The Ringer NFL Show - Combine Confessions: Explaining What Coaches and GMs Are Actually Saying

Episode Date: February 29, 2024

Live from the NFL combine: PANDA WATCH (2:35)! Next, inspired by the 'Key & Peele' skit “Obama’s Anger Translator,” the guys make sense of this year’s NFL combine press conferences from the head coaches and general managers, including Sean Payton’s thoughts on the Broncos’ QB situation and the Pats GM's thoughts on team culture (9:42). Later, they unpack the most interesting findings from the annual NFL team report cards, as graded by the actual players (53:56). Check out our 2024 Ringer NFL Draft Guide here! Email us! [e-mail] The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Ben Solak Social: Kiera Givens and Jack Sanders Producer: Kai Grady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, guys, it's your boy Johnny Bananas, and I'll be covering all the treachery, deceit, backstabbing, and murder from season two of the Traders' U.S. on my podcast, Death Taxes, and Bananas. I'll be joined all season by my fellow castmates to swap stories, provide all the behind-the-scenes antics, and sorted details from filming. So Sally Forth, and join me for Season 2 of the Traders every Saturday on the Ringer reality TV podcast feed. I joined the first by Danica Kelly Fed's so like it. There's a hundred people in this room and I don't know how loud to be.

Hello. That was remarkably not loud. Yeah. That was such a disappointment. Should I scream? There's like a hundred people here. It was like yell whispering. Welcome to.

I know. I felt you're paying the entire time though. That was hard for you. And I appreciate you making that sacrifice for the good of the people. Anyway, yeah, we're here at the combine. Sorry, we're here at the combine. The combine. The NFL combined.

Mm-hmm. For 24, D.K. Sillick and I pour one out for Craig here in spirit. We have so much to get to We're in a little Obama anger translator Obviously. Yeah, because, you know, what coaches and GMs love is when people speak on behalf of them. And so we're doing them a service.

So they're really excited for that. Explain to that people that don't know what that is, what that is. No, we'll do that later. Okay. And then, uh, DK has a thing he brought for me from Seattle that Seleck doesn't know about. But first, NFL draft dot the ringer.com. Heardman.

You know, he has top 50 players there in the big board and incredible scouting reports. There is only one place in the world you can go where Caleb Williams, the quarterback at a USC is compared to an accord. accordion. Yeah. No, Cardian player. Sorry.

Oh, that's actually really good. Yeah. That's fairly critical. A musician. Yeah. Super good distinction. Okay.

And then you have incredible scouting reports. The comments from incredible. Dan Comer, shout out all the research. Hope. Solek has a mock draft there. I have a mock draft there. Dek has a mock draft. And we'll have another mock draft on Monday, Tuesday, something?

Wednesday, I believe, this week. All right. Third time's the charm. Yeah. Monday, Tuesday. There's only seven days. Yeah. Eventually you get there.

I thought about that for too long. So in all seriousness, I'm trying to be humble. But, like, we are, like, the draft guide we have is, like, the best draft guy. That's so nice. Like, NFLDraft. What a great draft guy. Yeah. It's just, please go to NFLDraft.3.com.

It's so freaking cool. D.K. is incredible stuff there. And it's just amazing. So, thank you. We're going to get to the show. Start off here with America's new favorite segment. Panda Watch. It was electric.

Is that an anchor? Because that is what the draft is and the combine is really all about, which is just, we're just kind of sitting watching these pandas. This is a very tense panda watch because none of the pandas are coming out. They're hiding in their enclosure. None of the top quarterbacks are throwing this week or doing anything. It's like when you have a kid and he's super gassed to go to the zoo and then all the tigers are sleeping and just no amount of dipping dots can save the day. It chalked. There's no recovering from this.

Hey, Panda jerk. So Caleb, what's the roundup here? Marvin Harrison, Jr. He's here, but he's not going to do anything. Right. And then Caleb Williams is not going to throw. Caleb Williams, Drake May, and Jane Daniels, the three top, the consensus top three quarterbacks are not throwing.

They're not doing anything. They're not doing workouts. They're not doing testing. We stay till Saturday. We're here. We're booked for Saturday in Indianapolis because the quarterbacks are throwing Saturday. And none of them. Just JJ.

So honestly, it's literally like Anchorman when he's just like looking at the panda. He's like, you make it look stupid. Yes. Hey, why? Did I a stupid panda? The J.J., man, the opportunity for JJ here. Spin that soccer. Oh, yeah.

Look great. Look excellent. Yeah, like D.K. said, like Consensus top three, Jaden, Caleb, and May. I think that's the case right now. I wouldn't be surprised by the time we get to April, JJ's pushing more into that. That's the vibe I'm getting this week. And so JJ throwing and being probably the best throw out there is good news for him.

So McCarthy, quarterback in Michigan, do you think he will do the meditation at the goalpost before the throwing? I could see it. If he does, it better throw well. It's kind of his brand, I feel like his meditation. Yeah. Can we linger on the Marvin Harrison Junior thing for one second really quick? It's not... Take two.

It's not just that Marvin Harrison is here and not doing anything. The current understanding of what Marvin Harrison is going to do in this pre-draft process is that he's not going to do it. He's not going to like, do the like, I'm going to train for three months to run a good 40-yard dash. I'm going to try to lose seven pounds, whatever. He's like, listen, you've all seen the tape, we got no problem. And he's not going to waste time training for anything but football. Like his training right now, all the other prospects is focused on nailing these drills.

He's just doing wide receiver workouts. I kind of love that. Which I'm like, it is such a football guy, I think, and I know it's beat. I know it is, I know it's cat. I love it. I love it so much. So to be clear, so a lot of guys come to the combine. Sorry, combine.

Combine. I apologize. I pronounce everything wrong. And so we go to the combine. And then most guys do that we're 80-ish. 20% guys are so good that or just for whatever reason. Like, you know what? I'm going to run my 40-yard dash at my pro day where we can fake it.

And I'll be like, I'm going to weigh a certain thing at the combine. And then I'll run, I'm going to drop the weight again. because I'm not actually that way, and I'm trying to lie publicly and get away with it, and then, like, run later. Marvin Harrison Jr. is taking Dorsey, which is, I'm just, nah, I'm not too naive. Have you seen me to play football? Then you have no more questions, and I will be taking no more questions. It kind of does.

When you explain it, and you're like, well, he's not going to train for the things that aren't football. He's going to train for the football. It actually makes an incredible amount of sense. And you're like, what are doing here? When you have top five film, it makes sense. Everybody else, no, you got to try to think. Actually, it's opposite. If you're not very good, like, if you're like borderline good at football, shouldn't you be training at football instead?

Like, ideally in a perfect world. We should be trained for football. Who's not benefiting? We should be training for for now. What are we doing? Get the jugs machine, man. We should be catching balls right now. But in all serious, this happened in the COVID year, right? Because the COVID year, a lot of guys just, you know, their teams didn't play or whatever.

And then you got guys that Jamar Chase who just trained the whole year for football. And Ray Sean Slater, because of Northwestern dinner of season. And then he just, you know, instead of training for like a 40-yard dash, She just started lifting with training, practicing football skills. And then guess what? They had two of the best rookie seasons in like we can remember. Rishan Slater probably one of the best offensive line rookie. Maybe it was because he trained for the NFL instead of training for like short show.

I don't know. You have to be good at the L drill in order to be good at football. Under most conditions, Marvin Harrison Jr. is an exception. I just think it's like so funny that anyway, the guys like trained for track. Also wait, sorry, before we get off Panda Watch too. No, sorry, two things, two tangents, then we'll do the show. one, do you think Marvin Harrison, Jr. could get away with no drills of any kind if he was still Marvin Harrison's son, but he wasn't named Marvin.

If his name was Tim. Fred Harrison. His name was Fred Harrison. And it was like, Fred Harrison's not going to do any drills. My guy's telling me. Probably not. My guy is that you have to have the name. That's an excellent question because in my head I was like, who cares? And my tongue was immediately like, yeah, no, he needs me.

The stars just aligned for him to not do anything. Remember when we did the bit where Marvin Harrison's senior's feedback for his son was like, be more of a star, be more of a diva? Marvin Harrison was like, all right, all right, pops. I ain't working out. I'm not doing that either, yeah. He took the advice to heart. He did take that to heart, yeah.

I kind of think we should rewatch, like, all of Marvin Harrison's tape, but just pretend his name's Fred and give him a completely different grade. Yeah. People accused me of that on Twitter the other week because I said Marvin Harrison's clear wide receiver one for me. Like there's apparently some teams that I've else used Malik neighbors above him. I said that's not for me. And they were like, you wouldn't be saying this if his name was a Marvin Harrison.

And it's like, okay, firstly, no. but also his name is Marvin Harrison, man. But his name is Marvin Harrison. It's related to the fact that there's something deep in men's brains that we just love. Like, dude, Immaculate Great is so popular. He's like, dude, I remember that guy. I love naming guys. And like, dude, Marvin Harrison, remember that guy.

There's also good name theorem, right? Malik Neighbors, LSU wide receiver, going to be a good pro. Malik neighbors, great name. His teammate Brian Thomas? Buddy, what are we doing here? Brian Thomas Jr. Could. Rep.

Friends? Fred. Marvin Thomas. I'm very good. I have a first round great on you. Anyway, so that's number one, too. Panda, while we're on the Panda Watch. Panda Watch.

Did you see that the San Diego Zoo is actually getting... I did see this. This is real life. And we, this is because of life. Do you think that we had a role in the Panda diplomacy? They were like, all right, pandas. We should bring those back. Okay, so I live in Washington, D.C.

where there were famously pandas for a long time that were all known from China. And it is part of the relationship between China, America. And they took the pandas back and part of it because they were getting older. And I swear, the videos, I don't know if you saw them, they went kind of viral. Maybe it was just D. viral blit. They FedExed the panda's bat. Arthur Fendez?

Dude, they have a special panda truck and it's a FedEx truck. They drove them? How do they get there? That seems weird. They drove them to a boat. Right, okay. It's like the whale all over again.

How do they get the plane or boat? Jim Mersey was involved. I'm thinking boat for pandas. I'm thinking about planes. Someone told us this on Twitter that all pandas are owned by China. Well, the pandas live in China. They have a monopoly on China.

That's where pandas live. Can you just call stuff? Is this dips? I think that's how it works. International law. I think Scorpions hardcore. Panda Watch, dude. What are the odds that we just started calling this thing Panda Watch and then the San Diego Zoo?

Actually, because Panda's a guy. We should also watch Pandas. So weird coincidence, I will say. We should do a live show from there. Anyway, wait, Caleb Williams, you're making us look stupid. Just throw a ball. Hey! Like, what are we?

Panda jerk. Bates jerk. Get out of it. One of the best key in Peel bits is the Obama anger translator, where Peel is like being Obama and then behind him is key. He's just doing the thing. And Obama's like, I want you to know, no matter what you think of my politics, you know, I'm coming from the right place.

And his anger translator is like, I am from Hawaii. I have a birth certificate. It's a great bit. It's incredible. And all these things, honestly, the coaches and gyms, there's a politician element to a lot of these public speaking. Like, they have to do a lot of stuff. They have to say things without saying things.

They can't just say what they think. Right. But they have extremely strong opinions. They want people to read between the lines. Yeah, there's both calculated things where they are trying to say something without saying it. And then there's also just kind of every now and then, like, it's very emotional things. And sometimes there's just a lapse in a little veneer of truth right there that came out. And so I think we're going to do a little anger translation.

Because, again, coaches and gyms love when you just speak on their behalf. And so they've asked us to do it really. If you don't want people to speak on your behalf, get better. saying what you want to say, well. These guys drive me nuts sometimes, but... Well, also, I mean, we're talking about an industry that just invented word, like, defensed the past.

We already have a word for that. It's called defended. And they just say, defensed. And we also matriculate down the field, which is not what that means. That's just a football word. I love matriculate. I will continue to use it. That's just one coach one time said it, no one corrected their boss. And everyone says, you know, matriculate down the field. We're at the NFL

Combine. What other part of life could you just say, yeah, combine it. you're like, that's insane. He's getting upset. Yeah. I don't know. I don't care about this at all. Okay, fine.

Whatever. All right. So we're going to do. Oh, my God. So he just did an example of things you should just say out loud. We had a meeting the other day. I think the core of like why this show works is we had a meeting the other day. And I was like, yeah, what if we do?

It's scheduled meeting like three hours. And Craig was like three hours. He's like, no. Hell no. I'm not doing that. He's like, I'm not. Someone has to stand up and say no. 90 minutes it is?

Yeah. Your tyranny. We're going to do the Obama anchor translator. And we have to actually start with before the combined even began. We have to start with the Russell Wilson podcast. He went on the, well, Brandon Marshall's podcast. I am athlete. And Russell Wilson did the interview.

Yeah, I am athlete. And I just, there's a couple things from that I have to pick out. And then he went through the Sean Payton thing with, you know, Sean Payton, but kind of low-key, like, threatening to bench him unless he, like, gave his injury money back. There was a whole thing. Two things from this interview. I have Russ.

What he said was, over the next two years, I want to win two Super Bowls. I want to feel the chill of that trophy again. Translation is like, I want to be Patrick Mahomes so badly. I thought Mahomes' life would be my life. And I'm devastated.

It's like, it's like I thought Matthew Stafford's life is going to be my life, right? I thought like I was going to like go to a new team and like after the Seahawks so terribly mistreated me, I was going to immediately vault, you know, get new offensive mind.

and then go, and it was going to be incredible. And it turns out I'm not Matthew Stafford, right? Like, I wanted to be Patrick Mahomes. Also, I wanted to be these other quarterbacks who changed the location. Didn't get to do that. Yeah, man. I mean, like, is there a translation that's like,

I'm willing to go to a good team as the backup? I don't think so. I think it's, I will win the game. I'll get a ring. Shout up. Someone in the ESPN, I don't remember who. Someone said, if you want, oh, it's Frank Is Solan around the horn. Somebody's like, Russ, if you want two Super Bowels

in the next two years, go back up Patrick Mahomes. Exactly, yeah. Like, two over five is very lofty, man. Like, that's like Chief's Patriots behavior. Like, the best teams aren't getting two over five. The dynasties are, but like, even like the good teams. He's all about, like, manifesting his visions and things like that. How's that going for him recently? I mean, he did win a Super Bowl.

Eight years ago. Yeah, well, you know, doesn't mean you stopped manifesting. Eight years ago, he's been in the league for 11 seasons. But is, yeah, and now he wants two in the next five. But he's literally just saying two for two. Shoot for the stars. Yeah. Dude, when we went over this quote in preparation for the podcast,

I said to say to D.K., oh my gosh, Russell Wilson said he wants two Super Bowl the next five years. And DK looked me and went, it's good to have goals. I mean, it is. It's good to have goals. Yeah, I mean, whatever. He's always been about visualization and all that stuff. So whatever, I don't even mind.

Russ should visualize his way to starting nine games to the radio. I should visualize. The other thing Russ said in this show that I just thought was incredible, was, again, the entire show is because Russell Wilson was kind of extorted to give the Broncos money back to make it easier for Sean Payton to cut Russell Wilson. Right. He had to escalate it to the NFLPA and to the league. It is messed up because Russ was asked basically, like, if you get hurt, we don't want to pay you.

That's basically what they're saying. Which is yes. And not only did, he probably did the right thing during the NFLPA because it's true that what Russ said that if he did that, it would actually create a precedent that other teams can then threaten players to give their injury money back, which is pretty dangerous enough. Like at the very least you tear your ACL, you should still, like, earn money, not be fired for hurting your knee, playing football. And the whole point of money that's guaranteed for injury is that it's guaranteed for injury.

Yeah, that's why it's built for this. And Sean Payton's like take backsies. So the other thing he said, though, is so Russ is going to get cut, and we'll get to that in a second. Russ was asked about what team he might want to go to. He said, quote, I honestly haven't thought about it. Yeah, right. Translation, I have absolutely thought about it. I have given my agent four teams that I want to play.

for and he's disseminated that to the whole league. Is it late February? What is the new league year? It's May March? Oh my gosh, I should I just start working on? What are the other 31 teams called?

I don't remember the giant. He wants exactly two Super Bowls in the next five years but he doesn't know. Are the nuggets in this league? What are we doing? I don't know. It's like in the NBA, all the $200 billion contracts and free agents

come down at 12.01 a.m. When the tampering window ends, and they're like, we just got it done. You know, we just built it out. The structure, yeah. No, there's nothing like, you know. And this is a common. trope for the combine podiums as well.

Like, you know, have you met with these teams, all the general manager questions? Have you spoken to your free agent, like agents? No? Like, yes, of course you're going to free agent. Of course we're meeting with teams. That's what you do. Of course you're thinking about where you might want to end up. You know, you know you're going to play next year. So where you're going to go? You want to get the, the Sean Payton aspect to this?

You want to just figure out where Russ is going to go first. Sean Payne was cooking this week, man. Well, well, first of all, let's talk about Sean Payton. First of all, the man, he talks incredibly slow. I don't know if this was on purpose just to like kind of like, Greatest clock management I've ever seen. Avoid questions. It's a 15-minute press conference, and I've never seen anyone run down the clock, not since Bill Parcells. I've seen a coach with the clock manager, Sean Peyton Bill.

Oh, yeah, Marvin Mims. Three minutes on Marvin Mims. And then he's just like, we went back talking about the 1980s, and he was like pausing, like he was Stephen A. Smith to answer. I kind of respect it. I went to read his transcript after reading much about other transcripts, and I went to start scrolling to the bottom, and I just hit the bottom of the transcript. And there's nowhere else to go.

His words for a minute. His words for me it was real low. He was also like the only coach who was like very selectively like point out reporters like you can talk and just like fine anyway.

Anyway, so he, here's one thing he said and this reminded me a little bit of me because I like to send a good humorous meme. He goes,

I saw a humorous meme the other day where there's a Varanco's fan with a shirt on and there's like eight quarterbacks names crossed through it and he's drinking the quarterback Kool-Aid. Our job is to make sure the next one doesn't have a line through it.

And the translator essentially is just like, Hey, don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out, Russ. Like, he more or less confirmed, like, that that bridge is burned at this point. He's, it's so... The next one. He, the, just, there were, there are so many,

he was disgusted with the... He hates Russell Wilson. So, first of all, let's start with the ultimate. Let's be clear. The ultimate, let's start with the, not only that. He always has, I think. The other thing Sean Peyton said was, I have not listened to the Brandon Marshall podcast.

Translation. I have listened to the Brandon Marshall podcast. In translation, I was told what happened on the Brandon Marshall podcast, and I refused to listen to the brand of marketing market. So, Peyton, he gave an answer. And first of all, I kind of want to set the table here with how much of a self-inflicted wound this cutting Russell Wilson is. So let's see if Danny can explain dead money challenge. But basically, like, I will try to make it simple. But basically, the salary cap is like taxing taxes in that you have to report it.

I'm already confused. Oh, okay. Yeah, I'd say anything that's like tax. I'm not going. That's a good problem. I'm going. Keep going. Well, basically, they are going to pay Russell Wilson $120 million over two years, which I don't really should have bad for us.

I'm not going to lie. It's pretty good. He had 11 wins in $120 million. So he's getting cut, but they've only accounted for like $39 million. So they still have to account for like the other $85 million that they're going to pay him. It's like on their taxes. They haven't reported that money, but they paid him the money. So the biggest debt, so dead.

Oh, sorry. I don't know what's worse. That wasn't a bit. I'm just very sleepy. That was brutal. But the point is, the biggest dead cap hits ever. It's like Aaron Rogers at 40, Matt Ryan at 40. The Russell Wilson dead cap hit is bigger than the two biggest dead cap hits ever combined.

It's 85 million. They can do 40 million this year and 45 next year or something. The best part about the Russell Wilson dead cap hit is that when Russ signed the deal, right? It was like, okay, this is the deal. This is the dead money. And it's like the earliest they will ever get out of this deal is like, end of the 2025 season because the dead cap figures and like eight weeks into his first season of the broncos they're like okay if they get out of it in 20204 this is what it's going to look like

it went from being like you could never possibly try get out of this deal in 20204 the dead the dead the dead cap hit is far too large 80 85 million impossible to like we watched him for seven games you can swallow 85 million dollars as soon as the crowd started chanting the play clock i think that was when we knew that they need to start worrying about the dead yes the dead money i'll never it was the first drive of the home right there i'll never that's like the wildest i will say the Peyton, I saw a humorous meme. Firstly, are you a hundred? Are you 100? I'm going to start saying I saw a humorous

meme. A Broncos A Broncos jersey with the name scratched out of the quarterbacks, they want a Super Bowl of Peyton Manning, okay? In 2050, I know. This isn't like ancient history. The substands would be like Simeon, like, obviously,

Paxon Lynch, that's very depressing. Drew Lockees. Keenum. Joe Flacco was there for a year. If you were buying, if you were buying any of these That's on you. Dude, 100%. Seven, eight names. These are not like franchise savers.

If at any point you talk to yourself into Simeon, Keenan, or Flacco, you are the problem. Or love. That's so, so excellent call. So lack. Your humorous meme is factually inaccurate. So the other thing I, uh, Sean Payton said that I need, so he was so mad at Russell Wilson. This is, I'm going to read you. This is a quote that I did not, do not think out enough play.

He basically, The quarterbacks that aren't tall, maybe they aren't that aren't prototype height, I think generally speaking, it might vary how teams value prototype heights, let's say. And then he like paused, put his hand on his shim and was like, let's say like six foot two as a starting point. Russ is 511. And he like thought about it. And he's like, at some point teams are going to make you win from the pocket. Oftentimes these guys are seeing through lanes, not necessarily overpassing lanes,

but certainly for some quarterbacks that can be a little more challenging. Yeah. Which basically meant, fuck you, Russ, you're short. Yeah. Can't play quarterback. Don't get a short guy. Here's the problem. They've been connected to J.J. McCarthy a lot.

Isn't he? He's not that tall. 6-2-6-3, right? He's tall enough. 6-2? Yeah. He's right at that borderline. Yeah.

Listen, at least it's not John Elway calling the shots with Denver anymore, where, like, Elway was just filter quarterback draft class by height. And they're right, that guy at the top is who he's taken. Right. Whoever 6-4 and up. Brock Oswald was the best thing he did as a Bronco was like they put him out. He got so bad. They started putting him out.

on field goal blocks because he was so tall and they started to see if he could just like block it. Did they really do that? Yeah, he did at once. He tried to just block it. His arms are so long and I was like, that's probably a bad use. That's tough. Here's my question. So Sean Payton, among other things he said also, was that he's like, well, I'll have an answer from ownership by the end of the week, which means Sayanara. And then you can tell a reporter asked as a clarification, would you be done by March 13th, which is three weeks away, to which Peyton said, I think I just said the next two weeks. So it's done. So by the end of next week, Russell's free agent. Where does he go? Is there any chance he gets traded? probably not

I mean no one's taking that correct the only way you're trading is if you worry that you're not able to get him and if you want him and you're not going to be able to land him and there's just no reason to believe I just had to ask without making Solakian again

Russ is going to get paid by the Broncos and he's probably going to sign for like the veteran minimum because basically anything he takes over the minimum would mean the Broncos have to pay him less which long story short Russell Wilson can be signed for $1 million dollars, which basically takes his career full circle to the whole beginning of the rookie

quarterback contract wage scale and all this stuff that the whole, the only team that's won a quarterback taking huge money is Mahomes and the Chiefs. Every other team that's like really, or Brady, every other team that doesn't him homes or Brady basically has won with a quarterback making mid-level money or a lot of quarterbacks have made it with like the rookie quarterback contract thing. So like, but the point isn't that they're rookies. The point is that the quarterbacks are cheap. So if Russell's making a million dollars, as much as Russell Wilson kind of sucked in Denver,

think we have to take it seriously that like well russell was making a million dollars you can build a hell of a team like what it goes back to it's like obviously rust is a big name it's huge money it's whatever before we had reporting on the injury thing before we knew jared stid and was playing and russell was getting benched i was watching russ film in november and i was like this is not playable like he is it's not that he's bad it's that you can't roster this caliber of play right now he cannot execute an offense because he just doesn't throw the ball where it needs to go when it's supposed to go and he doesn't create anymore because he's he's he's lost athletic right which like maybe some of that was just total disillusion with the broncos

goes and he'll bounce back. But the most recent film for Russ, I wouldn't want that in my ability. No chance. Okay. So next up here, other anger translation, we got Ryan Poles, the GM of the Bears, was asked. Basically, he answered a question about trading Justin Fields. And he said, if we go down that road, I want to do right by Justin as well. No one wants to live in gray. I know that's uncomfortable. And basically he's like, we'll gather information and we'll move as quickly on a trade as possible, which I would translate to, do you remember in John Wick when they're like, Justin Fields excommunicato, six p.m.

Eastern effective and I'm like this guy is I mean I've never heard a GM be like yeah we'll try to trade him like two weeks I just feel bad for the guy I feel bad for you like yeah Polos is Poles is such an interesting guy to me

he loves coming to the combine just being like here's exactly what I'm doing yeah he's very coy with it so he's like yeah dude the Jack Sparer is like what if like what is he's trying to steal the boat yeah and he's like oh no I'm the wrong person to ask no you don't have seen Piracy oh you don't I'm not enthusiastic about it like you guys

like what if I knew you wouldn't believe the truth even if I told it to you. Right, exactly. He's like, my intention is to commandeer that ship and go and be a pirate. And he's like, yeah, no, for sure, for real. Because polls last year, if you remember, like, they had the first overall pick. They were considering trading away and keeping fields. And he was, like, in football morning in America being like, yeah, love having the first

year old, they get a lot of offers. We'll see what happens. Send me your best offer. Do it by free agency. Go. Like, you know, I'm going to play the game. He was like very explosive, which is kind of like an OG move. And, like, at the time, I was like, this bothers me.

Like, this is like, stop like the cat walking around. Now you're due. he's kind of in the flip responsibility where it's like we're going to trade our quarterback to keep one overall and he's doing it again i'm like okay i kind of respect this this is this is a little bit hard that would be funny if all the gms playing like subterfuge and not letting anyone know what they're going to do actually really um hurts their ability to get anything done with the other teams because they have no what the other teams actually would be better off to do right i but i agree with you i really really really do not think the bears are trading one away i think the only world

which the bears trade one away are the world in which they're trading for two overall and where They're basically giving the commanders and saying, hey, you can have Caleb and we're very happy with Drake May and you're just going to have to give us, you know. I was going to say a couple day two picks, but the funny thing is there's really no precedent that I was able to find for trading two for one. Like that doesn't have in a draft. It's very rare to happen. Well, the Bears themselves traded down. Yeah, Chubisky, they got extorted for third rounder. That's three to two live on April as opposed to two.

There's a massive difference going three to two to one because of control it gives you on the draft. And also, right? And so, like, like, to me, like, if I'm polls, I want to start that conversation with the commanders. I really think the commanders are probably committed to Cliff Kingsburg and Caleb Williams. But you have to start that call and be like, hey, you got to give me first. Right. And like, yeah, you got it. You want to go to your eye.

You can do that because there's not a lot of president for that deal. We don't have to name it. It's not the first pick. It's Caleb. Like, like, Washington, if they're going to, Washington is the second pick. If they're trading it's, we will give you, let's say if the bears want Drake May or J.G. McCarthy or J. Yeah.

Like, the trade is, whatever course. quarterback, the Bears have decided they take. And it's, we'll give you, like, three firsts for Caleb Williams. And, like, that's really what it is. And that's, like, right, it's kind of a little bit like it could be, like, a basketball deal where, like, they pick the player and then trade him to the team. And he wears the wrong hats. Right, exactly, yeah.

But it's, um, it's really quite an interesting staring contest. Because the, the card that very clearly has been played is that the commanders want Caleb. It's now on polls and the bears to be able to say, okay, we're willing to take Caleb over May, but we're also willing to move back. for May instead of Caleb. You have to be able to convince commanders, hey, we really like Caleb. If you don't trade up, we're going to take him.

But also, we are interested in trading back because we were willing to take May instead of Caleb. That's a very hard sell, right? To make it. It's a, um, Poles is doing work. I'm honestly. I impressed me last year. I'm excited to see what he does this year.

DK., where do you think Justin Fields goes? He's favorite to go to Atlanta. I had him going to Atlanta in a mock draft, but honestly, I feel like he doesn't really fit there with Zach Robinson. I think Falcons get a veteran quarterback, but I feel like Fields doesn't necessarily fit with Zach Robinson. But then it's like you look around. It's like the reason Poles had trouble is no one really wants Justin Fields.

But he's one of the 32 best quarterbacks, but... I know. That's the problem. He's not like necessarily a guy you can just like, as So like we put it, plug and chug. Put it in. You got plug and chug. Plug and chug the honey hole. It has to be kind of a scheme and philosophy fit. I don't know.

Who do you think? Who do you think is the team that has... I've been thinking Atlanta this whole time, basically. I feel like he'll just be the best backup quarterback to say the truth. I don't know. I think he's going to be a starter, but it's just we have to see how the game of musical chairs kind of like plays out. I think the problem is that Pittsburgh is the other big one. Fundamentally the issue is that Fields is probably, because there's only, let's say, seven, eight teams that really need a quarterback right now.

And it's like the three at the top, the Patriots, Washington Bears, they can get their pick. Then you've got like the Falcons, the Vikings, the Broncos, the Raiders. And the problem is, I think Fields of the quarterbacks in the draft, Kirk Cousins, Free Agency. Fields is like the seventh pick of the seven, but he is the first in the queue right now to be dealt with. And that's creating a really difficult thing that the bears have to deal with first, what everyone else wants to, is their last. sort. So it's kind of just a friction. So we'll see. Maybe they do have to carry him longer than they want. Next up here, Anger Translation, D.K., you were there

for the press conference for Elliot Wolfe, who is now the general manager for the New England Patriots and also the son of Ron Wolf, who's like a legendary GM. How, D.K., how did that one go? I mean, honestly, it was probably my favorite presser from any of the GMs. He was, maybe just because he's the least experience of doing this, but I felt like he said the most, or at least

accidentally said the most. the first thing that came to mind was when someone asked him about the team culture he said it's easy to say the culture has changed but there's no players here right now so we'll see how it's changed but he said but certainly and I quote there's more of an open less hard-ass type vibe in the building which is like oh shit is the first time I think it's the first time NFL team is openly admitted to one to being less hard ass I know right this we saw history today um that's it was essentially like the translation there is like thank Christ build The Olochek is gone.

Like, that was kind of the vibe I got. Like, just like from a overall, like, team culture. Thank God, that's over. It reminds me of the first thing I thought of was, you know, the Theodan worm tongue scene from Lord of the Rings? Oh, yeah, they vanished. Where, like, they, where he, like, gets saved from, like, the spell of Sarmon and, like, whatever, the vibe.

Yeah, the vibes are terrible. And then all of a sudden, like, you know, they, he had someone with his staff. Thiodon, son. Yeah, yeah. This, like, morose, like, really atrocious. vibes place all of a sudden it starts to look a little bit better. Elliot Wolfcombs is like, I release you. Yeah.

So anyways, I think like basically it was a pitch to free agents that like, yeah, we're not trying to be the same old Patriots. We're not trying to do that thing anymore. And we're going to have fun. We're going to like, I don't know if that was necessarily what he means, but like we're not just going to be, you know, essentially what the Patriots have been under Bill Belichick, which is over the last few years when they're not winning,

pretty morose and terrible and not fun. Don't forget that even Gron. who won three Super Bowls with the Patriots, and Gronk, like, when he retired, I think the first or second time he can't get track was like, yeah, no, I like never had fun. I think fun was actively discouraged. Even when they were winning, though,

he's talking about the Super Bowl seasons. He was like winning Super Bowl sick, but really hated those years. And like, he didn't look back on the seasons fondly, just the outcome. Can I give a draft specific corollary to this anger translator? So Wolf was asked if they've changed

the grading system in English. Yes, this was incredible. Yeah, so Belichick had a like a hyper-specific grading system to his team. Like to like, where scouts didn't really like say, oh, he's the first rounder. They would say like, oh, you know, he's going to be in our system like a starter by year two and a plus starter by year three, right? And this is his specific role in our system. Like he's going to be a nickel corner for us. He's going to be this slot receiver.

He's going to be our goaler. He's going to be like for gap power. Like it was very hyper-specific. And so he was asked, do you change the grading system? He says, yeah, so we changed the grading system. Wolf's only been there since 2020. He came up initially with the Packers like he brought up on Wolf. So he says it's a little bit more similar to what we did in Green Bay.

The previous patriotism was more, this is what the role is, this is what the role is, and this is more kind of value-based, right? And value-based there is, we're not going to take Cole Strange in the first round. NUCA, baby. We're going to try to figure out where other guys are ranked, and we're going to try to pick the players kind of where they might go, and we don't feel like when you draft Cole Strange in the first round. Another translation is kind of a, what the frick is that?

this. They got up on the board. He's looking at the draft room. One is it? One of these numbers? What's the boxes for? We're going back to great. That sounds like in a marriage like when the, you know, the wife kind of gets a little more insight into the, you know, what the, maybe the guy's doing his finances and is like, he's doing like Dogecoin and like

meme and alt coins. And they're like, we're going to do something a little more value based. Yeah. The other thing I thought that stood out about that part, which I thought was very interesting is he, the way he kind of was putting it made me think that the scouts coming up in the organization

and the scouts who are doing scouting all year round, it's going to be a more collaborative process because reading between the lines, what I felt was he was basically saying like, look, all these scouts would give reports to Bill, but then he would just make a decision. Yeah, it was the scouts job to figure out what the player could do,

and then Bill was like the valuation guy. Right. Right. Versus like this would be a little bit more like you'll be able to stamp it's like, this guy's a second round grade for us, right, whatever. Right. He did say later in that same paragraph, It's easier for Scouts for eight guys and put them in a stack of and this is what was funny of like this guy's the best

This guy's the worst and then everybody else in the middle which I love him being like So we start with being like okay Queen and Mitchell we love him best corner of the class And then we go who who's the worst? Who's the worst? Who's the worst? Who's the bottom? He's the worst and then we got to go for me I just like yeah, we're gonna do like a whole thing We're like we're trying to figure who's the best who's the worst? Yeah, good policy. I just like yeah Picking the worst guy on their board That's tough we really like now who we never going to draft ever The other thing he said, by the way, before we move off of Elliot Wolf,

someone was asked, I think he was asked about like how they evaluate quarterbacks or whatever, how they evaluate leadership. And he said, first of all, being the quarterback is someone that can elevate his teammates, someone that your teammates want to play for, and obviously physical talent. But past that, body language on the field is very important at the position. You don't want a guy that's throwing his hands up after a bad play or you can physically see him pointing at someone. I went like, shout out to Doug Farrer.

Who do you picture the most of throwing their hands up after a bad play? Well, it's a very, like, that comment caught my eye because, like, that morning I was watching, Jaden and Jane Jano's quarterback at LSU,

and he missed a throw in the red zone against. I think it was Mississippi State in Miami, and he threw his hands up in the air, and I was like, man, Ellie and I were grinding the same film this morning. Dude, literally like,

shout out to Doug Farrar who, quote tweeted the thing of like, can't have him thrown up his hands. And he quoted it with a gift of, Mac Jones throwing up his hands and then pointing it. Mac Jones truly was like literally the champion of bad body language this year, I think. Like the maybe the absolute worst in bad body language, yeah. Mac Jones would have the belt for worst body language in the entire NFL.

So I don't know what that means for Mac Jones going forward, but it doesn't seem good. He's gone. So that's actually an incredible point about Jaden Daniels. And like, let's say they actually just get the ick from Jaden Daniels. Do you think the Patriots would go Marvin Harrison? at three, which everyone's given them, or do you think they would go JJ McCr-G McCarthy? Like, at the end of the day, J.G. McCarthy went to Michigan, and Tom Brady's out here being like,

he's better than me in college. And, like, at some point, would they just take J.J. McCarthy, even if Marvin Harrison's great? Like, they... I would put the Patriots right now. 25% chance to take J.N. Daniels. 25% chance they take J.J.J. McCarthy. 25% chance they take Marvin Harrison, Jr., 25% chance they trade back. I will update those numbers

over time. They are impossible to figure out right now, because they're so new. Right? It was, like, like their personnel structure was already very weird and peculiar, right? Like one of the first questions that Ellie got asked was like, so what's your title? And he was like, and he was like director of personnel. Literally. Right.

What are you allowed to do? If you go and you look at like his Wikipedia page, Wikipedia page is like Alonzo Highsmith, who's in that or now as well. Like from the Patriots 2020 to 2021, he was consultant. It's consultant. Do the Patriots have the wild. The Patriots have like the CIA. On Alonzo Highsmith's Wikipedia just says personnel. We know what side of the shop he was on.

That's it. And so they're such a, and they're changing the grading scale and everything. I have no idea what they're going to prioritize, how they're going to prioritize. Right now, like, the draft obviously starts two because of the quarterbacks and because the trade potential or whatever. But the uncertainty for me starts at three. We're like, I'm very blank on them right now. So I live in Washington, D.C.

And one of my favorite games is trying to figure out which businesses are fronts for government, CIA and NSA operations. And the Patriots title themselves like one of those. Like, yeah, he's assistant. What was his title? So he was director of scouting for two years ago, and now he's director of personnel.

Okay. Which is like if scouting was a little more formal. They just really don't like having a GM. I mean, even Matt Patricia, when he was offensive coordinator, it was like assistant something. Alonzo Highsmith, New York, 24, personnel. That's so funny. That's so funny.

That's all we got. So next Obama anger translator here, we got Kevin O'Connell, who's the head coach. Every time I say that, I just have it, Kevin O'Connor, who's an NBA writer for us. It's just hilarious. There's another KOC. Kevin O'Connell, head coach for the Vikings.

I actually just asked him, like, so he gave this, like, wax poetic thing. And I was like, yeah, so what's up with the Kirk thing? He was free age. It's kind of weird, right? And he was like, Kirk Cousins knows how I feel about him. I've held no secrets there. He knows how the Minnesota Vikings feel about him. I believe Kirk wants to be a Viking, and we're going to work to try to make that the outcome,

which to me meant get your crubby paws off by quarterback. I am never going back to Josh Dobbs or Nick Mullins. I don't want that life. Those were the words of a man who went Josh Jobs into Jared Hall, or Josh, Jerry Hall, into Josh Dobbs, into Nick Mullins, into Jack Mullins, into Nick Mullins. Those were within, like, within games too. Nick Mullins had the way, unfortunately, I'll always remember him.

It started because Nick Bullins had the second most passing yards ever through six of games. Unfortunately, the way I will remember him is not one, but two different interceptions this year, that mid-sack, he threw a pick to the guy that was sacking him. Tough to do. Not a fumbled. He threw the ball. Skilled. Dude, Mahomes couldn't do that.

If Mahomes did it, everyone would be freaked out. Yeah, if Mahomes did it, right? But Nick Mullins. Yeah, no one cares because Mahomes did. I will say, listening to Kevin O'Connell and listen to Quesi, Quasi, who's the GM for the Vikings, both of them asked, like, hey, what do you guys look for, quarterbacks evaluate? And they said, hey, like, you know, accurate, a guy who can make decisions on the field,

tough leadership, accountable, you know, high caliber guy of men. And I was just like, oh, you, Jay, J. McCarthy, Coded sons of guns. I'll tell you right now, if the Vikings end. up not with Kirk. I will hop on this show and I will tell you that. I think the Vikings are a J.J. McCarthy team. That's my read on. So I had a shameless plug, NFLDraft.com. Heard of draft. Heard of it. And I had, that's the scenario I see because basically I think if the Falcons do end up the veteran quarterback, you know, let's say they did get Fields or if the Falcons

get Russell Wilson. I think the Falcons then have a rough quarterback. They've just spent three first runners on Bijon at running back, Drake, London receiver, Kyle Pitts a tight end. They actually are one of the handful of teams that have a really good offensive line. It don't really need anything on an offensive line. But the Falcons need defense. The reason Falcons have become synonymous of blowing leads is they have, they're dead last and sacks over the last decade. They can't rush the passer. And Rahim Morris is the defensive head coach. I feel like the Falcons

could move from 8 to 11, trade with the Vikings, and then the Vikings move up. The Vikings get a quarterback, J.G. McCarthy. And then the Bears are at 9, probably pick a receiver to go with Caleb Williams. The Jets are at 10. They pick an offensive lineman to protect Aaron Rogers because they need to not get fired. Falcons move back and just go to 11 and get the first defender anyway. And I just look at

that. To me, it's such an obvious trade-ups spot and that's why I kind of think the Falcons, I kind of still think the Falcons end up with that, but it depends if they want McCarthy more. I don't know. It's a little weird spot. The, um, I, uh, though when the Niners moved up to get Trey Lance, they moved from 12 to three and they traded three first round picks and a third round it as well. If I'm going from 13 to three, which I think is where I would start if I was the Vikings, trying to get that Patriot spot see if they're going to move off it. Three firsts and then a day two pick, go up and get your quarterback if you want. That's the going price of business. I don't think that's too

terrible for Viking team that's already got. Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison in hand. It's got Brian O'Neill and Christian Darrysaw in hand. Like, you've got some good guys in premium positions. You can start to get aggressive. Do you do that anyway, though, if you keep Kirk? Because that's the thing, I think you keep Kirk Cushchev. You don't do it.

You don't do it if you keep Kirk. It's weird that we don't care about this. You don't do it if you keep Kirk. If you keep Kirk, you let yourself get to the graphs. You see if you get a guys that fall. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, so next up, Joe Shane is the general manager of the New York Giants. Heard of them.

Joe Shane, quote, I have faith in Daniel as a starting quarterback. Translation. I feel like I know where this is going. Translation, I can't believe I gave this guy $90 million. I just, I can't believe. Like, I don't think they have as much faith as they gave when they gave him $90 million. Who could have seen this coming?

I, dude. It's also funny, like, I have faith in Daniel Jones are starting quarterback. Kind of implies, like, I have belief that when I arrive in September, he will indeed be there starting. As if it's like, it's like a theory thing that might happen. He's not the one directly in control of it. That's how D.K. talked to about his dog when his dog kept eating his own shit and vomiting on the carpet. It's like, he's just like, I have faith. It's a tough fate.

Yeah, exactly. I have faith. I believe there's a future in which this thing will happen. That's nice, Joe Shane. He's trying to manifest it. That's really, you know, he's trying to met. The Joe Shane, I will say, Joe Shane, the Giants Gym, he gave a lot more answers than I actually thought he would in a way.

There was a point where he has asked about whether Daniel Jones was good enough to bring the Giants to Super Bowl. He's like, you know, a lot of good quarterbacks haven't won a Super Bowl. You know, winning a Super Bowl, you need a whole three sides of the ball. You need an offense, defense, special teams. You need to all team around you. It's true. It's true.

I was like, translation, I was like, dude, this team sucks, man. He was like, we don't want to be picking in the top 10 again. I'm like, do you know you've had eight top 10 picks in 10 years? Like, you're probably going to be at the top 10 again, man. Dude, what was the thing that he said about the offensive line? It was so funny. I mean, he got asked for like, like, offensive line, what do you need to address? And he was like it, the whole thing.

He was like, he looked like a beleaguered general manager doing his best, just get five guys out there on the field. So the other thing he said, this is not even in the trade. This didn't get go anywhere that I saw, but, so I was there for the press conference. did the last question in someone that he like waxed poet because sequin's going to be a free agent almost like my tag he said it's not off the table but i feel like they're not going to franchise tag saquan i kind of think they should 12 million bucks whatever but the um they're probably not going to do it sequin will leave a free agency and so they asked he was talking about you know

i would like to get something done with saquan you know like look you know some players you don't necessarily have to go to your way to keep but he's like sequin's such a pillar in the community he's so respected in the locker room he embodies the new york giants so he embodies like everything we want and our players and our leaders like he's really important that's why we want to to keep him last year. And then someone's like, so when you like offer him money, do you like offer him the value of what you're talking about? Or do you just offer him the market value?

Justin's like, oh, market value. Yeah. Which is like, he's gone. Welcome to pro football. He's gone. He's gone. I kind of think there's a chance they resign him, though. I think that they would.

Well, I don't know. Because how big is his market going to be, I guess, is the question? This is a real. All right, so this is an interesting question. This is a good next draft show and fantasy show. Sequan is probably going to be Fridge, unless the Giants tag him. Austin Echler is probably going to leave the Chargers. Derek Henry is probably going to leave the titan.

I mean, Derek Henry, don't forget, took the mic and spoke to the crowd. I know. Like he was retiring? But he said, so Derek Henry's going to leave the Titans. What, Jake Hobbins come up with the Ravens. Tony Pollard is, to see what they do with Dallas. It's kind of like all, none of these dudes are, like, Derek Henry is really old, but none of these, they're like 20s. Josh Jacobs is 26 and is 18 months removed from.

leading in the league in rushing. Yeah, I would pay Josh Jacobs tomorrow. And so I feel like everyone just throws out the Texans as a team that could use the running, a running back could like, like, say one of the Texans is very popular. I actually think they should do that. It's like, oh, don't pay running backs. But all the other matchmaking, I'm actually curious, like, it's kind of crazy to think that you're a Super Bowl contender and you could just toss out. I think that I wonder if we're going to come full circle on the running backs matter thing because I wouldn't give him a four-year deal. But part of me is like, just watch the McAfree and what he did in the Niners. I know there's only one McCaffrey, but I'm like, it's kind of crazy

do you think that Super Bowl contender could just add Austin Eccler? I know. I know. I want the Eagles go with Tony Pollard. We're an item with Kellan Moore. Dude, Sequin's from Jersey. If Sequin went to the Eagles, I would be so sad. Oh, that would look nice. Like, DeAndre's...

That would look nice. DeAndre's, I mean, probably wouldn't pay a running back, but DeAnda Zipf's leaving the Eagles and they just... 26. Dude, I'm so... He's from... So, like, already talking himself into it. Go birds.

So, yeah, we'll keep an eye on that. But the running back stuff is kind of nuts. Other translation, this is just a... And the report is the Jets have permitted Zach Wilson's agent to seek a trade. Have we ever seen a situation where the team permits the player to make a trade or

to like negotiate a trade and then a trade happens? Yeah, that's a good call. Probably. There definitely has, for sure, has been the interests of it, but then you like tend to never see anything else happen of this. It was like the jets have granted the permission of this agent seeking a trade.

Yeah, go for it. That's kind of like, they're like, yeah, we called everyone. Sure. They're like, can I try? And like, it's just like, good luck with that, buddy. Yeah. When I saw this, I actually just started cackling at the idea,

what would you give up to bring Zach Wilson to your football team? Would you give up a conditional future seventh rounder? Yes. Yeah. You can get back and quarterback. You can run and throw it a little bit? Take a shot. Who had a better season last season, Zach Wilson and Mac Jones?

Zach Wilson had one good game and it was against the Chiefs. Zach Wilson had a better season than Mac Jones did last year. Okay. She'll and I argued about this for a while. Anybody who listens to that regularly were Bulls. No, this was a callback. Zach Wilson has been in league now for several years. He's gone and Army can run around and be QB2 for you.

I would trade a 7th for Zach Wilson. Absolutely. But like Jacoby Presets is a free agent. I don't want him on my team. I'm calling Jacoby first. You know what team doesn't have a backup quarterback is the Rams. Why are people making this connection? Dude, Zach Wilson in LA?

They're the betting favorites. Well, Michael Flores the O.C. there. I don't think Zach and Mike are phased to one another. Can you imagine? Didn't think of that. What about the 49ers? Sam Darnal is a free agent. Yeah, and get Sam back.

And Zach Wilson. Just have Mr. Irrelevant backed up by an X3 overall pick and X7 overall pick. Another Joe Douglas' anger translation. This from Connor Hughes. Joe Douglas said that Robert Sala is coming to the NFL Combine on Saturday. Robert Sala previously had said, hey, I'm not going to the combine. I'm not going to speak. I don't whatever.

He's one of the coaches that doesn't come to talk. Joe Douglas says he is coming on Saturday. Hughes continues. Douglas talked with Sala and they both felt it would be a good idea. Translation. Robert, we might lose our jobs. Let's do some work. Get here.

Wait. We got to shake some hair. This is crazy. Wait, so you're telling me that they changed their mind in the middle of the combine, whether Sala would attend the combine. Yes, which like maybe it was always a plan.

Like, I'm not coming. And then availability's over. He's like, oh, maybe I'll guess I'll come. And he just didn't want to talk at the podium. But when the list came out,

like, oh, like, Sean McVey's not coming. Kyle Shannon's not coming. Mike McDonald's. It's like, okay, whatever. Like, Shannon and McVey,

they've done this a bajillion times. They're great coaches, whatever. And they don't come. It's West Coast. So Mike McDonald's just got hired. McDonald, it's a little bit weird, but like, okay, fine. You're whatever, I get it.

Sala's like, like, dude, like, you are like, on the hussy. You got to, like, come here and, like, talk to some coaching agents and then talk to some other coaches. Make sure your role with X is good. Like, you're in a tough spot here. So when he wasn't coming, I was very surprised. And then Joe Dugas is like, yeah, no, Robert's coming out. That's, I kind of think Sala is a good coach. And I'm realizing Jets fans think this is an insane take.

I do too. People like Sala should be fired. I'm like, whoever decided that Zach Wilson would remain the Jets quarterback back when Rogers got hurt, that person should be fired. Well, I think that's the disconnect, I think. I don't think it was Salah. You assume it's not Salah, which maybe that's true. I think everyone else is assuming it is Salah, as if Salah gets to pick this stuff.

Yeah. I mean, I'm assuming the head coach made the decision on who the starting quarterback is, but on the team, maybe not. On the roster, but does Salah get to decide who's on the roster, or does the GM get to decide who's on the roster, or does the owner? Right. That's the question. I kind of think Joe Douglas was out here.

I think Joe Douglas was the one who gets to mine. I'm not like, this is not information in reporting, but I'm just saying, based on my T-Leave reading, I kind of feel like Joe Douglas is the one being like we're staying, like we're not adding to the roster, even calling Joe Flacko. Like, I don't think Saul actually gets to decide who's added. I think he gets to decide among the options. Here's what I know to be absolutely uncontrollably true. If you look over the history of NFL football, when a team drafts a quarterback in the top 15 and especially in the top 10,

and after three years, that quarterback isn't good. A majority of the time the general manager is fired, a majority of the time the head coach is fired. Both Robert Saul and Joe Douglas still have their jobs. I understand why for both of them. Joe Douglas can draft an edge rush like there's no tomorrow. I think Robert Sol is a good defensive coach. It's just the nature of you usually get one crack at quarterback. One.

They took their big swing with Zach Wilson. No-goes. They got their second crack with the Aaron Rogers trade. Obviously, all the eggs are in the Aaron Rogers basket. I just think for Robert's sake, as a guy who thinks he's a good coach, I would be at the combine doing the work and making the rounds and saying hi to people and shaking hands because the Jets, nucleus, the situation's very tenuous.

So I was surprised he wasn't out here, and I'm happy he's coming out. Yeah, it's funny to look through the top ten of the draft, one through nine, is every team need aligns. All these teams have so many options. And then you get to the Jets, like, oh, they've got to take whatever alignment's there, don't they? I want him to take a tight end. Take rock.

Heavy metal, baby. Let's go. All right, Deka, next up, the Seahawks. Yeah. this is less of a Obama translator thing and just like an interesting situation. I've talked to a couple of people about this here and there's a lot of confusion. Gino Smith, is he the starter for the Seahawks? Is he in the Seahawks plans?

Like I think there's some legitimate questions here based on the way that the Seahawks have approached this like from the podium and like the reports that come out the last couple days. But what? There's some uncertainty. So basically, first of all, going back a couple days, they restructure his concept. contract, which turned a $9.6 million roster bonus into a signing bonus so they can spread that cap hit over the next few years. It lowers his cap hit this year and then increases his cap hit in 2025. So basically, they have locked themselves into not cutting Gino Smith. We know that much, which I think was probably pretty obvious anyway. But it makes him a little bit more attractive

as a trade target because now the Seahawks have paid him that signing bonus. You can get Gino Smith as a starting quarterback for $12 million next year. And the way, I think the reason this started mostly is because the way that Adam Schaefter worded his tweet when this happened, which of course happens a lot. Is that how this all started? So Schaefter, the way he worded it is the Seahawks believe that with a salary soaring for starting quarterbacks in today's market, the right decision was to guarantee Smith's $12.7 million. Now Smith will represent a value to them or any other team that decides to reach out to see if it can acquire Smith be a trade. to me I'm like, why, can we just say like they gave him a rate or they gave him a signing bonus? It's the wind horse.

It's just really like, yeah, exactly. It's like, why would you put it that way? Why would you say it that way? What's happening here? And then on top of that, uh, Mike McDonald a couple days ago, in an interview that like when he asked if like, Geno Smith and Jewelock are part of the team's plans, he was like, I can't answer that question right now. And then John Schneider, I just met these guys.

He's like, I mean, which might be. true. Honestly, that might be the case. He's like, I've never fucking met Gino Smith. I don't know. Is that literally what he said? But more or less, he was just like, dude, I just got here. He's like, I don't know, man. I just hired my coaches. I haven't even, like, looked at the games yet, you know? That might be the case. Or

he might just not be committing to him because they have plans to trade him. And then John Schneider here at the Combine was asked if they see Gino Smith as their starter. And he was like, yeah, I mean, for now, which to me, it's like, there's so much hemming and hawing. They refuse to be like, yes, he's in our plans this

Can I give you my short take on that? Yeah. Russell Wilson, when they, the day before they traded him, Pete Carroll said, like, we're not going to trade Ross. Right. And then they traded him. I think John Schneider's saying, yeah, for now, is like probably just honest because they'll get rid of him next year.

And I think if they were going to trade him, he probably would have a, but they didn't ask you about 2025. But this goes back to like the characters, general manager is not like, he can have any words put in their mouth. The only reason you would ever do that is to cause problems, right? It's like, get some calls, what's up with Gino and then say this. And then you three weeks later be like, I can't believe the media is running with this.

For now, obviously, because you never know what kind of it. It's the Kyle Shanahan. We all might die on Sunday theorem, right? I can't say if Jimmy would be on the team on Monday because one of the meteor strikes earth. They just say, yes, we see him as our starter. And then if you trade him, say, well, we got a trade offer and we liked it. So the world we lived in, you know, draft day is.

The world we lived in 24 hours ago is not the one we're living right now. But instead you're all like, for now. Yeah. I just think people are looking at the way that they're answering these questions, like really, really non-committal as suspect. And so, I don't know. I think they're, I'm not saying I don't have any insider information on this. I don't know what their plan is.

My guess is, you know, like 90% I feel pretty strongly that they're going to keep him as their starter. But the way that they've been saying this is maybe they're open to trading him and maybe they really want to make like a huge shake up at the quarterback spot. I know for a fact they like Drew Locke a lot. So he's a free agent and Gito's under contracts. You think that they would trade Gino just to resign? Drew Locke, give him the job?

No. That feels kind of insane. I wouldn't want them to do that. If they give Drew Locke the job and they get on the podium and they're like, because that game you played against the Eagles, I'm going to die. That game is the worst thing that's ever happened. I think the short answer is like, I think that's crazy because at the very least just re-signed your lock and keep Gino and let them bat for the job. There's no quarterback in the market.

It's better than Gino. Kirkoff and Killies, no. So like, who are you training him for? That's the thing. Ross? Unless they're 16. I mean, unless they want to move up. Unless they, like, want to move up, right?

Yeah. So they're at 16, we'll see. So, yeah, and then you have the quarterback alley right there of just the Vikings at 11, and then you have, what, the Broncos are 12, the Raiders 2rd 13, and then you got the Saints are at 14 if they want one. Colts are fine to 15, but then you have 16. All those teams, like, kind of could use a quarterback, so we'll see. So the head of the NFLPA, which also, if I give you a million dollars,

do you know who this person is, the head of the NFLPA? It used to be Demore Smith. Now it is. J.C. Trener. That's the player representative. Do you know the person? DeMoy Smith used to be like the lawyers ahead of it. It's not D. Smith?

No, he will. He's term ended. Tell us. It's Lloyd Howell? Lloyd. Lloyd. Love Lloyd. Lloyd. Lloyd. Lloyd.

Lloyd. Lloyd. Boyd. Remember last year NFLPA, the surveys came out and the Jaguars like, we're like, yeah, the Jags have rats. The Cardinals don't feed their players, all this stuff. Right. So they did it this year again. They released them.

And there's a press conference. Lloyd Howell says, this is not a shaming exercise. No. Sure. I think it's a shaming exercise, man. Translation, it is. Absolutely. We're shaming the hell out of them.

It's just like, it's not shaming. It's just, you have rats and you don't feed your players and everyone hates you. And it's just like, yeah, well, it's got a shaming. It's not that we, you know, like, it's not you, it's me. It's not that we're breaking up. It's like we've drifted apart. It's just like it's the most qualifying language. If you ever open a statement with this is not a blank, it is a blank.

At all times, it's a blank. Yeah, it's just like, it doesn't matter when you, you're like, when I'm just asked about a trade request and they're like, there's no problem. I'm like, well, no, no problem. That sounds like a problem. Okay. What were some of your takeaways from these reports? I'm so excited to look. I'm so excited to look at the link if you want to go see it, but it's honest,

incredible, just look at Google, like, NFLPA report cards and the 20, and they're so incredible to look through. So they, it's really thorough too. They survey the teams, sorry, they surveyed the players. Right. And basically what it is. It's like over a thousand players. I think this isn't exactly true, but more or less. Do you remember when all the Jalen Ramsey had issues with the

Jaguars. Tom Coughlin, he was being mean. And the NFLPA was like, you shouldn't sign with the Jaguars. He was being mean. The whole thing is basically just the NFLPA trying to give free agents more understanding of who they're signing with. So the players really seem to participate in these because they, you know, want to complain and stuff.

And so they grade them kind of thoroughly on a lot of different things. It is incredible. And you look through them. Treatment of families. So it's A through F. Treatment of families. The commanders get an F minus. The Steelers, the Patriots, Bengals, get an F-minus for treatment of families.

Listen, if this is not a shaming exercise, why did you make up a grade that's lower than F? There's only one reason you would do that. I didn't know F-minus was a thing. Right, exactly. If it wasn't a shamey exercise, you would have created A double plus. You fail and also make God have mercy on your soul. Yeah. Dude, I get the washing being down there.

The Steelers being like F-minus in treatment of families is kind of wild. I know. I was kind of surprised the Patriots were, too. The Chiefs also, like, the Chiefs didn't get above a C in anything. Oh, God. Oh, the Chiefs were like one of the worst. Chiefs, are you chalked? The Chiefs are wild.

Okay, so the Chiefs had the worst owner. Who just won, first of all, winning, when we say winning fixes everything, it's wild that the players are so mad. Chiefs, nutrition, nutrition and diet, F, 30, the training room, D, 31st. They won the Super Bowl back-to-back years. The trading room gets a D, training staff, F-32nd in the league, ownership, F, minus. Dead last, the Chiefs. The Chiefs were the second worst team only in front of the commanders, and by the way,

that was even with Andy Reed being the top rated coach. Dude, it's unreal that they are first and head coach and their best ranking is 18th in everything else. Andy just... What is going on with his team? The Chiefs says... Andy's like when I play Call of Duty with my regular buddies and my one buddies played Call of Duty

every day for like 19 years, that guy's Andy Reed, the rest of us are the rest of the rest of the war zone and he's like explaining to everyone how to get through the gas and 19 kills. That's Andy Reid. And you just got to show up. Did they rank free agent? With the MMA intro,

and he's like trying to help and bopping along and just like, he doesn't know where to put his hands. And it's like that in war zone when you're just like watching your friend. But dude, this thing. So training staff, 43% of players feel like they receive enough one-on-one treatment, which is the lowest number of the league. Think about more than half.

Yeah, the Super Bowl champion, more than half the players don't feel like they get one-on-one training treatment. Doesn't that blow your mind? I see all these college locker rooms like Oregon and all I show how crazy locker rooms are And the NFL players are like, yeah, it sucks. I feel so bad for the chief's dietitian who, like, has two rings.

Or maybe it has three rings, right? And his family is like, look at his super wings, that's crazy. He backs all his friends, like, look at my rings. And it's like, all of his buddies tell their other coworkers. Like, yeah, I have a friend who works for the chiefs. He's a dietitian. And then this comes out and it's just like, oh, wait, they don't, the players do not rate you at all. That's a tough one.

Doesn't this really make Patrick Mahomes the goat? Dude, this is officially. his Hall of Fame case, they'll walk out with the 2024 NFLPA. Look at this. This is what he was up again. This is the team that won two straight Super Bowls. It's wild. Dude, the ownership for the Chiefs, F-minus,

and it says, club owner Clarkin receives the lowest grade in the NFL. Chiefs players, when considering his willingness to invest in facilities. Which they just announced, like, three days ago, they're renewing Arrowhead, right? It's because they knew this was coming. Well, I would have announced that we're renowing the team facilities, not the stadium. Are there team facility plans as well?

Maybe there are. I mean, apparently they're dead last. That's so wild to me. The other stuff here for this report card that stands out. I mean, we should throw it. Honestly, the dolphins kind of get A's and everything, but, you know. This is all arrowhead. They announced a huge arrowhead run out two days before it came out that their owner won't invest in the facilities.

That's unbelievable. Dude, the other one, what's wild too is, you know, the theme, and I think that this is, I'm increased, like, if you look at a lot of these, like you look at locker room, because this is, you know, construction, these things that don't want to. pay for. Here the teams get Fs. Arizona Cardinals, Chiefs, Chargers, Steelers, commanders. What are those teams have in common? Commanders are different. Steelers, Chargers,

chiefs, Cardinals. All those people inherited the team from their parents. All those those people are people who, like the Lakers, don't have a primary business. Like, the team is the business. They got handed at it. And the idea of, like, oh, you want me to, like, pay for stuff? Like, on my...

Yeah. With my money? Like, with my money? I'm supposed to clean up around you? Exactly. Yeah. Literally it's like your room and you don't have to. It's like, well, it's my room. I don't have to, but it's like the stadium. Right. Like, you're, let me don't put it in the hamper. But the charge is broke. The dolphins are top three in everything, except for head coach with their eighth.

And that's just because, like, Mike makes dumb jokes. That's the only thing there. Well, that's what happens when Stephen Ross, who owns the Bengals, like, or sorry, Steve Ross owns the dolphins, like, just built Hudson Yard inside of Manhattan. Yeah, yeah. He just owns, like, he has actual money. He gets to, like, extort Tom Brady or Tampa with Tom Brady on his yacht, you know? The Chargers, the chargers are like all F's a couple of these couple Cs, then the nutritionist is the beat. That buddy, buddy's working.

Nutrition. I do not care about the circumstances. I show up, but I compete at this smoothie. Dude, I love it. The family stuff is really interesting. They're Bengals. I mean the Bengals, F-minus in treatment of families. There are Bengals one of 12 teams that do not provide their players. This is stuff you don't think about. Bengals, 12 teams that do not provide their players' families

with a family room at the stadium. Bengals, one of seven teams that do not provide daycare support for players' children on game day. Talk about something you never thought of, but think about how important a game is. The NFL, the whole reason it makes money. The whole reason it's so intense. The whole reason people tune in is because every game matters. And to think about

making one of your players have to worry about like child care. Getting a babysitter. Like yeah, like, think about like if Cam Award just can't get a babysitter on game day. And like, that affects his life. And like, you see all this stuff like, oh, the guy is the kid that's on the field. I'm like, well, I guess they have nowhere else to go. Like, this is ridiculous.

Just hanging out and running around. This is insane. The, well, they ranked him on food taste, too. The Bengals 30th and food tastes. the food taste the Bengals don't get three meals a day Players want Bengals Did you say 33rd?

They say 33rd? So there's some random other franchise The Yankees got better Yeah Dude this is wild The other one Bengals players are saying what do they want They want the cafeteria to be open on the players off day

Like the Bengals must just close their cafeteria Tuesday There was like last year there was a couple of reports of like Team the players had to like pay for their meals When they bought food at the freaking facility. The best part was if the players took a boxed lunch, they would deduct the cost of the lunch from their paychecks.

Oh my God. Puff. I love it. Anything else from this? Particularly you're fancy or? Was there any mention of rats? The Falcons are... The Jaguars don't have the rat problem anymore.

They can care of the rats. The Falcons are fourth in nutrition and dietitian. They are fifth in training staff. They are 31st in a weight room. They are 30-second in strength coaches. Everybody's just trying to get through the lifts. They can go to the training room. get a smoothie and enjoy it.

I like the ones that are very polar. We love this. We hate this. It's so funny. Speaking of also the Chiefs, though, among other things, the Chiefs also cut Marquezvelde to Scantling today. Which I think just opens up more room for Cadarious Town to get targets in 2024.

This is his time. This is his time. I do think, like, Marquezvalda Scantling was taking like 75, 70% of the snaps from much of their playoff run. He might be the first player in history to take that many snaps for a playoff run and then just be cut for $12 million. Like that's,

Usually you just keep the guy. When you started, and you're like, absolutely not. Jericho Kottery for the Panthers or something. Right, but he probably got cut for like. But they lost the super million. Marquez was like, we paid this guy real money.

We wanted him on our team. He played a bunch. And now we're getting him out of here. So I do want to shout out one thing about MVS. Peter King at his final column. Shout out to legend. Peter King's final column. He mentioned that Marquez Velda.

This stunned me. How much did we make fun of Marquez Velda's Gatling? The season. A little bit. The Super Bowl. Remember the final drive? Chez had in overtime. the fourth and one.

And then remember Mahomes went like off tackle and like ran the ball. Right. That was MVS's idea. MVS came to Mahomes and was like, we should run that play. Like he drew it up in the sand. Yeah, basically. He was like, we should do that where you run. And Mahom's like, oh, and then goes to Andy Reid.

And he's like, yeah, I will say, I do like think. It's straight out of a movie. I do actually think that's kind of why the Chiefs are good because the Chiefs, to their genetic core, really don't care where the idea comes from if it's the right idea. I'm like, I actually think that's incredible that for all that we made fun of him for the drops, and he kind of became emblematic of the whole team. It would have been funny if it was his idea and then it failed, failed spectacularly. Yeah. God damn it.

It sounds like they lost when he came out of his FBS last, which we would have made fun of him. I think it's like tired, you know, do scouting from the booth, right? Have the assistant defense of quality control, the charting. Wired. Just do it from the field. MBS just coach on the field. He's just out there being like heckling the other corner. Yeah, keep running cover three. See what happens.

Then he goes to Hoh-Oh, my God. Let me keep running covers. That's so funny. It's good. So while we're here, we're going to embarrass you, So-Lak. So while we're here, so Peter King, legend, retired, he's probably just, like, the best living legend. Football person who covers football.

He's literally covering it since I think any of us were boring. Literally, his career is older than all of us. He's kind of like the Trailblazer. And so he had this, like, final column where he just kind of was like, yeah, 44 years, that's crazy. And in this column, I'm going to read it verbatim. A few of you have asked about Monday, So-Luck is so visibly.

a few of you have asked about Monday columns I might recommend with mine going away here are a few and he goes through Albert Breer who worked for him he goes through the athletic Mike Sando does great stuff and then he says the new kid on the block is 26 year old Ben Solac of the ringer and I'm high

on him very good writer good interpretive analysis of the weekend just finished and then he links to your hot recal 10 is so uncomfortable and not only that he then circles back later and says Peter King goes through and he says the next generation

will bring you all the things that he's been bringing and he's mentioned shout out Jordan Rodriguez the athletic Kaelin Collar athletic and he says

Ben Solac you'll see the world gets better as will what you read about football you're in great hands literally league is good hands Ben Solac

hell yes I'm very thankful for that meant a lot to me I appreciate you reading it that's kind of you yeah Peter's some of the some people have asked

about this the thing I can't emphasize enough it's like like Peter said Ben Solac in the column. That's great. I'm very much thankful for it. Peter spent time helping me with stuff this year, like in the trenches while he was working, and he did that for a bunch of young riders. And like now knowing that he was retiring, it makes more sense. By the time, I was like,

this guy's just the man. He absolutely is. But like Peter was in the trenches for a lot of young writers and did a lot of work for a lot of people. And so I'm grateful to have my name in there. There's a lot of people whose names could have been in there as well that have benefited from Peter's help and his mentorship. So I'm very thankful. Well said. Yeah. Awesome. Congrats. And yeah, I mean, I think that is like what you heard from basically like every single reporter, NFL analysts across like the industry was like, Peter King was always so cool to everybody. Yeah. Such a good way to like be remembered. Not to Stephen or the Brock Party thing.

Oh my God. That was funny. Except for Steven. Wait, you notice that the call me linked to is you shutting up Brock Party. I don't even think about that. But well, the problem is I wrote that week five, Niners for five and O. And then they lost the next three games. All right?

So yeah, that was my, I gave Brock Pordy, I was like, all right, here's some flowers for the young man, and then immediately they lost those three games, and I was like, I don't know. Should I be corny for a moment? Sappy? Sure. It's awesome working with you, man. You do amazing stuff.

And I like the show. You both are incredible. And you're both awesome, and it's so awesome you're coming on the show. And then honestly, seriously, like, Shams, plug, NFLDraft.org.com. But the reason I say it so much is because the combo of DK scouting reports, if you read them, honestly, it's like, you're, as they say in the business, a myestro. And like this the combo of that like slugs mock draft stuff, it's like it actually is just like I know we talk about like how to fix freezers and stuff, but like you guys are amazing Yeah fix freezers. You're not good at fixing well we don't talk about fixing them. We just we need to figure out how they work

How they know what's going on in there? How is it called? What's a foot? Peter King do you achieving this how high should corn be suspicious? When should corn be knee high? You know, I mean that's the question. I oh be knee high. Yeah. Yeah. 4th July. July 4th. Peter King did mention that you knew how the freezer's work, which is wild. I think Peter knows how fridge's work.

It was implied. Yeah. It didn't need to say it. Okay. Get me away for this podcast. Okay. Well, no way. So while we're here, Dekid, you want to tell a story about the mystery you had in December?

Yeah. So first off, well, let's back up. We got a giant box on our porch. And I was like, I don't know what the hell this is. It was like an enormous box that said bounty on the outside. And we were like, somebody must have sent a present or something to Calvin, my son. And so he just put another tree for a few weeks, didn't think anything of it for really forever. And then like the night before Christmas, Skippy and I are like trying to figure out how to wrap all our presents and get everything going for Calvin to wake up and have his Christmas morning.

And we're like, what the hell is this box? Like this giant box of bounty paper towels? Is this actually paper towels? and we opened it, it was several packs of bounty, giant paper towels, and then like four boxes of lactate. We were like,

what the fuck is this? What is this gift? Who is this for? This is not for Calvin, clearly. And then Skippy was like, I don't know, my uncle is pretty crazy.

Your three-year-old son, ordered lactate and paper towels. It's clearly not for Calvin. And then, so Skippy was like, I don't know, like my uncle, maybe this is part of like a joke

where we're like, we got this like weeks ago. Nothing else came. this isn't part of an elaborate joke. Oh, so do you know this story Solek? Do you know where this goes? I do now, yes. Anyway, so we're like, okay, we need to get to the bottom of this and then we started thinking

who would have like our address and then immediately go back to Hyfitz. Highfitz was nice enough to send Calvin a birthday Christmas gift along with Craig. So Craig and Hyfitz really love that, appreciate it. Thank you so much. So like, I'm not paying for that damn baby. We asked him and he acted and was like, I don't, I don't

Calvin's on nothing. He wants to give him cold. Listen, let's be praying. Calvin's on nothing for me. He's like, I want nothing to do with this. I will not put my name on this. Only Peter King can give back to the next generation. Anyway, so very nice of High Fitz to do that and Craig.

And High Fitz sent it presumably from his Amazon account. And then it's somehow set as my primary address and then all my auto, like, he just accidentally ordered paper towels and sent a bunch of lactate and sent it to my house. And so. You can learn a lot about a man. from his standard regular subscribe and save Amazon Prime orders. So we tell that story for reason. I forgot about this.

DK brought all the lactate. He's got an incredible amount of lactate. It's like a three-year supply of lactate. I, this looks like a brick of cocaine that Tony Montana would take a knife. I was a little bit nervous to put it in my suitcase. It looks. They'd be wondering,

what are you doing with all this lactate? Didn't they just find? I don't want to have to explain why I have so much lactate. Is this? I'm on Danny's mic now. I'm powerful. Why's your mic freezing? You have no circulation, my Gini? Feel my mic. That's how something that was in your hands is very warm too.

I have, I think I have, what's it? Craig and I both have it. I think I've, no, I have bad circulation to my extremities. My feet have to have a lot of socks in the house. You're shaming him for that. His mic is far too cold. That zombie mic right now. We all have like similar, like, weird physical things that don't like matter, but like, no talk of enough.

Solock and I, the third conversation we ever had was about how we both have like really bad sprained ankles and like flat feet. And then we're saying each other feet picks. Dude, like, yeah, I was going to keep that to myself. But yeah, no, we said feet picks, like soon after, not long as to meeting each other. And then Craig and I both have, right now, we both have bad circuit. Wow, you can feel my mic is good. Wait, DK., is that cold?

It's like, that's like bone chilling the cold. It feels like what is going on there. I accidentally left my backpack in the car and then I go to grab my laptop and I'm like, well, that's like, kill you. But we are in time. Harry, your hands are freezing. You were holding it for an hour. Wait, you know how you need you do psychedelics?

You're not supposed to like look at your hands. I get it. because my hands are kind of yellow. That can't be healthy. I should go see someone. They are kind of yellow. Huh. Gross.

Jesus. Send handpicks later. Can't relate. Yeah. I just shove them in the Dune bucket. I'll warm them up. So we gotta go shout out to Austin. Austin, come here.

Austin Gale, works here at the Ringer. Myestro, if he will. Do you want to explain the article you're writing for the Ringer.com? It is the Dune 2 popcorn bucket, comma, sutra. You haven't seen the viral Dune 2 popcorn bucket You haven't lived But there's a lot you can do with it

And so I put together A lot you can do with it I put together a list of 17 things I did To the Dune's popcorn bucket You did do it I was really blacked out laughing Did you explain what it looks like So it looks like

It looks like a sandworm It looks like a Dune Sandworm You have to go Let's throw this on the If you're looking at Spotify Sorry, it'll work this time. I keep messing it up. It'll work this time.

We'll throw it on the app. And you can look at a picture of the Popper bucket. It'll work this time, I promise. It looks like something you can make some plays with. Yeah. We were talking a lot about it in like an editor's meeting and I was like, I want to do something with this, you know? And then I was like, what do I pitch?

What do you want to do? 17 things. I want to save the 17 things I listed. But they're all good. They're all good. Anything you can do with it. It's a novelty item for a reason. Dune 2 popcorn bucket,

Kama Suture is the best headline. Brought you by the ringer. The best $25 you ever spent. Shout out. It feels like a random word generator. Dune 2. Popcorn, bucket, comma Sutra.

Shout out editor, Justin Sales, at the Ringer. He and I are working on it together. But it's going to be a good piece. It should be out on the ringer.com soon. You know, the thing about,

you know, hiring you over from pro football focus, I wasn't privy to all those conversations, but I do think some of the inner source is, you know, I think actually maybe Chris Ryan was the one who threw out like, hey, you know what? This kid, you're going to have a lot of thoughts on that

dude too popcorn. He's going to do and do things to it. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to do something, right? It was up to me. It was up to me. He took action. We definitely did end the show. Okay.

Thank you to everyone. Thank you, D.K., thank you, So lack. Thank you to Peter King for very, like, that was, just like, honestly, dude, Peter King also actually, the amount of things I learned about football just from reading him. Matt Rushmore. And thank you for saying nice words about Solac.

Someone has to do it. I don't really ever want to do it again. So just soak it up now. But honestly, like, shout up Peter King. Thank you to both. Austin be with you guys in person. Thank you to Austin. Who's an absolute legend.

And has someone figured a way to film this episode for us, even though it should have been impossible. And yet Austin's just, again, a meestro. It's like the second coolest thing he did today. Yep. No, the popcorn bucket's not out yet. Oh, well, he did it already. Oh.

It's practicing. It's 17th thing. It's the 18th coolest thing he said today. Thank you to Kai, Jack, for producing this episode. Is he powering down? Yeah. For producing this episode.

What was that? He's going in the sleep mode. No, I spoke normally. They just screwed up the producing right there. I don't know. Thank you, Lord. Oh, I yelled. Lord.

Thank you the specials. I'm trying to think of a dune. Craig's not here. tune related you have Spotify up on your computer do you win it's time to shout out the band do you just pull open your spot lines and scroll it real sometimes that's pro yeah the special what are the cuthirton yeah what are the specials they're a band like all the other ones that i've named along the way helpful thank you yeah is that what i'm like all the time the way you just like asking me questions is that what i'm like yes yes

damn how'd you make it through all these shows it i don't know incredible patience yeah the long suffering all right goodbye Bye everyone. Must be 21 plus and present in select states. Fandall is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino, LLC. Gambling problem. Call 1-800 gambler or visit fandil.com slash RG in Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia. call 1-800 next step or text next step to 533342 in Arizona

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