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John Middlekauff
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Colin Cowherd
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John Middlekauff
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Colin Cowherd
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Colin Cowherd
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Colin Cowherd
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John Middlekauff
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John Middlekauff
Ends 2 8:26 open to legal residents of the 50 US states and DC 18 and over. For complete details, how to enter prizes and official rules, visit toyotasgamedaygiveaways.com the volume. What is going on everybody? John Middelkopf three and out podcast brought to you by my friends at Zone Pouches. This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is addictive, chemical and underage. Sale is prohibited. If you're as competitive as I am, you always are looking for something to help you stay dialed in. And for me that thing is Zone Pouches. You won't catch me without. I actually have a big package coming from my friends at Zone with some of my favorite flavors. Excited to share those. So not to mention 20 pouches per camp versus 15 the other guys provide. Choose Zone and dominate the day. Use the promo code number three and out 20 on nicokick.com for 20 off at checkout. Hopefully everyone is doing well. We have been grinding so I said you know what, let's do a big mailbag at John Middlekopf. At John Middlekopf is the Instagram. We're just do about 50 minutes worth of mailbag questions. Fire in those DMs. Get your questions answered on the show. We appreciate everyone that's been watching listening to the content. We've had a lot of stuff out reacting to the Thanksgiving games, Black Friday games, Sunday night, Monday night games. Our people have been grinding behind the scenes. So appreciate everyone listeners. Couldn't do it without you. And yeah, the game plan today again just mailbag only. You guys know the drill. Subscribe to the podcast. If you listen on Collins feed, subscribe to the YouTube channel. I think we're about 10k away from 100 so just trying to make my parents proud, you know. Other than that, any other news and notes? I. I don't think so. So let's, let's just, let's just dive into the mailbag again at John Middlekop my Instagram Fire in the DMS we will start with Jonah. What's exciting about the Bears and the paths is they feel like they can be good for years to come. They both have great young coaches, a high end coordinator who likely will not be a head coach and a young core. What do you think the difference makers between teams who have a good season or two in teams who can sustain high level of play? Well, it gets down to two things, quarterback play and coaching. And you know I think you're seeing this with the Lions I get a lot of dms, I get a lot of people conversate, have, you know, Ben Johnson is just a fascinating individual. Is anytime the head coach is a guy like a hard Bob brother, you know, John Harbaugh, I guess they are brothers, John and Jim, Dan Campbell, Mike Tomlin, they can be pretty quarterback dependent. Pete Carroll, right. And you know, these guys all have philosophical beliefs, right? Jim Harbaugh running the ball, running between the tackles is something he's always going to do. Pete Carroll, defense is his baby. And even offensively he has specific things that he wants to do. It's why Chip Kelly clearly been leaking things. The pro push back on everyone, shitting on him about that he forced him to run Shane Waldron's offense, which was probably some validity to it, right? And I think some of these older CEO type coaches have big picture beliefs on how they want to run it. But like 60 times a game on offense or defense. Mike McDonald, Matt LaFleur, Kevin O', Connell, Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVeigh, Sean Payton, Andy Reed, like they're touching the field with their play call. They are impacting the offensive or defensive place and that matters. So to me, like the thing that you just said, you know, Ben Johnson, his superpower is his play calling, clearly leadership and organization, he's good at that. But he's an elite play caller, so you will never lose that. So even Caleb Williams, like, if he can never figure out this accuracy issue and it's not going to derail the franchise, you know, Mike Vrabel has this offensive coordinator, you know, the defense is Mike's baby, you know, but the offense, when you have a good young quarterback, like if Mike Vrabel had an offensive coordinator like Josh McDaniels 10 years ago and people, like people are going to hire Josh McDaniels, you go, this could be a problem, right? When he had Arthur Smith in Tennessee, it went pretty well. Then he lost him and it wasn't quite the same. So like Joshua Daniels never getting hired again in the NFL. I guess you never know with college. As of recording it, they currently don't have a Penn State coach. And once upon a time, Penn State hired a Patriot coach named Bill o'. Brien. So I think keeping coaching continuity, look at the Chiefs they've had, you know, during the Patrick Mahomes run, Andy Reid, Steve Spagnolo, Patrick Mahomes, really their core group, Chris Jones and Travis Kelsey. So you need a core group of guys forever. It was Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, Matt Patricia, Josh McDaniels, Brian Flores, the majority of the 2000 and tens with Edelman, with Gronk, with McCourty, with Hightower. So you kind of have a core, David Andrews, kind of a core group of guys. And that message never graduates out of the program. And so I think continuity at the top matters, right, because owners never really change. But if you're coaching, the play callers don't change, your quarterback doesn't change and your core two or three star players don't change. Like you're kind of cooking with gas, you know, really kind of matters. I mean, the 49ers could have unraveled this season, but they got Kyle. And so when they went to the backup quarterback, like he could make Mac Jones look pretty good. And while they lost some core guys, they still had George KITTLE and Christian McCaffrey, right? So you got to have core high end players that, that really, really matters. My question is regarding Michael Penix, but not just him in general. Why do teams draft players with long injury histories? I can understand a broken bone or other injuries that aren't likely to Repeat, but both ACLs and other ligaments seems like it's a ticking time bomb that can be seen from miles away. I would say this as a GM or a coach, you can't predict things with bodies. You can give educated opinions on experiences. But when your team doctor, that's it. You know, if you're a LA team, UCLA Med, the Niner, Stanford Med, Philadelphia, Penn Med, I mean the team doctor or the, the people interacting with your health and wellness side of the operation are the best in the business, in the cities you live in. So when they tell you, I don't think this is going to be a problem, are you supposed to dispute them? It's why most GMs during the draft process or coaches during the season will go, listen, I'm not a doctor, I'm just kind of going off what they tell me. Because most of these, the coaches, they make their living with a whistle around their neck, right? So you kind of have to go off the information that the doctor is telling you. If they go, he's never going to tear his ACL again or, or this, I mean, he wouldn't say that. But if he goes, he's no like, he's no more likely to tears ACL than the other guy who's never torn his acl. Are you supposed to just dispute him now? I'm sure that happens sometimes and sometimes it's on the flip side. And I think this what drives coaches and GMs nuts is they will have players that their medical team that the lead investigator in, whatever the doctor is that goes through the checks, either during the physical time during free agency or during the draft process, and goes, I can't recommend drafting this guy. I don't think he'll ever make it to a second contract. Or like this. His shoulder or his knee is a ticking time bomb. You hear that a lot. And then all of a sudden you look up and he's made five Pro Bowls and $150 million. And you go, we didn't have him on a draft board. So I think it's a lot of back and forth, but it's hard to. You're just taking educated guesses. And obviously, the more information you have, if a guy's missed as many seasons as him, you could have taken an educated guess, is his body going to make it? So I think him specifically Penix, it's fair to argue, like, should he have been off draft boards? And I'm sure he was. He was not on every draft board. Right. So it's personal preference. It's teams, medical teams. You know, Danny Cannell, his dad used to be the doctor for the Miami Dolphins. And when Saban was the coach, told him that Drew Brees, his shoulder would not last, and he went to the Saints and the rest. And then saving a year later goes to the Alabama Crimson Tide. The rest is history for both guys, you know, So I. What's saving supposed to do? Like, no, I think his shoulder is going to be fine. It's kind of a tough predicament you find yourself in as a football guy with the doctor crew when they're telling you one thing and you're like, I better hope you're right. And then all of a sudden he gets signed by a divisional opponent and then he's kicking your ass. You're like, what the hell? I. There's been a lot of arguments in that world over the years, that's for damn sure. And it's never really going to end because the football people can't go off anything more. And like, are you sure? Are we sure? Hey, John, at the start of the season, do you think Miles Garrett would rather have the sack record or the Browns reach the playoffs? Well, in his career, just thinking off the top of my head, I don't think he's gone to the playoffs many times, right? The one year with Baker in 20, and then the one year a couple years ago with Flacco when they got killed by the Texans. So he hasn't had much postseason success. My guess is what he would say is I'd like to have a good season as my team to be good. Would I just rather have the sack record and my team suck every week? I I I think he would probably go well I I would just choose make the playoffs and I'm pretty confident I get 15 to 20 sacks. Again. I I don't know the guy. Now if he ends up with 30 sacks, let's just, let's just say he ends up with 30 sacks. I I think most people at the beginning of the year would sign up for 30 sacks and I think he'd also say If I have 30 sacks, I bet we're pretty good. Turns out Nope. No. For the Bag When LSU fired Brian Kelly to aggressively target Lane Kiffin, why wouldn't Lane tell LSU when they approached him that he wanted to focus on his contractual agreement with Ole Miss for the time being and resume negotiations in six to eight weeks? What would LSU have done? Snipe summerall it's clear they wanted Lane and I bet he could have got the best of both worlds. Or do you think Lane was nervous of maybe getting upset in the playoffs and hurting his chances of getting big money? Or even the LSU job as a whole? Penn State is waiting until the end of the season to make their hire. Did LSU just want to ruin Ole Miss's season since theirs was pathetic? Love loved the pod. Maybe Lane generally thought Ole Miss would roll over and give him everything he wanted. Honestly, it's believable since Lane can be I do think Lane, looking back on him making the 60, was trying to change the narrative this summer because he had planned to go somewhere else this fall if a big time opportunity opened up. And I think based on last year, no jobs open up, he had a pretty good idea. There were some guys on the hot seat, especially Florida, right? Jimmy Sexton represents Billy Napier. He knew he was in a lot of trouble so there were going to be some job openings. So he was trying to change the narrative. I'm a much better guy. I'm not this scumbag toxic person that you all thought I was years ago. So he started actively doing that. Probably didn't imagine his team was going to be in the playoffs. And honestly he definitely didn't imagine LSU was going to come open whatever it did a month into the season. When did Kelly get fired? In the middle of October. So that that changed the equation. But I would imagine there was a point in time where he thought they will let me coach and then I can leave. And that clear became clear to him that that was not going to be an option. There were probably conversations that, lane, you're kind of lucky. We think you're going because you're not signing our contract. We shouldn't even let you coach the egg ball like you're. You're already set. The moment he sent his family on the quote unquote fact finding mission. Now, listen, Ole Miss is not Alabama, Georgia, lsu, Ohio State, right? So when I say that those programs never would allow it, I think people would push back. Well, Ole Miss should be lucky they're even in this position. And there's probably some truth to that, but that's not how you feel once you're in that position. You know, if you're married and you start having. Getting worried that she's kind of sleeping around, and then you get some evidence that she's definitely sleeping around. Like, you got a couple choices. You either draw a line in the sand and end it, or you kind of tuck your tail between your legs and just try to figure it out. And I think Ole Miss tried to figure it out and they had to look in the mirror and kind of like, we feel awful about ourselves. We're getting played here, we're getting used. And this is not like LSU stealing our coach. They hate us. They're a rival of ours. It's weird. We're business partners with them in the sec, but we don't act like that, right, in terms of stuff like this, because even the NFL doesn't allow anything even close to this. So it's a complicated situation, right, with the timelines, the rules, which there aren't any. You can just steal coaches. I don't think it's as black and white as everyone has taken stances on. There's clearly a lot of gray area. I do believe, though, that Lane was pretty delusional about ever thinking that he could. Because if LSU didn't hire a coach, let's say for the next two weeks, they just haven't hired a coach, it'd be pretty clear if everyone else hired coaches, that Lane's going there and you're going to let him continue to coach. You could even make the argument, the story just broke a little earlier today that they're going to let Charlie Weiss Jr. Who's going to be Lane's offensive coordinator in LSU, continue to coach Ole Miss through the playoffs. I bet if I was having a beer with their ad, he'd be like, listen, we're kind of desperate here because we, we need One of those two guys to call the place. And obviously Lane's not going to be doing that. So is this the ideal situation? Of course not, but we kind of need him. And it happens other places where assistants get to stay. So it's not as crazy. But in a perfect world, we would not do this. But he is. I, you know, I think Lane would call some plays during the season. Again, I've consumed a lot of Lane Kiffin content. I think Charlie Weiss Jr. Was the primary play caller. Lane would chime in like he's a part of it and like, give ideas and even like override occasionally. But like, Charlie Weiss Jr. Is the play caller. I just think Ole Miss really wants to win one playoff game. They have a home playoff game. You know, the rankings are coming out here in an hour where I'm recording this. Either the 19th or the 20th, they're going to have a home playoff game. They want to win that playoff game. If they win that home playoff game, their season is an undeniable all time great success. If they lose that game, it would really, really suck. You lost your coach, you lost the game. Especially if it was ugly. You know, depending on the matchup, I mean, there are some matchups depending on where they ranked, got ranked, that could be pretty hard, right? A Miami, a Notre Dame, I guess Oregon probably would have a home game as well, but it could get a little weird. And I think they're just desperate to try to win that game. You know, you never want to negotiate or make a decision out of desperation. Sometimes we don't have a choice, right? I've been there, You've been there, where it's like, I don't want to be doing this, but I have to say, yes, I have to do this. And it feels like there's a part of Ole Miss doing that with Charlie Weiss where they just couldn't allow Lane. I also think the SEC is, is. It's like the NFL meets Bravo, Real Housewives. That's kind of what it is, and it's why it's so entertaining. You know, their, their motto from Greg Sankey is it just means more. It's true. It does just mean more. But if the NFL allowed this, it would happen as well. It 100% would happen. If you allowed teams to poach coaches. You don't think, like Jeffrey Lurie a couple years ago would have offered Sean McVay, like $30 million a year. You don't think that this would happen in some programs where coaches were stolen left and right, especially coordinators it would happen all the time. It would be an arms race on steroids. The difference is these are big cities, there's more going on. These are little ass towns. It's like you don't think we're going to spot you and Leila driving around in the two nice neighborhoods in the area. Like this is not Chicago. You know, I don't know how big Baton Rouge or Oxford are, but they're not that big. Today's show is brought to you by our new presenting sponsor, Hard Rock bet. The Hard Rock Bet Sportsbook app is the only legal sports book for whenever you're in Florida. It's also live in Arizona, Ohio, New Jersey, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia, Illinois and Colorado. Coming soon to more states too. Sign up today and you could win 150 in bonus bets. Just place a five dollar bet and if it hits, you not only get your winnings, but you also get 150 in extra bonus bets. 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Colin Cowherd
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John Middlekauff
And Doug Here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug Limu. Is that guy with the binoculars watching us Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Fairy underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. Affiliates excludes Massachusetts. Question for you. I think the Quarterback reclamation projects in the last few years Baker Geno, Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones Are all overrated. They all walked into above average systems with competent coaches and above average weapons and played pretty well. None of them have won or will win more than one playoff game in a season. It takes real strength to go from joke to A plus starter. But do you see any of them playing in a conference championship game? It's a good question. I think they already, you know, were the reclamation project was leading a team to the playoffs. If you go from Baker Mayfield, traded for, then benched in Carolina, cut, then go to the Rams, then go to Tampa on a $4 million one year deal and have a competition in training camp, go on to be the starting quarterback, get extended, take your team to the playoffs every year. That's like a grand slam. It's not like a walk off grand slam in the World Series, but that's like a playoff grand slam. That's, that's pretty incredible. What Sam Darnold has done this last year and a half, we just don't see very often. Of course they happen in good situations. How often do you see like go around the greatest quarterbacks ever and go pretty bad situations? Last time I checked, Joe Montana had Bill Walsh, Tom had Belichick and he inherited a great defense when he was young. Peyton Manning had Tony Dungy and Bill Poland. Last time I checked, both guys are in the hall of Fame now. I think I would take Peyton over those two, but my point is like those two know what they're doing. Tony Dungy was winning a lot of games in Tampa. You know John Elway. I don't exactly know the situation in Denver in the 80s, but by the time he won big, like it was like going on in, in Denver with Mike Shanahan. Pretty good situation. Brett Favre traded Mike Holmgren and Ron Wolf traded for him. Like there aren't many all time great quarterbacks who went to, you know, this team sucked. Just figured it out. That's not usually the way it works. So they go hand in hand. Like Geno Smith has no chance on a bad team. Patrick Mahomes wouldn't look that great on the Raiders. And we all agree Patrick Mahomes is way better than Geno Smith. No one's playing well on the Raiders, but if you put Geno Smith this year on the Colts, he'd probably look fine, honestly. Might even be better than Daniel Jones. So I agree with you. But I also think you can't resurrect your career in a situation that's awful. It's not possible. And it doesn't really. It just doesn't happen. I was watching the show with Colin the other day and he mentioned Mack to Minnesota which as a 49er fan is kind of scary given the injury history. But what about Mack for Jefferson? I know there would need to be more picks logistics but I mean Minnesota has got to know by now you can't win with Jefferson without a quarterback and the Niners would trade picks anyway. I kind of like where you're thinking and this is a little Madden E1 Minnesota fans obviously they're desperate for a quarterback. They would never allow you to trade Justin Jefferson in a Mac Jones type package. I also think Kyle Shanahan learned a valuable lesson. It's really I very very hard to follow all the information with the Brandon Iuk saga. I'm honestly Brandon Iuked out. I don't really care. Beside the facts that we have that the 49ers clearly can't wait to get rid of them and by all accounts you give up 25 million he clearly can't wait to leave. I was adamant about the situation that it never made sense to invest in a guy who was catching 75 balls a year and the cost of wide receivers and he's like a second tier guy was $75 million guaranteed. Well, Justin Jefferson is the elite of the elite. The 49ers don't play like that. Like to me the 49ers would be much more inclined. Like you know who they would love is like Trey McBride for the Arizona Cardinals. They're not going to use, they're not going to have a Randy Moss, Justin Jefferson, jamar Chase catching 120 balls a year. I just have a hard time ever seeing that happen in this offense with Brock Purdy. That's not really the way I bet if we look back at Kyle Shanahan's years, what's the most productive wide receiver he's ever had? Andre Johnson was really good in 2000, probably 8, 9, 10, 11 range. I'm looking at Julio's big year, their big year when the Atlanta Falcons went to the Super Bowl 2016 he had 83 catches and 1500 yards. The previous year they weren't as good as he had 136 catches and 1800 yards and I'm pretty sure the Atlanta Falcons they were not a playoff team. To me Kyle Shanahan's whole offense is much more predicated running the ball and really tight end throwing the ball to running backs and the wide receivers. You know I don't want to say like play. They're much more Robin than they are Batman. So I just think Justin Jefferson, if I'm going to do a crazy trade, I'm more inclined to go get a Max Crosby to go get, you know, some good tackle than I am to trade for Justin Jefferson. Now if I'm the Patriots or you know, some of these other teams, I'm much more interested. But the 49ers, the way they operate just to me doesn't make as much sense. Appreciate the question. The question is asked before the season happened because I wholeheartedly agreed that Miles Garrett has passed TJ this year. But why is everyone thought he is mounds above better before the season? Because aside from this year, TJ was a lead in every stat aside from quarterback pressures and has always said his sacks don't matter as much as people think. That's why TJ to most has never been considered as good. But now sacks are the reason he's the best ever. I think we're, I'm not going to argue over two players. Listen, TJ in his prime was an elite dominant player. The force fumbles, the creating the turnovers. There was a momentum aspect with them. He was like the defense's version of Steph Curry. There would be him coming around him creating a fumble and then it would just flip. Von Miller had this level to him. I think the arguments more is like Miles is just a more talented player. I think Miles is one of the most talented players ever to be in the NFL. Just physical gifts wise now just pure sacks. Like if he ends the season with 27 sacks, is he like the greatest defensive player of all time? Like no. I think Belichick would tell you it's Lawrence Taylor, he's still better and I agree. But I think the sad part about a guy like him and the Browns have had a couple now with Joe Thomas is what would he look like on like the Ravens or on the Rams or the Chiefs or the Eagles? Just a team every single year in the mix, the packers. And we'll never know because he got, he got stuck with the Browns. Can you list your top five quarterbacks that you would start your franchise with assuming all healthy love the pot. Well I think you have to factor in age. You know Mahomes is now 30 years old. So I, I, I'm going back to the world of like in your late 30s. You're going to start slipping. You're no longer playing like the 45 thing. You see it with Rogers at 42. I'm not counting on anyone playing into their 40s ever again. If you're. If you are able to do that at any position, especially quarterback, that's bonus. Most guys 37, 38, 39, start falling off a cliff. You know, it's what Stafford's doing. His age right now is pretty incredible. And even he's, like, kind of threatened with retirement. You know, the Rams kind of play it year by year because they're trying to mitigate their risks. They don't want to get into a position where they gave him like a three year, $150 million deal, and then going into year two, he's fallen off a cliff because of age and wear and tear. So, like, Josh Allen, I think, is a little younger than Patrick, but I think when you factor in all these guys, ages, especially the way he plays. Josh is 29, I bet Lamar's price 27. And Lamar this year, I mean, kind of taking a pounding. Lamar is 28 and he'll be 29. So, I mean, how many more years does, like, Lamar and Josh physically just completely dominant, like, because to me, they are much more likely to show signs of slowdown in their early to mid-30s than just like kicking ass all through their 30s. And Patrick will be 31 here next year. So, like, I would bet on young guys now, again, I'm a little bit more of a renegade risk taker when it comes to investing, so I. I got no problem taking some swings. Open door has been pretty good. Your boy here. And most people would have said I'm high on crack cocaine to invest the amount of money I did a couple years ago. And that thing was heavily in the red. Don't get me wrong. It's not like it's always been profitable, but when that thing started ripping, it started ripping. So to me, I'm going young. And I mean, listen, like, right now, Drake May. You talk about a guy that is. How old is Drake May? 23 years old. Is he even that he's just turned 23? He'd be pretty up there. Jaden Daniels, I would have bet the farm on him last year. It's always a little risky with younger players because, you know, like, part of what makes Josh, Lamar and Patrick, like, why I have such high respect for those guys, they've been doing at such a high level for a long time. Like, part of being a great player is like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, like, every single year, you knew what you were getting. Some for two decades, some for 15 years, some for 12, 13 years. It's a long time. A lot of guys, these guys are all pros, right. And especially a lot of these quarterbacks we just talked about Sam Darnold, Gino. A lot of people have had a good couple year run. Can you do it for a decade? Like Google Travis Kelsey stats. He's been catching a lot of balls for a long time. That's hard to do and so it'd be pretty risky, but I would probably be inclined to take a swing at some of the young guys. The safe thing would be like just give me Josh Allen for the next three or four years and if I win a couple championships, if I build my team right, then it's all worth it. But I'd like to sustain success. I mean, if I'm a Patriot fan, I'm pretty high on my own supply right now. I'm feeling pretty good. Love the show. What do you think about the NFL implementing a mercy rule mostly to prevent unnecessary injuries in a game that's basically over? Like the game is over as soon as the team is up 30 in the second half. Teams would keep their foot on the gas to end the game rather than coast for 30 minutes and a ton of injuries would be prevented. I hear what you're saying, but here's the problem. The NFL's business is predicated on television. And these networks, CBS, ABC, Monday night, which was 30 to 7 at halftime, Fox, Amazon prime have spent a lot of money on this inventory. And I mean a lot of money. And in a couple years it's going to cost a lot more. Well, the only way to make your money back is to utilize that entire at the end of the day, like whether the game's good or bad. You kind of know if a game kicks off at 10 in the morning for US Pacific Standard Time, you know the game's going to end, give or take, at one o'. Clock. So that network knows I have three hours and I have a pretty good idea when the breaks are the TV timeouts, the quarters, the halftime to implement my sell my advertising, which everyone wants to be associated with football, to make my money back and turn a profit. So I listen. We're all very invested and emotional about the sport and the game. That's why I got into the business originally. But this is all a business and the way it's all paid for is that would never in a million years be allowed ever. Because I listen sometimes when I'm doing these live shows on like especially Thursday or Monday Night Football, I'll be On my the3Now text chain with the boys and I'll be like, God, I wish this thing could end at halftime. But like I'm just saying that knowing that that's never going to happen ever. Hey John, after tonight's ass kicking I feel pretty good about the Pats ability to wrap up the division and contend for the number one seed going forward. They should try and trade for Brock Bowers. May gets his gronk and we don't need to worry about the offense. Spend the rest of that draft improving the defense. What are your thoughts? I think Raiders fans would just if they lost Crosby and Brock Bowers in an off season, I wouldn't blame any Raider fan if you just quit. I do think Max Crosby will be traded this offseason. But I think here's the thing for Brock Bowers he is in a second year so next year he will need a contract extension after next year and he's been a little banged up this year. I mean if I'm the Raiders, I'm not giving you it. Like I can't trade. I did it with Khalil Mack. I can't do it with this guy. So even for me to entertain it, if I was willing, the price would be outrageous. Like three ones. It's like you couldn't trade three ones for Brock Bowers, right? I mean part of what made the Pats so good for so long even. Do you know why the Chiefs extended their run? You got to make trades the other way. It's on you to hit on draft picks, right? Because that's how you build a team for sustaining success. They're much cheaper, right? It's pretty rare. Like here's the thing with Bowers now you, you could argue that tight ends are a lot cheaper and they are. But doesn't that kind of play into the Raiders? Why don't we just keep the guy then? So my take would be obviously you're not going to just find a Brock Bowers every year. But like look at what you've done from a skill position standpoint this year in player acquisition Travion Henderson. I mean over the last month, every other carry you see you're like damn this guy looks sweet. Kyle Williams, the wide receiver from Washington State had a nice catch last night. I mean he can fly. You know, even the digs acquisition in the offseason, I feel pretty good if I'm them like let's just keep investing. Let's keep. Why can't we use our first round pick this year on a skill guy, on an impact skill guy? Because the trade for Brock Bowers, if they were even willing to Entertain it. I mean it to me, I wouldn't give him away for more than, like, for. For less than two ones. Two twos and two three. I mean, it'd be outrageous. When a coach gets fired midseason, like day ball or Brian Kelly, do you think they still tune into each game that their former team plays in? That's a great question. I've never been a coach fired in the middle of the season, so I can't speak to that. I have been fired, though. And I do think your natural inclination when you're invested into something, I would imagine this goes for relationships too. You pay attention right there is. Doesn't mean I. I don't. You know, you're watching every snap. But like, think about when you're invested into something, especially in a position like that. You probably follow the things on social media. People are telling you a lot about them. You would still have people that care and like you in those buildings talking to you about things that are messed up. So I think you're still kind of invested. I mean, Brian Kelly's kid plays for lsu and I'm sure many of you saw that viral video of his son saying, free my boy BK singing, if I ever called my dad BK or I ever called my dad my boy, I probably would have got backhanded. I'm like, what is wrong with this kid? Is very uncomfortable thing to watch. And I get it was, you know, his dad couldn't be there for senior night. Now I think this guy was like the last player in the roster. But free my boy bk. Like everything I've seen of Brian Kelly, that's not how he communicates. I mean, I'm fascinated by that relationship. Brian Kelly's kid and Brian Kelly. I think it's got to be a weird one. I bet day ball paid attention because you're also how they're doing reflects you, right? Like, when I got fired from radio, I wanted my time slot to go belly up. Turned out it did, but I was rooting against it heavily and you just. You'd hate listen sometimes in the car. Definitely. When I got fired from the Eagles, I just knew a lot of people with the organization, so I kind of just felt like I kept talking to people. It didn't really change. So I think you naturally stalk a little bit, right? She dumps you, you're going to see who she's dating on Instagram. We're just. We're human beings. We like. I don't care. Insulate the noise. Don't let the outside distractions all that sounds great. We're all kind of wired the same. On the topic of Lane, what are your thoughts on him going after the young podcaster who accurately described him as a hoe? Never mind that he immediately proved the guy right by leaving Ole Miss in flames less than 24 hours later. Shouldn't someone in his position be able to take the shot? Neither guy look great. Not that it's really your M.O. but you. But how would you handle if someone you on in a podcast were to step to you at a football game when you talk for a living? And I've said this forever. When people get mad at me, you know, I've had a couple occasions where guys in the NFL get mad at me. I say, you know the difference between me and you. Like, everything I say is public, right? My opinions are all how I make my living. You have all similar opinions on different stuff, but you never say any of them publicly. So we're both have similar takes on certain things, yet everyone knows mine. So you're talking shit left and right about half the people you work with and work around and play against, but you never say that publicly. And then when you leak stuff to the press, you. You say anonymous GM Like, I. There's nothing anonymous about anything I've said for a decade now. So I. It's like, I, I get it. It comes with the territory. You're going to piss some people off. But like, part of, like, I've always thought the media can be a bunch of softies. You know, they give it very well. They don't take it very well. Part of giving it, like, if your guy wants to give it back to you in that position for that kid. And I actually saw that he's like 40 years old. It's crazy. In the south, sometimes a guy can Look.
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John Middlekauff
Look 38. Or I mean, look 22. And he's 38 because that haircut. But what was he going to do? He just kind of stood there. Sometimes you can let the guy yell at you. It's part of the deal. Like, what. Who cares? What's. What's Lane going to do? Hit him in the face? The guy was right. He used an analogy that is correct. You know, and I think he even said that Lane called him later that night and apologized and. And then send him a meme of a ho hat. I think part of it. I wonder if Lane was trying to show everybody that he was like, going to stand up for himself. Like, I think actually that had less to do with that guy's hoe as a housewife comment than it did about Lane's insecurity about the whole situation. And ultimately I don't think Lane cares at all. I truly don't. If you're laying right now, think how many enemies and people you would need to do that to over the last like four, four days. Like you, you wouldn't even be able to keep up with it. And once you start, he makes $12 million. Who cares what any of these people say? But like yeah, if you are gonna quote unquote talk some, you gotta take it. And what's guy gets mad at you like okay, it's life. It's not that big a deal. I, I truly believe this. Lane doesn't care that much at all about that comment. I mean truly, because like you said, the guy was proven right. I'd even argue this. Most coaches like they're nomadic by nature. They're not exactly the settle down type. I don't think we will see many Nick Sabins and Dabo Sweeney's anymore. Kirby might be the last of his kind because he went to Georgia. It's the best program. He could probably stay there for 25 years. Is Kirby smart? More likely to be coaching there in 10 years. So he would have been there 20 years or be coaching somewhere else. I also think the elephant in the room now in the profession, you know, 10, 20, 30 years ago, the money has changed so dramatically. It is such a grind to do that job. If you could continue doing that, especially in college and have a hundred million dollars in the bank, you are an all time football addict. Are we going to see some of these guys just get burned out, you know, in their mid-50s because they're like, I've been making $15 million for the last five years. I was already a millionaire before I signed that contract. I just need a year off. I think we're going to see some of that more and more with the amount of money that's getting thrown around. You know, Lane's still trying to prove himself, right? I don't think Lane's. You could argue. I heard Rhys Davis and Pete Damill and Dan Wetzel talking about this like Google Lane's biggest wins of his life. It's like Georgia last year in a season that was nine and three. So it actually didn't mean that much. He knocked Oregon out of the playoffs in like 2011. He won at Oklahoma this year, which pretty good wind though Mattier has not been good since he hurt his hand. Like he doesn't have that many, you know Kirby smarts won a couple championships. So if in like three years, Kirby's like, I, I, I'm burned out. I just need a break. And I even think Georgia would be like, I'll take the year off. You come back when you're ready. You know that. That's the other thing about college football is like Georgia 100% will tell Kirby, like take a year off. We'll just have a replacement for an interim for a year and you come back. Can't make a whole housewife. Most of these coaches, they're always, they get bored. I mean, Bill Barcells coached like seven different teams. Part of the profession. It's not a normal industry at all. Even players, like look at the majority. Most players aren't two team guys their entire career. Most players play for like three or four teams. I do need to tell you about my friends, my partners, the official ticketing app of this podcast, Game Time. And do you want to go to one of these games? Monday Night Football tomorrow is in Vegas. And a huge part of building that stadium was like, we're going to get a bunch of opposing fans to fly into Vegas, spend way too much money and stay in one of these hotels, gamble and come to the games. So if you want to go to a game, even a road game, you can find NFL tickets as low as $100. You can find flash deals, you can search by arena, you can search by the team. Obviously any other sport, any concert, any event you want to go to, they have you covered. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets with game time down the gametime app, create an account and use the code JOHN for $20 off. First purchase terms apply. Again, create an account, redeem the code John for $20 off. Download the game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest price is guaranteed.
Colin Cowherd
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John Middlekauff
And Doug Here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their car insurance and save hundreds of with Liberty Mutual. Fascinating. It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug uh, limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us. Cut the camera. They see us. Only pay for what you need@libertymutual.com Liberty Liberty Liberty Liberty Savings Fairy Unwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates Excludes Massachusetts. Love the show Question for the mailbag. Colin on your on the show Sunday said he likes the head coach and the GM and the, and the roster for the Cleveland Browns. Question, what is there to like? They lose every week. They aren't competitive most games. Why does Stefanski and Barry get so much credit for never having done anything? They drafted a tiny quarterback in the round, in round three. I'm sorry, you, you don't get the benefit of the doubt for that decision. Yeah, man, I, I, I'm with you. They do have good players, right? There's no, this draft class looks good. They do have some interesting players on the roster. To me, the franchise is a complete joke. It is just always the same shit over and over and over again. The, the drafting of the two quarterbacks is pretty embarrassing. Let's be real. Drafting Dylan Gabriel in the third round is one of the crazier draft picks in recent memory. It really is like the Kenny Picketts and Mac Jones guys going in the top 20 that historically would have been third round picks like that. That was insane. Now granted, that was in the peak of quarterback inflation. Like if you have to admit how much you paid for, you know, a car or house a couple years ago, it's like, hey man, peak inflation. It's like, yeah man, cost of doing business, right? But this year, Dylan Gabriel, the third round and then back it up with Shador a couple round. It makes no sense. It's like there's no rhyme or reason. Anything they do. It's like, well, we got Mason Graham and Quinn, Shawn Junkins. It's like, yeah, I like those players, but you don't have any quarterback. You have this guy that's going to go for 25 sacks on a four win team. I think the whole thing is one of the most overrated operations in the league. You know my stance for a long time is they get a little bit of a pass because they're just two highly educated guys from Ivy League schools. And the media kind of sees versions of themselves and highly educated people. So they go, these are, these are us. So yeah, that is you. That's what you guys would look like if you were coaching, running a team. Four wins every year. Great. These other meatheads are winning 12. Hey John, I'm going to need to talk to your guys in San Francisco and investigate what Juwan Jennings is saying. The guys, when they're on the ground. My wife who follows like a million 49 or pages asked me the other day, she's like, what is he saying? I'm Like, I don't know, what could you possibly say to piss people off that much? I mean, it's the nature of the sport. Crazy. I hate the word inappropriate. Something's inappropriate to you that's not inappropriate to me. But things that make people uncomfortable are said all the time in locker rooms, let alone on the field. So for Juwan, like Shelby Harris, when you just watch Shelby Harris's rant, you're like, I kind of. Like, I kind of felt Shelby Harris. But it's like, I need some. Can you give me the evidence? Like, I need to hear some of the words. Like, what is he saying? Is he doing investigative research before the game so he knows what to bring up? I saw John lynch today on local radio in the Bay Area, compare Juwan Jennings to their Draymond Green. So it, it's. He's clearly pisses some people off. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. You'd probably have to ask, like, McCaffrey. More of a comment than a question that I'd love your thoughts on. As we wake up this morning, the top two seeds in the afc, in the top seat in the nfc, all of quarterbacks from last year's draft is more of their ability in year two or three to have an elite coaching now and put in the right position. If goes to show you how quickly a franchise can turn around with the right coach, it does give you a lot more flexibility financially. So having Caleb Williams making 6, $7 million gives you a lot more wiggle room. These other guys making fifty and sixty million dollars there, there is no disputing that. Having Bo Nick's contract allows them to be much more aggressive and partly because they have a bunch of dead money from previous bad contracts. And obviously Drake May this year, they spent a bunch of money. I think as much as obviously, you know, Rabel and Ben Johnson have been awesome. But when you have Drake May or Caleb Williams contract, you can trade for a star left guard. You can, you know, pay for a center. You can just do stuff that gives you more wiggle room. I saw today the Steelers cut Darius Slay, like, they don't have that much wiggle room. So when you give Darius Slay one year $10 million and his cap hit is $10 million, and you give him a $9 million signing bonus, like, that's a pretty big contract. Like, you can do a lot for $9 million, you can get a starter, maybe two out there on the open market. So when you do that, and then by Thanksgiving, he's a Healthy scratch, and by December, he's cut. That's an awful allocation of resources where when you have the wiggle room with the quarterback contract, like, you can miss on a player or two because you just have more room to deal with with the cap. So I think the cap manipulation with the quarterback contract is a massive variable that comes into play for the Bears and the Patriots, who are very aggressive this off season. Is McDermott underrated? That'd be Sean McDermott. He dominated the Steelers with the run game and defense. Yes, the Steelers aren't good, but he seems to dominate almost every AFC opponent except, you know, one of the greatest football dynasties of all time. And he does. He beats them a lot in the regular season. I was thinking this the other day, like, he wins a lot of games and gets, you know, coward does. This puts him right there with Tomlin. Like, the Bills were in the AFC championship game last year. They beat the Ravens. They just happened to lose the Chiefs. They. They lost the Chiefs two years ago. Like, it's the only team they can't beat the playoffs. They're beating all the other teams this year. I'm rooting for the Bills. I hope they go on a little bit of a run. But, like, he's won a lot of playoff games these last three or four years. He just can't beat Kansas City. I think he's lost him, what, four or five years, and the other year to the Bengals, who did house him. That was an embarrassing loss. But, like, he's lost the Chiefs. I had. I like comparing, you know, to Tomlin, who hasn't won a playoff game in a decade. I do think Sean takes a lot of crap. I actually think the GM has let him down. Now. Sean has a big hand in personnel, but their personnel operation has been a little hit or miss. If they were better on personnel, I think they would. They would have made a Super bowl by now. But their personnel department has just has let him down, which he's probably playing a big role. A lot of my fellow 49er fans seem convinced that Salah is gone as a new head coach and he deserves it. But I remind them Spags, who, in my opinion, without him, definitely doesn't beat the 49ers in the super bowl, has been amazing and has no second head coaching job yet. So why does one seem to be on the radar and the other isn't? I mean, I think a huge element is age. I think if Steve Spagnolo was 52 instead of. My guess is he's 64. Steve Spagnolo 65 I, I listen, you're not supposed to legally discriminate for age, but he's getting discriminated for age. He's not getting hired at 65. But Robert Sal is 46 years old. So I mean there's a 20 year age gap. I was thinking if, if Mike Tomlin finally does break up with the Steelers, I saw Albert Brewer say today he's not going to get fired. Even if he's on another team next year, they will not fire him. So let's say he's traded to the Giants. I do think Robert Sala would kind of feel a little Pittsburgh Steelers because you go, well who are the Pittsburgh Steelers going to hire? Well, who have them been? Their last two coaches of my life. I can't speak to Chuck. No. A little before my time. Bill Coward, defensive guy, that jaw, I think former linebacker in the NFL, he's a defensive guy. Mike Tomlin, defensive guy. I can't picture them hiring like Liam Cohen. Like that's, that's not really their style. Now you could argue maybe you should, that's not what they're going to do. They're going to hire a defensive guy. Robert Salah kind of looks like if you didn't know Robert Sala was, you know, a middle of the road, you know, like non power four college football player, you'd be like, I bet they got played for the Steelers like Mike Vrabel. When you say yeah Mike Vrabel played for the Steelers, it's believable. Look at him. Even though now he kind of looks like a first baseman that would have played for the Yankees in like 1983. But Robert Salah looks like he's a former NFL player and specifically played like played for Pittsburgh and Baltimore. Right. So to me Robert Sallow would make a lot of sense for Pittsburgh and he would accept that job yesterday. So there is no guarantee that he's going to get hired. I think depending on the options, like if I'm Robert Sala, would I take the Arizona Cardinals job? I would not, I wouldn't touch that job with a ten foot pole. But would some of these other, I mean I just took the jets job and okay, I got richer but it sucked. So I, I do think he's going to want a more stable operation. I think if you're solid, you'd be all over the Giants. Are the Giants hiring Robert Salah? I, I don't, I don't think they can embarrass Falcons fan. It's clear we need to clean house With Tomlin and Harbaugh clearly needing some resets, should they go for one of them or do they go in the route of Mike McCarthy? But no first round pick next year and panic's hurt. I think it's gonna be hard. I really do. I mean I, I couldn't even begin assuming that everyone gets fired. What they do. I mean their last two coaches have been. Raheem had coached there before, so that, that one made some sense. Though they almost hired Belichick. Maybe the owner's mad that he didn't hire Belichick and now hires Belichick, which would still be a little shocking. You know, I had someone kind of make the plea to me about Mike McCarthy that. Look at Mike McCarthy. Look at. He's been replaced twice and the team got better both times when he left and this year specifically, like Jerry nailed that one. Like, yeah, Mike, I'm not going to extend you. I thought Jerry was kind of crazy. Like I just give him a couple year extension. Not paying this guy anymore. I'm going to go with Brian Schottenheimer. Brian Schottenheimer wins on Thursday. Jerry's gonna look like a genius. I'm a Colts fan and if they don't end up making the playoffs. Is Ballard on the hot seat? He traded two first rounders for Sas Gardner and now he's hurt. Daniel Jones is hurt and the offense doesn't look the same. I would say Ballard, if they completely unravel, everything would be on the table and that would be a disaster. That would be a little like an NBA trade where a guy was on the hot seat. Things were going well. Quadruple down for SaaS Gardner, which I thought was pretty insane. And if they were to just start losing a bunch of games, who they play this week, the Jags, I think it's up to the daughters now. I don't know what their relationship is with them. I'm sure they probably like them. But I would say that he's. He would be in some trouble. Yes. Is that a great job though? You have no. 2 for. You have no first round picks for the next couple years. You would probably start to rebuild and start selling guys off. Watching this train wreck of a Vikings team and Jefferson looks dead inside. Do you think it's realistic that Quesi or KOC are gone after this offseason? I would see no chance that Kevin o' Connell is gone. He would. The Steelers would hire an offensive coach, then the Giants would hire him yesterday. He would. Teams would be lined up to hire Kevin o'. Connell, the gm. Listen, you guys die hards and you guys have a great fan base. I haven't done a deep dive on his drafts. I know people are not high on them. Obviously, for all the picks that have missed, the JJ situation is pretty devastating. But in fairness to him, like blood's just on his hands for that pick. You're not taking JJ McCarthy if Kevin O' Connell is not fully on board as well. So listen, it's hard. You make mistakes. Some mistakes have bigger consequences than others. All of our decisions have have consequences, some good, some bad. Right. The outcome of what we do, when we do it, a lot of times we don't know. And on big decisions, like a draft pick drafting a quarterback in the first round, you're doing that because you have high hopes that this thing is going to work. Like they didn't just keep their fingers crossed. Like we hope they were pretty confident. But it's a draft. You never know if I would have told you that. How many games they play last year? 17 and the other 12. So that's 27. So 29 of Bo Nix is 29 games. His team has won 20 of them. No one would have believed that two years ago. Now obviously the defense is, you know, played a large role in a lot of that action. But still, if J.J. mcCarthy was the Broncos quarterback, they would not have won 20 or 29 games. We'll end on that one. I appreciate everyone and we will be back again tomorrow. Keep firing in those DMS at John Middlekopf and have a great day. Peace. The volume.
Colin Cowherd
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John Middlekauff
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John Middlekauff
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Colin Cowherd
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John Middlekauff
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Date: December 3, 2025
Host: John Middlekauff (Colin Cowherd’s feed)
Structure: Listener mailbag Q&A, heavy NFL and CFB insights
Podcast Link: The Herd
This episode of “The Herd / 3 & Out” is an extended mailbag session hosted by John Middlekauff, driven entirely by listener questions on NFL and college football. Middlekauff tackles topics including the impact of coaching and quarterback continuity, Lane Kiffin’s chaotic exit from Ole Miss, the Browns’ roster debate, and the fate of various reclamation project quarterbacks. Loaded with big-picture insights and candid evaluations, Middlekauff also offers his trademark NFL front-office perspective and locker-room anecdotes.
Timestamp: 04:00 – 10:00
Quote:
“If your play-callers don’t change, your quarterback doesn’t change, your core two or three star players don’t change, you’re kind of cooking with gas. That really, really matters.” – John Middlekauff [06:00]
Timestamp: 10:00 – 13:30
Quote:
“You can’t predict things with bodies … as a GM or coach, you have to go off the information the doctors are telling you.” – John Middlekauff [11:00]
Timestamp: 14:00 – 15:30
Timestamp: 15:30 – 22:00
Notable Quote:
“If you’re married and you start getting worried she’s sleeping around… you either draw a line in the sand or tuck your tail. I think Ole Miss tried to figure it out and had to look in the mirror… We’re getting played here, we’re getting used.” – John Middlekauff [19:30]
Timestamp: 25:00 – 28:30
Quote:
“You can’t resurrect your career in a situation that’s awful. It doesn’t happen.” – John Middlekauff [26:30]
Timestamp: 28:30 – 32:00
Timestamp: 32:00 – 34:20
Timestamp: 35:00 – 37:30
Timestamp: 38:00 – 40:00
Timestamp: 52:24 – 55:30
Quote:
“Four wins every year—great. These other meatheads are winning 12.” [55:00]
Timestamp: 56:00 – 57:20
Timestamp: 57:20 – 58:40
Timestamp: 59:30 – 64:00
Timestamp: 65:00 – 66:30
Middlekauff is casual, blunt, and opinionated—sprinkling in analogies, direct challenges to common narratives, and giving a peek behind the executive curtain on how the NFL really works. He mixes humor with hard truths for a highly digestible hour of sports talk that thrives on interaction and honest debate.
This summary covers content from the main mailbag segments, skipping advertisements and sponsor readouts.