บทถอดความฉบับเต็มของ Sleeping On Lions? RESPECT Brock Purdy, Can Penix Be A Star? NFL/ESPN Partnership

years. You could look at groups like the Harbaugh Niners or the Shanahan Niners, or the Packers with Rogers. When you're a good team and you're gonna average between twelve and fifteen wins a season, right, let's see even eleven. Right, you're gonna have years where the difference between winning twelve and fourteen might just be a fumble in a block field goal. Right, That's just that's the way the world works. But you're also the majority of time, over the aggregate, you're not playing in games where you're winning forty to ten. That's not how the NFL worked. This is not college football. Right, if you go back and look at Ohio State over the last five years, or Alabama over the last ten years, or Georgia. In college, good teams blow opponents out a lot, right. They play in two or three close games during the regular season, and then in theory the postseason. Now, the playoffs is a highly contested matchup, but regular season games for good college teams are blocked. That's not the NFL. You're going to play in a lot of one score games. I bet if you look at the Chiefs over the last five six years, they have an excellent one score game winning record. Why because they average like thirteen wins the season, so most of their wins are not going to be thirty eight to thirteen. I actually don't think it's more with an outlier season, like a couple of years ago, the Minnesota Vikings with Kirk Cousins. I think the Giants when they went nine to eight. It happens to some franchises and that's like their one good season over the course of like three years. That's not the case with the Chiefs. So I'm with you. I think we probably make too big a deal with that. Like this, we have a lot of data. This is not a small sample size. It's like, well, this guy hit ten home runs in the month of June. He's gonna be the greatest home run hitter of all time, and he's like never hits another home run. Like this is a franchise that like year in year out, since Patrick began as a starting quarterback in whatever year that was eighteen, Like we got a pretty good vibe in a field, like this team's gonna be good. Now. I think they've won this division seven years in a row over the course of ten years. There's going to be a year when you don't win the division, right, it happened to the Patriots. The Dolphins won it in what was that eight now, Tom Brady towards ACL that year. The difference in the Chiefs situation relative to that situation in New England for twenty years, where I think they basically won the division every year beside that one, that division kind of sucked. Now, the Patriots always made up for it because handled everyone else, your division's good, So Denver's gonna be good. The Chargers, even if they it's a pretty big blow, like they're gonna be solid. And the Raiders with Pete Carroll are going to be I mean the Pete Carroll's last couple of years with Seattle, Everyone's like, he just it just sucks. It's like they were winning nine games, like making the playoffs. So I think the floor is really really high on that division as a whole, and eventually you're just gonna have one of those years where if instead of winning thirteen games, you end up winning eleven like the Chiefs two years ago, and you don't win the division you finished second. I do think that's possible. But like if I want to argue for the Chiefs, you'd go, well, Chargers lost their left tackle. We're better than them. It's like, Okay, Bo Nicks, I know everyone loves giving him the circle jerk and listen, I'm probably guilty of that too, Like see it, beat us, let's see it, beat us? Can you win this Division's let's see because I know our guy can can you? Big Bucks fan and also a big fan of the show, you have to discuss Chase is one of the better gms in the league, and I also have a conflicted opinion on it. On one hand, we indeed have one of the better rosters in the league, and we have been a stalwart in winning the division and going to the playoffs the last five years. But on the other hand, he just extended Bulls, who, despite having won the division as a coach every year of his tenure, I think we can all agree probably holding the team back. He is a defensive coach and his defenses are subpar, and we schematically and tactically aren't clever or creative. I will give Bulls credit for bringing a sense of stability and keeping the team even keel, but doesn't Light deserve some criticism for not seeing Bulls just isn't good enough as a head coach. I was ironically here. I sent Jason to text yesterday because there was an article on The Athletic. Basically the premise was like, we don't draft assholes or dbags, and that's a big reason over the last five years they have had so much success in the draft, building a roster that is just fantastic, right and Tom Brady was the cherry on top, and then they turned it around and then they transitioned to Baker. But Jason is easily one of the best drafting gms in the league and just a good guy. Like we started talking about other mid round draft picks and he's just an easy going, high level GM. I don't know the particulars of every organization and really most organizations when it comes to these situations, but no head coach and no GM is ever extended unless the owner wants to do it. The general manager is not like the CEO of Starbucks in the sense of in the NFL, if a head coach is extended, that's because of the owner, not the GM. Now I'm not saying clearly Jason likes him, and like you said, Todd's had success, but that is an ownership call. So like, do I think Jason would fire him? Basically? Like why would you? But it's more complicated than just if you tell me. I'm just using a hypothetical. Obviously he's gonna be good. But the first round pick from a Mecca Boku from Ohio State. I might have screwed up that name, but everyone thinks he's gonna be good, Baker singing his praises. I'm excited to watch him. I was just texting Jason about him, that they love him. Let's just say he was a

bust and he sucks. Everyone would agree. That's on the GM. Jason light would say that was on me. Right, All the previous busts over the years in that organization since Jason's been there in twenty thirteen, are on him, and he would be the first to tell you to me head coaching situations. That's that's that's the owner. I also think it's not like he's gonna fire him. So I hear what you're saying, but I think it's more complicated than just the GM extended because that's not totally how it works, right, Like Howie and Sirianni. Obviously Sirianni wins the Super Bowl, we all agree, like Sirianni's not as good as these other guys, right, But like Syriana gets an extension, that's not like Howie doing the extension, Like that's a Jeffrey Lurriy decision. So I think when it comes to coaches and extensions or firings, not that the GM doesn't have influence good or bad, but they are in control of that one. That's Those are expensive, even for a quote unquote like Todd Bowles is, you know, cheaper than the Tomlins and the mcveigh's and the Andy Reids, still cost you probably twelve thirteen million dollars a year. You know, it's it ain't cheap, big fan listening every day landscaping here in Atlanta. So you're probably pretty hot because I'm pretty sure it's muggy there. I got a football question and a golf question. I'm a big Falcons fan, and I think we have a lot of talent, but I think Terry and Raheem are objectively underwhelming. Is it possible to overcome them and succeed? How do caddies rank up from starting catting to catting for the pros? It's a good question on the caddies. I think a lot of times there's some element of luck catting in quote unquote the minor leagues with the guy who then becomes a really good player, and then once you get to the quote unquote big leagues, you just kind of shuffle. It's almost like, how does this guy keep getting opportunities as a coordinator. It's like, well, once upon a time someone gave him a shot as a coordinator, and then he just kind of cycles in and out. I think it's very very difficult. If you gave Raheem morse and he became the head coach of the Ravens. I think it'd be hard for them not to not miss the playoffs, right, they already have the infrastructure, the guys know how to win, They already have some built in schemes. He could kind of be the raw rock guy in front, but when he's the guy creating, like we've been winning seven games a year, it's time to make the playoffs, like, it's pretty underwhelming and I think it's hard to overcome that now. The only way they could is Rahiem does not call the offense. And I don't know Zach Robinson personally, and it's hard to put it all on him. Cousins just I mean physically kind of fell apart last year as the season went on. It was just objectively bad. And I don't that to me is not on the coaching. But if he's really good and Pennix is really good, I think you could overcome an average GM and an average head coach. But that's asking, Like, I mean, Penix would have to be like a Pro Bowl guy like cant he throw thirty eight touchdowns? I don't know. I hope So I love Michael Pennocks question for the bag. It seems like a safe bet that Anthony Richson will exit a game early in the season. If Daniel Jones gets his shot and is half the season Sam Darnold had last year, could you see the Colts winning a playoff game. You know what's funny is I was watching Hard Knocks last night on the couch and if you watch the first two episodes and when they do practice montage, typically Hard Knocks is based on a shitty team, right, and a lot of times they either have like a young rookie quarterback or some veteran bridge quarterback, and it's just an awful aesthetic experience city just watching it. It's like, this offense stinks. Remember Jared Goff did it last year. Caleb. You can just tell it's like this is this is gonna be weird. Watching Josh Allen play, You're like, this is this is as good as it gets, just watching him slinging around Anthony looking back at Anthony Richardson. And you know, if you've listened to me for a while, where I stand on drafting high and taking big swings. I never have a problem swinging for the fences. I am pro in the high in the draft, swing for the fences, because there is no such thing as a high floor player. Daniel Jones was viewed as a high floor player and for the most you know, relative to the six overall pick, he's been a disaster. But they drafted Anthony Richardson, just like the Niners drafted Trey Lance. Just like in the history of the league, a lot of physical guys have been drafted. Josh Allen was one as well, and they don't work out. For every Josh Allen there are ten to fifteen absolute whiffs and instead of hitting that grand Slam, you strike out. And to me, Anthony Richardson, like Daniel Jones is starting Week one, I would be stunned sitting here after watching that situation unfold in the first preseason game of him not knowing protections and where free relief or free rushers are coming from. Like it's over now. It doesn't mean Daniel Jones can get hurt. Play poorly, doesn't mean he won't play. But I wouldn't compare Daniel Jones to Sam Donald. Sam Donald is a much more talented player. Daniel Jones comp is like Alex Smith. Sam Donald's comp is much more of like a I mean, honestly, he's like a poor man's Josh Allen he doesn't run like that, but he's got an explosive arm, and he, like Daniel Jones, is not some explosive thrower of the ball. His best season ever, I think, was like fifteen touchdowns. So I guess they could, but I have a hard time seeing it work out, Like might take a couple of days ago. Like I'm out. I'm just out on this thing, and I think, if you're betting man right now, I think it's going to be a debacle. And I would say my gambling lock of the year, my lock of the year is the Texans winning that division. Big fan, fellow ball brother, My question for the pot is which of these three guys had a higher peak Leveon Bell, Todd Gurley, David Johnson,

or Arian Foster. I feel like they all had particular stretches when they were dominant. I mean, I think they were all like all pro players. So I would say was Todd Gurley the starting running back on the team that McVeigh took to the Super Bowl. Was David Johnson was starting running back on a team that went to the AFC Championship. Le'Veon was starting running back. I mean they all played in a lot of playoff games. I personally think when purely healthy, Gurley was the most talented of the group. Arian Foster was just the ideal zone running scheme guy. I mean it just he was perfect for the Lafleur Shanahan any you know what the Eagles do, and there's any zone running team, he is the ideal running back. Leveon was good with his own, but he was kind of a hybrid. He could do both. His style was so unique to me. Todd was just Todd was a pretty elite talent. I mean, the dude got drafted tenth overall. The torn A cl and arian Aaran was just some certain running backs are just specific scheme fits. And to me, Arian has to play in the zone and when he did. Gary Kubiak, Kyle Shanahan, We're gonna run it right down your throat for the mailback this Carter ku Athletics that'd be Kansas announced three hundred million dollar donation which will go toward athletics only confirmed by a couple of different k reporters. With money like that flowing into certain universities, is there a future where random schools like US Texas Tech, Arkansas and ASU become national brands in household names in college football or do you think that's going to be impossible? I think one. I mean, we've seen it before. Oregon became a household name in the Internet age behind Phil Knight in Nike, and they are going to even take a bigger step. And I guess they have no chance to go anywhere as long as Nike continues to back them. Right, Texas Tech is trying to essentially do that same thing which Oklahoma State did for a long time with Ta Boom pickings of like, we're just going to buy a team. Obviously you couldn't above board do it, but it was happening below board. To me, it's more complicate. It's it's easier to wrangle twenty five thousand dollars in cash together to get a recruit than it is to get Hey, we want these five guys. It's going to cost us two million dollars on average four hundred thousand dollars a guy in real money that we pay them in direct deposits on a monthly basis. Like that, that's much more complicated than handing a guy a briefcase or a bag of cash, and so to elevate like it's you can have a really really successful mom and pop restaurant, right that does really well even smaller margins. In the restaurant business, you can be very financially successful if you're one of the ten percent of restaurant tours that in a city develops the number one restaurant. It's always packed and you make money, which is very difficult to do. It is much more difficult from a capital standpoint to run a national business a retail store that's in like ten different states. Right, You just you just got more people working for It's just more complicated and it takes more money, and it takes more support. Like you gotta get bank loans, just a lot moving on. You got to get investors, whereas a restaurant tour maybe you got fifty grand to put on the down payment front and then just kind of go from there and figure it out. And again I'm not trying to downplay, but there's a difference trying to compete with Walmart or Target than there is to like just create a restaurant in downtown. So like that's kind of the college athletics to bounce. And I said, this is Josh pat the other day when Alabama's ad put out a tweet asking for help. You just that's a problem. You know who's not doing that, Texas Tech because they got a billionaire supporting them, Arkansas. So yes, I think we will one million percent see a couple new programs over the course of the next decade, their addition to the national landscape of just being maybe not they're going to become Ohio state overnight, but like they're just in the mix for the next ten years, in the top fifteen to twenty every single year, and they're gonna make the playoffs a couple times. So yes, I would. I would not put ASU with Arkansas and Texas Tech. I mean, Arkansas and Texas Tech have big, big money. ASU is not remotely close on that level. I mean last year Kenny Dillingham was begging people for donations. I have no idea if you'll see this, but if you do, message this is for the pod. This is not for the pod, but to get your thoughts. I'll just read this out. I won't say your name. I love your show and would love to start my own podcast as a way to one day make a living. I enjoy my nine to five, but it's not something I'm passionate about what I love doing is talking sports, especially football, with my buddies. I would love to start a podcast that has the vibe guys just talking ball with a mix of bounce takes, hot takes, fan bias, and outside perspective. The problem is I have no actual football experience. I didn't even play high school football. But man, I love watching it, listen to it, and talking about it. I would love to make my work that you're in the business, what do you like and what do you not like about this? I would say this, there has never been an easier time in your situation to figure out a way to get involved in the world of just talking about sports. This stuff when I got into it, hell a decade ago, didn't really exist. You have YouTube, you have Instagram, you have TikTok. Like you don't need to start of just like I have a podcast that one hundred thousand people listen to. Just create a TikTok account or an Instagram account or a YouTube page and just kind of start throwing your ideas out there. Record some of your podcasts, clip it up, make it a side project, and just see if you can figure out a way to kind of hone in on what works and what doesn't work. Who cares if anyone's listen. You already have a job, so just make it a side hustle. At first, most side

hustles don't make any money, and then if you ever gained some traction, you can spend a little more effort and energy doing it. But like you can order equipment off Amazon, you can just get a Logitech camera and put it above your your laptop and just start recording stuff and post it to the social channels and just mess around and then just figure out, like how much you actually like it, because now you can't be down on yourself about how many people listen or interact like it takes time. You know, it's like coward just didn't start on Fox Sports one with a show a podcast company doing all this stuff. You can start doing it when no one was paying attention in the eighties, right, Dan Patrick started when no one was paying attention, well before he ever gotten ESPN or whoever, right, And most people aren't Pat McAfee or whatever that have a built in like I played in the NFL. So you just you gotta start from scratch and just start swinging your pick. But you get to a point like, if you really want to try this, it's not You already have a way to make money. Start small and just see where it goes. I'm twenty four year old Falcons fan, and ever since Super Bowl losses fell like a nightmare, trusting Mariota Desmond Ritter wasn't exactly comforting, But last year Kirk Cousins actually gave me some of the best football memories in years, Like the Bucks on Thursday Night Football in the Eagles two Minute Drive, I like grahem, love our recent draft, and I'm really intrigued by Zach Robinson. I agree the staff is only in year two, so I know it takes time to fully establish a system. Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but is it crazy to believe that Pennix could have a Mahomes type arc, sit behind a solid vet, get a few reps, and then blow up. In year two, we got a good old line, we have weapons, and the defense is younger and improving. What are the odds pulls us into the playoffs? If you're a playoff team, that means I would make I mean, I think the Bucks are winning ten games, so you probably have to win eleven or twelve to win the division. I guess you could make a wild card at ten. That means Penix has a good year. And if Pennix has a good year, like you're gonna be in a good spot and moving forward. Now, I think this is what we talked about with Anthony Richardson being compared to Josh Allen. It's like we need the next Josh Allen. Like, no, don't think like that, because that's never happen. It happened in basketball forever. This guy's the next Draymond Green. Now there's one Draymond Green. There's never gonna be another guy that's six foot five that can play defense like that passingerribble that doesn't really happen. He's an outlier player. Josh Allen, all these physical gifts, wasn't very good in college. Couldn't even get a Division one scholarship. People thought the fucking Bills were nuts for drafting them. It's like that that's an outliershit. Usually that guy sucks, right, And the thing with Pennix is like multi year starter, took Washington to the Natty dominated Like he's a legitimate, like plug and play player. Now, how good I hope he's good. I enjoy watching him play. But comparing him to Mahomes, I mean, didn't Mahomes as his first year starting, throw fifty touchdowns. Didn't he win the MVP? I think that's his style is a lot different than Penis too. I mean Penix is a pocket quarterback. Pennix is more He's much closer to like a Jared Goff, like the way he wants to play. Mahomes first year in the NFL as a full time starter, he threw fifty touchdowns. So I would say Pennix stars thirty, y're in pretty good shape. I think we got to be very careful of like this happens a lot during the draft, Like, you know, this guy reminds me of Miles Garrett. You know who this tight end, George Kittle? Like no guy. None of these guys, like two of these first rounders are going to be Pro Bowlers. Actually, most of the good players are gonna come from the other rounds. That's out. It usually works unless this is an outlier draft when a bunch of Pro Bowlers come from the first round, which doesn't happen as often as you think. I feel, like many people this is from I think Xander Dander Shoffley, not Xander Shoffley. But I feel like many people are riding off the Lions because they're losing both coordinators. But I would argue that the addition of all the defensive players that were injured last year being back is a bigger gain than a loss of the coordinators. Hutchinson looked like the best rusher in the league to start last season, and him and ten other guys are coming back from injury. They won fifteen games last year with an injured team. Why can't they win twelve or thirteen with all these players back. I totally agree. I'm just trying to beat off the just off the main path a little bit. So why I'm taking the Packers right. You guys have won the division what the last two years. Obviously you got a lot of talent. The offense is loaded, I think defensively, if you got the Jimmies and the Joe's and you got one of the best edge rushers, you got some young players. Brian Branch really player, You've drafted a bunch of DB's the last couple of years. Scheme matters, But like the infrastructure you hired from within, Like I bet they're pretty solid on defense if they're healthy. Even with Aaron Glenn leaving to me offense. We all know this, Like, when you lose a coordinator, especially an elite coordinator, there can be a massive drop off, even if the players are the same. I think that's where you get, like Ben Johnson to Johnny Morton, Like, why hasn't Johnny Morton been a dominant offensive coordinator threat his lead career? Everyone keeps telling me how great of a guy is. I'm not just or I mean coach he is. I'm sure he's a great guy. Like I don't know, like Ben Johnson is, I mean one of the best offensive coordinators we've seen recently. It's like I got Gruden, I got Dan Campbell, I got Sean Page, Like I love Johnny Morton. It's like, well, why didn't you guys make him your offensive

coordinator more often? How many times is Johnny Morton? So I guess what I'm saying is he's the guy that makes me nervous. So he's offensive coordinator right now. He was the pass game coordinator the last couple years of the Broncos. He was there obviously in twenty two with Dan Campbell's talked about this bringing him back as a senior offensive consultant. He was the Jets offensive coordinator in twenty seventeen. He was a wide receiver coach for a long time with the Niners, and then the same I just that to me, I'd be more nervous about than the defense. They just maintained the same thing. Like does he run the exact same verbiage and offense that Ben Johnson did? He's clearly not the same. And Ben Johnson, I mean pretty you just watch him talk like cerebral, smart guy. Johnny Martin's got a little more like football guy vibe. I saw you came out to bowling Brook for the liv golf tournament. How did you like bowling Brook? Also based off the offseason move, do you think nine wins for the Bears is realistic? Have a real expectations for them, but don't want to expect too much, you know. Besides, I just the first hole in the eighteenth hole didn't I didn't walk the course, so it looked like a pretty cool venue. Definitely, it was sweet being in the little literally in the suite, drinking beers, having some food. But I don't have a great feel for the course, beside watching them hit down hole one in approach eighteen, I would say, on the Bears, if you tell me they go by five hundred above five hundred, I would say, Caleb's you feel pretty good about Caleb moving forward and you just got some positive momentum. To me, the number one key for this team is like, do you feel good at the end of the year. And that would be impossible if you win three, four or five games, But could you win eight nine games and be like we had the top two or three or four defense in the league. And I mean, Denna sounds a really good defensive coach, and the offense is pretty hit or miss. I think you would much rather choose. You know, our defense was pretty hit or miss, but our offense was awesome with Ben Johnson and Kalem. You could argue that's the only thing that matters, is like you feel good, your head coach likes the quarterback and the quarterback looks good. That to me is more important than you know, you're not winning the Super Bowl. You know you're gonna win a playoff game, probably not either, but like, does your quarterback look good? A lot of Falcons fans for the bag as a Falcons fan, I want to get your opinion on Raheem. He doesn't call the plays on defense, doesn't call the plays on offense, So what is his role other than being the vocal leader. Time management is clearly not one of his strong suits, which is evident from the Falcons commander's game last year, along with clock management early in the season. In fairness to Raheem, he is no different than a lot of coaches. Be Harbob Brothers do not call the offense, do not call the defense. Pete Carroll does not all the offense, does not call the defense. Dan Campbell not call the offense. There are a ton of quote unquote CEO head coaches in the NFL, A ton right for every McVeigh and Kyle and even I guess Andy and Sean Payton. Most guys are not doing that. Vrabel doesn't call the offense, doesn't call the defense. Todd Bowles ain't called the defense anymore, or does he. That might be a bad example, but to me, it's more about like the structure of what you're looking for, and that's what the Hardbob Brothers have shined at. That's what Dan Campbell is like, broke the lions through with can he do that? Because just being the CEO of a company, Like think about the CEO of most most like successful companies. They're not like Starbucks hired the dude from Chipotle. Well guess what, he ain't making the burritos at Chipotle when Starbucks hires him, Like he ain't pouring the coffee, right, He's not running an individual store. You are doing macro visionary things for the company. It's no different as a CEO and coach. So like, do you know what you're doing? Because there have been a lot of CEO that, like, God, I really like this guy. He wasn't very good at a job, and you just have to wonder, like is this guy actually a number two? And there are just a lot of those guys like Robert Solid probably just number two, Vick Fangio number two. And I've said this forever. If you're gonna be at number two, there are a lot of industries where being the number two there's a big paid decrease and you're not even making that much money. In the NFL, being the number two, which means being the defensive coordinator if you're a him, pays like four or five million dollars, and you bear no responsibility when people get in trouble, when people get injured. There's so many pressures that are not on you. And I've said this forever, even about Ben Johnson. Is like, until you get into the firing lines and all of a sudden, a defensive player gets a dui, an offensive player that was your star snaps his leg, a head coach's wife gets sick. You know, all this stuff going on, all that pressure is on you. That's where it's like, you know, now we're gonna learn about Dan Campbell. You know what I know, Dan Campbell can handle the pressure. I've seen it now schematically, are they good enough? That to me is the question. But in terms of Dan Campbell handling guys getting injured, guys getting arrested, guys getting flagged, guys whatever, unfaced, I have full faith like he can handle being a CEO. We know the hardballs, the Pete Carroll's like those guys we saw Robert Solid try to be a CEO. Wasn't because you know what most CEOs need, they need a lot of experience because getting thrust in the main chair. It's where Sean McVeigh obviously it was difficult, but like he got to just kind of focus on calling the offensive plays. He had Wade Phillips calling the defense, and it's like he could kind of be tunnel vision earlier in his career, which now he's able to balance both. But raheem

like the pressure on them because they spend a bunch of money on Kirk Cousins. The least is pretty short. It's why I think if they miss the playoffs, I think everyone's gonna get fired. The owner's old they bungled the quarterback situation that they didn't have to do so, I you know, based on paying I mean, their backup makes twenty eight million dollars. What was your takeaway from Pete Carroll's first game. I know they started the first half slow, but came back in the second half and blocked the field goal from winning. I'd be lying if I said I watched much of that game. I remember sitting on my couch watching the first first couple drives and like it was a preseason game, I didn't care. I listen Coward. One of his first takes when he got back from vacation was Dan Campbell and the Lions were in trouble because they lost their two coordinators and he could tell on the Hall of Fame game, like I disagree with making judgments based on the preseason most of these games. And listen, my take on Shador Sanders is not that based on that performance in the first preseason game that he's a future star. My take was simply like the head coach better be careful because the momentum is already against what he wants to do an on shed or side. But making plays against second and third string players is what you want to do as a player. But that does not guarantee, let alone even translate always to the regular season because it's a completely different sport. There's no we're not scheming up against anybody, So preseason is really just effort, energy and what does what do your backups look like? Right from a talent standpoint, So the judging Pete Carroll off the preseason game, to me is irrelevant. Like Pee Carroll is twenty five plus years of showing you what he brings to the table. I'd be very excited to go from I think, you know, Pete Carroll's resume is a lot longer than verable. But I'll never forget And I was when I left the NFL and I went into radio. I was around the hardball and they fired Jim Harbaugh and they went to Jim Tomsula. I'm very, very confident it is the worst drop off in the history of the NFL. Jim harbought of Jim Tom Suwa. I don't think they'll ever be a drop off in a gap that big between two players. It'd be like going from you know, Tom Brady to Brian Hoyer. I mean, this is the gap. Couldn't be any bigger, right, And I think on the opposite end, going from Girodmeo to Vrabel and Antonio appears to Pete Carroll, that's on the that's the opposite end of like ascending up. So how good they're gonna be Listen, I don't know if they're talented enough to like win nine games, but they are gonna be way better. And Pete Carroll, we know he knows what he's doing now. I do think there are some question marks, Like Chip Kelly's got a lot of friends in the media. You know, for a grumpy old guy, he's sneaky, pretty good with the media, and everyone loves him. It's like, we sure it's gonna work. I've seen Pete Carroll in the NFL, or excuse me, I've seen Chip Kelly in the NFL and it did not work. Now has he adapted his scheme changed, It's gonna be a lot different. I would say the Raiders, and this is no one's fault, but like, they don't have great wide receivers. Now they got Brock Bauers, who's a stud. You know, Jacoby Meer is a good player. But you know, I wouldn't say this is exactly Jordan justin Jefferson, Jordan Adison rolling out there. So I think you're gonna have limitations, especially what Pete came from in Ohio State, or I mean, excuse me, I get Pete and Chip mixed up. But what Chip was dealing with in Ohio State, which he had a first round wide receiver who went to the Bucks. He has this other wide receiver would have been a top five pick this year. He had two running backs who both went in the top thirty five. His left tackle has a had a blown out knee and was drafted in the first round. I mean, the talent on Ohio State was stupid. So it's gonna be a lot different. I'm just I just not really into chips offense in the pros when you can't stack stack the deck. So I think that's the big question mark with the Raiders. I think defensively, I think energy, effort, I think focus like they're gonna be a serious NFL operation. Are you gonna do another top ten Coaches in the League video like you did last year. I'm not sure what the numbers were, but it seemed like it was a big hit. I'm curious to see if guys like Sean Payton make it on the list a year after being omitted last year, and does Kevin O'Connell get a spot. That's a good idea. Actually, let me take a little note. I think we did something last year for social and it flew up. I would say that both those guys would be on the list. Yes, I mean, listen, Sean Payton's one of the best coaches in the league. There's no disputing that it was just hard. After the Russell Wilson situation, they had a game where they gave up seventy points. So last I did not see that coming last year. I did not blew me away, And listen, I'm critical of Kevin O'Connell, because I think it's fair to be like why doesn't Lamar play better in the playoffs? Right? Like why doesn't Kevin O'Connell coach better in the playoffs? Like that's a fair happens in basketball all the time with like what's up with James Harden in the playoffs? What's up with it? Like why doesn't Joel Embiid suck in the playoffs? Like you can ask these questions, and no one likes to ask these questions. That's all I'm doing. Like I've never acted like I wouldn't want Kevin O'Connell as my coach. But he's had a couple of playoff games with teams that won twelve and like fourteen games. We lost them both as favorites. That happens, that's a fact. I'm not funer opaion. Why is nobody talking about the obvious issue with the NFL having equity in ESPN? It's a complete conflict of interest. How can I trust the journalistic integrity of ESPN's content? For context, I'm a CPA, an auditor in public accounting, and I must remain independent at all times from my clients. My independence must be

both in fact, I cannot own stock equity and in appearance, I can't take favors, tickets, gifts. The NFL ESPN deal doesn't have either. That's because they're not in the journalist business. Journalism, I would say, is dying a hard death. And I think a big reason why is we can't monetize it like we once could. We used to be able to monetize a lot of things that came with ESPN. ESPN the magazine, ESPN, the website. Those don't matter as much anymore. You know what does the games, which equate to all of the revenue for ESPN and bring the value. It's why they spent all this money on the NBA, and it's why they spend all this money on the NFL. You know why, because they want those properties on their and same with college football and college basketball. They want the games. That's the business they're in. They don't care about someone writing an article about Roger Goodell doesn't make them any money. And they're not in the charity business. They're in the profit business. So there's a reason why. About a decade ago, when the written word started to slow down and a lot of big j's got really mad, it's like, guys, the reason newspapers dominated for so long is they were an advertising distribution network. Well as humans stopped buying the newspapers, newspapers didn't generate the same amount of money and didn't have the same power, so they started laying you off. They didn't lay you off because they hate the written word. It just didn't profit anymore. ESPN their top shows non games are like get up in first Take that have nothing to do with journalism. I've seen a lot of people, and I think the media cares about this way more. I understand where you're coming from, because you're in this world of conflicts of interest. You know what? The only interest for ESPN iss how do we get more? And but in bed with the NFL, how do we get more games? How do we get a super Bowl? How do we get more NFL? That's the business they're in that they're not worried about. Hey, Seth Wickersham, who is good what he can and can't write? That's completely irrelevant. It just is so the days of like, and I've seen a lot of people, what's gonna happen with the journalistic integrity? Do you just see what they're talking about? On First Take, like where's the journalistic integerty, Like what were we even talking about? Is all entertainment and they are in the business of getting involved in getting the games, so you do whatever it takes to get the games. I also think the NFL, for the most part, they don't get mad at people talking about individual teams and honestly even the individual owners. The only time ESPN had trouble, which rightfully so, they had a lot of journalists rooting for football to go under. I mean that was a fact. I mean football is the biggest sport, it's the most profitable sport, even at the time, and there were a lot of people on their network rooting for it to basically go bankrupt essentially, and Bill Simmons got in trouble going after Goodell. So when you go after the individual commissioner or the health of the league. But like you can rip on the coaches and players as much as you want, I mean, First Take does it every day. No one cares. So I actually don't think anything's really gonna change from what ESPN has been. But if journalism was more important to the consumer, newspapers would still be thriving. But they're not, you know, so I think that's overblown. I guess would my overall take be about ESPN's responsibility to journalism. And let's be real, most listen, I respect like being a journalist and doing it the right way is really difficul But I would say that most journalists have become activists. So you could argue that a lot of journalism what used to be twenty thirty years ago, has died. Got me entertained by golf. I'm from Houston, but I grew up a Packer fan. Thoughts on Texans versus Packers in the Super Bowl. I think the Texans defense is going to be elite. I think their defense is going to be so good now the only question is going to be the offensive coordinator. Can c J bounce back? If their offense is solid, they're gonna be pretty good. Obviously the Packers are going you know, Love's hurt. I think is Jayden Reid hurt? They got some injuries right now, it's August thirteenth. I'm pretty high on the Packers. I'm gonna bet them to I'm gonna do like I was looking at this the other day, I'm gonna do a couple different parlays and my go tos are gonna consistently be the Packers to win that division at plus two fifty, and the Texans are my lock. So the Texans at plus one ten are my anchor. And then I'm gonna do like multiple different parlays with the Packers. I might even throw the Vikings in there too, the Niners to win the division, the Broncos and the Chiefs to win the division. I'm gonna mess with a couple of those, but I'm going to anchor on the Houston Texans at plus one ten. If you said right now, you have to throw an uncomfortable amount of money on one team in the NFL to win the division, and they can't have like minus odds like the Bills or the Ravens, right, can't do that, or the Eagles. I can't bet on those teams. You got to bet a team that is plus odds, right, it wouldn't even be a hesitation to be the Houston Texas. I think they win that division by several games. Were you around for Super Bowl fifty and I know what the right and I want to know what the right way is to experience this upcoming Super Bowl sixty in the Bay Area I'm from northern California and would love to go to the home. Would love to go home to experienced the event. If the Niners aren't in the show. Hopefully the actual SF city gets involved in, not just Santa Clara. I did. I did my radio show from Radio Row. All the events will be in San Francisco. The only thing in Santa Clara was the games, and I think a team stayed down there and they practice like San Jose. But the super Bowl experience, which was really well done in the Convention Center, like right in downtown San Francisco on like Third

Street. It's like Third and I forget the other cross street. I haven't been downtown in years, but it's like three or four streets south of Market. Yeah, it's cool. I mean, it's a cool experience. I would recommend it if you want to go to the Super Bowl experience. It's just fun. It's just easy event to just kind of walk around and kind of take it all in. I actually went to that game as well. The super Bowl. The game is the game is much more like a corporate experience. I would say the whole week it's just like a corporate event. It is like a corporate Football convention for the fans and the partners. It's not if you go like Chiefs Bills right in an AFC championship game or regular season game or Eagles Washington, wherever that game is being played. It's about the football and the purity of trying to win and the fans all there. The Super Bowl is not really like that Super Bowl's I feel like it's the NFL's way to say thank you to all their partners. So the reason I went to the game was because I was there with my cousin who worked in the beer business. So that's where we got our tickets from, Like Miller course, you know, it's most of the tickets, and most of the people were not like, you know, it's Broncos Panthers. But it didn't feel like some huge contingent of you know, it wasn't like fifty to fifty Broncos. That's not what it's like. So it's just the games unique. But that that week, especially Thursday, Friday, Saturday, are pretty cool. And I was there in Vegas too. I mean, shit, I've been to I've only been to the game once, but I've been to Miami, I've been to Vegas, I've been to New Orleans, so it's cool. It's fun. Uh In. Congrats on your success moving to Kelly love hearing your investments you're into. Do we think? Someone asked me the other day because I had made a comment about like, hey, I'm investing in this one stock that is not very pretty, but if it hits somebody to be really rich. It was open Door, which I'm still in. I've actually added more. I had a day where I was down seventy five percent and within a week that stock was up one hundred percent. It's the craziest shift, and I have a sizable chunk of money relative to my net worth in the stock. I didn't sell a penny, but riding that I was actually insecure to brag about it, because at the time, I think I was minus seventy eight percent when I opened up stock, probably a month ago or two months whenever I brought it up, and I had a couple of people like, what was the what's that stock you're in that you think it hit big? I was not confident enough to even mention it to anyone else because it could have gone to zero. But I was like, I'm fucking I'm like Chris Ballard hoping anti hoping, Anthea Richardson is the next Josh Allen with open door and then all of a sudden, I don't know if it was in the meme craze, the the uh short Squeeze. It's one of the craziest seeing the amount of money I was down to the amount of money I was up, but I was like, hey, I was in this for the long haul to try to get a twenty exer, not just a one exer. But then it came down and I'm basically up like ten percent now. But it was it was a fun little ride. I would have sold if I would have been for early to like, I've been doing this long enough to kind of be numb to that. And I thought about him, like, should I just take a look some little cash spending money? Do we think Trayvon Henderson has a shot to be the next Gibbs? Did you see his first touchdown ever? Win for a touchdown? Listen, He's a home run hitter. You get that dude in open grass. He can fly. I think here's the thing with Gibbs. Gibbs as good at everything. He can run inside, he can run off tackle, and he is elite at catching the ball. So the way to be Gibbs is you basically have to be able to do it all. And you know, I would imagine Vrabel and those guys now with a month into training camp, have a better idea how he is out of the backfield catching the football. But I'd also say that looking at his he had twenty seven catches last year. He had twenty seven catches as a rookie, So he can catch the ball. We know that Josh McDaniels loves throwing the ball to you know, they had how many running backs they have over the years with Brady that they passed to a lot out of the backfield. I mean, hell, probably six seven years ago, maybe even less, I played golf in the Bay Area with Shane Vereen. He was working at the Pac twelve network, and I probably for nine of the eighteen holes, I was just peppering him with McDaniels, Belichick, Brady grownk questions. I mean, he was really really good and then he got a big contract to go to the Giants. Then he got injured. But he he's a good example. He was really good out of the backfield. He was excellent in the open field as a runner. So if you can catch the ball with Josh McDaniels in that offense. We know that vraybeloffs running backs. I don't see why he couldn't be an excellent player like Gibbs. He's really fast. Yeah, I mean, i'd be pretty bullish on the guy. He's a home run hitter, so I'd say that's what him and Gibbs Sharon common. These past few weeks, I've seen quite a bit of media segments dedicated yet again to brock Perty. Of course, it's always polarizing if he goes for something in the realm of four thousand yards, twenty eight touchdowns, twelve one seasons. Do you think pundits in big audience legacy media shows will start to finally credit him as an undisputed top twelve quarterback. I even saw in Sando's quarterback tiers that Dak Prescott was above him. Jordan Love was as well, which Rock Purty's had a better start to his career than Jordan Love. That's not really debatable. Yeah, if you wanted to argue that Jordan loves more physical traits and you're betting on the physical traits this year, it's like I could hear that argument, but based on the evidence, Rock Perty's been a better player in Jordan Love and it's not even arguable when it comes to Dak Prescott, I mean, one of the all time meltdown guys in the playoffs. But

one of the quotes in there was why do we keep talking about the drafts and his draft status? It's over years ago. All this guy does is make plays on the field, and I just think that it's And they also compared him to Baker. Baker's more physically gifted from an arm strength standpoint, but this coach said that he thought that Party is just better anticipatory thrower and sees it a little bit better, pretty really good. Yet everyone shits on him because and if Perty was the third overall pick and have been Trey Lance and Trey Lance is just Donill Brock Party, everyone would be saying the guy's the top six seven quarterback in the league. Five to six quarterback. Ben said he's the last pick in the draft. Everyone says too short, he's arm sucks. Kyle Shitnan. Same thing with Jalen Hurts, and I saw a bunch of people like God, Jalen Hurts is behind CJ. Stroud and Justin Herbert. I do not understand why people get so caught up on this. At the end of the day, football is a team game. And if you're an Eagles fan, would you rather have Joe Burrow in the like in the Bengals season, Well, hey, everyone annoints my quarterback is one of the best players in the league, My team goes nine wins, my quarterback throws forty five touchdowns. Or would you rather be the Eagles where everyone's like, hey, maybe he's a top ten quarterback, but we have the best team in the league and he won the Super Bowl? Like this, This isn't fucking tennis or golf. It's a team game. So same thing with brock Perty Last time I checked, Joe Montana, had Ronnie Lott playing defense, had Charles Haley rushing the passer, threw it to Jared Rice, handed to Roger Craig. Had you know, some pretty good players Dwight Clark, you know, barreling down the scene, Like it's hard to be a good player at quarterback, Like ask Patrick Mahomes what it was like to be a rookie throwing do Travis Kelcey and Tyreek Hill probably didn't suck. If you could have beers with one person currently employed by an NFL team, who would it be? Can't be a player, coach, or executive, someone you've met before or never met before. Oh, it can be a coach or an executive. Just someone you think would be a lot of fun and an interesting hang. Well, I think you'd have to go. You'd have to take make two decisions. If you're gonna go a player, you'd have to go quarterback. And I'm pretty confident if I spend time with someone, especially in that setting. I always thought this when I was single, I could punch above my weight. The hardest thing for me to do with the beautiful girl was to get the date. If I got the date, like we were always gonna, I was gonna be okay right a home. I had on personality, but I was never gonna look like Tom Brady walking in the room. But if you got me the one on one and like went out to dinner like, it's gonna be successful. If I wanted to be I was that confident in my ability. I wasn't always confident like sometimes it was hard to get that like her to be like whether in a bar situation, whether it

be especially you know, internet dating, Like I'm I'm not Brad pitt here, I would say the same thing in that situation. So if you gave me a one on one over beers like we're gonna get build a relationship and have friendship. Right, So it would be either a if you're gonna pick a coach you would want. Luckily, I already I already know some guys, but it would be a guy I didn't know, and a guy is gonna have a lot of success, right. I don't know Shanahan, but Shandy is not a big, like bullshit hang out with the media guy, right, So even if I got in that situation, I think it would be a tough nut to crack. I think the two guys would be if it was a coach. Kevin O'Connell, who listen, I've been hard on him, but Andy Reid didn't win a Super Bowl to he was like twenty plus years in the league. So it's like, who's to say Kevin O'Connell couldn't have like a twenty year run of being a great coach and Sean McVay already has one, but like he's forty years old, he's not going away, and even if he pivoted to, like, I don't know, be the analyst from Monday Night Football, he'd just be a good guy to have. So'd probably one of those two guys. From a coaching standpoint, if you went quarterback, you would say, well, why would I overthink this. I could just pick Mahomes because he's not going away, his team's not going away. He's one of the most famous athletes in the world, I guess in America, but like in the sport that we talk about here, So you could go him. You could go like I go Jayden Daniels and go, well, what if he just becomes I mean, the next superstar, little risky could also just like could have a step back year then maybe solid, but he's never like a superstar. I think I'd probably it would either be probably Mahomes or one of those two coaches would probably be my final answer. I guess it could go Josh Allen. You would want a player who was gonna and it'd have to be a quarterback, was gonna be around for a long time and be a good personality, good interview guy you want to be. In your opinion, what are the odds a team successfully trades for Tanner McKey of the Eagles this season. I'm an Eagles fan, so I'm biased, but every time the kid touches the field, he looks like a starter. I just would not trade him if I was Philadelphia because and how he's talked about this. No team in NFL history has benefited more from the uh. I can't spell his name McKee from the backup quarterback, right, I mean, Jalen's not a backup quarterback obviously, but he was drafted to be a backup quarterback, and then they went too Super Bowls with him one to one. They also won another super Bowl with the backup quarterback. So Tanner McKee, what year was he drafted? Twenty three? So twenty three twenty four he got him un a contract for two more years. I don't I wouldn't even give him up for a second round pick. What if Jalen just like broke his leg? I mean, what if something happened, like you could feel like you could keep winning with Tanner McKee. So to me, you wouldn't entertain trading him till next year when it's like, well he's not we're not going to extend him, So you trade him, I think, you keep him, I think, and he's staying on my team, and then you try to flip maybe next year. But I'm not giving up Tanner McKee. And I'd be stunned of how he did now if someone offered you a first round pick right now, It's like, this doesn't get much better than that. But I don't think that's on the table, and a lot of teams don't necessarily need quarterbacks. But I I don't know if I could do it, you know. And I think the parallel probably to Tanner McKee would be Matt schob when he was in Atlanta and Jimmy Garoppolo when he was in San Francisco. So his value to the Eagles right now because listen, they had Carson Wentz fall off a cliff, and they had, you know, for Jalen to come in, and they had Carson Wentz tearor his acl So they've been they've seen it multiple ways. You just never know. Now Jalen, I don't think it's gonna fall off a cliff playing wise, but shit, the way I mean, he's a runner, he'd get injured. He's miss games before, so I would not I would not trade him right now unless I got the first round pick, which you're not kidding right now, But like, what about next offseason? What if the Raiders give you a second you know might be a bad example, but some team whoever, that is question for you. My wife and I are going to Scottsdale in November. Any suggestions on places to eat or things to do? We will be near TPC Scottsdale. I know you are answered this a couple of times. I would say The Princess has pretty cool open bar. They have a really good restaurant called La Hacienda in the Prince is the hotel on the backside of TBC Scottsdale. It's hard to beat the really good steakhouses Dominick's which is in Kierland, and Mastros, which is kind of up the street from TBC Scottsdale, which are just elite steakhouses. If you wanted like a hole in the wall guy Fiery Diners, Drivings and dives Toom's thumb, is this barbecue joint in a gas station. It's incredible. I get Thanksgiving hated from there. It's elite. So I'd say Dominic's, Mastros, Lascienda slash the princess bar and thomps thumb. Okay, last question. First, is an average golfer, I'm curious what type of games, if any, games you play on the course. Scramble is fun if you're not worried about your own score. Two verse two. We do this game where you kind of if you're playing four guys, you rotate every three holes with a different partner. You also play junk like Birdie's outside putts of the flagstick up and downs from the sand closer to the pen, stuff like that, which is a pretty easy game. I mean, when I play my brother, we just play a straight up like match play if I'm doing a one on one. I haven't done a scramble in a long time. Just by following your podcast for a while, it seems like most of your connections nowadays are within the Niners, Eagles, Chiefs. If give an opportunity, which organization would you want to be involved in the front off decision

making for the next five to ten years. Chiefs seems to be the obvious answer, But when thinking about Andy's age, Eagles youth, Kyle's youth so on, it gets like a tougher decision. Yeah, I mean, I'd look at it from the standpoint of those three organizations are just in a way, they're just all well run, you know. I think the Eagles in the forty nine ers, financially, I think they put out like the top twenty teams or whatever their valuations, which if the Lakers win for ten billion dollars, the Cowboys, the Giants, the forty nine Ers, I mean, these are fifteen twenty billion dollar franchise the Eagles would sell for more than the Lakers. And that's not like I'm not acting like the Lakers aren't some big time brand, but the power of the NFL, the revenue streams, and I think the money that Andy and Mahomes now have made Clark Hunt in the value of that franchise over the last six seven years, they're just all Like I know John Lynch, like I've met him before, I've had him on my other podcast years ago, but like I can't speak to how he is as like an evaluator beside just watching who he drafts, like I've been around Veach and how he like those guys are really good at their jobs, I mean really good. I mean how he's one of the most dynamic guys in all of sports. Veach just is a really good natural like talent selector, and obviously his rapport with the head coach and how he's ability to kind of manage the whole thing. I think, you know, the Niners really benefit. Like Kyle's just really pretty special X's nose guy. You know, he's one of the few guys and let's you can nitpick him and I do, but like he's a really really talented coach. Uh, He's just a coaching lifer, you know, been around it from the moment he could walk. And I think those guys really benefit from the financial backing, the fan backing, the talented guys they have within the organization. But I think you could say that, like I don't know him personally, but I was texting a buddy in the NFL who works for a playoff team, not one of those teams, like, what do you think of Brandon Bean because I've just seen Brandon a bunch like doing different interviews. I've never met the guy. And the guy was like, I really like him. I was like, I do too. I just think he's he just kind of got an easy going vibe, clearly good at his job, has like an low ego vibe. But he also you know, for example, like let's use the forty nine ers like Kyle and John are comfortable in front of a camera and they don't mind. Like Kyle doesn't like doing it, but he's he's good at it if he wants to do it. Like Sean McDermot, that's not really his thing. So part of Brandon Bean's job the day and age of guy like the GM just sitting in a dark room watching players is dead. Trent Balke love doing that. Just get him in a dark room. He just watched players all day. It's like, that's not your fucking job. Like part of Brandon Bean's job is like to be the messenger for the bills because Sean McDermott's not really that big on that, which is fine, has to be if you're in a business partnership with someone else, hopefully they bring things to the table that you don't. We got a lot of people that are involved with this podcast that are strong at social media, that are doing cutups, that are doing the graphic stuff. I can't do any of that, you know, even the sales aspect, Like if you get me on a call with company X, I can handle myself, but I don't have a connection to get Walmart on the phone or Microsoft on the phone, So like you need to be in business with other people that the distribution that Colin brings. I can't create that. So it's like the ebb and flow of a coach and a GM and like Sirianni and Howie bring that to the table, like they balance each other out, and I think you can. The Bills are well run. The Ravens are well run. Like all these organiza they're going nowhere, they have well they have people that know what they're doing, and they have a lot of money behind it, you know. I think that's part of the problem. I interviewed Greg Olsen today and it'll out next week, and one thing he talked about is like you're on the phone with some of these teams when you're doing these games over the last three or four years, and you can just tell you're like, this team is fucked people. They just don't know what they're doing, and like you just can't fake it because the games happen. And then it's why, like it is pretty easy for me to be critical of things that I see from a team operational standpoint, because I've bet around people that know what they're doing. I mean, I'm very fortunate. I didn't know anyone in the NFL, not a soul, I mean not My dad was a farmer. And the team that hired me had Howie Roseman as the gym and Andy Reid as the head coach. So it's like that is my experience. And then right when I got out, I got to watch Jim Harbobby the head coach of the forty nine ers for two years. It's like, so basically my experience in the NFL was just seeing that front and center. For my first like five years of being my first five years being around the NFL, I was around that. So that's kind of like you just watch some of these operations, You're like, I don't know if these people know they're doing. And listen, everyone Bill Walsh had shitty games, right, Belichick had bad. I'm not saying you could have bad. You can have bad season, but it's pretty clear who's good. Dudes not right, And I think part of it is experience and you learn. I would bet on all three of those teams they're gonna be good for a while. I would say, you know, if Andy were to retire, I see, I don't think he's gonna retire as long as he's healthy, Like he's going nowhere. So you look at their guys, like where would Howie go? Where would Andy and Veach go? They don't want to go anywhere, and where would Kyle go? So it's like, as long as you got those guys. I mean, John's important, and obviously they need to draft well, but the star of the forty nine ers, even with perty making one hundred and eighty million, is the head coach, you know. And Andy was the star of his organization for a long time until Patrick Mahome showed up. So I would rather have I'd rather have my quarterback front center kind of like the Patriots forever, and then have my head coach basically B one B. But I think all the organizations are in pretty good still us okay, end on that Audiels have a great dey talk to everyone soon s the volume