The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Todd McShay's 2022 NFL Mock Draft. Plus: What Five NBA Teams Think About the Top of the NBA Draft

Episode Date: March 17, 2022

Russillo shares what five NBA teams are thinking about the top of the 2022 NBA draft class (0:33). Then Ryen talks with ESPN's Todd McShay about his latest 2022 NFL mock draft. They discuss all the uncertainty free-agent signings and trades have brought to the top QB prospects, top WRs, NFL combine superstar DT Jordan Davis, McShay's top 10 draft prospects, second-round sleepers, and more (8:34). Finally, Ryen answers some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (50:44). Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Todd McShay Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

today's podcast uh todd mcshay with his latest mock draft we're going to talk about picks the top we do the quarterbacks again but we also have a bunch of other stuff like we do some comps with the receivers talk about players dropping there's just a lot of really good stuff we go in depth on this one also five front offices on the top picks in the NBA draft as you get ready for the tournament. So I've got some stuff with that and life advice with Kyle. It's all next. Today's podcast, we have a lot going on, as we said at the very open, but I wanted to share something with you because this is something that I really enjoy doing and sharing with you to give you some insight on one of my favorite parts of the job is getting to talk to people that actually do this for a living and run NBA teams.

So with the tournament starting up, I wanted to run through kind of how five teams, and again, this is not a consensus from the team. It's somebody that works for a team. So it's not always the GM, although sometimes it is. But I have five teams that are willing to share with me how they see the top of the NBA draft with the tournament getting started. So let's cut to it because I've started to do all my work this week and I've watched a lot of Chet Holmgren. I've watched a lot of Jabari during the regular season just because I started to like watching him more and more and more. And then Boncaro, I think I caught a ton at the beginning and then gaps in the middle. And then I kind of go back and watch all of this stuff again, which certainly makes my life a little busier the rest of the way. So I'm not as locked in as the non-top tier guys,

but I wanted to ask teams about this. So basically it was like, how do you see your top group in the NBA draft? These guys have been watching it now 30 plus games for the college season. And then give me how that relates to Chet Holmgren, who I think is not the mystery guy throughout this, but he was earlier projected to be number one. I think that Boncaro had that run, and I think Jabari is more of a consensus

now when I talk to even more teams and the ones that are going to share this with us. So let's just jump to it. All right, first team, I was like, all right, what's up? And then revolve it around Chet. And in order, he had Jabari Smith, Chet number two, and then Boncaro three. And then in his next five, he had Ivy from Purdue, Matherin, the guard, who's a little bigger at Arizona,

and then Keegan Murray from Iowa. And then he's got A.J. Griffin at Duke, who got off to a really slow start. That's Adrian Griffin's son. Remember Adrian coming on, the assistant from the Raptors, who I just loved watching as a role player to the Celtics. And then he's got Johnny Davis. So basically, he sees it as the three guys.

This is more on the consensus side of things, where it's Smith, Chet, Bancaro, and then a drop. Now, not all teams see it this way, but I'd say this is along more of the consensus. And this front office executive, his quote is, Chet goes one or two, two skill to pass on, and he's held up really well physically this year. No real weakness other than the obvious part,

which is body and his lack of physicality. All right, so that was actually pretty positive on the Chet body type where we had Gottlieb on, who, by the way, Gottlieb was saying to GM, was like, have we ever seen a hunchback in the NBA when you watch Chet? Because he has sort of this weird gait to him, even though he's a very fluid player.

His hands, his feet, his timing, all that stuff. He's not some seven-foot-one skinny guy that's super awkward out there that blocks some shots and hits some threes. Chet can move around all over the floor. Gonzaga did a great job using him, and you weren't going to post him up the whole time because Timmy's down there on the block,

kind of an old-school postgame anyway. So Chet's off-the-ball stuff, all that. Now I'm starting to break it down more. Let's get back to the teams. Okay, I asked another scout, and I said, okay, what do you have in the first tier? And he said, I cut it at four. It's Chet, Jabari, Paolo Bancaro, and then Jaden Ivey.

He said, quote, I see Chet as a guy who always has been able to be productive even without the ball at every level and now has played with defensive player of the year potential. Paolo, I'm putting his name on the rookie of the year award right now, but think the jump the other two have made, especially

in the last couple of years, is just more upside than Paolo, but he's still going to be super productive for a really long time. If he ever buys in defensively, I would have him over Jabari. And frankly, I still might at the end of the month. He continues, quote, Jabari is the classic third score

in a really good team, Rashard Lewis type, Tobias type. That scares the shit out of me. I'll just admit when I read that part, I was like, wait, like if that's what you're going to be. I know Rashard was a nice player. Tobias, like I know Tobias puts up numbers.

He disappears with Philadelphia. I'm sorry. And I think there's always a weird thing when I realize you've been on five teams before you're 30. That kind of tells you, oh, why do teams just keep... He keeps getting signed,

but it seems like every time he's somewhere, the team is like, I think we're good on this one. So that would actually scare me, that kind of comp, because I would hope Jabari could be a little bit more than that. I think he would be with different guards at Auburn. Going back to the quote,

quote, he's been much better, but still see him more as a good help team defender, more so than being able to lock anyone up one-on-one. He's been good funneling guys to Walker Kessler, the big white guy in the center there, transferred over from NC. And if he's that big shot, if he's got a big shot blocker behind him,

that's probably what you're teaching him to do and that's valuable. On Ivy, quote, Ivy has the most upside of any of the perimeter guys and I'm dying on that hill. But he also probably has a steep floor where if he doesn't shoot and he's just a crazy athlete who never figures out how to properly attack NBA defenses, he's like a lot of other guys

who sadly are now in the G League. That said, his production was pretty steady all year and when he knew he could go and attack the way he wanted, he was a monster. He showed his emotions probably too much for some guys at times getting frustrated playing through the bigs, but he also has that FU factor where he

knows if he is the man and he gets a chance to play where things are more free, he's going to be even better. He breaks down some of the other guys. We'll get to that maybe a different day. Okay, another front office member. I said, all right, give me your cut on the first tier.

And in order, he has it Chet 1, Jabari 2, Paolo 3, because I think it's close. Reasonable case to be made for all of them. And then in only his second tier, he has two names. It's A.J. Griffin and Jaden Ivey. All right. Another executive. I go, give me the same thing.

All right. In order, this surprised me. Jabari Smith and then Sharp out of Kentucky, Jaden Ivey, Chet, then Ben Carroll. Questions about Ben Carroll's defense and his position. Chet is competitive, skilled, smart, worry about his body and position. And there you go. That really surprised me. And I've got one more that I'll share with us today. All right. So in order, this is the first tier from another executive. Jabari one, Jaden Ivey two, Paolo three, Chet Holmgren four.

So, um, he believes this is the top four for about five weeks. And then I said about specifically with Chet, he goes, quote, he's so skilled and talented. He's not soft. He's not been hurt either, but that frame scares me. Uh, his dad is the same body structure. It's an athletic performance staff, deep dive above anything else. I also think he's a four and not a five at his size he's at. In games that I've seen him live against

his conference competition, he still gets bumped off spots. His skill and talent is so intriguing, but he's not the frame of Mobley or Przingis or others that were coming out. Boncaro has some hesitation with his first step in quickness, but his body and skill translates right away at this size

and Smith and Ivy are total locks at one and two so there you go get ready for the tournament and check out some of those guys the Chet thing is going to be really really hard it's going to be really hard and Chet goes one to a team

that doesn't give a shit or it's a GM that goes I have so much equity. That's why the Presti thing is, Presti won't care. He'll take them. We've all seen that Presti can put together really competitive rosters. He's done a really good job. If you're a front office that could maybe get fired in 12 to 18 months, you're probably not taking check. And that might have as much to do with who goes number one or number two than anything.

Never forget that part. The survival instincts of the general manager. Todd McShay from ESPN joins us. Make sure to check out his draft podcast, First Draft, every Thursday from ESPN with Mel Kiper Jr. and Field Yates. So the newest mock is out. I imagine we're days away from another new one coming up here. Yeah, this mock, Ursula, really isn't worth any more than the paper

that it was printed on because I ruined the paper with the print. I mean, I shouldn't say that. Obviously, I made nine. Way to promote it, Todd. Great. I made nine. Way to promote it, Todd. I made nine changes in a 24-hour period from my first draft of it, if you will.

Because the Jaguars, they franchise-tagged Cam Robertson and left tackles. That kind of signaled that they were leaning Aidan Hutchinson, the defensive end from Michigan. And then we had Seattle moving had Seattle moving into that number nine spot with trade with Russell Wilson's Denver. And it's just kind of all shuffled, you know, and, oh,

and then, and then the commanders bring in, bring in Wentz, a quarterback. So now I had Kenny Pickett going there as the first quarterback. So it was a disaster. It was a disastrous 24 hours in my life. Nobody cares.

But yeah, and even since then, there's been obviously so much movement, not necessarily the quarterbacks. As we tape this right now on Wednesday afternoon, I was just told by a friend in the league that he thinks Deshaun Watson's going to make a decision within the next 24 hours. So where does he go?

Is it Carolina? Is it Atlanta? Is it the Saints? It's going to take away one of the teams that we think could go after a quarterback in the first round. Okay, that's actually good. I wasn't going to start with the quarterbacks here because we've covered this. We know it's a bad class. But let's at least focus on that part of it.

Can't go wrong. Spend at least a few minutes on this because you know as it stood after Washington who sits there at 11 you know whether that's a landing spot for picket the Giants are saying all the right things about Daniel Jones with picks five and seven uh the way I have it in your most recent mock then with the Washington part of this and Seattle telling people that despite trading Russell Wilson, that drew lock is the guy, which, you know,

I don't go ahead. I'm not sure about that one either. And granted, they're not going to say like, yeah, we traded for him, but we're going to try to replace him immediately. Everybody's saying the right things,

but it seems to push the class down because you've got picket going 18 to New Orleans. As you point out, maybe Deshaun changes that. You've got Malik Willis now going 20th. You had Sam Howell going. Trubisky, I don't know, 24 hours after the mock draft came out, Trubisky goes to Pittsburgh.

That doesn't prevent them by any stretch. Actually, it makes it more appealing to take a guy like Malik Willis, who's going to need time and is going to need to sit behind a veteran for a year and learn. He just went to Liberty, and it was two years after playing as a backup and transferring from Auburn. And I just think he needs time probably more so than any of these quarterbacks that we're talking about.

So I would still draft Malik Willis if I'm going to steal or sitting at 20 with Trubisky there. But it certainly takes away a little bit of the urgency, too. I would still draft Malik Willis if I'm the stealer sitting at 20 with Trubisky there, but it certainly takes away a little bit of the urgency too. Okay. All right. So this is good because I know that you like Malik the most as far as talent out of the quarterback class, but it wasn't always going to be that reflection in your draft process or at least the mock draft process. Let me throw this at you then. If Philadelphia is sitting there with number 15 from Miami and they've got the 16 pick there from the colts if they go back to back how does malik willis compare to jalen hurts i think if everything pans out well he's

a better version of jalen hurts you know and and by that i mean i mean he can be a top 13, top 15 quarterback in the league. I don't know that he's ever going to be a top 10 guy in the league. And that's, again, assuming everything works out, that he gets the right quarterback coaching, that he's brought along in the first year, that he's capable of picking the things up that he needs to learn, that he still hasn't learned. You know, Hugh Freeze, his coach at Liberty,

told me when we were talking for about a half hour on the sideline at the Senior Bowl, he said, Malik, it's not his fault, but he doesn't know what he doesn't know yet because he hasn't had to do a ton of things. In their quarterback friendly offense, he's going to get in the league and what goes through his brain

pre-snap is going to be totally different from what was going through his brain pre-snap in college you know he's gonna have to set the protections he's gonna have to figure out you know what the defense is looking in terms of a pre-snap shell and and then post-snap what's what's the disguise and what what am i supposed to do when i see that disguise and i actually do figure out what it's cover three instead of cover two um all those things things he didn't have to deal with. It was just, Hey, I got the best arm of any quarterback in this league.

I'm on the best arms of college football. I'm probably the most athletic and explosive dynamic, whatever you want to call it, runner of all the quarterbacks in this class and maybe in college football. So I can get away with it. I can get away with anything, you know, and that's how he played. And that was great. And it's great that he has those tools to develop. But I just hope he goes somewhere where they can actually develop him

as a quarterback, as a pocket passer, as a thinker, and get him in two, three years to, you know, to make the kinds of improvements that Jalen Hurts has made. Let's face it, Jalen Hurts was a different quarterback in the second half of the season than he was, not even close compared to what he was when he came out. So I hear what you're saying with the Eagles, but then again, I've got Jalen Hurts.

And so I'm gambling that I'm getting a little bit better version of Jalen Hurts. Why not just take these three picks and draft the three best players in this class? Could be all defense. We need an edge rusher. We need a linebacker. We need, you know, a lot of help on the defensive side. I know they drafted two wide receivers back-to-back in the first round the last two years, and they put them in rare company.

I think the Lions were the only other team to go three years in a row with a first-round wide receiver. But if you need one, you need one. You know, they missed on Rager. They hit on Devontae Smith. And so they need another receiver. And that's the bottom line. And that's kind of the sweet spot, too, where, you know,

if a Drake London were to fall to 15, snatch him up. I don't think Garrett Wilson from Ohio State is going to fall to that range. But, you know, Trelon Burks from Arkansas, this big physical slot receiver, good after the catch. He could be available there. And Chris Olave could be available at 19. That would be a good value. The other Ohio State wide receiver was a speedster and a really good vertical route runner.

So the point for me, if I were Howie Roseman, the GM of the Eagles, I would pass on quarterback in this class, even though I like Malik Willis. But I think I've got a quarterback that I know what my quarterback is, and I know we can win with him. Assuming he continues to get better and we can put three starters and impact players around him, whether it's on the offensive side and or on defense, that to me seems like the right route for the future of the Eagles.

All right, that was good. That was a lot there. Let's right route for the future of the Eagles. All right. That was good. That was a lot there. Let's stay on the receiver part of this because you have Garrett Wilson going, I believe, seventh to the Giants. Yeah. And then you have Drake London on USC going eight to Atlanta. I don't love doing this, but do you have comps for both Wilson and London? I would say C.D. Lamb for Wilson.

Just because, you know, studying C.D. Lamb coming out of college and seeing what he's done in the pros, where he excels is his ability to be under control and adjust to the ball. The body control is unique. Both of them have that same kind of ability. Ball's up in the air. I don't care.

He was under 6'1", I think, right at 6'1", at the combine. Garrett Wilson was. Garrett, yeah, he measured right over 6'. Yeah, so go ahead. Yeah, I'm 6'1". Good luck getting this ball. You know, like you got your back turned to quarterback until the last second.

I know where this ball is going and I can adjust to anything. And that's what he is. And Olave is the vertical route runner. He's the guy who's always running down the field, running the nine routes, running the posts, running all those sorts of routes down the field. And he's great at it, but he's supposed to be the track star and he was supposed to run the four threes and garrett wilson everyone was kind of you know

scouts who loved him and were banging on the table for him were kind of hoping that he would run in the mid four fours and he came out and ran a 438 and a lave ran a 439 so what are you missing with garrett wilson so i didn't cd lamb like, it's the same, like body control balls in the air, nudging, checking in the hand, you know, turning around, figuring out where the ball is adjusting, getting your toes in the sideline. They do all those similar things. Drake's a different cat. He's a tough, he's a tough comp. You know, you can go with any bigger receiver in the league, but what makes him different?

He's not a burner, you know different, he's not a burner. He's not Metcalf. He's not as yoked up. He was up to 219, I think, in the combine. He plays around 210, 212. He's got that basketball background. He had the most contested catches of any receiver in the country in the Power Five the power five the last two years i mean there's 23 of them and you you see that basketball background he averaged 29.2 points per game and hoops and 11.9 uh rebounds i mean he just he was a great high school player got recruited a bunch of places he actually played on the trojans basketball team uh for a year and then decided to commit fully to football but uh the point is is, you can see the basketball background in his game. And at 6'4", 219, yeah, he doesn't have elite speed,

but he's such a smooth athlete. He's great when the ball's in the air. And the other thing is, he can run after the catch. There aren't many guys in the league, and that's why it's a tough comp. There aren't many guys in the league that can actually's why it's a tough comp. There aren't many guys in the league that can actually get the ball on a post and make a defender miss. I'm not saying he's breaking ankles,

but he's making guys miss, and he's tough to bring down after the catch. So I really, I love those two guys. I think they're clearly the best two. You can have Drake ahead of Garrett or Garrett ahead of Drake. That's fine. And then there's a little bit of drop off the other the other receivers when i watch drake todd i see a baller like all right that's my ball and it just it almost looks like a kid who lied on

his on his birth certificate at times at sc right and when i think about garrett it gets almost like you get lost sometimes because of how good Olave and uh Smith and Jigba are and I know what you're gonna say because you're gonna go how ridiculous is it that Jamison Williams is fourth who ends up at Bama who I think may have gone first of all the receivers if he doesn't blow it as ACL and I got into it with um I don't know it's just one of those weird Ohio State football fans things because I find a portion of the Ohio State football fan base to be as brutal as maybe any fan base in North America of any sport.

Oh, come on, man. They're so friendly. Right. And so my argument was that Buckeyes fans still were arguing, like, anytime Jameis Williams did something awesome, it's like fourth on our depth chart. You're like, I know he was. I know that he was, but I'm just telling you that this guy would not have been on the bench.

The guy that we saw at Bama this year. And by the way, Bama may have another national championship if that kid doesn't hurt himself. Yeah. You can talk about Will Anderson. You can talk about Bryce Young. They could be the first two picks of the 2023 draft. Jamison Williams is the reason they played in the national championship.

Don't get that mixed up. There was one guy that made the biggest difference in just about every game. And it was as a returner at times. I love the fact that what a day. The gunner coverage, his coverage. And the best thing, when I fell in love, and listen, I've talked to Ohio State people and Alabama people, and I keep hearing the same,

like, you know, he's not a great practice player, and that's probably why he didn't get on the field at Ohio State. You talk to Ohio State people, they're like, yeah, he just didn't show up in practice all the time. It's like, yeah, but I don't care what he does Sunday to Friday. Like. If I get Saturday on Sundays next year, I'm good. I'll take the top five pick.

I'll take that guy. But I love the fact that he knows at this point, late in the season, he knows he's a top 10 pick. He goes down and gets a targeting and Auburn has to set out the rest of that game. Comes back out the rest of the set out the rest of that game comes back in and one of the first plays in the SEC championship game he goes and decapitates the dude on punt coverage I don't care like that's just in my DNA that's who I am but no by the way I'm gonna I'm just gonna call a timeout on us because I think we may have done this already because we freaked out about him on punt coverage so much and it's awesome but now i feel like i'm annoying because i won't stop talking about james williams

instead of the rest of the class so i'm saying so like like garrett's probably gonna go first he ran a 4-3-8 drake didn't run right he didn't do any of the stuff he just got measured right that ankle injury that he got in october okay all right so do we have a ballpark of what he is he's got to be like what a four or five guy yeah four or five five would be my guess right okay and by the way what was with the times is this one of those weird years because I remember you and

I used to be hanging out there be a weird year where I'm like is everybody running downhill what what what is going on with this class of times because this year's class was like all timertimer with these burners left and right. It was wild. Some people had a theory that it had to do with the electronic time, and it was off.

If you notice after, I mean, who would notice unless you're there and covering it or you're a scout. But normally, at the end of the position group, they have the official times up. And they would. But then like four hours later, wide receiver, I think particularly, they came back like four hours later and adjusted again. Because there's something to do with the time. Like, I don't understand. Here's the thing.

I'm sitting in a hotel room in indianapolis i want to i want to i want a meal i get on my phone for 30 seconds press some buttons hit you know hit send hit order 43 minutes later from a restaurant seven miles down the road in a hotel room on the 23rd floor I get a delivery of a filet mignon cooked medium rare, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and a dessert. Must be nice. You know, 40 and 40. But it takes four hours to figure out in 2022 that a guy starts from here and 40 hours later stops there. We don't have an official time. It's absurd.

I know I'm getting off on a ramp, but that went on the whole week. And then the other thing that I heard outside of something was off the electronic timing was that the turf had been replaced. And so a newer turf creates faster times. So who knows? But it was regardless, even if it's off by a fraction, these times were still outstanding. Even if they weren't record setting, it was the consistency of them like the linebackers were running better than most running backs the wide receivers were it set the record for the most sub four fours or tied it going back to like 2013 whatever it was like every single at the end of every single session you saw some sort of record being broken with the number of guys running that fast. And it speaks to this class. I know we don't have first-round running backs.

I know we don't have first-round tight ends. I know that these quarterbacks all belong in the late first, early second-round range. But my God, are these defensive linemen, pass rushers especially on the outside, linebackers, cornerbacks, and offensive linemen. I mean, they're ready. They're fast. They're like the next generation of talent. And it's fun to watch.

Yeah, Jordan Davis, the D-tackle from Georgia, put on an absolute show. But then when you think about the combine, you think about the love for him. I think a casual fan, and i don't mean like a derogatory of the casuals but they will look at your mock and go well how come this guy's outside of the top 20 um i would argue too like i remember there was a time where it didn't feel like college was giving us any zero technique defensive tackles guys lining up directly over the center and it's like if you can actually get one of those guys and then maybe able to stay on the field a little bit more i mean hell if you get a if you get a two one of those guys and then maybe able to stay on the field a little bit more.

I mean, hell, if you get a two down, zero technique, it was like if you got Hinch Woolfolk back in the day, you couldn't find those guys. All right, cut me off. Tell me all the reasons I need to be cut off. Here's the problem that you have with Jordan Davis specifically. And he's such a topic of conversation because what we just saw like it it goes against like physics it can't be possible right it can't be possible to be 341 pounds and run a what was a 478 in the 40 yard dash and 10-3 broad jump like watching it live in person it's like oh my lord like how how is this happening but the problem with him is he's taken off 20 pounds. It was at, what did I say, 341.

And he normally plays around 360. You talk to coaches, the coaching staff, and it's like they're pulling their hair out. And it's not just in November. It's in February. It's in June. Like, it's a year-round battle of trying to keep weight off. Because this is what he can be when he gets down in that 335, 340 range. He can be special. Out of this world, a different class of athlete and a different class of defensive tackle, and you can get 40 plays out of him. And then it's worth it to take

him in the top 10. But what you're banking on is that all of a sudden he's working with pro trainers and getting his body ready for the NFL. And it's not just a combine thing to cash in on money. And you can't guarantee me that's not the case. But you're banking on that if you're drafting him in the top 20. Because otherwise, if he goes back to 360, and you saw him, we all saw him on tv cameras and i've seen him watching tape right here you know on where i have my video set up like after two downs or after like six plays on the first series of a game late in the year when when it's not 97 degrees and humid he's you know pulling his jersey and he wants out they they were trying to keep his pitch count to 25 27 snaps a game

i don't care how great he is for 25 27 snaps he's not going to be a 10 sack a year guy never going to be even if he's at 335 pounds at best he's going to be like a 6 7 8 8 sack guy a year again at best and so you're getting a great run defender and you love that, but you're only getting 25, 27 snaps. Is that worth it? And that's what every single scout in the league is kind of debating within their war rooms with the general managers and defensive line coaches,

defensive coordinators. It's like, what are we truly getting? And are we convinced we can keep him at this weight? So he's fascinating to me because I would love to see him, like, get committed to this new body that he has. And if he does, he's got a chance to be special. And everyone in the world, apparently, I've seen it on Twitter, everyone in the world is mocking him at 17 in the Chargers

because it's around where he's going to go. And the Chargers have been so abysmal in run defense for several years, back to that um the patriots divisional loss in the playoffs a few years ago uh but you know if you take him at 17 you get 40 plays out of him a game and he's 335 pounds awesome you you won the draft in the first round if you get the 360 pound versions playing 25 snaps probably should wait until the second round. Unbelievable answer on Jordan Davis. Not sure if I want to go with the guys that have broken down the tape and talked to his coaches in college or the guy that watched a couple of his broad jumps on Twitter.

But TBD. TBD on who I want to side with on that one. Let's go back to the top of the draft then. You have Aiden Hutchinson, defensive end from Michigan. Let's play this game. Speaking of Georgia, Aiden goes on this tear you know I think when you when you have almost that Tebow hyperventilating cadence of speaking it's like man this guy's an animal he's just hyped up he's all about it he's ready to go all the time uh and Aiden has some of that he destroys Ohio State in that game and then we see a clip of him getting just crumpled against Georgia.

And now it turns into, especially if you're an SEC guy, like, oh, see, this is what happens. How unfair is that about Aiden, even specific to that game? Because I've talked to you and look, I've talked to other people who are like, they knew he was the game wrecker and they just went, all right, let's just put a ton of resources into him. And you still have a number one. And I think people, now that they see that, they go back to this clip and go,

oh, this guy sucks, actually, because he played the big boys in Georgia, which is entirely unfair. Yeah, I mean, Georgia would never admit it, but they offensively game-planned around Aiden Hutchinson. There's no greater compliment to a player than that. You know, some defensive end from Michigan, your big bad Georgia,

and they spent the whole week, what do we do to take this guy? player than that you know some some defensive end from michigan your big bad georgia and like they spent the whole week or what do we do to take this guy 97 out of the picture because he's the only one that can mess things up for us and prevent us from going to play for a national championship and that's what they did they threw away from him they screamed away from him when they ran in his vicinity it was double teams and like the whole thing and yeah you can catch a clip here and there of him getting knocked down fine i'm not saying i'm not saying that he's nick bosa and i'm not even 100 sure that he's joey bosa but he's damn close to joey bosa like that's it's every snap the same relentlessness and nick just more athletic. He had a little bit more bend to him.

He was a little bit faster, just a little bit in every category. And Aiden's probably just a slight notch below. But I would take it just a slight notch below Joe Pibosa if he stays on the field and he's healthy any day. That's the kind of player he is. It's not like the 40 time. It's the 10-yard split. It's the three comb that that to me everyone gets caught up and he ran a 474 or whatever the tie i think it was 474 and and

and the boasts ran in the four high four sevens little four eights but it's like what does he do in the first 10 yards and what does he do in his shuttles and like getting back and forth the body control change of direction that's where these guys excel and you just you can be watching on cbs nbc you know espn on sundays like just sitting on your couch having a beer watching games you can see like when they line up and they're showing that side you know sideline view pre-snap like that guy looks different and then when the snap comes like the way they explode out and then just every snap is like the last battle of their life

to save their life. And that's how Hutchinson plays. That's how the boasters play. And that's why I think like you may not get the best athlete and he may not have the greatest upside in the world, but I know for sure Aiden Hutchinson is going to give you

every single ounce that his body has to offer and i'll take that especially in this draft where there's not a quarterback at the top let's go a little quicker on kyle hamilton yeah the notre dame safety you have him going to here which i feel like some people think is high but if you watch him play like i don't care that he ran a four five nine and what seems like a really fast class at six four two twenty when you watch Notre Dame on defense, he's in the middle of the field. There's the 15-yard out. It's like, oh, here comes

Kyle Hamilton coming to blow this shit up every single time. His range at that size, I think he plays way faster than he ran. Oh, not even close. I mean, you tell me he's a 4-5-9 football player after you watch the second interception against Florida State when he's a four, five, nine football player. After you watch the second

interception against Florida State, when he's in quarters coverage on the opposite half of the field, the ball's in the air and he makes a break on it and then gets in front of the receiver, picks it off and gets two feet in to make the interception. Like that rain, I don't care what the stopwatch says. He's a four, four guy in my mind my mind the other thing like when I look at safeties I always think as a I put my quarterback brain back in who's the most annoying player who do I not want to face and it's it's Hutchinson you know it's the guys that are going to get on me in a flash and I know aren't going to take a playoff and and then it's the guy that I don't want to have to throw around Kyle Hamilton is a pterodactyl. I mean, he is so

long, his reach, I watch him sometimes in that overhang, kind of the nickel spot, you know, where he can come off the edge and he blitz me. He can drop into coverage underneath. He can be that seventh or eighth guy, whatever the numbers are in the box. And he can also be man-to-man and press my slot receiver or my flexed out tight end whatever it is he can handle all that and the two things with him reaction time and length with safeties it's so critical i try to study the like and i'll it's amazing like my thumb gets sore going back and forth you know rewind rewind rewind of trying to see like when when's the ball when's the quarterback

not here when the ball is coming out but when the quarterback does that like the first slight to pull the trigger back what does the safety do and he consistently has the fastest reaction time of any player in this draft and then you take that reaction time when you're close to the ball with his length. He's the biggest pain in the ass to throw around in this entire draft class. And that's why if it's two to Detroit, three to the Texans, four to the Jets, I don't care what the number is where he came off the board, and I don't care the last time a safety went this high,

I'm telling you he's going to be a massive impact player, and he's going to be worth the pick when we look back on it five seven years from now yeah and your point too like when he makes that play in the sideline then he finished the rest of the play like there was another level of like hey great pass breakup great range closing speed all that stuff oh and then you had the balance to keep your feet in bounds and your ball security was on top of it all. I couldn't agree more. I saw when he ran the time in effect, again,

like I said, I was like, wait, what the hell? And I go, you know, I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it.

Um, because he's like you said, if you can find a safety that physically can kind of match tight ends, but then also close against the faster guys, that's an incredible weapon to have in today's version of the NFL, because you need somebody physically. You can hang with some of these ridiculous tight ends all right keep it moving here this is turning into the i hate todd uh breakdown of the draft you get a lot of shit for the cave on thibodeau part where

and i think a lot of it too is the draft it happens in the nba all the time like wait i thought this guy was supposed to go three and now he's going six like what's wrong with him or what's right you have him going ninth and he was in the conversation for a good chunk of the year and i think it's always a problem too. When you talk about the lack of, of consistent reps, because I know that there have been players in the past where I feel like I'd read this scouting report.

I think about how I watch them. I'm like, look like Haloni not as a good example of this. Ironically, another Oregon guy where a lot of the knocks where is he consistent enough, consistent enough. He gets in the NFL. He's one of the best interior line for a really long time.

But I don't believe I look, I know you. I'm going to be biased because you're my friend. I don't believe that you'll write shit about Kayvon's inconsistent energy just to write it, which is what this seems to turn into for somebody people thought was going number one. Thibodeau's tough

because he is clearly explosive and he gets to the quarterback and when he doesn't get to the quarterback he he's he is very frequently pressuring the quarterback the problem is what am i getting with kava you know and and i hate this portion of my job to be just totally frank a lot of it is is kind of what i'm hearing and what the concerns are and i have to reflect that in the mock draft and i have to reflect that in the mock draft. And I have to keep that in mind.

I can study all the tape in the world. And yeah, he's one of the five best players and impact players in this draft. But I'm not the one writing a check for $24 million to draft him at number two or number three for the next five years and guaranteed money. It's not coming out of my account. And I'm not the one who's going to lose a job. I'm not saying you're going to lose a job if you have a bust as a number two or number three pick, but you know, you combine that with a couple other mistakes and you're, you're about to pack your bags and move out of town. That's what the concern is. Like you look

at Aiden Hutchinson, you know what you're getting. You look at Kyle Hamilton, you know what you're getting. Eken McQuarrie from NC State, the offensive tackle turned down two Ivy League schools, Harvard and Yale, by the way, to go play at NC State because he won a higher level of competition. Evan Neal, you talked to Nick Saban, the Alabama offensive tackle, and he's not going to talk about six foot six and change and big and physical. The first thing he's going to talk to you about is how intelligent he is. All of these guys that are getting drafted ahead of him, you know what you're getting. And with Thibodeau, you're not sure what you're getting. And that's the problem. If you get the best version of him and you get the guy that you see on the best snaps, then yeah, take him number

two if you're the Detroit Lions. But are you convinced that you're getting that? And then it's little stuff, man. It's just little stuff that adds up and puts little seeds of doubt. If you think of all the players that have been drafted in the last decade, why would you say you're Jadavion Clowney 2.0? Why would you go out and publicly say that? The only thing we talked about leading up to that draft was Jadavion Clowney takes plays off. Is he going to be the player that he's expected to be? He's number one recruit coming out of high school.

Could be the number one overall pick. And the concern are the same concerns, the same concerns that people have about him. Pick anybody else in the league besides Jadavion. And then you tell a lot of people, including people in front offices, yeah, I'm going to go through the whole workout. And then you get to the combine and decide not to work out because you wanted to do linebacker

and defensive line drills. Well, when you're done with the defensive line drills, they put certain people through the linebacker drills. You get that done there. So it's just a lot of inconsistency. And then every time you hear him on a radio interview or something or a TV interview, it's like about the broadcasting. he's, you know, he wants his brand.

Listen, I don't care. I want to know what you're going to do in the football field. But in order to figure out what you're going to do in the football field, scouts spend 15 months evaluating where your mind is at. And that's a big portion of it. So if anyone's wondering, it's because of what I'm hearing and because of what everyone else is hearing. And that's why he's falling. But it's not really about the skill set, even though I do think his skill set is a little bit overrated, to be quite honest. This is the first time I've said that. But I've been grinding through his tape and watching more and more. And I think he's a great player. But I don't think he's the same prospect as the Bosa brothers or Miles Garrett or some of the guys that I put premium, premium grades on. I think he's a notch below. Then you

add some of the other question marks, and that's why I think he's going to drop just... I got him going nine. And he could easily go four to the Jets. He could go five to the Giants. There's no question about it. But he's not, forever, it was Hutchinson or Thibodeau, Thibodeau or Hutchinson, to go number one. And it's just not the case anymore. Give me somebody that's going in the first round and that you're scared of.

And obviously we don't need to do more on Thibodeau, because we've already hit that one. Yeah. Um, that I'm scared of. All the quarterbacks. Yeah, and I don't mean, like, I'm not of all the quarterbacks. You know, and I don't mean like,

it just, first of all, even the years, like last year I was like, you know, I'm in love. I always fall in love with, you know,

two or three, four quarterbacks. Sometimes the quarterbacks are scary because where do they land? And this is a whole like 30 minute conversation we can have offline, or we can do a separate podcast on it one day so much of it is what you're drafted into and i'm not even talking about the you know like good offensive line weapons around you and certainly that's a part of it but just like the culture and the building how many people truly know how to develop that individual like it's the most, you've got quarterback coaches

and trainers, the guys who are, you know, putting their hands on these quarterbacks and spending all this time with them that are making what, you know, combined, I don't know, offensive coordinator, trainer, quarterback coach,

combined a couple million, you know, three million at the most. And these are the most important individuals in sports and they i just don't think there are a lot of people that are out there that are capable of that and so you have to then find a tom brady or an aaron rogers that are transcendent type players and they're only you know in a given generation 10 you know eight nine ten of those guys that can actually overcome the lack of all the things around them.

So I won't go on from that. But my point is it scares me. If Kenny Pickett, we know who he is. I don't think the ceiling's very high. Malik Willis can be outstanding. But what I'm not going to bet on is that he's going to go out of 32 teams in the perfect situation and develop perfectly. It's just hard to bet on is that he's going to go out of 32 teams in the perfect situation and develop perfectly. It's just hard to bet on.

Other guys that scare me, just looking down the list, like Boye Mafe from Minnesota. I'm probably going to bore people, but everyone is so enamored with his workout times and one-on-one drills. It's kind of like the guy that you don't want to play one-on-one with in hoops. You know, you're just like, oh, damn. Like he's down there and I want to play one-on-one with in hoops. You know, you're just like, oh, damn. Like, he's down there and I got to go one-on-one.

He's just because he's better than you skill-wise and he's going to beat you. But you go play five-on-five and he's kind of a non-factor. You play a lot of pickup hoops. Does that make sense? Like, when there's an individual that's better than you, he's going to beat you one-on-one. But when you've got to play a team game and it's like passing and working together and different things, I just don't know that he works well in that regard.

Oh, it makes a lot of sense. Yeah. He's one player that's just a little scary. Derek Stingland, cornerback from LSU. I'm telling you, man, if you sat down in my office with me right now and we watched 2019 tape and took like six hours and studied, you know, the five, six best games of Stingley in 2019 when he had the six interceptions, true freshman, arguably the best team in the history of college football.

And then you compare that to Sauce Gardner, who's going to go ahead of him, maybe five, seven picks ahead of him. I would take 2019 Stingley over 2021 Sauce Gardner. But what happened the last two years? And I know it was the Liz Frank injury. I know the team fell apart. I know the coaching staff was a mess. And leadership from top to bottom just kind of wasn't there.

And there wasn't much to fight for but you opted in you didn't opt out and if you decide to play you gotta play and i just don't understand like what's the purpose in playing if you're going to take bad pursuit angle angles to avoid contact if you're going to get close to the play but then kind of pull up you know that stuff concerns you because it's like the front-runner mentality. And you talk to scouts, that's what they're worried about. Shit goes wrong in the NFL. You know, you can be three and six at one point,

but still somehow have a chance to get in the playoffs. Like, you got to know that your guy that you're drafting in the top ten is going to be not just a guy who's actually going to play consistently, but he's going to be grabbing some young guys and be like, let's go. You know, I need more out of you. What are you getting with Stingley? You know, that's a big concern. And Thibodeau and Stingley are the two guys that are falling. And they're falling not because of the physical, but because of the reliability of that individual.

Is there a second rounder that you love, know isn't going in the first, but will regret it? Oh, there's a bunch of them. Every year, I feel like I like the second rounders more than the first. Because the potential for bust isn't there. But I love Kairi Elam. You know, football family, instinctive,

faster than people thought in his 40, ran like 4.38, I want to say, coming out of Florida. I loved his brother. His brother not working out is still one of the real shock. I love that kid in college, Matt. Yeah, I know. I was shocked, too. Leo Chanel from Wisconsin.

If I hear one more person talk to me about and i'm going after kiker on this soon so don't don't let him know keep it quiet but it like oh he's you know he's great and he's great on first and second down he's great versus the room but what happens just because he's a white dude from wisconsin doesn't mean he can't cover. He's a good player. Leo Chanel, no one knows him. No one wants to talk about him. Everyone's talking about Devin Lloyd from Utah, linebacker. Everyone's talking about N'Kobe Dean from Georgia.

And they should be talking all day long about those two because they're awesome players. They have unbelievable football IQ. And they're awesome in the locker room, both of them. But Chanel is just right behind him, and nobody has seemed to mention his name. I think he's a great player. There's a couple other guys that, to me, just stand out and I think are going to wind up being studs in the league. One of them is D'Angelo Malone from Western Kentucky, another edge rusher. This class is loaded with edge rushers.

And then Zion Johnson. Give me a Boston College offensive lineman every year, and we'll wind up being pretty good up front. He actually transferred from Davidson to Boston College. Zion Johnson did. And he came in, and they played great at guard. They moved him up to tackle to get the best offensive line. Struggled a little bit there. This past year, they moved him back into guard guard. He was awesome. He came to the Senior Bowl.

They moved him to center just to see if he could play it. He was great all week long. I think a team that needs an offensive lineman that doesn't get one in the first, Zion Johnson's going to be a stud in the league for 10 years. He's the nephew of Matt Elam.

So, and then I did a little, that's right. And then I did a little deeper dive on Matt and it seems like everything's worked out, but let's just put it this way. He had a couple of rough stretches. So basically you're telling me for the last three minutes that I was ranting, you didn't listen to a single word. Almost none of them. Like you were just Elam, Elam uncle, Elam nephew, Elam father.

You got it. I just like to get that stuff right. I just like to get it right. And then as I said it, I go, wait, I'm not 100% sure it's his brother. And then I was like, oh, wait, that's also right. Said Matt Elam towards the end of his NFL career. But it looks like he's playing in Canada. That dude was a motherfucker in college.

I'll tell you that. All right. Last one then. If I'm giving you the break line of pick 15 Eagles and I say, all right, a quarterback goes before 15 or after 15 and you have to bet. What are you betting? Oh, I love it. Next time I'm on, I love this. We used to do this

with you and me and Van Pelt. You're a pain in the ass with this. Like some of your other scouting stuff you're terrible with, you're horrible with heights and weights on quarterbacks. I got Tebow wrong once

because he just looked emaciated. I got Tebow wrong once and you haven't let it go for a decade. You had something wrong on Colt McCoy too, I forget. Actually, do you want to go there? Because we bet $1,000 that Colt McCoy wouldn't go in the first round.

And I was right. Have not seen that payment. But you've covered enough nights. Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. I said you. I gave a third round grade to him. What are you talking about? No, I'm fucking.

No, this is true. Because you came to hang out in Hartford right after you got done. And you had to issue the year ahead draft, which is your least favorite thing that you do. You hate it to death. It's the which is your least favorite thing that you do. You hate it to death. It's the most watched thing or downloaded thing that you do. And so I was like, nobody's a bigger Colt McCoy guy than me. I'm like,

why is he going 22nd? And you're like, bro, I got to come up with 32 fucking names. Leave me alone. It's a year from now. He's probably not going to go in the first. And I was like,

I'll bet you that he doesn't go in the first. And you were like, all right, done. And then the thing is, I didn't care about the money because you've, you've, you've covered enough. Yep. All right. I don't, I don, done. And then the thing is, I didn't care about the money because you've covered enough.

Yep. All right. I don't remember. You got me wasted, I'm sure, and then just tried to take advantage of me. That's fine. I'm going to, you know what? I'm going to, so I'm going to say it goes,

the quarterbacks go after 15. Okay. All right. There you go. Yeah. Perfect. No,. There you go. Yeah. Perfect. I'm just looking at it like the Panthers are going to bring in a veteran. That's the thing.

Like we still, we still, as of this podcast, and I told you within 24 hours, we're probably going to have an answer on Deshaun Watson. He could go to Carolina. I think that Falcons are more likely to draft one in the second or move back into the first,

then, then take one at number eight. There are too many good players to be had they get drake london at that spot they desperately need a wide receiver the seahawks are the one team that scare me if they don't bring in another veteran and i'm not sure they will because drew luck would be the perfect guy to bring in a malik willis and develop them behind him and and knowing schneider and p Pete Carroll, that's the kind of guy they would like. I think they would like Matt Corral too. But that might be moving back into the first or early in the second.

They've got additional picks now to maneuver. But I think the Seahawks are the scariest team to take one before you know really before what is it 18 with the Saints yeah all right you can check out all of Todd's stuff his mock draft up on ESPN.com and again first draft podcast

every Thursday Mel Kiper and Field Gates you're the man thanks Todd see you 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 you what's required. LifeAdviceRR at gmail.com. Kyle and Rosillo, let's do this. Long-time listener, love the Van Pelt days. 37, 55, 118 can bench the bar.

Personal record in a 50-mile ultra marathon is 8 hours, 12 minutes. So early on in this email, we're like, okay, 55118 can max 45 pounds, but then we realized this is a female emailer and she can run 50 mile ultra marathon. So we're not going to say shit, except that's amazing. Okay. Several years back, I learned my dad is an avid F1 fan. It came up when I mentioned a Bill Burr podcast that I'd listened to. Bill Burr was rambling about F1 and MotoGP. Long story short,

as a combined birthday, Father's Day gift, tickets were purchased for Austin. For a few years, the weekends in Austin were awesome. We met some really cool people and had some really great times. Cut to last year, post Netflix show, every other person at the race is a yuppie or an undergrad. Ooh, people just cry. Look, F1 is

huge now. I took note of how many new college-age female fans there were, and so did my 61-year-old dad. Yikes. My parents divorced when I was five. My dad has been mostly single since. There were a few girlfriends and a short-lived second marriage. Nothing for at least the last 10 years, however. Noticing that my dad is scanning, surveying borderline, ogling these new fans gulp.

I was both horrified and mortified. I couldn't tell if I was noticing only because I was his daughter. It could pick up on her or because it was that obvious. He wasn't making physical movement towards anyone. It was more of a blank stare in a set direction. It was gross. I didn't know what to do. I decided my best course of action was to move myself in between his gaze and the target.

Not always possible, but it was the best idea I could come up with. The scanning was really only happening when we were in line to get in, get a drink, buy a hat, et cetera. But sometimes you're in line for more than a few minutes, maybe 30 minutes, and it isn't like the staring could be shrugged off in a get-over-it kind of way. So your dad's a real stalker. This guy's a real looker.

He's not a stalker, but not afraid to sneak a peek, if you know what i'm saying uh my question is what we should do in this situation we're thinking about going to canada for the race in june word on the street is these gals up in canada stunners uh can confirm they don't like guys in the states a ton though i can also confirm that or maybe they don't love 20 year old guys that are just chugging the worst beer ever asking if they want to go to strip clubs so also fair um i don't want to think about how things might even go i haven't told anyone about this not my sister or my longtime boyfriend i find it embarrassing disgusting should i ask my longtime boyfriend to help him i don't know about that one side note i'm no stunner but do have

features that can lead to long stares from creeps. Well, I'm not going to say where she's from. Am I taking out my personal disgust over this on my dad? Shout out to Rudy and Kyle. Yeah, she sent in a pic and now I feel awkward. I'm not going to say anything awkward, but yes, she's attractive. Alright. I'm not going to say anything awkward, but yes, she's, she's attractive. So, all right.

Now I feel like her dad. All right. So there's something I think you have to understand when you're a child and then you get a little bit older is that I think for, it takes us a really long time. And some people are more mature about this, but I think for a lot of us, it takes us a really long time to realize like our our mom and dad like we're super into each other at one point right that there was you know none of us want to talk about our parents hooking up but like there's there's this thing where it's almost you feel like they're brother and sister and there isn't the romantic thing or i don't know maybe that was that was my my upbringing um and that like think about the fights that you get in with your girlfriend or boyfriend or the the just you know discomfort or just the shit you go through but i feel like you don't process it the right way with

your own mom and dad until you actually either become a mom or a dad or a parent or you just get older right in my case you just get older and you start looking at the history of your parents entirely different and you know maybe that happens right away for you when you get to college i remember we were in this massive class at uvm and i mean this is going to sound stupid but it was basically a college education or a college level sex education class but it wasn't the hardest class you actually had to do your work and um then there was like a ta program with it everybody did i'll maybe tell the story another day but the professor just gets up there and he was like a very open sexual guy like talking about all this stuff and he started like talking about her parents and i think he was sort

of trying to freak us out but he was also also funny. It was effective. He's a very good public speaker. And, um, he, he and his wife were tremendously helpful to me, you know, as a student up there. Uh, anyway, so the reason I bring all this stuff up is that I think we always have a hard hangup about anything that would actually be a little bit more normal. Now, if your dad's just straight up staring and it's awkward and it's, and it's creeping people out, like that that's not always the move but i also will tell you that as guys get older they're way more comfortable just staring down a really attractive female i'm not saying it's right right like it just it's fucking weird like and i i have kind of this theory of like men at the gym where there's like a young guy that is, is, is forward and talks up the,

the gorgeous girl at the gym. Then there's the guy that resents that the other guy is. And then there's like the old guy that knows he has no chance. And that's almost the worst because he doesn't give a fuck. And he's just, he's, she's on the yoga mat and he's like, oh my God, you know, like, look at you, you're flexible as hell. And he knows it. He doesn't even think he's really doing anything wrong and in that case like it kind of sucks like hey i'm at the gym and i'm stretching and you're checking me out in these pants like fuck off man but there's i don't know how the science works but there's some sort of line of a certain age that once you get past it you just go like i don't care anymore and again i'm not

saying it's right but i think it's true and And it's clearly, especially if your father, as you say, has been single for 10 years, he is through this timeline now where he's just going to stare. And if you can look at it that way, instead of it just being bummed out and kind of embarrassed or grossed out by your dad, because that's what we've all done our whole lives. We had stuff with our parents where we were totally unfair to them. The standard that we held them to certainly was never a standard that we have for ourselves for our own level of embarrassment for the shit that we've done wrong but somehow we hold our parents to this fucking ridiculous standard and hopefully you kind of get out of your system so i'm not absolving of all this i just think you need to kind of process it a little bit more um like a person that would know him like if

he were your friend and you're like, Hey, what the fuck are you doing? Instead of being totally repulsed, but you're repulsed because it is your dad. And that part, you're not wrong for feeling that way. Like I get everything that you feel, but I think all of us, when we're upset with our parents, no matter what your age you're at, there's a, there's a real value in the exercise of reminding yourself, yeah, I know this is my dad or my mom, but it's also a fucking person that is going to do some stuff that maybe I don't always love. Look, I'll get into it with my dad about certain things. He lives on Martha's Vineyard year-round. He's not used to a ton of people, although in the summer it drives him crazy now.

He would come visit me when I lived in Boston or shit, even West Hartford, and he would get a little bit more impatient because he wasn't used to being at the grocery stores with a million people and this kind of stuff. And I just be like, Hey man, you gotta like, don't worry about it. Like, yeah, there's not as much parking here as there is in West Tisbury. The lines are a little bit longer, but you know what? We also have highways and bridges and shit. So like we can do a lot of different stuff. So, um, I always think it's important to try to, again, in review, try to remember to not maybe hold your parent to a parent standard, because I think a lot of times as kids, we can be really tough on our parents. have but i think like he sounds like he he keeps his hands to himself sounds like he even keeps his own dirty little thoughts in his head right and he just kind of has that like look on his face

i wonder like i wonder is he cool like what if he goes sat down at the bar in those because you know every once in a while a clip surfaces of like spring break and there's like a 70 year old man and a crowd full of teenagers and he's having the time of his life and they're having the time of his life so the dudes think he's awesome and the girls think it's this cute old man. I mean, maybe everybody wins in that situation. It sounds like you're going to events where there's fun times. What if you just instead of like, you know, being disgusted as you're waiting online for your beer or your t-shirt, like what if you just went down and sat at the table near, you know, a gathering of fun teens? I wonder if he's a fun time. It sounds like he's

not abhorrent in the stuff that he does or says. It sounds like you just see out his face that he's like, oh, wow. So I wonder if he's divorced, right? He's single. So maybe he'd have the best time of his life if he just went and sat at the big old table at the next event that you're at and you guys all cheers or something. I don't know. It feels like everyone could win in that situation. So you're saying lean in seven-year-old Daytona Beach style. That's what I'm saying. Also, isn't it more weird if you say nothing?

What if you're like, hey, we're sitting down here. Like what if that's, I don't know. I think I might be saying some crazy shit right now, but it's just the first thing that popped in my head was like instead of the weird like fringe looking at whatever they're doing, what if we're just all doing the same thing? What if we just ordered a pitcher of blue alcoholic drink too? I don't know. I know that they're not at spring break, but that's just what my mind keeps going back to. But it sounds like there's a bunch of, a lot of, a lot of young crowd at these things. Maybe there's

a, maybe there's a little beer garden or something where you guys could just sit down. Maybe your dad would get to talk to some hot chicks and maybe that'll just quench his thirst to stare at them. Now he can actually be a person in a conversation with one. I don't know. Yeah. And we might just be too... But I feel bad for the daughter here. She's exhausting herself getting in the passing lanes and just trying to block the view the entire time um i mean there's always a you could ask about it i would not have your boyfriend definitely not unless unless they're super close but you also might be embarrassing the shit out of your 61 year old dad too so um okay here we go uh so no advice. None. Literally none. Maybe let out an ew dad.

See what happens. We had somebody just asking straight up to have more authors on the show. We've already taped three author interviews that we just haven't had time to use. And there could be a separate feed for it altogether. So we don't have any news on it yet. Breaking news. But we're going to figure it out okay let's stay on the

Montreal line here today okay guys love the pod 6'5 former basketball player I guess wow 25 years ago so he played in college in Canada, weighs 235. Likely can bench the same.

That's great. Have trouble keeping off the pounds. I'm thinking about restarting my dunk journey at 45 years old, like I did for my 40th birthday. I would say don't try that unless you've been loading some sort of weight on the legs, Achilles, et cetera. Just make sure you're doing something ahead of time before you start blasting into the calf raises and running around playing basketball unless you've been

playing basketball already instead of but um you know that's that's the one that always scares the shit out of me but at least i'm still doing some stuff um and hoping not to blow one of the two out or both out in a pickup game like so many of my friends have. All right. I might run a marathon. Cool, man. Okay. What else you got, dude? Yeah, right. All right. Yep.

Nope. Got it. Got it. All right. So, yeah, I know where he is. I know where he's from. I've spent a lot of time up around the area, boats, boats, et cetera. All right.

So, the question is this. My nephew's about to turn 18. As I'm sure Ryan knows, Montreal quebec is a place where many young men especially northeast americans cut their teeth on this form of entertainment i'm not a strip club guy i haven't been in 10 years and when i did it was a bachelor party a lot of times guys aren't even strip club guys they just love that there's still a version of like a lot of times the booze laws are a tad more flexible and there's just guys that be like, hey, we want to keep this night going. And that's why, you know.

And then there's just guys that literally love strip clubs more than anybody. And you're just like, why do you want to go to these all the time? What a strange species of guy that is. But yeah, they're out there. You got some buddies, right? Yeah, and mostly more ones that I've met out here.

I've got one really close one that I've, I think I've actually helped push him out of that phase, but it was like, I'd want to go to a couple bars in town. And he's like, no, no. What about these ones? So I go, that's far. And it's like the third option. It's like, he said no to mine.

I said no to his third is strip club. And it's just like, it's just tip of his tongue all the time. But it's, I tried to get me to go there. New Year's was like, I'm not thinking about New Year's script. Doesn't sound good to me. But yeah, he's one of those guys. New Year's Eve day is I'm not thinking about New Year's script. It doesn't sound good to me. But yeah, he's one of those guys. New Year's Eve day is when the magic really happens. The next day.

All right. And I'm not like, but I just would never understand. You get together with a group of guys and then it would be, it might be a married thing. I don't know. Maybe that's what it is. But there's always like a couple in everybody's group that would be like, strip club. You're like, fuck, it's 10 o'clock no let's go out out all right anyway so my brother-in-law is a strip club guy and

um he's been extremely helpful my business i feel i owe him my brother-in-law is super keen on going to montreal this summer but my wife and sister-in-law think it's a horrible idea, and I'm caught in the middle. What would you recommend? All right. So just so we understand, this is the son of his brother-in-law, who is very pro the idea of,

as the guys from Mass call him, peelers, peelers. the idea of, as the guys from Mass call them, peelers. Peelers. So the brother-in-law wants to go, wants to bring his son, and our emailer wants to go, but the wife and the sister-in-law think it's a horrible idea. Well, you stay the fuck out of this one is what you do. If the brother-in-law takes his son, then you get to go. All right, you get to go. And if you really wanted to have to talk through this, I would just ignore it. And like a loose oar in a stream, just let the current take you in whatever direction it's going to take you. So if the brother-in-law is taking his kid and they're like, you're coming with us because it's all local and you're living around there, then I think you'll be okay with

that. I can also understand the wife and the sister-in-law, meaning another wife, not loving this whole ordeal. So if they win, then you avoid the shrapnel on this one. So don't take a strong position at all. Just let it happen. It's not really your call it's not your kid they can get there without you by the way they don't need it apparently the dad doesn't exist need instructions here and understand how the cover charge walking up the stairs off of saint catholic street works and i'll like wait a minute what's going on here i think we're at the wrong one um like no no my brother brad went to saint lawrence and he told me like now brad's wrong so the other part if you wanted to win this you could say hey he's gonna do it anyway

he's gonna do it anyway and you can have him go with us and we're gonna make sure he's taken care of although sometimes the older guys are the worst people to be at these things. And that way he's like, that would be the way I would sell this. But I also wouldn't be, I'm just telling you, you can think what you want. There's no way I would want to use

any kind of argument bullet on demanding that my wife allow me to take my 18 year old son to a strip club in Montreal. I just, I'd find other things. There will be better arguments where I feel like. So if they're against you, they may lose, but it's not really your problem.

So I would just hang in the balance on this one, see which way the wind blows. And if it doesn't go for the brother-in-law argument, you're in the clear. If they give in, then you're clear to go. It wasn't really your idea in the first place. You were just an accessory to their story, and that causes you the least amount of collateral damage.

Easy, real easy. Matter of fact, find some other stuff you're really excited about in the city of Montreal, maybe some poutine. Maybe you want to go check out some poutine. Oh, okay. I'm just saying, find out some. Did you think i was getting crazy on life advice thursday morning no uh uh no i mean you're just kidding you're just getting that

yeah uh sorry but i was thinking maybe just find some other stuff that you're really excited about just to sort of let everybody know that you're the uh you're more there for montreal than you are for for strip clubs that might just help you once you figure out which way the wind's blowing, obviously. I think that's well said. That's well said. We're going to have Andrew Bogut next week. As we were taping this, we were

waiting on it, but we're dealing with the Australian time difference and all that stuff, so it didn't quite work out. We advertised that on Tuesday's pod. But we'll have Andrew Bocut likely next week. We'll keep it grinding. Enjoy the tournament. Bill and I on Sundays. Thanks to Kyle and Steve as always. Download

and subscribe. Rate and review the Ryan Rusillo Podcast on your Spotify. Thanks as always. Thank you. you