BEST OF NFL NEWS PART 1: Micah TRADED to Packers! + SHOCKED Saquon Barkley voted #1 in NFL?

Summary

Club Shay Shay — BEST OF NFL NEWS PART 1: Micah TRADED to Packers! + SHOCKED Saquon Barkley Voted #1 in NFL?

Host: Shannon Sharpe
Guests: Michael Irvin, LaDainian Tomlinson (LT)
Date: September 4, 2025
Podcast: Club Shay Shay

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Episode Overview

This “Best Of” episode brings together NFL legend Shannon Sharpe with Michael Irvin and Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson to dissect blockbuster news and major debates ahead of the 2025 NFL season. The group covers the fallout from Micah Parsons’ shock trade to the Packers, the controversy surrounding NFL player contracts (especially running backs), and the astonishing result of Saquon Barkley being voted the NFL’s #1 player by his peers over star quarterbacks. The episode blends deep football insight, contract/business acumen, historic references, and the trio’s unmistakable humor and chemistry.

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Main Segments & Key Topics

1. Quarterback Evolution & Tom Brady’s Critique (02:46–08:56)

• Tom Brady’s Comments: Sharpe opens by quoting Tom Brady, who claimed that today’s NFL quarterbacks aren’t as “mentally developed” as those from 25 years ago, emphasizing a lost premium on understanding defenses and pre-snap reads.

  • “I felt the way to learn was play the position where, over a period of time, you truly give your team the best chance to win. To be a field general, I think you better have a mental advantage on the field. And I think sometimes that’s more important than physical advantage.”
    —Tom Brady via Shannon Sharpe (02:46)

• Irvin’s Response: Michael Irvin agrees, pointing out legends like Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees could outthink defenses regardless of disguise and always knew where to go with the ball. He notes that today’s young QBs lack the freedom to change plays at the line due to inexperience and lack of coaching trust.

  • “Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, they were the best at it. … The most important thing was football. They didn’t play video games. It wasn’t no Call of Duty.”
    —Shannon Sharpe (05:42)

• Old vs. New School Play-Calling: Sharpe and Irvin discuss how, in the past, QBs called their own plays, contrasting with modern coordination-heavy systems.

  • “[John Elway] called the game. Now you gotta get out my ear. But it takes a lot. You have to put a lot of timing in.”
    —Shannon Sharpe (08:00)

Notable Anecdote

• Patriots Practice Standard:
  • Irvin describes discipline at Patriots practice, where one botched play resulted in restarting the entire period—highlighting why “the smallest things” matter in a championship program.
  • “At that moment, I understood. … That one play didn’t work and it didn’t go right, we started the whole period over.”
    —Michael Irvin (09:40)

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2. The Running Back Value Crisis & Solutions (16:01–31:30)

• Thurman Thomas & RB Pay Crisis: The group reacts to Hall of Famer Thurman Thomas, who’s upset that star running backs get discarded after rookie deals, echoing a theme of league-wide devaluation.

  • “It's like we’re hanging with the punters and the kickers. … The best years are on the tire of a car is when it’s brand new. … That’s how they look at running backs.”
    —Shannon Sharpe (16:01)
  • LT adds, “For one, the running backs that are game-changing, the guys that can hit a home run from any spot on the field … those are the ones that have to change the game … sign shorter deals, strike when the iron is hot. Running backs, two or three year deals.”
    —LaDainian Tomlinson (18:31)

• Elite RB Payouts & Cap Realities: Sharpe explains why teams are reluctant to hand out big, short-term deals to RBs—signing bonuses can’t be prorated, and rookie contract structures plus franchise tags tie up RBs for seven years.

  • “I got you for five. If I'm nice, I’ll do the deal after three. But if not, I know I got a fourth year, a fifth-year option, and two franchise tags. So I got you for seven years and I ain't got to do nothing.”
    —Shannon Sharpe (19:31)

• Who Can “Reset the Market”? LT sees Jameer Gibbs in Detroit and Bijan Robinson as future stars who might force teams to break the $20M/year threshold.

  • “They gotta go above 20, though, guys, like, in order to reset the market for future guys in their position. … But the special ones, they gotta get that.”
    —LaDainian Tomlinson (21:14)

• Production vs. Payment: The saga of Ezekiel Elliott (“was never the same after he got that money”), is cited as an anchor holding the position back.

  • “Zeke was probably the one that really hurt because he was never the same after he got that money. … Yards per game went down. Yards per carry, get down.”
    —Shannon Sharpe (17:57)

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3. RB Skillset: LT’s Take on Today’s Stars (25:11–31:30)

• RBs Reminding LT of Himself: LT names Saquon Barkley (jump cut, balance), Jameer Gibbs (receiving, mismatch) and Christian McCaffrey as modern comps.

  • “I see traces of myself in different running backs. … But when I think about coming out the backfield … Gibby, man. … When you coming out the backfield, you gotta come out fast … scare the daylights out of ’em.”
    —LaDainian Tomlinson (25:19)

• Old School vs. Modern Usage: LT and Sharpe reminisce about the days of the “bellcow” RB, fullbacks, and physicality.

  • “If I had to [share reps], I wouldn’t do it. I was selfish. I ain’t coming out the game, dog.”
    —LaDainian Tomlinson (28:34)
  • “You were old school tight end, fullback in front of you, Lo Neal leading the way.”
    —Shannon Sharpe (27:40)

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4. NFL Top 100 Shock: Saquon Barkley Voted #1 (35:50–47:55)

• NFL Player Rankings:

  • The 2025 NFL Top 10 (as voted by players): Patrick Surtain II (#10), Justin Jefferson (#9), Myles Garrett (#8), Derrick Henry (#7), Joe Burrow (#6), Patrick Mahomes (#5), Jamar Chase (#4), Josh Allen (#3), Lamar Jackson (#2), Saquon Barkley (#1).

• Surprise at Saquon's Ranking:

  • “I'm a bit surprised… we're living in a world where it’s all about the quarterback ... Josh Allen is the reigning MVP. … But Saquon obviously had a spectacular year and, you know, got close to the rushing record of a single season, but he didn’t get it. … But he did win the Super Bowl. … I think players, at the end of the day, are giving him credit for being … the catalyst for that.”
    —LaDainian Tomlinson (42:03)
  • “We’ve talked more about the running back position in 2024 and leading into 2025 than any time in the last decade, guys, because of what we saw … Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry, Josh Jacobs, Joe Mixon … Jonathan Taylor. … They’re trying to say, look, there is still value when used correctly.”
    —Shannon Sharpe (43:22)

Notable Moment

• “So Saquon Barkley voted by his peers as the number one player in the NFL in the top 100. Lamar Jackson was second. … For the first time a guy that’s rushed for 1900 yards didn’t win the rushing title. So that just goes to show you how well the other guy played.”
  —Shannon Sharpe (45:42)

• Changing League Philosophy: LT and Sharpe acknowledge a trend back toward valuing the run—without a full return to 1990s ground-and-pound. Yet, huge QB salaries will always bias teams toward the air.

  • “The easiest way to win games is still running the football.”
    —LaDainian Tomlinson (47:01)
  • “You’re about to have a quarterback making $70 million. You’re not paying the guy $70 million to turn around and hand it to a guy that’s making $10 million. That ain’t happening.”
    —Shannon Sharpe (47:55)

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5. NFL Economics, CBA, and the Future (49:11–59:05)

• Next Phase: Longer Seasons, Bigger Money: The group forecasts 18-game seasons, more playoff games, and how networks—YouTube, Netflix, Amazon—will drive revenue and player salary surges.

  • “You’re gonna be playing the Super Bowl on St. Patrick’s Day. … The only thing you can do is give them another game.”
    —Shannon Sharpe (51:20)

• CBA, Health, & Franchise Tags:

  • “If I get 10 years in the league, I want lifetime health benefits. … And guess what? I don’t want you to be able to franchise me. … That should be a bare minimum.”
    —Shannon Sharpe (52:51)
  • Irvin: “Once I put that suit and that tie on … I’m gonna get us lifetime benefits, no franchise tag, and guaranteed contracts. That’s my three.” (54:17)

• Players Sacrificing the Long View: Sharpe laments how players have often prioritized immediate cash and easier working conditions over long-term security.

  • “Sometimes you have to plant a tree realizing that you’re not going to benefit from the shade it produces.”
    —Shannon Sharpe (58:37)

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6. Micah Parsons Trade Fallout & Locker Room Dynamics (59:05–77:44)

• Micah Parsons Locker Room Rumors:

  • Reports claim Parsons was viewed as “egotistical and self-centered” by teammates, with his podcast creating tension up to Dak Prescott.

  • “You lose, first thing they gonna say is: get your ass off the podcast and practice and study your play. … If you want your podcast, you gotta be interesting, you gotta be entertaining, so you gotta take shots at other people.”
    —Shannon Sharpe (60:36)

  • Irvin rebuts: “If you know Micah, if you met him personally, you understand he’s a very playful, fun-loving guy. … I bet you those who don’t like him are the ones who don’t show up on Sundays.” (62:05)

• Trade Business & Agent Battle:

  • The group details Jerry Jones’s refusal to negotiate directly with Parsons’ agent, while other Cowboys (Bland, Ferguson, Smith) had their deals done through reps. Sharpe stresses this as ego and control.
  • “Jerry’s ego wouldn't let him work with Micah’s agent. Because I’m gonna show you, I do what I wanna do. … He worked with everybody else's representative. But for some reason, he was unwilling to work with Micah’s representative.”
    —Shannon Sharpe (65:35)
  • “Trying to undermine Micah Parsons, you were trying to pay him not what he’s worth, obviously.”
    —Michael Irvin (66:16)

• Cap Management and Player Leverage:

  • “Why am I going to leave him money on the table? … You don’t give no billionaire no discount. You a millionaire.”
    —Shannon Sharpe (73:58)
  • “When it’s time for [a quarterback] to get paid, there’s nowhere else for that team to go. … You ain’t got no choice but to pay these young fellas what they owe at the time.”
    —Michael Irvin (73:14)

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7. Cowboys’ Cornerback Extension (77:44–End)

• News of Dallas re-signing cornerback DaRon Bland to a 4-year, $92M, $50M guaranteed deal. The group agrees he earned it after a nine-interception, five-pick-six season.

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• On mental aspect of playing QB:
  “To be a field general, I think you better have a mental advantage on the field. And I think sometimes that’s more important than physical advantage.”
  —Shannon Sharpe via Tom Brady (02:46)

• On why great QBs succeed:
  “They know from watching film, they know what the hell you’re doing. … It’s all about being able to process information on what you see in front of you and knowing where to go with it very fast.”
  —Michael Irvin (05:03)

• On RBs being undervalued:
  “It's like we’re hanging with the punters and the kickers … The best years are on the tire of a car is when it’s brand new.”
  —Shannon Sharpe (16:01)

• On RB contracts:
  “Why can’t you come back to the table after two and three years and then sign a shorter deal? … Two-year $50 million.”
  —LaDainian Tomlinson (18:31)

• On planting the tree for future generations:
  “Sometimes you got to plant a tree realizing that you’re not going to benefit from the shade it produces.”
  —Shannon Sharpe (58:37)

• On a player demanding proper pay:
  “You don’t give no billionaire no discount. You a millionaire.”
  —Shannon Sharpe (73:58)

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Final Thoughts & Takeaways

• Modern NFL Contracts Are More Complex, Strategic, and Lean Toward Position “Value” — but outliers can still change the game.
• RBs Must Adapt to Shorter, More Strategic Contracts — and “bellcow” roles are rare, so versatility is king.
• Players Must Think Long-Term — pushing for health benefits and contract guarantees, even if that means sacrificing for the next generation.
• Micah Parsons’ Trade Is About Ego, Leverage, and Principles as Much as Cap or Talent.
• NFL Money Will Only Get Bigger — as live sports TV rights drive “unthinkable” revenue, making each contract cycle a new precedent.

This episode is a masterclass in the intersection of football, business, and legacy, brought to life by three legends who lived it all and don’t mince words.

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For those who missed the show, this summary delivers all the insight, context, and locker-room flavor — minus the tangents and ads.

Transcript

[Sarah Spain]

This is an iHeart podcast. Get fired up, y'.

[Shannon Sharpe]

All.

[Sarah Spain]

Season two of Good Game with Sarah Spain is underway. We just welcomed one of my favorite people, an incomparable soccer icon Megan Rapinoe, to the show and we had a blast. Take a listen. Sue and I were like riding the lime bikes the other day and we're like, wee people ride bikes because it's fun. We got more incredible guests like Megan in store, plus news of the day and more. So make sure you listen to Good Game with Sarah Spain on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Novartis, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports Network.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Tune in to all the Smoke podcast where Matt and Stack sit down with former first lady Michelle Obama.

[Sarah Spain]

Folks find it hard to hate up close. And when you get to know people and you're sitting in their kitchen tables and they're talking like we're talking, you know, you hear our story, how we.

[Michael Irvin]

Grew up, how Barack grew up, and.

[Sarah Spain]

You get a chance for people to unpack and get beyond race.

[Dan Orlovsky]

All Smoke featuring Michelle Obama. To hear this podcast and more, open your free iHeartRadio app, search all the smoke and listen now. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael F. Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Your ultimate source for player news, draft tips and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet, we've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Dan. He's Ty. Hello. And we're the solid verbal college Football Podcast. Tune in for previews, recaps, bits you won't hear anywhere else, and all the emotional support you need as a college football fan. Join us all season long as we ride the roller coaster of this ridiculous sport. Listen to the solid verbal college football podcasts on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We don't just love college football, Ty. We live it.

[Greg Rosenthal]

Football is back. That's right. The new NFL season is here and you should be listening to NFL Daily as we march along to Super Bowl 60. It's in the name NFL Daily so you'll have fresh content in your feed all season long. Join me, Greg Rosenthal, in an all star cast of co hosts for previews and rec of every Single game. NFL Daily will keep you up to date with everything you need to know so you can sound smarter than all your friends. Listen to NFL daily on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Hello, it's your favorite sports unc here. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button to join the fastest growing community on YouTube. Remember, Nightcap doesn't happen without you, so please subscribe or you're gonna make oo cry. Ocho, what's up? Tom Brady said the quarterback position isn't as mentally developed as it was when he entered the league. I don't believe the quarterback position, as many mentally developed as it was when I entered the league 25 years ago. There was a premium on understanding defenses, on understanding matchups, on I'd say pre snaps reads, getting your team in and out of the right play. I felt the way to learn was play the position where over a period of time, you truly give your team the best chance to win. To be a field general, I think you better have a mental advantage on the field. And I think sometimes there's more important than physical advantage. Oh, do you agree with him?

[Michael Irvin]

Hey, do me a favor, uncle. You said a whole lot right there that Brady said bring it, break it. Listen, break it down to me in our language.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He says there was a premium on understanding defenses. You had to understand what the defense was trying to do. So now you go out there and you looking, you're not just looking at your guy like, man, this quarters, huh? Oh, this is covered. This. He got help over here. So you needed to understand a pre snap. You looking at the alignment, you looking at that triangle. Okay, I see what y' all trying to do. Okay. So he said you guys need to have a pre snap. You need to have an understanding of what's about to happen. Make sure you get your guys okay. Do not run a play into a safety that you can't block.

[Michael Irvin]

Okay?

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's a negative place. So you just gave up a down for whatever reason. Flip it right. I like audible out of it.

[Michael Irvin]

But. But listen, Tom Brady speaking from a standpoint of being number 12, a standpoint of having having the power and the ability to be able to change plays. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, they drew Brees. It's a few other quarterbacks that I can name. When they came to the line of scrimmage, no matter how much disguising you did, no matter how much bluffing you did based on down the distance, they already know from watching film, they know what the Hell you're doing. They know what the hell you're doing. They know exactly where each player is going to be.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Michael Irvin]

Snapping the ball, even if you wait. Even if you wait late and wait till he snap the ball and he still sees moving in front of him. Because once they snap, they looking right downfield. Okay, if you. If you was down in the box and you shoot back out, okay, this what they. He already know what's coming. And he know every play you run, chat every. Every offensive play you run, especially when it's a pass play, there's always somebody open. There's always somewhere to go with the ball. And it's all about being able to process information on what you see in front of you and knowing where to go with it very fast. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees were the best at it. They were the best.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Sometimes you got to look at what those guys put in because a lot of times guys. So see, a lot of times, guys, now there's more important things than football. Football was the most important thing to Tom Brady. It was the most important thing to Peyton Manning. So there was. There was no life outside of that during the season. The most important thing was football. They didn't play video game. It wasn't no Call of Duty. It wasn't no Madden. It wasn't no doing all this. They got all the commercials done in the off season. So everything that was focused was centered around how can I become the best football player I possibly can. The question you ask yourself is that what these quarterbacks today doing?

[Michael Irvin]

Yeah. And also, uncle, you have to give some of the quarterbacks today also. You have to give them a little grace. You have to give them a little grace because they're starting the game so young. They don't have the freedom to do some of the things that Tom Brady's mentioning. That takes time to develop, to even get to that point where you can recognize everything you're seeing and the coach trusts you. Peyton Manning was the coach.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[Michael Irvin]

Tom Brady was the coach.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But they know, they put so much time into Ocho.

[Michael Irvin]

Yeah, yeah, you. You right. You right. So listen, quarterbacks right now, they can't come up to the line of scrimmage and see something and be like, you know what? This ain't gonna work. We can't run that play. Sometimes I watch it. I watch NFL games. Wait a minute. The defense shifted. The. The deepest of line shifted to the right. Change it right. Running power stretch to the right. Right into the teeth of the defense.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right.

[Michael Irvin]

I think some quarterbacks don't have the freedom to be able to do that because their offensive coordinators don't trust them just yet because they're young.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, you got, you got to earn that. The only guy that had that kind of freedom early on was Peyton Manning. Yeah, they turned the keys over to Peyton. Brady didn't even have that kind of leeway early in his career. He earned that trust. Drew earned that trust. Rogers earned that trust. You have to earn that. And that doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't. Patrick Mahomes had to earn Andy's trust in order to be able to be able to. To audible in and out of plays, change of play, you know, things of that nature. It's different now. Oo I came in the league. The quarterbacks called their own plays. It wasn't looking at the risk. They called it plays. John Elway called his plays.

[Michael Irvin]

Seriously?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes. He called the game.

[Michael Irvin]

Damn.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Yes.

[Michael Irvin]

Wait, no offensive coordinator talking into.

[Shannon Sharpe]

They had. Hey, he might say what you like here. Okay. Yes. Quarterbacks. The old, the old guard. Yo, those guys came in the league. Quarterbacks were calling some. A lot. Some of the quarterbacks, not all. Some of the quarterbacks were calling their own play. Yeah, he like sideline. Yeah. Now you gotta get out my ear. Get out. Get out of my ear. But it, it, it take. It takes a lot. You have to put a lot of. A lot of timing in.

[Michael Irvin]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And everybody. But like you said, you're talking about Brady running practice. He's running. He's running walkthroughs. He's running seven on seven. He's running, you know, two minutes. He's running, running. No huddle. Tom is doing those things if a quarter. If you want a quarterback to have, you got to let him do it. You got to let him do it.

[Michael Irvin]

I got to tell this story. I don't know if I'm gonna get in trouble or not. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to share this. I don't even care. I don't even care. Chad, I'm gonna tell you about why the New England Patriots were so goddamn good. Everybody in the chat. I know you saw the beginning of Full Metal Jacket with the sergeant going off cursing and just a. He was. He was on one. In the beginning of the movie Full Metal Jacket. One day in practice, Bill o', Brien, obviously the officer coordinator, called in the plays. We're in practice and Bill radios in the play in Tom's ear. I'm in the huddle. I'm assuming maybe Tom didn't get It. So Tom's sitting there with his head down, and he does one of these.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Give me the play.

[Michael Irvin]

Give me the play again. And I. Bill must have said it again. He didn't hear it because the thing, the. The communication must have been off. And Tom look back. Give me the goddamn play, Bill. I gave you the play already. I said it two times without him. Get it? What the you want me to do? Jesus Christ. We in the middle of practice. We in the middle of practice. And at that moment, I understood. This is why. This is why. The smallest things that period we were doing where that one play, that one play didn't work and it didn't go right. We started the whole period over. Yeah, we started the whole period over so we can get all the plays in succession and get it the right way.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yep. I'm like, what? What? Yeah.

[Michael Irvin]

Bill over there with his. With the whistle on his finger. Yeah. What are they running over here? No, it was. It was unbelievable, though. There's so many stories. I. I can share that one. Some of the other ones is a little too. A little too graphic.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Rather than rewarding running back for production once their rookie contract expire has happened, all at almost every position, the NFL's 1991 MVP, my dog, Thurman Thomas, is upset that teams are instead letting them go and moving on to the next younger, cheaper player.

[Greg Rosenthal]

Football is back. That's right. The new NFL season is here. And you should be listening to NFL Daily as we march along to Super Bowl 60. This is a show for sickos like me. NFL Daily is your kind of show. It's in the name NFL Daily. You'll have fresh content in your feed all season long. Myself, Greg Rosenthal, and an all star cast of co hosts will preview and recap every game all season long. Josh Allen coming off an MVP season.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

And now lateral to Allen and reaching for the pylon.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Are you kidding me?

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

It's a touchdown. Have you ever seen. Seen that one before?

[Greg Rosenthal]

Rookies making a name for themselves.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

That's a bulldozer. He is bouncing off defenders and dragged down.

[Greg Rosenthal]

And of course, the Eagles trying to win another Lombardi.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What a game. What a season.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

What a team. Eagles fans savor it and rejoice.

[Greg Rosenthal]

Listen to NFL daily on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Sarah Spain]

Get fired up, y'.

[Shannon Sharpe]

All.

[Sarah Spain]

Season 2 of Good Game with Sarah Spain is underway. We just welcomed one of my favorite people and an incomparable soccer icon, Megan Rapinoe to the show and we had a blast. We Talked about her recent 40th birthday celebrations, Co hosting a podcast with her fiance sue, bird watching former teammates retire and more. Never a dull moment with Pino. Take a listen. What do you miss the most about being a pro athlete? The final. The final and the locker room. I really, really like you. Just you can't replicate. You can't get back. Showing up to the locker room every morning just to talk. We've got more incredible guests like the legendary Candace Parker and college superstar Az Fudd. I mean, seriously, y', all, the guest list is absolutely stacked for season two. And you know we're always gonna keep you up to speed on all the news and happenings around the women's sports world as well. So make sure you listen to Good Game with Sarah Spain on the iHeartRad Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports.

[Dan Orlovsky]

I'm Dan. He's Ty. Hello. And we're the Solid Verbal College Football Podcast. College football season is here. And you know what that means. Your team is going to break your heart three times, probably before Halloween.

[Michael Irvin]

Uh huh.

[Dan Orlovsky]

But fear not, the Solid Verbal will be right there with you through every soul crushing loss and impossible comeback. Join us all season long, all year long, as we ride the roller coaster of this ridiculous sport. Whether you're a diehard fan or a casual observer, we'll help you make sense of all the chaos and of course, celebrate the madness. Tune in for previews, recaps, bits you won't hear anywhere else, and all the emotional support you need as a college football fan. We don't just love college football, Ty. We live it. Listen to the Solid Verbal College Football podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael F. Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Fantasy Season is here. And the question is, are you ready to dominate your league? Because if you're not locked in with us, the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, you're already playing from behind. Every episode, we're breaking down the biggest fantasy headlines, injury updates you need before kickoff, and matchups you can exploit to bury your competition. We're talking sleeper picks, breakout stars, and the players you can't afford to bench. Whether it's rookies making noise or veterans keeping their value, we cover it all. Whether you're drafting for the first time or chasing another another championship, we'll give you the edge, the insight and the confidence to make every move count, weekly analysis, hot takes and insider knowledge all in one place. So what's it gonna be? Another just okay season or total fantasy domination? Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Sarah Spain]

I'm Simone Boyce, host of the Bright side podcast, and on this week's episode, I'm talking to Olympian World cup champion and podcast host Ash. My worth is not wrapped up in how many things I've won, because what I came to realize is I valued winning so much that once it was over, I got the blues. And I was like, this is it for me. It's the pursuit of greatness. It's the journey, it's the people, it's the failures, it's the heartache. Listen to the Bright side on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You still deserve a contract. The first team has to put you through hell yet. I'm still ready to go. Haven't had any injuries. Not give me my damn money. Thorough Tony Associated Press with such a turnover, it's a reason why only three running backs, Barkley, McCaffrey and Henry are averaging 15 million per. And this season, as compared to 26 wide receivers. It's not even the receiver money. It's like we're hanging, hanging with the Pointers and the kickers. You're right. They're looking at it like Ocho. The best years on the tire of a car is when it's brand new. Yeah. You drive that car all over the city, you put 50,000 miles on the car. The tires ain't the same. Yeah. And that's how they look at running backs. LT. That's how they look at y'. All. They're like, LT. Yeah, hold on. LT. We gave you the ball 270 times and you caught 100 passes. That's 370 touches. LT. And you did that one, two, three. Oh, yeah.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's how they think.

[Michael Irvin]

Yeah, but, but listen, but the, the, the Thurman Thomas's point, that's how they think. With the tier 2 and below running backs. The tier ones are the ones that are still making the big money. Not as much as the receivers, the quarterbacks, but the tier ones that could change your whole offense. Your Tier ones to LT's point that can kill that time and let your defense rest for a little bit, especially in garbage time. When it's time to end a game, it's only a few. It's only a handful of Those. That's why it's only a handful. Make 12, 13, 14. What? And damn near 20. Who makes think.

[Shannon Sharpe]

About 20 guys to Thurman's point. Where does Saquan Barkley have to do to go get that money? Whether with the Giants or whether with someone else?

[Michael Irvin]

Oh, no, they.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Derrick Henry. Where did Derrick Henry have to go, Ocho, to get that money? Was it with the Titans or was it with the Ravens? And remember last year he played on $8 million deal. He had two years for 16 million.

[Michael Irvin]

Oh, they came back. They came back to him.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes. So the. Really the only guy that's ever gotten money at the running back position. You got to go back to Zeke. And Zeke was probably the one that really hurt because he was never the same after he got that money. And everybody looked. And everybody looked at Zeke and they said, hold on, look at that offensive line he got. He got two for show. Hall of Famers. A potential hall of Famer that retired. The center retired because he's like, I don't want to do it anymore. And Zeke just stepped off a cliff. Yards per game went down. Yards per carry. Get down.

[Michael Irvin]

Don't, don't remember. He hurt his knee too. He hurt his knee real bad.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He didn't hurt his knee every year, Ocho.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

But, yeah, but see, but see, this is, this is how you solve that. For one, the running backs that are game changing, the guys that can hit a home run from any spot on the field, that can catch the ball and do everything, they're going to be the ones that have to change the game. And when I say change the game, guys, I'm meaning sign shorter deals, strike when the iron is hot. Running backs, two or three year deals, you know, if, if. Because think about it. Most running backs, they can perform and perform at a high level early in their career. Like, it doesn't take long for them to, you know, kind of get, become a staple in the offense and get going and become one of the top at their positions. It don't take long. So why can't you come back to the table after two and three years and then sign a shorter deal? A two year deal. Two year, let's say two year 50 million.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, you ain't gonna get that, Ocho.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

That's 20.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Let me tell, let me, let me tell you why they're not gonna do it, Ocho. I mean, lt because in order for me to give you a big signing bonus, I need to prorate it over the life of the contract. So even if I, if you want a two year deal. Let's just say LT, you want a two year deal for $40 million. And I want to give you. I want to give you. I say I give you $20 million to sign. Well, I only get to prorate that over two years. So now that's 10. So let's just say for the sake of argument, I give you 2 million. So I give you 2 million. That's 12 million. And guess what? Now that's 28. Me, that's 30. Your next, that next year is 38 million cap here. They're not gonna let that happen. So. And plus, when you're a running back and you had a. You're a first round draft pick, I got you for three years, five years. I got you for. I got you for five. Now, if I'm nice, yeah, if I'm nice and you on time and you haven't been injured, I'll do the deal after three. But if not, I know I got a fourth year, a fifth year option, and two franchise tags. So I got you for seven years and I ain't got to do nothing.

[Michael Irvin]

That's nasty work. That's. That Jerry Jones work you talking about right now.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, the.

[Michael Irvin]

The next, the next running back that's gonna hit. That's gonna hit big. And it won't be any question about it. There won't be. We don't really value the running back position because we know what you can get one of the few players, one of the few running backs in NFL that can hit their head off the goal post from anywhere on the field. That's brother. That's brother Jameer Gibbs down in Detroit.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Yep.

[Michael Irvin]

Oh, he, he. I'm talking about. He going. He going north of 17, 18.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Oh, absolutely.

[Shannon Sharpe]

John Robinson gonna get paid too. Yeah, yeah.

[Michael Irvin]

Okay. Yeah, that's another.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

They gotta go above 20, though, guys, like, in order to reset the market for future guys in their position. Now, everybody ain't gonna get that. We know that. Everybody not gonna get that. But the special ones, they gotta get that. You kid.

[Shannon Sharpe]

20.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

That ain't.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I'm surprised that they did this for Saquon because think about it, guys. He got a $50 million quarterback, you got a $50 million quarterback, you got a $20 wide receiver, too. You got a $30 million. A $30 million receiver, a $28 million receiver.

[Michael Irvin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And you got a $20 million running back, and you got. Look at Lane Johnson. What he make? Look at what my. A lotta make. Look at what Dickerson make. They paying yeah, they did. They just redid Braun. You know, you got to see that. That man child in the middle, Jalen Carter, you got to see him. You got two guys on the edge that in another year, you're gonna have to see one of them.

[Michael Irvin]

Listen, Jalen Carter finna reset the whole market at every position.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Well, I don't know if he's. I don't think you're gonna catch Micah, but the. The number. C.J. chris Jones. Stone Cold Jones for the Kansas City Chiefs. He's at 31 and a half for DT. So he's way over everybody else at the DT position.

[Michael Irvin]

Yeah, most definitely.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You're talking about a guy that's 24, 25, but he don't realize how good he can be. Yeah, he still don't know how good he can be. Yeah.

[Michael Irvin]

You know. You know why he's not gonna. Not gonna catch Micah, or he might not.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He.

[Michael Irvin]

He gonna. He gonna overlap. He gonna overleap Chris Jones.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yes.

[Michael Irvin]

Because Howie and Jeffrey always pay early. They're not gonna wait. Yes, they're not gonna wait. They're gonna pay early. You're not gonna turn it down.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And plus, Ocho, the sacks DT don't. Like I said, the thing is, what spoiled us was Aaron Donald.

[Michael Irvin]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Because D tackle's not supposed to get 20 sacks. LT. They're not supposed to be getting 15 sacks. You stop the run, get us about seven or eight sacks, we have be disruptive. Yeah, yeah, but I. I agree. But really, the only guy. I mean, you got two. For the longest time, nobody even approached Christian McCaffrey's that 15 and Zeke's 15. For years, it wasn't until Christian McCaffrey got a new deal from the. The 49ers that. That leapfrogged and then. Cause remember, the. The Giants didn't want to do anything with Saquon. They made him play on the franchise tag, and then they ended up letting him go. And when he let him go, he still didn't get past the 15. It wasn't until 2,000 yards. It wasn't until offensive player of the year that he got. He broke the $20 million barrier. Think about it. Derrick Henry, he was on a 8 to 10 million dollars a year contract. So he goes for 19, 21 and 16, 17 touchdowns before they finally put him at the 15. So somebody going to. Hey, in order to break to leapfrog Saquon, boy, you age, you would have to have a. LT season, 32 touchdowns, offensive player of the year, MVP. LT. If you want somebody to get 25 million, they gonna have to beat the season. Cause LT had damn 1900 yards, 30 plus touchdowns. He caught another 50 passes for another 500 yards. Unless you go have a season like LT had. Yeah.

[Michael Irvin]

That was that 05 season, right? When y' all came and played us.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

No, it was 06. Yeah, the 06 played y'. All. Y' all jumped up on it. Like, it was like 21. Golly, that thing was rocking.

[Michael Irvin]

I don't know what happened. We. We lost, man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But y' all just go ahead and walk them down.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Hey, stay over there dancing. Hey, we on the sideline clapping at them like, okay, they good. It's first quarter. Y' all did good.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Lt when you look around the league today and there's a lot of running back, what running back reminds you of yourself.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Man. That's a good one. I mean, you know, I see traces of. Of myself in different running backs.

[Michael Irvin]

You know?

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Like, I think, when I think about the jump cut, you know, the balance, the spin and stuff, say, Quan kind of has that. That low center of gravity. Gravity being able to bounce from hole to hole and then hit the hole. Explosiveness. But when I think about, like, coming out the backfield, you know, I. I came out the backfield a lot. Gibby, man. Gibby coming out that back. Because. Because here. Here's the thing that people misunderstand. When you coming out the backfield, you got to come out fast. You can't come out looking. You got to come out running, man, you know, and so because there's matchups, it's either going to be a safety or a linebacker most of the time. So come out running, scare the daylights out of. And then cut off of them. You know what I mean? That's what Gibby do so well. So I think those two. I mean, there's a little bit. Christian McCaffrey, some things that he does as well, man. Yeah, those are the guys.

[Michael Irvin]

I don't think people understand how difficult the running back position is when it comes to those tier one running backs. LT like, like you, Jameer Gibbs, Saquon, Derrick Henry is a little bit different. He's not like you guys from.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, no, no. Henry, the old school bell back.

[Michael Irvin]

Yeah, yeah. But you or Jamir Kid, for example, and you, too, LT Being able to get the ball and be at. Be fast. Being able to come. Come to balance and be able to re. Accelerate Right, right, right then and there. And being able to set, set, linebackers up, set, set, safeties up, still make a move and not move and not lose any. Not momentum, but. What's the word? No wasted movement. That's what I'm looking for. No waste of moving everything, everything in one. In one, in one transaction, one transition. Everybody can't do that, man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I told the man, stop letting LT run that damn Texas route on y'. All. Knock his ass down, face. He gonna run the flat. He gonna come up and make you think he gonna run the Texas across your face or he gonna break it out on your ass and haul ass on you, man. Knock him down.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

I got to a point, though, you know where they allowed me to stay? Up that seam.

[Michael Irvin]

If you, if you didn't, you know what I'm saying?

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

If you stay, if you stayed inside, I just stay in that seam. I did different like that up up in Mile High one time.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, you can't.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Went by 70 on you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Called us up, we played y'. All. I think that was my. I think that might have been my first year back. My first year back in Denver, where you hit it for like 200 and had 10 catches. I said, well, damn, where he come from, man? It's like the running back position. Now, lt, you see a lot of guys because a lot of teams run a two back system. That's not what you had. You had. You were old school tight end, fullback in front of you, low Neil leading the way. Yeah, leading the way. That, that's, that's, that's what you had in today's game. It's more of a two back system. How different is LT's career if he had to split, have he had to split reps? What do you mean?

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

If I had to, I wouldn't do it. I, I wouldn't do it. Like, dog, I was, I was selfish. I ain't coming out the game, dog, you know what I'm saying? And that was part of the reason why, like, I prided myself on being able to do everything. So you didn't have to say, oh, he can't, he can't block or he can't run this route or he can't catch. I prided myself on that and I wanted to take every rep. I was just that competitive because I believe if I was on the sidelines, something was going to happen that, that, you know, like, I couldn't control. So I couldn't do it today, man. And here's the other thing, like when you're the bell cow guy, you're thinking the long call, Ocho, you're thinking, okay, in the fourth quarter is when I really got to get Going, let me. You know, let me get my yards. I'm gonna step out of bounds here and there. You know what I'm saying? I'm gonna save myself. But in the fourth quarter, when the boys a little bit time, we give them the stiff arm, you know what I'm saying? I'm gonna run through a couple of tackles. That's when. Because that was something that Marty Schottenheimer instilled in me. Impose your will throughout the game. I. I mean, I hear it playing in my mind like yesterday. That was something he always said, and we live by it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, y'.

[Michael Irvin]

All.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I mean, maybe you look. You went to the perfect situation because Marty gonna run the football. Marty gonna run it. Marty, go put that ball in your. In your belly. Lt. That's what. That's what Marty gonna do.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Hey, but here's the thing, though, y'. All, so in college, think about it. I was a perimeter run, yes. Like, you know, I was a sweep guy. You know, get on the perimeter, do my thing, man. When I first got to San Diego and Marty came in, he started talking about running power and going down the A gap. Hey, I used to bounce that thing so much, that joker used to get mad. He used to get stay in the A gap, stay trusted. I'm like, coach, ain't nothing else.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I gotta bounce it.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

You know what I'm saying? But I had to learn, man. I had to learn how to be an inside runner. I didn't want to embrace it at first, but I'm glad I did, man. It did make me a better, obviously.

[Shannon Sharpe]

A better y' all running that power. Y' all pulling guard, tackle, and damn little low, Neil, hell, you kick it out. Pinning down. And then here come low. Deal up in the hole on the linebacker. Now you one on one with the safety.

[Michael Irvin]

Zoe gonna clear it out every time.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Hey, them old school. Them old school fullbacks like Sam Gash, I play with. I play with Gasher and Lo Neal. They coming with bad intentions head first.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Neck roll it all.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Hey, low. Used to say hey before the play. Used to say, hey, Daddy, get on my hip and don't dip. Let's go. That's what.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Hey, they scared a little, Neil, man. Hey, get low, Neil, like one carry a game on 31. You good?

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Yeah, yeah, you good. You good. He bought it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Hey, he bought. He bought in. Lt. Man, you look like you don't. You don't lost a weight. Damn. You don't trim down.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Ocho, man, I'm on this intermittent fasting, man. Yeah, man, I get my workouts every day, man. I feel good, man. I'm at playing.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, LT, you might be on the 200.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

LT about. I'm about 210. About 210.

[Michael Irvin]

You need to come holl at your boy. You know, I'm a nutritionist right now. I'm a nutritionist.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

What that diet like, though?

[Michael Irvin]

You know, the same thing I ate when I played.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Hey, LT, don't fool with him.

[Michael Irvin]

You know, 11 NFL teams already hired me to, to help with their nutrition so the players stop getting hurt. No more. None of that. Soft tissue injury? No. Non contact? No, none of that. None of that's happening.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

No, you. You charging too much. Oh, so you know, I'm on a budget.

[Michael Irvin]

I charge 20 a week. That ain't nothing.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's still too much.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

I mess with you. $10. I mess with you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Hey, LT. So when, what time you eat your first meal?

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

About one o'.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Clock. So you, you get all your meals in between, what, 1 and 7? 1 and 8? 1.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

1 and 8? Yeah, 1 and 8, man.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So you're going about 14 to 16 hours fasting?

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Yep, yep. I do.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You. So when, when do you work out? You work out in the morning. So you working out on the empty stomach?

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

So you do cardio stomach? I am, yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

I am, man. So I get. I usually work out about 9 to 10 o' clock in the morning. I get up early, get the kids off to school, you know, and then, you know, I see, I. I will modify with coffee. So I'll have coffee in the morning by 10 ounces. That's it.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Damn. Well, do you know how much 10 ounces is?

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

10 ounces? Yeah, yeah, yeah, about 10 ounces.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's a, that's a can of coke. A can of coke is 12 ounces. You got too fewer than that, but. Yeah, you ain't got nothing on your stomach.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Yeah, yeah, I love that. And then I'll get my workout by that time. By that time, you know, it's, it's around 12 o' clock and once I order food or cook food, it's one, it's one o', clock, so.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead, Ocho.

[Michael Irvin]

I'm gonna say. You smoke cigars?

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Yeah, Absolutely. Yes, sir. I got a cigar lounge in my house, Ocho.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What?

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Yes, I got a cigar.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Hey, boy, you rich.

[Michael Irvin]

I gotta, I gotta leave home to.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Go to the cigar bar.

[Michael Irvin]

He got one in the house? Yeah, him and Joe, both of them got properties now.

[Shannon Sharpe]

My brother go, he go on the back. He Go on the back porch. Ain't got no lounge in the house. You go on the back porch and blow it out. Hey, LT People always ask me, it was me, you and Time and Carissa. And we had picked somebody and I had picked them to win. And Time told me, I didn't do that. And. And you said he did. He picked him. I say, time, I swear for God. And two white men I picked up and y'. All.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Oh, my God.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But they don't really. Oh. LT the conversation that we had watching the games, me, you, in Time.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I'm glad because this is what kind of what my mind is, what I envision with Nightcap to be was kind of, you know, we, yeah, we talk about games, but we talk about a lot of other things, man. Ocho, I was. That was some of my best work. LT Said, man, but, man, he told me, I need to be a comedian. Say, I don't know how. Why you play football? You need to be a damn comedian.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

For real, dog. This man said, two white men, like, why I gotta be two white people? Like, oh, they just stakeholders.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. Back then, you know, back in the day, you wouldn't lie before them now. Cause it was hell to pay. You lie before them. But, man, that was a. That was some fun times, man. Time and I talked about that, man, that was some great time. LT thanks for joining us, man. Congratulations on the Frogs going down to Chapel Hill 48, 14, over to Tar Heels. Come back and join the later this season. LT I definitely will, man. Always a pleasure, my brother. Love y'. All. Appreciate it, bro. The NFL top 100. The top 10 NFL players were unveiled tonight. At number 10 was Patrick Certaintain. At number 9, Patrick Certain II. Excuse me. Number 9, Justin Jefferson. Number 8, Miles Garrett. Number 7, Derrick Henry. Number 6, Joe Burrow. I don't know if y' all notice. Y' all keep talking about the SEC is dead. But the top. That's. That's four of the top ten players right there. That from that conference, Patrick Mahomes was number five, Jamar Chase. Another guy. I don't know if y' all noticed, but six of the top 10 from the SEC, but that, that, that conference is dead. Number three is Josh Allen. Number two, Lamar Jackson. And the number one player voted by his peers. Oh, Saquan Barkley.

[Michael Irvin]

Oh, my bad.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Saquon. Any surprise? Any surprises? Are you surprised?

[Greg Rosenthal]

Football is back. That's right. The new NFL season is here. And you should be listening to NFL Daily as we march along to Super Bowl 60. This is a show for sickos like me. NFL Daily is your kind of show. It's in the name NFL Daily. You'll have fresh content in your feed all season long. Myself, Greg Rosenthal and an all star cast of co hosts will preview and recap every game all season long. Josh Allen coming off an MVP season.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

And now lateral to Allen and reaching for the pylon.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Are you kidding me?

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

It's a touchdown. Have you ever, never seen that one before?

[Greg Rosenthal]

Rookies making a name for themselves.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

He is bouncing off defenders and drag down.

[Greg Rosenthal]

And of course, the Eagles trying to win Another Lombardi.

[Shannon Sharpe]

What a game. What a season.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

What a team. Eagles fans savor it and rejoice.

[Greg Rosenthal]

Listen to NFL daily on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Sarah Spain]

Get fired up y'.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

All.

[Sarah Spain]

Season 2 of Good Game with Sarah Spain is underway. We just welcomed one of my favorite people and an incomparable soccer icon, Megan Rapinoe to the show and we had a blast. We talked about her recent 40th birthday celebrations, Co hosting a podcast with her fiance sue, bird watching former teammates retire and more. Never a dull moment with Pino. Take a listen. What do you miss the most about being a pro athlete? The final. The final and the locker room. I really, really like you. Just you can't replicate, you can't get back. Showing up to the locker room every morning just to talk. We've got more incredible guests like the legendary Candace Parker and college superstar Az Foot. I mean seriously y', all, the guest list is absolutely stacked for season two. And you know we're always going to keep you up to speed on all the news and happenings around the women's sports world as well. So make sure you listen to Good Game with Sarah Spain on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports.

[Dan Orlovsky]

I'm Dan. He's Ty. Hello. And we're the Solid Verbal College football podcast. College football season is here. And you know what that means. Your team is going to break your heart three times probably before Halloween.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Uh huh.

[Dan Orlovsky]

But fear not, the Solid Verbal will be right there with you through every soul crushing loss and impossible comeback. Join us all season long, all year long, as we ride the rollercoaster of this ridiculous sport. Whether you're a die hard fan or a casual observer, we'll help you make sense of all the chaos and of course, celebrate the madness. Tune in for previews, recaps, bits you won't hear anywhere else, and all the emotional support you need as a college football fan. We don't just love college football, Ty. We live it. Listen to the solid verbal college football podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael F. Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Fantasy season is here, and the question is, are you ready to dominate your league? Because if you're not locked in with us, the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, you're already playing from behind. Every episode, we're breaking down the biggest fantasy headlines, injury updates you need before kickoff, and matchups you can exploit to bury your competition. We're talking sleeper picks, breakout stars, and the players you can't afford to bench. Whether it's rookies making noise or veterans keeping their value, we cover it all. Whether you're drafting for the first time or chasing another championship, we'll give you the edge, the insight, and the confidence to make every move count. Weekly analysis, hot takes, and insider knowledge all in one place. So what's it going to be? Another just okay season or total fantasy domination? Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Sarah Spain]

I'm Simone Boyce, host of the Bright side Podcast, and on this week's episode, I'm talking to Olympian World cup champion and podcast host Ashlyn Harris. My worth is not wrapped up in how many things I've won, because what I came to realize is I valued winning so much that once it was over, I got the blues and I was like, this is it for me. It's the pursuit of greatness. It's the journey, it's the people, it's the failures, it's the heartache. Listen to the bright side on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Lt Ocho, are you surprised that Saquon beat out Josh Allen and Lamar to be the number one player in the NFL this season, voted on by his peers?

[Michael Irvin]

LT Rock.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

I'm a. I'm a bit surprised.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So am I.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Because. Because we're living in a world where it's all about the quarterback, and we know that. And. And rightfully so. I mean, Josh Allen is the reigning mvp. Okay, so you would think that, you know, he would get the most votes from his peers. And even beyond Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, with the type of season he had last year, man, he had one of the top seasons from any quarterback in history. You hear Me. So, you know, I'm. I'm very surprised. I mean, Saquon obviously had a spectacular year and, you know, got close to the Russian record of a single season, but he didn't get it. And so, you know, that holds weight that he didn't get it. But. But he did win the Super Bowl. So I think players, at the end of the day are giving him credit for being, you know, going over 2,000 yards and winning the Super Bowl Championship and being the catalyst for that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That. That Eagles and offensive player of the year.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

That's right. And I think that had a lot to do with it. Look, I think he deserves it. Saquon has. Has really elevated the running back position. The value. The value of the running back position. So hands down, I salute Saquon, man, for being the number one player. Respect.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And. And we've talked more about the running back position in 20, in 24 and leading into 25 than we have at any point in time in the last decade, guys, because of what we saw with Derrick Henry, what we saw with Saquon Barkley, what we saw with a Josh Jacobs, what we saw with Joe Mixon. There were a lot of running backs like, hold on. Jonathan Taylor. Hold on. They still got some Jamir Gibbs.

[Michael Irvin]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So they're trying to say, look, there is still value when used correctly. So y' all want to put them behind. Y' all want to put them behind court? No quarterback. So. So offensive line. Look at all these guys that we mentioned. Saquon Barkley. Look at his quarterback. Look at his offensive line. Derrick Henry. Look at his quarterback. Look at his offensive line. Joe Mixon. Look at his quarterback. Look at his offensive line. Gibbs. Look at his quarterback. Look at his offensive line. Josh Jacobs. Look at his quarterback. You see a reoccurring theme here. Yeah, but, see, but. But when a quarterback doesn't succeed, boy, they make every excuse in the world. Now all of a sudden, the running back don't see, oh, man, he over the heel. There ain't no value in him. Nah. Yeah, you right. Ain't nobody running behind that ain't got no line. And if I set my defense and your quarterback can't beat me, I am not going to let your running back beat me. You saw what the Chiefs tried to do in the super bowl, guys. They say we are not letting Saquon beat us. Josh. Jayla Hurst says, okay, you know what? I don't drink no beer, but hold this ginger ale. I got something for y'.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

All.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I got something for y'.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

All.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Go Ahead. Ocho, are you surprised to see Saquon at the Top? You got two backs?

[Michael Irvin]

Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

In the top 10?

[Michael Irvin]

Top 10? Yeah, most definitely. I wasn't surprised at all. Obviously, Saquon's a, a tier one back and those tier one backs are the reason why the value of the run after running back position is now prevalent because of players like Saquon obviously being in the perfect situation. Eagles offensive line, and he's one of the reasons why they were able to reach the super bowl, actually take them over the hump and getting back to the Super Bowl. Obviously we have to give credit to their defense as well, but Josh Allen had a great season. Lamar Jackson had a great season. But I think the, the number one spot was given to Saquon, not with just his play on the field, but what he does also off the field. And the fact that he was able to win a ring was the cherry on top. So it was, it was a no brainer as far as your peers picking him as number one.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah. So Saquon Barkley voted by his peers as the number one player in the NFL in the top 100. Lamar Jackson was second. Lamar Jackson was second last year. Josh Allen is number three. I think he was outside of the top 10. Jamar Chase was way down. He's number four. Patrick Mahomes was number four last year. He's number five.

[Michael Irvin]

Whoa, what you mean way down?

[Shannon Sharpe]

I think it was 35 last year. Ocho Pace was.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Yeah, he, he, he was, yeah.

[Michael Irvin]

Oh, I thought you said way down.

[Shannon Sharpe]

No, no, no. I was saying compared to where he was last year. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Lamar was two last year. I think Josh Allen was 12. I think Jamar Chase was like 35. Patrick Mahomes was four. Joe Burrow was a little outside of the top 20, I think Derek Henry, Miles Garrett. Miles Garrett was number five. Justin Jefferson had, coming off that sensational year, he got in. I think he got Nick. But Justin Jefferson has been a top player. He's. He's been Mr. Consistent and, you know, defensive player to your Patrick. Certain. But I think with, mainly with Saquon and Derrick Henry, what they were able to do, one guy went for 2000, the other guy went for 1921. First time a guy that's rushed for 1900 yards didn't win the rushing title. So that just goes to show you how well the other guy played. Because normally LT, you get 1900 yards, you're like, yeah, I got that rush. I got that thing in the bag. Yeah.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

What? Absolutely. And let's Keep this in mind, guys. The easiest way to win games is.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Still running the football.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

I mean, because you take away the chances of turning it over and crazy things happening when you can run the football and impose your will, you know, cut down on the game, you help your defense and all that kind of stuff. So I think at the end of the day, that's why we're starting to see just a little shift. I'm not saying we're going completely back to when you.

[Shannon Sharpe]

When we. No, no, no, no. Not 90s, early 2000.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

We're going to get back there. No, we ain't gonna never get back there. But I think there is more teams that's starting to focus on the run, the run game a little bit more to control games. Especially when you have a young quarterback or a quarterback who can manage things at the line of scrimmage like all the ones you mentioned on Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, all those guys that have good running backs as well.

[Shannon Sharpe]

It's not going back because you see where these quarterback salaries are going. You're about to have a quarterback making 70 million. You're not paying the guy $70 million to turn around and hand it to a guy that's making 10 million. That ain't happening. We pay. We pay. We paying you 70 million to throw it to a guy that's making 40. So that's why you're never going to see. And plus, why would you. Because guess what? I can get a rough in the passer. I can get illegal contact. I can get unnecessary roughness. I got so many things that can go right if I just throw the football. You see deep.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

But you're still putting that, that $70 million quarterback in jeopardy if you got a defense that's in there.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, but for $70 million, I'm in jeopardy. You see what Josh Allen. You see what Josh Allen just got this off season. LT 330 million with a quarter of a billy guaranteed.

[Michael Irvin]

But you know, you got to think about two. You got to remember this NFL 2 LT. This is, this is the passing league and backs that can take that time off the clock, that can get the defensive rest on the sideline. It's only a handful of them. It's only, it's only a handful of them. Boys, like, they can really carry that whole offense on their back where you don't even have to throw the ball when it comes to crunch time and you want to buy some time and take some time off the clock is only a few now.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Oh, yeah, there's only there's only a handful of guys. I remember when Peyton Manning came to the Broncos. I mean, he was the high. He got like 96 million for five years. I mean, just think about that. Just, just.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Wow.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And what for the longest time, 20, 25 million was pretty good money for. Was great money for a quarterback. And then it went to 30 and then they like. No, 30 ain't nothing. Not air. Now you at $60 million. Yeah, $60 million. And guess what, LT, we know this Ocho. They're gonna add another game. Oh, yeah, it's gonna be 18 games. I give it five years. They're gonna add another playoff game too. That's coming. Because YouTube. YouTube won't end on this action. They want to become a network. In the only way to come a network, you got to have live sporting events. Mainly the NFL. Guess who else want to go on to get in on that? Netflix. Amazon. Amazon. Amazon said, you know, look, we love that Thursday night package. We really do, guys. We don't want you to think we greedy, but we are. We like Black Friday football, that Friday game after Thanksgiving. But I mean, we could really use a package. And you're talking about somebody that's sitting on hordes of cash. Somebody that's sitting on 30, 40, 50, 100 billion in cash. And the one thing a money talk. Cash screams. Yeah. So yeah, we're gonna see what's happening. But it's coming. It's coming. What was it he said, Coach, what you call him say by 20, 25, he close. They wanted to be. They wanted to be a 20 billion dollar industry. They're close. 20, 30, absolutely gonna be 25, 30 billion dollars a year, easy.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

So, so, so let's, let's, let's sit with that one for a minute. Because I got a question. Okay, so that means that the season gonna have to be prolonged a little bit. Cause the players gonna want another bye.

[Michael Irvin]

Two bye weeks.

[Shannon Sharpe]

We used to have two bye weeks. LT. Before you got in the league, back in the mid-90s, you had two bye weeks.

[Michael Irvin]

Yeah, we had two.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yep.

[Michael Irvin]

In the 90s.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Wow. Yeah, you had two by. You got it. You got to have it. But Ocho lt, man, they gonna be playing the super bowl on goddamn St. Patrick's Day. Right, right.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Exactly. And that's what I'm thinking.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Cause you starting at the Labor Day, if you got two bye weeks. Think about it. You already at the second week. You already at the second week in what you call. So now if you add another. A playoff game. Yeah. You gonna be damn near St. Patty's Day, you damn sure have the President's Day in February. You gonna be the third. Hey, you're gonna be the third week, fourth week. Well, there's only four weeks in February anyway. But you might be playing on leap year and. But that's what. That's where the money is. Because what else can you do? The only thing you can do is give them another game. There ain't nothing else you can do in the game. Within the game. You can only give them an additional game to create additional revenue.

[Michael Irvin]

Revenue. Yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And these owners, the one thing we know about them, they can know you can. That's one thing you've never heard somebody say. People have said, I got too many pairs of shoes. I got too many, too many. Too much jewelry, I got too many cars, I got too many homes. Name the person that's ever said, man, I got too much money.

[Michael Irvin]

Yeah, you right. But listen, never heard. Also even. You gotta. You gotta remember, too, if they are adding the game even, no matter how long it is, if the season goes in the second, third week of February, the players understand they're getting a bigger piece of the pie, too. They getting a bigger piece of the pie now. I don't know. We don't know what it's going to look like yet.

[Shannon Sharpe]

All I want that pie, Ocho. I don't want any. Don't. Don't franchise me. No franchise tax. I want lifetime. If I. If I get 10 years in the league, LT, Ocho. I want lifetime health benefits. That's. That. That should be a bare minimum.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Absolutely.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Lt. That should be a bare minimum. Because let's just say for the sake of argument, you get health insurance for five years after you retire. Yes. The average career is about two and a half to three years. Okay, you retired 25, bruh. You ain't gonna have no illness, nothing really major. Some. At 30, you need that issue 65 down the road. Yes. I mean, you can, you can, you know, you can prolong it. You can take the five years anytime you want to. But. But at 30, from 25 to 30. Nah, nah, nah, nah. I won't. If I get 10 years, I want lifetime health benefits. I won't. And guess what? I don't want you to be able to franchise me. Yeah, no. And all this.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Well, they got to pick one or the other. You know how this.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I want both of them.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Oh, sure. You know how this works. You got to come to the table and the owners are going to tell you you're gonna get one thing which one, which one do you want? Do you want lifetime benefits? Well, then that's what we gonna. We're gonna work out a deal to make.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Well, I say you get one and.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Then the player's gonna have to.

[Shannon Sharpe]

I say, I tell you what, you get one. You want an extra regular season game or an extra playoff game, you get one.

[Michael Irvin]

Hey, hey, listen. The players got one person on alt that'll fight for him. One person. You put me in, you put me in position of power to represent the players. I'm gonna get his lifetime benefits. No franchise tag. And what's the other one? Guaranteed contracts. That's my three. Hey, listen, I'm telling you, lt, I'm telling you, once I put that suit on, once I put that suit and that tie on and you put me in the right room and I flip that switch, boy, it's a rap.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But the players have got to get something. But they bargained for petty privileges way back when, lt because see you bargaining, talking about, well, I don't want to do two A days. Well, I don't want to put the pads on, but so many times during the course of the year, bro, you play the game of football, you play tackle football, but you don't want to tackle.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So you bargain for pretty privileges. Go look at what, what Roger Goodell bargained for. Look at what they bargained for. Different now. Roger Goodell ain't taking no hits. He got lifetime medical. He get use of the jet, right? You see what he bar. You see the difference between bargaining, what I'm bargaining for and what you're bargaining for. He want benefits.

[Michael Irvin]

They think a long term too.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Even though he's making 30, $40 million a year, he wants someone else to pay for those lifetime benefits. But why you think, I mean, think about it.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Why, as players, the current players, why aren't they thinking about lifetime benefits? Why isn't that an area of focus?

[Shannon Sharpe]

I'm not, I'm not going to get a debilitating illness. I'm not going to get anything that's going to disrupt what I've already got. I remember. And I'm not going to call anybody's name because I was in the league when free agency actually happened, lt. And there are a lot of guys, man, you give me a million dollars, damn them benefits, I buy my own health insurance. Now, I ain't telling what somebody told you, I'm telling you what I know. Because I was in the league when the Reggie White and the self Jordan, when they filed that petition and it came and we got free agency. And that's what a lot of guys say. You give me a million dollars, you give me $2 million, I buy my own health care.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

And that's my point. That's my point. Because most players feel like that we invest.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, absolutely.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

We never think about what's going to happen, you know, after we retire. 10, 15 years after we retire, we never think about that. We are warriors. That's. We only think about what's happening now and getting as much money as possible for us to live off of and see what happens.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You get a situation where you get a divorce or you have a couple of kids outside and next thing you know, 5,000, 10,000, 15,000amonth, the wife take halves, she takes half your pension. So now you have the person that you went into the relationship with now long term. Because if somebody would have told me when I was 25, 30, 35, 40, that I was going to have both of my hips replaced, I wouldn't have believed it. So now you talk about $125,000 surgery per. Okay, you get, I mean, some of these cancer drugs. You're talking about 30, $40,000 a month.

[Michael Irvin]

A what? Whoa.

[Shannon Sharpe]

A month. A month. A month. A month. Yes. So like ltd, to your point, lt, we don't think, we think we're invincible. And things that are, that, that happened to normal citizens that didn't play in the NFL, that ain't gonna happen to us. We, we're not going to become a burden. We're not going to have Alzheimer's, we're not going to have dementia, we're not going to suffer Lou Gehri's. We're not going to suffer things. That is a stress when you have to have 24 hour care. Boy, that, hey, boy, that'll eat, that'll eat up a savings. And so they don't, you don't, you don't think about things like that. But I wish the players would think, give it more, more consideration when they think long term. Say like, you know what? Okay. Yeah. But a lot of. And plus guys, other sports, they think about the guys that's coming after them. Yeah. You see, Kurt Flood, he never benefited from free agency, cost him his career. But everybody else that did, you see, nobody is willing to risk anything that might cost them.

[Michael Irvin]

Right?

[Shannon Sharpe]

And the thing is, Ocho and I told lt, I told Ocho this. Sometimes you got to plant a tree realizing that you're not going to benefit from the shade it produces. Sometimes you gotta fight for something that you're not gonna be the benefits of what you're actually fighting for. Think about all the people in the 60s that fought for civil rights.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

Come on now.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That never got a chance to sit at a, to go to a segregated, non segregated place. That never got an opportunity to do anything but sit in the back. That never got an opportunity to see a black president. That never got an opportunity to. Some of the things that we get afforded. Sometimes you have to be willing to sacrifice some things for the betterment of everything. And I don't think enough people think of it like that. Ocho, Michael Parsons was reportedly viewed by some Cowboys teammates as egotistical and self centered. Smith, hold on. Sports Illustrated, Albert Bray reports. Martin, Lamb and Prescott are very popular in the locker room. That's Zach Martin, CD Lamb, Dak Prescott. That's not the case with Parsons, who has rankled teammates different in, in different ways. Seen by some as egotistical and self centered. His podcast, which we knew Ocho, has created issues too. And they go all the way up to the quarterback, Dak Prescott. We said that we would start hearing negative comments about Michael Ocho. What did I tell you? We just had this. When we had this conversation, I said, oh, Ocho die. Pretty soon you will start hearing negative comments about Michael Sieber. Not that long. I said, coming, Ocho. I know it's coming. But I always felt, because here's the thing, Ocho, you do a podcast.

[Michael Irvin]

Yes, sir.

[Shannon Sharpe]

You lose the first thing they gonna say. If you get your ass off the podcast and practice and study your play, you win games. In order for your podcast, you gotta be interested, you gotta be entertaining, so you gotta take shots at other people. And you know, I think there was a situation, wasn't they talking about quarterbacks and he didn't have Dak in his top five or something like that.

[Michael Irvin]

I remember that.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So yeah, I get it. I don't have a pro. I think the thing is, Ocho, a lot of people wanna get on the media, gonna get in the media space and they're trying to create that medium now. But you have to be careful. You really have to be careful. I tell guys, look, if CBS or Fox or NBC calls you and they ask you go do it on your bye week, right? Go to your local news station, talk sports, talk to the, you know, the guy that does sport. That's what I did when I was in Denver. I had a local radio show, but when they called me, hey, I would go do, do highlights, right? Do something. But this podcast, I mean, you have to be careful. And plus. And I'm gonna turn it over to you, Ocho. Everybody is not gonna be like, in a locker room. I don't care how great you are, they're gonna be some people that you're gonna rub the wrong way. You don't talk too much, you standoffish, you don't talk enough, you don't ingratiate yourself to the locker room. So everybody is not gonna be beloved. That's okay. That's okay. But I knew this podcast would cause an issue. Go ahead, Ocho.

[Michael Irvin]

It shouldn't have. There's no reason it should cause the issues. Anything Micah decides to do outside of the game of football, when he's not playing, when he's not in meetings, when he's not playing a game, you know, it's all for it. I'm all for it. If you know Micah, if you met him personally, you understand he's a very playful, fun loving guy. He's not. He's a likable person. He's not in the type of place that you could. You could. You can not. Like, you know, or one of those people who. Who come to work and it's strictly business. He doesn't associate with you? No, he's friendly. So again, when things like this come out, of course, those who might not like him or those who probably don't do their goddamn job on Sundays at 1 o'.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Clock.

[Michael Irvin]

I could, I. I bet. I bet you that those who don't like them are the ones who don't show up like he showed up the past four years and doing what he's supposed to do and being one of the few who's had 12 sacks in the last four years at his position. I guarantee you that. Let's pull up the stats for the people or the person that's in that locker room that claims they don't like them, and I guarantee you it doesn't live up to the standard at their position that he lives up to is his. I bet you that it's always hating that. I'm sorry. It's always someone that's not frowned upon. Someone else who's doing something outside of the building, but they handles their business inside of the building, especially in between the lines.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's is. But I'm not. Look, I'm not surprised. I'm sure there are a lot of people that. That like me in Denver. Some didn't. Some people like me in Baltimore. Some didn't. I guess some a little more now than others. But hey, that's neither here nor There. Ocho either. Cincinnati.

[Michael Irvin]

Hey, that threw me for a loop. I know, I know. But I'm just.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, it threw a lot of people for a loop, Ocho. But I. Look, he's. It's over with now. And let's go to that right here. So. Because this. This add. Just add some layers to it. Just a week ago, Dax said he was confident Parsons would be on the field for the Cowboys matchup week one. Well, Dak has a night, has a new tune. Since Michael got dealt, I definitely think he was going to get trick. I definitely didn't think he was going to get to trade. Get traded. But just the way their negotiations went down, obviously to the sun some extent. Hell, y' all were asking me questions. Remember I said that's how it becomes a distraction. Because you're not asking me about the game. You're asking me about Michael's contract. Y' all was asking me question. It seemed like it had gotten personal, which we said that it had become personal. And so that's why I wasn't surprised. Yeah, I told you. Eat Jerry's eagle. Now, it came out today that Duron Bland got a contract extension. Yeah, but did you. But. But did you. Hold on.

[Michael Irvin]

Well deserved. Well deserved.

[Shannon Sharpe]

But they had been working with his representative since off season. Jake Ferguson got a deal. They had been rep. Working with his representative all off season. They're trying to get Tyler Smith done. They're working with his representative. You see here, Ocho, you see how Jerry's ego. Jerry's ego wouldn't let him work with Michael Agent. Because I'm gonna show you I do what I wanna do. And if you wanna do a deal here, you're gonna do it my way. So if you work with all of those guys. Representative, he worked with CDs. Representative, he worked with Dag's representative. I just listed three guys represented that he worked with. But for some reason, he was unwilling to work with Michael's representative.

[Michael Irvin]

He took that friendship and those conversations to heart. He took those friendship, though. Those. Those conversations in that friendship, the heart and Micah. Micah split that right down the middle. Listen, I play for your team. You sign my checks. But when it comes to conducting business, you're going to have to talk to my representation. Even after whatever handshake, whatever words might have been exchanged. That's not the way contracts work. That's not the business works. You were trying to undermine Michael Parsons. You were trying to pay him. Not what he's worth, obviously, because he mentioned about what he was offering, but the offering that he was paying Michael to make. The highest paid was before T.J. watt got paid. It was before Myles Garrett got paid.

[Shannon Sharpe]

And plus he said, I will make you the highest paid. But you added. You added years. You added a year to it.

[Michael Irvin]

Trying to be slick.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Trying to be slick. Miles. Garrett. Miles. Gary got four years, 160. No, bro, I'm not gonna let you do that. I shook your hand, but I told you, call my agent, call my representative. You won't call the representative back? No, you try. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. They told you. No, we don't. You want to do a five year plus the option, that's six years. Most agents want to keep that thing. Four. Plus the one. Because I want another bite at this now. Because once Micah contract once is that 3136 guaranteed money. So within the first three years, he's not going to have any more guaranteed money. The back end, Ocho. So now, and plus that means his. His cap number is going to be extremely high because I get to prorate that 120 over a five year period. So I try to try, try to divvy up equally, but at the back end, those last, those last couple years, Ocho, that thing gonna be high. The giraffe head.

[Michael Irvin]

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So now I come back to the table. Well, you know, hey, you know, six years. Nah. Michael says, hey, I'm 26. I can get another bite of this apple at 30. Oh, y' all have to see your boy.

[LaDainian Tomlinson]

30.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Come on now. But that's what I'm looking at. I'm like, hold on. What you mean they talk to Daron Bland's representative? What do you mean they talk to Jake Ferguson? Representative. What do you mean they're looking to talk to Tyler Smith? Representative. Micah just asked to talk to my representative. No, we had a deal. No, we didn't. I shook your head and told you call my agent, Right? He knew what the agent was going to say.

[Michael Irvin]

Oh, he know. No, hey, wait. Be the. Supposedly the best agent in the game. Oh, you know exactly what he was going to say. You knew exactly. You can't pull a fast one on the agent, right? Pull a fast one on the player.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, because he looking at. Michael's looking at Ocho. He looking at that man. 200 million, Ocho.

[Michael Irvin]

Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[Shannon Sharpe]

See, it.

[Michael Irvin]

It looked good. It looked good. But the agent, the agent got a magnifying glass. Let me peel back some of these layers to this 20 men you talking about, you know?

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, I got light On. Yeah, we're dark in the room. I can't feed. I need it. Yeah, you want these restaurants, Ocho and they hand you the menu. I pull out my phone right quick, put that light on.

[Michael Irvin]

Hey. It never. It never ever seems what they say it is. Never. That's why you need representation.

[Shannon Sharpe]

That's it. I'm not saying. We've seen guys. We see Lamar and his. His mom and with the help of. With an NFLPA lawyer, do the contract themselves, but they made it abundantly clear we're not hiring representation. We'll do something hourly. We'll get an NFL pa. We saw Bobby Wagner do that. We saw Sherm do his own contract. Okay. If the guy says, I'm doing my own contract, yeah, I got no problem with that. You can. The owner, the general manager can work directly with the player. You see, Shay Gilgis. Now, it's a lot easier in basketball because you either get the max or damn near close to a max deal. So Shea says, I'm not going to hand over 3,4% when I already know I'm going to get the max. Right? Got it. Got it. But in the NFL, hey, Lamar says, I feel I can go it alone. That 3%, I can keep that in my pocket. And when you're dealing with that kind of money, it's 3%. Don't seem like much when you start dealing 100, 200, $300 million, 3% is a damn lot of money.

[Michael Irvin]

A lot of money.

[Shannon Sharpe]

A whole lot of money. So with that being said, he knew Michael had representation. Now, he worked with everybody else's representation. Now, if that's what I. If what I read was correct, it says he worked. They've been working with Daron Bland's representation all off season, same thing with Jake Ferguson. And they're working with Tyler Smith, trying to get something done. Now, we know they work with Dak Prescott. He's the highest paid. He didn't do a deal directly with Dak. He worked with Todd France, who's the CDs agent he worked with that. But for some reason, I just need to know, why was he so unwilling to work with David Mugaletta? I just need somebody to explain that to me.

[Michael Irvin]

Also probably understand. Maybe he didn't want to pay Michael all. All along. Maybe he didn't want to pay Mike all along, understanding that he had other deals coming off the table, like the Ron Bland or whatever he's getting ready to do with Jake Ferguson or whoever else they might pay before the season.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay, okay. They would ca yeah, but. But here's the thing, Ocho. If that's the case, if you needed to stop the run, if you didn't like the way Michael was hurt, if you don't think Michael. So why were you negotiating? So why would you want to do a deal with the guy if he is not what you think he is or he's not the player? So why would you even enter? Why would you even try to work a deal with him? Why not just go ahead and trade it? Why not get a draft pick this year?

[Michael Irvin]

Because he was lying to himself. Oh. He was lying to us, trying to make us believe that he's the reason. Believe, like, okay, now he's gone. Well, we let him go because, hey, we need to get better at stopping the run. Child, please stop playing.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Yeah, you hadn't been able to stop the run for four years. So what you got all those defensive tackles for? You see, the problem that I have is that your defense was not built to stop the run. Your offense was. I know Chat. You're asking me say, well, Shannon, what do you mean by that? His offense was built to get the lead. And so now his defense pinned the ears back. They're an undersized defense, and as long as you can keep the game close or you can get the lead, you can pound their ass. Pause. You can run the ball. Because I know what y'. All. I know y' all go. Y' all about to say some crazy stuff. So in other words, you can run the ball on them because they're built to play with the lead and get pressure. Now, guess what? They ain't got no lead. They have to stand up in there. And a lot of those guys ain't got a whole lot of bricks in their back pocket. So when you build your off, when you build your team a certain way, well, you build your team with speed. You need to be able to use it. And if you got a team that want to run the football, speed don't help you.

[Michael Irvin]

Nah. At all.

[Shannon Sharpe]

So that. That. That's. That's one of the things. And look. And people like, well, what Dak could have did. No, if I'm Dak, I ain't doing nothing. I'm getting all my money. Oh, absolutely. My job. My job. You tell us we're players. Oh, so what? They tell us, he's a player. Well, if I'm a player, my job ain't trying to figure out the cap. You figure out the cap. You don't pay me extra to work on the cap. You pay me A salary to do what I do on the football field, all that other stuff. It ain't my job to worry about the cab. Well, you know, they got a cab and you can only do so. I ain't got nothing to do with me.

[Michael Irvin]

Hey, you know what else? You know what else works in favor, especially in quarterback positions, especially in DAC position. There have been other quarterbacks that in great situations where the timing of when it's time for them to get paid, there's nowhere else for that team to go, right? There's nowhere else for that team to go to get someone that's competent enough to come in. Come in and be quarterback number one. So you ain't got no choice but to pay these young fellas what they owe at the time. You got no choice because there's no other. There's no other option.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Right? And plus, I'm not. First of all, I don't trust Jerry. Jerry ain't built nothing in 30 years. So why would I. Why am I going to leave him money on the table? Why am I. First of all, this is my really first big bite at the Apple. Why am I going to give a guy that's worth 15 billion? Why am I going to give him a discount?

[Michael Irvin]

Absolutely not.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Chad. Let's just say for the sake of argument, you work for a company and that company is worth 20 billion. And they say, you know what a. A Charlene, we want to get Pam in HR, but it's going to cost us to go take 15,000 of your money. Well, Charlene ain't gonna be in HR. Cause you ain't taking a dime of mine. So, no, you don't give no billionaire no discount. You a millionaire. Now, if the next contract that wants to be generous enough, that's different, that's on him. But I feel no obligation to cut you a slack so you can. No, no, no, no. That ain't got nothing to do with me.

[Michael Irvin]

Not that first one. No, that first one. No, sir.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Because what Jerry say when cbs. I don't know if you watched this. CBS had had the. The broadcast, right? A lot of the other owners, CBS was losing money. A lot of the other owners wanted to keep CBS as the broadcast partner. Jerry said, no, we're not cutting them a deal. We're not gonna do it. But see, Jerry refute. Go ask cbs, go ask NBC, go ask Fox, go ask Amazon, go ask Netflix. Did y' all get a deal with these NFL rights? They didn't get a deal, but they expect players. Well, Shannon, there's a Cap, what they got to do with me? Ain't no cap on my bank account, right? My bank account says as much money that'll pour in, we can take it. That ain't got nothing to do with me. Because teams will make as much money as they can. Now, it's going to sound very, very interesting. Ocho. Now you watch with these next contract. Watch around 28 because these, these things come due. They come and do ocho, about 20, so 20, 20, about 10 years. Watch around 28 when they start doing it right. YouTube's gonna say, hey, we want some of this. Oh, Netflix gonna say, hey, man, live programming, we want some of this, right? Amazon said, whoo. Oh, man, oh, man, I see what we do. Hey, I see what we doing with these Thursday night games. I see we do with these Black Friday games. Just imagine we get a whole package. So that 430, that 432 gonna probably be 650 come 20, 28, 20, 29.

[Michael Irvin]

Yeah, I'm gonna get me a little piece of that too.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Hey, so I, I, man, please.

[Michael Irvin]

Yeah, we're gonna give me a little piece of that. I need to holla, I need to holla at Jeff. I gotta, I gotta, I got an interview with Jeff Bezos for a position over, over at Amazon, so.

[Shannon Sharpe]

Okay.

[Michael Irvin]

I'm excited to see how that's gonna go.

[Shannon Sharpe]

All right. The Cowboys agreed to turn with cornerback to Ron Bland. Four years, $92 million with an extension of 50 million guaranteed. And Ocho, he got what, 20 million at the time of signing? Bland average 23 million makes him the sixth highest paid corner in the league. Bland, one time Pro Bowler, the one time All Pro from his nine interception 23, 23 campaign in which he delivered a record setting five pick. Sixes is part of a prolific cornerback. Cor. See a cornerback duo with Trayvon Diggs. He earned it.

[Michael Irvin]

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

[Shannon Sharpe]

He got off. You got Nick last year, but his first year, I think he had five picks. He turned around, give you 14. He got Nick. Hey, you believe he's your guy. You got, you got a little extra money stashed away since you didn't sign Micah. Hey, we good?

[Michael Irvin]

They good?

[Shannon Sharpe]

I like it.

[Michael Irvin]

Yeah, he, he, he definitely earned that. He did. I'm, I'm excited to see him back. I'm excited to see when Trayvon, when Trayvon Diggs comes back, you know, so I think they, they defensively, I'm not sure what the caliber is going to look like, but they're going to have some bright spots. At certain positions. I'm going to, I'm going to say it like that. They're going to have some bright spots at certain positions.

[Sarah Spain]

Get fired up, y'.

[Shannon Sharpe]

All.

[Sarah Spain]

Season 2 of Good Game with Sarah Spain is underway. We just welcomed one of my favorite people, an incomparable soccer icon Megan Rapinoe, to the show and we had a blast. Take a listen. Sue and I were like riding the lime bikes the other day and we're like, wee people ride bikes because it's fun. We got more incredible guests like Megan in store, plus news of the day and more. So make sure you listen to Good Game with Sarah Spain on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by Novartis, founding partner of iHeart Women's Sports Network.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Tune in to all the Smoke Podcast where Matt and Stack sit down with former first lady Michelle Obama.

[Sarah Spain]

Folks find it hard to hate up close. And when you get to know people and you're sitting in their kitchen tables and they're talking like we're talking, you know, you hear our story, how we grew up, how Barack grew up, and you get a chance for people to unpack and get beyond race.

[Dan Orlovsky]

All the Smoke featuring Michelle Obama. To hear this podcast and more, open your free iHeartRadio app, search all the Smoke and listen now.

[Greg Rosenthal]

Football is back. That's right, the new NFL season is here and you should be listening to NFL Daily as we march along to Super Bowl 60. It's in the name NFL Daily so you'll have fresh content in your feed all season long. Join me, Greg Rosenthal in an all star cast of co host for previews and recaps of every single game. NFL Daily will keep keep you up to date with everything you need to know so you can sound smarter than all your friends. Listen to NFL daily on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Dan Orlovsky]

I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael F. Florio and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Your ultimate source for player news, draft tips and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet, we've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Dan, he's Ty. Hello. And we're the solid verbal College football Podcast. Tune in for previews, recaps, bits you won't hear anywhere else and all the emotional support you need as a college football fan. Join us all season long as we ride the rollercoaster of this ridiculous sport. Listen to the solid verbal college football podcasts on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We don't just love college football, Ty, we live it.

[Sarah Spain]

This is an iHeart podcast.