NBA Panic Rankings, NFL Draft Guesses, and a Michael Jackson Movie Review | With Todd McShay, Steve Muench, and Van Lathan
2h 7m 40s
The episode begins by honoring the unsung laborers behind sports, from stadium builders to field maintenance workers, and highlights Carhartt’s support for these essential teams. Bill Simmons and his co-hosts then dive into the NBA playoffs, analyzing key matchups such as the Lakers vs. Rockets, Spurs vs. Portland, and the Detroit vs. Orlando series. They stress how physicality, team chemistry, and injuries shape outcomes, with particular concern over the Spurs’ reliance on Kawhi Leonard and the Nuggets’ defensive intensity. The discussion shifts to the NFL draft, where the Giants’ strategy at picks 5 and 10 is examined as a balanced, patient approach. The hosts debate draft philosophy, emphasizing that emotional bias often overrides data, and cite examples like the Jets’ potential pick of Arbel Reese over David Bailey. They also note how scouting interactions—like a player’s interest in Chick-fil-a—can reveal personal traits. Ultimately, the episode showcases how human instincts and long-term team planning shape both draft decisions and playoff narratives, blending sports insight with deeper reflections on decision-making in high-stakes environments.
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plus the basketball yesterday at the very top of this.
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We taped earlier.
Today, a whole bunch of NFL draft stuff.
All of our thoughts.
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Are there gonna be any crazy wrinkles?
What's gonna happen in this draft?
Covered it all.
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All right, I am taping this top part of the podcast.
It is 1023 Pacific time on Tuesday night
because I stupidly stayed up
until the end of this Lakers-Rockets game
thinking something spectacular would happen.
And it was spectacular if a rock fight
that almost injured people
in the first couple rows of the seats
were spectacular with all the bricks and air balls.
And oh my God, it was so bad.
I'd like to apologize to Gahal and Eduardo.
Um, who are my behind the scenes team.
I made them stay up late.
Now they have to put this podcast up
because I thought it would be worth it.
It wasn't worth it.
We should have done this two hours ago.
KD came back.
So that was a wild card.
He had nine turnovers, um,
four, four or five in the fourth quarter.
Partly his fault, but also like,
A, why is he out there?
B, why is he doing so much?
Because he clearly didn't seem 100%.
Reed Shepard.
This might've been it for E-May and Reed Shepard.
I think he played, what do I have here?
10 minutes, 0 for 4 for Reed Shepard,
the number three pick of the 2024 NBA draft.
One pick ahead of Stephon Castle.
Um, Houston, they changed some stuff up.
They pressured a game late with that idea.
When you have Marcus Smart and LeBron James
and Luke Kennard bringing the ball up,
why not pressure those guys 94 feet,
uh, Jaden McDaniel style?
They didn't do that.
I looked it up.
They, nobody has ever been fired during a series before.
So I think E-May and Duke is safe probably
until after the game.
So I think E-May and Duke is safe probably until after the series,
but they're down 0-2.
And the big thing for me,
the fact that they didn't trade,
trade for a CJ McCollum at any point during the season
before Atlanta got him is just bonkers.
It felt like the natural thing that was going to happen
after Van Vliet got hurt and the salaries kind of lined up.
Houston has a bunch of extra picks.
Washington basically, you know,
they, they, they were ready to give away McCollum.
They finally ended up putting him in a Trey Young deal,
which really they're taking Trey Young off Atlanta's hands.
McCollum goes and he's one of the stars of the,
of game two and one of the potential stars of the playoffs.
He's almost becoming a villain for,
on MSG with the New York fans.
Even though, as he said after the game,
I'm the least villainy guy possible.
I don't know why Houston didn't trade for him.
I don't get it.
They thought they were good with the team.
Like they like having Van Vliet around.
Van Vliet can't play until next year.
Like worst case scenario,
he could just opt out of his contract.
You can,
you sign him,
but it's weird to me that they didn't do anything.
And the email clearly doesn't trust Reed Shepard.
So can the Lakers actually pull this off?
Cause we got info today.
Maybe Luca wouldn't be around until round two.
That maybe,
maybe Reeves was actually a better option to come back.
I'm looking at the playoff odds right now.
Houston.
Wow.
Lakers minus they're up to nothing in the series with game seven at home.
And they're minus one 20 on FanDuel because everybody's like,
well,
maybe Houston's going to turn it around.
I don't know the team I watched tonight.
I don't see it.
I mean,
just to come back from two Oh,
in a series,
um,
the percentages are against you,
but the way they,
the,
the,
the chemistry in the court,
um,
Durant,
and I look at a hundred percent.
Shangoon looks like he's already on red fin looking at Milwaukee houses for
the inevitable Giannis trade that I'm starting to feel like could happen.
Could the Lakers do this?
I, and I don't know why I'm excited about it cause I hate the Lakers,
but it would just be more fun to have them in the next series.
If Luca can come back against.
Okay.
See, by the way,
okay.
Say big winner of round one,
right?
But like when B when B gets concussed,
which we'll talk about in a second,
but that series looks like it's going to go longer.
Denver,
Minnesota is going to be a war.
Meanwhile,
okay.
See,
he's going to cruise through round one and then they're going to get one of
these two teams in round two.
Holy shit.
Um,
panic rankings.
I wanted to take,
you into the NBA panic room really quick.
I have the rockets now.
Number one,
because if you lose this series to,
if you lose this series to this Lakers team,
you gotta be kidding me.
Yeah.
Honestly,
you gotta be kidding me.
That would be just one of the dumbest playoff losses.
I can remember your 41 year old,
the broad Luke canard,
who anybody could have had Marcus smart hitting corner threes.
Jackson Hayes is out there.
I just can't believe it.
How many lottery picks does Houston have?
I think out of the,
I think they had five or six guys who were taken like in the top
five of the lottery.
Oh my God.
Um,
anyway,
I've used the number one and,
and I blame Houston for the fact that it's 1027.
I'm doing a podcast right now.
Anyway,
number two,
the spurs,
when he gets concussed on the night that he is given the
defensive player of the year award,
and it looked bad immediately was not going to happen.
It was not going to happen.
It's not going to happen.
player. Um, but my fear with them all along was like shot creation in half court when you're in
a playoff atmosphere and you've got to create shots. And really it was just Fox. Fox was the
only, everything was on Fox and Portland, Portland could kind of shut it down. And then, uh, it comes
down to drew holiday who had 16, five and nine classic drew winning basketball gets the block
in the corner, gets the go ahead basket on the, on the putback on an air ball, like always in the
right place, right time. That's why they traded for him. And then the scoot Henderson game, 31
points. So Nick Wright texted me this. He now has 10 more career playoff points than when B I feel
like I'm still in it with scoot. Can't give up yet. I thought scoot was awesome day. Now he had
one rebound and zero assist, but the defense and the fearlessness and the athleticism was what we
thought it might be when, when, you know, I was arguing him versus Brandon Miller and I conceded
to KOC. Sorry, Kevin O'Connor. I conceded to you two months ago that you won the Brandon Miller
versus scooter argument. Now I feel like I'm alive. I just climbed out of the coffin.
And congrats to Portland owner El Cheapo,
who the guys after the game,
they were pouring tap water on each other
because he probably didn't have alcohol in the locker room.
But El Cheapo gets a win.
Now he goes back to Portland for game three.
No t-shirts for those fans
because those t-shirts are expensive.
Anyway, the Spurs,
I have them at the top here in the panic
because if they don't have Wemby
for either of these Portland games,
I think Portland's legitimately good.
Like Toronto, bogus five seed.
Just bogus with a capital B.
Houston, bogus five seed.
Not capital B bogus, but bogus.
Portland, frisky seven seed.
Like I think Portland's a better playoff team
than either Houston or Toronto.
So you're going to Portland.
The energy is going to be amazing.
El Cheapo is going to be shooting out
probably used t-shirts
out of 15-year-old t-shirt candidates.
I can't wait for this weekend,
but we'll see.
What do the Spurs have in them without Wemby?
They signed Lou Cornette over the summer,
who is one of the best free agent signings of the summer.
Big game for him, obviously.
Game three, game four.
They're going to need a lot more from him.
But as crazy as it sounds,
like Portland, this could be a long series.
And I don't think Portland's going to go away.
This is a team that knows who they are,
really good defensively.
Kamara, I thought, did a great job down the stretch.
And a little feistier of a series.
I think San Antonio was -1400 heading into the series.
So it's a 1-1 going back to Portland.
We're definitely not going to have Wemby for game three.
We'll see.
That is my number two panic team.
So Houston, San Antonio.
Number three is Detroit.
They're playing tomorrow night.
They got their ass kicked at home in game one,
and they've lost 12, 11 straight playoff games.
This would be the 12th that they lose game two.
Orlando has a ton of confidence.
They're catching this Orlando team that just did a 180,
that hit rock bottom, crawled out of it.
We talked about it on Sunday night and might not give a shit anymore.
It might just feel like, fuck it.
Maybe we're better than these guys.
This is a Normandale and Hoosiers moment for JB Bickerstaff and the Pistons.
This is JB looking at these guys.
Maybe they're right about us.
Maybe we weren't a one seed.
He's got to start challenging them a little bit.
I think this Detroit Orlando game, Wednesday night, a must watch.
I think it's going to be violent.
I expect, like, I don't know if you're watching the hockey,
but Bruins Buffalo almost had two different bench-clearing brawls.
It brought me back to 1988 when I really loved the Bruins the most,
the 70s and 80s.
And we played Buffalo, and I think it was 600 plus penalty minutes
in a six-game series and multiple bench-clearing fights.
Guys just fighting every game, the same guys, like Jay Miller.
I think that we had Willie Plett.
I think they had Clark Gillies.
I forget.
They had another fighter, but just every game, the same guys were fighting.
I don't think Detroit Orlando is going to be like that,
but I think it's going to get feisty tomorrow.
I think this is one of those Detroit's going to lay the smack down,
try to give the physicality.
I think Orlando likes when it gets physical.
They like that kind of action, and that's a must watch.
But I would be really nervous if I'm Detroit because Orlando,
you know, there's two kinds of upsets.
There's the Philly kind that we'll talk about in a second
against Boston in game two.
And then there's the,
we actually belong on the court might be better than you guys upset.
And I felt like Orlando in that one.
Now they're, they're nine point underdogs in game two,
which I think is too high.
There's a lot of data going for if the home team gets blown
out into game one as a big favorite.
Then sack talked about that on Sunday, but I think Orlando
can play with these guys.
So Detroit's my number three, the nuggets are number four.
First nuggets lost yesterday at 33 days.
I have multiple concerns command of the game.
One Aaron Gordon, not healthy.
I thought he got banged up in different ways in game one.
And then game two just didn't look like himself.
So you lose rim protection.
You lose the crazy athleticism.
You lose the reckless threes in the corner that go in all that stuff.
I didn't think he seemed like the same guy, not his fault.
I just think he's banged up.
I think he's been banged up all year.
Second, biggest thing.
Yoke is threes, which we've seen come and go in the playoffs.
If you really put a beating on them, which Minnesota did.
Minnesota had Randall beating on them.
They'd go bear beating on them.
They had elbows, Nas reads beating on them and they just tried to wear him down.
And it got to the point.
It felt like they were leaving them open a little bit.
And I think he was one for seven.
Um, a lot was made out of the go bear one-on-one defense against Joker.
I didn't think that's why they won.
I thought they won because the physicality of all four quarters combined with the
third thing I want to mention McDaniels.
You know, you could see what the game plan was in game two is like McDaniels is going to how.
And Jamal Murray 94 feet.
And I don't know why more teams don't do this when you have a Jaden McDaniels, but I thought
Murray was just gassed in the fourth quarter because McDaniels was just wearing him down
and in his t-shirt, which is, I think he wears the t-shirt instead of inside the Jersey,
which I support.
Um, I thought he wore him down.
So you have McDaniels 94 feet.
You've go bear with the one-on-one D you have ant with the rim protection, you have
Randall and Nas read being super physical.
And then you have defense Chenzo with some big ball shots and you have bones Highland
as just a random Dion waiters.
We might have to rename Dion waiters on rewatchables.
And then you have on offense, everyone attacking the rim because they know if
Gordon's a little compromised, Joker's not really a shot block or they're going.
So when I think about upsets, um, I said this after game one to Zach, even though
Minnesota didn't play that well, I felt like they, the physicality, they seem very comfortable.
Yeah.
And I, and I thought it was a little concerning after game one, they didn't play that well,
but they still were in the vicinity of winning the game game to super comfortable.
And, um, it's a team that thinks they're better than Denver.
So if I'm a nuggets fan, Hey, I'm, I'm more concerned than I was four days ago that I
was getting out of this series.
They were three to one to win the series.
Now I'm concerned.
I'm also concerned.
What happens if I get out of this series?
Cause now I'm playing San Antonio.
I have a lot of miles on me from round one.
And, and then I still have, okay, see waiting for me in round three and they're going to
do all the same physical beat you up stuff that, uh, that Minnesota is doing.
Now, this was the case.
I thought Denver was going to make the finals.
The case against it was the road is too hard.
And the way this is playing out, that case might've been right.
I might've been wrong.
I thought Minnesota was alive.
Potential could put it together for four rounds, but aunt who didn't even seem like
it was a hundred percent healthy all the time yesterday.
Um, combined with McDaniels coming back from injury.
I just didn't think they were going to be able to put it together like that, but man,
they looked like a conference finalist last night.
So, um, these, these two, either of these teams playing San Antonio is going to be an
incredible series.
And I thought last night, I thought that was like watching a game five of the conference
finals level quality of basketball.
I loved it.
I'd be nervous if I was Denver, I wouldn't be quite as nervous if I'm the next, but I'm
a little nervous.
Cause game two against Atlanta, it picks some scabs for me, right there.
Are we too Brunson centric?
Are we sure Mike Brown is a good coach is McHale bridges playing tonight.
He, oh, he's played 32 minutes.
I didn't realize it.
Oh, he took the last shot of the game with five seconds left.
I forgot he was on the team.
Uh, they had a bunch of that stuff going.
The backup guards McBride was bad.
Um, shame.
It was bad.
So they got nothing really from their bench other than Clark.
They made a couple of plays.
Um, and the town's piece of it.
Now my next fan friends were like, why didn't towns get the ball more?
What, you know, why we were so Brunson centric.
Come make it was doing a good job on, on town.
So I think it was a combination of he was being really physical with them.
They found something with that small ball lineup.
And if I was the next and our, I rooted for the next that they now make me the most nervous
other than Josh Hart was the best part of my team in game two, I would be nervous that
Alexander walk.
Or in Jalen Johnson Bay Alexander Walker didn't really play well in either either game.
And Jalen Johnson did not shoot well in the second game and it's one-to-one and they're
going back where I think they're pretty good in Atlanta.
So I'd be nervous that Alexander Walker hasn't gotten going yet.
And then the CJ McCollum piece was doing, getting to whatever spot he wanted.
You have these two wings in an OB and bridges that you've traded all this capital and big,
big, big contracts to.
Yeah.
And over and over again, he was just getting away from those guys and, and trying to repeatedly
get Brunson on him.
McCollum's like having, this is a moment for him, right?
This is the afterthought in Portland.
Dame's teammate put it a million trade rumors.
He even got mad at me publicly a couple of times, kind of bounces around, ends up in
Washington, becomes such an afterthought that Houston doesn't even trade for him.
And now he's, he's wearing it.
Now he's ready to, to, to be the foil in a Knicks series.
So I would be, I wouldn't be.
Crazy nervous if I was the next, what are the odds in this series?
They are yeah.
Minus 1 74 on FanDuel.
That seems about right.
I, I thought the Knicks were going to win in six.
I still think that, but the CJ piece was unexpected.
We'll see if he can keep it going.
And then the last one for a panic team, the Celtics.
So I would have ranked on the bottom here.
First of all, in game twos, I don't know what happens to them.
They're five and five in their last 10 playoff home game.
twos. They lost to the Knicks last year, Miami
Cleveland in 24 and the Miami game was one of the dumbest losses of all time they lost to Miami in
23 then they lost tonight Philly did exactly what I thought they're gonna do they shot a bunch of
threes um Edgecombe got hot I think he was six for 10 he had a 30 and 10 was super comfortable
and then Max he got going a little bit the Celtics were playing this just insanely dumb
drop coverage that I didn't understand for the life of me and uh and giving up I think it was
91-89 Boston has the ball about to take the lead Tatum jacks up a bad three and then Maxie
I think hit two straight threes on that stupid drop coverage so the Celtics were 13 for 50
from three and Sean Grandy my friend uh who does the radio for the Celtics said regular season and
playoffs that's the 12th time in the last 161 games the Celtics have failed to shoot better
than 26 percent from three
and they've lost all 12 including game one and game two against the Knicks and then this game
last night so the question is total aberration or are they starting to look a little like
Knicks serious Celtics last year I will say um the two things that scare me a tiny bit
Derek White has uh really been bad from three since January 1st he's under 31 percent from
three now he's two for 10 tonight and the next scene the uh
Sixers seemed totally fine with him shooting from three um whereas I think in November and
December would not have been as fine he got to the point I was wondering if they might take him out
and put Shireman in which was the second thing I didn't understand Shireman only played 11 minutes
he's been a super sub for the last couple months indispensable and that led to the third thing I
understand the move seemed to me go small with Tatum at the five because he you could still get
the rebounding from him Tatum Brown Shireman and he's been a super sub for the last couple of months
Pritchard and White, or take White out and put Hauser in.
I just, I didn't really understand the lineups.
I voted for Joe for coach of the year.
I did not think he had a good game today.
And the Vucevic thing, I just don't get.
I know offensively he had decent stats,
but I think he really hurts them defensively.
And I thought the Sixers took advantage of him.
I don't think he's fast enough to jump out on three-point shooters.
He's not really a rim protector.
And if I'm playing the Sixers and there's no Embiid,
and I'm playing Bona and Drummond,
like I'm fine going small against them.
Let's go small again.
What are they going to do?
Post up one of those guys?
So playing Tatum at the five seems like the move.
It did worry me a little that they looked like game one,
game two, 2025 Knicks.
I did get some flashbacks, some PTSD.
My daughter and my dad were there.
And my daughter was furious after the game.
I was very proud.
But she was excited that they showed them on the Jumbotron
that they were going to win.
And my dad wasn't looking, and she was hitting him to look.
And multiple people texted me about this,
that it was like watching a little sitcom with my dad and my daughter.
So congrats to them.
Wish I had been there.
I'm not nervous about this Celtics series yet.
Right now, the odds are Celtics minus 510.
So FanDuel is not nervous either.
The Portland odds, Portland is plus 410 to win the series now.
San Antonio is minus 550.
The two series seem like a wrap.
Phoenix, OKC, and Toronto, Cleveland.
And it's unclear.
Toronto should have just passed on the playoff invitation.
Like when you get invited to a wedding and you send your regrets and you send a gift.
I kind of wish Toronto had done that with the playoffs.
All right.
That's the panic, the NBA panic room heading into tomorrow night.
Can't wait to watch Orlando and Detroit.
Again, I'm sorry to everybody at The Ringer that I made you stay up tonight.
We're going to take a break.
We're going to go backwards in time.
I'm going to talk to McShay and Mensch.
A big, long convo about the NFL draft.
And I'm going to look a lot more awake in one second after this break.
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Listen up.
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All right.
McShay and Mentor here.
They are here all week doing the Todd McShay show.
The McShay show, which is behind us.
I like that little fancy thingy.
Yeah.
So we're using your set.
I love it.
Last time I talked to you, we weren't, I wasn't that excited about the draft.
And then you kind of.
45 minutes later.
You fluffed me a little bit.
Yeah.
You got me.
Got me a little excited about it.
He's a great fluffer.
Barely excited by the end.
Now I'm way more excited.
It's, uh, there's, there's never a bad draft, man.
That's the thing.
Like even the, for entertainment value, there's never a bad draft.
There's bad drafts, but there's no players.
Right.
Yeah.
But it's like Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is always going to be good because at some point there's going to be food to eat.
And it always gets hectic.
There's always family drama before Thanksgiving.
It's the same thing here.
And then, and like I got lied to, I think.
I think about the Jets pick and that's okay.
I'm here for it.
You got lied to?
I think so.
I did see you did a little switch.
Arbel Reese.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And by the way, like the draft's not here.
We'll, we'll see what happens, but I get the strong sense that the Jets worth getting that
out there.
I always get nervous about, cause I was the only one saying Arbel Reese.
So, and then a couple other people a little bit, but I always get nervous when everyone
all of a sudden on a Monday after a weekend talks, they're saying the same thing.
So the Jeremiah love thing.
I just, I worry about that at number two, number three, but it looks like Bailey, they're
doing a good job of being really quiet about it.
Even though there's really no reason to be quite outside of, Hey, everyone thinks we're
taking Bailey.
But who are they trying to fake out?
Listen, David Bailey.
I, I, I actually had to have this internal conversation with myself.
David Bailey has been kind of what everyone in league circles has kind of assumed, right?
For a while.
So let's throw out there.
We might take Arbel Reese and see if someone's more interested in Reese and get the, you
know, because there's people talking about Arizona, we're going to move on, whichever
pass rusher doesn't go to go to, we, you know, the pick is open at Arizona at number three.
Why not?
Why not us get the phone calls?
I have a feeling that that's what was going on.
The only thing I don't like about this theory is it's the Jets that involves foresight,
a plan, understanding strategy, like chess moves, moving around.
Yeah.
And if, if it's true, what I'm kind of surmising, then I, I think, I think Darryl Mooji is, is
doing a pretty good job of managing this thing.
If there are two guys who play the same position, basically, and people are arguing about which
one's better, I'm, I'm just, I was parachuting the draft every year, basically knowing nothing
and trying to learn on the fly.
Why wouldn't you should take the guy who's two years younger?
Is that just too obvious or am I next?
It's actually not.
You, you would be, I don't think you'd be surprised.
I don't think you'd be surprised, but it's, it's surprising how much, um.
Cause Reese is two years younger.
Yeah.
Emphasis is put into the, the age for a defensive prospect specifically.
I don't get it.
But if it was me, I would take the younger guy.
You would.
He is two years, it's like getting a car from 2024 versus 26 or something.
But it's a five year lease.
I have two years less of miles.
It's a five year lease.
You're not going to keep it for the life of the car.
You know what I mean?
So if you like the car better and you get a better lease, then take the lease.
But nobody can agree which one of these guys are better.
So why wouldn't I just take the younger guy?
I would take our Val Reese, but I've got to have a defensive coach.
If I'm the general manager, I've got to have a defensive coach that can lay out what exactly
is the plan to show me how it's going to work.
Yeah.
Because this guy's more talented.
Okay.
The talent isn't quite developed.
He's a one year starter at Ohio state.
He started.
That means higher, higher talent, higher bus potential.
Yes.
Okay.
Yeah.
Someone brought this up on X.
I want to, I actually meant to run this by you before we even got on here, but we're
talking about the jets again.
So if you have a plan for this kid, that's great.
Is Aaron Glenn going to be their head coach next year?
Right.
Or in October or in October.
Like exactly.
So then, then the plans out the window.
And if you're, if you're Muji, are you thinking to yourself, I don't know who's going to be
the head coach next year.
I'm going to take the guy who's been playing edge his whole life.
The information I got 10 days ago, I think it's 10 days now.
It was, it was the Sunday before this past Sunday was what's your football sense.
If you want the short thing and the Daryl Muji is, is a,
a human risk aversion.
I, I've compared it yesterday.
Along came Paulie.
We've been, been.
like just a human risk aversion corporation like walking down the street like everything's about
risk and apparently that's that's kind of his dna and his makeup um i i would argue the better
player who the fallback is i'm getting devin lloyd it that to me is is less risk than drafting david
bailey and maybe he's just a dpr designated pass rusher and he's not very good versus the run so
like it's true but this guy we know can rush the quarterback better than anyone in this draft
and yes it's with speed and yes he's got to kind of get stronger and all that but let's go with
the guy that's proven as a pass rusher because that's the most important thing you can do in
this league outside of being a quarterback fandle has reese minus 130 bailey plus 115
on tuesday afternoon as we record did that flip from yesterday yeah this morning i looked this
morning i looked
you
and it was like it was still plus 160 and then i looked four hours ago and it was minus 110 so it
is shifting rapidly yeah betting on the draft is like betting on roulette while doing cocaine
it's like the odds are just
just going crazy at all times i would i i never do draft bets the only one that seems like it
hits every year is like the more offensive lineman than we thought right yeah seems like
every year it's like no it's gonna be seven no i
actually it's ten yep because we get in the draft and everybody's like oh fuck we need a right tackle
i bet it's at eight and a half but i haven't looked but i would bet it's at eight and a half
for i would take for the over under yeah so there's gonna be a second guard that sneaks in
right like a keel and rufflage from georgia seven and a half oh i see that seems like you
fucking bang that one right pound it right now it'd be at least nine take it right now
i laugh whenever i see there's gonna be at least eight there's seven tackles in one guard i think
nine but yeah you're right it's gonna be the patriots could take somebody
yeah i think so there's gonna be at least eight there's seven tackles in one guard i think nine
ianacho are still sitting there at 31 yeah absolutely yeah um you're putting that in right
now no i'll do it after i have a bunch of questions tied to the draft but this is my favorite one
what do the giants do at number five because they also have number 10 yeah if the first four picks
yep okay mendoza reese to the jets arizona says fuck it and takes love yep and then sala and
fuck it and they take styles so it goes mendoza reese loves styles now the giants are on the
clock what happens bailey you think they would take bailey anyway with bailey i i was told by
somebody that because even if you flip-flop and it's bailey it's bailey at two and it's
reese at five sitting at five either way um i was i was told but i don't believe it that they would
they would take the edge rusher best available and and uh cabon tibideau would be traded that
was a little
nugget in shepter's article he had all these trade guys these are guys that could be traded
and all of a sudden you see cabon tibideau and i was like i haven't heard that name yeah that was
last year's trade that was gonna happen remember yeah yeah well they'll drop all of a sudden it
was in there was like that's that jumps out to me so if they they could get rid of one of them
the giants are fascinating right because the giants are sitting there at five and now they've
got pick 10 which was an awesome trade i didn't talk about that trade on the podcast i that was
like i was staggered by that trade yeah you're trading a defensive tackle
i know he's good in his late late 20s it was expensive and does it yeah it doesn't and now
i just get to reset with the 10th pick in a draft that basically has 12 good guys and then drops off
like that's like that trade's a miracle yeah i thought the giants would have had to throw in at
least like a third to even the seesaw something about the ravens like the the ravens like ozzie
newsom and down to eric dacosta now it seems like they they sit back they're patient they
they exploit other teams and now harbaugh comes from the ravens exploiting other teams for being
overly eager in a moment who's stopping the run for the giants i mean they have i mean they were
like giving five yards of carry last year that might be the 10th pick there's no defensive
tackles there you don't you don't like fox just just reaching or maybe trading back five spots
but they they pick 35 in the second round yeah they'll get a guy there they'll get a good guy
they'll get a guy there i thought for the bangles that i interrupted you the bangles that trade was
insane you're paying like 110 million a year to a quarterback and two receivers you've holes all over
the place and i give her 28 million your defense is terrible and it's like well we're gonna get
this guy we're gonna bring him in he's the best defensive tackle in the league cool now he's gonna
be double teamed the whole time yeah you have nobody else in your defense it's like as an afc
fan of the patriots yeah i was like great trade guys you did it yeah you're gonna be a fucking
mess but the giants sit there five right and a week ago we would have said it caleb downs is one
of the players they'd like to say from ohio state jordan tyson is one of the players they don't they
feel their interest in players like joe shane goes they shane and harbaugh were already at the
arizona state pro day where jordan tyson didn't work out yeah and then shane went back out for
the air the the jordan tyson workout which was just like 30 something routes and catching the
ball yeah that was a don't get hurt workout yeah but everyone loved it all time just run a straight
line and turn around yeah but everyone loved it it was a great workout yeah and then has i think
dinner with tyson or so we know there's interest in the game and we know there's interest in the
game and we know there's interest in the game and we know there's interest in the game and we know
there's interest in the game and we know there's interest in the game and we know there's interest in the game but i don't know a week 10 days ago we would have said better take downs at five and and you can get tyson at 10 i honestly think with um with sitting at seven would be a possibility although i think dan quinn is is going defense there he's pushing with adam peters to go defense and it could be sunny styles if not styles caleb downs at seven but eight is eight is new orleans and that could be a spot um where where jordan tyson goes um nine kansas city nine kansas city
jordan tyson just sounds awful yeah why what do you mean but not
yes don't they have like a top three worst medicine training recovery like situation them in the
pelicans chris chris alave that's what's worked for him right yeah he's always nervous yeah regardless
my point is i don't know that tyson gets there and so caleb downs is much more likely to get there
um but may not get there either so and then you hear but there's no there's no scenario where they
can end up with downs and styles the giants they don't want styles apparently because they signed
edmunds he signed edmunds yeah honestly that deal's not huge though it's not huge um i mean that's the
mac daddy move because i was looking at the giants odds first of all seven and a half wins over under
for that like that all the signs for them are they're going to be this year's patriots right
yeah it's healthy fourth place schedule new coach like just they're checking all the boxes seven
and a half wins seems too low plus 280 for the playoffs plus 550 for the division that seems too
high yeah they got two blue chip blue chip blue chip five and ten guys and then hit the second
round pick you're good right away yeah because they already had a bunch of good players and they
underachieved last year you know they how many times they have the lead in the second half of a
game what if your my love is still sitting there if you love this you want to give love to everyone
but yeah i get it scatty was not going to stay healthy no i hear you so they got love and downs
and you got the best running back in the draft by far and then you have a safety and i want to talk
about downs in a second um you just get the two best guys in the position who four years from now
could be like all pros yeah or three years from now whatever that but that the downs thing i i was
just on tailgate i stopped by there for a second we do this with the draft every year i've talked
to you about it before where i've talked to you about it before i've talked to you about it before
everyone knows downs is gonna be awesome he's gonna go like 10th and then three years from now
we're gonna do the redraft and it's like number two caleb downs yeah kyle hamilton ed reed crossed
with kyle hamilton he's just amazing and wow what a great pick and it's like but we knew that before
this draft that he was going to be a great pick so how do you go 10th it's the position value thing
and then you add the position value he didn't run we know he's not like his miles per hour is equated
to 4.5 type 40 not as long as so yeah so you got all those things working against you but
but why not he's not gonna have the same thing for hamilton right it's like what is he running
40 yeah is he a hybrid well turned out it turned out great yeah yeah really great so i i think he
could go as high as seven maybe five but um but it would i don't know it the giants are fascinating
and also there's like this you don't pay hardball 100
million to to be the guy without letting him be the guy um and and that's the indication i get
but there seems to be all nervous too yeah he was on pace to getting fired the first lamar jackson
year yep and then lamar jackson saved his ass last couple years weren't awesome and then it's like
here are the car keys make all the decisions for us do you see what say zay flowers said what the
practices were that's why we had so many injuries the practices were too hard he didn't know how to
work or workload he doesn't do well with the current players like he just doesn't know how to
pull back a little bit and that would be interesting and he's got a bunch of all gas no
brakes guys and scataboo and dart and you mean you kind of want those guys to maybe pull back
a little bit and it's not like the giants have been staying real healthy it's it's a good point
yeah no well i mean i just i'm fascinated which way they go because it's the first pick there
you get the sense this is joe shane's last is the gm but i don't know
you know yeah um he had a tremendous management of a draft last year but the last time they had
two top 10 picks it was what
Thibodeau and another
Evan Neal maybe I think it was Evan Neal
and so are we
going to repeat history with that
and the
offensive tackle are you waiting to 10 to
get an offensive no offensive tackles were off the board
in that scenario right it was right well that's
the other thing we lived through this with the draft
every year where it's like yeah I don't think they'll go to 9
or 10 and then they go 6 and
teams get in there and they just panic
yeah they can't figure out who to pick and they just
go with size yeah how high what's the highest
downs could go that you would be
either of you that you would be
actually kind of shocked
by like Arizona is out of the question
top 4 would be
anywhere in the top 4 so Tennessee
but he's not going there so
yeah wouldn't shock me if he went 5th but I
wouldn't do it and I just heard
you guys say all those things about it but
give me a top
8 offensive tackle in the league versus the best safety
like that's going to win games
I get it I was doing all the research for running
backs because this ties into
the love conversation and it
feels like top 5 is just too high for
certain positions even though we know
we do the draft but 6 to 10
is not too high so if you go through all
the running backs basically the last 20 years
the 2, 2
and 3 were Ronnie Brown
Bush, Reggie Bush, Barkley
and Trent Richardson
so I'm going to say those first 4
3 of them
no way that team does it again
no and Reggie Bush
Barkley's still defensible
yes
100%
he was incredible
and who was the next pick
it was a quarterback it was like Trubisky or somebody
I don't remember
Trubisky was 13th overall
no Trubisky was 3rd remember
the Bears
it was some sort of QB
but anyway
so 2, 2, 2, 3
we went 1 for 4 even if you count Barkley
as a hit
and you go count Reggie Bush right
I don't I don't either
he won a Super Bowl
but Pierre Thomas was the better running back
in the Super Bowl in that year
so 4, 4 and 6
Leonard Fournette, Darren McFadden
and Jenty last year
I don't think any of those teams
do that again
even Jenty who I thought had some moments
but I just don't think the Raiders would have done that
if they could redo that
I think they would take alignment
but now we go to 7, 8
I think he's going to have a good year this year
but yes I agree with the premise
now you're getting into the Bijon
Peter?
Peterson 7
McCaffrey 8
Bijon 8
pretty good value
and then CJ Spiller 9
Zeke Elliott 10
Gurley 10
alright so this is
a fucking random sample size
but what I learned from that is
maybe wait until 6 to 10
to take love
because history says
you go earlier that's a mistake
yeah and it probably indicates teams
that are a little bit better than the
trash at the time
you know
right
you know teams picking it's like
the Chiefs are picking at 9
you know
right you're going for a better
Peterson was in a good situation
pretty immediately in Minnesota
right
whereas like Jenty goes to the Raiders
and it's not a good situation
typically 4 doesn't go to the Super Bowl
pick 4 doesn't go to the Super Bowl
that's not a normal
you know occurrence
like we saw with the Patriots last year
so
it's all about where they wind up landing
all positions are dependent upon
to a certain degree
quarterback
absolutely
but running back
I would argue may be the most
dependent upon
what you have in front of you
and how you can
how you can block it up
and the Raiders weren't ready
and all those teams you mentioned
weren't ready for that guy
so did you guys like the Bengals trade
for the Bengals or no
the Bengals trade for Lawrence
yeah
no
okay
yeah
I wanted to make sure
here's the thing
I don't like it in a lot of drafts
I don't hate it as much in this draft
I really don't because he
he's by far the best defensive tackle
in this class if he was to be there
like who you're getting a 10
that's better than Dexter Lawrence
so you'd rather have
four years of Lawrence
versus the 10th pick in this draft
yes
the only part of it
but you're paying more
and then
I know
that's the issue
but that's where I
that's a blind spot
that's a weakness for me
that I
the cap guy figured that out for me
but I hear you
you're right
you gotta factor it in
who's the cap guy there
I know
well wasn't part of it
that they had the cap space
to grab the extra money to fit in
and so basically
instead of paying the 10th pick this
they could pay the 10th pick this
yes
yes
I just would never do it
I would rather trade
first of all
the Bengals needed players
I'd rather trade backwards
than try to pick up more stuff
but here's
yeah true
the problem
the problem is
urgency that is created by situations
and that's why I started this
with the Ravens
the Ravens are
have always been good at this
this thing
and
some organizations are really good at
there's going to be an opportunity
by an organization
that
is going to be presented to us
because they're desperate
and if you've got Joe Burrow
and the injuries
and the timeline
and now the contracts
with the wide receivers
you are
desperate
to win them
and
and I think this is a desperate move
and honestly
it almost never pays off
if you go look at the history
these desperate moves
almost never pay off
I wonder if somebody could run a football team
and just stick to like
like somebody hires me as the GM
and I'm just like
I only have seven principals guys
yeah
I'm never paying two receivers a lot of money
yeah
I'm good in the draft
I'm just taking alignment
on one side of the ball
the other
that's all I'm doing
yeah
I'm going to do this
I'm going to try to get us a quarterback
like just very
I'm always going to trade back
if I can't decide what to do
and these are my seven tenants
and I'll leave everything else
to my scouting department
yeah
I'm just saying this
doing this
they can
no one can stick to it though
they always fall in love with a player
yeah
you know
if I ever got a GM job
if I ever
gone that route
and taken some opportunities
like
I've always said
there's a couple people in my life
I would hire
full-time
the common sense guys
the common sense guys
who are paying
like Pete Woodfork
works for Major League Baseball
yeah
pain in my ass
my whole life
since we were like
10 years old
always does the right thing
sticks by the
you know
so you're the Jets GM
and you call Pete
and you're like
Reece or Bailey
what would you do
and he's like
what the fuck
no I'm hiring him
and he's
oh you're hiring
and he
and I'm going to give him
like four or five things
that he's allowed
to overrule me on
because my emotion
or the situation
or
no way
you would never give anyone
that power
I'm telling you
there's certain things
that are blind spots
for all of us
including general managers
in the NFL
and there are
certain principles
if you just stick to them
it's like playing
it's like playing blackjack
like over time
but like who has the patience
to play
so you wouldn't let him
overrule you on like
three things
you wouldn't hire him
I think I'm off the list
after the Dexter Lawrence thing
there are a couple things
I think I just got cut
he's a good
he's a good
we bounce off
of one another well
but I don't think
there's anything hard
is that what we're calling
a bouncing off one another
argue
that's really cute guys
yeah thanks
we're going to get this all week
yeah exactly
through the draft
check us out on Netflix
live for the first
and second night
of the NFL draft
we'll be bouncing off
one another
it is funny like
we Jalen Rose and I
when we were doing
the countdown show
in 2013
we did this
this gimmick
called the interview
yep
and we
we went to
the lottery combine
or wherever
and we interviewed
every person
we spent 15 minutes
with each one
in like a
we had cameras
just rapid fire
get a feel
the players
for each person
yep
and I can totally see
how the
how the people
can get enamored
with certain players
now ironically
the ones
we got enamored with
actually turned out
to be good
like we love
C.J. McCollum
yeah
we're like
this guy's great
like he seems
really mature
like and then
his tape
and we're like
I would bet
on this guy
yep
but the reality
is you're spending
15 to 20 minutes
with somebody
and you're overrated
in the reaction
but it's hard not to
it's human nature
right
and it's amazing
what goes into this
and
you think about
how many people
and how many flights
and how many car rides
and how many visits
and how many people
in the cafeteria
to the training room
to all that
you have these NFL scouts
and the salary money
and everything that goes
into this process
right
and you're handed
as a general manager
this basically
a portfolio
if you will
of everything
you need to know
in this human being
yeah
and then
the analytics department
comes in and tells you
all the things
you can and can't do
and all that
and then you've got
the whether it's AIQ
or different intellectual testing
and then you have
the psychologist
and all that
it's amazing to me
that we get to
this point in the process
in like the last month
and the private jet
gets
you know
right
and four or five people
who are the most
influential people
go and they have
dinner with
they
they meet with
family
agent
they go
and they throw some passes
out in the
you know
out in the side field
or they put them
through a test
they get them on the board
and they wind up
not necessarily
disregarding
but that
kind of trumps
now all that
information is used
to kind of
to shrink the pool
right
and so it's down
to four or five players
they're just grabbing
tidbits
every place they can
but that
that 24 hour interaction
maybe over two
whether it's a
coming to our facility
we go out to you
in your college town
like I don't know
10 to 20 hours
worth of interaction
typically winds up
trumping a lot
of other stuff
would you trust
what the coach said
because I wouldn't
really trust it that much
unless the coach
was so psychotic
about how much
he loved the guy
it has to be earned
like it has to be
something that
he's told you
in the past
about a player
he has a track record
right of telling you
that you cannot do it
right out of the game
tell him about
Marcus Russell
and all the
SID at LSU
telling about
are you talking about
your own coach
or the coach
from the school
the coach from the school
yeah I meant
yeah yeah
unless it's negative
or like you said
a track record
right
the interesting one
is your own coach
oh yeah yeah
that dynamic
I wouldn't trust
my own coach
that much at all
well you've got to
make sure it fits
the scheme or else you're giving them a second chance.
- I know, but NFL coaches last three to four years.
- Exactly.
like a miracle I would be really interested in the parent interactions because I do think like
you could you could learn a little something my favorite story of all this stuff was
this might be apocryphal but it was when the Celtics had the Markel Fultz Jason Tatum that
when they had the number one pick yeah and they brought Markel Fultz to Boston to meet him for
the weekend and he he was really shy and but they he apparently he asked if uh if Boston had
Chick-fil-a like if they had Chick-fil-a franchises in Boston and they're like no it's
not we don't have it in Boston and he was like crestfallen and they were like uh-oh like it
set off some sort of red flag that he was like you don't have Chick-fil-a and that's amazing I have
no idea if the story's true but it's so good I almost can't think it'd be made up right that's
the kind of thing that I'm like oh shit this guy really likes Chick-fil-a in Philly then either
that's amazing on the other hand I love Chick-fil-a so I can see from his side too yeah I see from
both sides yeah but
that was his big Boston questions they're like huh okay you're judging us now yeah
are you gonna fit here that's great all right so Giants at five and ten is the most fun team
in this draft Arizona's kind of the most pathetic they're just wearing a cocktail
dress at the bar like anybody want three anyone guys want to have a drink
three three down anybody anyone yeah and I don't know if you can create your own analogy to it but
but also I'm gonna stay here there's also an element with the ownership where you're not
you're you're out at the bar by yourself but you're still being controlled by who's making
right decision and I'm depends on who you you listen to now there there's been a lot just
talking to people in the league there's there's been talk of maybe ownership once Jeremiah Love
at three and and that's a whole nother factor man these owners that come in like and um Arizona
needs so many things I don't even know what they need if I was doing the team needs I'd be like ah
players have you looked at the Dolphins roster well that's I mean that's the saddest situation
it is it's beyond I mean at least they have a lot of picks so it's interesting but I mean it's
bad I mean bad well it's it's weird when you trade Jalen Waddle for 30 and then you see all
the receivers are going to be available at 30 and yeah their best case scenario is to be maybe as
good as Jalen Waddle right like a notch below yeah yeah they need so much I don't know that
I've ever been this late in the process studying rosters and really diving in and felt more
helpless about about a roster I actually believe Miami Miami yeah I believe in John Eric Sullivan
I believe in Jeff Halfley I like I think they're the right people to stabilize this thing um but
it's going to take more than a minute to get this thing turned around they've got I think that would
be fun to just you have no pressure because you need so many things it's like all right this is
a great time and we hear BPA best player available all the time like they literally can just sit
there like legs up yeah where's our board okay there it is um yeah call it in who's number three
yeah take them whereas like I think the Chiefs have an incredible amount of pressure I would
say the Giants have the most pressure yeah because you you got to know these picks but
then Chiefs at nine and they're 42. but they they have this Mahomes window that I watched it and you
watched it with Brady yeah you watched it as well yeah where the draft just ebbed and flowed the the
Brady Arc and there were years cluster drafts where they just missed drafts yeah doesn't it feel like
cost them Super Bowl they're going into that that era they're gonna go they're gonna be very
competitive for seven or eight years but they're not gonna win a Super Bowl that's what it feels
like to me with it comes down to the draft Mahomes will keep them in it yeah but now it's the the
roster turnover the early Patriots Dynasty was a totally different roster than the later Patriots
still playing unbelievable level but he's getting older they've been in that for two years I think
you've made that last year a year before to be honest with you and I think Mahomes but you know
what I mean I felt I I honestly the years that the last year they went to the Super Bowl and lost I
think getting overpowered by Philly yes I think about the comp all the time the one thing that's
really interesting is Andy Reid's not as young as Belichick was when they went to the first and he
was terrible last year I thought they were really poorly coached last year and everyone's afraid to
criticize Andy Reid but they were badly coached self-assessed
that yeah and and you know in so many ways like he he's reinvigorated like he he I think he
recognizes I mean I don't know he's three four years left also they really in Belichick did this
too and we've seen teams through this like really explored the capacity of how many iffy guys can we
bring in guys with baggage what do you mean when yeah Belichick sometimes these guys can have so
much success and these teams can have so much success they're like oh it's fine it's one misdemeanor yeah
you know it's like no no he's mostly on time right yeah and I remember who was the Josh Gordon was a
class Josh Gordon but Belichick just went in that mode like it'll be fine we'll bring him in we'll
figure it out the Chiefs had a lot of those and I think they were probably a capacity yeah I think
they were what do you think they needed nine because the easy one would be like take the
best corner that's right yeah I don't think it's gonna be corner I think they're gonna
get a corner they pick they pick at nine and thirty right yeah twenty nine uh twenty nine yeah
and Miami's at 30 and then Patriots 31 obviously Seattle um the interesting element is that in this
is I think they want they if they were to get aggressive which I would I would not do but I
would understand it would be to move up for a pass rusher like so the the Reese Bailey leftover guy
can we get up there and grab them conversations have been made that doesn't a lot of conversations
have been made that things we never even knew about you know and you find out after the fact um it
doesn't mean a trade's gonna happen I don't moving up from nine to three costs a lot and I don't think
they're would you trade nine and forty for three in this draft because I would rather just stay at
nine no I'd say 40. right you're gonna get a pretty good player for it yeah so you can get a room in
Ruben Bain so there's the edge rusher they need they need a wide receiver they can count right so
there's that element of it then there's this Andy Reid like my understanding is Andy Reid's like
we've got to get another offensive line
and I don't know where you get that which you could take at night yeah but you can't take it at
29. you can't count on that being there at 29. now maybe maybe move up from 29 to 24 and it costs a
whole lot less or something like that so see I wonder if they're going to do that with tight end
Sadiq yeah nine no at moving up to like oh got you low teens or high 20s if they feel like
they have a chance to swoop in and get him if they love them they could
do that yeah they could do that they could do that they could do that they could do that they could
do that they could do that they could do that they could do that they could do that they could do that
but I just I the manage managing the element of we need an edge rusher we need a we need a wide
receiver we need a replacement for um Kelsey they tackle yeah and we need a tackle and Andy really
wants us to get attacked yeah and there's only seven of them and that might not get to 29. so
we need those three things we're not in the business of giving away picks to go move up
also tough when you already use draft capital to draft the tackle but now you've decided that's not
a tackle right well that's where the Patriots got in that spot a couple times I don't know if they
decided that but he's missed 19 games in the last two years I just don't know how you're going into
this and the right tackle Jaylen Morris started I think five or six games at most in a season I
would have this before she stands murdered I would have really pissed on X about you can't use that
pick on a guy who's not going to be a starter I was like what are you talking like this guy's
probably going to start like I want you to think about how much money these organizations spend
talented as yeah at left tackle I would I'm not going to make any incident I would have whatever
care team that was necessary whatever that would be okay to be like round the clock let's get let's
make sure this guy has everything he needs because he is the personal protector of the most of the
number one Williams of Texas do you remember that story that came out where he was like dropping
banana peels behind him and someone pick him up and throw him out for him just because that guy
he Williams like I always think about that because there's no salary cap on support yeah that guy's
your answer coaches and and support yeah the two things you could just spend whatever you want right
so I would get that guy right I think it might be over for them I mean at least for this window of
it is that you just being hopeful as a Patriots fan or are you two years ago this is this they
have my homes coming off now I'm pretty pretty devastating injury it's the only reason I mentioned
this is they have the seventh best odds to win the Super Bowl right now and that seems crazy to me
they think about all the things that would have to go right for them that's because that's because
there's a lot of people who would put money on it because it's the Chiefs and yeah I get it but I'm
saying but it's instructive because that's the perception is they're gonna flip the switch and
be fine this year and I feel the opposite I don't think I'd be really surprised I mean they're gonna
have an easier schedule the unknown obviously is how when my homes comes back is it what's it gonna
be like what's he gonna Brady wasn't when he came back in 09 the offense was good but I really felt
like it took him like an extra year to be yeah there's a famous Belichick clip of like followed
through man like yeah yeah because you you get all these guys going around your legs and I don't know
I I just felt like it took a while for him yeah think about that it's in your brain like when
you spend the entire offseason recovering and rehabbing and you're worrying about one thing
really yeah truly that's the one thing and then so you get out there and you're protecting that one
thing so it takes a minute to get over it what was always the knock on that Patriots run was the
AFCs which is garbage every year
And the AFC West, with Knicks being hurt. I just never agreed with that.
I know, I hear you.
But if you're going off the argument,
the Chargers, I think, are a B.
I think the Chargers are coming, man.
I think they are coming on,
and you're going to have a tough time in that division.
That's the team.
I think they're the one I'm the most afraid of in the AFC,
is the Chargers.
I agree.
Because I just felt like last year,
they probably would have been right in there
and just had dummy tackles who weren't playing.
Why do we talk about San Francisco's injuries?
I swear to you, I've been doing this for 26 years.
I swear to you, I've been talking about the Chargers' injuries
for a good 18 of those years.
Some organizations. Well, they don't have an electromagnetic button next to them.
I love that they're doing studies on it.
It's in their head now.
But every year, it seems like the Chargers. Oh, they could have. They'll get those guys back from injury,
and it'll be just fine.
I hope so.
It would be great to see.
But they're frightening if they stay healthy.
Frightening.
Yes.
Yeah, they. What are their odds?
Yeah, so they have the fifth best odds.
That makes sense to me.
15 to 1.
Yes.
Better, slightly better odds than the Pats.
The Giants being 71 is pretty crazy.
Because that seems. I just think that'll be 30 to 1 by the time the season starts.
They're going to have enough talent with the schedule,
and we just have seen this every year,
that there's no way that they're not going to be in the mix somehow.
This isn't a draft thing,
but spending this amount of time really diving into these rosters.
Yeah.
Obviously, the Seahawks have what they have.
The Rams have what they have.
I don't know that there's an organization. with a better roster, let's just say in the AFC,
top to bottom roster-wise,
than what Nick Casario has built in Houston.
The quarterback element of it,
and what is really going on there,
and there's been speculation and rumors and all that.
And you drafted him that high,
and he was that good as a rookie.
If they get him right,
and I don't even mean right,
but three-quarters of what he's playing as a rookie. Yeah.
20-1 for them.
They're friendly.
Yeah.
But that's the biggest if in sports.
Yeah.
Their rosters. Some teams with needs,
it's like the first two are really important needs.
The second one, we need to get some depth.
The third, or the third, the fourth.
But for them, yes, they're offensive line.
Let's continue to build that.
But they don't have a lot of. They're loaded with deep and wide receiver.
Right.
And running.
They don't have a lot of receivers coming back this year.
Their defenses.
The Rams are up there, too, man.
No, I said the Rams in Seattle have what they have.
I mean, I was going to talk about the Rams
with one of the pressure teams at 13,
because the Puka thing's a huge story.
It's been one of those kicked under the rug.
Yeah.
No one's talking about it.
This guy's had a lot of personal shit going on publicly,
and then finally went into rehab,
and this was the best receiver in the league?
Yeah.
And we have no idea what we're going to expect from him this year now,
or what was going on with him.
Yeah.
Or is it going to get better?
And they're one of the teams that's just like,
we're probably taking a receiver,
we're probably taking a receiver so blatantly
that I almost don't trust it.
I don't think they are at 13.
I think they're going to take a receiver in the second round.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
There's like. They've wore you out with this, like,
attraction is different, right?
Like, you know,
one person you'd be attracted to,
everyone's beautiful and all that.
They're like blondes or brunettes or. Yeah.
For the Rams. With their system specifically,
they're not attracted to a lot of the fastest,
tallest, all those receivers.
They're attracted to one type,
and that one type is a physical son of a bitch,
blocking, contact balance, toughness up,
and we're going to scheme you up,
and we'll get you open,
and all you got to do is break that first tackle
and just ramble, you know,
and keep it rolling and block for our run game.
And so I can get that in the second round.
There's. Sean's dribbling from Ole Miss.
There's Jeremy Bernard from Alabama.
There's even the third round.
So I think Les Snead is the biggest wild card
in this first round of the draft with that 13th pick.
They seem like a Downs-y kind of team to me.
So here. Like moving up like a couple spots
and just swooping in and getting them.
But they have guys there.
I don't know if it's, you know,
like they have players there.
It's one of two things, right?
I just. I don't envision Les and Sean sitting back at 13
and we'll take a guard
or we'll take a. Right.
It's either we are all in
as all indicators are pointing.
They have to be all in in general
because Stafford's got two years left max.
Right.
We're all in.
And like we really don't. Like if we want to give up 2027,
we're not that worried about it.
We can give up second next year
or something like that
and go move up and target a guy.
Jeremiah Love is fascinating to me
if he starts to fall.
Six.
Cleveland.
Yeah.
I mean, can we stop?
Can we make a rule
that he can't go to Cleveland?
No.
No, I'm saying trading.
I'm just saying like. You don't want him to go.
That's my worst case scenario for him.
Or for most of the guys in the draft.
Yeah.
So you're saying Rams switching
going 13 and six.
Something like that
would be something to look out for.
Like a little. Like Todd Gurley 2.0 action for them?
But then what if it's a total pivot
and it's like, yeah,
we're going to be here beyond Stafford
and we're doing a deal now with Matthew
and we're going to keep him happy.
But we are in love with Ty Simpson.
And so we're just going to take him at 13.
We can move on.
Don't ask more questions.
We don't have to dwell on it,
but I'm just saying I said it.
Yep.
Okay.
Holy mackerel.
Wouldn't you at least trade back to do that?
He's going higher than you think.
That was one of my. One of the questions I had for you
because I was watching
one of the channels this morning.
They were talking about
is 21 too high to take Ty Simpson for Pittsburgh?
And I'm like,
what are you guys talking about?
He's definitely. The question is,
will he be there at 21 for Pittsburgh to take?
Because somebody is going to shoot their wad
and take him in the top 20
would be my prediction.
That's the information I'm getting
and I don't definitively know.
I throw the Rams out there
because I'm getting information definitely.
And I know the Rams at one point
really like Ty Simpson.
Like that's. Firm.
His Fando draft position is 29.5.
Under.
Yeah.
Yeah, because even if you're the. Even if you're the Cardinals,
you are. You're worried that there's another team
or. I don't. Yeah.
Yeah.
You can't wait.
Yeah.
I'm told that the Jets do have interest,
but I'm also. I was told that the Jets have interest in. Jets at 16?
No, no.
At 33 could take him.
I think. He's not getting out of the first round.
No.
I just don't see it.
We're saying the same thing.
Yeah.
Well, plus you get the extra year.
That's the secret sauce to all of this.
You get the fifth year
if you take him in the first round.
Yeah.
You talked about Pittsburgh.
Is Aaron Rodgers going to make an appearance
and say he's coming back
in front of the tens of thousands
of draft fans there?
And then what would their reaction be?
No, because Aaron Rodgers won.
He's like, oh.
He's milking this.
Aaron Rodgers.
How many times are we getting input?
I don't even understand
why Schefter and those. Why people are out there. And I know he and those two have a thing
and I love it, right?
But I don't even understand
why there's this like. You should tell the organization
this stuff.
We get. It's every year.
It's the same thing.
It's just the human being.
The human being, Aaron Rodgers,
wants this and he would like nothing more.
Going out there gives closure
and then we're still not talking about
it.
Now, it's him and Jerry Jones
are the two that like,
how can I get attention?
Right.
This is going to be going on
in late March.
But the draft being in Pittsburgh?
Yeah, late.
No question.
Yeah, it'll be going on in June.
In Pittsburgh,
he can go out in front of all the fans
and soak it up.
He wants us all to be like,
is Aaron here?
You know?
Yeah.
I mean, I'm here for him.
Kind of the sad thing about that
is nobody's doing that.
Yeah.
It worked the first few. That's what I mean.
Like, does he come out and be like,
I'm coming back
and all the Pittsburgh fans are like. It's like, oh, cool.
Great.
Yeah.
Great.
He's coming back.
Right.
You know, like,
it's not the response
that he thinks it's going to be.
Also, I said this to you last year.
I just think people get amnesia
with NFL seasons.
And we throw ourselves
in the draft and free agency
and then it's the summer
and then we get to August
and people just don't remember
what happened the year before.
There's a reset.
And it's like,
we left last season and be like,
yeah, Aaron Rodgers,
probably not winning
more than one playoff round
at most with Aaron Rodgers
as your QB at age 42.
And it's like four months off
and everyone's like,
Aaron Rodgers?
Could they get him?
Yeah.
That or Will Howard right now,
so I don't know.
Well, we finally made it.
The NBA playoffs.
No more tanking discussions,
at least for a couple days.
We get to watch the best players
and teams compete every day
when the stakes are highest.
And when I watch,
I like to bet on Fando.
Fando is a brand I trust.
Easy to build.
Buy bet.
I know I'll get my winnings instantly.
I love looking at the odds there.
So this week,
I still feel like Orlando
is being overlooked.
They were
like plus nine,
something like that.
I think that's a 50-50 series,
potentially.
I also like Denver and Minnesota.
I think Minnesota
is a really good road team,
but you could also get them
in Minnesota.
Those would be the two
I would look at.
I'm going to have
at least one more set of picks
over the weekend
I'm going to put on Twitter.
Check out my picks
in the Fando Sportsbook app
and on my Twitter feed.
Don't forget
to boost your potential winnings
before you place it.
Fando,
play your game.
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break this episode is brought to you by fire tv you ever sit down ready to watch the game only
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separate subscriptions may be required feature and content availability may vary so we think so
rams are off the board we have no idea what they're going to do and then the philly thing
is the other weird thing about this draft why we talked about this before we started with this aj
brown trade that is apparently happening and yet unlike in the nba where you say we've agreed to a
trade we can't become official till july 15th in the nba yeah nfl it's like well they can't trade
him until june 1st because then they can split his cap so it would have to happen after june 1st
it's going to happen
is it happening or is it not happening right and then all the variables that could change this
happening including like a wide receiver ending up for either the patriots or the eagles that they
get excited about aj brown feels like he has leverage and says well i need a contract extension
if we're going to do this like i'm just glass half empty is this the patriots fan speaking or
just in patriot fan speaking okay yeah is this trauma from when the red sox didn't get a run
trauma from when we didn't get everybody
alex bregman
four months ago he's coming for 150 million then he wasn't yeah i just don't when you get
agents involved and and just outside factors i just don't trust anything until it happens if
you're someone a receiver gets hurt or something happens where you they someone needs and all of
a sudden they're in the market and they're calling philadelphia yeah but aj brown's wife is is calling
about dance classes and brookline or something that's like i mean he did grow up a patriot fan
yeah there you go yeah yeah but it's no i i understand it's almost what if what if he's in
the business and jalen hurts is there too and they're like let's let's have dinner let's have
a minute two hours later it's like hey we're good aj wants to stay right so the problem there is how
he's like well i just traded for wicks and he brought in this other guy and yeah we're gonna
draft someone and yeah so they're picking 23 yeah the eagles but they're not gonna pick 23
that's how we roseman how he's got he has to move around and they need an offensive tackle and
what's going to happen is we're going to have we're going to have um
francis maui noah from miami and spencer fano from from utah and somewhere in that top
10 12 range right and then it there's this like second wave of and i think it starts at 17 there
could be a team in between uh the ravens could go off and could go guard and venga you want a from
penn state but then 17 is detroit and everyone knows that they've put in more work than every
other organization these offensive tackles so the jets are going to have to put in more work than
yeah these offensive tackles so the jets are going to have to put in more work than every other
at 16 tampa's at 15 they're already getting phone calls yeah from organizations like the steelers
the eagles the texans the um who are the other um the texans the 49ers the bears the bears are
possibility so all those you got this murderer's row of teams that need offensive tackles from 17
to 30 in miami if they don't get a tackle at 12 they could use one so
i can't say the patriots don't need a tackle no sorry 31
yeah absolutely 31 so 17 to 31 there's about eight teams that need an offensive tackle and
there's at that point only five remaining yeah so there's gonna be movement there that's why
seven and a half over yeah do you want to hear the patriots excuses i've talked myself into
oh here we go since superbowl yeah why they lost yeah okay drake was hurt just i just i don't know
if that's true or not that's right well we think it's true yeah okay i did see him throwing the
mini footballs at the basketball game i don't know if that's true i don't know if that's true
game a couple weeks i don't know if you saw that really good i did see that actually i thought he
was snapping it again yep drake was definitely hurt that's one thing i say uh will campbell
definitely playing on a bum knee yeah gutted it out it you know he was a whipping boy during the
playoffs now he's a hero to me he's played through pain yeah god only knows what kind of suffering
wasn't great either by the way like i mean everyone talks about campbell but jared wilson
our whole line got destroyed seattle didn't even know which side to go after did i tell you about
him and elliot wolf oh no
we had uh we hit elliot wolf and we did the gm series yeah and um and we had elliot wolf and i i
had i had met him before but i didn't know him well and mensch got in late the night before we
got in indianapolis all sorts of weather in new england you don't deal with it out here anymore
bill and i know um and and so we hadn't had a chance to really talk about it we sit down i
asked a couple questions i'm talking about like elliot what's it like you know ron you're with
your dad and like the bowels of lambeau field and you're watching tape as you know you know
i'm kind of getting him warmed up right the fluffers the fluffing yeah a lot of fluffing
question three goes from mensch i can kind of feel like he's like will campbell yeah i thought it was
early oh you did tell me this three will camp i you know i saw the short arms on tape we saw it
in the playoffs and i'm like he's going for it i was like you guys move in regard i didn't say it
that way but i was like everyone wants to move the guard great card he was awesome he looked like he
goes he is absolutely
our left back yeah you're moving he was great you know it was great but i felt like i had to ask i
mean i've been ripping campbell like now he's going to be on our show and i'm not going to say
anything it was the time the only thing i worry about him is i think he's such an intense committed
competitive crazy all about the football team guy like the moment he got drafted he's like i am now
drake may's bodyguard i'm gonna die yeah yeah and i really wonder mentally how he handled
just getting his ass kicked in the playoffs you know like he's probably been successful
at that position at every
stage of his life dating back to like age four yeah and he's yeah some of the stories too are
he's he's in he's as intense as he can get yeah like the team worries about him a little bit
taking the job home yeah taking the job home so i just i hope i hope he got through that because
we've certainly seen some boston athletes over the years that yeah kind of wilt yeah that had
that well that yeah that had the bad moment and they were kind of i can't remember an offensive
half having that kind of moment that kind of plus now ruben bain is the new short arm guy yeah
right he passed his torch he's like here ruben yeah everyone can talk about your arms though
there's an offensive tackle from utah i love and he's got shorter arms will campbell and everyone's
like what's the deal dude how can you how can you like one over the other yeah it's different tape
so the other thing i the other past stance i have now is we just should have lost in denver and it
would have been fine like lose there in a blizzard they score in the with five minutes left we don't
have to go to the super bowl get this huge ass no one wins in denver it turns out right it turns
after the game drake may was actually hurt the whole time yeah and we're just like great okay
great season let's move building it's like getting that super bowl ass kicking just made it so much
worse yeah i really wish it hadn't happened it's not a good thing right and then you think about
all the bad signs for this year and the bad juju that comes with this yeah yeah um the aj brown
thing 2022 and 23 his first two years when he got traded from tennessee to philly 303 targets in
those two years almost 3 000 yards and
18 tds he's only he's gonna be 29 this season there's good pretty good track records with
people moving that age yeah and yeah um it seems good something scares me about it and i don't know
what i didn't like the way he looked last year and i'd love to know more about why did he look
that way i agree with that i also think fresh start like i think everyone kind of looked that
way on the offense for the eagles last year there was a lot going on so i'm hope i would be if i'm
they were just going to work like this sucks skiing my job yeah with all the reports i i think
it was just a drain and obviously he wears his emotions on his sleeve and it's very public about
everything that he's dealt with and i think it's just it he hit a point is there a receiver that
doesn't wear their emotions on their sleeve very few like fits was one that's it yeah yeah yeah
that's part of his hall of fame case yeah yeah like never wears emotions on his sleeve
first ballot unlike any other receiver actually literally didn't wear sleeves
i just think about drake with his development getting him that he doesn't have that he's never
had anything close to that well mina said on nfl live yesterday which i was watching um that the
pats had man-to-man defense the highest number of any team in the league yeah because what are we
you could feel it watching the game because every defense is like yeah yeah we what are we worried
about let's just let's play up on all these guys yeah and aj
is like by all these big stats the best guy against man-to-man defense and this would be a
game changer right so i get it the thing was interesting about the espn article that came
out about the eagles and jalen hurts calling his own place and did you hear did you read this oh
yeah yeah so he was changing all the play if you're an office coordinator and you're game
planning for a guy if you have a talent like aj brown and you're like we're game planning in this
way and all of a sudden your quarterback is changing everything that's no longer making
him the focal point of the offense yeah on certain plays at least and then you have an opportunity
to go to play for josh mcdaniels who's going to like that's what he does yes well they'll also
play with pace which is the thing i never understood with the eagles i know they it
seemed like this was an actual strategy for them to limit the minutes in the game because of
possessions because of the math of this i don't think the pats think that way at all so they they
would be more like oh we'll put pressure on you and we have aj out there and you're going to have
to be constantly worried and yeah keep your defense on the field and our quarterback can run if you
You turn, you know, so, yeah.
and run and throw
on like
the last two games
of the season
I assume he'll be able
to roll out
and throw again
but the Patriots
you're wearing the scars
I don't know if I will
when we were calling
the Drake May rolls out
and whips a
whips a line drive play
I was like
he's fucking hurt
like you can't tell me
he's not hurt
it wasn't even
the arc and the velocity
were just different
one of the Patriots
taking a tight end
they're going to need
a tight end right
I feel like people
aren't talking
well there's 28 of them
invited to the combine
talking about tight end
it'll be some third round guy
or maybe fourth
they signed a blocking tight end
they were all excited
yeah Julian
yeah Julian somebody
yeah
Julian Bell
okay
last thing
second to last thing
so Zona
and Cleveland
are the trade down teams
yep
and you think
Saints Cowboys
have 12 and 20
and like getting attention
Jets at 16
Rams at 13
are there any other
trade up teams
um
yeah
I'm trying to sit here
I don't
Washington
Washington's not going to
Cleveland we talked about
I think that's the list
yeah I think that's
probably the list
I was trying to figure out
when we get to
the offensive tackles
I think when we get to
like Philly
and some of those teams
I could see a move up
a little like quick moves
but not
four or five
yeah four or five spots
yeah
I was trying to figure out
like somebody
is on the board at nine
that Jerry gets all excited about
because he's
98 years old
yeah
I don't know
I don't know
like Jeremiah Love
falls to nine
or down
somebody's down
we can't anticipate right
you know
and could there be a
they have 12 and 20
yes
and the Chiefs have
nine and 40
could there be like a
you take our
12 and 20
we'll take back
nine 40
and a third
one of those type of trades
yeah the problem
the problem with that
theory is
I'm told the only reason
that the um
the Cowboys would move up
is for an edge rusher
and if there's an edge rusher
worth taking
there I think the Chiefs
would take
that would be Ruben Bain
right
so
we do this
we talk about
you talk about the amnesia
in the offseason
in the NFL
there's amnesia
every year
with the Cowboys
in the draft
yeah
you know that they've had
34
37 picks
I want to say
somewhere in the mid
to high 30s
of picks
in the first three rounds
dating back to 2014
and one time
they have moved up
that was Demarcus Lawrence
in 2014
since then
nothing
so it's a lot of chatter
about moving up
but then it's like
Jerry's gonna go crazy
well it worked on me
because I
no I know
we do it every year
but this year
it actually would make sense
as long as it doesn't
require pick 20
they've got to pick
I think 92 overall
the third round
I could see that
but that's not
getting up to three
that's moving up
a handful of spots
to go get an edge rusher
I just don't know
how feasible it is
unless you're giving away
next year or something
which I think
I said it's a fireable offense
now
she kind of walked it back
by the way
I have no idea
I haven't
I like fireable offenses
one of my favorite phrases
and would be a good blog name
but yes
yeah
it would be
and maybe even a good band
yeah
going to see fireable offense
today
in the garden
so a fireable offense
is trading a first round pick
from next year
that class is gonna be
and it's not just
the quarterback
so
but
has Mitch already started
his work on
the class of 27 yet
the quarterbacks
we know pretty well
not
not a lot of the other players
I got a mock draft
coming out on
way too early
mock draft for next week
I love those
taping the show on Monday
I mean
you're the problem
but you know what would be
you know what would be a good podcast
is
is reviewing the
way too early mock draft
oh they do it
in like February
no you guys doing it
yeah
oh yeah
yeah we should do that
that's
because you had a couple quarterbacks
way up there
yeah
but that's the thing with the draft
it's humble pie man
it's so volatile
thanks Bill
no but
you're right
you're guessing with
20 year old kids
club Nick
club Nick
my son's 18
and he's had 5 zags
just in the last 7 months
like I'm just
these are
teenagers
and young dudes
who knows
yeah
and we saw some zags this fall
well
with the quarterbacks
are Aller
you're out on him
I wasn't in on him last year
yeah
he was never
yeah
but he's gonna go probably
in the third round
there's some teams that like him
Nussmeier
he loves Nussmeier
I like Nussmeier
yeah I think
I think there's a shot
no
you can see Nussmeier
in the third round
the right system
doesn't have a ton of starts
he gets hurt
he's small
I don't
I don't
I don't see it
I didn't see it either
alright
wild card
crazy
I'm looking at the Fando odds
is it Bailey or Reese
there's no chance
anyone else goes too
correct
what if it's a trade
didn't think there was
gonna be a trade last year
everyone else's odds
are 125 to 1 and up
so it's really
everybody's decided
these are the two
yeah
it's definitely
number 3
Reese is the favorite
at plus 130
Bailey's plus 260
Love is plus 330
okay
say them again
Reese plus 130
Bailey plus 260
Love plus 330
which I thought
was fairly enticing
Bailey's assumed to go
the second overall pick
so that makes Reese
the favorite
the problem with the Arizona pick
is that there's a legitimate chance
that the team moves up to 3
and Arizona takes a below market
but if they move up to 3
who are they taking
the other
okay
yeah
alright
4
what's Sonny Stiles
number for 4
for 4
yeah
well Love is plus 150
in the favorite
Bailey's plus 410
and Stiles is plus 490
that's interesting
I think Stiles could be
I'm not saying he will
what I've been told
for
for Tennessee
is it's
if one of those edge rushers
does get there
let's say Arizona takes
Jeremiah Love at 3
yeah
they would take
Reese let's say
if not
Sonny Stiles
Robert Sala
views it
differently than most
that middle linebacker
is like
that's
equivalent of getting an edge
for him
like yeah
that's there
you know Fred Warner
that's there
so
that's something to look out for
I could see Stiles going for it too
I also didn't mind
Tennessee's running backs
last year
but you'd have to
really love Love
but it
makes me nervous
spending all that capital
on a QB
and a running back
yeah
right
you're gonna
the 4th
and the
1st pick
in back-to-back drafts
the thing about
Tennessee's run game
when I started looking at it
Pollard's a pretty good back
I mean
1,000 yards for like
5 or 6 seasons in a row
he was money down the stretch
last year
he's good
yeah he was like
winning fantasy drafts
and they had Ty J. Spears
but Spears can't stay healthy
he can't stay healthy
so they had the 3rd
fewest carries
you have a rookie quarterback
and they had the 3rd
fewest carries in the league
they gotta get
it doesn't have to be Love
they gotta get another back
that they can get
more committed to the ground game
like they just have to
what I'm interested in is
you're sitting there at 4
you have to take Stiles at 4
or you
you try to bait up a team
to get
come get Jeremiah Love
and the Giants putting out
all of a sudden
in the last 72
it's tough to manage
all this man
because you're having
I'm having conversations
with people who are
actually making decisions
and we're talking about
all 31 other teams
and what they could do
what they're hearing
what the scouts are hearing
and they're kind of using you
to find out what you're hearing
totally
yeah
and I'm using them
to find out what they're hearing
and it's a
you know
and so we're kind of
and we're doing the like
you know the tap dance
yeah
and then you get off the phone
and you get on the next call
so there's just a lot of
but I always get worried
in the last 72 hours
to like 150 hours
of why is this
this message is coming
it's resurfacing
or this is the first
I've heard of this
you know
right
is this late developing news
or is this a purposeful
because now the board is set
the decisions are basically made
so
but all of a sudden
the Giants
it's like
if Love is there
they'll take them
but wouldn't
if Love is there
isn't that like
come
come move up
come move up and get
what they don't know
is maybe
that might drive the market up
for Tennessee
to get a good deal
to move out of four
now Styles is probably
going to go seven
so where would that be too
but
but yeah
if I was going to say
I wouldn't mind moving back
a couple spots
I'm picking up something
because I just need people
fifth pick the odds
Styles is the favorite
at plus 185
Tyson's plus
I'm told it's not Styles
take the field on that one
Love plus 380
Caleb Downs
plus 550
what about Tyson
Tyson was
plus 280
I think Tyson's in play
I mean I know Tyson's in play
but do they think
they can get him at 10
same thing with Downs
Jeremiah loves the wild card
taking Tyson at five
would be kind of insane
I think
that seems too high
because of the injuries
yeah
yeah
because of the injuries
I want my right receivers
to be in the field
yeah
yeah
it
it becomes this balancing act
of
now we've fallen in love
but where should
where do we really
truly think we should be able
we should be able to take him
versus
where can we take him
why do the Giants need
another stud receiver
by the way
well Malik neighbors
they don't even know
they're worried about
when he's coming back
to full strength
like
the start of the season
there's part of that
you've got a quarterback
that needs another weapon
honestly
it reeks to me
Jordan Tyson feels like
if we can get him at 10
awesome
okay
but
the information
for what it's worth
is saying that they might
they could take a swing there
can I give you my five types
of receivers
yes
yes
speaking of Jordan Tyson
the injury prone stud
yep
really tough one
yeah
really have to have a lot of meetings
about that
high floor ceiling guy
but something leaves you
a little cold
Cardinal Tate
like yeah
he's going to be awesome
but it's
well why aren't I more excited
to take him
yeah
well because
he was the second best receiver on his college team.
So was JSN.
I get it, but that was the same thing on
JSN. Was this guy going to be. High floor ceiling leaves me a little cold.
Physical and traffic
wins every ball guy. This guy just
goes either way.
You know,
this was like the DeAndre Hopkins
was a great example of this.
The Patriots have had guys like this.
Other times, the guy
just can't get open.
Yeah. It depends on the scheme.
Kelvin Benjamin for the Panthers, wasn't he a big guy?
Yeah. So Denzel Boston is
the version of that this year. I like him.
We know.
The inside-outside guy that everyone calls
Twitchy. That's
Casey Concepcion.
Twitchy is a good one. So the Panthers
have Kyle Williams last year. He's Twitchy.
He'll beat you.
And then Slot Stud, which is
my personal favorite. That's Lemon.
I like when it's just like, you know
what this guy is? He's an awesome fucking slot guy
and he's just going to get open and he can
block. That sounds great.
I'll take that guy. How early
the second round? Because that's the second
round. There you go.
Yeah. So you'd love Jeremy Bernard. You'd love
Dejan Stribling.
Omar Cooper Jr. At one point, we thought
it was going to be second, but it's going to be
first. Those are those
guys. And then there's the other, there's
the sixth type, which is the guy
what's his name? Brazil Jr.
Yeah. It's one
of those like, you fall
in love and or you're
getting fired. One of those picks. Yeah.
Depending on how high you go. It's a lottery ticket. Yeah.
Yeah. But he's just seems the highlights
for him are awesome. Awesome. Yeah.
Like, whoa. And then the Trey
Lance's brother is another one like that. Tall
for threes. All of it.
Yeah. The one guy I would never take
is just this dude's super fast and
we'll figure out the rest. Yeah. The Pats
took that guy 20 times. Yeah.
Well, the Raiders used to take him
every year. Then there's the
Bengals, John Ross. Yeah.
That was a good one. Was it Devin? What
was the name of the Jets?
The Jets took one. Well, in the 80s, this
guy used to go all the time.
Yeah. They used to, the Raiders
and the Jets. Who was the guy that Jets had that one
time? They took him in the top four.
Oh, shoot. Remember him?
It was Johnny Lamb Jones. Okay.
That's great pull.
That is insane. Great pull. It's like, he's really
fast. That's about it.
Yeah. We've had
those. Yeah. There's a lot of those. I think
we're getting better at not taking those guys
too high. It's like, oh, he runs a four
or two. Cool. Historically, they don't do.
Yeah. They just don't do well. The fastest guy at the combine,
mine, is like
10% chance of you hitting on where they
actually drop. Who's your chip-on-the-shoulder
receiver this year? Because that guy hits 100%
of the time. The guy who's just
angry that he's not being mentioned with better guys
and produced everywhere he went.
It could be Jeremy Bernard. It could be.
The Alabama guy
who wasn't even the best receiver by
everyone's measure at Alabama.
Yeah. Ryan Williams
just disappeared. Could we get him in the second round?
Yeah. Jeremy Bernard?
Yeah. I just don't get it.
Because all I hear about, it's
the same conversation. We have these conversations. We talk
about how speed isn't as important as you
think when you get down to that range.
Like, Jeremy Bernard, all he does is make
plays on tape, man. Like, all he does is make plays.
Yeah. He's the best player on that team last year.
And people are like, eh, I don't know.
I don't know. He's not dynamic. Yeah, he doesn't make. He isn't. But if you fit
him right, in the right system,
he's got a chance to be
an 80-catcher-a-year
guy. If I was the wide receiver draft
specialist, I would just want guys that got to
open on the tape that I was watching.
And caught the ball. Yeah. Get open. Did you get
open? Did you catch it when they threw it to you?
It sounds so easy. It sounds so easy.
Those guys about, like, he's amazing in traffic.
It's like, cool. No thanks.
Antonio Williams is one from Clemson.
He just gets open.
He gets open. Is there a beloved
running back for you in the second, third, fourth
rounds that you're just. Jonah Coleman.
Okay.
Maurice Jones Drew. That's what he's built like.
He is a short, low-to-the-ground. I love those guys.
Yeah, he danced behind a Washington
offensive line that wasn't great.
His twitch
and his build and his
contact balance, I think he's
going to be a really good pro. Second round?
Fourth. Oh, wow.
Yeah. And who's
your Tyler Shuck this year?
Cole Pate. McShay fucking nailed
that last year. Oh, yeah, you talked about him
on my pod, so you're still with him.
Yeah, you might be able to get him late third, early
fourth. Are you in on this?
No, not at all. Good. And he looks like
T-Bone. McShay will sit there all year long
and tell you about how important snaps are.
We're getting, like, texts from everyone.
This is why I would hire him. Sanford Steve is busting
his balls all year long about, like,
how many snaps, though, McShay? How many snaps?
And then we get into the process, and
Garrett Nussmeyer's the greatest, even though he doesn't have that many
snaps. And he pulls this guy out
from the watered-down FCS.
Yeah. Where all the guys have left
for better teams, and
Bryce Lance, who's the best athlete on the field,
is running around like it's backyard football.
And this lefty, who was playing
running back two years ago, is all of a sudden going to be the next
great quarterback. He called him better
than Carson Wentz, right? You said he was a better
prospect than Carson Wentz? I think, yeah.
I think he has better traits. Sometimes you can
just get a lot of confidence after you hit one of these.
Like, this might be your heat check moment.
Post-Shuck? I'm rolling.
You're just trying to make the magic happen
again. Yep. Dart and Shuck last year.
Give me Talon Green. I love
Shuck. I don't know how many years he's going
to play, because he takes huge hits and doesn't
care. And he darts the same way.
The history's not good either. But Shuck gets up
every time. Or at least he did last
season, but I liked him. He's a tough, he's a tough
I just, I, yeah.
Alright, so you're playing this week.
Yes. We are going to be doing shows
all week. We're going to be live on Netflix. Yep.
During the first round Thursday night.
Oh, I wanted to run this by you. Yeah.
It's not my idea. It actually came
from Rich Eisen. I'm just going to be honest.
Instead of the chime from ESPN,
the ta-dum
from Netflix. What point of players picked?
Oh, do the Netflix know
it? Yes. That's a good idea. Right?
You like it? I don't know. We'd have to find out from the guys
looking in the control room. I think they were
working on it, but I just wanted to. That's a really good
idea. Right? Right. Yeah.
The NFL draft is
live on Netflix. I hear that noise. I feel like I'm about to
watch a true crime documentary, but no,
it'd be the next pick. With all the stuff that he
asked you, were you worried when he said, I want to
run something by you on your show? I mean, with
McShay, you've got to hold on to your seat
at all times. Right. Like, yeah.
I'm not sure where we're going. Yeah, it's fair.
No, the Netflix chime is good, though. That actually
is pretty doable.
So we got Thursday night, Friday night live, then we'll do a
Saturday, like, wrapping up
the whatever, and then. And then we're on Sunday, we do
the big 32 team,
so it lasts the offseason, so you can
kind of, yeah, get the deep dive
in that. And Monday, we're in
taping the way too early mock draft, and then
we're out of your hair. Can't wait. Don't forget to do
the redo of last year's mock draft.
I think that's a good idea. Dan Comer, you got that?
In the lead up, right? Not now,
but in the lead up. No, like, just when you need
evergreen content for when it's kind
of dying in the spring. Yeah.
I think it's great. Yeah. I love it. All right.
Good to see you guys. Thanks for coming on. Good to see you.
Yeah. And now it's time
for today's With the Assist segment presented
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With Van Lathan, we're
in the ringer tailgate set. You saw the
Michael Jackson movie last night.
We did rewatchables together. We taped rewatchables
for next week. We did Ghostbusters.
And then you left to go see Michael
Jackson. A movie that ends
in 1989.
With Bat. Yeah. With Bat.
With a live performance of Bat in London.
I'm gonna try not to spoil as
much movie as you guys can go out and see the movie for
yourself. I encourage you. Well, we know what happened to Michael
Jackson. We do. We do. But
you know, there's still some things in there that I
think people are gonna be interested in seeing. Like what?
Uh, the performance
of Jafar Jackson in the
movie is a revelation. He's phenomenal
as Michael Jackson. Is it any
relation? I know nothing. I've read nothing. I know nothing. Okay.
Jermaine Jackson's son plays Michael Jackson,
which in some ways is probably some weird cosmic justice
for Jermaine Jackson.
There wasn't always a great relationship.
Did he need justice?
No, he didn't.
But what I'm saying is at times Jermaine and Michael
didn't have the best relationship or whatever,
but they're brothers, so that's what happens in family.
But yeah, so he plays Michael Jackson.
He dances like Michael Jackson.
He embodies the spirit of Michael Jackson.
And honestly, he nails it.
When I say he nails it, he nails it to a degree
that like a Hugh Jackman Wolverine type nailing it.
He really nails Michael Jackson in the movie.
And it's a shame because the movie is an abomination.
Abomination?
Yeah.
Okay, so why?
So I have to, you guys know me, I always start in love.
Homer Domingo, great.
Nia Long, great.
Jafar Jackson, great.
It's not a serious movie.
It's.
A movie about somebody who we all love to pieces.
Love Michael Jackson to pieces, right?
He is almost like a mythical character, not even like a human being.
And that's the way the movie treats him.
The movie treats him like a mythical character.
Don't all these music hagiographies treat the people that way?
Like Elton John, Freddie Mercury.
Like I'm kind of used to this with my biopics for movies.
Yeah, to a degree, you're not wrong, which is why.
I realized something while I was watching Michael.
The biopic is dead.
The biopic as to me, the biopic and maybe even the biographical documentary as a storytelling tool, I think is gone.
I would say both are.
I've been saying this for a while.
We saw this happen with books.
Books used to be, they would do biographies about people that people would participate in.
And sometimes they'd be pretty hard hitting.
You know, maybe the person would have regretted participating at all.
And then eventually.
And then eventually that shifted to the autobiography.
And almost every time when somebody does the autobiography, it's like, all right, I'm going to take this with an entire salt shaker of salt, not just one grain.
I'm going to just assume this is this person's version.
It's going to be very flattering to them.
They're going to remember the things they want to remember.
Not be that candid about the things maybe they don't want to talk about.
And that's just what I'm getting.
And in documentaries for a while, they felt pretty, you kind of felt like you were getting.
And all the sides of the stories and something shifted with that in the last 10 years.
Yeah, I think the streamers had something to do with it in terms of the amount of people that were doing biopics on themselves while they were still around.
I think.
Or the estate that controls.
The estate that controls it.
When you look at this movie, though, there's like right off the bat, there's a storytelling issue here.
The movie has no story.
There's no story to the movie.
Well, wasn't the famous, the story was that they did it a certain way and the estate made them change everything.
Right.
I mean, this has been a long time.
I want to make sure.
I want to make sure people understand.
I am not complaining about this movie or down on the film because the movie didn't go into some of the more controversial aspects of Michael Jackson's life.
Controversial.
Yeah.
So.
Hey, that's the word we're going to use.
Got it.
The sexual assault allegations against.
Oh, we can say that as well.
Let's say that.
Great.
I'm not.
I'm not tripping because the movie didn't get into that.
It because I didn't expect it to.
Is that it doesn't really interrogate anything about Michael Jackson really that seriously.
Like the movie.
What you were supposed to come away from is that Michael Jackson is like divinely touched.
Extraordinarily good.
I thought that anyway.
Well, but what I'm saying is.
As a musician or a person.
No, no, no.
As a person.
Oh, like as a person.
The movie goes through a great length, great lengths to saint him, to make him look like an every every time there's a kid.
Michael stops for the kid every time.
And you.
You see people looking at him as he's doing these good works and they seem to be like arrested by his purity.
It's really laid on thick.
Now, look, once again, the same magical space that Michael Jackson exists in for a lot of people.
He exists in that space for me.
And I understand that, that that's people want to kind of live in that.
But like, you got to give me something right.
You got to give me you got to give me a real analysis of where the genius and the drive and all of that stuff came from.
And the movie just doesn't take any of that seriously.
Yeah.
All right.
So if the estate's like, here's all the stuff that's off limits, but you can make a movie anyway, I'd be I'd probably have focused it thriller to when his hair gets caught on fire and he starts getting weird and he becomes so famous that he basically can't do anything.
He becomes a recluse on top of the fact that the hair thing seemed like it was really damaging to him.
He got burned.
He felt like he was disfigured.
Led to a lot of the stuff that is.
His skin changing all of all the plastic surgery that seemed to be the tipping point moment combined with the victory tour when him and his brothers went out and they bankrupted the Sullivan family, basically.
But that just that whole era, I just would have centered it there versus stopping in 1989 is insane.
Bill, what?
Like, why would why was that the stopping point?
I think, you know, I mean, if you if you want to stop in like 1987, why'd they pick 89?
Well, if you go to 1997, you can't not talk about.
But I'm saying why not just stop in 87?
Just stop with that for bad.
Like they they get to they get to him on a on a world tour.
It's like him doing a solo world tour, which was a big deal for him.
He wanted to do a solo world tour.
So they stop with him doing the bad world tour.
Here's a frustrating thing.
Everything that you just talked about, that's all in the movie.
All of it's in the movie.
His plastic surgery stuff is in the movie.
Vitiligo stuff is in the movie.
The burning of the hair is probably the thing that they.
That the movie gets the most right.
Right.
Interesting.
Because of the reason why he's doing that commercial, obviously, at the behest of his father.
He wants to go back out on tour with his brothers, like what it cost him and how him being burned actually starts his relationship with with painkillers and stuff like that, which we all know would eventually take his life.
So that sounds interesting to me.
But it doesn't.
It just it's just on the screen.
Yeah.
OK, is there's nothing.
So it's just like, hey.
Like, I have vitiligo.
I have to take this medicine for it.
Like Michael, at one point says he doesn't like his nose.
The next thing he comes home and he and he's had a nose job.
Yeah.
Right.
There was a movie called The Jackson Family, An American Dream, a miniseries from the early 90s.
Right.
I saw it.
OK.
That movie treats Michael Jackson as a real fragile, wandering mind of genius in a real serious way.
There's a scene of him looking in the mirror.
Talking about the fact that his face is breaking out, talking to his mother about his nose.
And you get the feeling of how displaced he felt in his body at some time.
Right.
And it's a serious scene.
It's like a real scene.
Or when Motown 25 is about to happen and Michael goes, I'll do it with my brothers.
I'll perform my brothers.
But I want a solo spot.
It's a powerful moment of him, like, stepping away.
This movie just can't get to any of that stuff.
It's on the screen, but not really interrogated in any way.
But I do know what is interrogated.
A weird scene with Miles Teller as the lawyer.
Right.
Where Michael Jackson is going to. Where's Miles Teller in this movie?
But, bro, as the fucking. I'm sitting next to Jomie.
I'm like, we're watching the scene and there's this weird scene where all of these guys are sitting around.
And he fucking talks to Miles Teller's character.
And he's like, everybody get out the room.
You stay.
You're my guy.
And then they're in the movie.
And I'm like, yo, whoever that guy is. Right.
He greenlit this movie.
He has something to do with this movie.
Because this scene doesn't make any fucking sense to be in a movie about Michael Jackson.
Now this guy pops in and you got an A-list star playing him.
It didn't make any sense whatsoever.
And then at the end of the movie, I'm looking.
And it says, yeah, look, producer, John Branco, whatever his name is, whatever.
So, like, I don't mean to trash it because there are. I think that people are going to enjoy it because you're going to take a trip down memory lane.
But it's just. It was just, like, glossy bullshit.
Right.
Right.
Well, and Antoine Fuqua is the director.
Yeah.
So, when he. He probably signed up for something that he felt like was going to be a completely different movie
and now has to pretend this was the movie he made, which is clearly not the case.
I mean, the movie isn't poorly made.
I mean, it's got all. It's got, like, top. It's well done gloss.
Well done gloss.
But, like, I don't know.
People are going to hear this and they're going to be like, how could Van be this upset about it?
Van is the one that, year after year, goes into the theater to watch some of the most ham-handed superhero shit that's ever existed, right?
It occurred to me. Yeah.
I held out a difference, or I made a distinction here.
This is the MCU-ification of a biopic.
This is the we know that we have you, so we don't have to do anything else.
Which is the criticism. Is the criticism about the MCU that exists now?
About superhero movies that exist now?
You signed up for this, so it's not our fault.
Hey, you're in here to watch action figures fly around.
Yeah.
And that's all we got to give you.
Earlier on, I think the exciting thing about, like, those movies was that they did not do that.
They played around with the genre.
They took chances.
They did other stuff.
But it got to the point to where they knew they had us, and so we were going to watch whatever it was.
And now there's a lot of people that are disillusioned with them.
When I go to see a movie about this type of person, that this type of impact. impact. You want to come away
feeling like you know what made that guy tick so what would be the perfect ip that you would want
to sign up for for michael jackson because for me it would be like a 10-hour documentary that
was like warts and all like let's go let's dive into this dude there are two different movies
one movie would be this same movie but just about the making of thriller
so you can find it to like 82 to 85 that's it just about the making of by the way that's what
they should have done right like when i say just that takes them off the hook with everything that
happens in the 90s you can flash back to stuff that happens we really don't necessarily need
the whole jackson five journey it is one of the most famous uh journeys that's ever existed in
in super stardom but the making of thriller is very special it's a special time in music it's
a special time in culture and it's a special time where this this person like reaches their zenith
like an athlete like what was the season that michael jordan just became the guy that everybody
was waiting for michael jordan to become
like that doesn't happen in culture as much as we think they try to do that with the springsteen
movie and it was weird they picked nebraska which i'm a springsteen guy nebraska was a really
interesting choice but it was basically they told the whole story to set up what happens with born
in the usa which then they don't go into so it's like we assume you already know what happened
with born in the usa this part's more interesting it's like yeah you know what would have been
really interesting born in the usa well with that and and if you go granular if you get
deep into like what michael had to sacrifice uh what he was going through the pressure he was
under you see how a child star that piece of art he's in the 70s cocaine era he's at studio 54
all of that everyone's trying to get in with him and just after and what it means to be like the
biggest star in the world that's one number two an interesting story that no one talks about
is the just ridiculously amazing story of how michael jordan was born in the usa
right like not just hi i'm cool with paul mccartney paul has the idea michael is shrewd
enough to go and and work him on the idea just everything that had to happen for him to get that
because that ends with a deal for him yeah so like have to perform in australia right and him
performing in australia one of the accusers yeah ended up so there's a whole bunch of things
that happen i mean you don't necessarily have to get into that there's a whole bunch of things
that happen with that and it's one of the more that is a story about the genius the business
genius and the cultural genius of michael jackson i would also throw in the lisa marie presley wedding
it's the third movie i want to say i just don't know what happened with that that was one of those
nobody knew what's going on the entire time we still don't know what happened we don't and i
remember they came out on mtv and it's like no one thought this would last and my dad was like it
like what are you talking about it hadn't lasted yet i think with some of these things the biggest
things we've ever had which is basically like elvis the beatles michael jackson these things
come around content wise every few years like the b it happened with the beatles a couple years ago
when that that thing the behind the scenes peter jackson documentary that was awesome yeah and it
was like oh the beatles are having a moment again and then it goes and then six years later
something else will happen i think that's happening with michael jackson now i know everybody doesn't
like the movie but i think it's going to be the catalyst to a re-examination of all the stuff he
did because what what really happens is the new generations who don't you know like my son when
my son was like five he didn't know backstory of michael jackson he just knew he liked the songs
yeah and the kids get into it and it's a generational thing that never stops
and i think this goes to a bigger point which we were talking about with when kanye was here at
a couple weeks ago about people being able to separate the art
from other stuff that may have happened and how you can compare if you like the music you like the
music and you can just put it there and you can kind of push the other stuff this way and that
whole dialogue about whether that's something we should we be that way with the heart what with the
heart wants we'll have any choice i mean just if we're being honest when i say we don't have any
choice what i mean is is like i can choose if i want to not to uh listen to michael jackson
music or to whatever what i can't do with him specifically not all the artists that have been
involved in fuck shit are like this but with michael jackson it's so tied to the most formative
years of my brain right that if i see him or i hear the music my body reflexively does something
right you hear billy jean and it is uncontrollable there's nothing you can do now you can make this
decision to talk about things responsibly and make sure you hold space for victims and make
sure you have these conversations with the gravitas and the weight that they deserve right
you can do all nobody wants to do that when they're on spotify on a walk at two in the afternoon or
working out and they're just like fuck it i'm gonna put my michael mix yeah it's it's true and
so the reality of all of this and by the way i just want to say this real quick and this is you
know people can feel how the way the way i want about this i worked at tms for a very long time
yeah with tms for a long time so the people that i know that have looked into uh michael jackson's
the people that i know have looked into them in a really granular way like in a really detailed way
looking at his situation is interesting because i'd have to be real real observation
the people that i know the deeper you get into all of the stuff that happened with him
the more questions you actually have about whether or not
he ever was actually guilty of something i the news director at tms back in the day was
like wasn't i'm not talking about he's not from south baton rouge like me he was a white boy from
orange county swore up and down he's like van i have all of these documents he didn't do anything
yeah all of this stuff and so there is there is this thing with him in all of his cases he beat
it in court there's this thing with him to where the more you get into it of people that i know
that really have deep knowledge of everything that happened they look at it and they go they
don't think that he did anything now maybe that's me coping that could
be me coping but the reality of the situation is that is true from people that i know that
have really looked that's how i feel about meg frabel
like man the guy just wanted some rest
the other six people they were there it's a great resort yeah it's a great resort
like a relaxation weekend but to your point though the movie the first thing i did when i got home
was put on michael jackson shit on youtube the first thing i did but even that if you do a biopic
about michael jackson and jafar jackson once again in the performance and yeah in in in the
dancing it's great if you do a biopic about michael jackson the best parts can't be like
making thriller or performing on stage because if i want that i could just go to youtube and watch
that so there has to be other parts of the movie that aren't oriented around the music and around
doing a michael jackson essentially uh an impression uh and that movie this movie just
doesn't well apparently there's an incredible elvis documentary right now that somebody spent
a lot of time on bosnian i think um and it was like behind the scenes vegas they found all this
footage and it's amazing and if that had come out in like 1989 it felt like it would have been
the biggest movie in the world now it's 2026 elvis has been dead for 49 years i don't know
if he has the same hold on people under 50 i think like people in their 70s and
80s might care i wonder when michael jackson is going to hit that point i would argue with like
in the spotify era where people are just downloading music you might not hit that
point for like 40 more years yeah where people are just like there might be some five-year-old
right now in a car on the way home from school they're listening to thriller and they don't
know any better they don't they don't know anything other than the songs they're listening
to you know and this might be the old man talking but and elvis is a you know ridiculously
important american pop culture figure it just feels different with michael jackson i don't i
don't know i think i think that's generational it probably is everything is everything culturally
expires everything culturally expires but because it's the same thing for like mickey mannell babe
ruth um frank sinatra there are these people that had these runs but then as the years pass
there's nobody there to kind of keep the torch going with the flames you know i mean ain't none
of them people got a thriller though that's true elvis was way up there though elvis is i mean elvis
was the biggest star we had in the world i know but for years but that's how we thought yeah then
the biggest star came into the room it's just different you have to tell me i was there michael's
the biggest he's the most talented biggest star i've ever seen in my life right and like him doing
the motown 25 was like probably the greatest non-sports tv moment i've ever had and so i
remember watching that just over and over and all of the videos michael has so many different eras
like you can't really put it all in one biopic
because it's like his life was like it had like three or four sequels right until he until he
passed on but and a lot of analysis too like just long conversations with friends in high school
about what does mama say mama saw mama pusa mean my mom was like yeah like whatever whatever that
what do they mean to me to me to me that genius like not just deserves but it requires
- Special, real examination. - Examination.
Ezra did that with Prince, and we're never going to see that either.
Right.
But look, once again, I think that we're out of the era of biopics.
If we think, what are the best biopics?
Rey was a great biopic, right?
I actually, I kind of like the Queen one.
I watched it again.
Okay.
And why is it good?
Because in the last 25 minutes, it just is the Live Aid show,
which I could watch on YouTube, but it was really fun to watch as the movie.
Usually, it's the performances that make it.
Outside of music biopics, you want to relive the music,
and you want to see how people embody the character.
But when I think about movies like Malcolm X, like X with Spike Lee,
obviously different, but that's a guy that's a cultural deity to me.
The movie does not deify him at all.
The Johnny Cash movie doesn't deify him.
That one, I think, is one of the best ones.
Coal Miner's Daughter is really good.
These movies are about people who have genius.
But usually, they work the best when it's people who have genius,
but also have a flaw, or two flaws.
Have a flaw.
Or have a relationship that doesn't work.
Or marry the wrong person, fall in love the wrong way, or whatever.
Something that humanizes you.
Tina Turner one was good, too.
Right.
That one was phenomenal.
That is probably. That might be the best one, actually.
That's the best music biopic that I can remember.
It's phenomenal.
But it had a villain.
Had a villain.
This one has a villain.
Joe Jackson is the villain.
Yeah, he seems. Joe Jackson's not a great guy.
But even in this movie, it's made by his family,
and you can tell. You can feel. You can feel. You can feel the conflict in this movie.
Yeah.
The estate makes the movie.
They're telling this story.
You can feel them holding back.
Well, it was heavily reported.
They had to change just about everything about the movie.
Right.
As they're making.
But even in this version, like, okay. You think Miles Tower is like,
Hey, Miles, heard you have a new movie out.
Yeah, well. Yeah, I guess.
Filmed it a long time ago.
I'm just saying, man.
Like, when you do it, commit.
Like, you know, blood on the dance floor.
Show how hard it was.
Show the road he had to climb.
We agree, but this will be the number one
when it ends up on Amazon or wherever.
This will be the number one rental for, like, five straight weeks.
I'm probably going to see it again.
Yeah.
I'm probably going to see it again just because, like. I can't wait till the seventh time you see it
when you talk yourself into it.
Do you know why?
Do you really know why?
Higher learning?
No.
I missed Michael Jackson.
I missed him.
Like, I. You guys, I'm just a regular person.
So you guys can get mad, whatever.
You missed the genius.
I missed him.
Like, I had missed him.
This was the secret of the last dance with Michael Jordan.
Same thing.
It's like, you know what?
I really missed this guy.
Yep.
That's why the biggest documentary right now
that's sitting there, if it was done correctly,
is the Kobe doc.
But it'll never happen because I think his wife
just will never let it happen the way it could happen.
Mm-hmm.
But I think that would have the same impact.
So many people love Kobe that if they did that correctly,
it would be the same thing.
You're like, you know what?
I'm going to watch that a fifth time.
I really miss this guy.
Yeah.
And more to the point with Michael Jackson,
I missed the version of Michael Jackson
that existed before I had to consider any of the others.
80s Michael Jackson.
I miss that guy.
I miss just being able to have. I miss the feeling of unbridled joy
that exists with me being dumb and not knowing.
And like, just not. Now, that's super. Hulk Hogan, another one.
Hulk Hogan.
Like, I used to. I used to rip the shirt being a Hulk.
Yeah.
This is an everybody.
You were a Hulkamaniac.
I was a Hulkamaniac.
Everyone was a Hulkamaniac.
You didn't know that he probably wouldn't have liked you.
No.
He was a. He would not have liked you.
He would not have liked me at all.
He would not have liked me.
He would have said it.
Or he would have liked me
until I tried to take his daughter out.
He would have flipped.
Then he would have flipped out.
Anyway.
I see what you mean about. My wife says this all the time.
She'll be watching some. movie or TV show
that she's seen 1,700 times
and she always is like,
I miss my friends.
Devil Wears Prada.
I miss my friends.
I'm going to hang out with them again.
The Michael Jackson experience,
same thing.
I'm definitely going to see it.
I won't see it in the theater,
but I'm going to. When it's out on rental,
I'm going to rent it.
No, you should go see it in the theater.
You think?
Yeah, go see it in the theater.
I like. Everyone that had any interest in the movie
because the reviews have been brutal.
I have to keep it real.
The reviews have been hilarious.
People are furious.
Yeah.
They really hated it.
But at the same time,
the people that feel super connected
to Michael Jackson
are going right into defense mode.
I'm sure some of those people
would be mad at me.
I'm encouraging people
to go see the movie in the theater
because I think. I saw it in IMAX.
I think it plays best in the theater
because you want to be a part
of the concert experiences
and things like that.
But yeah,
not to me
a serious attempt
at trying to tell a real story
about somebody
as consequential
and as important as Michael Jackson.
So what's your Roger Ebert
four stars?
How many do you go?
One and a half.
One and a half?
One and a half.
All right, Van Lathan,
good to see you.
Peace.
All right, that's it for the podcast.
Thanks to McShay and Mensch.
Thanks to Van.
Thanks to Gahal and Eduardo as well.
I'm going to be back
on this podcast
on Thursday night
after the NBA playoff games
we're going to be recording.
I think Rob Mahoney
is going to join me.
Don't forget about
Sean Fantasy's newsletter
or Jordan Kahn's book
or Legata
or the Rewatchables
Kindergarten Cop
which is up
or Ghostbusters
which is coming next Monday.
And I will see you
on Thursday.
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Podcast Summary
Key Points:
The episode highlights the often-overlooked workers behind sports, emphasizing their vital role in making games possible.
Carhartt proudly supports these crews, showcasing their dedication and professionalism through gear and recognition.
Bill Simmons and the team discuss the NBA playoffs, with deep analysis on key matchups like the Lakers-Rockets and Spurs-Portland series.
The draft conversation features insights on the Jets, Giants, and other teams, including strategic picks, trade rumors, and coaching decisions.
The hosts question the value of emotional bias in player selection, contrasting it with data and long-term team strategy.
A notable theme is the physicality and unpredictability of playoff basketball, especially in series like Detroit-Orlando and Denver-Nuggets.
The Giants’ draft strategy at picks 5 and 10 is analyzed as a patient, calculated move focused on long-term team balance.
The episode concludes with a reflection on human nature in sports decision-making, including how personal connections and biases influence picks.
Summary:
The episode begins by honoring the unsung laborers behind sports, from stadium builders to field maintenance workers, and highlights Carhartt’s support for these essential teams. Bill Simmons and his co-hosts then dive into the NBA playoffs, analyzing key matchups such as the Lakers vs. Rockets, Spurs vs.
Portland, and the Detroit vs. Orlando series. They stress how physicality, team chemistry, and injuries shape outcomes, with particular concern over the Spurs’ reliance on Kawhi Leonard and the Nuggets’ defensive intensity.
The discussion shifts to the NFL draft, where the Giants’ strategy at picks 5 and 10 is examined as a balanced, patient approach. The hosts debate draft philosophy, emphasizing that emotional bias often overrides data, and cite examples like the Jets’ potential pick of Arbel Reese over David Bailey. They also note how scouting interactions—like a player’s interest in Chick-fil-a—can reveal personal traits.
Ultimately, the episode showcases how human instincts and long-term team planning shape both draft decisions and playoff narratives, blending sports insight with deeper reflections on decision-making in high-stakes environments.
FAQs
The workers who build stadiums, pave parking lots, grow grass, weld goalposts, and make footballs are essential but often overlooked. They work long before kickoff and ensure the game runs smoothly, making their contributions vital to the event's success.
Carhartt outfits crews involved in sports infrastructure because they value the dedication and hard work of these professionals. The company honors their commitment to their craft and the essential behind-the-scenes efforts that make games possible.
Bill Simmons discusses the intensity of the NBA playoffs, highlighting key matchups, team dynamics, player performances, and potential upsets. He also shares his personal anxieties and insights into how teams are performing in the postseason.
The 'NBA Panic Room' is a segment where Bill Simmons analyzes team odds, potential outcomes, and key concerns ahead of playoff games. It provides fans with a detailed, realistic assessment of which teams might succeed or fail in the postseason.
The series between the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves is seen as physically intense and potentially long, with both teams relying on physicality and defensive pressure. This makes the matchup a high-stakes, competitive series.
The Giants are expected to make a strategic move at picks 5 and 10, possibly trading for a top-tier player like a running back or defensive player. This reflects a patient, calculated approach to building a competitive roster during the draft.
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