← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
3 & Out - Is Mahomes FAT, Cousins REGRETS signing in ATL, CHANGES in College Football
01:14:10
Loading summary
Transcript4 lines
- [00:00]
John Middlecoff
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:05]
Katie Couric
On the latest episode of Next Question with me, Katie Couric. I sat down with Jasmine Crockett, Democratic representative of Texas. She's holding down the fort for her party in one of the most conservative states in the union. I think that ultimately who will become the Democratic nominee for president will be someone that has been out there and has shown that they won't allow themselves to be punched and just say thank you like they will punch back. Listen to Next Question with me, Katie Couric on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
- [00:40]
John Middlecoff
The volume. What is going on, everybody? John Middlecoff 3Now podcast back in the saddle at the office. Got my normal equipment feeling good. We actually were supposed to come back today, but you know, when you're on vacation slash, you're kind of going home. It's kind of like a obligation sometimes with things you got to do. So you just pretty worn out. Long time, a lot of sun, a lot of lake, few golf rounds. And now back on the grind. So we're gonna talk a little football because I didn't do. I only did one. I haven't done a football podcast. I think the last time was before the 4th of July and it was just like a little mailbag. Some stories over the last couple days or last week that I saw, I was like, God, I kind of want to talk about Mahomes fat. I was like, that is right up my alley. Travis Kelsey is he shot physically? Veach had some comments talk about that as well. Deion Sanders was at the Big 12 media day saying some things. The quarterback, the Netflix show is out and Kirk Cousins had some regrets on signing with the Falcons. Talk about that as well as a mailbag at John Middlekopf. At John Middlekopf is the Instagram fire in those DMs and get your questions answered here on the show at John Middlekopf. Questions answered here on the show. Do that. Other than that, we'll just. We're gonna have a lot of football podcasts, so buckle up. Football's not far away. Hell, I think the 49ers rookies report in 5 days. Seems insane to me. But they can't be alone. There's got to be a decent amount of teams, rookies showing up over the course of the next week, which again is crazy. But welcome to the league, rook. Make sure you subscribe to Collins feed because a lot of our stuff or excuse me, make sure you subscribe to three and out feed. If you listen On Collins feed because you never want to miss anything. You never know as well as our YouTube channel. We got you covered there. You don't want to miss a thing. Football, football season. We are gonna be. We go, we go hard here. A lot of shows, daily shows, more reaction. Sometimes some stuff is YouTube only. So make sure you subscribe to 3 and out 3 feed. Make sure you subscribe to the 3 and out YouTube channel and we will have you covered for everything. But before we talk about some football, you know I got to tell you about my friends, my partners and the official ticketing app of this podcast, Game Time. Gotta love these guys. Best in the business. Anything you want. What do you want to do? You want to go to a summer concert? You still got a couple more months of summer. Couple more. A couple more months. I consider early September the official end of summer. We got baseball in full swing. We got football not very far away. We got comedy shows going on wherever you may be. So. So anything you want to do, get out of the house, go enjoy yourself. Cannot recommend it enough. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account and use the code JOHN for $20 off. First purchase terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem the code John for $20 off. Download the game Time map today. Last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. I saw the headline. Like, I'm sure most of you a podcaster, a Kansas City radio host, or honestly, I didn't really care who said it. It just clearly went pretty viral. I didn't have the energy to like search the guy's background because in fairness to this guy, it had been out there in the world before that Mahomes in the summer can just be fat. And my first reaction is the picture that went viral. Honestly, I didn't think you look bad. If that is considered fat, then we are all, all of us normal human beings in society. I don't even think obese is a strong enough way to describe the majority of Americans. If Patrick Mahomes is fat, but on a serious note, when it comes to quarterbacks being fat, is that okay? Like, can they be a little overweight? If you think about it, there are certain positions in football where having a gut or extra weight is extremely important. Obviously offensive line, we see it all the time where bigger players, guys weighing 300, 320 pounds, retire and they either go one or two ways, but a lot of them lose a lot of weight. And the first thing they tell you is like, that wasn't my Natural weight. I needed it to use as an anchor. A lot of defensive linemen, especially defensive tackles, they usually don't cut like some of the offensive linemen, but they are taking on and carrying weight that isn't natural because of the position. Yet. I remember like when I first got to the Eagles, I think there was a conditioning test and a guy like Desean Jackson, I have no clue if in 2010 he was training in the offseason like he was Jerry Rice, but the reality is he did not need to. He was a genetic freak. He weighed like 170 pounds, no fat on his body, and could show up and pass conditioning tests with ease. Most defensive backs are like that as well. If they take off their shirt. Wide receivers, defensive backs, the overwhelming, I would say 99.9% of them are going to be what we would consider in society as shredded. These guys don't have body fat. It's why when guys like Adibo Samuel, people can be critical like, God, is he fat? Because wide receivers never are. And I've always defended Debo. His body type is actually much more like a running back who, let's face it, running backs body types vary. But linebacker is a position where if you ever say like that linebacker is fat, going to be a problem. Their job is literally to run around and make tackles, chase guys, run with guys, they have to be in good shape. And obviously most are. Quarterback is not that I don't pay my quarterback, I don't scout my quarterback. I don't need my quarterback to have abs. Honestly, that is completely irrelevant. My quarterback, especially a guy like Patrick Mahomes, is literally paid when it's 20 to 20 in the fourth quarter against the Baltimore Ravens, against the Denver Broncos against the Buffalo Bills, can you keep the drive going on third and six? And as he's answered for seven, eight years, fuck yes, I can. So when it comes to quarterback, I don't pay for abs, I don't pay for body mass index, I pay for completions, I pay for leadership, I pay for toughness. And ultimately I pay for him to lead my team to wins. He's the most important player in the entire sport and has been now since Tom Brady essentially retired. And just like the guys behind him, Lamar Jackson's kind of unique, right? Because he is a running quarterback. I have to break down the percentages. It obviously changes year to year and he probably ran. I would just take an educated guess on the stats in front of me a little less the last couple years than the first couple years. But I remember A couple years ago, he said he was watching himself on film and he said he looked slow and he lost some weight. That's a huge part of his arsenal and it is with Josh Allen as well. But I've seen pictures of Josh Allen with a shirt off. I wouldn't exactly call him Mr. Olympia against Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime. Joe Burrow isn't going to pass many, like front page of the magazine with his shirt off because that doesn't matter. No one talks about that. We have seen some quarterbacks who are quote, unquote shredded. And that's not really what people are looking for. Why? I actually, Tom Brady proved this, looking for more flexibility, pliability. So when I saw Patrick Mahomes and this guy crushing him for being fat, my first reaction was, who gives a shit? Because like most industries, especially a lot of the ones that you guys work in, you're paid to produce. That's literally all that matters. If having abs led to more wins on the football field, then the conversation would be different. Clearly that's not the case. So I just thought it was kind of funny because I have never once since I have been around football and what's 2025? So I mean, we're not far away from going on 20 years, to being around coaches, to being around scouts, to being around people that cover football, to going to practices, going to games. For 15 plus years now, I have never ever heard anyone bring up, yeah, we don't really like this guy because we don't see his abs. No one cares. And no one more specifically than a guy that I would say early on in his career his numbers were just mind blowing. The thing that has defined Patrick Mahomes over the last couple years is like, it's kind of hard to quantify what he brings to the table. We have watched these games over the last couple years when their offense has been way less explosive, when actually they've really been more of a defensive team when their head coach who loves to pass has had to relent a little bit. Why? Because some of their strengths on given matchups have been running the ball. We have watched this guy make key play after key play in the biggest moments. So if he is a little chubby, honestly, that makes him more relatable. So props to Mahomes for living life, winning games and good luck. This week at the acc, there was also, speaking of the Chiefs, another story. You know, when you're out of the mix, there's some stories you're like, I wasn't going to Do a podcast today, but God I want to talk about that is Brett Veach, I guess had some comments to Adam Teicher, who has covered the Chiefs, I feel like, for decades. And I saw a bunch of people like God features being critical of Kelsey. When I was flying home, I was like, I need something to listen to. And I just clicked on YouTube. Well, my. Our flight was delayed by like 30 minutes, so I had a little time to kill. And I was looking like, what should I listen to on the plane? And I saw Kelsey Brothers, the podcast New Heights came up and they were talking to buddy of mine, Matt Nagy. So I was like, you know, that's gonna be a good listen for my hour and a half flight home. So I downloaded that bad boy and listened to it. And one thing and listen, the Kelsey's have had some really cool interviews over the years. And Travis has been very, very. When you watch that, his passion, his love, especially when they have on someone associated with the Chiefs, whether it's Coach Reed, they've had Spags, Nagy Veatch, you name it, he feels very, very indebted to them, just like they feel very, very indebted to him. They have a partnership. We see the conversation going on right, right now with LeBron James. LeBron James has always, like, he didn't want partnerships. And in fairness to basketball, the star player has more juice. But he never approached it like Steph Curry. He approached it like, you're going to do exactly what I say when I say it. No question, if, ands or buts, like, this is going to be on my terms. And for the first time in LeBron James's career, the team's like, yeah, we don't really give a shit anymore. And he's. He's rattled. He clearly is. Well, a lot of people, especially in football, have very good working relationships with the team. We saw Brady for two decades. Even though him and Belichick butted heads, they had a great partnership financially and on the field. You've seen it with Patrick Mahomes. His working relationship with Andy Reid, Brett Veach, the Hunt family is fantastic. It is a partnership. And it's no different with Travis Kelce. So when Brett Veach says these comments, I say, God, Brett Veech kind of crushing him. He essentially says, well, we've all seen it the last few years. This is Veach. There are. This is on Travis Kelce. There are periods throughout the season where you're like, this might be it. But when the games are the most important and, and the lights are the brightest, he finds it somewhere. But I think for a lot of players, in situations where you're an established player, where you're, you know, an all star, a Pro bowler, a star, GMs and coaches tread very lightly. They don't, they don't want to piss anyone off. Well, when you have a very good working relationship with someone, and I've saw this for years when I was in the Bay Area with Steph Curry and the warriors, hell, I saw it in baseball with Buster Posey and the San Francisco Giants. You can be honest and not worry about how things are going to be taken in this modern day media climate where people take things and run with it, they get aggregated and it just becomes you're on the first, you know, the front line of first take going viral over a comment that actually wasn't the way it was said. But I think the power in the Chiefs and this gets back to, you know, Mahomes being fat and Travis Kelce shot. And I'm telling you, you see this when, if you watch the, the Kelsey Nagy interview is the relationships in which they have from the coaching staff and the front office to the players. And I'm talking with the star players and they're all on the same page and feelings don't get hurt. Why? Because everyone's been coached hard. They've been through the battles. They've seen the highs and they've seen the lows over a long period of time. And it's one of their biggest advantages moving forward. And it's something I think the Bills have built up. I think the Ravens have tried to build up. They just haven't been able to get over the hump in terms of winning that game. But it's. I think we see a lot of people asking this, like how the Chiefs. I was at dinner the other night and I was asked like, do you think there's no chance? Right there's the first time. I'm not one to say that. Could the games be rigged for the Chiefs? Could they? I was like, no, they're not. They're winning all these close games for a reason. They have an enormous advantage. They have cohesion, they have chemistry and they have the same guys on the team now for a long, long period of time. Most teams cannot say that because most teams don't even give their star players a third contract. That's pretty abnormal in this day and age. They usually move on after seven or eight years. I'm not talking the quarterback, but I'm literally talking everyone else. Around him and the Chiefs group. Mahomes is the newest guy. Chris Jones was there before him. Obviously Travis Kelsey has been there since 2013. So you have this group of players, you have a lot of group of coaches who have been there for a long period of time. So when you wonder, it's like, God, this team's offense, what's going on? Wait, just went 15 and 2 and they actually threw the last game of the season. It's because of that. And for a long period of time before free agency, the best teams had that right. When I was a kid, the same dudes on the 49ers when I was born were still there when I was 10 years old. Right. If you were a fan that grew up in the 70s, you watch your team have the same group of players for a long time. No different in the 80s. That's not the case anymore with this modern day business. That is the salary cap, which is these contracts, which is just free agency and just overall player movement. And the Chiefs now it's going to come to an end, right? Patrick Mahomes is going to outlive Travis Kelsey. If you told me this last year is Travis, I think he probably would have retired if they would have won that game. But more than likely this is his last year. Because I have a hard time and I would never say never, but seeing Travis play for another team and if you watch the way he talks, like I feel he thinks his connection, it's almost like a Julian Edelman type situation where it's like, when I'm done, I'm done. But this is my squad right now. Could be wrong. And my guess is this is his last year on the Chiefs because there comes to a point where it's like the Chiefs can't keep rolling this out. We don't do no scholarships in football. But I also think like they're on this. These guys talk all the time. So it's just, it's kind of refreshing to see that. All right, folks, this is insane. For the first time ever, we've got a full blown all women's boxing mega event going down in New York City. Two title fights same night. Let's go. And if you're like me and Love the action, DraftKings sportsbook is where it's at. We're talking Katie Taylor versus Amanda Serrano. The trilogy fight. Absolute legends. Katie's putting together her super lightweight belt on the line and you know Serrano's bringing the heat. But don't sleep on the co main event. Alicia the Bomb Baumgartner explosive power is taken on the undefeated WBA interim champ Jennifer Miranda. They that one's going to be fireworks, baby. And if you've Never bet with DraftKings, it's super simple. Just pick who you think is going to win. It's that easy. And check this out. If you're new to DraftKings, throw down five bucks and boom. You get 150 in bonus bets instantly. How wild is that? Download the DraftKings sportsbook app right now. Use the promo code JOHN. That's J O H N. That's code JOHN for new customers to get 150 in bonus bets instantly. When you bet just five bucks only on DraftKings, the crown is yours. Gambling Problem Call 1-800- gambler in New York, call 877-8-HOPE NY or text Hopeny 467-369 in Connecticut. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-78-9777 or visit ccpg.org Please play responsible on behalf of Boot Hill casino and resort, KS 21 + or eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void In Ontario, bonus bets expire seven days after issuance. For additional terms of responsible gaming resources, see DKNG co Audio. Are you interested in investing in Bitcoin and not sure how to get started? Well, with the Gemini Credit card, a card that I've been using now for a couple months, you can dip your toes in the bitcoin world without even trying. You just spend like you normally do. I go to the gas station, I use it. I go to the grocery store, I use it. I take my wife out, I use it and I instantly earn up to 4% back in Bitcoin or one of the over 50 other cryptos straight to your account. You can choose. There's no annual fee and the Gemini Credit card is a no brainer. I love it. I use it all the time and right now you can grab a $200 bitcoin intro bonus. So just go to gemini.comjohn to learn more and start earning today. Terms apply again. You go to gemini.com john and start building your Bitcoin stash now. Terms apply. The Gemini credit card is issued by Web bank and in order to Qualify for the intro $200 crypto bonus, your application must be approved by June 30, 2025 and spend 3,000 in your first 90 days. Terms apply. Some exclusions apply to Insta Rewards and in which rewards are deposited when the transaction posts this content is not investment advice and Trading Crypto involves risk. For more details on Rates, fees and other Gemini credit card terms. See rates and fees. Go to gemini.comjohn to learn more and start earning today. I haven't had a chance to watch yet. I watched last year and you know, Maria loved Cole's cash. Kirk Cousins, it was just refreshing. It actually really made him very likable. And this year, having Joe burrow on in Jared Goff, like, I'm gonna watch over sometime over the next couple weeks. But obviously what was going to come out of Cousins was involved was surely he was going to be asked. And when I say ass, obviously producers play a role in what you talk about. But one of the conversations, like, what the hell happened? Like, how did you sign with this team? And then they drafted the Atlanta Falcons. And to give you the Cliff Note version, I'm sure a lot of you have seen this clip go viral on Instagram, on Twitter, on TikTok. Cousins essentially said, if I knew that they were going to draft a quarterback, I probably just would have stayed with Minnesota, who was offering a lot less money. Even. Even though they had been very candid we were going to take a quarterback and everyone kind of knew. It felt like in February. They loved JJ McCarthy. Remember they were getting two, two first round picks which we thought they were going to move way up. They ended up just waiting and he essentially fell to them. But Cousin said, like, listen, I just want to stay. And I do wonder this two things. One, Kirk, they offered you $90 million. No one blames you for taking that money. I've been saying this forever. When the Atlanta Falcons signed Cousins, they did not have the intention of drafting Michael Penix, number eight overall. They did not. They fell in love with Cousins because mid March free agency happens. They signed Cousins, then they fell in love with Penix. Over the next four or five weeks, if they knew they were going to draft Michael Penix. And listen, there was not a person alive in the National Football League that would have said Michael Penix wasn't going to be there at 8. Some things you're like, I don't know exactly where J.J. mcCarthy is going to go. We all knew in some order. We knew Caleb was going one. And then was it going to be Jaden or Drake May? But we knew that was going to be the top three. Michael Penix was never going in the top 10. And I was a Michael Penix fan, really was no different. Bo Nix, Bo Nix was never going in the top 10. That was never going to happen. So they would have known if they had run their operation like most teams. This Guy was going to be there and this was a plug and play ready to go. 24 year old, 25 year old quarterback that had played in college for like a fucking decade. You don't sign Cousins for $90 million to draft this guy that's on the organization. I don't blame Cousins for taking the money. He loves his money, rightfully so. He's in the business of football, but it's easy to play. Hindsight, I would have made a different decision. No one had any clue because the Falcons had no freaking clue when they paid you that money. I also, and I know it's easy to say, I don't think Minnesota wanted him anymore because Cousins wasn't going to sign for like 15, 20 million dollars. Clearly, just look how much money the Falcons gave him. He was also coming off a torn Achilles. So if you look at the people that run the Minnesota Vikings, especially their gm, Google has background. It's in a little world called finance. And if there was ever time to basically say, we're selling off this stock, we've had a good run here, we're out of this business. It was when a guy in his mid to late 30s who can't move to begin with, rips his Achilles. So I know he can say, it's like, well, they had offered me, the coach was saying that the coach wanted you to stay. And there have been lots of reports. Did the organization want you to stay? Did the GM want you to say? I have a hard time seeing that. I really do. And listen, maybe Quesi would dispute this, maybe the owner would dispute this. I'm kind of calling BS. Would they have taken him back for 15, 20 million dollars? Sure. But like, were they comfortable giving a guy off a torn Achilles 35, $40 million even if they were gonna sign him to a one year deal? I have a hard time seeing that. I really do. And listen, this whole situation got weird. Still on the team. I doubt he's on the team week one, but it's like, look at his landing spots now. There's a financial element to this. There's also just an element at this current time, his cousins done like his cousin shot. And I think that's a fair question. And the pushback is, well, usually your year you're better off, you're two off the Achilles in any sport. I just, I would have a hard time making a move for Kirk Cousins unless I was really desperate. But listen, I don't blame him at all for taking the insane amount of money. The Falcons, who were kind of right for doing it. They were completely desperate at the time too. But if they knew what they were doing, they just would have signed like a $10 million bridge quarterback, taken Pennix, and Pennix would have started week one and that guy would have been his backup. A case Keenum, Flacco, like that type, Gardner, Minshew, that type of player, not give the money that they gave to Cousins. And last but not least, I've been thinking this for a while because I'm sure, like many of you love football, see a lot of stuff on college football. And forever it was like the recruiter of the year. This guy's a great recruiter. Like this assistant coach, dominant recruiter. And for those of us that like, know a lot of people in the business, you'll text someone, you're like, yeah, he's not a great coach, but holy shit, he's great with. He's great with recruiting. And working at Fresno State, I, I saw some guys who were just elite recruiters, saw some guys who were just. Didn't like recruiting. Like it was. It's a huge part of the job. But like a lot of industries, you can get by if you're a great positional coach, a great coordinator, and not a great recruiter. Just like you can get by if you're a great recruiter and not necessarily a great X's nose guy. I do think recruiting is kind of dead. I don't really think it exists anymore. And even Deion Sanders, who was at the Big 12 NAT media day, said that, like, look at all the teams in the playoffs and Google how much they were spending on their roster. Kenny Dillingham came out yesterday and said, like, get ready, guys. Texas Tech is going to be really good. So I googled it. Texas Tech had the number two transfer portal recruiting class ahead of teams like Miami and Oregon, who are clearly spending a lot of coin. They have this guy named Cody Campbell. I had to Google him. I knew about the guy. I didn't know his name. He played there, he's now a billionaire and he's financing their program. Their team wasn't bad last year. They have a chance to be really good this year. Not because Joey McGuire, who Deon actually, like loves, is some dynamic recruiter. It's because they have a lot of money and I'm not talking shit about any coaches, but whenever I see, it's like, I got to do a great job recruiting. The only thing that matters now is like, what are you offering the guy? Now if both offers are half a million dollars, he likes you more for sure. It's like, okay, your relationship, your personality, you resonating with his mom, dad, high school coach, whatever matters. But if you say, well, I was offering 600 grand and the other team was offering $350,000, of course you landed him, like, welcome to America. So when I see. It's like, God, they did a great job recruiting bullshit. They just have a bigger check mark and rightfully so. Like, I listen, I can be Ohio State hater, but they were great before the money. Now they have a ton of money and they're willing to spend it. Their roster is always going to be good. Why they spend a lot of it. Oregon, why did they not fall off after NIL started? Because they. It works to their advantage. It's why everyone's been scratching their head the last couple years with usc. I thought, you guys have these enormous boosters. Why aren't you spending the money? And people tell you, well, they've actually spent it on the wrong guys. But it's like, Dion's right. Like, this sport is all about. And this isn't. You know, two years ago, when Howie landed Saquon Barkley for $27 million guaranteed, it was like, guys, you know, it's a little risky. Is it going to be good? I remember thinking, like, one that's really not that much money relative to all these. You get guards signing for 50 million. Mike McGlinchey, like three years ago, signed for $50 million guaranteed. He's like a average foot athlete, you know, mid tier right tackle. It's like Saquon Barkley, one of the most talented players in the league. If he's just. He does need help. Like, he needs a good offensive line. But if you have a good offensive line, like, that's a fucking steal. But like, who's Howie bidding against, right? In college football, if you do want a player and it's like a guy, like, let's just use Saquon Barkley as an example. The equivalent of that in college football. You're going to have the top five, 10 teams with all the money bidding for his services. So anyone in business knows, the more people you got bidding. My wife's in real estate. It's one thing when you only got one person making an offer on the home. Remember 2020, when interest rates were like two and a half, 3%, you had a line out the freaking door. So you had 10 offers. It's like, well, they're offering this. They're offering this all of a sudden, you know, Especially if you lived where I lived in California. It's like, well, they got $300,000 over asking. Well, how do you think they did that? Not based on one person. It's based on 17 people that want the property. And that's what's happening in college football with the transfer portal. So these top guys go in the transfer portal and they have film and everyone wants them. So because, you know, the guy's going to be an immediate starter. And I just think, you know, this is what college football is. Now on the flip side, the same teams have always won. Ohio State's been winning for 40 years since I was alive. I obviously, they've been winning before that, but my point is they've been winning forever. George has been good most of my life. Alabama had a lull before Saban got there, but I would say they are one of the more iconic teams in the history of the sport. Coward has said this, and he's right. The only new team who's really thrown their hat in the ring in the Internet age is Oregon. Why Nike? Oklahoma State for a long period of time was very, very competitive. Why? They had T. Boone Pickens. So if you have a big money booster, if you have a lot of money behind you, you have a huge advantage. And this is where, as being a smaller school guy, I feel sorry for the Boise states, the Fresno states, even the smaller programs in the bigger conferences. They're not going to be able to compete because they are not going to be in. As Kenny Dillingham said it, recruiting's dead. Retention is the new recruiting. And can you keep the players? And when you get a good player, can you keep them? We had on Jake Dickert, who's now the coach at Wake Forest. Well, who was his quarterback last year, the starting quarterback for Oklahoma, who they tried to keep at Washington State, somehow got a million dollars to attempt to keep his services. I'm out going to Oklahoma. Who could blame him if he was offered a million dollars to stay at Washington State? What do you think Oklahoma paid him? Double? Triple? This is just the world we're in. So I think that college football is going to continue to be crazy and everyone's going to complain, but all the top teams are the ones with the money. And whenever I see this and listen, I don't quite understand how exactly this salary cap is going to work. Like, okay, 22 million in football. Some people have said, like, football gets 13 to 15 million dollars. They do. If I'm at a program, it's like, well, I'm making 90% of the money and I'm only getting 60%. How the fuck does that pencil? Truly doesn't. But regardless how it ends up playing out, especially early on, you're going to double dip. Because in the NFL when I get Patrick Mahomes, right, I don't have to worry about his nil. That's on his marketing manager or agent, right? So when you see Patrick Mahomes with Oakley sunglasses or on the State Farm commercial or you see Steph Curry with Under Armour or with Callaway golf, he's doing that separately. The team doesn't have to waste time on that. Well, in college football, when I sign you, if I'm Georgia, if I'm Alabama, if I'm Texas, if I'm usc, I'm going to have to deal with both. And when I see these headlines like whether there's going to be a strict process to judge the contracts of nil Bull because forever was like you're not allowed to pay players yet all over the country guys were getting paid well before nil and rightfully so. Pro. It's called business. It's called capitalism. Used to be small brown bags fold with a decent amount of money. Now you're talking 10x that that's. And that's just going to be on the side of what I'm making on the salary cap. So I think college football, a lot of people are going to continue to complain yet the same teams beside a couple new ones. If you got a billionaire former player like Texas Tech, maybe all of a sudden Texas Tech is going to be the new or right there with a Texas A, Texas A and M, LSU help, maybe they surpass some of these SEC teams because how do you compete against that? And the answer is it's hard to. Are you interested in investing in bitcoin and not sure how to get started. Well, with the Gemini credit card, a card that I've been using now for a couple months, you can dip your toes in the bitcoin world without even trying. You just spend like you normally do. I go to the gas station, I use it. I go to the grocery store, I use it. I take my wife out, I use it. And I instantly earn up to 4% back in Bitcoin or one of the over 50 other cryptos straight to your account. You can choose. There's no annual fee and the Gemini credit card is a no brainer. I love it. I use it all the time. And right now you can grab a $200 bitcoin intro bonus. So just go to gemini.comjohn to learn more and start earning today. Terms apply. Again. You go to gemini.com john and start building your Bitcoin stash now. Terms apply. The Gemini credit card is issued by Web bank and in order to Qualify for the Intro 200 crypto bonus, your application must be approved by June 30, 2025 and spend 3,000 in your first 90 days. Terms apply. Some exclusions apply to Instant Rewards, in which rewards are deposited when the transaction posts. This content is not investment advice and trading Crypto involves risk. For more details on rates, fees and other Gemini credit card terms, see Rates and fees. Go to gemini.comjohn to learn more and start earning today. Okay, before we dive into the mailbag, one gigantic fugazi is obviously depending on your skin tone. You know, I had some, I had some friends, definitely some friends, brothers who are just pale white. You go out in the sun summer, you need to apply basically a whole bottle of sunscreen. I this isn't the healthiest thing, but I honestly didn't wear sunscreen up until I got older. But it used to work, right? Even if I was in Lake Tahoe, if I was, wherever I applied sunscreen, it would protect my skin from, I don't know, peeling off. I feel like my entire body over the next three or four days. And I felt like over the week that I was on the lake hanging out, playing golf, whatever. I played a lot of sunscreen. I understand the sun. You're at elevation, you're 65, 7,000, 8,000ft, whatever it is. But I do wonder, like, sunscreen even work because I'm doing 50 SPF. My feet are peeling, my legs are peeling, I'm burning everywhere. One mistake I made a long time ago when I first went bald, I went with a buddy to the lake with his girlfriend, now wife, a bunch of her friends. And we just, we just had a good time. Booze was flowing, hanging out. This is probably 2011 ish. And I had just shaved my head, so the top of my head had never seen the sun. And I of course had never put sunscreen, I don't know, on the top of my head and I didn't do it. And we're out hanging out all day, boozing, whatever. And like three days later, my entire head peeled off. So ever since then, I do take my head and my face really seriously, but I felt like sunscreen used to protect my body. And I don't know. I understand as you get older your skin thins. But yeah, I just, I'm about Maria. Her entire body is about to peel and again, we're applying it, we're being healthy, conscious, and you got to protect. But I don't know, maybe you go to Lake Tahoe, just wear long pants, long sleeves and a hat even when it's 90 degrees. Okay, let's do a little mailbag at John Middle Cop. At John Middle Cops. The Instagram fire in those dms. Get your questions answered here on the show. Mailbag. Question. What do you think a realistic season is for the Bears? I feel like with the weapons and Ben Johnson being the next Shanahan has a high ceiling. Caleb is obviously talented and they fix the line. Could they win 11 games and win the division? If everyone beats each other up, I would say win the division. Feels really, really strong. I think it's fair to say best case scenario, defense should be good, but it's, you know, it's a new coordinator. The defense was good last year with Eber Flutes. So you get a new voice. I'm sure you get some new terminology, you just get some new ideas, thoughts. But listen, they got good players on defense, offensively, also neutral. You know, everything's new. So there's just a, a transition process given how much pressure is on them. But if you just say they get, let's say they're way better the second half of the season, I think 10, 11 games. Making the playoffs is very much a fair expectation. I think if you tell me that the Bears win the division, Ben Johnson is 100% the coach of the year, I just don't see a scenario. If you tell me right now the Bears win the NFC north, he's. I just don't see how you could have a better coaching job. I mean, they were atrocious last year. I mean, they were, they were. It's a lot of the same players, so I know they've added a couple new offensive linemen, but they're still going to depend on DJ Moore. They're still going to depend on Caleb. Obviously, you know, the defensive personnel, their star players haven't changed. So 10 and 11. If he won 11 games, you could argue that even if they were like the six seed coach of the year. So I think that's fair. Me realistic. I would say 8, 9. I think it's a big transit one. The division's really hard. Detroit's going to be healthier to start the season. The packers fair not, I mean, kind of on you. The Minnesota Vikings roster is just better and they've, they've won before. That's the other thing. These other Teams have won, right? These other teams have won and been winning. The packers have been winning. The Lions have been winning. The Vikings have won two of the last three years. One, you know. So I think you're asking a bunch of guys who you have a ton of talents and some new guys who have definitely won just to now start winning. And that's pretty big step to take. Question for the bag first off, congratulations on the pregnancy. My wife's pregnant. Breaking news. Put it out on social media. But yeah, she's been pregnant for a little while, so 12 weeks, I guess the end of the starting the second trimester, I think is what they say. So congratulations to me for not really doing much, but swimmers can swim. Other than that, she's way, way harder for her. Appreciate that. Second, what are your NFL Conference championship games predictions? As a Bucks fan, I feel confident the boys can get rolling at the end and can lead us to glory. It's a good question. I. I would say when you look at the top of the nfc, you would say the Eagles should be the favorite. They are the favorite. They deserve to be the favorite. Their team stacked. Then there's the group of like the Lions are pretty damn good question marks, new coordinators, Vikings pretty damn good. Coaches never want a playoff game. New quarterback, packers. Like what's their health situation? Can what who is Jordan love? The Rams. We like the rams. We like McVeigh. It's not like they've been winning 13, 14 games. They won 10 games last year and you look at statistically like they weren't as good of a defense is the way they've talked about now one thing the comp I've made. I remember watching Khalil Max rookie season. I think he had four and a half sacks. But if you watched him, he was. He was good. You're like, I don't want the numbers fool you. This guy's coming. And then over the next couple years he was coming and I think that's Jared Verse. So like Jared Verse this year, is he like one of the best players on defense in the league? Because that kind of changes you. Stafford's health is pretty big. The 49ers, like what's their deal? So I think, yeah, I think it's pretty wide open. I really do. I mean, the Eagles have a new offensive coordinator. The Eagles have four offensive coordinators of four years with Jalen Hurts. So that would be the commanders like what's. How does it come together with Tunzel, with Debo, they figure out the McLaren situation. I think there's a lot of good teams in the nfc. It's kind of just how, you know, injuries obviously play a huge factor. I mean that derailed the Lions chances, right? It really did. How you're playing toward the end of the season. Look at the Rams last year, obviously the Washington. Do you get hot at the right time? Does your quarterback get hot? So it's what makes football pretty cool, right? Like I saw the Thunder have given out like a billion dollars in the last week. Every human being alive is going to pick the Thunder next year, rightfully so. We have this core of young guys and rosters loaded and basketball's always kind of been like that. It's like yeah, there's three or four teams that can win it. I mean that's kind of the way it is. Maybe on a good year, five or six. Like in football there are. The Chiefs are going to have a year where they don't win in the playoffs, right? They're just going to have a year second round where they lose. It happened to Belichick and Brady. So the Bills, the Ravens, these other teams, the Chargers and the Broncos. I just saw Najee Harris had a little firework incident. I I don't. Maybe I'm going to sound like the old guy. I used to love fireworks, firecrackers like most young kids had a little pyro side I once you get to a certain age like I don't quite get it and we have specific situations in football with JPP blowing off his hands. I just think the risk where I'm from actually around the Sacramento area there was a firework because in California you can't sell like M80s and the good shit. There was a storage facility that somehow something went very wrong. I think this was last week, July 2nd or July 3rd and it looked like I mean like a Middle east war and seven people are. I remember last I saw the story were missing AKA dead. So I just. And I get it if you got young kids to do like some of the shitty fireworks to have a good time but I just, I just don't see the risk versus a reward. I don't quite understand it. My question is regarding the Niners. Obviously Purdy signs the big deal this offseason but since Kyle has been the head coach the they've never had a high end quarterback. They've been successful building a team around the quarterback then paying the quarterback then paying the quarterback doesn't screw it up. My question to you is what does Kyle value more high end quarterback play or focus on Drafting and developing the full roster. Do you think he trusts Purdy to get the team into the playoffs, or does he think he needs draft capital to help build a team around his quarterback again? I mean, Kyle is so scarred from that Trey Lance situation where he tried to like manipulate and create small school like Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, guy who's a third stringer. I'm honestly shocked. Still in the NFL. So Kyle thinks Brock Purdy's really good. Listen, Brock Purdy is good. He's somewhere between 8 to 12 on given weeks. He can play like one of the better quarterbacks in the league and he can have we weeks where he's not as good and he has some flaws, but he's a really good starting quarterback. And if you do a good job building your team, you can win with him. I've said it forever. Like, look at the Eagles and the Lions. They're paying their quarterbacks ton of money. Nobody views either guy like a top five quarterback. Nobody. Jalen Hurts last year, halfway through the season, people like, what the hell's going on? What's wrong with our passing game? Brandon Graham's like, yeah, A.J. brown and Jalen Hurts hate each other. Just kidding. Jared Goff. People are like, I mean, he's got some limitations. You got to protect them. But no one views either guy's top five quarterback. Jalen Hurts had played like a top five quarterback the last two weeks of the season against Commanders and then the in the Super Bowl. But in terms of like, no one ranks him in the top five and he makes a ton of money. They build the team around him. That's this football. Joe Montana played on some of the most talented teams in the history of the league. You got to do a good job building around him. Brock Purdy's good enough if you build the team. I've said forever. The pressure is on John and Kyle now. Brock Purdy's showing you who he is. If your team's good, he can win. Won a lot of games going back to college as a winning player. Is he Mahomes or Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson? No, he's not Joe Burrow. We know that. Who, like, who's comparing him to that first take? I don't know. So, yeah, I mean, they're all in on Purdy. This is no, they're no drafting Purdy fails. Kyle's going to be done with the 49ers in the NFL. Do head coaches spend much time coaching up individual players or are they mainly interacting with the coaching staff and allowing them to micromanage the players. I can't speak for every coach I haven't seen. If you go around the league, you know, I've, I've never seen John Harbaugh out of practice. I've never seen Sean Payton, never seen Sean Payton at a practice. So I've never seen these guys at practice. But my experience, Andy Reid, Kyle Shanahan, Jim Harbaugh, some of the Raiders guys, Dennis Allen, Jack Del Rio, I think it changes, right? If you are a former player like Harbaugh or Jack Del Rio, linebacker, sometimes they are just going to be inclined to grab it, especially if they're not the play caller, to gravitate toward their position and then they kind of give them tips. But the CEO head coach, his main gig is kind of like, which is pretty clear, the overseer. Now, they talk to individual players, but I think a lot of their job, when they see things they don't like, are kind of dictating that to the assistant coach or dictating that to the coordinator. And then you get guys like, if you're Kyle Shanahan or Sean McVay or Mike McDonald in Seattle, like the coordinator of. Even though you're the head coach or the coordinator, you spend much more time coaching up individual players of what you want because you lead. Like Travis Kelsey talks, watching the podcast talks a lot about like Andy Reid running the installs. So if you're running the installs of a play, all the guys are looking at you. You are coaching them up on what you want them to do. So I think it, it's very specific. You know, a guy like, a guy like. I'm trying to think of an example. Who'd be a coach, Tomlin or Harbaugh? Either the Harbaugh brothers, Sirianni, they're not installing the place right, but they are active in meetings or obviously active at practice. It's. It's probably somewhere that leans much more to dictating it to your coaches than it is if you are the defensive coordinator of the team, right. If you're Ben Johnson, you're coaching it up. You are spending a lot of time with, with Caleb, with what you want, where Rome or DJ are breaking off the route. You know, it's like you are dictating like you watch Kyle practice. Like he's telling who to go where. Maybe not at practice as much, you know, because in the NFL, you know, high school or even college, you probably spend more time at practice, specifically teaching. I think in the NFL, you're trying to rattle off, especially in training camp. I think it happens more in the season when you have less guys, but in training camp, it's a lot of just rapid fire, run the plays. Maybe if something's up, really screws up, you run it again. And then you teach in the walkthrough, in the meeting room. I think in the regular season, there's a lot more. Less players. You know, in training camp, there's 90 guys out there. There's a lot going on. Regular season, you kind of have a decent idea who's going to play, who's not. And I mean, you have a really good idea and then you kind of can dictate at practice. The media is not allowed out there. You're installing specific plays against specific teams. So it's. I think it depends on the time of year. OTAs too, like there, there's a lot of, like, that's where most of the teaching from us, from a standpoint of things are a little slower once training camp comes. Like, you better know the place or one, especially if you're a young guy, you're just going to get lapped. So I think there are a lot of variables. That's a good question. I think it's a hard question to ask. And it's very, very specific toward the team, the coach, the scheme, his role, the age of the players. You know, it's like some of these teams, too. If you have. What would be an example here, like, if you have an older player that's been on the team for seven, eight years, 10 years, he acts, you know, he spends a lot of time. If you went to a Niner practice, you would watch George Kittle or Kyle Juszczyk talking to a lot of the younger players at training camp, kind of coaching them up, giving them tips what to do. Because Kyle's just like, next play, next group. This is what the coordinators do. So if you. I'm just using the Niners example because I've spent the most time at their practices. You come off the field if you're a young linebacker and the threes jump on, you're the twos. Like Fred Warner or Greenlaw would go over you and maybe probably talk to you. So they do a lot of coaching, the veteran players, and that's true for whoever your team is, right? If you're a young wide receiver and you're on the Eagles, you know, you can. A.J. brown can tell you, like, hey, you know, they. They like this route to be broke. Jalen likes this to be broken off at seven yards, not eight. Even though the Teaching point is technically eight. You know, stuff like that. Packer fan. Where do you think Matt LaFleur in the coaching ranks? In coaching, as a Packer fan, he has moments that are genius and then moments that leave us all scratching our heads with game management and decision making even in the NFC North. Am I overreacting? Yeah, I mean I. No one's going to put him in the top five, but he's better than. And he's proven a lot than the, I don't know, the majority of the league. Right. There's 32 coaches so he's easily better than half. Like cut off the 16. Now we're 15 on. I think he's probably closer to like 8 or 9 than he is 15. And like you said, he has had moments where went into Dallas and beat the shit out of the Cowboys on the road. Last year was tough. I mean the quarterback wasn't playing that well. Injuries in the, in that Eagle game. I don't know what he could have done. He's had some moments in the past he would like back. Obviously the field goal against Tampa. But I think he's pretty good. He's. I think if you just asked a casual fan, Matt LaFleur or Kevin O'. Connell. I have used this as an example. Most people, I think the initial. Oh, Kevin O'. Connell. Yeah. Kevin O' Connell said two playoff games where he's had like 13 and 15 win teams, 14 win teams, you can't win them. Kevin O' Connell lost the Giants a couple years ago. Daniel Jones at home, you could say the Rams loss isn't as crazy and I'd agree. But like he lost the Giants happened. People think I talk about Kevin. I'm not anti Kevin o'. Connell. I think he's a good coach. But my point is simply that I think everyone listening and talking, the overwhelming majority, if you had to just pick one, most people would just gravitate toward Kevin could be wrong. I just, this is my gut feel of just kind of have a pretty good, good, pretty good beat on people. Kevin o' Connell over the floor. Are we sure? Where do you think Keenan Allen ends up? I think a lot of these guys, you know, older players that have been making a lot of coin for a long period of time really struggle when their arrows kind of pointed down. They're older right around free agency, when they're available. People's low ball. Like if you're used to making 99.99 percentage percent of people can't relate to this. But if you've Been used to making 15 million, probably pretty hard when someone's like, yeah, we're just our best offers. Three, you know, it's like even used to making 500 grand and you still think you're good at your job and someone offers you 100, you're like, oh, I'm not taking that gig. I think that happens to a lot of these older players, that most of the offers during the off season, relative to what they were making, is really low. So it's a. It's a humbling time. Now they can hope there are injuries, someone gets hurt, and all of a sudden people are desperate. So that 3 million that you're being offered maybe goes to 8 or 9, but if that doesn't happen, I think you could be in a little trouble. So, I don't know. I think more than they ever tell is a lot about money. Hi, John. What's your opinion on Garrett Wilson? I've seen people rank them anywhere between the top five to out of the top 20. Keep up the great work. I. I think he. I think more than any other position, wide receivers, a lot of stuff's out of their control. So when you play in chaotic offenses in chaotic organizations. Jerry Rice played with Joe Montana and Steve Young, you know, Randy Moss, early on his career had good quarterbacks, and he went Tom Brady so good when a good wide receiver. Larry Fitzgerald looked pretty good when he had Carson Palmer or Kurt Warren throwing the ball. So when you're a very talented wide receiver and you have a good quarterback situation, you're going to look unreal. Antonio Brown for six years had Roethlisberger slinging in the pill. Tyreek Hill in the peak of his powers, had Patrick Mahomes thrown on the rock. So if you put Garrett Wilson with Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson, I think he'd be pretty unreal. You know, last year, I was expecting actually his numbers to not look this good. He had 100 catches for 1100 yards. I think he's a top 10 talent in the league. You know, if you had a draft from scratch, would he crack the top five? Probably not. But I think once we got six to 10 range, when you factor in his age, you know, if you, if you think about it like Jamar Chase, you know, or Justin Jefferson. Jamar Chase. CD Lamb. Yeah, I think Tyreek's kind of trending the other way. So you would have Jefferson Chase. I would have CD Lamb. I. Out of those three guys, I'd feel pretty confident about those guys. Then you get this group of like Amon Rossane Brown would I rather have Amon Ross ain't Brown or Garrett Wilson? Well I think obviously in the scheme Amon Ross St. Brown and he's a stud but like I think if you put Garrett Wilson on the Lions nothing would dip and I think if you gave non Lions like every team in the league you could pick one of the two guys. From a talent standpoint I think you would take Garrett Wilson. Now there's stuff that St. Brown brings to the table. Like I know for a fact I can go to war with that guy. Like Drake London. I would take Garrett Wilson over Drake London. Brian Thomas Jr. One year in I think he's gonna be pretty good. You know Malik Neighbors. I I'd probably take Malik Neighbors but again like this is yeah, I I think He's a top 10 wide receiver in the league Are you interested in investing in Bitcoin and not sure how to get started? Well, with the Gemini Credit card, a card that I've been using now for a couple months, you can dip your toes in the bitcoin world without even trying. You just spend like you normally do. I go to the gas station, I use it, I go to the grocery store, I use it, I take my wife out, I use it and I instantly earn up to 4% back in Bitcoin or one of the over 50 other cryptos straight to your account. You can choose. There's no annual fee and the Gemini Credit card is a no brainer. I love it. I use it all the time and right now you can grab a $200 bitcoin intro bonus. So just go to gemini.comjohn to learn more and start earning today. Terms apply. Again. You go to gemini.com john and start building your Bitcoin stash now. Terms apply. The Gemini Credit card is issued by Web bank and in order to qualify for the intro $200 crypto bonus, your application must be approved by June 30, 2025 and spend 3,000 in your first 90 days. Terms apply Some exclusions apply to instant rewards, in which rewards are deposited when the transaction posts this content is not investment advice and Trading. Crypto involves risk. For more details on rates, fees and other Gemini credit card terms, see Rates and Fees. Go. Go to gemini.comjohn to learn more and Start earning today. With all the chaos and realignment in college football, what are your thoughts on adopting regulation style conferences? That way we can transition to the NFL of two main conferences while still allowing schools to compete at their respective levels. Relegation is never Happening. I know people love it in European soccer, but it is just not happening in pro sports ever. Because if I'm spending the amount of money I have to spend and it doesn't go well, okay, we fucked up, but I still spent billions of dollars. It's never happened in college football. Same way. They're just none of these. It's a partnership. Now, you could argue that Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon, Penn State carry the Big Ten, and that's true. You could argue that lsu, Bama, Georgia, you know, carry the SEC in terms of ratings, in terms of whatever. And you could add other teams there, too, but it's ultimately a partnership. And are the Cowboys, are the packers, are the Niners, are the Eagles more important than the Cardinals, the Jags, and the Titans? Sure. But part of the power of the NFL is the group partnership. So I just. It gets brought up a lot. It's just. It's just not happening. Okay, question for the mailbag. First of all, congrats. Appreciate it. Also, I heard someone earlier in a different podcast mention why people don't talk about the ufc. Something that shocked me way more is the big talk shows don't talk about big golf events like the Masters. I was shocked when I saw no one talked about Rory winning when I'm pretty sure the average 12 million views on Sunday and Monday, no one even said a single pot or peep about it. Kind of just blew my mind. The number of eyeballs is way bigger than ufc, and still no one said a single thing. I, you know, I don't know what shows you're alluding to. You know, if you think about the TV shows, I think Colin definitely led his television show that day, a Fox Sports one, talking about it 100. I remember watching. So maybe you're talking about some of the ESPN shows. Maybe those people don't watch. I also think we. We overvalue. You know, it's like, well, so you know, Stephen A. Smith, who cares? 500,000 people watch his show. Pardon my take, I don't know what the number is, but it's dwarfs that. They definitely led with that. I did a podcast on it. I mean, I think a lot of people did. So I think if you just rely on, like, what are the TV shows? This isn't 2004. You know, I bet a lot of YouTube shows did. You know, Pat McAfee did. So I, I just think that legacy media, a lot of those people don't watch golf. If it's not Tiger, they don't care. They would rather talk about LeBron versus Jordan. And that's fine. I mean, that's what their business model is. But I think sometimes we overvalue. Like what do they, who cares? Their audience relative to some of these other audiences that are talking about it aren't even close to as big. So I also, you know, one of the reasons espn, for example, talks about UFC is they are in business with ufc, right? I'm pretty sure ESPN plus has UFC stuff. Dana did a deal with ESPN years ago. I don't know how long that deal goes. I'm not super dialed in, but I know, like that's why they promote it. No different than like FOX Sports. You know, Colin, Colin likes soccer, obviously like soccer a lot. But one reason they talk about it, like they have contracts to talk to, do soccer. World cup, like Alexi Lawless comes on, they host the Gold cup. Like it's. You kind of talk what your programming is. I think that that plays a part too. You know, if ESPN had the Masters, they would do more master stuff in terms of Saturday and Sunday. I know they play a role on Thursday and Friday. But I'm with you. There's not a basketball game this year. Well, I guess game seven did. Game seven got 16 million people, but it was before game seven. It was easily the lowest rated NBA finals in like three decades. Like 7, 8 million people watching. But basketball, in terms of like, you know, you name the. Whoever is very good on the Internet does very well. It's. You can run businesses based on the algorithms with basketball stuff. Harder to do that with golf. So I like, I understand like for this one time, who even cares? It all, all the stuff comes down to business. It really does. And the business is just like, how many people are watching, how much can we sell? How much money can we move based on what topics? Question for the bag. You recently said the Dolphins owner has serious interest in hiring Jim Harbaugh. The question is, do you think that Jim would be coaching the Dolphins right now instead of the Chargers if they had taken Herbert fifth overall in 2020 instead of Tua? That's a good question. I don't think Jim Harbaugh would coach tua. So is your question would. If he was coaching the Dolphins, do you think that Jim Harbaugh would be? Yeah, maybe. I think he would have. The Dolphins have gone after Jim multiple times, so it's not like a one off situation. I think he would have been inclined to if, if someone had Justin Herbert and he could coach their team, he would have. So yeah, I, I think there's a decent chance. I I don't think he would be the Chargers head coach if they did not have a good quarterback situation. And if you flip flop the two quarterbacks, I don't think Jim Harbaugh would take that job if tool was her coach or quarterback. A quick question about Love and a second year regression. Warren Sharp put out a list of the third down incompletions due to receiver errors and Green Bay led that statistic with 32.7%. Next was the Bengals at 18%. Jalen Hurts was around 8.5% and Goff was at 7.5%. And Love was never truly 100% healthy last year, but still was a top 10 in all the metrics. Given that if Green Bay is just league average, can we expect the love in the offense to be dynamic? You guys know where I stand. I own stock. I think they're going to be good. If you tell me the packers defense is good like it was last year, I think The packers are 12 or 13 win team. If you win 13 games over the last decade, I bet you win your division. I don't know. 80% of the time. Like last year was abnormal, right? You had two teams with 14 wins in weeks. Now it's a little skewed because we've added a game, but you guys know what I mean. If you win 13 games you get a pretty damn good chance to win your division, even if you're in a good division. So I think they're going to be good. We get a lot of Packer fans because I got another question. I think the thing with Jordan Love is you also got to embrace what he is. Is he going to be a top five player in the league? Probably not. But his ceiling in his high end, which we didn't see as much last year as we did two years ago, is pretty high. And when you're not healthy and you're you ha, you don't have much experience. Like it can be kind of rocky and like you said, the receivers were just all over the map last year but they always have a good offensive line. Jacobs a student. They do have a lot of bodies on offense. They just got to figure out which ones. And like can they get their version of Jordy Nelson or Devonte to kind of come out of this group? Maybe it's the guy they just drafted, but to me if their defense is good, like team's going to be good. Appreciate the respect you give toward my Packers. But my question is at what point will you change your tune and become More critical Love is one of the higher paid quarterbacks and is yet to take the next step. Our young wide receiver core that everyone hypes up hasn't been consistently reliable. We have some nice Peter pieces scattered throughout the roster. I'm concerned about becoming the Steelers. Good enough to win during the regular season against the bottom half of the league, but never true contender for a championship. Your thoughts? Are you guys as good as you were from like 10 to 15? Of course not. Even though you only won one Super bowl, you guys were legit super bowl contenders that four or five years. Couple years ago when you lost to the Bucks, I thought that was your best team. I thought those two years with Rogers when he was older. The year you lost the Niners, like those are tough losses. But. But you were true super bowl contenders. You weren't a Super bowl contender this year toward the end of the season. Clearly. I do think you can be one this year though. I if you told me NFL teams were stocks, you can buy one of two stocks this upcoming year. The packers or the Steelers and whoever goes farther in the playoffs or just throughout the season. Who has a better record at the end of the year, Whoever has progressed longer in the season. 10x is your money and you're allowed to put down whatever you want. I would not hesitate to pick the Packers. Would not hesitate. So you guys are not the Steelers yet. I promise you that. What is the next disposable position in the NFL when it comes to value that's going to be overlooked. The way running back was. I think it's pretty clear right now safety is I just now safety has never had the value as corner or pass rusher. But I think we have to admit that certain teams didn't value linebacker like other teams. The Eagles are a good example that their historic value in terms of what they would pay a linebacker was they would let a lot of guys walk after Bond last year and the way this league is, who does that guy end up on a lot running backs and tight ends? Well, what is the league full of dynamic running backs and tight ends. So linebackers and I believe this since honestly for I got around the Niners and saw Willis and Bowman is like if you have a good middle linebacker, let alone two of them, you can. If you have two good linebackers, your defense is good because they account for like let's just conservatively say 25, 28 tackles. Some games like 35, 40, 40 be high but low 30s. They can pressure the quarterback because they can blitz. They can cover the running back behind the line of scrimmage, which a lot of teams, you know, wheel routes and that's a huge part of the game. And now with tight ends going down the seam, if I can cover that guy, it's a huge point of difference. So I would say linebacker is not as undervalued as it was. Fred Warner makes a lot of money. Roquan makes a lot of money. Zach Bond just got paid. Ton of other guys have been paid. So I would say safety would be the one because guards, guards are making a ton. Trey Smith just got franchise. He makes $23 million. Health centers make decent money if you're good. So I think it's safety question for the pod. Are you an early riser? What type of fitness training do you do? Good question. It depends on time of year. I would say the summer 7ish, 7:30, you know, depending on what's going on, the season, which training camp, I wouldn't even count like the actual season. I'm up late. Like my little brother for example, gets up at like 5, 5:30. He also goes to bed at like 9 during the season. Sunday night, Monday night, Thursday night. Especially, you know, half this football season I'm on Pacific Standard Time, but then it kicks up, so we're on mountain time sometimes three days a week. I'm not going to bed till like midnight. So I'm one of those people. Like, I don't really operate off like four or five hours sleep. I do need six seven. So maybe during that time I get up 7:38. I would say sometimes after Monday Night Football, Sunday Night Football and Thursday Night Football. And then during the, the week kind of depends on the time of year. Usually between 6:15 and 6:45. I would say if I go to bed at a normal time, usually get a, go to my coffee maker, get a double shot of espresso, come look at the market, bank account, Internet, slam that coffee, drink some water, maybe take the dog for a walk, then usually go to the gym within like an hour of taking that double shot of espresso. And then just my day kind of goes on from there. So it's, it's, it's pretty time related in terms of from getting up super early or just kind of. I, I need some sleep because I can't when I'm tired. It's just hard for me to podcast. I mean because my brain doesn't work and I was like that in the NFL. I just needed some sleep. I have a lot of respect for guys that don't need much sleep. It's a life hack. If you don't need much life sleep, and that's, you know, something that, like, you can function and your brain works on way less than eight hours, you can dominate in society. It's a. It's a huge, huge point of difference. I do not have that. I don't need like eight exactly, but I need more six or seven than four or five. Some people just don't need much sleep. I wanted to open discuss about the ufc. My girlfriend really, she put me on it about five years ago and I've loved it ever since. I don't girlfriend likes it. That seems like a keeper. For starters, it's something. Something super competitive and entertaining to watch during the summer when not much stuff is going on. Also, the mentality shared between football and the UFC fighters are quite similar. It's you and the man across from you. They don't like you and you don't like them. If you ask me, a hospital ball over the middle is more dangerous than anything in the ufc, considering you can control your own destiny. It's one Saturday night in a match, in a card, you won't be disappointed. Again, I've watched the ufc. I just, I guess I just don't build, you know, nights or events like some of you guys. Like, I don't look forward to them unless it's something that transcends, right? If you tell me that, like when Conor McGregor was fighting and I'm like this with boxing, if Mike Tyson's fighting Jake Paul or Floyd Mayweather's fighting Pacquiao, like, I have FOMO in terms of enormous events that I know that I can't miss. That aren't football, golf, the World Series, the NBA Finals, shit like that March Madness, right? Stuff that aren't off the beaten path. If I know that, like, I should be paying attention to this, I'm gonna pay attention. If I know a lot of people are watching. If you tell me Conor McGregor is gonna box Jake Paul, like, I'm going to watch. I'm that type consumer when it comes to fighter fighting. But if you just give me a random card, like I paid attention to the Sugar Sean guy do with the purple pink hair. Why? Because he was Scottsdale. And I remember this guy told me that he knew him, he trained at this place I went to CrossFit. I'm like, okay, I'll pay attention to this. So if there's not like a personal connection, it's just harder for me to get into. Like I said, I have nothing against the violence. I'm pro violence. I just. I only have so much time. My wife doesn't like it either. So it's like, if she was into it, I'd probably watch it more. You have to. When you watch as much sports as me, you have to pick and choose. Like, yeah, I'm just gonna give this up because the trump card I have, even with golf, we got a six months a year. I got golf on the TV Thursday through Sunday. And then from which he's cool with. I mean, NFL Sundays are a really big deal in my home, but I've really got her into college football. We watch a lot of football, like most of you. I mean, football is on. There's a game on. It's on. Three TVs in the house. Okay, last question. Who do you think is under more pressure to win immediately? Ben Johnson, the Bears or Liam Cohen and the Jags? That's not even a question. The Bears. It's a hard job, like a lot of the big jobs in the NFL because of the market size, because of the pressure, because of how many fans you have. Obviously there's pressure in Jacksonville because of what they did. I'd argue that pressure is as much on the GM as it is on the coach. And there's just not as much pressure in Jacksonville. Not really debatable. You know, it's just the pressure in Chicago is really, really difficult. And Eberfluss was completely over his head and got embarrassed. Ben Johnson is clearly a more talented coach than Eberfluss, but being a head coach is a lot different than being a position, position coach or coordinator. And the hype behind Caleb Williams, like, let's face it, there's still a lot of hype and unknown about Caleb Williams based on what we've seen. Like, Trevor Lawrence's isn't good. He's kind of meh, kind of average, you know, I think most people agree, like, yeah, he's kind of whatever. There's not really much pressure behind coaching Trevor Lawrence because most people don't think he's any good. There's a lot of pressure behind coaching Caleb Williams, who many people thought was like an all time great prospect. And the best part about football, just like any sport, but the power of football, a lot of hype comes behind these guys, right? Because years in college, like Cooper Flack, ton of hype, played one year, you know, is he the greatest thing since sliced bread? Maybe. I'm sure he's probably gonna be pretty good. Look damn good when I watched him. But if you tell me he makes two all Stars instead of ten. Believable. Tell me. Make ten kind of believable, too. I don't know football. You never know. Ever. No, I mean, Trevor Lawrence was supposed to be the best prospect since Andrew Luck and Peyton Manning. I think he's average as the day is long. I actually thought he was. I'm not trying to do hindsight. That was a little overrated in college. Would have taken him one as well. But I just thought, like, based on the high, like, comparing him to Andrew Luck, I thought was laughable, especially when he's like, yeah, I don't even like football that much. Now, in fairness, Andrew Luck, after some injuries, retired at like 30. But maybe they got more in common than you think. But Andrew Luck was. You cannot argue when Andrew Luck played, he was good, was excellent. I mean, for three straight years taken, took the team that won two games immediately the playoffs, three straight years there in the championship game. So I would say the Bears by Country Mile, the pressure. And it's not like he's going to get fired or anything, but it's. It would be. If they went 7 and 10. It would be a massive story. It would be a massive story. If the Jags win six or seven games. No one really cares. They make the playoffs. They're a big story. Their winning games are a big story. But if they're under.500, like, no one's talking about them. No one's paying attention. Travis Hunter is kind of a big offseason story if the team's bad. We're not talking about Travis Hunter. It's just not gonna happen. Like, no one cares how many snaps he gets on defense. Maybe a throwaway at the end of shows. Appreciate the questions. Talk to you guys soon. Have a great weekend. The volume.
- [79:26]
Katie Couric
On the latest episode of Next Question with me, Katie Couric. I sat down with Jasmine Crockett, Democratic representative of Texas. She's holding down the fort for her party in one of the most conservative states in the union. I think that ultimately who will become the Democratic nominee for president will be someone that has been out there and has shown that they won't allow themselves to be be punched and just say thank you like they will punch back. Listen to Next Question with me, Katie Couric on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart podcast.