PMS 2.0 1392 - Peter Schrager, Damien Woody, Andrew Hawkins, Jason McCourty, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

Let's go!

Out of the gate!

Put an Agatha show.

What are we talking about today?

Football!

How was that?

That was great.

Pretty good.

That was awesome.

It was good.

Pretty good intro.

Peter Schrager.

What camera do I even look at?

Where is it?

You're right here.

Hello.

Yeah.

All right, what a blast.

We just were listening to the Luke Combs, Alex Warren, ordinary.

I'm like Luke and we're fired up

I'm in from New York City one day only in for one great Pat McAfee who FaceTimed me asked if I wanted to do this and I was on the next flight out so honored to be with the boys.

Let's do a quick intro of everybody.

We know the guys.

We've got our man Boston Connor.

We've got our man Tyschman.

We've got our wonderful man tone dick Darius Butler in the house and the boys in the truck.

We are going to do it.

We are loaded with football today.

Oh yeah.

Loaded.

Love that.

I wanted to start though because last night I was in the hotel.

I couldn't sleep.

I'm like, all right, what do we got on Netflix?

I'm doom scrolling.

I'm looking at all these beautiful women on these vacations that I'm like,

right?

Looking at all these not so beautiful men on vacations with these beautiful women.

I'm like, all right, doom scrolling, doom scrolling.

I'm in an Indianapolis hotel room.

It's fine.

It's all right.

And I click Netflix and I put on this Cowboys dock because everyone's like telling me you got to check it out.

One of the greatest minute sound bites I've ever heard.

Let's share it with everybody.

This is from the new Cowboys documentary.

Take a listen.

When we turned that well on for the first time,

I knew it was a gusher.

When I heard it screaming, it actually screams.

It's so powerful.

And then it started spitting

just like any mammal would spit.

And it started coughing.

And then all of a sudden, it started roaring.

And it roared like being at Niagara Falls.

And with that single wealth,

I made out with a hundred million dollars.

Now, I always knew.

what I was going to do with that money.

And I knew it put me in a position that maybe I could realize my ultimate dream.

So I took that money and took a bigger risk than I took drilling that damn well.

And I remembered looking at that oil and I said to myself, Jerry,

you just bought the Dallas Cowboys.

Bam.

Bam.

Bam.

Pretty good clip.

It was spitting.

How do you say it?

Spitting.

Spitting.

Like a mammal.

Coffin.

Yeah.

Coffin.

And then it was roaring.

Man, it was roaring.

Good, bad, or the ugly.

Who's the Enrique?

Ennio Moracon.

Enio Moracon.

The music was fantastic.

And you're sucked in.

That's the first opening of this documentary.

There's several episodes.

You said you're how many episodes in?

I am about two and a half fell asleep during the third episode, but it was great.

The one-liners, obviously, you know, Jerry and his quotes.

So Michael Irving,

he's unbelievable throughout it.

Troy Aikman getting into that.

I was just, it's crazy.

Like, I didn't even know that it went straight from Tom Landry to Jimmy Johnson.

Like, I didn't know that was the transition.

But just hearing Jerry's story, I got so much more.

You know, everybody has the thoughts about Jerry Jones and how he runs the Cowboys.

But I got so much respect for him about the family aspect of it.

Like, when they had a shot of like the family, like his office.

going to like his sons, his daughters, other sons, just seeing, you know, being in and seeing how involved his family is with his business, how much he loved the Cowboys, you know, what he built it to, what the brand it is today.

I mean, it's electric.

We know all the big-time players,

but it's so much that we don't know behind the scenes.

So I'm excited about

continuing watching it.

Charlotte was right out of college.

Stephen was 25, and little Jared Jr.

was 19.

And he basically tells them when he buys the team, like, this is your new living.

Like, this is how you will make a living.

You are with me through thick and thin.

And the first episode, you talk about Michael Irvin.

You talk about the Tom Landry.

You got to understand.

Tom Landry was the only coach of the Cowboys for years and years and years.

They lose three seasons in a row, and there's some reports.

Skip Bayless is on there talking about how he's sleeping in meetings.

And Michael Irvin says before one of the games, he says, let's keep it close against Pittsburgh.

And Michael Irvin's like, I cannot handle it here.

And Jerry Jones comes in, and first thing he does is fires Tom Landry.

Yeah.

Fires Tom Landry, a legend.

Hires his guy, Jimmy Johnson.

Away we go.

The next thing they do,

they trade the Herschel Walker trade.

They get all these picks.

Unpopular moves.

Oh, yeah.

And he says he always likes being the one who goes against the grain.

It's kind of how he made his money.

He was $50 million in debt, spends $800,000, drills a hole into the...

I don't know.

I'm not an oil trader.

My friend Jordan is an oil trader.

I couldn't tell you, I don't know that world.

No.

I don't know football.

But I know that this guy rolls the dice and beats to his own drum.

I say that.

Because it sets up the context for all these conversations.

I'm watching all the morning shows that we do.

I'm on get up and first take a bunch.

I see all the stuff on NFL network.

I I see all the talk.

If you think you're dealing with a rational

or standard or down,

it's like, this is a totally different individual than what you're used to dealing with in business and in life.

He is a

landman.

He is a

gambler.

He is a maverick.

fancies himself as someone from the old west.

And even with that Johnny Cash music about Arkansas when he first comes in, they didn't like him in Texas because he was an Arkansas guy and Jethro Jones, they called him, who is this guy buying the Cowboys?

He buys the Cowboys.

This is his life.

He loves this.

So with that as the context, do you think Jerry Jones is backing down or intimidated by us being critical of how he's handled the Micah Parsons contract?

Jerry hasn't paid Micah Parsons when he was up after his fourth year.

Jerry is not paying Micah Parsons right now.

And then we get this tweet from Adam Schefter yesterday, who's the top in the game and is as plugged in as anybody.

I see these two sides headed towards divorce and it makes no sense.

Rational thinking, it makes no sense.

You've got this great player.

You've got this team that loves, you know, striking gold, if you will, on a player that is homegrown.

He's delivered.

He's been wonderful.

He's everything you'd want in a star defensive player.

He's the next Lawrence Taylor.

And yet Jerry is sitting there and he will not be bullied.

He will not be pushed around, and he's certainly not going to engage with someone who is demanding a trade, something that CeeDee Lamb didn't do, something that Dak Prescott didn't do, something that Ezekiel Elliott didn't do.

But I look at it as: if you're looking at the situation on paper, it makes no sense.

Why isn't Michael?

And then you watch this documentary and you understand the man behind these decisions.

He's self-made.

Yeah.

He's totally on his own path and beats to his own drum.

And the more we talk about it, he actually relishes it.

But he also likes knowing he's the one who holds the keys and he's not going to get bullied around by a player or by a player's agent who he doesn't even seem to want to deal with or acknowledge, which seems like a great insult to Jerry Jones.

I'm the owner of the freaking Dallas Cowboys.

Yeah, exactly.

Like even when they talked about when his first press conference was there and they fired Tom Wandry, the GM, too, was the president in GM for 29 years.

And he basically wasn't really sure what was going to happen to his job.

And in his opening press conference, Jerry Jones actually says, I want that guy's job and points at the GM of 29 years.

And then he got let go.

He did a press conference.

He's crying.

Tom Landry got a hero salute, literally got a parade through Dallas.

100,000 people, yeah, came out to see him.

They're like interviewing people and they're saying, hey, if Tom Landry is not the coach of the Cowboys, I ain't watching.

I ain't a fan.

And then Jerry comes in to do that.

I mean, the Herschel Walker thing you mentioned,

the business side of it, I didn't know that's how it worked.

The Herschel Walker gets traded for five players.

And then it was conditional upon them, you know, being on the team.

And if they got released, they got five picks.

Five draft picks, which led to, I'm sure we could do a full screen, but I think it was Emmett and Darren Woodson and a ton of different offensive and defensive players that ended up building up this team.

Brings in his guy, Jimmy, but even the Jimmy stuff, like Jimmy had won two straight Super Bowls.

Bowls like you're out yeah you're out disagreement you're out

Jimmy Johnson told a great story at his Hall of Fame induction speech and it was basically they play in like the Tokyo bowl in the preseason in like 91 and there was this cool trophy of like a guy with a sword like a samurai with a sword and Jerry Jones wanted this trophy so much

preseason just what's all he cared about this this dang trophy and it's a guy with a samurai sword and they're in the preseason and like Jimmy's pulling starters after a quarter, and Jerry's freaking out.

Like, I need that.

They lose the game.

Trophy goes to whoever, say the Houston Oilers.

The entire flight back from Tokyo, Jerry Jones is fuming at Jimmy Johnson because he wanted that samurai trophy.

They go on, they win the Super Bowl, Marty Trump three years later, and Jimmy Johnson says, better than the Samurai trophy.

Yes, but that's Jerry.

Like, Jerry wanted that Samurai trophy.

And Jerry doesn't want to pay Micah Parsons.

See, I think that's the thing that is kind of hard to wrap your head around, though, like, as a fan or just someone who follows the league, is you see Jerry's relationship with these former players and, like, just the reverence that not only these guys have for him, but he has for them.

And everyone views Micah as that guy.

Like, we looked up his stats yesterday.

Like, I mean, it's undeniable.

He is one of those guys.

He's one of those guys you could see being a first ballot Hall of Famer and being a one-helmet guy going into the Cowboys Ring of Honor.

So it's just weird that, and I understand like the personal stuff, like that, I mean, it makes sense.

Jerry's his own man, but typically with these kind of guys, like these are the guys Jerry goes to bat for no matter what, you know?

So it's just, it's crazy that.

And he has.

Yeah.

So like Zeke, everyone was like, ah, don't pay a running back.

Zeke goes to Cabo, took care of him.

Dak Prescott, last year, I'm at the Fox set and at like, you know, 1201, it's Jay Glazer like, hey, this just did.

And like, Dak got paid.

Of course, Dak got paid.

That's Jerry's guy.

You go through it.

Zach Martin, he always takes care of his guys something about micah he didn't want to take care of them last year he hasn't taken care of them this year and the story you'll hear whether it's been reported or not is that they had a handshake agreement that's ridiculous

jerry's an 80 year old billionaire talking with a 24 year old kid like of course you bring in the agent but something must have really rubbed jerry wrong about micah the person in addition to the player so even the quotes you're getting in training camp don't add up like why would he talk publicly about this guy it only if you are going to trade him it only hurts his value it doesn't even make sense jerry doesn't care but yeah he's like in a wild wild west like what you said he's an old school wild wild west guy so like when i hear the handshake thing that's what makes sense is that if he is the old school wild wild west which this documentary by the way word is bomb yeah yeah boom boom this documentary like hammers home that he is an old school wild wild west gambler like it really does the way they have the names and the the sound effects and the the sets they use for the interviews like they're hammering that home so it I think it makes sense if they had a handshake agreement and then, you know, Micah and Molly get to get together and they're like, no, that actually isn't happening.

Like, if that was the case, I could believe that just based on Jerry being like, well, we had an agreement.

No doubt.

Now you're saying we don't.

Go to hell.

And I could see him dealing with Dak and Zeke in the middle.

It's Wednesday right now.

Tomorrow's Thursday as the calendar goes.

Yeah.

Sure.

They play the Eagles in two weeks.

He hasn't taken a snap, hasn't done anything.

He's just sitting sitting there.

You start thinking about it, and it's like, all right, so Jerry hasn't won since 95.

They haven't been to the NFC championship game since 95.

The number one song in America was Mariah Carey and Boys to Men, One Sweet Day.

So good.

Great song.

Wow, banger.

Bruce, cute.

I love it.

I mean, this is decades.

He wants to win.

That's where I'm like, he's the riverboat gambler.

He's 80-something years old.

Screw it.

No one makes mega trades like like this anymore if someone offers two first-round picks and a starter like i wouldn't be surprised especially if sheter's saying a divorce is on the way they're like tomorrow we wake up and micah parsons is a blank and bad pack they're gonna and he's just basically sure and he's just like you know what i've done it before i'm gonna do it my way and we go from there um in closing you've watched three episodes biggest takeaway from this documentary so far um Honestly, I just like a trip down not even really memory lane because I was so young.

So just seeing, you know, know, I remember as a kid, I think we all kind of do the reverence we have for the Cowboys.

Like, everybody knew a Cowboy fan.

You remember the Super Bowls, the great players, the Emmett Smith, the Michael Irvings, the Deion Sanders, Jimmy Johnson.

So, I just love my biggest takeaway is just seeing the background of like how the practice went and them going from a shitty team to a good team.

Even like, you know, Aikman being healthy and not getting back in there because of how Jimmy raised

the team.

Yeah, Michael Irving guys said, hey, relax.

You know, this is the pros.

Now we do things differently.

You're celebrating too much.

Like, I remember those conversations, you know, in the locker room where you get to a pro locker room and you do have to change.

But thank God Michael Irving didn't change that much, you know what I mean?

On the field, he remained to himself and they actually built it.

He's a woman.

So it's so many takeaways just because it is

the most...

valuable sports franchise in the world.

So there are so many lessons to learn from it, regardless of how you feel about Jerry Jones.

And even with watching it and knowing he's a gambler and knowing Wild Wild West, like, it's still Michael Parsons.

It's a premier pass rusher in the prime of his career.

It's like, okay, if you, we know he cares about when you want to win the Super Bowl, you would think Michael Parsons would be a big piece of the business.

You're a player in that locker room.

Uh-huh.

The current locker room.

Current locker room.

I haven't heard any of them speak publicly.

Now, apparently there's a text exchange with Dak.

I don't, that's not for us.

That's for someone else.

Not one player has come out and done the

that's our guy.

Pay him.

Does that raise any red flags to you?

Not really, because it's different.

It's different in Jerry's world.

You don't want to get on Jerry's bad side.

Yeah, yeah.

There was a tweet, though.

Remember the CD?

The CD, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Didn't they change their emojis or their avatars?

He did that last year when he was in his entire

and

they did the joint press games.

So I feel like from the outside looking in, I can still see that the guys respect Mike and they want him there.

But

I feel like the operation is different in Jerry's world as opposed to being in different buildings.

And we all know, you know, everybody has to handle their business, you know a different type of way and as a player i got to handle my business well i got to be ready to go out there and do my thing and i don't want to be under that that microscope of the ownership of the front office um any any any more than um you know than it already is day to day so it's it's not a big red flag we everybody knows in the nfl world what type of player he is and now it's it's it becomes down to personalities and that's the that's the thing that people don't talk about as much but dan oh has kind of been saying it like this is different it feels like jerry doesn't like micah and then for shifty to come out and say it's heading towards a divorce yeah it kind of is in line with what you're saying.

Like, it's something different here.

It could be the handshake agreement, which that's not a real thing.

And at this level, we're talking about hundreds of millions.

Hundreds of millions.

Come on, man.

What if Micah proactively sought out Jerry this summer and was like, I want to do a deal, let's talk.

This is all hypothetical.

They go, they do something, they make a handshake, and then a week later, Micah comes back and it's like,

actually,

I have this agent.

Would that not be something that you think Jerry would be pissed off?

Yeah, I could see that.

Seeing the doc makes me think, like, he could view Mike as Herschel Walker.

Like, he could view him as like, okay, I am in my 80s.

Like, I am an older guy.

Is the team that I have right now going to win a Super Bowl with Micah?

And if his answer to that is no, I could see him viewing Micah as like a, okay, well, we can completely flip this team in a year.

You know, the first year of Schottenheimer could be terrible, but if we get, you know, three first, they have three first-round picks next year, let's say.

He's an asset.

And let's say

three seconds, yeah.

And they decide, you know what, maybe we don't want a player in this draft.

Maybe we want to go after like an Arch Manning or something along those lines.

And then, you know, he even uses another year with the Micah picks.

They didn't make the playoffs last year with Micah Parsons where first-round exit.

You could start doing circles in your head and say, you know what?

He's not a quarterback.

And when Dak was healthy, they lost at home to the Packers in their own day.

So I could see him even going back to that.

Like, well.

And if you're watching the dock, that loss to the Packers is like.

This is the worst loss ever.

Bingo.

This is our worst loss ever.

That one?

Yeah.

Love him a lot more, though.

He is the man.

Like, going back and learning all that stuff,

it was very cool.

And also, if you played quarterback before 2010, good luck.

Hats off to you.

Some of the hits they were showing Charles Haley, putting on some guys were absurd.

And Micah could also take a page out of Charles Haley.

Bingo.

Playbook.

Go take a piss on the GM's

GM's death.

Legendary stories.

Speaking of a guy from that era, that pre-2010 era, and a legend in his own right, our first guest of the day.

And I've had the pleasure of working with him on Get Up and First Take the first few months I've been at ESPN.

With no further ado, we go to the Hills of Jersey.

Mr.

Damian Woody, welcome in on the show.

How are we doing?

What's up, fellas?

How you guys doing?

Doing great.

We're talking about Jerry and Micah, obviously, because it's ASPN and it's 12 o'clock and we're going to do it all day.

I asked Darius Butler here the question, like, if you're a teammate and you see they're not taking Micah,

taking care of him, does that affect you or is it more just, hey, I'm worried about my own job.

We got football in 13, 15 days.

I got to do my thing.

Yeah, I think, listen, in most cases, guys are just like, bro, I got to focus on getting myself ready for this for the season.

I think Jerry's world is different from everyone else.

If you

look at the players down in Jerry's world, I think it's a lot of corporate players.

You know, Micah tends to go, you know, he has a big personality.

I think that's part of the reason why this thing,

there's a disconnect here is because Michael Parsons is unlike any of the guys in that building.

You know, he's very vocal.

Obviously, he has his own podcast.

He's going to say what he wants to say.

That's not necessarily the case with a lot of the guys down there with the Dallas Cowboys.

So I think those guys are like, you know what?

I'm just going to worry about getting myself ready.

I'm not going to get involved on the business side.

You know, Jerry has paid me.

I'm not going to, you know, I'm not going to ruffle the feathers down here in Jerry's world.

Deward, I look at this team, and Orlaski was on with us a couple of weeks ago on GetUp.

And I looked at him side-eyed because he said they cannot possibly win without Micah Parsons.

Do you feel that way about the Dallas Cowboys?

That like the season's over already if he's not on the field week one?

Yeah, I mean, listen, they're much less a team.

Obviously, you got a dynamic player in Micah Parsons.

But listen, at the end of the day, you know, how much did they win last year?

I know Dak Prescott was out, but you know, the quarterback position is always the most important position.

And I heard you guys talking about, well, you know, kind of playing devil's advocate as far as Micah's impact on the team.

And this team hasn't been to an NFC championship game since, what, 95 or whatever it is.

They've only won one playoff game.

And so if you're going to pay somebody $41, $42 million per year,

I think you want to have more bang for your buck.

If you're the Dallas Cowboys organization.

Now, I'm not absolving the Cowboys because we know how they do business down there.

And we've talked ad Nelson about this whole handshake agreement that Jerry thinks he has with Micah, and that's leading to all this nonsense that we're going through.

But listen, at the end of the day,

the way that the Cowboys do business is not the way you want to properly construct a roster.

How they wait till the last minute to sign their stars, which adds on millions of dollars.

And those are players that you could be signing to build depth within your roster.

So I think this whole thing is a mess.

If you're going to trade Michael Parsons, quite honestly, I would have done it in March.

I actually talked about it early in the offseason.

Like, listen, I don't know if Dallas, I don't know if we see the Dallas Cowboys as a Super Bowl contending team.

Why not trade Michael Parsons and try to start rebuilding this roster the way you want to because he's the most dynamic player that you have on your roster?

I want to say the Khalil Mack deal came on Labor Day weekend.

I remember covering it, and I remember that happened.

So it's still like this could happen.

I remember the Vikings and Eagles traded for Sam Bradford Labor Day weekend.

Like, this is the time after rosters are set, okay, what's the move?

But this would be one that had been in the works.

Two-time Super Bowl champion, Damian Woody.

Of course, you played for Bill Belichick.

We are now less than two weeks away from seeing his collegiate debut as head coach.

Big picture.

You've known Bill for decades.

Your thoughts on this whole entire thing as they were about to kick off for this regular season?

For me, it's like maybe the biggest story in college football.

I mean, you're talking about arguably the greatest coach in NFL history.

Now I'm going to, now is Chapel Bill down in North Carolina.

And listen, I went down this offseason and saw them in spring practice.

You know, listen, they had a long ways to go.

And Michael Michael Lombardi, who's a friend of the show, and Bill Belichick, I talked to both of those guys, and they knew they had to remake the roster.

And obviously, with the Trans Reporter, you can absolutely do that.

Listen, the one thing I would say about North Carolina, they will be prepared.

There is not a coach out there who will make sure you are more prepared than Bill Belichick.

And I look at this Carolina schedule.

Guys, they could easily get to eight wins easy.

I mean, it's not like they got a bunch of cupcakes on their schedule.

So I think Bill can come out of this thing in year one looking pretty doggone good.

Vrabel's back, too.

You played with him.

Your thoughts on the Patriots now that Mike Vrabel is the head coach?

I've been saying I'm bullish on the Patriots.

Bullish.

Listen,

we all know it's been a disaster in New England for the past couple years, you know, for a variety of reasons, whether it's personnel, coaching, all of the above.

But now you got Mike Vrabel in the building, and everyone knows Mike Vrabel is one of the better head coaches that we have in the game.

You know, you've added a ton of players, whether it be free agency or via the draft to really improve this roster.

I could make the argument that

the biggest acquisition was getting Josh McDaniels back as the offense coordinator.

I think he's going to do wonders for Drake May in his second year at the quarterback position.

And so I think New England's going to have a damn good defense.

And I think Josh McDaniel is going to coordinate an offense offense that's going to complement that defense.

Don't be surprised if you see the Patriots in the playoffs this year.

Let's go.

Hell yeah, D.

Wood.

Boston Conner, your response.

Yeah, I mean, Woody, you basically said it.

That is an incredible thing.

But as a player with Mike Vrabel, what is he like just on the day-to-day?

Just because it does feel as though, you know, guys like Vrabel, MCDC even in the beginning, like they aren't viewed as football, you know, masterminds.

They're just more viewed as you know, those football type guys who are going to have a tough culture, but aren't actual brainiacs.

I think everyone who knows Mike Vrable, though, feels like he is one of the smartest football minds out there.

What do you think he's going to bring strategically to both the defense, the offense, the special teams, and just culture-wise?

Because it has been ugly in New England, and everyone up there does have a very high hope for this season.

No, listen, I played with Mike Vrable as a teammate, and the one thing I knew as a teammate, I'm like, Mike Vrabel is going to be a head coach in this league.

There's bar none, no questions asked because his football IQ is through the roof.

Like, that's one thing that, you know, that's one thing you can say about Mike Vrable is that man knows X's and O's.

Like, he's going to make sure that he knows offense, defensive, special teams.

Those guys are going to be prepared.

In the same illness, listen, I don't like making these comparisons with, you know, Braves and Bill, but I'm just talking about from an X and O, like uh just make sure guys are prepared mike vrabo is going to have the new england patriots prepared okay and he's a very hands-on type of guy we've seen all the stories this offseason where you know you've seen him in scuffles we've seen him running drills

you know himself and so that's just braves being braves man he said he's one of the dudes but he's a very smart ex and o's coach and he knows the pulse of the team and knows how to push the right buttons with players my first little nugget that i'm going to drop today a little inside info just the name to watch is Stretch.

Do you know who Stretch is?

Oh, yeah, Striking?

Stryker.

So John Streicher is the game management coach that followed Vrabel from Tennessee, went to the Rams for a year, and now is in New England.

There is

thoughts around the league about who's the best offensive coach, who's the best defensive coach.

To a man, everyone says no one knows clock management, game management,

down and distance better than Vrabel.

Vrabel's on.

And this is his Ernie Adams stretch.

So you're not going to

see him.

Look, you start comparing guys.

You'll just throw around Ernie Adams.

Ernie Adams is a legend.

Ernie Adams is the legendary.

Respect his stretch is Ernie Adams.

Ernie Adams for the Gen Z folk.

Yeah, could be.

He could have a career arc

like Ernie if all goes well.

But I mentioned him because with Frabel, it comes McDaniels, it comes stretch, it comes a whole different coaching staff, and there's a professionalism around it that they didn't have last year.

And And that's no insult to Gerard Mayo.

I think that staff might have been overwhelmed, might have been a lot of situations there with the roster.

They just feel like they are significantly better and much improved.

Ty Schmidt, what do you got?

Yeah, D-Wood, curious your take on the Steelers.

Obviously, they've went all in this offseason,

and

their offensive line, I think, has improved, or Steelers fans would say it has, but there's still a lot of question marks.

Do you think they're good enough to keep Rodgers upright for most of the season?

And are they a legitimate Super Bowl contender with all the moves they've made?

Listen, I think the offensive line with the Pittsburgh Steelers is the biggest unknown.

And I think the biggest factor in how well this Pittsburgh Steelers team can play and how far they can go.

Because I think if the Pittsburgh Steels are getting the Aaron Rodge that we saw like towards the end of the season last year when he was healthy,

I think the Pittsburgh Steelers will be hell to play against because listen, first of all, any Mike Tomlin Tomlin coach team is always going to come prepared to play.

We know that identity lies on the defensive side of the football.

But the one thing, when you saw the Pittsburgh Steels last year, when they collapsed, the primary reason why they collapsed is because they couldn't get anything generated on the offensive side, particularly quarterback position you didn't get anything out of.

I don't think that'll be the case with Aaron Rodgers.

Here's the key.

I think running the football in this Arthur Smith offense, I think that's going to be the key because what you don't want is for teams to start teeing off on Aaron Rodgers getting the third and long and all that type of stuff because you can't run the football.

If they can run the football with these two tight ends, Friar Muth and Jon New Smith, and DK Metcalf on the outside, I think the Pittsburgh Steels will be cooking and this is going to be a team that we're going to be talking about a lot late on the year and in the postseason.

You got a fantasy draft coming in the next two weeks.

Late round flyer Calvin Austin, I think a lot of attention is going to be to the tight ends, a lot of attention to the wide receivers.

I know that early on, Austin's been a stud in camp, and already they're talking about him being a legitimate number two.

So I would think Seelers' offense should be better.

Tone Diggs, what do you got?

Yeah, I loved hearing you talk about that, D-Wood.

But let's talk about the team that Aaron came from, the team that they play in week one, the team that you finished your career with, the New York Jets.

It feels like they actually finally have an offensive line.

Through the draft, they got their tackles and then in free agency kind of

Armon Memboo shregs um i got killed do you feel good now about both lines of scrimmage being the the kind of strengths of that team and what's your what are you hearing out of camp about uh justin fields in the quarterback and how he's coming along

yeah listen i i think that i think the uh line of scrimmage particularly the offense line is going to be the strength of the jets they're going to want to run the football yeah i've said before when it comes to this jets team If they're not leading the league in rushing attempts, I don't know what the hell they're doing in Florida Park because that's exactly the formula they should go.

We know that, you know,

this is not going to be some Air Correll type of offense in New York.

They're going to get off the bus and you're going to know exactly what they're trying to do with bad intentions.

They're going to want to run the football.

And you got a dynamic quarterback in Justin Fields.

And I've always said, like, they should incorporate some of that early Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens, you know, type of offense.

You got to play to this young man's athletic ability.

And I think when you got a three-headed, you know, backfield with led by Brees Hall and Braylon Allen, okay, the athletic quarterback and offensive line, that's going to be the recipe for them.

They got players on all three levels on the defense.

So it's going to be defense and running the football for the New York Jets this year.

I got a lot of friends back in New York who are Jets fans.

One of my buddies, Danny, is a longtime season ticket holder.

At the end of last season, gave it up.

Wow.

I'm over it.

They had one preseason game where the guy had 38 minutes of offensive possession against the Packers in the rain, and he's like, all right, I'm intrigued.

Then this past week, it was awful at practice for apparently the offense.

And then preseason, like, Dee Wood, you're there in Jersey.

You know, many guys like Danny, my friend, who's a die-hard Jets fan, even though he gave up his season tickets.

Reason to be optimistic this season, or are we talking this is just a bridge year?

Let's get a quarterback next year and let's move on.

I think, you know, listen,

here's why I would be optimistic because of Aaron Glenn.

Aaron Glenn has set the tempo

throughout the whole organization.

They're going to have an identity.

They know who they are and they're going to play to those strengths.

Okay.

Anyone who knows AG,

he's a no-nonsense type of guy.

He's not going to take any bullshit from anyone.

He's going to call you out.

And that's been like a long, that's, that's, that's been a far pride from the way it's been at Florin Park over the last four or five years.

And so those, those players over there are going to be accountable.

I don't know how many wins they're going to have.

But the one thing I do know what's going to be, what they're going to be, they're going to be disciplined.

They're going to play tough and they're going to play smart.

And then let the chips fall where they may.

Debop.

Hey, Woody, now, two-time Super Bowl champs, you've been in locker rooms, and even, I'm sorry, more teams that could have won the bowl.

What teams do you see out there?

We know the Eagles, we expect them to be dominant again.

The top of the AFC is absolutely stacked.

But what other teams out there that you can see from the outside looking in that, okay, they maybe have what it takes, you know, offense, defense, special teams, and then head coaching and organization-wise to make a deep run in the playoffs and maybe raise that line bowl at the end of the year.

Listen, I've been on them.

I've been talking about it for a while.

The Denver Broncos.

Okay.

I think the Denver Broncos, to me, are a team that

not enough people are talking about.

They could have the best defense in the league this year.

Like

they were damn good defense last year, and they only improved throughout the offseason this year.

Bo Nicks with Sean Payton in year two, you know, we know how these things go year one to year two.

This is usually when you make your biggest jump.

I think Bo Nicks is going to is going to light it up this year.

Obviously, you got Cortland Sutton, people out on Troy Franklin, another young wide receiver that I think is going to break out.

They're going to be able to run the ball.

They got, you know, talk about offensive lines.

They may have the best offensive line in football in Denver.

And so when you look at everything that the Denver Broncos got going on,

I'm telling you right now, do not sleep on the Denver Broncos this year.

You bold enough to put them over the Chiefs?

I'm not there yet because I know the Chiefs have improved, but I will say this.

This will be the hardest journey in the Patrick Mahomes era, you know,

in this division and in this conference because that team that I just talked about, I think Denver is legit.

I think they're going to be one of these teams that we're going to be talking about late in the season that's going to be a contender in the AFC for a Super Bowl.

Before we let you go, you're in Jersey, obviously.

You hear people talking.

Right now, there is a lot of Giants optimism.

And you saw Jackson Dart, how well he played against the Jets.

You see the energy.

Jameis is doing videos with Eli.

Of course, you've got Russ, who's going to be the starter.

Giants, just looking at it now on August 20th, your thoughts heading into this season?

Man.

I think the Giants are better than what people are thinking.

Okay.

Like, we got to stop sleeping on the Giants.

I don't know if people have, I don't know if the national audience have really peeped out their front, their front four.

Oh, yeah.

I think they got the best front four in football.

Like, Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeau, and Abdu Carter are going to give people hell out there.

Okay.

Like, they're going to be really good on defense.

They got a star wide receiver in Malik Neighbors.

Okay.

Here's my, Peter.

Here's my only question.

Yeah.

Can they play with with a lead?

Yeah.

Can they play with a lead?

If they can get leads with that defense,

the New York Football Giants will be a problem.

And oh, by the way, that young quarterback, Jackson Dart,

big time juice.

Big time juice.

I don't know how much longer Russell Wilson will be able to hold that young man off because what I've seen the preseason,

I would be like inclined to start him and just let it go.

Let it rip.

Just go play

out the gates.

One of the great things that I can do being in New York, I was able to go to those joint practices and you go to the joint practice and Russ is starting, taking the ones, and Jameis is the hype guy.

Dart, though, Dart has,

and I don't know if the word is swag or it's just

boxy.

But Dart is carrying himself like he belongs.

And having watched Daniel Jones and Zach Wilson, Wilson, there's been first-round picks that are like, all right, we think maybe this could pop.

Jackson Dart, and I'm not comparing him to Daniel Jones just yet.

I'm not comparing him to Zach Wilson, who was a number two overall pick.

Jackson Dart was walking around that practice field like he belonged.

The players were responding to him, and there was like a carefree feel to it where the pressure of the world is not on him right now.

This could be the perfect situation.

Let Russ start a couple games.

Let Russ go as far as Russ can go.

And then when it's time, everyone will know.

All right, let's give Jackson Dart the the ball real quick as we end uh brian dayball a guy you know obviously give us a good brian dayball story there david

oh man i put like confetti and brian dayball's like uh air vents uh this is back this was like in new england and so we always play pranks and stuff like that so

Dayball got pissed as hell, got red as hell.

That was the first time I seen him get ticked off.

But man, we got so many stories.

Like we don't even have enough time on the show to really go over over all that stuff.

Okay.

All right.

We do, but okay.

We appreciate you coming on.

Thanks so much for jumping into the show.

You're the man, guys.

Damien Woody.

Fantastic.

Yeah.

Yeah, great.

He's the best.

Yeah, that guy's good.

Broncos not getting enough love.

I feel like they're getting all the stuff.

Everyone's talking about him right now.

So we have Damian Woody on the show.

We clap him up.

The second he hangs up.

I'm like, that was wrong.

Well, it's fair.

I mean, the biggest problem is, like,

that division is amazing.

It's better than any division Brady's Patriots were ever in, but Mahomes and the Chiefs.

But to his point, they're not getting, like, when everyone's, they're not getting Super Bowl love.

They don't do that.

People are saying,

oh, watch out for the Tacos, but the Chiefs, I can't.

Yeah, they're good.

I mean, it's rightfully Chiefs, Bills, you know, Ravens.

I also, I understand that they might have the best defense in the league, but, like, I still don't think Bo Nix is, like, if Bo Nix is going and they have to play Buffalo again like they did last year, like, Buffalo beat the shit out of them.

them.

They killed the runs.

They didn't run the ball for shit last year.

So we'll, I mean, we'll see.

Yeah, they drafted Harvey in the second round, right?

RJ Harvey, and they obviously got

Dobbins.

They brought him in.

He's coming off the Achilles.

Jude Byrne in the first round.

And Jalil McLaughlin at a Youngstown State, a nice running back.

So I think I got four running backs.

When I look for these teams, though, and we can look that up again, that division, I was like, a sleeper to me isn't a team that made the playoffs.

So you got 32 teams, and two years ago, the Texans came out of nowhere from the second worst team in football to make the playoffs.

Last year, the Commanders came from the second worst team in football to make the playoffs.

There are 32 teams, but there's really only like eight to ten teams that could be your like sleeper sleeper.

And I think we're going to hit that a little bit more.

And that's why the Broncos at the teams track the teams.

That's okay.

Yeah, the Broncos make like sense as one of those teams because they are plus 325 to just

to win the division.

But like when you're talking about those sleeper teams, you're just kind of looking at the bottom two in every division.

Like, that's what's interesting about the Cowboys.

Like, if all this stuff wasn't going on with Micah, I feel like I would feel pretty good about the Cowboys with Pickens and CD and Ferguson getting paid and them finally having a running back again.

Like, I score, yeah, you know what I mean.

And that division is always

20 straight.

Yeah, every year it's going to be somebody different.

Giants plus 3,000?

That's insane.

Is that real?

Plus 3,000?

Yeah.

Seems rude.

A couple things go their way.

Good defense.

That's how the Browns.

They have the worst odds of any team.

Oh, they're not.

The Browns.

Kennedy and the Browns.

No, no, the Browns are plus 3,000.

Giants are plus 3,000.

That's kind of wild.

Speaking of the Browns, we're going to bring on another guest, and I love this guy.

Great, great ESPN personality, and I love that he's hopping on with us now because I've known him prior to his ESPN days, back when we were NFL network colleagues.

With no further indo, former Bengal, former Brown, Mr.

Andrew Hawkins.

What the fuck?

Oh, he's got the slapshot jersey on.

Yes, the Hansen brothers.

Kind of care.

Go on.

Johnstown, Pennsylvania, native.

Johnstown, Pennsylvania native, Shrek.

I know you're from Johnstown.

I didn't know that you were from the Philippines.

Oh, yeah, baby.

UPJ, Pennsylvania Yenser.

I visited UPJ a few times.

It's a dry campus, but

other than that, it was great.

Dry campus?

Is that right?

UPJ.

UPJ?

Okay.

Good job.

I don't do my child like that, man.

Fun time.

Hawk, I love you, man.

I love you joining the show.

One of my favorite guys.

I go to Cleveland when I think of you because you spent all those years there.

And you grew up in Ohio, obviously, when you were,

I guess you grew up in Pennsylvania, but you always were around that Browns team.

What do you make of Flacco being the starter and then Shador lobbying fourth on the depth chart?

Look, it's a process, man.

I think they named Flacco the starter because it quieted the noise.

And that's also helpful for Dylan.

and Shador as they keep battling.

I mean, look, the reality is, yes, we see what Shador is capable of.

And I would say if you go back to the draft and you redrafted it, I think everybody would agree that Shador would go way higher than what he did in the fifth based on what he's shown so far.

But that being said, he's still a fifth-round pick.

And there's certain things that come with that.

You got to work and you got to grind and it's not going to be handed to you.

And I don't think the Browns bought him in to what some people say are sabotaging him, but he's going to have to go earn it and he's going to have to go take jobs.

And that is the position that he's in, which is a new position for him.

But so far, so good, if you're asking me what my opinion is.

Does it feel like same old Browns?

Or does does it feel like they're actually like they have a plan here?

Andrew Berry, we trust.

Stefanski's a former coach of the year we trust.

Like let's give them the benefit of the doubt here.

Yeah, I think so.

I think they have a plan.

I think they got more than what they bargained for with both of those quarterbacks.

Like Shador, again, that was like the talk of the week whenever he started his game and he performed the way that he did.

But I would even say the same thing about Dylan Gabriel.

Like Dylan Gabriel is undersized, but if you look at some of that ball placement, it looks like next level, especially for your first NFL game.

And that's a special part about both of them.

So, I think they got more than what they bargained for there.

I think they also get Isaiah Bond as an undrafted free agent, which is crazy because he's essentially a first-round talent there.

You mix that with some of the other draft picks, and they're starting to build this table around them, right?

So, if depending on what Flacco does, which I feel like you know what Flacco's feeling is, like, I'm not expecting Flacco to come out here and light it up, and I don't think the Browns are expecting Flacco to have a career year.

If you want to know what Flacco is going to do, take his 17 seasons, average it out, and that's probably what you should expect with the Browns, right?

And if some of these young guys can continue to mature, show something special in a third preseason game, continue to develop throughout the season, maybe early in those weeks, and they feel like, yo, we're looking at a ceiling here that's a lot higher than what Flacco is showing us at the moment, that's when you might have fireworks.

Hawk, what year did you come out of college?

2008 draft would have been my draft.

2008 draft, pre-social media, pre-TikTok, pre-all this stuff.

Who Who would have been the player that you think would have been the biggest social media superstar back from when you were coming out of college if they had really been in this era today?

Good question.

The biggest social media star from that era.

You mean like that was coming out of college when I was?

Yeah, the guys.

Like, who are the guys that you think if you dropped them into 2025 would have the podcast, would have the Instagram following, would have the State Farm ad with Jake, you know, whatever?

Whatever.

Darius Butler.

That was a good answer.

Yes, good answer.

I took a lead athlete, personality that people didn't even realize was there because he was just a DB that just went to work.

Social media in that day and age.

Come on, man.

Forget about it.

No doubt.

I ask you these questions because I always think of you as so much more as just football.

Because when you were done with football or while you were even doing football, you were at Columbia getting a master's degree.

And then you got this amazing company coming up.

and I want you to explain to the viewers the virtual reality company that you did create and that you did usher in and how people are actually using it and I'm going to bring up something else that Boston Connor and I are going to discuss with you but talk about your virtual reality project and kind of how you broke off and did something different than just being an X player talking ball.

I appreciate that, man.

I think we, you know, as football players and even as analysts, man, we love this game.

And for me, growing up in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, which is football country, everybody a Steelers fan in Johnstown.

And I'm like, this is my life's work since I've been six years old.

All I've ever wanted to do was football.

And I didn't want that to end when I was done playing.

And so I've tried to always do things off the field, whether it's in business, whether it's in technology, that affects the game and that are things that I want to see out in the world.

So with Status Pro is created by me and my co-founder, Troy Jones, who also played quarterback in college at Maryland in Western Kentucky.

And we're able to recreate what you see on the field.

in a simulation to give a viewer a better view of what it's like to be the player.

And we have a video game besides the media product which is the visualizer on the SPN we have NFL pro air the video game and we have the best offensive coordinator voice that money can buy hell yeah you know and when I thought to myself what is a distinct voice that the people will always remember that'll make the people feel something hell yeah we got one Darius Buck

That's why I love you.

Hey, but speaking, you know what?

I'm going to pivot a little bit.

Speaking, you just got my mind going.

Offensive voices.

And I remember as a lifetime dolphin fan it was one guy that that that that put his neck out that stood on the pedestal for mike mcdaniel and it was you you called him a genius you called him a football savant and now going into the season for a lot of people it seems like he may be coaching you know for his job him and chris greer uh what's your outlook on the miami dolphins and mike mcdaniel as a head coach how do you see them kind of taking that next step just showing us as dolphins some uh promise i i look at it like a contract year like imagine with the players that we watch or we talk about, and it's like, man, this guy has to get us to his potential.

We see it there.

We've seen it in spurts.

We see him have success.

And then in that contract year, it kind of all comes together because the money's on the line.

That's the situation I think Mike McDaniel is in.

And I actually think the Dolphins will be a lot better than people suspect them to be.

And the reason why I was such an advocate for Mike McDaniel is because when you're in this football game, we all, you know, hear the same things over and over again, especially as players, because it's a lot of regurgitated information that is passed down from the coaches that were talking about it in 1950 to the coaches that are talking about it in 2025, which is good and okay.

But when I was with Mike McDaniel and the Kyle Shanahans, you know, and obviously they come from the McVay, you know, tree as well, it's like these are guys that innovated the game.

I had, I heard things that I had never heard in the game of football at 28 years old.

And me being a student, I'm like, man, this is crazy.

And then I would see it in practice or I would see it in the games and I would see it put, you know, to test, and it would work to an entirely different level.

And so that was what was always special about Mike McDaniel is that if you're looking for a ball knower, there is nobody better than him because he's like a mad scientist.

Now the question becomes, can you get your players to live up to that expectation and to play their best?

And that'll be the biggest, the biggest key for him.

I think when you look at that team this year, there's a little less star power, right?

They've moved the pieces around.

And the hope is that it'll be addition by subtraction.

because everybody will be pushing on the same page in the same accord.

Hawk, who was on that squad?

Because I remember Brian Hoyer and Menzel were the quarterbacks.

You had you, Josh Gordon, Josh Gordon, on that squad?

JG was on that squad too.

He was suspended for a number of games.

Miles Austin

was on that squad.

And I'll say this about Miles Austin.

In my entire career, there was never a player that I pegged wrong more than Miles Austin.

This is like when I came to Cleveland, he was dating Kim Cartes and Cowboys.

And I'm like, man, here we go with this, dude.

You talking about my favorite teammate of all time?

time like maybe even my favorite person of all time the product bond miss that's my mike my mike austin story i love that uh and then kyle shanahan's the offensive coordinator mike mcdaniels is what mike the wide receivers coach receiver coach yep okay who else petton's the head coach mike petton petton was the head coach oh

hef me was a db coach at that time

who else uh

yeah we had some it was a wild time in cleveland at that the johnny manzell experience johnny's my guy.

Like, I want to say that sincerely and truly.

However.

But that was a

movie-like year, though, for us.

It was kind of crazy.

I'm not going to lie about that.

No, we love Johnny, too.

That year, you guys started off, I'm not mistaken.

You guys were like six and four.

Brian Hoyer beats Tennessee, big comeback.

And then it all fell.

It blows me.

You're going to pull these scabs off, aren't you?

I'm sorry.

I remember.

You want to open these wounds up for all of America.

Yes, we started off seven and four.

So here's my thing.

I was with Cincinnati the three years prior, and I grew up a Bengals fan because my brother played for them when I was a little six.

I'm playing for my childhood, my childhood team, right?

And I go to the Browns, which is still in Ohio, and I'm like, cool, I'm staying in the state.

Everyone thinks when they go to the team, you're going to be the catalyst to turn this thing around, right?

So here we are.

We're seven and four.

I'm the leading receiver.

I'm a number one receiver.

All five, seven of me.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would lead an NFL team and receive it.

And I'm killing it.

The coach calls me.

We're seven and four.

He's like, hey, I think we're going to put Johnny Manzel in.

And I start laughing because I think he's joking, right?

Because if you talk to Johnny, Johnny was like, I wasn't trying to play.

I wasn't ready to play.

He was not joking.

Within two games, we put Johnny in.

Hoyer, you know, he had some tough games that made it a little easier of a transition.

And we ended up losing.

the rest of those games.

And I'm sure Johnny is like, if I had a better number one receiver, I'm sure I would have did a lot better.

But we did not go to the playoffs, and I was not the catalyst to turn the Cleveland Browns around, Drake.

That's the end of the story.

Boston Conner, you were talking before the show that Microsoft is a new AI deal.

Yeah, Hawk.

I mean, you graduated from Columbia, so you're probably the biggest brand we're going to have on here in quite some time.

So I'm going to ask this question for you specifically, especially with all your VR experience.

But AI and Microsoft are partnering basically to increase the insights from coaches to players, from the sideline to helmet.

What the hell is going on?

Are the AIs going to be telling these coaches where the quarterbacks need to be looking based on some sort of future

mathematic problem that none of us are going to be able to know except for the AIs?

Or is this something that's just going to make these offenses even more ridiculously good as they are now?

The short answer, yes.

It is probably going to change football.

I don't know how quickly it's going to change football, though, because you got to realize this.

And I always say this about sports technology and its implementation in the NFL: is that most of the coaches that are there would rather use a lucky pair of draws than they would any data because that's just the world we live in.

We go off of gut feelings.

So basically, what AI has the capabilities and will have the capabilities to do is instead of having to search all week for those football brains that can find those tendencies to say, hey, this receiver, is playing with his gloves before every pass play.

Or, you know, I noticed at that left tackle, he's like a little more weighted back or his knuckles are a little white which tells me it's a run ai will be able to do all of that in real time and it will also say that you know hey coach boston connor has been coaching for 10 years and every time they're plus 45 and a third and 10 down by a touchdown he runs this defense so this is what you should be prepared for and they'll be able to have that recall and that uh that baseline database to essentially be able to tell you exactly what's going to happen because we're we're still human and every time the bullets are flying, we're going to go back to what we know.

So for the last 15 years, all we've heard about me, it's like the rise of analytics and how everyone's hiring these kids from Harvard and these stats guys and every team's got

the

old play with your coach with your gut coach isn't in danger.

I almost feel like AI is going to eliminate that whole class of the Harvard grad who does the math because we could just pop it into the thing and get the same answer.

Pretty much.

I mean, but that's that's across the board even the gut coach right like like bill belichick is always like

you know obviously doesn't say much he eyeballs certain things but his brain works like a computer so just because he is not a data scientist he doesn't use analytics any less than the the the the analytics guy that came from harvard he just inherently has it in his system and i think a lot of the good football coaches that you talk about in this way are like that.

Again, they're not data scientists, but their brain kind of thinks in patterns and recall and they can see it and there's indicators for them.

Well, now it's essentially going to even the playing field.

My question is, is that what we want?

Don't we want the gut feeling?

Don't we want like, man, subjectivity

5'7, but there's just something about them, Strakes.

I want the 5'7 wide receiver.

I want a coach who can call over Johnny Menzel to the sideline, pretend like he's whispering to him, and then you get that fake play.

I want that.

Hell yeah.

I can't get there from that high.

Those guys are like, always be there.

They'll never die off.

I hope so.

I want the robot.

To Hawk's point.

Belichick, kind of, you know, Belichick and Ernie Adams, kind of that guy.

Fourth and two game, my rookie year.

Going forward on fourth and two.

That was analytic.

Everybody would do that now, but like that was 2009.

Kevin Falk passed.

Kevin Falk.

And he got killed in the media after that.

His first thing to us was like, look, I'm always going to make the best decision.

I feel like it's best for the team.

And I'm not going to play scared.

You know, that's how I felt the game was going and as a defender that second half we couldn't we couldn't stop Peyton he figured this out he figured out what was going on in the final matchups and it made sense if you have a chance with Tom Brady Wes Walker Randy Moss Kevin Falk to get a first down basically win the game you take that chance and that's maybe where I have an issue because everyone has access to the AI I might not have the Microsoft co-pilot hello our corporate sponsors but we do have you know whatever you can type in anything and they will say third and ten this is what you should do so like everyone thinks they have the answer but then you actually have have to play football until the Boston Dynamic Robot comes in and knocks us on our ass.

Like there's actually a player.

They don't have a chance.

Yeah, they're not allowed.

Yeah, they don't have the

heart.

Lateral quickness.

They don't have the heart.

There you go.

Lateral quickness, peripheral vision.

Yep.

Can't measure the lateral weaknesses.

Can they put cleats on?

No.

Can't measure the heart of a 350-pound offensive lineman that has a

27-inch arms out of Penn State University.

I'm scared of these robots, though, bro.

I think they...

You should be.

You should be terrified of them.

You should be more scared of the AI.

See, that's the real problem.

That's why I'm the shiny object's the robot.

Yeah, it's AI.

AI we let in.

Yes.

No, I mean, we're talking about the AI.

You get the heart.

You get the AI.

The AI is the heart.

In the brain or the heart of these robots.

You equip this thing with a machine gun.

Yeah,

we got problems.

You ever seen Terminator?

Yeah.

iRobot?

Yeah.

I did not kill him.

Yeah, right.

iRobot.

I thought he was wrongly accused.

He was.

I watched iRobot last week with my kids.

Why?

And there was like,

wanted to see, man.

I'm like, all right,

maybe this is a scouting report.

I got to see what's going on.

And so they have like a scan to pay.

And they like zoom in on him scanning to pay.

Like it was so futuristic.

And my kids were like, why would they zoom in on that shot for Apple Pay?

And I'm like, well, it wasn't no Apple Pay back then.

And there wasn't FaceTime.

There was no Siri, but they're like, this is the dumbest movie I've ever seen.

The self-driving cars.

It's worse than the technology we have now.

It's crazy, man.

I know.

I was watching, like, I forget what it was.

It might have been Sopranos or Seinfeld or something, and, like, they didn't have a cell phone.

So, like, all of them, I'm like, well, no, you just call them on the phone.

Oh, they don't have one of those.

So, like, they're in a payphone.

I'm like, this makes no sense.

This is crazy.

Those are better times.

Better times.

Before the robot.

Sound really old right now.

We are.

Hawk.

I appreciate you.

We appreciate you.

Awesome job on the show, man.

We'll be seeing you soon.

Thank you.

Pretty good first hour.

He's almost too smart for us.

He's great.

Yeah,

he's unbelievable.

That's crazy what that AI thing will do.

What he said is really resonating with me.

AI is actually the heart.

The robot's just the physical.

Exactly.

The bones.

And they got a lung, if you will.

Yeah.

And they're just starting.

Yeah, long way to go.

It's scary.

Wait until they equip them with weaponry.

I know.

It's happening.

It's happening.

Things of that ilk scare me.

Yes, they do.

Things of that ilk are frightening.

Guys, we have another hour coming up.

Pat McAfee's show.

I'm in here, Peter Schrager, loving it.

Thank you for having me on.

Stay with us.

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Including football!

Yeah, nailed it.

Nailed it.

We're having a blast.

We're joined by the wonderful Boston Connor, Ty Schmidt, the great Tone Digg, Darius Bowler, the Booksback.

And now, I want to introduce one of my favorite players to cover when I was a budding journalist over at FoxSports.com.

And he was a former top five pick, leading his team to not only playoffs every year, but also a Super bowl championship he's become a good friend of mine and one of my favorite people's faces to just stare at as that knock up being talking mr aj hawk joins the show

all her what's up shreigs i love it you starting off the show talking about you doom scrolling old uh creepy guys with young girls on vacation my life shrogs my life that instagram is trouble what happens is you start scrolling and then they suggest things and you say well why not and then you start seeing that and then suddenly you're in a hole you don't want to be in And then you got to dig yourself out and just look for some quality, good content like that.

There you go.

Slop shots, slop shots, slop shots.

And one of the things I saw was first day of school photos.

So A.J.

Hawk, I see that, and I love that.

And that's where that's the good stuff.

That's the good stuff of Christ Graham, right?

Yeah, that is, that's the great stuff, I guess.

That's what it's for.

Like the old school Facebook, update your parents.

Yes.

Oh, Dr.

Pepper.

I don't know if you see this, right?

You see this?

Oh, rap, Shreg.

You see that?

Dr.

Pepper staring right back at you?

I was going to say, speaking of the good stuff.

It's the official drink

of the Thunderdome.

Why don't you pop one of those bad boys up there?

Dr.

Pepper is the official drink of Fansville.

It's now the official drink of Thunderdome.

The Thunderdome.

Is it game day?

Is it Saturday?

Not unless you're drinking Dr.

Pepper.

Grab some today.

Let's go.

Well set.

Cheers, Con.

Also, while we were

doing the Jerry thing in the first hour, AJ texted in and said he's also three episodes in and absolutely loves it.

Yeah, AJ Hawk, let's get your thoughts.

You were someone who played against the Cowboys for all those years.

You won a Super Bowl in Dallas.

The documentary thus far blown you away.

Oh, it's awesome.

I mean, Debuck talked about it is cool how Jerry brings his family along and they know nothing about it.

And here we go.

Hey,

we're running this whole thing and we're going to make it gigantic.

But it's the documentaries are made by the people that are getting interviewed.

Like Michael Irvin is a dream, I would imagine, for somebody that is doing a documentary.

His reactions, how he speaks, how I,

he's awesome.

And they have that whole place, that whole thing is filled with so many unbelievable old players that played there that are also huge personalities that you don't really see anymore, I think.

Yeah, that's what's sick, too, is that the first three episodes, those at least from what I've seen, the personality is Michael Irvin.

You know, he's kind of the one.

They do Charles Haley, which is very interesting.

And they do Emmett Smith and Jimmy Johnson and stuff.

And Jimmy's unbelievable.

But Irvin's there.

And then I haven't seen it yet, but I guess Prime has

a clip as well, has a large thing about himself.

So I'm assuming he starts to take over.

Hawker, you strike me as someone who would have loved when Jimmy Johnson didn't let the team eat

on the plane after a loss.

Is that something you looked at and you were like, yeah, I would have loved to play for Jimmy?

And I don't know if I would say I would have loved it, but I think once you get over that and you realize that, hey, this guy's just trying to win.

But what's awesome, too, is they talk to Jimmy now current day,

he has no remorse for it.

Like, he has no, he's not backed down one ounce.

He talks about playing Burline over Troy Aikman.

He's like, I didn't care about anybody's fields.

I'm trying to win a football game.

I loved it.

It's really good.

Him cutting a player that fumbled on the spot.

They talked about how a guy fumbled the ball and he was coming off the field and Jimmy Johnson said, you're cut.

Get out of here.

And then what he said, when they asked him about it, he said, you know, coaches say, you know, cutting players is like one of the toughest part of his job.

It's not for me.

I'm trying to win his games.

And then when he said, like, and I don't want to ruin the doctor,

he was like, yeah, you know, once I took the job, you know, I was all in and everything kind of just had to go.

You know, and it's like Jimmy tells his wife 26 years, we got to get a divorce.

Oh, wow.

I've never seen or heard any shit like this.

Obviously, people will prioritize things and maybe other things will just wither away.

But him just making that decision and him just being all in, and that's all he cared about and how he ran.

that team that was crazy.

That's tough to do with pros when you're coming, especially coming from

the college level and coming up to dealing with these guys and all these different personalities.

But Jerry Jones and he were obviously on the same page where it worked out until obviously it did.

It's of the moment to talk about the Cowboys doc, but I also...

I love the Chiefs doc.

Have you been watching The Kingdom at all?

It's on Boston and ESPN.

And you get this Clark Hunt story, which is completely different.

And it's Clark Hunt was this entrepreneur who took on the NFL, comes over from the AFL, and it says, okay, well, if you're not going to give me a team in Dallas, Texas, or if I want to do this, it just a wild history there also.

And AJ, I think of your career, you go to Green Bay, there was no owner.

There was no patriarch of it all.

What was the dynamic there when you were at the Packers?

Peter, just real quick, Ty is an owner.

So that is fair.

That is fair.

That is fair.

I didn't want AJ played, though.

But to not have that Jerry Jones, Clark Hunt, like patriarch of the family or a Mike Brown or a Mara or a Rooney,

was that weird?

It is kind of weird when you think about it, but I was drafted there, there, so that's all I knew at the time.

My 10th season, I went to Cincinnati, and that's the first time we had an owner.

I'm talking to Mike Brown, and it's a very unique situation, too, they have in their front office compared to what other front offices might look like.

And they're very open about it.

It's another family-run business like that, another family-run team.

But it's pretty sweet because think about it.

If you're a football team and there's no owner trying to siphon off all the net profits, those profits go back to the team, and they take very, very good care of you with facilities and everything that you could possibly need in Green Bay.

So, yeah, there'll never be a situation like that again, will there, Shregs, where the community owns a team?

There would never be a team.

There would never be an expansion team in a city like Green Bay.

It just wouldn't happen.

They wouldn't put one in a town like that, which is what makes Green Bay so charming and makes it so wonderful.

Yeah, I mean, that was the biggest takeaway from the draft this year for me at least was like, oh, okay, so this is an entire town.

dedicated to this team.

That is the role they play in that town, and they love it clearly based on the draft and how sweet it was.

It is surprising that a commissioner just never anointed one, like wanted to for the Packers.

Now it's just at the point where there's no way they'll never have one now.

Ty, we're two weeks out.

You're our resident Packers fan.

How are we feeling?

about the 2025 Green Bay Packers.

There was Super Bowl buzz early.

Then people were discouraged after the left hand injury.

Now Love is already going to be set back for week one.

Like, are you feeling this is a Super Bowl team?

yeah, I mean, I think you kind of have those hopes every year with the Packers just because you know, if they can put everything together and get hot at the right time, you know, that they could because it's tough.

I mean, I think it all comes down to Jordan Love.

Like, if he plays

better, or, you know, like he has like a jump on like what he did when his first year as a starter when they went to the playoffs and beat the hell out of the Cowboys and took the Niners right down to the wire and almost went to the NFC championship.

Like, I think he was just kind of hurt all last year.

It wasn't a good start.

He got hurt again in Jacksonville and it kind of never meshed.

They were playing arguably like their worst football of the season going into the playoffs.

And then obviously Philly was a juggernaut at that point.

So we'll see.

But I mean, Josh Jacobs is going to be the key to this thing.

He was unbelievable last year.

They're going to rely on running the football because

by and large, everything you've heard from camp is like Matthew Golden is going to be the go-keep guy.

And although he's unbelievable, obviously, like, we'll see.

You know, anytime a rookie receiver is kind of your clear-cut number one guy, and you need him to have a big gear,

if the defense is improved again, I don't know.

I mean, it's tough because the NFC North

is so tough.

It's such a, but it's like, all right, so let's go around the horn here.

Just NFC North.

Caleb Williams, Jared Goff,

Jordan Love, JJ McCarthy.

I'm going to go around the horn, AJ, including you.

Which one of those quarterbacks has the most pressure on them this season to perform?

Probably Goff just because he will get murdered and everyone will say, oh, it was ben johnson the entire time that's the only reason he was successful and golf's great i think so that's why yeah i agree with that i would say caleb williams just because there's so much hype with him and it was supposed to be like hey ben johnson is the guy who's going to unlock you and you will be a top five quarterback in the nfl and i don't think if he has like a moderate improvement or he's a little bit better i don't think that'll be good enough for people in chicago and people in the media caleb williams is is my number one but jordan love is a close second yeah because he got paid and then they're they're gonna say he got paid off of one season and it hasn't produced since then.

AJ, what are you thinking?

Yeah, I mean, I was going to say Jordan Love all along, just because I think if he doesn't play well this year, if they don't have a good season, people are going to start questioning whether he's the guy or not.

And they paid him like he is the guy.

So, yeah, I think, obviously, they all have a ton of pressure on him.

But yeah, where Jordan Love is at in his career, he can go one way or the other, I think, this year.

Yeah, first response to beat Caleb Williams because of the Ben Johnson thing.

No excuses.

Great weapons around him, too.

Another guy, after that year that Sam Darnall had with the Vikings, Christian McCarthy, been handed the keys.

Obviously, you get drafted, you get hurt, you don't get opportunity, and then you just say, hey, we're going to go move on from a former top three pick who had a career year, and we're going to hand the keys to you.

And everyone knows, just like Ben Johnson.

KOC, I mean, I would say even more so because he's done it from the head coach position.

He can call the game and he can get production and great play out of the quarterback, regardless of who's taking the snap.

So I would say J.J.

McCarthy because of everything around him and him being handed the keys after the year that he had last year.

Think about this division then.

We just went around the horn and you can make the argument for each one of the quarterbacks.

I actually go with Connor.

I look at Jared Goff, he's got all these accolades.

He's been to Super Bowl, he's been to two NFC championship games, he's led two franchises from the wreckage all the way to the top.

And yet, we headed to the season, and people are still shrugged shoulders.

And you said you're not doubting him, but like, people are like, is he good?

I don't know.

Let's see him without McVay.

Let's see him without Ben Johnson.

And to me, that's the ultimate insult to what Jared Goff's career has been.

Pro Bowl, all-pro, all this stuff, chanting his name.

And yet, I think there's a lot of people around the league who are like, all right, now you're the guy.

Can you do it?

He falls into like the Purdy category for me.

I mean, to me, that's not insulting, but it's like, whoa.

It's not insulting.

It sucks for the player.

It's like, they're amazing, but they'll never get credit for it.

It happened to Brady for the first, you know, 10, 11 years of his career.

Like, if Purdy wins the Super Bowl, people will talk about Shanahan and the team around him.

I feel like it's the same with Goff.

And last year was the first year where, you know, MVP, like in the finals, and people, I feel like, had a lot of respect for him.

But But I don't think anyone's thinking, like, if Goff has a bad game, you know, they don't have a chance.

Like, with Gibbs and Amon Ra and the O-line, and now Hutch being healthy, and the defense, like, I think a lot of people do look at Goff and say, Hey, if they don't win or go to the Super Bowl, it's probably because of this guy.

And granted,

the same thing could happen again as it did last year, where everybody and their mother gets hurt, and they go into the divisional round with

half a team.

But I feel like now is, you know, when we talk about windows,

the Lions window is as open as it's been and like they kind of have to get it done now.

Whereas like JJ McCarthy, no matter what, he gets a year.

Caleb, I feel like Caleb probably does make the most sense because like if you, if you're just talking about pressure, if he doesn't get it done, you're assuming Ben Johnson's the one that can tell the ownership, like, yep, let's put Tyson Bajan in because I can win with him.

Just signed a new deal today.

Hell yeah.

He's spending it this preseason.

But yeah, I mean, it'd be interesting, but it's crazy that Jared Goff gets that kind of disrespect.

I understand he's had great play callers and he's had great players around him, but dude was a number one pick.

Yeah.

He was a number one pick.

He paid twice monster conference.

Yeah, got paid, went to a Super Bowl.

So, like, you can have great coaches.

You can have great players.

You still got to have a trigger man that can read it, that can make those type of throws.

So I think Detroit is getting behind him.

This will be a big year for him, though, post-Ben Johnson.

Obviously, he will have that pressure and viewed on him, but he is easily the most established and the most, I would say, I would have the the most confident, yeah, confidence in the quarterback in that division.

It would be Jericho easily for me.

The guy's name is John Morton.

He's the offensive coordinator who was in the league forever.

He was working with Peyton in New Orleans and then he's been with the Jets.

Like John Morton's been a 30-year coach and he's now the new offensive coordinator.

So this isn't one of these 28-year-old WizKid exercises.

This is a guy who's been in the league for a long time.

I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.

Mark Brunel is the quarterback's coach.

They lost Tanner Eric Streman to the league.

He played before Shregs.

Has he called plays in the league yet?

John Morton has, yes.

He's been a full-time league.

That's a big thing.

That's a big thing.

Not with great success.

Still, though.

Still, you learn a lot.

I cannot imagine how much you learn the first time you're the actual play caller.

Like, there's so that's such a difficult job that the great ones are great and the ones that suck are pretty bad.

Oh, yeah.

Zito, could we see the division odds again?

I just want to see the NFC North.

So Lions are favored.

Packers, two.

Vikings, who went 14 and three last year are third, and then the Bears are there in fourth.

It's It's all tight.

Yeah, all plus money.

All plus money.

That is a tightest of a division.

The tightest division.

Yes, it is the tightest division, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, by a lot of teams.

NFC West.

That and the West, yeah.

West gets weird, though, after, yeah.

The Niners are a favorite of the Rams, huh?

I find that kind of shocking, too.

I don't know if

Stafford's back or what.

We kind of talked about this yesterday, where people are saying every single one of those teams is going to be good this year.

And we're like, that's.

Watch out for the Cardinals.

Yeah.

I like the Seahawks.

Yeah, that's what everyone is.

But I'm finding that with all 32 teams.

Like,

here's what you get now in August.

And Jason McCordy's going to join us, and he'll laugh because he knows this is like an NFL network special.

Now that we're all partners, we can say three people on directors' chairs in a polo with either ESPN or NFL Network.

And it's a, you know, a cheap polo made from like, you know, whatever, name the company.

Gilded.

And you're sick.

You're just squeezing.

Whoa.

It's a good company.

Gilded.

I'll take that.

Whoa.

And

the coach comes over.

Everything's rainbows and roses.

And who's the young player that's stepping up?

Well, this guy, and everyone wants to drive in fancy.

That's 32 teams.

And that's what it is.

It's two reporters are hosting a reporter on a director's chair with the next player.

And then us just glazing over the coach, the young quarterback, everything.

Everyone's awesome.

But as we know, not everyone's going to be awesome.

And I don't care so much as like this

team could be good.

Is that your pick?

Like, if you're saying, I think the Cardinals are a sneaky, possible, maybe, possible dark horse kind of maybe contender, I don't care.

Are you picking the Cardinals to win the NFC West?

Like, I like the Titans because Cam Ward brings it.

Like, are you taking the Titans?

So, back it up because to me, in 32 teams, like, everyone loves everyone right now.

Well, and that's the combo with the Broncos.

Yeah, like, that's the thing with the Broncos we were just having is like, yeah, you can like the Broncos and think they're gonna be like, how much do you like the Broncos?

Yeah, do you think they're gonna beat the Chase in the division?

Like, last year, I fell for it.

Last year, I was like, the Chargers are going to do it, man.

They're finally going to beat the Chiefs, and this is their year with Harbaugh and stuff.

And it's not, you know, and it's probably going to happen this year.

Like, again, I made the comparison earlier with the Chiefs now.

Brady won 17 AFCE's division championships.

So I can't even imagine how many times going into the year it was like the Bills or the Dolphins or the Jets.

The Jets.

You know, like with Rush Ryan and those teams.

But it never actually is.

And I feel like the Chiefs, it's the same exact thing.

Like the Broncos could probably go to the playoffs for the next 10 years But if you also told me they never won the division I believe you yeah, well this stuff will dissipate too We have two weeks until the season kicks off so like if hey if you want to get those shots in you got to get them now because if you're picking the Cardinals total to win the division right now

and then if they get beat by five touchdowns week one, you know, you look like an asshole, but you know right now you don't but it's like, you know, I like the Texans this year.

Someone said to me, I forget who it was, I really like Texans.

How much do you like them?

You pick them to win the AFC?

No, well, they did that last year.

They went to divisional round the last two years.

so what what's the next

the same you mean is that you know like you like them just because they were yeah uh Jason McCordy's gonna join us right now one of my favorite people in the world and he's doing us a solid hearing look at him there waiting to grab my

so Jason and I co-hosted good morning football on the NFL network uh I consider this man a brother and now we are here on ESPN airwaves together uh J-Mac how's the summer been man it's been awesome I've just been sitting here thinking about which teams are gonna to make it.

I think, you know, the commanders, if they get Terry McLaurin there, they're going to be the favorite in the NFC East.

But if Michael Parsons gets his deal done before week one, they may be the team.

But can you imagine if Jackson Dart is as good as Jaden Daniel was as a rookie, the Eagles have no shot in the NFC East?

That's just, that's all I came in to say, just for this.

But J-Mac, you know what I'm talking about.

This is what we do in August.

It's like we visit a camp for literally three hours.

You come out and you're like, wow, I mean, gosh, the Bengals, I know that it says everyone has a a team, but like, who is the team right now?

If I'm putting you on the spot, because I trust what you say, who is the team that maybe not everyone's talking about, that you at least have your eye on?

And not maybe sort of, but like, hey, I'm going to roll with this team this year.

If I'm picking one and everybody's talking about them, I would say, or they're mentioning their names, I think the Denver Broncos and not just saying that to say, all right, they're going to be good as a good football team.

I think the Denver Broncos can compete and be a team that we're talking about later on in the season as a possibility to get into the playoffs and go on a run and be talking about them as a Super Bowl type of team.

I think Bolt Knicks has that ability to take the next step.

Sean Payton is a head coach that has been in this position before and has been building for this.

As good as they were on defense last year, you go out and you sign Talonoa Hufunka and you sign Dre Greenlaw to come over to that side of the defense and go and be able to dominate and run around.

So when I look at them, R.J.

Harvey in the backfield, another explosive weapon, Evan Ingram, another guy on the offensive side of the ball.

This was a team last year that when they were in the playoffs and we started talking about them and they were in close games against the Kansas City Chiefs losing by a

blocked field goal, we all were shocked.

We had no idea Bold Knicks was going to be that type of player last year.

There's going to be a little bit more of a target on their back this year, but I think they've made improvements where it's not just, all right, they're going to make the playoffs, but they're a team that I think can go out there and can compete and beat every team in AFC.

You were down in Miami for a bit at the end of your career, and they're a team that everyone's immediately writing off saying they're done.

I'm actually, I've turned completely, I've turned the tie.

I think I'm in on the Dolphins.

Like, I like the fact that no one's talking about them.

How in are you, Shregs?

How much do you think?

All the way in, AJ.

All the way in.

I honestly think the Dolphins, this is like,

and I got to kind of work this.

You know, we workshop like my recent

work.

I got some good.

But I feel like

anyone that Mike McDaniel wanted out is out.

And that might be Jalen Ramsey.

It might be some of the other malcontents that Ramsey wasn't a malcontent, but like guys that maybe weren't all on on the plan.

I feel like Mike has all of his guys now.

And it's like, if we do have one more year to show it, like at least I'm going to do it my way and we're going to roll and we're going to play offense and we're going to do our best with defensive guys getting back.

You were in Miami.

Couple guys are still on that team.

Tua, of course, was a quarterback that you saw close up.

Like, has the train passed by Miami, or are we now back thinking maybe they are still that team that put up 70 on the Broncos two years ago?

Right now, I don't see it.

And you mentioned they've gotten some of those guys out that maybe Mike didn't want there.

But my question is, who are the guys that you've brought in to replace those guys?

When they were talking about trading Jalen Ramsey and finally delta into Pittsburgh, my concern was, all right, you got rid of Ramsey.

All right, Kendall Fuller, who's your starter last year, he's gone.

Who are the cornerbacks that you're bringing in that are sure fires that you're like, all right, these are going to be our two guys on the outside?

And that's not to mention the Kater Cohu and Artie Burns all getting injured.

So when I look at this Dolphins team, the little bit of the stress they went through last year and adversity and the Tyreek Hill stuff at the end of the season and all of these different things, we continue to say the same thing about the Dolphins every year.

And I go, I know my guy Deeput is out there in South Florida saying they're not a team that can play in cold weather.

They're not a tough football team that can run the ball when it matters.

What has changed from the last few years to this year that you're going to say, all right, we see this team and they're taking the next step and they're going to do this or that?

I just haven't seen those moves in this offseason to really get behind them.

Are they going to be a solid football team?

Absolutely.

You got Tua.

You got Jalen Waddle.

You got Tyreek Hill.

You have those explosive players.

What is Darren Waller going to look like?

Just activated off pup.

out of football for an entire year.

Can he come in and have the type of impact that John Lew Smith had last year?

I don't don't know there's a lot of question marks to me with that yeah um before we go around the horn one of the guys you played with there is now a new york giant get giants fans excited tell us about javon holland who was a fellow defensive back with you at the miami dolphins

that's my guy and all i've heard all training camp is that he's been a complete ball hawk dog i think for all of these young guys when you sometimes you get drafted by a team you're there for javon holland he was there with three different defensive coordinators a lot of change that happened around sometimes you need a little bit of a new scenery i don't think he was even offered a contract by the Miami Dolphins.

So now you become a member of the New York Giants.

They paid him.

They believe in him.

So now you get a chance to go out there and be one of the older guys in that secondary and become a true leader.

This is a guy that became a captain in his second year, and he's a football player.

So I think his ability to get out there, conduct everything, play in the deep part of the field, move up, be able to blitz and do the things he did when Flores was there with Josh Boyer as a defensive coordinator, I think is going to help him a ton.

So I'm really excited about what Javon's going to bring to this secondary.

And hey, the Giants are a team that got a lot better.

Here we go.

I ain't saying they're going to be a playoff team, but they got a lot better in football.

You're there in Jersey.

What's the vibe?

What's the, like, I know you go into a Wawa, you're stepping into your shop right.

Someone's going to stop you and want to talk Giants.

What's the vibe on Giants right now in Jersey?

The big Wawa guy out here.

We finally got him up in North Jersey, not South Jersey.

People are fired up.

Dable is in my town.

So I see Dabes all the time.

I'm rocking my Franklin Lakes Peevee football gear on.

He's out there with his son and his daughter.

People are extremely excited because when you turn the TV on and you're watching a Giants game, you get excited about what you see in Jackson Dart.

When you see Russell Wilson throwing a moon ball down the field 80 yards, you get excited about that.

When you log on to social media and you see Jameis Winston talking about guys going to chapel and believing and hitting the crossbar on a throw at the end of practice to get them out of meetings, you get excited about that.

There's just so much positivity right now that surrounds the New York Giants.

A year after they have planes flying over with saying this is a dumpster fire on game day over top of the stadium.

It's a completely new hope right now with this New York Giants football team.

And then you have Abdul Carter tweeting out and calling out the Jets and talking about BT.

Like this indeed.

J-Mac, I know.

You're kind of old school.

Did you like this?

I did, but it just, it was Michael Parsons a few years ago with Leonard Fournette.

It's like, I'm a D-lineman.

I literally had one of the coaches on my pee wee team that was like, man, I'm doing Carter, man.

This kid's not any good.

Did you see him

in the game?

I'm like, did you watch any of the game or did you just see one highlight of him getting chipped?

He's been dominating out there.

So I think everybody just loves this New York Giants team.

It's trash talk a little bit.

It's hard nose.

This is what you want.

A little bit of flair and all of that.

Did you guys know that Jason McCordy was once on Saturday night live?

What?

What?

J-Mac, tell them the story.

Didn't know that.

Hey, well, you're an identical twin and you grow up single mom, and we got to create income however we can.

Moms was driving us in and out of New York City, auditioning for this, auditioning for that.

Obviously, we weren't too damn good because you didn't see us in anything, but we ended up getting casted on Saturday Night Live.

It was a Martha Stewart special, and we was just extras.

We're just sitting on the ground while they're doing the skit, and that was our big claim to fame.

We was in Saturday Night Live.

No one knew we were there.

Our names probably didn't even roll into credits at the end, but we were able to live and tell that story.

It was all day.

I hated it.

I wanted to just play sports as a kid.

Of course.

All right, let's go around the hood here, Boston Connor.

Yeah, now your real claim to fame is being the Super Bowl champion for the New England Patriots.

Thank you for your service, brother.

I very much appreciate that.

But looking forward to this season, I wanted to ask you, you know, what young DB you're excited about, but really the...

The young DB everyone's kind of got their eyes on is Travis Hunter now, playing both ways.

How do you think that is going to go realistically?

D-Butt told me that in Madden, his conditioning is 100 and he never gets tired.

So if that happens in real life, then he should be okay.

But do you expect him to do both the entire year?

Do you think it'll be kind of split between one and full-time the other?

What are you expecting to see out of Jacksonville and Travis Hunter?

I'm expecting him to do both.

I think it's going to be extremely hard.

I still have question marks about his ability to be able to do that throughout a 17-game season.

But if I'm the Jacksonville Jaguars and I draft him as high as we did and made moves to get up there to get him, you don't draft him just to go out there and play wide receiver and provide that access for Trevor Lawrence to get the ball to him.

You don't pay him to go out there and just play defensive back and go cover a receiver.

You need this guy to be explosive, to be exciting.

Fans coming up, wearing their Travis Hunter jerseys because you don't know where he's going to align.

So I expect it to maybe be a game-by-game thing where it may be, hey, we need him to match up a a little bit more defensively with this guy this week.

Or, hey, offensively, we think we can find mismatches to get him the ball in certain situations.

So I very much see them having him go out there and playing both ways and doing the most that he can, unless something stops him physically from being able to do that.

I can't imagine him not doing that.

But as far as young DBs, Don A.

Baron on the Broncos, I'm excited to see what he can do, blitzing.

and covering and doing all of those things.

I hate to cut you off when you're doing a Baron bit.

I wanted to ask you, though, because you know the defensive coordinator in Jacksonville very well, right?

You know, Camp, tell them about who that man is and what you think he might bring to that team.

People that got a chance to watch the in-season hard knocks at the Miami Dolphins, you got to see just a preview of what Anthony Campanelli is all about.

When you mention New Jersey, when you think of what New Jersey football is like at the high school level, it's the Italian guy screaming at the top of his lungs, getting people fired up, slamming things in the room, throwing a chair through the window.

That is Coach Camp.

And throughout the course of the week, he loves every single guy that he gets a chance to coach and come in contact with.

So Anthony Campanella is going to be one hell of a defensive coordinator down here in Jacksonville.

AJ, what do you got?

I got a question for J-Mac.

Yeah, Jay, speaking of defensive coordinators, the Bengals brought in Al Golden this year to try to shore up things in the defensive end.

We know Joe Burrow is going to put up points and how good that offense is, but what do you expect from this Bengals defense?

And I guess what do you expect from them as a team?

Well, watching them against the Commanders, I don't expect a damn thing.

I look at this for Al Golden.

I'm coaching Pee Wee football right now.

If we go play the neighbor in town and all of their kids are six foot and they look like monsters, and I'm rolling out there with little twerk nine and ten year olds, it don't matter how great of a scheme I have.

We have no shot for the Bengals.

They have to figure out to get these young guys that they've drafted to play at a high level right away.

Find a way.

Pay Trey Henderson.

Get him the money.

They need as much good players on the defensive side of the ball as possible.

If I'm Joe Burrow, I'm standing on the sideline and I'm watching this.

I'm in everybody's face slamming helmets.

Dude, we got to figure it out.

Make a trade, do something.

There's no way we're just going to hit repeat on exactly what we did last year.

That defense was ugly.

And I know it's just a preseason and all of that, but I always think about this.

When you look at the preseason, whatever was the point of emphasis from the season before, it better look good now in the preseason.

We talked about Caleb Williams not holding on to the ball, all of those things.

In the preseason, it looked better.

It looked like something they were working on.

I don't know what the hell the Bengals was working on last season, but we need to see more from that defensive side of the ball.

Who do you have week one?

I know you do CBS games, and you've got a great crew with you.

You're with Andrew Catalon, and I believe Charles Davis this year.

Who's your first game?

We're at Indy.

We got Daniel Jones and Miami's coming to town.

Daniel Jones in Texas I love.

Sorry, man.

Sorry, man.

Hey, you're going to enjoy Indy, but yeah, sorry about that, brother.

Which quarterback would you have rather face, AR or Daniel Jones?

To me, I would hate to see AR out there because if I'm on defense, I'm terrified of the unknown.

You don't know if this guy's going to scramble and run you over as a DB.

You don't know if he's going to flick his wrist and throw the ball 60 yards down the field.

So I would much rather face a Daniel Jones, and that's no disrespect, but Anthony Richardson creates that unknown that to me is terrifying as a defense.

Type.

J-Mac, just curious,

how do you feel about the Packers defense going into this year?

As a Packers fan, all offseason, they kind of let everyone from their cornerback room walk, and they did sign Nate Hobbs from Vegas, but then a lot of the talk was, hey, Bo Melton, this receiver, we're going to put him at cornerback and we're going to see.

And, you know, they've been saying he's been doing great, but they were much improved last year with Jeff Hafley.

Obviously, their safeties are very good.

Do you expect them to take another step up this year?

Because I feel like if they want to do what everyone thinks they can do, their defense needs to be much better again this year.

D-Butt, where did Bo Melton go to school?

I hope he didn't go up to that shitty school up in

Jersey.

I hope not.

You're damn right, baby.

That's a fellow.

Let's get away.

Jesus.

Why do you think they put so much trust in my guy?

I look at this Packers defense and you're hoping they take a step, but when you lose guys, it typically takes a little bit of time to gel and build that chemistry for everybody to be able to come together so it's not going to happen right away you lose a guy like jair alexander who played a lot of good football has been banged up the last few years and now you're throwing guys at you mentioned nate hobbs you mentioned bringing bowl melton from the offensive side of the ball to the defensive side of the ball you're not going to just hit your ground running and everybody just pick up it's going to take a little bit of time but in that division, you don't have that much time.

So I look at this Packers team.

Yes, Jordan Love, Matthew Golden, his addition, addition, the defensive side of the ball, I think they're going to be good, but I don't see that step forward happening right away.

It's going to be throughout the course of the season.

How much better can they improve from a week-to-be week standpoint and getting guys on the outside that can play more man-to-man and get them out of the cover two and the cover three, which they played a lot of last season?

I got a tweet just saying when we're in the dome, it's not around the horn.

It's around the dome.

So let's go around the dome, not around the horn.

Oh, I like that.

What do we got?

Yeah, Jason, we talked about Jalen Ramsey earlier and him going to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

As we know, the front seven there has been incredible, will be incredible.

But getting Jalen Ramsey, getting Darius Slay, they are very, very happy with those two.

How do you feel about the Steelers defense as a whole, the Steelers secondary, and can they lead them deep into the playoffs?

Hey, I think we're going to see a lot of Ramsey on the inside in the slot.

I think that's where he's going to be most effective, where he can blitz and do all of those fun things.

Man, when you have pass rush that the Pittsburgh Steelers have, assuming Cam Hayward gets back out there and everything is settled with his contract.

Man, that makes life easy when you got 30-year-old DBs out there.

Darius Slay played his butt off last year on a Super Bowl winning team.

I don't have a reason to just guess that he's going to fall off a cliff this year.

So him and Ramsey out there, I think, are going to be special.

And then Joey Porter Jr., I think for those guys, you have a Joey Porter Jr.

on the outside that can go and follow around the other team's number one wide receiver, which makes Slay and Ramsey's job a lot easier.

The issue they're going to have is when you show up on Wednesday and you start game planning, who's going to be content with covering the number two or the number three wide receiver?

Because all of these guys at points in their career have been that guy.

So I think from a confidence standpoint and what they're bringing on the defensive side of the ball, they have nothing but dogs out there.

So now it's how do we implement this thing and put it going forward so that we can go out there and dominate on the defensive side of the ball.

But it's exciting to see.

because this is what we've always known the Pittsburgh Steelers franchise to be.

Guys going out there, winning the game on defense, and then having an offense to go out there, running the football, and making the plays necessary.

Where do you stand on Pittsburgh?

You in on them going into the season?

People are either in one of two camps.

They're Rodgers' toast, and I don't want to do this all over again.

I did with the Jets last year.

I got excited.

Or they're all in.

I'm all in.

Like, where do you stand with the Steelers?

Well, I don't think they're the Jets.

I think that comparison, just because Rodgers was there isn't fair.

This is a team that has been winning, has been in the playoffs.

They're not bringing Rodgers in there to save them.

So I do like the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I like them to win a playoff game this year.

I like them to get there.

Wow.

So, I look at them as a team that

I think they do take those steps.

I don't have them as a Super Bowl contender, though.

Final Four is pretty good, though.

I think we would take that at this point.

Yeah, it's hit final four.

Championship.

So, Jason, you played, I know you played for Bill Conman, mentioning your Super Bowl championship up there in New England.

I believe you overlapped a little bit with Mike Vrabel, not maybe in Tennessee, but maybe in Cleveland.

What are the similarities and differences between Bill and Mike?

And what's your expectation for Pat's Drake May's year two and then Vrabel with the Prince that was promised back in New England?

The Prince that was promised.

I got a chance these last two weeks doing the Patriots preseason games of being around Braves and the team a lot.

The similarities, I think, is the expectation that he has for the guys out there on the football field.

It is all football with him.

And he expects guys to go out there and know what they're doing.

And if you're not, he is not afraid to tell you about it.

Talking to Drake May a little bit, he mentioned that when they get in there in the team meeting room, Vrabo will put a play up and talk about somebody not doing their job.

He's not afraid of anybody when it comes to that type of stuff in the room.

I think where they differ a lot, which you can appreciate this as well, Debut, is Vrabo is a guy that he very much loves that personal connection with his guys.

If you've seen him on busting with the boys, with Taylor and Will.

and those guys and busting their chops, like he loves to do that.

We're sitting there and I'm watching him make fun of Jabrill Peppers as we're talking about me and Jabril being a part of the 0-16 Cleveland Browns.

That part of coaching, I think he loves just as much as he loves teaching the guy.

So I think it's extremely high expectations for Drake May in year two of taking that step.

The thing talking to Josh McDaniels with Drake May is as soon as they got there, they unloaded and they gave him everything.

Last year, he wasn't calling it at the line of scrimmage with, hey, we're going Mike here, we're setting a protection here, all of those things.

They gave him all of that.

And he has loved every part of it and the growth that he's had since he's been there.

The leadership and speaking up and all of those different things.

What's your vibe on Belichick College, Coach?

Because that's, I mean, they got the Patriots fans here fired up.

Yeah.

We talked to Damian Woody.

He's like, I think it's the most fascinating story.

Are you in on that?

Like, do you think that suddenly Belichick is going to take the North Carolina Tar Heels to prominence, or is this just a cute story?

Whoa.

Man,

those are two drastically different things.

I'm not going to call it, I'm not going to call it a cute story.

But I think for me, I'm intrigued because either they are going to find a way to win games, or to your point, it's not going to be a cute story.

It's going to be a train wreck.

So I think just watching is going to be fascinating to see.

The one thing with Bills has always been about eliminating every single distraction and all of those things.

And since he's gotten there, all we've talked about is everything except for football.

So seeing these clips are fascinating because it's just like, this is the bill that I know.

Oh, he's like, twirling of the whistle.

Yeah.

Exactly.

Twirling of the whistle, looking at guys like, I mean, what are we doing?

You got to block the guy in front of you.

We talked about this.

Like, that's the bill that we all know and love.

He didn't give a damn about asking me about how my wife's doing, how my kids are doing.

Hey, Jay, when you show up, what's your assignment on cover two?

That's the only thing we talked about.

So this is the Bill Belichick that I want to see.

And this is the Bill Belichick that's going to be winning games.

Were you surprised when you saw like all the Instagram stuff last year with Jordan when they were doing like the mermaid on the water and all that?

I don't know if I'm even allowed to talk about it.

It kind of eliminated the distractions

last month or so.

She wasn't working for North Carolina when that stuff was going out, just by the way.

Dude,

there's not a guy that played for Bill that's not going to say they weren't shocked by that.

He was on the beach with her lifted in the air.

For one, we didn't even know he was capable of doing that.

So that was the most impressive thing where you would hit the group chat and be like, damn, like go ahead Billy B like live your life but it was like you can't imagine he would be the guy out there doing those things but hey hey life is short man you got to enjoy it while you can we both have sons the same age I'd be remiss not asking give me an update on your son Caden's athletic career where are we at what are we playing and what is the future for this young man

Man, we're in our second year of tackle football.

And because he probably not watching it the other day, we know the pads go on.

So we start coming up with all these hitting drills.

You got to get them fired up.

like you got to go in there and lay a shoulder so you know my son so i'm gonna match him up with some of the best kids on the team so we have another kid that's really good on our team kaden's the tackler he's running the ball he drops the shoulder boom kaden hits the ground full of tears oh i'm sitting there as a dad i'm just like come on man get fast you got me out here embarrassing the family now everybody know mccordy's names on the back of the jersey

man you can't be doing this but he's doing good man he's fine in his ways a little speedster he has some mccordy in him so he's doing good, man.

Appreciate that.

I'm trying to get him to be as good as Mel Schraeger out here shooting hoops and knocking down the three-ball.

My little guy has been working on that jump shot all summer.

We'll see how it goes.

We'll see how it goes.

And the Brooklyn Basketball Academy.

We'll see.

Yeah.

We're talking youth sports.

You know, Little League is going on, too, of course.

Fairfield.

That's what I'm doing.

Geluti, though.

Yeah, Joey Geluti.

Joe Geluti from Irmo, South Carolina.

That kid's no Joe.

They roll junk.

Yeah.

Connecticut plays today, right?

Yeah, Fairfield, last two undefeated U.S.

teams, Nevada versus Fairfield, Connecticut.

Oh, South Dakota lost?

South Dakota lost.

They got their shit pumped by, oh, let me check.

Fairfield, Connecticut.

Is that right?

Who would have thought?

My word.

Yeah,

it doesn't

matter.

It doesn't matter.

That Taipei team is.

They do have the home run kick.

Tell me about, give me a scouting report on Taipei.

The first game that I watched, he stepped up, hit a home run, and then was throwing 83

Little League, which I think was like 106 of the majors.

It's like 115.

And they'll be equivalent.

So good luck is what we're saying.

I've never been to Williams Sport.

Have you guys ever gone to

the League World Series?

It's in like the middle of Connecticut, like the no one cares part of Connecticut.

Is it in Pennsylvania?

Oh, there you go.

Yeah.

It's the same thing.

Don't you?

Yep.

It's all good.

J-Mac, good luck finishing up one more Patriots preseason game, and then you'll be on the road all season with CBS, and you'll be doing stuff with ESPN, I believe, as well.

So, J-Mac, thank you, buddy.

I'll be there, baby.

I'll see you.

All right.

That's the man.

Let's clap it up.

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It's called Taipei.

What is the Chinese Taipei?

I don't know if I'm like, what is it?

No, Chinese Taipei.

We don't think you start a World War II.

I don't want any problems.

We already started with the AI robots.

I don't need a World War here either.

Give me the latest.

Are you guys watching it?

Oh, yeah.

It's on every day after the show.

It's on every day after the show.

Today is the winner's brackets for the U.S.

side.

It is the semifinals.

Winner goes to the United States Championship.

Loser plays.

Oh, I love Dr.

Pepper.

Loser gets Dr.

Pepper because they're feeling like shit, and then they get Dr.

Pepper to feel better.

And the loser also plays in the championship game of the United States side.

So this is the last two unbeaten United States.

So you're allowed to lose one game?

Where double elimination plays Joe Geludi's boys to get back into the United States?

South Dakota's already.

I believe they played Jaluti.

They played Jaluti to go to the loser.

Jaluti's Nevada?

No, Irmo, South Carolina.

South Carolina.

There you go.

So right now they're...

Yeah, since there's two sides, there's three games left on the United States side and three games left on the international side.

You got to give strike some visual.

I needed something.

I mean, Jesus, what are we doing back there?

I think it ends either like Monday or Tuesday

of next week.

Oh, I was going to say, I would have just guessed that Sunday will be the championship.

There it is.

There it is.

Here we go.

There's Jaluti.

So is the pitcher?

Yeah, through two games.

He hadn't yielded a hit yet.

So, and again, you know, you got 85 pitch counts, so these kids are getting pulled a little bit early.

But boy, if you see Jeludi on the bump,

no sense in even bringing a bat up to the plate.

Turn and run.

A.J.

Hawk, you heard Jason McCourtie talking about his kid in youth sports.

Give me a good youth sports story as A.J.

Hawk, the sports dad.

He's a coach.

He's a coach right now.

You see.

Yeah, okay, good.

Yeah, I don't know.

I've coached girls basketball in the past for my daughter earlier on.

That's obviously its own thing.

That was fun watching the girls come together.

I tell you what, if you want to coach some competitive people, coach some girls fifth and sixth grade basketball because if there was a girl on the other team that was a punk, they were not scared.

All 10 of them were ganging up and they were going to go at that girl the rest of the game.

So I respected.

I loved how they had each other's back like that.

But yeah, I'm coaching a little tackle football.

A lot of the kids, it's their first year in tackle.

But like as McCordy was saying, if a kid gets trucked, if he gets run over, like kids always talk, oh, you're getting trucked

from playing Madden and stuff.

And I'm like, when a kid gets run over, I get juiced and I go pick him up and bring him up off the ground.

And then I yell at the rest of the kids that are acting like it's a big deal.

I'm like, why don't you?

What are you talking about?

At least he had, no, I'm saying this guy's got the courage to get run over.

I haven't seen you guys even put yourself in a position to get run over.

You try to like pump him up.

Like, hey, I respect, I don't care if you get run over 50 times in a row.

Like, at least you're going to put your head in there and give it a chance.

So I think it's football is a great sport, I should say, for that.

It really helps you learn a lot about yourself.

Absolutely.

Amen.

All right.

Next thing I wanted to show before we wrapped, we were talking in the pre-show.

There's already a mock draft out.

Field Yates put out a mock draft out.

Already?

Oh, yeah.

This is going to go horizontally and then down.

So one to four, as you see, because you might be saying, wait, Caleb Downs, too.

So Field just threw teams out there, don't get caught up on where he projects your team.

He's a nice guy.

Field Yates is not going to have a crystal ball and tell you exactly where it's going to be.

The more important thing is the players.

So I like seeing this because it's 32 names for me to kind of watch this season if I'm an NFL fan.

And you go across here, he's got Arch Manning as the number one overall pick and Lenoris Sellers as the two.

Club Nick the three.

I'm looking for Nussmeyer, Nussmeyer, Nussmeyer

all the way down at 16.

I was told Nussmeier is going to be the guy.

Is this controversial that Nussmeier is all the way down there?

Well, so first off, for Field, unlike this year, he is six quarterbacks here in the first 16 picks,

five in the first 11 picks of next year's draft.

It has been touted as one of the better quarterback drafts in years.

Obviously, last year was, people were saying was not one of the best quarterback drafts in recent years.

But no, everything that I heard coming out of the Manning Passing Academy was that Arch Manning and Lenoris Sellers were in a different category from the rest of everyone else.

They said that Arch and Lenoris, the way the ball comes off their hand, the way, how big they are, the way they carry themselves,

they were in a different tier.

And then it was that the Garrett Nussmeyer, Cade Klubnick tier,

I didn't hear much about Sam Levitt.

I mean, he popped onto the scene last year at Arizona State.

He was a transfer.

He's great mocks, transferred from Michigan State, but people are on high in them.

And then Drew Aller, I believe, didn't go to the Manning Passing Academy, so I didn't hear a ton about him.

But obviously, we know him.

He's a go.

He's a big

with a huge arm.

He's athletic.

So, no, most of the time.

We watched him last year.

From what I'm hearing,

most of this kind of checks out as far as the quarterback.

Can I ask this is dumb?

I'm just looking at it.

Where's the Florida quarterback?

I love that kid.

He did not come out yet.

He's not eligible.

He's not Florida.

He's ineligible.

And what about

Ladway?

Ladway.

I love that kid.

Yeah.

He's a ball.

What are you saying?

He's a monster.

I know Arch's grandpa basically says, no way in hell he's coming out and entering the draft.

And then I think Arch came out and said, I don't know where he got that from.

So where are we right now with Arch?

Is he going back?

Is he standing?

Phil's just said, F, and I'm going to put him on my

felt the way that Archie did, his granddaddy,

about

Arch that Arch would be there for two years just because that's the Manning Way.

Peyton stayed till his senior year.

Eli stayed till his senior year.

So we figured, you know, Arch would do the same.

Now, Arch said, you know, that's not exactly the case.

He's just taking things one day at a time.

And a lot of people are suggesting, um, just reading the tea lays that maybe that's based on who has the number one over the year.

I was going to say, it could be, he may have seen Fields' mock draft and said, Yeah, my grandson ain't going to play in Cleveland.

No, okay.

We wouldn't let Eli go to San Diego.

I'm sure he shouldn't.

And he wasn't letting Peyton go to the Jets.

Yeah, exactly.

So that could be, you know, something to talk about.

Is this unanimous?

I like Arch Manning.

I mean, because I was on with Get Up, and again, I come in as an NFL guy, and we had Heather Dinich, who is great, and Paul Feinbaum, who is great, and Jordan Rogers, and Jordan Rogers, who I respect because he does it at SEC Network and watches it all, was like, Arch might be the fifth best quarterback.

That's crazy, but now I'm seeing him number one overall.

Is that just based on speculation?

No, I think Field maybe just has a better read of the situation.

Yeah, I do.

There's a difference between college quarterback and an NFL college back, right?

Yeah, there is for sure.

100%.

But no, like everything that I was like, Arch and Lenoris are the guys right now.

But I saw another,

he works for ESPN too, Matt Miller, NFL draft scout or whatever.

He had Cabe Klubnick going one overall.

So like right as of right now, before the season starts, there's a lot of quarterbacks who have the potential to go.

So if you're a Browns fan and you're hearing this, there's six quarterbacks in the top 12, are you really getting so worked up about Shador Sanders?

Because, gosh, we have the Jacksonville first-round pick and we have the Cleveland first-round pick.

We're going to root for our team, but even if we package them and move up a couple, like there might be the next guy, and we have to wait 10 months, you know, seven months.

Yeah, that would suck more.

Uh, interesting what you said about Feinbaum.

Don't think that's the case, but he loves, he loves Arch, right?

Oh, I have no idea.

I was just talking about what you said about him.

But Arch, though,

the thing Arch might be thinking about,

and granted, it really doesn't matter in his situation, but like next year, with all the lagway hype, you know, not sorry, the 2027 draft, like he is, like his grandfather is claiming, with all the lagway hype, like that might be another thing, too, where Arch is looking at, you know, his situation.

Maybe it is a good first overall pick this year.

And he's like, well, why would I take my chances?

Like, I might as well just come out this year.

Like, you know, I don't know, just a team that would pop in my head that has a good team around them that maybe everyone thinks is going to be good.

And they kind of fall off.

Like, what if Seattle has a really bad year?

And then all of a sudden the Seahawks are the one.

What if Stafford's back flares up?

Yeah.

They have a bad year.

Well, then they get Anthony Richard and go 11-6.

I know we're talking.

I don't think Archie's thinking about any of that.

No.

No.

The keys are handed to him.

He has all the expectations in the world.

And with the people around him, his family, I'm sure they're toy, it's one player at a time, it's one game at a time.

Who cares about the expectations?

And you asked, was it unanimous earlier?

I'm sure it's not, especially with the football guys, because

a lot of us, we gotta see it.

Wanna watch it on foot?

We've had phenoms, we've had highly rated players, and with all the things that are around him, you would definitely bet on him.

Most people are bullish on him, but you still got to see it on the big-time level in the SEC playoff.

How does he perform all these different things?

All the other things on the outside that come with being a franchise quarterback, even with his name.

So I'm sure it's not unanimous, but if you're a betting man, he's what, the Heisman favorite going into the season without, you know, first year as a starter.

So the expectations are there, but a lot of people, you know, you got to see it to believe it.

Well, to your point, too, the last two guys who were just like the, yep, number one pick no matter what, Caleb Williams and Bryce Young.

And it was C.J.

Stroud and Jayden Daniels right behind him.

Yep.

So like even if it is right now, everyone, yep, Arch Manning for sure, typically, at least the last five years, the for sure number one pick has been the one that has taken much longer versus the, you know, the number twos that come in that maybe aren't the unanimous, you know, C.J.

Stroud's thing was that he did bad on that fake test.

The SQ or the S2 or whatever.

Jaden Daniels thing

was his age in his elbow and all that stuff.

And his weight.

And his weight, yeah.

He's too small.

First week of the season is Ohio State, Texas.

Such a matchup.

But also Clemson LSU.

So like two monster games.

Bama.

Bama plays who?

Florida.

Florida State.

Florida State.

Miami, Notre Dame is a top 10 as well.

Miami, Notre Dame.

I'm curious about UNC, TCU.

Like, this is a really good week.

Did they announce where game day is going to be yet?

So it is.

Yeah,

I don't want to embargo anything.

Texas.

Yeah, Texas.

Ohio State.

So that game's on Fox, but the Texas.

Okay, so I like that.

When game days where the Fox game is, that leads to some good stuff back and forth with their pregame, right?

A little bit.

We could say that.

They got Portnoy.

We got Macfee.

Let's go.

Let's do it out.

Okay, everyone got quiet out here.

Looking at these matchups, is there, you know, LSU Clemson?

Is this one of those deals if Brian Kelly loses again in the first week of the season?

Is everyone just calling for his head?

Yes, I believe so, probably, because that's four years in a row that they would lose week one,

which is insane.

Tough seat.

It would be, I know he's not exactly on the hot seat, but that would warm it up pretty quickly, I think.

Yeah.

Yeah.

How much does that recruit that they got help?

Because I saw a clip of a 6'5 guy playing cornerback for LSU, and he's the tallest corner in the history of

football.

Is this correct?

And they also got Nasmeyer's little brother just committed there.

So he's, I mean, he's doing good recruiting and everything like that, but unless he wins on the field, that doesn't matter at all.

Yeah.

Notre Dame, Miami.

Last year, Cam Ward was a superstar, you know, breakaway star, and Miami was back in relevant.

What's the view on them to start the season?

Miami.

Aren't they the early favorites to fall off a cliff and crush and burn?

No, Carson Beck, brother.

There's ACC.

We got a nice sketch.

There's a potential chance.

I mean, last year at this time, I bet you in Fields' mock draft, Carson Beck was probably somewhere in the first round.

Obviously, the season didn't go like it wanted.

He had some turnover issues.

What's his vibe right now?

I don't see his name anywhere.

It's a good thing.

It's a cool vibe.

It's a good thing.

Well, he's coming off of the UCL surgery

that happened in the SEC championship.

He broke up with that girl?

Yep, yep.

Then they got back together.

She broke up with him.

Oh, are they back?

I'm not aware.

I know they broke up.

I'm not aware if they're back together or not, but you know, it's just all ball for Carson back now down in Miami.

I doubt.

I mean.

Is anyone going to go to that game?

Or is a Miami Kanes fans going to show up?

Of course.

Yeah, they're going to have at least from the 35 to the 30 should be better on DC

was that guy he was the number one guy

we're hardly even talking

that's good I don't know I'm sure these guys they don't love well some of these guys maybe do but I like when you kind of fly under the radar

Saturday is a monster day a monster and then the Notre Dame Miami is Sunday night and TCU North Carolina is Monday night which is which is honestly better because they're standalone like I love when there's the you're a Boston guy you're a Patriots fan are you rooting for Bill to succeed or or do you kind of want to see the shot and fraud of see him fall on his face here?

No, I absolutely want him to succeed.

And I do think that he will, whether it's this year or in three years, but I do think they're going to be very good.

And I'm assuming the quarterback they got from South Alabama is going to be so good at football.

And they're going to find a way to win games for sure.

What about you guys?

I'm rooting.

Everyone roots.

You know, there is a contingent that's like, I would like to see this be a complete mess.

Crash and burn.

Obviously, our good Paison friend, Michael Lombardi, being the GM there helps our rooting interests.

It is

a tough matchup week one because TCU, they got a lot of returning guys on that offense, and they score a ton of points.

So we'll see how Bill and that defense and him and his boy are dialing it up for week one.

Before we wrap, AJ, I think this is important.

We were talking pre-show.

I was not familiar with Justin Herbert and his game, and I was not familiar with Madison Beard.

You know who that is?

Yeah, what's going on?

No, but I did see.

He's pictured.

What do you play?

He said he's playing chess with her.

No, what is her?

Yeah, it sounds like they're not together.

They are together.

Now, I would never usually, you know, dance in these waters because typically I'm in just all ball.

But after Josh Allen got married to Haley Steinfeld and Travis Kelsey is with Taylor Swift.

Stefan Diggs is with Cardi B.

Stephon.

I think it's fair to say, okay,

but I said this.

I'm in Barrett.

I wasn't familiar with Madison Beer.

I didn't know who that was.

And then I have a crew here that did.

Who would like to explain who Madison Beer is?

I can do it without Bruce and his profanity because of how disgusting he was earlier.

But Madison Beer is a musician artist.

I guess she is from the Olivia Rodrigo type era.

Artist of that ilk, if you will.

Singer-songwriter.

Singer-songwriter.

And

allegedly the song Driver's License by Olivia Rodrigo, very popular tune for the Gen Zers, I believe.

I believe that is about Madison Beer.

So she is

in a bad way.

On driver's license is about.

A bit of beef, if you will.

Yeah, exactly.

Confirmed?

Not confirmed, but also not denied.

So I believe we can't just completely rule it out.

I did read on her Wikipedia she blew up because in I want to say circa 2014

15 Justin Bieber posted a link from one like to one of her YouTube songs and then she exploded after that.

Yeah, she's a Long Island girl.

I like that.

We just want Herbert to be happy.

I just want her to be happy.

Forget Herbert.

Her friends want to be everyone to be happy.

Grand Master.

Justin Herbert, take her luck.

We got a chess tournament here.

Chess tournament.

We love it.

Awesome show.

Thanks for having me, everybody.

This was fun.

We're going to be wrapping up now.

And I will tell you this: this was an ultimate honor and a dream.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you, Shakes.

And now we go to YouTube.

Hell yeah.

Good job.

Nailed it.

Well done, Shrake.

Well done.

I've got multiple tests.

You're the best.

Holy shit, this Shraeger guy's good.

Don't have Hawker back.

He's not just good.

just keep Shragged AJ is the man AJ texted me he's like I'm gonna be with you tomorrow I'm like hell yeah you are I can't do this without you so AJ I appreciate that Shrags I love your juice Shreks I was watching the open it was beautiful you were like running in place you almost jumped through the ceiling yeah it's great well it's like I want to bring the energy I want to equal what you brought yesterday and what rap she brought Monday and then I want to do the brand service so I maybe go overboard.

I got a text from one of our executives saying that they thought you might have to like hold me down because I was a little bit too excited.

Yeah, but that's what you want.

Just like just like I forgot what coach.

Yeah, it was Spawla.

Or yeah, it was Kyr.

You're right.

You know, you want to, you know.

Total line.

Yeah,

you want to be yanking those dogs back.

We don't want to be pushing you through.

Who said that?

Which coach?

Kar Kaz Kai.

Bill Kai.

Woe, not go.

Yes.

I want to say woe, not go.

A lot of these coaches have a saying for that.

Woe, not go.

That's a good one, too.

Yes, it is.

It is.

It is.

I like the woe, not go.

It's it.

The beauty of this show, though, is like I've done a lot of other shows, and it's to those shows, Good Morning Football or Fox Kickoff, or even Get Up, whatever.

It's like, here's the rundown.

You guys basically were like, what do you want to talk about today?

And we did.

And for two hours, you're talking with your boys.

It's like, that's a dream.

So this is unbelievable.

And you guys are awesome.

So the questions we asked are great.

Our guests were really good.

This is really awesome.

The conversations end on their own volition.

Is that how?

Was that the term?

You got the line?

Is that the sign fell in line, Nick?

He wasn't listening.

He wasn't listening to me.

I heard you.

I'm just not sure.

Tony is very

obtuse line.

Deep.

No, it's not.

No, it's not.

What's the line?

How have you been enjoying a hosting, though?

You've been hosting a bunch of shows on the network.

The suit and tie is different from me.

I never did that.

Oh, yeah.

Is that mandatory

at the New York show?

No, you know, it's not mandatory because I don't think get up.

I don't think Greene wears one, but I don't like not wearing one.

If I'm going to wear the full other thing, I feel like I'm showing chest hair, so I wear one.

And then

the first day I came in to do a first take, one of the producers was like, ooh, no tie.

And I'm like,

so I'm like, yeah, no tie, pal.

Rancha.

Rancha.

Fuck you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Men's warehouse were like, Jose bank, and I got the tie on.

I'm like, am I good?

Like, yeah, so it's been great.

You should have worried, you should have wear a full suit and tie today.

Today?

I was thinking about.

I was thinking black tank top.

No, that would have been tough.

That wouldn't have got well.

That would have been, you know,

for the viewers at home, like, what you see is what you get.

These guys are all our best friends.

Like, you come in and it's just a hang session.

That's what I would want to watch.

What do we, you know, what's

pertinent in the football world today that needs to be discussed?

And we did it.

And we do it.

And it's fine.

AJ, we didn't get your thoughts on the micah thing.

Yesterday you spoke about it, obviously, but a day later, Schefter saying, you know, there's a divorce on the way, whether it's immediate or it's next year.

Just your big takeaway.

I think it has to get done.

I know when Shefty says this, yeah, it makes me think, all right, this is much worse than I thought, but I don't know.

Like,

Trey, did you guys, I don't think you talked about it.

Like, has Jerry ever drafted a guy and then let him not get to a second contract, especially when the dude is a franchise player and one of the best players in the NFL?

Like, does that happen?

No, but it seems like this guy, for whatever reason, Jerry has no affection for.

He doesn't seem to feel the same way he does about his homegrown guys.

He loved, Jerry loved Demarcus Lawrence.

Jerry loved, you know, Travis Frederick.

Jerry loves, if he drafts you, like, Jerry loves you.

And I see no love for Micah Parsons in any of this.

I mean, Demarcus Ware?

Yeah.

Demarcus, that made me think of it.

Was that a free agent thing?

I was like, that was kind of.

And if he was creating a 12 years, yeah.

But was he cut?

Yeah.

He might have been cut.

Yeah, that's what I mean.

Like, I know it was a long time.

He was still great in Denver.

Yeah, he was still all perfect.

Yeah, he was drafted there, was there from 05 to 13.

Yeah, so he had to.

And then played three more seasons with the Broncos.

But strikes, he can't play this year.

Like, Shefty said, oh, Mike, I don't know when it could happen after this.

So you're telling me he's going to come back and play this season?

Like, that's insane.

Yeah, and then

they're just going to be like, okay,

now we're going to tag you.

If he doesn't get the money this year, it's his choice to not play.

And then he's getting fined crazy amounts of money every week he misses.

I think of Chris Jones in that week one game when he was with the Kitts.

They're playing the Lions.

He's with the Katz brothers up there just watching, and like, they're like, all right,

we'll get it done.

But, like, is that what happens with Micah if it's not done, or is he not going to show his face at all?

I don't know.

I saw him at practice yesterday.

He's there.

He has to be because he gets fined if he's not.

So he's holding, but it's so awkward.

Why wouldn't you trade him right now?

Like, let's just say he plays this year and he doesn't have as good of a year as he has had, and he has seven sacks or something like that, and he gets banged up a little bit.

Like, his trade value then is way less than it is right now.

Everyone who would trade for him right now, like, you are getting the Khalil Mack package.

Teams will trade three first-round picks and maybe, like, a defensive starter and maybe another pick.

Like, you run the risk of if he doesn't have another all-world season, then, like, and you're not going to re-sign him.

You don't envision that.

You don't plan that anyway.

Then you're just cutting what you could get from him in half completely almost.

Yeah, I think his market value right now is as high as it's going to be because if he doesn't play this year, it's only going to go down, and then the Cowboys don't have any leverage.

What's the fair compensation, though?

Like, so Mac was what?

Do we have that?

It was like two first-round picks.

It was, yeah, and they it was two first.

I'll put the other team, and then like a third, a fifth, and then the other team swapped or something.

I think the Raiders got like a second pick.

Okay, I feel like Mac.

Yeah, the market has kind of changed a lot, though, since remember, Jamal Adams went for like two

first-round picks, too.

So, I mean, but Micah is of that ilk, as we like to say here, where he will demand at least a couple first-round pick and maybe like two seconds.

I could see him maybe.

That doesn't help the Cowboys now, though, right?

Cowboys still got on the table.

There's the trick.

And I don't know if it's accurate.

Ricky the dog didn't tweet it, but someone did tweet that the Packers offered two first-round picks and a second-round pick for Micah, and they said no.

As a Packers fan, well, first of all, Jerry's not saying he's looking to trade him.

Jerry, that's all Micah, saying I want him to trade it.

So like Jerry's like, I don't care.

As a Packers fan, what's that dude?

Like, hell yeah.

I like it.

No, no, no.

You're a Packers fan?

I would say if the Packers today offered two first-round picks, a second-round pick, and like Quay Walker, you know, because the Cowboys need a linebacker, I would say.

And we need to keep AJ as falls.

Yeah, do that right now.

Do that right now.

Because Rashawn Gary is good.

They paid him like a premier guy, but he doesn't get the type of production Micah does.

A lot of people have been saying like Lucas Van Ness, who was, you know, I think the 11th or like the 13th overall.

Unleash him, man.

Yeah, unleash the beast.

I've been saying that for a long time like he and a lot of people have saying he's been unbelievable in the preseason so far but we still haven't seen him

yeah exactly like they need guys to get home and get to the quarterback especially if their secondary isn't going to be quite as good this year so like yeah this guy is uh a top three to five defensive player in the nfl

if if it's if it's an option get rid of those two picks because you're you're imagining those picks are going to be in the late 20s anyway that's the thing that's a key part so like let's play role roles here all right so um,

you're Jerry.

All right.

You're Brandon Bean, man.

But, all right.

Oh, bro.

Great role.

I'm so loved.

I know.

I'm sorry, you guys.

I know we all want to be Jerry, but there's only one.

Two first-round picks and Ed Oliver.

Get the fuck out.

Two

Bills.

Have you seen it?

Two Bills first-round picks.

So you're looking at the balls.

That's my point.

None of those teams can, like, unless they're, and Ed Oliver is a great player, but, like, they just gave a D-tackle $90 million.

Yeah.

So, like, why would they, you know, and the bills are, like, you were just about to say, they're

the last five picks of the first round.

Like, those teams just don't make any sense.

I mean, unless it is, you know, three or four.

There's got to be a team that's going to pay him huge money once he comes, so he'll get it.

So, it's like, and there, and if I'm Micah, I'm kicking and screaming, do not send me to a nothing team.

Like, that's what sucks.

He has no leverage

as far as where he gets.

He demanded a trade.

Here's the thing also.

I was looking at this yesterday because it's his rookie contract.

I believe he's only, he hasn't made a ton of money, which is to the point why, yes, relative, which is why he is at practice.

But like,

so what?

He's made $3, $6, $10,

$16,000, $17 million.

Yes, that's a lot of money.

But relative to the NFL,

he's supposed to make $25 million this year.

Oh, this guy should make $40.

No, no, I know what he should make, but he's due to make $25 million.

He's going to make more this year than he did his previous four years.

Combined?

Yes.

Like, by $8 million.

Like, is that a reason

not play?

Yeah, like, he's, or he's, hey, this is like $25 million.

I'd love $20 million.

Yes, you are going to...

Listen, Mike is going to get $100, whatever, million guarantees eventually from someone.

Someone.

But, yes, $25 million.

You got to get it done.

Still a lot of money.

So, AJ, week one, Michael Parsons is a cowboy.

I don't know if he's playing or not.

Week three, I think by then, yeah, he's in there because let's say the first couple weeks he doesn't play and they don't really get any pass rush.

You don't think Jared's going to

run to the dotted line and sign him up?

Sign this motherfucker right now.

We didn't talk about McLaurin today because I'm kind of tired of it.

It hasn't really done anything.

Hasn't changed.

No, really.

They're going to resist.

Stalemate.

Stalemate is what it is.

He wants a certain number.

Commanders see it a different way.

I would think those.

Did you see there was a video floating around the internet where people were lip reading.

It was him and Adam Peters talking.

And

it looked like Terry, it could have been AI, but it was from far away or whatever.

But it looked like Terry say, I can't do less than 66, which kind of makes sense because all the talk has been he's been looking for 33.

So I'm assuming the 66 over two years

was guaranteed.

But then

everything else we're hearing is that the commanders are probably not going to

go there.

He's a wide receiver one in the NFL.

The going rate is either going to be 20 to 35 or 40.

Like, to me, figure it out.

Yes.

But I do see

the side just in a vacuum, not thinking about, hey, we came so close last year.

We brought like Terry McLaurin to me, and you guys crushed me when I said it two months ago.

Like, I don't see him in that Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson ascending.

I said Malik neighbors, and you guys lost your mind.

That was funny.

Malik has looked that way because Malik had 108 catches and his second-year player.

Malik's adult.

McLaurin's 30.

It's hard to, and I know what Pittsburgh's paid for DK, but I would also look at DK as a different body type and maybe a different type of receiver for what they're doing.

But to me, it's not about what he's worth in the matter of the principle.

To me, it's like, we're all in.

Like, we're here.

We just got Tunzil and Debo.

This is the year.

We need Terry McLaurin.

Pay.

You need to watch.

He's also never played with another legitimate guy in Debo.

So he could be.

Not even including Jaden.

Yeah.

Like, Debo is finally there.

He finally has someone on the other side of the field to him that can take a little bit of pressure off.

I hate this is saying to sound negative.

You're up at night thinking about Jamar Chase the night before a game.

You're up at night thinking about it.

Jamar Chase is different.

Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson.

You're thinking about those guys.

Those guys are.

Are you losing sleep over Terry McLaurin as an offensive background?

Terry McLaurin.

He's giving him one-on-one, you are.

Yeah, he's a game worker.

He's still a game worker now.

Chase, Jefferson, those guys are, you know, kind of on a, they're on like an all-time great trajectory.

But if you're looking around the NFL week to week, like as a corner, as a defensive back, okay, we got T-Mac, you know, week four.

We got got like, he's definitely a guy that you're circling that you're game planning for 17.

Okay, where is he on third down?

Where is he in two minute?

Where is he in a red area?

And he can impact the game in different, you know, different ways.

DK Metcalf is also a guy that you have the game plan for.

You got to be aware of because any point in the game, number four now can, you know, take top off of defense and be explosive.

Now, the big thing about it is 17, McLaurin, he's there every week.

That's a big deal, too.

You know, you look back on.

Yeah, you look back on like the great Jamar Chase.

He's pretty much there every week.

Like these guys who are there every week, not like, okay, he has a great four to six weeks stretch and he's going to be out for a couple weeks with a hammy or a calf or something like that.

Up until this point, that hasn't been the case for Terry McLaurin.

And for Jaden, man, like you're a second year, you want to build that rapport with Terry.

And then for Terry, this is the first time I believe he's returning with the same starting quarterback.

So as a big time receiver and as a big time ascending quarterback, you want those things in position.

You don't want to be trying to figure shit out in week two that you could have figured out, you know, two weeks before the season started.

So Adam Peters, they got to figure it out.

I understand both sides doing why they're kind of at a stalemate, though.

And you would think that no matter what, it's like, hey, the only goal here is we have to make sure that Jaden Daniels, his trajectory is going to continue to rise like this.

Because Debo obviously is a nice piece.

We've seen what he can do.

He's great.

But that's not nearly as attractive if Terry McLaurin's not on the field.

No.

It's like if Terry McLaurin McLaurin is on the field, it's like, oh, shit, look what we can do with Debo now.

Like, you just, why would you run the risk of Jaden Daniels had an all-time great rookie year, and now we're talking about the commanders.

Like, hey, could this team have the money to spend?

Exactly.

And you have this ownership that since they've come in, it have basically said, like, hey, we're going to spare no expenses.

You need new practice fields.

Let's fucking do it.

You need new everything, you know, like we're going to, we're going to do it.

Yeah, exactly.

Tonsil, like, you're doing all this stuff.

And then it kind of goes back to, you you know, like how we've talked in the past.

It's like, does that send the right message, too, where it's like, this guy has done everything you've asked for, and he has been the consummate teammate, consummate professional, and you're just going to, and you're going to squabble over a couple million dollars and potentially ruin that relationship.

Like, it just feels like

they're so hot right now, and this could really be like a ticking time bomb that ruins everything.

The Commanders fans, who are very vocal, the sentiment went from pay him, pay him, what are we doing?

What are we doing?

To now it feels like they're almost like, okay, well, if those numbers are what he's really asking for back to the team being the team like now we're pro team because well wait no he shouldn't make that he should make this he should make 31 he should make 30 not 35.

um at the end of the day though all that it's great like it it it's it's millions and millions and millions of dollars but to me it's at this point adam peters the gm doesn't want to just give in after now digging his heels in.

And Terry McLaurin and his agent, I believe Buddy Baker, indie guy,

they've dug in their heels.

So there has to be a compromise.

And I assume there will, but like, you're right.

Whereas you might say Micah does a podcast and Jerry doesn't love that and maybe Micah's not this or that and that.

And I think Micah's pretty clean off the field.

You look at Terry McLaurin, he's everything you want.

And if you don't pay that guy, what does that tell the rest of the locker?

Yeah, exactly.

So, I mean.

But he got paid two years ago.

Yeah.

Hey, times have changed.

Yeah, exactly.

That also wasn't from them.

That's how it it works.

They weren't there two years ago.

So if anything, you know, hey, you guys are new.

I'm the elder statesman.

Like, you need to pay me.

You know, I need to get what I get because I'm sure he also sees on the horizon, like, oh, well, if I'm out there this year and Jaden does better, that means Debo does better.

Does that mean there's less money for me if they have to pay Debo?

Because Debo's on a one-year deal now.

He got the whole Stefan Diggs rework that Stephon Diggs did when he went to Houston.

So it's not as if Debo isn't going to be looking for a bag after this year.

He's going to be motivated too.

Yeah, and for Terry, you would have to think like this is the last big payday.

Yeah, probably.

So you got to dig your heels in.

And then for Adam Peters in the front office, this is their first, you know, real adversity, you know, as far as when it comes to a big-time player.

And, okay, now how do they handle hold-ins or hold-outs or whatever, contracts.

I don't think they can trade them.

Like, if New England comes in and says, we're giving you a first-round pick at something else for Terry McLaurin, I don't know how Adam Peters can look to the fans of the Commanders being like, we got this close last year with this group, and we're going to trade him for a pick.

I don't see it.

I feel like

you can't.

McLaurin's that guy.

You got to keep him.

I agree.

Guys like you, though, Commander, they can leak through the media, hey, this guy was asking for $50 million a year.

Of course we have to trade him.

They can kind of try to craft the narrative that, hey, he was asking for way too much.

And that's already begun.

Yeah.

Oh, always.

That's how it goes.

And Terry feels like the only one that, hey, they're going to get it done because of everything that we're talking about.

Like, the other two seem to be.

Micah and Trey.

Yeah, Micah and Trey seem to be actual,

hey, who knows?

For Adam Peters, though, like, if you're Adam Peters and everyone's telling you stuff, if I'm Adam Peters, I'm telling everyone to shut the fuck up.

Saying why?

Because look what I built in year one?

Bingo, yeah.

Like, hey, this was the biggest dumpster fire.

Uh, after the Texans whole entire thing, everyone immediately looked at Washington like, oh, this is the shittiest building by a mile.

Whether it's the actual building or the people working inside of it.

And then Adam Peters comes in and in a year, they flip the entire thing on its head.

Like, yeah, fuck everybody.

Yeah, but Terry's such a big piece of that.

Exactly.

And that's why I think it's going to get done.

But as far as like hearing outside noise for Adam Peters, like, fuck those people.

I'm sure it's just like Howie Roseman.

Like, Howie Roseman probably feels the same too.

Like, hey, I hear a lot of outside noise.

I've rebuilt two separate teams.

Three separate teams, really.

But I'll still understand.

If you had to stack the NFC East right now, forget the Giants and the Eagles for now.

Who are you saying coming this season, Cowboys or Commanders, who you would say are the better team?

Commanders.

Commanders.

They went to the NFC titles.

This is no Micah, right?

This is with Micah.

I worry about the Commanders.

I would take the Cowboys.

I think I would too.

I'd take the Cowboys.

I worry about the Commanders strictly because of, of i mean how many it was like they won a lot of one-score games last year yeah it was like that vikings the one year where they went undefeated in one score games and then they went seven and nine or whatever the next year or whatever it was not

they have one of the best young quarterbacks in football and that gets you a long way but they won a lot of one score games last year i

i it's i mean between those teams it's toss-up yeah i'd probably say cowboys like pick one tony hey p tony

like if you look at the premier positions i like their defense like you probably give the advantage to Washington, but you wouldn't go

levels, levels, levels above.

Yeah, a quarterback.

I don't know that I would give the advantage.

Oh, you love that.

Second year.

Jack was number two in MVP two years ago.

You give the advantage to the Cowboys receivers for sure.

Yeah.

Yes.

Yes, I would.

Cowboys' tight ends.

Yes.

You could argue running backs because, you know.

I don't know about the Cowboys' defense.

Well, in my mind, Mike's already a Packer.

So, you know,

that's kind of a big part of it.

But, like, Corner comes in.

Corner

lean Dallas.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Lattimore.

Yeah.

Washington.

Yeah.

Deron Bland.

And I love Vladimir, what he's done career-wise.

I got to see this year.

Can he get

to form?

I love Mikey Sanders still.

He's a dog.

We got some other young DBs.

Bobby Waggs, he's a savvy vet out there.

But yeah, I think I would still lean Dallas.

I guess Acker's talking about it right now.

He's like, wow, yeah, Dallas is kind of

overshocked by Booker.

They love Booker.

The rookie tackle.

Who's Cunningham on the Cowboys?

I've gotten a lot of text about him.

Has there a guy Cunningham pass rusher?

Randall's boy.

Look that up.

He's a rookie Cunningham.

Is there a Cunningham on the Cowboys?

This is my

text about Cunningham.

This is Durance.

I'm seeing a Cunningham.

Okay, maybe not Cunningham.

Who's the second round?

There's a BC kid, second-round pick.

Oh, oh,

Donovan Ezaraki.

That's one.

And then there's another kid who they had last year that they drafted.

And I'm sorry I don't have the name in the depth chart, the Our Lads depth chart in front of me.

That's exactly what I was looking for.

Of course.

Who are the pass rushers?

What do they got?

There's me though.

Oh, we got it on the screen.

All right, here he goes.

I'll tell you the guy.

Everyone was excited about someone.

God thinks that

Murray.

I don't see that name.

Is it Buddy Johnson?

Over Sean?

Oh, Sean.

He's

a weak player.

He's a player.

I stand corrected.

Might have been Sam Williams.

I don't know.

I don't know.

Someone was at the joint practice for the I mean, they paid Osa big money.

They did.

Obushon's not a start?

No, he is.

Yeah, he's DT.

He's just out, right?

That's not the R-Lads, so I don't trust that.

I don't know what.

Oh, I see him behind Kim.

I trust the R-Lads.

It might be Sam Williams.

I don't know.

Someone was playing.

Awesome in the inner practices with the Rams, and they were like, you know, Micah's obviously the best player, but they got this guy, this guy, this guy, this guy.

And I'm like, those are not household names.

Those are not household names.

So they must know something if they're not shaking in their boots over Micah.

Yeah, I don't know.

I just feel like from what we've heard about the Cowboys that they're going to be better than what everyone expects.

And to be like from what we have heard.

To be honest, one of the main things that I took away from draft night was that just talking to Coach McCarthy, he thought they were going to be good this year.

He did, yeah.

Like he was, he felt really good about the team that they have coming into this season.

And like, you would think a coach could be jaded or something like that.

We never unpacked that.

Mike McCarthy worked on this program for the draft.

And I figured, I didn't know, I haven't spoken to him since he and Jerry Partaways.

I came in there like eggshells.

Like, so nothing but love for the Cowboys, nothing but love for Jerry, nothing but respect.

And like, he loves Dak.

And he loves Dak.

And I'm like, okay, so that guy could be bitter, jaded, could say, oh, well, let's see how they play without me.

No, he's like, they're going to be very good.

Yeah, he did.

He's like, shotties the man.

He was like positive on that.

He was very high on Trey Lynn.

He says a lot about

very high on Trey Lynch.

I'm not surprised to see him ball.

the ball.

Obviously, if you're a charger defend, you hope you don't see him play.

And Trey's only like 25 still, 24 somehow.

He's just bright, hopefully.

We were talking about Trey Lance earlier with like Richardson.

It's you don't know.

It's like you put him in this situation, didn't work out, and now he's 25 years old.

And we're like, oh, Trey Lance is on his third team or whatever it is.

But then you go to that preseason game and you're like, oh, that's why he was the third overall pick.

But that's the NFL.

Well, and I just, like, we've been talking.

I understand if you're a fan of the Colts, why you would be fucking pissed if Daniel Jones is starting and not Anthony Richardson.

But like, for his agents to be like, well, we've lost all trust in the organization.

It's like, hey, like, these motherfuckers are going to get fired if they don't have a good year.

So I don't think they're like.

But wasn't the writing on the wall when they signed Daniel Jones for that money?

I mean, probably.

Probably.

You knew he was going to get a legit shot, but you would think.

And Shane was there when they drafted Anthony Richardson, correct?

He drafted Anthony Richardson.

Okay, so you would think the GM, Chris Balor, and the head coach, the guy you drafted, that's the guy you would want to win the job.

But you bring in a guy for you know insurance and real competition okay let's see and from everything that we saw from the outside looking in okay Anthony Richards showed up in shape and better shape physically he was doing the different things you know you know learning things as a quarterback because we all knew it would be a process when he got drafted for overall so when Daniel Jones is named a starter it to me it just tells me that he earned it yes and he just won the competition and obviously I'm close to a lot of people in that building so when I reach out to the people in the building it's the same thing for them all right this is this is our guy he won it you know he won the job it's because you know we're where we're in there we're trying to win games no one is there saying wait a second chris ballard isn't saying like let me tank for arch or shane steich like these guys especially with a new ownership group

you know same family but new people calling the shots like everybody's on high alert to do whatever's best to make make sure that they're there the next day so if they made the decision for daniel jones to be the guy to me on the outside looking in who isn't seeing the practice, the meetings, the walkthroughs, everything that's going on day to day, I just got to accept, okay, that's the reality.

And now, as a fan, you got to be optimistic about it.

Now, as a Coach fan, since Andrew Luck retired, it's been a revolving door.

Even players have come out and spoken.

It is frustrating not having that consistency and continuity at the quarterback position.

But this guy came in.

We've seen Baker Mayfield.

We've seen Sam Darno.

We've seen Geno Smith go to other places, fresh starts, and become better players and kind of reach that potential.

So that's the only thing you can hope for at this point.

And he has the piece around him.

So, I mean, we got to see it.

I understand Coach fan Ben Piss.

Drafted guy four overall.

He doesn't pan out.

But shit, it's a national football league.

He's going to have to stop him.

He's going to make the best man win.

And I think there also is this piece to it where if you have Richardson starting and he struggles out of the gates as a fourth overall pick, this is reverse psychology.

And he struggles mightily.

And then Daniel Jones comes in.

You're not going back to Richardson.

In this case, Daniel Jones starts.

All right, it doesn't work out.

Now you've got your fourth overall pick.

He had some time, and it's like, okay, now it's on your plate.

Like, now it's your opportunity.

It almost might benefit him if it doesn't work out for Jones out of the gates.

Either way, whatever he was going to do on the field this year was going to be like his.

It's like, hey, this is your last chance.

You got to prove whether or not you're going to be the guy.

So if he doesn't start and then he gets an opportunity and he comes in and he wins, you know, he goes 5-1 or whatever and looks good.

Like, yeah, he might get that opportunity.

But if he would have started and they start 0-4, like, he's done.

He's not going to be the Colts quarterback.

I don't like this shit from the agent either.

Yeah.

I don't like this shit.

Shut up.

Like, just shut up.

It's already enough on Anthony Richardson's plate.

It's already enough noise around him.

It's going to be talked about.

Whenever you're in a quarterback battle in the National Football League, it's going to be a big story.

We don't need to hear these side conversations with, oh, the trust and this and that.

Because when I listen to Anthony Richardson talk, and this is all through training camp, and then after Daniel Jones' name to start it, he's saying all the right things.

He's sounding more mature.

He's sounding like he's learning.

He's knowing, hey, I just got to stay ready.

You're one play away.

So you don't want that outside noise.

of somebody that's representing you.

You know, oh, we lost the trust and it's a lot to talk about.

And it's like, let him go to to work and figure it out.

And when his number is called, which inevitably it will be again, maybe not in Indianapolis, you want him to go out there and show, you know, show what it is and that he can do on the field when he gets his shot.

NFC South is always going to be, like, they could always win the NFC South.

As good as the Texans are, like, the Colts, like, that division, like, you could compete in that division.

AFC South.

AFC South in it.

AFC South.

Titans and Jaguars are probably not there yet.

So, like, you look at the Colts.

They have a lot of veteran pieces.

They've got a, you know, good fan base.

They've got a good home field advantage to me they should be competitive this year should be yeah they got a good fan base if they're in it by week 10.

um that's most fan base they bail that so um yes but uh like that's the thing people are kind of sick of it because they don't well i don't know they're not gonna fucking they're not gonna do anything this year either every week every week the giants would trot out here's chris snee and justin tuck and here's david deal for the last 10 years they do like the and let's honor the 07 and 2011 champions it's 2025 exactly The Colts are getting towards that, maybe.

They're there.

Here's Reggie Jain, and here's Edgery and James, and here's Pat McAfee.

And we're really,

we're still the Colts, but it's like, guys, we want to be relevant now.

Yeah.

And they are still there, it feels like.

It's been a decade since they won the division.

Yeah, they have.

Is that right?

Yeah, they haven't won the division since

2014.

I think it was before Andrew Luck.

Or did Andrew Lucky Year?

We won multiple divisions.

Okay, okay.

I don't know.

I don't know.

Those have to be roads.

2014 was the last time.

They beat the Chiefs in the playoffs in the wild cards.

Big comeback.

Yeah, and then

they beat the Broncos

in Denver.

In Denver.

And then they got shit pumped in New England.

Got cheated.

With Andrew Luck as quarterback?

Yes.

That was the year.

That was the deflation.

Paul Jackson gets the pick, gets the ball over.

Okay, yes.

38-10.

Yes.

Then Glaguer brought three.

In the press box that game.

And I'm like, I'm sorry, bro.

And he's like, yeah, fuck it.

Shut up.

Shut up, Perger.

It's a good game in halftime.

I like Grigson.

Oh, yeah.

I thought he was going to get some opportunities.

Was he at Minnesota?

Who can know there?

Minnesota.

They've got a good front office there.

He's a ginor.

He'll probably come back home next year.

Quasi Adolfo Menza looks like Wood Harris right now.

He looks like Julian Campbell.

He's got the Mustache.

The Must Adams and the Looks.

Pretty good.

I saw it.

I said, holy shit, that's Avon Barksdale.

I like the guy.

He's been piecing together quite the roster.

He has.

They have.

Vikings are loaded.

It's just if this kid's good.

Yep.

Big question.

I don't know.

Gonna find out early.

Mad Dog had a take on Michigan.

They think they know the dame.

That's a good point.

You ain't know the dame.

Is that what he's mad about today?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, he's mad.

That they think they're like that they got this, and AJ's obviously Ohio State, but like Michigan gets this penalty, and Michigan still carries themselves like they're above it all and they're some class thing.

Like, no, you just got drive, you know, you just got penalized.

AJ Hawk, if you'd like to comment.

I mean, I don't know how it doesn't matter.

It's all the matters.

It's all that matters between the lines.

We don't talk about TCUN, bro.

They paid that.

No, we don't.

10 million?

Apparently.

Did they?

Over what?

How many years do you think he has to stay to get all 10?

I don't know.

10 million?

Three?

I mean, you get.

And they've got, it's...

He's there.

Darielson.

And his lady are just funding everything now.

I mean, it's a.

It's cool.

It's cool.

I mean, it's something.

Be probably a good time to go to Michigan.

Michigan's great.

Yeah, right, AJ?

Right, AJ?

Which part?

What's great?

They're a good football team.

They're a great football team.

I'm not denying that.

They were.

I don't have any desire to go, but yes, they are.

I respect them.

I have never been to Ohio State game.

Really?

You got to try it.

Come on, man.

Went to the Pro Day a couple times, but I've never been to a game.

I've been to Michigan a few times.

That big house is awesome.

You should go week one, Texas, host.

Week one, Texas.

And that's on Saturday, noon?

Yep.

That'd be a cool.

Huh.

That'd be the one to go to.

Might be something to think about.

Ghost, Regs.

Something to think about.

Who's their cupcake in week two or three?

I like seeing a win.

Miami, Ohio.

Okay.

They do play Ohio.

They play Gramblin.

They play Gramblin.

I know Ohio is also on the schedule, too.

Ohio, the podcast.

That's who I'm thinking of.

Athens.

It's one of their only home games.

That's a night game.

Quick trivia.

Who's the greatest college basketball player out of the University of Ohio?

Clark Kellogg's boy.

Yeah, Clark.

Tim Kirchikin.

Tim Kirchikin.

Wabi Zerbiak, Miami of Ohio.

Gary Trent, the shack that

Gary Trent.

Tim Kirchik.

That was Timmy Kay.

We're leaking gas here, guys.

Timmy Kay played a Duke.

Yeah.

He was Bobby Hurley before Bobby Hurley.

Yeah, okay.

Tim Kirchin actually is the one that threw the pass to Leitner.

No.

Jay Billis?

No.

No,

it was Grant Hill, but I understand how you could make that.

Did Tim Kirchin really go to Duke or or he's just BS?

No, we drew a picture of him just fucking driving by Cal Ripken Jr.

to the cup.

So it was straight up hooping.

Yeah, had no idea that Tim Kirchin was a grade A hooper.

He is.

Can ball.

Yeah.

That's it.

All right.

So Texas, Ohio State week one, NRC, Clemson.

Look at that.

Lefty?

Looks like Jerry Seinsfeld.

He does.

What did he say again?

You reach, I teach.

You reach I teach.

Yeah, and

Cal Ripkin Jr.

was like, shit, he's right.

He actually does.

He actually does teach.

He nutmagged him right after this.

I like Cal's kicks.

Both those.

Throwbacks.

Whose kicks?

Cal's wearing jeans.

What's he got on?

No, I don't know.

Those are definitely old school.

You know how we had the swishy pants and

you slid on the floor of the burn motor.

Cal's sweating his ass off.

Yeah, Kirchin's giving him that work.

And Walter IF Jr.

is like the most famous photographer ever, Sports Illustrated, all the Aliko.

He's like, that's the guy.

So he took the photo.

That's pretty cool.

Kirchin's got that.

Yeah.

That's Timmy Kay.

That's up in the office for sure.

Learn something new every day.

I love that.

We're going to start tomorrow's show with Walter Ios Jr.

talk, all his top 10 greatest SI covers.

We'll see.

It's good.

It'd be leaking.

All right.

So we got.

All right, Craig.

Hey, you right there.

Yeah, well done, Craig.

You're fucking awesome.

That's great.

Do you know how we end?

No, tell me.

I've never watched the full ending of it.

You said

team on me, team on three, one, two, three, team.

All right.

Team on

me.

Say,

we'll juice to it, though.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Your normal juice, yeah,

team on me, team on three.

Like how you started the show, yeah, team on me, uh-huh,

team on three, yeah, don't make a fucking mockery out of that.

Okay, right now you're making a fucking mockery out of it, and we do this every single fucking day.

Team on me, team on three, one, two, three.

Team on three, I love it.

Sorry, thank you.

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