The Ringer NFL Show - Hottest NFL Combine Story Lines From Indy: Is Malik Willis Worth $30M? Plus, Tua vs. Kyler, A.J. Brown's Future, Coach/GM Interviews, and Nick's 30-Foot Cuddy

Episode Date: February 26, 2026

The guys react to the chaos coming out of combine press conferences, decoding front-office speak, quarterback rumors, and which teams might be headed for major shake-ups this offseason. They also discuss risky QB gambles, hopeless franchise rankings, and the league’s latest drama—plus a deep dive into security-guy lore and why combine week always gets weird. (00:00) Intro (03:09) Trades and cuts (01:04:23) Emails Discord link: https://discord.gg/Ge8bbYHrau Check out the Ringer Fantasy Football Rankings: https://fantasyfootball.theringer.com/ Email us! [e-mail] Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, and Craig Horlbeck Producers: Austin Gayle, Abou Kamara, Carlos Chiriboga, and Cameron Dinwiddie Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Ringer fantasy football show, aka the Ringer NFL Draft Show. My name is Danny Hifelian, Hippin. I'm joined by Danny Kelly and Craig Krollabick in Indianapolis. DK, we're here. We are here. NFL Combine, DK, or NFL Draft expert here at the Ringer. You got your top 50 big board up at NFLDraft.com.

We do indeed. And we have, Craig, you're our insider. That's right. Boots on the ground here in Indy, talking to my sources, crushing a lot of pods that are available to everybody else. Yeah. But getting a lot of great information, I talked to close to 32 GMs and coaches over the last 24 hours.

Everybody else got the chance to talk to them as well, and I didn't ask any questions. But I did. I've taken in a lot. But other people were asking them questions and you listen to them, yelling at that, and then you listen to the answers at the press conferences. So yeah, we have a lot to get into today. We actually do. Yeah, we actually do.

So the press conferences they do actually have all the gyms and coaches stand up. And I think I assume the owners just kind of make them do it for content's sake. And so you actually kind of get like a little, taste of all what the off seasons are going to be like for all the teams. And it's funny because all the coaches and GMs try really hard to not do anything newsworthy or controversial or just make it whatever narrative they want. But they also are talking about, frankly, work drama that they care about a lot. And you can only hide so much of like these work drama things that they're really passionate about. So we're kind of going to go through all the hot work mess of the NFL.

Yeah. It's drama rankings. And we're going to be. And we're just to be able to, we're going to kind of just translate what they're saying. Sure. Because they're kind of talking in code, but they're also very much trying to say stuff. Did you find that coaches or GMs leaked more of how they are actually feeling? GMs probably? I think so, too. You think that they're giving away more?

I think coaches are better at masking how they actually feel because they're doing so much more press. Every game after a terrible office, like they just have to show up and talk their way through it. They're much more media trained. GMs, you know, they're less public figures. Way more public speaking too because even talking to a team of 60 people is also kind of public speaking. So like coaches are talking to big groups all the time. I enjoyed the GM part of that, actually, I think, a little bit more. Just because I don't know, these coaches, I'm like, all these press conferences after games, they sound the same.

Yeah. And it's funny to see new GMs. Yeah. I don't know why because they're like coaches at least are still coaches. But a GM walks up and they're just like, oh, you run a team now. That's weird. Yeah. And they were like, oh, shit, it's real.

Like they're actually nervous. No Gladstone this year, though. No. No Liam Cole and either. The Jags didn't come. Should we actually lead with that? like what's out of the frame is the Jaguars didn't show up. Last year,

last year the Jags GM showed up right after he'd been hired, like days after he was hired, his wife was nine months pregnant and he was moving and he still showed up. And then Travis Hunter suddenly, they trade up for Travis Hunter. And then now Travis Hunter's going to play full-time quarterback and then they don't come.

Yeah, maybe quarterback. That would make him worth his job capital. Sure. Why don't we go through? I think, honestly, there's a bunch of buckets of just things that happen. I want to start with just players that might get traded or cut or whatever.

Yeah. And I want to start with the GM, Miami's GM, John Eric Sullivan, aka the Chads, because Miami has the GM and coach who look like they're like fraternal twins. They do. I think John Eric Sullivan

might have gotten a haircut. He looks a little different now. I think they were told they look too similar. We can't tell the difference between you two. Someone needs a haircut. I got to tell you, I went to his press conference and he was very impressive,

and I was like, I would have hired that guy as a gym. I was like, we all divided and conquered because a lot of these pressers happened at the same time. So yeah, what? Tell me what the Miami takeaway was. I actually was pretty impressed with the guy. We kind of made fun of it when they were hired because they just look a lot like the coach. They both came from

Green Bay, Jeff Halfley, the defensive coordinator for Green Bay, become the Miami head coach and then John Eric Sullivan. He was a really impressive guy. But I think the one that stuck out to me was I asked him about basically, I was like, how did you think Tua played last year? Because they can't pretend they haven't watched the tape. How did you think Tua played last year? What if he was like, honestly, that's a reasonable question. Well, you know what's funny is because People ask them about other players and they're like, well, they're not under contract with my team.

So I'm not allowed to talk about it. Great, you know, he was under contract with your team, Tua. How do you think you played? Which is a funny, gotcha question. That's your quarterback play. And what he said? So he had, his answer was basically, he was like, I think Tua had some highs. I think Tua would tell himself that, like, did some lows.

Should have asked. Like, which one? But then he said. It was that really high throw that he used. Yeah, one that over Tyree Cells. So John Eric Sullivan said, I think Tua believes he can still be a high level quarterback in this league. I think that's what is. I think that's what is.

Two of beliefs. I don't like how that sounds. I think he thinks he's good. It's like, I'm sorry that you're upset about what. Sorry, you feel that way. It's like talking about your six year old. I mean,

he thinks he's pretty good. I think Tua believes he can still be a high level quarterback in this league. I think that's what his desire is to do. Where that happens remains to be seen, whether that's here or elsewhere, which I kind of just heard it in my head. I was like, I thought about getting kicked out of a bar

when I was in college and they're like, we don't care where you go but you can't stay here. Yeah. And this dude's getting released. Also, didn't you say that they talked

about Malik Willis like 10 times more than Tua? Yeah, it's always weird. I think this is always the thing to keep in mind when you see quotes from a coach is sometimes, I think there's a big difference

between things that get brought up unprompted, which are things they're talking about on purpose or let slip versus what comes up organically. So many people are asking about Willis. Because they came from the Packers, I think it's Jeff Halfley in particular

like they were being asked a lot about Malik Willis because he started games and everyone's putting the dominoes together, Malik Willis, who filled in for Jordan Love when he got hurt, the beginning of 2024 and the end of 2025, now is going to get paid like $30 million or whatever. Which I think is, I feel like everyone's come around on the fact that they think Malik Willis is worth a shot.

Well, I'm not, Doug. Dude, I think it's crazy. Him getting like $30, $35 million a year, I think is kind of ridiculous. Can you explain, Dekah, can you please give the brief reminder of who the fuck Malik Willis is? He was in the Kenny Pickett draft class a couple years ago and did not work out. He was a third round pick, I believe, did not work out in Tennessee.

Went over to Green Bay. He's had a couple opportunities to be the starter for Green Bay when Jordan Love is in her. And by and large, the numbers that he's produced when starting over the last couple of years have been extremely good. Now, the question is. Sorry, what did I say? We just said the number. For the Packers, yes. His first two seasons, he had three picks.

Right. But coming in, in relief, in the Packer system for Jordan Love, there's, he's played very well. And so obviously they're kind of massaging the offense to not put a lot on his shoulders. He is, you know, a good runner, so they kind of make that part of the offense. But I think the big question here is obviously, one, how does that small sample translate to a full season where, you know, and then what does he look like outside of that system or outside of the Lefleur system in particular? Yeah, this guy's a third rounder out of Liberty was terrible in Tennessee. Like I remember when they tried to start him, we all were joking. This is like one of the, this is the worst quarterback we've seen in a lot of hand.

Mike Grable's best coaching performances ever was almost beating the Chiefs with Malik Willis as the quarterback and that was like the code for like he's the worst quarterback. Couldn't complete a pass. Yes. So he went to Green Bay. Do you know how many times he started the game for the Packers in the last two years?

Six? Three. Three times. He started three games. Three games. How many appearances is he have? I think there were two other games where he filled in halfway through. So, you know, four games, maybe if you had it all together. But that is such a small sample size to me. Also, LaFleur is such a good schemer play

caller and every Malik Willis game was like designed around you know he had like 13 completions in one start he had 14 in another like 18 in another but not airing it out with him and I guess that could be the entire offense wherever he goes to but I don't know like squeezing out wins running the ball really well with Josh Jacobs and the Packers and like scheming around Malik Willis for two to three games is a lot easier to me than then just designing an offensive route around him full time and giving him 35 million bucks a year that's crazy to me I'm of two minds you're almost you're probably probably right. Like, you're, it's expecting Malik Willis to succeed is kind of crazy. If you're like, it's more likely than not Malik Willis succeeds. That feels wrong. Like, to your point, he's played

however many few games. It's worth noting, though, that he is the fastest quarterback in the NFL. And like, I think at this point, he's much faster Lamar Jackson. There are games, I think you can see the last couple seasons where he's kind of faster than some of the quarterbacks on the field. Justin Fields is really fast. Yes, but Link Willis has a cannon. Like, she's got a cannon. So he has a The physical talent's crazy. I think the short answer is, it's not that you're wrong, be like, how are you going to pay $30 million to this guy's barely played?

I look at it as it's saying, like, this is like the Silicon Valley thing, like the pessimists are often right and optimists are often rich. And it's like, yeah, he's probably going to fail. But if he does not fail and he's good, you have a quarterback who, what is he, 26 years old, and you have one of the best quarterbacks entering his prime and one of the most physically gifted guys in the NFL,

And if he fails, who gives a shit? Like, if he goes to the dolphins of the Cardinals, they're probably going to fail anyway. It's just another season. It's $30 million. Who cares about $30 million? It's one-tenth of the cap in a given season, a $300 million a year.

And it's like, if you're like, oh, we'll get a better quarterback. We'll bring in Derek Carr. All right, cool. Then you need another quarterback next year anyway. It's like you might as well take a swing. It gives you an opportunity to have the upside that we've seen. Now, there is a downside, obviously, and he could be completely different in a different system on a different team

with different players and all that stuff. It could suck. I mean, but like you look at his numbers from, he's 11 appearances in games, three starts total in the last two seasons. I mean, he averaged like 11 yards per attempt. And this is the difference to me between him and Jordan, uh, Justin Fields, because Justin Fields got whatever it was 20 million last year to start. It was pretty much a disaster from the start.

Well, he's four and two with the Steelers. Yeah. But I think the thing that's funny more games than Lake Willis has played. Yeah. I don't know if it was a disaster. But they just benched him for Russell Wilson. But I just, I feel personally that Willis is a better passer already.

He has better processing skills. He's quicker in terms of processing. And that was the big thing with Fields is like he just, everything happened too slowly with him. I would do it. Like if I was a, if I was a fan of the dolphins, I would be rooting for this.

Well, what I'll say is, is I think you're right. I think we're both right. And I think because the free agency market for quarterbacks is kind of crap, Malik Willis looks a lot better. Well, your options are only as good as your alternative.

So what's the alternative to Malik Willis? It's like Tua has to leave Miami. So then Miami, what are you looking at? You're going to bring in Kirk Cousins? Are you going to bring in-Circruy? So what are they looking at? Are they going to bring in Tua, Kurt Cousins? Like Derek Carr?

So, yeah, when you compare them to who's available, Malik Willis looks like a worthy shot, even if it's a little bit more money than you want to spend. I'd rather have Kyler or Tula or Kailor or Willis. How much am I paying them? Just call it even. Oh, but it's probably not, but call it even for a way. I'd rather have Kyler Murray.

What the fuck are we talking about? Yeah, probably. This is what's crazy. Like, why I feel like we're talking ourselves into Malik Wilson. It's always, to me, it's the unknown versus the relative known. The mystery box is like, do you want a mystery box or the boat? And you're like, the mystery box could be anything. This is like with the quarterbacks for the Steelers every season.

You're like, well, I've already seen what Russell Wilson did. Let's get Aaron Rogers. Well, I've already seen what Aaron Rogers did. Let's get Kirk Cousins. Sometimes you don't need better. You just need different. Yeah. Yeah.

If the money's the same, I would take Kyler Murray. There are some numbers that if Malik Willis put up four of the seven seasons that Kyler Murray's, but together you'd be thrilled. Tyler is just a bizarre. You know what's so funny? Kyler is one of those guys where the moment he's released or traded or whatever, you're just like, where should Kyler Murray fit? And you look at the teams, you're like, man, he'd work in Arizona.

They should take a shot on him. You know what I mean? It's almost like they needed to cut him and bring him back and everyone wipe everyone's memory. But the Cardinals GM also talked. So Monti Austin Ford, who we've talked in the past is like a little bit of an energy vampire tendencies. Yeah, I have a new nomination for the energy vampire belt. Oh, yeah, we have to talk about that.

So, Montya Aston Ford is the GM of the Cardinals has asked if he's talked to Kyler at the end of last season because Kyler played like five games. They put on injured reserve. They stashed him and pretended he was hurt. And it was like a whole like, let's just go away. And Montiaseford said, yeah, I've always had a good dialogue with Kyler, saying basically like, yes, we've talked. And then Josh Weinfussed at ESPN reported. Basically someone, Kyler, his agent, someone was like, no, we haven't.

And they literally like within an hour on ESPN, the headline was after, was, uh, The two have not talked since the season ended and have not spoken. So I do think Kyler's gone from Arizona, but I think he's going to get traded. I don't think he's going to get cut. I think the Cardinals could get like maybe a high, like a third round pick for him or maybe a high fourth rounder. I think you're right. Do you have a favorite for which team that would be to? Dude, I think he's such a jet.

Kyler is such a jet. He is such a jet, but I, man, you just know that's not working. I don't know which quarterback I would think. Can already tell you that's not working. Because if you go through the options for Kyler, I just keep looking through. and I'm like, the Jets work. What about Miami? Miami, I think those are the two things.

You know, it's funny because... I see Miami more. I don't know why. It's probably a little bit too simple to just only associate Kyler with like indoors or warm weather and think he couldn't succeed in the cold. But I do kind of think that it would be better in Miami.

You know what's funny? I'm curious who you think, D.K. So you know who's in Miami right now? So Jeff Halfley's the head coach, the other Chad, and then the defensive court... He's the defensive coach, but the offensive coaching staff in Miami,

Kevin Petulow went there from the Eagles. who he like, they threw him to the wolves and threw him to the Philadelphia volcano. Kevin Petulah was blamed for the entire Eagle season and they threw him overboard. He's in Miami now.

And it's funny to think of Kevin Petulah working with Kyler Murray after working with Jailen Hertz because Jalen Hertz has all the things Kyler doesn't, I think, what people want from the leader. No one questions Jalen Hertz's work ethic or leadership or whatever.

Right. Well, maybe. But like, the limitations around Kyler's play and Hertz's play are in very different ways, also kind of similar. Yeah.

Because Kyler also... Pocket passing, middle of field passing, Kyler bailing, and Dylan Hertz bailing from the pocket. There's some similarities there. But also, part of me is like,

maybe it would work. So I don't know. But I think it's Miami or the Jets for Kyler, but we'll see. But speaking, I think the team can cross off as the Steelers, because you came back from the Steelers podium

with Omar Khan, the GM, and you were like, I hate this team. Crazy. He's demoralized. Yeah. I think Omar Khan

is in the running for Energy Vampire, of the year. Wow. Just, I just don't think it gives a whole lot. And I don't know if it's like institutional arrogance about the Steelers. And it's just like, we're the Steelers and we deserve respect and I don't need to say anything and everything's fine. But I just, there's no juice with this team. And the quarterback situation is so, even if the team is decent and they're going to, you know, eight to 10 games or whatever.

I'm just like, Tomlin did so much to keep you to keep the faith a little. And now it's like, now that he's gone, I'm looking at this whole situation and listening to Omar Khan talk about the only, he basically said nothing for 20 minutes. The only thing he said was, he filibustered. He did.

The only thing he said was our quarterback needs to fit the AFC North style, which to me is like, I guess, no Tua, no Kyler. No Kyler, no Tijuana. Yes. And no Derrick Carr. And no Derrick car. But I'm like, is Kirk Cousins in the AFC North style?

I think kind of more so than Kyle. I think, and to be clear, with the code we're torn through is, Kyler is like frankly too small to play in the AFC North. And I think the perception is the most rampant bias. All football players hold is small people. They don't respect them. It's kind of an insane thing.

I think the Steelers want Rogers back. And I think they want Will Howard to have a season behind Rogers healthy. And they're weirdly, they talk about Will Howard a lot for a six-rounder. It's bizarre. How much they talk about him a lot. We all kind of like Will Howard. But I'm like, it's because we met him. I mean, we looked them in the eyes.

We shook his hand. We're like, all right, that guy's going to make it. He was, he looked at me in the eyes and was like, nice to meet you. Strong handshake. I like you. Love this guy. Love this guy. Yeah, I don't know.

We were talking about this earlier, and I want to bring it up on the show. I think the Steelers, you wouldn't think it on the surface, but I think the Steelers, if you do kind of power ranking the most hopeless NFL franchises right now, from a fan perspective, I think the Steelers are bottom five. I think there's a clear bottom four, and it's Jets Browns, Cardinals. Cardinals, Miami. And then I think the Steelers are five. I feel like the dolphins aren't in that hopeless vein anymore

because there's like now hope with this new coaching staff. But Quinn Ewers is the quarterback right now. Until like if even the dolphins sign Malik Willis, I think that I'm saying good. I'm just saying hopeless. I think it's those four and I think the Steelers are fifth. I don't know. Give me another team that has that has less hope than the Steelers.

The Colts got hit the nuts with this injury. The Panthers. The Panthers made the playoffs. He almost beat the Rams. Yeah. It's weird. I think that the, some fans are probably getting insulted. right now.

Fresh Young's getting better every year. You have McMillan, Canalus you like. Like, there's a lot to be optimistic. The Raiders are in California. The Raiders are the first thing in the draft. You have Kubiak. What are the Titan?

What are the Titans? Kim Ward. Kim Ward played well. You're like talking yourself into a year two leap and you could found your franchise quarterback. The Steelers have no franchise quarterback within a hundred miles of their windshield.

You guys are just like on the road and you're, you know, have you guys ever actually been in the situation where you're going to run at gas and you're like looking up the next gas station? You're like, I'm not going to make it. And like, that's you guys where you're just like, all right, do we go with 43-year-old Aaron Rogers? Yeah. And back with Mike McCarthy, which literally didn't work eight years ago.

Or do you go with the young buck, Kirk Cousins, who's 38, also three years off at Achilles? Right. And those are, and that's going to be your options. And I, that's a little weird. You know, the other teams, yeah, the Colts, but they had such a great start to the year. I think there's optimism in what they could be if Daniel Jones is healthy. Like they saw that. And then I thought about the Saints.

I think the Saints are on the cusp, but maybe they feel. like they're some optimism. Tyler Shuck. No, Tyler Shuck. They like Tyler Shuck. It's good enough. Yeah, so it's like maybe the Falcons, but I think, you know, Stefansky and maybe Pennix, you give him another year.

The Steelers is like, okay, Rogers and McCarthy, do they win nine, ten games? Once again, they're going to get fucking worked in the playoffs. And then when they have the 20th pick again, this is just ground on day. But you're going to the playoffs.

Yeah, but it's, I understand. It's purgatory. It is purgatory. And I would argue that, like, the Giants, for example, I think have ten times more hope. And I would way rather be a Giants fan right now than a Steelers fan.

I don't think that's a hot take. Please keep that one in the vault for the next time he makes fun of the Giants. You have Harbaugh, you have Jackson Dart, you have neighbors. You're right. You're right. It's better, which is funny because

Top five pick. People, speaking with the Giants, though, because John Harbaugh, I made sure to get the front row at the John Harbour concert. These things are like music festivals. The John Harbaugh concert, felt like that to me.

But it's like music festivals. Sometimes you have to go in the middle of an act. you know, maybe sometimes as a country singer than an EDM artist, so you get a weird crowd there waiting in advance. Right, right. So I was like, you know, everyone's been asking me how I feel about the Giants and I have the same

answer to everybody, which is, again, like, nine of the last 10 Thanksgivings, I've been with my family, the Giants were mathematically eliminated. And it's just funny to hear anyone say, like, the Giants are a better spot, but he's probably right. What do you think? I think you could make a case for it, but I don't know.

I feel like, however many years straight of winning seasons is like you're not the most hopeless franchise do you think it's more likely that the giants of the Steelers win a Super Bowl in the next three years Steelers the Giants really like what as soon as they start as they start scoring some touchdowns maybe I'll change my mind but like what what would like I can I just never score touchdowns for the giants what's the path for the Steelers Rogers gets generationally the ravens employed you win that I don't know yeah honestly Mike McCarthy does defense I don't know but let's keep rolling here so the other the other stuff

in terms of just players that might move so AJ Brown and the Eagles which is just this drama that never read I don't know what's with this team man the Eagles I went to the Siriani one

did you go to Sirii so there was Siriani there's how first of all can we talk about Big Dom just actually does walk around the Syriani everywhere yeah

I don't know if this is obvious and people know this but Big Dom literally is like Nick Siriani's body I kind of was shocked that he's here yeah why is he here

oh well I would argue that he's the most important guy they bring here because what he is so he's the head of security for the team. They all have these guys. Like the Texans guys, it's like former Secret Service agents,

former FBI people, and they're like the fixers. Big Dom's like the fixers. So they're friends with cops in the city. So like when they drafted Jalen Carter, Big Dom gets sent down to Athens, Georgia, and he knows cops, and they ask the cops what the fuck happened,

really. That's Big Dom's job at the Combine. So you could art. Big Dom is getting real intel. Yeah. I feel like a lot of teams have a, whatever, the guy who's in charge of wrangling the media, and then

the Eagles have Big Dom. It is true. It's a bunch of the head of PR and then it's Big Dom. Yeah, there's like a PR guy or Big Dom. Yes. The other teams don't have Big Dom, like a security guy wandering around with their costume. Also, who's super, super famous. Dom is like, is Dom the most famous security guard? I mean, there's Big from Robin Big.

Paul Blart. Okay, a real security guard. He's a mall cop. He's not a security guard. that's true you just looked at me like I don't respect the law enforcement right there you're like how dare you like the movie's called mall cop but like that implies that mall cops

he's saying that big Tom has a rental private force that's right whatever but you know Robin Big and then and then Dom Tom is extremely famous and it's where he's a he's like there's some of the same security guards there's no other security guards that's it that are famous

isn't their whole point they keep a low pro bar? That's true It's the big time is the highest profile. I don't know. I keep going back and forth in the Eagles with AJ Brown. The thing Howie Roseman said, and he said this earlier in the week, he said, basically it was like you don't make your team better by subtracting. They all say that, don't they?

I will say the firmer team says they won't trade someone this week, the more I'm like they're going to get trading. Pete Carroll went triple down that he wouldn't trade Russell Wilson a few years ago. Like everyone says that. The only team that I trust. will not trade a player when they say they're not going to trade a player are the Bengals. Yes. I think in this case, and we heard this from several different people, which we'll get to, but we're not in the business of like getting rid of elite players, that kind of thing.

That immediately to me is just they're trading him. But they're just trying to, they're pushing the price up. They're basically saying, we're not going to give this guy away. He's too good. I think the Eagles, the differences they think, it's funny how it's never complicated. They just think three steps ahead or two steps ahead. And so the difference is I think Howie Roseman can say. we're not going to sell low, but then sometimes you have to.

The difference is A.J. Brown has this bonus that kicks in. Most teams do it in March. I believe AJ Brown's bonus kicks in in August or September, which means they could trade them up until the season, and they're going to eventually take like a $35 or $40 million dead cap pit. But if they trade them after the draft, basically, it becomes like a $20 million debt cap hit. So I think that Howie's either, I think they want a first rounder. I think Harry Roseman will really want a first rounder next year's draft.

I think that Howie Roseman, because next year's just better, no one wants to do that but I think it could be a George Pickens timeline in May where that was really random. That deal got done right after the draft ended. It could be like that or in the middle or even in the middle of trading camp. But I do think Harry Roseman is like, I want a first round pick for this guy. And if not like he, you don't want to take a $40 million. Do you think they're going to get a first runner for D.G. Brown? So I went through the teams and the teams at the back of the first would be like,

it depends Mike Vrabel, like the Patriots of the 31st pick. They're not going to give a first up for him. I don't think so either. But I think second though. Well, that's like Buffalo picks 26. Tennessee, ironically, if you went to AJ around my back to Tennessee, they had the 35th pick. That's like the, you know, for, you know, early second round. And the Raiders are picked 36.

But I keep thinking about like next year, maybe there's a team that frankly guys are worried they're going to get fired and then maybe they give up a next first. But I think teams want to hold on to 2027, but I think how it wants that. I think historically, receivers that, when you trade a receiver around 30 years old, I don't know. Yeah, yeah. I feel like that stint is never, it's a little, likelihood of that being a smash hit. He'll be 29, I think, this summer. All the drama around him, how healthy he is.

I don't know. First round, there's a lot. No, I think it would be, I don't think that, I mean, it could happen. Even an early second feels like a lot. Yeah. Well, if they got a, but here's, you say that. Would they do a third and a fifth? Part of me is like, just fucking keep A.J. Brown. It is funny to think of the Eagles now with a diminished offensive line.

and now Goddard's a free agent I'll probably bring him back but it's like okay what is the offense now you have Jalen Hurt's who you've kind of lost faith in AJ Brown's gone you have Devante Smith that's the other reason I don't

that they do think they should hold out for a better pick because if they take the dead cap if they ever need to move on from Jalen Hertz that's also to a like dead cap and so it's just we'll see I think they're gonna get a good deal for him your point is right though Craig because after that they basically have no one

yeah it's like Darius Cooper Johnny Wilson Britain Covey yeah John Dotson Dotson is a free agent. The, and I mean, they're not going to break the bank to bring him back. I like Dodson. I think Howie would be fine to just skip this draft and get a pick next year and even if you have to wait till the season begins. I love the, I love the tradition of saying next year's draft is really good.

Yeah, yeah. It is. But this year. Well, at some point we have to talk about this, though, because at some point, though, it's more true now because players that would have came out of the draft are literally going back. Yeah. Last year, we said this draft was going to be good because we thought guys like Arch and Dante and all these dudes were going to, And then now it's like, oh, actually, it's the following year. But again, here's, in an nutshell, Carson Beck is a good example.

He had to go back to college because he had this elbow injury. He got $4 million to go to Miami. And then I think with incentives, because he almost won the championship, you probably got to $6 or $7 million. Tyler Shuck's like entire four-year contract is worth like $10 or $11 million. Like Carson Beck made probably double, almost triple what Tyler Shuck did this year to be an NFL starting quarterback. So it's like at some point, yeah, I don't know.

The other guy that might get, the Max Crosby thing is ridiculous. What does go? So Max Crawsby, the defense is in for the Raiders. They shut him down to tank for the week. And he was really mad. This is the guy that does come off the field in real life. And then, like, plays 100% of snaps like a psychopath. They had to convince him to, like, not play an actual game. He was furious.

He made the three-pointer and put up on Instagram. And now they're trying to, do you think that they're trying to actually get him to come back to the Raiders and be not mad at them? Or do you think they're going to train? No, I think, well, who knows? There's a chance they bring him back. But, I mean, I think he is the perfect type of player for them to trade for a lot of reasons. So, I mean, he's 29. He has no more money guaranteed past 2026.

So that makes him a little bit more attractive on the trade market. And they're rebuilding team. You know what I mean? Like, he's not going to, they're not going to be. Different timelines. Yeah. So I will say, though, what SpyTech, John Spytech, the GM for the Raiders, what he said at his presser was, and it was kind of, it was the same sort of deal a lot of these other guys did

where they're like, you know, we're not getting rid of good players. This is our elite player. We're not in the business of giving these guys away and kind of said all that stuff. He said that we have a great relationship. I'm talking to him all the time. He's in the building every day, like all this stuff. To me, again, it was like that was to me the flag was they're trading him. But they're just like, you know, the price is going to be high.

Well, it's also funny. I love that specific phrase when they're like, we're not in the business of giving away good players. Yeah. I mean, that is literally the business. It happens all the time. We're in the, I got here. Sorry, he goes, I'm going to be able. front from the start when I got here,

we're in the business of having really good players on the team and we need a lot more of them. It's hard to build a great team without elite players. That's kind of your mantra. I mean, yeah, draft good players. Or like keep good players. Yeah.

Having good players is good. It is good. You think you get a first for Max Crosby? I kind of do. I'm stealing this shamelessly from Bill Barnwell, who has been saying the city has been for a year or two, that the lion should be trading for Max Crosby. There's a lot of teams that could use that type of player.

It would be the most elite white pass rushing team ever. I was going to say, it's like the Eagles trading for like Riley Moss, they could get the two white cornerbacks, and then I think the lion should get Trey Hendrickson or Max Crosby, and then they could have the white defense events. What was the other thing? So John Spitech, the Raider, again, just the Raiders, Tom Brady having a general manager,

whose name is SpyTech is just unbelievable. How is that his name? SpyTech is crazy. PITAC is crazy. It also spelled with the K, so it actually sounds like a company. It does. Spy tech. It sounds like it's in Terminator.

It's pretty sick. He's a tech, bro. But he said Fredato Mendoza might sit to start the year. They're also like, we're all barely even pretending they won't take them. But the spy tech said you want to limit the amount of pressure that you have on that young quarterback at the start. If you have a young quarterback, I'm not necessarily in favor of running him out there right away either. And they talked about the importance of the whole team. I think this is the right move.

And Brady has been on the record about this for years that's quarterback should sit. I think Mendoza might not start to begin the year and they might get a quarterback. Well, the question is, do they keep Gino and run that out again another year and kind of just let Fernando Mendoza learn behind him? Gino's got to go. Gino's there for Pete Carroll.

At this point, maybe that's not even the best for their organization, but. Gino's going to go to the Jets. Can you imagine? No, I can't. That, no. I do think also, though, this is another situation where it's just really the safe thing to say

for the GM to be like, look, I don't know if we necessarily think it's right to have this guy go out and start. Just keep it, keep the, keep the thought open that we might sit this guy in the case that he either gets like a little bit nicked up it early in the year and then they decide to kind of like wait a while. They're basically just like setting expectations very low. You're not going to see Fernando Mendoza in week one.

Also, you come off as practical. And, you know, they're thinking of the long term. There's no downside for sitting him for the first eight to 12 weeks. Also, sneakily, the thing with Mendoza, and this is not like me pretending he won't go for or doesn't deserve to be first, but they read a lot of RPO's at Indiana. Like, there is a lot for him to learn. He's perfect to learn, I think, the Kubiak system that the new coach, Clint Kubiak's going to run. But again, Sam Darnold just won a Super Bowl.

And I know we're all used to this, but Sam Darnold won a Super Bowl. Sam Darnold sat for an entire year in San Francisco. And then he won 14 games with the Vikings, and then he did it again to Seattle. Like sitting and learning and digesting and marinating the system is good. It's been a while since a highly drafted quarterback has sat an entire first season. right? Yes. It doesn't really happen at all.

I mean, I can't. Mahomes. But, and that's a perfect example. Which is what, 10 years ago? And it's the Green Bay.

Lamar partly. Lamar came in late in late season. Even then Harbaugh and then panicked halfway through his season. Yeah, Mahomet was like 10 years ago whenever that was. And that's because, though, it's because of the Packers.

It's because Andy Reed, who, Andy Reid drafted Mahomes because he was like, this is Brett Farf again. There's Brett Farve if he, like, could do no plays. And so the Packers are like the,

we, need a ton of quarterbacks models. Ron Wolf. Right, right. I mean, McShay was talking about this the other day with Elliot Wolf, it's run. It's like the, if you hit one, Ron Wolf's thing was if you hit one out of every 10 quarterbacks, you'll be in this business forever. Right. So Packers, just keep throwing darts. And the Packers people that have spread out actually developed quarterbacks, but Andy Reid was the one who, like, you need to sit for a year. But it took an old school guy from an old school team to do it. And no one's even fucking tried since other than the Packers who put Jordan Love behind Rogers and Rodgers. And Roder,

But like no one tried it. Everyone's like what do we do with the most important person in the entire company? And they're like maybe Let them learn and like no they got to do the whole thing immediately But it is a situation where you have the luxury of letting a guy sit if you wait is you have a good quarterback That means you have a good enough quarterback and the higher you taking the more pressure there is the first overall pick right sitting for a year But this is why I'm open to try I was like the what 26th package? This is why I'm open to some of these flawed quarterbacks this year Ty Simpson from Alabama or like even Carson Becker and Usmeyer where I'm like, I don't love them, but if they go to the Rams and you get to sit behind

Stafford and McVeigh for a year or three, or you go to the Steelers and you sit behind Rogers or you sit behind Kirk Cousins for a year. You sit behind Will Howard, learn from Will. That's true. That's true. Will can teach them. Will can teach them. But yeah, you're right. It's boring but smart.

And usually those are the best decisions that you could make. Yes. Just get a quarterback when you don't need one. I missed the Nick Casario press conference. Nick Cicero is the GM for the Texans. Very intense. Super intense guy. Did you make eye contact?

I don't think I did. I kind of hit in the back because he was scary. He's eye contact with Nick Cusario is like very much you're like, it's like the eye of Sauron. You're like, oh, he sees me. I get that now. Yeah, it's, I mean, it's weird that a GM represents the team's vibe, but he does. I'm like, man, you kind of seem like the Texans defense as a human being.

And he keeps the stock, he always, there's nobody in the football that talks more about the stock market than Nick Cossario. Yes, there was a moment where they were, there was this one guy going around. I noticed a few people who would just go ask the exact same question to every GM or goes, which is kind of interesting to see how the answers differ. But somebody asked about how NIL has changed your ability to judge a player's maturity. Right. And he said it's, you know, it's nice to see what they do with money.

Yeah, yeah. Because usually the first paycheck they get. The big one is obviously in the pros. And then that can alter their life and what directions they go down and what choices they make. And he was like, so it's kind of cool. you can see a guy who's making millions of dollars. And he was like, do they buy eight cars? Or do they put it in an S&P index fund?

He's like, that's what I would do. This is something that Dan Morgan, the GM of the Panthers also said. Basically the same thing. Yeah, I thought that was interesting because there's probably a lot of downsides to it, I guess, because you never really know who's going to come out. Everybody's changing schools every year. I mean, going through doing the draft guide, it's actually really rare to see a guy who just went to one school now. I mean, half this class, more than half the class has been to two or three,

different schools. Brandon B in the gym for the bills had this line that really stuck in my head more than anything I heard the other day where he just, I'm paraphrasing, but he basically said, you used to have to ask kids in interviews why they transferred, and now you have to ask kids why they stayed. Yeah, yeah. And that one really stuck with me. Like the weird guy this year is Ty Simpson from Alabama, who sat for three years, didn't take NIL offers to leave, and then waited just turned to be a starter. And they're like, we want to know about that. And it probably hurt him. And it probably heard him. It is interesting. And yeah, it, that's like if we're going to, that's like a funny ironic part of this whole thing is like, okay, so were you not good enough to leave? Do you not like money?

The other part of the analysis that you have to throw in here and that it helps to like have connections is you hear about the offers they got and then turn down. Like you're going to hear about this a lot in the next couple of months or whatever. It's like, oh, he got a seven figure deal from wherever. I'm like, and that's kind of thing that you have to take into account. It said he stayed because he loved his teammates. I think it was like Gray's Abel last year. Maybe it was one of the people that got offers to go play at a bigger school, decided to stick it out and stay with his teammates, that kind of thing.

And I think teams liked that. But there might be some situations where you're like, okay, but why didn't you go to that other school where you could have potentially put up big numbers or whatever? No, but people do want that. People want people who have the foresight to like, we're, they want players who have the idea of, I'm going to stay similar for four years. And NFL contracts, four years. They want someone who thinks that we'll be able to.

develop. Yeah, there's also a little bit more stability. This might be more of a case in college basketball, which I'm the NIL situation there. I spend a lot of time thinking about because I'm an S-D-U basketball fan, but there is an argument to be made that going to a different school, there's just more risks at play now. It's like a new system. It's a new coach. It's new players around you. If you are already good on one team, you can reasonably assume that you will progress. You know your role is safe and you know your coach is developing you in a way that you like. if you like the team and you're good. But if you go somewhere else,

like in basketballs, you go somewhere else. It's like you're the bell of the ball for that week, but what if you pick Michigan and then a week after you commit to Michigan, oh, they actually signed an even better point guard

and now you're coming off the bench and all of a sudden, you're playing 18 minutes a game when you were going to play 36 at the team you were on that knew how to develop you. So there is a little bit of like a balance there of, how confident am I

in the situation I'm going to and how secure is that? So I do kind of get it. Yeah. One guy that actually comes to mind in this is Max Claire, the tight end from Ohio State, who was playing at Purdue before. And he was putting up bigger numbers. He didn't actually put up – his numbers went down this year playing at Ohio State. But he obviously is going to get a lot of attention. You're on that offensive – you're in that offense at Ohio State where there's a lot of eyes on that team. But, I mean, again, this is kind of what you're saying. He's playing with big-time playmakers, like future top ten picks at receiver and running back.

And so you kind of get lost in the shuffle a little bit. Yeah. But it just goes to show, and Casario talked about this a lot. It basically now feels as though the combine, the only purpose of the combine is interviews and medicals. Because all the other shit, Casario was saying some funny stuff. I wrote it down. They were asking about 40 times what drills he wanted to see.

And he goes, and this is a quote loosely. You know, I tried to jot it down as best I could most accurately. He said, it doesn't matter what drills they do here. We'd like to get a 40 time. Does it matter? No. Camarie Lasseter's 40 didn't reflect his actual speed. That's fine.

None of us will be here Friday when the workouts start Eventually we'll get the info We can just watch it on TV We'll get it whenever He said the idea I walked over We'll get it whenever He said the idea that I would change my rankings Off of this

Off of the drills here He said is assonide Yeah he's like the point of this Is to maximize one on one time To sit down and talk to these guys Otherwise is like the drills You know host is leaving for the drills Mike McDonald's just won the Super Bowl

In the Seahawks Yeah it's like I'll go home I'll watch that TV They'll tell me how fast he was There's a handful of teams that don't even come We talked about it at the beginning of show I mean, Jags, Rams, McVey, and... Is it bad that we just changed their name, the NFL draft show?

We're like... Well, it's not the NFL Combine show. That's good point. For a reason. There were a couple people. So, yeah, you touched on it. The reason to be here is to... Obviously, the medical staffs have to be here because that's important.

And the medical stuff. The main thing is getting done here. The meetings are getting done here. It's more just like a networking event for everybody to be in the same room and tamper. Yeah, it's a tamper fest. Yeah, it's the NFL tamper fest. Joe Brady was saying something that was interesting,

which I think this isn't anything novel or new, but it is kind of, of a reminder. He was talking about how... Joe Brady, new bills coach. Bill's head coach Joe Brady, who's a young guy, he's like in his 30s. And he was talking about the one value for being here is watching players interact with each other when they're not, when they don't actually really know that you're watching them kind of deal. So it's just more opportunities to evaluate like type of player they are.

Yeah, are they, he was talking about how they're in there, when they're in their, when they're in their individual groups, like going from from different whatever stations, because They're going to interviews. They're going to the workouts. They're going to weigh-ins. They're going to whatever. He likes to watch kind of how they interact with the other guys in that group. Like, who's the alpha kind of deal?

Who's on their phone? Things like that. So there is, I think it is a fine line. There are teams that still really value that stuff. I understand the one-on-one experience. But Schaefter was saying this on some video, I forget who was interviewing him, but he was talking about how there are even coaches and GMs now

who don't even necessarily need to be in person for the interviews. And it was like they can have members of their staff interview the guy, film it, and then they'll send it to him and they'll watch it. Do you talk to the players? No, no, no, no, no. My secretary does that. AI does that. AI does that.

My AI assistant does that. Yeah. So anyway, Casario, just hilarious being like, we'll get the info eventually. Also, 40 times don't matter. They said Kamari Lassarer was slow. And then they asked him about CJ Stroud getting traded. He said, moronic.

Who asked about that? So Nick Casario said trading C.J. Strad was moronic. Didn't you ask, did you ask that question? Well, I mean, you're saying I'm a moron. No, he called someone else moron. Oh, I thought you asked the question about Stride. Did you, or did you not? He didn't say that's a moron.

He said that's a moronic question. No, no, I asked him because he brought up the stock market. Every, also, well, the joke with the Texans is that 31 teams headquarters, the general manager has NFL network or ESPN on their TV. And in Houston, Nick Casera has CNBC. That's right. All he talks about the stock market. You ask is the stock down even one point on C.J. Strat.

Like every other coach wants to be a player. He's like, our team missed the playoffs, but the Dow is at 50,000. He literally said like the stock market has been down for five straight days. He referenced the stock market. And I was like, so if it was out of, if your conference to Ced Strad was out of 5,000, like, or 7,000, like the S&P or whatever, did the playoff performance? I was like, did it drop even one point? Did it go to 699? And he said, no, moron.

And he said no. And if it did, I would buy more. He was like because you're an idiot anyway. All right. I will say though, I think the number one person who just held court was Sean Payton for the Broncos. He went like 30 minutes straight.

They usually get 15 minutes a lot and he went 30. Has no PR person helping him. He just shows up. He honestly alphas everybody in the room and spends the whole time trying to alpha everybody. And he just like holds court, talks slow. He talks a chest match out there.

It's, he put. a reporter in time out basically it was actually it was uncomfortable a guy i kept asking like the bonex injury thing and what what pain said about him he's like look i'm not going to talk about that anymore no more questions out of you and then the guy he was like he was like he looked at the other guy that were had originally reported he goes you can ask him yeah so the bonnics thing so so sean peyton says the thing where he's like oh like if i had known about your ankle i wouldn't even drafted you and then like you said and then he the press conference were but sean payt was

like yeah i guess it would forget the phrase he used he was like a name inevitable or he said it was going to happen at some point. Well, didn't he, well, he pointed out how many surgeries he had. Yes. Multiple surgeries. And then Bo Nix was told this, I guess on a reporter's on a conference call and Bo Nix said that it upset him and then he got the information wrong. He shouldn't be talking about my medical history. So then I guess my ankle's name out of your mouth. Yes, exactly. And then he hit him. And then she should, but Sean Payton, I guess, blames the

reporter for poorly representing what he said, which seems like it was somewhat represented. Do you think, but then he bling at the press conference. The man Doth protest too much. Did you get any indication that was like making it worse? Yeah, but there should be clear. Every time Sean Payton was asked about this, he then pointed at the reporter he blames for it and says,

ask him, ask him. And then... I think he should have just said, this is an answer. I was joking. Yeah, I don't think he possesses that ability. It was, it was wild. Payton was hilarious, though. You guys liked him. By far the most entertaining coach to listen to.

Oh my God. By 10x. Really? Yes. 100%. I was having a... I was having a ball. You're captivated by him. He's so interesting. You never,

because it actually feels like he is just like improvising has no plan and we'll just say what he feels. He asked, he was asked about quarterbacks having private coaches, quarter throwing coaches. He said, I'm good. And then he like had to elaborate. That was like in reference to Russell Wilson, right? I think so.

And he was like, I'm, and then he said, he said, I'm comfortable if you have a swing coach, but do it in your own time. Yeah, when the season starts,

they're mine. Yeah, which is honestly, I think that's kind of fair. It is weird to think that teams can't help the quarterbacks throw for like months and months a year. It's always odd to be that Josh Allen has to go to a third party to learn to throw football. It's always just strange for me. He also announced he's not calling plays anymore. This is burying the lead. Yes, Davis Webb, the 30-year-old Wonderkin, that everybody loves Davis Webb.

There is a real-one. Everyone's talking about Davis Webb. There's a real big backup quarterback play calling boom, right? You have guys like Sean Mannion and Davis Webb and Scott Tolzin. Tolzine. They ran out of young offensive. They ran out of Sean

McVeigh and Kyle Shannon's friends and so now they're just like they need quarterbacks to go back to being David Blau. There's a lot of backups who are,

I'm surprised that Peyton is giving up play calling to Davis Webb but maybe he needed to keep him in Denver. I think Sean in his coaching career since he was a head coach

that he's done it, I believe. I think how many games do the Broncos need to lose before Sean Payton rips play calling how many weeks into the season are we talking like six. Three.

Yeah. If they start 0 and 3 and he's like fuck this. Oh and three. They're, yeah, he's like, I tried. I tried. You know what else I noticed about Sean Payton? That was weird that stood out to me.

He has a terrible memory. And I find that to be odd. Well, that's relatable. Well, coaches, I feel like Sean McVeigh could tell you any play that's ever happened in his life. Well, you know my theory about that. What? He just doesn't remember other things. What do you mean?

Like, I bet he doesn't know people's birthdays or like, you know, he probably doesn't not at all. He had so much brain capacity and he gave it all to remember. Probably needs Google Maps to get anywhere. Sean Payton didn't know how many games his team won last year. I found that to be fascinating. He was like, what, we went? 13 games?

And I was like, no, you won 14. He didn't know that. And every time they talked about coaches and, and players who have come in and out of the saying to the Broncos, he didn't know when the coaches came or left. He's like, yeah, I can't remember exactly when he came or when he left. Oh, I don't, I can't remember the exact years when we had this player. Like, usually coaches know that shit. He kept saying, like, I don't remember when I had this coach on my team.

And also, I don't know how many games we won. In defense, he's been in the NFL for like 40 years and I'm like, I'm 30 and I'm like, I actually find this. You remember everything. I remember this. think this is the most relatable part about Sean Payton. Okay. Everything else I'm like a little bit.

The other thing, the other thing he said that was so funny was the, um, they asked about the tush push and he just said what everyone has been dancing around. He was like, he like was taking your talking points. I felt like I was talking to high fits. Wow. Because he, he, he talked about it more similar than we thought. High fits, I think you said this on our show. You're like, if, if they're talking about the tush push being a safety issue, it is the

biggest load of shit because they just did. All this stuff with the kickoff rules. What do you think? Like, there was a thousand more kickoffs. Zero people injured on the push. And then they added, and this is essentially what he said. He's like, we added like, what? A thousand kickoffs.

And he's like, then they're like, all right, touch push dangerous. Then he said, which I thought was great. He's like, basically if we ban the tush bush, it's just because we don't like it. Yeah. And he's like, which is fine, but don't pretend it's because of health and safety. Did you think it was weird? Because this is the other thing that came out this week is they're not going to even contest the tush push anymore.

It's the tush push is going to live on. It only confirmed, yeah, so they're not going to pursue. That's a kind of a surprise to me. You know what? It affirms my deepest thoughts on this, which was everyone was just fucking jealous of the Eagles. Eagles had a bad year and it's fine. Yes. Actually, we're fine.

Eagles sucked and then everyone's like, you know what, we're over it. Yeah. They just want, everyone was just mad about it and was sore losers. However, in even bigger news, the UFL banned the Tush push. That is huge. What? Yes. So.

They also made really long cake. I'm no longer going to watch. Really long field goals are worth four now. Oh, I don't remember what the yard is. Phil goes are worth four. Where are you getting into this UFO in this? Chapter tweeted. UFL ban the Tush push and the NFL is going to keep it.

I don't know why he did that. I, we had to look up with the UFL. I thought it was the XFL. Yeah, me too. The United Football League. I thought it was like ultimately why they banned it is so that we would talk about it.

That's how advertising works. Get the people going. Anything else. Yeah, the Sean Paine play calling thing, we'll see. I think it was maybe not forced. I think it was to keep Davis Webb. I think that. He got a couple of head coaching opportunities.

People thought he was going to be the head coach of the bills for a hot second. I think Davis Webb played the offseason very well for himself. Yeah. I think that he's been a riser. And he's like best friends with Josh Allen. Yeah. I, that's, yeah. You can't have your best friend be your head coach.

Right? No, that'd be weird. No. Would you let Hyvitz be your head coach? Were you laughing at that? I'm like, this is a trick question. It's not that. Is it?

I don't think I would. No way. I would not. The insinuation was that he was my best friend. I think he was what he was laughing at. He's like, I have way better friends. Please. I mean, your best friend is obviously your wife, right?

Right. Would you let her be your head coach? No. Okay. Jeez. I would totally. I would. Yeah, yeah.

D.K. is over two right now. I'd like your wife's name out your mouth. Yeah. Now you got to hit him. Did anyone give you the ick? Other than Omar Khan? um so i'm just so fucking depressed krague was actually

steleers is just like i remember if the charges or what did you're like god this is no juice this team has no juice their offensive play callers man i've never heard of i thought the jets the jets i guess McCarthy's calling plays but their offensive coordinators are good brian angelicio who's that tight ends coach or the vikings who is that

don't know tight in coaches are all the rage now they ran out of quarterback coaches they're just hiring tighting coaches if he can just keep throw i guess he'll just dial up plays to darnel washington so i can't be upset about that. The other person giving up plays, so it's, well, it's Dave Canales for the Panthers. Yeah. And then.

Which surprised me as well. Yeah. And then Aaron Glenn for the Jets. I'm curious. Didn't Dave Canales have a whole explanation? He basically just said he, I mean, Peyton more or less said the same thing. He's just like, I'm two in the moment and it's hard. I'm focused so much on calling the play.

It's like kind of simply. It's like, I'm focused so much on calling the plays that I can't like see the rest of the game. And I trust Brad. He's been, Brad Edzick, who's going to call plays. And he's like, I've been with him for so long. he's an extension of me. But like I just wanted to be able to kind of manage all the other things going on

and not have to focus on calling the next play, which I get. I mean, right? Yeah, I mean, honestly, I'm always, it seems incredible that. It's understandable, but it is also usually indicative of the thought or fear that you're losing your leverage with the team, right? And what got you hired? Right. I feel he was known as the QB guru.

Like, get the people in the right. Don't know how much chicken out of us. You know, Baker Mayfield. He revived a lot of guys because he was done. the first guy in Tampa with Baker Mayfield before William Cohen. Giving up play calling duties is weird because it does feel like he's he's willingly giving up power, which is, which is not something you typically see. The ideal scenario is basically what the Niners have and like what the Bears have or the Seahawks too because it's just flipped. But even though they, no, well, I guess I see.

I see you're saying. You basically need the head coach to be the offensive play caller like Ben Johnson. And then you have it. The defensive coordinator is like a pseudo head coach, like Dennis Allen or Robert Solid guys who have been head coaches, and can just like handle all of that. Well, that's like Leslie Frazier with the Seahawks. He's the assistant head coach.

Yes. And you don't ever hear anything about him, but he's probably just running a lot of the stuff. And that's why Dennis Allen is like probably not going to get another head coaching job for a while. When Sean McVeigh got the head coach up for the Rams and he was 30 or 31 years old, he hired Wade Phillips. He was the oldest defense coordinator of the NFL, literally was in the NFL when Sean McVey before he was born.

Yeah, there's a little bit of like Andy Reid Spacknola where it's like, You basically get these defensive coordinators who have been fringe head coaches, maybe overqualified defensive coordinators, underqualified head coaches, and you just slot them in next year play calling head coach. That's like the perfect scenario. And then you have Aaron Glenn, the coach for the Jets, who said he's going to start calling plays again on defense. Because he said, I really missed calling plays.

I think it's my superpower. Smoke him if you got him, you got one more, you got one year left. Yeah. Might as well have a good time. I start calling plays. I thought it was. You might not get to. Dude.

Maybe they'll have a pick. Right. It can't be worse. No. Hiring a cornerback. It can always be worse with the Jets. It can always. Don't ever say that.

But I like generally, you're right. Sean Fentasy, who works at the Ringer, huge Jets fan told me, he's like, I actually think I'm just going to skip this year. It's like, I'm just going to check back in. We should do it. Take gap years from teams. It's pretty good. I'll check back in in 2027. I think we should normalize that.

That's okay. Yeah. I think that's fine. It's probably smart. The Jets thing, the Jets are so weird because on one hand, they have, having two firsts and two seconds this year, and then they have three firsts in 2027, which is allegedly going to be an amazing draft. And yet, that's, yeah. If the Jets weren't the Jets, I'd be like, they're in kind of a nice spot. Right.

A lot of picks and decent pieces. Their offensive line's not bad. I'm like, I don't know. But they're also, the people making the picks are the same people who decided that Justin Field should enter last season with no competition, which makes no sense. So I'm a little concerned. That thing doesn't really bother me as much as just generally. the Jets. The Woody Johnson of the Jets. The history of the Jets

like my point to the Justin Fields thing. It's just one of like a thousand different things that they've done horrifically. To Craig's point they should just rebrand. Yeah, they change their teams. New colors. Pinstripes. I'm into that. They just call themselves the football Yankees.

Sure. New York football Yankees. That's good. Green pinstripes. That's pretty good. Speaking of, I feel like we buried the league. We haven't talked about the Giants yet. Oh my God. All right. The biggest thing I got was at Joe Shane's press conference, the GM for the Giants. I said the biggest dick I got. Oh, thanks for clarifying.

The biggest ick you got. Biggest ick. Yeah. We saw Joe Shane and Harbaugh speak. Joe Shane at one point says, my role has not changed. Translation. It's changed. I was like, buddy, he's going to tell him.

Assistant to the general manager. Assistant to the general manager. Yeah, John Harbaugh is like so in charge. It's unbelievable. Like John Harbaugh, the court, a little tiny moment that I thought was representative was the Giants and Jets went at the same time. And then they stood up, I think they got there like a couple minutes early. And it's John Harba and Aaron Glenn go up at the same time. And they kind of give up and they give each other a look and smile.

And then the New York media kind of realizes that like they're getting there. And John Harba literally looks at the media is like, divide and conquer. And I'm like, that mother. He's great. Yeah. I was all in on him. He is, I just, you get it immediately. The way he's talking about like how we need to be.

aligned and integrated, no hierarchy, no silos. Everybody needs to be on the same page. He talked about Don a lot, which probably pissed Joe Shane off, but she was mentioned quite a bit. Don, the giant. That was pointed. The things that, so Don Aponte, who the Giants hired to, I mean, honestly, she's, it's funny because Joe Shane's title is the general manager. But if you ask John Harbaugh, what is Dawn Aponte's job, who is this woman who came from

the NFL league office and was highly thought of, it seems that Dawn's job is to manage generally. Like she just kind of manages finance and contract negotiations and various departments and all this stuff. And so Joe Shane, what does he do? Well, he does college scouting and

pros and scouting. And like, oh, so he's the scouting manager. Head of pressure now or whatever. Yeah, it doesn't see Joe Shane's like a very specific manager. And so it's just a funny arrangement. But they all, yeah, Everyone reports the job. What was the highlight of the Harbaugh thing for you?

Like what? Where are you at? Did anything give you hope in your heart? Did you go from six to midnight? How did you feel? I feel. He's up there looking at him with puppy dog guys. Like a wiggle.

Like it had to feel fucking incredible. He was wearing a giant's quarter zip. That's, when do you say that, that was the part because I've been to these for years and he just always wearing Ravens shit. The thing I wanted to ask him, it's not worth wasting his time.

I wanted to ask him, what did you do with 20 years of Ravens gear? We just do you put that? But like I, yeah, you could get a good number for it. But I. Game worn. But seeing him wear giant stuff, I like that for better or for worse. He's a chip on his shoulder.

John Harbaugh does. And I think that he feels a little weird when you're protege, like, you know, Mike McDonald is not quite half his age, but almost. And he worked for John Harbaugh. And he worked for Jim Harbaugh too. And he's winning a Super Bowl. He's on the cutting edge. Jesse Minter is now getting the old, like his old Ravens job went to Jesse Minter.

Ravens basically fired John Harbaugh to hire Jesse Minter, who again, like, is the son of John Harbo's old boss. So, like, people, it's like the, it's like the fucking Scotty Pippin's son. Or Scottie Pippin's wife is with Michael Jordan's son, you know? And you're kind of like, I used to babysit this kid and now he's taking, you know? Yeah. Like, literally people. We're waiting into this analogy right now. Yeah.

Too much. But I'm just saying John Harbo, like, knew Jesse Minter when he was a child. Yeah. And then he took the Ravens job. That is very weird. And it's just strange. That's pretty common in football, though, I feel like Calvin taking my spot on this pot. Yes, but that is what happened to John Harbaugh.

And I think that he really wants to fucking dominate. And also, he's a hardball. Like, they're crazy. He wants to win really badly. And like- He is way less quirky than Jim, at least on the surface. Oh, yeah. If he weren't a football coach, I really think John Harbaugh could have been like a senator from Michigan.

Like, he probably would have ended up. Not too late. And honestly, you're right. But I just think, I do think it's going to work. I don't know if they're going to win a Super Bowl, but I think they will be immediately competitive. Is there any world in which the Harbaugh thing turns out to be like the Pete Carroll thing?

Like one done? No. Like a horrific disaster. No, because he's complete organizational control. It's closer to John Harbaugh has halfway between what Pete Carroll had and what Tom Brady has, where Tom Brady's like ownership. And they have, Harbaugh's not that, but he might as well. He is running the organization and he is in charge of everything for at least two full years.

But I think the difference is even if Harbaugh flames out, What he did is they needed someone so much juice that they could root out 50 years of like organizational rot. Where frankly, the Giants were ownership was handing out jobs to family and friends. And they were like they couldn't fire people and they were just littered throughout of like the Giants head trainer was replaced. He seems like a really nice guy. I had nothing against this guy. But he was hired as the Giants head trainer. I believe in 1978.

And he's been the head trainer for 45 years. And like the NFL and NFL merged in 1970. this guy's been the trainer for 45 years. Nobody should have any job for 45 years. Imagine anyone doing any job for 45 years. And you're like, yeah, like in charge of the, think about the, I'm watching, like, players were probably still smoking cigarettes in the 1970s. Sure.

And I don't know. In the huddle. But it's stuff like that. They needed to be replaced. The, there were some other vibes that were kind of funny. Anything else stand out to you guys? Andrew Barry for the Browns, the GM for the Browns. I thought it was interesting.

I had never really, I don't know, I spent a lot of time watching him speak. He's very smart, very calculated, very well-spoken. Energy vampire. A little bit. He says every reporter's name who asks him a question. Yeah. That's right, Ashley.

That's a good point, Derek. Thanks for asking, Andrew. Like, he does that every time. Or is that just actually respectful? Both. Probably both. Yeah. He had a couple of things.

He was like, look, somebody asked, why don't you just draft a quarterback every year? If you need one, he's like, I don't think that's a problem. maybe we will. And then the other thing that was that they were like, what do you need to work on? And he was like,

patience. And he's like, if you ask my wife, my kids, my staff and Todd Munkin, they will all tell you I'm not a patient person and I'm learning patience. Okay.

I was like, is that because a year into your tenure you gave to John Watson, $230 million dollar guaranteed and spent three first time picks of him? I didn't realize he was the youngest GM ever at the time, 32 years old. Yeah.

He's, Did no one, no one asked him about the questionnaire for the head coaching thing, right? I tried, but they don't like why nobody wanted to coach you. Why did you have coaches take a written test? Yeah, yeah. I wanted to ask that. It is interesting, these young GMs coming in and making a splash. Like James Gladstone did the same thing.

Came in, Travis Hunter, big thing. Didn't really work out. It's funny to Andrew, Andrew Barry is funny to me. Everyone thinks Andrew Barry, the GM for the Browns is really smart. And yet he wasn't smart enough to turn down being the GM for the Cleveland Browns. Right. Also, yeah, I mean, yeah. Also, Todd Munkin is the oldest first-time head coach in the NFL history.

Did you know that? How old is he? 63. 60. Oldest first-time head coach ever. Oh, wow. Which is what it took for him to not go back to the Giants in the offensive quarter. That's what the Browns had to do to get a coach because no one wouldn't even fucking talk to them.

I know. Yeah. I kept thinking that when I saw Kevin Stefanski being the head coach of the Falcons that is like just walking around this week. Because, again, the Browns fired Kevin Stifansky as their head coach. And then 10 openings happened. and I think if a different team had fired Kevin Stafansky, Stafansky wouldn't have even interviewed for the Browns job. Like the Browns had no chance of rehiring the guy that they gave up.

It's a last-ditch effort, I feel like, from Barry to be like, well, I guess I'll get rid of Stafansky. Whoops, a daisy. What else can I do? All right. Any other stories, anything's things we're missing here from just like wrapping up? There's a ton. I mean, oh, the referee, Troy Vincent, who's like an executive in the NFL,

does a lot with officiating a competition and mentioned the replays and kind of acknowledged that they did, I think, 171 replay overturned from the NFL office remotely and he admitted four of them, yeah, five, we were just wrong, we actually overturned it, it was wrong. I wonder what the strategy on

this is, you know, because basically, so this week, I don't remember exactly when it came out, but the referees or the league admitted they got some very critical plays overturned or whatever that. They got them wrong. So for instance, the one, the week 14 Raven Steeler's game. We've talked about this play multiple times. I stand by it.

Where Aaron Rogers tried to throw pass. It got batted. He went to catch it. It was in his hands essentially as his knees were on the ground. And then the other, the Ravens player took it out of his hands and ran. That play was overturned and called incomplete. Or sorry, it was called complete or whatever. It was, it was not an interception. Yeah. And they said they got that wrong. It should have been an interception. That was, I will give you credit. You, you did not waiver. There was no difference between that and the bills play. against the Broncos. Remember the, of course,

brandy, pick, not pick, whatever. I was like, that's like almost the exact same thing. And essentially, that's what the league said, that that should have been a pick. And the other thing they admitted was that they were like five, did you know, that shocking? He's like, I don't care. The other one, well, that play screwed over the Ravens.

And the other one that they admitted was wrong, was that the Isaiah likely touchdown in the first Raven Steelers game that the Steelers won, right? That should have been a touchdown. They should have been a touchdown, which someone asked John Harbaugh, Does it make you feel like maybe things could have gone differently since two of those plays would have flipped two games? Maybe on the Ravens still.

Slaying doors. And they're like, maybe you probably would have made the playoffs. And John Harper takes the longest fucking pause. And he's like, he's like answering your question how I feel. I get, you know, it's pretty normal to feel upset and think about those things. Yeah. Yeah, I do think about that. Yeah.

That's a natural thing. What, remind me the likely play? He caught the ball. Took a couple steps. Took a couple steps. And then it was like slapped out of his hands. The first Raven Steelers game this year. It was a bang, bang play, and he caught the ball and he had it outstretched.

One, two, three. And someone knocked it out. They're like, oh, not a touchdown. It's like, but he had three steps. Oh, right. I do remember that. That was a bad call. Yes.

So anyway. I could have no one he's like. I get a minute. Five plays. Two of them flipped the Raven season. But the other one was they said, yeah, four of the five plays in the one o'clock window, the early window, a lot of games. You know, it's harder then.

So that is what it is what it is. And then another thing I, we kind of knew, but I couldn't believe they admitted it. We're like, yeah, it's obviously harder for them to officiate remotely 11 games than one in prime time. Yeah. But Sean paid. That's the thing. That is the thing you kept saying all year. I was like, it can't be that.

It actually was that. Not enough people. Hire more people with the NFL. No, they, that's what the money. They want to keep the money. Sorry, I was busy. That would require giving money to other people. They want to keep the money.

Yeah, they'd rather admit they were wrong on five plays a year than pay more people. Yes. That's, yeah. It gets buried under a deluge of other news this week. I'm sure a lot of people. I mean, Large Jackson tweeted about it, and he was basically like,

oh, well, so our first off-season win, you know, because they should have won that game, essentially. Huge, yeah, everyone's like, row zero and zero,

but yeah. Could have been, could have been different, yeah. The sliding doors in the ravies is crazy, but if Jesse Minter works out, that it's good for them. Yeah.

Anything else from this week? And we're going to get into a bunch of, like, players and everything, like later this week, we have obviously a ton of draft stuff coming, but this was a lot, a lot of off-season stuff coming.

I do think, it would be cool of A.G. Brown and Crosby and Kyler get traded in the next week or so. Yeah. Anything else before we just do some emails? No, I think that's it. Okay. We have some good. We made a lot of prompts we asked people for.

All right. Starting with, Craig asked about car horns. Oh, right. We've got to fix those. Yeah, something calmer. Right. More soothing, less aggressive. We got an email from Joe.

It's from today. Joey. Hi guys. Breakfast this morning. Holiday Inn Express, Continental breakfast, scrambled eggs with Chalula, potatoes, turkey sausage, and coffee. Oh, he went for it. Chalula and eggs is great. Nice. He went for it at the holiday in. Yeah. Joe says, when you guys started talking about car horns, I had to write in because my wife and I were just talking about this. The biggest problem is that you can't see people when they're honking. The only way we have of communicating is a loud, obnoxious horn, and we can't see each other, so we tend to assume the worst. My wife's proposal is to replace all car horns with three

different sounds. One that says, one that basically communicates my bad. One that is the same, which communicates your bad. And then a third one that says, something's wrong with your car. Yeah, I like that one. It's like your back tire is flat. You're driving on it for 10 miles. Sometimes you're trying to beep and it's like your trunk is open. You moron, like your trunk is open. The problem is, I feel like honking is so impulsive. I don't know if you'd have the wherewithal in the moment to be like, is this a my bad or a year bad, you know? It has to be the length. But little tap. Yeah.

A little tap that's like, my bad. But I think, because sometimes you should be able to honk and be like, my bad. But you can't communicate that. Can we just have a horn that just says like, sorry, really sheepishly? Sorry. I like that as an idea. I think it's the best one we got. Something's wrong with your car.

Yeah. My dad would be great. Your car is on fire. If you, if you honked and it was like, my bad, my bad, my bad. That's on me. Yeah. If that's your car actually said that. That's on me.

My bad. And then you'd be like, all right, yeah. You feel better. I feel like the lawyers wouldn't sign. off on this. Oh yeah, that's true. You never admit fault in any accident. Yeah, you know. There is no solution, unfortunately, I think. That's too bad. All right. They've been doing it. They've been doing it right the course of one. All right. You guys ready to lock in right now? Yeah. Sure. All right. We got a lot of emails about smells. Oh, boy. So one, we're good followups on rain

smell. We're talking about how it smells after it rains. So this is from Cameron. C. Cam. K-bone or C-bone? Cameron, C. C. Cam, Chancellor. Fair enough. Don't judge me like that. Go birds. Go birds. It's true. Why do they get the fucking birds? Go hawks.

Why do they get the birds? Cameron says breakfast, black coffee, peanut butter, banana oats, and a toast and everything baked with creak cheese. Okay. It sounds really tasty. That's going to fill you up. It is a lot. Yeah.

It's got a more bad of them probably. Needs the energy. It is. But it is neat lunch. Cameron says, just thought y'all should know that thunderstorms have a scientifically distinct smell from regular rainstorms. Really? I blew my mind.

Thunderstorms. Because of like the electrical fields. So this is when people are like, there's a storm coming. They can smell. I can feel it in my knee. Yes. Yeah. My mom claims to kind of have that.

Claims, you don't believe her? Smells are in her knee. My mom's a liar. Some connection to weather. Text her right now and be like, can you smell when storms are coming? So Cameron writes, that's crazy. I blew my mind.

That's crazy. Get ready. Cameron says the smell just before or during rainstorms before. Because there's an after smell, which is the stuff that is. It's raining on. Well, that's the whole thing. There's like people in movies who are like,

there's a storm coming. A brewing. This blew my mind. The stuff before a rainstorm, I think he means a thunderstorm, is ozone. Lightning splits nitrogen and oxygen atoms and releases ozone, which is the kind of clean metallic smell you get during a storm.

Wow. That blew my fucking mind. You can smell ozone. Ozone. Like the layer that your generation put a hole in. The last thing the world actually tried to fix. Why you guys fucked it up? I don't know.

I recycle. We're screwed now. This is the last problem we had the world tried to fix and fix it. that is there still a hole up there I'm gonna give you the recession too that was you that was your squad yeah no no you're too young for that's the boomers yeah the boomers you know what else uh my dad actually was uh because you're millennial texting me about yeah I'm an elder millennial or uh geriatric millennial um the he was telling me that uh in rainstorms and also sometimes when you're sitting by like a creek a lot of people like

sitting by moving water because it positively charges the ions around you which is healthy for you. It makes you feel good. If Aaron Rogers said that, I'd be like, get the fuck out of here. So moving water literally gives off good positive vibes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love it. I love hearing about all that shit. About why people like looking at water, being near water. Yeah, yeah.

Sleeping when it's raining. I think that's fascinating. It's like forest bathing. Oh, wait, hold on. Wait, we've an important update here. Nick, Nick, just get in here, Nick. No, I was, dude, get in here. So Nick, wait, explain to it.

Tucker text me. Can you please talk to us about boat horns? One is for port. Two is for Starboard, if you're passing. Oh, oh, oh, There's different horns. Yeah, so there's different horn signals. Do you have a boat?

Wait, one is for passing and one is for what? One is for passing on the port side. Oh, okay. Two horned beams. Left. Yeah, left. Two is for Starboard. Right.

Three is backing up. And five is warning something's happening. Oh. But you have to count to five horns? Yeah, you got to go, do, do, do, do, do. Is the one with four horns? No, not on this one yet. No.

No, that would be too confusing. What kind of boat do you have? Just a 30-foot Cutty Cabin. She's a cutty cabin. I don't know what any of those words made. There you go. I think it sounds sick.

Okay. All right. Wow, that was awesome. Thank you. Do you know what a cutty is? It's like a 30-foot. Cutty Kevin. Wooden.

Both people are their own language. What are you not getting? An old wooden ship. An old wooden ship. When was the last time he got honked at? All the time. Weekly. Well, he lives in Los Angeles.

You live in a suburb. I would consider myself a good driver. but the problem is that you oftentimes don't know who's even getting honked at. There's like honking going on. It's just all right. It's contagious. It's like honking at the world. Yeah.

Just angry at the world. Craig just gives them a thumbs up. Big thumbs up. Have a good day. I mean, like that's rage bait. The past. That's going to get me shot. It's going to make people mad.

It's worse than the bird. It's a fucking thumbs up. That's true. Well, my friend Chris goes thumbs down. That's what the Yankees did. The whole season of thumbs down. You think that's better than thumbs up? Yeah.

Which would make you less angry? If I honked at someone, I was mad and you gave me a thumbs up, I'd be like, but if they give you this? Fly off the handle, I'd be like, okay with this. Okay, buddy. Yeah, thumbs down. I'm surprised by that. You're right.

Thumbs down is you're going to go to rage. You're going to, you're going to be furious. If you go in your face, thumbs down. I mean, thumbs down is funny too. He's booed with me. It's so funny to think thumbs up and thumbs down is almost become more in real life than in, like, or in more online than in real life. Once the last time in real life, you were like thumbs down.

No. I give a lot of thumbs downs. Ironically or legitimately. No, ironically. Yeah. And earnest thumbs up is kind of wild. Hey, you should play at the Canterbury Open next week. The other smell one, this was great.

So this is from I forgot to write the name down. Forgot to write the name down. Okay. I'm sorry, but they had two sunny side eggs and sourdough toast for breakfast. Love it. Fantastic. They heard. I would do that.

I said on the last show that I love the smell of gasoline. Yeah. It smells great. I don't, I'm not into that. Well, so this person said, heard me say that, and they remember that gasoline doesn't actually have a smell. Yeah, it's added so that you smell it. Additive.

Yeah. I knew that. All right. Well, I'll go fuck myself. I didn't know that. You didn't know that smell the gasoline to make it. So you know when there's gas around. I mean, that's a good idea.

But let me ask this. When there's a gas leak in your house, can you smell that? Yeah, because they add the additive to it. To that gas as well? It's in like natural gas, yes. Oh. I think they do add it, yes. Smells like it's a learn the hard way.

Oh, is that right? I feel like sometimes there's these stories about people, there's a gas leak in the house and they have no idea. Yeah. That's different. That's like a byproduct. Okay. If you have just like a gas leak, I think it smells like eggs.

Yeah. Or it smells bad, whatever it is. I don't know. Okay, so you guys knew that. That was pretty mind-blown. Okay, so here, fine, then smells in general. We're still going. This is from Dr. John.

Yes, this one's great. Dr. John, Dr. Dr. J. Breakfast for Dr. Breakfast for Dr. John's a six milligrams zen and a cup of coffee which is ironic because I'm a doctor and that shit's awful for me which one zin or a coffee he said both coffee's not bad for you it probably both probably zen I don't know all right so a lot of a lot of doctors smoke

you know doctor so dr. jays says listening to your discussion on rain smells triggered a feeling it triggers a feeling in humans it reminded me of a lecture I got in medical school and I apologize if this is too scientific but smell is the oldest sense that living things developed smell is essentially what we call chemo reception and our nose takes a molecule and converts it into an electric signal and our brain can interpret it. So even single cell organisms have chemo reception. And because smell is our oldest sense,

it is the only one of the human senses that has a direct path into your brain. So your olfactory nerve, your cranial nerve one, takes smell, it travels directly into your brain and the synapses to a part of your brain connected to your hippocampus. And that is important because your hippocampus is where long-term memories are formed,

which is why we often associate smell with our strongest memory. You're immediately back somewhere. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because we always say, oh, smells the strongest memory. It's like because it's the oldest thing and it's actually got a direct line. Yeah, do you ever have something from your grandparents or

that they pass down and you smell it? And you're like, oh, my God, it smells like my grandparents sounds. Funny say that. The next line of the end of his spot. Yes. He literally says that's why you can like smell your grandfather's cologne and they immediately just picture him in front of you. Weird.

Yeah, that's great. Even like an old t-shirt can smell like a great, like you're like, oh, yeah, it smells like my grandparents's house. Right. Isn't that crazy? Yeah. But like, it's just floating stuff.

And you're like, oh, that reminds me back in the day. Smells crazy. Yeah. Okay. The last one here around Stormside. I was just scrolling through emails. No, this is good. So this one's from Jess.

Jay Bone. I don't, I need more information. And if you're listening to this, you're a horse person. I need to know about horses. Horse guy. I've gathered a lot of antics or horse person. And I need a fucking centaur. And we got a lot of information.

No, not half horse. just a horse person. Full horse. So Jess emailed in and basically explained that we're talking about rain because you were saying how people can smell rain.

Horses tend to give birth around storms and drops in barometric pressure and obviously not all horses but like it seems like a lot of horse owners have this experience where horses either wait till after a bad storm

or during a storm because they think that they'll actually if they'll be safe from like predators and stuff Oh, interesting. I was going to say, what is the advantage of giving birth during a storm? Some people prefer water birth. There you go.

But yeah, so. Jesus Christ. So I was like, there's no. Yeah, that was wild. But there's no way this is true. And then I googled it as Reddit threads of just all these horse people, be like storms come. And I think they're going to give birth. So wait.

Well, do they prefer giving birth during a storm or do they wait until after or is it either? That's why I'm asking for a horse person to explain. I want to know more about this. It kind of sounds like they just give birth whenever and we're applying theory to it. That's what I want to know. storm we're not during the storm. I don't know. By the way, sometimes they also give birth before.

Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. Also, while we're on the subject, don't go look up baby horse hooves. No. Don't do it. One of you is going to do it? Don't do it.

Don't do it. You will regret it immediately. You didn't need to say anything. Nobody would have done that. We weren't talking about that. Craig, I really wanted him to do it. The last one here before we get out of here, we were talking about bad names and unfortunate names.

Yeah. Because of Adolf. Because of Adolf. Yeah. Sonny Jurgensen's middle name is Adolf. Different spelling. Right. Blondy.

PH, not F. So the last year there was a mayor, a mayoral election, a race between in Framingham, Massachusetts. And one of the guys running for mayor was named Jeff Epstein. Oh, wait, didn't we already had this? No, no, different. No, no, no. That's Harvey Epstein. He was running for local council of New York.

The guy running for mayor of Framingham was named Jeff Epstein, but it's with the G. Different spelling. And it pronounces it Epstein. You got to change the name. Sure. Straight up. But it was just everywhere. It was Jeff Epstein for mayor in this like small town. You have to, I mean, I suppose that like get your name out there. But you have to change that. I'm sorry. By the way, Ryan O'Hanlon, former ringer employee slash our friend, text to me. And there's a soccer player, a famous soccer player whose name is Osama Vin Laden. I saw this too. We got he knows about there. What? Yeah. Yeah. His brother's name is Saddam. Hussein yeah it is Brett and his dad his dad thought it was interesting and then his dad

very famous people yeah the dad the dad the dad wanted how old are these guys they're like 25 Osama bin Laden is uh 23 000 and 1 23 yes his the dad is I think he's Peruvian Craig Vin Laden right so right after 9-11 they named him Osama bin Laden and the brothers Saddam October 2002 yeah yeah he's from Peru and his brother is named Saddam Hussein the fuck are we doing I don't know That one's crazier Is there a different spelling there?

Is it just Saddam Hussein? That one's the same spelling There might I think it's only one D Oh yeah sorry I took a D out So it's just No so it's fine Actually no yeah

Anyway He put a wild He said if he had a third son He was gonna name him George W. Bush This is like I feel like you guys are not reacting strongly enough to this

This is insane It's pretty fucking It's weird to experiment. Yeah. This is a real boy name Sue type situation. You know he's going to grow up tough. Sorry, I'm just reading the Wikipedia. Yeah, no, it's pretty mind-blowing.

When Vin Laden had a son of his own, his father suggested George Bush, but he chose a conventional name instead. He was like, he's like, hey, dad, my life's been fucking misery being named Osama Vin-Lod. I'm not just named my kid. On the name of Bill or George or anything, but Sue. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know He is a quote My friends used to make fun of me

At the beginning And it bothered me But you learned to live with it And I feel normal now This is crazy Imagine if your friends Just never brought it up I asked my dad

The reason He just avoids talking about it Hell Ricky I was hiring When I did that That's what I wanted In the birth certificate I just

It was joking But when do you think The dad regretted it? Like he definitely He doesn't seem to regret it whatsoever. He can't admit he regrets it. He can't get it. This is unbelievable.

In a radio interview in 2020, he made the connection. When Osama bin Laden knocked down the Twin Towers, the name was in the news. And I was born a year later, October 7, 2002. He added that his father liked the name. He also stated that he had often thought about changing his name, but had not done so because he had come to accept it. To avoid criticism, only his first name, Osama appears on his jersey. He liked the name? Oh, okay.

I would have gone on something else. Sure. Personally. Okay. Any other? I think that's the best name. I don't, we're the worst. I think that's the bottom of the barrel.

It's up there. Down there. I made a list the other day. The other one that's not along the same lines, that's not great anymore for a woman is ISIS. Was that a name? Oh, I knew. Oh, I knew someone named,

in shoes from Spain is named D.C. Seas. And I remember using like Facebook Messenger and it was across countries. And I, and then there was a whole thing like Facebook swept up on your global data. Like, were you talking outside America? Like, they would sweep it up. And I realized that like the FBI

or CIA was 100% going to pick up me having conversations about when are we meeting ECs? What are we? Yeah. And then Archer. In Archer when the spy agency was called ISIS at first and they're like, Okay, well, got to change that now. I want to continue once more on this Wikipedia. Craig's just, I can't believe.

Vin Laden was interviewed. He said, I do not believe my name to be problematic. Citing, Peruvian politician Hitler Sanchez, who won a mayoral election over the ironically named Vladimir Lenin Rodriguez Valverde. Hitler being 2018. What is going on in Peru? Hitler Sanchez beat Vladimir Lenin Valverde. I'm in awe.

I'm gone smacked Well on that note Okay We have more draft shows Coming to this week We have a real dicey decision Of what we put in the title Of this episode

Yeah yeah We're gonna have to break And have a conversation Thank you DK Thank you Craig Thank you Austin Thank you Tucker Thank you Nick, thank you Jake

Shout out to Nick's boat I love that Just a 30 foot A 30 foot cutty Cutty Thank you for listening Email so ringer fantasy football Atgum

Thank you Lord Lauren. Thank you, Harry Belafonte. Oh, how come? I don't know, I just saw it. You know the song from Beetlejuice? Which one? Come, me want to go home.

Yeah. I got to be honest, that's one of those people that I don't really know anything about it. I kind of agree. It's a name. I know the name, but that's all I know. It's a famous one. Oh, jump in the line. That's a great song.

Yeah? I don't know that one. It's like... Sing it. Make your body in line. Okay. Is that the song? I don't know.

I wish I could play it, but I don't want to get sued. Listen to that next to a moving body of water. You're cooking. Also, the opposite of sitting next to a body of water, moving body water, or rain, is, according to my dad, a desert wind, which is negatively, it negatively charges the ions. So it sucks. Like shit. Interesting. Because the sands in your face?

Also, the sands in your lungs. Yeah. that's and in your eyeballs and stuff it doesn't feel great yeah yeah hot desert wind thumbs down right comes down moving water thumbs up yeah goodbye everyone sit next to a creek no