PMS 2.0 1530 - Michigan Wins the National Championship, Yaxel Lendeborg, Peter Schrager, Adam Schefter, Mark Schlabach on The Masters, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

16:50Adam Schefter:uh different words right correct absolutely yeah yeah okay yeah okay thank you yeah so ankle knee

16:55Pat McAfee:obviously a lot of injuries and i'm sure there's people telling you like hey if you want to think about the future, especially in the modern world for this all. Can you tell me about how anybody on your team, I would assume, would do the same exact thing that you're doing and everybody on the team knew how banged up you were, I assume?

17:09Adam Schefter:Yeah, man. They asked me so many times how I was feeling. I told them I felt like crap. And then, like, you know, the boys just supported me the whole way, man. Honestly, I know everybody on this team is going to sacrifice their body for this. You know, we all don't care about the future. We're all going to live in the moment. We talked all year about getting the Shafts championship. So, you know, now that we're there, nothing's going to stop us, man.

17:28Pat McAfee:Did you guys feel like you were a group of mon stars with how tall you were? I mean, it was a problem. It was SWAT team. I mean, it was guard-hast. It was, yeah, right. You guys put a lid on it, basically, on the defensive end. Because offensively, I think you guys would assume that you weren't going to probably be able to put up 90-some against UConn going into the game. Or did you know the defensive end was going to have to be as important? How did you guys kind of think going into the game that the game was going to go?

17:56Adam Schefter:Honestly, we definitely knew that defense was going to be a big part. They got a lot of good shooters on that team that can easily spark the offense. But, man, we've been winning a lot of games because of our defense. Yesterday was pretty much another one of those games. We sucked on offense. Nobody can make a shot. I definitely wouldn't help the team at all offensively. So, man, we just had to grind it out like we've been doing all season.

18:15Pat McAfee:All right, let's talk about all season, shall we? Go ahead, Ty.

18:18Mark Schlabach:Yeah, Yaxel, how much did the Big Ten gauntlet prepare you guys for the tournament where pretty much night in, night out you're playing a ranked opponent? and I think it was pretty evident that the Big Ten was the best conference in the NCAA this year. And then, you know, in the tournament up until the championship game, you guys kind of went belt to ass on everyone. Like how much did it help you guys? That was a big one of his things. Big Paul from your actual – That was a big one of his things. You guys were talking about that too behind the scenes. That tells us, but you didn't say it. Okay, go ahead.

18:46Mark Schlabach:Exactly. But how much did that prepare you guys after going through the entire Big Ten season and kind of taking everyone's best shot once you got into the tournament?

18:57Adam Schefter:Yeah, I mean, the Big Ten, like you said, it was definitely the best basketball conference. Every game was a dogfight. You know, you got to figure out ways to win. Iowa, they played a slow tempo against us. We like playing fast-paced. They were super, super physical with us. That game went down to the wire. It was like, man, it's time for desperation. You know, we still played through it, you know, found a way to, you know, kumbaya, I guess, and just get the win together. There was many games. Michigan State as well. Those guys, super physical team. very very aggressive on the glass it was like you know a bunch of dog fights honestly man it was a really fun fun fun year though you know we learned a lot from those guys especially and you know we made the most of those moments you know and it definitely helped us out in this tournament just

19:35Pat McAfee:figuring out ways to win against different opponents okay so tell me about the past 12 hours for this trophy what are indianapolis obviously we're thankful that you will have this memory forever in our city thank you for coming here and putting on such a good show throughout the entirety of the Final Four. I mean, you guys just beat the hell out of them in the Final Four. It was kind of boring, actually. It was kind of like sending everybody home. Yeah. It was kind of like sending everybody home. But on that note, last night, did it feel like home? Because that was 90 % Michigan. When I walked in there, I did not expect it to be as Michigan as it was, and I started putting math together.

20:08Pat McAfee:I'm like, it's kind of closer. It's definitely closer. And also, how much bigger is Michigan's alumni versus UConn's alumni? Michigan fans, have you felt that love? obviously we know Schefter was bopping around everywhere in there but have you felt the love from the Michigan alumni and did you feel it in the game last night yes absolutely everywhere we

20:28Adam Schefter:went it definitely felt like a home game no matter what you know those guys show up big time you know they're a big big factor why we kept winning games uh we spoke about it before like we went to Michigan State and that's like home game it's like you can't walk into many people's you know gym and you know take over like that you know this is the best fan base in the world honestly I think we definitely have way, way more support than UConn did last night. But, man, I really appreciate Michigan with everything. Those guys are the best.

20:54Pat McAfee:Hell, yeah.

20:55Adam Schefter:Speaking of Michigan, last question for you here from D-Budd. Yeah, I know this is something that's been said. First of all, congratulations. I'm obviously a UConn alum, but, hey, well-fought battle. Congratulations once again. Obviously, you guys have been talking about this being the best Michigan team ever. Got the 89 run with Glenn Rice. Still holds all those records. the 91-92 Fab Five didn't win it. Was that a lot of talk in that locker room for you guys to go down when you left to be the best team ever, Ward? Yeah, absolutely. Especially after that Vegas run, that's when it pretty much all started settling in and everybody started actually believing it.

21:29Adam Schefter:I think Elliott was the first guy to actually say it to me. He said, man, this is unheard of. We're the best team ever. It just started to stick. We all kept talking about it. We all kept believing it. More and more wins came, and then it started to become a reality. You know, I made the statement like two, three games ago. The Fab Five members said, you know, we got to get the championship. We got it done. I'm waiting to hear what they think now. And, you know, I'll be able to run with it if they say we are.

21:52Pat McAfee:Have you run into any of them? Because I think they were doing a watch along. They were, yeah.

21:56Adam Schefter:Yeah, before the first game against Arizona, I met all of those guys. It was up to them. They gave us a lot of support, man. Super, super high energy. But it was fun, man. I love those guys.

22:05Pat McAfee:Yeah, I'll tell you what. I love the way Michigan got a chance to flex their muscle again, you know. And they certainly did. You know, football is going how it's going. Football might be in trouble. Yeah. Football might be in trouble. But Natty has a recent memory. Yeah, yeah. A couple years back, okay, Cignetti's here. Yeah. Okay, just like the rest of the Big Ten was fucking – Dusty, this guy's this big. He's going to dominate. Is that right? I mean, Dusty's going to dominate the Big Ten. This guy's unbelievable. He's moving guys' furniture, okay, into it while also coaching for him. It sounds like the Big Ten's in trouble for both these.

22:39Pat McAfee:Yeah. It's like good for Michigan coming out and showcasing like, yeah, we are still sports, all of them. And if you look at all the Olympic sports as well, Michigan's doing it. And if you win a national championship up there, I think there's never any supply of like, hey, let's win some more of those. Go ahead, Con, man. Yeah, yeah. So thinking about the future now, not to turn the page, but obviously you're going to go to the NBA, be a first-round pick, all of those great things. But what is kind of the prep like now? Do you need to take a few weeks off from whatever the exact injury you had and played through yesterday?

23:11Like what is kind of the process, and when does that kind of start leading up to the NBA draft?

23:17Adam Schefter:Man, I definitely have to take at least two weeks, man. I'm beat. You know, this has been a very long year. I need one vacation, you know, just to relax my mind. It's going to be a big, big offseason for me. But after those two weeks, I'm going to start, you know, to focus my mind on making sure that I'm right in the headspace physically and, you know, just try to put myself in the best position to be drafted to the best team possible.

23:38Pat McAfee:We appreciate the hell out of you for joining us. Congratulations on becoming a national champion forever, a legend in Ann Arbor forever, and I hope you guys enjoy every single second of it. These moments, you know, only come a few times in life, so make sure you, I don't have to tell you anything. Enjoy the hell out of it, man. Just know you're going to think about this and talk about this for the rest of your life, so it's a cool thing, and thank you for letting us be a part of it.

24:01Adam Schefter:Thank you, I appreciate it, man. Go Blue, guys. Thank you. Hey, go Blue Year.

24:05Pat McAfee:Ladies and gentlemen, that's the Axel. Yay, Axel! Ty, I know you like the Iowa Hawkeyes basketball teams. I do fear. And, you know, Signetti-Dusty May comparisons, because of the success that they've had as head coaches immediately upon being dropped in, I guess is okay. I think it is okay because of strictly that type of stuff. but it's like Indiana never in the history of you know has it ever happened basketball for Michigan they've had blurbs I guess but only their second ever national championship but it feels like both of them are only getting started you know Signetti older obviously than Dusty but Signetti has just now kind of put his culture in now Dusty's going to be able to attract like-minded players and have the money to get whoever it's like that's problematic I think especially whenever you win And it's literally just your best recruiting tool to whoever you want to kind of bring in as a transfer.

25:02Pat McAfee:And Dusty May and Signetti both just kind of super boosted their entire kind of run at their schools. Because the biggest marketing you get, I don't know what this number is going to be. The numbers through March Madness have been outrageous. The ratings have just been absolutely crazy. But every future transfer portal, free agents. We call them free agents. I'm about sick of saying transfer you know what I mean the free agents though see all this shit you know and they see the winning they see how these guys are getting taken care of him talking about how he's moving furniture for the guy every interview that they do it's like he said I was watching him go to the final four and I was like I want to play for that guy he's just making the most out of everything everything's recruiting and they have the money to back up all of it so in the big ten

25:49Mark Schlabach:are the Iowa Hawkeyes going to be okay Well, here's the big difference. Who was the first team he mentioned in the Big Ten that kind of prepared him for the run in March? Oh, yeah, he said Michigan State. No, that was the second team. He said Iowa because Iowa lost to that team by three. Okay? Ben McCollum took a bunch of guys playing in the Missouri Valley and took them to the Elite Eight. Oh, I forgot about Ben McCollum. I am so sorry about Ben McCollum. He's pretty fucking good as well. I like McCollum. But that's the thing. Michigan didn't all this. like they've been getting top 100, top 50 recruits since the Fab Five.

26:25Mark Schlabach:Like it never really stopped. Like Jawan Howard was a big selling point. The big thing, I mean, the transfer portal, they hit with that. Like I think in football and basketball it's a little different. If you do what they did this year and you're relying on five transfers to be your starters, if one of those guys is a little bit of a shitbird or not who you expected him to be, like that can ruin the entire team. Whereas I feel like in football you get a couple of these transfers, is one of those guys. It's not the end of the world. It matters a lot more in basketball if that's the way you want to do it.

26:54Mark Schlabach:And that's a credit to Dusty May. He obviously made sure that these guys would work within the culture. But you never know. And then the transfer portal, you know that you've got a couple five-star guys who came there who maybe didn't play as much or those guys hitting the portal. It really does feel like, yeah, they should be good next year, but I wouldn't be surprised if Michigan doesn't win another national championship for another 37 years. It's just it's just so you you have no idea you have no idea how it's going to play out yeah and so many things line up to ty's point like we remember you know this michigan team as being a great transfer team remember indiana ohio state football you know being great transfer teams but like florida state put how much money in to their football program and then they completely collapsed like there are just as many if not more examples where you bring in a bunch of guys and And then that team.

27:44Pat McAfee:Wait a minute. You're saying that we're not covering the negative ones. Just something. That's not what we do. Strictly recency bias. I think it's easy to. And let's make no mistake about it. It works. When you bring in transfers and you have the coach at the top, Sig, Ben McCollum, Dusty May. When you have, I mean, Ryan Day, you can throw in there with Ohio State. When you have the guy at the top who can make sure all those transfers, you know, know exactly where they're at and everything. Signetti just chewed out the number one transfer, Nick Marsh, from Michigan State for wearing gold cleats at practice.

28:19You learn to put that around.

28:21Pat McAfee:Yeah, those types of things is what really matters. What are those? Did you hit the fucking lottery? What color is everybody else's cleats? You look around? See that? Git.

28:32Adam Schefter:Such an old school coach.

28:34Pat McAfee:Such an old school thing. And I think that's like his culture, though. I think he was surprised that the boys let him out of the locker room. I would assume that Sig does have a sense of like, hey, why did anybody even let this guy out of the locker room wearing those cleats? Because that's what I talk about whenever I talk about culture. I think people know that Sig's probably pretty stern. I think they know that he has success. But he's also a delegator of work. Sig is not normally very with the players. Normally it's coach. He's delegating to coaches, messaging, and then he's going around tightening up, I think, if everything that we have been told is about it.

29:08Pat McAfee:He is definitely a very stern individual, but it's like him interacting with player i don't know how often that happens or groups i think he interacts with coaches tells them what to do and then they kind of go about it then he kind of works the whole thing so him immediately going up that guy chewing him out and telling him it can't happen i assume he got a little bit worried about the culture i assume he got a little bit worried

29:26Darius Butler:a lot of his boys are all of his jmu guys are gone yeah we got to reset the precedent here he's

29:31Pat McAfee:saying holy hell i didn't know we're gonna have to rebuild this thing from the gold literally from the cleats all the way up we have to redo this entire and his answer was perfect he was like last year 16 games no losses hard to get better you see every game won so how do you get better that's going to be a tough task but we got to get better in process we got to get better in the day we got to get better in the workouts we got to get better in these things saying you get better from undefeated see that's you're that's impossible task i don't know how you do that's real people forget that they're undefeated yeah not just national champs it's like there's only a few in the history that have gone completely from bell to bell and done it.

30:08Pat McAfee:And they thought it was impossible with the new expansion of the leagues and how long the tournament is and everything that you would have to get and NIL and how good teams are getting. They say, well, I think Coach Corso, who obviously we all have high respect for, I think he said that there will never be another undefeated team. I think he said that because the way the NIL and the transfer portal makes every team kind of good, like every team can steal a game or whatever, there's parity. and then instead this Indiana team pulls it off somehow with a quarterback from Cal, you know, which nobody really talks about.

30:39Pat McAfee:But I think like Sig and Dusty and these guys, they jumpstart their entire program, give it a bzzz, and then all of a sudden now hopefully the program can recruit itself as opposed to you having to sell what it is.

30:50Mark Schlabach:And that's, I mean, with Michigan too, like all it takes is just a little bit, you know, because we know how their story, tradition, how much money they have available. So it's like it is one of those things where, hey, they'll be there, but you can't let this kind of turn into five years we haven't been worth a damn. Like it kind of had to happen quickly. So kudos to him because now obviously Michigan, not only football, but Michigan basketball, like everyone's back and they're excited for next year.

31:17Adam Schefter:It's so year to year too, especially with basketball. You think about a team like Duke, like Shire, obviously you're getting the top classes year in and year out. Arizona, like all these different big programs have been around forever, getting these top classes, but get to the dance or get to the final four. Don't get it done. That's why what Dan Hurley has been able to do, you've been in three in the last four years, that's insane. And obviously you're getting transformed, but you have some guys who are staying there throughout the build-up culture. Because when we talk about culture, just like you said, with the locker room mates and the teammates, usually those locker rooms are policed by the players.

31:50Adam Schefter:Coaches, obviously they do things, they say things, they instill the game plan, but the best locker rooms, even on a pro level, are policed by the players. So having that culture, creating that culture with a bunch of guys, and that was a great question you asked. I'm like, when did you know? Because you bring a bunch of guys, yeah, we're all talented, but are we really a team? Are we really going to buy into the Michigan way or whatever being a Michigan man is? So, man, kudos to them actually getting it done and finishing the job. Yeah, the best teams all get along.

32:16Pat McAfee:The best teams are all playing for each other. Now, granted, I think there has been some success with some assholes on the team. Certainly. Yeah, certainly in the past where people don't get along. But I think a majority of a team has to be able to get along for them to be good because I think you just play better and harder for each other. And if you get a bunch of transfers, especially in basketball, because it could be considered a one-on-one sport, but five individuals out there having to come together, Bop and Wood. Yeah. They had to Bop Wood last night. All at the same time.

32:42Adam Schefter:That was something Dusty said, too. Like a different guy kind of stepped up and kind of was that – he just said it. Like I wasn't hitting shots last night, so a different guy stepped up. The 1989 team, it was Glenn Rice, Miami Heat legend, by the way. Average 30 throughout the tournament. I was wondering why you were pushing this 19-year-old. I didn't seem so hard. Because this guy was a huge legend. I knew there was a no-no. He has every record when it comes to NCAA tournament, every scoring record when it comes to it. And who did he play? All these years long. Who did he play in the NBA for?

33:10Adam Schefter:He played for the Bulls too as well. I was going to say, he won any titles with the Heat? Look, we're talking about college right now. My bad, my bad. We're talking college goats. But shout out to them getting it done, man. Number two for Michigan. That's big.

33:23Pat McAfee:I'm happy for them as well, even though they're going to be loud. They're going to be loud. They weren't supposed to win in basketball. That's Michigan State fan, Evan Fox. He gave you guys credit. Hey, it was a sports game. It was a real fight. That was really nice of him. When you grow up in the state of Michigan, Michigan is the football school. Michigan State is the basketball school. And now they have both. And I don't like it one bit. And it's not stopping anytime soon. And I blame NIL for that.

33:49Darius Butler:You blame NIL? Why don't you? You got a$500 million NIL investment this year. Yeah, look in the mirror.

33:55Pat McAfee:I know, but still, it's Michigan, boys. We all know what that means. It's that old man at the helm is the reason. Michigan State has Acresher. They have Ishbia. Rocket Morgan. And they got the Dan guy from Cleveland. Rocket Morgan. Magic. Little Caesars. Little Caesars? No, that's Michigan. Draymond Green. Draymond Green. I like the way he's acting, I think, in that new punk episode. Not sitting on a$100 million station. I like that he's about to fight a guy and they're filming it all.

34:23Adam Schefter:That was hilarious.

34:25Pat McAfee:We're going to find out who some people are whenever this all comes back. I think Anthony Davis is actually there's been a lot of attempts at this. There's been a lot of attempts at a punk-like show to return. Ashton had the run on it. It was good when it took over there. You really got to see how some people would act. Saw some people cry. I can never be a fan. In situations where I'm like, hey you shouldn't be crying right now like this is not sad this is not this is like a this is a super adult situation here don't he now if they're crying because they're sad i'm okay with but some of these guys cried whenever just like and i couldn't ever respect him again okay and that was not good for them anthony davis is doing it again i think i think he's bringing it out and the clip i saw from draymond green draymond green was gonna fight a guy oh yeah this guy is exactly who he says he is all the time i am pumped up about that and what if they just let him do it you know what if

35:15Adam Schefter:That's the difference.

35:16Pat McAfee:One of the things he's like, this guy ragdoll.

35:18Adam Schefter:I think he would have took it, that actor.

35:19Mark Schlabach:That guy was incredible. Incredible. And that's really how those get good, is you need the main actors who are going from place to place. Those guys need to be elite.

35:29Pat McAfee:What was that show, the jury show that they're relaunching? Jury duty. Jury duty. The second season is unbelievable. Company retreat, so good. Yeah, Joe Schmoe was another version of this. There's a lot of really good, talented situations that can pop up. Joe Schmoe's show, the guy was from Pittsburgh. he was a uh i think he's a landscaper from pittsburgh and he was the only one in the show obviously reality show that didn't know it was all a work so like and he like somehow maintained like not becoming morally corrupt and they were like putting him in situations like one would go set up and say like all right i need you to do this for me just don't do this to this other person then the other person comes in immediately afterwards hey i need you so bad and he's uh never once turned, this guy.

36:15Pat McAfee:Yeah, they end up giving him, I think, like$150 ,000 and said he won the entire thing. But those situations could set you up to be in a nightmare sitch. I'm happy Anthony Davis is bringing it back. And LeBron, I guess, is also going to be involved. I've heard Draymond, LeBron, AD real tight. Then why did LeBron trade AD out of the Lakers? Good question. It's business. Maybe they'll cover it in the episode. Context, please. Whenever you quote me, please. That was a joke. I was making a joke of that whole thing. Speaking of a man who does not make a joke of anything. No, no. This guy is locked in.

36:48Pat McAfee:Right down the middle. Especially now. This is Super Bowl season. This is where a man who happens to be friends with everybody in the NFL can really showcase what his brain can acquire and others cannot. Ladies and gentlemen, Emmy award-winning host from Good Morning Football. Now, ESPN pundit, and I believe, no, he already does, schrager our host and also the host of the most interesting man in sport ladies and ladies and gentlemen pierce schrager yeah schrager thank you for putting the tie outside the seat belt i think that makes it look a lot better thank you for joining us from the road and being nice and snug with that chair congrats on putting out your first mock i know it's a big deal i know it's a big deal schrager you've talked about this on a couple shows already tell me what the big heat is from your mock draft is it no ty simpson in the first round has orlovsky texted as any other gms texted what is really the heat from your first mock here that you've experienced yeah pat thanks for having me on as always my mock draft i do two of them one of them the first week of april one of them a day before the draft first week in april we drop it it's kind of like what is putting out there in the ether and i get texts and responses from all the different executives around the league they say hey this guy's too high we would never draft that guy what about this guy and they help use that and the conversations that we've had at the combine and the league meetings and on my phone for the last several months into making the most accurate and the most closest to the pin mock draft right up until the actual draft and i would say a couple things this week from this one here number one jordan tyson going the Chiefs.

38:31The most polarizing pick in this draft. When I tell you I got a text from a GM who says, I am not sure Tyson even goes top 20. And then I had another text from a GM saying, wow, you think he drops all the way to nine. So you're talking about a guy who has a wide ranging barometer of where other teams think he's going to go. I put him in Kansas City and I do so because I believe Andy Reed and Brett Feech have shown a tendency to say, let everyone else worry about guys' health issues and guys off the field, whatever you might have concerns, their desires, all this stuff. Put them in our building.

39:06We will get the best players, and we will make the most of them. I love the fit nine for Kansas City, but you better believe that one made some news. And then the Ty Simpson one, yeah, Orlovsky texted me, and it was a real exchange this morning. I was not showing Dan up by putting Ty Simpson to no team in the first round by any means, but there are two things

39:27Pat McAfee:isn't Dan kind of showing us all up though by telling us we're stupid I mean there's so many different angles for this entire thing because we could put out the kind picture too

39:34Darius Butler:yeah Dan's the worst angle

39:35Pat McAfee:but on that note Dan believes in it Dan believes in it though so we need everybody to understand Dan believes this I think what he was so upset about is people were saying he was getting told or forced he's saying no I'm willing to die for this I literally believe this I think was his big argument but I do think you leaving him out of the first round was certainly a message to Dan Orlovsky. I will agree with Dan Orlovsky saying that that was a little bit of a message. It felt like from old Peter Schrager. Peter Schrager. I could have put him late first round and done some fictional trade in my head, but I'll be honest with you.

40:11Teams like Ty Simpson, there are only so many rooms at the end. And what does that mean? Teams aren't going to draft a quarterback in the first round because, well, he's a good player if they have a quarterback. and a quarterback they believe in. First-year GMs, first-year coaches are not drafting a quarterback unless they absolutely love them. The two teams that make the most sense are the Jets and the Cardinals. Ty Simpson's not going two. He's not going three. I don't think he's going 16 to the Jets. Those two teams have picks at 33 and 34. Do they maybe move up a couple spots to ensure they get them for a fifth year and they get them at the end of the first round?

40:48Fine. But at that point, kind of picking hairs at that one and saying, All right, well, if he goes 27 or 29 instead of 33 or 34 or 35, what's the difference? Here's the truth. I made a mistake two years ago, three years ago. I didn't have any teams who liked Will Levis as a first-round pick, but everyone had been telling me that Will Levis is a first-round guy, and I did the mental gymnastics, and I put him in the first round, and I didn't feel great about it, and sure enough, he goes in the second round. Last year, I didn't have a single team that said we love Shadur Sanders. I didn't have a single team that said Shadur Sanders is a first-round great in our mock draft.

41:23Yet everyone told me there's no way Shadur leaves the first round from the outside. And I did the mental gymnastics, and I threw him to Pittsburgh at 21 and made the assumption that, well, there's no way he would actually fall out on the first. I decided this year, until I have a team that tells me we love Ty Simpson or we're going to take Ty Simpson, it doesn't do anyone any good just throwing him in there or making up a fake trade and saying, well, Arizona trades back. I don't have Ty Simpson in the first round. He could still be a great player. He could still be your first quarterback and your own board.

41:54But to me, I right now do not have a place for him in the first round.

41:57Pat McAfee:Okay, we respect that. We appreciate that. We'll see how it all shakes up. And obviously, we have no idea who's going to be right about any of this until four or five years down the road. That's what makes it so awesome. That's what makes it so fantastic. Let's stick with the draft before we pivot to NFL news. Go ahead, Conman. Yeah, Schrager, sleep with one eye to open because Dano's coming. But aside from Mendoza at one to the Raiders, When you look at this board, who is kind of signed, sealed, delivered in your mind to a team? Is it Jeremiah Love at four? I've seen a lot of Arvel Reese going actually two to the Jets.

42:30Is there any team or player you see on here like, yep, this is definitely where we're going to see him go? No, no. And I know everyone's got Arvel Reese going two to the Jets. I've got David Bailey. That's from the latest information I've got. not necessarily directly from the decision makers of the Jets, but their philosophy from what it seems like. They'd rather have the guy that's the more polished pass rusher at the moment, but it could still be Reese. There's still three weeks to go. But no, that's the beauty of this thing. And it is the first of two mock drafts. So we put this out there, teams start discussing, but like, you know, I'm getting a lot of people saying there's no way Carnell Tate falls out of the top 10.

43:07There's no way Caleb Downs falls out of the top 10. There's a way. there's absolutely a way i i've been doing this a long time and especially in the case of safety with caleb downs who is beloved by everyone everyone had kyle hamilton as a top 10 pick he went 14th everyone had derwin james the top 10 pick he went 18th safety is not traditionally a position that goes in the top 10 and for that matter he falls to 12 and the cowboys would be delighted to have him there uh con man i got i got the new england patriots taking an offensive guard at a Georgia Tech, Kalen Rutledge. I love it. Have not seen in any other mock drafts.

43:47I got two texts this morning saying, screw you, Shrinker. Why'd you put Rutledge in the first round? He's a guy on our board. I can't believe... That's the beauty of this thing. So Kalen Rutledge, who I don't think has been on Mel Kiper or Field Yates or Matt Miller or any of these guys. Kalen Rutledge. I've got him in the first round. Everybody's mock draft is different. That's the beauty of this thing and we're talking about it today.

44:06Pat McAfee:What's his name? Is it Kevin Rutledge? Kalen Rutledge? Kalen Rutledge? Kalen. Kalen. Kalen Rutland. All right, Kalen. First round. I like that. Interior offensive lineman. Lindemann just got 30 mil. Bingo. The D tackles are starting to get a little bit more D-endy. So, you know, whenever that starts happening, you got to protect the interior. Why not big guard going into first round? Why not a center maybe getting plucked up out there? And I also appreciate Shregs going, I'm mock draft hunting. I don't see a single fucking. No Kalen. You're telling me no offensive lineman is going to get drafted.

44:40Pat McAfee:Okay. All right. So, Shregs, we appreciate that. Let's pivot away from the mock draft, because obviously there's so many things that could change, obviously, over the next 20-some days. Before we get to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on April 23rd, the first round, April 22nd, we'll be in the Science Center with a lot of people welcoming. Hopefully, everybody to Pittsburgh cannot wait for the draft in Pittsburgh. a football time, the football time, is going to show up in a big way. And obviously the next generation of NFL superstars are going to be launched into orbit as Roger Goodell daps them up and dreams come true.

45:14Pat McAfee:Let's go ahead. Let's talk. I've seen you do a bunch of these commitments from these high school kids. I'd like to give my commitment video right now. Here I am sitting in the back of a car on the way to Bristol while I've been doing television shows. I've looked for a hat that has a P on it. I am committing to being at the Cayman Center. I will be at the Football Town premiere. Let's go. Wow. Yes, Schreggel. Yes, Schreggel. Holy hell, Schreggel. Congratulations. What are you doing for the draft? Do we know what that is yet? Are you doing our show? I am very much hopeful that you will have me on your show.

45:43Pat McAfee:Oh, let's do it here. Let's do it now. We'll do a commitment. We'll do a commitment. Yes. We would like to officially sign. Get our P hats on. Yeah, we got our P hats on. We'd like to officially sign Peter Schreggel to the draft spectacular. Hell yeah. We appreciate you, Pete. Yeah. Yeah. Woo. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right, all right, all right. That's good news. We'll put you in a trailer. You and this man, actually, one half of the hammer. Don Cowboys, AP Tone. We talk about the interior offensive linemen. That's because the interior D linemen have gotten so much more athletic, powerful, and disruptive.

46:19Pat McAfee:Speaking of one of them, a very sexy one. Go ahead, Tone.

46:22Darius Butler:Yeah, Stryker, I'm pumped to hear that. That was the best night of my life. I'm excited to be back in the trailer with you. Let's talk about your New York football giants and sexy Dexie Lawrence, who is now, he wants out, but apparently you are, you're very familiar with that organization. Do you think this is posturing leveraging, or do you think this is something that may actually happen before this NFL season happens? Well, it's very real. It is very real in that when Dexter Lawrence signed his contract extension a few years ago, he was one of the highest paid defensive tackles. He's now the 12th highest paid defensive tackle.

46:55and there are players like Milton Williams and Jordan Davis who have done nothing near what Dexter Lawrence has done who will be paying significantly more. The problem is he's got two years left on his deal and he's 28 years old and he's looking at other guys who he was teammates with named Saquon Barkley and Julian Love and others, Leonard Williams, who just never got the money that they thought they deserved from the New York Giants. And he's like, just get me out of here. The interesting part is the Giants do have the leverage right now because he's got two years on his contract and really they can just sit on it and say and we'll listen to phone calls but unless you're gonna sit out and miss two years like we have the rights to you fact of the matter is this it's been a very very contentious last two years between dexter lawrence and the new york giants dexter lawrence's agent is joel siegel one of the top agents in all of football he is not one to be messed with just like mugoletta that we said last year with parsons like joel siegel will advise Dexter Lawrence to take this all the way down to the wire and let's see where this goes so John Harbaugh is speaking with the media today and I think it'll be fascinating to hear what he says because this could be one of those where you're like my first big move my first moment of adversity here with the Giants hell I'll trade Dexter Lawrence you don't want to be here you don't want to be on this boat let's get out of here let's see what else we can get because you better believe when Dexter Lawrence is at his best he is still one of the best defensive tackles in football despite missing some time with injury last year yeah let's send it to indy bring him

48:23Pat McAfee:out here that'd be great yeah we like to do the sexy dexy all over indianapolis you know uh sexy indianapolis would be an entire thing everybody be doing the dance instead of

48:39Pat McAfee:yeah yeah we're ready to do it out here yeah sexy dexy i don't know what you need to be paid but i'm sure they can find it in the bowels over here in indianapolis there's a lot of people thinking that because if you watch playoff football and we've talked about a few times now especially with you getting caitlin to go up to the patriots it's like the two guys in the middle these freaks are just outright their problems you know it used to be like these three guys will be able to handle these two we got to worry about the outside now the outside guys have become the inside guys and vice versa and it's just four ones trying to get home and when the playoffs happen if you have that you're gonna win because then you got seven people hopefully 14 eyes If a one-eyed guy makes it in the NFL and plays linebacker or defensive back, I will be very impressed.

49:24Pat McAfee:But if you have 14 eyes on the quarterback with four guys getting home, that's a big deal. So Dexie would command, I think, a lot of respect on the market. They're saying end of first, top of second, whatever the case is. I think somebody would definitely send that. I'm excited to see what Harbaugh does, Shregs. Now let's stay with the Giants. Is Odell Beckham Jr. playing for the Giants or what? Because Jordan Renan, okay, I heard a clip where they were talking, him and his co-host. Looked like a gentleman.

49:49Darius Butler:Yeah.

49:50Pat McAfee:The guy looked like an absolute gentleman as well. He was handsome. And at the end of the clip that they were judging from our show because I was complimenting how good Jordan looked on that parking lot, which he did. So cool. So cool. Sunglasses on, hair perfect. He did the entire walk-in. And at the end of the thing, I said, Odell Beckham Jr. may be going to be a giant again. I got mocked and ridiculed immediately. I was complimented. The hell is that about it? That's not happening. They said that was a clip I saw. That's not happening? Should we rule that out? or are we just going to continue to feed?

50:17Go ahead. Feed the beast. Feed the beast. I wouldn't rule it out. He'll be asked about it today, Harbaugh. Look, it's one of those where I said at the league meetings, there's no timetable from the Giants' standpoint. They could sit on this until July, August, but Odell wants to come back to football, and he did meet with the Giants while he was there because he lives in Arizona and he was at the league meetings, and Harbaugh did openly say that this is one of his favorite players and people of all time. And I've said it before and I will say it again. When I say that ownership and the ownership's family has a place in their heart for Odell Beckham, and one of the regrets is how things ended with Dave Gettleman shipping him off to Cleveland and how that relationship ended is a great regret of that Giants organization.

51:00That's real. I believe that a homecoming for Odell Beckham is very much in play, and it just might not happen on everyone else's timetable. Just stay tuned. That's all I would say. Ooh, that's a tease from Shreggs.

51:10Pat McAfee:I got some bombs coming. All right, Shregs, let's go back to your mom. Okay, your face is frozen in a couple. That's something the greatest for you. Hey, when you're traveling in a van, you've got to be very careful about the aggressiveness of the facial expressions because you just got there. Yeah, big one. Yeah, people are going to do stuff with that. Oh, yeah. But what's coming out of that mouth, fantastic. I will say that. Obviously, at the moment, good luck to OBJ and the Giants and OBJ wherever he ends up if it's not the Giants. Let's talk about your mock draft that obviously carries in to NFL team talk.

51:39Pat McAfee:Go ahead, D-Bud.

51:40Adam Schefter:Yeah, Shregs, whenever you look at the draft, If you're thinking about, obviously, the teams as they are constructed. And you have Makai Lemon mocked to the Rams. Now, the Rams have had a lot of success drafting receivers in the later Rams, Cooper Cup, Puka. Obviously, Puka is dealing with some things right now. We root for you, Puka. Is that tied together, Makai Lemon and Puka? And obviously, we expect Puka to get paid at the top of the market. No, no. In fact, this is Puka non-related. This is more Matthew Stafford related and getting him another weapon for his final, potentially last dance with the Rams.

52:14But Kai Lemon is everything Les Snead, Sean McVay, and wide receivers coach Eric Yarbrough love. He is tough as nails. He has never met a center of the field that he doesn't like. One of these guys that is just absolutely a dog. And his 40 time is not electric compared to some of the others. In fact, I think NFL.com has all the athletic scores on it. I believe he's the 33rd ranked wide receiver as far as athleticism goes. But when it comes to productivity, he's number one. Well, I look at the number of wide receivers. Devontae Adams, the 4 '5", 40. Puka Nakua, 4 '5", 40. Makai Lemon would be the perfect addition to that offense.

52:57And I just know what McVay looks for. It's toughness, it's grittiness, and it's a guy who can make plays in traffic. To me, Makai Lemon to the Rams makes a ton of sense, especially if we're going all in and we're pushing our eggs to the middle of the table or our chips to the middle of the table, and we're saying, let's go win this one for Stafford.

53:14Pat McAfee:Easter eggs, obviously, is what you're talking about, Easter eggs. And, you know, you've got to do that. And then chips in, we're going all in. Mekhi Lemon, obviously, USC and L.A. Rams right there, natural tendency. They probably know each other well. And I do like the fact that McVay, whenever he's looking for a wide receiver, he's just looking for a guy that plays like him. Yeah, you might be a little faster. You might be taller. You might have better hands. I just need you to play like how I played. I need you to put your face directly into the middle of a fan if you have to. All of the players.

53:41Pat McAfee:Cooper Cupp won the triple crown plus the, what was the fourth one? It was Yak. Yards after, yeah, Yak. He won the yards, touchdowns, receptions, and then he also had Yak. So it's not just the triple crown. He had like the quadruple. The quad crown? I don't know whatever it was. It was more than a crown what he earned. But he would go across the middle. I mean, we're talking about doing this. Puka is a hard ass. Now, granted, T's and P's to Puka from everybody. I don't know if you have TV on. Can I chime in on Puka? That wasn't supposed to be public. It obviously gets reported. Yeah, I hate we're taking pictures coming out of that.

54:17Pat McAfee:We're not exploiting. This is a massively, you know. Kind of crappy. I would also note, like, the Rams have been in full contact with Puka. This is a very mature decision by him to do this. And the hope is that this is just, hey, just take a couple weeks, and then we'll figure things out and just get well. And I think also we always laugh about this. People always say, well, what's Big Dom do? What's Big Dom do? One of the things Big Dom does in Philly, and every team has a guy, is let's keep our guys out of those situations and let's try to get our guys to realize when things are going a certain way.

54:54That's an important role in all these teams, and the Rams have their individuals who do that. And this was a big discussion, and I thought it was really mature of Puka, who, by the way, is living the high life, is in L.A., is the most lovable guy in the world. You guys have had him on. Like, the best, the most charismatic dude. He has no enemies. It's like, truly, it's, this is a big decision and I hate the fact that it's been treated like he's got some, you know, he did something terrible or that he's in trouble. It's not. This was a very voluntary thing and Puka Nakua showed a lot of maturity in doing so.

55:26Pat McAfee:Yeah, in a fishbowl, certainly, and we would like to let Oost know that we love him. I have no idea if he's able to watch this or not. I hope he sees it. Hey, Puka, we love you, buddy. Oh, yeah. We understand this because we've been through. I've been through the situation a lot with a lot of friends. You can tell somebody or suggest something as much as you want. It's not until the person makes a decision to do it that it's ever going to actually happen. So Puka deciding to do this in this moment, I think he understands what's at stake. I understand he knows what next chapter could be. And I'm incredibly proud of him as well.

55:56Pat McAfee:I think that is a big decision. And he'll do well. Stick to it just like you stick to everything else. Pooka, the world needs you, brother. We need you out here. You are a phenomenal human in society. Now, on that note, you are too, Shregs. But we're coming up on a hard out. I don't love it, but it seems like we have to get rid of you. Safe travels up to Connecticut. We'll see you in Pittsburgh at the draft spectacular. Yes. I'll be there on the carpet, my friend. Thank you, sir. You're the best, ladies and gentlemen. Peter Shrink. Yay, Shrink. Okay, so that's the move. I always wondered. Okay, let's say I happen to be in suit.

56:28Pat McAfee:Sure. with Ty, other suit gets in car with me. I'm in the back seat, we'll say. Okay. I certainly have the seatbelt on all the time. To impress other suit, I take Ty out from under seatbelt, put it on outside of seatbelt, and then do I flatten sport coat so it's almost like it's getting pressed by the seatbelt? Is that the move for the suits?

56:50Darius Butler:I always take the jacket off before I get in and put the seatbelt on.

56:52Pat McAfee:And then what do you do, throw it over the seat? Because I hate to hang on the window. It's tough out there, I guess. I think he killed it. That's what we need to do. Hour two on the other side. Goodbye.

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57:49So before you start driving, make it easy on yourself. Put your phone on silent. Toss it in the glove box Set it to do not disturb Put the phone away Or pay Paid for by NHTSA

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58:47Pat McAfee:Sports are the greatest. We're so incredibly lucky that we get a chance to chat about them. The Michigan Wolverines are your new national champion. They had their one shining moment last night. It's a good song. I don't like it. What? I don't like it. The song? I'm going to say it. Or Michigan? I like the Michigan one. I'm happy for Michigan. I think they were a deserving team. I think they beat the hell out of everybody. I think they played great hoops throughout the entirety of it all. They had to play a different style in the national championship. They did. They won. I like that Michigan won.

59:23Pat McAfee:I hate that it's one shining moment. Yeah. I hate that it has to be that song. I know there's going to be people that are so mad with me saying that. It's a little dazed. But you're telling me if that wasn't T.I.'s, let them know on that thing, recap of March Madness last night, that thing wouldn't have banged. Okay. I understand the one shining moment is what we have to kind of do every year because it's tradition and college is built off of tradition. Can we get an alternate as well? Can we get another heater of a promo? Because March Madness is spectacular. This thing has been beautiful. A sport that I, okay, don't get to watch nearly as much throughout the regular season becomes my full attention throughout a run where, you know, no names can become legends and schools that we've never heard of can become known.

1:00:08Pat McAfee:Is that going to happen anymore? We don't know, but what we do know is that the Michigan Wolverines will be etched in stone as the champions of the 2026 NCAA basketball season. The Talks to the table. I have boss Connor and I, Ty Schmitter here. Big Ten wins again, Ty.

1:00:25Mark Schlabach:Yeah, you know, no surprise there. We kind of have talked about this for months now, how the Big Ten is the premier sports league in the nation. and now I'm just kind of feeling it for guys like Brett Yormark and Greg Sankey and all these other conference commissioners who are going to keep kind of pounding the drum that, hey, our league deserves more teams in, more bids, et cetera, et cetera. But the reality is, and they know it, they're kind of just playing for second place and everything. So I can imagine why that would be tough.

1:00:58Pat McAfee:I don't love the stat that Hembo sent in because Sankey's going to hate this too. and our friends down in the south aren't going to love this and i love sec culture sure i love the sec atmosphere not all of them love me so i'm letting you know this is me loving something that is an unrequited love yeah unrequited there it is unrequited love uh with them so i appreciate the sec but we've been talking about the north i've been talking about since the beginning okay i've been talking about since the beginning you give all the i know a lot of these people i'm from pittsburgh i mean penn state is right it's one of the biggest thing i know a lot of ohio state people we live in the middle of big 10 country they all have a little bit every one of them has a little bit of money then obviously there's more than a slew of them that have a shit ton of money and all of them are being told they can help sports all of them feel cool if they're helping sports all of them want to help sports and just having the moment of getting to go down to the locker room afterwards and dap up the boys is enough for some of these guys and women who are in these very high positions of power and money to go, yeah, I'll give$5-10 million to go ahead and do this.

1:02:04Pat McAfee:Just for that moment with their kids who are potentially in school there because there's a lot of generational shit going on. It's like the Big Ten has that everywhere. And I'm not saying the SEC doesn't because obviously the SEC is going to continue to have success. But four consecutive college football games, college football playoff games against the SEC, the Big Ten. 5-0 versus the SEC in the 2026 basketball tournament. And then UCLA Women B2. SEC teams in the route to their national championship. Remember, UCLA, part of the North now.

1:02:32Mark Schlabach:Yeah.

1:02:32Pat McAfee:Yeah, always have been.

1:02:33Mark Schlabach:Part of the North. Always have been. Part of the North.

1:02:35Pat McAfee:UCLA, USC, Oregon. I mean, that's just Big Ten. Yep. North, you know, that's kind of how the North just kind of goes. Exactly. On the right side. It's crazy. We didn't decide it. Didn't make the rules. But Petiti's walking into these conversations now. Oh, man. Oh, hey, Sankey. Good to see you, man. Man, our relationship four years ago is vastly different than it is now, isn't it? Yes, it is. And Sankey's going, we got to get this back to what, right? And Petiti's like, actually, we have a couple clauses we would like to add to some of these. It is crazy how the power struggle is kind of going right now.

1:03:05Pat McAfee:Obviously, those two are going to continue to do that. But the Big 12, I mean, they're going to continue to try to build in this entirety. I think college sports is going to continue to grow because of the investment. But there's going to be maybe a new lay of the land, and it's already starting to turn a little bit in the sports world. One half of the hammer, dad, Cowboys AP tone. Lay of the land is sportsbooks beat our ass normally. That's kind of how it goes. but it feels like Big Ten against SEC feels like a little bit of a run right now for the North.

1:03:31Darius Butler:Yeah, it's definitely a run. Obviously, you know, you have the trifecta of champions the last three years in college football. Then you have basketball, and then you have wrestling. And I believe, I want to say, I thought I saw the Washington women or men's won soccer. So, absolutely done right now.

1:03:47Mark Schlabach:Big Ten has the number one baseball team in the country.

1:03:48Darius Butler:I like that you tried to shoehorn the Big 12 in there. That was hilarious.

1:03:51Pat McAfee:Big 12's coming. Big 12's coming. They run rifle. Yeah, we run rifle. You're right. Our baseball team's good. Cody Campbell still exists. Yeah, he's doing it. Yeah, he still exists. That's one out of 16.

1:04:04Mark Schlabach:And they got embarrassed by Oregon in the Big Ten. Oh, yeah, I forgot.

1:04:08Pat McAfee:We're coming. You know, you guys just giving levels to the climb. Pupping up. Trust the climb. Who's got the college basketball crown right now? Who does? Hmm, what's the right amount of years? Yeah, you're right. I forgot about that. I already forgot about that. I need to remember that whenever you're talking out of pocket about the Big 12. Both of you. I love it.

1:04:26Darius Butler:I'm adopted by the Big Ten. I love it. I've never been happier in my life.

1:04:29Pat McAfee:Me too. I'm a Big East guy. I'm pulling for the Big Ten. But on that note, Big East loser last night. Ladies and gentlemen, Darius J. Ball. Hey, baby, D. Ball.

1:04:36Adam Schefter:Three or four years. We've got two. And the last, obviously, four. So, I mean, what? First one for the Big Ten in 2019? 20, yeah, 26 years. I mean, pump the brakes. You got three in football, obviously. The SEC dominated for a while here. We'll see. We'll see how they sustain the success that they're having. Where'd you grow up? Where'd you grow up at? South Florida.

1:04:54Pat McAfee:Oh, okay.

1:04:55Adam Schefter:Yeah.

1:04:55Pat McAfee:Okay. Hey, you guys are doing good down there in the South. Things are happening down there.

1:04:59Adam Schefter:Miami, the more recruiting class. Oh, wait. Did you? ACC.

1:05:04Darius Butler:Coach Candle. Did you lose the national championship in football and basketball?

1:05:08Adam Schefter:Well, no, I mean, football, I'm a fan. The basketball, I'm a, you know, I'm an alum. So, yes. I lost in basketball.

1:05:16Darius Butler:I heard you were potting last night.

1:05:17Adam Schefter:You were potting a little bit. I'm potting.

1:05:19Pat McAfee:How far did you have to walk to get the Uber?

1:05:22Adam Schefter:I walked the Gumby spot. Yeah, I went to his place, me and Bruce. That's a good idea.

1:05:28Pat McAfee:Become a downtown boy. Foxy had to walk two miles last night after the stadium. He went the wrong way. Yeah, he walked the wrong way. Oh, jeez. He went out there. Well, that was the Uber pickup spot. I didn't get it. You got to get it backside, brother. Now, there was some interesting turns where I was headed. But, yeah, I mean, you got to do what you got to do. It was great. Thank you to Indianapolis. Shout out to Indianapolis. A man who was at that is joining us, but not first, ladies and gentlemen. A former national champion representing the Big Ten. a Ryder Cup winner, a legend of a human, A.J.

1:05:55Pat McAfee:Hawkins. Hawkins, the Big Ten, kind of just rubbing it in everybody's face, it feels like at this point. Michigan, or as you like to say, a team above us, and Ishigan and all those things. What are your thoughts on last night's game and the Big Ten being as dominant as it is, and potentially Dusty May and his Michigan basketball team running this thing forever in the Big Ten? Yeah, I mean, Michigan, I feel like UConn ran into an absolute juggernaut. Like, what are you going to do? This Michigan team, like, watching from the jump, and you guys already talked about it on the show, like, when they would chase down and swat dudes, like, every time anyone in UConn went to the hoop, you had to worry about five dudes flying in and ending your life and swatting the ball and then taking it and going the other way.

1:06:35So, yeah, credit to Michigan, man. They played so hard. I love this. I love him as a point guard, too, man. How, like, confident he is and in control of the game. Like, he does such a good job, and obviously he was great on the program as well, coming 10, 12 hours after the win right there.

1:06:49Pat McAfee:Yeah, Yaxl was incredible. Point guard said something hilarious. Cadeau. Cadeau, there it is. Yeah, Cadeau. His post-game interview, he was made for the moment. I mean, it was spectacular. Another man that should have been on the microphone immediately after Michigan won is prestigious alumni of the Michigan Wolverines. I assume he's digging into those deep pockets of his to supply the football team and the basketball team and the Olympic sports. Ladies and gentlemen, senior insider for the NFL at ESPN, Adam Schefter. Yay, Schefter! Oh, no. Let's see you, bro. First. Hello, guys. Hey, how you doing?

1:07:24Pat McAfee:Where are you right now? So what's going on here? I'm in Bloomington, taking my daughter around here. Okay, so hold on. You're on a tour at IU right now, south of Indianapolis? Well, you celebrated Michigan National Championship. Michigan's a basketball school, and Indiana's a football school. We came down to a football school today. And, yeah, you know, yeah, this was a week, you know, listen, it's her spring break. I was taking me around to colleges. We were supposed to see a bunch of schools down south, Pat. And when Michigan was in the national championship game, we pivoted and we rearranged the college visit schedule.

1:07:57So now we are in your neck of the woods. And these people love you down here, Pat. They talk about how nice you are to them.

1:08:04Pat McAfee:Oh, that's very kind of the people down there in Bloomington. I like them as well. They've been kind to us. They make me look like a genius whenever they win. I like the fact that you were going to go to the south. Now you're staying in the north. See, this is a conversation. conversation. Michigan wins the national championship. All of a sudden, it's like, you know what, future students, let's stay in the north, actually. We can bear the cold a little bit. You know, the spring will come even better whenever you're getting through a massive winter. Let's talk about you getting a pop last night on the Jumbotron.

1:08:29Pat McAfee:How did it feel to get recognized by your peers? And let's talk about Dusty May and his Michigan Wolverine basketball team, who obviously win the second national championship in your school's history. How do you feel in this moment? Obviously, you're incredibly excited. And did it feel good to get a pop from the Michigan alum? I think that probably made you feel pretty solid about life in the moment. You know, that totally caught me off guard. I was not expecting that. Like, I'm sitting there with my son and my daughter and some college friends, and I look up, and I'm like, I didn't know what to do with that initially, to be honest with you.

1:09:01Like I said, I was so surprised. So I just kind of was caught off guard. And then I said, okay, let's give it a little fist pump, you know, a little gold-blue action. And that's what we did. We got into it. And the fans were very nice. And Dusty, you brought up Dusty. We were fortunate enough to go to the postgame celebration, second floor of the Marriott, which, by the way, is the hotel. The last time that that hotel celebrated a champion, the New York Giants stayed in that hotel when they beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl. and Mario Manningham caught that great pass from Eli Manning. They were in that hotel.

1:09:36We were in that hotel last night, which is where I took that picture with Dusty. And he's a great coach, a special guy. Got to visit with his wife last night, saw him, congratulate everybody. And it was a special night for the program. Pat, I was a senior at Michigan in 1989 when they won the national championship of basketball. and 37 years later, we were there like in Seattle, me and my college roommates, and 37 years later to be in Indianapolis with my son and daughter this time and to experience it the way it was, it was a memorable night. That team was such a gritty, tough team. Dusty did an incredible job.

1:10:14So many great players and I salute them and they gave the Michigan fan base another one of those nights that we experienced 37 years ago that you don't ever forget.

1:10:25Pat McAfee:I love to hear that. 90 % of the crowd last night I thought was Michigan. It felt like it experienced that. And the way they're playing defense, it was obviously an electrifying environment for the national championship. A lot of the celebrations and the chants that you guys do, I did like. You go blue, go blue. We did a lot of this stuff. A lot of fist to shoulder straight up in there, you know what I mean, which is pretty good. I saw some chants at a hockey game, I think. Yeah, Dallas Stars. Yeah, I think there was something. We don't need to talk about that. But it was nice to see the Michigan Wolverines fans get a chance to celebrate.

1:10:58Pat McAfee:You know, a few years back, obviously, a football national championship. A lot has happened since then. Almost like completely out of the sports conversation in a positive way. This team certainly provides that. Can you explain just a little bit before we move to NFL as you do your tour around IU? I've had this take for a few years now. I would like to say I've been on the record of saying this for a few years now. I think the North in the NIL era is going to be in a better spot than the South. Because in the North, all these people that weren't sports people that went to these business schools and these state schools and these law, doctor, dentistry, all this shit that pays a good amount of money.

1:11:34Pat McAfee:Not even the super-duper wealthy, just like college-educated, good amount of money. Hell yeah, look at him. He's cheesing right now. They can all give to the sports teams and feel like they're a part of it. Michigan certainly is benefiting from that, but it's also all the Big Ten feels like that. The school you're at right now, I think there's a family. cook family yeah cook or coke cook or coke family in bloomington that started like uh plastics or a medical company or something like that they're the massive donors because they can help can you talk about that a little bit in the big 10 and maybe like maybe the big 10 runs wild forever and maybe michigan and their basketball team can do this forever i can't say that i'm as familiar with it as other schools other than i can say that michigan has had so many successful alumni And it's such a big alumni base that there are a lot of people that want to help out.

1:12:24And there are a lot of people that have helped out. And so it doesn't surprise me that Michigan might have the money that it takes in a day and age like this to spend on players. I mean, that's what this has become, right? Spending on players. And the transfer portal opened at midnight this past night. And so Michigan wins the national championship. I can't even imagine what that would be like. You achieve this crowning glory moment, and then Dusty and the program, they've got to go recruit people and go try to replace these players that they're losing that are going to go on to the NBA draft right now.

1:13:00Pat McAfee:That photo right there is a very good recruiting tool, though. I think the Michigan basketball culture was on full display both during the tournament but also all the interviews. I think they potentially now know the type of guys that they want. We want the tallest, most athletic guys. That's what we want, the tallest, most athletic guys. I thought Dusty May was maybe super-duper tiny guy. I didn't know that. Then you look at the team, the roster, they're all giants. That team is just a bunch of giants. It was a special run, Schefter. We're thankful you came to our city and our state to enjoy it.

1:13:34Pat McAfee:Congrats to you. We're pumped for Michigan. Let's move to the NFL now. Dexter Lawrence potentially getting traded. What's the reality of that? Because Schrag says the Giants don't really see, you know, it's like, all right, we got him for two years. We don't have to pay him anywhere near the top five market value, which is probably what he is expecting, at least at this stage. What do you think the actual chances of movement are, or are we waiting to see what happens with the draft with teams? Well, I can tell you this, that there are a good half dozen teams. I spoke to some of them yesterday.

1:14:03They reached out after this came public, and there's definitely going to be some interest in him. Now, whether something materializes or not, we don't know. But look, you can go through the history of this. When there are players that are not happy with their contractual situation and ask for a trade, those situations don't always work out the way that you want. And so the Giants are going to have to handle this one way or another, you would think. Either the guy is going to have his contract modified in some way to where he's happier, because this has gone on now for the last two years, and I don't think he was particularly happy last year, or there's going to be a team that steps up and makes an offer that's compelling enough for them to consider to move on from Dexter Lawrence.

1:14:45Like, it's one or the other. Status quo, I don't think, works in this particular case. And so Dexter Lawrence, I think, was frustrated last year. I think teams are now on alert that maybe they could try to make a push to see if they can acquire him. And it'll be up to the Giants to figure out what's best for their franchise to what they want to do, whether they want to modify the contract, revamp it in some way, or whether they would get an offer that's compelling enough for them to even entertain the idea of moving him. I know that they say that they'd like to re-sign him, but the fact of the matter is the two sides haven't made much, if any, progress the past two years.

1:15:26So we'll see.

1:15:27Pat McAfee:Sounds like we've got a Trey Hendrickson situation brewing over there for the Giants with another D-lineman. You said half-dozen teams are certainly interested in Dexter Lawrence. If that heats up anymore, we would assume more teams would be interested in what the deal would have to look like if you were to trade, because obviously if you trade for Dexter, you'd have to give him a new deal. How much money is he projected to have? We'll certainly go to SpowTrack and see what that is. But a lot of teams would want Dexter Lawrence if Dexter Lawrence was openly available. I guess we kind of wait for the draft.

1:15:57Pat McAfee:Now let's talk about a quarterback that would be pumped to hear Dexter Lawrence get the hell out of the NFC East. Go ahead, A.J. Hawk. Yeah, Shifty, what about Jalen Hurts and that whole situation? We hear the rumblings. I believe Jeff McClain had the report saying that he almost has to come out and prove that he's going to improve before they think about an extension for him. Where are we sitting right now with Jalen Hurts and the Eagles? You know, I think it's an important season for Jalen Hurts coming up. Let's not forget this guy did win the Super Bowl two years ago. And I know that there are questions that have come out this offseason about what he is and isn't doing.

1:16:33in the huddle at the line of scrimmage, audibly in plays, not audibly in plays, whatever it may be. I still think the guy's been a successful quarterback. Now, the contract looms as an issue. It doesn't sound like they're doing anything anytime soon. That makes it an important year for him, like it is for any player that is headed into a year where he has to prove himself. And with the quarterbacks, there's always so much money on the line. They're going to want to see something from him this year, and I think he's going to be determined to come in and show that he's worth some sort of adjustment on his own.

1:17:02with his contract.

1:17:04Pat McAfee:I'll tell you, Jalen having to go to another team and have success would be a good little story arc for Jalen Hurts. Obviously, he ends up going to Oklahoma, you know, at the end of his college career, does his thing there, comes into the NFL, wins a Super Bowl, maybe has to rewrite another chapter to another place because there would be teams, obviously, that would be signing up for the Jalen Hurts experience and quarterback winning. You know, every single offseason, we see quarterbacks get offers or teams get interested in a quarterback that we couldn't have expected. No offense to this man because I think it's a perfect fit in Las Vegas, which actually leads to the next question we're going to ask.

1:17:35Pat McAfee:But Kirk Cousins signed for like$130 million guaranteed one offseason. And we were like, holy shit, Kirk Cousins is getting$130 million at this stage? And obviously, you look around the contracts now, every team would say, that's a good deal on a quarterback at this stage. So Jalen Hurts would certainly have a market. There's always teams that need quarterbacks. We talked about Kirk Cousins. Let's go to Las Vegas. Go ahead, D-Bud.

1:17:56Adam Schefter:Yeah, Las Vegas, we assume they're going to take Fernando Mendoza, number one I saw from your ex account he will not be attending the draft in Pittsburgh last number one pick that didn't attend Trevor Lawrence what went into this decision I guess that you know about for Fernando well walking around here with a bunch of the IU people were talking about it and Fernando's a big family guy and it's important for him to be with his family at the draft and so the easiest way for him to be around all the family members that he wants to be around is to watch it in Miami. And so the NFL called him. I think the NFL made personal pleas to him to attend the draft.

1:18:32But Fernando Mendoza, as much as he would have liked to have been there, it was just more important for him and more practical for his family to be in Miami. And so that's his decision. He won't be there. And I think that's disappointing. You'd love to have the number one overall pick in the draft at the draft. But that's just not going to be the case this year. And he's visiting today with the Raiders. I fully expect that they'll pick him number one overall. He'll go number one and continue his magical year. But he's just not going to be there in Pittsburgh. We'll have to keep the seats warm for him there.

1:19:03Everybody here will have to keep those seats warm to make sure that the draft goes on without him.

1:19:08Pat McAfee:I respect the decision. I remember going all the way back, like Joe Thomas had the most legendary one. He shot on a fishing boat, I think, out in the middle of nowhere. Offensive lineman getting drafted so high, not going. Nope, you can come film me out here if you want to do that. I'm going to go fish. I respect it. Now, granted, there's only like 30 guys a year that really have to make a decision on whether or not you want to go to the draft room. You never want to be there when you're not drafted, though. Correct. That's a party that you don't want to be at if an NFL team doesn't want you on their team early in that draft.

1:19:40Pat McAfee:That's a bad spot. Oh, yeah. That's maybe the worst spot on earth. Maybe the worst spot on earth to me. It happens every year. The league does a great job at inviting the players that usually go in the first round. But every now and then, somebody does it, and they make it to the second day. Like, I happened to be spending some time with Geno Smith a couple of weeks ago. We were talking about that exact scenario where he was invited. A lot of people thought he would go in the first round, like they thought Shador might go in the first round last year. Geno didn't go, and a lot of people leave.

1:20:08And to Geno's credit, he stuck around, and he got drafted early the next day. I think it was the Jets that drafted him in the second round that year. And so every player faces this decision to do what's best, but some people leave when they don't go right away, You can see their hopes and dreams are crushed momentarily. Some people make the best of it. Gino made the best of it. Fernando's just not going to go. He'd just rather be with his mom and dad. AJ, did you go? No, I was at home.

1:20:36Darius Butler:Respect.

1:20:38Pat McAfee:Why not? There's a lot going on at the time, believe me. I was running around doing all those 50 visits that you had to do, and I was actually still at school at the same time. So I was like, no, if I get a weekend, I'm going to hang out at home. You want me to leave Ohio? Yeah, right. Yeah, exactly. I'm a Buckeye through and through. Okay. The only place I'm going is to ever draft me. I'm not going to draft location, New York City. Yeah, right. Is New York drafting me? No. Well, they wanted you there like three or four days early and parade you around town. Oh, you hated it. Yeah, you hated it so bad.

1:21:07Pat McAfee:I couldn't even imagine you. I assume there was an agent. Who was your agent at the time? Mike McCartney. He was my whole time. Shout out to Mike McCartney. He said, H, come on. This is a big honor. I obviously have you there. They want to parade me around New York City? Okay. What am I? What am I? Some pawn. Okay. Yeah, right. You're a puppet. You could do that. I'm just going to wear this oversized suit whenever they draft my ass, and I'm going to head right to Green Bay. Those are coming back. Those are coming back. Yeah, they certainly are. Okay, let's talk about some other things happening around the NFL world.

1:21:34Pat McAfee:AJ might know more than you on this whole thing. Is Aaron Rodgers signing with us? I mean, they got 100 % attendance. AJ, what do we got? Shifty, you got his number, Shifty. I don't think he blocked you. Honestly, I was going to ask you. I want to know. I haven't been out there with my ear to the ground trying to figure out what's happening. Why not? What is going to happen? I guess, is there a deadline, Shefty, for something to happen? That's a good question. No, I don't think there's a deadline. But I do think the Steelers would like to know before the draft. I don't think it matters. I think if Aaron just dragged this into May or June, he could do that.

1:22:07But, again, I don't mean to oversimplify this, but either you want to play or you don't. It shouldn't be that hard. Shefty, what, you know this guy?

1:22:17Pat McAfee:Come on. You want to play? You've committed your entire life to this. Your whole being has been to football. You either know or you don't. We're tired of it. The conversation we've had... You got to leave? I got the head coach here waiting. Tell him he said hello. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's got to go into a meeting. He's got two minutes here. We've been a part of one of those situations with that exact man. Good luck, ladies and gentlemen. That's Adam Schefter. I got two minutes. We've got some recruits here. What do you want?

1:22:48Darius Butler:Do you see what he's doing? I'm not giving you nothing. Who's doing draft night? Sig.

1:22:52Pat McAfee:What's he doing?

1:22:54Darius Butler:Their spring showcase, spring game, whatever, I believe it's at 8 p.m. on draft night. What does that mean? Their spring game. All these teams have their spring games or whatever. Now it's a little different. Some teams do showcases or whatever. Not to piss off their backups. No, they're not going to start or whatever. But I believe the IU spring game is draft night at 8 p.m. Who's just hating the draft? No, absolutely genius.

1:23:17Mark Schlabach:What is this about? No one else is going to watch it. They're watching the draft. No one's going to be poaching any talent he's got. I don't know who you're talking about. We never had a spring game.

1:23:24Pat McAfee:I'm so confused. What do you – there has to be – They'll show Fernando getting drafted on the Jumbotron. Everyone will cheer. It'll be like a celebration for him. That's a good idea. It'll be a draft night party for Hoosiers fans to watch Fernando get drafted number one overall, and then super cool football gimmicks on the other side.

1:23:42Adam Schefter:Okay.

1:23:43Pat McAfee:Oh, it's a little 500 weekend as well. Holy hell. Thursday's kicking off. Little 500? Yeah. It's a little bike race that they do, like an actual bike race, but it's on a like Lance Armstrong? Yeah, but I think they do laps. I think it's like a track. A little cheat, right? It's called a little relay of some sort for charity. It's a huge deal. It's a bike race that is a gigantic deal, and they treat it like a festival. It's little five, is what they call it. And I actually went to it whenever I was a younger lad, obviously, I hear about this. Indiana has a pretty notorious positive party ranking score.

1:24:20Pat McAfee:Like, hey, they have a good time down here in Bloomington. That's kind of what it is. So Little Five was being talked about as something, you know, that I needed. I'm fresh out of West Virginia University, Morgantown. Okay. So now I'm hearing about Bloomington being this place. I'm like, I would like to see what this place is. They said go down on Little Five weekend. It was spectacular. I mean, the whole place was having a good time. It felt like a Saturday in Morgantown. or it felt like what a big football game would feel like in a town. You know, like the whole place, everybody is having a good time and celebrating this.

1:24:49Pat McAfee:That is what they used to have to rely upon for like one of those big days. The Little Five was, now they get it in fall for what, seven home games or whatever it is, eight home games and Little Five. It's like, I'm so happy for these people because these people have been looking and searching for reasons to have a good time. We're going to do it on a bike race for this entire thing. Now they have a great football team and sustainable. They have a fan base that has the largest active alumni, I think, in this entirety. And they got Signetti, who's a super genius when it comes to coaching football.

1:25:22And that makes me look around the Big Ten and say, what are you guys going to do?

1:25:27Pat McAfee:What's everybody going to do around the Big Ten with Signetti? You hear how locked in he is? Guy won a national championship, won perfect last year. Got two minutes for you, Schefter. I'm not telling you shit. How about that? No anonymous source. Anything I tell you, you say this is from CC. That's what you say in its entirety. But it is fascinating how each team is going to handle this. Them putting a spring game on draft night is clearly just like we're celebrating Fernando. Let's not worry about anything else. Let's get out of here. West Virginia, I think, is doing like a concert. Like a spring.

1:25:58Pat McAfee:Any football? Like after the game? I think it's like a night before. It's like a spring festival of football. They're doing like a football fest, basically, with a concert, some other stuff. I think they're going to do some drills or play a little bit, but it's like we don't want anybody to get hurt. We don't want anybody to get pissed off or jaded because they didn't get as much snaps. These are just things that they're worried about. I'm not saying we as if I'm there, but it has all changed everything because of what is possible. Jake Owens performed. What? Shit. Yes. For free? Barefoot blue jean night?

1:26:31Pat McAfee:This guy loves green. He's a great golfer, too. From the stadium right after the game. I believe he is clean and sober I believe he is a sober lad at this stage of his career Had a good time, has a lot to pull from whenever he's singing There's a green, a foam green Seafoam green

1:26:48Darius Butler:Oh, that shirt, you got a nice shirt You tried going to his concert in a tank top In Arkansas Can't do that in Arkansas Not a chance

1:26:58Pat McAfee:Couldn't go to a Jake Owen concert In Arkansas At like a saloon

1:27:03Mark Schlabach:Where's your tuxedo, pal? The hell?

1:27:06Pat McAfee:They told me that biker gangs come through there, and obviously, we just need everybody's shoulders and arms covered. That's true. I got escorted into the place. Of course, Trash. I got escorted into the place to the back. Had to buy some Jayco and merch t-shirt. Seafoam green. Great color. They told me it was his favorite color. Think about me going through this. Please think about it.

1:27:28Darius Butler:It was a good time. No, it was a great time.

1:27:29Pat McAfee:It was real. It was real, yeah. So I go all the way back. I get a seafoam green. They escort me all the way back outside of Saloon. okay i take take top off outside put seafoam green shirt on okay now good no didn't say any of that i just need to check id pay now we get in there um ryan mallett was in there rest in peace uh he he it was everybody you know from mark john daly obviously was our host at one point he went up there and uh saying knock knock knocking on heaven no Him and Jake Owen put on a concert. Jake Owen put on a much longer concert than John Daly. But, of course, Jake, I don't know how he performed.

1:28:11Pat McAfee:I saw him golfing just shortly before that performance. And I didn't understand how everything was going to go. I didn't understand it. And I'll tell you what. Rock star. Rock star. He crushed it. I mean, he went for like three and a half hours. It was absolutely absurd. I think he has changed his life. I don't think that would have been sustainable. what he was doing there, because how hard he went on stage. I'm like, how does one human six hours, how is that what their six hours looks like? Even for me, and I used to go pretty good. I didn't have to go put on a show for four, three and a half, four hours.

1:28:43Pat McAfee:He was unbelievable. We were very impressed with him. But I think he did have to, like, I have to survive this thing at some point. I think he's changed his life completely. Yeah, he's coming to West Virginia. He's coming to West Virginia. That's huge.

1:28:53Adam Schefter:That's what his bangers, I would know. Fucking barefoot, blue jean.

1:28:57Mark Schlabach:Oh, never going to give up. Oh, now we're going to get on. In the middle of the rock.

1:29:06Adam Schefter:Okay. Sing D-Butt. I'm not. Whoa. Did this help? Whoa. Okay. Hold on. He's got others. Hold on. D-Butt, Ohio State has Darius Rucker. Do you know who that is? Yes. Hey,

1:29:22Pat McAfee:South Carolina Calk fan, brother. He's the mayor of Calk Town. Come on. Yeah, he don't like your school. I know. Hootie. Yeah. Dolphin fan. Oh, easy. Just enough with that. How about – yeah, I mean, you know all – Who performed at West Ham? We were there. Come on, keep going through that, Pat. Eight-second ride is a banger. I mean, let's not even get crazy.

1:29:40Adam Schefter:That was a great part of college. Like, spring weekend gimmicks. We had T-Pain come through. Oh, yeah. Kamara, J. Cole. Who were some of the people that came through?

1:29:48Pat McAfee:I think that was – we had – Guns N' Roses.

1:29:51Mark Schlabach:Wavy Davey. We had –

1:29:55Adam Schefter:Huey Mac. We had Wiz. Wiz came through. John Denver.

1:29:58Pat McAfee:6-6-3, uh, 6-6-2-8, 6-6-2-4. Mike Jones? We had a 6-6-2-4-0. He was local rapper.

1:30:04Adam Schefter:Oh, oh. I thought you were trying to make jokes. Somebody had come to Ohio State.

1:30:08Pat McAfee:No, we had OAR, I think, came through. Oh!

1:30:11Darius Butler:That's what I get. I'd go to that. Crazy Game of Poker. Yeah. I hate all you say hi.

1:30:17Pat McAfee:I say revolution, you say hi. Nah. It was a crazy game of poker. You had to hear the Whites singing that during the time. I didn't make it to my side of the air. You went to UConn. No, it was at UConn.

1:30:30Adam Schefter:I mean, UConn, we had – I just named the name. Those were our headliners.

1:30:37Darius Butler:Kanye came to WVU when I was a freshman there.

1:30:40Adam Schefter:Boom. Hey, see you. UConn's so close to New York. Like, even my school, we got a lot of good people just because they're right there. So many guys are going to –

1:30:48Pat McAfee:You're telling me you don't know OAR at UConn during that era? Yeah, right. There was whites bopping to crazy game of poker all around. I'm with you. I'm with you here. I agree. I agree. Okay, good. I'm happy we all came to that conclusion. We did not have T-Pain playing in Morgantown. Yeah, Chainsmokers. Little Dicky. Party school. Yeah, we didn't really need it. Little Dicky in that Dix commercial. What was that? He's recruiting? He's still doing it. He's still doing it. He's a big-time part of their whole campaign. I don't like Dix commercial. Him and Diana Taurasi are recruiting. I don't get it.

1:31:18Pat McAfee:He's still bringing it? Well, you go to Dix, you get recruited. Is that what it is? Okay. Because I had to go to a kicking contest when I was in high school, and there was a bunch of college coaches there, and that's how I got offered a scholarship to West Virginia University. So are these kids now just going to Dick's and they're just maybe getting caught on security cameras, getting recruited? That's what's weird. Is that what little Dickie and Diana Taurasi are doing?

1:31:39Mark Schlabach:But it's like they're looking at Tatum and he's saying, we need more Tatums in here. The kids that they have are getting dunked on by the pro athletes, so I don't know who's recruiting them. I trust – I want to let everybody know, Lil D, I trust them.

1:31:54Pat McAfee:No doubt about it. I don't trust them.

1:31:56Adam Schefter:Dave? then you don't know. I trust Rossi. I don't trust him. I trust Dave.

1:32:01Darius Butler:I trust old D.

1:32:02Pat McAfee:He still shows his cheeks a lot? No, and this one he's recruiting. So I think you're going to figure it out. Was that his thing for a while? In his TV show Dave, they were all about cheeks. A lot of cheeks. Remember you loved it? A lot of cheeks. Felt like if we didn't have anywhere to go, we were going to go cheeks. Yeah. And I kind of got sick of seeing cheeks. Call each other Chuck. I'm not sure why where that joke comes from. But I do trust him because I've seen him on microphone and he just goes absolutely crazy. So I am a little Dickie fan, but the Dicks commercial confused the hell out of me.

1:32:30Darius Butler:That's a great Pittsburgh company. I'm sure they meant well. Exactly. Dicks got it. Speaking of Pittsburgh, AJ, you dodged the question. What the fuck is Aaron doing?

1:32:38Pat McAfee:Okay, I want to let you know, AJ, people at Pittsburgh are not happy. Obviously, Dan Orlovsky has a situation yesterday where he is either told or thinks that Lamar Jackson is past the time of arriving at the offseason workouts.

1:32:51Darius Butler:Yeah, he's swinging a hot bat.

1:32:52Pat McAfee:Which are two weeks earlier than everybody else because they have a new head coach. So just like training camp, if you have a new head coach, you're allowed to arrive earlier, especially if you're in a Hall of Fame game or any of the other shit that's going on in the preseason. You also get earlier time if you have a new head coach because you're allotted extra time to do the entire culture instill. I don't know why the Ravens were yesterday. Everybody else who had a new coach were today. So I don't know if it's a four-day work week and the Ravens decided to go Monday through Thursday and everybody else is going Tuesday through Friday.

1:33:17Pat McAfee:We should have done a little bit more research. But literally, immediately after Dan Orlovsky says, This is unacceptable out of Lamar because he, once again, is living in a world where he is told that Lamar did not go to the off-season workouts, which a little bit of a bamboozle for Dan Olavsky getting that information, if that was how it all went down, which we would assume. And then immediately Lamar Jackson shows up afterwards. I'm about done with the sports bras with the catapult thing that everybody's kind of forced to use because they're tracking them down. But I do appreciate the fact that Lamar and everybody in Baltimore is excited for this next chapter.

1:33:49Pat McAfee:And if Minter's got everybody bought in, which it seems like he does on day one. We've only seen that guy have success. So good news for Baltimore. Dan, I think, got bamboozled. I don't love what happened to Dan, but it does. It's Trey Hendrickson obviously getting after him in Baltimore. I like to see that. But I like what's happening with the Ravens, and I appreciate the hell out of how Lamar's kind of operating as their leader. I've always liked how Lamar operates. He is authentic to himself, I feel like. And any time you talk to anybody that's ever played with them, they absolutely love the dude.

1:34:19I say all the time, like your quarterback, his confidence will trickle down through every single person on that roster and every coach. I think that's what Lamar does. But, yeah, tough for Dano. I mean, I felt like pretty early in the morning I was seeing clips of Lamar walk into the facility at Baltimore. So I wasn't exactly sure when Dano went on the air with that.

1:34:37Pat McAfee:Yeah, I think it was very close. You know, the 8 a.m. is where you get up in the morning. You know, it's early. It is an early one. apparently clearly a little bit earlier than Lamar going out there as the internet continued to dunk on Dano which has become pretty routine at this point we'd like to let Dano know whoever told you that he wasn't there that's the problem okay we need to be going after whoever that person is because Dano should not just be going unless Dano said where's yeah I haven't seen a photo unless he was hunting it which I don't think was happening and unless there was a piece of information sent to Dano as a let's see if this shit will say something because remember Lamar Jackson put the tweet out with the smoke.

1:35:19Pat McAfee:So maybe some member from his team floated to somebody to get to Dano. Hey, tell Dano Lamar's not coming. And then waited in car for Dano to say what he's saying. He just said it. Go, go, go. And then he's immediately out afterwards. I mean, that is. That's pretty good. That is 5D chest. Tough spot. If that is what happened. But we don't know. Because I haven't heard Dano's entire side.

1:35:43Mark Schlabach:but whoever told him, I think, is who we need to start the conversation with. That's genius. I hadn't thought of that. Me and Connor were kind of talking about this yesterday. I just assumed that around, like, 8.15, he was in the lunchroom at Bristol and just didn't even see the face, just overheard someone say, like, yeah, I don't think Lamar's there yet. And he was like, Jesus fucking Christ, just ran right into the studio and said it. Microwave on microphone. Yeah, exactly. Give me on now. Give me on now. So, I mean, one of those things you probably got to cross your T's and dot your I's before you, you know, take that to air.

1:36:13Mark Schlabach:but it happens.

1:36:14Pat McAfee:No, well, he didn't. I mean, I think he was told. Show business, baby. I think he was told by somebody. Funny that Lamar's not at offseason.

1:36:22Mark Schlabach:I mean, it was six minutes later they posted the video. I think Lamar said. That's not crazy to think.

1:36:28Pat McAfee:Offseason workout programs begin today in Arizona, Atlanta, Buffalo, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Miami, New York Giants, Pittsburgh, and Tennessee. That's all of the new head coaches. They get the opportunity to go in there early. Baltimore one day before everybody. Pittsburgh, allegedly, everybody's in town. AJ, the Yenzers are not happy, dude. I'm going to let you know they are not happy because they saw every star player show up at this offseason workout, and then they go, oh, I like the commitment, I like the buy-in. Coach McCarthy's got the boys believing in what they can be there in the black and yellow, black and gold for the Yenzer and for the Pittsburgh.

1:37:01Pat McAfee:But where's our fucking quarterback at? And then everybody goes back to, here we go again. Isn't that kind of how you guys are feeling about it?

1:37:08Darius Butler:Yes, brand new start, new head coach. okay everything's different it's not like hey we we know this we everyone's there okay jalen ramsey's there dk metcalf is there cam's there tj's there there's only one guy for the second year in a row who we're being held hostage by again okay and oh i don't want to show up for my guy mike mccarthy okay if you love mike mccarthy you'd be there for him okay you're not staring at the stars every night trying to talk to him trying to decide what you want to All right, H.

1:37:37Pat McAfee:H. Why is he saying that, H. That's not real. I don't know. I don't know why, Tony. You might be biased from previous conversations we have had with him and you think weird stuff is going on. But I wish I had anything for you on this one. As far as football and everything goes, I do not know what the plan may be. But, like I said, I believe the last five or six years in the offseason at this time, why would you quit playing if you can still slang the ball like he can? Yeah, especially in McCarthy's offense and which he loves. and McCarthy said we've had very positive conversations. A lot of them.

1:38:07Pat McAfee:And Aaron's in shape. We know that.

1:38:09Adam Schefter:Yes, he is.

1:38:10Pat McAfee:I mean, Tom, you should have answers.

1:38:12Adam Schefter:You're holding court with the Steelers brass.

1:38:14Darius Butler:Has he been offered a contract? I was just having life discussions with a couple of my friends. Has he been offered a deal?

1:38:19Pat McAfee:Well, you're talking about the off-the-record party where Tony Diggs was surrounded by Pittsburgh brass?

1:38:23Darius Butler:You thought I was talking ball? Holding court. Just talking to my friends about life, okay? Okay. Oh, those are your friends now. Life is out of QB? These are his friends now. Let's be tough.

1:38:31Pat McAfee:Interesting. Let's pivot away from what's happening in Pittsburgh. Aaron, good luck, dude. You played football for 50 years at this point. You do whatever the hell you want.

1:38:38Darius Butler:Yeah, but make up your mind.

1:38:40Pat McAfee:Whatever you want. You do whatever the hell you want, Aaron. But on that note, people in Pittsburgh would love if you made up your mind. But, Aaron, as you know, with the Inzers, as soon as you make up your mind, they'll be back on board. Yeah. Just know that's how it goes. But maybe a little show of the face and the calves, because he's jacked right now. No, he's jacked right now. He's got good abs, I assume, because of everything that's been going on out there. It's a lot of movement. Bulky chest. Yeah, absolutely. Hips probably going pretty activated. Oh, yeah. He's having a lot of nerves. He's having a lot of nerves.

1:39:11Pat McAfee:Super activated. Yeah, I'd say. If he just, you know, just first or second day, get a photo, and I think Gidsworth would go crazy. But, Aaron, you do whatever the hell you want. Long season. Are you all right, D-Butt? Are you okay, D-Butt? What's going on? You just remembered why he's in shape? You guys got to relax.

1:39:26Darius Butler:What are you talking about? He said it. He said it. He said it. He's having a lot of moments of clarity. How many moments of clarity do you need to decide? Well, clean it more than weights, brother.

1:39:36Adam Schefter:Something I'm saying on this stage is we need to relax, all right?

1:39:39Pat McAfee:Let's get to the big thing happening this weekend. Let's get to – What's that? What God said? What's that? Ladies and gentlemen, it's a massive week for golf.

1:39:52Darius Butler:Huge.

1:39:53Pat McAfee:This is when you really need to lock in on what's going on. This is where all the stars are out. This is when the patrons can't have their phones. It's a trip back in time where the golf level is at its absolute highest. And the course is the star. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us from across the street. Because if he didn't know if he did show from on grounds, he would get his pass revoked. Smart play. Very smart. Ladies and gentlemen, ESPN golf coverage, Mark Schlabaugh. Yeah, Mark! It's a good idea, Mark. Smart. How are you? Hey, go Dawgs. Go Dawgs. I'm in an undisclosed location across Washington behind the Fresh Market grocery store, and I hear, Pat, this might be as close as you get this season.

1:40:36I heard there was a lot of chatter about that.

1:40:38Pat McAfee:I think it was a good move by you to do what you're doing right now. We appreciate you joining us. Let's dive into this weekend. The last time we had you on for the players, you picked apart the thing and basically gave us the entire weekend. You were phenomenal. I don't know if you know this, if you had any idea. Immediately after you got off the show, we all said, Yup, we love that guy. Thank you for joining us. What do we need to look at this weekend, you think, at Augusta for these guys who are going to try to be remembered as icons of sport forever? Yeah, you know, I think it's wide open.

1:41:11I mean, you probably heard Tiger's not here, Phil's not here, unfortunately. But, you know, Scott, he's still struggling with the swing a little bit, fighting the driver. He's got two kids. He's got a chase down now. Just had a new son, Remy, 10 days ago. He hasn't played in about a month, but if it's wide open, why you wouldn't take the world number one is beyond me. Same thing for Roy McIlroy. Been battling a back, the defending champion. He seems to be pretty dialed in right now, but he hasn't played almost in three weeks. Colin Morikawa, the two-time major champion, was playing as well as anyone, and then he hurt his back, and he hasn't played since the Players' Championship.

1:41:51So a lot of unknown questions at the top. Ludwig Oberg from Switzerland via Lubbock, Texas. You know, one of the best iron players in the world. Don't know if he can finish, and that's been a big problem. And then Xander Shoffley, the X-Man. He battled a rib injury last year. He's back, playing really well. He could finish three quarters of the career Grand Slam this week.

1:42:14Pat McAfee:Okay, I just want to let you know, Mark, I love the way you talk about golf. I also appreciate the fact you're not scared to dive into the negative. The first thing you say, Scotty's got two kids, can't swing for shit, but hasn't played in 10 days, maybe a month. Maybe he'll be the guy. I don't know why you wouldn't take the world number one. You did call that ahead of the players. You said Scotty doesn't like it, but right now it's very clear that he does not like his swing. Is there a chance that just like I had, you don't play golf for a while. I retired from the game. I put the sticks down.

1:42:41Pat McAfee:Had to for the good of this and for my life as a whole. I picked him up this past weekend, played the best I've ever played in my life, dropped some bad habits. You think Scotty Scheffler gets back to what he was potentially after he took off like a month? Is there a chance that that actually happens, Mark? Yeah. I mean, look, I think the rest will help. You know, we don't know how much his wife's pending birth was, you know, on his mind the last couple of weeks. But each of the last three Masters, he came into the tournament ranked number one on tour in strokes gained approach. This year he's tied for 82nd, I believe.

1:43:17So, look, and it's not like the guy's finishing 63rd every week. He's, you know, a couple top 25s. It's just, you know, he's the new Tiger Woods. We're used to him being invincible, and he's shown a little bit of blood here the last few weeks. But, you know, one guy I did not mention either, Bryson DeChambeau hits it as long as anybody. After calling this a par 67 course a few years ago, the golf gods made him pay for it, but he seems to have figured it out. One back-to-back Vince in Singapore and South Africa on the Live Golf League. So, you know, he's definitely among the favorites as well.

1:43:56Pat McAfee:Yeah, I can't wait to see Bryson DeChambroe, always the show. On that note, it feels like the course might be a long one as well. Go ahead, Tohon.

1:44:04Darius Butler:Yeah, Mark, I could be wrong, but I feel like the last few years we've dealt with some rain. But I saw reports this week that it has not rained in Augusta in a few weeks. It's the driest the course has been in a while. Now, obviously, they have a sprinkler system at Augusta. But what is the course conditions? What are the players talking about how the course is shaping up for this weekend? Does that make the course harder, obviously, being drier and faster? It's going to be firm and fast. It's going to be crusty by Sunday. I mean, I live about an hour and a half from here. We haven't got any rain.

1:44:33I mean, it's been as dry around here as Florida's trophy case since Tim Tebow walked away. Oh, go Dawgs, go Dawgs, go Dawgs. Come on, man. Had a little bit of rain, a little bit of rain Monday. But, man, it's going to be cool tomorrow for the par three. But by Sunday, it's going to be about 85 degrees. They can get this course as fast and firm as they want. And talking to guys the last couple of days, it's already there. So it could be a little bit of a bloodbath on the weekend.

1:45:00Pat McAfee:Love everything about that. Anytime important golf is playing on the TV in the background through the weekend, it is a good time, especially when Nance's beautiful voice is kind of the soundtrack to it all. AJ has a question about a little bit more heat, potentially. Yeah, what about Brooks Koepka? Do you think – we know he always steps up when it matters the most that these are major events that kind of get his attention. What are your thoughts on his game coming into the Masters? How do you think he does? Yeah, I mean, he's been good since he came back from the Saudi league. He started off a little bit slow.

1:45:33It's called lift. Oh, sorry, the Saudi finance. Can he win this one? Can he win it, Mark? Jeez. I mean, he's another guy that could finish three quarters of the career grand slam here. But he's hitting the irons well. He switched putters a few weeks ago. He's putted better. Look, if I'm taking ten guys in a major, Brooks is one of them. He's big game Brooks for a reason. I would not be surprised to see him in contention. He loves the course. It suits his game. And, you know, he was right there in it with Tiger back in 2019 until the last few holes. So I would not be surprised to see him in contention.

1:46:10Pat McAfee:37 to 1 are the odds on that. Not a bad little payday, AJ, if you believe in him. I'm all of a sudden plus 450, Scotty Scheffler. Just the thought of baby boy happening. Last time he had a kid, didn't he go on a full run because he wanted to basically showcase to the baby, hey, listen, this is who dad is. I'm on Scotty. I love that we do still have a little bit of heat from Liv. Mm-hmm. Is the name of the league, okay? Liv is the name of the league. Soddy fucking. Hey, don't forget about Patrick Reed either, the man in black, the villain that left Liv to come back to PGA Tour because he wanted to play for real consequences.

1:46:51You know, he owns this place. He won back in 2018. He's an Augusta native. He played at Augusta College right down the street. I think he's got five top tens since 2018, which is as many as anybody in the field. He went on back-to-back weeks in the DP World Tour in the Middle East. So, you know, don't rule out Patrick Reed either.

1:47:11Pat McAfee:Unbelievable stuff, Mark. Let's talk about that a little bit more. Go ahead, Con, man. Yeah, Mark, it felt like the beef between Liv, the Saudi league, as you put it, and PGA kind of basically dwindled a bit, especially with Brooks coming back, Reed coming back. Is there still kind of an apparent beef that you see or at least hear about, you know, Brooks being back, but more so DeChambeau, Jon Rahm? Is there still a little bit of heat, a little bit of a rivalry, kind of two separate sides when you're walking around Augusta? I mean, not as much as like three years ago. I mean, look, Liv does a good job in Hong Kong and Singapore and Australia and South Africa.

1:47:49I mean, those places are dying for professional golf because the PGA Tour hasn't been there. But, look, it's struggled to get footing in the U.S. I mean, it's television ratings, you know, on the CW and Fox Sports 2 now. I mean, the numbers are what they are. But, look, Bryson in this season is contracts up. You know, are they going to pay him what they paid him before? I've been told the big, you know, front-end contracts aren't a thing anymore. You know, does he come back to the VGA Tour? Does he just go do YouTube golf and make, you know, millions of dollars? We'll have to see. But I just think, you know, there's a handful of guys over there.

1:48:31I think the PGA Tour would like to see come back, including Rambo. But I've been told Rom would owe him like a billion dollars to get out of that contract. He's pretty confident he'll be on the Ryder Cup team next year to Darren Manor in Ireland. But he's got to settle some things with the DP World Tour.

1:48:49Pat McAfee:Okay, so obviously a lot of heat behind the scenes with the way the Liv and everything came together, especially three years ago. You chit-chat about there. The boys coming together to play in the Masters, it feels like he's always special, You know, which is, it always feels big because everybody, you talk about Phil and Tiger not being there, obviously it's a little different, but all the stars are going to be there. Sometimes it's not about them. Can you tell me a little bit about the place in which the amateurs still have to sleep in 2026? What is that place called? What is that area called?

1:49:15Rose Nest. Mason Howell, the 18-year-old from Thomasville, Georgia, slept in there last night. This kid is a stud, Pat. Okay, hold on.

1:49:22Pat McAfee:Now, Ty wants to ask, can Ty ask you about this actually? Because if you could tell me about the, after Ty's question about it, Can you also tell me about the tradition of them having to sleep? They sleep in like the crow's nest up here, I believe. Now, good bed. I think it has air conditioning. There's a game up there that they play, but go ahead, Ty.

1:49:38Mark Schlabach:Yeah, Mark, are there any amateurs that you're kind of – I mean, it feels like in recent years we've had a couple of these guys who kind of catch fire a little bit, make the cut, and then sometimes kind of dwindle on Sunday. But are there any amateurs or first-time starters at Augusta that you're kind of keeping an eye on to potentially make a run this week? Yeah, I think there's 22 first-timers, not including the amateurs. You know, there hadn't been a first-time winner since Fuzzy Zeller, God rest his soul, back in 1979. Chris Goddard, New Jersey guy, has already won twice on tour, hits it a mile, transferred from Rutgers to Oklahoma for his final year.

1:50:15He's got all the tools, really fast ball speed, swing speed. He's going to win some majors and may not be this week. um you know jacob bridgman putts it as well as anybody on tour um marco penge a dp world tour guy who came over this year it's at a mile um you know the amateurs as a kid from tennessee his name escapes me at the moment they call him the fridge um and then uh in fact he got home to his rental house yesterday and his refrigerator was covered with magnets of him with the fridge on it and then And Mason Howell, the kid I was talking about a minute ago. Jackson Harrington is the fridge.

1:50:54Jackson Harrington, thank you. Yeah, he plays at Tennessee. Lost to Mason Howell in the finals of the U.S. Amateur last year. Mason Howell played the U.S. Open as a 17-year-old. He's here as an 18-year-old. He slept in the crow's nest last night. He is an absolute stud. Stunner, Pat, going to Georgia next year. But his – he came over last Wednesday and played a practice round with Justin Rose and almost aced the 240-yard par three fourth.

1:51:22Pat McAfee:What if the lad wins there? So can they win? I don't think I understand the rules because it's always best amateur. They can't go to college though because they can claim it because I guess nowadays... Don't get paid. Yeah, you can't. You don't get paid. You don't get paid, you get a green jacket. What? Yeah, but that green jacket

1:51:38Darius Butler:pays for itself.

1:51:39Pat McAfee:He's worth more than gold. Okay, can you tell us about some of the rules here? We got three minutes. Let's just make sure if we happen to be on the grounds, we don't look like assholes, you know, this weekend potentially how do people dress for this thing what are the words we got patrons we got uh bunkers uh yep you got you got patrons you've got the first nine and the second nine not the front and the back you've got the first cut not the rough you've got um ornamentals not bushes uh you got pimento cheese do not put it on top of the chicken sandwich the egg salad is better than the pimento cheese.

1:52:14I would dress nicely. No cell phones, period. You'll get your arm cut off.

1:52:24And no tank tops, I believe. All right.

1:52:26Pat McAfee:I'll maybe see you down there. We appreciate the hell out of you. You're the best, ladies and gentlemen. ESPN Golf for Mark Schaubach. Yeah, Mark. He's the best. Yeah, he's become quickly my favorite guest we've ever had. Undisclosed location, then gives his exact location hey i'm not trying to sneak this on the grounds please i this is where i'm exactly at i feel like this is the closest you're going to get to this place too it's like all right i like where you're at mark mark's following along does that mean they're talking about it down there should we maybe not good down there i think you should it's interesting that this is all kind of become a thing i did not expect it to become a thing what i am learning about us is that things become things okay we obviously all go with that but then i got a lot of people telling me how small and irrelevant we all are.

1:53:11Pat McAfee:It's kind of an interesting battle every single day on being like, hey, if I throw away lying, okay, becomes, we didn't say go to hell.

1:53:20Adam Schefter:No, I saw a lot of you last night. Speaking of things.

1:53:24Pat McAfee:I had a little dinner. Took baby girl up to bed. Come downstairs. At 8.30, 8.40ish. Open my phone. Go to the X. Go to trending. Is that me? Are they the Pat Magafee? What is that about? CM Punk last night called me Pat Magafee and attacked a lot of things and then he would lay out why he is not worth the price of admission to Wrestlemania. Lower the prices now. I'm not worth that much. But no worries Mr. Punk. Randy Orton is here to save everything. And this has been an exciting time. Joe Tessitore revealed the WrestleMania cards earlier today on Get Up. Mike Greenberg started asking about conspiracy theories.

1:54:10Pat McAfee:Yeah, he did. Jeez, Greeny. They're journalists. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. They're journalists. Journalism, bro. And let's not even talk about real-life conspiracy happening. There's a guy who has, I think he's in the meetings.

1:54:24Mark Schlabach:Yeah.

1:54:24Pat McAfee:Say, hey, they're around. 200 yards. What? We should know. We should know. We'll never know. There are a couple in there. Do we know anything? Nope. We'll find out tomorrow. Goodbye. What an ending. Well done. You think that's like a real gripper right there? Mm-hmm. You think I'm really like – It's Amy Worthy right there. He's really – Pat's really going through it. He's going through it. Yeah. Yeah, no airports walking through. No sound. Yeah. Just so – Oh, no. Pat McAfee there before. Imagine not hearing this, hearing the story kind of going about. What a dumb life we're living. All right, let's get to a break.

1:55:01Pat McAfee:On the other side, we're going to cover everything we haven't chatted about that happened in the sports world we're incredibly lucky that we get to be what's proper term some of the voices of sports world right now we i think sports are greatest oh yeah i like it i think every day it proves it more and more like last night that national championship that was cool that's just like cool to see yeah so many people happy for one thing. Where was all the UConn fans? They were in one section and then behind the hoop. It was like 80-20. Nah. How does that happen? Geography. Location. Geography. And it's 34 years, you know.

1:55:42Oh, you guys just used to it, huh? I mean, out of those three teams, that one was definitely the worst of the three.

1:55:49Adam Schefter:As far as... Like, skill. Like, that team loses to 2023 and 2023. Oh, oh. Yeah.

1:55:58Pat McAfee:On that note The tickets were very expensive.

1:56:02Mark Schlabach:Yeah, I was going to say it was outrageously expensive.

1:56:04Pat McAfee:So I think Michigan had a really – not that UConn doesn't, but I'm just saying the Michigan people, let alone them being 300 in the last four years, potentially winning their second national championship ever while also being able to get here and also get out of here for work maybe on Tuesday, you know, because of location. It was very heavily – I mean, very clearly heavily Michigan. And you got people that don't know each other high-fiving. That's like so cool. Yeah. Those are my dreams coming true. I mean, us getting a chance to chat with Yaxel earlier, and he has the net still tied on his hat, and the trophy's sitting right there.

1:56:37Pat McAfee:It's like, that dude hasn't slept. No. That guy hasn't slept at all. How many moments of that do you really have in the world? Most people, zero.

1:56:47Darius Butler:It's a four-hour drive for Ann Arbor and 13 for UConn. I mean, what about what Mark was just talking about? Like, there's an 18-year-old kid sleeping on the Augusta premises getting ready to play golf on Thursday to win a green jacket, potentially. He's 18-year-old. Like, that gives me chills just thinking about what that kid is thinking about as he is at his little cabin.

1:57:10Pat McAfee:There's a 21-year-old in Boston who has an incredible bat for the Boston Red Sox. He does. It might become the youngest DH. What does that mean? In MLB history.

1:57:22Mark Schlabach:It means he's an absolute fucking liability in left field. What? That is not the case. Unfortunately. That's not true. I've been seeing some pictures. That's not true. There you go. Hey, if it were up to me, shit, keep him out there. You kidding me? We'll run on this sumbitch until he throws somebody out at the plate, and boy, it doesn't look like that's happening anytime soon. He's got the yips, all right? He's got the yips. He's going through it a bit. So, yeah, he can't throw the ball right now from left field. Has he dropped the fly ball? No. That's okay. Has he had a ball go through his legs or has he missed a ground ball?

1:57:54No. Got to work on the accuracy. Word on the street is Mark DeRosa told him that, hey, you should throw here. And so now all of a sudden his accuracy is a little screwed up. I don't know what happened. He was basically hanging out with Judge and Pete Crow Armstrong for three weeks and now the guy can't throw. This wasn't happening last year. It wasn't happening last year. Just fine. Yeah, they are. I know. Just fine. And so I don't know if maybe he saw them do something and thought, like, I can do that too. He can't. He's got to go back to his basics. I don't know where Tony Tony's at right now, but Tony Tony, why don't you call your boy?

1:58:26Why don't you go check in on your boy? Get back to what you guys were doing growing up. Because this was not the case last year. No son of mine, he's got linguine fur right on. I need that in Tony Tony's ear.

1:58:37Adam Schefter:I don't like what you're doing, too. That's what I'm talking about. He doesn't have a noodle arm. He's got the yips. But on that note. Two for four.

1:58:45Pat McAfee:Guys, unbelievable in the batter's box. Lead off double. Bubblehead night last night. We're going to be just fine. How come whenever I said, why isn't he DH? And then I thought immediately, as a 21-year-old, I don't think I know that. Why was that so outrageous to you and to Bruce and to the baseball people?

1:59:04Mark Schlabach:Because, you know, 21, you're thinking this kid's young. He's athletic. You're more thinking of DH, Giancarlo Stanton. This guy's like 37. He can't open a bag of chips because his body's so fucked up from playing baseball. For the last 17 years. Like, that guy can't be in the field. But then I watch something like that, and I'm thinking, you know what? If I got John Carlos Stanton on second base, I'm sending him. I'm sending him on a base hit. I think he probably, you know, in like the video game, his speed would be a zero. And I think he – I don't even know if he'd have to slide in the home plate.

1:59:38Mark Schlabach:I'm not saying you want to bury Roman. No, he's just – he's too young. You expect a guy like that, very good athlete, like he needs to play in the field because they have some other guy who is much older who might have a great bat, but he's going to be a liability in the field. So you need the young guys to be able to play defense. Don't fucking listen to this guy. Okay? I watch every single fucking baseball game this year. He's going to be fine. He's going through it a little bit. He doesn't have a noodle arm. He knows. He actually said after the game, I got to figure this the fuck out. This can't keep going.

2:00:13He's going to be just fine.

2:00:15Pat McAfee:I heard they're sell the team chants up there. I heard they sell the team chants picked up and moved from Pittsburgh to Boston. Well, that's the problem, by the way. Yeah, hold on. That's the problem, by the way, is the whole sell the team thing. Like, we spent$300 fucking million this offseason, okay? So I don't know if we need to sell the team, but that GM, Craig Breslow, now that's the guy. I think we need to go after him. I'm not calling for people to chant fire Breslow, but it has nothing to do with the owner. Oh, yeah. What about the pizza that people are being forced to buy in there? See, now that's tough.

2:00:52That's tough. Okay. We don't know if that's real. Yeah, we don't know if that's real. It's also a freaking 45 degree night in Boston. All right. What do you want them to do? Grab a fucking bag of peanuts and a couple beers. Stop ordering fucking pizza. Get a goddamn Fenway Frank, not pizza pie. Yeah, get a fucking hot dog or fucking popcorn. Stop ordering fucking pizza at the ballpark

2:01:13Darius Butler:Agreed What the fuck

2:01:16Adam Schefter:It was Roman's bobblehead night Yeah exactly it was Roman's bobblehead night Not Roman's fucking pizza night That throw Was on Roman Anthony bobblehead night It's the best one he's had all season So I don't want to fucking hear about it I'm okay with that throw Hey Roman let's go dude

2:01:34Pat McAfee:Come on He's going to be fine Yes he is Now I can't throw a baseball So I have no idea where it's headed Neither does he. Exactly. I'm telling you, that's a terrible feeling whenever you guys are skipping a stone, which I heard you're the only person in the history of baseball that's ever said that. Yep. Roman needs to start skipping the stone. Yeah. Maybe I made a couple calls to get Roman down here to skip the stone when they're on their way to KC or something. When I'm skipping stone with you guys and there's valuable shit behind you guys and I'm throwing, man, every time I'm throwing, I'm thinking to myself, I don't know where this is going.

2:02:08Pat McAfee:Roman has that. Kickers get it. Pitchers get it. Golfers get it. Like, anytime you have a little thing, that's what people are saying that he has. It's like you can beat that just with one sick. All he needs is one laser. That's all it takes. You can't, like, practice that. It's only like you've got to do that in the moment. He's got to gun somebody out at home or something. Then, okay, here we go. We're over the hump. Bingo.

2:02:27Mark Schlabach:I don't think he has a great arm to begin with, though.

2:02:29Darius Butler:He did play right field last year, too. That could be messing with him. I know it's something small.

2:02:33Mark Schlabach:It's just one of those things, like, they're 2-8 right now. Everything's not going great. He probably feels immense pressure because he's batting leadoff, and he was starting for the World Baseball Classic for Team USA. It's just a lot of shit on top of each other. I've told this guy time and time again, it's fucking April. You can't do this yet, otherwise he'll blow his brains out in May. I'm fucking sick of hearing it, too. What? Sick of hearing not going to worry? I need a win. Yeah, okay.

2:02:59Pat McAfee:Hey, it's fine. We've been kind of watching you here publicly on this show kind of go through it because remember before the home opener, the season hadn't started. You guys were worse in the league. Exactly. Now the home opener has happened. The season has started, and you guys still stink. Yeah, okay, but now finally Garrett Crochet is pitching at home. So really the season starts today. Our rotation is here, and if it doesn't happen today, tomorrow is going to be real tough. You know what's happening today? What's that? Skeen's Day. Pittsburgh Pirates, hottest team in baseball, with the greatest celebration.

2:03:26Mark Schlabach:Not anymore.

2:03:27Pat McAfee:What's the time, man? Three-game losing streak?

2:03:31Darius Butler:They won five in a row, and then they lost one. So if that's a three-game losing streak. The Reds overtook them for second place in the NL Central. We know that. Okay. We beat the Reds in a series head-to-head. Yeah, it doesn't matter. Who's got a better record now? Tell Elliot to learn how to hit.

2:03:45Pat McAfee:Yeah, what are you talking? Just let me. It's Skeen's Day. We're not talking about your shit. Yeah, go with it. Go with your Pirates. Go. You guys got a clock over there. Really nice of you. I'm happy to hear that. Beautiful clock. Thank you, Joey Votto. Thank you, Joey Votto, for your service to Cincinnati and for letting everybody know it's always that time. You know, your time is up. Our time is now. That's what Joey Votto is saying. The time, 640 tonight Eastern. Paul Skeens, home opener for Skeens. Obviously, his league season opener didn't go great. He's back. The Pirates are winners, and Pittsburgh's a buzz.

2:04:16Pat McAfee:Tone, we're excited for Skeens being on the bum.

2:04:18Darius Butler:Yeah, obviously the first one didn't go well, and then he shut out. Who was it? Oh, it was the Reds. He beat the Reds. And then, yes, tonight, home opener for him against the Padres. Tough loss last night, real bad. It was old school Pirates loss last night, but we'll bounce back today with Skeens on the mound. Total moves from seven to six. Six very low is what? Yeah, there's a lot of cold weather out there today. And wind. And wind. A lot of it blowing in. Somehow the wind is always blowing in when it's cold. It's never blowing out for home runs. So, yes. And there's a lot of aces on the mountains today.

2:04:51Darius Butler:So, there's a lot of low totals.

2:04:52Pat McAfee:Yeah, so home run bets today might not be home run bingo day. You know, it might not be home run because the weather cold, Bats cold. Hands cold. Balls don't travel as far, especially with the breeze. This is good second-level thinking here from Hammer. God! We appreciate that stuff. Now, I might be completely wrong because maybe these bats get a little stiffer and the balls do another thing. Sure. Because as cold it goes. But as somebody who used to have to hit something in the cold, you always hate it. Your body hates it. It has to do for pitching. Probably tightens them up a little bit. Yeah, not throwing as hard.

2:05:23Pat McAfee:95, 97.

2:05:24Mark Schlabach:Yeah, that's like where I'd expect skeins to be today.

2:05:27Pat McAfee:As opposed to 99, 100. Right. A little bit slow, yeah. That's a big difference. Yeah, because you're not as loose. You're not as loose. You're pretty tight, you know?

2:05:35Mark Schlabach:Not as limber.

2:05:36Pat McAfee:Yeah, exactly.

2:05:37Mark Schlabach:But today is a great opportunity, you know, with a lot of aces. If you want to go like Lucky 7s, do a parlay, you know, maybe 7 plus strikeouts, something like that. What is that? What is Lucky 7? I mean, there are so many good pitchers. You kind of just look at matches and go, you know what? I think this guy's going to shove today. I think this guy's going to shove today. And a lot of the pitchers who are throwing today are strikeout guys. So, you know, you just couple a couple of them together. Yeah. A lot of ponchers. We got a lot of ponche. The Red Sox swing at the most pitches outside of the zone.

2:06:03And the Miz is on the bump for the Brewers. So if you want to go ahead and hop. Not that I would ever bet against the Sox. Oh, so we got Miz versus the Sox.

2:06:13Darius Butler:Yes. There's also going to be a fight tonight in this game. There's a chance. Yeah. Between who? Oh, Brewers and Red Sox. This guy Contreras has been hit by the Brewers like 24 times in his career. He got Bean last night, slid into second base, ripped the guy's pants with his cleat, slid high. He's pissed off. I'm guessing Yellich is going to get one from Crochet today. Yeah, it was one of the Contreras from the World Baseball Classic. Bingo, and his brother is on the Brewers, and to Gumby's point, he's been hit 24 times, and it's with less than 500 at-bats against the Brewers. It's like the most in the history of baseball for one guy against one team.

2:06:50So I don't know what the hell is going on. I think his brother's telling the pitcher like, hey, fuck my brother. Hit him right now.

2:06:56Pat McAfee:Does that happen with an on-base percentage? Maybe he's looking out for his brother. Oh, maybe. Might be a good little play, actually. Hey, middle finger fastball immediately. Yep, hit him. See you later. On-base percentage higher here. We don't have to worry about you striking out to anybody. Are you going to tell anybody about this? Nope. Everybody's going to be mad at everybody. We're going to have two organizations who want to kill each other over this. But we know that my brother's on-base percentage is going to be better because that counts, right? Yes.

2:07:22Darius Butler:Huge.

2:07:22Pat McAfee:There's some very fast pitches going high and in on guys. Dude. I mean, Trout had that one. Yep. There was one. I think Judge got one, like, right here. Yep. Skeen had someone doing that. Is that a new pitch that's in, or is this normal? That's probably just one that got away. But it's been getting away. Yeah. I think, like, across the league. Yeah, no, that's normal. I've been seeing high for a righty into.

2:07:44Mark Schlabach:Back him off the plate. Yeah, you're trying to just establish the zone. Hey, the inside part of the plate is mine. So, fucking back up. Or I'm going to drill you in the hand and break a couple fingers, and you're going to be out a few weeks.

2:07:52Pat McAfee:So, that is literally what's happening right there.

2:07:54Mark Schlabach:Yeah, I mean, sometimes it is just like, you know, like Skeens is the kind of guy who his control is so good. He's not hitting a whole bunch of guys. So, like, if he does miss like that, there's a chance that he's just a little bit wild and he's missing. But a lot of times it's, yeah, no, that's my play. Fucking back up.

2:08:12Pat McAfee:Wilson Contreras, after getting hit by the Milwaukee Brewers for the 24th time, he says, they always say I'm not trying to hit you. That gets old. So next time they hit me again, I'm going to take one of them out. That's a message. All right, baseball's happening. Yeah.

2:08:22Adam Schefter:How's ABS doing? Great. Still good.

2:08:26Mark Schlabach:Yesterday was the worst day for hitters challenging pitches in the ABS era so far.

2:08:32Pat McAfee:So are all teams, because they only have two, and if you get it wrong, you lose it, are they just going to let the catchers be the ones that are going to call this going forward? But I guess the hitters have no defense then on that particular side?

2:08:40Mark Schlabach:Yeah, it's weird. It seems like some teams have been strategically kind of telling guys, like, hey, in the first seven innings, don't challenge anything at the plate. We're going to save these for high leverage situations late in the game. But then that kind of turns into like, so if there's like a full count with maybe some guys on base and like you need to score a run, guys are taking pitches like right down the middle and then just challenging them. And it's like, because it's like, well, shit, maybe it did miss and he'll walk. It inevitably doesn't happen. That guy strikes out, you lose your challenge, and then you're kind of fucked for if you do need it later.

2:09:12Pat McAfee:Yesterday was the worst daily success rate for all hitter ABS challenges in MLB history.

2:09:17Mark Schlabach:I think it is fucking with some guys big time. It's making guys more hesitant, and then they don't really know what they want to do. And then I think it really is.

2:09:25Pat McAfee:I like that there's another head game being at. All right, let's take a break. We'll be back on the other side wrapping up all the sports stories. We can't thank you enough for allowing us to do this for a living. Be a friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. Take five. Five.

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2:10:20They're the ones with the bear on the box.

2:10:22Adam Schefter:Rich Eisen here. The April 15th tax deadline is coming fast, but don't worry.

2:10:27Pat McAfee:Hand off your taxes to a TurboTax expert today. You know how April feels. Everything speeds up. Games matter. More hoops and hockey schedules tighten. Your phone won't stop buzzing. And somewhere in the middle of it all, there's that quiet little reminder. Taxes. You'll get to it tonight or tomorrow. or after the weekend, and if you handle it the old way, you're refreshing your inbox like it's breaking news, waiting, wondering, hoping everything's squared away. That's a lot of mental bandwidth. With Intuit TurboTax Expert full service, you can match with a dedicated expert who understands your specific tax situation and handles your taxes for you, start to finish.

2:11:05Pat McAfee:You can do it all online or meet in person at one of their new tech-enabled store locations, have your tax forms imported directly into the app, and hand everything off to your TurboTax expert. While they work to get you every dollar you deserve, you can go about your normal routine,

2:11:20Adam Schefter:giving you time back to focus on what actually deserves your attention, like rooting for your team to make the playoffs. April 15th is not waiting, people. Visit TurboTax.com and hand off your taxes to a TurboTax expert today.

2:11:38Pat McAfee:Is that where three? Sports! You know, I had to reverse it a little bit because I forgot. what I was saying because I was so excited about the fact that A.J. Hawk's back. Wow.

2:11:48Darius Butler:Hoggle. We had a week without him. Yeah.

2:11:51Pat McAfee:We had a week without him. The talks table at Boston Conner and at Ty Schmidt. Conner said it was cool. It was not cool. One half of the hammer. Done. Cowboys AP Tone is here. Nine-year NFL vet Darius J. Butler is here. Miss you, A.J. Yeah, we did miss you, A.J. We did miss you, A.J. Yeah, miss you guys. Love you, A.J. You too, Con. Miss you, Con. You didn't miss us. Don't freaking lie. Whoa. He'll patronize us. Paul, he dropped a frickin' on you. Yeah. No, I'm for real, bitch. Yeah, you know, that's a big deal, obviously, whenever you get to that. And D-Bot, we're sorry about what happened to your school last year.

2:12:20Adam Schefter:Hey, sports. You know what? I might stop going to live sporting events. The last two have been heartbroken. WBC, Venezuela. And then Miami, Indiana. Another road game, WBC, in America, in Miami. And then same thing last night. But congratulations to the Wolverines.

2:12:40Pat McAfee:Dusty May big time really does take the wind out of your sails going to a game like that where you really want to win and they lose especially because getting out of there is going to be problematic

2:12:49Adam Schefter:you got to walk down the street with all your gear

2:12:54Pat McAfee:a lot of go blues last night a lot of go blues a lot of Michigan people there they were omnipresent I would say is the word of what Michigan kind of did let's go one half of the hammer Cowboys I know a few of us got the crown last night. H, who'd you pick last night? Oh, yeah. I had UConn with the points, so yeah, I think I got that. Oh, he got the crown as well. Hey, we're kind of crowned up around here.

2:13:18Adam Schefter:You got the crown? I did not get the crown. I had to take my team straight up.

2:13:23Pat McAfee:Oh, my gosh. You missed the crown opportunity.

2:13:26Adam Schefter:You didn't have to. I had to.

2:13:28Pat McAfee:We all had one crowning moment. And you dropped it. You could have had a crown.

2:13:35Adam Schefter:No crown for me. You got two. West Virginia and you got the crown last night. Congratulations.

2:13:41Pat McAfee:You got two crowns too last night. As you said, UConn plus six and a half. Shout out Michigan winning the natty. That's two for two for UConn. Man, we're seeing it pretty good right now. Yeah, seeing it pretty good. I think just to go back to the conversation we were having at the end of the last hour, I also went about 0 for 8 on Red Sox crowns. So really it was more of a two for 10. But on the day, yeah, exactly. That's fanhood. On just strictly, hey, how are we seeing the board? Sure. Yeah. How do we do it? Two for two crowns. Crown, crown, crown, crown, crown, crown, crown, crown, crown, crown, crown, crown, crown, crown, crown, crown, crown, crown, crown, crown, crown, crown.

2:14:12Pat McAfee:Everywhere for you. It's kind of fun being back in the crown game. It's nice to have a crown. Only recently, since that minus$1 ,100,$5 ,000 bet, I do believe the gambling gods have been keeping the crowns away from my account. And as you know, I chose not to deposit back into it again in a couple of days. But then whenever you start seeing what's going on around college hoops, all of a sudden you get a feeling like, I think I know what's going to happen here. UConn was going to make that thing tight no matter what. Michigan inevitably was going to win because they were too deep, too big, too strong, too good.

2:14:40Pat McAfee:One half of the hammer. Cowboys, AP Tony. You went two for two last night on crowns last night. I don't know if you bet on anything else. I think soccer is happening right now as well.

2:14:47Darius Butler:Soccer is happening. I didn't bet on soccer at all. Hockey's happening right now? Yeah. Slate was kind of shite last night in hockey. NBA slate is always shite. But did bet on baseball. Did some good baseball last night. So, yeah, a couple crowns, a few crowns last night.

2:15:02Pat McAfee:What's that all about? The NBA slate's always shite.

2:15:03Darius Butler:That's true. That's just true. The Utah Jazz were plus 24 and a half. And they didn't even come close to cover. It's the National Basketball Association. What happened to this league? I think that was a record. The two greatest – oh, actually, it was a record. And the two greatest margins of victories in the history of the NBA have come on the last – not last night, but the two nights before that. There's just no close games. I mean, it's just –

2:15:25Pat McAfee:Roman Anthony handles back here by Boston. Connor just dropped his baseball. A little bit of noise here on the other side. Let's talk about NBA losing another star player. With 64 games. Oh, yeah. Oh, no. Wemby took a shot to the rim. Paul George caught him right there in the ribs. Come on, Paul. It was a little bit of a... I don't know where it was. What's the injury? I think they said ribs. So it might have been a stretch as opposed to a shot. You know, like if you stretch like... He's holding his elbow. Did he punch him? They're saying it's his rib. So tall. Elbow. So tall. Everything. Think about...

2:16:03Pat McAfee:Think about just the side. His forearm is, what, 24 probably? 24 if I have a guess? Probably, yeah. Because standard forearm is what, 12 inches? Because it's what the king did for a foot, right? Yep. Isn't that what they say? Is that right? Is that what it is? I don't know. I think so. Which king? I have no idea. I have no idea. I think he just measured his own foot. But this one here, I don't know what it's supposed to be, but I assume Wemby's is like, just think about everything on his body. Rib cage. His rib cage is... Standing next to his check instrument? Everything is bigger. So every injury is larger, obviously.

2:16:36Pat McAfee:That's what it's going to be. He's at the 64-game mark, I do believe. So this is a huge conversation because he's in the MVP conversation. You have to play 65 games to be up for awards, remember, because they're trying to get rid of the stars not playing because they just don't want to play in the NBA right now. And now, like, legitimate injuries and things are happening to people, and they're potentially not going to hit the mark, which is definitely going to affect a contract that can be, like, doubled or tripled even. It's an interesting predicament that the NBA finds itself in. And back in the day, we asked Shaq this yesterday.

2:17:04Pat McAfee:We're like, how do you feel about the load management and the season maybe changing and all that stuff? And I think Mark Cuban even pitched like shortening the game just a little bit and make them 40 minutes as opposed to 48 minutes or whatever the case was. And Shaq goes, don't change it. We ought to do it. You know, it's like they're always going to say that. The old heads are always going to say that. And I think the New Day's guys are like, we're all seven foot now. Isn't everybody gigantic now? It feels like everybody is like a once-in-a-lifetime type athlete whenever you look at it. So I think they're probably saying we operate a little differently, and Shaq's like, you don't think I'm wanted once?

2:17:38Pat McAfee:What do you think I did? So it's such a fascinating thing. Question. Because we've seen it happen before, and now it has to go. And Victor Wemmeyana has logged his second game below 20 minutes a season, which will count toward the 65-game minimum. Since he also played in the NBA Cup final, Wemby needs to log just one more game with 20-plus minutes a season to qualify for awards. Awards also qualify you for bonuses in the future for contracts and what Supermax can be and what Supermax cannot be.

2:18:04Adam Schefter:Yeah, that would be what I answered. I was going to ask, can he just come out and do jump ball and then get subbed out just to reach that threshold? We would hate it, but, you know, that answered that question. He is the favorite to win defensive player of the year, too, right? Yes, but, yeah. Like a long shot? Oh, yeah. Who would be next up if he – Oh, that's a good question.

2:18:20Pat McAfee:I hope it's Draymond just so we can get our speech. Is Draymond in that? Did you see that clip? Yeah, it was amazing. He was great. Yes, he was. His sweet fanny pack he had on, too, when he stood up to walk around the table. Hashtag new media. Golden State's still in it. Yeah. Golden State's still in it. Steph Curry's back. That's part of the conversation. Joker's outrageous. Wemby needs to play 20 more minutes in a game. How many games are left? Six?

2:18:43Darius Butler:Four to six, if I remember correctly. Four games. That's a big deal. Yes. On the DraftKings, make the crown yours. there is no defensive player of the year odds right now. Makes sense. You got to play.

2:18:59Mark Schlabach:I mean, I get it. The differences in getting that super – I agree. Standing to lose a shitload of money. And, listen, I know he's a big dude. If he's missing four games because of that fucking collision, I'll never watch a fucking NBA game again. Come on. I know he's an alien. He's huge. He's not like anybody else. That's fair. Get out there and play fucking 20 minutes next week. You win all your awards, make sure you can make the most amount of money, and then you can fucking sit out three more games.

2:19:27Pat McAfee:It's a rib contusion. I bet. That means a bruise.

2:19:31Mark Schlabach:That happens all the time. You know what? Skipping the stone. I'm pretty sure my pinky is fucking broken because my glove's not broken in. But does that mean I'm not going to go out here and skip the stone? No. No, it doesn't. I'm just going to fucking eat it and then take it off. And be like, God, my fucking hand hurts. Every time. Every single time. And that's just what you got to do. Okay? So, Wemby, just go out there and play 20 minutes. And then you fucking, you know, you take a break until the playoffs start. But if we're missing four games and he's not going to win defensive player of the year and he's okay with potentially losing like$70 million from that collision, I'm done.

2:20:06Mark Schlabach:I'll never do it again. Ever. I think it's wise to say a piece of advice.

2:20:10Pat McAfee:We don't know how that left rib contusion is, though. We don't know how the contusion is versus a broken pinky. Yeah.

2:20:15Mark Schlabach:We've been watching you throw through real injury here. No, no, no. I'm fucking receiving. I'm catching. That ball's making it worse, really, every single time we get done. How's your glove? It's so fucking stiff. It's so small. It has not yielded an inch. It's a fucking stubborn bastard. It really is.

2:20:37Pat McAfee:He's been trying to break this thing in. I walked by, he's got this fucking hammer thing. He's just hitting it. I'm like, what are you doing? He's like, I'm breaking in my glove. He could have got that at the store. I don't know anything about this shit. I've never bought a glove in my life. So I guess it takes like 4 or 5 days They say to break in the glove He was in a place, he could not wait

2:20:56Mark Schlabach:Those guys are doing it all I mean if I, yeah if they're Spending 12 hours a day just fucking ramming that thing 4 to 5 days

2:21:04Pat McAfee:When you buy it, don't they say we can get it to you in 4 to 5 days

2:21:07Mark Schlabach:Yeah you could, but I'm not letting some other fucking slap dick Break in my glove, cause I want it broken in How I want it broken in Yeah, so, but Wrap it at night, wrap it with rubber bands, put a ball in there The glove ball, yeah hey dickhead, I've done it before I know how to break in a glove. I knew it. Yeah. I knew exactly what I mean. At this point, we have stuff here. Any other ideas? Hey, check for him. Put it in the oven. Put some good glove oil. Get one of those bats that has a ball on top. Yeah, throw it in the oven. Thought about that, too. Unfortunately, I think at this point, I am going to have to take it to one of those slap dicks at Dick's Sporting Goods and have them break it in for me.

2:21:40Mark Schlabach:Four to five days. Yeah, four to five days. I just don't know how much longer I can do it. You take it on Thursday.

2:21:46Darius Butler:We'll be back by Monday.

2:21:47Pat McAfee:The glove thing has been great. It's been awesome to watch and experience for the first time in my life. Just what Connor has done with his glove, he has really molded it into what he wants it to be. Because remember, he couldn't catch a damn thing with that thing. And at the beginning, it was just bouncing off, and now he's got a full catcher's mitt that I think he'd be okay going to game with right now. Is this what's happening with everybody out there? And why can't they sell these things a little bit more broken in? They do.

2:22:11Mark Schlabach:You can buy one that's pretty much broken in. the nice ones though like the very nice gloves like that's kind of just part of that's part of the fun is breaking because people like will bend the glove like different ways and shit like that because like you want it to feel a certain way when like you're feeling the ground ball or catching a fly ball and not everyone's the same so you kind of break you got to break it in you find your pocket that's part of the fun until you break your fucking uh pinky and then you got to play catch with it and it's a tiny fucking glove it's so small i feel like ty cobb like 1905 fucking playing with this thing.

2:22:44Mark Schlabach:It drills me right on the spot that hurts every single time I catch it.

2:22:48Pat McAfee:I watch Ozzy maybe baseball coach now a former baseball player. He was talking. It was a throwback video. Seemed to be like a training lesson. I guess there's a catch version where it looks like you're just bare handing it and then you're throwing it. So like ball comes in. It looks like you're not even using your glove pretty much. He talked about watching somebody whenever he was a kid do that. Figure out how he did it because it looked like a magic trick. And he was doing it. I guess a lot of people do this. Just strict palm right into other hand. It's just basically a deflection. I feel like he was talking as if he actually catches.

2:23:23Darius Butler:Some infielders, when they're turning two, will have the glove closed and use the outside of the glove. So it's like they're using it to kind of cushion it and stop it. But they're not opening it. They're getting caught in there.

2:23:34Pat McAfee:Yeah, that little thing was slick. I was watching him do it. So I was like, oh, that does look like he's bare-handed right now. And then they slowed it down like the masked magician did. and it was like, boom, no, you're kind of like stalling it right there and then just dropping it into your hand.

2:23:48Darius Butler:Catchers is almost like that when a guy's running on you to second. Stopping it. Just as quick as possible.

2:23:54Mark Schlabach:You saw that a little bit with Bobby Witt making those unbelievable plays in the World Baseball Classic, but that's kind of like the next level when you start watching baseball for a decent chunk. These guys in the infield are just magicians. People hit the ball so fucking hard and how crafty they are with it. Like, that's, like, kind of the next level of appreciation.

2:24:13Pat McAfee:Connor, this guy, he's a rangy.

2:24:15Mark Schlabach:Yeah.

2:24:16Pat McAfee:Yeah.

2:24:16Mark Schlabach:For how big he is, he's very rangy.

2:24:18Pat McAfee:Yeah, because he made a play the other day.

2:24:21Mark Schlabach:Yeah, diving play, like, almost up the middle, kind of, yeah.

2:24:23Pat McAfee:I had a bunch of people say, that's routine play for shortstop right there in MLB. It's like, well, I liked it. I just want to let you know. The guy was nowhere near the fucking base. I mean, this guy was two-thirds away. That's nowhere near. It wasn't even close. It's like, if this guy's getting that type of range, that quick pop time, like Jason Kendall, and then getting that thing over there with that. Much room. I don't know if that's the slowest guy in MLB or not, but, like, it is good news. I think that is good news for us on what he can do on the defensive side.

2:24:51Mark Schlabach:Yeah, certainly. And, like, there are, you know, 50 of those plays a night. That's why, like, the baseball, like, when you actually, like, start watching a bunch of it, like, it is very easy to marvel at how fucking good these guys are because it is so hard, and, like, they make it look just so fucking easy. And then every once in a while you have Roman Anthony out there, too. Fuck you.

2:25:12Darius Butler:I don't like what they're doing in Rome. On the internet? Yeah. I saw a new one yesterday. Guys got the yips. All these Red Sox fans are going to piss in all your guys' faces when he's throwing a fucking every guy out at home going forward once he gets over the yips. We need Mrs. Tony Tony to bring you.

2:25:30Pat McAfee:They're saying he's going to go spaghetti to riggaeton. That's what I'm saying. That's what he's going to go. He needs some home cooking. Yeah, he's going to go thick. He's a great hitter, though. Maybe just DH. I'm in for that, too. Maybe just 21. 162. Maybe 200 home runs. A couple multi-game home runs. We like Roman Anthony. I would like to see him have success. I also like that the Jacksonville Jaguars invest in their guys. Trevon Walker. Four-year,$100 million extension. That includes$77 million guaranteed and$50 million fully guaranteed at signing. Congrats to him. Congrats to Elite Loyalty Sp...

2:26:05Uh... Sp...

2:26:09Pat McAfee:Sport? Elite Loyalty Sp... They wanted sports agency, maybe? And then Nike actually just kind of stopped them. Elite Loyalty Sports, built to represent elite athletes. Team, Vincent Taylor at Loyalty 24-7. Okay, don't fucking question it.

2:26:25Darius Butler:Yeah, don't. And Keith Houston in Irving, Texas.

2:26:29Pat McAfee:Oh, nice. Okay, so Elite Loyalty Sp... Says that Trevon Walker has now signed for$50 million. Good for him. Good for the Jags. This guy's a monster D-bug.

2:26:39Adam Schefter:Yeah, he is good in the run game, good in the pass game. I think you talked about him on the other side of just how big him and Josh Hines, Allen are out there as bookends. And this is a good sign because this was a number one draft pick from the previous regime. So they have a new regime who's re-upping him. And it's not like at the top of the market. He's not resetting the market. But this is a great deal for the Jaguars. And it's a good deal any time you see a guy getting$50 million guaranteed.

2:27:04Pat McAfee:Who was supposed to get drafted ahead of him? Hutch. Aiden Hutchinson, right, was the full convo on particular draft night. Well, the Jags say we appreciate him, AJ. Like any time they draft somebody and pay somebody if you're an organization. Yeah, if you're Jacksonville, don't you think this is a good thing, too? He's part of the old regime, but you show, hey, if you come here and we draft you, even though he was the number one overall pick, that we will take care of you. I think that's what great franchises do. They take care of the people that they draft and kind of prove them right, I guess.

2:27:31They reward them with a contract, and here you go.

2:27:33Darius Butler:This was one of those, like we were talking about earlier today with David Bailey and Arvell Reese, whoever may go second. This was one where it was like Trevon Walker was the freak at the combine, came out, had all the athletic tools, was huge, and then Hutch had a lot more of the production. So that was – every single draft we see these, this was just one of the great examples.

2:27:52Pat McAfee:I can't wait for the draft. We have no idea what's going to happen. Nope. Pump. We're going to be live from Pittsburgh with our sixth, seventh. Sixth, fifth.

2:28:00Mark Schlabach:First one was COVID, so sixth.

2:28:02Pat McAfee:Sixth annual draft spectacular. AJ, this one's shaping up to be gigantic. I can imagine that. This one's starting to cook a little bit. You know, it's hard to book everything so far in advance, especially when you're talking to people who potentially have other options, you know, and things like that. So as people try to figure out what they're trying to do, what they're thinking about doing, the draft spectacular is starting to come together pretty nicely. And I will say the draft always provides us with magical moments. Last year, I'll never forget Ty Schmidt losing his mind when old Golden gets drafted.

2:28:34Pat McAfee:I mean, that was special. That was a special night. Yeah, it was awesome. And the fans that were in the crowd, they loved it. We were right alongside of them. Mike McCarthy was on the program, obviously. He was spectacular. Had notes for everybody. I'll be pumped to see how this year goes. And the fact that Fernando's not there, I think that moves the draft a little bit quicker.

2:28:51Darius Butler:Yeah, we know. Yeah, less time for each pick. Let's not mess around.

2:28:54Pat McAfee:I think it'll move a little bit, and I think that's good for action on draft night, AJ. I think it's always. We know over the last few years, I feel like they do a good job of speeding it up, time in between. There's not as much dead time, even though the first round does feel like it can drag at times when you get towards the end of it. But, yeah, I think Raj is smart. He knows. Like, hey, we need to give everybody what they want, but we don't need to mess around and have any garbage in between and keep people entertained, I guess.

2:29:20Darius Butler:What are we down to, seven minutes? I think it's eight minutes now. They took it from 10 and took two minutes off, right?

2:29:27Pat McAfee:Yeah, I remember they've been tinkering with it over the last couple years. I'll be excited to see what it actually is this year. We will not be tipping picks at our seventh annual draft spectacular.

2:29:35Adam Schefter:Oh, shit.

2:29:36Pat McAfee:We've been doing this a long time, covering this draft for a long time. Peter Schrager got a commitment out of him earlier today where he'll be a part of the program. And, you know, last year the big-time trade of two comes in. And Jacksonville is the one that shakes it all up. What team will do it this year? Especially where everybody's seemingly a little wishy-washy on a lot of things. that means somebody will like somebody. Somebody will make a deal. Somebody will be willing to move, hopefully. And who doesn't get drafted and it becomes the topic of every conversation, basically.

2:30:05Darius Butler:Yeah, I mean, when you look at two this year, again, it's not like now they're not going to say this, but it's not like the Jets are going to win anything this year and they have three first-round picks next year. So could they be a team that is fine with moving back at two and someone who is more win-now ready, move up to get a player that's going to make a huge difference? Yes, the same with the Cardinals, too. Like now the GM's not new, obviously, with the Cardinals, but the coaching staff is. So maybe they have some – there's a lot that can happen in the first 10 picks of this draft.

2:30:31Pat McAfee:AJ, have you seen the narrative brewing about Arvel Reese and David Bailey? You know, maybe there's a little – What are they saying about him? David Bailey may be more ready to go now. Arvel Reese may be a little bit more of a project, you know, for down the road. What are your thoughts on Arvel Reese and the conjecture around him, especially post-pro day? Yeah, I mean, Arvel is an absolute freak. We all know that, like physically, mentally, everything he can do. But he does have very little reps as an outside rusher, as an edge rusher. So if you want to bring him in and make him like a full-time edge rusher, yeah, then I don't know.

2:31:03I'm not going to say – I don't say it's going to take a bunch of time. I think wherever you play him, hopefully have some special third-down packages for him. Walk him off the ball. Let him blitz the A-gap. Let him wrap. Let him be the spy when you're playing against a very athletic quarterback, things like that. But I think it just depends on what scheme he goes to and how diverse his role might be.

2:31:21Pat McAfee:I think he's going to be a good pro. I'm excited to see where he ends up at. Caleb Downs, another guy that I think is going to be a great pro. Josh Chapman, who was a teammate of mine and D-Buds. He was a locker mate of mine. He was from Alabama. He won multiple national championships with Alabama. I think he was a captain. Is it junior, potentially? I mean, like out-of-the-norm stuff for Alabama. And he was awesome. He was massive nose tackle, and he liked eating, loved barbecue, had a deep laugh. I mean, could sing good. Everything about him was just incredible. As soon as we got down there and saw him, when Caleb Downs was a freshman, he pointed at him and said, gold jacket.

2:32:00Pat McAfee:That guy has a gold jacket right there. And it was like the first day he got on campus that happened. Then he goes to Ohio State to obviously have success. It's like Caleb Downs is a guy who's going to be good in the NFL, and I think everything that everybody has said about him at Alabama and at Ohio State is going to weigh heavy on GM's minds on draft night. I think that's going to really sway some things because of how special they say he is. They got him sorted to 12, to Caleb Down, or to the Dallas Cowboys, I think is Schrags. But Schrags is only saying that because he doesn't know if he's going to make it that long, and it feels like Dallas would love him if he was there.

2:32:31Adam Schefter:And everybody's kind of putting him in that area strictly because of the position that he plays and kind of the history of that position and where they are drafted. But as soon as this guy walks in the building, then he's going to make your pass defense and your run defense better. He's a great communicator. He's been playing in the NFL defense with Matty P. He talks through the game pre-snap. He just does everything well. He can cover. He can blitz. His open field tackling, boots on the ground on the cotton bowl, like every time he hits a wide receiver, like he's showing up and hitting like a fucking ton of bricks.

2:33:02Adam Schefter:So I love everything about Caleb Downs from between the ears to how he plays on the football field. But whatever team gets him, you're going to get a dynamic player to help him on both levels when it comes to that defense.

2:33:12Pat McAfee:Perfect video from Foxy right there to talk about what you were talking about with Caleb Downs putting his face in a fan. He's everywhere. He was literally everywhere. And you talk about Arvel Reese being everywhere. It's like that was a historic, legendary defense you guys had there in Columbus. Yeah, like the guy going before Caleb Downs, Sonny Stiles. It feels like Sonny Stiles might be the best player in the draft this year, and he had the best combine damn near. And for some reason, he's not even getting touched. And Caden Curry is going to be a great NFL guy. We all feel that way, right?

2:33:39Darius Butler:Caden McDonald's a first-round pick as well.

2:33:43Pat McAfee:No points.

2:33:44Darius Butler:Yeah, it's a deep tackle. He does eye black on his entire face. It's quite the look.

2:33:51Pat McAfee:How long does that last for, do you think?

2:33:52Darius Butler:No idea.

2:33:53Pat McAfee:I always wonder about that. Hutch has kept with it. Hutch has kept with his that thing. Who's the – is Dart still doing it? Jackson Dart still does it, yeah. Tyler Bass, the kicker, remember? He had the mandate, which was awesome. Yeah, but he came back, I think, somewhere. You just can't put any messages on there, right? You can't have, like, you know, Austin 316. Right. Did you hear Tim Tebow told the 316, John 316 story about his eye black. That was pretty crazy. I don't know if you've heard that. No. I think you should maybe check it out. A lot of, yeah, it was pretty crazy. Like, the score, the time, all this stuff.

2:34:28Mark Schlabach:You don't want to hear that one, Tony.

2:34:30Pat McAfee:Yeah, you don't want to hear that one, especially every Easter. You don't want to hear about that one. What? Especially with the new conversations that are happening out there saying like.

2:34:36Darius Butler:I like Tebow.

2:34:37Pat McAfee:There's aliens. Yeah. People are just saying there's aliens.

2:34:40Darius Butler:Oh, Tebow's. Important people. Tebow's. Congressman. It has to do with aliens.

2:34:43Pat McAfee:John 316, there's like a lot of 3 in 16 things that kind of, as it times up, if you were to go look back at it, Tim Tebow basically said like, this feels like this is a little bit bigger than me. And this entire thing is the entire.

2:34:55Darius Butler:So if I do that to myself, then. If you write that. Good things will happen.

2:34:58Pat McAfee:I mean, if you serve, maybe, you know, I'm not 100 % sure how it all works, But I do know it was nice to hear personally. For me, it was like, I'm like, oh, I like that. I like to hear that. And then I hear a guy say, yep, they're here. We know them. And if they wanted to, they would have taken us out already. It's like, okay, so everything we thought basically, like, that's true. And if they can take us out so quickly, what does that mean? That means like they can just get in a bad mood? I guess. How do we keep them out of a bad mood? Do we know how to keep them out of a bad mood? Let's not worry about that.

2:35:30Pat McAfee:Yeah. That's for another day. That's for another day. We don't need to worry. We'll a lot of people worry about that. Exactly. Yeah, I don't know. I worry about it a little bit the more you talk about it. Yeah, so that's what I'm saying. I need to maybe stop, and we need to not worry about it. Forget about it.

2:35:42Darius Butler:That was crazy to watch, though. Ty and I told you, hey, there's nothing you can do about it. Just when it surfaces and starts attacking, that's when we worry about it. All right. I think we should think about having a plan, though. I agree, but we're not coming up with that plan.

2:35:54Mark Schlabach:No, yeah, exactly. Let the military, let the Space Force. You have a gun save. Let all those guys do that. So that's all you can do. Fight for my family.

2:36:00Adam Schefter:No, I get it.

2:36:01Mark Schlabach:But unfortunately, when that thing surfaces, it's too late. That's my fear.

2:36:07Pat McAfee:No, that's what I'm saying. We need to have plenty of good talk. Yeah, of course. I think they're scared of us. They're scared of us. I don't know. I don't know. Honestly, with the way that guy was talking, Tim, Tim Burchett, I believe is his name. I think I might have met him before down in Tennessee, which is awesome to think about. But he said a lot of stuff just casually. Just like kind of said it

2:36:30Adam Schefter:I might be with AJ You know like humans are scared like spiders Like obviously you could just step on them For rats, worms, mice

2:36:38Pat McAfee:Maybe we are that motherfucking species You know I didn't think about that Mice? You're saying we're the mice? No I'm saying we're that

2:36:48Adam Schefter:We're the ones I don't think they're scared of us like that I think they're scared of us more like We would be scared of like A spider Oh like ooh ooh Yeah like ooh Oh you know what Never mind Boom Yeah

2:37:03Mark Schlabach:But that's not good Because what if they have like Weapons that they can just Oh never mind Boom And then you're fucking We're done We got mouse traps Exactly We got mouse traps

2:37:12Pat McAfee:I guess They potentially have those All over the place Maybe And maybe we're all just Kind of falling into them Every single day With our negativity And our division And maybe Maybe it is all part of that And maybe we are just the mice but I'd like to say if we're going to be the mice we got to be the mice to fucking win.

2:37:31Mark Schlabach:Yeah, get the fucking cheese. Let's get the fucking

2:37:34Pat McAfee:cheese. Let's fucking find the right holes in the wall. Yeah. Okay, let's fucking make sure we're fighting here. Okay. That guy casual. Four minutes. Yeah, what I was told. Yeah, what I was told. By who? High ranking.

2:37:49Darius Butler:High ranking.

2:37:50Pat McAfee:Is he like 90 years old? Kind of lost it a little bit? No, no. Currently. Mm-hmm.

2:37:58Adam Schefter:Size of a football field. Moving 200 miles an hour.

2:38:02Mark Schlabach:Underwater. Said they got technology. We can't even fucking comprehend. So, you know.

2:38:11Pat McAfee:Be your friend. Tell a friend something nice. It might change your life. We're actually in this thing together. Yeah. Whether you like it or not. Okay. We need to remember that. Football field. 200 miles an hour. Underwater.

2:38:24Darius Butler:We'll be fine. We got coaches on yachts that take that thing out.

2:38:28Pat McAfee:All right. That's right.

2:38:33Pat McAfee:They don't have those. No, they don't. I promise you they don't. AJ, it's really great to have you back. Thanks, man. Great to be here. Tell the aliens to stay away. I heard you're coming to Ohio. Paul, good luck. No, there's hybrids definitely walking amongst them. We know that. No, they're illegal. I saw McCain.

2:38:51Darius Butler:Yes, you did.

2:38:53Pat McAfee:Be a friend, tell a friend something nice. You want to change your life when you're sitting together. We'll see you all tomorrow. Thank you for allowing us to do this for a living. Team on me, team on three. One, two, three, team.

2:39:01Mark Schlabach:Goodbye. Hey, sports fans. The ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network in service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional cost. Visit activate.espn.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN, all in one place. Sign up or activate now.

2:39:33Adam Schefter:From 30 for 30 podcasts.

2:39:42Darius Butler:Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman for Miami, gunned down.

2:39:47Adam Schefter:The key to this case, it's Brian. Boy, he's ripped 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. They're placed under arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U. Listen now.