Falcons HC Kevin Stefanski, Adam Schefter At The Combine, National Sports Podcast Talk And Fyre Fest Of The Week

10:26Big Cat:No, but I think if someone's getting in the car first, they just kind of get it. Status doesn't really. Status only applies if you're all getting in at the same time. Yeah, and also if I'm getting in the car at the same time, like if Max is on the same ride or if Kadic or somebody tall, I'll be like, yeah, I'll sit in the back. Yeah. It doesn't make sense for me to sit shotgun. Yeah. It was a good trip. Great trip. Oh, and also, so at dinner, we were just chilling, and a friend of the program, Daniel Ricardo, called Connor Daly during the dinner. Oh, hell yeah. And he said to give his best to Big Cat and also to Glasses McAdams.

11:03Big Cat:Oh, nice. I guess what he calls me. nice that's a pretty good nickname i think if you say it australian accent i'm sure it sounds great

11:09PFT Commenter:very cool at least it's mcadams um boys how are we feeling we're we're mere hours away from the stream starting so how are we feeling overall the stream is starting 8 a.m on our youtube uh central time zach and max in the in the office how are we feeling

11:28Big Cat:i feel great i'm excited i think it's going to be fun

11:34Big Cat:the do you have 36 hours planned yeah are you guys going to be doing all the things together like is this a partnership well i'm only there for 18 so in those 18 hours your partners in the yeah yes we're doing a lot of partners then okay what about if we come in are we partners

11:55PFT Commenter:everyone's going to be involved yeah okay um pfzi are going to get tattoos at some point which i don't think will be you guys will i don't want us getting tattoos probably boring maybe it's just us getting tattoos in the background that's probably what it'll be which i think is better but yeah we're gonna because we're getting i think what is it sunday or saturday is the official 10-year anniversary of Pardon My Take, the first recording of Pardon My Take. I'm going to get Vanny Woodhead on my arm. The Van-niversary, yeah. I'm excited. I'll get the back tire. Yeah. Hank, again? No chance? I've had a tattoo of Pardon My Take long before you guys.

12:35PFT Commenter:Right, but you don't anymore. But any chance to maybe make this whole relationship official? I'll think about it. We'll see. We'll see when he gets here. I don't know. I've gotten a tattoo removed.

12:47Big Cat:and I don't really want to get another one.

12:49PFT Commenter:Okay.

12:50Big Cat:Why would you get one removed? Because I got it on my inner thigh, and it was a dead goldfish, not an alive goldfish,

12:57PFT Commenter:and I got it so that I could wear shorts, and I covered it up. And then the short shorts trend came back in, and all of a sudden I was wearing shorts and had a half-dead goldfish poking out. And then I would have to explain to people, like, what is that on your leg? And I just got sick of it, so I got it removed.

13:13Big Cat:Yeah, I'm saying, why would you have to get another one removed, though? Like, this time, no. I don't know. I didn't think I was going to have to get the first one removed. Maybe this time you just don't get a corpse on your body.

13:20PFT Commenter:Should we maybe get like, do you want to maybe get us like a necklace or something we could all wear? A friendship bracelet? What? To the 10 year anniversary. What's the, what's the, what are you supposed to get for 10 year anniversary? That's a you guys question. Silver's 25, I think. So you want us to get you something? All right, let me see. Anniversary gifts. Is it wood? 10 year might be. There's one that's like wood.

13:44Big Cat:Might be wood.

13:45PFT Commenter:Yeah. year by year. Let's figure this out.

13:48Big Cat:Get your subscription to Roman.com. Okay.

13:51PFT Commenter:Wood. Tin aluminum. Oh. Okay. Get us some tin. Some beer. Why don't we get some? I'll get a lighthouse. I'll get a small lighthouse. You're going to get a lighthouse tattoo?

14:02Big Cat:Somewhere in my body. Let's go.

14:04PFT Commenter:That's meaningful. I love that. What do you get, PFT?

14:09Big Cat:I'm going to get the back tire of Annie Woodhead. Yeah, it's pretty sick. Maybe the first line of Freebird if there's enough time. Yeah, no, I think

14:15PFT Commenter:I'm going to get some lyrics, too. I'm going to end up with... I like having tattoos. I don't know.

14:22Big Cat:I'm going to end up with a full sleeve.

14:23PFT Commenter:I don't know if I'll ever end up with a full sleeve, but I'm probably going to end up with about five or six.

14:28Big Cat:I'm thinking about doing a plaid half sleeve at some point.

14:31PFT Commenter:That'd be awesome. That'd be cool. Okay, so stream going to be set. Tattoos set. Anything else? Clerical work. Anything else we've got to be ready for for the stream? Get excited. It's going to be awesome. We'll pop in every now and then. The part of my antipasto has been made. Love that. Love that.

14:50Big Cat:Zach, are you planning any pre-sleep? I'm thinking good night rest this evening so we can go in full charge batteries tomorrow. Yeah. Zach's also going to be able to sleep. While I'm still there, he's going to sleep. Okay. Great. And we're going to get them all set up in the booth.

15:08PFT Commenter:I would like to test out if I could make a request. I would like to test out Zach telling Zach a specific time to wake up and let's just see we'll give it you know obviously we'll eventually wake him up so he can't sleep the whole time but let's just say he falls asleep at 2 a.m.

15:25Big Cat:and be like Zach you got to get up at 6 and just see if his alarm clock body alarm clock is even close so don't use the alarm clock we were thinking about body the bomb so that people could see yeah I think you do the bot like so let's say it's 2 to 6 right I think

15:38PFT Commenter:you set the bomb for 7 and see if Zach can somehow get up on his own in that six to seven range just see so you want my body to wake up at six but the alarm to go off at seven right right yeah like just just test it out just give you a specific time and and we could have people in the chat be like guessing to see if they're close like give us your exact time prediction for when zach's gonna wake up between six and seven you know he's gonna get up at seven but let's see if he can get up at you know we'll say six and there's like People guess 6, 10, 6, 12, you know, whatever.

16:12Big Cat:You want some insider info? Yeah. My body has no chance of no alarm wake up.

16:17PFT Commenter:That's some good insider info. I'll keep things honest. What if you go to bed at like 9, though? That would be a terrible stream. That would be a bad time. I think that would be a bad time to go to sleep. He is going to bed at 9. He's going to bed at 9 p.m.? Because I'm leaving at 2 a.m. Oh, so he's got to wake up at 9. So he's going to go to bed at 9. First of all, there's no way you're going to bed at 9, knowing you. No.

16:38Big Cat:I don't think there's a shot I fall asleep at 9 o 'clock, but we're going to head to pillow at 9.

16:41PFT Commenter:All right. So we'll say 1 o 'clock, you have to wake up, and then the bomb will be set for 2. So we're going to try to get your body to wake you up at 1 naturally. Yeah, we'll do 1.30.

16:50Big Cat:We'll give them 30 minutes.

16:51PFT Commenter:Yeah, we'll give you an extra 30 minutes.

16:53Big Cat:Fun fact about the first episode of Part of My Take, one week before I was in Latvia.

16:59PFT Commenter:Oh. Yeah. What's the actual date that it was posted? Is it March 1st? I have a promo for March 2nd. I think it might have been posted March 2nd. We were in the airport March 1st, leaving Austin. So then we recorded February 29th. Yeah, but I think it got posted March 2nd. Got it. Okay, so that's the official post date of the first episode. Dang, so. One podcast. That's Paula Dukas. Feed you all the hottest takes the stomach of your brain can handle. Live!

17:29Big Cat:I would like to kill John Coon just so other people can realize how much they've loved him. You're wrong about everything you know about sports.

17:37PFT Commenter:A tombstone is just a participation trophy for dying. Who has time for sex these days? What was that? Your listeners are incredibly stupid.

17:49PFT Commenter:Okay. That was the promo. It was a great promo. I cannot believe this worked. You were the original. Holy shit. Not an intercourse guy. I would never listen to that podcast. Fuck. Okay, before we do some national sports podcasts, then we get Kevin Stefanski and Adam Schefter. DraftKings. DraftKings Sportsbook puts you right in the middle of basketball's biggest star-driven moments, the moments when the ball finds the superstar and the game turns in a heartbeat. Stars heat up. Stars take over. And with DraftKings, you're ready to move when they do. Bet player props. Bet live from the opening tip to the final possession.

18:26PFT Commenter:Every bucket, every dime, every takeover matters. And DraftKings Sportsbook keeps you connected as the action unfolds. And when a game turns fast, DraftKings has your back with early exit. If your player gets injured any time in the first half, your bet stays alive. And once it settles, you'll still get paid in cash. That's built-in protection for star-driven bets backed by DraftKings. New customers bet just$5. And if your bet wins, you'll get$200 in bonus bets instantly. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app. Use code TAKE so you're ready for the moment. That's code TAKE. Turn$5 into$200 in bonus bets.

18:59PFT Commenter:If your bet wins in partnership with DraftKings, the crown is yours. okay national sports podcast um i briefly retired from sports this morning last night um i i briefly retired from sports why's that uh well first of all fuck kevin warren fuck uh tv executives for making the west coast teams join the big 10 i stayed up till midnight watching the Badgers lose a game they should never have lost to Oregon. And when I say I went to bed angry, I went to bed furious. I was actually furious that they had lost that game. And the whole time I'm thinking to myself, what are you doing, dude? You have a great life.

19:44PFT Commenter:You have three wonderful kids. You have a great wife. You're happy. You're healthy. All these things. you're a 41 year old grown man and you're laying in bed angry about a fucking game that took place on the west coast like figure it out so I retired you had a bad loss and I woke up in the morning and I was still retired you know the thing where it's like hey I gotta take some time away from the game I slept on it woke up still retired I unretired around like 8.45 this morning but it was just it was a debacle i was even i have like a group text with all my my uh like best friends from college and some of them are like you know some of them watch every game some of them don't one of the ones that doesn't watch every game texted oh i didn't like the start of the game was like oh i didn't realize oregon's this bad and then i'm pretty sure he just went to sleep right away so then he woke up to about 20 texts from me being like fuck you dude why'd you say that you

20:44Big Cat:jinxed us that's actually a great life hack to just fall asleep when when your team takes a lead And as far as you know, when you go to bed, you won.

20:51PFT Commenter:But it's just so, and Max, you're going through a similar thing where this is the time of year where it's pathetic. When you have a college basketball team in the tournament, on the bubble, wherever it may be, it's pathetic the amount of energy I spend pouring over brackets, pouring over net rankings, resumes. It's so fucking stupid. I got to find a hobby. I got to do something else, but I'm actually unretired, so I'm not going to do anything else. But I spent all week being like, oh, man, if they can win out, we'll be like maybe a five seed, maybe a four seed. Now it's like, oh, now we're six, maybe a seven, an eight.

21:30PFT Commenter:Max, you're going through the same thing right now with Villanova. Villanova and Wisconsin are the exact opposite teams. In?

21:37Big Cat:In that Villanova beats every single team that they should beat, can't beat a good team. and then you guys lose bad games but have, like, the best wins on the schedule. In the country. Yeah. So it's, like, it's very frustrating for me when I get really excited for a big game and it's like this is when we're finally going to win and then we lose. So that gets frustrating. But, like, I don't have the highs that you have, but I don't have any of the lows.

22:06PFT Commenter:Like the not being able to sleep and being angry. Yeah. But so Villanova's getting fucked because they basically are just going through the exact same thing where last week UConn lost to Creighton. Then they had a very classic bounce back game against Villanova on Saturday. This week, if you watch the St. John's UConn game on Wednesday night, St. John's was maybe the worst team I've ever seen in the second half.

22:28Big Cat:It was terrible. I think they made two field goals in the second half. That might be an exaggeration.

22:34PFT Commenter:They had seven points with five and a half minutes left. That's right. I think it was. Up until this point, for like 16 minutes, they'd made two baskets. And Rick Pitino actually gave a hint to it in the fact that he – did you see the tweet he had earlier in the day where he's like, we had breakfast as a team with the chaplain and all this stuff, and everyone was on their phones? The most bad vibes tweet ever, and I thought maybe he was doing it as a misdirection. No, he was spot on. Here it is. just finished breakfast in harford with the team 13 players five coaches a special priest all looking at their phones no conversing next discussion coming with my wonderful group is that a shot at this at the priest yeah it sounds like he was on there too yeah what if the priest was just doing like candy crush there's not the priest was on tiktok priest was keeping up with clavicular a special priest special priest so is this it's not the normal team priest Substitute priest But yeah this is the time of year If you're a fan of college basketball If you have a specific team And you are anywhere in that Five to bubble Every game just feels so demoralizing If you lose and so great if you win It's just It's just hard to I mean that we had Oh Alabama by the way is a cheat code If you want to get in on it It's just betting their overs They just never stop missing This has been like two weeks now Their over-under for the first half was 45.5 points last night.

23:58PFT Commenter:They scored 69 in the first half. In the first half. In Florida, I'm going to keep banging the drum for Florida. Florida was in it with Texas. It was a tie game at like 61. Then you looked up, and they were up by 15.

24:13Big Cat:Yeah, I'm all in right now. The Cougars, the Jayhawks, and I think I might hit the Huskies too.

24:20PFT Commenter:I hit the Huskies. I might hit the Huskies. I hit the Huskies. Very impressive. St. John's offense is scary to be able to trust in a single elimination tournament, but their defense is awesome. Here's the stat. St. John scored 14 points in the second half. They made two total field goals in the second half and did not hit a single shot for the last 17-28 of the game. UConn was up 41-26 at halftime. They could have dribbled out the shot clock every possession and still won the game 41-40. That's insane. That's from Ryan Hammer. Ryan Hammer is awesome. Yeah, he's great.

24:55Big Cat:It's also crazy that this is the exact same problem that St. John's had last year. Yeah. It's like they don't have anybody that can make a shot. Yeah. And Pitino, we're just running it back. We're just going to do the same thing, expect a better result.

25:08PFT Commenter:Can I give you another team to just kind of just a little tickler file if you want to look? And I think this would be a very fun tournament storyline if this happens. Arkansas has been playing some really good basketball. Yeah. Really good basketball

25:24Big Cat:One of the best players in the country

25:26PFT Commenter:They lost that game in double overtime To Alabama where they basically ran out of guys But since you know Outside that one they've won 5 of 6 Now the SEC is a little down this year But Cal Cal in the final 4 would be great It would be great It would be fucking great So yeah college basketball is fun Unless your team loses at midnight Fuck Kevin Warren

25:52Big Cat:Another national sports podcast. Congratulations, Memes. I think the Jets fleeced the Titans. What did you guys do? I think it's a win-win. Win-win. Win-plus for the Jets. I'll say win-plus. Win-plus. A win-plus? What's a win-plus? So they traded for Tavondre Sweat. He has two years left on his contract. Jermaine Johnson only had one year left on his contract. That's the plus. Got it. And that's the reason why you traded Jermaine Johnson, because he was on the last year of his rookie deal. You weren't going to offer him, so you might as well get something for him.

26:27PFT Commenter:Got it. Did you guys... Feels like a chess piece.

26:30Big Cat:They're also having a mini fire sale right now. A mini fire sale. A mini fire sale.

26:35PFT Commenter:A quick little mini fire sale. Mini. Did you guys see the very mean question that the reporter asked Conor McDavid?

26:43Big Cat:no but i i have seen some speculation that uh maybe austin matthews is not happy playing in

26:48PFT Commenter:canada anymore yeah well it's funny watching these guys go back to their yeah well hey austin

26:54Big Cat:we'll take you if you want to win if you don't want your manager all up in your videos come to

27:00PFT Commenter:the united states brady kachuk was funny we're just like yeah it's like i you know they hated me i was the villain but now i'm back i'm gonna do he's just pretending i don't know if it was him specifically who said to close the borders but it might have been I love Brady Kachuk this was the question can you go back can you get the question in this this is a question that Conor McDavid was faced with when he got back to the Oilers let's see alright play it a hard question but you know Stanley Cups found Gretzky and Crosby and those guys a hard question but Stanley Cups found Gretzky and Crosby and those guys and gold medals and put yourself in position and it's not finding you.

27:43PFT Commenter:Did you think it would be this hard? Nice question. Thank you. Did you think it would be this hard? Yeah, it hasn't found you yet.

27:53Big Cat:It hasn't found you. Did you think it would be this hard to win? Do you think it's looking for you? Are you doing everything you can to help it find you? Brutal question. You got a tag on? You got your GPS turned on, Connor? Yeah, that's a terrible, terrible question. Yeah. I'm glad that I'm getting my boy Tom Wilson back away from the bad influence, that thug Sidney Crosby. He'll get back to playing good, clean hockey instead of doing that just absolute trash stuff that he was doing on the Canadian team.

28:22PFT Commenter:It's got to be a little awkward going back if you have teammates that you just went against. I saw there was a reporter for the Sharks posted a picture from 2010 after Canada beat the U.S., and it was all the – it was like Joe Thornton and a bunch of guys who had just won the gold medal for Canada. And it was like all the sharks taking a picture with their medals. And they made Joe Pavelski take a picture with the silver. It was like five gold medals. Then him standing there with the silver. It's just as bright. It's fucking brutal. Brutal. I hope a Stanley cup finds him at some point. Yeah. I hope he like bumps into one.

29:00PFT Commenter:Yeah. Just happens. Ryan Whitney. We're rooting for you, dude. We got your back, man. Ryan Whitney, we got your back. He deserves something. I do think we're getting to the point where I actually would be happy for Conor McDavid because it has been so much heartbreak. I would, too. He's lost the cup two years in a row and lost the gold medal and has two MVPs to show from it.

29:24Big Cat:I would love to see him with the Stanley Cup. I think it would be even better if it was for a different team, though. I think that would really piss Whitney off the most. Oh, yeah.

29:33PFT Commenter:Oh, yeah. Last thing I had, unless anyone else has anything else. Did you guys see DeAndre Ayton? Because he needs motivation to play basketball. It sounds like what you would do for your kid. Yeah. So DeAndre Ayton, the story goes that the Lakers training staff has wrapped his water bottle in tape. And they write, DA's crunk juice. Drink this to unleash the beast. so they're basically tricking him into drinking water and also tricking him to being like hey this will get you to actually

30:07Big Cat:try is that true is that real or did you get sentled I did I this feels like it could be a sense I don't know

30:13PFT Commenter:if I got sentled I'm gonna I hope it's real let's see for the record no that's it that's a real reporter I hope that's a real reporter no that's it yeah Dave McMenamin's a very real reporter DA's crunch juice DA's crunch juice drink this to unleash He also –

30:30Big Cat:That's so funny. He kind of looks like he's like 50 years old too. All right. I'm going to look.

30:34PFT Commenter:I'm going to make sure. Yeah, this was a real report from Dave McMenamin. I love that.

30:41Big Cat:Did you see the Lakers hired Tony Bennett? I did see that as a consultant. I don't know how he's going to consult because it looks like the Lakers might be broken right now.

30:49PFT Commenter:Yeah.

30:50Big Cat:So it's kind of a – unless it's for next year, like what do you do in the offseason to rebuild the team? I don't think he's going to fix anything right now because – LeBron and Luka are just – They don't play well together. Yeah. They're both doing pretty good when the other guy's not on the court. This is just one ball, though.

31:06PFT Commenter:This is so funny that this is actually. Yeah. The Lakers have stoked that ego to Rob Blinka, team president, basketball operations, general manager, commission a black T-shirt with a gold screen print depicting half of a lion's face and half of Aiton's face that he presented to the 27 year old. Members of the training staff wrap Aiton's water bottle and athletic tape and write D.A.'s crunk juice. Drink this to unleash the beast. So they're just... I love it. They're at the point where they just have to do... It's almost like college football gimmicks to try to get him to play basketball.

31:39Big Cat:Here's the hydration chain, DeAndre. Yeah. You drink some water, you get to wear the necklace.

31:43PFT Commenter:We're very close to having to have DeAndre Aiden show up in a blue collar, actual blue collar. They might actually put a blue collar around the jersey and be like, hey, man, we really need you.

31:54Big Cat:The Bucks did that for a little bit. Yeah, you can do the name on the shirt like you work at a mechanics, but you could physically clock in and clock out. Didn't Tibbs do that?

32:04PFT Commenter:Tibbs did that.

32:05Big Cat:Yeah, like an actual time. No, that was Jim Boylan. Okay. Jim Boylan had an actual time. Yeah, punch in, punch out. Like a fucking. Give out the lunch pail award. You can do this all, LA. You can handle this for the rest of the season. It's just not going to work for you. Oh, man. I can't believe I just had to think about Jim.

32:20PFT Commenter:Growth plates. That was his big thing. Growth plates.

32:23Big Cat:There's another golf story that maybe we want to discuss. bryson and la golf what happened they broke up wait la golf is it was run by the same guy like a equipment company yeah got it it was run by the guy from i thought it was a live team no

32:42PFT Commenter:you know how he has like all his custom like 3d printed yeah shafts and all that weird shit

32:47Big Cat:yeah so it's run by the same guy that that does those bats the custom bats from louisiana okay what are they called hank the mizunos yeah so i know that guy i like that guy so uh bryson this is a hilarious bryson tried to take over the company so he was he was he had like a partnership with his two percent ownership a two percent ownership and then he said that he was going to walk away from the deal unless he got 51 so his business bryson's business consultant coached him to try to get 51 % of the company.

33:19PFT Commenter:Okay.

33:19Big Cat:That he had a 2 % deal with. And the other guy said, fuck you. And they just broke up. So now Bryson doesn't have any merch. Now his merch is going to be trash for a little bit. No, it's gear. It's equipment. So like clubs. Clubs. Clubs, everything. Yeah, that's tough.

33:36PFT Commenter:So he just came in and just said, I want the company. The article said that he hired, I think it was from, the interview is from the perspective of the owner, the LA golf owner. It was like, yeah, he hired this new agent or representative or whatever who was like super Hollywood and like a finance guy that just came in and was like, we want 51%.

33:55Big Cat:And he was like, no. Yeah. So it's a consultant that Bryson got in and he tried to get the 51 % and then the guy that runs the bat company said, I don't think he realized that he's dealing with redneck. There's no path for that. They played chicken, and now we're going to have to part ways. I love that. Yep. Love that. Love it. I'm team redneck in this one.

34:16PFT Commenter:Yes, big time. By the way, Brady Kachuk confirmed did not say close to Northern Porter. He did an interview. I just wanted to make sure I got that right. Okay. Yeah. Good, good. Someone else did. Who cares? Who cares? Stanley? Who cares? But yeah, this is great that Bryson, so he got in a battle with a redneck that he just couldn't win. Couldn't win. You can't win a battle with a redneck. No. Good for that guy. Rednecks will walk away, buddy. Stand up to him. What the fuck? Why would you? Come on, man. Bryson, don't be a dick. Oh, wait. He is. Yeah, that's right. Don't start being back. Good. We kind of need him to be a bad boy again.

34:55PFT Commenter:Not a bad boy, just a bad guy. Yeah, we need him to be a dick. We need him to be the doofus again. It is fun when he's a dick. What's the big... Is there a golf tournament this weekend?

35:05Big Cat:Small one. Cogs. Brooks is in it. Okay. Big one. And Max. Max, yeah. We got to get it going. I bet on Max this weekend. Come on, Max. We believe in you. What is it? Cognizant, right?

35:16PFT Commenter:I think there's like four people that played in last week's tournament, in this tournament. Okay. Which means it's kind of like, because last week was a signature event. Let's just get it. Let's get the boys in shape. Yeah. Let's get the boys going. Okay. Let's get to our interviews. We got great interviews. Kevin Stefanski and then Adam Schefter. before we do that a quick word from our friends at twisted tea we love twisted tea uh well listen i didn't i didn't love the oregon wisconsin game or any part of it but i would have loved if i had some twisted teas i should have had some twisted teas last night would have been less angry twisted tea is the best it's a refreshing hard iced tea made with real brewed tea and five percent alcohol twisted tea is a perfect drink to keep the good times going all day and all season long whether you're hanging out at a friend's house catching a game at the stadium or at the bar or day drinking with friends twisted tea is there to turn your day up a notch and make a good time a great time grab a refreshing twisted tea today we love the original we love the half and half the peach they're all great it's twisted tea it's almost it's getting there the i think it'll be 60 degrees in chicago on friday it's twisted tea season big time we're also brought to you by our friends at chevy football season might be over but you know how it goes the minute the big games end.

36:31PFT Commenter:We're already talking about what's next. Free agency, the draft, who's getting paid, who's grinding. Because for football guys, there is no offseason, and that's exactly why they roll with the Chevy Silverado. Silverado is a truck that shows up every time, built a haul, tow, and take a beating, but smart where it counts with modern tech that makes life easier, big screens, available camera views that help with the towing and parking, and a cabin that feels right, whether you're road tripping, heading to practice, or loading up for the weekend. During the season, it's the MVP of the tailgate. After the season, it turns into your training camp, truck, hauling gear, tackling home projects, and doing the work that never stops because the grind doesn't take breaks.

37:07PFT Commenter:And neither does Silverado. Check out the current offers and build your own. Chevy Silverado at Chevy.com. Okay, here he is, Atlanta Falcons head coach, Kevin Stefanski. Okay, we now welcome on a very, very, very, very special guest, recurring guest. He's just in a different place now. It's Atlanta Falcons head coach, Kevin Stefanski. Coach, great to see you. First question, you were unemployed for 12 days. Was it 12? Yeah, 12. I counted. Yeah. I was on the road quite a bit. I was in and out of buildings, talking to different people. But, yeah, it felt longer than 12. Yeah. Yeah. But, I mean, 12 was pretty quick.

37:47PFT Commenter:That was – you were a hot commodity. That had to feel – that had to feel good. You know what was cool, honestly, just getting in other buildings and talking to other people, like sitting down in Baltimore more with Eric DaCosta, with Ozzie Newsom, like great people, going down to Miami meeting with those guys, Tennessee, obviously with Atlanta. Like they're good people throughout this league. And to be able to be – I Zoomed with Tom Brady and the Raiders. Like the fun part for me was just getting to talk shop with other teams because there's good people everywhere. Yeah.

38:14Big Cat:Did you think that like for a moment, like maybe I just won't coach next year? Oh, yeah. Oh, without a doubt. You know, right when everything went down, I talked to my agent. I'm like, listen, I'm ready if an opportunity comes up. I'm also ready to sit out if it's not the right fit. I could go be an offensive coordinator if that's what comes down the line. I was totally open to all of it. When you start talking to everybody and then you get to Atlanta and you start talking to Matt Ryan, Matt and I are wired very similarly, just how he thought about the game and spent time with Arthur Blank and understand the resources that he has for this football team.

38:47It just – the fit was there for me.

38:49Big Cat:And he cooked you a hell of a steak. How good was the steak? Outstanding. you know i gotta give arthur credit uh he was outstanding on the grill and i thought he was kidding he's like i'm gonna go grill i'm like there's no way arthur's going to grill these steaks and sure enough here he comes back in with this i saw him he had him on this on the grill himself brought him back in i'm like that's pretty damn impressive yeah was it medium rare rare we went medium i think most of the table went medium kept it oh that's kind of easy yeah hey i wasn't asking we were at a capital grill he's got i would imagine that he has the best grill being the home depot guy right he probably has several grills it was a pretty good grill has also has good wine if you believe it so uh yeah they they treated me very nicely who initiated afterwards when you guys took the picture of the hands on the shoulders you are so obsessed with pictures yeah and and and where i am in these pictures we'll get to jim schwartz's nipples in a second that's another thing maybe i need to consult with you like in any picture maybe it's

39:44PFT Commenter:like a quick face time listen we i mean the coach's picture is coming up i would still like to give you an outfit uh my outfit that i tried to pick for you came too late i i don't know if you'd still look you're maybe we'll do it next year when you've already been know this story yeah well i think i've told it that we're there was a year i do the coach's blog every year and coach sofanski was nice enough he's like hey if you pick me out an outfit i'll try to i'll try to work it within reason within reason i did not do it within reason i think it was like brown and orange plaid i got like scooby-doo suit i got the tasmanian devil i got sent me pictures pictures or t-shirts with pictures of the old pictures the coaching pictures on them and then some of these shirts which i i'm sure were cool yeah but i'm looking at these like i can't wear this shirt so we go down there to where was this is orlando years ago so i'm like i can't do this like this shirt is i said within reason i'm gonna hurt cat big cat's feelings i'm not gonna wear it so sure enough this is a true story so it's like this it's like monday this coach's picture is on on Tuesday.

40:45And I'm like, man, I hurt Kat's feelings, not going to wear the shirt. And then the woman comes in, she says, Hey, we're going to do the picture today. I'm like, yes, I'm out of it. So I texted Dan. I'm like, Hey man, I apologize. But Hey, we took the picture a day early. I need a redemption.

40:59PFT Commenter:So the within reason I'll totally, I side with you on this. I think I stretched within reason. You did. I, but we can figure out something that I thought the one where Because I remember I printed the shirt of the old picture wearing that like an Inception move. I thought that would play. Do you think so? Yeah, I think so. For your blog it plays. Yeah. All right. Maybe we do it. I'll make a shirt of all the times that you've been in the picture. Just you. So it's just all your years. Is that within reason?

41:31Big Cat:Within my reason. You want to ingratiate yourself to Atlanta a little bit, right? I do. What about a giant airbrushed ludicrous t-shirt? That would be cool. Not a bad idea. big white tee would you turn down a kangle backwards uh i could i rock it i mean i have to check with you guys first to see if it makes bruce only wears it forwards you could be the sideways guy you could be like the artistic sideways guy what about a fedora i'm open to all of it um but i do get the sense that i have to check with my my consultant yes yes so maybe

41:58PFT Commenter:there's some i'm gonna send you some more stuff i'm gonna say i'm gonna send you some more stuff but yeah the the picture you took with we talked about it and this is not your fault but as guys we always do the arms around each other like after a golf round. Yes. And it's just – it always makes us all look awkward. Well, the other problem I have going is I got Matt Ryan, who's 6 '4", Ian Cunningham, our new GM from your Bears. Yeah. Okay, a 6 '4", former offensive lineman, 6 '4". So, you know, I'm standing next to these guys in a bunch of pictures like, not good for me. Yeah.

42:28Big Cat:Do you understand where I'm coming from? I know exactly where you're coming from. I work around a bunch of weirdos that are 6 '3 and above, and it's never a good visual. So you either have to dominate the foreground, or that's actually the best strategy is just make sure that you're in front of them for every other picture. Okay, done.

42:43PFT Commenter:By the way, I have a question about Ian Cunningham. How involved is he in the draft process, and how many picks do you owe the Bears? Ian is very involved in the draft process. I know what you're getting at. Listen, I would say this. He's a stud. He's so deserving of that role. We didn't know each other. We have a lot of mutual friends and stuff, but just watching him operate these past few weeks and seeing what he's about, man, uh he he's he's the right person for that job i'd also point out you know when you talk about pedigree he was with baltimore cut his teeth under ozzy and eric da costa goes to philly under howie then goes to chicago with ryan poles and like the what they've done there in chicago so uh he's had unbelievable experiences okay so he's very involved like so involved that we got to look into that

43:27Big Cat:as the nfl sure whatever you say what about matt ryan president of football is an awesome job I don't know how he just, everyone else is like executive vice president of football operations. He's just president of football. I feel like we have to even acknowledge his office. I haven't seen that business card yet. I'll see if I can get one for you guys. Yeah. Matt is a great guy to have as a boss. Like I love on the org chart. He's my boss. Now you're playing games. I see what you're doing. Are you vice president of football then? I'm the head coach of the football team, but I report to the president of football.

44:02Big Cat:That sounds like you might be vice president of football. Yeah. I don't know if there's a succession plan when it comes to vice presidents.

44:09PFT Commenter:If someone's kicking incapacitated, you become president of football.

44:12Big Cat:You should write that in your contract. Too late. There was a lot made of you guys both being from Philly. Is that actually a reason why you took the job? It's like, I need to be around another Philly scumbag? Oh, my God. Max is shaking his head. He doesn't like that question. Max, we could kick his ass. Yeah. yeah honestly that not the fact that he's from philly but i know what he's about i know what matt's about i you know i know the things that are important to him uh the fact that he's from philly doesn't hurt but i just knowing what the what is important to matt what's important is winning and how to put a roster together that was a huge draw makes sense i noticed this year um

44:52PFT Commenter:you started using a ploy with the media that i i genuinely loved okay you know what i'm getting at You kept on just saying in press conferences, I understand the question, and then not answering the question. It's a skill. So there was one that was – you were asked if there's a scenario where Watson plays this year, Deshaun Watson. You said, I understand the question, but I'm really focused on the week. And then there was one that was asked if Dylan Gabriel's height is a factor in failing to throw to wide receivers. You said, I understand the question, but I would not characterize it that way.

45:24That's a pretty good word salad right there.

45:26PFT Commenter:Yeah, this is – you're getting good at this. Thank you. You know what you try to do, and the truth is, and we have our PR people here, you walk away from every press conference and you're like, what was the headline? Right. Because you just don't want headlines. You want to give as much as you can without also then inserting yourself into it. So when I say I understand the question, it's more so I respect that you're asking it. I'm probably not going to answer it.

45:49Big Cat:Yeah. Has any reporter ever raised their voice at you? I'm looking forward to it. You want to try it now? You've got to call us out. If we raise our voice, you've got to call us out. Yeah, I can do it. Okay. What would you like this headline to be? If you're thinking about we're walking away from this interview, what do you want the headline to say about Kevin Stefanski? I'm waiting for you to raise your voice. Well, you haven't answered a question yet. Well, I'm just trying respectfully. I understand why you're asking the question, how you're asking it, but I'm just waiting. I understand why you're answering a question this way.

46:17Well, I understand that you understand that I understand it, but I want you to ask it in a different way.

46:21Big Cat:I feel like I'm the coach now. Are you raising your voice? is he raising his voice what do we have a decibel meter dude this is on camera it's on camera everyone heard it did you see that did you say interview with i did see it i did see it listen you think yourself like as i have the same profession as coaches like after those losses or you know sometimes that's a tough spot to be like we're human and um listen i'm sure i've had my moments where i wasn't at my best but it's such a raw time after games to be answering questions Yeah. Yeah. That's fair. I do have a tough question for you here. This is from one of our Falcons fans at the office.

46:58Big Cat:His name is Big T. He wants to know if you score a touchdown down 14 with four minutes left, do you kick the extra point or do you go for two? I think it depends. I think going for two is going to be the logical choice most times, but I think it depends on how much time is left in the game, how many possessions there might be. You know, when it comes to decisions like fourth down, like going for two, those type of things, to me when the math is overwhelming that's when you go with the math if the if it's not overwhelming then you're with your gut and you're you're gonna you're gonna decide based on where you are from a football team like in that scenario like do i like my two-point play versus them is there is there two-point defense is there low red zone defense outstanding like then all the things start to factor into yeah right he also wants to know if you will show him the new uniforms early i've seen them oh can you get just explain them to us yeah well me and matt uh ryan were in the other day and we went back it was like under lock and key with the equipment manager and uh i could explain to you but i think i'd probably get shot or would they get shot or i'd get shot who's getting one of us would get shot yeah i'll take a bullet yeah i love them okay i love them

48:03PFT Commenter:but you didn't love my fashion choices so now i gotta that's fair yeah i love them big cat won't love them yeah because they're not leopard print oh you should wear them in the coach's picture that would be sick with like pads on or just or maybe you know how they sometimes do like the at the pro bowl where they wear the uniforms but no pads on yeah that just looks totally ridiculous

48:23Big Cat:yeah coaches should go shirts and skins in the picture okay yeah that would be good you want to pick whose shirts whose skins now or yeah andy reed skins uh you can wear a shirt mike mccarthy

48:33PFT Commenter:skins yeah what i i do want to say thank you uh for getting hired so quickly because we defended you throughout this entire last year. I appreciate you guys. Kevin's fans, he's a good coach. And we got accused a lot of times from Browns fans being like, you guys are just friends with him. We actually were proven correct because you got hired right away. So thank you. You're welcome. I will say this. Browns fans are awesome. Like the dog pound. You guys have been to a game. I mean, they're incredible. So listen, losing is hard and not, you know, coming up short from where you want to be is very, very hard.

49:09I'm a former fan. Like it's very, it's never going to be when fans are upset. Like I get that. I don't, I'm not so far removed from my own fandom that I don't understand where fans are coming from. If, if their team falls up, falls short. Now me and Max, were we calling in the WIP and, and you know, bitching? Yes, we were, you know, that's just, that's just how we were raised.

49:29PFT Commenter:I wouldn't call scumbags. Was there a moment where like at the end of the season, were you like, it's over? Or did you, did you feel it? It has to be a tough thing to deal with inside the, you know. Yeah, so I was told of the decision the Thursday before the last game, which I was very appreciative of, that I could prepare my family for that and that type of thing. And listen, these are not lifetime appointments, these jobs. You know that you're not signing for your lifetime. You understand that it's a results business. So I respect that they made their decision. You know, I have no ill will towards anybody there.

50:02It's just part of the gig.

50:03PFT Commenter:Do you think, was there a small part of you that was like, Maybe they'll rehire me once you realize that you actually had two Pro Bowl quarterbacks this year? No, but I was happy to see Shador go. Happy to see Joe go. That was pretty cool.

50:16Big Cat:Yeah. Very cool. There are three things. When you got fired, we did have your back, and I think we've had your back this whole season. I think you're not a good head coach. I think you're a great head coach, and so it wasn't a surprise you got rehired. I knew there was a but in here. I said at the time that I want truth serum answers from Stefanski about three things okay so i'll give you all three things and then you have to pick one of them to be truthful about the other two what if i answer and then you have to decide what i was true which one that's a good game okay the first one is uh the whole baker saga what happened there the second is the whole deshaun thing all that stuff and then the whole shador thing drafting shador it's really the whole thing around all those three guys because i'm sure that the real story about what happened in all three of those circumstances is kind of crazy that none of us really have the full picture about but if you were to pick one of those three this is journal as journalism at its finest two things and then tell me the truth about the line first which one i understand the question i respect the question i understand why you're asking yeah i would tell you over the course of six seasons like i'm so appreciative and this is the truth of like every single player that's played for us and played for for me like the things that they put their body through you know it's incredible so i kind of how i feel about those six seasons were the things that i wish i did differently of course but i can't tell you how lucky i am to coat like those three guys you just mentioned amazing people and they did everything i asked them to do so i have zero ill will towards

51:52PFT Commenter:anybody in that organization i think it was kind of baker i think yeah it's like talking about the body the body put their body through a lot of stuff do you think all those i mean seriously

52:00Big Cat:if you're playing baker kind of backed off some of the the mean stuff he was being kind of a meanie the other day about you you should squash that by the way because baker you know baker if he's got

52:09PFT Commenter:a chip on his shoulder about something you're in the division you should squash that listen he's as competitive as they come i got to coach him for two seasons uh we get to compete against each other twice a year like we're that's that's the fun part of this business and truthfully you go against guys that you coach you go against guys that you've coached with like you go against your friends in this business, that's the fun part of NFL football is like you try to kill each other for three hours on a Sunday. That's the fun part.

52:32Big Cat:So you didn't mention how you would intentionally let Shador get sacked this preseason because you didn't want him to start. What was up with that? Why'd you do that? I will say this. I love Shador. I loved coaching him. Seriously. He's got the right makeup for this game. He was wired the right way. I wish that we won more, obviously. But if you saw how he played down the stretch, I mean, he's a young player that's getting better. I'm not coaching him anymore, so I know I have to be careful about talking about other players, but I am rooting for him. Are you intentionally trying to get white-bearded dudes in your coaching staff?

53:06Me and – Brick's got a sick white beard. Yeah, you got – Mine's blonde.

53:10PFT Commenter:Jeff Ulbrick and then Dave Huxtable, too. Hux, yeah, Hux. Yeah, so what's up with that? You got three guys with some severe, you know, salt and pepper. Where are you coming from? Are you coming from a – Well, I'm getting salt and pepper. I dye my beer sometimes, so I'm thinking I can get a job. Do you really dye it? Every now and then I'll touch it up. So back in high school, it kind of probably goes to my family, which you won't be surprised to hear, but my cousin was going gray early, and we went to CVS to go get him hair dye. My wife, when we were high school kids, and we just got black. We didn't realize that jet black was different than black, so we dyed his hair jet black, and he looked like it was like a Lego hair on top of him.

53:49So be careful the colors that you choose.

53:51PFT Commenter:Yes, that's true. By the way, speaking of that, your dad was obviously the GM for the Nets and big into basketball. Did you ever get like a trade rumor at like dinner table? Yes. So my dad was in the NBA or still is in the NBA working with the Suns now. I didn't grow up around NBA basketball. He didn't get into the NBA until I was almost in college. Okay. Now he was around college basketball growing up. He played college basketball, was a high school basketball coach. So I grew up in a basketball family. but I've never been to an NBA practice in my life.

54:21Big Cat:Wow. Yeah. Huh. This is very important. It's a little bit of advanced analytics that we put together, actually going into this last season, but you should be aware of as coach of the Falcons. I just saw a report that you guys are going to franchise tag Kyle Pitts. Sounds like that's going to be moving forward. Great player. Another Philly guy. Are you aware that in his first five seasons in the NFL, he's had one touchdown, two touchdowns, three touchdowns, four touchdowns, five touchdowns. Will you commit to next season?

54:50PFT Commenter:We actually proprietary, like, we found that out ourselves. This is incredible.

54:54Big Cat:Can you commit to him scoring exactly six touchdowns next season? But not more. No, you cannot do more. So if he gets to six early in the season, shut him down.

55:03PFT Commenter:Our argument is he's going to be a Hall of Famer if he plays 20 years. Because then he'll have a 20-year, like his 20th year in the NFL. He'll be 40 years old. He's going to score 20 touchdowns. In your 20, it's 20 touchdowns? Yeah, right. He's going up one a year. It's a great stock. I can't commit to it.

55:18Big Cat:you should because you might be just throwing it all away like what if what if he scores 10 touchdowns this season and then after that it's like all his touchdowns are gone the human body with so many like eggs it's like he only has so many touchdowns in his body it's a battery you just my concern if he gets to the number are we supposed to not put him in the red zone for the rest of the correct soft benching you can play anywhere between the 20s and the reason for this would be to just stay true to the stat yeah just because it's funny yeah it gives us like three

55:46PFT Commenter:minutes to talk about the podcast content yeah exactly are you are you like what are you thinking about when you when you take the job and you're like i get to coach bijan because he's awesome well you know i had nick chubb for a bunch of years there in cleveland and bijan just the person the way he's wired have you guys spent any time with him no man it's actually bijan we screwed that up okay well yeah i'll call whatever he wants me to call him i'll call him because he is a he's a stud human being he's a stud football player there's no shortage to the things that we can do with him you know the coaches are on the board right now just drawing up plays and it's like all right i want to touch the ball a lot he can't touch it every play you know why not well there's 17 plus games that we got to get ready for um is there is there do i have a limit is there a governor and the number of touchdowns we actually would like you to have him touch it on every play good to know okay good to know yeah he's uh but a an incredible human being yeah he's awesome electric and fun to watch.

56:42Big Cat:This might be a very dumb question, unlike the others, which are really smart. But is there anything different about coaching a left-handed quarterback? Like, you're getting yourself into a lefty situation now. Do you have to have experience coaching a lefty? Well, we had Dylan Gabriel. Dylan's a lefty. Obviously, Michael. Yeah. We talk a lot about steps for quarterbacks, and when you're going to your right or you're going to your... When you open to your left, it's going to be an even number of steps on those play actions for a righty quarterback, because he flips his feet around so we do catch ourselves sometimes talking like hey if we're running this protection and it's a lefty it's actually his dominant hand so as quarterbacks or as coaches it does take us a second to recalibrate but besides that like there's yeah the ball spins different but uh you know i haven't found a player that told me that that's hard like to to go from a righty catching to a lefty i think the guys are the spin doesn't bother have you figured out uh which which rivalry you hate the most like in the south do you already have a hatred for the saints well i know just if you talk to our fans, they're certainly the Saints is probably the top of the list.

57:44Listen, I'm coming from a division in the AFC North where those were battles, you know, every single game. I expect no different versus these three opponents. Yeah.

57:53Big Cat:Were you hesitant to take the job because you have to play shuck twice? He's a great player. We spent a lot of time with him. I respect the question, by the way. We spent a lot of time with him in the pre-draft process. Great kid, man. He, what we did with all the players that came in, we put them through an install and then went to a walkthrough. He was like a coach out of the walkthrough, like lining people up. He was very, very impressive. Yeah, you're going to get shucked up.

58:19PFT Commenter:No offense. It's just going to happen. Spell it. S-H-O-U-G-H E-D.

58:26Big Cat:Shucked. I don't know if he gets shucked up. It's just how do you respond?

58:30PFT Commenter:Yeah, right. How do you get off the mat? We actually do have a guy who got shucked up multiple times this year, Stephen Shea, who's a Bucs fan. Do you have a question for Coach Stefanski? or a warning get up here maybe a warning get up here Get on up here. Do you believe in the best availability or the best ability is availability? It's a bad question. Great question. It's a follow up. It's a, you know, it's a I'm ready for it. It's a classic one. I was in Minnesota all those years and all there was a lot of talk about those purple people eaters. Those guys never missed a game and, you know, think about the Hall of Famers.

59:03So, yeah, it is important.

59:05PFT Commenter:As head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, you should know that Chick-fil-A was open for two games last year. and while the season isn't out, projected low availability for this coming season. My last question is a yes or no.

59:16Big Cat:Wait, what? Did you have a stroke?

59:18PFT Commenter:Yeah. What was that, Steven? What the hell just happened? What was the setup? I just wanted to see if he was aware of the Chick-fil-A situation. A lot of people are... You're talking about Thursday and Monday night games? Yes. They were open two games last year. Okay. As the head coach of the Falcons, you should be aware of a problem in the building. So you're breaking news in that they're going to play most of their games on Sundays. Is he aware of the Chick-fil-A problem? I'm aware that they're closed on Sundays, yeah.

59:44Big Cat:Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays, yeah. Wow. Are you suggesting that they turn their back on their religious beliefs? I mean, you could do something about that. I'm sure the fans would appreciate that.

59:54PFT Commenter:Did you test that question on anyone?

59:55Big Cat:No, I didn't.

59:56PFT Commenter:Okay, yeah, we should have tested it. There needs to be a screening process for this. We drove down here for three hours. You could have thrown me that one, so I could have been like, hey, let's go back to the drawing board. I love the setup, though. The setup question. I have just the yes or no question. And I am a Buccaneers fan, so I'm loyal to Baker Mayfield.

1:00:15PFT Commenter:Stephen, for the podcast, is there Stephen is head-to-toe in Bucs gear right now? Yeah. 2022, offseason for the Browns, obviously a big change. Yes or no, would you, going back in time, would you want to do things differently? You guys obviously acquired Deshaun Watson, got rid of Baker Mayfield. Yeah, I respect the question and understand why you're asking it. And I'm not going to give you a yes or no. I would tell you all those decisions that were made, you learn from all of them. And those are tough decisions that are made for rosters and those type of things. But can't change the past. Only going to focus on the future.

1:00:47How is that? Damn. He's good.

1:00:49Big Cat:He's good.

1:00:50PFT Commenter:He's good.

1:00:51Big Cat:This is the old question that we used to ask everybody. I haven't had it for a while. Who's the most famous person on your cell phone? Man. I don't know. You know, it's probably somebody from the football circles that we all run in. The most famous, can I answer that in a different way? Sure. Condoleezza Rice was a. She almost took your job. Yeah. Well, she's a huge Browns fan and she grew up a huge fan of the Browns and Jim Brown in particular. So I was very lucky to develop a relationship with her from being the Browns coach. Now she's part owner of the Broncos. Yeah. So she's not with the Browns anymore, but she's somebody that I can email, I guess, if that counts.

1:01:30Big Cat:It's kind of crazy that she was rumored to have the job before you. She probably would do great. I have zero doubt in my mind that she would do great at anything she tried. As a head football coach in the NFL. I have zero doubt that she would succeed in anything she does. What about Secretary of State? Would she succeed at it? Yeah. Yes. Some people would disagree. The whole Iraq war thing wasn't great. As long as she's not allowed to invade a country. She's excellent. She's a very intelligent person. when she's capable of doing anything.

1:02:02PFT Commenter:All right, I got another famous person question. St. Joe's Prep, where you went to high school, a lot of famous alum. Rank these four people in terms of their rapping ability. Marvin Harrison Jr., DeAndre Swift, Kevin Stefanski, Adam Frone. Roan won. Oh, there we go. That's all I wanted. Okay, you don't have to. Whoever else you said, two and three, me four. All right, good. Respect on Roan. He beat out Marvin Harrison Jr. So I have three brothers. My older brother didn't go to St. Joe's. I went to Archbishop Carroll. Then my two younger brothers went to St. Joe's, so they know Adam. Yeah, yeah.

1:02:36PFT Commenter:And Bob Lang. Bullet Bob Lang. Bob Lang. Just saw him. The best.

1:02:39Big Cat:Is he a rapper too?

1:02:40PFT Commenter:Yeah, he's a rapper. He's actually probably the best rapper. Probably the best rapper.

1:02:44Big Cat:Rowan is like the most talented person that we work with. Yes. It's kind of crazy. Yeah. All the stuff he's good at. Can you describe your football philosophy to us, offensive philosophy? Score a lot of points and control the football. Control the game by controlling the football. I do believe in this day and age, and you guys talked to Mike McDonald, and the defensive coaches are so damn good in this league. You have to be able to pivot week to week because a guy like Mike is going to go into a game or some of these defensive coaches are going to say, we're going to take away what you do best.

1:03:16And as a system or as a coach with an offensive system, you better be able to pivot into something. You better have a curveball to your fastball.

1:03:24Big Cat:He did say that great defense beats great offense. Do you agree with that? Well, I'm the head coach of the team. I'm not the offensive head coach. So I can't lose. When the offense plays well, it's good for me. When the defense plays well, it's good for me. Like at practice, I don't have a – I'm rooting for both sides.

1:03:41PFT Commenter:Yeah. Okay. You were the head coach of the all-time sack record. How cool was that for Myles Garrett in week 18? Incredible. Incredible. That whole – just that whole season – and I don't – I've tried to make this point, and I don't know if people get this. the degree of difficulty to which he's doing that is insane because every team goes into those games saying we can't let him wreck the game and he still does it's like it doesn't compute and when you see they put a tight end over there to chip him now we play him this year so i have to be careful and saying too much here but they chip him they slide to him they put a running back over there the ball comes out quick we saw it in certain games where it was to the detriment of the offense because they changed how they played because of having miles out there to still do to To still get it done, to still get the record with all that against him was incredible.

1:04:28PFT Commenter:Yeah. I know you can't talk about players on other teams, but Jameis is the best. I love Jameis. I can talk about Jameis. Okay. I mean, he should be a starter. I love the person. He was so good to me, to our team, to that meeting room. I mean, the energy that he brings every single day. And also what I appreciate about Jameis is he's been in so many different systems. So the way he sees the game, he's great both as a starter, but as a backup to have tips for young guys and just the coaching points that he's had over the course of his career. Think about, you know, he came in, top pick, had some struggles, bounced back.

1:05:03I mean, I've seen him play it at such a high level even recently. Yeah. But I love the person. That snow game was incredible. The best. That was crazy. The first half, no snow. Yeah. Second half, the game, as you're watching it, you're having a hard time seeing it. You know, our coaches up in the booth, they were like useless in the second half. They're like, 32-yard line, question mark? They didn't know where the ball was. They're like, I think it's on the left hash. They couldn't tell. It was incredible.

1:05:26Big Cat:Yeah, he is the best. I want to see Jameis starting somewhere at some point. The league deserves it. The fans deserve it. We've had a debate about your history on this show in the past. Did you win a playoff game? I'll let you guys debate that one. Well, we have. It's tough.

1:05:43PFT Commenter:I think you want a playoff game similar to I won multiple national championships. championships playing NCAA 14. I also both did in our basements. Yeah. Fair. Um, that experience, man, that was, I don't ever want to do that again.

1:05:58Big Cat:No. Uh, shoot. Great question. Uh, I don't remember. We have find that person. Yeah. Yeah. That was, that was brutal. Um, but talk about control. Like as a coach, you have so much control, you're calling plays or you're making decisions. Then that leaves you and you're just watching the, your team play. Now you script the first 15 you put the game plan together all those type of things but once you get to i remember there's a moment in the third quarter alex van pelt who's our quarterback coach in atlanta was calling plays that night um and i i knew i could like see his i could see his brain working he got to a screen late in the game and i i was kind of staring at it on my call sheet and avp and i were like thinking about the same thing he called the screen nick chubb next thing you know 50 yards you know to to for a touchdown it was like man that i as fun as that moment was that was

1:06:44PFT Commenter:excruciating that experience all right i think you want to play off game yeah because you sounds like you like basically implanted it i wish i had that ability i didn't have that ability but i have a have i'm surrounded by great coaches but you would have also called the screen who knows avp

1:06:59Big Cat:should get all the credit for that okay were you uh did you have like a different stream down in the basement when you were watching so this is a true story i uh at some point i'm downstairs in the basement my wife is like leaving food for me at the top of the stairs like i'm in prison and I close on the door. My kids are upstairs. And at some point during the pregame, I must have got up to use the restroom. I pressed pause on the TV. So I come back and I press pause. Don't think of it. Well, here we go. First play of the game. They have the ball. Roethlisberger's in shotgun. And they're like breaking the huddle.

1:07:30And I hear all hell breaking loose upstairs as they're breaking the huddle on my feed. And I hear my son scream. I'm like, what the hell just happened? I'm like, did he throw an intercept? Now I'm like, oh, shit, I'm behind. I'm like, he must have thrown an interception. I see the ball go over his head, but I was tipped off by my kids upstairs. Oh, that's brutal.

1:07:46Big Cat:Spoiled on your own playoff game. We deal with that sometimes in the gambling cave.

1:07:49PFT Commenter:Yeah. We'll hear like rogue screams from the other side of the office. Why? Because the feed's not matching up? Yeah, there's a couple that aren't matched up. And we'll be like, what just happened? So we banned that in our office. Yeah, it's got to have respect. You have to be uniform across the board.

1:08:03Big Cat:Did you reach out to Mike Tomlin after the season? I did. Were you like, hey, tough business. Not a lifetime appointment, apparently. That's a good line. So Mike T and I go way back. He was a defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings when I was at Minnesota as a young coach. So loved competing against Mike all those years. A good friend. So I'm rooting for him for whatever comes next. Yeah. I mean, it was kind of crazy what happened to that division. Yeah. Zach's the last man standing. Last man standing. Did you reach out to him? Were you like, hey, man, you might be next? Just like, don't get too comfortable.

1:08:37No, Zach's great. No, that is the fun part. like you try to kill each other on Sundays, but Harbs, great dude. Mike T, great dude. Zach, great guy. I mean, like we all – you're friends outside of this building, but you're outside of the moment, but it doesn't change the fact that you're trying to kill them for three hours. Yeah.

1:08:54PFT Commenter:Yeah. Have I pitched you the fake punt punt? Probably, but let's do it again. No, you know what? I don't respect that answer. He doesn't want to hear it. He doesn't want to hear it. I don't want it. I don't want it. He doesn't want it.

1:09:05Big Cat:Can I interest you in downfield laterals? Yes. You love the downfield. I know, yeah. Kelsey was built. You need him on your team just to get in the open field and just constantly pitch it. It works. I would actually say that. Did you play rugby? I did, yeah. The way the Falcons roster all decade, no big deal. The way the Falcons roster is constructed right now, you might be the most ready team to fully embrace the downfield lateral movement. Okay. Like just get the ball to Bajon Moore. And if he has the ball, is he supposed to pitch it? Yeah. He can hit Drake. He can hit Kyle. you can throw it back to Michael.

1:09:41Big Cat:Kirk Cousins would be great running the downfield lateral offense. But, yeah, you guys have so many good playmakers. I feel like you could really take advantage of that. Yeah, I don't know that we're going to go. I think we have some other things we're going to try and get good at. I don't know that the downfield lateral is going to be one of them. Come on, fake punt punt.

1:09:57PFT Commenter:You pretend that you're going to do a fake punt, and then you punt. They never see it coming. How about the one? Did you guys see the kid? It was high school where they threw it on the punt. they threw it underhand and the guy down they went down and caught the ball so it was a pass oh yeah yeah maybe that one okay but seriously field positions are very important if you fake the punt everyone comes up so when you're faking are you faking the run yeah your punter kind of runs or like gets you know gets ready to throw and then everyone comes up and then he punts okay

1:10:26Big Cat:yeah they never expect it all right it always ends in a punt i don't think you fully understand No, I don't think you get the fake punt position. Please, so I'm a little scarred. First game of my head coaching career at the Baltimore Ravens, okay? We faked a punt in the first quarter, I think, of the game. I don't know if it was the first. It didn't work. Yeah. I haven't faked one since. Oh. So you're afraid of fake punts now. I have some scars. You have some cocoa butter for me. I'm scarred up. But no one's expecting it now, especially the fake punt punt. This is actually a great way to fake a punt because you end up punting anyways.

1:10:59PFT Commenter:Yeah, you can get yourself used to it. So it's kind of like a gateway drug to a fake punt. You're easing yourself in. Yeah. Wait, do you have it? So you did it the first time, and you've never called it again, but don't you have checks that your punter could potentially? Maybe we do. So you've never attempted another fake punt? We have not attempted another fake punt. Wow. That's kind of crazy. First game as a head coach, it didn't work. Why did you do it the first game? That was stupid. It was. It was. It was stupid. That's a result.

1:11:31Big Cat:I'm going to take the league by storm. I respect how you feel about that, Dan, and I'll take that into account. Yeah, we have a guy that's trying out. Actually, he's a great college center. He played at Indiana, Mike Kadick. I just want you to take a look at his pass set. Yeah. Mike Kadick. Center? Yes, sir. Okay. What kind of line calls can you make for me? On rocket laser, you need a flip. Okay. Whatever you need. Max, you're going to care about it. What did you use on a 5-0? What was your tap the head? Well, that was for six minutes. Six man. Yeah. I'm not going to – yeah. Poker. Poker. Five man was just 5-0-5-0 with single to the back.

1:12:07Is this riveting stuff?

1:12:08Big Cat:Yeah, it's awesome. For me, it is. For me, it is. Yeah. That's it. 6-0-3-1, 315 pounds, started 50 games at Indiana University. Make a call for me before you –

1:12:18PFT Commenter:Okay, so are we in six man? Yeah, we're in six man. So what do you – is there any pressure? We've got will free safety. Are they rotation? Yeah, opposite the call. Yeah. Okay, so the quarterback will – at IU, quarterback will make the flip call for hando. All right, flip. So we got 48, the mic. Hey, laser, laser, laser. White 80. Oh, just pause, pause, pause. They're going to run a TT twist too. How much time do you think we have? There's a play clock, guys. White 80, shut up. Switch. It's actually pretty good. I like the hands to be a little bit higher when you come up and just get them up. Yeah, just more power from the ground up.

1:12:53PFT Commenter:I was always a grab. I was always a grab guy. And snatch him. Snatch guy. Yeah. One arm and then catch the other. Can we pull you in the run game? Yeah, I would pull as a center. She had a great block in the college football playoff against Notre Dame a couple years ago. Did you guys win that game? I got a breath. No, he lost. He blocked for Michael Penix. Yeah, I did. Yeah. So he's ready to go. Okay. Did Michael ever take a snap from under center with you? Yes. Okay. There you go. So his hands were opposite, I think. Yeah, he was left hand on top. That's exactly right. And I'm a center that likes the guys get right up in there, like balls on the knuckles.

1:13:27so it's actually a great fit for michael penix coach says that gets your hands it's you know want that that finger in the center's notch is the term he uses the notch i'm not sure what that means but he's like right in the center's notch yeah i mean that's important you could probably

1:13:40Big Cat:blindfold michael penix have him get under kadik and he'd be able to tell you like a taste test this is my guy yeah that's my guy feels like home cooking i know it i know it oh man all right well

1:13:50PFT Commenter:coach this has been awesome i got one last question for you roback question r-h-o-b-a-c-k.com Promo code TAKE. PFT's wearing some Roback right now. Looks great. They got everything. Q-zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts. Roback.com, promo code TAKE. You want to give us a prediction on the season? I'm not in the prediction business. I leave that to you guys. But I will say this. 10 and 7. I leave that to you guys. You didn't like 10 and 7. I feel very strongly about the coaches we have, the players that we have, and that we're adding. But we will keep our focus on what's in front of us.

1:14:24Big Cat:I like that. At some point, would it get insulting to win another Coach of the Year title? Yeah, you got two. That's not – listen, there's hardware I'm interested in. That's not it.

1:14:33PFT Commenter:Actually, you're an incredible trivia question. This coach won two Coach of the Year titles and has never won a playoff game. Holy shit. Didn't we just say that I did? You just raised your voice at us, dude. Don't raise your voice. It's on camera, dude. Was it raised? Chill out. Damn it. I made it this far. All right, I'm sending you some new shirts. We're going to try to get it. Within reason. Within reason. and a Kangol, maybe a Fedora. What about a chain wallet? I'm not opposed to it. I'm not opposed to it. Hey, everything comes back. What about rollerblades?

1:15:07Big Cat:Let's get weird. Let's go. JNCOs would be awesome in the picture. All right. Some big-ass cargo shorts. The more you say within reason, by the way, the more unreasonable that comes. Yeah, yeah.

1:15:18PFT Commenter:All right, well, Coach, you're the best. Thank you so much. Appreciate you guys.

1:15:22Big Cat:Kevin Stefanski was brought to you by BetterHelp. Sometimes it can feel like everyone else has it all together in their love lives, whether married, dating, or single. The truth is most of us are still figuring it out and finding our way. And no matter where you are in your romantic journey, therapy can help you find your way to help you determine what you want, what feels heavy, how you can take some pressure off yourself. BetterHelp does the initial matching work for you so you can focus on all your therapy goals. A short questionnaire helps identify your needs, your preferences, and our 12-plus years of experience and industry-leading match fulfillment rate means we typically get it right the first time.

1:15:54Big Cat:If you aren't happy with your match, switch to a different therapist at any time from any of our tailored recommendations. Sign up and get 10 % off. BetterHelp.com slash PMT. That's BetterHelp.com slash PMT. And Kevin Stefanski was also brought to you by Microsoft Copilot. We got to tell you something that helps people focus on what's most important. That's Microsoft 365 Copilot. The world moves fast. Your workday moves even faster. You're pitching products, drafting reports, analyzing data. Microsoft 365 Copilot is your AI assistant for work. It's built into Word, built right into Excel, built into PowerPoint, and other of Microsoft 365 apps that you use, helping you quickly write, analyze, create, and summarize so you can cut through clutter and clear a path to all your best work.

1:16:41Big Cat:Learn more at Microsoft.com slash M365 Copilot. It's Microsoft.com slash M365 Copilot. And now, here is Adam Schefter.

1:16:53PFT Commenter:okay as is tradition we welcome on a very very very very very special guest recurring guest i think this is like our seventh year in a row doing it at the combine but we have broken the tradition we have what i have yeah usually i bat lead off yes now i'm in the nine hole yes adam schepter's here he had to he was having a hell of a time with the flights but he's here he came straight from the airport to our interview that's how much we love him he loves us also thank you for the wonderful christmas gift great fleece this year holiday gift incredible do you like the fleece or not i like the fleece i wore the fleece you're a massive cashmere guy well you know what it's this company i could give them a shout out cashware okay right yeah so what happened was one year i went to the espies and it was probably the only time i've been invited to the espies and they bring it to this gifting suite and they gave me this robe and i brought it home for my wife and she like she loves it and all of a sudden every time we're ordering gifts for people i'm gonna call cashware so she calls them so blankets we got blankets yeah so she's like why don't you do the three-quarter zip or the quarter zip or whatever the hell it is so that's what we did and uh great company out in arizona mary glecker the owner awesome job

1:18:08Big Cat:all right shout out the stuff that i have in my house is courtesy of adam shafton Yeah. Courtesy of cashware. Not me. Of cashware.

1:18:16PFT Commenter:Okay, so we're at the Combine. Let's start from the top. Let's start with what's the biggest story in your mind that you're going to be digging after or talking about? Digging is a bad word for me this week. Okay, yeah, that's true. Digging is a bad word. You're in stuff. I just dug out my driveway for two straight days to get here. Yeah. And look, I think we always go to the quarterbacks.

1:18:38Big Cat:Andy Dalton. It's always about the quarterbacks. Andy Dalton. Massive news. You just broke it. You did. On the way, were you in the car on the way here? I was on the way here. Andy Dalton is generating a lot of buzz. Does that bum you out when you're like,

1:18:49PFT Commenter:I have to tweet that the Panthers are getting calls about Andy Dalton? Because I saw it and I was like, oh, okay. Yeah, well, listen, there's a lot of that stuff. That's fine. That would bum me out a little bit. Not all of them can be hitters, and that one certainly is not. Yeah, well, I thought that one sent reverberations around the NFL stratosphere, but I guess it didn't. Yeah. Sometimes you got to eat your vegetables, right? Yeah. It can't all be T-bones. Right. Yeah, my dad said, you know, yeah, exactly. You can't have all home run hitters. You got to have some singles hitters. Some people play defense.

1:19:17And Andy Dalton. I don't think that's even a single. It was a single. I don't think that's a single. It was a bunch. Take one for the team, Andy.

1:19:23Big Cat:Yeah. He's a good guy. He's a great guy. We love Andy. And by the way, I think he'll end up in an interesting place. It may not get you going, but maybe where he winds up may get you going.

1:19:31PFT Commenter:Okay. Oh. Is he going to – you think he's going to come back to Chicago? Oh, I hadn't thought about that one. But if they move on from Tyson to Beijing – Yeah, they trade Tyson Bajan, need a backup? No, but like he worked with Frank Reich in Carolina. Jets. And there's the perpetual team that's out there, the Minnesota Vikings. Like that would make a – he'd be the perfect guy for J.J. McCarthy. He looks like a Viking. Perfect guy for J.J. McCarthy. You know what he'd be perfect for too is the Colts moving off from Daniel Jones and being like we got to keep the stretch of doing a different starting quarterback every year.

1:20:03PFT Commenter:Andy Dalton would fit in perfectly. Kirk Cousins as well, yeah. We could turn this into the Andy Dalton podcast and see how he would fit in each particular city with a quarterback opening.

1:20:12Big Cat:That would be a lot of fun. Just based on vibes, I could see him, yeah, as a Minnesota Viking. I could see him as a Jet, too. Are you thinking Jets? I could see both those places. I kind of like the Vikings. Okay. Then where's Kirk going to go? You know, I don't know that Minnesota ever was very viable for Kirk. I know people have made that connection, and it could happen. That'll be an option. but I didn't get the sense that that was like top of the list like a lot of people would think it would be you you hear he's being released on the first day of the league year has a house in Minnesota fits in well with the organization that was my thought initially at the Super Bowl when I was talking to some people and I thought Kirk Cousins Minnesota but I didn't get the sense it's going to wind up as Kirk Cousins Minnesota and we'll see how the other options for Kirk

1:21:00PFT Commenter:cousins if you had to guess just throw out some names well i mean there's always a college in but mac jones is there i don't think they're gonna trade mac jones okay yeah that's what i'm saying they just have not they like him too much and brock purdy runs around he's an active guy and he's missed some time and when brock purdy missed time mac was able to step right in yeah and the offense hummed along i think they really like mac jones too much okay oh to move off of right now. Oh, too much. Maybe a soft benching of Mac Jones?

1:21:32Big Cat:A soft benching of Brock Purdy?

1:21:33PFT Commenter:No. You mean Brock Purdy, yeah. They love Brock Purdy, too. Two quarterbacks they love.

1:21:38Big Cat:But the way you just said it, like, too much. Too much. It sounds like Adam Schefter's saying quarterback controversy in San Francisco. Too much. Absolutely. Stop the presses. Quarterback controversy. Soft benching for Brock. No. They just like both those quarterbacks. I got a city I'll throw out there. Phoenix. What about the Cardinals for old Kirky? well they need some kind of veteran right there and we don't think we don't think kyler will be back there by the way lunch just arrived lunch just arrived yes bags in the background that's my cater to the wrong location and so listen we got big boys we got to eat um well we got arizona cleveland the jets miami there could be some teams that need backups after they move on from their backups, Minnesota.

1:22:27I don't know where Kirk is going to go.

1:22:29PFT Commenter:What is Miami going to have to do to get rid of Tua? Are they going to have to trade a pick with Tua? First of all, I don't think he'll wind up being traded. I know they said all options are on the table, but the contract is so large and there's so much money involved. I think that's a very difficult contract. I think they probably just have to wind up releasing him. The question is, how do you want to take your medicine? You want to take it all at once, one year,$99.1 million, the largest cap it in NFL history. You want to spread it out and make them post-June 1. Like, to me, I haven't seen their books for this and next year.

1:23:05They got some smart people there doing that, but I would just take all my medicine.

1:23:08PFT Commenter:Yeah. All at once. Yeah, especially because you're rebuilding. You got a new coach, you're rebuilding. Like, just eat it for one year, maybe be bad for one year, and then you can try to find your next quarterback. And not only that, not only eat it this year, if your team is struggling and you have a new head coach and a new GM and you're going to be patient with them, now you're set up to have a great pick in the 2027 draft that supposedly is going to be loaded with a lot of quarterbacks. So I take all my medicine all at once, if it were me. I think it's a tough contract to trade. If they were able to find a way to trade it, it would be a Brock Osweiler type.

1:23:40I don't even see it happening. I don't see it happening.

1:23:43Big Cat:Can we get ahead of a story that might happen a year from now? Oh, I like this. Because you're talking about next year's draft, right? I feel like this year in the draft, we all kind of know it's going to be Mendoza. Right. He's going to go number one. What's interesting to me. But you never know a year in advance who that guy's going to be a year out. But I like to write a little bit of like look into the future crystal ball fan fiction. So just like a fun prediction for next year. Did you say crystal ball or crystal ball? Crystal ball. Okay. Crystal ball fan fiction. next year we could have a Manning going first overall in the draft is this Manning do you think this Manning would be comfortable going to any team in the NFL or would this Manning pull a Manning like we've seen in the past for next year we got Dante Moore Arch Manning Brendan Sorsby Lenora Sellers, Trinidad Chambliss he's probably going to go back for another Julian Sane, CJ Carr, Sam Levitt, UCLA's quarterback, Nico Lamaleva.

1:24:46You got it. I'm a leader, yeah. Okay. And John Mateer. I like John Mateer. There are a lot of guys next year.

1:24:56And usually, people are trying to peg the quarterbacks a year out, and there are always guys that rise up, like you never would have seen Cam Ward go number one, you never would have seen Fernando Mendoza go number one, and there are guys that slide down. See Shador Sanders last year.

1:25:11PFT Commenter:Cade Klubnick was, you know, when he started at Clemson, everyone was like, he's going to be the next guy. Drew Allo was going to be a top 10 pick this year, right, initially, a lot of people thought. Yep. So it's kind of fool's gold rating them a year out, but it certainly seems like there are a hell of a lot of good quarterbacks in 27, and if I were a team and I had to swallow some money, I'd want to get myself in position to get one of those quarterbacks, especially if I were in a division with Josh Allen and Drake May. Yeah. And the Jets have the first-round corner next year anyway. They do.

1:25:42That's true. So you've got to do something to get in there. That's true.

1:25:44Big Cat:But do you think that the Mannings would do the power play like they did last time? Or is that just strictly like an anti-chargers bias that they have? I think at that point that was an anti-charger bias. Yeah. I think he didn't want to see him go to that organization. Arch Manning's a very smart guy. they know the reputations of certain organizations at that time he did not like what he heard at that time yeah yeah and and he was looking out for his son we can have that conversation in a year it's a long ways in the future but you like you talked about the jets uh how they're in good position this year next uh memes is very curious though i'm sure because he was out of the room when you first talked about possibly andy dalton to the jets do the jets have something else cooking like Can we expect the Jets to be active?

1:26:30Big Cat:Maybe than Andy Dalton?

1:26:31PFT Commenter:Yeah, what's bigger than Andy Dalton? You know, here's the thing. Justin Fields is still on the roster. He is. Right? Tyrod Taylor's still on the roster, right? He is, yeah. I mean, again, we've got this group of teams all in the market. Only one of them is going to get Malik Willis. And Malik Willis is the top four-aging quarterback this year. The crown jewel. The crown jewel. I just think it's a tough year to be in the quarterback market, and it's hard to predict how that's going to shake out when there aren't a whole lot of options out there. The demand greatly exceeds the supply, as usual.

1:27:12PFT Commenter:I want to do a favor for you. Okay, you ready for this? Yeah. Because we love you so much. Yeah, good. I'm going to give you some breaking news. Do you want some breaking news? Always love breaking news. Okay, here's some breaking news. And this is factual. We can be backed up by multiple people in this room. John Spitek, Michigan man. Yep. Raiders GM had a conversation today about Max Crosby and potentially trading him. That's big news. Is that breaking news?

1:27:38Big Cat:Can I add on to that? Per PMT?

1:27:40PFT Commenter:Well, we actually were the ones who had the conversation with him and we were just pitching him fake trades. So that is the conversation. Well, that's big. I was willing to trade him Tyson Bajan in a first rounder for Max Crosby. He laughed at me. He actually didn't even respond. So John Spitek, let me correct that. John Spitek laughed at trade talks about Max Crosby. Or John Spitek was listening to trade offers. He was. He technically was. On Wednesday for Max Crosby. We kind of like cornered him and made him listen. You can tweet that. That would be accurate. He was listening to trade offers.

1:28:15Big Cat:I say that he's fielding offers because there was a competitor's offer that got put on the table that he did not turn down. The commander's offer? The commander's offer something? An unnamed team, they heard that obviously Max Crosby was involved in conversations trade-wise, and another unnamed team offered Deron Payne and a first-round pick for Max Crosby.

1:28:36PFT Commenter:And there was a third team. It was an aggressive bidding war. Let me guess. New England. No, it was actually. It was Tampa. Tampa came over the top and said, we actually have a better pick than the Bears. I think they offered the 15th pick and a third, which is a laughable offer.

1:28:54Big Cat:And I think Stephen Che's next child will be named Max with two X's. Yes. And I'm just surprised that Hank didn't get in here. No, he wasn't there. No. I don't know where. He would have gotten in. Resting on his laurels after a Super Bowl appearance. He felt like the team is in the right direction and didn't need to do much. Also, Spitek had a conversation with people regarding Fernando Mendoza's college center, who had nothing but glowing things to say about Mendoza being one of the boys.

1:29:25PFT Commenter:So, John Spitek's doing his due diligence on Fernando Mendoza and doing his background check, where we just said - Have you met Mendoza yet? Yes, right? We have. Yeah, I have. But we basically, this conversation was simply, hey, you see that fat guy over there? That was the center before Mendoza came, but he helped recruit him, said he's a good dude. One of the boys. So that was the entire conversation. So the Raiders are looking at Mendoza and his center while listening to trade offers for Max Crosby. Not the center. They're not looking at the center. The Raiders have been made aware that Mendoza's a good dude per reports of another good dude, Mike Cadek.

1:29:59I could have reported that at the Super Bowl. I could have reported that at the Super Bowl because I happened to spend about 20 minutes with Mendoza. What was that like? I thought he was a very impressive kid. Are you smitten? Am I Smith? You seem like you really like Mendoza.

1:30:14Big Cat:Are you going to draft him? My daughter is Smith with him.

1:30:16PFT Commenter:How many flippings did he drop? Did he drop any flippings? No, no. Okay. But he was a very engaging, personable young man. Very polite. Very nice. Very impressive. So that was relayed to the Raiders. That kid was pretty impressive. They're doing their background research. Yeah, exactly.

1:30:38Big Cat:No character concerns with Mendoza per us and you. Correct. Confirmed. Confirmed.

1:30:46PFT Commenter:Since we do this every— Is this like you're bolting your phones? So either you're getting more texts about Max Crosby trade talks, or you have a list of questions to fire off for me.

1:30:54Big Cat:I do have—we've been playing nice, but we do have to— I don't have it. Do our year-end review that we like to do with Schefter. Yeah. Congrats on breaking the Pope news. That was fun. Was it fun? Yeah. With the white smoke? Yeah. Did you get caught up in the conclave and all that? I was waiting for the announcement. I had people stationed outside the Vatican, and they were able to come through and provide me the information I needed to get that news out as fast as I possibly could. Yeah. I think a lot of people - I sent it out on the ESPN alert system. I know. People got alerts on their phones.

1:31:30Big Cat:Yeah. Like, per Adam Schefter, there's a new post. Taylor Swiss engagement and Travis Kelce's engagement as well. That's pretty good. Yeah. A lot of people are saying, I didn't expect to be getting the news of their engagement on the ESPN alert. So you're also doing golf reporting now, too. Oh, I love that. Is there any, like, can anyone else have a job? Or do you just want to do everyone's job for them? Well, if Mike Tirico is going to do everything and do the Super Bowl and fly the Olympics. True. And we've got all kinds of people who are doing all kinds of things.

1:31:58PFT Commenter:NBA Johnny, Johnny Fanta. Yeah. He's doing college and NBA. Johnny Fanta, actually, I emceed a charity event for this company the last few years. And this year was the first year in a few years that I didn't get to emcee at BTIG in New York City. And I'm like, you don't need me? Like, no, you can come. But John Fanta is emceeing it. Well, that was probably because John Fanta was like, I can deliver you Kevin Willard at this event. So that was it.

1:32:21Big Cat:Went to his wedding. That's how it goes. Have you been to any coaches' weddings?

1:32:27Big Cat:Good question.

1:32:28PFT Commenter:Yeah, that's a yes. That's a yes. This is a yes. This is 100 % a yes.

1:32:31Big Cat:Currently, this is a yes.

1:32:33PFT Commenter:You're going to get us on technicality, not say current coaches or not head coaches, but you have. I've been to weddings of people related to coaches. That's what I was thinking.

1:32:45Big Cat:Okay. Yeah. What? Yeah. Who could that be? Weddings of people who are related to coaches. Right, like children of head coaches.

1:32:53PFT Commenter:Oh, got it. I've been to their weddings. Steve Belichick. Do you think you'll be invited to Bill and Jordan's wedding? I hadn't thought about that. Are they secret married? I'm unaware of that. Is that a secret that you would keep? Would you sit on that if you had that information? That would be pretty big information, right? That would rival the Pope. Yeah. Big time. Bigger than the Pope. It would be like Travis. Jordan is our Pope. Yeah. It would be like Travis and Taylor getting engaged. Same kind of thing. All right. So we're doing the year in review. Oh, yeah. Usual year in review. Okay. What's next?

1:33:26PFT Commenter:You were kind of right about Sharan more, but also very wrong. Yeah. because you, I do think there were people out to get him at Michigan when you had that report, but they kind of were right out to get him because he was fucking an assistant and going crazy. Well, that was obviously a very serious situation with serious allegations. Oh, you're doing a serious voice. And a lot of emotions. I'm just being honest with you. Yeah, no, no, this is smart of you. Am I wrong? No, no, make it serious. You're right. But you were right and wrong. That's fine. There were people out to get him, but they should have been out to get him harder.

1:34:04Well, I understand that point of view. Yeah, okay.

1:34:06PFT Commenter:All right. Thank you. All right. We'll close the book on Sherron Moore.

1:34:09Big Cat:There's an end of a very serious conversation about Sherron Moore. Yeah, yeah. But as a Michigan man, do you feel like this is a bad time to be a Michigan man?

1:34:18PFT Commenter:Institutional chaos is what people are saying.

1:34:20Big Cat:Tough year to be a Michigan man. That all sorts of organizations or sports teams go through trying times, and then it's how they come out of that. And I have never met Kyle Winningham, but by all accounts, from everybody I've spoken to, they love this guy. He's a good dude. Great coach. And the funny thing is, is back in the day, somebody texted me about him. Like, it was in early December, and they're like, hey, can you mention something to somebody in Michigan about Kyle Winningham? And they sent me like this. all these accomplishments and i went into sunday countdown and alex smith was there i'm like hey what do you think of kyle winning him he's like love that guy love that guy i'm like you agree with all this like somebody sent me like bullet points of this guy he's like guys are outstanding and since they've hired him uh i think it's it sounds like it's gone great i've never met the guy the interesting part to me also is if the sharon moore situation had unfolded a week earlier a couple weeks earlier, I wonder if they would have been in on Matt Campbell.

1:35:23And if it unfolded two weeks later, I wonder if they would have been on Kalen DeBoer because they lost the day before the transfer portal opened on January 2nd. So it's set up perfectly for Kyle Winningham and the people in Ann Arbor are really excited about it.

1:35:39PFT Commenter:Yeah, I mean, you guys upgraded a coach. Just on the basis that I don't think Kyle Winningham will be DMing chicks during halftime of the Ohio State game. Kyle Winningham, to use your phrase, is a serious dude. He's a serious dude. You know what? He might be more Michigan man than you. That wouldn't surprise me. That's probably facts. He's certainly more serious than I am. Yes.

1:35:58Big Cat:This is a game called, would you like to correct this tweet, Adam Shafter? We play this game with everybody. Before you even say it, let me just say this. Can we count up in a given year how many tweets there are? Like the ratio of tweets that you don't have to correct? Yeah. Go ahead. What did I have to correct? Well, here's a tweet. 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey is believed to be the first player in NFL history to be a finalist for MVP, Offensive Player of the Year, and Comeback Player of the Year, all in the same season. I forgot about Joe Burrow the year before. You forgot about Joe Burrow.

1:36:30It just happened. We just had Joe Burrow. You forgot about Joe Burrow.

1:36:32Big Cat:Was there anybody else or was it just Joe Burrow? I think there might have been somebody else, but you know what? I called around a couple of people like, is there anybody else? They're like, the NFL did not keep that stat. They haven't kept that. So if you say believe to be, then it's believe to be. Believe to be by you. believed to be but it turned out that it was unbelievable it's not yeah it was very temporarily believed that he was exactly i feel like i was correct even somebody else i stand corrected the fact that it was the guy that it happened to the year before was that was the toughest part of it yeah well yeah i stand corrected i'll eat it okay my fault we we're gonna play another game it's

1:37:06PFT Commenter:called who won the beef uh who won the beef you verse rap port when what beef was there well there was the Harbaugh lost locker room beef. Oh, I feel very confident when I report. You said he did not lose the locker room. No. And there were also Ravens players potentially maybe crying when he left. That's correct. I would say that you won that beef. I don't look at it as a beef. I look at me reporting what I'm going to report. Is there a chance Ian Rapport is going to be joining you at ESPN soon? I do whatever my employer tells me. That wasn't the question. I have no one knows no one has any idea yeah how any of this is going to work like nobody said to me anything I'm going to keep doing my job as long as they allow me to keep doing my job I've been there for almost seven 17 years 17 years wow um and I've loved my time there and uh I've always not to be serious on you yeah no no I always do what they tell me to do and I've worked with the people they tell me to work with.

1:38:05PFT Commenter:Yeah. You should haze him if he comes to ESPN. We haven't hazed too many people. Yeah, but he's someone you should haze. You should start. Put him in a basement, you know, like the kids in Iowa. Yeah.

1:38:18Big Cat:You should start hazing.

1:38:19PFT Commenter:Yeah, let's haze Rapport.

1:38:21Big Cat:Yeah, you're combining two giant forces at ESPN, NFL media. I don't think that there's going to be anything different about, like, you're Don Van Nattas of the world because they're going to report what they're going to report. I don't think that the NFL is going to tell them, hey, stop doing X, Y, Z. But there are people that are concerned that ESPN is going to have to be less critical of the league if NFL media is joined in with them. I worked at NFL Network. And the only time I ever remember being told I couldn't say something was when I was saying something about like a hoodie that Bill Belichick was wearing.

1:38:59and they were like sponsoring the show or something like that. But no one ever said anything about anything. And that was when I was at NFL Network. And certainly at ESPN, I've never heard that from a single person in my 17 years there.

1:39:13Big Cat:They might get, yeah, I remember people getting mad about somebody referring to the Microsoft Surface tablets as being like knockoff iPads. They're like, hey, Microsoft just paid like$600 million. Can we try to not call them iPads if we could try? But I think that, for example, there's room to be critical of the league for sure, right? You've been critical of the league. We've been critical of Roger Goodell in the past. Are you going to be allowed to be like, hey, Roger Goodell is a buffoon for trying to send a Super Bowl overseas? Are you going to be allowed to say that kind of stuff? Again, I feel like I've never been instructed what to say or silenced or influenced, and I don't anticipate that changing.

1:39:54Do you think there are too many international games? Well, now that they're going to be on ESPN, I guess, no. Okay, see, he's being silent right now.

1:40:03PFT Commenter:Is there going to be a Super Bowl in another country? It sounds like it's going to go that way. Fuck that. By the way, you don't think eventually that might be a cool thing? No. No, it sucks. It's our game. That's the worst. No, it's not cool. It's ours. Like, next year, next year we have the Super Bowl. Right. ESPN. Yeah, ESPN. And it's on February 14th, which is the latest that a Super Bowl has ever been played. And just the idea of that, that it's so late in the year, that just starts bleeding. Are we going to the Combine the next week after that? Yeah, I think so. Are we going from L.A. right to Indianapolis for the Combine?

1:40:37Is that how it's going to work?

1:40:38PFT Commenter:Yeah. Because it's February 25th right now. Mm-hmm. It's going to be, oof. So you didn't answer the question. What's the question? We're going to do a European Super Bowl, and you're going to be okay with that. Well, they've brought up the idea that a European international Super Bowl one day could be possible. I have no idea how soon it will be. It doesn't sound like it's anywhere near. I don't want it. I don't want it. It doesn't sound cool at all.

1:41:06Big Cat:It sounds like the worst thing that you could ever say. By the way, what is cool is a Super Bowl on the Sunday night before President's Day. I guess. As late as, I don't like the late start to the Super Bowl. I like, and it only suit like the draft this year. April 23rd, 4th, sign me up for that. That's awesome. Let's get that wrapped up as soon as we can, and let's get to May 1 with a relatively clear calendar other than OTAs. That's awesome. Are you going to be tipping picks this year? Absolutely.

1:41:32PFT Commenter:Okay, love that. Love that. Stan with the 10 toes down.

1:41:36Big Cat:Yep. Yes. All right, so can we say, like, the Raiders aren't on the clock, right? We know they're going to take Mendoza. I mean, unless some team makes an offer that they can't refuse, which I don't think anybody is anticipating or imagining. You never say anything is absolute, but yeah, we think we could report, we probably could put on the bottom line, Fernando Mendoza expected to be the number one. So who is on the clock? When does this draft start? I love when people are like, the draft actually starts. Here's the interesting thing about it is that, again, so much of this is always driven by quarterbacks.

1:42:05Like last year, we weren't expecting the trade with the Browns and the Jaguars, with the Jaguars going up to two from six. So the draft starts at 2 with the Jets. Now, again, I can see the Jets and the Titans both taking pass rushers at 2 and 4. We'll see how that shakes out. At 3 is the Cardinals, I believe. I mean, if there's an offensive tackle there, that would be worthy. Great. We'll see. Just very early, but when does the draft start at 2? After Mendoza goes. Right.

1:42:37Big Cat:This episode of Part of My Take is brought to you by McDonald's Hot Honey Sauce. Hot honey sauce is at McDonald's for a limited time. Your favorite orders just got better with hot honey sauce. You can try the hot honey snack wrap. It'll beat what you thought was your favorite. I love the hot honey on anything. Dip the McNuggets right in there. Put on the sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit. Put on the egg McMuffin. It all works with the hot honey sauce. Now at McDonald's for a limited time and limited time only. You don't want to miss it. Try the hot honey sauce at McDonald's. And now back to more Adam Schefter.

1:43:09Big Cat:Off-season news. The Seahawks are up for sale. Yeah. That's kind of crazy, right? Like you win a Super Bowl. Somebody told me$10 billion. That's wild. Is that? I had an owner. Who told you that, Roger Goodell? An owner told me that. Oh, no, an owner. Of course.

1:43:24PFT Commenter:Who directly benefits from it. No shit.

1:43:27Big Cat:Yeah, I actually heard$20 billion.

1:43:29PFT Commenter:It's kind of crazy. I actually heard$1. So report that. Next time you talk to an owner.

1:43:34Big Cat:It was a guy from Green Bay that has stock in the back. He's like, I heard$10 billion, Adam. Everyone in this room should chip in. and then we can come up with the trade offer to go get Max Crosby.

1:43:44PFT Commenter:Yeah. Okay. Yeah. All right, wait. So who's going to buy the Seahawks? I have no idea. Like who has that$10 billion? Because don't you have to put – what is it? Jeff Bezos? Yeah. But like there's not a lot of guys out there who have$3,$4 billion in liquid that they can just hand away, right? You know, listen, you're buying the defending Super Bowl champion. That's never happened, right? Right. You're buying an organization that's run very well. They have a great headquarters, sound structure. it's a great buying opportunity. Okay. Where are the Bears going to be playing? That's odd, right? The Indiana Bears.

1:44:22PFT Commenter:Yeah, I don't think it's going to happen. At one point in time, there were people who thought the Patriots were going to go to Hartford. Right. And then all of a sudden, a deal came through. So my guess, without knowing the inner workings of this, is that when push tends to shove, in the end, somehow, Wow. They'll figure it out. I agree. Arlington Heights will be – I'm not actually, like, even thinking they're going to play in Indiana. But a follow-up question is, how much of this is pressure from the NFL being like, hey, we want you to get a new stadium so that the$10 billion price tag becomes real?

1:44:57PFT Commenter:I don't know how much the NFL is ever involved in that. But the other owners being like, hey, we all want to maximize the franchise values. Just go look. The stadiums have been one of the biggest benefits to these teams through time. Like, I remember being out in Denver and they had this petition, this drive for a new stadium that turned out to be, what is it, Empower Field? I don't even know what it's called. Empower Field at Mile High. So they'd lose old Mile High, now they get the Empower Field, and now the owners are building. Another one. With their money. Right. With their money. Now, you don't see that happening where it's 100 % fully financed by the owners.

1:45:33because somehow these cities have been able to extract public tax dollars. And that seems, I mean, that's where these owners have made out big time. Right. Because the value of the franchises have gone crazy and they're getting stadium benefits, tax benefits. There's big benefits to owning a football team.

1:45:56Big Cat:Do you think that the value of the Seahawks increased notably because they won the Super Bowl? It didn't decrease. Right. It didn't decrease. If you were to say, and I don't know, you're not an economist or anything, but what is winning a Super Bowl worth in terms of the value of that team? That's a great question. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. I'd like to ask some people that question. You should ask that question. I would like to know the answer. Because if it's significant, then you're going to have idiots like me being like, was this all rigged for the Seahawks to win the Super Bowl?

1:46:31Big Cat:so the value goes up like$3 billion and every other owner makes an additional billion dollars in equity for their team. Hold on. Let me text somebody right now, okay? Love that. By the way, congratulations for

1:46:43PFT Commenter:winning a sports Emmy. I had that on there. See, it's not all bad. It's not all bad. No, no, no. We're done with that. I got a great story about that. I moved on from that. I moved on from the sports Emmy. Congratulations. Yep, I threw it in there. How much would you say the value of the Seahawks went up with their Super Bowl victory? Are you texting just AI? I texted a guy in finance. Do you do that? Do you do the voice to text? Yeah. That was unsettling. Hold on. I don't like to see you like that. I don't like to see you like that. Two Novembers ago, around Thanksgiving, ESPN's going to play the Harbaugh special.

1:47:15So my family's around. I'm like, hey.

1:47:17PFT Commenter:Wait, this is back to the sports Emmy. We moved on. I was like, I thought you were telling me about the voice to text. Watch with the family. Okay. My in-laws are over. And I love my in-laws. They're awesome people. My mother in law has no filter and so we watch the special it gets done and my wife and my kids oh it was really nice really light they're really good and my mother-in-law just says yeah it was okay it wasn't that great it's exactly what she said good thing she was okay sports it was okay it wasn't that great my wife looks at me she's like okay well the piece that wasn't that great was the first time in my 35 years in this business that i've ever won a sports emmy all i could think of It was my mother-in-law as I was walking up to get the award.

1:47:59That is perfect.

1:48:00PFT Commenter:Congratulations, though.

1:48:00Big Cat:That is pretty awesome. That's nice because if she ever gives you a compliment, you know she means it. Correct. Right? She hasn't yet. Yeah. But you'll get it. You'll get it one day. It's not too late. I've only been married 19 years.

1:48:10PFT Commenter:I haven't heard one yet. AJ Brown, is he going to be on the Eagles? You said you lean that way, right? I lean that way. Yeah, I did say that. How do you know I said that? Because I have all the notes about everything you've said. You have a huge staff for it.

1:48:26Look, there's a lot of ways that could go, but there's a huge cap charge if they trade him. And I don't know that they're willing to take on a huge cap charge and get rid of a great player. Now, if the right offer comes in, sure, they're always listening. Is that going to happen? It's going to be tough. I think at one point in time, last year, he clearly would have liked to have been traded. It didn't happen. I would think he's not traded, but that's what the offseason's for. At this time, if we were sitting down last year and you'd sit to me, is Micah Parsons going to sign in Dallas? I would have said, yeah, that deal is getting done.

1:48:57We wouldn't even broach the idea of a trade. So that's the great part of the great reality show that the NFL is. Things happen that you don't expect. And there are twists and turns and drama that allow us all to have jobs and talk about this sport on a regular basis.

1:49:15PFT Commenter:Okay. Coaching carousel. Oh, you got a text back. Yeah. What to say? Okay, so here's the answer. Probably 5 % to 15%. Already a usable franchise to own, in my opinion. Coach is good, so they'll win for a while. That's probably more, I don't even know how to say this word, A-C-C-R-E-T-I-V accretive? Or maybe he's like voice to text. Accredited? Then a one-off Super Bowl win NBA decision regarding Seattle, also probably a factor. Ah. Okay. So Clay Bennett's going to buy the team?

1:49:52Big Cat:Howard Schultz? Jordan Schultz. Jordan Schultz might buy it. Yeah, the way that his number is going up. That was crazy last year. Right after we got done. The fight that went down. I went through a Starbucks. I walked through a Starbucks here. Were you jealous that you weren't a part of that? Like if you were there, would it have gone down different? Would you have stepped in? You would have been like, hey, guys, we can't be seen like this.

1:50:12PFT Commenter:We took a code as newsbreakers. We can't have this.

1:50:16Big Cat:Whose back would you have had? Oh, I'm all for peace and justice in the American way. Okay, so you're Switzerland walking in. Let them destroy each other.

1:50:25PFT Commenter:One less competitive, I'm more powerful, yeah. Yeah. Okay, in terms of coaching Carousel, real quick, who is the guy who is oh so close to getting a head coaching job that should get one next year? I think Nate Sheilhaus will get a head coaching job next year. And aside from the fact that we had no black head coaches hired in this cycle, that's not a great look. and Nate Sheelhouse is a big uptime coming coach. He's going to be successful. But 10 openings this year. Yeah. You could put it down next year. Five, six openings next year.

1:50:59Big Cat:Okay. Not as many. Not as many. It'll definitely. There's no way they're doing 10 again. No way. They could. Yeah, they could. They could do whatever they want. Of course. Yeah, right. They could. They got stadiums.

1:51:09PFT Commenter:Right, exactly. Value of France. They could do whatever they want. They could use much money, but you don't get double digits back-to-back years. That does not happen. Was there one hiring that shocked you? You're like, whoa, did not see that one coming. Didn't think they were going to hire this guy. It always seems to fall into place like a chessboard. Like, I was flying to the Super Bowl, and the Clay Kubiak news comes down. And then within 15 minutes later, Michael Floor, like, you just know. Right. It just kind of lays out. Like, okay, well, Clay is going to go. Clint, yeah. Clint, Clint. Clay's his brother in San Francisco.

1:51:42Clint is going to go to either Vegas or Arizona. We think everybody thought it would be Vegas. It was Vegas. Okay, Arizona. Arizona wasted no time. Mike LaFleur. Cleveland with Todd Monken was interesting.

1:51:56PFT Commenter:Yeah, that one was a little kind of weird. Well, I think they went through it, and I think they had their eyes on a lot of different guys, and they loved Todd Monken all along. And in the end, it just came back to Todd Monken. Yeah. That's where it finished up.

1:52:08Big Cat:Yeah. What about Tyreek Hill? Where's he going to be next year? You know, here's the thing about him. As great as he was in 2020, I don't think he's close to being ready this year. Like, he's going to miss some time to open the year. I think he starts the year out physically unable to perform list. When's he going to be ready? Is it the midway point? Is it later in the season? What's he going to look like? And so there's a lot of medical questions. And so I think teams are going to be slow to sign him. I don't think we'll get a deal for Tyree Kill until well into the offseason. That ain't going to be one of those day one, first of all, he's free right now.

1:52:44He can sign right now. But you're not going to see a deal quick with him, I don't believe.

1:52:48Big Cat:What's going to happen with Brandon Ayuk? Because he is an interesting case. He'll be released on the first day of the league year, I would think. As soon as possible. They're going to wash their hands with Brandon Ayuk. Are other teams scared away from signing Brandon Ayuk? Well, I think, look, here's the thing. They had so many trade conversations with so many teams, and I think that they probably have gone back to many of those teams. But the math is different. the situation is different. The way he behaved this year with some of the social is different. Everything's different. So I think teams are curious.

1:53:22And before they would do anything, they'd want to have to check out his knee because that was its own devastating knee injury. And they wanted to see where he's at mentally before they would move on. So there's a lot of questions there, but we know he's not going to be in San Francisco.

1:53:35PFT Commenter:He seems like he's in that spot where you just believe anything because it's so crazy and it's gotten so weird. Like I saw the fake report that he went on Instagram live and held the ice cream cone and just watched it, held it till it melted for eight minutes straight. And I was like, that's fake, but it could be real. Like that could be real with how he's acted. The driving around the facility and stuff like it's weird. You know, it's honestly a tough situation. Some guys, when they don't have that structure and discipline and the camaraderie and the teammates and the support, when you're away from that, it's not always easy to overcome that.

1:54:07Big Cat:Where did it fall apart? I mean, that's a tough question to answer. Tough question. That's what I do. I ask tough questions. It's called journalism. Now that you are with NFL media, you're not allowed to ask those kinds of questions anymore. We're going after you. No, it just feels like he's been so weird there for so long. I would expect that the market for Brandon Ayuk might not be robust. But I think in the NFL, if you can run around and catch a pass, there'll be guys lined up to sign you. But we don't know what he's physically going to be like. He's never shredded. Yeah. Right? I guess what I'm fishing for, and I'm really just fishing, is can you tell me that the commanders are not going to sign Brandon Ayuk?

1:54:48Well, I can't say that because him and Jaden Daniels are close. Yeah. And Jaden may push for him. So I think that's a possibility. And just go back and look at the teams that the Niners spoke to when they're having trade talks. The Steelers, the commanders, the Patriots. so I would think all those all those teams would at least check in on it now who's going to move forward that's a hard thing

1:55:12Big Cat:to say yeah you said that there's some guys that won't be like Tyreek Hill not going to be a day one guy who are the day one guys this spring for free agency well let's see what happens with Indy Alec Pierce I think is a guy that's going to get a lot of interest yes I love Alec Pierce he'll go quick I would think that Elijah Vera Tucker is an interesting guy.

1:55:40Malik Willis, obviously, I would think would move quickly. You know, a day or two. What's going on here?

1:55:47PFT Commenter:Weems, you've said a jet, so. Let's start the forum. Let's start the town forum. Kenneth Walker. Can we get a town forum going?

1:55:55Big Cat:Can you give me three teams that will be interesting? Alec Pierce. uh patriots bills um colts obviously um trying to think of a wide receiver needy team i'll have a who's got cap space cleveland okay okay all right town forum time we got some

1:56:17PFT Commenter:questions from the gallery yeah yeah this is good all right memes go ahead all right late

1:56:22Big Cat:on me chef there how fucked are the jets this season and going forward for like the next five

1:56:26PFT Commenter:seasons good question be be honest with him don't sugarcoat it just a couple long island guys just stand up guys get it i just say i feel bad for jets fans i really do like it's sad for you it's hard i was walking through the airport with somebody today coming out here and this guy was telling me how he grew up a jet fan and all i can say when i hear that is my condolences because i live in an area where all these jet fans are i have so many jet fan friends that are texting me And they don't understand. With all due respect, I don't care that they're struggling. Like, I got enough problems of my own to deal with and I have to worry about who the hell the Jets are going to sign and how they're going to get back to the play.

1:57:08Like, they're not in a great spot. So how many years?

1:57:15Big Cat:I don't know. Oh, man. This is not going well, Memes. Are the Sabres going to make the playoffs in the NHL before the Jets do? Are they who? The Buffalo Sabres. I don't follow hockey, although I did watch the game on Sunday, and that was incredible. Yes. Oh, wow. Because that's like all Memes has going. They're having a good year. It's the Sabres. Oh, no. All right. Do you have a follow-up question? Yeah. Sorry to disappoint you. No, no, it's fine. I'm always disappointed. Yeah. How do you get someone to sell a team? Good question, Mames. Talk to Jody Allen. Yeah. Let's figure it out. I've got some experience in that department, Mames.

1:57:54PFT Commenter:Buffalo right now is in the playoffs if the playoffs started today. See that? They're having a good season. Yeah, they're having a good season. There you go. Sabres, yeah. So I was right. Yeah. Good question, Mames. I'm a hockey insider now, too. Yeah, you are. All right. Che? Che, you want to apologize to Schefter first? Oh, that was messed up. We texted after. You guys made me do that. Shefter actually has influenced my home. We are Kodiak breakfast waffle people now. Love Kodiak. Love Kodiak. Big Kodiak. Shefty, I want to – I mean, that's just classic change. It's been like, Shefter told me what to eat for breakfast.

1:58:25PFT Commenter:You're just not your own man. No, yeah, he talks about Kodiak. Well, and we tried them, and they're great. We should take this farther. We should see how many things you can tell him to do. They're the sponsor of the Adam Shefter podcast. Yeah, okay. All right, a couple guys I want to ask and just give me best guess on Team Landing. This guy's not talked about enough, I feel like. Trey Hendrickson. I think that he would love to be in Tampa. And I'm not just saying that. I think he would love to be in Tampa. He lives in Ponte Vedra. I don't think the Jaguars have the necessary requisite cap room for him.

1:58:59Tampa would be a great fit. I think in a perfect world, I think in a perfect world, Trey would like to stay in Florida if he could. No state tax. but he's also open to going to the best possible situation. There are going to be a lot of places that are interested in him. How about could Dallas afford him? That would be a great spot for him. Can he stop the run, though?

1:59:22Big Cat:Jerry needs a guy that can stop the run. Interesting. Jerry needs a lot of things on defense, though. Yeah, he does. Right? He does. So I like that. I think if Trey has his pick, he'd like to end up with you, but we'll see if it works out that way. I like that.

1:59:35PFT Commenter:I'll ask two more quick ones, then I have a real question. Two more quick ones and then a dumb one. That's three more. Well, just headline free agents. Kenneth Walker. You know, first of all, I said, and I still believe that it's unlikely that they tag him. And again, you just never know how these things are. Like they could look at the market, talk to other free agents, see Zach Charbonneau struggling and decide, okay, you know what? We're going to put the transition tag on him. So we'll see how it shakes up. But my guess is in the end, he's going to be a free agent. And if he's a free agent, where does Kenneth Walker go?

2:00:08Like, Houston makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? Yeah, it does. Like, Houston needs to help C.J. Stroud. What's the best way to help C.J. Stroud? Get one of these front-line running backs. There are a lot of good running backs in this free agent class. The free agent running back class is pretty loaded. So Kenneth Walker, my guess is some team will be offering him enough money to dangle him away.

2:00:36Big Cat:Follow up on that real quick. Did we ever find out what happened with Joe Mixon? That was weird.

2:00:44I mean, no. No. No. It seems like it's something. But you could tell right away. I'm just telling you in the summer I'm calling people saying, can I report that he's not expected to play this year? And people were like, but you know it. Right. You just knew it, but nobody would confirm it.

2:01:00Big Cat:Right. It's very weird. It almost makes me think that it's something that we don't want to talk about. No, I think he had. I think. And again, I certainly have made enough calls and enough inquiries. My own theory is he had some sort of setback while training for the offseason, some sort of foot injury and never got better. And I was initially told, nobody ever admitted it, that it was like a necrosis kind of thing, blood supply. Now, again, no idea if it's true or not. Okay. But that theory was floated to me last summer. Nobody confirmed it. Okay.

2:01:39PFT Commenter:And the one who's near and dear to all of our hearts, George Pickens. Well, that's an interesting one because you're going to see this offseason, big headline. I think you're going to see Puka Nakua and Jackson Smith and Jigba both get paid. Like last offseason, if we remember, was the offseason of the pass rush deal. You're not going to get that number of wide receiver deals, but you're going to get two huge deals at the very least, Puka and Jackson Smith. Now, if you're George Pickens, you're probably saying, hey, I may not be exactly them, but I went to the Pro Bowl. I'm almost as good as these guys.

2:02:14And if these guys are getting 40, 40, what's George Piggins worth? Let's just, we'll throw out a number, 30, 35? Yeah. Okay. Well, now, what's C.D. Lamb at? 36. And Dak is going to have to restructure his contract. They need more cap space. It's a tough number to fit under the cap. So they've got some bookkeeping to do. That's going to be a challenging situation. Same agent as Micah Parsons. Yeah. They got to sign Brandon Aubrey. By the way, that's an interesting one, too. Yeah,$10 million he wants? Well, he wants a lot. We don't know the exact number. But the highest-paid kicker, I believe, is 6 '4", Harrison Butker.

2:02:53He's going to be the highest-paid kicker when he gets a new deal. So I think what they're going to do is they're going to tender him. And when they tender him, that may give another team the option to go sign him. Now, if you were another team, wouldn't you want the Bears or the Commanders or the Patriots to go sign? Brayne Aubrey?

2:03:12Big Cat:Yeah. How much do you think Brandon Aubrey would go for in a trade if you were to assign a draft pick to him? Well, he could sign the offer sheet when they tender him. And I forget if that locks in the compensation, but to me, he's a major weapon. I don't care what – I could argue that guy's worth$12 million,$14 million. You're paying running backs. Kenneth Walker may get$12,$13,$14 million on the open market. So you passed midfield. You got three points in the bank. That's it. Now, with Pickens, are they going to tag him? Yeah. So if they tag him, how does that work? If they tag him before the other wide receivers sign their contracts, they'll probably save some money?

2:03:53No, they tag him. The tag price would be$28 million. Okay. But he'd have to sign that to be paid. He's not going to want to sign that because once he signs it, he's obligated to come in, and you want to negotiate a long-term deal. He doesn't want one year. He wants a four or five year deal, whatever it may be, three, four, five year deal. He wants big money. He doesn't want the one year of 28 guaranteed. He wants, you know, the hundred million guaranteed, whatever it may be.

2:04:20Big Cat:So you got the dumb one or is this still the... Real question. No dumb questions. One real one.

2:04:24PFT Commenter:Real question is that with such a focus on international games, obviously we're seeing more and more, the way it's structured now, the Super Bowl doesn't even kick off to like 1130 or midnight in a lot of these markets. Could you see the NFL moving it to Super Bowl Saturday? Well, I think that they're moving it more towards Super Bowl Sunday with President's Day so that the country has a national holiday the next day where everybody could be up late the night before celebrating their team's win, watching Bad Bunny doing whatever they're doing, and then have the next day off at work. I think that's the model more than anything else.

2:04:59Wouldn't that still neglect the foreign markets, though? listen i don't think it's hurt their business so far although they do want to grow it internationally boo boo all right who else got a question come on up hank get there this is gonna be a good one this is gonna be a great one hank is locked in drake mays the best quarterback from the 2024 draft class

2:05:20Big Cat:do you think that's his question great question that's a great answer i was anticipating the question before it was asked

2:05:26PFT Commenter:i have a serious question i appreciate the the sweater one of my biggest flexes is being on your christmas list how many people are on your christmas list oh it fluctuates it's usually about 100 125 150 it's an honor uh who who got

2:05:45Big Cat:dropped off people get dropped off it's a nice list what's an example of something that somebody would have to do to get dropped off uh you know it's more like honestly i'm more forgetful Like, sometimes I'm like, oh, I forgot that guy. Like, that guy was very kind during the year, and he helped me out, and I forgot to include him.

2:06:07PFT Commenter:All right, Hank, your other question? Yes. Will Stefan Diggs be a Patriot next season? Ooh.

2:06:17I hate to give you an answer that I don't know. Yeah, there's a lot up in the air still. Yeah, like my travel plans here, up in the air.

2:06:26Big Cat:Yeah. All right, Zach, go. What's going on? I'm how are you today. I just got a quick question. If you're ever misinformed, how many strikes does a guy get before he's out of the network? Oh. You know, it's not that it's misinformed, but I always say it's a great question, Zach. Great question. Coaches remember plays and reporters remember stories.

2:06:45PFT Commenter:Yeah. And you remember certain things, how they play out and how they don't play out and who steps up and who doesn't step up. So you're always taking notes and you have little reports on people. It's not that anybody is ever out of the network or excised. Yeah, if they get something wrong, I'll remember that. Well, if they get something wrong, then you know that the next time you're making an extra couple of calls before you're putting something out there.

2:07:13Big Cat:Yeah. And if you needed to, how would you go about sending a message to someone that they're out?

2:07:19PFT Commenter:No cashmere. Yeah, exactly. You're just waiting for the gift that doesn't arrive. It's the simplest message at all, right? Yeah. Yeah. Kaden, do you have a question? I do not. Okay. He doesn't. Nice job, Kaden. Good job. I do not.

2:07:32Big Cat:I have a Washington-related question. You reported that Trump is trying to get the new stadium named after him. Is that just like a wait-out-the-clock situation? Like, hopefully he'll move on to something else? Or is Josh Harris considering it? I think that that was a— Considering it. I mean, people were, like, tiptoeing around that sort of story. Yeah.

2:07:53I think they're still going through that process. I don't know where that's at. I haven't followed up on that. So that'd be a great story if you guys want to go get it, like that the stadium is not going to be named after him or is going to be named after him.

2:08:03Big Cat:It should be RFK Jr. Ooh. That should be the name of the stadium. Actually, just the Coliseum. I think it'd be cool to have a Coliseum. That would be awesome. It opens in 2030? I think 2030, yeah.

2:08:13PFT Commenter:Yeah, the Coliseum would be sick.

2:08:15Big Cat:And then it's probably going to get a Super Bowl. Yeah. Are we just going to – what's the future of the Super Bowl look like? Let's pretend that the foreign Super Bowl is never going to happen. Is it going to be the same rotation of cities? Are we going to add in, like, if you get a new stadium, then you're guaranteed to have a Super Bowl? I think most of the time when there's a new stadium, the Super Bowl follows there.

2:08:37PFT Commenter:But Buffalo's not going to get one, right? I don't think so. Right. That would be very funny. I don't think so. It's sort of like I wouldn't be surprised if the draft goes to Buffalo at some point because the draft is like, it's like there's not enough hotel space in the city for everything that goes on for a Super Bowl, but we'll give you the draft, like Green Bay last year. We're in Green Bay. And that was a great experience, but I don't think that there's going to be a Super Bowl in Green Bay anytime soon. I don't think there's going to be a Super Bowl in Buffalo despite a new stadium. But a new stadium in Nashville, I'll bet you there's a Super Bowl in Nashville.

2:09:09There's going to be a new stadium in Denver, I'll bet you there's a Super Bowl in Denver. There's going to be a new stadium in Washington, I'll bet you there's a Super Bowl in Washington. And you begin to integrate those places with the L.A.'s, New Orleans. Vegas. It should be Vegas every year. That was a wild one, right? It was fun. Do you like that?

2:09:27PFT Commenter:Yeah, Vegas is set up for that. That's what they're set up for.

2:09:32Big Cat:Hotels, everything.

2:09:33PFT Commenter:They're set up for a Super Bowl.

2:09:34Big Cat:What about the combine? Is the combine, is that going to move? I know it's locked in here for the next two years, right? Well, you know, the backstory, they put it here initially because it was the center of the country. So this was easy for everybody.

2:09:44PFT Commenter:That's actually not true, but whatever. Yeah, it is true. Nebraska is the center of the country. Okay. If you want to actually go, like, if we're dealing in facts or chefs are facts. Like, what are we doing? Okay. Okay. I don't want to have to correct you next year when. That's fair. Okay. That's fair. You win that beef. Yeah. All right. Thank you. And so, but they put here, because it was in. Centrally located. Centrally located. To a lot of the teams. Centrally located. And hospitals and medical centers. And so that's what this was all about initially. And I remember starting to come to the combine.

2:10:12It's amazing. The first combine I ever came to, you could look it up right now. Simeon Rice went number one. Kevin Hardy went number five that year. So I think that would have been 1993. That was the first combine, I think, 93, 94. I'm going to guess off the top of my head. And they used to have literally seven or eight reporters in the lobby of the Holiday Inn Crown Plaza, and we'd wait for the players, and you'd ask them questions. I always remember Kevin Hardy. We were asking him about all the weird tests that he took. You ever hear the story about Kevin? It was one of the great answers. And they said, what was the weirdest question that you got on any of these tests?

2:10:49And he said, the New York Giants asked me if I like tall women. They're like, what did you answer? He said, I crossed off the T and wrote, I like tall women. Nice. I like that. I like that.

2:11:03PFT Commenter:Yes. All right, Shefty, this has been awesome. We love having you on. I got one last question for you. Roback question. R-H-O-B-A-C-K dot com. Promo code TAKE. Love Roback. Love Roback. 20 % off the first purchase. Love Roback. Love Kodiak. Well, you can't just do all your ads right now. No, no, no. Well, yeah, Roback, I guess. No, I don't think they've advertised my pod. Okay, we got to get you on. Roback, let's get on Chumty's pod. I love Roback. I love Roback, and I love Kodiak, and Casuar. We just... Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I saw that in there. She's very nice. Okay, so Roback question. Would you love...

2:11:35Actually, I'm very... Next year, I'm coming in a shirt advertising certain things.

2:11:39Big Cat:I feel like a NASCAR driver. I think you did well this year.

2:11:41PFT Commenter:I think there wasn't a lot of stuff that you messed up. That's good. It was a good year. It was a good year. It was a relatively clean year. Yeah, a relatively clean year. But my last question is, are you happy? That's a very heavy question. It is. But I consider you a friend, and I want to make sure. Are you happy? I think you begin to be happy in the life that you come to know. Like, I think by and large, I am happy. Yes. Okay, good. I want you to be happy. Everybody wants everybody to be happy. Yeah. Well, no, that's not true.

2:12:14Big Cat:Hank doesn't want anybody to be happy. Yeah. And I do love the job. Like, I've done it for 36 years, and the job is always evolving, and it's a blessing to do the job, but it's also a burden to do the job. Right? It's just a lot. And it feels like it's more than ever. But am I happy? Yes. Good. Healthy. Great family. Got two sick dogs. That's bad. Yeah. Bad. But yeah, I would say, I mean, that's a heavy question. That's a really interesting question. Yeah. Are you happy? I'm very happy. Are you happy? I'm very happy too. Happy and handsome. Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah. I actually think that you have, you seem to have a great perspective on things.

2:12:57Big Cat:And if you weren't happy, you would be able to acknowledge that you're not happy and do something about it. You seem like well adjusted as far as insiders go. Because I know that the life and job of an insider, it actually, it lends itself to make you kind of drive yourself crazy with the competitiveness of it. And I feel like you, more than most, have that, like, you can look at the total picture and kind of determine what needs to change in your life. I think you've done a good job of that. Let me say this. That is a very nice, thoughtful, appreciated compliment. because I think some people take it so – and I take my job very seriously.

2:13:34You have to, yeah. But I also think I understand what it is. Right. What it's about. And I think some people have gotten very serious.

2:13:42Big Cat:I don't get that, yeah. All right, last, last question. Last, last, last, last, last question. What was it like working with Jerry O 'Connell in this fantasy football season? One of the great honors of my life. Oh, yes. One of the great honors of my life. Yes. Did he send you any real dark web shit? But the good thing about Jerry is he's just – he's very calm. He's very reserved. He doesn't need to vape or anything or smoke or anything like that. It drives his wife crazy, right? He's a calm, cool, collected customer.

2:14:08PFT Commenter:So we didn't win the championship. I think we would like you to remain with you. You're not going to be his manager, but I think you're part of the trusted inner circle of this team. And that is an honor. An advisor, if you will. That I do not take lightly. Yeah. Yeah, you're whenever a team would hire Ernie Acorsi and give him like$3 million to go hire one of his friends. I am like Troy Aikman to the Dolphins. Yes, exactly. Consigliere. Yeah, I think we want to keep you honest, because we've got to win a title. Like Jerry, I love Jerry to death, but we've got to win a title. This is one of those years where I think if you ask before the season, is there a hot seat, the answer is yes.

2:14:49Would Jerry rather win a title or an Oscar? A title. Fantasy football.

2:14:54PFT Commenter:Because one is real. Like one he has a chance at.

2:14:57Big Cat:Yep. They're not doing Scream 19, you know. I don't think that's going to be in there. Kangaroo Jack 4 probably. No one's standing by him. Yeah, maybe Kangaroo Jack 5. Right. Might be when they take a turn for the series. No, we're going to win this year. You will be, when we hand the trophy out like Roger Goodell, we'll let you touch it first. I'm on the podium. Yeah. I'm on the podium.

2:15:17PFT Commenter:And guess what? If we win the title this year, we're going to 11 in Miami. And we're going to party.

2:15:22Big Cat:And then we're going to the.

2:15:22PFT Commenter:And we're going to ask McAfee to pick up the bill.

2:15:23Big Cat:yes yeah yeah yes then we're going to the white house yes by the way yeah my son was down there that night at 11 at 11 and nice he said to me it was very weird because i had this guy that i used to work with at espn great guy by the name of brendan kaminsky and brendan helped my son get in there that night and so my son texted me he's like hey i think brendan paid for my drinks that night i said no i think pat mcathie paid for your drinks yeah 11 is the best place on earth yeah

2:15:49PFT Commenter:Do you know that there are strippers there? At 11? Yeah. I did not know that. Oh, wow. I just got your son in trouble. Is that right? Yeah. No, listen. It's not a strip club. It's a club with strippers. It's dancers. Yeah, dancers.

2:16:01Big Cat:Your son saw nipples that night.

2:16:02PFT Commenter:Your son probably got a lap dance. Maybe.

2:16:06Big Cat:He had a great time. Your son had an awesome time.

2:16:08PFT Commenter:He had a great time. He had a really good time. That place is a great time.

2:16:11Big Cat:Your son is happy.

2:16:12PFT Commenter:Yes. Your son has that happiness. He made memories for life at 11. That we knew. Yes. All right, Shefter, you're the best. Hey, guys, thank you for having me. Truly appreciate it. Great honor to be with you. And I'll bet first, last, whatever you need any year. Love that. Love that. Thanks, Adam. Thank you.

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2:18:03PFT Commenter:Okay, wrapping up the week with Fyre Fest of the week. Henry, would you like to kick us off? Yeah, it's been a short week. Still don't have Wi-Fi. Yeah. Anything else? No, we mended some fences, made some peace. Mm-hmm. Made me be a partner. Had a sit-down?

2:18:25Big Cat:Did not have a sit-down. Stand-up. A stand-up. Yeah, a stand-up.

2:18:28PFT Commenter:Stand-up, dab sesh. And eye-to-eye. Eye-to-eye, heart-to-heart.

2:18:32Big Cat:Mm-hmm.

2:18:35PFT Commenter:That's my best. I can't do that again. You can't do that again. No, that's a good idea. You were trying to do, Max was trying to stop us.

2:18:41Big Cat:Yeah, Hank was just nailing it right now. Oh, that was classic. Max can't have Hank looking that good. Max, classic move.

2:18:49PFT Commenter:Okay, Firefest of the week. Wrap it up the week. Hank. My Firefest is I just gave a great Firefest and Max made us do it over because the lights weren't on. We'll put this in. We'll just put it back. We can just use that.

2:19:01Big Cat:We can just use it. Okay. My Firefest is that Max has become a terrorist with recordings as part of my take where now he's just threatening to edit out everything he doesn't like. Yeah, I would never. Well, PFT just, yes, last night was like, we have an all-time altercation that happened on part of my take last night or today when we all agreed that we were cutting what happened on part of my take. No, but we talked about it on the show. But the way you worded that tweet made it look like the altercation happened on part of my take. Yeah, that's my firefest too. Okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that my tweet was worded.

2:19:32Big Cat:I'll get future approval from you about my tweets. Then everyone just assumed that I cut it without us all talking about it.

2:19:38PFT Commenter:I think we should, because Combine Week's fun. We all come here. We do a big dinner. It's a great time. I think we've got to remember, though, that we're all partners in this. Agreed. We're partners. Just a fact. We're all in this together. We're all in this together, Max. Would you say you're a partner?

2:19:57Big Cat:Yeah. Say it. Yeah, Rico. Say you're a partner. Rico. What? You sound like Bosco. You're doing some weird Bosco impression. Why are you doing Bosco bits? Bosco's not in his room. This is not a Bosco bit. Big Cat just keeps doing Bosco for him. I was asking if you think you're a partner. We're talking about Hank being a great guy, mending fences with Big Dom. I'm sorry that I promoted the podcast, Max. I did, I think, a good job. In the gif that I put out, it was Macho Man and Hulk Hogan shaking hands. I just didn't like that.

2:20:33PFT Commenter:Listen, we've moved past it. We're in a good place. but there was something that we were basically replaying what happened with Big Dom and Hank. And some people might have pointed out that, Hank, you might be a little bit of a hypocrite. How so? Because Big Dom just exists. What has he ever done? He exists. He can't exist? He said I wasn't allowed in the city of Philadelphia. He can't exist? And he was going to take me out if I showed up there. He can't exist? So that was a personal threat on me. So yeah, I did take that personally because he came at me. It was a warning.

2:21:04Big Cat:Yeah, that's not a threat. He was being a good guy, being like, you're not well-liked in Philadelphia. I wouldn't set foot there if I was you.

2:21:10PFT Commenter:Yeah, but again, it wasn't like he's existing. I'm taking pot shots at him. He came at me. I responded in kind. Well, you came at him first. You did come at him first. You, whatever. We have many defenses. We're partners. We posted.

2:21:22Big Cat:We're partners. I don't know why you keep saying that. We posted the handshake. It's all good. It's a stupid little giggle. You think you're so funny. You haven't even got a smile. There's so many people in this room. If he's smiling right now. You're smiling at me. That was a Max smile. But I do smile at Big Cass Gingled.

2:21:43PFT Commenter:Why did Max react? You're smiling at Max's reaction. Who caused the reaction? You poked him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And we've said from the beginning, we've been doing this podcast for 10 years. If I can make PFT laugh, he can make me laugh. We're doing a good show. No one even knows what you're talking. Like, this makes no sense. What you're saying makes no sense.

2:21:58Big Cat:Okay, Max, for some reason, you've been on edge all week. It started, I could tell something was up. It's crazy. And on Sunday, I was like, I don't think they're going to ban the tush push. And you were like, yeah, who gives a fuck? I was hung over on Sunday, midday. Okay. But you're on edge right now. What happened yesterday was a beautiful moment in between Hank and Big Dom. And Hank is trying to be a good teammate. He's never going to talk bad about Big Dom again.

2:22:23PFT Commenter:If it's up to me, I'll never talk about Big Dom ever again. Agreed. Yeah. That's fine with me. I can talk about Big Dom. Yeah.

2:22:32Big Cat:but then hank can respond no no no no no you see you um you are the worst you are the worst you're you're the honestly the the rankings of like anti-big dom in this no no no no no no no no zach zach is on my side actually no memes is memes is the only one fully on my side That's not true. Zach, you're close. How did I get unclose? Well, Big Cat did that lie like you were about to fight him, and you took that as like, yeah, I really did that. He was. He was locked and loaded. I'm just saying. That's the only reason you're not fully on our side. Max, how do you call that a lie? Because that didn't actually happen.

2:23:18Big Cat:Big Cat made that up, and Zach was like, yeah, I did that. I tried to gas up my boys. Max was halfway back to Chicago when Big Dom came in the room. You sprinted away. How do you know what Zach did? That's true. Also, I was gone for 45 seconds, and I was standing right over there. Hiding. Hiding, yes.

2:23:37PFT Commenter:Yeah, I guess my fire fest is the people that I am in charge of hate me and want me dead.

2:23:43Big Cat:Sleeping with the fishes.

2:23:44PFT Commenter:Yeah. Yeah, but the people that are in charge of you. The two people that are on Big Dom side directly report to me. And that's something I have to deal with and maybe address. But the people that are in charge of you, me, PFT, Zach, we all love you. Yeah. Yes, you're protected. We're good. You're protected. It's the big three. Me, PFT, and Zach. My other fire fest that I dealt with in Orlando and I dealt with last night, we did have a fantastic meal. I've never been more full. I ate a lot. But I've got heartburn issues. I'm just old. Yeah. Woke up, middle of the night, severe heartburn. It happened in Orlando, so there was a point where I woke up, I was like, am I having a heart attack?

2:24:23PFT Commenter:And I was like, no, it's just heartburn. So last time I was more prepared. But yeah, I got to start traveling with Tums at all times. So let me do my Fyre Fest off yours because it's related. And this is going to be very hard to say. And I've thought about it a lot. And I'm ready to say it publicly because I'm going to get killed for it. But I think I need to take a break from steakhouses. I'm just kind of staked out. They're all kind of the same experience every time. I overeat. and I've gotten to the point too where I order so many appetizers that I don't finish my steak all the time and it's like I feel like a pussy.

2:24:55PFT Commenter:I think I need to just have a break, like a two-months no steakhouse. I've just been doing too many steakhouses and it's the same thing every time. Why can't we go out to Chinese? I have found something recently

2:25:07Big Cat:that has changed steakhouses forever for me. Everyone doesn't eat their own steak. I like this. Everyone doesn't eat it. I like that. You get like the tomahawk for a couple people. Everyone gets a couple bites of steak. I like that. That's a good call. Then you still get all of the sides and everything else that comes with a steak. But once you see, it's daunting to see a full steak right in front of you.

2:25:30PFT Commenter:And every time, it's the same thing. I get there. I get five appetizers. I get the soup. I get the salad. And then the steak comes. And I eat all the bread. And the steak comes. I'm like, I can't fucking eat this. You only need a couple bites of the steak.

2:25:44Big Cat:Yep. I'm of the mindset now that you don't need any appetizers at steakhouses. It's a good place to run zero apps. I don't know. It is so clean. That's insane. No, hear me out. Because the sides, you want to maximize your sides. If you look at how good appetizers are at steakhouses compared to how good the sides are, sides shine at steakhouses. The sides could usually be— No, the crab cake last night. The crab cake was good. You don't need the calamari at steakhouse because it's good calamari. You don't need calamari ever. It's never great calamari. But the seafood towers are great But they're never like great seafood towers They're always good The sides at a steakhouse are elite The mashed potatoes are always elite at a steakhouse The twice baked potato always elite at a steakhouse Creamed spinach always elite Even the Brussels sprouts that they make there Always elite Asparagus always elite Mac and cheese always elite at a steakhouse You want to maximize your sides to go with a steak And that way when they bring the steak by, you're not filled up on like slightly above average calamari.

2:26:47PFT Commenter:But here's my biggest problem is, and again, I love steakhouses. I just, every time I go, it's the same exact experience, which is a great experience. But I think I've overdone it where I need to, I need to divorce myself for a little bit so that I can fall back in love with it. Does that make sense? Yeah. Like I was thinking about the other night, like going to Italian meals, great. Going to Chinese, going to Greek. Like all these other things that we do, you know, we're just like, oh, steak is kind of the auto option that you pick when you're like, we're going to go out to a nice meal. I don't know.

2:27:19PFT Commenter:I think I might have to break up with steakhouses for a minute. Just for a minute. I almost ordered chicken parm last night. And then I got the chicken parm. Yeah, Zach did. And then I looked across the table. I was like, well, I can't be like, look at this guy. Yeah. I can't be him.

2:27:32Big Cat:It was fantastic.

2:27:33PFT Commenter:I got to get a steak. This is steakhouse season too.

2:27:35Big Cat:But you get to enjoy the appetizers, the sides and the full entree if you go chicken parm.

2:27:39PFT Commenter:I know, but it's just something about ordering chicken at a steakhouse is like, it makes me want to like kill myself. It's the Andrew Luck. Yeah. And that's what we got here. Yeah. So I stopped myself.

2:27:51Big Cat:Zach's going to retire too much. What are you going to say, Max? I really think the sharing of - No, you're right. This is a good idea. The best part about it is you can also order like the best steak. Yeah. Because you're not going to - you always feel like an asshole if you're like, oh, I'm going to get the$150 Wagyu, blah, blah, blah. But if you're sharing it, then it's like, yeah, we all get a piece of this and we don't overeat.

2:28:08PFT Commenter:This is also, I should say, this is also coming off of Super Bowl week into vacation, into combine, is like probably the stretch where I'm at a steakhouse the most. It's not like I go like every week to a steakhouse, but that three-week stretch is like too many. It's steak season. It's steak season. For sure. Okay, PFT. Also, I kind of, you know what it is too? I need the weather to turn because I want to get back on the grill. If I could grill my own steak.

2:28:30Big Cat:Yeah.

2:28:31PFT Commenter:You know?

2:28:31Big Cat:It's different. It's different. You always have room for your own steak.

2:28:34PFT Commenter:Right. It hits different. So I think that's really what it is. I need to get back on the grill. I've also noticed steakhouses, they're getting heavy-handed with the salt recently. Oh, yeah.

2:28:42Big Cat:It's been more salty. Maybe that's just me getting older. But, Hank, to your point, like when I travel now, my backpack is like, you ever see that movie Flight with Denzel and John Goodman? He's a banana boat guy, and he rolls in with all the drugs. That's what my backpack has become except with different forms of antacid. I've got Pepsod AC in there. I've got Tums. I've got Rolaids. I've got Pepto-Bismol liquid. I have like, I'm a walking pharmacy of stomach acid.

2:29:07PFT Commenter:You know what the other thing that I realized last night, similar to the stomach acid and heartburn? Like, we always, guys always talk about, like, you know, going to a hotel room. What do you do? You know, put on the robe maybe. Get some lotion. You jerk off. It's a nice jerk off in the hotel room. It's something different. I'm now of the age where I look forward to a hotel room because I can just fucking bomb that place with farts. It smells so bad in my hotel room. I just sit, I just lay in bed and just, it's, it's like nuclear warfare going on in my room. Like it's my room. No one can say anything.

2:29:43PFT Commenter:I'm just letting it fly.

2:29:44Big Cat:Yeah.

2:29:45PFT Commenter:It's great.

2:29:46Big Cat:It's good.

2:29:47PFT Commenter:That's pathetic of me to say, but I don't care. We're all partners.

2:29:49Big Cat:The, uh, the, the non stomach actually kind of stomach version of my fire fest this week

2:29:54PFT Commenter:is, uh, Zach lied to me yesterday and it sucks because like Zach, I love you, Zach.

2:30:00Big Cat:And you've been a great part of the show and you're always very truthful and you try to do the right thing. great part of the show big pot of the show and you kind of lied to me yesterday and it broke my heart because when i was checking the hotel last night zach came up to me and he was like hey just so you know they got sundays at the bar until 11 p.m and i was like that's a great interesting fact no thank you for sharing that zach that's something that i do want to know about if there's like a at the at the main focus of the lobby the bar they will serve you a sunday until 11 p.m so we go out to dinner uh have a couple beers afterwards with the boys and went home at about 10 30 thinking about this this sunday at the bar went up to the bartender i was like hey and there were people around by the way and i was like hey i hear you got sundays and she looked at me like i had three heads and that's a pretty embarrassing situation i found myself in where now the whole bar just watched this guy come up and ask order a sunday and the lady is like what what do you mean ice cream sundae at the bar?

2:30:57Big Cat:And I'm like, oh, I guess I'll just go back to my room now. And she's like, yeah, we don't have sundaes at the bar. She showed me the whole menu, made a whole thing about it. I was like, I was lied to. And I was told that there would be a sundae here. She felt so bad for me. She took me and she walked me outside the hotel, out onto the street to show me a different restaurant that's down the street that I could go to and get a sundae if I wanted. But I was like, that's kind of embarrassing. It'd be the walk of shame because I just walked past that restaurant. I don't want to like walk past a restaurant to my hotel then turn around and go back to the restaurant to get a sundae.

2:31:28Big Cat:And so I was like, it's really not even the fact that, because she was concerned, I looked upset. And I was like, it's not the fact that I'm not getting a sundae, it's the fact that there's a guy that I trusted that I worked with that told me about the sundae, and I feel like he's not reliable anymore. It kind of broke my heart. Not only did I feed you bad information, I fed you bad ice cream information. Which is just like, yeah, not good. Not good whatsoever. I remember the cream team. Like, you are the most reliable ice cream guy we got. We need to take one of his pinstripes away. That's fair.

2:31:54Big Cat:we got to the hotel looked to the right there's like a little cafe situation they had cereal treats out front so in my head I'm thinking maybe this is like a sweet treat parlor I go in no one said it to you? no I asked the gentleman behind the counter do you guys have ice cream? he goes no we do not serve ice cream but they do at the bar until 11 and I was like that's great info for the team I'm gonna tell the team this me and PFT are in line it's not even worth getting into I give you false ice cream information it is funny that Did you say ice cream Sunday?

2:32:26PFT Commenter:Yes. Sunday was specific. I spent the same information to Hank on our walk home.

2:32:32Big Cat:So he could have very well also went to the bar and been no ice cream. We did.

2:32:37PFT Commenter:They got ordered seven cookies and ice cream for the table. Yes, I did. And then left. Like I was basically eating a personal giant cookie with ice cream. It was so good. It didn't stop me from asking for a Sunday. It was so good. Me and Zach walked home like maybe 10 minutes later and then he's like, I'm going to get an ice cream. I was like, I'm going to bed. That was aggressive.

2:32:59Big Cat:The ice cream. It's the perfect way to end a great day. We had just done that. Zach, did you get an ice cream? I didn't get an ice cream, no. I ran into a different problem when I got there. So we didn't end a great day. You did have a giant cookie. I do like the idea of Zach. That was for the table. Whenever we go somewhere. We can't just leave all these cookies out. Somebody's got to take those out. They were warm. Zach becomes like Secret Service advanced scouting for us. we go into a hotel and he clears the lobby by checking like okay where's the nearest ice cream down here so he can share that with us later that's great foresight and pre-planning but but now when it falls short it could have been a disaster last night hank could have gone to the bar too and asked for a sundae and it's like sir a second a second patron has requested a sundae

2:33:39PFT Commenter:that we're unable to fulfill it's like the basement in the alamo for peewee herman and we're just going up and asking they're like there's no basement in the alamo there's no

2:33:47Big Cat:sundays at the omni it was it was a it was a disaster zach i got that text last night this morning when we when we got to the lobby i went straight to the cafe to look for the guy not there not on shift hopefully he's on shift i don't know i'm gonna call i've never i listen i i don't consider myself to be a fat person i'm not in great shape but i'm not overweight but it was it was the most embarrassing i've ever felt about my health last night having inaccurate sunday information and then being sad about it and that poor lady had having to to let me down gently so what was you alluded to something zach like things didn't work out well for you when you went for ice cream oh i didn't i ended up pivoting to a different small issue i didn't bring up i left my phone charger here so i had to get i had i got banged for a phone charger downstairs trying to look for one that was i had to pivot to like a recharge what does that have to do with ice cream i was going in for ice cream and then i had like a crisis like if the phone dies we got you know You wouldn't wake up.

2:34:44Big Cat:My brain completely shifted. We have to get this phone back online. One more question for you, Zach. What's up, Max? Yesterday, we had to be at the office at 6.30 to make sure that we got here on time. What time did you go to sleep on Monday night?

2:35:00Big Cat:I didn't get much sleep on the day before we left. I would like you to further clarify how much sleep that you got. I probably got like two hours of sleep. You went to sleep before? Yeah. He didn't sleep. You didn't sleep at all? Whoa, whoa, whoa. Here's a question. I like that. Did you make it on time? No, I'm... Yeah, we were there. This is not making fun of Zach. This is like... You're ratting on him.

2:35:20PFT Commenter:No, this is like... They're snitching.

2:35:21Big Cat:This is like a pat on the back. Like, he's so dedicated to the show. He was scared of not waking up, so he just didn't sleep. What time did you go to sleep? Doesn't matter. Hold on. Did you make it on time? Yes, that's all that matters. Why isn't... Hold on. Max, why are you bringing this up in Fyre Fest if it's supposed to be a compliment? Time out, though.

2:35:36PFT Commenter:To defend Max here, did you not sleep because you played video games too late or you didn't sleep because you were scared that you wouldn't wake up that's what I was saying

2:35:47PFT Commenter:you need to be commended for this you were so scared you wouldn't wake up that you were like

2:35:51Big Cat:I'll just not go to sleep I was just 0 for 7 days on the biggest week of the year so I can't go straight into another big week that is commitment that's all I was trying to say Max how did you find out?

2:36:05PFT Commenter:I can't trust Max with anything. He'll just blow it up on the podcast and just expose you. You're the one who took that negatively. I thought that was just like a funny story for the listeners that Zach was so committed to being on time on Saturday or on Tuesday.

2:36:23Big Cat:He just chose no sleep route, which is great. We were all supposed to be there at 7. We all got there by 7. It was good. Good work, Zach. That's great, Zach. And Zach, to be clear, I'm not mad about the ice cream thing. I'm just disappointed. I let you down, yeah. Just disappointed. It's because I expect so much from you. Are you a senior member of the cream team? There's a hierarchy chart, but when it comes to a team where we're three-man, when it comes to maintenance, we've got a front office, obviously. I think he's a general.

2:36:52PFT Commenter:He and Jacob are generals. I think Owen's a corporal. Okay.

2:36:56Big Cat:Well, they're the founding members. They're the founding members. The founding members. Owen can earn his stripes. Mincy was also one of the founding fathers.

2:37:02PFT Commenter:No, Mincy's a guy who got shot in the battlefield, and we did not go back and get him.

2:37:07Big Cat:Mincy's the last guy that died in World War I. Yeah. By the way, fun little treat. Everybody out there, Google the last person to die in World War I, and just look at the picture. Obama? Just look at it. Last guy to die in World War I.

2:37:23PFT Commenter:By the way, I also have one other fire fest. Last guy to die in World War I. um not that we were gonna probably get him on sir henry nicholas gumper look at the picture oh my god billy football holy shit it's pretty crazy oh man oh that's so funny the um not that we were gonna have a good chance of getting him on but i don't think we're going to get John Shire on because at dinner. So I left the dinner, Hank, when I left the dinner after the cookies, I went downstairs the same restaurant. Cause I was having dinner with, uh, my friends Waddle and Sylvie who do ESPN radio in Chicago and some of the other Chicago media.

2:38:08PFT Commenter:And, uh, Sylvie's like very good friends with John Shire. So he FaceTime John Shire after the win, uh, Duke beat Notre Dame and was like, handing me the phone and was like, Hey, big cat, say hi to John Shire and I just immediately was like hey just so you know coach I will not sleep until we find this UNC staffer yeah who punched one of your guys yeah and uh I he didn't think

2:38:31Big Cat:it was that funny so um but also you shouldn't have handed me the phone well also in those situations me and Big Cat have have done things like that we're about batting a thousand percent on on saying the most inappropriate thing to somebody in a situation just like that just like that but we can't help ourselves like I would feel like such a fraud if I was in that situation and somebody FaceTimed me and brought up, I don't know, who's my biggest current sports enemy right now besides Hank? Yeah, if somebody brought up Hank or just like Drake, if someone put Drake May on the other side, and I was like, hey, you seem like a great guy.

2:39:05Big Cat:Your wife seems lovely. Love her bacon. No, you'd be like 36. Best of luck. I'd just be like, hold your hand up to the screen. Let me see if your hand covers the entire phone, Drake. Those nine inches.

2:39:14PFT Commenter:Yeah, so it was, John Shire, to his credit, did say, I was like, hey, we'd love to have you come by the office. He's like, if you invite me, I'll come. So I'm inviting him right now. Okay. So I'm inviting John Shire. And also, I'm going to double down on it. Coach Shire will not sleep. I'm going to be like Zach. I will not sleep until I find this guy.

2:39:33Big Cat:You know what? Let's put a bounty on it.

2:39:35PFT Commenter:Yeah. I will offer. I'll match. Okay. $10 ,000 if anyone can find the UNC person who punched a Duke staffer after the game. Yep. $10 ,000 cash. Give us the footage. Leading to their arrest. Yes, we want to arrest them. We will citizens arrest them.

2:39:52Big Cat:Yeah, podcast arrest. Podcast arrest. That should be a thing. If everybody on the podcast agrees to arrest somebody, they should be allowed to do so. Yeah. Virtual arrest or physical arrest? No, podcast arrest. Yeah, podcast arrest. Audio arrest. Which sir, you are arrested. You have to just encircle them and make them sit down. Then they have to do an interview. You've been podcast arrested. Podcast arrest. Zach, finish us off. I mean, huge Fry Fest this week was losing all credibility when it comes to dairy. I guess secondary. The default setting for the hotel, I guess, was blinds open. Didn't know that.

2:40:29Big Cat:So I unfortunately may have given like full nude get ready with me to whoever was outside of my window this morning. Wait, did you sleep with the blinds open? I guess. It was dark when we got home. I didn't really think. You didn't think to close the blinds? No. So what time did you wake up?

2:40:45PFT Commenter:Sleeping with the blinds open is good. It's a natural wake up. Yeah, but I don't want to wake up at the ass crack at dawn.

2:40:52Big Cat:In full transparency, I give no thought to the blinds until I saw that they were open. And so what time did you – what time were you waking up? Probably nine.

2:40:59PFT Commenter:Oh, okay. That's not bad. You slept in a little. That's good. Yeah, that's good. That's a normal time on the road. And then you just let your dong hang for Indianapolis.

2:41:09Big Cat:Tiny dong, but yeah, luckily if anyone had an on-dollers, they probably saw it. Podcast arrest. It was bad. It was bad. Zach, I'd like you to, can you find an alternate dairy angle for tonight for us? I can do that. Like, I want to know the best ice cream in Indy. Okay. Get it. Oh, you guys are going, yeah, for me. Private or public? What do you mean? Like, if there's an - Private or public, you see. Private. Private. Okay. Private room. Yeah. He didn't stutter. Exclusive. The most exclusive ice cream in Indy. You got allergies? It's like golf course. Dress code? All right.

2:41:44PFT Commenter:Max, do you have one? Firefest? No, it's been a great week. Great week. Really good week for Max. You've enjoyed every minute of it. All your boys are partners.

2:41:58PFT Commenter:Okay, we'll kick it to ourselves to do the lottery ball. Big Cat, you make me laugh. Thank you. That was very funny. You make me laugh too, BFT. Thanks, Big Cat. Okay, time for the lottery ball. By the way, totally forgot. I apologize. guys, clocks changing this weekend. So make sure that you remember that. Spring forward, spring back, spring back. Clocks changing this weekend. Make sure you change your clocks. Get that. Do not fuck that up. You don't want to be late.

2:42:28Big Cat:You know, on kind of a sentimental note, one thing that I've really enjoyed about doing this podcast over the last 10 years is we evolve. So you don't stick, you don't stay doing the same thing year after year, after year, after year. And I've been really proud to work with all you guys. and to see the show kind of change and kind of get smarter over the last 10 years. Big time smarter. But yeah, don't forget your clocks. That would be a disaster.

2:42:50PFT Commenter:Yes. So daylight savings this weekend, which means we get more sun, Hank. Yeah, you're a dickhead. What? Six. We get more sun. 23. 54.

2:43:02Big Cat:56. 55. Everyone Shane almost got it. 43. 86. 77. He's running back the same number. 10.

2:43:16PFT Commenter:Zach I need you to be on this daylight savings thing Because I can't have you This could fuck you up for a week or two

2:43:22Big Cat:I'll make sure to stay on top of the clocks It's this weekend Write that down 2am

2:43:30PFT Commenter:Technically Sunday morning

2:43:34Big Cat:Zach

2:43:34PFT Commenter:Technically Sunday morning Let's get someone on the board Come on Come on, come on, come on, come on.

2:43:50PFT Commenter:Ugh.

2:43:52Big Cat:16. Damn. 16. You gotta spread my wings. 16. Love you guys, and happy birthday to Luka Doncic. Happy birthday, Luka. Go ahead. Have that second steak, Luka. No, don't eat the cake. Have that extra order of prime rib, Luka. you've earned it

2:44:43Thank you.

2:45:11Thank you.

2:45:40Thank you.

2:46:10Thank you.