B (3:04)

which expire in seven days.

A (3:05)

Minimum odds required.

B (3:06)

For additional terms and responsible gaming resources,

A (3:08)

see sportsbook.draftkings.com promos Limited time offer the NFL Draft is just a few days away, and we do this every year with Daniel Jeremiah and Todd McShay. We are thrilled to have them and what we all know is a super busy week for our guys. Daniel Jeremiah, you can see on NFL Network's coverage of the 26 NFL Draft in Pittsburgh. That's through Saturday. And our guy McShay, if you check out his page at the Ringer, it is loaded with everything. And his McShay show will be cranking out the podcast as well. Good to see you guys. Thanks.

C (3:40)

It's a tradition, dude. I mean, how many, how many years

D (3:43)

have we been doing this?

A (3:45)

17? I don't know.

D (3:46)

It's been a minute.

C (3:47)

You guys predate me on getting together, but I think the three of us have gotten together. Let's get at least a handful of years we've been doing this, if not more.

D (3:54)

I like this.

A (3:56)

It's good. And I'm going to stay out of the way as much as possible. But I do have some scenarios for you that you've not been told.

D (4:01)

That's my favorite tradition. That's the best part. I want to just, like, skip right to it.

A (4:04)

Yeah, I know. I'm excited about it, but I was like, you got to wait. You got to wait. All right, let's just start with something really general. DJ we'll start with you. Give me the range of what teams and also include your own thoughts into this, although your range would be limited to you, but just the thoughts of where we are with days to go and what this draft is.

C (4:26)

Well, I mean, I think there's a lot of uncertainty. I think there's a lot of. There's, there's both consensus and uncertainty, if that makes any sense. I mean, I think that, like, the, the shallow positions, everybody agrees on the shallow and deep positions, everybody agrees that it's more of a starter than Star studded draft. But then there's so many similarly graded players, especially once you get out of the top 10 to literally, literally like 10, 10 to 12 players that, like, all bets are off. And you know, that. That, to me, is where we're going to see, I think, this year, and I love to hear Todd on that one, but I think this year there's going to be like three to four guys go in the first round that people didn't think went. We're going to go in the first round because the grades are everywhere.

D (5:09)

Yeah. To that point, the. The kind of. The consensus is that. And I think we say the same stuff every year, but, like, what's 25 for one team could be like 42 for the next in terms of players. When we get to that point of the draft, I think it's not the sexiest storyline, but I think kind of like last year, these tackles are going to go because the shelf falls off. And it's not. That's not new news. But talking to people this weekend, it was kind of confirmation that, listen, like, yeah, we've got maybe a guy's graded a little bit higher. Maybe we need this position. But if we don't get one of these seven offensive tackles, starting with Maui Noah from Miami and Fano from. From Utah. And then. And then teams have different ranges. Like, yeah, some. Some teams are higher on Kaden Proctor, other teams are higher on. On the safer, more consistent over. But Blake Miller, whose tape isn't as, like, flashy, but it's, you know, what you're getting in the high character and all the way down to, like, to Lomu, Maxi and Achor. And there's this like, murderer's row when you get to about 17, right? And I'm interested to see 17 is the Lions, right. So let's say two or three of these tackles have gone. Well, now you get four. And I. Let's look at the board. So 21 is Pittsburgh, 23 is Philly. I think the Chargers could go Bengal. You want to. If he's still there. I don't know that he will be. But after that, you've got, well, Cleveland depending.

C (6:40)

Cleveland depending.

D (6:42)

They could take Chicago's kind of a wild card. It wouldn't shock me. They could trade up. They can trade back. But then you've got San Francisco 27, Houston 28, Kansas City 29 if they don't address it. So that's going to be an interesting storyline. And then kind of trickled in is like, all right, these wide receivers are good. And there are six that could potentially go in the first, but there's kind of a first tier and a second tier after, like Tate and Tyson from Ohio State and Arizona State, respectively. And then where are you on Makai Lemon? There's a lot of varying opinions There's a lot of varying opinions on KC Concepcion, Denzel Boston, Omar Cooper Jr. So where they actually come off the board compared to where everyone appears to be mocking them is going to be really interesting to me in the first round.

A (7:31)

All right, let's look at a couple teams here and at least if we start with the Giants of the headline of their trade this week with Cincinnati. How do you think five impacts. 10.

C (7:44)

Go ahead, hit it.

D (7:47)

Five impacts. I get the sense the Giants might not be done moving. I can see a scenario where a team wants to get up ahead of Cleveland to get an offensive tackle. I could see a scenario where maybe the Giants maybe want to be that team that moves up with Cleveland and just have two consecutive picks. We'll see how that plays out. My information is this. Sonny Styles, Caleb Downs are the two players that, that appear to be, but it depends on who you talk to. Of high interest with that fifth pick. What's interesting is if you go Styles at five or if you take an offensive tackle, which it appears like looking at their depth chart, it's not great. But they've got like three, but four bodies to fill the two spots on the right side. But if they really want to solidify that offensive line, maybe you do that at five. But then you're not getting a Styles because Styles is going seven if he's still on the board to Washington. I hear like Dan Coyne is, is that that's kind of his guy. And then at 10, everyone immediately, you know, with Joe Shane, the GM being out at the Arizona State or the, the Jordan Tyson workout and, and. And Harbaugh and. And Shane were out there for the Arizona State pro day where Tyson didn't work out. Everyone's kind of pointing to, to Jordan Tyson, the wide receiver from Arizona State. But I, I also wouldn't be surprised if it was like Styles at five or Downs at five and. And they go offensive tackle instead of wide receiver there. So those are kind of the four positions and, and four players if you throw in any of those tackles. But there is a scenario, DJ where you take styles or any player at 5 and downs could get there at 10. Like there's a map for it. I'm not saying he definitively will, but there's a chance he could get to 10.

C (9:40)

I would say to me, the two names that came up to me late in the process were if Love was there, they would take him at the Giants wood, which I don't think he's going to be there, which is. Would be just fascinating. It would tell you, like, a lot about the influence yielded by Harbaugh, because everything's going to get thrown back in Joe's face about, well, the Saquon Barkley stuff. And now you are turning around, taking a running back. But that was one piece. The other one was Tyson. Like, they want a receiver. They want to come out of this thing with receiver. Tyson's their top receiver. That's the guy that they covet. And I think in a perfect world, they were thinking at once upon a time we could trade back from five when they didn't have 10, and we'd be in range to take Tyson. The problem is, I think. I think New Orleans could take him. So if you take somebody else at 5, I don't. I don't think it's a lock. You see Tyson at 10. I think if you really want Tyson and you've got neighbors coming off of an injury, and anytime you get a young quarterback, you want to give them the pieces because it's almost like you got this new toy, you want to play with it. So let's give them some help. So I feel like if they. If they're as high on Tyson as I've been led to believe, then they could just rip that at 5, potentially take him there. No one knows. Still going to be a good defensive player there at 10. I was told they were not going to take Styles. Like, that was one that I was told, really, that that was not their guy. So that came from a couple different places. And again, we were all talking different people, and who knows, like, yeah, but that was what I. What I got through it. And then Styles, I think that Washington was Styles and downs, kind of those two guys were in play there. But when I was kind of scrimmage and going through this this morning, I'm like, okay, well, I think New Orleans would be comfortable taking a receiver like Tyson. Could be, you know, Tyson or Tate, whoever, could be that person at 8. But also they've done a ton of work on edge rushers.

D (11:25)

Yeah. So in the same Brandon Staley with that defense.

C (11:29)

Yes. So, like, to me, like, Arvell Reese, if Arvel Reese gets the five, which. If Styles goes four, and everybody, like, this will be interesting because everybody that I've talked to, everybody that Knows Salah from everywhere he's ever worked, and they universally said he would. If it's. If he's making the pick, it's Styles. Like, that's. It's Fred Warner.

D (11:47)

Fred Warner.

C (11:47)

He believes you build the defense through that position and this is that guy. Like, if it's. If it's just him and in vacuum, that's Styles. So if that's the case, Todd, then all of a sudden, now Reese is at 5. You're the Giants. You don't necessarily. Don't need him. You're good there. So you're sitting on a lottery ticket. And let's say you get calls from. From 8, 9, 10. Well, 10's inside. You're looking. Oh, sorry. You already got a 10. Where?

D (12:11)

The Cowboys.

A (12:12)

12.

C (12:12)

Cowboys are 12.

D (12:13)

Yeah.

C (12:13)

You don't want to. You're not going to gift wrap Arvo Reese, the Cowboys. So take them out of the mix. So then we look at Kansas City, okay, We could go back to nine if we go back to eight if we really want Tyson. Well, we just, we. Not only. It's two birds with one stone.

A (12:27)

Like, we've.

C (12:27)

We've. We've got some extra picks. We slide back and we've just removed a Tyson team because they came up and take Reese. So now you could. The Giants can pick an 8. Tyson's going to be there when they pick at 8, and then they could turn around at 10 and rip downs or whoever else is left there at 10. So that's what I'm kind of keeping an eye on is New Orleans. To me, if Reese gets to five,

D (12:48)

Mickey will do it. Mickey Loomis. They zag where a lot of teams are zigging, you know, in terms of aggressiveness. Like, we find a player, we're good with it. Most teams are like, let's move back. Let's get more capital. We recognize, you know, you don't hit on every player. Let's get more. More hacks at this. Mickey and Jeff Ireland are like, let's. We got. This is our guy. Let's go get him. Couple of things jump out to me there. The Chiefs, it's just a lot of talk, right? There's a. And I know everyone's making calls and get. Especially this year. Remember, eight minutes on the clock, you got to be prepared, and teams always are. But it's going to move fast in the first round. That's. That's a change in the draft this year. And so I think people are catching wind that Brett Veach is making calls and all that. But I do believe there's. There's.

C (13:40)

If. If I'm.

D (13:41)

What I'm hearing and Andy Reid is like, we've got to solidify this offensive line. And when we pick it, what is 30, right? 29. Yeah, we pick at 29. That. That tackle run as we just talked about, it's going to be over. So you've got that kind of tugging at one end which runs like it's a contradiction to man. If we get an opportunity to move up and get that edge put with Chris Jones there, like, how do we. How do we turn down that opportunity? So the Chiefs are one that, that'll be interesting to see. I don't know whether to move up all the way up to three makes sense.

C (14:11)

But that's why to me they're more

A (14:13)

five or six that I.

D (14:14)

That's what I've thought. That's what I've thought. And the other part too is it's amazing, the ebbs and flows of all this, right? Like, Ryan, you gotta understand, like at the combine, it was the best player in the draft. Jeremiah Love. And that hasn't really changed, but it's like, yeah, but he's not going. The clock could start it at five, but it's probably more like seven. That's kind of the parachute pick. As the process went on, it was like, oh, well, I don't. Teams don't want to make him the seventh or eighth highest paid running back in the league. And now all of a sudden we're back to the draft and it's like, he's the best player in the draft. And the Cardinals could take him at three, Tennessee could take him at four, the Giants could take him at five. So that's been interesting. And then the Jordan Tyson thing, kind of the opposite direction of, you know, worried about the injuries, that whole thing. He's just not tough. And yeah, I get it. Like, he's not strong through the catch point. There's plenty of clips on quick. Like the quick game where it's like catch and duck under and he likes the sideline. That's a friend of it. But like, he's the most talented receiver in the class. And the durability stuff, if you're clean with it, he's going to go. So that's been interesting to watch. Those two players kind of up and down as this process has gone on the last three months.

C (15:26)

Tyson's a fascinating one. Ryan, like, that one's fascinating to me and it's why. And Todd and I, we approach it the same way, whether you're high on somebody or low on somebody, like, late in the process, you know, like, we know, like, okay, I don't know which team, but I know who's got heat and who's going to go higher than I have them or who's going to go lower than I have them. And it's like, okay, I'm sticking to where I was on, yeah, my grade's my grade, my grade's my grade. But I'm like, with him, if you look at, like the top receivers in the NFL and you just look at who's, you know, productive and you find guys and like with Tyson, who's athletic and acrobatic and all those things, take the durability, missing games out, just put that to the side, struggles versus press, struggles on contact, contact catches, and doesn't offer you much after the catch. Like, those three things are just such screaming red flags to me that scare me. And I'll be honest with you, I talk to teams, they do not care. They don't care.

D (16:18)

I know.

C (16:19)

Like, so it's just fat. It's a fascinating case study to me because he is. He is so athletic and it looks. He is. He is twitchy and juicy and explosive and all those things. But again, I just. For my personal evaluation, I couldn't get there.

B (16:33)

Yeah.

A (16:34)

I mean, especially if you're talking about, like, on the high end of him, could he go five and you're like comparing them to neighbors or some of these other guys that came out like, yeah, you know, I know Neighbors is hurt now, but as far as, like, what you thought the high end of them was. And I like Tyson, too, but based on all the things you said and the durability part of it, like, to me, Neighbors is a much cleaner kind of higher ceiling prospect. Honestly, I don't think there's really much of a conversation about it. Let's do this because with the news over the weekend, because I like where you guys are going with this because we've heard you break down the evaluations, all this stuff, which we'll get to a little bit here. But if it's one player for one, maybe two players in the mix for two. Like, how many different players are in the mix for Arizona? 3, then that dictate the rest of this.

C (17:15)

Well, I mean, just for where I've got. It was Love came in late in the process. It was Maui Noah, which would also be considered in a trade back. Like, that would be them sliding back, thinking that the Browns are going to take Fano even over Maui Noah, that they could even trade back a little bit and potentially still get the offensive lineman, which leads to the Ty Simpson thing. Whenever they want to pull that card to help, you know, give him a fighting chance. But those are, you know, and then. And then you've got whatever of Reese or Bailey, assuming that it's Reese at this point in time. But that's. That's how I see it.

D (17:46)

Yeah, I think we're in the same neighborhood. I think my understanding, just from talking to people in the league who have been kind of, you know, fielding calls or, you know, talking to different agents and stuff like that, it feels like if you had to kind of stack them priority, priority one would be let's trade back and accomplish two things, right? Accomplish getting a better value on a Maui Noah or whichever offensive tackle. But it seems like that would be the guy. And also, as you alluded to there DJ is get some more ammunition for when we have to make the move to go get Ty Simpson. Priority two would be Jeremiah Love. If we stick there. But then also there's. There's some. Some talk about, yeah, if Reese goes to. Then do we just stick and pick with it with David Bailey there? But from my conversation, it seems like that's more of a distant third. It seems like trade out. And if we can't do that, it's Jeremiah Lovett at 3.

C (18:44)

So help me with this one, because I'd love to get your take on it. Like the Jeremiah Lovett 3. And we've been talking to the same. You know, we're talking to everybody through the whole process. It is. It was so quiet then at the end has gotten so loud, and it's everywhere. Like, I mean, anybody you talk to, they've all said the same thing.

D (19:02)

Oh, love it.

C (19:02)

Love it. 3. I'm like, well, nobody was saying that a week ago. And I'm almost like, this part of me, it does. It doesn't pass the smell test. And is it. We want out of here. And so who do we. Who do we need to convince people that.

D (19:16)

Because we're both saying the Titans want them at four.

C (19:19)

Yeah, it's convenient, right? Is it nice to be in love with Jeremiah Love?

D (19:26)

It is. It is. I don't want to sit down and do this mock draft tomorrow.

C (19:31)

I got to do it today, bro. I got to turn it in. I got to turn in two days ahead of time. Which, you know what, it's funny is that I looked at. I've looked at it over the years. I'm like, I get all this last minute information. I'm like, you know what? It's no, it's no more or less accurate if I do it two days at a time, right at 10 minutes before it starts.

D (19:46)

And honestly, sometimes I feel like it's. It's just stick with honestly, like, maybe last week would have been better to do it before, before all this, this information. But, yeah.

C (19:56)

Priscilla, where you at on that? Give it, give it. Give us your I like instincts. I like. And I know you've got good instincts. Todd's got good instincts. You've been around like, is that not a little fishy that all of a sudden it's just unanimous across the board that they're going to take Jeremiah Love with third pick.

A (20:10)

It's the best guy to get the most attraction for interest in the pick. Okay. Because if you hone in on one tackle, if there's anything that I've learned from this class is like, there might be five different tackles that are the number one tackle on team sports. Okay. The Tysons thing seems to be heading towards more of a consensus thing. But Love is if I'm just thrilled you brought it up because based on strategy alone, and you never know with how this stuff leaks out, but you just know teams are going to go, hey, let's all meet. What are we going to do? All right, here's Operation Mislead. And we're just going to get it out there. It's going to be a few days before, like, if we do it late enough, it's like announcing a campaign that it can't be picked apart. You know, let's not do it three weeks out. Let's do a four or five.

D (20:53)

Yeah, everyone has it. And I remember having this conversation, same

A (20:57)

exact time, by Sunday afternoon.

D (20:59)

And I'm like, oh, this is. This is because I had heard, like, I've been saying for like a month, like, there's a voice in Arizona that I'm aware of, and I don't know who the voice is, but I'm told, I was told a while ago, there's Jer. There's a Jeremiah Love voice inside the organization. And I still don't know which voice that is, but I've been told, is

C (21:20)

it the guy who writes the checks?

D (21:21)

I. I'm lean.

A (21:23)

That's where.

D (21:24)

That's where the information was heading on Sunday. And so I'm like, all right. And this. Now I'm gonna go out on a limb, right? I'm gonna. And we had the show. We landed in LA yesterday, checked in Rinsed off, went over to the studio, didn't. I'm like, all right, I'm gonna go with it. I'm hearing it from multiple people, and then I wake up this morning, and it's like, oh, everyone's saying it.

C (21:44)

Yeah.

D (21:45)

So am I one of the many that's getting duped on this thing?

C (21:48)

You know, hey, you're you. So you did it yesterday, and then Schefter, and everybody's talking about today. My genius was like, oh, sit on this, man. I can just dump this thing out. My mock draft on Wednesday night gonna shock the world here with Jared maybe. So much for that.

D (22:05)

Maybe some. There's some genius in that. And. And you'll get the real information by the time you turn in that mock.

A (22:13)

Okay, I didn't prep you on this one, but I want to stay with it. If you had to each pick three teams and three players, that you were like, locks. An aggressive word here. But you were like, hey, if this guy's on the board here, like, this team would take this guy. This guy is going here. I should have prepped you on this one, because this one's a little tougher.

D (22:34)

With all due respect, Ryan, you sent the text last night. I don't know how much prep DJ and I were doing, you know?

C (22:40)

Did you really send a text? Did he send. To my wrong number? Because I didn't get it. Did you send it to my old

A (22:45)

number or so potentially.

C (22:47)

Yeah.

E (22:47)

I don't.

B (22:48)

I don't.

C (22:48)

I did not have anything from you.

A (22:51)

You don't have a text from me. It was a really well thought out text.

C (22:54)

All right. I don't have.

A (22:55)

Well, there you go. It wouldn't have matter.

B (22:56)

Yeah.

C (22:57)

So anyways, you think I'm a jerk. I'm like, this guy never even replies to me. Well, yeah. It's like. Yeah. Anyways.

D (23:03)

All right, you.

A (23:04)

And there's an NBA GM that was like, stop texting this number.

C (23:08)

Yeah, I feel like. I feel there's no nice way to say that when you know somebody's texting the wrong number. I still have that phone. It's just, like, tucked in a drawer.

A (23:15)

It's not your fault. Let's. Let's go with that. How about that?

D (23:18)

I'll jump it. You ready?

C (23:19)

All right, I've got my.

E (23:21)

Hold on.

C (23:21)

I'm gonna write mine down because I want to. I'm gonna see if. Before you do it, because I want to see if we're on the same page because of all the players, and

D (23:27)

I'm trying to stay in the range, but one of them may be a little bit of a reach.

A (23:33)

Okay, but this is based on what you think could happen, where if, like, I was a TV producer for SportsCenter and I would say, McShay, give me your three locks. These are three guys. Definitely landing at these three different teams, which is going to be really hard to do. There has to be like three that you feel much better about than the rest of the first round.

D (23:54)

Without the obvious at the top. I, I would say zero surprise. And it feels like just the right fit. Venga, you want a Penn State offensive guard going to Baltimore, and if he gets to 22, the Chargers, that would be absolutely ideal. That's ideal. But I, I'm trying to be a little bit more realistic. Right. I would say if Dylan Thienaman, the Oregon safety, is there at 19, that would be a lock to Carolina. And I think that, yeah, I would feel great about that. I don't know that this one's a lock, but I, my gosh, I love the fit. And I mentioned his name before. Blake Miller, the Clemson offensive tackle. I know there's been a lot of talk about Kaden Proctor. I don't know that Proctor gets to Detroit at 17. You talk about grit and 54 starts and consistency and one of the highest character guys in this class. And I just, I think Blake Miller is a perfect Detroit Lion.

C (25:06)

I like that. So I had two that I wrote down right off the top.

A (25:09)

So that's a 17.

D (25:11)

Correct.

A (25:12)

Okay.

C (25:13)

So I went and like, in terms of locks, if they get there, and Todd just referenced it. Proctor to Detroit was the first one I wrote down like that. Like, if you're saying floors for players, I feel like that is his floor. Like he's not. That's where the, where his day ends. Like, he's not getting past that. Detroit's on a tackle. Like, by the way, I've called, like, I've got in touch with all the tackle schools and I'm like, who's done the most homework on tackles? Like, who's done the most work? Without question, Detroit. Philly.

D (25:41)

Yeah, Philly.

A (25:42)

Detroit.

D (25:43)

Philly. Detroit.

C (25:43)

Detroit. Philly. And I like, Detroit has a friggin bullseye on their chest. I mean, like, everybody has them pinned on a tackle. So if, if you're, if you're one of those teams. We just went through the whole list of them.

D (25:55)

Yeah.

C (25:55)

Picking after that. Like, they, like, I will be shocked. So 16 is the jets and 15 is Tampa. If one of those teams want to get out, they're going to be able to get out, somebody will come up in front of Detroit to take one of these tackles.

D (26:08)

Yeah, it could be Philly moving up ahead of Detroit.

C (26:11)

I could.

D (26:12)

That's.

C (26:12)

What if I. I'm. To be honest, like, with Howie shopping, this mock draft that I got to do, like, that's one I'm thinking of doing, is just, you know, trades are kind of dumb in mock drafts because it's so. It screws up the whole thing. But that makes way too much sense. Like Phillies within striking distance to have extra picks. And you've got a mark in Detroit as a tackle team, so Proctor Detroit was one. Styles Washington we referenced earlier. Like, I think that's where his day ends. You know, if he gets there, that just makes way too much sense. And then the other one, I mean, we're kind of all on the same page here. But like, the Chargers, like, if you could, you know, like, what does Hulk Hulk Hogan used to say? Like, take your vitamins and say your prayers or whatever, like, before you go to bed on Wednesday night. That's what I would be doing if I was at Chargers.

A (26:56)

Yeah. He also said some other things didn't go great for him, but we'll keep it moving here.

C (27:06)

I just absolutely teed that up for you.

E (27:08)

Right.

A (27:08)

Yeah, I. I was thinking about the three different ways I was going to reference it and then not referencing it, and I think we're. I think we're good. All right, so who have you changed your mind about the most throughout the entire process? Star McShay.

D (27:22)

Oh, You want to go the entire process? It might be Peter woods, defensive tackle from. From Clemson. Like, I thought he was headed towards a top 15, maybe a top 10 pick after 2024. I thought TJ Parker actually, too, but. But Peter Woods, I. Like, he wasn't Mason Graham, but I. But I could see some. Some similarities there. Didn't like the 2025 tape as much as 2024, and was kind of looking for that next step with more pass rush advancement. But then I still, like, I go back and watch the tape and I'm like, this is. This is a really good player. Like, he's going to be a good player. And then, like, the workout numbers weren't great, but then I keep going back to the tape and I'm like, he's going to go early second is my. My guess. But I think he's going to be a really good player. But I'm to range from like, top 10, top 15 to. At one point, I'm like, he might go in the 40s, you know, to now. I'm back in, like, this sweet spot of, like, early 30s. It's just. It's been kind of a roller coaster. There's been a lot of players like that this year, honestly, and I feel like more so than. Than ever. Like, the Clemson TJ Parker is another one that I reference. Like, a lot of these wide receivers up and down, and they get more late information. Some of the medical and the character stuff, there's just been a lot of fluctuation.

C (28:55)

Yeah, Jermad McCoy is going to be fascinating.

D (28:57)

Oh, yeah.

C (28:58)

Just.

D (28:58)

Yeah.

C (28:58)

I mean, he could fall out of the first round. He could be Will Johnson all over again. So that one's going to be interesting to see what happens. The couple. For me, I feel like there's always one player like this every year, but Rodriguez from Texas Tech, when you go back through and you're like, okay, my notes, like, I like everything about him. I think I just am subconsciously thinking he can't run. More so than there's evidence in my. In my notes about him having this lack of athleticism and play speed and all this kind of stuff. Then he goes and runs in the four fives, and like, literally, you almost just kind of like, why am I. Why am I punishing this guy anymore? Like, what excuse do I have? He goes to the Senior bowl, has an unbelievable week there. He's just punching out balls left and right, like, just doing all the same stuff.

D (29:38)

Interviews, taking passes, everything.

C (29:41)

Yeah, I'm like, what? At some point in time, like, it's like, just put your hand up in there and be like, I got to get this guy in there. So I put him in there. And then the other one in that same vein, which I still, I still think there's a valid concern there. But, like, Chris Johnson from San Diego State, just, like, some of the recovery speed stuff was my concern, but he's like. I mean, he's. He's instinctive, he's tough. That everybody that meets him. Smart kid. His, like, intangibles off the charts. He makes plays, playmaker makes plays on the ball. It was some of the recovery stuff. Well, then he goes out and runs 4, 4, 4 on the nose. And it's like, well, okay, you don't really have a hill to stand.

D (30:18)

What's your excuse now?

C (30:19)

Yeah, what's your excuse?

D (30:19)

Yeah, I've got him in the top 32. He could be the second corner. He could be the second corner off the board.

C (30:24)

He could be like, if we, if we live In. If we wake up Friday morning and in this draft, if Chris Johnson, if he's. If he's like the 23rd pick or the shock me at all. Like, he goes in the early 20s in this draft. Like, he went.

A (30:38)

Yeah, he's clean.

C (30:39)

Like, he's a really clean player. So. But he's. He's one of those guys where I started off with him and then I got him into, like, in like, 40s. And then just because of where he started, I'm. I'm. I'm reluctant to take a guy if I start him at 48. Like, I can't only jump him up, like, so high. Like, I got 35. Was like. I was like, okay, that's a good compromise position of like. I really.

B (31:02)

I don't.

D (31:02)

I was the same. Is it San Diego State, like, with the nil and everyone's playing? I don't know. But I. I kept being like, man, he's clean. He's clean. He's instinctive, man. Zone. He get like. I thought he was good. He wasn't exceptional at the Senior Bowl. Then he goes and works out the way he does. Yeah, I don't know. I. I'm. Yeah. At this point, you clean is clean becomes really valuable. Like, even like an Eli Stowers, like the. The workout. Mad. The workout's better than the explosiveness, but. But, like, still developing, getting better each year. You know, even like the aiq, like the intelligence and the. And the reaction skill. Like. Like every test you put in front of them and like Jake Goldave from linebacker, from. From. So there's just all these clean players that I find myself inching up because there's so much turmoil with all these other guys that may be a little bit more talented or may have a better resume. You know, if.

C (31:58)

If I could go back. If I could. Had a DeLorean and I could go back and just change one thing about this entire draft process. I swear to you, this is what I would do. I would. I would catch that one ship. I would fly to Lubbock, Texas, and I would tell my guy, Lee Hunter, don't do the vertical, bro. Please, if you're gonna jump 23 inches,

B (32:16)

just don't do it.

C (32:17)

Your tape. Your tape at the end of the year was exceptional. You finished up strong. You had a great wicket.

D (32:21)

Have you talked to one person in

A (32:22)

the league when you.

D (32:23)

When Lee Hunter comes up, that's the first thing. Everybody. That Oregon tape. That Oregon tape.

C (32:28)

But those first play, that's the first thing they'll say. It's It's a flip a coin. They're gonna say something about the organ game or something about his vertical jump. Yeah. And I'm like, can we just freaking.

D (32:36)

It's almost like it was a hoax dj. Like, I remember sitting there and I saw. I'm watching you and Rich, right?

C (32:42)

Yeah.

D (32:43)

And I'm like, wait, no, that, that number is not right. I think it popped up in like the top. You know, the top third. What was it, 22?

C (32:50)

It was low. It was low.

D (32:52)

It was like red flag. Like this. That doesn't make sense. But then what did. It took me like five seconds to process. I'm like, who's his agent? Where was he. Where was he working on? Like, they had to have tried this before. Is this, is this a prank?

C (33:08)

He's got 34 inch arms. He's 330 pounds and he's.

D (33:12)

He kicked everyone's ass at the Senior Bowl.

C (33:14)

Couldn't block. I was talking about him on the air at the Senior Bowl. This guy's, this guy's got a good chance of going on the first round. Oh, I had him like in the high 20s. And then I. And again part of it, I, you know, maybe I even overreacted. Sometimes this happens and we get. We'll look up three years from now and go, he should have gone the first round. But he's. I ended up, I ended up with him and like late 30s, early 40s. He's going to, he's going to go on the second.

D (33:36)

The interior defensive line class is interesting because it could be. I haven't looked at it, but I think the last like three years has been like 11 and 12 in the top 100 picks. And then prior to that we had two years where it was like five and seven.

C (33:49)

I got it right in front of me. So over the last five years, in the top 50 on average, 5.2 and then another 3.8. 51 to 100.

D (33:59)

Yeah.

C (33:59)

So.

D (34:00)

Yeah, yeah. So. But. But this year, like, you could wind up in the top 100 seeing a number similar, like, I don't know, eight or nine. But it's all second and third round. The vast majority.

A (34:13)

Perfect transition for somebody who didn't get the text. Before we get into our exercises here, give me then a second rounder. We're in two years, we're going to go. This was stupid. He should have gone on the first round.

C (34:24)

Well, I, There's a, There's. I like the Toledo safety, McNeil Warren. He's my 15th player. I think he's going to go in the second round. I think he's, he's kind of fallen out of that first round range. But every single year I feel like I. It happens every year. You go back to McKinney, you go to Branch, you can go to. Oh gosh, why am I. Cooper De Jean went in the second round last year. Eman Worry went the second round every year I feel like there's a really good safe dude I think is a first round player that goes in the second round and I think it's going to be him this year. I.

D (34:57)

There's a lot of them, honestly, like I could go Zion Young, I mentioned Woods, I mentioned Eli Stowers. I'm just looking at this list.

C (35:05)

By the way, on Woods, Todd, I was told that like don't be shocked if the Ravens took him at 14.

D (35:11)

On Peter woods, see like all over the place. Because the tape, it's like you keep going back and there's things that he does.

C (35:19)

Yeah, because Matabki, with Matabka's health, they want to rush anyway.

A (35:24)

How is Dowers not like a lock to go.

D (35:27)

His tape's not as explosive as those numbers for me.

C (35:30)

Yeah, but he's a receiver. I mean he's not, you're not handing the ground. He's not going to do anything with that stuff. But he is super. He is very athletic and acrobatic, I would say.

D (35:42)

Yeah, I mean, I just mentioned a few names, you know, one of my favorite players in this draft and he doesn't belong in the first round. I'm not pushing for that. Gabe Akis from Illinois. And I get it, there's athletic limitations. But you talk about like wrestling background. I think he's like 46 and 2. He was a two time Florida state wrestling champion, did it at 220 pounds and next year was 280 pounds. Then you look at the tape and it's like strong hands, power, what translates to the NFL leverage, power motor. Right. So I'm not saying we're gonna look back and say, oh, he should have gone in the first, but I think in like eight years we're gonna look back and be like, man, that Gabe Akis had a damn good NFL career.

C (36:25)

You know, this is the way I described it. Gavin was asked about him and I was like, this is how I describe Ax. He's like my 61st player, second round player for me. But I said, if everything goes perfect for Gabe Akus, Gabe Akis is going to be strong against the run and he's going to get you eight to nine sacks.

D (36:41)

Yeah.

C (36:41)

If everything goes 10, terrible for Gabeacus, he's going to be strongest around and give you eight to nine sacks. Like, I, I, he's like the clearest vision. Like, this is who this guy.

D (36:49)

Do you know what I mean?

C (36:49)

There's the bumpers between the floor and the ceiling are, like, touching each other. Like, that's who he is.

D (36:54)

So in a year where we've got all these, like, uncertainty and so many players from like 20 to 45, I just look at them like, what's the fail rate? You know?

C (37:03)

Yeah. Oh, I'm getting old.

D (37:05)

I used to be, I used to be riskier and like, you know, the older I get it, the more I'm,

C (37:10)

the more I'm, I'm the same way. I thought I joke about that with teams. When I told him, like, I'm like,

D (37:17)

you know, like, along came Paul. Like, everything's about risk assessment. Like, I, I, I'm turning into that as I get older.

C (37:23)

Yeah, just pump it in the fairway.

A (37:25)

All right. I like that. I like players from Illinois. Little Illinois run lately.

C (37:31)

Witherspoon, let's go.

D (37:32)

Yeah.

A (37:33)

Johnny Newton. Did you know? Fast growing trees is America's largest and most trusted online nursery with thousands of trees and plants and over 2 million happy customers. They have all the plants your yard or home needs, including fruit trees, privacy trees, flowering trees, shrubs, and houseplants, all grown with care and guaranteed to arrive healthy. Whatever you're looking for, Fast growing trees helps you find options that actually work for your climate, space and lifestyle. You don't need a big yard or a lot of space. You can grow lemon, avocado, olive or fig trees indoors, along with a wide variety of houseplants, all grown with care and hand selected to thrive in your home. Right now, they have great deals on spring planting essentials, up to half off on select plants. And listeners to our show get 20% off their first purchase when using the code Ryan at checkout. That's an additional 20% off. Better plants and better growing. @fastgrowingtrees.com using the code Ryan R Y E n at checkout fastgrowingtrees.com code Ryan. Now is the perfect time to plant. Let's grow together. Use Ryan to save today. Offer is valid for a limited time. Terms and conditions may apply. Okay, let's do this. Before I go through on the clock scenarios, let's do a little history lesson. So I have two exercises for you here. So we're going to take a player from this year's class and then compare them to how you felt about this other player when they were coming out. Not obviously hindsight of seeing them as an NFL player. So Mendoza or Justin Herbert?

C (39:04)

Oh, I, that's a great question. Oh, I mean I, I have a. I have and I don't think, you know, I wouldn't stand on it now, but I have a higher grade on Mendoza than I had on Herbert coming out.

D (39:15)

Same. The things that bother me about Herbert, I still, I still feel like haven't been totally answered, but I feel like we're, we're trending towards it. Like I'm going to be. I don't want to say prove it wrong, but I was worried about like there's a lot of great tools. Is he gonna ever be like the guy that, you know they're similar.

E (39:35)

They're.

C (39:36)

They're actually similar players. Like a little bit mechanical. Drive throwers more than layer throwers. Herbert's a better athlete and a stronger arm. And a bigger arm.

D (39:45)

Yeah. Bigger arm. Yeah. But yeah, I was, I would be. My grade is slight. I mean it's like 93. Mendoza. 91. I think it was Herbert. So it's not a massive difference. But yeah.

A (39:58)

Okay. Jeremiah Love or Saquon Barkley.

C (40:01)

I have Barkley.

A (40:02)

Barkley.

D (40:03)

Barkley's one of the high outside of like Adrian Peterson. Might have been the highest grade coming out at running back. But I. Let's go. Recent years dj. Yeah, I would go Barkley just on my grades coming up. Like obviously, you know, hindsight's 20 20. Barkley, Bijan. Barkley, Bijan Love, Jinty and Gibbs. Right, right below.

C (40:37)

Yeah. So I had the same grade because different grading skills. But I had Barkley in his own tier and then I had Bij. I gave Love the same grade I gave Bijan. So that's how I, I hadn't had him over Genti and then over Gibbs. Gibbs is like, yeah, I like to have a do over on that one. I, I loved him as a player and it's one of those things where there wasn't as much like just talking and buzz about him. So you feel this happens all the time. But like I feel like I'm kind of like the high guy on him. Like where you are going through the process and then all of a sudden the team just. That train just goes flying by you and then at the end of the day it's like why'd you hate that guy? And I'm like.

D (41:10)

It was one of the, one of the, the best parts of doing that. The sideline analyst stuff like.

C (41:15)

Yeah.

D (41:16)

Sitting in those meetings with like Saban and. And the coordinator. Was it the Bill o' Brien at the time or was it Sark? I can't remember. And then talking to some of the people in the building and they literally were showing me the printouts of like practice mp, like miles per hour.

C (41:31)

Yeah.

D (41:32)

And just talk. Like, I wound up being. I was actually happy with the grade. And I remember the pushback on Detroit that year with that draft and I

C (41:40)

was like, what's Campbell?

D (41:41)

Yeah, yeah. The. The non. You get four picks and three of them went to running back, linebacker and tight end, you know.

C (41:49)

Yeah. Pretty good.

A (41:50)

Yeah. And they were all good picks, you know.

D (41:52)

Yeah.

A (41:52)

Great picks. Yeah. So I remember too being like, what are you doing with Gibbs? But Gibbs is so scary. And I. I really think in that offense too, like, they have optimized it. I mean, sure, you could probably get even more touches, but there's a fear factor with him that I think changes the way I know I've. I changed my mind a little bit on the running back thing when it's like. Well, when it's a guy like this that just freaks you out that much. I. They were right. So I think we're all kind of on the same page there. I think I'm going to get some push back from you and bring this one up. But we're doing it. I don't care. Sadiq versus Loveland coming out.

C (42:28)

I had Loveland. I had hired Warren and Loveland. More prototypical guys.

A (42:35)

How about this one? Go back a little bit further. Bailey this year or Tyree Wilson if we stay in Lubbock.

C (42:41)

Thankfully I have a higher grade on Bailey.

B (42:43)

Really?

D (42:44)

Same.

A (42:44)

Yeah, that was a. That was a. Those are nervous.

C (42:48)

I know. Those are nervous, though, like when you take Notorious Bus, because that's a very clip. That's very clippable. That's McShay and Jeremiah. I don't know what they're doing. They love this player from 10 years ago. Yeah.

A (42:59)

Tyree Wilson, that was an all time momentum guy, like all of a sudden

C (43:04)

that had him over Will Anderson. I remember just being like, that's. That's. Yeah, but.

A (43:09)

All right. Delane or Marshawn Lattimore.

D (43:14)

I actually looked this up. Identical grades.

C (43:18)

Hold on. What year was Lattimore?

D (43:20)

17.

A (43:22)

Oh, was it 17?

D (43:22)

I think it was 2017.

A (43:24)

I was. I was really gonna mess with you guys because I was like going way back. Like I was thinking about Terence Newman and I'm like, all right, take it easy. McShay was still in high school, 2017.

D (43:35)

No, I. No, I wasn't. What year was Terence Newman? What's that? Yeah, I was.

C (43:42)

I have a higher grade on Lattimore.

D (43:44)

Sporting News.

C (43:45)

I gave him a 6, 9, and I gave Delane a 6, 7.

A (43:48)

Scouts, Inc. Early days. Okay.

E (43:51)

All right.

A (43:51)

Yeah, that makes sense. How about Maui Noah or Makai Becton?

C (43:56)

I had a higher grade on Becton.

D (43:58)

I looked at what those are the two I. That's the only part of your text that I actually went through because it. It was interesting to me, and I was like, let me go look at these grades so I'm not saying something. Then someone pulls up the old information. Identical grades on Lattimore and Delane and identical grades. And I didn't go back. I typically go back the last few years to make sure I'm not doing something that I'm going to regret later with grades, you know, And I did the, like Loveland and Warren last year to make sure I had Sadiq in the right spot. Becton, identical grade as Maui know. 92, I think.

A (44:29)

All right, that's good. All right.

C (44:30)

To be honest with you. To be honest with you, my grade being so high on Makai Becton and not, you know, working out the way I would have hoped from that standpoint has scared me off. Proctor, like, just in terms of, like, pushing him all the way up there.

D (44:42)

Yeah.

A (44:44)

Really? So you feel like the beckton.

C (44:46)

Yeah, the 300. Proctor came into this season at 390 pounds. And like, Becton, the knee obviously has changed everything. Who knows what he's like if he doesn't have the knee. But part of the reason why he's got the knee is because he was heavy. He was so heavy. So that scared me a little bit off of guys that. That have that issue.

A (45:01)

So, okay, this one would be Nuss Meyer or Geno Smith.

D (45:07)

Geno Smith. Yeah. I went back and looked Geno Smith.

A (45:11)

Okay.

D (45:12)

I like to like that one's frustrating because I. Yeah. Knowing the injury all year long and what happened at lsu. But I hope he gets in the right spot and as it has a chance, you know?

B (45:23)

But.

D (45:23)

But I had Geno Smith.

C (45:25)

I was talking to Kellen Moore the other day. He told me that he told his dad, you have to go to his. You be with your son at the draft party. You're not in the. You're not staying in the room with us. Like, go. Yeah, go. Go do that. It's kind of cool, man. It's pretty wild. Like, think about that. Is you're an offense according to the NFL, and your. Your son's literally going to get picked as a quarterback in the league. That's pretty cool, man.

D (45:44)

Yeah, well, you hope. You. You hope. You hope he's back in the facility on Saturday, though.

C (45:51)

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

A (45:52)

Hopefully. Yeah. Before.

C (45:53)

Before

A (45:56)

Marty Morning Wigs kid didn't get drafted, right?

C (45:59)

I don't think so.

D (46:00)

I don't think so.

A (46:01)

No. Yeah, I don't think so either. Yeah.

C (46:04)

Yeah.

A (46:04)

All right, here's the exercise on the clock. We do it every year. I give you a team, I give you some scenarios, fallers.

B (46:13)

Write this down.

C (46:14)

It's never easy. It's never the never cut and dry scenario here.

A (46:17)

That's the point.

D (46:18)

Yeah.

A (46:19)

And make you guys think even less time this year. So factor that in.

C (46:23)

Okay.

D (46:23)

Yeah.

C (46:23)

Eight minutes. We got to cut this thing down.

A (46:25)

All right. I'll start with dj. I'm just going to throw the scenario at you both, and then you guys go. So maybe on the first one, Daniel Jeremiah has final say and McShay's his lieutenant, and then we'll flip it for the next one. Okay. Is. I want you guys both in on this. So you're running the Rams. Yeah, we got some fallers. I don't know what's going on. Chaotic to pick 12. Caleb Downs still on the board.

D (46:56)

Shouldn't enjoy this as much as I do.

C (47:00)

Well, it's because we're both thinking this is going down the left path, and then. And he's going to take a hard right, and then you know what's coming your way.

D (47:07)

Yeah. Like Mendoza is going to be on the board.

A (47:10)

Yeah. Well, who knows? Who knows what could happen? Carnell Tate's still available, which is weird. But you're like, I don't know if he's a. He's running the kind of routes that McVeigh might not be a McVeigh guy. And shockingly, Jeremiah Love is still on the board. But the day of the draft, for whatever reason, he tweeted out Caitlin Clark would get 20 a game in the NBA. And an hour later, he, quote, tweets, I said what I said.

C (47:44)

Yeah. I mean, he could. He could have a draft party and dress up as Caitlin Clark, and I would still take Jeremiah, I promise. And I would trade up. Like, that's. That's my one. Like, I. And.

B (47:56)

And they.

C (47:57)

I. Tate. I think they would take Tate. If he was there, Love would be the choice on this scenario. But I think there. I think the Rams pick is going to be Love Tate. And then Lemon, like, I think it's one of those three guys. I think that's who I think the Rams are taking. But love to me if he gets. Which we'll see what happens with this whole scenario with Arizona. Todd, if love gets to. Let's say he gets to five to the Giants. I'm telling you, dude, less need. I would not put them going up.

D (48:24)

And what are they. What do they need those other picks for? What? You know what I mean. No.

C (48:28)

And. And this is the finishing. This is the finishing piece. This is all in.

D (48:32)

They're good. They're good at running. They're fine.

A (48:34)

But they're good players.

C (48:36)

But you can spin them. You in this running back class sucks. I can turn around and trade Blake Corm. I can turn around and trade Karen Williams if I want. But this is a different animal now. In love.

A (48:46)

Wow.

C (48:46)

It's the marrying. It's the marrying of the Todd Gurley Rams and the Stafford Rams like joining forces if that were to happen.

A (48:54)

All right, Todd, you're in charge of this one. Ravens at 14. Delane still on the board. Reuben Bain is on the board

D (49:05)

and

A (49:06)

Tate is still on the board. But the Titans call and offer their first in 2027 for the 14th pick.

D (49:22)

Give me that 2027 pick.

C (49:26)

Straight up. Like you don't get in any. You don't get any other pick in this draft. Like they're. Are they trading up?

A (49:31)

You're out.

C (49:33)

It's just straight up 14 for next. So the Ravens. Yeah, but.

D (49:36)

So I don't get it. So I don't get a pick from this year though.

A (49:39)

No pick, you know, hang out.

D (49:41)

Oh, that.

A (49:45)

I don't know. Fun should be factored into this decision. Are you all. You guys are raving about the 27 draft. I think this 26 draft is prob. It feels like the weakest in a while based on the way you guys have talked about it. Something.

D (49:57)

Yeah. But we're trying. We're trying to win this year too though. And it's. This isn't. We're not like. This isn't like a rebuild. We're not looking quarterback presume like.

A (50:05)

So what are the chances the Titans pick in 27 isn't a top 10 pick?

C (50:10)

Cam Ward, MVP year incoming.

D (50:12)

So who. So it's Delay. It's Delane Tate and who else is still on the board?

A (50:16)

Bane.

D (50:17)

And Bane.

C (50:24)

Can we at least get pick 66, Todd. Can we at least get like a third round pick out of this thing?

A (50:28)

No, I'm. Look, I'm the time like I don't even know if we're going to be good next year. It could be a two year process here in a new coach. Where do you have their roster ranked? 5 worst rosters in the NFL.

D (50:40)

Yeah, it's not great, but it, but, but they're ascending.

A (50:45)

Well, ascending from what?

D (50:47)

From not great.

A (50:48)

When I get out of bed.

C (50:52)

God, I got such an easy one. Yeah, he left me an easy one. There's like nine players I had to write down with that. There's the, the this year to the next year thing. Like, you got a way more complicated one than I did.

D (51:07)

I. Oh, I hate it. Yeah. Why, why are you giving me this one?

C (51:15)

But, hey, can I. Devil, let me give you as your lieutenant in this, in this situation. So let me just bounce this off you. We don't have anything with Lamar looking at it accurately next year, potentially historic quarterback class. The Titans could suck. Like, you might just stumble into an absolute lottery ticket.

D (51:34)

Yeah.

C (51:34)

With the Titans.

D (51:35)

That's why it's hard to give up. Who you think the Ravens would take, just for fun, if those three players were on the board?

C (51:44)

Tate, Bane, and Delane.

D (51:46)

I think it would be hard. Tate and Bane would be the hard two for me. Even though the corners, you know, I,

C (51:55)

to me, I. Gosh, Bane feels like a Raven to me.

D (52:00)

It feels like a Raven. Totally. Tate's Tate. Just slightly.

C (52:04)

Yeah, I have, I have Tate. I think, Let me pull. I think I have Tate. One spot over him. Like, just. Yeah, but for the Ravens, almost identical. Makes more sense.

A (52:14)

I can't believe it's taken this long. Commission.

D (52:16)

This is a good question.

A (52:16)

Back.

C (52:17)

It's a good one.

A (52:19)

I don't even think it's a thought. Give me the chance at a lottery ticket in 27.

C (52:23)

Yeah, I take it back. I have Tate 6 and Bane at 7. I mean, and then I have Delane at 9. So they're all right there.

D (52:30)

But I, I, I could see Bain being the pick if they stick, but yeah, I'm taking the 20, 27 pick.

C (52:38)

Yeah, we got that in under, the eight minute. Under eight minutes.

A (52:41)

Yeah, yeah, almost.

D (52:43)

But we spent the whole eight minutes calling and trying to negotiate that. That. What would you say?

C (52:47)

We tried to get 66 out of him and he wouldn't give it to us right now.

A (52:50)

I'm not giving you 66 because I could, I could look like a moron next year. I could look.

C (52:56)

It could, it could age very poorly for you.

D (52:57)

Yeah.

A (52:58)

One. All right, maybe one that's a little bit more straightforward with a 27. Flair.

D (53:02)

Give DJ the easy one. Go ahead.

C (53:04)

Yeah, he's been nice to me here. I appreciate it.

A (53:06)

That's what happens when I didn't even

C (53:07)

have my right phone number and he doesn't send me the information before we.

A (53:09)

I feel bad. Cause he had to on the fly here. All right, Pittsburgh, you're running the room at number 21. Tyson's still on the board. So now you're like, wait, does somebody else have some medical flag on him? Let's start calling anybody. Aren't you cousins with the guys in Baltimore or something? Blake Miller's still on the board. New England calls and says, we'll give you our 27 first for 21 1.

C (53:30)

Now New England will give me next year's first.

D (53:36)

Oh, that's.

C (53:37)

Boy, I just think New England. I think it's going to be a late one next year,

D (53:43)

but as your lieutenant.

C (53:45)

But, yeah, give it to me.

D (53:47)

We like, we're going to be in the quarterback market. We're going to need a quarterback. And that. That could get us up to a range to get. It might not be Dante Moore, Arch Manning, or maybe even Sorsby, but it might be that, you know, it could be the fourth quarterback off the board.

A (54:01)

Would there be a second lieutenant saying, hey, was 26 a little fluky for New England? I don't know if you guys have filled that position. So every.

D (54:10)

Everyone from the Medford in Massachusetts is worried with the schedule that it's going to be a real. A real sobering year for the Patriots.

C (54:21)

I think that that's a compelling argument on the. On the quarterback. So I think I would scoop. I think I'm scooping 27 picks. I think if you can get 27 picks and knowing that's your year for the quarterback, you're still. You start with a new coach. So I don't think there's that pressure right now. I mean, the Broderick Jones thing is legit. Like, they do have a tackle need. But I think I. I think I would be trying to get as many lottery tickets as I can for 27. Okay. This is why you have a lieutenant, man. This is why, you know. Yeah, you got to have lieutenants to give you different angles, talk things through. Yeah, we worked it out. I feel like we arrived at some good decisions.

D (55:00)

Yeah, I like it. I will be shocked if Anyone trades a 27 pick in this draft, though, for. For a pick this year.

A (55:09)

Two more scenarios. McShay, you are in charge of the Cleveland Browns, all right, Sitting there, let's say a 24 Excuse me? No, no. You're not running the Cleveland Browns. You've been let go. You've been promoted.

C (55:24)

Hey, I've been fired by him, too.

D (55:26)

Dude.

C (55:26)

Don't worry about it.

A (55:31)

Wait, how do I want to frame this? Because now I've confused myself based on my notes. Nope. All right, here it is. You're running the Saints. You're running the Saints. Cleveland does call you, and they say, hey, we got to get this right. We'll give you 24 our second round and our third round for Tyler Schuck.

D (55:55)

No. Yeah.

C (56:00)

You can't. You've got a quarterback you like.

D (56:01)

Yeah, it's. It's so hard to find. Like, look at. Look at these organizations. Like. Yeah, I don't want to go wandering. I'm not going to name any names or any organizations, but you can build the best roster in the league or one of the top five rosters in the league if you don't have that position playing right at the right time.

A (56:19)

So what if. What if you said you have, like, a guy's like, are we out on Rattler? A little depth around him. I don't like that laugh.

D (56:29)

I'm just saying, like, if we're out on Rattler, we're not. We're not drafting Tyler Shuck, and we're not inserting him. Not like, Rattler's done some good things and maybe. But, like, I'm. I can't. When you. When you got that bird in hand, you can't. You don't let it go.

A (56:44)

No, I think that's probably the right call. All right, Last one. The Colts. You're running the Colts.

C (56:51)

DJ Yeah.

A (56:52)

You have no first rounder.

C (56:54)

Correct.

A (56:55)

But I don't know.

C (56:56)

It's going to be a quick one. McShay, I'm going to go ahead and tell you this is going to be the fastest one that we've done this because this was not. This is the last one. So these. We've listened to the best ones. So this is the last one. This is going to be the fastest. Go ahead. This is going to be the fastest answer that we've got so far.

A (57:09)

Shitting on my strategy here a little bit, everybody.

D (57:13)

This is the end of his workout as he's busy writing down notes.

C (57:17)

Oh, crap. I got to do one more. Oh, hold on.

D (57:19)

Yeah, it's kind of gotten to his head. He's sweating a little red in the face. Let's get one more down. We're only at 53 minutes. I'm going to need to take this to 58 minutes. I promise him under an hour. Let's get him right there.

C (57:35)

Yeah.

A (57:37)

Here's the scenario.

C (57:39)

Yep.

A (57:40)

They've got the 15th pick in the second round. It's been a boring few days for you, really. I mean, you know, the prep up. Hey, we're not in the mix. The first router. So kind of like on your Baltimore thing, like, hey, this isn't fun. Here's what's happened. Cassius Howls dropped. Peter woods is dropped. C.J. allen is on the board. Lower grade than those other guys, I think. Consensus. Right. But during the pre draft process, you spent time with C.J.

B (58:16)

allen.

A (58:17)

He looked everyone in the eyes, he shook all their hands, he nailed the pre draft interview. And as he was leaving the room, he turned around and looked at everyone again and said, anthony Richardson, I can fix him. And then left. It's the last thing he said.

D (58:49)

I can fix him.

C (58:51)

By the way. Just think about, think about the lack of preparedness here. Like he had in this, in his group of. In his scenarios, he had a Caitlin Clark scenario and he had an Indianapolis Colts scenario, yet he didn't marry them together in the one scenario where the Caitlin Clark thing tied in with the, with the Indianapolis connection there.

D (59:12)

And why am I mad about Jeremiah Love saying that Caitlin Clark could score 20 in the NBA, maybe not at running back.

C (59:20)

I just think that's just a personal.

A (59:21)

Maybe I should have had Ty Simpson do that because then you start thinking about processing and decision making at quarterback.

D (59:27)

Yeah.

A (59:27)

Yeah. I don't know. I didn't know that. I didn't think you necessarily be offended, but it like it. There were some thoughts on the tweet throughout the day leading up. It wasn't like he was wearing a gas mask, but it was like, what is going on here? Like that doesn't seem like it'd be true.

C (59:43)

All right, that's fair. I think. I look, there's good drafts and there's bad drafts and then there's. There's the good trade scenarios in this podcast. And then other years there's there, you know, it's just ebbs and flows. You know what I mean? We're going to come back strong in 27. We're going to have more.

A (59:58)

Wow, we're just dumping on this now.

C (60:00)

Have some better.

D (60:02)

I'm just envisioning we're sitting in a room dj with like eight other guys and the personnel staff, and CJ Allen turns around like, I can fix Anthony Richardson. Yeah.

C (60:13)

You know what we would say? That guy's got a great sense of Humor. I love him. He's going to be the leader. Yeah.

D (60:17)

We would laugh. We would laugh him. And don't. Don't let the door hit you.

B (60:21)

Yeah.

A (60:21)

Oh, I got to throw all these scenarios at you. You know, it's not just about what number the pick is and plugging a name in. There's more work that goes into this. You guys understand that better than anybody.

C (60:34)

I feel like in years past, you've given us a very detailed, descriptive, off the field issue. And in these, I figured I'd stay

A (60:41)

away from that this year.

D (60:42)

Yeah. I'll actually say this, though, for you, Ryan. Like, there have been. There have been a few years where we've done it where, like, you had. I feel like you didn't prepare enough or you just weren't trusting our board. The scenarios of, like, you made us think today a little bit. So that's. It's progress.

A (60:59)

Okay. You know, like, it sounds like I'm getting a third round grade on today on my end, but it doesn't mean I can't still get paid, maybe make a Pro bowl one day. So thank you. You can hear more from Daniel Jeremiah on the NFL Network coverage of the draft in Pittsburgh and also Move the Sticks podcast, which I was listening to, as well as the McShay show all weekend long. And you go to ringer.com you can see an incredible structure of all sorts of draft content, the board and the McShay reports and all that kind of stuff on the sub stack as well. So thanks, guys. You know how I. I feel about the time that you give us. So look forward to you guys getting through this weekend and have fun.

B (61:40)

All right?

C (61:40)

Yeah.

D (61:41)

Appreciate it.

C (61:41)

Always the best man. Always the favorite thing. We do keep the tradition alive and

D (61:46)

you're right down the street. So let's get together this week. Would you? Enjoy Pittsburgh.

C (61:51)

Thanks.

D (61:51)

That's a fun scene.

C (61:53)

Yeah.

D (61:54)

Get out of that hostage room that

C (61:55)

I know the NFL Network, let me just tell you. Can I sum up the draft for

D (61:59)

you at draft week real quick?

A (62:04)

Oh, okay. Just get ahead of cough drops. An emergency, huh?

D (62:07)

Get ahead of it. That voice, man, it's. It's precious.

C (62:11)

That's funny, man. You guys are the best.

A (62:14)

Thanks, guys. This episode is brought to you by Raising Cane's. Raising Cane's has one love. Craveable chicken finger meals. It's all they serve, so they're focused on doing it right. They're served hot, fast, and fresh, with no heat lamps or holding cabinets. I'm a huge Cane's guy. The crispy chicken fingers, the crinkle cut fries, grilled Texas toast, and of course that cane sauce. I also go way back with Kane's founder, Todd Graves. We've hung out in Baton Rouge, gone to LSU games, and he called me his best friend. Whatever sport you're watching, make sure you're watching with a box combo from Raising Cane's. Raising Cane's chicken fingers. One love. I'm going to need some room here. I've got eight series, eight thoughts. We won't do this after every single night, but with all the game ones, I just. There's things jumping out to me, some more significant than others. There's certainly way more things you can talk about than all the things that I'm going to hit on. But I'm going to try to run through all eight series here and then we'll bring in Cerruti for Orlando's impressive win. Game one at Detroit. So let's start. New York Knicks beat Atlanta. And this is a starters versus bench observation that I saw in the regular season and I think really played out in a gross way for Atlanta in game one two weeks ago. They played April 6th. Knicks win that one. 108, 105 for Atlanta. You had 47 minutes of bench from Kaminga Mogay, Risa Shea, Gabe Vincent and Tony Bradley actually played four minutes in that one. So yes, plus minus, especially the box score stuff for one game can be a little misleading. That group was a minus 21, right? And in the second quarter of game one, I'm looking at it going, this is bad. Like this is such a significant drop off because in game one, that same group of guys essentially, I don't think Bradley played. But you've got a minus 19 from your bench group for the Atlanta hawks in game one versus New York's bench. That was a collective plus 30. All right, now, New York starters actually had a negative net rating in this thing. New York starters, which we understand, right? Cat, OG Hart, Bridges, Brunson, that five man lineup is the second most used five man lineup throughout the entire NBA behind only Minnesota. So that group has played 541 regular season minutes together and they were only a plus 2.3 on the season. Which was part of like the Knicks conversation. You go, hey, I really like their starting five. Like what a really good starting five. How come it's not better? How is that number not better? Because there's some teams, there's five man lineups that they bank on this stuff. Remember the Trailblazers back in the day used to Just be like, hey, when we have our five guys together, like it's, it's really impressive. And then it. I don't even know if it was the Western Conference finals year. I think it was even after that. All right, so the knicks are a plus 2.3. Their starting five was a net negative in what happened in the box score at least. All right. Atlanta's five man lineup, their most used one, which is the fifth most used lineup minutes wise in the NBA. 390 minutes of their guys is a plus 20.3. So that's a massive advantage for Atlanta. The problem is, is you got the first half. Kaminga comes in and by the way, can you guys stop blaming Steve Kerr? That like Jonathan Kaminga, he comes in and I know exactly what he's doing. He gets Brunson in a switch and in his head he's going well, I'm definitely shooting shortly. I'm just not sure how I'm going to go about doing it, but it's happening. I'm just, I've got the ball, there's Brunson, there's the hoop. I want to do something, I'm just not sure what it is. And it was awful. And then Reese Sachet comes in and he looks scared to death. He missed a bunch of shots. Like his confidence looks like it's shot. Mo Gay comes in, which is a ton of ass. A ton to ask of this guy physically to hold up against Mitchell Robinson and Cat. That's why he had five fouls in 11 minutes. And even Brunson, who was red hot to start, it wasn't like, you know, his final line isn't all that impressive from a shooting standpoint. He started 6 of 6 and then went 3 of 16. But Cat was so good in the fourth quarter offensively they were able to kind of seal this game. There's also some stuff with Dyson Daniels where it's really great that you have the size between Dyson. Granted CJ is going to get attacked, but you've got Alexander Walker out there. Jalen Johnson's a pretty versatile player. Right. So you have things defensively here. A Congo's three point shooting was terrific, which I think the Knicks are going to be like, go ahead, dude. If you make three or four, like will live with it. Because Cat is going to freelance off of Dyson Daniels. And this is becoming a league where it's very hard, I think, to survive in the playoffs when you have one player offensively that the other team does not care about. And some of the Defensive assignment stuff changed here a little bit. So I'm not saying like it was always the same thing, which is actually pretty standard for a game. But if you were looking at the start for game two, you know, you'll look to see if there's any counter for Cat being allowed to kind of do whatever he wants. They didn't even get, look, Atlanta didn't win the fast break thing, which you'd expect them to win. They didn't win it in the last regular season game. Mitchell Robinson didn't really even do anything. And like I said, after Brunson's incredible first quarter, he wasn't even that good. And the Knicks still won this game. But there was really alarming watching in the second quarter. This bench unit come in for Atlanta and the shot selection and the lack of production and that might be a haunting problem for what is, at least on paper has been a really, really productive starting five for the Hawks. And they gave Vincent minutes. I don't, I don't know what to do about those either. Hawks fans. Denver, Minnesota, this is a bad sign for the Timberwolves. They had a line where Gobert goes off offensively. Denver's four starters, other than Christian Brown who went two or three from three were a combined five of 27 from three. So that's Jokic, Murray, Cam Johnson and Aaron Gordon. So they don't shoot it all that well. I thought Rudy and give him a ton of credit. I thought his defense in a matchup that does not really favor him. Look who does it favor against? Who does you go, hey, I like this guy on Jokic. I thought Rudy was incredible, being aggressive, disrupting, reaching in, knocking the ball away, never really making it easy, just trying to stay in the battle all night. And then on top of that he's got 17 points for you. And then in the fourth quarter, unfortunately, Rudy a huge drop ball at one point, then he tried to throw it around the back like dribble handoff pass. There was a disaster. And then I think Jokic eventually again he's going to kind of assess what he needs to do throughout the game. Rudy's massive overplay on the two man game. Jokic is realizing like if I get this catch, I already have him sealed behind me. Jokic is able to finish where it was kind of that ball over the front of the rim. Not necessarily a dunk, but that, that was a huge spot because Minnesota had cut it to five points. It was 195. That makes it a seven point game. Denver was plus seven in the first to second quarter non Jokic minutes. So that's the start of the second quarter, so that's huge. And then in the start of the third quarter they were a minus five. So it's basically a plus two in the non Jokic minutes where once Valent Shunas is in the game, it's just going to be hunting Valentunas. But the good thing now for Denver, as you're playing Jokic 40 minutes, you got the time off so there'll be less Valent Eunice Ant doesn't look right now. That solves one of Denver's biggest problems is that when you map out their path through the west and having to deal with Ant, it's like up to Christian Brown with Watson being out still, which again, I guess is kind of day to day. So hopefully they get him back. But there's just so many times without any other option for Denver to just have to be like, hey, Brown, you're going to have to guard sga, you're going to have to guard Luca, you're going to have to guard Ant. So that's something that Minnesota should be favored. But everybody's. There's just going to be a crowd around Ant the entire time because this is where Randall needs to step up. I have no idea what he was doing at the end of the game. He was just like mad fouling towards a stretch. And then you have Jaden McDaniel who got off to like a nice start with his aggressiveness, but he absolutely disappears. And when it's not going right for him, he becomes completely checked out as well. There was a play where Aaron Gordon gets a cleanup dunk and Jaden just wants nothing to do with it. And it reminded me when we had Mitchell Schwartz on talking about running backs like in pass protection or offensive lineman in general. Like, hey, if you're an offensive lineman and now the pockets collapse but the quarterback still has the ball and you're kind of like all the assignments are blown out of the water and you're just trying to figure out what to do. I thought what Mitchell said is an unbelievable quote. We should all use this every day. And it was find work, meaning find somebody to hit. Find something to do. Okay, go find some work. If it's chaos back there, find work. Jayden McDaniels does not subscribe to the fine work theory is once it's like, oh, all right, I don't know what's going on. Well, I guess I'll just stand here. I thought the push on Jokic was A flop by Jokic and was embellished a little bit. And I actually, my favorite Jaden McDaniels moment for the entire game was him looking at Denver's players being like, are you kidding me? But that was it. So look, those guys are going to have to step up. We already know the deal, Divincenzo threes and all that stuff. But they got a really good honestly by Rudy Gobert standards, a fantastic Rudy game offensively. But in that third quarter they went over four minutes without a point. It was a 68, 68 game. And then during this stretch it was 85 70. They still again got it close there as well. But there was a McDaniels, there was a bunch of McDaniels plays during this 172 run where I'm like, you know, I just don't know that you can trust this guy every single night. Phoenix OKC Dylan Brooks staredown. I kind of respect it. You kind of need it. What's the point of lacing him up and running out of the court if you don't think you have a chance to win? Little tougher to back up the stare down with a 3:18 start shooting. This is going to be impossible for Phoenix. We already know that. So you didn't need me to say it. But if you think about the defensive assignments, you're like, all right, well if Goodwin's playing and then he leaves the game, he's on sga. And then you're like, okay, do we keep it light for Brooks? Well, we can't do that because he's going to get a foul trouble. Like, do you start with him not on sga so it doesn't get a couple early fouls. Maybe that was part of it. Obviously Goodwin being out, they're already missing Grayson Allen. Mark Williams isn't playing, which leads to probably too many Iguidaro minutes. Malawatch came in and Malawatch apparently can't catch the ball right now. So like they're scrambling and so Goodwin's out and now all of a sudden you've got like Jalen Green on Jalen Williams, which like OKC was like, this is going to happen too. I mean, they called this game information gathering before the game even started and they went up 39 points. So I think they got some good info here. But the point that I'm talking about here with the defensive assignments is it was already bad when they had everybody and now they don't. And I appreciate Iguataro's effort and the tips and the rebounds and all that Kind of stuff. But, you know, back to kind of like the Dyson Daniels point and different things that you'll see throughout the playoffs. If there's someone out there that the other team just doesn't care about, then every time Booker's coming off of everything, there's just going to be two guys with him. If you're setting a screen with your center, even though there was one play where they set a screen,

D (74:21)

this might

A (74:21)

have been Brooks, but they set a screen now it was Booker. They set a screen to get Dort off of Booker and he switches into chat like, awesome. This is fun. I know people can bitch about the free throws in this one. This was not a free throw game. I know SGA had 17 free throw attempts. There was a few plays that I sure I didn't love, but okc was only plus 5 in free throw attempts on the game. In a game, again, they went up 39 points. The perimeter shooting here, outside of Booker, just brutal. Green 6, 16. I think if you go green, you go Brooks, Oso, Goodwin. Technically, if you go those four starters around Booker, they were 13 of 45. And something else I'll continue to monitor. When Dylan Brooks face washed Chet Holmgren and did it on purpose, he gets called for the flagrant. Chet's shooting the free throws. And book. Excuse me. Brooks squeaks his sneakers on purpose during the free throw 10. Because he did it in the first one. And I was like, yeah, that's a little weird. And then he started wiping off his sneakers, trying to make it sound like he was just trying to get himself situated. And then as the second free throw went up again, he started squeaking his sneakers again to try to distract Chet from behind. Didn't work. Didn't work. So Phoenix has their work cut out for him. Boston wins against Philadelphia 33:18 in the first quarter, this thing was over. They went up 35. Philadelphia was 33 and 13% from the floor at the half. Maxi finished 8 of 20. I'm surprised it was actually that good for a final line. And this is not a criticism at all because it was a lot of hero ball ball from Maxi because it was really their only option. So I don't blame him for taking really difficult shots. It's just, you know, you run the first play for Paul George. You've got the broadcast talking about how the coaching staff was saying, we really need Paul George to be engaged. Hey, no shit. You know, that's what's frustrating about Paul George is that I think since he's come back, he's looked pretty good. I think he's looked really good physically. There's always these reminders about his skill level and his passing and getting out of transition. Although he had one play where he threw it to Bona and you're like, why are you throwing it to yourself center at half court and then getting on his case for turning the ball over because you thought he was going to pass it to somebody else. Your center's running full speed and you're expecting him to like, catch and then dribble a couple times and make another transition pass, which is just a stupid play there. But you could tell like, oh, they're running the first play for Paul George to just try to get him activated because it's actually something they have to manage when it's like, man, at this stage of your career and bead's out and it's a young team and Maxi, who's obviously a stud, but like, like, you shouldn't need things to like, you should show up knowing what is going to be asked of you eventually. He was, he was okay. They were late. I think, to get Vijay Edgecombe involved here. I think there's the only thing that I'd be thinking about here. I mean, look, there's plenty of things you'd be thinking about if you're running the Sixers. But for Maxi on that high screen at the top, the Celtics decided we're just going to drop. We're not even going to send up Keda. We're definitely not sending up Vuch. Just if you're, if your guy, if they're center, whoever it is, if it's Bona or if it's Drummond, and then they went small with Barlow later, I think too, if they run up to set some sort of screen with Maxi, just don't even bother. Don't even bother because again, if you're one of those bigs, if Max is turning the corner, he's going to beat you anyway. So at least this way you're keeping it in front of you. I thought Maxi was kind of late to see that. And it was the first thing they did in the first. Excuse me, first play, the second half is they ran this action and clearly they had talked about it at halftime because then Maxi's coming off the screen and then he hit a mid range pull up. He had a floater a little bit later. I mean, he's going to have to score 70 points off of these for them to be in this game. But it was, it was pretty clear that Boston just like we don't even want to get our big guy caught up in all that traffic because Maxi's so fast. There's no point that you're even going to recover anyway. And then we're in rotation and maybe he's kicking out of somebody else for threes. Another little thing here. When Philly did go small, they did with Barlow. Kate was killing him on the rolls. And look, other than the three point shooting, I thought it was just an awesome Tatum, hey, this guy's underrated kind of game. Just him dictating everything. And it's unbelievable what this guy looks like since he's been back. All right, announcement before Lakers win against the Rockets. Durant is going to miss this one. So now a series where everybody was probably picking Houston, where I imagine more than half the people picking Houston probably didn't like Houston in any first round matchup. I was one of them. But then once you have the Lakers missing Luca and Reeves, it changes things here a little bit. And then you have LeBron's first quarter and he was just magnificent. Eight assists in the first quarter. Most assists in a quarter, I think, of any playoff quarter of his entire career. But even though LA felt dominant in that first quarter, they were only up 33:29 after the first 12 minutes. Then Houston's offense took over. Not really 20% from the floor in the second quarter, 28% from the floor in the third quarter. It did get better from a shooting and scoring standpoint in the fourth, but I thought two plays stood out that just speak to who Houston is on offense and who they've been for a while, even when Durant was around. Because when Durant has the ball, this is the thing I'm going to be looking for is what kind of lineups does IME run around him because Shingoon is ignored if he's spaced. And Amen should be and will continue to be ignored his entire career. And it's going to put a massive lower ceiling on who Amen Thompson is going to be in this league if he can't figure out anything from the perimeter, because he can't. So on these two plays early in the fourth quarter, they get Reed Shepard against eight, and in a switch, Amend is in the right corner. And this is if you're watching on your TV with the Rockets going left to right on your. On the. On the court, right. So Reed gets past eight and he breaks the paint. Three defenders for the Lakers are swallowing up Reed. Vanderbilt is assigned to Amend Thompson in that right corner. He doesn't Even care. He is inside of the restricted area. Inside the restricted area on this Reed shepherd drive when there's already a help defender there anyway. He didn't even need to do it, but he did it because he's like, I don't care. As Shepard starts the pass, Vando's back is to everybody, is to a man, and Vando's up at the rim. Ayton's trying to get back to the play. There's a third player and all this stuff. So a man has a completely wide open three in that right corner. He misses so badly, it hits Rui in like, the shoulder and head. So a couple plays later, they've subbed out Amend. They put a Kogi in that right corner spot. They're going to run the same thing. I think the screen started a little different, the start of it, but it was now a Kogi is replacing Amend in this corner because that's bad. We can't have that. Can't have that lack of spacing. Reed breaks the paint again. Ayton held up a little bit better on this one, so he wasn't totally beat. And yet all the help is still coming into the paint. And a Kogi, which is a mistake, crashes from the right corner because he kind of looks at it going. Look at all this space. Like, if Reed can just kind of adjust. But Reed is sitting here trying to deal with three defenders while he's in the air. And these are where these great Luca passes come from, because one Luca is that special. But also Luca knows, hey, you're supposed to always be there. Like, some of these passes that we see in the league are terrific, but they're also because the player with the ball knows the guys are glued to those spots. And a Kogi rushes in and the ball goes a couple rows into the stance, like that was. I'm watching that. And like, yeah, that's kind of who they are right now. I mean, they're even like that sometimes when Durant's out there. So I don't know what's going to happen here with the Rant coming back and what he's going to look like. But, you know, this. This series is completely tbd, but there's a lot of spacing with that schedule. When you start thinking about LeBron and what he's being asked to do here, he's not going to bring the ball up. He shouldn't be bringing the ball up, which is smart. It's not like Reddick couldn't figure that one out. It's smart. It's Canard who had a terrific game. A bit of a Canard theory out there where it's like, can you imagine what Luke Canard would be like on a team that absolutely stunk and desperately needed him to take every shot? Gotta be getting like 28 a game. And then you've got dominating who can't pronounce Colossus, apparently with a 19 and 11. Cleveland, Toronto. Not the most exciting thing on the menu, but that's all right. It was 6154 at the half. Some early observations for this one is you're going to be able to push back on this because of what the box score says, but the RJ Barrett Shed guard combo with quickly out is not so dynamic that you're thinking what are the weaknesses for Cleveland that we can attack? Well, we should be able to attack their defense at the guard position like if we get hardened out in space. And Mitchell, despite the wingspan and athleticism and being kind of stout, you know, no, he's not necessarily ever known for his defense. So is there something there that we can attack? And I just don't think Shed or RJ are necessarily dynamic enough, even though they did combine for 41 points in this game. I don't really care because the way that I'm watching it is there's just not anything that's stressing Cleveland with all this stuff. I was also looking at Brandon Ingram, who closing in a tough playoff spot I'm probably not going to trust a lot if there's a physical presence with him. In the first five minutes of the game, it looked like Dean Wade was going to be taking him out and Wade is that good defensively. When Tyson comes in and he was just fouling everybody, Ingram is going to attack more. But credit to Ingram, don't focus on only the 9 of shot attempts because again, when you get to the free throw line 10 times like he did, then it's going to look like you weren't shooting as much as. So it was slow for Ingram to get it going, but he was more aggressive and unfortunately for him, he's probably going to end up having to take some shots that he's not nearly as comfortable with because they're desperately going to need it. I love Scotty Barnes, right there's when he's going at it with Mobley and then he's switched on to Harden and it's his actual assignment. Just speaks to him being arguably the most versatile defensive player in the entire league. I also think, oddly enough, like he looks bigger than Mobley like, maybe Mobley's going to inch on him, but obviously body type, there's a different level of thickness to Scotty Barnes. So when you see that and you're like, God damn, is this guy huge? But I don't know what to expect from him offensively. He's not really wired as the kind of guy, and I shouldn't say wiring, but he's just not a kind of guy that you're going to go. He's going to get 27 to 32 every single night and be able to carry us throughout some of these tougher stretches. And then you also have the front line part of this where there's always going to be an Allen Mobley, the way they stagger it going up against the Pearl and cmb and look, he was seven, eight from the floor. But no one's going to guard him. He's another guy. Toronto, it's like, hey, I'm just kind of open all the time. Maybe Cleveland will pay a little bit more attention to him because he was so good from the floor, but there's probably not enough. I don't want to overreact to this too much here, but Cleveland's depth, probably, you know, they're just going to have more lineups out there that feel more sustainable than what Toronto is going to have. We ended it last night with San Antonio's impressive night against the Portland Trailblazers. Wembanyama A cool 35, only five boards, only one assist. You had to watch this game to appreciate the peak moments from him, especially late when he got pissed off and decided he was going to start taking out on some guys. And that's the kind of stuff that I love. And granted, the last one kind of led to a turnover. You could say he was a little out of control, but there was an edge to women, Yama, that you just don't get to see play out like that, where he's like, not only am I mad, but like, the ball's mine right now. Lights it up from three. You could see in the beginning of the game whether it's clinging or whether it's Rob Williams. Portland's going to want those guys shooting threes. And I don't think San Antonio is ever going to care. Like, it's a great thing from Thiago Splitter to just go, is there any way we can trick Wembanyama into coming away from the hoop and thinking he has to respect Clingan or Rob Williams from three? Chances are that's not going to develop over the course of this first round, but it appears to be something that Portland wants to do. Portland took the third most threes of any team in the league. The problem is of all the top 10 three point attempt teams, they had the lowest make percentage at 34%. And that was the case again last night. The other problem for Portland, as much as I like Scoot and he had some really nice minutes there in the third quarter, Scoot at this stage, if he's your second leading scorer, then there's probably a bit of a problem. I have no idea what Jeremy Grant's doing other than maybe watching Kaminga videos and being inspired by them. And as we know with San Antonio, they have all of these guys that can take turns just destroying you with the ball in their hands. And then Denny Abdia, who put up big numbers and led the NBA with 19 drives per game during the regular season. You can see without any kind of spacing to pull Wemby away. And look, I think Wemby was even playing a little bit further outside than I would have expected against the fives. And Portland would like to go small too, but that's not going to work in this series. There's just, look, there's just a bunch of things here. Even though Portland kind of kept fighting back, there's. There's a feeling I had after the game. I was like, man, you know, Portland kind of hung in there a little bit more. I think that's a positive for San Antonio. So instead of winning by 30 when at one point it looked like that's where this thing was headed, they got tested and had to keep responding and they responded every single time. So it was good that there were more competitive moments in this game than maybe you felt like it was going to close at all. Right? Best for last. We were hard on the Orlando Magic, but we were hard on the Orlando Magic because we care about the Orlando Magic because we think the Orlando Magic are good and we can't figure it out. They lose to the Sixers in the first play in and you're like, what is going on? And then one of the things I'll always talk about every regular season is when you have these perhaps max effort, fully healthy four month stretches from a new team like Charlotte is like, is there a bit of a warning label on that kind of team that tells you, hey, they've already been at their ceiling this entire time. Orlando's defense absolutely swallows them up. They get Detroit in the first round. I texted somebody, I go, I'm looking to see what the over under is on this first round. Is there any way Orlando gets two games in this series and we get to six or even seven? It was even money on DraftKings to go over five and a half under. I was like, man, I think it was minus 110. So I was like, that's clear that Vegas would be smart enough to figure this stuff out. That you're not ever smarter than those guys. And Saruti, the floor is yours. I have one specific thought that I'll close with, but I've already been talking for a while, so the floor is yours.

B (89:27)

Yeah, I mean, you hit it. You hit the nail on the head at the start. The reason that we are so critical and we're, you know, borderline angry on Wednesday, Thursday's pod is because this is what the team is capable of doing. Like, this is what the team should look like.

A (89:42)

Preach.

B (89:43)

You know, I'm watching the game. I mean, what a. Obviously the Hornets game, you know, the Hornets, obviously the lights looked a little too bright. And yeah, maybe the Magic heard the criticism. Maybe we deserve some credit. You know, who knows? Maybe we lit a fire under some people. Who knows?

A (89:55)

But, like, can't rule it out.

B (89:57)

You can't. I mean, legitimately, you can't. Because that, that. That team that played against the Maine Celtics and then the Sixers, which I said, no disrespect, that team is bad. It's a bad Sixers team and they look bad. That. That Magic team that played those two teams and then that played the Hornets and then last night that played the Pistons, That's. They're playing different sports. They're not the same team. So if you want to sit here and be like, oh, they just need to get healthy, they just. That is to some degree true. But the effort shown in those two games versus what we saw for. And again, do I claim to watch. This is why we get so mad. Do I claim to watch 82 games? No, but it was I north of 50 probably this year. The point is, you spend this entire season watching this team and you know what they're capable of. And to see how the season seemed to be going at the end with those two games. That's why you get mad. And I don't know if they heard the noise or, you know, because they didn't just magically get healthy. Sure, they are getting healthier and the starting lineup is playing better. But Paula was better. Suggs was a maniac. Even though sometimes it could be good maniac.

A (90:59)

It was like there was two sugs

B (91:00)

for a little while, Wendell Carter Jr. Outplaying Jalen Durden. Duran didn't have that on my bingo card. This is what the team should look like. So for people to be like, oh, you're an idiot. You gave up too quickly. Yeah. Should I have said, like, hey, I want the season to be over? I wanted the season to be over for the team that I saw for almost 82 games. I don't want the season to be over. The team I saw against the Hornets and certainly a team I saw last night against the Pistons, I got more.

C (91:25)

I don't want.

A (91:26)

I don't want. Fantastic.

B (91:28)

Unreal.

A (91:30)

You know, when he is, there's a line between him waiting too long to go as he's trying to dissect everything. But once he becomes unstoppable and it's two to Paulo, those are the passes. The lob to Wendell is ridiculous. He had a baseline cut from Anthony Black where he was like, on the baseline posting, but he knew what was going on. The defenders didn't know what was going on. And that's why we like Paolo. I thought Franz stunk for like, three quarters because I'm like, can this guy not drive the ball anymore? Like, that was always the thing with Franz that made him so special, is even with his shot being messed up now for a couple years. And maybe it was just better when he felt like more of a threat from the outside, or at least a passable threat from the outside. But it was like he could always, with his size and his handle and his athleticism, he could always find a way to get to the rim. And then he has that incredible, like, reminder stretch in the fourth quarter. Like, oh, yeah, this is why we were always so excited about this guy. And Cade, who is still, with all this praise, so clearly the best player on the floor. It's fucking stupid how good he is. And, you know, however we do our top 10 stuff, like, with him always being kind of, you know, you got a couple of votes for 8, maybe there was one for 7, but most of the votes were 10. I think I ended up having him. I don't know if I had him nine or ten. Like, going into next year, you're just going to go, hey, we got to keep moving this guy up. But the problem is they were down like eight late. There is. You're going, where is the offense other than Cade? Okay, Because Dern is still a reliant offensive player on other people. Duncan Robinson is probably better than people realize him, like, being creative off these curls and kind of faking you out, getting the ball down. His off ball cutting is terrific. Harris is a, is a 0 or 20 proposition on any given night. But when they were down there late, Bickerstaff decided to go with the Cade. But then Stu. So Stu's in there in this really important stretch. He's got Herder in there and he's got Dennis Jenkins in there. So he kind of told us like, yeah, I know, like my normal five, this one seed, this starting five group has some limitations offensively. So if I need to try to catch up to Orlando here, I'm actually going to take out three of the starters and put in three in the backups. And that didn't work. And then he brought the regular guys back and you could say, oh, he wanted to try to close like strong energy wise. For the last couple of minutes I thought that was him being like, I need to maybe hope that something happens here a little bit more offensively. And the other problem that Troy has in the series is that they can always bank on their defense. But when Orlando's playing defense like they did against Charlotte in Detroit in game one, it's like, yeah, we can actually play that kind of level of defense with you guys too. So I don't know what this first game means here other than if Mosley wins the first round. Get ready to speak Mo's buddy. All next season, which Magic fans be like, wait, is that what's going to happen here? You know, let's not get too carried away. But I think the general point, the reason we've talked about this team too much on this podcast is because that's what they're 1 through 5, their 1 through 7 is supposed to look like. That's why we liked him so much.

B (94:43)

I'll back that up. The Pistons won 60 games and were the number one seed in the east this year. Great. Cade's awesome. I wouldn't argue with you. He's the best player. I think he's the best player in the series. No disrespect to Paolo. The Magic have four of the top six players in the series.

D (94:57)

Whoa.

A (94:59)

They just, let's exercise. Let's game it out.

B (95:02)

If they're playing up to their the way that we think they should be playing, I mean, it's, it's. I mean, Jalen Duran was horrific, but I'm still putting him in there, obviously. So it's him and Cade. Who on the Pistons are you taking over? Franz, Paulo, Suggs and Bane.

A (95:19)

Let's just do it right now. So Cade's the first. Who's number two? We're back. We're back on the Palo train.

B (95:28)

Just throw Apollo. I mean, I'm not going to. There's no order for me. It's just if we're. If we're. If it's the four point. If we're talking six players in the series, Top six players. The Magic have four of them.

A (95:39)

So who would be the third best player on the Magic?

B (95:44)

It's probably. I mean, Bain was. Bane was their best player this year. So Bain is number one.

A (95:52)

I think Bane, even as good as Paola was in game one, Bane has been the better player right through the year. So Suggs is the third best player. I. I don't know that we can round up this hard on Franz because he looked. I still don't even know that he looked. I think.

B (96:08)

I don't think he's healthy. Yeah.

A (96:10)

So who's the third best player in Detroit?

B (96:16)

It's a lot of. It's certainly not Tobias Harris. I mean, it's probably. It's probably a Sar.

A (96:22)

Is that who they want to bench when they're behind?

B (96:25)

Dude, they have an Asar problem too. Yeah, because they are. The way that they're playing it, they're let. They're letting Franz guard Cade and Kate. Listen, Kate got a million points, but they're just. They're just letting Suggs because they've got Suggs on them, but they don't. They don't really care at all. So Suggs just helps off on anyone he wants to. And that's why Suggs can be an animal the entire series, because they don't have to really guard a Sar. So if you want to say Asar is their third best player, that's a huge problem for Detroit.

A (96:50)

Shout out to Ron Holland, by the way, who Anthony Black Got his hands up around his head. He did make contact. Ron Holland completely flopped and then was mad that it wasn't reviewed for a hostile act. I wish they had reviewed it. And then somebody grabs the mic and be like, after further review, this is bullshit. Holland flop. I mean, I don't know that I've ever seen somebody argue. He wants his flop to be reviewed for a hostile act. Even though there was contact around the head and face area. Neck, maybe. Head and neck.

B (97:19)

Right.

A (97:20)

Didn't love that.

B (97:20)

But, you know, I don't know.

A (97:21)

I just thought it was funny.

B (97:22)

Both sides. Can we. I mean, am I wrong, though? I mean, I don't. I don't think I'm wrong here. And that's a testament to the Pistons, by the way. The Piston like the Cade and the, the fact that they did this is incredible. But they. There's a. If the match.

A (97:37)

Are we overreacting?

B (97:38)

Yes, we probably are. I mean the Pistons are nine and a half point favorites in game two.

A (97:43)

I can't believe that number. That's, that's, that's more than I thought it would be. Who's winning the series?

B (97:49)

I think it's, you know, DraftKings I think has it at. I think the Pistons are now like minus 160 or minus 170. It's way closer than it was obviously beforehand. I mean there were people, I mean, Chris Mannix, I think said this or he always tweeted it. He was like, I, you know, this could be prison at the moment. Or I think this is going to be a series.

A (98:05)

I think it's going to be a series. I do.

B (98:07)

And it sucks for the Pistons. You play this entire season and. But this is the thing with the magic too. Just to get back to them is like, okay, cool. So like, did they just. People like, oh, did they just sandbag the season because they wanted to play Detroit? Well, they were one game away from missing the playoffs. Like one bad.

A (98:22)

Seems to be an odd strategy.

B (98:23)

Yeah, right, right. And it's like, oh, well, they only had a couple of bad games. You guys are over. No, no, no. They had a huge sample size of bad games of not caring of maybe not liking the coach of. Obviously there were injuries in there too. Like, I'm not just going to pretend that it was all just mental stuff or not caring. But, but the team, the effort that the team played with these two games versus most of the season is just not the same. So I, I don't know how to explain it other than like, it's really. I, I don't mind losing, dude. I. Losing is fine. I watched this team lose since 2011. But, but we care and we, and we criticize because we know what this team is capable of and they're capable of being a problem in the East.

A (99:02)

Yeah, I don't know that you would have gone like, hey, let's, let's dial it up. Game two of the play in and then we're. We get exactly what we want. Well, that's what's alarming though.

B (99:12)

After the embarrassment. After the embarrassment against the Maine Celtics, they kind of laid an egg against Philly.

A (99:19)

Yeah, they weren't. That's two games there where you're like, how do you lose with what's on the Line to Boston with that group. And then how do you lose this Philly team? Even though I think there's certain nights where Maxi and BJ can get it going, where I don't think they're as bad necessarily as you think they are. But. But I can, I can do without the Magic fan accounts coming after us being like, oh, what do you have to say now? Like we have like. You mean us saying the same shit collectively for six months. So.

B (99:48)

Right.

A (99:48)

We went pretty long there. I'm not going to do that every single. Well, maybe I will do it next Monday, but I'm not sure I'm not going to do it after every single. Because I. Look, if you had sex this weekend with 25 hours of basketball from Friday night into Saturday and a Sunday, like, I don't know how you did it. I don't know how you're an NBA fan if you had any time because like, like, I mean, I'd say I, I obviously didn't hook up. Well, I did hook up this weekend with hoops.

B (100:09)

Whoa, nice. You're in a long term relationship with basketball.

A (100:12)

Yeah.

B (100:14)

Well, I mean you could probably.

A (100:15)

We're done.

B (100:15)

Like we're done. No, real quick.

A (100:17)

That was it. That was the line to end on.

B (100:19)

You could, you could sneak a quickie in like one of these blowouts. Like, okay, see?

A (100:22)

Oh, like, come on, come on, guy here.

B (100:25)

Yeah, you can. You don't gotta be locked in for 48 minutes if some of these games aren't gonna.

A (100:30)

So, you know, I don't know. You going to notice the Atlanta bench problems if you're cuddling? I don't think so.

B (100:37)

I was locked into that one.

A (100:41)

The alliance marches on. We've got Saruti McCall before we get into life advice. And so the play from DraftKings. DraftKings has the latest odds for you right now. And we're going with a game tomorrow by the time this comes out. So. So that was the plan, correct.

B (100:58)

Tuesday game.

A (100:58)

Yep, Tuesday game. All right, so we're going, we're thinking

B (101:01)

about going Rockets, Lakers. But the Durant stuff is not really available. So it's kind of screwing up. It up.

A (101:06)

So kind of like the canard. 15 or more points in that one because that one's even right now. Little teaser for you dominating. Could he do it again? Don't know. All right, so we've got Sixers at Celtics here. Minus 13 and a half totals 216 and a half. What do you got, Kyle?

E (101:30)

I'll just say my bad about last week. Sorry about that magic bet there. I don't think I was the only one who fucked it up but no,

B (101:36)

we were over three last week so. Okay, it's not. It was. It was all good. But yeah that when you know I was. When you see a number like that you had Bane basically to make two or threes and it was minus you know, 170 something when you. I was like when you see a line like that you're like that's like too good to be true. That that's like.

E (101:53)

It just feels like a trap to solving gambling.

B (101:55)

Yeah, I know I didn't necessarily.

A (101:56)

80% of the money was on Charlotte which we talked about at that time. You're like of course. Because what Orlando looked like in the

B (102:03)

Philadelphia game and I backed con and maybe, you know, maybe just ran out of gas at the end so.

E (102:08)

All right, new week playoffs I will take Jaylen Brown over four and a half assists seems doable.

B (102:15)

Okay. I am going to take Jason tatum double double minus 133 so that's likely rebounds and points but you never know. Get lucky with assist too. Although maybe probably would screw us up with the Jalen Brown thing but he's been a rebounding machine so I. Tatum double double.

A (102:30)

Dude, it's Kevin Willis right now with all the other stuff. I debated going under on Paul George but I imagine like game two maybe. Phillies obviously is in major trouble here, but let's go. Let's go over 19 for playoff P. Maybe they run the first 10 plays for him to make sure he stays engaged the entire game.

B (102:55)

Good. Well, I guess it's the plus 490 so good pay. Let's do it.

A (103:00)

There you go. Check out the latest odds sportsbookgraftkings.com you want details?

B (103:05)

Fine.

A (103:06)

I drive a Ferrari 355 Cabriolet. What's up?

C (103:11)

I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork.

D (103:14)

I have every toy you can possibly

C (103:15)

imagine and best of all kids, I am liquid.

A (103:20)

So now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. Life Advice lifeadvicermail.com Get your emails in a couple quick feedback ones here and follow up. So the one night stand with the hat thief we have perhaps closure still six one might have gained a pound or two since my last email. Very funny. Update. She actually mailed me back all three hats.

E (103:49)

Whoa.

A (103:51)

Guys would never do that. She even mailed me back the hoodie she took in a separate package. I never even mentioned the hoodie to you guys. Like Ryan said, that's beyond Normal didn't bother me. Just thought stealing three hats was crazy. I don't know. Did a hoodie end three hats? Like she opened up a vintage clothing store.

E (104:09)

Round two.

B (104:10)

J.

D (104:11)

Crew.

A (104:11)

She's now asking me to Venmo her to cover the shipping cost. $35. She sent me the receipt and everything. I thought about just doing it. She didn't have to send him back, but felt like I should consult the boys first. I obviously don't want to out of principle. Maybe it's a better omen to just suck it up, pay her, and be the better person here. You know what's a better omen? Stop stealing people's shit. If it means anything. I originally told her I would cover shipping, but that was really just a ploy to get back.

E (104:39)

Yeah.

A (104:39)

I never thought this day would actually come. Go Celtics.

E (104:45)

If you're not going to drunk dialer and do this again, then I wouldn't now she charged it to the game. I like it. But if you know yourself, I don't care.

A (104:55)

Kidding me.

E (104:56)

Yeah, but if you know yourself and you're going to be rolling through the phone log and she's going to be

A (105:00)

somebody that you call, maybe that's the conversation starter. Okay. I've got that 35 bucks for you.

E (105:07)

Yeah. No, I think you. This worked out super well. I would just. I wouldn't do anything else.

B (105:12)

Don't tempt fate.

E (105:13)

Yeah.

B (105:14)

If you like the hats, you got them back. Be happy. I would just split it. Maybe tell her that you're going to do.

A (105:18)

That's true. Yeah. She stole his stuff, then lied. You guys are sitting here being like.

E (105:27)

I'm not sitting here being like that. I'm not. I wouldn't.

B (105:33)

I don't like that. They were separate packages, too. Like, can you not just send everything back in one package?

E (105:37)

Yeah, that's irresponsible shipping.

B (105:39)

Yeah.

E (105:39)

Your carbon footprint just went through the roof for no reason there.

A (105:44)

She should have to mess with him back. Like, it has to be signed for. He's not around. He gets like, the third notice package is going to be returned. He's driving halfway across town. Here's another feedback. Including the hat stuff. No gym stats. Right to the chase. Is a born and bred Oaklander and former total die hard. Go for the ace hat roots. In fact, maybe getting an Oakland roots hat while you're at it.

B (106:11)

Is that a custom situation?

A (106:13)

We looked that up. In my experience with wearing A's gear, most topics of conversation lead with sucks, they're leaving, and a good old fuck John Fisher. Replied with a nod instead of, wow, you're still riding with them. Having my East Bay fandom reduced to Cal shout out JKS and Mark Madsen has been a nightmare. And remembering the good old days is always appreciated. I think it's safe with the ASAP soccer team.

B (106:36)

Yeah, yeah. Oakland roots. The US usl. Okay, man, that's my bad.

E (106:40)

I thought that was maybe, like, a movement there, but now it's cool. Cool logo.

B (106:45)

Yeah, it does, actually. I kind of want that.

A (106:48)

They just. They made hats.

B (106:51)

Words getting out.

A (106:53)

Yeah.

E (106:54)

Bumper sticker thing.

A (106:55)

But.

B (106:59)

No, I've. I actually. So I had some people hit me

A (107:01)

up, talk if you hate billionaires.

B (107:04)

No, man.

A (107:05)

It's like, what?

E (107:10)

What do you got, Steve?

A (107:11)

What were you saying? Yeah, I don't know.

B (107:13)

No, I had. I did dip my toe into the reaction of this, and people were just like, oh, you're such a loser. Like, what's anybody gonna say to you? It's not about, like, what people are gonna say to me. It's just like, I know that, like, this franchise is a joke and they screwed their fan base over. It's like I'm some guy from Connecticut who's like, yeah, I just like the hat. So what's up? Like, I just. That feels wrong to me.

A (107:32)

You know, now that Horseman's with the Rockies, I may throw a Rockies hat in the mix. Give a, you know, care. Great. How come you have that hat? My buddy pitched there for a very short amount of time. Yeah.

E (107:50)

Cool stadium.

A (107:51)

Do you have any friends? Yeah, I am getting her a Rocky's hat. I wish, my man. He was Chris. Rosillo. Be perfect.

E (108:00)

Cr.

A (108:01)

There you go. How's Chris Ryan not have one of those hats?

E (108:06)

He might.

D (108:06)

I don't know.

B (108:07)

Actually. He rocks an ace hat, like, all the time. Speaking of Chris Ryan. So maybe. And he's super cool, so. Yeah, maybe I should just do that.

A (108:14)

Imagine not liking Chris Ryan.

E (108:17)

Couldn't be me.

B (108:18)

Yeah, I don't know if those people exist.

A (108:21)

I'd actually want to have a guy on who would hate him. So if you work in the business and you hate Chris Ryan, we have an open maybe July, but we get 20 minutes for you. Yeah.

B (108:30)

20 seems high, but.

A (108:32)

Yeah, I don't know. If he hates, then we got to dig in. We got to get in there. What happened? What happened to you? Do you have a relationship with your dad? You know, like, I don't know. All right, moving on. All right, this is from a female woman. Check it in. 5, 2, no gym stats, NBA comp, unathletic muggsy Bogues if he had never played basketball. So hoops is not her thing. I recently have taken up golf and it's been a hobby of my boyfriend's for years and see it as a funny way to get outside and spend time together. He's tried to give me pointers for years, but I'm very stubborn. Did I hear a groan in the background?

E (109:08)

I'm just waiting to see where this goes.

A (109:09)

I'm not going to assume, but I'm very stubborn. I think when I was younger, well, I didn't golf, so it didn't really matter. I think now if your wife or girlfriend were into it. But I know it's going to surprise some of you. I think that would be kind of great. Not all the time, obviously, but

B (109:31)

if

A (109:32)

you're with the boys, giving each other the what for, maybe it's not always a perfect fit, but that she would also appreciate the sport and maybe understand your time devoted to it every couple of weeks.

E (109:43)

I think so, yeah.

A (109:44)

But at the same time, too, you're kind of on the fence about your marriage. I don't know. It was just right at the right time. I was kind of getting lonely. And then you're like, I need to get away. So you wouldn't like the idea. Like, how'd you meet your wife? You're like, that's a pretty low point. And then it's like, okay, say less. All right. So, yeah, what's this lady talking about? I'm not even sure yet. I'm very stubborn. Have a hard time listening to instruction. We go to the range two, three times a week, do our own thing. And he has been consistently coaching me, which I have been receptive to. So that's good. She said she was stubborn, but she's been receptive. I mean, what, are you going to just figure it out on your own? I tried that. Good luck. It's given me more confidence and overall has improved my swing. Our most recent range date was business as usual. He was giving me advice, and in the middle of his sentence, the guy in front of me dressed the whole nine yards. A polo, tight slacks. Mind you, it was 9pm so he definitely had not just decided to hit a few after his round. Turned and told me that I should have my feet positioned way closer together, saying that my feet should be almost touching when I'm hitting irons. Stinger over here. I don't know about that, dude.

B (110:54)

What are we bumping runs? What's going on?

A (110:57)

You're gonna be in the Trees a lot. So start here. Let's go to our. Our golf guy, Serutti. That is terrible advice.

B (111:07)

Correct? I mean, it depends on what kind of shot you're hitting, but at the range, that's not really what you're. What you're looking for.

E (111:12)

Yeah, you're almost touching when you're hitting.

B (111:14)

Apart is usually the rule.

C (111:15)

Yeah.

E (111:17)

Yeah. Okay.

A (111:18)

All right. Followed by me running through the process on how to set up my iron stance. He proceeded to demonstrate exactly how it should look, then stood and watched me. I side eyed my boyfriend, who was watching all this go down, but felt awkward blowing off this guy's advice. So I went ahead and swung, shanking it completely. Right. I laughed it off and told him I'd keep his advice in mind, thinking that would be the end of things. But he continued to stand and watch me swing for the next few minutes while my boyfriend just held his tongue and went back to his own bed. I don't love that. After this guy finally got tired of watching me shank balls with his advice, he turned and completely whiffed the ball. Followed by a cocktail of profanity. Okay. There's just very few things in life where someone's like, let's start with a narrow stance. Yeah, right.

B (112:03)

Bounce being the least bounce.

E (112:05)

Trying to think. What else?

A (112:07)

I remember there was a guy who was about to fight another guy. He told the guy to set his stance before the tussle. Wow. Yeah. That's where you just go, now I don't want to fight you. You're giving me tips on how to prepare to fight you. Like, I'm out. He was a good fighter.

B (112:23)

He told the other guy, he's like,

A (112:25)

hey, set your stance. It's like, Jesus, Larry Bird. One of the coolest things you could ever say to anybody in a fight. All right, so he sucks too. Didn't say anything to me the rest of the time, but every 10 balls would turn around and watch me hit to set the scene. My boyfriend is a much better golfer. Clear to both of us. This guy's no place giving tips. After watching him hit a few balls, my boyfriend and I are curious. Does a guy with a Charles Barkley esque swing? Chuck's figured it out. By the way. He's back. Lose the right to give advice to women at the range? Or am I the jerk for not appreciating his wisdom while he's providing job stability for the grounds crew? I'd say you're too nice.

B (113:04)

Well, can I ask you this? The boyfriend was like, clearly just Ready to just let this happen, Which I think is kind of funny. Was this guy aware that you guys were dating? Like, did you interact at all? Like, was he just trying to kind of hit on you and was just terrible at golf and didn't really have anything, just wanted to talk to her. Like, did he know that you came with the. With your boyfriend?

A (113:21)

Yeah. Normally we ask, like, when the guy's in the dilemma, and we just default to, well, how hot is the girl? And we'll tell you exactly what's going to happen. I don't know that we've ever done this. How hot are you? Like, do you turn heads? Like, this guy?

E (113:35)

Was this guy old?

A (113:37)

Yeah, I think.

E (113:38)

I think old, lonely golfers love to

A (113:40)

do this shit, man.

E (113:41)

Because this happened to me.

A (113:42)

Lonely men love to do anything that is like, hey, what did you do? Are you seeing anybody? No, but I talked to a stranger at a park bench. This three weeks ago.

E (113:52)

This happened to me at Roosevelt. One of the last couple of months I was living in la. We got paired up. This one guy who's just hanging around the little putting green, waiting for somebody to get a spot open, and he came over. He looked like Nick Nolte in Tropic Thunder, super haggard. And one of the guys who was watching this, he goes, oh, you're going out with Grumpy today. And I was like, I don't know what you're talking about. I guess he's, like, terrorizes this golf course. And he asked me on the first in the second hole, he was like, do you want to get better at golf? And I knew I should have fucking said no. I knew I should have said no. I was easily the weakest golfer. Like, he identified me out of the herd. And I was just like, well, I mean, obviously. And then the rest of the, like, eight holes, he was like, no, no, stop, stop, hold on, hold on. Like, telling me these weird tricks. He's like, having me hit other balls. I'm like, man, there's people behind us. And he's like, I thought you said you wanted to get better. And I. I just PTSD from that day. And, yeah, that was my biggest mistake. Just, I should have told him, no, I don't want to get better at golf, but I really did want to get better. But he was, like, super, super aggressive. Super like, you know, this is what he does. He finds young golfers who suck and just ruins their days. And that's what this guy was up to.

B (115:11)

Yeah, Yeah.

A (115:11)

I played a few times with some guys that were like, do you want any help? Because you're. You're terrible.

B (115:17)

And I'll be like, that's a respectful question, though.

A (115:20)

Yeah, there was a guy, but if

E (115:22)

you can't drop the problem.

A (115:23)

It took him 17 holes. I was playing with him, and he was an old guy. He was a good golfer. And he's like, hey. He's like, I get it. He's like, you play baseball, right? I was like, well, not professionally, but yeah. A lot of swings in the backyard.

B (115:35)

He was like, wasn't asking that. Yeah. He just.

A (115:39)

He's like, you have to. You can't. He's like, you're just going to be miserable the entire time if you don't stop doing this thing. So that was great. It was really nice of him. He probably battled for three plus hours of like, hey, do I tell this guy? But it's like, oh, yeah, I'm going to fix my swing here. Between the 10th green and the 11th tee, this guy was lonely, and he just wanted to have somebody to pay attention to him, and that's all there was to it. And so it sounds like your boyfriend's kind of a saint, too, but I think there's other boyfriends that eventually, after the 10th swing, of the guy hanging out, because then it's just kind of bumming you out. You're like, all right, I'm going to follow this guy's advice, by the way. It's terrible advice, and it's not working. And now something that you were having fun with, now you have this anxiety of. So this guy doesn't deserve any of your grace, honestly. Maybe he's a nice enough guy, but this guy's annoying. We already know who this guy is, right?

E (116:36)

Yeah. Driving range, too. That's kind of a personal thing when you're out in a foursome or something on the golf course, get to know each other a little bit. But everyone could stay in between those two little plastic things that tell you what's your bae, so it shouldn't be that hard. Mind your business.

A (116:55)

All right. We had some television recommendations.

E (117:03)

Oh, for shows.

C (117:05)

Yeah.

A (117:06)

So let's expand that out. Just throw it in there in the topic if you have some TV shows, because we're going to do a show. We have to do a show show. And I'd like to recap it every week.

E (117:16)

I meant to think about it this weekend, then I forgot to think about it. So I'll get back on it.

A (117:21)

Yeah, that's okay, Kyle. I'm not upset. I forgot.

E (117:27)

It's on my docket too, though, just so you know.

A (117:29)

Yeah. All right. To do list. I got to write out the to do list this week, though. I'm going to tackle one room every day. We're doing a little spring cleaning over here. Hey, I think I can do it if I go one room every day for however many days it takes me. That's the plan. This one's too good. I'm going to save that one for later. Okay.

B (117:50)

We're not doing TV recommendations, though.

A (117:52)

Not yet. We just don't have enough in there. Wanted to bug the inbox.

B (117:57)

Well, I was just thinking it'd be funny if we just dropped into Euphoria Season three, not having watched any of the other seasons and just.

E (118:03)

Well, I've seen it, so.

B (118:04)

Oh, you have?

A (118:05)

Okay.

B (118:05)

Well, then I guess we're out.

A (118:06)

Would I be able to figure it out?

E (118:08)

If you want my explanations for stuff, I mean, that could be its own funny thing.

A (118:11)

I don't know.

E (118:13)

No, we shouldn't do that, though. It would be weird. Would be weird.

A (118:17)

I can't understand that. It always kind of blows my mind when you look at television rating stuff. And granted, I did that big, hey, the NBA ratings thing. Fair, unfair arguments about all of it. Then that monster number came out about how it was up 86% from the year before because of all the new technology and all the glows. I don't even know how you get to that number. So who knows? A lot of numbers out there. Kids, have fun. TV ratings or even, like, album sales. This is a very telling thing. Like, if a show's kind of a hit, then more people will watch it, like, later on and not care about any of.

B (118:59)

I always think about that.

A (119:01)

Yeah. Or like, an album where it's like, okay, this band crushed it. Everybody talked about him. And then 25% more, like, just new people buy that album that never bought the first one. Now, maybe that's back in the day where it's different. Where it's like, well, everybody had that cd, so I didn't need to buy it because, like, everybody had it. And then when there was anticipation of the second cd, then everybody.

B (119:24)

Well, no, but music is different. Music's different because you don't have to.

C (119:28)

I don't.

B (119:28)

What are you saying? Because you don't have to listen to the first album to get the second album. Whereas, like, television shows, you're like, hey, you know, hey, Season three was the most watched season of all. And it's like, how. How is that possible? Like, what, do you just drop in? Whereas you Know, I could listen to, you know. I don't know. I'm trying to think like College Dropout or not.

A (119:47)

What?

B (119:47)

I'm trying to think of what kind I could listen to, you know, Beautiful Tar, Twisted Fantasy and not having to listen to College Dropout, which would be insane by the way, but still, I

E (119:54)

was a big greatest hits guy. As a CD buyer, I felt like that was like the key to everything. But I feel like you guys are not gonna. I even feel a little about it now.

D (120:02)

Yeah.

B (120:02)

The one album where that is true is Steve Miller Band. It's just.

A (120:08)

It's 7478. Wow.

B (120:10)

It's like it says no skips, but it's kind of.

A (120:13)

People think it's an actual album.

B (120:15)

It's not.

A (120:16)

The Blue.

B (120:17)

Yeah, the Blue Horse. It's great.

D (120:18)

It's great.

A (120:20)

It's. I mean, it's been referenced.

B (120:23)

I love how you knew exactly where I was going.

E (120:24)

That's crazy.

A (120:27)

There's actually, believe it or not, a second Steve Miller Greatest Hits. Wouldn't know. Yeah, yeah. Because I had it and I'm trying to find.

E (120:43)

Oh yeah, I've seen this cover, this album.

B (120:46)

Oh, man. Just going through the track list. It's just. I'm gonna listen to some after we get off.

A (120:52)

Are you guys gonna listen to Steve Miller today?

B (120:55)

Every, like, you know, I don't know, 18 months, I go through a good Steve Miller phase. I just went through a big Seeger phase.

E (121:01)

Dude, it's not even a phase. It's just a lifestyle for me.

A (121:03)

Have you guys seen the Instagram on. Is this a Seager bar?

D (121:07)

Yes.

A (121:07)

So that guy was in my brother's wedding.

B (121:10)

What?

A (121:11)

Yeah, how about that stat. I just blow your mind. That guy's awesome.

B (121:17)

Damn. I was gonna ask you if he was cool, but I know he's cool, so he's.

A (121:21)

He was. I mean, you want to talk about. He Alpha'd the fuck out of me. My brother's own wedding. Like, I showed up and I was like, oh, oh, damn. I was like, I better lay low.

B (121:29)

Is he your brother's friend?

A (121:30)

Yeah. From home. Yeah. My brother was like a really good skater. And then also like, you know, his music, Euphony. He's really good at a lot of. A lot of different stuff. And so I think he. He kind of had a crew and they were making videos and stuff back in the day, so.

B (121:50)

That's awesome.

C (121:50)

Well, yeah.

A (121:51)

Yeah.

B (121:52)

I love that.

A (121:52)

I can't. I feel really bad. Sorry, man. I know we follow each other, but now you've just become Seager bar guy and I can't. I can't remember your. He'll actually understand. I think he'll be fine with it, but I totally agree.

B (122:02)

It's better pub than give me his name out anyway.

A (122:03)

Yeah, it kind of sucks a little bit because he's going to be like, priscilla doesn't even. Your brother doesn't even remember my name. And I'm like, yep. Hey, it was a busy weekend over here. A lot of stats, a lot of notepads, a lot of stuff. Charts, driving, that kind of thing. All right, well, let's do this. Let's make Steve Miller happen.

E (122:21)

Yeah, great. Today I could do that.

A (122:24)

Okay, maybe we just all, like do a little social media blitz and pretend we're not doing it with each other. Be like, you know what? Kicking ass today is this song. And then just see if it takes off.

B (122:36)

Just a selfie with Swing Town as

A (122:38)

the music start posting some listing videos with just Joker. All right, there's another email in here that I thought was fairly straightforward. I don't. Maybe I deleted it. This pod is long today. All right, I'm sorry, folks, I've got to find it because we just don't really have. I must have deleted this thing. Let's see.

B (123:06)

Don't like that.

A (123:08)

Don't like that at all. Oh, I just found it. Okay, playoff tickets and potentially losing. $1,440. 5, 8, 14 5. No max bench or squat, but lift four days a week and clocked in a 1:43 half marathon. 7 out of 10 orgons. Okay, dilemma on playoff hockey tickets. We share season tickets to a good hockey team with my in laws. They're both out of town for games one and two, so we get them for 180 each. Well, for game two, our seat neighbors cannot go, so we had the opportunity to get the four next to our original two. So I took the tickets again for 100 bucks apiece. $180 apiece. Excuse me. So now in the hole for 1440 total for the eight tickets across two games.

E (123:55)

Yep.

A (123:57)

Good stuff, Kyle. Two and a half hours into the pod still locked in, I asked a friend and a wife who we go with occasionally throughout the season if they wanted two of the tickets for game two for a same regular season price. Money is tighter for them than me, which is 110, and they said yes. So our guy's knocking it down a little bit, looking out, paying it forward. I then offered the remaining two tickets to a couple other friends for the $110 price and got turned down. I then decided to text a third friend that I had, quote, I had extra tickets and do they want them? No discussion of price. I hope they would ask how much and then we can negotiate to something we all felt comfortable with. They asked the game time and after I responded they just texted back thanks, and that's awesome. So now they assume I am gifting them, which in of itself isn't the worst thing. But they know the second couple going with us and if that couple finds out they paid for them and the third couple did not, they will probably be pissed.

E (125:02)

Probably.

A (125:02)

So what do I do? Just gift all the tickets and eat the 1440 or tell the third couple to not tell the second couple they got them for free? Tell the third couple these aren't free and negotiate and risk pissing them off? Number one, you got to stop worrying about pissing everybody off. I would start there.

D (125:18)

Yeah.

E (125:18)

You already got like a pretty tough ticket, right, to get, sounds like. So

A (125:27)

it feels like Sabers tickets.

E (125:29)

Oh, you think that's what it's going to be?

A (125:30)

I don't even know.

E (125:31)

They're pretty big up there though, you know, that might be.

A (125:33)

That's what I'm saying. Yeah. And I'm not trying to get on the emailer's case, but I'll just start here a little bit. It's great that you were thinking of others feelings here, but you're kind of doing it too much and you're doing it now to a point where I imagine being out 1400 or in a best case scenario is like, all right, you're already in for what you're doing. Game one and two. I don't want to do all this math at the top of my head, but you deciding to eat this all because of other people's feelings and a lack of communication during text is caring about other people way too much. All right? So I think a very reasonable thing. And you have to also understand again, the people that you're talking to here, what do they like, are they takers or are they reasonable people? Do they have money? Do they have no money? Like all of these different factors. But you could say, hey, look, just so you know, they're 180, but I offered them our second friends at like 110 and that's what they paid. So I know I didn't say price right away and that's on me. And if that's a problem, then just tell me and you can have the tickets. But I'm also on the Hook for like eight tickets now between games one in game two. So are they reasonable? They might say, like, oh, cool, we're still getting playoff tickets at this kind of number. Yeah, yeah. Like, I think most of us would go, yeah, totally, that's great. Now the dickheads out there that screw it up for the rest of us are going to go, you said, do I want the tickets? At no point was there ever any money referenced whatsoever. It's like, okay, great. We've got one of these guys fucking every single edge. You know, he beat his grandmother, Monopoly and cheated. Cool. Oh, this guy, we love him in the draft. He. He cheats at board games with his seven year old brother. Oh, my God, you're gonna lock CB1. What a. What a. I'm banking on this guy. He's playing every angle. All right, I'm. I'm losing it here.

C (127:39)

Sorry.

B (127:41)

No, you're right. I mean, you went into this potential transaction not thinking you were gonna pay for it, and then your verbiage and his reaction has boxed you into a corner. But, like, stick to your gut. Like, your original thing was like, hey, these are. You're going to pay for the tickets

A (127:56)

and box yourself out of that corner.

B (127:58)

Not unreasonable.

A (127:59)

It's also.

B (128:00)

It's also not that much. I mean, again, I don't want to, like, talk about people's finances, but, like, asking someone to pay $100 for a playoff ticket is not that insane. If it was like a $500 ticket, like, hey, man, actually, you owe me like, 500. That's a different story. This is. You're getting this guy in the door for a decent price at a playoff ticket. Like, you're not the asshole here. You have to understand that first and foremost. So if he's offended by this, this, then, like, all right, like, whatever, dude. All right, next.

A (128:26)

Cool. See you there.

B (128:26)

I know what to tell you. Yeah, like, yeah, watch on tv, bro. There you go.

A (128:30)

Then he's going to buy you a pretzel and hand you the pretzel. Being like, are we good?

B (128:33)

We're good.

A (128:34)

Be that guy, too.

B (128:37)

Yeah, so I know that's easier said than done. I know it's easier said than done because when you. You feel like you don't want to be the asshole, you want to put your. You're a people pleaser. I get that sometimes. I.

A (128:45)

But you actually, because you have the second couple that you're so worried about them being upset that you're going to give all the tickets away for free and now take on this massive hit Hit just when you were trying to do people favors, which, again, it makes me think you get walked over a little bit in life. Sorry, but, like, the way you're kind of mapping this whole thing out, I think you look at that second couple or the first couple that was offered. I guess it's the second couple. If you're counting yourself with this whole thing, you go, hey, they're. I offer them the tickets, and they're paying for them, all right? And instead of using it as, don't tell them so that at least I can get some money from them, you may want to use that as like, hey, they're getting charged, too. So let everybody know what's going on here. And if they're going to push back on this, maybe you don't want them sitting there.

E (129:36)

Yeah, it's weird sometimes when you get invited to go to dinner, it's like, did you invite me out to dinner or did you invite us to go to dinner? How does this work? When it comes time to picking up tabs up, it's not the same, but it's a little bit murky where I think a good thing is to always assume that, you know, we'll throw something towards. We don't need to split this into six checks, but we'll. We'll take care of it. But some people are like, you asked me to do this. And so, like, it's just some people's brains work a little bit differently. I mean, this. I mean, I don't know how exactly you worded that thing, but if you're like, hey, I got two extra tickets to this game. Do you want to go? Some people might be taking, like, you're inviting me out to dinner. Or they might be like, you're giving me the right to go to this. You know, to make you hold for

A (130:17)

these tickets, some people are going to email us and go, hey, he offered the tickets. He never mentioned money, so he's on the hook for it, right? But it's like, okay, but I wouldn't want to do that to my friend. I wouldn't want to do that to the person. Unless, like, clearly there are limits to this, where somebody gets a PJ and brings you down a pinehurst. The next thing you know, he's like, hey, it's going to be ten grand. And you go, what?

B (130:37)

Good weekend, huh?

A (130:38)

Yeah, I agree. But if we go to a nice

E (130:41)

steakhouse and we all order a fucking tomahawk, and it's just like, yeah, we're. You know, that's market price. And the, you know, the bill. 600 bucks. And it's just like you have still.

B (130:50)

I was gonna say count. What?

A (130:52)

Yeah, this seems very specific. So somebody.

E (130:56)

I'm just saying there's different types of dinners where people are like, not, you know, you invited me or did you say we should go to dinner and what's the difference? It's like, I didn't realize that I had to fucking make a delineation between those two things. But some people.

B (131:08)

But even at those dinners, you know, you do the fake, hey, take the wallet out and like, whatever.

E (131:13)

And that's if somebody goes ahead. Yeah, that's if somebody goes ahead and says that. I'm just saying I think some people can be confused by things that maybe other people would think is a given.

A (131:21)

But whatever. That'll do it for the show. It was a long one. Thanks to everybody today. Kevin, Tom, Ceruti and Kyle. Please subscribe. And we're going to be cranking out the content. How are we doing this? We doing good? 10 minutes tomorrow.

B (131:37)

Tomorrow on YouTube. And then so it'll be Monday, Wednesday, Friday, regular shows, Tuesday, Thursday on YouTube.

A (131:45)

Right. So we're going five days this week. So check out the YouTube page. Please subscribe to that. We'll do playoff recap stuff. We're just going to do it while there's just all of these games. Why not? And then with the draft, and then we'll go back to kind of the normal Monday, Wednesday, Thursday thing. But that means we'll probably throw in a Friday if we feel like the games warrant it, to get those out on YouTube as well. The Ryan Rossillo Show Barstool Sports.