The Ringer NFL Show - What’s At “Steak” in the 2023 NFL Combine

Episode Date: February 27, 2023

Welcome back to another episode of ‘The Ringer NFL Draft Show!’ This week, the guys preview the 2023 NFL Combine by ranking the stakes—using actual steaks as metrics—of the draft’s most sign...ificant scouting event. They discuss everything from how measurements will impact which quarterback gets selected first overall, to how they think the various skill players will test at this year’s combine (3:36). Finally, they close with a couple of emails and America’s favorite segment: Two Jargons, One Lie (46:47). Check out our 2023 Ringer NFL Draft Guide here! Email us! ringerfantasyfootball@gmail.com Hosts: Danny Heifetz, Danny Kelly, Ben Solak, and Craig Horlbeck Producers: Craig Horlbeck and Kai Grady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:27 Watch out for mouth tendrils and follow along on. Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. Raff show, my name is Danny Hyfitz. I am joined by Danny Kelly, Ben Salk, and Craig Horlebeck. And we're coming to here on the Ring of Fantasy Football Show feed between now and the NFL draft on April 27th. And we are in Indianapolis for the Combine. Scyke.
Starting point is 00:01:02 No, we're not. We're actually recording this on Wednesday. We're not in Indianapolis. We psyched you out. So we're going to talk about the Combine and everything going into the Combine. Yeah, we got them. So emails at Ringer Fantasy Football at Gmail.com. If you have questions, you can also go to DK's.
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Starting point is 00:01:46 episode description. Anyway, we're going through today, what's at stake in the NFL Combine? Or some call it the Combine, including who's going to go number one in the draft among other things? You went right past the, or as some call it, the combined. Do we want to address this real quick?
Starting point is 00:02:03 You explained it to us last year. It was all these disparate, like, disparate, I don't know, medical events all around the country and just a bunch of doctors and checkups and waiting rooms. What if we combined them? Right, correct. Essentially, the NFL combined used to be a whole, it was like two or three different events.
Starting point is 00:02:19 And then they were like, hey, let's combine them. So then they called it the NFL combined. And then somewhere along the line, people started calling the combine. A bunch of bullshit, in my opinion. It's the NFL combined. Well, we really need to make it like in finance and finance. We're on Wall Street.
Starting point is 00:02:35 If you're like, this is a real thing. If like a 21-year-old's interviewing for job, you have to call it finance. but at some point this unspoken part of your career, you can just start calling it finance. It's like they just all do it wrong and it means you're part of the club, but you can't do it when you first get the job. You can't just call it finance.
Starting point is 00:02:52 It's like once you make partner, you start saying finance just naturally. So can we do this and we're like, yeah, we're going to the combine. I'm very happy to do it here. I feel like if I do it in Indianapolis, people are going to think I'm insane. No, that means you grind tape then. If the other people don't do it, it's because they don't watch tape.
Starting point is 00:03:08 Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm just going to bump into like some NFL general manager, just like, bummed, all those Harry Rosen. Like, oh, great combined this year. And he'll be like, ah, great combined. Yeah. Yeah, he'll know. We got to hire this guy.
Starting point is 00:03:20 One of the other. Hey, Howie, did you know that they actually combined all of the events? And that's why that's what it's called. Anyway, my time's up. First of all, didn't Howie Roseman come from finance? Like, he literally, obviously, he did. Yeah, he was a cap guy. All right.
Starting point is 00:03:36 So we're going to go over the combined. And we're going to talk about the stakes. for this year's combine. And we're going to do, as if that conversation was so dumb enough, we're doing something even dumber. We're going to rank the stakes for the combine based on actual stakes. So something low stakes, it's like Chuck B for stew meat. High stakes is going to be like, I don't know, filet, tomahawk wagyu.
Starting point is 00:03:55 Yeah, ribbi. So we're going to rank the stakes of each thing, like what's going on at the combine, how important is all the stuff? And we're going to start with just the court. It's really dumb, but I think it works. We're going to go through the quarterbacks because it seems like this is the big stakes at the combine. He's like, who's going to go number one overall?
Starting point is 00:04:09 That kind of seems on the table this week. Still laughing about the combined thing. It's a big episode for hominems and homophones, man. We're just doing some solid third-grade wordplay over here. This is so convoluted. We're like, all right, so what is the Porterhouse? That's the combined. We're talking about football?
Starting point is 00:04:27 What are we talking about? Oh, God. Anyway. So like, kick us off here. Bryce Young, the vaguely Ben Solis. excised man from Alabama. He's getting measured at the combine this week, which I can't remember quite such extravaganza excitement around a person being measured how tall they are, maybe since Baker.
Starting point is 00:04:51 And I'm curious, how big a deal? Is Bryce Young getting measured? Like, what are the stakes? Like, what kind of steak is this for Bryce Young getting measured here? I was, listen, if you, if you can't remember, man, you are not recalling closely enough the extravagance around the Kyler Murray weighing process. I spent the whole day that Kyler Murray was going to get Wade walking around the convention center trying to run into Kyler Murray
Starting point is 00:05:14 to just like see if like what was going on and how he looked. I was like this was anything anybody cared about all week. Bryce Young is going to be like you say, Wade and he's going to be measured. For reference, this is Dane Brugler of the Athletic. Of the 301 quarterbacks drafted in the last 25 years, only two were under both six foot tall and two. 200 pounds. Neither were drafted in the top 100 picks. Bryce Young is very likely to come in under six foot and under 200 pounds.
Starting point is 00:05:47 He's currently listed at what, like 5-11 190? And that's a lie. It's always a lie. That's generous. It's never real. It's never true. And so you're looking at a player who's historically small for a quarterback and unprecedentedly small for a first round quarterback. Now, it's kind of a little bit of a silly conversation because, okay, Bryce Young comes in at 5-11 and a buck-95, which would be like a great day for him. The same exact teams that were uncomfortable drafting him are probably still uncomfortable drafting him. And the same teams that were comfortable drafting him are probably still comfortable drafting him, relative to if he comes in at like 5-10, a buck 89, it's going to be like, oh. Like, I don't know how many teams actually exist in that balance.
Starting point is 00:06:32 That's something I'm really curious to see if we can find out over the course of these next, these next few days here in Indianapolis. But when Young measures in, he will officially like register as an outlier player of historic proportions. Not just like, oh, he's a little small. Like this will be a new frontier of early drafts of quarterbacks. That is going to challenge a lot of teams. It's going to challenge a lot of analytics for staffs
Starting point is 00:06:56 and analytics branches of the front offices. It's going to challenge a lot of like the old head 40 years in the scouting business guys. Like Young is very much a new frontier of dudes. And if Young is draft. it early and is successful in the NFL, it'll change how we view small quarterbacks and it'll change the sort of athletes that go to the position versus if he doesn't get drafted early and he doesn't do well and he falls and he gets injured and so on and so forth yet yet or whatever. It's going to be, if young can't do it like with his level of talent and coming from Alabama,
Starting point is 00:07:22 then nobody can do it. It's going to be like a hard line. So a lot of stakes wrapped up into this one. I have a question. Is there any chance that he doesn't allow himself to be measured? Is that even possible? Because remember last year with Kenny Pickett, didn't Kenny Pickett refuse to get his hands measured at the Super Bowl? or was that the, sorry, at the combine,
Starting point is 00:07:37 or was that at the senior ball, and then he waited to the combine. I think it was at the senior bowl, he didn't measure his hands, and then he did end measuring his hands at the combine. Right. So this is like sort of mandatory at this point. I would assume that he's just going,
Starting point is 00:07:48 he's going to get measured. Well, so you can't go to the combine and then not get measured. At that point, it creates more questions than, you know, all we have to go off of is the Mina Kimes photo. Here's the deal, though.
Starting point is 00:07:59 These guys opt out of a lot of things every year, and more and more they're opting out of things because it's just going to make them look bad versus... But they opt out of the drills because they can get hurt. Is he going to be like, yeah, I can't get measured.
Starting point is 00:08:09 It's too much risk. Well, I can't remember guys opting out of measurement, so I don't even know if it's actually something that happens, but... If he opts out of his measurements, I think everyone's going to assume he's 5'9.
Starting point is 00:08:20 And like, if you're 5,9, you might as well just be 59. And so to me, I think, like, it's a... If he doesn't measure, I'll be stunned. It'd be great drama. All right, it'd be good television. There's no doubt about that.
Starting point is 00:08:31 You get Charlie Castanley on NFL Network saying wild things of Bright Young doesn't But yeah, I expect him to. Speaking of measurement, speaking of Kenny Pickett's hands, Bryce Young, as we just stated, set up to be historically small. How are his hands? Does Bryce Young have appropriately sized hands?
Starting point is 00:08:48 His hands are going to be like small for sure. Yeah. Why is nobody talking about his hands? Because much more important is his height and his weight. That's a huge deal. Craig, why are you getting so defensive? I'm just saying, every freak out of him like Kenny Pickett's hands. Meanwhile, he's like 6-2, 6-3.
Starting point is 00:09:04 This is a theme. Wasn't Craig's hands last year about as big as Kenny Pickett's? And now we've got Ben Solick is about Bryce Young's size. I think my hands are bigger than Kenny Pickett's. I can't remember. But here's things. So I guess the way I'd summarize this is we know Bryce Young's small. And if he packs on a little weight and doesn't do the drills, it doesn't matter.
Starting point is 00:09:25 We know he's short, 510, 511, who actually cares. So what we're actually like, the exact measurements coming in, whatever. But big picture, once we have the measurements and we know them in a league, where they really do care about how big you are. And these are a bunch of big people used to play a big man's sport who don't really respect shorter, smaller people than them. This is kind of like a huge stake. This is like a porterhouse on the scale.
Starting point is 00:09:47 Like he probably won't be the number one pick in the draft because if a team has to trade up, as you just said at the top select, all these guys with the crazy owners they report to, Scott Fitter of the gym for Carolina who has to report to David Teper and Chris Ballad, who has to report to Jim Ursay for the Colts. All these guys, are you trading up to the number one pick to take basically the smallest person to ever play quarterback.
Starting point is 00:10:07 He's Kyler Murray's height with Lamar Jackson's like slenderness. Like he probably isn't going to go number one once this comes out officially. Even if you like him, like you love Bryce Young's film. I love Bryce Young's film. It's awesome.
Starting point is 00:10:19 And you say, okay, we feel comfortable drafting a guy of this size. Well, if you're at like eight and you think six of the seven teams in front of you are never going to draft a guy of this size and like, why would you trade up? And some of it is defraying risk, right? Some of it is saying like, all right,
Starting point is 00:10:33 it's a different narrative from the jump. If we trade up to one for Bryce Young, if we trade up to three for Bryce Young, if we trade up to six for Bryce Young, then if we just sit here and take Bryce Young, if Bryce Young costs exactly one pick and then ends up, he's small and he gets banged up and it sucks, that's not like job losing territory.
Starting point is 00:10:51 It's not great, but it's not job losing territory. If you move up to one, and then he's just functionally too small to hang in the NFL and like the rest of the league wasn't going to do this, you're really messed up as a general manager. first taking the risk on the guy, secondly, trading picks to go take the risk on the guy. And so absolutely, like, I don't think Young's shouldn't go one,
Starting point is 00:11:08 despite the fact that of the quarterbacks team, I think he's the most talented, because the size thing just means that if you like him and you're willing to take him, you can play the game. You can play the trade game, play the weight game, and save some value. And I think general managers would be wise to do that. The other thing that I was going to add to this conversation,
Starting point is 00:11:24 and it's also related to the other quarterbacks. And so, like you said it, like, this is a little bit of a silly, conversation, but the combine itself is silly. Like, let's be honest. This whole thing is silly. And what I'm, what I think is going to happen, what I could imagine will happen is these GMs, these decision makers, the coaches, GMs, whoever, they're going to be in the physical
Starting point is 00:11:47 presence of these people. And everybody's human. And you're going to look at a guy like Anthony Richardson or guy like Will Levis or even CJ Stroud, who is not a small person. He's like 6, 3, 2, 15. And then compare that to a guy like Bryce Young. And no matter how you feel about him as a. player, it's going to be striking to see those two
Starting point is 00:12:04 next to those players next to each other. You know what I mean? Like this, like you guys said earlier, this is a big man's game. And that to me could almost be like, it's silly, but that could be like a determining factor. Like this guy just looks tiny. So you're saying that it's even worse that there were other quarterbacks in this class are six three and up. And there's not like a couple six foot guys, six one guys next next to Bryce Young. It's all six three and up guys. So the contrast is just as stark as could be. And I was actually going to bring this up during
Starting point is 00:12:31 the talk to, but like the way that Anthony Richardson tests this week, if he tests, he is going to be, I think, the story of the combine. If Anthony Richardson does all the tests, he runs, he jumps, you know, he throws, he does all the stuff. Anthony Richardson is going to be the buzzy guy. You know what I mean? And then there's going to be talk about Anthony Richardson going number one. Because he physically is just such an elite athlete. He's such a unique, sort of extraordinary athlete at the quarterback position that people are going to be so excited about that. I think Will Levis is another guy
Starting point is 00:13:03 is probably going to be very impressive athletically, physically. And so combined with the whole Bryce Young measurement, you know, sideshow, those things are going to be important to teams.
Starting point is 00:13:16 And there's going to be potentially like real movement here among teams because it's stupid, but it happens. Like when these guys get in the physical presence of these players, I think it can like move the, move the need.
Starting point is 00:13:25 There was substantial offshore betting movement today on Anthony Richardson QB1. There we go. Wow. So you mean Anthony Richardson be the first quarterback taken or the first pick? Basically the same thing. First overall pick was the movement. We're talking about the quarterback out of Florida who's like the Josh Allen Cam Newton guy. So Anthony Richardson would be like a flank steak or something, right?
Starting point is 00:13:44 Kind of an affordable meat, but you're like, man, if you do it right, this thing might actually do the best bite on the list. You had a good marinade. You had a good pancake. No, flank steak, it's like there's no upside. It's like you've got to get everything right with flank steak just to be fine. I feel like even good fling steak. It's like a skirt steak. It's like a skirt steak.
Starting point is 00:14:00 If you do it right, I feel like can be like almost better than a ribby if you do it wrong. I see flit. Well, you just don't know how to cook flag steaks when I'm here. Wow. Wow. That's just happened. I'm not sure what steak it is.
Starting point is 00:14:11 Come back to me on that. But like. What's the whole exercise? Yeah. I don't, I haven't tried all these sticks. We didn't have a Richardson segment on the freaking thing. On the sheet. Well, no.
Starting point is 00:14:23 We're saying Bryce Young in importance, the size. We're giving it like a nine or ten. out of 10, right? Yeah. That's a Porterhouse. Yes. We're just like, which is like,
Starting point is 00:14:30 like I don't know how to do this. I'm not prepared to make this steak comparison. I've had it. The more you think about it, the less it makes sense. So we can just keep going. Also, Hyvitz,
Starting point is 00:14:40 when you look up all the meats, it says skirt steak and flank steak are extremely similar cuts of meat. So you coming at me for my flank steak. Oh, should we just do the steak rankings real quick? So like Wagyu Porterhouse is like, that's top.
Starting point is 00:14:52 That's 10, right? I think ribby is up there. I think a good ribby is like elite. What about like a filet? Where's a flay? We're doing the same thing here. A scotch down, I think. Is it a porterhouse just a filet and a ribeye connected via bone?
Starting point is 00:15:04 Yeah, I guess so. Where's the Tomahawk? Anthony Richardson is a Tomahawk. That's what he is. Because it's crazy cool. And also, you don't know how much some of this is practical, like, or not, right? Like, it's a very impractical. It's a giant bone on my place.
Starting point is 00:15:18 Do I need a $200 steak? I'm pretty sure a tomahawk just is a ribeye with the extra five inches of ribbone left. That's true. It's like, do we really? really need the gold-crusted tomahawk with salt bay to come out and just like do the whole thing. Kind of feel like you do. When you see it at the combine, at the combine, you're going to really want that.
Starting point is 00:15:35 So a porter by a porter house is a combine of, of labignol and ribbons. God. So the one caveat, we're recording this Wednesday. I don't know if Anthony Richardson's actually doing any of these drills. Maybe he will because he should. He should. If he does, I think D.K.'s right that he'll be the story that the combine. The drills for him were given in a flank steak.
Starting point is 00:15:55 It's like, it's important. It's not essential. It has the potential to be absurdly important because he might test like Cam Nguyen, but altogether, flanking. So Will Levis is the other quarterback here who, again, could really shoot up into like number one territory here. And I feel like there's two things here. There's his medical, which again is the point of the combined, as DK said. Like they put on a nice television show about the events.
Starting point is 00:16:20 In reality, the combined was they want to see all these guys doctor records and they want to have their doctors poke and proud them. and then they're like, oh, we have 100 people waiting in line for an MRI. We should interview these guys. And then they're like, yeah, you're here overnight. You want to just run some drills for us? The whole thing is really about the medical stuff. So there's the medical stuff for Will Levis and D.K. I feel like Will Levis had a good season of 2021, awful 2022.
Starting point is 00:16:42 Well, awful's probably an overstatement. He just did not improve in 2022. And I'd say just wasn't like at his best. But he was dealing with foot, finger, and shoulder injuries for much of the season. So teams are going to want to dig into that. see if there's any, you know, issue there. And that'll be important, but. We're supporting cast as well, right?
Starting point is 00:17:01 He lost guys like Juan Dale Robbins. And a new OC. So there's just a lot of, however you look at it, it's either excuses or reasons for why he wasn't as good. But I think teams are going to want to dig into that. And included in that is going to be like, why, like teams are just going to ask him straight up, like why weren't he as good this year?
Starting point is 00:17:19 Like what happened? And then how he deals with that kind of question, what he does on the whiteboard, you know, how he responds. to, I'm sure what are going to be very difficult questions. Like, there's a long history of questions that teams have asked these guys that are just, like, really absurd and who knows, like, I guess just looking to gauge your response to maybe offensive questions
Starting point is 00:17:36 in a lot of reasons, in a lot of ways. So that whole thing is going to be important. And then, of course, with Stroud, it's going to be the same deal. I don't think Stroud, C.J. Stroud is not going to be, he's not going to be the type of guy to wow. I don't think at the combine in this setting necessarily. Like, so, like, right? Like, he's probably not going to, like, test well, I would say.
Starting point is 00:17:53 Yeah, I don't think Stroud's a big tester. I also like Stroud tends to be like a pretty like type B underspoken guy which typically like you don't hear people come out of the interviews to be like wow this calm individual really blew me away like usually it's like the raw rustic boom by guys which is we'll love us So is C.J. Stroud just going to continue to be like the Colin Robinson of this draft like he's just always in the room and everyone's like oh you're here Like when you're going to be in the first big too
Starting point is 00:18:17 We're going months without talking about CCHs. I was I ended up watching I end up cross watching a bunch of Stroud this past week of some of the other players I was watching. They're watching like Big Ten corners, like Big Ten pass rushers. Strout's so good. He's so good. You just have to be responsible with knowing like these athletic limitations and stuff. He's a heart-breaking prospect.
Starting point is 00:18:35 I want to love him so much, but you just can't fully get there. Yeah, you ever seen Stajer Stroud on his own? It's not for me. So, wait, Will Leveris. So I want to get back. So like you were talking about Will Levis's potential about going number one in this draft also depends on him just being in these interviews and doing, you know, football IQ, exos on the whiteboard and stuff.
Starting point is 00:18:52 and I'm curious, why do you think that's so important for him with teams? And also, what are the stakes? Like, how important is that in terms of him going number one? Yeah, I think the Levis thing for me is less about Exxoninals on the Whiteboard. That's certainly there. And the other thing that's important to that is, like, Levis spoke NFL for the last two years in terms of his college game, right? He was coached by Liam Cohn in 2021, who was from Sean McVease coaching staff. And then Rich Gangarello in 2022, he's also from the Shanahan Tree.
Starting point is 00:19:18 So he speaks NFL. So putting that on the board will be nice. But in general, it's not so much the, the whiteboard work as it is his demeanor and his behavior. Levis, like when you ask anybody about Levis right now, the first thing that you hear is like, oh my gosh, like the way he gutted it out this season. Like he had foot injuries literally the whole year.
Starting point is 00:19:38 Every NFL or left his team. Wandaill Robinson gone. Luke Fortner gone. Liam Cohen left to the NFL. And like Kentucky was so much worse this year than they were last year. But there was Levis, gutting it out, leading the team. And like, they're down by 20 against Georgia. And he's going out there.
Starting point is 00:19:51 And he's making tough throws. trying to compete. Like, there's a, a huge and, and vibrant mythology right now
Starting point is 00:19:57 around Will Levis in terms of what he is as leader. Vibrant mythology. Yes. What is he? Like a Norse God? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:20:04 This is what it is. It's what it always is. Is it like, he's a truly unique leader. Like, this guy's one of one. He's got to act that way at interviews. Like if Levis is going to go
Starting point is 00:20:14 earlier than Stroud and Young and Richardson, his superpower, the thing that pushes him over the edge will be when he sits down with the general manager and sits down with the head coach and shakes those
Starting point is 00:20:22 guy's hands and they go, wow, this is the guy, this is the dude, he's going to bring my, my team to the promised land. Like, that's the sort of thing that he has to hit on. That's, that's where his edges, his superpower is. And so that makes this a really big week. Tons of interviews, you're super tired. Can you be that, that really dynamic personality, that really gregarious guy? Like that, that's, that's where Levis's bread is buttered. Tall, vascular white guy, superpower. Fasculary. After the combined, Ben and D.K., would you say Will Levis is more likely to help or hurt his reputation, his draft stock? I think he's more, I think he's more likely to help.
Starting point is 00:20:52 There is like, you know, there's only so much to gain and there's a lot to lose. Where if like, I think if you don't kind of fulfill that expectation, then it's, you're kind of in dangerous territory. But I'd be surprised if he, if he fails in that way, right? I don't anticipate that happening just because he is that guy. Like, Levis is a really, really likable dude from like the secondhand experiences that I've, and people have met him, like what people have told me. Like, he actually seems earnestly legitimately that way.
Starting point is 00:21:18 And so we'll see. Just a good cut of meat. Just a good guy of the hangers. think this is like a hangar steak where you're like a hangar steak and then you got into it. Wow. This is actually really good. Yeah. You're like, why is this in stores?
Starting point is 00:21:29 Yeah. I also think he might test better than people were expecting. You know? Nah could definitely boost him. If he runs like a four or something like that, like people are going to be like, oh shit. Can we also touch on the drills real quick? Because I just feel like we always need to mention this. Like the combined, the drills are just two-factor authentication on your phone or verification
Starting point is 00:21:51 or whatever. Like, they already know who's fast and not. Like, when they ask you to be like, oh, is this really you when you typed in your password, right? Like, they know it's you. Like 98%. They're just looking for the two or three percent of the time that you're like a fraud and totally making up.
Starting point is 00:22:06 Like, you're getting logged in. Overwhelmingly, like, the tests that they're putting on television, they're like, okay, D.K. Metcalfe, super fast. Look up. Oh, okay. DK. Metcalfe. So, like, the whole, honestly, it's, the tails wagging the dog all weekend where they're like, oh my God.
Starting point is 00:22:20 Like, these fast guys, we're fast guys. we're fast, but... So I will say, like, you brought up Medcalf as a name. I'll never forget when Medcalf ran the 40, okay? Like, we knew... Yes. We knew he was fast.
Starting point is 00:22:32 Like, absolutely we knew he was fast. He weighed in at 233. I think it was 228, and then ran a 433. That's insane. Like, we're all like, yeah, like, DG McGah, he's like big and he's fast. And then he was just bigger than everybody
Starting point is 00:22:45 and fast than everybody at the same time. That, like, it is the tail wagging the dog. It is double counting. It is two-factor authentication to a degree. At some point, though, it kind of breaks critical mass, and it reaches, like, sensation sort of arena. And that really does help. It helps, like, you know, like your third-round guys
Starting point is 00:23:04 and your late-round guys who are track stars who, oh, like, shoot, this guy can be a great special team or, like, oh, you know, whatever. It helps your developmental guys, your FCS guys. Like, oh, he's got, like, Christian Watson comes in and so 4-3-4. Okay, this guy's a legit NFL athlete. Like, we've got it. Boom.
Starting point is 00:23:18 It is verified. We know. But it does help your top. guys, right? Like, everybody knows Anthony Richardson is huge and strong and fast. But if he comes in and like, there are rumors right now that he's going to weigh in over 240 and then run on the four-fours. If he does that, lights out. Good night. Go home. Like, it's his, this is sensation territory. So there is still like things to be discovered. Like, even the guys we think are big and strong and fast are even bigger and stronger and we realize and you have to go back and reassess.
Starting point is 00:23:40 It feels like it makes you just like popular. Simply put, like if you do a D.K. Metcalf thing, like household names start to know your name at the combine and that matters. That's, it builds the buzz. It builds the buzz. And that matters to teams because teams are like monitoring buzz. They're monitoring mock drafts. They're looking at things to try and figure out where other teams have these guys ranked, where they're going to go. And sometimes it turns into like this snowball effect where teams will reach on a guy
Starting point is 00:24:03 by like a round because they don't want to let him fall any further. They don't know if he'll get to that next pick or whatever that they have the next round. And then just like even though we kind of say it and we know it like implicitly that this is stupid, we're double counting. Like everyone is human. I mean, Hyphitz, you told this story before, but like last year. year we were sitting at the combine and we were within eye shot at the combine
Starting point is 00:24:24 we were sitting next to or like at the table next to Mike Tomlin and we were watching at this bar the receivers run the 40s Chris Olaave ran a 40 and it was like 4-2 something it was like ridiculous right and later we found out that it was like not the right times but they were doing the timing wrong because the guy
Starting point is 00:24:40 was the first day on the job but regardless like Hyfitz was watching Tomlin's reaction and Tomlin saw Olave run and he was like holy fuck you know like it's like we're humans and we react to this And when it's like Euro, like a 99.9th percentile, like, at anything, like, that is going to have an effect on us as humans, even if it probably shouldn't. So on that note, we got an email from Eric. That was what player is.
Starting point is 00:25:03 Eric. Eric. What player is going to get way overdrafted after they test through the roof? Solac, who is that this year? This might be my favorite question of every season. Who's got the biggest stakes? Lucas Van Ness, man. I forgive me, Lucas.
Starting point is 00:25:17 I apologize. guys, there's always, I don't like it when this is the case, but I just do not understand the hype on Lucas Van Ness whatsoever. He was a, he is a retro sophomore, six foot five, two 75 pass rushing defensive end from the University of Iowa. And you read any scouting report on this guy and they're like, man, power, crazy. Exploseness off the line. Unbelievable. What a guy. What a pass rusher.
Starting point is 00:25:44 And then you learn that he had like six and a half sacks this year. You're like, what? Like, the Iowa defense spent the entire game on the field. The offense never went out because they couldn't keep the ball. How does you only have six and a half sacks? You watch the film, but he doesn't know what he's doing. He just doesn't, and that's okay. Like, it's all right to not know what you're doing yet.
Starting point is 00:26:03 He says, right-shirt sophomore doesn't have a ton of reps, right? Weird developmental year. He entered school in 2020, COVID year. Like, everything's a mess. Like, it's totally okay to just not have a pass-fresh plan, not have play recognition, not have instincts yet. Like, he's still developing guy. But people are quoting him like, like DJ had him like top 10 as most recent
Starting point is 00:26:21 last recent autograph. Daniel Jeremiah for people who don't just randomly. I started doing it. I started saying Daniel Jeremiah before you did. I knew I shouldn't have said DJ. Hi, Daniel Jeremiah. Starting to work.
Starting point is 00:26:30 Yes. We have a DK on the show. I just want to clarify. So DJ, Daniel Jeremiah, I'm top 10. And you've seen a lot of hype for him to go round one. And a lot of it is because people expect him to absolutely blow up indie. And being able to present as a super athletic, 260 plus,
Starting point is 00:26:46 270 plus pound defensive end is really nice in a class that right now is defined by Will Anderson who's going to probably be around 250 so this is a smaller defensive end. And then the other big defense event is Tyree Wilson out of Texas Tech, who also a bigger guy but not really known for me like a crazy athlete. Vanessa is a chance to be like the most impressive guy
Starting point is 00:27:03 in terms of like explosive to score and like weight adjusted 40 and composite. Like the when you weight adjust these metrics, there's a chance that he tests like crazy. That sort of profile. Like oh, super athletic edge. Draft at top 10, draft the top 15. Like, that's a nice thought.
Starting point is 00:27:17 But you watch the film, and this guy's a year away from being a year away. And so to me, like, when I think of overdrafted players in this weak edge class, like, right now with what I know, I wouldn't touch Van Ness with a 39-foot pole.
Starting point is 00:27:29 And that's where I'm at. On Van Ness, like I feel like people, and this is something that also, I think, everyone's human. Everyone falls for this at some point. Everyone's expecting him.
Starting point is 00:27:38 They look at him. He's like 6-5-275, very athletic, very strapping young man. And they're like, this is going to be the next Watt, brother. This is going to be the next both, brother because they look alike, right?
Starting point is 00:27:49 My defense of Van Ness is I think he's a classic, like, late first round type prospect because of the traits and because of the size and the combination of the two. And also, if you looked at where he was just, the way that he was utilized, he was never even started Iowa, and the way that he was utilized, he didn't have a ton of just like pure one-on-one pass rush sets. And on those sets, according to PFF, he was actually fourth among all. all edge players in pressures in just pure past stress set. So I think that people are going to be drafting him for the potential,
Starting point is 00:28:23 not for the, obviously, not for like the prior production, but also just because of stereotypes and the way he looks and the athleticism. It's like a tri-tip steak sandwich. Every time I read that on the menu, I'm like, this sounds great. And then you bite into it and you rip the entire piece of meat out with the first bite. And you're like, oh, this thing is as tough as hell. What an analogy. I had it as a filet because it's like, oh, wow, the quality here is incredible.
Starting point is 00:28:44 And then after I eat it, I'm like, why I want him? more than what I just had. That's not enough, man. It's not enough, me. Four ounces. Come on. That needs some, I need some more substance to this.
Starting point is 00:28:55 I thought Bryce Young was a flay mignon because it was like, this is great, but it weighs four ounces. Yeah. I also, I'd fillet down for my Bryce Young steak as well. The filet thing I'm really trying to lean into. But like, D.K., everything you
Starting point is 00:29:08 just said right there, like, all right. He's got a good bill. He's got a good luck. Oh, he's a big end. Didn't get a lot of true pass for our sets, but you can trust the athletic. is exactly what everybody said about your Seahawks drafting L.J. Collier at the end of the first round, which is exactly where you just told me to draft Lucas Van Ness. I can't do it with these guys.
Starting point is 00:29:27 Zach Allen out of Boston College every time. He's like, all he's big and explosive and he'll figure it out. And like every so often he does, but like unless Lucas Van Ness walks out and runs like Montez sweat numbers, I don't, I don't, I, give me, give me something I can set my watch to. I can't send my watch to this. I don't have time to figure this out. I think that's fair. I want to say for L.J. Collier, he was like, he was like 25 when the Seahawks drafted him. Yeah, that was, that's the thing I was cheating there. L.S. He's like 21. There's a
Starting point is 00:29:53 different. So like you mentioned Tyre Wilson at Texas Tech. There's also like Keon White at Georgia Tech. And there's similar. Your guy, Daniel Jeremiah had, I believe Tyree Wilson actually being drafted over Will Anderson is the first defensive end in his mock draft this week. And
Starting point is 00:30:09 on one hand, Tyree Wilson is huge. Like, physically, like one of the biggest people that will play defensive end. He's also an extreme. I mean, he played inside linebacker at one point. He's just a fast and huge, long arms, teradactyl. But he's also older. He's like, he didn't really have a good season at football
Starting point is 00:30:24 until he was like 22 years old. And Lucas Van Ness is only 21. So I guess my larger question is, we always talk about this in terms of quarterbacks, but how good are you supposed to be at football versus how are you supposed to just have a big frame and be a good athlete and fill it out? Because Michael Parsons, straight up was a better pass rusher
Starting point is 00:30:42 with more sacks. And I think more pass rushing snaps. And his first season is a rookie with the Cowboys that he ever did at Penn State where he's like playing different position. The Ravens drafted Jason Owey, who's now goes by Adafay O'A. He didn't even have a sack in college.
Starting point is 00:30:54 They took him in the first round. But my bigger, like, are you supposed to come out technically, like ideally, you're going to be a giant Calvin Johnson-esque athlete and also have all the technical skills. But do you two philosophically, would you rather have someone technically refined who's like a seven out of ten athletically
Starting point is 00:31:08 or a nine at a ten athlete and you've got to teach them to play football? Like, what are you looking for? That is the question. I think that's the hardest part of the draft. I'll answer that question with like seven more questions of my own. What position does he play? What timeline is my team at?
Starting point is 00:31:23 How does he learn? What's his character? Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, a lot of it is... But we're going defensive end and we're going like, I don't know, who's Arizona Cardinals or Seattle, Seattle Seahawks, the fifth pick. For the Seahawks, where like, I think they have a good rotation of rushers and I think Chenna Nahuosu was like a lovely utility player who like had a great season
Starting point is 00:31:42 rushing the past. he's more of a number two. I'd swing high, right? I'd swing big, swing for the fences. I'd want the athletic player. I think that's where you want to go. Why are you making a decision based on you, Chenna Nuwosu, who's like, what,
Starting point is 00:31:52 a fifth year guy you signed from a different team who's 26, 27 years? Like, who cares about him? Shouldn't you just be picking a player absent of like who's on the other side of the roster? Because that's where my team's at right now. You know what I'm saying? Like should the, like I'm trying to think of a good, a good parallel here.
Starting point is 00:32:09 Here's a good one. Like should the Jaguars? Jacksonville Jaguars. Should they draft a slot receiver this year? No, they have Calvin Ridley and Christian Kirk and Zay Jones, who's like technically a slot receiver, but they play them on the outside, and they don't have anybody else to put out there, right?
Starting point is 00:32:20 You have to draft relative to your team. You do have to know what the lay of the land is in your own building. And so for like Seattle, where I think that if Seattle lands on like a solid six sack per year guy, then they have that guy in Chenna Nuwusu and like Nuwos had a great season, but I don't think they have a dude who's like terrifying in a one-on-one situation. I'd rather swing high. I'd rather swing for the fences and see if I get hit on that clear number one, have Nuwos to be a great number two.
Starting point is 00:32:43 and build it that way. Nualisu is also like a bit of a stand-up linebacker and can drop a little bit. So now I probably want to go a little bit heavier and I want to get more of like a Lucas Venn-Ness sort of a body type, more of a Tyree Wilson sort of a body type. Whereas if I have Willemann, and Utti-N Wilson on the field at the same time, I'm pretty light on the edges. I'm pretty worried about runs now going to the boundary. So like all of this is sort of stuff you've got to factor in.
Starting point is 00:33:05 It's hard in a vacuum to just say like you're going to prefer the high-end athlete or the kind of the middle-tier athlete with high-end technique. A lot of it is dependent on situations. it's dependent on development, depending on position. Like, it's hard to take that out of context, at least for me. It's just plain hard.
Starting point is 00:33:20 Yeah, it's just plain hard. Like, there is no answer to that question. Like, there's no right answer ever. And it's like, the other part that makes it even more impossible is like every person, every human being is different in terms of their development. Development's not always linear.
Starting point is 00:33:34 They're fit. High fits, you've always talked about it. The nature versus nurture, where are they landing? Is it a system where they're just being asked to be the superstar right away from day one? and sometimes Are they going to have the same position coach
Starting point is 00:33:45 for probably the tenure? Are you a stable enough team like the Seahawks where you think you'll have the same coaches or not? So it's like very difficult to answer that question. Like so like said, in a vacuum you just can't do it really.
Starting point is 00:33:55 And so every team is different. Every situation is different. But where do you lean? I'm curious where you two lean just philosophically? I generally lean towards the top athletes because, you know, it's what's the name of Dulay Hills character in holes? Sam?
Starting point is 00:34:09 Oh yeah, yeah. I can fix that. It's I can fix that syndrome. You know what I'm saying? D.K's never seen holes. I don't even know what that is. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God.
Starting point is 00:34:17 I love holes. Dude, far from me to cast aspersions at someone for not seeing a movie. But holes? Too damn bad! What year was it? I'm tired of digging holes. It was like 2003 or something. I'm tired of digging grandpa.
Starting point is 00:34:32 That's too damn bad. Is this a kid's movie? Dude, onions and peaches will make you cry. Spooch, man? Dude, oh my God. Stanley Yonats? Teaching Zero how to read? Gosh.
Starting point is 00:34:42 embarrassing for you. Is this a movie that a college student would watch? This is definitely like a big, this was like a generational kids book that became a great movie with Shia LeBuff. But like if you were in college
Starting point is 00:34:54 when it came out. So no. It's a good book. Also Rick Fox is just randomly in this movie. I cry. I don't know who that is. Calvin should watch it though.
Starting point is 00:35:03 It's a great film. All right. I can fix that syndrome. Yeah. Like I like elite athletes that like the ceiling because I don't have skin in the game. General managers have skin in the game.
Starting point is 00:35:12 they're fired if they're bad. That's why you start moving off the elite athletes sometimes. It's because you'd rather just make the safer pick. And you can blame the coaches for not developing the great guy you drafted. I was so like, though, you shoot for ceiling over floor. Let's get to, so again, combines this week. Players are going to start doing 40-yard dash as soon. I kind of think 40-yard dash pretty dumb.
Starting point is 00:35:36 No one knows why it's 40 yards. Vince LaBardi did it, and then people just started doing it. The only reason they kept doing it is because they just started doing it. And then they needed something to compare old players to. That's my favorite reason why things exist is just because they've always been that way. Yeah, like, well, what would we compare it to? My thing, here's the thing, they don't wear pads. They don't have helmets.
Starting point is 00:35:58 Thing bothers me. Not holding the football. Honestly, the dumbest part, they start from the track position. So guys who've been playing football their whole life, but I've been the track is so dumb. to start in the track position, which I think is the wildest part. And they're like, here's the thing. Can you just have them run 100 yards?
Starting point is 00:36:14 And here's the thing. I know what you're going to say, well, they need to compare to the 40-0-Dash. Why don't they just start having them run 100 yards and pads and a football and then start collecting the data so 20 years from now we can stop doing it. But anyway. Just have them do both. Like, they can do the 40 and then do a different event and then 30 years from a transition. They're going to like the field.
Starting point is 00:36:30 Yeah, but then they're going to opt out of that test because that's what we do. We opt out of testing when we don't want to do it. Well, if you put a helmet on and then you can call them soft for not. But if they opt out of the thing, they're like, oh, well, we're just in shorts, you know. Remember when Johnny football? Didn't Johnny football do as like pro day and pads and a helmet? Yes, with rock music blaring. And then, you know, it was good because of that.
Starting point is 00:36:52 Gritty. I met a guy who trains draft prospects a couple of months ago. And it's like randomly, like, not through work. I was like, what do you do? And he was like, I trained draft prospects. And I was like, hey, man. Tell me stuff. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:37:04 I was like, what percentage of the time that you guys spent on the 40 is spent on like the technique of like starting as opposed to like getting the guys fast? And he's like, oh, a vast majority. He was like, we easily spend, he spent, we spent twice as much time teaching them how to get into the stance and how to move their hands as late as possible. So to get the timing to start as late as possible. We set a majority time on that. And then like, when we're not working on that, then we're like, hey, do you want to be
Starting point is 00:37:28 faster? You want to be a faster runner? Do you want to actually be fast? Like, that's completely secondary. So dumb. If you notice, like, when you watch the actual technique of these guys, they run with their head down for the first, like, 10 or 15, 20 yards. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:37:41 It's just such a, it's like such a, it's like such a full. foreign thing for football. No player is coming out of the fucking blocks or coming out of their stance in football with their head facing the ground. So having said that 40-0-Dash is also awesome. So, Tika, give me give me like the Superbad
Starting point is 00:37:57 Fastest Kid Alive Award. Who are the two guys who got to work in 40-Dash? He's a freak. We talked about him on the last show, Devon A-Chain, running back out of Texas A&M. He is he on an SEC field full of amazing athletes like makes everyone look slow. He is incredibly fast. He is, and I
Starting point is 00:38:13 don't even say this lightly. Like, he's almost reminiscent of, like, Tyree Kill Fast. I'm not saying he's as fast as Tyree Kill. But he's, like, in the stratosphere of Tyree Kill fast. And that is saying a lot, I think. He's in the stratosphere of Tyree Kill acceleration, too. Like, it's like the zero to 60 that blows your mind. Yeah, and I think that's one of the distinctions that you have to make with a lot of these
Starting point is 00:38:31 players. Like, there have been track players that play in the NFL. A lot of times these guys are, like, doing USA Track Plus playing in the NFL that's happened before, but they're usually, like, specialists or whatever. Because they're mainly just fast in a straight line. like Devon A chain is really jitterbug quick in the short area. He can accelerate in the blink of an eye. And that's how he like just annihilates pursuit angles, makes guys miss, you know, slalom's through the offensive line and he can run inside.
Starting point is 00:38:56 I love Devon A chain. And the main problem here is he's like 190 pounds maybe. And so there's not a lot of guys his size in the NFL at the running back position. So he would be another sort of outlier. But he is going to be fun as hell to watch at the combat because he's just insanely fast. I don't even know if he's going to run. Like he has so much track, like stuff on tape. Like teams can see how fast he ran in track and he's like an Olympic level athlete almost in track.
Starting point is 00:39:20 Maybe he wouldn't even run the 40. I don't know. If you're an Olympic athlete, if you're an Olympic athlete. You got to run it. If you have a chance to break the record, you got to run it. That's just, that's law. You think he has a chance to break the record? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:39:31 Yes. Yeah, I think you run a 4-21. Well, I mean, especially if the guy, the guy doing the 40 times had a whole year of training. So maybe it's a little more reliable. Okay. So lack. Who is in the running? Is anyone as fast at Devonite chain or is there any other player that you either think could be the second fastest player at the comment or just someone you're watching the most for the 40-yard dash time? People will say Jalen Hyatt. Hyatt ran a 4-3-1, I want to say it at the opening.
Starting point is 00:40:02 And so he's got legit speed. This is the guy at 200 yards and five touchdowns against Bama and has the legs that are like Kevin Durant. wide receiver out of Tennessee exactly. It built like a spider. He's got a chance. Daddy long legs. Yeah, he's got a chance to run an extremely impressive time for wide receivers.
Starting point is 00:40:23 I think low four threes make sense. I brought up Lucas Van Ness from my guy who's testing is going to belie his NFL draft stock. Hyatt, like people are talking about Hyatt as wide receiver one. People are talking about Hyatt as a round one player. I cannot get there on his film. like this is a fake offense.
Starting point is 00:40:40 He ran three routes. This is Corey Coleman's stuff, man. Like he ran three routes and he separated on all of them by just being like fast. And that's great. Doesn't DK Metcalf still run three routes? Yeah. That's the hard part. Is like, is he Cory Coleman or is he like a D.K.
Starting point is 00:40:54 McCaff guy that has legit like take the top off? That's the hard part to answer. In the right situation, couldn't they make that work and he can be very successful? Okay. Nature versus nurture lodge. One to the Metcalf thing. Metcalf is 200 to 28 pounds. Metcalf is big, right?
Starting point is 00:41:07 Right. Like if I'm not. don't like a spider. Yeah. If I'm very different, yeah. A fat spider, D.
Starting point is 00:41:13 came back out. They're like a tarantula. Like the Lord of the Rings spider. Yes. Aragog build. If I'm a defense name, love it. No,
Starting point is 00:41:21 no, no, no. That Lord of Rings spider, I remember. Aragog is Harry Potter. Jaylon. Okay. Sheila.
Starting point is 00:41:28 I knew the name. She loved. She loved. If I'm a defensive coordinator, and I'm watching Jalen Hyatt play and I'm preparing for him, I go, okay,
Starting point is 00:41:37 we're just going to push this guy as hard as we can, to the line of scrimmage, and then we're just going to forget about him because he can't do anything else now. And, like, of course, yes, that's easier said than done. But if you're going to be a legitimate, like, deep threat, field stretching threat at the NFL level, you have to be more than fast. You have to be able to get off a line of scrimmage. You have to track the football and you have to win in contested catch situations.
Starting point is 00:41:57 And I just don't have proof of concept of that with Hyatt. Like, he could be, like, really good in contested cash. But he very rarely had to play contested cash because all they're doing at Tennessee is placing him four yards behind the line of scrimmage so nobody can press him. And then they're telling him, like, he doesn't even, like, run routes. They just go, like, run to where they are in. Just run to space. Just like, go.
Starting point is 00:42:13 And, like, hooker's just going to hang back here for a while and just chuck it up to you. And it's back yard football. It's a sort of offense that is really, really challenging to project the league. And so Hyatt could run very, very fast. And I think that, you know, running low four threes will be to his benefit. I think we'll hear wide receiver one hype for him. I just think that, like, for as much money as Hyatt might make this week, I struggle to get past the film.
Starting point is 00:42:34 And I would hesitate to take him before Clinton Johnson out of TCU, a Jackson with and Jake Bed of Ohio State. I can't get there on him. He's not my wide receiver one, but I do think he is going to go in the first round just because teams are who they are. And to give a little context to what Seleck was saying, basically Tennessee's offenses,
Starting point is 00:42:50 there's five guys on the offensive line, a running back and a quarterback, and then the four receivers generally are like literally almost standing on the sideline. They like have the widest splits imaginable, and a lot of times they stack them on each other. So the defensive players can't get their hands on you. And so number one,
Starting point is 00:43:07 it creates a ton of space for you to run around. And number two, you can't run that offense to the NFL because the hash marks are different in the NFL. Okay. So with all this said, we're going to be doing a lot of combine stuff this week. But I want each you to pick. Combine. The NFL Combine. I don't even know what the combine is.
Starting point is 00:43:22 It's the Combine. I mispronounced stuff a lot, though. So who is going to be your bigger, who are you going to predict as your biggest winner of the combine or a loser if you want? Who's going to either be the Tomahawk, the Wagyu of the Combine or like the Chuck Beef? Who are we talking about when all this is over? Is it Bryce Young, Filet Mignon? Because he's great but small. What are we talking about at the end of this weekend?
Starting point is 00:43:43 We're going to be talking about Richardson as I think the Wagyu. I think that from what I think Richardson might be in for a special week. Just in terms of like really challenging NFL teams, you have to pass on this height, this weight, this speed, and error defined by running quarterbacks. I think that's going to be like the Waggoo is going to be top one of one. I think the guys that are going to struggle and are going to see some stock into question are some of the wide receivers we haven't talked about
Starting point is 00:44:12 besides the Jalen Hyatt, like Zayflowers is going to come in short, small. Jordan Adderick, Zayfathers out of Boston College, Jordan Addison out of U.S.C. is going to come in short and small. Jack Smith and Jigba out of Ohio State might come in kind of short, kind of small, and also kind of slow. And he might not run. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:44:28 Yeah, right, exactly. He's coming off the hamstring injury. And so it's a, it's not a, it's not a, a wide receiver class is going to be defined by top-tier athletes. And I think you're going to see that, which means like a Quentin Johnson out of TCU and a Jalen High out of Tennessee, both of the opportunity to kind of really pump up their stock relatively. But even then, like, I don't think they're crazy athletes.
Starting point is 00:44:44 And so I wouldn't be surprised if the wide receivers take some hits with how they perform. I agree. I think Richardson's going to be the guy. And yeah, I think Ben's point about the receivers is spot on. There's a lot of small. I've just been saying this. There's a lot of shrimps in this class. It's just small little dudes, a little jitterbug, like receivers.
Starting point is 00:45:01 They're like 180 pounds. Maybe on a good day. I want to throw out one like, and this is not, this is not a sleeper, not a sleeper by any means, but Kayshan Booty, booty, uh, from LSU. If he runs, he's, he's a bigger, thicker guy. He has a little bit of weight to him. He's a former track star.
Starting point is 00:45:18 LSU had a terrible 2020 season, but like coming into the year, a lot of people had him as wide receiver one or up there in terms of like the ballpark. And so he could be another guy that wins just based on the testing alone. So he's another guy to keep in mind. LSU is such a weird team. They're either like the best team in college football or they're a total dumpster fire.
Starting point is 00:45:37 Yeah. Yep. Speaking of that, he originally said he was going to go back. Booty did. Booty. Booty. I don't actually. Bouty.
Starting point is 00:45:46 It's just not booty. All right. It's just not booty. I'm pretty sure it's booty, actually. I always have been saying Bouttee, but I think that's maybe like spicing it up a little too much. Kishon Bouty. Anyway, he originally said he was going to go back to school. And then I think the quarterback said he was going to return.
Starting point is 00:46:02 and then he was like, all right, I'm leaving. Fuck this. It's a SpongeBob meme piece. I'm out. Fuck the lemons and bail. I have a video of K-Shan pronouncing his last name. Oh. This is big. Yeah, he says booty.
Starting point is 00:46:16 Booty. Booty. That's like Jalen. It's not Jalen Waddle. It's Jalen Waddle. Oh, yeah. And his family just gave up on correcting people. It's not spelled like Waddell.
Starting point is 00:46:27 No, no, no, no, no, it's not Waddle. I strongly disagree with the Waddle family. It's tough when it is also like a word that we know. Not also is when it is a word we know. We know it's the word. He's also leaning into it with the whole celebration thing. Like, come on, what do we do? Right, exactly.
Starting point is 00:46:44 Yeah, you can't have it both ways. Okay, you can eat it too. Get to a couple emails. We talked on our last episode. We mentioned till I collapsed by Eminem. I don't know why this came up. And then Craig mentioned that it was like. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:46:59 Musical guest. And Craig mentioned. mentioned correctly that that was like the song to have on your like pregame high school sports playlist and we asked people to email in other songs that that you had on your high school sports playlists thank you in advance that like max Andrew brandon a bunch of people in the middle in there was like run this town fireman by little wayne you know forever by drake yonkers Tyler the creator although the one that someone sent in the mac sent this in that was like perfect remember the name by fort minor it's so good 10% luck 20% skill
Starting point is 00:47:31 That with Till I collapse, man, you get a bunch of, there's nothing that pumps up like five white JV basketball players more than the name by Fort Minor. That song, also I think they had one. The NBA playoffs commercials were incredible for that stretch. And I think they had that in one of them. And I think that's probably the first time I heard it. It's unbelievable. NBA playoffs always has like a really big song as their intro outro music, you know? They always have like the song of the year.
Starting point is 00:48:01 as like they're playing playout music. Do you know that was actually Lil Dickie, one of his first jobs, when he was, with an advertising agency, was picking the songs and the clips for those NBA commercials. Oh, really?
Starting point is 00:48:12 He said, there was one for the playoffs and it was like the spur is passing and they forget what song they put over it, but his job was just to like pick the songs. Like they always used to play the, the flow writer song, going down for real.
Starting point is 00:48:22 GDFR, I think, is the actual going down. That's a great song. That's weird horn. Yeah, that was always the intro of NBA playoffs. I, Want a shout out to one, Elijah emailed it and said before lacrosse games. Yes, I'm from Connecticut. We'd run out and start warmups to Screams remix of LaRue's going in for the kill.
Starting point is 00:48:39 And I just re-listen to it and it sucks. I'm going in for the kill. Tye emailed us and said, our D3 college basketball team used many men as the anchor of our warm-up playlist because Rick Ross said it's the song you like to have sex to the most. That's cool. And now I completely rethink that song and also Brian Robinson like entering. last year. Game, he came out to many men. It's weird that Rick Ross wants to have sex to that. Yeah, there's layers there. Getting into the mind of Rick, you know, who knows that you're going to find. Exactly. All right. This is from Luke. Luke. Long back and forth about the pilots and the,
Starting point is 00:49:17 you know, the flyovers and it led to two animals that have been weaponized by the U.S. Navy and a lie. As in animals that perform military operations for the Navy and one that does not. Good God. Okay. I think specific to San Diego. The mink whales. Minky. Minky whales. Bottlenosed dolphins and California sea lions.
Starting point is 00:49:42 Dolphins are really smart. Dolphins, I feel like, are the obvious one here because, yeah, they're just like swimming around to the harbors. Well, we're saying they're really smart as if, like, the army explained to them what they needed them to do. Your mission, if you choose to accept it. They are really smart relative to other animals. I just don't think they clear the bar of like
Starting point is 00:50:02 The dolphins are the officers And the sea lions are the enlisted men It's still probably easier to work with a smarter animal than a dumb one I do think dolphins are true I'm just saying That's an important distinction I don't know crazy
Starting point is 00:50:13 They use pigeons Pigeons are fucking dumb And they freaking use those The Russians were using beluga whales Did you see that? Oh yeah The photos of became amazing Awesome
Starting point is 00:50:22 Top 10 whale Belugas You know how fast when the Furious Started with these guys Like racing cars And Ludicris was like putting nitrous into like Hondas. And then now they're just like hacking into the Department of Defense going to space.
Starting point is 00:50:36 Maybe Airbud started being athlete, but now Airbud should be like a spy, like doing like Mission Impossible at Don Cruz. It feels like sea lions. They're trying to throw me off with sea lions. What the hell is the Navy doing with a sea lion? Those things are not that mobile. Oh, they're trying to throw me off thing. You overthought it.
Starting point is 00:50:51 I know, which is why I'm leaning whale. I'm pretty confident sea lions are real. And then minky whales are fake. What is a minky? Can I Google that? What is a minky whale? It's just a type of whale. Whales are already endangered.
Starting point is 00:51:03 Are they really going to be using whales for Navy practices? Oh, I'm with D.K. I think the sea lions got to be fake. There are a lot of sea lions in San Diego. Sealions are doing the same shit that the dolphins are doing. They're like patrolling the harbors and shit. I think it's the Mickey whales are fake. Oh, that makes sense.
Starting point is 00:51:18 Oh, because like, oh, wow. Interesting. Like, because there's so many sea lions, maybe like they detect something like an underwater drone. They're telling the sea lions. Hey, look out for the Russians. Look out for whoever. Keep an eye out. out for the Russians, dolphins.
Starting point is 00:51:32 Well, it's probably, San Diego's probably Sir. Do they have to call them, sir? I'm going to take, I'm going to say the sea lines of the lie just because I want to zag. I'm not convinced by these sea line arguments. See, that's what I'm thinking, man. A sea line, although I just looked up how fast can a sea lion swim?
Starting point is 00:51:46 25, 30 miles an hour. Dude, those things are fast. They're very little maneuverable. They're maneuverable, shit. Is that like the D.K. Metcalfe? They can turn. They got the three coat on. They got the three coat on lock.
Starting point is 00:51:58 They are fast. Again, I think we're looking at the wrong things I don't think the army was like, wow, sea lions are fast. Let's use them militarily. We got to militarize these things. I just wanted to see how mobile they were because I thought they were just honestly like large. You're thinking of like larcening enemy gunfire.
Starting point is 00:52:17 What would they use whales for? Like migratory. Well, I think it's just. Yeah, I don't know. But they've weaponized them. No, I think that it's probably. migratory, they're weaponizing
Starting point is 00:52:29 lasers, Craig. Friken laser beams on their hair. They deserve a warm meal. Maybe like radar. They just like treat them like big ass submarines. Radar.
Starting point is 00:52:40 Yeah, yeah. There's scouts, all right? They're scopes and stuff out. They're diving and checking out. I think sea lions, I'm taking sea lions or the lie. Do you think that the military
Starting point is 00:52:49 watched Austin Powers and they were like, why aren't we funding this? Yes. Honestly, probably. All right, what is everybody picking? I'm taking sea lions.
Starting point is 00:52:57 I'm picking. The minky whales are fake. I'm taking sea lions. I think dolphins. We're going to look so dumb. Solic and I are wrong. D.K.'s right. Mickey whales are fake.
Starting point is 00:53:06 Yeah. I was like 95% sure that was the case. We should. All military issues, D.K. The father is always right. Dolphins and sea lions are used for mind detection and force protection against unauthorized swimmers. Mind detection.
Starting point is 00:53:22 Like mine's in the ocean. Oh. Whales could do that? Whales, why can whales do that? Mine's in the ocean. Get the whales involved. Let the whales be. They've been through enough.
Starting point is 00:53:33 What are you up to, U.S. Navy? Been through enough. All right. That's what we got. Thank you, D.K., thank you, Craig. Thank you, Solek. Thank you, Kai, for producing this episode. Thank you to all the whales and dolphins for your service.
Starting point is 00:53:47 No, all the dolphins and the sea lions for your service. And whales. Come on. Enjoy your day off, whales. since where you take it easy. You've been around for 20 million years. You can chill. Thank you, Lord.
Starting point is 00:54:02 Lauren. Well, Lord. Thank you, Fort Minor. Nice. Oh, nice. Remember the name. What are they up to? Good question.
Starting point is 00:54:10 And 100% reason to remember the name. Oh, I was trying to remember who they were. Now I remember. They're the 100% reason to remember the name, guys. Yeah. Yo, did you guys know that Fort Minor was started by Mike Shinoda? who's better known as the guitarist for Lincoln Park?
Starting point is 00:54:29 I knew it. I was going to say Lincoln Park. They sound like Lincoln Park. I did not know that was a Lincoln Park guy. Wow. Learn something new every day. Weaponized sea lions and Mike Shinoda was in Lincoln Park. Goodbye, everyone.

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