← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
3 & Out - NFL Annual League Meeting Reaction + NFL Offseason Mailbag
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Just go to goldbelly.com and for a limited time get 20% off your first order with promo code gift. That's Promo code gift. The volume. What is going on, my people? How are we doing? John Middlekop three and out podcast. We have, we have the owner's meetings going on down the street at the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona. Which, you know, if Jerry and Kraft and Raj asked me, I, I might have some other options. But it's a historic hotel. Presidents from back in the 60s, 70s, 80s used to stay there. So it probably has some nostalgic qualities to these guys. And it's big I mean it's cool, cool pool scene. But here's the thing. We're going to react to some of the Comments today from McVeigh, Shanahan, Stefanski, something, McCarthy. We had a lot of good stuff coming out because all these coaches talked. At least the NFC guys did. The AFC guys talk tomorrow. And yeah, and we'll do, we'll do some dad Diaries, some mailbag questions at John Middle Cough is the Instagram. If you listen on Collins feed, just subscribe to three and out. If you want to watch run Netflix, hit the alert. You'll never miss an episode. We're going every day so it's very easy to get involved. We had a podcast yesterday, we'll have a podcast tomorrow and we'll just keep on ripping. So let's talk some football. Let's just start with Sean McVeigh who admitted today that the the story that broke several weeks ago that they were shopping devonte Adams was wasn't just true, but he had told devonte Adams where they stood and if they made a move, I. E. To trade for A.J. brown that Devonte Adams would not be on the team because clearly they're not going to have AJ Brown making 29 million, Devonte making close to 25 million and Puka Nukua who even though he hasn't signed a new contract yet, if they're going to keep him around. We just saw the number that, that, that, that Bears. So they were going to have to choose one. And to me that kind of symbolizes the NFL because devonte last year and listen, I'm a devonte guy, been following his career since he was a senior at Pali High School in Northern California. Obviously is his career at Fresno State speaks for itself. And to me he's been had a Hall of Fame level career in the NFL but he led the league last year in touchdowns. Let me repeat that devonte Adams led the NFL in touchdowns. Is his resume of winning at the highest level and excelling in the playoffs is is well established at this point. Yet the Rams came up short and they went can we upgrade? And you could argue A.J. brown is younger. And listen, last year the quarterback situation was not ideal. Clearly he didn't play well. AJ Brown doesn't like him personally and their rapport and connection was really off. We're on the flip side. Devonte dealt with some hamstring issues which he's had over the course of his career, but his connection with Stafford, especially in the red area was second to none. I mean you score 14 touchdowns in a season, it, it doesn't get much better than that. But he only had 60 catches. He only had 800 yards. And I wonder if McVay and Les need are looking at it like, listen, could we short term upgrade, get a younger player and go from there? And you know, AJ had 78 catches and a thousand yards, so not one of his great seasons and half as many touchdowns as devonte. But the reason that they didn't pull the trigger on the A.J. brown trade was kind of like Max Crosby, except they had never agreed to terms because they saw what they needed to see on the information that the Eagles sent over in terms of his MRIs and said, we're not comfortable with this because they're not going to trade an older player who I think one of the reasons they would be trading them is they're not quite comfortable. Can he stay healthy? Can he be consistent? Is he still the same level player? And then go with another guy who has some injury concerns. But isn't this just the NFL? Because my, my first take would be like, why would you mess with something good? Like, clearly devonte, from a leadership standpoint, from a production standpoint, from a scoring point standpoint, doesn't get much better yet. That's not how NFL front offices think. That's not how forward thinking, aggressive organizations, what can we do better? Can, can we upgrade here? Does this upgrade make sense? Is it worth it? And clearly, if A.J. brown's medicals would have been better, I think it's safe to say that A.J. brown would currently be a Ram and who knows where Devonte Adams would be. But here's where I give McVay credit. Because several years ago, when the Jared Goff Stafford thing happened, he did what coaches have always done. He went through the media, through Mike Silver specifically, and other guys, and just kind of on Jared Goff, and it got really ugly, which has happened forever. Still happens in baseball, still happens in basketball, still happens in the NFL. And I think he learned, like, it was kind of embarrassing when he's like, you know what, I could just talk to a man to man and I can tell you that, like, yeah, we're having some differences or yeah, we are exploring some different upgrades here. And ever since then, he's been an open book. Like, yeah, we told devonte that this might go down. We were fully transparent. If you go back to last year during the off season, Sean McVay was like, Listen, this is uncomfortable, but we have a price point because the way our team is built with Matt Stafford, he knows how we feel about him. And he knows that what he will sign if he wants to keep playing for us will be less than he's actually worth. All of this is on the table. We're not running from it, we're not hiding from it, and we're not playing these fucking games through these reporters. We're talking man to man, business partner to business partner. Because ultimately in football, it's no different than any of our industries. You are in business with these individuals. If you're a coach and they're a player, if you're a GM and they're a coach, like, you're all in this together. And the difference of a lot of our jobs is so public. And, you know, people get very sensitive, yet they have a lot of takes, they have a lot of opinions. It's why I've always said when people get mad at me, like, listen, I. Everything I've ever said since I've been doing this is on record. Yet the majority of these guys in the league, the comments they give, and it's one thing to, like, listen, not everyone's going to be open to talk about trades or whatever. I'm talking about the shit they talk through these reporters that then go into the articles in the Athletic like, you ain't putting your name on it, which, listen, it's your prerogative to do whatever you want, but until you're putting your name on everything, like, come on, bro, like, it's. And Sean McVeigh over the last couple years has put his name on everything. And I, I think he's done a really good job. The guy he's become, you know, at 40 years old is clearly a lot different than the guy a couple years ago. I, I saw a quote today he had with Florio and he said this over the last couple years is like, in 2022, if he just would have quit after that bad season and gone into the media, which would have paid him a ton of. To be Al Michael's right hand guy. I mean, he would have made as much if not more to do that working one day a week than working 100 hours a week coaching the Rams. He's like, I, I essentially would have quit and tapped out. I, I would have been a quitter. And everything I was about to have a child, everything I would try to teach them, I would have been a hypocrite. Because the number one thing we all want to teach our children at, you know, at least anyone with, you know, any sense of, you know, desire to have that children go on the right path in life is we don't quit. You know, when times get tough, we kind of battle through it and when you start something, you kind of got to finish it. Like it should be a pretty consistent lesson that was definitely given to my generation off to find out as my son gets older, I'm around other people like if that's still a, a message that, that goes through society. But that is definitely going to be a message in my home when we start. It doesn't mean you have to do everything, but if you are going to start something, you got to see it through. And just because it doesn't go well doesn't mean you can just quit. And I, I know that's very in vogue in this modern day world and this is the pushback in college sports. When times get a little tough, people tap out a lot of different variables there because there's money involved. But I, I, I, I just, I have a lot of respect for the way Sean McVeigh has done business, even though I don't even necessarily agree with this. Like, are, are you sure that you want and listen to A.J. brown when he's on is an elite player, but he's battled some injuries. He can be a little emotional. He's, he's not cheap. You know, it's not like whatever you would have traded for him would have cost you a decent amount. It would have been a pretty risky move. But one thing I will always say, I don't have to agree with your moves, but I do agree with aggression. So if you're going to make aggressive moves, I have to respect it. Now there are aggressive moves that like, are reckless. Like when they gave two a huge contract, when they gave Kyler Murray a big contract, you didn't need to do that. You actually didn't need to get that aggressive. You could have let it play out. It's where Daniel Jones always gets these guys by the balls at the end of his contracts, like, well, you're either gonna have to franchise me or it's gonna cost you $100 million. And for whatever reason, people always, you know, capitulate to his demands. But the one thing with the Rams, they did it with McDuffie. They just take fucking swings. They honestly operate and it doesn't obviously work. I mean all the time. They've only won one super bowl during his nine years of the head coach. They've been to a couple, they were right on the precipice this year of getting back to another. But I just think the way that they Operate. Listen, I'm around Lions fans here. They get very, I, I would say frustrated with Brad Holmes lack of aggression. You know, every team, you know has been some teams lean like Howie Roseman, very aggressive guy. I think people are like John Schneider. Why aren't you more aggressive? It's like, well, I just got to pay a wide receiver $130 million guaranteed and give him $40 million a signing bonus. I'd say that's pretty aggressive. But you can't make everyone happy. And ultimately Devonte's coming back and I think it's easy, easier to welcome these guys back when you're in these positions where you have been honest and transparent with the guy even if he doesn't agree. And that's the one thing football still has because it's, it's an aggressive, contentious environment on a daily basis in the facility. You know, you're getting pushed, you're getting yelled at, you're getting coached hard. So I, I think these guys are actually more open and understanding to hear some tough conversations because they've had to have them, you know, so I, I think that more and more organizations now you need some equity, especially established high priced players to really tell them what you think. But I think it's made Sirianni and Howie dealing with A.J. brown situation much easier. They can be open and honest with the guy, which they clearly have been on the same pages. He's a member of the Eagles. He's a member of the Eagles and honestly, at this, at this pace, maybe he stays a member of the Eagles because they don't feel inclined to trade him any more than they did over the last couple weeks. It doesn't seem like a lot of teams are lined up to do the deal. The other thing, I didn't see McVeigh's comments on this, but Kyle was asked about the Australian game and he basically said what we alluded to last week, like this is what are we doing? He's like, I don't even know if we're gaining a day, losing day. I mean he's kind of being tongue in cheek because he's pissed off. I mean, we're playing a game in a market that we're not broadcasting to because our broadcast partners are based here in the States. So we have to kick off at 10:30 in the morning after a 19 hour flight when we're playing a team that is separated by a 40ish minute plane flight. So I, I, I, I, I am not against international games. I do think there is a line and it does feel, and I'm very pro Australia, like great sports town. It does feel like this is one of those, that it's like, are we kind of crossing the line here? Not that Roger cares, not that the front office cares, not that, you know, this is why Belichick used to always be a pain at these events and never be in the coaching photo and would always, you know, piss people off and raise these different ideas because he always felt that the people, Roger and that crew in New York City couldn't relate to the coaches in the GMs. They had never run a team, they had never coached a team. Most of them obviously never played in the NFL. And there was a disconnect of all you care about is the business. Even if it goes against what makes the sport of football, coaching football, the players of football makes what goes into their job easier or it makes it more difficult on them. And they clearly didn't care. And that's where the owners are kind of caught in this weird spot. They're kind of playing both sides because at the end of the day they're always going to side with the league, league office if it's bringing in more revenue. But this Australian game, it's, this is going to be a point of conversation up until kickoff because these guys, whoever lose that game is going to be bitching and moaning. Had a kickoff early 19 hour flight home. Huge divisional rivalry with two teams who by the time we get to week one are going to be two. You know, the Rams might be legitimately favored, the number one favorite to win the super bowl. And depending on how this Niners draft goes and over the next couple months, who they add, like they'll be a top six or seven team in the betting odds. And you're making them fly fucking how many time zones away the different day doesn't make much sense, but it is what it is. Today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet, Florida's sportsbook. Obviously we talk a lot of NFL and college football here, but we got four teams left in college basketball. Clearly the big favorite is going to come out of the Arizona Michigan game. 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Like, yeah, you guys don't like each other. You want the health of your. Your future relationship as parents to your children. Like, you guys shouldn't live together anymore. You guys don't want to sleep together anymore. Like, divorces can be healthy, right? I've been fired twice. Best thing that ever happened to me. And I understand when you get relieved of your duties or when someone dumps you, it can be very, very emotional. But looking back and listen, I've had time to think on this. Why would you ever want to work for some place or person or company that doesn't want you there? You would never want that. Why would you ever want to be in a relationship with someone who doesn't like you? So the Kyler Murray thing had run its course, just like the Tuatanga by Loa thing had run its course. We see it happen every year where people break up and guys get a new lease on life. Now I listen, we'll Dive into TUA here in a second. I don't believe this is going to work, but we've definitely seen crazier, I. E. Sam Darnold a couple years ago, no one saw that coming. Now I do think it's going to be more difficult for Kyler to just go to Minnesota and thrive. They got Jefferson. They just picked up Jordan, Addison's fifth year option. They're going to have offensive pieces. They got, you know, an offensive play caller who's obviously excellent, but the difference of him and Sam is like, Sam's a pocket quarterback. Sam is enormous. I saw him at the gym two years ago at the Super Bowl. Him and Jared Goff walked right next to each other. It's like those guys are like basically six, five each. It's much easier to see over the line of scrimmage when you're that or 59. I, I'm very similar height to Kyler Murray. If you put me behind Trent Williams or Lane Johnson or Panay Sewell, much more difficult for me to see than a guy that's 6 foot 4. And I just think that this notion that he's going to go there and it's going to go, well, I don't see it. But I also understand that when you get thrown in the mud and you're told you're not good enough, it's, you know, you get two choices in life. You either got to fight or flight. Now it's a little different. It's not like he's fighting for his NFL career in terms of money. He's being paid $36 million this year. So it'd be one thing if, like, he's only making a million dollars and he has to prove that he's still, you know, a 15, 20, $30 million quarterback. He's rich this year. Same thing with Tua, like their, their direct deposits are enormous. So we'll see how it goes. But I, I, I think for any player that when a new administration shows up there and you get cut, like, if that doesn't motivate you, nothing will. Foreign. Is going to be the starter. Week one for the Atlanta Falcons. Stefanski said this morning that the quarterback competition is no different than any other positions. Everyone's competing for every job. He also, you know, preface it by saying, obviously the quarterback competition is impacted by the health of Pennix, who is currently injured, which I actually think is even a bigger advantage for tua. I would stake my claim right now that TUA is going to be the starting quarterback week. And I also think Stefanski, who comes into this new organization, he has no equity. If Tua just starts and looks bad, he's going to take a lot of shit because people are going to go, I get tool was cheap. But do you have any clue what a good quarterback looks like? Do you? Because we just saw you draft this little left hander a year ago who most people thought was an undrafted free agent at best. And Tua, who most people think hasn't been able to play for a couple of years since he got his 17th concussion, you immediately gravitated toward because you think those guys can excel in your offense where it's like, this is still pro football. So even if you know where to go with the football and you know like 1, 2, 3, get rid of the ball and if my first reads not there, I get to my second read. If your arm strength stinks, if you can't move like this thing, like the Kyler thing, I don't believe in it. But there's definitely a scenario where it's like I can see that I 100% could see where it being a little bit electric and them being decent. I don't think they'd be as good as they were a couple of years ago with Sam Darnold, but I could see them being decent. I can't see Tua and the Atlanta Falcons and Stefanski in 2026 working out at all. It is funny that speaking of the Falcons, everyone just thinks Cousins is shot fighter. Old guy Achilles can't play anymore. Gudekins today were like, we would love Kirk Cousins to be our backup. Sean McVay looked in the camera at ESPN, he was sitting with Schrager and was like, Kirk, if you're listening to this, we want you. The Raiders are clearly campaigning to make Cousins the backup for Fernando Mendoza. It shows you as you age. And this is I, I think I alluded to Derek Carr about this a little bit. Cousins has made $300 million, but he could have now like a three or four year career and bank another 20, $30 million. The real world, most places aren't paying that. Even if you're like a high up dude. Some of these banks and these finance worlds like you ain't getting a W2 job that's paying you $8 million. You know, so I, I think Cousins has an incredible opportunity right now because all these guys think about it started with Shanahan, then He went to McVeigh, then he went to Stefanski last year. You know, the last couple years in Atlanta, they hi their play caller Was his name escapes me right now, but he was a McVeigh guy running that offense. Well, think about the NFL now it's like 50% running that offense. So cousin knows it. High character guy, smart guy, can help you learn. Future broadcaster. Probably a pretty tough decision because if your cousins, you go. If I agree to, let's say a two year, 15 million dollar deal with the Raiders, I'm basically just going there to mentor Fernando Mendoza. But more than likely this year, you know, even if things go well, we'd probably win seven, eight games the next year. We'd have some hopes to try to compete for a wild card. So it's like I'm taking the money, but we're not going to win. Even as a backup, if I go to the Packers, I. Right. I think he's. Is he from Wisconsin? Obviously played at Michigan State. He played it. Obviously. The Vikings, you know, has, has connections to that part of the country. They could be pretty good. And you could be part with LaFleur, you know, the offense. He's been your quarterback coach before, Sean McVeigh, who was basically begging you to come there as the backup. Little bit of a culture change, right? He spent so much time Minnesota, Washington, now Atlanta, going across the country in Los Angeles, but he's. I would imagine there are other options for him as well. So it's pretty crazy how you can go from everyone making fun of you to what feels like the number one backup. And I also think when McVay is going, Kirk, come give me a call because like, hey, Jimmy Garoppolo, your contract offers on the table, either sign it or we're just gonna rip it up. Problem is he can't say that because he doesn't really have any other options. And he's basically telling you like, they don't believe in Stetson Bennett, who I, I still think is one of the crazier draft picks in the fifth round that I can remember. Jimmy Haslam, for whatever reason, a couple years ago, I, I think it was a year ago, he called the desean Watson trade a swing and a miss, which was clearly factual. They'd given a bunch of first rounders, they paid him a historic contract. And DeShawn Watson, who at the time was injured, but even before that was objectively terrible, who had went from a really good player with the Texans, who then got in trouble for the massage rub and tugs to becoming the worst quarterback in the NFL. Well, now he's changing his tune, saying he'd go from a, from a swing and a miss. To a home run with Todd Monkin. And I, I think they got to this point where they just refused to eat the money. Almost where he was so stubborn. These, like, I spent all this money on this guy. I'm not going to send him packing like the Denver Broncos did with Russell Wilson, change their franchise like the Miami Dolphins are trying to do with Tua, hoping to change their franchise. And for whatever reason, he was just so headstrong because he's probably mad at himself because he was the guy that okayed it and then signed the contract because no one would have given a fully guaranteed contract as a GM or a coach. The owner was the guy leading the charge that he's just held on for so long. And I do think it could get worse now. He might also say, well, I'm paying the guy. We don't have any other options. We saw Shador play last year that didn't go well. And we've seen Todd with the more mobile quarterback, even though DeSean over the last couple years hasn't really played that mobile of a guy. And now he's coming off a torn Achilles. I feel for Browns fans, it's going to be really ugly. I saw McCarthy who, listen, I love to eat McCarthy. For a guy that, like, takes, usually when a guy takes a year off, it's like, you see him again, like, I gotta slim down a little bit. He's been, been eating healthy, he's been getting good night's sleep, mixing a couple salads. McCarthy gets bigger when he takes his year off. I mean, you see him, I saw him on the set with McAfee, big boy, man, he's got to be pushing like 350. But he said that he talks to Aaron Rodgers all the time, that Aaron Rodgers has been talking to the coaches. I'm recording this, you know, McCarthy's going to talk on Tuesday morning. But I, I, I do think it's fair to say that they're pretty confident, like last year, that Aaron Rodgers are going to be the quarterback back. Now, does that impact them to draft a guy in the third or the fourth round to go, then get Will Howard, Garrett Nussm and Aaron Rodgers and just have some options and let you know, Garrett Nussmire and Will Howard battle it out in training camp. That, that, that would probably be my guess, but watching McCarthy talk today, I, I think it's fair to assume that Aaron Rodgers is going to be there. Some other things going on. Dan Campbell essentially said that Penna is moving to left tackle, which, I mean, it is really, really nice to have. And the Chargers have this with Joe All a guy that can play their position. And once you go to left tackle, you probably never go back. But having the ability to start those guys at right tackle, having them be Pro bowl, all pro level players, and just knowing in your back pocket if you got to make changes, if a guy retires, if you got to cut somebody, if you got to move things around, that guy can always swing around. Because that's not always the case for everybody. Not everyone can play both sides, right? Not every left guard can play right guard, right. Not every right guard can also mix in and play center. And having position, versatility, even as a great player, which Sewell is a great player. The reason you draft him really high and pay him a bunch of money. Kyle Shanahan said that we need to lessen the wear and tear on Christian McAffrey. It's like, Kyle, you're the one that never takes him out. It's like, well, Christian never wants to come out of the game. He's not the coach. You're the one that rides that guy like a Secretariat in the fourth quarter of a game that you're up 20 points or down 20 points, you're the guy that rides them, which I understand. You love him. You love the running game. He's by far your best running back. But there is not a position in the league that is easier to find just a rotational backup than a backup running back. I mean, there are a ton of teams in the NFL whose backup running back could be a starter, let alone the majority of teams in the NFL that just like their backup running back, just a solid player. And for whatever reason, since McCaffrey has got there, the 49ers do not fuck with the number two. Give him a carry here, carry there. But even if he has a big moment, that guy never has a game where he's getting 15 catches when McCaffrey is also healthy in playing. So I don't know if Kyle's going to change. You know, historically, Leopards don't really change their spots. Right. Kyle's been doing this for a long time. And when you watch, he runs, you know, running back like this guy, he runs him into the ground. But he's not wrong. You know, McCaffrey, bunch of injuries, older player, even going back to college, like between the tackles, this guy's taking a lot of hits, a lot of pounding. And we've seen a lot of guys over the course of the last 10, 15, 20 years that drop off can happen quick. So if I'm the 49ers, I think long and hard. If I'm not comfortable with any of the running backs on my roster, I draft a guy in the second round, draft a guy in the third round, and just. But you got to play him. It doesn't make sense to draft a running back, you know, in the third round, and then the guy gets, you know, six touches in a month. So if you are going to do that, you do have to commit to that. And it always gets back. Well, Christian never wants to come out of the game. Well, no shit he doesn't want to come out for the game. I. I don't blame him and I respect it, but it's kind of on you because you can just tell them, Christian, you're out. So and so's in the proposal for the draft picks being five years out. I think the Browns threw that out there. Sean McVeigh said, that has a zero chance of passing. I think that's been yanked because it was clear no one was going to vote for it. Which I think makes less sense in the NFL than it does in the NBA. Right. If I'm an NBA team and I have a star guy who's under 28 years old, unless he has a major injury in a given season, I'm never going to be that bad. We're in the NFL. Like Patrick Mahomes towards ACL at the end of the season, and they went 6 and 11. Like, you just never know. Two years ago, the 49ers went 6 and 11. You just have weird shit happening all the time. It's football. The Patriots won four games, and the next year they were the 2 seed. Football's very fickle even without injuries, let alone with the injuries. So if I was an owner, I. I wouldn't even want to give us the options because you could be sitting there in the offseason like, hey, you know, they said in four years, give it your number one and number two picks. And you could have so and so player. You're like, fuck it. Do you do it? And then that season, all of a sudden you win five games, you're like, I regret that one. And that player's not even in your team anymore. That's the other thing is because these contracts. I mean, last year the Rams signed Devonte Adams to like $25 million a year. He scores 14 touchdowns, and they try to trade him like they. That the football, the, the. The pace in which the roster transactions and turnovers just faster than any other league. Let's I, I did want to hit on a couple things. The coach's photo. For those of you listening on the audio, you might need to pull this up. I, I'm always fascinated by the positioning, typically the Alphas for a long time, you know, I think Coach Reed when he was winning Super Bowls, it's like I run this league now as Bill was getting phased out. Andy's kind of chill now. Like he's in the back. He's standing next to Shanahan and Zach Taylor and behind Joe Brady like he's got nothing to prove. He's got a bad knee. He's just like, I'll come for this photo, then I'm out. I'm not trying to sit in front and center. I will let the Harbaugh brothers and the LaFleur brothers have the front of this photo, which is cool. You get the two sets of brothers. That is cool. Mike McDonald's. Most of these guys are wearing like some sort of nicer button up, maybe like a viori Travis Matthews type pullover, slash collared shirt. Even like Salah has on like a nice kind of well fit hoodie. Some guys like John Harbaugh has a Giants Nike Polo. Mike McDonald is just wearing jeans, tennis shoes and a T shirt like Mike McDonald if this was 9 o' clock at night, could easily go to the circle of death where all the nightclubs are in old Town Scottsdale and buy a booth and hold it down buying bottles. Rabel looks much more like I'm ready to go to a major like very important meeting. He's got your classic loafers, no socks, well fitting pants. Just kind of looks like an Alpha. Sit next to Sean Payton who's wearing shorts. But I think Vrabel wants to show him like if you're going to spread your legs, I'm going to spread my legs a little bit wider. Halfley smart, well put together guy. Not ideal when you're smaller to sit next to variable mentor who for whatever reason I didn't really know what he looked like. I saw him at the combine. Typically when you think defensive guys, you know, you think like d', Amico, you think Vrabel, you just think like tough Sala, you know, just like I'm not with that guy. You know, even Dan Campbell and Harbaugh, they're, they were tight end and quarterback but like they're kind of defensive minded guys, you know, big alphas. Mentor looks like like a computer science nerd. That's what he looks like. Yet he's a great defensive coach. Liam Cohen has this vibe, like, kind of too cool for school. Don't really want to be here. McCarthy just listen again, I'm not trying to rip on fat people. I can become very fat very quickly. He just needs to mix in some healthy foods like you can't. Charles Barkley's been saying this forever. There just aren't fat old people. And McCarthy ain't 48. So you get into your mid-60s. Like, if you look at Coach Reed, he looks dramatically slimmer because as you get older, like you want to maintain this. You got to be careful about what you throw in there. Shane Steichen's hairline is just, you know, receding faster, you know, by the year. Kevin o' Connell ain't far behind him there. Dan Campbell felt like, hey, I gotta go professional. He's probably wearing like a 4x colored shirt just because, I mean, Dan Campbell's normal size is probably 2 or 3. Sirianni looks like he's ready to go play golf. Ben Johnson just looks miserable. One thing I appreciate about Ben Johnson, I've been working on this myself. I told my wife, like, I just wake up, I'm not happy when I wake up. It's not a reflection of you, but like once you have a child, you got to be very cognizant. Like you can't. I, I thrive in a bad mood. But those around you, they feed off me. I kind of set the tone for the house and it's like I really worked on waking up happy, like just trying to be a happy person in the morning. I don't know, I just, I do better work when I'm just angry in the morning and when I say angry, I'm just not always going to smile at 6:30 in the morning. But like your personality, your personality and Ben Johnson just hasn't really faked it. He just, you just look at that photo. It's like I'm here. I kind of have to do this. But this is not really my social scene. Joe Brady, sneaky, Bigger than you think. When I saw him, I don't know, I, I, if you would ask me what size do you think Joe Brady was? I would have been like 5 11, a buck 85. Like just a normal looking, kind of athletic white dude. Look at this picture of him next to Stefanski and little Leflore. I mean, he looks like he's Ray Lewis compared to those guys in terms of size. So underrated how big Joe Brady is. And Brian Schottenheimer's got a big smile. I, I appreciate a Guy with a big smile. And that's where, if you go to the general manager photo, there is not a bigger smile. You would think biggest smile. John Schneider got a good smile. John Schneider's happy. The biggest smile is Howie Roseman. You think like, oh, they just lost in the first round. He's got the same, Howie Roseman's got the vibe of, I'm the best in the league. And if for whatever reason my organization ever turned on me and like wanted to get rid of me, half these guys in this photo with me, their owners would fire to hire me. And I know it, they know it. We all know. I mean, Howie's just, he's like a picking shit, man. Just huge smile. John Lynch. There are guys in this photo. Again, I do this for a living. Most of my friends in the NFL, our personnel people are scouts or, you know, assistant GMs. There are people in this photo, I have no clue who they are. Like, there is a guy between Brett Veach and Adam Peters, this bald guy, I do not know who he is. I, I, I have no clue. There's a guy standing next to Ballard at the end. It goes Ian Cunningham, Chris Ballard, I have no clue. There's a guy, we got Brandon Bean and Joe Shane who work together, you know, in Buffalo, standing next to Joe Ortiz. Another guy at the end of the, next to them. I don't know who it is. I have no clue. Nick Casario, the Houston Texans gm. I, I, I'd be fascinated to see his diet because there is no way he's eaten fried foods. He's not eaten processed sugars. He's not even sneaking in a Dorito here and there. This guy is eating grilled chicken. This guy's eating brown rice, this guy's eating greens. This guy's eating green shakes. This guy's eating like high quality proteins. It, I am much closer to the body types of the two guys you see next to him. Mike Borgonzi and Brian Gudekins, who to me just have like the ideal male body in your late 40s. And the thing I appreciate about Gudikens, my dad loved to fish, loved to fly fish. That was like my version of playing golf. He liked to fish. I got, I don't, I'm not a big fisherman, too bored. And like I've gone deep sea fishing a couple times in my life. I get too sick. So it's just not a sport hobby for me. But my dad used to wear, you know, sunglasses, the polarized one so he could see the trout with the with the string connected. And typically, you know, you see it like an older gentleman. Gutigens is rocking that thing at the GM photo. He just got the string behind his glasses, which shows you, like, I'm all about business. I'm just here to try to improve the Green Bay packers, which I appreciate it. You got spy tech kind of right behind Eric Dacosta that at any moment maybe wants to give him a quick shove. You got Ryan Poles, who just kind of looks like, you know, former tackle Dan Morgan, kind of understated. I was by far beside lynch, the biggest badass in this photo. Ian Cunningham, big smile. Joe Shane, sneaky big smile, like, hey, I kept my job. None of you thought I would. I am still here. Do not sleep on my survival instincts. Yeah, other than that, you got, you got Gladstone next to Veech at the end that are like, I'm not a big socializer. Like, I don't, I'm awkward in these situations, which, which I can appreciate. We're all sometimes more comfortable in certain environments. Gladstone, the Jags gm, feels the most comfortable in his office. Door closed, seven monitors going, statistics, all sorts of shit going on the different screens. You put Gladstone in a situation where everyone's, you know, conversating, everyone maybe having a cocktail, everyone just talking about life and their family and their teams. Not where he thrives. This guy became a GM and didn't even work at the office. He lived in a different state, worked at home. This is your classic millennial work from home. You put in the environment, you know, the Howie's, the John Lynch's, the John Snyders. Those guys came up when you worked around other people. Gladstone thrived in this new environment where no one could point him out of a lineup because no one ever saw him. He never showed up at the office, and now he's in charge of a playoff team. But you get him in this environment, you can just see very awkward, just not comfortable with it and doesn't quite know what to do. You know, you got Elliot Wolf and Andrew Barry. I, I, Everyone tells me Andrew Barry's really smart. His team is just, I feel for him. I mean, you're just the head coach. You're the general manager of the Browns. Maybe it's just a no win situation. DaCosta, I'm telling you, just not the happiest go, lucky guy. I mean, he's just Dacosta, which, which I can appreciate, like, sometimes just like, I can't even fake it. I'm just not a happy individual. Little awkward. Spike deck's Gonna want to grab me after this and just kind of go over some things. Some. He said he heard rumors out there on the streets. And again, back to John Schneider. I just won the Super Bowl. That's me. I, I, I, I fired Pete a couple years. I'm in charge. I'm the champion and yeah. See you guys later tonight for dinner. Can I tell you about my friends at Ethos? As someone that just had a child a couple months ago, you start thinking big picture. You start thinking, I hate to say it, worst case scenarios. And when you become a parent, life insurance is something that you never really wanted to think about, but you really have no choice. And it's really, really important. And something I'm glad I did because Ethos makes getting life insurance fast and easy. It's, it's 100% online. There's no medical exam. You just answer a few simple questions. You can get up to $3 million in coverage. Some policies are as low as $30 a month. Ethos has 4.8 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot with over 3,000 reviews. Better to be safe than sorry. Help protect your family with life insurance through Ethos. Get your instant free', @ethos.com three and out. That is Ethos E T H O S.com the number three and out. Application times and rates may vary. Okay, let's bang out a couple quick mailbag questions At John Middelkoff. At John Middelkoff is the Instagram fire in those DMS and get your questions answered here on the show. I said I was going to do a dad Diaries. My mother in law was in town last week and I mean I, I, I fly her out whenever she wants to come. It's Jennifer. You tell me when, where you want first class, you want a pj? I'll do whatever it takes. We, we need you here. And she's the best. And so we, she was here and Jacket had been like a lot of young kids I guess or young babies. Young infants have like reflex. So you feed him milk and then it sometimes like he seems fine and like 30 minutes later he'll start kind of like he's got stuff in his throat and that's why you gotta burp them. And they have all these different techniques where you kind of put them on the bed, you bend them around, you can put them on your knee and go up and down and you will get the gas, use gas drops and you get these big burps and then if he burps a couple times or he has a Fart. He then is a huge smile and he's completely fine. So we were burping him. We had a couple weeks stretch where it was just bad. And at night sometimes you would feed him, you know, at three in the morning and he couldn't go back to bed because he had this crazy reflex. So she's with him from like three in the morning to five in the morning just trying to get him down because he can't, he can't lay on his back because he's got stuff coming out, all the different ends. And my, my mother in law comes here and she has no issues. She's like, put him in my room. He can sleep through the night. Like well, he hasn't been sleeping that well. He's had this crazy reflex back to back nights, no problems. And then we started watching her, the way she burped him, we were attacking him. It was almost like you were beating your child because you're, you're hitting him on the back really hard trying to get these burps out and kind of working them up. And she just did these subtle little taps like I, I'm telling you, very, very light on his back and he would just have these enormous belches. I'm like, this is muscle memory. You came and just immediately touched his back and got burps where we have been almost mentally breaking down here because we couldn't figure it out. Probably hitting him too hard. It not only not working, it was probably driving the gas bubbles into a spot that couldn't go out either end. God, that was genius. So over the last, since he's left over the last four or five days, just doing light little taps, he's burping left and right, no issues. So word of the wise, you don't have to hit very hard on their back to get them to burp. Question for the pod Die hard Minnesota fan. With the Vikings firing Quesi for poor drafts, why should I ex. Why should I be excited for the upcoming 26 draft when his whole scouting department is still in the building? Would love a breakdown how you think the next month plays out. It's always, you know that one's tricky, right? Because I would imagine their scouting staff has little to no juice. The guys who are going to pick the players in this upcoming draft are Kevin o' Connell and Brian Flores. Even the guy that got elevated to the become the gm, Wasn't he just a contract negotiator? So he's basically just there to run the meetings where Ryan Grixon, who was the Number two in charge. I mean, his history of drafting kind of speaks for itself. So in defense of him, you know, by all accounts, Quesi just wasn't that big on draft meetings, wasn't that big on, you know, a lot of things, and clearly wasn't listen to anybody. But I would say that you just got to hope and pray that Kevin o' Connell and Brian Flores know how to evaluate, because I think you are going to get a heavy dose of their influence in this draft. I think it's less about the scouts than it is about who's pulling the trigger on your first, second and third round pick. Am I nuts for thinking the Bengals will make the super bowl next year? The Ravens and Bills have first year coaches Mahomes returning from a serious injury. There's lots of question marks around Stroud. The Broncos and the Pats will have a harder schedule in 26 and the Chargers can't stay healthy. Surely the Bengals defense is ranked like 17th best. That could be good enough to win the AFC. To me, I, I would need to know two things. How many games does Joe Burrow play and who do they draft with the, with the 12th pick or whatever. They have the 10th. They have the 10th pick. Like, who's their first round pick? If you tell me those two things, I'd be like, yeah, because if you say Joe Burrow, if you're like, he plays 10 games, I'd be like, they're not. You tell me he plays 17 or 16 and you tell me they pick a player, they're like, damn, they got Reuben Bain or they got Caleb Downs. Yeah, their defense could be dramatically better. But to me it all comes down to how many games Burrow play because I mean, last year he just disappeared for the majority of the season. It's no one's fault. I mean, freak injury, but it's happened before. Previous year was the wrist or guys that was two years ago now can't keep up. I mean, he's just, he's had a lot of injuries and defensively, like, do they add a defensive lineman with the high pick or they add a corner? They add a defensive back? I don't know. Do you think the Colts would sign Cousins in case Daniel Jones isn't ready to start the season? I feel like the best situation for Cousins left. Yeah, I mean, I, I think he's got a lot of options. I think he has a lot of options. Shane Steichen and that bald head of his. I don't know who their backup court. I guess they have Riley Leonard I would imagine there's going to go into the season with Daniel Jones. Riley Leonard would be my guess. Do you think Garrett Nessmeyer might end up being the steel of the draft? He had a rough 25 but apparently was playing through several injuries. What round would you feel comfortable drafting him if you were gm? Well clearly he had the. I think it was the abdominal injury last year because coming into the season. Listen, I, I had watched a lot of his, his career up to that point which was basically the one year because Jaden Daniels was the quarterback the previous year but he was good in 24. But the injury, I mean he just didn't play that well and he's not to me his skill set is kind of Kirk Cousins not a very mobile guy. Timing rhythm pocket quarterback. Right. He's. He's kind of a throwback of the Cousins, Jared Goff like those, those players don't really exist. So once he gets an abdominal injury, his accuracy is off. He's not mobile to begin with. Their offensive line was kind of hit or miss which is crazy because they've had some, you know, high drafted players and they couldn't run the ball under Brian Kelly. That's what doesn't make sense to me at LSU and at Alabama. Like you can't run the ball like typically. You guys should both have a running back who's going to be drafted in the first two rounds and a ton of NFL offensive linemen and an NFL tight end like you should dominate in the run game. That should be like your specialty. You're not Texas Tech or Mike Leach at Washington State. What are you doing? I don't quite understand it but in specifically Brian Kelly like DeBoer wants to pass Brian Kelly like you look back at Notre Dame like they were a running offense, run the ball play defense. My guess is Garrett Nussmeier go somewhere third or the fourth round. I would be hesitant in the NFL we're living in to draft quarterbacks who can't move. Like I, I would be pretty pro. Like I need athletic guys. I not talking Lamar Jackson or Kyler Murray, but you gotta be most of these offensive linemen can't really block right. And they're all these teams have a ton of pass rushers. I need my guy to be able to move around. So I. He's not really my type quarterback though I do appreciate and think he's a pretty solid player. I hear this house of cards logic from Coward and Clatt when they slurp the Big Ten as the superior conference to the SEC but if you do a simple research of the past three years, the SEC dominates head to head regular season in college football games against the power 423 and through 25 data the SEC versus the ACC the SEC versus the Big Ten 12 and 6 the SEC versus the Big 128 and 5 I'll give you the Big Ten may have the singular best team the past two seasons for sure, but the conference as a whole. Oh please. And for the people crying about bowl games, go wake your mom to tell her you wet the bed again. I do think it's fair to say these bowl games are very hit or miss and you have to take it like there's context in the non playoff games because if half your team ops out like what do you even. You know the when Georgia beat the out of Florida State in the game a couple years ago when they got left out of the playoff, what was that three years ago Their entire team opted out and they it works for the SEC too. Like all these players, if I'm playing in the random Stanley bowl or the Reef Sandals Bowl, I not most of these guys are not playing anymore. So I don't put as much stock in the bowl games as I do the regular season for sure. I would say this, they have won three straight national champions chips with three different teams. It's I was like Michigan, Ohio State. Okay. Those two best historical programs right in Ohio State is I would say I know they don't win it every year but to me they're currently the bar for college football. I mean just year in year out there feel like the best team in terms of roster. Doesn't mean they're always going to win it. But now you got Indiana just went 16 and out and beat the shit out of Alabama which should be one of your best teams. So I would say at the top I mean they've three straight years, three different teams and that doesn't even count Oregon, who has been a top minimum seven team in the country for 20 years and definitely the last the NIL era. They've been a top five or six program, maybe even higher. They just, they just kind of underwhelm, under landing in these big games. But they are fucking. They ain't going anywhere. So you got Ohio State, you got Oregon, you now have Indiana who's the defending champs. You got Kyle Whittingham in Michigan. My issue with the SEC is their teams like Kirby Smarts a student but his team roster wise clearly isn't the same as it was pre nil. Alabama just has not been the same the last couple of years with DeBoer. They can't run the ball. Their talent doesn't quite look as, you know, as dominant now. Maybe that changes next year. We'll see. You know, LSU has been down, which is a problem. Florida's been really down, which is a problem. So Alabama no longer is a dominant program. Georgia is your best program, but they're not nearly as good as they were three or four years ago. Texas and Sark are just kind of unreliable. A and M. It's like, can you trust their offense? No one with a brain thinks the SEC isn't completely lit. I mean, the Big 12 football conference isn't even in the same universe as the other two. But like part of what the SEC had was we have the most guys getting drafted and we're winning all the national championships. Well, now the Big Ten has won three straight national championships. And what's the draft going to look like this year? I don't know if it's going to be as SEC heavy now. Maybe it's just an off year, but it's going to be pretty big 10 heavy. You know, think about the top 10. Fernando Mendoza, how many Ohio State guys are going to go? You have Reese, you have Sonny Stiles. You know, Caleb Downs is probably a top 15 pick. So that's three of their guys going in the top 15. So that's four Big Ten players. Am I missing? Doesn't Penn State have a guard who's probably going to go in the top 20? I mean, you're going to have eight, nine Big Ten players go in the top 20. So now their high end talent is Oregon's tight end. Oregon is a safety that might go in the first round. It's like, well, who's Bama's best players? What you're going to tell me, Ty Simpson, Proctor, the offensive lineman. It's not quite the same. LSU's talent isn't quite as deep. It's not like they're going six guys, they're going to go in the top 40. Florida's been a disaster. So I, I think it has changed a little bit with the nil. And again, no one's acting like the SEC just sucks now. But the NIL changed the game. We have to acknowledge that NIL changed the game. Foreign. This week you stated winning in college is kind of overrated, I. E. Tim Tebow. Let me, let me phrase this correctly. I don't think it's overrated. It is always important to win. Right? But just because you don't Win doesn't make you a less of a prospect for a guy that's winning because in college historically if you played for one of the top programs, even if you were average, you were going to win. Or if you were a quarterback playing for Mike Leach, you were going to put up the best stats or Hawaii in the run and shoot. So you got to be the way you evaluate quarterbacks is in college isn't just about wins and losses or stats. Would that same apply to Stetson Bennett? His college resume is kind of wild, but he's struggling to retain his backup position. I would say he's not their backup. The way Sean McVeigh talks, he's begging Kirk Cousins to take his job because Jimmy Garoppolo won't sign the contract. Stetson Bennett, if you would have put on Baylor or Arizona or just some random Division 1 Power 4 college team, not only is he not drafted, I don't think anyone's ever heard of him. He played on Georgia who was, I mean just guy for guy will go down as one of the most talented teams of the Internet era. Like you could go just their talent is like Miami when I was a kid level. I mean it was stupid. Every guy on defense is like a first or second round player. The amount of money their defensive players are going to sign second contracts is going to be like historic. Oh, and they got Lab McConkey and Brock Bowers with countless guys on their offensive line drafted. Again. Let's take nothing like Stetson Bennett's a really good college player. To me like I'm not into those type of NFL quarterbacks. I'm just not for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Why don't they just start Will Howard all year win five or six games? We, we get asked this a lot. They're, they're not going to do that. It's like I stopped talking. You know Tomlin and the Steelers over the last couple years should get a divorce. I, that, that conversation just died with me because it was clearly not going to happen until Tomlin finally said like I, I'll give you the divorce papers, I'm out. Peace. But until he did it, like I was done talking about that conversation. The Rooneys told us when Tomlin quit and I, I don't know if that was the press conference before they hired McCarthy or when they hired McCarthy. Like we don't, we don't rebuild here. We just, we, we try to win, we don't tank, we don't take a year off. Organizationally they just, they don't think like that and they're not going to do might be a little too generic. But what about calling the followers the Mailman since you rely on them in the mail back. I don't hate it. I mean the Mailman Karl Malone is one of the better sports nicknames of my youth. Basketball actually had, I mean incredible ones when I was a kid. The Glove. The Mailman was pretty good though. I, I don't hate that. Here are some other listener name ideas. The Threes Audis. I don't hate the Threes. Mailman's not bad. Again, I, I still haven't when I, if I ever heard it, I would know it. And I just, I feel like I've never heard it. It's like that's the one. Not football related, but I recently joined the bald brotherhood. I can't grow a full head of hair, but the hair I do have grows fast. Sick joke, right? I feel you, dog. Do you have any personal recommendations for head shavers? I used to just trim it like with a one probably the first year. The problem is, like you said, if your hair is growing relatively fast every three or four days you got to do it and you're like heads over the toilet or the sink. It's like this kind of sucks. So I mean I've just transitioned to doing it with the Mach 5 or Mach 3. I use the 5 blade one. So I'll, I just do it every couple days. Now again, I, I can go like four or five days without it because I can just wear a hat. But if I, if I had people I was meeting with or stuff I had to do in person, I, I have to shave because I can't have a culdesac. So I just do it in the shower. I go shaving cream all over my head and just let it rip. I ideally there, there's. I mean a lot of people do this at my gym in this, in the steam room. They have razors outside that. That's a, that's a pretty orgasmic shave. Not going to lie. But for the most part, 95% of my shaves, probably even higher than that, are just in the shower. Much easier to shave your head like for me after I work out and I'm sweating than just to dry shave it in the morning. Like if you have to do something like when I do coward show and I just. My alarm goes off at 5:15, you just go right in the shower, shave your head and then go. It's. It's not as comfortable of a shave. And depending like I I have thicker coarse hair. So I, I, I, I don't even think I could shave like every day. I, I have to give it at least like 18, 24 hours or I mean 36, 48 hours, 36. I'm kind of pushing it. So like that two day window is probably ideal. The earliest. There's been a lot of debate whether The Giants at 5 should take either Jeremiah Love or Sonny Styles given the hall of Fame careers of Urlocker, also converted safety and Ladanian Tomlinson having played out. Who would you have chosen? To me taking a running back that high when his success depends on the offensive line as shown with Saquan, the linebacker is the pick. If you told me as the Giants I could have Brian Erlocker or Ladanian Tomlinson, I would take Erlocker and LT is one of my favorite players of all time. The reason being is it's much easier to just find functional running backs. I saw Dan Campbell asked about the Texans reporter, asked him about David Montgomery and he's like, I love David Montgomery. And I, he's like, the Texans got themselves a badass, the ultimate pro. He deserves a chance to be the starter again. And he's like, I'm his biggest fan. But my point is like you can just find all of a sudden members like DeAndre Swift, any good and then you start watch him on the bears like, God, DeAndre shift's not bad. Oh, and this other guy that they drafted in the seventh round, not bad either. Where it's like, it's rare that he's like who's that linebacker? Because most linebackers are kind of average. But when you do get Fred Warner or just whoever, Patrick Willis, just Brian Erlocker. Especially in this day and age where the teams pass a lot to tight ends and running backs so that like 10 yard pass, the line of scrimmage, sideline to sideline, like can you cover it? Erlacher actually is tailor made for today's day and age. So if you told me I got the best version of a running back or a middle linebacker, I'm taking the middle linebacker every day of the week. Now if you just tell me like Jeremiah Love is going to be ladanian Tomlinson and we don't know what Sonny Styles is going to be, then I would take ladanian Thompson. But if you told me best like he's going to be Earlocker, I, I think you'd have to do that. I mean I, but I'm a defensive first guy, I can manipulate the running back guy. I just believe that. And they already have. Tracy's not bad. And, you know, Scatter Boo's coming back from major injury, but you can put together three or four running backs. Matt Nagy comes from Andy Reid. He's gonna pass. New name idea. The chain gang. That's it. That's all I got. I appreciate it. Okay, we will. We will talk tomorrow. Adios. And these coaches are talking bright and early in the morning. And. And we'll see what the AFC guys say. Hopefully everyone has a great day. Talk to you soon. The Volume. This is an I heart podcast. Guaranteed human.