike, you know, spikes the ball into the 15th row, and then somebody runs out
Starting point is 00:38:08 with the 24-7 title and puts it on him. That could really redefine the end zone celebration. McAfee, you're going to hurt yourself. No, I just did a super kick to DeGronk after he scored a touchdown and I pinned his ass. I'm 24-7 champion. I'm out of here. Well, there it is. There it is. I mean, what's the punting situation
Starting point is 00:38:24 in Tampa Bay look like? Oh, I've already looked into a quarry. Believe me, I hit some balls. I don't know if you've seen this. And we're not smoking the vitamins either. We're trying to figure out whether or not the old body still got it. I was punting last night in my thigh hit my gut. So I got to lose some weight stat. Okay, that's something we're gonna do. But I'm trying to figure it out um cory as a guy who graduated from a western pennsylvania high school and rob gronkowski also graduated from a western pennsylvania uh high school woodland hills um was it kind of a bummer to see that he didn't want to play for the patriots anymore no i uh i i was never really a Patriots fan imagine that but I think I think Gronk
Starting point is 00:39:08 is one of those guys he kind of transcended football like you didn't have to be a Patriots fan to be a Gronk fan and I think you know what he's done with his his own personal brand is awesome and I think you kind of can't help but like the guy even if he plays for the wrong team. So I completely forget that he went to Woodland Hills because he's not from Pittsburgh. He like moved here to play football, right? He went to the Wolverina, which I don't know if that still exists. He got expelled from his high school, I believe. Okay, good, good. So it was out of necessity,
Starting point is 00:39:39 but he ended up playing in for Woodland Hills, which is a big, was a big powerhouse back when, many moons ago, when I was a football fan. Because I've never played a down of organized football in my life. Corey, how was Gronk received with everybody at the WWE as far as performers, front office people? Did people welcome him right away? Yeah, I think any time you get a chance to have somebody of that caliber with his status as an athlete and a celebrity,
Starting point is 00:40:05 I think everybody welcomed him with open arms and was excited for the possibilities of what he could bring to our product. The hardest thing to teach in pro wrestling or sports entertainment is the entertainment. You get a lot of guys that are stupid talented athletes that you put a microphone in front of them and they can't
Starting point is 00:40:22 string together a sentence. Gronk got that part done. He had the entertainment part in the football days. That's why he stood out to the level he did. I definitely think the potential for Gronk to succeed in WWE is a very high possibility.
Starting point is 00:40:38 Who knows? Maybe he wins a seventh ring with Brady. It's seven, right? It'd be seven for gronk i think only has three yeah no for brady yeah he only has a ring and then uh only heads back to the land of of wwe he only has three superbowls think about that aj those motherfuckers in new england dude it's insane he only has three superbowls gostkowski was on the other day. He was like, I played in six Super Bowls. I won three of them. I was like, gee, I mean, that is a different world up there. Speaking of different world, WWE, let's transition to something that you are very, very good at, which is talking about the wrestling. after Florida designated WWE as an essential business.
Starting point is 00:41:28 Obviously, furloughs, layoffs happen, everything like that. But now it's been announced that WWE is not doing live events anymore. After this week, I believe it's the last week of live events. How is that all unfolding? And what have you just been doing? Kind of playing it by ear, and I'll show up whenever you need me. Yeah, your guess is as good as mine, man. The schedule has changed five or six different times. We were going to pre-tape everything,
Starting point is 00:41:47 and then obviously the essential business thing happened. So we were going to do live every week, which now just to cut down on the strain and the travel for everybody, we're kind of meeting somewhere in the middle for now. Everything's subject to change. We're always kind of on our toes. I know for me personally, it's nice to have something to do uh you guys i'm sure can appreciate you know just the situation with everybody everybody's
Starting point is 00:42:11 bored out of their minds and just trying to keep themselves occupied so yeah is it kind of pain of kind of a pain to jump on a plane every week yeah absolutely but at the end of the day it's like oh i've got a you know a day and a half two days of work every week to keep myself sane and occupied were you masked up for those flights full mask oh yeah man oh yeah i actually uh i well we my girlfriend carmella and i obtained some really swank leopard print so we're really really taking the uh the fashion game to the next level. I'm sure it just makes everybody look at me like I'm an even bigger tool than I already am. But hey, you know, whatever works. What's it like flying right now? When was the last time you were on a plane?
Starting point is 00:42:55 Okay, well, I have never been a fan of Southwest Airlines because when you fly as much as we do, you get particular and you kind of like certain things and perks. I've been on numerous Southwest flights in the last several weeks, all of which have been occupied by less than 10 people, which is kind of cool.
Starting point is 00:43:13 So no matter what your boarding zone is, you still get to kind of have your own section of the plane, which is always nice. However, I will say there was a gate agent last week at Pittsburgh Airport that despite there being 12 people on the flight, they made that announcement beforehand, still insisted on sorting and organizing everybody
Starting point is 00:43:33 by their number at the gates. And I was like, there's 12 people on this flight. We could all kind of sit in a cockpit if we want. There's not that much happening here. But she was very stringent. It was by the books A a one through 36. In succession. Yeah, that's been the rule. Are you sitting in the seat that doesn't have the seat in front
Starting point is 00:43:53 of it? Is that because that's the prime time spot on Southwest, right? It's the emergency exit one that right, you want the emergency exits have been readily available. But the first like three rows and I think the last three rows are blocked off. You can't sit in the very front or the very back of the plane. I guess it's got something to do with aviation and weight limits and things that are above my pay grade, but it's not so bad when you have your own row.
Starting point is 00:44:17 You said you have a girlfriend? Congratulations. I do. It's a thing that I've been working on maintaining. You may recognize her. More people recognize her than me because she's way more important to WWE than I do. It's a thing that I've been working on maintaining. You may recognize her. More people recognize her than me because she's way more important to WWE than I am. But Carmella and I have been making the most of this downtime. We decided to start a morning show on Instagram Live, which isn't really... You know, it's not even a real thing, technically, but we were drinking some wine the other night
Starting point is 00:44:45 and decided it would be a great thing to do in the morning. And in the morning we were both coherent enough to give it a shot. And we've done two days in a row. It's two days, so we're out of the gates in a strong way. Hey, that's called a streak. Yeah, that's right. I believe it's three to be classified as a street or her major league for blue brown yes sir i wanted to pivot back to the steelers i so the draft's coming up tomorrow
Starting point is 00:45:12 night pat and i have a big show where we're getting ready for we both are putting mock drafts together what would you like to see the steelers doing and i guess where do you think like the state of their franchise is right now it It's hard to tell. And to be perfectly honest with you, as I admitted out of the gates, I am far from a football expert. I am but a fan. I know my role in the world. I cheer and I boo when I'm supposed to. And I try not to do a whole lot of the Monday morning quarterbacking thing.
Starting point is 00:45:37 The most intriguing thing, there's quite a few needs that the Steelers have. They don't have a first round pick. I don't think they have even a very good second-round pick. They've got quite a weight in front of them. The most appealing thing, and it's all speculation and rumors, what I've been reading about Cornett, because hypothetically they could put together a package and get rid of something that they don't necessarily need
Starting point is 00:46:01 and get Leonard Cornett and address the running back need without, you know. Corey, who do they necessarily not need that they'd ship out of town? Let's hear it, fan. Well, the most recent thing I was reading, because I was trying to do some preparation so I didn't sound like a complete idiot. That a boy. The first pitch I heard was for him to split the duties with James Conner. And I also saw another scenario where they would ship James Conner to Jacksonville.
Starting point is 00:46:30 James Conner beat cancer. Beat cancer. I agree. I'm not saying this is not a slight on Conner at all. I think he's awesome when he's healthy. He just hasn't been healthy. They need some consistency. And Ben's back this year.
Starting point is 00:46:42 Let's be honest. The Steelers did a lot better last season than they had any right to. The entire team was just destroyed by injuries, and you got old Duck Hodges, who last time I was on your show was basically a surefire Hall of Famer. Still is. Still is. Oh, how times change.
Starting point is 00:46:59 The greatest quarterback in American football history, Duck Hodges. But, yeah, I don't know. I kind of would like to see them take what they've got because I think they could have that second round pick, which I think they could send maybe with Conor and get Fournette and have a little consistency. I know Fournette
Starting point is 00:47:17 was hurt two years ago, but last year was a badass. Corey, last week was a bad week for the WWE. Not only the layoffs and stuff like that, but rest in peace to legend for the WWE. Not only the layoffs and stuff like that, but rest in peace to legend Howard Finkel. You were in the commentator, microphone, personality world, commentator world. What did you know about Howard Finkel, and what were your immediate thoughts after hearing about his passing?
Starting point is 00:47:37 Man, you will never hear anyone say a bad word about Finkel within the walls, man. The guy was a joy to be around. I didn't know him extremely well, but I had a chance to do i was stood out to me it was a couple years ago i believe we were in dallas i got to commentate a special olympics football game with think um so we kind of did a broadcast from the sidelines with special olympics and it was a blast and think was just he was a wealth of knowledge anybody that met him you felt like you knew him your entire life. Like the guy had his finger on the pulse.
Starting point is 00:48:08 I know when I came up from NXT, there was like kind of a disconnect where you're like, oh wait, a lot of the main roster guys, the Raw and SmackDown guys don't necessarily know us or what we're about. And Fink just, he knew every aspect of the business. And the guy, he was just a joy to be around, man. He could talk for days. He had stories about everybody. And the thing is, F a joy to be around man. He could talk for days He had stories about everybody and the thing is think kind of transcended WWE Anybody the whole and knew which I think even you know buffer, you know, Bruce buffer does I think I Think we got to give credit to the fink for making that so essential man
Starting point is 00:48:40 that's like Americana when a new champion and new that lives on and man that's like americana with a new champion and new that lives on and uh beyond the walls of wwe so that was that was definitely a sad moment for everybody because i think was an awesome dude cory what do you make of uh ronda rousey her her recent comments pat likes to get the mic in the headlock but yeah pat pat says it's a work what do you think i have nothing but love and respect for ronda um she's she's become a friend of mine i think it's a work. What do you think? I have nothing but love and respect for Rhonda. She's become a friend of mine. I think it's awesome what she's doing. I think there's definitely a tinge of truth behind the words,
Starting point is 00:49:14 but the best things in our business is when you can take something reality-based and somehow translate it to our television screens. I don't have a time frame or any knowledge of these things, but one of the most true statements in sports entertainment is never say never. And I love that Ronda's got the world talking, man. And the best is when you get the people in WWE fired up. When you get the girls and half of the male locker room pissed off, Ronda, what she's doing is masterful right now.
Starting point is 00:49:46 So I appreciate it, man. And I think Ronda back in WWE at any point is a good thing for all involved. Travis Brown, why doesn't... I feel like he is the prototype for a WWE superstar. And when that guy bum-rushed Bret Hart at the Hall of Fame in his suit and cowboy boots, Travis Brown went in there and
Starting point is 00:50:06 beat the living out of the guy travis brown is one of my favorite human beings walking the earth uh and what makes it all the more impressive when you saw the speed of him come to the aid of brett was when you realize how big travis is bro like he's an enormous dude enormous dude how is he yeah why is he not in wwe does he not watch it? I don't know. I think he's just having a great time just living his life. They've got this pretty cool. I got to go to their ranch out in California about two months ago. And, yeah, he's like, they're all set up, man.
Starting point is 00:50:35 They're like farmers now. They basically just decided to buy cattle and raise them. And it's very self-sufficient. It's a real interesting scenario out there. Corey, is there ever going to be another wrestler like Brock Lesnar that is so polarized and that can do, like it seems like he pretty much is on his own schedule? Best of all time.
Starting point is 00:50:54 To add to your point, man, I guess it's probably been about 10 years now. Brock Lesnar just up and decided. He didn't want to be WWE champion anymore and he wanted to go join the NFL and he almost made the Vikings. He hasn't played a down of football since high school. The guy is
Starting point is 00:51:11 a freak of nature. Honestly, physically speaking, I would say no. Lesnar is a once in a generation kind of athlete. To be able to just do all these different things. You have guys that excel at one thing. Brock, I mean the guy woke up in the morning was like, you know what? I'm gonna go play with some of the best athletes in the world the NFL and if he probably had stuck with it
Starting point is 00:51:31 He probably could have done something Also saying you I'm gonna go UFC. Yeah. Oh, by the way, I'm tired of doing this in WWE And destroy them for real Yeah, man, I is amazing to me. Just an amazing human specimen. I don't know if we ever see anyone of that ilk again. Hey, what's up, bro? Let's show off our tattoos on our knuckles.
Starting point is 00:51:55 Go ahead, AJ. You show off yours. Oh, wow. We're doing this. Yeah. Stay down. Stay down. Don.
Starting point is 00:52:01 How'd you not make that Don? I think I should get it edited to D-A-H-S to really show my Pittsburgh pride. How does the Adam's apple feel? Is that the most painful spot? No. Surprisingly enough, this side of my neck was way worse. I don't know why. This side
Starting point is 00:52:17 wasn't terrible to my recollection. This sucked. I spent about three hours at a time on a tattoo table upside down uh the girl that did my did actually did the tattoo her name's veronica she tattooed the whole thing upside down so she was kind of leaning over my face and i i try to like you know i try to leave my body for a while it's worth it whenever it was done it was like yeah nailed done, it was like, yeah, nailed it. Worth it? Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:52:46 I have no regrets for it. I was kind of beyond the point of no return some years before. I got the hands done when I worked at the tattoo shop, and they call them the job stoppers, because unless you're going to succeed in some sort of entertainment career, there's really no use doing that. You have a great lineup of tattoos. I mean, is there any that you got done you're like
Starting point is 00:53:08 going to have to cover that one up or act like we didn't? There's a few. I'm a big impulse tattoo guy. A lot of it was done when I worked in a tattoo shop as a piercer. It would be like winter time and we were slow and one of my buddies would go, hey, I just
Starting point is 00:53:23 drew this cool piece of art i'd go yeah great i got room um so maybe not the wisest decision but i'm i don't regret anything you know at all you were a piercer you don't have any like ex-girlfriends tattooed on your body smart question no no i learned about the six month curse uh where if you tattoo somebody else's name on you chances are within six months you will not be on great terms with that person anymore. Can we talk about the piercing? You're a professional piercer. I got my ears pierced at a little thing in the middle of the mall.
Starting point is 00:53:53 And then I went to see. Yeah, no, I didn't do it in the mall. I did it with needles and far more suggestive body parts than ears. Oh, you were piercing penises. If it's on a human anatomy i've probably pierced it did you do joe exotics prince albert i did not i did not uh but he strikes me as the type that i would have encountered in my days he had two of them he had a double yeah yeah there were some pretty adventurous clients and uh you know i i think i kind of tried to take a medical approach to it
Starting point is 00:54:26 and not think like hey this is really strange but uh there were some interesting experiences hi i'd like to get a prince albert you just show him your knuckles stay down exactly how it worked out um what's the conversation like if you're doing one of those? Yeah, do you talk? Yeah, it's really strange. It used to be a lot of, like, minimal direct eye contact because I, you know, was just kind of like, oh, hey, let's talk about the weather or what sporting event is occurring today while I stick this piece of steel through your flesh. You know what?
Starting point is 00:55:04 It was a lot easier when it was, you know was not shriveled up inside of you. If you could bring that thing back out. Yeah, that's a real challenge, though. You've got to work with that. You have to consider that with measurements. There's a lot that goes on. Need to put the convertible down, pal. Popped.
Starting point is 00:55:23 Hey, so you are a uh a smart ass probably the best on television at the moment is that i appreciate that is that your goal every week like hey i'm gonna be the best smart ass to ever speak into a microphone no i think um more often than not that's just kind of how I am. That's my sense of humor, as you have gotten to know and experience in non-WWE circles. So honestly, I think my biggest problem is trying to be serious when things need to be serious, because I just make fun of everything. That's just kind of what I do. So there's a lot of moments where they're like, no, this is, this is serious business. This is an emotional moment. And I've got 11 jokes that just pop into my head and I'm just going to shut up, shut up. Don't say it. So I think one of these days I'll just, you know, be able to go off the rails uncensored and definitely be after I'm fired.
Starting point is 00:56:19 You know, they had me replace you whenever you were stuck in the middle of the middle East. Yeah. Which what which uh what a what a risky decision that was oh yeah you have no idea i went out there by the way i had a suit and when i showed up in the sleeveless hoodie and the jorts i was waiting for them to tell me like you can't wear that nobody said anything because their backs were against the wall so bad i just went out there i think i'm the first jorts and sleeveless hoodie person ever commentated wwe event and i feel like that is something that should maybe go on my twitter bio stat i i think i'm the first jorts and sleeveless hoodie person ever commentated wwe event and i feel like that is something that should maybe go on my twitter bio stat i i think you should definitely uh definitely run with that i don't know about the sleeveless part but
Starting point is 00:56:54 definitely the the that combo that ensemble was unique vince mcmahon popping into your head every once in a while it's pretty interesting yeah uh it's very interesting. I prefer to use the word terrifying, but it's definitely an experience. Talk about something like we always joke about the voice of God, but very, very few times in life can there be chaos happening and just you crystal clear, without question, know exactly where it's coming from. And it just cuts through everything it's like the world stops the record scratches it's like oh we could be in the middle of this
Starting point is 00:57:29 intense thing and that voice just comes into your head and it's like it just rewires your brain the nxt wrestler was wrestling i'm sorry aj in uh and all i hear in my head is where can we watch these guys that's that's right i was like n NXT Wednesday night, USA Network, 8 o'clock. Wow. That was the first time he popped in there, by the way, because I heard all these horror stories from people. They're like, just wait until Vince starts getting in your ear or whatever. I'm like, all right.
Starting point is 00:57:54 So I go out there, and I'm sitting down, and I'm talking, and I am wide open. I am absolutely wide. I'm just saying, whatever. This is my only time I'm ever going to get to do this. I'm going to have a good time. I think I made fun of some people in the crowd at one point. I mean, I was just going, going, going. And then all of a sudden I'm like, look at, I think it was Rhea Ripley was in there doing something like Rhea Ripley, a specimen of an athlete or whatever.
Starting point is 00:58:17 And then I stopped my sentence and then I hear quick interruption. Where can we watch her? I was like, USA Network, eight o'clock nxt i was like oh my god oh my god i was at a panical moment i was like so smart there i had stephanie in there at one point triple h was in there at one point i mean that was a wild time i don't know how you juggle all those voices in your head i have no idea there's a lot happening all the time pat got it got it to you first i was going to ask what does it sound like and what does it sound like Are there different shows where he's speaking more than others Where he's trying to chime in to let you guys know stuff Yeah it depends
Starting point is 00:58:50 Most of the time I've got a pretty good rapport with him Having worked for him for a couple years now So He trusts me To an extent And gives me a little bit of leeway But on the other hand He doesn't have to say a lot to me
Starting point is 00:59:04 He can kind of guide me in a direction Or tell me about this and he knows I'll get there and gives me a little bit of leeway. But on the other hand, he doesn't have to say a lot to me. He can kind of guide me in a direction or tell me about this, and he knows I'll get there. But it's the closest thing to being a kid and having a great time with your friends, like out in the street playing ball or whatever, and then your mom yells that it's dinner time, and you're like, okay, game over. I got to go.
Starting point is 00:59:21 Everything that's happening stops. That's kind of still the mentality you keep whenever you hear from him. Because you don't hear from him. I don't personally hear from him much fun. But it's more of a trust thing. He knows. I've kind of gotten to understand how he thinks or where he sees things. But in the event that I'm going left and he wants me to go right,
Starting point is 00:59:40 he makes sure in no uncertain terms that I take the proper turn. I think I got him to laugh too one time, which was a pretty cool little sound in my head yeah yeah that it's it's really fun it's because every once in a while he'll chime in i'll crack a joke or say something going oh god i hope no one's paying attention he'll just hear his his broth chocolate and that's it and it's just kind of like a reassurance like okay it landed we're all good and from that point on i'm golden do you ever find yourself like playing to vince and not the crowd and the tbo oh yeah there are plenty of times you'd be amazed at how much stuff goes out over the air specifically from me that is just an inside joke um i've i've shouted out mcafee using for the brand after a big kick for no other reason than I think Pat's going to laugh.
Starting point is 01:00:27 And it doesn't make sense to anybody, but it works. Or sometimes Vince will say something in a meeting or he'll make a joke. Michael Cole obviously is a lot closer with Vince than I am because they've been working together a lot longer. So Cole's better at it where he'll throw in like a real snide comment and the best is when the boss hears it and understands it and then decides to fire back in our headsets um which is not suitable for public consumption but it's highly entertaining but uh yeah it's it's definitely experience every time i hear for the brain out there i send a text
Starting point is 01:01:02 i get it like 40 tweets i get 40 tweets first of all they're like cory cory cory and i send oh and i appreciate you pal i do i appreciate you putting on for the brand and i appreciate you stopping by today man great conversation i appreciate you i saw the top of the show where you said you ordinarily take wednesdays off and i was like wow all on my behalf well not just for you uh let's like gronkowski the gronkowski thing happened oh oh well man i feel much less important no no no by the way great great hipster outfit today with the the thing yeah i'm really proud of this t-shirt man i feel like this really needs to be celebrated oh my god that guy had a rocket of an arm yeah my god Best relief pitcher in American baseball history. In between the years,
Starting point is 01:01:46 he just never knew what was going on with that guy. Never knew. It's always an image thing. I still to this day watch the Major League like at least once a month.
Starting point is 01:01:55 Oh, yeah. It's like I'm a child. You like baseball, huh? Baseball's your thing? The Pirates. Baseball's my thing. I'm really, really bummed out that I moved
Starting point is 01:02:02 to this great place in downtown Pittsburgh that is literally across the bridge from PNC Park. And for my birthday, my beloved girlfriend bought me a brand new Pirates Away jersey, like the new ones that Nike came out with, the throwback. Come on. Authentic. I was super stoked on it.
Starting point is 01:02:20 I was like, wow, I can literally walk to any game that I want all season long, and alas, we have none of that. Well, and nobody's at those games. You can literally walk to any game that I want all season long and alas we have none of that well and nobody's at those games you can probably get good tickets anytime you want you just show up and probably they'll say come on oh yeah yeah I would have been the only one there but I would have had my new Jersey on and I would have just you know I might be the Pirate Parrot by the end of the season hey that iceberg is uh the penguins guy right oh yeah bro yeah yeah but did you do you know the story there was apparently in i think the 70s or 80s that the guy who played the pirate parrot was in charge of like a giant drug ring no is that real yeah yeah it's real history look
Starting point is 01:02:59 it up man it's some some fun pittsburgh sport i read a book about it. Great way to deal drugs by the way. He's like, hey, meet me in the outfield. It's a whole thing. It's like a baseball lure. I didn't know that. I knew the guy that was on LSD did the perfect game. He's a pirate, wasn't he? Yeah, and I was also in the Washington Wild Things
Starting point is 01:03:19 charity softball game this summer. I don't know what's going on with that. Did the parrot give the guy LSD you know I don't know yeah well the guy who played the parrot was apparently tied into some real big drug ring it's it's common knowledge there's books about it and search it search like pirate parrot I want to say it was it may have been lsd might have been greens it was definitely like some drugs involved what was his name yeah it's very uh his name was kevin cock
Starting point is 01:03:53 sorry that's something see yeah that's right it's i didn't make this up man cfo phil was supposed to play in that all-star game with cory was he really yeah the washington wild thing what our cfo was supposed to play in her he's a ringer by the way that guy will go yard yeah i think he's potentially on some stuff too could be a problem all right hey cory uh i appreciate what's that one on the lower knuckle there on the middle finger? I like that. Oh, that's just a spade. Just because it's the ace of spades. The ace of spades. And I just thought it would be kind of cool.
Starting point is 01:04:31 I got a lot of tattoos that don't mean anything. Every random donut tattoo, you know, that's what happens. All right, man. Well, enjoy the hell out of your day. I will. You're the best. No, man. You guys, I appreciate you hanging out and
Starting point is 01:04:46 giving me someone to talk to um i'm gonna plug my uh morning show oh yeah it's not because that's what this is about it's direct competition but you can multitask it's on instagram live at carmella wwe what time uh we've been shooting at 10 a.m now i mean but i think it lives all day can't promote it. Can't promote it. Okay, well, no. You know what? Here's what I want you to do.
Starting point is 01:05:08 We can do a simulcast. And you can do your show, which is better than my show anyway. No, no, no. And people can just watch it after my show. Okay, so your show is available at Carmella WWE Instagram all day. Yeah. And we're going to drink wine at happy hour, 5 o'clock at Capo Cagna. A portion of the proceeds of all the wine sales this month go to the
Starting point is 01:05:31 Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. We're trying to do something good while we're all locked down. Is that delivery wine? What is that? It depends. There's a lot of laws and tricky shipping loopholes. But you go to Capo Cagna, C-A-P-O-C-A-G-N-A. It means boss bitch in italian
Starting point is 01:05:46 my girlfriend's wine but we're doing a live thing on instagram happy hour because everyone loves happy hour and everybody misses it um but yeah if you go on and you order anything uh we're gonna send some of the a couple bucks whatever we can to the food bank couple quick questions follow up there indiana legally not allowed to have a happy hour. That is something that's real in Indiana. mind blower to everybody from Pittsburgh Pittsburgh's big happy hour city. In second vote. Carmela owns her own wine. Oh, yeah. My girlfriend's way more amazing and interesting
Starting point is 01:06:16 than I am. I referred to myself this morning as like parsley. I am simply the garnish to her steak. I am happy to just ride herattails to success one these days. So I'll be like Tom Brady to Giselle. It's almost the same comparison Yeah, I think so. Yeah. I mean I'm like good at one thing but not in the grand scheme Are you gonna try to get back into wrestling? No, I heard there was a rumor that you were gonna potentially after edge and Daniel Bryan I thought there I have rumor that you were going to potentially after edge and Daniel Bryan. I thought there was I have I have Content to produce I like to give teases that I never follow up on I do that on my podcast that after the bell So I could put some things out of the universe get everybody stirred up
Starting point is 01:06:57 And then don't deliver Okay, so let's get this straight after the bell podcast capo Kanye Morning show that can be watched all day friday night smackdown stay down anything else i mean i'm sure i could come up with something else to plug but uh you know let's not get greedy pittsburgh pirates think you should sell that jersey portion of the proceeds portion of the proceeds greater pittsburgh america greater pittsburgh community food bank not for my jersey just the one so it's a great excuse to drink wine Portion of the proceeds. Portion of the proceeds. Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Not from my jersey.
Starting point is 01:07:26 Just the wine. So it's a great excuse to drink wine. Ladies and gentlemen, Friday Night Smackdown commentator, Corey Graves. How do you do? Thank you, guys. I appreciate you hanging out, man. Stay done. Nice to meet you, Hawk.
Starting point is 01:07:38 Hey, you too. Stay done. Stay done. All right, guys. We have to hang up on AJ. We'll get him back in here, obviously. I'm right here. I see him, but... So he didn't hang up on AJ. We'll get him back in here, obviously. I'm right here. I see him, but...
Starting point is 01:07:48 So he didn't hang up on AJ? I don't see him. He's still there. I see him. I don't see him. Should I hang up? Well, I don't know. The technology...
Starting point is 01:07:55 Hang up, AJ. See you. See you. Dump him. The wine looks really cool, by the way. Capo Conyo. Yeah, I have it right here. Capo Conyo.
Starting point is 01:08:04 I know somebody who tried to get in the wine business not an easy business to get into thanks for that difficult you said this is the slideshow of the next the wine looks really good it's just whiny to glass that's a good bottle i think right in that half the battle for the whole uh what the do you know about wine? I know a ton about wine. I love grapes. You eat grapes? I love grapes. You're doing a stepping on them out there. Come on.
Starting point is 01:08:30 There was some news while you guys were talking. What do we got? Apparently, the Dolphins are interested in trading for Joe Tooney. Oh, yeah. Trying to get him out of New England. Because he got franchise tags. What's that? 16, really?
Starting point is 01:08:41 14 to 15, I think. 14 to 15. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Or Dolphins are trying to get a beef flow. He's trying to bring Calvin Noy down there. Let's bring Tony down here. We might get Erber. Who knows?
Starting point is 01:08:52 Dolphins are going to win tomorrow night, man. They are going to win tomorrow night. Can you win tomorrow night? Yeah, you win today. Steelers aren't going to do it because Steelers don't have a pick. They're out. But you could maybe win by not choosing anybody in the first round. Yeah, you could win by not winning at all.
Starting point is 01:09:07 But the thing that will really win is that IT guy in Winnebago and Bob Quinn's parking lot outside of the Detroit Lions general manager. Just genius. First off, are you telling me that guy's going to stay in the RV the whole time? If he's having issues, he's not going to run into the house and fix it? Well, they're saying he's in Winnebago so they can get away with the social distancing thing. But he's in that corner of the office at all times.
Starting point is 01:09:28 Winnebago, by the way. How is that what we decided? We're getting a Winnebago. No! Fun footage? It's not fun footage. That's going in, by the way. I think it's stuck.
Starting point is 01:09:41 AJ, have you ever seen this right here? The MetLife Miss app? Oh, yeah. I know all about it what do you think the driver of that RV right there decided to do at that moment right there here's the answers a stop and back up b stop and get out c go forward until the entire fucking thing is under the awning and then back it all the way out faster than you came in and tear the entire top of the thing off and maybe rip down the entire awning. What is your answer, AJ?
Starting point is 01:10:12 I'm guessing C. Bingo! There it is, Zito. The air conditioning unit was stuck, so you gotta just keep on going. Yeah, attaboy. Zito says, I think we're stuck, and then pounds on the gas goes even further underneath what gave you the idea you were stuck what do you think probably the air coming out of
Starting point is 01:10:32 the tire probably the screeching metal snarky i get it i've rented rvs many times so i've never done that but i can see how you can get into some trouble i'll tell you right now aj if a yellow shirt says go somewhere don't listen to them. You got to know your clearance. You got to know your clearance. That's all it is. Do we have any questions to the YouTube, Z? To be honest with you, I was not looking. All right.
Starting point is 01:10:54 Well, hey, AJ, I think we covered everything we're supposed to cover today. Big day tomorrow night. Oh, I got one for you, actually. Okay. What game show do you dream of going on? Family Feud. AJ? That was Blaise Lennart's.
Starting point is 01:11:08 Oh, no. What was that one? What was that one? one I loved home I don't even have time glory holes what is it kind of but they like kind of full body glory but it's a yeah you're they I don't know how to explain it you're standing on a platform a wall is coming at you. You're dressed in a shiny, tight suit. And then there's a hole in the wall that you have to match. Here we go. And if the wall goes through, don't run it. Don't run it. Because we'll probably get...
Starting point is 01:11:35 I'm just showing him. Oh, come on now. Yeah, that's the game. That's not fair. It's the one I'm thinking of. That was the one that hooked me. That was... I turned on.
Starting point is 01:11:46 That's my game show I want to be on. We have to bring that game back, by the way. And you fall into water if you don't go through it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You fall into water. But I took mushrooms in college and I found that game. And for the next four hours, I was locked. I was just dying.
Starting point is 01:12:01 Were you doing like all the shapes in your room? Trying to see how you'd get through. That one that you just saw. That lady was the first episode. So I wasn't doing much. I was on the floor at one point laughing. A lot of my roommates came down because I was the guinea pig for the set of mushrooms that we had. And they're like, I guess it's working.
Starting point is 01:12:17 I'm like, it is. But look at this show. I had to tie. Can we show an image real quick? We got striked the other day. I'm not so sure. Let's just look at an image real quick? We got striked the other day. I'm not 100% sure we can do it again. Let's just look at an image. I can't see it.
Starting point is 01:12:33 Oh, here we go. What's so funny? What's funny, AJ? Just the look of fear on this young lady. The caption also for the title is just fat lady on hole in wall so yeah that is also pretty cool i didn't make the caption i didn't make the caption i didn't make the caption you are disgusting i didn't make the caption okay this is why i just read the caption do not do not do not come at me for it. Some things don't need to be said.
Starting point is 01:13:06 This is why Brady and Gronk went to Tampa. No! Don't you put that evil on me, Ricky Pame! Yeah, it was on you. All right, good show. We'll be back tomorrow for McAfee and Hawk Sports Talk Primetime Draft Super Special. We'll be suited and booted,
Starting point is 01:13:24 talking about all of the things happening in the NFL Draft first round. Who will win? Who will lose? What moves will be made? We'll be there to cover it with our mock drafts. Ain't that right, AJ? That's right. I'll be there.
Starting point is 01:13:35 7.30 Eastern, we're going on, right? That is correct. Right here. You going to learn how to tie a tie by tomorrow? Don't need to, YouTube. I don't know. Honestly, I don't even know how to tie a tie by tomorrow? Don't need to, you do. I don't know. Honestly, I don't even know if I have a tie. So you're backing out?
Starting point is 01:13:52 No, I'm wearing a suit. Like, I know Dr. Lou's going to have a suit on. I assume Mel Kiper will be wearing a suit. What about Jordan Palmer? He told me he's not wearing a suit. Hey, did Jordan text you today? Nope. He sent me a DM, though, at like three in the morning yeah me too he was like hey can we talk about what we're doing okay same thing
Starting point is 01:14:11 yeah i haven't i responded i haven't heard back from him yeah me neither he sent it at 3 a.m too by the way it was i woke up to a dm from jordan palmer at 3 a.m i'm like is this guy okay and then i i was like you normally only get those messages whenever my friends are in drastic trouble. Hey, man, if you wake up, give me a call. It'd be great. It's like 4 a.m. I'm like, well, son of a bitch. Are you all right?
Starting point is 01:14:31 Oh, yeah. I was thinking about maybe going over to jail. I was like, oh. Happy I missed your call, sir. Happy I missed your call. But I think Jordan was just up late scouting probably. Yeah. West Coast.
Starting point is 01:14:41 It was midnight. He was West Coast where he was. Coaching. Probably prepping, too, for the draft. I thought we were talking football. I mean, what are coast where he was. Probably prepping too for the draft. I thought we were talking football. I mean, what are we doing here? What's he prepping for the draft right now? I don't know what he's doing.
Starting point is 01:14:52 Honestly, I have no idea what he's doing, but he's a part of our show tomorrow, I guess. We'll be Zoomed in real tight on his face if he does not wear a suit. Oh, yeah. The integrity of the show needs to be kept. So he's fully aware about the suit? Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 01:15:04 He knows it. He knows what's happening? Oh, yeah. He knows it. He knows what's happening. Okay, good. Yeah, it's good. It's out there. Maybe that's what he wants to talk about. If I don't wear a tie, is that not considered a suit? No, it's still a suit.
Starting point is 01:15:14 It really depends. It's technically still a suit. You just wouldn't really be showing the draft the respect that it deserves. I was about to end the show but then you you questioned me in my integrity for the show and that really makes me kind of so i should have a tie is what you're saying i think i'm not gonna tell another grown man what to do herbert's not even wearing a tie herbert's told to dress relax on his catch yeah he said that the chargers the lot and the miami dolphins uh are the two teams that he talked to most.
Starting point is 01:15:46 That's good because my mock draft, I may have him going number six to the Chargers. Do you? I think you have two potentially going five. Is that accurate? We will see tomorrow night. My mock draft has a lot of trades. I really shot for the moon here. I hate the trades in the mock drafts.
Starting point is 01:16:04 I don't think they should be a part of the mock drafts is the trades. Why not? That's the moon here i hate the trades in the mock drafts i don't think they should be a part of the mock drafts is the trades why not that's the draft part of the draft it's the draft that's why i've never done a mock draft before i guess it really sucks but for our thing i think we have to have something for us to compare to you know yeah i have one trade in the first round so that's all i could do by the way weird trade i think i saw your trade i did not expect that trade to be the trade. I mean, the only way I'm going to win is if I have a couple, you know, questionable moves. Here's a couple comments from the YouTube section.
Starting point is 01:16:33 Xavier Dubon says, never bring that guy on the show again. Xavier. Xavier. Jesus. Goodness, Xavier. Corey did not deserve that. Who should we have on? Xavier says,
Starting point is 01:16:50 listen, I'll do the booking. Just keep that guy off the show. Alright. Can't wait for tomorrow. AJ, any final words? Nope. Are you sure? Can't wait.
Starting point is 01:17:08 How about you? Do you have any final words for today to until like tomorrow everything changes with the draft the first virtual draft it's going to be a nightmare for some teams but they're already agreeing to give people leeway if some kind of technology cuts off you're not going to like miss your spot in the draft they've like they've made like a mutual agreement between all the teams they're going to hit extendos on people's time i mean it's going to there's going to be pauses and freezes the draft's going to be six hours long tomorrow yeah and we're going to be live for that entire thing we're not going to regret it at all i bet i bet they could be espn too or an nfl network they don't care they don't have any programming it's going to run into like they
Starting point is 01:17:41 want the draft to be 15 hours corey graves just sent me a text says thanks for having me on dude hawk seems like a good dude xavier i'm gonna respond xavier duvall it's gonna be a long one tomorrow night i think what are we gonna do whenever things get right oh we got mel kuyper coming on lou holtz we got i mean i think it's gonna be a lot more fast-paced than you think pat i think we're gonna be we're to be on our toes trying to figure it all out. You think a lot of teams have already made their decisions. I bet they have. Yeah, trades, too. I think trades are even being decided already where they're like,
Starting point is 01:18:11 hey, this happens, this happens, let's go, let's go, let's go, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, let's move. Hey, you said, I know that Joe Burrow, supposedly, the Bengals reached out and let him know from the guy in Cincinnati. It's a reporter in Cincinnati who I remember when I was there, actually. Nice dude. But who is his source? That's what the guy in Cincinnati. It's a reporter in Cincinnati who I remember when I was there, actually. Nice dude. But who is his source? That's what I want to know.
Starting point is 01:18:27 He can't name his source, but how high up does that source have to be? Could it be Joe Burrow? Yeah, you would think it's probably somebody in Joe Burrow's family, maybe. That's the only thing I could think of. Because it's never the person or maybe the agent told him. But all you got to do is tell one digs and then digs tells somebody by the way happy birthday coach digs digs's dad happy birthday and i'm not saying that digs's family would ever do this because they're italians and they're airtight but i'm
Starting point is 01:18:56 just saying all joe's gonna do is tell one neighbor you know who's probably a diehard bangles fan like hey joe you coming and then the dad just says oh yeah they actually told him today he's coming then bang that person hops on the horn to their friend who has a friend who bing bang that you never know who's leaking anything but i think we all knew that they were taking joe burrow what a couple months ago yeah yeah it seems like i mean i still don't it's not like i'm full go locked in believe that that trusted source like i don't know like i said i don't believe anything that happens before the draft that's rumored so it's little trust not big trust maybe low trust ian rapaport middle trust he said uh the dolphins have called the teams in front of them for a possible trade up from number five in our gauging the price to come up to number three to potentially
Starting point is 01:19:41 take an offensive tackle we could see a run on tackles in top ten like never before wait a minute wait a minute that throws a wrench into aj's mock draft my mock draft's in a good spot still but aj's is in a bad bad spot you know what i mean i haven't seen your mock draft, we were going to present it Tuesday on the show. Our show is at 1 p.m. Eastern. I texted you about my mock draft at 9.30 at night on Monday evening, and you said, oh, man, I completely forgot about that.
Starting point is 01:20:24 And to my credit, I did at that time. But but completely forgot that i had to have that done but then tuesday morning i woke up early i hit the versa climber remember that yeah i did the versa climber i did some other stuff i let the kids out i did the whole thing let the kids out of their cages yep we're good this show's over honestly it's done look Look good, feel good, feel good, play good. Play good, pay good, pay good, live good, live good, die good. Hey, sorry for interrupting. I want to tell you about this new thing that I found out about and I love and I think you will love as well. Are you looking for the perfect gift for your mom or another loved one?
Starting point is 01:21:02 Is it hard to keep in touch with people? the perfect gift for your mom or another loved one? Is it hard to keep in touch with people? Yes, I'm talking about that real genuine connection, not the social media garbage or nonsense. I'm talking about a genuine connection, even though you might not be around each other. Staying in touch with those we love is more important than ever. And the easiest way to do it is with Skylight, a photo frame that you can email photos to anytime from anywhere. A great way to feel close to those you love even when you're separated.
Starting point is 01:21:32 Multiple people can send photos to the frame, so it's a great way to keep large networks of friends and families in touch. You put the frame up in your house. It's a beautiful photo frame. It's connected to a device. Photo pops up. Bang, you send it over. Automatically gets into the frame. It's absolutely beautiful. Anytime, anywhere.
Starting point is 01:22:03 Sending photos to Skylight is effortless. Everyone in your family can just email photos to mom skylight and they'll pop up in her home in seconds. It sets up effortlessly in under 60 seconds. Just plug it in. Use the touch screen to connect your wireless network and enjoy the hell out of it. Skylight frame has a gorgeous 10 inch screen. You can swipe through photos with your finger and even tap to thank the person who sent a photo. 100% satisfaction guarantee. That's how confident they are.
Starting point is 01:22:26 And by the way, after experiencing this with our office, you're going to enjoy the hell out of this. If you don't love your skylight, they'll offer you a full refund. You can preload it with your favorite photos for a special Mother's Day gift. Send pictures of you or your significant other that they didn't even know you had. You can tap the heart button and it will let the sender know you love the photo. This makes the frame interactive and fun to use. This is cool. You see, bringing people together again. You don't have to post something. You don't have to tag anybody on Instagram. You don't have to text it. Just send it to the skylight. It's a nice little
Starting point is 01:23:01 surprise. Boom. Hey, how's it going, mom? Boom, bang, how's it going, Grandpa, Grandma, Dad? I gave my mom one of these the other day. Couple came to the office. She was so happy. Photos of the dogs that Sam and I haven't put on the Internet she got to see. She's all pumped up about it. Everybody loves the skylight that I've encountered. And I think you will too.
Starting point is 01:23:31 And right now you get $10 off your purchase of a skylight frame when you go to skylightframe.com and enter the code McAfee. That's S-K-Y-L-I-G-H-T-F-R-A-M-E.com and use code McAfee to get $10 off your Skylight frame. It's a dope gift. Beautiful pictures being sent to beautiful people that you care deeply about. It's a cool thing. Shout out to Skylight for creating this.
Starting point is 01:23:57 This is a good concept. Joining us now is a man who won a Heisman. He was a first round draft pick, obviously the first pick of the draft. We will talk about that in about three seconds. All-pro, a man who is an absolute legend, Carson Palmer. All the way, Carson! All the way, Carson! Good morning.
Starting point is 01:24:16 iPhone enthusiast Carson Palmer joining us now from his bedroom, it looks like. Office, but yeah. Where's the office? California?ifornia lots of work gets done in here let me tell you lots of work i see that a lot of pictures in the back there not a lot of books you're more of a uh see not a read guy i respect it yeah i like videos or picture books me too i'm the same exact way i'm visual learner. Let's talk about you were the last number one overall pick quarterback to the Cincinnati Bengals. Your brother is currently training or had been training Joe Burrow. Everybody talked about the Peyton Manning conversation with Joe Burrow earlier this week.
Starting point is 01:24:59 You reach out to him. I would assume that you've had conversations with Joe Burrow as well about what he might expect his rookie year. How have those conversations gone and what are some things you've told him? Really, we haven't gotten that far into the rookie year. Our discussion is really about the upcoming draft, your personal workouts, all the meetings you're going to sit in with GMs, the combine, and the pre-draft process. So really haven't spent any time talking about what to expect once the season gets here, really just what to expect as he's been going through all these steps in the process of leading up to the draft.
Starting point is 01:25:37 You had a remarkable career, both in college and in the NFL. Watching you whenever you were with the Cardinals was so much fun for me because I had a lot of friends on that team. And then the stories I heard about how you were running, not meetings, practices, you were like one of those guys. I mean, you were literally one of those guys. Whenever you look at Joe Burrow, what makes you think that he'll be a guy
Starting point is 01:25:56 that'll be able to elevate a franchise? What makes you think that he'll be able to transcend college football and become an NFL stud? Well, the first thing that you have to look at is the film. And I know it's only one year, and that definitely is a little bit worrisome. There's one year worth of film. But it's really, really, really good film. Great.
Starting point is 01:26:18 I mean, you look at from playing at some of these smaller schools to playing at schools in the SEC. And then the last two games in the BCS championship, I mean, he was playing lights out. He didn't miss a throw. He didn't miss a read. So, you know, the scale size is very small. It's 15, 14, 12 games, whatever it was that he played in. So the sample size is extremely small,
Starting point is 01:26:46 but when you go back and look at it, and it's not that he didn't have any bad plays. He had some bad plays, but it's how he responded to those bad plays and what he did after those plays or those series that he had in games. And then you look at just the Alabama game, the Clemson game, you go on and on and on.
Starting point is 01:27:04 The film speaks for itself it jumps out at you he is so accurate and through so many difficult balls in difficult circumstances and he did it over and over and over again that it jumped out at me enough to go man this guy's here's the number one pick or the first quarterback off the board you weren't the only one everybody started suggesting that immediately upon the college football season ending. I mean, what he did against that Clemson defense that it was riddled with all-stars and they were disguising coverages
Starting point is 01:27:31 and he struggled with it early and then he was able to kind of process it and move through, let alone the rib shot that he took in the middle of the national championship and still had an incredible game, came back. Everybody was like, okay, this guy is going to be the first pick of the draft. And then, as what we do, people that have to speak about sports every single day for
Starting point is 01:27:49 a certain amount of hours there's always situations and stories and in a bunch of bs that basically gets brought up and your name was closely associated with joe burrow because your brother jordan was training him right he's an ohio. Seems like a home run for the franchise. And a narrative started getting spun that Joe Burrow, if drafted to the Bengals, would say no because he's training with Carson Palmer's brother. Carson left the Cincinnati Bengals. He didn't want to play there. Was there any validity to you or anybody ever saying that to Joe Burrow?
Starting point is 01:28:20 Zero. None. Thought so. Makes sense. I'm a wide-open book. When I talk to guys coming out in the draft every year, I'm a wide open book when i when i get i talk to guys coming out in the draft every year i'm a wide open book i'll give you my experiences but and i'll tell you what i went through but i would never project on another player that you should do this or you
Starting point is 01:28:38 should do that i mean you know joe's joe's an ohio kid he grew up a Bengals fan. He gets to go home. You know, you played in the league. How special that opportunity is to go and play for your hometown team where the guys in your high school football team grew up rooting for that professional team. Or your grandma did when you were going over to her house for Sunday dinners growing up. She was watching that local NFL team.
Starting point is 01:29:02 So that's his local hometown team. I get why he's excited about the opportunity and looking forward to it and going there. I mean, that's most guys' dream is to play for their childhood team. So, you know, aside from the fact that the team, the organization has struggled mightily for forever, that's his team. I mean, that's his childhood. He grew up on Sunday mornings getting up and watching the game. So it's a special situation for him and a chance to go home
Starting point is 01:29:34 and be in front of his family. Did you hate the fact that the only negative that was really surrounding Joe Burrow there for like a few weeks was he was potentially going to pull an Eli Manning and pull a John Elway strictly because you were potentially in his camp did you hate that you were maybe being a little bit of a negative distraction about the whole conversation um or is it all being do you not care yeah do you not care because it's fake i guess i'm kind of oblivious to what's going on in the outside world. I didn't follow it enough to know exactly, you know, what my name was, that my name was being brought into the conversation. I know I've been critical of the organization for years, and I have my reasons for that.
Starting point is 01:30:18 But, you know, for somebody to think, here's the other thing that makes Joe great. somebody to think here's the other thing that makes Joe great. Joe is extremely mature and extremely bright and it doesn't give him the credit he deserves to think that, well, some old washed up quarterback came in and told him not to go there. So he's not going to go there. That's just not, that's not the,
Starting point is 01:30:40 that's not the truth. And quite frankly, the reason Joe's in this position to be the number one pick in the draft is because he is extremely mature he has made great decisions he is very very very very bright um so that's not giving him um his due thinking that you know he's just going to listen to one guy come in he he's gone in he's he's watched this offseason no doubt my mind he sat there and go man the bangles are making moves in free agency we've never seen them do that what they did this offseason so he's probably looking at this going maybe they're changing maybe they're
Starting point is 01:31:13 adapting maybe they're coming of age in 2020 and um you know you know picking up their scouting department and picking up all these things and improving their organization because um i'm sure he's sitting back looking you know looking at a team he's going to go to drafted number one that won less than five games and going man they made some they made some splashes in free agency that's just something you typically don't see from that organization so maybe maybe changes have been made and and uh maybe you know i look at at him in this situation going, man, you got A.J. Green back. I know it's only on one year. They have drafted well throughout the years, throughout the last 10 or 20 years that they have picked good players in the draft. There's no doubt about that.
Starting point is 01:31:54 And now they're spending in free agency. So that's definitely a positive. I didn't I didn't love that your name was getting tied into it, by the way. I appreciate that, man. I appreciate that. Well, I've heard good things about you. And I'm like, I don't know if Carson Palmer is just coming in here as a witch, basically trying to ruin the Cincinnati Bengals.
Starting point is 01:32:10 I don't think that was accurate. Let's pivot a little bit to another quarterback coming out. You're a guy. Obviously, they changed the rule because of an injury that you had. Somebody came in a little bit low, obviously took out your leg. I mean, a little bit rude of that. And they changed the whole hit zone thing. Tua is being
Starting point is 01:32:25 plagued now with bad pr about the injuries now granted whether that's real or not nobody knows because nobody has real an inside track on what the hell is going to happen this draft but if you're looking at tua are you a guy that says you know what he's talented enough to make it in this league you can understand the health issues but you're going to take a shot on him because he could be a difference maker or are the injury issues something that people should really be worried about? The injury thing really worries me. You know, I'm of the, you know, coming from the background where the greatest ability of a quarterback is his durability. And I think that rings true.
Starting point is 01:33:02 It is, it's real. It's a concern i mean you look at you know when you watch to his film it's it's you know there's so much to love he's he's a great athlete he's a great competitor he's done it you know at the highest level he came in you know think back to that national championship he came in and played the second half and i mean what an amazing it takes a certain type of mentality to be able to go in and perform at that level when you've been the backup quarterback the whole year and you've gotten limited reps, but you go in and you bring your team back and win a national championship.
Starting point is 01:33:35 I mean, there is so much to love, but there's enough to dislike and enough to be really concerned with on the injury front. He's standing behind, you know, a first round pick at right tackle, a second or third round pick at every other position up in front of him. He's had great interior offensive line play. He's had great tackle play on the outside. He's got two first round picks at receiver. So it is hard to gauge him and it is hard to judge him. There is so much NFL talent around him, but the thing that keeps happening is these injuries. And it's, it's for real. It, it would definitely worry me. The hip thing. Um, you know, what, what, what jumps out at me is when it's, it's a catastrophic injury or it's an injury. You
Starting point is 01:34:21 just don't hear much of, or we don't have much data on i remember that being the case with the tommy john injuries with quarterbacks right it worries me i went through it myself i tore my ucl that that inside ligament when you have an injury that you don't typically see like this hip injury he had in college um there is definitely some room for concern they started putting that uh like avatar knee brace on you. You started wearing it. The Don Joy? Yeah, but he had like the triple XL,
Starting point is 01:34:51 the Don Joy that came out from like, it was like mid shin all the way up to groin there for your Don Joy. Smart, by the way, smart. I should have put one on both legs. That would have been the only, that would have been a cool stat.
Starting point is 01:35:02 The only quarterback to wear double knee braces. Could you imagine you getting loose on a scamamp or two like Forrest Gump? Things breaking off of your legs. That would be absolutely incredible. Diggs has a question for you. Carson, you were a Pro Bowl veteran quarterback that got thrown into a Bruce Arian system.
Starting point is 01:35:17 How do you think Tom is going to handle that same system in his first year in Tampa Bay? I love the alignment of those two minds. I mean, Brady's mind and Bruce's mind. And you know Bruce's mind, Pat. Well, you were there with him in Indy. Just innovative. Great game planner. A great guy to sit with on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday at some point and sit down for 30 minutes as he's digested that upcoming opponent that you're playing on Sunday. And if you can just sit with him for 10, 15 minutes, and maybe with Brady it's three or four minutes,
Starting point is 01:35:52 and Brady can pick up two or three things from Bruce's eyes and his knowledge of watching film and preparing, I think those two guys together are going to be great. And I have a difficult time seeing Brady come in and just completely learning that offense and not bringing with him from New England some of his favorite plays or the best concepts that he really liked. So I think you mesh those two guys' minds together with Brady's ability to
Starting point is 01:36:18 play, Bruce's ability to game plan and get ready for an upcoming opponent. I really like the match i think it's a great match bruce everybody knows that bruce's offense is run off of the quarterback taking shots though in some guys uh like for instance tom brady doesn't turn the ball over much now granted his last throw as a patriot was a pick six so that's kind of a debunking of a theory oh you threw that out there come on that was an anomaly that was weird it's the end of the game dump it dump it i didn't say it sorry we're gonna dump that so nobody we gotta wait six seconds okay that's gone nobody heard that but he did i mean it did happen but he doesn't turn the
Starting point is 01:36:54 ball over he's very conservative almost and in turn a lot of people have said oh he can't throw the deep ball anymore because they didn't have the same weapons he can't do this because he's super conservative he's a game manager which some people say is a bad thing but you want your quarterback to be a game manager do you think bruce arians is going to try to get tom to kind of loosen up a little bit more is that kind of quarterback that he wants in there is like hey even though he might not look up let's take a shot it's worse than what could worse could happen did he ever have those conversations with you or were you always a guy that was going to go for it i i was always going to go for it i i um i was not a game manager i i was always trying to throw the ball over your head and score quickly um but as far as bruce and and brady um you know
Starting point is 01:37:38 bruce is very very smart bruce is very very intellectual human being and so he's not he's not trying to change brady's mentality he's not trying and so he's not he's not trying to change brady's mentality he's not trying to change his footwork he's not trying to change some mechanics he's not trying to change anything he's letting brady come in and be tom brady six-time super bowl champion and the one thing i i think that will change a bit is bruce wants to be in a five wide outset he wants to be an empty backfield and let five guys run down the field and run their routes and run their concepts brady when you look back to like 09 to 2015 brady loved being in empty sets he sat the line of scrimmage he did a dummy cadence
Starting point is 01:38:20 to get the defense to show and then redirect the protection to make sure he was blocked up and then finding his mismatch from there. I think you're going to see a lot less of that style of play in Tampa than we did last year with Jameis Winston or than you did five years previous in Arizona when I was there. We were in a ton of empty. We were in empty half the game. It seems like last year Tampa Bay was in empty. I just don't see Brady wanting to do that as much being older. The less guys you have to block, the more often you're going to get hit. Stats show. To simplify it.
Starting point is 01:38:56 Yeah, stats show. So if you're in empty formations from an offensive standpoint for 50% of the game, that's a lot of little shots and they're not sacks necessarily but when you only have five guys blocking four or five pass rushers somebody's going to get free at some point there's going to be hits taken and you look back at myself you look back at ben roethlisberger and bruce arian's pittsburgh days you look back at andrew luck your year together in Indy, Ben was built to sit in the pocket and take hits. Andrew is a monster.
Starting point is 01:39:32 You know that. Andrew was a monster back in the pocket. I was 245 pounds. I would say that was my game. Big body. 255 now, but that was my game. I would sit back in the pocket, and I wasn't going to take off and run 4-4 around the corner and score with my legs. I would sit in the pocket and take hits and throw the ball.
Starting point is 01:39:52 Brady's 42 years old. He's not going to let himself take those kind of hits. Bruce surely does not want to see him sitting in the pocket taking those kind of hits. So I think the difference in this offense than uh the previous years of bruce offense bruce's offenses i think you're going to see a lot less five man protection a lot less five wide receiver sets just because brady just doesn't need to be sitting back there taking those hits um last thing before we let you go can't thank you enough for your time you look
Starting point is 01:40:21 amazing by the way i just want to let you know the hair thank you the hair is flowing thank you you're a skinny 255. I haven't had a haircut. I mean, I'm still in my pajamas. The office looks good, though. I mean, you look great. The office looks good. Hey, if you were Tom Brady and you got kicked out of a park in Tampa Bay, would that discourage you a little bit because the
Starting point is 01:40:41 city doesn't want to win? I'd go back to New England. Can you get out of that? Is that how that works? Can you just say, I'm going to go back? It's city officials made me do it. I don't have a yard at Jeter's house. I would like to work out and now the city won't let me do it. Carson, I can't thank you enough for joining us, man. You're awesome. Pat, thanks for having me, man. Hey, we had Takiyo Spikes on earlier. You were teammates with him? No, I missed him by one year. He went to Buffalo right when I got to Cincy.
Starting point is 01:41:13 Dude, his neck is still like that. He can still play. There's no doubt about it. He can still play. I asked him how he does his neck, and he said, the game is sold, not told. And then just moved on. Great line. It was one of the best lines I've ever heard.
Starting point is 01:41:24 Ladies and gentlemen, All-Pro Heisman, stud, in his pajamas, Carson Palmer. Thank you, Carson. Thank you. Appreciate you, buddy. Okay, here we go. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a man who was an absolute savage in the NFL for 15 years. 13 years of which he was voted captain, which means he was a cool dude in the NFL for 15 years, 13 years of which he was voted captain, which means he was a cool dude in the locker room.
Starting point is 01:41:50 This guy's a pro bowler, an all pro. He played for the Bengals, the Bills, the Eagles, the Niners, and the Chargers, and he hosts the Behind the Mask podcast, which you can download where all podcasts are. Ladies and gentlemen, Takeo Spice. Takeo! Oh, what up cat hey great great to see you again i have to ask you this question because this was the first reaction by all the boys um your neck and your uh your build how do we do that do we just shrug all day every day how do we get the takiyo spikes uh you know what i mean
Starting point is 01:42:27 how do we get that listen bro the game is to be sold and not told okay i i respect it hey i respect it completely uh takiyo how is life what have you been up to pal to completely uh takio how is life what have you been up to pal man life is good man i've been doing some of the same things that you have been doing making sure you staying busy with the pat mcafee show i've been staying busy with the behind the mask podcast show and uh getting great guests great content and uh that that's really what's been keeping me busy man is is you know even though we're on quarantine lockdown right now at the moment but making the best of it making the best out of a bad situation when you were coming into the league everybody knew you're going to be a monster draft week what was your mindset coming out and what do you think a lot of these younger
Starting point is 01:43:21 guys who are like three days out from their lives completely changing, by the way? Guys are going to learn what new city they're going to probably live in for hopefully the next decade of their life. Guys are learning in a couple of days if they're going to make a living playing football or if they're going to have to grind to make the team. Guys are learning whether or not they played their last game of football. What was your mindset going into the draft? mindset going into the draft? My mindset going into the draft was, you know, I, you know, coming off of the combine, I did not work out at the combine. That was number one. Number two, worked out from the personal standpoint at Auburn. And then really just that time period, it was like, okay, I know where i possibly can go as early as number six i want to say the jacksonville jaguars they had the number six pick no chicago bears had the number
Starting point is 01:44:11 six pick and they ended up picking curtis enos the running back okay out of penn state so for me i knew i could fall in that sweet spot to where atlanta me being a natural Georgia boy right here, they had the number 12 pick. So I was like, what if? So really, man, I knew I could go as high as six, but I was hoping to end up at 12, but I went to number 13 pick, which was the Cincinnati Bengals. Okay. So let's talk about the Cincinnati Bengals. I am one person who has come out and said that an NFL team not having indoor facility should get slapped in the mouth. That's just something that should happen. If you don't have an indoor facility and you make a billion dollars, that is something that should be changed. Now,
Starting point is 01:44:53 granted, the Bengals have won games. They've had nine win seasons, 10 win seasons, 11 win seasons. Even in recent history, they've just never been able to get over the hump. But that organization and your experience there, what do you think it's going to take for them to get going aside from joe burrow obviously if they're going to take joe burrow or trade for three first rounders with miami that would be insane but what do you think it's going to take for the bangles to really get going over there i think you have to address the quarterback issue you know and you get a lot of conversation when you look at chase young who was predicted to be the number two pick in the draft. But it's an interesting conversation when you look at should you choose Chase Young instead of Joe Burrow?
Starting point is 01:45:33 But we all know at this stage in time in the climate, if you don't have a quarterback, then you're not going to consistently win games. Because at the end of the day, you have to pick that guy, my belief, you have to pick that guy who is going to have the ball in his hands damn near every time. And the only way that you can do that is have the opportunity, looking at Joe Burrows, look what he did his last year, and just look at his body of work. And that's the thing that I expect when we talk about the cincinnati bingos being able to uh finally get over the hump like you said they've had winning seasons eight nine ten one eleven uh eleven game winning seasons but they have not been able to win that playoff game
Starting point is 01:46:19 marvin lewis got him there now their head coach uh Zach Taylor, he's there. So it's important to have that chemistry from that quarterback and the head coach. There's been a lot of quarterbacks that have been drafted in the first round that just haven't worked out for whatever reason. As a defensive stud, what are you realizing good quarterbacks and bad quarterbacks? What is that like whenever you're going into a game against a guy that you've either seen on film or you've heard from other guys that are playing, like, oh, this guy's a bad quarterback, what is the difference between a quarterback making it
Starting point is 01:46:50 and a quarterback not making it in your eyes? I think, you know what, it's a great question. And it's something that, you know, you hear the quarterback gurus, you hear the Super Bowl quarterbacks they talk about all the time but from a from defending just a good quarterback and how i can tell how quarterbacks will be or go to the next elite level is the number one thing is yeah you gotta come early stay late we don't talk about all of that that's what you should be doing anyway every every position yeah but what separates them is is understanding before i get to the line of scrimmage and when i get there before i even get up on the center it's important to know
Starting point is 01:47:33 that i'm using the process of elimination meaning i see what they're giving me and now i'm able to decide or decipher okay at the snap of the ball this is where the ball is supposed to go. And then the if factor comes in, which once we get motion or if they decide to do something else, now as a quarterback, if this happens, now I know I need to go there. And then the other part of it is after you take that snap and you drop back, the thing where I really evaluate quarterbacks on is first progression if it's not there. Now I know with the second and third progression as far as my receiver where he should be open. And then the other part is having the anticipation of knowing.
Starting point is 01:48:20 We all know, Pat, and you know too, when you have receivers in college that are open, that means two yards open from a defender. In the pros, you have to throw them open because the competition level from the defensive back aspect, they're going to be right over their back. So it's all about progression, ball placement, and the anticipation of knowing where that defender is going to be and where your receiver is going to be, and that's how you deliver strikes. That's how I judge quarterbacks.
Starting point is 01:48:50 And the more that you see quarterbacks who have a tendency to understand and do that early and they continue to do it over and over, those are the ones who have the most success. Hey, that takes a lot of trust and faith not only in the wide receiver going where you think he's going to go but also in your arm being able to put it exactly where it needs to be i think that is obviously massive which leads to my next point dbs are so good in the nfl as compared not sec they're great as well but i'm talking about the nfl is just another step up right uh joe burrow did a great job against that the conversation right now is if you had to take okuda or chase young a lockdown corner let's just let's say that okuda is going to
Starting point is 01:49:31 be the best corner in the history of corners too not i'm not saying he's going to be but let's just for this sake of this argument yeah let's say he's going to be the best corner he's going to be revis he's going to be sherman he's going to be one of those guys woodson he's going to be one of those guys he's going to be and then chase young let's say he's going to be one of those guys. Woodson, he's going to be one of those guys. He's going to be one. And then Chase Young, let's say he's going to be one of those dudes as a defensive end, like Freeney, you name it. He's going to be a dude. Which one is more important, you think, to the defense? If you were a GM, you played in the NFL 15 years at linebacker, absolute stud.
Starting point is 01:49:58 Is a defensive end more prevalent than a corner, or is a corner more prevalent from the defensive standpoint? Well, that's that's easy for me very easy i don't care if you have another guy who's coming out with the talent of deon sanders it don't matter because if you don't have any pass rush your cornerback is only as good as your defensive line allows him to be okay and so when we talk about guys who have direct influence guys who have the the opportunity to be able to make those impact plays and be a disruptor even if you're not making the sack you're making the play and so a lot of people don't understand that and when you look at chase
Starting point is 01:50:39 young that's exactly what he brings to the table being disruptive on the outside and you look at even look at the possibilities of chase young being able to be drafted as the number one pick and i even looked at this we had carlos dunlap on our show and carlos dunlap even talked about he know that's a position that needs to be addressed from the quarterback just because of he's seen the writing on the wall internally from the Cincinnati Bengals. So when you look at it, I kind of like the idea of Chase Young being the number one pick. Now, I personally would go with Joe Burrows, but I'm not mad at either one because this is what I do know. I know they're making some changes on the back end in Cincinnati, but when you have two bookends that are able to get after the quarterback
Starting point is 01:51:27 and harass the hell out of a quarterback, at the end of the day, it's going to make your average DB on the back end that much better as a linebacker. I know because I had the opportunity to play on several great defenses. And by playing on those defenses, one of the things that allowed me to be able to get 19 interceptions throughout my career was being able to just jump, jump routes. And so when you have those defensive guys like that, Pat, I'm telling you, it makes life that much better.
Starting point is 01:51:56 So both are very, very important to building franchises. Chase Young, if he went number one over Joe Burrow, the world would burn down. the world would burn down. The world would burn down. I mean, that hasn't even been discussed. It's a foregone conclusion that Joe Burrow is going to get drafted to the Bengals. Now, the thing that's been sneaking into conversation
Starting point is 01:52:17 that we have kind of been like wedging in there, I guess, into the daily conversation is the Miami Dolphins have three first-round draft picks to kill. That is so much leverage if you want to make a move at all you're at number five you're at number 16 i think in 28 i don't know they're they have three early middle late first round draft picks in one year they have the power to go wherever the hell they want whenever the hell they want if they want to i don't think there's anybody turning down three first round picks if you want to trade up there if you're the dolphins what do you think they're going to end up doing?
Starting point is 01:52:46 You think? I think they take advantage of that first round. What they got the number five pick, if I'm not mistaken, right? That's the first one. Yep. I think that number five pick definitely some good quarterbacks for some,
Starting point is 01:52:58 for whatever reason, I do feel in my gut, depending on the physical of tour coming out of alabama with his hip that may be a possibility for those guys to go hey he's been tanking this week to his to his name by all accounts and i think it's because that there's no in-person visits there's no doctor visits at this point normally like a week week and a half before the draft there's some teams that make last minute trips with their medical and stuff like that to his name I guess and now this is just if you listen to the people who allegedly have contacts and sources on television they're
Starting point is 01:53:34 saying like Tua is a guy that nobody's thinking is going to take early because they think it'd be irresponsible with his medical history I guess he's going to fall that I don't I don't see it I don't it doesn't make any sense to me but I guess a lot of people are saying that. Yeah, you're saying a lot of people are saying that he's going to continue to fall because of his medical history, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think he could be a great steal in the draft, just depending on... I remember back in the day, I look at hip injuries, in particular his. I look at, back in the day, we look at Bo Jackson. We look at several other guys who sustained those type of injuries. And when they sustained, when they happened,
Starting point is 01:54:09 when it happened to the guys, they didn't come back and play. Now, the first guy who I know who came back from a fractured hip was Deion Grant, second round draft pick out of the Carolina Panthers. He went on to play 13, 14 years in the NFL and won a Super Bowl title with the New York Giants in his last year. And so when I see these type of things, it's like, well, there is a possibility knowing that medicine has became much further. Now, the beautiful thing about the Miami Dolphins is they have leverage. And like you said, is they have leverage. And like you said, three first-round picks,
Starting point is 01:54:48 you still can leverage the second and third pick and still get a good quality guy to address your needs as a team. If I'm Brian Flores, I love the position that he's in. The reason why? Because he doesn't have to pick first, second, or third. And I truly think whatever happens within the first four picks of the draft, that will really give him clarity on what they would do, whether or not they keep their picks, or you have to look at what New England has always done in the past. They just stockpile picks year after year, and that's how they develop it. They're good at developing their talent.
Starting point is 01:55:23 And when you develop your talent from within, now you don't have to go out and overpay a super high premium for, for free agent guys, which puts you on a salary cap bind. There's only been a couple of teams that have been able to build from within. It's all the great teams, basically Packers, Packers,
Starting point is 01:55:42 Steelers, Patriots, all the teams that don't do a lot of trading But they build from within It's not easy because you've got to have the right coaches That can coach them up and make sure people understand the culture and the system That's not easy Takiyah, last question before we let you go
Starting point is 01:55:55 We can't thank you enough for your time Who is somebody you hated tackling? Alright, so My hardest years in the league Let me give you some perspective on this what was your neck size too i'd like to hear what your neck size was at that time as well listen this is the reason why i had to have the neck size as big as as big as it as it is now so when i came into the league bro you to understand, the guys who I went and competed against week after week, AFC North, or it was the AFC Central back then,
Starting point is 01:56:31 Jerome Bettis. Oh, wheels on the bus go round and round. Corey Dillon. Well, he was on my team, so I had to face him every day in practice. Jamal Lewis, Priest Holmes on the same team. Oh, I remember that. A Fred Taylor. Jacksonville.
Starting point is 01:56:51 And then you look at Tennessee after they did the realignment, you had Eddie George. Some big dudes. So the hardest guy who I just – Fred Taylor presented so many problems just because he was fast and quick and strong. But the guy like who I was like, God, like, damn, I'm about to bring the hat to him. It was like I knew I had to eat good and sleep good. Was Jerome Bettis, though.
Starting point is 01:57:16 Because I remember one time I met him in the hole. It was the third and one. And I knew the play was coming. Clean. Boom. Met Jerome inome in whole i hit him so hard it knocked me back he got knocked back and then i jumped on him again and tackling and it was for a two-yard game and he got up he got up and looked at me he was like oh you didn't know the big boy can move like that. That's awesome. Ladies and gentlemen, all pro,
Starting point is 01:57:51 15-year NFL vet, host of Behind the Mask, the podcast that is available now, Takiyo Spikes. You're the man, Takiyo. Thank you, man. That was awesome. That was absolutely awesome. Alright. I can't thank you enough for allowing us to penetrate your ears. That was awesome. That was absolutely awesome. All right. I can't thank you enough for allowing us to penetrate your ears.
Starting point is 01:58:16 Remember to post a photo on Twitter using the hashtag, this is where I'm at, Pat. Zito has been going through and sending merch to people, as has Phil, our CFO. Join us every day on YouTube, youtube.com forward slash the Pat McAfee Show. And if you like the show, tell a friend. If you didn't, just act like you never even heard it. The drafts tonight, we'll obviously talk about that tomorrow.
Starting point is 01:58:37 Let's get through this. We're getting through this together. Yeah, we are. Ty Schmidt, please play some independent music. សូវាប់បានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបាូវាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្វាប់បានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានូវនប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ប់ Outro Music

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.