The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Part 2: Todd McShay on Shedeur and Cam's Landing Spots, WR and RB Debates, NFL Combine Takeaways, Plus Life Advice!

Episode Date: March 4, 2025

Russillo is joined by Todd McShay to break down the risers and fallers after the NFL combine, what made Shedeur Sanders’s interviews so newsworthy, and why quarterbacks are so hard to project (0:34). Plus, it’s time for Life Advice with Ceruti and Kyle (48:57) ! Do I respond to my neighbor who texts too much or continue to ignore him? Check us out on YouTube for exclusive clips, livestreams, and more at https://www.youtube.com/@RyenRussilloPodcast. The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Todd McShay Producers: Steve Ceruti, Kyle Crichton, Mike Wargon, and Jonathan Frias Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Part two, Todd McShay fresh off a trip to Indianapolis for the combine, the most impressive player of the week. We're going to get into some of the buzz that he's hearing from teams, deep dives into the receiver running back tight end class. Also, what is going on with Shador Sanders at the top and life advice. Warning. I've got this condition where I don't feel pain. You're a superhero.

This is how intense Nova King sounds. Imagine how it looks. Yeah, big time. Novocaine. Pulling theaters, March 14th. Oh, wow. Imagine how it looks. Is there more? Yeah, big time. No Bikini. Forming theaters March 14. The truth is, no one does it alone. And why would you want to? We all need someone to make us believe.

Hashtag, you got this. He's fresh off the combine. He's a good friend of the show, the host of the McShea show. I hope you subscribe to check out all of his draft coverage. It is Todd McShea. What's up, man? Good to see you. How are we doing, Ryan? I'm good, man.

The content was great. You guys are putting out awesome, awesome stuff. Really impressed. Yeah, so let's just kind of start. You were there. It's kind of a home base for you this time of year. Let's just run through the top headlines and we'll get into some of the minutiae later on. What's the biggest thing? I would say the biggest thing probably was Nick

Imanwari's workout. Safety from South Carolina. I mean, obviously we can get into the quarterbacks. We can get into all the buzz. We can get into wide receivers. The running back classes as good as advertised, but there's only a few times that you can like, legitimately say a human being shouldn't be able to do this. And even Warren was one of, was like one of those times. I think back to like Calvin Johnson, right? DK Metcalf. Just look at them pulling up the numbers right now. He is a massive safety, right? He's six story, 220 pounds. No one has ever done what he's done

before with the vertical jump that he was able to put or the, sorry, the broad jump of 11, six at 220 pounds to run as fast as even worry did at four, three, eight. I just think, you know, he's a player that was always kind of in that late first round discussion. I think the way the NFL is now with, you know, looking for long safeties, chess pieces, guys that can cover. We've seen what Hamilton's done in Baltimore. Just that versatility as an athlete. He, for me, he stole the show. You just don't see guys like that move and jump

and participate in the way he did. Yeah, and I would say, you know, because I think people are always a little like, ooh, somebody lit it up at the combine. Like, when are you guys gonna learn? And I usually argue is like, okay, but for the failures, there's also guys that put on a show there and it totally works out and the boosted draft profile

and all that stuff. But anybody that watched South Carolina this year, I would say the game tape has to back it all up too. Like this is an added, the physical part of this, the testing part of it is just another bonus on top of a dude that was a game wrecking safety. I loved watching South Carolina this year. You and I talked about it all season long, but there are just all these times you'd be like, there's seven again. So I imagine that this isn't out of nowhere because he looked like he made a big impact

on Saturdays anyway. Yeah, and there was a discussion, right? Like Malachi Starks coming into the year was, everyone was kind of mocking him or ranking him somewhere in the top 10, 12 players from Georgia. Didn't have the best year. I know they made some mistakes, kind of playing hero ball at times,

but still a phenomenal player. So I think the question was coming into this, is one going to separate from the other? And we knew Iman Worry was going to have going to have a good workout. And they're not like identical players, but they're both versatile players that can play the run, can line up in different spots, can play in some man, can play in zone. And if you're looking for a differentiator, we just got it, right? I mean, you wake up that morning, what was it, Thursday? Thursday, Friday, and your start's like, all right, let's go out there and show the world

what I got. And he doesn't have, I mean, he's 6' one, almost 200 pounds, runs a four, five, pretty, you know, above average for safety. And then you look across and you're like, this guy even worried, you know, he's, he's like four inches taller, 23 pounds heavier. My four, five stacked against his, his four, three, eight, you know, it's just like, it's not a fair fight. I'm always curious. You always, I kind of lean on you because I get stuck in the mud and I'm in the thick of it. And I'm like, I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm

going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going to be like, I'm going let's talk about I'm always curious you always I kind of lean on you because I get stuck in the mud and I'm in the thick of it. Right? Like, you know, I'm talking to all these people and I've got all these interviews and the information I'm getting running through my head and I've got preconceived notions. Like as a viewer, what was your what was your biggest takeaway? Were there a couple things that stood out to you? What was your biggest takeaway? Were there a couple of things that stood out to you? Well, I think it's more about strategy at the top and how cute you can get because of the overwhelming depth on say like defensive line or tight end.

Like if you're sitting there and you love Tyler Warren, do you go, all right, and the tape is again, another guy. I mean, you wanna talk about like watching his Saturdays and realizing like, it'd be shocking to me if Tyler Warren isn't a big impact player in the NFL, especially with teams being creative offensively and, and using him and the multitude of ways that Penn State used them this year. Okay.

But so you want a tight end. You think he's a game changer, but then you look at the tight end class and you go, can we get cute here? Can we take a corner? Can we take another position of need where there's not nearly as much depth where we want to get cute and get a tight end later on. We want to get Ferguson.

We want to get Mason Taylor because we just think that there's certain, it feels like there's positions here that are stacked, whether it's D line, maybe edge. More importantly here and running back. But I mean, that's, that's a whole other philosophy that I think is worth getting into here a little bit that the more you started learning about the true depth and how you've graded it out, looking at some of the stuff that Daniel Jeremiah has done. All right. I wonder if teams will be passing on a player they like better, but because of

positional depth, figuring we can still get somebody really nice at the position in the second round. So we're going to take somebody from a class that's thinner. Yeah, I hear you. And I'm like, I always view it from the lens of combo picks. When you're drafting in the first round, you've got to take into consideration and NFL GMs I talked to do this as well. If I go this position here, if I have similar grades on this, let's say tight end versus if you're in love with a wide receiver or an offensive tackle, offensive tackle is the perfect example. While I love Tyler Warren or I love Colston Loveland, right?

This tackle group is going to run. It's going to dry out fast. Right. So if I go with the offensive tackle at Kelvin Banks or Josh Simmons, right, in the first round, I know I'm not going to get... I don't feel great about getting a starter guy who can plug and play in the second round. Second round for the tight ends, I got Mason Taylor from LSU. I've got Arroyo from Miami. I've got Fanin Jr. from Bowling Green in probably the late second, third round. So there are other guys.

And I think absolutely that's part of the process for general managers. Now, the thing that was frustrating this year is we've got these deep classes with all this talent. The first couple of days of the combine were a bust for me. And I was worried, like, is this the new trend? Is anyone going to work out? The interior defensive line, 18 out of 40 Ryan 18 of 40 ran.

I mean that's and this is one of the deepest classes ever at interior defensive line. The edge the top edge guys didn't work out. A lot of them not all of them but several of those guys the tight ends. I just listed all those names, right? Warren doesn't work out. Loveland has the shoulder, so obviously excused. Mason Taylor didn't work out. Arroyo didn't work out. So like now we're down to like the third tier of tight ends working out with Fanon and Ferguson from Oregon. Terrence Ferguson.

So it was frustrating to be honest., the first couple days was really frustrating watching how few of the top tier guys worked out. But then we got to Saturday and it was awesome. I mean, the running backs were... You got to remember, this is the best group clearly since 2017 and may wind up going down as one of the top, if not the top running back classes to ever come out in the draft, talent-wise. And then they all showed up. Outside of As of the top, if not the top running back classes to ever come out in the draft talent-wise. And then they all showed up outside of Ashton Gentry. The vast majority of everyone did at least something and most everything. When you get guys like Trevion Henderson putting up big numbers, Quinshaw Judkins putting up

better all around workout numbers than even Henderson, who's the explosive athlete. You've got, you've got Omarion Hampton, who, by the way, I talked to people in the league or like, it's a debate in our room between Ashton Gentey and Hampton. So Hampton taking advantage of the fact that Gentey's not working out. I mean, all of these guys, it's, it felt like worked out and the vast majority were, were like borderline blowing your mind with some of the numbers. You know, this group was the fastest in the history of the combine at the running back position. They averaged four, four eight in the 40.

It's just, it was, it was amazing. An amazing sight to see. Because we've, and look, I understood the running back shift away from it. Um, to me, it made sense. And I know things can become cyclical here a little bit, but are you hearing from teams, you know, whether it was some of the stuff that we saw were just teams are determined, like you're just not throwing it over the top. And you figure the counter to that is would we ever see a shift towards teams say, you know what, then if this is how you're going to keep playing, we're just going to line up and run block.

And we're going to start investing in this. Like we're going to try to show a little bit more balance. I mean, I guess I have a hard time believing with the offensive minds that we have in this league that they're going to, I would say pass on opportunities to pass as much as they have. I don't know that the league would go away from that, but does that then lead to a priority on drafting? Running back sooner than we've seen it. I mean, is that even a possibility? I Think it's a couple things and I've said this for over a decade now at running back Like I think sometimes when it's just not a good running back class We love to just dive right back into that conversation like the NFL doesn't put value on running back, right?

And so part of it is just talent dive right back into that conversation like the NFL doesn't put value on running back, right? And so part of it is just talent. Like in 2017, it was the thick of it, like moving away from running backs. The league is more past friendly. But there were, I think, was it 26, 28 guys drafted that year, starting with Leonard Fornette, Christian McCaffrey? You go back and look at that class, it's phenomenal. And so when the talent's there, they're going to be taken. But all, there were like eight or nine standout running backs in the NFL, like guys that made huge impacts that came from that class. Only two of them went in the first round. So there's always a premium that you place on premium picks at premium positions.

Okay? You're always going to say, well, quarterback, pass rusher, left tackle. Those are always going to be the... And then cornerback right behind it. So it's going to lead to running backs getting pushed back. But if the talent's there, you get in the second, third, fourth round, they're going to start flying off the board. And that's what's going to happen this year.

I do think this, remember the old cut, you used to mess around with Kuiper about the quote he had that the league should ban cover two. I mean, just the absurdity of it. But the point was not to defend my guy Mel, the point was I'm watching tape now and everyone's running a version of cover two and the percentages have increased. And so when you have two safeties back, it makes it very difficult to take deep shots. So what's the counter to that?

The counter is you get some creases now in the run game. You don't have boxes that are as loaded up with defenders. And so we better get a talented guy. Remember how much the heat Brad Holmes took for drafting Jameer Gibbs and also a linebacker with those early picks that he had? And look at what that's done. Look at what that pick for Jameer Gibbs has done for that offense, right? And so I think people are seeing that and they're like, oh, I have a clear vision of what Troy Beyond Henderson can be. And they're looking in the league and they're like, they're in cover too all the time, man.

We've got to be able to counter with something. We need a weapon at running back. And now all of a sudden we got Ashton Jinty, Omarion Hampton from UNC, the two Ohio State running backs, Henderson Judkins in this class. We've got Caleb Johnson from Iowa, who's the only guy who may be in the top 10 running backs that had kind of a disappointing 40 time, but still just love his tape. We've got Bashul Tutin, who had a legendary workout. DJ Giddens from Virginia Tech and Kansas State respectively, the last two guys.

So there's a lot of good talent. And I do think we're going to see it. I know we're going to see two running backs taken this year in the first round. It's going to be absolutely Gentian Hampton, maybe that flip flops. But my guess is it will be Gentie first and Hampton second, maybe a third and Trevion Henderson sneaks in there. But I think like FanDuel is going to set it too, is my guess, or two and a half. And then, but after that, when we get get in like that that early mid second round range,

you're going to start to see backs come off the board a lot in that second third and even fourth round. I love the brought up Jameer Gibbs because he's exactly who I was thinking about because you're right. Go back to the 23 draft when Detroit takes him 12th and look, he was a stud. He was a stud at Georgia Tech and felt like you could do all these different things with him. When I think about a running back in today's game, you know, being a difference maker, sometimes I just still think like, I don't know that it's ever going to be the way that it used to be where you could just build a team around that first because the running

back had all this game breaking ability. Cause I just think that defenders are so fast now that I don't know that that stuff is there. Like I don't know if the real estate is available to a running back the way it was for all the decades that we grew up watching this sport. Um, but Gibbs is certainly in that class of guys of like, you give them some space, like he can, he can flip the field for you. Uh, so when I think about Gibbs and it, it being this pick and look on top of everything else, it wasn't like they were only handing it off to him. Like they were, they were kind of using him strategically when Montgomery is healthy.

So it wasn't like, Hey, we're just going to give it to Gibbs 25 times. And that's going to provide the value that, you know, of the resource that they put in taking them that high, but like in a vacuum is Gibbs more valuable to a football team than Christian Gonzalez is more valuable than Skronsky a tackle who's taken a spot ahead of him. If you have the other parts, then the answer is yes. They've got Penesul, right? When healthy, they've got a pretty good defense.

They have to be explosive offensively and they've got to be able to counter. They've got to be able to run play action. You've got to, I mean, that's what Jared Goff feeds off of, right? Play action, working the middle of the field. That's what makes him great. And so if play action is critical, you better have not just one, but two backs that put fear in those linebackers and safeties. You've got to respect that.

So it's not, I wouldn't say every organization is the same, but I think for them specifically, they recognize, that's where I give Brad Holmes a lot of credit and his staff in Detroit, they recognize that we need this in order to take it to another level. We need speed on the outside. They brought in Jameson Williams, right? They need speed running back. If this is all going to work, these are the two parts we need. And so they spent the resources on it.

And it gives theoretically, it's just a rotation back, technically, right? And Jameson was, you know, missed the suspensions all the time. But when he's on the field, that offense is different. And so they were willing to take that risk. They knew coming into his rookie year, he wasn't gonna play a whole lot, but they knew like looking in the future, if we're gonna take it to another level,

we need difference makers here in order to make this whole thing click. Okay. So let's talk about the headlines with the quarterback part of this. Um, because I know you talked about your door and now it's, you know, there always seems to be like one quarterback every year that everybody gets pissed off about once it becomes known that he rubs people the wrong way. I don't know.

becomes known that he rubbed some people the wrong way. I don't know. I mean, is, is this a thing or is it the opinion of a couple teams that. Are just, um, I don't know, not great, great sources on this. They're great sources on it. Cause they were in the room. But I, I'm glad you said the phrase, like pissed off or pissed people off. He didn't piss anyone off. I think just hearing some of the backlash and all that.

Well, I think it's more about the reaction. I think it plays out where it's like, oh, here we go again. Everybody's destroying this one guy's character every year. That's the thing. And it's a perfect opportunity to explain it. I think people need to understand my conversations were that it was not with a disgruntled, you know, NFL executive and who crusty old guy, like it was pissed off because he didn't treat him with respect. Wasn't the case

at all. Like the NFL has kind of swept that guard out of the league. If you're an executive today, you've got to be hip with like what's going on, right? You've got to understand the players. I think you have a great appreciation for it in the NBA. Like, I don't know if there's a league in American sports that has more player empowerment than the NBA. And we're seeing that continue to rise in the NFL and executives are like, coaches are changing their style of change, like the executives are changing, they understand

the NIL, they understand this, you know, wave of player coming in. No one I talked to is pissed off. They were mad. They were like, we were disrespected. How could he, how could he treat it? Wasn't that, what was it then? What was it? What led to this? It was just having conversations. Like one guy I'm talking about Tyler Shuck and how impressed I was with an interview I did with them. And it was like, yeah, it, um, you know, it was interesting. Like Chidor, it didn't, didn't feel like he, um, cared all that much about what we thought of them. You know, it was, it was different, but you got to also understand like they've been through that. Like these guys have been through a lot. You're not sitting in that room of the top key executives that

are going to be part of the decision making process on a first round pick first round quarterback. If you haven't been through a lot of wars, right? There's not like 28 year old kids in there. They've seen it all, man. I can think about all the reports you've gotten like years later from players that we've worked with at ESPN or like they weren't picking me. I didn't care. So it wasn't there wasn't like there was no confrontation. Do you think that's part of it then strategically? Like if there was somebody who was meeting with it,

he actually didn't want to go to them. Well, I don't think anyone should be surprised. And the people I talked to weren't overly surprised. They weren't offended. It was just like, yeah, that one was different. It was interesting. Because he clearly, it just wasn't. Because you've got to remember too,

they're sitting there and they're stacking these things. It's like speed dating, right? It's like one guy after another after another. And 98, 99% of the people who come in this room, the players, they're like, yes, sir, like intense. This is the biggest job interview of their lives. And so they care what the people in that room think of them. And they've worked really hard with like PR coaches

and how to present them their story and present themselves well. And so when one guy comes in and how to present them their story and present themselves well. And so when one guy comes in and it's really different than all the other ones, it's not, I mean, nothing about it was contentious, nothing about it was disrespectful. It was just, there was a different level of professionalism. Don't get the sense that he cared an awful lot about what we thought. And to be quite honest with you,

I don't think anyone's surprised. This is the narrative we've been talking about since like September, remember? Coach Prime has been out there since the seat, like early season. I quoted in the McShea report, the newsletter, that, you know, I get an interview, one of a dozen that we've heard or seen where,

where Dion Sanders has come out and said, you know, my son and Travis, I'm out, there's some teams that I just, you know, that I don't want them to go to. And we're going to kind of vet that out. And so these are probably just two of the teams that these are probably the two of the teams that are not on that list of teams where they want him placed. What I find interesting, and I always like to spin it forward. I'm not here to like, oh, you won't believe it. Shador came in and he didn't care what they thought.

That's not the point of this. The point of this is putting perspective on it. This perspective we have to have is, all right, we're armed with this information for months now. Shador, with his team, and starting at the top and the only decision, the final decision maker in all of this, is his father. And Coach Prime has told us all along that they're going to kind of weed some teams out. Doesn't want to go, doesn't want his son going to play for that organization.

And he's got that right. He's been around the league. He played in the league. He's handled it a different way his whole life and it's worked. And so that's how he's going to handle it. So when we hear this, it doesn't come as a shocking news to me, didn't come as a shocking event

to the executives that were in the room. But it's fascinating to me because there's only really six teams that we're looking at in the top 10 with quarterback needs that we think are likely to draft one of these quarterbacks. Cam Ward's going to one of those, whether it's Tennessee at one, more likely Cleveland at two, or a strong possibility as well of a team moving up like the Giants from three. So Cam takes one of those out. I'm not saying that these two teams are like, well, he's off our board, but very clearly

that's not in the plan. So now we're down to three teams. And if Tennessee passes and goes with Abdul Carter and cam ward goes number two to Cleveland. Now we're down to two teams. So either and I think the former is a lot more likely than the latter, but either they already know where he's going or it's down to two teams and one of those two teams is going to draft him. And so he's not all that worried about the other teams or we're in for a wild first night

of the draft with where Shador Sanders winds up. Do you feel like Cleveland goes with Kim Ward? If he's there I do. Why? The tape obviously start that's the foundation. I think he has a skill set that is highly intriguing. I think you see the arm, the creativity, the arm angles, the ability to extend. Again, we're talking quarterback four, quarterback five last year, but these teams have a needed quarterback. He has talent. It can be developed into a good starter in the NFL. And so history tells us that the team's going to take a swing. I see a clear difference between

Cam and Chador in terms of potential upside, just more athletic, stronger arm, and everyone I've talked to in the league does. So that's the foundation. I also find it fascinating when no one wants to bring up someone's name. When I'm talking to teams that are looking to quarterback near the top of the draft and they don't even bring up his name,. When I'm talking to teams that are looking to quarterback near the top of the draft and they don't even bring up his name, that they just don't want to talk about it because they, you know what I mean? That's the indicator to me. What are you talking about?

If you're having conversations about the top quarterbacks in the draft and they, and they're much more interested in talking about some of the other guys or other positions rather than a cam ward never came up unless I asked specifically, but it just because the teams that are interested in cam war don't want his name. Like they don't, they don't want to his name coming out of their mouths. Does that make sense? Yeah. Now I understand. Maybe I just had a harder time with that. Um, give me, give me somebody that we'll do both ends of this. Let's start positive. Give me somebody that maybe you didn't realize until spending

days in Indianapolis, but like, man, teams really like this guy. Tyler Booker guard, Alabama. And it was the same quotes from everyone. Like maybe the highest character guy in this entire class. He's a guard. Don't love directing the guard in the first place. Booker guard, Alabama. And it was the same quotes from everyone, like maybe highest character guy in this entire class. He's a guard. Don't love draft in the guard in the first round. I kept being told he's going earlier than you think. Legendary speech he gave to his teammates and you know, during the season this year, interviews were awesome. You just

know what you're getting the GM that draftsman is going to take a ton of heat because it's a guard somewhere in the top 15. Uh, but he's also going to sleep like a baby that night because he knows he just got his starting guard is going to be a star at guard for a long, long time. Um, so he was the name that kept coming up. Maxwell Hairston, the cornerback from Kentucky before the workout, a'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it.

I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it.

I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to be able to do it. I'm not going to, he'll do enough. But Maxwell Hairston, I did not view, I thought he was kind of early second in that second tier of corners. He's going in the first. Then he ran at 5'11 and change 183 pounds. He runs a 4'28, the fastest 40 of any player at any position at the combine.

39 and a half inch vertical, 10'9 broad. So these are like, these are top tier workout numbers to go with the tape. That's outstanding. So those were two of the guys that, and, and, and honestly, there's a lot of love in the league for Jackson Dart and there's immense growing intrigue would be the best way to phrase it for Tyler Shuck. The two quarterbacks that are kind of in that second tier. I think there's kind of a groundswell.

And I don't think it's the organizations are talking to one another. I just think it's a groundswell for me as I'm starting to talk to a lot of teams. There's an understanding that Cam's going to go one or two. Shador probably has his spot secured or one or two teams he's narrowed it down to. But there's some teams that just don't see it the way that maybe the public sees it in some regards. But much more intriguing is drafting a great player in the first round. If you've got pick, I don't know,

three, if, if, if she doors, not your guy and cams gone. If you've got pick, um, six, six with the Raider, seven with the jets, nine with the say, let's draft one of these really good players. It's not an elite group like every other year, but let's get in high impact starter. And then let's maybe, maybe it's dark. We trade back into the first and get that fifth year option. Maybe it's Tyler Shuck who, yeah, you can say he's 25 and had three injuries, but their bone breaks. They're not like, it's not chronic stuff that's going to affect them long-term. We're protecting our quarterbacks a lot longer. I'm not worried about the next guy's job.

I'm worried about my job. And he's the most NFL ready of all these quarterbacks. Tyler Shuck is. He's bigger. He's faster. He's got just as strong an arm like he's up there with Cam Ward, stronger arm than Dart, stronger arm than Chador.

Ball placements outstanding on tape. It's just one year of tape. I'm telling you, Tyler Shuck is is going to be. It won't surprise me if he winds up being the best quarterback from this class when it's all said and done. Was there somebody?

Because you know, as we're going through the season, I also know how you work and that you're, you're probably changing your mind on some players from the end of the regular season, maybe even during the bowl season to all the extra evaluation that you're going to be putting up until, you know, we still got a ways to go for all the tape that you're watching here. Is there somebody that you've changed your mind on a lot? There are a couple of guys that, they're like results that I can't unsee.

It's hard man, because I like Will Campbell a lot on tape. I really do. But I look at it and I see a guy like Armand Membou and his workout numbers, right? And then I look at Campbell and his workout numbers are really good. But Campbell's a left tackle with 32 and 5 1⁄8 inch arms. And that's frightening.

I mean, it's frightening because I can sit there and list off a whole bunch of guys with 33 inch arms, you know, in the 33 range, like Joe Thomas, Jason Peters, like all those guys. None of these, none of the short arm offensive tackles came in the league under 33 that I'm aware of and had success. I'm not saying he can't. I'd be a hypocrite if I said that. I've sat in Kirk Farrant's office and I've laughed about like some of his guys that have gone on the league and had great careers. Okay. Because like the tapes the tape. Will Campbell's tapes really good, but it's not at the level of some of those guys I just mentioned. So now I'm looking at a guy like Armand Membo, who's younger, 330 pounds, running faster,

jumping higher, 34 inches. And I'm like, all right, the traits are there. He's going to develop. And he doesn't have long, like 33 and a half, but Campbell's going to be interested because everyone's mocking him to like New England at four. They're somewhere in the top 10. General managers, it's a risk assessment. And I think there's enough risk there where maybe he could start to fall a little bit.

Our guy too, Jordan James. The tape is so good. We love him. Oregon running back. He's up in a flash flash so quick in and out. Great vision, great patience. I really like him as a back. I think a team's going to wind up getting a really good value on him because when you

look at this year's class, when you get guys like RJ Harvey, talking high four threes, low four fours, jumping out of the gym. RJ Harvey from UCF. Tootin as I mentioned. Michelle Tootin from Virginia Tech. DJ Giddens from Kansas State. I think he, you know, they're all in kind of that bucket if you will. And I think he's kind of dropped inside that bucket.

But I still think he's gonna be a great player but it could affect him on draft weekend. You know, I don't know, maybe he's going to be a great player, but it could affect him on draft weekend. You know, I don't know. Maybe he's just getting, getting softer as I get older, but I still think it's worth asking the question, was there somebody momentum wise that you felt like? Okay. After I was there, like the mocks have this guy in the first round, the teams don't see it. see it. Hmm.

I'm just not as big a guy and it wasn't the workout, but Tet Macmillan. Teta Rhoa. Teta Rhoa. For me, I know, I know. And trust me, people are still saying now I'm reading everywhere that New England could take him because variable said we need a big physical X. I don't see him as that. I see him as a big athletic X.

I don't see the dog in him. Like I saw in Drake, London, I don't see the attention to detail. I see a really highly athletic player who runs well, but doesn't have elite speed. I think that's part of the reason he didn't run in Indy. Arizona's season was over November, you know? And so he had plenty of time to work out and get ready for this. It's not like some like the Ohio State guys,

like Emeka Ibuka didn't run, but like they just finished their season. So yeah, I just, I'm not as big a fan. And I think it's a mixed bag when you talk to guys in the league for a player that is being consistently mocked in the, in the top 10. I would, I just like Matthew golden a lot and he goes out and runs, what do you run a four to nine or something ridiculous. The second fastest time of all the, of all the players at the combine. I think it was where I've got to pulled up. Yeah, he was the fastest.

Four to nine, right? Four to nine fastest receiver, second fastest player. Yeah, I just I love his tape, the in and out, the suddenness, the explosiveness. Now you got a guy who's reliable, just catches the ball. I just know what I'm getting there. So I think Macmillan's going to be fascinating to say because some people love him. And everyone's a well, Drake, Drake London, over a thousand receiving yards this past year, like, yeah, there's a comp there, but it's not identical.

Yeah, look, I mean, I love them because from the jump, it was like, are you serious with this dude, you know, six, four, two 20, and I know we didn't run, which everybody was kind of like wondering. And then it starts to become kind of like your original point of this whole thing is this turning into kind of the NBA combine, which is different because, you know, the agents will tell you in the NBA, like we don't have these guys work out. Because if my guy goes against this other guy that's supposed to be second round or undrafted, then all the teams freak out and then you morons in the

media start shitting on my guy. And so like the risk reward. And then there's the, the oddity of human nature of like, I might still like something I don't get to see as much. And I'm wondering if that is that. That approach is infiltrating the NFL combine where we're just more and more people will be like, well, if that guy's not running, then I'm not running. And then the agent, the parents are like, well, that guy's supposed to go, I've got to go to the NFL. I've got to go to the NFL. I've got to gorating the NFL combine where we're just more and more people. Be like, well, if that guy's not running, then I'm not running. And then the agent, the parents are like, well, that guy's supposed to go behind our guys. So if he's not like a weekend to your point, there were a lot of last

minute decisions made guys that we thought were going to work out. I think they got there to Indy. They're in that position group being carted around from interviews, the financial meetings to the hospital for medicals. And I think it's like, yeah, well, so, you know, pick up the speed dial to your agent, so-and-so is not running, so, you know? I think that started to happen this year,

more so than I can remember. Yeah, and the frustrating part about this is like, this isn't like it's a one-on-one or a two-on-two. Like I've gone to some of the draft workouts, like way back in the day, the private ones, the Celtics would, would let us into, you know, a few of us towards, you know, my early days back in Boston and you could see the setting

where you could see how an agent would be like, well, this is ridiculous. Like my six, nine guy is playing two on two and he's guarding a six, two guy. So now all of a sudden, if he gets, like, if he goes past them, now my guy isn't as good, it's like, this is not something that's controlled, but it's just the straight running of a 40, like eventually dude, you're going to have to run your 40. Like I guess, unless now we're just in the future, going to have waves of players

without that having like an official number, because it's like, no, I'm just not going to have my guy run and go to the tape because I think the Teteroa tape is incredible. Now, if you're gonna get me on details that I don't know because I don't study it the way that you study it, then I can't have the debate with you. Like I'm already taking a knee on the whole thing. But I think back to the DK Metcalfe evaluation where it was, okay, big physical presence.

And I don't even know that DK was as polished as Ted Oroa is in this last year. But I think the draft world and clearly the teams, there was a miss on DK of like not understanding him. And I don't know McNeil at all. I've never talked to him. I've never talked to anybody that's like, hey, I had him in high school here at Arizona. Like you don't get it.

Right? So personal thing. No, no. So, but to let me finish on that, like could it be, hey, I am so don't get it. Right. So personal thing. No, no. So, but to let me finish on that, like, could it be, Hey, I am so good at six, four, two 20 and our team stinks. And really our only thing that we can do is have the fee to run for his life and then chuck the ball up to me. And I'm still beating people in a straight line on some of these desperation throws that, you know, I don't need to be super crisp out of seven

yards. Like I haven't had to do any of those things. And I think that was the miss on DK is that he never really had to do the things that you guys were knocking him for. He was a nine road guy. Right. And, and yet, you know, it's an assumption, it's a tough spot for you and the teams would be like, okay, all these things that we ask our receivers to do at the NFL level, like DK hasn't shown any of these attention to detail things because he's a beast. He figured it all out. Right. He figured it out but he also he came to the combine and it didn't it didn't he was a second round pick. Okay. This

is a good point. Right. Go ahead. But he came to the combine and he it at least proved to everyone I am different than all these cats, right? And it didn't, again, it's not like- And Teteroa, I'm not putting Teteroa in DK's physical class here because that, I mean, it's just- No, I know that. You can't do that with DK at all.

But there are certain guys that I'll watch and go, okay, fine, especially with the receivers. But it's like, you know, some of these dudes probably have, is it that they can't do those things or they've never had to? Luther Burden's another one from Missouri. He's not going as high as people think. Right, but like, I know everybody's not as big on him

because they expect to be a speedster. He's a speedster on the field. Like I couldn't believe he ran as slow as he did, but are we talking about a small target and not the speed? So now you're thinking like, how open is this guy gonna get? Because he was, I thought he was one of the best difference makers in college football for the last two years.

Yeah, I think people were just more worried about what are we getting? Is this guy, like, what are we getting? Showing up to the building every day, is the same efforts, all that stuff. So, okay. Well, that I don't know. It's, yeah, it's, it's fascinating.

This receiver class, I think is going to look a lot different in the draft, like the first two nights of the draft than what has been presented publicly for a long time. Matthew Golden, if you think about it, like in October, like we didn't, nobody really knew much about Matthew Golden. He was a transfer from, from Houston and Isaiah bond. They kept trying to figure out how they were going to make bond the number one, all of a sudden, like bonds gone and he steps up and becomes this, this huge threat finishes the season, like became the go-to guy.

You see all these traits and then he goes and works out and does this thing. I think like the Iowa state guys, because they don't get a lot of national exposure, whatever it is, like I look at Higgins and Noel, Jaden and Jalen respectively. There, I feel I would be fine with them going late first. They're that good and polished and ready. I just, I think it's gonna be a little bit different than what people seem to think. Forever remember it was McMillan and Burton and then you

know Amekabuka was kind of crawling up throughout the process. Now all of a sudden we could have a draft board where Golden's the first receiver, Burton's not in the in the in the first round, a couple Iowa State guys maybe go late for you know what I mean?? So that part's gonna be interesting. Okay, last thing here. Quinn Uers. Yeah, what about him? What's going on?

That's a very leading question, the way you presented it. Quinn Uers did not have the season we all expected him to it. Quinn Uers did not have the season we all expected him to have. Quinn Uers. It feels like years ago, that Michigan game. It does. He had the oblique injury, he had the ankle injury, the oblique lingered, it affected him.

I thought Quinn Uers threw pretty good at the combine. Not exceptional, but pretty good. I think it will level off, is my point. I think it went from, it could be top 10 pick to fourth, fifth round. I think he's gonna wind up being a day two pick, later day two, like third round range. I think in the perfect scenario, everything works out.

Maybe he can become a starter in the league. I think it's much more likely he's gonna wind up being a backup. But I think the market will correct itself a little bit. I still find that to be the single most fascinating thing about your sports draft process versus, you know, the one I'm aligned with with the NBA that rarely, and it's the Matt Barkley thing, which I even asked about,

because I always referenced it forever is that you were top 10 and then you were a fourth rounder. And that to me makes your sport so weird that this position. Right. The quarterbacks are different though, because in the summer you're watching tape saying, all right, he's at this level. I think he's about to make this next jump because so much of playing the quarterback positions between your ears and game experience.

And if you don't believe that, like go back to, you don't have to look far. Like I promise you, Jaden Daniels comes out a year or two earlier, which he was eligible to do. We're talking about a fifth round pick. He wasn't ready. He hadn't developed. He hadn't been through enough wars. The game hadn't slowed down for him. He wasn't processing as quickly. He didn't trust his eyes, all those things. It's in a lot of these guys. The problem with our system is, and it's gotten a lot better with the NIL and

transfer portal, a lot better. Guys are bouncing around. Bo Nix plays 60 something games, 62 games I think it was, right? Jaden Daniels plays like 56 games, two different schools. While people don't love that aspect of it from a quarterback development standpoint, it's a hell of a lot better than Mark Sanchez coming out after 13 starts when Mark needed two more years. Trubisky 13 starts. Anthony Richardson should have played more ball. You know what I mean? So we're seeing all these guys that come out and don't have a ton of starts, and then we're

watching on the flip side, all these guys who come out that had a bunch of starts, they're more ready, man. It's not that complicated. And so when you're evaluating a guy in the summer, you're saying, all these guys who come out that had a bunch of starts, they're more ready, man. It's not that complicated. And so when you're evaluating a guy in the summer, you're saying, all right, they're going to have a minimum 12, maybe up to 16 more games to learn and develop. Look at Will Howard. Will Howard's a fifth, sixth rounder coming into this year. Will Howard's a fifth, sixth rounder in late October.

Will Howard now might be a day two pick because of the development he had. He played more games and the system that opened up. So that part, I get it, but it's a projection based off of what you hope the next season is going to be. And the fact that we're seeing a lot of these guys really improve in their final year of playing college ball, which now, instead of being the third year, third year in a program, maybe second year playing ball, it's like a fourth, fifth or sixth year, you know?

Yeah, it'll be great. And I would say, you know, maybe we'll jump to conclusions where we will after only a couple of years, and I know this is kind of where you're going, but it's been nice to have five, really 10 years of data on the new version of the transferring quarterback, getting more of these starts, and maybe getting to a point where teams just go, hey, we have a hard and fast rule on this stuff. We have a quarterback need

and we're taking somebody in the top 10. Like if you have south of 30 starts, we're just not doing that. We're not making them. Now look, teams are not going- That Parcell's number, what was it? 23 starts is like the Mendoza line or the cutoff. That number's rising drastically, I believe.

That team's not gonna do it, but it's funny as you say, not being ready is a death sentence at that position for most everybody, right? In basketball. Because there's nowhere to develop them, man. Right, but basketball, because it's different, because you're not worried about reps for one guy at one position,

but not being ready is almost a prerequisite for a top 10 pick in the NBA. Right, totally different world. Right, and the development thing, you're not even comparing, even just because it's sports, it's not even close, but I always think of the equivalent of would there be, and certainly there's people in mock drafts before college basketball season where you would say,

oh, that guy dropped. But to drop from like, he might be the fourth pick, fifth pick to, again, we don't have multiple rounds, but no, instead we took 120 players. Because you guys are so much better at evaluating talent. No, it's the quarterback thing in particular. It's I know, I know I'm joking. But maybe, yeah, maybe this would be, you know, cool. 10 years from now we're doing the pod and like, hey, they cracked the code.

They're only busting on 30% of first rounders now. Right. Yeah. The numbers, I mean, last year's class looks pretty good. You know? I need pretty good. You know? I need more data. You know, I have more data, but like, find me any other year where we've had, you can't, but where five of six you're looking at

and you're like, feel pretty good. Marinos year? JJ hasn't even played. Like there's only one guy we're really worried about after one year, you know? Yeah. And I'm as excited as the next guy about panics, but we're definitely rounding up on panics. Fine. But I'm saying it's compared to what we've seen where it's like 40% in preview in a lot of years going back in history. After the first year, you're like, oh, I don't know.

The Zach Wilson class is just, you know, the scariest. Yes. Yes. Because you go, how many of these dudes are already on other teams? Right. So, yeah. OK. OK. Tell us about the newsletter so people can subscribe. It's it's mock drafts. We already had Mach 1.0. We're going to have Mach 2.0 next week. So much to kind of update in terms of the Intel getting and and

and the workouts and how it's kind of reshaped the top of the board. We're going to have draft boards. We're going to have inside information like we had with the Chidor Sanders and some of the conversations about different players and different teams. Google it. That's what I'm told to say. My boy Austin Gale, basically, you know, basically go, go the Indiana

route. Google me. It's called the McShay report. The easiest, fastest way to figure out how to subscribe is to just Google the McShay report and you'll see it. Click it, subscribe please. $4 to get through this, this year's draft doubled down, baby. 36 bucks this year's draft all the next season and the 2026 draft. So I appreciate all the support on that. I mean, it's my baby, man. I've been doing this for for 25 years, the writing portion of it. And I just love it.

Yeah, I could tell how fired up you are. The content, like I said at the top, it is not that I had, I don't know what my expectations were for everything that you're doing, but just immediately, like this, this thing feels incredibly successful. And I'm just really happy for you. I appreciate it, brother. I really do.

I'm loving it here. This is like, it hasn't taken like four months. Like this is home now. I, I, I've never been happier doing what I'm doing with the people that I'm doing it with starting with Steve Mensch, obviously, but all you guys like it's it's it's been amazing. It really has. You can check out more of Todd again on the McShay show. So

please subscribe. And again, you can see the full videos of the podcast as well on Spotify. Thanks, man. We'll talk again soon. You got it, brother. You want details? Bye. I drive a Ferrari, 355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you can possibly imagine.

And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. We are ready to go. LifeAdvice, rr at gmail.com. That's the email. We've got Srooty, we've got Kyle, Wargon, potentially. I'll think of new ways to intro that at some point, but you never know. You might not even talk to them. Maybe you don't want to. Maybe Kyle has a problem with them and we don't even know and I have to manage it. Maybe not though, because I'm not really a manager.

All right. A lot of people emailing in. You good? I'm good. It's been a scramble prep day. So we're getting there. We got through it today, but it wasn't ideal for me this morning.

So let's take a look here. A couple of feedback ones that, we've been sneaking in here a little bit. A lot of people love the book, The Road. And they, I mean, you wanna talk high, high approval rating, which is rare in life today. But when I talked about it during the Friday Feedback, when I started reciting my library,

which was some D plus content. I said it's my favorite work of fiction and we've had a ton of emails from people that were like hey I took your advice I read it holy shit. So thank you and to those of you like look you just get to read an incredible book that that definitely has an impact on you there at the end. Isn't it kind of awesome when you get the jealousy of somebody watching or reading something that you know is sick and you're like,

damn, I wish I could watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy again for the first time, you know? I mean, it's still great now, like the hundredth time, but it's like, damn, the first time. I remember getting so giddy to have my wife watch it and she certainly did not share the excitement with me. But that's such a great feeling. Convinced one of my college buddies to do Sopranos

and he calls me periodically. It's like, dude, season three. So that was cool too. Yeah, you're just living through your buddy. Yeah. Yeah, that was what I tried to do for Van Pelt with The Wire considering he also has the- Maryland stuff.

Yeah. And I even gifted him the first season on iTunes. Not cheap. Right. Think about that move early 30s. That's basically a lot, dude. Yeah. That's like going out to the end of that week.

It's about as intimate as it gets. Yeah. I'm not into you, but. I'm like, well, the guy hasn't dated anybody in a while. So anyway, I sent it to him. What's up with the facility? Is he handing out Blu-rays? What's going on here?

That would have made more sense because I had to get his email and then I had to make sure, and then I go, hey, did you get that link? And it was such a disastrous transaction because I was like, yeah, I think I saw it. You sent it to my personal one, right? I'm like, come on, man, did you get that link? And it was such a disastrous transaction, because I was like, he's like, yeah, no, I think I saw it, you sent it to my personal one, right? I'm like, come on, man, are you serious? Like, I definitely sent it to your personal,

like the one we use every day to talk about the show, that email that you log into multiple times a day, you didn't notice like a different thing, Ryan has gifted you season one of The Wire. Like that's a pretty, like that email pops. You know? Sure. Yeah.

That's not, that's not what's going on with NATO that you need to know. Right? You just, you don't even open that one. This was Ryan Rossellio has gifted you. And so I was like, yeah, you just get a lot. He's like, well, how do I do it though? Like if I, if I have, and I went,

are you seriously not even gonna, I bought it. Man, this was supposed to make me feel good. What the fuck. But what you learn about Van Pelt is that because all of us told them it's insane that you of all people have not watched the show that everybody loves. You like good things, right? Um, that he actually liked not watching it. Dug in.

Yeah, I could see that. Yeah, I've done that before. Yeah, but at some point you're just denying yourself something that's incredible. Like every wire joke that anybody wants to make, like, okay, go ahead and make it, then watch the show and then tell me you didn't have a good time.

And nobody's ever gonna go, ah, you know what, like, little dated, Bruce. You know, Saruti might do that. I mean, yeah, we shouldn't even get into my wire thoughts. I haven't seen the wire. I tried a couple times, just didn't want to. Tried a couple times? Yeah, like the four by three thing really threw me off.

What time are you taping with Bill? Do you want to jump out early? Yeah. Yeah, no, I mean, I've been known to zag a little bit in life. Oh my Christ, that's the worst zag ever. I'm not saying it's bad, I haven't seen it, known to zag a little bit in life. Oh, my Christ. That's so zag ever. I'm not saying I'm not saying it's bad. I just I haven't seen it so that I don't have any. It sounds like you didn't like it.

You know, I just you tried twice. Like, what the fuck are you talking about? And people in the gardens, people already don't like me. This isn't going to help. Yeah, cut that. Come on, Mike, do a favor. No, I tried and Just the aspect ratio is just it was just bad, man I don't know like I can't you know

I it's not even like I didn't grow up in an aspect ratio of four by three But it just I don't know. I think I probably tried it ten years ago aspect ratio I'm sorry. Yeah, I haven't seen it. Just don't just check your email for iTunes from Ryan. Yeah, I guess I need Just don't just check your email for iTunes from Ryan. Yeah, I guess I need to know don't Should have kept that one myself, yeah I mean sororities sororities whole I'm sorry, but like now I'm interrupting you now It's fine, but but your whole mission statement of like nothing age as well like nothing I would mostly agree like would you watch Chinatown? I don't never seen it Okay, but not seeing it as one thing but like, would you watch Chinatown? I don't never see it. Okay.

But not seeing it as one thing, but like, would you not watch Chinatown? Jack Nicholson, like the beginning, you know, this, this all time movie considered like one of the greatest. I don't think I would not watch it. No, I would, I would watch it. But you would say, Hey, this is stupid. That, that was fake. That guy was fake.

I would just be like, you know, it looks, I don't know how it looks. And maybe it is, and maybe it looks incredible. Maybe it holds up incredibly well. But I think, yeah, like most things you're not like, oh yeah, I actually do really like back to the future. I love time travel stuff. Michael J. Fox, it's the dated movie. Like it feels incredibly dated, but it's still a good movie.

I don't know, man. You know, my take on the eighties too. you. I mean this this goes back a long time I just think the 80s is a rough entertainment not even entertainment most things in the 80s were kind of rough movies music cars were kind of ugly Can't wait can't wait for you else Next Friday feedback you would go can we hire a freelancer to go through everything we're about to get? Okay.

Yeah. All right, all right. What's, yeah, but is that, is that take worse or is Bill's interstellar take worse? Cause that, that's a, that's a tough one. Deflecting. Maybe, but we all have our, we all have our flaws. You know, we all have our flaws. Deflecting hard right now. We all have our flaws.

Yeah. Look, Bill's very clear disdain. I don't know if disdain, disdain's not the right word, but the clip of him and Van talking about Christopher Nolan, that wasn't great for Bill. Because you're a, wait, so the guy who's making. Some of the best movies over the last 15 years, like arguably like the one director, if you had to like draft the directors of like,

OK, that person directed it, the majority of people were like, I'm in. I don't even care what it's about. Like, I'll give that guy a chance. And he was kind of like, yeah, memento was good. And then it kind of like Dark Knight. Yeah. Yeah. I told you I like the dark.

Oh, you're the guy that liked the dark night. OK. I will say, though, Bill's zag on the Marvel cinematic universe. He played the long game and it's certainly working out right now. Yeah. Yeah. All right. You guys want to do an email? I out right now. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So you guys want to do an email? I've been bad lately. Yeah. Okay.

Um, what's up fellas? Five, 10, one 80, no gym stats, time consuming schedule of being a high school basketball coach and a herniated disc have taken me out of strenuous exercise. Going back to November now tough. That's all right. You'll get back. If you care, you'll get there. My neighbor, a four years older gentleman who's been living with his mother. She recently passed away. He has some background in this guy. He's

been taking care of his mother so he doesn't work. He's always home. We share a common driveway. He parks his car in the middle, mostly on his side, but at least two to three feet across the undrawn dividing line between his side and mine. I had helped his mother bring in the groceries one time. I left my number with her in case she, they ever needed anything when she passed away. He had texted me to thank me for giving her my number and let me know of the arrangements. Since then, the texting hasn't stopped. Constant memes and YouTube video links. I gave him the old LOL for the first few, then did the ha-ha reactions a couple more times before I just stopped answering.

Despite no longer receiving responses, he had sent messages for 10 consecutive days. That's where the question comes. Dude, haven't we all played the LOL, ha ha game with a few unwanted memes? I sent a ha ha to my brother and then he was like, you ha ha'd me like, yeah, I did. Damn. He's like, yeah, he's like, dude, and he's younger. So I wasn't even the older guy, I did. Damn. He's like, yeah, he's like, dude, and he's younger. So I wasn't even the older guy, Matt thing.

Because I had some friend who sent me just an absolute horrible body fluid dispersal meme. And I went, oh, okay. Whoa. Like, what do I? Like, what do you do? Do you want to clarify what that meant or no? That's okay.

I don't. Okay. I don't. Okay. But it's just like when you're not that close with somebody and they send you that meme, like what is there left to do besides ha ha? Screw you, guy. Yeah, you shouldn't even put me in that position.

Yeah, let me bang out a couple paragraphs here. All right, so then the question comes in. I'm getting my bathrooms redone and he shot me the 11th text. Getting a new bathroom today? No answer from me. This is a great email. Mostly just busy, not intentionally trying to be a jerk. Next day, he sends another text basically letting me know that some brown crud had gotten on his car residue from demo dumpster and that he had gone to get a car wash. It was $12 and he left the receipt with one of the workers. I didn't answer again.

Big night of hoops for the team that day. Just one of those things where it's the last thing I want to think about. Well, I'm two days out and I haven't answered him. He sent a couple more follow-ups. Did you see my receipt and a couple more memes? Do I answer him here? Pretend my phone line is shot

and I haven't been receiving any of his messages since our early exchanges. Continue ignoring the text and just give them the $12 next time I see him. Okay. Look, a lot to cover here. One is you're a good dude. You're a good dude. Um, the move there to make sure that the mom could have your number just in case. Right.

That tells me a lot about you. All right. And the fact that your high school basketball coach, right? That tells me a lot about you, all right? And the fact that you're a high school basketball coach, there's a part of you that is good consciousness about other people's feelings. Cares about the kids, yeah. Yeah, you're doing the right thing here. This guy just lost his mom, right?

And clearly whatever's going on in his day to day isn't stacked with Zooms. So he's going through something that obviously is very traumatic and he doesn't have a busy schedule. So there's the math on why you're getting all these texts all of a sudden. So I think initially I felt like, hey, can you give the guy some grace here? I'm kind of shocked I just said that, but can you give the guy a little leniency considering what he's gone through and maybe three hauts or maybe, oh, that's a good one, you know? But then you meme him back.

Now you're in a meme off and it's plan of vacations and clearly you don't want to do that with this guy. But I think now he has crossed the line into you're dealing with somebody that again has gone through something traumatic. So we don't want to be insensitive to it. But once you start leaving $12 receipts for a car wash and then following up on the $12 receipt, he's now crossed into somebody you should no longer

feel any guilt towards not wanting to have any communication with him whatsoever. I'd give him the 12 bucks back, fine, whatever. I'd ignore every single meme. I wouldn't even, I think you're now past the level of ha-ha LOLs. I would ignore them all. And, oh, okay, it's just like a text.

It's just like Dick's Sporting Goods every now and then, let me know Golf Ball's on sale. Like I could freak out about getting the text, but I'm the one that signed up for it. You didn't necessarily sign up for it, but guess what I can do? Hey, Dick's, thanks for letting me know, but I'm good right now on Golf Balls.

No problem. So that's how you have to look at it. But the $12 thing should make you feel even less guilt because that is, look, if the guy's got his car dirty, you got a car dirty, but I think most of us, I don't wanna call it unhinged, but that's kind of aggressive taxing. Yeah.

I think it's aggressive. Go for it, Steve. It's kind of like a look at me, I don't know. That to me is just like an attention grab thing. And again, he's going through some shit, so I want to give him some grace. But you know, it's like really you're going to like make it a scene over your car being dirty and then you go getting the car washed like that. Like we're never going to be friends, unfortunately, if that's kind of shit that you pull.

I would be, I would do what this guy does. I play it too nice. I do this on Instagram with different people. They'll send me a few things and I just kind of keep it going because I feel bad I don't and it's weird because it's like I could just stop responding but like you feel weird just kind of like ghosting Someone that you don't even know so I don't know if you're cool playing it nice I think that's kind of how you do it Maybe this guy kind of needs the back and forth a little bit. Maybe doesn't have a lot going on

I Don't I kind of subscribe to like you never know what everyone's, what anyone's going through at a certain time. And if you stop, like, if you kind of, if you're a Dick to him, like, maybe that kind of puts them over the edge. And if that kind of gets on your conscience, like you don't really want that there either. So if you are able to handle being the nice guy here and just kind of

putting some of that weird shit aside, that's kind of what I would do just for your own conscience. Yeah. It seems like that receipt was him like. Chucking up a prayer, so to speak. Like he hasn't, you know, he just went over 10 and the games about to end and he was just like, well, this one, maybe he feels like he has to answer because there's some sort of transactional thing.

Totally poor planning on his part didn't really scope out the situation, but it seemed like he was just like, all right, everything else hasn't worked. Maybe if I say that there's some sort of like, you know, thing we need to settle up here, he might actually respond. And I think what you should do is power through that, you know, fight through the screen. You're not I'm not replying. I'm not responding to that. We don't respond to threats, whatever. And then just and just keep it. Keep it no text. You don't get text from me back. And then when you see him give him the $12, that way he knows you've seen text but he he will it will click eventually is like alright this guy sees what I'm sending He's not just one of those people that has so many texts. He doesn't have time for me, but that's not you saying it

He can't really get that upset. I would put his power through don't answer and if you know keep keep it 12 bucks in your pocket and When you see him give it to him, but you just have you have to you have to stand firm here You have to stand firm here. And not like overreaching and lashing back and saying, what's your problem, man? Or whatever, doesn't need to go into an explanation why you don't want to text back. I think you just power through, stand firm,

give him the 12 bucks. And that's the end of that. I think you have to give him the 12 bucks. Yeah, like- This is a guy that doesn't want to learn. He'll learn eventually. Especially that way it confirms you've seen what he says. You're not responding to him, but you are going to acquiesce to his request.

It also depends too, like where are they located regionally? Like, are we talking, there's still some snow and salt situation. Like, is it, is it a colder climate? Where are we? Where's the tempered zone of this email? And so like, was the car kind of going to get dirty already? Like, could you be a bit aggressive on it? Even though he just went through this where you're like, Hey man, like I get it.

Here's your 12 bucks, but you know, like shit gets dirty, man. Yeah. And you're going to bill me for the car wash. And, and then maybe, maybe that, because we are, we are truly in a. I mean, we've ever been more divided, but. Well. The spread of, no, seriously, Saru, the spread of unwanted memes, you know?

I just love that we've never been more divided thing. It's like, yeah, I don't know, we've definitely been more divided. I know. It feels bad. That's why I do it. That's why I tell them. The body's looking pretty sweet. I also think there'd be something funny here,

but again, the guy went through something pretty, it's a big deal and he's there at the house. But like, if you just decide, I'm just thinking like globally, combating unwanted memes. And if you just decided like, I'm gonna just turn the tables on this guy and just start texting back awful topics with somebody who I barely know and decided like, I'm gonna just turn the tables on this guy and just start texting back awful topics with somebody who I barely know and be like,

hey, I thought the eggs were gonna be cheaper. What the fuck, bro? You know, and then he just goes like. I actually think trading Luca was the right thing to do. Yeah, just start hitting him with terrible talking points and yeah, but then I actually. I feel like you'd be surprised at that guy's stamina. I think he'd be surprised more than you were bargaining for.

No, it's not gonna work with this guy. Yeah, do you have a second to talk about it? Can I call you real quick? It's like, oh fuck. Oh no. Yeah, he comes over. That's a slippery slope though, man. I don't know.

No, you don't want to do it with this guy. Yeah, yeah, okay. I'm talking like, is there a way to combat the unwanted meme would actually It would actually be really funny though. Like if he drove, you know, he drove like an oh three Impala He's like, yeah, man, I gotta get it washed, you know, I gotta get it clean, you know Thank you. That's rust on it. Like really you do I Told you I did I combated weird memes with poop memes and it worked for a while I don't know if that guy listened or whatever. This was like a month ago.

It started back up. So I don't know if the word got back to him that my strategy was out, but so it turns out the poop and fart memes don't exactly turn everyone off. What about a shirts off selfie? That would probably do it for me. That would probably do it. That's a game changer. I don't speak.

I don't know. This guy's got moves. He might come up with something more uncomfortable. So I don't know. Speaking of this guy's got moves, he might come up with something more uncomfortable, so I don't know if I want to take that step either. I had an old guy moment at Trader Joe's the other day. Can't wait to hear this. Yeah. I was, I was rummaging through the stock and I looked at the eggs and I was like,

damn audibly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like when, when Jim tells Will Ferrell that some people around the office Damn. Audibly. Yeah. Yeah. Like when, when Jim tells Will Ferrell that some people around the office think he might be sexist, Craig is like, damn. As soon as he says it, great delivery, great delivery by Darrell.

Um, so I was like, man, one, it was just wiped out. Cause if you want to sell something out, all you have to do is say you're only allowed one, you know, if I ran a retail store, we couldn't move something and be like, man, our half shorts are still, we're still way overstocked. It'd be like one per customer. I just put the sign up. So the eggs were just, it was a, it looked like I am legend. So I get to the checkout and Ramon's there

in his just vibrant shirt. And I go, what's going on with the eggs, man? Has that been a thing? And he's just like, gave me this look. Like, I don't fucking care. Fuck you, man. Yeah, right. And as soon as I said it, as soon as I said it,

I was like, man, what are you doing? What are you, why are you talking to the checkout people? Solo, why are you inquiring about, although I would say Trader Joe's, the scattering report is there's a lot of people at that checkout that would love to engage. Oh yeah. Yeah.

That would love that question specifically, yeah. Yeah. They probably got you to prepare a statement for it. I've tried the chocolate almonds. Yeah, there's just, exactly Sarutti, that's kind of what I was going with, but this was an outlier. He was not part of management training

or wherever the Trader Joe's has that. Okay, we got a fifth grader emailing in. No way. I don't know if this is real or not. Fifth grader needing advice. Hi, my name's Tate, I'm in fifth grade, I'm 4'11". That's pretty good. No gym stats, I prefer soccer over basketball.

Nice. Shout out to Saruti, who also hates everything from the early 2000s. Well, my dad puts me to bed. Well, that's not true. Either. That's not true at all, but okay. Oh, 2000's a great time.

My dad puts me to bed, he either reads me a chapter of the book, tells me the movie plot, or tells me what the life advice was about. When he explains the life advice, I make him give me all the details, but sometimes he forgets so I ask to listen and he let me listen for the first few minutes. He turned it off when there were bad words. I really want to listen to it with him in bed, but he won't let me. Come on.

My question is how can I convince him to let me listen? Maybe just for one episode you could not curse, just for the life advice part. Thanks. This is part. Thanks. Sorry. I just swore. People read into a lot of fifth graders in bed? Yeah, I was read through, I think. 11? 10, 11?

Yeah, I had a little brother around that time, so that extended story time for me, we shared a room. So it was probably supposed to be done around then. And then my little brother, you know, we started sharing a room. So, so yeah, I probably, you know, stopped believing in Santa Claus really early, but still had bedtime stories for a while.

Are you serious? But it was, it was more like to him and I was just there in the top bunk, like, you know. But you had a good time. You were not into it though, yeah. I wasn't not into it, you know, it was that seemed like some sort of cheat code, you know But yeah, it was it was yeah, it was around there But hey, I knew about Santa Claus by like five but still had a lot of bedtime five

Yeah, and I told people to my mom, you know child divorce. My mom was like, you know Single mom in an apartment and my dad was remarried with a whole family. And I think I just asked her and she was just like, yeah, that's my rule. If you ask me, I'll tell you the truth. So like, boom, Santa Claus was done early. And then I went over to a Christmas party and there was a bunch of kids in the basement.

I was like, you guys, you're not going to believe this. And then so one of the older kids ran up. She's like, Kyle's ruining Christmas for everyone. It was like a really bad Christmas party. But anyway, I knew Santa early, but you know, definitely before my teens was done with the stories. But maybe like 12. I don't know. I was again, I was a bystander. I don't think that's a real fifth grader emailing us. I don't think so. Yeah, I think it's his dad. I think kid at 10 or 11, it's heard all of these words, unless you drive him to

school every day, which I would advise against. I know it's extra time with your kids, but I think you need those, those rough edges on the bus, the hardening of the bus, figuring out a way to get in the back. Yeah. Yeah. Oh man, my bus route. I, so I lived like on the outskirts of our town and I had it was like 45 minutes to an hour One way both times it was I would fall asleep on the back of the bus guy

We're back in the rankings They'd wake me up because I would just fall asleep on the bus when I was like, you know elementary school We're trying to figure out how to throw shit out the windows back of the bus was a really great time We we had a deal, I don't know, we were aggressive enough. Throw stuff out the window. Maybe fifth grade, I think fifth grade's when we first started doing it, because we would go by our street,

but then we would take a left and go all the way, the other way around, so we'd be like the last drop off. So it's not that I lived that far away from the elementary school, but it was basically the loop that we took, we went the furthest way out and then circled back around. So it'd be the last, it would just suck. It was crazy. Yeah.

Right. So then we started asking, I think we got a note once from a parent to be like, can we, can we get dropped off at this corner and then walk down the street? But the street that I lived on was like one of the most dangerous streets. It was so bad. And we just started forging the notes and the bus driver was in outer space anyway. And we just kept handing him these notes being like,

please allow my son fill in the blank. There was like three of us. And then we'd all get off and be like, this is a whole new world. And then some guys whipped beer cans at us in the middle of the day as they were driving by. It was kind of a real redneck stretch of, of this Connecticut thing.

And, uh, that was the end of that. My father's man, the best. So my father, I don't know what you're talking about. He was like, what are the car sounds like? Yeah. I mean, he was like ready to go looking for him. All right. Um, how about one Verc? Now, Verc's got enough love.

Okay. We'll save that for Friday feedback. I don't mean to sound anti-Verc. By the way, after dinner last night, the Enora, the Russian kid, table next to me, MBD. Like man, it went wild. Yeah. I. Like man, wild. Yeah.

I will see it, but. All right. Uh, I don't want friends six one 34 years old, two 15. I've never been to the gym. Michael Kate Gilchrist on offense. Keante George on defense. Deandre Aiden's thought process. Not the combo you want on a scanning report about a year ago. I was fired from my job.

I turned to sports betting and came up with a system. Great. Solved gambling. You and Sruity both. I did for like three weeks. Plus a rather large settlement for wrongful termination. I've never had many friends. When I was younger, I would have killed to have friends.

Now the thought of doing anything socially is mentally draining. The only time I leave my house is if my wife wants me to do something. Some guys will listen to me and be like, this fucking guy's got a wife. My wife operates a private golf course. She occasionally tells people about the money I've won. I simply tell people I'm retired. The combination of making an obscene amount of money and free golf at my wife's course has led me to people wanting to become my friend. And by be my friend, I mean, texting me, what are we betting on or want to play golf? All of these people got my number from my wife, usually the husband of her friends, or people that never used to text me. How do I get people to stop texting? My current system is

if you're pushy about wanting my bets, I come up with a bet I know it's going to lose and send that to you. Oh, wow. Hoping if you lose enough, you leave me alone. The second option is just ignore them. Then my wife wants to get dinner with them. It's awkward. I would occasionally play golf with some people, but usually respond courses pack. Can't get a tee time. Is there a solution to this problem? I'd say stay on this path, buddy. And you're going to reach your goals.

I think your wife is begging for a friend. She's sending people your way. Uh, yeah, I think, uh, I think you're, what you're driving your wife nuts is what it sounds like. She's just giving your number to anyone who might be able to get you out of the house. Yeah, look, he's, he's sending some slips here. This is pretty good stuff. You know, I congrats, man. I mean, if you're, if you figured out how to crack the code here,

I mean, you clearly don't care. So why don't you just say it? Like, I don't want to be your friend. Period. Yeah. I mean, that is your birthday. That email was pretty straightforward. You're obviously pretty smart, not only with your basketball combination comp there,

which was creative and funny and very specific. If you really are pulling this off. And I only say that not to dispute what you're telling us, the information that you've shown us on some of these golf parlays, uh, that I just looked at and the numbers again, if these are the real numbers, like you're killing it. Um, I don't, why, what, what part of you wants to be cool about this because of your wife? Yeah.

Like lean into being the shady sort of like scary guy that nobody wants to talk to. That white guy. I want to talk to anybody. The ball guy from white lotus. Yeah. Listen that. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm three episodes in. I'm excited. Excited for some to happen. That's for sure. Yeah, it is going a little slow. Anything. So you know what's funny? I was good at high. It's funny that that came up because I was going to zag and be like, yeah, man, I've been waiting to kind of zag on the White Lotus thing because nothing's happened so far. I've enjoyed the three episodes. But yeah, what happened? Well, look, it's already been a successful show for two seasons.

Totally, I love it. He can get away with the seed planning, but I don't think you're wrong by saying we're going a little slow here. But I don't mind slow. I don't mind slow. I think a lot of people mind slow. The best part.

Yeah, go ahead. The best part of the show is the three female friend relationship, right? Because it's just so well written. How, like, I'm not gonna spoil anything, but it is just so perfect how that is written. Yeah, yeah. I'm giving it the massive benefit of it now.

Totally, totally. If you were bringing someone in season three for the first time, they would be like, why does everybody talk about this? All right, so not great life advice. So a little white load of season three review at the end of there. Can I just really quickly for the people who are probably gonna inevitably get mad on reddit I'm not anti watching The Wire I will I just 10 years ago when I tried to watch it it just didn't hit for me maybe it will at

another point I'm not saying it's not great it probably is I've heard it's the top three show of all time I just haven't seen it but just want to get that out there. Can I get one thing off my chest too? It's a bus. It probably is. I've heard it's the top three show of all time. I just haven't seen it. But just want to get that out there. Can I get one thing off my chest too? There's a bus thing I learned about recently. So from third to fifth grade, I lived directly across. You are a mass transport guy. Yeah. Mass transit, I guess I should say.

Transit, yeah. From third to fifth grade, I lived directly across from my intermediate school, so it's three to five. And my mom would not let me cross the street to do it, like, until it just walked to school, so I had to take, I was the first kid on the bus in the morning that left the school, pulled out, picked me up on the other side of the road, hour-long bus. She always told me it was because she didn't trust me crossing the street, but the truth is she wanted to

leave for work early, so she made me ride the bus, the full route of the bus. I could see the school from my bus stop, and it was sort of a busy road, but I learned this probably a couple summers ago when we were talking about it. I was like, you just didn't trust me to cross the street? Let me ride my bike, and she was like, I really just needed to get to work,

you know what I mean? And I didn't want you in the house while I was gone, so you're out there at like 6.45 in the morning so I could leave. And I was like, this is fucking crazy. This is a conspiracy. Sorry for cursing to that fake fifth grader. But yeah, first kid on the bus the whole route.

Damn. Because she wanted to be able to leave for work early without me being like home. So, blew my mind. Think of all the camaraderie you had in the back of the bus though. You know, you never had that. Yeah, a lot of time to get up to stuff.

I agree, but I just, I always thought cause she was like, had my safety in mind. She just wanted to get out of work without me like rummaging through stuff in the house or whatever she thought I was going to be doing. So, um, yeah, but just think about like how much later in life you would have learned about cigarettes and firecrackers. You wonder though, if she had to sell that a little bit, because those child truce later on in your, I mean, you get to, you have a,

I've had a couple of my forties, I'm like, that's what that was? And it's, it's traumatic, but she may have just told neighbors, she's like, you know, I'm still reading to him at night. Yeah. All right, Thanks to Kyle. Thanks to Saruti.

Thanks to John Frias and also Orgon. He was with us in spirit, but that'll do it. Again, the full pod is now a video on Spotify. Check out our YouTube page. I'm your silver podcast ranger, Scott. Music