Ty (2:36)
What is going on, everybody? How are we doing? Hopefully everyone's having a great day, living life, enjoying yourself, probably having a better day than Ben Johnson. And I do want to talk about the Bears, Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams and why, if it does even get worse than what we witnessed and get weird this year, that's the reason you hired Ben Johnson. And I think Kevin o' Connell serves as a good example. And I've been thinking a lot about this. The relationship between drafted quarterbacks and established head coaches and the power of that. And then guys that inherit quarterbacks, young quarterbacks, and how situations can kind of go off the rails. And then the 49ers kind of kicker today, they drafted him in the third round and he did not last very long. This is year three and he's booted cut and they're signing another guy. So some thoughts on just philosophies when drafting special teams players, as well as a little mailbag at John Middlekopf. At John Middlekopf is the Instagram fire in those DMs. Get your questions answered here on the show. So we'll do a mailbag. And yeah, make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel. We're going live after the primetime games, so you can check that out. Also, subscribe to the podcast if you listen on Collins feed. We have our own three and out feed, so make sure you subscribe to that as well. So you can never miss a show because sometimes this show, like on Monday, did not go on the Herds feed. So make sure you subscribe to three and out feed. Appreciate everyone that has. Thanks, everyone, for supporting this show. We're gonna have a big football season. Yeah, that's the game plan. So we'll just keep chugging along before we dive into some football. You know, I got to tell you about my friends, my partners, and the official ticketing app of this podcast, Game Time. And here's the thing with Game Time. Best ticketing app in America. I've used them all. There is not a ticketing app I haven't used, and this one blows them out of the water. What do you want to do? You want to go to a football game? You want to go to an NFL game? You want to go to a college football game? Do you want to go to a concert? Concerts all around us. You want to get out of the house on a Thursday night, on a Friday night, on a Saturday night, let your hair down, enjoy yourself, get down and boogie. Well, do that with my friends at game time because they're the best in the business. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets. With game time down. The gametime app. Create an account and use a code. John. That's John Joh. And $20 off terms apply again. Create an account Johan save $20. Download the Gametime app today. Last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson. You know, I think what made I was thinking about it this morning. That game so fascinating is typically like going into a game, you have a pretty good idea of what you're going to get. And that game, like the Vikings have been really good two of the last three years. They have a ton of established players. They have an established coach, a stud defensive coordinator, but we had no clue what it was going to look like because the quarterback and the first half wasn't that shocking. First ever NFL game on the road, completely overwhelmed. And then he completely flips the script and we're like, God, he might actually be a high end player. What if he goes on to be a franchise quarterback for them? The Bears? While we had seen Caleb Williams play, we're like, well, he's got to be better. He's got Ben Johnson. They've done a good job with the offensive line. He should be improved. But we didn't know. So we went in that game. Like we went into Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson Sunday night. We didn't go in blind. We didn't. We knew what we were getting that was better than we thought. But like, that's par for the course. Like Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson are going to continue to rack up MVPs. I would be stunned if one of those two guys doesn't win the MVP this year. Yeah, you know, I got a little cash on Baker. I do think Joe Burrow, you know, he started slow last year as well. I think he will be heard from. But you watch those two guys, you're like, if they're healthy, that's as good as it gets. Those are the best two players right now in the NFL. Doesn't mean they will win. I'm not betting against Patrick Mahomes ever again in a big game. But those two guys, best two players in the league, obviously. Herbert Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, Dak Prescott. Like, we've seen these guys play for a long, long time. Now we can nitpick them, but we had no clue what we were getting. And when you look at Ben Johnson and you look at Caleb Williams, I think this is why you hire an offensive coach. Because if I was a betting man right now, I would say this is not going to work. I don't think Caleb is good. We have through 18 games he plays like most coaches don't want you to play. Not on time, inaccurate, hard to just run your offense because there's no rhythm to his game. He's a freelance player, which is great when shit hits the fan, but just freelancing on a basic play can screw everything up. And Ben Johnson's offense is timing related. He needs everything to be. When he tells you, get rid of the ball on your second step or on your third step, it has to be out of there. It has to be on the guy. He's not just making that up. That's the way he has constructed this bad boy and how he got this job based on the success he had doing that exact same thing. But this is why the Bears hired Ben Johnson, because there's no guarantee that this is going to work. And more than likely, based on the history of the league and when you look at the other quarterbacks in his draft class and the percentage chances that someone's got a whiff, you would put money on Caleb Williams not working out. And we know at the pace in which things operate now, you don't get four or five years. Those days are done. Based on recent history, you get about two. And this is year two for Caleb. So if they keep losing these games and they just lost a game at home to a quarterback who had never played an NFL snap in the regular season in pretty devastating fashion, how am I going to bet on them to win a lot of games? I remember being on Collins show in Los Angeles and we did this thing like, everyone thinks the Bears are going to be a lot better. And we went through the schedule optimistically, and it was hard to get to nine and eight. Now after watching that last night, like, yeah, six, seven wins, it's what I feel like that's going to be your quarterback. And let's face it, like he's going to try to impress the coach. The coach is going to be down on him. It's going to be a weird situation. But don't be scared, Bears fans, because you have a guy. The reason you paid this guy four or five years, $13 million a year is he can fix that problem. Look at the Vikings, for example. Kevin o' Connell has proven he can work with Kirk Cousins, an established, veteran guy. And then once Cousins tore his Achilles, he said, see you later. And what did he do? He signed Sam Darnold for $10 million and drafted the fifth quarterback off the board. The fifth quarterback. Now, he was drafted in the top 15. But J.J. mcCarthy was the fifth quarterback off the board in his own draft class. And Sam Darnold went on to throw 35 touchdowns, which matches a guy who has made over $300 million, Kirk Cousins, career high. So Kevin O', Connell, when you're like, what are we going to do? How are we going to let Kirk Cousins walk? Well, I'll tell you, that's why you pay me the money. Because you could argue, unless I have Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, most of these quarterbacks like the difference between Dak Prescott, the difference between Kirk Cousins, the difference between Brock Purdy, the difference between a lot of these guys is very, very small. If you're not in that truly upper echelon, it's kind of a coin flip and really comes down to the coaching. So when you see Kevin o', Connell, what is his value to the organization? He could win 14 games and have a guy throw 35 touchdowns that everyone universally thought sucked. And then he could take J.J. mcCarthy, who, listen, I was on the fence about, I didn't think it was going to translate because of the offense he played in. And by the end of his first game, accounting for three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, and me thinking like, God, no wonder they put a captaincy on this guy's chest. No wonder that Kevin o' Connell had him break down the locker room at the end of that game. And everyone gravitated toward him like he sees something in these players that is his special sauce. Obviously, being a leader, assembling a staff, running a team is very difficult. But the advantage you have when you have an offensive coach who's a quote unquote quarterback guru. And to me, a quarterback guru isn't just designing plays. It's being able to take several different guys of different shapes and sizes and win games. Andy Reid was known as this quarterback savant before he ever got to Kansas City, because you know why he won with so many different quarterbacks in Philadelphia? Mobile ones, Guys who weren't mobile, guys with big arms, guys who didn't have big arms. He won with them all. And then look at Kansas City, won a ton of games with Alex Smith, a guy with an average at best arm to go to, Patrick Mahomes, who has elite physical attributes. So to me, Ben Johnson, part of hiring him is, you know, worst case scenario, Caleb Williams is a bust, which is a tough word to say when you draft a guy number one overall, but it's happened before and it will happen again. But the reason we feel we're okay, if this doesn't work out, which we never would have been with Matt Eberfluss because he had no clue what he was doing, this guy, at least now he'd have to prove it and get it done. But I've seen him resurrect a guy's career. What we talk about and the way that Jared Goff is perceived in 2025 was not the case. Three or four years ago was not the case. When Ben Johnson started calling plays for Dan Campbell, Jared Goff was viewed at like, yeah, got overpaid, had had a little bit of success with Sean McVeigh, but that, that was an outlier situation. That's not going to be over the course of his career, especially going to Detroit. And then Ben Johnson, they build around him and he starts going to Pro Bowls and winning a ton of games. So if I'm a Bears fan right now, this season could suck. And there's a pretty good chance this season is going to be extremely underwhelming. And by the end of it, Caleb Williams will be viewed as like, he's not our franchise quarterback. But that's why you hired Ben Johnson to figure it out. So if we got a draft guy in the second or third round next year, if we got to see what Tyson Badgett badge net, I can't even say his fucking name has in the tank. Clearly, Ben Johnson can say his name and really likes him. But I would feel like, hey, this could be rocky. It's going to be rocky. But you have a coach that everyone else wanted because of his ability to coach that position and coach the offense. And speaking of coaches and quarterbacks, you know, having been married now for six months and having a child on the way, the biggest difference, like, and for those of you that are listening, that are young and single, it's a great time in your life. And especially if you're professionally ambitious, take advantage of it. Because time, like, not only is on your side, but you don't have other requirements and other people depending on you. When you get married, when you get into a serious relationship, and obviously whenever this child pops out of her, my life is going to be dramatically different in terms of people depending on me, which is a good thing, which I enjoy. It's part of my life that felt empty for a long period of time. But when you get into a serious relationship, when you get married, when you live together, when your finances are under one umbrella, everyone's stresses are each other's stresses. You know, when I was in my 20s or in my early 30s. The only thing I ever had to worry about were my problems and maybe my immediate family's problems, you know, my mom or dad, but I didn't have anyone else an issue with. And then you find someone that you're willing to go like, yeah, if she has financial issues, if she has personal issues, if she's having issues with her job, whatever it may be. And listen, a lot of you listening right now that are married knows, like, whatever her problems may be, big or small, they become your problems. And that, that only I'm sure gets amplified to the nth degree with a child. I mean, I think back when I was a little kid, what a pain and the bleep. And you know, what I would have been for my own parents. I was not an easy kid to raise, but I was their problem and they were loyal to me because I was their child. And I was thinking about, you know, Ben Johnson did not pick Caleb Williams. When you juxtapose that with Kevin O' Connell and J.J. mcCarthy, that's his guy. So there's a loyalty and a relationship there that can't really be faked. Like, you can create a relationship when I inherited you as a quarterback, but it's not the same organic relationship of I drafted this guy. Like the power in Mahomes and Andy Reid, obviously this is a. A league that is defined by wins and losses and whether you play well or you don't play well. And when you play well, it's easy to get behind a guy. But there was a relationship with Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid in the Chiefs organization because it started on the ground floor. He became a chief before anyone really knew who he was. I love football. I love college football. I'd be lying to you if I knew that much about Patrick Mahomes before he began starting for the Kansas City Chiefs his second year. Obviously with some of these quarterbacks to a Caleb Joe Burrow, we know a lot more about them because they play for prominent programs and we watch them play a lot. Most people are not banging out seven and six Texas Tech teams. I know I was not. But there was a relationship and a power and just a willingness. If it hadn't gone as well, we're going to live through it because we believed in you. We traded up for you. We used a high pick on you. You mean something to us and that's to me. The relationship when you get married, when you have children, that with your parents, you don't have that relationship with any other human being. It's impossible. To have. And when I look around the league like part of the reason Sean Payton and we're going to find out if he's right or wrong. But his loyalty, his belief in this player, it's like you can't talk him off that ledge, at least not for a long time. That relationship that just took a huge step with Kevin O' Connell and JJ McCarthy like that, the power of that last 15 minutes in that fourth quarter is something that they are going to build on. It's going to make it even stronger. But I was thinking about like Mike Vrabel. I'm sure he was very intrigued by Drake May. He's very. He thinks the guy's height, weight, speed, his physical attributes. But if Drake may plays bad, Mike Vrabel did not draft that player. So the loyalty for guys like Mike Vrabel and Ben Johnson, if it starts to fray, if it starts going in the wrong direction, they will jump ship. Like they are not going down with that guy by them, side by their side. I promise you that Andy Reid at this point in time would go down in flames next to Patrick Mahomes. Look at what they're doing with Travis Kelce, Travis Kelsey. I think we got to be real is somewhat a shell of himself and that's not, I'm not being a negative or some hater. This is just evaluating as a football player. Obviously from a personal brand standpoint, he's never made more money, he's never been bigger. But from a on the field standpoint, he's never been a worse player. But there's a loyalty that veets that the Hunt family and Andy have to because they've been with him from the jump. And so you look around the league like, you know, I think Lamar Jackson would have been a pretty good player no matter where he went. Obviously he benefited from going to the Ravens. But like he saved Jim. John Harbaugh's job. John Harbaugh, if Lamar hadn't come in and played well and taken that team to the playoffs like was on the hot seat, people forget that and changed the course of his career and obviously they've gone on to have an insane amount of success. Sean McDermott was known as a good defensive coordinator in Carolina. Josh Allen made him a 12, $15 million a year head coach and a guy who goes to the playoffs every single year. Now this is what I'm saying about like those guys are winning. That grows their relationship. But those were the coaches. They were there when the guy was drafted. So as you build a relationship, whether it Be with your wife. Whether it be with a quarterback. From the beginning, the moment that player walks in the organization, you're the one talking to him, greeting him and coaching him. That you can't fake that. I mean, listen, Bill's a weird guy, but the power of him and Brady's relationship for almost 20 years before it started to break apart was pretty powerful. I mean, there's no really disputing that. Hell, go back to Pete Carroll with Russell Wilson. Remember one of the issues all those defensive guys had, like Richard Sherman, Cam Chancellor, you know, Bobby Wagner was like, he got such special treatment. I was like, yeah, he's more important in a weird way if he's playing at a high level than you guys. Even if you guys are historic defense, there is no one more important if your quarterback is good. And when I draft you and you change the course of my career, right, there's a loyalty that is really, really strong. Now, Russell's a good example of, like, he actually, I would say, helped ruin that relationship. Head got big, wouldn't listen to anybody, was a finger pointer. But there was a period for seven, eight, nine years where the gm, the head coach, just stood by his side extremely, extremely close. And I think it's going to be fascinating moving forward with some of these quarterbacks. You watch how fast they'll get kicked to the curb. You watch how fast that, like, if Ben Johnson doesn't believe that Caleb Williams is good in a couple of months because he's not going to get cut or benched this month, right? But if you go 10 games and the team is 4 and 6 or 3 and 7 and the offense just week in, week out is just not good. He's not going to blame himself because he goes, I know what I do works, I'm going to blame you. Like Mike Vrabel goes, I know when I just have a capable quarterback, Ryan Tannehill, my shit works. Now, maybe Drake may with the ownership gets a little bit more time, but I think the clock is ticking on these quarterbacks now to get it done really, really fast. And the difference, like for Carolina, for example, no one's really paying attention. So if Carolina's got awful again, they could float a little bit under the radar. And if you tell me that Bryce Young gets four years, I would believe you. But everyone's paying attention to the Bears. Everyone's paying attention to Vrabel and the Patriots. So when it doesn't go well and you're in year two, we have seen this with Anthony Richardson. He didn't make it to year three as a starter. Trey Lance, Year three wasn't even on the team. And I say this all the time and I believe it more every day after seeing these situations. And getting drafted to a good team is great in theory. Patrick Mahomes, it worked because he kicked ass and dominated. If Patrick Mahomes had been awful and had been worse than Alex Smith, everyone would have been fired. It would have been a problem. So going to a bad team and a coach that everyone makes fun of, you can fly under the radar a little bit. But when you are Drake May and you get higher variable and everyone just goes, well, they're going to be a playoff team. At least you know they're going to be very competitive. And if you just suck and aren't any good. And let's face it, if you watch that game against the Raiders, that team look like a carbon copy of Gerard Mayo's team. Awful. The Bears last night look like the same team that Matt Eberfluss coached until he was fired and then Thomas Brown started coaching. It was the same thing. So I just think the loyalty aspect of these new coaches, even with these super famous high picks, doesn't mean shit anymore. And one thing that happened a long time ago when I first got in the NFL, the lockout happened my second year. And when that thing happened, it changed the power of rookie contracts. Because forever, if you're like 25, you don't even remember this. But when I was 25, these rookies used to hold out because the amount of money they were negotiating for was like more money than everyone in the league. Nadamma can sue Matt Stafford, Jamarcus Russell, Calvin Johnson, these guys were getting. If you were a top couple, you know, first pick, second overall pick, third overall pick, you were making 30, 40, $50 million on your initial contract in guaranteed money. It was stupid. And this is 20 years ago right now, like, I think the top pick makes $35 million. It's gone up because the revenue's gone up. But I'm talking in 06, you had to give a guy $47 million or $50 million. I remember Matt Stafford immediately became one of the highest paid players in the league. And those days are done. So it's actually neutralized the power of your rookie that their leash with the team isn't as big because you're not paying them as much. Why can teams pivot when a free agent isn't that good? Because for most free agents, they're not getting that much guaranteed money. Even Saquon Barkley part of the reason how he had to give him a raise this offseason. He didn't have to, but he did because it was like his contract was kind of a joke relative to the league. I mean he has, he had guards making dramatically more money than him on his own team. So the contracts and the flexibility that gives teams if you're not any good. And here's the other thing, quarterback play. You just watch college football. They're just solid quarterbacks. Like what the hell. I don't know if John Matiere just doing a little couch scouting. It was fun to watch him the other night against Michigan. He is a electrifying college player. He's got a good arm, he's a good athlete and if he keeps playing like this, clearly Oklahoma is going to win games. He will be in the Heisman mix and he will be discussed as a top 15, 20 pick. But is that an NFL player? I don't know. But there are enough guys like him year in, year out now that you just start watching around college football like Nussmeier Sellers Mater, you start going through, it's like, well this guy's not good enough. We'll find one of those guys. And there's enough examples in recent memory of like where the 49ers get their guy. Oh, seventh round. Where's the Cowboys 10 year starter? Oh, they got him in the fourth. Kirk Cousins, $300 million. Where'd he go? Oh, third or fourth round. Russell Wilson was a Hall of Famer until he wasn't. Where do you find him third round. So it's we say this all the time about these quarterbacks. Just because you draft a guy high doesn't mean anything. And just because you get a guy in the mid rounds, turns out he could be your starting quarterback. So I just think we got to be very careful about thinking these guys are on scholarship because those days are long gone. We are extremely excited to announce our new presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet. 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