PMS 2.0 1504 - Live from the Lahd Hahse for the NFL Combine, Brandon Beane & Joe Brady, Nick Caserio, Randy Orton, Governor Mike Braun, Dan Morgan, Sean Payton

Summary

The Pat McAfee Show 2.0 #1504 — NFL Combine Special

Date: February 26, 2026
Location: Live from Indianapolis, Indiana, “Lahd Hahse” (Lucas Oil Stadium)
Host: Pat McAfee (ESPN)
Co-hosts: AJ Hawk, Toxic Table, Tone Diggs
Special Guests:

• Brandon Beane & Joe Brady (Buffalo Bills GM & HC)
• Nick Caserio (Houston Texans GM)
• Dan Morgan (Carolina Panthers GM)
• Randy Orton (WWE Superstar)
• Governor Mike Braun (Indiana)
• Sean Payton (Denver Broncos HC)
• Others referenced: John Schneider, Frank Gore, Luke Kuechly

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Overview

Pat McAfee and crew broadcast live from Indianapolis, the home of the NFL Combine for nearly four decades. This special episode is stacked with high-profile guests from across the NFL and wrestling world as the team dives deep on the start of draft season, NFL offseason intrigue, and the infectious energy pulsing through Indy during combine week. Alongside comeback stories, scouting tales, personnel debates, and a surprise drop-in from WWE’s Randy Orton, McAfee and friends bring their classic blend of expert football analysis and locker-room comedy. Top NFL execs share candid thoughts on prospects, process, and the changing landscape of both the league and sports business.

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NFL Combine Headlines & Opening Banter

00:00–10:24

• McAfee sets the stage, celebrating Indy's role as NFL Combine HQ for the 39th year and hinting at hot rumors circulating around the league.
• Discussion of coaching changes and the musical-chairs buzz of team turnarounds: "Ben Johnson in Chicago, McDonald in Seattle. Two year turnaround, they win the Super Bowl." [01:03]
• Hype for the day's show: Interviews with GMs, head coaches, wrestling royalty, and politicians all circling the stadium.
• Key Local Story: Indiana signs a bill to lure the Chicago Bears from Illinois by offering tax incentives and exemptions; McAfee teases an upcoming chat with Governor Braun on this. [01:47]
• NHL, NBA, and PWHL shoutouts, celebrating the thriving sports world.

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Combine Gambling & Scouting Metrics

03:05–10:24

• Tone Diggs discusses his combine prop bets, highlighting the wild numbers on the 40-yard dash, bench press, and broad jump.
• "The 40 yard dash...the over under is 4.265, which is absolutely flying." — Tone [03:52]
• Analysis on how arm length affects bench press and positional grading for prospects.
• Laughter about “ash judging” among defensive linemen; jokes about whether broad jump comes down to “bigger asses getting high.” [07:12]
• Nostalgic talk about the classic NFL combine experience, with a tipsy Tone Diggs in full vacation recovery.

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Notable Combine Prospects & Viral Potential

10:24–13:33

• Players to watch:
  • David Bailey (Texas Tech) — 14.5 sacks, top-5 prospect
  • Sonny Styles, Arvell Reese (Ohio State) — athletic freaks with massive production
  • Jacob Rodriguez — underdog, ex-QB, Army wife, fan favorite, "feels like everybody wants that guy on their team" [13:45]
• “Production-wise, he’s an absolute monster.” — Tone on Rodriguez [13:24]
• Emphasis on the value of authenticity and accurate pronunciation—fun banter around Pat's own name mispronunciations.

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Indy as Combine Host & Behind-the-Scenes

16:16–18:00

• Indianapolis just secured a 2-year extension to host the combine. The GMs and coaches value the medical infrastructure and the comfort/familiarity with the city’s layout for interviews, meetings, and nightlife.
• "It’s a perfect setup for the NFL,” Pat notes, with its mix of business and old-school football culture. [16:28]

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Deep Dives with NFL GMs/Coaches

Buffalo Bills — Brandon Beane & Joe Brady

20:57–55:22

On The Combine Process

• Beane: “The whole NFL is here for a week. The funnest part for me is getting in these meeting rooms for 20 minutes…just seeing what these guys’ football foundation is.” [21:49]
• Joe Brady keys into football IQ. He likes asking, “What's one play you want back?” and notes how memorable the answers—or lack thereof—are for identifying driven, self-aware players. [23:22]
• "You only think about the bad plays...there was 14 things I did that were the worst." — Pat [23:58]

On Draft Philosophy and Free Agency

• Beane: "We’re truly looking for best players right now. You never know how free agency is going to play out." [26:52]
• Buffalo's tight cap situation, with Beane quipping: “Not enough [money].” [26:59]
• On Josh Allen: “He earned it, by the way. Golden diapers.” [28:10]

On Measurement Mania

• Discussion of how combine metrics matter, but “it’s all one piece of the puzzle.” Beane: “I can’t remember where some quarterback got dramatically hurt or lost stock because of the combine.” [43:27]

Bills Stadium, Culture & Husk

• Upcoming stadium is 60% covered, finally grass.
• On team-building: “Culture is the most vital part of what you have going on right now.” [30:47]
• “Do we think our culture is strong enough to handle this guy?” — Beane on “risky” prospects [31:10]

Notable Quotes

• "We don’t hate weed in Buffalo. It gets cold up there." — Pat [31:26]
• “You got to match your culture.” — Pat [30:48]
• (On the stadium's massive Bison statues) “27,000 pounds.” — Beane [47:39]
• “If you don't win a Super bowl, everybody say you guys suck. That legitimately is...” — Pat [49:50]

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Houston Texans — Nick Caserio

64:12–82:37

• Caserio, a financial markets nerd, draws parallels between general managing and investing.
• On C.J. Stroud rumors: "He's our quarterback. Glad he's going to be here for next season." [67:07]
• On combine: “The performance on the field, what they do on tape...that's going to be the judge.” [68:26]
• Caserio is transparent on how Houston weighs free agency vs draft and the art of day-trading draft picks.
• “We're not beholden to just one particular way and one particular player... we capitalize when it makes sense.” [75:18]
• Closing on officiating/AI: “They have a hard job. Everybody's just looking for some level of consistency.” [78:48]

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Carolina Panthers — Dan Morgan

128:30–159:53

• Morgan on Carolina’s resurgence: "We're building a foundation... bringing the right type of guys in, guys that love football." [129:20]
• On QB Bryce Young: “To go through the adversity that he went through...I’m just so proud of him for doing that.” [131:33]
• Veteran backup Andy Dalton a trade target, but Morgan wants “to get a little younger and a little more athletic at that backup QB spot.” [133:03]
• Philosophy on scouting interviews: "We just ask them their story...I feel like if you're going to miss on a player, it's missing on the guy more than the player." [137:07]
• On blue bloods: “Our analytics department, they put together like a blue blood score—how they do against good opponents.” [143:50]
• Fun discussion on “dogs” and how the locker room was “pissed” (not satisfied) even after playoff run [141:00]
• Candor about his own hitting style: “We’re, like, going, like, face first into stuff and practice, knocking ourselves out...Now things are a lot better.” [154:12]

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Indiana Governor Mike Braun

110:03–124:35

• On the Bears-to-Hammond, Indiana potential relocation: “We believe it’s mostly due diligence left, just get the I’s dotted and T’s crossed...It’s going to be a lot easier to run a business over the next 40 or 50 years [in Indiana] than there.” [112:29]
• “The stadium will be built as soon as we start on all the preliminary work on real estate, but they'll be in Soldiers Field, the lease goes, I think, through 32 or 3...” [118:27]
• “Open for business. Reasonable regulations, taxes, high wages, low cost of living. What more would you want?” [114:31]

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Crossover Segment: WWE’s Randy Orton

83:06–108:23

• Randy Orton reflects on the surprise Euro crowd outpouring, one-of-a-kind entrance song singalongs:
  • “I've had that entrance song since 2008 or 9. No one ever sang it. All of a sudden...they start singing it. Okay, this is my music." [83:45]
• On staying power: “I haven't picked a motherfucker up in 20 years.” [86:23]
• His role in developing young WWE stars:
  • "You get to the point where I realized, oh, that's not possible. They can't take my spot. I’m Randy Orton. Sometimes I gotta remind myself that." [99:51]
• On the "Unreal" Netflix wrestling doc series: “Kayfabe is dead. This is entertainment. I understand it and I also hate it. I think it makes sense, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.” [105:00]
• On video games and family life: “My wife is absolutely amazing, man. ... I’ve effed up a bunch. But I got a bunch of good people around me—at work and just throughout my career.” [95:02]
• “If you’re a betting man, definitely bet on me. I'm winning that thing [Elimination Chamber].” [96:03]

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Sean Payton Impromptu Interview

168:27–185:21

• On Broncos turnaround: “Young and naive can be dangerous sometimes.”
• Heartbreaking moment: Bo Nix's injury ("third to last play of the game") and handling the news locker room. [169:52]
• Giving up playcalling to young coordinator Davis Webb: “I'm excited for him. I'll still be involved. ... it’s not on your timeline, it's much quicker [for these young coaches now].” [176:11]
• Modern training philosophy: “You have to cycle up and down. There’s never this just straight.” [178:05]
• Competition Committee/refs/AI: “The problem is Sunday I had gotten food poisoning...but I like those topics, when you’re passionate about the game...I’m easy to get fired up about some of those things.” [181:12]
• On rumors of Bears coming to Indiana: “Hard to believe, being from the Chicago area, that the Bears are going to be in northern Indiana...but it's happening.” [183:50]

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Memorable/Funny Moments & Quotes

• “A lot of ash judging happening here at the combine, because I can kind of tell you the type of athlete...” — Pat [07:13]
• "We don't hate weed in Buffalo. It gets cold up there. Got to be in the house." — Pat [31:29]
• “This is my Nick Eamon Warrior of this year. ... on physically gifted dudes.” — Tone on Sonny Styles [11:19]
• On combine prop-betting: “I don’t believe [you were sober]. I drink a lot on Friday and Saturday, but boom.” — Tone [05:47]
• “You got to have the answer though.” — Pat, on being prepared for player interviews [51:44]
• On the Bills’ stadium: "That thing's going to blow away. ... Some snow on its back, and we're broken back.” [48:04]
• On combine experience: "It's just viral moments. ... All of a sudden, Rich Eisen and Daniel Jeremiah are guiding you through everything else. We're having a podcast. We're talking ball. And then: 'Oh, shit, what just happened out here?'" — McAfee [19:32]
• “The only one that [Super Bowl prop bet] didn’t go over was Sam Darnold passing yards. … Kenneth Walker wins the MVP.” — Pat [04:53]

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Key Timestamps by Guest or Topic

• Buffalo Bills Interview: 20:57–55:22
• Houston Texans Interview: 64:12–82:37
• Carolina Panthers Interview: 128:30–159:53
• Randy Orton Interview: 83:06–108:23
• Governor Mike Braun: 110:03–124:35
• Sean Payton Drop-in: 168:27–185:21

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Closing Vibes

The show closes with a shoutout to the city of Indianapolis as the perfect host for the NFL Combine, excited reflection on what makes this event unique for the league and sports world, and humorous notes on technology, combine chaos, and the blending of sports, entertainment, and business.
As always:
“Be a friend, tell a friend something nice—it might change their life.”

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Summary Prepared for:

Fans, journalists, scouts, and anyone curious about the intersection of NFL Combine noise, front office thinking, and sports culture—with the bonus spice of wrestling and American politics.

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End of Summary

Transcript

[A]

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to Indianapolis, Indiana, the home of the combine for the 39th grade year. This Thursday, February 26, starts now. Football is absolutely spectacular and we're so incredibly pumped that the next NFL season has already started. So many things have happened here in Indianapolis. So many different rumors have started and been put out. So many different storylines have developed and which team is going to walk out of the combine knowing exactly who, who's going to change their program, change their organization, and maybe get them into a Lombardi conversation sooner than later. The world has seen the New England Patriots do what they did with Vrabo in his first year up there. Liam Cohen down in Jacksonville, how quick he was able to turn that around. Ben Johnson in Chicago, McDonald in Seattle. Two year turnaround, they win the Super Bowl. The combine is something that introduces a player to potentially his new home and bosses in a big way. A lot of behind the scenes stuff happening around here. Schrager's been talking about it all morning. He talked about how, you know, how he's got a little different tune about A.J. brown. Maybe he's listening to some offers. Those are the things that are happening at bars around this beautiful city of Indianapolis, Indiana. I guess, you know, Shrag is also is outing the best brunch place in town publicly.

[B]

Come on.

[A]

It's unbelievable. Shrags. There's some things that need to stay in Fight Club Brother in this entirety, but Indianapolis is alive. Indianapolis is buzzing and the NFL is spectacular. We're so incredibly lucky to be here. We got a packed show today. We got Joe Bray and Brand Bean joining us out Buffalo.

[C]

Hell yeah.

[A]

We got Nick Cassette joining us out of Houston. We got Randy Orton traveling in just a few days before the elimination chamber on Saturday. Up there in Chicago, we got Governor Mike Braun joining us of Indiana.

[D]

Okay.

[A]

A lot happening in that world. Are the Chicago Bears coming to Indiana?

[B]

Feels like it.

[A]

Well, I believe here in Indiana there's a signing of a bill that's happening that's basically the Bears bill that agrees to all the different tax rights and everything exemptions that are taking place up in Hammond that could potentially lure the Chicago Bears from the great state of Illinois into the better state of Indiana potentially. Now Illinois is answering today. They're having a vote, they're having a conversation on what they're going to be able to do for the Chicago Bears. Feels like the Bears team has handled this perfectly. This is a story as old as time. There's been so many different rumors about ownership or teams flying over Los Angeles or San Antonio. Whenever they're looking for a new stadium, the threat to leave is always the leverage that the team has against the state whenever they're trying to get state funded stuff. Will Illinois respond to what Indiana offered up? And if Illinois does respond, does Indiana go back to the drawing board? We will ask governor Mike Braun about that today and also ask him about hosting the combine here for 39 straight years. It is a spectacular thing. It is a massive piece of it. We're very thankful that he's stopping by. And then we got Dan Morgan, general manager of the Carolina Panthers, a man who I don't think has blinked in two years, but certainly done something special down in Charlotte. We'll talk about all the other sports that are happening. Some magic's happening obviously in the NHL and NBA's got stuff cooking and the PWHL is obviously on a run. The Boston Fleet are an absolute problem.

[B]

Duh.

[A]

An absolute. The Minnesota Frost though, pretty good.

[E]

Pretty good.

[A]

The team up there in Ottawa and Vancouver and then over in Seattle they got a good, good squad as well. So there's magic happening in sports and we can't wait to chit chat about all of it. Joined by an incredible group of boys. Tone Diggs is here. We appreciate the hell out of you, Tone. Yesterday you gave us a couple bets of the day. You said we think people are going to run fast and we think people are going to bench press strong today. Is there any bets or would you like to re kind of compound double down on your bets from yesterday or do we have new bets to potentially look at here at the combine? We're not saying that you should be out here gambling on combine, but however, if you're looking to gamble on the

[B]

combine, which some people are, there are

[A]

some things in the book that can certainly make these underwear Olympics a lot more interesting in the way we look at it.

[C]

Yeah, so yesterday I did too. I started with the 40 yard dash, which the over under is 4.265, which is absolutely flying the the fastest last year was 4.28. I did go with the under this year because there's a couple guys who ran 23.7 miles per hour this year on the field. Chris Hilton Jr. Of LSU and Brennan Thompson of Mississippi State. So that translates to a 4, 2, 6. Okay. I did the math, I did the equations.

[B]

I see today, by the way, I see you side eyed me, Tony.

[C]

So I'm just saying there's a chance out here. Yes, thank you. Out here on the coconut husk, there's a chance it goes under 4265. I do not think the under 421 Xavier Worthy is going to be in. In trouble this year. I think he's still going to be the record holder. And then the other one was the bench press one. Also an equation I did. Guys who are benched over 500 for one rep translates to over 33 or 35 and a half for the bench press. So I went over on that one today. I do have two more.

[A]

Here we go. Hey, what did you do with your super bowl bets of the week? How was that record?

[C]

It was four and one, I believe.

[A]

Okay, okay. So we need to potentially. Listen, the only one that see what

[C]

you're seeing, the only one that didn't go over was Sam Darnold. Passing yards, you know, they didn't have to pass late.

[A]

Kenneth Walker wins the mvp. Obviously that's going to be a part of it, but. Hey, Connor. Boston Connors here. And college football national champion, super bowl champion, Ryder cup winner A.J. hawk is here. What we're not taking into account. He was seeing a board maybe during radio row. That was the end of the season. He had the AP vote. He was really dying. Oh, yeah, he's just been boozing for the last two weeks with his wife. Have you seen what him. Great times.

[B]

Fantastic. Yeah, yeah. They're calling him the mayor of the elbow room down there in la. Daddy. When Chucky's out, you're kind of in step there with his kind of vibes.

[A]

Because the way he's selling these bets of the combine, I'm like, yeah, it makes sense. But then I got to remember this dude's been boozing on a beach for two and a half weeks. I'm seeing the border.

[C]

You are not wrong. You're 1,000% not wrong. But I took my vacation Thursday to Tuesday of that first week. In the second week, I've been clean, dry and sober for a week.

[A]

Okay, study.

[C]

I don't believe that. Well, I drink a lot on Friday and Saturday, but boom.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

Espresso martini. You weren't there, actually. Okay, so you missed Martin yesterday.

[C]

See?

[A]

All right.

[C]

Okay. But no, I think we're good. We did the research or whatever. Today I wanted to start with the. The broad jump. It is over under 11.458ft, which is 137 and a half inches is the over under there. Juiced to the longer. And I think that's because Jeff Caldwell, he's a wide receiver out of Cincinnati, jumped 119 this last year in their Testing at Cincinnati, which would go over by what, 4 or 5 inches there. There's a couple other there. Sonny Styles, the Ohio State linebacker is an absolute freak.

[G]

Okay.

[C]

An absolute freak. I don't know if he's going to go more than this, but he's a freak. But the guy, Jeff Caldwell out of Cincy, the wide receiver who jumped 11,9 in this off season, I believe is who I'm going to go with to go over on the broad jump. The hot. The last year even worry jumped 138. That was the longest last year. Yeah.

[A]

So we're playing on another longest ever.

[B]

What's the longest ever to combine?

[F]

Is that.

[C]

I think I saw like 142 or something like that.

[A]

That's so much.

[F]

No.

[B]

That those guys are so explosive when you can broad jump like that. It's just for absolute.

[A]

So I didn't play football growing up, so maybe it affected me. That one I could never figure out.

[B]

I'm not good at landing.

[A]

Landing hurts. I cannot figure out the. How do I jump that I could always jump up.

[B]

Like it's kind of a combination up and out combination.

[A]

Yeah, you gotta kind of go out there. But it involves. That's explosive. Yes, that is where you judge it. Like obviously the vertical is explosion. How explosive are you? Normally bigger asses are getting high. That's normally where you can kind of judge explosion. A lot of ash judging happening here at the combine because I can kind of tell you the type of athlete. It's kind of an indicator in this entire thing. Broad jump, though, you have to create something out of nothing while also going forward. That's the most difficult one. I think in my eyes. If we get somebody going longer than 137, longer than Amy Warrior, I'd be incredibly impressed.

[B]

Yeah, but Tony's locked in on these too. We got to remember when he became the COVID cowboy, he had to go into a hole. Now this is kind of a boozy, boozy tone. Boozy beach tone. Probably down there in Florida.

[C]

People say my best.

[B]

Yeah, that. That helps him more than anything. Like we socially. Even just going yesterday. Always even just going to yesterday to his over bench press, you know, idea. You come to today and all of a sudden I got the longest arms out of every D lineman in the combine this year. I'm starting to think that bench press might go over 40 and the over under was 35 and a half.

[A]

A lot of people talking about arm size and arm length and it was certainly coming up in our conversation because it is a big Storyline, especially with Bane, which how much respect we have with them and Cash's how much respect we have. Arms are coming in shorter than like anybody in the history of ball base.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

And their defensive ends and edges. And when it happens to tackles out there, it's hand to hand combat, you know, and if you lose the reach advantage in hand to hand combat, that's a problem. So that is why it's a storyline. And teams will certainly look at that and how they judge it and how they view it versus the tape and everything is obviously different. We think Bane and Howard, both dogs, but we're just saying those are real stats. Whenever you're talking about NFL tackles and everything like that. But what it does bode well for is the bench press.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. Especially when it's big guys. When big guys got that barrel chest like AQ ship. AQ ship.

[C]

Got to move it three inches.

[A]

He was built like the Michelin tire man there for a while. Had the second smallest, shortest arms in the history of the NFL. 12 year NFL vet, Super bowl champion. He has always been good at the back arch.

[B]

They let him arches back all the

[A]

way up, all the way this way. And then all of a sudden that's it. And it's like, Yeah, I do 60 of them. It's like, must be nice. And then you have the conversation. Yeah. But you're going to get long armed by everybody's, oh, we're not talking about that. We're talking about the bench. So it does feel like this is just today and just a couple big names. This might be a short arm class and that bodes very well for the bench. They might debuck all the theories going forward.

[C]

Yeah, there are a couple barrel chested D linemen that I didn't mention yesterday. Dante Corleone, the Godfather out of Cincinnati and then big citrus out of Iowa State. Both of them have a chance to go over the bench. But my last bet for today. So I went under on the 40. We're going to be fast.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

We're going to be strong with the bench. We're going to jump far with the broad. I'm going under on this one. It's 43 and a half for the vertical jump, which is just 43 and core. Oh, did it change?

[A]

43.25.

[C]

Oh, it is.

[G]

You're right.

[C]

43.25, which is on me. Even worry was 43 and a half last year. He's kind of the measuring stick. I don't think anybody's getting there this year. I mean, I Got a couple guys. Sonny Styles, who I mentioned was a basketball freak, Ohio State, but he's What? He's. He's 250 pounds. Okay. Eli Stowers, the tight end out of Vandy, is an absolute freak. Kenyan Sadiq jumped 42 inches in the offseason. He might get close, but I don't see anyone getting 43 and a half.

[A]

That's huge. The athletes are insane. Let's go to A.J. hawk, one of those athletes.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Yeah. One of those guys that did his absurd stuff alongside Bobby Carpenter, you know, wearing all white tights in front of the NFL, letting them peacock around, get a little check, get a little look, see how you doing. Keep it moving. AJ A lot of notables. Lot of notables working out today. Ton, who are some guys that are going to be notables that we have? Obviously, I don't want to say superstardom, but guys that are very notable that are going to be working out or not working out today. What is kind of the news.

[C]

Yeah, I don't know if you can pull them up or not, foxy. But we'll start with David Bailey. The edge from Texas Tech, 14 and a half sacks in 20, 25. He was one of the leaders in the nation. He transferred from Stanford to Texas Tech. They spent a shit ton of money on him, and it was very, very well spent. He's supposed to go in the top five. He's going to be out there today doing the drills. I talked about Sonny Styles a lot because he is my. He is my Nick Eamon warrior of this year. And I'm not talking about. He's not a safety, obviously, but. And he's not going to follow the

[F]

second round of it.

[C]

But I'm just talking about physically gifted dudes. He had one missed tackle on the entire year. He's an absolute freak. He's going to broad jump 11. He's going to vert 40. He's going to run well. Sonny Styles is up there. Everyone should know his name. The other one, Arvell Reese.

[B]

Okay, well, Arvell.

[A]

Yes, yes, yes. Allegedly, it was potentially clerical error.

[C]

Clerical error.

[B]

Excuse me.

[A]

Yeah, we were trying to do the right thing because we've been a part of a few of these before in the biggest way, whenever we're drafting, announcing a draft pick, where names have changed or pronunciations have changed, and we try to get it right. Because whenever people say McAfee, I say, no, it's McAfee. And then they say, like, the antivirus. Bingo. And that's always the interaction that I have to have. And then I say, it's more than an antivirus, which you should certainly download the app, by the way. We should play a little defense against these trolls. So I, as somebody who's had my name pronounced wrong for a lot, large portion of my life I'll never forget. I think we were playing in Washington. Primetime game. Penn answer coming out the kick, opening kickoff or whatever, Adam Vinateri.

[B]

Oh, that's not an easy one.

[A]

Was it kind of cool, though? Was not. I'm out there, I'm like, that's sick. So then I kick it off, and then somebody told, hey, that's not Adam Vinteri.

[C]

Next one.

[A]

Coming out to kick Pat McAfee. All right, all right. Hopefully we get out here again for a third one, and then literally the Third one hit McAfee or whatever. So we try to get it right.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

So allegedly there was a little. Claire. Something happened.

[C]

Yeah. Arvell still are available.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

As we saw this year, he is an absolute monster. Okay. He's getting. He's getting the Micah Parsons treatment because he played off the ball a lot. Ohio State. He's projecting. A lot of people projecting him to play on the ball in the. Look at. Just look at that. Absolute monster. He is huge. He's the same size as Sonny Styles. He's supposed to run really well today. And then the last one, who is the only one on this list who's not projected in the first round. Jacob Rodriguez is an absolute monster, though. Over the last two seasons, 255 tackles and 15 forced turnovers. I'll be very. Everyone's very, very excited to see what he runs and what he does today because production wise, he's an absolute monster.

[B]

He can make himself a bunch of money today.

[A]

Yeah. And I think the more they talk to him, the more they're going to like him. And then they're going to start watching more film. He was a quarterback whenever he went to college, and then Obviously he won $250,000. Con man. Yeah.

[B]

No big deal. And he reeks of one of those guys that everybody knows when you're, you know, watching college football, but then for some reason doesn't go in the first round because of some bullshit. I don't know if maybe.

[A]

Yeah, like third round.

[B]

Exactly. Intimidated by the Stash and he ends up going in the second or third, and then he's, you know, first team all, rookie, whatever. And he's one of those guys that feels like he. Everyone's fan favorite. Like some guys, like Arvel Reese and Sonny Styles polarizing because they're Ohio Buckeyes Rodriguez. It feels like everybody wants that guy on their team.

[A]

Wife's an Army Blackhawk helicopter pilot. Badass. And you know. And with that throw got raised $250,000 for the children of Fallen Patriots Foundation. It's like, unbelievable, dude. Every time we've been around him and he was a quarterback coming into college, and then he becomes this linebacker. Then he just starts taking over everything. But right now it feels like AJ we're back in linebacker. You Ohio State. It really is Arvel and Sonny. Who was Arvel was the guy that Sean told me about before a game day.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

So I talked to. We had Ohio State, Texas, first week of game day. Obviously, it was gigantic. Arch Manning take down Julian Sane. The reigning champs taking on a rematch of the semifinal. I mean, it was. It was gigantic. And right before I went up on stage, happens every week whenever I'm doing that show. I try to ask like, quick hitters before I get up there by like, whoever it is, AD or somebody that works in the building. There's a guy named Sean Perkins who is with Ohio State, who. We love this guy. So right before I'm about to go upstage, I'm like, hey, who's somebody that if I say that, like, hey, I'll sound like a genius? That. That is what I'm trying to do right now. You know it. I don't know who it is. I'm better. Practice you have. And he goes, arvell Reese is the guy you need to say. And I go, that's sick name, too. And then I get up there and then I get towards the end and I'm making the pick, and I'm like, what the. I forgot his name. But then you watch the season go. He was.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

And he. He was absolutely everything. Him and Sonny were special. Ohio State's got some weapons coming into this draft class, but I think that's just norm for you guys, I guess.

[B]

Yeah, that's norm. These two are not the norm when it comes to, like, physical stature and freak athletic ability. Guys like this don't come around very often. Both six, four, almost six foot five, 230, £250 between there somewhere. And. I mean, Arvel Reese, he's. He's developed there.

[H]

He.

[C]

He's.

[B]

He hadn't played for a couple years. He's played sparingly. Had to, you know, was just putting on weight, becoming a better player. And then he has a breakout year. Sonny Styles came in with a Bunch of hype. A bunch of. I watched Sonny Styles play. I believe he reclassified so it would have been his junior year of high school in the state finals. Division one state finals, the biggest division in Ohio. And he was an unbelievable basketball player as well. Sonny's dad played at Ohio State, his brother plays there. Just a great line of athletes, but guys that I think will impress not only in the classroom but obviously on the field. We'll see whatever their numbers they put up, but yeah, looking for big days from them.

[A]

Okay, so those are the notable be working out today here at beautiful loud house, host of the NFL. I don't know if this is going to remain here forever, but I do like that we just signed another two year extension.

[B]

Yeah, sweet.

[A]

It's, it's a perfect setup medical wise. I, I mean everything is perfect. But you saw what they did with the draft. I, I was very lucky that I got to announce the two year extension with combine and visit India and Indianapolis and everything like that. And immediately after announce. What up, John Lynch? Hey, good luck out there, dude.

[B]

Who have the team.

[A]

Yeah, I think he is. He said we will do anything. He will definitely look into it. But the NFL, they started opening up tickets what three years ago for this thing four years ago. And the numbers have only doubled each single year that they go. And with what the draft has done, it's only a matter of time, it feels like till they're gonna try to move it. The only thing holding it back is the medical is the most important part of this. So you can't just pick up all that and just kind of go have MRI machines everywhere. Everywhere. Yeah.

[C]

And the coaches and, and GMs are so comfortable with it here. The draft is one thing because the coaches and GMs they're not there. The teams aren't there like they're in their own war rooms or whatever. So the draft is really just people setting up the draft, the NFL, stuff like this. This is the coaches and GMs and, and all the scouts, they're just so comfortable with all their meeting spots here where the boozing every single day. Yeah. What they do where they're a lot

[A]

of boozing out of these football guys. You know, they're saying the younger generation booze is down like 150% or something like that. I forget what. It's like an absurd crazy number. Which congrats to them if that's what they're cyclical. It'll be cyclical. These football dudes are all from the era of we're hammering beers and we're doing football and there's a lot of that happening around town. It is a special vibe here. Speaking of special, there's a couple people that could have special days. I think you already mentioned one of them.

[C]

Yeah. So there's a, there's a lot of guys who, we just mentioned the nodals, who everybody knows if that's, those are like household names. A few guys that I wanted to point out who aren't household names unless you're. You're super into college football. I want to start with a Cincinnati linebacker, Jake Golday. You're going to be, you're going to look at him, be like, is this guy actually going to perform well? I don't know why you would say that, but just looking at him, why. I think it's because he's Irish. Yes, because he's. Because he's Irish. But this is gold day.

[A]

I owe Gold day. It is today, Jacob. Gold day.

[B]

Jaco.

[F]

Gold day.

[B]

Yeah, Goldale.

[C]

But he's, he's going to be another one of these guys who is 6, 6 5, 2 4, 250 at Cincinnati when they did their testing. He would have been number one in the combine last year for both the, the 20 yard shuttle, the three cone drill and then also the, the broad jump. He would have been like second or third last year. So he's supposed to test out of the market today. He's going to be a really, really good guy for these teams in this combine. The second guy that I want to look at is Kyle Lewis. He's from Pitt. He's a bit of an undersized linebacker, but that's fine because he moves like an underside. He moves really well. He's not like a stiff undersized linebacker. He's really good in coverage. He has 10 sacks last two years, six interceptions, 180 tackles. He's not afraid to stick his nose in there and he's supposed to run really well today. And then the last guy that I wanted to talk about is out of Illinois, the edge, Gabe Akis, who is just absolutely huge. He's like 65270 guy over 20 miles per hour on, on the readings this year at 19 sacks. The last two years he benched over 30 reps. He's an absolute freak. He's another one who is supposed to show out here at the combine.

[A]

This is what the combine is. It's just viral moments.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Whenever people do something absurd, it's a viral moment. And then Rich and Daniel Jeremiah are kind of guiding you through everything else. We're having a podcast. We're talking ball. And then. Oh, shit. What just happened out here? These are the guys that could potentially steal the show today, is what you're saying in your eyes?

[C]

Yes. These guys along. Like, it was crazy because last year was a lot of guys who you weren't sure about. Like, the names you weren't sure about who performed really well this year with Sunny Styles and Arvell Reese. Like, and all the top names are also supposed to be that.

[A]

How's the game's last name spelled or said there?

[C]

Akis.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

The J is. The J is silent.

[A]

It looks like.

[B]

Oh, like Django.

[A]

But D. Oh, yeah. So very different then first letter. What is it then?

[C]

Akis, I believe just.

[A]

Just the amount of people that have called him jackass. I don't like it. I don't lean into it, though. Well, especially whenever he jacks this entire place. For sure. Yeah. We can't wait to watch. Okay, let's move away from the workouts on the field. Let's move to the. That are judging them. Okay. Let's move to the people that are the gatekeepers for the NFL and let's move to a city that we absolutely love. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now, the general manager and the head coach of the Buffalo Beals. Just dapping up Josh McCown, the general manager, Brandon Bean, and Joe Brady. Appreciate you, dude. How you doing, man? Good to see you, dude. Can't wait to see you. Hey, Joe, how about the. All right, yeah, I'll wait. Yeah, Joe.

[C]

Pleasure meeting you, Joe.

[A]

Good to see you. Hey, Joe, we've been doing this quarterback throw thing at the end. I just want to let you know, Brandon Bean hustled us out of a big money donation thing whenever he was golfing. You remember that?

[F]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

About his score.

[D]

He's.

[C]

Stand back.

[A]

So I would like to let you know, Joe, I'm not letting you throw, Mr. Bean. You're gonna have to throw at the end of the stream. Have that in your back of your mind.

[I]

I love it.

[H]

I love it.

[A]

Somehow I'm gonna lose this bet. Yeah, certainly. I can't wait to see how much you donate. That's so cool that you're doing that being. It feels like you love this entire process. We've had the opportunity, you've opened up your doors for us to kind of watch through your eyes on how this whole process works. Whenever you get back out here, what is the thing that you're most eager for? Is it learning about the guys? Is it what, like, what is the thing that you're most eager? Or is it the backdoor booze and deals that are going on? What is it, though, for you that you look forward to most out?

[G]

Yeah, I mean, listen, it is fun to see everybody. It's. The whole NFL is pretty much here for a week. But I think the funnest part for me is getting to get in these meeting rooms for 20 minutes. And it sounds boring, but just seeing that where these guys are, what their football foundation is, kind of what their knowledge is of the game, where they're going, who they've learned from, who they've played for, just. It's a chance to finally hear what they know. You see them with the, you know, with their helmet and their uniform on, but you really don't know. Some guys look like they're smart, but you get them on the board. Maybe the guy next to them, if it's an O lineman, maybe the guy next to them is kind of helping them and they don't know as much. So we've been. We just literally finished again this morning with another eight or nine guys, and we got a few more later.

[A]

Okay, so let's fire you up. I like that you have good energy in there. Is there anything that you asked specifically that helps you know about the human a little bit? Like yesterday, what did Schneider say? What cereal did he eat in the morning?

[B]

Yep.

[A]

And I gave him a full answer about how Fruity Pebbles is the right answer because it's most consistent and also never changed with any of the government bylaws. You know, the Cocoa Puffs used to be much more cocoa, and then we had to get rid of some of the stuff, and then it wasn't as good. Fruity Pebbles has remained great throughout the entirety. And on the back of every Fruity Pebbles box, you kind of learn something. You know, there's some little trivia thing on there. So I feel like I'm getting better in the morning. If I would have given him that answer, I'm sure that would have been an answer that they would have told other people later. Like, this just gave me this first round pick. But is there any of those things that are happening, like, for real? Because we've heard these stories, like, what's the appliance? What's this? Like, are you asking any of these weird questions to try to get them off the script, or is it just kind of like, like, hey, let's talk here and be a human and try to figure it out.

[G]

Now we don't get too Crazy. I mean, Joe's got some pretty good questions he throws out at them.

[A]

What do you do, Joe? What do you say?

[H]

Nothing. Yeah, install offense. See what they know. No, nothing. I just want to know football. Like, just. I like trying to get. You can tell when the guy. You ask them a question. That's what they've been practicing for the last few months, right? So, look, I always like to ask them, like, hey, what's one play you want back? And, you know, football guys, right? They're naturally thinking about the, you know, look, we don't want the negatives, right? But like, when a guy's sitting there and he's like, for 10 minutes, he's like, I don't remember any play that I want back. It's like, you know, are you. You going to bed thinking about football? You know? You know, and what'd you learn from that? You know what I mean? Like, if it's going to happen again, do you remember? You know, so there's always.

[A]

Yeah, because you only think about the bad place.

[H]

Yeah.

[A]

In my head, you're supposed to. I just went through instantly. Whenever you said one play, you went back and there was 14 things that I did that were the worst that I've ever done and I wanted to never show my face in public again. Yeah, you'd be surprised.

[H]

There's. Sometimes there's like, there's quarterbacks, right? And it's, man, we played a bowl game a month ago and it was like, how many touchdowns you throw this past year? And they'll, you know, they know how many touchdowns, right? And it was like, well, what was the play of the last touchdown? And don't remember. I'm like, well, there's gonna be times where you're playing football and, you know, you threw a pick. That safety was off the hash cover, too. And you're like, the next time I get that. Look, man, I'm not going to get fooled by it, but if you can't even remember the play call from your, you know, your touchdown. Drew Brees, I bet if I asked Drew Brees a play right now, he, Sean Payton would talk about some things and he'd be like, 20 years ago. And. And he was like, that wasn't the play call, this was the play call.

[A]

So that's just like the separator of like football iq, it seems like. And also buy into ball. What has it been like with him as the head coach? Sounds like you've really enjoyed the opportunity of a fresh conversation or a fresher conversation in these meetings.

[G]

It's been great. You know, Joe's brought a great perspective just from an offensive guy's first time. He set in on defensive guys, so just kind of picking their brains. He's probably stealing stuff for himself.

[D]

But.

[G]

No, it's. There's been a good energy. You know, we bring the position coach in as well, who kind of. I kind of get tee it off with him just to kind of get them warmed up. Ask him a couple things. Just, you know, why did you. Why did you come out early? Why did you. Why did you transfer three times? You know, this. The crazy world we're in. Was it just money? Was it opportunity, whatever it is, but at that point, turn it over to the position coach, he's kind of running the film or putting them on the board. And then Joe and I are kind of just chiming in, hey, what was. What was your weight there? You looked heavy. This game. Or, you know, just kind of try to see what they own up to. Sometimes you're even asking them stuff about, hey, I know you got suspended for a game. We kind of know why they got suspended. You know, a weed violation or one of them is covering up like a smoke detector in a hotel or something.

[C]

Just.

[G]

Just see what they own up to. And if they, you know, of course, we've run into four or five guys that they are. They're never going to smoke weed again.

[A]

They should. Nobody does it anymore.

[G]

Allegedly.

[A]

Hey, if it got them here, they need to keep doing it. Okay? That's my take on this entire thing. And Laramie Tunzel should have been the number one overall pick when that video came out. And he didn't cough that his lungs were better than anybody's lungs in the history. I sent a text to the building and I was like, hey, I've seen the particular device that is currently going viral right now. The fact that he did not cough tells me, go get him. He is all pro and look at him now. Exactly. Those are my scouting things. You guys all have. Everyone's got their own. Okay, those of you got your own. Last question for me before the boys have something. We appreciate you guys and we will appreciate the hell out of you as this continues to go. For being so nice to us. Your organization is incredibly kind to us, always has been. And I don't know if you'll give me this away, but is there years where you're coming in knowing exactly what you're looking like, hey, we need to do this. We need this, and we need this. Like, is there a hyper focus or Are you looking for best players right now?

[G]

No, we're truly looking for best players because one of the things about the draft, you don't know how free agency is going to play out even with your own guys.

[A]

How much money do you have?

[G]

Not enough.

[A]

100 million is what Tennessee got yesterday.

[B]

We were talking.

[C]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

But it's only going up, though.

[G]

It feels like it is, but, you know, we know what, what the range is going to be. We still, it's not a final number yet, but we gotta work to get under. Yeah, we're probably going to be 15 to 19, 20 over that. We got to get under and we've already started doing some maneuvers. We, we restructured Spencer Brown the other day to get, you know, ten and a half back.

[F]

But.

[G]

But we know we have some more work to do over the next couple weeks so that A, we can get under and B, we can make, you know, the moves we need to make.

[A]

AJ Has a question for you.

[E]

Yeah.

[H]

Fortunately, we got a quarterback that we pay. That makes life a little easier for us too.

[A]

Yeah. You know, anytime you're talking to anybody that comes to the combine, there's. There's two. There's haves and have nots. The haves are the ones that have a quarterback. Okay. And the have nots are. Oh, they gotta build a team around this guy.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

You know, and it's a different animal.

[C]

50 with Mahomes Chiefs did I think last week or whatever. Just because, you know, his contract is huge. I'm sure Josh will do that.

[A]

So you're trying to learn? Are you trying to learn?

[G]

Well, there's one thing to free it up. There's another if he would give some back. That's what, that's. So if you could talk to Josh

[C]

and tell him

[B]

he's a father now. He's busy. Congrats still from his kids.

[A]

Good lord, those are going to be golden diapers. He earned it, by the way. Earned it.

[B]

Both you. But coach, you can go first. I guess when you're watching guys run and work out, let's say today. Are you just trying to like, say you're really high on certain people from their film and they're tape and their production.

[D]

They just.

[B]

Are you just trying to confirm, like,

[A]

hey, this guy's not.

[B]

I, you know, he plays very fast on film, but I don't want him to run a 4, 8, 5 if he's playing linebacker. Are you just trying to confirm what you see on film for the guys you like? And then like, how do you Balance that with some of these guys that jump out of nowhere, I guess, to the casual fan, all of a sudden have a great combine. You think, oh, this guy's super fast. He's going to be a great football player. Which. Which isn't always the case. Like, how do you balance that? I guess.

[H]

Yeah, well, shoot, sometimes there's guys that we know play really fast, and you hope they run a 4. 8. It helps us a little bit.

[A]

Nice 40, man.

[H]

Good slow start. Yeah. No, there's. Look there at the end of the day, right? This is important. Right. That's why we're here. But, you know, they put a lot of. A lot of. A lot of clips.

[B]

The resume's on tape already.

[G]

You know what I mean?

[H]

Like, they're working linebacker, Ohio State. Like, that's. I could have had a great workout. Or not. But you saw what I.

[C]

You don't have to kiss.

[H]

When I was like, no, trust me, you know, look, look, I've sat in a lot of formals with all these defensive players, right? So I'm learning all this stuff right now. So I see what it was like. But, yeah, I mean, look, I like watching what they're like when they're not doing the drills. Are they out by themselves? You know, you're looking at all the little things. Not just.

[B]

Are they thinking the trainer giving them the water bottle, Are they making the trainer squirting?

[A]

Are they squirting their own water in the water?

[B]

That's a big one.

[A]

Do you have a rule on that?

[H]

Do I. I do not.

[B]

Especially if you don't really know the trainers, too, and you're sitting your hands

[A]

on your hips and they're squirting water.

[B]

Like, he might be crossed off the list. No, you.

[H]

But we are looking at. At everything right now, right? That's what. That's. Everything's an interview right now. So it's just depending on what you take stock in. But, yeah, no, it's all important.

[A]

You guys have the greatest training staff in the NFL. I would say they won awards for it. You know, there's. The entire thing.

[H]

Absolutely.

[A]

They're not spraying water in anybody's mouth, right?

[G]

No.

[A]

Yeah. We are on a crusade against that because they were starting to come into football a little bit.

[G]

N. We don't need that.

[A]

Like, if your gloves.

[F]

I understand.

[A]

If there's a situation.

[H]

I got to be a little more alert to this.

[F]

Yes, you do.

[H]

I'm bothered right now.

[A]

It's about.

[B]

No matter how tired you are, you can grab that water bottle and squirt in your mouth.

[A]

All right, well, and also this crew,

[H]

we don't give water help save.

[B]

Even better salt tabs. Get it yourself.

[A]

You better get the paddles, too. But it feels like if somebody was to not do that for me, just like AJ Said, I would just rule them out. And I think you guys have an incredible culture. So, like, finding the humans and how they interact and everything, it seems like is the most vital part of what you have going on right now. If they match your culture, is there people that get in there after you pick them and go, man, I was wrong. I was wrong on this. Yeah. Buyer's remorse, I guess would happen all the time.

[G]

Yeah, I think also.

[A]

Or, wow, I didn't expect this guy to be as awesome as a Buffalo.

[G]

It's been both. But, yeah, there's. Sometimes you're like, man, I didn't expect this. But that's where you hope a strong culture can. Hey, let's. Let's pull them over. Let's don't. Let's don't let them drift over here. Let's help pull them over. There's always guys. You say, hey, if that guy went to the wrong city or the wrong team, look out. And we talk about that. Hey, he's got some things. Do we think our culture is strong enough to handle this guy, or do we think he's too far over here? He's just. He's just not going to be a fit. He's going to be a turn off to his teammates.

[A]

We don't hate weed in Buffalo. It gets cold up there. Got to be in the house.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

Connor has a question for you guys.

[B]

Yeah. Being Brett Veach said something pretty interesting just about the combine in general and the draft. He said, you know, 25 of their top 100 players are going back to college now.

[D]

And.

[B]

And that's something that isn't normal, per se or, but it's something that will probably continue to go. Have you seen that now with the combine and with the draft in general, that there are older players and you have to kind of factor that in a little bit just because guys have stayed in college six, seven years at this point? And is that something that you also expect will affect the draft and just kind of how you look at it going forward? And are younger players more at a premium now than ever because of that sense? Or is that something that doesn't matter? You're just looking for production once they're in the NFL?

[G]

Well, you are looking for, you know, young guys that you feel can still grow not the guys that are not at their ceiling. That's, that's exciting. But, and I do, and I will agree with that, too, there's guys now that we're grading as underclassmen that years ago you'd be like, there's no way. He's not coming out. He's going in the second round, third round. The money's going to be too good. But they're, they're still taking it down to the end, waiting and, and some of them are going, if I'm a first round pick, I'm coming out. If I'm not, I'm. If I'm in the second, I want to come back and see if I can get myself into the first round. And listen, there's agents, there's, you know, coaches from college calling. Where do you guys see this guy? We're trying to educate ourselves, but the money's so good. I mean, you get 2, 3 million bucks to come back, guaranteed money. You know, it's. I understand why these, why these guys are going back.

[A]

Whenever you think about the NIL era and everything that's happening right now, you being in the building I think is good news, because you know the culture, you know the team, you know everything like that. But obviously you coach in college, then you get to the NFL, you do your thing. Have you seen a generational change here? Like, I don't know how you're going to coach. I haven't been in there. But they talk about, you know, like, I think a benefit to the NIL era is these guys go through their first amount of money earlier. So, like the fat pocket syndrome that happens to guys potentially has already happened. Maybe, hopefully you would assume so you guys don't have to deal with that. But there's obviously other drawbacks as well. How have you kind of experienced this modern era as a coach? I know Josh Allen's cowboy from out in the middle of nowhere. But whenever this younger generation has to mix with you olds in there, how has it and what is that for you if, as you view it?

[H]

Well, it is unique. Unique, right. Like you watch the draft, like I remember growing up, you'd watch and everybody would get drafted. And I mean, everybody's crying. It's like you finally have an opportunity to make money where now guys are like, I'm actually taking a pay cut in some. Right.

[A]

You know, actually.

[H]

But on the flip side, we. A lot of times you draft the guy and money is going to change him. Well, we already know what, what money looks like with this guy. You Know, we've seen. Hey, did the nil. Did it impact him in college? You know, he got paid his sophomore year, and, man, after sophomore year, his. It declined. So we already know that money impacted him. We don't have to wait till we draft him in the first round, and then it's like, oh, what's it going to look like? So there's a. It's a different type of player, but at the end of the day, like, I do think that the money, in a sense, has helped us kind of understand what we're getting a little more.

[A]

Are you two going to be on the same page with picks, or are you going to be jumping on the table for a guy and he's going to go behind the door and say he doesn't like a guy? I heard that's what happens with you guys. I heard that's what happens. That whole process, obviously that clip was huge, and it. Everything in the NFL is huge, but what is that dynamic? Because obviously you've been there, done that, you've done a lot of these. He has witnessed you do it. You have a lot of success. We go through your shit, you get a lot of success. Now, obviously, having won a Super bowl set is all you're being judged upon. Just like Josh, just like what's happening in Baltimore with Lamar. But when it comes to, like, making selections, how much do you guys agree beforehand? Like, how much input? Like, how does that kind of come about?

[G]

Yeah, I mean, I think everything you do, listen, at the end of the day, he's got to make decisions. On fourth down, he's got to make decisions whether to. What we're gonna do with the coin toss.

[A]

Yeah, you like points, right? We kick field goals.

[H]

Yeah, I like. I like points. I like touchdowns, too, though. But I like points.

[B]

Okay, take the field goal.

[G]

But no, I think. I think it's one of those things. Listen, we're. We're collaborative. We're. We're in lockstep. And the thing about Joe is we've been through this. We've talked about free agents in the past. We've talked about draft. Joe's sat in the draft room last year to just kind of see some of our process, because a couple, about three weeks before the draft, we bring the coaches in and just kind of hear their opinion. We keep them separate from the scouting opinion right now just to see they've zoomed this player, they've met him here, they might have gone to a pro day, bring them in. And then, you know, Joe and I were talking Last year, and he was like, man, I'd love to see what y' all do after. After we come in there. So walk on in, the door's open.

[I]

And.

[G]

And so he kind of saw our process a little bit more. So this year we'll. We'll continue, you know, to kind of do that. And. And he. He sees the process. At the end of the day, it's about getting it right for the Bills. It's not about who I want. It's not about who he wants. There may be an area scout that stands on the table, quote, unquote, and, you know, convinces us this is the guy or this is not the guy, and we just got to get it right for us. As, like I said, it's. It's. It's not going to. I don't think it's going to be a big deal. We go through every scenario beforehand. So when we're getting close to the clock, we've already talked about kind of which way we're going to lean if it's down to this guy or that guy.

[A]

How many picks do you have?

[G]

We have seven.

[A]

I got a good news for you, buddy.

[G]

You got me some more picks?

[A]

No, we'd like one of those. Stephen Holder is reporting the Indianapolis Colts have given Anthony Richardson permission to seek a trade, given his uncertain future in Indy. ESPN has learned he was number four overall pick. So you give us your first.

[B]

And Josh, maybe.

[A]

Yeah. Swap Josh and Anthony.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

See, Remember we were talking about this, what, last year?

[B]

Exactly.

[C]

Something to think about.

[A]

Let's talk. Hey, Joe, remember when they drafted Josh, you weren't here. Yeah. You weren't your guy. Not your guy.

[C]

All right, this interview is over.

[A]

On that note, Anthony, if you do find a new team, good luck, dude. Honestly, I mean, between injuries, missing, learning how to become a pro with not a lot of football, and then the freak accident happening in et al, fresh start could be incredible. And if it's for the Buffalo Bills number one overall pick, we will certainly be pumped up about that. Tone has a question for you guys.

[C]

Yeah. Being the interview can't be over because we haven't done our annual tradition yet. I'm not sure if you've seen wide receiver class is pretty good.

[G]

Let's go.

[C]

Who do you like? Who do you like? Who's the wide receiver this year?

[A]

I like them all.

[G]

There's some good ones. We've interviewed a few, but it.

[C]

So do you. I listen to Daniel Jeremiah a lot, and he talks about putting guys in the same neighborhood and in the same Houses in the same clusters. And there's a lot of slot wide receivers and then there's a lot of bigger wide receivers. How do you, like, how do you guys go about that as far as like different body types and different how you judge wide receivers? Do you put them in different groups, like that versus slot versus outside? And how does that go for you guys?

[G]

Yeah, we talk about both and we talk about versatility. Is the guy an outside guy only? Is he a slot only? And some of that can determine their value. And like, you may have the physical skill set to play inside and outside, but mentally you can't do it, which is one of the things we're trying to figure out. So is this guy a one spot guy mentally and then is he a one spot guy physically? The guys that you love, you can't get your hands on enough. Are the guys like a Khalil Shakir that we got? Khalil is super smart, can play anywhere. He's an inside guy first, but he can go outside and play. So you're looking for as many pieces so that, that Joe and Pete Carmichael can. You know, when they come out of the huddle, you don't know where they're going to line up. You know, we do the same with, with our tight end group, our running back group. Just try to have as many different positionless players so that when you come out of the huddle, that just creates opportunities, you know, to get the right mismatch.

[A]

I don't want to just pivot completely away from scouting wide receivers, but as you were talking about playing inside, playing outside, I just started thinking about your offense and how awesome it is with Josh and James Cook. Once you became the guy a year and a half ago, it felt like James Cook just let James Cook kind of became the thing. Head coach now calling plays.

[E]

Yes.

[A]

Still, you see a lot of guys giving it up. Sean gave it up. Canales gave it up. Doug Peterson, when he went down to Jacksonville, gave it up. Like, obviously you haven't been a head coach yet throughout season, so you have no clue how it actually is. I guess they say there's no guide or any of that type of shit, but how do you kind of envision that as being the head coach and a play caller? Wow. Not getting stuck in just being in a offensive guy.

[H]

Yeah, I know. And I think that was the important part of putting together the staff. Right. Like Pete Carmichael, everybody talks about, like offensive head coach, you need your defensive coordinator. But that was so important by me getting Pete Carmichael is my offensive Guy, Right. He's a guy that's been this non play calling offensive coordinator for so many years that while I'm on the sideline, I'm not just focused strictly on the offense. And when defense is on the field, I can be the head coach. Right. And so having a guy that I can lean on throughout the games, that's going to be critical.

[A]

We talked to McDaniel yesterday and he was wearing a $3,500 jacket. I guess I just.

[C]

His shoes are probably the same.

[A]

Yeah, he already had the head coaching contract. You guys saw it, AFCI experience. It was really good times for you guys, I guess throughout it all. But he was obviously here in his late motions with the fastest dudes on the field, changed football. I think everybody kind of started getting into it how you started doing it and then defense kind of caught up. We're all kind of having the same conversation about that. Even him, he's saying, yeah, he's like, now you just kind of got to think of the next chess move. Like the defense caught up. Now we got to think of the next chess move. Is that how you're viewing it too, whenever you think about your offense? How are you thought, how do you like kind of view the. Going into the season with your offense on how you build from last year into next year?

[H]

Well, I think you, you think about offense, but you're really studying all the defenses across the league, right? Like we're just trying to break all their rules, right? And everybody's studying. If you're just studying the offenses across the league, I think you're, you're picking up some things, but you're not beating what the rest of the league is kind of, it's all, it's all ends up being in a circle, right. We all end up running the same plays and, and what everybody was running five years ago and everybody found the beaters, you know, in 10 years everybody's going to run, run in those defenses again and whatnot. So I study a lot of, I spend a lot of time studying the defenses and just trying to break their rules.

[A]

Should we, should we expect bigger dudes, slower dudes? Because everything was getting fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast. Should we expect this type of event combine to get bigger and a little bit slower? Maybe because football is going back to ground and pound potentially, or is there going to be a good hybrid of this wide open, super fast and physical football? Like how do you kind of see what football players are about to look like over the next 10 years in

[G]

the NFL, I think they're going to continue to get bigger, stronger, faster. But the game, as Joe was saying, you know, back in Josh's earlier years, we were running a lot of 10, 11 personnel. We're spreading people out. And then the defense has started getting more athletic guys to match that. So what do you do? You put, put. You get into 21, 12, 13. You saw, you saw a lot of that this year. So you look at the NFC championship game, Rams in Seattle, there was a lot of 12, a lot of 13 by those guys. So as everyone gets, as everyone gets to doing that, if all the, you know, all the offenses start doing that and the defenses start changing, guess what? It'll, as Joe said, it'll start getting faster and start spreading guys back out again.

[A]

AJ has a question for you guys. Yeah.

[B]

If, let's say both of you were QB prospects, like say first, second round pick, would you throw here at the combine?

[A]

Top 10. Top 10.

[F]

Top 10.

[B]

Top 20, would you throw?

[A]

Oh, top 20. That's good.

[J]

Go.

[H]

Look, I think, I think anytime you got a chance to compete, let's go compete.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Okay. So you're viewing the opportunity to compete with others as opposed to having timing down and all that with the wide receivers and scare. Being scared that a wide receiver you work with is at school runs and out at an exact distance. This is what this guy does. This kid that I've never met before runs terrible routes. Like, that's a part of this guy and he's nowhere near where he's supposed to be. And I miss him. And I'm going to look bad and some other guy is going to look good. Like, I think that is the fear, right. Kind of from.

[H]

And I say that I sucked at football, right? So I get a chance to go compete, right. But Josh Allen was out here, right? He was out here going. And that's just kind of who he is.

[F]

It's.

[H]

Look, I'm gonna, I might overthrow some balls. It might not look good, but again, I put a lot of, a lot of clips together on tape the whole season and you're just seeing me go out in there compete and just an opportunity and you see how that kind of looks. So, you know, I'm not going to knock guy for not. But you love to see a guy that's like, I don't care, just put the ball down, let's go play.

[A]

And that's what you. I think that's your angle.

[G]

Yeah, I think, I think you just go out and compete. I can't remember where Some quarterback got dramatically hurt or lost stock because of the combine. Like, oh, man, you. You were missing guys left and right. I just, I'm not saying it didn't. I just don't recall it. And I like guys that want to compete, want to go out there. I mean, was it, was it Megatron or whoever, the one year wasn't going to run and then just was like, I'm too competitive.

[A]

The agent took somebody else's cleats. Yeah.

[G]

The agent probably told him and he had him, his mind warped the whole time.

[A]

Yeah.

[H]

Freaks. Yeah, we don't need to stretch this guy.

[G]

But that's like, you love that, like, this dude's competitive. I mean, you go back to Josh. Josh was just going to play at the Senior bowl for a little bit. Bit wasn't, you know, I know talking to his agency wasn't supposed to play after halftime. It didn't go well in the second quarter as well as he wanted, and he went in at halftime and told him, no, I'm coming out in the third quarter to play.

[C]

I love that.

[H]

Yeah.

[A]

Josh is a grown ass man now.

[G]

Yeah.

[A]

Got a family. Go ahead, Connor.

[B]

Well, I was going to say, as far as measurements go, Josh Allen had big, biggest, tallest, strongest hands. And that was like his big thing coming out because Wyoming, not many guys knew about him. But then when he came to the combine and got measured, it was like, oh, oh, this guy's a freak. And now that's what this week is kind of about is people get measured and then it's like, oh, well, this guy is short arms.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

30 inch arm. So who knows what the hell he's going to be like. Do you guys value that more than other teams? Is it a combination of measurement with, you know, bench press? Because AJ mentioned yesterday, you know, he, he put 225 up, 26. 25, 26, 27 times.

[H]

That's it.

[B]

And he was all bummed out. Yeah, exactly.

[A]

Exactly. That's how he felt too. Yeah.

[B]

Coach told him like, like that doesn't mean anything. We don't really care about much. Doesn't matter. So I do do measurements kind of value more than, you know, actual reps. Is it something like that or is it kind of a combination of the two? Because I assume when you saw Josh Allen had 30 inch hands, you're like, holy buffalo, we need this guy on, on a team.

[A]

Yeah.

[G]

Yeah. I mean, you do look at it.

[E]

You.

[G]

It's all one piece of the puzzle. And, and that's the other thing about competing here. Let's say you want to. And I think some guys do it. Let's say you run a great 40 here. You know what, don't worry about it your pro day. Just go do your drills or whatever. But if you don't, if it doesn't go well, to me, you got a backstop. You got it. You got a, you know, a retake of a test. Let me go do my. Oh, I didn't do the vertical grade in Indy. Let me go do it here at my pro day and just focus on the position.

[C]

He also drafted the fastest 40.

[B]

Yeah, Maxwell here.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, speed kills matchups. Yes, he does. Arms.

[D]

Yeah.

[A]

Cassius How Texas A and M Ruben Bane.

[G]

Yep.

[A]

A lot of tweets coming out about if they were to make it. Those would be like the two shortest arms since 99 in pass rushing history of the NFL or something like that for that position. Those types of things matter, player matter, because we watch Bane and how Todd. So good game demolishers, you know, like, like absolutely in the College Football Playoff, but also through college. NFL is different. It's a different game, different humans, different builds, everything like that. How much should we be talking about Ruben Banes in Cassius Howells arm length? Should we. And like all those other things that we hear, how much should we be overreacting to him? You think in your eyes.

[G]

No, I think it matters. It really does. But you. What you want to try to do is find Reuben Bain. What are the best, you know, offensive tackles, offensive linemen that he went against and A and M and how did he do go through those matchups and so those are more like the players he's going to see at this level. And how does, you know what is his counters? Does he even have counters? And some of these guys, it's like what Arsenal do they already have. What can you teach them? Now if you see this guy, he's got a full arsenal now. He's ready to roll and he's beating, you know, guys that are not going to play in the NFL, then that's a red flag. But if those are the only guys he's beating, but if he's beating guys that are going to be playing on Sunday, then that kind of is a, you know, a glimpse into what you're going to see.

[A]

How big are the damn Bison?

[B]

They're.

[A]

They're very, very big.

[G]

I've seen pictures. They're. They're not up.

[B]

Can we walk underneath them? Bigger than this?

[A]

Is this where the chest is right here?

[G]

You look 25, 25ft to the top.

[B]

To the top or the. The chest?

[C]

No, to the top.

[B]

Can you walk under it and put your arms up?

[H]

Genitals right now. So the Pack McAfee show in the Buffalo. You got six weeks.

[G]

27,000 pounds.

[H]

The Bison.

[A]

That's how much it is.

[G]

27,000 pounds.

[A]

You guys rolling that thing in one of those oversized loads with a bunch of cops kind of driving it across the country.

[G]

I think you guys should do your show, like, on a truck while they're being unveiled like that. I mean, they're in Pennsylvania.

[A]

They're in pen. They're in Pennsylvania.

[G]

They're coming to New York.

[A]

So who made them? You can get somewhere in Pittsburgh. Buffalo.

[C]

The Quakers.

[A]

May make it hollow.

[B]

Probably have to be that heavy. Could be hollow.

[C]

Are they.

[F]

It is.

[H]

It's hollow.

[B]

Oh, it's hollow.

[A]

That thing's going to blow away. Can walk any five feet high. Hollow buffalo. That thing's going to get some snow on its back. And we're broken back.

[C]

We know if they're. We know if they're male or female. And our.

[G]

We got a family. We're covering everybody.

[B]

Family.

[A]

You got to bring your family to the game.

[I]

Babies.

[C]

AJ's pretty interested in the mail.

[B]

It is kind of weird when you do sculptures. You do have to make a decision on what the. The genitals are.

[A]

It's an artist. It's an artist. I will.

[B]

Right?

[A]

I can't wait to get up there.

[J]

Right.

[A]

And ride one of these bikes. Yes.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

I can't wait to get.

[G]

I think you should be part of

[A]

the unveiling show from Up Top. I don't think I should be. That honor is crazy. Your last home game with videos afterwards and everything like that.

[B]

Everyone's staying.

[A]

Dude. That was. I got emotional because I played there, obviously. It's one of those places, legendary places that you get to play at. But watching your fan base, like, say goodbye to a place that has been so much to them, I, like, got emotional watching it. So I don't think we deserve to be at the unveiling of the next one. You should let Bill's mafia do that. But day two will come. We'll certainly come in and kind of check it all out. I'm excited for the unveiling. Feels like you guys got a lot of special stuff happening.

[G]

Yeah, we do. We're excited about the stuff stadium. I mean, we're finally moving to grass and which is going to be cool. And a lot of our players are excited.

[A]

What do you got? You got.

[G]

It's 60% of the stadiums covered canopy of the.

[J]

Of the.

[G]

Of the seat. 60%. But the protect layers. Yeah. But you're still going to see when you watch tv. Buffalo should be outside.

[B]

Jeez, let's scare the hell I got going here.

[G]

I don't know where that was coming

[H]

from, but ready to go.

[A]

That was one of those Bison.

[G]

But when you watch. When you watch the Bills on tv, the players are going to be out there playing in the snow. Know what you would expect Buffalo football to look like?

[A]

I think we have to. And all these stadiums are starting to look the same. Your guys has looked really cool. I'm excited to get up there, in fact, that it's so close.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, that's like the.

[I]

That's nice.

[A]

That is true beauty. True beauty. Good for you guys. Buffalonians. Now, if you don't win a Super bowl, everybody say you guys suck.

[G]

That's the way. That's the way the world is.

[A]

That legitimately is.

[H]

Yeah. Right now we're just focusing on how we use our water bottles.

[A]

Thank you. Yeah, I'm glad you remembered that.

[B]

One step at a time.

[H]

Full transparency. So, Josh, it's. It's happened to me before.

[E]

He'll.

[H]

He'll unscrew the top a little bit.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[H]

So now I'm sitting there and I'm like. I'm trying to get guys to actually use the water bottles, but next thing

[A]

you know, it's, no, no, no.

[H]

You got to be smart about it.

[A]

Every time it's much worse. If somebody else is doing it, it falls off.

[H]

That's true.

[A]

Yeah. Like, if I'm.

[C]

They feel bad.

[H]

That's true.

[A]

Yeah. That loosen the water bottle trick.

[H]

Yeah.

[A]

Classic. I think D came up with that. Yeah.

[H]

I've learned.

[B]

He's been around. I've learned.

[H]

I've been.

[I]

I've been around.

[F]

I've been around.

[A]

I've been around for a while.

[C]

I've been around a while.

[B]

You ain't get cold.

[A]

Yeah. I love that. That. I love that he is carrying that tradition. I do. I appreciate that. I don't want to say that Peyton loved that thing, but Peyton set up emergency fake phone calls to get people to answer the phone to call, like, full. It was the best thing I've ever seen.

[B]

He got someone at the Pro bowl, maybe.

[A]

I mean, all those.

[C]

Eli was.

[I]

Yeah.

[A]

Just classic football, like, just since the beginning of time kind of roll through it. But I think I was in the training room room. Like Venator was getting something. I'm, like, bullshitting or Whatever. And then there's like an emergency that happens in the back room. Like a phone call. Somebody chaotic. What goes Runs over. Who are you looking for, D. And then down the hall comes screaming. It's like. I'm like, oh, my God. I gotta be watching my.

[B]

Around here training camp with the bucket or the trash can.

[A]

Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. Yeah. They were unbelievable. I mean,

[H]

no, when Josh asks a question, I don't answer. I just stare at it for a second. Let me just think. It could be completely a serious question. It could be football related. Like, there might be something to it.

[A]

Yeah, but you got to have the answer, though.

[H]

You got to have the answer.

[B]

And when he calls you and he says, hey, draft this guy. You better make that happen.

[A]

You better stand on a table for a guy. Yeah, because we've heard about it. All right, let's get to. Let's get to. Would you do a throw? You have to. I'm gonna force you.

[F]

It.

[A]

Okay. Joe, I would normally put you in a position to have to do this.

[H]

You don't want to see that.

[A]

Okay, so you're an ass football thrower.

[H]

Yes.

[A]

That's. You got to be one of the only offense guru.

[H]

I. I threw a base. The baseball in me. Threw out the arm. So I can.

[A]

Yeah, okay.

[H]

That's a.

[A]

Brandon Bean hustled us. I don't know if you know the story. He. He hustled us on a local golf course. Uh, and then. But it was for a good cause. Gave us for a good cause, allegedly.

[B]

Was that Dano or him that scratched out a few scores?

[A]

18. Put that on me.

[B]

Yeah, I wouldn't. You know, you shoot 72, though. Dan's also an idiot. He just can't add.

[A]

All right, here we go. Yeah, that could be the case. Mr. Bean, if you would come up here onto the pat. Yep. You could take that thing if you want to. Mr. Bean, you've obviously done wonderful things with your athletic abilities for us to raise some money. Okay, we certainly appreciate that. How old are you, sir?

[G]

49.

[B]

Damn.

[A]

Wow. You look good. These guys look good.

[B]

Everybody looks good.

[A]

Yeah, he's like 30. Yeah, he's really.

[H]

Basically.

[A]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Me and Joe have a similar situation happening. You look very good. Usually the whites age poorly. You look fantastic. Now, Mr. Bean, how often do you throw a football around? Only when Josh Allen throws it at me during practice. Okay. How often is that?

[G]

Actually, that's probably twice a week.

[A]

Okay, so then you throw it back to him. He's Trying to hit me again. That's classic. That's classic old school football. You guys are doing everything that old school football used to do. Yeah. Tom Brady. Okay, just fun fact here. Tom Brady were playing up in New England. Me and Vinnetary are standing on the sidelines, I don't know, 50 yards away, and a ball comes skipping right by Vinatieri's like legs. And then off the wall over there and you turn around and Tom's like this close, buddy. And I'm like, oh, my God, this is amazing. Okay, Mr. Bean, Josh Allen is not throwing a ball at your junk, but we do need to see you throw this ball into that hole if you're able to make it into that hole right there. $100,000 donation to a charity you're choosing. Yesterday, almost everybody made it except for a gm. GM was the only person that missed it. He might have had a little bit of beer in him as well, which we certainly would have gone in the top respect.

[B]

Top's not open.

[A]

All right, Brandon, good luck with the throw. It's about a. I'd say it's about a 10 yard throw.

[F]

Throw.

[J]

10 yards.

[A]

10 yard throw. All you gotta do is throw a little bit of a seed. Yeah, the hole is smaller than it appears, but big enough for you to fire that pig skin. Bean, let's go ahead and win some money. Oh, okay, okay. I like that you went for it.

[C]

He was saying he's stand back just again.

[A]

Hey, I like that you didn't guide that. You know, you can tell. Oh, be.

[C]

Wait, which GM didn't make it?

[A]

Schneider.

[C]

Oh, yeah. Salah still has already got a super.

[H]

He's good. He's all right right now. He gets to get ass right now.

[B]

He won.

[A]

Okay, boys, thank you for joining us. Shout out to Boyco. Obviously the legend. Legend.

[G]

Derek Boyco legend.

[A]

Yeah. He certainly needs that. I know that's a part of his life. He needs to hear that. He does, he does. From my understanding, Boo needs to hear that. Boyco, you did good, man. Way to go, Darren. Way to go. Boyco.

[H]

Put a smile on his face.

[A]

So proud of you, Boyco. Bo. PR guy from the NFL doesn't hate us. We like him.

[B]

Yeah, more than a few.

[C]

Pretty cool.

[A]

We are very, very thankful for him. We are very appreciative of your guys entire organization. Good luck this entire off season and yeah, thank you for being so hospitable to us. Good luck to you, man. Head coach is a big fucking deal.

[H]

Appreciate you, man.

[A]

You should enjoy all of it. Remember Your conversation with people is the most important conversation that they've ever had in their entire life. Now, that's real. You too. You know that as well. You just so happen upon a guy who's like fifth, sixth rounder here, and then you talk to him. Hey, what's up, man? How you doing? Oh, I'm good. How are you? Good, thank you. And walk away. I hope I in blue.

[B]

Great point.

[A]

I'm going to the Bills. Yeah, exactly.

[B]

Kids still have that. They still have it because that's how it was when we were coming up. I. I would assume they still have that. Same, like. Oh, my goodness. And they think about that conversation for the next three days.

[G]

Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of you could tell when the guys that have done their research. Yeah. Hey, hey, you're, you know.

[A]

Oh, you're a trainer. Some people think, yeah, well.

[G]

Oh, no, A slap dick.

[A]

Sir, if you can grab me some coffee, please.

[B]

Owner, son.

[A]

Okay. Thank you, boys. Good luck. All right, we're going to wrap up this hour one here as Bean is kind of being held high. He cannot get up and leave because if he was to do that, he would walk in front of every camera. And he also doesn't know if he's supposed to dap everybody up. How much time do I have? So you're just going to hold tight for about 40 seconds. In the second hour, we have Randy Orton joining us.

[C]

I saw the Viper walk around.

[B]

You might want to draft him.

[A]

Randy Orton might be pretty good outside linebacker. There's a chance that that could be the case. We also have Governor Mike Braun joining us about the Indiana Bears potentially stealing. The Bears. Okay. That's potentially happening. Nick Casario, do you know him?

[H]

Him?

[G]

Heard of him.

[A]

You guys fight each other or what?

[B]

No.

[G]

Nick's a good man.

[A]

He is a good man. Dan Morgan will join us later as well. We're live from the combine here in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. We can't thank you enough for allowing us to do this for a living. Stacked card as we have conversations about ball and sports and life being incredible. We hope you're having a great day. We'll see you on the other side. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life. Take five. O'Reilly Auto parts can help take the guesswork out of your check engine, ABS or maintenance light with O'Reilly Veriscan. The service is free and provides a report with solutions verified by ASE certified master technicians. O'Reilly Veriscan can identify the most likely

[E]

problem with just one scan.

[A]

If you need help, O'Reilly Auto Parts can recommend a shop for you. Don't ignore a check engine, ABS or maintenance light. Ask for O'Reilly Variscan Today, a free service exclusively at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Ever wanted to go to the NBA Finals? Well, now's your chance, courtesy of Fan Duel. All you have to do is use your profit boost on an NBA future and you'll be entered for a shot to win an NBA Finals trip for two NBA futures let you lock in your pick for who you think will go all the way, whether it's a team to win the championship or a conference title. Visit FanDuel.com podcast to get started. Play your game with FanDuel. An official sports betting partner of the NBA must be 21 in present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 and present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. No purchase necessary. Limit one entry for profit boost token opt in required. Must apply Profit boost token on select market restrictions apply. See full terms, including methods of entry, at sportsbook.fanduel.com gambling problem call 1-800-gambler or visit fanduel.com rg call 1-888-7897 7777 or visit ccpg.org chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gamblinghelplinema.org or call 800-327-5050 for 24. 7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY in New York. Football day's the greatest. That's what we're all here celebrating. The entire NFL has come to Indianapolis, Indiana to figure out who the next class will be that'll carry the NFL into a fortuitous future in which we are already seeing the peaks of audience and captivity. Captivating entertainment. Yeah, I mean, absolutely everything. 126 million people watched the Super Bowl. It was the most boring game of football that we have maybe ever had. All people like is ball. And now we find out who the next, next torchbearers of the NFL will be here on this beautiful field here at the Lot House. Lucas Oil Stadium. A lot of workouts on the field today. Yesterday was the kickers and the punters day. They certainly did fantastic. E out of Michigan State. Certified. Yeah, he's a punter out of Michigan State. We didn't know who he was. We were just watching numbers kick balls down on the field. He was the one. This guy is the one. There was two guys I think that I saw yesterday certified NFL guys. It was Bjorn the kid from Georgia. Bjorn Thorsen and his Eckley fella. And I didn't get to see all the kickers because it was live whenever we were here. But that's the type of thing that you can do with the combine. You can separate yourself from the class. They have him as a potential top 50 player in the entire draft. And I'll tell you what. Yesterday he hit one shank out of like 16, 17 hits or whatever. It was an ass kick. He needs to go end over end to his left. If you're listening right now, brother, don't even worry about turning that thing over to the left. You got a strong enough leg, go ahead and hit the end over end bowl. Okay. That's what I did. Your miss is my miss, brother. Let's get that out of our life as fast as possible. Let's turn it over to the right. He was special today. Many other guys can prove that they are that we're lucky to be here. We're thankful to be here. One half of the Hammer Down Cowboys. AP Tone is here. You look fantastic. One half of the talksie table at Boston. Connor is here. Sweet hoodie. I want what was. Was the. We went back to the zoo today. What was this all about?

[B]

Funny enough, I cleaned out my car for the first time about two years. Found this thing buried down there, and I said, man, where you've been my whole life, I've been missing you so much, so I figured I'd wear it again.

[A]

Hey, that's like when you find 20 bucks in your pocket. Yeah.

[B]

Bingo. Exactly.

[A]

I just went shopping.

[B]

Yeah. Let alone all this bad stuff that was in my car that should have been thrown out a long time ago. But finding a couple of these hidden gems, it's magical.

[A]

Yeah. The fact that you had that many pee bottles sitting behind your driving was disgusting. I mean, you're pooping in a bottle while you're driving. That's unbelievable.

[B]

Sometimes if you have no bags. So not as much bottles there. Pooping bags.

[A]

I like that you're doing any of that type of stuff and obviously smack the bag. Shit the bag. Whatever you need to do. I certainly do. I was in Foxy's car the last couple days. He's driving a shit bucket too.

[J]

Oh.

[B]

What do you mean he turned it into.

[A]

I know exactly how much money all these guys are making. And Foxy is disrespecting his life and what he is doing. If you want to look tough, look physical and kick some Ass on the road. You drive a Ford Bronco brother. Okay.

[B]

His is actually 86.

[A]

You should have seen me get in there. I. I open a window up. I did the electric windows. Electric start. There was a guy in the elevator. I want to kick his ass for talking about my car, too. All right. That guy has no physicality at all. This is an inside conversation.

[C]

There a couple.

[B]

There, there couple girls who said, oh, that's a very cute car.

[A]

And then we opened the door and then they saw you had to slide the lock open and do the entire thing. And then you had to lift it up to shut the door.

[C]

Has a cigarette lighter in there.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. Which was nice. I needed that. I actually pushed that thing down. And also, whenever you smoke this car, it's a better smell than the car that the smell that was in. Talk about poop. It is foxy. We appreciate you certainly shuttling around. We need to respect what we do for a living and how we do it a little bit better for yourself. Yourself. Okay. And for your family. But I'm driving a monster truck around. That's how I view it. Yeah, but it gets alphaed by other cars whenever we're sitting here. I mean, it was really. You're. You're a wonderful soul. You. You truly are. And I'm happy you're keeping your car clean for the first time in two years. Thirteen year. Oh, sorry. How many years were you in the NFL?

[B]

Eleven.

[A]

Eleven year NFL vet, college football national champion, Super bowl champion. A.J. hawk is here. See that? You stopped at a truck store again. And Truck stop and got another wardrobe change for yourself.

[B]

Yeah, you know what? I just can't. It's hard to walk by any shirt or hat in these truck stops and not buy it. So you never know. Who knows what's gonna happen.

[A]

Hold on though. What you think about our program?

[B]

Cummins Diesel here, will you please.

[A]

Steve Ackles is here. Great year. Monday Night Football, buddy. So the. Speaking of that. Okay. Steve Ackles. So the people that are actually doing tv. Taylor's. Think about that.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Taylor's suits.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Combine. Best thing, bottom of car underneath bottles for two years. Loves Truck Stop. This got delivered from Amazon this morning. We need to start taking ourselves more serious. And if we do that, maybe we'll take it to the next level.

[F]

Okay.

[A]

Speaking of going to the next level.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

There's a man that went down to Houston in the middle of a burning ship. The entire place was on fire. Literally. This guy was wearing headset up in the booth. Everybody's thinking to himself, why is this guy got calmed down to the sideline. He's meddling. He's meddling, he's meddling. Well, what we found out was he needed to meddle maybe a little bit more. A couple changes, couple roster turnover, draft a quarterback, draft a pass rusher. And all of a sudden the Houston Texans are a Super bowl threat every single year out of the AFC South. Ladies and gentlemen, Paisano, Nick Casterio. Thank you, brother. Appreciate you, man. Thank you, thank you.

[B]

Good to see you. He's in great shape. Quick triathlon guy. He's got stuff to do.

[A]

I don't know. That's actually a really good is we're going to. He looks like he's a runner on clouds.

[B]

You would assume he's doing triathlons.

[A]

Fellas, are you a runner?

[D]

It's making sure I wasn't getting an rk RK out of nowhere. I am. He's. He's lurking.

[G]

He might be.

[A]

Yeah, he's right there. I mean, he's right there. The orangutan that is the 14 time world champion Randy Orton is over there.

[D]

Not a runner. Versa climber.

[A]

It's a great machine.

[D]

Peloton, kind of. And then you know, maybe some.

[B]

You don't swim?

[F]

No. Swim.

[D]

I can't run long distance. I just.

[A]

That's not knees. I think they got a cartilage surgery that's coming out. They've been saying that for the last 20 years. Are you. No music, no TV, just like Psycho.

[D]

Want to kind of music or podcast. So, I mean, my podcast choice probably isn't for everybody. I'm probably listening to a bunch of finance podcasts. Investment advice.

[G]

No.

[D]

Gary V. I love Gary Vee.

[A]

You went through a Gary Vee run though. We all do. Did we know you did? Yes, you did. And then some music.

[D]

I'll go to music. So a combination of the two.

[A]

A combination. Okay, let's talk about you doing podcasts and finance and things like that. How do you think that does that benefit you as a general manager? Like how do you tie everything back to your gig? Like do you think everything tries help you or is that like you trying to learn about something different?

[D]

It's twofold, Pat. Honestly, I enjoy finance. I enjoy investments. I mean I started my career in finance before I decided I was going to get into football. Like a.

[A]

But I mean, Houston Texans are for real, brother. I think you made the right decision.

[D]

I'm interested in finance. I enjoy the markets. I study the markets. I mean, honestly, like we're Managing businesses to some degree. You're looking for trends, you're looking for different ideas. So, I mean, it's just I have a personal interest in that topic and I enjoy it and I keep track of what's going on, and I have my money in the market, so I'm trying to make sure I'm aware. And if there's some ideas or trends that there's some relevance, then, you know, I might be able to incorporate them to some of the things that we're doing.

[A]

We're thankful you left the money markets because, you know, that thing just goes round and round.

[J]

Yes, it does.

[B]

Right now. Be careful.

[A]

Well, they're saying a lot of bad things coming, but then I'm hearing speeches saying it's only going up, it's going

[D]

to blow up the world. You know, everybody's going to do their job.

[A]

I'll tell you what, AI, though, will certainly help you make some music quickly. If you want to make a highlight tape in about four or five, among other things. Yes, they will.

[D]

No, it can distill information down pretty quickly.

[A]

Oh, you're using it. It sounds like. Okay, so let's move into the next, next generation of ball. In scouting, you guys are trading C.J. stroud. Are you doing that here or when?

[D]

You guys must have listened to my press conference.

[A]

Yeah, you caught him.

[D]

I'm sorry to disappoint everybody.

[A]

Okay, so let's talk about that. So he obviously doesn't play his best ball down a stretch. Plays a lot of really good defenses. You guys had an incredible defense. The reason why having an incredible defense is good is because you win any game. The reason why it might not be good is because if a quarterback doesn't play good, all of a sudden Trent Dilford gets brought up like, hey, this team was only winning because the defense, because the defense. We think C.J. stroud's special. We love C.J. stroud. We know you feel the same way. Did you expect the conversation or the narrative to potentially build? He might move on and kind of. How do you handle that with C.J. himself?

[D]

Yeah, I mean, honestly, try not to pay too much attention to it, but if you feel like you have to address something and felt like that was the appropriate thing to do. I mean, he's our quarterback. He's played a lot of good football for us. To your point, he's had some good games. He's had some games where, look, all of us. I mean, there's some ups and downs, things you have to deal with. So glad he's Our quarterback and, you know, glad he's going to be here for next season, and we want him here. And I think all players learn. I don't want to speak for you guys, but, you know, after each season, go back. What are some of the things that did well? What are some of the areas you can improve on? I think sometimes when you just accentuate the negative and you're just taking a microcosm of one particular game. Look, we didn't play our best game. The Patriots played better than we did, and that's the way it goes. So, I mean, all of us in the offseason are trying to improve, trying to find ways and things that we can do better. And that's where the first focus is going to be.

[A]

Okay, I love that you're focusing on the positive. Let's continue to get better. You guys have gotten way too good too quickly. I hate it. But it has been cool for the AFC south to watch you guys do your thing. Feel like you have hit in this department on a pretty regular basis to flip this Houston team around. Is this something that you love? Like, why do you think you've had success in the entire draft process?

[D]

Yeah, I think all elements of the process are important. A combine is a big part of it. I think the interpersonal element. Like, honestly, we utilize our team time here to spend time with the players and more on the interview front. What they do on the field, I mean, it's a component. I mean, honestly, d' Ameco and I are leaving this afternoon, so we're going to watch the workouts on television. So, I mean, we'll get the information,

[A]

does a great job.

[D]

We'll get the data. And yeah, you can watch as much as you need to. But in the end, their performance on the field, what they do on tape, ultimately, that's going to be the judge of what we think we have in the player. And if there's something else that. Or some measurement that you think you can, that you have, that you think is going to help you, then we'll utilize. So there's a lot of players here at the combine that are going to get drafted. Honestly, there's a lot of players that aren't the combine. They're probably going to get drafted or kind of end up on teams. So good players come from a lot of different spots. So, I mean, we use this as a good tool for us and there's going to be other opportunities for us to evaluate players.

[A]

I wasn't invited to the combine. I assume you were doing finance Then that wasn't on you. Here's a Hembo stat. Thanks for the non invite. I would not have.

[D]

I don't even know what that is.

[A]

He's an AI human form. Nick Casario built a defense that allowed 270 yards per game in 2025, including a playoffs fewest by any team since the 2009 Jets. That's Hembo, baby.

[D]

That should say D'. Amico. Ryan's built the defense, so not Nick Casario.

[A]

Okay, so I like that. Let's talk about it. You have a defensive head coach now that's starting to become a thing. Defensive McDonald up there in Seattle, obviously Minter just gets the Baltimore job. There was an offensive run. D', Amico, defensive giant, obviously becomes your head coach and flips the entire culture around. Because you have a defensive head coach, you have to have a good defense. Because you have a defensive head coach, you're going to have a good defense. Like how do you kind of view it or are you guys trying to build like. Yeah, we would like to swarm. We would like our defense to be the best in the league every single year. Because that's investment. Then you would have to do.

[D]

Look, we're trying to build a good team, so we're fortunate. We got a lot of good players on defense. We have good players on offense as well. So I think the league, look, the league is cyclical. I mean, there's different trends. We're going to try this and this is going to work and then we're going to try something, something different. I'd say in the end, every team's got to hire the individual and it's a leadership position in the end. So handling the team, handling the players, you're involved in all facets of it. Obviously d' Amico has an expertise in defense, but I think he showed a lot of humility this year. He passed the play calling off to Matt Burke and Matt did a great job, you know, so he could take a more of a big picture approach. I mean, the head coach ultimately is responsible for everything that a team does. So he has his hand in everything. So I mean, we're fortunate to have the head coach coach that we do. I've said this publicly. I mean, there's no other coach that we'd want to have run an organization. There's no other coach that I want to work with and, you know, glad that, you know, he and I are able to work together on a day to day basis.

[A]

You're not trading the coach either?

[B]

Not yet.

[A]

That'd be more. That's not happening. Okay. AJ has a question for you.

[B]

I guess we're here at the combine. Everything we're talking about this, but what happens once this week ends? Until the draft, what do you guys do? Like, obviously bringing in the 30 visits, all the different players. Are you going and visiting schools, going to pro days, like, how does your schedule?

[A]

Schedule, workout.

[D]

Yeah, A.J. all that. So we'll finish up. We're actually going to start to bring players in our building probably next week and it's the follow up and to continue the process. So maybe we want to have more conversations. We try to set up our visits so they have an opportunity to kind of touch everybody in the building that they're going to react, interact with.

[B]

What are you doing when they come in? Are you doing. I know each team does different things.

[A]

Yeah, some guys go to dinner, some guys.

[D]

Yeah, no, for sure. We're not like going to topgolf and doing all that stuff. So we're bringing our building. Say, hey, here's what a day would look like for a Houston Texan. When you walk in a building, okay. There's obviously a coaching element. You're going to meet with sports performance, you're going to spend time with a nutritionist. Hey, here's some things so we can get a comprehensive view of, okay, what are the players need, how can we support them? They get an understanding of what our program is about and here's the expectation of what it means to be a Texan on a day to day basis. So we try to use those, you know, those visits to our advantage and try to get as much information. Honestly, it works both ways. Just because the guy's in the building might say, you know what, okay. In the end, it kind of answers some questions. We're going to move on, we're going to go a different direction. So we're just trying to arrive at an end point where we have a comprehensive picture of the player and what we think we're going to get when he comes in the building. So then when we draft them, like, we have a, you know, an understanding. But the reality is when they get in our building, they're back to ground zero and they're starting from scratch. So it'll be visits, it'll be workouts. It might be some individual workouts that take place. I'd say from the scouting side, obviously we're here draft centric, combine centric. But for agency starts in, you know, a week or two, whatever it is. So we'll kind of transition, go through that process, see if there's some players that we can add in that area to help our team. So it's a combination of things, really, all the way up until the draft, and then once the draft is over, and then, you know, we can take a step back.

[B]

Yeah, and you just mentioned free agency there. How much will free agency affect your, you know, draft day kind of moves? I mean, looking back on it, you can make the argument the trade for Will Anderson moving back up to three is one of the greatest draft day trades.

[A]

So much fun for us, too, by the way. If you want to do that again, that'd be awesome.

[B]

Yeah. But doing that, you know, you kind of.

[D]

Here for you guys.

[A]

Thank you.

[B]

That, that helped. But everyone thought, you know, you guys were trading at 2. All of a sudden a bunch of trade offers get rescinded. Once you take CJ Then who wants to make a trade with the, you know, number three pick with the Cardinals? You guys do. So it kind of opened that door back up for you. And then you got Will Anderson, who's genius. But how. How many of those moves kind of depend on today, depend on these next couple days, free agency, like, do, you know, today or after the weekend's over? Hey, there are a couple guys that might be available that we should maybe move up for, Move down for. Like, when does that.

[A]

Unless they come to your building, take a poop and don't flush.

[B]

Yeah, true. Yeah. Or. Or maybe clog a toilet and don't say anything at your house, perhaps.

[A]

I mean, yeah,

[D]

we have a pretty good idea of if we don't move. Right. We're picking 28th right now. That could change. Knowing our track record, like, we're moving around the board. Like, we just create flexibility and optionality for ourselves. Had a pretty good idea. Our house, maybe. Who are some of the players that are going to be in that area? Free agency is kind of its own entity. So that's a snapshot. Okay, here's where we are right now. Who can we add? There's a cost associated with it. We kind of. The way we do it. All right, What's a player's role? Like, what are they going to do for us? All right, and what's the value associated with that role? And we try to make sure that matches up. If there's a little bit of a mismatch, we might say, you know what? All right, we're going to move away from that and then focus on some other areas. So we try to take it case by case. So we'll Deal with free agency. And then once we get through for agency, taking another snapshot of the team and then once you get to the draft, honestly, we're just picking the best players that we feel are going to help us over the course of our, you know, our program.

[B]

How close are you also monitoring teams that are coming out talking about like cap casualties because you've been a guy that a player will get released. Joe Mix and Christian Kirk, and then instead of being released two hours later, they're actually getting traded to the Texans.

[D]

We're cognizant.

[A]

You guys did that, right? Didn't. That's one of your.

[B]

Yeah, Christian, last year, a year before that joke.

[A]

There's an offensive lineman, too, from Vegas or to Arizona. I forget. That's a move, though.

[D]

Yeah, we've done that a couple times. I mean, there's some players. Look, they're going to get released. So you have players who, you know are going to be for agents. Right. They're already on the board and the kind of the cap casualty group. All right. They could be available. They might not be available. You're talking to teams and then figuring out, like, what's the situation? Typically those guys are like, there's a cost associated with it. So can you fit the salary?

[H]

Okay.

[D]

If you can fit it, great. If you can't, all right, then you might have to wait and go somewhere else. So we just try to take advantage of. Of every opportunity that makes sense for us. And if we can add a player, great. If we can't, then we'll just move on. And I think one thing about us, we're not beholden to just one particular way and one particular player. So if we. The more players we know, we understand the league, then it gives us opportunity to capitalize when it makes sense.

[A]

Yeah, that's because you're day trading.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

That's why draft night, we're at 28. We'll see. You know, it might be a little bit of value moving in this entire adventure. I love that.

[D]

We traded out of the first round last year, so we moved back.

[A]

Let's not do that again. We need you in.

[D]

Okay.

[A]

We need more in. And also, hey, I don't know if you know this. What is your pick this year? 28.

[B]

28.

[A]

We'll take that off your hands. You get Anthony Richardson.

[B]

Him and C.J.

[I]

are.

[D]

We got a good quarterback, so we got Dougie.

[C]

You got two good.

[A]

Dougie. Dougie, by the way, might be. We started putting him on the trade block because we think people will be Very, very interested. It was reported today that Colts have given Anthony Richardson the permission to go ahead and seek a trade. Nice refresh for him would be cool. I think he's incredibly talented. We'll see how that goes. If you want to give us 28, you can certainly do that. Last question for you here, Pyong.

[C]

Yeah, Nick. Two seasons ago, you weren't happy with your offensive line, so last offseason, you made a lot of moves. It was a lot better this year. Congratulations on that. Appreciate that. But going towards this draft with the offensive line, it feels like there's a lot of really, really good right tackles coming out and then potentially guys that could kick inside. When you are going through this process, can you look at a right tackle and envision him actually playing left or kicking inside? And how much do you talk to them about that before you would make a move like that?

[D]

It's an awesome question.

[C]

Thank you.

[D]

I'd say it's twofold. Some guys that have played right tackle have the ability, have played on the other side as well. And if they're not the starting right tackle, let's just say your swing tackle, your third tackle, is going to have the ability. Well, can he go to the left, or do you have to take your left tackle and make him right tackle? So we do have those conversations, and there's ways you can track it, like what position they play, how many snaps a right tackle, how many center, how many snaps are right guard, how many snaps a left guard. Because again, you don't want to just say, well, this guy's going to go inside. Not all tackles can move inside. I mean, some can do it. I mean, we were fortunate, you know, when I was in New England, you know, we took Mankins, you know, was left tackling. He went inside. He took Tooney. He was a left tackle. He went inside. But, like, not everybody can do that. So you just got to try to figure out, like, what makes the most sense and try to create as much optionality and flexibility offensive line as possible.

[A]

I'm not pumped up for you strictly because elimination chambers this weekend are so much on the line. Yeah. You haven't been able to pay attention.

[D]

I Sue, I was talking to Randy briefly about it, so I'm probably not up to speed with exactly what's going to go on. You're not involved, are you? Or they're trying to get you involved.

[B]

You never know.

[A]

What are you reading?

[I]

What are you reading?

[B]

Heard listen to Sam Roberts podcast.

[A]

Probably on the bell. Yeah. What you heard podcast. So when you were talking to Randy. You were saying, randy, what's going. Is that what you were doing? He's giant. He's a giant.

[D]

He is in great shape.

[B]

Draft him at edge.

[D]

Tremendous shape. He could do some damage.

[C]

He's got long arms.

[D]

I mean, shoot the rko. They probably wouldn't even penalize it during the game. They don't penalize anything else. Or they do.

[A]

I mean, you guys. Okay, hold on. Yeah.

[B]

AI should help. AI should help with the referees. That's something they've talked about a competition committee.

[A]

I do like that the NFL is telling the refs union, oh, you guys want to mess around again? I don't know if you've heard AI can do all this. Yeah. And it's like, you know those high school refs we had years back that got you guys a bunch of leverage. Yeah. Never doing that again. Now we actually have people that don't have feelings and don't have anything and see everything. So good luck in this renegotiation. That's a big deal for our league.

[B]

Huge.

[A]

This is a huge deal for our league. And I don't think a lot of people are talking about it. Ex players, ex coaches who have been fired because of bad calls, obviously, people that are in front office talk about it. This is one of the biggest things that's happening this offseason, and I don't think anybody's really talking about it enough. I genuinely don't.

[D]

Look, they have a hard job.

[A]

Yes. Yes.

[D]

They have a difficult job. Everybody's just looking for some level of consistency. That's the most important thing. AI trying to get the calls right and so that we can make sure that everything is officiated, you know, on an equal playing field.

[A]

And then what do you guys do? You guys say, hey, once the whistle blows, then you hit them. That's what you guys said.

[D]

We play clean.

[A]

Yeah. You guys.

[B]

I like how you guys play. Violent, physical violence.

[A]

Yeah, we love. We love that. Like, but if you get a tight ref or a tight crew, like, we saw this in college football. The Big 12, cool. Vanderbilt was. The refs. They. The Big 12 crew was like, we're letting them play. Like, hey, this is a college football playoffs. We're going to let them play.

[I]

Yeah.

[A]

Big Ten crew, vastly different. They were, like, calling a lot of stuff. So for that Miami team who were hard hitters, for Indiana even, who were like, a little bit hard hitters, it was like, who the ref was was a big deal. And I think it goes back to what you're talking About. We just want to know what we're signing up. Right. That is kind of what you all want to know.

[D]

Equal playing field. Just be consistent and it's a subject. Sometimes some things are subjective, so let's just try to make sure. We're just trying to get it right. And everybody let the boys play.

[A]

They need to get Vanderbilt up there in the NFL. That entire crew. He's. He is the most confident, too, that I've seen in a long time. Like, just very comfortable with the moment. Yeah. But he also have an ISO shot in front of 25 million people, where you're speaking for the game like you are representing football right now. Let's go ahead and make sure we got it. So hopefully they get that figured out. All right. Hey, before you get out of here, Nick, to head back to Houston, I guess.

[D]

Yeah, eventually.

[F]

Yep.

[D]

Yeah, sure.

[A]

Travels back there. Can you throw a football or only ride bikes?

[D]

I can try to throw. Throw one, sure. Yeah, Whatever you need.

[A]

Will you be able to throw a football into that hole that's over my left shoulder right now, you think for $100,000 of charity?

[D]

Sure, I can try.

[A]

Let's go. Let's do that, Nick. Let's do that. And then all of a sudden, you're going to get rko. So keep your head on the swivel, please.

[B]

That'd be awesome.

[A]

He's a huge fan here. Come up here.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time for the. The Combine charity challenge. That was the name of it. We thought of it 10 minutes before the show yesterday, but it turned out to be pretty awesome. Shout out to Blue, the best mascot in the game. You know that in the Indianapolis. This is one of his gimmicks.

[D]

Make an argument. Toro would have an argument about. Against your guy.

[F]

Toro.

[B]

T's a wor cream pie.

[A]

I like to.

[C]

Is there a new place named Toro Town? Did I see that?

[B]

Or Toro Disc, whatever they called it.

[D]

Yeah, whatever.

[A]

They got new practice facility, right? Yeah.

[D]

Yeah, it looks like it. Hopefully it'll be a few years before we get in there, but, I mean,

[A]

it's going to be.

[D]

It looks like a pretty massive space, so.

[A]

Yeah, I've seen the renderings. It looks like it's going to be good. We don't know when it's happening, but we hope that it certainly will. And, Nick, all you have to do is don't hit football. There's Adam Schefter right there. And field Yates. Wow. Oh, my God. The pressure is on, Nick. First question, how old are you?

[D]

I'm 50.

[F]

What?

[B]

Congrats.

[A]

Congratulations. You Italians really do it. All right, so all you got to do is spin that football into that hole right there. Adam Schefter will be looking on field. Yates, with brand new hair, will be looking on 100,000. Holy hell. Lou. What's going on, dog? Great to see you. Lou Anarumo is here.

[B]

Nice.

[D]

Great coach. Awesome coach.

[A]

Yeah, you Italians have to say that about each other. Hey, Grazi, paisan. Okay. All right. For $100,000 to a charity of your choosing, all you do is put that football into that hole right there. Go ahead, Nick. Let's see if you got it, paisan.

[I]

Good for

[B]

it.

[A]

I like that you won for it, though. I like that you didn't hold back. You didn't got it. You really won for it. Let's act like this is something that could be sp. No, this is it, Nick. Make this shot. Yes. You have three shots, though. Yes, you do have three shots. Nick Casario, 400 grand.

[B]

Wow, baby.

[H]

Wow.

[A]

That was butter. That was a good throw. We're gonna have to make this harder for tomorrow, certainly. But, Nick, we appreciate the hell out of you. Please tell us where to donate that. And good luck this season in every game except for two.

[D]

You guys are the best. Always love coming on with you guys. So a lot of respect for you, for your program.

[A]

Is Randy Orton gonna win the elimination chamber or no?

[D]

I hope he does.

[A]

Yes. All right. Appreciate you, dude. Thank you, man. Ladies and gentlemen, Nick Casaria. Thank you. Appreciate it.

[B]

You're the best, boys. Safe travels.

[A]

Adam Schefter looks incredible, by the way. Yeah, he does.

[C]

So does Field.

[A]

Good to see you, Shafter. You look like you're in great shape. YouTube field. Ladies and gentlemen, speaking of great shape, joining us now is a 14 time world champion. At one point in his life, he was. Was 24 years old, and he was tasked with being the world champion of the wwe. Going into the elimination chamber this weekend. It looks like he's in the best shape I've ever seen him.

[H]

Holy.

[A]

Ladies and gentlemen, the owner of the most dangerous letters in all this part, Orte Randy. Man, how are you, Randy? How are you, man? Gigantic. I wish we were one of those European crowds and just sang this thing right through.

[I]

Oh, man, that shit's great, ain't it?

[A]

How is that for you? Did you expect that whenever you went over that? I think it was a couple years ago, France maybe really turned it up.

[I]

We were only on France. It was, I think, was close to two years ago. And that's where it started. I've had that entrance song Pat for. I mean, since 2008 or 9. I mean, that's forever. Nobody ever sang it. And. And God bless the. The guys that sing the song. It wasn't my favorite entrance music in the world. You need something that punks you up now. We'll talk about the Chamber in a second. Trick Williams, his entrance music. I can't help. And now I can't dance I have no business dancing Dancing if you couldn't guess. No, you haven't.

[F]

But.

[I]

But when his plays. I can't help myself I. My blood starts pumping. My music never really did it for me. So when I was coming back from my fusion that I have a few years ago, I was talking to Neil Lowry, thinking about changing the music. Yeah. Shout out, Neil. Neil, what's up? And, you know, we were thinking about new music. And then I came back and it was like, man, I've had it forever. The fans like it. And then all of a sudden, we're in Leon and they start singing it Universe. And then the next week, they start singing it. And then we come back across the pond, back to the States, they start singing it. And I'm like, okay, this is my music.

[A]

You still hearing voices in your head at this stage? How many years into this thing are you now? I think we saw 2000. Is when you.

[B]

Yeah, 2000. Since WWE.

[I]

Yeah, I. I started well with Rip Rogers back in.

[A]

Greatest class in history.

[I]

Yeah. 2000. May of 2000. 2000 is when I took my first bump down in OVW and I was down there for about a year and a half, and then a few years later, I was in Evolution. And I think it was in 2003. I was in my first elimination chamber match. So that was 23 years ago. I stepped foot in the chamber for the very first time.

[A]

You talk about your fusion. I remember that being a terrible time. There's been other injuries, obviously. You're a professional wrestler. Yeah. Your dad in the business. You know, the business that comes with the business, especially, you know, whenever you're working as often as you were working now, your style is gener. I mean, you could be whenever. And I think, you know that you take a lot of pride in that. And wrestlers always say how Randy works is how you should want to work. Rip Rogers says that. But still, it's going to happen. And wear it. You look incredible right now.

[I]

Thank you.

[A]

You feel that way. You feel incredible. Why is that?

[I]

I do. You know what? I just. I had injuries early On, I blew both my shoulders out before I was 25. I had major surgeries, and I had to kind of of go back to ground zero and really, you know, realize if I want to do this for any length of time, have any longevity, and I love this business, so that's all I want to do, right? I got to figure out how that I can get longevity out of the sport, out of the entertainment business, and. And that's what I've done. So I kind of honed my craft to where, if you watch, and I hate to have anyone now look back at all my matches, but I haven't picked a Motherfucker up in 20 years.

[A]

Don't have to.

[I]

No. And I don't. And, you know, it's not, you know, people that are looking to do the fancy moves. It's. It's not the, the. The movie. It's me that's doing the move that makes it fancy, baby. Yeah, listen, it's the rko. It's. I. I've had that same finish, I mean, for almost my whole career.

[C]

Best finish in the biz.

[I]

Yeah. Thanks, man. Thanks.

[B]

Ever.

[A]

Out of nowhere, whenever that started becoming out of nowhere, and then it goes viral, and then it trends, and then you buy in with your family at home.

[C]

It's like everyone in the world was doing it.

[I]

All generations.

[A]

Generations. And then as soon as we see your ass pop up in the back of a frame and. Yeah, it's incredible, brother.

[I]

When I first met Logan, Paul, you know, he. He was like, man, you know, I was doing the Vines, and I was doing the Rkos. I know what the. I said I didn't know who you were, but I knew what the RKO was, and I was like, thanks, but, but, but that's just an example of, like, it, like, superseded, like, everything that I was as a brand. It was. Was like the rko, it was huge. And, you know, shout out to diamond D Page, the diamond cutter. You know, of course, there was the Ace crusher, but.

[A]

Oh, so Ace gets mad at you. I assume that you don't give him a shout out ever. DDP gets a shout out. It sounded like you were just checking

[I]

a box, you know, you know, you. You got to shout them out. I, I, I think that there's a little. There's a story that goes way back where DDP did an interview where he said that I'd given him a call and asked him if I could use the diamond cutter as a finish. And now this was back, like, when I was in my early 20s and I was having. You know, it was a little rough around the edges, and I might not have remembered that conversation. So I called him out and I said, that's a lie. I never called him. Sorry. Sorry, Paige.

[A]

I totally did.

[F]

That happened.

[I]

That happened. I thought I might have been dreaming it. But no, I like the fact that

[A]

back then, who you were, they're like, hey, you did the right thing. You called ddp. You were like, no, I didn't do that. I don't want to hear that. I did not do the right thing. That is kind of like old school business stuff, and I don't want to get into that entirety because, of course, you know, there's so many little things, and how great you are for the business is a phenomenal thing. And there's a lot of different eras, and you've been through a lot of them.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

And you have showed up for the fans, so I would like to say thank you for that. Now, Tom Brady hasn't seen any of them. Tom Brady hasn't seen a single one. Now. He's in great shape, too. He's got the avocado ice cream back on. He's living his life. He's doing his thing whenever. You know, this has always been the old school, how people talk about wrestling, you know, and him dropping the cute line. I know. Is just, like, the greatest word that could enter your ears right there. When you think about this guy's. No idea what he's talking about. How does this kind of all make you feel now that you're in the middle of it with the greatest of all time.

[F]

Time?

[A]

Well.

[I]

Well, the. The thing with the cute line, like, I'm so. I'm just having fun at this stage. In this stage of my career, man, I am just. Especially after the injuries and the spinal fusion. I mean, there's no one on the roster that I'm aware of anyway that's had a lower lumbar fusion, let alone a double fusion. So the fact that I'm doing. Anyway, like, every second I'm in that ring, I am soaking it up, and I. I've been doing this longer than damn near anybody. Gosh, I. I just. I feel so grateful to be around. So hearing him call it cute, like, I just. I'm having fun. 10, 15, 20 years ago, I would have been hot.

[A]

Yeah.

[I]

Choice words to say for Tom Brady. But the RKO line, it's funny because I. You know, I'll look at the comments sometimes just to get. You know, just, you know, it tickles me, but people get so freaking upset. And it's like we were just having fun. But I, I, Tom, if you want to take an rko, dude.

[A]

Yeah, call Pat.

[I]

Pat'll call me.

[A]

I would certainly love to do that for all parties involved, including the NFL fans. And I think some Patriots fans, you know, wouldn't mind, wouldn't mind seeing that at this exact moment. AJ has a question for you. Randy.

[B]

Yeah, you mentioned longevity. I guess I don't think there's any secret, any sport or business. Like, hey, the people that show up, are consistent, work hard, seem to be the ones that rise to the top and stay there. But like, consistency is that what, what, like when you watch, how do you stay relevant for so many years? Because we see a lot of guys come up. I mean, I don't want to mention anyone, but there's different fans I've been with over the past where, hey, this guy's, he's on his way to the top and then all of a sudden you never hear from him again. It just, that's what wrestling is. How have you been able to be you forever, man?

[I]

I, I think I've just been me. There's a lot of, you know, like, I think like any.

[A]

Oh, so hold on. 65.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Wildly attracted because two 170 pounds. Cool tats. Dad in the. Yeah. Knows what he's doing. Best worker probably in the history of the company.

[I]

Stop it. Stop it. My grandfather and my uncle wrestled too, as a matter of fact, but.

[A]

Oh, so I need to add that in. Yeah, yeah.

[C]

It's not just Rosemary.

[I]

Peace, grandpa man. As far as that goes, I take care of my body and, and the thing is, early on in my career, I think I got lucky because I was horrible to my body. Like I was, was doing all sorts of I shouldn't have been doing. And I kind of had a reality check and I turned things around and I just like, you know the in ring work that we talked about earlier, like, I, I make sure that everything I'm doing, there's a reason that I'm doing it. I'm not just throwing myself around. I see young guys come up and, you know, they don't hurt. They're able to. Javon Evans.

[A]

Unbelievable.

[B]

Perfect example.

[A]

This weekend, elimination chamber. If you haven't seen this dude, watch him.

[I]

Yeah, he is incredible. But I've had a couple talks with him because, like, he's doing so many things that nobody else can do and he just, he doesn't need to do them all every night.

[A]

It's like Jeff Hardy.

[I]

Yeah. Jeff Hardy, perfect example. But another guy, I mean, he's still wrestling. Yeah, he's one durable son of a. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And. And the heaviest man I've ever. I said I didn't pick anybody up early in my career. Picking up Jeff Hardy, that was, that was. That was a chore. He is a. He is a. Yeah. And, and. And Shout out Chris Jericho. He's a heavy.

[A]

That's why they're so devastating. You know, that lion song was so hard because he's heavy in there, you know. And the Swanton bomb from Marty, you know, got a lot of heavy.

[I]

I'm trying to think. I think the. The heaviest. Probably a five star frog splash from RVD would probably be the most stoutest thing I've ever taken. Oh, yeah, rvd. Amazing, amazing talent, but, man, he hit you. You know what? He was like as solid as this freaking table right here.

[A]

I heard Ray Mysterio likes to lay it in a little bit too, Ray.

[I]

I love Rey Mysterio. I don't see nothing bad about Ray.

[A]

No, no, no, no, no. I would never. Ray Mysterio gave me a shot of tequila after my first match. I was. I was going to the bathroom And I hear Mr. McAfee outside.

[I]

I know that voice, but it wasn't tequila.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[I]

Oh, God, Ray, he's the greatest.

[A]

I. I have a. I want to raise mass on my. That's because of how much respect I have for now. Appreciate you for that.

[I]

Yeah. Ray, dude. Goat. Goat. Greatest of all time.

[A]

And his kid just a sack of.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Piece of.

[I]

He's a piece of. But let's be serious.

[A]

Unbelievable.

[I]

On his way. When I first s. Saw. When I. Sir. When I first saw that guy five, six years ago, I thought, oh, man, poor kid. Look at him now.

[A]

Yeah, he's.

[I]

Dude, he's got the world by the ball.

[A]

Just such a scumbag. But boy, he's got it figured out. He's really good at everything. Yeah.

[I]

No, he's. He's smart. He's got a look. He went from not having a look, and I'm thinking, like, man, what's this kid gonna do? And now all of a sudden, he's like, got more heat than anybody and

[A]

they drop him in aaa and then he got him in raw. I mean, he is a wet worker. Worker, worker. Connor has a question for you.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Scumbag. Scumbags comebacks come back. Scumbag.

[B]

But a marvel to watch, especially with how the crowd reacts to him. I know you're a gamer. I Saw an interview you're big on Elden Ring. Is that kind of your go to hobby? Are you looking forward to some of the games? Crimson Desert coming out. There's some big ones coming. Is that, is that where you go to get away?

[I]

I am a gamer. And, and the weirdest thing is like, so I'm trying to think back when my dad was around my age and just to imagine him playing video games. Yeah, got it. I, I feel kind of like a geek sitting here talking about it. No offense to all the gamers out there, but.

[B]

None taken.

[I]

I love video games.

[A]

Are you good at them?

[I]

My poor wife. Oh my God. I'm like, hey honey, Brooklyn's in bed. I'm gonna go down to the media room. She's like, see you in three hours. But Elden Ring, the, the one I'm playing right now, it's Wu Chang, Fallen Feathers. Amazing. Amazing. It, it's, it's like watching uh, you know, avatars, something you just, you immerse yourself in it, you have fun and then you just kind of. It's, it's, it. I don't watch a lot of sports, but like movies, video games. That's like where I get my.

[A]

Your wife and you are cool.

[I]

Yeah, Yeah.

[A]

I. Nobody talks about you guys as a couple, like whenever it comes to like celebrity stuff. Cuz you guys stay out of it all so much. You two are awesome together. Feels like you're a perfect match.

[I]

We want nothing to do with all that. My, my wife, wife is absolutely amazing, man. She really is. And I've got five amazing kids. I, I feel I gotta pinch myself every morning when I wake up. I am like the luckiest guy in the world and I, I've had so many chances at life. I, I've, I've effed up a bunch. But I got a bunch of good people around me, man, at work and just throughout my career. And that's another reason with the longevity, man. Like the right people were there to kind of pick me up, slap me around and say don't do that again. And, and I was given. I don't know if it was the talent or if it was, you know, they saw something in me. Maybe it was just potential at the time, but I was given those chances and because of that I'm still here. So I got to give credit to those guys and gals that gave me those second, third, fourth, fifth.

[A]

Not just still here, still, still in it. Elimination chamber this weekend.

[I]

Yes.

[A]

You've been in a lot of them. You talk about like 23 years ago. Ago. You're. Or something like that. What, what is the mindset here? What is the plan? What's the game plan? You know, what do we need to do here?

[I]

Yeah.

[A]

Because we would like to see you.

[I]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I, I think if you're, if you're a betting man, definitely bet on me. I'm winning that thing. You know, I, I'm. I'm 40. I'm 46 in a couple months. And, you know, I can't do this forever. I've been doing it 26 years. I, I, if I could do it another decade, I will. The, the, the, the work rate, the way that I wrestle, you know, maybe I could pull that out, but I know that that time's coming, so I don't know how many more chambers I got. I don't know how many more WrestleManias I got. I think this will be my 21st WrestleMania coming up.

[B]

Jeez.

[I]

You know, I just want to keep stacking them up, man. So, like, every week, I'm taking it kind of one week.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

You look so fat on tv.

[I]

I bloated. I'm a bloated mess right there.

[A]

I think the first time I saw your. I was a fan here. I was a fan here in Indianapolis.

[B]

Miz.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Miz is eating a few. Got longevity, too. He hasn't won in a long time.

[B]

Four years.

[I]

He's another guy, man. He's been around forever. Kudos to him. He's. He's a durable son of a, too.

[A]

Yes, he is. And I beat him at Mania, so that's good. Yeah, but I wasn't the only one.

[I]

I mean, you've had a couple good showings, man. I, I seem to remember you out there with Stone Cold having some fun. Right. And that, that, and that was probably just all called on the fly on the spot. I'm guessing he's like, throw pat out there, Right?

[A]

You can't hear him either. So, you know, so we're out there. Yeah, it is all getting called on the. Yeah, it is. And it's all out there and talk

[I]

about learning from the best.

[A]

Oh, my God. In AT&T Stadium in Texas.

[F]

Yes.

[A]

Steve Austin in there. Yes. And then all of a sudden, it's like, hey, come up here. It's like, yeah, yeah, of course. This is what I'm doing. I'm trying to, like, I'm trying to rely on what I've heard you guys or other guys talk about. Like, all right, well, I'm getting. I'm just, I'm just Following along. Right now, that is all I'm doing. I'm going in and I'm listening and then he starts talking. I'm like, oh, yeah, sweet. I can't hear him.

[I]

Gravely voice.

[A]

Yeah. Because he said, you take. I'll go. You see the video. I watched the video back where he points to both things. I couldn't hear a word he was saying. And I was like, okay, I've done it before. Yep. We're doing beers.

[I]

Yeah, right, right. Thank God. Thank God you were a fan or you are a fan and you had watched and you knew what the hell he was talking about.

[A]

Yeah. And then whenever, you know, as you receive a stunner, like as a wrestling mark and as somebody that's watched the entire thing, it's like, this is the greatest thing that could ever happen to me in my entire life. And also, I've been thinking of how I would take a stunner for 20, 30 years. You know what I mean? So it's like immediately like, oh, shit. This is the. We've been planning. We've been planning.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

The thing about you guys, obviously you don't know what's going to happen.

[I]

Right? Right.

[A]

And how you strategize in work is how you're going to get a win. But all of that is happening fully encompassed, you know, Broadway, live in front of people. But it's only one way. You know, like concerts, you know, there's comedians that are in the middle, but they're not doing physical things that are happening. You guys, having people at all angles around you, watching your every single move, listening to everything, has such an amount of pressure, I think, to execute on everything. Whenever there's a mess up, it's a huge deal. That's why mess ups are such a big deal. Because you guys, it's unbelievable the amount of talent that you guys have. Honestly, it is unbelievable. I. I feel like you probably took a lot of pride in this next generation, like in helping to lend a hand and carry on the tradition of the biz 100%.

[I]

And you're right about, you know, it's 360 degrees. You're playing to everybody in the crowd. You know, a place like this, you got tens and tens and tens of thousands of people you're playing to, then you're playing to the people at home sitting on the couch too. So there's all these different elements, but as far as the younger talent, you know, I get, you know, in my salty old age, I've gotten some fulfillment in helping out the young.

[A]

You didn't want to, though, earlier.

[I]

No, of course not. Well, I don't want anybody to take my spot. And then I kind of got to the point where I realized that, oh, that's not possible. They can't take my spot.

[E]

No.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. I'm Randy Orton. Yeah. Sometimes I gotta remind myself that I.

[I]

Well, 100% I'm human. And I forget. But then, like, some. Then I remember, it's like, oh, let me help these kids out. And there's a few of them now. You get the occasional kid that'll come up like, hey, will you watch my match? You watch it. You talk to him. He doesn't change anything or take any advice. And you realize, like, oh, okay, you piece of. You're doing what you think you should do. But then there's the guys that really care. And, you know, I mentioned, like a Javon Evans or a Trick Williams. And there's so many other guys, you know, I could name so many guys.

[A]

Can I explain something to you that you might not realize?

[I]

Yes.

[A]

So I've learned this with Aaron Rodgers. So Aaron Rodgers has been a league so long. All the guys that are in the league basically grew up as fans of Aaron Rodgers.

[F]

Sure.

[A]

So, like, whenever they play against Aaron, you hear media talk about Aaron, they try to kill him. You hear all these people, but your players talk about. And they're like, that's Aaron Rodgers right there. That's what's happening with you. I think we all grew up watching you somehow, even though you're still in the business as good as you are. So these guys all grew up being like. Like, Randy Orton is the guy. So you giving them any time, I think they're very thankful for. And I am pumped that you're doing that for the good of the. This business. I think you're doing it good for this business. Tone has a question for you.

[E]

Yeah, I do.

[C]

And it's kind of around how long you've been in. In the new generation. I lived in Southside Pittsburgh from 2006, 2010. Mario's. After a Monday night Raw, you and the guys had a room upstairs. You went there after Raw.

[A]

That was when he called DDP.

[C]

Maybe. Maybe.

[I]

Did you say OC 06?

[C]

It was 06 to 010. I can't remember what year it was.

[I]

Okay. Yeah. Those are fun years.

[C]

Yeah, exactly.

[F]

Yeah.

[C]

So, but I'm saying. And we talk a lot about being here at the combine and the new generation. Like, you guys went out after events and you got. And that's how you built Camaraderie, I assume. Does the new generation do that at all? Is that. How do you, like, how, how has the locker room kind of changed over the years and like what do they do for camaraderie now?

[I]

I, I think that a lot has changed. So with social, social media and everybody having a recording device on them, so much has changed, you know, and I was just talking about my wife and my kids and I know they might be watching. I don't want to get into the exacts, but like we were always getting into something after the show and I mean I, I think last year I heard La Knight wrestled 64 times and that was the, the most anyone wrestled last year. Yeah, I mean, 64 times. Times I, we, I was averaging like 180 matches a year for 15 years. In 2013, I think I had like 220 something. So like times have changed. But that's a lot of night out. Yeah, nights out. You know, with the guys, the camaraderie was, you know, camaraderie Glore. We had a lot of fun, a lot of camaraderie. Yeah, much. And God be in so much trouble this day and age. So I, I think the guys now are smarter. They're more interested in getting up early and training the next day. You know, your body's your temple. You know what I'm saying? Times have changed. We used to put a lot of

[A]

things in our body here too, dude. Football's the same. Yeah, yeah.

[I]

So, so I, I think, I think just like with football, I'm sure. Yeah, I, I think a lot of that's the same. So I think they're getting together, they're hooking up, but what they're doing on it, on a, on a safer, more respectable, smarter.

[A]

All right, Rick. Roger. Big shame. Yeah, big shame. It's football. We say that about football too. Yeah, yeah. We're kind of bummed out that this generation doesn't get to experience the keg as much as they do the kale, you know, because it's like you get a lot tighter here than I think on this side. But that's modern world. Nobody wants to go out and get caught like anything ever. Get a little booze and you say one thing wrong, your career and your family's over forever.

[I]

Yeah, forget about it.

[A]

Yeah, it's over. So last question for me. I also trained with Rip Rogers, he Indiana legend, obviously down obw. Hilarious human being, just. But the classic old school wrestler.

[I]

Yes.

[A]

You know, just like the classic they hate. I think the modern era of wrestling. More specifically the Unreal thing on Netflix. Gosh, I hated it. Okay. I felt like I was an old wrestler. Whenever it first got introduced, produced, I hated everything about it. I'm like, I'm not doing any of this. So then I watch a couple episodes. I'm like, I could see how people who aren't wrestling fans might watch this and have more respect for what wrestling is as opposed to, you know, beforehand. So maybe it's exposing him more. Then I was asked to be a part of it. I told him no. Then they kind of forced me into it. I told him, you can't have a camera in here. Joey, who we like set up a camera up on the Thunderdome to get without my. I think I could kind of sue, but kind of without my permission in this entire thing. And then I'm lucky to be a part of that Unreal. I'm happy that my daughter and my boys are going to be able to see that kind of documented. So it's kind of a double sided thing here. How do you feel about it?

[I]

It's, it's hard. I, it depends on the, depends on the time of day, you ask me.

[A]

Yeah.

[I]

You know what I mean? I think like you at first, oh, this is terrible because like, I mean, there was a day and age where, you know, if you were working with a guy, I'm a bad guy, he's a good guy. We might be broke shows, but we're not going to ride together even though we want to. We're not going to be seen in public together. Certainly not in the town we're wrestling now. It's like, you know, not like that at all. Kayfabe is dead. No, I, I, I, Yeah, well, you're just talking about putting a camera up on the.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[I]

Kayfabe's dead. This is entertainment. We're all superstars. I, I understand it and I also hate it. And I understand it and I think it's necessary, I think bringing in and crossover. Like you said, your daughter get to see it and she'll understand it. And people that aren't fans might be fans and have more of a respect for what we do and what, I mean, listen, if you don't know what goes into it. And now you watch Unreal and you realize like, oh my God, a lot of thought. There's a lot. And it's boom, boom, boom. I mean live TV almost every day of the week. It's, it's, it's insane. When you think about the amount of content that's put out and how it's pretty much all live. So I, I think it's, it makes sense to me that it's a thing, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

[A]

I think they're gonna force you to like it at some point. Yeah, no doubt.

[I]

I, I've, I, I've seen a few episodes and I've seen myself in the background doing.

[A]

And I'm like, you've never let it out?

[I]

No, no, no, no, no.

[A]

Because all the OGs would kill you.

[I]

Yeah, I don't think they'd kill me. I think they all get it too, you know, and even Rip. Well, maybe not Rip.

[B]

No, no way. He hates.

[I]

But, you know, it's, it's just like Haymon Diff. Different generation, man.

[A]

Paul Heyman said the same thing about how, you know, it's this, it's that we got to adapt. And then I assume that it'll end up, they'll end up working that. I, I assume that'll end up being a work like, I assume wrestling will do what wrestling does too. Unreal at some point, but it was certainly a shock to the system.

[E]

Yeah.

[I]

Yeah, big time.

[A]

Big time.

[I]

Especially for me.

[A]

All right. CM Punk's back. He's the guy.

[I]

Yeah, Punk's back. Punk's cool.

[A]

Huge one in Chicago.

[I]

Big one. And you know A.J.

[A]

back.

[I]

Yeah, well, Finn Balor. Let's talk about Finn. Talk about. Holy smokes. Smoothest guy out, out there, dude. He's. I can't wait to watch him and Punk in Chicago. That's going to be a banger, dude.

[A]

AJ and Becky, gonna be huge.

[C]

Pizza. You ever seen Finny eat a piece of pizza sandwich?

[I]

I have not seen Finny.

[C]

Yeah, I didn't think so.

[J]

No.

[E]

No.

[A]

And he's Irish too. He should like.

[I]

Oh, I see what you're saying, cuz. He's shredded. Yeah, I think he eats whatever he wants. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[A]

That makes me hate him.

[I]

He's one of the. I, Well, I fluctuate. I go up and down. Sometimes the diet suffers, the abs disappear, and I'm all sudden £300. You've seen me.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[I]

I'll dip down to 280. And like, kind of, you know, there

[A]

was a time you came back, I forget when it was, and you might have been 310 pounds. And I'm like, oh, we were there when we had. Look at this thing. Because your quads are gigantic. So then when anytime the upper body gets even bigger, it's like, is this

[I]

Brock Walking out, that was too big, bro. Too big.

[A]

Your knees were probably upset.

[I]

I'm. Yeah.

[E]

Too.

[I]

You can't get a fusion and gain £60.

[A]

No, you can. You just can't expect to do things.

[I]

You can, but it's not smart.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Randy, we appreciate you stopping by, man.

[I]

Thank you, Pat.

[A]

Safe travels up to Chicago.

[I]

Yeah, I appreciate that.

[A]

We're pulling for you.

[I]

Yeah.

[A]

We would like you to win for the good of the business.

[I]

Yeah.

[A]

For real.

[I]

Well, I'm. I'm going to win this thing, go to WrestleMania main event it, and get that 15th world title.

[F]

Boom.

[A]

And then. And then what? And then we're going to get. Then you got to give it up again. And then you got to go 16. And it was.

[I]

I don't think anyone's getting more than 17. You know what I mean? If you know what I mean.

[A]

You're the man.

[I]

I love you, John.

[A]

I'm VW classmate. You're the best.

[I]

Hey, thanks, guys.

[A]

Ladies and gentlemen, 14 time world champion Randy.

[B]

Or we going to stop.

[F]

Good luck.

[B]

Jeez.

[A]

This guy.

[B]

Son of a. I did. New game coming out. Randy.

[A]

Hey. I just saw you paid a thousand dollars to upgrade your character. What a mark. See you, dude. See you, dude. He's the man. He's always been very nice to me in the business because of Rip. Yeah.

[B]

And also the RKR know, like whether you're a WWE guy or not, everybody knows you love the RKO and in turn love Randy Orton.

[C]

He's the best.

[A]

He's huge.

[C]

Because you know why? He also looks like a WWE Superstar.

[A]

Okay.

[C]

That's how I want my WWE Superstars

[B]

to look, act and be like, amen, brother. Yeah.

[A]

Hey, don't be watching. Unreal. He said it. Hey, Fab.

[B]

That's why we don't.

[A]

I don't like. I wish he would have told us he was going to win the elimination chamber then if that's the case. I thought it was all strategy. Speaking of strategy, Indiana has enacted a strategy. That is awesome. Yeah. For the state of Indiana, ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a man who is going to be in the news a lot, especially if something comes through where Indiana joins New Jersey, Florida and California as teams with two or states with two NFL teams in them. Joining us now, the governor of the great state of Indiana, Mike Brown. Sir, thank you for joining us, man. Hell yeah. Very kind of you.

[B]

How you doing?

[I]

Very good.

[C]

Nice to meet you.

[A]

All right. This is for you, sir.

[F]

Okay.

[A]

I like that Is.

[F]

It's not mine.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

All right. Okay. I Did that was.

[B]

That was the. Guess we assumed it was.

[A]

Wait a minute, sir. Okay. I like what you're doing. The joyful day. Mr. Governor, thank you so much for joining us.

[F]

My pleasure.

[A]

Congratulations on the state in which you govern, hosting the combine for the 39th straight year. Obviously, Indianapolis is built to host things. The partnership with the NFL has been spectacular and I think our state and our city show up every single time. How do you feel about the combine, the NFL's partnership with our great state?

[F]

Well, I know we got to renew the deal and we're going to definitely want that to get done. Been here a long time. When I ask them how long it's been since 87, is that right?

[A]

Yeah, 39 years this year. Then we agreed for two more years through 20, 28. So it'll be 41. But we would like a 10 year deal. Gunner, you need to.

[F]

We'll work on that. But anything that lasts that long, you'd have to have a really good reason. Why would you change it? If it's not broken, don't try to fix it.

[A]

Okay, so let's talk about that. Chicago have been the homes of Chicago Bears for a long, long time. I think there's a vote happening right now in Illinois, obviously in the NFL, this has happened throughout history where owners in an attempt to potentially get a new stadium or get some public money will say like, hey, there's other options out there if that's how we want to go about doing this. The other option in this was the state of Indiana. And it felt like you very much were like, we are open for business, if that's the case, able to pass the Bears bill, senate bill number 27, which gives them some tax breaks and some property stuff. How do you feel about that coming along and how real did you think the conversation was at the beginning of this, actually getting the Bears to come to Indiana?

[F]

So you gotta look at how long the Bears were trying to talk to their own state and their city. That goes back like three years. So for two and a half years they were just like, we're not interested. I think assuming that it would just happen there. But to get something done, even though that lease goes through, where they'll be playing there, you know, for several more years, their clock was starting to run out to get it planned for a new stadium. So they came to us. We didn't try to lure them because they thought there was no interest. And they were being told bluntly, you know, you got to build your own stadium. We're not putting any taxpayer dollars into it. So we never got ahead of our skis. I wanted to make sure it was an honest broker we were talking as

[A]

opposed to being used for leverage, which is certainly going to happen in business.

[F]

And that can happen at any time along the way on a real estate agreed. Therefore, before we went to, I guess last week when they made that strong statement and our bill passed through the House, that was kind of a threshold point. So when that happened, it was far enough along to where we believe it's mostly due diligence to just get the I's dotted, t's crossed a month and a half or two and then you ink a final deal. That doesn't mean in the meantime something couldn't waylay it. But I think they are really now got a good look at what it's like doing business in a place like Indiana. And it's going to be a lot easier to run a business over the next 40 or 50 years than it would be there.

[A]

Okay, so there's a vote in Illinois, I guess, to kind of counter what you guys are doing today. I assume you guys are watching this closely at this point. It sounds like you're very confident that this deal is going to get done and the things that you're offering for the Chicago Bears in Indiana, what is not be possible in Illinois? Sounds like what you were saying.

[F]

I'm confident that we've done everything you needed to do to be in the place we're at where they make that strong public statement. Regardless of what they do in the legislature, there's still a lot of things that would have to happen. And due to the fact that they took so long to get to this point, I think they can really see, I mean the jets, the Giants, look at all the other places where you're playing just across the border.

[A]

Yeah. And Kansas City just moved another state. I mean these are things that happen, especially with stadiums. And we're running into the final 40 seconds here live on ESPN will continue digitally. We're talking to Governor Mike Braun. I mean, this guy, whenever he came in, I remember the ads. I'm an outsider, I'm a businessman. And we are going to be open for business here, taking over for Holcomb. Governor Holcomb has been here for a while and I think this move is you stating that to the world. Right. Isn't that kind of a move that you would like Indiana to be known for? Like, hey, we are open for business here in the state of Indiana.

[F]

Open for business. Reasonable regulations, taxes, high wages, low cost of living. What more would you want? Boom.

[A]

That's a good sell. We'll continue with the govern. Exactly that. We will continue with the governor. We'll be back here on a feelgood golden Friday at the combine tomorrow. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change their life.

[B]

Goodbye.

[A]

Okay, governor, we are still live. We're just not on ESPN, on YouTube, TikTok and X. And things will obviously continue to get ESPN plus. Dizzy. Sorry, I gotta make sure I check all the boxes. There's still a lot of. A lot of people out here watching. And obviously this is a huge story for the NFL as we kind of piece together what the future could look like. So whenever, let's say Illinois and you say if they get through legislature, there's a lot of other things that still have to happen. Are you in the position where you feel like you're nimble enough? Where if Illinois does. Does put together a proposition for Chicago, you will be able to counter again? Like, is that a potential outcome in this entire thing? Like how do you see this joust potentially going and what are you prepared for?

[F]

So you got to put it into context when there was no interest and all of a sudden you're very interested. And we've been able to do all of this basically in a couple months to get it from agreement generally to an accommodating bill and a strong public stand statement. That's the speed of light in this business. And I think they've got a good feeling too. We are an honest broker. We're not going to, you know, and we wanted to make sure they were doing the same thing. So I don't know what could happen, especially when they say they're not going to put any money into it. We'll see. And I think fans have already done the calculation. You're going to have plenty of room to tailgate and do all the fun stuff in Indiana.

[A]

It's the Indiana Bears.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Chicago Bears. Sorry, I don't want to. I don't want to. I do not want to piss off the Chicago Bears fans even more.

[F]

And I won't let you do that. It's going to be the Chicago Bears.

[A]

Okay. In Indiana. Okay, good. It's only what, 20 minutes away from Soldier Field. So it's just like what does the business of the Bears want to do? And by the way, good for the Bears. Business is good for the team, it's good for the NFL. So we appreciate you guys stepping up and doing that, especially with what we've realized with doing business here. In the state of Indiana. AJ has a question for you, Mr. Governor.

[B]

Yeah, Governor, you said like a high wages, you know, low cost of living, all of these things. That seems like common sense. That's what everybody wants, right? Like, why is it so difficult to actually execute that in most states?

[F]

Well, I think you'd have to listen to J.B. pritzker, the mayor of Chicago. How much common sense is coming forth? Not much. I mean, they're talking about in a state like Illinois, they generally grow government. Not the real world, the private side of life. And most of us have to make our living in the real world, not in a world that's dominated by government.

[A]

Britzker, Governor of Illinois. Funny you called him the mayor. I like what you're doing.

[E]

Unreal.

[A]

I like. I like how this whole thing's going, Mr. Governor.

[F]

Well, that wasn't on purpose.

[A]

No, no, no, of course not. Of course not. Connor has a question for you. Mr. Governor.

[B]

Mr. Governor, it's an honor. First of all, this would be sick. As someone who lives in Indiana, I would love to. Love to have the Chicago Bears here, but call them the Indiana Bears simultaneous, you know, piss off Colts fans and Bears fans. But as far as timeline goes, like, as someone who might not be locked in, obviously the Bears wouldn't be playing in Indiana next year. You know, like, when do you see them, you know, being able to be up there? When do you see those type of things breaking ground, you know? And also, specifically, what city is it in? Because I've heard. Gary. I've heard a couple different other places. Yeah, Hammond's like. Is Hammond the one?

[F]

Hammondaire, Wolf Lake. So it's got a lot of room up there. And I think when it comes to that whole idea of how you're going to acclimate, I mean, you've already done the timing. It's going to be easier to probably get down there for most of the current Bear fans than it would be fighting your way up through traffic to get to Arlington Heights. And I think the fact that it's happened in so many other places that will be the Bears nation still going to be there. You're going to add a lot more folks from the region that go to the ball game.

[A]

When's this going to happen?

[F]

It's going to happen. The stadium will be built as soon as we starting on all the stuff you do preliminarily on real estate, but they'll be in Soldiers Field. The lease goes, I think, through 32 or 3, so they'd have a point where, if they get it built, they can move into it and then work something else on the balance of the lease. So it's mostly done on the lease and I would imagine they'll get started on the construction sometime soon after the.

[A]

Yeah, why not next week we start building. Seriously, quicker, quicker it's up, the quicker they're in there. We can negotiate a buyout. Or can you? With Illinois, I think I heard maybe

[F]

29 would be a goal of when you'd actually build a stadium.

[A]

Tone has a question for you.

[C]

Yeah, I do, Mr. Governor. I live here. I pay the taxes here to the state. What would the Bears moving to northwest Indiana do for the residents of northwest Indiana and just us Indiana taxpayers as a whole?

[F]

So look at this. Imagine this up there and for Indy, this is a kind of the heartbeat of the city. And look at what it's done to make us a sports state. NCAA headquartered here. You know, all the events we have, we got great sports facilities. So imagine that in the region. Most people in Indiana don't know that there's as much population in the region, Lake Porter county as you nearly have here in Marion County. So. And that's a place.

[A]

I did not know that.

[F]

Yeah, it's under a million, but it's the next largest place in Indiana. And when you look at the synergy from it, Gary was once our second largest city, bigger than Fort Wayne at one point. And steel whooshed out of the area, out of the country. Look what happened to the economy. So this is how you rebuild. They've got a convention center, they got a casino. FedEx put a hub in there. They got the Gary Airport, which is underutilized.

[A]

Do we still have a casino up in that area?

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

Is there a casino up there?

[F]

Yeah, it's the biggest casino in the state.

[A]

Is it a winner? Am I walking in, walking out of there a winner or no?

[F]

Depends on your talent. Betting.

[A]

Okay, Mr. Governor, so we're moving the Bears to Indiana. Congrats to the Bears, by the way. It sounds like you guys got a really good deal. Way better for them, way better for that, way better for the league, I think because it's all going to be. The Chicago people are going to have to swallow. That's going to be a hard pill to swallow. But once again, governments, public money, all this stuff gets involved, it can get a little bit messy. It's happened before. There is precedent. We're excited for you. Now. Do you think this is, is a little bit of a get back by Indiana for all the money that I'VE spent in Illinois and in Michigan. On what? You know what I'm talking. Gov, I think we should have that conversation next for the good of Indiana. Do you not think?

[F]

I think you ought to talk to the legislators about that.

[A]

Okay, I will. You go with me. You go with me.

[F]

I may, I may.

[A]

That's good for business, but moneymaker. Yeah, it is a money maker. And it's also. It's all around our state.

[F]

Yeah, yeah. So I'm taking even Kentucky.

[A]

Exactly.

[F]

Medical.

[A]

But I got a car that would be fine.

[B]

You got issues, we'll beat you halfway.

[A]

But what we're saying is, like, I think you in having the business mindset have been good for Indiana. I mean, from where we were co here in Indianapolis, Covid city gets shut down, it gets bad. I am in Indianapolis. The rebuild, the comeback, and then also trying to do it for the state. We as Hoosiers would like to say thank you for your commitment to bringing business and to bringing other outsiders into Indiana. Thank you for representing. And if we can just get that one little thing kind of passed, this would be a dream place for everybody to live, I believe.

[F]

Well, I'll take that under advisement. And I'll tell you this. When you look at how many individuals run a business, sign the front side of a paycheck and got the willingness to get into the business I've been doing as a senator and a governor, not many in the Senate, there were maybe three or four that had run a business at a certain scale that would even know what the heck to do to get that place in order. And governors, you'd think there'd be more because it's an executive role. Most of them come from the farm system of politics, and that's what I was running against. And yes, it's a big advantage doing something in the real world before you wanted to run a state or be one of a hundred on the board of directors of the biggest business in the world.

[A]

Yeah, well, we appreciate what you're doing, man. Where'd you cut your teeth? What was the business world you were in?

[F]

It was a little company that was building truck bodies that I went into six months before the farm crisis in the early 80s. That's when a mortgage was a bargain at 10% and within six months, to wring the inflation out from the Jimmy Carter days, they had to take them to 18%. That was a wobbly business circling the drain. I created two new businesses, had a fancy mba, became a used truck dealer, and then did a milk run on truck Accessories. When only farmers drove trucks, it was jumping in the stream at the right time. And three of our four kids run it. And it was in a trailer as my office for 17 years. True.

[A]

Love that.

[F]

And now it's got 90 locations in 40 states and several in Canada.

[A]

Congratulations, baby.

[F]

There you go.

[A]

That's a good Indiana business. From the trailer park to the world.

[F]

You got it.

[A]

I love everything about it. Mr. Governor, great work on this Bears deal, and thank you for being willing to be. Because you said speed of light, that's real. Having something that you think would be good for the state, executing for the good of the state, and hopefully signing the deal to make it all happen.

[F]

We're going to do everything we can to get it done.

[A]

We appreciate you appreciating ball, too. We know you love sports.

[F]

I do.

[A]

We love the fact that you love sports. More people in the politics world that love sports, we think the better because that's what we know. So we appreciate the hell out of you, man.

[F]

Well, let's do it again. And I know what it'll be about when we talk about the deal being inked. Ideally.

[A]

Which. Which deal?

[F]

Bears deal. And then we'll talk about sports.

[A]

No, no, not sports. I want to talk about sports medicine.

[C]

Sports medicine.

[A]

Sports pain management. Herbs. Herbs. Yeah, herbs. Mr. Governor, you've done a fantastic job on this whole thing. Congratulations. And we appreciate you. Can you throw a football or no?

[F]

I was a split end back in high school.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[F]

So I can catch him.

[A]

You can catch. Can you throw or no?

[F]

Not enough to where I'd want to do it on national tv.

[B]

Hold on.

[A]

Now we're on the Internet. We're not on national TV anymore, remember? So hold on, though. Do you think you could get this football from here to there to that hole right there? Mr. Governor.

[F]

Governor, I don't think I could.

[A]

Okay. Hey, I like that. All right, we're gonna take a break. We'll be back on the other side. Dan Morgan of the Carolina Panthers will be joining us. Governor Braun, seemingly with what you just told us. Bears are coming to Indiana.

[B]

Yeah, it looks good.

[F]

Chance we're gonna do our best, and it's looking decent.

[A]

Appreciate you.

[F]

You bet.

[A]

Congrats on Indiana being awesome. We're back on the other side. This is the Pat McAfee show, live from the NFL Combine, which has been here in Indianapolis for 39 straight years. We appreciate you all so much. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. Take five. All right, GMs, let's talk pizza strategy. You already know your perfect lineup of toppings, but going all in can drive up the price. Well, right now, Domino's is giving you the green light to draft a loaded roster. Because with Domino's best deal ever, you can build any pizza with any toppings for just $9.99. That's not rookie stuff. That's veteran decision making. Perfect for watch parties. Perfect for feeding the whole crew. And nobody's arguing because everyone gets exactly what they want.

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Don't overthink it. Be overconfident in your pizza game. With Domino's best deal ever. You can get any pizza with any toppings for just $9.99. Enough talk. Go out there and be the best pizza GM for your squad. Price is higher in some locations. Select this online only offer from February 23rd to April 6th. Size availability varies by crust type. Max 7 toppings 6 for New York style and pan crust.

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Stuffed crust is extra.

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Excludes XL and specialty pizzas. Minimum purchase required for delivery prices, participation, delivery area and charges may vary. As you know, managing maintenance, repair and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back. From professional grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery, they're there to help you keep things running smoothly. Plus, their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions. And because Grainger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by. Football. It's a wonderful time. I mean we just had a governor on who is seemingly taking a victory lap about getting the Bears confident over here to Indiana. Very confident. Obviously nothing's final until it's final, but it feels like he is very aggressive and very pumped about the opportunity of the Chicago Bears moving their home into the state of Indiana. Thankful for him for making that happen for our state. Also can't wait to see what he does with cannabis. I felt like that was pretty good. I feel like I did good there.

[F]

I think you did.

[H]

Yeah.

[A]

You put in like the. I did a lot of politics names

[B]

you know to maybe had check in with.

[A]

Hey just yeah learned afterwards who I need to potentially.

[C]

We can go lobby. We can go lobby. We know who to go lobby too.

[A]

Well that's what I think I was trying to do there in my head. Am I lobbying right now? It feels like I'm lobbying. Don't want to piss anybody Off. Don't want to get into that world too much. Would like to be able to, you know, do everything that I could do in literally every other state but this one. That would be cool. One half of the hammer done. Cowboys AP Tonys here. One half of the toxic table at the Boston Connors here. College football national champion super bowl champion Ryder cup winner AJ Hawk is here, looking fantastic, wearing a shirt he bought at the Loves truck stop on the way from his home to here today. He is obviously a legend. Joining us now is a legend, a man who played linebacker at the U. A man who is now the general manager of the Carolina Panthers. They were once ass. Yeah. Now they're. Now they're good. Ladies and gentlemen, Dan Morgan.

[B]

Dan Morgan.

[F]

What's up?

[B]

Has to shake the linebacker first. You know, I get it now.

[C]

The Bugles.

[A]

How you doing?

[F]

How you doing?

[A]

Sorry. I was waiting.

[B]

I was waiting.

[A]

I was wait. I was going to wait for you. I was going to wait for you. You did the right thing there. You did the right thing there. I think first. I think you handled that well. Yeah. It's the right move for the lads, for the team, for the boys, for the building. Guys, let's talk about the building. Your building. Yeah. Life has to be good for you now. Obviously didn't win the Super Bowl. Okay. Sucks you guys didn't win the Super Bowl. We hope that you would win the super bowl last year. Obviously you did not. But from where you sat when you got the job to the last to where you're at now, feels like things are coming together.

[F]

Is.

[A]

I. I don't want to say like, expected timeline, but where you're at right now with the vision you had whenever you got there. How do you feel about it?

[J]

Yeah, we feel good. We feel really good about it. You know, I think we're making steps each year that, you know, that I've took over. We're building a foundation. We're bringing the right type of guys in, guys that love football, guys that are passionate about football. So we got to keep bringing those type of guys in and. And just keep the culture of winning going.

[A]

How'd that feel, that stadium playoff game?

[I]

Oh, it was sweet, dude.

[F]

I didn't.

[A]

I. I played down there for the Monake. No.

[C]

Was it.

[A]

No. Monakey Car Care bowl was in Jacksonville. No.

[J]

Was that. That probably wasn't real. Jacked up though the stadium at that time.

[A]

Excuse me. The West Virginia Mountaineer. Fans travel. I don't remember. Maybe it was a Monakey. No, the Gator bowl was In Jacksonville, Monakey Carcare bowl was in Charlotte. So, yeah, I've played there a few times. I don't think I remembered the stadium being as daunting as it felt like it was going straight up. There was a shot of Bryce coming out for the huddle and. And it was like a low shot and it just looked like a gladiator like, vibe. And I don't want to go back too far. And we talked to owner Tepper about this and Bryce about this, but not that long ago, there was not a lot of excitement about the Carolina Panthers from within the city. Whenever you see that type of reaction, whenever you see that type of game, that kind of like vindicates everything you're building, makes you feel like stronger to keep building. Like, how does that kind of motivate you and how do you kind of feel about what has happened?

[J]

I mean, I think it makes everybody feel like we're on the right track. You know, when you see the fans out there excited, that's what you want. You want the city to be out there excited about things and knowing that they're, you know, teams putting in the work and, you know, progressing year after year. So, yeah, we want to get it like that. We want it to be consistent like that. That's the thing. We don't want to just be like a flash in the pan in the playoffs and then not in the playoffs. So we want to consist consistently be in the playoffs.

[A]

Tell me about Bryce Young. He's taller than I thought. Yeah, he came on the show. He came on the show and I was looking for him to walk out from the back is because the backpack, the big back, he was taller than I thought he was going to be. I think that potentially got blown way out of proportion, but I think he would even admit that, you know, learning the game, figuring out the game, getting a chance to do it took him in his own path. Where do you see him at now? What are you proud of Bryce Young? Maybe throughout this entire thing, at this point stage. And what do you see for him in the future?

[J]

I'm proud of Bryce in general to go through the adversity that he went through and, you know, getting benched. You know, I remember him sitting in my office and talking to him about, like, hey, like, you're eventually going to be back out there. You know, just take this in stride. You know, try to go out there, just keep working hard. And, you know, he went out there, he worked hard, he put the work in, and I'm just so proud of him. For doing that. That. And then Andy Dalton gets in a car accident, he hurts his thumb, and then insert Bryce back in the lineup and he took off.

[A]

Let's talk about Andy. Can we talk a little bit about Andy? Shout out to Bryce. By the way, Bryce, your story is a good one for people to see.

[J]

Bryce is my guy, though.

[A]

Yeah, we talk all the.

[J]

All the time.

[A]

He seems like a cool character.

[B]

Oh, yes, he does.

[A]

Yeah, he seems like a very cool cat. He had a pretty good

[F]

jumper.

[A]

Hell of an athlete.

[J]

He's an athlete.

[A]

He's really good. You know who else is?

[J]

Who's that?

[A]

The ginger. The Red Rocket.

[B]

Yeah, the Red Rocket.

[A]

The Red Rocket. The Red Rocket. Okay. So now news is coming out that he's a trade conversation for a lot of teams.

[J]

Yeah.

[A]

We've seen these veteran quarterbacks. I mean, he came in to play. Good for you. We've seen these veteran quarterbacks, though, that I think. And I don't want to talk out of line here. I think these veteran quarterbacks that can read defenses are maybe at a premium now, maybe than maybe they were in the past.

[J]

Yeah.

[A]

You're seeing a lot of these OGs getting a second opportunity because of the experience that they have.

[J]

Yep.

[A]

Andy Dalton seemingly going to be a guy that some teams are going to want. Is that why we're opening the door or how is that conversation happened with you?

[J]

I think it's the. There's a potential that, you know, somebody may want him, and Andy's a really good player, and he's a. He's a great guy, great culture, fit for us. I haven't talked to any teams about a trade, but. But I, you know, I think if the possibility did come up that I would talk to Andy, give him that option and let him, you know, explore trade. So I do think that we want to get a little younger and a little more athletic at that backup quarterback spot. So. So we'll see what happens from there.

[A]

There's quarterback here in Indianapolis.

[J]

Oh, yeah, yeah. But we're not trading.

[A]

Okay. All right.

[J]

You're not giving away drip picks. We got to build through the draft.

[A]

Well, we would like some draft picks. Okay. That's what we. Everybody seems to want what you want. Okay. AJ Has a question for you. Yeah? Yeah.

[B]

We had your owner, David Tepper, on Super bowl week at Radio Row. He was. I mean, I don't know what I was. What I thought we were. He was going to be, but I love, like, he was very open, very. Seemed like a very real human. For being a, you Know, kazillionaire, having all the money in the world, and seemed very competitive, I guess.

[A]

What's it like day to day?

[B]

How involved is he week to week, and then throughout the season?

[I]

Season.

[J]

You know, we talk almost every day, sometimes twice a day. He wants to win. I want to win. The organization. Yeah.

[A]

Yeah.

[J]

He's so passionate about the team and about the. About the guys on the team and, quite frankly, everybody in the building. So. Him and Nicole Tepper have been amazing to work with, you know, and some people, you know, don't believe that based on the reputation that he's had, and it couldn't be farther from the truth. He's fun to work with every day. He's funny.

[A]

He is.

[J]

He likes having a good time.

[A]

He's a Pittsburgh guy, which I forgot about as I was talking shit about him at the beginning of it all, because it was easy, I think, to kind of nitpick at a new owner that isn't having success, and then also soccer team not having success, and then all these other things are happening. Got signs outside, and then him throwing the ice and then him getting going. Can I give my side of that story?

[J]

Yeah.

[A]

These guys were just celebrating that my player was hurt right there, and it's just not. I'm from Pittsburgh. Sorry. I got a little bit fiery, and it was like, oh, I didn't even think about you having a side.

[J]

I'm actually a little bit to blame for that because the guy was being just obnoxious all game long. And then finally I couldn't take it anymore, and I told the guy to shut the.

[A]

Okay, so you were a part of this as well?

[J]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay. So I wish we would have known that this was a exchange. So.

[J]

So it wasn't all just him. I think maybe I got him a little riled up.

[A]

But on that note, that's probably a moment where you guys.

[I]

Yep.

[A]

You guys want to battle together. Yeah, That's. That's good for camaraderie.

[F]

We're.

[J]

We're a lot alike. We're. We're both very competitive. We're both fiery. We both want to win.

[A]

So where are you from?

[J]

Philadelphia.

[A]

Okay, so he's from Pittsburgh. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. Simpatico, if you will. Now, Pittsburgh's better city. Obviously, Connor has nothing like a team,

[B]

kind of that guy together to bring, you know, front office together. So that's actually really cool to learn. Another guy in the front office. We talked to on radio row, hall of Famer Luke Keakley. I'm not sure specifically what his title is right now, but he obviously huge weapon for you guys to use. Does he send you questions that you can ask some of these guys to. To kind of inform you on if they are a football genius?

[J]

Because obviously he doesn't, but he is a football genius and obviously, like, he's one of the best linebackers of all time. And I'm just so proud of him for making the hall of fame this year. Couldn't happen to a better guy. And obviously an unbelievable player.

[B]

What are those questions that you are asking? You know, we heard. I forget who said it. That they asked about Serial in the movie.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

John Schneider. Like, do you do any of those or you just kind of locked in with them? Hey, tell me why you love football.

[A]

Stare at me. Don't.

[J]

Ours is ours.

[A]

You have an incredible ability. I'm telling you, locked in.

[J]

I got a story after this.

[A]

Okay, I'll remind you.

[J]

Yeah. So you know, we want to know about the guys, right? Like, we want to know, like, what's their story? What's their football story? When did they fall in love with football? Why do they love football? You only have 20 minutes with them. So we just want to hear their story, like how they grew up, who got them in the football, who were some of their mentors, and why are they playing? Why do they love it? You know, so we just want to find more about the guy. Because I feel like if you're going to miss on a player, I think it's more about missing on the guy than it is the actual player. So we just want to dig as much as we can.

[A]

It feels like those eyes are good at finding it. Is your story that you haven't blinked since you were born?

[J]

So everybody, like, in the draft room. I. Yeah, I don't blink a lot.

[A]

No. So it's awesome. Don't blink. That's like what people say.

[E]

Don't blink.

[J]

Cut your eyelids off in the. In the draft room. Like, we'll sit there in draft meetings, and we're in draft meetings from like 7am to like 8pm and I'll be like, locked in to where people are like, hey, can we take a bathroom break?

[A]

You know, so.

[J]

So, yeah, I wear a diaper.

[A]

You should do the same. You do a good job. Ton has a question for you.

[C]

You were just talking about finding guys in those meetings that love football. And congratulations, you found one of Those in Ted McMillan, Offensive Rookie of the year. But there were questions last year about, like, if he did love football, a volleyball player didn't watch.

[A]

Unbelievable volleyball player, by the way.

[F]

Yeah.

[J]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Unbelievable.

[C]

But, like, was. When in the process were you like, oh, that's all this guy does. Love ball. And, like, is that like the main goal of all of the computer combine for you, or is it on field stuff?

[J]

Yeah, it's. So, first of all, don't listen to the outside noise. There's. There's going to be rumors. But do your own homework on guys. And that's what we do. We. We bring guys in, we talk to them here. We bring guys in on 30 visits. We do a bunch of zoom calls with them. Like, we're always talking to these guys. We're trying to find out as much information as possible about the them. And with T. Mac, I mean, it was. It was obvious that the guy loves football. The guy lives, breathes football. He's a baller. He's a great dude. And when he walks into the room, you're like, this. This guy's massive. Like, he's big, he's long. And, you know, I. I don't really play into all the narratives that I heard. I just want to, like, meet the guy face to face, look him in the eye and ask him those questions and see how he responds. And he, he responded really well.

[A]

Did you watch his volleyball tape?

[J]

Yeah. Yeah, dude.

[A]

Do you know much about. I don't know how much you know about.

[B]

I don't know much.

[A]

So. I played in high school, so I played in high school. Love the sport. Like, very much loved the sport. It was. I had already committed to West Virginia to kick. It was the spring, so I wasn't playing, like, cup soccer, trying to do the entire thing. Volleyball was a spring sport played my senior year was, like, with the boys, like, I had so much fun. The amount of strategy, but also the athleticism, like, you are. The jump, the explosion is like a real thing. I saw a video of him going from back row, like, jumping ten foot off and, like, absolutely hammering. It's like, oh, that guy might have been like an Olympian volleyball player and then athlete. Yeah. Then the questions were like, well, he doesn't like ball. And it's like, if I was the greatest volleyball player on earth, I think it would be hard for me to buy into it. And then what he did with you guys and if. Yeah, this is him, right?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. He's unbelievable. I mean, it was. And a former volleyball player I was watching saying, wow, this bang right down the line right there.

[J]

He hasn't even scratched the surface of how good can be from a Football perspective. Like, he's going to get bigger, stronger, faster. Like, he's. He's got so much potential.

[A]

How do you feel about bigger, stronger, faster offseason plans? Like, I assume you guys have 100% attendance and all that.

[J]

Like, yeah, yeah, we. We got a good locker room. Like, we got a bunch of guys that they just want to win. So our. Our attendance, I think, will be pretty good.

[C]

Bryce talked about that. He said, like, it wasn't like, oh, great, we made the playoffs. They was like, the locker room was pissed.

[J]

Yeah, the guys are hungry. I'm telling you. We've all been around it. You know, our locker room is hungry to win, and, you know, we're. We're hungry upstairs and ownership's hungry.

[A]

So let's eat, guys.

[B]

Sounds like organizational alignment as we talk about a lot.

[A]

You guys are on the same plan,

[B]

but going back to, you know, switching subject a little bit. Miami Hurricanes, obviously, you're a legend. So close. Legend of Miami. We got to see their whole playoff run. They're awesome. Big, fast, strong, very well coached. What do you think of what Mario Cristobal and that staff is doing down there, and are they here to stay? It seems like they. They really are.

[J]

Mario. That's my guy. That's my guy right there. So he was.

[A]

Oh, yeah, you two would get along. So now that I'm thinking, oh, yeah, just, yeah.

[B]

Headbutt each other every day.

[J]

He was a ga. When I was a senior.

[E]

Okay.

[J]

So obviously I was there with him, and, like, that's. That's my guy. So he's done an excellent job. And our new defensive coordinator down there, he was killing it this year. He did a great job. And having, like, Malachi Toney and guys like that that they've recruited, they've done a great job at that, too. So I think we're going to keep.

[B]

Draft a bunch of Miami guys.

[A]

Hold on, though, Dan. Let's talk about that. Ruben Bane.

[J]

Yeah.

[A]

Short arms.

[E]

Yeah.

[J]

But he's got a powerful lower body. He can bend. And he's. He's got some power.

[B]

He's got a motor.

[J]

He's got some power.

[A]

So riddle me this. You're a human.

[J]

He's not going to be there when we pick unless you make a move at 19.

[A]

Unless you make a move.

[J]

Yeah.

[A]

Let Tepper get all hopped up. Let him get helped up, make some plays. But on that. So, like, whenever you think about the dimension stuff, and we've asked this a couple times, a couple different GS, it feels like if you like a guy you're gonna find reasons why it doesn't matter. If you don't like a guy, you're gonna use it as a reason. Do you think that's probably accurate? Like humans are making these decisions at the end of the day?

[J]

Yeah, for sure, for sure. Listen, we always say it like, hey, let's. Can we make his arms like 31 on the card so it looks better? Like if you want a guy like, you can make every excuse. So I think you really just gotta stick to your process. You got to stick to what you do. And there's always outliers in every draft and you just got to decide if, hey, is that outlier? Is he going to defeat that, you know, outlier stigma?

[A]

Yeah. And he, he took over games. I, I mean, we watch it. You did too, obviously, watching the entire run. He was, he had an aura and a presence about it. And then this thing.

[C]

He's a bull sick mesador.

[F]

He's a ball.

[A]

It might be available. I mean, there's a lot of. Go ahead, con man.

[B]

Miami played in a bunch of big games and, you know, Ohio State, some of those schools. Is that important when you're looking at some players like, hey, these guys have bid in big moments, they've performed in big moments. When they get to the NFL, every moment is massive and it won't be too big for him. Is that something that you gotta consider like the school conference type play?

[J]

Yeah. So we, our analytics department, they put together like a blue blood score. So it's against, you know, how they do against good opponents. So I think that's really important to see how these guys do against top level competition as opposed to playing against the lower tier schools.

[C]

Yeah.

[J]

Yeah.

[A]

So what are we looking for? Just good players. Dogs. Dogs. Only dogs.

[J]

Dogs. And good players.

[C]

Is a good linebacker class.

[A]

Yeah, it is. Yeah. What are the, what are the good things about that? What are the positions. Positions that we should talk about that

[J]

you think are, I think outside linebacker. Linebacker. Running backs weak this year. There's some tight ends that are, that are good players in this draft. Some corners, some safeties. So there's, there's a bunch of guys. I'm excited.

[A]

More of a defensive league now.

[J]

A defensive league league.

[A]

Yeah.

[J]

No, I don't think so. I mean, I think it's always an offensive league right now. You know, points are what everybody wants to score, what everybody wants to see. But when you have a good defense, you see what it does.

[A]

Keeps you in every game.

[J]

Exactly.

[A]

Go ahead, Tone.

[C]

Yeah, I was like at you as A former linebacker, when it is a really good linebacker class, is it hard for you to not kind of focus on them more like. Or you're like, I'm a GM now.

[F]

I can't.

[A]

Yeah.

[J]

I mean, maybe at first, but I'm kind of out of that now. Now. Now it's just more about, like, putting a team together and. And trying to, like, fit all the pieces of the puzzle together.

[C]

And what about, like, you have guys like Arvell Reese who are just absolute freaks, and then you have guys like Jacob Rodriguez who. Their production is absurd. How do you go, you know, potential versus production that you've seen?

[J]

Yeah, I mean, to me, I'm always going to go with the production, you know, so, you know, even like, a guy that maybe makes, like, a big senior push and, you know, had a big year in his sixth year, like, to me, like, you do have to be a little careful with that.

[F]

Yeah.

[J]

You're looking for guys that have been consistently productive throughout their careers.

[A]

Potential. Get your ass fired.

[J]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. I think that is a former player thing.

[J]

Yeah.

[A]

I think there's a lot of things that benefit you, being a former player, being in your position.

[J]

Yeah.

[A]

Because we've all been in the locker room, watch guys come in that were supposed to be good, and all of a sudden we're losing games and they're gone for four or five weeks because they can't figure it out. I think it's a weapon for you. AJ Has a question for you.

[B]

Yeah, I guess. What's your. What's your goal coming into this week as the GM of Carolina? You've been here many times, obviously, in other roles, but what's your. Like when you come here this week? Do you have any. I need to see this. These group or this. This type of people, or what do you want to come away with this week?

[J]

So I really come down here more for the interviews than I do anything. We watch these guys all year long, so. So it's nice to put a face to a name and just. Even if it's 20 minutes, just sitting there, like, get to know the guy. Get a little bit of feel for the guy that you may be calling on draft night and maybe figure out, like, hey, do we need to bring this guy in and, you know, kick the tires a little more and, like, figure them out a little more than what, you know, what we already did.

[B]

So you just mentioned about. Sorry,

[A]

fight him.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Out of me.

[J]

I'm not blanking,

[B]

but what you just mentioned to Tony about how it's kind of a weak running back class as opposed to other years. You guys bring in Rico Daddle, and he's one of the stories of the season. It felt like, especially when Chuba Hubbard is one of your leaders, do you feel like there's a kind of more established running backs that aren't getting as fair of a shake in places? And that's why even when it's a weak running back class, you can kind of scout the other players that, you know, some teams like the Cowboys who drafted Rico, but then, you know, kind of let him go. Is it better to go after guys like that at certain positions where, you know, hey, this guy can be an absolute stud in our system versus one that they might have been in before?

[J]

Yeah, a little bit. Like we did that with Rico last year. Like, he, he, he ran all over us. And you know, when we thought we could get him in free agency and, you know, the price worked out for both sides, I mean, we pulled the trigger on that. So, yeah, you're always looking for that value.

[A]

He was the best player in the league for a little while last year for two months. Ty Schmidt. Ty Schmidt, who's on our show. I think he'll be back tomorrow. Ty, we miss you. We love you, man. He's packers fan. Okay, so Ty Schmidt.

[J]

Oh, okay.

[A]

He came in on Monday. He was like, is Rico Dowdle the best player? And he wasn't the only one. There was a lot of teams

[B]

killed.

[F]

The Cowboys.

[G]

Cowboys.

[A]

Yeah. I mean, that becomes a good, good thing, I think, for the entire team whenever you hit on something. Yeah, right. I mean, for sure.

[J]

I mean, that's the goal every year, is to just kind of maybe find those free agents, those second wave free agents, if you want to say, like diamonds in the rough.

[A]

So how much money do you have?

[J]

Not a ton, but, you know, you can always make money.

[A]

Okay, so that's kind of what Bean. Bean said. We're, we're going to be like 15, 19 over, but we're going to make some moves. And then we had Borgonzi on. He has 100 million over there in Tennessee.

[J]

We're, we're on the low. I think we're like right in the middle nine.

[A]

Who's about nine, eight, nine. Yeah, we're looking at. Who knows if this is accurate. Shout to spo track. By the way, Spotrek does a lot for us, but he's, he's also expanding. Have you seen what's Bo Trak's doing?

[F]

No.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Projecting contracts. Maybe you check it out. Projecting contracts. Values we do that. Do you.

[J]

We do that in house.

[A]

Oh, in your own. You have your own Spotrek?

[J]

Yeah, yeah. We just. I mean, we.

[E]

We always.

[A]

How does that come together?

[B]

Okay, okay.

[A]

So how does that. You have like a. So I go to. What's that car auction?

[B]

Mecham.

[A]

Mecham. And what's the other one? The. There's another one. The. These two auctions.

[J]

So we'll have like the APY list.

[A]

Barrett Jackson. So I'll go in there. Car will be coming by.

[J]

Yeah.

[A]

And in my head, I'm like, I'll spend 17,000 on that. But I'm not literally not going a dollar over. You're doing same thing in free agency at different positions, different players. How's that go? Because I remember who was a Carolina Panther last year and then went up to. Mel Williams was a Panther and then he went up to New England.

[J]

It was going to be.

[A]

Yeah, that's. It was reported. Yeah, I think it was reported that he was going to be there by Shefte. Who knows everything. But. So then. Is there like a number? You're like, ah, we can't do that. Like, how do you kind of formulate that stuff?

[I]

So.

[J]

So in free agency, you know, we have basically like a spreadsheet and it'll have the apy of each guy and by position. So you can basically be like, okay, Milton Williams, where does he slot within this? And then you just kind of slot him in there and you're like, okay, like, he's worth this.

[A]

This is where we can go. Yeah.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

I love that. I love the amount of business that has to happen behind the scenes before these decisions. And then when you're in it, it's like, do we hold on to the rules we made before we were in here?

[J]

It gets tough. That's where you got to have discipline legit.

[A]

And I think that's probably where Tepper is probably good because of his history and finance.

[J]

Tepper and Brand Till he does a really good job, too. So I have a good team.

[A]

All right, what do you get? Are you. You look like you're in pretty good shape right now.

[J]

Yeah. Peloton still.

[C]

All you guys.

[A]

Everybody pelotons, man. Is that because it's. You put in the office?

[J]

It's just easy. I. I have it at my house. I actually wake up in the morning and I work out before I go to work.

[A]

What time. What time we up?

[J]

4:30.

[A]

These eyes want to open. They never want to close. Okay. So there's a certain. There's a certain Bedtime too. We need. Are you 9 o' clock every day?

[J]

Yeah, 9, 9:30.

[B]

Just fall asleep the second you lay down.

[F]

Yeah.

[G]

Oh yeah.

[B]

What happens if the Panthers run late? Are you like.

[A]

Well, this sucks. Can we get some more then I'm

[J]

exhausted and I won't work out the next day.

[B]

Okay.

[F]

Okay.

[A]

That makes me feel better that a machine actually does take a couple days off.

[B]

How many straight weeks because they lose you, doesn't sleep.

[C]

Probably 100 and.

[A]

107 straight weeks for Bob Salah has 107 weeks straight with at least one workout on Peloton.

[J]

I mean I probably have that.

[B]

Which means I haven't.

[J]

I haven't checked.

[A]

Yeah. I don't know where this.

[C]

He was pretty happy about it.

[A]

Do you race people?

[J]

What's that?

[B]

Do you race real people in real time? You can do that?

[J]

Yeah, you can do that. But usually when I'm working out like nobody. Nobody's up there.

[F]

So.

[J]

Because my. My eyes are wide open.

[A]

Yes, they are. 4:30am Workout on Peloton. Those have no idea who's walking. You got some. You got some. Mom that's like. Yeah. Early riser before the kids. Let me get out here. What is this? Eyes wide open guy. Pastor, I'm going to change my. Yeah, I don't think. Not a bad IDE profile emoji. Yeah. It should just be a black shirt that just has two open. I'll make it.

[C]

Do you remember those no Fear. The no Fear logo.

[A]

Exactly. Oh yeah. I had those. Can you throw? I know you're a defensive guy.

[J]

I can, but it's going to look bad cuz my left shoulder's jacked up.

[B]

Can't lift. Is knocking people out with it for 30 years.

[I]

Yeah.

[A]

It's all.

[J]

It's like a kind of a frozen shoulder. Like I can barely lift it above my head, but I can throw.

[A]

Can you tell me about. Were you. You were causing CT with your hits and how do you think about now how the game has gone? Like it feels like it's a full and Are those the green goo? Yeah.

[J]

Celsius.

[A]

Okay.

[J]

Yeah.

[A]

So that's how we do it.

[C]

Celsius.

[A]

Celsius and water. Okay. This guy's drinking energy drinks.

[B]

Holy.

[J]

You gotta stay up down here, man.

[F]

Celsius.

[B]

No joke.

[A]

Hey.

[J]

Oh, love does taste good.

[A]

You're just mix. Hold on.

[J]

Okay, do the packet.

[A]

Okay. There's a packet in the.

[J]

Yeah, there's a packet.

[A]

Okay. I thought you.

[J]

I'm not like duning it in there, getting it all over the counter.

[A]

I thought you might have a funnel.

[C]

I thought you, like, had a funnel.

[J]

Yeah, I mean, I would do that if I had to.

[A]

Yeah. Which is why. Hey. Which is why we respect you. Let's talk about the game as a whole, though. I assume AJ, like, loves you. Like a. AJ loves you. And we're LBs.

[B]

Bam. I mean.

[J]

Yeah.

[A]

And I think you should see his

[B]

mere advisory he had in Miami.

[A]

That was amazing.

[J]

Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. A lot of sway, a lot of moxie for a Philly kid playing for the U. But also, I think, like, we're hitting people.

[J]

Yep.

[A]

You know, like, we're trying to really do it.

[J]

Yeah.

[G]

Striking.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Violent.

[A]

Yeah. A lot of. A lot of we're doing this. The game has completely evolved.

[H]

Right.

[A]

How do you feel about where it's at right now? How do you feel about the state of the game? I think it's awesome. We're still getting huge hits. I think it took a generation of kids to go through the heads up football program and all that that they, like, initiated 10, 15 years ago.

[J]

Yeah, it's definitely safer than when we played. You know, we're. We're, like, going, like, face first in the stuff and practice, knocking ourselves out. And so, yeah, things are a lot better now, especially, like, all the off season stuff. There's more time, you know, for the guys to get rest and. And even, like, the OTAs and the Mini camps, like, they're not as intense as they used to be.

[A]

I love it. I love where the game's at. I love where the league's at. I love where your team's at, bro. It was fun to watch Charlotte come alive.

[J]

Yeah.

[A]

For sure. Because Charlotte has so many down here. I mean, obviously, Luke Combs is like, the man who loves your team. Eric Church loves it. I mean, there's Cam Newton. Coming back was awesome. It's like that city is.

[J]

That was awesome.

[A]

It was.

[J]

Yeah.

[A]

That place was crazy. I think he did. He put a hole in that thing.

[J]

I don't know if he almost did.

[B]

Torbert did. I believe.

[J]

I think

[B]

that guy was impossible to attack. Legs are this big.

[A]

That's a hub, though, like. And I think people forget, like, hey, Charlotte is a hub for a lot of.

[J]

You got to give them a reason to show up.

[A]

Bingo. But just like Indianapolis, like, Charlotte hosts a lot of things. Charlotte's a great city. Charlotte has it all. And if you're any NFL team is playing well, it kind of spotlights it all.

[J]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, so the fact that you're doing that for a city that we love and is so awesome. So I can't wait to see what you do out there.

[J]

Good football team.

[A]

Hey, Panthers.

[C]

Yeah, we do.

[A]

Panthers are a good football team.

[J]

I like that.

[A]

Okay, so you've heard us say this.

[J]

Oh, yeah, I have.

[C]

I like that.

[A]

That's good football because you beat a team and everybody's like, this team sucks. They lost to the Panthers. And we're just like, hey, let's go football. Are a good football team. That is a good football team. Appreciate that soon. I think it's a great football team.

[C]

You know what else? You, you guys were, I believe, 90 or 100 against the spread after a loss. Great bounce back team.

[B]

Thank you for that resilience.

[J]

Appreciate that.

[A]

Appreciate that. No, we appreciate that. That's a weird time.

[C]

We knew, hey, if there was a loss, you guys were winning next game.

[A]

That's do.

[J]

Hopefully that doesn't happen too much.

[F]

There you go.

[B]

Another leg. Looks like he's going to go run a 4:40.

[E]

I don't know.

[B]

You probably tackle him all the times.

[A]

Frank, good to see you, man. Couple Miami legends here.

[B]

Frank, how you doing? How you doing, Frank? Jeez, nice to meet you, man.

[J]

Welcome.

[A]

Frank, Frank, Frank, Frank, Frank, Frank.

[C]

Do you want us to.

[A]

Yeah, do you down.

[B]

Shoes are beautiful.

[A]

Here you go. Here you go. Real quick. Frank, how are you?

[F]

I'm great, man.

[A]

We love you, dude. You know I love you, baby. Come on, dude. I wish he would have been with us in San Fran.

[F]

I told him all the time when

[A]

I played with him at the co. Yeah, I'll be back, I'll be back. Okay, okay. We'll be here tomorrow too.

[H]

All right.

[A]

We appreciate you, Frank. Hey, you think I could slip one in here? What do you think, Frank?

[J]

That's a great dude right there, dude.

[A]

Unbelievable.

[J]

Yeah.

[A]

Wears notepads, unfortunately. Yeah. I think the first thing I said to him was like, hey, you're hilarious. And he goes, whoa, why? You know, cuz it's quiet. I'm like, you got notepads on, you're wearing soccer cleats. I don't know what size those socks are. That's not. Definitely not what you're supposed to be wearing. And you don't care at all. He didn't. He didn't care about any of it. Great teammate.

[J]

Yeah.

[A]

Beloved by everybody. Worked his ass off. Like, I. I loved Franco. I. I was so lucky to be his teammate. I was so lucky to be his teammate. But he did tell me a lot of times, like, hey, if you would have been in San Fran, with. You were supposed to be with us. Yeah. Thank you, man. I appreciate that. That's an honor to hear that. And I would love to sit you out there. Dan, you said you can't throw. Great. But because you're a competitor, because you're an athlete, I think you're going to get the job done. Would you like to attempt $100,000 throw? Let's go do this, Stan. Let's go.

[F]

Come on, Dan.

[C]

Yeah, he's a competitor.

[A]

Let's go, Don.

[J]

Just don't make fun of me.

[C]

Never would.

[B]

We will.

[C]

Definitely.

[J]

You can,

[I]

you can.

[A]

Dan Morgan, you can come over here. You're a lefty.

[G]

I can't believe he's drinking.

[A]

Okay. How old are you, brother?

[J]

47.

[A]

God, you look good. I want to let you know, the guy right over there, wait until you take your headset off and said, I can't believe this guy's drinking piss. So there is some people. Whether or not Celsius. It's good though, Piss or Celsius. Okay. 47 years old, obviously a defensive legend. Current general manager for the Carolina Panthers. If you put this football into that hole right there, we will donate $100,000 to a chance charity of your choosing. Does that sound good, dude?

[J]

Sounds good.

[A]

All right, why don't you go ahead and do that thing? Let's athlete that thing in there. He shredded his shoulder giving ct.

[B]

Okay. All right. Good zip.

[C]

Oh, yeah, he's bringing it down.

[A]

Oh, hold on, hold on.

[B]

Going quick.

[A]

Put that. Yeah, he put that in.

[B]

He can't lift it. He can't lift it above his arm, you know?

[A]

Do you throw at practice ever?

[J]

No, no, I. There's a quarterback that didn't show up to a workout that I was out in May Memphis. There was a running back working out and I had to throw and it was ugly.

[A]

Did the kid get the gig or no?

[J]

What's that?

[A]

Did you get the job or no?

[J]

No, he didn't get the job.

[A]

He had no chance.

[J]

Trapped him because I. I couldn't tell

[A]

if he was good or not. Okay, well, let's not think about that. Let's not think about the first throw. Let's go ahead and put this thing into that hole for $100,000 donation and to a charity of your choosing. Oh, hey, that kid. It might have been the running back Just sucked, bro. That was a great throw there, Dan. We appreciate you. The boys love you. Good luck in Carolina and thanks for everything, man.

[J]

Appreciate you guys.

[A]

Oh, my goodness. This is going to get weird.

[C]

Yeah, it is.

[A]

They don't already is.

[B]

They don't. He dominates his kids in the staring contest.

[J]

My son's the same.

[B]

Oh, that's a skill. That's a skill.

[A]

I don't think I will. I don't think I will.

[J]

Will appreciate it, man.

[E]

You too, dude.

[A]

Thank you, dude. Good luck down there. Please tell everybody in Carolina we love them and appreciate. Hey, Dave. Hey. Hey. Hey.

[F]

Good luck.

[A]

Hey, last question. Need this. Dave giving up play calling duties. What's that all about? We like that. We don't like that. Why? Why?

[D]

Do you.

[J]

Yeah, I mean, I think he just kind of wanted to be more of a head coach.

[A]

Is that a decision that you talk with him? Everybody talks.

[J]

Yeah, yeah, we talk together, but it. It was his decision.

[A]

Okay. So.

[E]

Yeah, we don't.

[A]

We're not.

[J]

I think. I think it'll be good.

[A]

Okay, good.

[J]

And I know he's excited about it.

[A]

Okay, cool. So we shouldn't make a big deal of that.

[H]

No.

[A]

Okay, good.

[C]

You can always take it back.

[A]

Yeah. We got a group of lads over here. I don't know. They look to be strapping. See you, Dan. Good luck, dude. Everybody's just leaving. We do the meetings and we'll get out of here.

[B]

Yeah, it's kind of. It's interesting, everyone. It's too good of a TV product.

[A]

So they watch on home.

[C]

They're here for the meeting.

[A]

So, I mean, that started with. For us, like, learning the Chargers. Remember the Chargers always come out Wednesday and for our show, they stop by and we're like, where are you guys going next? They're like, home. It's like the workouts start tomorrow. Like, exactly. So we're gonna go watch this.

[B]

Gotta be in. Gotta be in my seat for.

[A]

It's like, what are you here for? Well, here for the meetings. Here to kind of learn about the guys, put a face to a name. There's been a lot of that. It feels like the interactions are what the combine's all about. That's why the NFL spring break happening here in India. Indianapolis is so damn perfect. The city is conducive. Do we know who these guys are that are just kind of standing here? Looks like they're potential workout guys.

[B]

Yeah, I was gonna say it kind of looks like they are kids that might be working the combine field itself.

[A]

That. That would be the equipment managers from the Colts. Right. And that normally. Who?

[F]

I don't know. I don't know.

[A]

Hey, who are you guys?

[B]

A rugby team?

[A]

Yeah. You guys okay? Sweet Wheat.

[C]

What he said, I don't know.

[A]

I don't know. Anyway. With grass. See?

[C]

What'd they say?

[A]

What'd you say?

[E]

Huh?

[A]

We're working it.

[C]

They're working the event.

[A]

Oh. Where are you guys from? Taylor University. Oh, hell, yeah. Good to see you boys. Thank you for stopping by.

[C]

Baylor or Taylor.

[A]

Good to see you.

[D]

What's.

[B]

Taylor.

[A]

Taylor. I'll tell you what. I could have been a college. I threw out university. Felt good about it being run.

[C]

I assumed you knew Foss is working the beer stand over there, so.

[G]

That's nice.

[B]

Yeah. Grabbing a couple pints.

[A]

Yeah. That's the problem, is it? That's the problem behind the. Exactly what we're talking.

[B]

Behind the bar.

[A]

That's exactly what we're talking about right there. It is a. It is a spectacular spectacle.

[C]

It is a spectacular spectacle.

[A]

And, you know, with where we are, obviously, this is absurd that we get to use this.

[I]

Yeah.

[A]

Shout out to Lucas Oil. Shout out to Indianapolis. I don't want to continue to reiterate. Reiterate this, but there was a time where the combine was a massive show. Remember, it was like a huge festival. And then I don't know if the NFL Network kind of just took it in and, like, kind of took it over and, like, hey, nobody's allowed in here. Because then they start the convention center, Radio Row. And it's like, once we get the relationships that we kind of get in this entire thing, and we're from Indianapolis, it's like, hey, the combine's like a very special event, not only for the NFL, but for our city of Indianapolis. We'd like to try to at least do a show from there. And then the people of indie, you know, come up to me and they're like, hey, you know, nobody's using the. The horseshoe stage or whatever. And I'm like, the one that's right in the dead center. And they're like, yeah. I'm like, could we use that? And the people are like, yeah, we will certainly allow you to do that. And I'm like, sick. So then Roger Goodell and the NFL gets in, and then obviously, with ESPN helping out with the production of it all, it's like, we're very lucky and thankful to be here and getting to hang out downtown. Usually because we're from Indianapolis, I would never hang out downtown. But, like, hanging out downtown after the show and before the show has been so much fun. Getting a chance to see people that I haven't seen in a long time, meet people that I haven't, you know, ever got a chance to meet even Talk to people that maybe we have buried on the show.

[B]

Definitely.

[A]

And then walking into a room and just being like, I have no idea how this is gonna go. I remember distinctly a sense and some funny. Definitely funny.

[J]

That's our job.

[A]

And that's how they all reacted. That is literally how they all reacted. They, like everybody that I've talked to has been very gracious to us and very welcoming to us and our show. And we can't thank everybody enough for allowing us to do this. Honestly, that's the people that watch and the people that had to approve all of this shit. So we're thankful to be here. And it continues tomorrow. And tomorrow feel good. Golden Friday, Jackie Hughes will be okay. We'll be here live in person. We cannot wait to chat with the gold medal boy, Jack Hughes. What he did last night at his Devil's game with Tage Thompson with the Buffalo, where they did an entire, like. I don't want to say ceremony, because it didn't. It was kind of a ceremony of a celebration of him. I thought it was really cool. Cannot wait to chat with him and shout to the Devils fans reacting the way that they certainly reacted. And Megan Keller will be joining us via a Zoom call. I would like to let everybody know offered up private travel for her to come and join us live alongside Jack so we could have a nice gold medal celebration of the hockey teams and us being the greatest hockey country on earth, the home of hockey, us being the hockey capital of this here planet, Canada used to have. Have it. Not anymore.

[C]

Sorry, Gumpy, it's 45 more straight and you'll be tied.

[A]

Way to go.

[C]

This guy.

[D]

We're just looking.

[A]

Congratulations, by the way.

[B]

Right now.

[A]

Thank you for the congratulations. I liked hearing that from McKinnon too. Whenever he. Well, they chopped that quote. Let's be fair.

[C]

No, people don't do that.

[E]

He.

[A]

They chopped that quote. They did him dirty.

[B]

That was one of the sentences.

[C]

And then he said United States won the game.

[B]

And he was still salty about it and said, you be the judge.

[A]

He certainly was salty about it. Which I certainly could be if I was them as well, because they did. But how the buck.

[G]

Yeah.

[A]

Saw every puck. 100 shots is not enough. We own the sport. That is so tough. He's on his head. That's how the buck. So we'll talk to Megan tomorrow via Zoom. She's in Ottawa. She cannot make it to Indianapolis, although we did extend. Also, if the women's hockey team or anybody else puts together any big time parties that we hear about would love to be a part of it. Love buying drinks for people that do awesome things. We're incredibly thankful for all of our athletes that represent our country. We'll get a chance to chat with a few of them tomorrow. And also into next week. I believe we got Mikayla Shiffrin stopping by the show next week. I believe we got Alex Ferreira stopping by the show next week. So we're trying to showcase and spot the all that is great in sports and athleticism. And whenever you talk about great things happening in sport, you can't help but talk about big Turk Lesnar. Yeah.

[F]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Okay, highlights. Hit the Internet of Turk Lesnar. First of all, is this the greatest name of all time? Potentially 16 years old, 6, 2 2, 30 out of the JPHL. Okay. They're in the playoffs right now. His Calgary team is certainly in. He had a hat trick while also dummying like six different dudes.

[C]

I said, tell me about your third bingo, Paul.

[A]

Hey, talk about the third bingo. I just got it from. I think Beerzy sent it to me and I went barred down. And it was just like such a magical moment here of hockey and sports celebration and the fact that Brock's boy Turk is out there doing it. He's a defenseman putting up hat tricks, three bingos and fighting eight people in one video that I saw on the Internet. This is what we're talking about. Hockey is the greatest sport in Turk. I know you played a lot of hockey up there in Canada. When the time comes, you know what to do, what uniform to put on power. Oh, yeah. You know who it's going to be for? And I'll tell you what. Maya Lesnar, all eyes are on the Olympics in la. Turk Lesnar, all eyes are on the Olympics coming up. And then there's a little Lesnar. Yeah, there's a younger Lesnar also on the ice. And when the dad is maybe the most dominant athletic creature that has ever been put out there. What a time to be alive. Hey, big Turk. Keep doing it, bud.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Turk and the entire Calgary team. Good luck winning the league. I hope you guys do that. And maybe a couple more bingos for the boys.

[C]

Yeah, a couple bingos, couple apples.

[A]

The insiders are no longer going to be live. I seen they took their set down. Okay, that's interesting. NFL live, I believe, is going to be live.

[C]

I believe.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

Well, I see Tannenbaum and field Yates and.

[A]

Oh, that's that draft Daily Show. Okay, that's that draft daily show on espn, too. I believe NFL Live will be live from over here as well.

[B]

Sweet.

[A]

I think I saw Shrigs. I believe Dano is over here. I believe Laura Rutledge is in town.

[C]

Shefty's still sitting over the whole team.

[A]

Yeah, everybody's filing in for the.

[C]

Oh, Sean.

[A]

Penny Payton not calling plays anymore. What happened? Hold on. Can you walk right over here? Sean, can you walk right over here? There's a microphone right here, Sean. Can you walk right here? Yeah, you're Sean Payton. You can do whatever you want.

[E]

It's like a urinal.

[A]

I just come up to it. Yes, yes, exactly. Yes, exactly. First of all, congratulations. Hey, hell of a season.

[E]

Honestly, you're on air right now.

[A]

Yeah, we're wrapping up, but then we

[E]

saw you, so stop and talk with you guys anytime.

[A]

Can we get two quick minutes? Congratulations. Okay. You didn't win a Super bowl, but okay. You guys are in a great spot right now. Yes. It feels like you're young and you're obviously building and you can see and feel what you're building. Is that how you feel about the Denver?

[E]

I would say this, I think. Yeah, absolutely.

[H]

We.

[E]

We're in a much better position cap wise now.

[F]

Yeah.

[E]

And you kind of approach it like, hey, we're going to play young players. And you guys have seen this long enough now. Young and naive can be dangerous sometimes. And when you have one of those teams and they get this type of experience last year, first round of the playoffs this year, you know, into the second to last weekend, you just. Yeah. You get excited about coming back and looking at another draft class now.

[A]

Yeah. So let's talk about it. I don't want to bring up.

[E]

No, no. Bring up anything.

[A]

Bo getting hurt, man, we are so sorry.

[E]

It was on the third. Second. Third to last play of the game and he had come over to the sideline, you know, after the injury took place, we. He threw a deep pass, pass interference, and it was a significant play. We're going to kick this chip shot. And so when he comes over, I kind of jack him in the shoulder like, ah. You know, and he's like, ah. And I was like, what's. I said, you'll be fine. I said, watch this kid hit this field goal. We're going to be in the championship. I jabbed him again and all the while he's.

[A]

And

[E]

so we get into the locker room, it's pretty common where I would do the media and then after he got undressed and showered, he'd go do the media. And when I came back from the presser, they're the trainer doctor. And I didn't know. I knew something was up. They were in my office there. I just didn't know who. And then they, they told me it was Bowen, so. Well, it was Saturday night, we weren't gonna see our team till Monday. And I thought there's no way this story goes.

[A]

Yeah.

[E]

You know, till Monday. And I just, so I showered and went back and just said, hey, here's what happened. And it was, you know, there was kind of this surreal feeling or numbing if you will, because so many things have just gone on. You just won a big game, but you just lost your quarterback. And it's. Shoot, it's unfortunate, you know, it's, it's one of those deals.

[A]

Yeah, it's. It's football. I mean it's the NFL. It's football that's going to happen. But obviously you hope that that is not the case. I feel like for you guys though, you'll be able to use that as motivation all off season, right? It feels like.

[E]

Yeah. I think, look, you the one thing, and you guys all know this, as tough as it is, like, it's like frickin chutes and ladders though. Like table gets flipped up, dice get put away, open it back up. You start at zero and you start the journey again. Now you're more experienced, you've got more confidence, you've added some key pieces. And I think with every season there are these extremely important games. Maybe in 17 weeks there might be two, you know, when that road win at Philly on a short week was one of those wins. And so as we get ready this year, you know, we're going to have a good schedule. Obviously we play the NFC west, you know, pretty good. Three of those teams were all playoff teams. But you do have to, to recharge and start again. You push the off season schedule back a little bit. Normally it starts mid April. Our guys won't come in till 1 May and then we won't see them. We won't do a football item until June. Like they'll just be lifting for a month before we ever, you know, because you don't want them to feel like we're back here at practice again and we were just here.

[A]

It wasn't enough time. Yeah, refresh like a gap.

[E]

And honestly they need, they need that and, and we need that. And so I like when they have like a good month of just. So we'll just do phase one for a month regardless of what the schedule says and then we'll do OTAs in a mini camp in June.

[A]

I love that. And once again, you're a gangster, so you can do these things, you know, you can walk into a place. Yeah. That's what you. Exactly. You can do that because of who you are. Your resume says that.

[E]

I think. Here's the other thing, though. We're constantly selling, like. So we had an injury issue that first year. I got there, they had finished 32nd with players missed games because of injury. 130 some players. And we spent a lot of time and money with our training staff. It's hard to have that room be something the players love.

[A]

Yes.

[E]

You follow me?

[A]

Yes. Agreed.

[E]

It's always like that. Shangri La. It's somewhere else. It's better. And that very first off season, after 23, we put the numbers up and we reduced it to 36. First in the league two years ago. First in the league. First in the league. So they believe in, like, part of it is like, hey, I want you to be here, but tell me why. And then we could show them. Here are the numbers. You're doing the right thing.

[A]

Thing.

[E]

And as a result of it, our team's healthier.

[A]

Yeah. And also you have one of the most prolific offenses in the history documented multiple times. So you are a guru genius. So the boys are going to buy into that. Got great shoe game. So the swag is obviously ridiculous. Yep. Always. You are. You're giving up play calling.

[E]

I am.

[A]

This feels like a huge deal. Have you ever done. Have you ever given up play calling before?

[E]

I. The first time I, in 2011, fractured my tip plateau in a Tampa Bay game, a play came into the sideline and. And it was, you know, a surgery Monday. It was like a nine month recovery. But anyway, all during the week, I'm in the hospital and I tell Pete, hey, you're gonna have to run the meetings, call the plays. We're playing the Colts Sunday night football in New Orleans. In New Orleans. Peyton is not playing.

[A]

Yeah. Curtis is playing. Yeah. I played quarterback. Okay, let me. Can I tell you our angle of this?

[E]

Go ahead. This is a good story.

[A]

Okay. I was scouting quarterback for our. Against our defense. And boy, if I look left and then to the right, tight end was wide open right down. I threw for 50 touchdowns that week. Maybe with your offense, so. And then you guys did the same. You just.

[E]

So if you were having that success, we just had to, like, find a way for Drew to have it.

[A]

Yes. Yeah. Drew Brees, first ballot hall of Fame. Yeah, exactly.

[E]

I remember I was back in the office for Friday's meetings. And really, you know, you're out of touch. You had surgery. And we're playing Sunday night, I'm in the press box and Pete's calling the game and we win 63 to something. I said to Pete, you were killing me. You know, I'm getting ready to do a new contract. I'm up in the press box. We score record total points in the history of the the Saints organization. Anyway, I got pissed at Fred Gudelli because I had a dip in and they put the camera and I got. I got busted with the dip in.

[A]

You won people over. So this would be the second time. That would be.

[E]

That was the first time.

[A]

And it's.

[E]

Look, it's happened a few times. I, I think this, this young coach and I say young Davis Webb is something, something. And sure, it's funny the timeline that when you have a young coach like a Joe Brady or a Declan Doyle or any of these guys that, that I've been fortunate enough to hire, when they're young coaches, like what you think is their timeline of success position, coach, coordinator, head coach is always two years behind what the league sees. It's much quicker. And so I remember, remember interviewing Davis. He's one of those few players that came from playing right into coaching. There's usually a couple years. And he finished the interview and we had a schedule with some other guys lined up. And as he's heading to the airport, I turned to George Payton. I'm like, I said, I don't know what we're doing. Letting him leave the building. Call the driver back up. He comes back and hire him. But he's going to be one of those guys, like just as I'm making him a coordinator. It's just, it's not on your timeline.

[A]

Yeah.

[E]

And they just. And the same thing happens with these young players that all of a sudden hit it and they. It's a young man's league. So I'm excited for him. Look, I'll still be involved. You having done it before, the thing that is a little unusual, like when you're in those studio sets, Check chairs. I did this with Fox, like, all right, where do you put your hands? Do I put my.

[A]

How do I. Yeah, sure.

[E]

And on game day, you feel like, like you get a call sheet, you're looking at it like. But you're kind of empty handed.

[A]

Yeah. I'm excited to watch you be a CEO full on.

[E]

Yeah.

[A]

And I'm excited to see that evolution for you. AJ Has a question for you coach. Yeah.

[B]

You talked about your, the team health and how you figured that out once you got there. We know you come from your Bill Parcell's coaching tree. We know like your practices are legendary. Your training camp is known to be very, very tough, very hard nosed I guess. How have you worked that out over the years?

[E]

Here's the one thing I think all of us have gotten better with is you have to cycle up and down. There's never this just straight. And so how we approach the day following a day off is much different. It's a, it's a ramp. We have these alert days that we are not going to have anyone get injured on these alert days. And so it's a ramp up, it's a plateau, it's a ramp down. And we're not, I mean we've learned a lot since we had a seven week training camp in Jackson, Mississippi that

[A]

first I've heard about those. Yeah, we, the legendary stories.

[E]

That's changed. Right?

[A]

Okay. Yeah.

[E]

And so, but I do believe you have to build a callous though relative to inside run play in some preseason games. We're not three days on a day off. Three days. And now I can say all that. But then when you go three years in a row and point to the data, the thing I, I, I think is most important though is this time of the year, like when they join us again, I really don't want coaches talking to him about football. I, I, if the conversation exists, I want it to be about your family or how much you're benching, what your, what your weight's like. Like I want that month, month and a half. And I remember Bill was that way. I mean I'd run out with the QBs. And the first time is my first year with Bill and they're throwing the receivers and he calls me over, he said if one of those guys gets a hamstring, I'm going to have another quarterback receiver coach. But you want him pulling into the parking lot lot, not feeling like they're coming to practice, like they're actually coming to train. And there's, there's, you know, all the stuff they need. The supplement center, we're building a new facility. So we are selling, you know, because it's a choice and you just want to make it so good that it's way better than any other option you have.

[A]

I wish I could have played for you and I know you guys opened up an office that was in that building just a couple years ago. There's one upstairs in a parking Lot and everything. Weird. Yeah.

[F]

This.

[E]

They. We're three months away from moving literally right across the field to a new facility.

[A]

Oh, really?

[E]

And so right after minicamp, we'll pack everything up and when we come back for training camp, we'll be in the new. And it's literally just on the other side of the practice.

[A]

That's dream situation. New facility. Young qb, young team experience. Early life has to be good. Last question for you, coach.

[B]

Yeah, coach, you're on the competition committee now. What is kind of the most pressing thing?

[E]

I am. I was on it before and I was asked a bunch of questions the other day. And the problem is Sunday I had gotten food poisoning and I literally was in this Marriott for like 24 hours

[A]

and I beat up.

[E]

Or not listen, not yet. I have the Pedialyte, all that stuff. And. But I didn't get to the first two meetings. And so I'm doing my media session and they're asking me about this and I'm just trying to cruise through it. Fortunately, there. There aren't a lot of big items.

[B]

Yeah.

[E]

You know, it doesn't. It doesn't appear I'll get up, up to speed and be there before the owner's meetings. But look, I like those topics when you're, you know, you're passionate about the game and. Yeah. I'm easy to get fired up on some of those things.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Hey, coach, the refs, the union renegotiation happening. That's a huge deal.

[E]

It is. And are we gonna fix that? Ever move from it.

[A]

Okay.

[H]

Okay.

[E]

Like in other words, I have no idea what that means. I know there's a union. I know that the last time they had that, you know, there was a Chinese drive.

[F]

Yeah.

[A]

And then.

[E]

Yeah. Like, all I was thinking about is like my cycle getting off the plane and it was every 25 minutes that I was having to. And I knew that it was 28 minutes from the airport to the hotel and it was. It 1250 in the morning and my driver didn't speak English and I thought if I ask him to get out, he might lead me here. It was 8 degrees, and I thought, this is where I'm gonna die.

[A]

And.

[E]

And then I get to the hotel and the manager's training someone to check in.

[A]

Oh, yes.

[E]

Not with this room.

[B]

The worst.

[A]

Now's the time I need my key immediately. Yeah.

[E]

No, all good, though. It's good to be back here. You know, I'm just from right up the road. I went to camp here. Franklin, Indiana, for so many years. My Husband, school, coach was from Indianapolis.

[A]

Like, I didn't know any of that.

[E]

Yeah, I'm from Illinois, so. Used to go to Franklin College.

[A]

Oh, did you hear. Did you hear Illinois?

[E]

No.

[A]

The governor of Indiana was just on. He's saying the Bears are coming to Indiana.

[E]

Really?

[A]

Yeah. He. He's like, very. He was sitting right here.

[E]

People don't realize back in the day when. When we all watched and you guys may not have. You're young, but you remember Brian's Song, Brian Piccolo?

[A]

I did, yes. Yes, yes, yes.

[B]

Very similar.

[E]

Was it St. Joe's University, which is no longer a school? That's where their training camp was. So when you see those old films of the Bears coach, you know, they trained in northern Indiana for. For a number of years.

[A]

There you go. Pete Ward, president of the Colts, sent me a text while I was talking to the governor.

[E]

That's really unbelievable.

[A]

Yeah, that's happening. I. He seems that the governor very calm and quietly.

[E]

I think the Chiefs move from Missouri. Missouri to Kansas.

[H]

Yeah.

[E]

And that was kind of.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And I think people didn't. Because a lot of people. Kansas City. They're in Kansas. Yeah.

[E]

Well, the whole country woke up and we didn't pay any attention to it. We paid attention when the Colts moved from Baltimore here.

[A]

Yeah.

[C]

Oh, yeah.

[E]

But I think it's hard to believe, being from the Chicago area, that the Bears are going to be in northern Indiana.

[A]

I think it's happening. Pete Ward said, the president of the Colts, he said Hammond had an NFL team back in the 1920s.

[I]

There you go.

[B]

Good squad.

[A]

The Hammond pros. Okay.

[E]

And so I don't think people realize how close. Like, if you're from the Chicago area, Notre Dame kind of became your adopted university a little bit back when. When there wasn't. You know, and there are a ton of alumni. It's not that big of a drive, but.

[A]

But did you watch the Olympics?

[E]

I did.

[A]

Dude, how awesome is that? When. Yeah, when we win anything, I get so excited. Like the women's team. When Keller cooks Canada in overtime, it's like, what a moment. The men doing what they did on the second to last day of the Olympics.

[E]

How about the skater from Wisconsin? They showed the little ice track his parents dug and Jordan stoles. Yeah, he was a star.

[A]

Star, yes, he absolutely was. I. I got captivated by all that. Just competing, I think, is what we like.

[E]

No, it's good. And there's something about the Winter Games. I. I don't know why. And I'm kind of the traditionalist where some of the X Game stuff.

[C]

Yeah.

[E]

I don't know when it was like, when did that get to the Olympics? But, you know, the traditional was like, the. The ski jump, the luge.

[I]

Yeah.

[E]

Those are all the conventional ones. And then all of a sudden, there'll be one of these. You're like, I don't know. When they slip that in there.

[A]

You're the man. Good luck this entire offseason.

[C]

Thank you, coach.

[E]

Great seeing you guys. Appreciate it.

[A]

Hey, congrats, dude. You're the man.

[E]

Thank you, man.

[A]

Hey, never a doubt. By the way, Sean. Ladies and gentlemen, Sean Payton. Yeah, Sean could be late to a meeting there for sure.

[B]

Yeah, his person was behind him, probably running the meeting.

[A]

Yeah, he's jogging. Yeah.

[B]

A little pepper Chef did it as

[A]

chasing him down Shafty. Catch up, Bob. We need the news, Shefty. We need the news.

[C]

Shefty's a shot.

[A]

Shefty. We need the news.

[B]

He caught up to him.

[A]

Shregs just showed up over here. Holy hell. We might have him on the program tomorrow.

[C]

Baby strikes.

[A]

He was just sitting here on a director's chair for, like, seven hours this morning on get up and First Take, just telling everything he knows from the bars and. And the greatest brunch spot maybe in America, he needs just keep his mouth shut.

[I]

Yeah.

[B]

Ruining that for everybody. I'm assuming he might have gotten a noogie or two. Like, hey, Peter, why don't you. Why don't you shut your trap, buddy? You want to be invited?

[A]

Peter's kind of giving away.

[B]

Has Ian and Jordo seen each other?

[A]

Yeah, they did.

[B]

It was a big. Yeah, Chest to chest. Wouldn't that be awesome to see them chest bump a face off? They were chin to chin. Yeah, yeah.

[A]

Imagine. I mean, take their shirts off, do a face off.

[B]

You're like Dana White in the middle of them.

[A]

Lads. How you doing, boys? Good to see you guys.

[C]

We haven't seen rap, but we're also above, like, 5. 5.

[A]

Whoa. All right, let's get out of here.

[B]

He walked by. He walked.

[A]

Shregs, do you know anything about Rapping Schultz? Anything go on yet? Two fights. We should have him do a. A little stair down. And then they could.

[B]

They would squat the beef or they'd start the beef.

[A]

Well, we can sell it as, hey,

[B]

guys, squash the beef. And then all of a sudden, they get into a fight.

[A]

Maybe we call Zufa and we give them.

[C]

We give them both, like, drugs.

[B]

Don't tell them they have to fight. Get them put. Give them both meth.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay, let's get out of here. What?

[F]

Find it.

[A]

Go ball. Hey, aj, thank you for traveling.

[B]

Thank you.

[F]

This is awesome.

[A]

Connor, great show.

[B]

Yeah, you too.

[C]

You too.

[A]

I like your bets.

[C]

I do, too.

[A]

I do. Now, granted, you were boozing so hard, we don't know if your brain's still works. But there was.

[B]

There was one problem also we ran into this morning.

[A]

What was that?

[B]

Just right. Right now. I don't know if they're currently on the site at. At the moment.

[C]

For some of us they are, some they aren't.

[F]

We'll figure it out.

[A]

Yeah. What do you mean? The bets that he gave any of them? Hey, here's the bed of the day. Like, where is it?

[B]

Yeah. Need the combine tab to come back.

[D]

Okay.

[A]

Yeah. DraftKings. I. I think Tony might have cooked a little bit. Got a little action on something, and then all of a sudden that disappears.

[B]

Checking right now just to see.

[A]

Yeah. See if they brought it back. Truck, boys. Good work today, boys.

[J]

Baby.

[A]

Bruce, way not to just cover up Gumpy's face.

[I]

Yeah.

[A]

Y got rid of the computer stamp.

[F]

It's right here.

[A]

Hey, foxy. Full chaos. I heard, you know, in my ear from the truck as the show started. Yeah. Six minutes before we go live, another graphics worth Teradek just crashed. We still go live, but not on TikTok stock or X. It's like, okay, do we have anything? Yeah, a lot of chaos back here in the first hour. It's. It's not good when, you know, you're crammed in this corner and then you got someone here working with all this stuff, and then you got people in that room trying to fix stuff. People in that room trying to fix stuff. But, hey, that's technology, baby. That is technology. And we'd like to say the barcode and team back there, and Nick, I think, was in the middle of it as well. And baby, it's like, hey, good work, boys. They figured it all out very well. You wouldn't have noticed that we had tech issues, I hope. No, definitely. Those. Those graphics at the beginning of the show were ass. And they were screenshotted from previous shows.

[I]

Yeah.

[B]

Okay, that makes sense.

[A]

Barcode and Nick were back there, like, just trying to figure out a way to do it. Screenshotting previous ones. Yeah. Unbelievable. I would like to say in the truck, from the chaos that I was hearing while I'm speaking about what's going on in the truck, in one ear here, this is kind of how this whole thing works. A little fourth wall here. So my right ear, obviously, I could talk to boys. I could talk to Truck. I can talk to Scott. I can talk to everybody. I got this button up here. My right ear though, is the thing that everybody communicates back through. And you know, sometimes I'm not acting like this is abnormal while I'm talking, this communication is happening. So it's like, you know, my voice is very loud and they got other people's voices in here. And then there's like, we have no graphics. We have graphics. Wait, we don't have graphics while I'm talking. And it's like, wow, this is awesome what's happening back there? And I want to let you boys know, just like Bailey McComas did this morning, way to handle adversity back there. Way to handle the pressure and way to make magic happen. I'm very proud of you all. And shout out to barcode and team for making that happen legitimately.

[B]

Good work, boys.

[A]

Now let's not fucking have it happen again. Yeah, we already got two computers, ordered a good computer and a backup computer if good computer goes out.

[C]

So problem solved.

[A]

Until it's not. Technology is the greatest thing on earth and then also the worst.

[B]

And yeah, it's gonna happen.

[A]

It's gonna happen. This is literally just what happens. And I would say this, it's better to have no graphics and be live from the combine than have a bunch of graphics and not be live from the combine. We're incredibly thankful to be here. We'll see you tomorrow. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change the life. We're interested together. AJ Anything to say to the people here?

[B]

I hope all the boys have a great workout this afternoon.

[C]

Hell yeah.

[A]

Just the Ohio State guys.

[B]

Them as well as everybody else and Michigan.

[A]

Whoa.

[C]

Sure they don't have any guys here.

[B]

Once they're in the pros, they're gonna be teammates.

[A]

You're the man. Team on me. Team on three. We'll see you tomorrow. One, two, three. Goodbye. Calling all daydreamers and date nighters. Come immerse yourself in the rich culture of Texas and dig into our mouth watering barbecue. Trailblazers can explore our natural wonders. And beach lovers will wonder why they've never felt so relaxed before. You're invited to discover experiences you can only find in Texas. Visit traveltexas.com and plan your trip today. Let's Texas from 30 for 30 podcasts.

[G]

That shot Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman

[C]

from Miami, gunned down.

[A]

The key to this case. It's Brian. An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing with somebody.

[I]

This might be a hit.

[A]

You want the truth. They just want a conviction. Being placed under arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U. Listen now.