PMS 2.0 1509 - Adam Schefter, Notre Dame AD Pete Bevacqua, Peter Schrager, Ernest, & AJ Hawk

15:23Pete Bevacqua:Well, we're waiting on the compensation. But if you look at it, the trades that have been made this week, we're on Thursday. we have DJ Moore going to the Bills Trent McDuffie going to the Rams David Montgomery going to the Texans Titus Howard going to the Browns so we're on Thursday and we've had four trades already this week and I think Ty and I talked about this this is what we expected trades because the free agent class in the eyes of some has some real strengths but it's not a very deep class and teams have more money than ever before so they'd rather take their money and go put it into Trent McDuffie who's going to sign a new deal with the Rams, or DJ Moore who's going to have his contract adjusted in Buffalo, or David Montgomery, or Titus Howard who gets an extension in Cleveland.

16:09Pete Bevacqua:So teams are opting, I think, here to trade for players, and I don't think we're done. I don't think we're done. Oh, I like that.

16:15Pat McAfee:That's a good tease. There's actually a good clip from our show where you're on one phone with us and another phone, and you go, We're not, we're not, we're not, we're not, we're not. Now, on that note. Wait till you see Monday. Wait till you see Monday. Okay, let's talk about that because what you just basically said there, is free agency frenzy still going to be frantic because this is our first time with all the boys in the studio. You're saying maybe not because the trades may be taking and winning the day here because of the class. No, no, no.

16:36Pete Bevacqua:It's always frantic. It's always frenzy.

16:41Pat McAfee:There's always a frenzy in there.

16:43Pete Bevacqua:Well, everybody always says it's like they said, oh, free agency opens Wednesday at 4. No, free agency is essentially over by Wednesday at 4 because most of these players will be signed or have agreements in place with other teams. Free agency really starts Monday at noon when you're on the air. That's when it starts.

17:04Pat McAfee:Yes, we know that. You know that. Everybody in ball knows that. And that's why we are so pumped that you're going to be out here. Same with Orlovsky and Schrags. We got a big jib coming into town. We are respecting the hell out of free agency frenzy because this is when magic is usually made. This is when a team can potentially change the trajectory of what next year is going to be. This is when teams that are in the dumpster have the same capability is everybody else to build a roster that can maybe take them to climax town right there at the top of lombardi mountain so whenever you think about what free agency frenzy is it's really the changing of entire cities yes and franchises yes and families what it's one of the biggest days in history dreams come true big deals are made kids that come from nothing finally experience the generational wealth that they've worked their ass off for that's what free agency frenzy is all about but schefter's like well i don't know trade yeah yeah great season shefty knows number one

17:57Ernest:Spender last year. Patriots made the Super Bowl. Number four Spender last year. Seahawks won the Super Bowl.

18:01Pat McAfee:Okay, let's go. Colts, how much do we got? Probably not. Not much. Shut up. Not much. Okay, Sheffield, we had a couple more quick questions as you were wheeling and dealing on your phone at the same time. Go ahead, Ty.

18:12AJ Hawk:Yeah, Sheffield, speaking of the trades, earlier in the week you talked about Jonathan Grenard and how the Vikings were likely going to trade him. And then a report came out today that said half the league has reached out to the Vikings on his behalf and that the Seahawks are circling. Is this one of those? that you expect? Is he likely to be traded within the next few days here?

18:33Pete Bevacqua:I think there's a case where I don't think the Vikings really want to deal him, but it's one of those cases where if there's a team that offers enough to go get him, and I think it would be a day two pick, so a second or a third, I think Minnesota, because of the financial questions and issues there, is going to have to consider him. My guess is in the end, when these things usually happen, when you hear about a player that a team is open to trading, when there have been discussions, when that happens, usually a trade happens. So I would say it's probably more likely than not, but Minnesota knows how good he is, and I can tell you he isn't going to be thrilled about giving him up.

19:14Pat McAfee:Minnesota,$44.5 million over the cap. Now what are they going to do? It's quarterback position. Are they going to bring in a vet, everything like that? That is a situation, but that's part of the game. You've got to be able to manage that. You got to do Saturday cap gymnastics. Excited to see how everybody works out. Now, final question for me. What was the reaction around the league to Aaron Rodgers for 75 minutes yesterday? I was pumped, dude. His guy just wants to have sex with his wife. That's all he wants to do. He's very active. What's that? Sounds like he and his wife are very active. Healthy relationship.

19:45Pat McAfee:That's what it sounds like, you know, for me. And also, him putting over Mike McCarthy. Well, hard. There's a lot of things that he said in there. Anything that drew some reaction other than him and his wife certainly doing what God is telling him to do with each other? Is there anything else that was kind of taken from there

20:01Pete Bevacqua:from a football perspective? Everybody wants to know, is he playing or is he not? And he didn't really give any indication.

20:08Pat McAfee:All right, Chafty.

20:09Pete Bevacqua:Yep, that was your reaction.

20:10Pat McAfee:He did, though. He said, listen, what do you want me to do? There's no real decision to be made. If you want me to come on here and say, I'm definitely going to play football, well, I've got to know what it looks like. How much am I getting? Seasoned in two months ago.

20:22AJ Hawk:Let's give him a deal then, maybe. I'm Pittsburgh Steelers. McCarthy did say that last time. Aaron's got to go through his offseason process and we'll get together.

20:30Pat McAfee:He also said something there about going through his own. Did he not, Darren? Did he not say we got to go through our own?

20:35AJ Hawk:We got to go through our process, getting guys in the building. He's got to go through his process. How long have you been working all year? I just remember him saying that. I said, yep, that's Big Mike to a T.

20:45Pat McAfee:He's the greatest. He likes him a lot. I think that'll be figured out. It feels like he's way too happy. He talked about how much fun he had playing football last year. And then if the situation remains the same, he's in shape because of all the bone. I think there's legs there. I think he's good. I think he's good. All right.

21:02Pete Bevacqua:I appreciate the hell out of you, Shefty. All right, guys. We'll see what else happens here today and tomorrow. And we'll be in Indianapolis on Sunday.

21:09Pat McAfee:You know what I love about you? Just so calm through it all. Just don't ride the highs. Don't get too low on the lows. Just right there riding the...

21:18Pete Bevacqua:let's let's let's see what if you're saying the same thing on tuesday

21:22Pat McAfee:has anybody on air just openly publicly talked about what your life is actually like because i think it needs to be known what this guy is putting himself through to get these tweets this is all for these tweets yeah that is what all of this is for everything you do for these tweets like the amount of energy emotional energy that you we appreciate he still works like he's an

21:43Ernest:up-and-coming insider.

21:44Pat McAfee:Yeah, we appreciate you doing that right now. Yeah, and then, oh my god, screenshotting? Hey. Oh, for good. Yeah. You did it. Well done, Shefty. You felt good about that. Good dunks. Listen, Florio, friend of the program, I know he pisses people off, though. Is he? I mean, yeah, he's probably been pissed at like, that's Florio football. I know that for sure. That's Florio football in a nutshell, and I understand in the game, you two have been there a long time. These had to feel good putting them out. I mean, this had to feel good, Shefty. Legit. This had to feel Well, you know, I thought my integrity was being questioned, so I just wanted to, is that the angle that you're going with?

22:18Pat McAfee:And is that why you felt obligated to do as such?

22:21Pete Bevacqua:Yes. It was uncalled for, it was unprofessional, and it was unnecessary.

22:26Pat McAfee:Well, on that note, hey, you're in the sports world, so every once in a while shit is going to be talked, certain like it was, and then you just came.

22:33AJ Hawk:I got something for that.

22:34Pat McAfee:Yeah, yeah, that's an incredible thing. You should feel good about that, not bad about that. We liked watching the joust out there. You're the man. Ladies and gentlemen, don't even think. Yeah. think twice hey maybe don't be barking up this particular tree okay you don't know what's on the other side ladies and gentlemen i'm chef i mean he felt so good putting that tweet up oh yeah how about him trying to do the journalist angle about his integrity being questioned and be just going bro that was not integrity that was he was talking shit on you and you came back and just absolutely demolished absolute murder scene on the internet i've never seen it from an insider I've never seen it.

23:12Pat McAfee:I don't know if Shinzu Art of War has that in there. Definitely. Rest in peace. Shinzu did pass away. Too soon. A lot of people have said that. Back then, it was about on time. Yeah, but that's what...

23:25Ernest:No, but they wanted him to live. I'm not talking...

23:27Pat McAfee:Yeah, I'm talking about... It would be cool if it wasn't back then he did what he... Yeah, I remember Moonzu carried it on. Is that true? Speaking of carrying things on in tradition, the World Baseball Classic started last night

23:42AJ Hawk:here we go we're in it we are in it

23:45Pat McAfee:Johnny Bazzana

23:49AJ Hawk:some people refer to him as Johnny Bananas his given name is Travis Bazzana

23:53Pat McAfee:I am sorry I'm just learning of this guy holy hell Kyle Raleigh what we call Kyle Raleigh this guy's base he's a horse this guy is an absolute horse the Australian people I do believe in great shape. I was over there, so I don't want to say I know everything because I was there for one week of my life, but you walked around, you very rarely didn't see somebody that was in very good shape. So it feels like whenever they turn their attention to a sport, their bodies can handle it. It feels like they are an athletic bunch. It does feel like that is who Aussies are. I had no idea they did the baseball.

24:29Pat McAfee:And then this guy goes jogging onto the field and they had this low jib shot of him. And I was like, that guy is He's a horse. Who is? Yeah, and then lo and behold, hits an absolute bomb. They were talking him up the whole time, and then he hits a bomb in it. It's like, good for this guy. Is Australia – I didn't know they did the baseball down there. I had no idea. And how many Australians have played baseball in MLB?

24:51AJ Hawk:I mean, you know, a couple handfuls maybe, but there hasn't been a guy like that. He was the first overall pick in the draft in 2024. He came over. He went to Oregon State. So, like, he is expected to be, you know, a five-tool player. So, like, I think we were talking about this before the show. I don't think it's crazy to say, like, this guy is probably or he's expected to be the best Australian baseball player of all time. And you can see why. Big moment. You know, he hasn't played in the big leagues yet. He plays for the he was drafted by the Guardians. But, you know, for Team Australia, what a night.

25:23Pat McAfee:Yeah, you always think about and we always talk about what this can do for America. You know, hey, baseball, we're trying to get this back to being the pastime. Hockey team winning against Canada. Hockey teams winning against Canada. it's like hey that's good for hockey think about good for baseball in like australia oh yeah like that that feels like especially with japan being as good and i don't want to act like i know geography but they're both really far same time so i would assume it has to be in the same area i

25:48AJ Hawk:mean that's why they're playing their games in japan you know for the opening round because

25:52Pat McAfee:it's close closer than any other site good for baseball man if that starts happening that was an electric atmosphere and that wasn't the only game there was a massive grand salami ding dong and WBC coming out of South Korea, right?

26:05AJ Hawk:Yeah, South Korea and Chechia. And who is it? Moonbo Kyung. And this is the first inning. So, you know, obviously not a whole bunch of people there for the Korean game. I think, I mean, you mentioned it. You know, who knows what time this started over there. But, yeah, talk about opening the tournament with some fireworks, hitting a grand slam in the first inning. And then this is also part of what's cool about the World Baseball Classic. Like, Chechia, a bunch of guys on their team, are just regular dudes. Guys who are plumbers who this comes around. They're good enough to make the national team and then they're playing against pros from Korea.

26:40Pat McAfee:Me versus Kershaw. Yeah, exactly. Hey, Kershaw got two outs. Obviously, had to get the jitters out. Fresh out of retirement. Hangs one. Can't do that. Keeps it up high or whatever. Kershaw understood that. Gets two outs. Then gets a standing ovation on his way out. Hey, good to see you, brother. My boy, Clayton. And baby Kershaw. Good to see you, brother. I am pretty pumped about Team USA. I like the mindset. I like the team. I like the vibes. I like the culture. I like everything about it. There was also a moment, was it the Dominican Republic was playing the team and their pitcher was playing for the other team, but he was, I believe, a Dominican pitcher.

27:16Pat McAfee:And he went and pitched for the national team. And then they called, he was like a young guy, I think. If my, the way I saw the story happen in the video that I'm watching, he looked like a younger guy. They were coming out to, a catcher was coming out to talk to a pitcher, Young kid from country in which this team is. And then everybody came to the mound. And I gave him an ass pat. It was like a... That's cool. Yeah, I thought it was... I was watching in the middle. I almost got emotional for the kid that was standing there. Because that's probably...

27:41AJ Hawk:Huge moment.

27:41Pat McAfee:Yeah, for him. Yeah. The World Baseball Classic, I think, has been special to follow. And maybe it's because we are on this Olympic hangover right now. But it's so cool to see people just... It's cool to see people come together.

27:51AJ Hawk:Yeah.

27:52Pat McAfee:It legitimately is.

27:53AJ Hawk:And this is their only opportunity. And it's like, we have it. But then you watch these other games, too. and you can see how invested these other countries are. We talked about the crowd in the Dominican Republic and the game they played down there. Everyone is kind of invested in this right now.

28:05Pat McAfee:Let's go back to the NFL, talking about investments. Seattle Seahawks seemingly not making investments in a couple of important pieces of their Super Bowl run. Kenneth Walker was not tagged. He's going to hit the free agency. He's going to get paid pretty well. Rashid Shahid, the dynamic returner and wide receiver that was brought into Seattle midseason out of New Orleans, he's going to go and hit free agency as well. I guess this is a part of the business whenever you win, Con, man.

28:26Ernest:Yeah, and also you just heard Shefter talking about the depth of the free agents. If you're a wide receiver right now, it's a premium position. Aside from Alec Pierce and Mike Evans, we really haven't heard much. He's probably going to fetch that$24,$25 million. And then you just mentioned Jonathan Grenard also with Shefty. Seattle probably kind of zeroing in on the trenches rather than a skilled position like this when they know JSN contract is around the corner.

28:51Pat McAfee:And once again, we trust Schneider. He has earned the right to be trusted, whatever he makes. This is just like around ball. Whenever Bill Belichick would make a move, people are just like, yep, that makes sense. You're getting rid of your, yeah, sure, Bill Belichick's doing it. He was able to have success and win while doing so, and none of his players that he would cut would ever make it through the waiver because everybody wanted whoever that was. Schneider's starting to get into similar conversations because he was able to build two different teams in one place in a relatively quick turnaround.

29:18Pat McAfee:So I feel like that guy, not the best football thrower. No. Sure. He tried. I mean, I'm not the best baseball thrower. So we all have our thing. There you go, yeah. We all have our crosses. But damn, that guy seemingly can build a team. So any decision he's making, we're trusting. We're trusting. But Shahid is a weapon. Yes. In a lot of facets. And in the world that we're in right now, with a lot more returns, with explosive shots coming at a premium now because of the shell coverage, it's like Rashid Shahid, I think, is going to get a little bit of looks. I think there's going to be a lot of Rashid-Shahid convo, just like there will be Kenneth Walker.

29:53Pat McAfee:Let's go to a decision that was made in Pittsburgh. Johnny Smith, who was traded in for Miami. As soon as I read the headline, I was actually with Gumpy. Gumpy goes, he was so good for the Dolphins. What a trade. Everybody's a super genius. Now he's being released. Gumpy just obviously incredibly bitter about it all. Tell me a little bit about how Pittsburgh feels about freeing up the room, I guess, in the tight end room and releasing Johnny Smith. And how did the experience go, you think, as a whole? Obviously, he had some wins, had some big times. but I think people are very excited about what he could potentially bring to the Steelers and whether it was his fault or anybody else's not the case.

30:28Pat McAfee:They're moving on. I don't think many people were surprised.

30:30Ernest:No. So we go back to when like this first happened last year, there was like tweets about like, Oh, John Smith potentially going to the Steelers. I was like, well, that doesn't make sense because Pat Fryer move. Just got a contract. Darnell Washington is really good. We need a third tight end making that type of money. And then he did come in. There was some good, there was some not so good, but they free up$7 million. They go from 44 million to 51 million now. So they got a lot of money to play with. And when I mentioned guys like Pat Frymouth and Darnell Washington, like those guys are, they're going to be on the field all the time.

30:59Ernest:You don't want to take those guys off, especially Darnell. Like they love Darnell Washington and Pat. So like my Washington, you don't need it. This made sense. He was always going to like, this was a projected move the entire off season that this was going to happen. But Johnny in the right offense in the right place, he's still, he's still really good. He's still a playmaker. So he'll, he'll be fine.

31:18Pat McAfee:Yeah. there'll be some offense that'll find John who Smith and then all of a sudden he'll be a playmaker. Yes. A lot of people say in Ohio state.

31:24Ernest:Yeah. Ohio state with Arthur Smith might not be a bad idea, but also if you were, that was unbelievable.

31:31Pat McAfee:You just did right.

31:31Ernest:I'm just saying what the internet was saying yesterday.

31:33Pat McAfee:Yeah. Okay. So you just, uh, sounds like you agree. It does sound like a little, whatever you say, I'll say like a little, uh, what's that bird? A parrot? I thought, is that what you are? You're a parrot?

31:41Ernest:I am a parrot. I am also, um, what's the animal that doesn't have a spine? A jellyfish. geez, A lot of people also say a chameleon, too. A bunch of different cool things. I guess that's quite – you've got a lot of depth, actually. Thank you. I appreciate that.

31:56Pat McAfee:Sky and – No, I thought our job here was to relay the news of what people out there are saying. That is a part of our job. That is a part of our job. I do believe we do that a little bit more. I'm a news guy. But every once in a while, that will get us in trouble. Yes, it will. Definitely. Yeah, because some people who aren't on the internet, which we think are people that are lazy, okay, especially if you're in this particular profession, they've never heard any of those things. So whenever we say, hey, people are saying this, they think we're saying that just so that we can say our own personal thoughts.

32:22Pat McAfee:No. No, hey, this is actually. People are saying this. This is actually what's going on. And that's probably a pretty good focus group, especially if you're talking about stuff. You should probably understand what's going on out there in where everybody that watches sports seemingly is. So we just do a lot of like, hey, they don't know ball if they get upset. But people do get upset whenever we do something like, hey, we're just breaking into it. Don't, hey, I guess that's journalism. Yeah, don't shoot the messenger. And then they go, then they say, well, those are all fake things. And it's like, no, that's a whole other conversation.

32:53Pat McAfee:Yeah, that's a huge thing. I saw some of these setups of places, and they're sending out tweets and comments and posts and following around behind somebody else. I'm like, how many of these computers have I gotten so mad at? Oh, yeah. Exactly. These assholes are starting to narrative. Yeah.

33:10Ernest:Bingo. Where are you? One person, 10 accounts.

33:12Pat McAfee:So you got to cipher through those, but that's getting more hard each day. Yeah. I mean, Styles' dad, he's two times Big Ten. Yeah. And you can understand how you buy it. We wanted that to be true. Exactly. Exactly. So we do apologize. We do apologize for that. But also. Could you imagine? I think they do have the science. We have the comps. Tom Pellicero is reporting. The Bills are sending a 2026 second-round pick to the Bears for DJ Moore and a fifth-round pick per sources, a pick swap to give Chicago extra draft ammo in Buffalo, a new top receiver. DJ Moore, good for him. He's going to be playing football with Josh Allen.

33:45Pat McAfee:Yeah. Uh-oh. A second and six. That's not bad. I don't think that's bad at all. Not at all. I mean, they're probably pretty pumped up about that. That's an unbelievable trade. Bean's got to be pretty pumped. Bean probably thinks he had a bingo here. Yeah, he did a bingo. We had a bingo for Beano. Yeah, Beano had a bingo here. I guess have not talked to him since then. Everybody understands that we do have a relationship with him. He's a friend of the program. I'm excited to get his thoughts on this at some point. Now, they're not allowed to talk about it until it actually happens. Remember, that's like the big fight club thing.

34:13Pat McAfee:Six days. that we have a tampering period but you're not a lot to talk about reality of tampering period until it's like well we're a lot to talk about yeah you're a lot to talk about but the people that are actually involved it's just like college football where uh a recruit commits and then well you actually the coach can't say player's name until they actually so not even allowed to say their name because that's a recruiting violation it's like well can they just say like we want players that are really big strong fast and smart and good to their family and their parents say they're good yes so we think all the rules are stupid if a deal is made we should talk about it and we should promote it because it would be cool to be able to get bino's instant reaction to his bingo of a trade right now yeah because this is a home run yeah for him i think in his eyes this is a home run he should be able to hit the press right then immediately hey i did it again look at

35:01Ernest:bino yeah you know what it does though the from now until next wednesday at four or whatever it is and then all those free agency signings that happen monday and tuesday gives us social media teams a lot of time okay because Wednesday at four they cook and then they finally put out

35:14Pat McAfee:official and then oh yeah we might need to have like a schedule schedule release type video for some of these new signings from these social teams I'll tell you what the Buffalo Bills social team they got the juice they got the juice I spent a day with combine alongside them we were brainstorming the whole time weren't we Gumpy we had a lot of good ideas for them that they could potentially put out and they put the effort into building them and then ultimately never pulled the trigger because we missed the time.

35:42AJ Hawk:A little light on the trigger. They should have let some things go. Be aggressive out there if you're doing that.

35:46Pat McAfee:There was a couple tweets that we were trying to get them to tweet from the Buffalo Bills account. Oh, I like that. Especially with everything that was going on at the time. You want to talk numbers. Yeah, we said, hey, any number that you were trying to show to Mr. Pagola, say you're doing a good job. We can get that right here. That combines a lot of downtime. A lot of downtime. Aaron Glenn.

36:09Ernest:What about me?

36:10Pat McAfee:That was like a seeing ghost type situation. Yes. I agree. Remember whenever they put...

36:17Ernest:That was the first takeaway. What are they doing filming that guy on TV?

36:21Pat McAfee:And then you said, I got a triple platinum. I couldn't imagine waking up like that. That has to be a worse wake up of all time. And it was. That's like in school you accidentally doze off and then you notice that the teacher's potentially looking at you. It's one of those moments. Instead, it's, hey, everybody ain't here. and everybody at home is going to see this. Well, you're looking at your surface. Sure, yeah, we understand. We appreciate that. I don't mean to bring that back up, but I would just like to go to bat for him. Very easy for somebody to doze off because of how terrible the in-stadium show is.

36:53Ernest:It's warm and comfy in there. It's kind of like a library.

36:56Pat McAfee:Yeah, there's no air movement. There's really no nothing. They put zero effort into the in-stadium show of that because this is an interview for the athletes. It's not a show. But we're inviting fans in. Okay, so maybe we try to make it. And then you go up to the team stuff, and the teams are just sitting in there. There's obviously a juice person in each room. There was one person in a suite down that you could clearly tell that they were put in there, hey, need you to keep us up. Need you to keep the juice going. Because the meetings are going 3, 4 a.m. Exactly. And then they're going into these dead, quiet, awkward, signed-in stadium for seven hours.

37:32Pat McAfee:I think Aaron Glenn should not be murdered as much. On that note, phenomenal tweet by you. I had to do it. It's the Jets. Phenomenal tweet by you. Thank you. Kyler Murray juice is starting to really flow. Kyler Murray is starting to become the number one conversation about a quarterback spot. Who needs a quarterback? They need to get Kyler Murray. And I'll tell you, I got trapped in a three-minute Kyler Murray highlight reel. That was glorious. Oh, my God. Him running, whenever he gets going, because of his build, obviously, it is a different style of running than we're used to seeing. But then he's just zooming right by people.

38:05Pat McAfee:I mean, he has the capability to outrun you. At this point, he has the capability you would hope to understand what the defense is doing. You would hope at least. I mean, it takes a long time for a lot of people to potentially understand NFL defenses, and NFL defenses are evolving. But if Kyler Murray understands what defenses are doing, and he still can run, which he's 28 years old, right? How was he? Yeah, I think 28. 28 years old or whatever. So he's still going to be able to do this for a while, at least another contract if he had to. He can obviously spin it, and he finds the right reason to go all in.

38:34Pat McAfee:It's like, is Kyler Murray about to do the Sam Darnold? Is Kyler Murray about to do the Baker Mayfield? Is Kyler Murray about to do the Kirk Cousins at one time? Is Kyler Murray about to do the Mac Jones? Is Kyler Murray about to be the next one that gets his second opportunity and just absolutely slaughters it because it's a nice, fresh taste of football for him? We'll see. Or maybe he's hitting dingers for the Pittsburgh Pirates. There are so many different options here for how big of an athlete and how great of an athlete he is. But I watched that highlight reel, and I completely got, if you put him in the right spot, and he's not going to cost a lot of money, so he's going to be able to have weapons around him.

39:11Pat McAfee:No money, almost. Maybe 1.2 million lead men. Tyler Murray having a resurgence would be bananas, and good for him as a whole, obviously.

39:20Ernest:And there's a bunch of teams that need quarterbacks. Like the conversation right now with the draft is, hey, Mendoza, then Ty Simpson, then who knows. I mean, you can pull up the division chart, and there are multiple teams in multiple divisions that need quarterbacks, let alone teams like Atlanta. Like Atlanta's got a brand-new coach. They've got a quarterback that's only played a few games who just tore his knee. Would he go to in Atlanta with Bajon, Bajon, Drake London, Kyle Pitts? Which one is it? I don't know. We talked about the name thing yesterday.

39:49Pat McAfee:And we even asked him, and I don't think we got to the bottom of it. He said his mom. I think it's a two-year-old path.

39:53AJ Hawk:But he said, but everyone calls me Bijan, and that's fine by me.

39:57Pat McAfee:Okay, so Bijan does have, obviously, recruiting capabilities, I would assume, for Atlanta because of how good of a football player he is. But also the city of Atlanta is a place I think a lot of people wouldn't mind. You see what they're doing with the NBA team?

40:09Ernest:Yeah, a couple guys not happy about it.

40:11Pat McAfee:I heard that. And I stand with Lou Cornett. You do?

40:14Ernest:Yeah, I do. Wait, what are you guys talking about?

40:16Pat McAfee:We're talking about a place that has great lemon pepper. I mean, from the conversations that I've heard and from what my taste buds have judged. Big storyline of the bubble. Huge storyline of the bubble. Not just of the bubble, though. I think if you were to peel back the curtain, I think Magic City might be a big part of a lot of sports. Going back to the dance club. A lot of sports. There's an adult ballet guy there. But once again, great kitchen. The Hawks are playing a game there? Great chef. No, so I think they're just doing a club. They play games there all the time. They're doing a club, yeah.

40:55Pat McAfee:There's hooping going on. There's a lot happening out there. People aren't happy about it. I'll say this, though, about the Atlanta Hawks. They're willing. Yes. Innovative.

41:05Ernest:They will. They need to. What night were we there for? There was an awesome night.

41:09Pat McAfee:Big Boy. Big Boy was there. Peachtree.

41:11AJ Hawk:What's that? It was the 2 Chainz. They had all the Peachtree stuff. The hoodie with the 2 Chainz on. Yeah.

41:16Pat McAfee:But remember, I sat on the first seat. Yeah, big boy's chair down there. Big boy's chair down there. They do it right down there. And then I got a big boy, Budweiser, that was a 28-ouncer or something like that, bigger than a pounder. And then you walk back, and there's just some open resort-style bar you could do it. They are trying their best for basketball live event future, it feels like.

41:36AJ Hawk:Concessions are super cheap. I bet you it's going to sell out.

41:39Pat McAfee:I would assume, yeah, it's going to sell out. But there's people down there saying, is this what we need to be promoting? it's like I think if you talk to anybody that's ever really gone through Atlanta they would say it's part of the story down there.

41:51AJ Hawk:Promoting the local economy.

41:54Pat McAfee:I was down there as an 18 year old okay we played the Sugar Bowl in Atlanta as we know Adam Pacman Jones is Atlanta Star royalty. Yeah so he was down he was not with the Mountaineers he had just left but he he did want us to win that game pretty good, it felt like, and he was with us. I got shown Atlanta by Pac-Man Jones when I was 18. It was, I had a great time. I bet you did. That was back in a welcome to Atlanta. Yeah, Jeezy was going crazy at the time. Let alone Outkast growing up. T.I. going absolutely bananas again. I mean, it was Luda. I'm kind of rattling through the names here. Atlanta had quite a lot.

42:37Pat McAfee:Gucci, sorry. I apologize, Gucci. I don't want to leave anybody Can't miss one here Dig deeper 2 Chainz a little later though I will say I think We got to go through each zone here Yeah, Donald Glover

42:54Ernest:A little later

42:57Pat McAfee:We cannot open this up To one generation Future We definitely need to do that Nonetheless, shout out to Atlanta and uh yeah the Atlanta Hawks we happen to know some of the people down there a little bit we've gotten to know the people a little bit they're business people they will get creative they will try their best to make sure people are having a good time watching the Atlanta Hawks because they think the future of live events and sports are kind of one with each other and that's what they're

43:25Ernest:doing as a whole go ahead and they make it affordable just last thing for those people those business people yeah everything in the stadium both Falcons and Hawks like the prices are not absurd, which you see all the time.

43:35Pat McAfee:Yeah, it's like$5 beers or something, like$3 waters or something, as opposed to like$10 or$12 or$15, which everybody's doing. I forget the numbers, but yeah. They are just trying to get people to come. We want people to have a good time and celebrate. And then if we win, which we need to start doing, that's better for all of Atlanta. So I'm not making excuses. There's reasons people are upset, and I get it. People can be upset for everything. I'm just saying they also take a shot on... How many games are down there? 41? Yeah, 41. They're taking a shot on 41 different. I mean, they are – I appreciate that they are giving maximum effort to trying to do this.

44:09Pat McAfee:So, you know, every once in a while you're going to get one that maybe not everybody's going to love. That's going to happen. That's a lot of games you've got to fill.

44:15Ernest:Their record just went pretty viral. I don't know if you saw the tweet, but in the last, like, 40 games, they're 20-20, and their last, like, 80 games, they're 40-40. Their last 160 games, they're 80-80. I think it's their last, like, 2 ,400 games, they're 1 ,200 and 1 ,200. The Atlanta Hawks are on a historic run like that. Historically. Historically mediocre. Right there, yeah. Right where you want to be. Which is hysterical.

44:39Pat McAfee:I think I would be actually, I'm not the best French speaker, but I think that is what come see, come saw. I think it actually means like, you know. But they have fun at the arena. Great. They're still selling it out. Still selling it out. Joining us now is a man that we've been very lucky to call a friend of ours. his career and his resume is one that people look back upon and say wow that guy's an incredible american sports businessman and he's not only that he's also an ex-punter ladies and gentlemen the athletic director and there's an official title official title i don't have it i looked it up i should have had it i'm sorry athletic director vice president and james e roar director of athletics okay we thank you for your money mr roar people of aqua hey hey guys great to see you

45:30Peter Schrager:Pat, thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.

45:32Pat McAfee:No problem. I know the amount of money that was probably paid for that guy's name, James E. Rohr's name to be right there in front of director of athletics. So I want to make sure that keeps going for Notre Dame athletics. And I want to make sure we get that right. On that note, we love that you are the athletic director for Notre Dame, not only because of how good you are as a businessman and how you see things, but also because you're a player there who happened to play for one of the most legendary coaches in the history of society. We would like to pass on our condolences to your college coach for your college coach Lou Holtz's passing and when we reached out I just wanted I thought we owe coach Holtz a little bit of love and there was no other person we thought should maybe come on and talk about him a little bit than you.

46:17Pat McAfee:So thank you for making time and is there anything that you think people should know about your coach and obviously Notre Dame legend Lou Holtz.

46:25Peter Schrager:Yeah, and you mentioned punter. I was, unlike you, I was a horribly failed punter. I was a walk-on for a half a second under Coach Holtz. And my dear friend Craig Hendrick, who you know well, who inspired me to give it a go, quickly realized when I showed up on campus that I wasn't Notre Dame material, but Craig took me under his wing and I had a chance to participate with the team for a short amount of time. But the real value and treasure of those moments, particularly the second semester of my junior year in spring training where I spent so much time with Colt Chotes until another injury did me in, just to get to know him.

47:10Peter Schrager:You know, in my life, Pat, you know, I grew up such a Notre Dame fan. So many people from my family went to Notre Dame. He was a mythological figure. I mean, I quoted Coach Holtz in a speech I gave at my high school graduation. He was my yearbook quote. And so when I showed up on campus and actually was around him, I mean, it was like seeing a legend up close and personal. And then what was so wonderful, Pat, you know, move that from being a fly on the wall of the football program for a half a second, probably the least distinguished Notre Dame football career in the history of Notre Dame football.

47:46Peter Schrager:But getting to know him as a friend and to having him in my life, you know, particularly the last, I'd say, 15 or so years, we became really, really close. And he just had an unbelievable way to inspire people to make you feel just valued and important and loved. and just, you know, a little thing like he was on a flight with my family coming to a Notre Dame game and he sat next to my son, Arthur, who's now 15. He was probably around 12 and a half, 13 at the time. And Coach Holtz, two weeks later, this unbelievable letter came in the mail to Arthur about what a great young man he is and how he looks forward to following his future.

48:30Peter Schrager:And he knows he's going to go to Notre Dame. And, you know, we have that framed on my son's wall. and he was a special, special man, just a unique individual.

48:41Pat McAfee:And absolute beauty, I believe, is how you would describe that. Like going above and beyond all the time to let people know that they've been noticed or to make people feel as if this moment that you're having with him is the most important moment of his life, even though everybody is expecting that. We went to a corporate Christmas party here in Indianapolis. We were invited to this thing. And, you know, corporate gigs for speakers are something that are stuff of legend. Comedians talk about it and leaders. I assume you have hired speakers to come in. Nick Saban's doing the run right now. The speaker for corporate events thing is always something I heard about and how it is, but I never experienced it.

49:20Pat McAfee:Then I got invited to this Christmas party up on the north side of Indianapolis, and Foxy, I think, went with me over there. We had no idea what to expect. I had no idea. I've never been in a corporate world. I don't have any friends that are in a corporate world. My parents don't have any friends that are in a corporate world. I had no idea we're walking into we walk in this place chaos I mean we're talking full full chaos there's like a there's a contest going on up on a stage I mean there's a bar over here there's a bunch of people dancing over here I'm like damn these people are getting down like really getting down then they shuffle us off into a back room and they're like uh once this kind of settles down it's like a happy hour feel then we're gonna do a dinner then you guys are gonna do your thing afterwards it was like cool so I had to be there for you know three hours but I was only doing something you know at the very end classic corpo i think you guys you know whatever the case is but i get in that back room the only other person in there is coach lou holtz and i had no idea he was going to be there i had no clue so i opened the door and he's back there and i go holy shit literally right to his face which is probably not the perfect reaction and he goes pat and he gives me like a full speech about who i am he starts breaking he did research on who i he obviously knew i was coming he was a part of the the board there and we spoke for i don't know an hour and 10 minutes yep hour and 10 minutes and he made me feel as if uh he was lucky to be if that he made me feel like he was trying to talk to me as opposed to me having like a thousand questions for him and it was in that moment that i realized like some of these people were casted as characters especially in the sports world if they're able to triumph and everything and then you realize like some of them are actually who they are and whenever you meet those people it's like that's a special entity for the history of sport and it was in that day in the middle of that chaos I mean the absolute opposite of what you think of Lou Holtz was happening out here and then in his back room he just made me feel special and then our relationship grew throughout the entirety he was just a beast and he was he was sending messages of inspiration to me it was like Lou Holtz why are you investing in me and it was like I just think he did that to everybody that he met he wanted to be such a giver obviously medal of freedom winner and everything else and Can you remind me of the heart of a lion?

51:20Pat McAfee:I think you were the one who told me about the heart of a lion story.

51:23Peter Schrager:Yeah, I mean, this is such vintage. Lou Holtz shows just how quick and smart he is and how funny he is. So as I said, I was a walk-on for a half a second, right? Injuries and horrible lack of talent eventually did me in. But had a great brief experience. So I graduated in 93. In 2007, I'm running the U.S. Open. And I get a call from a good friend of mine, Bill Fallon, who played football at Notre Dame in about 10 years before in the 70s and 80s. And he said, hey, I'm going to see Coach Holt speak tomorrow. I said, oh, that's going to be great. He's one of the great speakers in the world. So the next day, Bill Fallon calls me and he goes, Pete, after Coach spoke, I went up to him and I introduced myself.

52:08Peter Schrager:And I said, hey, I'm good friends with Pete Pavacqua. and he said he said Lou without skipping a beat goes people of aqua people of aqua has the heart of a line and I said he said that about me he goes yeah without skipping a beat so I was like wow I went home I told my wife you know I would tell people that story now fast forward to 2015 I'm the CEO of the PJ of America and I did a radio show on Sirius like State of Golf with people of aqua and we're going to do it down in orlando and and i and i asked lou to co-host it with me so we were talking about golf and talking about you know obviously his coaching experience and all that in notre dame obviously and in the break i said you know lou i gotta tell you something that's had a profound impact on my life and i told him the story and i and he started laughing and he goes pete he goes i've been coaching football for 40 years he goes whenever somebody mentions a kid and I have no idea who that is.

53:05Peter Schrager:I said, oh man, he had a heart of a lion. I wish you hadn't told me that. He goes, well, I can't say they were fast. He goes, because maybe they were a 300 pound lineman. I can't say they were unbelievably strong because maybe they were the, you know, the, the field goal holder. He goes, but I could always say heart of a lion. So I said, oh man, you guys, you just crushed me. No! Hey, if you're in first or last, you know. And I've told that story, and, you know, he was one of a kind. And the amount of people yesterday, you know, like unbelievable Notre Dame players. You talk about, you know, the Rocket and Rick Meyer and Ned Bolkar, Mike Stonebrick.

53:46Peter Schrager:I had a great text exchange with Ned Bolkar yesterday. The impact he had on these young men at the time who, you know, were true Notre Dame football players. and the love they still have for him all these years later and the life advice, not the football advice, but the life advice that Lou gave them year after year after year, the connections he made, whether he was a master motivator, he's an unbelievable public speaker. But I think the beauty of Lou Holtz is, like you said, in those one-on-one moments when he just kind of looked at you and, you know, could just give you the best words of advice and it was genuine.

54:28Peter Schrager:He was always genuine.

54:30Pat McAfee:Yeah, we lost a good one, man. We did. We lost a great one. And we appreciate you coming on, telling your stories, your perspective, because obviously you would know better than most, I would say, in this particular time. We just wanted to make sure that the Holtz family and Lou up there knew that we appreciate him, and we will continue to spread his beautiful sports legend for time and time again. He's the man. And now quick, before I let you go, Pete, there are some people live in the Thunderdome. Okay, one of them happens to be the Butler AD. Okay, he is the only one dressed in a suit, so you know exactly who he is.

55:05Pat McAfee:He's the one right in the middle. Okay, there he is. The athletic director for Butler is here with a group of friends who bought this experience at a charity event. We have about a minute and a half until a hard out. Is there any pieces of advice that you would give the Butler Bulldog athletic director or any words that you would tell him as a man who sits in your chair at Notre Dame?

55:25Peter Schrager:I think that when you're in that building, you got to get to that three-point line and start shooting shots, and you got to pick up that football and start throwing it around with you. That's the best advice I can give him, because that was a fun day I had with you.

55:36Pat McAfee:Yeah. When Pete was in here, you know, immediate, hey, what up, suit? You know, we go to him. Suit immediately implies doesn't know athletics, doesn't know sports. Then Pete picks up that football, starts spinning. Absolutely starts spinning, starts shooting. It was like, okay, suit, we will show our respect, sir. And we're thankful that you did that for Coach Holtz today.

55:57Peter Schrager:But on a serious note, I'm a huge fan of Butler. And, hey, we're all in this together. This is a crazy time in college athletics. But it's a fascinating time. And, you know, we have to do our best to make sure that we're delivering on our promise to student-athletes, which is not just a great athletic experience but an academic experience as well. And that is something that means a lot to Notre Dame. And I know it means a lot to the administration and all the leadership at Butler. And that's the key. You know, we have to keep doing that. And, you know, these young men and women who come to our schools, our universities, we owe it to them to make sure that they leave with great degrees and an education.

56:37Pat McAfee:Because, as you know, Pat, not many people can do what you did and go play professionally.

56:45Peter Schrager:And it's that education. So we're all in it together. and I'm hopeful about the future of college sports because it's one of the great things we have going in this country.

56:52Pat McAfee:You're the man. He wants a home and home, and we would like to talk to you again. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Pete Pavako. We'll see you on the other side. Goodbye.

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57:32AJ Hawk:When you want your spring break to feel like and your kid's pool day to feel like and your hotel bed to feel like

57:44Ernest:Ooh, and room service to feel like... Because at Hilton, hospitality feels like...

57:51Peter Schrager:Your cabana's ready. Would you like fresh towels?

57:53Adam Schefter:It matters where you stay. Book now at Hilton.com. Hilton. For this day.

58:06Pat McAfee:Sports are the greatest and we're so incredibly lucky that we get a chance to chat about them every single day. We hope you are enjoying your life wherever the hell you may be and thank you for allowing us to do this for a living. It's not just me. Obviously, the toxic table is here at Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt. How do you feel about the gathering that's happening out here? Feels like you got good juice, good energy out of this bunch here.

58:25AJ Hawk:Yeah, absolutely. You mentioned it. I wasn't expecting to have a high-ranking official, an athletic director. You see him? Exactly. But, you know, my eyes went right to the Iowa Tigerhawk. You know, I don't know if he's from Iowa. I don't know where he's at. He lives in Kansas.

58:40Pat McAfee:I believe he played football at Iowa. Exactly. Yeah, you can tell by the size of the head.

58:45AJ Hawk:Yeah, exactly. So, my kind of guy. I appreciate everyone else, you know, coming here and, you know, donating and whatnot. But I want to pick that guy's brain.

58:54Pat McAfee:Yeah, I think you're going to have time. Miss Carey, obviously a massive philanthropist here in Indianapolis, Donates to every charity. And we thank you for making this happen. We hope you guys have a good time. You guys have been on TV a lot. I think you had good smiles. I think it was good smiles. Form well. And once again, Peyton Manning, Children's Hospital, had a gala, their last gala, I do believe. Final one, I think it was 18 years, where they raised like$20,$30 million, I forget what it was, for a children's hospital here in town. Peyton's an absolute legend and icon. I don't want to say kind of forced me into doing this, but kind of said, hey, you got anything?

59:29Pat McAfee:for the live auction. And I go, yeah, certainly we'll sign something. We'll come up with some ideas.

59:35AJ Hawk:We got a lot of signatures. We'll come up with some ideas.

59:38Pat McAfee:And that's like the most patent thing of all time. He's like, somebody says, hey, how about a chance to watch in the studio? It's like, great. Who's handling all this? We'll handle it. You just have to do the auctioneering of it. So the first time it happened, that was the case. So I'm trying to explain what the hell it would be. We don't do this. So, like, I don't know if this is really worth whatever you guys are going to pay, but we appreciate it, okay, and you're doing a good thing. Now this has been multiple years. We've done it with Peyton. We've done it with the Colts with Kicking the Stigma.

1:00:08Pat McAfee:And this year we changed. We added a coffee table.

1:00:12AJ Hawk:Yeah.

1:00:12Pat McAfee:Big move. That was a big move. We put that coffee table right in front of him. See? See? Yeah. He knows. Exactly. Serving his purpose. Yeah. So we tried to upgrade it from last year. And if you see more chairs, that's because Dallas Clark in the middle of it just offered up a double amount. How come he didn't come? Well, Dallas, you know, seems like he was just up around the microphone, freewheeling, having the time of his life. Is he boozing? Definitely. Definitely drinking tequila. He'll run five miles in the morning full sprint so that he can have a tequila in the afternoon and then auctioneer something and say, yeah, we'll give away ten of these things.

1:00:43Pat McAfee:Pat's not here. But on that note, we are thankful you are here. And thank you for giving to Peyton Manning's Children's Hospital. They have helped my family as well as many others. Shout out to Peyton, by the way. Hope you're great. Got a text from him and say, hey, pal, heard we're doing it today. I'm like, you're coming? He's like, ah, we got a lot of stuff going on. One half of the hammer. Dad. Cowboys, AP Tone is here. Hilarious shirt. Oh, you mean the big trifecta? Yeah. Okay. So what is that about? You're just casting a war on SEC? Is that what you're doing here? And a Big 12, obviously.

1:01:13Ernest:I don't know. Is this a bug against a windshield of war? Because that's what the Big 10's been doing.

1:01:17Pat McAfee:That's a good point. I dropped into Ernest, who's here as well. He'll be wrapping up this hour with us. He's in town tonight. I believe he's downtown at the... Egyptian room. The Egyptian room. Incredible venue. He'll obviously make it a great time. Can play anything. Can sing anything. I was FaceTiming with him earlier. He was around a bunch of Southerns.

1:01:34Ernest:Yeah.

1:01:34Pat McAfee:A bunch of Southerns. They get it? There was a Goat Dogs in the corner over here. Sure. Maybe a Roll Tad somewhere in the back. And I just immediately, I think I met him maybe one time. I said, sorry boys. I don't want to be this guy. They were writing, I think. I just completely went in there.

1:01:50AJ Hawk:You had to. I just had to let them know

1:01:53Pat McAfee:the North has all the money. And if we don't figure out college football, which I believe there is a council or a meeting happening at the White House, which obviously I don't know if it's still happening because of everything else that's going on in the world. Speaking of Tom Brady, super duper flag football game is being moved to America. OK, probably. I'm happy to hear about that with everybody that was going in there for the good of ball. But for college football, I believe like they are trying to get go for it right now. But the big trifecta is potentially just beginning is how the big north thinks in the entirety.

1:02:24Pat McAfee:Is that not accurate, Tom? Yeah.

1:02:26Ernest:I mean, when you look at the upcoming season, there's a good chance that they do it again. Obviously, there's a lot of good other teams, but there's a heavy chance the Big Ten, they do it again.

1:02:36Pat McAfee:Nick Saban said, it's an advantage. Yep. I don't care what you say. You think anybody wants to move from Florida to Columbus, Ohio? You're going to have to pay them. Mm-hmm. And it's like, yep. They are. That's what they're doing. That's exactly what they're doing. So all they have to do is go to one alum or maybe somebody that's just from the area that started a company and say, all right, this is the guy we can get. How much is it? Six million. Let me call a friend. Hey, three million from you, three million from me. We get this. Okay, let's do it. And the North has like a bevy of those. Now, obviously, whenever Ellison family decides they're going to help out Michigan, the richest one, the one that owns Paramount in Lanai, they actually own a Hawaiian island.

1:03:22Pat McAfee:oracle whenever they're just like oh yeah actually i like michigan because i married you know and they're giving them that's problematic but without just the super mega billionaires that you don't really know about a lot of ceos a lot of cmos a lot of cfos all coming from the north business schools so they all have at least a couple hundred thousand that they would love to be able to get special access on game day whenever they bring their friends so that we could potentially get who we're getting at the end well you and cmo bar and cmo bar are all going to give 150 000 and then we're getting, yeah, got out of Florida.

1:03:55Pat McAfee:Okay, sweet. Now what do I get, a parking spot? No, no, no, no. A parking spot's just for the big – you will certainly be able to walk into the stadium. Yeah, get some tickets. And we're going to win. Okay, you got it. We're doing that. That's the state of college football right now. And college sports as a whole, I think. So they're having a meeting on that. Hopefully that does get kind of figured out because if that's what it's going to be, it's going to get real ugly and more division, I think. Yeah. Because right now it seems like Sankey and Petiti, Big Ten and SEC, kind of separated already, right?

1:04:27Pat McAfee:Doesn't it feel like that's what we're talking about? For sure. And if you have one that is just continuing, it feels like it's only going to be more division. It's like, we don't need that. We need to figure out how we can all kind of benefit from it and the players can benefit from it all. Joining us now is a man who is raising money at this exact moment in all times of his day for the Ohio State Buckeyes to get another good player. He's a college football national champion, Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner, and he has a tree on the Ohio State campus. Ladies and gentlemen, AJ Hall. Thanks for coming out on C to raise money for another tight end.

1:04:56Pat McAfee:I do appreciate you doing that for the Buckeyes, AJ.

1:04:59Ernest:I tell you what, you did kind of explain what college football is right now. That's the deal, especially if you're like those top, what, five to ten teams that have a chance to win it all. That's what it is, but is it sustainable? I guess that's the question.

1:05:12Pat McAfee:I honestly don't know. I genuinely have no idea if it's sustainable for the teams that aren't winning for the teams that do have a litany of people that can give you a couple hundred thousand uh or a million just because of what it is and you can tell me i think those schools are saying it what do we there's no problems this is like this is great what do we do i don't know you guys keep it coming you guys were just doing it when nobody was watching so now it's bad oh now it's it's like i do respect that angle like that is a good argument in this entire thing if that's what you believe was actually happening at every school and at what degree was that happening versus what is available now.

1:05:48Pat McAfee:But I think they're meeting from my understanding. And yeah, here it is. On3 is reporting. You know, On3, man, they're so big. Oh, yeah. They do so much. They're so big, dude. So big. On3, new President Donald Trump is hosting a roundtable on issues facing college sports. Ross Dellinger is reporting that. Invites include Nick Saban, Tiger Woods, Tim Tebow, Cody Campbell, and more. Okay, so the thing that I liked about the list, Cody Campbell has a lot of detractors in the Big Ten. Big Ten representatives also going to be on that list. So it does feel like they are getting a collection of ideas and opinions on how this can go or should go.

1:06:26Pat McAfee:Tim Tebow being in there. Hey, did you see him? Yeah, he's bringing it right now. Hey, Tim, thank you for representing football, dude. He's the best. Thank you, Tim, for doing that. I think they do have a good group. Now, will that get anything accomplished? Feels like it's a group of people that get things accomplished. Yeah. Now, granted, will they rely upon people that never get anything accomplished to get things accomplished? That is the worry, I think, for all of us, A.J. Hawk.

1:06:46Ernest:Yeah, I guess so. I love seeing Tebow there, but, I mean, when you've got Nick Saban going on, he's not going to sit there and meet. He's not going to go to a meeting to talk about the next meeting. Like, we know Nick Saban doesn't want to waste anybody's time. You don't want to waste his time. So I would think – I would hope that if anybody can get something done, I guess it would be a group like that.

1:07:02Pat McAfee:Well, and Cody Campbell, I think – Dog. I think we can say, is he the greatest ex-player businessman of all time?

1:07:12Ernest:Isn't Steve Young running like him?

1:07:14Pat McAfee:Ishbia didn't. Ishbia. Ishbia is his name. He's putting up a million bucks, two million bucks for the dunk contest. He didn't make it to pros, I don't think. I mean, we'd have to recheck his resume.

1:07:26Ernest:He looked pretty good in that game he just played a couple weeks ago.

1:07:29Pat McAfee:He needs to be in that forever. He needs to be in that game forever just letting people know what it is. I think he might be the greatest ex-professional athlete businessman of all time. Shaq might have it. MJ. Oh, Michael Jordan. Now, no offense to Michael Jordan, though. I don't think he's guiding and running the business, right? He is the business, but I don't know if he's running the business.

1:07:48Ernest:I thought I saw Steve Young. His whatever venture capital fund is worth a few billion now, too. Yeah, I guess you're right. But, no, he's one of.

1:07:55Pat McAfee:So, Jordan, Steve, Cody. It never gets talked about Cody Campbell because he's in the oil business, but there's a lot of people in the oil business. Somehow, Cody Campbell has found his way to the top of the oil business. It's like that should be celebrated. But when he's in that room, he's coming from a player's perspective, but he also has good business mind. So that is what we're talking about. Saban has a great business mind that he's coming from. Those are the people that we need in that room. Feels like they have collected them. Hopefully they figure it out. Speaking of figuring things out, did the Buffalo Bills figure it all out this morning whenever they trade for DJ Moore?

1:08:25Pat McAfee:Chicago Bears get a second and a sixth, if my recollection is accurate, for DJ Moore being sent, a second and a fifth for DJ Moore, who's being sent to the Buffalo Bills. AJ, your thoughts on what the Buffalo Bills said with this trade, and how do you feel about Beano's bingo on his big sports Thursday?

1:08:44Ernest:Yeah, I mean, we never know who wins. You can't really say who wins in a trade when it actually happens like the day of, but I feel like the Buffalo Beals, they look pretty damn good right now. You get DJ Moore, you only have to give up a second and a fifth, is that correct?

1:08:55Pat McAfee:No, hold on. So it's just a second for DJ Moore and a fifth?

1:08:58Ernest:Yeah, I just said in Shefty's tweet, it says, Buffalo gets DJ Moore and a fifth.

1:09:02Pat McAfee:I think we can take the R off the corner of that. So the The Bills got a fifth round pick and DJ Moore? This feels like a real bingo for me. Yeah, what's going on?

1:09:14Ernest:What do they know? Like, what's going on? Yeah, why are they willing to give them away? We're always very surprised about the compensation. Not really, though. Sauce Gardner was 2-1. Well, that was a different organization. Opposite of the surprise we're thinking of, too. But I think the only thing people are saying, the reasoning, is the contract. The Bills will take all the money, and I think that is the only reason.

1:09:34Pat McAfee:But then they're talking about just re-negotiation and actually freeing up cap space somehow in the whole move. I think Bino has probably taken a little bit of a victory lap up there in Buffalo, and Josh Allen gets like a one-type receiver. Now, wasn't in Chicago a perfect fit, I guess, in the Ben Johnson offense? You know, he and Caleb, I guess, never really got going, whatever to what they were expecting or hoping. Now they send him up to Buffalo. He gets to play with Josh Allen, best player in the world. You know, that's –

1:09:59Ernest:He's going to be the man. He's going to be the man in Buffalo. That's the thing. Like, yeah, I think for DJ, it should be very exciting. Obviously, the Bears are a revamped team. They're much better than they have been the last few years. But, yeah, for DJ Moore to go to Buffalo, I think this is an awesome opportunity for him and Josh Allen.

1:10:13Pat McAfee:Yeah, good for Josh Allen, good for the Buffalo Bills. And once again, I believe in Ben Johnson. So, if Ben Johnson says you got to do what you got to do, you got to do what you got to do, they move on from DJ Moore this morning. Now, Dak Prescott chatted a little bit about George Pickens getting the franchise tag and said don't change your love for football. Don't get in the business mind of this. Here's the issue that happens, and it happened to me. So I'm going to chit-chat. I don't know if Dak is talking about George Pickens not giving maximum effort in training anymore because of getting money, or if he's talking about there's things being said about you and what you're worth that could potentially piss you off because the people that are saying it are the people that you're going on the field and potentially getting hurt and showcasing the world your talent's for.

1:10:56Pat McAfee:So that's a difficult thing. Like for me, whenever I was about to hit free agency, there are some things being said. And I wanted to know, right, because I enjoy the business. There's things being said, and it's like Pawn Stars. That's the only way I can really describe it. And you are the item on the table. You got Rick saying, there's a couple of dents in this thing, a little bit of a liability. Who knows what the market is for? It's going to be sitting on a shelf. Who knows? Here comes my expert friend that's coming in that also works for me. Oh, this ain't worth shit. You're hearing that. You are the actual World War II gun that's sitting out there being talked about at that moment.

1:11:26Pat McAfee:And you can certainly take that personal. And I like the fact that Dak is like, just don't listen, George. We can't have it. Just at the end of the day, we're going to get you your money. Hopefully you're going to be a cowboy. Just don't get pissed off at everybody because the organization is saying things. And I appreciate that. It adds good leadership, I think, AJ.

1:11:42Ernest:Yeah, I think it's good leadership. But also, like, being pissed off is a hell of a motivator. So just don't let it overtake your life. Don't let it, you know, just allow it to get a little chip on your shoulder, I guess, and play the underdog role and say, hey, they don't value me like they should. but you can still be a great teammate and still kind of keep that chip on your shoulder, I think. But, yeah, if you start being – if you're the guy that's pissed off every single day walking in the facility thinking that you deserve more, they're ripping you off. Yeah, that's a tough teammate to be around.

1:12:08Ernest:I think that's what Dak is trying to just let everybody on that team know.

1:12:11Pat McAfee:Yeah, and also you're not going to play your best because you're not bought it. I mean, it's just – the business side can tear relationships completely apart. I mean, it is – because that's – other than Madden, right? Madden's the only other time where a number is placed right next to you. And like, this is your actual rating. This is your actual, I guess, pro football focus. So these things, though, whenever they are projected publicly, that is an actual ranking system that is taking place in everybody's eyes. So whenever you get offered something that you think you're better than a player, but it's less than said player, it's like, oh, you don't think I'm better than Ba.

1:12:43Pat McAfee:You don't think I'm better than Ba. The whole world thinks now that I'm shit because of this. It's like these things can get ugly strictly because your friends, your family, the world, and also in your mind, you're saying, I just gave you everything. And you think this guy that has never been on this team or done anything in this building is worth this and I'm worth this? It's like, it gets ugly, brother. It gets really ugly sometimes. I think that's a good piece of advice from Dak, especially for GP, who we know, unbelievable football player, but also runs on emotion. He runs on emotion. We need those emotions positive because when we see that, it's awesome.

1:13:18Pat McAfee:As opposed to negative because when we see that in Pittsburgh, it's not as awesome. So I like the fact that Dak's doing a little bit of that ahead of time.

1:13:26Ernest:Yeah, and Dak is one that can speak on. He played on the franchise tag, had the cramp, and then had to come all the way back the year after when he got paid by Jerry Jones, so he could even kind of add that into it as well. One of the highlights in there was, again, Sauce Gardner on the Jets. Completely forgot that happened. But if there was a player, you would assume that, you know, Dak could kind of use his, you know, quarterback QB1 sensei type. It would be to George Pickens. It's like, hey, you're going to get paid if you play well. It is proven through me. There it is, kind of a sweet play.

1:13:54Ernest:It is proven through what I went through. He's on like a glove. Still on him. Yeah, it's a good cover. That's a good throw. That's going to happen. Yeah, it's true.

1:14:02Pat McAfee:That's good coverage. Yeah. Okay?

1:14:05Ernest:Really good.

1:14:06Pat McAfee:Come on, Sauce. They're saying a lot of stuff, Sauce. He's locking out Pierce in his basement.

1:14:12Ernest:He did say that.

1:14:12Pat McAfee:Okay, let's lock down everything, actually. Let's do that for, you know, let's win some games. Sauce, they're saying a lot of stuff. I like Sauce. I'm happy Sauce was here. And if we can stay healthy next year, Colts will win a Super Bowl. Who's the quarterback? I don't know. Maybe Kyler.

1:14:27AJ Hawk:You coming around on it? It's only a million bucks. I'll tell you what.

1:14:30Pat McAfee:Join us now, ladies and gentlemen, is a man who has been an insider, a pundit. He's an Emmy award-winning morning show host. Now you see him all over ESPN. Friend of the program, ladies and gentlemen, Peter Schrager. Hey, Schrager. How you doing, Schrager?

1:14:44Adam Schefter:Doing good. Going back to an earlier conversation about the ex-athlete slash successful businessman, does the name Junior Bridgman mean anything to you? Junior Bridgman was a sixth man for the Bucs in the 80s, retired, had his number retired for the Milwaukee Bucs, made over$4 billion with Wendy's and Chili's franchises all over the country. Junior Bridgman passed away last year, but one of the great stories of second chapters to a career and that sports don't have to define you for the rest of your life. Rest in peace, Junior.

1:15:18Pat McAfee:Hell yeah. I do remember seeing that story because I thought about getting into franchising Dairy Queens because there wasn't a Dairy Queen closest to my house. And when I grew up in Plum, there was a Dairy Queen. And when I was in West Virginia, there was a Dairy Queen. And then I get out here to Indianapolis, there's no Dairy Queens.

1:15:37Adam Schefter:Rogers was talking about some Timu Dairy Queen yesterday on the show with you guys. I didn't know which one he was referring to. Did you know that one in Latrobe?

1:15:43Pat McAfee:The Meadows, I think, is what he called it. I've never been to that one. We had Ellie's. Ellie's was… They had Cyclones. Yeah, they had Cyclones, which is obviously far superior to the Blizzard. But on that note, the Blizzard far superior to everything else that's available in a very regular place. This is the Meadows. You see everybody gathering outside. Look at the hills. It's a beautiful thing. Pittsburgh Steelers training camp is here. And Scronic would go up there, and nobody would know who's him. They'd say, is this some farmer walking around? Obviously, he'd feel pretty disrespected by that.

1:16:11Pat McAfee:But yeah, I believe ice cream is a massive piece of a lot. So I almost got into the franchising business with Derek Williams. Then I almost got into franchising with Marco's Pizza because I negotiated a deal with them where I was going to maybe franchise a couple of Marco's Pizza because one was going to go under, so I was going to pick up that franchise and maybe another. Everybody that was trying to get me into it showed me this. Look at this. They showed me Junior's story. It's like, I'm going to need how many of these things? Who's running them? Like 1 ,500. I'm running them. Who's keeping an eye?

1:16:39Pat McAfee:I am. So the amount of hustle that that guy had to do for that business makes me think, yeah, sports certainly led that. And shout out to Junior. Thank you for reminding us about him. Let's go back to an earlier conversation that we had that I assume you have an incredible thought on. You told the story about how McVay's people in tree were not happy about what Ben Johnson was doing during the playoffs there when he kind of snobbed them and talked shit to them publicly and then in the locker room and then posted again. What are your thoughts on the Ben Johnson trade of DJ Moore to Bino getting a bingo here this morning with number one wide receiver with Josh Allen?

1:17:16Pat McAfee:How do you think this comes to be? And do you think they were going to move on from DJ regardless because of how everything's going?

1:17:22Adam Schefter:Yeah, there was no secret that his name was bubbling up at the combine. Didn't know where the destination would be. Ends up being Buffalo. I would say this. DJ Moore was a great Chicago Bear, and he was only there for a little bit, but only missed seven games. Had that big walk-off touchdown against the Packers. And of course, everyone looks at the miscommunication or the last play of that Rams game and says, well, that's how it ended. That's unfortunate. But they move on from him. And with Drew Dahlman yesterday surprising us with a retirement news, suddenly they have a bunch of cap space. So two thoughts for me.

1:17:52Adam Schefter:One, they could be in the game for a Max Crosby if that was to come to be. Two, they could be in the game for another big free agent pass rusher. And then three, Roma Dunze, it's time to step up and be that guy. I mean, we know that they obviously have other offensive weapons, and we liked what we saw from Loveland at the end of the season. But now Roma Dunze becomes really the guy that you have to focus on and say, okay, if this Bears offense is going to keep it going, a Dunze needs to make that giant leap in year three.

1:18:21Pat McAfee:Okay, so you said you heard DJ Moore's name bubbling at the Combine. First year that I've done the Combine bubbling. This is the first time that I've done it all. What are the big stories coming out of the Combine? Any deals already done? Any players that you didn't think would get chatted about, chatted about? Like, what was your big takeaway from Indianapolis as you left the NFL spring break here in our beautiful city?

1:18:42Adam Schefter:That I think there's going to be quite a quarterback carousel ride next week, and I think it could be really interesting. The first domino feels like it's Daniel Jones, but we're not so sure a team won't match that or raise that contract with the transition tag, forcing the Colts to make a really tough decision. We'll see if anyone does that. But Kyler is a name to watch. Malik Willis is fascinating to me. How much is Malik Willis going to make? What do you value a player who doesn't have all that experience yet has shown great potential and the rare chances that he's had to play in NFL games the last couple of years?

1:19:14Adam Schefter:Then you go down that list of that next tier and you're talking about guys like Kirk Cousins. What's he got left and how much can he still make? Joe Flacco is going to be a free agent. What's he going to garner? Tua, what's he going to make? So I always look at it as like there's 44 or 45 spots for quarterbacks that are going to make real money in this league. You got your 32 starters and you got that top line of backups before you get to those rookies and second-year guys. Who's going where? What seats are being filled when? And as we sit here a week from free agency or four days, really, from the start of the legal tampering period, Pat, I can tell you, I don't know where Kyler's going.

1:19:47Adam Schefter:I don't know what's going to happen with the future of Tua Tunga-Vailoa. I don't know if the Jets are going to hang on to Justin Fields. I don't know if Rodgers yesterday coming on was a sign of, yes, I am coming back to Pittsburgh, or actually I'm going to need more time. So there is still this great unknown, which makes it really interesting and why we should be watching at noon next Monday.

1:20:06Pat McAfee:Okay, so let's talk about the free agency frenzy that you'll be joining us. Kyler seemingly the bell of the ball in this entire thing. Are the Minnesota Vikings the destination for him? Because as I've continued to piece this together, obviously not at altitude because I've been in Indiana. Right, sure. But I've had a lot of deep thoughts about this and I've been in some rabbit holes of Kyler Murray highlights, not lowlights. Is there a chance that Kyler Murray and Kevin O 'Connor are about to do what Sam Darnold did, what Baker Mayfield did, what all these guys who get second opportunities have a chance to do?

1:20:39Pat McAfee:And is that what you were hearing at the Combine? Because I think that's what Connor was thinking and hearing through the entire process, and he's kind of projected that onto me now. And I kind of feel that way, especially with what Kyler is good at versus what Kevin O 'Connor needs at quarterback. it feels like that's potential match made in heaven. Is that how everybody feels, Shregs?

1:20:59Adam Schefter:Well, knowing the news was on the precipice, I pitched to the Get Up producers on Tuesday, can I do a top five most exciting Kyler Murray plays on the show? And granted, there's been a lot of lowlights for Kyler over the last couple of years due to his health, but there may be a guy who's got, you know, there might not be another guy in the NFL who's had more exciting moments than Kyler Murray in his brief NFL career. That is what is tantalizing. The fact that he's 28 years old, the fact that he's a former first overall pick, and the fact that his price tag, Pat, will legitimately be$1.3 million on your books.

1:21:34The Cardinals are going to eat all of that$36 million.

1:21:38Adam Schefter:Oh, that's not going to the facility.

1:21:40Pat McAfee:No, no. No, that's going to Kyler Murray.

1:21:43Adam Schefter:Let's go to Kyler. And they decided instead of being this two-year commitment with Kyler, let's rip the Band-Aid off, let's let Michael Floor start anew, and Monty Asenfort didn't draft him. Let's just start from scratch. Fine. But when you're talking about a guy with all that talent and all that excitability and all of those real game experiences, both in college and the pros, and you can get him at 1.3 million, which is about the same cost as a fourth or fifth round pick in the draft. Like that, that is what makes him so appealing. So personally, if I'm Kyler, I'm not looking at price tag because it's all an offset.

1:22:15Adam Schefter:Anyway, I am looking at best situation. And yes, the situation in Minnesota makes a ton of sense. You go there, you compete for the number one job with JJ McCarthy. You get the tutelage from not only Kevin O 'Connell, but from Josh McCown and from Wes Phillips and from those offensive coaches, which is basically an incubator for quarterback play. And then you come out the other end and you're either a the quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings making a big free agent deal next year or B, you're back at the door and you're able to sign a big deal somewhere else. So to me, Minnesota makes a ton of sense.

1:22:47Adam Schefter:And for a guy like Kyler, it makes more sense for me to go to a Minnesota and even say I'm not the definite number one than go to a Jets or go to a Miami. Go to Minnesota, learn for a year, get that graduate degree in quarterback play, and then go on and see what happens in your career. I went through – I talked to someone. I was like, let's go through all the quarterbacks who have done this. And there's a bunch who have. And Mac Jones is currently doing it with Kyle Shanahan right now where you say, I'm going to go learn and I'm going to go figure it out and I'll be the big guy next year. The one who did it early on in his career was in the COVID year when Jameis actually, when Tampa moved on from Jameis and they went with Tom Brady, Jameis had options.

1:23:28Adam Schefter:Jameis chose to take a very small number to go to New Orleans and learn from Drew Brees, Sean Payton, Pete Carmichael, and be the backup there. He would eventually get on the field and he would make plenty more money in his career. But Jameis was early on to raise his hand and be like, all right, I'm going to take less money. put me in a quarterback's room where I can be better for the long term. If Kyler has that in him as a number one overall pick with the pride and ego those guys have to say, you know what? Just put me in there. Let me get back in the room. Let me get back in the lab and let me restart this thing.

1:23:58Adam Schefter:I think he and Minnesota would make a ton of sense.

1:24:00Pat McAfee:Yeah, I'd be pumped to watch him have a second start at this entire thing. And Jameis, I believe to your point, I think you said, I want to like quarterback Harvard or something. That's why I made decision. we would also go on to learn that he couldn't see. Yes. Got that fixed, too. Yeah, he actually couldn't see. He didn't know who was on his team, especially if it was more than 10 yards down the field. He saw bodies. So the fact that he had as much success he did for his team and the opposing team is truly a wonder. I still don't know how he did it, but shout out to him going to New Orleans.

1:24:34Pat McAfee:He's still in the NFL.

1:24:36Adam Schefter:Still in the NFL. And was beloved in New York this year. Beloved. Everywhere.

1:24:40Pat McAfee:Beloved everywhere. by Jameis.

1:24:42Ernest:Yeah, he almost caused a brawl also against Atlanta when they were supposed to knee the clock out and he handed the ball off to, I believe, who was it? Jamal Williams? That's good for the locker room. Yeah, Arthur Smith and Dennis Allen almost threw down it. That's great. Good memory.

1:24:56Pat McAfee:Great moment. Yeah, I do remember. That was beautiful. We thought it was good for the boys, too. And Jameis actually said that. It just felt like we had to do it. We had to do it. No doubter, Jameis. If you feel something, go for it. AJ has a question for you, Shregs.

1:25:08Ernest:Shregs, what about this whole Trey Henderson saga? That's been going on for a while. Where do you see him going? Also, Cam Jordan, Khalil Mack, they're both veteran edge rushers on the market now. Does Trey sign first? Where do you think he goes?

1:25:20Adam Schefter:I think Trey is going to be a highly coveted defensive end in this market. Hey, we're happy for Trey. We're happy for Trey. It's been years. And being an NFL player is a great honor. And these past two years, it felt like this was a lot of strife for a guy who is, as you guys know, going on your show and who has treated everyone in the media wonderfully over the last several years of his career going back to New Orleans, that this felt like this was the way it should end. And yet the day of the franchise tag, I was hearing stuff that they might franchise tag him. I'm like, please don't. Just let him walk.

1:25:51Adam Schefter:Let him have a new career. Let him try to be out of that situation. So he's a pure free agent. And I think Dallas does make a lot of sense. I know he's on the other side of 30, and that's not necessarily what everyone wants to hear. But they have the 12th and the 20th pick where they can get younger, and they're looking to add assets so trey hendrickson will have a market and i'm hoping that that first day when i'm with you guys at the thunderdome we're announcing at 12 0 5 p.m that trey hendrickson has signed a major

1:26:14Pat McAfee:deal somewhere we hope for him that he gets some sort of generational wealth because he took small deal small deal small deal we'll get you an extra small deal we'll get you next year small deal i don't want to do this he said but i kind of have to do this so good came on the show and was like I guess this is what I have to do I hate that this is what I have to do But I'm not happy I would like a better deal This has been happening behind closed doors But now I guess This is what you have to do these days He was so hating What he was being forced to kind of do To get a deal done

1:26:52Adam Schefter:Because of that My wife was a nurse and I met her at the hospital She's a Cincinnati girl I want it to be good I desperately want this to be working. It's just not. He, like, assembled the local media and, like, apologized.

1:27:03Pat McAfee:Yeah, once a practice was wearing golf stuff, was going to talk to the media. I appreciate you guys. I appreciate you. These bums just won't pay me. And then the owner comes out and goes, at some point, these athletes need to understand you signed the deal. And it's like, wow, is that a shot directly at Trey Hendrickson? No, no, no, it was a shot. Trey was like, feels like a shot, but okay. I guess I'll still might go back. You were so mad at him for how nice he was being entire, this entire, this has been like the better part of three years now in the making, a lot of good prime time of his career has been sent in purgatory.

1:27:40Pat McAfee:Basically with Cincinnati. Now, hopefully he gets a chance to really, uh,

1:27:44Adam Schefter:up until the day. Cause Mike Brown is 92 years old. He still goes to practice every single day. Still has thoughts still. And still has thoughts. Does not talk to us in the media. Like, so at any, there could have been a, you know, at three o 'clock in the franchise tag, if somebody had come across that Schefter was reporting that Trey Hendrickson was being franchised, I wouldn't have blinked because that's how that organization operates. You don't know. So they did let him walk and I think both sides will be better for it.

1:28:10Pat McAfee:Cameron Jordan also will not be a New Orleans Saint. He's been there for 15 years. That seems like a massive announcement, especially for the city of New Orleans and everything he's done for the community. He'll obviously now go ring chase, if I had to guess, as a lot of guys will do in the free agency process. Good luck to him. Thanks for his service to Ball. He's on TV a lot. Can't wait to see where he ends up next. Speaking of guys that get the quarterback done, they're being talked about a lot. Tone has a question for you about it happening on the internet right now.

1:28:38Ernest:Yeah, I do. Stregs, Lane Johnson, right tackle for the Philadelphia Eagles, stud. Tweeted to Max Crosby, the eyes. The couple, ooh, what's going on to Max Crosby? Is this a recruiting tool? Does Lane know something? And what do you know in the latest with the Max Crosby news?

1:28:54Adam Schefter:Max Crosby is one of the topics that are going to be coming up every day up until now, until the end of free agency. Here's the deal with Max Crosby. Obviously, right now, the Raiders are telling anybody who listens it's going to take a huge bounty of picks and a treasure trove to even talk to them. They haven't gotten that yet. I always say, and this comes from several years of doing this, that obviously deadlines spur action. But as we get closer to the start of free agency, sometimes the high demands, they loosen up the reins on that. He is a beloved Raider. He is a guy that is always the first one in the building.

1:29:33Adam Schefter:He is always the one who is the vibes guy and the voice of the locker room. He is like what you want to build a team around. The question is, is he happy? And if we can get, I don't know, two first round picks for Max Crosby, is it worth moving off of Max Crosby and saying this is a total reset? let's build around Mendoza and let's get new guys in there but what makes it interesting is obviously he has a social media presence he's got his own podcast he went on with Caleb Williams was talking to him and was just gushing over Caleb and then it's this whole deal of okay well he also has now been through and I think Schefter laid it out pretty well but six NFL head coaches five NFL GMs I think 12 different quarterbacks have taken snaps in games that Max Crosby has played in.

1:30:16Whereas Miles Garrett last year kind of sucked it up and said, all right, I'll just

1:30:20Adam Schefter:sign. I'll get the money and we'll take it and we'll keep them going. The Browns still won what four or five games. Does Max Crosby want to just continue to do this the rest of his career? Does he really want out? And if he does, he hasn't told John Spytak that directly had a lot of time with Spytak at the combine. They love Max Crosby, but everyone's got a price. And if Crosby wants to raise the tenor of his unhappiness, or if he even is unhappy, well then that would certainly spur things. But right now he is a Raider, and they are thrilled to build around him on that defensive side of the ball.

1:30:51Pat McAfee:Right now he's a Raider, and I'll tell you what, we got a 2035 first-round pick here in Indianapolis. And a 2036 one, maybe 2037 one. Shit, 2040. I can give that up, too, if we need it for Max Crosby. We can't be the only team that's thinking that. Connor has a question for you.

1:31:07Ernest:Yeah, Strags obviously have to trade for Max Crosby, A.J. Brown, Jonathan Grenard, these are kind of trade candidates and then when you look at those guys and free agents aside from the quarterbacks that are out there available right now who do you kind of think or who are you hearing is kind of the most sought after guy linderbaum is up there on a lot of free agent boards but who are you hearing everybody kind of is in on and would like to try at least have a shot

1:31:31Adam Schefter:at him linderbaum's going to be a name obviously they didn't put the fifth year you know they didn't sign him with the extension for his fifth year which now makes him a pure free agent the guy that adam schefter mentioned earlier that's really interesting to me is jalen phillips who had a really strong start to his career with the dolphins had multiple years of injuries then last year was traded to the eagles and was outstanding and suddenly you look at a guy who's a former first round pick can rush the passer and he's going to get a big number alante taylor is another name that's going to get big numbers from the saints a cornerback those aren't even guys that are necessarily on this list so it's guys like that that you're like whoa and i'll never forget when two names.

1:32:08Adam Schefter:One, Sammy Watkins got his first big deal in free agency and everyone was like, whoa, Kansas City paid him what? And then the other one was when Christian Kirk got his big money from the Jaguars a couple years ago. It's that type of player sometimes that wows you and suddenly has a market and they can just raise the time. That's where Jalen Phillips and Elante Taylor are right now. Those are two guys who I think are going to demand a huge pay raise from what they've been currently making and people are going to be shocked when those guys get those numbers.

1:32:34Pat McAfee:I'm excited to see money gets spent because that salary cap up and to the right, I mean big. They're taking huge jumps. I think it was a$20 million jump this year or something like that?

1:32:46Adam Schefter:$301 million and we can thank our media partners for that. Thank you, media partners. Thank you.

1:32:54Pat McAfee:There's a lot of people at the top of those media partners with big brains. Then you've got a lot of people just at this part of those companies are trying to ruin it all. We appreciate them putting money into all of it. Take it away. No, I'm joking. There's a lot of really good people. That was just an easy shot for me to take at middle management in a lot of different places, and I'm certainly going to take that shot any time that I have it. But on that note, media and the NFL's relationship is wonderful. I mean, it is beautiful. You talk about other leagues trying to figure out what it is, and we're nowhere near done.

1:33:24Pat McAfee:They're still looking to renegotiate. Did you see that? Oh, yeah. The NFL would like to revisit some of these deals. I'm reading, I'm like, oh, and there's nothing anybody can do about it. Nope. And then there's like a Wednesday afternoon football game that could potentially happen out of nowhere. Super duper special, super small Super Bowl on a Wednesday afternoon that, I don't know, Apple wants to have or something like that. And it's like, how much is that worth? $150 billion. Deal. Okay, sick. So that money goes in. It's like that is all still very possible, let alone all the international shit.

1:33:53Adam Schefter:Each one of these companies has a different philosophy, right? So like Netflix wants to do these events. So they look at Christmas Day as an event. they look at maybe opening day as an event fox cbs they want the full slate obviously of all those one o 'clock and four o 'clock games espn's thrilled to have the obvious monday night game and then amazon has got the thursday night game and now you have youtube coming in and youtube basically said all right we'll take a game on a wednesday or a friday of week one and then we'll take whatever else scraps you got and we'll pay for it suddenly where it used to be cbs nbc and fox used to just have to fight against each other.

1:34:30Adam Schefter:Now you've got six, seven, eight different partners. And to his credit, Hans Schroeder, who's running the media side of the NFL right now, is listening. And that mere listening makes this such a feeder frenzy and an auction for these games. My fear is that I watch the NBA religiously. I sometimes don't know where my favorite team is. I just saw that the Yankees announced they have 21 games on Amazon this year. I don't necessarily know if I'll know which 21 games. You don't want to dilute the project or kind of spread it out so thin where you don't know where your favorite team is on any given day.

1:35:01Pat McAfee:Yeah, Team USA. I was on MLB TV yesterday. Yeah. Yeah, and then for the PBA, I was on Bowl TV. Oh, nice. Mike Flanagan on the call. How do you have the energy? I'll tell you, just I'm thankful they came through Indy. Like, I legitimately, and this is, I was talking to Gumpy about this, and I guess it's pretty narcissistic to think like this, but if something sporty comes through Indy, I do kind of feel obligated to be like, hey, thanks for coming through. We genuinely appreciate you coming through here. And then at PBA, I've seen clips of this my whole life. Kind of spent some time as a child at a bowling alley.

1:35:35Pat McAfee:Kind of get the culture and the demo of the bowling world and how it works. But I've never seen how it actually operates. So they were sending a bunch of messages, you know, trying to get us to come and everything like that. We didn't respond to any of them. We just kind of showed up on our own. Didn't want anybody to really know that we were coming. Really wanted to experience what it was. Hat low, back a room. Me and Gumby got like a good 17 to 20 minutes with nobody really knowing we were there. So actually got to see, because everybody's obviously facing one direction. Everybody is bowling over here.

1:36:07Pat McAfee:So everybody's watching. And EJ Tackett, who is out of Indiana, is on his way to being the greatest of all time, folks. Yeah. You've seen the stories earlier of the, who do you think you are? I am. And then obviously with the sack and all the two-handed wonder from down under and everything like that. this guy from indiana he's gonna be the greatest of all time he's in his early 30s he's about to do something that's never been accomplished before which has become a four-time bowler of the year for the pba also allegedly this guy scratch golfer could potentially be professional golfer as well as just spend his entire time knocking down pins it's not just knocking down pin strikes i got a chance to talk to a johnson johnson aj johnson i got a chance to have a good conversation with him He's also a bowler.

1:36:52Pat McAfee:He's fresh out of a peanut allergy reaction. Almost killed him last week. Jeez, that's scary. Five days. Five days this guy had a swollen throat and a swollen face. And Mike Flanagan, the Bull TV, told me he had that look in his eye last week and then the peanut got him. And this guy ended up in the hospital, so he missed last week's tournament. They're in the middle of a 10-week run right now. This is a major, the U.S. Open. And A.J. Johnson was telling me about how the lanes, you know, i always go because i've been around the bowling community but not actually you know a great bowler i just know a couple of like key words to drop all patterns you say all patterns everybody knows you know what the fuck you're talking about you're in the end i don't really know what all patterns are though i'm just saying it you know this is like aquí estamos mi amigos i'm just saying it i have no idea what i'm saying it's just like uh hey i know this is what i'm supposed to say at this time to get me through this particular interaction here okay all patterns anytime I would talk bowling and I'd go right in two-handed wonder.

1:37:46Pat McAfee:Everything I got, I unloaded as immediately as possible. So A.J. Johnson started breaking down the game. This is, hey, there's a lot of shit going on on these lanes. So the oil patterns, I was told by A.J., great descriptor, by the way. I think he follows the program, understands who we are. He's a former football guy who bowls. He said these lanes are like golf courses, like holes. So the oil patterns are like golf holes. You know how a golf hole will put a sand trap where a lot of people hit it to? So then they're predicting where you're going to go. A lot of water potentially, especially the hardest courses, from 285 to 320, there's a river or whatever it's going through.

1:38:22Pat McAfee:They're clearly saying, if you can mash it over this thing, cool, but you've got to throw it. You've got to hit this before. You've got to lay up for this entire thing is what the course is telling you. I guess these oil patterns, they're doing the same damn thing. They're like saucing up the part where it normally would break. And then there's some over here and then beforehand. hand and then the balls if it's a matted ball okay you see it there's a shiny ball and then there's a matted ball the matted ball i guess is like a freight train goes moves the oil so now you've got a moving batches of oil and then they get that glossy ball and they just ride that some bitch on top but it's not gonna have any movement so that's normally why things knocking down the end i learned so much about all the shit that's going on and basically what they're saying is like if you roll a 300 it's either not difficult oil patterns or you are an absolute monster.

1:39:09Adam Schefter:Let me ask you, this is, we're of a certain age, you know, I have a bowling alley, Howell Lanes in Howell, New Jersey that I spent so many birthday parties and childhood. What was the bowling alley out there in Plum that you would go to in Pittsburgh?

1:39:23Pat McAfee:Holiday Lanes, yeah, it's right above McDonald's. You'd fight there, smoke there, play billions there, and try to steal a couple on the lanes from somebody.

1:39:31Adam Schefter:A couple good arcade games there, right?

1:39:33Pat McAfee:Oh, yeah, we had the basic thingy. NBA Jam. The good arcade game was try to walk through there without picking up cancer from the secondhand smoke. That was the best one. That's called Frogger. Yeah, with your nose. They had bumper pool in the bar area.

1:39:50Ernest:Love bumper pool.

1:39:52Pat McAfee:Holiday Lanes was...

1:39:53Ernest:Shout out Nesbitt's Lanes.

1:39:54AJ Hawk:They're still rolling down there.

1:39:55Pat McAfee:Shout out Nesbitt's Lanes right by our high school. That's where people would either park. What? Can we go draft maybe? To Nesbitt Lanes? I'd love that. All right. Yeah. I assume just because we just said it right there, we will potentially hear from the people that we know that still work there, and we would like to let them know. We'd like to come bowl. Shriggs, are you a bowler? I could bowl. More of the social element.

1:40:18Adam Schefter:I like a little hang sesh. I lived in Atlanta for a while where you go on a Sunday night in Atlanta, you get all walks, and you go to the bowling alley. That's where it's at.

1:40:27Pat McAfee:Yeah, have a good time out there.

1:40:28Adam Schefter:So what are you rolling? You over a hundo? Over a hundo, but not over a two hundo. No, I'm a nice 150. Put it in the books. That's it. You're a good bowler. That's pretty good. I think that's a good bowler.

1:40:38Pat McAfee:I saw a couple 180-somethings yesterday at this U.S. Open. They were all qualifying. It's qualifying, and I didn't know this. Okay. So then I go, is it like high score? How do you guys qualify? I guess they have 200 as par. So if you're under 200, they play a certain amount of games. So if you roll a 190, you're a minus 10. If you're above 2 – if you're a 210, you're a plus 10. So you're looking at everybody's score, so they're just trying to qualify. And then there's – how many qualifiers? 24 qualifiers for the weekend tournament. And then they do 24 round robin. They all play against each other.

1:41:09AJ Hawk:8 a.m. till 10 p.m. Saturday. The boys are fucking boring. Yeah, they do a lot of bowling.

1:41:14Pat McAfee:That's all we kept thinking. It was like, they're doing a lot of rolling to these boys. No sunlight. None. They're in there. They're completely capped. And yeah, and then you get to the TV show on CW. And right now, EJ Tackett yesterday was plus 176. Okay, I don't know how. Seen the old patterns well. Yeah. Good. And he's from here. feels like he's going to have to win this next week. They're in Illinois. Then they're back in Fort Wayne. It's a big Midwest thing, 10 weeks. Shout out to Bold TV, Mike Flanagan. That guy's a character. Mike Flanagan is a heel announcer. Yeah, and get well, eh, Johnson Johnson?

1:41:46Pat McAfee:Yeah, he is. He's got that look. Flanagan told me. He had that look in his eye last week, and then the peanut. The peanut. Mike Flanagan said, I tell people I'm the best. I'm the greatest to ever do this. If you don't stop down and hop on, I'm going to look like I'm a liar or whatever. And I'm like, Flanagan won't lie. Flanagan won't lie. Mike Flanagan loves bowling. I mean, these guys, they love bowling. And I would say anytime I've gone bowling, which recent, you go and get away, especially here in Indiana, I have a good time. Yeah. It is a good time. Holy sick. And you get a strike, holy shit, you feel alive.

1:42:23Ernest:You have a big crowd out there? Big crowd?

1:42:25Pat McAfee:I would say 150 people. That's pretty good. But they were following a couple different – They're like standing where we're all walking at normally. They're all standing back there. There was a couple benches in the middle ones, which were showcase lanes, where Bold TV had a good setup. Sure. Bold TV had a good setup going right here. Flanagan was on a call alongside Artie, I believe, from Indy in there. So there was a couple. There's bleachers. They were packed. They were smaller, though, and then people standing. And we just kind of snuck in the back.

1:42:53Ernest:Were the rest of the lanes open? Were other randoms bowling next to them? U.S.

1:42:57Pat McAfee:Open all of them. Yeah, could you get on? No, U.S. Open's all of them. There's a lot of people trying to qualify, man. There's a lot of people trying to qualify. Serious shit. It's a major. And then once you hit the showcase one, you move to the next round. Shout out to PBA. Thank you for coming in. Oh, yeah, PBA.

1:43:09Adam Schefter:I was from Freehold, New Jersey. Bruce Springsteen's our biggest alum, native, whatever. Parker Bone Jr. was a bowler, a professional bowler. So throughout our childhood, it was like Parker Bone is from here. And I thought that name was always funny. He was a legend on the bowling tour.

1:43:26Pat McAfee:Dude, Bone could really roll it. Yeah, yeah. But Bone could really, really roll it. Okay, I'd like to ask you about the reaction to that Aaron Rodgers conversation. Because, you know, Schefter, I said, hey, what was that? What was your guess?

1:43:41Ernest:I said, well, perfect, perfect transition, Parker Bone. Yeah. Right into it. Okay, yeah, you're right. We all worked out this morning. Yeah.

1:43:47Pat McAfee:Because we want to have sex. Yes, we do. Yes, we do. That was certainly a big takeaway on the internet is like, hey, Aaron's at that stage of life where he's, you know, trying to put it out. Wants to look good. Yeah, he's trying to put down right now. Game day every day. Which we like. He was also beaming with happiness, which I don't think people are talking about enough. Not only is he talking about trying to make love to his sweet wife on a regular basis, but also you could tell he was clearly happy, the happiest he has been. What is your takeaway from the convo yesterday, and what are you hearing from around the league?

1:44:17Pat McAfee:Because what I heard, I think he's playing for the Steelers next year. I think that is what's taking place. AJ would know better. AJ is going to try to swallow every piece of information that he actually has from talking to Aaron off-air. But what was your takeaway from the call, and what do you think the NFL world heard in it?

1:44:31Adam Schefter:Well, I thought the whole AJ dynamic was incredible with the microphone not working, and then him jumping on 30 minutes in and being like, so are you playing or not? That was tremendous. Great work, AJ. The next question I wanted from AJ was, so wait, who is your wife? And he didn't do that.

1:44:46Pat McAfee:Be a sister. Yeah, exactly. We talked about all of this. I mean, we learned more, I feel like, yesterday about it all. But on that note, don't be such a weirdo obsessed with who his wife is straight. Okay? You psycho. Get off or back, creep.

1:45:01Adam Schefter:I had no idea that was a thing even, and I feel bad because I feel like he's living in hell with this situation with drones. I was just like, oh, I didn't even know he was married. Like, I'm not even, my head doesn't go there, but I'm not everybody.

1:45:10Pat McAfee:Good man, Tricks. Good man, Tricks. Talk about ball. Talk about ball. Let's talk about ball.

1:45:15Adam Schefter:What was the takeaway? Will Howard's good. Sounds like Will Howard's good, and he liked that quarterback room, and he loved Mason Rudolph, and it just seemed like there were such good vibes about the guys. He was listing, like, third and fourth receivers and talking about Cal Austin and Ben Skoranek and then his love for Mike McCarthy, that it did feel like there was going to be some reveal at the end of the conversation until he told you, if you think you're getting that, you're not. But I do respect that he has had conversations with not only Mike McCarthy, but with Omar Khan. And it feels like, for all his, I need to wait, it does seem like, and you asked it well, is it Steelers or nobody?

1:45:52Adam Schefter:You asked it really well, and he didn't want to go there. but it does feel like there's one more year and one more year in the tank. And if he looks as good as he did on that Zoom yesterday where he looked like he was glistening and was in the best shape that I've seen him in years and smiling and beaming in a great mental place, like I would run it back one more year. Why not? They went to the playoffs last year, and if things had gone differently against Houston, who knows? So to me, I think the team is interested. I think Mike McCarthy is interested, and I think Rodgers is interested. But I have learned in this job, especially with that player, do not put words in Aaron Rodgers' mouth, and I will not do that.

1:46:23Pat McAfee:That was a strike right there, by the way. I saw some people saying, he's washed, he's washed. He's like, you didn't watch. Nope. You didn't watch him. And he is wanting you to say that so that he can find even more to say, oh, is that right, huh? I can't throw a football anymore. Aaron's entire thing is like, when I'm on my deathbed, I'll be able to spin it. Like, this is not a – It's about 70 yards. Yeah, exactly. It was 69 yards, was it not? Yeah. I think it was actually –

1:46:45Adam Schefter:Did you find yourself when he's referencing, like, and then big Darnell, and, like, I know it's Darnell Washington, but, like, did you find yourself, like, wondering, like, Do we need a depth chart to reference? He referenced every single player on the offense, and you're like, first name basis. I was like, all right. I don't know if everyone at home knows all the wide receivers or all the running backs, but he went through it all, and he loved all those guys, and that, to me, tells me a lot.

1:47:05Pat McAfee:Terrible teammate, though. Remember that. Never forget it. And Ben Skronik did come out and say, though, I've been wearing wired headphones. He had photos.

1:47:13Adam Schefter:He did.

1:47:14Pat McAfee:He had receipts.

1:47:15Adam Schefter:I'd be lying if I didn't go online and maybe look into the wired headphones thing. If Rodgers is so hell-bent on it, I'm like, maybe I'm doing the wrong thing with these AirPods.

1:47:24Pat McAfee:Oh, yes. You're not the only one. You got TJ Watt to change. Yeah, you're not the only one. I think there's a lot of people doing that. Now, on that note, these AirPods are incredible. Yeah, they're nice. They're very nice. How do they work? I do one of these. I do one of these. I go, hey, why don't you? Hey, it does it. You can have one in, so you're kind of here, but you're also. How does it work? I don't know. I don't know. But I tell you what, it's probably not good for me, I guess, is what somebody with a bigger brain than I have is saying. Tony, what did they say in Pittsburgh about the call yesterday?

1:47:50Pat McAfee:I guess, I mean, the Yenzers aren't going to love everything anyways. No. Hey, that's certainly not going to be the case.

1:47:56Adam Schefter:He was always so much affection for them.

1:47:58Pat McAfee:Yeah, he did show them a lot of love and the city a lot of love. He was very thankful to be a part of it. But all the Yenzers wanted to know was one thing, it seemed like. Not all of them, but it seemed like a majority of the Yenzers yesterday wanted to know one thing, and they didn't get that answer. But I don't know why they necessarily expected it. And he mentioned that the Steelers, they haven't really put anything in front of them yet either. He doesn't even know what it would look like if he was to get back in. I think those are all very few.

1:48:18Ernest:Yeah, they were happy about how he talked about the city and the team and Will and those things. But, no, there was a lot of, oh, great, he's holding us hostage again this season, this offseason, because a lot of people wanted him to make a decision before free agency started. I don't know if that's going to affect how the Steelers approach free agency or not, but a lot of the Steelers fans were upset, thinking he's holding them hostage, and now we're not going to have an answer. And how are we going to go about the draft and free agency if we don't know who our quarterback is?

1:48:45Pat McAfee:football's the best it is the absolute best Schrags the big story out of free agency frenzy will be what you think whenever we're done with Monday

1:48:55Adam Schefter:I think Kyler I think what Kyler does whether he spurs to J.J. McCarthy I think the A.J. Brown thing is worth watching I think the Max Crosby thing is obviously going to be top of mind do you have a board over here

1:49:06Pat McAfee:hold on do you have a board over here right here

1:49:09Adam Schefter:a board

1:49:10Pat McAfee:do you have like a board do you have everything written on

1:49:12Adam Schefter:over there no i just have all my notes in my phone all that and i've got everything but i'll

1:49:16Pat McAfee:have it all built you know there's people that have full dry erase boards all around rap sheet has very diligent notes all around his camera names and whenever he's asked something he his brain has to calculate if it's on the right side of the screen or left side of the screen and how close is it and then he has all the information right there i thought you had the same i didn't know if we were missing out on something that we should maybe be doing you know We could.

1:49:40Adam Schefter:Everyone's got their own methodology and process. Ian has his. Adam has his. Mine is. Let's just talk over text and I have it on the notes app. We'll see what happens from there.

1:49:50Pat McAfee:Shafter does that too. He screenshots those and sends them out. On that note, I've gotten a text from Florio. Okay. And it was all capital letters. I'd like it to be known. It was capital letters, so he would like it to be. My don't! No, he said, he said, kind of, Pies on, period. Yep, close. Two spaces. Mm-hmm. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr says I should get equal time, period. That's actually a good line. Great line. So we'll probably hear from Paisons soon. I'm excited to hear his angle on it all. Shrags, we can't wait to see you out here. Thank you for traveling to Indy next week for the good of all, and let's crush this thing.

1:50:26Adam Schefter:I cannot wait, guys. I will have my wired headphones with me, and we will have a blast. Let's go.

1:50:31Pat McAfee:All right, we'll see. I think we'll be making that decision for you over here, buddy. You're the best, ladies and gentlemen, Peter Shrager. Before we get to the break, we have to introduce a friend of the program, a man who is one of the most successful song makers of our generation. When it's all said and done, this guy will be talked about as a musical genius because of what he's been able to put together in all genres of music. currently touring around the country tonight in Indianapolis, Indiana. 13 number ones from beautiful Nashville, Tennessee. Lipscomb Academy. The ever-handsome and thin-fighting-looking Ernest.

1:51:16Pat McAfee:Thank you.

1:51:20Good to see you.

1:51:23AJ Hawk:How are you doing?

1:51:24Pat McAfee:Back to our band.

1:51:26AJ Hawk:Hey, I've been reunited with my jacket.

1:51:28Pat McAfee:This jacket was left here last time. No, you can't take it. It's been here. Uso? Yeah, this is part of this entire thing. It is part of this entire thing. Honorary Uso.

1:51:38AJ Hawk:What's up, dude? What's up, dude? Uso, bro. Uso, bro. You're a pig. Wow, especially this time. Wow. Real funny. Oh, can't make jokes?

1:51:47Ernest:I thought we were having fun.

1:51:48AJ Hawk:He's got combat boots on, too. He's ready. Yeah. I got these in Qatar.

1:51:52Pat McAfee:Okay. Sick. You went on an incredible trip over there to go see the troops. I don't know if they knew what was about to happen, what was about to happen, if they told you that no but obviously an incredible uh contribution back to the people that are uh absolute badasses of our society doing a thing it was awesome did you learn anything did it inspire any music whenever you were over there like how how does that whole process work for you

1:52:11AJ Hawk:i haven't written any songs necessarily about it yet but i would say that like my personal patriotism went through the roof being over there just like seeing the guys and girls absolutely ready for shit to pop off you know not necessarily knowing it would right now But they were very well prepared. They were badass.

1:52:27Pat McAfee:Were you playing? Would you play for her every single night?

1:52:29AJ Hawk:Yeah, every night. It was like Jeff Ross and me, and I brought my boy Cody Loden with me. And Jeff Ross would like volunteer, like volunteers would come up, and he'd roast them.

1:52:39Pat McAfee:Oh, so he was just cooking folks.

1:52:40AJ Hawk:Oh, yeah. Did he get you? Yeah, I mean, he would do like a little, like he told everybody, you know, Ern's here. He quit smoking weed to be here. That's how bad he wanted to be here. That's kind of a compliment. Yeah, it was actually a compliment. He had one guy up there. He was like, look at this guy. He looks like he's from the front lines of a pizza hut. They loved it. It was good.

1:52:59Pat McAfee:Kind, yeah.

1:52:59AJ Hawk:It was good. It was kind. It was lovey. He's a great guy. He's the one that asked me to come out and do it.

1:53:03Pat McAfee:He's a super genius. He has found his niche, and thank God there's an avenue for it so we get a chance to learn about him. He walked by our Senate Radio Row. We had a microphone out there, and he looks in, and we go, Jeff Ross, geez, you're the best. And he goes, what is this, an Ugly Lives Matter convention? And then he just walked away. Exactly. It was unbelievable. Exactly. Yeah, we're big fans. I don't know if I would sign up to be overseas with him for a week. I don't know if I mentally could handle that. I think he would just absolutely break me in half. But it sounds like he's a gentleman in class just like you.

1:53:30Pat McAfee:Ernest is in town in Indianapolis. He's going to stick around for our digital program. We will continue tomorrow on ESPN as the ever-changing world of sport continues to make our lives much, much better. We're so incredibly thankful that we get to do this for a living. Shout out to the people that donated money to watch the show live. Thank you. Thank you.

1:53:49Ernest:Hell yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

1:53:50Pat McAfee:It was definitely not worth whatever you paid, but thank you for doing it. We're back tomorrow. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. Goodbye. Okay, now we're still live. We're still live. You guys did great out there. You guys did really good out there. You guys did great. Okay, so you're in Indianapolis right now. What's the tour that we're on right now?

1:54:05AJ Hawk:We're on the Live from the South tour. Yeah, we're here tonight in Indianapolis. Got the fellas out. Is Cody with us tonight? Yeah, Cody Loden's opening for me, one of my DeVille boys.

1:54:14Pat McAfee:Is he going to sing Black Betty?

1:54:16AJ Hawk:He's going to have to.

1:54:17Pat McAfee:Yeah, that's how this guy came to be. That's how Ernest found him. I believe Barstool posted a video of one of his friends pounding him in the stomach. And he was saying, And Ernest was like, I like this guy. Actually got pretty good little chops. I got a chance to meet him. He's fantastic. So he's on the road with you. The DeVille boys, I love what you're doing for the crew. I like that you're building up your own record and your own label. But I also like the fact that you're getting a chance to shine here on this tour. How has the Live from the South tour been? And what have you learned about yourself maybe and your music on the road?

1:54:49AJ Hawk:Yeah, dude, it's been a blast. I've gotten to open for everybody and play a bunch of cool shows in big stadiums and stuff with Morgan and Jelly and whatnot. But getting to go out there and play for an hour and 45 minutes if I want to, do whatever I want, have control of the stage, and pace a set versus how much energy can we bring in 30 minutes is my favorite part of it.

1:55:12Pat McAfee:Okay, so let's talk about you being the onstage talent versus the hit maker for everybody that we know, basically, at this stage of it. How do you balance that? Is this normal for the music world? Because what, Chris Stapleton, is that his name, the guy with the big beard? Yep. So whenever he burst onto the scene, I think it was Tennessee Whiskey with Justin Timberlake, maybe at the Grammys is where I think the modern world.

1:55:34AJ Hawk:The big moment happens.

1:55:34Pat McAfee:Yeah, that's where we were introduced to him. And they were like, well, he was a writer, he was a writer. They never thought he'd be able to make it, even though his voice is that. and you as producer while also being an artist, how do you balance that? And what is life like for you in that role?

1:55:47AJ Hawk:It's busy, but my time is very intentional with it. I have writers out on the road right now. We're writing songs for whoever else all day before I play a show at night. But I would say over the course of years, how we developed and came up, like with Morgan and me and Charlie and Hardy, all kind of building a sound helped me find my own sound as an artist, you know? So it's like a fun outlet for me because I like making all different types of stuff. So, you know, if I make something that's in this world one day, I have an outlet for it, an artist I could send it to, or get in the room with a wide variety of artists and be able to kind of be a chameleon.

1:56:25Pat McAfee:Do country music fans love you because of the amount of love you have for country music and how you're from Nashville and you showcase country music and your style of music is like the most country? I hope so.

1:56:36AJ Hawk:Yeah, exactly.

1:56:38Pat McAfee:Exactly, but also bro country, obviously. You've made bangers that have brought a lot of people into country music, but obviously that is a huge convo about the genre of country music. I assume you're probably pretty torn about it all because how much you love action, like the Ryman. You named your kid Ryman, which is like country music. Shout out Ryman. Yeah, shout out to the Ryman. I think there's going to be a story on World Baseball Classic about the Ryman on Friday's game against Brazil with Logan Webb, I think. Sweet. That's going to all come about. But how is that kind of world of country music changing and you being like a traditional country guy, but also having the ability to make absolute bops, absolute bangers in the country world?

1:57:16AJ Hawk:I'm glad that I exist in this timeline because, you know, the industry will allow a wide variety of things to fit with under the country music genre. The more people that are coming to country music and the more it spreads, I see that as like an opportunity as a disciple of like traditional country music. It's just more eyes on this, too. There's nothing wrong with loving this. I make this. But like while you're here, let me show you. And like I treat it almost like getting to be a history teacher of country music. You know, I can write songs. that exist in today's landscape. But I also want to put you on some Merle Haggard and George Jones and Keith Whitley and Ronnie Millsap.

1:57:54AJ Hawk:There's layers to it you should go find.

1:57:56Pat McAfee:Yeah, I'm riding around in his Cadillac in Nashville. Hilarious, this thing. Old school throwback.

1:58:01AJ Hawk:75 Coupe de Ville on the thing.

1:58:04Pat McAfee:Bingo, exactly what it is. And we're rolling through Music Row. Didn't want to get that wrong, obviously. We're rolling through Music Row, and he's from there. you know i believe family pretty yeah so he's just pointing at different houses oh that's where wayland can wrote this that's where fucking this team like it is there's so much history on music grow so much it was awesome to learn so you talk about being a history teacher it was like i got a chance to be a pupil of yours one time and i think i and my respect for everything down there grew so we appreciate the hell out of you and that was a fun time that was a fun time we

1:58:39AJ Hawk:did a tour of the rhyming together yes we did i was under that stage yeah and grand old opry

1:58:43Pat McAfee:obviously now is a place, but at once it was just a show, and that show was hosted at the Ryman, and right now the Grand Ole Opry, if you watch any of it, actually has a circle that most singers stand on. That's wood from the Ryman, because it's an ode to what it is. The Ryman's like the, I believe they call it the church?

1:59:01AJ Hawk:Yeah, the Mother Church of Country Music. Yeah, and it felt like you were in there, too.

1:59:05Pat McAfee:For sure.

1:59:05AJ Hawk:Yeah.

1:59:06Pat McAfee:That place was awesome. It's awesome. And you killed it in there.

1:59:08AJ Hawk:Thank you. Thanks for being there. Flew in on a bird just to see the boy. Had to.

1:59:12Pat McAfee:Your name's kid rhyming and then I learned the history of the place and your play and I'm like feels like this is a big night yeah in earnest life I'm certainly gonna show face I wasn't the only one there everybody was there I don't want to just start rattling off names but like it was sick 13 number ones for a lot of different people there's a lot of people there Ernest we appreciate the hell out of you thank you tonight Indianapolis gonna be fantastic that's right it was the Egyptian room

1:59:32AJ Hawk:at uh what is it old national yep old national center yeah first time playing there it's a cool place how long you play for

1:59:38Pat McAfee:Sure.

1:59:40AJ Hawk:At least 90 minutes.

1:59:41Pat McAfee:What all do you play?

1:59:43AJ Hawk:I play a lot of songs. I play some songs off of my Live from the South record.

1:59:48Pat McAfee:Live from the South.

1:59:50AJ Hawk:It's Saturday night. It's Thursday night tonight, but I sing it Saturday night and I always say, I know it's a Thursday night. We're going to party like it's Saturday night. I'm aware. Big pop.

1:59:59Ernest:Big pop. They will.

2:00:00AJ Hawk:But we've been doing Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue. Yeah. Hell yeah. Thank you. Who's your daddy? We do back to back. I'm like, Toby Keith is one of my North Stars as a country artist. And songwriter and just fella, you know? And so we go, who's your daddy, courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue.

2:00:15Pat McAfee:Remember, who's your daddy?

2:00:16AJ Hawk:Who's your daddy? Tonight. Oh, dude, good call. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's right there. You heard it here first. Yeah, it's right there, yeah.

2:00:23Pat McAfee:Who's your daddy? You can even give a who, who, who, who's her. You can give one of those. Okay. Yeah. They'll give it right back.

2:00:30AJ Hawk:You could come out and sing it.

2:00:33Ernest:All right, ladies and gentlemen. Connor has a question for you, Hunter. Yeah, obviously, Nashville guy, Nashville football show, kind of turned into a football city with Vanderbilt over this college football season. Thank God. Yeah, kind of awesome because the Titans stink, but that's what I want to ask you. Yeah, that's what I want to ask you.

2:00:48AJ Hawk:Hey, two-tone season, baby. Let's go. Two-tone blue, going to have a year. Oh, we've already seen the new logo. Please, God, can we have a year? But Vanderbilt, let's stay on that. I grew up going to Vanderbilt games. Whether we were winning or losing, mostly losing. The last time we had a good season like that, I believe game day came. It was like 2009 or 2010. Jay Cutler? Yeah, well, no, it was after Jay Cutler, but we were about to go 5-0 at home against Ole Miss, and I was there for game day. I don't think we, like, won since that game. And then this year, it was like, yeah, dude, like, golden black everywhere.

2:01:21AJ Hawk:It's cool to be a Vandy fan. Yeah, it was fun.

2:01:23Pat McAfee:A great game day set, too. And the city. It was very obvious, yeah, that, like, the city's just coming out. Got behind. The city's just coming out for the team. Didn't have a lot of, like, super old traditions. You know, this kind of happened in Indiana last year, too. So before we go live at game day down in Indiana, because my whole shit is like, let's showcase what this place is. And there wasn't a lot of football shit. There's obviously the who, who, who, but there isn't like a stadium. Like the stadium chant is normally like a football thing. So if your team is not like that good of a football team, you're probably not going to have it.

2:01:58Pat McAfee:It felt like that day for game day at Indiana, those fans created their own traditions. It felt like it created the experience. and they'd probably been doing that beforehand. But then now that has carried on. The great state of – and then the whole place says Indiana. They ran it in the entirety. I'm not saying I came up with that, but it did seem like it got created at that particular time and really showcased. Vandy was kind of doing the same thing. It felt like they were trying to figure out what they are as a football team, what they are as a football fan base. And the entire city of Nashville showed up on that note, which I think what Connor was going to say, it is a football city.

2:02:29Pat McAfee:It'd be cool if the Titans were going to get great.

2:02:32AJ Hawk:It'd be super cool.

2:02:33Ernest:And we love the GM in that. Like, we believe in Borgonzia and Bob Zah.

2:02:37AJ Hawk:I think it's going to be a great fit. I feel like he's going to love Nashville. Yeah. Cam Ward, shout out Cam.

2:02:43Pat McAfee:Cam's an athlete. He's awesome. He's unbelievably talented. We talked to him a lot. I saw him make some throws against the Colts that were, like, outrageous. But let's talk about, like, where Vrabes leaves. You've told me privately, and I would like you to say publicly, just because it puts over Vrabes pretty good. The city was like, that's what the team is, basically. That was our guy.

2:02:59AJ Hawk:That was our guy. And it was easy for me to root for him this year, too. Like, I was going for the Pats in the Super Bowl, for sure, for Vrabel. But I don't know. I just hope it would be nice to have a winning season. Like, let's go 500. Two years from now, it would be great. Let's go 500. This is realistic, dog. That'd be good. You know how good it would feel to win six games?

2:03:25Ernest:Yeah. We kind of experienced it this year with the Colts. Yeah, shut up. We're 8-2.

2:03:30Pat McAfee:Do you know how good it felt? Oh, it was so amazing. The city was buzzing. You're right. You're 100 % right, Connor.

2:03:35AJ Hawk:Dylan's the same way. Truth Titans fan, every year we wake up on January or whenever the end of the season is, we're winning the Super Bowl next year for sure. And it's like two, three, four games in, we're like, we still got a chance. Then five, six games in, you're like, next year. And I feel like that's what we're going to do. Jelly Roll.

2:03:53Pat McAfee:Jelly Roll potentially playing for the team, too, now with how much he's in.

2:03:56AJ Hawk:Yeah, Jelly Roll. That's not Jelly Roll anymore, dude. It's a cover of men's health. It's Jason D. Ford.

2:04:02Pat McAfee:Well, I saw a transformation from Kid to Bob, too. I saw that at halftime. That's just a matter of one trip.

2:04:10AJ Hawk:He comes back. That's a whole different guy.

2:04:12Pat McAfee:I've heard him speak for him before. But I do wonder, did we see Kid Rocks last? No, I hope not. No. No, because I was worried that the strings. He's on tour this summer here.

2:04:23Ernest:Kid Rock or Bob? It said Kid. Thank God. I thought we lost Kid.

2:04:27AJ Hawk:That video of him in RFK is one of the greatest pieces of content I've ever seen in my life. It's like out of a fever dream. It's like a Rex Kwan Doe commercial, but it's Kid Rock in RFK.

2:04:39Pat McAfee:Can we talk about this a little bit from the music standpoint, in the music world, their thoughts on it? Because I feel like music people, creative people, their brains are different than everybody else. It's hard to necessarily just say, like, why'd that person do that? It's like, well, why'd they create this for all of society to have as well? the Bad Bunny Kid Rock thing that started getting built. How did the music world respond to that? Did you feel obligated to put on for Kid because he's going to play some country music? Or were you pumped up for Bad Bunny getting an opportunity to do the Super Bowl again, which is like the biggest gig on earth?

2:05:08Pat McAfee:How did the music industry kind of view that?

2:05:11AJ Hawk:I don't know. I mean, I feel like everybody watched the game and then kind of fucked off during halftime either way.

2:05:16Ernest:Yeah.

2:05:17AJ Hawk:That's what I really feel like.

2:05:18Ernest:Yeah, you watch the game. A lot of people do just...

2:05:20AJ Hawk:It's on, and that's when you go out and smoke. Yeah.

2:05:23Pat McAfee:They try to make it a big deal, and I don't think anybody that was actually in it treated it as a big deal. I thought the Bad Bunny halftime show

2:05:30AJ Hawk:was better than I expected. The production was crazy. It was a cool vibe. Made me miss the islands. Yeah, you do a lot of that. I love that stuff. I love the islands.

2:05:40Pat McAfee:It's amazing because your skin would be one.

2:05:43AJ Hawk:Oh, the islands hate me. But I love the islands, dude.

2:05:47Pat McAfee:You play a lot of that type of music. It felt like you went back to a little locals only.

2:05:50AJ Hawk:I went back to a little locals only era. Gut string country.

2:05:53Pat McAfee:You play a lot of that tonight?

2:05:55AJ Hawk:Yeah. I think I'm playing, I'll play a couple off of Locals Only, and then I'll play a couple of new ones off this next record. Laura. Lorelai. Lorelai.

2:06:03Pat McAfee:Unbelievable. Can you tell me a story of who Lorelai is? Because I think it's an actual thing that exists.

2:06:07AJ Hawk:Yeah, it's crazy. There's a beach bar called The Lorelai in Isla Morata. I had a writer's trip down there. The writers that I actually have out with me right now, we went down there, stayed at a house. Go Dawgs. He's Go Dawgs. Go Dawgs. Red Akins. Ben Hazlip. Shout out. Jacob Durrett. Shout out. Anyways. Smart idea to hit everybody. Yeah. But sitting at the Lorelai, and I'm like, what is the story of Lorelai? Because I knew it was a mermaid, but it's an ancient siren. She would call sailors off into the night, and they would die. Yeah. And I was like, there's a love story here. Lorelai, Lorelai, I still hear you whisper in the dead of the night.

2:06:44AJ Hawk:You always wreck my world, and I don't know why. I keep my sails to the wind for you, Lorelai. And I was like, let's go back and write that song as soon as we finish this beer.

2:06:52Pat McAfee:That's a smart idea.

2:06:53AJ Hawk:But we did.

2:06:53Pat McAfee:Yeah, and Losers, similar situation, right? I mean, you're at Losers Bar in Nashville. There's a story here somewhere.

2:07:00AJ Hawk:We've been, yeah, Losers with Jelly and Post. We've always wanted to have a Losers song, like all of us. I found myself in this bar was like an ode to Losers, but without saying it. But yeah, we just need a song named Losers, and by God, that's what we got. Yeah, you certainly did. Shout out Losers, Steve Ford.

2:07:16Pat McAfee:What was the first big song you were a part of? and did you think you were going to be able to make bangers and then did you know you were going to make bangers after you made one or was there always like a blind belief that you make bangers?

2:07:27AJ Hawk:I thought I was making bangers for years before anybody else thought I was making bangers you know like it took me, I signed my first publishing deal in 2013 and didn't have my first number one until 2020 but I didn't really get my first cut until 28 so like five years of swinging like this is dope and it was either ahead of its time or just sucked, you know? And then finally it clicked. My first one was I Love My Country with Florida Georgia Line.

2:07:55Pat McAfee:Florida Georgia Line had so many back.

2:07:57AJ Hawk:The best.

2:07:58Pat McAfee:Hey, and it seems like they're... Hopefully. I saw pictures of them.

2:08:02AJ Hawk:All we can be happy about and should be is that they are getting along and it's all smiles and good times.

2:08:07Pat McAfee:Congrats, boys. Let's go FDL. Hey, thank you for what you did for our lives. That's right. Hey? God. And you gotta do what you gotta do. If you hate somebody, you hate... believe me we all understand but it's great to see you guys back together

2:08:20AJ Hawk:yes it is

2:08:20Pat McAfee:it is great to see them back together and maybe we'll get a couple more

2:08:24AJ Hawk:yeah

2:08:29AJ Hawk:yeah yeah

2:08:33Pat McAfee:that's what we're talking about that's how my body felt when I saw a photo of them fucking walking together yes dude

2:08:39AJ Hawk:you could hear it

2:08:43AJ Hawk:oh my god that's exactly right yeah Dirt.

2:08:47Pat McAfee:Oh, my God. Dirt. Don't forget about dirt. Yeah. They were a hit-making machine. Now, I believe the story of them, another hit-making machine was a part of potentially, right? I think Big Loud has a pretty big part of the entire Florida Georgia Lions story.

2:09:04AJ Hawk:Yeah, that's where it all started. Big Loud records. Craig Wiseman, Joey Moy, Seth England. At the time, Chief was there, too. Joey actually goes back to, like, Nickelback. He came up with Nickelback and produced them.

2:09:17Pat McAfee:That's what I'm talking about, yeah.

2:09:19AJ Hawk:So it started there, and then he came to Nashville in like 2009 or 10 and started working on a couple things. About that time, Seth, who you've had on.

2:09:29Pat McAfee:Dog shot, Seth.

2:09:31AJ Hawk:Met the guys, met Florida Georgia Line, and started just kind of managing them immediately. And Craig started Big Loud Shirt Publishing. So Seth was like interning for Craig, found these two guys. Let's write songs. y 'all are going to go play college towns and kill this shit. And then they had Cruz like a year into that, and the rest is history. And then it was Morgan, Chris Lane, Jake Owen, myself, Hardy, Larry Fleet. There's so many now, I don't want to leave anybody out.

2:09:57Pat McAfee:Shout out Big Loud. Big Loud. That's what I'm saying. Seth, we know Seth. Oh, yeah. Weapon. Seth did not make a single U-ball shot. No. But he had a shoulder. He had a shoulder issue. I got a shoulder issue.

2:10:08AJ Hawk:I want to make one.

2:10:09Pat McAfee:You have, though. You've been here before in May. I know. You're a athlete.

2:10:12AJ Hawk:I know. I want to do it again. I just want to prove it wasn't an absolute mistake. Is that because you were a five-tool baseball player at Lipscomb? You got drafted in, what, the fifth round? Fifth round. Fifth round. Yeah, I should have gone higher. No, I played one year at Freed Hardman in college and then dropped out and started doing this. Not this. This is new, but doing.

2:10:28Pat McAfee:You can do this if you want to. Baseball. You actually played baseball, and I think they did. That way you met Morgan, right?

2:10:33AJ Hawk:Yeah, me and Morgan played against each other our junior and senior year of high school. He went to Knoxville Gibbs. I went to David Lipscomb. Now it's Lipscomb Academy.

2:10:41Pat McAfee:Mustangs.

2:10:42AJ Hawk:Mustangs. Stangs up.

2:10:44Pat McAfee:Stangs up. You guys created the spray that killed COVID. That's right.

2:10:46AJ Hawk:That's right. Shout out TD. Yeah, Trent Delphine. Thanks, Trent. Got that Stang Vax. Yes.

2:10:54Pat McAfee:It was actually a Stang Vax spray. The Broncos picked it. Stang spray. Stang spray. Yeah, I think that's what it was.

2:11:02AJ Hawk:Yeah, but yeah, we played against each other junior and senior year. They beat us junior year, went on to win the TWSAA state championship, and then we beat them senior year. and went on to win it, like, the next game or whatever.

2:11:15Pat McAfee:Hey, his story is insane, obviously.

2:11:19AJ Hawk:Insane.

2:11:19Pat McAfee:Because it's not without quite a self-inflicted wound. And then work, work, work, try to earn everybody. Like, hey, I'll earn, I'll earn, I'll earn, I'll have to. I know, I know, I know. And then all of a sudden it's just like, oh, yeah, this guy has one of the greatest voices maybe of all time. He can't sing. It's like, okay.

2:11:36AJ Hawk:He can sing anything. His voice is insane.

2:11:38Pat McAfee:That is what anybody grew up singing, right? I mean, he is a true singing talent, I think, that people don't really respect because it's a country genre. But he fucking, you guys, when you guys get together, obviously it's always bangers. But everything he puts out is seemingly a fucking smash. And it's unbelievable, the run that he's on right now. Yeah, it's insane.

2:11:57AJ Hawk:He's really good at governing himself with what songs he likes. He's really honest. You've got to think he's putting out 36-song albums, but they're cutting like 60 songs and then going back from that. And out of that, the Morgan Wallen pitch link is probably hundreds and hundreds of the best songs in town. What do you mean? Well, if you had a SoundCloud link, if you're a publisher, you probably got every song in town today was trying to get a Morgan cut, and they all get sent, and the best ones wind up on his link. So then he picks his favorite. It's how we all work.

2:12:29Pat McAfee:Okay, so that's what the songwriters, song creators do.

2:12:32AJ Hawk:Yeah, the relationship, and not even just talking about Morgan, And I think what keeps an artist going, like artists that we think about that have had great careers, like George Strait wasn't writing his songs, but he A &R'd his record. So A &R being Artist Relations. But like he picks his songs really well. Al Dean's the same way. He's going to always have a career because he picks his songs really well.

2:12:54Pat McAfee:He has a good ear.

2:12:55AJ Hawk:Yes. And the separation in going back to your songwriting versus artists, I've been able to learn the skill of picking a song that works for me whether I wrote it or not. I don't have to prove that I can write songs. If a song is something I want to sing, I want to sing it. Boat Named After You, the one I just put out. I didn't write, love that song. Fits the record perfect, let's do it.

2:13:17Pat McAfee:Who wrote it, do you know?

2:13:18AJ Hawk:Yeah, it was Nathan Chapman and Tony Lane.

2:13:22Pat McAfee:Incredible song. It's about a high school sweetheart, I think, right? I think if I listened to the lyrics properly.

2:13:27AJ Hawk:I don't know if it was a high school sweetheart. X. Yeah, it's the boat named after you. I'm just out. Oh, yeah. It could be maybe out in California, top down Rodeo Drive. Or back there in your hometown, having kids and doing fine. Maybe up in Colorado, keeping warm with someone new. Me, I'm out here on the water on a boat named after you. Pretty sick.

2:13:47Pat McAfee:Yeah.

2:13:47AJ Hawk:Yeah. And I always thought it'd be sick to get a boat and name it after you.

2:13:51Pat McAfee:Oh. Oh, hey, that's that earned it for drink there.

2:13:55AJ Hawk:That's a flip on it.

2:13:56Pat McAfee:That's a little flip on it. There's people starting to talk about your freestyling ability on the internet. I've been able to witness it personally. I want to let you know, unbelievable. Truly. It's a great party trick, and it's also a great business trick. I've heard stories from people that have been like, yeah, earned freestyled for 25 minutes last night, and in doing so, dropped four hooks and three verses that people are going to use for other songs. I was a part of a freestyle session that you did where you dropped a hook for a song that I probably will release at some point and then also one of the verses uh just in the middle of a freestyle and then you went over and got on a keyboard I do believe and started making the beat to the song and I was like I'm in song land right now this is welcome to song land this is really how this whole thing happens so I would like to say thank you for allowing me to get to witness how it all comes together and you're a weapon bro you're a fucking weapon dude you really are.

2:14:49Pat McAfee:Thank you. And we're lucky that you're adoring our generation, our society.

2:14:53AJ Hawk:Thank you. That's very kind. No problem. You're looking great, too. Thank you. You're a weapon. You know what to do, at least. I do.

2:15:00Pat McAfee:Yeah, I got trapped.

2:15:01AJ Hawk:Send me your guy. Yeah, affinity. They're good. Affinity is good people. You look like a before and after picture, me and Pat. Hold on. Before and after science.

2:15:12Pat McAfee:That's exactly right.

2:15:14AJ Hawk:Hilarious. I grew three inches, four. We'll say four inches.

2:15:18Pat McAfee:Hey, it can literally happen. I'm looking at a video right now. Bruce just pulled up from TikTok that says, give Ernest a mic and he can do anything. I don't know how long. This is a 10-minute video, so you freestyle for 10 minutes here on camera. I mean, you've made songs for people literally while streaming live. It says, you're a weapon, brother, and I can't wait to watch you tonight.

2:15:36AJ Hawk:Thank you, sir. Can't wait to have you there. Yeah, no problem. All right. Who, who, who? Who's your daddy? Who's your daddy? Who, who, who? Who's your daddy? Who's your baby? Who's your buddy? Who's your... Oh, friend. Friend. We'll get it. Fuck. You don't have to do it. Sorry, man. Sorry. You can have your phone out if you need it.

2:15:58Pat McAfee:Thank God. I won't by the time we get there.

2:16:01AJ Hawk:Okay. But who, who, who? Who's your... Oh, we're doing that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm the one that's going to fuck it up.

2:16:07Pat McAfee:No, we're from the top.

2:16:09AJ Hawk:Can I wear that jacket tonight and give it back to you? Yes, you can. I love it being on your chair, but I haven't seen it in two years. Does it still have anything in the pocket?

2:16:17Pat McAfee:No. That was used. No, we had a thief. That was used, as you know.

2:16:23AJ Hawk:These are some damn fine pockets. First day I met Ernest.

2:16:26Pat McAfee:First day I met Ernest. He comes in here. Great conversation. Good times. He's with Jelly. Maybe try some sage, you know, do the whole thing. Then he's a rollout of their day. It's good. Hey, I left the jacket there. Did you find it? And I'm like, is it the legalized country one? That would be it. Yep, that would be it. then nothing was said. 20, 30 minutes go by. Hey, in that right pocket, left a little gift for you. Might want to go ahead and check that out. Save it for a rainy day. That's exactly what you said.

2:16:57AJ Hawk:He texted me three days later, he goes, it's raining.

2:17:00Pat McAfee:That is an accurate assessment. You're the best. Love you. Hold on, we're going to take a break with you so that you don't have to get up and leave right now. Oh, okay. If you're in Indy, go check him out. The show's going to be outrageous. If you're in any town that he's going to be in, the show's outrageous. He can sing anything, will sing anything, and it's going to be a guaranteed good time. That's the vibes that you bring. I think that's why everybody wants to work with you, dude. And I think that's why success follows you. And I'm very, very lucky that you have allowed us to be a part of your business and your world.

2:17:24Pat McAfee:You're the man. Thank you, sir. Love you. On that note, we're going to take a break. AJ, we're back on the other side, wrapping up all this sports news. Okay, so you need to dive in.

2:17:32Ernest:Yeah. Oh, yeah. I am. I'm all ready.

2:17:35Pat McAfee:I don't know, H.

2:17:36Ernest:I am. I had a quick question for Ernest. He said he's a big fan of the islands. Which islands are you a fan of that you usually frequent?

2:17:44AJ Hawk:Classic age. St. Thomas and St. John.

2:17:47Pat McAfee:Where are those at? Just so we do know. It is the U.S.

2:17:50AJ Hawk:Virgin Islands, and you do pass Little St. James. Oh!

2:17:53Pat McAfee:Come on!

2:17:54AJ Hawk:From St. Thomas to St. John. You can see it there on the right. Little St. Aaron. And you just drive by and you just go. And then you get to St. John and have a good time.

2:18:02Pat McAfee:Okay, I'm happy you did that, though, because you were acknowledging.

2:18:05AJ Hawk:Yeah. Yeah, every time. It is where it is, but St. Thomas is one of my favorite places on Earth. We bought a house there. It's the best beaches ever St. John's, awesome 10 minute boat ride away Go, you know, go have a coconut rum On the beach, why not?

2:18:19Pat McAfee:Yeah, live a little You know, Jimmy Buffett took us to a time of happiness Even whenever our bodies were not there present I think your songs do the same For a lot of us too

2:18:29AJ Hawk:My God, thank you I hope so

2:18:31Pat McAfee:I haven't seen Sun in about 4 or 5 months And all of a sudden your ass is on a fucking boat down there Saying I'm looking for this siren that's about to fucking kill all of us

2:18:38AJ Hawk:Yeah, I'm trying to get to her first It'd be cool to be done

2:18:41Pat McAfee:Save the world and kill this bitch. I'm putting sunscreen on while I'm listening to your fucking music. I appreciate that. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're back on the other side. Take five. Five. Five.

2:18:56Ernest:This episode is brought to you by Nespresso. Introducing Virtuo Up, the latest in a long line of innovation from Nespresso. It's innovation you can touch, sense, and taste in every single cup. With a three-second start, easy open lever, and dedicated brew-over-ice button, it's even easier to enjoy your coffee your way. Sip for yourself. Shop Virtuo up exclusively at Nespresso.com. From 30 for 30 Podcasts. I'm in there, man. He's on fire. Did you say someone got shot?

2:19:31AJ Hawk:Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman for Miami. Gunned down.

2:19:36Ernest:The key to this case, it's Brian. Boy, he scrapped it. An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing what's about. This might be a hit. You want the truth. They just want a conviction being placed under arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U. Listen now.

2:19:56Pat McAfee:All right, the greatest, and that's A.J. Hawk. Hawker, how's it going, buddy? A.J. Hawk! A.J. Hawk! A.J. Hawk! Did you hear Logan Paul say that he would ragdoll any NFL player for a million if they were to box or fight? Now, first of all, I would like to say to Logan Paul, incredible working right now.

2:20:17Adam Schefter:Yeah.

2:20:18Pat McAfee:This is phenomenal stuff. And also, Logan Paul, incredible WWE superstar. This guy is what WWE needs. So we are fans of Logan Paul as a whole. I think he's undervaluing offensive line and defensive linemen who do hand-to-hand combat and maybe don't go box and stuff like that. So maybe they don't know a slip or whatever the case is. I assume they actually naturally have it with that. Like Max Crosby is who I'm putting up. I guess you already know Deion Dawkins said, if we're going to throw hands, we can certainly do that. I think this is a good conversation piece, actually, because Logan is a trained boxer.

2:20:58Pat McAfee:I'm not saying he's an elite boxer, but he is a trained boxer, has been in there, has been punched before, has landed him before. There is quite an advantage to that. And Max Crosby trained with Sean Strickland who was throwing bombs at him. Now, I don't know what Max Crosby's form is in boxing, but I just don't think he'd quit. Yeah, Sean Strickland's trying to kill him. Sean Strickland's trying to take him out. That's just in the offseason he does that. So I think because Max has already been punched numerous times and it didn't, like, scare him, you know, like, I think that's the, that's like Le 'Veon Bell came out and was like, I'll fight you.

2:21:28Pat McAfee:that's because he's gotten to the point of boxing where he gets punched and doesn't flinch. He's still fighting in there. If you know how to counter, that means you're okay getting punched or you can see it coming and have the move. If you're a trained boxer, you can counter. And that is really the level of finish shit. That is the difference between not fighting, boxing, being an okay boxer, and then going to the next level. And Lev has been in there. numerous times. Frank Gore, I think, would be okay going in there. We have boxers in the past, but then Logan Paul said, those are retired guys.

2:22:06Pat McAfee:Give me current guys. Give me current guys.

2:22:09Ernest:Throw Trent Williams in there as well. Yeah, Trent Williams. It's going to have to be a big dude for sure that outweighs him by a lot because Logan is a legit boxer. I guess there's probably some guys that are kind of under the radar, been boxing for a while in the NFL that we don't really know about. I guess they don't publicize it, maybe.

2:22:24Pat McAfee:Logan's cardio, too, really good. yeah yeah wrestler like he has great card we're not saying that logan is a walk in the park for anybody which i think a lot of people would like to say because he's handsome he's chisel he's wwe superstar and he's letting you know that you are not nowhere near the same caliber of human as he is so you're naturally going to hate him and want to bury him he's a good heel he is a great heel but i think we would have to send some guys that are really and i think we do have those guys i think for the good of the nfl we do but tom bray just walk around call him a bitch yeah

2:22:55Ernest:Yeah, what's that about? Is that a shoot, brother?

2:22:58Pat McAfee:Is that a work? Well, maybe he worked himself into a shoot here. And in Gronk going, Gronk did not expect that at all. Tom Brady is evolving here. And then, you know, who knows if this is a work or if this is a shoot. But if it's a work, super genius stuff, which we should obviously expect for us, too.

2:23:16AJ Hawk:Yeah, I mean, Tom's the greatest of all time. So, you know, I think he can kind of say whatever he wants. But we've also seen, I mean, we saw Tom with his shirt off the other day throwing the football around. He's in better shape now than he ever was in his playing career, so maybe he has an iron jaw. Yeah, exactly, ran a faster 40. Maybe this is Tom's second calling here. I mean, I understand he's part owner of the Raiders. Who's to say that he won't be boxing, I don't know, Canelo in six months' time? Tom Brady?

2:23:44Pat McAfee:Yeah, you never know. Good. That's the goal. So you're thinking Logan Paul is calling for an NFL guy. Tom Brady's like, look no further, fella. You found him. Yeah, exactly. You think Tom Brady's getting in there? I didn't even think about it.

2:23:55AJ Hawk:Logan, you're going to be my stepping stone. And after I dispose of you, then it's game on. Then I'm going to call a game on Sunday. Exactly. I'm going to own a Raiders. And then it could be anybody.

2:24:05Ernest:Come Saturday, I'm fighting at Caesars Palace. Floyd Mayweather. He's got a fight coming up. Floyd's got a lot of fight.

2:24:12Pat McAfee:Five, I think. I think there's been more added. Floyd, thank you for the years of entertainment. Good luck out there doing your get-back. Good luck with Tyson. This is clearly a get-back. And if it is, good. But congratulations on having this get back. Sure. Just in the back pocket. And once again, when he gets in there, I assume he won't be touched. I assume. Probably not. I assume it'll be the same story. And Floyd will have to remind people while also getting an incredible amount of wealth again. Yep. And then we hope this round, he's good. We hope forever he's good. Yeah. But on that note, people would love to see him get his ass knocked out by some of these people that he is taking later in his career.

2:24:45Pat McAfee:The latest maybe we've ever seen. But I love what the sports world is kind of cooking up. World Baseball Classic continues today. Is that accurate?

2:24:53AJ Hawk:Yeah, there are a couple more games today. And then really, though, it kind of is just, hey, all eyes on tomorrow night. Tomorrow night at 8 p.m. on Fox. USA will get out there. There's no more, hey, we're beating the shit out of this team, so they're going to send a minor leaguer over to hit for us or pitch for us. These are the boys who are going to take us to glory, for glory, which I believe is their tagline. So, yeah. But, again, all these games kind of have something worth watching, I would say, because there are multiple guys on every team who are either stars in the MLB or who are, you know, plumbers, electricians, that kind of stuff.

2:25:31Pat McAfee:So, Japan plays, if I'm reading this right, 5 a.m. on Fox Sports 1 tomorrow morning against Taipei. Sure. We just watched Taipei lose to Australia because big dog. Yeah, Travis Bazzana. Bazzana. did his thing for Australia. I love that we're off and running, and then, yeah, tomorrow night, 8 o 'clock.

2:25:53Ernest:One tonight. Eight games tomorrow.

2:25:55Pat McAfee:Let's go baseball.

2:25:57Ernest:Is that old-school turf they're playing on? Probably.

2:26:00Pat McAfee:That's field turf.

2:26:02Ernest:Field turf.

2:26:05Pat McAfee:That's big bat Bazzana. Johnny Bazzana. I just learned of him last night. They were hyping his ass up. They were hyping his ass up. I'm like, I didn't know Australia did the baseball. And then his ass hits a home run in the game. I'm like, okay, big dog. I like that you kind of show up whenever you're in your moment. I think we're going to see a lot of that. Could you imagine what this would do for Australia baseball as a whole? Yeah. I think that's a – I said this, AJ, at the beginning of the show when I talked about it. I was in Australia for seven days. They were all in really good shape. I saw like two fat says, maybe three.

2:26:40Pat McAfee:That's it. Like from – I'm talking the entire city. Experience, yeah. Looking around. They're all in very good shape, it feels like. Baseball is a sport where if you are in good shape and you get the hang of it, it certainly doesn't hurt. You can benefit from it. And with it growing in that area with Japan and Asia, obviously starting to really love baseball, this could be huge for their sport, which is why I like international play. It's why I like international play.

2:27:03AJ Hawk:And it's a little late, and it's not the same thing, but we've seen all the punters coming over and going to college in America. That's what he did. He grew up over there and then came and went to Oregon State, had a bunch of success, was the first overall pick. So sometimes that's all it takes. And obviously, you know, he hasn't played in the big leagues yet, but I think he had three knocks last night, including a home run. Like, that's a pretty damn good start for Australia.

2:27:25Pat McAfee:Oregon State really good at the baseball. You know how I know that? How's that? Because I said Oregon's really good at baseball. Oh, sure, sure. Go on loud. I said this baseball team here's running things. Maybe champs, I might have called them. Who knows? Just kind of in the middle of it. It's pitch black outside at the beginning. I just talked to the baseball coach yesterday. I'm trying to recall all the information I got. This team's unbelievable with everything. Track, they're faster than fucking you. Weed, they got better weed than you for sure. Baseball, best ever. Just fucking in my head, you know, just running through things that I experienced while I'm there.

2:28:01Pat McAfee:I'm like, man, I think I nailed it. Let's do the whole thing. Get to the commercial break. I'm like, man, I see the reaction here. Holy fuck, the Beavs actually. Yeah, hold on. Oregon State, actually, they are actually the baseball team of Oregon. And it's like, well, we've come too far now. Yeah. I can't go back. I do apologize.

2:28:20Ernest:Shout out former Mustang Scotty McGuff, who was in the MLB. He played at Oregon. Sweet.

2:28:24Pat McAfee:Did he really? Yeah. Not Oregon State? No, Oregon. See, I'm telling you. That's why. Oregon State needs to go recruit out, pull them high school. Exactly. We got a couple guys that can throw 78, 79 meatballs. Yeah, if you need it, though. Any eaters. Speaking of, me and Clayton Kershaw tomorrow. Oh, yes. For pretty big donations.

2:28:43Ernest:We're going to watch you go yard on him how many times?

2:28:46Pat McAfee:Stop trying to get it away, okay? We will have no spoilers around here. No.

2:28:49Ernest:Okay.

2:28:53AJ Hawk:You did say you were getting one inning. I think a lot of people assume that's just three at pass. That could be.

2:28:59Pat McAfee:We don't know.

2:28:59AJ Hawk:That could be 12, 13. We don't know. You might have put a crooked number up.

2:29:02Pat McAfee:We don't know, AJ. And that's the fun part about it. Especially when I watch him go pitch two outs in baseball when he was retired just two weeks ago getting ready for this it's like okay so the guy hits dinger off him and we go oh no he made a mistake he knew it oh no because then that kind of you know that's not good for the entire thing and then he just gets right back into it locks in i am still clayton kershaw but from my understanding he was not really he was retired he thought he was getting a call to coach team usa and d-rose like nah you deserve to be on the team, I think, from your career.

2:29:39Pat McAfee:You haven't been able to do it in the past. We'd like you on the team. He's like, alright, and then pitch against McAfee first day, kind of that'll be your thing. Alright, I'll get in shape for that, I guess. And then all of a sudden it's like, hey, you got a couple innings for us, maybe? Sure. And he's like, yeah, let me try this thing out real quick. So I got to face actual he was, I think, the bullpen session into what we were, I think he was trying to see. I think they were all trying to see. Oh, that was

2:30:03AJ Hawk:him getting ready like he was going to start a game, like for sure. He told us on the show he was like you know that when they asked me here he was like I'll throw a thousand pitches because I'm never doing this again so like this is like that was like a hey let's

2:30:17Pat McAfee:see if I still got I got a chance to face like actual oh yeah it was cool man which is yeah there's a couple moments I'm sitting in there and I just look at him and it's like fucking Clayton Kershaw oh yeah yeah and he does this fucking shit and I'm watching his praying mantis up there and I'm like oh wow and then I got this catcher you know who's definitely not on my side. Andy Pettit, not on my side at all. I look up for this guy. What a hero. Rossi, yeah. Me and this guy, we worked together to help Team USA. They couldn't wait for that 12-6 to come. Wait till you see the reaction we have of that shit.

2:30:54Pat McAfee:I mean, we have shots of everything. The boys pieced this together in about six minutes with cameras everywhere, with microphones. Fox had to piece it all together. We got some good shit out of that little inning that we had with Clayton Kershaw. Incredibly honored. and we're going to raise money. Kershaw's cause? Kershaw's cause. I looked it up. Kershaw's cure. Kershaw's cause. Challenge. Challenge. Right around there. We will definitely do that. He couldn't have been nicer. He was the perfect guy for that.

2:31:26Ernest:Family too.

2:31:28Pat McAfee:Family of six I think. Had a baby. Don't we give anything away? Mom kind of shit talked to me too In her own way Hey kids why don't you go out and get in here And shack balls You think he's hitting balls into the outfield Yeah Mrs. Kershaw please I'm right here And then they did send the kids right back I mean everybody just acknowledged it Yeah stay out of the sun Stay out of the sun It was a fun time we had a blast Anything we didn't hit today tax implications for indiana are coming out for the bears coming to hammond indiana feels like the taxing is going to be done to people that are traveling into town at least that's where it was kind of directed towards one percent food and beverage tax don't love that don't love that don't love that at all five percent hotel tax increase you would think that'd be people that are traveling 12 percent admissions tax okay that's for you know car traveling plus toll roads and a special taxing district to fund the project, that taxing district will be the area in which it is.

2:32:35Pat McAfee:So the 1 % food and beverage tax feels like it's going to be the one that's going to hit the people of Indiana the most. And then the admissions tax, I assume that that is just something that we'll never fully understand. Oh, tickets. Okay. I didn't know if it was admission. Okay. Tickets. All right.

2:32:50Ernest:So to all events. So wait, wait, wait. Hold on. Wait. To all events in India? At that venue. Okay. So 12 % tax. They'll never be there. at that venue.

2:33:01Pat McAfee:Morgan's probably going to sell that place out. Taylor will sell that place out. Oh, Lucas Oil. They have a great thing going

2:33:06Ernest:at Lucas Oil.

2:33:07Pat McAfee:Yeah, but I think it's far enough away you could probably do both, especially with the two. If Soldier Field's gone, that's probably where they have to go, yeah. Yeah, so I think you could probably do both of those. Are they not keeping Soldier for events? Venues, the city owns it, right? You would assume they'd still want to put on their shows or whatever. They have a park right down the street from there that has that huge event every single year. Yeah, they host a lot over there. So Indiana people can certainly weaponize this against politicians because there is a raising of the tax, but it feels like it was a targeted tax.

2:33:36Pat McAfee:Yeah. And I don't like raising any money at all, but I do like that we have two NFL teams in Indiana. Yep. That is a fucking – Incredible.

2:33:42Ernest:That's a crazy thing for Indiana. If the Colts start stinking, guess where we're going. No. Let's go Bears. No. Bear Don. No. Yeah, for sure. Bear Don is so cool. Yeah, it's awesome. They changed their name a little bit maybe. Good, better, best.

2:33:56Pat McAfee:Never let it rest until your goat is better and your better is best.

2:34:00Ernest:You get a suite there, it's only a two-and-a-half-hour drive each way.

2:34:03Pat McAfee:I'm not sure of suites. Easy. Because then I'd be helping the state, too. They'll probably be cheap. It probably will be cheap. Yeah, I'm sure. Chicago Bears stuff? Yeah, it's probably cheap. Brand-new stadium? What a chance it happens.

2:34:15Ernest:It's not going to happen. What? What happened? You think it's going to happen? You think it's going to happen? You think the Bears are going to let them go? You think Illinois is going to let them go, you mean? Yeah, that's what I mean. I don't know. I just don't see it. I don't see them letting that happen. I would imagine if the city comes together, they find a way to keep them.

2:34:31Pat McAfee:I don't know. Our governor was calling their governor a mayor.

2:34:34Ernest:Yeah, I think that might pull a chip on Mayor Pritzker's shoulder over there, and he might try to figure something out, I think.

2:34:41Pat McAfee:I've seen his name in a lot of things. I think he potentially has got a lot on his plate to try to figure out what a new stadium deal could look like that you've been trying to do for like five, ten years or whatever the case is, which is what Mike Braun, governor of Indiana, was saying. he's basically saying they've had a long time to figure this out. You think they're just going to, like, a couple weeks? It took us three months to put this together. Do we think they're just going to be able to piece this together as quickly as it needs to be for us to get started on this thing? Because if we break ground and get moving, which we can definitely do, this thing's 2029, even though they don't get out until 2032, there's a chance for an even quicker turnaround in this whole thing.

2:35:15Pat McAfee:So to your point, I don't even know if I like that it's happening. I don't think I do.

2:35:21AJ Hawk:I agree.

2:35:22Pat McAfee:I don't think I like that Illinois is letting this potentially happen, but I do appreciate the fact that Indiana's like, hey, you're an NFL team. You're the biggest league on earth. You can help our state as opposed to hurt our state. So we are giving you an option. And it feels like if you talk to the people that are providing the option, they're saying this shit's going to happen. That was my takeaway from Braun coming on the show is like he thinks it's happening and he's in the direct conversation of it all. That was my big surprising takeaway from him. And also he gave me a couple of names on who I need to lobby for the legalization of marijuana in India.

2:35:54Pat McAfee:So I think it was a win-win out of that whole thing.

2:35:57Ernest:Yeah, I think it was. I mean, he was very, very optimistic. You are right. I just want to hear what the other side, what Illinois, what they're saying, like what their kind of proposal. I would imagine they're doing everything they can to keep them there.

2:36:07Pat McAfee:Big news. It's just in a county, the food and beverage tax. Oh, we don't care at all. The two counties up there, Lake and Porter County.

2:36:15Ernest:So there's some pushback because if you're just like a guy going to grab a coffee on your way to work in those counties, you're paying an extra 1%, but it doesn't affect the whole state. You're not even going to notice that. Yeah.

2:36:25Pat McAfee:7 cents. You should see the price of coffee beans today. Exactly. As opposed to the next day. Oh, those taxes are fine. Just write yourself off on that. Okay, cool. Good luck up there. Yeah, get done. Indiana Pride. Indiana Pride, you guys are doing that for us. the Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers will open the 2026 NFL season in Canton in the Hall of Fame game presented by Novertis Tickets go on sale Monday, March 9th at noon Obviously got Luke Keekly and Larry Fitzgerald Canalis LaFleur I'll tell you what, if Carolina's there, I'm happy we're going to be there I really like the cut of the jib of that entire program down there Hey, that's a good football team Carolina's a good football team.

2:37:10Pat McAfee:Good football team. They're looking to become a great football team. That's right. But they are a good football team. And then Arizona, we'll see. Yeah. We'll see. Is Larry playing?

2:37:20Ernest:Could be. He could. Why not? Good question. Who's the quarterback going to be? Good question. They're bringing Josh Rosen back. When do they pick? Can we go to the draft order, please? They pick third?

2:37:33Pat McAfee:Is that a Ty Simpson? Is that a Ty Simpson? situation right there at three. Two, Sonny Stiles, we all think, right? Or Arvell Reese, a lot of people

2:37:43Ernest:think. One of the Ohio State guys. Or David Bailey.

2:37:47Pat McAfee:Aaron Glenn goes Diva. So we got Fernando. We got defense from Ohio State. Is that Ty Simpson right there at number three? Or do they package that and move it out if they don't have a quarterback?

2:37:56Ernest:That would be just from everything you hear, very, very high.

2:38:00Pat McAfee:But if you don't, for Ty?

2:38:02Ernest:He is the number two quarterback, but he's not from everything you hear. Now, obviously, Could change. He's not supposed to go in the top 20.

2:38:11Pat McAfee:I think because we made fun of Orlovsky so much for saying, I watched three games. Okay, so I watched eight games. This guy's better. And it's like, so you didn't watch the most important games at the end of the season against the best teams? Well, I'm not there yet. It's like, well, shut up. Wait until you see what Fernando does down the stretch here for the last half of the NFL season that he played last year and how he handles himself. He is a guy who has earned number one. And if he would have went to LSU, like, I don't know, Joe Burrow did, everybody would be talking about how special Fernando is.

2:38:40Pat McAfee:So that's why we got so mad at Dan for talking about that. But Ty Simpson pre-injury, there is certainly shit that a team can sell themselves on him being a guy, plus with his leadership abilities. And we know that the quarterback position is the thing that matters. So people are saying, well, if he was to go three, they'd be highly projected. It's like, well, if Arizona cars don't have a quarterback, who's going to be? Maybe they take an opportunity to go ahead and fill the role right there. But I assume there's many other pieces that they need. Maybe they make a trade as well. But if you don't have a QB, I don't think anything really matters in this game.

2:39:08AJ Hawk:Yeah, and they've been heavily linked to Malik Willis, so we'll see if they actually decide on pulling that trigger. And it kind of seems like that's where they're at because, you know, like you guys have been saying, like probably not going to be drafting Ty Simpson at three. I suppose you could fall in love with him and do that. But they do have so many needs that maybe it does make a little more sense to, you know, get Malik Willis and then just get the best player available because you need a lot of those guys.

2:39:31Ernest:Yeah, they've done offense a bunch with the O-lineman, Paris Johnson, I want to say. And then they did also with Marvin Harrison Jr. But at three, if it's not Sonny Stiles, like Jeremiah Love, I think, is going three or four to either Arizona or Tennessee.

2:39:46Pat McAfee:He looks so good. He looks drills. Everybody's talking about him running and jumping. Agreed. All that stuff. In the drills. Catching. He did not have to do any of those drills. Once he ran 4-3 or whatever, everybody, okay. Let's check the box. He's outrageous. Then he does all the on-field drills, and it's like, what? His hands, how smooth he was, the intensity, the cut, everything he did was just outrageous how good he was. And, yeah, you're right. He might move into a top three, top four pick when it is all said and done. I still think if a team misses out in free agency on a quarterback that they want, you need a quarterback.

2:40:22Pat McAfee:Oh, yeah. And if you're up there. I guess that's what Shrake said, though. Shrek said all these veteran quarterbacks are going to get a lot of looks next week because they probably don't believe in the draft class nearly as much, and that's kind of how they weigh it all, come see, come saw.

2:40:35Ernest:As you know, and I know, though, and Connor knows, if you draft a quarterback in the first round and it doesn't work out, you are fucked. Really? Yeah. Well, yeah, but it kind of goes. What if it's number four overall? Even more.

2:40:51Pat McAfee:What if it doesn't work at all? Yeah, not good.

2:40:56AJ Hawk:There were some moments.

2:40:57Ernest:That also has to do with the staff as well.

2:40:59AJ Hawk:Yeah, the spinning spike.

2:41:01Pat McAfee:Oh, the tornado spike. And then he didn't want to do it again. You remember that? Yeah. I don't really want one thing to become my thing. It's like, you got it, dude. This is the thing.

2:41:09Ernest:What if he blew his knee out doing that one time? Maybe he realized, like, you know what? I'm so athletic I should save him for just playing. There was a time where I was a full-on believer, remember? Oh, yeah, we are believers. There you go. That was a good run. I still am. Coaching matters, too, because Mac Jones, once again, is going to be the belle of the ball. And we all thought he was really good after his rookie year, which turns out he was. Dude.

2:41:35Pat McAfee:Sick. Was that a shot out of an ice cube? I don't know if it was an ice cube or an actual shot glass. Oh, was it a snowball? Yeah, a snowball. I don't know. Like, what was it?

2:41:43Ernest:It could have been a sphere ice that was in his drink.

2:41:46Pat McAfee:Yeah. No, he took a shot out of it, though, I think.

2:41:48Ernest:It's got to be a shot glass.

2:41:49Pat McAfee:I thought it was a shot glass. You think it's an actual shot glass?

2:41:51Ernest:And he just destroyed it. Yeah. Probably.

2:41:54Pat McAfee:So you're throwing a glass shot glass at a gong? I believe it. At a gong? It didn't break.

2:42:01Ernest:I don't think they're just hucking glass at a gong. It hits the ground. No, it goes everywhere. Boom, right there. Oh, it shattered. It did shatter. It might have been ice.

2:42:08Pat McAfee:Oh, really? Somebody clean that up. You're saying it could have been ice? It could have been ice glass. Could you imagine just being a guy that says, fuck it, I'm going to huck this thing. A glass? That's Mac. Him dancing immediately afterwards. George Kittle, obviously, in the back, healing from an Achilles surgery. He says, that's Mac. That's what he says in here. Oh, that's him, dude, as he dances. Good job.

2:42:30AJ Hawk:I love Mac. I think if he's throwing an actual shot glass there and it's exploding, a couple of those guys would be like, dude, you took it way too far. What are you doing? Now someone's got to clean that. Someone's going to slice their foot open on the fucking glass. If it's ice, that's the reaction. It's crazy.

2:42:45Pat McAfee:By the way, it's super cool that he's got the ice shot. Everything they do is seemingly good.

2:42:52Ernest:except practice next to the electrical substation. Oh, I thought you were going to say, well, the big bowl, yeah.

2:42:58Pat McAfee:They have a few over there. They do. Not this century. Oh, the Patriots are back in the Super Bowl. All of a sudden, we're taking shots at San Francisco for it. Why wouldn't I? I guess you're in a good spot. We can't do it. Hey, Bill's got DJ Moore. We'll see how long you guys last. Oh, yeah, that's right. Who's the best corner in football?

2:43:18Ernest:Oh, yeah, Christian Gonzalez. I think we'll be okay.

2:43:22Pat McAfee:we're back tomorrow we've got a good feel good Friday tomorrow I think we're on ESPN News tomorrow oh nice I wouldn't mind that actually that would be a pretty cool little thing next week should be fun for agency frenzy on Monday is going to be crazy AJ it's going to be crazy

2:43:38Ernest:do you have Shifty's rider situated yet

2:43:41Pat McAfee:yeah honestly

2:43:43Ernest:he's worried about where's he going to get food you got to give him a designated bathroom there's a lot of things

2:43:47Pat McAfee:I'm going to try to smoke him out I'm trying to smoke his ass out. Tape him to a chair.

2:43:53Ernest:Please do it. I want to watch him panic when he sees it happening. Shefty, what's up? Close the door behind you. Trap him in a room.

2:44:03Pat McAfee:I'll tell you what, this has been the best free agency frenzy Monday that I've had in some time. Shefty, you haven't put a tweet out yet. That might be why, man. I just kind of found myself not really there.

2:44:15Ernest:That would be good TV.

2:44:16Pat McAfee:I guess he is very stressed. That's what they say. They say he's very, very, very stressed.

2:44:23Ernest:Is he more than normal? I bet he's a little bit more than normal because you're kind of throwing him off his normal game, coming to another, a different place. He doesn't have all the stuff he's used to. He wanted a handler.

2:44:32Pat McAfee:I mean, there was a lot of things that were being told to me that were needed. And I'm like, I'm not having some random ESPN person in this Thunderdome. Okay. They're like, that's a good guy. Good guy. I'm back. Yeah, I'm sure. How many times has he anonymously quoted wanting to kill me? Just so I know. Just so I understand who's who. No, he's a good guy. He's a young guy. It's like, all right. Shefter needs him, I guess. Okay. We'll treat him super good. Respect. Well, what's he do? Can we just have somebody do that for him? Well, he knows what he has, when he has, and where he needs to have it at.

2:45:03Pat McAfee:Okay. Shefter, do you have a brain, or what kind of how is this? No, I'm, you know, I'm just worried about my thing. That's it. I'm just worried about my thing. It's been fun. It's been a fun experience with the Shefter thing, because Monday is an insane day. He's flying in here like 6 a.m. on Sunday because he doesn't want to miss anything on his phone. He's going to be living in this hole here, in his little money pit over here, the little new deal hole over here.

2:45:26AJ Hawk:He said Monday through Wednesday will be the busiest days of his life this year.

2:45:29Pat McAfee:And he's in Indianapolis. I've never been there. Now they've got me in this new place. So we're souping up this room for him so he doesn't have to leave. We are trying to make it as comforting as possible for him because from our understanding, it is a show in of itself, this kind of Schefter. He'll be in there, and then to the right is where Orlovsky and Schrags will be over in Studio B, which is the home of Hammer. Died. We did not know it was Studio B until the hosts of Hammer. Died. Called it Studio B just last week. Shout out. Good idea. Shout out to Mystic, the company that designs our sets at Radio Row.

2:46:04They're coming in and doing a full for both of these things.

2:46:06Pat McAfee:So, yeah, we're pumped up about it. We're excited for Monday. Hopefully, the NFL will be excited for Monday. Yeah. Oh, they will. And they won't blow all their loads on traits. Exactly. We need Monday to be huge. Oh, it's going to be a frenzy.

2:46:19Ernest:Keep the loads in. A couple loads out, but we need to save some.

2:46:25Pat McAfee:Yes. Hey, thank you, guys. Thank you. Oh, yeah. Miss Carrie on this angle here, far right. Miss Carrie.

2:46:39Ernest:What an awkward experience for them.

2:46:41Pat McAfee:Definitely. Definitely. One thousand percent. You should see how it is for us. Yeah, I know. They're so far.

2:46:47Ernest:What if you scooted them up a little bit? Would that help?

2:46:50Pat McAfee:Then they'd be in every single shot. Yeah, you're right. You know, it's like... I appreciate you being a hero, though, and caring about them and not us in this entire thing. No, no. We have five random people staring at us for the entire day from just feet away. You know, so I do appreciate...

2:47:04Ernest:I love it when there's people there. I love when there's people sitting, like, awkwardly back off the stage a while, just like, how do they know what to do? Can I stand up? What do I do with my hands?

2:47:11Pat McAfee:So, and then we try to tell them, like, hey, we can hear you. We're live. There's a three-minute break in between hour one and hour two. You're going to want to talk to me. Please know that I'm not disrespectful. I got to piss. Because we never do it. But we are thankful that they're here. It's been a good class. It's been a good group. It's been good energy. We've got an AD. We've got Andy Moore's boys here. Andy Moore, local car dealership guy. Also, massive contributor to IU Hoosier Sports NIL.

2:47:39Ernest:Best deals in time.

2:47:41Pat McAfee:You want more. And more. And more. Of Andy Moore. Business. That's certainly what they say. And these lads certainly do a little bit of that. And then Miss Carrie's got her crew over there. The Hawkeye, huge head, played football.

2:47:58AJ Hawk:Legend. From Mount Vernon. He's not messing around.

2:48:01Pat McAfee:No, he is not. AJ, that head will run through your face, and you know that. I tried to start a convo with him right before we went live. Hey, where are you from? And then he started, we're live, please. Shut up.

2:48:13Ernest:It was tough.

2:48:15Pat McAfee:I got interested and then it was the wrong time. The AD's been looking to leave for a while. He's got a lot going on. He's kind of felt obligated to be here, which has been cool. Pete Pavak would talk to him earlier. Mother Bulldogs are on the right path. Miss Gary, you're an American Dream story. Trucking business. That's right. Trucking business. Think about that, AJ.

2:48:37Ernest:Good trucks.

2:48:38Pat McAfee:Moving shit.

2:48:39Ernest:On time.

2:48:40Pat McAfee:Boom, bang, pow, boom, bang, boom. We need this here, we need it

2:48:46AJ Hawk:First step of logistics The backbone Of America

2:48:52Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, we're getting the fuck out of here If you're in Indiana Ernest is playing tonight You should go check it out He will put on a great show What a vibe Also, PBA is happening at Woodland Bowl Nice Woodland Pin Woodland pin. Sure.

2:49:21Pat McAfee:He's fucking got it, doesn't he? A little bit of that. Royal pin. Sorry, woodland. Royal pin woodland. We call it local woodland, I believe is what the conversation is. Official title is royal pin woodland. They got a good arcade there. Laser tag. Putt putt. Love it. Go kart racing. Full knot. Quite the facility. This place is the real deal. Yeah, you're not doing much puttin' right now because the sun and rain has been out here a lot, but Royal Penn Woodland there on East 96th Street, the best bowlers in the world will be bowling for a major championship, the U.S. Open. But most of them aren't even supposed to really have hopes and dreams of winning it because E.J.

2:50:00Pat McAfee:Tackett's rolling the rock. And when he's doing that, he's taking home the trophy. A.J. Johnson, also going to be here. He had a little bit of a neck One of those Peanuts Not this week Not yet We don't know Last week he had a look in his eye And then all of a sudden He just chomped into something And just thought it wasn't And then That's scary dude That peanut thing is very very scary I don't know how that happens To a human Like I don't know how that was allowed I guess shellfish too right Doesn't that one kind of get you

2:50:42AJ Hawk:Eggs some people are You gotta feed to them early Eggs are in everything

2:50:46Ernest:Yeah give it to them right away

2:50:48Pat McAfee:Or micro dose yourself Because you want to be at the hoity toity events And do shrimp That's what you're doing though

2:50:52Ernest:That's what you're doing when he's a baby You give him peanut butter Give him stuff you micro dose him as a little baby And see if they can handle it

2:50:57Pat McAfee:But I remember being very scared to give peanut butter Because oh shit what if

2:51:01Ernest:Yeah we'll do it The doctor's office will do it a lot When they test him for all the allergies They'll give him a little chunk of peanut butter

2:51:07Pat McAfee:I love that Ohio's still doing it. Always. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. You might change your life. We're in this thing together. Thank you, guys. Team on me. Team on three. We'll see you tomorrow with a feel-good Friday. One, two, three. Team. Goodbye. 911, where is the emergency?

2:51:26Adam Schefter:It's the middle of the night in a small town on the Jersey Shore. Someone reports an abandoned car on a bridge. A search gets underway for the missing driver. 19-year-old Sarah Stern.

2:51:38AJ Hawk:Is it a missing person? Is it a suicide? At this point, nobody knows. Old friendships, buried cash, and a sinister plot that was once pitched as a movie

2:51:49Ernest:plays out in real life. I'm Juju Chang. From 2020 and ABC Audio,

2:51:56Adam Schefter:listen to Bridge of Lies. Coming March 10th, wherever you listen to podcasts.