LIVE from The NFL Combine, Howie Roseman stops by, News from the day

This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. When segregation was a law, one mysterious Black club owner, Charlie Fitzgerald, had his own rules. Segregation in the day, integration at night. It was like stepping on another world. Was he a businessman? A criminal? A hero? Charlie was an example of power. They had to crush him. Charlie's Place, from Atlas Obscura and Visit Myrtle Beach. Listen to Charlie's Place on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The podcast award is... See all the nominees now at iHeart.com slash podcast awards. Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one easy app. Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free trial at audible.com. On June 11th, 1998, a deputy from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department went missing. Hey, if they'll kill a cop and bury them, what are they going to do to me? What really happened to the missing deputy? Valley of Shadows, a new series from Pushkin Industries about crime and corruption in California's high desert. Listen to Valley of Shadows on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. people who didn't do what John of God wanted them to do they usually disappeared John of God was once Brazil's most famous spiritual healer but in this limited series podcast we uncover the darker truth behind his global empire of faith and fear from exactly right and Adonde Media, this is Two-Faced, John of God. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Volume. What is up, everybody? How are we doing? John Middlecoff, 3 and Out podcast. Live here from Indianapolis, where it was freezing you-know-what when I got off the plane last night. It was like 17 degrees. But we have been inside all day. We've been rubbing elbows. We've been shaking hands. I got Ben Johnson to smile. Sala wants to play golf with me. We got a couple GMs. Well, Veach was supposed to come on, and then he pulled a Barry Sanders move on me, and I never saw him again. He was gone. So don't blame him. He had other stuff to do. But I did get two guys. Howie Roseman, we will play that today. Now, we'll probably open the show with that. And I had him for like seven, eight minutes. You know, these guys are running around. And then I got Jackson here with me. We're going to go through all the breaking news. I haven't really been online because you're just kind of running around this place. And we're just going to go through some of the big headlines today, react to that, and that will be the game plan. And then tomorrow I talk to John Schneider. We'll have Schneider on and probably do something similar with newsy stuff. And we'll grab other people that are walking around and see what's going on. But we're live from the combine for the next couple days. See if I get more sleep than I normally would. But a lot of people want to go get cocktails a night out on the town that are working in the NFL. And that's where you get the good gossip that I kind of give back on this podcast without quite telling what I know. But I kind of know. And it makes for good content. So that will be the game plan over the course of the next week. And, yeah, so let's – you guys know the drill. Subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen. Apple, Spotify, all of our videos, the interview with Howie, the interview with John, this podcast. They're up on Netflix, so go check that as well. Appreciate everyone that has. Let's just dive right in to two-time Super Bowl champ, Howie Roseman. Okay, I have my former boss here, multiple-time Super Bowl champion. I'd say future Hall of Famer, but after Belichick, you never know. Howie Roseman. Howie. Dave Dombrowski. Yeah. I saw he said something recently, made some pretty big headlines. Do you want to pull a Dave Dombrowski right now? No. No, I mean, Dave Zemrowski is a Hall of Fame general manager and unbelievable GM. So I would do anything that Dave did and think that's the right thing to do. But I think where you're going with this is more a negative connotation, which he doesn't deserve. He doesn't deserve because he is a great GM, a great person. And, you know, I do miss having you, man. You know, you were a good scout, man. You were a good scout. You had a lot of passion. I think we should tell your viewers how you were. You were persistent. You would not hesitate to come to my office and tell me what you thought. You were not meek. I'm an aggressive human. Same. We're on Netflix. Same. We're on Netflix right now? Well, not live, technically, but we will be in the next day or two. Just interviews on Netflix? No, my whole podcast is on Netflix. Really? Yeah, so we did that officially like a month ago. Wow. So just everything's on Netflix. What does that go for, that deal? Pretty good. I wouldn't say quarterback money, but it's a pretty solid guard. Yeah? Well, maybe the way the economics are now in the league. It sounds like better than GM money. No, I wouldn't say that. I don't know. I don't know. Jeez, we should be getting into the podcast business. What combine is this for you? 26. That's pretty crazy, huh? Yeah. Get old? No, I'm not old. No, I said, does this get old? I don't think I'm old at all. Actually, I think I'm looking pretty good. I think you do look good. Thanks, buddy. It's part of what we've got to do, right? We want to meet the players. We want to get to know them as well as possible so we can make good decisions. It gives an opportunity to see people you don't see all year, which is huge. And it really completes the process because you're looking at the tape. You're getting the numbers that match the tape, hopefully. You're getting to interview guys, and you're getting the medical. And you need all four pieces of that information to make good decisions. One thing I remember is every team we'd play, you'd watch the free agents, and then throughout the year you'd watch the different draft guys. Your role has obviously, I'm sure, changed a little bit. Are you still able to come into this, all the free agents and the draft guys, was it the same as 10 years ago? Yeah, I would say I'm probably more draft than I am free agents. I start watching the draft guys when we report back to training camp in July because really you're thinking about it. We have one practice. We watch the practice, and then we're around the rest of the day. And so it gives a great chance to kind of start the draft process in July and August and really figure out throughout the course of the season the guys that you like because they don't change that much over junior tape or sometimes even sophomore tape. And then with free agency, if you draft well and you develop your players and you resign them, you should really be targeting free agency. So you can really do that in a more targeted way. But the draft, you've got to know every player in the draft. And really that's been a huge key to our success. So like you said, target free agents. I mean, everyone does that. I know how you guys operate. So you come here, what would you say that number is of guys? You're very, like less than 10, right? In terms of free agency? Yeah. Yeah, I think where we are as a team right now, you know, we're really, we have a lot of players on our roster who are going into their second contract, whether it's this year, next year, or third year. And you can look on defense. You know, we draft a lot of defensive guys and guys who played at a high level. And so you'd really rather retain your own guys, the guys that you know that you've lived with, and then periodically dip into free agency. And obviously, you know, when you can do that, get some bang for your buck. And if you're letting your guys go, you're getting more picks, which means you have to be even more tight on your draft. And I think that's exciting, you know. Like you have this core base of players that are Eagle players that are on their second contracts, and you're adding on to it and you're adding on to it and you're adding on to it. You know, I was thinking, you know, Brandon Graham retired. I know he came back. Lane's getting older. Kelsey retired. Fletcher retired. Like, that's a core group of, like, Hall of Famers. Your role now. Those four guys. So how do you replace that? Well, I think that those four guys were special guys, you know, and those guys were with me really through a lot of ups and downs. And, you know, you lost Kelsey. You lost Fletch. You lost BG. He came back. and now you have Lane. And so you've got to replace them with great players and great people. And I think that we've done that. You look at the players on our team who can make game-changing plays who I think have potential to be Eagles Hall of Famers, maybe NFL Hall of Famers, and that's important. You have to have difference makers on your roster. Those are the guys that really show up when you're talking about big games, you're talking about late in the year. And so we're trying to have as many difference makers as we possibly can within the confines of the system that we work in. I know you got to run, so I've been thinking about this for a couple days. Yeah, you got me a couple times. The league, when I was with you, was much more old school in terms of trades. You know, there were a couple, but you were kind of on the forefront of that baseball. I mean, your friends are all these baseball and basketball GMs. For sure. But now, you look around, a lot of your peers are like wheeling and dealing. So, is the league easier for you that more people are willing to talk or harder because more people are bidding for stuff that you're like, we don't even need to bid as much because we don't have seven teams going for it. I haven't thought about it like that. You know, I think for me, it's constantly finding the edges. It's constantly evolving, you know, as a GM, constantly trying to figure out the areas that you can improve on, the areas that maybe you can find value in. And that's what I love about this, you know. It's just a humbling league. And for me, when you see that there are areas that you can continue to grow, that you can continue to develop, and that you can't just keep doing the same things and expect the same results, It keeps you on your toes. I love what we do. And I think that when you have passion for something and you're trying to find ways to improve, you know, it gives you a chance to compete at the highest level. So you did a good GM talk right there, but what's the area that you're going to attack right now that no one knows about? Hi, Howie Roseman. John, nice to meet you. You think I'm telling you that? Okay, we got a standing tee time. Robert Salva, Arizona owners meetings. Do you want in? Well, you got one kid. I have four. Well, you're going to be at the owners meetings. I'll be back at home. Well, I was hoping more that you were going to give me your— Remember when you go on the road and I tell—what did I tell you? Give me a restaurant in the city I am, and then I'm going to judge you for your evaluation of the food. I'd go Dominic's, the steakhouse. You've probably eaten there before. I would say the Mastro's. You're doing this on your podcast? You know, you're going to— Mission? Have you been to the Mission before in Scottsdale? You've probably eaten there. That's pretty good. Yeah, that's good. I would say Dominic's, the steakhouse. I'm going to call you up to get me a reservation because I know you've got inns with all those people. Oh, yeah. It's good to see you, brother. Good to see you too, Howie. Thanks for having me. See ya. Okay, let's fire over to some thoughts from the day from me and Jackson. Today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, Hard Rock Bet, Florida's sports book. I know it's tough when no football makes me sad. But like the song says, I bet I will survive. With Hard Rock Bet, there's always something every single night. Hoops, hockey, so much more. Plus, all the great same-game parlay, live betting, and player prop options you're used to. And did you know that Hard Rock Bet is the official sports betting partner of the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic? So, they know their basketball. Hard Rock Bet app is the only legal sports book whenever you're in Florida. 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Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia. I'm Anna Navarro, and on my new podcast, Bleep with Anna Navarro, I'm talking to the people closest to the biggest issues happening in your community and around the world. Because I know deep down inside right now, we are all cursing and asking what the bleep is going on. I'm talking to people like Julie K. Brown, who broke the explosive story on Jeffrey Epstein in 2018. These victims have been let down time and time again for decades and decades and decades by local law enforcement, by federal law enforcement, by administration after administration. The Justice Department, through I think we counted four presidential administrations, failed these victims. Listen to Bleep with Anna Navarro as part of the My Cultura podcast network. Available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On June 11th, 1998, a deputy from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department went missing. It's an all-out manhunt for John Audier. Every search and rescue team in L.A. County has been called in to help. Within days, tips started flooding into the sheriff's department. The rumor around the drug scene was that a deputy was taken care of. Is this the story of a man who just got lost in the desert? Or of a cover-up inside the nation's largest sheriff's department? A homicide captain saying, detective, do not find out if this guy's guilty or innocent. Who does that? Valley of Shadows, a new series from Pushkin Industries about crime and corruption in California's high desert. Do you have any advice for us while looking into this disappearance? I wouldn't do it alone. Listen to Valley of Shadows on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Segregation in the day, integration at night. When segregation was the law, one mysterious Black club owner had his own rules. We didn't worry about what went on outside. It was like stepping on another world. Inside Charlie's place, Black and white people danced together. But not everyone was happy about it. You saw the KKK? Yeah, they were dressed up in their uniform. The KKK set out to raid Charlie, take him away from here. Charlie was an example of power. They had to crush him. From Atlas Obscura, Rococo Punch, and Visit Myrtle Beach comes Charlie's Place, a story that was nearly lost to time. Until now. Listen to Charlie's Place on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay. That was cool. You killed it today. I laid it all on the line, man. I just got to ask, for a podcaster like yourself, full-time, you had a baby, you haven't been out of the house in a while, how does it feel talking to that many people today? The social reel we're about to post, the faces and the hands that you shook today, The program's got to be proud. I did get out on Saturday and played some golf, and it turned out it was a legendary meltdown. 89? That he was having. No, not me on the course. I'm talking the kid. Right before I was leaving, she was like, yeah, go enjoy yourself. And tee time's at one. And right around like 1130, loudest screams and cries he's ever had. And it went all the way until I left. I'm like, that ain't good. I guess he calmed down, but when I came back, it was bad. So, you know, getting here, trying to integrate back into society, and my little man is doing well. Maybe it's just me, you know, that brings bad juice to him. So, yeah, you just got to do what you got to do, you know. I'm kind of, I'll do whatever for the show. And I won't for most things in life. But when it comes to the podcast, very passionate, and it's my life. So I do things, again, I, like, introduce myself to Robert Sala and Ben Johnson. I've met Sala before, but Ben Johnson, he was – he had mentioned that Colin, he thought he saw a coward at a restaurant. And then I made a joke that if Colin would have seen him, Colin would have ran over to him and talked to offense. And then I got Ben laughing. So it was – You met John Harbaugh too. Met John Harbaugh. I'd met him briefly a long time ago. But these guys, these guys meet so many people. If you don't know them, they never remember you. So you just got to introduce yourself. I introduced myself to every single person. And half these people – I'm not even talking like coaches. I'm talking like media people, like Tom Pelissaro. I've known him for like 15 years. He's like, bro, why did you introduce yourself? I'm just in the habit of like, hey, John Middlecoff. So he's like, hey, John Middlecoff. That's the type of networking thing. I'm not in these events. A lot of people listening to this, which I respect the hell out of you, that are in sales, that go to these conventions, like you're used to doing this stuff. When you get out of that world, you kind of, maybe you kind of come back into it and you don't even care. So you're just kind of, you're just ruthless. But if you do it a lot, I can see where it would drive you nuts. your social battery can just my social batteries again i'm talking to people that i would want to talk to yeah but it's takes a lot of energy and i haven't eaten hopefully lost like five pounds because i'm kind of fat and uh yeah just rocking and rolling at least 10 000 steps today so what uh i mean part of today you know you me people in this business we kind of like follow stories you kind of lose track of things and so much is happening so much is firing so what i thought Let's get Jackson. Get the top stories of the day. You rattle them off, and I'll just react to what's going on. Yeah, let's start with the top one. This one happened later in the day. Five-time all-pro left tackle Trent Williams scheduled to carry a $39 million cap number this season. He and the 49ers were struggling to agree on a compensation, a solution. If the two sides can't bridge their differences in the standoff, Williams would be expected to join this year's free agent class. class. According to Adam Schefter, it's not an offseason without a 49er being a little angry about some extra money, Mr. Middlecoff. Well, their offensive line is not good, and he's one of the greatest offensive linemen of all time, and he loves his money. Now, what makes us, we're recording this before, John Lynch is talking like midnight. I'm like, I'm not waiting for John Lynch to talk, and I'm sure he'll say, like, we plan on figuring it out. They don't want to cut Trent Williams. No. but Trent only has so many years left he sees these young offensive tackles get paid 30 35 million dollars and I don't even blame him like he's got leverage in the sense of like I'm one of the greatest players of all time I'm by far the best offensive lineman on this team you could argue I'm the best player on this offense you know technically it was Kittle but he's got a torn achilles you know McCaffrey's didn't quite look the same this year now Trent's older too but yeah i mean this is part of dealing with older players is like every year trent wants a race which not ideal to do business that way but if you're trent like i kind of understand it like he how many years he's got left so you got to take advantage of it an extra 10 million dollars trent's no dummy like when he's retired in like 43 there probably ain't many jobs paying him like that 30 million you got to strike when the iron's hot and his iron's still hot because the Niners need him they love him I mean he's like Kyle's guy you just can't cut Trent Williams so it's like yeah the story's cool and I understand it like they're probably angry at each other maybe Trent wants that out but I'll promise you this I would be besides like Josh Allen Lamar Jackson Mahomes I would put him in like the top 10 list of like 49ers cut Trent Williams I was like wouldn believe you does this ponder the fact they draft at 27th Obviously they probably need receiver help with how deep this receiver class is Does the left tackle come to the brain of John Lynch, even if the left tackle is slim? 49ers don't draft offensive linemen. They've done it like McGlinchey when they first got there. They got very lucky that Trent loves Kyle when Trent retired for like a year, then came back. He's like, I'm never playing for the Commanders. They were the Redskins or the football team at the time. I can't even keep up. But was like, I'm not playing here again. They're like, okay. So the 49ers, Joe Staley, just retired, offered a third-round pick. The Vikings offered more money and a second-round pick, but Trent's like, I'm only playing in San Francisco. So this whole thing, now they deserve credit because Kyle and his dad drafted them, so they were close. But they got lucky the way it all played out. But there's no, like, most Josh Simmons last year who got drafted by the Chiefs. Remember, he was injured. Like, usually guys like that aren't sitting there in the late 20s, early 30s. So the 49ers, once upon a time, I think took Joe Staley, like, 27 or 28. He was a converted tight end. I think he was, like, Western Michigan or one of that. And obviously he was, like, six-time Pro Bowl or excellent pick. Most of your top tackles aren't, like, Jordan Maialata, the seventh-round rugby player. You know, they're usually Lane Johnson, Trent Williams, Joe Walt. Like, you're usually drafted high. So Slater of the Chargers, you know, you guys – who's your tackle that you had forever in Arizona who was drafted? First rounder, right? Paris Johnson, DJ Humphreys. What round were those guys drafted? First round, yeah. Yeah, but usually high. Yeah. So I think it's – I think it just becomes like a difficult proposition of you just got to pay them. But you – it's weird because you're like, I don't love paying a 38-year-old, giving them like – guaranteeing them like $50 million. But, again, this is where Trent has them by the balls. Like, if this is a negotiation tactic, Trent Williams got the levered. Cut me. Is it a two-year deal he wants, a three-year deal? He just wants money guaranteed and a lot. I don't think it's about, like, five years. The top guy's making $35. I want guaranteed a lot of money. And I think that's been his consistent theme. I've got to be the highest paid guy or I've got to be one of the highest paid guys. And you just naturally, when you don't sign a new deal in a couple years, it kind of dips. So, but that's the part of, like, he ain't alone. Like, that story got out. There's maybe not as, like, future Hall of Famers, but there are pro bowlers all around the league right now that want to race. I've said it forever. Money's all relative. Whether you make $30,000 a year or whether you make $30 million a year, that money is relative to your life and relative to what you do for a living and how you judge yourself against your peers. And in football, you know how much all your peers make. it would be no different if instead of $30 million a year, the number was $300,000 a year. Players would want $320,000. Like he wants $32 million. Whatever the number is. So I just think it's like this is football. And what makes football different, basketball and baseball, is like the contracts are all kind of fake. So it's like, well, Trent's owed what? It's all kind of funny money. He knows it. Speaking of guaranteed, something that the Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni can't guarantee is that A.J. Brown will be back for the Eagles this season. Now, Eagles general manager Howie Roseman commented about A.J. Brown and said it's hard to improve by subtracting great players. So you've got Sirianni that says he can't guarantee anything. You've got Roseman that says it's hard to improve when you subtract great players. Thoughts on that and what's going to happen with A.J. Brown? Well, I thought like a couple weeks ago it might be hard to trade for him because he's like a little older, but he's not that old. He's like 28, 29, makes a lot of money. I don't think that's I was wrong I actually think it would be pretty easy for them to trade him They definitely get a second round pick But you know Putting my ear to the ground, talking to some people They're not just going to give him away For like pick 50 I don't think I don't think they're desperate to give him away Like I thought, like people on the outside think So could they get The Patriots 31st pick or something like that If they would have to think about it But I don't think I originally thought he was going to be somewhat of a bargain if a team was willing to take a salary, maybe give him an extension. I don't think the Eagles are just going to hand him off. So my guess would be we're going to see a lot of different stories come out about the confidence. Eagles want more. I think that's going to be a lot. Eagles want more. Okay, second, I want your second this year and your second next year. I think he's going to ask for a lot because I don't have to give them away. Do you think the Raiders at, I'm looking at the second round, 36 or Giants at 37 would get one of those, or is that too valuable on their end where they're trying to get things going? I think for the Raiders, I think you've got to use that. You've got to get some linemen. Yeah. They've done that. Remember, they traded for Devontae Adams and it blew up in their face. I do not think the Raiders can be in that business. I mean, a lot of people think that Max Crosby might not even get traded. So, if you're going to keep Max Crosby, could you entertain bringing A.J. Brown to go with Fernando Mendoza? But then your offensive line sucks. Yeah, I mean, I would say the Giants would be a team that would sniff around. But is Howie Roseman going to trade him to John Harbaugh and the New York Giants? That's true, the in-division. I always forget about that. There are certain trades like Veach would love to get Max Crosby. But it's a non-starter. Remember Howie was sniffing around Micah Parsons last year? It's like, it just doesn't happen. Which I understand. You cannot, to me, trade superstar players. they'd have to give you like you know 500 percent of value on an individual to make it worth it speaking of star players uh john spitek was asked today about star defensive end max crosby and he expects him to play in 2026 amid the trade speculation i mean that's typical gm talk i'm assuming the fact that he's going to probably go out and at least hear from the outside noise what What are your thoughts on Spitech in the whole? Say it again. I wasn't really listening. We're in a daze right now. We've been here since like 9 a.m. I got a text from my wife, and I couldn't tell it, but it was kind of stupid. Spitech expects Crosby basically to be on the team this next year amid the trade talk. That's kind of what you expect him to say, right? Yeah, I think he's got to say that now, and I think he does believe, like, he does want it to work out. I was talking to someone, and I'm in total agreement. Max Crosby is everything you'd want in a high-end player. He's a great player. Plays his ass off. He'll play injured. He is now a married kid, sober for years. You don't have to worry about any of that crap. He's in the facility constantly. He's an all-in guy. To me, I think the more quote-unquote all-in guys you can have, part of the 49ers, they had no business being that good this year, but they got a lot of all-in guys. like George Kittle's all his feet like he ain't jumping out the boat you know McCaffrey's like that Fred Warner's like that Max Crosby is wired like dudes that would play for the Chiefs dudes that would play for the New England Patriot Brady Belt like that's who you want so to me I mean I'm asking for a lot now I would trade him because I do think it's time to kind of blow it up start over but like when I hear you know you're not going to get as much of Micah Parsons then you're not getting Max Crosby and I know you want Max Crosby's under contract one thing I heard is like the injuries he's been injured the last couple years at the end of the season but even this year he could have kept playing it's not like there's one thing if you're injured and you oh he only played seven games he plays in games so I think you get two first round picks for him and I think if you get two first round picks for him if you're the Raiders I think you got to think about it the problem I bet he's saying is like then we get Fernando on this awful team our defense is worse even if we draft offensive linemen they're young it's probably going to be a long year no matter what i'm a spy tech fan i'm rooting for this raider operation i like fernando mendoza but eventually got to pull off the band-aid and he is how often you get guys 28 29 with the lead value like miles garrett was rare last year he was like over 30 it was like the whole league would have traded two first round picks and two second round picks for him pretty rare right and he's but he's like one of the great talents of all time. Max isn't as talented as Miles, but like Miles like shows up late to meetings and shit, but no one cares. He's so good. He's kind of like an NBA player. Where Max is more wired like an NFL guy, like an all-in guy, or just I guess there are a lot of drama guys in the NFL too. But there's not much drama there. So to me, I think you would get, you know, Mike is a better player because he's younger, but he also cost them $188 million. But Max doesn't cost you anything because he's already under contract at a relatively low number. You just have to give the draft capital. So I think there are going to be a lot of stories about offers. And I think a lot of people are going to come in like, we'll give you a first and a second. And I think they're going to get no's. But I do think they'll end up getting two ones and a player or something. Well, you spoke to Howie Roseman, John Schneider, Eagles Seahawks, rumored to be some of those teams to go after Max Crosby and Bears 2. Do you kind of expect it to be more of an NFC team or you think it's kind of like we're going to open the book to anybody, even the AFC itself, but if I'm Spitek, apparently what he said, he's going to try to keep them and kind of get that leader moving forward in this new regime with Kubiak. Well, I think two teams that would want them would be the Chiefs and the Chargers. They ain't trading them there. No. I'm sure Denver would be interested too. So, like, three of the best teams. I know the Chiefs didn't make the playoffs this year, but, like, Denver Chargers playoff teams, Chiefs five of the last six Super Bowls. those are like three of the best teams in the AFC that aren't even available because they would never even they're not even talking the Bills would be an interesting team Ravens new coach I don't know so but but Matt Nagy's first year with the with the Bears they traded for Khalil Mack so a lot of teams will be sniffing around like the Bengals why wouldn't they be all over oh my gosh that'd be a great thing the NFC teams make more sense Niners Rams Bears, Lions, Eagles, Seattle, like all the heavy hitters would be interested in him. When's the last time the Bengals made a big trade? Yeah, they won't. They're cheap. No chance. Texas GM Nick Casario called trade speculation about his quarterback, C.J. Stroud, moronic and insisted the team is not trading C.J. Is there trade speculation? Is that out there? I guess. Well, I think part of it is he's going into his fourth year, so they'll pick up his fifth-year option. His agent is Mulgetta, the heavy hitter. They like getting their guys paid. But it's like you don't have as much juice right now. You're not going to get a big quarterback contract. And we've been talking about this of like if you pay Josh Allen, if you pay Lamar, if you pay Patrick, it's like, okay. CJ Stroud has proven he's in the DAC or Cousins when he's good, and he's kind of been hit or miss. He's had some Tua, Kyler. You get in a weird spot when you pay the wrong guy, the crazy amount of money. So to me, the move's easy. We're not trading C.J. Stroud, but he's also just going to be on his rookie contract. He was the second pick in the draft, so he ain't making pretty money. He's making millions of dollars, and he'll be our starting quarterback next year. And if he crushes it, we'll give him $200 million. But if he doesn't, I would say next year would be a pivot point. Next year, you could argue in terms of money, next year he's got more on the table because it could go. If you told me the Texans are in the AFC Championship game and he throws 35 touchdowns, he'll get a huge contract. If you tell me it goes a little weird, the Texans are not doing that. Now, he would have trade value, but I think Casario, I introduced myself to him today because when I was at Fresno State, the Patriots always took a bunch of our players. His interviews are some of the best GM interviews today because he's confident. He's not insecure about what he's saying. and he just talks football. And he's good at, like, kind of gets nerdy football, but, like, in a very digestible way. You know, Howie's good at, like, avoiding. It's like, Howie. But I get it because, you know, Philly, they will – it's crazy. Because here you're in Houston. He's been trained by Belichick, but he's his own guy. I'm telling you, I think his GM press conferences are awesome. And I agree he's not getting traded. But he's also not getting an extension. It's kind of good timing for the Texans, though, because everyone talks about the 2027 quarterback class, and I don't want to give it too much hype because we did have hype on the 2026 draft class. We did. I mean, we had a ton. Aller, Kubiak, Aller, Klubnik, Nussmeier, Beck, all will be here this week, but all will be projected later on. Don't you think it's kind of good timing, I guess, the fact that, like, you're going to have to pay Will Anderson soon. CJ Shroud, if he does stink, you do have, I don't want to say Davis Mills is going to be the future, but just a manageable quarterback like a Sam Darnold. You don't need a guy that's going to go out there. Just a guy that doesn't turn the ball over. That's what I'm saying. They need – because clearly Casario, one thing he learned from Bill, remember when he took Stingley, people thought he was crazy. Stingley was the best corner in the league, or one of them. Willie Anderson move was ballsy. Even Woody Marks this year was a good pick. Casario's really good at his job. That team is going to be well-run for a while. The only way you can derail a well-run team is by giving a quarterback who is not worth – because, again, CJ ain't signing in like two years, $40 million. So it's like he's kind of in the no man's land right now. And to me, my biggest beef with him is like, bro, just right now, you can develop into this. They hate the term game manager, but just play more like fucking Ryan Tannehill did for Vrabel and the Titans. If he had done that or what Alex did for it, they could have won the Super Bowl. Kyle Shanahan said there were two teams that could have won the Super Bowl if their offense and special teams didn't screw it up, it was Seattle. And Sam played better than that, and Houston. And CJ was, because he is talented, but he is closer, like his style, to golf than he is like Lamar and Josh and Patrick. And sometimes I think he's like, well, I'm fucking those guys. It's like, bro. I mean, the playoffs was, it was outrageous. So bad. It was, and I was rooting for it. I had money on them to make them a Super Bowl, a huge future bet that was kind of like a long shot. And it was like, I didn't have a chance. Honestly, if their defense wasn't as good, remember how bad that the playoff game was in Pittsburgh? And to me, coming from New England, part of their operation was like, Brady's the greatest quarterback ever. But Brady did a lot of like, and this is going to sound like, I don't know, negative, dinking, dunking, like, hey, my best option is just a little check down. Do you know what doesn't win you games? is like throwing a pick in a tie game in the third quarter on the road in the playoffs. And CJ threw like seven of them that game. So to me, that's where D'Amico is probably tailor-made for this modern-day kind of sport. Because it is. A lot of people are talking about him. He's from Ohio State. He's just a lot of people are paying attention to him. And typically Texans, like kind of an under-the-radar team, it's on D'Amico to kind of work with them. And that's D'Amico's personality. He's like him and Salo. They're just great with players. They really just got to kind of like, bro, we don't need you to, like, carry the franchise. Willie Anderson and those guys have that cover. Yeah. You know? Let's face it. Will is the star of their team. By a mile. I mean, he's one of the best players in the league. But in fairness to CJ, on the second overall pick, I'm from Ohio State, I'm the quarterback. I'm telling you, I don't think players sometimes, which can be scary, I think next year I'm more fascinated to watch C.J. Stroud than most players because, like, is he cool with, like, taking a little bit of a step back? I'm sure they're going to have a better running game. They have the Washington Commanders second round pick, which is, like, pick 37. Like, the Texans could be even better from a roster standpoint next year. Yeah, 38. So it's like, C.J., just play like Dak did five years ago. I feel like the game manager role or term, it was Cam Newton that made it not appealing when he called out Brock, wasn't it? No, because Alex Smith used to get called that a lot. I don't get why that's a bad thing. The 49ers and the Chiefs, they were going to the playoffs every year. Yeah. Not everyone can be like John Elway or Brett Favre. Most people aren't Aaron Rodgers' 2014. If your team's legit, ask Sam Darnold what it was like managing a lot of those games this year. Pretty cool. He's a Super Bowl champ. and there are going to be a game or two if your team's loaded where they're going to need you that playoff game for CJ, they did not need him it's like bro, play under control, you will win this game the Texans are better than the Patriots if you remove the quarterbacks, I don't even think it's close I respect Vrabel and what they've done the Patriots are one of the worst Super Bowl teams of all time I do think the Texans receiver group got better towards the back end both are rookies, Christian Kirk broke out Nico Collins, I think, was hurt during the playoffs too. But moving on to – It would be a bigger story, I think, if this exact team, the Texans, the way, how good they are, were the Eagles, were the Niners, were the Packers because, like, they are that good, non-quarterback. They're just not a big brand. And it just depends how the quarterback plays. Yeah, they're just – I mean, they play in the state of Texas and the Cowboys are there. Two teams that are planning to tag players. Let's go Falcons playing to tag Kyle Pitts. Jets playing to tag Brees Hall. and alongside the Falcons tagging Kyle Pitts, they're set to release Kirk Cousins, which doesn't seem like a shock, but it's like I wonder what they're going to do at quarterback for the Falcons. That didn't go well. Yeah. That was Cousins. You think Trent's greedy. Cousins just made $100 million. I don't know if he won many games these last couple years. I see him doing – we need to have him on the podcast. He's great. Oh, he's great on TV, the CBS coverage he did for the AFC Championship game? I think he's making that transition, and he'll be – You watch, like three years he'll get a Tony Romo contract. People are like, Cousins, how is he doing this? He's like the Warren Buffett of football. I think a lot of people were like, Kyle Pitts is going to be one of the main targets, this free agency. But he would look pretty sweet last year. And to me, Stefanski, they had, what's his name, Najoku. Like you get that tight end with that running back, pretty nasty. So I think you don't really have a choice. Who was the other guy? Brees Hall for the Jets. I think that's kind of crazy. Yeah. Like, I think, to me, running backs, he better be like Bijan in this prime. I mean, respect the guy. Isn't he injured all the time? Yeah, I think people think he's like a well-rounded, catches the ball well. Hot take. And, again, I've heard him interviewed. Seems like a great guy. Purdy's teammate. Resurrected Iowa State with Matt Campbell. Honestly, those two guys helped put Matt Campbell on the map, right? I just think he got talked about, and I'm not a big fantasy guy, but I felt like all the fantasy guys were like, next to Marshall Folk. I was like, could be the Jets. If he goes somewhere else and is like Christian McCaffrey, it's truly the Jets. I thought he was going to come to Arizona. That was the whole speculation is that Arizona was going to cut James Conner and go after Breeze Hall. Coached him when he was a young, huh? Yeah. But it's just paying the running back like that. I would rather go out in the draft and get somebody or trust Trey Benson. Sala now Tennessee I'm trying to think who else Brian Callahan I don't even know where he's at Oh he's a quarterback coach at New York I'm Anna Navarro and on my new podcast Bleep with Anna Navarro I'm talking to the people closest to the biggest issues happening in your community and around the world because I know deep down inside right now we are all cursing and asking what the bleep is going on. I'm talking to people like Julie K. Brown, who broke the explosive story on Jeffrey Epstein in 2018. These victims have been let down time and time again for decades and decades and decades by local law enforcement, by federal law enforcement, by administration after administration. The Justice Department, through I think we counted four presidential administrations, failed these victims. Listen to Bleep with Anna Navarro as part of the My Cultura podcast network. Available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On June 11th, 1998, a deputy from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department went missing. It's an all-out manhunt for John Audier. Every search and rescue team in L.A. County has been called in to help. Within days, tips started flooding into the sheriff's department. The rumor around the drug scene was that a deputy was taken care of. Is this the story of a man who just got lost in the desert? Or of a cover inside the nation largest sheriff department A homicide captain saying detective do not find out if this guy guilty or innocent Who does that? Valley of Shadows, a new series from Pushkin Industries about crime and corruption in California's high desert. Do you have any advice for us while looking into this disappearance? I wouldn't do it alone. Listen to Valley of Shadows on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Segregation in the day, integration at night. When segregation was the law, one mysterious Black club owner had his own rules. We didn't worry about what went on outside. It was like stepping on another world. Inside Charlie's Place, Black and white people danced together. But not everyone was happy about it. You saw the KKK? Yeah, they would have dressed up in their uniform. The KKK set out to raid Charlie, take him away from here. Charlie was an example of power. They had to crush him. From Atlas Obscura, Rococo Punch, and Visit Myrtle Beach comes Charlie's Place, a story that was nearly lost to time. Until now. Listen to Charlie's Place on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A couple more. Two guys that, you know, what's the funniest part about I wish people could see us walking around on this radio row is you do have a lot of hot takes, a lot of fiery takes about some people. but these two guys I'm about to bring up would walk by and you're like, oh, yeah, that guy, I said a lot of mean stuff about him. I'm like, I don't like that guy or that guy doesn't like me. One of those guys being Andrew Barry, the general manager for the Browns, was asked about his belief in quarterback Deshaun Watson competing for the quarterback one spot, and he said any player on our roster, we would want to compete. We believe in competition. Thoughts on Deshaun Watson competing for the quarterback one job? Well, my thing with Andrew Barry is always this. Personally, I've heard he's a great guy, clearly very intelligent. As someone whose intelligence is probably in the lower end, Ivy League guy, sharp. I do think if he coached, or I mean was the GM of, again, bigger brands, bigger media markets, his team always loses. And for this Ivy League smart guy, they have more. I'm not even counting Deshaun Watson. They've had multiple guys they've drafted immediately get arrested. If that happened to, like, John Lynch or Howie, it would be a fucking war zone. But it's like, media likes him, because I've said this forever, media's well-read. A lot of these guys, good high-level institutions. And they're like, kind of gets a pass. Stavansky kind of did too. Stavansky, Ivy League guy. But, like, how much, and maybe Andrew Barry would tell me, when no one was looking, my owner's crazy. Probably true. Did Andrew Barry want Deshaun Watson? Who wanted Deshaun Watson? Somebody needs to write a book on that. because he didn't want to go to Cleveland, and the only way you can give him that much money is the owner's got to sign the check. So that's the owner clearly heavily involved. Last year, the Dylan Gabriel thing, then taking Shadour. I mean, they do a lot of stuff that other teams would get crucified. Players going to jail, losing all the time, taking two quarterbacks in the third and fifth round. when one quarterback who I don't think could hit the wall over there. I mean, most people had Dylan Gabriel as an undrafted free agent, and that might have been Stefanski, which I don't even blame him. A lot of coaches don't evaluate well. I'll even give Andrew Berry a pass on that one. I think this is a terrible pick. But my coach wants him. He's the quarterback guy. I just think the Browns got a lot going on. He did draft the defensive rookie of the year, too, in the second round. Carson Slesinger, good pick. They had a good draft. That guy, the Ole Miss Ohio State. Even Shador with the value is good. I got no issue. Samson, Judkins, running backs. Judkins was a monster before he broke his leg. See, that's what happens. They're fucking terrible. They're awful. And then people are like, oh, his draft class was incredible. You're paid to win games. The Browns always suck. They're just so bad. And I just think that, like, think of Tomlin and Harbaugh got crucified. crucified. I mean, Tomlin has been taking shit now for like a decade. And that's why he's the one. Minimum was going 9-8 every year. If he had one of those years, which I respected this year, this is where I, stay on Andrew Berry. When they traded Flacco and Tomlin came out, he's like, what the fuck are we doing here? You would trade a guy inside because like the analytic, like it just, I'm not into it. I'm not. And I just think with these Brown stories, just exhausts me. I feel for their fans because they clearly love football. Luckily, a lot of them have Ohio State. I just think they get a pass. I'll give them a pass on Deshaun Watson, but the whole thing. Because, again, it's like, they're draft class. The Travis Hunter trade, they get credit for that, right? They got two first-round picks. It's like, see? Well, they got all these. They never win. I mean, the whole point is to win. Like, Howie and Josh Snyder, they do some stupid shit too, but miss on draft picks. The point is to win every Sunday. That's what they're paid to do. Especially if you felt like this was the worst year of that division in a while. They hired Todd Munkin. That's the craziest, weirdest hire of all time. And it was pretty clear. People weren't taking their job. And here's the other thing. They forced guys to write essays. I'm a football coach. These guys are football coaches. I'm not trying to write a damn essay. They have a whistle around their neck. At the end of the day, they are... even if we want to dive in, these are billion-dollar businesses, can the guy – I communicate verbally with you, right? It's the medium of the communication in the role in which you play. You never write, besides maybe some PowerPoints or stuff to talk to the team. Why would I need to write an essay? I'm sorry, I just think it's kind of a clown show. And the second guy, Panthers head coach Dave Canales. We walked by and we talked about how he ran a flea flicker in the rain against Tampa Bay. He said that his offensive coordinator, Brad Idzik, will call plays in 2026 so he could take a more global approach to the team. Jealous of Canales' waistline. He's skinny, man. He's just in good shape. He's in good shape, man. See some of these guys like, God, how do you stay so fit? There's a lot of – I'm not going to lie. It's super off topic. A lot of NFL Network insider guys, a lot of people I see on TV, are a lot shorter than I thought coming into this. I feel tall, 5'10". It's like Hollywood. If you went Tom Cruise, like 5'4". I was just happy I'm taller than Rap Sheet. That was my biggest thing. Well, I mean, Rap Sheet and Schefter combine like 6'8". Yeah, it's not – let's face it, this group, the media, they like to eat. The food comes out, that food's gone. We miss that. We miss the run all of a sudden. We're starving. Not a lot of former athletes. Yeah, force fast on us, but it is what it is. Canalis, Izzik. I forgot who we were talking about. They made the playoffs this year. That's pretty correct. They did. At 8-9. Posted a playoff game. I saw, I don't know, were you going to talk anything about Aaron Glenn? Because I did see Aaron Glenn. No, I wasn't. I saw, he must have said this. He was pretty fired up. Of all the people in here, the one I felt the worst for, it's like, God, I just like getting up on that podium and talking to me. Next to John Harbaugh, too. I was like, God, that's a tough gig right now. Not all your fault. I mean, last year was bad, but, like, you inherited the Jets. Like, it's not – I don't put that on Aaron Glenn. But he said today that calling plays is my superpower. I never understood this, why you didn't call plays last year. Now, the team wasn't going to be good. But I think if you're a head coach and you can do it, like, clearly, Canal is a pretty good play caller. Was good with Baker. Like, they had a lot of – I mean, didn't – Ted McMillan, wasn't he the offensive rookie of the year? Yep. like he's good at it. I would never, as a head coach, if I'm talented at it, I would never give that up. Like, I get it. The Tomlins, the Harbaugh's brothers, they're good at, like, they can do the CEO thing really well. Sirianni's good at it when he has the right coordinators. You've got to call a place if you're like, Canales to me should be calling a place. And Itzik might be, his dad used to be the GM of the Jets back in the day, back in the day, probably 10 years ago. But to me, I'm not big on giving up the play calling Because that's where things get weird They start blaming people, start firing people Aaron Glenn was like solid two years ago They had no players They go into the Minnesota Viking game And Aaron Glenn, like solid this year Won a game with me, you, and seven other media members Like, how did he just do it? And that's why he got hired Because he was like this fiery Relates to the players And he's great schematically getting guys to play above I think I heard Tomlin say this It's like my job is not getting, you know, whoever my – Troy Paul Amal or something in his prime. Like at the end of the day, once he gets to a certain level, like your mom can coach that guy. It's finding like the C players and making them a B. It's finding the B-minus guy and making them a B plus, A-minus. It's finding a random like D plus, C minus guy and like, shit, you made that guy a B. That's coaching. What Aaron Glenn and Robert saw, it's like they can kind of take anybody when they're coordinators. Like, that's impressive. Because clearly if I give them, like, what do you think it's going to look like if I give Aaron Glenn, Miles Garrett, Max Crosby, and Aaron Donald? This defense is going to be awesome. But I've seen them, like, take random guys. I've seen Robert Sala take random guys. So you know you can do it. And then you just become the CEO. Like, it's got to be a weird feeling for those guys, I think. Kind of just sitting there, like, during the week. I know they're probably going to meetings and stuff, but I think that's just where you get – you're typically taking a head coaching job on a bad team. you're going to lose. Then people start pointing fingers. Your owner gets pissed. The fans get loud. This league has never been louder. I mean, one thing, talking to someone, who was I talking to about this? I asked a coach earlier today, like, what's changed? We're now, football is the number one television show in America. Not the number one. We talk about the number one sport. It's the number one television show. And it's like a lot of this, a lot of social media that gets put on the players and then becomes content it's all like under the same umbrella that world can overwhelm you when you're losing and when you're like aaron glenn you go to the jets it's already negative it's not his fault he he didn't do all the previous crap but like he has to deal with that like tsunami and negativity and fend it off so you have no equity with them as a coach because you've never coached there right you've just been an assistant coach then you get there and my if i I was a Jets fan to be like, well, why didn't he just call plays last year? Like, what are we doing? You already got to deal with Woody. We don't have a quarterback. It just gets weird. And I think that's the thing in the NFL, why the good teams stay good and it's hard for the bad teams to get out, because it's hard to get from, like, weird to just normal. It's really hard to get, like – it's going to be a hard job for Saul and those guys in Tennessee just to get the train back on the tracks. Like, Spitech's number one job is just to get the train back on the tracks. You know, you look at, like, McVay or John Schneider or Howie, They're like, how do we win three playoff games? That's what they're thinking. These other teams are like, how do we win eight games? How do we win? That's why John Harbaugh got $100 or $100 million. $100. Because the Giants go, you know what John Harbaugh minimum? Worst case scenario next year are probably like eight wins. And if it goes decent and we stay kind of healthy, we're like 10 or 11 and we feel great. And when you hire some of these coordinators who have never been coaches, even Aaron Glenn's former high-end player, They play DB. Yeah, really good quality. They finished with zero picks this year, right? That record will never be broken. That's incredible. One, it's impossible. With an extra game, 17? It's crazy. I remember hearing Richard Sherman talk. That's like impossible. That's impossible. Think of the balls in football. If we just went out and played a pickup game, balls get tipped, balls hit in the air. And they had sauce for – no, sauce isn't exactly Deion when it comes to picks, but still. I felt like the Texans had like three picks a game. I just think that I remember telling Coward this last year after coming here is the difference of just like the well-run buttoned-up operations. Like the one thing the Eagles are good at, like there's always drama, but like Howard kind of likes that. But they're just like they're a well-run buttoned-up machine. Seattle is like a well-run buttoned-up machine. I think part of the reason Tomlin got out is like we're no longer that – like things are weird, you know. And the Ravens, they're just Minter. You see him? He's tiny. I missed him. Oh, he's tiny. I was like, that guy's a head coach. But he's clearly good. But the Ravens are a good example. They're just, like, well-run. You know, they're just really, really well-run. And when you're just really well-run, weird stories, when someone gets in trouble, it doesn't, like, derail your franchise. When you're bad, like, that stuff can just, like. does it kind of put appreciation on how fast chicago flipped it around obviously was the ben johnson hire but guys i mean go to go from eberflus to ben johnson and then the progress that they had you talk about all these other organizations that can't make that progress i think it's just tip the cap of i mean it was the obvious choice but the selling point of them to get ben johnson you got to give credit for ryan but there aren't that many ben johnson every year right like obviously Harbaugh this year, Tomlin next year. You have the guys that are established, guys that have been head coaches, and then people want to hire them. But any time you get like McVay and Shanahan years ago, Ben Johnson now, Kevin O'Connell, you don't know. You hope. And now that some of them have done it, you think everyone's going to be the next one, and they're not. So I think part of it was Ben was just going to be great. where he's just legit, you know? And Caleb, his physical skills, like part of the reason you saw as the year went on why he got drafted number one overall, he could do things that like Josh Allen only could. So it's like they had this magic in Caleb because they weren't losing a lot of these games, you know? They were down in a lot of these games and pulling them out. And like most of their games were not the Eagles on Black Friday where they just beat the shit out of them. A lot of their games I felt like they were down 10 points in the fourth quarter and then Caleb was like, he's playing the best throw of the year. And then he'd watch it again next year or next week and be like, no, that's a better throw. And then he'd do it over and over. So, like, they had the magic, but they had a guy that was drafted number one overall. And with that trade they also had DJ Moore. And because they were shitty last year, they were able to get Loveland at 10. So, I mean, they did have some good talent. I talked to Poles today. Poles had a good point. And he's like, did you know Caleb? He loves Caleb, right? Those articles have come out. Like he was. Saved his job. I said, did you know he was that fast? He's like, I knew it was really fast. But he's like, the one, his best skill. Because I was like, how fast do you think he is? If you just ran a 40. And he started telling me, like, we don't even look at 40s anymore. Because we look at play speed on, like, the GPS stuff. And we have enough years of data now to know, like, what it means. because before, like, when at first year one, if a guy runs 20 miles an hour, like, what does that mean? He's 20 fast, 20 slow. But now you know, like, 21, 22, he's like Tyreek ran a number that no one eclipsed, right? But Caleb's best skill, he was saying, and it's clear when you watch him, is, like, the 10-yard burst. So it feels like he's Lamar because he can stop and then just accelerate like an F1 car, and that's why he doesn't get sacked because it's like someone's around him, And then his burst, like, 7 to 12 yards, he's, like, shot out of a rocket ship. And all of a sudden it's like he's way away from this guy. So he's not been running probably like Saquon Barkley, but he's so quick in that short area that he feels like he's – because I was like, does he run like a 4-4 flat? I was like, no. But his short area quickness and change of direction is pretty elite. I wonder what his shuttle time would be. It would have – I don't think he did any of that stuff. No. But that's where it's like, that's why this week, and people push back, right? What does it mean? Like, what does it matter? Like, the times. You're paid to play football, not short shuttle, lift, jump. But that shit does come up in big moments in big games. So, like, Caleb's explosion and his arm strength, how many times does that matter for the Bears this year? 150 times? Yeah. Oh, yeah, like, you know, certain guys that have short arms. Last year, what's his name from the LSU, Campbell, he got destroyed in every game. Like, Will Anderson looked like Lawrence Taylor in his prime. Now, was he injured? Like, there are more variables that we don't know. But, like, the arm length, the speed, the explosion, arm strength. When you're playing in these freezing cold games, Favre played in the frozen tundra. Do you know how hard it is to throw a ball when it's that cold? But when your arm strength is elite, you need it. That's why a lot of the cold-weather quarterbacks, McNabb, cold-weather quarterback, Eli Manning, cold-weather quarterback, Brady, cold-weather quarterback, Roethlisberger, Flacco, what do they all have in common? Big arms. Phillip Rivers did not have a big arm. Could not have played in the prime of his career and been the same player in, like, Cincinnati. Burrow's kind of an outlier because he doesn't have a huge arm, but he's like Joe Montana's feel, his touch. But, like, to me, to play in a lot of these places, Chicago, Chicago had multiple games. It was like, that looks like the coldest game in the history of cold games. And they're like, yeah, it's like the 17th coldest game in the history of the Bears. I'm like, yeah, that's fucking cold. So Josh Allen, he plays in Buffalo. Like, Purdy can get away with it in San Francisco. They play in a lot of warmer weather games. They play L.A. Seattle's not that cold. You can't get away with it. Like, they play in a dome here. Imagine they didn't play in a dome here. This place would be fucking freezing, wouldn't it? Yeah, you texted me when you landed in at 11 p.m. You're like, this is Antarctica. You know what they call this place, right? No. The house Peyton built. Because this did not, when he got here, this, I mean, this franchise, he made them, like, you guys know the Midwest. Like, he turned this thing in, like, what Jordan did to the Bulls, you know, Midwest. He fucking put this place on the map. Did they have Lucas Oil before? No. No. No. I think it was, like, 99, 2000 range. He got drafted, like, 97, 98. You guys Was there another shit Was it indoors It was crappy indoor stadium Like Peyton Manning Is a good But Peyton's a good example If I put If I flip flop Peyton And Tom Tom was not as good early He got way better And then became like Dominant But who knows Peyton could coach himself Immediately Peyton never had a big arm So he's more in that Drew Brees category Of like You play in the dome Look how much easier it is. We're in a place that it's not as cold today, but yesterday, let's say it was 20 degrees. Playing a game in this or going outside and playing a game in that. It's like it's not even relatable. And I'm a West Coast guy. I fucking hate the cold, but I lived in Philly for a couple years. And I remember my first year in Philly right around November. Even once it gets to like 30, you start playing a different sport. The offensive and defensive linemen, unfazed. The quarterback, dramatically phased. And the wide receivers are too. Like, the Bears drop a lot of balls. Do you know how hard it is to catch a 99-mile-an-hour fastball from Caleb? Far off. A bunch of good drops. In the freezing – I can't – I don't even blame him. When people are like, you dropped it. I'm like, yeah, Jerry Rice might catch that, maybe. There's so many, like, five-yard outs on, like, third and six or third and four or whatever, and Luther Burden's running it or a Dunze or a DJ Moore, and he's just slinging it right past their hands. I can't even imagine the feeling on those guys' hands. like it has to be they have to dread wide receivers like playing in warm weather places or domes if you're a wide receiver I mean let's face it, Patriots didn't and they had a little Randy Moss and they traded for him when he was worth a fourth round pick most of these guys I mean look at the best receivers Puka JSN Jamar Chase, somewhat of an outlier He would translate, his style translates anywhere. Justin Jefferson, indoor guy. They've had great receivers in Minnesota. Indoor, Randy, you're just gonna dominate. If you put Jamar Chase on like the Rams. CD and Pickens. It an incredible place to play in a dome Look at all the stats that Breeze put up for Mike Evans Hall of Famer It ways to to play in 75 degrees Mike Evans free agent you think he going to go to New England I was like, fuck that. I did see Jason Light said that we want to do everything possible to make him retire a buck. And this is... I was having a long conversation at the volume party with Sherman. And I was talking to, you know, they took a lot of pride, that whole crew, like, resurrected Seattle. And they were, I didn't ask him this, but I saw John say on something recently that he's like, the difference of that group and my group now was like, that group hated everybody. Like, they had a chip on their shoulder a mile, like, they were fucking angry. They had an edge to them, which was kind of old school NFL, those guys. in like this modern internet era, they were kind of like more of a team like I grew up on like 1994. He said, my team now is like happy, they're all good buddies. Like that team, Richard Sherman, like four all pros, still had a chip on his shoulder like, you passed on me. It's like, Richard, you're making like $20 million a year, you're the best corner in the league. But that's just how they were all camped. They were edgy. And I think there is just, as you get older, you know, and you come into the league and you're a stud and you start getting bad, it can be hard to handle. You know, I think a lot of players, you know, you come in, it's like the Sam Darnold thing. He went through a lot of shit. And I was telling, back to my original point, is like talking to Richard about it, all those guys, Bobby Wagner, Cam Chancellor, Earl Thomas flipped off Pete as he was getting, like, carted off the field. I think it's harder for them to accept. Like, the NFL, like, everyone falls. Peyton Manning was cut twice, technically. You know, it's just like this league's pretty cutthroat. And, you know, you can fall off the cliff. Some guys like Rodgers can play to the 40. Some guys, like, peak at, like, 27. And it can end immediately. And it's back to the Trent Williams thing that we opened with. That's why I don't blame Trent. Like, Trent could shatter his leg in game one and his career could be over. So it's like you got to – you don't get these like Steph Curry, $300 million max contracts. That's not really how football works. Most of these contracts are fake. And I just think that that's Seattle team back. I mean, I saw them live. They would – it was not a safe environment to be running around. Really, I think you would – Vernon Davis was massive, that historic camp chancellor. Vernon Davis is not like size of me or you. Like this guy's like six – Vernon Davis was tight end who ran a 4-2. and was the fifth pick in the draft. He's like 6'5", 250, can run like Tyreek Hill, and Cam Chancellor ended his career. I mean, most people – there was a famous Brian Dawkins hit where Brian Dawkins hit, I think, Algie Crumpler on the Falcons. But they both went like that. You know, even Algie was bigger than Dawkins. Like, Cam went that way, and Davis – I think he's still flying. I miss the violence of football as someone that, you know – Yeah, that would have got flagged. I just missed that level. I'm Anna Navarro, and on my new podcast, Bleep with Anna Navarro, I'm talking to the people closest to the biggest issues happening in your community and around the world. Because I know deep down inside right now, we are all cursing and asking what the bleep is going on. I'm talking to people like Julie K. Brown, who broke the explosive story on Jeffrey Epstein in 2018. These victims have been let down time and time again for decades and decades and decades by local law enforcement, by federal law enforcement, by administration after administration. The Justice Department, through I think we counted four presidential administrations, failed these victims. Listen to Bleep with Ana Navarro as part of the My Cultura podcast network. Available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Segregation in the day, integration at night. When segregation was the law, one mysterious Black club owner had his own rules. We didn't worry about what went on outside. It was like stepping in another world. Inside Charlie's place, black and white people danced together. But not everyone was happy about it. You saw the KKK? Yeah, they were dressed up in their uniform. The KKK set out to raid Charlie, take him away from here. Charlie was an example of power. They had to crush him. From Atlas Obscura, Rococo Punch, and Visit Myrtle Beach comes Charlie's place. A story that was nearly lost to time. Until now. Listen to Charlie's Place on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On June 11th, 1998, a deputy from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department went missing. It's an all-out manhunt for John OJ. Every search and rescue team in L.A. County has been called in to help. Within days, tips started flooding into the Sheriff's Department. The rumor around the drug scene was that a deputy was taken care of. Is this the story of a man who just got lost in the desert? Or of a cover-up inside the nation's largest sheriff's department? A homicide captain saying, Detective, do not find out if this guy's guilty or innocent. Who does that? Valley of Shadows, a new series from Pushkin Industries about crime and corruption in California's high desert. Do you have any advice for us while looking into this disappearance? I wouldn't do it alone. Listen to Valley of Shadows on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let me add this one last one. It just happened while we're recording. Broncos head coach Sean Payne announced that new offensive coordinator Davis Webb will call offensive plays in 2026. So I think it's fair to glean that there was a decent chance of Davis Webb leaving last year getting a head coaching job, even if he had to take one of the crappy ones, the Browns, the Cardinals. Sean fires his best friend. I can't even think of his name. But remember the dude went on, he was quoted like the next day. He's like, yeah, I thought we were just in the AFC Championship game. I thought we were pretty good this year. And then Sean's pissed off and fired me. They worked together for like 20 years. I can look it up. But I bet Davis was like, I don't want to take the Cardinal job or the Browns job. But it's a head coaching job. They'll pay me a bunch of money. Sean's like, you can call plays here. And they got Walmart money. He's probably making a lot of money. But Joe Lombardi? Yeah, Joe Lombardi. I think it's pretty clear that there were some concessions there with, we don't want you to leave. You probably kind of want to stay here too, but, like, again, money's all relative. If you're making $50,000 and someone offers you $200,000, or you're like Davis Webb making a million and someone offers you $6,000, it's like, yeah, man, what am I supposed to tell my wife? You know, our house could quadruple in size. The private school is no longer an issue. So I just think that they didn't have a choice. I think that was one of those where Davis was almost like a player. Yeah. What is he, 30? I remember when he was at Cal. Do you remember he was like the first transfer? Yeah. He was at like SMU or Texas Tech. Texas Tech. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sonny Dykes was the coach, and he was a grad transfer. He threw for a lot of yards. People thought, because he's tall. I think people thought, like, this guy could be like a top 20 pick. I think he went in the third, fourth, fifth round somewhere. Played in the league for three or four years. I think he's a lot like Sean Manning. You see a lot of these quarterbacks that played in the late 2000s, early 2010s, are calling plays. Sean Manning played at Oregon State not that long ago. Davis Webb was in college in the 2010s. Him and Brandon Cooks were so sweet. Pac-12 after dark, Sean Manning and Brandon Cooks. The year before they had Wheaton too. So when Cooks was a sophomore and Whedon, who got drafted in the third round of the Steelers, Oregon State was pretty nasty for a couple years on offense. They had the little brothers, the running backs, little twins. Remember those? I know what you're talking about. I don't know the name. I want to say Rodriguez, but it's not. Jacquez is two of them. You know who I'm talking about? James and Jacquez. James and Jacquez. Jacquez, I think, was the better one. One of them was better than the other one, but they were both kind of sick. Their offenses at Oregon State, honestly, it pisses me off We've been talking about the little schools that have no shot. Missed the Pac-12. Yeah. Rogers. Yeah, Chuck. Yeah. So, Oregon State always got, like, pre-NIL and probably, like, 30 years ago, Fresno State did this a lot, too. To get into, like, play at USC or UCLA or Washington, there were minimum requirements academically. Like, you had to hit something. Fresno State could do this thing, and Oregon State did it, too, called, like, a prop. I think it was, like, prop 49. I don't think Logan Mankins might not have graduated high school. But for us to say, you just come to school here. Ryan Matthews, when I was there, he couldn't, like, they could take these exceptions. Oregon State did it forever. Chad Johnson. You get guys into school, obviously all the, like, Ryan Matthews, Pete Carroll wanted Ryan Matthews out of high school. But he, like, academically didn't qualify. Now it's like, I swear to God no one goes to school in college because you can't tell me all these transfers. You ever look at your transcript when you're in college? it's like this would never transfer. I don't even think, do transcripts even exist if you play college football? They cannot. Because a dude will go from like Stanford or like Texas Tech to Stanford to Vanderbilt to Bama. It's like how is all these classes, some of these people are on quarters and semesters. Like what is – when I was a GA at Fresno State, transcripts and test scores. Can you imagine the last time Kirby Smart asked like his recruiting coordinator, what's his test score? Like SAT. No fucking chance anyone in the SEC has ever uttered, like, what's his transcript look like in the last seven years? Maybe ever, but definitely in the transfer portal era. That's so funny. Like the Bailey guy, I didn't realize, is David Bailey? Yeah, he's at Stanford. He's an easy one because you're at Stanford. They have academic requirements. Lubbock, Texas definitely does it. He could get right in. With all that money? But I'll give you one that flipped. Safe to say Diego Pavia isn't going to Vanderbilt out of high school. Right? So, as an academic student. I'm not talking football. But what was Clark Lee's big thing was we got to open this up a little bit if we want to. And he got him to. And now Diego works. Vanderbilt ain't going to look at a transcript. Yeah, they just got a five-star quarterback out of high school, too. Do you see the dude? What was the guy's name in Notre Dame? What did he say? The wide receiver? The difference between going to Notre Dame and Ohio State? Oh, yeah. Mylon Graham, yeah, he said you actually have to go to classes in person. You can go online at Ohio State. I looked at the comments, and a bunch of people at Ohio State was, you still got to go to class online. If your classes are online and you're at Ohio State playing football, you're never fucking logging on to anything. He essentially just said you have to go to class at Notre Dame. You do not have to do anything at Ohio State, which I got no problem with, but that's what he said, and that was awesome. That's what Cardo Jones said. He said, I ain't coming here to play school. But back then you were supposed to. Now, no one even cares. Back then, they pretended. There's so many years now they're giving. So it's like Carson Bexton has like six years. He's like, yeah, I haven't been to school in like two or three weeks. In fairness, like when I was in college, Matt Leiner, remember his last year? He had graduated. He took one class, and it was like golf. That's always happened a little bit if you like graduated. Yoga. But now, like what year is the Notre Dame? How long is he? He's like a redshirt freshman. Yeah, so he's young. So usually as a freshman, if you redshirt, you'd like go. I was banging out some basic classes. Gen Eds. Do you think that guy went to one class at Ohio State? No freaking chance, which I respect. And this is where I think Michigan people get mad at Ohio State. I do think Michigan has some more academic requirements than Ohio State. And it's easier for Ohio State to dominate because they can get anyone they want at any moment in school, and no one has to go to a class ever, ever. Like, you cannot play at Notre Dame. Look at Notre Dame, though. In fairness, like, most of their guys, when you hear them talk, they're like, that guy's a high-level guy. I remember when the volume first started, Kyle Hamilton, that crew, do you ever listen to that show? There were like four of them. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's watching. Like wake up the echoes or something? Yeah, some other random guys on the team. But it was like some player college podcast. I would rather like look at the wall than listen to it. But it was like those guys were just high-level dudes. Stanford would be the same. Like back in the day when McCaffrey was on the team with like the Sherman era, those guys were just high-level. They were impressive. Like, if football didn't exist, they would all be going to school and getting good grades. And listen, I'm anti-academia. Like, I fucking hate class. I think class, it didn't serve me well. But the Stanford guy was always, I remember even scouting, like, these guys are smart. You know, and you go sometimes, you go to the SEC, but they're smart at football. But they don't have to go to class. So it's like, you go to, you know, Ole Miss, like, none of those dudes are going to class. When was the last time all academic teams for football were published, presented? It felt like maybe it was only in high school or maybe it was like when I was in high school I would see them for the Big Ten and stuff. It feels like nowadays you don't even see that anywhere unless it's an old school magazine website. Hey, congrats, Jeremiah Smith. You made the all academic team. You're too young, but they used to have the Playboy All-American College. Playboy? Yeah, the college players would go to the Playboy. The model magazine Playboy? Yes, the nudie magazine. I mean, my son Jack will never even understand, one, what a magazine was and understand how big of a deal it was to see just, like, a boob in a magazine. Like, his life, I mean, the access he's going to have, well, I've got to deny it when he gets old enough. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He can't see his first boob early. But any kid worth their salt figures out a way to get around. I mean, restrictions, he'll know my passwords. But it's like the world is – I remember when I worked for the Eagles, Deuce Daly was telling me one time he went to a Playboy party when he was playing. I just remember him describing, like, God, that sounds pretty sweet. And he walked in there on, like, McNabb's heyday, like two of them. I was like, God, that must be. Pre-fat McNabb? This was, like, in his prime pro bowl, yeah. He's not – Todd Bowles? You've got to talk about Todd Bowles today when you saw Todd Bowles. That dude is gigantic. He's been big for a while. No, Todd, the thing is when you get – I was telling you this. I asked you what position Todd Bowles played in the league, what did you say? I said D-tackle. He played safety. Because back in the day, safeties used to be like 6'3". Like we were talking to Jordan Reed about Lewis Riddick, who played – him and Todd are buddies. Lewis, same way. Lewis is like 6'2". John Lynch, they're like 6'3". You meet safeties now, they look like little corners. Those guys, Todd in his prime was probably like 230 pounds and would remember Jack Hughes' face after that. He got the high stick. That's what your teeth would look like going across the middle back in the NFL. Damn. Now the NFL, like that doesn't even exist. I don't think you can tackle anymore. You can't put your weight on the quarterback anymore. No, you can't put your weight on players. You got to go down. You can't slam. I remember talking to John Lynch when he first got the job, kind of BSing. I was kind of kidding but kind of not like, do you think you could play in the NFL? right now, he would have to be linebacker. If you go watch peak Bucs highlights with Sap, Derek Brooks, their front was Sap and Brooks were elite. But if you got free over the middle, 47, you could die. You watch highlights. Remember when we went to see the thing of Ronnie Lott? They would leave their feet from seven yards away like a torpedo. Do they keep their eyes open? Do they clench their teeth? I don't know. But they were trying to, like, shatter every bone inside your body. You just don't even see that hit anymore. In fairness, the guys, it's coached out. No one does it. Like the sport Todd Bowles played in the 80s for, like, the Joe Gibbs commanders can't even relate to on the field now. Does that mean in 20 years we're going to see a bunch of Romeo Dobbs in the Guardian caps? Is that going to become a thing where people are required to wear them? I think a lot more guys are going to wear it because they're going to want – like I don't want to get concussion and not get paid. You don't get paid when you're on the sideline. I just think like, all right, it's going to be more of a 7-7 game. It's definitely become more quarterback-centric. Yeah. But, yeah, so other than that, I'm starving. It's 5 o'clock. I haven't eaten. 6 o'clock. Well, it's actually 4 o'clock our time. Is that a 12-hour fast for you? 15. I ate. I had some snacks last night when I got here. But, yeah, it's been a while. I'm just telling you all right now, we got a lot coming because this guy cooked today. This man cooked today. We got some cool ones. Hopefully the plans will fall through. You never know. The key, and this is another thing I'm bad at, like net one thing networkers and this is what i'm at are great at follow up so like in two days hey nice seeing you appreciate that it's easy to do it like if john harbaugh gave me his number but like his pr guy you know hey man i appreciate the time thanks for everything like we almost had a disaster where we didn't have a table and chairs today which would have been a problem but we went out of our way to tell the guy at the NFL he took care of us. He made it happen. It was like, thank God for Matt McCarthy. Works at the NFL right now. He's a man. Shout out Matt McCarthy. Called me at 11 p.m. last night. We got a damn table. That's pretty sweet. Okay, well, that'll wrap it up for day one, and let's go get some food. The Volume. This is the biggest night in podcasting. The countdown is on to our 2026 iHeart Podcast Awards. Live from South by Southwest, March 16th, we'll honor the very best in podcasting from the past year and celebrate the most innovative, talented creators in the industry. It's truly a who's who of the podcasting world. Creativity, knowledge, and passion will all be on full display. And the winner of the iHeart Podcast Award is... See all the nominees now at iHeart.com slash podcast awards. Audible is a proud sponsor of the Audible Audio Pioneer Award. Explore the best selection of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals all in one easy app. Audible. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free trial at audible.com. On June 11th, 1998, a deputy from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department went missing. Hey, if don't kill a cop and bury him, what are they going to do to me? What really happened to the missing deputy? Valley of Shadows, a new series from Pushkin Industries about crime and corruption in California's high desert. Listen to Valley of Shadows on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When segregation was a law, one mysterious Black club owner, Charlie Fitzgerald, had his own rules. Segregation in the day, integration at night. It was like stepping in another world. Was he a businessman? A criminal? A hero? Charlie was an example of power. They had to crush him. Charlie's Place, from Atlas Obscura and Visit Myrtle Beach. Listen to Charlie's Place on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. People who didn't do what John of God wanted them to do, they usually disappeared. John of God was once Brazil's most famous spiritual healer. But in this limited series podcast, we uncover the darker truth behind his global empire of faith and fear. From Exactly Right and Adonde Media, this is Two-Faced, John of God. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.