The Ryen Russillo Podcast - NFL Playoffs and Kyler Murray With Bill Simmons, Drew Henson, and Chris Ryan | Dual Threat with Ryen Russillo (Ep. 20)

Episode Date: January 16, 2019

In a jam-packed episode, Russillo talks with Bill Simmons about Tom Brady's impressive performance against the L.A. Chargers in the NFL divisional-round playoff (3:06) before talking with former MLB and NFL player Drew Henson about being a dual-sport professional athlete as well as his take on Kyler Murray's decision to declare for the NFL draft (21:55). Russillo shares his own opinion about Murray (41:10) before talking with Eagles fan Chris Ryan about Philly's postmortem playoff hopes (52:25). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Atlanta, Georgia, where you at? All right. Excited about this. Book the... Well, I'm not sure I'm even going to do it yet, but we're not 100% sure. We're just going to keep that one in the dark. We have a big, big show planned for you today

on Dual Threat. Ringer. Subscribe. Get it done. Simmons is going to join us about keeping Brady off of his confidence rankings. I think his top five quarterbacks. Kyle, if you're done vaping over there. I'm done. Can I hit your jewel real quick? You sure?

Is that a jewel? It's a jewel. Why does everybody make a joke about the kids being like, I don't want anybody to share my jewel? Is that just how it works? Like you got jewel fiends out there? I think they're not old enough to start smoking weed, so they don't know that you pass joints around. That'd be my guess. Yeah, but I always see this stuff.

I just see this stuff like I'm just not going to share. Oh, it's so hard to get, I think, because they don't want you taking their puffs because it's so hard to get now. It's hard to get a Juul? For underage kids. Oh, is that what it is? Well, the mango, the one I use.

That's the one that's luring all these kids away. So you can't buy those in stores anymore. So you can't get mango anymore? No, you got to go online. So that's why people are really tight about this. Isn't just handing somebody a parliament light. Oh, no, no. It's like a flake of gold.

Okay. All right. Well, now I understand that. I didn't understand. I didn't understand all these jokes about like this year. I'm not going to let anybody use my jewel. Did you see those videos of like those 15 year old kids fighting over the jewel? I did not.

I did not see those videos. All right. So today's, today's topics, we got Simmons for about 20 minutes and then drew Henson, former Michigan quarterback, former Yankees prospect called up with the Yankees, minimal a B's.

But then decided to go back to the NFL and became the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys for one game, then played with the Detroit Lions. So his story is incredible. He's working as a pro baseball scout now. So we're going to ask him about the Kyler Murray stuff. I have a Kyler Murray rant in there. And then Chris Ryan, the Ryan and Ryan preview podcast.

We're going to do that with our guy here from the ringer, a Philly guy. He's always been great to me. So we'll end that sort of a post-mortem there with the Eagles. So a lot of different things that we have. I have a bachelor rant that I did based on sports. I researched it. It took me about

an hour. I know there are mistakes and I'm not going to do it until next week because we don't need it right now. So I wrote it all out. Don't worry about it. I will include it at some point, but it's just not going to be now. Before we get to any of that stuff, I want to remind you that Yahoo Daily Fantasy is starting the year off right with a $500,000 fantasy football

contest, and that has zero management fee, right? That means Yahoo is making nothing on this contest. They just want to give you money. They just want to give it to you. Less players equals better odds for you. So more than one in five people who play will double their money. Not a bad way to kick off the new year. There's a limit of 10 entries per person, so don't miss the contest. Go to yahoo.com

forward slash daily fantasy. Use the promo code yahoo25, yahoo25, when you make your first deposit for a $25 bonus there in free play. Get it done. All right, we got Bill Simmons.

Bill, real short here. Yeah. You actually kind of blew me away last time we did, as we got into the playoffs, where you ranked Brady in your conference. Did you even have him in the top five? I just was judging it by the regular season, not

realizing he was rope-a-doping all of us. I sniffed it out before the Chargers game, though. You did. Wait a realizing he was rope-a-doping all of us. Yeah, that's the thing. I sniffed it out before the Chargers game, though. You did. So you, wait a minute. You rope-a-doped us. I picked the Pats last week. I was one of the only ones.

You did. I did. And you laid the points, too? I bet on a- Was it the Gus Bradley thing? I bet on the Pats and the Saints and a Moneyline parlay, and then I hedged with the Eagles

and I won both bets. It was a great day. God, that is- It made up for my disaster of a Saturday. No, I think he looked like a different guy last week. And I really do think there was some Golden State Warriors stuff going on where he didn't want... I think he was trying to get through the regular season as a 41-year-old guy and just not taking hits and just, we're going to win the AFC East anyway. I'm going to try to minimize the amount of damage I'm going to take. And now once we got here, it was like full Brady again.

Okay. But why didn't you feel that way when we did this two weeks ago? Because I was, I, the recency bias of the regular season, I put too much stock in it. So you just gave yourself some time away from it? Because you had him behind, like I was. I had him behind Deshaun Watson. Right, which I couldn't believe.

I was just like, if he's down by four from what we've seen this year, I don't trust him. I don't think he has the weapons. But it was also about the weapons, too. And also like, all right, third and eight, they're down four. Who's he going to? But I think what I came to realize is everyone's picking the Chargers last week. I was like, is this really going to be how it ends?

The Belichick-Brady infrastructure is going to crumble with Anthony Lynn and Phil Rivers, who's 0-7 against Brady. We're going to end it this way. What we saw was, this is why they have two decades of this. The infrastructure. It reminds me a little bit of when I didn't love them as a team, the back-to-back years, they went to Denver and lost. And one game was close. There was

that deep throw to Gronk, and you thought, like, wait a minute, are they going to pull this off? Yeah. Brady's greatest throw. It was like 4th and 18th. It was unbelievable. Yeah. And then he had a concussion. He really did. He had a concussion. Because I thought I had heard he was hurt. He had a concussion that He really did. He had a concussion. Because I thought, I had heard he was hurt. He had a concussion that year and in the Super Bowl.

That's when Gisele. The Atlanta Super Bowl. He had back-to-back concussions. Wait a minute. Gisele at that point, though. Oh, that's right. Remember? She broke that news.

He had concussions in both those games. So that felt like, are they really going to go in Denver and beat them? We all know the Denver history. We know that Manning didn't look great in his last year. It happened automatically. So I feel like this spot with the Chiefs is very similar in that we both know Brady didn't look as good this year, and then he looks incredible against the Chargers

who just refused to try to do anything different, and he just ate him up. I think we're both on the same page. This isn't the greatest team but then it turns into like that's why it's it's going to be so much fun to be a Patriots fan because it's like whatever dude we're just right again are you picking to go into Kansas City now and win because of what just happened because it feel that's where I'm like wait a minute am I going to do that thing where now I'm all about it and then screw it up because one of the games I picked

him against Denver and I felt so stupid because I go, you know you didn't love him, so why would you pick them to go in Denver and beat that team? But you just did the Patriots thing where you never want to pick against him. I think there's something to the regular season playoff thing. And in the regular season, maybe the type of team they had this year over the course of 16 weeks,

it's just too tough to come up with a new game plan every week. You don't want to give stuff away against certain bad teams. You're trying to sneak it by. But when you get to the playoffs, it's like, all right, we're in the playoffs now. This is it. We're breaking out all the guns. This is the full nuclear suitcase we have. And I thought we saw that in the San Diego thing. If they had done that whole game plan and the way they played against any team in the regular season, I think they would have done well. I just don't think

you could do that that many times, but that's the beauty of the bye week. You have to do that once at home. Now you have this weird Chiefs game.

It's going to be what? Minus 15. Arctic chill? Is that what they're calling it? Arctic chill. Yeah. I thought that was a gum flavor. That might be a Gatorade.

Or a Gatorade? Do you remember Nate from The Office? I think we're... Is minty gum getting too minty? But we see like these old QBs in cold weather. This used to be in my playoff manifesto. It was like the old Brett Favre thing. I was like, don't take an old guy in cold weather.

But Brady is like an alien. So it seems like they've stumbled on something. This power formation with the running. Yeah. It's just like, here's where we are. We can have a physical team and we have a really smart quarterback. And if you overcompensate with how we're trying to run the ball down your throat, he can decide to do this instead.

And he's going to burn you. And that's who we are now. I do feel like they have an identity. Wow. I do. I feel like they have an identity. I don't know what that means for the Chiefs game, but I feel better about them than I did a couple weeks ago. And I do think their secondary

is good. I really do. I think they have a solid secondary. I think it's an above average group. I think Gilmore is probably the best cornerback in the league. Yeah, that feels weird that it just happened. Right. But J.C. Jackson's like competent. He actually said, I was reading a pregame thing

and he goes, I can guard anyone. And you're like, no way. I don't know if that's true, but, you know, go for it. Even the touchdown he gave up, he almost deflected it. Like, he's in the right spots all the time. So I think against the Chiefs who, you know, they're

just going to try to get Hill in space Kelsey's the one I can't figure out how they're going to cover no I don't I mean nobody can cover him anyway but it just seems like a bad matchup for them

I do think that Hunt not being there is now different where it didn't matter against the Colts I mean that Colts game was weird too because

this Colts defense I thought Mahomes would be able to make it up on his own. Like I think if there's one guy in the league that can go, I don't care what the elements are. I don't care what's happening. Like I can extend plays differently than anybody else. And that's where the secondary really is going to be challenged

because he's just that special being able to do that stuff. But, you know, as you notice how Cleveland did it with Brown, and it's something I had talked about, Brown and putting Le'Veon Bell on the same side, it's the same thing with Kamara and Michael Thomas and why the Eagles had all those problems, that that was kind of the thing that they like to do with Kansas City

is to put Hunt out there and you had to kind of figure it out. And even though- Two really fast guys who can go any direction and you have to be worried about this every play. Because that was the thing. I think at the end of the regular season, you're like, okay,

the Pats are running the football better. Is this a by design thing? Is this riding out the rest of the regular season like okay the pats are running the football better is this a by design thing is this riding out the rest of the regular season is this trying to establish some sort of identity is brady like that's the thing i always kind of hate about sports arguments is that if i you know like for two years i'm i'm asking you for money from time to time and i have no i'm bouncing checks and then all of a sudden like i sell a painting for a hundred grand. You weren't wrong in saying like I had no money for two years. I didn't.

Right. And then I can't be like, see, always doubted me. Look at my bank account. Now I have a hundred grand in it. Yeah, but yeah, but dude,

for two years, you didn't have any money in it. This was a Sopranos episode. I think. Was it? I forget. Was it a meadow? If it was a meadow one,

I fast forwarded through it. So that Brady stuff. Tough gift for Meadow. The Brady stuff was real. Like we saw, we've watched him his entire career. We watch every week. Like the throws, some of the throws in the Jets game, I'm like, oh my God, like what is this?

It can't be overstated. The guy in that lead Chargers game was not the guy we watched all season. Absolutely. That's the point. He either was rope-a-doping us. He had an incredible TB12 session for two weeks. Well, he wasn't going to play poorly on purpose

in the regular season. I still don't think you should have had him behind five guys in the trust meter. I regret it. But look, if it helped the Patriots win, I don't regret it at all. You know I have a whole process. You know what my process is.

I'd like to hear it one more time. I like to downgrade guys that I need to come through for me sometimes to make myself feel better about maybe swinging the car over

is that where you're screaming trade Kyrie in the balcony earlier no I really feel that way I think they really need to think about that well I'm worried

he's gonna leave Zach Zach and I just did a podcast like I really think there's a chance Kyrie could leave now and it scares me.

See, that's the really interesting thing. I like the open in the room of the Celtics season right now. How this world works is that we sit there, the same thing with LeBron and you can hear stuff all year long and this, this, this, and you can hear all these different things.

And then when it comes down to it, like, how do you actually feel when it's over? Like, remember when LeBron first left Miami? Well, I've known him left once leading up to that all season long, we're going to stay one more year, then he was

going to bounce. And then he's like, you know what? This team is tapped. I'm out of here. I can't stand Riley. They don't want to let us do any of the stuff we want to do. I was on TV that year, and after Cleveland won the lottery on countdown, and LeBron was terrible in the first half, and at halftime, I was like,

this is just a weird theory, but it almost is like he heard Cleveland won the lottery and it screwed him up in the first half. You can do this, fam. And people got mad at me on Twitter, like, oh, that's fucking crazy. And it's like, in retrospect, not crazy. I think he was thinking about going there anyway, and then Cleveland wins the lottery.

It's like, oh, fuck. Whoa. And you're about to play a basketball game, but that might have messed him up for 10 minutes. That's the whole point of this thing. Would you give up Kyrie for no compensation for one more Pats championship? No compensation?

He just walks as a free agent. You get nothing. I get nothing? You get nothing. I can't answer that. I can't answer that right now. I need to think about it for another 10 minutes. I think that Brady, the game that he played on Sunday, I had kind of given up

on him doing that. As somebody that watched every Pats game and has watched most of the snaps of his career, if not all of them, I just didn't think he could do it anymore. He looked like the Brady from 2015. 35 points in the first half. I don't care if you're home.

It wasn't that cold. It wasn't a conditions type. To put up 35 points on that defense and just humiliate them. It was also like he had... Remember when he took over from Bledsoe? And Bledsoe, who I always liked in 01. No, I understand that. But when he took over from Bledsoe, and Bledsoe, who I always liked in 0-1. No, I mean, I understand that.

But when he took over from Bledsoe, and Bledsoe was this guy, he had a huge arm, and he was kind of like uncoordinated. He was bad at play action. He was one of those guys that as soon as he got the snap, he knew exactly what was a runner pass. There was no trickery. He was terrible at quick screen passes.

There were all these things he was just not good at. And then Brady came in, and it was, ah, the six these things he was just not good at. And then Brady came in and was like, ah, the six-round pick, our season's over. And then the way he kind of did stuff, you're like, oh, Drew couldn't do that. Oh, that little quick screen. And just the mechanics of these play-to-play, the different things he brought to the table,

we just hadn't seen it. And what's cool about 2019 is he's still doing that like that chargers game to me was about all the little shit he was doing in that game there was a play the second time i was just so impressed by how he played there was a play on second and 11 very early on and i wrote it down in my notes you know charting stuff and he was kind of getting caught up like there was pressure coming, but it wasn't exactly... He wasn't 100% sure. And he took a real hard jab step to his left and kind of freaked out the pass rusher and then also messed with the second. And it ended up being a 10-yard

completion, third and one, they converted it. But just that step, and I know this sounds crazy, the crispness of it and just how... I was like, oh, wait, like he's, he's like really locked into this. And I love that you bring up a one because I think for younger people listening to this, you don't understand how limited he was. They didn't let him throw a lot. He didn't throw receivers, right. But he couldn't throw a deep ball, even with a guy with a baseball background. It was kind of weird. And his play action, I remember like, that was the big thing. It was like a guy learning a step back. He was going to be awesome at play action fakes and that was like the first thing and then all the screens right all of these things that he added

to his his game that he didn't have initially and i loved bledsoe more than i should have and i remember as the brady thing was taking off i'm like yeah but the running game finally worked the o-line's protecting better. The defense is more into it. And I kept thinking like all these other things that didn't work when Bledsoe was there were sort of like working with Brady, but Brady felt like this limited guy. And obviously, you know, later on, it didn't matter.

This is a cool story. I hope he doesn't mind me telling it, but I was at the gym. Yes. I was at the gym as the video series I've always wanted from you. I was at the gym dot, dot, dot with Brian Russillo. And so we all know Matt Liner.

Yeah. And he's there. He's an awesome, awesome guy. And he comes up and this is actually really funny. He's like, what do you got today? And I was like, abs, kind of a slow day. He's like, in the games, Russillo. And I was like, oh.

Not abs. That wasn't what you were asking. So you thought he was asking what you were working on yeah i don't understand what goes on at the gym i was locked in he's like what do you what do you got today i was like abs he's like no the games the games i'm like you know what and it's i've gotten two playoff games wrong against the spread and san die Diego's the wrong one. That's one of the two. And I was like, you know what? I go, I've watched this past team all year.

I go, I just don't think that they're anything special. And Leiner's just looking at me. He's like, you're going to pick against Brady at home? I'm like, dude, have you watched him this year? He goes, I don't care. He goes, this game, this spot, them at home. And he's like, and I love Phillip Rivers. And I think they're deep.

He goes, I used to come out. And I don't know you get assassinated when you tell brady stories if you're another guy because i feel like i'm gonna put liner in the crosshairs here no it's a really simple story he goes you he goes tom he goes man he's like that dude he's just different he goes i used to come out work with him and he goes he would just look in the mirror and he would just work on just turning his hips like seriously, like 15 degrees. And he would go on for like 40, 45 minutes. Jerking to the left. Right. Well, easy, easy.

Body wise. Body wise, torso. And he would just turn and turn and turn and look. And it was like, what are you doing? He's like, I'm just getting it right. He's like, I need to get right. It's like a baseball player, right? It's like, I'm just getting it right. He's like, I need to get- It's like a baseball player, right? It's like Ted Williams in his hotel room

looking at himself in the mirror. And he's like, it's just, he goes, it's just different, man. He goes, a lot of guys put in a lot of work. He goes, but Tom's just different. That was the big reason I talked myself into them last week was the 16 straight play home wins and Belichick and Brady

and just the infrastructure of it. And I just, we're at the point now where when they're at home, you almost have to keep picking them until they, have you ever picked against them at home? Not in a playoff game. I did the Ravens one with Ray Rice. That's I think I might've taken the points,

but pick the pats to win. Wasn't that line a little bit high? It was like six or six and a half. It was one of those deals where I, you know, that's when you watch it and you go, hey, this is going to happen. No one was going to pick him in the Jets game where they lost the Bart Scott can't wait thing.

That one still doesn't make any sense. I think of all the games that don't make any sense, though, the blowing the lead to Peyton Manning and the Colts. Because I went back and tried to think of all the times I picked against them. The 2018 at Denver was a bad was I actually thought they were better

than Denver that year 2018 when they lost 20 to 18 oh oh oh when they lost right I thought I think just putting up

18 points was was about 10 points lower than maybe they should have but there was one other play he had in that game and it was an incompletion but it was near the end zone

you're talking Chargers game yeah I'm talking Chargers game he was coming in and he he scrambled out a little bit and somebody was about to hit him and he jumped past it to Hogan and he overthrew him. And Hogan, he actually threw it over his head. It was incomplete.

Yeah. He wouldn't have done it during the season. He just would have gotten rid of the ball. And in this game, he's like, I'll take the hit, but I think I can get this. And he just, he aired it out. And it made me think like, I just don't think he wanted, I don't think he wanted to get hit this season.

And I think it was smart because he knew they were going 11-5. Because last year he was on track for the amount of hits he had taken. I think in like the first half of the season, you're going, wait a minute, this is bad. Like how many times he's getting hit. But so I can't still, I still can't figure out. It sounds like you, it almost feels like you're just going to guilt yourself into,

to picking them at Kansas City because you don't want to pick against them, even if you think it's different. Because this challenge is different. Yeah, I really want to study the Chiefs defense. There's a pass rush thing with them I can't figure out. They don't blitz. I was going through it this morning,

and I'm going to do it on the pod here. But they don't blitz a lot, which is actually the way that you have to. You can't blitz Brady all day long. No, but what you do is you have to just be constantly changing what you're doing. And I don't know if they have that kind of defense. San Diego didn't do that.

No, not at all. But I really thought the Chiefs were going to get blocked by the Colts. That was the thing I was the most wrong of last weekend. I was like, the Colts' offensive line is going to dominate the Chiefs. It was the opposite. No, it was. And the Colts had a really good offensive line. I just don't know what happened in that game because I watched the Colts all season and just held them in higher esteem than that performance.

And it might have just been a shitty game. You know, that might have made the Chiefs look better than they were. Luck was really bad. And he's been great all year and he sucked so anyway I appreciate you doing this

my pleasure before we get to Drew Henson I want to remind you that the folks at Sonos have hooked it up the stuff is great okay I'm telling you that

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the whole deal. Go to Sonos.com to learn more and order your beam today. That's S-O-N-O-S.com. Drew Henson is as interesting as it gets, and it's perfect for this Kyler Murray story coming out. I'm going to talk about Murray in a little bit here but Drew Henson was on Michigan's campus when Brady was there he lost a starting job to Brady even though so many people try to revisit that and say that Brady somehow lost a starting job to Drew Henson go and look at all the numbers people have repeated it for 20 years it doesn't make any sense it isn't accurate but Drew was the man and was the man his junior year there but then decided to go play professional baseball, got paid $17 million to join the Yankees, and then battled, even though he'd been in the minors in 98, 99, and 2000. He was in AAA in 2001, 2, and 3, and then that didn't work out.

Then he decided to go back to the NFL and the Dallas Cowboys. So what we're going to do here with the Dual Threat Podcast is we're going to keep the stream or whatever you want to say the feed going all year long so we're not just going to stop now after the super bowl which is the original plan the new plan is that we're going to do some different fun stuff and sometimes it'll just be around free agency and nothing that crazy or just some draft stuff but there will be a four-part quarterback series kind of titled what went wrong of what happened approach to this we're going to do you know more production for it and drew and i sat down and did all of that so there's a much longer version of this interview with henson and we have some other quarterbacks that went through different struggles and this is something i've been really passionate about for a long time i

just want to get in the heads of these guys and talk to them about what do you think went wrong were you not good enough was Was it some other factor? And I've had all these quarterbacks that have played in the NFL, whether long-term or short-term, sign off and do this. So at some point, we're going to run this four-part thing in four straight weeks during a downtime for football content so we can keep Dual Threat going. So that's that part. That's the announcement.

And we're really excited. And Simmons has been awesome. And all the guys here at The Ring are making this thing work because you guys have done such a great job subscribing and being into what we're doing here so I want to ask Henson I'm going to do this and ask him about the Kyler stuff but again there's a longer version of this interview that will come out and then I'm going to talk myself about Murray's decision and then Chris Ryan Drew so let's start at the beginning and let's make sure I don't make any mistakes. I researched you quite a bit.

Obviously, we've known each other a little while here, but I went back and started researching everything. So you were on campus at Michigan as a freshman, 98, right? And you didn't play really that much. And then your year was in 99, but you were drafted by the Yankees in 98, right? And you didn't play really that much. And then your year was in 99, but you were drafted by the Yankees in 98, correct? Yes, I was drafted out of high school by the Yankees in the third round. And over the summer, we were able to negotiate a contract that allowed me to essentially be an amateur in football and a professional in baseball. So I play the fall season and go to spring ball. And then when school was out, I had to report for the summer and then come back early

August. So I can't imagine. I mean, I had to report for the summer and then come back early August. So, I can't imagine. I mean, I know everybody's probably said this, like, oh, when I was 18, I was... And look, you're just different when you're a top baseball prospect, when you're a top football prospect. How awesome was that? Like, were your friends even jealous of the idea that you just go and try to play professional

baseball after being on campus as a freshman at Ann Arbor? Yeah. I mean, I bought a lot of pizzas, put it that way. Um, but no, it was great. I mean, compared to other summer jobs, uh, you know, I got to go in and play for the Yankees in their system. And, you know, there was some unique situations like during spring break in the middle of spring football practice, I'd go down and have 10 days of spring training and come back. And, uh, there was a constant, you know, scheduling, uh, deal between the school, the team, uh, and then my academic studies. But, uh, yeah, you're 18, 19 years old.

And, uh, I had the best of every world. I've always felt like the Brady thing was maybe overstated. I don't know how you felt about it, but like when I was in Boston and everybody loves to embellish the stories and it was, Oh, Drew Henson was taking Brady's job. That really wasn't the case. I mean, Brady played the majority of the snaps, but maybe there was a little bit of drama in that. How did you see that story from your perspective as this big recruit coming in? Well, I could understand it from the outside because I was local, just, you know, from just down the road in Brighton. And Tom hadn't yet started. You know, everybody knew he was a good prospect. They were just coming off the national title with Brian Greasy as the quarterback.

But really, I mean, because of Michigan's profile, I think that had something to do with it. But, you know, quarterback competition happens at every school, especially schools with, you know, good prospects and, you know, lining up guy after guy. And so my freshman year, I ended up playing eight or nine games as the backup. And then the second year, you know, coming out of training camp, coaches felt like both guys deserved a chance to play. And that's what we did for about seven weeks. And then you get into the stretch run and with a chance to win the Big Ten.

And, you know, they went with Tom to try to go win this thing. And that's what they did. So within the team, you know, Tom was a captain. He was an established leader. I was a second-year player trying to make my own mark. But at the end of the day, it was all about winning games and, and people from the outside, you know, tell mom was a bigger story, uh, as Tom's become what he is and unnecessarily what it had been during that time. Okay. So there, there wasn't really any issue with you there in the first couple of years. Like, did you, did you and Tom

get along or, you know, was it, was it anything where you felt like he was in your way? Because obviously in 99, the team had a really good year. Yeah, we did. We ended up tying for the Big Ten and beat Alabama in the Orange Bowl. So it was a really successful season. Tom was three years older than me. And so when I came in as a freshman, you know, you look up to the guys in your position

group and in your room. And so I really used him as a guide to learn from, whether it's training, whether it's film study, whether it's just the way you go about your work and competitiveness. You know, he made me better, and hopefully I made him better through the course of that. But, you know, you're all on the

same team, and while everybody is competing to try to get on the field, at the end of the day, who's ever out there, you're doing your best to help and support. What's your best Brady story? What's the one you tell your buddy still now that makes you laugh? Oh, geez. There'd be a stickball, you know, a tape ball in the locker room. And, you know, Tom would be swinging left-handed

and then guys would try to get him out. You're hitting the tape ball around, smacking everybody up the head. But Tom was a huge baseball fan. I mean, he was drafted by the Expos. And so a lot of times in the downtime, you know, talking baseball and all that kind of stuff. But the other thing that's a good story is that, you know, you sit in the quarterback's room, and you're killing time. And so you kind of go through all the other college program quarterbacks and these high-profile guys and what we all think of them.

And I just remember Tom would go through and say, well, he sucks. He sucks. I'm better than him. And sure enough, you know, he proved it all right. You could kind of see his internal confidence even at that time. But he didn't take a step back from anybody. So he just would look at film of other guys and he would just he thought they're all terrible yeah and yeah he would never say oh this guy's pretty good this guy's real good um no he would never give in that way that's funny

did he ever have any moments where like privately he and you would be talking he'd be like man this is fun in college but i'd love to to be in Expo. Probably not. Probably not. But he was a good catcher, and he had a real nice swing. If that had been his choice, I have no doubt he'd been successful. Okay, so then let's get to your year now, junior year 2000. You don't start right away at the beginning of the season, John Navarro. Was that a battle thing, or was that an injury?

You're going to have to remind me on that one. It was an injury. It was the Saturday before our first game. And I was planting on a bootleg and I broke my foot. Okay. Seven days before the first start. So I had to screw put in. I missed about four weeks.

So it was the middle of the fourth game that I was cleared to play. That was at Illinois. Okay, so then you... Since the big starts, yes. Right, yeah. You end up putting up great numbers. Everyone's really excited.

And then, just so we keep the timeline going here, you're traded to Cincinnati. Were you traded to Cincinnati from the Yankees organization before you had started that fall? I was. Okay, all right. So now you're with the Reds and now no one's like, so then you get traded back to the Yankees.

So if you can help me understand it, give me the timeline of events from where now you're in the Reds organization. You have this great junior season. Everybody wants you back on campus. You're telling everybody you're coming back to campus and then the Yankees step back up to the plate. Yeah. So before my junior year, I'd spend my two years, you know, put my time in getting ready to start. And I was in AA at 20 years old. And Mr. Steinbrenner of the Yankees approached myself and my agent, basically saying, would you be open to, you know, signing a full

time contract right now, being a Yankee for life, blah, blah, blah, and not going back for my junior year, my starting year. And at that time, I said, no, you know, I put my time in. I'm ready to lead this team, see what I can do, and have this experience, which I said from the beginning from high school that I'm going to Michigan to play quarterback. I love baseball, and I think I want to do that long-term, but I'm going to do this. So with that being said, they decided to trade me to Cincinnati for Denny Nagel and a couple other guys. And I spent a couple weeks with the Reds organization before I went back

to Ann Arbor in August to get ready for the season. Come the end of the season, I had a decision to make. Do you want to enter the draft? Do you want to come back to your senior year? And then there were rumblings that the Yankees would be open to trading back for me and possibly give me a major league deal. The timeline then, you know, I decided I wasn't going to enter the draft. I needed another season at the same time waiting to see if this baseball thing was going to develop.

So when that happened in March, they traded back for me, and they were able to figure out a contract, and that's when I left school in mid-March So when it came down and not like I'm trying to be in your pocket but when it's pro athletes and we all know the numbers right so the Yankees signed you for a 17 million dollar deal and

I imagine how quickly did the decision come together once we were talking that kind of money, finishing your junior year in college. Right. And there were some factors, you know,

I really hadn't had a day off since I graduated high school doing two sports really, truly year round. You know, I kind of felt like I needed to start making a decision or being close to a decision. I had gotten my blessed rating from the NFL and was able to use that as leverage towards the contract because the Yankees had paid me two as an 18-year-old.

And then that 17 over six years was basically comparable to what my first round pick was getting in bonus money. So I was able to leverage that, but I had already been in the system. So the draft rules that Kyler's kind of going through right now weren't applied because I was already

a pro baseball player. Right, because you're already in it. So it sounds like, Drew, that even with the success of that junior year, you loved baseball more.

Is that fair to say? Yeah, and even to this day, you know, I couldn't say that I loved one more than the other. It's kind of just like flipping a switch for me. I love hitting the baseball more than anything, but at the same time there's nothing quite like having the ball in your hands on the football field or the build-up to game day

and just that emotion of putting the pads on, and that's something you can't get on the baseball field. But all things combined, my early success in the minor league and the opportunity to play for the New York Yankees. You know, then at that time, I felt like it was exactly what I wanted to do. And it was. And, you know, I knew at some point I was going to have to make a difficult decision. So did you actually think, though, prior to that, like, because I know you've got to

play it right. You don't want to tell a fan base. And you're still a college kid, you know and and everybody wants to come back did you think you were going to come back and play in that senior season or did you kind of know it was heading down that road that wait a minute I'm going to be able to go back to the Yankees because they just traded back for you right it basically when they traded back for me things were in place to uh to sign that deal but I knew you know having a true eight starts of playing uh all three seasons I needed I need a little more seasoning to be ready for the NFL.

And I wasn't sure if the baseball trade or that situation was going to follow through, but I was prepared to play my senior year. And looking back, I wish I would just have a little more patience and just play that senior year. Twelve months later, I would have had the same options and probably been a little more decisive with the football baseball thing, having had a little more experience. And I don't think I would have had the same options and probably been a little more decisive with the football-baseball thing, having had a little more experience. And I don't think I would have had second thoughts as I eventually ended up doing. So is there any specific thing, kind of,

and I'm not trying to get back into it, but I think the purpose of kind of this four-part thing that we're doing with quarterbacks is just, you know, what happened. And it sounds like you wish you had, what happened. And it sounds like you wish you had more patients at Michigan. It sounds like you maybe had more patients in baseball. I mean, there's all these expectations on you. I remember reading about you. I mean, we're almost the same age, you know, maybe a year or two older than you. Looking back on it, like if you could just sum it up in a few sentences,

like why do you think it didn't work out ultimately? in a few sentences? Why do you think it didn't work out ultimately? I think that when you get to the highest level and you spread yourself thin with reps and time, that I was playing catch-up the whole time, whether it was trying to get me a bat under my belt, develop my strike zone discipline, or being away for three years

and trying to get back to my old self mechanically. My windows of opportunity, I don't think I gave myself the best chance because I was constantly playing catch-up or behind the curve. And that's what I think, in my own mind, cost me the boat. So what would you say then to Kyler Murray as you watch him try to navigate something that you did the first thing i would say is do you have a true love is there one is there one sport that you absolutely love doing more than the other then that should make a decision easy uh if it's not if it's something like myself where uh depending on the day i could do either um i love baseball i

love uh i love hitting as much as i love playing quarterback uh and then there's other things to where depending on the day, I could do either. I love baseball. I love hitting as much as I love playing quarterback. And then there's other things to consider, like are you prepared to spend a couple years in the minors developing your swing? You know, the defense and the base running and the speed are going to play immediately, but your bats, you know, just need time. You know, there's no making up for a bat on the baseball side. You know, he can step into a football team, and wherever he's drafted, he can be a part of that team

and a big part of it. And are you willing to give that up for long-term benefits on the baseball end, whereas you can step in and immediately make a bunch of money and be a star and have the ball in his hand? Those are things you can consider along with travel. You know, do you want to have more of a home life with your family and have eight road games, or do you want to be on the road for six months?

That is a factor, too. It's a real-life thing. I always kind of get back to your first thing with this, is that if the guy just likes baseball more, then that'll probably, like, whenever I've gotten to know any of you guys, and we all think we can understand your decisions from the outside, and then, you know, some of the guys that I've got to know any of you guys, and we all think we can understand your decisions from the outside, and then some of the guys that I've got to meet and talk and build relationships with, I'm like, okay.

The thing we completely overlook. I'm not saying I know Kyler Murray, but there's some people that have watched and read all this stuff. It's like, look, I just know the guy, and this is what he loves. Now, if it's a leverage play, great. If he wants to be a star in football, I think that that's going to be tougher to pass because you're going to get an option or I'll put it this way.

You'll have an opportunity to be a starter if you're Murray and you're drafted high. You're just going to be given that option and there's a chance in baseball you can prove that you never belong and you aren't given that option and the thing that you thought you had, like you could be two years in the minors and all of a sudden, guess what? Like, Hey, this wasn't cool at all. And I went to the thing, even though they gave me more money up

front with this new deal, it just like this, this isn't, I'm not reaching like Norman Saturday level here in, in Sacramento, no offense to the river cats yeah yeah exactly um you know baseball is a humbling sport in general you know you're going to go through ups and downs and even the best of them too you're going to have you know one for 22 and two for 30 of the times and uh sometimes you feel like you're hitting with a bad upside down but that's all part of it and going into it understanding that would be the first thing that I'd say for any top-level baseball prospect that you'll eventually get there if you're meant to get there, but it takes time.

Like you said, if someone's going to spend a number one pick on them, they're going to tailor the offense to give them every opportunity to be successful. So he's going to be able to step right in and play to his strengths and then see where that goes. So you just think it's all right. What if you could take the emotional part out of it? What if you could say, okay, forget what you like better.

I think this is the better, better business decision. Business wise. I mean, you know, he's going to probably have more money up front on the football side and you're going to have a ton of marketing regardless, but combining the marketing with, with his first contract and having the opportunity to get a second contract, providing he plays up to his potential. You know, when you're getting into those types of millions of dollars

that quarterbacks are making or, you know, an all-star caliber outfielder, you know, the numbers are just other, you know, how many zeros. So, you know, whatever he does, he's going to be successful and probably be set for life. But upfront money is something to consider because that does give you some security, a lot of security. Hey, Drew, I really appreciate this, man.

Thanks so much for your time. Thank you, Ryan. That was really good. Again, a much longer version of that will be out once we do this What Went Wrong with backup quarterbacks. We can apply that What Went Wrong to a bunch of different topics. And that's something we're working on. I'm going to get to Murray in a second here.

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kit. Candidco.com slash duel. Okay. The Kyler Murray thing. First of all, who's mad at Kyler Murray? Is anybody actually mad? And I'll admit every now and then you're slow. It's a slow day, or maybe something just pisses you off enough as a talk show host. And you just decide, you know what? This tweet's so stupid. And hell, I even did it. I was doing this tweet pisses me off. And then I felt like people were actually trying to piss me off every day with those tweets so that I'd make it a segment. And I'm like, you know, this is sort of backfiring. But I don't know how anybody would be mad at Kyler Murray.

If you're an A's fan, fine. We're all selfish. You're mad because you think he might be pretty good. You spent the ninth pick on him. And if Murray ends up deciding to go and play football, that means you're not getting anything back. If you're the A's, you get the money back,

you get the 4.7 million. And how about those geniuses out there being like, well, can you just keep the 4.7 million? No, you actually, no, it doesn't.

Oh, that sucks. We knew you might play football. Here's almost 5 million bucks and you get to keep it. If you bail on us after a year. No, that did not happen. So yes, the A's would get back to $4.7 million.

But the whole reason that they set down this contingent of A's people, baseball people, baseball marketing people to try to figure out, like, what's your story? Like, do you want to play baseball? Do you want to play football? What can we do? Where if you've read and a bunch of people had been all over the place in the beginning part of this Murray story is that, oh, well, there's nothing baseball can do. It would violate their own CBA. Actually, they can violate their own CBA in special circumstances here where they can decide to just pay him, give him a major league contract, put him on the 40-man roster, and see if there's a way they can come up with some sort of financial number beyond the $5 million that

he's already gotten after he's drafted this high to make it worth his while. Because if you look at the Baker money guaranteed is like almost $30 million. I don't think Kyler's going one, but I think he would go in the first round. Todd McShay's latest mock had him going in the first. I just think even if there's 10 people that go, absolutely not, this guy's terrible, which is what Albert Breer wrote today on SI.com. He said every, look, I shouldn't say terrible, but every scout that he had talked to said,

no way, second, maybe a third rounder. Well, I don't know. I feel like these kind of guys with us never quite understanding how this quarterback position has evolved, that he has a better chance than ever before, even if he does measure it at 5'9". So Lamar Jackson's contract is nine,

about seven plus mil guaranteed, 7.5. Looking at my notes here, he's about seven plus mil guaranteed 7.5. Looking at my notes here, he's probably going to get all that 9.5, even if it doesn't work out. That's basically double than what he signed with the A's. The very obvious part of this is the glamour side that we talked about with Drew Henson is that at some point if Murray were drafted, even the first, second, let's say second round, he's probably going to get a chance to start at some point in the NFL very early. And it's a better life. And for all the people that have all of these injury concerns with the way this game is officiated, with the way it's played out. And really, for exception guys, the worst in any argument, because I always point this out. Yes, football is dangerous.

Football is scary. There's long-term stuff. But as far as your career being derailed because of an injury it doesn't really happen it doesn't mean it's never happened it doesn't mean the ryan shazier story isn't horrible and i hate it because i liked him as a player and if you have a tenth of a heart you hate seeing this guy go through the struggles that he had to go to just come back and walk but But the reality, if we're having a big boy conversation with 1500 players, there just aren't that many times a guy ends up having his injury destroyed, especially now with the way quarterbacks are officiated.

But if look, Kyler's five, nine and actually 180 or something, that's a different kind of challenge. So I don't think anybody's actually really mad at him like he's doing anything wrong and good for him for looking at a way of trying to work this to his advantage because we don't know this. We don't know if he truly loves baseball or truly loves football. Maybe he truly loves baseball, but says, look, baseball's desperate. The A's are desperate. They don't want to lose the pick for nothing. So let's see if we can find a way to get some money. And the fact that they're even willing to entertain breaking their own CBA rule to give him more money proves that this is working. So good for him.

But what I can do without is some of the language we use when we talk about contracts in general in sports. Because some of you guys are so, you're seeking for this outcome of this horrible existence that doesn't exist. I don't even know why you do it. I don't even know why you like sports. Why do you talk about this stuff that we care about when you're always shitting on it at every single turn? The idea that baseball is this indentured servant deal for minor leaguers. Shut the fuck up. Seriously. Okay, so poor Kyler Murray is going to make $5 million if he goes and plays baseball. This is before we even figured out the A's could offer more money. But that's not indentured. You know what being an indentured servant is? It's hooking up with some family from Britain on some shithole boat in the late 1700s and then paying for your passage until you've actually covered your boat fare.

That's being a fucking indentured servant. Okay. Not making 5 million playing for the A's and the minors if you don't get called up. And here's the thing. He still would get called up. And yes, the NCAA is not slavery. All right. That part of the rant, separate of the origin of the original rant.

We all understand what I'm talking about. Sorry. I swore a lot on that, but I swear to to god if one more of you writers write this this crap like i'm gonna block you from now that sounds stupid because there's a guy that blocked me that none of us have ever met a bunch of us were like wait a minute this guy it's not ben roethlisberger he blocked everybody already okay so back to the original thing here uh the idea that baseball needs him is also bullshit uh baseball this is this is classic us we have the attention span of mosquitoes now and yes baseball has fallen off as a national topic i've saw it firsthand i was in it at its peak i am now there at the valley of it

as somebody that was doing this every single day and we would try they actually had a committee to save baseball i think internally from content people at esbn there was like a committee that they formed like how do we and these are going to be like do you want me to get ratings or you do not want me to get ratings because nationally i can't talk about this stuff and still keep my audience so i you know i don't i don't know what are you asking me to do have shittier segments that no one cares about? I like baseball, but the best baseball can do is continue to be a dominant regional product, which it is, because if you look in the 30 markets and see how much they crush it for six months in their

primetime viewing, that's probably the best you're going to do. And on top of that, have the best postseason as far as storylines and drama and all that stuff. A little bit like the college basketball model. If I worked in college basketball, I would probably stop worrying about no one watching games in November and December. And I would say, let's just make sure that our property, the tournament, which is one of the greatest sporting events in the world, let's make sure that we just continue to own this thing for the three or four week stretch of that. Even look, I love the conference tournaments. I love all that stuff. But, stuff. But there's no college basketball thing that's happening in December that really anybody gets that fired up about unless you're a super, super into it guy that's just a college basketball guy, right? So that's kind of what baseball has.

And baseball has had incredible postseason stuff. Not so much this year, but the Cubs storyline, the World Series against the Indians, the Bumgarner run, the Royals run, the Blue Jays disaster. There's been so many awesome baseball postseason things that I think that baseball just goes, hey, for six months, we crush it regionally, and then we hope to be on the radar enough three or four weeks, even though it's really tough there with football.

But you know what's not going to happen is that Kyler Murray is not so important because, first of all, we don't even know if he can play. He's drafted solely on tools here. I was going through all the Baseball America ranking stuff and he was outside of the first 200, but he'd been dealing like there's a really complicated Murray thing that I could get into about injuries in high school and all these different things. Then he started showing some stuff again and that's why he went ninth, that he would be a top 100 Baseball America

prospect. He would have to be. I mean, he'd probably get the bump anyways because he went ninth overall in the draft. But here's what I know about how we all work because it's happened so many times because baseball is so desperate here. But if I worked in baseball, I would go, hey, here's what's going to happen with Kyler Murray. Say we get him. Say we give him the extra money.

That's great. Good for the A's. If he really him the extra money. That's great. Good for the ace. If he really wants the extra money, if he really loves baseball, even better. This is terrific. But it's not going to change the course of baseball's history if Kyler Murray decides to play this sport

instead of football. Because everyone will tune in. It'll be really exciting. It'll be a topic on TV shows. Radio shows will do it. And then no one's going to give a shit. Because that's what we do. When's the last Tebow at bat you checked out?

Is it never? It's never. So, you know, you're not staying up to watch A's games now for Kyler Murray. Rant over. I don't even know if anybody wants me to read their ads right now. A little history lesson on the transatlantic for you. Let's talk with Chris Ryan.

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How many things does he do here? Kyle, give me the breakdown. Dude, I mean, it's videos. I mean, he's... What are the names? He's movies. He's TV. He's got The Watch.

He's on rewatchables all the time. He's got Flat Circle coming. Little Miss Lies. What are Big Little Lies? Little Miss Sunshine Lies. Little Miss Sunshine. They should do that for rewatchables. Okay, so check out all his stuff.

Chris Ryan talking talk to little Eagles, Chris, long time coming. Uh, there are a few people in this industry that make me feel as good about myself as you do. And that goes back to those first Grantland days. Bill was almost kind of giving you a hard time in the way that Bill can, he can be a little big brotherish and he was almost like, Oh, you're here. Chris and the other guys are really excited to see you. Yeah. Why was it like that? I don't know. I didn't realize that people liked what I was doing that much.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, man. Tales from the couch. Tales from the couch. Man, that was so much work. I used to actually download the NBA pod. Back when you still had to download the podcast onto an MP3 player for my subway rides home. That's incredible.

Yeah, NBA Today, I didn't realize. If I were smarter, I would have just focused on that more. Yeah. Because I would have had like eight years of it going now. But don't you think you would have been like, you know, another night watching the Hornets, watching these platoon curls? The problem was that I couldn't do it. I was still traveling college game day I'm doing the show of Van Pelt and then three days a week I'm going in early like those Mondays

after I'd be at some SEC town for four days and then Monday morning I'd have to get caught up on everything I missed and then I'll never forget too like Mark Stein we were doing NBA power rankings and he had his power rankings up on dot com, which is really in itself. It's nothing more to click on. Like it's such a stupid thing to do, especially for the NBA. Right. NBA. Oh no. Wizards had a good week, you know, I'm going to move them up three spots. And Mark would always kind of be like, all right, I got 10 minutes. I got seven minutes. He's like, I only have seven minutes for you today. I was like, man, you know, I really need more help on Mondays.

Yeah. So then they weren't paying very much back then. They said they couldn't. It was like Subway was our only sponsor. Yeah. And I said, look, I put too much work into this. Like I'm charting plays. Like you just remember the Batum pin downs.

I would tell you different things that were happening. I can't believe anybody even liked it. And work was like, is there any way maybe you could just put less effort into it? Right. You could just come in with like one hot take and then call David Thorpe and call it a day. Right. Because that's kind of what they were like. They're like, do you really have to watch seven hours of games on a Tuesday?

I go, well, yeah, because Wednesday is Tales from the Couch. And on Tuesday nights, that's what I do. From seven to, plus hours, I finish with the Kings. That's why I was a DeMarcus Cousins expert because I watched every freaking Kings game because they were always oddly only in this window for Tuesday. Anyway, so we took a long time doing all that. So I appreciate that. We started talking about me, not you. We need to talk about you here. Eagles fan, post-mortem. I bet you're not even that bummed out, even though you guys are pretty violent people. Yeah, I mean, like,

I'm definitely still living in the glow of last year. And that was something I actually, I don't really feel like I've ever really gotten to experience that as a Philadelphia sports fan, because even that Phillies World Series a couple of years back, or like, I guess 10 years ago or whatever it was, took place over those two days.

Remember the clinch game was like rained out the first game and then they won the second one. So even that had like kind of a stunted celebration for me. The Eagles thing is like the happiest sports moment of my life. I think because it was Tampa too, I think in a way. Yeah, but this was beating Brady in that fashion decisively like that.

That was a close game. Yeah, I mean I felt like it was decisive. Yeah, you know it was like almost poetic to see it. Like Alshon missed the catch this week. And I almost, it was like, I felt almost like at the end of Friday nights where Tim McGraw walks out and puts the state championship ring on his kid's finger where I was like, it was like, it's okay. It's going to be okay. Yeah. That's just the movie version.

Oh, okay. But yeah, I'm at peace with it. Who do you want? Like, how do you handle this Foles Wentz thing? going to be okay. Yeah, that's just the movie version. Oh, okay. But yeah, I'm at peace with it. Who do you want? How do you handle this Foles-Wentz thing? Yeah, it's Wentz. It's Wentz. It's not... This isn't a... Is this a 90-10 Wentz thing in your city? Oh, I think it's

probably 50-50. Oh, you think it's 50-50? In the city? I don't have any read. Are you from which county? You lower bucks? I'm from Fairmount, which is right in Philadelphia. King of Prussia? No, it's 50-50? In the city? I don't have any read. Like, are you from which county? You lower bucks? I'm from Fairmount, which is right in Philadelphia. King of Prussia? No, it's right in the city next to the art museum. Not lower bucks?

No, not Contra Hawkins. When I worked in Trenton, I used to cold call all of these places. And, you know, it's just, there's these weird sort of geographical things that like, if you're not of it, you know, like when some Southern girl that I started hanging out with was talking about a holler and i'm like what did you date a girl from justified yeah i was like what the fuck is a holler she's like you don't know what a holler i'm like nobody knows what that is but then it's the same deal like you guys just go all straight up county yeah and then maryland people do that too philly is its own like entirely its own ecosystem you know and you guys kind of wish you could

secede from Western PA altogether. Right. I just think that was just like, there's a complete lack of disinterest on both sides. Yeah. Western mass has a little bit of that. Yeah. Yeah. They get pissed about everything inside of four 95, maybe even one 28.

But, um, I like, I'm fascinated by Pennsylvania, even though I, I only had about six months there. Yeah. I've only been to Pittsburgh once in my life. I've just six months there. Yeah. I didn't last long. I've only been to Pittsburgh once in my life. I've just like never even. Yeah. It doesn't even bother.

Okay. So back to your, so back to, you think it's 50-50. Wow. In the fan base. And it's a very emotional fan base. It's a fan base that's really susceptible to mythology and folklore. And nobody has been able to do that. Like Nick Foles in the last like, what, couple of years, who's like been able to do that like Nick Foles in the last like what couple years who's like been able to have this kind of like these back-to-back storybook seasons.

The fact that he got to do it again because it was very Flacco-ish, but Flacco was the guy. He was an undisputed guy and then, you know, he loses his job, which he should have this year. But to come back and play this well again and go on this run, like usually I feel like these guys are who they are

and the longer they play the more they'll expose themselves to being like oh wait a minute that's right like I still can't believe like going into trying to pick last year's game I knew I didn't like the past defense but I'm like there's no way I'm picking foals against Belichick with extra time and then they couldn't do anything they couldn't do anything with them so then you go all right maybe that was fluky and then you you have this run. And look, I mean, the play with Alshon, whatever. I mean, it's not like, not telling you he was great, but I wouldn't look at this as his whole fault. So it's like, it's messing with your head is my whole point.

It's messing with you guys in a second way that you probably never thought would happen. Yeah, and so this year I thought one thing that was clear was that Nick was very much aware of all the circus around him. You know what I mean? Like he had like this glassy eyed look where he's just like, I know that this is Hoosiers again. And this is the sequel.

Not a drinking problem. No, just he's just embracing the moment. I think the bigger problem is that it's not so much wanting Foles over Wentz as much as Foles showing some of the things that Wentz isn't able to do quite yet. Which is immediately when Foles comes in the distribution becomes a little bit more equal. He's going outside a little bit more. He's getting rid of the ball a lot faster.

Those outside throws, that is his thing. And it caught him on the Lattimore pick, but he will throw it as tight a coverage. He will throw a deep ball down the sideline in the tightest coverage and he doesn't give a shit. And I actually think, in a way, you kind of have to be that way in this league. Whereas leading up to his injury, I was starting to kind of get a little bit of Romo-Whitten dependency off of Wentz with Ertz. Yeah. And it was nice to see, oh, yeah, Alshon Jeffries is really good. Aguilar can make some plays.

Like, they did trade for Golden Tate. Yeah, who just, like, disappeared in the game. But I think it's like disappeared in the game, but I think so. It does bring up some questions about Carson, but at the end of the day, like you just can't, you can't go in the Nick Foles direction at $20 million to have this guy do it a third time.

So you're all aboard with Lentz. You're okay. Um, I think, I think we're good here. Okay. I want to know, is there one other thing that I need to know about this?

Yeah. Do you need Chris Long to come back or are you okay with that? I want Chris Long to come back. He's a great Eagle. This is kind of funny because who's the author of the Eagles team?

Is it a Doug team? Is it Carson's team? It really is Howie's team and his ability to get all these interesting personalities, like kind of constant turnover of like this like murderer's row of NFL guys that I'm so obsessed with.

Bennett, Long, getting Golden Tate even for a short-term rental. It's kind of always exciting to be an Eagles fan, like because it's so much interesting changeover like that. I found it to be a likable team. I mean, I'm biased too, but,

uh, you know, I mean, I, I don't, I don't know. There's just not that many guys. Like you kind of got it.

And for, for all the, you know, Hey, being a Boston guy, I was supposed to hate Philly. I don't, I don't really hate it at all.

I actually think we're way more alike than we realize. Philly and Boston? Yeah. Oh yeah. I've lived in both places. Absolutely. all. I actually think we're way more alike than we realize. Philly and Boston? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I've lived in both places. Absolutely. Absolutely. I've always made the joke that Philly's just a meaner Boston, but I don't really mean that. It's not even really an insult. Have you spent a lot of time in Philly? No, it was just that stretch where I was working for the Trenton Thunder,

but I was in bad shape back then, man. Philly's a good place to be in bad shape, though. No, but I didn't have any money. I mean, I literally didn't have any money. So a trip, gas money to Philly from Trenton or Princeton where I was. And when was this? What year? 2002.

Okay. So I was 26. I just got done bartending and I went over there. And I was kind of like joking about it with my Boston friends. Cause then I immediately left there and I went back to Boston. They go, did you hang out in Philly at all? I was like a couple of times. They're like, what'd you think? I go, you know, when, when we get punched or people punch each other here in this city, it's usually like after a joke, Philly, they just punch you. So, you know, it's, it's, uh, it's a little different, but I,

there's a part of me, even though, and everybody thinks I'm this raging Pats fan and I'm just not anymore. But there was part of me, whether it was Chris playing for him or just knowing, like, the cities that matter

and the cities that care, those cities always deserve something. So that's how I always felt. I don't think it's an accident that there's so many people who work at this company at The Ringer

either from, who are Boston fans or Philly fans or either from one of those two places I think that we just weirdly get along even though we hate one other yeah that that

might be true but I always feel always feel great around you and I know that Bill wanted to call this the podcast we're just going to segment this one maybe rebrand at

the Ryan and Ryan pod yeah so thanks a lot man thanks man thanks to Bill Simmons thanks to Drew Henson and remember we got that quarterback thing coming pod. Yeah. So thanks a lot, man. Thanks, man. Thanks to Bill Simmons. Thanks to Drew Henson. And remember, we got that quarterback thing coming on later into the football offseason, and

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