transcript

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[00:01] The Volume. What is going on, everybody? How are we doing? John Middlekauff, 3 and Out Podcast. The NFL first round has concluded, and I got some thoughts, I got some takes. Obviously, the shocking move of the night was the Rams taking Ty Simpson, and then Sean McVay's reaction. He did not look thrilled. So we'll dive into that. We'll dive into all the other stuff in the first round, what I liked, what I didn't like, the Titans, the Giants, the Chiefs. We got a lot of action. Somehow, Reuben Bain falls to 15. No brainer pick for Jason Light. We've been talking about Fernando Mendoza for months, so there's probably not much to say there, but we got a lot going on, and you guys know the drill. If you listen on Colin's feed, make sure you subscribe to 3 and Out. All the videos are up on Netflix, so if you'll never miss a thing, just hit the alert button, and let's talk what just happened. I think for me, the most shocking pick of the night, and that would be Sean McVay, Lesney, and the LA Rams picking Ty Simpson. I did not view Ty Simpson as the first round pick. I could not have pulled the trigger whether I needed a quarterback or whether I was in a position like the Rams to redshirt a guy and have him waiting in the wings. I could not have done it. From a talent standpoint, but more of, this is a guy that hasn't played much football, that when he did he got injured. He does not fit the physical prototype. I mean, they've had two quarterbacks under McVay. Jared Goff, the number one overall pick, is 6'5. Was a three year starter in college. And Matt Stafford, now they got him at the latter stages of his career. But is one of the more talented guys to ever come out of college, just as a pure prospect with his physical characteristics. And, you know, he's not quite the same guy, especially his last couple. I know he was fantastic last year because he's winning with his head. He's still got a big arm, but he doesn't move quite like he did even just a couple years ago. But I mean, Matt Stafford's like an all time talent that checks all the boxes. Right, if John Elway is like a 10 out of 10 of like athleticism meets arm strength, meets the intellect, Stafford's pretty high, you know? And to me, Ty Simpson is just not that. Now, I went and clicked on before we fired over the computer and hit record here. I said, you know what? I want to watch a couple of minutes of this Less Need McVeigh press conference. You know what my big takeaway was? I don't know if Sean McVeigh is thrilled. Now, I have a hard time at this point in time in their relationship thinking that Less Need would do something without Sean McVeigh's blessing. Like, I think you try to be in cahoots and work together. But when I watch Sean McVeigh's body language, and I would recommend to anyone, you just go on the Internet, type in Rams, Thursday night press conference, and you tell me if you think Sean McVeigh is doing cartwheels down the hallway, jumping for joy. Because I haven't had a chance to watch a lot of press conferences, but I've been doing this long enough. When you make a first round pick, whether you're a team like the Chiefs, who plans on being right back to the Super Bowl, or whether you're a team like the Jets or the Browns or the Dolphins who suck, you're going to be excited. You're going to be fired up. It's a big night. You've been grinding. I watched McVeigh talk about Trent McDuffie, talk about Stafford. Like, I just have a hard time buying this one, because while there were some parallels or some comparisons to, you know, Brock Purdy and back, well, McVeigh is a Shanahan guy. Look at who McVeigh in the style of offense, he does not, he's much closer to Andy Reid. He wants a more physically gifted quarterback. And you go, John, why would they take him? Because Lesnead is thinking, Sean McVeigh has dabbled before, like, could I go to Amazon? We know Matt Stafford is max two years, very good chance. This is last year playing in the NFL. Are you sure Sean McVeigh is just sticking this thing out? So this to me felt like a little bit of, we're never going to be drafting this high again. I like this player. I'm pretty sure Lesnead went to Auburn. But my big takeaway was like, I don't know if Sean McVeigh is thrilled with this. He's been begging for Kirk Cousins at the Biltmore, the Mike Vrabel-Rusini weekend a couple of weeks ago, for Kirk Cousins to sign with the Rams. Couple of days later, signs with the Raiders. Couple of days ago, when Jimmy Garoppolo is threatening to retire, Sean McVeigh said tonight, there's a reason we're still trying to communicate with Jimmy. And even he said like, yeah, Ty Simpson is going to compete with Stetson Bennett. So, listen, Dan Orlowski, calling him the number one quarterback, doesn't look as crazy when he goes pick their team. Jay Glazer had mentioned earlier today that something crazy is going to happen. I think easily, this is a team that the last two years is a player two away from probably being like back to back Super Bowl champs. They are going to be easily, not only one of the betting favorites, the best rosters in the league, they got one of the best coaches. This is a ready made team to win now. They had picked 13. Now, I thought regardless who they were going to pick, the guy is going to be difficult for that just to be a plug and play player on their roster, especially because Reuben Bain was on, they weren't going to take him, but they already got defensive lineman, they got Jared verse. If they took a guy like Reuben Bain, he would play for him, but that was never an option. It was wide receiver, I thought offensive line, and I didn't think they would take quarterback, clearly they did. I would have been fine with taking the Georgia offensive lineman and almost redshirting him, or if there's an injury, forcing him to play. Take a lineman, I just don't get this pick. I really don't. And I think Sean McVeigh's body language is not thrilled either, because he's not thinking five years from now. That is not how coaches think. He's thinking week two, he's thinking week seven, he's thinking how do I beat Seattle? How do I beat the Packers? How do I beat the Eagles? How do I win the NFC? How do I win the NFC West? I don't like this pick at all. And when I'm saying this, I'm not hating on, like I got nothing personal against this Ty Simpson, probably a great kid. But I just can't take a one year starter who got banged up. It's like, well, Johnny, process really well. OK, look at some of his comps. You can give me the comps all you want. Like Kirk Cousins and Brock Purdy, those guys were mid to late round picks. The NFL Draft is an economic exercise. It's why so many offensive tackles go in the first round. It's why so many pass rushers go in the first round. Because you got to overpay a little bit because those guys aren't going to be around in a couple of rounds. It's why, you know, Oceanfront Property, the super nice country clubs, they always cost two, 300% more than even you think it should cost. That's offensive linemen, that's defensive linemen. It's my issue with the Titans and Carnell Tate. He's a really good player. And by all accounts, he's like a great kid. All the Ohio State guys. The character on their guys from doing research, talking to friends in these meetings is awesome. I mean, Sonny Styles and Caleb Downs are like the type guys in these meetings, people like, I would want them to marry my daughter. Carnell Tate, you know, Emeka Abouka, these guys, wide receivers sometimes you get some wild cards. Not the case here. But if I'm going to take a guy in the top five, it's like if I'm going to take a guy top 15 at quarterback, he better have the... Yeah, he might not be Mahomes or Josh Allen. But do I feel very confident he's going to be a top 10 quarterback? Because I've seen the last couple years, Mack Jones, Kenny Pickett. Like I'm not in the business of... I will take those guys, pick 75, pick 100. John, well, quarterback inflation. Well, fine, I'm just not going to draft those guys then. If I'm going to take a wide receiver, really high in the draft, like really high. I got to be pretty confident I'm getting a top two or three wide receiver one day at his position. If I'm going to take a guy in the top five, it's got to be Julio Jones, Calvin Johnson, it's Jamar Chase, AJ Green. It's got to be a guy for a decade long. When he's on six or seven of those years, he's going to be one of the best wide receivers in the league, easy. And to me, Tate, like is he ever a top seven wide receiver in the league, top ten wide receiver? Now, if Salah and Borganzi, who I'm rooting for and I like, were here, they'd go, listen, we have a number one overall pick at quarterback. And I don't know if you watched us because probably not a lot of people did. We sucked last year. Look at our offensive weaponry. It is not good. So we just did whatever we had to do to get him a guy. And we probably would have taken Jeremiah Love, props to the Cardinals. That's a solid pick. They didn't out think the room. They just went with a guy that they knows one of the best players in the draft. They didn't feel comfortable with the 20 year old Reese. I get it. Like I'm glad Jeremiah Love, I watched a lot of NFC West football. He makes them very watchable. That's an easy pick. They're like, well, he just came off the board. We would have gladly taken him. Say, okay, that's part of the draft. You gotta pivot because there were a lot of rumors that the Cardinals could take Love. And people like, is this a smoke screen? I was like, they clearly liked him, which I mean, everyone liked him, but they did it. They pulled the trigger. Awesome. Props to the Cardinals. They got Love and McBride. And if Marvin Harrison Jr. can ever become like, you got some offensive pieces. Wilson, the wide receiver is a good player. Jacoby probably needs a little raise now, or at least the money guaranteed. But to me, the Tate thing, if you're the Titans, this is a wide receiver. Just look at the best wide receivers in the league. JSN, what was he? Late teens, early 20s. Pooka Nakua, fifth round. You know, Justin Jefferson went in the 20s. You get a lot of guys that in forever, AJ Brown, second round pick, DK. Metcalf, second round pick. You know, when Deebo was good, he was second round pick. You get guys, Devontae Adams, second round pick. You get a lot of guys that go the second, the third, the fourth, that become really good players, right? It's a position where you have so many wide receivers that you can find guys. This is not, if you're looking for a starting left tackle, you probably got to draft them in the top 30 or 40 picks. Totally understand. Nico Collins, third round. Like, it's the one position where you can get guys late in the first and in the second round and they could become pro ball all-stars. I have a hard time understanding Sonny Styles, who I would say universally was viewed in the league as a guy that has the upside, because this is a draft, not a great one. So there's a lot of projection here. But do I project you one day, can you be one of the best players at your position? You would say Jeremiah Love, yes. You would say Arvel Reiss, he's only 20 years old. He has the potential to one day be a pro bowl player. I would say best case scenario for him, all pro. I would say Sonny Styles for sure has the upside to be an all pro player. Same thing with the Chiefs with delay. He has the upside to be a pro bowl player. Is Carnell Tate making pro bowls? Now, Carnell Tate can be a very productive player, a good player. I just have to take a player up there, either the past rusher Reese, who is a little bit of a project, young player hasn't played that much. I get the concern there. But Sonny Styles, this guy's plug and play, let's roll, you've just been around Fred Warner, and then get the wide receiver at the end of the first round. Look, I just fundamentally disagree with the tactic they took in terms of the order in which they took the guys. And again, this feels like I'm not trying to, this is an enormous awesome moment for all these guys. I'm not a hater of Tate's game. I just couldn't take him at four overall. I couldn't do it. Listen, I'm not the biggest, I think there's a lot of risk in Jordan Tyson. But here's one thing I know about the Saints. They have an offensive head coach. They have, in my opinion, one of, if not the best wide receiver coach in the league. I get it. They wanted a weapon. They were going to take a wide receiver there or a corner. That's why I think the Chiefs jumped up there. But I don't know. This is where the Giants, what the Giants have taken Tate at five, I doubt it. I think they were taking people that can play in the trenches, people that can rush the passer, an offensive lineman. In a perfect world, would they have taken a different position besides Reese on the defensive line slash outside linebacker? Yes. They got into a weird spot once. I thought they would take Sonny Stiles and they just leaned historically. Back when I was with the Eagles, one thing the Giants would do constantly, linemen, pass rushers, defensive tackles, hybrid guys, Kiwanuka, Tuck, JPP, it's like an organizational philosophy that the Ravens kind of subscribe to as well. So it's right up Harbaugh's Alley, and now you got Reese and Abdul Carter for the future. I mean, you got two guys who in a couple of years, if this works, because I would imagine this is probably going to be Burns' last year, and that will be like the equivalent of the DJ Moore situation where you get rid of him, not because he's not good, just because you want your young guys to shine. Like the upside for Reese and Abdul Carter is you have the best pass rushing duo in the league. Like that's how physically gifted those two guys are. We talk a lot of football in the show, but the NBA playoffs are here. And here's the thing, if you want to bet on LeBron's point total, if you want to bet on Jokic getting his typical triple double, if you want to bet on some of Wembe's overs, every single game, make your same game parlays, very, very easy to do. And if you're ever late to tip off, ever, Hard Rock Bet has you covered, because they let you live bet all game long. 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Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. I've seen, and I had some people in obviously the big offensive linemen, the back to back, the Islanders, Faneu, and I don't want to mess up Francis's name. Those guys are just swaggy. There's something swaggy about having the lay over you, the big, like, I don't know. And he came up and they asked him about Jackson Dart. And he was like, he's saying he was fucking die for him. There's something about drafting an offensive lineman that just makes you feel pretty good. Faneu and Francis, I mean, those are just two good offensive linemen. Now, I don't know if either one's ever going to be like Jonathan Ogden or Trent Williams or Anthony Munoz. But both those two offensive linemen are playing the league for a long time. Like those two guys are just are just hostess. And people go, well, why would the Chiefs trade a corner to then trade up to get another corner? And it's like, you guys, sometimes we forget, and I'm guilty of this too, because you're in the heat of it. And it's just football, football, football. This is a business. And Trent McDuffie is a unreal slot corner. You could argue he's one of, if not the best, slot corners in the league. I think they viewed him as a good outside corner, but he's not a top five outside shut down corner. And, but you had to pay him like that. The Rams gave him a hundred million dollars guaranteed, a hundred million dollars guaranteed. And again, the Chiefs liked him. I was told Colin this earlier. And they loved him, but it was financially, they had to make a tough decision. They were not comfortable giving him the contract the Rams gave him, you know, the contract the Rams gave him. And that was his, that was his going rate. Like he was, other people were willing to give him that so they could trade him to get a first round pick. So they get Delain, who they view as more of a true outside guy. But now you got McDuffie making 30 million dollars a year with a hundred of it guaranteed, and a hundred and twenty million dollar contract. Well, the LSU corner went six overall. I googled Genty, because last year Genty was a six overall pick. His contract was like 34 million dollars. So you're talking four years, you know, on average, eight and a half, nine million dollars a year. So it's a 20 million dollar difference, and in terms of guarantee, you're talking 65 million dollar difference. So if you get a guy who becomes a starting corner, and who has Pro Bowl upside outside, that costs dramatically less than the other guy, like that's where the decisions come into play. It's why if Reese is good this year, and shows signs of life, and Harbaugh gets, or not signs of life, because he's, I mean, just shows signs of a future, like improvement and upside, and Abdul Carter can just show up to meetings on time, and those two guys are like, holy shit, we got something here. Brian Burns is not going to be on the team next year, not because Brian Burns isn't good. Like Kavan Thibodeau, he'll be gone by the end of the weekend. But Byrds is a good player right now. You couldn't watch the Giants last year and watch that guy come around the edge. He's a playmaker. But it's an economic exercise. You can only invest so much in some positions, and when you get higher paid quarterbacks, you have to make tough decisions. Like the Browns right now, they can kind of do whatever they want. The Jets right now, they can kind of do whatever they want. Some of these teams, the Bills, the Chiefs, the Ravens, you have to be economically kind of savvy because your quarterback, the Cowboys, the quarterback is taking $50, $60 million a year. It makes it a harder kind of puzzle to put together. What else was I fired up on? A huge part of the draft when you're a general manager, I think two things really jump out. Most people that run NFL teams, GMs, I would say are not patient people by nature. Football is a very aggressive sport. These are very aggressive, alpha males, look at Mike Vrabel. The league is full of them, football is full of them. It's a lot of egos in all these rooms. Some of these stories I heard at the combine about assistant coaches storming out of meetings pissed off because their egos are bigger than the coordinator and the head coach. And it's like all these guys now are making big money, even if you're high paid offensive line coaches now make a couple million dollars. So their egos, it's a lot of alpha in the room. But being in Philadelphia for the couple of years in the office that I was in watching Howie, Howie is this blend of aggression but intellectual superiority. He's really, really smart, but he's a really aggressive guy. But he also has a ton of knowledge of what's going on. Like one of his great attributes is knowing a lot of people. And Howie is a good bullshitter. And he can just accumulate a lot of information. Because when the draft comes, when you see some of these trade-ups, it's like you're trading up over a guy because the guy you wanted, you thought one of the teams ahead of you were going to pick. And sometimes you're taking educated guesses. And sometimes you know. We were just talking about this before we started the podcast years ago. Because I respect the Cowboys and the Eagles. It's like it's one of the big historic rivalries in the NFL. In the Bay Area, like being around the Raiders, I always heard stories like Al Davis would rather jump off a bridge than do deals with like the Chiefs and the Broncos. Like you can't even imagine, which I kind of understand. Like you see the Ravens and the Steelers trade. But now, Jerry Jones and his group of front-line, because I don't think Jerry Jones like run the phones during the draft. But like his GM, I forget his name off top of my head, like Steven, like they're running point on these deals. They're okay with doing a deal with Howie if the price is right. Howie calls them up and says, hey, I want to come to your spot and here's a couple of fours. Jerry's like, hey, that's too good of a deal to pass up. Well, when they came up, they tried to get a hold of Mackay Lemon. They couldn't, you know why? He was on the phone with the Pittsburgh Steelers because the Pittsburgh Steelers had picked 21, knowing that the Cowboys were going to take defense. Rap Sheet reported this on NFL Network. They were just talking to Mackay Lemon, saying, hey, you're going to be a Steeler. And he started thinking, like, DK Metcalf, Pittman, the tight ends, Mackay Lemon, like they don't actually have small bits of firepower. You got Rogers coming back, Will Howard is like, OK, the Steelers. And all of a sudden his phone starts beeping. I don't know exactly how it happens, but the Eagles jumped them and they took Mackay Lemon. Well, why do you somehow? And I was thinking this earlier. If I ran a team, the information and the stuff we talk about in the draft room, it's one thing to kind of like generic, we like this guy or this guy's good. Like we all agree most people are going to like Reuben Bain or Caleb Downs. But like specifically, we, McCarthy, Omar, we love this guy. Clearly, that information gets out and how he uses it to his advantage, because if how he just were to stick and pick the guy that he wanted would not have been there at 23. But instead, he knows the Steelers plan on taking the guy, run circles around them, and lands Buckeye Lemon on his team. And that's just information leaking and information gathering. That's part of your job. And the other part of your job as a general manager, is sometimes you got to be patient, right? Sometimes it's really easy to get aggressive and move up for guys. But sometimes just let the chaos around you kind of take shape. Let everyone else fight it out. And then you're kind of just standing there at the end. You're like, am I going to get one of the top two or three players in this draft? If you would have told me that Reuben Bain would have been on the board for Jason Light at Pick 15 and go to Tampa, I never would have believed you. I'm 41 years old. I keep saying 40. I'm actually 41. I was telling my wife, it's like, then I'll be 42. I'm not that far away from 45. I've been telling everyone I'm 40 for like 18 months. I think I'm going to continue that till I'm like 44. It's like, yeah, I'm 40. I've been watching college football for a long time. The great teams in college football, in my lifetime, all the Pete Carroll, USC teams, the Urban Meyer, Florida teams, the Alabama teams with Saban, the Georgia teams, like the Ohio State teams with Urban and now Ryan Day. The elite players just jump off the screen. You can watch some of those Florida teams and not see some of the guys they had on defense or Pete Carroll, Reggie Bush and just some of the great players that get drafted. I've been watching college football a long time. I feel like Reuben Bain is as good of a college player as I can remember. I mean, certified ass kicker. Honestly, I think Mesadour is one of the better number two pass rushers I've seen. Not shocking they were in the National Championship. Here's what I feel pretty good about. Reuben Bain and Akeem Mesadour, they are playing in the NFL for a long time. They are going to be really, really good players. Now, do Reese and Sonny Styles and some of these guys that maybe have higher upside than they do as like individual players? I'll hear you on that. Jeremiah Love, I agree. But I have a hard time seeing Bain and Mesadour and where do they go? To the Chargers and Jim Harbaugh and the Bucks and Jason Light, just to well run, know what they're doing franchises, I don't think it's shocking. And both of them benefited from just sitting there relaxing and letting random stuff happen in front of, like I bet obviously Jason Light knew the Rams weren't gonna take or didn't know that, I mean, I don't know if he knew they were gonna take Ty Simpson, but he knew they weren't gonna take Reuben Bain. But you're telling me the Dolphins? Like Reuben Bain just played in your backyard. He just played in your backyard. And you took a 450-pound offensive lineman? That I think Nick Saban was saying on TV. Like, yeah, he's got some work ethic issues. Well, of course he does. When you weigh 380, 390 pounds, it's hard to work. You ever put on an extra 10, 20 pounds? You don't feel the same. You don't. You ever slim down, know how much better you feel? It's all relative. Like, did you watch Shaq in 2002? Or you watch him in 2008? When you're carrying more weight, it's harder to operate. And it's also, you have to work even harder when you're bigger. It's harder on your joints. It's harder on your feet. My thing is, on the Dolphins, and I've been very complimentary of their new GM, their new coach, they feel like high-level guys. They come from, especially John Eric Sullivan, the GM, come from the Packers. Like, the Packers are pretty consistent in how they operate. I have a hard time over the last decade plus seeing the Packers take Procter. Yet, I could see the Packers take Bain, definitely Mesador. Like, I just don't see it. Like, that's not their type pick. And you're taking a guy that struggles with weight issues, putting him in this party, fun, kind of crazy town, feels a little risky. Like, I could get Bain, who's already lived in the area, knows how to dominate and is comfortable operating, but I, hell, you could have taken the guard for Penn State. I hate that. Jerry's a good example. Like, Jerry takes a lot of shit because he's always saying crazy stuff, never shuts up, so he talks a lot. If you are not a coach, they just kind of, I mean, most coaches, besides even Vrabel, I mean, I'll give Vrabel some credit. He just, the story has gotten so crazy. He's kind of had to take it head on, do multiple press conferences this week. He's admitted it without admitting it. It's not like he's gone on record to say like, yeah, we've slept together, you know, about seven years running now. So yeah, you guys caught me right handed. He's not saying that. But if you watch him, he's essentially saying that. And I'm also, again, I can't relate to everyone's relationship. I say it all the time. I just kind of, I don't judge other people behind, like you're sleeping with that person, you guys figure it out about your personal stuff. I just can't imagine my wife, or most people in my life's wives, after a situation that becomes this public, that's pretty clear been going on for a long time, be like, yeah, let's just hop in the suburban and head to counseling. Like my wife would be like, you can go to counseling and you can pay for it. But I'm going, she's talking about a loyal ride or die. I mean, that would not happen in my home or probably many of your homes. But what a shit show that has been. Speaking of shit shows, the Vikings, they don't have a general manager. Caleb Banks, who is just a monster defensive tackle, now he's had some injury issues. Pretty risky pick. I mean, that was a pretty, didn't see that one coming. I think a lot of people in the NFL, people like DJ and McShays that are really, really, you know, like I don't bug my friends as much like on Kansas City, like who are you guys gonna draft? Who are you guys gonna draft? I just text them about other stuff. And then when the draft comes then, we start picking your brain about stuff. But I'm not a reporter. I mean, don't get me wrong, I get information that I talk about on the show more about like bigger picture stuff. But I'm not in the business of like, who are you gonna pick? It's more like, what do you think about this guy? What do you think about the draft? What do you think about the class? More bigger picture stories. This was a guy that I had heard more, I don't know, late one, somewhere in the twos because of the injury issues. But there's no disputing his talent. Sometimes, to me philosophically, when you take bigger players who have either been banged up or struggle with weight issues, those guys are always huge swing hit or misses. Then when you take the Chiefs and who was the other team that did it? Oh, the Titans. This is my issue with the Titans, Kendrick Falk from Auburn. Peter Woods and Kendrick Falk, Keldrick Falk, were two guys that were projected at the beginning of the year coming in because they are extremely talented, kind of hybrid defensive lineman. You know, Peter Woods is probably more of a true inside guy. Falk is a guy, probably got a little more positional versatility, but Falk, 6'5, 276, Woods, 6'2, 300, but he's a good athlete. Were guys considered like top 10 pick potentials? I mean, top, if all things went well, I mean, at one point in time, people thought Clemson could win the National Championship. Peter Woods, I mean, I remember hearing all his name constantly in August. Same thing with Falk, like Auburn's pretty good. These are two guys that are going to go in the single digits. Well, they go at the end of the first round because for whatever reason, don't live up, like those guys are always risky picks. Now, this is a draft that you got to take some swings. I get it. I don't have as big of an issue with the Chiefs because you have a very established Hall of Fame defensive coordinator who's been doing it in that unit for a long time, and you have a Hall of Fame guy for him to sit next to every day in the meetings in Chris Jones. So, I think the thing with Falk, you have Jeffrey Simmons, who's a high level player, but I just think there are a lot of question marks there. I just would have reversed it. I just would have gone with Reese or Sonny Stiles at four and then traded back in. Omar Cooper went one pick ahead. I mean, the crazy part is a lot of people talk shit about the Jets, and they have been the butt of a lot of people's jokes, and rightfully so. I mean, I still can't believe they didn't have an interception. That's literally a statistic that can never be broken. It can be matched, but it could never be exceeded. It's not like one year, the team had negative two interceptions. That's not happening. But to get David Bailey, who's just a plug and play, I don't know if he's ever gonna be Lawrence Taylor, Reggie White coming off the edge, but he should be a guy that competes to be a double digit sack guy in the league. Sadiq is a extremely talented tight end. Little risky. I think there were some little underachievement last year at Oregon when he became the guy, but there is no disputing his physical talents. So you put him with Garrett Wilson, with Breece Hall, and then you get Omar Cooper. Like that's a pretty talented first round. And I get their coaching staff has basically turned over from year one. A lot of people think that Aaron Glenn is Deadman Walking. This roster does have some good players. If Geno Smith is just more serviceable like he was in Seattle, this is not a team that's going to be drafting number one overall. Now they're not going to make the playoffs, but it wouldn't shock me if they're drafting seventh or eleventh. Like this is not a team that's going to be that bad. Like relative, if you compare them to the Browns, who I think everyone just says, although them and the Browns suck, I think the Jets have a chance to be much more competitive than the Browns. Caleb Downs, the Cowboys. What was some other stuff today? One thing I appreciate about Bailey is when he walked out in the stage and they interview and everyone's so excited. He's like, she asked him something about the Jets. He's like, this is a franchise that's trending up. It's got to be cool if you're a fan and your team's been really shitty. Then you draft a guy and that guy, even if it's just he's going to say that no matter what, but it's like breeze a little confidence into your franchise. I also like delaying the corner when he walked out for the Chiefs. There's a cockiness that I want to see in a corner and I definitely saw it. Then I think there's, I didn't watch the ABC broadcast, which historically can be a little sappy. It was hard. I watched the first overall pick with Jack and Maria and Mendoza gets picked and then they kind of do this thing on his mom. He's speaking about, it's hard not to get a little emotional. Like, man, she's in a wheelchair, she's got MS It's just tough. They clearly got a big family with a lot of kids. There's just a lot of pride that they take in their mother. And Fernando specifically takes in like kind of lifting her up and just, I mean, honestly, making it about her a little bit and how important she's been. But when Jordan Tyson got drafted and he's walking out and he just kind of hits the ground in tears. I mean, you talk about a guy that was banged up this year, didn't play. I mean, a lot of people have been questioning where he's going to go. I mean, I thought honestly, he could drop a little bit and to go 10, to go to the Saints, a place that has, I mean, this is a team that has some offensive weapons. They got a Lave, they just signed H. Han, formerly known as Travis Etienne, they still got Kamara, the tight end is pretty solid. They got an offensive head coach, got an excellent wide receiver coach. I'll tell you right now, I'm picking the Saints to win that division. I'm picking the New Orleans Saints to win that division. Honestly, I don't hate the Panthers either. I just think Tyler Schuck might be better than Bryce Young. That's why I'm leaning there. But, yeah, the Jordan Tyson crying thing just felt very like, I can't even imagine the emotions of walking out there, especially that stretch that they have them walk down now and the camera's following them. That just felt pretty genuine in these moments that now everyone's so rich and all. There's something still pure about this event. When a guy gets drafted, his family, the excitement, the two big offensive linemen, the Pauley guys, the excitement they have with their family. In this world, especially in this sport, it's all about money and how much you're getting paid, and what's the NIL, and how much money is Mogeta going to get you. It's like, we get it, every fucking one's getting rich as shit. In these moments, there's just a purity to it. That it just feels pretty cool. That's where I have a big picture issue with the draft. I have a hard time in 2026 sitting and watching an event of the magnitude in which the draft is. No different than watching an NBA playoff game or an NFL game or a baseball game. And knowing that the TV is 15, 20 minutes behind. And I understand that like just turn off the Internet and just enjoy the TV. That is easy to say. And it would be much easier to comprehend that mindset in 2008 or held 2015. In 2026, when I looked at the Internet and I already knew the Chiefs pick, and they're still up three picks behind on TV. And there was a moment, I think, in the when the Giants picked the Miami tackle, the Internet was telling me Ty Simpson was on the Rams. I'm not claiming to have a fix to this. It's like tanking with the NBA. I got no clue how to fix it. I just know it needs to be fixed. This is something that is very difficult in a day and age when a lot of your consumers sit on this thing, especially during events. When is Twitter the most hot? During football games, during the NBA playoffs, during the World Cup, during the events, because it's got good communal experience. Well, when your TV is trying to do this serious broadcast, I wonder who the Ravens are going to go with here. Well, I knew 17 minutes ago, they went with the guard out of Penn State. Again, I'm not acting like I'm some genius and have some fix to this. I just think it's just off. Something is not going to work if this is the case. The problem is, is the NFL because of the system, and the way these tips are picked is if I'm the Rams and I put in Ty Simpson, well, I type it into the card or I call the guy, I guess, I don't know if they still send people to the given draft because it's all digital now, and it just goes right to the league office and then they post it. When they post Ty Simpson to the Rams, that goes up for the entire league to see. That is way ahead of the television. So then all the league, you just need to know one person or one team in a draft room, they can tell you who went where, when, and the timing is just not good. This is the only event that is as big as it is in this day and age that is essentially on tape delay. That the information is behind on television for a lot of people watching that can just see the actual information on the Internet. I tried and I ended up doing it because me and Colin jumped on the podcast and picked 15 or 16. But it was really difficult for me to be like, I just want to go old school, turn it off. Well, I also want to know who's getting picked where, when, and when. The TV just takes forever. Let's face it, part of the television is, I mean, it's an event for the league and it's a cool event. I mean, it's Goodell several times, like every three or four picks, all of a sudden just walks out there with like seven legends or something involving charity. It's like, it's a big deal for the league to do this stuff, but it also delays everything. And you know who's not doing any of that? All the draft rooms. They don't give a shit. They're just focused on the players and the picks. And it's just kind of off kilter. Life moves fast. Work, family, friends, weekend plans, and somewhere in between. You find the moments that really matter. That's why Toyota believes people are the destination. It's not just about where you're headed, it's about who's beside you. 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Well, they just took the Georgia Tech offensive lineman, Coward compared them to Greg Zabel, the dude Seattle took last year. The Texans pick, the Niners have the first pick in the second round. One, two, three, four, five, have the sixth pick tomorrow. So if I'm the Texans, I probably pick another offensive lineman. Like, you don't need anything on defense. Your defense is loaded. You could go offensive lineman or a skill guy. But I think the Texans, if these two guys can be plug and play players, the offensive lineman they just took and whoever they take and pick 38, they just gotta convince CJ. Stroud, just play under control. We don't need you to be Josh Allen. What you were doing against the Patriots and the Steelers, let's just take a deep breath. Just play under control. I do think that the Patriots surely thought the Chiefs were going to take the other Utah tackle and they jumped them to pick 28, which I give the Patriots credit for still running draft meetings and having a plan of attack even with all the chaos going on in their building. Because there's no way around it. The Patriots feel a little chaotic right now. And I don't know how he does it. And as long as he goes to counseling and a lot of people thought like, you can't go wait to go Monday to counseling. Like guys, do you understand that he would not be doing this if he thought his family was going to completely fall apart? And the reason he has the equity and the juice to do this is twofold. One, he's clearly a beloved figure in that organization. He was one of the prominent players slash personalities on three Super Bowls. And then in year one of his head coaching tenure for the Patriots, they immediately go to the Super Bowl. With a team that, let's face it, is not that great. Their quarterback was really good. Their corner Christian Gonzalez is good. Their defense as a whole is well coached. But like, are they a top five roster in the AFC? Do they have a better roster than their teams in their own division? So to think Vrabel, like, this is probably embarrassing for the Kraft family and Robert and Jonathan. It's not ideal. Pain in the ass for Elliott Wolfe, his coach isn't there. But like, this dude's got a lot of juice in this building. This is not like he's, you know, his pick. If this happened, Jeff Hathley or Aaron Glenn or someone with just no equity, who had been shitty or, you know, if I'm trying to think of a coach that's kind of hasn't been there. You know, Todd Munkin, you know. If that happened, be like, see ya. Mike Vrabel is a made man in the New England Patriot Mob. Now, this situation in this story took on a life of its own. And it snowballs and it keeps snowballing. And I think we are all prepared for anything that's still coming. But to think that this guy's job. Now, if you told me that, like, he wanted to keep his wife so badly, he said, I was prepared when it went, Mike Reese or someone, the Patriots put out that he's gonna speak before the draft. I was like, you know what wouldn't be shocking? If he's like, I'm gonna take the next month off, I gotta figure some shit out, Josh will run the team. Honestly, that's what I kind of expected. It's not exactly what happened. He just kind of came out. I didn't even watch his whole statement. But from by all accounts, kind of reiterated what he said the other day. But he's not gonna get fired. As long as he wants to coach the team, guess what Robert Kraft and Jonathan Kraft are gonna do? They're gonna allow him to coach the team. It's no different than some of these players. There are gonna be some of these players in the first round who are gonna turn into stars. And some of them are gonna be great guys, easy. Larry Fitzgerald, who's in my backyard. Larry Fitzgerald is probably the easiest superstar in NFL history, twofold. He played for one of the worst organizations of all time, never complained. And he's like, his character is like a 20 out of a 10. It's everything you'd want in a superstar. You don't even think about wide receiver, just fucking badass, big game player. Sometimes you get Antonio Brown. But you know what Antonio Brown did? Became a pain in the ass, but he was catching 140 balls a year. You know what the Steelers did for a while? They dealt with it. So, Dr. River said this a long time, as long as you're better than your problems, you get to keep going in pro sports. And right now, this problem for Mike Vrabel, his coaching ability on the field is way bigger than just people on the Internet posting pictures of him at bars, and casinos, and kissing. But this gets back to like some situations, Zachariah Branch, who's going to get drafted tomorrow. His situation, you got to get context, and the headline is not as bad as once you start doing research, you talk to people as like just a dude who had a moment of just being cocky. I don't know if he was drunk or not. Just kind of being an idiot. Not a bad guy, just being an idiot. I don't know if it was an overzealous cop. I'd argue you just you cannot get arrested no matter what a week before the draft. But this wasn't like he was robbing some dude and then stole a car. This is not some of these situations we've seen recently. Honestly, depending on who you talk to you, like the Reuben Bain thing was not a big issue for a lot of people in the NFL. They had a lot more information than we did, and from everyone I've talked to felt very, very good about the guy's character. And, you know, like, listen, Vrabel, sometimes coaches, some coaches are like really high character good guys. But he's like, this guy's just a good guy, you know? Listen, I've been around him and I'm biased on this one, but you're not going to hear many people say bad things about Andy Reid. But some coaches are just like, yeah, it's not a great guy. Like, I don't think people, like, from a character standpoint, think that highly of Lane Kiffin. I wouldn't say they put Lane Kiffin on the Mount Rushmore of like great humans. You know, I think Vrabel is kind of in that world. But why did Lane Kiffin just get $100 million to go to LSU? Because he's an awesome coach. So coaching a little like playing, as long as you are really good, people kind of deal with you. Some coaches can be cocky, some coaches can be egotistical. Like, I don't think the Harbaugh brothers are the easiest to deal with. You know, some guys are. Look, I think Andy's pretty easy. You know, Kyle Shanahan is not easy. I think, talking to John Snyder, Mike McDonald, about as low maintenance and easy as he gets. He's shocked by how low maintenance and easy Mike McDonald is. No different players. Sometimes you get a guy that's like, ah, this is really easy. This is incredible, right? This is awesome. And then you get some players who are. I mean, they're really good, but when they're really good, you kind of got to deal with them. That's the whole draft process of why some guys fall, some guys go, some guys... There are all these different variables. And my variable is kind of like... This situation is just... You're kind of the butt of everyone's jokes, because we all know. You can't lie to people. We're all in relationships. Even if we're single, we've been in relationships. Listening or dating, married, whatever. You can't show me those pictures. We all know what it means. I didn't need the picture of them making out in some bar to know that they were banging. Are we idiots? So this gets back to you just got to take it on the chin and this situation doesn't quite become what it becomes. But now it's out of control. And who knows, right? There are going to be people. I saw some people on the Internet of like, what what type of human being would send six year old pictures? Because I can imagine someone was in the bar drinking and said, Oh, shit, that's Mike Vrabel making out. You probably think it was his wife. You don't know. Most people don't have like Mike Vrabel's wife off the top of their head, what she looks like. And if you're not some diehard NFL person, you don't. You might not know who Diana Rossini is, especially six years ago. She's probably just getting drunk making out with his wife. If I was just like selling insurance or a normal person or hell, even me, I definitely might have snuck a picture. You're not going to post it on Twitter or anything. She's had it in your phone. Then all of a sudden, you're just some random guy or girl. You realize, should I just call TMS here, the New York Post, and see if I can get 25K for this picture that I have when I was randomly having a couple of espresso martinis and he was sucking on her lips 15 feet away from me, which I didn't even know at the time. I've just always told people, I had this picture of Mike Vrabel making out and getting drunk at the bar, like a lot of us have done over the course of our lives. Typically, with someone we're in a relationship with, and maybe they were in a relationship, I don't know. It feels that way. I'm all for love. You love who you love. Ideally, you love the person you're married with, but historically, when you look around society, that's not always the case. Still can't get over the Rams. I really can't. I just think that's insane. I think if you told right now Seattle and San Francisco, they're happy that the Rams used that pick on that player. They had the 13th overall pick, and they get a guy that's not going to help them at all this year. And if Stafford went down, like, I'd want to see Ty Simpson. Bring him on. Now, he is in a good spot. Obviously, good coach. They have a lot of talent around him, good defense. So it's, from a Ty Simpson standpoint, he should be thanking his lucky stars. Thank the big guy upstairs when he goes to church on Sunday. Like, he could have gone to a lot of shitty teams, and he went to, I mean, one of the best teams in the league for the last seven or eight years. So, I mean, it's pretty lucky for him. You get to go to Alabama to the Rams when you're a top 15 pick. I mean, most of these, these quarterbacks get drafted high. I mean, even Fernando, it's crazy. I haven't even talked about Fernando. I mean, we've been talking about him for months. See, he's not going to a great team. I mean, they could be better, but they were drafted to number one for a reason. Now, it's going to be a lot of new rosters, or, I mean, new players on the roster this year, obviously, on defense. They draft Pick 36. I mean, the Raiders, they could take defense, but I'm just trying to see any wide receivers. Denzel Boston, tight end. Eli Stowers, the Vanderbilt guy, he's not bad. Then you get to, like, Zachariah Branch, Brazil, Jeremy Bernard, the Alabama guy. He's got a lot of people that like him. Jacob Rodriguez, the linebacker from Texas Tech, who's incredible. He's your classic, like, people kind of knock him because he's not the greatest athlete. But you watch Texas Tech, like, David Bailey in their defensive line was awesome. But, I mean, it felt like this guy got 30 tackles a game. I've always loved CJ. Allen from Georgia, the linebacker. I thought he, he's been a badass for a long time. There are going to be some pretty good players in this second round. TJ Parker, Christian Miller. Yeah, so I guess we'll end on that. What a night. Podcast with Colin, podcast here. We'll have another podcast tomorrow. We'll just keep grinding. This is The Draft and let's just grind on through, see who gets drafted in the second round. Adios. Have a great day. Talk to you soon. The Volume.