Dolphins HC Jeff Hafley on QB Malik Willis + Which QBs will take big jump in 2026? (4/8 Hour 2)

Troy Ackman has talked a couple of times on podcasts about his role with the Dolphins and how he's been involved. Have you consulted with him since being hired and how do you envision his role during the season with the team? Yeah, I think right now Troy's been a good sounding board. You know, he's a guy that I've talked to a few times. We've had some really good conversations and I'll continue to do that. Jeff Halfley yesterday meeting with reporters on the first day of the first offseason program for the Miami Dolphins under Halfley and GM John Eric Sullivan. And it's the first time anyone from the Dolphins had been asked point blank about Troy Ackman's ongoing role with the team. Quick summary, he started as a consultant for the GM job. Along the way they fired coach Mike McDaniel. So they asked him to consult in the coaching search. And then after that he was on some podcast that isn't even a sports podcast and he just kind of casually said he's going to keep working for the Dolphins. Like what? What? And then last week with Clarence Hill of DLLS he got into it some more. He said the role is yet to be defined. And if I'm the NFL the first thing I'm doing is I'm calling the Dolphins, I'm saying tell us what his role is, tell us what his duties are so we can figure out what limits if any are going to be placed upon his access. Sounding board, you know Tom Brady has used that phrase in reference to himself. I'm a sounding board for the football operations. So at least we know that much. That Troy Ackman is there. If Jeff Halfley, John Eric Sullivan have any questions and it's wise for them to use him because he's the guy that found them. So of course you're going to see Troy Ackman's end point. You want him to be happy with you and you want to feel comfortable with him and they're all working together for the betterment of the franchise. If I'm a Dolphins fan I'm happy about all of this. As somebody who cares about the NFL at large I still continue to believe the NFL needs to find a way to put the toothpaste back in the toothpaste holder. Yeah. Yeah. It definitely is odd. It's a new time here. It's going to be interesting to see how the NFL handles these situations especially if they continue to happen here. Yeah. Ackman's got a vested interest like we talked about. These are two guys yes that obviously made an impression to him as he works his way through the NFL doing ESPN on Monday night to where he knew that and then he gets a chance to interview them and goes wait these are guys that I would trust and run my organization. So yeah they're kind of in it together. It's a trio there and it's a good thing you're right for the Miami Dolphins 100 percent. And of course why wouldn't you use Troy Ackman as a sounding bar. And those are important aspects sometimes that not all organizations have. And I like we kind of joke sometimes like say it out loud do this. And I like some of the conversations I have with coaches sometimes when I'm on the phone or whatever is really them like sounding stuff out and going wait what do you think about this and let you know hear this out and you know you go down like we do at times some other warm holes or tentacles. Hey do you think about this if you do that or you think about this. And I think that's where Troy Ackman being around the league for so long is going to have a lot of experiences to lean on to help a new regime and a guy that's never been a head coach and a guy that's never been a GM to where you know question this question that Troy can go hey you know back when I was in Dallas playing it we did it like this. I've been around the league with Fox and ESPN and I've seen teams handle it this way. And so that's where it's going to be of great value. But you're right. We'll see how much of the NFL police is this and how much the rest of the NFL is just cool with it as it continues to go on here with Brady and Troy Ackman. And how much of the rest of the NFL starts. Yeah. Hiring Tony Romo and Chris Collinsworth and really every play by play announcer every analyst every sideline reporter you want insight you want insight hire a sideline reporter that they got eyes and ears behind enemy lines for crying out loud. Now at some point someone will push it so far the league will have to do something if folks look at this and say there's something here that we can exploit. But it started with Brady continues with Ackman and there's a fundamental difference between you know Chris if you're having a conversation with Shanahan or one of your other friends around the league and you guys are just talking ball. Yeah. And just kicking things around. Yeah. It's one thing to do that as part of this relationship you have. Yes. It's another thing if you're on the payroll I got you. I know the line gets crossed when you're on the payroll. Yes. And that's where the NFL has allowed this thing Pandora's box is open. She's in there and Pandora Pandora's Pandora's Pandora's all over the place right now. There are lines that that can't be crossed and the NFL has allowed both Tom Brady and Troy Ackman to cross a line that I would have never expected the NFL would allow someone to do. Yeah. Yeah. This is one where it doesn't feel like this was intended with Troy. This feels like one where they were like whoa he did a good job in the search. Whoa. We're impressed. Man Troy's all over everything in the NFL. He really knows everything there. He's all in. So hey let's let's write him another check and keep him on you know keep him on the tab here. Keep it going. Put it on my tab. Troy saying to Steven Ross. Yeah. No problem. I got it. So I think it's one of those things that kind of worked out organically here and you know to your to your point you're right you know the people I talked to are my buddies but my point was just that there is value in that and I think sometimes you know some of these teams with the Brady situation or here with Troy Ackman they're starting to realize like hey haven't another voice that's been there done that really knows the league knows new ones. There is there is value to that and lean us in the right direction in certain things and certain conversations and I think that's where you know the dolphins were smart to realize that with the the great Troy Ackman. And that's what Ackman said the folks at awful announcing put it best. Ackman said the quiet part out loud when he said they know I have information they don't have or can't get. That's the whole purpose of this. Whenever and however the light came on that Ackman is a valuable resource by virtue of the job that he is doing and getting and I don't know I threw out the number 20 million a year I don't know how much he's getting paid by the by the by ESPN excuse me and I don't know how much he's getting paid by the dolphins. All that stuff should be disclosed though. We should know that that's the other side of this for the viewers out there who don't know who to trust or what to trust. There's a turd in the punch bowl now if you're watching Monday Night Football and it involves the bills the Patriots the Jets or the dolphins especially if it hires a dog. I mean if it if it handles the dolphins game I I will be beyond intrigued by how ESPN handles its first dolphins game and I know that it make the playoffs last year but you know what they didn't make the playoffs in 20 24 and they were still on twice last year against the Jets week four and against the Steelers. Yeah week 15 not week 15 I think it was 15 Monday Night Game December 15 and and also I remember when Ackman was first retained to help with the general manager search one of the questions raised was what happens with Mike McDaniel. I remember we'd kind of been led to believe McDaniel could be safe. Troy Ackman ripped McDaniel during that game for his clock management when they were trailing and it was an obvious take like what the hell are they doing. The show in no urgency and then all of a sudden they got peddled to the metal like what the hell are they doing but those words became part of the narrative and part of the fair question is Ackman going to tell someone in Miami you probably need a new coach and regardless of whether he said it that's what they did. Well all right so here's the thing I don't think anything's going to happen with these situations. Owners are going to be continuing. I think this could become a thing like you're talking about and if any owner needs me just email Mike Florio and he'll give you my number. He's got the green light. I'm all for it. Just show me a check and I'll help out. But yeah if I'm going to be your administrative assistant I want to check to get you a check to I still get well yeah I still get emails about your podcast. I just got one overnight. Somebody was complaining about you questioning the veracity of the moon landing. I know I did. And where did our Kennedy's driver shot him. And this person was highly offended and wanted me to pass it along to you. It's like I'm not part of that show man. Yeah yeah I know. Yeah we went down in conspiracy one of us has a fun conversation. It's so crazy how it really like triggers people at times like triggers right. That's what's crazy. That's what really is. You're like wait we're just talking here. I'm not saying we know there's some fishy things right. Yeah the JFK thing as they are selling it right now if you're trying to tell me you think it went down the way it went down with the magic bullet and it went through some guy and then took a right turn and then it took a left turn and then went into somebody and took another left turn and then took another left turn and then came out and went into somebody else like get the hell out of here. You're an idiot. The fairy godmother ain't real. All right. So yeah. All right. I'm going to do a little that too. That was fun. But hey. You know that person back on my son screw off. Hang on a second. You're not suggesting that the current mission is fake. No. You're suggesting that right. And that's not some new thing. Of course not. It's not like you're a flat earth or which isn't a new thing either. But this idea that the moon landing was fake and it was part of the space race and the arms race with Russia. Like I remember and I wasn't alive then but all the stories about Sputnik when they had a satellite in orbit like it freaked people out. So we needed something to let Americans believe that we were up better than them technologically. So we put a man on the moon and hell the African REM song man on the moon. I mean it's the conspiracy theory is embedded into the chorus of that song. So that's been around forever. There was a movie not that long ago about the moon landing being being fake. So I know I was surprised the guy was upset. Yeah. Because this isn't something new. No. This is somebody that like they told them Mickey Mouse is real at four and he's still like no Mickey Mouse is real. I'm telling you he's just not going to give up. He's an idiot. So don't worry. Hey. Hey listen. Hey. Hey you know I never know what my four year old nephew is going to be watching the show. Hey Miles. Mickey's real. Yeah. Don't listen. I'm going to put a head room over there. Don't do that. Don't do that. All right. So yeah first the last thing on that is that I mean the camera was there and then they got off the thing and stepped on like so somebody had to put the camera there for them. So they weren't the first people to step on. Somebody put the camera to set up the shot and then they stepped off. That's the weirdest thing. I'll just throw it out there among other things. But back to the point. Okay. With Troy Aikman one small step for man one giant leap for cinematography. Exactly right. All right. So back to the Trey Aikman thing though. I do feel like nothing's going to happen here and this can continue to happen. Chris Collins worth the Romo hopefully Chris Sims please. Florio administrative assistant hoping for all these things. But I don't think nothing happens until people in the league start to complain really. And I feel like there might be some people kind of quietly complaining behind but they're going to have to make a stink if they really feel like this is a big time advantage for a football team and you don't like it and you don't feel comfortable. I don't think the NFL is going to do Jack Diddley squat until some major people start to come out and go this is not right. I like Troy Aikman. I want to give him information for my team. I don't want to talk to him because we played the dolphins later this year or we have some free agents that are going to be available and the dolphins have those same needs or whatever it might be. There's just so many tentacles there. But again I don't think anything happens until people in the league start to make a stink and I don't get the sense that that's coming anytime soon. I had at least one team tell me to stay on top of this. So people are paying attention to it and people think there's something wrong with it. And yes you could view it as a green light to go out and hire your own broadcaster or you could say there's something wrong with this. We shouldn't be doing this and the league needs to do something about it. And it all comes back to the league. It really does amaze me because I think Troy Aikman is a smart guy. I respect his analysis. I clearly respect his Hall of Fame career. But he's just so casual about it. That's what's so unsettling about the whole thing. Like at least Brady knows if I'm on camera I'm going to hit the button and shrink in the chair like I think Brady. And one of the reasons I think he keeps his distance is he understands that there's criticism. He understands there's something that's not right with this picture. Aikman is just like screw it man. They're letting Brady do it. I'm doing it and I don't care. And I'll talk about it and I'll say the quiet part out loud. And it's stunning. It's stunning how nonchalant he is about it. But the NFL has created this. The NFL is the one that opened Bandora's box. So all consequences that flow from Brady Aikman, Romo Collinsworth, whoever else comes next on the payroll for one of these teams, it all flows from the fact that the NFL, when Brady was trying to buy the Raiders and they'd slowed that process down because it was a sweetheart deal. I remember the late Jim Ursay saying after one of the league meetings in October, I think it was 23. Hey, this is ridiculous. We can't let him buy it for the amount that Mark Davis wants to sell it to him for. All they had to say at that point was, hey, Tom, you can't work for Fox and be a minority owner of the Raiders. Maybe he would have said, all right, I'm out. He can sell the piece of the team to someone else at market value. That was the moment for them to say it. And as to the complaints, I said this about Brady and it applies to Aikman. The moment the team becomes dominant consistently is when people will start yelling and screaming about the roles of Brady and Aikman if the Raiders and the Dolphins ultimately turn it around. And frankly, I like what the Dolphins are doing right now and I think the Dolphins are going to turn it around. So it's going to happen sooner, I think, for Aikman than it will for Brady. Yeah, that'll be interesting to see if and when that happens. I mean, as we know, you can turn a team around and quite a hurry. I don't think we're going to see dramatic change from these teams this year. They got some work cut out from them. They're both kind of rebuilding as we know. But yeah, obviously plans in place and got a chance and we'll see where it goes. And you're right, if they get really good, I wonder if that'll ruffle more feathers than not here. Running back to Von A. Chan did not show up for the first day of the Miami offseason program in the first year of the Jeff Halfley, John Eric Sullivan regime. And I've seen some and we see this every year. Oh, it's voluntary. Oh, it's voluntary. Yeah, but there are certain moments that are important. The first day that the coach has access to the team in a meeting, if you're not there, you better have a reason for it. And the reason for Devon H. Chan obviously is he's not happy with this contract. They act like he's untouchable, that he's untradable, that they're not going to move him. Okay, fine. Then you got to pay him. This is one of those positions where the wear and tear builds up. The tread comes off the tire. Your best years often happen before you get your second contract. H. Chan is drawing the line in the sand. He wants to get his contract now. And one of the leverage points he has available is to withhold services, especially when there's no financial consequence to doing so. Yeah, this is one of the things players can use. Like you've said a million times, there's only so many tools the players have here in these situations. He's one of the most explosive running backs in football. And he's in one of those guys that we talk about a special. And explosive plays have gone up into another category in the NFL. They're more important now than ever before. And this guy's one of the most explosive play, playmakers in all of football. He's one of those guys that we always kind of joke about anywhere, anytime. We'd score from anywhere, anytime on the field. He's phenomenal in the past game on top of what he does in the run game. So I understand the Dolphins wanted to keep him. And Malik Willis in the backfield, that's going to give defenses a headache. Wait to Malik keep it. Oh, did he give it to HN? Wait, Malik's got a big arm downfield. Oh, wait, HN's underneath. So that's, there's great possibility here. But I love that HN's doing this. I feel like all good running backs after year three, it just has to be done. This is where I almost wish the league would just change the rule and go after three years and running backs are allowed to get new contracts, period. Blah, blah, and just move on. But HN is damn good. And you know, I would hope they can get something done here. You know, like you said too, though, the only guys that missed the first day of these are like older veterans where they trust them. They know what they've been. They know what they do. And okay, you missed the first day. Coleus Campbell, Trent Williams, just, you know, giving that kind of player example, like you've been around forever. Okay, you're going to miss the first week or whatever because you got some other things in life to take care of. We'll see you next week. Everybody else that misses, there's usually a problem or something going on there to your point. Especially the first day for a new coach. Yeah, a new coach is another thing. I think everybody would be wise to be there. You want to be there. There's a new boss. He's meeting with us for the first time. I would want to do whatever I had to do to be there for that unless there's a message I want to send through my absence. And that's what Devon Achan is doing. And the message clearly has been received by the Dolphins, John Erick Sullivan told us last week in Arizona that they're trying to get him signed. They're working on it. And, you know, if they can't, then now's the time to trade him. But either way, he needs to insist on getting paid. We've talked at length in the past about different ways to get money to running backs while they are in their prime production years. Early in their careers, big yards, big numbers, touchdowns, et cetera, and they get peanuts. And I know there's a way to pay them on the back end just based upon playing time, that performance-based pay incentive. The NFL within the past couple of weeks announced the full list of extra checks that guys get. I've suggested there should be a league-wide pool that pays running backs based upon attempts and yards and touchdowns and everything. What you do early in your career when you're under that slotted rookie contract, especially if you're a late-round pick, that's when you need to get paid because you're adding benefit to the game. The game benefits from it, not just the team. The game benefits from having these young, cheap running backs who become stars, sell jerseys, their fantasy football icons, all that stuff. It's good for the game. And by the time these guys are in position to get paid, a lot of them, you know, look at Isaiah Pacheco, $1.2 million of a one-year deal to be the backup to Jameer Gibbs in Detroit. You mentioned Malik Willis. Jeff Halfley had a message for the guy who was the backup for the last two years in Green Bay. Limited sample size. We've heard the criticisms. But as they both told us in separate interviews, well, it was more Sullivan because I talked to Halfley before they signed. So forget about that part. As Sullivan told us last week, they know the guy. Halfley knows the guy. Here's Halfley's message to Malik Willis now that he's the guy in Miami. You know, I had a great conversation with him yesterday. He came off his. I said, don't change who you are. I said, don't put any extra pressure on yourself. You've earned the right to be here and have this opportunity. And you've done that by doing all the things the right way. Don't change that. Don't press. Just be you. And I'm going to make sure that he understands that it doesn't have to be perfect. There's going to be mistakes made. But I want him to play with that confidence and I want him to play the way he's always done it. Great answer. And that's the message that needs to be sent. And look, I say this as a card carrying member of the Mike McDaniel fan club. But man, it is different to see somebody stand in front of that, that aqua background with the pineapple logos and actually answer the question. Yeah, you're going to get it. Sincerely. Yeah, you're going to get direct answers. Yeah, direct answers. I don't think there's going to be a lot of fluff, not a lot of filibustering there. You know, Halfley is going to, I think you to shoot you pretty straight and that's all they're going to be to it there. And we'll see what this Malik will this thing. You know, he's saying it right. Don't change everything you did was was right in Green Bay. We believe in you. I saw it. So continue to do that. Except, you know, you're the starting quarterback here. And as you know, and I believe Malik will has super star talent. He has that. And then he's got an offensive coordinator and Bobby Slavik who Jeff Halfley has history with and knows. And within that Malik will this is going to be in a system that's going to have a lot of similar similar terminology to what he had with Matt, with Matt LaFleur. So you hope that can really grow in a hurry. And then the other aspect that I always, I really like, and I always like this about defensive coaches, just like we saw in the Super Bowl this year, they don't, they're not usually like, we're just going to make it all about the quarterback. And if we win, it's because of the quarterback. And if we lose, well, we're going to blame the quarterback. Like that to me is where teams go wrong a little bit at times, build the team. And I think that's what they'll do. And they won't have too high of expectations for Malik will us. They'll work this together. They know where they are as an organization and they'll continue to go up. Hopefully with Devon H and Malik will us Troy Aikman, Jeff Halfley and John Eric Sullivan. Everything you said is awesome. I have nothing to add to it. I'm still thinking about that pineapple backdrop because I don't know if you and I ever talked about this. There was a day that Peter King and I were doing the show. Yes. Courtney was producing and she informed us of the significance of an upside down pineapple. Yeah. I know. I know. I've been on social media before I am 45 years old. This one's right. This one's the right way. It's got, they're not trying to say no. I know. I know. But, but listen, the day that Peter King and I talked about it, the folks at Baptist Health thought it was so much fun. They sent us like gear and pineapples. That's amazing. So, but yes, the logo is right side up. I had not known until a few years ago that the upside down pineapple means something different. Open for business. We're open for business. Everybody upside down pineapple. Come on in. We're open for business. If you want to join in Jaguar coach Liam Cohen. Thanks quarterback. Trevor Lawrence has another level or two. Sometimes three years better than two. Those four is better than two. You know, sometimes they just, you know, open for business. Make sense. Okay. Let's go. We'll be right back. I can ask him a question like this all the time. Hey, do you like chocolate ice cream or vanilla ice cream? In the minute a kid pauses, I don't really want that kid, right? Because you need to have some type of conviction right when we're indifferent. So, whether you like chocolate or you like vanilla, I don't really care. But if you sit there and say, I'll coach. I don't know. I want. I want to know what's the brand. So what and so forth. Like what is this kid going to do on third down in front of 110,000? It's probably going to think about it more than he should. He's not going to have conviction. Right. So it's, I just said long winded. I understand. But it's the mental aspect. It's really what we're after. That's Oregon quarterback coach. Koakai. And that's the conversation. The comments that we had a conversation about earlier in the program. So there it is. There it is. That's not AI. That was real. And that was his explanation. I didn't hear it. And every coach has their method. Every coach has their way of thinking. There's no right way. There's no wrong way. But I just don't, I don't accept this idea that if you hesitate on your choice between chocolate and ice cream, it shows there's some flaw in your ability to make football decisions in the moment when a window opens to throw it. Well, that's what they call like, like Harry high school that just, you know, amateur hour type of stuff right there. That's what like that kind of just, you know, like, yeah, oh, whoa, oh, that's how we're making the evaluation. What if the guy, this is 2026. What if the guy has a dairy allergy? What if he does that? We'd take him off. We lost Josh Allen because he, he just, he, he wasn't sure. And then he kind of told me, I have a food allergy. So we lost Josh Allen in the recruiting process because he, he answered strawberry. And I want, I gave him vanilla and vanilla and chocolate. Like, you know, like, come on, like, I know what he's trying to say. I get it. But yet, yeah, it's a, it's a little extreme there. It's like the guy came up with something that he thought was this great way to evaluate quarterbacks or at least eliminate guys and he's sticking to it and he's not letting it go. I admire his conviction. I admire his conviction. We'll see if the blowback causes him to revisit his views on ice cream selections being relevant to quarterback abilities. All right. There's a quarterback in Jacksonville and it's kind of been all over the place. It's been like Baskin Robbins 32 flavors for five. Is it 32 or 31? What is it? I think it's 31. Something 31. 31. Yeah. 31 check on that for me, Gary. 31 flavors. We've seen many different flavors of Trevor Lawrence. There was a point early in his career. We thought he was on track to be a shortlist franchise quarterback. Then it tailed off for a couple of seasons. Last year in his first year of William Cullen turned it around. He's been moving the right direction. Looking like a guy that's going to earn that contract. Looking like a guy that's going to maybe get another contract. Here's Liam Cohen talking about what he envisions for Trevor Lawrence going forward. Going into the process, I, from watching tape, I was like, Art, this dude is tough. I do think he's tough. Yeah. I mean, he takes shots, gets up, doesn't say a word, has played hurt, has missed time. Then anything, look forward, new systems, multiple different head coach situations, OCs, whatever it is, goes throughout the season. And you find out, I mean, doesn't miss a single practice, doesn't miss a single throw, you know, in practice, played the whole season. Obviously MVP finalists, come back player of the year finalists, did some great things. There's so much room to continue to improve. And I think that's what we're excited about attacking. But when you start with a humility and be toughness mentally and physically, I think you can do a lot with a quarterback. And it is good news for the Jaguars and for Lawrence continuity, no turmoil. Liam Cohen there for a second year, build on what they did last year. And yeah, finished fifth in the MVP voting, fourth in the comeback player of the year voting. Trevor Lawrence, Arrow is pointing up after kind of a rocky up and down. We don't know what he's going to become. And I think on the bingo card as a possibility going into 25 was Liam Cohen's going to decide this isn't my guy. Yeah. And we're going to find a way out of this contract. Well, it looks like he's found his guy and the two of them have worked well together and the sky's the limit for the Jaguars and Trevor Lawrence. Yeah. I mean, it's got a chance. We know that Trevor Lawrence has all the tools to be a superstar. He's got that. We just haven't seen it consistently throughout his career. And then like you said, there's been a lot of issues there behind the scenes that haven't necessarily helped them out that way. I mean, one like we've just discussed in the past, yeah, Urban Meyer and that disaster there, that was arguably the most dysfunctional situation in the sport at the time. So hard to succeed there. But we've had these little, we had the snippet, right? Where they go into the division around in Kansas City and my home's hurt his ankle and they had the chiefs on the ropes a little bit. That little end part of the year, that year, last six, seven games of the year, it was like, ooh, that, that looks like we're about to see a superstar. And you know, it, it got real bumpy and rocky for a while. Didn't work out. Uh-oh. Now Liam Cohn comes to town. It's a little shaky early in the year. They're winning games, but it's all over the place. We were kind of joking at one point during the year of, hey, at what point is Trevor Lawrence going to do his, you know, holy crap, that's dumb as hell moment because he was due for two or three of those early in the year. But then we saw the second half of the season, it all started to change and we saw that Trevor Lawrence again, that you started to go, whoa, he's starting to look like a superstar. He's not only becoming a machine in the pocket, but he's starting to make place outside the pocket and you're starting to go, whoa, all right, he's got it all. And you just hope with that where he is, he's still a young player. He's still learning and getting experience. And now with Liam Cohn and that offense in another year. Yeah. I would expect this. I would expect this to be the most consistent best year of Trevor Lawrence's career yet. That's what I would expect going to year two with a quarterback, offensive genius type of guy on Liam Cohn. I agree with you completely. And the Jaguars after winning the division last year, the AFC South. Yeah, it's getting tough there. You know, the Titans are going to be better. Yes. I think can't be much worse. I think they will be better. The Texans are an elite team. The Colts, they get their quarterback situation stabilized, get Daniel Jones back healthy. They could be very good. That could be one of the best competitive divisions in football. Some chippy coaches there, right? I mean, you think about it. First off, we got solid Liam Cohn. That's going to be amazing in itself. I know they've made up, but I don't really totally believe that. It'll be like the greatest friendship ever. They're not going to be sending flowers to each other anytime soon. You got D'Amico Ryan, who of course knows Sala. We used to work for Sala, but now he's like, yo, I'm the king of the AFC South. You're infringing on my territory. Shane Steichit is a silent assassin who's a chippy guy too. I mean, yeah, there is some good coaching. And like you're saying, some talent starting to show up in the AFC South. So take your pick quarterback poised to make a big jump in 2026. Give me one guy that you think is on the brink of breaking out this year. Okay. The one I want to throw out there, but I guess he broke out. Just one. Just one. Well, does Caleb Williams, I think Caleb Williams goes into like MVP of football this year. Is that considered a breakout? That's a big jump. Yes. Okay. I just want to assure. Big jump. Got you. Yeah. I'm going to go with Caleb Williams for a lot of the same reasons we just said with Trevor Lawrence, Ben Johnson, second year, offensive genius, quarterback genius. Holy crap. Caleb Williams did things last year where I'd go only the great ones of all time can do that. And I just think in your two of that, I'm going to say Caleb Williams is in the MVP combo this year. That's what kind of year I'm looking for for him. By the way, speaking to Caleb Williams, we haven't discussed this yet. There was a little extra news that came out last week. He was on a podcast with front office sports that I don't think anyone noticed, but he talked about this ice man trademark fight with George Gervin. First of all, he said he didn't know that George Gervin was the ice man. His dad probably knew. And yeah, I would say his dad knew it's a function of age. Younger kids aren't going to know that George Gervin was even a popular NBA player. Like if you didn't grow up in that era, he's not Michael Jordan. He's not Magic Johnson. He's not Larry Bird. He wasn't one of the dominant figures. You're not going to know him unless you were familiar with the NBA at the time. But he also said, and this is a very good point because I know the whole thing rubs some people the wrong way. He's given himself the nickname. He's being presumptuous. But here's the point. If you don't get the legal protection, people in Chicago, people throughout the country, they can make stuff that says ice man and kind of create this impression. It's about Caleb Williams. Totally. Caleb Williams doesn't get paid for. Totally. Look, are you seeing the product goat? I mean, where do you think goat came from? They were like, wait, people call Jerry Rice and Tom Brady goat all the time. And they made a whole line off of it. It's a goat and it says goat, but it's off of that. It's just like, damn, they're worth millions and hundreds of millions now. But to your point, yeah, that does go on 100%. So yeah, I hear you there all the way. All right. My guy that I think is poison to make a big jump in 2026. And this is one that for it's not going to surprise you, but I think for the casual fan, they may not see it. Tyler Shuck, I think, is ready to take off for the New Orleans Saints because he kind of did late last year and nobody was paying attention. Yeah. They won like four out of five to finish the year. Helen Moore explained to his last week kind of the moment that he realized this guy's made to be a quarterback in the NFL. I think they get some help around him and I think he could really become one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL. I hear you there. Totally. I mean, they got a good offensive line. They got a lot of a sign Travis HN, right? Have him there. Maybe draft the guy and then draft here at receiver to kind of round out the room there. Yeah. Shuck seems like he's poised to make a jump. We know Kellen Moore was impressed with him. He told us that you saw he could play the position. So there's some, there's some good ones out there. I mean, Cam Moore, I'd be shocked if he doesn't make a jump with, with Brian Day ball and solid running the defense there. I mean, I was CJ Stroud was on my list. CJ Stroud made the jump and then he jumped back off, off the cliff and now he needs to jump back on it. So he's got to get back in order, but I would, I would bet that he does that. So he's one and you know, I'm hoping my man Jackson Dart with the New York Giants makes a big jump too. That, that's for sure. Well, and look, he got off to a great start and now that Harbaugh is there, Matt Nagy is the offensive coordinator. It is going to be different than it was last year. The key is to have some continuity. This brings us back to Liam Cohen and Trevor Lawrence year in and year out, having that same voice in your head when you're out there before the play, telling you what we're going to do, working with you every week, not making these dramatic changes. That's going to be the key for any of these young quarterbacks to get the maximum out of their ability. You want to have the highest degree of continuity possible. By the way, reactions are pouring into your comments about the moon. I figured out there. Yeah. What are they saying? Here's the answer to your camera question. Yeah. A Westinghouse black and white TV camera was pre-mounted on the exterior of the Apollo 11 lunar module stored in a compartment called the Modular Equipment Stowage Assembly. Neil Armstrong activated it by pulling a lanyard as he descended the ladder, allowing the camera to transmit live low resolution video back to Earth. Okay. That's good. That's a good answer there. I'll do my research. They didn't have somebody land on the moon ahead of time with the camera there. There wasn't a guy standing there like there is in the studio for Football Night in America who was already there to capture Neil Armstrong. Yeah, exactly right. Yeah, that's a good one. My next discrepancy, maybe he can answer this, is this, why did the footprints not match the actual boots he wore? That would be my next one, just to throw it out there. We'll be back after the break. We'll get to that, okay? What about the flag? Well, of course, we know the flag was made to look like it was waving in the wind because there's no wind. Is there wind on the moon? I don't think there is. The moon has no atmosphere. The moon has no atmosphere. It's just a big rock. Yup, it's floating in the sky. All right, let's take a break. When we return, the Falcons have tagged Kyle Pitts and Pitts has decided to put his John Hancock at the bottom of the page. We'll discuss that next on PFTLog. Nobody even makes Simzazums anymore. It's a dead thing. We had one recently. We had one recently. Yeah, we have them every now and then. Think that personally, Chris. I mean, you get good at English. Now you got to take it out on us. Roll the clip. Simzazums. Insanity in the Membranity. The touchdown Pete Carroll is talking about. Man, that's insanity in the Membranity. I don't know what to say. What in the hell? Six years later. Is tackling one on one in space for 64241 is insanity in the Membranity is what he does. Coach Cam Jay just said insanity in the Membranity is an elite Sims. Thank you. That's that's the shirt quality. Simzazums. All right, Tommy, thank you. Way to go, Tommy. Insanity in the Membranity is one of the that's one of the originals. Yeah, I always know who the new arrivals to the audience are when they will tell me World Wind, for example, you said World Wind. Yes, yes. And like, we got him. We got him. It's like, no, he actually slowed down and said because that's an old school. Yeah, like first year, maybe first month. Totally. Simzazums. Totally. Yeah. Hey, who were those? Who are those two kids in that video? What? What the hell? Yeah, I know. That's so scary. Six years ago. Gosh, I was just 40 then now, you know, and then 39. Damn. Now I'm closer to 50. Like what the hell? And yeah, damn, you definitely were a few pounds heavier than your, your head was a lot bigger. I was living in March during the pandemic. Yeah, I was, you know, there was nowhere to go, man. No, no. You're the pandemic. It was great for the first two weeks. I remember being like, man, this is like kind of cozy and cool and I'm kind of enjoying this. You know, my kids were at that age where they were becoming teenagers. So you're like, Hey, this is one last moment, you know, of all of us to bond. But after those two weeks were over, it was like, okay, holy crap, are we going to live like this forever? Oh my gosh. So just crazy times. It really was. I was talking to somebody about this recently. There was a viewer that emailed me and we went back and forth a little bit. I rarely engage, but it was an intriguing question. How did the pandemic change you? And it has been six years now. Yeah. I remember when it first started, the thinking was, is this ever going to end? Is life going to ever be normal again? But it, here's how it changed me. Yeah. Okay. Once I started writing as my hobby, like I am obsessed now with working all the time. The only time I take a break is if we're going out to dinner or if we're having family over for dinner, or if my wife and I are watching something on TV, or if we rarely go to the movies, we've done that one time. The rest of the time I am constantly, I mean, constantly, like it's an obsession. And I think from the writing standpoint, I just want to write as much as I can before I die. Like there's going to be a final grain that falls out at the top of the hourglass. I don't know when that is. And I just feel like I got so many different ideas. And I like writing something that has more staying power than the copy-paste snarky comments stuff that by the day after it's written, nobody cares. And definitely by two days later, nobody's even reading it. Right. So, and it is just completely, like I'm content. I'm content to go to the barn by myself. I was down there last night for two, two and a half hours, bust my ass, come back up, work on the website, go to bed, get up and just keep going. And I just feel like it's made me even more warped in this just obsession with working as much as I can. I hear you, man. You know, I hear you. Hey, I mean, quarterback of the future will be here for generations. When the aliens take over the planet, they're going to go, man, we found quarterback of the future. This is one of the special things we found. It's a special fossil right here. It'll last a test of time for sure. You know, it's funny you mentioned that. Remember who said that recently? It's funny you mentioned that. But actually that was 25 years ago. And I fully admit, after going back a year ago and revisiting it, that is a piece of crap. It's just bad. I didn't know what I was doing. Yeah, it was your first time ever. You were doing something right. Yeah. And it's not like I was naturally gifted. Like some people, they just sit down and they're naturally gifted. Other people have to figure out how to properly do it. So there was a time last year where, because my agent now has introduced me to a bunch of different Hollywood people and we got a couple of projects in the pipeline. It's amazing anything gets made. It's amazing anything gets made. There are so many hoops that have to be jumped through to get something made. I don't know how it ever happens. It is so incredibly difficult to go from concept to we're going to go film this. But anyway, along the way, I was having a meeting with someone and I've told you this story before and I've probably said it here on the show. Like I just kind of mentioned the old quarterback of the future book and the guy was like, yeah, wait a minute, what? Hey, hey, that sounds like a pretty good idea. So what I did last year, I took the book and I created a script and I didn't even refer to the book because once I picked up the book, it's like looking at an old year book. It's like good God. So I just I had the basic story completely redid it for this script. So currently hashtag currently what I'm doing now, I'm going back 2050 anniversary of quarterback of the future rewriting the entire thing from scratch. Based on the script. So for the first time ever, there's going to be a book based on a script based on a book and this end result is going to be as different as it possibly could be from the first one. But I'm working on it now and I am flying through it. It is so much fun. I would work on it all day long if I could, but right now it's my two hours a night and I'm cranking it out and I will send you a copy of it and I hope you'll read it. Okay. It does feature a fake moon landing. Okay. Oh, I like it. I like all this. Francis Ford Coppola in the making right here right in front of us. So that's a good thing that the pandemic changed you that way. The pandemic changed me in not a good way. I dance with alcohol more now because of the pandemic. I definitely drink more because of the pandemic. Definitely the number one thing that changed me. I was somebody that would go, wait, I only drink like once every few weeks. The pandemic changed my life and that to where, yeah, I don't drink during the week, but on the weekends I drink and I never used to be like that. And that's when we got into the old phrase of, you know, I'm detoxing to detox and that's where that came from the pandemic. It was like every day was wake up, have some coffee. Okay. Let's detox. Hold on. There's the guy with the baton waiting for the alcohol. Let's go. Let's hand it off. Coffee to alcohol. And that put me into, yeah, some bad habits there. Hey, I mean, you've been an influence on me there too. I like to start showing up with bottles in 1942. Once I got a taste for that, then I started down that rabbit hole. I mean, I like to have a drink or two a night. I rarely, rarely get to the point where I feel like I've had too much. Usually it's wine that gets me. If it's like a dinner and there's a lot of people here and you get past that second glass, like the words are hard to formulate. I don't like that feeling at all. But you know, it's a, they say that like young people don't drink like who the hell is buying all this booze? Because every time I go buy the liquor store, the parking lot's full. So I don't know who's buying the booze. Maybe all the old people deal with the young people who don't drink. I think it is the old people. The young kids are, you know, they're a little smarter in their approach or some of these things. So yeah, it does seem like it's not quite as popular. It's our demographic. I think it's like 35 and up. They're still really indulging themselves there. The kids are just smoking cigarettes. Yeah, or vape pens or stuff like that. Exactly. Yeah. All right. Kyle Pitts, by the way, he has signed his franchise tender, which will guarantee him $15 million this year. Usually when a guy signs a franchise tender now, two things, maybe one or the other, maybe both. One, he knows that the market elsewhere, it's not worth trying to push a trade. Two, maybe he's concerned that they're going to yank the tender. Because until you accept it, the team can rescind it at any time. It's only happened three times in the history of the tender. It happened with Jeremiah Trotter in 2002. It happened with Corey Simon, 2005, both played for the Eagles at the time. And it happened with Josh Norman, 2016, I believe, signed abruptly with Washington after that. But it doesn't happen often. But I remember when Tony Pollard signed it a few years ago with the Cowboys. I remember hearing he was concerned they were going to yank it. He was coming off the broken ankle from a hip drop tackle. Remember that. He was concerned they were going to rescind it. So he signed it. So I just wonder if Kyle Pitts was thinking they were going to pull the rug out from under him. I better take the $15 million. Wow, I can't because if they take it away, I'm not going to get $15 million on the open market. Yeah, maybe. I mean, it's first off, just take that worry away. I do think if Kyle Pitts got to the open market, he would make more than that. But maybe he just figured like... 15 a year? Yeah, I think he would. I think he would get more than 15 a year, especially after the year he just had, the specimen and what he is. I think a lot of people view him as like, wait, he's starting to figure things out here and watch out. So yeah, I do. But I don't know that for sure. Regardless, we know with what they're doing there and what they're doing, they have a special offense. I mean, they got an offensive line that's damn good. We've seen, what's his name? Drake London, of course, take the next step and look like he's a force to be reckoned with. And Kyle Pitts is finally at a spot where they're starting to go, oh, this is the guy we drafted in the top 10. This is who we wanted. So they're not going to let him go right now. And good for him to sign it, take away that angst or any of the possibilities you mentioned there. And we'll see if they can figure out a long-term deal. I'm hopeful they can down there. I got some feedback at one point on what has gone wrong with Pitts in his career. And I can't remember what it was. And I wish I could find it because I'm sure the text is in here somewhere. But he's never lived up to the potential. And it's a high bar when you're the fourth overall pick in the draft. I think he was fourth. Yeah. It was right there. And last year he had a big season, but most of it was the Thursday night game in Tampa. He had five touchdown catches on the year, three of them on the Thursday night in Tampa. He had 928 receiving yards, 166 on the Thursday night in Tampa. So you know, and, and hey, it's great. I remember after that game, I think we posted Kyle Pitts is going to get himself to the fourth page now. Yeah. Because of that performance. So we see what he can do. The reality though is it just doesn't happen often enough. I'm looking at the stat lines from some of his games last year, Chris Buffalo, three catches, 18 yards. Yeah. Colts, two catches, 38 yards. Panthers, a game they lost in overtime 30 to 27. So a lot of offense in that game, two catches for 14 yards on three targets. He's targeted 12 times in that game against the Buccaneers. But you know, there were three games where he had double digit targets. There was one game where he had double digit catches. There's a lot of four catch games, two catch games, three catch games, five catch game, 11 catches that night against Tampa. So whatever the Falcons are going to do under Kevin Stefanski. And remember how David and Joku kind of broke out? Yeah. Right? Yes. Which Stefanski, they just need to scheme him open. They need to get him the ball and let him do his thing. Yeah. I mean, he hasn't been perfect. He needs to work on whether it's a little urgency off the line of scrimmage, the route running, all that. But like, you know, the physical ability is there. It's there. And I don't think, you know, he was in the greatest situations in his career. I mean, come on. You know, he started his career with like Desmond Ritter and company who you used to hear me go. Like, I mean, he can't really throw the football. So he's the starting quarterback. That was an issue. Quarterback play was an issue last year. Michael Penex was young. He was all over the place. And then on top of that, Mike, the craziest thing and something I talked about on my podcast when we get a little more in the weeds about some of these subjects is, you know, for tight ends, their biggest way a lot of times to get catches is off of play action pass. And that's the weird thing about what Atlanta did last year. They could run the ball. Well, but they were one of the least play action pass teams in football, which made no sense. You felt like, wait, everybody's worried about Bijan and your offense. Alon, you're doing nothing off of that. We're either just handing it off or we drop back and pass and we don't even fake the handoff. And I feel like that wasn't necessarily conducive to Kyle Pitts and success there either. And so hopefully this situation with Stefansky, Tommy Reese, where they will believe in the run and play action a lot here. That'll help Kyle Pitts be unlocked and he can become the guy they all want him to be down there. I am determined to find this thing about pits on why pits was struggling. And it's probably something basic and simple, but I want to be accurate about it. I'm going to keep looking. Okay, during the break, we'll have something later in the program. We'll be back with more PFT live right after this. Tuesday edition of PFT live Wednesday edition of PFT live. What day is it? Is it Wednesday? I don't know. It is Wednesday. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday. Okay, so the Raiders got together yesterday for the start of their offseason program. And I noticed last night that Ryan McFadden of ESPN had an image of Tommy walking in with his big ass water jug. Always got to hydrate. Big giant water jug. Brady walking into the facility. And I don't think he was there just for the fact that it was the start of the offseason program with Clint Kubiak. Yesterday was Fernando Mendoza's visit to the Raiders. So Tom Brady, who recently wrote a lengthy newsletter essay about balance. Pretty crazy actually. If anything, I thought we'd see him less with the Raiders. He's there. He's there. How long he'll stay, we'll see. But he was there for yesterday. And I think a big factor was that's the day Mendoza was going to be in town. I'm going to be interested in that first off, the letter you're talking about with Brady and all that and what that means. To me, I think it's going to maybe mean maybe he's finally going to be more involved with the Raiders and stop all the other stuff. Right? And that to me is where I'm just like, wait, we're at this party. This thing, it's fanatics. This, it's fanatics that I'm on this podcast. I'm on this. And you want to be like, wait, you're Tom Brady. Like you're above all of this. What are you trying to like show your face on a, you know, Wednesday afternoon at 1 15 on Joe Schmo's pod? That's where I'm a little shocked by it. So I'm interested to see that new approach. But yeah, that's an important day to be there for this one. I mean, yeah, the franchise is coming into town. The new franchise for Nanda Mendoza. And I know Kirk Cousins signed a deal and it looks like he has a deal and a one year deal to be the starter. Well, you know what I'll say to that? We'll freaking see. Cause when Fernando Mendoza has a good OTAs and then he has good training camp and then he has three good preseason games. Are they going to go, Oh, well, you know what? Let's play Kirk. Like we'll see. We've heard that before. Oh, we're going to start him. We have all intentions of starting the veteran guy. Mendoza's pro ready. There's zero questions. A lot of zero questions is you're going to get for a quarterback coming out in the draft. So cool that Brady's there, gets to interview him, talk to him, pick his brain, see what he's all about. And hopefully this is the start of a wonderful relationship for everybody out there in Las Vegas. The odds for Fernanda Mendoza to be the first pick in the draft have plummeted from minus 10,000 to minus 20,000. So I don't even know why they had the bet on the board anymore. Although like it allows people to take these weird flyers and get 10,000 to one odds on guys who have no chance of being the first overall pick. And we've seen that weird stuff can happen. Is there any scenario? We talked recently about how the chargers were set to take Michael Vick in 2001. Contract talks fell apart because back in those days they would try to get the guy signed before the draft. There wasn't the rookie wage scale. There was a lot more variance in what you could negotiate. And then once it fell apart, they traded him to the Falcons. Is there any way that the Raiders decide not to draft Fernando Mendoza in your? No freaking way. None. I mean, I just, yeah, they need something to start the franchise. They need something there where people can start to go, wait, we got our guy. Here we go. And for Mendoza would be a poster child for, you know, a guy you'd want to create something special around. I mean, what he did at Indiana, we saw in person. Yeah. I know he might be nerdy. He's nerdy in a great way, nerdy in a good way. And he's charismatic as hell. And he's obsessed with football and every detail that goes along with it. So no, I would think that within Tom Brady, he's going to be like, I love him. We need this guy. Let's, let's start it. And then he fits what Clint Kubiak and how he wants to play on the offensive side of the ball. So to me, yeah, there's no way. I don't think you're going to see a Michael Vick type thing happen here. Yeah. I mean, he's a more athletic and more mobile Sam Darnold. He can do everything the thinking is. He can do everything that Darnold does. Plus you can throw in some design runs that will put defenses on their heels even more when this guy takes off. We saw what he did with the game on the line and the national championship. So I, I mean, look, I, I never want to be set up for that surprise sucker punch, but it would be a surprise to end all surprises if the Raiders don't take Fernanda Mendoza at this point. All right, let's take a break. When we return tickets for the NFL's first game in Australia are going very fast. That's next on PFT live. For now, I'm going to have to call you and let you know I'm going to wear a hoodie once every seven weeks. So we don't look like idiots wearing two blue hoodies on a show. That's the next thing that's going to, I'm going to call you at 545 in the morning next time I wear a hoodie and go, I'm going to wear a blue hoodie today. Is that okay? Can you not wear a matching hoodie like that? Because we look ridiculous. Now, all done. The real question is, are you awake at 545? You're not awake at 550. Are you awake there? If I called you, no. Well, today I was. Today you were. Today I was. The garbage truck woke me up and I had a headache because I was sleeping weird on the pillow if you must know. Yeah. And I just stayed up and I started working. Copy paste snarky comment for an hour or so. Okay. So I was up early. And usual days you're waking up. What time? Show starts at seven. You're usually waking at what? What is the, what's the get up time there? 630. That's incredible. That's incredible. 630 in the shower by 640 to pay on by 650 up here by 655. Wow. Okay. All right. Damn. Look at you. Living the life. Living the life. I think you are living in a dorm room. You're living a dorm room life. You're like, well, I'm going to wake up 30 minutes before class and hurry up and get there in time. I don't know where my clothes are. Mom, where's my freaking laundry mom? I have beer every night. I have pizza every night. Yes. Yeah. Awesome. Cool. God, my dorm was a disaster too. I'm having flashbacks to that. Like there would be, you know, like a plastic cup, like with an inch of beer and a science experiment would grow. That would never happen in my dorm room. No way. No way. My dorm room was like clean as can be, like perfect always. Definitely. Because the maid, you had a maid. Yeah, right. I had a maid. You know what I did do though? You showed up in a limo. Yes. I did not screw off, screw yourself. All right. But here's one thing I did do. You'll like this real quick. We had, we had, we were in our own special wing, the football players because, you know, all dorms have crappy beds, but the beds in this little special wing, uh, and we were mixed with some regular students too, but it was mainly football players. The beds were like these big wooden platforms that were big enough to have like an offensive tackle that's 6, 6, 350 on it. Right. And then there was a big wooden platform with a mattress like this thick. So of course it sucked. I mean, it sucked. And I went for a few months sleeping on it, had egg crates things on it to make it softer, whatever. One day I came, came back. I was dating my wife. I, I texted her. I was like, you got to order me a bed. And she's like, what? And I was like, order me a bed or it and send it to gesture dorm. And I ordered that thing. Two days later it came. I ripped that damn wooden thing out of the ground, put it in the hallway and put a nice queen sized bed in my dorm room. It was incredible. It was awesome. Sorry we changed the subject, but it was football related dorm related at the university of Texas. Straight from the mean streets of Greenwich Austin. They bring it to bed. You show up in a limo. You have a maid cleaning your dorm room. That's for six months. Or PFT live right after this. Well, the NFL is going to Australia later this year, the week one game between the 49ers and the Rams. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that tens of thousands of fans were in the ticket master virtual line moments before the tickets went on sale for the September 10 game. One fan said within 26 minutes of going on sale the only tickets left had restricted views. The fans are upset that the 100,000 capacity stadium at Melbourne Cricket Ground is not available for all. I don't know who's buying the tickets unless it's just brokers snatching everything up and then resell it at a massive markup. Yeah, I know that's where my mind goes. I don't know either. At first you see it and go, well, this is a good problem. This means good things, right? But again, you want the people to get it. But this seems to be an issue with whatever. It's an issue with getting restaurant reservations in New York City. I can speak to that experience. We have all these companies who have these automated devices now that call and book up or do it online and take all these reservations or tickets or whatever else and then it becomes that. And yeah, it hurts the common everyday fan. And so I hope that's not the case there, but that's where my mind was, Mike. I'm with you there. The NFL said over 151,000 people registered for their interest in the game. And again, it's a capacity of 100,000. And it is frustrating. Prices range from $560 to $630 Australian, which equates to $392 to $441 US dollars. So look, they're playing the game at like 10 in the morning. They are bending over backwards to accommodate American football. It just shows how popular it currently is. And don't get us started on the logistical problems it creates for the 49ers and the Rams. Kyle Shanahan was great on that last week, especially regarding his suspicion. I saw somebody try to push back on the idea that the Rams wanted the 49ers that basically to get the game in Mexico, the 49ers had to go to Australia. I tend to believe Kyle on this one that the Rams specifically wanted that 49ers home game to go to Australia. Yeah. He's certainly convicted in that belief. And my friend, and I think you know him well enough now know to do to go, he wouldn't say things like that unless he felt he was totally right. And he's not one to want to try to give you, Mike Florio, some stupid headline to go on. So, you know, exactly right. Here's an annoying headline. How about an annoying caption? Rich kid moves in to door with the common folk. This is hilarious. Look at that. Damn, I'm skinny. Look at that. I am carrying something though. I am carrying something, but I think my chauffeur is carrying something to exactly right. Yeah. I tell you what, I tell you what, your brother looks just like your dad. You look just like your mom. Yeah. More at my mom. Everybody says that. Unbelievable. See you buddy. Have a good day.