Projected #1 pick Fernando Mendoza visiting Raiders next week + What went wrong for Packers in 2025? (4/3 Hour 2)

Well, you know what? AI is bad as to many things. AI is excellent. This came during the opening segment. Now, there are many references in there that are extremely relevant to our experience. Great job putting the Adidas on the, yes, many Easter eggs in this Easter egg photo. We've got the Adidas on the, the Ralphie style. He's a pink nightmare, full bunny suit on Michael Holly. We've got the golden egg, which includes a bag of ruffles. So that's somebody who was watching on Monday because let me tell you something, Michael. I did the whole Eddie Murphy. That's the best day of cracker I've ever had is that of Ritz because I hadn't eaten anything on Monday and we got about halfway through the show and I realized I was about to pass out and Julia went and grabbed me a bag of ruffles, potato chips and I will close things down and those were the best potato chips I have ever had in my life. In fact, there may be a bag nearby, frankly, and I'm kind of hungry right now. I may have to eat it during the break. But so the ruffles, forget the money, forget the money. I got money. I don't have food. I need ruffles. The ruffles are in that golden egg and I was cheating peering over the fence to see where Michael Holly was hiding the golden egg. Well done. Well done AI. But again, AI is only as good as the prompts. Well done. Whoever put in the prompts to ask AI for that image. Well done. With the adidas, the adidas logo. I mean, wow, everybody knows except for adidas. What are they going to contact us, Mike? Maybe they do they have to the information given it away. But we can do better. We can do even more. We're doing it for free. Look, we're doing I did it for free on Monday. I'm doing it for free again. I went over and got my bag. Look, there it is. There's the food that saved me on Monday. They're kind of broken a little bit because they were in my they were in my my bougie backpack and it was stuck under the seat of the plane. So I did. Did I did I did I mention yesterday on PFT live? I don't think I did. We had an aborted landing. Did I mention it yesterday, Gary? Did I mention our aborted landing in Pittsburgh? Yeah. Apparently it's very normal coming from coming from Arizona. Yeah, I did mention it now. Yeah, senior moment. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's a hell of a feeling when that plane's going in and it's getting lower and lower and you're ready for the all of a sudden I do I do remember now talking about it yesterday all of a sudden it's straight up full thrust. Those three or four minutes where you're waiting to find out what the hell's going on are excruciating. So I should have I had a last meal. I missed my opportunity. I could have had my ruffles before I turned into mashed up potato chips. So anyway, I mean, the Raiders. It's so easy. How about this? How about this PFT brought to you by ruffles? They could be a whole, you know, who's ruffling you segment? I mean, there's so many possibilities. I'm just trying to help feathers will I ruffle today? Hey, who's feathers will I ruffle today? Who's won't I ruffle today? I like it. Come on ruffles. Come on for I assume his ruffles Frito. This Fritz Frito. Right. Is it part of free? Frito lay? I don't know. All right. So now we probably for an element does that's not going to happen. Yeah. No, no. That's okay. That's all I'll say. I prefer I prefer the, you know, the burger with the peppers and the onions and the and the Wonder Bread. I'll try to have it. Don't look like me. Okay. That. So the draft is 20 days away and Fernando Mendoza will be visiting the Raiders next week. Now usually what they call the 30 visits where every team can bring in up to 30 prospects. Usually you only bring the guy in if you got some concern that you're trying to resolve because you don't want people to know. You don't want folks to sell up. Well, we know who they want now. You only bring them in when there's some reason to really sit down and talk to them because it's not a traditional job interview. The applicant has no say in which branch the applicant is going to work at. But for something like this, why not do it? Why not bring the kid in? Why not let him sit like just like we want this relationship to get off on the right foot. We're going to fly to Las Vegas and we're going to hang out with you and you're going to get to come to the facility. And like, I mean, if the kid thinks I don't really think I don't know about this, it doesn't matter. It only matters if the Raiders think I don't really know about this guy. So it's more confirmation than elimination at this point. There's no reason to think the Raiders are going to freak out. There's no reason to think they're going to make some dramatic change. But you know, until the pick is in, something could happen. I mean, crazier things have happened this year. We've seen it happen before. We were talking about it during the break. The Chargers were ready to sign Mike Vic in 2001, draft him and sign him. Contract talks bogged down. Back in those days, there was a lot more that you could negotiate as a potential first overall pick. Teams like to have those contracts done before they made the pick. It happened every other year or thereabouts, every third year they got it done. And it fell apart. And the Falcons swept in, swooped in, swiped in and took Mike Vic and they did that trade. So there's no reason to think it's going to happen. But it's just, hey, we got time. We're allowed to bring the guy in. Let's bring him in. Let's spend some time with him. It would be a major surprise if the Raiders don't take Fernando Mendoza, Michael. Yeah, it would be shocking, especially the way the draft is falling, Mike. It's not like you have Mendoza who's clearly the number one quarterback and then you have somebody else who the Raiders would draft who people are saying, oh, but Mendoza is the number one quarterback, but this person's the best player in the draft. The only guy who fits that profile, well, the Raiders might be crazy to draft them. I've heard a lot of people say that about Jeremiah Love and Notre Dame running back. Well, the Raiders drafted the running back last year with their first round pick. I don't think, I don't think they'd try to recreate some Marcus Allen Bo Jackson backfield in 2026 and have Jeremiah Love, second year in a row, you're drafting running back. So I just don't think it would happen that way. And then the past rushers, there's even debate on past rushers, whether it's, whether it's Bailey or Arville Reese or even somebody like Sonny Stiles, who was worthy of, you know, a top five pick, let alone a number one overall pick. So I think all the, all the signs point to Mendoza being going to the Raiders and maybe they're just talking to him because they want to, they want to familiarize him with terminology. They want him to understand what Clint Kubiak is looking for. And if, I know we talked about this last week, if he's into it, if he can tear himself away from Florida or wherever he is all over the world, if he can stop thinking about his own playing career for a second, maybe it's an opportunity to talk with Tom Brady and get some quarterback insight and some quarterback oversight. You know, Brady just in the room as, as Kubiak and Mendoza are having a conversation. So there are a lot of reasons to do it. Something that I have not yet mentioned this week, there was no Tom Brady citing at the league meetings. And as I said last week, if you care at all, if you care at all about this side hustle of yours, you carve out two days late March and you go to the league meetings, you show an interest in business, you spend time getting to know in a casual setting, other people around the league. And I didn't expect him to be there. He hasn't been there either of the years that he's been an owner of the team. And you're never going to be fully all in. Not that I expect him to be all in, you're never fully all in until you do that. Matt Ryan was there. Matt Ryan's all in. Matt Ryan's not doing this part time. He gave up his TV job, moved back to Atlanta, if he ever left, and he's all in. So that, that, I don't know, I maybe they'll do a FaceTime with Tom, maybe, maybe if Fernando Mendoza plays his cards, right, who'll have Tom's personal cell number, you know, that Tom won't be one of the guys. And I know a couple of people like this who you know, it's them calling because it's a block number. Like, I mean, I've known you for a long time. You can go ahead and let me know what your friggin phone number is like. And I don't even know how to do that to block your not like, but Tom Brady seems like guy who calls people from block number, because he doesn't want people to have his number. And we'll see if Fernando Mendoza gets his number. So here's Mark Davis, the owner of the Raiders, the guy who's still in charge. There's a thought, you know, he sold another piece of the team. And there's a thought that even though they've denied it, that he may be on his way toward cashing out, we'll see. For now, his team holds the number one overall pick. Here's Davis on the fact that for the first time since 2007, when they took Jamarcus Russell, the Raiders are picking first. Having the first pick in the draft is exciting because we kind of control the, the draft. You know, we get to make the decision who we're going to pick, but we've had that position before and it didn't work out. So there's no magic bullet there, but it's a great opportunity to get a great player, whoever they decide to pick. It's kind of exciting to have the number one overall pick. It's kind of exciting, but we did not, we did not shut down Brock Bowers and Max Grosby for the last two games of the season to cement that kind of exciting pick. We were trying to win every game. For us, there's a huge difference between four and 13 and three and 14. You will forever be remembered as to whether you were three and 14 or four and 13 in the year 2025. We only shut those two guys down because they truly couldn't play, not because we were trying to get that kind of exciting first overall pick. You know, this isn't on the rundown, but I'm going to go there. I don't know if you saw the commissioner's comments from Tuesday about tanking. We don't see any evidence of tanking. Well, you know why? Because your eyes are covered because it's happened. Right. You're not looking. Raiders did it. Right. The Eagles did it in 2020. The Buccaneers did it in 2014. There's another one that happened that I'm not remembering the cold. Hell no. Brian Flores. Right. The attempted to get the attempted tanking 2019 Brian Flores claiming in a lawsuit filed inside pursuit to the requirements of rule 11 that no frivolous lawsuit should be made. Flores making the claim that Stephen Ross offered him $100,000 per loss in 2019 when they were trying to get Joe Burrow. They didn't tank for two. They wanted Joe Burrow. Stephen Ross was obsessed with getting Joe Burrow. And his explanation was it was a joke. I still don't know what the punchline is. Funny joke. Ha ha ha ha funny. $100,000. I'm trying to put you at ease coach and I'm making a joke about you losing your games, even though that's how we judge coaches. And if you lose too many games, that's how coaches get fired. But here's a pretty good joke. Don't you think that's funny? There's just no way. It wasn't a joke. It was it was something they wanted him to do. And then when he called him out on it, they tried to say it was a joke. But if you notice this about NFL hitting the Golden Egg in my back yard, there's a Golden Egg with $100,000 in it. A Golden Egg. Go look for it. No, that is a joke. Don't coach the team. Go look for the Golden Egg. Hey, if the Golden Egg has $100,000, a Golden Egg is not going to be placed anywhere except in my account. I'm not giving that. I will be looking over that fence. No way. Put the picture back up. I will be. I will be. Forget the ruffles. I can buy a lot of ruffles with $100,000 if if. Yeah, I bet you can. If the if the bounty if the bounty from the Michael Hawley and family Easter egg hunt. Yeah, you you take out that bag of ruffles and you put in a hundred grand, I'll be there and I won't be looking over the fence. I'll be busting through it like Kool-Aid man. All right, let's take a break. Matla floor with an honest take on what went wrong with the Packers last season. We'll discuss that next on this Friday edition of PFT live. All right, it's Friday edition of PFT live on some mornings. We find out that our conversations during the breaks end up trickling out somewhere, somehow. This past break, we actually had a fun conversation, not that it's suited for the airwaves, but still we it's okay. It's not gonna be any trouble, but just we have some fun conversations. That that's, you know, every once in a while, we have some fun conversations during the during the breaks. We had a we had a fun one. All right, well, the show's a fun one today. We're celebrating Good Friday. If Good Friday is a day on the calendar to be celebrated, it's a day to be commemorated, I guess, not celebrated. But again, you can't have Easter if you don't have Good Friday. So the Green Bay Packers, let's talk about them right now. We had that visit with Matla Floor and Kyle Shanahan and we didn't really delve into a lot of the specifics as it relates to either team because we're just having a more open conversation. But the Packers underachieved in 2025. They started off great Rashid Walker after they beat the commanders on Thursday night, the first true Thursday night game of the year to move to two and over. Rashid Walker said we could go on defeated. Didn't quite go that way for the Packers. They still made it to the playoffs. They lost to the Bears and the wild card round. Here's Matla Floor from earlier this week on how things went, not the way he would have liked in 2025. I think if I'm being honest about it, I do there are some guys that are upset about Oles Lashes and I keep that tool on our football team. So you need guys that bring great energy every day. I think from a coaching standpoint, role clarity is key. So we got to obviously do a better job communicated with our players. Hey, where's your role? And if you're unhappy about your role, it's on you to do something about that. So to far about a bigger role on this before this is but yeah, the buying is absolutely critical. Getting guys in there that are juiced, that are ready to go to work each and every day is going to be critical for us. Do we know who he was talking about? There was some Jaden Reed consternation in the off season last year. I don't know if it's him. Like, do we know who he's talking about? Have we seen that anywhere? Isn't that the number one question, Mike? When he says that your first thought is, okay, who's he referring to? Is he referring to, you know, you mentioned Jaden Reed, is he referring to Romeo Dobbs? Who left? Is he referring to some of their free agents? Because you first go to free agency, thinking, Hey, there are guys who didn't buy into their roles. And you think, well, they didn't buy into their roles, they're gone. But that's not necessarily true. There may be guys who didn't buy into their roles last year, and they're coming back this year. So what one, who are those guys and two, what are you going to do about it? You as a head coach, if you see that they're not really buying in and they're under contract and you can't just move on from everybody who doesn't like what they're doing, then now what do you do to make sure even if they don't like it, they're doing what you're what you're asking them to do. So it's a really interesting comment from LaFleur and probably deserve, you know, three or four follow up questions. He wouldn't have probably wouldn't have answered, but still worth asking the questions. He also had his grade on the NFL PA report cards fall from A minus to B minus from 2024 to 2025. Obviously, they, they weren't allowed to publicize the grades this year, but they leaked them anyway, which they absolutely should have done. LaFleur said that that he and he is taking to heart the criticism. Some guys thought that LaFleur didn't treat them with enough respect. LaFleur said, I don't feel that way. But unfortunately, some guys did. That tells me I've got to do a better job of communicating goes back to the relationship piece. I think it's so critical. We always talk about connected teams being powerful teams. We have to grow that connection. Certainly that's been a topic of conversation with on our building of how do we get these guys closer more because the more they know each other, I think the more they're going to go to battle for one another. And look, this puts in context the decision that Ed policy had to make after the season. Now Ed policy at some point this week, he's the president CEO of the Packers got the job last summer. Ed policy acted surprised that there was even a question that he may move on from out LaFleur. Well, Ed, you're the one that kind of let the situation dangle. All you had to do as the questions were mounting near the end of the season was come out and say, we're going to do an extension. He's fine. Or you could have just signed the extension before the season ended, letting everyone know he was fine. But there was a period of time after the season where we were wondering what's going to happen with Mat LaFleur. And they're, oh, well, they, they intend to try to work out a deal. Well, that doesn't tell us anything. They could lowball him. They may make him an offer he will refuse and that they know we will refuse. And it's just an impasse. Sorry, we just couldn't work it out and we're going to fire him. We don't want to have a lame duck coach. So we can't get a long term deal done. So we're just going to go our separate ways. That was possible. So when you see things like this, you'll wonder if it was an issue. You'll wonder how safe he really was. And, you know, now he is, because he's gotten the long term deal. He's gotten the extension. But it sounds like he's been told there's some things that, that if you want to be here over the long, long, long term, we need you to do differently. First, I want to applaud him. I want to applaud him for acknowledging the report card, acknowledging the grade and saying, I need to do some things about it. He didn't have to say that. And I think that is a model. That's, that's how you model the behavior NFL owners, not run and hide, not try to bury it and get people to talk about something else, but to acknowledge some of the things that are brought up on the report card. So I'm glad that he did that one. But then, you know, as I listened to him, I think of how difficult it is to, to satisfy all, all the things that people want their head coaches to be. So I think from a fan standpoint, fans want coaches who are decisive coaches who don't let players, you know, get away with mistakes and you know, hold these guys accountable and just kind of, Hey, you know, you're not necessarily friendly with these guys. You got to get them to perform at the highest level. And if you hurt some feelings, if you bench a guy, so be it. Okay. That's what fans and I think sometimes ownership is that way too, but player's own look at it that way. Okay. Put it this way, Mike, you're a, you're a boss. Like how many people are, how many people are, are you over on your, on your PFT staff? How many, how many people are you in charge of? I mean, four, but I don't view it that way because they don't technically work for me. Now, if I didn't want them working on PFT, they would work for NBC somewhere else. So technically four, but not really. Okay. But technically no one. I'd say even with five and my son, my son works for me, my son, my son works for me and he better watch out because I will fire his ass. See, even, but with five, okay, just think about it with five people, five, it's just five people. There are certain jokes you can make with one person that you wouldn't joke that way with another person. You, uh, one way if you have a sensitive conversation, sensitive topic you want to have, there's, that's one type of conversation with her, another conversation with him as an NFL coach. It's amazing. You think you're communicating well and you may be communicating well with half of the room, with half of the team. Let's say 27 guys love the way you communicate and 26 don't. I mean, you get, you know what that is? That's probably like a C plus or B minus for your grade. So it takes a lot. It takes a lot of investment and it takes a lot of work to be one of these, especially these players coaches who understand every, who have something to say to everybody on the roster. That when I, when I think of that guy, I think of say a Dan Quinn, think of Mike Vrable, you know, these guys who not only know who the, who the players are, I think all the coaches know the players. I know the player. I know the player's girlfriend, another player's spouse. I know their kids. I remember stories they told me from three weeks ago. I'll follow up this week about something you told me a month, a month and a half ago. I mean, I think it takes a lot to communicate with young men and for them to, for them to think that you understand them and then for you to feel like, yeah, I'm communicating, but they're still doing what I need them to do, which is, which is perform. So we all have jobs two weeks from now, two years from now. And it's fundamentally about valuing the relationship, knowing what it takes to get the most out of whoever it is, and also inspiring them to want to emulate you. I think that's the key for any coach. It's not just personality mirroring in your individual communications. And I'm going to act like this guy. I'm going to talk like this guy. I'm going to, I'm going to give him exactly what I think he needs in order for him to choose to go out there and do everything I want. There's still part of the coaches personality has to come through in those interactions that inspires the player to do what the coach does. And I think that's where the relationships within the team become critical because you want your team leader, you want your quarterback to inspire the rest of the team to do what he does. And that's, that's one of the challenges. And it's not easy. It's not easy. So the Packers are not far off in being the favorites to win the division in 2026. It is amazing to see the Lions as favorites at plus 180 when they were in fourth place last year. The Packers finished second, they're plus 190. The Bears who won the whole thing are in third position at plus 340. And there are the Vikings bringing up the rear. Sorry folks, this is the year the Vikings make the playoffs. This is analytics. Even number year they make the playoffs odd number year they don't. So you're, you're wasting your money if you're betting on the other teams. Cause I think the Vikings have a shot this year. And I'm, I'm being half joking, but also half serious. Cause I do think for whatever reason, when the Vikings have high expectations, they don't live up to them. When the expectations are reduced, they find a way to thrive. And I think they feed on that more than anyone else. So against that background, Michael, who do you think is under the most pressure of the four coaches in that division this year? We got Dan Campbell in Detroit, Ben Johnson in Chicago, Matt LaFleur in Green Bay, Kevin O'Connell in Minnesota. Who would you say is under the most pressure? Well, I would say it under the most pressure I would say is Dan Campbell and not because like all these coaches, I feel like all these coaches are pretty secure. If, if, if Dan Campbell misses the playoffs again, I don't think he's going to be fired. I don't think Kevin O'Connell, they're all well regarded coaches. They would have to be like a two and 15 season for somebody, I think, for one of those coaches to be out and we're talking about a vacancy in 2027. But I think the pressure for Campbell comes from what we thought the Lions were going to be at this point. And we keep going. We've talked about it before and, and Campbell has mentioned it and it's probably the most poignant quote he's had in his tenure as coach of the Lions when they lost the NFC championship game to the Niners and they had the big lead and they kept going for it on fourth down and they kept failing after that game. He says, this may have been our only shot. Well, that was their pinnacle. So far that's their pinnacle. And we thought the Lions were on this upward trajectory. We thought they were just, it was inevitable. Look, they just keep building. They were bad in the beginning and they just kept getting better and adding talent and they're fun and they got this great offense and they really figured it out and they revived the franchise and really electrified the city. Well, nine and eight last year after the San Francisco debacle, they looked great. They went to division and then they lose in a divisional round to Washington. So what are you going to have? It's not enough for the Lions to make the playoffs. It used to be. That used to be good enough to make the playoffs. It's not enough to win a playoff game. That used to be enough. I think people in Detroit are looking at it and saying, I don't want us to waste our window. We got some, we got some real talent across the roster. I want to see us get to the NFC championship game and win it, get to the Super Bowl for the first time. So I think, I think Dan Campbell and the Lions were under the most pressure to do that. Yeah, one of the few teams to never make it to a Super Bowl. The others, the Browns, the Jaguars, the Texans. Is that the list? Am I missing someone who's never been to a Super Bowl? Browns, Lions, Texans, Jaguars. So I think between Dan Campbell and Kevin O'Connell, if you don't make the playoffs this year, next year could get weird, potentially. All depends on how badly this year goes. Like if you have, and no one's immune from getting fired if you've got a two and 15, one and 16 debacle, Bill Belichick in his heyday would have suddenly found himself not buying green bananas if he had gone two and 15 or one and 16 while awaiting final word from Rad Kraft as to his future. I don't think anyone is guaranteed to survive that. But let's just say it's six and 11. The Lions were the Vikings. Six and 11. Next year's, next year's a little, better turn this around now. So I think that applies to both of them. Something that Campbell said this week, they want some saltiness back. See, they lost some of that edge. They were salty in 2022 and 2023. The last two years, really, hey, it's their own fault. They flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami against the 49ers when they went for it up 17. Wait, up, what was it? They were up 17 at the half. Oh, this is what it was. They were up 17 at the half. The 49ers took, you know, four or five minutes of the third quarter to get in position to get a field goal to reduce it to 14. The Lions were in position to kick another field goal to put it back to 17 with half of the third quarter gone. And if you'll watch the receiver series on Netflix the year after that game, two things. The questions posed by Almond Ross St. Brown's dad from the stands, why the hell did they go for it? And the lift from Debo Samuel's perspective, because that was the year that they had the amalgamation of Debo Samuel, George Kittle, Justin Jefferson, Almond Ross St. Brown and Devonte Adams. So that was a rare, like postseason game with guys from, yeah, three of the guys tied up in that game. And the lift that the 49ers got from that. Incredible. So that's one they blew, but then man to step on a rake at home against the commanders on a Saturday night when the table was set for you to go to the Super Bowl finally. That was just jarring. That was the moment the balloon popped. And look, they missed the playoffs last year. The balloon popped, they missed the playoffs. And now how much air can they put back into it this year? It's going to be, it's going to be, look, that's a great division, top to bottom. All four teams in there are capable of winning it. And they're capable of doing significant things in the postseason if they can stay healthy and if they can just get clicking in that iron sharpens iron stuff that as they play each other twice a year. All right, we got a break. When we return, an important update as it relates to the ongoing tug of war between the NFL and the NFL referees association that's next on PFT Live. On Drafting Sportsbook, new customers can bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets instantly. Download the app and use promo code PUNTA when you sign up. Drafting Sportsbook, the crown is yours. The FD Live Friday edition, April the third, the clock is ticking toward May the first. And the NFL had made some noise about how, you know, if May 1 rolls around and we have to line up replacement officials, that's going to impact our ability to get the deal done with the NFL referees association on a new CBA. My reaction to that is that's just huffing, that's just puffing, that's just nonsense. You need to have bargaining that lasts all the way up until the real deadline. Don't try to make the deadline May 1. The practical deadline, the expiration of the deals May 31, the season doesn't start until September 9. That's your real deadline, the start of the regular season. But Michael Holly, in an email that has gone out to conferences who have relationships with college officials who may or may not be interested in volunteering to be replacement officials for the NFL, the deadline is Sunday. To say yes, I'm interested, they're going to have an initial in-person session May 1 through May 3 and they have made offers based upon your level of experience as an official. Now I thought they were going to stay away from the highest levels. They're willing to pay 120 grand just for training May through August, training and meetings, 120 grand guaranteed for Power 4, Group of 4, whatever they call it, Group of 4 conference officials. 100,000 if you're a retired or a released FBS official and obviously they choose to hire you and it goes down from there all the way down to Division 3. So they're going to make the commitment early May to pay these guys a guaranteed sum to get them ready. Once they write those checks, it does make it harder to get a deal done. They're creating a scenario where it's going to make it harder to get a deal done because they're going to guarantee significant money to these folks for training so they're ready to go if they need to use them. So the more, it's like anything else, the more money you spend on something, the more inclined you become to use that thing you spent the money on. Absolutely right Mike. Absolutely right. That is, that's the major one and there are a couple of things with this news. What do we say about quarterbacks especially when they're under pressure? Coaches and analysts say, well, they got sped up a bit. They got sped up a bit and they weren't processing the way they normally would and it forced them to make some bad decisions. Well, that's what the NFL is doing to the regular referees right now. This information is coming out. These are not leaks. These are not, oh, this is not a coincidence. No, it's not a leak. It's not a leak because if it was a leak, if it was a leak, if it was a leak ESPN would have had it because the NFL now owns 10% of ESPN. This is actual working sources and getting information. Yeah, but I think the NFL is fine with this information getting out because if we know it, the referees know it and it puts pressure on them. It creates urgency maybe ahead of that deadline. It could cause some division among their ranks. Hey guys, what are we doing? What are we doing? You know, hey, do we really want to hold out like this? We really want to take the hard line. They'll replace us. You know that, right? They've done this and look what they're doing. Did you read this story? So that's, it's very effective on the part of the NFL. We just have to look at, let's be honest. We want, I know, I'd like to see people get paid what they're worth. I like the rank and file to get their respect, but the bottom line is big bank usually beats little bank. And so the NFL can afford to sit there, arms folded and say, okay, we'll wait. The deals there, take it or leave it. They have that, they have that power. Most people, most working people don't have that power against the huge corporate machine. And so that's one. But here's my other thought on this, Mike. What is your favorite team, especially if your favorite team is not inclined to spend a lot of money on big free agents and they spend nickels and dimes and quarters and you just say, well, if you're going to do that for that player and that player and that player who's average to above average, why not just wipe that all out and just get a big time player? My point is if you're going to spend money to train these guys to get ready, aren't you on the path to full time officials? Why don't you just pay your officials all the time you're talking about training and development. You could do that year round with your officials. It doesn't make sense to me. And maybe in a roundabout way, it's a signal to the NFL referees association. You do the math. You take the numbers that they're willing to pay for training and meetings and preparation, add it all up and that's more money that the NFL is already willing to pay over and above whatever they have on the table, presumably, for a new CBA with the game official. They just need to get this done. And I asked somebody yesterday who's in a position to know because I was becoming suspicious that the NFL is hell-bent on locking these officials out, possibly to test out expanded replay, possibly to test out other things they may have up their sleeves. There may be some AI program that they're trying to train through this process and you could supplant officials with AI. Like what are they really trying to do? And the person said, they're just trying to bully them into taking what the NFL wants them to take, which is what the NFL does. It's how the game is played. We're just going to bully them. We have the power. You don't. We have the PR machine on our side. You don't. We're going to use everything we have to get what we want and you can't. All right, we need to take a break. The NFL had a more formidable opponent in the form of Florida man. Did the NFL do enough this week to push back against the anti-rooney rule rhetoric of Florida man? That's next on PFT Live. Friday edition of PFT Live on Tuesday of this week, the commissioner met with reporters at the annual meeting. He was asked about the Rooney rule and the aftermath of the assault by the Florida Attorney General who demands that the Rooney rule be abandoned as to the buccaneers, the Jaguars, and the dolphins by May 1 or else or else what? We don't know. There may be an enforcement action. If the NFL doesn't, the commissioner reconfirmed the commitment to the values that underpin the Rooney rule, the commissioner made it clear that the Rooney rule is going nowhere. I'm still waiting for something a little stronger than that. I want a letter that is sent back to the Florida Attorney General, making it clear we're not changing anything. With two attachments, exhibit A, the photograph of the coaches from the annual meeting, 2026, and exhibit B, the general manager's photo. As I said on Tuesday, somewhat indelicately, the invitation and the letter should be, please take the attachment, roll it up, and shove it because those photos tell us everything we need to know about the current state of the NFL's diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts as it relates to the most important jobs available among the 32 franchises. But you said you're looking for something stronger, Mike. Maybe something stronger is not necessarily a letter to the Florida Attorney General because I suspect that the AG would love that. Hey, I got them. I got them to play along right into my arena. Look how important I am. So that might be exactly what he's looking for. But I would say a strong statement that lets people know what you value. I think what happens is everybody's playing politics right now. So the Florida AG, with all respect, is just repeating talking points that are coming from higher pay grades. So this is political on his part. And the NFL is playing politics because they're trying to give lip service to the Rooney rule, but also trying to protect itself and trying to cater to trying to make everybody happy. I just simplify it. It's common sense. What do you value? If you value it, if you value diversity, if you value opportunity, just give a mission statement, a heartfelt, if that's possible. I think it is even in corporate America. I think it's made it's possible to make a heartfelt mission statement about what's important to you. And then you then you let and then that speaks for itself. What I don't like is that the namesake of the Rooney rule didn't really fill me with a bunch of confidence when he spoke about it. This is named after you. I've gone around for years saying if people did what the Roonies do when it comes to a coaching search and general manager search and they use if they're thorough and if they give people chances to explain themselves, we wouldn't have these problems. And and Art Rooney comes out and says, well, I don't know. We may have to make some changes. Oh, God, the environment has really shouldn't be that complicated. Should it? And any suggestion? The laws have changed. The laws haven't changed. The laws have. Where's that come from? Right. Just have different people who are claiming that the law should be applied differently than it is. The law hasn't changed. Yeah, I didn't understand that. And just as just as just another point on this, a quick one. The Florida AG and a lot of people who talk like this and think like this, you always hear them mention meritocracy. They always talk about meritocracy. And there's a there's a myth of it. There's a myth of meritocracy. And most businesses, most businesses don't truly have it. Most industries don't truly have it, including ours. You don't always have it. Like how the Florida AG get his job. Did he get the job because I don't know. He's number one in his law school and by debt of his work ethic and his ingenuity, he got the attention of people around him. Maybe I don't know that he didn't. But I'm guessing he probably didn't. He knew the right person or somebody introduced him to somebody who was influential and put him in the proper position. Our team presidents in the NFL, are they there because of meritocracy? Or are they there because maybe they knew the owner from a different business? Or maybe maybe they're related to the owner. I mean, like there, there's so many industries where it's not just it's not just your merit. It's who you know, it's the hookup. It's the internship you may have gotten. It's a friend of a friend. So it's really where we see meritocracy now, and this is just in the last 30 years, where we really see meritocracy is on the field, or is on the court or on the ice. But that wasn't always the case either. Even with athletes, even with, Hey, can you play or not? That seems simple. It wasn't always that simple. So it, when they talk about meritocracy, even in the highest office in the land, with law, and with medicine, and with defense, we have to question, are you there because of merit or are you there for a different reason? And these jobs are very attractive. They pay good money. They get people involved in sports, the supply of candidates outweighs the number of available positions. And for the people who are filling those jobs, there are factors that are very simple. Who do I trust in this job to do the job without me having to take time from my job, making sure they're doing their job? Are they basically competent? And are they trustworthy? And there are different ways, not driven by merit, that the names pop up on the radar screen. Because the bottom line is for any organization, when a job is vacant, what are you trying to do? We're trying to fill it, so I can get back to the other stuff that I need to do. We just got to fill this job. How are we going to fill it? Well, hey, this guy, I know this guy. This guy will be fine. I trust this guy. I've known this guy. I know his dad used to work with his brother, whatever it may be. There's no test. There's no specifically designed exam for qualifying someone to be a team president, a general manager, or a head coach. And there's far more people that want to do it than there are available opportunities to do it. All right, we got to take a break. Hopefully, the NFL will, though, defend its rules aggressively and fight and fight and fight the three words to Florida man, bring it on, engage him in that fight, stare him down, stand up for what you believe in, don't run and hide. Let's take a break. Falcons, I don't know, maybe the fans will run and hide when they see the new uniforms. We'll find out next on PFT Live. Atlanta Falcons have unveiled their new uniforms. Red jerseys on the black helmet. They pivoted the black helmet years ago. I prefer and see they tuck him in the background. They got him farthest away. The best uniform of the bunch. Sorry, Falcons. Is the red helmet, the black jersey. Yep. Not that one. Not that one. Is that AI? No. Is that AI or is that actually Bijan Robinson? I can't tell. Looks AI to me. I'd say AI. I prefer the red helmet with the stripe and that little beige color. It's jaunty. I like it. Too many of these uniforms now look like the Texans. Isn't that their look though? When they played in Fulton County Stadium, isn't this like a late 70s, early 80s? Red jerseys with the red helmets. Red jerseys with the red helmets. Right? Okay. I think they did red jerseys on the red helmets. Back in the 70s, it was red on red. When they lost that playoff game to the Cowboys, they had a big lead and they, remember this, this is, it must have been the 70s. They think it was a home playoff game against the Cowboys and they had a big lead and they blew it. But Mike, how do you feel about those mats? Do you like the mat? Because I know the Vikings have a version of a mat. No. No. No. No. You don't like it? No. No. No. No. It's hard to defend. And this is one of the great things about playing Madden. I play the Madden Ultimate team when I ride my bike every day and I've earned all the alternate Vikings uniforms and I've got the old purple glossy helmet without the stupid 3D touches on the horn and the normal numbers on the jersey. I've got the un-nike-ified Vikings uniform and I wish that the Wilfs would wake up one day and realize they are depriving their long-standing customer base of uniforms that are so much better than the stuff that they have now. Go back to the old. Get the glossy. Don't like the mat. Mat is like, like 2015. Like, mat isn't a thing anymore. Get rid of the mat helmets. All right, we've got to take a break. We'll wrap up this Friday edition of PFT Library after this. Oh, there's another submission. Happy Easter with the chicken with the egg. No pellets because no rabbits. No pellets. Chickens. I don't know what chickens do. I don't have chickens. Sims would know what chickens do. That's so wholesome. Because he's got a whole farm full of chickens. Yeah, that's too nice. That's not my brand. Get rid of that. Thank you for whoever sent it, but get rid of it. Get rid of it. We didn't mention Stefan Gilmore retired. He was the 2019 NFL defensive player of the year. He was a two-time all-pro, four- or five-time pro bowler. He kind of languished in Buffalo early in his career. Remember when the Patriots made the, I mean, free agency B-Line? It's like, well, they kind of know. They've been, they've been facing him twice a year for five years. Yeah, they had, but it's still, they, they weren't known for spinning like that on corners and they went out and got them and he had some big place for the Patriots, including this, an interception the last time they won the Super Bowl. So congrats to Stefan Gilmore. All right, that's it. Everyone have a safe and happy weekend. See you Monday.