# NFL Win Totals, USC vs. Notre Dame Revival? Steelers Headed For Disaster?

An episode of [The Colin Cowherd Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1551365571), 12 May 2026, 39 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/arttrk.com/p/D5CA5/pscrb.fm/rss/p/prfx.byspotify.com/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/4013d28e-5f67-4885-bff1-ae3300346830/2c75e0ee-6393-47ab-985e-b447018b3a3e/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=e829cf60-fc06-4d61-8691-ae330034683e

Colin is joined by John Middlekauff, host of “3 and Out” to talk all things football. They start with the renewed discussions between Notre Dame & USC to potentially revive their rivalry after many top schools won’t schedule Notre Dame and why the new NIL business model of college sports & their lack of quality opponents has forced Notre Dame to the table (2:00). They also react to an ex UNC quarterback’s disparaging comments about the atmosphere Bill Belichick created and explain why the “Patriot Way” doesn’t work with 18 year olds (8:30). They move to the NFL & discuss the weird situation developing between the Steelers and still unsigned Aaron Rodgers amongst some of their other strange personnel decisions, and Colin predicts the Steelers could be an absolute mess within five years (16:30). They react to a recent article by The Athletic ranking the top NFL rosters and debate whether the Bills deserve to be ranked at #3 (28:00). Finally, they pivot to NFL win totals, and give their thoughts on the Patriots, 49ers, Vikings, Packers, Bengals and more (34:00). (Timestamps may vary based on advertisements.) Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates! #Volume See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: The volume.
[0:08] Speaker 2: John Middlecoff is joining us. We'll chop it up for
[0:12] Speaker 2: about thirty five minutes. I wanted to start with this.
[0:16] Speaker 2: So reportedly in the last week, Notre Dame in USC
[0:22] Speaker 2: have begun talking again. So USC always had all the
[0:28] Speaker 2: leverage because they play a much better schedule, they're in
[0:31] Speaker 2: a real conference. Notre Dame I was told a month
[0:35] Speaker 2: ago Notre Dame initiated this. Notre Dame I was told
[0:40] Speaker 2: this by somebody at a major television network that knows
[0:44] Speaker 2: the athletic director of Notre Dame, and the athletic director
[0:48] Speaker 2: had said, we're having a hell of a time scheduling
[0:52] Speaker 2: games because what happens is with a twelve team playoff
[0:55] Speaker 2: where two of the slots go to your James Madison's
[0:59] Speaker 2: and Notre Dame with a week schedule is guaranteed if
[1:02] Speaker 2: they're in the top tennis spot. It's essentially a nine
[1:05] Speaker 2: team playoff. And if it doesn't expand people are like,
[1:09] Speaker 2: you know, USC's, Ohio States, LSU's Michigan's are going timeout.
[1:16] Speaker 2: It's a nineteen playoff. You can't lose more than two games.
[1:21] Speaker 2: And because the big ten in the SEC, JOHN have
[1:24] Speaker 2: now been fortified with Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington, US UCLA,
[1:31] Speaker 2: and because of the NIL Vanderbilt and Indiana are now
[1:36] Speaker 2: powerful that a lot of these schools told Notre Dame
[1:39] Speaker 2: take a hike, we're not scheduling you. That is why
[1:42] Speaker 2: Notre Dame is in favor of an expanded playoff suddenly,
[1:46] Speaker 2: and why Notre Dame is revisiting a willingness to change
[1:50] Speaker 2: the time of the USC game. USCOS said, we'll play
[1:54] Speaker 2: a Labor Day weekend. We're not playing you in the
[1:57] Speaker 2: middle of our Big ten schedule. I mean, if you
[2:01] Speaker 2: look at go look up with Notre Dame's home schedule,
[2:05] Speaker 2: I mean they don't have Miami, is it? It is
[2:08] Speaker 2: unwatchable dreck. So essentially basically USC said you're out, and
[2:13] Speaker 2: Notre Dame circled back.
[2:15] Speaker 3: Well, I think one thing that obviously limited Notre Dame
[2:18] Speaker 3: is they do this deal with the ACC, and the
[2:19] Speaker 3: ACC became an awful conference. Right now, they play in Miami,
[2:24] Speaker 3: but the rest of the conference, I mean, it's a
[2:25] Speaker 3: lot of North Carolina's, it's a lot of teams that
[2:29] Speaker 3: you get no credit for. Are they becoming a little
[2:32] Speaker 3: Obviously they're one of the biggest brands in all the sports,
[2:35] Speaker 3: but like, you know, some of these basketball programs that
[2:38] Speaker 3: are really good that no one wants to play in
[2:39] Speaker 3: the non conference. You know, it became Randy Bennett left
[2:43] Speaker 3: Saint Mary's to come to Arizona State because once Gonzaga
[2:46] Speaker 3: left the conference, no one would schedule them, so it
[2:49] Speaker 3: made no point. Now I'm not comparing Notre Dame to
[2:52] Speaker 3: Saint Mary's basketball, but when you're independent like that or
[2:55] Speaker 3: in a conference where you're not forced to play these people,
[2:58] Speaker 3: we're not going to do a deal with. If I'm
[3:00] Speaker 3: in Indiana, if I'm Texas, if I'm whoever, I will
[3:03] Speaker 3: do my occasional one offs with Ohio State or Michigan plays.
[3:07] Speaker 3: You know, I guess Michigan Oregon are the same conference.
[3:09] Speaker 3: But you know how some of the big programs they
[3:11] Speaker 3: do the home and home non conference with another big program.
[3:14] Speaker 3: It's also what became complicated in college sports is these
[3:20] Speaker 3: rivalries like Clemson South Carolina, which means a lot to
[3:24] Speaker 3: a lot of people, or Florida Florida State. Well, now
[3:27] Speaker 3: with the playoffs, it's like, well, you know, it gets
[3:30] Speaker 3: what I have. I know a lot of like assistant
[3:33] Speaker 3: college football coaches, and I was talking to a buddy
[3:35] Speaker 3: the other day on the road. He was actually at
[3:37] Speaker 3: I think Modern Day. He's like, bro, this this place
[3:40] Speaker 3: looks like a college, and the talent on this field
[3:42] Speaker 3: of like sixteen year olds blows you away. But he said,
[3:46] Speaker 3: there are a lot of rumors out there in college sports.
[3:49] Speaker 3: You know, the government has got involved. One thing he
[3:51] Speaker 3: heard is that potentially they're going to cap the earning.
[3:56] Speaker 3: The conferences are going to try to get a hold
[3:58] Speaker 3: of this because three years ago is like ten million
[4:01] Speaker 3: dollars for a roster. Well within a couple of years
[4:03] Speaker 3: is fifty million. So you just keep doing the math.
[4:05] Speaker 3: Are we talking one hundred million dollars roster in three
[4:07] Speaker 3: or four years? You can't maintain it's gonna be parallel
[4:09] Speaker 3: with the NFL, you know, if you just play this out.
[4:12] Speaker 3: But if you're gonna cap the players, you got to
[4:14] Speaker 3: cap the coaches. So one thing I think these conferences
[4:17] Speaker 3: that the rumors are out there is the conferences are
[4:21] Speaker 3: gonna be like the most you could make. It doesn't
[4:23] Speaker 3: mean everyone's gonna make the same, but you can't make
[4:26] Speaker 3: more than a million dollars as a defensive end, but
[4:28] Speaker 3: you can't make more as a head coach than ten
[4:30] Speaker 3: million you can pay your coach for. But like that,
[4:33] Speaker 3: you can't keep getting in this arms race. There is
[4:35] Speaker 3: an economic kind of pullback because college football's or college
[4:40] Speaker 3: sports have never been a normal business, right, the majority
[4:43] Speaker 3: of the sports non basketball or non football. Some of
[4:47] Speaker 3: these basketball programs non North Carolina, Kentucky. Not every basketball
[4:50] Speaker 3: program is making money. So these tennis programs and are
[4:53] Speaker 3: all subsidized by the football program. And now you've got
[4:57] Speaker 3: to pay the football program and the players becomes a
[5:00] Speaker 3: little more complicated. It's why you've seen these tennis programs.
[5:03] Speaker 3: Well that's just the start, and then you got Title nine.
[5:05] Speaker 3: So I think it's all intertwined. When you talk about
[5:08] Speaker 3: the playoffs, the money. Isn't that football's greatest advantage, you know?
[5:12] Speaker 3: I mean the Dodgers are way different economically than the
[5:16] Speaker 3: race because of the local market. Well, the Cincinnati Bengals
[5:19] Speaker 3: make the same as the Cowboys from the TV deal, right,
[5:21] Speaker 3: So that's where I think college sports is kind of
[5:24] Speaker 3: in this weird spot which they got to figure out
[5:28] Speaker 3: in the near future because there's just too much money
[5:29] Speaker 3: on the line. That's where Notre Dame eventually, don't they However,
[5:32] Speaker 3: the Shiks kind of join the version of the Big
[5:35] Speaker 3: Ten that becomes like the NFCAFC North versus South.
[5:38] Speaker 2: I think that's what that's what they're trying to do.
[5:40] Speaker 2: But just to give you a sense of Notre Dame's schedule,
[5:43] Speaker 2: it's it's awful Wisconsin now, awful, Rice, Michigan State bad, Perdue,
[5:50] Speaker 2: North Carolina awful, Stanford bad at BYU They'll win by
[5:54] Speaker 2: two touchdowns off Navy Miami at home BC SMU series.
[6:00] Speaker 2: It's just dreadful. So they're trying to you know, that
[6:04] Speaker 2: USC game meant a lot to Notre Dame. Don't listen
[6:08] Speaker 2: to x USC players who are in my day. USC's
[6:11] Speaker 2: playing Oregon, Ohio State at Indiana Michigan. You know, they
[6:16] Speaker 2: don't need to Washington. They're like, listen, we'll play on
[6:20] Speaker 2: our terms. We're gonna play in LA We're gonna play
[6:22] Speaker 2: in September. We're not putting in October right in the
[6:25] Speaker 2: middle of our Indiana Ohio State three week slates. We're
[6:31] Speaker 2: not doing it.
[6:32] Speaker 3: Don't you think it's sad? Because Notre Dame now with
[6:34] Speaker 3: Marcus Freeman, they were like, this is Brian Kelly two
[6:37] Speaker 3: is a real top five, top six. From a talent
[6:39] Speaker 3: stand if instead of the deal with the ACC, they
[6:44] Speaker 3: had to deal with either the SEC or the Big Ten,
[6:47] Speaker 3: it would be incredible. It's like, hey, Notre Dame Washington
[6:49] Speaker 3: coming up, Notre Dame Oregon. Instead they're playing Belichick. Which
[6:53] Speaker 3: you see the comments by the former quarterback for Belichick
[6:56] Speaker 3: about how miserable that place is. It's like, Bill, the
[7:00] Speaker 3: Patriot Way is not going to work with eighteen nineteen
[7:02] Speaker 3: year olds, and you don't have the talent, so it's
[7:04] Speaker 3: like it's a double whammy.
[7:06] Speaker 2: Well, I mean, listen, this, we should talk about this.
[7:08] Speaker 2: Let's be totally honest about Belichick. He took over the
[7:12] Speaker 2: drafts the last seven to eight years. They were horrible.
[7:16] Speaker 2: He's an atrocious drafter. Remember when the Rams inadvertently made
[7:20] Speaker 2: fun of him for drafting a guard around early. I mean,
[7:27] Speaker 2: people I talked to in the league are like, Bill
[7:30] Speaker 2: is not a personnel guy. He does not understand He basically,
[7:33] Speaker 2: if Bill wanted a player, he would reach three. He'd
[7:36] Speaker 2: reach over half a round to get him. I mean
[7:39] Speaker 2: usually gms go have players they like, but they'll be
[7:43] Speaker 2: within five or six picks of kind of talent. Wise,
[7:48] Speaker 2: you know, some GM looks at a card and think
[7:50] Speaker 2: these are the next five good players. You try to
[7:52] Speaker 2: find one in that five where value and need. Belichick
[7:57] Speaker 2: would make massive twenty five pick reaches for a guard. Well,
[8:03] Speaker 2: one year he drafted like two kickers and three guards,
[8:06] Speaker 2: and it was like till you have the slowest offense
[8:07] Speaker 2: in the league and he's basically taking you know, interior
[8:11] Speaker 2: offensive lineman.
[8:13] Speaker 3: Here's the other thing. You know, when they got hired,
[8:15] Speaker 3: their big thing was the thirty third team, and we're
[8:18] Speaker 3: gonna approach it like the NFL. You know, in the NFL,
[8:21] Speaker 3: if it's the middle of training camp and you give
[8:23] Speaker 3: your team of the day off, a lot of those
[8:25] Speaker 3: guys go home to their wives and kids.
[8:28] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[8:28] Speaker 3: I remember when I worked for Pat Hill, who had
[8:30] Speaker 3: worked for Belichick in Cleveland. We would give a practice off.
[8:33] Speaker 3: We would take everyone to the water park. You know why,
[8:36] Speaker 3: they're eighteen nineteen year old kids. They're just having a
[8:38] Speaker 3: good time. Even though you're paying these guys now, they're
[8:41] Speaker 3: still a nineteen year old boy. You know, they are
[8:44] Speaker 3: a guy. Their interests. Belichick was used to yelling at
[8:48] Speaker 3: Tom Brady when he was thirty five years old, and
[8:50] Speaker 3: then everyone fell in line. And if you think about
[8:52] Speaker 3: the last iteration of that great team in the mid
[8:55] Speaker 3: twenty tens, Edelman mccordy high Tower, like they had a
[8:59] Speaker 3: lot of veteran guy's late twenties, early thirties. He has
[9:03] Speaker 3: a team and listen, the quarterback, I'm not gonna shoot
[9:07] Speaker 3: the messenger here was not a great player, but he
[9:10] Speaker 3: did just yeah, he did his transfer to wake Forest
[9:12] Speaker 3: who went nine and four last year. So that's you know,
[9:15] Speaker 3: the guy from Washington State that went there's a real program.
[9:18] Speaker 2: They didn't have a player drafted at Carolina. Not a
[9:21] Speaker 2: player drafted me.
[9:23] Speaker 3: What I mean, there's no law, there's no lock that
[9:25] Speaker 3: they're gonna have one this year. But my point is, Belichick,
[9:29] Speaker 3: you lived in the northeast forever. I lived there for
[9:30] Speaker 3: a couple of years. The wiring of those people it's
[9:34] Speaker 3: very Wall Street like, you know, successful people in the
[9:37] Speaker 3: private sector, they're emotionless, and Belichick fits that to a
[9:40] Speaker 3: t well. He goes there. How often do people at
[9:44] Speaker 3: seventy five When he has a resume of doing it
[9:46] Speaker 3: a specific way, He's not gonna change. So he treats
[9:49] Speaker 3: these guys exactly like he would treat Julian Edelman at
[9:51] Speaker 3: thirty three. Meanwhile, this guy's eighteen, not nearly his football
[9:55] Speaker 3: smart because he's never been taught. He's getting yelled at,
[9:57] Speaker 3: he's overwhelmed, and he's not that good because college football's
[10:01] Speaker 3: it's not the ex'es and the o's when it's the playoffs,
[10:04] Speaker 3: but a lot of time in college sports about the
[10:05] Speaker 3: jimmy's and the joe's, and he does not have those.
[10:08] Speaker 3: But he's trying to force these the x'es and the
[10:10] Speaker 3: o's that is way over the head of all these guys.
[10:12] Speaker 3: And then his personality. He's not taking guys to the
[10:16] Speaker 3: water park Saban used to take. They had movie night
[10:18] Speaker 3: every Friday night before the game. Because he's dealing with kids,
[10:22] Speaker 3: even though they're eighteen nineteen future pros. I just think
[10:25] Speaker 3: Belichick when I look back, because I kind of bought in.
[10:28] Speaker 3: I bought in would be strong, but I thought, yeah,
[10:30] Speaker 3: I could looking back, like, no, it's a transactional sport,
[10:34] Speaker 3: but you still got to be able to interact with
[10:36] Speaker 3: a eighteen nineteen year old and they are wired a
[10:38] Speaker 3: lot different than NFL player is twenty six, twenty seven
[10:42] Speaker 3: years old.
[10:43] Speaker 2: Let's be honest. Deon Sanders has mostly been a dud.
[10:47] Speaker 2: They're not well coached. At Colorado. He's interesting, and so's Belichick. Belichick.
[10:54] Speaker 2: You know that Bill Parcells used to have a rule
[10:56] Speaker 2: that you can't really live by now, but his rule was,
[10:59] Speaker 2: don't draft a celebrity quarterback, don't hire a celebrity coach.
[11:03] Speaker 2: In college it's Belichick and Dion Sanders. Those teams aren't
[11:08] Speaker 2: well coached, they don't have the personnel. I mean, what
[11:11] Speaker 2: does Colorado do well? They're they're in the Big twelve.
[11:14] Speaker 2: They're getting bullied every Saturday. Now, I think Colorado's limited.
[11:18] Speaker 2: Carolina's got real money. But in the end, both those guys,
[11:22] Speaker 2: it's it's college football. Look at the guys that win.
[11:26] Speaker 2: Dan Lanning, Kurt Signetti, you know, it's grinders, Kyle Whittingham.
[11:32] Speaker 2: You know, Lane Kiffin's got a little flash, but he's
[11:34] Speaker 2: also a great recruiter. Like it's just it's a grind
[11:37] Speaker 2: you have to be even though it's more of a
[11:39] Speaker 2: transactional sport. It's it's sixty to seventy hour weeks. And
[11:44] Speaker 2: you know, I think we have to be honest. Belichick
[11:46] Speaker 2: and Dion both are. I'll give Dion credit because he
[11:50] Speaker 2: does make him interesting, But there's just so much of
[11:52] Speaker 2: that sort of Northeast ear against Mike Lombardi Belichick, like,
[11:56] Speaker 2: let us teach you football? Is that, guys, you're not
[11:59] Speaker 2: good with personnel at the college level. And for the record,
[12:04] Speaker 2: you know the Houston Texans GM Casia Nick Casario, he
[12:11] Speaker 2: was in New England for years when all those bad
[12:14] Speaker 2: drafts were happening. He leaves and goes to the Texans,
[12:18] Speaker 2: and Belichick doesn't have his thumb on him. Have you
[12:21] Speaker 2: seen how well Houston has drafted under Nick Casario?
[12:25] Speaker 3: They, I mean, honestly, Colin, they could if you remove
[12:27] Speaker 3: the quarterback, they could have the best roster in the NFL.
[12:31] Speaker 3: Right Obviously they don't have the best quarterback. So you
[12:33] Speaker 3: might give the you know, edge to a couple other teams,
[12:36] Speaker 3: but just remove the quarterback all the other positions. I
[12:39] Speaker 3: might take the Texans. I would definitely take the Texas defense,
[12:43] Speaker 3: you know well.
[12:43] Speaker 2: I mean even this draft, they got Kamari Ramsey in
[12:46] Speaker 2: the fifth round. He may end up being the best
[12:48] Speaker 2: fifth round player. They have done such a good job
[12:51] Speaker 2: to find middle and later round talent. And again, Nick
[12:56] Speaker 2: Casario is in New England. Clearly Belichick didn't give him
[13:01] Speaker 2: control because he just doesn't miss on skill players offensively
[13:06] Speaker 2: got Tank Dell Woody marks, they don't miss on them.
[13:10] Speaker 2: And New England couldn't draft him for seven eight years.
[13:14] Speaker 2: So it just I mean, I think sometimes you have
[13:16] Speaker 2: to revisit dynasties, you have to revisit legends and kind
[13:22] Speaker 2: of peel back chapters and skin on it. And the
[13:26] Speaker 2: more you look at the New England dynasty, I mean,
[13:29] Speaker 2: it's a lot of it was Josh McDaniels, o seeing
[13:32] Speaker 2: and Tom Brady quarterbacking. Overcame those last six or seven years.
[13:37] Speaker 2: Overcame a lot of deficiencies in the skill department.
[13:41] Speaker 3: I do think Bill is the greatest defensive mind of
[13:43] Speaker 3: all time, but clearly toward that the latter half his arrogance.
[13:49] Speaker 3: I mean, isn't Andy a good example. You've known Andy
[13:52] Speaker 3: for a long time. No, he is no different now
[13:56] Speaker 3: with the rings than he was when everyone said he
[13:59] Speaker 3: was a choke artist. And Bill went into North Carolina
[14:02] Speaker 3: like we invented football, and it's like, bro, you're in
[14:05] Speaker 3: a laughingstock conference and you are getting lapped in your
[14:08] Speaker 3: own com I mean, wake Forest, who just took the
[14:11] Speaker 3: quarterback Dickard came from Washington State and went nine to four.
[14:15] Speaker 3: So it is doable at Wake Forest. It should be
[14:18] Speaker 3: doable in North Carolina. And is anyone gonna pick North Carolina?
[14:21] Speaker 3: I mean, if you if I told you North Carolina
[14:23] Speaker 3: doesn't even win six games this year, that's very believable. Right,
[14:27] Speaker 3: There's no that they're gonna that they're gonna win any games.
[14:31] Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean in Miami is just freaking rolling because
[14:34] Speaker 2: they've got so much money in the NIL. So two
[14:41] Speaker 2: people in the NFL now have told me they're not sure.
[14:48] Speaker 2: Omar Khan, the GM of the Steelers, who was in
[14:51] Speaker 2: house for years, they're they're not really sure. He knows
[14:55] Speaker 2: personnel particularly well. And this Aaron Rodgers situate. He's in
[15:01] Speaker 2: Pittsburgh and the organization didn't know where he was, which,
[15:06] Speaker 2: let's be honest about Aaron. He likes to make people uncomfortable. Now,
[15:10] Speaker 2: the Jets and the Packers called his bluff and in
[15:13] Speaker 2: both cases he was kind of burned and upset on
[15:16] Speaker 2: how they treated him. So you'd think Aaron would learn,
[15:19] Speaker 2: But in this case, Pittsburgh is backed into a corner.
[15:25] Speaker 2: I was thinking about this today. I was driving back
[15:27] Speaker 2: from working out and I knew we were going to talk.
[15:30] Speaker 2: If you told me there was an organization a brand
[15:33] Speaker 2: in sports, because right now, a lot of the big
[15:35] Speaker 2: brands John Notre Dame, you know, Duke Basketball, Green Bay Packers, Eagles, Niners,
[15:46] Speaker 2: you know a lot of the big brand Dodgers, Yankees, Braves, Cubs.
[15:50] Speaker 2: They're doing very well in sports. The big brands are
[15:53] Speaker 2: doing very well. If you told me, and if Luca
[15:58] Speaker 2: was healthy, the Lakers would be you know, they would
[16:00] Speaker 2: be at least giving ok See a fight, but they
[16:03] Speaker 2: still want a playoff series without Luca and mostly without
[16:05] Speaker 2: Austin Reeves. If you told me there was a big
[16:08] Speaker 2: brand that in five years we looked up and was
[16:10] Speaker 2: just an absolute mess, I would guess the Pittsburgh Steelers, John,
[16:15] Speaker 2: they're going to have the highest paid defense again, fifth
[16:20] Speaker 2: year rogue brutal.
[16:25] Speaker 3: I got a text because I talked about this a
[16:28] Speaker 3: couple of weeks ago after they were embarrassed on the
[16:30] Speaker 3: Makai Lemon thing. Think about this the Cowboys, you know,
[16:35] Speaker 3: funny Jerry gets talked about like he's the grand poo bah.
[16:38] Speaker 3: If you watch some of the clips coming out of
[16:39] Speaker 3: that draft room, Steven Jones, the guy running point on
[16:42] Speaker 3: Steve ru I mean, Jerry's in his mid eighties. He
[16:46] Speaker 3: likes talking, but Steven runs the show. They knew exactly
[16:49] Speaker 3: who the Steelers wanted, because if you would have asked
[16:52] Speaker 3: me the day of the draft, I would not have
[16:54] Speaker 3: said they would have liked wanted a wide receiver. They
[16:56] Speaker 3: just traded for Pittman they invisted last year in DK.
[16:59] Speaker 3: But yeah, they could take a wide receiver in the
[17:00] Speaker 3: third fourth round. I wouldn't have guessed in the first round.
[17:03] Speaker 3: And they have a lot of other question marks on
[17:05] Speaker 3: the offensive line. Their left tackle just got has that
[17:07] Speaker 3: neck injury. So I talked about it and I had
[17:09] Speaker 3: to someone in associate with the league as well, shoot
[17:11] Speaker 3: me a text and said that I have been told
[17:15] Speaker 3: that Omar Khan does not pick up a clicker, so
[17:17] Speaker 3: he's not watching any tape. But he doesn't or he's
[17:21] Speaker 3: not that involved with the contracts at this point either, right,
[17:24] Speaker 3: And I said, well, you know, Apple, they just hired
[17:28] Speaker 3: this guy to take over for Tim Cook. He's a
[17:30] Speaker 3: products guy. I would expect when he takes over for Tim,
[17:34] Speaker 3: like huge emphasis on whatever the next AirPods is, whatever
[17:38] Speaker 3: the next like that's what he does. When Howie was
[17:41] Speaker 3: first hired as a GM. He was a cap guy, right,
[17:44] Speaker 3: and he I need you wheeling and dealing on the money. Now,
[17:48] Speaker 3: I was around Howie. He spent a lot of time
[17:50] Speaker 3: watching players, and he's clearly grown into a great evaluator.
[17:53] Speaker 3: But like when I hire you and you have a
[17:55] Speaker 3: specific background, like, hey, John, you're gonna do a podcast,
[17:58] Speaker 3: what are you gonna talk about football? You know, we
[18:00] Speaker 3: don't need to talk about ten million things at first,
[18:02] Speaker 3: just go down that lane. Then expand from there. Well,
[18:05] Speaker 3: shouldn't his background be a dominant cap guy, less need
[18:09] Speaker 3: what's his background scouting players? John Schneider scouting players? Then
[18:13] Speaker 3: as you get more comfortable doing other things, well, Omar
[18:16] Speaker 3: Khan's background should be dominant at wheeling and dealing in money,
[18:20] Speaker 3: because that's kind of his background. They're not good at that.
[18:23] Speaker 3: Even last year. It's like DK Metcalf out of nowhere.
[18:26] Speaker 3: That deal made no sense to me. It's like this guy,
[18:29] Speaker 3: you're gonna take John Schneider's third contract guy and immediately,
[18:34] Speaker 3: I mean, if they could do that one over, they
[18:35] Speaker 3: would not have done that deal, right, clear, I just
[18:39] Speaker 3: watched the Steelers and went you could nitpick Colbert at
[18:42] Speaker 3: the end in Tomlin, but their identity never changed, and
[18:46] Speaker 3: Kevin Colbert felt like their version of a guy that
[18:48] Speaker 3: would have been the Packers GM old school scout, tough
[18:51] Speaker 3: guy looked for, you know, physical players. Every scout misses
[18:55] Speaker 3: or every GM misses. But if I hire Omar Khan
[18:59] Speaker 3: or I hire a quote unquote cap guy to be
[19:01] Speaker 3: my general manager, I would expect to be pretty dynamic
[19:06] Speaker 3: from a financial standpoint. And then I mean part of
[19:09] Speaker 3: the reason how he gets so much credit around draft
[19:11] Speaker 3: time because he's Wheeling and Delan. Well, his background if
[19:14] Speaker 3: it wasn't, if he didn't wasn't obsessed with football, he
[19:17] Speaker 3: would have been a finance type guy. So that should
[19:19] Speaker 3: be his comfort zone is Wheelan and Delan market values.
[19:22] Speaker 3: You watch the Steelers, that was a pretty all time
[19:27] Speaker 3: embarrassing moment to have a kid on the phone and listen.
[19:31] Speaker 3: McCarthy's to blame to By all accounts, you know, McCarthy
[19:34] Speaker 3: and his people couldn't keep their mouth shut because the
[19:36] Speaker 3: Cowboys obviously were connected to McCarthy. They knew exactly who
[19:39] Speaker 3: they wanted, and they knew that. They got on the
[19:42] Speaker 3: phone and started shopping around. Who would want mackay Lemon.
[19:44] Speaker 3: They wanted their division rival. I think the Steelers right now.
[19:49] Speaker 3: One they feel like this relationship between the quarterback and
[19:53] Speaker 3: the team feels like two people that would love. It's
[19:57] Speaker 3: like they're in a relationship, but they want to be
[19:58] Speaker 3: dating other people, but they can't find other people because
[20:00] Speaker 3: if they could, if Aaron could go to a team
[20:02] Speaker 3: that like the Buffalo bill you know, a team that
[20:05] Speaker 3: he thinks he could win, he would, but they don't exist.
[20:08] Speaker 2: It's called Aaron Tomorrow.
[20:10] Speaker 3: He'd be gone. Oh he'd walk there, you know. And
[20:14] Speaker 3: if the Steelers could find a young quarterback that had
[20:16] Speaker 3: a ceiling in a future, they would not pick up
[20:18] Speaker 3: the phone and call Anaron Rodgers. So they're kind of
[20:21] Speaker 3: both stuck with each other. Aaron knows he's got a
[20:23] Speaker 3: little leverage because what are they gonna do? Roll out
[20:26] Speaker 3: Will Howard's six round pick. Typically you don't just start
[20:29] Speaker 3: a six round pick week one, right, and so McCarthy
[20:32] Speaker 3: can talk them up. And if you noticed, I think
[20:35] Speaker 3: at the owners meetings he said, if I was here
[20:39] Speaker 3: when the draft was last year, Will Howard would not
[20:41] Speaker 3: have been a six round pick, basically insinuating we would
[20:44] Speaker 3: have drafted him higher. Kind of trying to put like
[20:46] Speaker 3: I like this guy. It's like, come on, Mike, like
[20:49] Speaker 3: there's a reason he was there for reasons. So I
[20:52] Speaker 3: just think the Steelers have a lot like the Packers,
[20:56] Speaker 3: This consistent organization my entire life have won. The difference
[20:59] Speaker 3: is Green Bay has been able to kind of keep
[21:00] Speaker 3: it in house. And just from Ted to Goot back
[21:04] Speaker 3: to ron Wolf, it always this was a little clunky,
[21:08] Speaker 3: and it's not, you know, DaCosta take it over for Ozzy,
[21:11] Speaker 3: pretty smooth transition. This has not been a smooth transition.
[21:15] Speaker 3: And I think this organization and I think the true
[21:17] Speaker 3: fans know something's a little off. And when Tomlin tapped out,
[21:22] Speaker 3: I think he knew this little Sean Paytony a couple
[21:24] Speaker 3: of years ago with the Saints, like this thing's over,
[21:27] Speaker 3: I gotta get out now.
[21:29] Speaker 2: Yeah. And I think you know you're seeing this in
[21:33] Speaker 2: the NBA now where the NFL is, it's really becoming
[21:38] Speaker 2: a GM league. I mean like in the NBA, I
[21:40] Speaker 2: mean the best teams all have one thing in common. Celtics, Spurs, OKC,
[21:46] Speaker 2: Minnesota Knicks have really good front offices. I've always said
[21:51] Speaker 2: with the Knicks, when when James Dolan built the Spear
[21:55] Speaker 2: in Vegas for two and a half years. He stopped
[21:57] Speaker 2: meddling in basketball, and they built this pretty good roster.
[22:00] Speaker 3: He wasn't right, you know.
[22:01] Speaker 2: So it's like, I mean, most of the in the NFL.
[22:04] Speaker 2: You start looking at the best teams. Well, I mean,
[22:06] Speaker 2: it's like Seattle in LA in Philadelphia and Detroit and
[22:11] Speaker 2: Kansas City, and the one thing they have in common
[22:13] Speaker 2: isn't superstar quarterbacks. It's really good front offices. Because when
[22:18] Speaker 2: you have these hard caps, that's kind of the difference.
[22:21] Speaker 2: And I think Pittsburgh, I mean when two people I
[22:24] Speaker 2: call two people who know the Steeler situation and they're
[22:28] Speaker 2: both like they're in trouble and John it does not
[22:33] Speaker 2: take long, and competitive interest it does not take long
[22:36] Speaker 2: in competitive industries to flow. I mean, it's it's I mean,
[22:42] Speaker 2: you just start looking around the NFL right now, I
[22:44] Speaker 2: don't even know what Pittsburgh gets. Today's show is brought
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[24:17] Speaker 2: gambling problem called one eight hundred gambler. Okay, I thought,
[24:27] Speaker 2: I thought it was interesting. I read the Athletic and
[24:30] Speaker 2: they were ranking rosters. They have a roster composition, and
[24:35] Speaker 2: it was a it's an analytic formula based on I
[24:40] Speaker 2: guess wins, and now rosters aren't even quarter. Obviously, you
[24:47] Speaker 2: can have weak linebackers in Josh Allen, and you're going
[24:50] Speaker 2: to rank very high. But the Bills ranked third in
[24:54] Speaker 2: terms of roster composition, in terms of quality of roster.
[25:00] Speaker 2: Rams Seahawks, I think it may have been rams Seahawks
[25:04] Speaker 2: are up there Philadelphia, but the Bills were ahead of
[25:10] Speaker 2: the Eagles. Again, Josh Allen's you know, it's like having
[25:14] Speaker 2: Otani in the lineup, he's worth like three players. Is
[25:18] Speaker 2: it possible? I always heard Brandon Bean was a cap
[25:21] Speaker 2: guy first, not as much, not as much a scout guy,
[25:25] Speaker 2: but a cap guy. But I do think there are
[25:27] Speaker 2: people in the NFL that get overvalued or undervalued. I
[25:31] Speaker 2: think we've gotten to a point with Brandon Bean because
[25:34] Speaker 2: they haven't won a championship. He just gets smacked and
[25:37] Speaker 2: he's a little defensive. He's had a couple of missteps
[25:39] Speaker 2: with the media. But I told somebody the other day,
[25:42] Speaker 2: I said, it's if I told you that a team
[25:46] Speaker 2: was elite at quarterback, running back, left tackle, tight end,
[25:50] Speaker 2: and made a really good wide receiver acquisition in the offseason,
[25:55] Speaker 2: You'd be like, oh, that's a pretty well run unit.
[25:57] Speaker 2: And I'm like, well, that's Brandon Bean in Buffalo. I
[26:00] Speaker 2: think that the second or the third best team in
[26:01] Speaker 2: the league. What do you make of the Brandon Bean
[26:04] Speaker 2: and I thought they had a pretty good draft. They
[26:07] Speaker 2: you know, they got an edge rusher, which they needed,
[26:10] Speaker 2: They did a lot of defense. They got a wide
[26:12] Speaker 2: receiver from Yukon who I actually watched a few times.
[26:15] Speaker 2: I thought he was really clever. I thought it was
[26:16] Speaker 2: a really clever like fourth round pick. How do you
[26:19] Speaker 2: view Buffalo macro level and Brandon bean Well.
[26:23] Speaker 3: I think he became polarizing because anytime the coach gets fired,
[26:27] Speaker 3: and it felt like it was a package deal with
[26:29] Speaker 3: the GM and the coach. Remember they came together from Carolina,
[26:33] Speaker 3: they had worked hand in hand. Obviously they had butted
[26:35] Speaker 3: heads over the years. I'm sure personnel wise, it feels
[26:39] Speaker 3: like a backstabbing, you know. I think famously, John Harbaugh
[26:42] Speaker 3: when he was introduced with the Giants, never brought up
[26:44] Speaker 3: Eric to Costa's name, and I just think sometimes those
[26:47] Speaker 3: relationships can be unique. Usually one guy sits with the
[26:51] Speaker 3: owner during the game while the other guy's on the field.
[26:53] Speaker 3: And the Bills have had, i mean, the most devastating
[26:57] Speaker 3: losses in the history of sports over the course of
[27:00] Speaker 3: thirty forty years. So I mean, clearly he's pretty good.
[27:04] Speaker 3: And I always defended Sean McDermott. He wasn't perfect, but
[27:07] Speaker 3: his resume speaks for itself. That franchise was dead, and
[27:11] Speaker 3: you know, I think the defense consistently let him down.
[27:13] Speaker 3: He was a defensive guy and that's why he got Ultimately,
[27:16] Speaker 3: I think they turned on him, right because if you
[27:18] Speaker 3: told me Sean McDermott was an offensive guy. I think
[27:21] Speaker 3: he'd probably still be there. But it's like your background
[27:24] Speaker 3: is defense, so it was easy to point out. Listen,
[27:28] Speaker 3: they've invested in some players over the years. In its backfire,
[27:31] Speaker 3: they paid von Miller a lot of money I didn't like,
[27:34] Speaker 3: which is gonna happen to everything at all, because remember
[27:36] Speaker 3: the Rams trade for him and he has a sack
[27:39] Speaker 3: like every game in the playoffs, in the super Bowl,
[27:41] Speaker 3: and then they gave him fifty and it blew up
[27:43] Speaker 3: in their face. But they've also made a lot of
[27:45] Speaker 3: good moves. Yeah, I mean, Shakir is an excellent player.
[27:48] Speaker 3: Cook in the second round is one of the best
[27:50] Speaker 3: running backs in the league. The tight ends are good.
[27:54] Speaker 3: To me. A Josh Allen tight move is do you
[27:57] Speaker 3: get a contract for life as a GM when you're
[28:00] Speaker 3: part of the unit that trades up to land him
[28:02] Speaker 3: at seven? Remember Sam, Darnold, Baker Mayfield went off the
[28:05] Speaker 3: board before Josh Allen, so it wasn't like It's not
[28:07] Speaker 3: like they drafted him two overall. So I think he's
[28:11] Speaker 3: pretty good. I think sometimes listen to the NFL. You know,
[28:15] Speaker 3: all these people can be a little insecure, and he's
[28:19] Speaker 3: he's pretty tied in with the media and he has
[28:22] Speaker 3: some media friends, so I think you can hear negative
[28:25] Speaker 3: things said about him, but there's no disputing they've been
[28:27] Speaker 3: I'm gonna pick him probably win the Super Bowl. So
[28:30] Speaker 3: they do a really, really good job. When you have
[28:32] Speaker 3: a quarterback that's that good, though, it's just hard to
[28:35] Speaker 3: get the credit when we watch your team and Gods,
[28:38] Speaker 3: I mean, whenever they beat the Ravens over the course
[28:40] Speaker 3: the last couple of years, we are takeaway it was
[28:42] Speaker 3: always like Ravens had way better players, you know how
[28:44] Speaker 3: they pull that off? It was Josh And I think
[28:48] Speaker 3: anytime you're in that scenario, it's hard to get credit
[28:50] Speaker 3: as a GM. Like with the Eagles, sometimes they win
[28:53] Speaker 3: despite the quarterback right right, and that's where he gets
[28:55] Speaker 3: a lot of credit. You watched John Schneider the team
[28:57] Speaker 3: he built over the last three or four years, elite
[29:02] Speaker 3: impact player, like every position. You watch the Bills sometimes
[29:05] Speaker 3: you're like, how many players would teams do everything? How
[29:10] Speaker 3: many guys on their team? If you remove Josh, would
[29:12] Speaker 3: teams trade a first round or to acquire And I
[29:15] Speaker 3: think if we played that game, there'd be a lot
[29:17] Speaker 3: of guys on a lot of the good teams there
[29:19] Speaker 3: wouldn't be Look at the Chiefs they get rid of
[29:21] Speaker 3: Ty McDuffie boom first rounder. How many players on the
[29:24] Speaker 3: Bills not named Josh Allen? Would Sean mcvahan less need
[29:27] Speaker 3: have traded pick twenty nine to.
[29:28] Speaker 2: Acquire Dion Dawkins left tackle?
[29:32] Speaker 3: Maybe older though older now though, you know?
[29:35] Speaker 2: And maybe the tight end dalton Y Yeah, I.
[29:38] Speaker 3: Mean a couple of years ago. Maybe Cook. I mean,
[29:40] Speaker 3: you put Cook on their team, they would be pretty good.
[29:43] Speaker 3: But not that many guys on defense, that's for damn sure.
[29:47] Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm gonna give you a couple over unders. Give
[29:50] Speaker 2: me your strong opinion. New England Patriots only nine and
[30:02] Speaker 2: a half. That's what the Jets and the Dolphins in
[30:05] Speaker 2: their division. John, think about that now, I want you
[30:09] Speaker 2: to think about that. That's two and zero against the Jets.
[30:11] Speaker 2: That's two and oh against the Dolphins. Dolphins maybe the
[30:13] Speaker 2: weakest roster in the league. They're four wins baked in Vegas.
[30:18] Speaker 2: Doesn't think they have another six wins in them.
[30:23] Speaker 3: I would say about the Jets, they've added a lot
[30:27] Speaker 3: of good players in the draft. They just extended Breeste
[30:29] Speaker 3: Hall if Gino Smith can just be capable in five
[30:32] Speaker 3: or six games throughout the season, they could knock a
[30:34] Speaker 3: random team off.
[30:35] Speaker 2: Here or there.
[30:36] Speaker 3: Yeah, I would take the New England Patriots as sitting
[30:39] Speaker 3: here right now like a nine or ten win season.
[30:42] Speaker 3: Just to be safe, I'd probably hammer the under. I
[30:44] Speaker 3: do think the Vrabel thing is something that clearly just
[30:46] Speaker 3: has not gone away. There is an element. I mean,
[30:49] Speaker 3: I love golf. I think Tiger Woods, everyone's staring at you,
[30:52] Speaker 3: not just because you're famous for a different reason. Can
[30:55] Speaker 3: be a weird scenario. There are away games. Football is
[30:58] Speaker 3: a little different basketball. They're not necessarily right on top
[31:01] Speaker 3: of you, but they're gonna be a lot of things screamed.
[31:04] Speaker 3: You know. It's it's gonna be uh. It's gonna be
[31:06] Speaker 3: a unique environment for the Patriots from an off the
[31:09] Speaker 3: field standpoint. Also, their schedule was easy last year and
[31:14] Speaker 3: everyone's gunning for you now. I mean they just won
[31:17] Speaker 3: the No one's taking you lightly. You just have a
[31:20] Speaker 3: random game this year interconference or I mean out of
[31:22] Speaker 3: conference they're play they get Seattle, you know, So it's
[31:25] Speaker 3: strength of schedule. It adds up. So I'd go nine
[31:28] Speaker 3: to ten wins now if you tell me Drake May
[31:30] Speaker 3: takes another step and he becomes two point zero version
[31:33] Speaker 3: of Josh Allen, then I believe you. But I I
[31:36] Speaker 3: could see I could see them being better in the
[31:38] Speaker 3: big picture and not winning as many.
[31:40] Speaker 2: Games forty nine, ten and a half.
[31:48] Speaker 3: Uh. Well, to see the way the schedule shakes out
[31:51] Speaker 3: this year, I I i'd probably, if I was playing
[31:53] Speaker 3: it safe, go ten and seven. So I take the under.
[31:56] Speaker 3: They're their coaching staff. I mean, as long as you've
[31:58] Speaker 3: got Kyle, they're going to be pretty dependent on last
[32:01] Speaker 3: year's Remember they split with the Rams in Seattle, so
[32:08] Speaker 3: it's not they have two of the best teams in
[32:10] Speaker 3: their division. But they're comfortable playing them. I mean, they
[32:13] Speaker 3: went down last year and beat the Rams on a
[32:15] Speaker 3: Thursday night football game with Max Jones starting. Now, they
[32:18] Speaker 3: got Seattle week one, which was clearly they played them
[32:23] Speaker 3: late and it was a different ball game. But they
[32:27] Speaker 3: it's not one of those. If you tell me the Bears,
[32:29] Speaker 3: let's say Week one is the Bears at Seattle in Seattle,
[32:32] Speaker 3: that's a tough spot for the Bears, right, super loud,
[32:34] Speaker 3: great defense. Wouldn't shock you if the Bears won eleven
[32:38] Speaker 3: games and lost that game by ten points. The Niners
[32:41] Speaker 3: in that environment are used to playing it, so I
[32:46] Speaker 3: feel pretty comfortable saying they'll be ten and seven.
[32:49] Speaker 2: Pretty interesting in the best division in football. Based on
[32:53] Speaker 2: record the last two years, despite the JJ McCarthy situation,
[33:00] Speaker 2: the Vikings are eight and a half over under Bears
[33:03] Speaker 2: are nine and a half with Ben Johnson and Caleb
[33:06] Speaker 2: Williams eight and a half of the Vikings is that?
[33:13] Speaker 2: Is that a tip of the cap to Kevin O'Connell,
[33:17] Speaker 2: Kyler Murray. They just went and got Jawan Jennings from
[33:20] Speaker 2: the Niners. What do you make of that? That number
[33:23] Speaker 2: feels like if they were in the NFC South, in
[33:26] Speaker 2: the NFC North, eight and a half of the Vikings?
[33:29] Speaker 2: Is that the ultimate tip of the cap to Kevin O'Connell.
[33:32] Speaker 3: Well, I mean two years ago they won fourteen, right
[33:34] Speaker 3: and last year they won nine. I'm hammering that under.
[33:38] Speaker 3: I think to me they got five six, seven wins
[33:40] Speaker 3: written all over. They are to me, they're to me
[33:43] Speaker 3: the last place team in that division. Now, like you said,
[33:46] Speaker 3: it's a tough division. I think the Lions are going
[33:49] Speaker 3: to be solid this year. They to me, both those
[33:51] Speaker 3: two teams were nine and eight. I think the Lions
[33:53] Speaker 3: were a better version than the Vikings. Right, there were
[33:55] Speaker 3: two nine and eight teams. If I had to say
[33:56] Speaker 3: which team was better last year, I'm taking the Lions
[34:00] Speaker 3: are going to be playoff team again and the Packers
[34:03] Speaker 3: sneaky have a lot of question marks. You look at
[34:05] Speaker 3: their roster, they've lost a lot of the core guys
[34:07] Speaker 3: last year, either through trades or in free agency. Before
[34:10] Speaker 3: came out the owners meetings like, yeah, we had some
[34:12] Speaker 3: internal locker room problems. Clearly some of the guys weren't
[34:15] Speaker 3: all in the same thing, the youth movement. I think
[34:20] Speaker 3: that some of the guys I think you might have
[34:22] Speaker 3: been talking about the offensive guys because if you looked
[34:24] Speaker 3: at it, they let Dobbs walk and they traded Wix
[34:26] Speaker 3: the Eagles, I think they had people inside that wide
[34:28] Speaker 3: receiver room that thought they were stars and wanted the
[34:31] Speaker 3: ball more. When you look at the catches on the team.
[34:34] Speaker 3: I looked the other day, Tucker Kraft led the team
[34:37] Speaker 3: with like fifty five sixty. They did not have multiple
[34:39] Speaker 3: guys like seventy eighty catches so wide receivers. You've always
[34:42] Speaker 3: been saying this for a long time. The icing on
[34:45] Speaker 3: the cake. These guys, no matter how high character they are,
[34:48] Speaker 3: they still a little about mem Ii. And you start
[34:52] Speaker 3: look at aj Brown, you start not getting the ball.
[34:54] Speaker 3: You start. The offense was a little weird. They were
[34:56] Speaker 3: winning games. They'd bring in Malik Willis to just be
[34:59] Speaker 3: like run quarter back option all game long. And it
[35:01] Speaker 3: was working, you know, because Laflour at Fairenos whatever we
[35:04] Speaker 3: had to do to win the game. Wide receivers want
[35:07] Speaker 3: to run go routes and post routes, and that's you know.
[35:10] Speaker 3: I think Lafloor's. Laflour is much more like Kyle and McVeigh.
[35:14] Speaker 3: I've always said this. McVeigh and Kevin O'Connell are more
[35:17] Speaker 3: versions of like an Andy Reid where they want to throw.
[35:20] Speaker 3: Lafleur is very comfortable. If Josh Jacobs was healthy, he
[35:23] Speaker 3: would love to have a fifteen hundred yard runner, you know.
[35:26] Speaker 3: He wants to run the ball, control of the clock.
[35:28] Speaker 3: Not the most wide receiver friendly offense. So they're gonna
[35:31] Speaker 3: be very I think Christian Watson is very content. Just
[35:35] Speaker 3: pay me a little money, let me run go routes.
[35:37] Speaker 3: They're gonna be very dependent on Golden you know, taking
[35:39] Speaker 3: a huge step up this year, but their organization has
[35:43] Speaker 3: kind of proven anytime you kind of bet against them,
[35:45] Speaker 3: they're they're just always kind of in the mix. So
[35:48] Speaker 3: to me, Bears Lions, then I have the Green Bay,
[35:51] Speaker 3: then I have Minnesota. I got one for you.
[35:54] Speaker 2: Though.
[35:54] Speaker 3: I like this team a lot, and I thought the
[35:56] Speaker 3: weekend they had was good. Is I think the Bengal
[36:01] Speaker 3: they've taken a lot of shit.
[36:02] Speaker 2: Last two years. They've upgraded that D line.
[36:05] Speaker 3: You know, Burrow's got a little lebroad in him, right,
[36:08] Speaker 3: He's telling these guys forcing their hands, and in fairness,
[36:10] Speaker 3: he's not been wrong about some of the stuff. Right
[36:12] Speaker 3: the indoor. You play in Ohio and we have an
[36:16] Speaker 3: indoor practice facility. Listen, you invest that much into two
[36:20] Speaker 3: wide receivers, it gets tough to economically build your team.
[36:24] Speaker 3: But when they traded the tenth pick for Dexter Lawrence,
[36:26] Speaker 3: I mean that was a ballsy, aggressive move and I
[36:31] Speaker 3: just think that then they draft I think cashus Howel
[36:34] Speaker 3: a lot like Ruben Bain if his arms were thirty
[36:37] Speaker 3: three instead of twenty nine or thirty. Cash's Howel's going
[36:41] Speaker 3: in the first round because you couldn't watch he was
[36:43] Speaker 3: by far the best player on Texas and him every
[36:45] Speaker 3: time you watched he had a little cutoff. You could
[36:47] Speaker 3: see his abs and he's coming around the end like
[36:49] Speaker 3: he's Von Miller fifteen years ago for that program. And
[36:52] Speaker 3: they get him in the second round. They signed Mafay,
[36:55] Speaker 3: who they have to overpay a little bit in Cincinnati,
[36:58] Speaker 3: but you just get more bodies. Now, their defensive line
[37:01] Speaker 3: is way better. We know their offense is good. They're
[37:04] Speaker 3: to me that pick to win that division.
[37:05] Speaker 2: I bot I just don't know if jesse mentor he
[37:09] Speaker 2: could be, but he's never been a head coach.
[37:11] Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean Baltimore had a once they got out
[37:14] Speaker 3: of the Crosby thing. Now you had hendrickson their draft.
[37:17] Speaker 3: I mean they get a plug and play starter, Rick Guard,
[37:20] Speaker 3: who's fantastic. Their second round pick, Zion from Missouri. Everyone
[37:24] Speaker 3: liked him a lot, So I would based on their history,
[37:27] Speaker 3: those players are going to be good. This is the
[37:29] Speaker 3: coaching staff, and I would say Lamar's health. You know,
[37:32] Speaker 3: Lamar last year, for the first time in his career,
[37:35] Speaker 3: looked like a shell of himself. At times, it was like, look,
[37:38] Speaker 3: he wasn't moving well, he wasn't. It was off.
[37:42] Speaker 2: He looked like a pitcher who lost like five miles
[37:44] Speaker 2: an hour off his fastball.
[37:45] Speaker 3: He was lism like twenty twelve. He's thrown ninety eight,
[37:48] Speaker 3: and then he was thrown eighty eight and balls were
[37:49] Speaker 3: going out the park.
[37:54] Speaker 2: All right, good stuff. John Middlecoff, M NFL Scout. See
[37:59] Speaker 2: there you go, buddy.
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[38:06] Speaker 1: hard Rock Bet.
[38:08] Speaker 3: Hard Rock Bet is Florida's.
[38:09] Speaker 1: Only legal way to bet the NBA teams, players, points
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