Sharp or Square - NFL MAILBAG - De'Von Achane Contract, NFL Schedule and More

Summary

The Herd with Colin Cowherd

Sharp or Square - NFL MAILBAG: De'Von Achane Contract, NFL Schedule, and More

Date: May 14, 2026
Host: Chad Millman
Co-hosts: Simon Hunter, Matt Mitchell
Podcast Network: iHeartPodcasts and The Volume

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Episode Overview

This episode of "Sharp or Square" is a Spring NFL Mailbag special. Host Chad Millman, professional bettor Simon Hunter, and producer Matt Mitchell field listener questions on the biggest debates and storylines entering the 2026 NFL season. The discussion ranges from the role of AI in betting, the Miami Dolphins' controversial De'Von Achane extension, and coaching changes in New York and Pittsburgh, to team fan misery rankings and Thanksgiving game gripes. The hosts keep things sharp, irreverent, and highly opinionated, laced with betting insights and franchise skepticism.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Rise of AI in Betting and Daily Life

Timestamps: 02:12 – 12:00

• Hosts reflect on a previous episode about the impact of technology and algorithmic betting (“age of algorithmic betting … Bill Benter, the horse racing better who’s literally made billions of dollars going back to the 70s. Billy Walters and the computer group.” - Chad Millman, 02:14).
• Modern betting uses AI for speed and trend analysis. Simon notes, “If you are in this betting market and you want to do this professionally, you have to...You’re looking for edges, like we talk all the time.” (03:39)
• The edge from AI is shrinking: “Everything’s moving so fast now. That’s going to be the biggest difference to me … I think maybe a year, maybe a season in your individual sport betting, that’s when you’ll find your edge with AI.” (Simon Hunter, 04:40)
• If all professionals use AI, how does anyone get an edge? Simon responds: “You don’t know what they’re doing with it...some people just go on AI and they chat … omelet salad or whatever. They’re not thinking about how to compute different data or trends.” (05:48)
• Hosts share everyday uses for AI chatbots (especially Claude). Chad remarks, “I use it constantly … $200 a month to use Claude. I want the fastest, most powerful Claude I can have that can process the most information at all times.” (07:10)
• Light moments about using Claude in personal life, including online dating mishaps and negotiations.

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NFL Mailbag: In-Depth Franchise Analysis & Rants

De'Von Achane's Miami Dolphins Extension

Timestamps: 13:09 – 17:24

• Dolphins gave RB De'Von Achane a 4-year, $64M extension during a rebuild.
• Simon: “It’s a poorly run organization, so them paying him all that money, it’s on par. Does he deserve it? Of course. Achane’s a freak talent … but I think this puts him now in the top three or top four highest paid running backs in the league.” (13:43)
• Building a team rarely starts at RB: “It’s the last position to fill...this is a great draft class for quarterbacks coming out. Everything Miami’s done this off season is on par…our goal this year is to be the worst team possible.” (14:09)
• Chad: Skeptical about signing Malik Willis and the team’s commitment to a non-contending roster. “They don’t have anything else. They have so many needs.” (16:17)
• Matt Mitchell: “My assumption is that they have no plan because they’re a poverty franchise and I wish them nothing but the worst.” (17:10)

John Harbaugh & The Giants' Future

Timestamps: 21:01 – 25:47

• Expectations for Harbaugh as new Giants coach.
• Chad: “Joe Shine out before next year’s draft. This team goes very much under the 7 1/2 win total. Jackson Dart doesn’t make it through the season...” (21:01)
• Simon: “It’s already off to a rough start…Giants, it’s just crazy … I view their franchise as a joke...ownership just kind of fall off here.” (21:37)
• Chad: Questions the faith in Harbaugh. “Why is there so much optimism and confidence that just having John Harbaugh is going to make this team so much better when the guy has had the best player in the NFL...and every year it would be coaching mishaps that keep them from advancing.” (23:46)
• Matt: “It does seem like expectations are...a little over their skis.” (25:47)

Pittsburgh Steelers: From Model Franchise to Mediocrity?

Timestamps: 26:29 – 32:32

• Debate about Mike Tomlin’s departure and the Mike McCarthy hire.
• Cowherd Clip (Matt): “You’re not a hippie, you’re a quarterback. The smartest guy in the room thing wears everybody out. Darkness retreats. Isn’t that something you do, like three years out of college ... you’re an NFL quarterback.” (25:47)
• Simon: “The voodoo of Tomlin ... this team was an underdog. They had Doug Hodges as their quarterback. They’d win. … For 20 years, Tomlin got away with it.” (28:02)
• Chad: “Mike McCarthy is a 60-something-year-old replacement … he underachieved despite winning the Super Bowl in Green Bay…It all feels very stopgapy, not forward thinking, not long term Pittsburgh Steelers franchise philosophy.” (29:57)
• Matt: “It was a strange retread choice despite him being from the beautiful city of Pittsburgh.” (32:19)

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Speed Round

Kyler Murray to Minnesota: J.J. McCarthy’s Fate

Timestamps: 34:21 – 37:14

• Simon: “It’s over, right? I’d be shocked if he does beat out Kyler…Kyler’s such a great athlete…if he can just figure out the mental stuff…” (34:35)
• Chad: “Kevin O’Connell…if he can get [Kyler] to reframe how he approaches football … that becomes a dangerous, dangerous team.” (35:29)
• Laughs about regular season vs. playoff success: “He has zero playoff wins as a head coach, so ...” (Simon, 36:48)

What Are You Afraid Of?

Timestamps: 37:44 – 42:24

• Chad: “Small to medium-sized dead animals ... Genuinely, like, I feel it deep, deep in my stomach.” (37:44)
• Simon: “I get horrible sleep paralysis during the NFL season just from the stress ... and it’s always a giant spider bugs on the ceiling.” (40:08)
• Fun stories about dead animals, spirit fears, and leadership styles (“Close the fucking door.” - Chad, 42:04)

Thanksgiving Games: Love or Hate Them?

Timestamps: 42:24 – 45:43

• Chad: “Terrible. The Bears always end up playing early, and I hate the early game for Thanksgiving. It just feels like you’re not in the flow yet.” (42:41)
• Simon: “I love it. … there’s nothing worse than your team losing on Thanksgiving because it just ruins the whole holiday.” (43:20)
• Matt: “I also hate it, Chad...I want to be making a nine leg SGP on Lions receivers and eating my weight and stuffing…I don’t want to think about the Bill’s lack of a defensive backfield.” (44:15)

Simon’s Massive Maine Coon Cat

Timestamps: 45:43 – 46:40

• Simon shares stories about his mischievous, enormous Maine Coon cat named Indigo (Indy), often causing chaos during recordings.

Teams You’d Least Like to Be a Fan Of

Timestamps: 47:09 – 49:32

• Simon: “It would be the Giants … I just hate their way their organization is going.”
• Chad: “I was leaning Bengals or Jets…as good as [Burrow’s] been, can’t finish a season.”
• Matt: “My answer is absolutely the New York Jets. Resigning Geno Smith is an under discussed part of the offseason and one of the most genuinely hilarious things that’s happened in the NFL in the last 10 years.”

Most Unbelievable Event (Non-Sports)

Timestamps: 50:34 – 52:25

• Chad: “Confirmation of extraterrestrial life here on Earth. I believe it. I want to believe it. I think they’re here.” (50:34)
• Simon: “To truly blow my mind … people living on Mars, like in our lifetime, if that actually happens.” (50:57)
• Matt: “Before I could see the Buffalo Bills winning a Super Bowl.” (52:07)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On AI in Betting:
  “If you’re in this betting market and you want to do this professionally, you have to…You’re looking for edges, like we talk all the time.” – Simon Hunter (03:39)
• On De'Von Achane’s Contract:
  “It’s on par … does he deserve it? Of course. Achane’s a freak talent … but … it’s the last position to fill.” – Simon Hunter (13:43)
• On Giants’ Optimism:
  “Why is there so much optimism and confidence that just having John Harbaugh is going to make this team so much better when … every year it would be coaching mishaps that keep them from advancing?” – Chad Millman (23:56)
• On Steelers’ Coaching Change:
  “Mike McCarthy is a 60-something-year-old replacement … he underachieved despite winning the Super Bowl in Green Bay.” – Chad Millman (29:57)
• On Franchises to Avoid:
  “It would be the Giants. I just, I hate their way their organization is going.” – Simon Hunter (47:21)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• AI in Sports Betting & Daily Life: 02:12 – 12:00
• De’Von Achane/Miami Dolphins: 13:09 – 17:24
• Giants/Harbaugh Discussion: 21:01 – 25:47
• Pittsburgh Steelers/Mike McCarthy: 26:29 – 32:32
• Speed Round Begins: 34:21
• Kyler Murray in Minnesota: 34:21 – 37:14
• Biggest Fears: 37:44 – 42:24
• Thanksgiving NFL Games: 42:24 – 45:43
• Simon’s Cat: 45:43 – 46:40
• Team Fan Misery Rankings: 47:09 – 49:32
• Wildest Unbelievable Event: 50:34 – 52:25

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Tone & Style

The episode maintains a high-energy, insider, often sardonic tone:

• In-jokes about gambling, franchise ineptness, and personal quirks.
• Good-natured ribbing, especially between Chad, Simon, and Matt.
• Combines sharp sports and betting analysis with entertaining offbeat tangents.

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Summary for the Listener

This episode of "Sharp or Square" is both a primer on how top bettors and sports minds see the accelerating role of AI in betting and a savvy, opinionated roundtable on the NFL’s franchise follies, free agency, and coaching churn heading into 2026. With regular doses of dark humor and deadpan banter, the crew answers burning listener questions—ranging from the Dolphins’ perplexing RB spend, to why longtime “model” franchises like Pittsburgh and the Giants have lost their way, to which team’s fan base now has it worst. There’s no fluff: just sharp skepticism, detailed football and betting insights, and memorable lines for NFL diehards.

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For Those Who Missed It

• Don’t expect C-suite NFL ownership to “AI their way” out of years of poor franchise management.
• Most analytic edges in today’s betting die out quickly—the only constant now is relentless innovation.
• The Giants and Jets are tied for most miserable fan experience right now, despite splashy moves.
• Thanksgiving NFL games are a mixed bag: loved by some, hated by others, but all agree—holiday losses stink.
• Off-season animal stories, dating mishaps, and absurd hypotheticals keep it funny and real, even as the football talk stays tough and sharp.

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Closing Note:
“You can’t try to reset on the fly. … You have to admit your mistakes and then just burn it all down.” – Simon Hunter (47:21)

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Next Week Tease:
The crew promises more on the NFL schedule and Week 1 lines—don’t miss it.

Transcript

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Sometimes I do miss the bonding time. Sometimes AT&T business Wireless connecting changes everything. Welcome to Sharp or Square presented by Hard Rock that we are part of the Volume Podcast Network. This is the show that makes the squares sharper and makes the wise guys pay attention. I am Chad Millman. I am Joanne, as always by my co host, my bff, my companion, my compadre professional better Simon Hunter. Hello Simon.

[A]

Chad, how we doing?

[C]

You know we had Kit Shalal on the other day, the author of the the book Lucky Devils, all about sort of the age of algorithmic betting and the people who led us into it. Bill Benter, the horse racing better who's literally made billions of dollars going back to the 70s. Billy Walters and the computer group. And you know what my takeaway from that whole show was?

[A]

What's up?

[C]

He complimented my English accent when I said hello Simon.

[A]

Yeah, no, you definitely like that opener.

[C]

He did. He did. I thought that was. I thought he was fascinating and the stories are great. But what was interesting to me about that show, as I've gone back to think about it, was the level to which technology is impacting. Like we talked about computer assisted wagering. And you talked about some of the AI stuff. Like it is just going faster and faster and faster. And you see it every day between sports betting markets and prediction markets. Like prediction markets, there are people who are wagering millions of contracts in a day because they're able to do it with technology to assist them moving as quickly as possible. It's unreal. Yeah.

[A]

And as a better, you have to stay up on today's trends like you just said, or else you truly get left behind. And I remember telling you last year I was going to take an AI modeling class and it was like, even myself, I'm like, what am I doing? Like, is this really going to help me in any way? And it did. Like, it just changed your perspective, open your mind to different possibilities. And you know, it's, it's something. If you are in this betting market and you want to do this professionally, you have to. Even if you don't understand it at first, you have to at least put the research and the time into it and talk to people that know what they're talking about with it. Because it's all you're looking for edges, like we talk all the time. That's what you're looking for. So can you find an edge in AI? Of course. I mean, there's, there's tons of edges to find an AI. Will that, you know, last you multiple years? Probably not. Like you just talked about. Everything's moving so fast now. That's going to be the biggest difference to me is sometimes edges could last you three to five years. I think the books are going to be so on it now with all this going on, I think maybe a year, maybe a season in your individual sport betting, that's when you'll find your edge with AI. So we talked about, Chad, we're going to have to do more shows on it, but I think we both agree it's such early days right now, me and you, neither of us can really wrap our heads around what it's going to be like five, ten years from now in the betting world. Things are just changing so much, especially in the last five, 10 years from legalization. AI is just a whole another world.

[C]

Now, what's interesting to me, tell me what you think about this, because I've been thinking a lot about this because I'm wrapping up this book and trying to figure out how AI fits into it. And if everybody who's a professional better has access to AI, then it doesn't necessarily mean that a professional better is getting an edge on another professional better because everyone is using the technology. So it just means that whatever they're doing, they're doing it faster, more efficiently. It's not necessarily going to make them better against the competition. Or am I misinterpreting that?

[A]

Yeah, you're misinterpreted because you can't even think about what they're using it for. Right. Because. Because you don't know what they're doing with it. So that's, that's the hardest part is like, I, I would love to tell you more secrets, but it's like there's nothing to gain here for me, there's. If I just tell you what, what we're really using a lot of it for, what's like, you're right. Then all of a sudden I lose that edge that, you know, some other people might view not even have as having one. Right. It's like you just said, I don't think people understand yet what the total usage of AI is because some people just go on AI and they chat, you know, chatgpt how to make an omelet salad or whatever they're doing. Right. That's how they're using it. They're not thinking about how to compute different data or trends. Like, for someone like me that loves trends, I don't need to spend hours looking through different trends and sites. I can just simply go on chat GBT now or, you know, Claude or whatever and ask these questions. So I'm with you. It's the, the people using it. I, I don't know how much they're going to give up on, give up information on it right now. But I do think like, you know, you go into that Sloan conference, I do think in the next year or two, you will have professional betters that have moved on to different things that will give information what they're using AI AI on two, two, three years ago. And again, you're saying that's not going to help people. I think it is because it's going to show you different ways you can use it to find an advantage over the sports books.

[C]

I'm a big Claude guy. Big Claude guy. Love Claude. Use it constantly. Use it. Honestly, for almost everything. I used it yesterday. I was baking chicken breasts. I put into Claude. I have marinated chicken breasts in a honey Dijon mustard marinade. They are half an inch thick. How long do I want to cook these for? And I know I can look that up on Google too, but Google, I'm going to get 85 different recipes. I'm going to get blogs that tell me you know how to do it. And I got to read half the blog I had. Like, it's, it's just amazing. And that's just one use case. I use it for more complicated stuff too. But I am all in on Claude. I'm paying like 200 bucks a month to use Claude. I want the fastest, most powerful Claude I can have that can process the most information at all times. No matter what I'm going to be asking it, whether it's baking chicken or reading an entire manuscript for a book and giving me feedback. I want it for everything.

[A]

And if you're doing that right now, project out 10 years from now. And that's what I'm trying to break down to people. It's going to get so insane you can't even really wrap your head around it. And I'm the other way, where I've already seen all the weird parts of AI especially in the dating world where like, I'll have a girl respond to me and she'll leave in the question she put into A.I. no, yeah, that's happened. And I'm just like, my God, can we just have an authentic conversation here? I don't, I don't need you to be perfect or what you think the best response is, but yeah, brother, it's getting weird.

[C]

Wait, wait, wait, wait. Like this. This, by the way, is not the topic of the show. Today is going to be a mailback show. We're going to bring Matt Mitchell in in a second and a lot of it is based on NFL questions we've been getting because the full schedule release is tonight. But hold on one second. What are the questions? And Matt Mitchell, maybe you want to jump in for this. What are the questions that your dates are asking ChatGPT or Claude that then they are sending to you accidentally in a conversation?

[A]

This was just a one off. This is only happened one time. But it was just so shocking because I couldn't believe it had actually happened, which I get. If you're a guy out there and you have zero game, I cannot fault you for using this. A woman doesn't need game as a guy. I'm just happy if a woman talks to me, let alone, you know, put three sentences together via text message. So yeah, hers was I asked her what she was doing this weekend and what her favorite part was of some town and she sent me back the best parts of this town in. Yeah, that's what I mean. It was like. It was like, just tell me your own favorite things. I don't need to know the computer's favorite part of this town. But yeah, it's just, it's, you know, people use it for every little thing. I have buddies will literally ask questions to it before they ask their wives certain questions. Like that's. We're getting there, Chad. It's, it's a wild times that.

[C]

Well, listen, I have plenty of buddies who are seasoned, talented veteran executives who have role played negotiations on Claude and they're, they're pony and up for the big stuff too. And they are getting like incredible feedback and running their employment contracts through Claude and Claude is catching things that they otherwise would not have caught. And these are people who have like they are playing for big stakes and they're still doing it. Like with Claude. Those things are amazing. We're not telling anyone who's listening anything they don't know about AI and Claude and ChatGPT. Like everyone knows that these large language models are superior intellect to everything we are doing. Matt, are you using Claude?

[B]

First of all, it's incredible that Simon Hunter is going on so many dates when it looks like he has a coonskin cap on the top of his head. You're supposed to get haircuts during the off season. That's like the deal. And then you don't during the season. It's like, it's so much hair. It's like shadowy on your face. And Simon, I think we both know that Chad's using this technology for stuff like entering his bmi. Claude, is the MRI skinny? Am I in good shape for my.

[C]

I'm not going to lie.

[B]

Yes, you are. And handsome too.

[C]

I'm not going to lie. I have used it to gauge if like my peloton kilo. Kilojoules are like good for my age. Like all of that. I've 100% asked Claude that.

[B]

Yeah, that's. You're definitely using it as the automatic praise machine. I. So that's perfect. That checks out.

[C]

I do, I do like the very positive feedback.

[B]

You're definitely someone that. Thanks. Thank you, Claude. No problem. Chad. Yep. So that.

[C]

Yeah. Are you in my Claude?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Because you're basically repeating what Claude says to me.

[B]

I feel like one of those old detectives put my cigarette out. I've seen it a million. Yeah. So now you know what today is, Chad. Spring mailbag day.

[C]

Oh, you want to transition, that's why. Is that what you're saying? Yeah.

[B]

It's hard enough to keep you guys kind of on the on the road as is. And I want to Use this opportunity to field so many of the questions we receive that I can't insert into our normal episodes because it is. It's hard enough to get you guys to focus on any one thing on any given day.

[C]

Yeah. You're such a good producer. So let's. Let's. Let's do it. Let's.

[B]

That was a compliment from a human voice, not a computer. So I will accept it and relish it. Thank you.

[C]

I'm not sure I prefer the human voice, humans to the computers. So let's. Let's get to it.

[B]

All right. Question number one is about my least favorite franchise in all professional sports, the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins, as you are aware, are engaged in a much needed rebuild under new coach Jeff Halfley and GM John Eric Sullivan. They got rid of Tua. They traded Jalen Waddle. So why are they giving running back Devon achan A huge four year, $64 million contract extension?

[C]

Simon, you want to go first?

[A]

Yeah. I'll start with saying, I always love that we are sponsored by Hard Rock. And again, I'm not the biggest Twitter guy, but if I'm seeing Hard Rock troll the Bills fans constantly on Twitter, Matt Mitchell must hate it. I love it so much. But yeah, Miami, it's. It's a poorly run organization, so them paying him all that money, it's. It's on par. Does he deserve it? Of course. Hn's a freak town. A great running back, but I think this puts him now in the top three or top four highest paid running backs in the league. And we've. Me and Chad have talked in nauseum about it. It's the last position to fill. When you're building on an organization, you're building out a team. That's not something you want to start off with, right? You want to build the other piece. You want to build the offensive line, you want to build the defensive line, you want to get the quarterback, you want to get receivers, and then you can go get the running back and pay them. Because we've seen in this league you can find star running backs in the second, third, fourth, fifth round. Like that happens at the other positions. It just does not happen. So if I was Miami, I wouldn't mind it because he's such a talent and you're so bad. It's like, okay, our goal this year is to be the worst team possible, right? They want the number one, number two pick. This is a great draft class for quarterbacks coming out. So to me, everything Miami's done this off season is on par.

[C]

Right.

[A]

They're, they're, they're adding players that they think could help them two, three years down the road. Right. Not so much this year. And that's kind of what they need to be thinking. Right. They're going to be absolutely terrible this upcoming season.

[C]

I thought it was interesting to me not to punt on Achan, but that Malik Willis signed in Miami, he was a pretty sought after free agent quarterback. Going to Miami with a team that is an entire rebuild, how is that going on a relatively short term contract, how is that going to benefit him? Because he's not the guy who's going to be the quarterback who can make them win immediately and he doesn't have the talent around him that can make them win immediately. My mind immediately flashes to, all right, is this a commitment to Achan and their new quarterback that they are going to be building around these and this is a. Not a promise. They made some Malik wills, but like this is the commitment they had made to building around getting him some talent. It doesn't make any sense to me. They have so many needs. Yeah.

[A]

They got rid of bottle, remember?

[C]

Right. So they, they don't have anything else.

[A]

Yeah, they're, they're not doing that at all. He's just a stop gap quarterback to me. As good as he did play for Green Bay, I think he got hurt after one or two starts.

[C]

Yeah. Yeah. That's what I mean.

[A]

Like so it's like I think even there in their back of their minds they're like, okay, he, he might win us a winter game or two and maybe all of a sudden we hit gold and this guy is legit like we think he could be. That's great. That's a win win for them. But otherwise I think they're in the same mentality as we have here of just one year starter. They draft a guy and they have a battle in camp next year and if, you know, he wins out that game, that starting job next year. All right, let the rookie sit for another season. But I think it would be naive to think unless he gets the eight or nine wins this year. I just don't see them having a long term plan with him as their quarterback.

[C]

Maybe it'll be Devon Hn.

[B]

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[A]

Steve Nash would get that thing, that man, hell get the flying he running

[B]

up the court licking his fingers while

[A]

he got the ball. Like after you go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it out real quick.

[B]

Get your ass up and down the

[A]

court and you gonna get the ball.

[C]

So listen to Point game on the

[B]

iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Question number two you2 have briefly discussed John Harbaugh's move from Baltimore to New York. But what do you see as the likeliest outcome for him and this Giants franchise over the next three years? Is GM Joe Shine destined to be replaced? And as kind of a framing like last year their preseason win total was five and a half. This year it's seven and a half kind of. What do you read the tea leaves on the New York Football Giants as a franchise over the next few seasons?

[C]

I got, I got this one. You ready Simon? Joe Shine out before next year's draft. This team goes very Much under the 7 1/2 win total Jackson Dart doesn't make through the season. Cam Scatter Boot doesn't make it through the season next year they are evaluating their entire situation and just hoping against hope in a quarterback deep draft. They're going to be lucky enough to be drafting high so they can get one of the guys they need who can truly be the game changer for their franchise.

[A]

Yeah, it's, it's already off to a rough start. I think I just saw neighbors had to go back in for surgery, get his knee cleaned up which that's a nightmare. This is your, your star receiver now getting a second cleanup on his knee. You know Giants, it's just crazy to think what organization is right. I think it's them and the Jets. The Jets I think were 32nd. They were 31st in the last 10 years and wins in this league league. So they've, they've been going through it. They've been absolutely terrible at bottom of the pit. Dart showed promise. I think me and Chad were both surprised in some dark games where it's like, okay, this kid obviously has a ton of talent. He just, can he, can he stay healthy? Can he stay on the field? And you know, they've obviously gone out, they've tried to address some stuff to help this kid. But yeah, I still, I'm with Chad. I still think they're a year or two away and it's been interesting seeing people in media kind of pushing them up, being like, well, I think this is the team that could win this division or go over their win total where it's like, this isn't the, the NFC South. Like this is the division with Dak, Jaden and Hertz. Like, you know, who knows how Washington commander is going to be? But I expect the Cowboys to be a little better. I expect the Eagles to be a little better than they were last year. So if I'm projecting out three years from now, best case scenario, Dart becomes a, a full time Pro Bowler, stays healthy, plays 16 games a year and he's your franchise quarterback. Worst case, they're still a bottom feeder of the league, still drafting D lineman DNS in the top three every year for the next three years. Like they're just right now, as a, a fan of football, I, I literally view their franchise as a joke. Like it's just completely turned to shambles after the Eli Manning run. And it's just bizarre to see that organization which had such great ownership just kind of fall off here. It is very bizarre to watch where it's like we expect the Browns or the Lions or the jets to have bad ownership. The Mar family has been great. So it's just very bizarre how bad these last 10 years have been in. Even in that, you know, behind the scenes look right Chad, we saw him in there saying he would be sick, not gonna sleep at night if Saquon goes to the Eagles. I still can't believe he didn't fire him right right after that. So very, very bizarre that organization right now.

[C]

You know what's interesting to me is why is there so much optimism and confidence that just having John Harbaugh is going to make this team so much better when the guy has had the best player in the NFL for the past eight years, a guy who's won multiple MVPs, a team that has achieved to the level of its talent during the regular season and had a defense that would dominate with a caliber of talent in Kyle Hamilton, who was equal to everything Lamar Jackson was doing as an offensive player, he was doing it on defense. And every year it would be coaching mishaps that keep them from advancing. And I don't mean just like strategic mishaps. He's not hiring the right coordinators. You could see it with Zach or you could see it when he had offensive coordinators in Baltimore. Like, they are not making the right calls with their talent. And he's going into the Giants doing the same exact thing, bringing the same guys.

[B]

I'm interested in Simon's point that it's a very intimidating division of quarterbacks, a trio of quarterbacks they face. And they have one. They have Jackson Dart. So there's nothing they're going to do about that. But it is not widely considered a murderer's row of coaches in Schottenheimer, Quinn and Sirianni. I have no opinion about that. But I'm wondering if, well, they can't revamp the entire roster overnight. But what if we got on paper the best coach? Would that matter? I don't think he's the best coach because he lost to Sean McDermott twice in a playoff game. That basically is an elimination factor for me for being considered a great coach. But it will be interesting to see how it plays out, because it does. You're right. It does seem like expectations are. They're getting a little over their skis. Question number three.

[C]

Okay, thank you, Matt.

[B]

Yes. Yes. Our boss, Colin Cowherd, has been lighting up the Pittsburgh Steelers recently, particularly about the Aaron Rodgers situation. And I will play one of my favorite clips right now. Pittsburgh said, yeah, I know you were probably at the Coachella, but I'm the coach, fella. It's going to be the way I want it. I want my quarterback. Burning man to man, not attending Burning Man. You're not a hippie, you're a quarterback. The smartest guy in the room thing wears everybody out. Darkness retreats. Isn't that something you do, like three years out of college with your friends Chad and Maury, you're an NFL quarterback.

[C]

Wow. By the way, taking a. I'm taking a little sniper fire on that Chad Mori.

[A]

I'm not gonna lie. Chad. Every time I hear your name now, I think of this comedy sketch, which I don't know if you've even seen it, but it's basically a guy says, you won't say any African country except Chad because it's the whitest country. And I always think of you now. Every time I hear that line, I think of Chad, the whitest African country.

[C]

I used to tell, when I was growing up, friends, if they asked me about the country of Chad, I used to tell Them that my parents owned it and. And. Mad Mitchell.

[B]

Oh, hold on. I have something for that.

[A]

No, Nelly.

[C]

And that.

[B]

Oh, there's more. Oh, keep going.

[C]

And that they watch your show, Chad.

[A]

You would love it. The jury. Have you heard of that?

[C]

Oh, yeah, yeah. With James Marsden, who's funny.

[A]

Yes.

[C]

Yeah. I told them that they owned it and that the country was named after me.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Moving right along. Coward says that the days of seeing the Steelers as a model of franchise are now long gone. And with our dear, dear friend of the show, Mike Tomlin, now gone, do you think we will see the Steelers actually bottom out under Mike McCarthy or is this simply more the same? Another continued era of general mediocrity has to end.

[A]

It just. We talked all the time. The voodoo of Tomlin was something that even the numbers, you would look at the numbers on paper, you would have Evan Abrams, come on, read all the trends. It was insane. Every time this guy was left for dead. This team was an underdog. They had Doug Hodges as their quarterback. They'd win. It was the most bizarre thing I've ever seen with football. It's just this has not happened on football, right? Maybe for one year you can do it, but for 20 years, Tomlin got away with it. And like, you know, yes, the playoffs, the playoff thing made sense. They needed to, they needed to move on, right? Being 500 or right above it, being the seventh seed every year. And this getting smoked in the playoffs, I'm sure as a fan base was exhausting, but yeah, they're about to hit it really hard. The truth of you're, you're. You haven't had a quarterback since Big Ben. You're an aging defense and you haven't drafted well. And it's, it's going to catch up to Pittsburgh at some point. So if, is it, is it this season, I feel like me and Chad are probably gonna be on their under, right? Like we feel like we have to go against them now that Tomlin's gone and Aaron Rodgers stuff I honestly agree with, Randy Rogers is doing. This is a man that is in his 40s that he's been there, he's done all that. Does he really need to be there? In their spring mini camps and you know, I know Pittsburgh fans are upset because they want him to tell him that he's coming back. Everything you've seen between the NFL schedule makers and everything else, it looks like Aaron Rodgers can be the quarterback, right? Them getting these prime time games, the way the organization has treated the off season, right. They, I Think they drafted Drew Aller, just another white quarterback. They'll be out of the league in four or five years like Pittsburgh is doing all the things they normally do. That's, that's going to be to me, Aaron Rodgers coming back and playing for them. I just think right now maybe he's a little upset about the money, whatever it is. He's taking his sweet time and that's, that's life when you're kind of being held hostage by a quarterback who's Wayne retirement or coming back to maybe get you to be a seventh seed.

[C]

So I go back to something before Aaron Rodgers which you knew it was going to happen and it doesn't matter. It's really about Mike McCarthy. You look at the Pittsburgh Steelers since 1969. They are Chuck, no, as a relatively unknown coach who was very young, had very specific ideas about how to build a team that was completely in line with that era. Chuck Noel wins multiple Super Bowls. They hired Bill Cower, who was a relatively unknown assistant, has very specific ideas for that era and his perfect match for the city and the kind of football that they want to play in Pittsburgh. He wins a Super bowl to hire Mike Tomlin. This is Mike Tomlin. They got three coaches since 19. From 1969 to 2026, they got three coaches. What is that, 57 years? And so to me the issue is this. Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike Tamil, by the way, relatively unknown assistant comes in, perfect guy to steer a team that was at the end of a great run and then to keep a team that was motivated in a new era of football. Mike McCarthy is a 60 something year old reach replacement. Mike McCarthy is a guy who underachieved despite winning the super bowl in Green Bay. He's a guy who underachieved despite having an incredibly talented quarterback in Dallas and having multiple years where he was winning big. And we're not knocking Mike McCarthy as a play caller. Like he did a great job when he was in Dallas, he did a good job when he was in Green Bay, although Aaron Rodgers went into decline. And by the way, didn't they partially fire Mike McCarthy because they weren't getting him and Aaron Rodgers weren't getting along anymore. So the whole thing to me just feels like a mismatch. It feels like a mismatch for sort of the way Pittsburgh does its coaching searches and the kind of coaches they ultimately hire. They didn't hire a guy that they're thinking, okay, he's going to be here for 15 years. He's not young enough to be there for 15 years. So it all feels very stopgapy, not forward thinking, not long term. Pittsburgh Steelers franchise philosophy to me felt

[B]

a little bit like when the Bills hired Dick Giron, but like a. It was a strange choice, strange retread choice despite him being from the beautiful city of Pittsburgh.

[C]

How did you like the answer I gave? Because mainly it was from Claude.

[B]

And with that, we'll take a break to hear from Florida Sportsbook.

[C]

This is my job. It's listen, you can't come in and bigfoot me. Today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet Flores Sportsbook. The second round of the NBA playoffs is here and with win or go home energy on the hardwood, same game parlays are a great way to stack picks built especially for the playoff action. If you're ever late to tip off, don't worry. Hard Rock Bet lets you live bet all game long, from the first bucket to the final buzzer. Try your first bet on Hard Rock Bet today and you can score $150 in bonus bets. If you win, just place a $5 bet and if it hits, you get not only your winnings, but also an extra $150 in bonus bets. Hard Rock Bet has new promos daily, so open up the app right now to see what promo you've got today. And sure, Hard Rock Bet is Florida's only legal sportsbook, but you don't have to be in Florida to join the party. Hard Rock Bet is also live in Arizona, Ohio, New Jersey, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia, Illinois, Colorado and Michigan, with more states on the way. Download the Hard Rock Bet app today and let's get the party started. Payable in bonus bets. Not a cash offer. Offered by the Seminole Tribe of Florida in Florida. Offered by Seminole hard Rock Digital LLC in all other states. Must be 21 or over and physically present in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee or Virginia. To play, terms and conditions apply. Concerned about gambling in Florida, call 1833 playwise in Indiana, if you or someone you know as a gambling problem and wants help, call 1809 with it in Ohio, call 1-800-My-reset gambling problem, call 1-800- gambler in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Tennessee or Virginia.

[B]

All right, we're back. We'll now play a briefer speed round with Chad and Simon. Gentlemen, first up with Kyler Murray now in Minnesota. What the hell happens to J.J. mcCarthy?

[A]

It's over, right? I just, I would be shocked if he does beat out Kyler. You know they're going to give him the opportunity to beat out Kyler. But Kyler's. We all know Kyler. He's such a great athlete. If he can just figure out the mental stuff, right. If he just can be more, you know, coachable, smarter on the field, we expect him to flourish with Kevin o'. Connor. Like, we've seen quarterbacks go through that offense and flourish. And, you know, JJ is talented, but is he as talented as Kyler? No. Kyler's been in the league longer. He's seen it all. He's still a greater athlete. So, yeah, if you're a Vikings fan, I mean, it's. It's tough pill to swallow. It's like it's. It feels like it's over. Right. It's just basically the way the football is. They give you one year to prove it. If you don't see flashes or anything to build on, they kind of move on. And you'll. You always have that stupid mean of J.J. but, yeah, to me, it's. It's Kyler's job to lose here.

[C]

Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt. I think this is a great opportunity. Kevin o'. Connell. Kevin o', Connor, I think, is an NBA writer for Yahoo. Kevin o'. Connell, this is a great opportunity for him to burnish his bona fides as the true quarterback whisperer in the NFL. He did it with Daniel Jones. He did it with Sam Darnold. He did it with Kirk Cousins. He continued to win and develop quarterbacks. And the J.J. mcCarthy match did not work right. And you can't. You can't tell me that there were multiple times last year where JJ McCarthy continued to have lingering injuries when he probably could have played because they just had no confidence in his ability to move the ball downfield and lead the team to winning. Kyler has been a guy who everybody like Simon just said his entire issue, his career hasn't been talent. It's been doing the right things as a play caller consistently over the course of a season. If Kevin o' Connell can get him to reframe how he approaches football and that actually turns into a really good match, that becomes a dangerous, dangerous team.

[A]

Also, I. I just want to put it out there. He has zero playoff wins as a head coach. So I don't want to. I don't want to give him too many flowers here. I know Chad loves this guy, and he says his name perfectly right, and I say it wrong every time. Zero playoff wins. So just. Just got to throw that in there.

[C]

Listen, I didn't give him his flowers as a great coach. I gave him his flowers as a quarterback whisperer. That's different. That's Matt. Don't roll your eyes at me. That's different.

[B]

Regular season whispering only.

[A]

Got it.

[C]

It's a distinction with difference.

[B]

After the holidays, no more whispering. Got it. I will say we're the most literate sports betting podcast, not the most detail oriented. So for all the people that reach out about getting names wrong, which happens all the time, listen, there's only so much I can control and edit around. Thanks for listening. All right, continuing right along. What is one thing each of you is genuinely afraid of?

[C]

Oh, small to medium sized dead animals like dead birds, dead raccoons, dead squirrels. Any of those things. Dead possums. Any of those things on my yard. Genuinely, like, I feel it deep, deep in my stomach. I cannot. Like, my mother in law has had to pick up dead birds that are on our walkway. Our neighbor has come over to pick up dead birds that like are on our grass. We had a dead possum in the backyard one year and I was like, do we call animal control? Like, it's so big. What do you do? And like our neighbor came over and just, you know, picked it up with a shovel, put in a garbage bag. Like it's a. They got spirits and I don't, I don't want my spirit mixing with their spirits, number one. Number two, it's the weight. It's like literal dead weight in the shovel. It just makes me, it makes my skin crawl. It. Honestly, when I've done it, when I've had to do it and Stacy's sleeping or the boys aren't home and I walk in like I'm a champion because I did. Scares me.

[B]

Couple things, really quick. One, I'm not going to make fun of you about that. I mean, I will, but I'm not going to make fun of you about it immediately because my direct next door neighbor, who I'm just feet away from, who runs a very successful business here in the beautiful city of Milwaukee, feels exactly the same way. And his wife will text me if anything has died on their property. And I come over because I'm a, I'm a grown man. I'm a real man. I'll put on the same gloves I wear to eat wings.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And I will dispatch of that animal without a second thought. And it's happened quite frequently. And then he'll like, give me a case of beer or something. I tell him, I wish you had a thousand dead animals on your Property because it's a good, it's a good thing. I've never considered the spirit angle though. So I suppose congratulations on always finding a new wrinkle.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Simon, what about you?

[A]

I mean my number one would probably be the commitment to the opposite sex. That's probably my number one. Number two, I think me Mitchell have talked about. I get horrible sleep paralysis during the NFL season just from the stress. And it's always a giant spider bugs on the ceiling. And that's will always be the worst to me. Like little spiders I'm not affected by. I'll just vacuum it or crush them, whatever, or let him outside. But the giant spider of my horrible dreams that I can't move out of my bed to get. It's the worst. That is the worst thing. Seeing these imaginary spiders coming down. I. I don't know if it's from Iraq. Aubia, the movie from back in the day. Whatever it is, I watched some movie as like a five year old that just literally ruined me for the rest of my life as most things do. So yeah, for me it's definitely the spiders.

[C]

I never would have guessed that.

[B]

Yeah, we've discussed that because it's happened to me a few times and by now because it would freak me out so much, I'd wake up then and tell my wife to get out of bed. There's a giant animal or spider or bees, a lot of bees. I suppose it also dates back to. I used to be an exterminator many, many, many years ago. And that's why I don't care about the dead animals or really any of these, these pasts. They're nothing to me. But that now it's happened so often that my wife will be like, she won't even open her eyes. She'd be like there's not any goddamned spiders. Go to bed. Oh yeah, sorry. It'll like kind of get me out of my spell.

[C]

Here's some good material for you, Matt Mitchell. One time my wife opened the door in our house that leads to the garage and when she opened did not smell great. And there was like definitely a dead mouse somewhere in the garage. And she says to me, what are we gonna do? I go close the fucking door. And then did not go back into the garage for like a week.

[B]

That's Chad's leadership style. That's definitely your points. Sounds like that door doesn't work anymore. Moving on to my exotic oils.

[C]

Just ignore it. Yeah, we can by the way my leadership style. Ignore it or manage it. But don't bring it back to me.

[B]

Don't bring it back.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I don't want to hear about the. I don't want to hear about the smell again.

[C]

No.

[B]

All right, next question. Goodness gracious. All of our favorite teams, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Chicago Bears and the Buffalo Bills, are playing now officially on Thanksgiving Day. Going around the horn here. How do you feel about it?

[C]

Terrible. Terrible. Because the Bears always end up playing early, and I hate the early game for Thanksgiving. It just feels like you're not in the flow yet. It feels like you're, like, disconnected from the rest of the country. And I, I'm. My team is going to be playing on Thanksgiving day, like on an off day. I need it to be in prime time, Like, I need to build up to it over the course of the day. And the Bears always end up early. It's going to be the Lions, and it's going to be even earlier than 1 o'.

[B]

Clock.

[C]

It just feels like you're playing football too early in the morning. It's slow and quiet. I don't like it.

[A]

I love it. It's. I don't know why I love it so much. I always have whenever my team is one of the teams picked to play on Thanksgiving. And I guess it's just the excitement of it. Right. The night before, especially out drinking with everyone. That's what we're all talking about, the game tomorrow. We're not really talking about our family and friends. Right. You're talking about football game that's coming up the next day. And yeah, for me, it's obviously a huge rivalry with the Cowboys and. Yeah, I love it. I mean, it's obviously with our job and what we do for work. I've never been able to go to a Thanksgiving game. I always wanted to go to Dallas and go to one. And this year, my break. Right. I might try to figure out how to go to it because it's. It's not the early game, obviously, it's the four o' clock game. And I just think it would be a cool experience. But I'm with you. It's. It's. There's nothing worse than your team losing on Thanksgiving because it just ruins the whole holiday. So there, that is the negative side of it. But I. I just love it. It just. It's just so cool having your team be the team that gets picked to play on Thanksgiving. I've always enjoyed that experience.

[B]

I also hate it, Chad. And while I'm not out the night before talking about my, you know, fear, commitment or the spirits that live inside small animals, small to medium sized animals. I don't like it. I love Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is my favorite day of the year. It's so fun. It combines all of my favorite things and I want to be making a nine leg SGP on, you know, Lions receivers and eating my weight and stuffing. I don't want to think about how much, you know, the Bill's lack of a defensive backfield is ruining my life. I'm supposed to get a respite from that. So I especially playing at 8:30 at night, I'm with my dad. He's trying to go to bed at that time, not share a special Buffalo Bills moment with me. And we're playing the Chiefs. It's going to be horrendous. I can't.

[C]

Oh yeah. Patrick Mahomes will be back. It's. It's ripe. You know what it is for? Ripe for indigestion.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. It's supposed to be consuming an entire untouched can of cranberry sauce like a duck, just letting it slide right down my gullet. I'm not supposed to be thinking about is Dalton Kincaid's knee gonna explode really quickly? Because we've gotten some questions about this and we've never had a chance to do it. Simon, we were just talking right before the show began about the mischief of a certain animal that lives in your house. Could you just describe the situation and the, and the animal? Because you have something that's like the size of a large badger that lives with you.

[A]

Yeah, I have a, a massive Maine coon cat, which people don't know. They're. It's basically like a small dog. They're massive. They're literally so big. I couldn't just get a cat litter box. I had to buy like a little kid's small sandbox for it to be its cat litter box. And yeah, they, the guys know I'm. I have a place that's a studio, but I'm not here often. So I'm here say three to four times a week. I usually do bring her with me. Depends where I go. But sometimes I do leave here for a day or two by herself. So when I come here to do shows, she's walking all across my equipment. She's knocking over mic, she's knocking over lights. And that's just life with a cat. I love her, but I joke to them. I can see why people put their, their cats up for adoption. It's just you really gotta love cats to love them. And they're just so mischievous. And bad. But, like, right now she's chill. But a minute ago, she literally knocked over a whole. Basically a whole wall of collections I have, like, during their show. And it's just like, what are you gonna do? I can't even be mad at her. She's just being a cat.

[B]

What's the name of this cat again?

[A]

Indigo. I call her Indy, though.

[B]

Incredible. It is an obsessingly enormous cat. It is. It's wild to see. All right, really quickly, of all the NFL teams today, in the middle of May, what team would you least like to be a fan of?

[C]

I mean, I know Simon wants to take the Cardinals, so I don't want to take that from him. So, Simon, do you want to talk about the Cardinals?

[A]

Are we. If we're talking strictly football, it actually would not be the Cardinals because I think they're. They're. They're doing what I think they should be doing, which is just burning it all down. Like, that's the first step. You have to admit your mistakes and then just burn it all down. Then Miami, I like what they're doing right now. Honestly, if I had to pick one franchise, I know it's going to sound crazy to people we talked about, it would be the Giants. I just, I hate their way their organization is going. I hate the direction of the organization. And there's just other teams where I'd rather be at their starting point than this Giants team, which I think at the best they could be. Yes, they could be this incredible contender, but I just think they're always either going to be a middle level team or draft at the bottom of the draft. They just, they don't have organization in a direction right now where it feels like at least Miami, Arizona, the Jets, they're kind of taking a direction of, all right, we're gonna sign our best players, our best assets, and we're getting rid of everything else. Right. Bare bones. And that's what you need to do in the NFL. Like, you just. You can't try to reset on the fly. Like, these organizations aren't good enough. So, yeah, for me, I know it's a shocker. Probably gonna come off as a hater, but it's just. I hate what the Giants have done.

[C]

So I was leaning Bengals or Jets because both of them have historically bad ownership. One is cheap, one can't get out of the way. The jets really don't have a quarterback. The best case scenario is that they're terrible this year and they can get a top five pick and a quarterback deep draft next year, but that still means you're two or three years away and you're hoping against hope. The flip side is the Bengals never really seem to get their free agent signings right. They've got a quarterback who, as good as he's been, can't finish a season. He did it once and they go to the super bowl. But their guys are aging and they continue to stick with the same coaching, the same philosophy. So I feel like I might go with the Bengals before I would go with the Jets.

[B]

My answer is absolutely the New York jets resigning Geno Smith is an under discussed part of the offseason and one of the most genuinely hilarious things that's happened in the NFL in the last 10 years. I'm absolutely dumbstruck that they would do that, despite the fact that they're clearly trying to get the number one pick, which is great and very savvy. There's so many other less hysterical choices for that franchise specifically to have chosen as a vehicle to get there. So I give them full credit, but I definitely wouldn't want to wake up a Jets fan. Many blessings to all the jets fans listening to this final question. Chad, as you mentioned at least 600 times, the Indiana Hooshers are the reigning college football national champions. In an unbelievable turn of events based on kind of what life was like three to five years ago, what would be the next most unbelievable thing to happen in your lives compared to that, now that you've seen that promised land

[C]

confirmation of extraterrestrial life here on Earth? I believe it. I want to believe it. I think they're here. I got to believe that there's extraterrestrial life potentially right now living among us.

[B]

As a known member of the Illuminati chat, I'm glad that you could finally let us in.

[C]

For all I know, it's one of you.

[B]

Maybe that maybe it's Indigo because you're freaks.

[A]

Simon yeah, I would say to truly blow my mind I could never see coming would just be people living on Mars, like in our lifetime, if that actually happens. People living on Mars because the moon will be cool. I think that's the starting point. But Mars, you can't wrap your head around how far away it is and how horrible it is. The life. It's just this hospital place that just nothing can survive, right? And the fact that humans, we can figure it out, get there with this crazy South African guy and Elon Musk, and he's building these rockets that can land and take off from the moon and then Go to the Mars, like the whole thing, if it, if it happens, it will blow my mind. And I've told you guys, I will be one of those people. I will buy that one way ticket and I will happily die on Mars just because, because that's, that's the ultimate experience. I just don't think humans could even wrap their heads around in the fact that, you know, what was the airplane invented a hundred years ago? And potentially in 40 years, 30 years, who knows? We'll have people living on the moon and living on Mars. It's just, that's what it's all about, right? What, what is the point of all of this if it's not to explore the universe and expand other planets?

[C]

Amen.

[B]

I, I could see myself, you know, interviewing one of the reptile people that lives among us as they take me on their rocket to their tasteful mid century modern on Mars before I could see the Buffalo Bills winning a Super Bowl. So I'm just going to let that be the thing that blows my mind personally.

[C]

We go to Mars because it's there. All right, that's been our show. Thanks for all the questions for the mailbag. This has been Sharper Square part of the Volume podcast network. I want to thank Matt Mitchell for joining us on the show today. Great producing. Catch us next week. We got a lot of NFL schedule stuff to discuss including week one lines we're going to want to talk about. Watch or listen on YouTube at Sharper Square like this video. Subscribe to the channel, Download us from Spotify, Apple pods, wherever you get your pods rate, review, subscribe, Leave us five stars. Say whatever you want. Feedback is a gift. Until next time. Love you.

[B]

Last year was like that Costco free sample year and now Aaron's saying okay, this year I need you to buy in bulk.

[C]

And the Pittsburgh Steelers, they treat quarterback

[B]

like it's a slot corner or an off ball linebacker. We may get to it at the trading deadline.

[A]

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