3 & Out - Best of The Week: Joe Flacco is NOT a mentor, Scottie wins again, Lions LOSE a key piece

Summary

Episode Summary: "3 & Out - Best of The Week: Joe Flacco is NOT a mentor, Scottie wins again, Lions LOSE a key piece"

Release Date: June 8, 2025
Podcast: The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Host: John Midoff
Produced by: iHeartPodcasts and The Volume

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Overview

In this episode of "The Herd with Colin Cowherd," host John Midoff delves into three significant sports stories of the week: Joe Flacco's stance on mentorship, Scottie Scheffler's impressive streak of golf victories, and the Detroit Lions' loss of a key player, Frank Ragnow. Midoff provides in-depth analysis, insightful commentary, and engages listeners with notable quotes and perspectives on each topic.

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1. Joe Flacco is NOT a Mentor

Timestamp: [02:32 – 16:09]

John Midoff opens the discussion by addressing Joe Flacco's recent comments about not positioning himself as a mentor to younger players. Flacco's straightforward approach emphasizes his primary focus on winning games rather than taking on a mentorship role.

Key Points:

• Flacco's Perspective: Flacco expressed that his main goal is to win rather than mentor, stating, "I'm not here to mentor the guy. My job, especially in the off-season and in August training camp and going into week one, is to try to help my team win games." (02:32)

• Host's Agreement: Midoff concurs with Flacco, highlighting the challenges of balancing mentorship with competitive performance. He elaborates, "Joe Flacco knows this. Kevin Stefanski knows this because he surely told him when Joe Flacco came there and signed." (05:45)

• Team Dynamics: The discussion touches on how Flacco's role as a starting quarterback inherently prioritizes team success over individual mentorship, especially in high-stakes environments like the Cleveland Browns.

• Comparative Analysis: Midoff compares Flacco's stance to other veteran players, noting that in roles where leadership is secondary to performance, mentorship may naturally take a backseat.

Notable Quote:

"If I'm signed to be the starter, my job is not to mentor the guy. My job is to try to help my team win." – Joe Flacco (02:32)

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2. Scottie Scheffler Wins Again

Timestamp: [18:47 – 37:08]

The spotlight shifts to golf, where Scottie Scheffler has secured back-to-back tournament victories, demonstrating remarkable consistency and dominance akin to golf legends like Tiger Woods.

Key Points:

• Scheffler's Achievements: Midoff highlights Scheffler's consecutive wins at prestigious tournaments, "Scottie Scheffler wins Memorial. He goes back to back. For the first guy to do that at Jack's tournaments, it's Tiger Woods." (18:47)

• Dominance in the Sport: He praises Scheffler's ability to maintain top form, noting his combined victories by significant margins—"...he has combined to win those tournaments by eight shots... five shots... a combined 13 and then four, 17 shots." (23:10)

• Comparisons to Legends: Midoff draws parallels between Scheffler and Tiger Woods, emphasizing Scheffler's current form and potential for long-term success, "Scottie’s really been doing it coming into this year for like, a year and a half at the highest level, which is incredible." (25:30)

• Consistency vs. Golf's Unpredictability: While acknowledging golf's inherent unpredictability, Midoff underscores Scheffler's exceptional consistency, contrasting it with players like Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth whose performances fluctuate.

• Future Prospects: The discussion anticipates Scheffler's potential to challenge for more major titles, given his current trajectory and mental fortitude on the course.

Notable Quote:

"The craziest part about this guy is like, he never just has a random week where he finishes like 35th." – John Midoff (25:00)

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3. Lions LOSE a Key Piece: Frank Ragnow's Retirement

Timestamp: [37:12 – End]

John Midoff examines the Detroit Lions' significant loss with the retirement of center Frank Ragnow, analyzing the broader implications of player retirements in the modern NFL landscape.

Key Points:

• Ragnow's Early Retirement: Midoff discusses Frank Ragnow's decision to retire before turning 30, probing into the factors that contribute to such early exits from the league, "Frank Ragnow, 29 years old and he's already made $57 million..." (37:42)

• Financial Security Influence: He explains how lucrative NFL contracts today provide players with the financial freedom to prioritize health and personal life over prolonged athletic careers, "Is it enough where you couldn't blow it if you did some stupid things? Of course not. So money gives guys the opportunity when they're in a lot of pain." (40:15)

• Impact on the Team: The analysis covers how Ragnow's departure affects the Lions' offensive line stability and overall team performance, considering the challenges of finding a replacement for a Pro Bowl caliber center.

• Comparative Athlete Decisions: Midoff references other athletes like Jason Kelce and Aaron Donald to illustrate the trend of early retirements driven by cumulative injuries and financial readiness, "Aaron Donald's still kicking ass... 'I've already banked $100 million. I'm good, dog. I'm out.'" (44:00)

• Physical Toll of Modern Football: The discussion touches on the increased physical demands and pain associated with contemporary football, contrasting it with past eras' rougher play styles, "Frank Ragnow said like I've tried to talk myself that I'm not into a lot of pain what he doesn't feel right." (39:50)

• Future Implications: Midoff speculates on how Ragnow's retirement could influence other players' decisions and the strategies NFL teams might adopt in managing player health and career longevity.

Notable Quote:

"Frank Ragnow said he's not into a lot of pain and at the end of the day he just does not feel right." – John Midoff (38:17)

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Conclusion

John Midoff's comprehensive analysis in this episode offers listeners a deep dive into pivotal sports stories, blending factual reporting with expert commentary. From Joe Flacco’s focused mentality, Scottie Scheffler’s golfing prowess, to the Detroit Lions navigating the loss of a key player, the episode encapsulates the dynamic nature of professional sports in 2025.

Notable Final Quote:

"In a sport that, like, there is just some randomness that even if you get hot, you kind of come back to earth. It's pretty crazy to witness." – John Midoff (36:30)

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Note: Timestamps correspond to the transcript provided and serve as reference points for the discussed topics.

Transcript

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[John Midoff]

What is going on, everybody? How are we doing? John Midoff, the Rain Out Podcast hopefully everyone's doing well. Listen, if you like this show and you're a listener of this show, you got to make sure you subscribe to the three and out podcast feed and the YouTube channel. Last week we had John Spitek, the general manager of the Raiders on and if you listen through Collins feed, you can miss stuff like that. We have another GM lined up for next week so make sure you subscribe to the podcast. Today's a little best of of last week. If you missed anything. Joe Flacco said he's not a mentor and to be honest with you, totally agree with his sentiment on that. Scotty Scheffler finds a way to win again and the Lions lose another Pro bowl high end player to retirement before he hits 30. Now this time their franchise is good but not ideal when you lose a really, really good player before 30. So we will dive into all that again. Subscribe either to the podcast feed or to the YouTube channel and we will have you covered. But dive into some football. You know I got to tell you about my friends, my partners in the official ticketing app of this podcast Game time. Best in the business. I usually I'm not a big FOMO guy. Like it takes a lot for me to feel like I'm missing out on something. And obviously this fear. This concert venue in Vegas has kind of taken music goers by storm. And I've we have James who works I don't even know if he's still around but because he's with Jadakiss and Fat Joe, but he's been there, he said. It's incredible. I got a buddy here, Bill Pakota, who played the big leagues for like a decade and has seen the Eagles at the Sphere multiple times. And he's like, bro, I cannot recommend the Experience enough. Kenny Chesney now has a residence in Vegas and I love Kenny Chesney. I've seen him probably four or five times in my life. 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So if you ever want to get a chance to go to the sphere and see whoever, whoever's playing there, just use game time. Easy to scroll. Obviously you want to be a little higher to kind of take it all in. I don't think you want to be too low because you're looking up. I saw Portnoy say that. Even Kenny told him it's a. It's a weird experience as a performer because you're used to everyone staring at you, but instead they're staring way above you. But I got to go. I got to go sometime and I want to go see someone. Like, I'm not a big deadhead, but I mean, everyone hyped it up, so I think Kenny's probably more my speed. And I was like, I need to go. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets with game time. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use the code John for $20 off your first purchase terms. Apply again, create an account, redeem the code Johan for $20 off down the Gametime app today. Last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. Joe Flacco made some comments. I probably could play them, but the gist of it essentially was like, I'm not here to mentor guys. Because he was asked like, do you view yourself as a mentor? And he gave a really, really good answer. I thought, right? Like, he's like, I could go either way, right? I could, I could come out and say I'm going to be a great mentor and then you guys can crush me. I'm not focused enough on, on winning. I could say I'm not going to be a great mentor and you guys could look at me like I'm an asshole. And the reality is I'm here to try to win games. And in fairness to Joe Flacco, Joe Flacco knows this. Kevin Stefanski knows this because he surely told him when Joe Flacco came there and signed. The entire team knows this because a couple years ago, Joe Flacco led them to the playoffs. And I don't know how long this is going to go on. I don't know if their team's going to be that good. But when it comes to week one, if he's healthy, Joe Flacco is going to be the starter. Like, I saw Colin go on this thing. That should Door should be the starter right now. Like, yeah, listen, I, for an entertainment standpoint and content standpoint, I'm all for it. This is not going to happen. Joe Flacco is the starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns Week one. You can put that thing in fucking Sharpie. And if I'm signed to be the starter, my job is not to mentor the guy. My job, especially in the off season and in August training camp and going into week one, is to try to help my team win. Now if Joe Flacco had said this as the backup quarterback for Josh Allen, or that's a bad example because he's been in the league for a while, let's say the Bears had signed him to back up Caleb Williams or the Patriots assigned him to back up Drake maybe. And he had said this and it was clear, like, Joe, you're not the starter. I would have been like, that's the wrong signing for that team. Because when the Kansas City Chiefs signed Chad Henney, the year they got rid of Alex Smith for Patrick Mahomes, the reason they signed Chad Henney, obviously he had a bunch of experience. He was married and mature. But was this to help Patrick Mahomes to be like an older voice in the room on how to prepare and be a pro, AKA be a mentor? That was his role. That is not Joe Flacco's role. On June 1, 2025, his job is to be the starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. So I've seen a million different thoughts and people with different takes on this. Like, guys, not that complicated. He's a starting quarterback. Like, we all know that's going to play out. Now if by week seven and they are two and five and he gets benched and Dylan Gabriel or Shador is thrown in the mix, then, yeah, his job then pivots to help that guy out, which he has surely done before. But like, you can only do so much. You, you, you really can't. Like, look at last year, I would imagine he tried to help Anthony Richardson out. But there's a chance that some of these young guys, because this is the nature of, you know, a young, I, I don't want to say know it all, but I, I think young, successful people probably think they know more than they actually do. They're probably not asking him unlimited questions. And the other thing he alluded to, like, ideally, I hope our relationship's good. Like, that's just the organic nature of being a good teammate and being around each other and being like minded people. But there's no guarantee it's like, yeah, welcome to life. You can work with people if you don't have the same values and morals and kind of standards. If one guy's lazy and you, and you don't buy into it, or that guy, if you're lazy and the guy that's a grinder, you're not going to get along. It's not going to happen. It's not going to go well. We have all been in different scenarios in our professional life. Once you get to a certain age, if you've worked in the workforce, I would say for over a decade, you have worked with someone you do not like. I think that's borderline impossible. Now, depending on your personality, that number could be higher or lower. But we have all worked with people. Again, not a boss that kind of rubs you the wrong way or pisses you off. I'm saying someone you legitimately can't stand, someone you view as like a piece of shit low character loser. And that's. That happens. I'm sure in every locker room there are a couple people that can't stand each other. And you hope that's not the case. And you definitely hope it's not in the quarterback room. But it is not Joe Flacco's job to hold. You know, everyone's going to say Shador. And here's the thing with Shador, the coaching staff and the GM draft the Dylan Gabriel first so we can all want Shador to play. From an entertainment standpoint, who do you think Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Barry are going to put out first? Because they do control a lot of this. I've said forever, the moment you get drafted, a GM and a front office can like the player, but they don't control the practice script. They don't control who goes in, when at practice. Now, obviously some GMs have more juice than others, but the coach has a, the majority of the poll. Especially once a practice starts, he can do whatever he wants to do. So it's, it's going to be on those two guys who are going to be taking reps with backups. And who knows, maybe because Flacco is old and has so much experience that they just don't even give him that many reps. I have a hard time seeing that in training camp at least because you do need to have everyone on your team at least think that you have the belief that winning is possible, right? You can, you can flip the script pretty easily once you've lost a couple games. But in training camp, what's the point of grinding if we're just going to mail in the season. It's why tanking doesn't exist in the NFL, because no one has that mentality. No one just fucking mails it in. Now maybe they do some sort of, you know, like they did last year with Drake May and Jacoby Brissette. Jacoby was going to start week one, but in training camp they were splitting the reps unlike most teams would normally do. And maybe they do that with the young players in Gabriel and Chador when it comes to training camp reps with Joe Flacco, because you go, he doesn't need as many reps, but I don't blame him for thinking that at all the NBA Finals are here and this is your last chance to bet on the NBA until next season and the Draft King Sportsbook and official sports betting partner of the NBA is pulling out all the stops to make it a Finals to remember. One team will be crowd the champ and the other will be lost to history. Who you got winning it all? 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Scottie Scheffler wins again. I guess we shouldn't be shocked. Kind of kicking myself. Liked him at the PGA Championship, but really liked him the last couple weeks and Ben Griffin wins at the Colonial a couple weeks ago, but Scotty wins Memorial. He goes back to back. For the first guy to do that at Jack's tournaments, it's Tiger Woods. He has three wins in his last four starts, and he has combined to win those tournaments by eight shots. Five shots. That would be 13 and then four, 17 shots. Safe to say. I thought it was a little hyperbolic last year. I know he was having a Tiger like season, but I think sometimes when you compare people to Tiger woods, to Tom Brady, to. As a hitter, if, like, comparing you to Tony Gwynn, you make these lofty comparisons, typically they're unfair because, like, the best of the best, they do it over a course. You know, Tiger for a decade kicked everyone's ass. Tom Brady did it for 15, 20 years. Right? Some of these guys, they have such long careers of dominance. And, you know, Scotty's really been doing it coming into this year for like, a year and a half at the highest level, which is incredible, which is very, very hard to do with the sport. And if you look historically, a lot of hall of Fame golfers just that have had great, long careers take advantage of, like, 24 months. And if you look at some major stretches, like guys that have won three or two majors, they usually do it over, like, two calendar years. And you just never know. Golf's really hard. I mean, at one point in time, you would have thought, Rory back in 2014 would have won 10 majors. You would have said the same thing for Jordan Spieth. I'm watching Jordan Spieth yesterday, watching the final round at Memorial. I mean, the guy has got to be the most entertaining golfer of all time. I mean, on any given moment, he can hit someone in the head with a golf ball or have a putt for, like, a seven footer for Eagle. You have no clue what's coming at any moment. It is the ultimate roller coaster ride. And Scotty Scheffler currently is the complete opposite. You know exactly what you're getting. He's not only the heavy favorite to win next week at Oakmont. I think I speak for everybody. It would be shocking if he doesn't win. It really would. He's plus 280. And all we ever say about this sport currently is it's never been deeper. There's never been more talent. We say the same thing about the NBA. And while I'd probably agree in terms of basketball, there probably has never been more individual talent and more skilled guys in the sport. It's not an individual sport. It's a team game. And now with the mercenary kind of element of basketball, you got guys jumping all over the place. So there's no cohesion. With teams, I'd argue, like, top to bottom, there have never been more, I don't know, worse teams, but just more chaotic situations. Even talented teams aren't as good because they haven't played together for long. When I grew up on the NBA, for example, it was like baseball and basketball. You had core groups that played together for a long time and you got to build cohesion. Where in golf, it doesn't really matter. It's just yourself. You're just playing yourself. And the thing about team sports, like, let's use the basketball analogy, Oklahoma City, they're clearly really good. So when they have one guy has an off night. When you're an elite team, you got other guys to pick you up. We've seen it in college sports forever. Like, it's really easy to go on a run when you have a roster like 2019 LSU football, or those couple years of Georgia football with all the NFL players they had, or Jim Harbaugh's team two years ago at Michigan, or the decade worth of Nick Saban's teams. They were dramatically better than everyone else. And there was maybe a game or two throughout the season where the competition was going to be close to equal we've seen in college basketball for a long time. Some hell this year with Duke, they don't win at all, but it was clear every game they played, except maybe two or three, they were clearly better than the other team. So even if some random shit happens, the margin for error, because we got five guys on the court or 11 guys on the field in football is going to be on my side in golf. There's a huge randomness to the sport, right? What if you're just feeling shitty that day? I was thinking this yesterday when I was recording a podcast on Sunday. I'm like, I don't think my brain's working. Like, was this podcast the worst podcast I've ever done in my entire life? But, like, it's whatever. We have five, six days a week doing podcasts every single week, all year long, year after year. It's like, okay, you just keep on swinging in golf, like you play in these tournaments, as Scotty's doing. You got four days. What if just one day you're just feeling like crap? What if one day, like, the bounces don't go your way instead of, like, hitting two yards farther and bouncing five feet away from the hole? It kicks back and you get plugged in the bunker and instead of getting a birdie, you get a double bogey. And that's the reason maybe you don't make the cut. That's just not happening to Scotty Scheffler at all. It's what was so amazing about Tiger woods, which people said forever. His most amazing accomplishment of his career was his consecutive cut streak. He never missed the cut. Why? Because, like, obviously he was the best player. But to me that spoke, it didn't mean he won every week, because he didn't. I mean, if you're an all time golfer and you're even getting close to winning like 10% of the time, that's an incredible clip. Yet Tigers give a shit factor was really, really high. He took everything really, really seriously. And I would say the same thing about Scottie Scheffler, which early in the year he gave him a little bit of benefit of the doubt because he had the injury to his hand and everything was just a little off. You're like, it's golf. Cut his hand, kind of a freak deal. And then right around the Masters, it felt like, is this going to be Rory's year? He wins a pebble, he wins the players, and then he finally wins the Masters. You're like, is Rory about to have like five or six wins this season and a couple majors and kind of steal the throne back from Scotty? And Scotty, to quote Lee Corso, said, not so fast, my friend. Pump the fucking breaks. Then he goes to the CJ cup in a field that, let's face it, not very good. And you're like, listen, this is a warm up for the PGA Championship. He'll probably win. But even if he doesn't, as long as he gets some good momentum, I finishes in the top five, not only does he win, he wins by eight shots. Then he goes to the PGA where he wins by five shots. So in two straight weeks, he wins tournaments by a combined 13 shots. And then he goes to last two weeks ago at the Colonial. Ben Griffin wins, but it's not like Scotty just mailed it in. The craziest part about this guy is like, he never just has a random week where he finishes like 35th. He finished fourth that week, then comes into this week defending championship. No big deal. I'll win easily. And as Jack Nicklaus said is like, yeah, you know, Ben Griffin, Seppstraka, Nick Taylor, nice players, but let's be honest, they're not in Scotty's league. Seb Straka, won this year. Ben Griffin literally just won last week and he just dismissed them and so does Scotty. Kicked his ass. Even though I actually think Ben Griffin wasn't terrible. A couple wayward shots or he's right there. But what he's doing right now, in an individual sport where you have no one to bail you out, like if you're just feeling like shit, if you didn't sleep well, if, I don't know, we've all played golf, you just don't have it. I heard Scott Van Pelt say this, I think a couple weeks ago on his podcast. He's like the most impressive thing always was about Tiger is like he didn't have it every week, but there were some rounds where most guys would have ended up shooting 74, 75, and essentially lost the tournament on like a Thursday or Friday because either they missed the cut or they've been too far back. And Tiger was always able to find like, you know what? I'm not shooting 74 today. I'm going to end up shooting 70. I'm not shooting 76 today. I'm shooting 72. And you just keep kind of your head above water. And Scotty right now has, I mean, Rory at any moment, if you tell me like on an individual week, mails it in, finishes 35th, like totally believable. Xander, I'm giving him a little benefit of the doubt this year because of the rib injury. Like it's kind of a tough injury to play through. He was incredible last year. He's been one of the better players in the world. Clearly not quite himself this year, but. And it's hard, you know, with, with Bryson and Rom not playing with these guys every single week. But what Scotty's doing, like I, I thought we were obviously witnessing an all time great player, but like the Tiger comparisons, the Jack, like this is if he goes to win at Oakmont, to have these back to back years of winning at this cliff and just kicking the shit out of everybody. I understand Rory wasn't there last week, but every player other than Rory was trying to beat this guy and he's just curb stomping the Justin Thomases. The Xander's like, it's not even close. The, the Patrick camp, Les, these guys are all going to be like on the Ryder cup team with him. And they're just so Jack's taking this, this line of the Ben Griffins, the Sepstrakas aren't in his league. Like nobody's in his league. Rory turns out not in his league. Like none of these guys are so the guys that are right behind him on the Ryder cup list, the Xanders, the Justin Thomas is like, it's not even close. It's not a fair fight. In a sport that, like, there is just some randomness that even if you get hot, you kind of come back to earth. It's pretty crazy to witness. I mean, I'm watching yesterday kicking myself like, why didn't you put an astronomical amount of money on this guy? And every time I talk myself out of it, it's like, ah, this is going to be the week. And then he goes and wins. I always think when a player retires, quote, unquote, randomly, especially when there is, you know, the car situation had gotten, let's say, toxic between the new coaching staff, mainly the new head coach, him, they weren't on the same page. It clearly got weird. And I do think that, I would imagine we'll see when quotes come out, when Dan Campbell finally gets in front of a mic, or Brad Holmes, the gm, that they would have been in communication over the offseason with Frank Ragnow, their starting center, and let's face it, one of the better interior offensive linemen in the NFL. It's always a little jarring when you see a guy just choosing to quit at 29 years old. Now, I think what makes pro sports in 2025 so much different than I would say the previous. We could even go the last 10 years. But anything before that is the money is so outrageous. It really is. Frank Ragnos, 29 years old and he's already made $57 million, you know, so even if you factor in after taxes, he's taken in net probably, I don't know, well over $30 million. And he lives in a place that, you know, no shade to Detroit. And obviously they have some high end places, but is it Manhattan or Newport Beach? So his money's going a little bit farther. And I do think that makes or gives guys the opportunity when they're in a lot of pain. Because the one thing with football is we've all been critical and I'm guilty as anybody is being like, this is not the NFL. I know this is not the sport that I grew up loving. This was not the sport when I was in high school. It was as vicious. You could take out anybody. The Ronnie Lotts, the John Lynch's, the Troy Palomalu's, the Ray Lewis's. That's, that's my NFL. It was a much more violent game in the open field. That is true. Can't touch the quarterback anymore. That's a fact which I do understand from a business perspective. But when you're watching a game, when it's your team, when you're betting on a game and they throw a roughing the passer penalty on a quarterback hit that is like hitting them with a pillow. It makes you want to puke. I mean it really does. But the one area where you can still be really violent and an area in which more and more elite players have come into the league over the past decade at defensive tackle, let alone defensive end, is the line of scrimmage. And the speed, the power, the size of these humans is. It's crazy whenever the combine comes around and you see the measurables on the defensive lineman in the league. And Frank Ragnow said like I've tried to talk myself that I'm not into a lot of pain and at the end of the day I just do not feel right. And if you look at his injury history, he's had a bunch of injuries over the course of his career. And you do not become a Pro bowl level player, a high end player, a first round pick, a guy that is just, you know, one of the better players at your position at offensive line if you are not a tough son of a bitch. Like no one can question your toughness when you play center or guard and you are a high end player at that position. So I'm going to take him at his word that the pain and the worry about like this might not work moving forward. Right. Jason Kelsey talked about this when he retired, like could I keep playing? Of course now he was, he was much older than Rag now. But I'm in so much pain when I get out of bed every morning, not even counting the season. I'm talking about the off season. And I do think it makes it easier to make life decisions when you have a lot of money in the back and your family is secured and you're not going to have to worry about anything. Is it unlimited money? Is it enough where you couldn't blow it if you did some stupid things? Of course not. So but is it more money? Are you immediately in the top 1% of the 1%? With having millions upon millions upon millions of dollars in the bank, you can look at things a little bit differently and it has to be difficult to make this decision. I think if you're the Lions. I've said this before and I still believe this today. Now it is more difficult in this spread offense version of college football, this transfer portal world we live in I always thought that guards and centers are the most replaceable. Now when you get Pro bowl guys, it is hard to find another Pro bowl guy. But the drop off of just finding another center who can function is much smaller than if Penne Sewell retired. It's like, what do I do at tackle? It's like, yeah, you can be screwed. I see with the 49ers all the time when Trent Williams gets, gets injured, it's like what do we do? And the answer is there's nothing you can do because your swing tackle can never just step in. You know, the Lions over the last couple of years have actually had a pretty good swing tackle. But that's why their offensive line has been awesome. But for the most part, like there's a massive drop off with your third tackle than giving a guy that your starter, especially when that starter is a high end guy. But I think we've seen like, you know, Derek Carr 30 years ago is still playing football, right? But he's made over $200 million. And it's like, you know what, just kind of over this, not, not dealing with the politics of this business. And Frank is like, you know what, 30 years ago when again NFL players were still making a lot of Money in the 90s, they weren't making life changing, generational changing money. When you were the center in 1987, you keep playing because Frank, hell, he could make $10 million this upcoming season, hell, he could hold out because he has no guaranteed money left on his contract and surely get a raise. I mean, he's scheduled to make like $9.5 million in actual cash. I bet he could get that number easily up to 15 plus million dollars. But you're like, you know, it's not even worth it to me. I don't even want to deal with this. And who knows, he's young enough that maybe in a year, maybe he's feeling better that he gets the itch. And trust me, there would be either the Lions or other teams willing to scratch that itch. But I think a huge element of these decisions, even going back to Calvin Johnson, you know, I think Barry Sanders decision was strictly based on this franchise. Fucking sucks. This is not fun. This is, this is a miserable experience running around and never winning. I do think the guys that we've seen in recent memory have factored in pain and I'm super rich. It's just not worth it. Patrick Willis had the feet. I think Calvin Johnson had the feet as well. You know, Derek Carr has this messed up shoulder. Those are Just ones that come to mind. It's like, you know what? I don't need the money anymore. Aaron Donald, I mean, Aaron Donald's still kicking ass and taking names. He's like, I've already banked $100 million. I'm good, dog. I'm out. I've already accomplished everything I've set out to accomplish. I still feel good. I see some of these clips. I saw an Instagram reel of Aaron Donald lifting. It's like, Jesus, guy looks fantastic. He looks like he could. He'd make it all pro this season if he came back. I would actually bet on it. But it's like, you know what? It's not worth it to me because football, more than these other sports like baseball, you just play every single night. You don't practice. Take a little BP and you play basketball. If you're on a good team by like Christmas, you don't even. You don't practice at all either. I don't think LeBron James teams have practices in like a decade. So, like, football's the one sport where you practice and mentally practice with meetings and rehab and working on your body and lifting way more than you get to play. I say this all the time because I think it's one of the great quotes of all time. Ray Lewis saying, you pay me Monday through Saturday, Sundays are for free. Because playing football at any level, if you played in high school, if you played peewees, if you good enough to play in college, the games are the fun part, right? It's everything else that sucks. And I think it's made these decisions for some of these guys that could I battle through a couple more years of this pain for another $20 million, which most humans would do? Well, it's easy to go. Yeah, it's not quite worth it when you've already made millions of dollars. And I think that's really the number one factor here.

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