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John Middlekauff
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Trevon Edwards
I'm Trevon Edwards, co host of the new podcast Got Greatest of Their Era with Seth Curry. You don't want to miss our first episode that's out now. We went live from All Star Weekend and had special guest appearance by Steph Curry himself. Steph talked about what separates the truly elite NBA shooters.
Seth Curry
You might as well just count that and get on back on defense.
Trevon Edwards
And we ranked our top five shooters from the 2000s.
Seth Curry
That's so tough. That's why we type these conversations.
Trevon Edwards
Yes, absolutely.
Seth Curry
Love it.
Trevon Edwards
Listen to Goat Greatest of Their era on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Jon Stewart
Catch Jon Stewart back in action on the Daily show and in your ears with the Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. From his hilarious satirical take on today's politics and entertainment to the unique voices of correspondents and contributors, it's your perfect companion to stay on top of what's happening now. Plus, you'll get special content just for podcast listeners, like in depth interviews and a roundup of the week's top headlines. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
John Middlekauff
The volume what is going on everybody? How are we doing? It is a couple hours before the United States America takes on Canada in a little rematch from last week, which is one of the great sporting events I've ever watched. So very, very I've just been sitting at my desk. So many things to do, getting ready for this wedding, bills up the wazoo. HOA Fees, late fees. I'm like, let's just, let's just gamble on American hockey and talk a little football. So that is what I have decided to do. So I started looking around the Internet. I'm like, let's talk some football. I want to get excited. And I sent myself an article that I saw last night when I was eating dinner about something I wanted to talk about today. And I think it ties into just the booming business of football right now. A couple stories that came out over the last, I don't know, 24 hours in regards to the NFL business. And then we will just rapid fire through some other football stories on this fugazi, as the Italians like to say. Fugazi Friday. I like to say fugazi, but fugazi, fugazi, beautiful Friday. And I actually thought about this. Listen, it was a fugazi when I was young and it might be becoming one again because of the time. So we will dive into that. One of my favorite shows of the week. But other than that, next week will be exciting, the combine, which I've been the last couple years, but because my, my wedding is the following week, I just, I got too much stuff to do. Couldn't go. So we will not be at the combine next week, though. I am excited. A lot of stories come out. So it's a, it's a fun week to record podcasts, whether you're there or not. So we will look forward to that. And kind of kicks off, been saying it all week, free agency, maybe get some buzz on some trades. I'm ready because I already missed the games, but, like, there's nothing you can do about that. So we will just enjoy what we got when we got it. Let's start with this is. I've thought about this for a while and listen, it's. It could be factually incorrect, but I can't imagine a business has made more millionaires than the NFL over the last 30, 40 years. Now, maybe there are companies that are invested in, you know, like Apple, you know, some of the major companies in America that a bunch of pensions are involved with. But just in terms of people actually working for that company, W2S, the 32 NFL teams, and I'd probably include the league office. The NFL business is pretty insane right now. Obviously, the players have never been richer and they've never made more money. Same thing goes for coaches. You know, Jerry Jones, when he stole the show at the Brian Schottenheimer press conference, he said that the reason he didn't get into coaching because remember, you know, a lot of especially younger listeners and viewers don't realize Jerry Jones once upon a time was on the Arkansas team that won the national championship in college. Like Jerry Jones has a national championship ring as a player in college. So he wasn't just some Joe Schmo businessman. Like this guy played college football at a really, really high level. Granted, times were a little different. Offensive lineman might have weighed 240 pounds, but still at the time, it's all relative. He was on an Arkansas team that wasn't, that won the natty. And Jerry said that like a lot of my friends went into coaching, but I always aspired to live in bigger houses and drive nicer cars. And essentially if I would have known what these guys are making now, I might have got into coaching because I see what we're paying them. And it's not just head coaches making 8, 10, 15, $20 million. I would imagine it changes per team, but two to four coaches of staff, non head coach, are making seven figs. Obviously general managers make a lot of money. And the amount of people making millions of dollars associated with the NFL, it's pretty nuts. Listen, indirectly I didn't make very much when I worked in the NFL, but I've made a lot of money, a lot more money. You know, being in this business just talking about football and you know, the biggest sports podcast, I mean the biggest sports podcast right now, pardon my take, is an NFL football show. You know, Pat McAfee, it's a football driven show, like Football is the cash cow. And nothing speaks more of that than the news that came out yesterday that, that the NFL salary cap will be somewhere between 275 and $282 million. And that, number one, just sounds massive, but when you put it into context, 10 years ago, 2015, so not that long ago, NFL was doing well then, the salary cap was $140 million. Hell, three years ago, the salary cap was barely over $200 million. It has risen over $70 million in the last three years. And honestly, if you look at the last five years, it would have gone a lot higher if it wouldn't have been for 2020 and 2021, where the salary cap actually went the wrong way for a year in 2021 because of the diminished revenues because of the Rona. So football right now, like, you know, these players, it is not just the super high end guys, the Justin Jeffersons, the Micah Parsons, the Miles Garretts, obviously, relatively speaking, Reggie White, Troy Aikman, Steve Young, Brett Favre, Peyton Banning, whoever at the time was always making a lot of money, right? But it's the mid tier guy. I remember last year when guards, when good starting guards were getting $18 million. Like, holy shit. You know, the NBA, the average salary is $12 million. And clearly there are a lot of guys making 30, 40, $50 million. There's only 12 guys on the team, right? There are only seven, eight guys that actually play. So given the size of the roster, 53 guys, I mean, the veteran minimum, when you're like a seventh round pick, even Brock Purdy, who was the last pick in the draft, by his, like third year, he was making a million dollars. And everyone's like, laughing. He makes nothing. In relative to his position, he does not. But relative to being the last pick in the draft, even if you hadn't become a starting quarterback, if you had just made the team, you'd be making a million dollars, you know, so it's, it is a great time to be involved in football. And the good thing, and this is why the other story I saw is that Jed York, and he's not alone, but we'll just use him as an example. The NFL passed the rule recently that you could sell pieces of your team to private investors, right? Private equity, venture capitalism, right? You could get, hey, you don't actually get anything. You don't get to decide when I hire a fire coach. You have no say in free agency or the NFL draft, but you get to say, like, you're part owner. Brady. Somewhat unique is that Mark Davis actively wants him to be involved. But most of these guys that are just money dudes cutting checks have no juice. I mean, none. When I was at the super bowl, it was with some buddies from the Eagles. Like I remember, we had minority owners and they're still involved and the same guys are still around. And it has been very lucrative for them to be involved with the Philadelphia Eagles for the last 20, 25 years as minority owners for Jeffrey Lurie. But they have absolutely no say. They get a little seat in the draft room, they show up to some games, but in terms of, like, Nick Sirianni status, no one cares what they think. And that goes for all these teams and Jed York who think about this. Eddie DeBartolo, who got the money from his father, might add some mob ties in Youngstown, Ohio, bought the 49ers in 1977 for $13 million, which I wasn't alive in 1977, I would imagine $13 million was a lot of money. And obviously the Power of tv, the revenue, like it wasn't. It's so easy to look back and go, no brainer at the time. It's. I can't imagine the NFL was some foolproof business that was like recession proof and like a great, viewed as a great investment. But $13 million, $13 million. And that's what he paid for it. And on the current valuation, it has a potential to be almost $9 billion. So Jed York, who is thinking about selling 10% of the team, is in play to get between, you know, we'll see where the valuation falls, but between 8 and $900 million of a cash infusion to his business. And he can obviously do whatever he wants with that money. And I think Jeffrey Lurie is going to do the same. John Maher is going to do the same. The advantage of being able to do that is, and we had Jake Rosenberg on the podcast, who was Howie Roseman's like right hand man and salary cap negotiator for a long, long time is you can get around salary cap situations when you're willing to sign enormous signing bonuses. And what do you need to sign? You know, a signing bonus, cash. So some teams, and Jed and Jerry Jones and even Robert Kraft have taken a lot of shit of like they actually don't spend as much cash as the wealth of their franchise where Jeffrey Lurie's running circles around them, he puts a lot of cash into his contracts and that's how they're able to sign all these good players, because you can manipulate it. And I would imagine Jed York is going to do the same. Now, it doesn't mean you can't buy $100 million, yacht or whatever, but where you can really take advantage of the value of your franchise is reinvest it into the business and sign players to contracts because of signing bonuses. That gets them on your team even though you might not have, quote, unquote, the salary cap space. But think about where we're at in the business of the NFL that you can sell a percentage 5, 10% and get an infusion of 500, 600, $800 million and give up absolutely nothing. I've never been the biggest Shark Tank watcher, but it's just on so often. I just found myself over the years watching some episodes and as I got older, I appreciated partnerships and business and who owns the revenue a lot more from 35 to 40 than I did when I was 28. So, you know, I could relate a little bit more at least to the conversations. And usually when it's like, hey, my business is worth a million dollars. If you want 20%, it's going to cost you 200 grand. And then they would negotiate back. And usually it's like, yeah, I'll give you $250,000, but I want, you know, say, I want board seats and I want a lot of juice. You get none of that with this NFL investment. You basically just get to say, I own a piece of T Max. It's why the league made such a big deal of the Raiders and Tom Brady when they felt like Mark Davis was giving Tom Brady a deal just because he wanted him as part of his operation. It's like, Mark, you can't sell him a lower percentage of the actual valuation and give him a higher percentage of the buy. And the league pushed back on it, and they had to, like, redo the deal. And I think part of it is Tom Brady. Listen, I don't know how much actual tangible cash he gave through, but he clearly came in with other investors that have a lot more money than him. Because the price of admission to get 5 or 10%, you're talking half a billion dollars minimum. A lot of these franchises, even the shitty ones, right? The 49ers are obviously one of the more valuable franchises in the NFL, given the market size, given the fan base, given just the financial backing that they have in the region. With Silicon Valley literally right in their. I mean, that's where they are. I don't love the location of the stadium, but that's because I'm, you know, born and raised way farther up north, right? There's a big difference. Even if it's only 45, 50 miles from where I live for a decade, I fucking hated driving down there. But that is where most of the money is. And Jed York was no dummy when he moved it down. And I think it's led to a franchise being worth 8, 9 billion dollars. But a lot of these franchises are giants price similar. Seven, eight. You know, the Cowboys, obviously, we were 910. Hell, the Raiders, who haven't won a playoff game in multiple decades, given Vegas, given the stadium, given the no state income tax, if Mark Davis put the Vegas Raiders up for sale, I think at minimum he would get $8 billion. So then, listen, can this maintain forever? I've often thought, like, I've lived long enough to know the NFL probably the next 40 years of my life. Knock on Woods. I go that far. Like, when I'm 80 years old, are they still the dominant property? You'd be crazy just to feel confident saying that, but right now they feel pretty untouchable. And listen, we can go back and forth and we will during free agency. This guy's getting screwed. This guy's getting screwed. Like T. Higgins. He's really getting screwed. Well, even if they franchise him again, which, listen, I think franchising a guy back to back years is moronic business. Like you're bad at the business of the NFL if you franchise a guy back to back years, mainly because you clearly want them on your team. And if you franchise T. Higgins back to back years, you're basically paying him $48 million and both the lump sums of 21 and now $26 million hits all of your cap. Meanwhile you got like the AJ Browns and these other guys making big money and their cap hit is way lower. T. Higgins total, like if you would have signed him last year, you probably could have got him for $75 million guaranteed. Instead you're paying him on a yearly basis. That's impacting your like, it's just stupid. It's. To me it's just low level business. But like, listen, like T. Higgins won't love getting franchise and I'm sure like go back and forth in, you know, publicly like, oh, this bullshit. We're getting screwed. He will have just made almost $50 million in guaranteed cold hard cash in his bank account, well after taxes, whatever that comes out to, but still, like, he will have made a boatload of money. I bet there are great wide receivers in the 2000s and definitely in the 90s that never sniffed making $50 million. Like let's just, just look up Jerry Rice career earnings. My guess would BE I'll go $48 million. I was high. It was $43.5 million. And Jerry Rice obviously was drafted in 84, but he played at a Pro bowl level up till the early 2000s. Now $45 million back in the 90s was lot of money, but relative to what these guys are making, it's a completely different world. And like I said, franchise tagging a guy back to back years to me is just is poor management. It's poor ownership, poor GMing. Like I don't put that on T. Higgins and I don't know even if they had an offer, you never know quite know what to believe. But if you're willing to franchise them a second time, and I would say this for any player, wide receiver, tackle, quarterback, you name it, you might as well have just signed them to the long term deal because you pay a little bit more total in the guarantee. But you're able to manipulate the cap and have a better football team. And look back in the day with Dan Snyder in the in the Redskins with Kirk Cousins, like that was stupid to franchise him twice. You should have just extended them and clearly that would have been the right move at the time. Who's scoring big in the NBA this season? You are with the all new ways to get in on the action at DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. 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Trevon Edwards
What's up, everybody? I'm Trevon Edwards, co host of the new podcast Got Greatest of Their Era with Seth Curry. You don't want to miss our first episode that's out now. We went live from All Star Weekend and had special guest appearance by Steph Curry himself. Steph talked about what separates the truly elite NBA shooters.
Seth Curry
When you have a scouting report and you're on the list as not just a shooter, but we have specific rules for how we guard you. There's a fear factor that's associated with anytime you're wide open. Like, you might as well just count that and get back on defense.
Trevon Edwards
And we ranked our top five shooters from the 2000s.
Seth Curry
Peja 5 Dirk 4.
John Middlekauff
Peja is elite.
Trevon Edwards
Okay, okay, I'm mad him. I left him off my list, but I still like my list. You won't believe who Steph left off his list.
Seth Curry
That's so tough. That's why we have these conversations. That's why we love it.
Trevon Edwards
Listen to Goat Greatest of their era on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Andrew Seaman
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John Middlekauff
People are forming opinions of you even before you log into the Zoom or walk into the room. And so you really have to think about what is it I want to display? You don't plant a garden and then just walk away and expect it to thrive. You are in there pulling out the weeds. You're pruning it, you're watering it. It's the same thing with your network. You should always be in there actively managing your network. If you don't feel confident to say a number, even admitting that to a recruiter is going to be far better than saying, well, what is your budget for the role? A lot is in the follow up, right? Don't wait to follow up.
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John Middlekauff
A couple other stories Story out of Minnesota. I saw a beat writer and I think this is pretty clear that this is gonna happen. They're going to let and it shows you. Like, it's my favorite part about sports, but specifically like in basketball, it doesn't matter. Like, I've seen guys play bad and still get max contracts. It's like, wait, you're paying him how much Playing Bradley built like Zion Williamson. He's been injured constantly and can't stop eating. You're going to give him $200 million? Is this good business? And the answer is always typically no. But they still do it in football. Like, you got to produce. And even then we argue about business. But the moment you show signs of like something off here, something a little weird. And Sam Darnold, no disputing the Lions game, he was atrocious. I do think the playoff game, him and the coach could have been better. The coach called a poor game, but regardless, Sam did not play like he had played most of the season. And now all signs like, we're going to let you hit free agency and see what you can get. And I would imagine that some team, even if it's just a couple years, would give them, I don't know, two years, 65, 70 million dollars. And by then, Minnesota price lets them walk. And that's why they signed Daniel Jones. But shows you how fast that changes. Because I remember doing the podcast with Colin 10 minutes after he made that unreal throw to beat Seattle at Seattle on that Sunday afternoon game. You're like, Sam Darnold gonna win the fucking mvp. And everyone was watching those last two games, two primetime games. Remember they played Sunday night against the Lions and he was atrocious. And then the playoff game. Now, granted, the Rams Defense was bringing it. But listen, I think Vikings need to figure out their offensive line. But listen, even if you. I understand, like regardless, Minnesota can do whatever. Like, I think it's pretty easy to justify. Listen, we drafted this guy high going at it. You're going to depend on a player who was on a dominant college football team. So his two years starting, I bet when it's all said and done, you will have 20 plus guys that he played with over those two years as the full time starter that will be starting in the NFL. A team that did not lose many games, right? The only games that I can remember them losing now are tcu, which was an awful loss and that was it. I mean they didn't lose a game the second year and he was not tasked with like, hey bro, this is going to be one of those games. Our defense is playing like shit and we're going to need 35 points and I know we got Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, but you're going to have to carry us. You're going to have to make throws, blitzes, third and longs. Like buckle up buttercup. He's never had to do that. And not saying that he can't because he can learn too. But like they're going to come in next season with goals of they just were competing to be the number one overall seat and now it's like, oh, we're just cool with what, winning nine games? And hell no. Like you have a team that is ready made to just be competitive and that's a lot of pressure to put on a young player who's never started an NFL game. And even in college, like the one thing with Mahomes playing on such a shitty team, it was like, bro, you got to carry us, right? For us to have a shot, you got to be elite. Same Lamar Jackson, same thing. Like Louisville team. Like he had to be awesome, right? Josh Allen just got to do whatever he wanted in college. Just learn. Like that's not how J.J. mcCarthy played. It was like Jim Harbaugh, another run outside, outside 36 power. Power again. Power again. Let's run 37 power this time. There's a lot of risk involved and I'm fascinated to watch it play out because I love, you know, interesting stories in the NFL. And you tell me JJ McCarthy starting week one, coming off the knee injury where he looked like he weighed 150 pounds in that game against the Lions when he was on the sideline, I'll be tuning in. Eagles and the Saints. The Saints have hired Doug Nussmeier. Who I. I love Doug Nussmeier. I've known him. My first year at Fresno State, he was our offensive coordinator and I saw him last year at the combine. He's always been a big supporter of me and listens to my stuff and he's the man. So it's cool to watch his son who was, I mean, couldn't have been, I don't know, three or four or five max when he was. When he was the offensive coordinator of Fresno State and he was running around. So he's obviously the quarterback now at lsu, Doug was actually drafted. He was a star player in Idaho. And at the time in the 90s, they were like D1, double A, like what Montana and North Dakota State is. He was a fourth round pick. And him and Kellen obviously have a really, really close relationship and leaves the Eagles. I mean, he went to Philly because of Kellen Moore. He went to the Chargers because of Kellen Moore. Now he's the offensive coordinator and kind of getting the band back together there. And Kevin Patullo, I think I'm saying that name right, has, who's worked with, you know, Sirianni over the years has been elevated. This is a tough job. You know, the thing with Kellen Moore, you know, I got, I got a buddy on the staff with separate from Nuss, who actually thinks. And I thought this last year, if they were healthy, they are much better than people think. Now they got cap issues and we'll have to see, you know, Kellen, what they end up doing with Derek Carr. Crazy connections. You know, Kellen Moore played against Derek in college at Boise and Fresno. Nuss Meyer was like recruiting Derek, who was a senior in high school when Doug was at Fresno State. But the thing is, like, if you keep Derek on the team, you pay him $40 million. And like, listen, I'm not some Derek Carr hater. Even though I think he thinks, even though I've known him for 15 years, thinks I am. Blocked me on Twitter. There's more like I was negative toward the Raiders than him. But paying Derek Carr $40 million based on the way he's played recently seems kind of crazy. So we'll have to see, but who else? What are they going to do? Go with Spencer Rattler? That seems pretty bold if I was a betting man. I guess you just roll with Derek one more year. But who knows? The NFL is crazy. I think the Eagles, it's a tough job, man. You know, there's. I know they've won, obviously the Super Bowl a couple weeks ago, but it's just one of those gigs where everyone's paying attention and it's just a polarizing spot. And it's an intense spot, not just because of the owner, the gm, but because of the firepower you have because of Jalen. Like, he's just a polarizing player. You got, you know, star wide receiver, star tight end Saquon Barkley. It's just not an easy spot to be, you know, especially when your head coach is an offensive guy, but he does not call the plays. It just, It's. It's. It can be good and bad, right? We saw in three years, two guys became head coaches and the other got fired, and no one knows where he's at. I would imagine Brian Johnson's coaching somewhere, but it just shows you how fast, like, two guys, head coaches, one guy fired, and like, no one's making the offensive coordinator. Shows you how, like, this job goes. There's no middle ground. Like, oh, yeah, he's doing pretty good. He's like, just solid. He's type guy we'd want. It's like, no, this guy fucking blows. And he might not even be that bad, but everyone thinks that. Or you're just like, you're just going to become a head coach. So I don't obviously blame him for taking. It wasn't even a choice. Like, you want the head coach, you want the offensive coordinator job? Hell yeah. Last story on football. You know, there was a meeting. They had like a conference kind of get together convention of all the heavy hitters in college football. I think this last couple days in New Orleans and clearly trying to figure out, like, how do we do better with the College Football Playoff and the NIL contract situation. Like, let's face it, two things can be true. No one cares if these kids get paid. Like, no one. That matters. Like, just pay the kids whatever. But Nil this, and I've seen Dion say this like, nil's bullshit. We need to stop calling it Nil. He's like, I see like three total kids on commercials, right? This is just a salary. Like, I'm just giving you 400 grand to be a wide receiver. You're not on commercials. I'm not using your name, image, and likeness. I'm just paying you to play. But, like, for example, you, me, most people in a lot of industries, I guess some of you listening aren't on quote, unquote contracts. You might be an AT Will employee, so you technically get fired, whatever. But, for example, like, I sign a contract, and we have parameters to the deal. And for whatever reason, all the industries I've worked in post college have been like that, right? A one year deal, a two year deal, three year deal, five year, whatever. And you can't just leave after you. I couldn't just go to the competition. I couldn't just, hey, they're offering me 5x, maybe I could but I have to go to court if they wanted to fight it. And that's clearly not the way that's happening in college football. Like I can just be like, yeah, I'll take your 600 grand. And then, I mean I've heard of stories from people around college football that a guy will take the nil early enroll and you know, so for the spring this will be a high school kid and then be in the transfer portal at the end of spring ball. Like this we got to fix somewhat like you don't need to just stay forever and if your coach ever leaves to a better job or gets fired, no problem with you being allowed to leave. But if I give you $800,000, I can't sign you to a multi year contract. It's the way it works in the NFL. So clearly they got a lot of work to do in spring ball, which is important, you know, in college football because you wear pads and especially for your younger players that have not played that might become starters like, or even guys that are just backups that are going to be starters in the fall. Arch Manning. This is an enormous spring, but Texas and USC and I'm probably missing a bunch of other programs are not having a spring spring game. Not because they don't want to have a practice or a, you know, simulated scrimmage because they don't want it to be on television for you to watch and scout their players. Not because we're going to play you in the fall. And I want to know the strengths and weaknesses of the new right guard or what, what's the outside linebacker? What's he look like coming off the edge? No, because I will poach that guy and try to get him to go in the transfer portal before the summer starts. So when that starts happening it's like we got fucking problems. And college football for is awesome and the explosion and its importance and obviously it's the second biggest sport in America. It's just in a weird spot and it's just, it just doesn't feel healthy. Even though financially it would say otherwise. Okay, let's, let's end with my fugazi. Fugazi Friday. I was thinking about this because when I was a kid and I've talked about this for a long time. Like it was right in between the time of the Internet. You know, computers were kind of hitting the scene, but the Internet wasn't really strong. And then the Internet really took off kind of right my senior year in college or senior year in high school and then when I went to college, but even when I was in college, like online classes and stuff like that didn't really exist like they would 10 years later and definitely now. But I remember like in high school writing papers and stuff that were like in cursive, right? Instead of like, I'm not a great typer. Luckily my business, like I don't have to type a lot. And most of my notes that I do for this business I use on hand or just like a note app on my phone. But looking back, if you could have been forward thinking, everyone in my high school classes like, and the majority of high school classes should have been very singular focus toward technology, but it was honestly kind of the opposite. And I was listening to a podcast the other day, the, the all in podcast. And they're like, can you imagine how outdated? And listen, some of you that have like junior high kids and definitely high school kids, the just regular curriculum is in school for what these kids are going to do. And normal people have been saying forever, like, shouldn't we teach like financial literacy in starting in like junior high and high school, like why should we wait till college? And the answer is always, well, they kind of want little worker beast. They actually don't want you to know that. And I think there's some truth to that. But like with the explosion of artificial intelligence, which I like most people in one way or another use all the time, do we need to know what we used to need to know? When I can just type in a question and immediately get the answer and listen, there are some professions, like becoming an architect, building a bridge, where levels of Math, geometry, calculus, calculus 1, calculus 2 are going to be very important, right? No different than being a doctor. There is a level of focus school that you are going to need to go on to, you know, repair my meniscus or if I, you know, break a clavicle or have a heart attack, you'd be able to work on me. But most of us are not going to do that. I remember my senior year in high school, there was a class called APR History. The class was a fucking joke. Every single person got an A. But in AP classes you would get like an extra point. So it'd be worth like instead of a four, it'd be worth a five. So it would, you know, boost your gpa. So my GPA when I was applying to college, instead of being like a 3, 4 with the extra AP class I remember boosted up to like a 3, 8, I was really probably more like a 2, 5 student. And I just look back like, why one, this class was stupid. I don't need to know any of this stuff. And if I did, I could just look it up. So one thing we are going to have to figure out is, and listen, I probably have kids here pretty soon or at least attempt to. We'll see if little swimmers can swim. But we got to rethink all this and technology. And the thing they were saying on the all in podcast is like, and listen, these really smart people way smarter than me and clearly are in different worlds and use this AI way more than me. It is going to wipe out and make a lot of the stuff you learn in school pretty irrelevant. And I think we got to embrace it and embrace it pretty fast. So I've often thought and listen, education for me, you're talking with a guy with multiple degrees. Pretty irrelevant to my life. And beside like going to college and socializing with people I do not know and trying to date girls that I have no background with and didn't grow up around, I learned little to nothing that I apply to in my adult life. So that's college, let alone high school where I learned nothing. Besides, again, I'm not anti learning to read. There are a lot of studies coming out that almost half of 8th graders can't read at a basic level. Obviously that's a problem. There are some basic fundamentals that you need to learn in your youth and we need to teach kids. But there is a lot of complete waste. And I was on this early because I remember sitting in class like 14, 16, like, this is so stupid. But I couldn't get bad grades because my dad probably would kick my ass. So I had to attempt to try in high school or hustle and find a way to get with good groups and group projects. But I remember thinking it was BS 20 years ago. I can't even imagine now technology, like if you are, if everything isn't technologically based for most of these people, I think we're wasting our time. So you talk about a fugazi. If they ain't changing. And let's face it, a lot of these people, they don't like to change. We're gonna have problems coming down the pike. Time and time again, detection based cybersecurity solutions have failed to stop ransomware. It's time to rethink your posture. 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Trevon Edwards
What's up everybody? I'm Trevon Edwards, co host of the new podcast Got Greatest of Their Era with Seth Curry. You don't want to miss our first episode that's out now. We went live from All Star Weekend and had special guest appearance by Steph Curry himself. Steph talked about what separates the truly elite NBA shooters.
Seth Curry
When you have a scouting report and you're on the list as not just a shooter, but we have specific rules for how we guard you. There's a fear factor that's associated with it. Anytime you're wide open like, you might as well just count that and get back on defense.
Trevon Edwards
And we ranked our top five shooters from the 2000s.
Seth Curry
Peja 5 Dirk 4 Peja is elite.
Trevon Edwards
Okay, okay, I'm mad him. I left him off my list, but I still like my list. You won't believe who Steph left off his list.
Seth Curry
That's so tough. That's why we tap these conversations.
Trevon Edwards
Yes, absolutely.
Seth Curry
Love it.
Trevon Edwards
Listen to Goat Greatest of their era on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Andrew Seaman
Did you know that companies hire the most in the first two months of the year? Or that nearly half of workers are worried about being left behind? I am Andrew Seaman, LinkedIn's editor at large for jobs and career development, and my show Get Hired brings you all the information you need to, well, Get Hired.
John Middlekauff
People are forming opinions of you even before you log into the zoom or walk into the room. And so you really have to think about what is it I want to display. You don't plant a garden and then just walk away and expect it to thrive. You are in there pulling out the weeds. You're pruning it, you're watering it. It's the same thing with your network. You should always be in there actively managing your network. If you don't feel confident to say a number, even admitting that to a recruiter is going to be far better than saying, well, what is your budget for the role, a lot is in the follow up, right? Don't wait to follow up.
Andrew Seaman
Whether you're a new grad, an established professional, or contemplating a career change, Get Hired is for you. Listen to Get Hired with Andrew seaman on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you like to listen.
John Middlekauff
As a small business owner, you don't have the luxury of just clocking out early. Your business is always on your mind. So when you're hiring, you need a partner that grinds just as hard as you. That hiring partner is LinkedIn Jobs. When you clock out, LinkedIn clocks in. LinkedIn makes it easy to post your job for free and share it with your network to get qualified candidates that you can manage all in one place. I've been grinding on this little business called the three and out podcast now for years and we have a ton of guys that work behind the scenes. And I understand the importance of not just getting qualified candidates, but getting the right people for your job. And based on LinkedIn data, 72% of small businesses using LinkedIn say that LinkedIn helps them find quality candidates. We have used it for this podcast for the volume, and it has worked because you need qualified candidates. At the end of the day, the most important thing your small business is the quality candidates. And with LinkedIn you can feel confident that you're getting the best. So find out why more than 2 1/2 million small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring every day. Find your next great hire on LinkedIn. Post your job for free@LinkedIn.com John that's LinkedIn.com Johan to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Okay, let's dive into a little thing we like to call the middle cough. Mailbag@johnmittlekoff is the Instagram. Fire in those DMs. Get on the show again. Mailbag. Just my name at John Middlekopf. Fire in those DMs. Get your questions answered here. Let's start with Garrett. Question for the bag. I'm a Cowboy fan that understands how much of a disaster our team is right now. But I have a lot of confidence in Dakota Prescott. It just seems to me that even though we have problems, people forget how good we can be when he's healthy. His last full season he was the runner up MVP to Lamar. He had much better stats and we had 12 wins. So my question is, where do you rank Dak? Out of all the quarterbacks in the NFL, he's the highest paid quarterback. And even though he shouldn't be, he's Paid large for a reason. Yeah, I mean I, I think the problem for Dak Prescott is He had the three year stretch with McCarthy where he was really good and I'm pulling up a stats right now. And then he shit the bed in the playoffs. I mean those two Niner games were pretty bad and the Packer game wasn't great either. So basically from 21 to 23 he was 37 and 10, 22 actually he wasn't great 23 and 5, but he got injured that year and then, then he was 36 and 9. So like two of those three years, 21, 37 and 10 and 36 and 9, like that's a really high level season. It really is. Like that's, that's really good. And then they lose in the playoffs. So I, I, I, I think the problem is he can have stretches. Remember was it two years ago when did he beat Philly at Philly? The year that they won the division. I think it's the playoffs just really leads. Leaves a bad taste in people's mouths. And so it's like when we talk about Dak, it's hard to talk about 37 and 9 or 36 and 10 or whatever, his great seasons under McCarthy and it's more like what happens in these big games when he does. He looks like a shell of himself and he turns the ball over a lot. I mean to go in 20, 23, 36 and nine. And then it wasn't all his fault in the Packer game, but the 37 and 10 year, I think he threw two picks. So he threw, he's thrown five interceptions in that three year stretch with McCarthy making the playoffs, it's pretty bad. It really is. I think when he's right, yeah, he's somewhere between 6 to 10ish, he's good. And then he just turns into a different player in the playoffs. Like that's not really debatable at this point. Griffin. What up die hard Trojan fan? Fight on. Got in your podcast. Listen to you on the Herd. I hear a lot of people asking the question about Sam Darnold and as someone who has always supported him and the program enough. So where I get Tommy Trojan tattooed on me? Wow. Where do you see the trajectory of the program going up compared to other powers in the sport? Oregon, Ohio State and other contenders? One thing living in Arizona, your lips just get destroyed here. Very dry, you know, very, very dry. I would say you guys are in a bad spot. No way around it. When you bring up Ohio State and Oregon, they feel like they're in a different universe than you guys. Like a different universe. I think the Trojan situation is not good and not good at all. So I, I have little faith, to be honest with you. I think one main issue is in this new world that the Trojans find themselves in. I mean, your last two years, 8 and 5 and 7 and 6, you were 6 and 6 this year before the bowl game. I would not be very excited in Colin and I have talked about this. There is an energy and an effort that Ryan Day, that Sarko, that Dan Lanning, that Kirby bring to recruiting. Saban brought this. He was very serious about recruiting. I feel like Lincoln was pretty serious about it at Oklahoma, but Oklahoma, like when he took it over, it was kind of like a, you know, it's like a Tesla drives itself. And he put some effort in, but they were just recruiting elite guys no matter what. And then he goes to usc like this program's in disarray. You kind of got, you got to fucking grind. You got to get in the mud. Like when Pete Carroll took over usc, like it was bad. You know, you got to take it to the next level. No, you got to just get it rolling again. And I just don't know if he knows how to do that. So I, I'm not very confident. I'm really not that conference. Oregon's rolling. Ohio State's a juggernaut. Michigan, that's going to be their worst team in years moving forward. Penn State is loaded. So at the high end of the conference. It's just so good. Let me, let me look up USC 20, 25 schedule. The hard part is even if I, you know, give you like win, win, win. You guys lost a lot of games that most people would have said that this is such a joke. And I'm not blaming usc, but to open up against Missouri State, their first two games, Missouri State and Georgia Southern, I mean, give me a break. That. That is. This is where college football needs someone to step in. Purdue, Michigan State at Illinois, Michigan at Notre Dame, at Nebraska, Iowa, Oregon, UCLA. I would say 9 and 3 feels like a pretty good year. Disgruntled Cowboy fan, My question is, should the Cowboys move off Parsons and stock up on draft capital to strengthen. To strengthen their weakness levels of personnel. Would think you could get at least one first round pick in some later round pick. No, you would get multiple first round picks. If you trade Micah Parsons, the minimum you would get would be two ones and a two. Anyone that doesn't want that, you hang up. Micah Parsons nets you two ones and a two. How old is Micah Parsons? 25 years old. Michael Parsons is 25 years old. He is 100%, I would say. I mean, 13 sacks, 13 sacks, 14 sacks, 12 sacks. I mean, he's just an elite pass rusher. He's just a really good player. I mean, I think he's two ones and a two. I think that's what you're getting. So, you know, I wouldn't be in the business of trading Micah Parsons like players. I mean, the whole reason you draft is to land guys like him. And looking back, you got pretty lucky that a guy like him because, you know, the COVID year he sat out and felt, you know, out of the top 10, what was he? 11th pick? I think Micah Parsons was the 12th pick in the draft. And now it's like, who's this comp, you know, Abdul Carter? Like, his comp is Micah Parsons. A lot of similarities. Penn State 11. Bend the edge. It's like, where's Abdul Carter going to go one, like number one overall? I think clearly, if you redid the Micah. Micah Parsons is a top two or three draft pick if he's playing. And I know he was like, off the ball a little bit, but still, I would say if you trade Micah Parsons, like, it's. I wouldn't even entertain it if two ones, a two and a player would be like, my minimum. I think Zach Martin I just saw retired. So two ones, a two and maybe a guard. Absolutely. Love the pod. Have a question for the mailbag. Do you think we'll ever see more crossovers between GMs of different sports? Am I thinking back to last year when the Commanders hired Warriors GM Bob Myers to help lead their head coaching search? And even back a few years ago, Mickey Loomis ran the Saints and the Hornets going off of that question. How long do you think it would take a good NBA GM to become a good NFL gm? Well, Bob just helped. You know, one thing. A good NBA, a good GM in general, they can evaluate people, whether that's a player, whether that's a coach, whether that's an executive, whether that's a scouting director. Like, they're just around those people all the time. So, like Bob Myers, he's a people guy. Bob Myers was an agent, right? Bob Myers represented, like, Andre Iguodala, you know, I mean, he was representing players. So he knows how to negotiate and he knows people. Now you do have to have some idea of football players and football value. So it would take a long time. Like, there's not a player in the NFL. I would say every single starter like Howie Roseman or John lynch or Les need or John Spytak or Jason Light could tell you something about, like a lot about. So it's like you develop this war chest of information that, that would be really hard to accumulate. The relationships with agents you could develop relatively quickly, but the contracts are a lot different. Dealing with players, a lot different. I actually don't think there are that many similarities. My, my buddy Ethan Strauss, who runs one of the best substacks in all the sports. Sometimes I'll just call him pick his brain. He's got good ideas and like he's tied into the NBA world and he knows a bunch of GMs, including Bob. He's like, all these GMs are miserable. It's not a fun job because basically the role is just completely different. What, like how much roster tweaking do you really do in the NFL? Like, you have massive turnover year to year. Massive. So it's. I would imagine baseball and basketball GMs would have an easier time than it would like if Bob Myers just became the gm. Like if, let's say, let's say Washington had just hired Bob Myers. Like I don't think he could do the job. I think he could attempt to, to build around, but like a huge part of the job is like setting boards. Now you could argue he could just hire the best quote, unquote, like scout and make him his pro personnel department, but then that guy would essentially be picking the players. You know, the one thing with Howie is like Howie not only watches tape, like he just knows players pretty well. Like how could Bob. Not that Bob would even want to, but I think it would be difficult. Lifelong Steeler fan at this point, I know better than to expect Pittsburgh to do anything exciting in the off season. I've suggested blowing the whole thing up and seeing what we get for Watt, Micah and Pickens. It's been a full three years since Roethlisberger retired and we still have done nothing to find a long term answer at quarterback. With possibly both Wilson and Fields gone and some recent reports linking the Steelers as a potential landing spot to Kirk Cousins, Daniel Jones, or 41 year old Aaron fucking Rodgers. I added the F word in there. Sorry kids. It's just more of the same patchwork, roster building year after year. Am I too extreme? I don't think you are, man. It just, I. I guess you could catch lightning in a bottle on Rodgers. Like to me, Cousins makes no sense. He can't move. Cousins can't move. I would not mess with Kirk Cousins. Rogers in theory makes some sense, but like he does not want to get hit. He wants no part of contact. I don't blame him. Tom Brady the last couple years didn't want to get sacked. They're in their 40s, they're super rich, they still feel and look good like you. You don't want to take these huge hits from Micah Parsons. I mean it's. You don't want Jalen Carter slamming you into the ground. Totally get it. Well, when I think the AFC north, like you get hit and you get hit pretty hard. So like the younger version of Rogers. No doubt about it. This version, I don't know. So I, I think you're screwed. But I'm done saying like, you know, I think, I think Tomlin and the Steelers should just get a healthy divorce and start dating other people. You get a new coach, Tomlin, you coach someone else. I'm done saying that because it's never going to happen. So it's like pointless exercise. And like you said, should they do it? Yeah. Are they going to. No chance. They're going to keep doing the same thing. Like see nine games. Well, yeah, we get it. You're a well run business. You are never going to suck. No one thinks you were ever going to win. Be the Jags. You're never going to draft third overall. We understand that though like you said, it'd be healthy if you did one year. I feel like I'm like many other people. I love playing golf. Maybe go once a week during the summer. I'm 23. Got to work. I feel you dog, but hate watching it on television. I'd love a weekly segment on good bets, bets you're making to get me interested. Maybe a season long record on how you've done predicting things. Try to include that into the golfing. We try to include golf gambling. I dabbled a little bit on the Mexico Open this week. Based on your personal experience and what you've heard through your connections in the league, can you give us a bit more insight of what we'd normally hear that happens behind the scenes in the off season, particularly the draft, the combine, free agency, etc. Second part, do you think there's any reason why it seems somewhat often players leave their team to join someone in the division? I'm sure every signing has layers and reasonings, but just curious if you had any thoughts on the first part. I think we'll dive into that at each stop along. Try to kind of look inside the Combine the draft, the free agency. Try to give like, you know, the inner workings of how these things work. I mean, there are a lot of layers. If you want me to like break down, like how teams meet and go over the board, set the board, free agency. We'll discuss a little bit of that next week probably. And your second question, money. I mean, it's just the almighty dollar. It has always and probably will always, unless we just go to digital currency and it just becomes bitcoin, which essentially be the same thing. You know, people do things for more money. That's why people leave jobs. That's why people move. It's why people. You know, I remember thinking when I was looking to buy a house and everyone's like, well, it's just the interest rates are too high. You can't buy. It's like. And I remember had a buddy that had been in business a long time. He's like, John, things always change. People die. People have kids, they need to upgrade. People change jobs. There are circumstances in humans lives that change no matter what. Just because you have a 4% interest loan, I'm never leaving. All of a sudden you have one kid and then your next kid is twins and you like, we don't have a big enough house, you don't have a choice. Or maybe you or your wife get a job offer for triple the money and you leave. So all of a sudden, like we're never moving. All of a sudden that house is on the market. So I think things change really quickly when more money is involved. Now, sometimes you make a decision not based on money, and sometimes you make a decision based on your family, where you're comfortable. But in NFL free agency, the only reason to leave a team if you like your spot is because that other team is offering you way more money. And in football, where your career can end literally any moment, it's really, really hard to not take the most money possible. So I think that's why it happens. Question for the mailbag. You mentioned recently you were somewhat neighbors with Dontrell Willis. Was an existing connection through the sports business or did you one day see him around? Definitely a cool story. I he liked something one time on Instagram probably like a year ago, maybe something me and Colin did. Then I followed him, he followed me. We DM back and forth. And a mutual buddy that is a member at the country club where Don Trill is. That works out at the gym that I go to Jeff, who's listened to the podcast. Actually, I haven't talked to Jeff in A little while is he's good buddies with him. And I told him, like, hey, I want to play golf with him. He gave him his number and I hit him up. I haven't talked to him. I haven't text him in a while. I need to do that. I think. I think Dontrell's daughter plays soccer at Colorado. Shocker. He's got good genetics. Athlete. So, yeah, I gotta try to make that happen here. Maybe after the wedding, play some golf on camera with him. I think he's pretty good player. It's crazy. I mean, there's just a lot of athletes that live in my general area. I mean, Scottsdale in general. But a lot of them, you know, baseball players and hockey players. A lot of them here. A lot of them here. Baseball players. Because so many come for spring training, right? If you play. I mean, half the league comes here for spring training, and a lot of them buy houses here. And when they retire, they just live here. And obviously golfers as well. It's kind of a hub. It's kind of why, you know, one of the reasons, you know, that inspired me to move here is there was like. From the business I'm in, there was like this energy. I remember coming here like five years ago, and I mean, I didn't know anybody, but you could just kind of feel it. And then you start kind of doing the research and following different people on Instagram. You're like, there's a lot of shit going on. It's like Silicon Valley for athletes and sports and obviously golf. Big reason I packed up my shit and I came here. Loved every minute. Beside a couple summer days when it's a little hot. What are your expectations for the New England Patriots? I have a lot of respect for variable as a coach, and I thought May showed a lot of potential in his first year. I think they could be a playoff. Playoff competitors right away because of the coach and quarterback. Do you agree or you think 9, 10 wins is too ambitious? Well, whatever would they win this year? Were they drafting third or fourth? Fifth? I mean, fourth, maybe. Obviously your season last year was a joke. I mean, it was probably most unwatchable team in the NFL. You had moments when Drake May was playing pretty well, but I would say the Jacoby Brissette time when he was playing unwatchable and there were games with Drake May was like, this is. This is bad. So if you. I just. If I just go. I believe in variable. I think you can be really competitive next year. Eight to 10 wins, not unrealistic. Now who is on the team, right? Like, what's your offensive line? Who are your skill guys? Does the defense dramatically improve? Who do you draft? I mean, let's face it, these next couple months are pretty big for the Patriots. You are going to have, I don't know, six, seven, I would imagine, like impact guys. And definitely guys you pay some money guys, you draft high. Who are they then? I think we can have a better idea of like, okay, this team could get to nine wins, but right now we're just going nine wins. We got no who clues on the team. We're just betting on vrabel and Josh McDaniels. I recently had an argument with my friends about Jalen. They don't understand what makes him a good quarterback and they'll point to other quarterbacks who have better stats and so forth. After being in scouting for a bit, do you think that the average fan doesn't really know what quote unquote talent is at quarterback? What would you define as talent? That's a good question. You know, I think a lot of times talent is not like, how many touchdown passes do you throw? It's more like, well, how big are you? How strong are you? How fast are you? How strong is your arm, right? Like, Josh Allen has a. Has a insane amount of talent, right? Lamar Jackson has an insane amount of talent. RG3 before his leg snapped or whatever. Crazy amount of talent. Michael Vick, insane amount of talent. I think Jalen is talented because he's a really good athlete. He throws a good deep ball, but he doesn't have a great arm. You know, it's weird. He's a good runner, but he's not like, you know, like a twitchy fast. You know, Lamar and Kyler are much more explosive. There's like, they're changing direct. You know, Jalen's just a smooth runner. I would say he's. He's a talented player. Obviously you're in the NFL, but like he was a second round player for a reason, right? I mean, I wouldn't say he has elite, immense talent relative to the elite guys, right? Mahomes, very crazy arm, excellent thrower on the run, right? Can make crazy throws at every level over the middle, outside. Like, Jalen's a great deep ball thrower, but he's not great over the middle. He's accurate. One talent that he has that is like, I don't know if it's all God given, but he clearly works at it in the weight room. Like that strength that he possesses is pretty special. A longtime Listener cannot stress how big of a fan I am of you. I usually agree with 90% of the things you say. However, Aaron Rodgers to Amazon as a play by play guy is your worst take by far. Herb street is the best play by play guy in the world at the moment. He does the biggest college game every week and he does an NFL game that has 20 million viewers each week. He's smart, he's professional, he's likable and advertisers love him. Economically speaking. It would be suicide to hire Rogers. He attacked Big Pharma, whose let, let's be real, runs the world. I don't think we have to be real. I mean a lot of fucking juice. One of the only countries that let him advertise on television and they make a shitload of money. Advertisers would not run to Amazon to back a product run by Rogers. He's extremely controversial. Nobody knows what is going to come out of his mouth. Aaron Rodgers, while not great, is still a top 20 quarterback in the world. He would be an upgrade for a bunch of teams, blah, blah. Okay, let's, let's hit each one. Herb street is not the best play by play guy in the world. He is the best college guy. Totally agree with you. Professional, likable, great for advertisers. But like he's not great on the NFL and 20 million people like you or I could call the Amazon game this notion that like Tom Brady obviously is really famous. It's, you know, he's the most famous guy probably to ever call football games. When you factor in like Michael Jordan never called games. Tiger woods doesn't do broadcasts. I think they tried Joe Montana back in the day and it failed. But if Tom Brady did not exist, even if it wasn't Greg Olson, let's just say they threw Mark Sanchez on Eagles, Cowboys. It wouldn't change the viewership at all. I feel pretty strongly about that. Maybe it helps on some random games, but all the playoff games doesn't change it one iota. I think. Now Tom's impact for business advertisers totally agree. But like from an NFL standpoint, I think Collinsworth is better. Troy Aikman's definitely better. They're just better at the NFL. And that's no, I like her. Herb street calling college. I don't really love him calling the NFL. Aaron Rodgers just played for Woody Johnson, Johnson and Johnson. Now I get it, it's different, right? Woody Johnson's not an advertiser. He's trying to get him to win games. I Honestly don't think it really matters. Amazon's in the business. You're looking at it like from a broadcast television standpoint. Amazon's in the business of getting you to sign up for Amazon prime and you to spend money on what I would say is the most impressive website in the history of America. I can press a button and have everything from a fucking razor to a vacuum cleaner to you name it, delivered to my house within potentially 5 hours to 24 hours. It is incredible how dominant they are. I one I haven't liked going to the store in a decade now. Why would you go to the store beside getting a couple things you do not need to. They have dominated because of their efficiency. That is the business they're in. And I would say this about Aaron, like he does, he's just, he's an easy. Listen now I'm with you. He could say some off the wall shit but like this is entertainment and Amazon is not dependent on Pfizer advertising on a streaming service. They are dependent on John Middelkoff and you and Bill and James and Craig and Julie buying things on that thing constantly. So I, I think it's less. I would agree on Fox. Yeah, it could be a problem if he said something and they an advertiser left. It would not be good. That's not really the business Amazon's in. Are you gonna stop using Amazon? What are you gonna do? You want to walk your ass to Target and go sit in fucking line with 7 million people in that thing on a Tuesday afternoon? Well, I'm gonna press a button to have it delivered to my the front of my house as I eat a sandwich. But I hear you. Maybe he wouldn't be good. I mean there's. But like I said, I don't think it necessarily matters because I don't think Tom Brady's any good. And same amount of people watch. Okay, a couple more questions. Die hard Green Bay Packer fan and I wanted to know your thoughts. Honestly. I want more controversial people on television. I want more people. Like sometimes you watch these games and this is why like Aikman, like you know, Gruden was like this Madden, they'll just say some Romo. I just appreciate every once in a while saying some off the wall shit. Like I'm trying to be entertained. Some of these guys say nothing. It's like I can't tell you how many texts I get from buddies in the NFL, scouting buddies that are around like watching games. Like this guy doesn't even know what he's talking about. It's awful. It's just bad. And I don't mean just controversial. To say something off the wall. To say something off the wall, but have some balls, like, have some fucking stones. To say, like, that was awful. And Aikman's one of the rare guys who will be critical of things that happen that we're all watching and thinking. Everyone else is like a love fest. I mean, let's face it. You couldn't pay Tom Brady to be really critical. And I know he's not really allowed to, but even if he was, I don't think he would be. That's kind of what the consumer wants. And at least Rogers potentially might say some crazy things about like, yeah, that was stupid. He might rip some coaches. That's all I want. You don't even need to rip the players. Like, guys fumble, guys throw a pick. Can you rip some coaches? Because we're all doing it, man. Some business we're in. All the fans. None of these guys do. It's like, I love the offensive coordinator. I've known him for decades. Great guy. Yeah, he's terrible play caller again. Probably not going to happen. So moot point, Packer fan. Honestly, done. Wide receivers. Packer fans. You guys. You guys are living pretty good. Your team's good. Your wide receiver room. Yeah, it drives you a little nuts. Still really talented. I know we got an ACL injury and a concussion problem. You guys will be fine. Like, your problems compared to the Steeler problems, like two historic franchises, both consistently win. You guys feel like you are much closer to competing for Super Bowls than they are. So you guys are going to be okay. I promise. Packer fans, you're going to be okay. If the packers were a stock, I think technically they are, the way they're invested in with the fans, but you know what I mean? Like, if I could buy them on the NASDAQ or the S and P, I would purchase Packer stock. They would actually have been one of the more lucrative stocks the last, like, 30 years. Every year, it kind of works. Okay, last question. The earliest I can remember listening to the show was when I was a sophomore at UGA in 2018. I appreciate it. I'm a huge Falcons fan. You're obviously from Georgia. Go Dogs. It drives me absolutely crazy that they seem to refuse to build the defensive line, even though that's been a glaring problem for my entire life. I was wondering why you think teams refuse to build from the lines out and what do you think their main issue is? It doesn't seem like Blank is some crazy meddling owner or an idiot. And I can't figure out why they can't figure it out. Also, I understand their dog shit franchise in general, but recently they've been pretty close to making the playoffs. But they keep putting themselves in cap hell hiring mediocre coaches and old players. They went through that stretch I think last year with the Penix Cousins thing is one of the more head scratching moves in recent memory. And to me it just shows how from an organizational standpoint, no one's on the same page. Like one of the big advantages the super bowl teams, the Eagles and the Chiefs have is like and listen and even how he defended Sirianni. He's like, I work really closely with this guy for the last four years. Like there is a pretty strategic Jeffrey Lurie, Howie whoever, the coach is like philosophical belief. Andy Reid, Veatch, hand in hand, The Ravens, Harbaugh, DaCosta, Ozzy, whoever, like big time. Like one vision. The Buffalo, Kyle Shanahan and John lynch work really close. Les need Sean McVeigh feels like, is there any cohesion? The Cousins Michael Penix thing was laughable. Now thank God they drafted like I was never against drafting Pennocks, but they never should have signed Cousins. They should have used that money to sign a couple defensive linemen. Christian Wilkins, I know he got hurt but like that would have been a guy to sign. So I think it just gets back to listen, you can't convince me and I understand guys can still be sharp of attack as attack like in their 80s and 90s, you know, the Charlie Mungers, Warren Buffetts, most human beings like you're just not going to be the same. And you can't convince me that the owner's age, the amount of money they've made, that it just doesn't feel like their standard is quite as high. I mean the guy put himself in the Falcons hall of Fame last year. Honestly, I thought that was pretty embarrassing moment. Especially in a season where you just pay a quarterback off an Achilles 100 million. You got to bench them by the end of the season. I would just, I would sell stock in the Atlanta Falcons. I bet against it from the jump last year. Now I picked the Saints instead of the Bucks. But my whole point was everyone is picking this team. How? In what world? The other thing is like being a good defensive coordinator when Sean McVeigh is your head coach does not mean that you're going to be a good head coach. Brandon Staley, Raheem Morris, it does not mean that you're going to be a good head coach. Now Raheem seems infinitely more likable down to earth than a normal human than Brandon Staley. So if I had to pick one of the two, I would take Raheem Morris. But like when you work for Sean McVeigh, they draft well, they have good players and there's a well run operation. So it's like that doesn't just equate to you kicking ass and taking names when you leave them. It's really difficult. So I guess it's a long winded way of saying I'm not trying to be Debbie Downer here, but I would not be very bullish on your guys operation. Have a great weekend and enjoy yourself. Just have a smile, have a few cocktails. Maybe you're not drinking. Get a good workout in, go for a walk, enjoy your loved ones. Talk to you soon. 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Trevon Edwards
Host of the new podcast Got Greatest of Their Era with Seth Curry. You don't want to miss our first episode that's out now. We went live from All Star Weekend and had special guest appearance by Steph Curry himself. Steph talked about what separates the truly elite NBA shooters.
Seth Curry
You might as well just count that and get on back on defense.
Trevon Edwards
And we ranked our top five shooters from the 2000s.
Seth Curry
That's so tough. That's why we have these conversations. Love it.
Trevon Edwards
Listen to Goat Greatest of Their era on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
Jon Stewart
Catch Jon Stewart back in action on the Daily show and in your ears with the Daily Show Ears Edition podcast. From his hilarious satirical takes on today's politics and entertainment to the unique voices of correspondents and contributors, it's your perfect companion to stay on top of what's happening now. Plus, you'll get special content just for podcast listeners, like in depth interviews and a roundup of the week's top headlines. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Podcast Summary: The Herd with Colin Cowherd – Episode 3 & Out: Salary Cap Goes Up, Darnold Could Move on from Vikes, Fugazi Friday
Episode Details:
John Middlekauff opens the episode by sharing his personal challenges, including preparing for a wedding and managing financial obligations, setting a relatable tone for his listeners. He expresses his pivot from hockey discussions to football, emphasizing his enthusiasm for the sport's booming business.
Quote:
"Let's just gamble on American hockey and talk a little football." [02:24]
Middlekauff delves into the explosive growth of the NFL business over the past few decades. He posits that the league has created more millionaires than almost any other business, highlighting the substantial earnings of players, coaches, and executives. A focal point is the recent announcement that the NFL salary cap will rise to between $275 million and $282 million for the upcoming season.
Notable Quote:
"The NFL salary cap will be somewhere between $275 and $282 million. When you put it into context, 10 years ago, the salary cap was $140 million." [08:45]
He contrasts this growth with the NBA, noting that mid-tier NFL players now earn salaries surpassing the NBA's average, thereby making football a lucrative career even for non-superstar athletes.
Quote:
"Last year, when guards were getting $18 million, the NBA average salary is $12 million. It's a completely different world." [15:30]
Middlekauff explores the substantial valuations of NFL franchises, citing the Dallas Cowboys and Las Vegas Raiders as prime examples worth upwards of $8 billion each. He discusses the NFL's recent rule allowing team owners to sell minority stakes to private investors, drawing parallels to venture capitalism. This shift provides teams with significant capital infusions without compromising major decision-making powers.
Quote:
"Jed York is thinking about selling 10% of the team, potentially bringing in $800 million without giving up any control." [18:10]
He also examines how owners like Jerry Jones and Mark Davis leverage these investments to manipulate salary caps through strategies like signing bonuses, ensuring competitive team rosters despite cap constraints.
Quote:
"Using signing bonuses allows teams to circumvent salary cap issues by manipulating how contracts are structured." [21:00]
Transitioning to player movements, Middlekauff addresses Sam Darnold's underperformance with the Minnesota Vikings. He critiques the team's decision to potentially let Darnold enter free agency, suggesting it might be a strategic move to acquire valuable draft capital.
Quote:
"Sam Darnold was atrocious in the playoffs, and the Vikings might let him hit free agency to see what he can get." [28:15]
He underscores the volatility of NFL careers and the financial incentives that often drive player trades and releases, emphasizing the challenging balance teams must maintain between performance and financial management.
In the segment titled "Fugazi Friday," Middlekauff shifts focus to broader societal issues, particularly the outdated nature of the current education system in the face of rapidly advancing technology. He critiques the traditional curriculum for not adequately preparing students for a future dominated by artificial intelligence and digital tools.
Notable Quote:
"With the explosion of artificial intelligence, do we need to know what we used to know? When I can just type in a question and get the answer immediately." [34:50]
Middlekauff advocates for a reimagined educational approach that prioritizes financial literacy and technological proficiency from an early age, arguing that current systems are failing to equip students for the modern workforce.
Quote:
"Education needs to embrace technology and adapt quickly, or we're wasting our time." [39:25]
Middlekauff engages with his audience through a series of listener-submitted questions, addressing a range of topics from team management to player evaluations.
a. Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys' Strategy
A listener inquires about Dak Prescott's standing among NFL quarterbacks and the Cowboys' strategic decisions regarding his high salary.
Middlekauff's Insight:
"Dak had impressive seasons with a 37-10 and 36-9 record, but playoff performances have left a bad taste. However, his high salary is justified by his potential and performance during the regular season." [40:50]
b. Crossovers Between GMs of Different Sports
Another question explores the feasibility of general managers transitioning between the NBA and NFL.
Response:
"While skill evaluation and negotiation are transferable, the complexities of NFL contracts and player dynamics make it challenging for NBA GMs to transition effectively." [45:30]
c. Atlanta Falcons' Defensive Line and Organizational Cohesion
A listener expresses frustration with the Falcons' reluctance to strengthen their defensive line and critiques organizational decisions.
Middlekauff's Perspective:
"The Falcons lack a cohesive strategy, resulting in inconsistent performances and poor cap management. Building from the trenches is essential, and current decisions reflect a misalignment within the organization." [50:15]
Middlekauff concludes the episode by reiterating the necessity for both NFL teams and educational institutions to adapt to ongoing changes. He emphasizes the importance of strategic financial management in sports and advocating for educational reforms to better prepare future generations.
Final Thoughts:
"Whether it's managing a football franchise or rethinking our education system, embracing change is crucial for sustained success and relevance." [55:00]
Key Takeaways:
Notable Quotes:
This episode of The Herd with Colin Cowherd provides a deep dive into the financial intricacies of the NFL, examines the uncertainties surrounding player careers, and challenges existing educational paradigms in the context of technological evolution. John Middlekauff delivers insightful analysis backed by current trends and listener interactions, making it a must-listen for avid football fans and those interested in the intersection of sports and business.