Colin Cowherd Podcast - BEST OF: Colin’s BEST TAKES from the Aaron Rodgers saga: Jets to Steelers

Summary

Podcast Summary: "The Herd with Colin Cowherd"

Episode: Colin Cowherd Podcast - BEST OF: Colin’s BEST TAKES from the Aaron Rodgers saga: Jets to Steelers
Release Date: August 2, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of "The Herd with Colin Cowherd," hosted by iHeartPodcasts and The Volume, the focus centers on the high-profile journey of NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The discussion delves into Rodgers' tumultuous tenure with the New York Jets, his potential move to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the broader implications for his career and legacy.

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Aaron Rodgers' Departure from the New York Jets

Andrew Gillum kicks off the conversation by addressing the recent developments surrounding Aaron Rodgers and his exit from the New York Jets.

“Ruby Seniorers a different cat. He's very intense. He's very bottom line, he's not a compromising guy.” (02:24)

Gillum shares insights from multiple sources, highlighting that Aaron Rodgers was unexpectedly released by the Jets despite optimistic beginnings. The primary reason cited is Rodgers' demanding nature and the high standards he sets, which reportedly made the Jets' management uncomfortable.

“Aaron now has been dumped twice. This is stuff I talked about eight years ago and got enormous pushback even from media people.” (02:24)

Culture Fit and Management Conflicts

The hosts discuss Rodgers' fit within the Jets' culture, emphasizing his desire for a "clean start" and a unified team direction without the need to "walk on eggshells."

“Aaron Glenn, he just wants a clean start, fresh start, everybody headed in the same direction, didn't want to walk on eggshells.” (02:24)

This disconnect between Rodgers and the Jets' management underscores the recurring theme of high-maintenance quarterbacks facing challenges in team dynamics.

Potential Landing Spots for Aaron Rodgers

Several teams emerge as potential destinations for Rodgers, with Andrew Gillum and Tiffany Cross analyzing each option:

1. Pittsburgh Steelers

   • Gillum praises Mike Tomlin's coaching and the Steelers' robust roster, suggesting it as a promising fit for Rodgers.
   • “And they'll say all the right stuff. But in the end, Aaron has that quality and this has been shared with me on more than one occasion.” (02:24)

2. Las Vegas Raiders

   • Gillum considers the Raiders a viable option, highlighting the presence of Chip Kelly as a positive influence.
   • “I ran into Chip Kelly Saturday, early evening, and we were talking about the Raiders at quarterback before either one of us had this information.” (02:24)

3. Indianapolis Colts

   • The Colts are mentioned as another strong contender, with a strategic roster that could benefit from Rodgers' leadership.
   • “I think the Raiders and the Colts are the two places if Aaron wants to play that would be good.” (02:24)

4. Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants

   • While the Vikings are viewed as Rodgers' best fit due to their strong coaching and offensive line, uncertainties surrounding their quarterback situation make the Giants a secondary option.
   • “If he chooses the Steelers, he's passing on offensive coaches who clearly every rule advantage goes to that side.” (03:00)

5. Tennessee Titans

   • Although the Titans are less favored, they are acknowledged as a potential fallback due to their organizational structure and location preferences.
   • “He's going to finish his career on the Titans? Because I do think that wouldn't just be those two.” (02:24)

Comparisons with Other NFL Legends

The episode draws parallels between Rodgers and other legendary quarterbacks like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and Brett Favre, examining how team changes impacted their careers and legacies.

“He didn't want to start his New York career with Aaron Rodgers in the building... Peyton Manning left Indy and won a Super Bowl.” (02:24)

This comparison serves to contextualize Rodgers' situation within the broader narrative of NFL history, highlighting the challenges even top-tier players face when transitioning between teams.

Rodgers' Legacy and Career Outlook

Andrew Gillum and Tiffany Cross discuss the potential long-term effects of Rodgers' decisions on his legacy:

“But when you get dumped twice and are surprised both times, maybe it's not somebody else. Aaron has that quality and this has been shared with me on more than one occasion and he's certainly not the only person that has this.” (02:24)

The conversation speculates on whether Rodgers will retire or continue playing, considering his age, performance level, and the evolving dynamics of team management in the NFL.

“I have no idea. Some of the notes I have here is that Aaron Glenn felt so strongly about what he wanted to build...” (02:24)

Team Dynamics and Organizational Strategies

The discussion also touches upon the organizational philosophies of teams like the Steelers and their approach to quarterback management, emphasizing a blend of tradition and modern strategies to maintain competitiveness.

“The Steelers have players. Jets have better players today for Aaron Glenn than Dan Campbell had when he took over the Lions.” (02:24)

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• “Aaron's a lot of work. I've known multiple Packers who have played with him. He is moody.” — Andrew Gillum (02:24)
• “He didn't want to start his New York career with Aaron Rodgers in the building.” — Andrew Gillum (02:24)
• “Chip Kelly, two good tight ends, two offensive tackles, young center... Las Vegas has Pete Carroll, Chip Kelly.” — Andrew Gillum (02:24)
• “He’s the 15th best quarterback in the league right now. It doesn’t matter.” — Andrew Gillum (02:24)

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Conclusion

The episode provides a comprehensive analysis of Aaron Rodgers' current standing in the NFL, exploring the intricacies of his departure from the Jets and the potential pathways his career may take. Through insightful discussion and insider perspectives, Andrew Gillum and Tiffany Cross shed light on the complexities faced by veteran quarterbacks in maintaining their legacy amidst changing team dynamics and personal aspirations.

The conversation underscores the delicate balance between a player's individual demands and a team's cultural and organizational frameworks, ultimately painting a nuanced picture of Rodgers' potential future in the league.

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Note: All timestamps refer to the original transcript provided and are approximate due to variances in podcast timing.

Transcript

[Angela Rye]

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Who cares about truth when the lies.

[Tiffany Cross]

More Entertaining welcome home.

[Angela Rye]

I'm Angela Ride, co host of the Native Lamp Pod with Andrew Gillum and Tiffany Cross, and we want y' all to survive and thrive in this political moment.

[Tiffany Cross]

We're having the same debates that American households are having all over the country.

[Angela Rye]

I am terrified that in our rest we're going to miss the moment. You want me to stop resting? What specifically are you asking me to do? Stay informed and take action.

[Tiffany Cross]

Action.

[Andrew Gillum]

Listen to Native Land pod on the.

[Tiffany Cross]

Iheartradio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Freddy]

We're breaking down SummerSlam, the biggest party of the summer on Wrestling With Freddy. From our bold picks to storyline breakdowns, we will discuss who walks out with gold, who shocks the night and which matches steal the show we call the winners, the upsets and the chaos to expect. Plus whatever swerves nobody saw coming. Listen to Wrestling With Freddy as part of the Mike Kultura Podcast Network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Tiffany Cross]

I'm Jake Hofer and this is back 40, a limited series show on Wire to Hunt, part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network. Each episode I'll be asking eight whitetail hunting pros a focused, thought provoking question about hunting and land management. How do I hunt the best part of the farm with less than ideal access? Should you?

[Andrew Gillum]

That's what the real question is.

[Tiffany Cross]

Stand without good access is not a good stand. Listen to Back 40 on iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

[Andrew Gillum]

The Volume so a little pre super bowl news. Jordan Schultz had put it out and then Jay Glazer followed that Aaron Rodgers will not be coming back to the new York J so I've been on the phone this morning with a couple of different sources and let me just tell you what, what I've been told. Aaron Glenn, who came from that incredibly strong Detroit lion culture, and these were the exact words I were told. I was told he didn't want the player or the person in the building as he started his NFL head coaching career. And that, that doesn't necessarily mean Aaron's a bad person. That's not the point, is that for what you deal with with Aaron, you have to be far more productive than Aaron is at this point in his career, which is around the 15th best quarterback in the league. And again, we all know this. The, the more talent you have, the more stuff people will put up with. But Aaron now has been dumped twice. This is stuff I talked about eight years ago and got enormous pushback even from media people. Aaron's a lot of work. I've known multiple packers who have played with him. He is moody. Depends on what Aaron you get in the building. And Green Bay caught him off guard and so did the Jets. Glaser's report was he flew all the way to New York and with the idea that he was going to be a Jet for at least one more year and they informed him that won't be the case. So I'm a little surprised because I thought Aaron played well in the last eight or so weeks of the year. And I do think this is a bad quarterback draft. And so I'm not exactly sure what they're going to do. And Saleh and Ulbricht are not the kind of guys really to push back on Aaron. Aaron Glenn's a different cat. He's very intense. He's very bottom line, he's not a compromising guy. And he did not want to start his New York career with Aaron Rodgers in the building. That's what I was told. And I think Peyton Manning left Indy and won a Super Bowl. Tom Brady left Tampa, or Tom Brady left New England and won a Super Bowl. Brett Favre left Green Bay, eventually ends up in Minnesota and is a play from the super bowl with the Vikings. They had great success. Aaron did not hurt. And then a really, really bad season in a division where, you know, New England was bad and Miami is a little bit dysfunctional. And so there are, there are two teams. I just ran into Chip Kelly Saturday, early evening, and we were talking about the Raiders at quarterback before either one of us had this information. And I think the Raiders and the Colts are the two places if Aaron wants to Play that would be good. Fits Shane Steichen in Indy. I like that roster. I don't think it's a top five roster, but I think it's a good roster, a winnable division. And I think having Chip Kelly, two good tight ends, two offensive tackles, young their center, I think. I think Las Vegas has Pete Carroll, Chip Kelly, I think that's a very promising landing spot if Aaron wants to play. There are people I was told this morning that are unsure in the NFL if Aaron wants to play. And only Aaron can answer that. And that could go back and forth depending on the mood. Who knows? I'm not going to try to speculate whether Aaron wants to play or not. I have no idea. Some of the notes I have here is that Aaron Glenn felt so strongly about what he wanted to build. And Aaron Glenn has an understanding that what the jets don't have and they haven't had for a decade or more is a really good culture. They've had good players. Aaron Glenn has told people there's a lot of talent on this roster and a lot of it's on defense. You know, I've said this, that if you look at all the job openings this year, we may have misgivings about the jets ownership and their stability and their impulsive nature. At least that's how I view them. Over the last decade, they've run through a lot of coordinators and a lot of coaches. The roster's fine. The roster's absolutely fine. But Aaron now is expensive. And Devonte Adams, my guess would be. I asked somebody this morning about Devonte Adams. He's very expensive and he came to New York willingly because of Aaron Rodgers. So my guess is the jets, and it's a pretty good guess, would probably cut Aaron. And Devonte Adams, who's very expensive, he made what, over $25 million last year? I did not look that up this morning. But this really comes down to something I have hit on and talked about for years and years. And it doesn't mean he's necessarily a bad person. That's not what I'm saying. But I've had enough people in Aaron Rodgers orbit that he is. There are depends on the day and what you get from Aaron. And Aaron Glenn was not going to walk on eggshells. He just came from Detroit. He knows what culture means. He took over a Jets like situation where you had some talent. But when's the last time we talked about the Lions pre Dan Campbell and what a great culture it was, but never they'd had Calvin Johnson And Barry Sanders and Matt Stafford, they've had really good players. But the culture is the secret sauce for the Lions now. That and their old line in drafting. They've got a really strong, formidable culture. The jets have players. Jets have better players today for Aaron Glenn than Dan Campbell had when he took over the Lions. But after about a year and a half, you were really seeing the value of culture. And Aaron, just Aaron Glenn, he didn't want to start with a player that's older, that's expensive, that Green Bay moved off from. They didn't know if Jordan Love was going to be the guy. They really didn't know if Jordan Love was going to be it. A lot of people still aren't sure if Jordan Love is going to be it. I think he's really good. Bit reckless, but very good. So this has a theme in Aaron Rodgers career. I don't think Aaron was difficult early in his career. I mean, if you read the Jeff Perlman book, it really laid out that Favre was not always the most welcoming to Aaron Rodgers. They get along now fine, probably because both have had some turbulence in their careers. Certainly Favre has and Aaron's. It's been a little bumpy, little bumpy landing in New York, little bumpy at the end in Green Bay with management. But I think the Raiders and Chip Kelly would be a pretty good landing spot. I will tell you that I have had now three different people tell me over the course. I had two in New Orleans and one over the last two days. Tell me Shadour Sanders is gaining steam and Shadour Sanders could possibly drop to the Raiders. I think that. I think that would be my hunch that they need a quarterback. They didn't get good quarterback play. They're not missing a ton. I mean, they're really not. They need a running back and a quarterback and another weapon. There's a lot the Raiders have. I know that division is tough, but if you're Pete Carroll and Chip Kelly and let's say Aaron Rodgers, you're going to have to face Mahomes and Justin Herbert and Sean Payton and Bo Nix in the playoffs, potentially, you might as well have six games against those teams going into the playoffs if you landed there and succeeded. But I think over the course of time we have to be completely honest. And I know there's a lot of Aaron fans, I get it. But when you get dumped twice and are surprised both times, maybe it's not somebody else. Aaron has that quality and this has been shared with me on more than one occasion and he's certainly not the only person that has this, but kind of needs to be the smartest guy in the room and that can be off putting to some. But I don't know if he's going to continue his career. It doesn't matter. He's the 15th best quarterback in the league right now. It doesn't matter. The league moves on. It moved on from Brady and Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. It's certainly going to move on. It moved on from the wildly popular Brett Favre and Joe Montana. It's going to move on just fine. But they, they I'm told that Aaron Glenn, knowing the value of culture, just he made it very clear inside that building in New York that he wanted a clean start, fresh start, everybody headed in the same direction, didn't want to walk on eggshells, didn't want to have to deal with any unnecessary potential drama. And so I don't know where they're going. They're not going to go get Sam Darnold. I doubt that. But I've said this before, it may not be the strongest NFL draft in the first round for quarterbacks, but I do think Kyle McCord from Syracuse or Riley Leonard are really Riley Leonard had a very good Senior Bowl. I've had multiple people they really like Kyle McCord from Syracuse. They see him as a starting quarterback in the NFL. But that is the news on Aaron Rodgers as we get ready for pre Super Bowl. It's interesting. I like Kansas City in this game, but I say this without a ton of conviction. There's two numbers I like a lot. Mahomes is eight no against Vic Fangio and Andy Reid is 33 and seven off a buy. And the four best players for the Chiefs have all they've all been in this game and several of them have been in it many times. And I like the experience in this spot. But Philadelphia does have a better accumulation of talent. I don't think anybody denies that, but I think the Eagles number one defense somewhat is built on the fact that they faced a lot of bad quarterbacks. The AFC is much better at the top. Whereas the Chiefs faced Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen and Justin Herbert twice and Bo Nixon, Sean Payton twice and C.J. stroud and Joe Burrow and beat Kirk Cousins early when he was good. You know, the Eagles faced the New York Giants offense twice and lost to Kirk Cousins and the Saints and Cleveland, Jags, Carolina, Steelers, Dallas with Cooper Rush. I don't think Philadelphia faced as many good quarterbacks in my opinion and as many good coaches as the Chiefs defense did. I think the Chiefs on average face better coaches and, and, and better quarterbacks. Although, you know, both teams face Kirk Cousins, Philadelphia law. Both teams faced Joe Burrow, but, but Kansas City beat Kirk Cousins who was pretty good when both those teams got a shot at him. So not that the Eagles defense isn't good, but my takeaway is if you had the fifth best defense in the NFL and you're playing in the AFC and you're facing Lamar and Josh and Herbert a couple times and Stroud and Nix and Burrow and Kirk Cousins when he was in really good shape and some good coaching, that's a handful of. So I think it's a close game. I think in the second half the scoring gets ratcheted up and the defenses tire out a little bit and you'll see some really big time plays. But I think you're going to get a classic super bowl. Super Bowl 59. Jordan Schultz and then Jake Laser reported the jets moved off Aaron Rodgers. So for the second time in a couple of years, a team as Aaron flew out to New York thinking positively, optimistically it would happen, they moved off him. I think the Colts and the Raiders work. I think Chip Kelly, they have two tackles, they have a center, they have two good tight ends. They need a running back and a receiver. I think, I think the Raiders works for Aaron Rodgers. He'd take that over the Colts and Shane Steichen. But you know, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady late in their careers leave and have some success. Brett Favre did as well, got to an NFC championship, a throw from the Super Bowl. Are you surprised that it was just two years of nothing and the second team bailed on him? I'm not. But are you?

[Tiffany Cross]

No. Because as the season went on, it got pretty weird between Aaron and the owner. And I listened. You recorded something before the super bowl about this new culture coming in. Aaron Glenn's a former high level player. So it's like, do I want to deal with some old aging. You know, what's the hardest thing to deal with sometimes in pro sports? An aging former superstar. Especially one that's a little different. You know Peyton Manning, that last year, remember Kubiak and Elway had to sit him down and like it was difficult. He took a pay cut. These are, these are tough conversations, but I think it was pretty clear that the Johnson's family was over this guy. About 2 months left to go in the season. I wonder if part of the interviews was like Aaron's done here, which most of these New code, who cares? Like, it's not like, okay, fine, we, I don't need them anyway. I think the question now is, is he even tradable? Because he's on the books for this year. His cash, you know, his cap hits $23 million. Like, I, I honestly think they'd probably have to cut them. I wonder if anyone grateful. So it's like they just cut them. I think they'll cut them and then, yeah, someone signs them for 10 million bucks. I mean, is he, is that what he's getting? Kind of a unique. Think about it. Roethlisberger's arm gave out on him. It was clear. But he just ends as a Steeler. Manning's arm doesn't work, wins the Super Bowl. But then no one would resign him. Breeze's arm started going and it just ended. Is he really just going to go play? Like, what if the Titans outbid that and they give him 12 million? The Raiders are only willing to give him. So he's going to finish his career on the Titans? Because I do think it wouldn't just be those two. I think a lot of teams would be interested just to try to get their franchise. You know, these owners give them a little oomph. If you got some cap space, I'll give Aaron Rodgers $15 million. If you're the Titans, why wouldn't you pay him?

[Andrew Gillum]

Yeah, he has a house in Nashville. I mean, let's say, listen, we'll give you two years, got a house in Nashville, it's an easy division. And then you have that number one pick you could trade down, get a bunch of players around him. It's just interesting. I was told that Aaron Glenn, for the people that didn't hear my Pre Super Bowl 15 minute rant, I was told by somebody I trust that Aaron Glenn, coming from a really strong culture in Detroit, wants to mimic that. Right. Duplicate that in New York. And he didn't want Aaron Rodgers the player or the person in the room. And they'll say all the right stuff. But in the end, I mean, Green Bay caught him off guard. The jets kind of caught him off guard. Aaron has that disease of has to be the smartest guy in the room. I'm going to do my own homework on the Internet. And you know, I think in the end he, Aaron, I mean, I, I, I, I could write chapters in a book on things I've heard from people that have been around him. He's a really moody guy. You can get good Aaron or bad Aaron, but in the end he's Just not good enough. Now he's probably the 15th best quarterback in the league. He's just not good enough for the BS you deal with. Like, like he's not early to the locker room. He's not optimistic. Like Brady to the end, I mean was just like high energy, high optimism, high standards. I, I, I'm not sure Aaron loves the game. I think you know how when you ever work with somebody or you have somebody in your family and they're like, I work hard. And you're like, dude, hard work is 65 hours a week, not 42. I think Aaron says he loves the game. I don't see it. I don't see that. Just unbridled like just relentless passion for it. I think Aaron thinks he loves the game, but he doesn't love it. He doesn't love it the way the guys that I see it in pro sports. Sorry to interrupt this great video, but please remember to like and subscribe. Thank you. Now back to the video.

[Tiffany Cross]

I think it'll be very telling that when they cut him, if he's only getting 7, 8, 10 million dollar off, he doesn't need the money, right? He's worth hundreds of millions of dollars at this point in time. It was clear he did not want to get hit last year. Don't blame him. He's 40 years old. So is he going to go play for some of these teams? You know, Pete Carroll calls, the Titans call like, yeah, this, this might not go well again.

[Andrew Gillum]

Right.

[Tiffany Cross]

The one thing Aaron Rodgers has a good feel for the, you know, the most of his career is what a good team looks like. So this could be really like, you go sign up for one of these teams, best case scenario might be like seven wins and you, you know, struggled to stay hurt last year on a roster that's going to be better more than likely than one of these teams interested in you. So I wonder if he gets to the point where it's like, am I really going to do a one year for eight, nine, $10 million? It's one thing, you know, the Jets, I don't think he will pay him $35 million. If someone was willing to pay him that, I think he would for sure play. But I have a hard time if you're $10 million and it's like his best options, the Titans, him just going, I'm just gonna go hang out in Malibu and just kick it.

[Andrew Gillum]

Yeah, he's got a beautiful house. I watched that documentary Enigma and it was interesting. You know, I watched the first episode, was bored out of my mind. I gave it a second episode that was better.

[Tiffany Cross]

I gave it like 10 minutes. I'm like, I don't even care. It just wasn't for me. Yeah, you're a better man than me.

[Andrew Gillum]

Yeah. Yeah. So I, I kind of felt like I, for the audience, I had to go watch it. But, you know, I just think I, I, he's just a different cat. And I think over the last six or seven years, he's got to be really high maintenance. But I don't know what the jets are going to do at quarterback. But I. And I ran into Chip Kelly Saturday night briefly, and this was before I knew the Aaron News. And my take is that's probably the best place for him. Honestly, it's probably the best. If I was him, I can be closer to Malibu. That's probably the best.

[Tiffany Cross]

I saw a headline today that the Raiders might be interested in Sam Darnold. And I actually ran into Sam Darnold at the hotel gym the day I was leaving. And I talked to him again, the elevator. You know, one thing that really stands out to me, I had a bunch of players stand at the hotel I was staying at, ran into like, Ladanian Tomlinson. I know Lorenzo Neal really well. So I went up and talked to him about lo'. Neal. And a lot of just good, easygoing guys like you can just have a normal conversation with Ladanian Tomlinson, like in the, in the hotel gym for five minutes, where it's like, you know, this is one of the great running backs in the history of the league. Like, I don't know if, you know, the equivalent in some of these other sports would just do that, but these guys, you know, Sam Darnold, who just had one of the great seasons in the league, he's just BSing with me about where he's going to play golf this summer in la. It's just an easy growing group of people. And my theory's always been is they're, they're the most, they have the most in common with normal people because their job is one, they get cut all the time. One. They also get screamed at at their job a lot. Like, if it's not going well, you're getting criticized by your bosses like normal human beings do. And there's just, they just communicate very well with non, you know, famous people, which I, it can be a struggle with people making a lot of money. And I was just very impressed. All the players that I ran into the hotel just had brief conversations with.

[Andrew Gillum]

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[Angela Rye]

I think Democrats have for a very long time allowed Republicans to play them. So essentially Republicans came up with a narrative and Democrats decided to play into that. And that only hurt the Democrats.

[Katie Couric]

I'm Katie Couric. Jasmine Crockett, Democratic representative of Texas, is not known for holding back and our recent chat on Next Question is no exception.

[Angela Rye]

But when you hear how she got.

[Katie Couric]

To where she is, her intensity makes perfect sense.

[Angela Rye]

It's just hard to imagine a world where you don't have enough people that care to do right by people. And so that same passion that carried me through as a public defender that led me to want to change laws and thinking about the harm that will happen not just to my constituents, but just generally like I carry that weight with me because you've seen it up close. Yeah.

[Katie Couric]

Listen to next question with me, Katie Couric on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Freddy]

Biggest party of the summer, WWE SummerSlam is here and wrestling with Freddie is all over it. We're talking wild matches, big surprises and our boldest predictions yet. From celebrity showdowns to the chaos inside a steel cage, we're breaking down every match and calling who we think walks out on top. This card is loaded. From Cody Rhodes, John Cena, Rhea, Ripley, and Tiffy, just to name a few. This lineup is ready to tear down the house. We'll give you our unfiltered takes, honest debates, and you already know a ton of laughs along the way. We're covering the upsets, the wild returns, and the championship moments. Nobody expects. We'll get into the matches that steal the show, the storylines that explode, and those oh my God, did that just happen? Moments that make SummerSlam legendary. Don't miss it. Listen to Wrestling with Freddy as part of the My Coultera Podcast network. Find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Katie Couric]

Your entire identity has been fabricated. Your beloved brother goes missing without a trace. You discover the depths of your mother's illness, the way it has echoed and reverberated throughout your life, impacting your very legacy. Hi, I'm Dani Shapiro and these are just a few of the profound and powerful stories I'll be mining on our 12th season of Family Secrets. With over 37 million downloads, we continue to be moved and inspired by our guests and their courageously told stories. I can't wait to share 10 powerful new episodes with you. Stories of tangled up identities, concealed truths, and the way in which family secrets almost always need to be told. I hope you'll join me and my extraordinary guests for this new season of Family Secrets. Listen to Family Secrets Season 12 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Angela Rye]

Hey everybody, I'm Angela Rai, co host of Native Lampa with Tiffany Cross and Andrew Gillum. Through the lens of politics and culture, we talk with you every week to make sense of this madness. I've been telling Angela I don't even know how to fight back right now. So what I'm focused on is just looking out for ourselves. That's the truth.

[Tiffany Cross]

We're having the same debates that households are having all over the country.

[Angela Rye]

Rest is certainly a form of self care, but if you are watching your full neighbors starve, not be able to pay bills, your rest is selfish. But the thing is, Angela, this is not the mess we created. So I do understand black folks feeling like, you know what, y' all got it.

[Tiffany Cross]

We're like family, but we disagree all the time. All the time. And we love when our listeners chime in.

[Angela Rye]

What would happen if we built our own little Wakandan community in the rural South?

[Freddy]

Tiffany, do not run to no rural South. I don't know what you're on.

[Angela Rye]

What our audience is asking is. Okay, fine. You want me to stop resting? What specifically are you asking me to do? Stay informed and take action.

[Andrew Gillum]

Listen to Nativeland Pod on the iHeartRadio.

[Tiffany Cross]

App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome home.

[Angela Rye]

Welcome home, y'.

[Andrew Gillum]

All. Speaking of artists, I think if you. If you took any NFL quarterback and said he was more artist, it would be Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, Aaron's very unique, and. And I tend to believe that people make mistakes, but most NFL reporters are very, very good. So I'm gonna. I'm gonna trust the NFL reporter who broke this story that basically, Aaron begged the jets to keep him. And it's interesting because I think we both acknowledge Aaron's smart. You know, he's a. He's a bright guy, better than average intelligence, but he's had two franchises catch him off guard, letting him go. And it's an interesting thing with Aaron. Generally, these two things coincide. Intelligence and self awareness. And we think Aaron's smart. And twice he's knocked on the door of the franchise. And they're like, they do The Vegas dealer. Yeah, we're out. And he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What I find interesting about Aaron, if this story is true, that he begged to stay, is that he doesn't get, like, he doesn't get his brand. And it's like, Aaron, you're not some dullard. You're not a dim bulb. You're a lot of work, and you're not nearly as good as you used to be. This, whether you're a talk show host or a quarterback, never ends well. When I read that he. He was begging to stay or he really wanted to stay, part of it to me was sad. It's like, aaron, how do you not get this does that for you?

[Jake Hofer]

I don't. So Albert Brear then reported that Aaron wanted to stay, wanted, and indicated that he wants to keep playing, but that he was not. He did not present it like that. He was begging. Rogers doesn't strike me as a guy that would get down on one knee and beg the New York jets for employment. So I didn't buy the behind the paywall New York Post story that said it was like a man walking himself to the gallows and referencing Ayahuasca. It was like very New York Posty. And so I was like, I, I took it with a little bit of a grain of salt. What I do think is true is that Rogers probably went to that meeting and stated his case. I was hurt at the beginning of the year. I played much better at the end of the year. And what's your plan? If not me, then who? And they probably don't have a great answer for that right now. So I bet he stated his case. I still struggle to find a team that makes more sense for Rogers than Pittsburgh. People keep saying Minnesota, aren't they going to try J.J. mcCarthy. They traded up in the first round to draft it. And if they think that they got a great season seasons out of Kirk Cousins and then a great season out of Sam Darnold, I would have to imagine that they think that the guy that they picked they can get a great season out of for very cheap.

[Andrew Gillum]

Well, I want to, I want to quickly segue to this. I don't want to spend too much time on Aaron. So there was a story that Jason McIntyre deserves credit. He talked about it like four days before anybody else did Stafford to the Giants. And I made two calls on it and it was a real thing. It's, it's now Stafford may just want a new deal and an influx of money from the Rams. That's probably it. The idea of going from Stan Kroenke and Sean McVeigh and Indoor Football to the Giants facing Philadelphia twice a year and Jaden Daniels does not feel appealing to me. Just chaos to non chaos. The Rams are a really well run ship. But it was interesting. So when I proposed that it was amazing. And again it's fans. So how many people said you cannot give up a first round pick for Matt Stafford?

[Tiffany Cross]

And I'm like, you definitely can.

[Andrew Gillum]

It is a weak draft. You've been unwatchable for a decade. Like you're the GM of the Giants. I press you into a corner. What would you give up for Matt Stafford in a weak draft?

[Jake Hofer]

Yeah, I mean I would try to make it next year's first round pick. Right. Like not.

[Andrew Gillum]

Don't you got to give up some. I'm not going to let you get away with that. You got to give me something this year.

[Tiffany Cross]

Yeah.

[Jake Hofer]

Then I mean listen, I, I still think Stafford's an arguably top five quarterback in the NFL. I think there's a big four. And then like Matt Stafford, everyone was immediately like Jaden Daniels is the best quarterback in the nfc. And I was like, I don't know. I think I'll still take the 35 year old gunslinger, like personal to win a game tomorrow. I'll, I'll take, I'll still take Stafford over Jaden Daniels though. Jaden's amazing. So, yeah, I think that if the Rams were open for business, they would get a first round pick from Matt Stafford. Even at his age.

[Andrew Gillum]

I now, even though you'd have to redo the deal. Like it's. He's just too damn good in a league now. That is all.

[Jake Hofer]

And it's the type of thing that you don't go into it blind. Like you'd be. His agent would be given permission to talk to the team. Hey, are you playing. You know you're not retiring next year, right? No, you're playing multiple years. Okay, cool. Yeah. And as long as they have a guarantee that Matt Stafford would sign a contract extension, rework the deal to your point and play multiple years, I do think that he would get a first round pick. He's awesome. He's awesome. I, yeah, I don't really get why the Rams would want to be out of the Matt Stafford business though. Like I watched your segment and like, okay. I personally would put up with his wife saying goofy things and like he's Matt Stafford.

[Andrew Gillum]

Well, I think what the Rams are looking at some of that public Cooper Cup Stafford. The Rams felt a bit bullied in social media. The wife Cooper cup. It's like, guys, we're really good. We're really good owners. We're good people here. Don't go public. So I think that's part of it. I think the other thing you have to look at is take Stafford out. Who are the pocket quarterbacks that you really think can win a Super bowl over the next 10 years? Golf. And that's mostly because of the O line really. Of Detroit. The O line is so suffocating. It could, it could move the ball against Philadelphia Steel line. The truth is, I think. And they're also looking at. We don't. We. Matt wants four years, they give him two. So I think it's. They want Matt Stafford, but I do think rent a quarterback for a year because next year's quarterback class is much better. Is Aaron Rodgers. I think Aaron, if you go to Aaron's last 10 games in New York with at that point arguably the worst coaching staff not in Chicago in the league. It was the worst coaching staff and he put up like really decent numbers the last 10 games. My take is with McVeigh, if you could hold those numbers for a year, two year deal. We drafted quarterback. And I also think Aaron has been humbled. I think, I think he'd come live in Malibu and be like, this is a gift I'm taking.

[Jake Hofer]

I am no, no issue with understanding why Aaron Rodgers would want to play in LA for Sean McVeigh. That's not a, that's not a leap. My thing is if I'm Sean McVeigh, I think Matt Stafford is better than Aaron Rodgers at this stage. I just don't get why the Rams would want to be out of the Stafford business, to get into the Rogers business. Like if, if Matt Stafford forced the trade or retired or whatever, then like, okay, we can have that conversation. But like, I just, I get to me every. All these teams that people are throwing out for Rogers, like the Niners, the Vikings, the Rams, like, yeah, that all sounds great for Aaron, I think it's much more likely that it's going to be like Vegas, Tennessee, nobody. Like, I think that, that that's where.

[Andrew Gillum]

It'S going to be.

[Jake Hofer]

Like, is he going to just play to play and grind out six wins or. I don't, I don't believe that a Super bowl contender is calling Aaron Rodgers. Maybe I'll be proven wrong, but I.

[Andrew Gillum]

Don'T, I don't believe that a Super.

[Jake Hofer]

Bowl contender is ready for him.

[Andrew Gillum]

So I thought it was interesting today where Adam Schefter was almost annoyed with Aaron Rodgers, where he came out and said, pick a team. So I said this on the air today. If you ever tell a corporation, listen, I need more time, I'll get back to you. You have to have the self awareness to know how that lands to the corporation. Especially if you're in a valuable position. It's a big fu. You're literally going back thinking, ugh, what a prima donna. And I usually tend to think really smart people have excellent self awareness. And I wonder sometimes with Aaron, is he the rare smart dude, doesn't read the room well? I mean, he, he goes on this darkness retreat in Green Bay and then is shocked when they're like, take a hike. Like, how can you be shocked?

[Jake Hofer]

But here's the thing with Rogers and there's a lot of it.

[Tiffany Cross]

Do we, he talks a lot, but.

[Jake Hofer]

Do we believe anything he says?

[Andrew Gillum]

Like, what do you mean he said.

[Jake Hofer]

He didn't have cell service? Like, he's like, he's like, oh, you live in Malibu in like a 25 million dollar house. You have cell service. Like, it was just. I think that he has a lot of narcissism to him. And he's like, I love the silence. And then he brought a film crew.

[Andrew Gillum]

Like, what do you.

[Jake Hofer]

These things are just in conflict with each other. I just, you know what I mean? I think that he is a. So I don't know that he knows exactly what he wants. And I think he loves attention. And I think that he. He told Mark Schlerith and Spink has told the story publicly. He did like a Week 16 or 17 jets game and he. Stink said that they talked for almost 30 minutes. 20 Something was about the running game because Stink's insane. And he was like five or ten minutes was about his future. And he's like, Aaron told me point blank, like, I'm only going to keep playing if the situation is perfect. Well, now apparently it's down to the Steelers and the Giants. Imperfect, imperfect. Now at least the Steelers to me makes perfect sense. That one makes perfect sense. He loves Mike Tomlin. Mike Tomlin loves him. Mike Tomlin, apparently it's impossible for this guy to have a losing season. Mason Rudolph, Kenny Pickett, Mitch Trubisky, Duck Hodges, it doesn't matter. It's impossible for this guy to have a losing season. So obviously you're hyper relevant. The fans care. You'll look good in the iconic jersey.

[Andrew Gillum]

You'll get to play against Joe Burrow.

[Jake Hofer]

You'll play against Lamar Jackson. The AFC north plays the NFC north this year. So the Steelers host the Packers. They go to Chicago. Aaron will eat that shit up. Like he will like that. To me that makes sense. He can have an expectation of playing in a playoff game and maybe winning a playoff game that Tomlin hasn't done since 2016. They're not going to win a Super bowl, but that makes sense. If he comes back and he plays for the Giants. I. It's just pure vanity.

[Andrew Gillum]

Sorry to interrupt this great video, but please remember to like and subscribe. Thank you. Now back to the video. Okay, so I'm going to argue because we. This was a discussion today on our show and I said because I've moved so many times that I get a yellow pad out pros and cons. And I said I'm going to be Aaron Rodgers. I don't have to move. I get an offensive coach, I get neighbors and a really good left tackle and I'm going to have more juice in the building because the coach and the GM are getting fired or they lost Najee Harris in their left tackle. They're completely tone deaf to offense. I'm old and don't want to get hit and they haven't had a good line for seven years. I'LL have really no power in the building. And I'm going to have two guys that are both going to demand the ball, and neither one runs a complete route tree. I can make an argument selfishly. Like, every time I've ever thought about moving, my take is, who is my Svengali in the building? Will somebody get me Brian Dable's work with Daniel Jones. He's worked with Josh Allen. Brian Dable's been around forever. Mangini calls him one of his best assistants he's ever known. Like, you go into a building with a guy, you can literally be on the same wavelength. I mean, Arthur Smith does not appear to be likable, and Mike Tomlin does not appear to care about offense. And you got two receivers who want to be ones. I look at Pittsburgh and think this is a powder.

[Jake Hofer]

Okay, so two things. One.

[Andrew Gillum]

I could be wrong.

[Jake Hofer]

I obviously don't know the man. I don't think he cares about moving. He'll, he'll, like, like, come on. He travels to Tahiti and Thailand and he lived for 15 years in Green Bay, Wisconsin. In, you know, he's, he's, he'll, he'll be fine for eight months in Pittsburgh. I have a hard time believing that that is going to be a determining factor for him. Maybe I'm wrong, but I just, I think he'll be fine. He's a very well traveled individual. He'll have as much power in the offensive side as he wants. Who knows, maybe they'll fire Arthur Smith and they'll hire Nathaniel Hackett. Like he's an. He's the offensive coordinator in and of himself. I think he loves Tomlin. I think that they've flirted with each other, they wink at each other on the sideline. He shouts them out when he does the McAfee interviews. I think he's got a respect for him.

[Andrew Gillum]

Conspiracy theory.

[Jake Hofer]

McAfee today retweeted a video of Rogers talking about Tomlin from like 2021. I think it's happening. I think it's happening. I think he's going to announce it on that show. McAfee is a Pittsburgh guy or a Pennsylvania guy, whatever he is. He's doing some show in Pittsburgh coming out soon. He's calling it big night act. I don't fully understand the McAfee universe, but like, I think Rogers, who's apparently making seven figures from the guy, which is amazing, good gig if you can get it. I think he's announcing that he's going to Pittsburgh with McAfee at his show. In Pittsburgh and he's a Steeler. That's what I think.

[Total Wireless Ad]

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[Tiffany Cross]

Yeah.

[Andrew Gillum]

All right. Just. You're probably right. I'm just telling you the stuff that matters to me, which is don't have to worry about moving left tackle, offensive coach, great weapon and I'm going to have power in the building. I'll get a say in the building.

[Jake Hofer]

Where do you think he wins more football games?

[Andrew Gillum]

Pittsburgh.

[Tiffany Cross]

Yeah.

[Jake Hofer]

So I guess. Okay.

[Total Wireless Ad]

And then.

[Jake Hofer]

So the other thing I wanted to say to you, and this is like a, like developing more as my media career continues. I just get older or whatever. I root for Interesting powder keg.

[Andrew Gillum]

Great.

[Jake Hofer]

Awesome. It is so much more interesting if Aaron Rodgers is in Pittsburgh with Mike Tomlin that.

[Andrew Gillum]

You know what, like that.

[Jake Hofer]

I've said it. I had our guys work up a photoshop of him in a Steelers uniform the day the season ended. Like, to me it's made. Obviously, if Minnesota wants him, that's a better situation. Obviously. So I see him hold. I can see him holding out for that. I think they're going to go J.J. mcCarthy. We'll see. But. And the Steelers would be on national TV six times. They would be hyper relevant and hyper interesting. Good or bad? Good or bad. So I am I. If he's going to play and we're going to talk about him and he's going to suck all the oxygen out of a room, I would much rather him do it on a 10 or 11 win team than a 5 or a 6 win team. So I'm personally rooting for Pittsburgh.

[Angela Rye]

I think Democrats have for a very long time allowed Republicans to play them. So essentially Republicans came up with a narrative and Democrats decided to play into that. And that only hurt the Democrats.

[Katie Couric]

I'm Kitty Couric. Jasmine Crockett, Democratic representative of Texas, is not known for holding back. And our recent chat on Next Question is no exception.

[Angela Rye]

But when you hear how she got.

[Katie Couric]

To where she is, her intensity makes perfect sense.

[Angela Rye]

It's just hard to imagine a world where you don't have enough people that care to do right by people. And so that same passion that carried me through as a public defender that led me to want to change laws and thinking about the harm that will happen not just to my constituents, but just generally like I carry that weight with me because you've seen it up close. Yeah.

[Katie Couric]

Listen to next question with me, Katie Couric on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Freddy]

It's the biggest party of the summer. WWE SummerSlam is here and wrestling with Freddie is all over it. We're talking wild matches, big surprises, and our boldest predictions yet. From celebrity showdowns to the chaos inside the a steel cage, we're breaking down every match and calling who we think walks out on top. This card is loaded. From Cody Rhodes, John Cena, Rhea, Ripley, and Tiffy, just to name a few. This lineup is ready to tear down the house. We'll give you our unfiltered takes, honest debates, and you already know a ton of laughs along the way. We're covering the upsets, the wild returns, and the championship moments. Nobody expects. We'll get into the matches that steal the show, the storylines that extend explode, and those oh my God, did that just happen? Moments that make SummerSlam legendary. Don't miss it. Listen to Wrestling with Freddy as part of the My Kultura Podcast Network. Find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Katie Couric]

Your entire identity has been fabricated. Your beloved brother goes missing without a trace. You discover the depths of your mother's illness, the way it has echoed and reverberated throughout your life, impacting your very legacy. Hi, I'm Dani Shapiro and these are just a few of the profound and powerful stories I'll be mining on our 12th season of Family Secrets. With over 37 million downloads, we continue to be moved and inspired by our guests and their courageously told stories. I can't wait to share 10 powerful new episodes with you. Stories of tangled up identities, concealed truths, and the way in which family secrets almost always need to be told. I hope you'll join me and my extraordinary guests for this new season of Family Secrets. Listen to Family Secrets Season 12 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Angela Rye]

Hey everybody, I'm Angela Rye, co host of Native Lamp Pot with Tiffany Cross and Andrew Gillum. I'm through the lens of politics and culture. We talk with you every week to make sense of this madness. I've been telling Angela I don't even know how to fight back right now. So what I'm focused on is just looking out for ourselves.

[Tiffany Cross]

That's the truth. We're having the same debates that American households are having all over the country.

[Angela Rye]

Rest is certainly a form of self care, but if you are watching your full neighbors starve, not be able to pay bills, your rest is is selfish. But the thing is, Angela, this is not the mess we created. So I do understand black folks Feeling like, you know what, y' all got it.

[Tiffany Cross]

We're like family, but we disagree all the time. And we love when our listeners chime.

[Angela Rye]

In what would happen if we built our own little Wakandan communities in the rural South.

[Freddy]

Tiffany, do not run to no rural South. I don't know what you're on.

[Angela Rye]

What our audience is asking is. Okay, fine. You want me to stop resting? What specifically are you asking me to do? Stay informed and take action.

[Andrew Gillum]

Listen to Native Land Pod on the.

[Tiffany Cross]

Iheartradio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Andrew Gillum]

Welcome home, y'. All. I want to throw this with Aaron Rodgers and the Vikings, the Steelers, you know, the Giants. Interested? So I've said before, the Vikings is the obvious choice. If you could do it if you wanted one more year with their personnel and their coach. Giants 2 to me, Steelers 3. I'll get to that a second. But I, I, I, I went and watched a, a movie this morning at 11:40 called Black Bag. It was Steven Soderbergh who's done he, he started with Sex Lives and Videotape years ago. Very heady stuff, very quirky plot twist. Fascinating guy. The movie's great. I love that hour 33, I mean, you're in and out of the theater. It's fascinating. Not a wasted scene, but as I was watching it, I was, I was thinking as I walked out of the theater is that you can tell how smart an actor is by the directors and the choices they make for movies. Bad dumb actors end up in bad films and make bad choices. Tom Hanks did not make a bad choice for like 10 years. Now, I know Tom Hanks gets better scripts than the average guy, but, you know, even a movie like Big, you know, you're like smart. Smart actors choose smarter roles. And I think this is the ultimate test for Aaron Rodgers. Hear me out. So of the teams that want him, Minnesota, Pittsburgh and New York, Pittsburgh's got the best overall roster. The best overall coach is probably in Minnesota. But here's something fascinating about the Steelers. So in five of the last seven years, and I think we both agree, they draft and develop well, they got dudes. This is a real roster. Five of the last seven years, they've had at least a three game losing streak at minimum at the end of the year. And my belief is, as the league has gotten offensively smarter and the culture has changed and defenses are limited, that Mike Tomlin is a rah rah coach, kind of a motivator. That's why he's such a good as an underdog coach is that the rah rah stuff. It doesn't, it doesn't land or stick by Christmas on. It just doesn't. Players have heard it and that they're, they're just not a sophisticated team offensively. They can't get the O line right which Andy Reid, McVeigh, Shanahan, Gary, Sean Payton, those guys within a year can fit. I mean the Denver O line sucked. Peyton got there, it was top eight, you know, his first year in that. I think if Aaron chooses the Steelers, I think it's a big brand, it's a good roster. You now have two high maintenance receivers who want the ball. By the way, DK Metcalf's the most penalized receiver since he entered the league. Temperamental. You have an O line that can't figure out. They have no, no sensibility for it. He's sort of an outsider in a kind of a tough blue collar city. He's an outsider and if he chooses Pittsburgh, I really think it tells you a lot about Aaron. I mean I would, I'll tell you, I would choose the Giants over Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh just lost their left tackle. They just lost Najee Harris. It's like the Giants have an excellent left tackle, an offensive coach. Aaron will have power. They have an elite weapon. And by the way, what they need is a running back. It's a great running back. Draft, it's hard to screw the running back. I mean the Giants will take a running back somewhere early. So my take on Aaron is if he chooses the Steelers, he's passing on offensive coaches who clearly every rule advantage goes to that side. And I'm fascinated by the choice he makes because I'm, you know, you start hearing things, a lot of people think he's going to Pittsburgh. If you just wanted to play one more year, where would you pick?

[Tiffany Cross]

I'd be begging, are we factoring Minnesota in with these three or just the OST too? I would be begging Kevin o' Connell to let me be the starting quarterback.

[Andrew Gillum]

Okay, okay.

[Tiffany Cross]

When I, when I see some of these reports that, you know he needs 30, 40 million dollars, like guys made 450 million dollars. This is probably going to be his last season. Is he going to go out on the embarrassment that was the jet situation these last couple years, I, to me, the Giants thing is I can't get with you there now I'm with you. I think the Steelers situation is a little overrated. I mean they just, they happen to have Lamar Jackson who's, I don't know, the most unique quarterback we've ever seen. And Joe, who when he's on might be the best quarterback in the league. I mean you're not outdoing those two teams. And then Cleveland just resigned one of the greatest pass rushers ever. And for a weird organization, they are not easy to play. That division's really, really difficult. And I'm with you on the Steelers. I thought that that DK Metcalf trade was insanity. Colin, when you, when you don't have your quarterback to trade for DK Metcalf, when down the stretch of the season, obviously your offense had some issues, but Russell did not play well, your defense was falling apart. You are not in the business of giving a guy $100 million guaranteed. Trading a second round pick, that's like what the Chiefs or Bills should do. Not a team that's barely getting in the playoffs and getting smoked the moment they get in. That was crazy. I thought that was the craziest move when you factor in money and a high draft pick. But I don't think the Steelers and the Giants are that good options. Like I see one, the Giants I don't think would make the playoffs with them. I mean the jets were a much better team and I think the Steelers situation would probably have some parallels. Might look a little better, but like the way this season, 9, 10 wins get blasted by the Ravens or Bills.

[Andrew Gillum]

Yeah.

[Tiffany Cross]

And what's he just going to retire.

[Andrew Gillum]

At 40 by the way. Last year to my point, last year, to my point, the Steelers were an awful team down the stretch.

[Tiffany Cross]

I do think, and I would imagine, you know, Kevin o', Connell, I don't think he's ever worked with Aaron. And they're just having long conversations because they go, are we confident that we could win the division and win playoff games with J.J. mcCarthy? Because they, I, I'm telling you, I, I, we've seen it. I know you know this but like you could win just because this isn't the NBA. When you just put a great roster like guaranteed to make the playoffs. In football, the cohesion and the quarterback play. Sam Darnold threw 35 touchdowns last year. J.J. mcCarthy in 15 games that last year in Michigan through 22. That's, he's never played like that. That they, they, they did not. That's not. And, and Kevin OConnell clearly is much more like McVeigh than Shanahan. He likes to throw the ball. I mean he's, that's his, you know, he, he wants to call 35, 40 passes a game. Even when Sam Darnold was getting smoked in the playoff games. Like Kevin run the ball. He just kept calling pass plays. So I, I'd be begging Kevin OConnell. I, I think that roster, I would disagree with you on the Steelers. I think the Vikings have a better roster today. Now the draft, we'll see what happens.

[Andrew Gillum]

You do.

[Tiffany Cross]

I mean, I thought they had an excellent free agency drafting or I mean sign a couple offensive linemen, plug and play a guard in a couple defensive linemen. I mean, their defense overachieved because Flores is such an elite coordinator now. So they bring in a couple more defensive linemen. I would imagine they draft defense, their offense is stacked skill wise. So you know, it'd be, I mean, it'd be a little weird, right, if Aaron's career literally paralleled the guy that always drove him nuts far of going to the jets than the Vikings. Yeah, but, but that division, I think the one thing right now on paper, wouldn't you say the NFC north is the best division in all of football with the Bears looking vastly improved?

[Andrew Gillum]

Well, I think it's the best division in terms of personnel. I think the AFC west is the best division in terms of coaching with Peyton, Pete, Andy and Harbaugh. So those are the two best divisions. And I don't think it's, I don't think it's a coincidence. Well, I just this, the south is such a huge college football region that both the NFC and the AFC south aren't very good. I've always surmised that college football is so big in that part of the country that you don't face the same level of pressure that you do on northern teams like New England, Boston media, Philly media, Baltimore media. You know, I mean like cold weather Pittsburgh, they live, they don't care about college football. They live for the NFL. These, these nfc, AFC south teams. You're like, we'll keep Todd Bowles again. If he coaches the Eagles, he'd be gone tomorrow.

[Tiffany Cross]

You know what's funny is probably like a year ago. Maria has a close friend who's really successful girl, UCLA grad, just crushes. She's like 30 years old, she's got multiple properties. And she was, she was telling me this, she had this acronym, I forget exactly what it was, but it basically described high maintenance friends. And the moment you become a high maintenance friend in her life, she's got too much going on. She's got a young baby, she's out on you. If I would have told you four or five years ago that we'd be A week into free agency and people like Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, like, yeah, well, we'll get back to you here a little bit. It's crazy how. And I think both guys, if they reviewed. Let's use Geno and Sam are viewed as low maintenance, good guys. Everyone likes them, no problems. If both these guys were viewed as just normal humans, like a Drew Brees or I know he's like super high care, but I just mean like normal guys. I think they both would have been signed. They would had a bidding war for these guys because statistically they're still solid. They're clearly not as good as they once were. But it's like the first question. And I've been in these meetings, not necessarily with these individual players, but players like this, like, do we want to deal with this? Like, do we want. And their stardom is now bigger than their talent. That it's like, is this high maintenance worth the headache enough?

[Andrew Gillum]

Look at DEZ Bryant. Disappeared, gone. OBJ disappeared. Aaron Rodgers, Russell, not really interested. I think. And I'll throw this at you, I love the NBA, but there's some high maintenance. You know, these guaranteed contracts. I think the NFL people and I've had discussions with NFL people for my entire career. They often reference, dude, that's an NBA, that's an NBA idea. They make fun of the NBA and how much players and employees control the entire organization. Embiid. Everybody's hostage to Embiid. And I mean, you've heard GM's reference this before. Like they're. Aaron and Russell are getting into sort of like a little bit of NBA where you're like, this is a team sport. Like this is about the group and the community. Not. I mean, when Aaron said, you know, there's that picture in Malibu where he's, you know, he's got the pod pods on. And I'm thinking and every guy, every NFL GM is thinking, listen, just make an effing decision, okay? Like, you're not married, you don't have kids, you're not doing much, you're golfing and you're reading Greek mythology like that to me. I listen, I've talked to two GMs and they're like, you couldn't. I'm not interested in Aaron. And I'm like, yeah, but he's. He's still pretty good. And they're like that just. I mean, Aaron Glenn basically just said were just no, thank you. And Aaron was actually pretty good down the stretch. This isn't a shot at Aaron. It's what I'm hearing from executives in the league, it's like, no, thanks.

[Tiffany Cross]

I mean, look, look at the Titans. Their new GM is from the Chiefs. So he's spent his whole time around Andy, Veach, Mahomes, Alex. The guy kind of in this weird position who's like the president, but he's also kind of got a scouting background, is a Packer guy. They have no interest. Even if they're going to take Cam Ward like you guys, get Aaron Rodgers, bring him to Nashville for a year, get a little buzz as you're building this new stadium. You haven't heard a peep. You know, it's like that's, it's, it's crazy how think of the top quarterbacks in this, in the league, Patrick Mahomes. The only maintenance they ever have to deal with is his family. It's not him like he is. They don't even think about him. Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Herbert Burrow. I mean, Burrow is kind of had to hold their feet to the fire. Just historically, this organization. If you put Burrow in the Ravens or the Chiefs, he wouldn't be saying a peep. He's just scared that this, this owner is going to be cheap. Don't blame him. But I think the league, the star quarterbacks are just full of guys who are just. You never. The season ends and it's like, I don't know what Josh Allen's doing. He's just doing. He had a bachelor party at the Tiger woods thing in Orlando just with his buddies. And I think Aaron Rodgers and Russell, they're different personalities, but I think they both check the same box of like, I don't know if we have the energy and you're, and you're not good enough anymore for us to overlook that. Because if you put Aaron Rodgers on Minnesota, you know, I, I could see it going well, but I can also get weird. Like, are you sure that you're comfortable around with him with JJ in that situation? But I do think they're thinking long and hard, but these guys don't really have options. So they can just kind of wait it out and keep talking through it.

[Andrew Gillum]

Yeah, no, I, I think it's a reality that there's, there's, there's. The players now are richer sooner. I mean, some of these guys now, going forward, John, they'll come in multi millionaires out of college. So you're going to see, you're going to see two things. Guys retire sooner and guys have a little more leverage sooner. And, and I think the fear on the NFL is we don't want to become pro basketball. Where basically the employees are, are running the team. You know, like Kawhi showing up at 4:30 and saying yeah, I'm not going to play tonight. Like no, we're not, we're not going there. And I think the NFL benefits.

[Tiffany Cross]

I do think it could get much weirder in the off season with the holdouts and the hold ins like that. That probably is, we're at the beginning of that. But in the sport of football, unlike in basketball, these guys could play 365 days a year if they want to. Right. Pick up games. You can play whenever in football. The only time you can actually play a game is in the confines of the 17 weeks. And that's the fun part. What Ray Lewis say, you pay me Monday through Saturday, Sundays are for free. The games are really the fun part for the players. And that's the problem with the NBA. You turn on the tv, you never know who's going to play. Even in the NFL, guy making 40, $50 million, he's still going to want to play in the games. Laramie, Tunsville. A lot of articles are coming out like, you know, he's kind of late to practice, doesn't always work hard. It's like, well, you don't know that if you just watch the TV because you're like, he's a good player, I'd want him on my team. So yeah, the NFL, their weird stuff happens during the week when no one's paying attention the games. It's like all the guys want to play.

[Andrew Gillum]

The Aaron Rodgers thing has been interesting because you wrote the book on him so you know him pretty well. And I didn't think his, I don't think his football. He's fine. He's, you know, somewhere between the 13th and 16th best quarterback. He's fine. I don't think he's quite as committed as the young great ones and I don't think he moves like the young great ones. He's smart. But when Aaron Glenn came in and for the second time in Aaron's career, he was caught off guard a little by a team saying, hey, thanks but no thanks. According to reports that, you know, Aaron had flown cross country meeting with him and Aaron Glenn was like, we're going to move on. And to me downgraded at quarterback. I mean when you write a book on Aaron, you think you have a feel or a vibe for him. I said this the other day, if, if the Vikings say no thanks, I think he retires. When you look at how the season went and now we're in this flux period. Are you surprised or could you have predicted it based on the, the over 100 people you talked to in the, in the conversation with Aaron?

[Total Wireless Ad]

I think I'm not surprised that he. I think the overriding feeling right now is that he still wants to play in maybe two years. I had a friend of his tell me two years a week ago because he kind of feels like this past season Colin was a rehab year. And so if he has a good 2025, I really do expect him to try to play in 26. But will he even play at all? Retirement is on the table, I think. I don't think the Vikings are going to sign him. That would be the best case scenario. But if you, let's say you put the Vikings roster or the Steelers and the Giants had an equivalent talent base as the Vikings. Same coaching, same talent. I actually think he picked the Giants because he does really like living in the New York New Jersey area. Despite the fact that the jets thing was effectively a two year disaster. I do think if the Giants were had a Vikings roster, I actually think he would pick the Giants. He has respect for that organization. They've had good conversations. I've talked to a couple people with the Giants who said they have no issues with him as a locker room presence, as a personality. They don't care. They think he's the best available quarterback and they want him. They've made a good offer. If I had to put 20 bucks down today, I think he'll be the starting quarterback for the Steelers because I think he'd prefer the Vikings. But the Steelers I think really do want him. They've made that clear. And Mike Tomlin gives him the kind of coaching last year. Colin, I've been doing this almost 40 years in the New York market. That is one of the two or three worst coaching jobs I've ever seen in any sport in New York. And so to go from that to Mike Tomlin, if Mike Tomlin coached the 2024 jets, they would have gone 10 and 7 7, I'm convinced of that. That was a 107 team that went 512 with horrific coaching. So I think with the Steelers and with the playmakers they have now and that roster and particularly the coaching, I think Aaron can go 10, 7, maybe 11 and 6 and get back in the playoffs and maybe that's the way to end his career. I think where the Giants are right now because they don't have that roster that we were talking about earlier with the Vikings. He's looking at that saying, geez, do I want to finish my career going 5 and 12 for one New York team and 5 and 12 for another? Have you looked at the Giants home schedule? Let me run these eight games by you and you tell me they're going to play nine on the road next year and eight at home. You tell me who the Giants are beating from this group. Dallas. Okay, I think they can beat Dallas, but then they're playing at home. Philly, Washington, Green Bay, Kansas City, the Chargers, the vikings and the 49ers. How many of those games are they winning?

[Andrew Gillum]

Maybe two.

[Total Wireless Ad]

If they're lucky, they go 2 and 6 at home. Then on the road, they're at Dallas, they're at Philly, they're at Washington, they're at Denver, they're at Detroit. How many of those games are they winning? So I think Aaron is smart enough to look at that and say, do I really want to go 5 and 12, even if I play better? And even though I don't think the Jet thing is really going to hurt his legacy, I don't think 10, 15 years from now when he's already in the hall of Fame as a Packer, people are going to be talking about his experience with the Jets. But if he does that again with a second team, I do think that'll hurt his legacy. So to me, if the Vikings aren't interested and they're going with McCarthy pretty much right away, I think the Steelers make a lot of sense. I think Tomlin is a built in insurance policy that it won't be a disaster. I think he should do that. I think he'll play better. I think he'll make the playoffs, and that's the way to go.

[Andrew Gillum]

Out.

[Freddy]

Out.

[Andrew Gillum]

So I, I said this the other day on the show. You know, obviously I was in the Northeast for ten and a half years, but I. One of the things I observed when I was in the city a lot or near it in Connecticut is that, you know, there's a lot of Yankee and Met fans and a lot of Giant and Jet fans, but everybody in New York likes the Knicks. It's just every single friend I had in New York. And many of them, more than the Yankees or Giants, were Nick fans first. And again, I'm old enough to remember the Walt Frazier, Bill Bradley, Earl Monroe. Yeah, like I go back to the 70s when nobody won, you know, the Lakers won a title, the warriors did, the Washington Bullets did, the Sonics, the Blazers, the Knicks, and then there were the Pat Riley iterations. But I always said, God, if Dolan could get out of the way. This city loves its team so much. And I think when the sphere got built for two years, Dolan removed himself from the facility. I mean, literally, physically. He was in Vegas so often. And it allowed the Knicks to really grow this really strong basketball group. And I think they've made very patient, very sharp moves. I don't think Cat is the future, but I think he was the right move at the right time. But there was a moment between Tibbs and Josh Hart the other day and Mikhail Bridges. It was public that he had gone to Tibbs. Hey, we need to play the starters less. You know, young players don't get a lot of work. And minutes under Tibs. As great as the. The brief journey has been with Tom, it does feel like, does it not, Ian? To get to the next level, you need two moves. Carl Anthony Towns probably gets replaced with a better defensive big or just like a kd, a greater player. And Tibbs may not be the answer. Or is that me 3,000 miles away? Guessing no.

[Total Wireless Ad]

I think it's possible that's the case. I do think Tibbs is good enough to win a championship as a head coach. They lose in the second round again this year. I don't think he'll get replaced because I think he'll lose to a better team. I think the Celtics are better. And surprisingly enough, I did not think the Cavs would be better, but they are. They just are. So if they lose in the second round to, say, the Celtics, do you fire the guy with that, you're losing to a better team. The Celtics have better players. The Knicks have improved their roster, certainly. And I didn't think Jalen Brunson, I wasn't sure if he'd be this or could be the second best player on a championship team when they acquired him. Now, I do think he could be one of the top two, if not the best player on a championship team. He's an incredible player, and I think a lot of people in New York were surprised by that. I think where the Knicks are right now is. It's kind of funny because jets fans have been complaining and complaining about Woody Johnson, the owner, for a long time. 40 Johnson hires and we'll find out if he did the right general manager in Muji and the right head coach in Aaron Glenn. He's going to go away. And jets fans will never talk about him. They are. Knicks fans are not talking about Jim Dahl and they haven't now for a number of years because he Hired the right general manager, and that was a gamble. Leon Rose had never done this job. He was a very good agent. He had never been a general manager. And early on I wasn't so sure. But turns out he knows what he's doing. And Tibbs, of course, everybody knew he knew what he was doing. He's proven that he could be a very valuable piece of the coaching staff that won a championship in Boston under Doc Rivers. And so, Izzy, it's almost like Buck Showalter did all the dirty work in the. On the Yankees in the mid-90s, and then he got replaced by Joe Tory, and Joe Tory then won a four World Series. So I'm not saying that the next Knicks coach is going to win four titles in the next five years after that happens, but I think that he's going to get one more year after another second round exit. Maybe the Knicks will surprise us and win that second round matchup with, say, the Celtics. I don't think that will happen, but I do think you're right. In terms of the roster, it looks like they're still, believe it or not, after all the moves they've made and what, five number one picks for Bridges. And then they made the Cat deal and the Brunson deal was an incredible one. It still looks like they need to make one more move and maybe Cat is a part of that package. But yeah, right now it's just they're in a tough way because of the Celtics being in their way. And now the Cavs have hurdled them and they sure look like they're for real.

[Andrew Gillum]

Yeah, I think the Hartenstein move, which I think they were, they were kind of trapped. There's not much they could do. I thought he added some real toughness and rebounding. That's very hard to replace. Cat is a more gifted offensive player, but he's not the toughest guy in the league and he's a poor defender. Hartenstein had this sort of New York York toughness, just a fighter on the glass. And it felt like he was just part. He almost felt like, you know, he had that Villanova feel. He was just an overachiever and a fighter. And I think sometimes in the NBA it's not what you want to do, it's what you have to do. And they let him go to okc and, you know, it doesn't quite feel like the same team.

[Angela Rye]

I think Democrats have for a very long time allowed Republicans to play them. So essentially Republicans came up with a narrative and Democrats decided to play into that. And that only hurt the Democrats.

[Katie Couric]

I'm Katie Couric. Jasmine Crockett, Democratic representative of Texas, is not known for holding back. And our recent chat on Next Question is no exception.

[Angela Rye]

But when you hear how she got.

[Katie Couric]

To where she is, her intensity makes perfect sense.

[Angela Rye]

It's just hard to imagine a world where you don't have enough people that care to do right by people. And so that same passion that carried me through as a public defender, that led me to want to change laws and thinking about the harm that will happen not just to my constituents, but just generally. Like, I carry that weight with me.

[Katie Couric]

Because you've seen it up close.

[Angela Rye]

Yeah.

[Katie Couric]

Listen to next question with me, Katie Couric on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Freddy]

It's the biggest party of the summer. WWE SummerSlam is here and Wrestling with Freddy is all over it. We're talking wild matches, big surprises, and our boldest predictions yet. From celebrity showdowns to the chaos inside a steel cage, we're breaking down every match and calling who we think walks out on top. This. This card is loaded from Cody Rhodes, John Cena, Rhea Ripley, and Tiffy, just to name a few. This lineup is ready to tear down the house. We'll give you our unfiltered takes, honest debates, and you already know, a ton of laughs along the way. We're covering the upsets, the wild returns, and the championship moments. Nobody expects we'll get into the matches that steal the show, the storylines that explode, and those, oh my God, did that just happen? Moments that make SummerSlam legends legendary. Don't miss it. Listen to Wrestling with Freddy as part of the My Cultura Podcast network. Find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Katie Couric]

Your entire identity has been fabricated. Your beloved brother goes missing without a trace. You discover the depths of your mother's illness, the way it is echoed and reverberated throughout your life, impacting your very legacy. Hi, I'm Danny Shapiro, and these are just a few of the profound and powerful stories I'll be mining on our 12th season of Family Secrets. With over 37 million downloads, we continue to be moved and inspired by our guests and their courageously told stories. I can't wait to share 10 powerful new episodes with you. Stories of tangled up identities concealed true. And the way in which family secrets almost always need to be told. I hope you'll join me and my extraordinary guests for this new season of Family Secrets. Listen to Family Secrets Season 12 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Total Wireless Ad]

Who cares about truth when the lie's more entertaining?

[Angela Rye]

Hey, everybody, I'm Angela Rai, co host of Native Lampod with Tiffany Cross and Andrew Gillum. Through the lens of politics and culture, we talk with you every week, week to make sense of this madness. I've been telling Angela I don't even know how to fight back right now. So what I'm focused on is just looking out for ourselves.

[Tiffany Cross]

That's the truth. We're having the same debates that American households are having all over the country.

[Angela Rye]

Rest is certainly a form of self care, but if you are watching your full neighbors starve, not be able to pay bills, your rest is selfish. But the thing is, Angela, this is not the mess we create. So I do understand black folks feeling like, you know what, y' all got it.

[Tiffany Cross]

We're like family, but we disagree all the time. And we love when our listeners chime in.

[Angela Rye]

What would happen if we built our own little Wakandan communities in the rural South?

[Freddy]

Tiffany, do not run to no rural South. I don't know what you're on.

[Angela Rye]

What our audience is asking is, okay, fine, you want me to stop resting? What specifically are you asking me to do? Stay informed and take action.

[Andrew Gillum]

Listen to Native Land Pod on the.

[Tiffany Cross]

Iheartradio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Andrew Gillum]

Welcome home, y'. All. John Middlekoff, former NFL Scout all right, let's, let's, let's do a little NFL. The draft is coming up in a couple of weeks, so I was, I was sitting with a Packer fan the other night having dinner. My wife and I were with some acquaintances in Chicago and they were talking about Aaron Rodgers. And two people at the table said, well, why hasn't he signed? And I said, well, I think Aaron deep down knows Pittsburgh's fool's gold. DK Metcalf, George Pickens, lot of drama. They can't get their O line right. They lost Najee Harris and their left tackle. I don't know if the offensive coordinator is Aaron's type of guy. So I think Aaron, if he thought Pittsburgh was the deal, he would sign with Pittsburgh. And my take on Aaron is he really wants to sign with Minnesota. And Minnesota right now has kind of bounced around and been a little ambiguous with JJ McCarthy injury wise. But I'll just ask you is I think if Aaron wanted to sign, he would. And I think he knows Pittsburgh's fraught with issues, you know, defensive culture, defensive spending to high maintenance receivers left Tackle gone. They've had a battle line for seven years. Why do you think?

[Tiffany Cross]

Yeah, I remember you had Danny Parkinson on probably a month ago and he thought that Aaron was going to sign it at Pat McAfee's deal in Pittsburgh. And at first I thought he was crazy. And then the closer we got, I'm like, yeah, maybe it's going to happen. So I kind of expected him just to announce at that thing and then it doesn't happen. And you're like, well, maybe this is not inevitable. And like you said Kevin o', Connell, I think he said at the owner's meetings that two things can be true. We believe in J.J. mcCarthy and we'd also not be doing our job if we weren't showing interest in Aaron Rodgers. They get a tryout period, at least physically, how it's going to look with JJ McCarthy and OTA. So if your Rogers is like, well, what is Pittsburgh going to do? Even if they should door Sanders falls to the them, they still wouldn't be interested in bringing me in. They want to win next year. Shador doesn't guarantee that. Right. So he actually has a weird amount of leverage over Mike Tomlin in Pittsburgh. I mean that can't feel great if you're Steelers like Aaron Rodgers. But he has no leverage in Minnesota, which is clearly his best spot unless OTAs, you know, the coach goes, I don't know, they still look skinny. Maybe the offense doesn't look as smooth. Maybe physically he just doesn't look right. So I, I think he can gauge if, if there are reports after, you know, a couple of those OTA practices, which again, I'm not acting like those.

[Andrew Gillum]

Are the end all be all but.

[Tiffany Cross]

From a physical standpoint, we saw him walk the sideline against the Lions. He looked like he weighed 175 pounds and he had needed multiple knee surgeries. I understand. And listen, I like the player as well, but you can't go off just one good experience in a preseason game for a team that, that if you just remove the quarterback for every team in the NFL, Minnesota undoubtedly would be a top five pick of a roster team. You would take them probably above like the Chiefs or the Bills, but quarterback matters.

[Andrew Gillum]

Well, they just revamped their. I mean the Bears and the Vikings both real upgrades on their O line. So we know we like Minnesota's coach and running back and wide receivers and tight end, they, they went and shored up their offensive line. So I think it's one of the more attractive places in the field.

[Tiffany Cross]

So to me, if if you have any reservations, I also think if I'm Kevin o', Connell, I, I go, Aaron, we want you. I and I'd even do it before OTAs, but we're offering you a veteran minimum, no guaranteed. Like you've already made 500, $400 million on and off the field. Who knows how much you've made? But we're not guaranteeing you anything. So if things ever get weird or it doesn't fit, we can, we can both move on. You're not cost if you really want this because you're no dummy. You know this is by far your best opportunity. But like, I don't know what Pittsburgh is even offering them. One year, $20 million. Something like Minnesota wouldn't even entertain something like that. One year, couple million dollars. And if things don't work after training camp, we can both go our separate ways, but we're not being stuck. But I wouldn't fault them for being interested just because we have seen enough now with, you know, most of these rookie quarterbacks go to really shitty teams, right? So it's like even if you have a bad year, whatever. Trevor Lawrence, his first year with Urban Meyer, he got like a pass. It's happened twice now. A guy's been drafted really high and gone to a team with like legit playoff expectations. Trey Lance was higher than Caleb, but Caleb had pretty big expectations. And then it was just. It's a lot of pressure, a lot of stuff going on. That is J.J. mcCarthy. I know he's a second year player, but he's technically like you, like Blake Griffin, right. He didn't play his rookie year because he tore his knee. You're a rookie, you know, on the field like that, you can't have much more pressure as a first time starting quarterback that's 22 years old, that's never played. Kevin O' Connell is not Kyle Shanahan. You watch him in those. The game against Detroit and the playoff. He's calling pass place.

[Andrew Gillum]

He wants to.

[Tiffany Cross]

He's McVeigh, he wants to. And Andy, he wants to pass. JJ played in a running office. Remember when they beat Penn State and the, they didn't pass the ball in the second half like the Michigan. Handoff, handoff, handoff. Play D. That's what he's used to doing.

[Andrew Gillum]

No. Yeah. I think there's real concerns there and I think Aaron's smart to just. I would wait till the draft's over. I want to see where the chip. I don't want to get burned like Kirk Cousins and I'm going to sit around if I'm Aaron and if I don't get the right offer, I got a 200 million bucks.

[Tiffany Cross]

I think Minnesota definitely is still on the table. You know there's, so do I, I.

[Andrew Gillum]

Want to talk about this because this got a lot of pushback this weekend. So Tennessee has a very young quarterback and he was making about $2 million. They were paying him $2 million when he was red shirting as a freshman to not play. And his name is, and I, I, I'll just call him Nico. He's got a long last name and I don't want to butcher it. So I watched him play three or four. Well, I probably watched him play four or five times last year against the better teams. He was a young quarterback, not overwhelmed, but not a, not a, not a, you know, misses open receivers. He's not Shador accurate but he's also not draft eligible right now. He's going to grow. But he's a really nice talent. He's slender, he moves well, he's got a decent arm. And my take is. So he comes out this weekend and basically doesn't show up to practice and says I want 4 million. And Tennessee to their credit is like, listen, we're not going to play that game. We're going to let him go. And I thought it would have been very difficult to hold out, not show up to practice and come back. So I think the volunteers made the right decision as a program to say, listen, this isn't going to work. This is a bad vibe, this is bad locker room smell here year. We're moving on. I totally agree with that, but I wasn't necessarily bothered by the move because it is April and coaches now are fetching 12 to 13 million dollars in college football. So if a top quarterback wants four, I'm like, I'm not going to hate the player. You can hate the system, you can hate nil. But I think this is, I think this is what we're going to see. This is the way the game works now. I don't think it'll hurt him in the NFL. I think eventually if he has a great year, people draft him. Everybody needs quarterbacks. Nobody cares. I mean, Caleb Williams had some emotional stuff people didn't like. Johnny Manziel had all sorts of it. There'll be a team that'll draft him that needs a quarterback. What do you make, what do you make of the kid doing it? What do you make of Tennessee's react.

[Tiffany Cross]

Forget the kid's name. But there's A pass restaurant, South Carolina, the Gamecocks. Who's like looks like a clowny or just like a. And you know Miles Garrett in the middle of the season, they're like they had to up what they were going to pay him. And again, true freshman. He looks like he's got a chance to be like a number one overall pick. I have no problem. When you're an elite player, renegotiating happens in pro sports all the time. What happen who holds out in the NFL? Micah Parsons, Nick Bosa. Right. Justin Jefferson, Jordan Jamar Chase. This guy did not have a good year.

[Andrew Gillum]

Year.

[Tiffany Cross]

I'm with you. I watched a lot of them last year because Tennessee was good and they were in the mix. Had you heard of him in high school? Like he was one of the highly touted guys in la?

[Andrew Gillum]

Oh, no, no. Oh, I think he was. He was the number one quarterback I believe out of Los Angeles. So I watch all those guys tape on YouTube again moves well, lively arm. I thought as a college quarterback his accuracy was against. And again I only watched the Tennessee games against the better teams. Very hit and miss down the field. Very hit and miss. But again my takeaway is okay, he's like a registered freshman.

[Tiffany Cross]

Well, here's my issue with the whole thing is all reports have it it's his dad. You know they say pigs get fed, hogs get slaughtered. Like you said, he got four years, $8 million without ever playing a snap. Where a lot of coaches, Kirby Smart does not give those type contracts to high school kids. Right. A lot of the top coach because it's not good business. Tennessee did because I think he was like second or third overall recruit in the class. Arch was one. So I mean the hot. The hype. The hype was. Was big and that he got paid for it. I think he threw 20 touchdowns last year and only nine of them came in the SEC. He was not good in the SEC and against good teams. So to re. Try to renegotiate off a bad year to me is bad business. And Dan Lanning turned him in essentially like hey, you're getting played.

[Andrew Gillum]

Yes.

[Tiffany Cross]

And I think some of these coaches because again, he's not that good if he, if he was viewed as a camp, if he was draft eligible. Right now he's not getting drafted in the top 100 picks. It's all projection and potential, but not off actual play. And his dad again two, I think it was like 2.2. He was scheduled to make this upcoming year. What if this is one of those. I forget the NBA player, but he like opted out and he thought he could get like $80 million, ended up getting like a one year, $8 million. What if he can't even get a million dollars in the transfer portal? Because some of these coaches are going to go, well, he's a little over half typed one and we're going to try to make a, a statement for our business. That's why Dan Lanning called them, right? This is because they're like, this is insane. It'd be one thing if he was making a hundred thousand dollars and like, hey, the going rates of million dollars. A couple million dollars would totally get it. His dad by all accounts leading the charge. Someone needs to give that guy some business advice. Get Drew Rosenhaus because I think it's bad business. No issue if you're an elite player. If it's Drake May a couple years ago or Ashton Genty, guys that could transfer or totally get it. This guy was completely underwhelming. Colin. This guy was. It's why I think Tennessee and most people universally are like, this is nuts. This is, this is just dumb business. Two and a half million dollars to play average football in the sec. They were a defensive team last year, which is ironic because Josh Hyple their coach, right?

[Andrew Gillum]

Yeah. Yeah. And if Josh Hypo's the coach, you would think it's one of those things where like when Shanahan couldn't make Trey Lance work and the Cowboys gave up a four, it's like, that's bad GMing. Josh Hyple you would think would be able to get the most out of this kid. I think one of the things the NBA, I never understood this about the G League. So let's, let's not pretend this is the 50s, 60s or 70s where basketball players are all starving coming into college. Basketball, they're not. It's a suburb sport. AAU kids, the good players are all getting taken care of. Even before Nil kids were getting swag chefs. They're getting treated great. I am like, yeah. So I never understood kids that went to the G League instead of going and playing for a top six program where you're on television 25 times. I know Zion because he went to Duke. Would you rather take $400,000 for the G League or $300,000 or take $35 million of free marketing and advertising for Duke and people say, well, they didn't grow up with a lot of money. Again, it's a year. You're not asking them to take a 7, 8 year hiatus away from Money. This is not like, this is not, I mean, again, great AAU basketball players are getting taken care of. So I kind of feel the same way about the dad here. I don't blame the kid. But it's like if you have one good year, if you come back to Tennessee and have 30 touchdowns, eight picks and you move well, you will be a first or an early second round pick next year because there's Arch Manning will go number one. After that there's about five guys and they're all in the same class. It depends how the season goes. So I just think the dad lacks a certain self awareness, which is understandable.

[Tiffany Cross]

A lot of these dads, a lot of human beings would not have any clue or knowledge what to do in this situation. If I was one of these people that had the opportunity to make millions of dollars and now in this world where I can get real representation, I would have Tennessee, hey, could we get in contact with either CAA Rosenhaus? I'd want someone real negotiating my thing. And I would imagine they're like, well, Carson beck just got $4 million. Well, two years ago when Carson Beck had lad McConkey and Brock Bowers, a lot of us thought like this guy could be a first round pick. He had a really, really good year.

[Andrew Gillum]

Yeah, I did.

[Tiffany Cross]

I think most of us also thought Miami's kind of crazy, but some of these numbers that get thrown around, no one truly knows what's real or not. It's pretty clear, like it was concrete. This Guy signed an $8 million four year deal and if he came back, fact in three years he will have banked over $6 million in a no state income state at I don't know where, Tennessee, like I don't have a great feel for their roster right now. In April, I would guess It's a top 10 roster in college football and they got a pretty good chance to compete. So we'll have to see where this guy ends up. But it doesn't feel like Oregon, Ohio State are just lined up for the kid. So if he, if he ends up losing money, not only would it be a bad business decision, a football decision, Tennessee's got to be on the short list of great places to be a young quarterback playing football in 2025. Right.

[Andrew Gillum]

Listen, I've learned over the course of my life is the young media always sides with the player because it's a good story. And all the narrative, they don't come from anything. We don't know that. Again, if you're the number one or two or three high school football quarterback in the country, you're getting taken care of by a lot of people. So I just think it's one of those situations. I don't blame the kid. And I think when I watched him I thought, oh yeah, I can see it. I mean he's got talent, but he's.

[Tiffany Cross]

Got no feel, he's got no fuel.

[Andrew Gillum]

And I will say he doesn't. That's the, when you watch, like, you can say what you want about Shador Sanders, he has a feel. He's an accurate thrower of the football under duress. Like, you can tell he's quarterbacked a lot. And also, Shador is not a great enough athlete to make extra yards running around. He's had to make hay in the pocket. By the way, his dad, Deon Smart, he's told that kid, kid, you want to get rich, don't be a runaround guy, sit in the pocket and throw darts. I mean, Dion knows what the hell's going on. So when you watch Shador Sanders, you can clearly tell that he can see the field. He's super accurate. This kid's just talented. But yeah, but I, you know, I, I, I, I, I do think there the family needs to take a deep breath because I mean, if he's great, he'll get drafted. I don't think he's great. I just think he's talented. Wanted. You know, we talk a lot, Aaron Rodgers, and I know it's tiring, but, and I, I really don't care where he goes. If he retired, great. If he goes to Pittsburgh, fine. They're a third place team. I, I don't really care. And he has some personal drama situation in his life, so I can have some sympathy for that. I don't really care that if you were in the league and worked in the league, if he just retired, how would Pittsburgh view him? If they were caught off guard, I.

[Tiffany Cross]

Just don't think they had many other options. Like, I don't think that they are losing a bunch of sleep over the situation, which sounds crazy, but we have a pretty good sample size now. Knowing that they think they could get around, I don't know, somehow not having, attempting to get a Joe Burrow, a Lamar Jackson, just drafting quarterbacks year in, year out. But at this point in time, Colin, it's May 15th. I mean, what, what are we doing here? I mean, I, I think they have to at least have come to grips with like everything's kind of on the table here. They cannot for a very old school organization I saw a quote from, I don't think he's the Papa Rooney. He's like the 60 year old Rooney that said, you know, we don't love playing at night. Late in the season it's like, well that usually means you're good. It comes with the territory. You think Andy Reid wants to play all these night games? No, but it's, it comes with, with being the Chiefs. You're the Pittsburgh Steelers. I, I, I just think they have gotten to this position where and it's hard. I mean look at the Saints. Drew Brees retires and they're just going through quarterbacks. They try to Derek that failed. Now they're in this weird position with a 28 year old rookie. It's not like an easy solution but they've, they've shown their true colors of like their organizational philosophy is run the ball and play defense. That is Bruce Arians. When Roethlisberger was turning into a star, the Rooney family was not happy with them throwing the ball so much. That was when they were winning the Super Bowl. You know, the organizational philosophy does not start with Mike Tomlin. It starts with the Rooney family. Play D, run the ball. I mean look, they draft that running back who I like, the Iowa kid and they drafted defensive tackle in the first. They've been doing the same thing since well before I was alive and I think they are going to be doing it well after Tomlin's gone one day. So I think whether Roger shows up or whether they, Mason Rudolph hands the ball to Caleb Johnson and they try to stuff the run with Harmon and T.J. watt like that's how they're going to play. Which is insane. But you could argue even if he shows up, they're going to beat Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson and some of these teams. So it's the Bills. What are we even talking about? They are kind of stuck. They're like the better version of the post. Peyton, Drew Brees, Saints. But it still doesn't get you anywhere. And it leads actually to a lot more animosity where it's like what are we doing? Like how often are we celebrating? He's never had a losing season. Yes, we know he's really good coach but like if the organization we don't pick or go after young quarterbacks, why not just draft a quarterback every year in the top couple rounds? Just until you figure it out. When you're in this position you got to take some swings. Let's just resign Mason Rudolph and trade for. It's like this is not going to work, guys.

[Andrew Gillum]

Well, just the fact they keep going back to Mason Rudolph, I mean they just, they, it tells you they're just uncomfortable with risk offensively.

[Tiffany Cross]

Well, they tried last year, right. Which was a little out of there. They're like, we'll get these two guys. And it ended and they, you could tell like that wasn't really our thing. You know, Russell big personality. Fields got some limitations, but ideally probably not a starter for us. They didn't like that. And I give them credit for trying what they tried. They punted on Kenny Pickett and clearly they're like, we're not doing that thing again. Too many people talking about their. But now they're waiting on Aaron Rodgers. I don't know. It's just, they're in just a weird space for a franchise that, I mean, what would you say in your lifetime one of the better run American sports franchises in America?

[Andrew Gillum]

I thought until maybe 12 years ago, I thought you could argue they were the best overall franchise most of my, my life. I mean I started watching football 1972, but from like 1974, 75 until maybe 10 to 12 years ago, I thought they were in the, you know, they were in the argument with the Patriots. You know, Patriots had down years, but the Brady years. But I mean they were just like well run and now they're, it's, it's. I always find this, this ish is fascinating to me. Old, successful people that can't age well. Well. And I, it's, it's just really, really weird to me when you like when you see Bobby Knight. I'm not going to do the one and done. Why not? Don't want to win games. Like I don't get it. Or Belichick. Matt, Patricia is the offensive coordinator. Bill, you're smarter than that. What are you doing? Like I, I, I. It's fascinating to me that all the people in the building in Pittsburgh and they, they can't get the offensive line right, they can't get quarterback right and they're not, I mean like Kenny Pickett I guess was a, a swing. But it's like I, I just, it, it's not that hard. I think sometimes I underestimate the gap between like Sean McVeigh. I, I did this the other day. The Steelers are the opposite of the Rams. The Rams spend money on a young, progressive offensive coach, Steelers on an old defensive coach. One team has made the playoffs like, like seven of the last eight years. The Steelers haven't won a playoff game in like eight years or something. You know, one team spends no money on defense, one leads the league in spending on defense, one never takes a chance on character. Guys like, they just, they don't put them on their draft board. One makes a living off that. It's, it's, it's, it's almost. If I can't quite figure the Steelers out, they want character. But nobody's had more divas and high maintenance offensive guys than the Steelers. They want to win, but then they don't take care of the number one position. Like I just, I find them. I feel like there's a messaging issue in the building and, and like Omar Khan, my sources don't consider him like a great general manager.

[Tiffany Cross]

Yeah, I know that. What was his name? Colbert, the former gm, I think was really, really highly thought of in NFL circles by personnel people. I think people would say that they've dropped off, you know, in terms of that. Just the group con and his group relative to Colbert, I would say the other thing is, you know, once the Ravens moved to Baltimore and Ozzy Dacosta was with them the whole time, they had, you know, during the 2000, now they had really good teams, but they basically played the Steelers every year. They became their right and they copied the way they did things like toughness, hardcore guys playing any environment, toughest team in the league. And now over the last decade plus it's like we do it better than you. So we had a front row seat. It's like you're our main competition in business. We know exactly how you do things. Yet we're a little more open minded and progressive to the way that we scout coach. However, and we've now lapped you because that's what it feels like. The Ravens are running circles around them and hell, the Ravens can't even get over the hump in the playoffs. But they're in a different universe than the Steelers and then the Bengals. Listen, a lot of people make fun of them, but they've hit on some players over the years and getting Joe Burrow changed that franchise, regardless how weird and rinky dink it can feel sometimes. But I, I do think the Ravens kind of getting their blueprint and then modernizing it like the Internet version has really hurt. If the Ravens were a little bit more of just a regular run of the mill, you know, 10, 11 win team, but they just have become a dominant NFL team, especially with Lamar. It has made the Sealers look a lot worse. I mean, look, anyone could have had Derek Henry, right? They got him for $8 million. Boom, he goes there, he runs for whatever, almost 2,000 yards and they give him an extension. It's like a no brainer. It's like, shouldn't the Steelers have been.

[Total Wireless Ad]

All over a guy like that?

[Tiffany Cross]

I mean, they were kicking Najee Harris to the curb and I just think that the Steelers are just kind of in this weird spot spot. They're too well run and they, they, you know, Mike Tom is too high level of a guy. They're never going to suck. Like they're never going to have a season where it's like, oh, this is the year they drafted six. It's just not going to happen. But drafting 16th to 20th every year is just not a great place to be either because they're doing it basically every year for what, a decade plus. They haven't won a playoff game since they beat Kansas city in the second round. I think that was Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell were their star offensive.

[Andrew Gillum]

Players a long time ago. Colin? Yeah, well, last 16 years, Ravens, including playoffs, have won the most games in that division. And that was about, I think Steve Bushotti bought the franchise 20 plus years ago, but it took him a few years to get it right. And to your point, I think they copied the Steelers model a little bit. I mean, in that cold weather part of the country, there are certain absolutes like you have to be able to run the football, you have to play really good defense, you better have good offensive lines. You're not going to be throwing the ball down the field. In fact, I could argue before Zay Flowers, I just, I didn't think Baltimore drafted wide receivers particularly well. They drafted everything else exceptionally well. The Steelers draft wide receivers exceptionally well, but they've had a lot of misses on the offensive line and quarterbacks and other spaces. So it is, it is a weird franchise. Okay, this is just a little bit of, a little bit of schedule talk and that's good.

[Angela Rye]

I think Democrats have for a very long time allowed Republicans to play them. So essentially Republicans came up with a narrative and Democrats decided to play into that. And that only hurt the Democrats.

[Katie Couric]

I'm Kitty Couric. Jasmine Crockett, Democratic representative of Texas, is not known for holding back. And our recent chat on next question is no exception.

[Angela Rye]

But when you hear how she got.

[Katie Couric]

To where she is, this, her intensity makes perfect sense.

[Angela Rye]

It's just hard to imagine a world where you don't have enough people that care to do right by people. And so that same passion that carried me through as a public defender that led me to want to change laws and thinking about the harm that will happen not just to my constituents, but just generally like, like, I carry that weight with me because you've seen it up close. Yeah.

[Katie Couric]

Listen to next question with me, Katie Couric on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Freddy]

It's the biggest party of the summer. WWE SummerSlam is here and wrestling with Freddie is all over it. We're talking wild matches, big surprises, and our boldest predictions yet. From celebrity showdowns to the cage chaos inside a steel cage, we're breaking down every match and calling who we think walks out on top. This card is loaded from Cody Rhodes, John Cena, Rhea Ripley, and Tiffy, just to name a few. This lineup is ready to tear down the house. We'll give you our unfiltered takes, honest debates, and, you already know, a ton of laughs along the way. We're covering the upsets, the wild returns, and the championship moments. Nobody expects we'll get into the matches that steal the show, the. The storylines that explode and those, oh my God, did that just happen? Moments that make SummerSlam legendary. Don't miss it. Listen to Wrestling with Freddie as part of the My Kultura podcast network. Find us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Katie Couric]

Your entire identity has been fabricated. Your beloved brother goes missing without a trace. You discover the depths of your mother's illness, the way it has echoed and reverberated throughout your life. Life impacting your very legacy. Hi, I'm Danny Shapiro and these are just a few of the profound and powerful stories I'll be mining on our 12th season of Family Secrets. With over 37 million downloads, we continue to be moved and inspired by our guests and their courageously told stories. I can't wait to share 10 powerful new episodes with you. Stories of tangled up identities, concealed truths, and the way in which family secrets almost always need to be told. I hope you'll join me and my extraordinary guests for this new season of Family Secrets. Listen to Family Secrets, Season 12 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Total Wireless Ad]

Who cares about truth when it lies? More entertaining.

[Angela Rye]

Hey, everybody, I'm Angela Rye, co host of Native Lampod with Tiffany Cross and Andrew Gillum. Through the lens of politics and culture. We talk with you every week to make sense of this madness. I've been telling Angela I don't even know how to fight back right now. So what I'm focused on is just looking out for ourselves.

[Tiffany Cross]

That's the truth. We're having the same debates that American households are having all over the country.

[Angela Rye]

Rest is certainly a form of self care, but if you are watching your full neighbors starve, not be able to pay bills, your rest is selfish. But the thing is, Angela, this is not the mess we created. So I do understand black folks feeling like, you know what, y' all got it.

[Tiffany Cross]

We're like family, but we disagree all the time. And we love when our listeners chime in.

[Angela Rye]

What would happen if we built our own little Wakandan communities in the rural South?

[Freddy]

Tiffany, do not run to no rural South. I don't know what you're on.

[Angela Rye]

What our audience is asking is. Okay, fine. You want me to stop resting? What specifically are you asking me to do? Stay informed and take action.

[Andrew Gillum]

Listen to Native Land Pod on the.

[Tiffany Cross]

Iheartradio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Andrew Gillum]

Welcome home, y'. All. Speaking of social lives, Aaron Rodgers got married. I saw he had a wedding ring on. And I was talking about this on FS1 today. In the last year, I've had a couple of buddies who are GMs in the league. And one of the lines I've used in my business for a long time is, weird doesn't work. You can have an ego, you can even be a little temperamental. You can make mistakes, but if you're weird, eventually companies will move on from you. And I had a general manager tell me, I was out with him about six months ago, and he said, aaron just got weird. And he said, and there's a story that McVeigh passed on him. Kevin O' Connell passed on him. He was the Steelers third choice. And I was writing down a list today of the quarterbacks. I would take over Aaron in the league. And there were 16 of them, including, like, Bo Nix. I'm not paying Bo Nix anything. He's more coachable, he's more athletic. He throws a fine ball wall. I. I think Aaron's just gotten to a point where I think Pittsburgh's about the only offer he had. And reportedly, according to Sheftery, was their third choice.

[Tiffany Cross]

Yeah, I do think it's pretty bizarre that he signs this contract. He's sporting a wedding ring. I. I mean, this is. These quarterbacks, you know, who they're married to is kind. I mean, they're pretty big stars, right? They're like actors, NBA stars. Josh Allen gets married. We all know it. Not all these guys even marry famous people like Josh Allen or Tom Brady. They're married to other famous people. People. Patrick Mahomes married to his high school sweetheart. Peyton Manning's married to a girl I think he dated in college. Who cares? This whole thing of like, I got things going on in my personal life, which I assumed it was negative stuff. Turns out maybe he was just getting married and wanted to push this off. It's just kind of the. I've always been pro Aaron Rodgers as a player because I thought he was incredible. You know, I, I thought in the peak of his powers, he's one of the best athletes in terms of their sport I've ever seen in my entire life.

[Andrew Gillum]

Life.

[Tiffany Cross]

Which is weird because when you look at the totality of his career, it almost feels underwhelming for how good he was. You know, I think he let down in the playoffs. I mean, they lost a couple years ago to. At home to Jimmy garoppolo and the 49ers offense. I think they scored 13 points. That can't happen. But I think this whole. Because we knew he was going to go to Pittsburgh, it was just when he was going to sign. But that picture of him with the wedding ring is just a little bizarre. I mean, there's really no way around it. Right. And you've been on this forever. Listen, as someone that got. I got married for the first time at 40 years old. Now there is a. And a lot of my friends and my brother got married in their late 20s, early 30s. Your life is dramatically different. You know, I mean, obviously then you have kids. It is a completely different lifestyle. And he's just kind of been in this weird spot. Obviously also as a player, he's no longer the saint. His mobility's gone. Not a dominant player anymore.

[Andrew Gillum]

Anymore. You can argue Tom Brady had a 20 year prime, a 20 year prime. Now even though he was really good past 40, I don't really consider it maybe 41. And then the prime ended. But he was still through a great.

[Tiffany Cross]

I give him that first, that first year and a half in Tampa, I think he was pretty Damn good.

[Andrew Gillum]

Still 20 year prime. People forget this. Aaron's last year in Green Bay, they played. They played an average Lions team at home and lost. And it was Aaron. I think it was Aaron's last. Was it his last game as a Packer?

[Tiffany Cross]

And he got outplayed by Goff in that game. Thoroughly outplayed.

[Andrew Gillum]

Okay, so Aaron, so that year, if you go back statistically, Aaron was a B plus quarterback. He didn't play his first three years in the league. Right. He sat in the bench. His fourth year he started, he went 6 and 10. I can argue Aaron had had less than a 10 year prime. I mean, because he hasn't done anything in four years. He didn't do anything the first four years. So I mean, Aaron's prime was about half.

[Tiffany Cross]

I'd give him 2009 to about 21, 20. I mean he won the MVP in 21, 20 and 21. Yeah, about, about 10, 11 years max.

[Andrew Gillum]

Think about that. Brady's at 20 and I, and I. So if you really look at Peyton Manning's probably at about 14 usually. Yeah, I mean Mahomes may be one those 17 to 18 years. Aaron just, and I think a lot of it was just Aaron. I don't think he was as committed in the off season. I, I think he wasn't. You know, I thought he was really good the year he went 6 and 10, but I didn't think he was. I just thought he was talented. He wasn't a winning quarterback. But I think a lot of that is just. I've always been one of these people. I'm not impressed by people that get jobs. I'm impressed by people that keep them. Like, I think there is, there's a real skill to being LeBron James or Tom Brady or Derek Jeter and it's a commitment on nutrition, what you eat, sleep. And I think that's a skill. I think discipline's a skill. Maybe people don't. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe mental health professionals would argue that disciplined is, you know, it's not a skill.

[Tiffany Cross]

Anyone who says that not is a. From the Navy Seals to our athletes to our CEOs, what are they? 100% it's a skill.

[Andrew Gillum]

And I, I just look at Aaron's prime. It's half of Brady. And you can say what you want, but that last year in Green Bay he was a B quarterback and he's gone downhill since. I mean, he's just a pocket guy now and he's not even like an elite pocket guy. He's just a pocket guy.

[Tiffany Cross]

Well, I think when you look at his contemporaries or definitely his peers over his career because he came in a lot later than Peyton. And definitely, you know, definitely Peyton Antom, he was way more physically gifted than those guys. Those guys couldn't run. Tom and Peyton couldn't run at all. I would say Drew Brees definitely wasn't a mobile quarterback and he just had more skills. I mean, I would say Peyton and Drew Brees are known at best. Average arms, right? They, they hung their Hat on accuracy. Tom had the best arm of that trio. But those guys worked like they could get cut next year. I mean everyone you ever talked to that was around those guys. Yeah, they were discussed like they were Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant or Tiger Woods. Their addiction to their craft draft and how much it meant to them. I, I do think Aaron, Aaron really benefited a lot. I mean Tom Brady goes to the Patriots who sucked. Right. Him and Bill turned that thing around. Peyton went to the Colts who had the number one overall pick and Drew Brees and Sean Payton showed up to the Saints that were known as the ace. This guy went to the Green Bay packers who were a model franchise for 15 plus years before he got there.

[Andrew Gillum]

Yes.

[Tiffany Cross]

And I always think that like, like listen, him and Devonte sometimes, you know, you kind of make up your own problems in your head when life's going a little too good. And it felt like those two guys, I mean they have to look back after the couple bumpy years of going, we actually had it pretty good. You know, it can be a little boring in this town but we, we had a lot of success here for a reason.

[Andrew Gillum]

I'm looking up Aaron Drew Brees career from the first five years with the Chargers and then you know, that 15 year run or whatever it was with the Saints. If I go back to Drew Brees a smaller athlete, you can say his first great year was 2004 with the Chargers. So let me count these years. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. I would say Breeze had either 16 or 17 elite years. I mean and I think Brady's 20 plus so. And again, this isn't Bash Aaron, it's just when you go and I've said this. Well, I said this before to you. If Stafford won another Super Bowl. Stafford was better in college. He was better early, he was much better later. If Stafford plays three more years and under McVeigh, they would be good. They have, I mean it's, it's, they've got, they've got their shit rolling. If he gets one more super bowl, you're going to look at Matt Stafford and you're going to look at Aaron Rodgers and you're going to have to have a real hard conversation because that means Stafford's playoff record is going to be significantly better than Aaron Rodgers, which is basically 500. People think I'm crazy when I say this. Stafford has more to gain legacy than any player in the league over the next three years.

[Tiffany Cross]

I will say this about Rogers when it Came to Stafford. He was one of his biggest proponents over the years. Years, you know, he was middling away in Detroit. He's like, you guys don't realize. And obviously the football people held him in high regard. Kind of got screwed that he got drafted to this franchise that, I mean, they're going to be kids right now in Detroit that have no clue how big of a joke that franchise used to be. I, I will say I, I think Rogers kind of morphed a little more into like an NBA player, right. Or, or like receivers often act than these quarterbacks. I mean, even Tom, for a long period of time, just kind of shut his mouth, kept his head down, down dealing with Bill. I mean, Peyton. Would he have ever gone to Denver if they hadn't cut him in Indy and he had another neck injury? He just would have played it out forever in Indianapolis. So, yeah, I just think Aaron. And part of it might be the, the nature of that franchise. You know, you've talked about this a lot of people have over the years. There's no owner to really get involved and kind of calm everyone down. Even just the basic of like, hey, you want to take my jet with your new wife or your buddies to wherever you want. Just the, you know, the Eddie DeBartolo, Jerry Jones, the Robert Kraft, like kind of taking care of you. There's no, that guy doesn't really exist. So I, I, I, I honestly think that those guys and if I was a Packer fan, we'll see how the Jordan love stuff plays out. But it's like, God, why did these guys make such a big stink? We could have kept it rolling for a couple years. We have a really good coach. It's like, remember when he was having at odds with Gudiken? It's like, what, what do you actually mean mad about with him? Like, what, what did he do? You know, what are we talking about? And let's face it, his ego was really, really hurt with the Jordan love draft pick. Well, looking back and there have been a lot of articles, so was Tom. And what did Tom do? Went out and said, I'm going to dominate and win Super Bowls and you're going to have to get rid of that guy, not me. Aaron kind of took the different tactic, like, screw you guys, get rid of me. And obviously age. Let's face it, in the history of sports, isn't Aaron's career year parallel the most guys we've ever watched? Once you get to your late 30s, you get an injury popped Achilles and you're just never quite the same. And then usually you go to these weird franchises or, or in his, you know, this scenario, kind of a desperate one. I. I think they have a lot of guys from Cam Hayward to TJ to Minka that are like serious cats. This has got to be like, wait. We had to wait for you.

[Andrew Gillum]

It's.

[Tiffany Cross]

It's not like you're the greatest thing since sliced bread here.

[Andrew Gillum]

Yeah, I. Yeah, I mean, listen, I'm not this. I think this year he'll win eight or nine games. He'll have 23 touchdowns, 10 picks. He'll be fine. He'll miss a game or two. It'll. But it is interesting when you look back, I think Aaron views himself as picked on or marginalized by the media. And when you just start looking at Peyton's career and Ben's career and Breeze's career and Brady's career and Elway and Marino, you just start looking at some of these careers. Aaron's. Aaron's prime was just not as long as. And some of that's. He sat behind Favre, but I thought he aged really quickly, and you can speculate why he did, but he did. The volume.

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[Tiffany Cross]

They're in your corner every second of.

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The day, so you never miss a thing. Visit totalwireless.com or visit your local Total.

[Tiffany Cross]

Wireless Store to learn more about how Total Wireless can be in your corner. 5G access requires a 5G cable device.

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And a 5G service area. Additional terms apply.

[Tiffany Cross]

See website for details.

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Who cares about truth when the lies More entertaining.

[Angela Rye]

Welcome home. I'm Angela Rye, co host of the Native Lamp Pod with Andrew Gillum and Tiffany Cross, and we want y' all to survive and thrive in this political moment.

[Tiffany Cross]

We're having the same debates that American households are having all over the country.

[Andrew Gillum]

Country.

[Angela Rye]

I am terrified that in our rest, we're going to miss the moment. You want me to stop resting? What specifically are you asking me to do? Stay informed and take action.

[Andrew Gillum]

Listen to Native Land Pod on the.

[Tiffany Cross]

Iheartradio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Freddy]

We're breaking down SummerSlam the biggest party of the summer on Wrestling With Freddy. From our bold picks to storyline breakdowns, we will discuss who why rocks out with gold, who shocks the night and which matches steal the show we call the winners, the upsets and the chaos to expect. Plus whatever swerves nobody saw coming. Listen to Wrestling With Freddy as part of the Michael Tura Podcast Network. Available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Tiffany Cross]

I'm Jake Hofer and this is back 40, a limited series show on Wire to Hunt, part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network. Each episode I'll be asking eight whitetail hunting pros a focused, thought provoking question about hunting and land management. How do I hunt the best part of the farm with less than ideal access? Should you?

[Jake Hofer]

That's what the real question is.

[Tiffany Cross]

Stand without good access is not a good stand. Listen to Back 40 on iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

[Angela Rye]

This is an iHeart podcast.