3 & Out - Falcons bench Cousins, Is Penix the answer, Coach vs. Ownership

Summary

The Herd with Colin Cowherd: Episode 3 & Out - Falcons Bench Cousins, Is Penix the Answer, Coach vs. Ownership
Release Date: December 19, 2024
Host: Colin Cowherd
Produced by: iHeartPodcasts and The Volume

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Introduction

In this episode of The Herd with Colin Cowherd, the focus centers on a significant move by the Atlanta Falcons: benching their $90 million quarterback, Kirk Cousins, in favor of rookie Michael Penix. Cowherd delves deep into the implications of this decision, examining the Falcons' management strategies, coaching dynamics, and the broader impact on the team's future.

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Falcons Bench Cousins: A Critical Analysis

Timing and Performance Concerns
At [02:30], Cowherd questions the Falcons' timing in benching Cousins, emphasizing the quarterback's recent struggles:
"Why did they wait till three games left when he had been playing like shit for, I don't know, 40 or 50 days now, he had been objectively atrocious for the last month."
He highlights Cousins' diminished performance post-injury, noting,
"a 36, 37-year-old player who's, you know, for NFL standards, a below-average athlete has now, he's never had a great arm. His arm strength looks extremely poor."

Contract Implications
Discussing the financial aspects, Cowherd points out the burden of Cousins' hefty contract:
"For $90 million that he knows has coming to him after 36, coming off a torn Achilles, you could tell him he's gonna run scout team the rest of his life."
He criticizes the Falcons for potentially overpaying:
"They just kind of went into it blind. I think it's a major, major indictment on everyone running the Falcons."

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Michael Penix: The Potential Savior

Evaluating Penix as the Solution
At [15:45], Cowherd explores whether Michael Penix is the right choice for the Falcons:
"Michael Penix is not a project. He's a pro-ready player to plug and play and let's roll."
He expresses optimism about Penix, stating,
"I'm rooting for him to play well. But what if it goes bad?"
However, he warns of the immense pressure Penix faces:
"He's a rookie quarterback. Like, he better start slinging touchdowns here, because if he doesn't, and we're missing the playoffs again."

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Critique of Falcons' Management and Coaching

Front Office and GM Decisions
Cowherd is sharply critical of Falcons' General Manager Zach Robinson and Head Coach Raheem Morris:
"It's an epic disaster."
He accuses them of poor decision-making and mismanagement:
"They have absolutely no clue what they're doing. From the general manager to the front office to now the coaching staff, they just kind of feel lost at sea."
Cowherd also questions the drafting strategy:
"Why did you draft a quarterback eighth after you had just given a four-year, $180 million contract and almost $100 million guaranteed to Kirk Cousins?"

Coaching Philosophy and Adaptability
At [25:20], Cowherd discusses the rigidity of the Falcons' coaching strategy:
"Raheem Morris was asked about why his coaching staff was so big, he said, well, we're going to win here."
He criticizes the lack of adaptability in play-calling and offensive strategy, suggesting that Coach Morris' approach is outdated and ineffective in the current NFL landscape.

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Comparisons to Other Teams' Management

Buccaneers vs. Falcons
Cowherd draws a comparison between the Falcons and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, highlighting the latter's successful management despite injuries:
"The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are well, of course, they are. A better run organization."
He praises the Buccaneers for their ability to navigate challenges and maintain a playoff presence:
"They have been one of the biggest underachievers this year. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who've had a million injuries, star players getting injured left and right, yet they remain competitive."

Other Teams' Coaching Stability
He references successful coaching presences like Mike Vrabel and Bill Belichick, emphasizing the importance of experienced and adaptable coaching:
"Mike Vrabel, the number one coaching candidate. Him and Ben Johnson. Would he choose what rookie quarterback if he could choose."
Cowherd underscores that teams with stable and competent coaching staff tend to perform better, contrasting this with the Falcons' current turmoil.

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Implications for the Falcons' Future

Pressure on Michael Penix
The shift to Penix places immense pressure on the rookie quarterback to perform immediately:
"He better start slinging touchdowns here, because if he doesn't, and we're missing the playoffs again."
Cowherd expresses concern about the psychological and professional impact this could have on Penix, especially considering the high expectations set by Cousins' contract.

Potential Fallout for Management
Cowherd speculates on possible repercussions for the Falcons' management team:
"Could these guys all be one and done? Could these guys' jobs be in jeopardy?"
He suggests that continued poor performance may lead to significant changes in the Falcons' front office and coaching staff.

Overall Team Morale and Future Prospects
Concluding his analysis, Cowherd reflects on the broader implications for the Falcons’ team morale and future prospects:
"This is an epic disaster. I think it just shows, and then the Penix is like they're just kind of doing whatever the coaching staff wants."
He remains skeptical about the Falcons' ability to turn around their season under the current management and coaching circumstances.

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Conclusion

In this episode, Colin Cowherd provides a critical examination of the Atlanta Falcons' recent decision to bench Kirk Cousins in favor of Michael Penix. He scrutinizes the timing, financial implications, and strategic missteps of the Falcons' management and coaching staff. Cowherd draws comparisons with other NFL teams to highlight the importance of competent leadership and adaptable coaching strategies. The episode underscores the high stakes of the Falcons' decisions and the uncertain future that awaits both the team and its new quarterback.

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Notable Quotes:

• "Why did they wait till three games left when he had been playing like shit for, I don't know, 40 or 50 days now, he had been objectively atrocious for the last month." — Colin Cowherd [02:30]

• "For $90 million that he knows has coming to him after 36, coming off a torn Achilles, you could tell him he's gonna run scout team the rest of his life." — Colin Cowherd [04:15]

• "Michael Penix is not a project. He's a pro-ready player to plug and play and let's roll." — Colin Cowherd [15:45]

• "It's an epic disaster. I think it just shows, and then the Penix is like they're just kind of doing whatever the coaching staff wants." — Colin Cowherd [28:30]

• "The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are well, of course, they are. A better run organization." — Colin Cowherd [18:10]

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the critical discussions and insights shared by Colin Cowherd regarding the Atlanta Falcons' strategic decisions, management efficacy, and the potential ramifications for the team's future performance.

Transcript

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We have a charger Denver game on Thursday Night Football. One of the last Thursday night football games of the year. A lot of buzz on the big guy, Mike Vrabel, who is a hot commodity out there according to the Internet, which makes sense, right? Belichick off the market. Mike Vrabel, the number one coaching candidate. Him and Ben Johnson. Would he choose what rookie quarterback if he could choose what he want, not on this upcoming class, but you know, between Drake May and Caleb Williams, assuming New England comes open, which looks more and more possible. And we will do a little middlekop mailbag@johnmittlekopf. Ohnmiddlekopf is the Instagram fire in those DMS. If you subscribe on Collins pod, make sure you subscribe to 3Now podcast. We have a YouTube channel so go subscribe to that as well. And we will have reactions coming up to the Thursday night game, to the Notre Dame game, to all the Saturday games. So we are ready to throw out takes and grind here on all these games coming up. So enjoy it. But before we do, I got to tell you about my friends, my partners in the official ticketing app of this podcast. Game Time Christmas right around the corner. Hanukkah right around the corner. If you want to get something for a loved one, put a little present under that tree. Put a little present under those lights. Put a little present that puts a smile on someone's face. You can buy tickets to a game. You can buy tickets to a concert. You can buy tickets anywhere. And you can do it with Game Time. 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 on the Game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price is guaranteed. Well, Kirk Cousins has been benched and according to Raheem Morris, he was very classy about taking the news. Well, I sure hope so. For $90 million that he knows has coming to him after 36, coming off a torn Achilles, you could tell him he's gonna run scout team the rest of his life. It's. I looked yesterday, when he gets paid for 20, 25, which is guaranteed $27.5 million, he will have made over $300 million playing football. And you know, sometimes media, younger players get very angry at the older generation for being critical. It happens a lot in basketball. I do understand. If I was an elite guy that played in the 80s or the 90s, especially in football, which was much harder on my body, we didn't play as long. And I see some of the money that's getting tossed around. Kirk Cousins gonna make over $300 million. I don't care. I support other people having success. Good job, Kirk. Great job by his agent, Mike McCartney, who's really good agent. They've done a good job. But I do get the bitterness. I think you just have to ask one question. What took so long? Why did they wait till three games left when he had been playing like shit for, I don't know, 40 or 50 days now, he had been objectively atrocious for the last month. If you watched him on Monday night, he looked like a shot fighter and it looked like it had previously looked like it's over. And sometimes that happens. A 36, 37 year old player who's, you know, for NFL standards, a below average athlete has now, he's never had a great arm. His arm strength looks extremely poor. And I don't know if there are some connections there in the biomechanics of the Achilles, up through the body, up through the shoulder. However it's happening, he's not throwing the ball very well and it shows. He's a bad player right now. But why did this take so long? And I thought about it and I went, well, these guys that run this franchise just convince their owner to give this player $90 million. The, I mean, all the best players in free agency, most of them. Now I get it. Quarterbacks make more. We all understand that, we all acknowledge it. But it's also easy to pay, quote, unquote, overpay your own guy, right? There were points in times where it's like, how good is Matty Ice? But he was the Falcons guy. How good is Dak Prescott? Well, he's Jerry's guy, right? Purdy's going to go through that. Well, he's. He's the Niners guy, when you hire outside and the guy has no equity, sweat equity, blood equity, no production equity with your franchise, like it can get weird and it can get weird fast. And when a guy just stinks, and that's Kirk Cousins right now is just not a very good football player. I mean, he's a bottom five quarterback and it's not like character issues. He's not creating a problem. Like all that stuff's great. It's just like simply play. That can get weird and that can get weird fast. But when I saw this news, I went, could these guys all be one and done? Could these guys jobs be in jeopardy? Because never forget, when Raheem Morris was asked about why his coaching staff was so big, he said, well, we're going to win here. And when you win here, what happens? You lose coaches and you have to retrain guys. Well, we're already going to have guys on the staff for when our guys get hired. That's a pretty cocky thing to say. Also, why'd you draft a quarterback eight after you had just given a four year, $180 million contract and almost $100 million guaranteed to Kirk Cousins? Because we don't ever plan on drafting this high again. And we thought that this was the right move because we won't ever draft in the top 10 again. You're pretty cocky for a guy that had one head coaching stint and is now working for a GM who just led a squad that average seven wins a season for three straight years. Can't draft a quarterback, drafts all these skilled guys. And beside Bijan Robinson, Drake London, like, I think Kyle Pitts won. They would like to have a do over on that one. So it's like, do you guys know what you're doing? Because I think at this point in time, it's why I just simply bet against the Atlanta Falcons. Now, I picked the wrong team. I picked the Saints. Turns out it was the Bucks. But I bet against the Atlanta Falcons. When the season began, I said, no way it's going to be this easy. This team has no winning. You know, I would say history these last couple years, it just thinks one thing's going to switch. And this is not signing Peyton Manning or Tom Brady. This is signing a guy coming off an Achilles who even on his best days has been an extremely polarizing player. And what happened, I would say they have been one of the biggest underachievers this year. And a team that you know as looking forward and projecting is not going to win the division. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are well, of course they are. They're a better run organization. And this was a team that now is stuck with Kirk Cousins, who this notion of like. Part of the reason I thought it was so insane to make the pick at 8 is. Listen, sometimes you get new information. Obviously some things change between March 15 and the draft in late April. You talk to more people as a general manager, you're able to get on the phone more and really focus on that. But in my experience, during the season, you know, starting in the summer through the end of basically the new year, right, so like December 31st, all GMs worth their salt are evaluating all the top free agents and all the top draft picks. Now, they're not grinding on fifth and sixth rounders, but any guy with a legitimate draft grade, probably, you know, in the top 100 ish, is getting evaluated by the GM during the season. And a team like the Falcons, who have an atrocious quarterback situation the last couple of years, would be evaluating their general manager, would be evaluating all the quarterbacks thoroughly. Right? And Michael Penix is a guy that I really like. I would have drafted Michael Penix, but he was a very polarizing guy in NFL circles. Depending on who you spoke to, some people thought he wasn't even a first round pick. Obviously the Falcons viewed him as the eighth overall pick, which was extremely polarizing at the time. Not just because they had just signed Kirk Cousins, but because, like, is that a major overdraft? I don't necessarily think it was, but I thought like, in football, everyone gets the same amount of resources, everyone has the same amount of money to spend under whatever the cap is, 200 million, 250 million. Every team gets the same amount of draft picks. You just. Obviously they're not all the same slot, but every team gets a first round pick every single year. You get to pick and choose how you want to use that. Do you want to trade up the next couple first rounders, the, you know, the following years and make a huge trade? Do you want to trade back and accumulate more picks? Do you want to allocate your resources? Do you want to pay Brandon IUK $75 million for 75 catches? Or do you want to trade them and use that cap space on something else? My favorite part about the NFL, this is not baseball, where some teams spend more money, every team spending money, and every team's using their draft picks. You just get to pick and choose how you want to do it. And use the Minnesota Vikings as an example. Who, if I was around Ziggy Wolf after the other night, and really after Cousins last month, I'd go, the people that you empowered to run this team, your general manager, your head coach, they fucking know what they're doing. They're not only winning, but they are saving you a lot of money. They chose $10 million because you know what? They knew at the end of the year, we want to draft a quarterback. We are going to draft a quarterback. We were saying that about the Atlanta Falcons during the season. We're going to draft a quarterback. And they spent $10 million on Sam Darnold, which is an incredible contingency plan. If it works out, we get one of the best assets in the league. It clearly is. And they are bang for their buck. It doesn't get any better than a quarterback who's going to throw 35 plus touchdowns, lead you to 13, 14, 15 wins for $10 million, who was a free agent. That's an incredible March, you know, mid March free agency signing. And then there's Kirk Cousins, who we're going to guarantee multiple years, give $90 million, which all has to go into escrow. Every penny you don't pay them. And he almost has a one to one touchdown interception ratio. And we also gave him a no trade clause. So, like, we can't just cut him or trade them. Like he actually controls a lot now it makes sense for him to waive that to go to a new team. But what team worth their salt is trading anything of value for a $27.5 million backup quarterback? Hell, even if you consider him a bridge starter, the bridge starter, we just saw Sam Darnold. That mark is like 10 to 12 to $15 million max. What Gardner Mint you got. So his market value is all out of whack. But the difference with most bridge quarterbacks, ideally they can move because a lot of times the team's probably not going to be in a great position, questionable offensive line, and they're going to have to have some mobility. Cousins has none of that. He's a sitting duck. So to me, this situation, you could say it's cavalier. They just kind of went into it blind. I think it's a major, major indictment on everyone running the Falcons, the way this process played out and these transactions are independent of each other. Because if you knew you really like Michael Penix, which you should know, in the middle of March, when free agency starts, wouldn't you be in the mix to sign a Gardner Minchu with Sam Darnold? Because you would want to transition to a guy who is 24 years old who had been in college six seasons. Say what you want about JJ McCarthy, he was more of a project, right? Drake May more of a project. Michael Penix is not a project. He's a pro ready player to plug and play and let's roll. But you signed Kirk Cousins, which in a perfect world he would have been your starter for multiple years. This is one of the worst transactions we've ever seen, is completely blown up in their face. And I think the reason they waited so long because they wanted to avoid the wrath of their 82 year old owner. They just had to cut him a check. For a guy who did not make it till Christmas and now will not be on their team in year two. And now the pressure put on this young player. What if these, what if two of these three games go poorly and everyone turns on him and goes, God, this guy sucks. What's going on? It's a crazy amount of pressure and I'm a Michael Pennix fan, I'm rooting for him to play well. But what if it goes bad? The Bucs meanwhile, just in the playoffs again for what, the fifth straight year three with Brady, this is second with Baker Mayfield and just feel like they know what they're doing. And the Atlanta Falcons feel like they have absolutely no clue what they're doing. From the general manager to the front office to now the coaching staff, they just kind of feel lost at sea. And I also think the Cousins thing shows and then the Penix is like they're just kind of doing whatever the coaching staff wants. And I just did. In terms of the transactions when they were made, obviously if you're Zach Robinson, Raheem Morris, you'd want a veteran quarterback. Let's get the best one. $90 million. There's like, God, we love this Michael Penix guy. Well, let's draft him at 8. And now it's like you've allocated all these resources in these two guys and if panic struggles these next couple weeks and all of a sudden you have nothing to show for it, it is an epic disaster. And I think it's one that like, would all these guys get shit canned after one year? Because what's worse, being just a complete embarrassment on a bad team, like, you know, the Patriots who might fire Gerard Mayo or the Raiders, well, it's like, well, the Raiders, their quarterback situation's awful, right? The Patriots, it's like, well, like, how's your defense? Way worse. Same players. This situation is like, well, you got legitimate players and then you signed Kirk Cousins and then as the Season goes on. It gets worse. Is just Zach Robinson's fault. Is just the GM's fault. Is Raheem over his head? I don't know, but if I was the owner, I'd want fucking answers. I just got a $90 million check and this guy's on the bench now. And now we have a rookie quarterback. Like, he better start slinging touchdowns here, because if he doesn't, and we're missing the playoffs again. To the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who've had a million injuries. I mean, guys getting injured left and right, star players. And it's like they got a quarterback that they also gave $100 million. We all acknowledge, like, really good. And last year, they got him for nothing. They paid $4 million. So if you aggregate that year on top of his new contract, it actually lowers the value of the overall time that he spent on the team. It's like their coach just kind of seems like he's got a hold of everything and our guys are just kind of swimming upstream without a paddle. What the hell is going on? So I bet against the Atlanta Falcons simply because I didn't think they know what they were doing. And I think as of this week, and really over the last month, anyone with that thought was kind of proven right and it helped it Cousins just. I didn't expect him to just fall off a cliff this hard. But he obviously has a couple other things on coaching. You know, we got a big Thursday night game. Two teams are going to be in the playoffs, the Chargers and the Denver Broncos. And you know, I would have told you three or four weeks ago that the Chargers probably win a playoff game. Then you watch them. It's like, God, with our offense is once all banged up, turns out J.K. dobbins is like Ladanian Tomlinson. You remove him. It's like they struggle to get 50 yards on the ground. You know, Herbert just limping around out there. They got no passing game. A lot of people think Greg Roman's the village idiot. I often go like, well, how about the talent on this roster is not great, but they are very defensive reliant. And when their defense is giving up 30 plus points, like they're going to be in some trouble. They're not really built to win shootouts. I also think you could have a really good defense. And there gets to a point in time in a season when your offense is just struggling that they kind of break. It's almost like the dam breaks. It's like, you know, we just can't hold the Ford anymore. We Need a little help. And it's like the perfect combination, everything kind of falls apart. It kind of feels like that's what's happening with the Chargers. But even if the Chargers lose this game to Denver, they're currently eight and six that they finish with New England and Vegas. So I think, I think they're getting a nine, no problem. And I would bet on them getting a 10. Obviously with the Colts and the Miami Dolphins, who are in shambles, that, yeah, I think the Chargers end up with that seven spot. And if Denver were to win this Thursday night game, they should finish the sixth spot. I actually think they would be a feisty first round team. One of these two teams, whether they win the game or not, is going to be in the mix when it comes to wild card weekend. One of these games going to be tied in the second half because if their defenses play well, things get weird. Obviously Herbert, who can get hot in Bo Nix, you know, he's definitely a wild card because he can throw a couple picks and you're like, what the hell is going on? But he also has proven like with some schemed up plays with Sean Payton, like he hit some big plays. So I enjoy watching Denver now they finish after this Charger game at Cincinnati and then Kansas City. Now that Kansas City game, depending on how these next two weeks could go, could be nothing is on the line. So if Kansas City were to win these next two weeks, then that game would be meaningless. And I would imagine they would rest everyone, which would be an easy win for Denver and basically be a lock even if they lost these two games to get them to 10 wins. But if I was a betting man right now, I'd say Broncos, worst case, 10 and 5, I'd say 11 and 6 on the table. And that's just an incredible accomplishment. I mean, two years after taking over that Nathaniel Hackett, Russell Wilson experiment, to have this team in the playoffs, same thing with Jim Harbaugh last year, that Brandon Staley experiment where they won five games and now you're in the playoffs. It just shows you. I mean, this is why you pay big time coaches, because unlike the Falcons, like, who's actually in charge? Like, remove Arthur Blank, like, who's actually what's going on here, right? Is the GM doing anything? I say the same thing with New England. Like, is Jonathan Kraft in charge? Is Elliot Wolf the guy pulling the trigger? Does Gerard Mayho have any juice? What's going on with the Raiders? Like, does Telesco, Is he the boss? Is Brady get to tell Mark Davis what to do? Like, what's going on? When you say the Denver Broncos, who's in charge? You say Sean Payton. When you say the Los Angeles Chargers, who's in charge, you say Jim Harbaugh. And I think that, like, makes everything a little bit easier. And in the day and age when everyone wants their hand in the cookie jar in the NFL, because even if you're a team president like Kevin Warren, the only way, no one cares how many season tickets you sell, even once you build a stadium, like, that goes away really quick. That fades into obscurity really fast. Like, what's going on with the team? What's going on with the team? And the way to get headlines and the way to get discussed on, you know, Collins show, on espn, on podcasts, on local radio, is to be involved in football and have your hand in that and be standing there in the locker room at the end of the game. And it's why everyone's drawn that way. But it's also why football guys like to separate church and state. Like, I don't need to answer to a non football guy if he's not the owner of the team. And both these two franchises, the Spanos family said, jim, you take it, obviously. The Walton family said, sean, you take it. And for Sean Payton, two years later, it's paid dividends. They're in the playoffs, and honestly, I think they could win a game. Chargers might not win a game because injuries and just their lack of offensive talent, but if I would have told year one Harbaugh in the playoffs, which I knew would happen, but all you guys talked me out of, because you're like, their team sucks so much. Of course, you know why? Because Jim Harbaugh wins. Speaking of coaches, Mike Brable. It's funny, like I mentioned this earlier, but when you have a hot coaching candidate, it's just got to be an incredible feeling of knowing you could leak things. And it just gets everyone talking and freaks out the people negotiating. I was hoping that Sac State would hire Michael Vick. I think that would have been so badass. But it's pretty clear that Michael Vick's representation put it out that Sac State was talking to him to get a little bit more money out of Norfolk State, which you should do. Like, you got to use leverage to your advantage. I saw it with Marcus Freeman, who was like, the Chicago Bears are interested. And you're like, oh, of course they are. You know, he played in the NFL. He went to Ohio State, coach of Notre Dame, like, probably be, you know, should be Talking to him. Well, then a couple like less than a week later, he signs a six year extension. Well, do you think that it came out that his name was in that mix randomly? No. He wanted to get more money as he should. That's what an agent gets paid to do. Every time I look, it's Mike Vrabel, the Bears number one target. Mike Vrabel, he'd be interested in the, in the Patriot job if it became available. Mike Vrabel, would he listen for $100 million at Ohio State? And you just throw this enough kind of at the wall, eventually it's going to freak people out that actually are interested in them. And in fairness, all these people should be interested in him. But if you're Mike Vrabel right now, and let's just say you do have your pick of the litter and let's just say Robert Kraft will fire Gerard Mayo after the season because of just how poorly it's going. And he can't risk ruining his young quarterback a lot like you know what's going on in Chicago. Would you rather coach Caleb Williams or Drake May? Who would ever thought that that would be a conversation? But it's a legit conversation because one, if you did a redraft today, Caleb Williams would not go number one. Jaden Daniels would. And I think the question is who would go number two. And let's face it, the guy Mike Vrabel played or you know, when he was a coach who used to play a quarterback was Ryan Tannehill, who's like a game manager. He comes from the Bill Belichick, you know, kind of school of thought as a player. The Tom Brady that was the quarterback for the Patriots when he was a player was not the Tom Brady that we saw 0607 moving forward. It was much more in the game manager play defense. Now you could argue that's an archaic way of thinking. You can't really operate that way. And I would tend to agree. But your football philosophy is kind of your football philosophy. Most of the way that I look at this world. I'm open to new ideas. But like my core values I don't think have really changed in 20 plus years. Just like most football coaches I know. Doesn't mean they don't implement new things. But their core belief on how to play ball doesn't really change. As they go from 40 years old to 50 years old to 60 years old. They might implement some more things, but they still have a core philosophy of how to play. Dan Campbell, he goes for it more than you know, some of these guys would have done 20 years ago, but like, the way he built his team, it's not paying off right now because they're all injured. But like, defensive line physicality up front and fucking run the ball down your throat with a big ass offensive line and multiple running backs, like, he built his team a lot like a team that would have played in the 90s. And I just wonder if Mike Vrabel, like, would he even be interested in the project that is Caleb Williams? Because that's a pretty big undertaking. I mean, the guy we saw the other night and really most of this year has been atrocious. I mean, I thought it was crazy that everyone just anointed him so quickly before the season. Like, the NFL is really hard. And listen, I thought he would be a lot better given the wide receivers he's throwing to. But you talk about a guy seeing ghosts. I mean, Sam Darnold four years ago got no clue what he's doing and he just freezes. So based on the information we have right now, like, I think you could make the argument, I'd rather coach Drake may. And obviously he has the connection with Robert Kraft. And here's the reality. I think you learn this the older you get in life is whether it's the Bears and you got to deal with Kevin Warren, whether it's the Patriots and you got to deal with Robert's son Jonathan. Most of our jobs, you know, if you do not are the boss or the owner, like, even Belichick, one thing I think he miscalculated is like, Bill, you're not an entrepreneur. You can't just start a football team. Like, eventually you kind of got to play nice. So when some of these stories were coming out, they're like, God, you know, it's going to be tough for Bill to work with people. Like, he needs someone to buy into him because they're only 32 NFL teams and he doesn't have the money or have the capacity to buy one. So he's gonna need one of these owners and team presidents to hire him. Like, that's just a reality. This is not like my job tomorrow, if I was like, yeah, kind of. I just want to do something different. Well, I can just do something different. Whatever I want to do, I could start the company. Doesn't mean it's going to work or not, but I can do it. Like, if you're a football coach, there's no just starting a football team like you need. And as Bill finally did, he had an athletic director and a chancellor buy into him. But he couldn't just start like a college football team or an NFL team. So you do have to learn to work with others. It's a little corporate structure that way. Even Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh, like Jim Harbaugh still answers to the Spanos family. Sean Payton still answers to the Walmart family. Now ideally you just answer to the owner best case scenario, right? But when you got to answer to some of like the owner's kids, I totally understand how that would be tough, right? And it's one thing the owner's kid like Al Davis is dead. So it is Mark's team, right? Lamar Hunt is no longer with us. That is Clark Hunt's team. So another thing like when the dad's still there and the kids in your ass and he's like, well, do I go through you or you still got to go through Pops? Are you just like a 58 year old rich kid that still has to ask your dad for permission on this, where I just might as well call him. But I can't totally dick you over because if your Jad drops dead in a year, then you are actually the boss and I do have to deal with you. So all these situations are a little complicated. So you just got to look at it from the best case scenario from a football team and probably the easiest case scenario with who you have to deal with, with your personality. But I think most of these jobs, whether it's the Patriots, whether it's the Raiders, whether it's the jets, whether it's whatever becomes open the Cowboys were to fire Mike or not renew his contract. They all have severe complications of you have to run the team, manage your coaching staff and your players and also deal with whoever is above you. And some of those might be owners and team presidents, some might be owners and their children, but they all come with their own set of headaches. It's the most wonderful time of year for getting in on all the hoops, football and hockey action at the Draft King Sportsbook. It's the season of giving and we're being gifted. College football and basketball, pro football and basketball and pro hockey too. Almost 24 7. So many games every day. So many opportunities to place your first bet. Try betting on something simple like picking a team to win. Go to DraftKingsportsbook app and place your bet. And here's a gift for all new customers. Bet 5 bucks to get 150 in bonus bets. If your bet wins, download the DraftKingsportsbook app and use the Code John. That's Code Johan for new customers to get 150 in bonus bets. If your first bet wins when you bet just five bucks. Happy holidays from DraftKings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem. 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[Adnan Virk]

What'S up everybody? Adnan Burke here to tell you about a new podcast from iHeart podcast in the National Hockey League. It's NHL Unscripted with Virkin Demers.

[Jason Demers]

Hey, I'm Jason Demers, former 700 game NHL defenseman turned NHL Network analyst, and boy oh boy, does Daddy have a lot to say.

[Adnan Virk]

I love you, by the way, on NHL Network. We're looking forward to getting together each week to chat and chirp about the sport and all the other things surrounding it that we love. Right?

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Yeah, I just met you today, but we're going to have a ton of guests from the colliding worlds of hockey, entertainment and pop culture. And you know what? Tons of back and forth on all things NHL.

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Yeah, you're soon going to find out we're not just hockey talk. We had all kinds of random stuff in this podcast. Movies, television, food, wrestling, even the stuff that you wear in NHL.

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[Justin Pennock]

What'S going on everybody? This is Justin Pennock from John Boy Media, the host of the Football Today podcast alongside Bobby Skinner and Chris Rose. We're rolling three times a week on Mondays, on Wednesdays, on Fridays, breaking down everything you need to know about the NFL. We're talking about the MVP race. Is Josh Allen going to pull it out? Lamar Jackson? Can Saquon Barkley even break the rushing record? Can the Steelers keep up their momentum? We talk about everything, we break it down. Stats, analytics and of course Chris Rose is bringing his perspective on being a pro in the media world as well. Listen to Football Today on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and you will be glad you did. Hope you could join us for the postseason run.

[John Middlekauff]

Okay, let's do a little middle cuff Mailbag at John Middlekopf Instagram. Fire in those DMs. Get your question answered here on a little thing called the Podcast Mailbag. Aaron Love the pod question around the Chiefs Looking forward to upcoming seasons? What do you think the strategy is around some key players that come at a price? We look at some of these guys coming up on their final years of their first contracts. Who do you retain versus who do you draft? Players like Bolton, Karlofskus, McDuffie, Trey Smith, Pacheco. Not all these guys are going to be top of the market. Some probably are, but they aren't going to be cheap. Curious your thoughts on those discussions with Veach and the team having around this topic? Well, I would say McDuffie is a lock keeper. I would say Karlovskis is going to be kept as well. Nick Bolton's obviously really good player. It just becomes a little complicated with linebackers and prices how much you're willing to pay them, how much you're going to allocate. Like McDuffie is not going to be cheap. Like that's a really, really expensive player. You know George is not Bosa like the high, high end pass rushers. But even if you get those guys at a discount, it's still you know, what is it, 18, $19 million a year? I would say Isaiah Pacheco, he is not a second contract guy. Despite him being a really good player. My guess is that they will just play out his rookie contract when it comes to Trey Smith. I thought they extended Trey Smith. Maybe they didn't. So Trey Smith's contract, I mean, he's a really good player. God, he's a great deal right now. Trey Smith currently cost them 940 grand. So yeah, you're gonna pay some of these guys. Now Karlovskas, McDuffie are both going into their second. This is their third year. So I think they would play it out again with both those guys. Usually ideally with, you know, guys you sign after four years so you could keep them under contract for another year. Am I nuts or is the Darnold vs McCarthy talk complete nonsense? How in God name, God's name are the Vikings going to even consider letting Darnold walk? Because they love jj? Based off of what? On what planet does an unproven, injury prone JJ McCarthy put you in a better position to win than Sam Donald? I totally agree, but I think that they, you know, there's a moneyball element to them. They just did it with Cousins. I think they believe they can do it again with, with Darnold to J.J. mcCarthy. I think one thing, when you watch Darnold compared to Cousins, that element of movement is something that Cousins did not have. And he has a much bigger arm. And being 27 years old, when you just build around him and keep jj, let him prove that he's healthy as like a contingency plan, right? Like if you knew if Cousins was a Pro Bowler this year, no one would have any issue and they'd be in first place. But he's a disaster, right? So like once you sign the bridge quarterback and then he's incredible and he's also 27, 28 years old with a pedigree being a high pick. You go, do we, Are we sure we didn't just strike oil here? I would keep my. I would offer him the Baker Mayfield deal yesterday. The packers have a ton of offensive talent. Watson, Dobbs, Reed Wicks and Tucker Kraft. Who are they going to pay? The packers make quick, smart decisions, so I assume they already made up their mind. What do you think the packers paid? Love a ton of money. So that is going to hurt them moving forward. They cannot afford to pay everybody, especially with young, emerging talent. Well, a tight end is one of the best deals in the league because the highest paid tight End makes less than half of what the top wide receiver makes. So you can get that guy at a very, very cheap number. To me, they are a great, great deal. So I would say that Tucker Kraft is a lock. And listen, is how much is he actually going to cost? He's having a breakout year this year. He has 41 catches and seven touchdowns and he's only in a second year, so like you still got another year under him on a very cheap deal. You know, Christian Watson is. What year is this for him? 4? Or is this year 3? Some of these guys aren't. I think you got some time with some of these guys. Christian Watson was 22, so 22, 23, 24. He's a second round pick, so he would be going into his contract year next year. He's kind of polarizing because he's been injured. Honestly hasn't really been that productive. God, he's been way less productive than I realized. I guess last year he was injured. This year he's got 29 catches, only two touchdowns. What the fuck's that gonna cost you? I think Reed, Jaden Reed's a stud. But how many you got time on these guys and when I say time, like plus they all kind of take away from each other. None of them. Like, Jaden reed is a second year player and he's got 44 catches. Last year he had 64, so he'll be back to back. 64, 60 catches, 7, 8, 9 touchdowns. I think you're in a good position. None of these guys have to be paid. What the fuck is this for? The mailbag. This is crazy. You can talk to your players as the head coach. Are you the boss of all bosses? Like, what is this guy thinking? It was the video of the Eagles defensive line coach screaming at Sirianni to get away from Jalen Carter. I think Jalen Carter is a pretty big wild card. And the way I heard it described when he was coming out of college, he's a little bit of emotional roller coaster. So you got to be careful with him. And after he hit the dude on the Steelers and took the 15 yard penalty, any coach worth their salt would go over and talk to the guy. Every single one. But I wonder if the D line coach knows that like this could. This could unravel fast. And Jalen has been playing at like a Pro bowl level. So it's like we got Sirianni, who can be a hothead. We're just trying to simmer everything down. But can you imagine an assistant coach telling Mike Tomlin telling Jim or John Harbaugh telling Andy Reid, telling Kyle Shanahan or McVay or LaFleur to back the fuck up. I don't. It's not exactly what he told him, but like, you're not talking to this guy right now. Think about that. That was pretty nuts. Like, hey, bro, you work for me and I want to talk to my guy, even if it's not a great idea. Now, that position coach might have been doing Sirianni a favor because there might been nothing productive that would have been a result of their conversation because everyone's emotions were high. You're winning the game. But that seems crazy to me, like, I'm the boss. And it's like, well, are you? I don't know. Eels are a weird thing. It's like they're a dysfunctional high end operation. It feels like they're a little like they got a lot going on, but they got so much talent it works. It's like sometimes you hear about a buddy who like, works for a guy. Sometimes you'll just meet someone and you'll be like, this guy's nuts. It happens a lot when I'm playing golf that, you know, you play with other friends and they bring people, and then all of a sudden you'll realize like, on the seventh hole you'd be like, yeah, that company he's talking about, he owns it and it's worth like $300 million. I'm like, that guy? Yeah, he's just a dysfunctional, functional individual and it works. And that's kind of feels like what the Eagles are. They got a lot of shit going on at all times, but they got so much talent and it all comes together and it just works. Question for the bag. We know that the quarterback is the most important position in sports, but I can't help but think that having an elite coach and a good quarterback is better than elite quarterback and a good mediocre coach. Look at Burrow vs. The Broncos and Bo Knicks, for example. I genuinely think that I would much rather have Andy Reid and a quarterback like Dakota than Josh Allen and Zach Taylor. Curious your thoughts. I would agree. Like, I would rather have my. If I was a fan, my team would make the playoffs more often and more consistently with Andy Reid and Dak Prescott than Josh Allen and just pick some terrible coach. The problem is, is we've seen, like Andy with Josh Allen. Hell, we saw Bill, the one good year he has with Mac Jones. Your ceiling in the playoffs is pretty limited. So it's like, yeah, your team can win nine to 12 games. We saw with Andy for a long time with Alex Smith. Same thing with Jim Harbaugh with Alex Smith. But you, if you get the real coach like Andy Reid and Alex Smith are making the playoffs every year. These weren't going far. But if I gave Josh Allen, Josh Allen's in a pretty good organization like Sean McDermott's a good coach. The Bills are just a well run organization. If you put them on like the Jags, it just, it might not look the same. Even if he was a great player. I agree with you. Football more than these other sports like baseball. My manager, how much does it really matter if my team stacked right A little bit in the playoffs, but during the regular season, if my team is loaded, I can win 100 games. In basketball, you would 100% pick one of the top players over a top coach without hesitating. Football, like what's the number one overall draft pick? If you were a team, could you argue that you would pick Andy Reid before you picked Mahomes? Because if you had pick number 33, you know, think of all the coaches and quarterbacks that would be off the board. Couldn't you just draft like Dak Prescott? Right. Or just some solid quarterback? So would you rather have Josh Allen or Mahomes or Lamar1? And if I got to pick a below average coach, that'd be pretty risky. Football is the one sport where you could justify taking it if everyone was available, taking the coach first. I'm not saying that's the right move. Like I probably would just take Josh Allen. But if you took Andy Reid, I, I couldn't argue with you. Question for the bag. Longtime Niner fan, with lynch willing to take swings, would it be a fantasy world if him and Kyle would be willing to trade Joe Burrow? With reports coming out between the disconnect and the Bengals and their history of frugality, it would be a long shot. But the combo of Burrow and Shanahan is a mouth watering prospect. I think about this sometimes. I'd be lying if I said I didn't. I think if you'd even entertain the call, even if they said, hey, we'll offer you whatever you want, you tell us what you want and we will, we will accommodate your wishes. Just fold the franchise. If the Bengals right now would entertain trading Joe Burrow, they should fold the franchise or sell the franchise immediately. So I tried to put myself in their shoes and I think because the NFL, if this was baseball, you'd be like, yeah, Joe Burrows on The market, you could go get him. But I think because it's football, they have the money. I just don't think he'd be available in 20, 25 now, maybe in a couple more years if they keep losing, maybe they try to pivot, but I see under zero circumstances now would the 49ers do it in a New York second. I'm with you. I mean Joe Burrow. I mean we've seen Joe Burrow and Brock Purdy on the same field the same time last year. One guy looked like Joe Montana and listen, I, it feels like I'm shitting on Brock Purdy. I'm really not. I like him a lot as a player. But like Joe Burrows, what an elite blue chip championship level player looks like. Purdy is like, I don't know. I mean, we're still kind of figuring that out. And hell, he makes a million dollars, what happens when he makes 50? But obviously you would rather have Joe Burrow than Brock Purdy. I just think it's very rare in the NFL, you know, it takes a lot. Carson Palmer basically quit. Had to retire for them to get rid of them. Barry native living near your hometown? Living in Vacaville now. I know Vacaville well. They used to have a mall back when malls mattered. I guess you guys still have outlets. When I lived in Walnut Creek, I used to stop at. They had a Nike outlet there, they had a Chipotle there. Every once in a while when I was feeling like a fat ass. They had a Krispy Kreme there that I'd hit up. They had an in and out. So I was a frequent Vacaville stopper really my adult life. And when I was a kid and my mom, we used to go there all the time. I am a die hard Niner fan and a Purdy believer. But I do think he's anywhere. I don't think he's anywhere near the elite quarterbacks and certainly doesn't deserve to be paid like a top guy. If you were the Niner gm, what would you do with Brock and what would his contract look like? Second, looking down the road, after I retire from my current career, I would like to get a job in football, assistant strength coach or even a scout. I've been an assistant football coach at my old high school for 20 years and plan on continuing. I'll be 50 in 12 years when I retire. Got you. Retiring young. Life is good. So would I be too old to get a job like a scout or an assistant coach at like a SAC State? I don't think you'd be too old to get a job like a Sac State or UC Davis. I think it would be very difficult for you to get a scouting job at that point in time in your life with no history of. It's not like you could just. Even if you know football well, it would be difficult, obviously. Two. I don't know. If you don't know anyone, it'd be near impossible. I. Sac State or UC Davis is much more, I would say, of a attainable goal. You know, I was trying to. My fiance, Maria is a huge 49er fan. So we were talking last night because she sees all these memes and things and she's trying to figure out, like, why is everyone talking about Purdy and his contract? And she saw Richard Sherman go on this rant like, the price is the price. And it's like, yeah, the price. The price of your bad at business. It's like, yeah, this house, because of the market, is worth $5 million. But I also think if you're willing to pay $5 million for this house, I think you're an idiot. You know, like, two things can be true. Like, that's kind of the going rate because of the market conditions. And it's like this house is in terrible shape and you have to put in another three or four million dollars just to make it livable. Right? But because of the location where it is, I mean, we could argue market conditions till we're blue in the face. And she's in real estate. So I use the example of, like, well, he's technically going to make more than Patrick Mahomes because Patrick Mahomes had his contract years ago. And a lot like real estate. Well, if you bought the house in 2021, now the next door neighbor's house, even if it's not nearly as nice, is worth more than that four years later. It's kind of this scenario. But again, like, if you want to pay him that. I don't know what I think you're. I think it's bad business. Like, well, the market's. The market that's. Oh, yeah, the market's the Trevor Lawrence. That's fucking terrible business. Tua is those type contracts derailed their franchise. Derailed the franchise. If you would look at the Jags and go, they still owe him. His contract hasn't even started. It's like, I'm shorting your franchise, Tua. His contract hasn't even started. I'm out. Like, I'm gone. So it's like, well, the market was the market? Well, yes, Some things you pay market prices for. Other things you go, I'll pass. That's not a good idea. And I saw one thing Richard said is like, well, do you have a replacement? Do you need a replacement right now? He's still under contract for a year. Why can't we play? What's he going to do, hold out? Okay, good luck. I don't think you will. Whatever happened to playing hardball? What happened to that? I think we need a little more hardball. Right? The NBA stopped playing hardball. We see how that's going. Not well, because they just acquiesced to every demand and now they're starting. Do not. But it's almost too late. Everyone checked out. The NFL just kind of gave in to a lot of this stuff. It's like, yeah, we're just going to let it. We're just going to let it ride. It's one thing. It's like Joe Burrow, okay? Generational player. We get it. Like, we've had. We know what it looks like. And this is fucking good. You know, we've had solid average in Andy Dalton before that. We had high end Carson Palmer. Like, okay, we have a pretty good idea. This is pretty special. This is what it costs. I'm sorry. It's just. Just because other people got paid something doesn't mean it's a good idea. It honestly makes no sense to me. And I get the caps going up. And I'm not saying you pay them nothing, but, like, if you use the Trevor Lawrence deal as a comp, I go, yeah, we're not the Jaguars. We don't ever plan on running a business like the Jaguars. And we think signing a contract like that is the immediate death of everything we got going on here. So again, we pass. It's like, well, who's your replacement? Well, we don't have one. You're so the quarterback. There's a National Football League, you're under contract, and all that money you're making off the field is because you're the starting quarterback for our franchise. And I'm not trying to be a tough guy or whatever. Like, he's a very respectable good guy. And it's not like he's even said any of this, but this conversation I feel like has jumped the shark. And maybe it's some of the reporting Pelissaro said, I'm not gonna take a hometown discount. Well, who are you gonna play for then? Like, what's your market? That's where I still don't understand, like, what's the market part of like when a guy's holding out like T.J. watt, it's like, well, he'd have a massive market. Even IUK last year, the hold in like other teams wanted him. The Patriots willing to give him $32 million a year. The Browns were willing to give him $30 million a year. Steelers were willing to give him $28 million a year. Like that was factual. Is that the case with Purdy? Like hey, we're offering you $110 million guaranteed. Do you have other offers out there? We'll let you sniff around. We need your replacement and we obviously let us know what the contract is and we will see if we'll match or whatever. Like you had $150 million on the open market. Just because previous deals are bad, like the desean Watson deal is an embarrassment for the NFL. No one else is getting fully guaranteed contracts. Is the mainstream sports media propaganda us to believe Josh Allen is the mvp? Lamar Jackson is leading him in every statistical category outside of rushing TVs. Is this sort of like LeBron fatigue? Why do you think Lamar isn't getting any more love this year? Well, he's the defending champion, you know, with the award. Defending award winner. He's actually having a way better statistical season than he did last year. Remember last year he threw 25 touchdowns. This year he's got 34. He's got multiple like four or five touchdown games. Part of it too is Josh's team has a better record and his team cut all these people in the off season. Right. Most of Lamar's teammates came back and they added very similar roster to last season for Lamar Jackson. Defense has fallen off a cliff, but it's same players. So I think there's some fatigue. I think if Lamar hadn't won it last year, I think there would be more of momentum for him in the mix. And I think fatigue is fair. Like is Lamar Jackson a three time MVP at 28 years old or whatever he is? Like that seems a 27 years old. Like I got no problem with people not giving him the award this year. It's like, well, okay, he's had a better season this year than last year, but he still got the award one of the two years. That's fine with me. I love the content. I'm a diehard Chiefs fan and I've been one since I was little. We constantly get a lot of hate from the rest of the league and fans around the refs and dark magic. I personally feel it's unjustified I was wondering your take on this and possibly what you think about them completing the three peat and what it would mean for them in the league. Well, you know what's funny is historically the big brands used to get this. The Lakers. When I was a kid, I hated the Lakers, right? I was a big Kings fan as a kid. And the Lakers lost that series when Vladdy tipped it out to Robert Horry. And then it turns out Tim Donaghy was throwing the game. Like, I mean, he admitted to, like, you know, cooking the books. And obviously David Stern, which I don't blame him if I was in his shoes, one of the bigger brands for television ratings. But in the NFL, it doesn't matter whether the Chiefs are in the super bowl, whether the Bills are in the super bowl, whether it's the Lions, whether it's the Eagles, whether it's the Packers. It's been proven. Now these last four or five years, these playoff games, I just saw the Bills and the Lions outdrew the Steelers and the Eagles. 23 million people watch the Bills and the Lions, Buffalo and Detroit over. The Steelers are a top five brain in the NFL. And the Eagles are clearly one of the biggest markets in the league and they outdrew them by a lot. Honestly, I had both games on. Obviously, so did most people, but I had the Eagles audio on up until the second half when the game kind of got out of control. Then I flipped. I felt like. And maybe it's. I don't know. I don't know why I was inclined to be drawn to the Eagle. Steelers over Bills, Lions. But as a consumer, that's what I lean toward. Like, if you told me I could only watch one game at the beginning of the day, I would have chose that game. But. So maybe I'm out of touch with like, what the consumer is. The Lions are. Incredible story. Great part about technology, you can watch them both. Dark magic. Like, no one gives a fuck. The Raider fans have been saying it for years. Like, they still got it out for us. Guys. Al Davis has been dead for 15 years. Your franchise hasn't been good in 20. It doesn't matter. You're not getting called for a lot of penalties because you're the Raiders. Maybe that was true in the 70s and 80s and I'm sure there was some validity behind it. That's not true anymore. Just like the Chiefs are not getting bailed out. Referees are a lot like government officials. They're incompetent. Honestly, nobody roots for referees. If it wasn't for social media, I Wouldn't have realized they're, you know, obviously the political media and the sports media root for these politicians. It's really weird. Like, these people are lifetime politicians. Guys, they wouldn't piss on you if you were on fire in their front yard. And it's like, you guys are their biggest cheerleaders. Like, it's kind of weird. They're both incompetent. Like, these guys couldn't fucking operate in the private sector. Like, this is their only job. Politician. Like, referees. Like, what are we doing here now? Being a referee is difficult. Like, you're talking real time, you know, human beings. Basketball, baseball, football, for sure. But in football, if you play bad, you get cut or fired. You know, if you coach bad, you get fired. Gm, if you pick the wrong player, you get fired. These referees make bad calls, and they're on the game the next week. I just don't get it. But it's the way it is. So I've just. I don't get caught up in anymore, but I don't. Some stories I just don't pay that much attention to. Like, it's like, I just. I don't care. It's like Travis Hunter and his girlfriend. Like, I do not give a shit. Like, you have to pay me to care, to, like, have an opinion. So, guys, he's 21 years old. How. How are people so invested in this? Maybe. Maybe there are certain parts of sports that, like, I'm detached from, but that's one area. And maybe there's a personal thing with me. Like, I'm a big believer in. I don't really have opinions on my friends or my family, like, who they're sleeping with. Whether it's girlfriends, wives, like you. You choose to do that, you can do whatever you want to do. I don't care. Like, we're all adults. That's on you. You know, do whatever you want to do. I'm not gonna get caught up in it. The Travis Hunter thing is like, guys, what are we even talking about? I think the same thing about refereeing. It's like, are we serious? I also think that's such a. Such an online thing. Question for the bag. I like when you shout out other bald men. I'm not bald myself, but I support the bald community. Give me your Mount Rushmore of bald guys. One for sports and one for general population culture. Also, how do you feel about bald men like Larry David who don't shave their heads, instead maintain the cul de sac? Well, I think the older generation, the cul de sac Being cleanly shaven, like with a Bic razor back in the day. And now the, you know, four, you know, three heads, five heads, the mach threes. Mach fives is much more in vogue, I would say. I got no issue with Larry and kind of that generation rocking that. My. My father, who was bald, rocked a cul de sac when he was my age. If I rocked a cul de sac, I just. I think people would think I was the ugliest human alive. So it's. Things have changed. I would say Mount Rushmore for the culture or pop mainstream non athlete. You would go when I was a kid, Bruce Willis, who's battling, I think, dementia right now. It's not going good, but Bruce has got to be near the top. You know, this guy's technically an athlete, but the last 20 years, you know, he played college football. The Rock would have to be extremely high. I would go, Bruce Willis, the Rock. This is tough. Sports are easy, right? Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods. We got any bald baseball? Jay Buhner. Love Jay Buhner. And he rocked the cleanly shaven head in the 90s before it was cool. Trying to think of other really famous actors or people in pop culture, It's a good question. You know, the actors, it's hard for them to get jobs. So many people do fake hair. So many people would be bald. But bald culture actors, you know, like, I wouldn't see. Honestly, I did most famous bald actors and my two were near the top. Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis. I guess you go Jason Statham, I don't know. Ed Harris, Samuel L. Jackson. I think Samuel L. Would be up there, you know, Vin Diesel, I don't know. Terry Crews, J.K. simmons. Big fan of J.K. simmons. Travolta is one guy that clearly fought it for a long time and has now just completely embraced it. When you see Travolta now, he used to like, he clearly had a wig for a long time. Bald singers. Kenny Chesney, It's a pretty good one. Billy Corrigan, a Smashing Pumpkins. Not bad to me. It's hard to get stronger than Willis in the Rock. Everyone else is fighting. And in sports, I mean, I would say the most iconic one by a miles. Michael Jordan. I consider Tiger woods bald as well.

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[John Middlekauff]

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[Adnan Virk]

What's up everybody? I'd Nan Virk here to tell you about a new podcast from iHeart podcast in the National Hockey League. It's NHL Unscripted with Perkin Demers.

[Jason Demers]

Hey, I'm Jason Demers, former 700 game NHL defenseman turned NHL Network analyst, and boy, oh boy, does Daddy have a lot to say.

[Adnan Virk]

I love you, by the way on NHL Network, we're looking forward to getting together each week to chat and chirp about the sport and all the other things surrounding it that we love. Right?

[Jason Demers]

Yeah, I just met you today, but we're going to have a ton of guests from the colliding worlds of hockey, entertainment and pop culture, culture. And you know what, Tons of back and forth on all things NHL.

[Adnan Virk]

Yeah, you're soon going to find out we're not just hockey talk. We get all kinds of random stuff on this podcast. Movies, television, food, wrestling, even the stuff that you wear on NHL.

[Jason Demers]

Now you wish you could pull off my short shorts, Ferkie.

[Adnan Virk]

That shirt of Kazarakis. Listen to NHL Unscripted with Burkin Demers, the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jon Stewart]

Catch Jon Stewart back in action on the Daily show and in your ears with the Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. From his hilarious satirical takes on today's politics and entertainment to the unique voices of correspondence and contributors, it's your perfect companion to stay on top of what's happening now. Plus, you'll get special content just for podcast listeners like in Depth interview and a roundup of the week's top headlines. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Justin Pennock]

What's going on, everybody? This is Justin Pennock from John Boy Media, the host of the Football Today podcast alongside Bobby Skinner and Chris Rose. We're rolling three times a week on Mondays, on Wednesdays, on Fridays, breaking down everything you need to know about the NFL. We're talking about the MVP race. Is Josh Allen going to pull it out? Lamar Jackson? Can Saquon Barkley even break the rushing record? Can the Steelers keep up their momentum? We talk about everything. We break it down. Stats, analytics. And of course, Chris Rose is bringing his perspective on being a pro in the media world as well. Listen to Football Today on the iHeartRadio, Apple, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts and you will be glad you did. Hope you could join us for the postseason run.

[John Middlekauff]

Eagles fan here. I know you have mentioned on several occasions that Big Dom is an important asset of the Eagles. I think it was you that referred to him as the guy who knows where the bodies are buried. My friends and I in our group chat have been discussing that he's become famous. It almost comes across as a joke every time his name is mentioned in a story about the team. I tend to agree that he is important to the team and their culture, but always get pushback. My question is, can you put into words what exactly Big Dom does and why he's so important to the team? No, I can't. I think he does a little bit of everything. It's like there are humans in companies that work for the bosses that it's hard to describe their roles, but that boss and that human knows what they bring to the table that no one else can quite figure out, right? In a lot of non, like Fortune 500 companies and like a smaller business, that guy exists sometimes. And ultimately, while a football team is worth billions of dollars, they're not a huge operation in terms of employees. And obviously the most important employees are your players and your coaches. Like, I would say he assists them. He just makes sure things happen. You know, Philly's a town where, you know, shit happens and it's a small town despite it being a big city. So I think, you know, when people have described like, Ernie Adams with Belichick, they're like, yeah, I'm not really sure what he did, but I know what he did was important. Well, Bill kind of knew what he did and Ernie kind of knew what he did. And it both. It just worked. It's kind of dumb, except it's not like on the field scheme stuff, which Ernie kind of did. It's more like lifestyle stuff. So whether it's helping guys out, whether it's a situation, it's a lot of personal stuff. Just making things happen or go away. It's really hard to describe. I mean, I. I can't give you, like, I could give you a couple examples way back in the day, probably statute of limitations, it wouldn't matter. It's not like I know like incidents that are going on right now, you know, specific things, but I just know the, the general. It's why when people describe him, everyone talks about him kind of like a mythological figure, because you can't exactly say what he's doing, even though half of it's not even Bad, but every team's like that. I used to hear stories about Eddie DeBartolo when he owned the Niners in the 80s. Like you think. I mean, same thing with like Al Davis in the 70s. Like all these guys had dudes that just took care of stuff. I like to get your take on just how close teams with no realistic chance of winning a championship are to the cream of the crop in both the NFL and college. Here's the scenario. I'm a 36 year old, 6ft tall, 230 pounds, out of shape, get to play as a 12th man on every snap of offense, defense and special teams for the Jacksonville Jags or the West Virginia Mountaineers. My favorite team, injury sliders are turned off for me and opponents only get to play with 11. I recognize that my 40 time probably starts with a 6 and I can probably only bench 200 pounds. Nevertheless, I am able to body adult males that would need to at least be accounted for schematically. And I suspect my presence would immediately catapult the team to contender status. I would be a little utility in open space. I would be of little utility in open space. But sure, my use as an extra blocker, inside rusher for every snap would pose timing and assignment issues. Oh, you get to play as a 12th man? It's a good question. I think you would probably impact more on defense. Like for example, in the run game, if I just place you between the slot and whoever my rusher is and you just ran up field, you would be like a forced defender to win the run game. Anything outside would force the guy in, or if the guy was busting a run, like you know it was an inside run and he tried to break it out, you would be there even if you couldn't catch him and tackle him, which would be difficult in the Big 12 level. I mean, you would be the worst athlete on the field every game you played the NFL, you'd have no shot. You'd have a better shot in college because the guys aren't as strong in the NFL. You get hurt, that'd be another thing. You would get injured. Like you would. You would get hurt and you would get hurt fast. So as a 12th defender, even if you played for the Jags, like someone on the Titans would injure you, who the Jags just played the jets, like they would fuck you up. I mean, and honestly, it would happen in college too, depending on the team. I mean, you get hit hard in college, but you know, there's a big difference. Getting hit by a guy at Alabama and get hit by a guy at Texas Tech. But in the NFL you would. You would not last a game. I think you. You would. You would get injured quick. You would get tossed around like a ragdoll if you weren't touched. I guess you could impact plays on defense. Offensively, I do not know what you would do because I would not put you at the line of scrimmage. You would get tossed. If I moved you out as a slot or a wide receiver, a DB could break it off and come catch you. I think you would have little to no role as a bad athlete and out of shape. Listen to your answer about paying Brock. If we agree that Brock is easily a top 15 quarterback, most people have him in the top 10 and you're wanting to pay him $25 million a year, do you think there could be a market reset quarterback payouts? Because if the Jags are paying Trevor that much, he's garbage. Why wouldn't a team pay Brock twice as much as Trevor? Also, the rise of backup quarterbacks like Darnold and Sam or Darnold and Geno could mess with the market. Is he a top 10 quarterback? He was last year when everyone was healthy. Is he this year? We know he's not. You know, Mahomes can have the worst year of his career and he's infinitely better. Burrow obviously much better. Lamar obviously much better. Josh Allen obviously much better. Justin Herbert's a better player. Matt Stafford is a better player. I think then we start arguing about the group that he's in, like the dac, you know, Kirk Cousins isn't good anymore. Jared Goff is a better player this year. Now he's on a better team. Jalen Hurts is currently playing better or just more functional. Yeah, I think it just becomes complicated again. I understand that, like he's not going to sign for $25 million a year. My point is like I just have a hard time giving him $200 million guaranteed. I can't do it. Especially now with a year remaining on his contract. My guess is they give him like $150 million guaranteed. If they give him 200, like, I just. Maybe I don't even know what I'm talking about. Or maybe the 49ers are just like the Jags and. And the Dolphins. Maybe they don't know quarterback that well. The quarterback market. And they traded everything for. For Trey Lance and now they're giving him. I was have to see how it plays out. But can you explain more about how teams deal with injuries? Like we have this is a Lions fan as far as once a player goes on IR and we sign a new player or an entire defense like Detroit has to, is the player on IR counted against the cap? How do you balance the cap and money if you're having to sign so many additional players to fill in for these injuries, at a certain point you hit the salary cap, how do you sign additional players? Well, when a guy goes on injured reserve, his cap money, like the money you're actually paying him changes for a lot of these players. This is a good question for like Josh Rose or Jake Rosenberg specifically on the cap. But basically when I put a guy on IR, he no longer takes one of the 53 man roster spots. And then when I sign one of these guys, I'm obviously paying him the minimum salary. So if I'm up against the salary cap and I have an injury, how can I pay a guy when I'm up against the salary cap? I'll be honest, I don't exactly know how to explain that because I don't know the exact logistics of it. Clearly it makes sense once it's explained by a cap guy. But I know that like when your roster opens up, you know a guy's salary if he's playing, you're paid to play games. So Cousins is getting $60 million whether he plays, whether he doesn't, whether he goes injury reserve. But a lot of guys salaries, it, it depends whether are you active on game day, are you dressed on game day, are you on injury reserve? A lot of these salaries get cut in half. Like we're not just paying you to be on. Even though it's not your fault you got injured, but you get paid less. Like ultimately you're compensated to play these games. Now Ray Lewis once famously said, you pay me Monday through Saturday, Sundays are for free. But that's a better question for a cap guy. I don't, I don't know the exact answer to that one or like how to describe it properly. I've been a Titans fan my entire life. I feel like we are such a weird spot with quarterback being the made question mark. It had me thinking what can we realistically do? I don't think we get ahead of the Raiders or the Giants for Sanders reward. I also don't think Darnold would be playing at the same level he is. He would be in Tennessee without Kevin O'Connell. I also don't see a Ran Carthon could risk his job with another year of Levis. If you were the GM of the Titans, what Would you do? I do think you'd have to entertain Sam Darnold. I do think Sam Darnold in your division, you would have to think long and hard about Will Levis is never going to be your quarterback again after this year. Like, I don't even think he's on the team. I think he's a. He'd probably get cut. Like the Will Levis experiment ends right now, you know, or yeah, I don't. We'll see it, you know. How many games does he play? Is he bench. You know what his situation is these last three games. But there will never be Will Levis anymore in a Titans uniform. So you go, you know, the draft is after free agency. So in free agency, if Sam Darnold is available, like, would you be willing to give him a Baker Mayfield contract? We saw Callahan, you know, with Joe Burrow, we know how he wants to play. On offense. Your options are kind of limited. Like this is not going to be some loaded situation. The draft is terrible. We'll see. McQueen, yours might not come out. He's not even a good player. Carson Beck, who knows? You know, is Cam ward a top 10 draft pick? That seems kind of bold. Dion. Not Dion Chador. I mean, all signs point to him being the number one pick. Would Dion even allow Shador to go to you? I don't know. I don't know, man. I mean, I. I'm not saying you're screwed, but I think you're in a little trouble. Do you think Kyle Shanahan is unfairly escaping criticism this season? He has been brilliant for years, but much like Belichick, he is very slow to adapt or adjust. A lot of the struggles this year are on injuries, plain and simple. But Kyle had a funky year where he refused to adjust even though he had gotten predictable. Teams know exactly what he's going to run. Every time Deebo was in the backfield, they kept force feeding players like CMC and Deebo, even when it was clear it wasn't effective. He has never been good halftime adjuster. His teams just tend to have the lead, so it doesn't matter. I wonder if his commitment to the game plan is hampering his quarterback's development and ability to make decisions. For example, calling audibles or even using his legs. I don't think he scrambled at all that Rams game. You would think he would dial up a play using Brock's legs. I always thought the might of the 49ers weapons were a bit overstated. Outside of McCaffrey, who's a monster. They are average at receiver and have a very good tight end. You could probably name eight, nine teams with a better overall core weapons. I think the receivers, you know, Iuke's heard but when I use their Juwan Jennings Kittle. I mean ultimately if your tight ends a grid pass catcher, he's a receiving option that's, that's pretty good. I wonder if this is being slowed by the lack of weapons or is the play color. He needs that physicality and ability to separate for his schemes to run the way he wants them. They went from the best yak team to one of the worst. Is this true? How do they fix? I think he's very, very reluctant and this is the way he builds his team. Like he doesn't want to play like you know, old school Andy Reid. I don't want to throw the ball 40 times a game. I want to play where the running game dictates, dictates the passing game. It's a very old school way of thinking. Even if the running back is coming back. That's just because our run game is effective. You know a lot of teams like oh run games working today we will keep running the ball. Kyle is dead set on making sure the run game works. In a lot of his past plays are dependent on those run plays working. And if those pass plays are not going to get used if the run game gets stuffed and then a lot of his passing game is tied to like the boost and the waggles off the running game. Well, it feels like a lot of times this year when you're playing Brock Purdy, you know that like hey, do not bite on play action fakes because he's going to roll right to you and how many times they have tried to run like an outside zone, that's a fake run the play action play with Brock then turning around and running the other way and the defenders right in his face. It's like Kyle, you've been running this play and again, I'm not saying scrap the play but it is not as effective after four fucking years of using the play. And I just think that a lot of times like they can't just drop back and throw. So I don't have a great answer. Obviously Kyle knows what he's doing and knows his offense really well. He's clearly just been out of sync this year and I think losing McCaffrey early on in the season really threw him off. And I, I don't know, I don't have a great answer for you. I, I do think it gets back to though personnel and their offensive line sucks. So beside Trent Williams, just to be like, we're going to drop back 40 times a game, Kyle be like, our guy's going to get killed. And I'd be like, well, start drafting some more offensive linemen. You draft Ricky Pierce on the first round and you find Ricky Pierce on the fourth. So my bigger issue is, you know, not investing in offensive line. In fairness to Kyle, you watch some of these teams play, right? They drop back and their guy just gets killed. It's like they just call pass play after pass play. That's probably what would happen if they just called pass play after pass play with his offensive line. So some of these, like some of his minions, like Bobby Slowik is like, bro, you keep calling pass plays with your offensive line, you're gonna get cj. You know they're going to bury him in the ground. Look at Geno. I mean, Gino's clearly running around for his life. My question is kind of twofold. As a Seattle fan, we used to be one of the best home field advantages in the league. Now we can't win at home to save our life. So one, what do you think is to blame for Seattle's home struggles this year? Also, I don't see Geno or Sam Howell being the quarterback long term. Well, I think we agree with Sam Howell. I think there's a chance Geno's your quarterback for a couple more years. I think sometimes we take for granted of like, your team was elite. So for like four or five years you had Russell Wilson and this unreal defense. You were winning most of your games home or away. But at home, like your fans viewed you as the best team in the league. So it was a massive deal when that team played. Right. It's still a big deal when you play a home game. But most of the people walking into that building don't go, this is the best team we've ever seen. So I think sometimes we overthink. Like you had the best team in the history of your franchise for like legitimately a three or four year run. And this isn't the same. And part of dominate, like part your defense was elite. So when your defense is elite, people aren't going to score on you. And it's super loud. I can't a good home field, I'm not going to be able to hear anything. So it's kind of a double whammy. Well, your defense hasn't been as good the last four or five years, so the home field advantage is neutralized. A little bit, I think. I think it's really just that simple, right? I mean your team was a lot better. Team's not bad now I think you've what, won nine games. If you win nine games this year, that's like three years in a row. But there was a stretch there when, and this was pre 17 game season. So basically when you really started kicking everyone's ass was 2012, 11 and 5, 12 and 3, 12 and 4. So you had a three year run of just domination. 2015, you're pretty good too. You went 10 and 6, then you went 10 and 5 and 1. Then you kind of had the down year as you started pivoting off some of the players. 9 and 7 and then you're really good. At the end of the decade, 10 and 6, 11 and 5, 12 and 4. Now you were losing earlier in the playoffs in the previous years, but still like you were really good. And now these last like last couple of years of Pete and now Mike, you know, 7 and 10, 9 and 8, 9 and 8 and now you're probably at 9 and 18. So I mean there's a big difference between the teams we've seen these last three years that are 9 and 8 and the lob Marshawn lynch teams. I think we all agree that if I take the 2013 Seattle Seahawks and they play the Mike McDonald Geno Smith Seattle Seahawks, if we're putting a line on draftkings on that game, like I like the lob Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman Marshawn Lynch Seattle Seahawks by a touchdown, you know, if not more. And if I told every fan what team, they're ones wearing green and the other is wearing white, you can wear one of the two jerseys and that shows what team you're rooting for. What team do you think they'd be rooting for? We're all human beings. Like we know what we're rooting for. It's like, why aren't the Chiefs losing? Because they're fucking fans. Never think they're going to lose when they enter the stadium. And in fairness to them, they never do. For the money bag. What's your gym and diet routine if you follow any? I go to the gym. I try to go seven days a week. I'd say weights, three days, cardio the other four. And sometimes with the weights we get cardio as well. With the wedding not too far away, I've kind of upped the intensity of the StairMaster. Usually do the StairMaster on cardio days for 60 minutes, you know, weights Kind of lighter, higher rep. Just try to tighten up the bod. Diet is just very hit or miss. I have a sweet tooth. It's probably my downfall. Not a huge drinker, I would say I can go on stretches where I'm pretty good at, like, fasting, not eating, not eating. Breakfast is pretty easy for me when I'm. When I'm light and losing weight. I mean, I was skinny a couple years ago. I would supplement lunch with, like, chocolate milk to get some protein. And, you know, whatever she makes for dinner, we get hello fresh. So we eat hellofresh a couple times a week, go to the store, make some food, eat out maybe once or twice a week. I mean, pretty normal diet, I would say. Carbs and sugars are things that I. When I get bigger, I eat too much of. And when I slim down, I avoid. Sugar is a key thing for me. If I can avoid sugars, I can drop like 10 pounds quick when I'm eating. You know, holidays, obviously you just eat cakes and pies and fucking candy around. So diet is something that is just. I could be. I could be a lot better at. I have incredible discipline getting to the gym on a daily basis. Even if at the gym I'm not, like, I'm not claiming to be Arnold Schwarzenegger, but I can get there and work out no problem because I have to do it for my mentals. I'll lose my mind. Like, I get. I don't like the way I feel if I don't get a sweat every day in some form or fashion, even if it's just sometimes I'll just go on like an hour walk around, like where I live, but I gotta move or my mind doesn't work. But as you get older, you realize you can outrun a bad diet. And to me, that's. I even feel it from like 36 to 40 years old. It's dramatic. And there was a big switch. For those listening in their 20s, like, it starts hitting your late 20s to your early 30s is a dramatic change. I remember being in the NFL seeing, like, older guys be very good about their diet and realizing that they knew that you got to be like, you could. I remember desean Jackson could eat fucking French fries, you know, three meals a day. That'd be his only meal. Like French fry. It wouldn't even matter, right? But some guys, you got to be careful. And I definitely don't have the genetics where I can't just eat like shit. And at my core, kind of like, I don't really like eating, like, Shit as you get older, because I don't feel great, but I have no problem taking in the food. And then after you're like, I kind of regret that I'm loving Bo Nicks and Sean Payton combination. Do you think his ceiling is higher than the draft analyst thought? I would say I think Bo Nick's a good example. And this is like a lot of players, some guys can transcend. Like Lamar Jackson was going to be a really talented, explosive NFL player, whether he played for the Ravens or whether he played for the Jags. But do you know what turns out about Trevor Lawrence? Like, he might have really needed to go to a stable organization. And I think Purdy, who we talk a lot about here, Bo Nix. Some guys are desperate if they're going to succeed to go to a good coach and go to someone that knows what they're doing. Like, if you put Bo Nix on Jacksonville or you put Bo Nix on, like, just put them on some the Giants, it would look awful. It would not look good, right? Just like if you gave Bo Nix to Andy Reid, he'd be a good player. Give Bo Nix to Sean Payton, he'd be a good player. If you gave Bo Nix to Kyle Shannon, he'd be a good player. If you give Brock Purdy to Andy Reid, he'd be a good player. So I think most guys that aren't just like Kyler Murray, who's up and down player, like on any given play, he can look like the best player in the league. Most guys don't have that capability. So most guys are very, very dependent on who's calling the place and who's coaching them up. Appreciate everyone listening. Have a great day. Talk to you soon. The Volume.

[Adnan Virk]

What's up, everybody? Adnan Virk here to tell you about a new podcast. It's NHL Unscripted with Vol Perkin Demers, Jason Demers here.

[Jason Demers]

And after playing 700 NHL games, I got a lot of dirty laundry to air out.

[Adnan Virk]

I got a lot to say here, too.

[John Middlekauff]

Okay?

[Adnan Virk]

Each week we'll get together, chat with the sport that we love.

[Jason Demers]

Tons of guests are going to join in too. But we're not just going to be talking hockey, folks. We're talking movies, we're talking TV, food, and Adnan's favorite wrestling. It's all on Le Table.

[Adnan Virk]

Listen to NHL Unscripted with Vir and Demers, the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Jon Stewart]

Catch Jon Stewart back in action on the Daily show and in your ears with the Daily Show Ears edition podcast. From his hilarious satirical takes on today's politics and entertainment to the unique voices of correspondents and contributors, it's your perfect companion to stay on top of what's happening now. Plus, you'll get special content just for podcast listeners, like in depth interviews and a roundup of the week's top headlines. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Justin Pennock]

What's up everyone? It's Justin Penic from John Boy Media, the host of the Football Today podcast with Bobby Skinner and Chris Rose. We roll three times a week on Mondays, on Wednesdays, on Fridays. Breaking down everything you need to know about DNA NFL. We're gearing up for the NFL playoffs. I hope you can join us. Join in with us three times a week. Listen to Football Today on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts and you will be glad.