Eagles have a Jalen Hurts problem, Puka Nacua seeks help, Rams-49ers in Australia

This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human. Fly with a fry, chicken is here. The 20 hot wings bucket, 20 succulent hot wings for $7.99. Come under our wings and feel the flavor, savior. Sensation awaits. Get the deal, believe in chicken. Yes. Available until the 19th of April. Subject to availability, participating restaurants only. Excludes delivery. Full season seas at koc.co.uk. Virgin Media gives you show-stopping TV and broadband. You get the channels you love, including Netflix, and now Sky Atlantic at no extra cost. That's epic entertainment you can't stop watching. A bit like an elephant cruising on a truck through the bright lights of Bangkok. Plus, you get lightning fast broadband too. Yeah, that's entertainment, the Virgin Media way. Visit virginmedia.com. New customers only, Virgin Fiber areas, restrictions in credit check supply, term supply. The volume. What is going on, everybody? John Middlkoff, 3 and Out podcast. How are we doing, everybody? Hopefully you're doing great. I'm doing great because I woke up to The Eagle Story, which was really the talk of the combine. Now it is public and out there. We will dive into that. Something that broke this afternoon, Puka Nakua has checked himself into rehab, like Tiger Woods, though his is in Malibu. All reports, Tiger's going out of the country. A lot of other stuff going up. Kyle Shanahan had some thoughts on McVeigh, forcing them to go to Australia, the running back position making a comeback. And someone had asked me, because we talked about the coach's photo. We talked about the GM photo. They're like, could you break down the coach's happy hour at the pool? I said, can I ever? I've watched that video like 15 times. Fascinated by it. Had a million thoughts about it. Wrote some of them down. So we'll do a little scouting report on the positioning on the booze fest that was going on under the sun at a pool. I've actually drank at as well. Great. Bill Barr's got a good pool. If you're ever in that area and want to have a pool day, even if you're not staying there, you can get a day pass. I'm going to get a day pass for like $20. Bars are sweet. You got to swim up bars. It's a good spot. Highly recommend it. So we'll do that. We'll have another podcast out tomorrow. And then next week, I think the game plan will probably have a master's preview Monday. I'm going to record a bunch of mail bags, probably Friday or Saturday for next week. I'm going to be in LA all next week. Not quite sure on my schedule. So I'm going to record some in the next couple of days. So fire in those mail bags if you want to get involved. And you guys know the drill. If you're listening on Colin's feed, make sure you subscribe to 3&Out. You can check all these videos out, a place called Netflix. Appreciate everyone watching. And let's just dive right into the Eagle story. Now, let's go big picture. I don't think the timing of this story was random. It's the first thing I thought about when I clicked on it and I read it. And I saw pro football talk, me and Florio. We might not be aligned on everything, but he was thinking the same thing. This story drops the day after the owner's meetings. What happens at the owner's meetings? Siriani is obligated to talk. How he runs a media session, as most general managers do with their local media there. This story was not available, at least publicly, for any of those situations. Now, for those of us that are... I don't even want to say in the loop, because I've never... I've actually never talked to Howie about Jalen Hurst. Never had one conversation with him. Honestly, most of my conversations about where he should go eat in a certain town or BSing with him about something stupid. But I've never discussed Jalen Hurst. So I had no inside information from Howie. I don't know Siriani. But it was well established at the combine. And I've admitted to this as well, that I felt like your typical media guy piling on AJ Brown during the season. And I heard some things that... Obviously, AJ's not the easiest guy to deal with. Welcome to Wide Receivers. But when it came to like, if you pulled that locker room, if you said, hey guys, if we could choose one of the two guys, which one would you choose? I heard it was unanimously AJ Brown. Now, because of the contract, they're stuck with Jalen Hurst, and it's not easy to find another quarterback. But one thing is clear, the bat signal was sent out today. And here's what we know about the Philadelphia Eagles. Their owner spends a shitload of money. Over the course of like 21, 22, 23, and 24, I think only Jimmy Haslam, which is kind of ironic because they were terrible, for most of it, they didn't make the playoffs one time with Flacco, spent more actual cash, right? We've been talking a lot about this because GM was like, John, you talk so much about the salary cap, you don't talk enough about cash. There's two separate things. And it separates a lot of these teams. It's like, this one was the crazy part about like the Bella Checke and Run, and even the last five or six years with the New England Patriots, relative to the rest of the league, they don't spend as much cash. Same thing with Jerry Jones. You know, certain teams spend more actual of their own money relative to the salary cap, because you can manipulate it than others. And Jeffrey LaRie always has. And the one thing we know about that offense, it is highly paid. Wide receivers, offensive linemen. I mean, how he's given Saquon Barkley multiple contracts, Forever Goddard was making a ton of money. I think he's making a little less now that they resigned him, but they are paying premiums for the group. And they gave Jaylen Hertz a five-year, $255 million contract. And typically, when you are a top, I don't know, 10, 12-ish quarterback, the guaranteed money is kind of a fugazi, because you're going to see every fucking penny on the contract. You see it all. Dak Prescott has never not see, and I'm not even talking about Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Joe Burroughs. I'm talking that next to the cousins, the Daks, the Jared Goffs, they see every penny guaranteed and on. So when they sign these enormous contracts, it has to be a absolute train wreck, Russell Wilson to Atonga by Loa, Kyler Murray for teams to eat and get rid of you. Because, one, it obviously cripples your cap, which is important because then you can't, you know, maneuver other players underneath when a guy like Tula's taken up a $99 million dead cap hit, or Kyler Murray's taken up $50 million. You don't want to do that. Next year, Jaylen Hertz, let's just say this year is a disaster, is $67 million. I saw someone say that's manageable. True, because you could spread it out over two years. They don't want to do that. They just want him to play well. They just want him to be a consistent quarterback. The Eagles are cutthroat. They are a throwback. Bill Walsh cut you a year before you started diminishing instead of waiting a year too late. Belichick did it forever. Andy, beside Kelsey, has made a career off doing that. Because that's what it takes to sustain a good organization. And how he did it with Carson Wentz. They signed him to this massive contract relative to the salary cap and the money and the signing bonuses at the time. Within a couple years, they were pivoting and Jaylen Hertz was out of there. It goes back to the Tom Brady thing with Belichick, why he was always on pins and needles. Because even though he was the greatest quarterback of all time by like the mid-2015, you know, 10s by like 15 and 16, he had seen all of his friends get traded or cut. That first 10 plus years of his career, when they rattled off three Super Bowls, they went to multiple other, you know, in 2007 and 2011 and lost. Think of how many high-end players, Hall of Famers, he saw either drafted, cut, drafted, traded, happened to them all. Logan Mankins, Randy Moss, Mike Vrable, these guys, Wes Welker, they were all discarded. Welcome to the NFL. This is some of these stories when a guy in baseball or basketball gets cut, it's like, whoa, fucking happens every day in football. Happens all the time with bad organizations, let alone the good ones. Because they do not tolerate when your play starts going like this. And when you lead the league in three and outs, you can blame the offensive coordinator. Jeffrey Lurie is like, we fired a couple of these guys. It can't just be them. It can't just be AJ Brown or Devonte Smith or the questionable offensive line. And you start talking to people like the quarterback frustrated a lot of people. And I think the Eagles are doing this as like it's on, man. You either shape up or you shape out. And here's the thing about Jalen Hurts. It's not like, you know, you see some of these stories about somebody, he's not like a bad guy. He is always in shape. He works hard. He's extremely serious. But as you could see in there, quarterback is a very nuanced situation. They have a lot of juice. Because even if they don't have carte blanche at the line of scrimmage, they could if they want. They can change a play whenever they want. Think about Russell Wilson. He started driving the Seattle Seahawks nuts. And for a couple of years, like, you know, what are we really going to say? We're winning. Things are going well. It's like we kind of kept our mouth shut. And then by like 2018 and 19, things started coming out. It was like, yeah, John Snyder was ready to trade him to the Browns and draft Josh Jalen. You're like, what? And then you're like, what's really going on? And it turns out he was driving them nuts. Because it typically with a quarterback is about two things. Do you play well in what we want you to do and we think you excel at? Because most guys are not like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers in their prime, like could succeed in most schemes, can handle fucking everything. Most guys are pretty scheme specific and have specific traits that you need them to excel at. And that is Jalen Hertz. Throws a really good deep ball, is a great athlete, is a great scrambler. Well, what will he no longer do? He won't run. So Jalen Hertz, when he became a really good player, was a dual threat quarterback. Well, he's not a dual threat quarterback anymore. He's just a passer. And we've seen him as a pocket passer. It's not great. And they led the league in three and outs. Like that's not just the play collar. That's not just the right guard. That's the quarterback who's clearly just not great from within the pocket. And I'll defend Jalen here in a second. But I think they wanted to be known of like, this isn't just idiot coaches in AJ Brown. Some of it's on him. And he refuses to go under center. And we've had to talk to him like, going under center, one can help you out. And two, helps our running back out, who I don't know, just had one of the greatest seasons in the history of the league. And when you go go under center and a guy goes, no, what's the coach going to do? What's, honestly, what's how he going to do? I'm making $50, $55 million. Siri, Nick, what are you making? 10? How are you making 10? I 5x you. I don't have to listen to you. And that's the thing about Jalen is it kind of became a little NBA-ish. Like, yeah, I don't really need to listen to anybody. I'll do what I want to do. I think I know what my strengths and weaknesses are, which he clearly doesn't. Because part of his strength is the move. I kept saying in the 49er game, and listen, I'm one of the 49ers to win, was like, if Jalen just ran like 15 times, they would have no answer. They have backup defensive linemen. They have backup, they have like seven string linebackers. They had a guy that was like out of the league. And they ran one, if I remember correctly, design quarterback run. It went for like 20 yards, and there was a holding, so it was called back. I would have ran that play every fucking play. The 49ers, Robert Sahlke had the greatest game plan of all time. They would have no shot to stop it. None. They didn't have the athletes on the field. But they couldn't call it because he wouldn't run it. And so part of being a great player is being a great teammate. And part of being a great teammate is being good with the coach. Like, what do I need to do? And that's what has made Josh Lamar, obviously Patrick, like, what do you need me to do? You need me to jump this way or jump this way? You need me to run backwards this way or run backwards this way? Tom Brady and Peyton Manning did it forever. I was like, oh, you're just going to allow me to do dump offs and wheel routes this entire game? I will do that every fucking play. Because it's not about me. It's about how do we get the ball down the field, get first downs, score touchdowns, and win the game? That's the only thing that matters. And I do think that's pretty clear. And this is what I've heard, that the money has changed the relationship. How could it not? Because if you don't handle money well and you become that rich and not like, well, that he's lazy, he doesn't work, he does all like, he's in shape, he tries. But like, when it comes to the scheme, he pushes back against it. And here's the one thing that, like a lot of other quarterbacks, Matt Ryan, Aaron Rodgers, two great examples. Matt Ryan is first year with Kyle Shanahan and Atlanta, did not go well. And Aaron Rodgers is first year with Matt LaFleur. They were in the NFC championship game, but anyone who watched that team was a little weird. And part of it was both guys weren't that comfortable turning their back to the defense. They didn't like it. Aaron Rodgers liked being in the shotgun. Matt Ryan liked being in the shotgun. But in that offense, a lot of the play action is turning your back to the defense. And Kyle told Matt, like, you have to do this for this scheme to excel and you will excel. He listened what happened. Matt Ryan won the MVP and they were up 28-3 in the Super Bowl. Obviously, Aaron Rodgers, they kind of hybridated it, but he went to win multiple MVPs. And one thing that's said in that article is, and listen, this goes for anybody, most of us human beings, if we try something new, if we go a week or two, especially in this modern day society, or it's not working, we'll pivot. And sometimes you have to think big picture and like, you got to get worse before you get better. And they will try new things and this is what was reported. And if it doesn't go well, Jalen like will refuse to do it. And here's the problem. This new scheme hiring Sean Manion, here's the other part I think about this article for those of you that haven't read it, go check it out on ESPN.com. One thing that had to really embarrass Jeffrey Lurie, who has spent a boatload of money on this team over the course of his ownership, and Howie Roseman, who thinks that he's built one of the best teams in the league talent-wise, especially on offense, they couldn't get anyone to take the job. They have a roster with, I mean, multiple offensive linemen that are good under contract. Seyquan Barkley, multiple wide receivers, whether they want to keep AJ or not, he's a big time asset. You know that they will draft another wide receiver if need be and more likely the guy will be good. They got firepower on offense and they have an elite defense. So as an offensive coordinator, it's a pretty good spot. Multiple coaches, Shane Steichel and Kellen Moore became head coaches off the gig. No one would take the job because I say this all the time about football. It's a lot like high school. Word gets around really fast. Everyone knows everybody. And word spread that's not easy to deal with this guy. He won't listen. And he has his beliefs on what should work and not that open-minded. And I think the Eagles, you know, ended up with Sean Manion, who clearly wasn't their first pick and who knows it might work, but he's going to run the Kyle Shanahan offense, which again is predicated like Rodgers, like Matt Ryan, on getting under center and turning your back to the defense, which in fairness to Jalen, if most of your career you had been in the shotgun, it wouldn't be, you wouldn't be that comfortable doing it. But what he's doing currently is not only not working, it's a fucking disaster. So for them to try this, I think they're putting this out there because I don't know the date, the Eagles report, but my guess is typically a week or two before the draft. So within the next 14-ish days, they want it to be known like this is not going to be tolerated anymore. And like, I know you're making a lot of money, but you've seen before, we got rid of a guy to put you in there. If you don't think we will do this again, you're dealing with the wrong people because we will not hesitate. This organization fired fucking Andy Reid. We do not care. We will get rid of you if you do not produce. And now to me, the pressure is all on Jalen and Sirianni because he's got to handle this. He's got this young coordinator. And this is where Jeffrey Lurie sings the praises of Sirianni. Great with people, great handling stuff. This is why this job is so intense. This is not an easy place to work. The roster is highly paid. This team is treated like, it's an SEC football team like LSU, Texas, Bama, Georgia. It's just, it's in a fishbowl of intensity of football. And now you have this issue of Jalen, not that he didn't know, like these issues, it's all been discussed with everybody. You know, this is one of those, maybe all the public knows. Me and Cowardice have talked about this before. This is not something that I didn't really learn much from it, just because I'm privy, this is the world I'm in, but I could see you reading, okay, God, I got some issues. And this is part of his job. And this is where, if you wanted to defend Sirianni as one of the top coaches, basically at every turn, he's handled a lot of crap. This is not a gig for just random guys that can't handle the pressure. It will eat you alive. But also, I think they're going of, if he plays like that again, it could be an even bigger disaster. And more than likely, the Giants are going to be better with John Harbaugh. The Cowboys have multiple first round picks. They already beat us last year. If their defense is just solid, like they could be a problem. The commanders have Jayden Daniels, who had one of the great rookie seasons of all time. If he's just healthy, they could be a problem. Like this is not just going to be as easy of like, even if we have a weird season, we're locked to win the division. So to me, the bat signal went out to Jaylen and his camp, like, this will not be tolerated anymore. So you either do it our way or not it our way anymore. Because it does feel like it's shaping into the Russell Wilson situation a little bit. And, you know, Russell was a better player than Jaylen Hertz when it started getting weird. He just was. But to me, Jaylen can be a good player again. If he's willing to go, I'll do whatever it takes to win. And his legs are a great attribute for his game. Part of what makes Lamar great when he's humming is he can do everything. Throw it within the pocket. He can throw on the move and he can run. But it's like, bro, you know, remember Russell's big thing is like, I'm going to play like Tom Brady. It's like, no, you're not. And he never could. And I think Jaylen kind of got in that mode of like, that's how I want to play. Well, it's like, you're not good enough to play like that. Most people aren't. So, and you specifically are not. So we're not doing that anymore. And I think this was, I think they were very strategic about this. You know, Jeffrey spoke and he was the opposite, just praising them left and right. But the contract came up. You're like, well, what about a contract extension? Because after next year it'd be like, could they get ahead of it? He's like, no, he's just on the new contract. Like right now a contract extension, if you're a betting man, if this keeps getting weird, he will not be the quarterback for long in the Philadelphia Eagles, which is crazy because the guy was just Super Bowl MVP has been a starting quarterback in multiple Super Bowls. But isn't that the great part about the NFL? And this is how fickle the sport is. You could be hoisting the Lombardi Trophy on a duck boat down Broad Street. And two years later, them saying, if you don't improve, we will cut you or trade you. And we will not hesitate to do so. We've done it before. We'll do it again. And if you don't believe us, call our bluff. Because we've seen them. They 100% will. Because I'll promise you this. There's really one made man in that organization. It's not the quarterback. It's not the coach. It's the general manager. So I just think that this was something they felt like they needed to do. And now this scheme, running the Shanahan thing, that's one thing I talked to a lot of people about at the combine. That offense is like you got to be pretty accurate, quick decision maker. Jalen's game is much more kind of playmaking. His good version is like what Deshaun Watson was when he was in Houston and what Russell was like kind of scramble, get without the pocket, make plays down the field, throw a good deep ball, make plays with your legs, try to transition to something he's not. And that's a good life lesson. Like we all have certain strengths and weaknesses. Most people aren't just like super good looking, tall, super smart, great socializer, loving, empathetic person, great athlete, can play the piano, can play the guitar, can run a company. Like most of us have one or two really strong strengths. It's no different with players. Most people are not like Lawrence Taylor or Aaron Donald or Trent Williams. Most players in the league, even the good ones, have weaknesses. And the key to making those players excel is to try to avoid those weaknesses. Some guys, some wide receivers like Deandre Hopkins, never ran that fast. You know what? Didn't matter. You're not asking them to run go routes all day long. If you did, it wouldn't really work because you're not going to get away from anybody. But if you do slants, if you do out routes, if you do stuff across the middle, red zone, utilize the guy's talent. And I just think that that's what they're trying to do. And they're going to try to do this with this new scheme. And I don't know. It's going to be fascinating. But here's what we know. The Eagles offense will be one of the biggest stories in terms of a unit next year in the NFL. I mean, they're always covered like one of the prime time teams because they are. But now that this story, now that you can't even hide from it, it's going to be, it's going to be, I love, it's what I've been saying about Josh Allen and the Bills and Joe Brady, Minter and Lamar Jackson. I love it when the pressure goes up to 100. That's when it's the most fun because sometimes you answer. It's like, I hate the Lakers. They're one of the only teams that I truly like, truly hate. Yet I got to respect it. I mean, they've kind of figured it out and they look fantastic. And sometimes like, listen, you play for the Lakers, you got LeBron James, JJ Reddick, everything became such a big deal, right? The pressure is immense. Same thing with the New York Knicks. Same thing with the New York Yankees. Like when Aaron Boone goes to the yard, it's a little different being the manager of that team than it is like the Anaheim Angels or the Texas Rangers. It's a fucking pressure cooker. And that's what it's like for the Eagles. Players and coaches. So, and listen, Howie's won multiple Super Bowls. His resume surely probably get him in the Hall of Fame one day. But that's how he operates. He's intense. The pressure in that organization. Everyone's on pins and needles. And listen, I talked to Jeffrey Lurie five times in my entire life and the conversations probably lasted combined less than a minute. Maybe he likes it like that. Maybe he enjoys that. That's kind of football culture. Belichick was like that for 20 plus years. They went to nine Super Bowls and won six. Sabin was like that for 15 years. They won seven titles. Urban Meyer was like that his entire career. BCSU Todd, National Championships, Florida and Ohio State. This is not, you know, beer league softball. This is not high school soccer. This is intense. Heads roll. Either get it done or you don't or they get rid of you. And we have some recent examples where guys got rid of quick. So, the story now that it's public, buckle up. 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And don't forget, with Hillary's, measuring and fitting is always included, so get window-wise and book your free in-home appointment today at hillaries.co.uk. But hurry, an extra 10% off everything ends the 13th of April. Conditions apply. Another story. Puka Nakua has officially checked himself into a rehab facility in Malibu, which is a beautiful area, right by the water. So now we've had Tiger and Puka. We don't have all the details on Tiger, but the moment Tiger's car flipped, my first take was it is inevitable that he is in rehab within the week. Really for two reasons. One, it's Florida. They're not messing around. He's already got multiple DUIs. He was in a residential area. Could have killed people. They will drop the hammer. I don't care how much money you got. So he had to do that to get ahead of it. Like, he wasn't going to be at the master's dinner. He wasn't going to be teeing it up on the part 3. That wouldn't look good in the judicial, you know, group size. So like, Tiger checking into rehab, to me, felt like a lock just from that standpoint, and to just his respectability. It's like, Tiger, we all know. Like, you had multiple pills in your pocket. No one thinks you're drinking Tito's and sodas at lunch. Like, we know what you're doing, and we want you to get help, bro. But listen, I'm not, I don't have an addictive personality, been around somatics, known a few that didn't make it. And if you don't want to get help, it doesn't matter. Obviously, in some of these situations, there are a lot of people around you that profit off you. And Tiger, unlike Puka, has way more money. Billion, well past a billion dollars. He got a lot of people on the payroll. And if those people have a sense of reality, they would push him that way to try to keep the money train rolling. Now, who knows, he gets out, maybe gets rid of some of them. But some of these Puka Nakua videos, and listen, I'd be a hypocrite. Like, I've been blacked out my fair share of times. But, and listen, I've tried to avoid Ben's drinking in my late 30s, early 40s. I still like having a few cocktails. When you have two, sometimes it leads to four or five. So, I'd be lying if I said I don't enjoy drinking when I socialize. I do a lot. Don't love the mornings. And I've had to be a little more careful because I just, I can't function hungover. But I do like having cocktails when I'm interacting with other human beings. But, and I've been young, I've done stupid stuff, like many people listening, I'm sure, if you were a high profile person and people had video cameras on you, when you were in your early to mid 20s, it would be something I got very lucky. In college, and in high school, I mean, I started drinking like sophomore year high school, there were, camera phones didn't exist. We had dial up internet. So, the iPhone, I don't think came out until well after I graduated college. So, it's easy for a lot of people to talk about Puka's situation. Many of us could have been caught in situations that if a video got out, we would be thoroughly embarrassed in something we would want our children never to see. But, when I was his age, I didn't have a Jackson Smith and Jigba contract on the line. And when I saw the story today that he checked himself into rehab, I went, we've got a hundred million dollar plus reasons to figure this thing out. Because the videos that it surfaced, one, from being a pain in McVeigh's ass with the streamers, which listen, that would have been something that they could have got passed. You're just with some people that most people my age, me and Sean are the same age, we don't even know who these people, I couldn't point them out of the lineup. I don't even understand what's going on. Honestly, I don't even give a fuck. But to me, when you get in situations where you're stumbling outside of cars and then the lawsuit comes, I know it gets, you know, she backs out of it. Like, I don't want to deal with that. In my best players, Matt Stafford, Aaron Donald, now Trent McDuffie, every night when I am Sean McVeigh and Lesneed, and I lay my head down on the pillow, I know the last person I'm ever going to get a call about doing something ridiculous or outrageous, something that they could control would be my leaders on my team. It would never happen. And with Puka, that couldn't be said anymore. And here's what, I brought up a couple quotes from the day that they did the press conference, Mike McDonald and Jackson Smith and Jigma and John Schneider. One thing John said is, when you go to ownership and ask for an investment like this, you have to be cognizant of who the person is. His parents did a great job raising him. Mike McDonald, one of the great things that paints a great picture about Jack's means to us being a foundational piece of our football team and our organization is we've got a full house here. This is pretty awesome. I just want to emphasize how excited we are. He's going to be here and he's a foundational piece. He's a cornerstone to our team. Another quote Mike had is, he's a superstar who doesn't act like one. When you invest these contracts and now wide receivers, tackles, pass rushers, corners, are getting $100 plus million guaranteed, they just gave him a $35 million check the day they signed him, like I said, a couple weeks, you know, whenever that direct deposit goes through, two-week pay periods. They did it because of the guy. Obviously, he's an elite player and has a chance to be a Hall of Fame level guy, but they would not have given him that contract if he was a slap off the field. They just would not have. But when you have a guy who is everything you want, team captain, leader, tone setter, incredible human being, you can't wait to do that. You went, I drafted this guy. He's an all pro-pro bowl level guy. I want to invest in him because my name, as a general manager, as a coach, I want it to be associated with that guy. Asher McVay would it's like to be associated with Aaron Donald or Matt Stafford. It's a big deal. Those guys, he's synonymous with those guys. No different than, you know, Andy Reid, Travis Kelsey, Patrick Mahomes, Alex Smith, like takes a lot going back to all the guys with the Eagles, takes a lot of pride in guys being good guys, good people, and great players. And the stuff that was going on with Jack Smith, like there was no way on God's green earth going the way it was going. They could give him that money. It wasn't going to happen. And I would imagine the Rams told him, I'm not saying they told him to go to rehab, but they just said like, we're not having contract extensions with you. It's just not happening. Sometimes just business, right? David Mulgetta could call Nick Casario and be like, hey, you know, CJ is going into year four, $175 million guaranteed, $250 million deal, five-year deal. That's kind of the going rate for, yeah, buddy, you're going to need to call us later, right? And that's just business. That's not, we like the guy or whatever. Not playing well enough. And then you get these situations like Puka where I've been watching football for 30-plus years. I love football. I've made my living, my adult life talking about football, literally. And I told one of my closest friends in the league who's a wide receiver coach. I've never seen a player like him, and he's been doing it a lot longer than me. He's a unique, dumb, and he's one of the more fun players to watch in the league. And the Rams who drafted the guy, not like Jackson Smith in the first round, not in the second round. Like he was a later round pick. I want to say third. I don't want to mess this up, but Puka, Nakuwa, what round was he drafted in? For some reason, I want to say fifth. Fifth round pick. Puka Nakuwa is a fifth round pick. For some reason, I think third. Honestly, that's even a bigger feather in less need in McVeigh's cap. We drafted a guy who, in the fifth round, that his rookie season, he was a pro bowler, his rookie season, he was a second team all-pro, and last year, without a doubt, 129 catches, 1700 yards, and 10 touchdowns, first team all-pro. That's something you take pride in. Like think about in life what you take pride in, right? I just have a young son. If he becomes a good person, has success, gets A's in the classroom, even though I think about sometimes, after they teach him to read and write, what's he going to learn in school that's going to be any use to him in the world he's going to grow up in, with technology and the ability to literally get a hold of everything? But that's a conversation for another day. But if he hits home running Little League or wins a golf tournament, makes a tackle in Peewees, my Peewees were called Midgets. And this was Davis, was like a hippie, liberal town back in the 90s. I would imagine they've renamed that, but we had Midgets, Junior Midgets before you got to like JV Football. But there's nothing more than you would take pride in as a general manager than landing a fifth round pick and having that guy, Pete Carroll, Richard Sherman, Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch, George Kittle. Like it doesn't get any better than that. Fifth, sixth, seventh round picks become pro bowlers, all pros, hall of famers. It's one thing. It's like, hey, we drafted, you know, even Patrick Mullins, we drafted him in the first round, traded up to get him. I hope he's good. Caleb Williams, like we drafted him number one overall, we drafted this guy in the fifth round. But I, that video of him on the bus, it was like, this is, if I'm less need, like, I'm telling his agent, like you guys need to figure it out. Because this other thing, like this is, these are grownups. This isn't Alabama football, where you get in trouble and Nick, you have seven people hold your hands. Most people are not the Eagles, we're big doms around. You got to figure it out. Because if you don't, like, we'll just figure it out with someone else who's not going to be as good as this guy, but we're not dealing with this. And we for damn sure are not talking about him currently, like they're talking about Jackson Smith, who are kind of on the same trajectory. Two guys who are due contract extensions that had enormous years, who are great players, but one guy's been a lead off the field. And the other has turned into a major pain in the ass. So whether he did this on his own, whether people pushed him to do this, I don't know, but I give him credit. Because if he did not change, it was not going to end well. Because he wouldn't have stayed on the Rams for long. It just wasn't going to happen. They wouldn't do it. Look at the guys they invested. When's the last time they made a mistake with investing in a bad guy? It's pretty rare. Like they're pretty dialed in with the character stuff, it feels like. I think we might have touched on this a little bit, but Kyle Shanahan yesterday, him and LaFleur were both like wearing the same suit. And LaFleur kind of egged him on. He's like, hey, Floreo, you know the Rams that they wanted these guys to, they wanted to play the Niners in Australia. I'd never, I'd never heard that. I just assumed the league just wanted to put a good game there. And then Kyle's like, oh yeah, they requested us. They wanted their Australian, there was going to be the Rams Australian home game. They said, we want to play the 49ers. Kyle's like, of course they do. We sell out their stadium. I went to a Rams Niner game at SoFi 2021. It was probably 75% Niner fans. It was so loud in there. And as Kyle said, they have to go on silent count. And here's the thing, when you move a lot, like the Rams were in LA, then they went to St. Louis and they came back. The Chargers were in San Diego. They come to LA. The Raiders have gone to LA. They go to Oakland. They go to Vegas. You're not going to have home field advantage. This ain't Seattle, where my entire life, the Seattle Seahawks have been in Seattle. My entire life, the 49ers have been in the Bay Area. My entire life, the Chicago Barriers have been in Chicago. When you just stay somewhere, your fan base is just going to grow. It becomes more passionate, especially when you're good. But all these teams that move a lot, like what do you think you're getting? Especially in a place like LA, which got a million teams, a lot going on. It's like, yeah, your fan base, I was at Lowe's today. My dryer, that when I bought this house, we remodeled it, but we left the washer and dryer from the previous guy. And, you know, they're probably a 10 years plus old, right? I was like, I'm not buying any washer and dryer. They work fine. Well, last night, the dryer snaps. And it was like, I'm not paying some guy $400 or $500 to fix it. The dryer is probably not even worth that. So, like, you know what? We've been talking about it forever. I'm just going to go get a new washer and dryer. So, I'm like, you know what? First thing in the morning, I'll do a little husband duty. I'm going to fire off to Lowe's. Sometimes, you just feel like a man walking into Lowe's. You're like, I'm a podcaster, but this is fucking, we're working men show up at 7am, 8am in the morning with a coffee in their hand, just to get some stuff to go do work. I'm just buying a washer and dryer that I'm going to pay someone to install and remove mine, but that's neither here nor there. So, you go in there. And as I'm walking, you know, you ask the lady, the thing's enormous. Lowe's home deeply. Sometimes, you go in there. And if you're not used to going in there a lot, some of you guys that are in like construction world or that do the DIY projects, you kind of know where to go. I don't go there that often. So, I get in there a little overwhelmed. It's like, where do I even walk? So, you just, first person you see with a vest on, you're like, where is whatever you're looking for? And they kind of point you in that direction you go. And as I'm walking, there's a section with these golf carts. And they're not like your normal golf cart. They're the golf carts that kind of look like a, you know, almost like a mini car. I mean, they got like three rows of seats. They're huge. They actually look pretty sweet. If I had a bigger garage, honestly, I'd probably buy one. But the first one I see is just a 49er logo golf cart. I'm in North Scottsdale, Arizona, where the Arizona Cardinals are, they're building a new practice facility in the next couple of years. I think it's going to be ready in like 28 is, I mean, a 10 minute bike ride from where I'm sitting right now. And the 49ers stranglehold on the West Coast, specifically Southern California and Arizona, speaks for itself. When they play the Rams and they play the Cardinals, they are 49er home games. So the 49ers have their home games. And then when they play the Cardinals and when they play the Rams, they get two home games. When they play Seattle, Seahawks in Seattle, it is not a home game. It is a disadvantage. I mean, it's hard. So it's a true road game. And I understand Kyle being like, this sucks. And, you know, Sean McVeigh's not really complaining about it. You know why? Because he goes, I would rather get on a flight 19 hours and play these guys, even if it's kind of a neutral field, than what I have to deal with. They lost last year to Mack Jones because one advantage the 49ers have in these games is the other team has to go on silent count. And honestly, it's worse for the Chargers that every time they play the Broncos, every time they play the Chiefs, every time they play the Raiders, every time they play any fan base like the Vikings, the Bears, any group of people that have gravitated out, you know, to the Southern region of Arizona, Vegas, in Southern California, they're at a huge disadvantage. It sucks. I don't feel any sympathy, though. That's what happens when you're a nomadic franchise. You who doesn't have that problem, Chicago Cubs. You who doesn't have that problem, the New York Knicks, the San Francisco Giants, the LA Dodgers. Don't fucking move. When you're not moving to different cities, you're not crossing state lines. Your fan base will be loyal. The Steelers, the Packers, the Bears, none of these teams deal with it, you know, because they've just been in the same place forever. But someone actually hit me on a DM that said, for Fugazi Friday, we'll do this today early, this guy must live in Australia. These tickets to the Rams Niner games are a joke. 90,000 people in queue in the pre-sale. $300 Australia plus, I don't know, that must be like, they have different, they must have a different currency, for standing room only tickets. Not even a seat. GA is 600 plus. I don't know the conversion rates, but clearly this guy lives there, thinks it's pretty crazy. Not to mention hotels, flights to Melbourne are going to skyrocket. Better off grabbing a few bevvies and smashing a bucket of wings with the mates at a local than watching the game of football in a cricket pitch. So, yeah, I don't know. I'm not behind this Australian game, not because I didn't even know or if I was the Rams, I would do the same thing. I just think this whole thing is ridiculous. But to now know that the Rams, part of the reason they were begging to play the 49ers is because they get a disadvantage. Fine, is one thing Kyle's going to have to do is snap out of it. And even he said, he's like, I have till the summer, and then once we start training camp, I will never talk about it again. But it does suck. Can I tell you about my new friends, Zbiotics? Let's face it, after a late night with drinks, I want to bounce back and I want to bounce back fast. Zbiotics is a pre-alcohol probiotic drink that is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic. It's been invented by PhD to tackle rough mornings after drinking. 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Co-op group foods to the Sony C. Co-op.co.uk slash Audi price match. Okay, who's all in for cancer research UK's race for life? We're doing pretty muddy. It's an obstacle course. There's one for kids. Runners. Walkers. Book clubbers. Knit clubbers. Tempin bowlers. God knows whether you climb it slide it or crawl it go all in against cancer all in to help fund life-saving research. Join our London events throughout the summer. Sign up now and save 50% off entry. Visit raceforlife.org. Discount ends 19th of April 2026. Teas and seas apply. The other thing I was thinking is I was watching this show on Netflix where these young chicks and dudes date older people. It's like they don't know. It's kind of like love is blind, but they're trying to set up someone in their 20s with someone in their 50s or 60s. And I was watching it last night and this girl who's probably like 22, 23 is dating this dude that's like 40 and she's wearing these tiny little sunglasses and I looked at Maria or in bed and Jack's just sleeping. The last night was one of his greatest nights of sleep yet. It was like his Tom Brady moment slept from like nine to six thirty in the morning. It was incredible. He keeps that up. I don't even know what I'll do. I'll give him more milk, but oh, I don't give him any. I just give him bottles, but she creates the milk. You know what I mean? I'll give him a standing ovation. And I go, why are glasses so small? And she's like, that's in now. I started thinking, think about younger people, right? If you're 20, you don't want to look like people that are 45. And fashion is a great example. Like, I was cool with the baggy jeans. I was glad they were gone. Well, guess what? They're not back. It's all anyone wears. More women than men, but it's like the baggy jeans are back in style. You know why? Because things ebb and they flow. So you think something's going to go out, but then all of a sudden little glasses that I used to remember like 20 years ago, people wearing, are kind of coming back. Baggy jeans are back. That's the way fashion works. Something is cool, then it's not cool, and then it's cool again. And not that long ago, the running backs were jumping on Zoom and they were, it felt like all going to strike the NFL. Not like with a fist, but just like refused to play because none of them were getting paid and getting screwed. Now, last year we had a 5-7 running back. They played a Boise steak. It drafted six overall. This year, it would be shocking if Jeremiah Love makes it out of the top five. I was in the car listening to John Eric Sullivan, who's impressive guy. And they were asking him like, you know, you just traded Jalen Waddle, are you going to trade Achan? He said, not only are we not going to trade Achan, we're talking to his agent, we're trying to give him a big extension. We think he's a foundational piece here and one of the best running backs in the league. Saquon Barkley got a contract from Howie and then got an extension the next year. Christian McCaffrey assigned multiple massive extensions. Alvin Kamara makes a ton. The running back is back as long as you can do it all. Catch and run. But that position, we thought, oh, it's dead. No one's messing with them. It's all about the quarterback. And now find me a good Andy Reed, who is probably one of the most past happy coaches in league history, just gave a running back a three-year contract, $45 million. The guy had like nine good games. Great college player, but a little risky, but he's like, we need a really good running back. Kenneth Walker, come on down. Achan. I wanted to call him ETN, but he said his name was Achan. Saints gave him a bunch of money. The running back, everyone thought was dead, just shows you, football is very fickle. Things that, like, obviously you're always going to need tackles and pass rushers. Those are never going to go out of, go out of, you know, style. But it felt like the running back was just dime a dozen. Find three guys off the street. Not really the case. Three years ago, Christian McCaffrey, best player, 49er Super Bowl. Last year, in the Super Bowl, didn't win it. Last year, two years ago, Saquon Barkley, best player on the Eagles Super Bowl champion. Last year, Kenneth Walker went on an incredible hot streak. And as John Schneider said, made an enormous place in our big games and got a huge contract after. Running back matters. Always has, always will, and it's really matters now. What I wanted to do before I got out of here is someone had said, you know, you broke down the coach's photo. You broke down the GM photo. How about you give some thoughts on the Jay Glazer video on them drinking at the pool? I've seen pictures of this before. I didn't know this was an annual thing that that as they've talked about, Mike Tomlin, Glazer put this on. They wanted to get all the coaches in the league out for basically like a happy hour. Where I come from, happy hour starts about four. This happy hour starts at one. Never opposed. Sun's out pool. Happy hour going on. All for it. This Biltmore Hotel, where they stay at. The first long weekend, my wife, she wasn't even technically my girlfriend then. We had on like our third night of just having a lot of fun. We like, what are we going to do tomorrow? It's like, you know, Arizona, and I wasn't, this was like 2021 or two. She's like, you could just go to pools and pay for a day pass and they're just sweet. I'm like, that's not, I didn't really do that in the Bay Area. Why would you? This doesn't really exist. Like, oh, let's do that. It's like, it's like 20 bucks, you know, a random, especially on like a Sunday. We'll go to this historic hotel and you just drink and get food. So we just went there. God blasted on like a Sunday. I don't even know when. It was probably May. I just had a good time at the Biltmore Hotel, exactly at the pool where they were. So it was kind of nostalgic seeing these guys sitting around. But Jay Glazer just gets all these guys together and they just kick it. And right when I saw it, like, I had like seven thoughts. And the first thing I thought of, the first thing you see, I mean, anyone just needs to go to Jay Glazer's Twitter, needs to go to his Instagram and you can just watch this video. You just see Brian Schadenheimer and Robert Sala just kind of hanging. They're kind of in no man's land because there's this long table. You got a bunch of guys at both ends and they're just kind of in the middle, probably making some small talk. Not sure they know each other that well. They don't want to dive into other people's conversations. They're kind of, you know, Robert Sala, just good looking ball guy, gives them a peace sign. But then as he scrolls, he immediately goes to this crew of Shanahan, Matt Ryan and LaFleur. Not Matt LaFleur, but Mike telling them, and you can hear him say Whisper Rock, which is one of the coolest golf country clubs here, which is where all the pro athletes and all the former pro athletes and all the sticks, all the pro golfers go, it's just a cool hang. And him telling them about that, and you can see Matt Ryan and Kyle holding their cocktails, just like shaking their head like this place is sweet. And then he pans a little bit more. And the first guy you see is Dan Campbell. But sitting next to Dan Campbell is Michael Phelps. And first I'm like, honestly, when I first saw Michael Phelps, I thought it was Nick Siriani. But then you do a double take, a little too skinny for Siriani. And then Jay Glaser said, look, that's Michael Phelps. I'm like, that's kind of weird. And then you realize Michael Phelps, Michigan guy, they're probably telling stories. And then he pans a little bit more. I think it's Kurt Menafee is just there hanging as well with John Lynch. So what is Dan Campbell and Michael Phelps talking about? My guess would be Dan is fascinated when Michael was training the diet. Look at Dan. I mean, he likes to eat. And you got John Lynch just trying to be, I can see Dan Campbell just wanting to know about big hits like 1996. And Michael Phelps just taking it in. And then he pans a little bit more. And this is the only time I felt just a little sorry, because I like this guy. I think he's smart. I'm actually thinking he's going to be a good coach. But anytime you're the new guy to the group, and that's the advantage from Michael Flore. His brother's been a head coach forever. He's worked with all like seven of these head coaches, right? Known Kyle for like 20 years, buddies with Sala just knows this crew. Kubiak, you got Jeff Halfley. It's kind of a no man's land who's just kind of sitting by himself. Like not probably quite confident enough to just go kick it with Phelps and Dan Campbell. Not quite cool enough to just go hang out with McVeigh and Sean Payton. Can't just go like sit there with Matt Ryan and Kyle Shanahan. So he's kind of doing what if they put me or you in this situation? And they just say, hey, we're going to take you to this drinking situation with all these coaches. It's just going to be all the NFL head coaches, kind of the younger, cooler ones. Where would you sit? You would kind of just sit in a weird spot by yourself and probably not talk to anybody. That's what Jeff Halfley was doing. Just kind of sitting there like, God, I hope I win and I'm pretty good. And these guys liked me in a couple of years. Like, I'm in one of these conversations. And then all of a sudden you see Sirianne sitting there too with Todd Munkin. That's, Sirianne's one Super Bowl. You got Munkin who's, I bet on being one and done. You got Halfley who just not trying to ruffle any feathers. And then Sirianne sitting there who's like, oh, this story's coming out about Jaylen. I better buckle up. And then my favorite part of this drinking session, of this is like, this is where the young hot shots sit. You got Joe Brady. You got Sean McVeigh who's wearing just a skin tight blue, like probably like Ram's undershirt. You got Liam Cohen. You got LaFleur's hair just perfect. You got Minterer who's not quite that cool. Definitely not that cool looking, but he's really good at his job. So they kind of invited him over. And you got just Holden Court with just a full, crisp beer in his hand of just talking nonstop. I think he might be wearing a Sunday red shirt is Sean Payton. And he is just telling stories. Joe Brady's laughing. LaFleur is laughing. McVeigh's standing there just waiting when he can tell stories. But I can't even imagine what Sean, I mean, Sean Payton just guy likes talk, you know. And honestly, if I was there, I would have, if I was half Lee, I would try to work my way over to Sean Payton just so I could listen. Because that's the key when you're in one of those environments and you're not really supposed to be there. Well, maybe you are supposed to be there, but you're not really welcome. Right? It's like a club that you're in, but like you haven't really paid the dues yet to sit with where you kind of want a one day sitting. You just got to position yourself to kind of the crew that especially in that situation is going to be the most entertaining. So I felt bad for half Lee. Is that John Harbaugh? Yeah, it's John Harbaugh, but Sean Payton, I think it's safe to say that Sean Payton is, you know, he'd be a great podcaster. He likes to talk. This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.