← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
3 & Out - Bills hire Joe Brady, Brian Daboll joins Robert Saleh's staff, Belichick NOT going to the HOF
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What is going on everybody? John Middelkopf3Now podcast how are we doing out there in the real world? Probably not as good as Joe Brady who was named the head coach of the Buffalo Bills. So definitely going to dive into that day Ball hired by Salah to be the offensive coordinator. Love it. The jets continue to fire people right as I was about to record the mailbag which is going to be at the back of this podcast at John Middlekop is the Instagram firing those dms. I got a text from producer Jackson with the Schefter tweet that Belichick was denied being a first ballot hall of Famer. People did not. He did not get enough votes. So have to chime in there and then we'll do mailbag. But that's I this is relatively recent. I'm sort of shocked. I can't believe Bill Belichick didn't get enough votes to get into the hall of Fame. Speechless, honestly. We'll talk about it, but other than that, that'll be the show today and we'll just keep on chugging along. I was gonna do a big mailbag and release it like the rest of the week so I could do take a little family time. But then the Bills made higher and it was just too big of a story to not chime in on. Paid to give opinions on the National Football League and that's a massive story. So we'll open the show with that. You guys know the drill. Netflix, we're rocking and rolling. Spice up the outfits a little bit today. Hopefully the backdrop looks a little bit better, so go check that out. Every episode's on Netflix as well as Spotify. Apple. If you listen on Collins feed, make sure you subscribe to three and Out Feed subscribe so you never miss an episode. But I think we need to start with the Bills because Shefty threw out this morning. Joe Brady has been hired as the new head coach of Josh Allen's Buffalo Bills. My initial take, like right when I saw it was Brandon Bean has officially become one of, if not the most powerful GM in the league. Think about that. In a matter of a couple weeks, Brandon Bean went from a guy who's pretty polarizing. Not, not that he was bad, but I think opinions were mixed. And in two weeks they fired the coach, they hire the offensive coordinator and I don't even think it's arguable that there he's on the short list with Howie's and John Schneider's super bowl champions in terms of power in that position. And now unlike Sean, who by the time, you know, this year happened, had some juice, had been winning like wasn't just going to do exactly what you said. Not that that's right or wrong. Right. A lot of times coaches are not correct in their evaluations. They make short term decisions. So I, I, I'm, I'm a pro personnel guy having juice when it comes to the roster, the draft, free agency. But there is a, you know, kind of a yin and yang between the two guys. And the best relationships are when they're close to equal footing. And I don't even see how it's debatable right now that Bean's in charge of the Bills. Brady will coach the Bills, but Bean's in charge. He's running this operation which all the pressure now falls on him and obviously Joe Brady. This is an elite job. I, I was thinking like think how many young or first time head coaches get the opportunity to coach a guy in his prime. Like Mike Holmgren in the early 90s when he got the packers. No one knew Brett Far. They traded a second round pick for the guy and obviously he became one of the great quarterbacks of all time. I think you would have to go to Matt La Flor right when the Green Bay packers job was open. But at the time Rogers was a little older, he hadn't been playing his best football. Now Laflor flipped him around, started winning MVPs and you know, LaFleur's got multiple extensions since. But it's pretty rare, right, that a guy in house gets this opportunity. Even look at John Harbaugh, LaMar Jackson, multiple MVPs fired. Now they hired a guy who had worked for the Ravens, but Minter had been with Harbaugh's brother at Michigan and the Chargers left the nest. And here's the other thing, the difference of Joe Brady and Minter. Minter probably could have had six jobs this year. I mean he definitely could have had the Browns and The Cardinals, I think it's fair to say the Raiders would have hired him. And the Ravens were clearly all over. So this is a guy that over the last couple years was a very, very hot coaching candidate. I don't know if the same thing can be said for Joe Brady, and I'm not crushing the hire because no one knew that Sean McVeigh would be Sean McVeigh. No one, I don't care what they say now, knew that Kevin o' Connell would be spoken about the way he is now when the Minnesota Vikings hired. I'm sorry, they just didn't. So you just never know. But there's also been a lot of, like, Cliff Kingsberry's, you know, offense. Brian Day Ball left the Bills and was viewed as a can't miss coaching prospect. Didn't go that well with the Giants. That's not really arguable. So I, I look at Joe Brady and I go, this is kind of an easy move, which clearly the quarterback who is sitting in on these meetings is heavily invested in. They don't have to change the offense. The GM knows them. He. He knows what they look for in players. Pretty easy transition. I heard Albert Breer, I think, or someone say that during his presentation. The Bills had an area during the interview that discussed your role as a CEO and his angle, I guess, on that relative to the other coaches was the best. This guy was one of the hottest coaching candidates in all of football four or five years ago, became a rock star with the LSU Tigers and that Joe Brady team. And there's been some arguments, like, was he calling the plays? Was the older guy calling the plays who had the juice? Regardless, he became a really hot name. And then it kind of got weird, right? Went to Carolina for Matt Rule, got fired, Came here as a quarterback coach Dorsey got fired. I mean, let's face it. McDermott eventually fired a guy to replace him with Joe Brady, who kind of replaced him, you know, Now I don't know if it was. This doesn't feel like the Bean situation where it's like he got elevated. They were equals. Like, I, I don't believe, at least as of right now, that, like, Joe Brady was a part of getting rid of Sean McDermot, but it's pretty clear. The Bills, like we've discussed this a lot, just happened last year. If the Bucks could do it over again, would they have fired Todd BS to elevate Liam Cohen to their head coach? I think it's safe to say, and I'm pro Todd Bowles really like the Guy personally, and I don't think he is as bad of a coach as what was reflected this year. But I, I get when you have a rough ending to a season, you miss the playoffs, people on you, it comes with the territory. He's even acknowledged that. But he's done a pretty good job the last couple years. I don't think it's like anyone would debate if they could do it over again. They would have, they would have got rid of Todd and elevated Liam Cohen. That's why they so desperately tried to hire him. I think anytime this defensive situation a long time ago, like if the Falcons had a do over, they would have fired Dan Quinn and elevated Kyle. And I don't know if this quite felt like that because Joe Brady was not some guy that everyone in the league was lined up to hire. Now would he eventually become a head coach? Probably inevitable. But the pressure now on this job, let's, let's look at the other two big time jobs, right? The Pittsburgh Steelers hire McCarthy. Tomlin quits. Slash, pushed out. Slash. It was just kind of over. Right. He, I, I know logistically he, he tapped out. But clearly the Steelers like, it didn't run its course. Kind of run its course in the sense that like the bar's not that high. I know they've been winning, but if Mike McCarthy can just, I would say elevate the offensive side of the ball, get them to a modern offense and find some sort of young functional quarterback in the next several years that can shepherd them into the future, it's going to be viewed as a success. And as he says today, I'm calling the offense, the offense is my baby and I'm a quarterback guy. So he brings a ton of value there. And I know people are kind of on the hire, but if he gets the quarterback right, it's going to be viewed as a good hire and mentor. Listen, it's a great job. The infrastructure, the MVP quarterback. They draft really well. They didn't just miss the playoffs. Like they're not exact, they're not exactly coming off a 13 win season. The Baltimore Ravens, while one of the best organizations in all professional sports, didn't exactly light the world on fire last year. So the bar is pretty low. Look at John Harbaugh. The bar couldn't be any lower. So some of those coaches, in a weird way, little less pressure. I mean there's pressure on McCarthy. Like you can't just have an awful year. The owner has said they, they don't want to throw away a year, but the Bar is not that high for relative to how the Steelers have been playing. The bar couldn't be any higher. Higher in Buffalo. I mean, how many teams have a higher standard and bar going into next year than the Buffalo Bills? Two or three teams like the expectation will be win the AFC or bust, which isn't even fair. They haven't won the AFC with Josh Allen. I'd argue anything less than an AFC championship game will be viewed as a disaster. So this young coach you obviously if they offer you the job, you immediately accept. But the pressure for a smaller market, it's kind of like the northeast version of the packers is going to be extremely intense. There is no just hey, we made the playoffs one and done. That'll be viewed as a complete failure because that's exactly what was just happening. So when you try to do this stepping stone coach we had run its course with Sean. We're going to go with this younger hot shot that we think has a higher ceiling. Part of getting the higher ceiling is then taking the step. You know, famously Mark Jackson resurrected the warriors, made them credible, they fired them. Pretty controversial all the time. They got Steve Kerr and started winning chips and became a dynasty. No one's ever talked about Mark Jackson since. Hasn't got a job besides some people on the Internet. And if you tell me next year the Bills are the one seed and in the super bowl the Brandon Bean, Terry Pegula, the organization will be viewed as geniuses. You tell me it's like they don't win the division again, they don't make it past the first or second round. Like what the hell's the difference? And I, I think the shocking part, the fans as a die hard Bills fan, text me today. There was discussion midway through the season, like is this working with Joe Brady now statistically they've clearly been one of the better offense the last couple years. But you know, defense that there are rumors right now as of recording this in the afternoon that Jim Leonard would be the defensive coordinator. Like that'd be an excellent hire. I just think the expectations like none of the off season, the draft and free agency, whether it's splashy or not splash, none of it's going to matter. There is, I mean you could count on one hand the amount of teams that are going to be judged from the standard of winning and losing quite like the Bills next year. And you know, the GM is going to be under immense pressure from the fan base who I, I think there's some like revisionist history people, once the situation happened, started treating Sean McDermott, like, he was some elite coach. He was damn good coach. I think the thing that offended most people is they didn't understand how these two weren't on equal footing. And now he got to make a hire. And I, I heard Peter Schrager say this, and he's not wrong. Most GMs that are brought into a situation like this in like an arranged marriage. Right. Or hired by the coach, I, I forget exactly the semantics of the hiring. I think Sean was first, then maybe Bean came. They were both coming from Carolina. They knew each other. Right. They'd worked together for five or six years in Carolina. So it was kind of a package deal. A lot like Shane and Dable. Well, usually the GM gets to pick his own coach. Joe Shane just did with John Harbaugh, though. Chris Mora, the ownership, everyone in New York wanted the guy. So it wasn't like, wasn't that crazy of a, of a discussion. It's like, I'm going after this guy named John Harbaugh. Like, no, buddy. So I, I think there's a lot of different variables to this. Like I said, Bean, I count on one hand Howie Roseman, John Schneider, Jason Light, like it's Jerry Jones. The GMs with more juice than this guy. And you just start listening. Those guys, like, they got Super Bowls, right? I mean, they, they have a lot of power for a reason. And I just think that he's going to be a controversial figure if this thing doesn't work. And pressure comes with the territory. This is one of those industries that very public. Everyone's paying attention, rightfully so. It's the most popular sport in America. It's probably the only thing that the majority that, you know, 20, 30, 40 million people all agree with. Yeah, we're sitting on our couch watching football. That's not the case with anything else. Literally nothing else in America that many people are on the same page with. And that's the power of football. It is flown by all these other sports. It's in a different stratosphere. It's like, rank the popularity of the sports. There's not even a number two. When you factor in the gap of, of the sport of football. I mean, the number two is technically college football. The national championship game got 30 plus million people watching. To put that into perspective, game seven of the NBA Finals last year got like 16, which that series had been averaging like single digits. And listen, I'm not, I'm not trying to shit on the NBA for most of my life. I watched it. Used to love Basketball, but his popularity has diminished greatly and it's clearly more popular unless the Yankees and Dodgers are playing in the World Series. So the amount of people that are paying attention to the smaller market, this is unlike baseball and basketball. You just fly under the radar a little bit. When you're in certain markets like the Yankees, the Dodgers, the Lakers, the Warriors, the Knicks, some of these teams just. There's a different. I mean, the Thunder are clearly the best team in basketball for the last year and a half and they're just not thought of the same way as the Lakers. They're not talked about. I don't mean thought of from on the court. I just mean the way it's discussed, the way people are paying attention. And that's not the way, that's not the thing in football. The packers, the Bills, the Steelers, the Chiefs, I mean, you don't need to be playing in la, Chicago, you know, Dallas and New York to be discussed in this sport. And I think the Buffalo Bills have a gigantic magnifying glass on them. The quarterback, this new coach, the gm. It's going to be really intense and I'm all for it. It's, it's entertainment. And I would bet on them being pretty good. But, you know, a lot rides on the health and the play of Josh if he plays like an elite and their defense can improve situationally, they should be competitive to win the Super Bowl. Like, there is no excuse for this franchise in the next couple years not to be in the Super Bowl. Super Bowls can be a little random. It's one game. This is not a seven game series. But you got to win the afc. And I would say the same thing for the Ravens. With Lamar in the prime of his career, I think you have these guys that are winning MVPs. You have enough talent and now you have another offseason. Like these franchises need to make the super bowl when they have these players playing that position for their franchise. And I think the Bills have even more pressure than the Ravens given the way this thing played out. Foreign to you by our new presenting sponsor, Hard Rock bet. Florida's sportsbook. The big game matchup is set. And I can't wait to see Seattle take on New England. Hard Rock BET has all the different ways you can get in on Sunday's action here in a couple weeks. Here's what I'm liking right now. Think I'm gonna lean Seattle kind of big. 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In this economy, a better money plan is more necessary than ever.
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I am Matt and I'm Joel.
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Speaking of pressure, as a fellow bald man, it really, really excites me to see Robert Sala hire Brian Dabel as his offensive coordinator. Find me a better coaching bald combination in league history. Just two guys that are using Bic razors to shave that head, I haven't seen. I don't think they've done the press conference yet. I hope Robert Sala changes from what he did with New York and calls the defense like that's what makes him a great coach. Leadership and calling the defense. If he's calling the defense and Day Ball's calling the offense and that's all he has to focus on. I think the Titans went from complete joke laughing stock to like feel a little bit like a real franchise now. A lot of holes on that roster, major question marks with the quarterback. But there is no sport where coaching is this important. And if those guys are calling the offensive defense, you know, Brian Dabel proved with Josh Allen that he can be an elite coordinator, one for Alabama, like he's had a great run and then the New York thing kind of fell apart. But now he just gets to focus on football. Little bit like coming from New York, little under the radar franchise. And if I'm a Titans fan, given how embarrassing everything has been since we fired Mike Vrabel, the situation the last couple years to have back to back really, really high picks and just being a laughing stock throughout the league, it does feel like at least we gain some credibility back. Now Sal is going to have to prove that he can be a head coach and be good and it's not going to be easy immediately that division's really hard. It was just announced today the Jags, Liam Cohen, his offensive and defensive coordinator are both coming back. Obviously Liam calls the plays, but the Jags are going to be really good next year, right? The Houston Texans, if CJ can just play a little normal in some situations and not self combust, they're going to be really good. I mean think about it. The Texans were the five seed and they started 0 and 3. So I, I've bet two years in a row on the Texans being the number one seed. Maybe I've just been off by three years because if they can just solidify their offensive line a little bit more, add a weapon here or there on offense, somehow keep Daniel Hunter, they could be a major, major player again and compete for the Super Bowl. If CJ can just steady the ship. CJ just play like Alex Smith. But that's in your division. And at one point in time this year, the Colts were one of the best offenses we've ever seen and pretty sure they were 8 and 2, maybe 71 I forget because obviously they imploded once their quarterback position fell apart. But if they just get okay quarterback play, they got a lot of good players. They have a solid coach, so, and they got a coaching staff with Luann Maruno, assuming he doesn't get one of the jobs, and Shane Ste and like they're a real franchise. So it's, it's not going to be easy for the Titans, but man, it fires me up to see the ball. Brothers together, the Jets. I don't think it could have gone any worse for Aaron Glenn. I, I, I really don't. And this gets back to Salah. You got hired because you were a fantastic defensive coordinator. What you did with random guys, dudes off the street, you had no business winning some of those games and you were just the motivation Aspect. I remember the, the different pressures he was throwing at Sam Darnold in that number one seed game two years ago was awesome. It was hard not to be like, I love Aaron Glenn. And then he becomes a head coach and he's like, I'm not calling the defense. I'm a CEO. It's like, bro, you were just hired because of your defensive, I don't want to say wizardry, but like your defensive prowess. And then immediately you take a step back, you give it to another guy who you have to fire in the middle of the season. You hire an offensive coordinator after you paid Justin Fields, which was insane. You benched him. You fired the coordinator today. Officially, it's like, it can't be going much worse than jets land, right? We thought last year, the, the Rogers era, firing Joe Douglas, firing Salah, the embarrassment that was, that it would have to improve a little bit. Maybe not a giant leap forward, but just slow increments. It got worse. It got worse. They traded away all their, all their players. All I hear is like, well, they got all these draft picks. I had a buddy that's at the Senior bowl right now and I text him, I'm like, what's talent like there? He's like, to be honest, in my almost 20 years of working in the NFL and going to this game, this is easily the least talented Senior Bowl I've ever seen. Now part of that is, you know, guys not playing. Another part of that is nil. A lot of guys, I think in five or four years ago, there was over 130 early entrants into the NFL draft this year. And that, that includes guys that were quote unquote seniors but still could have gone back to school. Right? If they're true, you know, they had played three years and Red shirted any guys with eligibility left. 130 came out early this year. I think the number was under 40. Nil is playing a major factor on the depth of these guys going back. And I don't blame them because, like, wait, I'll get a million dollars guaranteed to be the starting guard or the starting safety for some Power 4 top 25 team, or I can put my hat in the ring to go in the draft and be drafted in the fifth round where I might not even make the team, go on practice squad and next year make 180 grand. But that's not 180 guaranteed thousand dollars. I can be cut at any moment. It's like a week by week salary essentially. So you're seeing a lot of These guys make financial decisions, stay in college, rightfully so. I would too like last night check. College is pretty fun. Especially you know, academics clearly don't matter anymore and they pay me premiums. So that has greatly impacted the draft. So when I see this notion of like these awful teams, these God awful teams, they're like, oh, they got a couple picks so there's not exact, like Khil Mack and Jamar Chase aren't just sitting in this draft pool waiting to get picked. That, that's Michael Parsons ain't staring you in the face here. This is at the top viewed as like not that great of a draft. That's why if I'm the Kansas City Chiefs drafting ninth, I don't think there's a big difference between ninth and second. I, I think we're getting the same player where some years when the elites are in a draft, there's a big difference between drafting 2nd or 3rd or 9th or 10th. I don't think that's the case this year. And I think you get a similar talent at pick 12 as you can at 24 and that's because of the depth of the draft, the high end talent in this draft. So that impacts who. Not the really good teams like that. That's not going to have dramatic effect on the Bills or the Jags or the Texans that are just looking to plug a spot here or there. It's the shitty teams. So the jets for example, who got rid of their high couple high end players, Quinn and Williams, Sauce Garden, like guys with Pro bowl upside who are impact starters at premium positions. We traded away those guys for picks. It's like are you going to get the equivalent talent for those guys? Last I checked, both of those were really high picks and viewed as premium players. Well, Quinn, Williams and Sauce Gardner coming out of college would be arguably beside Mendoza who's a lock to go number one, be in the mix to be the first player taken in this upcoming draft probably would be. Probably go 2 and 3 now I understand they're older and financially there are different impacts. But my point is simple, is these bad teams, this draft ain't saving you. Like you're not going to look up and go, God, they got Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman and Cam Chancellor out of that one. Obviously there's some randomness to draft. You never truly know and you're going to find Pro bowl guys in random rounds. It happens every single year for random teams. But I don't think this draft is viewed as the savior. Like some of these teams are going to hype it up to their fans. I just got this, this text while I was recording from producer Jackson on the three and out a group text. And my first reaction is the NFL should be ashamed and these people that voted should have their vote revoked. Bill Belichick, the eight time super bowl winning head coach. Obviously six is a head coach, two as a coordinator is not a first ballot hall of Famer. Per Wicker, Shan and Don Vanatta, Belichick fell short of the 40 out of 50 votes needed for the introduction into the Pro Football hall of Fame. Now I understand personal biases. When someone is a dick or an asshole to other individuals in any field, in any walk of life, those people are not gonna like the other person. Especially when I don't work with you, you don't make me any money. If you're in sports, it's not like I'm on your team. Your winning doesn't is bad for me. I get it. But if I'm voting for an award or something like introduction the hall of Fame, my bias and agenda and my thoughts toward you as a human being, which clearly people hate Bill Belichick, they have forever beside like you know, an Andy Reid, like individual coaches that are somewhat similar to his age, that have known him for a long time. Mike Lombardi, people around the NFL, not, not players like Brady or whatever, but some writers, media people, former coaches, his, his, right, his, I don't even want to say colleagues, but his competition. A lot of people did not like the league office, can't stand them. But you can't with a straight face tell me that Bill Belichick is not a first ballot hall of Famer. You can't tell me with a straight face that Bill Belichick is not one of the greatest coaches, if not the greatest coach we've ever seen. He is right up there with the Lombardi, the Walshes, what Andy Reid has done with Kansas City. He is an all time great and a no doubt about it. First ballot hall of Famer. If Bill Belichick is not a first ballot hall of Famer, I don't know who is. Because when it comes to players, I've always had a problem with the hall of Fame. Like to me when I think of it, I think of Montana, Brady, Lawrence Taylor, Walter Payton, Barry Sanders, Deion Sanders, like the best of the best, Jerry Rice. I, I do think it's been diluted a little bit. But a lot of those guys like obviously don't get in them the first time. It takes them a little while. It kind of is what it is. But if you tell me we walk into the hall of Fame like there's a big difference, where the elite of the elite are sitting and, and some of the other guys in there. Right they there when it comes to the coaches. If we did a Mount Rushmore of coaches in the sport of football, no one would argue you could include college. Bill Belichick is on it. So these people that didn't vote for him should be ashamed of themselves because he was a dick to you, because he didn't give you a good quote. I, I can't even imagine justifying it with not checking his name. Because to me, voting for Bill Belichick when he's hall of Fame eligible is as easy as voting for Tom Brady or Peyton Manning or Aaron Rodgers or pick Aaron Donald. Pick whoever you want. Who's just one of the best players I've ever seen. No doubt about it. That to me is Bill Belichick as a coach. This isn't some morning television show where we're debating Belichick or Brady. Who's this is simply, is he the best coach of his generation? Answer yes. Is he a Hall of Famer? Answer yes. Is he a first ballot hall of Famer? If you just went. If we were sitting at a bar, ordering some brewskis, getting some snacks, bullshit talking ball. Is there anyone at the bar? Even the people that hated him, even the people that couldn't stand Bill Belichick's curmudgeon ass that would debate that he's a first ballot hall of Famer. I think it's. I'd be ashamed if I was those guys, we need to dox them. I need to know who they are so I can immediately unfollow them. And those people have to be a little nervous about getting doxed, about getting exposed. Because even if you can't stand Bill, we would all be in agreement that he should go immediately into the hall of Fame when he's eligible. And I get like, if I was all these teams, I couldn't touch him anymore. Not at this point. Not with his age, not, not with his attitude, not with Jordan. I get it. I'm not even acting like these teams at this point are making dumb decisions by not even contacting. And he knew that. Like, Bill's no dummy. That's why he went to North Carolina. He knew he was never getting hired in the NFL ever again. But to not get the votes to go to the hall of Fame. What are we doing? That's. I'm embarrassed for everyone. Involved. I truly am. Can I tell you about my new friends Zbiotics? Let's face it, after a late night with drinks, I want to bounce back and I want to bounce back fast. 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New Year new goals and in this economy, a better money plan is more necessary than ever.
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I am Matt and I'm Joel.
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We are from the how to Money podcast and every week we help you to spend smarter, save more and make sense of what's going on out there.
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If you want 2026 to be the year you finally feel in control of your money, we're here to give you the tools and advice to help you make it happen. Listen to How To Money on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
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At. John Middle cough Instagram. Fire in those dms Mr. John. You can just call me John. I'm not Mr. John. Love the pod. Appreciate it. Question for the Bag As a Steeler fan I know they have many questions to answer with the roster including defense and the quarterback. Would it be worth taking a mid round pick on Club Nick or Nussmire to see if they can develop? Thanks. We just did that last year with I get Riley Leonard's on the Colts, Will Howard's on the Steelers. You kind of did that with you know what six round to me Club Nick. I watched a decent amount of Clemson over the years because he was such a hyped player. I do not see it. Seems like a good kid, but I don't think he's very good at football. Nussmeier to me Nussmeier Is much more like a dome like Cousins was for the Vikings or maybe Drew Brees with the Saints. He doesn't have a big arm. So to me, if you don't have a big arm, like, I'm not messing with you in that division, in that conference. I need a big arm quarterback in the afc. Good franchises all play outside and until everyone's in a dome like the weather, that impacts to me like who's the best quarterback at least of my lifetime for you guys. Roethlisberger, huge arm. Think of just super bowl champs. Peyton Manning playing the dome, right? You go Brady, big arm. Eli, big arm. McNabb, big arm. Mahomes, big arm. Josh Allen, big arm. Lamar's arm I would say is a howitzer, but it's not bad. And the running element is elite and he's very comfortable playing in the cold. So I, I need big arm quarterbacks in the elements. I, I just do burrow somewhat of an outlier. But he's just an all time elite player who didn't play that well this year. Congrats on the baby. Truly a life changing event. I agree. Kids unlock a whole new range of human emotion that you didn't understand until you have them. I agree. When you see the guy get, get a little chop chop this morning at the, at the pediatrician's office, you just. That those tears, the screaming tears really, really hit your soul, especially when they're really young. A couple weeks old. Really impacts my wife. Quick Brown's take. I think the Haslams are the poor man's Jerry Jones. Jimmy keeps underperforming team relevant by manufacturing drama instead of winning. Johnny Menzel Baker was a mouthy savior. Watson kept the Browns in the headlines. Now the Shador noise and trying to flex the brain power with his coaching search. Constant quarterback churn. Coaching turnover leaks feel intentional. Jerry Jones wrote the playbook. I love your thoughts. I, I don't think he's trying. I, I really don't. Because part of Jerry is Jerry is the show. Jerry does press conferences every time, every game day, right in the locker room after the game. Jerry does a weekly radio hit. Jerry talks twice a week during the season and sometimes more. I don't feel I hear from Jimmy Haslam that much. I think Jimmy Haslam is unintentionally doing this. And I also think Jimmy Haslam, who clearly medals gives his coach and GM a little more room to kind of screw themselves and then he turns on them. But I, I don't see it the same. I think Jerry's Somewhat of an outlier. He never shuts up. I mean he never does. I, I feel like I don't hear Jimmy Haslam talk that often now. I'm not following the Browns day to day but I Mary I actually follow a decent amount of Mary Kay a couple other people around the Cleveland scene. It doesn't feel like he's firing out quotes all the time. Even the leak and I don't think it was a leak. I think Pelissaro when he said that they are demanding homework and essays was just reiterating what coaches were telling him. Like I don't think the Browns wanted that out. I actually very confident saying the Browns would not want that out. The Browns would not want that out. Congrats on becoming a dad. Just became a grandfather in November. Congratulations. Why does the media hold Stefanski and Kevin o' Connell as these elite coaches? I do not see it Stefanski's latest third round pick and KOC not keeping Darnold. Only thing I see is they both have top 10 defenses last season. I do think Kevin O' Connell I mean he got 35 touchdowns out of Darnold two years ago. Cousins had a really good year. I've seen him with good quarterbacks have really good season. I do think the Browns feel it's, it's why Jim Schwartz as of recording this it might get hired as their next coach. Just Schwartz's a really good defensive coordinator was defensive coordinator for the Eagles when they won the Super Bowl. Their defense was really really good. Maybe not in that super bowl because I think Brady threw for like 775 yards but overall like Jim Schwartz is a high end defensive mind. It's why the Browns are trying to like kind of get some young guy and keep Schwartz but clearly Schwarz is telling them I might leave so they, they want to keep them. It's kind of complicated. I, I, I do think that Stefanski has been carried by defense more than Kevin o'. Connell. I do philosophically agree with Stefanski more than I do Kevin O'. Connell. Kevin O' Connell is Sean McVeigh's doppelganger. Not physically much taller, little more receding hairline. Obviously Sean's got good hair but they love throwing the ball. They, they are the young versions of Andy Kevin, Kevin Stefansky is much closer to a defensive minded head coach or Kyle Shanahan. Like he, he wants to run the ball way more which I respect and I do think translates in big games. So I, I think both are just smart guys who know offense are viewed as like Quarterback guys, but I'm with you like defensively especially last year. I, I don't put the Darnold cousins, J.J. mcCarthy, that all on Kevin O'. Connell. I, I just don't remember a couple years ago Kevin o' Connell wanted to keep Kirk Cousins. I, I don't know. There have been stories written about all the details with the Darnold thing. I, I do think it's hard when you draft J.J. mcCarthy. Most teams in the history of the NFL would have done that. You just better be right. And here's what I would say. They are not drafting JJ McCarthy without him putting a stamp of approval on it. And if you're putting your stamp of approval on a guy who comes from a running offense with an a great college defense, pretty risky, who then you need to change his mechanics. Like as we sit here a year, a year away, if Darnold were to win the super bowl, it's an all time F up. There's no way around it. Like the Cousins thing towards Achilles, you move, that's not that crazy. But then you get Darnold for one year, $10 million and you overreact to those last two games. I think if he had played well in those last two games, even if they lose, Darnold might still be on the team. But I think once he kind of shit the bed and the offense fell apart and I thought Kevin OConnell did a terrible job in those games. It's like, hey bro, your quarterback's rattled by this pressure. Run the ball or run some like quick screens. But, but he's obsessed with like long drop back deep passes. He, that's what he did with J.J. mcCarthy. Right away it's like, Kevin, J.J. mcCarthy is not going to play like he's Josh Allen, right? Stop having him slinging around like he's Justin Herbert. Have him hand the ball off. But he doesn't want to call runs. Like most coaches. They got flaws. I, I think that's the case. You could do worse. I would take Kevin o' Connell over Kevin Stefanski, even though I don't always agree with the way he calls offense. I, I just think he's better with players. I still go back to Stefanski thing. Do players like him? I'm not saying they don't. I just haven't seen many guys say they do. That's all I'm saying. It's pretty clear people like Kevin o' Connell a lot and that matters to me. Like this isn't 1987 and I'm, I'm an Old school guy. I was raised in a very old school home. There are certain things that I will teach my son that are not going to go out of style in my house. That I promise will translate well until society crumbles. But things do change a little bit over time. And the coach just being the dictator, it's not quite that way. You have to be hand in hand with the players. Andy Reid is excellent with that. McVeigh, Kyle, they're really good at that. Sean Payton can be a little bit of a dictator. He can. But he's old enough where he can still kind of pull it off. Mike Vrabel's pretty player friendly. He's on your ass, but he's player friendly. I, I need the players to really like you. I, I just do. I mean, and I, I think Kevin o' Connell has that. I wish he'd run the ball more. If he'd run the ball more, I think he'd be an elite coach and maybe he will over time. The Rams defense let Stafford down. He was cooking. Realistically, they should have won that game. If McVeigh had taken the field goal on the fourth and goal from the four yard line, they got the ball back and needed a touchdown. If they kicked, they would have just needed a field goal. Down 33 to 31. Do you think he made the right call to go for it? I do think at the time I would have gone for it too. I think the mistake was, if I remember correctly, they did not throw to Puka or Devonte on either pass. I think they wanted to go to Devonte on the third and four and he was like kind of bracketed, covered, and Stafford kind of had to go off him. I think under no circumstances can you run two plays essentially that are touchdown or bus plays and not throw it to a Hall of Fame wide receiver. In Devonte, who is an elite red zone target and arguably the best wide receiver in the league in 2025 in Pukinakua, who's just cooking that game again, who has like 600 yards in two games against these guys and they threw it to two other guys. So I, I think that if McVeigh could do it over, he would have called basically two plays that he would have had to throw to one of the two of them. I'd rather throw an interception going at one of those guys than throw an incomplete pass at another guy. So I, I think, and listen, Sean Payton, I. Seth Wickersham talked to him after the game and Sean Payton said on that fourth down where he went for it on fourth and one, instead of kicking the field goal, he's like, we called the play and we got the look we wanted. The problem was, is they changed the defense from the look. So when the ball was snapped, the look they got was not the defense that comes with that look. And I said, sean, you're in the AFC Championship game. Well, who are you going to play in the. In the championship games? The best teams and the best coaches. You're going up against Mike Vrabel and his young defensive coordinator. Well, what did Mike Vrabel in his heyday as a player in the past hang their hat on? Tricking you, showing you things and doing other things. That's the name of the game. So just because you, quote, unquote, get the look you want, you're not guaranteed to get that defense post snap. You're playing Mike McDonald, you're playing Mike Vrabel. They're going to throw curveballs, especially in situations like fourth and goal or big downs like third and one midfield. They're going to throw things that you don't expect. That's what they do during the week. They go, hey, we got this tendency. They're going to think they're going to get that. We're going to show them this look, but we're going to do the opposite of what they think is coming. And I thought, sean, like, being an innovative offensive coach, you should be prepared for that. It's why I go back to, I think you got to kick the field goal. And I, I think it's the biggest mistake of the game. Biggest mistake of the weekend. Bigger mistake than what you brought up with McVeigh going for it. Of course they're throwing at you. Who taught Vrabel how to play defense when he was a player? Bill Belichick, the guy that can't make the hall of Fame, but whose game plan from playing Joe Montana and Jim Kelly in Super Bowls and NFC Championship games are in the hall of Fame. Bill Belichick, he's been a defensive genius for 40 years, still can't make Super Bowl. I. We all got to agree that's crazy. You can hate the guy and this isn't, you know, the Clemens and Barry Bonds and the steroids. I, I get it. I disagree. But, like, if you want to stand on that argument, like, hey, I, I can't prove who was on him, who wasn't on him. I mean, we know those guys were on him, but, like, who else they were playing against. But if you're, if that's the Hill you're going to die on like what am I going to say? Bill Belichick could make the, the hall of Fame. What are we doing? That's shameful. It really is. I, I'm embarrassed to be associated with the greatest sport in the world, football and that take place. I, I, I, I don't feel much sympathy for William Belichick. I, I do on that one. Like that that's a joke. Feels like there's talk about collusion. Like it's a league office. People, people hate the guy. People hate the guy. Does show you, you know, it's like try to be nice to people. I've really worked on that the last couple weeks. I, I think I'm pretty nice out there in the real world. But when you're sleeping couple hours here, a couple hours there, my tendency is to just be grouchy and angry. I, I'm just, every time I go somewhere I try to force a smile and because you realize like that's that person's interaction with you that day. There's a person at the front desk of the gym, it's the person at Starbucks, person you run into on a walk and Bill never gave a about that. It's coming back to bite him even if it's unfair. Huge fan of the pot. I hope you're doing really well with your new family. I'm a lifelong Steeler fan and like many fans I was surprised by the recent hire of McCarthy. Do you see any world given an offensive mind where he would actually take the Steelers to a playoff victory? We have an aging D and of course no quarterback, but do you see him bringing a bit more life? Well, you know the Aaron Rodgers thing's not going away. So Aaron Rodgers wouldn't shock me at all if he doesn't, you know, if he just plays another year and I listen, I, I don't think this quarterback drafts very good. If Aaron Rodgers doesn't come back, could they make a play for a Davis Mills, a Mac Jones and just give them some stability? Maybe. I think if McCarthy was smart, he'd kind of bought him out even if it pissed off his fan base. McCarthy's proven if you get him, he doesn't need Aaron Rodgers. Dak Prescott is not going to go to the hall of Fame. He's going to make $500 million and have a sweet stats but he's not a Hall of Famer. But he's a good player and Mike McCarthy made him look like an all awesome player. So if you can just get him some version of that he's, you guys are going to be good on offense. He's proven that. Like, it's not even, we couldn't even have an argument about that. Like, is Mike McCarthy good at coaching offense? Every single human has to answer yes. Is he good at coaching the quarterbacks? Yes. That's really important to a franchise that had become kind of offense and quarterback lifeless. They tried with rogers, but at 41, 42, it's just if I was Aaron, I'd probably walk away, but you never know. What advice do you have for reaching out, trying to acquire sponsors? Of course, your viewership is probably the most important for everyone coming to listen. Sponsors, Viewers, listeners, platform, or anything else I'm missing. It depends. Like if you run more of like a local operation, like let's say you live in Baton Rouge and you run an LSU podcast or you live in Buffalo and you, you run a Bills podcast, I think you should try to utilize, especially if you live in the community, some of the small businesses in that area and develop relationships with restaurant, with local, you know, car dealer. And I remember when I first got in the podcast world, well, way before Netflix and Coward, I was just going to like car dealers and DMing and emailing everyone. Any sponsor I would hear on someone else's podcast. And a lot has changed. This was probably 2016. I would find a way to DM, LinkedIn, DM. I would kind of dirty hustle. Now I was doing a little bit more like not necessarily local, but some of my local stuff in the Bay Area. Car dealerships, restaurants, companies that were really popular in that area and just kind of guerrilla warfare. You kind of got to turn into, you got to be your own sales guy and you're going to get some no's. A lot of people aren't going to respond. And this could be true in any industry. Once you kind of do it for you kind of become numb to it and you just make an hour or two a day. I don't know if it's your side gig. Dedicate some time to just spend guerrilla warfaring people, whether that's emails, whether that's DMs, whether that's. If you have the capability, this would always be the number one thing, go to them. If you have previous relationships with some of these people, try to utilize them. They can't say no if you don't ask, which they probably will say at first. Okay, all it takes is one yes. And once you get one yes, maybe the ball starts rolling.
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New year, new goals. And in this economy, a better money plan is more necessary than ever. I am Matt.
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And I'm Joel.
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We are from the how to Money podcast. And every week we help you to spend smarter, save more, and make sense of what's going on out there.
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If you want 2026 to be the year you finally feel in control of your money, we're here to give you the tools and advice to help you make it happen. Listen to How To Money on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Love the podcast. So I had a question. I just finished playing juco football out in Southern California. Juco champs Golden West. Now that I'm done playing here, I really want to get into coaching at the college level. If I remember correctly, I know you were grad assistant at Fresno. I wanted to ask and see if you had any advice on on what the best route would be for someone like me who has a desire to coach at the college level. If you have any tips or stories that helped you on your journey and would be awesome to hear. Well, one thing for the coaching fraternity, especially in college, there are a lot of camps, right? Seven on seven camps, summer camps. I would work those. So you live in California, Southern California, ucla, usc, Fresno State, San Diego State. Any camp they have as a former, like you played in junior college, reach out to their, I don't know, offense, defensive coordinator, quality control guy. You can find their information on the school website and see if you can work the camp, hit their GMs up, DM the GMs and see if you can help out at the camp. Or just like if you could come study for the day, right? Spring is spring practice a couple months away. So if you live in Southern California, you have UCLA, USC and San Diego. You have three divi, obviously two Big Ten schools and a Mountain West Pac 12 school in San Diego State. You should try to go to their practices. Hey, can I just come to your practice and watch? I'm a former player, want to get into coaching. Because the most powerful thing you have as a coach is developing a couple relationships. And once you develop a couple, those things are like a spider web. And if you, if you meet the right guy, if you meet the wide receiver coach at ucla in two years, he could be the offensive coordinator, Ohio State, or the wide receiver coach for the ramps you have, you never know. And that all of a sudden you're hanging out with the San Diego State coach and five years he's the head coach of Texas. I mean, that's how fast Shit happens. So you got to find a way to meet guys that are coaching at those universities, which is easy in the sense that you just need to get access to. Hey, can I, can I follow you for a day at spring practice and come to your meetings? I. I aspire to be a coach. Let's just. I don't know what position you play, but let's just say you play db. Hey, could I just. Could I just shadow you for the day? The DB coach. I'll just take notes and watch you in the back. Who knows, maybe you just develop, have lunch with them, breakfast with them. Now you'd be like, well, how do I meet that? You just find a way to just unlimited emails, find their phone number, maybe show up at the facility. It's gonna. It might take a little hustle, but you don't live in. In the middle of nowhere. Like, you are in a place where there are. And if there are, Northern California, you got Cal, Stanford, Fresno State, UC Davis, SAC State. I mean, you get. Got some successful college programs in your area. You might just have to drive around and figure it out. Now, I don't know your. Your situation. If you want to be a grad assistant, you have to get an undergrad degree. So if you're done playing JC ball, you do have to continue your education and finish with a graduate degree and to play or I mean an undergrad degree. And I'm pretty sure, I don't know for a long time the rules. If you want to coach in Division 1 football, you have to have an undergrad degree. That's. That's a big deal. Gotta hear a response to Dion or Shador Sanders making the Pro Bowl. I think the NFL officially killed the Pro Bowl. I saw a lot of people with a lot of takes on this. I don't blame them for picking Shador because this game is only about television now. And in fairness to this game this year, like it's been for the last several years, this game has become a joke. I follow Sean Merriman on Instagram and he posted this picture of like, I remember when the Pro bowl used to matter and it was like Ed Reed, Ray Lewis, like all these great in pabs. The Pro Bowl 20, 30 years ago was a really big deal. Several years ago, when Josh Allen would opt out of the Pro bowl to play at the AT&T. Pebble Beach. I went this Mac Jones, I think is a rookie made the Pro Bowl. I said, I'm out. I. This game hasn't mattered well before Shador Sanders. So it's the Shador was just added to try to get gain some more eyeballs. This game, it's. It's not. It's a flag football game at the Moscone center in San Francisco. It shouldn't have anything to do with football. It should just be, we're picking whoever we want to pick who's the most famous, most Instagram followers and try to get people to watch. We could play trivia. We could do a contest like who can throw the ball the farthest. Honestly remember some of those. It happened when I was really young. It'd be the Pro bowl games and it'd be like far versus Marino versus Jim Kelly. And they would just try to like throw the, the hardest or throw this obstacle course and just do stuff like that. Like there is no Pro bowl anymore. The game doesn't count. Several years ago when, when it was clear like no one would tackle. It's like this thing's. This thing's a wrap. So people, the Shador. This thing had become a joke way before Shador Sanders way. No one will play in the game. And here's the thing. Guys are too rich. When you get rich enough, things that used to matter no longer matter. It was a really big deal. And I bet a lot of those guys, like I bet if we went back to look at Ray Lewis probably had like half a million dollar or 250k kicker in his contract to make the Pro Bowl. So it was a big deal. Now it's like, I don't give a. I make $40 million a year. I make $28 million a year. Brandon, I. You quit. Signed a 75 million dollar contract. Just quit playing football. Who knows if he ever plays again. I'm just out. I mean the money now is so big. It's changed the priorities of guys. And I don't blame anyone for not wanting to tackle in a Pro bowl game where if I get injured it could derail my career. So I understand that, like there's too much money in line for these guys and the mentality's changed, the world's changed, but the Pro bowl ceased to exist a long time ago. Shador does not represent the symbolic nature of the embarrassment that this thing is now. That happened years ago. So if you're like, hey, we need hey, Shador available. That'll move the needle. Can Dion coach? They're just trying to do anything to get some people to watch. What are they even doing? Like a throwing contest with flags? They're not playing football. They're playing TV ratings with no pads and flags or I honestly I don't even know what is the Pro bowl flag is is that I you couldn't I I have no clue what the event is now but I know it's not a football game because it's not being a football game years ago and it officially stopped being a football game like two years ago I don't are they still doing flag I don't know but they should just do they should just do like random stuff like four guys racing the 40 maybe swim you know two laps in the pool who wins lifting contest like Strongman maybe like paintball game I don't know you can just you do whatever you wanted but I wouldn't even have a football around because just making a mockery of what it used to be and I don't want to sound like that guy get off my lawn guy but it used to mean something the volume this is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.