PMS 2.0 1297 - LIVE from the NFL Combine, Tyrese Haliburton, Daniel Jeremiah & Rich Eisen, Ian Rapaport, Field Yates, Molly McGrath, & Visit Indy

Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to Lucas Oil Stadium in beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana, the forever home, hopefully, of the Combine. Day two here starts right now.
Combine! Is what the topic of conversation is, not only here in Indianapolis, all around the NFL, but also on the internet. There was an altercation at a Starbucks here in Indianapolis yesterday that has certainly caught some headlines.
We'll address that and let you know what we have heard between two insiders who both wanted the same coffee. One of the insiders owns the coffee.
The other one was merely there having a meeting supporting the other's father. And allegedly there's some disagreements that all the way uh led up to a call to nfl security so there's an investigation happening currently about a starbucks that happened with a couple media members but that's what's combined is baby it is an nfl spring break where so many things happen not only with the d-line and the linebackers that are gonna be working out on the field today or the kickers and punters and snappers that worked out on the field yesterday.
That was not to be televised, even though I was told it was televised. I ended the show early to go host it on television, I thought.
That seemed to be a miscommunication somewhere. It wasn't findable.
But there is clips everywhere, which is so cool to be able to talk to future punters and kickers and holders. I very rarely get to do that.
I don't go to a lot of kicking camps anymore, although I have friends that like the Coles and Nick Novak, I believe, out in San Diego, former NFL great. He does these kicking camps.
I don't really get to hang around the kicking community much anymore. And going to those kicking camps is always fun because you're just watching these dudes hit these bombs.
You know, it's a home run derby, basically, and guys are competing against each other. You're able to go there.
I think it is a spectacle or could become a spectacle, and the NFL agrees, and they've had this showcase together the last two years that pins kickers against each other and punters against each other. It was a great day.
I was lucky to be a part of it. Certainly thought I was going to be hosting the thing.
Sure. And when I got down there, that was a piece of information I was finding out in real time.
So instead of having to host or do any of that, I just got a chance to enjoy it and chit-chat with these guys and try to give some game and maybe some motivation and some help. So the Combine is a beautiful place.
A lot of things happen. A lot of information is learned.
A lot of players change their careers. Maybe even franchises change the trajectory of their entire city.
And we're so incredibly lucky to be here. We've got great guests throughout the day.
Rich Eisen, Daniel Jeremiah will be joining us here in a matter of moments. They are obviously the hosts of the actual combine on the field.
The two people with microphones. DJ now, the previous person that held his seat, went on to be a general manager in the NFL because of how much work and effort and intel and intelligence you have to have to have that particular role.
We'll be excited to pepper him with questions. It's not just, you know, the show today, and we are incredibly bummed that one half of the Toxic Table is not able to join us today.
We would like to send our love to Ty Schmidt. Tease the bees.
We'll see you, hopefully. Wish you, Ty.
Love you, Ty. Love you, Ty.
But let's go to the Toxic Table, ladies and gentlemen, at Boston Conner and Mad Mel Kuyper making an appearance. Thank you for stepping in for Ty, who obviously had that late thing this morning.
You look great. You look like you're in maybe mid-season form right now.
Yeah, I appreciate it, Pat. You know, always great to join you guys.
Combine Week. I want to go out and say, you know, it's kind of like my conference championship weekend.
Obviously, the NFL draft is going to be the Super Bowl, but conference championship weekend, nothing better than, you know, weekend in Indy. Not only do we have fights between insiders, you know, which we'll talk about.
What are your thoughts on that, Matt? Because you've been coming here a long time, so you understand. Absolutely a long time.
Well, you know, you get a young pup like Jordan Schultz, who, you know, he's trying to really put his stamp on the game. Apparently, Ian Rappaport, you know, well-respected in the industry, has a lot of sources, you know, a lot of people he's trying to talk to, trying to talk to an agent, goes up to a counter to a local Starbucks.
Had, like, a venti caramel macchiato, or, you know, I believe is what he ordered. With Splendid, I believe.
Yeah, with Splendid, a couple Splendid. It could be a sweet and low.
Can't exactly remember what kind of, you know, zero-calorie sweetener he decided to go with. Giorno Schultz steps in and says, no, he won't have a venti.
So, Rapsheet says, okay, I'll have a grande, you know, caramel macchiato. No, he won't.
No, he won't have one of those. All right, I'll take a tall and, you know, we'll be done with this.
I'll get out of there. Giorno Schultz, again, this is according to my sources.
I wasn't boots on the ground. Allegedly, allegedly.
Much like what's going on at a university in Mississippi. Just like we said yesterday.
Well said. There was the grandstanding police hopped out on their high horses.
I don't know if you saw that. Yeah, it was good to see.
We weren't even a full show back, and we called them out. Almost for them an hour and a half into the program yesterday.
It was great. But what we're saying is this is all alleged, but certainly with some people talking about some realities.
Yeah, without a doubt. So he said, no, you're not going to have any coffee.
Not in my house, okay? You've been saying a lot of shit about me. You've been refuting a lot of the stuff that I've been saying.
He said water only for this guy. Rap Sheet gets a small, you know, plastic cup of water.
Because Giorno Schultz's dad, obviously. He owns Starbucks.
You know, Giorno Schultz is the heir to the Starbucks empire, if you will. He smacks the water out of his hands and says, fucking do something about it, Rap.
Do something. Get in my fucking face.
Do it. According to Pro Football Talk, he said fuck about 15 times.
At least. In his dad's cafe? You know, dad's cafe, you could...
Well, then he refuted that report. Well, he did, but, you know...
I wouldn't swear in my dad's passion project. His dad's cafe, or you could even take that as far as saying...
I mean, Raph, she basically disrespected this guy in his own living room. Okay, yeah.
You know, you're going to come in here with mud on your shoes and walk through my living room. Put his balls on his table.
Exactly. Giordo Schultz smacked him around a little bit, allegedly.
He's in his kitchen making pancakes? Yeah, cooking bacon in his underwear. Yeah, there it is.
That's basically what was happening. Shout out Danny Sansucci or whatever his name was.
Still bringing it. Yeah, still bringing it.
And then obviously Rap Sheet, you know, he said, listen, enough is enough. I feel threatened here.
This guy's got crazy eyes right now. I'm going to have to call NFL security.
NFL security came up. I don't know what eventually happened.
I think they took Giordo Schultz out, backbeat the shit out of him with a couple lead punches. Behind his dad's house? They called him Big Dom.

Big Dom doesn't do that.

Big Dom is a handshake. He's not an ankle breaker.

I don't know if this is breaking news or not, but I

believe today, after the

men kind of go through the drills on

the field, Giorno Schultz and Ian Rappenport

are going to fight to the death at the

50-yard line. That's combine.

That'll be fun. That's combine.
And for those that are

new to the show, we're not 100%

sure if that's going to happen. That's just all being

That's aine. That'll be fun.
That's Combine. And for those that are new to the show, we're not 100% sure if that's going to happen.

That's just all being alleged at the moment.

Yeah.

There's a chance one of these people clipped the end of that.

Sure.

Say, on ESPN, it is being reported by a man wearing a purple suit.

Great suit.

Saw Nick Casario wearing purple yesterday.

I said, God damn, that looks good. I'm going to wear that tomorrow.

We don't know if they're fighting to death, but should.

We don't want them to die. We don't want either of them to die.

We want them to shake hands. One half of the hammer.

Cowboys turn. Diggs is here.
And ladies and gentlemen,

the face of the Indiana Pacers, you just had to sit through all of that.

Sorry. I'm just learning about it.

It happened at Starbucks here in your town.

Ladies and gentlemen, Olympic gold medalist,

face of the NBA.

Well, well. I put you in of the NBA.
Well, well.

I put you in a terrible spot.

Tyrese Albert.

We are doing the face of the NBA conversation.

Yeah, no, no, we are not going to do that.

That is earned, obviously.

That happens naturally.

That is not something you give to yourself.

Tyrese, fresh off a 33-11-3 night.

Obviously, the 11 assists, three rebounds.

Need to get those up a little bit. I think you could probably have had a triple-double if your groin was healthy.
You went into the game questionable. Hurt groin.
50-50. Questionable going into the game.
Everything we know about NBA is what? They're going to sit out. Mad Mel? They're going to sit out.
Con man? They are going to sit out and get paid. Especially in the middle of the season.
How much money they're getting paid. 82 of these things.
Hurt groin. Tyrese Halliburton says, I'm playing.
Big game. We're in the middle of a hell of a stretch.
We're top four hottest team in the NBA right now. One of the best records in 2025.
Oh, must I remind you, Eastern Conference finalists last year as Tyrese pulls up from the other side of the court. How do you feel about the team? And thank you for playing through a groin injury or groin,

whatever you had going on.

You're the man.

We appreciate you here in Indiana.

Yeah, we're playing well right now.

You know, we're just fighting to get home court advantage

in the playoffs in the first round.

So every game is big right now, so we're trying to win every game.

Okay, so a lot of people watching our show right now

are going to say here at the NFL Combine

why we're talking about the NBA.

Do you think that that is a natural conversation that's happening?

Do you guys talk about the NBA,

where it sits in the zeitgeist

of professional sports? Do you have any

of those convos amongst each other? No.

No, we know who we are. We don't really trip

off that. I mean, we understand.

I understand I'm here at a football program.

We talk about a lot of sports, but a lot of people

who... This is a sports program.

No, we're a sports program. Remember that?

Sports program, heavy football. Maybe a little bit of hockey.
Okay, we do like the hockey. Maybe a little bit of hockey.
Hockey is awesome. Yeah, because they try.
See, that's the narrative. Why is that the narrative? P.K.
Subban. Yeah, I think it's Subban, but...
Subban. Subban, boy.
What's his name? Whatever. I did see that he put over the NHL in a big way, and it got a lot, a lot of views.
And he was talking about the NBA's potential culture issue that they have. Yeah.
You guys obviously all saw that. He was putting over his sport, but I think he said a lot of things that maybe other people potentially think, which is why he went so big.
How do you feel about the narrative that is about the NBA? Because you just, I mean, groin, whatever. I don't want to know what your injury was.
Groin strain, can I say? I was going to say groin soreness more than anything. Yeah, but don't just get sore in your groin without.
Strain makes the narrative better, so we'll go with strain. Well, it has to.
We could say it was torn off the bone and you played through it. Correct, yeah.
33 threw it. Yeah, I can't believe this guy's got one half of a groin now.
Lance Armstrong of groin because he lost one half of his groin, which is crazy to think about. Play last night but why do you think the narrative is that like legitimately because you disagree with that wholeheartedly i think anytime we call you you're like that's not true about our league though like yeah i think there's a lot of things maybe misconception about the league that you disagree with oh 100 i mean people are just allowed to get on there and say whatever they want about our game and and it just takes one or two people to agree hit ret retweet and it's like the cool thing to say the NBA has a problem with what we do.
But you know, we're doing pretty well for ourselves, I'd say. I would say as well.
Too well. Some would say.
That is what people are saying. It's like this much money and then we're not going back to back nights and then obviously back in the day these guys used to play and then there's the nostalgia speech that's happening too.
You're hearing all these things, I assume. Yeah, for sure, for sure.
And I'll talk about what the All-Star game has become and how that's such a problem. And, you know, you guys love the sitting back-to-backs.
I don't think that's as true as – Oh, so I think what Tyrese is saying is, like, that gets – a couple people are doing that, and everybody assumes that that is a cross- cross. Now it's generalized.
Yes, it's like the whole league's doing that. That's not the case.
Yeah, 100%. We talk about this all the time.
I agree with that 100%. Guys want to play.
We want to perform. We've got a lot of – we've got older guys who are, you know, towards the end of their careers, high-level Hall of Fame guys.
We've got a lot of young guys coming up in the league too. So I think we all want to play.
How's quality of play right now? Obviously, All-Star Game is what it is. Pro Bowl is what it is, too.
I mean, there's – Pro Bowl. The NHL got it right with Four Nations.
It just so happened to be at the exact same time as yours, so it went absolutely bonkers in the entire thing. But whenever you talk about quality of play, how do you feel about it? Because, like, football, guys are throwing the ball better, catching the ball better, running the ball better, seeing the ball better, blocking the ball better, tackling the ball.
Like is better. That's sports.
Kicking the ball better. I mean, evolve through everything.
Do you feel like that has happened with the NBA? Because my argument about LeBron Jordan is always that they play two different sports. I'm not a basketball guy.
Football stooge. Watch the Lake Show growing up because I was an insomniac kid.
They were on late night. Kobe, Shaq.
I mean, it was an entire thing. Don't know the league inside and out.
But when I watched that last dance with Michael Jordan and I saw some of the highlights that were happening, I was like, hold the phone now. Like, I didn't watch basketball back then.
I'm from Pittsburgh. Okay? Wasn't like all the way in on...
It's like the sport has evolved so much, it's tough to compare. I think both would play well in both eras if they were to be talked about but how do you feel about the current state of the game in the nba well that conversation is interesting right because uh when you compare arrows all the time i feel like football you don't really do that like you guys don't really talk about how this guy would fit if he played in the 90s like that doesn't that's not a conversation it's not a normal convent but like Dan Marino modern day would be outrageous.
The same in any sport. Top guys are going to continue to be top guys throughout eras, but, I mean, time travel doesn't exist, and I'm like, well, maybe.
We don't know. Not that I know of.
It's portals. Not that I've been in front of yet.
Hopefully one day. Yeah, amen.
There's a lot of old heads I guess have things to say about me. After your next contract, they'll introduce you to it.
I heard about that. I think that's a potential Halliburton thing, not just Tyrese, right? That old heads that have a lot to say.
Oh, yeah. Family business, if you will.
Mad Mel. Like Ole Miss.
Mad Mel, do you have a question for Tyrese? The quality of play, though. I think it's up.
I think just like any sport, I think guys make shots at a higher level. We've got so many guys who shoot the three well, can do so many different things well.
But it's just, again, it's easy to create a narrative that we all play the same. Everybody shoots too many threes.
You do. That's not true.
That's not true. The league is a copycat league, right? Just like the NFL is.
When a team a championship you strive teams are going to start to play more like them so in my in the last decade the warriors won a championship how they do that they shot a lot of threes made a lot of jumpers so teams want to do that now boston's won a championship they got five guys on the floor at all times that can shoot threes so more teams we got to shoot more threes to keep up with what they do so So you think that this is actually a decision trying to win? Like competitive juices are making these decisions, just like in the NFL. Like right now the Eagles just won.
Pounded. Pounded for the ball.
Saquon is the show. Like A.J., obviously incredible.
Devontae, phenomenal. They help with the box, obviously, because you can't bring absolutely everybody.
But it's ground-and-pound football over there. That's how they play.
People are trying to win championships. So it's the same.
But the amount of people that are going to now do that because of the success that they're having. But, like, in the early 2000s, right, like, in Shaq's dominating, teams are trying to get three, four centers because they know they're going to need all of them to go foul him and try to stay in front and do their best.
You've got to try to keep up with the championship team. So Boston wins the most.
They won a championship last year. They shot plenty of threes.
You can't play them and shoot all twos and expect to win that game. It's just math is not going to work there.
So you've got to shoot more threes. That's how it's going to be.
So everybody's trying to chase the top, and that's how I kind of get to that point. And he caught up Boston, so I know Connor will get to his point.
Mad Mel eager to ask a question. Yeah, just curious.
Do you think, you know, we talk about everything with the NBA right now and how guys are maybe, I don't want to say entitled, but you guys make a shitload of money. And I'm like, listen, you earned that money.
Way to go, Tyrese. Proud of you.
Change your life. Do you think, though, when Luka gets traded, is that kind of a wake-up call for the entire league? Like, hey, maybe shit ain't sweet, okay? Like, this guy is, you know, a future, you know, a top five player in the NBA, and out of nowhere, literally out of nowhere, he gets traded.
Did that send kind of a shockwave across the league? Like, okay, maybe I can't be sitting out back-to-backs anymore because if this guy can get traded, I sure as hell can get traded as well. I mean, I feel like we all operate that way on a daily basis.
I think the Luka thing might have been eye-opening that nobody's really safe. You know, everybody can be traded.
And, you know, I think you see trades happen every year, but you don't see them to that magnitude where a top 10 player gets traded for another top 10 player. You know, like that's very uncommon.
So definitely came as a surprise to the NBA world. But I think people understand what comes with the business, and everybody's going to be fine where they are.
You've been traded, and we're very thankful for it. Like here in Indianapolis, I will say.
The way you go about leading the Pacers is so good for this city. Like I think you're perfect for this city.
Do you agree with that? I appreciate it. Yeah.
Yeah. I love it here.
You know, I'm a Midwest guy, so I feel like I fit in very well here. Yeah.
But you also got the flash too. Flair.
Yeah. You do got the flair.
I like it. You're a showman.
I appreciate that. I appreciate it.
It's good. I'm a fan of small market teams being good.
I think that's good for the league. Yeah.
It is. Yeah.
It is. Now let's on the complete opposite end of the spectrum.
Boston Carter has a good. I think that's good for the league.
It's cool. Yeah, it is.
Yeah, sure. Now, on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, Boston Conner has a question.
Yeah, you mentioned the NBA chance of Boston Celtics, and I think we can all agree no one's beating them in seven again. I don't agree.
I don't agree. I think most of us can agree that that's probably the case.
One of the biggest things we've talked about here is kind of the face of the league. Jason Jason Tatum, who, you know, is turning 27, I believe, already an NBA champ.
He's the only American last year who was first-team All-NBA. And he gets the most hate by far out of any of the superstars, it feels like, who doesn't really deserve it? Obviously, there are some guys that, you know, people have problems with, Embiid and things of that nature, but that's mostly because they don't play.
Tatum's one of those guys that does not sit out back-to-back. Didn't play, right, in the Olympics? Yeah, to the Olympic point, you know, I kind of think the reason that Jason Tatum doesn't get that much love is because of Steve Kerr, and Steve Kerr is the problem for many, many reasons, the things that he does and, you know, talks about and appears on, but mostly, I think, because Tatum didn't get that USA push.
You know, we just saw with the Four Nations Cup, the Kachuk brothers are two of the faces of the NHL now, and I think a lot of people didn't like them before the Four Nations. Now they're kind of the golden boys of the NHL, and Jason Tatum didn't get that opportunity.
So Steve Kerr, thanks a lot. But there's a graphic that was pulled up about Jason Tatum versus some of the greats.
There it is. LeBron, MJ, Kobe, KD is on there.
And he's the only one with all of those accomplishments. But for some reason, he gets so much hate.
Who made this graphic? I want to say it was the NBA Muse. Not Sentel.
Not Sentel. Rest in peace.
Extra underscore Muse. There it is.
Extra underscore Muse. Great graphic here.
Yeah, fantastic. But with that being said, rest in peace to Centel.
Yeah, we're going to miss you. We're going to miss you.
And for the people that said that was a bad account, you're completely wrong. But why do you think Jason Tatum gets so much hate? And why do you think people don't like him? Because he is one of those kind of perfect guys, even though he doesn't do that much media.
Yeah, I mean, I think it's unwarranted. You know, he's obviously like that graphic saw, he's an elite player in our league.
Coming off, he's the best player on the best team in the NBA, you know, off a championship. So I feel like it's not right for the hate that he gets.
I mean, I think part of it could be he went to Duke and he plays on the celtics polarizing polarizing teams but yeah uh i mean jason's a good dude uh he's got a shoe he's he's elite like he's got everything you know so uh i don't really understand it i think us as players i think he has the respect from his peers and i think that's what means more than anything as an baa player the respect you get from your peers and we know when we play Boston you got to be ready and game plan around Jason

He mentioned the Olympics

you and he were the two guys

that didn't see time, you know

he got in but he wasn't like, he didn't play

and the way you handled it

was like maybe the greatest

NBA superstar

led his team to the Eastern Conference Finals

perfect, like is the perfect

king here in

Indiana and then you get on Team USA and it's like

Thank you. NBA superstar, led his team to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Perfect. Like, is the perfect – is king here in Indiana.
And then you get on Team USA, and it's like, all right, I understand my role here. You're going to be a vibes – like, literally a vibes guy.
Like, that is literally what you became for that particular team. And everybody talks about doing that, saying, if I was put in a position, I would do it.
You actually did it. Did you become tight with the guys on the team because of that? Like, what do you think was a benefit of the way your Olympic experience went, if that makes sense? Yeah, I think my favorite part was just being able to be around the guys, go to practice, and see how these guys work on a daily basis, see their habits, and be able to grow relationships.
Ever since then, I have relationships with all those guys. When Golden State was here, I went to dinner with Steph.
Before the Olympics, me and Steph had no relationship. I actually think he – I thought he didn't fuck with me.
And then he got the Olympics, and I was like, yo, are we cool? And he was like, yeah, of course. And, you know, Steph's like the best guy ever.
But that goes down the line with all those guys. So just being around those guys, getting to grow relationships and getting to learn from them, that was my favorite part of the show.
I was there – I'm 24 years old, so just trying to learn as much as I could and how that can help me be a good player in the NBA. You're a great teammate, Thorne, brother.
Yeah, go American. Great American.
I like to go American. Great American.
All right, Tyrese, we appreciate the hell out of you. We know you have to travel.
You're in the middle of a season right now. We thank you for stopping by, hanging out.
If our show was shifted an hour earlier window, you would have been able to hang out longer. Instead, you're heading out right now, actually.
You're the man. The Puma fit is sweet.
I appreciate that. Says who? Says Pat.
F1 race tonight in Miami? No, actually, he's hopping in. You don't like the racing jacket? No, IndyCar.
He's hopping in that one right there, that funny car that's up there. You're looking at the wrong place, Tyrese.
Right here is the one that's kind of diagonal. Indy car.
Big Indy car guy. Joseph Newgarden you were talking about earlier.
I'm actually trying to be a dork for Halloween, so could I get this full outfit? Look at you right now. What are you talking about? This is what every NFL team is looking for.
This is a 5-12 player. Yeah, yeah.

You have no idea, pal.

You guys need to figure that out.

How can we get you to do the combine?

Yeah, I think we can probably make that happen.

We're here in the morning,

and I think we can just kind of mosey down.

You've got to work the security people,

just like you have to at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,

which you're talking about the Indy 500.

You've got to have a lot of confidence

when you're walking by these security people.

Because once you get in the building,

I think everybody thinks you're okay.

Getting into the building, impossible,

as you found out this morning.

Thank you. You have to at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which you're talking about the Indy 500.
You've got to have a lot of confidence when you're walking by these security people. Because once you get in the building, I think everybody thinks you're okay.
Getting into the building, impossible, as you found out this morning. It's a doozy.
There's a lot of people there, though. It's the biggest single-day sporting event in the world, isn't it? Well, you're talking about Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Indy 500. Yeah, Indy 500, yes.
Absolutely it is. For this, though, for the combine, getting into the building, tough.
I think we could get on the field. I think we could.
We we could get on the field. I would love to.
And if I tear my ACL, I can finally sue this place and get my money back. It'd be the perfect day.
All those taxes to build this shithole. Shithole, this place is beautiful.
It's too beautiful. This is a great stadium.
It is beautiful. Thank you.
And you come to all the Colts games, which is very kind of you. I'll be at the Colts games.
Yeah. We came from Morgan Wallen.
That's right. We're here for them.
My mom came here for T-Swift. You were here for T-Swift.
Great show. Yeah, it's a great concert stadium.
It's a great stadium. Royal Rumble? Great.
Why weren't you in the Rumble? That's a great question. That's a good question.
What happened? You know what? I'm going to tell you the truth here. I've wanted to be in the Rumble, and me and Triple H talked about it.
Trips. He was just like, yeah, a lot of people asking if you're going to be in the Rumble, and I just laugh in their face.
And I'm like, what the fuck? Middle of season, bro. And he's like, because I think he's a little scared about me doing the middle of season.
He didn't want that bronze spear. Remember when Brunson, we got in there, and he pushed himself up with a broke hand? Yes.
Triple H kind of had a heart attack. Well, it's not just Triple H.
Triple H also hears from a lot of people immediately afterwards. Like, hey, what do we do? What do we – can we have a little bit of – Well, SummerSlam is supposed to be here in the next, like, five years, right? And I believe WrestleMania is making it so happen.
WrestleMania is during the playoffs, so that definitely isn't going to happen. That'd be worth it, though, right? I mean, you go – WrestleMania, granted stage.
Now you break your back. But, like, how would I have got – how would I have got eliminated from the Rumble? That's the issue.
Bring in Jason Tatum. You think I'm taking that Braun Breaker spear? Yeah, exactly.
Watch your mouth. What's that? He said bring in Jason Tatum.
Listen, not in this city. No, it was in this city, actually.
This guy, bro. Are you trying to bait me to say something negative? No, no, no, no.
Not going to to happen. Who was going to hate you last year? It's a Jim Everett, Chris Everett situation going on here.

He has to leave.

Literally, he has to leave.

What time is it?

Chris. 23.

Oh, yeah, I got to go.

Yeah, yeah.

Hey, Tyrese, we appreciate the hell out of you.

Appreciate you.

You're the man.

And I think the Puma looks cool.

Yeah, enjoy the race tonight.

Yeah, I know.

I love it.

You had a plum suit over there.

Hey, I've seen you.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey. seen you.
Hey, do you know what? Don't shut up. You're throwing shots.
You can never wear plum again. Inspector gadget, okay? What you mean? You know exactly what we mean.
You make some, you win some, you lose some. You have some.
Not every outfit you put on is like, that shit was hot. This one is.
That's his week. That one is.
This one is. How do we feel about this one today? You looked in the mirror.
You said, you know what? I'm killing him today. Shout out Puma.
Yeah, for sure. And I'm getting on the plane cozy.
Watch The Wire go to sleep. Oh, great show.
Great show. I'm on season five.
What season? You talked about this. You're talking about this on an all-star break.
Yeah, I'm on season five right now. Elite television.
Without a doubt. What show do you think I should go to next? Severance.
Severance is really good. It's slow, though.
Severance kind of sucks. Slow, right? It takes a little to build.
It's very slow, but I like it. I watched three episodes.
I got it. I understand.
It could be great. Too slow for me.
Too slow for me. But you could see why it would be great.
Like, it is a very, very. Yeah, nine episodes in the first season.
It takes six to build the place. It takes six to build.
Seven, eight, nine. It's a crazy concept.
I'm not a series guy. He is a series guy.
I would not watch series. I don't do that.
But that But that one Watch a couple On his recommendation You can see how it would be great But once again I watch wrestling and football And basketball And basketball I was like calm down Of course Something a little quicker Black Hawk Down documentary Watch that Unbelievable Lioness Watch Prison Break You'll love it I heard it's a good show You'll love it I'm going Sopranos now. Oh, same by the bell.
Go Sopranos. I mean, if we're just saying that.

We figured you'd sing Sopranos.

Tyrese.

Tyrese.

White Collins coming back.

I'm not watching that.

That was a very loud pop right there.

I don't know if he might.

That was another one.

Good luck, man.

That was kind of dud.

All right, guys.

That was a good one, too.

Hey, good luck.

Hey, head on a swivel.

Hey, head on a swivel.

Be careful.

Stay out of those places.

Head on a swivel at Starbucks, please. Hey, don't throw your back out loading baggage onto the plane wearing that gear.
Good point. He walked in with that jacket.
We have a very kind of the people here. We got a suite upstairs.
Shout out to Foss. Shout out to ESPN.
And they're in Indianapolis, which is funny because the Colts don't own the stadium. So, NFL.

Yeah, we do.

Yeah, that's right.

Indianapolis does.

Colts nation.

The NFL has to work with, like, the actual city, like people that work for the city.

The people that work for the city all, they're pretty on board with our particular program.

Yeah.

You know?

Everybody else kind of, you know.

Not as much.

Not as much, you know?

So, it's like the people that have the place are people.

And Tyrese is the same. He's treated the same exact is treated the same exact way.
He is beloved in this city. Tyrese is great for this city.
Perfect. But he walked in in that jacket earlier in our suite, and everybody was like, that's a big jacket.
Well, I thought he drove his Ducati here. Well, he could have.
That goes back to your point. The NBA players make a lot of money.
Yes, they do. But the potholes in this city.
I don't think it's true. Ladies and gentlemen, men who host this, yeah, driving on a moon.
Yeah, I mean, you just can't do it. You can't own a nice car like that.
We haven't talked about it in a while because we hammered it for so long on our show whenever we weren't on ESPN. But, like, the potholes in Indianapolis are moats.
Like, that is what they are. And I know there's other cities that have bad potholes and other states have bad potholes because I'm from Pennsylvania.
Any four-season climate normally going to have bad roads and everything like that. And everybody thinks theirs are the worst.
And I think I've lived in West Virginia. I've lived in multiple states.
Indiana's roads are by far the worst. I mean, these things are so deep.
They're like three, four feet deep.

We went on vacation, came back.

I thought there was a small mortar war.

Yeah, a pond, baby.

Oh, a pond just started.

Or like, you know those videos where the...

Sinkles?

Yeah.

Like, you think that is in the middle of the road.

And there's so many of them that kind of hit, you can't even...

No.

Crash two 18-wheelers on the...

Exactly.

I was going to say, they're making their way onto the highway now, which is great, because it makes it because it makes it very safe when you've got a shitload of semis going by and everything. It's awesome.
It's phenomenal. It crashed a semi into another semi, I guess, these potholes.
I saw one this morning. They were giving donkey tours to the bottom of it.
That's what I'm saying. It's messed up.
Figure it out. That's what I'm saying.
It's like driving on a moon. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is two men that have already been to the moon and probably been back.
They host the NFL Combine. They host the future of the NFL.
Ladies and gentlemen, from NFL Network and from the Rich Eisen Show, hey, we can move some sticks. Rich Eisen, Dan, and Jeremiah.
Yeah, gentlemen. Michigan man's going to bring in a ball.
Well, well, well. No, he's a Michigan fan.
He's a Florida man, Hart.

How you doing, Rich?

Whatever you want to go.

Come on, DJ.

Mr. Legend of the game.

How you doing, DJ?

Mr. Sticks.

Yeah, there we go.

There we go.

Get this mic.

Thank you.

God, it's good to see you guys.

It is great. Hey.
Let's do it. Hey, the combine's here.
It is here. Let's go, boys.
Let's go, boys. Let's go, boys.
We're ready. We're ready.
This is Daniel Jeremiah's Super Bowl. This is all eyes on DJ.
This is, hey, Rich Eisen, let's go ahead and run that 40. Let's be smooth as hell.
Let's compliment everybody that's out here because there's a chance that there's any Hall of Famer at any time walking onto this field. And this is you guys on TV for, what, 45 hours straight calling people to do exercises, right, Rich? We should raise money.
It should be a telethon. It's funny.
Anytime a large man runs really slow, I get a text from Warren Sapp saying, there's your pace car.

I appreciate it. Every single time.
You've been under

6-0 four times, I think we did

the history. Is that right? 2016's

your fastest. I think if we get the...

Oh, yeah. If I read the stats right,

you've been under 6-0

four times throughout the history. A lot of

times you've run... I mean, like 20 times it feels like.

Do you know how many? I always tell... There it is.

There's the... Let me see.
I see

five beautiful fives

up there. Probably gotten better.
Up to the left of the decimal point. That is fantastic.
Look at that form. What do you think of the form? It's really good.
Is it? Yeah. Top notch.
Being in a suit, too. Hey, it's four under 6-0, right? It's four under 6.
Okay, I thought you said five. I thought I couldn't do math.
How many of those did you time, DJ? Just a couple, but I did get one under six. I don't know if that's 2018.
It might be 2018. Yeah.
That sounds about right. He's got a nice trigger finger.
I was giving the punters yesterday, and the kick was good. Like, I got my stopwatch right here.
Yeah. You can just delay a little bit and give a guy a .1.
All of a sudden, he goes from 4.6 to a 4.7. That's a good punt.
Let's keep this guy around. But what you've done for St.
Jude with this run, Rich Run, cool thing, bro. Thank you.
Indianapolis is very lucky that you choose or you get to do it here, I guess. Let me tell you, it was like anything else born on television, born out of complete boredom, sitting in the old RCA dome, two and a half hours before shooting Total Access

back when you were probably a scout or something like that.

Absolutely.

Where were you in 05?

Yeah, I was 05.

I was with the Ravens.

You were at the Ravens.

So it's me.

I'm sitting up in the stands, Terrell Davis,

who was thinking about doing TV at the time, sitting next to me.

Oh, this is great.

I get to tell the story the way I normally have to clean it up.

Now I've just realized where I am right now.

Welcome to my show. Fantastic.
We never get to see yours. You never get to see ours.
But you know the vibes. I do know the vibes.
So I'm sitting there, and I'm just totally bored, hearing the hum of the air conditioning and the lights in the old RCA dome. Just stared down at the 40-yard dash, and I don't know why it popped in my head about running it.
So I turn to Terrell Davis. I say, how fast you think i can run it he laughs he goes you can't run for shit and i i i swear to god i just said go fuck yourself watch me it was a spite run it was a spite run and i went and i went down and i was just you know dressed suited and booted lace up you know dress shoes and i went and ran it and had no idea that the crew that was on break was actually recording it.
And they surprised me with it that night. And then the next day, you know, we had Joe Gibbs on and a whole bunch of other coaches came in.
Judging, evaluating. And they said, did we see you running a 40-yard dash last night? So right away they immediately popped the the 40-yard dash up, and they were all making fun of me and having fun with it.
And I just thought nothing of it. Next year, I show up, and the first person I see at the RCA Dome is the freshly minted NFC champion coach of the Seattle Seahawks, Mike Holmgren, who goes, are you going to run it again? And I'm like, no.
And he said, why not? And I'm like, I don't know. He goes, well, you've got to beat your time.
And I'm like thinking to myself, here is the NFC champion head coach, just coaching the Super Bowl, like questioning my sense of competition. I have to run it.
I got to prove myself. I did.
And that's why I ran it again, because of him. And I just remember him also saying, just don't wind up there.
And he pointed at the training table. And so I just kept doing it over and over and over again.
And, you know, now it's 20 years. Come on, dude.
That's awesome. You've done so many good things, too, with that.
Obviously, raising a shit ton of money, because I don't know the exact amount. It's over $7 million for the life of it.
Much more than a shit ton. ton.
That is a lot. That's amazing.
It was a spite run to begin with, and Coach Holmgren kind of motivates you to continue it. And then he points at a training table.
Have you ever hurt yourself doing it? I have, as a matter of fact. Because, you know, running it and, you know, my wife is always sitting at home hoping that I don't embarrass myself in the family name.
And then Dion was always part of our crew.

And I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of him.

Leon Sandcastle.

As a matter of fact, he did run the 40 with me one year as Leon Sandcastle.

And was step for step with me in the Leon Sandcastle afro running backwards.

Backpedaling.

That's tough.

That's a tough look. It's a tough look it's a tough look but you know for comedy pat you know anything for comedy and also for deon sanders yeah it was good for the brand on everybody's part except for me but it's all good no no no but but uh so one year i i ran it so slow twice and i ran it a third time because i just wanted run it faster.
And I popped my hamstring in the middle of it. Not good.
And I thought to myself, well, we're just not going to air it this year. And Mike Mayock said to me, you've got to air it.
You've got to air it. I'm like, why? And he goes, because it shows, you know, you're just like everybody else.
You're just running as fast as you possibly can. Who cares if you got hurt? And just show it.
I'm like, okay, you're right. So we did it.
And as soon as it airs, he goes, hey, looks like there was a sniper in the dome. And he goes, Bill Pulliam was up there with a rifle.
And I'm like, well, wait a minute. You told me to show it just to set me up? Like, what the hell was that? No, no.
Everybody's had that happen in football, in sports, you know? So I think you stepping up to prove yourself that I'm not just a TV guy is such a good mentality to start that entire thing. Hell, yeah.
We appreciate you, Rich. Now let's talk about some 40s that are going to be happening here this week.
And I legitimately can't wait to watch you guys spend a weekend with you. It's like a weekend watching a golf tournament.
That's, I think, how you should view it probably. I assume you already do as a host, but that is how I view it.
Something great happens. There's some noise.
I'm going to go ahead and look. Other than that, got some background noise with the wife, with the daughter doing a thing.
What do we need to keep an eye out for this week? What is like the most spectacular jaw-dropping thing that you project to potentially take place this week? Well, I think there's going to be some 4-2s. So we had the runner last year with Xavier Worthy, ripped off the record.
I think that's probably going to be safe, but I think there's three guys that have a chance to get close. Maxwell Harrison, a corner from Kentucky, is kind of my favorite.
Keep an eye on him as somebody that might run that thing down. Bond from Texas, the wide receiver is crazy, crazy fast.
If they go Xavier Worthy21 to isaiah bond 4-2 whatever from texas it's like what are what's the training going on down in texas these guys are just faster than any humans that have ever existed well i think also you're just looking at the track programs in high school how much better they've gotten in the resources and track clubs and these guys are they know how to run you know it used to be football players and you're trying to train and learn how to to run a 40. These guys have been coming out of a stand since they were eight, nine years old, and they're legit fast.
So those guys are fun. And then defensive line, it's a stat class.
Defensive tackles is loaded. Edge rushers is loaded.
Linebackers today, Jahad Campbell from Alabama, he can rush off the edge. He can play off the ball.
He's going to run low 4-4 at that size. It's impressive.
It is impressive. And if we've got good detackles, that means we've got a lot of big meat moving fast.
Always create good moments for NFL Combine Clips. Now, Mad Mel obviously dialed in, has some questions.
Yes, yes. Yeah, dude, DJ, obviously this time of the year, the reason I love it so much is it just kind of gives me an opportunity to put my nuts right on the table, let everybody know, hey, I know this shit inside and out, okay? I assume you're the same way, maybe not as colorful, you know, as the way I do it, but Adam Schefter was on the show yesterday kind of talking about the athletes in this class and basically said, hey, listen, a guy, the top ten here.
Rich, please. He's going.
He's going. Well, it's fine.
I get it. You know what happens.
This guy's trying to do a little scouting here. He said the difference between 10 and, you know, maybe the guy who goes with 10, the guy who goes with 35 is, you know, very minuscule, if you will.
He said, you know, listen, a guy you get in the third round might be just as good as the guy you take at 11. Do you agree with that sentiment? Do you think this class itself maybe isn't as deep as classes in the past? Or is it kind of one of those things where personally I believe, hey, not as great of a quarterback class.
A lot of people are not going to get as excited about it. But do you buy that that maybe there's 10 guys with a true first-round grade and everybody else you might be able to find day two, day three.
What's your take on that, DJ? First of all, have you had your pumpkin pie yet today? Obviously, start every morning. You know, a lot of people.
Listen, I want to get this out of the way right now. A lot of whipped cream.
Allegedly. Whipped cream.
Upside down. Whipped cream, not whippets.
All right? I'm not emptying a whipped cream bottle and then sucking the CO2 out of there and getting all jacked up on goofballs. Yeah, nobody should be doing that.
Yeah, I'm not doing that, okay? So, yeah, okay, sue me. I had half a pumpkin pie and about two cans of whipped cream.
I don't mean to evaluate. I don't think that is the actual chemistry of what you suck out of a Whippet.
What? CO2. No, yeah, but if it's.
How do you know, Rich? I know carbon dioxide is not in that sort of thing. Well, no, it's not, but if that's all you got is an empty, you know, whippet can.
I know my chemistry, Boston. Okay, fair enough, fair enough.
Back off. Michigan guy, I forgot.
Anyways, pumpkin, a lot of pumpkin. And then 10 to 35.
The way I phrase it is it's a starter draft, maybe not a star draft. So there's a bunch of guys very evenly graded.
I like that. So you're going to find, you know, there's going to be a lot of similarity.
I think I would push it back maybe more towards like 15. Then you could probably even go further down the line, like 15 to 50.
You're going to see a lot of, you know, similarly graded players. That's why on the media side of things, it's hard to stack your board because you're not with a team.

And so every team is going to have the same grades on these guys, but I'm going to prioritize the needs that I have.

So I think you'll see players get picked that will be wildly different than where they

are on boards.

So who do you think are the stars then?

Like if you're saying it's a lot of stars, who are the top guys, like the blue chip dudes

who are going to go in and be immediate huge factors for teams?

I mean, I think there's two stars in the draft.

I think it's Abdul Carter and I think it's Travis Hunter.

I don Tyler Warren. He's my fifth overall player.
Jente too. You got Jente too.
Jente's my third player. That's what's so weird about this draft.
Don't you have Loveland graded the same as Warden? I have the same grade on Warren and Loveland again. That's three of my top seven players, two tight ends and a running back.
Why isn't Travis Hunter being just, we're previewing this, but I hope you don't mind us using the Pat McAfee show. Real estate is sort of a rundown meeting here.
We're here. Okay, very good.
Why isn't Travis Hunter number one overall? Because he is a unicorn. And by the way, he just came up with a soundbite of the week as far as I'm concerned.
He was at his press conference well i think while you were talking to tyrese here that uh you know are you going to return punts and kicks and his answer was i already have two jobs beast that is a sick bar that is i already have two jobs like everybody back off i'm a friggin unicorn so why why isn't he considered first overall yeah he's second for me and that more is about how special abdul carter is and the position that he plays i just i'm going to value somebody who can go get the quarterback in a league where i rank at quarterback pass rushers that's one and two of the most valuable assets you can have and we're coming off of a super bowl that we just witness what happens when you have dominant defensive front players now he's he's unique in terms of all the different things he can do. I'm not convinced he can run it out there 100 snaps a game in the NFL playing against that competition for a long, prolonged season.
I think he's going to have to major and minor, and you've got to figure out which one of those he's going to major and which one he's going to minor. So I think if you were to, like Chuck Pagano, for instance, he said if you can get a lockdown corner, guy that can go on an island, you go ahead and do that.
And then you can give him a couple plays on offense to take advantage of his skill set, especially with the game coming back to being a physical one. If you can go man on the outside, which I think obviously everybody wants to be able to do.
But if you can go man or have a guy that can go man, I mean, that's a game changer for the rest of the box to try to stop the run, which I think is where the game's headed.

I'm very fascinated by Travis Hunter because, you know,

you ask these people, is he a wide receiver?

Is he a cornerback?

And you ask him, obviously, he says, I'm different.

He said, I'm different.

People say it's never been done before.

Nobody ever done it like I do it.

He said, I'm just different.

A lot of good bars coming out of Travis Hunter.

And I think he's uber competitive.

Everybody says all he does is like ball.

He doesn't really go out. He's supposed to be a great kid.

Yeah, works his ass off.

Like, he's 113 snaps a game kid. Yeah, he works his ass off.

Like, he's 113 snaps a game, I think, or some sort of record on this entire thing.

So his durability has been fantastic.

The way he's come through, you know, the prime university to be a professional athlete,

it's like, it feels like he is a can't-miss type of guy.

100%. At one of the positions.

Right.

At best, too.

Right.

And at one point of his career, you'll figure which one he's going to major in specifically.

And then, you know, that's why I don't know how you pass up on him.

Like, period.

End of story.

I just, the only thing I would push back on that is.

Hey, DJ, listen.

Listen to us, okay?

Yes.

No, no, no.

Wait, can I watch any of the films?

By the way, we haven't even got to Will Howard yet.

I would have had that on my bingo card. It's already coming up with Pat.
It's coming. I'll give you a short amount of time so you can't explain it.
Thank you. There's a strategy.
Abdul Carter, we watched him with one arm in the playoffs. Dominating.
We were there. Dominating.
I got some HEMBO stats on Abdul Carter. You want to know something crazy? This is fully recognizing Travis Hunter and his greatness.
I'm not so sure if they raced that Abdul Carter wouldn't win. Really? Abdul Carter, I was told when he has a full runway to get healthy and run, that he'll run in the four threes.
Unbelievable as a pass rusher. So that makes sense for what Hembo sent over.
Most pressures versus Ohio State last season, Abdul Carter with five. Most pressures versus Oregon last season, Abdul Carter with six.
Most pressures versus Ohio State last season, Abdel Carter with five. Most pressures versus Oregon last season, Abdel Carter with six.
Most pressures versus Notre Dame last season, Abdel Carter with seven. That was when he was injured or whatever.
Then most pressures in 2024, inside two and a half seconds. You talk about his speed.
Inside two and a half seconds, Abdel Carter had 37 of them. James Pierce Jr.
had 29. Inside 2.25 seconds getting, this is turnstile tackle type thing happened there.
He had 29 of those. So basically only 8 of them were between 2.25 to 2.5.
And the next closest was James Pierce with 19. So he has as many in 2.25 seconds as Pierce had in 2.5 seconds.
You're talking about just getting to the quarterback immediately. He's running a 4.3, this guy? Yeah, but we're not going to see it here.
We'll have to wait until it's pro day. No, but just in life.
That's how explosive he is. And he plays through pain.
Now get the foot thing now, right? What's his foot thing? So I guess they thought he might have to have surgery. Then the latest we heard today was that he's going to put that out.
He doesn't need it. He's going to be able to go with the pro day and be full go.
If Schefter's report is accurate, which we assume it is, Schefter said he had two options. Yeah.
Option one is get the surgery, get a bolt. Here it is, right here.
Option one for Carter would be to have the preemptive surgery, have a screw insert on his right foot, and be expected back in eight weeks. Option two for Carter would be to bypass the surgery, conduct his pro day, and prove to NFL teams that he doesn't need it because he's probably had this for a long time without even knowing it.
Maybe they checked it here in medical. And my first reaction is like, eight weeks, brother, it's February.
You go ahead and get that thing done. Yeah, who cares? And then you go into a season, especially if you're a top, let alone a top one guy.
But if you're like a top five guy, like obviously there's a difference in money, but what you're about to do in the NFL is about to be a difference in money. I'd get healthy, but I feel like they probably just assume that it's not that big of a deal.
Is that what's here? Well, apparently option two was Right. Yes.
That's what I heard. Yeah.
So do you know anything about that? No, just said that this morning, the information that was, it wasn't as serious as they saw yesterday. I don't know how that information changes from one day to the next.
Different doctors, right? Different medical, different imaging, I guess. Really? Isn't that the thing, Rich? Yeah.
And then that's what this is all about. Like I remember back again, back in at the RCA Dome, when I was just strolling around the combine for the first time, and they used to split up the medical rooms by division.
Like, you know, AFC East, doctors were in run room and central and what have you. Central.
Anyway, long story short is I went in there and started talking to some doctors, which probably wouldn't happen today. One guy told me that he in previous combines saw an x-ray and told a guy, you know, you broke your leg back in high school.
And the guy's like, no, I didn't. And he showed it to him.
He goes, yeah, you did. You just didn't know.
You know, I'm like, they find stuff that other places just don't. Wasn't there somebody's heart? There was a heart thing somewhere.
Wasn't there? I think Maurice Hurst out of Michigan, they found something with him that, you know, heart related. And fortunately, he's had a long, long career here.
Yeah, like one team deemed him no. And then other teams were like, yeah, we'll take this guy in top 10.
It's an interesting philosophy from doctors. It happened with Kansas City with Trey Smith.

There it is.

That's why he fell to the sixth round.

Yeah, his knee was all screwed up, and some of the doctors said,

this might be a problem, and obviously he's been fantastic.

And I guess just to bring this conversation full circle, Mad Mel,

you're the first person to talk about nuts on the table at the combine since Chris Jones.

That's on the field, brother.

That's on the field, brother.

That was us sitting there watching to go, oh, man, he pulled his – that's not his hamstring. Let it fly, DJ.
You need to do that in there. You talk about quarterbacks.
Yes, sir. Okay.
46 minutes into the hour, got an out at 57. So I think you have more than enough time.
We're good. To explain.
Yep. I looked at your – can you put his mock first first round up there again there is a name that i uh i don't know if we have exact control yeah there it is yeah i don't see it do you guys see it am i missing a name what are you looking for a national champion is it for ohio state guys yeah, I see Abouk is on there.
I see Henderson, I see Donovan Jackson, Dogg. This is the Will Hauer show of record.
Oh, yeah, okay, he's not up there. He's not, isn't he, Rich? I don't see him.
What is the deal? Like, I love Shador, by the way. Incredibly tough.
I like Shador up there. Cam Ward, I like Cam Ward up there.
Like, I am not, this is not taking away from them. This is just saying Jackson Dart, number three in this draft, is what's kind of being talked about.
And then Will Howard, how do you have him viewed? He's right in there. He's not far off from Jackson Dart on grade-wise for me.
And I'll give you some good Will Howard news because I knew I was going to see Pat and I knew this is the way we were going. So I talked to teams that have interviewed Will Howard this week

and said he's been exceptional, that he's been awesome in the room.

And I went back and I wanted to watch kind of the last tail end of games

because that's when he caught fire.

So after you get through the process, you watch all 330 guys we have here now,

you have time to go on a little deeper dive.

And the first one I started with, I want to start with Michigan.

I know it went the way you wanted it to go. Oh, very much so.
Yeah, did not go the way Ohio State wanted that one to go on a little deeper dive. And the first one I started with, because I want to start with Michigan.
I know it went the way you wanted it to go. Oh, very much so.
Yeah, did not go the way Ohio State wanted that one to go. But watching that tape, he took a vicious hit early in that game.
He was right on the sideline. And he was not the same later on beyond that.
I thought he was at Kansas State still. Yeah, exactly.
Exactly. It was a wildcat.
So seeing that, I kind of excused away some of that performance because I don't know that he was all right in that game. And then he got hot and played exceptionally well.
My only concern with him really is just I want to see the quarterback throw live and see the ball come out of his hand just to see, you know, if there's enough pop and there's enough juice because these receivers at Ohio State create so much separation. Agreed.
That there's not really those tight window throws. There's no need for them.
You don't really have to make them. There's a couple strikes.
I mean, we were on the field watch the last four games. Rob Kosa-Person.
It's unbelievable. He's eyeballed it.
Well, that's the thing. So we – and I'm not saying you had the same thought as us actually on CJ Stroud, but like when we do these field pass games, me, AJ, Darius, a lot of other people, and I'm very lucky at the punter position, I've watched a lot of football from the sideline.
I've literally watched a lot of football. So you see some of these guys, and you look like, oh, that's a Sunday guy, right? That is clearly a different guy.
We saw C.J. against Georgia, and he had ran more than he had for the rest of the season.
It was like, that's the guy right there. That is the guy.
For Will Howard, it was just like, as we were watching him, I'm like, nobody's really talking. He's 6'4".
He's got the size, 240. He's got it all.
The boys love him. And whenever things go south, especially with a transfer guy that got paid a bunch of money, especially with all the egos that could potentially be in that building, they could have turned their back on him.
Instead, he had touchdown celebrations with dances with all of his skill. He was able to handle personality.
And then he was making these throws. Now, granted, that guy's unguardable.
So is everybody else except for against Michigan, right, Rich? Oh, well, no. I mean, listen, he balled out in the playoffs.
There's just no two ways about it. And there's no two ways about he was hurt michigan michigan really hurt him in that

game and i cj stroud had the best workout of a quarterback i think i've ever seen at a combine he threw every throw he was dynamite he was amazing my only question is will howard when he throws here is it going to be really weird for him because i don't think he's played in this building Okay.

Wow.

All right.

This is the home of the Big Ten Championship, and I don't think he – That's true. I don't think he is.
Is this going to be the first time he throws in this building? Okay. So let's stick on that note, shall we? Sure.
Let's stick on that note with the Michigan. How many did Jim say yesterday? Maybe four? So it's Mason Graham, it's Kenneth Grant, it's Colston Loveland, and – Will Johnson.
Will Johnson, yeah. Okay.
So are we going to be able to continue to replenish all these guys up in Michigan? Are we a little bit worried? When you say we, what do you mean? Like collectively we? No, I'm just saying are we if I was a Michigan person. Why would I be worried? You gave millions for Bryce Underwood, right? Well, when you say you, I didn't give a dime.
Oh, I thought it was you personally. No, no, no.
It wasn't me. You own Oracle, right? No, no, you know, I own something that Oracle, I think, created, you know.
It's $200 billion. What is that? What is Oracle? Database.
Cloud computing? Yeah. It's a great company.
It's outstanding. And it's a revenue generator, Pat.
You know, but yes, Michigan did splurge, and it's fantastic.

You know, and they finished awesome.

That was great.

You know, January 1st, 2024, beating Alabama in the Rose Bowl,

and December 31st, beating Alabama twice in the same year,

around beating Ohio State.

And it was just, those were just great days in my life, Pat.

Yeah, you guys beat Alabama twice and Ohio State twice in the same year.

I mean, that's a...

Well,

Thank you. around beating Ohio State.
And it was just, those were just great days in my life, Pat. Yeah, you guys beat Alabama twice and Ohio State twice in the same year.
I mean, that's a... Well, yeah, I mean, in an actual calendar year, the first day of the year and the last day of the year was beating Alabama.
Yeah, and then Ohio State with, you know, a walk-on quarterback and, you know, five losses. And it was just, honestly, I'd rather talk about all that.

Can I ask a local question here?

Sure.

I think that's a great idea, whatever it might be.

Do you guys have a recommendation for a good smoothie spot?

Tropical Smoothie Cafe is the right place.

Because I've heard coffee shops not safe these days.

So if I want just a little something to refresh.

Good point.

Interesting.

I would love a smoothie.

Stay away from Starbucks.

Speaking of, holy shit. Holy hell.
There he is. Oh, my gosh.
He's got a black guy. He's got a black guy.
Yes. Yes.
Oh, my God. Come on.
He's got stitches. Come on.
Come on. Oh, my.
Ladies and gentlemen. He's got stitches on his face.
NFL Network's greatest Americano. There he is.
Ian Rappaport. Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.
All right, let's go to the tail. He's going to eat lightning and crap thunder and order a venti.
All right, so let's go to the tail of tape first here real quick. Good call, good call.
We do have one of these just so we know exactly who we are. Oh, my God.
Who we are chit-chatting with here. Rowing.
Offensive, but not that far off. Yeah, okay.
Okay, nonetheless, Starbucks standoffs captivated the world. Allegedly, you know, had a little face-to-face Disagreement, Rappaport, one of the participants Rap sheet, joining us now Unknown Unlimited is the other one Yeah, okay, we see it Rap Okay, Rap We wake up this morning We know that the whole world knows about everything that has taken place.
What's the mindset like, and where do we go from here, bub? Okay, so last night. Stand more to your left.
Thank you. Good TV.
And back up a little bit. It looks like you're in a mug shot.
There it is. By the way, that's why you didn't get touched.

Did you see that,

Black?

Did you see that move back?

Yeah, that was good.

Good feet.

Shoulder roll in there, too.

All right, go ahead, Sar.

So,

last night when it all broke,

everyone in the world

texted me

wanting to know details

and it was all

out there.

Florio basically

wrote the whole thing

so there's not much to add.

Wow.

And then I woke up

this morning and everyone in the world has texted me.

Yeah.

Well, we all are happy that you're both okay.

We'd like to let that be known.

Yeah.

With that being said, what is next?

Are you guys going to shake hands before you get out of town, or what do we say?

I mean, I –

That's what he wants to say.

I know.

Hard pass on the handshake.

That's freaking –

He's going to the coffee, bean, and tea leaf from now on. Safer.
Not another penny! There's actually a lot of great coffee brands at Dunkin'. Dunkin'.
There it is! Hey, we're happy you're okay. We love you.
Are you all right, man? You're going to be okay? I'm okay. We miss you.
You had a great season. We were watching.
Miss you guys, too. Ladies and gentlemen, Rap Sheet.
I love you, Rap Sheet. I love you, Rap Sheet.
I love you, Rap Sheet. gentlemen, Rapshite.
Body armor. I wish you would have had a neck brace on today.
All right, boys. Don Cachino.
This first hour is wrapping up, and we'll be heading into a hard out. And you guys will probably go off into the world that you're going to do.
Rich, we'd like to wish you absolute best of luck as you call 45 hours of all this legitimately we appreciate you doing it let alone during the season okay so obviously i'm on tv a lot i do a lot of shit during the season boys and i do a lot of shit we're very lucky to do it you do the same exact shit and you have nfl game day morning on sunday which is like a four hour show i think it is indeed so the way that you go about doing what you do and your work ethic is something that I admire massively. Right back at you.
And what you're doing here every single year does not go unnoticed about how the length of it and everything about it. They got it right with you as the first hire for NFL Network.
Thanks, pal. Just want to let you know that.
We love you, Rich. I appreciate that.
How is the mindset going in? I'm fired up. It's year 22.
I heard you're coming on tomorrow, right? Yeah, 315. Fantastic.
Very good. Right off the bat.
If they got a camera. No, dude.
We will have a camera for you. I'll make sure about that.
Specialist Showcase was not a show. Just learned that on the fly, in the moment.
But I was lucky to be there. Rich, I appreciate you.
And DJ, I can't wait to watch all of the preparation and hard work that you put in over the last few months kind of be on display throughout the entire combine. You're the man.
you guys yeah somebody's written a couple four twos he said yeah that's crazy harry smith's the one name you didn't i won't be one of them he's one of the three yeah it will not be quick we got like 20 seconds for dj what does he need to look out for maybe from your standpoint today we talked about kenneth grant and then shemar stewart there's a couple others shemar stewart is gonna work out and jihad campbell too yeah we talked about this? Mason Grant. How much time do you have? No, my God.
We're out of time. It'll be a great combine.
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This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever find yourself playing the budgeting game? Tax Act.
There's a lot of dreams that come true. There's some nightmares for some teams and some players.

There's medical reports. There's conversations.
There's mingling. There's tampering.
There's magic in Indianapolis this week, and we can't thank you enough for joining us here on ESPN, ESPN+, Disney+, YouTube, and TikTok Live. We are the dumbest group of humans that get to do this every day, and we can't thank you enough.
Now, one of our guys is missing, and it's a shame. If you could send out your T's and P's to Ty Schmidt, we'd be incredibly grateful for that.
We think you'll be back soon, but we're not 100% sure. The Toxic Table is representing still.
At Boston Conner, rocking an Undertaker hat and a Tim Robinson T-shirt. You look amazing here for day two of Combine, pal.
Yeah, thank you very much. I'm glad we had Tyrese on so i wasn't you know the worst dressed person here but this is yeah this is my favorite shirt you know it's got kind of the everything you want in one person it's kind of exactly what you're looking for when you're coming to the combine you know you want someone who can pull off all these looks you know the the what the hell with the fantastic fedora flap the the hot dog we got to find this guy the i don't want to be around anymore guy i mean it really is the dangerous there's no uh coffin drop i don't i don't think coffin no no no core cop tv we are still trying to save coffin flop but uh no it's just got some of the most iconic ones we don't have all of them uh but it's impossible to fit all of them onto one shirt i mean mean, you got everything.
You got the sloppy steaks or wherever. Slop them up, you know.
But, yeah, it's one of my favorite shirts. I appreciate it.
Yeah, no problem. You look great, and obviously any Tim Robinson gear is welcomed on any particular program that we have.
If you have a Detroiters thing coming up next, we can't wait to see you. Now, joining you at the Talks Table, not Ty Schmidt, per usual, it's actually Mad Mel Kiper.
Mad Mel, what are your thoughts on

Rich Eisen, Daniel Jeremiah, and the combine

as a whole here, pal? You know, just, again,

absolutely unbelievable being here in

Indianapolis. It's just great being around

a bunch of people who look up to you

and, you know, have said, you know, man, this is the

reason I kind of got into this. Guys like you

really paved the way for me to be able to

kind of break down the combine, look at all the

different prospects and go through their

intangibles, their athleticism, all the

requisite abilities they're going to need to perform in the NFL. So it's nice, you know, kind of coming here and, I mean, you know, I don't want to pat myself on the back too much, but basically being the king of the city for a week.
Yeah, and you're the king of every city, we think. And speaking of, there goes Rap.
Rap, we love you, Rap. Careful, Rap.
What a couple days for that guy guy careful that's not a starbucks cup yeah and i don't think there will ever be another star but we love you rap we love you right job of house rap uh one half of the hammer down cowboys tone digs is here tone big day today at the combine a lot of things are going to happen here yeah a lot of uh big human beings moving quickly today uh there was a couple guys that, you know, are going to be working out today that are going to work out really well. Starting with Kenneth Grant.
He's a D tackle out of Michigan. He's 6'3", 342.
He actually said yesterday that he dropped to 330 for the combine so that he could run in the 4'7", 4'8", range at 330, 340. So he is going to be a huge people mover to watch today.

Another one is Jalen Walker who was the Buckus award winner.

He actually won that over Abdul Carter for the best defensive player in the country.

He's 6 2 250 and they say he could probably run like in a 4 4 range linebacker out of

Alabama Jihad Campbell who is an off ball linebacker but he came out of high school

playing edge.

He is 6 3 250 who's also going to run in the four-fours today. And his take, like, when he sees the ball, he just go gets it.
He's awesome. And then the last one out of Texas A&M, Shamar Stewart, who is just a freak.
He is 6'6", 280, and they think he's a five-star coming out, and he could run in the four-fives today at 6'6", like 270, 280. So, yeah, yeah there's a lot of freaks a lot of them out of the sec coming out today who are going to run well of course you're on espn so you're going to say that one was from michigan though uh but no there's going to be a lot of big dudes running fast and that's kind of been the tradition not tradition the way that the draft has gone a lot of guys getting bigger and a lot of guys getting faster a a lot of meetings, a lot of medical.
Also, a lot of people speaking to the media. We heard Brett Veach speak on the Travis Kelsey future conversation and speculation.
We heard Coach Andy Reid speak on the speculation of Travis Kelsey's future. And I decided to reach out to Source.
Says. Who know and say like, hey, what's the, are we.
It's the deal. Are we, are we playing next year? To my source.
Says. And message was, my dog.
Exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point. Three.
Source. Says.
Says, I'm coming back for sure. Going to try and get to the best shape I've been this offseason and get back to the mountaintop.
Got a real bad taste in my mouth with how I played in that last game and how I got the guys ready for battle. I can't go out like that.
Exclamation point. Exclamation point.
Exclamation point.

And guess what?

One more exclamation point.

Wow. Huge.
Okay, so that's the Travis

Kelsey future conversation.

He's probably coming back. I think

he's probably. I think he could say

Travis Kelsey's coming back

to play football yet again. And I think

he had that idea, I would assume

before the Super Bowl, whenever he did

Media Day. He said, in three years,

I see myself playing football yet. But then with the way that game goes, knowing that he is an Ohio guy who's a football guy, with how everything has gone and what his career has been.
Remember, the Chiefs weren't always good when he was on that team. He had to persevere.
He had to continue to grow, evolve. He got better as a player, as a human, I would assume he would predict, as a professional everything.
And then he's gotten to the point now where he's in goat conversations with anybody that's talking about tight ends. That's a situation that doesn't happen to many players in the history of the game.
And obviously he has represented our sport fantastically while dating the most famous person on earth. We love Travis.
Now obviously whenever you're in the public eye, there are going to be things that are going to come out from people's mouths that aren't as positive all the time. There's going to be reasons for people to find to hate Travis Kelsey.
There's going to be reasons for people to find to hate the Kansas City Chiefs. There's going to be reasons for people to hate Taylor Swift, even though a lot of it makes no sense to me.
Sometimes if you're just on the top of the mountain, people are going to throw rocks at things that shine. Shout out Taylor Swift for that particular quote.
But what you can't deny is the greatness of Travis Gosey. You can't deny that he is one of one.
You can't deny that he is an anomaly. You can't deny that the guy loves ball.
Fully committed. And in the Andy Reid accountability-driven type building, I don't think enough credit is given about this guy being an absolute dog.
Day in, day out, showing up to work, already great, already rich, already has a resume, already in the Hall of Fame. And it's like he's a guy that loves ball.
And we love Travis. And I'm excited to see him get back on the field, get in the best shape that he's been.
I'm excited to see what that means because a lot of people think he could potentially get distracted by Taylor. I think he gets motivated by Taylor.
Yes. I think, like, those two being together makes them both want to continue to grow and get even better.
I'm excited to see what he looks like coming back next year. Yeah, and look what they do every offseason, the Kansas City Chiefs.
They reload. You know, I assume after the game there are probably some thoughts like, hey, if Rasheed Rice is out out on that field if we are fully healthy and no team by the time they get to the Super Bowl is fully healthy but I assume those thoughts creep in he just started kind of coaching Rasheed Rice up like he was off to a historic start for the Kansas City Chiefs Rasheed Rice before you know he was out for the season then even just look at his brother you know when his brother Jason lost the the Chiefs, he came back for a year.
Obviously, last year the Eagles lose to the Bucs in the first round. He ends up retiring.
I bet Jason Kelsey probably wished he didn't retire. He's open about it.
Yeah, exactly. So it's one of those things, too.
And if you were to talk to the closest people around him, I bet their advice would be like, hey, why the hell would you retire? You guys are still in prime position to go back to the Super Bowl. It's not like after that loss, you know, they're going to completely crumble.
They still have Mahomes. It's still Andy Reid.
Their team is still unbelievable. Guys still want to go to Kansas City and, you know, ring Chase and kind of be in the conversation as one of those top four teams in the league.
And it feels like the Chiefs are going to be right back where they were last year. And Kelsey being in the best shape of his life, I'm sure they're going to be even better.
And they were the one seed. So who knows? We talked about how, you know, everybody said they were playing bad as being the chip on this team that's in the middle of a dynastic run, back-to-back world champions.
And then people are saying this team's not good. This team's not good.
All that does, and I think AJ brought it up when he was there Super Bowl week at Radio Row. He is on a cruise right now for Ohio State in the middle of the Caribbean.
He'll be back next week. But he chit-chatted about how, you know, all you people that are saying you hate the Chiefs and you think they're bad and all that stuff, like, you are their motivation.
Like, when those guys get to the top of the mountain, they're trying to find chips to put on the shoulder. So now getting your ass in your stage that is your state the super bowl has become your residency and play bad get your ass beat people chirp loud it's like there's almost like a i assume a resurgence that's about to happen in that kansas city building do you feel the same mad mel yeah without a doubt and then also people you know on top of it are cherry picking plays you know from from the game when they're getting killed and saying oh this guy doesn't't care anymore.
This guy doesn't want to play hard anymore. And I think a big part of it, too, is they talk about the media aspect.
He's going to be able to get whatever job he wants. He's going to be on whatever pregame desk he wants.
He's in the next Happy Gilmore movie, all that kind of stuff. So why would you play? You're going to be one of the biggest stars on the planet.
All that stuff's still going to be there, okay? This guy isn't going to wake up tomorrow and all of a sudden

not be able to play football anymore, not want to play football anymore.

I think you mentioned it.

It's a big part of it.

You date someone like Taylor Swift, like you're not just, you know,

riding coattails and saying, oh, you know, she's a billionaire.

I'm going to be able to do nothing.

And, you know, he's very wealthy on his own.

But you see how hard she works touring everywhere, having 150, 200 shows a year,

going to every single continent.

It's a good one. nothing and you know he's very wealthy on his own but you see how hard she works touring everywhere having 150 200 shows a year going to every single continent if you're in love with someone and you're around someone all the time like guess what that's that's reigniting that fire in in your own body to say hey you know what like connor mentioned i can be a better me i'm gonna get in the best shape of my life okay we're not that we just lost in the Super Bowl.
Listen, the Chiefs are going to be around, okay? They're going to have an opportunity to win another Super Bowl next year. It makes sense.
I mean, Kelsey's going to play until the wheels fall off. Matt Mel, you do love love, don't you? Who doesn't? There are people out there that want to.
The devil? Satan? Satan. I bet he doesn't love love.
I think he does love love, actually. With himself.
So there is, I guess that would be more of an infatuation some people think. Yeah.
Yeah, lust, I suppose you could say. But a lot of people said that their relationship was all bullshit.
But it turns out that their relationship might be the greatest thing that has happened in, like, the zeitgeist of the most famous people on earth. And then also for Travis Kelsey to be like, oh, I can, because you watch greats.
He is one in the NFL. how they work, how they go about doing their thing, how you can continue to learn and evolve and get better as you go through.
People are always trying to take shit from other people. You know, like Tyrese said, the biggest thing about the Olympics was watching the other guys work and how they go about doing their things.
Like whenever we get to go watch the WWE do their thing and we see them do stuff and it's like, hmm, you can learn from that. I'm assuming that Travis is learning a lot of shit about a lot of shit from Taylor because she is, hmm, we're talking about the one here.
And her work ethic, and I've heard some songs, you know, through my wife, and she's dated some bums and it has not worked out. Without a doubt.
I think the reason why this is going to work out is because Travis is not a bum. He's an Ohio guy, a football guy.
He's got to work ethic. You know, he wants to continue.
So, I love everything about it. Let's not forget Mahomes is in his revenge hair era as well.
He's been waiting to cut that hair. For years.
He said it last year. He said it in that quarterback documentary.
He said, I don't want to be the dad with a mullet. You know, I kind of – I want to cut my hair, but we're winning.
So, I can't. It's hard for me.
He cut it pretty quickly. Yeah, he couldn't wait.
As soon as that game was over, he thought to me. He looks a lot younger, too.
Yeah, he looks good. I think this is exactly what he potentially thought.
Maybe sometimes he pulled his hair back and was like, I can look like an adult if I really want to do it. And that was his words, not ours.
Correct. And he did.
He pulled the trigger. And on Texas Tech, that kid buried that putt.
Did you see that full-court putt? That was sweet. Patrick jumped up with the thing.
Looks like he's obviously – He was having a great time. He had a shiny cross on, too.
He does. He's good.
Hey, the Chiefs is still the Chiefs, I think. Even though the Eagles is definitely the Eagles.
Without a doubt. Yeah, we need to remember that the Eagles is definitely the Eagles.
I bet you the Chiefs probably take a couple of alignment in this draft. Yeah, that's what Andy Reid did the last time they lost in the Super Bowl to a team that got a lot of pressure and were able to do their thing to an offensive line.
They reloaded the offensive line. So let's assume they'll do the same this offseason.
Coach Matt Rule from Nebraska, formerly of the Carolina Panthers, and of Baylor and Temple will join us in about 25 minutes or so. Okay.
Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is ESPN fantasy expert, draft guru, football genius.

Ladies and gentlemen, Field Yates.

Yeah, Field.

See you again.

How you doing?

Good to see you.

Okay.

What up, dude?

Good to see you, dude.

That was clean.

All right.

Yeah, good dap, pups, all the way around.

Yeah, it was pretty clean.

It was pretty clean. That's a good shirt.
That was big. That was big.
The dap? Yeah, we're done. I knew Matt and Mel was going to be here.
I couldn't let him dap. All right, so we need to.
Let's wrap around the cord. Pull this up.
Pop that thing. The cord, the cord, the cord.
No, other way. There you go.
There you go. We kind of set you up to fail there.
It's okay. That was rich.
And you got to lift that. Yeah, and you can tighten if you need to.
There we go. That was rich.
We good? Better? Field, you look great. Thank you.
I appreciate that. It means a lot.
Field, somehow you look younger this year than you did last year. Doesn't he, Mademil? He does.
He does. Clean shaven.
That's what it was, right? I haven't shaved in a while, so it doesn't make much of a difference, unfortunately. Yeah, that's actually a two-week, five-hour Valentine's Day.
Valentine's Day. I shave right before the big night out.
Okay, so talk about uh this time of year obviously very exciting for you draft boards yeah you know potential draft picks combine scouting what is your big takeaway what are you into right now what is uh the big conversation point around field yates radio I love I mean I love the combine weekend not just because it's here in Indianapolis but also because it allows you to fill in some of the blanks on some of these prospects.

You know, players that are further down the board I don't think are going to move as much for me. But some of the players at the very top, you're trying to get a great feel of, hey, I might think this guy is the 10th best player in the draft.
But maybe some people around the NFL think he's closer to 15 or 20. And in some cases, as ridiculous as it may seem, you guys all know this now, Like there are some positions and some players that the difference between a 4-4-8-40 and a 4-5-2-40 could be the difference between going 10th or 20th overall.
He's not going to work out this week, but Will Johnson, cornerback from Michigan, is a good example of somebody that I'm thinking of when I talk about the difference of a 5-100th of a second, that this guy who was a great player for his entire college career, but if you just look at historical trends, there aren't that many 4, 5, or slower corners that have gone in the first 8, 10, 12 picks. So we could influence him.
Yeah, you got to have to move him to safety in there. Which is a ridiculous thing to do, truthfully.
The guy was such a great player at Michigan, but the league has told us, and we see it every year, guys slide down just a little bit because of a 40-yard dash or, you know, the three-cone, whatever it might be. Xavier Worthy just ran a 4-2-1.
They're saying two more guys are about to run 4-2s, including another wide receiver. That's why the corners have to be fast.
Got to be fast, yeah. It's like it is a unicorn island out there.
Oh, my gosh. Now, I'm not – this is not me downgrading anybody's football ability, especially old buddy Will out at Michigan.
I'm not saying that. But having enough, being able to put your ego aside enough to move positions to go to the NFL is a big part of this whole thing as well.
I think learning about the guys personally is what a lot of these coaches kind of want to find out about here at the Combine. How have you heard about those things going? I've heard more feedback already this week about the interviews than anything that's taking place, or probably anything that will take place over these next few days.
And usually it's not like the average. It's usually the guys that you sit there and you say to yourself, I don't know if that guy's that great of a player, but at least I know the floor is high because of the human that he is, or there's a guy that seemingly has all the talent in the world, and you just don't feel like when you make this guy, or maybe not, with the NL area, some of these guys already are extremely well paid, but for some of these guys, they're going to become overnight millionaires, and listen, we all, at a certain age of our life, 22, 23 years old, if you handed me a seven-figure check, it'd be hard to keep your focus and motivation, right? Anybody that's going to get a seven-figure check from this draft is already a millionaire.
Yeah, that's probably true good point right but that is that's the world that we're in right now it's true yeah but which goes back to the people hold on though that goes back to like trying to find people that still are dogs yeah still work hard yeah totally still want to go and get it you know because they've been rich for a while caleb williams was trying to start an investment fund yes right yeah before he got It's like, this guy has enough money to start a fund before he even gets drafted.

It's like, how's he going to continue to maintain motivation?

It's like, well, he's chasing greatness.

It's like, not everybody in every position is doing that, though.

And you've got to find those guys.

Totally.

You know, I actually used a couple of years ago, and I wasn't doing this role for ESPN,

so I wasn't as deep in the weeds on the draft coverage.

But Puka Nakua obviously becomes this unbelievable fifth-round pick.

And so what I told myself going into last year's draft yeah great ball allegedly guy does it all i said i need i'm gonna start surveying scouts and just say like give me a player that fits the puka nakuha mold not in the sense that you think he's going to become an all pro right away but regardless of how talented or not talented he is you're betting on the person and you're just saying to yourself like I'll take 22 of those guys and feel like I got a shot. And so I started to do that exercise this year as well.
And I'm not talking about guys that are going to go necessarily in the first round, but it is interesting when you hear the guys that are going to go in the first round, like I just got to, is it the first name that comes to mind? He goes, Travis Hunter. He goes, no doubt.
He goes, do you understand the discipline it takes to not just – I mean, play 115 snaps a game is ridiculous. Literally nobody else does it, right? But twice the positional meetings, twice the film study.
Like, just the conditioning is a huge aspect to it. And he was like, I don't care.
Also, can't be putting any bad things in your body. There's like a level of professionalism that has to be there.
Totally. Every human body would break down.
They almost said like, you know, maybe this isn't the perfect word, but it's almost like he's almost boring in some ways in the sense that like it's ball and more ball, right? Like there's not a lot of distraction in Travis Hunter's life, which with the amount of money that I'm sure he's making and the amount of people that I'm sure want a piece of him, for him to avoid that distraction I think only reinforces why not just one of the best prospects in the draft but also probably one of the best like people in the draft you can count on whether he goes one probably somewhere between one and four by the time it's all said and done okay so this is um a question for what you guys do yeah okay the whole draft mock thing. Why are people saying this is a deep 3-5 draft

class? If it's a deep three to five why aren't they two or one like i don't know what that means i don't think i know exactly what that means like hey the fifth rounders really good well why aren't they fourth rounders you know i don't think i fully understand so can you understand the the framing whenever that's said as opposed to what what my mindset is like, well, if they're better, then why aren't they? Right, why don't you just move up the board? If they're so good in the third, why don't they just become second or first? It is a good question. And I thought about this because I was going through, I keep like a sort of a running document of these guys because the process begins for the draft really basically like May of the preceding year.
So guys like Travis Hunter and Shador Sanders who you knew were going to be highly regarded prospects this year, you start looking at them initially, not doing every last bit of homework you're going to do on them, but you start to get a sense. And I think, like, I was realizing, like, I called a lot of guys when I was looking at them, like, you know, has the look of a third-round pick, and you're like, what does that even mean? Yes.
And it's like, I think where I landed was a little slower wide receiver but has great hands, right? Or, like, you know, he's a smaller guy, but he's tough and he blocks. And you're just sort of like, is that the spectrum you should be evaluating these players on? Because it does feel like that has become the theme of this class, is that you'd much rather have a bunch of bites at the apple from call it 75 to 150 as opposed to the team that has two first round picks which interestingly enough we have no there have been no traded picks for the first time in a long time in the first round there will be at some point but it's a very clean draft in terms of the order to begin well you trade whenever you're you're desperate for a certain position.
And that position has not been talked about in high regards, which leads to Mad Mel, I assume. Yeah, that's what I wanted to ask you about, Field.
Obviously, you know, in your most recent mock draft, you didn't have any trades in there. You didn't have any trades in the first round.
You made that rule, Mel. Well, I had to, you know, because we don't know.
But when you look at this draft and everyone's talking about, hey, what are the Tennessee Titans going to do with the first pick? Do you feel like we're going to have next to no trades in the first round because teams just aren't going to be as desperate to give an absolute ransom to move up when we might only have 10 to 15 guys with true first-round grades? I think we'll end up having some trades at the top for this reason. It kind of reminds me of where we were from like picks 9 through 12 last year where uh at 10 the jets end up trading back to 11 with the vikings and you're like why are you moving up one spot it was just to beat the broncos right it was to ensure that that denver didn't move ahead of the vikings and potentially draft jj mccarthy who as we know was minnesota's preferred target there like that could happen could happen at the top.
If you look at the order there, like, if the – let's just imagine a world in which the Giants and the Raiders don't land a veteran quarterback. They need to draft a quarterback early, right? Well, the Jets may be in the same boat.
Like, if they go into the draft with only Tyrod Taylor and Jordan Travis, who was their fifth-round pick last year, they're probably saying to themselves, we'd like a young quarterback too. So if the Jets call the Jaguars and say, we're trying to get ahead of Vegas, that might cause a chain reaction that might lead to Vegas calling the Patriots and saying, we're trying to get back ahead of the Jets.
So I think we'll see some tinkering there. And because you're right, like, and now I'm starting to wonder whether I should even use this construct anymore.
There's not as many guys that like in every single draft class would be regarded as clear-cut first-round picks.

You might see some movement there in the 20 to 32 range.

Just because.

Some of it's just because.

But like a few years ago, like the Bills moved up to get Dalton Kincaid and the Jags moved up to get Anton Harrison.

Like you start to see that stuff a little bit.

The teams that are on the earlier pick side of that particular trade are like, yeah, we'll take a little bonus because we're not 100% sold on somebody.

Thank you. Harrison, like you start to see that stuff a little bit.
The teams that are on the earlier pick side of that particular trade are like, yeah, we'll take a little bonus because we're not 100% sold on somebody. So it's an easier deal maybe to get done in this particular draft class if you start listening the way it is.
So maybe there is more action than we expect because it's easier to kind of finagle around. I do think it's one of the best parts of the draft too.
Like I just – I find it always like exciting when those other trades get to – i do yeah you got travis going one which then would lead cleveland saying we're not passing on abdul carter yeah i know though this mock was before shefty came out and basically said like the browns are taking a quarterback at number two you might as well i wouldn't go as far as sharpie but like we're thinking about like the browns and cam ward might be the fit there um you know i feel like the two players the two non-quarterbacks are the two best players in the draft. Obviously, if the quarterback hits, it's more valuable.
I just, I haven't had the same level of confidence in these two quarterbacks as I had with the three at the top last year for sure. But even, I think J.J.
McCarthy would be like a healthy debate with these two players. J.J.
obviously was the fifth quarterback taken, but I viewed him as the fourth. I mean, you're talking about a number three number three overall pick right here like whenever he's saying i don't feel as good about um as last year's quarterbacks or whatever like people are gonna say he's talking down on these still number three overall pick yeah yeah like this is not it yeah this is not and they're gonna go high like i think the floor for either of these guys is probably like i just can't imagine both of them don't end up in the first seven to nine picks and it could end up being first two out of three picks and the reality is that like in the case of a team like the giants i say this all the time when the owner comes out and says after the season we're keeping our head coach and our gm it means they got to get something done the next year or else they won't be around beyond that season so if you're the giants and you don't swing a trade for matth Matthew Stafford or find somebody on the veteran market, you're not going into next year.
They don't have a quarterback on the roster right now, but you're not going back on it. You're not going to, like, re-sign Drew Locke or – Tom DeVito.
Yeah, Tommy Cutlets and say, hey, we're going to save a job. Tommy Cutlets.
Hey. How do you feel about Italian in this field? I love them.
Yeah, how could you not? I don't know how you couldn't.

Connor has a question for you. I had some good meals down at Epcot.

I know you were at Disney last week, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Italy and Epcot?

They've been the best food offerings in the entire place.

Did you get there or no?

No, I didn't make it to the whole world thing.

I should have, but we were there with a daughter.

Yeah, around the world's cool.

I want to do the...

Drink around the world.

Gotta drink around the world.

Yeah.

A little boozed up.

Gotta do it. But then if...
Yeah, I think McKenzie's going to have to be a little bit older. Yeah.
Probably have a couple friends. Yeah.
That's what we did. Our three-year-old was, I mean, she was in her happy place.
It was great. Dude, it was awesome.
The best. I had such a good time down there.
Oh, it's awesome. Watching her just lose her mind was crazy.
And then I just cut everybody at Guardians of the Galaxy. It looked like the biggest asshole.
How did that go? It worked? No, I looked like the biggest asshole of all time.

But when you got on the ride and then kind of when you cleared the room. Yeah.
You forget pretty quick. This is awesome.
Go ahead. Go ahead.
Yeah. So obviously right now everyone's kind of waiting to see what happens with Stafford and, you know, Rogers and some other guys.
Yeah. Do you think it is possible where if there is none of those, you know,

quarterback sign in those first three picks between, you know, Rodgers and some other guys. Do you think it is possible where if there is none of those, you know, quarterbacks sign in those first three picks between, you know, Cleveland, the Giants, and Tennessee, who I think we all consider teams that are looking for quarterbacks, that there's a trade-up to one where, let's say, Tennessee ends up being, you know, a Stafford or a Rodgers destination where they might end up moving the first pick? Or do you even see where, you know, even if the Giants were to get a Rodgers or something along those lines, that they still might just take a quarterback because they don't want to be or expect to be up there in the next few years? I think what's interesting for Tennessee is that they might be able to drum up a bidding war between Cleveland and the Giants.
And not that either one of them would for sure make that move up there, but just because, you because you know you'll hear this often I think DJ may have said it just a few minutes ago as well like I think the league on average views Cam Ward as a higher rated prospect than Shador Sanders but if the Giants say hey listen we're we're bigger Shador Sanders guys than Cam Ward guys or bigger Cam Ward guys than Shador Sanders guys and Cleveland might see it the same way then you're not going to settle right like teams view quarterbacks someone's like it's like house hunting like you got different preferences than other people do what you actually want in that player so Tennessee might be able to say hey if we think Cleveland and New York are both you know they would both take Cam Ward without a problem but would bypass Shador Sanders might be able to create some leverage there and potentially move down the difference that Tennessee has and those guys they both all three teams need a quarterback but first year GM second year head coach and Brian Callahan they don't need to solve the quarterback situation right now to make sure to make sure that they're still going in 2026 and beyond and while Will Levis you know there's more questions than answers so far, still young enough

and he was a highly drafted enough

player, you could probably talk yourself

into another year of trying to develop him

a little bit further. I'm fascinated by

you know, like if the Raiders draft

a quarterback, which everybody's assuming, or maybe

they get a veteran quarterback, depending

upon who's skiing where. Yeah, they go.

Who's skiing when and

all that type of stuff. It's like,

you go to a team with Tom Brady, who's

one of the owners, like that's a pretty good spot.

See you next time. Depending upon who's skiing where.
Yeah, they go. Who's skiing where and when and all that type of stuff.
It's like you go to a team with Tom Brady as one of the owners, that's a pretty good spot seemingly, even though you wouldn't expect that. And the Raiders are like, we need a quarterback.
We need a quarterback in this world. It would be nice to go to a place with Tom as a potential mentor automatically.
Yeah, and everyone wants a young quarterback, and Sam Darnold's sitting there at, what, 27, 28? It's not like he's 35. Like you could could get him for 10 years.
One game, that last game. One game.
Last two games, I guess. Last two.
Last two games. Influential couple of games.
Yeah, Sam came out really young. I think he was the youngest of those five quarterbacks that went in the first round back in 2018.
So it seems weird to think that he's still, whatever, very much in the prime of his career, whatever you define his prime as. But Sam will do well for himself in a couple weeks here.
Go ahead, Tom. Yeah, while we're talking quarterbacks, I wanted to ask you about Quinn Ewers because this time, not this time last year, but let's say after the draft last year, he was basically a guaranteed first-round pick.
Yeah. And then it came out.
We thought he was playing all season long with a sprained oblique or whatever it was. Comes out, he was playing all season with a torn oblique.
Yeah. People you're talking to, does that make a difference? Like, are they watching his 2024 tape differently and maybe reverting back to 2023? Is his stock going to rise because it came out that he was playing all year with a torn oblique? Yeah, I think some people that I talked to had a general sense that that was what Quinn was dealing with.
And they admired the tough – I mean, to play through that. Absolutely.
Texas boy. Yeah.
Dogged. You know, like, Texas had somebody – we all know.
They had Arch waiting in the wings. It wasn't like he played because the only option Texas had at quarterback was him and if he's letting his entire team down if he doesn't play and they're going to go whatever, 5-7 or something.
Quinn had an interesting year this year. The Michigan game back in week two of the college football season looked great.
We're in this time of the NFL. We're not all, but so many of these quarterbacks have the ability to impact you with their legs, right? These guys are probably better athletes now than they ever have been, with some exceptions, Stafford types and a few others.
But for the most part, you think about some of the best quarterbacks in the AFC and NCAA championship games. It's Jalen Hurts and Jaden Daniels and then Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, four guys that can really impact the game with their legs.
So Quinn's not really going to do that the arm strength is the one the part that's come into evaluation with that with that context because like it's hard to throw with yeah it doesn't look like a cannon arm but when you've got really little ability to kind of torque you know your frame and and drive footballs it's going to look like it did for much of this past year so i think this this week we're talking about the interviews at the beginning of this segment like this would be a good week for Quinn in that regard. He's got some natural leadership skills, and he'll do well in terms of meeting with coaches

and getting a better feel for the kind of person he is.

If I had to guess right now, it probably feels like round three for Quinn,

but that could be influenced a lot by not just the interviews this week,

but also the medical evaluations.

As doctors say, hey, I know you're playing through it for the past four months,

but it's not going to be an issue come OTAs or mini camp.

I'll tell you what, if you're looking for a guy who loves ball,

especially at the quarterback position, which you're going to want,

Thank you. medical evaluations.
Does doctors say, hey, I know you're playing through it for the past four months, but it's not going to be an issue come OTAs or mini cameras? I'll tell you what, if you're looking for a guy who loves ball, especially at the quarterback position, which you're going to want, playing through a very significant real injury, especially at the quarterback role, would be a good place to start the conversation. He's been a star since, what, high school? I remember him with that mullet, getting millions of dollars.
He had to travel up to Ohio State. Skipped his senior year.
Yeah, absolutely. The original NIL, right? He was the first guy that put it on the map, really.
And he evolved from the 17-year-old into this 22-year-old that he is or 21-year-old, whatever he is, with, you know, dieting and life happening and football happening and everything. It's like, you know, a lot of guys that I think could be great.
Like Cam Ward, every time I see a video of him and the way he operates, it's like it feels like he's a good leader. It feels like.
Awesome. Oh Shador Sanders' toughness and that in itself of leadership.
And then everything he's been around, it's like, he could be a great pro. You know, I think there's a lot of guys where it's like, these guys can be great pros as opposed to each year.
There's a conversation like this guy will be a great friend, right? That's kind of the difference. Yeah.
And I think that this year too, like, and we should probably remind ourselves of this more every year, but like where you end up and who you end up with can influence your outlook so much. I'm not like, I think Jaden Daniels, you know, the best recent example, like I think Jaden was probably due for success probably anywhere he went, but I think that his success somewhere else might not have been quite to the level that it was in Washington last year with, you know, a coach that had been there and done that and a head coordinator that had been a head coach and called a lot of plays and some good veterans around him and so I think this year like the fit for these guys will influence the outlook so much more probably the best example from last year's class truthfully is Bo Nix because Bo had a ton he played forever in college had a ton of experience and it wasn't that Bo didn't have a lot of good tape it was the question was did Bo do enough things during his time at Oregon that if that was all he was capable of doing at the NFL level would they travel right like

the average depth of his targets at Oregon last year a lot of it was just

dink dunk and let the guys do the hard work after the catch right but the reality for Oregon was

that they said like why would we bother like do we need Bo to go bombs away when we're crushing

teams every single week putting up 45 points and throwing them for 450 yards? And then in Denver, he showed, like, you know, he had a couple of ropes this past year. Like, him and Marvin Williams down the stretch became – Yeah, and Sean Payton's offense was perfect for him.
Perfect. He had – you know, the offensive line was amongst the best in the NFL.
Like, that was a great thing. You talked about Bo playing a lot of football, which I think is a big deal.
That's becoming the new, like, talking point for some of these quarterbacks. Who played a lot of ball? Cam's played a lot of ball.
Five years, yeah. Shador's played a lot of ball.
Jackson's played a lot of ball. Yep.
Will's played a lot of ball. Yeah, a lot of guys, a lot of experience.
Really, like, if you think about the guys that probably have a chance to go early, at least in terms of the quarterback construct, like Jalen Milrow, like a two-year starter is probably the least experience. I'd say there's a lot of us.
But that's still, I mean, two years, that's, you know, we've seen guys in recent drafts one season and they're getting taken. Tyler Shuck's been there for eight years.
Yeah, Tyler Shuck, who, man, that guy's interesting. He's going to have a good week out here throwing the ball.
Like, it's really natural for him. He was a highly regarded recruit coming out of high school way back in the day.
He ended up at Oregon, Texas second, then finished up at Louisville this past season. 26 on, I think, September 28th, so the age will be a factor there, but I don't know.
I tend to think of it with these quarterbacks that are playing until 35, 36. You could have a decade of Tyler Shuck if you believe enough in the player.
Yeah, Whedon came in at 27. Exactly.
Pitch for the Yankees. When you look at a guy like Jalen Milrow, who maybe didn't have the greatest senior bowl, how much can he kind of erase that this week at the combine? Or is that kind of, hey, he's in the barn.
This guy's got tiny hands, and he played like shit at the senior bowl. It is what it is.
You can tell us, Matt. What do you think? Well, you know, his hands are small, very small.
So guess what? He better be going to a warm-weather city. And I don't know.
Do you want to draft a quarterback? He's faster than everybody. He is, but do you want to draft a quarterback in the second round who your game plan is going to be, all right, hey, listen, we're going to give you 40 carries today.
Maybe. And we're not going to throw the football.
Hey, it's a powerful world. I'd like him.
I would. And this takes the right starting quarterback ahead of him who's willing to let somebody else take a package of plays away from him.
But I like Jalen right away as getting almost like a platoon role for a team at quarterback because you're right. The passing down to Mobile was inconsistent.
It was inconsistent this past season. If he runs, I don't know if he will run, but it's going to be amongst the fastest times of any player here this week at the Combine.
And if you get an offensive coordinator, and I tend to think right now we're sort of seeing the haves and the haves-nots in the NFL. Like, you just watch a game and you know if the coordinator knows what he's doing.
One that knows what he's doing with this guy will find a way to take advantage of this speed because, you know, again, I know we're in this era of, like, incredibly incredibly athletic quarterbacks he'd be on the short list for most athletic the minute he walks into an nfl i think i think every coach that uh either coached alabama or played against alabama i forget said he would be the best running back in the sec if he was a running back i mean it's like not even a question yeah bill o'brien tried to make it happen which actually gave his spite to jaylen milro and obviously alabama was able to win a lot of games with Jalen Milrow, a quarterback. And that is a good thing.
But in college ball, in NFL ball, it is different. I mean, that's just a matter of fact, the way it operates, the way it goes.
It's like Jalen gets on a team, put him as an ex-back. Yeah.
You can have him take some snaps, have him do a tush-push if you want to do. He's incredibly strong.
And he is loved in that locker room. The boys love Jalen Milrow.
Yeah, spent a little time around him both at the senior bowl and prior to that. He's an easy guy.
I mean, he comes from a background, military parents, super disciplined. Like, the guy is a great leader.
I really do believe the right team will have Jalen Milrow not just find success, but, like, sooner rather than later. Like, I just – if you look at all the singular traits that the various players in this class have, his rushing ability is one of the more undeniable ones.
And he's got a cannon down the field as well. He's got to totally refine the short intermediate passing game work, but he can chuck it down the field.
And you can just imagine some mad scientist offensive coordinator who runs the ball with him 12 straight times, and the next thing you know, fake the run and just bombs away for a 50-yard touchdown yeah i can't wait to watch how it all pans out you know there's gonna be a lot of guys that get drafted that suck too let's never forget that most of them usually yeah percentages tell us a lot of these guys right out here they can be selling insurance yeah they're gonna be doing very well though great strength coach there's gonna be a lot of strength coaches out here yeah some big boys coaches future coaches but out here too There's going to be doing very well, though. Strength coach.
There's going to be a lot of strength coaches out here. Yeah, some big boys.
Coaches, future coaches out here. Yeah, you bet.
But out here, too, there's going to be Hall of Famers. Oh, yeah.
That's right. That's the beauty of it.
There's been probably less buzz around this draft class in total compared to last year's just because the talent at the top is not regarded as the same way. I think this is a great draft for scouting departments that know what they're doing, man.
I bet the Rams, who have done a great job. You were a former scout, right? Is that correct? Yeah, but I can't take too much credit.
It was the Chiefs before they were what they are now. But you were a scout.
Yeah, I worked for the Chiefs for a couple of seasons, and then things got a lot better. So maybe I was the problem, not the solution.
Okay. But, Bill, last season during the draft, Bill Belichick trusted you.
Yeah, Bill, who I worked for the Patriots prior to the time in Kansas City, and that was very, very cool to see Bill take a look at that top 50 and use it during the extravaganza, which Green Bay, doing it again. Spectacular.
Spectacular, excuse me. That was a bad one there.
You're in the right, you know, bucket. You're in the right type of word.
I was too busy thinking about this great point I was going to make that probably won't be that great. This is a draft that I can imagine the teams like the Rams who have nailed the draft in recent years by just finding guys in all parts, like all corners, right? Like the first round pick, Jared Vurse, was great.
But like second round pick, Braden Fisk, and then, you know, two years ago, Puka Nakua in the fifth. Like Cam Kitchens in the third round last year.
They're probably sitting there saying, you guys don't like it, we'll take a round three for five and just feast on it. Hey, that was a good point.
You said it wasn't going to be a good point. That was a great point.
That was a great point. They're going to have a great draft.
I think pick four is looking good right now. I think those two quarterbacks could end up like if you have to settle for one of Abdul Carter or Travis Hunter.
Yes, please. Sprint that card in.
Yes, please. I'll let you do the honor to sprint it in.
That'd be fantastic. I want one of those two so bad.
What do we got? Compensation and opportunity. That's right.
That's available. Yeah, there was a new update about T.
Higgins, though, that they're not going to rush to T. Higgins, allegedly.
That's because T. Higgins, allegedly not going to be let out of the building down there, so why would you, you know? True.
That's an interesting leverage play there, probably by all sides. Excited to see how it all works out.
Draft season is the greatest, and that's when we get a chance to watch this big brain on this baby face operating at science level. We appreciate you, ladies and gentlemen.
Field, yay. Yay! Thank you, Field.
Thank you, Field. Appreciate you, man.
You look really cool. You look really, really cool.
Really, really cool. All right, Phil.
Appreciate that. I look really cool.

Always do.

Always a pleasure, Phil.

Good to see you, man.

Yep.

See you soon.

Belmont Hill guy.

Cookies and milk.

Thank you, Phil.

No more milk and cookies anymore.

Yeah, yeah.

They're getting tougher.

What do you mean?

I got rid of it?

Got rid of it.

It's gone.

Wow.

Yeah, Elon got rid of it.

No, I believe you.

Those came through with the cookies?

Yep.

The milk's fine.

The cookies getting a little pricey.

I was listening to you and Phil's podcast earlier on the drive-in.

It's pretty good.

First draft.

Great show.

Mad Mel Ewan, of course.

I remember.

Yep.

Yeah, I know that that happens.

Fantasy focus or?

First draft.

Please.

Not a fantasy guy, okay?

Not doing that bullshit.

I wasn't sure which podcast.

Yeah, yeah.

First draft, you know, twice a week, I believe.

We got a potential Favre-Sitch brewing with the program. Oh no.
Oh no. What? Allegedly.
With what? Which, if you check the tape, I think we're, I mean, we gotta cover the biggest news. Oh, no way.
Serious? Yeah, yeah. Potential.
I mean, it's being yeah. And I've been down this before.
Got to talk about everything that's being talked about. It's all out there.
Especially if the whole world's being talked about it. Especially if you don't use any names.
No names. No names.
We, uh. Just a school.
Obviously, situation, if real, allegedly. Not a good one, which we said.
We tied it to the football. I mean, that's, hey, when you're talking daily sports world and you're talking daily topical pop culture stuff, I mean, that's going to happen.
We're okay in the kitchen, though, by the way. Yeah, the far of when we said some things that we didn't say anything.
Yeah, we feel good in the kitchen. Just like that, that is our, we didn't create, this is happening.
This is, allegedly. The reporting, though, is everywhere.
So, we feel A-OK. Joining joining us now ladies and gentlemen is a man who had his time in the NFL did not work out came back to college ball we assume it will work out because when he's coaching at college he has success has done it everywhere he's ever been now he's at Nebraska Nebraska.
Ladies and gentlemen, the head coach, Coach Manru. Yeah, Coach.
Good to see you, Coach. Coach, how are we? Nebraska's an Adidas school.
See you, Coach. Nebraska's an Adidas school.
Always got some clean shoes. Right behind you.
Good work, Connor. Boom.
Connor, good work. Hold on, the wire's in there.
The wire's wrapped around the thing. No, it's ours.
The field did that. Yeah, it's happened the last three times.
Coach, good to see you. Coach, good to see you.
Okay, how do we feel? Now we're all the way back into college ball full time. Last time we chatted with you was transition going into Nebraska, I do believe.
How's life? You were giving a lot of great takes on the state of college football and what has changed since the last time you were in college football. How do we feel now? Where are you at right now with college ball and the Nebraska program? Well, Nebraska's in a great place.
You know, it's winning time. You know, we broke the nine-year bowl drought.
You know, not what we want, but we made some positive things. Here we go.
Let's go, Hush. It's always been year three for you.
It's been year three, so a little pressure on me, right? My wife's already planning some different things. I'm like, honey, let's wait until we win before we start spending all that money.
It happened at Temple, it happened at Baylor. You know, you get your culture in there, get your guys in there, have to flip over.
That's why you get hired as a head coach at a place, is to change the culture and do your thing. What is it about this particular year, or maybe this particular team where you're at, where it's like, yeah, we go to a bowl game last year, but it's winning time now.
Why do you think that with this squad? We played the best teams in the league last year. We played Ohio State, great team.
Lost 21-17. Lost a bunch of games at the wire.
And people start talking about a curse and all these different things. I told the guys, I said, forget that.
It's more talent. It's us being bigger, stronger, better.
So year three, young quarterback, he's going to be really good next year. Really good defense.
Got some weapons. Portal's been good to us.
So I think we'll be pretty good. What are you in the middle? Spring ball right now? Matt drills? Matt drills.
So I'll be here tonight. I flew here today.
Support the boys. Fly back tonight.
5.30 tomorrow morning on the mat. Let's go! Let's go! Old school.
Matt drill is like a I don't want to say death camp. Pretty close.
5.30 a.m. though is a the boys aren't sleeping the night before because they're scared they're going to miss the alarm.
If you show up late to this, it's over. That's where you're at right now.
That's not good. But I told the guys, I've talked to a couple of guys when they come out here, they're thinking about running the 40.
They're nervous, like, man, what if I run this? What if I run that? Sometimes you just got to go do it. So early on in their college career, man, twice a week, show up, mat drills, lay it on the line, show what you can do.
It's hard. Embrace hard things.
You know, kick the drill's ass and see what happens. I should have done the research, but obviously didn't even know you were out here until you sent me a message.
And I'm like, yo, we would love to talk to you. I saw Coach Pagano right there.
I said, coach, thank goodness you're back in coaching. Football needs men like Chuck Pagano.
Well, I love that. And we agree.
And he is all the way back in. He's excited.
You can see a little glow and a little bounce about him that he's back in the world. You football guys are certainly a different animal, a different breed and everything like that.
But getting you to come on here, I appreciate it. Your guys, how many guys, I should have done more research, do you have out there? And what do you think is going to happen with your dudes during this combine experience? Yeah, we have four guys at the combine.
Ty Robinson, our great defensive tackle, is going to run today. I mean, he's one of your kind of guys.
Like, you would love this guy. The guy's tough, hard-nosed, blue-collar, great athlete.
Going to go to medical school when he's done. Medical? Wow.
Maybe not one fire guy. I don't think so.
But a real guy. And, you know, we have Thomas Fennoni, tight end.
We have Isaiah Neewar, a receiver. And we have Tommy Hill Corner.
So we have four guys here, a couple other guys that maybe should have been here. So first time in a long time to have this many.
So we're starting to get the thing up and running. That's awesome.
Tone has a question for you. Coach, you are in the news recently, you in Texas, for, you know, the spring game, whether you guys are going to do the spring game or not.
So I've got to ask you about that. Was it because other teams looking at the film of your spring game, guys not getting enough time in the spring game, so they want to transfer in that spring portal window? What was the thinking behind the spring game? I don't know if the announcement's been made or what has been happening with your spring game, but yours was definitely in the news for maybe not playing the spring game this year.
Yeah, what the hell's going on? Yeah, I was kind of the first guy that said it. Yes, you were.
Took a little bit of heat

and then all of a sudden everybody

starts coming in behind. Hey, that's a good idea.

So,

I think it was two things. Last year we had our spring game.

Big Ten Network. Everyone's watching.

It's re-aired, re-aired, re-aired and all of a sudden

I got a line outside my door on Monday.

Hey, coach, so-and-so called me from here.

So-and-so called me from there. So,

what advantage is it for me?

I love our fans. We're going to do something for the fans.

But what's the advantage of

Thank you. hey, Coach, so-and-so called me from here, so-and-so called me from there.
So, you know, what advantage is it for me? I love our fans, and we're going to do something for the fans. But what's the advantage of showing all my young talent and letting other coaches come in and try to tamper with them? And to be quite honest, you know, I'm not a perfect guy.
I sat there watching the FCS playoffs, watching those great teams at Montana State, and some kid makes a play, and I'm like, who is that guy? Get out of the grass. So I'm like, why would I put my guys out there? I mean, I want my guys to be taken care of.
But that's a tough time, April, May. We've got to get ready for the season, so we'll make some changes.
That two portals is crazy. And I'm experiencing this right now with Rich Rod going back to West Virginia because these guys come in the first portal then they get a spring with Rich now right now they get a spring with hey it's gonna be run a little bit different I think than what it had been being run like around here for a little bit and then right after spring you're only a couple months out from the season guys can hit again and it's like that needs to be what is your thoughts how do we fix this one portal time one transfer window one portal think about it um basketball has one portal so why would basketball have one and we have two it's because our our season is different i get it but whether it's in whether it's in january december april just keep the april one yeah but but like then you're a couple months out yeah i mean how many people leave in april and have a lot of success two months later? Like, I literally could, if I wanted to, I could say, who am I playing week one? And see who goes in the portal from them and take them.
And then know what they're going to do against us. But I'm with you.
Whatever's best for the student athlete. But I think we should pick one.
I don't want to negotiate a contract with a guy in December and then renegotiate again in April. Like, you sign up with us, you should sign up for the year.
Coaches sign up for the year. And so let's do once a year, whatever's best.
If it's April, if it's December. I will say this.
I thought it was terrible for the young men. Not just for the teams, but for the young men.
The guys had to make a decision. Do I play with my team in the college football playoff? Or do I go in the playoff? Or do I go in the portal? Because that's what's best for me.
So I think one portal window would be way better. Hey, that college football playoff timing of the transfer portal window, being in there was weird.
And then some schools were letting their guys be in the portal and then also on the team. Some places weren't available.
I don't know. That was a weird scene popping out there because, you know, whenever people stopped playing in the bowl games, it was like the, we're going to go to the toilet bowl out here.
Guy's not playing because he doesn't want to get hurt. College football playoff game.
It's like there was conversations of people not playing it. It's like, come on, man.
This is what we're here for. No doubt.
It's literally what the entire year is all about. You and I and I think anybody that watches college ball excited that the players are getting compensated.
But there's a ruling coming, right, that's supposed to put some guardrails on it. Have you heard anything about that? And how do you think of that? Like, how many years until we get this thing kind of uh straightened out because you are old college football guy you know it's been around a long time and also professional guy who's been around the professional operation which i think is good for you especially how bill and lombardi feel going back to north carolina they feel like having the nfl experience is a good thing not a bad thing i assume you feel the same way but how many years you think until there is some sort of like like, what the hell's going on? I think this winter is the first time that I feel like, you know what, we might get a handle on this.
I think, you know, Commissioner Sankey in the SEC, Tony Petiti at the Big Ten, who obviously comes and talks to us. I want the players to be taken care of.
What I don't want is guys playing at four colleges in four years. Because, you know, hey, I'm the highest bidder.der now I'm the highest bidder the one thing in football is the desperate team sets the market and so if a desperate team comes in and they're trying to steal you away from me and hey I'll give you a hundred thousand dollars more but it's not a good situation like there has to be some guardrails and I think we're starting to figure out we're on the precipice of it being the right where hey we can sign some contracts multi-year deals maybe but if you do to leave, like a coach leaves, they pay a buyout.
Maybe there's a buyout. I don't know if that's going to happen, but I'm feeling better that it might happen.
Big Ten kind of running shit. Oh, yeah.
Mad Mel has a question for you. Yeah, speaking of that, you know, early in the season, you said how, hey, listen, Big Ten is best conference in college football.
Paul Feinbaum, obviously, you know, mouthpiece for the SEC, kind of takes a pot shot at you and says, hey, you haven't done anything yet. Why don't you just focus on winning at Nebraska? And then I loved it how you came back and, you know, you dunked on him pretty good after, you know, I think it was after Ohio State won.
But like Pat mentioned, the Big Ten kind of dominated the college football playoff. When you look back at the last season in the new Big Ten, you know, different travel, all that kind of stuff, do you guys feel like you're where you're at, where you need to be in order to compete, you know, with Oregon and USC and Ohio State and Penn State and kind of all these other places who have basically said, hey, listen, we're all in.
We're going to, you know, boosters, all that kind of stuff. We're going to put as much money as we need to to kind of get this thing going in the right direction.
Yeah, I think this will be the first year where we're on a level playing field, and it's this new settlement, right? So we're going to be spending the same amount of money on our roster that everyone else is. You know, Ohio State, Oregon, they made huge investments last year.
Good for them. We've been making big investments, but not at the level they were making at because they were just ahead of us.
This new thing now will kind of even things out. And I will say this, kudos to Arizona State, places like that that won at the level they did.
Tell them how. I mean, Kenny's a coach now.
He's a real coach. A lot of respect from all you, I assume.
A hundred percent. That team played really well.
But long term, I mean, if you want something out, you've got to invest something into it. And so we're at a point now in Nebraska, we have the best facilities in the country, elite fan base.
Being in the middle part of the country now in the Big Ten is a good thing. Like, I don't have four-hour flights.
I have a two-hour flight to L.A., a two-hour flight to Penn State. I feel pretty good about where we're at.
Two hours to L.A. from Nebraska? 215.
Depends on what plan they get. Hey, that's a – you don't got a heavy jet stream coming, you know what I mean? Going this way.
Going this way. No, no, going this way.
We're coming back. Yeah, yeah.
2.15. Yeah, I don't know.
Gumpy and I did a six-hour flight from here to San Diego because we had a 4,000-naught headwind, I think is what they told us. We were just sitting in the sky.
Just sitting in the sky. It felt like forever.
I believe we're coming up to a hard at here here like here in a matter of moments like right now did that just happen oh i thought it was 55 54 30 53 25 okay so we got 15 seconds here i thought we 54 30 got it we've got a two week break yeah coach two week break and i didn't want to cut you off because you're giving such a great answer. I was actually looking at the clock.
I was thinking to myself, we're

in trouble. But whenever we continue

this program after the hardout, we'll still be live

on YouTube, ESPN+,

Disney+, and TikTok Live.

How much social media have you been doing? You've been doing the

dances? You've been doing the TikTok and Coach Rule?

So I walked in the training table the other day

and Harper Murray, our All-American volleyball

player, was sitting there with my 9-year-old.

She said, Coach, we're going to go do a TikTok.

Now I'm anti-TikTok.

I won't let the kids have it.

Love it, smart.

Love it.

You get it.

And my 9-year-old's like, what are you going to say to Harper?

And I was like, oh, have fun.

So I've had to download TikTok, and I found my daughter all over.

She finds people in the facility.

I saw 35 of my football players doing TikToks.

Why did you feel?

Well, one of them did it in the facility, which is a hard no.

So our strength coach did a TikTok workout this morning with the freshmen. They were pushing plates with their bios and all their cool stuff on there that they love to post everywhere.
They're pushing the plate with their bio. That's amazing.
I got to tell you the last part. I know we have a hard one.
They were doing wall sits at the end and every freshman had to get out and do a 10 second TikTok dance while the rest of the guys did the wall. Welcome to old school.
That was literally a you ended that answer. You ended that story right at the end and even got our pop in there.
That's good TV work. Wow.
That's good TV work right there. OK, we're still live, obviously, on the internet and everything like that.
You said welcome to old school. Coach Rod, I'm talking to him, same exact thing.
I think a lot of people are kind of scared to go that way. A lot of the old school coaches and a lot of the good teams aren't.
So how have you stayed committed throughout all of the – because I'm assuming there's a lot of people that have said, you know, maybe you do this, maybe you don't do that. And you say, yeah, we're doing TikTok workouts this morning.
You think it's cute. Okay, that's cute.
Oh, it's funny. Yeah, go ahead and read the entirety of the entire – as we roll in there.
How have you been able to maintain that? And don't you think that's a necessity to win at football? Like, I think at football you need to be disciplined. You need to be tough.
You need to be bought in. Like, I legitimately think that.
And they're trying to change it, it seems like. And if you change it, you're not going to win.
They're trying to change it everywhere think a couple of things i think um i think back to all the great players i've coached christian mccaffrey stefan gilmore uh deon dawkins in college hassan reddick those guys all wanted that kind of stuff like they wanted to get coached like when you coach christian mccaffrey you'd sit there and watch a play and you were so locked in because he's gonna come over and say hey did i read that I read that wrong? Like he wanted real feedback. So all this soft stuff, all the research says it's wrong.
You know, the best people in the world don't want it that way. So I think it's my job to do what's best for the players.
And if they don't want it and they want to transfer, you know, so be it. But, you know, we always say, hey, I'm going to treat you like my own son.
Well, my son comes home with a C. Julie Rule comes across the couch and swinging on him.
So, like, we're going to treat our players the same way. We're pushing slides with a big C on top of it.
Wow, that's a pretty heavy slide you got here. Yeah, I think that's – I mean, I think it's a necessity in football.
I legitimately think it is. And if you don't have it and you lose it, it's gone forever.
So, you're trying to set your culture. That makes sense why year three potentially becomes the time go ahead con man yeah new necessity too and i should have done more research and i should know this but you know like the gm role in college is now becoming a thing andrew luck is back in stanford you know pat mentioned michael lombardi with belichick at unc do you guys have a gm is that something where you guys have a working relationship? And what exactly is on his plate versus yours? Or is it very much so like a working relationship? You're giving him stuff like players from Montana State, hey, go and call this guy immediately.
How has that relationship been? Yeah, when we came back in, Sean Patton has been with me forever, took over as the GM. Brilliant, smart.
And Mike Lombardi has always been a great friend of ours, a resource. His house down the shore is like two towns up from Mike.
We always go to see Mike, and he's a great, great man. He's helped me for years.
Sean recently moved into a new role. All he's doing now is contracts, because it's a big role now, dealing with agents.
I'm here. He's in the hotels here talking to agents.
They're talking NFL guys and college guys at the same time because that's the new normal. And we just hired a guy named Pat Stewart from the New England Patriots, was with us at Carolina.
He'll be our new GM. So we're just taking our personnel department, which used to be four guys, then it was eight.
Now it's the NFL in college. Yeah.
And it's what you need to have a chance. Rich said that yesterday.
Like, everything you're saying, Rich Rod has been saying, like, for the last, you know, since he's got back to West Virginia, we're hearing him. At the press conference, he said, Raquel, my daughter and I were looking at the guide or whatever it is.
I don't know if you still have that. From 2006, whenever we were here.
He said, I had 10 members on the staff. He said, we had two GAs on offense.
I think we had two GAs on defense. We had one equipment manager guy with everything else, and we somehow were able to do it then.
So I assume we're able to do it now. Now it's like 50.
You've got consultants. You've got advisors.
You've got these people. You've got this expert.
You've got a nutritionist. Ours quit.
Well, we'll have a new one. I believe that.
We'll get a new one. We'll get a new one in there.
But it's like, Nate, it's a big operation now. Big business, obviously, I think is probably the reason why.
Right, Coach? That's right. That's right.
We had the same statement the other day. We were sitting in our mat drills, and the players hadn't run in yet.
And there might have been like 90 people in there. And Phil Snow, who's like my mentor and coaching, you know, he's 68 years old.
DC. DC.
Yeah,. for years.
And he was like, Matt, you know, we used to have 12 people out here. What the hell? Why do we have all these? But it's a new world, right? And everyone wants to get involved in it.
People will work for not a lot of money to get their foot started. And it is big business.
And we're spending a lot of money. We're spending $28.5 million on athletes this year at Nebraska.
I mean, just think about that now. Hey, let's go, Nebraska.
That's awesome. So you need to have the best.
Volleyball players? Volleyball players. I mean, they are.
Real deal. I wanted to fly here yesterday and come here last night, and they're like, we have a new coach, Danny Busboom-Kelly from Louisville, elite coach, former player there.
And they're like, no, Coach Rule, Danny has the plane. You'll get it tomorrow morning.
And I was like, I get it. I get it.
Volleyball is volleyball in Nebraska. Selenot Stadium.
Yeah, that's right. Selenot Stadium there.
Last question here from town. We appreciate you, Coach.
Yeah, Coach, you made some coordinator news kind of at the end of last year bringing in Dana Holgerson, and now I believe he is going to be your full-time OC. Is it nice having a former head coach on the staff as well? And then how has him and Dylan Raiola's relationship been through the offseason? Yeah, I think we beat Wisconsin week 11 to go to – we hadn't beat them in 12 years to go to the bowl season, which was awesome.
The next week we lost to Iowa, and it was like a gut punch, the way we lost. We do that.
Yeah, so – which I respect. Trust me, I respect.
But the next day, Dylan was like, coach, I'm all in. And Dana was like, I'm all in.
Okay. And they both were kind of like, hey, if he's in, I'm in.
It wasn't anything about me. But that felt great because I think they have a great relationship.
Dana's what I'm not. Dana's aggressive offensively.
He wants to. I mean, there's sometimes he calls things.
I'm like, oh, my Lord. Are we doing that, Dana? He's like, but it works.

So I love it.

So I was so happy to get him.

And you're right.

You know, when you're a head coach, I can't pick up the phone and call up Coach Ferentz and be like, hey, Coach, what do you think I should be doing here?

So to have someone else who's been there who knows what that feels like is a great resource.

He's electrifying, too.

Yeah, he is.

Yeah.

He's electrifying. Well, he got seated, obviously, at West Virginia, and then he goes down to Texas Tech, I believe, and does his thing.
It's like watching him, chatting with him, loves ball. God, he loves ball.
Raiola's going to be a guy, huh? He's going to be a guy. He'll be a guy.
Already is, I guess. Is he cutting his hair now that Mahomes cut his hair? No, no.
It's funny. If I'm being honest, I think he was going to cut his hair anyway, and then when Mahomes did, I was was like, you can't do it now.
Oh, no. Okay.
Oh, no. Sure.
That's the whole situation. Listen, if this guy's in your culture, in your building, I got respect for him.
You know, a lot of things can be said about him because he is very popular. And obviously, he was committed somewhere.
And then he goes to Nebraska, family ties and everything like that. But he went out and played.
There was a ball. I think I did it on game day.
There was a throw where a guy is coming, a guy is running right in his face. Just running right in his face.
And he sits in there, takes it, and delivers a go ball down the side, and it's in the bucket. And he's a freshman.
It's like, this guy's got it. That's the thing you don't know if a guy has or not, especially if he's highly recruited or getting the money.
It's like, I think there's a couple plays that I saw where I'm like, this guy's going to be a guy, and it's because I think tough, and you get to see more of it. But if you're able to sit in the pocket and take a big-time shot and deliver a ball, it's like that's a separator.
I think, you know, we're here in Indianapolis. Racing is the thing.
Indy 500 is a big deal. There's a lot of drivers that can go 198, 199, can't go over 200 miles an hour.
So that's like the separator. Like, hey, over 200 miles an hour, how do you feel? Are you comfortable? Are you not comfortable? Are you going to get in here? They're going 230 here at Indy 500 and everything, like 225, whatever it is.
So it's like a separator. I think the separated quarterback position is can you take a shot and deliver the ball? Like, do you courage? Can you do it? Physically, can you do it? And then, once again, play clock's running.
Can you get back up and go deliver again?

I watch him do that a lot.

And with the way you talk about old school football,

you have to love that about this highly recruited guy, I would assume.

I love the kid.

And he came there.

His parents trusted him to come here, and he came there not because of my

offensive philosophy because I'm not renowned for that.

It's the other part.

Like, I do not want him showing up someday as the first pick and going to some team in New York or some team in LA and all of a sudden for the first time in his life you know experiencing adversity so yeah he has fun he runs around he celebrates he does other things but he's in there every morning at six and when he doesn't do something right he's hearing about it from me and if he misses a nutrition appointment he wants to show up to throwing and I'm no, you're not allowed to throw today because you missed your nutrition appointment. So he's getting all that stuff.
So whatever team gets him in three years, they're going to get a guy. And so you would hope that that would happen everywhere.
In most places, it does. But I'm just saying, be 19 and be famous.
Be 19 and be famous. He's 19, he's famous, but I'll say this.
When my two daughters walk in the building, he stops whatever he does. He's like Vivi, Leon.
And when he sees the AD's son walk in, he knows their names. He sees my wife, Miss Julie.
He's a great kid. Social media paints people different ways.
I wish all of our kids were like Dylan is. And you know what? We're all works in progress.
But if tomorrow morning the match roll isn't good, he's going to hear about it. He'll do it again the next day.
so don't worry about him he'll be fine okay that is that is awesome news and i'm thankful to hear that there's dogs out there still and it sounds like there's gonna be a lot of them coming from nebraska can't wait to watch how you guys do thank you for making time for us and uh we can't wait to watch year three with nebraska like we've seen year three at baylor, year three at Temple. You know, there's a chance what?

Does game day make an appearance out there?

Last year I said you'd be there

and I didn't quite pull my weight,

so just give it time.

I feel good.

That river in Brazos?

You do that thing on the side

where you're in the end zone and you guys

are talking. Simulcast playoffs.

Has a coach ever walked over and talked to you in the middle of a simulcast? No, I don't think so. You ran by Saban.
The O-line coach. Justin Fry.
But Fry's an old Temple guy. Fry and I worked together.
If you're from Temple, you don't care about anything. He was giving me this because I picked against Ohio State.
Oh, that's different. I'm talking about where I come over and say, Pat, what do you think, bro? What do you think? Should we go for it or not? That would be sweet.
Yeah, we would certainly love that. That would certainly be.
Just write that down. Remember that.
Remember that. When the time comes.
That's college football playoff. Actually, that contract is up.
Actually, we don't know if that's ever going to happen again. It was a great time.
Hell of a run. We got to see a lot of iconic games.
Bro, we're just there. Obviously, you get to do it all the time.
But, like, just being there, the college world is just different. It's great to be back in the college world.
I love it. I love everything about it.
At Nebraska, they fill up, what, like hours before the game kicks off? And here's the reason why. They show up an hour before the game to watch the kids that might not get in the game, but they're still Huskers.
That's a loyalty unlike anything else. Like, they show up to watch Johnny and Steve.
Take Pat and go. Just watch them do Pat and go and give them a cheer.
I mean, it's just a different level of loyalty to their team. Well, sounds like it has the makings to be great.
Now, Iowa is certainly lurking. Listen, I will say, because I was one of the big

like, hey, this

Nebraska-Iowa, this isn't a rivalry.

We can play it the day after Thanksgiving.

That's horseshit. It's a rivalry now.

It is. I'm bought in.

If I may say two things,

one of the best moments of my life as a college football

coach was at the end

of the first quarter looking up and waving at those kids.

I'm telling you now, that's cool, isn't it?

That was as powerful a thing as I've ever been through in my life.

And thinking about, like, what are they going through?

Like, I'm sitting here, like, in pain about the third down call.

And I'm like, what are we talking about?

So that was amazing.

And I have a lot of respect for Iowa and Coach Ferentz and all those things.

And, you know, I know it's a rivalry.

But I never talk about rivalries.

I'm like, hey, this game, this game, this game.

But after this year? After everything that happened? I'm going to tell you right now. Got a little sauce on it.
North Philly Matt Rule might be back. Okay, okay, we like that.
Them Johns need to feel it over there. That's right.
When you think about, like, the hospital, because I was very lucky here to be a cult. There's a lot of community work, you know.
You know, those hospitals, and the kids obviously going through it, but the families, like the families, the anxiety, the amount of time, everything that they're not able to do because they're fully focused on their children, let alone being scared at all times that it's over. So, like, when I see that wave and they show the thing and it's obviously the kids, the parents watching the kids be happy and have that moment, like, legit.

I get, just like you, like, the first time I saw it,

I was like, it's interesting.

And then you're, like, kind of really start thinking about it.

And now that I'm a dad, it's like the chills that you would get,

probably, in that moment.

Iowa is a beautiful place.

Creates beautiful people.

Well, I'll tell you what, they're in it now against Nebraska

because there's a little sauce coming from North Philly.

We appreciate the hell out of you, Coach.

Good luck out there.

You're the man.

All right, we're going to take a break.

Be a friend.

Tell a friend something nice.

It's a little sauce coming from North Philly. We appreciate the hell out of you,

coach. Good luck out there.
You're the man. Alright, we're going to take a break.
Be a friend, tell a friend something nice.

It might change their life. We're in this thing together.

Thank you, coach.

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Last week was our first playoff game, and my plaque psoriasis was so itchy under all my gear. Sometimes just thinking about scratching could take me out of the moment.
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O-Tesla can help you get clearer skin after just four months. Okay, ready for the next game.
Talking to my doctor about a pill was a total game changer. Don't use O-Tesla if you're allergic to it.
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Call 1-844-4OTESLA or visit Otesla.com for prescribing info, info about cost, and more. Compile! Howdy, baby Scott.
Howdy, Louisiana. Operating the jib.
Absolutely beautiful. It's not about what you do.
It's about how you bounce back and get better. Scott and this jib have been nothing short of magical.
He's from Louisiana, so each evening he's used to eating a little gator. Okay, you have a little gator nugget, a little gator pasta.
He's come up here to Indianapolis to help us out and run this jib, and he's done a fantastic job. Whenever Foxy cuts to this shot right here, boom! That is coming from Scott, Louisiana.
Coming from a jib that is in the lobby of Lucas Oil Stadium that is currently the host of the NFL Combine and hopefully will be forever. This place is electrifying.
This place is alive. It is the second on-field day of workouts for this year's NFL Combine, and we're lucky to be here.
The Toxic Table looks a little different as Ty Schmidt is out with something. Hopefully he'll be back soon.
We send our best wishes. The Toxic Table at Boston Conner, at Madmo Kuyper.
Madmo, how are you feeling about the day, pal? pal absolutely fantastic i'm ready to get down there and get some measurements that maybe not everybody else is going to be looking at you know uh we'll just leave it there i don't necessarily need to go in but you know we got a lot of beef down there so we're gonna uh you know what guys take the field in about 30 minutes here we're gonna get down there and kind of you know get the tape measure out and be looking at some things that maybe not every scout, maybe not every draft Nick is going to be looking at. That's what I'm really interested in.
Well, yesterday I saw you had your eyes on the punters, kickers and snappers as I walked down there, ended the show early, went down there to host the specialist showcase that I thought was going to be on television. Should have been on television.
Very electrifying. Was nowhere to be found but we did get some clips out of it all.
i got a chance to be back around kickers punters and snappers i had a blast down there and i know you were evaluating with a keen eye i was and maybe pat you could dive into this a little bit more i think the biggest takeaway especially when you talk about the ipp the international player program had a lot of guys from you know different pathway i think it's international player pathway i, I always call it the program. Okay? So they can call it the pathway if they want.
Back when I kind of mentioned to the NFL, hey, we need to grow the game. We need to make this thing more global.
I called it the program. Now it's the pathway.
Either way, guys need to learn how to catch the goddamn football. That's kind of my big takeaway.
Maybe you, you know. But, well, listen, I'm just saying, hey, hey growing up in america you know you're playing in the backyard with your buddies there's certain athletic maneuvers that we all do growing up that we're comfortable with these guys aren't doing that shit they got different sports they do they're playing gaelic football they're you know hey let's go have a kick they're not having a catch they're not doing any of that kind of So, obviously, catching the football is a pretty big deal if you're a punter.
Yeah, I agree. And a couple of the international pathway, player pathway guys, program, IPPPP.
Those guys, perfect practice, you get it. PYIP.
Yeah, yeah, whatever it is. Yeah, yeah, whatever it is.
There was a couple international kickers. Kid from Germany, Lenny Krieg, I believe his name, didn't miss a kick.
Kid named Johnny from Italy missed like one kick, I believe, throughout the entirety of the day. So the kickers are doing a good job, I believe, in the international pathway.
The punters, I think the biggest thing is catching the ball. Because when you're a punter, you have to catch a snap, and then you also have to hold.
So, like, that is a big part of the gig. If you're not a good holder, you're not going to make a team if it's anywhere close whenever it comes to punting there.
A lot of big legs yesterday. I saw some bombs.
It was awesome to watch the guys kind of have to perform with maximum pressure on them in front of a lot of NFL legendary coaches. There's legendary special teams coaches there yesterday.
Bones is there, formerly of the Cowboys, formerly of the Rams, like one of the most famous special teams guys of all time. Darren Simmons, who's been with the Cincinnati Bengals, I think, for 22 years.
Randy Brown has been with, I think, the Ravens for like 18 years, was there. This guy named Henry, who I just met yesterday, who's been with the Dallas Cowboys for 100 years.
He was there scouting. Did I say Riz down there? Riz was down there.
He just changed the kickoff rule. It's like he's – Danny Smith, I think he was just watching.
I think he was just watching.

These guys were running the drill and thought of these drills

for the Specialist Showcase, so I was honored to be

a part of it. But yeah, watching the balls

go was awesome. There were some pressure kicks that took

place for some of these kickers. Some guys stepped up.

Borealis, down there in

Miami, he started out a little slow, got hot, hit

a ball yesterday on the track, man. They were

covering that. That would have been good for like 66

or something like that or 65. Kid

named Loop, I believe, who's maybe from

Michigan State, he did great kid from florida state had a 62 yarder to win it or 61 yarder to win the showcase yesterday so i think there's a lot of great things there the punter from alabama who is an aussie burnip he was by far the most consistent and best performer but there were some other guys that like whenever they're just spinning the ball to themselves and hit it, it's like, wow, those guys are hitting a ball further than I could ever imagine hitting a ball. But with the snap, and the snappers did well, I thought.
There was a couple misses, but they snapped like 400 snaps or something. I forget the number, which is an insane number.
They were just out there doing it. But the guys look like they were scared of the snap.
And if you're thinking

about the snap, some of the guys, not all

the guys, but most of the guys, if you're thinking

about the snap, you're not thinking about the punt.

And if you bobble the ball, you're not able to get the punt

in a position to punt it. So then you have less time

and it's like, I think they just all need to

work on their hands. Like if you come over here to America

to be a punter, we understand

that you probably have kicked the ball before you have a

strong leg, but your hands are going to have to sync up a little bit.

You're going to have to catch up a little bit on catching a ball,

which you can with the jugs machine.

So I think there's a lot of promise out of the guys that were there yesterday,

but I think there is some things they're going to have to work on

before they become NFL guys.

And Burnett makes sense.

Obviously, he's an Alabama-American, you know, so he's been in America.

He's been in an American locker room where, you know,

he's maybe not playing hacky sack with the boys or whatever. Listen, I love hacky sack.
I mean, who doesn't love hacky sack? But I'm just saying he's had to kind of be a little bit more of an athlete. And you mentioned it.
You know, on top of it, if you're focused on, you know, the snap and you can't catch it, you know, we didn't have a rush out there. You know, then you put eight, nine guys who want to take your head off and kill you on top of it.
You better be very confident in your ability to catch the football and get that thing off. It was fun to watch some bombs, though.
It was fun to watch some of these guys do their thing. And like that Alabama kid, looks so calm, so big, was able to catch.
He's an Australian guy. He looks very comfortable doing it.
I think that's the big separator right now of these international guys. And then obviously there are some American bullies that held down everything out there.
So I'm thankful to be a part of that today. D-Tackle linebacker, right, Tone Diggs? Yeah, D-Tackle linebacker is going today.
They just got done or looked like there's a lot of stuff coming in on Twitter right now of the measurements. So I assume right before they come out to the field they're doing all their measurements.
So all the guys were getting their measurements done today. Mason Graham came in at 6'3", 300 pounds.

He's only going to bench.

He's got those 32-inch short arms, so he's going to be great on the bench.

But he's not running or anything like that today.

But there are going to be some freaks out there today.

We talked about Kenneth Graham from Michigan, the big 6'3", 240-pounder,

who said he's going to try to run like a 4'7", 4'8", today.

And then you have Jalen Walker from Georgia,

who won the Buccas Award out there today.

He's going to be awesome.

He's an athletic freak.

Thank you. 47, 48 today.
And then you have Jalen Walker from Georgia, who won the Buccas Award out there today. He's going to be awesome.
He's an athletic freak. Shamar Stewart from Texas A&M.
He just measured at 6'6", 270. Okay, so he's listed 6'6", 290.
So he's in best shape he's been in a long time. Look for him to run real fast.
Yeah, he was a five-star coming out, one of the top D-line coming out. He's an incredible player.
Matt Mel, you lose 20 higher and run a lot faster yeah absolutely a lot of people were saying you know hey this guy you know his production wasn't the best in college not big gaudy sack numbers but if this guy goes out and runs a 4-4 you know uh yeah i i think there's gonna be a lot of teams interested in him you lose 20 pounds you take a 20 pound weight off of your back you're gonna be able to run faster and jump higher i don't know why maybe he didn't do it in college maybe it was uh different he was getting different information or whatever when you look at his tape he doesn't look 290 so i don't know if that was like a program thing they were lying about him being bigger maybe potentially being heavier because when you look at his tape like he is like he looks fit like he doesn't look overly fit but uh kenneth grant from michigan he did say he dropped like, 15-ish so he could run a 4.8 and jump higher at this program. All right, joining us now is somebody that has obviously covered all of these guys in college ball.
Absolute legend in the sport of college football. Now becoming one quickly in the draft world, ladies and gentlemen, Molly McGrath.
Thank you, Molly. Molly.
Molly. Good to see you.
Good to see you, too. Hold on.
Connor will get you the... I just want to let you know, Connor got that for everybody else but you.
You take that however you want. I'm a pro.
I can mic myself up. I do this for a living.
Ladies and gentlemen, Molly McGrath. Thank you for having me, guys.
This is quite a sweet set you have. Not bad, right? No.
I had to come down here and do an actual site survey. Me and a tape measure.
Right. That's a factual statement.
Well, I mean, this is a home assignment for you. This is pretty sweet.
Bingo. This is the house that Pat McAfee built.
Molly, Molly, you saw the wall. This actually says the building or house that was built by these guys.
These are the guys, you know, Tony Dungy, Peyton Manning, Joseph Adai and the boys. I was very lucky to be an Indianapolis Colt.
But, yeah, to your point, the people of Indianapolis run this building. So when I came down here with a tape measure, the CIB, the city improvement board, was like, why are we doing this? There's enough space for your show.
And they're the ones that said I should do it right here. So we are incredibly lucky and thankful to be here.
Why are you here now? You're part of the draft coverage, obviously, for ESPN. Yeah.
But we assume you know everything about everybody because of all the college football stuff. What do you have going on this week? It's such a great assignment.
So last year was my first year covering the NFL draft for ESPN. So the guys go on stage.
Their names are announced. They shake Roger Goodell's hand.
They dap him, hug him. Yeah, they jump into his arms.
Yeah, hell thing. And it's like the best moment of their lives.
Their whole career has come up to this moment. And I'm standing there ready to interview them.

And it's like the most electric interview that you could ever do.

And so it's such a cool moment to be a part of.

I did that for ESPN, doing it again this year.

So it's an honor to be a part of such a special moment.

And I know these players so well. You know, I know their families and their moms and their girlfriends.

I know, you know, certain things. Like a big part of me being here this week is meeting with GMs I'm just kind of networking and I have a lot of great conversations with GMs I'm trying to get their information for coverage leading up to that moment for coverage leading up to the draft to do reports for our crew and it's kind of a give and take relationship with GMs where it, hey, I can tell that this locker room doesn't love this guy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can tell that his teammates really love him.
I can tell that this guy's really tough. Hey, coaches say he doesn't watch a lot of film.
Yeah. So in being, like, with these players week in and week out with college football.
Oh, he's becoming an insider. I'm a little bit of an insider.
Wait a minute. But it's like off-the-record conversations with GMs.
And so it's like a little bit of give and take. Don't go to Starbucks.
Insiders are brawling. I saw Ian Rappaport at a coffee shop a couple hours back right before he came here.
That was not a Starbucks. It was not a Starbucks.
It was at the Westin. And I wanted to ask him if he felt safe.
You know, but he looks fine. Molly, what if you would have walked up to him and been like, I got something to say to you? That would have been amazing.
Well, I appreciate your professionalism and your due diligence that you're doing. You feel like you know the college players very well.
How versed were you with the NFL? How versed were you with the NFL and everything like that as you dove in last year? And how do you feel now? I think that last year I was a fan of the NFL. And then when I got this assignment, I was like, all right, I need to get up to speed on team needs, GMs, coaching changes, like what these teams are looking for in the draft.
Yeah, exactly. And now with a second year under my belt, I feel so much more well prepared because I approach the college football season completely differently.
Every week as I'm like requesting players and talking to guys on the phone, I'm talking to all the draft prospects that these teams have. And then I'm at the games, and you go to college football games, they're GMs all over the sidelines.
That's a time to really pick those guys' brains and to give them that information and say, like, hey, this guy's legit, and this guy, his teammates don't love him. He's a little full of shit.
those kinds of moments that you can establish a relationship so you're a weapon absolutely you you are and the amount of time that you put in the amount of travel because where you live yeah it's a crazy decision it is a crazy decision yeah i make some terrible decisions i truly do before the boys have their questions for you oh i love it i need to ask need to ask about good decision, great decision. Okay.
Since I think last time we really seen you, you've become full mama. Oh, yeah.
How's it been? Since we last worked together, I've created two humans. Congrats.
Yeah. Congratulations.
Two humans. And they both speak and walk and talk, and it's crazy.
I have a two-year-old and a four-year-old, two little boys. I don't know if they're watching this, but when I have my makeup done, I'm mama TV.
And then when I'm home, I'm just like mom because I'm a different human. You love it.
So for me and my wife, it's the greatest. Like watching my wife mom is so cool.
Yeah. And I heard, you know, you, I think we're talking about at the beginning of with your work schedule and being a mom, we want to let you know we think you're a badass and we think it's a good thing, not a bad thing.
So you need to never even let that cross your mind. You kill it.
And how you're momming from afar, at least. I've never met your kids.
Your husband, great dude. But like, you're crushing it, Molly.
And you should be very, very, very, very proud of yours. Now, with that being said, let's turn to the conversation.
Mad Mel Kuyper has one for you, Molly.

Oh, Mad Mel. Yeah, Molly, just curious.

Obviously, you haven't

been doing this a whole bunch of years. I have

been doing this for 30 plus years, so

if you need any tricks of the trade,

I'd be happy to share those with you. Have you noticed

when you're trying to get this information,

have you been going to the restaurants?

Everyone says, hey, nothing is

figured out or no information has passed unless these GMs and coaches have a couple booze cocktails in them late at St. Elmo's.
So have you been doing kind of that aspect of it, or have you been over at the convention center kind of bebopping around trying to get information that way? It's a little bit of both. I don't know if you can tell I'm exhausted because I was up until, like, 2 a.m.
last night. That's Indianapolis.
Closing down the bar. But that's where those relationships are established.
You're having a drink and you're just getting to know people as parents, you know, and as professionals and those kinds of things. So I'm exhausted.
It's been already a long week and we're, I don't know, like not even halfway through it. So it's a part of that.
And then it's going through the convention center, grabbing people, going up to them, saying, hey, I covered college football. I know these guys intimately.
If you need to know anything, like feel free to reach out to me. It can be a mutually beneficial relationship.
So we're literally watching you blossom your NFL career right now. Like this is happening.
It's a great segue. And you know what? Like I covered a college or I mean an NFL game, one of the Monday night football games earlier this season, the Cardinals-Chargers game.
And it's amazing how many players remember you from their college careers. Oh, yeah.
And they feel like a bit of sentimentality with it, where they're like, hey, you covered me in college. How are you? I remember you.
And so you kind of already know all of these athletes so well. So it's really cool.
It's a great segue into covering the NFL. I think that's something I want to do eventually in my

career. I love college football, especially with the playoff.
Like there's no better assignment

in the world than covering college football for ESPN right now. But eventually I want to

start to work more in the NFL because I know these guys so well. We'll dive into college ball

at the end of this because what an electrifying season. Yeah.
So much fun.

So many top five matchups throughout the year with the realignment

and the players and more teams going in there.

Herb Street, whenever he got the Thursday night job,

obviously he's one of the faces of college ball,

if not the face of college ball over the last three decades.

He thought that maybe, you know,

they wouldn't take him as serious enough because he's a college guy.

And I and everybody else that played in the NFL were like,

Herbie, we watch game day every Saturday in every single building. all know you from college football we're all in there so I think there's even more of a respect for the people that covered college get into the NFL and I think Herbie didn't believe that at the beginning I think you should think the same thing like a lot of respect for everything you've done because you've been there since they were like kids yeah to becoming men you know and you've you've told their stories you've helped a lot of people and Herbie did the same thing it's like i think the players actually have more of a trust and you said a sentimental value with you than maybe others i think it's a great transition into the nfl yeah and the coaches and the players are all fans of football so they all watch a ton of college football so when i came to the combine last year the first person i see as i walk into the convention center is andy reed and he points to me and goes no you cannot leave college football and I was like don't worry coach I'm not leaving but thank you and he's like I'm a big fan of your work and I'm like I'm a big fan of your work that's awesome yeah it was it was one of those cool moments where I was like how the heck does Andy Reid know who I am Molly that was sick Molly biggest games every year for like the last I don't I don to do that whole thing.
Since I was with you. You launched my career those Thursday nights.
Thursday night Remy's. The Remy's.
Yeah, we grew through that. Adam Amin, Matt Hasselbeck, myself, Molly McGrath.
We had a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun.
They were. When the lights go out, was that Tulane or Memphis? When the lights go down.
The power went out. East Carolina.
And East Carolina. Yeah, that's what it is right there.
And they had a gymnast, like a cheerleader gymnast, when the lights were out that was doing 100 yards worth of back handsprings and backflips. Oh, yeah, I remember that.
And we're like talking in the booth, like trying to kill time. And I'm like, I don't have enough say at this point, but we need to be showing that dude.
This is good television right here. That dude down there in pitch black while lights are coming back on.
He might have just done a thousand backflips, but I feel like I learned a lot that season, and you were ready to be the star way before we got there on that Thursday night. I'm excited you've gotten all the recognition you deserve.
Connor has a question for you. So you saw a rap sheet this morning.
He was, you know, probably pouting a little down. Have you been able to talk to Schefter about the insider game? And have you also just been on your phone for 20 hours a day to practice how much you have to actually do that? You've got to get the screen time.
Exactly. Yeah, yeah.
You ring her on, all those types of things. So I'm not trying to be an insider where I'm trying to break news.
I'm more trying to be an insider for context because I want these coaches and GMs to trust me inherently. And that's a part of covering game broadcasts, right? Like coaches tell me stuff every week that's off the record that would be breaking news if I were to tweet it out.
But I want them to know that they can trust me. Journalism.
Yeah, capital J journalism. So these are the kinds of conversations I'm having this week where I'm being told things that are off the record that would be breaking news, but I'm not revealing it.
I know it for context. I know it for how to approach my conversations with players, with other GMs and what the teams are looking for.
And then there's a lot of stuff that I'll embargo until draft day. Hey, are you cool if I don't use any of this until our draft coverage begins and then i can reveal what you're really starting to look for and some of them say yes some of them say no um but it's it's establishing the trust i just want them to trust me and know that i'm not going to like spill their secrets or tweet anything out i think that's like the biggest value that i can bring is just to be trusted that's not just a big J.
That's also big journalism as well. That's big to the entirety.
Refresh my memory here, and boys, you might remember this. Didn't she start like sports media school at Boston? I believe so.
I did not start the sports media school. You did something.
I started a role. I started a sports reporter role.
I was the cheerleading captain, so I was sassy as hell, and went into the athletic director's office. So what does that mean, sassy as hell? Well, I just, I knew what I wanted to do in my career.
Like, I went to the athletic director. I went into his office, Gene DiFilippo at the time, and I said, hey, these are my goals, and this is how I need you to help me get there.
And I'm going to create a student reporter position. And I just want your like you to sign off on it.
I'll do all the extra work. And I had people help me get there, right? None of us got to where we are without help from other people and support.
So he supported that. And I created that role.
And I think it exists to this day, which is so cool. Hell yeah, that is cool.
And also it takes a lot of, you know, courage, confidence, intelligence, foresight to go and create that role. And then for the execution part of it, you've crushed it.
Now, speaking of college football, Andy Reid never wants you to leave. Tone Diggs has a question for you.
Yeah, I do. So we always talk to Shefty.
And I'm wondering about the difference between the sideline and then this kind of the draft role. We talk about, like, with Shefty, like, how transactional, like, all his relationships have to be, like, with all of his sources and all these GMs and coaches and stuff like that.
What is the biggest difference between those, like, relationships and then, like, when you're talking to the college coaches, like, gathering information for the game, is that more of, more of a relaxed situation? I think they're similar. I think it's all about people that you're working with liking you, trusting you, rooting for you, trusting you with certain information.
With the draft, it's obviously a little more sensitive because with these picks, there's money on the line and jobs on the line. So you want to be really sensitive.
And with that, like I go into conversations with GMs and I say, hey, this whole conversation can be off the record if you want. But with the coach, you don't start a conversation with the coach going into a production meeting saying, hey, this is all off the record.
Usually it's all on the record unless they say, hey, don't say this. You know, so it's a little stricter and a little tighter, I think, with the NFL.

And you don't want to, like, piss people off because you want to keep those relationships.

In college football, it's a little more fair game unless you're instructed specifically not to say something.

Let's talk about college ball this past year, 12-team playoff.

It was a blast.

Start with 12, countdown to one.

That's how we crown a CFP national champion. I didn't sing long, but yeah, it was awesome.
Why didn't you pay attention to the song? Do we have... I don't know if we have it.
I deleted that one. What the hell, man? That's an alt.
You keep that. That's a next year thing.
More schools get a shot to shine.

It's more games and a lot more fun.

Starting with 12, counting down to one.

That's how we crown a CFP national champion.

That's how we crown a CFP national champion.

Good job. We didn't create that.
We didn't create that. If only the network did.
Sounds like AI maybe helped, but I think there was some people in Nashville. But 12-team playoff, obviously you've been covering college ball for a long time.
Your thoughts on what it added to it? It was incredible. The 12-team playoff was so much fun.
Blowouts! I still thought it was awesome. Okay, like some blowouts round one, but then the quarterfinals and the semifinal games were electric.
You know, it was so much fun. It was a grind.
It was a grind to cover every round. And, you know, when you're on site for these games, like for college football, we get there for almost a week.
So I just wasn't home for like a month and a half. But, you know, there are other people taking care of my children.
My husband is, he's fully capable. I am a mother.
But it was fantastic because the games were awesome. And it was so unique because I covered Notre Dame from the first round all the way to the national championship game.
And when else do you get a team four games in a row and you get to follow them through the course and through a run like that and get to know the coaches, the players intimately? I basically knew every player on that team really well. I'd interviewed all of them at some point.
So it was it was really cool to be able to experience that. Yeah, we agree.
Like we got a chance, obviously, with our simulcast field pass operation to be there for all the games.

Except for one, we had all Ohio State's games.

We had Boise, Penn State.

Yeah, we had –

Festival.

But you're right, each week it was –

Yeah, we did Ohio State.

We were right in the –

We beat you guys, sorry.

We were right in the middle.

We were right in the middle of all of it.

And the reason why you're going to do so great at the NFL

and why you do so great at college is because you do spend a week

at all these places.

Yeah.

Thank you. middle we're right in the middle of all of it and the reason why you're gonna do so great at the nfl and why you do so great at college is because you do spend a week at all these places yeah we fly in there day before yeah we're not going to practice i'm not doing games yeah we're not doing games uh we do the field pass but we in the booth and on the main broadcast what are the numbers that were coming in for some of those games 28 20 plus 20-plus million, I think.
Massive. Just so many games.

And I think viewer, I don't want to say fatigue,

but maybe viewers being new to the flow of college football in the playoffs.

And how late the games were going into January.

Bingo, yeah.

So I think there's still some things that can get worked out.

But, man, we loved it.

And it was electrifying. And those games felt larger than life, especially on campus.

The on-campus games, that was my favorite. Cold.
Cold, freezing cold at Notre Dame. But that was so cool to be a part of something like that.
Agreed. That's college football.
The pageantry tradition and environments are a massive piece of the product, I think. Yeah.
Like, obviously, the football is being played on the field. The football, it does matter.
And if you're're good it's going to be better. But the environments are what make college football college football.
Yeah. So them showcasing that I think was a big deal.
Boy it was cold though. We were pitching hard.
Don't be soft. It's fine.
Were you at Ohio State? Tennessee? Well I was at Notre Dame and it was single ditch. It was pretty cold but I had an electric jacket jacket on.
You have to get with the program. You know that we don't.
Yeah, I know. This is Sideline Reporter Info.
I had an electric vest. I had electric gloves.
Because you're holding a mic, your hand gets cold. Pat didn't have gloves at all.
I didn't have gloves or a head. No, he's a tough guy.
He doesn't wear sleeves either. We're in a stadium.
It's nice out now. It is a beautiful time.
And also, spring seemingly here in Indianapolis. You tell Punxsutawney Phil to eat shit.
You didn't think that was coming. It's the coldest winter we've had.
We're talking about how far you travel. You live in Washington.
I do. I live in Seattle.
I'm crossing time zones every like three days. It's wild.
Very's wild. It's wild.
Very wild. Yeah.

It's, um, that's been tough. I think the time change is the toughest part because sometimes I'll have 7am Eastern meetings.
So I'm waking up at four and I'm on Zooms just like trying to keep my life together. Well, you're doing a great job.
Yeah. It's fine.
We're dealing with it. There might be a move in my future with my family, but it's not.
Just as a human that not as much as you, but travels and works a good bit. Convenience in and out of these places is that is the name of the game.
That is you traveling back to Washington every single week is just absurd to think about. But there's only one person that can pull it off.
And that's the person that walks into Boston College and says, we need this to happen, change everything, and then change the course of football coverage and your life. Molly, you've absolutely crushed it.
We appreciate you so much, and thank you for stopping by. Good luck with the draft coverage.
Thank you. Thank you.
So good to see you guys. So good to see you in person.
Dude, yeah. I mean, only on TV and on the internet throughout this entirety.
That's our lives. It's fine.
All right.

That is our lives.

You're the best.

Love you guys.

And when you watch ESPN draft coverage, you'll be on it.

Yep, I'll be on the ESPN draft coverage.

I need to find, like, if anyone wants to sponsor me,

I need to find, like, a sick little, like, chinchilla coat, like a fur coat.

We're going to be in Green Bay.

Oh, yeah.

It was cold in Detroit last year.

It's going to be cold as shit in Green Bay.

I was wearing, like, extra layers.

It's going to be cold.

You have to embrace the place, right? So I have to have some kind of fur. Put a cheese head on, yeah.
Stay inside, maybe. Put a cheese head on the head.
Yeah, that'll be a good look. Like, what's his name? Overalls.
Isn't there a lot of overalls out there? American Gangster. Yeah.
Yeah, a lot of Frank Lucas. You're going to get the Frank Lucas coat from American Gangster.
And the hat. Yeah.
Look into it. That's one way to, like, be trending on the internet.
That or getting a fight in a Starbucks. So it's like I'd rather be all swiged out.
There he is right there. Absolutely.
Ladies and gentlemen, surviving the fight is Ian Rapoport. Good to see him walking by here.
Licking his wounds. All right, so you're going to be in the lead-up to the NFL draft coverage as well on ESPN.
Where will we see you talking about what you're learning here today and everything like that? I have no idea. I'll be on ESPN.

They'll send me out before the draft, and maybe I'll do some stuff ahead of that,

some pro days, things like that.

I'm also doing college basketball coverage right now.

Really?

I was just in Birmingham.

Alabama?

Alabama, Tuscaloosa.

Sorry, I flew out of Birmingham.

I know there's a couple.

I think there's a couple.

I was in England.

That's one.

That's the only one I can think of.

Yeah, I just got back from Europe.

I just came back from Europe.

I was in Tuscaloosa on Tuesday night, came here,

and now I'm going to Knoxville for Alabama at Tennessee on Saturday.

That's a really big one.

So with my travel schedule, I just don't go home.

No, we'll keep grinding.

It's fine.

It is admirable, and it is awesome.

You're getting to the top, Molly.

You're already there. You're the best.
Ladies and gentlemen, Molly McGrath. Yeah, Molly.
Thank you, guys. You guys are the best.
Thank you, Molly. Thank you.
What other Birmingham popped in your head there? I just know there's more than one. See ya.
You know what I mean? Boom, boom, boom. Yeah, yeah, I guess, but like Birmingham, college basketball.
Birmingham, New York. Hey, watching her operate.'s a dog.
That Thursday night football thing was crazy. Because, you know, she's telling stories for different college football shows that are happening and interviews and sit down and do that.
But then on the game, she's not only, like, doing the drops before halftime and the beginning of the game, which I think a lot of people just expect. She's working.
Constant movement. Constant movement, working everything.
And she knows every storyline for every player. And, like, if anything happens, she drops, like, reminders.
Hey, remember, blah, blah, blah. Like, she's, like, a producer while also working.
Molly's a beast. Dog.
Molly's an absolute beast. The NFL is calling, though.
Oh, yes. Andy Reid going, don't.
Oh, no. Sorry.
Don't you. Not now.
We need you in college ball. It's like, certainly, we do.
But she is a G. Molly is an absolute G.
Speaking of, I believe Indianapolis, Indiana, has brought some things through for us. And this might be the Visit Indy people.
Yeah, I believe that's Chris Gall of Visit Indy. Don't know this guy's name, but I should.
Hey, how you doing? How you doing, man?

Hey, I'm Pat.

Whoa.

Wow.

Cocktail, you got him so much. Kidding me, man.

Chris, thank you, brother.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

It's incredible.

If you want to sit down and put a headset on, thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

Nice to meet you.

Sure.

Too kind.

Visit Indy would be great.

What do we got here?

We got some steak sliders here. We've got the filet sliders.
You'll find those at Heron Dizzy's, St. Elmo Steakhouse, this famous, iconic St.
Elmo Shrimp Cocktail. You're not going to cry when you have it, are you? I'm not going to breathe.
I'm not going to breathe. Listen, I've been around the game.
Whenever you eat this, you can't breathe. When you breathe while eating it, shoots up into the nose, and it's a game-set match.
But that flavor is something you can't get anywhere else it's just why people come they love it yeah and it's been synonymous with indianapolis just like the nfl combine we're glad to have it here in indianapolis for uh another year since 1987 so we're glad to have all the nfl folks here we appreciate the hell out of you man all right chris let's go stick around uh thank you so much great service thank you hold on hold on Hold on. Chris in the biz.
Yeah, yeah. Thank you so much.
Yeah, no problem. Yeah, no problem.

That was a, sir. That was good service.
Okay, so that guy owns St. Elmo's, obviously.
He owns St. Elmo's, yeah.
Chris, we should have known that. I felt like a big-time asshole.
I say, here comes Chris from Visit Indy. And guy, I should definitely know, but I don't.
He owns St. Elmo's.
He owns St. Elmo's.
Hey, sir, thank you. I didn't know who the hell you were when he came up here.
Thank you so much for what you've done for Indianapolis, man. Thanks, Elmo.
Thank you. Is there a more iconic restaurant? I don't think there isn't a more iconic restaurant synonymous with a city.
Anytime anybody comes to Indianapolis, Mad Mel's already crying. Yeah, hot.
Zoom in on those eyes. Get those eyes.
Well, that's the thing. You've to dive right in.
Once it gets in the nostrils. You got to dive right in.
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
Go back for some more. Go ahead.
It's so good. Not like your pumpkin pie, huh? You can't breathe while you're eating it.
You guys are making massive mistakes, I feel like. Oh, no.
I think it's like 24 pounds of shrimp cocktail sauce they serve up annually. Jeez Louise.
Annually or? Or weekly. Weekly, excuse me.
Weekly. Weekly.
Annually would be a lot. 52.
Tone's eating one right now. He's having a moment right now with a shrimp cocktail.
Part of the experience. Love it.
Clears you out. Mad Mel's crying.
Connor, I don't know if he has any feeling. It is so good.
It hits you. I love this shit.
All right, Chris, let's talk a little bit. You're, I don't know, official title.
Head of Visit Indy. Executive Vice President.
Okay. Visit Indy.
We appreciate what you're doing with Indianapolis. You look very, very cool.
Thank you. Thank you for this.
This is a part of the Visit Indy, obviously. We thought it looked good on your desk.
It does. It looks amazing.
And obviously people walk the eye in indy because indy is such like a collaborative thing and we are such a welcoming city whenever the combine comes here what does it bring to the city each year and what is the goal is the goal to keep coming here forever i would assume it is we had meetings with the league this week the combine has been here since 87 we have them them on the books through 26. This week, $10 million in economic impact for our city.
Okay. We want to keep them.
We believe there's no better city in the nation. You've got IU Health expanding, the convention center expansion, all under one roof.
These prospects seamlessly walk. The media seamlessly walk.
Why move this? It's not broken. Starbucks gets a little hot sometimes i don't know about this starbucks there was a head on a swivel there's a little bit of a i saw that i didn't yeah it was real but that's not normal here confirmed hospitality is the hoosier way we host events and conventions literally weekly the city's used to it the indy 500 is the biggest sporting event.
Connor, it got Connor. It got Connor.
It got him. It got Connor.
He was trying. That probably got me.
He thought he had it. That probably got me.
He got him. It got him.
But it feels good. Yeah, yeah.
It will. Yeah.
It will. Oh, man.
We got you a napkin if you need it. No, no, no.
It got him. That's Indiana looking out.
But the Indianapolis 500 is the largest sporting event on earth every single year. Period.
Why do you think this place is, Bill? You said a convention, everything like that, but I think it's the people, too. I think the people are very, very used to outsiders coming in, taking care, and then saying, hey, we'll see you next year or something like that.
Don't you? We're sometimes an underdog city. We don't mind that.
We like to, you know, achieve higher, higher, higher. It's the people.
People make the place, Pat. The infrastructure were literally built to host major sporting events and conventions.
But it's our people. It's our residents.
They're hospitable. It's part of our DNA.
And so when that visitor comes, whether it's an international media member, a prospect's family, we welcome them. 2024, busiest year in tourism history in the city of Indianapolis.
Welcome back okay now welcome back people won't talk about it um nationally but like covid whenever the world stops yeah cities that host things really really took a shot like we took a devastating blow from the world stopping not being able to host and not having all these things right so us being all the way back congratulations to you your, your team, and everybody. Thank you.
Thank you. You know, when you have Pacer Sports Entertainment and the Colts, when you have the NCAA headquartered here, there's a lot of trust.
And the oldest sports commission in the nation, the Indiana Sports Corps, we just keep picking away at what events we want. By the way, we'd love to have the draft.
We're in conversations. Hey, that'd be great.
Let's get that one done. Why not? Let's make it forever.
Love to have another college football playoff national championship. And with the WNBA All-Star game, bouncing here, could not pick a better year and time in Indianapolis history to have that event.
Yeah, especially with 22. Yeah, yeah, she's pretty good.
She's pretty good. Matt Mel has a question for you, Chris.
Yes. If you were to bring one restaurant to downtown Indianapolis that we don't have yet, because everyone knows Elmo's is iconic.
If you don't want to get super dressed up, maybe you go to Harry and Izzy's instead. If you're a scumbag like a couple of the guys we work with, you're going to go over to Hooters.
Yeah, sure. Out of business.
Yeah, exactly. Rest in peace.
But is there one know, attraction, let's say, that you're trying to bring to the downtown area? That's a great question. You know, we'd love to get – there's this technology called COSM.
It's like the Sphere in Vegas. Those are awesome.
Okay, we've been eyeing that. Those are awesome.
We're a sports-minded city. You could sit and watch these major sporting events.
And we've got buildings down here that will certainly be able to – that could feasibly get that in there. Exactly.
If I had to have a restaurant concept, though, I'd call it Reggie's. Reggie Miller, Reggie Wayne's.
You'd have a restaurant in downtown Indy called Reggie's. They'd cook.
They'd serve things up. Iconic Reggie across the board.
I think that would do well here. Yeah, the name Reggie gets chanted at basically any sport that happens here in Indianapolis.
Need the Colts to get good again. I hear you.
I hear you. I hear you.
He's from Boston. Well, I also just watched the game.
Yeah, but he lives here in Indianapolis, loves the city. Yeah, pays the taxes.
Pays the taxes. Paid taxes for us to come here.
Thank you. Thank you.
No problem. Go ahead.
Are his footballs inflated or deflated?

Got him.

That was proven.

Pull up the article.

That was proven to be a witch.

No, Bill Nye is science guy.

He's a model now.

Did you see him doing a model?

Yeah, exactly.

He is a model.

He is.

Okay, Chris, what's next for Indianapolis?

Well, I'll tell you what.

We're expanding the city.

We want that WNBA All-Star game to be the best ever.

We want that to catapult us into the future.

As I mentioned, we're putting about $3 billion in new tourism-related infrastructure down

Thank you. We want that WNBA All-Star game to be the best ever.
We want that to catapult us into the future. As I mentioned, we're putting about $3 billion in new tourism-related infrastructure downtown, making it bigger and better.
We want to hold on to the combine. We want to attract the draft.
And we really, really want the college football playoff national championship to come back. Is there an MLS team coming? Not yet.
We're in discussions. Hey, that's a big deal, right? Yeah.
The mayor of Indianapolis has led those discussions with the idea that we could have an MLS team. And it was reported this week, the commissioner was here, MLS commissioner, to kick the tires and see the city again.
So we believe sports is in our nature and our culture, and we could do well with an MLS team. Okay, so as the executive vice president of the tourist group.

You got it.

Visit Indy.

You got it.

What, are you running for mayor next?

What's the, what is?

No.

You just like helping the city?

You're from, like, what is the, how'd you end up here?

Pai Kai School, Butler University.

Was in Hawaii for a couple years helping Hawaii tourism.

That was probably sweet.

Tough job.

Great gig.

Which island?

Oahu.

You're on Oahu?

Oahu.

That's where my mom's side has been, and we have family there, and so family there. You're an Ouse? I didn't know you were an Ouse.
Yeah. I got raised here, summers in Hawaii.
Raised here, summers in Hawaii. Guys, an Ouse, obviously.
I think you should have spent summers here and maybe winters in Hawaii. That's true.
Football, though. Had to go to school and football.
Probably true. But Indy's my home.
I forgot about those things. I love being an underdog and competing with other major cities to try to get these events, like the Combine, and proving what we've built here.
So you love repping for the city? Love it. Love it.
It feels like a lot of people do. I got a chance to, obviously there's Visit Indy, then there's the Indy 500 Festival folks.
Yes, yes. I just learned of the CIB.
Yep. I just learned of that.
They own these facilities. They do an incredible job.
The guy, yeah, Craig, my dude. I don't know if he's here or not.
I think he has. Oh, yeah, Craig.
Craig's the man. Helps run this place.
Yes, he does. Make sure it's sparkling.
So the NFL and the NFL Network people, obviously fantastic folks, forced me to do a site survey, even though we had agreed that we would be able to do our show from here so i come down and do a site survey and craig from indianapolis is the one showing me around it's not somebody from the nfl i'm like craig who do you work for that's literally what i said to him because if it was nfl people i was about to be like come on like what are we even doing here we already agreed to be here we're in a stadium there's enough room for us to set up some seats wherever it is craig's like i work for the cib here in indianapolis which is the city improvement board or whatever i say you're an indy guy he goes yeah i go is there gonna be a spot like why were they acting like there wasn't a spot he goes yeah we got enough room we got enough room no problem at all and he was like we walk up here and he goes do you want to just use the horseshoe set or whatever and i'm like is that available he's like absolutely and i was like yes we would we would like this quickest site survey of all time and it got much better i think we would have been somewhere this is prime prime we are so lucky beautiful stadium perfect stadium perfect place and perfect people i think is why i love the state so much listen and thank you for all you do you spent a lot of time in this building come on in the last couple of weeks months years and you're an advocate you're not bashful about being from here in fact some relocated here. All of them, yeah.
All of them have, which is why he's so happy to pay taxes here. And we'll take those taxes and make sure that we keep growing the city and restaurants and museums and more sporting events.
So you're a big Indy booster and you carry a lot of influence. And when people hear that Pat loves Indy, that helps us.
How could you not, brother? Literally, how could you not? I'm very very lucky to be here and you're raising your family here and my wife's from here my baby girl was born here a lot of our families have started here a lot of hoosier babies around our business and we're lucky and thankful for that yeah absolutely well he's just completely said the opposite there don't miss my daughter was born here but i'll tell her she was born in pittsburgh yeah okay he's from pittsburgh that's Yes. A lot of pride in Pittsburgh.
Very similar type people, but obviously Indianapolis is fantastic. And Chris, great work.
We appreciate you. Hey, Pat, thank you.
Thanks for having me on, guys. Enjoy this shrimp cocktail.
Oh, hell yes. Great.
Delicious. Keep doing it, Chris.
Keep doing it, Chris. Great to meet you.
Keep bringing shit to do. Thank you for everything, Chris.
Thank you, man. Palate cleanser there.
Come on. Appreciate it.
Appreciate you, Chris. Yeah, no problem, dude, dude.
Cocktail delightful. Hey, Chris, the real deal.
He looks cool. He's the one that's doing, like, when we're pitching for the Super Bowl, he's the guy that's, you know, when we're making pitches for the NCAA, he's the guy that's a part of the.
On the pavement. Yeah, he's the guy.
He's a cool dude. I don't think I've maybe met him one time before at an.
Because he's on a move. That's Chris football.
Yeah, bingo. Loves the city of Indianapolis.
Cosm down here. Cosm would be so cool.
I don't know how he's going to get it done, but get it done, Chris. I don't know if it'd be down here.
It'd probably be up north. All you would need is just big space with a bunch of LED boards, right? Correct.
You know what it is? Technically, should we try to turn this into a cosme before tomorrow? Or relocate the team. Use the whole entire thing.
What's that? Put 15 cosmes in this building. Oh, you're saying this is the space to do it.
Yeah, why not? No, there's buildings right down over there that need to be repurposed.

You can have a bunch of them.

All right, hell of a day today, boys.

A lot of guests.

A lot of conversation.

That's combine.

That is combine.

Somebody has a suit over there that looks very important.

How about the owner of St. Elmo?

Yeah, what a beast.

Craig, yeah, you got a little flace.

Yeah, I want to shake his head.

I go to his north side location all the time.

Yeah, Harry and Izzy's?

No, 1933.

Oh, yeah, which is another great off. Fantastic.

All these being available on DoorDash is crazy, too.

Can't wait to eat one of those.

One of these? Yeah. Coming at you.

There's a toothpick in it.

Yep. Set hut.

That one's gonna...

Set hut. That had some cheese on it.

Toothpick on both sides. Oh, no.

Yeah, both sides.

Better because my bun fell off.

Are they exposed?

Yeah.

I don't think I should do that.

Oh, it's okay.

You should fucking cry.

That's all we needed anyways.

Oh, my God.

It's a fillet right at the guy.

Great catch.

Great catch.

How is that fillet?

St. Elmo's steak we just got.

You go to steak places, you know, I think the first time I went to a nice steakhouse, grew up on Texas Roadhouse. Sure.
We're going to Texas Roadhouse. That's a big night.
Don't forget Ponderosa's. Boom.
Ponderosa. You're 100% right.
Hosses, even, if we're going to get. Yeah, don't forget hosses.
Yeah. That's a big night out.
Okay. We're going to Ponderosa, Texas Roadhouse.
That was the triangle. That was it.
Hey, birthday, where are we headed? Well, Texas Roadhouse all booked up. We've got to go to Pawn the Rose.
Pawn the Rose is booked up. We've got to go to the hall.
Maybe even the ground around if we were feeling soft. There's a chance you could sneak in there.
It's feeling spicy. So then college at Morgantown, I'm a guy at Cheddar's, and there's not really steak place.
So I get in the NFL my rookie year. I get invited to go to a dinner here in Indianapolis at Harry and Izzy's, which is St.
Elmo's, like, brother-sister restaurant. I don't know what it is.
Same exact ownership, same food. Same kitchen.
Just different vibes. Same exact kitchen.
Yeah, like just next to each other. Connect to it.
It's just a different vibe. It's like a sports bar, a little bit more young.
And then St. Elmo's is like historic.
Black tie. You like walk in there.
It's like you're a part of something, you know? And that's why everybody comes in Indianapolis like, do I need to go to St. Elmo's? It's like, if you've never been, yeah, you definitely have to go.
It's an experience. It's part of the city.
But also Harry and Izzy's, same food, a little bit. You know, I think Peyton, part of Harry and Izzy's as well, potentially.
So he was the one that was hosting it. So we go in there.
We walk down this back room. And I getting like my first taste of like these real real steaks.
And I'm like, this place is awesome. And then the shrimp cocktail comes out and I've only seen this movie.
It was like, Oh, shrimp cocktail, you know, like going to a moment here and you get like grocery store ones where it's a plastic dipper in there and you get the little thing. So everybody, all the rookies that were invited to that thing.
And it's the reason why we're invited. Looking back on it, the only reason we were invited was to get this and just take a big chunk and just – and then everybody just cry their eyes out.
And it's like, it's so good, but it'll get you. I mean, it'll get you.
No doubt. And you go back again.
It's almost like an intoxicating feeling almost. Like it's like an adrenaline rush, and then you eat it again.
I love crying when I eat it. Legit.
That's part

of it. Alright, Mad Mel, big takeaway

as we wrap up this glorious Thursday

from the NFL Scouting Combine

presented by Microsoft Copilot

which is Microsoft's

AI. Biggest takeaway

very excited to see what the athletes

do out here on the field but

I'll be honest, biggest takeaway is I could eat a hundred

of those fucking filet sliders. Not even Not even kidding.
I mean, cooked to perfection. Set hot! Thank you.
I mean, medium rare. I don't know if it's medium rare.
It's medium rare. Medium, medium plus.
Yeah. These are fucking delicious.
Alright. And if you just eat them, just the filet, you can eat a thousand of those.
Yeah, that's good. What do you get?

Two ounce piece here?

Yeah, two ounce.

Two ounce piece of steak?

Aim high.

Aim high.

It's a hut.

Oh!

I had it.

It dropped out because I had to come forward for it.

At least it didn't hit the ground.

No, I'm saying.

I couldn't.

All right, we got to get out of here.

We literally have to turn off the lights.

Oh, because the thing's going on. Remember, the NFL was like, hey, make sure those lights are off by 3 o'clock.
We don't need scouts getting any lights in our eyes. And I thought they were being dramatic like everything else with this network over here.
And then I got here and I saw a thousand lights and I'm like, alright. Subctionally bright.
The scout suites are now full. They were not full yesterday.
They are now all full. Fans have also filed in.
We're about to have a damn show here on NFL Network and NFL Plus as Rich Eisen and Daniel Jeremiah will officially kick off the on-field exercises of the future of the NFL. We'll be back here tomorrow.
I think we got a good one tomorrow. I think we got a good one tomorrow.
I believe Brandon Bean of the Buffalo Beals will stop by. Boom.
I believe there's a few others that are going to make their way over here. You know, it's an interesting time that we're on because they're in the middle of interviews and medical wow practices taking place.
So anybody that's able to make time to chat with us, we're incredibly grateful for. And also, we'll feel like we'll try to do our due diligence and get the most out of it.
Because we got a lot of questions for these guys, too. Tons.
Not a doubt. Mad Mel, are you going to be back tomorrow? Have you kept...
Has Ty

texted you at all? Do you know? I haven't gotten any text or anything.

You tell me. He only has a landline,

so it's tough to get texted. Yeah, that's a good point.

We'll call you. They didn't bring a pumpkin pie up here.

Yeah, it was kind of horse shit, but, you know, I mean,

like I said, those steaks. Holy

fuck. Very good.

Yeah. You know, I appreciate

Mike Foss. I think we got a McAllisters

on the way. Guess what? You're playing second fiddle, pal.
Okay. Thank you, though.
Thank you, though, Mike. Dan Morgan, general manager of the Carolina Panthers right over here.
Just stacked. Just absolutely jacked.
Talking to Bucky Brooks, obviously. How you doing, Dan? Hey, how you doing, Dan? Great work down there, dude.

I don't know if you can hear us.

All right, Dad.

All right, Dad.

I'll go fuck myself, dude. What up, big dog?

How you doing, man?

Somebody thinks on this side now I'm talking to him.

What up, dude?

I can't see because of the lights, but what up, dude?

Can't see.

That's tough.

Diving in for some more?

A little napkin.

I can't see because of the lights.

Hey, you got it.

Good to see you, man.

I don't know who it is.

I can't see anybody.

Good vibes.

Good vibes, though.

Thank you. I appreciate that.
All right, let's get the hell out of here. All the boys in the truck, great work today, boys.
Great, boys. I think today much smoother than yesterday, huh? Yeah, my mic worked.
Second day normally is. Lights, LED board here.
Really? Setup or easy in in And you talk about Mike Foss with McAllister's

Mike Foss let Tyrese Halliburton

Just sit outside for about 20 minutes earlier

Crazy

Foss, way to go, bub

Alright, let's get the hell out of here

Be your friend, tell a friend something nice

It might change their life

We're in this thing together, never forget it, okay?

Team on me

Team on three One, two, three. Team.
Goodbye.

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Listen to Bad Rap, The Case Against Diddy, a new series from ABC Audio. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.
happen. Every week, I'm going to unpack the biggest true crime story that everyone is talking about.

ABC's got some unique access here, so I'll talk to the reporters and producers who have followed

these cases for months, sometimes years. We're bringing the latest developments and the larger

context on the true crime stories you've been hearing about. Follow the crime scene

for special access to the people who know these stories best.