PMS 2.0 1300 - Franchise Tag Deadline Day, Kirk Herbstreit, Shams Charania, Adam Schefter, Dan Orlovsky, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Pat McAfee Show – Episode PMS 2.0 1300

Date Released: March 4, 2025
Duration: Approximately 2 hours

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I. Introduction

Pat McAfee kicks off the episode by highlighting the significance of the day: the NFL’s Franchise Tag Deadline. Joined by co-hosts AJ Hawk, Darius Butler, and Ty Schmidt, along with special guests Kirk Herbstreit, Shams Charania, Adam Schefter, and Dan Orlovsky, the panel delves into the latest developments across the NFL and NBA.

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II. NFL Franchise Tag Deadline Day

Key Points:

• Franchise Tag Usage: T. Higgins receives the franchise tag for the second consecutive year, marking the final time he can be tagged under the current NFL rules.

  Pat McAfee [00:01]: "T. Higgins gets it for the second straight year... This is the last time they can franchise tag him."

• Other Tagged Players:

  • Osa Odegizua by the Dallas Cowboys.
  • Trey Smith by the Kansas City Chiefs.

• Players Not Tagged: Sam Darnold, Javon Holland, and Chris Godwin are expected to enter the open market, potentially securing lucrative contracts.

  Pat McAfee [02:50]: "Sam Darnold, Javon Holland, and Chris Godwin are not expected to be tagged. So congrats to those three gentlemen hitting the open market."

Notable Discussion:

• The franchise tag deadline resulted in fewer tags than usual, with only Higgins, Odegizua, and Smith being tagged, the lowest since 1990.

  Adam Schefter [83:46]: "This would be the lowest number of tags since 1990..."

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III. Quarterback Market Insights

Sam Darnold’s Situation:

• Potential Teams: Minnesota Vikings, Pittsburgh Steelers, and others are eyeing Sam Darnold as a viable quarterback option.

  Ty Schmidt [12:18]: "Are teams interested in Sam Darnold? Definitely the Vikings and Steelers are prime candidates."

• Contract Speculations: Discussions revolve around whether Darnold can secure a spot in the $50 million club, considering his performance and potential.

  Dan Orlovsky [17:33]: "Sam Darnold is poised to join the $50 million club with a solid three-year deal."

JJ McCarthy’s Role:

• Vikings’ Strategy: The Vikings may prioritize JJ McCarthy over Sam Darnold, valuing long-term potential and drafting flexibility.

  Dan Orlovsky [26:03]: "JJ McCarthy is the wild card. If he's not there, Darnold makes sense."

Aaron Rodgers and Team Considerations:

• Giants’ Interest: There are rumors about the New York Giants’ interest in Aaron Rodgers, though it's unclear if a deal will materialize.

  Dan Orlovsky [85:44]: "Giants are in talks, but nothing is set in stone."

Notable Quotes:

• Pat McAfee [33:45]: "Let's execute. Let's execute. Yeah, yeah, yeah."

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IV. NBA Dallas Mavericks Situation

Current Issues:

• General Manager Decisions: Nico Harrison’s controversial moves, including trading Luka Doncic and managing injuries to Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis, have ignited conspiracy theories about intentional tanking.

  Pat McAfee [03:56]: "There's conspiracy theories in abundance about the future of the Mavericks team."

Fan Reactions:

• Mass Exodus: Mavericks fans express frustration and contemplate abandoning the team due to dissatisfaction with management decisions.

  Clips from Darius Butler [05:24]: "Mavericks fans are bailing on third quarter. Not all the hell out of here."

Management Under Scrutiny:

• Lockroom Culture: Discussions focus on the need for improved leadership and accountability within the Cowboys’ locker room.

  Darius Butler [29:26]: "There's a need for strong locker room leadership to prevent such issues."

Notable Quotes:

• Michael Lombardi [69:50]: "Luka is someone... Mark Cuban said once, I would rather get a divorce than trade Luka Doncic."

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V. Notable Deal: Saquon Barkley’s Extension

Historic Contract:

• Philadelphia Eagles Secure Saquon Barkley: The Eagles have signed Saquon Barkley to a two-year extension worth $36 million guaranteed, with incentives that could elevate his average to $25.85 million per year.

  Pat McAfee [100:58]: "Congratulations to Saquon Barkley and the Philadelphia Eagles for getting a historic deal done for a running back."

Impact on the League:

• Running Back Market Reset: This unprecedented contract sets a new benchmark for the running back position, encouraging teams to invest more in versatile and impactful running backs.

  Darius Butler [127:51]: "It's great for the running back position because that's been a huge storyline the last few years."

Notable Discussion:

• Team Culture and Player Motivation: Barkley’s extension reflects the Eagles’ commitment to rewarding top performers and fostering a winning culture.

  Shams Charania [137:03]: "Philadelphia is still the number one team roster-wise, and this deal reinforces their commitment to excellence."

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VI. Other League Insights: NFL Culture and Locker Rooms

Lockroom Accountability:

• Indianapolis Colts’ Locker Room Issues: Reports suggest a decline in professionalism, with players showing lax attitudes and failing to meet expectations.

  Dan Orlovsky [30:53]: "It's alarming how much it seemingly is the Colts, but it can stop it next year."

Coaching and Management Strategies:

• Tom Brady’s Involvement with the Raiders: Discussions about Brady’s active role in coaching decisions and the potential influence on team performance.

  Dan Orlovsky [41:57]: "Tom Brady is very hands-on with the Raiders and brings a wealth of experience."

Notable Quotes:

• Dan Orlovsky [83:01]: "Sam Darnold cannot sign with another team until next week, and the Vikings are open to bringing him back."

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VII. NBA Teams and Playoff Contenders

Eastern Conference Focus:

• Pacers’ Tyrese Halliburton: Highlighted as a standout performer with exceptional assists and low turnovers, positioning the Pacers for a deep playoff run.

  Connor [07:13]: "Tyrese Halliburton's assist numbers are historic. He's ready to lead the Pacers deep into the playoffs."

Western Conference Dynamics:

• Lakers and Celtics Potential Matchup: Speculation about one of the greatest NBA rivalries potentially culminating in the finals, enhancing the league’s excitement.

  Sam Charania [133:31]: "A Celtics vs. Lakers finals would reignite one of the pillar rivalries in the NBA."

Notable Quotes:

• Shams Charania [74:06]: "Shay Gills Alexander is viewed as a favorite MVP candidate with his impact on the Oklahoma City team."

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VIII. Conclusion

Pat McAfee wraps up the episode by emphasizing the ongoing excitement surrounding the NFL’s franchise tag deadline and the significant developments in the NBA. With free agency and draft seasons imminent, the panel anticipates a flurry of transactions that will reshape team rosters and competitive landscapes across both leagues.

Closing Remark:

Pat McAfee [119:44]: "Sports are having a time right now. A lot of great things are happening, and every day promises one-of-a-kind entertainment."

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Pat McAfee [00:01]: "T. Higgins gets it for the second straight year... This is the last time they can franchise tag him."
• Adam Schefter [83:46]: "This would be the lowest number of tags since 1990..."
• Dan Orlovsky [17:33]: "Sam Darnold is poised to join the $50 million club with a solid three-year deal."
• Michael Lombardi [69:50]: "Luka is someone... Mark Cuban said once, I would rather get a divorce than trade Luka Doncic."
• Pat McAfee [100:58]: "Congratulations to Saquon Barkley and the Philadelphia Eagles for getting a historic deal done for a running back."
• Shams Charania [137:03]: "Philadelphia is still the number one team roster-wise, and this deal reinforces their commitment to excellence."
• Connor [07:13]: "Tyrese Halliburton's assist numbers are historic. He's ready to lead the Pacers deep into the playoffs."

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This episode offers a comprehensive analysis of the impending NFL roster changes, the intriguing quarterback market dynamics, and significant movements within the NBA, providing listeners with in-depth insights and engaging discussions.

Transcript

[Pat McAfee]

Hello beautiful people and welcome to our humble abode, the Thunderdome on this Franchise Tag Deadline Tuesday, March 4, 2025 this program starts now. Sports are happening all around us and the NFL has a massive Deadline today at 4:00. We'll have Adam Schefter join us in the next hour to get the up to date information around the league on who's getting franchise tag, what player has played through their contract, thought they were going to hit a massive payday for longevity and maybe long term success, security for their family and is actually getting told by their team, you ain't going nowhere. You're with us for another year brother. That's how this is going to go. Now. The franchise tags have already been out this particular cycle. T. Higgins gets it for the second straight year which means there was a bump in pay of what the normal wide receiver franchise tag is by 25% I do believe because he was already franchise tagged once, this is his second time in a row getting franchise tag. This is the last time they can franchise tag him. Back in the day they used to be able to franchise tag people one time, two times, three times, I think even four times. Julius Peppers got franchise tag three times. Adam Venateri got franchise tag three different times. They've made a rule that you can only do it twice. T. Higgins is in the second year of that. OSA Odegizua OSA o franchise tag by the Dallas Cowboys. Dog as a defensive tackle, excited to see how that works out. And then Trey Smith, obviously offensive lineman for the Chiefs. They have an offensive line question. Got to keep one of their best guys in there, a pillar of everything. And then it has come out. Through various reports and insiders, Sam Darnold, Javon Holland and Chris Godwin are not expected to be tagged. So congrats to those three gentlemen hitting the open market. Hope it pays them mightily. And who else will get tagged around the NFL? We'll keep track of all that today. We'll talk to Schefter in a second hour. We'll also talk to Sham Charani in a second hour. Sham Charani, a senior insider for the NBA for espn obviously. Coming on, talk about Kyrie Irving towards ACL last night again shot his free throws though tears falling from his eye, buries two free throws and those will be the last two shots of the year for he as this will do it for Kyrie Irving's 2025 season down there in Dallas. Obviously he picked up a brand new teammate after losing Luka and Anthony Davis. Anthony Davis got hurt in his debut game for the Mavs after going crazy. He did have a good start. Kyrie Irving now out for the rest of the year. And everybody's looking at the GM named Nico, who got together with the conditioning staff and the nutritionist and some other suits and somehow convinced themselves that they were more important than Luka Dalton to the Dallas Mavericks shipped him out of town. And now the Dallas Mavericks are without Kyrie, which is a bummer for all of us, because watching Kyrie do his shit is worth a watch all the time. But Anthony Davis not playing. Kyrie now out. And the Mavs fans, mass exodus.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Third quarter. This ain't even fourth quarter. This is a third quarter. Remember, there was protests about Luka being sent out of town. He was the face of that franchise. This Nico guy, formerly of Nike, I think, was the one that negotiated the deal with Anthony Davis and with Nike. I think he's also the one that called Steph Curry. Steven, maybe I forget, he messed up the entire pitch for Steph Curry. We've learned a lot about this guy because, boy, Mavericks fans hate this guy. And a lot of people around the NBA go, this guy might be the dumbest guy in the history. I think some people said he actually might have a fetish for being humiliated. That is why he made this decision. I mean, that's how far it went with his general manager for the Dallas Mavericks. Now there's conspiracy theories in abundance about the future of this Mavericks team. And I guess you have to have that convo. Mark Cuban sold that team, obviously, last year. We were wondering what the deal was. Then we heard maybe they were trying to get a casino in downtown. Now the casino hasn't been cleared. Are they trying to lose down there in Dallas? Let's go to the toxic table. Oss Connor Natashmid. It's getting loud on the Internet about them tanking and trying to get kicked out of Dallas. This is all alleged, but this is a very loud talking point that we are not making up. This is just actually happening in the real world right now.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, it's all alleged, but the woman that bought the team from Mark Cuban, I believe, made a majority of her money, family money, from casinos. And the first thing that she said basically was, okay, like, we're gonna put a casino, hotel, the entire. A Patriots place, which we see with the NFL, you know, Jerry world, obviously very profitable. You go, you stay for an entire weekend a week. You got the hotel right next to the place. It's all right there next to the Unit. It's all the money, you know, in one place. We see the top two teams in the NFL when it comes to revenue per home game. You know, the, the Cowboys make, you know, 70 plus mil per home game. The Patriots make 50 plus mil per home game because they own all the stuff around the stadium. That's where everyone is. That's where everyone spends their time. So one of the first things allegedly she wanted to do was put a casino there. Obviously. Hey, that's not going to happen. Oh, okay. I'm not allowed to do that. I'm going to move the team to Vegas because that's where, you know, that allegedly. Allegedly. That's where. Well, not alleged, her stuff is, you know, there in Vegas, but allegedly. That was what the threat was. Allegedly response. No, you can't move the team from Dallas. Dallas is a staple. The Mavericks in Texas, they've, you know, they've had success recently. Both go into the finals. And then also Dirk Nowitzki, you know, beating the, the Heels not too recently, you know, so that entire thing and then allegedly after that entire, hey, no, you can't do this. You can't move the team. You guys have a face of the NBA. Well, no, we don't.

[Pat McAfee]

No, we don't. We got Ruben.

[Darius Butler]

No, we don't.

[Pat McAfee]

He's actually, we got an eyebrow of the NBA, but he's not gonna play a lot of games. I don't think with the way it's going to go and he has a chance. We're not giving up. No, no, no. We got Kyrie, Anthony Davis, new thing. This is for the future of the team. But you could see how the people who are, you know, conspiring these ideas about what's going on with the maps because the decisions are being looked at as puzzling by everybody. Basketball brains, other people from outside like these, these dudes, they're going to be making decisions, try to get the hell out of town, try to make their fans hate them. And I'll tell you what, it worked. Yeah, their fans are bailing on third quarter. Not all the hell out of here.

[AJ Hawk]

Not all bad, though. They are also raising ticket prices, I think 8 to 10% next year.

[Pat McAfee]

So that's a classic one too. So, okay, we don't have any of your favorite players and you're going to have to pay more money you don't come. Right. We can't move tickets here anymore. That is wild move if that's the case. What a heel villain move.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

By new owner to come in right underneath Mark Cuban's nose cuz he's still a minority owner. He still has those tickets, you know and he's still at the games and he's looking around like I'm just confused. Everybody else feels like everything we maybe built here is kind of crumbling right in front of our eyes. Obviously Kyrie's injury doesn't help with that convo. We are sending nothing but T's and peas to Kyrie. That sucks dude. We are so sorry in the Mavs fans. Luka's doing it. No way. Just go with Luka is absolutely go with him in Los Angeles and Lakers are now the number two seed in the west and LeBron James is playing like he's 35 years old again somehow or 32 years old. Whatever the case is, even though he's 40 plus, Luka feels right at home and all of L A has embraced Luka and in this time with the fires and the devastation, if the Lakers are going to run, you're talking about an entire city kind of coming behind it. I the NBA does have some interesting storylines brewing right now. One of them is Tyrese Halliburton's great all time so let's never forget that with the Indiana Pacers. That's nine year NFL vet Darius J. Butler. He agrees.

[Connor]

I didn't know that was news Matt. His numbers assist turnovers been historic so.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah I mean Wes true blood here. Wesley full name he said Paris Auburn is one of the greatest point guards I've ever seen. I I clicked on Wesley's he is a Pacers fan. So this guy is basketball follower, basketball lover, pacers fan. Since 2000, a player recording at least 60 assists and 10 or few turnovers in a six game stretch has happened 196 times. Here's a list of the most points during those stretches. Oh Tyrese has all of them. Tyrese is the guy you want a facilitator on the court. Tyrese is humble enough to do that. You want a little flash, he'll certainly put it through his legs. He's not scared to do a full court pass if he has to. And then he'll even do one of these while the ball is flying through the air. Steph Curry has the no look three point shot where he puts it up and then he turns around and walks away. Tyrese will do that with a full court pass and dude's got range. He's pulling up from the logo. At this point Tyrese is ready to lead this Pacers team to a deep, deep, deep run in the Playoffs. So good luck to everybody on the Eastern Conference. That includes the Celtics and the Cavaliers. And do the Knicks even have a team? Nope. What happened with them? They were the team last year, remember?

[Darius Butler]

No, no. Yeah, they're very good.

[Ty Schmidt]

They're 40 and 20, but they can't beat anyone winning.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so Celtics, Cavs, Knicks, Pacers. Don't sleep on the Pistons, boys. They're hot right now.

[Darius Butler]

Buck Bucks are also. I believe the Bucks are four. Then the Pacers, then the Pistons.

[Pat McAfee]

Anyways, we'll talk to Sean's about all this in the next hour. Excited to hear his thoughts on what's going on. Diner and do. Because we're just reading the tea leaves on the Internet like we do with everything. We feel like we're actually more prepared than everybody else that comes on TV with teleprompter and has somebody else type it up and tell them what to say. So that's neither here nor there. Basketball is cooking. Baseball is cooking. Remember, we got bumped yesterday for spring.

[AJ Hawk]

Training and it was a great game.

[Pat McAfee]

Was it 6?

[AJ Hawk]

6 in the ninth inning? I think I want to say the. The O's may have walked off the Red Sox in the bottom of the ninth. It was an unbelievable game. Was an unbelievable.

[Pat McAfee]

Ended in a tie, actually. Six, six.

[AJ Hawk]

There you go.

[Pat McAfee]

Baseball, baby. Baseball's got a lot of soccer. I didn't know that. I mean, it makes sense. Spring training, spring training, NHL is happening, obviously. Stadium series. This weekend, 94,730 people backed the Horseshoe in Columbus, Ohio, to watch the Blue Jackets and the Red Wings do their thing. So we'll talk to Kirk Herbstreet, who was there with Peter and family this weekend in about five, 10 minutes or so to get his thoughts on not only that, but everything. Peter, hold it down, brother. You know what? I'm impressed by Peter. He's got puck and just like. Yeah, yeah. Like, you know Hotel Transylvania.

[AJ Hawk]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Do you know this movie?

[Connor]

No, I know. I just haven't seen it.

[Pat McAfee]

Adam Sandler movie. It is. I'm telling you.

[Darius Butler]

That's Sam, man.

[Ty Schmidt]

Is it a cartoon?

[Pat McAfee]

It's cartoon. It's animated. He's Dracula.

[AJ Hawk]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

Obviously he has a family. His daughter is a monster. She falls in love, marries a regular human. Regular human. And her have a kid. Obviously now Dracula is trying to make kid monster. I've watched four of them, brother. Hotel Transylvania 1, Hotel Transylvania 2 might be the best one, just because it's after they're together. Mike Shrek and then three and four. Also very good. Adam Sandler as Dracula. Just so good.

[Ty Schmidt]

Sure.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't even know how to. I don't know how I got into talking about Hotel Transylvania. Strictly because I went into a trance right there. That movie might be the best movie that Adam Sandler has ever made. I've watched it 400 times. 400 times. Anyways, they get into a scene, though, where they're out in public or out in the woods because Dracula's trying to find the kids. Go out and see they're out in the real world, not in the forest that they live in with the monsters. And they have a wolf with them. One of the monsters is a big, bad wolf, you know, so they have the monster. Frankenstein hangs out with them. Invisible man hangs out with them. Wolf is one of them. Big bad wolf. And the big bad wolf has to go out there and, like, scare the shit out of somebody. And somebody throws a Frisbee. And this wolf just gets distracted and sprints, gets Frisbee. Come backs in the car. Has nothing for the people. Adam Sandler has the line like you're the. The big bed. Like, it is a great moment. Peter not chasing those pucks is maybe the most impressive thing that I've seen out of Peter because he could see them all night. And Peter is a very athletic, very excitable dog from what I have learned. And great pooch. This thing is strapping, lad. Connor obviously has his own detail on him, but Peter was at the game. The NHL loved Peter being at the game. Herbie was at the game. We'll talk to him about that. We'll also talk to him about what's going on right now during the draft scene. There's Jorge up in the front there. R1, obviously, Big Jake. Then you got Zach there. Then you got Chase here, Michigan man in. In enemy territory. In enemy territory. Jorge there is a dentist. And this kid. I have no idea who it is. I. I assume he's great kid. Good smile on this kid.

[Darius Butler]

Where's Peter? Can we get Peter in the photo?

[Pat McAfee]

Peter's on the ice, I think, chasing a puck. I mean, there is a chance. They had a great family outing over there. 94,000 people at a hockey game. Score. Yeah. That is very cool thing. Excited to hear his thoughts on it all. And obviously, there was a lot of Ohio State references in the game. It was a helmet. There was a Buckeye, the whole thing. I'm excited to hear what Herbie thinks, and then we'll talk about what's going on in the NFL. Which leads to one half of the Hammer Cowboys, AP tone tone, franchise tag deadline today, 4 o'clock. Who should we keep an eye out? What teams are making moves? Who is really active right now around the NFL? Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

So one of the teams that we were, I was looking at specifically was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Chris Godwin. And now they, they said they're not going to tag him, but they are still going to try to get a deal done with him. Obviously the Chiefs have tagged their offensive line and, and they're talking about potentially getting a deal done there. It's just, it's a lot of these things where like is Sam, Sam Darnold gonna get tagged? Because, you know, we talked about it a few weeks ago. We're like, that would be, that would make the most sense for the Vikings because, because you tag Sam Darnold, you get them at a good number. If JJ McCarthy is not ready yet, that happens. And you could still trade Sam Darnold if, if someone wants him bad enough, you tag him and trade him. In a situation like that, those are, those are really the teams that are mostly dealing with the tag deadline right now.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so let's talk about a player that was already tagged and now has negotiated a long term deal. OSA. Oh, Diggie Zuwa has agreed on a 4 year 80 million dollar deal with 58 million guaranteed, $20 million signing bonus. Congrats to OSA.

[Connor]

Wow.

[Pat McAfee]

I believe OSA will be joining our show in the next few days to chit chat about all this. We do not know him yet. We cannot wait to meet him. But we do know he's a. We. Congrats osa. Obviously you can google everything about him. This guy as a D lineman for the Dallas Cowboys has been a game record. Doesn't get a lot of conversation about him because Michael Parsons is obviously over there. Dallas Cowboys crumble down a stretch. They don't play good. Dak Prescott gets a lot of chatter. Jerry Jones gets a lot of conversation. What the hell is going on in that building? What are the Cowboys. And obviously the commanders have had this incredible year. The Philadelphia Eagles are Super bowl champs. So whenever we talk about the Dallas Cowboys, there's a lot of negative, there's not a lot of shit to get to. This OSA fella never chatted about OB Dallas Cowboys. Appreciate his contributions to the Cowboys. $80 million deal for OSA. What a game record.

[Connor]

This is how the free agency bag started off a couple years ago. Started with a bunch of interior guys, interior offensive lineman, interior defensive lineman. You got to be able to stop the run and run the Ball. So paying, taking care of one of your guys before the market even starts. Like to see it in Dallas.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And that can happen with T. Higgins. T. Higgins can also get traded. Anybody that gets franchise tagged today is still very much wide open. This is not a final 4:00 today. The 4:00 deadline is on the teams to decide whether or not they want to have control over the next year of said player. Now, that money's guaranteed, so you have to put that money up in the franchise tag and obviously you have to account for it. Some teams have numerous guys. Like, there's a lot of players on some teams that are ready to leave, ready to go. There's some teams right now that are dealing with a lot of players wanting to be traded. There's some teams right now that are looking to trade players because they have to pay some players. That leads to the San Francisco 49ers. They traded Debo to the Washington Commanders. I think everybody loves that. We'll talk to Dan Orlovsky in the third hour today. I heard him chatting about how much he loves this move for the Commanders and for Deebo, but they're like, IUK is potentially available. We're in a very busy time in the NFL right now.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah. And it's awesome. Just with all the fodder around it. Like, I remember when the offseason started and Tone wrote on his whiteboard like, the off season is the best because there's so many possibilities, like T. Higgins getting tagged. At first, of course, devastated Patriots fan want T. Higgins more than anybody in free agency right now. But then I decided, you know what? I'm only going to listen to what Adam Schefter said. And Adam Schefter said last week, hey, this is going to happen with T. Higgins getting franchise tagged and then teams can come get him. So as a Patriots fan, still very, very excited, but it's just sweet now that we can start playing like the place game. Like, especially with Sam Darnold. Sam Darnold going to be the QB of the future for the Raiders. And is Tom Brady going to get in Sam Darnold's pocket and basically tell him exactly where to throw the ball every single game day with those cool meetings he would do on Saturdays with Bill Belichick. Is he going to now do that with Sam Darnold? Like, like, the possibilities are endless. It really does feel like the NFL is still all the way at the forefront of talking.

[Pat McAfee]

You bring up Sam Darnold. He's a massive piece of the conversation. It's almost like the Darnold domino. Now is the next one that is going to fall in the quarterback conversation. Now allegedly that has been reported that the Giants are in on Aaron Rodgers. Are they also in on Sam Darnold? Is Sam Darnold open to going back to the Minnesota Vikings because how great they were all season until the final two games. Now will he take a shorter like kind of deal or a big time money deal somewhere else? I mean Aaron is a lot of convo around Sam Darnold right now because we're chit chatting about him potentially getting 50 million a year last year with how he was playing and he earned it.

[Connor]

We love when guys have good years on contract years. He came in to kind of be that bridge quarterback for JJ and play out of his mind. We're in draft season now in combine season and when Sam Darnold was coming out he was kind of like the bell of the ball when it came to draft. A lot of people thought he was going to be the number one pick in that draft. Ended up going number three. Didn't start off how he wanted it to. And then you get with koc, you get in this offense, you get the guy we had on yesterday, Justin Jefferson and we kind of saw the best of what we can expect from this guy still in the prime of his career, very very young and I think he will enter that 50 million dollar club along with another guy we were talking about when the Debo Samuel deal went through. Here's the guys who's making 50 plus right now in the NFL and I would expect Sam Darnold get up in that bunch if he can get like a nice three year deal with after what he's done and then Brock purse out in San Fran we definitely expect him to crack this list. You talk about getting rid of Deebo Samuel, obviously you're expecting that's going to be opening up some money on the books for San Fran for Brock to probably get in that maybe $55 million range up there between Jordan Love and Trevor Lawrence.

[Pat McAfee]

You look at this graphic and the number one conversation that has been around this number and how this percentage of a salary cap to A1 position has been. You can't win a Super Bowl. I get. Jalen hurts. Jalen hurts did it. Howie in the Philadelphia Eagles were able to figure out how to give a large percentage in proportion every other position of the salary cap to a quarterback and still build the best roster in football. So just do what he does. My everybody just do it.

[AJ Hawk]

How he does well because they draft very well.

[Pat McAfee]

No. Yeah, just do it how he does.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, I mean, I suppose you could do that. The Purdy thing will be interesting, though. That'll be very interesting. We talked about it a little bit yesterday. But there. There's a chance, too. Like, who. Who's say they could do the Kirk Cousins thing? Like, they could. You know, he could pay. Play for like 5 million this year, whatever. I think it was like 5.1 million. And then franchise him two years in a row, and then over the course of three years, they end up paying him, what, like, 97 million? Like, he's not gonna love that. His agent's not gonna love that. But if you're the Niners, like, that's a pretty good bargain for them as well.

[Pat McAfee]

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who probably has a thought on all of this. He's got a big old brain, don't he?

[Darius Butler]

Huge.

[Pat McAfee]

He's got those baby blue eyes. Oh, man, he's got skin like an armadillo. Because he gets attacked a lot.

[Darius Butler]

Needs it.

[Pat McAfee]

Welcome to the club, brother. I've been canceled three times since coming back. Last week. Wednesday. Isn't that crazy?

[Darius Butler]

Not even full week.

[Connor]

Back in the Thunderdome, baby.

[Pat McAfee]

Welcome back. I was having a time of my life on vacation. Oh, this ain't bad. You know, I'm a guy that loves working, loves being active. Start thinking about other things. Big night out date will be released in the coming days, and then tickets will go on sale shortly after. We are close to a big night out in Pittsburgh. An unprecedented evening, I believe, is how people would describe it after it's done. Big laughs, big sing alongs, massive giveaways. Couple million dollars worth. Big night. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is the face of college football with both game day and the primetime game on ESPN called the national championship, obviously called the semifinals. He's also the man who kicks off NFL weekends on Thursday night with Amazon Prime. Ladies and gentlemen, front of the program, Peter's dad, Kirk Herbstream. How you doing, boys? How we doing, dude? Life is good, man. How about you? Life good?

[Dan Orlovsky]

What are you getting? What are you. What are they coming after you for now? After your vacation?

[Pat McAfee]

Well, we alluded. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We alluded to a number one story in the world that I think a lot of these suits had no idea existed because they don't do research. All day, all night on the Internet. Internet. So then they try to kill us. Never said a name. Said. Allegedly even showed empathy because that is an incredibly sad, sad Sad situation, but very real situation that was happening in the world in which we live. And then obviously, Canada, booze, our national anthem. I gotta do what I gotta do, you know, and then all of a sudden, that seems to be a fireable offense. Take this guy off all microphones because he's proud to be an American. Yeah. So, you know, it's good time. Fireable. Get him off there. This guy's gonna put us into a permanent political problem. Problem. Shut up, dude. You know, like this guy. This guy's the worst. Anyways, nonetheless, it's great to be back. Love that we get to do this for a living. Feels like we get treated the same as everybody else that has a microphone, talks about sports. It is an honor to do it. With that being said, draft season, combine season, franchise tag season, what's the big conversation? Sam Darnold. Let's start there. Obviously, you get a chance to watch him both through college. You watch his NFL career go the way it goes. You watched last year. How it ends is a bummer because everybody was waiting for that to happen with Sam Darnold, seemingly, even though their team was 14 2, had a chance to be the number one seed in the NFC, had an offense that was dynamic all damn year. His last two games. He doesn't play his best football, The Vikings don't play their best ball, and everybody says that's who Sam Donald is. We go from him making 50 million a year in this world, too. What's this going to look like for Sam? What are your thoughts on Sam Darnold, and what do you think about the rest of the quarterback market? Herbie?

[Dan Orlovsky]

Well, I think it starts with J.J. you know, if J.J. mcCarthy is not there, then I think this is a totally different. Different discussion. And. And I think when you have a year the way he enjoyed last year with koc, who has an offensive system that's very quarterback friendly, he was able to flourish, not to mention, obviously, the ability that was around him. But I think it, you know, you talk to kfc, who to me is one of the. One of the great guys to talk to when it just comes to just talking ball with him. I mean, how much does he love JJ McCarthy after the year that. That Sam just had? In a time right now where, let's face it, if you don't have the guy, you have no shot at the postseason. He's got a guy. But I think it sounds like, based on if you read the tea leaves, that they're going to go back to JJ McCarthy because they had such Big visions of what he could become. And it's incredible. But that, I think that tells you if that's the route they go, how much confidence and where this offense potentially can go, maybe where the franchise can go with J.J. mcCarthy. So I think he's the wild card in all this. If he's not there, I think it's a no brainer. You resign. Sam, what do we have about six or seven teams right now that desperately need a quarterback?

[Pat McAfee]

Pittsburgh, Giants, Raiders, Browns, Jets, Titans, Jets, Jets.

[Dan Orlovsky]

I mean, would you throw the Saints in there? I mean Derek Carr's got another a few years, but you know they're going to eventually unless they think Rattler's their guy. There are a bunch of teams out there that could use Sam Darnold. And, and you know, there's never been a knock on Sam Darnold's ability to throw a football ever. I mean that, that's his physical skill set. That's what makes the timing of this conversation interesting. You know, a lot of people put so much into these workouts. Will Howard, it's like everything he did this year on the field, it's like he had a terrible workout. He's trash. It's like, geez, you know, I mean, it's amazing how we look at this position. We forget that it's the ability to process, it's the, the intangibles, the leadership decision making that is tenfold. Can you hit an outcut to a receiver you've never thrown to at the combine? And yet we just, we put so much into what you do at the combine and what you do at a workout versus what you do when you wear shoulder pads and a helmet. Your ability to be able to read the coverage and make good decisions. So Darnold was able to show that last year. Up to that point. He's not been consistent in that, in that skill set as being able to really break down a defense and have quick decisions and know where the ball needs to go and, and put it out there accurately. And he put that on display and he's going to be the beneficiary of that. So that's exciting. That's, that's great for him. And now we get to look at all these rookies and most of these quarterbacks, wouldn't you say if they were coming out last year? Oh yeah, I don't know if they're up there at 1 and 2.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's, that's been the narrative going into the combine and then coming out. I don't think anybody has really changed anything. Cam Ward, obviously a superstar talent, great leader down there there in Miami. I think a lot of people are hoping Shador Sanders obviously is held in high regard. A lot of people talking a lot of things. There are some reports coming out that some people in meetings didn't feel like Shador was as invested or something like that. Shador also just always has like a. Shador is always like this. It feels like he's been in the spotlight since he's what, junior high probably. So he has probably built up a callous to having him over emotional. They pro. I think they probably know what's happening already. It feels like the Sanders is might already have a heads up on what's taking place with him. If not, he feels comfortable enough whenever he gets in a building to go. But yes, to your point, last year's draft class was absurd and they ended up performing in an absurd fashion. Which leads to JJ. Back to the Minnesota Vikings with JJ McCarthy. We've always said it feels like the coach of the year, Kevin O'Connell can drop a play for if you can throw a football, feels like you can be a quarterback for that particular team. JJ we know can spin. We know JJ is an incredible leader. We know JJ is beloved by his teammates. But we have no idea if JJ can read NFL defenses. We have no idea what this entire thing is. So in my eyes, they probably want to vet for another year, you know, just to see if JJ's ready or if he's a guy. Because I don't know how much he was in the building. But is it going to be a guy that's worth as much as Sam Darnold? I'm not 100% sure. And what is Sam Darnold worth?

[Dan Orlovsky]

Those are all fair thoughts. I just give a lot of credit to koc ability to evaluate quarterbacks and ability to to if he's willing to let go of Sam Darnold, if in fact that's the direction they go. You know, think about what Kirk Cousins did at his age in that offense. And now picture KIRK Cousins at 23 or 24 with mobility. Like, you know, we get around these guys in college.

[Pat McAfee]

Got it.

[Dan Orlovsky]

What, what what J.J. mcCarthy did for Michigan to get them over the hump in 21. Now he was the quarterback and it was a great defense and a lot of great players on that team. But he gets them over the hump where they beat Ohio State in 21, gets them to the playoff where they get embarrassed by Georgia, come back to or I'm sorry that that Year they ended up losing to TCU in a game they should have won. You guys remember that one?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Dan Orlovsky]

I mean think of that three year run. Beat Ohio State, lose to Georgia, beat Ohio State, get to the playoff, probably should have beat tcu, should have been in the national championship, come back the very next year and get it all done. That's on his back, that's him doing that. And I just, I. You never know with quarterbacks, but watching these guys and watching the intangibles putting Koc with JJ McCarthy and the talent on that roster. To me, the Vikings go to another level with JJ McCarthy and what I think he can do in that off.

[Pat McAfee]

Get better with JJ saying, hey, what are we talking about? And also save a lot of money to build up that roster because you've already spent money on Justin Jefferson, another JJ who's obviously phenomenal. He was on our show yesterday. Love that man.

[Connor]

Great.

[Pat McAfee]

I'd like to let Kwesi, if you would like to trade him to Indy. I don't know if I have the power to make those decisions, but how.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Things going in Indy right now with you and the Colts and the boys.

[Pat McAfee]

I shook Chris Ballard's hand, talked to Chris Ballard down at the, down at the combine. I talked to Shane. I just told him I thought his locker room was crap. You know, I, I think that was his fault. I didn't think it was his fault. I just think like the players that are in that locker room, he probably had faith, would be professionals and a lot of them aren't, you know, so like I don't put that on him. But kind of though, you know, like that is the. I, I feel like that the players should show up for your team a lot more than they do. Especially with everything we were hearing.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Well, when you play, when you heard a lot happen, heard a lot of.

[Pat McAfee]

Stuff, not just the Colts, obviously heard a lot of stuff that's like this.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Is not professional guys. All those guys came back, they had their reunion. If that type of guy, if they witnessed what was happening allegedly in this locker room that you're saying, yeah, how would that be handled? Would that be handled by Tony? Would that be handled by the players?

[Pat McAfee]

No. Yeah, that's. That's players. That's. That is like a lot of this shit is locker room stuff. Like anytime you hear coaches go, like the team needs to be led by the locker room, like the locker room needs lead, it's because like the coach can say something, obviously. But if the coach can't reach the person in the first Meeting, like, here's the expectations. It's like, the players have to hold each other accountable is my thoughts, which is why I said. The way I said the things I was saying about the Colts is like, hey, this is on your locker room. That this stuff is happening. Like, and I don't know if they took that. You're probably getting a phone call from the Indianapolis Colts locker room right now.

[Darius Butler]

Don't listen to him.

[Pat McAfee]

Don't listen to him. Yeah, he's.

[AJ Hawk]

He's lying.

[Pat McAfee]

He's lying. He's lying. But it's like, the things we've heard, it's like, it feels like there has to be some sort of leadership in our locker room going, hey, that ain't how we roll around here. And that's how it would have been. Like, when I got in trouble, obviously, everybody was happy that I was okay, but immediately, I got a bunch of texts from all the OGs that are like, hey, you're blowing it, brother. Like, this is not. This is a. This is your life. This is like, everything. But also, this is not how we operate over here. Like, you need to clean your shit up, you know? Like, it was like. Like a stern talking to almost. But.

[Dan Orlovsky]

But isn't that the case in team sports? Like, teams have. What you're describing?

[Pat McAfee]

Yes, and we have enough talent in Indianapolis. Like, the talent is in abundance. We've paid so many people. There's a lot of experience. It's like. But in a locker room, just letting people get away with shit like that is.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Well, who are the guys potentially on that roster that can provide that?

[Pat McAfee]

Well, you can just look at the people that have been paid second contracts almost completely through it that have been here since the beginning. It's like. But one of them, for three weeks was patent at the beginning of this entire thing. And it's like, that sets a standard, and it's, like, just continues to go. But with that being said, everything could change. Boys, they can change.

[Dan Orlovsky]

You got. You guys still go to the games, right? You guys dialed in next year?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I heard. We are. Let's move along. Let's move along. We heard it's not just the Colts, by the way. Also, at the combine, heard that it is a. I don't want to see an epidemic, but there's a lot of teams that are operating in ways that you don't think professional athletes should be operating. If you have a good culture right now, I think that is not rare. That is rare.

[Dan Orlovsky]

That's a great thing. Instead of us complaint, because it's in college football, obviously, too, with NIO on the portal. So instead of saying if I'm a franchise, if I'm a GM or I'm an owner, instead of complaining about.

[Pat McAfee]

Up.

[Darius Butler]

Double thumbs up.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, you've been dancing over there. You and AI kind of tag team in this interview. I appreciate that.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Why did the fireworks go off?

[Pat McAfee]

Because we're celebrating. You making a great point about team culture. It sounded like coming out of this combine, you know, that.

[Dan Orlovsky]

That what that I'm saying. If you're an owner or a GM and you're. You're dealing with these players that are coming in, it's a very different deal than you're used to. To me, is it that look at Ohio State or look at Notre Dame or look at these teams that are trying to figure it out in college.

[Shams Charania]

Can't you.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Can't you separate yourself now by finding those guys? They're out there. So if I'm a. If I'm a gm, I'm not just going to Indy and I'm clicking the 40 and I'm, oh, you got a 40 inch vertical. This is great. Like, aren't you trying to get to know these guys and trying to build a locker room instead of just worrying about having an all star team with a bunch of physical freaks? Like, I think it's more of an opportunity to separate yourself by finding the right guy to. To. To kind of nip in the bud. What you're describing sounds like is going on in Indianapolis right now.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Because everybody's gonna make mistakes. Obviously that happens. These people are growing with money, they're in the spotlight, but it's like getting everybody to be going in the same direction and caring about team and just feeling. Feeling as if you care at least like. Least portray that you care that you are.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Look at Justin Jefferson, who you talked to yesterday. It was a great interview.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you.

[Dan Orlovsky]

I've watched him since. This guy was like a zero star one star. He had older brothers that went to LSU's. Brother was a quarterback, and he wasn't highly touted. And he really developed and made himself with that competitive spirit that he has. The player that he became at LSU with Jamar on one side, him on the other. I mean, it was ridiculous in 19 with burrow throwing to him. And if you watch him at times at lsu, you could see if you didn't know him, his wiring and you didn't meet him. If he didn't get the ball early in a game, you could see, hey, is this guy selfish? Is he worried about himself. But once you get to know him and you watch him and listen to him talking yesterday, this guy's competitive spirit is unique, and he's dialed in. Does he get frustrated at times?

[Pat McAfee]

Sure.

[Dan Orlovsky]

But he's dialed in on the game plan. He knows what they're trying to do and when it doesn't happen, happen. He's not saying, give me the damn ball, like, you know, we're. We're winning, but I'm not getting my catches. This guy dialed in on winning the game and what it takes to win the game.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's execute. Let's execute. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dan Orlovsky]

I'm guessing if things aren't going right because they're losing the game, he's on the sideline talking to guys about what we need to do to win and compete. See, that's gold right now to a franchise. You just got to find them. You got to find those dudes that are. That are willing to bring more than just their physical ability.

[Pat McAfee]

When we talked to Harbaugh and Ortiz, it was like, that's all we're looking for. Basically. Talk to McVeigh yesterday. What are you looking for? Dogs. That's all we're looking for. You look at the Kansas City Chiefs. I assume they're going to bring in dogs. Bean people that buy in. Bean at the Bills. All he's looking for, people that buy into the team and be dogs. It's like the teams who are good, though, you know, it seems like the teams that are good now in Philadelphia, Eagles, I mean, they have. Literally all they care about is like, Detroit Lions. Detroit Lions, Bingo. All these teams that are good seemingly have a very similar thing happening, and all the other teams have something else going on. Maybe. Maybe we. Rabes.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Ravens. Ravens. Rabes will bring it to New England.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, on that note, Connor has a question for you. Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

Herbie Vrabel, obviously getting hired to New England. Basically the biggest hire, the first hire of the entire cycle. How do you feel about that? And then some of the other guys as well. Glenn to the jets, you know, Pete Carroll to the Raiders. Do you feel as though kind of that tough culture is coming back a little bit? And are you expecting the patriots to win 14, 15 games like I am? Or where are you at with Dumb and Drake May?

[Dan Orlovsky]

Well, I think we all know Braves. We all know his wiring. You know, I always wondered, even when he was at Tennessee, is he going to end up back in New England at some point and replace Bill Belichick? I think we all kind of thought. Thought as he became more and more successful in Tennessee that that was going to be potentially something could happen down the road. It's a natural fit. I'm sure. I haven't spoken to him lately, but I bet you like any of us, because of the experience that he had in Tennessee, the way it went down, he had a chance to kind of regroup in Cleveland, kind of on the back burner, and a chance to really grow and continue to become a guy that can relate to what we're talking about. If anybody understands what we're talking about, it's Mike Vrabel. I mean, Rage got it as a player. He had that. His experience in college and of course, in the NFL when he got eventually to New England. And he understands the value in that. And he's very, very good at being able to relate to these guys. Still see him put the pads on and hit dudes. I try not to be super biased towards Variable because I'm a huge fan of his. I've known him since he was 18 years old. But I. I have a ton of faith that who knows how many games are going to win.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, we're talking. He's packing both sides and the top. Have a look. And then doing this. And then he'll race you and he'll beat you, too. Like, that is the.

[Dan Orlovsky]

His wife Jen will whip your ass, too. So, I mean, the whole deal, I mean, they just.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, hell yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Such an Ohio family, isn't it? Disgrable family now. New England. They are. They're taking Ohio now.

[Darius Butler]

They're New England family.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm excited to watch raves up there. He was already, you know, making the rounds. He did. There was a reading day, a national reading day. He went to a local school and was reading. Big applause, handshake. Obviously he loves the community. He's probably done a lot with that community in the past.

[Darius Butler]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Remember, whenever he went into the Ring of Honor, the hall of Fame or whatever it is, he said, do not take this for granted. How special all this is. That was basically allegedly the get this guy out of our building, says the Tennessee Titans people. So I think he's eager to get back there, eager to turn a franchise back around, eager to make him a contender again. And I think he loves the community. I think he loves the team. I think he loves everything about.

[Dan Orlovsky]

And remember, you don't want to be the guy that replaced, you know, the guy that has to be the guy that steps in after Bill Belichick. You want to be the guy that replaced the guy.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's always a good place. That's a good place.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Yeah. I think the timing of this is outstanding and New England obviously has to be kind of. They got to be thrilled with, you know, bringing one of the boys back.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah.

[Dan Orlovsky]

To bring him back to the glory years.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. He's actually trying to find a variable quote to put on the other bicep.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, that's coming. That might even be a try. I mean, it was just shocking. Like as soon as like Mayo gets fired immediately after that game, the first thought is holy. They're really going to bring Vrabel back and then for it to happen the way it does.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, it was like it was talked about for like two, three weeks there leading into the end of the season, like, yo, Varel's coming back. Yeah, Vrabel's coming back.

[Dan Orlovsky]

By the way, the Aaron Glenn, I just spent a lot of time with him doing these Lions games and get some one on one time with him and then hearing the story about how, hey, I'm a former player. Like a lot of these guys now, they're former players. They want to step in and be like Dan on or like Eddie George. They want to become the head coach. Aaron Glenn intentionally went basically to the bottom and worked himself all the way up and learned every aspect of the franchise to one day become a qualified, in his mind, a qualified head coach. I just really respect phenomenal player, maybe could have had, hey, you know who I am, I'm a Pro Bowler. Right. Let me start as a secondary coach. But he kind of worked his way up, paid his, his dues, was a big part of that Detroit ability to turn that franchise around. Witnessed it. I'm excited to see what he can do. I mean, he's going to a black hole as far as trying to win.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's what. That was my next question. That was my next question. So you think the jets organization can win is what it sounds like. If you're, if everything you're saying with Aaron Glenn, everything he did in Detroit, it's like, okay, so wearing that jersey.

[Dan Orlovsky]

If they let him win, if you let him, if you let, if you let him, him bring in what he learned and the ownership is hands off and you're just going to let this guy do his thing with the new front office, then yeah, I think they can.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, I do wonder what Brick's going to learn from Aaron Glenn. Could you talk about like this from Aaron, Getting a chance to teach him experience everything. Yeah, well, you're talking about Brick learn or teach up ag on what it's like to be a Jet Air and final level.

[Darius Butler]

Get your masters from Brick.

[Pat McAfee]

I understand the Brick. Rick could probably share some information with Aaron Glenn, the new head coach. Rick Johnson's who we're talking about. Woody Johnson's son who gave out game balls after the game. New York Times reported that, not us. We're just telling you what was being said. We have not got that confirmed from asking in the locker room strictly because we don't want to have the embarrassment of your organization to get the actual story of it. So with that being said, Woody has allegedly come out and said, I have to learn to be a better owner as well. Brick wasn't around locker room, I guess the last few weeks. So maybe, maybe the jets are making a turn. Good luck to the Jets. Good luck to the Jets. Good luck to them because we're riding with you.

[Dan Orlovsky]

The last one is Petey Carroll coming back. How great is that? I mean, that's wonderful, honestly.

[Pat McAfee]

He got kicked out of Seattle. Kirby. He got kicked out. He said he went in there and fought for his job. Remember? He said like four hours or something. I competed for my job.

[Dan Orlovsky]

But you know, maybe, you know, it's so hard to sustain, you know, when you.

[AJ Hawk]

I don't know.

[Dan Orlovsky]

How many years, how many years Was he there? 10, 10, 12? I can't remember how many?

[Shams Charania]

14?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, 15.

[Dan Orlovsky]

But you know, you get to that 10 year mark, it's really hard to keep it going. So maybe they. Maybe Seattle just felt no matter how much they loved him, they needed to start fresh. I'm just glad to see. I thought maybe that was it for him. I'm glad to see he still has that fire. He's coming back. Hires Chip Kelly as the oc. We all know about Max and what he brings on the defensive side. This, this is a. I think a franchise all of us want to kind of see, get back to being the kind of franchise that they can be. And hopefully Pete Carroll can do it. Big problem is obviously who's going to be.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, Tom Brady and ownership. And obviously Tom Brady. Very hands on from what we're hearing. Tom Brady is very, very, very, very, very, very active. We're talking about everyday phone calls, long conversations.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Would you expect anything less?

[Pat McAfee]

No.

[Dan Orlovsky]

I mean, if he's going to put his money up there.

[Pat McAfee]

So I thought I did expect less, actually, because like minority owners in the NFL, you don't really hear much from minority owners in the NFL. You only hear about whenever they become majority owners in other places. And the reason why a Lot of people become minority owners in teams is to prove the NFL that you're willing to get into their league. We understand what it is. And then hopefully you get an opportunity to become a majority owner somewhere else. Tapper was with the Steelers, Harris was somewhere. Like there is a lot of this that takes place. So you very rarely hear about minority owners getting their hands in the weed.

[Dan Orlovsky]

He wants seven rings. I mean, bring him in.

[Pat McAfee]

I agree.

[Dan Orlovsky]

AI agrees.

[Pat McAfee]

AI does agree, but I don't think I expected it because nobody's ever done it. But then once you hear like, hey, Tom Brady's the one doing the interviews, it's like that makes sense. If you have the capability for Tom Brady to do the interviews, you should do that. Hey, Tom Brady is like day to day keeping up on everything. It's like that makes sense if you have Tom Brady doing all those things. Things. So if you have a quarterback, you would assume Tom Brady will help in the entire process.

[Dan Orlovsky]

We should help every aspect of any franchise. You know, I mean, let him in there and, and how he works with Pete is interesting. Right. And, and that whole dynamic.

[Pat McAfee]

Chip Kelly too, the offense coordinator. There's a lot. And they're saying Russell Wilson, maybe Justin Fields, maybe get a veteran quarterback in there that you can pay not as much as everybody else. Then maybe you still draft who obviously very tight with Tom Brady and Mark Davis and they're in the top 10. So I mean, there's a lot on the table for the Las Vegas Raiders, but Tom Brady being hands on to your point with seven rings, good news for the Raiders. Hopefully the same for the Jets. Speaking of the jets, they have a quarterback conversation happening as well. Go ahead, Ty.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, Herbie. The first thing the jets did was they basically anyone who had any ties to Aaron Rodgers, they said, get the hell out of here, we're done. We're not doing this again. This is a great them. Obviously you can do what you want, you're just not going to gonna do it here. So, you know, get out of town. But we've heard now in the the coming or the last couple weeks that like the, the Giants, after they lost out on Matthew Stafford, they're full bore on wanton Rogers. It seems like that's kind of the only option if he does want to play right away, barring what might happen elsewhere, like you we just saw the Raiders aren't necessarily interested in him. In your opinion, what do you think Rogers is going to do this next year?

[Dan Orlovsky]

I mean, you guys would know better than anybody. Based on you guys Being around him as much as you are, I gotta believe that now that he's fully healthy, in his mind, he can still execute and make plays and lead a team to victories and eventually get him into the postseason. If he feels that way, you gotta think we just went over the list of teams that are out there. Don't you think somebody is willing to take a chance and give him a shot to prove what he can be, you know, at this stage, his career, after what happened with the injury and what happened last year with the jets, we just couldn't get going. I think people that are evaluating it, they're evaluating it on how much of that falls on him, how much of that falls on the franchise as a whole. But, man, it's still Aaron Rodgers. And you watch quarterback play every week in this league, and you think a guy like Aaron Rodgers, what is he, 41 now? Now, if he's healthy and he's 100% and he's all in, you got to think somebody out there is going to be willing to give him a shot and show what he can do.

[Pat McAfee]

If he's. The Giants are already basically saying, allegedly. Allegedly. Yeah. It's all up to. That's a big decision, whether or not he wants to come back and play and sign up for it. And maybe the last three games, four games where they were balling and being everything that we all thought they were going to be for their entirety at the jets with that offense, maybe that's enough for him to go out and say, yeah, I could still do it if I had to, but I'm good. You know, I played great at the end. I proved people I could still get back from an Achilles injury. We had some success. But in my eyes, there's no way.

[Dan Orlovsky]

What's your guys all.

[Connor]

What's all.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Your gut. What's your gut feel? Does he play next year?

[Pat McAfee]

I think he plays next year. Yeah. Just strictly because anytime this situation has a rose. Is that the proper word? Yeah, a rose.

[Dan Orlovsky]

You look that one up.

[Pat McAfee]

Rose. Such a clatter, I believe is from the Santa Claus was.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, it's when the.

[Pat McAfee]

Right. Yeah, right there. Yeah, right there. When he comes. Where he comes down there. You know, anytime these situations have arose in the past, AJ Hawk, who is very tight with Aaron, goes like. I don't know. What. What. What else would Aaron. Yes, Aaron's going to play football, is what AJ Always says, even though Aaron has not told AJ And I think everybody that's around Aaron assumes that, like, that decision could you. You know, that could go Very easily, both ways. You watch Enigma and I think, you know, Greeny has and the world has, and you learn a lot about this man who I think has been misunderstood and misrepresented by a lot of people for a very long time. I think he's a hippie who's super competitive and obviously goes about doing his business. How he does it, everything he does, though, the ayahuasca, the darkness retreat, that is for him to become a better football player. He's trying to work on himself to become the best version of himself to become a better football player. And obviously a lot of ridicule comes to him about not being married, not having kids, yada, yada. He's a ball player. This guy literally loves ball. He's an old school football player, still has the loose strap that he undoes every single time. Getting hurt and still playing is a big deal for him. So, like, I think a lot of people don't really judge him by who he actually is. They judge him by what they hear about him from other people who don't know him. And with that being said, he is one of the most competitive people on earth. The reason why he loves the NFL is because. Because it's an ability to scratch the competitive itch that he's always going to have for his entire life, I assume. And he won't say this, and he obviously doesn't think this is the case, but like when he gets into golf, at some point when he retires, he's going to get very, very, very good at golf. He's going to get very locked in at golf because right now he'll play twice a year and he'll end up shooting 73, 74. Like he's going to be one of those guys who's. He doesn't think this because he is a hippie, plays guitar, does the travel, likes to do a lot of inner perspective searching and everything like that. That competitive drive that he has is gonna. He's gonna have to get into something. And he knows if it's not football, deep down he knows if it's not football, it's gonna be something else. So I think the ability to still play football at the level that he has with the bad taste in his mouth with how the jets went, because I think he wanted to bring a parade to New York. I think he was very. He took a lot of pride in being the one that was gonna do it. So I think he still has bad taste in his mouth. I think he plays football again, I don't know where the hell it's going to be the Giants, allegedly.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Are you guys going to be allowed to interview him if he does play? I read something you guys weren't allowed to. It was part of the deal. What do you got there for me?

[Pat McAfee]

There's a little ultimatum, allegedly from Scoop town that there was an ultimatum made to him that if he wanted to come back and play for the jets, he's going to have to stop doing our show. And once again, it never ends. It just never ends. And then the GM comes out. Yeah, that's. We move it on regardless. Was it like he said, we're not doing a show, so who knows? We're cool with whatever. We've been very lucky that we've gotten a chance to chat with them.

[Dan Orlovsky]

We all enjoy that. We all enjoy those weekly interviews.

[Pat McAfee]

Not everybody. Not everybody. Not everybody enjoys it. Oh, I don't agree with his opinion. Get him off a microphone. That is. That's how some people operate. You know, you get.

[Dan Orlovsky]

You get some of that.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I've gone on some rides.

[Dan Orlovsky]

The number two seed in the room. It getting heat.

[Pat McAfee]

I think Connor pretty good. Connor. Connor's pretty good.

[Dan Orlovsky]

You get some stuff.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, but I don't see any of it. I can't really read very well.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. So he just keeps.

[Darius Butler]

It doesn't even matter.

[Pat McAfee]

You know, I think Connor probably gonna get me. Other than that, it's just, you know, we're up here having a conversation, you know, based in reality. Okay. With some jokes in between.

[Darius Butler]

We're just joking.

[Pat McAfee]

We're just. Hey. And also inform Foreman. Yeah. Which leads to this. Now, let's stick with the NFL. Let's stick with the NFL. Before we move to other topics. With that being said, there is a man who hosts everything. DB Good D Baddy, who has a question about these prospects that you would know more about than us. Representing Compton Country Club.

[Connor]

Yep. Gotta ask you, because I'm sure you called a bunch of these guys game. And every year I feel like it's a. A rookie DB corner that hits the ground running this past year. Year was Qunyan Mitchell out in Philly. Also Cooper Dean in the slot. Who this year do you think will be that guy? Because we had some great performances at the combine. Hairston, he flew out of Kentucky. Baron, I feel like he tested much better than I thought he would. And he's played all over the defensive backfield. Will Johnson, a phenomenal corner out of Michigan. Who's that corner, that DB that you think will hit the ground running and take the NFL by storm this year.

[Dan Orlovsky]

I think it's Jade Baron. That would be my guy had a great combo, fine D. Yeah, I saw he ran well, he did. He worked out, which was fun to see. These guys, some of these guys opt out for obvious reasons. This guy decided to go out and compete. I just, I covered this guy a lot. Probably called over, I don't know, 11 or 12 of his games. And I love to see a guy, and you understand this better than anybody, one year he's out there playing, playing that slot and playing it as well as anybody. And when you say that to people who are fans, when you play the slot, it's not just, okay, he's on the inside. I mean, he's in run support, he's blitzing, different game, he's playing in space, he's playing man. I mean, the versatility is off the charts with him. And then, you know, the next year he comes back and he's on the outside. And maybe you can explain in layman's terms how hard that is at the elite college football and NFL level level to have the skill set to play both in and out. But he did it flawlessly and he's got some great intangibles, great leader, captain. So not only the numbers are going to jump out, but he's played in a lot of big games at the highest level. And like I said, the versatility is what makes me think he's got a shot to really step in year one in the NFL and be turnkey.

[Connor]

Yeah, that's. I mean, that's really, really, really tough to do to go from that inside and go outside. And he won. Not. He didn't just go out there and excel. He won the Thorpe Award this year. But yeah, so on the outside you have that sideline kind of as your friend, but outside of that, you're pretty much one on one in island if you're any type of man to man situation. And when you're in that inside, you got space to your inside, space to the outside, got to communicate with your linebackers, play the run game, just completely different position. I love this guy and everything he's done on the football field as well. He kind of reminds me of like a, like a Malcolm Jenkins. He was a guy that was the top corner in my. When we came out, but you didn't know if he was gonna play safety, if he was gonna play in the spot. And once he got to the NFL, you pretty much did it all. Won a couple Super Bowls. You gotta be physical, had the intangibles as well. So I see a lot of similarities with Baron and Malcolm Jenkins.

[Pat McAfee]

Herbie, you know, this D buck played all over the place in the box, outside in the back. You gotta. That's a mentality thing too. You gotta commit to studying. Gotta commit to a lot of studying. Cause you gotta know a lot of different jobs and you gotta commit to a physical. You know that not everybody is able to do at that time.

[Connor]

Communicate too. That's why what Cooper DeJean was able to do. And you know, ex clothes wise, he was in the slot, slot corner. You got to be able to communicate with the backers, with the safeties, with the corners and play fast. Man, it's tough in there.

[Pat McAfee]

Were they able to understand his language? He was speaking out there.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

This guy seems to be speaking a different language. Yeah. What's this guy. Hey, speak.

[Connor]

He got. He got. You know, he was locked in. He was dialed in.

[Pat McAfee]

Exciting. Whites are quite a duo over there. Yeah. They might be the only ones left.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

In the secondary after.

[Connor]

No. Riley Moss, other side of Pat.

[AJ Hawk]

It's pretty much. You just look at Iowa. I got all. You can hang white guys, secondary. Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

Hold on. They got that white track guy too. He ran a 4:2 or something like that or 4:1. What was that? Yeah, Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

I don't remember what. I don't know what he did. I don't think you want a Big Ten championship.

[Pat McAfee]

So Trick Feren saw him and said, get that guy off our field. He's too explosive. You can't get that guy an end around. Guys running 4:1 on the field.

[AJ Hawk]

No, we tried.

[Pat McAfee]

You guys can't get a first down?

[AJ Hawk]

No. Yeah, well, we put Cooper Jean on offense and he broke his foot and missed the Big Ten championship. So we said, enough of this, all right? Let's just run the ball up the middle three times and then punt.

[Darius Butler]

I'll tell you.

[Dan Orlovsky]

And if he's. If he's out there. You had a real shot against Michigan that year.

[AJ Hawk]

I think so. I think so. I think so.

[Pat McAfee]

This guy's now the father of a Michigan man. Never forget it.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Showing some respect. Last question here before our heart out from Aptone.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Herbie. Six quarterbacks were drafted in the first round last year. I believe we know for sure two are going to be this year. The question is, is there going to be a third? Do you have a third guy that you like the most? I mean, Jackson Dart threw well at the combine. Quinn threw well at the combine. Brady Cook threw well. Tyler Schuck threw well at the combine. Will was, you know, Will did better. He got better. Is there a guy you like?

[Pat McAfee]

Third? What are you talking about?

[Ty Schmidt]

Well, he started, he didn't know those guys well. Yeah, neither do the other guys.

[Pat McAfee]

Kirby. Well, they're used to throwing the four nines. Okay. Geez Louise.

[Dan Orlovsky]

I, I, I would probably give Jackson dart the, the nod. You know, he started his career at USC before he transferred over to Ole Miss. I think he's got a presence, he's got an offense that I think that's the thing I really want to see with him is the ability to be able to show what he can do when it comes to what we talked about earlier with JJ McCarthy not just throwing a ball around, but being able to go to that next level with how sophisticated these NFL offenses are. Being able to read coverage, being able to get the ball out whether you're under center, whether you're in gun. And I think, you know he obviously helped himself with what he did and this, this past week. But I think his game film like to be able to go up into the first round. They're going to really study every aspect of his game when it comes to can he be that franchise guy. And I think you know one thing about Ole Miss, I didn't know he.

[Pat McAfee]

Could scoot like that. I know. Scoot, scoot.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Dude, he's an athlete. He, he really, I mean he can go, he'll surprise you. You know, Tyler Schuck's the other one that a lot of people are fired up about about. And he's another guy who's, who's sneaky athletic ability. Because of his size you wouldn't think that but he started, he started Oregon had tremendous ability to create that Joe Morehead offense. So yeah, he's another guy that I think high weighted and Jeff Braum, we know what he can do with quarterbacks. So it only benefited him from being at Louisville and throwing it around over there.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, before we get out of here, about 30 seconds. How awesome awesome was that stadium series game for your Columbus Blue Jackets versus the Detroit Red Wings in front of 94,730 people in one dog.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Well, first of all, meaningful games they played on Thursday night. Two points on, on the line. Jackets got that one up in Detroit, came back home 94,000 over 94,000. I've been there hundreds of times. It was just surreal to see a ice rink in the middle of that stadium to see the way the, the Blue Jackets fans, to me a great fan base come out and support this team. This team hadn't been good for six or seven years and they finally got a young nucleus through the draft. It's kind of starting to gel together at the right time. They're kind of a dangerous team. It's cool to see that many people come out and support them and then go out and get two more points, which are critical right now chasing this, these wild card spots.

[Pat McAfee]

Congrats to your Blue Jackets being relevant again, you know, and I didn't know if they're going to be able to fill up that stadium because how bad they had been. That place filled up. It looked wonderful. It was cold, the ice was great. The game was magic. Congrats to hockey, you know, from Canada. That's a good thing out of Canada.

[AJ Hawk]

There we go.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Good job, man.

[Connor]

Good job.

[Pat McAfee]

Love hockey. Love Canadians. Don't love them.

[Dan Orlovsky]

There you go.

[Pat McAfee]

Don't love the booing, ladies and gentlemen. You never boo this man. Carpentry as the number and severity of third party breaches continue to rise, companies are increasingly vigilant not just about how they handle their own data, but how their vendors do as well. For security and compliance leaders, this means more security reviews are coming across your desk every day and valuable time is being wasted on manual security reviews. With Vanta questionnaire automation, security and compliance teams can complete security reviews up to five times faster, giving you time back to focus on running your security and compliance programs. Over 8,000 global companies like ZoomInfo, smart recruiters and NOIBU use Vanta to save time on security reviews. Visit vanta.compodcast to learn more about questionnaire automation. That's V A N T A dot com podcast. Does it ever feel like you're a marketing professional just speaking into the void? Well, with LinkedIn ads, you can know you're reaching the right decision. You can even target buyers by job title, industry company seniority skills. Wait, did I say job title yet? Get started today and see how you can avoid the void and reach the right buyers with LinkedIn ads. We'll even give you a $100 credit.

[Ty Schmidt]

On your next campaign.

[Pat McAfee]

Get started at LinkedIn.com results terms and conditions apply. Boards are fantastic and we're lucky to talk about them every single day. We can't thank you enough for allowing us to do this for a living. Currently on ESPN2, ESPN, Disney Plus, TikTok Live and YouTube. It is a dream come true to be able to do this every single day. A lot of great things get said about me and our program on a regular basis and those are fun to read as well. You know, you look in the mirror and you say those people are right. You're the worst person on earth. But you get to have a dream job of talking about sports. The Talks Tables here AustinConnor and Ty Schmidt Conman Franchise Tag Deadline 10 4:00 this is going to clear the waters a little bit for free agency season where it is going to be a buzz saw.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, massive day and obviously free agency officially starts in eight days next Wednesday, but really it starts in six days on Monday. Some of the names on there are very interesting. We were just talking about this kind of. This list will basically set the draft. You know, we've been talking about the combine and everything. But the guys on this list will really kind of tell you what teams, especially at the top are going to be aiming for. I know for New England, you know, a couple wide receivers up there will depend on who they want to get. We were also just mentioning some of these quarterbacks and although I don't see him up there, I believe he might be more of a trade candidate. A guy like Dan Jones coming to Indianapolis, that would be something that I got my eye on when it comes to next week. Yeah, just because if feels as though Dan Jones would thrive in a Stichen led offense. It feels like that would be a huge competition between DJ and AR and that is what I'm kind of looking for.

[Pat McAfee]

The really question came from nine year NFL vet, former Indianapolis cold everything DB host Darius J. Butler. What's the really. What's the surprise all about?

[Connor]

I mean that's just. I mean he not even on the list and he's just right there on your mind that he will be the guy that comes.

[Pat McAfee]

He's got strong legs, he can run good.

[Connor]

They are.

[Darius Butler]

I have a question for you. How many playoff games did Sam Darnold win last year? Because guess what? It's not as many as Dan Jones has in his bag. Okay. So I'm just saying when we're looking at guys you want to win with, Dan Jones has that capability.

[Pat McAfee]

He's tall, he can run, he's smart, smart, very tough.

[Darius Butler]

But even some of those names up there, I mean look at the Chiefs. The Chiefs have two of their wide receivers from this past year up there and then you know a Charvarius Ward debug can probably speak more to it. One of the best corners in the league. Yeah, him being a free agent is massive. I feel like Hassan Reddick's interesting because will he play? You know that's kind of a fun little game. You can play during.

[Pat McAfee]

You can trade for him, but sign him, you better get him on that dodge line.

[Ty Schmidt]

How about a guy who came, what, third for defense? Player of the year, Zach.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Eagles gonna let him get to the free agency?

[Pat McAfee]

That's one half of the hammer done. Cowboys AP Tone. Zach Bond, dare you slay. Who else from the Philadelphia Eagles secondary? Bradbury.

[Darius Butler]

Bradbury, Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

I believe was really. I mean, there's a lot going on. There's a lot of moving parts. There's a lot of money getting shifted. Who will be the odd person out, odd man out of rosters. And who will sign these guys and change everything they have and maybe go on and reach the climax of Lombardi Mountain? Who's going to make a signing that's going to change a culture, change a franchise, change a city? This offseason, it could be your. And your team could also bring in a cancer that ruins your team. Your team could waste too much money on a player and end up going to absolute trash. But on the flip side, you get a great deal and a prove it deal, and somebody comes in and really takes ownership of your team, puts the team on their back and changes everything in the locker room. Maybe Dan Jones to the Colts is the right guy. Maybe Dan Jones comes in and goes, boys, out there at the Giants, it was terrible. I was at the Vikings, it was good. Let me tell you how things got to go. This is how you got to operate. You got to be on time. You got to show up to things, okay? That's part of being a professional football player. Because how you do anything is how you do everything. And how you guys have been doing a lot of things is not how any of us want to do anything.

[Connor]

Who's this giving? This is Dan.

[Darius Butler]

Giving the speech is Danny Dimes, baby.

[Connor]

I can see him in black and gold.

[Ty Schmidt]

I can see him in black. Golf.

[Connor]

There we go.

[Pat McAfee]

Press one button. Car automatic start. Stand too close, car alarm might bark. Daniel Jones going to Pittsburgh.

[Connor]

Yes, I can see that.

[Ty Schmidt]

I can't say literally can't say no to anybody.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, well, you guys have no quarterbacks. Joining us now is a man who might play quarterback this year. He's a college football national champion super bowl champion Rocker cup winner. We have no idea if he'd pass any of the drug tests. Ladies and gentlemen, AJ Hawk Hawker. How do you feel, pal?

[Rich Eisen]

I feel pretty good. I don't think I'm going to be playing quarterback anytime soon, but I am interested about that Daniel Jones to the Indianapolis Colts.

[Pat McAfee]

That's.

[Rich Eisen]

I think that's a real possibility.

[Pat McAfee]

Everybody's excited about it. Things are happening. Are they.

[AJ Hawk]

Everybody's a buzz.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, everybody's. Everybody's real excited. I think the Indianapolis city is just. Let's get to next year and let's see how this is going to go.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, 26.

[Pat McAfee]

No, nobody is saying they're on to 26.

[Rich Eisen]

Nobody.

[Pat McAfee]

Nobody's saying they're on 26. Everybody's saying this is going to be good. Same team, same players, same coaches, same front office, same building, same stadium. Going to go differently this year. That's how it's going to go. Open competition at the quarterback position has sent a message to the entire roster that nobody's safe. That's right. Nobody's safe. Yeah. You got to show up. Yeah. Maybe try. Yeah. Maybe give a little effort. Yeah. Maybe portray as if you care at all that the team that you're on is trying to win a game. I think that's going to ooze through the, through the locker room because they announced.

[Ty Schmidt]

What was it? Was it year three after a, you know, know, two years of injury filled quarterback play that Joe Burrow put the team on his back and took him the super bowl ar.

[Connor]

Boom.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's right.

[Darius Butler]

That was year two.

[Pat McAfee]

Whatever the case, sometimes there's a lot of trends.

[Ty Schmidt]

Extra year.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm trying. Remember Peyton made it through all those interceptions pretty good. They are.

[Connor]

The legends were just in town, what, a couple weeks ago?

[Pat McAfee]

Couple weeks ago. Q and A last Monday.

[Connor]

Reset. They reset the. The ore.

[Pat McAfee]

Absolutely. This is how professional football works. You're a football professional. This is your job. Okay. You can lose this job hopefully sooner than later. Everybody in the city's thinking that, you know, because you're the keepers of the jersey currently, maybe wear some other ones.

[Rich Eisen]

Is that really a widespread thing from what you, you gained at the combine that like the basics, like showing up on time, being accountable to your teammates, like that's a real problem like throughout the league.

[Pat McAfee]

Not at the good places. Not the good places, but at the shite organizations. That is a real thing. And it's because I think, I don't know, I'm not in the position. I don't know a lot of these guys and obviously I would be the same exact way if I was these dudes. You get a bunch of money. I'm smarter than you. I've done it right. Okay. I'm a millionaire already. You get to the NFL, hey, you need to do this, this and this. No, I don't. Okay. This is how I do it. And Also don't like the way you're talking to me right now. Okay. You keep doing that. I'm not going to come in here, you know, So I think there's a. There's a feel from some coaches in some front offices that you can't actually coach these people, mold these people into being accountable, driven adults in this entire thing because of everything they potentially got away with. And then all you need is just, what, a couple bad eggs in there, especially OGs in there, and then it just goes like this. And all of a sudden you lost it. It's completely gone. So I don't think it's just the Colts. Certainly, we've heard a lot about the Colts, but there's other places as well, and those are teams that suck. And. But it's pretty apparent, like, if you want to win this, probably a piece of it that you're going to need nonetheless. Franchise tag. Today, 4pm AJ Hawk T. Higgins franchise tag. For the second straight time, OSA down there in Dallas was franchise tagged. He comes to terms. So they could give that to somebody else now?

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, that's a good question.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, if they do, they didn't use it.

[Rich Eisen]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

Because technically, did they tag him him and then extend.

[Rich Eisen]

Did he sign the tag?

[Darius Butler]

Did he sign the T? Yeah. Did he?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Can they. Can they now say, okay, you tag, you were it, but game's not over now. Tag, you're it over here. I do wonder that. Well, shefter in about five minutes or so, but there's a lot of eyes on what teams are going to do. And there's so many question marks around this NFL right now. So many question mark.

[Ty Schmidt]

Monday is going to be awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

Monday, free agency starts.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

The amount of deals that are already done, I know that are going to be announced as soon as that clock strikes time is going to be wonderful.

[Darius Butler]

So pumped.

[Pat McAfee]

And with those announcements are going to come the other side. Releases, Releases, releases. This is happening. This is happening. Oh, this team got this person. We thought we had that person. Now desperation sinks in. We're going this person. And then there's a second wave where everything kind of calms down, down a little bit. And then the second wave hits and it's like, ooh, good signing there. Oh, that's good signing. Or are they going to wait till the draft to see who they get in the draft? It's like there's a lot of magic about to take place, especially whenever 4:00 hits. Today, we're really going to prep for people to be able to Gear up for the money. Giving away free agency on Monday. It's exciting time in the NFL. Exciting time in the NBA as well, A.J. you know that.

[Rich Eisen]

Yeah, I've been watching more NBA basketball than I have in the past. No doubt.

[Pat McAfee]

Us as well. Well, and I know we're in the minority. I don't think a lot of people are watching basketball. They had a big number, though, on Friday night.

[Connor]

Watching.

[Ty Schmidt]

Was he being facetious?

[Connor]

Yeah. Who you been watching?

[Rich Eisen]

No, I'm dead serious. I mean, I was on a plane flying home. I watched some. Some games that were on live TV in the little. The screen in the back. Yeah, other than that, I've watched a little. I mean, I'm a big. I love the Warriors. I've always loved Steph and what they're doing. Obviously, Jimmy's over there, so. Yeah, I watch more now. The se. The football season is over, obviously. It's kind of just natural.

[Pat McAfee]

Most watched NBA doubleheader on ESPN this season came on Friday night. I do believe 1.8 million viewers for the Cav. Celtics, which. Who won that game?

[Rich Eisen]

I believe the Cavs won this one.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. And then Clippers, Lakers, the battle of LA Nightcap. Who won that game? Luca did. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, senior NBA insider for espn, friend of the program, Sham Sharan. Yeah. Okay, quickly here, because NBA talk is something we do, we enjoy, but we're not the experts. That's why we bring you in here, Nico. This general manager for the Mavericks. It is being alleged by a lot of humans that have opinions and are on the Internet that they're trying to tank this team so they can get him the hell out of Dallas. Well, it seems like all systems are working in that front. You get rid of your star, he turns out to be an absolute beast. Still, looky, looky. The guy that took your team to the finals last year can still play basketball. Well, for the Lakers, they go to the number two in the West. Kyrie. Now devastating acl, which we will all obviously miss last night. Anthony Davis gets hurt in his first game. There's been picketing, protesting, and now mass exodus from these games from Mavericks fans that are die hard fans. What is going on in Dallas and how do you think everybody around the NBA is viewing the current Mavericks situation?

[Michael Lombardi]

Sean, Boys, I think what's going on in Dallas is what was going on in. In the immediate aftermath of that trade that happened on February 1st is like, what the. Like, how. How did this happen? And I think Mavs fans in particular, they're still dealing with It. And you know that conspiracy theory that you got, you're talking about that they're tanking so much that they're, they're, they're at war with their fans, that they are doing everything possible to alienate their fans is because they want to move the team. I've seen that conspiracy online, mind. To my knowledge, Pat. There's zero truth to that. That's just not a real reality. But the fact that that's even a conspiracy out there just lets you know how, like, how deeply extreme that trade was in the eyes of a lot of people on the league. A lot. Literally everyone in Dallas. I mean, you go, you think about the Mavs and their fan base. Luka Doncic, a generational player, 25 years old, just turned 27.

[Pat McAfee]

6.

[Michael Lombardi]

He's someone. The 77 jersey is going to be all over Dallas forever. He was someone. Mark Cuban said once, I would rather get a divorce than to trade Luka Doncic. I wanted to retire Luka Doncha's jersey. And I know in talking to people on Luka Doncic over the last 72 hours, I was at that Lakers Clippers game on Sunday. He had no intention ever of leaving Dallas. He had just bought a new home in Dallas, you know, for a lofty, lofty price price. He did not want to go anywhere. You think of a player coming from abroad, they're very committed, they're loyal. And that's how he viewed himself with the Mavericks is like one team, one city forever. And I think that's gonna carry over the Lakers. I, I think he's loving his time in la. I think he's loving how the Lakers. You think about what the Lakers brand is. It's like treating stars like stars. It's Hollywood. It's, it's, it's making the, the star players bigger than life. And that's what we're gonna, what we're gonna see with Luka Doncic. But for the Mavericks, I mean, this is just tough because Kyrie Irving was having an all star. He was not made his ninth NBA all star team. He was going for everything. We've been talking on this show. I remember when I used to come on here in 2020, 2021, and he was getting absolutely crushed. You think about his decision not to take the COVID vaccine shot. You think about how his image started to go in Brooklyn. He was reclaiming his spot the last couple years as an upper echelon top player. The spot that he, he deserves. And he was on track to get a max contract this off season, potentially. He has a player option for $44 million next season. You look at from a stats perspective, Pat, 25 points a game, five rebounds, five assists. He's the only player in the NBA this season averaging at least 20 points, at least, least 53 point shooting and at least 90 from three. And, and for me, this was a devastating injury for him. Sorry, that's at least 20 points, 43 point 90 from the foul line. Only player in the NBA averaging that fifth, fifth of his career, second most year.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, we got it. Yeah, he's having a great year. 50th, 62 games. Got it, got it, got it, got it.

[Michael Lombardi]

But Pat, what I will say is his leadership went beyond everything. Because you think about the deteriorated relationship between Luka Doncic and that organization. In a lot of ways, Kyrie Irving was that in between. And the front office leaned on Kyrie Irving even with their communication with Luka Doncic. And so that relationship had strained. They trade Luka and now. Yeah, I mean, Anthony Davis has been out since his opener, since the first game he played. I think him, his representatives, I think they're going to huddle up. I think they're going to have some very hard conversations. It's not out of the realm of possibility. That's the last time we, you know, that one game was the last time we've seen Anthony Davis this season.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so because Kyra's injured now, there's nothing that, you know, he doesn't even, oh my God, this Nico guy is going to survive. He just has a lifetime job.

[Michael Lombardi]

He's got multiple years left on his contract. I mean, you. In the aftermath of that trade, I remember I came on here and I said, we'll judge this trade in the next few months, in the next few years.

[Pat McAfee]

Years.

[Michael Lombardi]

This trade is dependent on the Mavericks going far and they've already been to the finals with Luka Naga. So what else can you do besides get to the finals? It's winning a championship. That's what Nico Harrison and the Mavericks have set the standard of being judged on. And Nico Harrison in his post trade press conference said, we'll see if I'm right or not. We'll see.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, we will. It's kind of all unfolding right now, you know, but he said he's playing along in the long term. This is best for the mouths, which feeds a conspiracy. What is the long term? You know, but you're saying there's no truth to it at all. But anytime and he has a beer, this guy, this son of A he drinks a beer whenever he does something good and then every once in a while I see him, he's. He's burning hookah.

[Michael Lombardi]

If we, if we traded all players, that's that. Drink a lot of beer and Connor.

[Pat McAfee]

Has the last question for you here. Shams.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, sham me obviously. Lakers number two seed in the West. How about the one seed sga? Is he going to be the runaway MVP here? They showed a graphic earlier today about him having, you know, another 50 point game. Unbelievable. How do we feel about the Thunder and are they kind of the favorites coming out of the west? Even with everything Luca and the Lakers are doing?

[Michael Lombardi]

In my conversations with players, with teams, people on the league, I think he is Shake Yos Alexander is viewed as a. A favorite or a front runner right now. I think you have to still look at Nicola Jokic. Giannis Antidokounmpo. I don't think gets enough shine as well. What he's doing in Milwaukee, just leading that team. The numbers he's putting up. But Jokic's numbers speak for themselves. He's having a. I mean honestly, he might be having a better season statistically than he's had the last few years that he has won mvp. That just goes to show what Shay Gills Alexander's impact has been the 50 point game leading this young Oklahoma City team to the number one seed again. Runaway number one seed and vying to be the best overall record in the NBA period with the Cavaliers. So. And he was runner up last year. So you think about doing it for back to back seasons, this might be the year he gets his flowers.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay? I hope so, you know, because Greeny said this morning, SGA no more. He's mvp. And he said last night was the shame. I mean Greeny was talking in headlines about Oklahoma City's sga. What a. Shay Gilly's great name too. I mean I hope he does it. I hope the NBA continues to heat up. Zion Naruto tattoo. He's playing great ball. We're rolling.

[Michael Lombardi]

We, we need, we need, we need Z Williamson to stay on the floor. We need him to continue for Christ's.

[AJ Hawk]

Sake, the way he's dunking.

[Michael Lombardi]

He just had his first triple double last week. Last week.

[Pat McAfee]

So around and gone. Triple double. Dude, you let him play basketball. It's crazy what'll happen when the man is healthy.

[Michael Lombardi]

When the man is healthy and he's able to play. He puts up numbers. We know his impact on winning. That's why Pat it's so hard for the Pelicans. You think about every year, it's like the rumors of trading Z Williamson.

[AJ Hawk]

Let him go.

[Shams Charania]

How can you do that?

[Pat McAfee]

Trade him. Trade him, trade him. They never let the guy play. And he says, once again, I'm an employee of the Pelicans. When they let me play, I'm on the court. When they don't, I'm on the sideline. I'm always happy I got a new tattoo. You guys. Check it out. You guys watch.

[Darius Butler]

You guys like this.

[Michael Lombardi]

Pat, would you get a stomach tat like that?

[Shams Charania]

Would you do that, Sean?

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know if you've seen my body. I got no tats, even though I love tats and have the thought of getting tats. I've sat down in the chair and they're like, need you for two and a half, three hours here to not move, and it's going to hurt. And I'm like, all right, I'll get you next time.

[Michael Lombardi]

I wish stomach tat would be I pain. That would.

[Pat McAfee]

That would hurt. He didn't feel it. My wife's got a beautiful sleeve. You're what, you. She's fit now. Okay. All right. What's that? I'm done with it. We appreciate you, man. You're the best.

[Michael Lombardi]

Appreciate y'all. Thank you.

[Pat McAfee]

He's James. He did. Yeah, he did. Clear. He's on J. USA side.

[Darius Butler]

He's J guy.

[Pat McAfee]

He does feel like it. The NBA is happening age, you know, you. You say you accidentally fell into it while on a plane or whatever, whatever. They're putting up bigger numbers. The NHL seemingly doing well. Sports having a time right now. Yeah, sports having a time right now. I would like it if those Lakers did go in a long run just because of what happened with Dallas. I have no interest in the West. Like, love the nugs, because Mr. Malone came on the program a couple times and I enjoyed him in his talk. Phoenix Suns. I enjoy Ishbia and what he does. They brought Kevin Durant, and I love Kevin Durant. That team sucks. I have no idea how that even happens. I don't even know how.

[Connor]

He's 11.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, they. They're terrible. They're already talking about him going into the off season and them working together to get a trade to get Katie out of there. But the best thing for the NBA, for shoot, and this is me as a Celtics fan, would be Celtics, Lakers, finals, because that's the biggest rivalry in the NBA. It's considered one of those pillar rivalries. So if they were to make that happen, not that it's rigged, but if we're. If that were to happen, that would be huge for the week.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And I mean, obviously good to have the big markets in it in sport, but, you know, I love that the Pacers have a chance. I love that the Cavs have a chance. Like, the sport needs that.

[Darius Butler]

Okay, see?

[Connor]

Okay, see?

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, see, Like, I think the sport needs that now. Golden State being out with how exciting Steph is to watch play basketball. And now, granted, as the season goes, I guess there's a chance they can still get in it and make. Maybe even win the whole damn thing. But it's like, NBA has a chance here. You know, first half of the season, it was, this is the worst league of all time. Nobody's going to watch. They got big problems. And if you start thinking about the league, it's like, yeah, I think they do. Nobody knows any of these guys.

[AJ Hawk]

Nope.

[Pat McAfee]

Nobody knows any of them. Outside of their die hard fan base. Nobody has a clue about any of these guys. Except for the fact that we're being told by other NBA people, ex NBA people and NBA experts that these guys are soft. So all we're hearing is that these guys are soft. These guys are taking nights off. These guys are getting paid more money than ever. They're opting out of games. It's like, then he talked to Tyrese and Tyrese is like, yeah, everybody kills us. Doesn't mean we just want to go talk to everybody. I mean, that's not how this goes. And not a majority of the NBA are opting out of back to back night. Like, a lot of us are. A lot of us are like, what's being painted as a league in a problem? It's like the reality is not as such. I'm like, well, you guys need to start telling people this. Like, hey, you need to start. Maybe, maybe let's get to know some of these guys, you know, maybe let us learn some of these stories. And it's like, if they're able to do that and the games are going to be good and you get the big names playing, it's like the NBA has a chance to save a year that a lot of people thought was a massive failure going into it.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, I mean, the basketball gods are real, you know, like the Lakers are going to make it to. I mean, it's terrible what happened to Kyrie, but this does kind of feel like the universe just saying, like, hey, you guys screwed over Luke Luca and pissed off all your fans in the process. Now the Lakers are doing what they're doing. Like they're they're going to make it to the finals. I don't know if they're going to win, but they're going to have a deep run into the playoffs for sure because the basketball gods are real.

[Pat McAfee]

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is not in the NBA, is actually in the NFL. And boy, he's inside of it.

[AJ Hawk]

Yes, he is.

[Pat McAfee]

He's senior of being inside of it. Deep, deep. So deep that there isn't even like a beef to get to his spot whenever he's grabbing a coffee. No. You know, everybody's like, hey, trying to scratch and claw and fight to get there literally through any Starbucks lobby that they possibly can. And this guy's just sitting up there going, boys, there's enough news to go around.

[Darius Butler]

Been there, done that.

[Pat McAfee]

Ladies and gentlemen, Adam Schefter.

[Adam Schefter]

I walked through Starbucks with my head on a swivel. I understand how this works out.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so you are a little bit worried about the chance that maybe somebody will come out and get you. Hey, I like a venti Americana. Okay. Blind express.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, hey, you want behind me, especially.

[Pat McAfee]

With the size of you insiders. This is just a fact of the matter. One of them much taller than the others and seems like he's the one that's kind of on the pride. Yeah, yeah. So you maybe don't do this here shifter. You need to do this number first. I think that is the.

[Darius Butler]

With the elbow, with the ball.

[Pat McAfee]

Right in the balls.

[Darius Butler]

Yep.

[Pat McAfee]

Right to the. You know, I mean, right. Right to the.

[Darius Butler]

Careful of the arrow too, because he's metal.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. It's on Palo samite K in the game as well. Shefty, great to see you. I hope you had a great combine. I hope you had a great combine.

[Adam Schefter]

Nice to see with you. Nice to be with you.

[Pat McAfee]

It was great to see you in person. We love chit chatting with you. You're moxie in. I'd say your spunk whenever we're with you in person is off the charts. So it was great seeing you, great catching up with you. Now you do and utilize the combine like everybody. Everybody else does to gather information. Franchise tag deadline about two and a half hours from now. What should we look. Should we be looking at and what is potentially the next domino to fall in this NFL off season from what you know from your conversations?

[Adam Schefter]

Well, again, we've seen the tags go to T. Higgins and Trey Smith in Kansas City. I don't know that we're going to get another tag, which would mean this would be an incredibly uneventful tag. Period. OSA A Digazoo. I hope I pronounced that correctly. Got his deal done. There you go, Pat. You could practice with me right now for tomorrow. Right, Osa Dick Az.

[Pat McAfee]

Breaking news. Osa Oda Gazoua will be on the show tomorrow at 12:15 East. Thank you, Shafter, for being the connect there. Go ahead. Now with him being $80 million deal. Congrats to him.

[Adam Schefter]

So again, Osa got his deal done today. T is tagged in Cincinnati. Trey Smith is tagged in Kansas City City. Look, I mean, we always could be blindsided by a tag that comes in at the last month, but I don't see another tag getting done, which means that we would have two tags in this period, which would be the lowest number. Hold on, let me get the exact math here, because I've been waiting for this till later on. This would be the lowest number of tags since 1990 when Eric Green and Henry Thomas were tagged. The next few in 2006 with John Abraham, Nate Clements and Jeff Backus. Who could forget that?

[Pat McAfee]

86 and 94 and then 2025, the lightest franchise tag years. That is bananas to think about.

[Rich Eisen]

Why is that, Shefty? Why do you think it is that way, Shefty?

[Adam Schefter]

Well, I think, AJ that number one one teams are doing a better job at identifying their players in advance and signing them. Like, again, OSA Digazoua could have been tagged today, but he and Dallas were working on a deal, and they're able to get the deal done so that they don't even have to tag him. You could look around the league, and I think that we've seen any number of these deals get done in recent years. Every time you see one of these big extensions, that takes one fewer guy off the market. And so I just think teams have seen their guys. They know who's good and who's not, and they're not letting the really good guys get to market to where they even have to tag them.

[Pat McAfee]

Obviously, there's been teams that have let great players out the door, and they've gone on to have great success. But with the salary cap going up, too, I think guys are more likely to get deals done. Feels like this is a good thing going forward. Less players, franchise team tag is good in a player's mindset. Now, Dallas Cowboys, since they were good at Tagosa, since the deadline hasn't happened yet, they get a deal done. They could take that tag now and throw it at somebody else if they wanted to.

[Adam Schefter]

Yeah. But I don't think there's anybody else they're going to tag.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm just saying they could though, if they wanted to because the deal was done before the deadline.

[Adam Schefter]

Yeah, you'd have to find somebody else that was going to be tagged. And again, when I, when this period opened, I think the guys that were really under scrutiny for tags tags were Trey Smith, were Sam Darnold, were T. Higgins. And it sounds like Sam Donald is not going to be tagged in Minnesota. And that when we talk about some of the things that are going to happen, that becomes an interesting situation to see how that unfolds here moving forward.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so on that note, D, Bud has a question for you. Shafty. Yeah.

[Connor]

You're saying Sam Darnold not getting tagged coming off career year, career year in Minnesota, Brock Purdy, another good year under his belt. I know the 49ers have his rights for a few more years, but when these quarterbacks essentially get their next deal done, Brock Purdy and Sam Darnold, do you have any idea what the ballpark of those contracts will be? We had the $50 million club with quarterbacks. Do you think one or both of those guys join that club?

[Adam Schefter]

Well, I think Brock Purdy certainly could, but that's a question. If they get that deal done, again, you touched on it there, D. But the Niners, if they don't sign Brock Purdy this offseason, and here's a team that really is up against it financially if they don't sign him, and Brock Purdy obviously is going to want to get a deal done and the Niners would want to get a deal done. But the issue is he's scheduled to make $5.1 million this season. He then could be tagged after next season for 41 million. He could be tagged the season after that for 51 million. So if you don't get a deal done with Brock Purdy and you're the Niners, and again, this would not be what Brock Purdy would want, I would imagine. Certainly not what his agent would want. He would play for 5 million this year, 41 next year, 51 the year after. You're talking about 97 plus million dollars over the next three years, which for most people would be incredible money.

[Pat McAfee]

Money.

[Adam Schefter]

But not for a quarterback who's waiting to get paid. And so the Niners have a bit of a cap issue cash issue. And so they can't put Rock Purdy necessarily where he might be. They can go to a certain level, they'd want to pay him, but it's not going to be, I would imagine, quite as High as most people think.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, listen, we understand you're worthy of 60, $55 million. Other thing we're just telling you with what we got going on. Can't happen, bud. We're 45.

[Connor]

And by the way, by the way.

[Pat McAfee]

We'Re at 45, by the way. Good money. 45 million. Good money. Great money.

[Adam Schefter]

No, no, no, by the way, let's just use 50. We'll use 50 as a nice, round, even number. Okay, $50 million. $50 million. Brock, we want to pay you $50 million a year for the next three years. You can make $150 million if you don't want want. No problem. You can play it out and you go 51415197 over three years, and then you'll have a chance to hit free agency in four years. You'll be a true free agent. And at that point, who knows what quarterbacks are being paid? Maybe it's $100 million a year. Like, maybe.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but if 97 million over three years or 150 over three years, I would take the 150 over three years immediately. And also the sell to Brock is 50 million is a lot of money. Now you're gonna have the NFL pa, and you're gonna have a lot of pressure on him, not going for the biggest buck, but if they're gonna build the team up around him, maybe they're able to go. Which leads to another rumor coming out of San Francisco which seemingly never ends. Go ahead, Connor.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, Shefty. We know you're tied in with San Francisco, and obviously Deebo got triggered.

[Adam Schefter]

Why do you always say this? You always say this.

[Darius Butler]

We just know. Look, we can read tighten everywhere. We don't just read your tweets. We break them down. Okay? And we know.

[Adam Schefter]

Hold on. I want to say you. Connor, my job is to be tied into every team.

[Darius Butler]

Exactly.

[Adam Schefter]

That's my job. Okay? So when. When you ask me a Steelers question or you ask me a Ravens question, you ask me an Eagles question or Chief, please say, we know you're tied in there, too.

[Shams Charania]

Please say that.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Smack. We're not putting down anywhere else. We do know you are deep. The San Francisco 49ers, we're.

[Darius Butler]

You're basically saying, like, you're an Eagle knot.

[Pat McAfee]

When we come to tied in, brother.

[Darius Butler]

Bingo.

[Pat McAfee]

You're an Eagle Scout. I mean, with the. With the knots that you got going in there, with how tight end you.

[Darius Butler]

Every parent has their favorite kid in Chef's favorite teams, the Niners.

[Pat McAfee]

We know that.

[Darius Butler]

We can say that. And there's nothing wrong with that. That's just the reality of the situation. Okay? And last week.

[Pat McAfee]

Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.

[Adam Schefter]

I'm getting simultaneous text from the Seahawks, Rams and Cardinals right now.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Adam Schefter]

Pissed off that I'm showing favor nation.

[Pat McAfee]

Status to the 49ers relationships in the NFC west, brother, you're not doing that.

[Darius Butler]

We know you would never say that. They're your favorite. We are just saying that based on your, you know, Twitter, some of the things that you say at times. But last week, Deebo, he gets traded, obviously immediately after that, there's people on the Internet calling him a fatso. And that that was going on, he tweeted like, whoa, I'm not a fatso. And get ready for this new bod that's coming for the Washington commies next year. Year that'll be awesome. Now the rumors are circulating that Brandon Aiyuk might be getting moved. And obviously John lynch mentioned, you know, we gotta get younger. And with these looming contracts, it makes sense they need to kind of get cheaper as well. Is IUK kind of available? Are teams calling for Brandon Ayukind? Is his injury from last year and the, you know, lots of money contract that he has currently, is that going to hurt his trade status going into next year?

[Adam Schefter]

Well, again, I think that the 49ers in their particular financial situation are open to listening on just about anybody. Just about anybody. Right. And so if there's a team out there that is willing to take on the Brandon IU contract with him coming off the torn acl, I'm sure they would listen. Absolutely. But again, you've got to find a team that's willing to take on the player with the injury, with the contract. That's not a simple thing to do. Look, if there's no knee injury, it's a simple deal. But because there's a knee injury, because he may miss the first half of next season and there are questions about, you know, when he'll get back next year, there are a whole host of pending issues. But the Niners, again, for them to play in the free agency sandbox, they're going to have to find ways to clear out salary. Whether that's through Brandon I or Jordan Mason or any other player that they don't bring back or let go, they have to find ways to get money to help field the kind of roster that they want. So if an offer comes in on Brandon Iuk and there's a team out there that's willing to take on that particular situation, I'm sure they would be open to listening to it.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so with this comes the Brock Purdy deal. Having to pay your quarterback, you can't pay everybody else. It's kind of the game. Got a young quarterback, quarterback, you can pay everybody else. You get a quarterback, it gets paid. You got to figure it out. Howie was able to debunk this system, same with the Chiefs and Brett Veach. But normally that's how it goes in the quarterback world. Unless you get some of these veteran quarterbacks that may be cheaper price. AJ Has a question for you. Shefty.

[Rich Eisen]

Yeah, Shefty. Who do you say, like, when you say the first domino to fall? When you think of all these quarterbacks that may be, you know, changing teams, Some of these guys, Sam Darnold, Dan Jones, Aaron Rodgers, Russ Wilson, all these people. Who do you think could possibly be the first domino to fall here and sign with a team? And what could a deal possibly look like, say, for Sam Darnold?

[Adam Schefter]

Well, in my mind, the place that I'm watching next, there are two places it would be Minnesota in Sam Darnold. Because Sam Darnold cannot sign with another team until next week. Minnesota will have interest in trying to work out a deal before he becomes a free agent, and so they are open to bringing him back. The question is, can the two sides figure out a deal that's worthwhile? The other place to watch this week would be the Pittsburgh Steelers because they currently do not have a quarterback under contract. It's tough to go into free agency to go add to your offense when you have no idea who's playing quarterback. And that's why I think they're going to spend this week working on getting a deal done with either Justin Fields or Russell Wilson. I would imagine Justin Fields is first up in the pecking order. We'll see if they can get something worked out there. If not, it's easy to pivot on to Russell Wilson, and we'll see how this works out. But I would think Pittsburgh is determined to try to get one of these quarterback deals done in the coming days so that it has some clarity going into free agency. And that doesn't mean they couldn't add another quarterback at some point in time. But I think the idea would be to provide some stability now so that at least they could go into free agency with a little bit more clarity than they currently have.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, mama, I'm in fear for my life from the long arm of the long. They don't have a quarterback. They got a Lot more of the fear than the long arm of the law, brother. Is that the most important position in all sports? Yep. Is that the one that matters the most? Got no quarterbacks on the roster. Hasn't had a losing season in a long time. Maybe they'll go to a wide receiver and have him play quarterback. You broke some news right before you came on the program. Go ahead, Tone.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Chef. You're dialed in with the NFL. So I wanted to ask you. And you just broke the news that Devonte Adams was. Was released officially. We knew we had. We figured it was coming. Is there just. I was looking at the free agent list as far as wide receivers go, and you know, it's Chris Godwin, Amari Cooper, Steph Diggs, D Hop. Does that make him the number one wide receiver on the free agent market? Is there any early favorites on who could potentially go after him?

[Adam Schefter]

Well, it all depends on what you're looking for. Look, I think we've seen, seen right now T. Higgins be deprived of the true unrestricted free agency that he wants. And if there's a team out there that wants T. Higgins, they're going to have to pay T. Higgins and then compensate the Bengals. And that's if the Bengals are willing to trade him, which we do not know for sure if that is or isn't the case. So now you look at the other wide receivers. Chris Godwin is coming off his own knee injury, been an unbelievable player, an unbelievable person, the kind of guy you want on your team. Team. Devonte Adams is older, still a highly productive player. I think there's a. Just a group of wide receivers. I don't know that I'm placing one above the other. I think it just depends on the team, how they value each player. But nobody was going to trade for Devonte Adams contract. When we go back to Debo Samuel last week being traded to Washington, he was due $17.5 million. And really the Niners didn't get a lot of interest. They spoke to Houston, they spoke to Denver, but in the end, the only team that was really willing to move at that point in time on Debo was the commanders, because the salary at 17 and a half. Well, Devonte was due double that, 39 or something, so that you weren't going to find. You were never going to find a trade partner for Devonte Adams, who was never realistic. And that's why the jets have essentially granted him his release. He now hits the open market and becomes one of the top free agent wide receivers out there. Where does he Fit, I think. Look, he's been through it the last couple of years. He's played in Vegas, didn't have a quarterback. He played in New York. They struggled and lost. Without having spoken to devonte about this, I'm going to guess he wants to play for a winner. He's going to want to play where he's utilized, where they depend on him, and where he's got a chance to win games.

[Pat McAfee]

This guy's going to the Chiefs.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, no.

[Connor]

Oh, no. I can see it.

[Adam Schefter]

I, I, you said that. I didn't say that. I, I just think that he's going.

[Pat McAfee]

To want to go to a.

[Adam Schefter]

Well, there, there, there are, there are a lot of play. How about, I mean, we could go over any number.

[Pat McAfee]

Packers.

[Adam Schefter]

Yeah, how about the packers if you want to go back.

[Darius Butler]

How about Philly?

[Pat McAfee]

Hold on. Didn't they say something about him and Josh McDaniels?

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, they have a good rapport in New England. But if we're talking winners, you know, that wouldn't be like.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, got it. You just said that, not me.

[Darius Butler]

How many, how many games you win last year?

[Pat McAfee]

No, no, hey, listen, I agree, but.

[Adam Schefter]

But again, well, hold on. But New England, and I don't know this, but New England might be willing to pay him more than those other teams. New England's got over 100 million in cap space. So now do you want to make more in New England, if the Patriots are interested, or do you want to take less and go to a more certifiable. These are the decisions that every player, every player is going through. These are the decisions that every team is going through. And so you can't just apply a simple formula to this. These are complicated, nuanced, layered decisions.

[Pat McAfee]

Humans. Yeah, humans are making decisions about their lives, happiness, you know, are you choosing to check over the incredible opportunity? And if you choose to check over the opportunity, in like a year from now, are you going to regret doing that and maybe say, I'm out of here, get me out of here. I can't be doing this. I'm done with irrelevant football games. That happened out of Miami, obviously, with Tyreek Hill. As soon as he signs with Miami for the massive check, leaving the Chiefs, we all say, okay, he's going to take the bag. But then you don't win a couple years in a row, and it's like, I hate this. This is not what life is supposed to be like. So there's a lot of decisions that have to be made. We would all like to see devontae back in Primetime football. I think we would all agree. A lot of people are saying he and Aaron might be a Tanner. I don't know if that's true. I mean, especially if Devontae is able to get some payment. You talk about New England opportunity and compensation. That's what they have up there.

[Darius Butler]

That's what they got. And to your point, there was a report about McDaniels and that, you know, Devontae was very successful in his offense. And I'm sure Devonte sees what we all see. You know, Drake May's got a lot of Aaron Rodgers. Just something to think about if this.

[Pat McAfee]

Goes, how anything has gone over the last, like, five years. Devonte Adams got on the Kansas City Chiefs, and that is going to be a wild situation when it takes place. But no matter where he goes, we can't wait to see him playing ball again. Speaking of playing ball again, well, Miles can ever be back at Cleveland ties. A question for you.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, Shefty, what's going on there? Most recently, we've heard that he's basically said, hey, listen, I'm not negotiating at all. Like, I do not want to be a Cleveland Brown. Did you hear anything at the combine or otherwise that suggests possible trade partners? We know that the Lions kind of checked him at the deadline last year. He wants to go to a contender. Are there any teams that are popping up and are we any closer to Miles Garrett potentially getting moved?

[Adam Schefter]

This is the text I got last week. Okay. Miles is not open to discussing a contract extension with Cleveland.

[Pat McAfee]

He.

[Adam Schefter]

This has nothing to do with money. He wants to go win, and he wants to go to a place he feels he has a shot at doing that immediately. Now, the Browns feel just as strong, wrongly, that they're not trading Myles Garrett. So somebody here is going to have to give or we're going to have to see how this unfolds. I've always felt like this was a question of how. How dug in Myles Garrett is going to be. Because if he's dug in and he refuses to report back there and he makes it messy, then eventually, eventually he's going to get what he wants. But the process of getting there is going to be very tense and very complicated and very ugly. So I don't know how far he's willing to push it. It's one thing to say he's not willing to talk about an extension with Cleveland. He wants to go to a place that wins. It's March 4th. You can say that. Is he still saying the Same Thing on August 4th? If and when nothing's happening happened and I don't have the answer to that. Nobody does right now. So again, all you've known is that the Browns have been unwilling to budge the situation with Miles is he right now is not interested in talking about an extension. And I know we've got these questions and speculation about where Myles Garrett's going to wind up and that'll be interesting if Cleveland moves off it stands. But you know, I know Philly's been floated out there. I've had Eagles fans like, are we trading for Miles Garrett? Like, there are no absolutes at this time of the year. Anything is always possible. But I don't know how. Philadelphia, who is going to have to pay Cam Juergens and Jordan Davis from the class of 2022 and Jalen Carter and Nolan Swift in the class of 2023 and Quinn Mitchell and Cooper DeJean from the class of 24 and draft and resign some of its own players like they're going to want to bring back Zach on how are they finding the money, not to mention the compensation to go out and get Miles Garrett? Like, is that real? Yeah, look, I mean, I guess things always could happen.

[Pat McAfee]

How is it dog Howie has this ability, how he is. He's an absolute dog. Now granted, Andrew Barry is obviously going to be the one who's going to have to be on the other side of that conversation and maybe has them and everything like that. He's seemingly not moving, but as you've noted, that doesn't mean anything, especially with the history in the NFL. Miles Garrett getting out of that Vic Fangy over defense over there with all the changes that they make. I couldn't even fathom if how he's able to reload like that. But to the victors go the spoils and the downfalls going to have to pay. Everybody excited to see how they navigated. Chef D. We appreciate the hell out of you, man. Thank you so much for taking the time on this glorious franchise. Franchise tag deadline Tuesday Gentlemen, it was always a pleasure.

[Adam Schefter]

Have a great day and enjoy OSA A Digazoa tomorrow.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you for making that happen for us. Ladies and gentlemen, Adam Schefter. So fresh out of a $80 million extension. Osa Odegazua will be joining us tomorrow at 12:15. Can't wait to get his thoughts because to be clear, did not know a lot about him.

[AJ Hawk]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah know I think I remember his name during games whenever he'd make a big time play. But it was never the talking point of the Dallas Cowboys he just got broken off. I mean big time deal. Good for him. D tackle getting that type of money. Good news for him.

[Connor]

Yeah, a lot of those guys do the dirty work. You don't really know them. They don't really make the headlines. The guy, the edge, guys like Michael Parsons obviously Tron Diggs even overshone when he was doing at linebacker last year. But this is the guy that does the dirty work. Glad he got his money.

[Pat McAfee]

I am certainly in agreement with that. Rich I and broke some rumors that he had heard from the combine. He said these are not facts. These are just things that I have heard around the combine. Rich Eisen talks to everybody at the combine plugged in and there's a lot of convos at the combine. Now what the convo is at the combine doesn't necessarily mean what it's going to be whenever free agency comes. Doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be what draft is. But he's getting a chance to hear from a lot of people what is currently happening. Not necessarily the end game but what is currently happening. This is what he has to say about the Giants. I heard heard the Giants and Raiders interest in Matthew Stafford was quite real and it was hairy at at certain junctures last week. And I heard the Giants hit the number and they hit the number for Stafford and they not only hit the number for Stafford. I heard this again from multiple people. I heard he hit the number for Stafford and they hit the trade comp too. They were in and I heard the Raiders were way in too on Stafford and Stafford had a real. The Giants even you know they hired his brother in law Chad hall on the coaching staff. Oh who and so they really made a run. So Giants hit the trade comp. They hit it hit the number which, which was reported 90 to 100 million G. Whatever. Whatever it, whatever it was. I don't know what it was. I heard they hit it. Why didn't the deal get done? Because I think at the end of the day the Staffords like looking at sun setting over the Pacific Ocean and it's. Well, you know, when it all comes down to it, it is the best spot for him. Yeah. So he said that the Giants were all in and meeting the trade comp, meeting the number which allegedly potentially nine figures in this entire thing at this stage of Matthew Stafford's career. Rapaport during the combine came out and said that he took a lot less money to stay with the Rams. McVeigh yesterday said whenever this comes out, you'll see how incredibly Selfless. This was of Matthew Stafford with the deal. So I think him being able to kind of hear the options and the opportunities and where he would have to go to get these things was certainly a good thing that the Rams let him do. That's a good football. Gods will bless the Rams, I think, with that. But inevitably, in the end, Matthew Stafford, McVeigh, Tyler, I assume Les Sneed gets in there as well. They lay out the plan going forward. Maybe air some grievances. Sure. Maybe air some grievances on how things have gone and they get to a point where Matthew Stafford is returning. In the middle of that, you decided to interrupt and you said that these teams suck, which is potentially why Matthew Stafford didn't want. I think that is also a massive piece of it.

[Connor]

Yeah. I mean, yeah. When you're going to a quarterback at his age, what he's already accomplished, you're going to different franchises, franchises that you would think are a little further away from winning than you are in la. A lot of us expected LA to win three, four games this past season. What they had, they obviously knew what they had. We saw Sean McVay yesterday and just talking to him for however long that was, you can sell the electricity and what he brings that building day in and day out. And I feel like this is right. This is only right. This is the right place for Matt Stafford to finish his career. Had a long, loyal run in Detroit and I think this is the right place to go and go and finish it however he sees fit. Still a team that, that can be right there in it. We saw how dominant that Philadelphia Eagles run was last year, but this was a team that was a few plays away. So it's the right place, I think, for nine to finish his career.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

And you mentioning, you know, when it comes out his contract, how generous he's going to look and how awesome it is. Could you imagine devonte going over there? We're talking about teams that he could possibly play for and, you know, have maybe go play a little team.

[Pat McAfee]

They said the West. West coast is going to be a real part of devonte's decision making process.

[Darius Butler]

Because of his family. That was the whole thing with the Raiders. When he, you know, fan of the Raiders growing up and his family's out there, they can go see his games like the rams. Him with McVeigh and Puka, Nakua and Kyron Williams. You talk about just winning immediately. That would be incredible.

[Pat McAfee]

Him going into a McVeigh offense would be fun to watch. There's.

[Ty Schmidt]

There's another west coast team that needs a wide out, too.

[Pat McAfee]

Go on.

[Ty Schmidt]

Same exact city I was because I when I saw that rap report about West Coast, I immediately pulled it up. And Chargers and Rams both. Both need wide receivers. They're both on the West Coast. They both can win, especially with great quarterbacks. Those are places Devonte would probably love.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, especially. I mean, maybe the Chargers go this year.

[Connor]

Maybe.

[Pat McAfee]

Did you watch Harbaugh and Hortes on the program?

[Connor]

Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

You love the Chargers since the day they got Justin Herbert. What did you learn from that conversation? What I learned is they got a culture already in place and they're going.

[Connor]

To go y. I love the in. Obviously we only get to see business pieces, but even the relationship dynamic between those two, like hearing when I forgot who asked about Khalil Mack, it's like, hey, pay him. Pay the man. Like he's even the guys that aren't necessarily under contract right now, you can tell what those guys mean to that culture. We always say culture, culture, culture. Jim Harbaugh has shown he's a culture guy. He can build winners, you know, the way he builds them. He's going to build his team through draft, through the free agency, is going to bring the right guys in. We've been around the weight. We met everybody from the weight room, from the staff. Just the vibes in that building. You feel like that's an organization going in the right direction and you always have to have a guy at quarterback. And I think they have the guy with Herbert.

[Pat McAfee]

How about the Rams, too? One play away from beating the Philadelphia Eagles. We beat the hell out of everybody. It's like they're on the cusp of potentially going. There's a lot of teams that are close. I think whenever we look back, maybe we forget about because they didn't play in the playoffs or they didn't play late. So we forget all about it. It's the NBA playoff effect. If you're not in the NBA playoffs, nobody knows you even had a season. I mean, because it's so long you're in there. It's happening with college ball, too. For me, if you. If you didn't like Jackson dart, we hadn't seen him play football in forever. Yeah, we saw a lot of people play football. Then you watch these highlights, you're like, dude's a dog. Nasty. Dude's an absolute dog. You kind of forget about him. Same thing in the NFL with some of these teams. I think we just rule everybody out is that team stunk that he didn't make the playoffs. And it's like there's a lot of organizations that are sitting there like we were four plays away from like really making it. We're playing every year.

[Rich Eisen]

Every year that's the case where there's so many, not so many, but there's a handful of teams that lost so many one score games or three or six point losses where yeah, for whatever reason they just couldn't find a way to, to get over the hump there. So I don't know, you don't know why I'm on the one shot right now if that's actually what's going out. But I think there's a lot of teams like that.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, that's good self awareness. These guys produce intelligence. Television wise out there chit chatting about a situation yet it's an interesting time right now for our program. You know, like at this exact moment right now, just sitting and waiting on a text message we got. If I could put that eyeball emoji out, I would put that eyeball emoji out. Hey, something's coming.

[Darius Butler]

Holy.

[Pat McAfee]

Anytime you see me put the eyeball emoji out, it's me saying I know what's about to come out. And I've decided not to dive into the insider world and let everybody know.

[Connor]

Oh, come on.

[Pat McAfee]

This one is March 4th. Eyes you could. Eyes emoji. And we are gonna be the ones, I think that are gonna let the. The cat out of the bag. I do believe on a rather large, rather large piece of news.

[Connor]

I mean, be careful getting into this world now.

[Pat McAfee]

I know. You know what, Everybody hates me already. So dance with the dragon. Yeah, I don't want to get into the insider work because you piss people off. And it's like I already have enough people saying terrible things about me, so forget it. Maybe I do get in the insider world. Good luck, Starbucks stare down guys.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

There might be a new pecking order in this entire game, but it is, it is certainly an honor to potentially do that type of thing. Gotta earn up a lot of trust with people. I think in this particular case we have. And now we just sit and wait for a text.

[Connor]

Big fish.

[Pat McAfee]

Big. Yeah, that's a big piece.

[Darius Butler]

Maybe just do it.

[Pat McAfee]

This is a big.

[Rich Eisen]

What position?

[Darius Butler]

Don't worry about it.

[Pat McAfee]

Don't worry about it. We've held onto this for a little bit now, so, you know, it's been squeaky clean. What was that thing you wanted to talk about? Tone in the ball cap? It was something about. There's something that happened about Something the NFL world. Remember, it was a big deal on this franchise tag day with those free agents.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, it was. It was a big deal. I was just talking about the free agents in general and how great this classes. There's a ton of D backs we talked about earlier. That's a huge part of this one. And it's kind of like there's not a lot of. I mean, there's D backs obviously in the draft, but it's not a deep D backs one. So the free agency D backs could be heavy, especially, you know, the same with the wide receivers, but probably not for like running backs because those are D tackles because those are heavy in the draft. But there's a lot. Still a lot of huge names out there. And now that devonte's on that, like Chefty said that there was tears for wide receivers. But like, when I look at the wide receivers, receivers. Godwin's coming off an injury, so maybe him one A Stefan Diggs coming off an injury and Mari Cooper, you know, coming off of.

[AJ Hawk]

A bit long in the tooth.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, a bit long of a tooth. Something weird happened there in Buffalo where he didn't get a ton of production. But Devonte is definitely, I think in my eyes, 1A as far as wide receiver free agency goes.

[Connor]

A healthy Diggs. Healthy, motivated. Stefan Diggs obviously out there playing for some money and then not even Hollywood bro Brown. You know, I think he brings a level of explosive injury too, to an offense for sure. Yeah, he got, you know, later on in Milt Williams on the other side of the ball and the trenches. These guys just dominate the Super Bowl. So he played his best ball at the right time.

[Pat McAfee]

It's a magical time around the NFL and obviously we'll continue to chat about it on ESPN plus Disney plus YouTube and tick tock Live. There's. Yeah, something. Something's cooking right now and it'll certainly be coming. Coming in a. A few moments. I believe this clock is completely off. Shout out to Bruce Brown. We'll be back tomorrow here on ESPN. We'll see you then. I think we're actually on ESPN2 right now.

[Shams Charania]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

For today, Mets are playing ball.

[Pat McAfee]

I think it's all Soto playing. I think it's all week. We are.

[Rich Eisen]

When's opening day?

[Pat McAfee]

I think Friday. Espn end of March.

[AJ Hawk]

Three weeks.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I think Friday were ESPN news.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, really?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I think they a Yoli diner. But with that being said, it doesn't matter because the digital audience is the only one that matters.

[Darius Butler]

Don't say that.

[Pat McAfee]

Don't say that Josh Pate, my dude, pointing out the obvious and all the things that I've been wanting to say for years. Josh Pate is saying, so we appreciate you, brother. Yeah, we do appreciate you. It's amazing how that works though, isn't it, Josh? All these TV people say, yeah, the Internet people are a bunch of hack, blah, blah, blah. And then they go to the Internet and goodbye, you vanish. Poof. Gone. And then the other thing digital people add into that and it seems to go, okay, why is that? Huh? I wonder why that is. Which one's more difficult? Well, the people that are on digital, they have to find you. They have to get to you. Which is why we're so damn thankful for all of you. Because you have to open an app or you have to search into an app. You have to go to a platform, you have to dive in to get to us. And to be honest, it never made sense. Sense to any of us why you guys do that for us. We understand we're the dumbest show of all time, but the fact that you do it, we're incredibly thankful for. In this big night out that's happening relatively soon, with a date being announced here in a few days and then ticket sales to be following in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It's a massive give back too, as a thank you to everybody. You know, and I think it's going to be a magical evening. I think it's going to be a magical night in. In Pittsburgh. And AJ I will give away one of the surprises because there is huge surprises throughout the night. Okay. That and friends thing is certain. We're exploring the space of friends. Okay. We are exploring the space of and friends. AJ Hawk will be a part of the show. Wow.

[Darius Butler]

Let's go.

[Pat McAfee]

Thank you.

[Rich Eisen]

What about magician Michael Malone?

[Pat McAfee]

We will not be having a guy that ate nails on this. Come on.

[AJ Hawk]

Tough to book.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. And also our people have already seen them. Our people have already seen that trick. We don't need. You know, I want this to be. I want this to be exciting. So AJ will be a part of the program. Consider that a little. And guess who else?

[AJ Hawk]

Who?

[Darius Butler]

Who?

[Pat McAfee]

Darius Day Baller.

[Darius Butler]

Oh, okay.

[Connor]

Can't wait.

[Pat McAfee]

The bunch gonna be there. It's gonna be a big one. It is not going to be our program. Just as a heads up, it is not live show. It's not this show. It will be a live show. Correct. But it's not this show. Show.

[AJ Hawk]

Live show.

[Pat McAfee]

Humans from this show on show, but not this. It's a show that's never been Done before. The more I've looked into it. I don't think so.

[Shams Charania]

Ever.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't think so.

[Rich Eisen]

You heard some like nitro circus maybe like that?

[Pat McAfee]

Sure. I. I mean, maybe we'll get a dirt bike in there doing a backflip. I'm not 100 sure. Maybe get a. There's a chance. DBOT heard it for the first time this morning. I believe you heard the entirety the show this morning for the first time and your thoughts is never been done before.

[Connor]

Never been done. Not even close. Should be unprecedented.

[Pat McAfee]

Should be pretty good though.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Should be pretty electrifying. Happy it's happening in Pittsburgh. Shot to the insers and for the surrounding area. Ah, jeez Louise.

[AJ Hawk]

Kicking the tires a bit.

[Rich Eisen]

Wait on confirmation.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, buddy.

[Darius Butler]

It always goes.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, buddy. Just got. Oh, yeah.

[Connor]

Oh, you'll make that. You would have had to just say fire.

[AJ Hawk]

Fire from the hip.

[Ty Schmidt]

No, because you got to get. You know.

[Pat McAfee]

Whenever this comes, everybody's gonna be like, it makes sense that they're sitting here instead of going to the bathroom, which he clearly has to piss. Look at him moving around right now. I certainly do. I've been hydrating the. Out of myself. I think, you know, I'm trying to get healthier as I continue grow on. That was one of the conversations I had with myself during the break. I said, listen, got a daughter, dude. Let's live.

[Ty Schmidt]

Bingo.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's survive.

[Rich Eisen]

You are healthy, though.

[Pat McAfee]

Not as much as I could be. You know, what do you got?

[Rich Eisen]

You got to carry a tone. You got to carry the metal jug around like tone wants to do.

[Pat McAfee]

Won't do that. But I do respect those who do because they're. They care more than anybody else. With that being said, shout out to one half a hammer ball cap, boys. AP Tone. No cowboy hat.

[AJ Hawk]

Wow.

[Darius Butler]

Good ride.

[Ty Schmidt]

Tony walked into Hammer downtown as I do every single day to grab my cowboy hat. And I looked at and I said, I don't think you deserve to wear that today. So I didn't.

[Pat McAfee]

Why? What happened to you? Did you do something? Did you.

[Ty Schmidt]

I just didn't feel it.

[Pat McAfee]

What did you do, buddy? What was the guilt that you were feeling about a cowboy? I don't feel yourself.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's not something I am capable of.

[Pat McAfee]

Good.

[Rich Eisen]

That's good.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

So it has nothing to do with. I think it's cuz I probably. I don't think I've been watching. I haven't watched a cowboy show or movie in a long time. So I just didn't feel it. Feel it in my bones.

[Darius Butler]

You can feel it. Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

You can wear it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Chase it. Yeah, for sure. He. He decided to chase the ball cap.

[Ty Schmidt]

Today, but, you know, it's. It's winter, so I haven't listened to country music in. In a while either. So it's just, you know, it's kind of.

[AJ Hawk]

Lettuce is phenomenal these days.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. When are we going to finally just do no cap? One half of the hammer? No cap, boys. When's that going to happen?

[Ty Schmidt]

Probably soon. Soon.

[Darius Butler]

Keep capping.

[Ty Schmidt]

I'm getting older. You know, I looked at mahomes on the hardwood the other day, and I said he cut his hair. You know, what am I doing?

[Pat McAfee]

I'm not.

[Ty Schmidt]

It's not Halloween. I'm parading around in a cowboy hat all the time.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, no, you're starting.

[Darius Butler]

Wait, wait.

[Pat McAfee]

We knew this time was inevitable.

[Darius Butler]

Halloween, You're a cowboy.

[Pat McAfee]

We knew that this was gonna come. This has been since COVID brother.

[Ty Schmidt]

Been like four or five years since I've been on a ranch. I've been busy. I haven't done light ranching in a couple years at least.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, maybe 30.

[Ty Schmidt]

What?

[AJ Hawk]

What?

[Pat McAfee]

35 years. So you're no longer a cowboy. Is that what I am? I am. I am.

[Ty Schmidt]

Felt like today.

[Darius Butler]

Massacre week.

[Connor]

Just a day.

[Pat McAfee]

Today. Yeah. Cowboy tone is dead, brother.

[Connor]

Oh, no.

[Pat McAfee]

Absolutely.

[Ty Schmidt]

I know what he asked.

[Pat McAfee]

And it is a necessity. Oh, dead. In this particular case, it is that the hammer died. Cowboys will ride no more. Wow.

[Ty Schmidt]

Wow.

[Darius Butler]

Just a hammer. Down, boy.

[Ty Schmidt]

I didn't know this was going to happen today.

[Pat McAfee]

Moment of silence. You got Covid. You went into your Covid cave. In between bouts of shaking and trembles and being incredibly hot and being incredibly cold and being wildly sick. Something that none of us has ever really seen before. In 15 minute intervals, seemingly. Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Shiting your pants. Pants.

[Pat McAfee]

Perfectly scheduled.

[Ty Schmidt]

I didn't have that one, man.

[Pat McAfee]

You had to isolate yourself from your entire family. And while you were awake, you said it. I'm going to dive through this sports book more than I've ever done before. Coming out of there, you became the best gambler you have ever been. Thank you. So the COVID cowboy became a superstar gambler, which actually started Hammer every single day now, although hammer d, we'll still ride the cowboys. Seemingly no more. What an era. What a run. It was one of the good things that came from COVID Yeah. And now it's dead. God bless the cowboy.

[Connor]

Hey, man, I'm bummed that.

[Pat McAfee]

Me too.

[Darius Butler]

I'm bummed that.

[Rich Eisen]

Hey, Bill.

[Pat McAfee]

Bailey. McComas did just come in and take a photo of the moment of silence for the cowboy hat.

[Connor]

Had to capture moment I.

[Pat McAfee]

This is a big moment. This is a big moment in the history of our program.

[AJ Hawk]

Huge.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm happy that Bill got that. Thank you, Bill. That's what AJ Was saying. Your head popped into the bottom half of the. And then your traps. He's working out with his bodybuilders. Yeah.

[Rich Eisen]

So jacked.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, we should have went to the bathroom and came back with this. Still just sitting here staring at. Not even a typing thing. Yeah, not even a typing thing.

[Darius Butler]

Probably still can. These things. These things tend to linger.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

And they talk.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm say, hey, hey, I'm about to piss my pants.

[Darius Butler]

Can we piss?

[Rich Eisen]

Oh, in that case, yes, you can confirm.

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, I've been on three phone calls today during the show. I don't think a lot of people understand.

[Darius Butler]

That's big news. That's when you know.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, Walk away, boys. Need you to ask an extendo question here. Maybe a friend followup in this entire thing. I'm on a damn. I think we're close. Okay.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, I heard that before.

[Rich Eisen]

Typing bubbles.

[Pat McAfee]

Actual message saying soon.

[AJ Hawk]

We're going to hold the line.

[Darius Butler]

Soon is relative.

[Pat McAfee]

Soon means very soon.

[Darius Butler]

10 minutes is like you said.

[Ty Schmidt]

Can I go LP vocal?

[Darius Butler]

What?

[Rich Eisen]

He's getting out. He's getting out.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

You would know.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what you think we're holding up the show for. That's your problem.

[Rich Eisen]

I didn't know you.

[Pat McAfee]

You should have. That's something you should have known as not something you would hold up a show for. But that being said, I do think he's getting out at some point.

[Darius Butler]

Makes on franchise tag something else.

[Ty Schmidt]

He was getting fired squad in South Carolina.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah. South Carolina is bringing back death by firing squad for the death penalty. 15 years. Three guys are going in. They're going to have rifles about 15ft away and they're all going to have live ammunition.

[Connor]

Only three?

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah. Which is disappointing. And I thought.

[Rich Eisen]

I thought for one.

[AJ Hawk]

No. Well, that's what they used to do. But they're saying n. We're not doing that anymore. So they're all going to give the guy, you know.

[Pat McAfee]

And now they don't know whose bullet did the killing. So nobody has any guilt.

[AJ Hawk]

Exactly.

[Pat McAfee]

All. Probably all.

[Darius Butler]

Full lead.

[AJ Hawk]

They also have a. A doctor on staff to come in and confirm. Yep, he's dead.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. We take a break. We'll be back in about five with some breaking news. Okay. Okay. Big breaking news. I Didn't know that was coming back in 20, 25.

[AJ Hawk]

Me neither.

[Pat McAfee]

Pun.

[Rich Eisen]

They're not Ms. Dude strapped in 10ft away. You better not miss.

[AJ Hawk]

I don't.

[Pat McAfee]

Did you see. I think I saw something where a guy got scare him a bit and he didn't die.

[AJ Hawk]

Lethal injection.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh yeah.

[Rich Eisen]

That happens a lot for like 40 minutes or something. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

No Gerard at all. Pull it out. Went back into death row and they were like, do I get to go now? I thought that was kind of how it that's kind of going. They go, nah, three more months, we're going to do it again. Don't worry.

[AJ Hawk]

We're going to hire someone to slit your throat tonight in the mess hall.

[Pat McAfee]

Don't worry.

[Darius Butler]

Don't worry.

[Pat McAfee]

Death row. I don't believe. Hablas espanol.

[Connor]

Spiest du dzoich com du nosch.

[Pat McAfee]

If you've heard that sound from Babbel before, I bet you do. Babbel is the science backed language learning app that actually works with quick 10 minute lessons. Handcrafted by over 200 language experts. Babbel gets you on your way to speaking a new language in just a few weeks with over 16 million subscriptions sold and a 20 day money back guarantee. Just start speaking another language language with Babel right now. Up to 55 off your Babel subscription at babel.com Spotify podcast spelled B A B-B-E-L.com Spotify podcast rules and restrictions may apply. Are awesome. We're lucky to cover them. That's A.J. hawk. The toxic tables here at Boston Connor and that Ty Schmidt. One half of the hammer died. Ball cap boys. AP Tony's here. Nine year NFL vet Darius J. Butler. You look fantastic. D Butch. All right, it is a great Tuesday because obviously the franchise tag deadline is in an hour and 49 minutes. Will any other teams put the franchise tags on their players? We shall wait and see. What we do know is our source says have told us that the super bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles have signed Saquon Barkley to a two year extension averaging over 20 million per year, 36 million guaranteed at signing with 15 million more available in incentives. Obviously nobody had this in their bingo cards. Nobody had a clue if Saquon Barkley was going to sign an extension. They thought he took less money to go to Philadelphia and that thing was always settled. Instead, Howie in money team Ed, who represents Saquon Barkley decided to get together, do what was right for the most electric, the most dominant, the most powerful player in the NFL this year behind A great offensive line, a historic run to a Super bowl champion and add two more years at money that has never been seen before at the running back position. Now I have more information on this entire thing regarding an extension for running back. One year in on a three plus year free agency deal. Never been done before. Not even in the second second league year has it happened for a running back. This is happening in the same league year. How he wanted to make it right for Saquon for everything he did for the Philadelphia Eagles team. This is the largest fully guarantee for a running back in NFL history. It's the highest two year cash for a running back in NFL history. It's the highest three year cash running back in NFL history, max average per year possible if all the incentives are hit.25.85 million per year. Congratulations to Saquon Barkley and the Philadelphia Eagles for getting a historic legendary one of one deal done for a one of one running back who put the team on his back. Doe. What a deal, what a time, what a run by Saquon from whenever we saw in Hard Knocks offseason, Joe Shane saying I don't think we'll be able to pay that amount of money with how much we're paying our quarterback and everything like that. The Eagles have a 50 plus million dollar quarterback on the roster and now a 20 million plus running back on the roster while having A.J. brown, DeVonta Smith, the best offensive line in football and a tight end. Goddard who's tougher than you are. Howie has continued to somehow do these magic tricks to stack a roster on the defensive side. They're going to have to make some plays, they're going to have have to add some people. Bradbury gone. Darius Slade gone. Zach Bond, potential free agent. What will they do there? We assume they'll figure it out because that's what they've done. Nick Sirianni, Big Dom Halle and the entire squad over there, Bradley Cooper included, keep Saquon Barkley and his powerful football team together for at least another two years on top of the deal they signed. Congrats to all parties AJ It's a big deal and I think it's a good olive branch from the Philadelphia Eagles to reward a player that has done so many amazing things for them in such a short time.

[Rich Eisen]

Yeah, I mean credit to the Eagles and getting this done. 36 million guaranteed at signing, that's gigantic, especially for the running back position. And yeah, the fact that they did this when they absolutely did not need to, they didn't have to. This is Like a. In good faith, like, hey, you. You paid us back. And it's so much by the trade that we made to bring you in here and what you brought to this team in this city. I think this is awesome. We don't see this happen very often. Like you said, Saquon is one of one. This kind of deal does very, like, never happens actually in this kind of setting. So, yeah, this is awesome, man. Like, why?

[Pat McAfee]

I guess, why not?

[Rich Eisen]

If you have the cab space and you can make it work, why wouldn't you do this? This energizes your whole team.

[Pat McAfee]

Now remember, Saquon took less money to go to the Philadelphia Eagles than he could have got in numerous other places because of how much he appreciated the culture, the area and the offensive line. Being able to keep him around, obviously how he knew was like, this is good, but also keeping him happy, Happy. Like, hey, let's let our star know that we love them here and let's reward them for the year that they had. And we won a Super bowl with this guy. Let's run it back. D. But I love this move by the Eagles.

[Connor]

This is awesome. This is great. Howie kind of always catches us by surprise. Nobody expected this to happen. You said first time ever, going to re up after the first year. And he took. He took less initially. And it's kind of like everything you've seen Saquon do, I guess even in front of the camera, we don't see it all. But like the game where he didn't go back in to finish his single game rushing record or whatever it was the single season record, rushing record set out that last game, didn't chase that, but got the ultimate goal, went and got the super bowl. And now this is the team in the organization not doing, you know, good by their player, doing great by him. Something we've never seen before. Coming off offensive player of the year performance where he could have very well been the mvp. I love to see this, not only for Saquon and the Eagles, but for that running back back position. We've been talking about the position coming back and once you get that money, you reset that market with sake. Not a bunch of Saquons out there, obviously, but you reset that market. So, you know these big workhorses will start getting their money again.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, it's awesome for some of the younger guys and it didn't change the running back position, but it feels like it almost like redefined what you need to have. Like you need to be able to catch the ball out of the Backfield, you obviously need to be able to, you know, take the ball 60 plus yards. When you have that space and their own line, it is the best in the league. So it's a huge, you know, credit to them, too. But if you're Jameer Gibbs, if you're, you know, Bijan Robinson, if you're even like a Kyron Williams for the Rams, you know, at least now you kind of know, like, okay, there is this new market available for us and those older guys, it kind of stinks. And it feels like even for, like, Derrick Henry, you would think maybe Derrick Henry could get a new deal from this. But even him, he doesn't do what Saquon does when it comes to, you know, the effectiveness in the past game and stuff. They use Justice Hill a little more often than, you know, any of the other running backs like the Eagles get. But it's great for the running back position because that's been a huge storyline the last few years.

[Pat McAfee]

How many mil do you think they added on for the jump over backwards thingy he did?

[Connor]

Oh, that was at least 30, at least three.

[Pat McAfee]

They're probably. Yeah, they're probably at like 17 million a year. And they were like, but the check this, you know, the. There it is. You see it. He did debt, so let's make sure we reward that. And they're like, you're right, that's at least three a year. And then with the incentives, up to 25 potentially per year. What a deal. Shout out to money team Ed. Yeah, hey, shout out to Ed. Getting that deal done. I mean, that is a wonderful job. Especially, you know, you talk about everything. The Eagles did not have to do this at all.

[Rich Eisen]

At all.

[Pat McAfee]

Nobody would have really been able to grandstand about it either. Like, hey, you got to take care of Saquon. You got to take two years left on this entire deal. Like, he just got there. Like, they had massive success. Nobody would have been petitioning against the Eagles for not resigning or giving Saquon Barkley more money. Like, if Saquon would have came out, which he allegedly would never do, with the human that Saquon is, the way he operates and the way he's beloved in that locker room. But if Saquon was to come out in every single interview and be like, I need more money, money, I need more money, I think Eagles fans would, like, be like, yeah, definitely. See also, you got a couple years left in this entire thing. What's the precedent? How are we going to do this? So I don't know how, like, Many people would have been like, yeah, give him more money with how this worked out. So them just being like, we got to take care of our guy. We got to make sure he knows how much we value him. We got to make sure he understands that we believe in everything that he's about. It's. That's a beautiful thing to watch.

[Rich Eisen]

Sends a message to the rest of the team, though. Think about it. Sends a message to the team to too. Hey, if you come here and you do, like, you're unbelievable and you're, you know, we don't see all the behind the scenes stuff. We just know what we hear and how the guy is just, you know, the, the absolute pro at all times and unbelievable for his teammates. But it shows you, like, hey, we take care of our dudes. Even though, yeah, we didn't draft Saquon, we traded for him. He comes in and we take care of him. And I wonder who instigated, who started this? Like, did Ed come to. To the Eagles money? Ed Barry come in there and say, hey, now we need some more cash, or did they come to him? Like, that's. How did this even start?

[Pat McAfee]

I genuinely have no idea. I wonder if there was a conversation that was had that was like, hey, don't you think by either side? And it's like, yeah, actually we should.

[Rich Eisen]

That does make sense.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Yeah, we should. And that's take care of this guy. That's the type of culture I think they're trying to build over there too. Right. Like, Sirianni talks about how much bonding and love and everything, because there is going to be adversity, especially in Philadelphia. Okay. There's going to be adversity in Philadelphia. Their fans are going to bring you some adversity. Whether or not there is adversity. I mean, they're winning games last year and people are calling for heads. They changed their style of offense. There are two wide receivers who have been paid who are number one wide receivers on their own. Had less pass attempts than rushing attempts for the entire offense and they still kept everybody on board. It's like that culture over there, that building is in a very good spot, fresh off of the super bowl, lose a couple key pieces, but this is what happens whenever you're successful. They keep Saquon. I assume they're going to be able to keep that offensive line and if you got that, you can win any game. And I assume that's what they know over there.

[AJ Hawk]

Well, it seems like this would be something that was mutual because obviously when they acquired Saquon like, if he stays healthy and he does all the things that you think he can do, you know, he's going to have an unbelievable season. But I would even imagine that, like, what he did this year surpassed their wildest expectations. I don't think you assume a guy's going to rush for 2,000 yards and for him, too, to realize, like, hey, I'm from this area. Growing up, I went to Penn State, like, this is where I want to be for, you know, as long as I can be. So, yeah, if it's a little bit more money here, why not? And for them to know, like, the Eagles probably don't win the super bowl if they don't have Saquon Barkley.

[Pat McAfee]

Not probably.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, that's. Well, right. You just, you know, I'm not trying to talk in absolutes here, but yeah, like, absolutely. If they don't have Saquon Barkley, they're not winning the Super Bowl. So it makes sense. Like, let's not carry this thing out and drag it out longer than it needs to be. Let's make sure he's happy and get things done. Like you said for Howie, like, you can do this kind of stuff when you have a bunch of rookies and young guys who are immediate impact players on your offense and defense and, you know, and you get a guy like Zach Bond who you paid for pennies, and then he has the season like he has. So it's just tremendous all around for the Eagles.

[Ty Schmidt]

And we talk, when we talk about it being a mutual deal situation, there is a chance, because sometimes when players get these extensions that the cap it for this year could actually be better than what it was going to be on his current contract. And they, they do have a ton of people to pay. So it, as far as it being mutual, it could be a situation like that, too, where his cap hit is actually better this season. Even though he's getting more money, he's getting an extension, he's getting more guaranteed money, but it works out for the team and the player.

[Pat McAfee]

Go ahead, A.J.

[Rich Eisen]

No, I mean, I think that when you can spread it out and give a guy a deal, it'll free you up cap space, like right now in the moment. So I'm sure, yeah, it worked out for everybody. We get to take care of this guy that has done so much for this organization the short time he has been here, and it might free us up a little bit in cap space. Even though we are making this guy the highest paid running back of all time.

[Pat McAfee]

I bet you big Dom was the one that said we need to do it.

[Connor]

Probably definitely has something to do with it. But even with. Because we were talking about it with the Niners, you know, having to move these pieces around because you have to pay your quarterback like how he paid Jalen hurts, but his cat hit is like super low. Like he's, you know, making 51 a year. But his cap hit is to the point where they can have all this flexibility where people are still talking about, hey, they may be in the Miles Garrett, you know, ballpark, and making that work somehow, some way. And this is one thing to talk about it. AJ Talked about this deal. Doing this at this point sends a message to the locker room is one way, one thing to talk about it. But we all know a business like the money is how you show your respect, especially in that locker room, especially at that position, when you are taking that risk to give that money to a running back position. We look, we looked at it a few weeks ago. All the guys on the Eagles roster who's already been paid where there's O line, the guys on the D line, secondary all up and down that roster, guys have gotten fair, good contracts up front. So once again, another great move from Howard.

[Pat McAfee]

I Wonder, you know, McVeigh says, I want to see as opposed to here or something like that. I can see how you feel a lot different than he. How you feel or something. Like, I forget his exact quote, what it was. It's like to your point, it's like, yeah, we love you, we love you. We love you here. And then actually being like, nah. Yeah, like, hey, we're like, very grateful for you, man. Thank you for what you did. That's not to say Quan would ever not be all in, but I'm just saying the amount of buy in that you have from Stars now. Jalen, super bowl champion paid all in. Saquon super bowl champion paid all in. It's like having your guys be all in is good news for the offseason season. Going into training camp, just the ease of the mind, taking distractions out of the way because there's always going to be them. And I love the move. Taking care of their guy, taking care of their guy.

[Rich Eisen]

Make it'll make you want to prove them right. Like, we know, like athletes, you're driven by proving people wrong. Like, all right, I hate this person. They slide to me, I chip on my shoulder. Like, there's a ton of motivation in that, but there's also motivation in trying to prove people right. Like, hey, these people believe in me. Like these front office, they didn't have to do this. And I think that trickles down through everybody in the roster like you. If you feel like they like it's a, it's a true partnership and they appreciate you.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Rich Eisen]

You want to do whatever it takes to prove them right.

[Pat McAfee]

Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who spends all of his time on espn and even when he's on espn, he says he's not going to spend all of his time on espn. Then he comes back to being on espn, which is good news for all of us. Ladies and gentlemen, former NFL quarterback, now expert on everything football on espn, Dana La Dano. Obviously you know the Johns well. Your wife I believe from Philadelphia. You pay close attention to the Eagles because of that. You've said some things throughout the year about the Eagles. You weren't the only one. A lot of people have said these things. But this deal that Halle and Saquon were able to get done through money team Ed Barry, I love it. Not only like is it historic amongst running backs and everything like that, but just there was no need for it. And for the Eagles to say we want to take care of our guy, I think that's good precedent to set with the football gods.

[Shams Charania]

Dano, this just happened.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I just broke it, Bob.

[Shams Charania]

So 20, so we got a two year extension for what, 40, 40.1 or something.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but with incentives, incentives included, it could go up to 25.85 million per year if he hits all incentives, which I assume is everything he did this past season.

[Shams Charania]

Howie Roseman, God bless.

[Pat McAfee]

Isn't it two years left. Two years left on a deal. Could have just waited it out. Nobody would be petitioning for Saquon. Instead get a deal done the offseason here now we got no question marks on who our studs are.

[Shams Charania]

Do I also think, I think Philadelphia for years, I mean I remember going back, I think like 10 years, they were always. Or one of the teams that, that was always paying guys a year early. Like so often teams wait till and places wait till the person's contract up or a player's contract is up and it's to like the very end of it. And I remember, I thought they did it maybe with like Fletcher Cox and Lane Johnson where they just choose to pay. Hey, we drafted you, you're in your second year. We're just going to extend you because you, we know you're a good player and whatnot. So Philadelphia, that means right now it's the best roster roster in football. Clearly. And it certainly seems like they've added it, but it's. It's awesome to see. It's one of the reasons why it seems like those people love playing there is how he does take care of them. And so that's big time for them.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I agree. They'll continue to stay committed to the run game. I think they had 715 rushes, 515 passes last season. It was like they clearly committed to the one over the other, kept everybody happy. Happy. And won a Super bowl, which means other teams are going to try to do the same exact thing. So not only trailblazing in this entire thing, they're also taking care of their guys that are doing it all good for the Eagles, man. Go for Philadelphia. Yeah. Hey, that's the city of brotherly love. That's right. I see brotherly love right there.

[Shams Charania]

No doubt the amount of the runs that happened. I remember I texted Kellen, I think some point, maybe late September, early, what.

[Pat McAfee]

You say, hey, I'm trying to get Sirianni fired for you to become the head coach. Coach.

[Shams Charania]

And I said, okay. I don't know exactly how the. The conversation was started or whatnot.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so probably like that. Got it, got it, got it. Okay, go ahead.

[Shams Charania]

I honestly think that we can break the amount, like, the rushing attempts record. That was like the mindset flipped for them at some point. Late September. Maybe it was after the buy and hold the whole stories of the offensive line going to him, but he. I remember him telling him, like, we. We honestly might try and break the rushing attempt record.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay, so congrats to the Eagles. Everybody's going to try to catch them, especially in this, you know, draft season, free agency season, franchise tag season. They're at the top of the mountain. Everybody's trying to catch up. Before we talk about everything happening in the football world, let's talk about you for a second. What was all that about?

[Connor]

Welcome back.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah. You all right? Thought you were dying.

[Pat McAfee]

It was like you were gone for forever, and then we just saw you on TV and was like, can't believe you're doing that.

[Darius Butler]

All right.

[Connor]

I thought he was pulling Jimmy Johnson.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah. Calling it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Jimmy Johnson. Congrats on a hell of a career in the football world. Football appreciates Jimmy Johnson for everything he's done to football.

[Shams Charania]

Listen, I honestly don't know why that became such a big deal. I do that. No, I don't. I do that. I do that same thing a day or two after the super bowl every year. I go from being on TV every Day and then taking a pretty substantial break. And so I was just saying, like, hey, I'll be going away. Is there a reality that there is a business element of it coming at some point? Sure, but that's the. I do that every year.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Darius Butler]

You capping dog.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. We don't know if you cap it or not. We have not paid close enough attention. We do no cap. Okay, no cap. He's no cap. He's capping. He's not capping. He's capping. He's said no cap. He's got.

[Darius Butler]

Every year, I think he's capping.

[Connor]

You said go check.

[Shams Charania]

I do it.

[Connor]

No cap.

[Shams Charania]

You can go check. Find first. Take the day or two. After the last three Super Bowls, I said basically the same thing.

[Pat McAfee]

We can tell if he capping.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, but this year, you, you know, added a few crying emojis and everyone wanted to get your tissues.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but it was real life. It wasn't actual tweets. It was real life life. It seemed a little bit more emotional this time.

[Shams Charania]

It was a real part of that. Yeah, that's a real thing.

[Pat McAfee]

It was a long season, too, and you were on TV every single day. So whenever, you know, the abrupt absence of Dan Orlovsky, we all feel it. So we appreciated the heads up. But I think a lot of people thought it was a little bit more serious. I think because the business end, it also leaked that maybe there is a timeline on all that. Well, we would like to you to know we miss you when you're not on tv. Tv. And we're happy you're back.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah. Welcome back.

[Pat McAfee]

Not that you signed a deal now. That you signed a deal.

[Shams Charania]

I'm not. Yeah, I'm not back.

[Pat McAfee]

Wait, wait, wait.

[Ty Schmidt]

You were going mad, dummy, yesterday on tv.

[Shams Charania]

No, I. I worked yesterday because it was the Monday after the NFL combine. I'll be on two days next week because it's NFL free agency.

[Ty Schmidt]

Okay.

[Shams Charania]

I think I work a day or two at the end.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh. These are the final days in a scan. We're winding down.

[Connor]

He's patting.

[Pat McAfee]

He's patting. He's not patting. He's just. He's just. He's just. A matter of fact, right now, he's.

[Darius Butler]

Patting around that office. I can see it now.

[Pat McAfee]

He said they got me booked two days next week, two days the following week. We got the combine, the draft. That's why I'm in there doing. I'm doing my job. But there's a conversation that needs to be had, I think is what Dan Orlovsky Is saying. And what we'd like to say, we're gonna enjoy every appearance that you make.

[Ty Schmidt]

We should record them all.

[Pat McAfee]

Every appearance you made.

[Shams Charania]

That's not.

[Rich Eisen]

Are you sure?

[Pat McAfee]

No, that's the Police.

[Ty Schmidt]

Ever heard of them?

[Pat McAfee]

It's not a Diddy song. It's a Sting song.

[Shams Charania]

Ding.

[Connor]

That's not. That's not real.

[Darius Butler]

It's the Police, dude.

[Rich Eisen]

Dude, do it as well.

[Pat McAfee]

So this is the Sting version.

[Shams Charania]

I think Sting sang it first.

[Pat McAfee]

No, every appearance you make, I'm still in black.

[Connor]

Art, huh?

[Pat McAfee]

For granted, we want.

[Darius Butler]

That's art.

[Pat McAfee]

Easy. But okay. So you're going to bat for Diddy right now?

[Connor]

No, no, no, no.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what it sounds like.

[Darius Butler]

You're South Beach. You're South Beach.

[Pat McAfee]

Anyway, I just want to say. What I would like to say is the appearances that you will be making over the course of the next few weeks, we will definitely take in and enjoy because we think you are fantastic on television. Which is why it was good to see you yesterday. Great to see you right now. And whatever happens in the future, we'll obviously support you. Friend of the program since the beginning.

[Connor]

They were talking WWE yesterday, Him getting in the.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, yeah. You guys talk about Cena a little bit. I saw Jon Stewart talked about it as well. I don't know if you saw that. Oh, yeah, that was brilliant.

[Darius Butler]

I did not.

[Pat McAfee]

Pretty brilliant.

[Darius Butler]

See that montage last night?

[Pat McAfee]

It was just. Look up Jon Stewart and.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, it's good. It's worth the watch.

[Pat McAfee]

He really. He really brings it all together. Will do what?

[Shams Charania]

Heel turn? Like shook the wrestling world more. The Hogan one or the Cena one?

[Pat McAfee]

So the Hogan one was in wcw. The Cena one is a massive ordeal. Just strictly because it hasn't be. It hasn't been publicly stated about Hulk that he would never turn heel. Now, granted, it might have happened in the sheets and everything like that, but nowadays, with how much coverage and social media and everything, it's been addressed so many times. That scene is never going to turn. John Cena is a guy that is always a good guy. That is who he is. And then he signs up for this retirement tour, this one more tour, and it's like, okay, everybody's going to get the John Cena moment one last time.

[Shams Charania]

What a moment.

[Pat McAfee]

And instead, this a brand new John Cena. This is a. This is a he. Old John Cena who sold his soul to the final boss.

[Connor]

Wow.

[Pat McAfee]

And it's like, now, the next 10 months, I'm excited to see what it looks like. I have no Idea what, dude, how.

[Shams Charania]

Many times you think the Rock practiced that?

[Pat McAfee]

How many times has he done it before?

[Ty Schmidt]

A billion.

[Connor]

That was probably one.

[Darius Butler]

He doesn't practice way to do it. Yeah, he just goes out there.

[Pat McAfee]

I didn't. Was this dead and then peace is what he said.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah. Sent him on his way, brother.

[Pat McAfee]

Kill him.

[Connor]

I was thinking that's not the countdown.

[Pat McAfee]

It's been reported now there's a chance that there is a little, you know, there's a chance cuz he goes one.

[Connor]

Yeah. Two, three. Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

And it's like. Well, Cena's thing is the three thing. Exactly. And then he does two there after the thing. So what's the one could be. Well, the one could be the only one.

[Ty Schmidt]

We need to go back and watch a tape and figure out who rapture ruptured Cody's eardrum.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that is being reported that can't figure out who Cody. Did rupture blow his eardrum? He did, yeah. We think.

[Shams Charania]

We're not 100 sure, but we think graphics got hit.

[Pat McAfee]

We think. We know. We don't know it might be. We don't know, but that could be it right there. Yeah, we don't know if he ruptured his eardrum there or if he ruptured his eardrum, but he's being reported online. I do not know more than anybody else legitimately. They don't tell me anything. But yeah, it was reported that he ruptured his eardrum. And I'll tell you what, I've had a hole in my eardrum for years and decades at this point.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, not fun.

[Pat McAfee]

It changes. It is not a fun thing to deal with. I believe when you're in buds to become a Navy seal, if you get a hole in your eardrum or rupture your eardrum, they actually hold you back until the next one. Because underwater and all the different pressure and everything that is a part of it, like it can really, really. Water is where really get you. So Cody's going to be showering one eyed, you know, potentially if the allegations are true. But feels like Travis Scott can bring a smack if he needs to. All right, let's talk a little football, shall we, Dano? So I would say the Cena turn is the biggest just strictly because I think I was younger when the Hulk Hogan thing happened and certainly was awesome because NWO was a fantastic run and doing it on Macho, the way he went down. But now with how much it's been discussed and what we're in the middle of, 10 months left of this thing, I thought it was just like a come see, come see the hustle, loyalty, respect, guy, like one last time. And now it's the complete opposite. Something we've never been told, break a wish.

[Connor]

But I don't know, because didn't the Hulkster say he's still getting booed from.

[Pat McAfee]

Riding dirty down in California?

[Darius Butler]

That's a good point.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Last time he was there though, him and Holland Nash. Last time he was in LA riding dirty bad guys. Maybe that's why they booed them. Anyways, let's move along to some football chatter because we only got so many days left with the loss.

[Ty Schmidt]

That's right.

[Darius Butler]

That's sad, man.

[Pat McAfee]

Maybe, maybe, maybe.

[Darius Butler]

Play the hits, bro.

[Pat McAfee]

I saw you getting a little bit emotional on television about Sam Darnold. You're a believer in Sam Darnold. You think he had two bad games at the end of the year? Because we were talking at one point, Maybe he gets 50 million a year. He's going to be the, you know, the creme de la creme of this particular quarterback free agent circuit. Now everybody's just assuming. I guess the conversation is going to go back to the Vikings. You know, the Giants allegedly met the number for Matthew Stafford. Will they meet the number for Sam Darnold then? Like, what are your thoughts on Sam Darnold and what do you think it looks like for him next year?

[Shams Charania]

Yeah, it's kind of weird how ever since those last two games happened, it's been like the. Instead of celebrating Sam Darnold, it's been in the. Yeah, but about Sam Darnold, did you see the last two games? And I kind of talked about it yesterday. If you go back to when Gino Smith went to Seattle and all of a sudden had that one awesome year, it was like, oh, you know, Gino can play and finally had the right stuff around and coaching and all that. And then Baker Mayfield gets cast away from Cleveland and he can't play. And this guy stinks. And all of a sudden he goes down to Tampa. I know he went to two quick stops, but nothing glamorous. He goes to Tampa, plays, and it's like, oh, Baker could play a little bit like Jared Goff as well. Like, hey, you know, Jared Goff went from hey, stinks to oh, Jared Goff can play. And so I don't understand kind of a little bit of the sour narrative around Sam. I think the part of it too is like, last, those last two games, I'm not making excuses for him, but it's the first time he's been in it, I guess that's the first time he's ever felt that as a pro. That pressure, that expectation. It was a little bit house money this past year because there wasn't certainly expectations going into the season. I think for Sam, the conversation. So Minnesota, if I was Minnesota, it would start with Sam Darnold. There's a line of demarcation that I would not cross. And obviously, and everyone's correct, I heard Herbie say it like it does have. What's your viewpoint of JJ McCarthy? Because it's not just Sam versus JJ, it's Sam versus JJ and like 30 or 40 million. So maybe the organization sits there and goes, hey, we think JJ is going to be just as productive as Sam in the next year, year and a half, and we really need to take that 30 or 40 million and build up our secondary or build up our, you know, inside linebacker group or something. And so if they believe that the JJ McCarthy plus the money gives them a better team and they think JJ is going to be similar production, there's a line that you don't go past. I also, from Sam's perspective, you know, Sam went through quarterback hell essentially, for his first, I don't know, six years in the league. And how much does he really want to leave that cocoon, that insulation, that support that he has in Minnesota? Are you going to run and say, well, Minnesota's only offered me three for 100 and Pittsburgh's offering me four for, you know, 120? Is Pittsburgh that 20 million, that much of a difference for you? You. Because the places, quarterback, friendly, wise, aren't even close.

[Pat McAfee]

So you'd be getting more average per year with the Vikings there. I think you'd take that one, right? 4 for 120 is 30 a year. 3 for 130.

[Shams Charania]

You know what, let's say.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm just saying the deal that you put out there was one that I think he. He's getting paid more at the Vikings and he doesn't have to move, and he's with Kevin O'Connell. But I understand what you're saying for him. Do you want to leave? Same thing with Matthew Stafford. Do you want to get up and move? Do you want to do that entire thing yet again? Whenever, you know, you have success here, the threshold is a very real convo, I think, probably with the Vikings and Sam Darnold. I'm also excited to see JJ with Kevin O'Connell, if that is the case. A lot of weapons, a lot of success. Will they be Able to do it again. Where's Sam go. Let's talk about another Dom.

[Shams Charania]

I've heard Kevin loves. I've heard Kevin loves. McCarthy loves him.

[Pat McAfee]

I think Kevin would love anybody. Yeah, I, I, I think Kevin would love anybody. I think he's like a great coach. I think he cares. I think, yes. I think he's a great, great coach. I think he's a great ball coach over there. You got a great culture. Let's stay with the quarterback dominoes, though. Go ahead, con man.

[Rich Eisen]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

Dana, what do you think about Rogers? You know, he's kind of another one of those guys out there that, you know, let's assume he is playing. Do you think there's one spot or a couple spots that line up perfectly for him and do you think that maybe teams will consider almost a package deal with Devonte, not he's a free agent, that they might be able to poach him as well if they were to sign Rogers?

[Shams Charania]

I think there's three spots that make sense for me and Aaron Rodgers. The Giants, the Steelers and the Titans. I'll start with, I'll start with the Titans. 1. If they're for some reason adamant that they're not going to take Cam Ward, I don't think they should do that. I think that they should take Cam Ward. But if they decide we're not taking Cam Ward and we're going to trade out of the number one pick or something like that, the reality is this. There's, there is a little. And I love Callahan, their head coach. I know, Brian, that he's going to have to win and he's going to have to have a quarterback play relatively well this season. That's he was hired for that. And so that's the reality of their business. And so, you know, if they decide maybe it's Will Levis and Aaron competing against each other for that job, I can understand that.

[Pat McAfee]

1.

[Shams Charania]

The second one would be the Giants. I said this yesterday, like, let's live in the world where Cam Ward goes number one to Tennessee and then Cleveland takes Travis Hunter. If I think if Cam Ward goes number one to Tennessee, Cleveland should sprint to the podium. Podium for Travis Hunter at number two. So then the Giants at three. Are you taking Shador at three? I think Shador is a good player. I do. Three feels high. Okay. That's just my opinion right now. We'll see if that changes over the next couple weeks. I don't think it will. So then if you're the Giants, do you say, nope, we're going to Go get. I don't know, maybe they trade down or something like that or whoever they pick at 3. Again, if Travis Hunter was there, you run to the podium, but then you go, go, well, let's take a player at three or trade down at three and then in the second round, or maybe they go back into the first. Is it Jackson Dart or is it Jalen Milro? I go, I don't think Jackson Dart gets past the 20th pick, in my opinion. So if I think you're going to have to go past the Pittsburgh. So if you're the Giants, I think you'll have to go back the first round. If you don't remember, Brian Dable has ties to Nick Saban. You guys have obviously, and Pat, you on game day have heard Nick Saban talk about mill row. And I know he's flawed, I'm aware that he is flawed. But my goodness, there is a ton of talent physically there. And you're then going, D and Shane, they got a win by November. And so can you sign Aaron for a brief period of time? He's your starting quarterback. He keeps you afloat. And then if things are okay or you want to change or Milro's ready or something like that, then you have the next guy to go to. And then if it's Pittsburgh and Justin and Russell, don't go back there. I still think they need to add a young kid, but Aaron would make sense. Yes.

[Pat McAfee]

Aaron. What a fascinating dilemma. AJ what do you think? He plays again, right? It's not like he's just going to retire. Yeah.

[Rich Eisen]

I have a hard time seeing him just turn it off and stop playing, you know?

[Pat McAfee]

Why do you think that is? Every year that this has come up, you've given like, basically a similar answer and I forget it. So I apologize. He's at the end of a career. He's a Hall of Famer. He's the wealthiest NFL player in the history of anything. He gets everything he does gets. I mean, absolutely crucified. Like, do you think there's any chance that he just says, all right, that's it?

[Rich Eisen]

Yeah, I mean, I think there's. I think everything's on the table with Aaron, you know, that, like, we don't know exactly what he. I'm sure I don't know if he knows exactly what he's going to do, but I just, you know, being around him, how competitive he is, how well he can, how well he played at the end of the season. Yeah, I have a hard time believing that he's just going to Hang it up.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I think that's the thing from my conversations with him, and we've been very lucky to be friends with Aaron Rodgers over the last five years. And we don't hang out with him nearly as much or talk to him nearly as much as AJ or anybody that played alongside of him and his teammates and everything like that. But it's like everybody kind of talks about, you know, no kids, no family. This dude focused on ball. Everything he does is for ball. Like, and you talk about, why do you love the NFL? And it's like, I love the NFL because it is my outlet to scratch the itch of my competition, competitive urge. Like, he loves competition. And it's like, if you're that good, still able to be that committed, and another team is like, hey, we know it didn't go right with the jets, but we think we have the right situation for you. I see him playing ball game, I can't wait to watch it.

[Shams Charania]

I mean, what's his relationship with Tom like?

[Pat McAfee]

Good. Tom Brady. Brady.

[Shams Charania]

Yeah. Like, my mind goes to end of Tom's career, Tampa. The overwhelming obvious thing was how good the offensive line was and then their success. He got beat up in New York, so I would imagine he wants to go to a place that. That is going to not be a concern. Like, he's got to get tired of getting hit. He got healthy to AJ's point after the, I don't know, November, and he started to play better because he was getting hit less. So I, you know, the Raiders got two really good young offensive linemen. I would also entertain, like, if they're able to. Three, Colton Miller is still good, so if they can get an offensive line piece in free agency, maybe that becomes also a destination. I don't know what his and Tom's relationship is like, but I would imagine the number one thing is I got to be. I got to be protected. Like, I don't want to get hit anymore.

[Pat McAfee]

Didn't they play catch during that golf thing?

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

You would know more than us, aj.

[Rich Eisen]

Oh, and they did like, their version of the match. Yeah. They seem to get along. I think they get along great.

[Pat McAfee]

I think there's a couple of those dudes that are. That can only have conversations with a couple of those dudes, you know?

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I think that is like, Peyton and Tom get along vastly different people. I think if you. The way they go about doing everything, but they get along well. Aaron vastly different than both of those guys. But I assume that there is a, you know, like, hey, we are we get it here. You know, the air a little bit different. Our conversation's a little bit different. Hey, have you seen every single defense over the last 30 years?

[Connor]

Yeah, me too.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay. Have you beat every single dude? Yeah. Oh, me too. Whenever you see this, what is this? Tom Brady being as hands on as he is with the Raiders is that was an eye opener for me. You know, like, I think quarterback's going to be in a good spot. Let's say they don't go with veteran quarterback though. Let's say they go with a young quarterback. Ty has a question for you.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, Dano, you just mentioned it a little bit there and I assume you've looked at some of the tape at this point. What are your thoughts on this year's QB draft class? And also you had a tweet about Cam Ward where he basically said like his tape wasn't at as expected. Was that in a negative or a positive context?

[Shams Charania]

Yeah, big time positive context. After I've watched basically every snap, maybe a game or two still of cams. So for me, Camward reminds me a lot of Baker Mayfield. What I mean by that is there is a. A loose element to his game, but a twitchy element to his game where that ball comes out. Like once his eyes tell him throw it. It happens fast. And that's a trait that I love in quarterback play. Like, that was the thing with Jaden Daniels is how quick he played. The thing that I was referencing in that tweet. And you guys are going to show like these plays happen. Like the runaround plays. The thing that got me so much more excited about Cam Ward and made me really appreciate how good of a player he is, is what he does from the pocket in timing. You know, his. That throw was awesome. And so I wasn't expecting that Ty, like I wasn't expecting this guy that from the pocket was so much more in rhythm, in timing, in with his feet. And I mean, those throws are awesome. And so when I watch him throw over the middle field and the different types of throws and his. The windows that he sees and when that back right foot hits that ball pops out of his hand, like the playmaking is there. And so that's like for me, why I, if I'm Tennessee and I remember I said this years ago when Cincy was on the number one pick with Joe, like that this is what he does as good as his. Gosh, guys that have come out early in this draft over the past couple years, that back right foot hits, man, and he puts that ball in between the numbers so clean, sometimes there's a little touch, sometimes it's driven. And so the way he's married his feet with some of the throws I love and the playmaking is there. So I like that. He measured 62. Like, my only two downsides, Ty, would be this. My only two, I guess, hesitations. I'll go back to the story about Joe when I was like, if Cincinnati. I don't care what the trade offer is. You're taking Joe Burrow. I don't care if someone offers you three first round picks, you are not moving off of it. I'm not that close to where I was in regards to that situation, but I don't think Tennessee should move off number one. Okay. I think the two hesitations are. I don't want to call them concerns, but the things. He's six two. I would love for him to be six four. Yes, he's six two. Okay. So it's not a major problem. But. But. And then he will make you hold your breath at times. There are some moments where you're like, what are you going to do here? And then more often than not, it works out well. In college. I don't know if it. How consistently would in the NFL, but I think he's the clear. Clear. Clear. Clear for me. Clear. Number one pick.

[Pat McAfee]

Everybody has to hold their breath around other teams when Cam's playing because they stinky, dog. No, Cam, they stinky. They stink. Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

That was an interesting.

[Shams Charania]

That's what that means.

[Connor]

The hell was that, dude?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

What'd you just do?

[Shams Charania]

That's what this means.

[Pat McAfee]

Don't be throwing your heart out. He's not an elephant dance anyways. You talk about him being on time and everything like that 6:2 and all that good stuff for Cam Warden. His arm strength is obviously very much alive. And, you know, you watch clips of him working out. Love everything. He's a. About what Cristobal says about what he did to that culture down there. Just getting dropped in, flipping it and just becoming a great culture. All of a sudden, out of nowhere. They give him a lot of credit for being able to rally, motivate and unify. So all good qualities of a Cor.

[Shams Charania]

And he comes from an athletic family, too. Like, you know, his, I think cousin or uncle is Quandary Diggs, whose brother is Quinton Jammer. So. And I texted Quandary about him, like, tell me what kind of human he is. And Quandary is like, he's as much of a dog as I've ever Been around like. And he's an unbelievable leader, super hard worker. And he was like, honestly, the fact that he's in this position blows my mind because as a quandary is going to be mad I said this. He's like, he's a kid. He sucked. So he's.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean, yeah, he carnate ward incarnate. Ward to Washington state to Miami to potential number one overall pick. It's like got to work your ass off for that journey. That would make sense to be a D if that was the trip that you had to take. Tone has a question for you. Dano.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, Dan. We learned last week that when Chris Ballard talked that they are going to have an open competition with Anthony Richardson for their starting quarterback. Who do you think that quarterback should be? You think that's a good sign for the number four overall pick? Third year coming in? Okay, that was kind of.

[Shams Charania]

It's not a good sign for Anthony.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, we know that was kind of a loaded question at the end there.

[Shams Charania]

It's not surprising. I think there's a lot of people on the table that aren't going to be able to spend a ton of money on guys. You know, Daniel Jones obviously comes to mind because he might be cheap.

[Connor]

Y going guys be a good fit.

[Shams Charania]

Sam's not going to go there. Aaron maybe, you know, again for a place that you feel needs some leadership and needs some. We got to go win. You know, I could see Aaron Jamis. No Jamis more.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Ty Schmidt]

Fields.

[Pat McAfee]

Jamis. Hey, Jamis comes in. That might be exactly what.

[Shams Charania]

Yeah, I like the Justin one. I like Justin in New York with the Jets a little bit better because I mean, if you're Indy, you want someone there, obviously, like you want someone there to push Anthony, but you want Anthony to be the guy. So, you know, Justin is still such an unknown and I think Justin will have better opportunity for a.

[Pat McAfee]

We know who's who. We know who's what, don't we? A lot of things kind of already been decided. You know, we're looking for dogs. Need dogs. Need more dogs. Would love dogs. I wish we could transport all our team. Just get a new one.

[Shams Charania]

Still there, huh?

[Pat McAfee]

Huh? After combine.

[Shams Charania]

Still there.

[Pat McAfee]

I've heard more.

[Darius Butler]

You have no idea.

[Pat McAfee]

I've heard. I've heard more. It's like they. I don't know how they become professionals, but hopefully they will, you know, for the good of.

[Shams Charania]

I was in buildings like that. We usually lost every game when we were like that.

[Darius Butler]

It's going to be different this year.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Got too much Talent. That's the issue, though. So much talent.

[Rich Eisen]

Hey, you had guys, like, showing up late and not just not, you know, do stuff that you should do when you're in third grade. Like, just the basics they weren't doing.

[Pat McAfee]

Bingo. Yeah.

[Shams Charania]

Just the. The simplest stuff. Like, dude, I remember we had guys that would come out to practice, which sneakers on. We were on grass now. Sneakers not turf. Shoes not cleats. Sneakers not tied so loose. Sneakers just shorts on. Not even like a. A girdle or anything. And just a practice jersey with helmet unbuckled. They would run a rep in practice, probably do something pretty impressive because they were athletically talented. They would take the ball, throw it back to the coach, and then walk back to the huddle, take the next six or seven plays off.

[Darius Butler]

Give me a water.

[Connor]

Sounds like one guy.

[Shams Charania]

Yeah, dude, I remember we had guys not even, like, you know, in the season. You'd have a day or two where you got to get, like, your mandatory lift in pre or post practice or something. We'd have guys go into the weight room and not touch a weight. Just never just stand there and not lift.

[Darius Butler]

That's awesome.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes. There's these little losing culture things that happen, and, you know, you don't even think about it. You don't think about, like, going in, into a workout. Okay. This is. You're a professional athlete and just taking laps around, not lifting away, and then you're out of there. You just.

[Shams Charania]

Just walking around.

[Pat McAfee]

You just. The thing you did not get better at all. You're getting paid to be a football player. This weight room will make you a better football player, but instead saying not doing it. And I'm not saying I've seen anybody take that particular tactic, but it's all those little things that are like, the professional things. You know, they say the little things lead to the big things take care of the little things. The big things will take care of them themselves. It's like those little things are what make you a professional. Like, that's what makes you a professional in this whole thing. And it's like, I don't think it's just the Colts, obviously. It's alarming how much it seemingly is the Colts, but there is, and they can stop it and they'll change it next year. But I think it's happening in a lot of places, Dan. I think it's happening in a lot of place. A lot more than it's ever been, obviously.

[Darius Butler]

McDaniel talked about with the fines in Miami.

[Connor]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

He can find guys.

[Shams Charania]

I Wonder if it's and n nil thing like, these guys are coming in with a little bit more money in.

[Pat McAfee]

Their pockets or name, name, name, name, name, image, likeness. There is a chance that. Yeah. There isn't a feeling of, oh, I can get cut, you know, or, oh, I'm lucky to be here. Instead, it's complete opposite. These motherfuckers are lucky I'm here. Yeah.

[Shams Charania]

Titled it.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Shams Charania]

I was always scared. Fired.

[Pat McAfee]

Yes. To death. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Shams Charania]

Like, if I made one mistake, I'm like, all right, I'm gonna get fired. Even in, like, my seventh year, I was like, yeah, if I. If I don't do it, I'm gonna get fired.

[Pat McAfee]

So, yeah, that's always a nice thing. Adam Venateri thought if he missed a kick in practice, he was gonna get cut.

[Shams Charania]

That's how I felt.

[Pat McAfee]

It was at the point where he didn't kick. He was trying. Yeah. If you did miss a kick in practice, you probably were cut. If I had to guess. All right, Daniel, this is it. Last chance. You make this 33 yard field goal. Go ahead.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah. You can keep your drop.

[Pat McAfee]

But as.

[Shams Charania]

Hey, true story. You remember Matt Prater?

[Pat McAfee]

Yes.

[Darius Butler]

No.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Shams Charania]

Great kicker. So there got to a point, I don't know how it happened later in.

[Pat McAfee]

My career is what Connor just said. Yeah, yeah.

[Shams Charania]

I got some Prater stories now.

[Pat McAfee]

No way.

[Shams Charania]

And we. We were late in my career and something happened where I had to, like, hold. I had to become the holder. And I w. Sam Martin was holding for us. I don't know what happened or. But I had to, like, get reps in practice and holding, and I was terrible at it. And I remember constantly Prater would. I'd get the snap, put it down, miss the kick, and Prater would just mother f me under his breath because then he started to, like, get the shanks and all that. He was like, I'm gonna get fired from.

[Pat McAfee]

This guy's ruining my timing. This guy's obviously terrible at his job. Not easy to hold, but you change that timing up just a little bit.

[Shams Charania]

So hard.

[Connor]

It's game seven practices.

[Pat McAfee]

I wanted dbot to be like my holder, you know, I wanted dbut to be my holder because I was backup kicker in practice. And if I was. If something was to happen to Vinnie, which could happen because he was getting older, even though it never did, because he's a machine. He's absolutely a beast. 25 years in a biz doing his thing, whatever the case is. But, like, they want. I wanted D Butt to be the Hornet. I'm like D, butt smoothest athlete I've ever seen. I think that'll be the. That's. That's an easy choice. Is guy sucked.

[Shams Charania]

He was terrible.

[Pat McAfee]

He was terrible.

[Connor]

The laces are on the snap.

[Pat McAfee]

The laces are on the snap.

[Connor]

On the snapper. I just. I had an easy job. Boop boop.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. See you.

[Shams Charania]

Just the crazy thing about snapping was you lean. You lean the ball towards the goal post. Is that accurate?

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, in a way.

[Connor]

Depends on the kicker. Right?

[Michael Lombardi]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

That's a good call actually by D. But not everybody wants the ball leaning towards the goal post. Someone is straight up and down. No, nobody wants it leaning back. Everybody wants.

[Connor]

I would be in lean.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's why you're not, you know. And hopefully that holds you accountable. Hopefully they hold you accountable. Good luck. Holder can miss a kick for the kicker though easily. Just sure. Like let's say holder hated the kicker. Just fucking. Just like that. It's fucking miss. Say, hey, good luck, good luck, come back. You lean it towards the kicker. You lean the ball towards the kicker at all. And it's a soccer style kicker which everybody is fucked. That's you. If that's anything over 30 yards. That thing's hooking to the left. It's just like nobody talks about it. Like. And after watching these punting, this punting workout at the combine where nobody could catch a football. And then like these holds were like really slow. Like very, very slow. Which is my message to the punter. You guys punt so well. Like these dudes are so good at punting footballs. They just got to get comfortable catching a football, you know, because it's a little different sport. They're used to punting the ball. Like whether it's Aussie rose football. It's coming up from the top, catching up there a dart coming right at you or something. Coming right at you is a different style. They can certainly learn how to do that, but not everybody does. But like for the holding, how quickly you get it onto the ground, this is debut's problem. Debut had too good of hands. You know, SAP ball comes in it's and it's. The ball's slow as shit down to the ground. So by the time the time comes to kick it, it's like balls down and you're kicking. So you have no idea what it is. So like the goal is to have good hands but not too good. And just a fucking bump, bump. That ball is trying to get down on the ground as fast as you possibly can. So infinitary has as much time to see his target that he's trying to hit. And then let's not move that fucking thing either. If the ball is moving while he kicks it, miss if it's leaning towards.

[Shams Charania]

Am I right? The great snappers. The great snappers just snap the ball, basically, sir, you just have to go like this.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, that's what they're judged on.

[Shams Charania]

And the. The laces. The laces are 99 out of 100 times already pointing at the goal post.

[Pat McAfee]

That's what you're aiming for. The. The goal is for the laces to be from like 9:00 to 3:00. If you look at a clock. Okay, 9 to 3. So that. Then it's just like a little touch, a little easy portrayal. That is what the long snappers are being judged for. There's only 32 jobs, so if you can't snap places and you can't hit up, your ass is gone. And it's like I started talking about.

[Shams Charania]

Those kids become a great long snapper who Tannen bombs.

[Pat McAfee]

Really?

[Shams Charania]

Like he said out of the blue. He said the kid never even like, played football. And then like in the last year he started a long snap. I think he's going to like Michigan for long snapping.

[Pat McAfee]

That's awesome. That's a good. That's a good angle to get in there too, especially for good. You got to be consistent. I assume he will be. I'm surprised Tannenbaum didn't try to trade him for like a starting quarterback or something. For two starting quarterbacks. That's a Tannenbaum pitch draft proposal. He's awesome. He. I don't know. I don't know where the this comes from, but we'll turn on the tv. Tannenbaum is trading two quarterbacks, defensive end for four picks. And three teams are involved that say that you're not doing anything.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah. The Rams were taking on Sean Watson's contract.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, Watson.

[Shams Charania]

How about that?

[Pat McAfee]

Let's need you eat. The contract for the Cleveland Browns and to get Miles Garrett, it's like he's been in those rooms. So he obviously knows the fantasy camp. I guess that takes place with these trades. But some of the things he puts up there, I'm like, who the.

[Shams Charania]

They're unreal.

[Pat McAfee]

Who the. They're unreal. What's that?

[Shams Charania]

They're unreal. Like yesterday when he said trade Michael Parsons for Miles Garrett, I was like, why not just pay Mike Parsons?

[Pat McAfee]

Shut up, Dan. That's not how it works. But I appreciate that he does it, it gives us all fodder. He's the best. He's the best in the 33rd team, I believe is becoming like a full on consulting firm, you know. Oh nice. Good for them. Good for everything they got operating. And Dano, last question here from D. Butch and it's about the current NFL so let's get it right, please.

[Connor]

And of course Dan Will, I saw you mention we were talking about had Sean McVay on yesterday, Stafford going back to the Rams, obviously a huge deal, but I still got Philly clear cut as the best team in the nfc. I know we're pre free agency, pre draft, but standing as is right now, who is kind of nipping at their heels right now? Is it the commies, Rams, Lions, healthy, who you got in the NFC right behind Philly? Or do you have someone coming in above Philly next year?

[Shams Charania]

No, I think Philly's still the number one team roster wise and I look at the Rams at 2. Obviously a lot can change for agency draft. I go back to the regular season saying hey, that's the team that they don't want to play. And I remember Darius Slay last week or two weeks ago said that that was the team in their mind that they knew could beat them like they, they knew because of the style of ball and Stafford. So I would put the Rams at 2. Listen, Detroit is outstanding, but I want to see what it looks like with without Ben Johnson there. Offensively it's still a great talent. Offensively I just don't know a ton about their new offensive coordinat, John Morton. So you know Detroit there, I think Green Bay is still very much so just right there as well. I think everyone puts the commanders there. I'm not as high on that as I think the commanders and I said this yesterday, D. But you guys know it. Laud them, praise them. Congrats. Awesome year. You won five games on the last play. That's not real. In the NFL you win three of those and that's not that real. Real. And so while you give them praise for that, I also think they can't fall into the trap that maybe like the Giants did a couple years ago in D's first year when they somehow stumbled into the playoffs and like, oh, maybe we're closer than we thought we were. And then you, you make some decisions because you think maybe we're this move away or that move away. And I think the commanders have to have the mindset of, you know what? We, we're still building and we're still trying to chase down some of those teams to get into that upper grouping rather than. There are some teams that you go, we're a move away, we're a guy away. And I don't put command, I don't put the commanders in there just yet. I still think I want to see what their makeup is post free agency and draft.

[Pat McAfee]

Let's not get too comfortable here. Yeah, you got a lot of sacks, but you also didn't get blocked for a bunch of times. So let's. Let's know that we can continue to get better here. If you're the commanders, you got to feel good, especially bringing in Debo. I saw you love that move. I saw you love, love that move.

[Shams Charania]

Yeah, no team throws more screens, perimeter screens than Washington. So like if there's a guy in the NFL that you want to get the ball to in his hands and just you go do something with it, it's Debo. Was it the player that he's been in the past last year? There's a lot of reasons for that. San Francisco's offensive line pass protection is not what it was in years ago and the injury. So I still. And the versatility like they love, you know, like pace and space. Their offense runs no huddle. So you could put a bunch of different people on field and the defense is scrambling. You could put him at the back field. And so they love to run two backs. You can certainly utilize him in that capacity. So if he's anything what he was in that three or four year stretch, it's a home run for Washington.

[Pat McAfee]

We're looking for some pace and space.

[Shams Charania]

And space.

[Pat McAfee]

We're looking for some pace and race to win. The racist. Wait, wait. Is that your coaching philosophy? Did you dive into that? Because potentially going to be coaching this year, you know, with all your media stuff happening. I got two appearances next week and then.

[Darius Butler]

And then that's it.

[Pat McAfee]

Two appearances two weeks after we're going.

[Darius Butler]

To see me again.

[Pat McAfee]

I haven't really checked, but I got one appearance after that.

[Ty Schmidt]

What are you doing for the draft, Dan?

[Pat McAfee]

See you. What are you doing for the draft, Dan?

[Shams Charania]

I think we'll be there. I think we would be out in Green Bay would be my guess.

[Pat McAfee]

That must be nice. We won't be. NFL doesn't want us there.

[Shams Charania]

What?

[AJ Hawk]

You heard it.

[Ty Schmidt]

If you saw the picture day, you should have seen.

[Shams Charania]

No, I heard. I heard yesterday when you guys were making fun of D BET for wearing a fake golf course hat. So I heard.

[Pat McAfee]

Wow.

[Darius Butler]

Golf course still wearing it.

[Connor]

Compton Country Club you would think I know where you stand now, Dan.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Interesting. That would take a shot at the Compton Country Club.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, that makes sense.

[Pat McAfee]

Everyone have guessed that, huh? Connecticut. I can't be real. All right.

[Shams Charania]

He but are you a member?

[Connor]

It's too far. No, I'm not.

[Ty Schmidt]

It doesn't mean it's not real.

[Shams Charania]

I saw the golf swing on Instagram recently. It's good. I wish I played as much golf as you.

[Pat McAfee]

Dude.

[Connor]

It's coming as long he just took six weeks off.

[Pat McAfee]

I mean.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah. Have you stopped?

[Shams Charania]

What's the low number?

[Connor]

Of course low numbers. 82. Best game ever Play good play.

[Pat McAfee]

How about you?

[Shams Charania]

Well done.

[Pat McAfee]

What's your low play, Dan?

[Shams Charania]

I haven't played golf in forever.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, but in your history you obviously have a low score war.

[Shams Charania]

Yeah, I think it's probably similar around I honestly don't know.

[Pat McAfee]

Remember you lied about that. Remember that? Think about that.

[Connor]

Damn it. He lied.

[Shams Charania]

I literally told the truth.

[Darius Butler]

No, you lied. You added wrong.

[Pat McAfee]

Anytime you see on a scorecard, you know the deal.

[Connor]

3.

[Shams Charania]

I might be coming down to deep butts neck of the woods. Cup in. Yeah, deep butts neck of the woods in a couple weeks for some golf.

[Darius Butler]

Me up another vacation.

[Pat McAfee]

Florida on tv or Florida.

[Shams Charania]

Maybe a little tgl.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, close.

[Shams Charania]

You guys, you've been down there.

[Connor]

I've not. I'm not.

[Pat McAfee]

It's getting less playoffs.

[Connor]

We got a couple team A couple teams punch their playoff tickets.

[Darius Butler]

What?

[Connor]

Hey, you guys might be out on it. I know Fox is a TGL mark right now, but I'm I'm in it got me.

[Shams Charania]

Yeah, I like it.

[Pat McAfee]

Watch the clips for sure. I I. It's hard to keep up with when it's going.

[Connor]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

But I trust tonight last regular season match tonight. It's. Tonight's got a lot on tonight. There's a lot on.

[Ty Schmidt]

They've been playing like the middle of.

[AJ Hawk]

The afternoon at 3 o'clock day night double header yesterday.

[Pat McAfee]

There's a lot on.

[Shams Charania]

Wait boy. You went to Hawaii, right?

[Pat McAfee]

Yes sir.

[Darius Butler]

I on the same island as you.

[Pat McAfee]

Dan, I think there's a chance that Justin Trudeau just hit there. There's a lot going on. Got Transylvania Hotel Transylvania. You ever see that? Dano, you got 10 kids.

[Shams Charania]

There's four of them. They're all good.

[Pat McAfee]

Of the kids or the Transylvania?

[Shams Charania]

There's four Hotel Transylvanias. They're all good.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, I agree. It's Adam Sandler's best work. Whoa, whoa. Hubie.

[Shams Charania]

That's extreme.

[Darius Butler]

Hubie. Halloween.

[Pat McAfee]

You're right. You're right. You're right. He's done some great.

[Shams Charania]

He doesn't have any bad ones. Really?

[Pat McAfee]

Agreed. Thank you. I'm happy you're on that side. Dano gets it right every once in a while. We can't wait to see you the next time you're on tv because we know those days are passing by like the sound of an hourglass. Class. Let's enjoy every last drop of Dan Orlovsky, baby.

[Connor]

Thank you, Dan.

[Pat McAfee]

I'm getting down to your neck of the woods to golf. Don't call me.

[Darius Butler]

Compton Country Club. That's not real.

[Pat McAfee]

That's not real.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, I texted Debo to hang out when I was in la, daddy. He told me to go myself.

[Darius Butler]

So really funny enough, I texted about.

[Pat McAfee]

To hang out when I was in.

[Darius Butler]

Miami and he also said, yeah, maybe next year.

[Shams Charania]

Palace.

[Connor]

Not.

[Pat McAfee]

Wow. Racism. A little bit. Because they're white. No.

[Connor]

Miami's far number one. And miss my babies. I was home, everybody had me, you know, pick it up. Dropping off, practice training, volleyball, golf. After dropping, did you get a pedicure?

[Ty Schmidt]

I saw. Those are awesome.

[Connor]

Oh yeah. Every time I take them, I sneak in there again. The ladies looked at me like, dude, they're so nice.

[Darius Butler]

I got a pedicure of my mother. Who's the greatest thing.

[Pat McAfee]

I've tried my best. I've done two of their. Hurt so bad. I don't know.

[Connor]

They hurt.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Uncomfortable. I don't like any of it.

[Darius Butler]

That's a bad. That you got a bad technique.

[Pat McAfee]

No, I've gone like four different places, you know, cuz the wife goes to a spot and then she go to another spot and then somebody be like, let's go. Pedicure. I think Venator took me for a pedicure one time because she was like, we got to take care of her feet. I got never been more uncomfortable. What? Ah. Don't touch my feet. I don't like it. Then when they're doing feels like they're actually sawing my toe off. I'm like, get me out of here. Get me. I don't like it. I don't like it. You want the. You want the calf? Yeah. That was. The only thing that felt good was when they weren't touching my feet.

[Darius Butler]

You had the hot coals?

[Pat McAfee]

I think they had a hot bag of wax or something like that. Oh yeah, a bag of wax. That was pretty cool.

[Darius Butler]

Get the rocks.

[Pat McAfee]

When they weren't touching my feet, it was great. Everything other than when they were touching my feet, it's a big part. It was cool. It was cool. It was cool to be a part of Miami. So far it is. I don't know how you were traveling down there and back so much and you still are. That's place is so far away.

[Ty Schmidt]

The traffic in Miami, I, I experienced.

[Pat McAfee]

It for the first time, was bananas.

[Connor]

Gum also came back and first car. He's like snow waded. Dolphins.

[Ty Schmidt]

Dolphins.

[Pat McAfee]

I spent five days in Miami. Dolphins got no shot of winning football. Lot of distractions.

[Ty Schmidt]

No way, man.

[Pat McAfee]

A lot of distractions. God rest his soul. Vonte Davis, when he got traded to the Colts was awesome. Him, obviously the moment got called my grandma. And then he comes to the Colts and we had just seen that as well, you know, so we had no idea what to expect. Then you get a chance to start talking to Vonte and everything. And he talks about how like Indianapolis, like saved him.

[Connor]

Like, oh yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Being in Miami was. Hey, there was a lot going on. A lot of options. A lot of options. And I'd hear these stories from him whether we were in a training room or in one of the tubs, you know, kind of in there, just passing time, trying not to be as miserable. And I just talk to myself every time, real happy. Pat McAfee never got sent down to Miami at that age, at that time. Lot of opportunity. Lot of opportunity down there. Everything is easy to garner down there. And it's readily available from what I've been told. And after your guys trip down there and after you watch what happens with these Dolphins teams, it's like money, opportunity, warm weather all the time. And just, just like when you're staying in a hotel, in a casino. Okay. You know the casino floor, you're, you're, let's say 10 floors above it or whatever it's calling. You can hear it actually through the things going. A million dollars is down here and you're laying in your bed, you can't sleep. It's like, I'm going down the casino. At the Miami Dolphins. You have the beach, all their bars, all their adult ballet slash bars, all their other things, just calling it all time times. Hey, just one trick. Just, just come do one trick. And then bang. That's at like 5:00. And one thing leads to another. You're on vacation for your entire life and you're a professional football player. That's right. For them to win, they're gonna have to get the right people down here. That's gonna be. You're gonna need old, you need married old people that are worried about hangovers like the golf.

[Connor]

Yes, you know, retirement. Yeah, yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Community type diary kill.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, See, just like him.

[Pat McAfee]

He almost won for 2,000 yards down there. Good for him. Yeah, good for him.

[Darius Butler]

I was looking for a tour.

[Pat McAfee]

Thomps, you picking another team? Never mind. No, no, I'm. I am finished till the day I die, bro. No chance of them winning. But. But, hey, I've done it my whole life. If there's ever a point. Yeah, but now there's a new piece of information. Yeah, but. Yeah, but think about if they win.

[Ty Schmidt]

A Super bowl and I turned.

[Pat McAfee]

I could never sleep at night. I think you're safe.

[Ty Schmidt]

Why is Tua playing chess on board with no squares?

[Pat McAfee]

All right. What's that?

[Ty Schmidt]

You see that?

[Pat McAfee]

I think there was little lines on it.

[Ty Schmidt]

Yeah, but did you see the tweet, though?

[Pat McAfee]

I did, yeah, I did. I believe it was from the Trump family posted it. That two was.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, that was the original tweet.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah, but the quote tweet. Yeah, I saw a lot of quote tweet. Yeah, the quote tweet, I believe. And then there was many others that took. Got their shots in. And that's the Internet. Welcome, football. That sounds good, but I think there was little lines because I was very flabbergasted.

[Ty Schmidt]

I zoomed.

[Pat McAfee]

What was going on? I think there was, like, little tiny lines. I'm like, wow. You gotta be really good at stuff with the pieces.

[Darius Butler]

That's my question.

[Ty Schmidt]

Oh, there are. Yeah. You need from that. Is that a different angle?

[Pat McAfee]

I think you zoom in. There's like, little tiny. You see, like, little lines there.

[Rich Eisen]

Literally.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

You can see the dots of, like, where the corners are.

[Pat McAfee]

You see?

[AJ Hawk]

It's still not a good chessboard. No, it's terrible.

[Pat McAfee]

Absolutely not. You gotta be really good at chess to be able to board. That isn't an actual board.

[AJ Hawk]

Without doubt.

[Pat McAfee]

That's why two was playing well, two as a chess player, always has been, always will be. Show me my mind. Give me my money. That's how the season started, boy.

[Ty Schmidt]

Arrested on the way to the first game of the season at home.

[Pat McAfee]

Like, we never had a shot last year, dude, you know what? Next year's the year, Gump. You're right. Dolphins got no money to spend, but.

[Ty Schmidt]

We'Re going to give her all we got.

[Pat McAfee]

Kind of money spent in Miami's wake. Always. There you go. That traffic is crazy, though. Not supposed to have that many people down there, huh?

[Connor]

As soon as you is one, it goes like four different highways. It's like, you get there, you can be three miles from your spot. It's going to take you an hour.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah, 40 at least. It is so annoying.

[Pat McAfee]

You just walk, right? That's what you did.

[Darius Butler]

No, we couldn't. Like you had to get on the highway to get around to some spots. But yeah, once you get to your first. First location, you can walk to the other locations. But it's legitimately impossible to not take an Uber at least once a day.

[Pat McAfee]

These flying cars need to pick it up, don't you think?

[Connor]

For sure.

[Darius Butler]

I don't know if we're ever going to be able to use those, but.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, I've seen a lot of memes and videos little flying drones.

[Rich Eisen]

I'm talking about like the little drone where you can sit in like one or two people. It'll take you.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Or hang on like you're Tom Cruise. Yeah.

[Rich Eisen]

I mean that'd be sweet too.

[Darius Butler]

Yeah.

[Rich Eisen]

You better have some good grips strength.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, we. We would.

[Darius Butler]

Obviously you could latch in like David Boyd.

[Connor]

I got cars. The balloon choppers in them when I sent you.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, yeah. Boom, bang. And I saw one car that just was car build had drones on like basically all four sides at the bottom. And they. It went up and over some traffic, I think. But you never know what's. And animated AI. No, he does.

[Darius Butler]

And those people who can drive cars can definitely drive planes.

[Pat McAfee]

I think you would probably have to prove some sort of ability to be in the sky.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, I mean we got mid up there.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah.

[Darius Butler]

People will do that. It's ever going to be close to the monument.

[AJ Hawk]

Do you want to be in the skies?

[Pat McAfee]

Here's. Here it is right here. Actually. Going over a car. That's what we're looking for right there.

[Rich Eisen]

Well, that one went two years out.

[Pat McAfee]

Company releases first flying car. Look at. You can see it. It's taken off. There's a human in there. That's real. This is our life.

[Ty Schmidt]

So what situation is this used in?

[Pat McAfee]

I'm in Miami. I just got downtown. I'm three miles away. They said it's going to take an hour. And I say, you know what? Me and my alif aeronautics are going up and down right to whatever place the boys stop by. If you're driving on a highway and the tree fell down and you had.

[Ty Schmidt]

To go cross, that is a you all ollie.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. You're doing an ollie or a bunny hop, basically. Or if the roads are snowy. Okay. Okay. You'll have to come down.

[Connor]

What are you talking about?

[Pat McAfee]

Bingo.

[Darius Butler]

Keep dreaming, boys.

[Pat McAfee]

What about parallel parking? No more. I'm up and I'm done. Pick it up. Put it down. That's what I'm doing with this. True. Look at that smooth landing. Much smoother than something we've seen.

[Rich Eisen]

Yeah, I can. I can go over one. I can move up 12ft.

[Pat McAfee]

Oh, look, look. Oh, looky, looky. There's an 18 wheeler down. Well, that sucks for everybody, but who? You. Look at that.

[Darius Butler]

So real coolest guy in school.

[Pat McAfee]

Cops are on the other side saying, whoa, whoa, whoa. We're stopping traffic on the ground. Okay, I'm in the sky, dude. Altitude, 13ft. I'm out of here. That's future. We're lucky to be a part of it.

[Rich Eisen]

Hopefully it's the future. That's the future.

[Pat McAfee]

All right, let's get to a break. We'll be back tomorrow. Pretty big show today, you know, broke some news. Insider thought that news was coming last week and I didn't report.

[Ty Schmidt]

Did everyone report it properly?

[Pat McAfee]

Well, so Chef, he actually got to tweet out about a half minute for us because we did the video, then the tweet. Now, granted, we talked about it on the show before. Chef got the tweet out there.

[Ty Schmidt]

Perked his ears up.

[Pat McAfee]

So, no, no, we did the break on show.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Oh.

[Ty Schmidt]

And then he.

[Pat McAfee]

Before his tweet goes out, our tweet goes out, out, one minute out with video that had to be ripped and placed onto things. So technically, our show broke news. But on the Twitter world, shefty got us by 30 seconds.

[Ty Schmidt]

That I saw Rap gave us credit.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Because I think we did break the news. I should have done no video and then added video. Maybe next time. Gumpy, what you do with our account shots while we're live is nothing short of remarkable. Don't you second guess yourself. You did the right thing. You did the right thing. Because we got to give proper context with the release. But the ripping of the video, placing of the video, uploading said video, then tweeting video is certainly the time that it took to potentially get one minuted by Schefter. But program broke news first. Boom. Definitely we stand on that.

[Darius Butler]

That's what counts.

[Pat McAfee]

So maybe props credit, maybe. Are we doing journalism also? How about this? There was a story that was supposed to be matter of facted last week while we were at the combine. Bill Belichick and Unc, they're doing this season's off season, Hard knocks. Congratulations to them. Everybody. Just fucking. Yeah, yeah. Just reported like this is happening. Literally just. Yeah, this is happening. They're doing it. We're going to get an inside look at Bill Belichick, people. Then Start saying after every NFL team said no, they had to go to college. And they go to Bill Belichick, the greatest NFL coach of all time, as he's trying to build the future. Like full reports were happening that this is taking place. Then we have Michael Lombardi on our show the same exact day. He's the general manager for the North Carolina Tar Heel football team, and this is what he had to say about it. You guys have it this year. Is that accurate? You guys got a great relationship with NFL films. It would make sense too, with how a college ball is becoming pro ball at this exact. I think there's a lot of conversations going on right now about that. I think we've had a lot of offers from people all over to have us come in and look at our program and kind of do the behind the scenes things. I don't think anything's yet been official or signed to it to make it happen.

[Ty Schmidt]

Don't let Saquon go.

[Pat McAfee]

Who would it be when it be, yeah, don't. Don't do that. Would it be you? Would you. Be you negotiating that or who's making that? No, that would be the university. And we got to make. You know, when you're dealing with the university in the brand that we have at North Carolina, which is incredible, you got to make sure that everything's done right. All the T's are crossed. And obviously Bill has been talking to different people. They contacted all of us here and. And Bill's been sorting it out, so. So on the program, he basically says, like, we're definitely talking to people, but this is not something that is done. People still just continue to say, like, even after he talked about that on our show, okay, I think we're on tv, the Internet, we posted on digital. People just kept going, like, didn't even happen. Guy didn't even say, nope, they're doing it, they're doing it, they're doing it. Just kept on, just this guy didn't fucking say anything. Boom. Warrior roll by. So now it's being reported in a turn of events. Okay, Jonathan Jones report in a turn of events. UNC football and Bill Belichick will not be participating in hard Knocks off season after talks breakdown. More at NFL on cbs. We appreciate Jonathan Jones and in an article, the they actually use a quote from Michael Lombardi from last week whenever they're discussing this. So it's not a turn of events. The actuality was they maybe were talking to him, but it was never something that was decided. And the thing that I love Is that that was easily deciphered from Michael Lombardi, who's very close to the thing people. You think they cuz it was from our show. You think that's what it is? Hey, do you think it's because it was from our show? We're not fucking listening to this guy. What do you think it is? Honestly?

[Rich Eisen]

I mean, when you hear Lambo say nothing is signed, I would assume that's like, okay, then we. We don't know anything really.

[Pat McAfee]

Well then also I'm saying we're talking to a lot of people. It's like, yeah, maybe there's been conversations with NFL films, but there's been a lot of conversations. And it's like everybody's just like, ah, shut up, dude. Guys, the general manager of the goddamn.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, wrong.

[Pat McAfee]

The guy's pretty much in there. Who you. Who's negotiating this? Well, Bill obviously is fielding off it, but the school was a part of it. It's like, okay, so you pretty. You know this pretty, pretty well, but it was just a matter of fact that they were doing it. I was excited.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

I was like pumped to get into be cool recruiting.

[Ty Schmidt]

Lambo wasn't.

[Pat McAfee]

I assume Lambo didn't want any added distractions, especially after what happened with the Giants last year with the way he chit. Chatted about it. Now he. The way he's talked about is like, hey, your. Your program's on display. Like how you go about doing it, your process is on display. So I think he's probably confident in that. But nonetheless, everybody's just talking about that as that was happening and I got real excited and then Lambo comes in, is like easy.

[Darius Butler]

Don't think so.

[Pat McAfee]

And then now it's like no. It's like, damn. So the off season, Hard knocks is dead.

[AJ Hawk]

Yes.

[Connor]

One and done.

[Ty Schmidt]

Which we, we. We knew was probably gonna happen.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. But when we said it, we said it was some sort of joke, so it's not a real thing.

[Darius Butler]

Go for somebody.

[Connor]

Gave us some good clips. Great Saquon. Signed what, two deals?

[Darius Butler]

Yeah. Never forget super bowl off his hoodie.

[Pat McAfee]

The Giants are not recommending any to anybody. No, no. You know, hey, tell me about your experience with the Hard Knocks off Joe. Shane looks at him. Did you watch? Yeah.

[AJ Hawk]

Ruined my life.

[Pat McAfee]

Worst case scenario. What's the worst case scenario in your eyes? Think of that. Double it.

[Darius Butler]

People think my kid's smarter than me now.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah. Cuz the kid actually had it right. He was sitting behind me, my daughter even closer than I was, but sick on. Go on, be Player, I mean owner.

[AJ Hawk]

Takes him a lot.

[Pat McAfee]

Everything bad took place and it was all documented and the whole world watched it. So I would say don't do it. We have some breaking news from the Internet happening. The NBA Twitter account was hacked and they have gotten it back. I believe the NBA have gotten it back. The NBA is taking the game to the next level. Introducing NBA Coin, our official digital asset on Solana designed to enhance fan engagement and future of sports transaction. So this tweeted, I guess like 50 times. So some crypto boys got into the NBA Twitter account and said, you know what, we're going to run this NBA coin up. It's going to be a pump and dump from the boys hoping to catch people. And we would assume that NBA Twitter. Okay. Which had a much better name before. But it's on me to be the one that continues to bring that up. I don't think we should ever change it. It's the greatest place on earth. Grace place on Twitter. Most electrifying place on Twitter. No doubt. I assume their quote tweets of that.

[Dan Orlovsky]

Oh right.

[Pat McAfee]

Pretty good. Oh my God. Just crypto boys trying to get into the NBA.

[Ty Schmidt]

I mean they even did an official announcement too with it like, like a letterhead and everything.

[Pat McAfee]

They did it right? Yeah. I mean the hackers are getting smart, you know and AI is able to make a graphic for you quickly. And we are scrolling right now. There is a lot of these tweets going on with a statement. Official announcement. Yeah.

[Connor]

That's crazy.

[Darius Butler]

Genius.

[Connor]

What's real?

[Pat McAfee]

Hey, wow. Got to keep your head on swivel eye. Okay. Not only in Starbucks because there Schultz is walking around. They literally own the place. But also on the Internet. Cuz anything can be fake. Like that flying car might be fake. We don't know.

[Rich Eisen]

Maybe it just might.

[Darius Butler]

It's tbd.

[Connor]

I think it's definitely fake. I think we could.

[Rich Eisen]

It flew over the like the fire truck's real for sure.

[Pat McAfee]

You're talking about when I got over the 18 wheeler that was turned side.

[Connor]

That was. That was a giveaway.

[Darius Butler]

I don't know about that.

[Connor]

It had me up to there.

[Pat McAfee]

No, it was a drone shot.

[Rich Eisen]

He's so cool. To be able to fly 10ft in the air and 20ft forward. That'd be really well in Miami, which.

[Pat McAfee]

Is what we were talking about. That's real. It would certainly be great. Yeah. This.

[Darius Butler]

That's a cool car.

[Pat McAfee]

Sorry. Sweet. Yeah. Flying through the air right now. That's what I'm thinking.

[Rich Eisen]

Look at the dust. Look at all the Dust being brought up by all the. The force.

[Pat McAfee]

No, that's just the weather. That's not from the.

[Ty Schmidt]

Is that car broken down? Is that why it's flying over it?

[Pat McAfee]

Or that car was parked in a spot that it shouldn't be and you wanted to alpha it. Just let it know you might have the ground space. I got the air space.

[Rich Eisen]

Here it is. It's the real one.

[Pat McAfee]

Well, this is the issue. First of all. Teas and peas to the truck driver and the goods.

[Rich Eisen]

Someone's dead.

[Darius Butler]

It's cool that it's translucent too.

[Rich Eisen]

That might be rendering.

[Pat McAfee]

No, Bruce.

[Darius Butler]

Liar.

[Pat McAfee]

That one might be New York Post. New York Post. Always on it.

[Connor]

That brings another question, though, huh? Oh. So I know we probably got a lot. A lot of us here have, like the cameras in the car.

[Pat McAfee]

Yeah, sure.

[Connor]

How did it get that?

[Ty Schmidt]

That's a good question.

[Connor]

Above the head shot.

[Pat McAfee]

I don't know. It's awesome, though. It's the one and it's. Yes.

[Connor]

I think it's like all the cameras.

[Ty Schmidt]

And they just kind of bring it together to make it look like it's the fish.

[Pat McAfee]

We have breaking news from Adam Schefter. We did not get this one. Damn it. The packers and kicker Brandon McManus have reached an agreement on a three year, $15.3 million deal, including $5 million signing bonus. The deal was negotiated by Drew and Jason Rosen. Drew and Jason Rosenhaus. Congratulations to the boys. Brandon McManus obviously had a false allegation made against him that he was found completely innocent of, but had to move to a different team. Was once a Super bowl champion with the Broncos. Goes to the Jags. Everything happens there. Ends abruptly. Thinks his entire career and life is probably over. Instead gets vindicated in the court, I believe from both the NFL and the actual court. Ends up signing with the Packers. Goes on a hell of a run with the packers. Playing winning football, and now he's getting rewarded for it. What a turn of events for Brandon McManus, the person I would assume over the last 12 months, but also for the Packers. You guys got a guy. That's good news, Ty.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, no, I'm jacked up. I was kind of waiting for this, hoping that this would happen. He. I think he had like three games winning kicks this year. And it really was. I mean, going back to the playoffs last year, that kind of killed them against the Niners. Like they've needed a guy ever since Crosby left.

[Pat McAfee]

So.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah, this is huge news.

[Pat McAfee]

I love it, AJ. I love get the kids rewarding good players. Out there. That's the story of the day.

[AJ Hawk]

That's right.

[Pat McAfee]

Yep.

[Rich Eisen]

That's it. Do the right thing, you get rewarded.

[Darius Butler]

Hell yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Hell yeah. That's life. That's life.

[Rich Eisen]

Yeah, it is.

[Pat McAfee]

That's universe. They said science put good out, good comes back. That's right. Put bad out, bad comes back.

[Ty Schmidt]

Bingo.

[Pat McAfee]

Not for everybody though, it seems like cuz there's some real pieces of out there.

[Ty Schmidt]

Thank you.

[Rich Eisen]

No doubt.

[Pat McAfee]

Okay.

[Darius Butler]

Got it.

[AJ Hawk]

Yeah.

[Pat McAfee]

Jeez. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. Or in this thing together. We're back tomorrow. Team on me. Team on three. One, two, three. Team divide.

[Connor]

I don't just stand on business.

[Pat McAfee]

I live it 24 7. Because you don't become a young entrepreneur by staying stagnant.

[Connor]

Whether I'm chasing deals, networking, or taking.

[Pat McAfee]

Calls from behind the wheel of my Toyota Crown, I'm always in motion. You may think launching a successful startup.

[Connor]

Is enough to be satisfied, but me, I'm just getting started.

[Pat McAfee]

It's a new day at Toyota led.

[Connor]

By a new generation of drivers.

[Pat McAfee]

And we want you to know one thing. You can't stop my drive. Toyota.

[Adam Schefter]

Let's go places.