PMS 2.0 1597 - Ohio State Head Coach Ryan Day, Chris Olave, Chuck Pagano, Ian Rapoport, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

19:04And so much of it has been built up since we all got together in January. But a lot of it is going to have to happen right now in preseason camp.

19:10Pat McAfee:There was a Navy SEAL that was traveling around telling his story about tribes and knowing your why. He was a little bit of a rounder fellow. I don't know if you've caught up with him, but his explanation of tribe and why he speaks that way, and if everybody knows everybody's why, it's a lot easier to create a tribe. He was this rounder fellow. Oh, yeah. Do you remember him? Oh, yeah. He made fun of my – do you know who I'm talking about? Yeah, I believe you're talking about Clint Bruce. Big guy, little rounder guy. Never expect a Navy SEAL to look the way he was. He was a fullback, and he became a Navy SEAL, and it's like you were doing all the swimming too?

19:40Pat McAfee:He's like, oh, yeah. And they all thought the Sharks would want to eat my fat ass. It was a lot easier or whatever. but he was phenomenal. But his messaging was tribe. And I've never heard it laid out like that. And I love to hear you bringing it up because that's real. That's what sports in the locker rooms are all about. Caring about one another, having your shit together off the field so you can focus on all those things. Everything matters. Oh, yeah. Everything matters. When you think about when someone comes to Ohio State, they're coming for different reasons. And what motivates them is their own individual motivation.

20:13motivation. But once they get here, the idea is that you're playing so hard for your teammates. You're playing so hard for Ohio State because of what comes with it. The tradition, the legacy, those that have come before, and the guy next to you. It can't just be about you at that point because that won't sustain. Not through a 17-game season.

20:29Pat McAfee:Yeah, it'll get exposed. It'll come to light. It gets very loud and we see it with teams. It's like, that team doesn't like each other. They're there for the wrong things. And we will be picking against them on game day for the rest of the season. And they might They win a little bit, but it doesn't feel like they have it. I love what your teams have done. That national championship team will be a story that people tell about togetherness forever, especially with what happened after Michigan. Obviously don't want to go through those downfalls, but what ended up on the other side was special. I hope this team can find it as well.

20:56Pat McAfee:Big Ten, tough. Three different national champions in the Big Ten over the last three years. You guys certainly talking a little bit different at your press conference, media conference days than down in the South. But on that note, Ty has a question for you. Yeah, they should be. Coach, you know you don't need to make any excuses. The Big Ten is the best league in college sports. But just curious, like last year, you know, I think there was maybe an expected grace period, even though you guys, a lot of people picked you to win the national championship, but you had a quarterback who didn't have, you know, any starts.

21:25So it was maybe, hey, things will be a little bit rocky before, you know, we kind of find our groove. But how imperative is it this year that you guys start fast and, you know, kind of play well right out of the gates with Texas in week two? And then you alluded to it. there's a chance you end up playing 11 top 25, top 15 teams. So how important is it that you guys are kind of rolling right from the get-go? Yeah, you nailed it right on the head again. It's critical for us. Week two at Texas, it's a monster game for us. It's not the end of the season, but we know how important that is and where that's going to project out down the road.

21:59So we have to have a great preseason camp. We've got to be good early, but then we have to continue to develop as the season goes on and continue to evolve as the season goes on. What we look like in week two cannot be how we look like at the end of the year. And then we have to handle after Thanksgiving better going into the playoffs. There's no question. You know, look at it just, you know, how we did, you know, what the Big Ten championship, everything that led up to that game. And then the layoff and we just didn't play well against Miami, especially in the first half. So all those things have been talked about and, you know, the guys understand that and I think we have a good plan.

22:34But more importantly, we just got to focus on right now. We can't get too far ahead of ourselves looking at the schedule. Even right now, focusing on Texas, that can't be the focus. The focus has to be on having a great preseason camp, getting each other better, getting some of these guys who haven't been Buckeyes before on the field, playing at a high level, and then we'll go from there.

22:51Pat McAfee:Okay, you talk about people that haven't been Buckeyes before, having to prove it. It's not just the players, also coaches. Go ahead, D-Bud. Yeah, you got a ton of NFL experience and the coaching staff. Artie Smith now comes over. How's it been working with Artie Smith? and then I feel like every year you got another phenomenal wide receiver coming into the building, Chris Henry Jr., making all the damn money in the NFL as well. So tell me about Artie Smith and Chris Jr. Well, so much of our job is talent acquisition, and that starts with the coaching staff, and then it goes to the players in the roster, which has changed a lot.

23:23The way you design a coaching staff is different now. There used to just be 10 assistant coaches and then graduate assistants. Now there's unlimited coaches in college. so it's allowed us to do some different things and our administration's been great about that and has allowed us to go get um you know guys like matt patricia and arthur smith and the thing to me with these guys is they have the you know the pedigree and the resume of of coaching in the nfl um and winning playoff games winning super bowls but but more importantly they wanted to get into the college game you know i feel like if you're if you're sort of an nfl guy you're used to the nfl if you have to talk somebody into coming to college it doesn't work these guys wanted to And you can see they're highly motivated to do that.

24:01And then it trickles down to the players. And the type of guys that we're bringing in speaks to the culture and our assistant coaches and the work they're putting in. Already got a mustache?

24:14Pat McAfee:Or is he going to do what maybe he does a Ryan Day beard? Maybe he does a Ryan Day beard. What does his face look like right now? Do you know? He's got a little stache going. He looks different at different times. It depends on what preseason looks like. So we'll have to see. You need to know that when the mustache is in full hum, that's when things are going great for Artie. Exactly. Number one offense. It's literally written on his face. Yes, it is. How everything's going. And he knows he has a good one, too. Yes, he does. Yeah, even non-electric doors open for Artie when he has that mustache.

24:47Pat McAfee:And then whenever he doesn't, people are telling him, get out. And so we need him to do that. And I think the Ohio people will love him. I'm excited to see him and Matt Patricia kind of talk to each other. On that note, Tone has a question for you.

24:59Darius Butler:Yeah, Coach, speaking of Matt Patricia, he came in last year and just dominated one of the best college football defenses of all time statistically. And then I was looking at it. So Arvell Reese, Sonny Stiles, Caleb Downs, Caden McDonald, that's last year, Igben Osen last year, and then JTT, Jack Slur, just to name like a couple guys who have gone off the last two incredible defenses. You talked about bringing in guys from other places, transfers who have played a lot but kind of need to fill in on that defense. what is it like on that defense now that some of the leaders a lot of the leaders are gone and who do you think is going to step up this season yeah well it's hard to replace guys like Caleb Down Sonny Stiles, Arvel Reese and Caden McDonald and the majority of those guys were all three year guys so not only do you lose the production but to your point you lose the leadership so guys have to step up in a big way and we had to make sure that the guys that we replaced some of those you know, some of those losses with were guys that were experienced.

25:55And so, you know, we did, we, we went out and got, you know, Quay, Rusa and James Smith and John Walker in the portal up front. We picked up Christian Allegro who, these guys have played a lot of football or a little, you know, we picked up Terry Moore. And so I think there's eight guys on defense who had a lot of experience. And so they're going to have to step up with the guys who are returning. They're the ones that know the culture best. So, you know, Kenyatta Jackson has got to have a big year for us. He's got to really step up. Peyton Pierce, who played a bunch at linebacker with Sonny and Arvell last year, has had a really good spring and offseason.

26:31So he's one of the guys that we're counting on. Jalen McClain, who played back there last year, we're counting on him as well. And then Jermaine Matthews is someone that, again, has played a lot of football. So some of those guys who, again, weren't starters, like, for instance, you didn't know much about Arvell going into the last year, but he had played a lot the year before. Some of these guys have played. They just weren't starters. So they're going to have to take the next step. But that's typical of the Ohio State. I mean, we lose guys every year, but we've got to make sure these guys understand that, you know, it starts from the first play and it's going to last all the way to January 25th.

27:03That's probably the biggest thing for us.

27:05Darius Butler:Sorry, while you were talking there, it reminded me, I just heard you do an interview. I think it was on CBS podcast that you asked Caleb Downs about a lot of your transfers coming in. Like how important is that in the NIL era and transfer era, like that you use players that know other players on which guys you're bringing in? Well, we all expect every year to be in the hunt and, you know, one of the top teams in the country in terms of our talent and have a chance to win the national championship every year. So if that's the case, the culture has to stay strong and we can't have dips. And so one of the things for us, when we bring these guys into the portal, because that typically is done to fill holes.

27:44Every coach will tell you they want to recruit and retain. We're the same way. But when we fill these guys in, the more information that we can get, the better. And to your point, Caleb played with Earl, played with Quay, played with James at Alabama's freshman year. And so he knew those guys, knew their character. And some of the other guys, like Kyle Parker had played for Cortez Hankton. Terry had played for Macarray. So there was guys that we knew of. So it just eliminates the best you can, you know, having somebody that doesn't fit the culture.

28:09Pat McAfee:Yeah, all the information you could potentially gather from everybody is good. so you don't have to pay the wrong people. Speaking of people getting paid, you wide receivers out of your school doing A-OK. I don't know if you've seen these numbers. This is absurd. When Saban was done, they did a math equation on the amount of money that his players have made. And then we were talking to Coach Calipari. Coach Calipari in, obviously, College Hoops. He talked about, I want to change 12 more families' lives because of the deals that they get. you guys are becoming a factory okay of nfl talent and that's a lot of hard work that doesn't just happen you know everybody says well they have support from this a lot of schools do so creating that's a big deal but whenever you see your guys go and get paid and obviously you talk about the culture and passing it on for you there has to be a sense of pride right like there has to be some sort like how do you feel about the ex-ohio state buckeyes having massive success financially and also professionally i mean they're showing sunny styles is already blowing people up caleb's already blowing people up uh everything's just marvin's now catching i mean everything's kind of happening for you what is that feeling what with guys that leave the buckeyes especially in what seems to be a transactional world that we're in like caleb calling you and wanting to be a part of that that feels cool because obviously caleb didn't spend his entire career there for you watching this all happen post what is it like for you and how do you kind of uh treat it and deal with it if you will well i think when you get into the offseason you have a little bit of time to sort to sit and think about exactly what you're talking about and there's really one reason why most of us get into coaching i'm sure you know some guys are motivated different ways but to me the reason why you're getting a coaching is to have an impact on people and you know we decide what level we want to get into you know based on our personalities and what we want and you know just so happened you know we chose ohio state you know and i say that to everybody in the room whether it's the coaches the players, the administrators, like we chose Ohio State.

30:07So you know what that means? We've got to win them all. And that's the expectation. And that's how it works. But along the way, winning just allows us an opportunity to continue to have an impact on these guys' lives. And so to see going through the recruiting process, talking to these families about here's what we're going to do. It's not going to be easy. But if you make it through and you do things the right way, here are the examples. And now we have testimony.

30:31Pat McAfee:Yeah, testimony. And the people that don't want you to win just cut you off completely. Yeah, big time. Yeah, as soon as you got done there, they just completely cut you off. But I love that because now getting to know Saban and Miss Terry, it's like you can see the genuine fulfillment and joy whenever you talk about one of their ex-players getting a new deal or, you know, because they saw them and met them whenever life was vastly different for everything and then watch them battle bad decisions, good decisions, bad times, good times, and all of it. And then to watch you, that has to be awesome for you.

31:02Pat McAfee:And now you've been in a lot. You know, you got Gray in that beard. Oh, yeah. You got an old man. Go ahead. I got to ask you, because you look at that list, and the first person that jumps at me, a guy that played with us, Brian Hartline. He came back. He was obviously at Ohio State for a long time. Now he's a head coach at USF, which I'm sure you take great pride in as well. But, like, who has stepped – because I'm not familiar. Who has stepped up in that role now as the wide receiver coach? Because that is – And recruiter, though, too? And Florida. Recruiting, you know, development, all that thing is very important.

31:28So, who's stepped up in that role over at Ohio State? Yeah, I mean, Brian, as you know, did an unbelievable job and not only was a great player here, was a great player in the NFL, but did an humble job recruiting and developing. But when we're at Ohio State, you get to go hire the best. I remember when I was one of my first recruiting meetings, I was I was the quarterback's coach, office coordinator. And River Meyer was the head coach here. And we walked in and the recruit and the family says, well, we really like Coach Day, but what happens if he leaves? And I thought coach should say, well, he's going to be here for a long time.

32:00You don't need to worry about that. He just said, we'll just go get the next best guy out there.

32:07So that's what we had to do. We got to go get the next best guy out there. The great news for us is we were able to do that. And the reputation of the room and the type of guys and the tradition, we were able to bring in Cortez Hankton. And Jeremiah and Brandon had a lot of feedback on that. And it's been great so far. And he's been great to work with. But he knows. He's got big shoes to fill, but he's excited about that. I'll tell you, Jeremiah being a Buckeye, he's a South Florida,

32:33Pat McAfee:Brown County Hall of Famer. Whenever we were following that college football playoff, and obviously Miami beats Ohio State, and then Miami goes on to do what it does, and Malachi Tony is having the year he's having, and South Florida's being celebrated because it's where the national championship is, it felt like everybody in Miami thought for sure he's coming back home. He is coming back home. And then Jeremiah came out and said, I'm a Buckeye, man. I'm never leaving. To your point, chose Ohio State. Now, obviously, there's business. There's always going to be business. But the fact that he wanted to finish it out with Ohio State, I think is a huge deal to you because he had an entire half of a state telling him he needed to come home.

33:08We knew he wasn't coming home.

33:10Pat McAfee:Okay. Finish your story, Jeremiah. Finish your story. I love to support Jeremiah. That's what they're saying now. It's like Chris Gamble. I think that's a hell of a compliment to you. I think that is to you and your culture and to your team and to your school. It's like I think that's a big deal that should get talked about because I'm going to be honest, Ron, I didn't think you were beating an entire – I thought South Florida was going to beat you. I really did. But obviously I think that goes back to the culture and the relationships and the connection that you're talking about, right? Is that like perfect proof for you in that whole regard?

33:40Well, I think it speaks, one, to Jeremiah and who he is, and then, two, his family. And any time you go through recruiting, even though there's a lot more that comes with it nowadays, it's still about relationships. And so I think that everything that they said they were going to do and what Jeremiah said he was going to do, he's doing. And I think it's the same thing on our end. And I think when there's a certain level of trust, you can work through anything. And that's just a great example of it. But you're talking about, to me, one of the most iconic players, maybe in the history of college football.

34:10And he understands that. And he knows there's a whole generation of young people. He's like a cult. He has a cult following. I mean, everyone in the world knows about Jeremiah Smith. And he understands that. And he embraces that. He's found his voice on our team. but he also knows that there's like a whole generation of these young people that are watching everything he does. And the way he lives his life with discipline, it's a motivator for all of us. And what he says he's going to do, he does. And that's a sign of true character.

34:36Pat McAfee:I love that. I can't wait to watch him this year. And with all the distractions that are possible for these young guys, you just talked about a legion of fans following his every move in a city wanting him to come back. This guy was just a teenager, you know. This guy was a teenager with these types of expectations. We're doing the whole state. We're doing these commitments on air, Ryan. And boy, I tell you, people picking West Virginia. A lot of them. Overall high state every time. Every time, Ryan. I don't know what that's all about, but it feels like it is happening. But like the amount of pressure these kids have on them, because they're making money.

35:11Pat McAfee:I mean, camps are happening in their name, appearances, family. I mean, it's crazy at the age in which they're having to deal with this. But I guess it's just normal. Now, speaking of normal, new college football has become abnormal, and everybody wonders what the future looks like. Connor has the last question for you here, Coach. Yeah, Coach, it feels like the big thing of this offseason with college football is the Protect College Sports Act. How much of that is on your radar when you're talking to these kids, knowing that there is potential, probable changes on the horizon when it comes to recruiting and how everything works?

35:45Every year, it's like there's more and more different areas that you've got to be versed in. And this is this really a lot of it comes down to politics, you know, going through the Senate, going through the House. And there's a lot that goes with it. So, you know, Tony Petitti, our commissioner, does a great job of keeping us in the loop. And then and then Ross, our athletic director, does the same thing. You know, they ask a lot of questions, recruits try to figure out what's going on. There's some things that are in the bill that I think we all feel pretty strongly about, some other things that we need to keep working through.

36:16but I think at the end of the day it's going to leave college football in a better place than it is right now but we all know we've got a lot of work to do.

36:23Pat McAfee:Yes we do. We all have a lot of work to do on a lot of things. You have to go build a brand new team. A lot of similar pieces. Brand new team. New vibe. And I would say you can probably take the first couple weeks off because you're already number one. You put that coach's pole back up. Look at that Ryan. It's over. Undefeated. Good season coach. Some good teams on that list right there. Yeah, eight of them from the Big Ten, nine from the SEC. The depth of football is certainly becoming very real. We cannot wait to watch your team this year. Thank you for joining us, and good luck. All right, boys.

36:58You guys are the best. Thanks.

36:59Pat McAfee:Head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, Ryan Day. Yeah, coach. Thank you, coach. Hates the number one, Ray. Yeah, man. That is the worst spot to be. We're trying to figure out what we're going to talk about today. You know, nice text and cold FaceTime to Ryan Day. he answers thank god we caught him in between something and immediately just go congrats man yeah the first thing he sees us say in months i haven't talked to him in months congrats man you guys did it you won the poll don't even need to work he goes i don't want to hear that i do not want to hear that i'm like oh let me tell you and then i turn to the boys they go you did it you won the national champion no coach wants any of their players to see that they are the best team in the country allegedly because you either get nervous about the expectations and make everything bigger than they actually are or you think we've already done it we don't even have to play the games we're better than everybody so fascinating like mental warfare that ryan has to do with his team but that's every year for him you know is that right oh yeah and i like how he talked about the maturity of his team yeah you know he was talking about how last year arvel reese exploded onto the scene he's a monster before the first game day i was told number nine number nine is going to be a guy and that's because he played a lot of football the year before ryan said so i do appreciate the fact that matt patricia was probably rotating a lot of people in that we maybe didn't know or to see or you know really have an understanding what they would become he's had a lot of depth for a long time i think he's comfortable in the maturity that he brought in via the transfer portal matt patricia can reach folks arty smith's a big question i think yeah i think

38:25Darius Butler:that's actually the biggest question it's very interesting because his style of offense is much different than what ryan day has been calling for years and years and years and years even like chip's offense they ran the ball a lot that year but it was still like it was more of ryan's style It's very different now.

38:40Pat McAfee:Yeah, I'll be excited to see if he opens it up. Joining us now, ladies and gentlemen, is one of those wide receivers that was on the graphic, and I should have had him on with Ryan. That's a miss 100 % on me. Ladies and gentlemen, a guy who just signed a massive deal with the New Orleans Saints, a man who might be a part of this Saints rebirth, Ohio State Buckeye legend. Ladies and gentlemen, wide receiver for the Saints, Chris Olave. Yeah, Chris! How you doing, Chris? Yes, I appreciate you having me, man. Hey, no problem. It feels like we're having quite a little Ohio State Buckeye propaganda machine here, so I don't want to hear shit about the Buckeyes from you, Chris.

39:17Pat McAfee:How are they going to be this year? How are you doing, brother? Congratulations on the new deal. The Ohio State Buckeyes, number one team in the country. And the New Orleans Saints, from outside looking in, vibes immaculate down there. Obviously, you just get a new deal, but another year with Kelly Moe. Tyler Shuck now, 27-year-old, second year. Can you tell me about the Saints, where you guys are, and the vibes around the locker room, not just your bank account? Oh, man, we're just building, man. I feel like we got the right guys. We got a lot of young guys and a lot of new players that's coming in with a chip on their shoulders.

39:49So I'm super excited for this year. We built a lot of momentum towards the end of last year. We won a lot of games back-to-back. But just building the offseason and building throughout these training camp days, trying to stack day after day. and when week one comes, we're going to be ready.

40:05Pat McAfee:Weeks 9 through 17 of 2025, Olave ranked top 10 in yards, targets, and first downs.

40:12Darius Butler:Oh, yeah.

40:13Pat McAfee:I think that's a good way to end the season. That's not bad. You talked about momentum going into the offseason. Obviously, you get a brand-new deal. Can you tell me about Tyler Shuck and Coach Kellen Moore, who we love as a player? I mean, all the way back to Boise. I mean, he used to spin it. And then whenever he was playing, I think he was with the Lions, I watched him hit the crossbar with Matthew Stafford in warm-ups from like the 30, like five straight times. He goes to Philadelphia, incredible offensive coordinator. He leaves Philadelphia. Chaos. I mean, full chaos in Philadelphia. Comes down to New Orleans.

40:44Pat McAfee:Now there's like hope. Can you tell me about him as a head coach? Obviously, he's a little bit younger than some head coaches. And tell me about the offense with Tyler Shuck through last year. Why at the end you guys were so good? Oh, yeah. Kellen's a great coach, man. He's a young coach. He's a young head coach. But wherever he went, they always produced. He was with the Chargers, with Keenan Allen. He was with the Cowboys and with Philly when they won the Super Bowl. So just wherever he goes, they always produced on the offensive side of the ball. And he came out here, and we did that last year.

41:14So with Tyler, he's a great leader. Just the way he prepares, the way he takes it throughout the week, even when he wasn't the starter, I feel like he prepares like one of the best. And you see it out on the field on Sundays when he took over the job, and he's done a great job. I mean, I can't wait to see what he does in year two.

41:30Pat McAfee:Everybody talks about how he's old. Do we get ice on both knees after games, you know, because he's a 105-years-old rookie, they say, about Tyler Shuck? Or how do we feel about him as a leader in the locker room? Oh, yeah, he's mature. He's beyond his years. Even as a second-year player, I feel like he's one of the best leaders I've been around, just the way he takes advantage and takes advantage of his opportunities, the way he can lead a room, just not on the offensive side of the ball, but just the whole team. I feel like that's one of his best characteristics is being a leader and taking advantage and taking lead of the room.

42:06Pat McAfee:God forbid White Boy gets a little motion too. Chuck and move a little bit as well. Let's talk about the offense as a whole. Go ahead, D-Bud. Yeah, Chris, now you're a game wreck. You've been a game wrecker since early in your career, but now coverage is obviously going to be coming in week in and week out. They're going to be designed to stop you. Drafting a young guy like Jordan Tyson, I know for you, the faster he comes along now to help you. How has that development been with him? And how has it been for you that evolution throughout your career with coverages, you know, kind of more dialed in on you?

42:34It's going to be great, man. It was kind of like that towards the end of the year. But just having Vele back, I feel like Vele is kind of a slept-on player. He's been a great player for us since we traded for him. And Tyson, he's super, super talented. When we get these reps throughout training, getting on the same page, building that chemistry. I feel like it's going to be great. But not even a receiver, just a tight end room. We got Phan, we got Delp out of Georgia, and then we got Etienne in the backfield along with AK and Kendra Miller. So just around the whole offense, I feel like it's going to be great for us.

43:09Pat McAfee:I love your offense. You said Etienne. Is that what you said? Yeah, that's what I call him. Us too. Us too, Greg. Yeah, all right, fine. Us too. I call him HN Jr. Yeah, I don't know what to call him. I don't know what to call him. I'm telling you, you threw me quite a wrench right there. Because I was grandstanding on how good of a human I was when I was like, A-chan, he's down there now because that's what he told us to do. And then we got a teammate in the locker room with him who's saying, ETN's still doing it. I'm like, damn. But maybe we're vastly different than him. Yeah, he's much closer.

43:41Pat McAfee:Yeah, that's like my friends call me. Exactly, yeah. So we are probably – And new teammates too, though. So maybe coming out of training camp. Oh, maybe Olave's kind of bullying this guy. Oh, yeah, first-year bullies. I didn't even think about that. Welcome to the team. I'm not calling you by your name. We call Bruce Bruce, too. Yeah. I like that he's doing that. Just gets a hundred-some-million-dollar deal, too. I'll call you whatever I want. I like that, Chris. I like what you're doing, dude. Make him earn it down there. Yeah. Make him earn it down there. AK sticking around feels like a huge deal.

44:13Pat McAfee:And he was chit-chatting about, you know, like people were thinking that he wanted to go maybe ring chase. He wanted to kind of get out of there. Instead, he was like, I love this place, which seems different than over the years past. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Chris, we're not around a bunch of Saints fans on a day-to-day basis, but based on what you see on the internet and even what some pundits are saying, it feels like the vibes and the expectations around you guys are much higher than they've been in a long time. Can you guys kind of sense that? Because we've been talking about it a bunch. You guys have been kind of laying dormant, but you ended last year so well.

44:47And when the Saints are playing very well and they're very good, that's one of the best fan bases and toughest environments to play in in the NFL. Oh, yeah, man. It's super exciting when we're winning. But, yeah, we got one of the best fan bases, I feel like, at the beginning of the year when we win this first couple games, I feel like the stadium is rocking, especially when defense is out there, they're down. But, like I said, like you guys said, the energy around the Saints right now, Even in the building, I feel like going out to practice every day, the energy is there, the competition is there, just friendly competition just to get better.

45:24I feel like we got a lot of young guys, like I said, with a chip on our shoulders. And just from top to the bottom, Kellen Morris has a great example, and our best players come out there ready to compete. So I feel like it's the standard around here and the culture that they build. And like I said, we're ready to go out there and compete week one.

45:41Pat McAfee:What's the temperature down there? I don't know. I feel like 100, though. Definitely. I think it might feel a little bit more about Chris if we were to look into that. Yeah, I feel crazy. I honestly don't know how they survived down there. I have no idea. Where are you from originally? I'm from California. Which part? San Diego. Oh, beautiful. Everybody that's ever from San Diego says, San Diego's the greatest place on earth. Outside of New Orleans because you love playing there and you love that city. San Diego, best city on earth. I feel like that's how every San Diego win feels. yeah easily yeah there's just like a a certain i'd say arrogance from the people that come from

46:25Darius Butler:san diego just 70 and beautiful everything yeah it's perfect place on earth i don't know what

46:28Pat McAfee:to tell you but i'll tell you they created an absolute monster an absolute dog congratulations on the success congratulations on the new deal and good luck this year chris appreciate you guys man have a good one man god bless hey god bless you ladies and gentlemen chris oh love it yeah Chris. The Ohio State wide receiver is doing pretty good. Yeah.

46:48Darius Butler:Yeah.

46:50Pat McAfee:I'd say that's going to work out for them.

46:52Darius Butler:And there's some guys that aren't even on that list before them.

46:56Pat McAfee:Yeah, definitely. I mean, the Ohio State wide receiver is long. Gonzo. I mean, all the way back to Anthony Gonzalez. I started it. It was – I mean, you talk about injury bug being so incredibly unfair to somebody. And then, you know, he gets into politics. He parlayed into a successful political career. Is he still running for president? I think he stepped away. I'm very thankful.

47:18Darius Butler:He stepped away? I believe that. He was too hot in the streets. Is it because he hit for the cycle in the baseball game? That was the start of it. This guy should be playing in the majors. What the hell is he doing on Capitol Hill?

47:29Pat McAfee:And then everybody there decided to turn against him.

47:32Darius Butler:He was trying to get stuff done, and you can't do that in politics.

47:38Pat McAfee:That's what we think happened. I'm sure there's other opinions. There's some other opinions, but we think Gonzo's a dog. And as soon as he signed up for politics, we told him, that's a terrible idea. Get out now. Why are you doing that? And then he said, no, I think I can really do some change. And I think he was trying. I think he was trying. A little too hard. I didn't know both sides could do that. I can't remember. I thought you had one side every time you were in there.

48:00Darius Butler:He's actually the first politician ever. I can't remember. Would Aaron like him or not?

48:03Pat McAfee:Yes. Okay. Aaron would like Gonzo, I do believe.

48:06Darius Butler:You never know.

48:07Pat McAfee:I'll tell you what, Aaron doesn't like a lot, but I think he got a lot out. He did. Got a lot off his chest. Then he went to get to the Meadows and got some ice cream on him. Exactly. Yes, he did. With Rodgers' room, whole team was there. I mean, they – I'm telling you. It's a tight bunch. Very tight group. The Steelers are a tight team. McCarthy, I think, probably perfect coach for situation. And I'm not saying it's McCarthy that's made them close. This team feels like a very tight group whenever you're there, offense and defense. And whenever Aaron was – I think the lads knew what he was going to do whenever he was coming on to our show.

48:38Pat McAfee:Yes. Okay, nobody told me.

48:39Darius Butler:Definitely did.

48:40Pat McAfee:But they were watching. And as soon as he was done, they were like happy for him, like good shit. Good on him. I think Coach McCarthy even came out and addressed that. He was like, I think Burt put out a good quote. If you read that, I thought that was a lot of opinions, obviously. And then I had a meeting with our senior leadership counselor yesterday. We're all good. We're just trying to play football here. I'm trying to get to the locker room to kind of play football. But, yeah, there's a lot of opinions and stuff on everything, but we're trying to play football. And it was like what we saw was a very connected team.

49:10Now, if you lose, can you stay connected?

49:13Pat McAfee:If you lose, is there an immediate turn? Because there is an end of an era kind of coming for some of these players. It's just an interesting story what the Pittsburgh Steelers could become. But after leaving La Trobe and seeing these ice cream things and seeing the way they interact with each other and seeing – I mean, they're going 30, 40 miles an hour on these electric fights. At least. Going too fast. We don't need any injuries from guys running to the back of golf carts. We saw one. And that wouldn't have been like, oh, no, he sprained his knee. He's going to be out a couple. That guy would have died.

49:46I don't know who it was. He would have died. The Steelers would have had a player killed at training camp.

49:52Pat McAfee:We would like to make a proclamation. Okay? These e-bikes. It's crazy. Great breaks in those things. Yeah, you have to. You have to. We saw a player who I don't know if he was running late or if he was just trying to be there super early. and with Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania's landscapes, I mean, there's a lot of hills. Somebody coming down a hill around the bend right into the team meeting. I mean, we're talking 35, 40 miles an hour. At least, screeching to a stop. And then there's a golf cart right around that. Yeah. We're talking about this far away from golf cart, and just kind of park that thing next to all the other ones.

50:25Pat McAfee:Let's go inside. Nothing happened here. We think they've earned the right to be able to ride the e-bikes. Yeah. If you're a teenager, you're not allowed. Agreed. You got to pedal. There are menaces around. There are menaces for sure. And I respect and appreciate that. I was out on my bike all the time. I mean, that was out. We're doing it. I mean, there was even a rollerblading era where we were rolling around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on rollerblades. They just gone for eight hours. Where are you headed? Who knows? Bikes the same way. We respect and appreciate that. I think that's good that kids are being out and active and everything like that.

51:01But at Connor's wedding,

51:04Pat McAfee:which was at a park, i saw these two teenagers one of them pedaling the other one sitting on his e-bike right next to this kid pedaling just with his legs crossed doing this entire thing both of those kids are going to say they were biking today yeah and now one that was sitting back lazy fat slob kid i don't doubt it you have to earn your way to that he that he wasn't he was not a fat slob he's on his way bingo we're just letting this kid sit casually while his friend next to him is building up muscle and grinding his way up through this park. Now granted, that kid, I appreciate the move. I think that is a very convenient move.

51:42Pat McAfee:I don't think he should be allowed to make that decision. If you want to go bike, you've got to pedal as a teenager. You've got to earn your way into these e-bikes so if you make it to the Pittsburgh Steelers and you're at training camp at St. Vincent, you don't want these e-bikes, you can go 50 miles an hour and then almost do it. We're producing a bunch of lazy slogs with these e-bikes.

52:00Darius Butler:We need to go home and film the hill that we used to go up and down every day. I got some follow-up questions about these fucking rollerblades. So that people know that we talk about this from a place like of, you know how people talk, you're old, you say you went uphill both ways. The hill that we had to go up every single day and down every single day, I mean, these kids these days wouldn't stand a chance.

52:21Pat McAfee:I lived in a hilly town at the bottom of all of them. Okay, that's literally where I was. So that is why these legs are the way they are. And I was on a bike. I was walking. I was running. I don't like us just letting these teenagers just casually around they're going to have no bodies these kids are going to become

52:43worthless bums they're dangerous as shit these kids are ripping through neighborhoods in the middle of the street going 30 miles an hour if you're out there you better respect the laws of the jungle you better respect the traffic laws going the wrong way going 35 miles an hour no helmet on

53:00Pat McAfee:There's a kid in my neighborhood who has a really cool helmet. He comes and does laps in my driveway. You know, just gets the dogs all riled up. We have a newborn. Thanks, kid. Yep. I was going to roll out a strip of... Yeah, nice. A bike strip. Yeah, take him out. I was. I was. I respect what you're doing, kid. I really do, because I was out on my bike all the time. But you're not on your bike. No. This is not you being on your bike. So where'd you put the shoes when you rollerbladed somewhere? Just over, just... You've never seen Brink? Hmm? No. It's right up your alley. I've never seen Brink either.

53:34Hold on. Brink's a classic. Brink's a classic rollerblades. Disney Channel original movie. Circa 1998.

53:41Pat McAfee:But classic shoes tied laces. Oh, okay. Yeah. Like Mike. But then when you go into it, where do you put the rollerblades? Boom. Classic. So you're in a place with the rollerblades. Yeah, or hold them. Yeah. Yeah, and I'll tell you what. A lot of people's shoes, you know. Toss those on a wire. Yeah, a lot of people's shoes getting tossed. Yeah, I mean, you got to do it. I didn't even take shoes. You couldn't risk it. You just wore the blades. Or just in the spot. Or the boots inside the blades. Yeah, but in the spot, you mean, you go to them. Wait, what was that? You could take them out. You had the little sleeve that was inside.

54:11Pat McAfee:Like a sole, like a shoe sole, how that thing moves up. There's actually a full condom for your foot inside of those rollerblades. And if you pulled those out, it did look like it. I mean, kind of futuristic now with what kids actually wear. Very. But, yeah, you can walk around. You guys are yanking my chain. That's not real. No, real. It's real. Everything I'm saying, real talk. Real, real tall. Yeah, it's like the sole of a shoe. It just covers your entire foot halfway up your ankle. And, boy, I'll tell you, in Pittsburgh, there's a lot of the side drag of the foot here. To stop. Shh. Okay. Shh.

54:40Pat McAfee:Because you're doing this. Oh, yeah. Shh. And then the wheels get sharpened. Uh-huh. So then you're literally like you're on ice on, like, the edge and the blade of the wheels in there. It was quite a wild game. It was out there. I'll tell you what. I put some rollerblades on. tone was going to become a blader again. That was a couple years ago. I put him on everything from my knee down cramped.

55:02Darius Butler:That was a stupid idea.

55:03Pat McAfee:Calf, this thing, this muscle here. That was the most uncomfortable I've ever been in my life. How are we doing it for like two, three summers? I have no idea. I have no idea. It was stupid. It was stupid. It was stupid. But I'm done with these e-bikes for the teenagers. These kids need to be pedaling. We're enabling just laziness. And these kids are getting to say, I was on my bike all summer. You weren't, kid. you were sitting around being a fatso while your friends were on their actual bikes. Once you become an adult, 18, go ahead. Go ahead. Because I hate being on the street and, I mean, straight out of Hard Knocks, I hate being on the street and straight out of Hard Knocks.

55:43Pat McAfee:This is what it's like trying to get out of their way. Fuck that shit! Well said! I never felt that way. That's what I'm like with these e-bikers. Every which way. I love that guy. I want that guy to be my coach. Me too. I want McDonald to be my coach too after Hard Knocks. But I'm sick of being on the road, okay, with my daughter, Mackenzie, we're walking around. I see one of these e-bikers who say, I'm on my bike. Turn the corner. And then I got to do this.

56:15Pat McAfee:Oh, no sound. I missed it. Oh, man. Man. Thought we had it. That's on me. That's on me. Sorry, back room. Sorry, backroom. That's 100 % on me. But I am about sick of being on the street, seeing one of these e-bikes, and having to do. Fuck that shit. I love this guy. Well said. I love that guy. Coach, you got me. I'm a Seahawks fan. Believe in those running backs. How about McDonald telling the story about the Bulls?

56:44Darius Butler:Yeah, it was good.

56:45Pat McAfee:Pretty good, Coach. When they thought they were, and then there's another. Everything's about coming together. I like McDonald's. Love them. I like the Seahawks. I like to run. Super Bowl MVP out the building. Who's going to step up? You tell me. It's not tackle. Run through them. See you on the other hour.

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58:03Pat McAfee:Hello, beautiful people, and welcome back to our humble abode, the DraftKings Thunderdome. On this Big Coach Wednesday, August 2026, our tour of the program begins now. Sports are the FG. What the? Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. The following program is a collection of studios talking about happening in the sports world. Ticker, please. It is meant to be comedic, informative. Unbelievable. The opinions expressed on this show do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of their peers, their boss, or ESPN. You guys sucked. There may be some cuss words because that's how humans in the real world talk. If you are young, please seek permission before watching any further.

58:48I'm ready to unplug it. We'll take you through my game tomorrow. Yeah. Say hi. Exactly.

58:54Pat McAfee:Let's go. Hold on, Mike. This show stinks. And the fact that you listen, we are very, very close. Let's lock in. Here we go. Do you all know what you're saying? Yeah. Are you sure? You guys saying soccer or no? No, I got bad ball in the mind. Not for four years. Ah, that's fair. Damn it. See your friend tell your friend something nice could change their life. Hey, let's go that. Okay.

59:19Pat McAfee:Hello, beautiful people. And welcome back to our humble boat, the Draft Kings Thunderdome. On this Big Coach Wednesday, August 5th, 2026, our tour of the program begins now. Football!

59:36Pat McAfee:Absolutely nailed it, boys. Wow. Good for us. I was a little bit worried about what was about to happen for this hour with the way it was starting. Obviously, it's nice to start the practice over from the top. And whenever you nail it like that, you can't help but get excited for the football season that is beginning tomorrow, the Hall of Fame game. And we're on Hall of Fame game Eve Wednesday, August 5th, 2026, as the 2026 NFL season kicks off in a huge way. The people on this particular graphic will not be doing anything. Now, Kenny Pickett here with these – I don't like what they did with his hand size.

1:00:11Pat McAfee:Yeah. They're doing a lot of that on the internet. I don't like what happened here. He'll be taking on far side Carson Beck. Luke Kuechly will not be playing. Dang it. Larry Fitzgerald will not be playing.

1:00:20Darius Butler:They should do that in the future, though.

1:00:22Pat McAfee:Something to think about. Have them be on quarterback or something like that for this particular game. Something along those lines. We will be celebrating the past tomorrow as we kick off an NFL season with NFL helmets on the field. We cannot wait to watch Canton. We cannot wait to celebrate the Hall of Famers. And we cannot wait to overreact to things that will not matter ultimately on a true journey to the Lombardi. Obviously, football is fantastic. We've got money bags going across the league. We've got stories developing. We just talked to Chris Alave down in New Orleans. We said the vibes are immaculate down there in Bayou that is 100 degrees?

1:00:56Pat McAfee:At least. 120 degrees? Check that. With the humidity, yeah. Teams alive. Baseball is happening. Obviously, there is highlights happening from the WNBA and women's basketball around the globe. Now, the Toxic Table is here at Boston Corner and at Ty Schmidt. One half of the hammer, done. Cowboys, AP Tone is here. Nine-year NFL vet, Darius J. Buckley. I have been paying attention to women's basketball running Globes. It's WNBA season. Yeah, I'm watching the whole planet. They got a prospect overseas. I'll tell you. Yeah. Hey, what the shit project they ain't playing in this league? Be like Luka Doncic.

1:01:35Pat McAfee:It does feel like that. We'll see how it goes. You know, it's a crazy time. I believe that would be a good, you know. Yeah. I was listening to somebody talk about it that didn't think, you know, one of the teams would. And it's like, I don't think you know sports. I think that there's a lot of people that don't know that that are talking really loudly right now about a lot of things. And then the people that know sports are coming out and somehow not saying the reality of the business. Just know that we feel like in this world that we live in, it's all going to work itself out. Exactly how it's supposed to.

1:02:06Pat McAfee:It'll get figured out. And we cannot wait for sports to continue to be fantastic. Now, on a complete flip side of that, there's a dead queen bee in Ohio that we learned about.

1:02:15Darius Butler:Oh, my.

1:02:15Pat McAfee:Joining us now is the man who set up his queen to be destroyed. Brutally murdered. Ladies and gentlemen, a former beehive owner, a college football national champion, a Super Bowl champion, Ryder Cup winner, all-time leading tackler for the Green Bay Packers. But the only thing he will be talked about whenever he dies is what he did to his queen bee when he first got into beekeeping. Ladies and gentlemen, A.J. Hogan. Yeah, Hogan. I don't think we should be clapping for what you did to your queen, but I do appreciate you taking a swing at the bee thing and then getting bullied by the bees. Enough.

1:02:52You're an idiot. First off, the bees are doing very, very well. They're doing great. The colony is still there. They most likely killed the queen because she was not producing. She was not laying like she needed to. So I ordered a mated Russian queen. I actually integrated her into the colony yesterday. She's in her little cage. She's about to eat through her little. There's this little sugar plug they put in the little cage. She sends her pheromones out. Hopefully they take to her. She'll be out of her cage probably within the next 24 to 48 hours. We'll be good.

1:03:21Pat McAfee:You brought a communist bee to Columbus, Ohio? That thing got a bee's leg. Well, she's hardy. She's hardy. I could have got Italians, but they said the Italian bees are, like, gentle and kind of lazy. Yeah, they're too much. The Russians are cold-hearted. They're cold weather. They're good in the cold weather. We need to build up before winter. Okay, so you brought in, I assume, a documented Russian. It's all part of the process. All part of the process. Just an absolute KGB killer bee. So, you know, the thing about it, it's not a part of the process whenever you kill your American queen and bring in a Russian queen.

1:03:50Pat McAfee:I don't do that. That's how bees work, man. If you're not producing, this is your swarm. This is your swarm. It's a coop. No, it's not my hive. No, I am just managing these beautiful creatures. They are taking it. I want the least impact as I can have, but I have to have a queen. We need to have a queen because we can't reproduce without her laying. So now we're going to have that.

1:04:10Darius Butler:Locker room wasn't policing itself.

1:04:11Pat McAfee:The queen in England is dead. Rest in peace. She loved horses. Everywhere she went, though, there was those dudes with the things. Yeah, the redcoats. These things. And they never do it. That's what you were supposed to be to your queen bee, pal. That is what she was banking on you to be. This man will protect my royal fine buzzer against all odds. Instead, you basically sent in a bunch of Ohio bees and say, hey, kill her. I don't like what's happening. And I think it's because you didn't want the responsibility of the entire hive. I think you knew that if the queen was to die, these things would fly away and you were hands off.

1:04:49Yeah. But instead – If I would have sat on my hands and not done anything, you're right. They would have eventually found another home. So I didn't let that happen. So I'm going to – I mean, trust me. When I – I got the notification during the show yesterday that my queen had arrived and I was juiced. And I went and she had a couple worker bees in the cage with her, got her in there. They were swarming her in a good way. They were not aggressive or anything. So I think it's going to take. I think she's going to be laying eggs soon enough, and we're going to be rolling.

1:05:13Pat McAfee:It's crazy you couldn't find an American queen. Yeah, but the Russian queens rule with an under -

1:05:19Darius Butler:It does say they are harder to re-queen in the non-Russian colonies. Are you worried about that? Yeah, I'm not going for the easiest. Hey, we love adversity over here, but that's what makes us strong.

1:05:27Pat McAfee:That's why I denied the Italian one. All right. Have you thought about putting your little beekeeper hat on and going in front of a jugs machine? I don't know if you saw. C.D. Lamb. Phenomenal work. Let me go ahead and grab this whenever my vision is kind of blurred or blocked. And then George Pickens is like, that's a good idea. I kind of like that, actually. Nope. I can't see a damn thing. He said, get me out of here. I'm not a beekeeper. I'm a wide receiver. So GP out on the bees. CD in on the bees. AJ, you got a dead queen bee, but it feels like bees are making a big-time comeback, and I respect and appreciate that.

1:06:01Yeah, I'm just trying to do my little part. This is something I've never really seen. Have any of you guys ever seen this? Never. No, yeah.

1:06:06Pat McAfee:A couple things from camp we've never seen, really. No, but remember, they were wearing those masks. They were wearing those masks. What happened to those? To simulate altitude and make it tougher to breathe? Oh, yeah. That became a run where people were doing it. Obviously, some guys wear, like, three hoodies to, like, battle the heat. There's obviously sunglasses that are, like, partially blocked, I think, they're being made. Basketball, they have the big swatters. Boxing gloves for, like, corners. Yeah, to try to catch them. Grabby. Yeah, punch it out. This is the first time I've seen this.

1:06:40Pat McAfee:First time. I do like the fact that somebody who was doing some beekeeping was like, you know what, not easy to really see out of this. This would be a good wide receiver drill. Yeah. We should think about that. And CD seemingly has it figured out. George Pickens, I think, says, I need to see the whole ball. Yeah. I need to see the whole ball like it's going to be there. On that note, Jerry Jones allegedly going to be covering up the window. Yeah, it's time. Because he liked the way it looked on the World Cup. I tell you, those little soccer fellows did introduce me to a nice little treat. You know, when we block that, it turns out maybe our wide receivers can see the ball.

1:07:12Pat McAfee:It's crazy. And this place is actually better. The shadows aren't needed, I guess. I thought God made sun, God made the stadium, sun needs to be in this stadium. Turns out you just put big blinds on that thing, everybody's experience is better. So I think that's going to happen. The players are like, yeah, you put grass in there too. So we going to do that next? We got to wait for the science. We got to wait for the research. Brand new Jerry. We got to wait for the status. This is a brand new Jerry. This is a brand new Jerry. Still hasn't made a trade for anybody. He was saying yesterday I was just talking to somebody I might do.

1:07:41Pat McAfee:So same old Jerry, but maybe a little brand new Jerry. Maybe as he's gotten older and he's found that honey hole of natural gas three miles under this Earth's surface here. Have you heard it going to the moon? Who? I have heard that. Who? Who? You mean? The humanoids? The bots? Nonetheless, they might have natural gas up there. Yeah. There might be some natural gas up there. Jerry Jones is going to be on the first thing smoking to the moon if he can do that. So Jerry maybe doesn't have his full focus on the Dallas Cowboys until training camp happens because he said in his opening line, he said, I have not seen these guys.

1:08:17Pat McAfee:But once I see them, then I'll know what I want to do. Hasn't made a trade. Hasn't been that loud. It's come out, you know, that the team feels good. Maybe they go on a run. Maybe the Dallas Cowboys are different this year than they've been in the past, and maybe they're able to win because of it, A.J. And I'm only saying that strictly because of how Jerry Jones has been acting. Yeah, doesn't it seem like Jerry seems to have a sense of urgency about him when he speaks about the team, what he's willing to do, I guess. And also, is Dak really this jacked? A couple of these pictures sometimes throw me off when I see Dak look like he's 285 with 2 % body fat and completely jacked.

1:08:51Pat McAfee:Yeah, I would like to look like that. AI is wild. Yeah, AI is wild. You never know. You know, SpaceX allegedly is being reported, plans to build an automated factory on the moon using humanoids. humanoids. Oh, nice. You need factory space. Just go. There's a lot of room up there, I guess, on the outside, certainly. But if we get these little and then what? They're waving from the moon. And then maybe they just hop on a phone call and it's perfectly clear from the moon back to us like it was back in 1969. Exactly. That's the idea. These guys like, yeah, factory sure. They're going to basically be like gas station attendants in New Jersey because we're going to be going to the moon so fucking much.

1:09:27We're going to be going there. These things are going to gas up the jet, get it right back to it. There might be commercial flights available to go to the moon every six hours next week. But in 1969, how was the phone call so clear? Again, it's all about telemetry and where the satellites were set up. Obviously, our astronauts knew exactly where we needed to be, and then, boom, fine folks at NASA said, okay, go, call right now, crystal clear. That's just the way it works when there's not a lot of clouds in the sky and you have the telemetry right, the math is right, because we had the best mathematicians.

1:09:58in the world as well. Also, don't forget the greatest space organization

1:10:01Darius Butler:of all time. Well, that goes without saying, Tony. Of course we do. Then, yeah. And again, it's not always going to be like that, but on certain days, like that day back when we first went, and Nixon, they might as well have been in the room next to him. That's what it sounds like. That's because we're better than everybody else.

1:10:18Pat McAfee:Yep, you're damn right. USA. Yeah. USA. So many USA teams. Exactly. And then somebody picked up their phone at their house and tried to call the neighbor and was... and it was like sugar. You take that up with General Electric and the Bell Company and all these goddamn telephone companies. We also have some news. A SpaceX rocket booster just slammed into the moon. So we're trying to let it know that we're coming. We're trying to let it know that it's coming.

1:10:44Darius Butler:The SpaceX stock is in the trash right now.

1:10:47Pat McAfee:Well, it should be at the moon because it actually just ran into the moon. Tell them you're kidding me. All right. Let's pivot away from the moon, which we can't wait for the first game there. Oh, man. I'll come out of retirement to kick on the moon.

1:10:58Darius Butler:Okay. There you go. Rog will take us there, I'm for sure. Rog Goodell? Yeah. If it's not in the U.S., he'll take us there to play a game.

1:11:06Pat McAfee:You hate the international games?

1:11:08Darius Butler:Yep.

1:11:09Pat McAfee:All of them are just like the...

1:11:11Darius Butler:Every single one. Ireland? What about Ireland? Ireland you did not hate. Hate it. Germany? That was the best one yet. Don't get me started on them. England? Yep. Australia, though. That's cool. Way too far away. Brazil? Actually, the only one I kind of like is Estadio Azteca.

1:11:27Pat McAfee:Okay, Mexico?

1:11:28Darius Butler:Yep, same time zone. If we're not changing time zones, I'm cool with it.

1:11:32Pat McAfee:Like American time zones?

1:11:33Darius Butler:Yeah. So Brazil was kind of in play a little bit.

1:11:35Pat McAfee:Anything in our hemisphere, seemingly. I like the morning football. I do love it.

1:11:40Darius Butler:I do love that. So what are you talking about? I don't love it for the safety of the players. Oh, you think? Okay.

1:11:45Pat McAfee:Joining us now is a man who certainly cares about the safety of the players and also the growth of the game. An absolute icon, ladies and gentlemen. Coach Pagano.

1:11:57Pat McAfee:That looks good. Good to see you. What's up, boys? How you doing, Coach? You look fantastic. You're glowing. You're glowing. Life's good. Life's good. It's good to be back on with you guys. Obviously scratched that itch for the last time. Got more than I wanted to deal with. Season didn't go exactly like we thought it was going to go. I'd say. Yeah, so it's good to be home. It's good to be back with the family. I got my handicap down a little bit. Shot 38 on the front the other day, and I'm thinking, I'm fixing to break 80. I got a real frigging chance to break 80. So what I do on a back nine, I shot 46.

1:12:41But I'll take an 84. No, no, you shot a 38.

1:12:45Pat McAfee:We just keep it moving. He only played nine. I appreciate you doing that. I love that you're getting golf. I love that you're back around Miss Tina and the family. I like that you've got a good glow about you because we know what football coaching is like, especially with the season that you just had. We'd also like to announce Coach Pagano will be back in the Thunderdome. So we are so pumped. We are so thankful. We are excited. And for people that don't know and maybe just started watching the show within the last year or so as Chuck was over in Baltimore, you know, one final Lombardi push, you know, kind of get the coaching bug out.

1:13:20Pat McAfee:Just know that what Chuck Pagano brings this program into this Thunderdome is something that we all missed last year. We're all super bummed out that he went back to coach. Yeah. And we're excited for you to be back, coach. Just know that we love you over here and we're thankful and we can't wait for the season to get started. Now, before you make us all emotional with a speech about being pumped to be back, let's talk about football. First couple days of training camp are happening. Obviously, we're seeing some highlights. We're seeing some fights. We're seeing some injuries. We're seeing some holdouts.

1:13:45Pat McAfee:What do you think is kind of the thesis that a lot of these coaches are saying to their teams? Are we just trying to get here, get through this first couple weeks of, like, chaos? Or what are the messages that head coaches are sending their teams right now? Yeah, I think competitive but not combative. Everybody handles, you know, the fights and the things like that. You know, guys get tired at this point. You're a weekend. You just put the pads on. You've got young guys. You've got a number 35 trying to make the team over in Cincinnati, you know tackling uh the league's number one player the best receiver in the league uh you know so there's a lot of conversations about that kind of thing you got uh you know position battles going on uh you have these high expectations and all these buildings you know that uh all these head coaches in that opening meeting you remember my opening meetings we all started with you know the white gloves on you got the lombardi you know easiest way in the uh to make the playoffs get in the tournament, win the division, right?

1:14:45Then get to a championship game and then have a chance to hoist at Lombardi. So I love seeing all the stuff that's going on, watching the practices that are going on. I know everybody's excited to be back, but I'm going to tell you this too. The guys, the players, and the coaches, they're all looking forward. I know we've got a game tomorrow, right? Yes, it matters. Panthers and Cardinals, so we've got a game tomorrow. but I know all of them are looking forward to probably that first joint practice, go against another team, line up across from somebody else, hit somebody else in the mouth, not one of your own teammates, and kind of get an idea of where you're at.

1:15:24Those joint practices, you guys have talked about them a lot. Very few players are playing anymore in the preseason games with only three of them. I know when you're in the Hall of Fame game, you get that extra game, so you get a chance to start a Carson Beck and a Kenny Pickett. You guys were talking about that. But, you know, these joint practices, you get a chance. You know, it's a controlled environment, so you can control the contact, the tackling in the ground, all those kind of things where you can't control that in a preseason game. So you get really good work in those joint practices.

1:15:53So I guarantee you they're all looking forward to that.

1:15:55Pat McAfee:So August 11th, Cowboys, Rams. Obviously they're both in Southern California right now, so that makes a lot of sense. Colts and Patriots, August 11th. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New York Jets. Yes, Tennessee Titans, San Francisco 49ers. Salah making a return over to San Francisco. And then the next day, the Dolphins and Commanders, the Jags and the Saints, and then the Niners and Chargers. Okay, so the Niners are doing a lot of that. Maybe that's trying to get away from the electric substation. Could be. How about the Tennessee Titans signing up to go over there? Okay, that's certainly something. Let's make sure we're keeping everybody safe.

1:16:28Pat McAfee:But the joint practices are a guaranteed fight, but I think it's also for coaches, from our understanding, is a really good assessment on situations that you can script because in these preseason games, even if the vets were playing, you have no idea if you're going to get into a two-minute drill. You have no idea if you're going to get into a fourth and short. You have no idea if these situations are going to pop up. The joint practices have become very popular, very famous. Cannot wait to watch the highlights out of those. As we sit about six days away from the first batch of those kicking off.

1:16:56Pat McAfee:Now, let's talk about some of the storylines that have developed that you obviously know a little bit more about than maybe the rest of us. Go ahead, D-Butt. Yeah, Coach, great to see you first and foremost, and I can't wait to see you break 80. I know you're going to do it pretty soon here, but I got to ask you about the Ravens. You obviously spent a ton of your career there in Baltimore, specifically around Zay Flowers. He just got a ton of money. What's your thought on Zay Flowers getting paid and this Ravens team who have high expectations once again going into this season? Yeah, obviously great to see you, D.

1:17:24Butts, nothing but love and respect the job that you're doing. Really, really proud of you, obviously. Yeah, that Ravens organization, I'm happy to see Zay. Zay's a great teammate. Zay is a great dude. He's a great player. He was super fun to be around. He's a game wrecker. He's elusive. I just think for that wide receiver room, you know, they got Bateman, they got Walker, Surratt, and another young player.

1:17:51Darius Butler:Jacoby Lane. You guys probably can help me out with the other guy that they drafted. They got a couple young guys. But any time you have a guy like this, you need another dude across from him. You need a guy in a slot. Zay's been predominantly an in-the-slot guy, but super fired up for him. It'll be interesting to see, you know, how they use him. Jesse Minner comes in. You know, Bishotti makes a decision to move on after 18 years from Harbaugh. Harbaugh now over in New York with the Giants. Jesse Minner comes in. I got a ton of respect for Jesse. I followed him, you know, from afar, a great defensive mind.

1:18:26He's going to call that defense. He'll have that defense oiled up. There's nothing but a bunch of, you know, number ones, especially in the secondary. You know, with Kyle Hamilton, Malachi Starks is going to be an absolute star. He is phenomenal. He's smart. He loves ball. Marlon Humphrey back. Nate Wiggins on the outside. Chidovi Awuzie is back in the back end. The front, to me, is the important thing. You know, they get Medibike back, Nnamdi Medibike. You know, we lost him last year. He had the neck issue. I guess he's been fully cleared, you know, to come back. They bring in, you know, the old war horse, Calais Campbell, you know, so there'll be a force on the inside.

1:19:07But, you know, it's about the edge rushers. Mike Green was a guy we drafted a year ago. He's got to come on and give them some pass rush help. Roquan in the middle. So the defense is going to be fine. Anthony Weaver is the defensive coordinator. Jesse's going to call the defense. But those guys have all been there. So they're familiar with that organization. They know the ins and outs of that organization. Now it's going to come back, you know, to Lamar. You know, can Lamar stay healthy? He was dinged up for most of the season last year. It's well documented. We all know that. He's a special, special guy, a special, special talent.

1:19:43They're going to run. You know, Declan Doyle, right? You guys talked about Declan coming over as OC, right? Comes over from the Bears. What do you think the Bears were ranked in rushing last season in the NFL? High. One or two. Four? Three? They were third. Good call. They were third in National Football League, and everybody thinks, okay, because you've got Caleb, you're going to sling it, right? No, this guy's going to run the rock, and so they're going to feed Derrick Henry until he can't eat no more. And so they're going to run the football. They're going to play with Lamar more under center.

1:20:19The play-action game, the run, the pass is going to look the same. Explosive plays, you know where Chicago ranked? You're going explosives. High. Number two.

1:20:32They've all talked about how excited they are about this young guru, this young genius, Declan Doyle, coming over and running the offense. I know things are exciting. It's always when you have a fresh breath of air. We say after 18 years, the message gets to that. John Harbaugh is a Hall of Fame coach. He won a Super Bowl there. He's unbelievable. He's going to do great things with the Giants. There's a shelf life for all these jobs. Yeah, certainly. I was fortunate to get six years, you know, mainly because of guys like you and D. Butts, Pat, you know, being on that roster. Love you, Kobe. And Andrew Luck.

1:21:13When Andrew was healthy and he was under center, we won a lot of games. And when he wasn't, shit, my ass was out the door. Yeah, certainly. And that's not just – That's the NFL. That's the NFL. That's not anything bad about anybody else. but exciting times over there.

1:21:26Pat McAfee:Yeah, certainly. And the quarterback obviously is going to decide if you're good or not. We all think Lamar is a guy that's able to do that. Got the deep shot with Zay. You talking about the run game being spectacular is awesome. I don't know if you've seen Andrew Luck throwing to Zach Ertz. Hey, it looks like he's right back in it. And his throwing is exactly what it was when he was dealing. Don't look now. Hmm. Is he starting to get a little bit of an itch? I saw D-Bot did tweet this video and say, that's my quarterback. Zach Ertz getting back into the game. It was fun to watch Andrew do it.

1:21:54Pat McAfee:Even that, that was like what he did in walkthroughs. Yeah, when he took that snap and he just took. The speed in which he was doing everything was exactly what it was like on Friday or Saturday. And what was still, let's remember, he was very good. Now, what could have been? History, baby. Sorry, Chuck. Baby. I guess we'll never know. It was awesome. Sorry, guys. He looked exactly, Pat, you mentioned the mannerisms. Yes. The hands, the stance. I mean, it's like he's never left the game. You know, hey, Andrew, the game's still waiting for you. Stanford football team, that's going to be tough to get that good.

1:22:29Pat McAfee:What are you doing? That's going to be tough. I appreciate your passion project here, and I think there's a lot of, obviously, connections up there in Stanford. That one right there. When he took that step, he just – Yeah, that's just – Hey, Pat, rest in peace, Mr. Ursa. But can you imagine if Jim was alive right now, the phone call we would get? Brother, do you see Andrew? What would he say to you, Chuck? Did you see Andrew throw under Jack Hurts? I think he can play. Did you try to slam him? Rest in peace, Jim. We love you. We absolutely love you, bro. He would have been on the first. First, he would have been on a helicopter to the plane.

1:23:08Pat McAfee:Then he would have got on a plane. He would have landed right outside. Did I miss him? No, they're still throwing over here. Andrew, come on, buddy. Come on back. We miss Jim. That is epic. but I do appreciate he's still around the game. It is nice to see him spin it a little bit, maybe get back into it. But he needs to get the hell out of Stanford, bro. We love what you did for Stanford, but, I mean. Noble what he did. Noble. What do you mean? They suck. There's 20 people at their games. He could bring it back. Frank already left. The way he could bring it back is if he applies for another year of eligibility, which some of these college football players are doing with their new thing, their new rule of five years or whatever.

1:23:44Pat McAfee:That would be the only way they'd be able to bring it back. Look, Indiana just won a national championship, 16-0. I got faith in Andrew Luck in Stanford. Who's the head coach? Yeah, and who's paying? Who's the guy? From Commanders, right? Yeah, quarterback coach. We love Andrew Luck. We love him. Trust me, quarterback. Let's let him be a GM at a good team. Go build something. Actually. He's a GM national footballer. Okay, sounds good to me. Just let's get him somewhere, you know, so we can actually talk about it. Because the only thing we can say is, let's show a highlight from Stanford, the team Andrew Luck's building.

1:24:16Pat McAfee:A lot of people dress like seats at that particular game. Okay, let's move along. They lose by 30. And then we move. We're going to fumble. We're going to force fumble. But that's his moment. Boom, boom, boom, boom. He's got that moment where he's doing the sideline interview. Excuse me. Fumble, fumble. Take it. And then the guy runs it back for a touchdown. That is his Stanford moment. Doesn't need another one. Doesn't need another one. That's the band moment. Band on the field. Exactly. He just had it right there. So we love Stanford. We appreciate everything that Stanford produces for society.

1:24:40Pat McAfee:We love what their brains do. We like what they do for Olympic sports. Swimmers, yeah. We like everything that Stanford does, okay? A lot of big brains, a lot of things coming out there. Football team's a lost cause. I mean, that is just something I don't think. Go ahead, Coach. Yeah, so if I had one, I had a thousand conversations about life after football with Andrew, and his dream was always to coach, and he wanted to coach high school football. My dad was a high school football coach in Colorado, and he loved Colorado. We all know he loved the mountains. He loved skiing. He grew up on skiing with the family and all that.

1:25:14But he always talked about, hey, I want to teach high school history. I want to coach high school football. So him, you know, being at the collegiate level, taking the GM job at Stanford and being around college kids and still having a chance, you know, to impact 18-year-olds, 19-year-olds, 20-year-olds, some 25, 26 now with the rule. I don't know. But that was kind of always his dream. So it's not surprising that he's there. And obviously it's his alma mater.

1:25:38Pat McAfee:Let's get him to a good high school in Texas then. What's there at NIL? Shouldn't they have$7 billion at NIL? They don't use it all, man. Swimming, Olympic sports. Yeah, they got cures to create up there. They got new apps and technology.

1:25:50Darius Butler:They're a video game team. But if he builds it, they will come.

1:25:53Pat McAfee:Yes, he should get out of there. Stanford, we appreciate your contributions to society. Let it out. Very much so. But let's get him to a place that's going to have some dubs. He deserves winning. Yeah. Andrew Luck deserves to have a celebration at some point. I don't know if it's coming. Now, we in Indianapolis, we've been chasing the next Andrew Luck since Andrew left the side step away. We might have found him. Go ahead, AJ. Yeah, Chuck, obviously speaking of Daniel Jones, he comes into training camp, looks like he has full go, 100 % taking part in all the activities. I guess how big is that for this Colts team, for him to be taking part?

1:26:25And what have you seen so far early on in camp from the Colts? Yeah, I think it's everything, AJ. I mean, this is their lifeline. They went out and gave him, you know, what,$100 million over the next two years, something like that. And for him to be cleared fully to participate, and it hadn't been eight months, you know, with the Achilles injury, you know, back in November, whatever it was. And you look back on this Colts team, you guys have talked about it ad nauseum, eight and two. They were the creme de la creme of the AFC. They were going to represent the AFC, the easy win, you know, win the AFC South, going to represent, you know, the AFC in the Super Bowl.

1:27:11I mean, there wasn't a better team. The points that they put up, the yards that they put up, and to see him moving around like this, you know, thank God for science and the doctors that we have now and all the things they're doing, you know, with this rehab. And kudos to Daniel for coming in in this shape. And all that you see and all that you hear from all the players, it's like they never even knew he got injured, the way he's moving around. And, you know, we saw Kirk Cousins come back, you know, and have a slow start after his Achilles, you know, tear. We saw Aaron come back, obviously. But think about, you know, Daniel compared to, like, Cousins and Aaron.

1:27:51Those guys are pocket passers, right? You know, Daniel's, you know, got mobility. He's got athleticism. They used to run quarterback, you know, design runs with him. So I don't see that in his future, but he relies on his athleticism. He has to throw and plant off that right leg, which is where the Achilles was torn, but truly phenomenal. You know, where he's at, there's a ton of excitement. As long as he's under center, it's just like when luck was available. If Danny Dimes is available, there's a lot of hope. It gives you a lot of optimism. It gives you a lot of hope. And if he's not there, and we're watching the backup drop, snap after snap after snap from center, you know, there's not much hope.

1:28:35Pat McAfee:Yeah, I agree. I agree, Coach. Hope comes in many forms in life. In football, it's a good quarterback. And I'll tell you what, we let Daniel Jones know, we immediately, Colts fans, took a little bit. But boy, he was getting celebrated. The buzz was back in the city around the Colts. I mean, there was real excitement. There was real juice. And then he comes back with a broken leg after the bye week. And then he tears his Achilles a week later on the other side. And it's like, oh, of course we can't have good things. Sauce Gardner gets traded for it. Two ones, obviously huge investment. His second week on the team, he gets hurt like second play.

1:29:09Pat McAfee:We had another corner we bring in from Sam Fran, Mooney. He gets knocked out in a pregame warm-up. In a pregame warm-up, he gets knocked out. Contemplates whether or not he's going to play football again. So, whatever you talk about, penthouse to outhouse of a season for the Indianapolis Colts, I think last year would definitely be a great indicator of what's possible whenever you go from best to worst. We didn't – seven straight losses to end the season. Yeah, like that is – that was a nightmare from number one, literally to worst team in league. And now we're running it back. I can't wait to see us get on top of the mountain.

1:29:43Pat McAfee:We're climbing. We're climbing. We're trusting the climbing. Do not say that. The Neil Brown Colts. It was Lombardi Mountain. This ain't college. This is Lombardi Mountain. We were climbing that thing. And then all of a sudden, we got a broken leg on Daniel Jones. Let's put a base camp down here. Let's see what's going on. You know, there was a storm overnight. We kind of lost our way. Then we found a plateau. You know, that was where he tore his Achilles. Everybody else got hurt. And then guess what we did? We fell off of that thing. Everyone died. Phil Rivers, though. He planted another little flag.

1:30:12Pat McAfee:Oh, spark of life. We start going up. We get our walking stick. That was one of those little things that we saw at the airport. That was Phil Rivers.

1:30:17Darius Butler:Yeah, he was the rescue helicopter, and you thought he was going to do it. But then the rescue helicopter crashed. Yeah, he was a paraglider. Yep.

1:30:24Pat McAfee:Small tank, though. That thing, wham, we went right down. That's what last year was like for the Colts. and I appreciate that you wrote alongside of us while you were coaching the Baltimore Ravens because I'll tell you, I thought you went back to the Ravens to go win a title and then all we kept saying was, they're not even going to beat the Colts. Chuck ruined their year. A lot of people were saying that it was not fair. We did not say that. No, but that was, you know, fans of the program were trying to, you know, poke fun at Chuck and they were saying this fucking guy ruined the Ravens. Chuck, we don't like that.

1:30:56We don't like that one bit. I take full responsibility, Con Man, Ty. I take full responsibility. You shouldn't. One in five start. Believe me, I'm sitting in that apartment I rented in Owings Mills, Maryland, all by my lonesome, thinking I'm watching you guys in the program. I had a good life. What the fuck did I do? I need to get the hell home. Our guys' credit, the players and the coaches, everybody stuck with it. But, yeah, to much is given, much is required. You talk about Sauce. You talk about Mooney. This defense. I mean, we got some young inside linebackers, and James Betcher, the linebacker coach, will do a great job with them.

1:31:38You know, C.J. Allen and company. But Sauce, like these guys got to play. Like he's talking about, hey, we're the world's best combo, right?

1:31:47Darius Butler:That's what he said. The other day I saw that, right? Damn right. Yes, he said that. Like there's some pretty good combinations. You got, you know, the smartest dude talking about DBs on TV sitting right next to you, Pat. And he knows for certain shit, you know, Milchick and Sertan are better than this group right now. All right. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll see you next week.

1:32:11Pat McAfee:You're the best. We appreciate you, Coach. No, no, no, no. Yeah, we have to. You're the best. Go take your nap. You're the best. And you're Ovaltine. You're the best. Ladies and gentlemen, Coach will be joining us all year. Our coach, ladies and gentlemen. Coach Fong. Yeah, Coach.

1:32:52us.

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1:33:27Pat McAfee:We said that? Oh, yeah. I believe that John Gordon told him, you say it, you believe it, you're real. Singing R-Kell. Boom. Maybe they're a John Gordon guy. I think. That probably. Was it Kobe? That strikes me as right. Was it Kobe that said it? Hmm. What? Maybe it was Jordan. Hmm. I forget who it was. They said, I was saying I was the best in the world long before I was or something like that. Muhammad Ali. Muhammad Ali, okay. I was telling the world I was the best long before I actually was, and he was also telling himself that. That's what we're doing here in Indiana.

1:33:57Darius Butler:I think so. Smart.

1:33:59Pat McAfee:I like that. You got to do that. That's John Gordon. Milk, Chad. Is it? Do we know? Is it? Really? Disrespectful. That's why we need a coach. I mean, he coached DBs for 40 years, so he can't, you know. Some things are stuck in there. He feels very strongly about DBs. Remember, we told the story about how during the first regime, the winningest decade in NFL history, you know, Peyton, and the whole squad, I was throwing a DBs, warm-ups. I was throwing against seven-on-seven against the back half. I was doing the entire thing. Chuck gets in there. I go over to go do it. He goes, here you go. He's throwing to the DBs or whatever.

1:34:34Pat McAfee:I stand there for a minute and I'm like, do you guys D me to the throw? Nope, I got you. Thanks. What the hell am I going to do? Go work on punting. He loves the DB. As soon as he hears sauce say we got the uh the best of the world chuck's like let me rattle off a few that i disagree with here when you just left baltimore's got a pretty good he's got a pretty good little group denver's got a pretty good little group i think i think i do philadelphia's got a pretty good little secondary los angeles rams just made big investment in their secondary but on that note texas got the best combo right now juicing texans have a good combo but on that note colt's

1:35:13Darius Butler:number one team in the world joining us now yep sure everybody they're undefeated yeah no you're

1:35:18Pat McAfee:Right. Okay. Can't argue it. Thanks. Joining us now is a man who can't join us for long, but we know it's going to be strong. Junior NFL insider for ESPN, senior NFL insider for NFL Network from Minnesota, I do believe. Ian Rapoport. Yeah, Rapoport. What's up? What's going on? How you doing, Rap? You're a little off center. Yep. Thank you. There we go. I'm good. Appreciate you doing that. It's good TV. Hey, that's NFL Network training. Okay. That was really good that you did that. We appreciate you finding the center. It looks like you're in a mobile venue there, mobile tent uh how is minnesota viking training camp and obviously topic of discussion for that team is who is the quarterback i know you've had meetings with a lot of people over there since your arrival what is kind of the vibes what are the thoughts how should we be viewing this well first of all i'm in a vip tent right off the field um they let the vips in here and then also me um which i thought was really cool it's cool in here it's a little hot outside um that was a Big laughs.

1:36:15Pat McAfee:Everybody's mic was muted. Everybody's mic was muted. Big laughs. Oh, is that what happened? Yeah. Yeah, it was big laughs. The AirPods, sometimes the noise cancels the noise. We laughed. Feel confident. Know that it was a big pop out of us. And we know the audience, too, did a huge. This guy's the best. I'm sure the comments will weigh in on the comments. Yep. So quarterback competition here in Minnesota. Yeah, I mean, obviously, that is for sure the focus. it feels to me like it is a real legitimate and day-to-day competition in other words it's like i was in atlanta uh yesterday and my general feel is that tua will be the starter for week one um panics has not been cleared they're having a quarterback battle but that's kind of what it feels like to me this is not the case in minnesota like i just don't know right now whether it's going to be kyler the number one quarterback free agent the guy that everybody wanted or whether it's JJ McCarthy, the first rounder, who is still trying to find that consistency.

1:37:13I mean, we will see. And there's a lot of checkpoints. She's going to have full padded practice today. This is one of them. There's preseason games. That's another. Who is going to be more efficient? And then who do, as you guys know, like who the players are going to know who the leader is. They always know. And so whoever they believe is the quarterback is going to be the guy who probably is going to step in there. So it's an ongoing thing. The competition is real. And it's making this visit kind of fun.

1:37:39Pat McAfee:Okay, so from what we're hearing from you is this is actual competition. Everything else we hear and read elsewhere is not, like, on point. Because you just got done. There's so much stuff day to day. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, I don't want to out-wrap, but Rap had a lot of meetings in Minnesota as soon as he got there. He's coming fresh out of these meetings saying, this is a real competition. So that is directly from, I don't want to say horse's mouth, But on your good, good, good source, there's no lean one way or the other. This is actual what we see is who we're going to end up getting, whoever plays the best.

1:38:16Yeah, and, like, so that was actually one of the questions I asked, which was, like, to source, like, do you care? Like, would you prefer that it's JJ because then he's your franchise quarterback you drafted? Would you prefer that it's Kyler because he's still actually pretty young and has done it before? and it's sort of like whoever's best. And I think that's the only way to do it. Like my sense is we're going to get to the end of preseason and we in the Vikings locker room, but also the general public are probably going to know. Like it's almost never where it's like, well, it's so close and we just can't call it.

1:38:51It's like, we're probably going to know. Now, again, like Kyler's had the experience. We've seen him be really, really good. We've seen him be efficient. We've seen him use his legs to be really productive. so if it's him, like, I wouldn't be surprised. We have no idea what JJ McCarthy is. We have basically barely seen him play football. And, like, I've seen enough examples, including Sam Darnold here in Minnesota, where we think a guy is one thing, and then when he gets to, like, a little older, you're like, oh, wow, like, he's a totally different thing. Like, we have to be ready for that.

1:39:23Pat McAfee:Yeah, and I think JJ having quite a head start on KOC's offense means something. You know, Kyler's playing catch-up whenever it comes to that. JJ obviously has his own thoughts and opinions on what his career should look like. We can't wait to see him continue to battle it out. There was a little bit of a power play made this offseason. Go ahead, Ty. Yeah, Raph, the new GM they have up there has been on the job for not that long as Kwasi got fired, you know, what, post-draft, I think. And I think you would assume that KOC had a lot of say in bringing him in. What is that relationship like, or what has it been like, I guess?

1:39:55And how much say does KOC have in, like, the day-to-day personnel? or is this new guy like is he really kind of taking the reins and uh he's not a stopgap like this is his job for the future kind of his vision for the team it is no one teasley's job for the future it is his vision for the team but so look i think he's going to be really good every new hire everyone thinks everyone's going to be really good okay but i do think he's going to be really good his training with john schneider in seattle who is as good as it gets has been excellent and And I would say what Schneider does really well is he takes his personnel knowledge and he goes, what is the best?

1:40:33I'm moving this way. There we go. What is the best way that I could find players and personnel to serve the excellent head coach that I have? And that is how Seattle has been good under Pete Carroll and now under Mike McDonald. And that is a really good way to do it. And I think Nolan Teasley has the same vibes of like he's got a lot of juice. He's really good at evaluating players. He's kind of just starting that process now, seeing them on the field here in Minnesota. But he is going to find the best players for Kevin O 'Connell's team and for the schemes that they run. And I'll give you an example.

1:41:06Caleb Banks, their first rounder, maybe was not a first rounder for everyone. They identified him as an absolute baller in Brian Flores' defense. Those guys are hard to find. They've become highly paid. They think he is going to be a real difference maker, and that was their first rounder.

1:41:22Pat McAfee:Okay. I like that they're making plays to fit their system. You miss potentially on a quarterback early. Or do you hit? JJ could still be the greatest of all time. We'll find out. Same with Kyler. Kyler could still be the greatest of all time. So maybe they're in a good position. They got to do what they got to do. But KOC, we assume he can win with anybody. What if they don't? I mean, they won nine games last year, and, like, I was playing quarterback. I wasn't playing quarterback. Jeez, Brad. Wow. You're better than JJ, you think? I'm not me, but people like me. That guy might start this year.

1:41:51Pat McAfee:Yeah, what are you? Ian McCarthy. This is a part of the problem with the media. Yeah. Do you hear that? I do. I could do what they're doing. You couldn't, okay? You're 3 '7". You wouldn't be able to see over the line. That's just one of the issues. I'm not sure if you can throw the ball, but, I mean, there's just one obvious issue. But I understand what you're saying. Run first, go. Yeah, this is like when Dan Orlovsky says, if they have average quarterback play, they'll win the NFC. Yeah. So if they have below average play, they won't. That is kind of what Dan Rolofsky said. That's what you're referring to.

1:42:24Pat McAfee:We understand what you're saying. You just have a little personality. And if JJ goes on a correct course and go great, that would be amazing. A lot of people like their personality. Not a lot of people. Can you mute him, please, real quick as we try to get to the next question? Thank you so much, Rap. We appreciate you joining us from Minnesota. You did great. We did great, Rap. I appreciate it. Hey, is it hot there or no? Okay, yeah, good work. Good work back there. You want to know. It's heated in here. D-Bud has the last question about the Vikings for you before we pivot to something else quickly.

1:42:52Pat McAfee:Go ahead, D-Bud. Yeah, we saw other quarterback competition out there in Cleveland. There's a plan for each guy to get a start in the preseason. Is there a plan in Minnesota for the quarterbacks to play or start in the preseason games? I don't think they're there yet. I asked those questions. I don't think they're there. But, I mean, we're going to see both guys. Whoever starts, it's sort of like whatever. But we're going to see both guys in preseason games. And, like, there's going to be enough of a sample size where you're going to say, like, all right, I think I have an idea for where this is headed.

1:43:22I mean, the Cleveland one is fascinating as well because there's days where you say, like, you know, operation-wise, it feels like Deshaun Watson is sort of ahead of things. Shador seems like he's making plays, and, like, they really feel like in Cleveland there's, like, an upward trajectory on Shador. Like, the sort of thought is, like, he's got something. And, like, sometimes in the quarterback position, That's what it takes. But Deshaun's got a lot more experience and has run an offense in the NFL a lot more. So a couple fun QB battles this camp, really is.

1:43:53Pat McAfee:Certainly. All right, good luck with your interview. We appreciate you joining us. Have a great day in Minnesota. You're the best. Ladies and gentlemen, junior NFL insider for ESPN, Ian Rapoport. Yeah, Rapoport. I was playing quarterback. Pretty bold. Pretty bold statement there. Very bold. While being there, too. Yeah. I'm going to talk to him, I think, here in a minute, but nobody tell him. I could have done what he did. Hopefully they're eating lunch. Hopefully it's on in the lunchroom. I always love the me and the New York Jets have the same amount of interceptions this season. True. You know, that's – how'd that happen?

1:44:25I still don't know. That's one of the wildest stats I've ever heard. My 17 games. They had sauce for eight of those games. What the hell happened? Did they drop multiple? I need to go back and check the tape. Did they drop like 10? How'd that work? I couldn't tell you. I didn't watch many Jets. I don't think they had one PBU either. I'm tipped over throws. You see D. Lyman get picked. You got to get lucky, I think, at some point.

1:44:48Pat McAfee:They weren't lucky at all, but the Jets kind of sneaky over there. Frank Reich, Geno Smith. That's right. Karrion Sadiq. And Aaron Glenn. I mean, they really have it going. I like that the Jets are not being talked about as being asked. I had somebody tweet me there. I just saw it because we had Saints talk earlier about how their vibes are. Carolina Panthers aren't really being talked about much. You know, we showed a TMAC highlight yesterday. Obviously, they have a Hall of Fame game. Carolina Panthers are going to be on there. They had a great season last year. And if they're only going to get better, if they're only going to get better, you would have to assume that the Panthers fans are thinking, NFC South is great.

1:45:24Pat McAfee:Our vibes are high as well. Everybody's talking about New Orleans because they paid a lave. We got it figured out. I think we should pick the NFC South. Let's do it. Okay. We'd love it. Let's pick the NFC South. You know, nobody's going to really be talking about this particular division whenever it comes to early Super Bowl projections. Okay, that's just unfair. But they're in the NFC, and the Rams exist currently, and the Super Bowl champs, Seattle Seahawks, are over there, let alone all the other moves that have been made all over the place. The NFC South, you see the odds on favorites. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

1:45:52Pat McAfee:Baker, though, saying this point, this is the place he has to play. He's not happy. This is how they play, though. Chemistry's not right. Vita Veya saying, you know, I'll laugh with a couple of uses around town. Danny Smith, come talk. We take my hat off, do the entire thing. I want out of here. I mean, what are we even doing? Mike Evans said, they offered me a deal there at Tampa. Yeah, I just want to go see what it was like somewhere else. Levante David, longtime staple of that defense. He said, I think I'm good here. Tampa Bay favorites to win the M.C. South. I do believe vibes matter. It's hard enough to win a game already.

1:46:23Pat McAfee:I personally, and this show I believe, is a little bit more vibes oriented than other shows because there isn't like statistical analytics that we can tag to. Vibes seem ass down at that place. But vibes seem ass down at that place. I think that carries into the season, especially whenever there's a little bit of a problem. You have a loss or somebody starts playing bad. Then there's fingers pointing. Let's say Baker has a run of two, three games where he's playing bad. Everybody starts thinking, is this because he's thinking about his next location? Is this because he's mad at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers?

1:46:49Pat McAfee:Vito Veya doesn't get traded. He goes out there and has no impact. Well, he hates this place. Obviously, he doesn't want to do that. If a deal gets done with both of them, we assume that we will change our vibes quickly. But I don't like the two staples of their team are saying, I don't like this. And then their other ones are retiring and leaving to go elsewhere. That tells me a lot more than I think other people would assume. So I do not have the Tampa Bay Buccaneers winning the NFC South. Let's go around the room. D-Bud, who do you have winning the NFC South? Yeah, I'm with you with the vibes.

1:47:15We were talking about teams, tribes, all that stuff. A lot of turnover there in Tampa Bay. Out on Tampa as well. I think I almost got swayed by that Chris Olave interview. But nope, out on the Saints as well. I'm going with the Panthers. I like the vibes. You talk about vibes. I still remember that playoff game. I remember Cam coming back on the drum. Cam, I believe he was in camp yesterday. I think they ride that wave, remember, when they were hot a few years back. I think Bryce Young, he's got a chip on his shoulder. He's playing for some money. T-Mac. Derrick Brown, I always talk about Madden.

1:47:45The highest-rated defensive tackle in Madden this year. Derrick Brown, J.C. Horn, Mike Jackson. I'm going with the Panthers.

1:47:51Pat McAfee:NFC South champions in Darius Butler's eyes play tomorrow night. Kenny Pickett will lead them on the Hall of Fame game. Let's go to one half of the hammer. Done. Cowboys 8-beat tone. Who wins the NFC South?

1:48:01Darius Butler:I think a few weeks ago I would have been on the Panthers. don't love the injuries that they've already had in camp. Bake is going to be on a revenge tour. Give me the Bucs. I think they have the best roster still in the South.

1:48:14Pat McAfee:Okay, with Vitavea or without Vitavea?

1:48:16Darius Butler:Whatever.

1:48:17Pat McAfee:Oh. Wow. It's just a franchise pillow. Okay. Hey, I like that. It doesn't matter if they're happy, if they're there, if they're not there. I like the way the Bucs play. I think they got some depth. And, oh, yeah, we just showed a Reuben Bain highlight from earlier. Let's assume he's going to be able to cook. Okay, so we got one Bucs vote, one Carolina Panthers vote. Let's head to the talks table at Ty Schmidt. Who wins the NFC South? I had eyes on that Carolina Panthers team last year, and listen, I know it's not the same team. It's a different team. I saw what they did to my Green Bay Packers in Green Bay, and that kind of birthed, in my eyes at least, hey, this is a good football team.

1:48:49Dan Morgan and Dave Canales, like, they know what they're doing, and then they damn near beat the Rams in the playoffs. So I am bullish on the Carolina Panthers. I do want to see how they're going to replace Rico Dowdell because he was unbelievable last year, and he looked good at Steelers training. Yes, he did. Chuba Hubbard's still there, though, but I do like the Panthers, and I'm going to ride with them this year as well.

1:49:09Pat McAfee:Two with the Panthers, one with the Bucs, the other side of the toxic table at Boston Corner. Who's winning the MC South? I'm a corn chucker. I love the Saints. It feels like those teams that finish hot to the season, and then they kind of carry that in to the next season, you know, and it feels like the Saints are that team. They finished, you know, we pulled up the stats before, but I think they won, you know, six of their last seven games, and they're just getting hot. They add A-Chan Jr. with Kamara, so they've got a two-headed horse in the backfield. Who knows what happens with rookie Jordan Tyson, but they have Olave, Jawan Johnson, and then Olave also mentioned Vela.

1:49:41He kind of forgot about him being one of those deep threats for him. So I love the Saints. I'm going to take the bayou. I'm dancing. I'm eating crawfish down the bayou this year.

1:49:49Pat McAfee:Look at the expectations parody of the NFC South. We've got two on the Panthers, one on the Bucs, which the odds are in favor of one on the New Orleans Saints because they got a 26-year-old year two quarterback named Tyler Shuck who can shuck the shit out of pigskin. And it's not possible to have a sophomore slump when you're 26 years old. That's a proven fact. Bingo, because he's already had four sophomore seasons throughout his entire collegiate career, which we respect. AJ, who are you going to be picking to win the NFC South? Nobody's on the Atlanta Falcons. They just paid Bajon. And two is going to be the starter day one, it sounds like, or week one is what Ian Rappaport just said.

1:50:21Yeah, a bit surprising nobody has picked the Falcons. I'm not going to be that guy to jump out there and pick the Falcons and win the NFC South. Give me the Tampa Bay Bucs. I understand that we think the vibes are not great right now. I do not like what they're doing with B2B. I hope they get him paid, get him in there. They need him big time. But Bake is upset with the front office. There's a lot. You can do that. You can play with some spite towards your front office. That's sustainable over the course of a season. I don't think it's sustainable if you're pissed at your coaches and you hate your coaches.

1:50:48He loves his coaches, it seems like. He's on board with them. It's the front office that's not paying him right now. I think he can have a fun revenge tour, go out there, prove them wrong, that whole situation. Also, we've got a book out there. We've got Godwin. They still have plenty of weapons. And Reuben Bain Jr., I love what that guy can do.

1:51:03Pat McAfee:Okay, so we've got two on the Bucs, two on the Panthers, one on the Saints. Good picking, boys. That's a good job. Bring it home now. Bring it home now. I know you're a stefancy, guys. Take us home, Cal. Are you the Falcons now? Guys, I'm a host. Guys, you guys are the ones that are doing the analyzing and understanding the picking, you know? If I had to vote, if my vote mattered. Register. To vote. Yep. Shout out to Duck Hodges getting more people to vote.

1:51:34Darius Butler:Shut up.

1:51:34Pat McAfee:I think there was like 160 million people that voted that year. Got me to go. From my understanding, I think shout out to Duck Hodges telling people to do that at the end of a Steelers video, which was put out. Register to vote. That man would go on to marry Laney Wilson.

1:51:50Darius Butler:He's a good dancer now, too. He's been learning how to dance.

1:51:53Pat McAfee:Great dancer. I see him on my phone wall of keys. We're doing the entire thing. Finally heard Haggard. Yeah, we love – he knows who Merle Haggard is finally, which is good. Thank you to Laney for introducing Merle Haggard. Thank you, Laney. You know? And then Riley Green taught him how to – You know what I mean? So that's good. That's really good that that happened for him. But he helped America. Everybody talks about that. Help us with these picks by picking the division. Know you're out on the buck. Know that. I was about to pick the Bucs, though, just after everything I said. I would like to go back on the vibes thing about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

1:52:26Pat McAfee:I'm going to the Carolina Panthers. Let's go football team. That's a great football team, I think, this year. I don't think they're just a good football team. I think they're a great football team. Now, you talk about the injuries. That is alarming. And these are all subject to change. Sure. All these picks are subject to change. But for me, it's going to be hard just to get that visual of the Carolina Panthers stadium packed out. And then Tepper coming and saying, yeah, I threw the ice on a guy because he was saying that my player was dead, basically. He was laughing in my face. So, what do you want me to do?

1:52:52Pat McAfee:And how about whenever you went into the guy's throat? Yeah, the guy was calling me the worst person on earth on a sign. I was asking him to take that. I don't like that. You think I like that? Firing coaches, we sucked. We were not good at all. It's like, okay, it seems like Tepper had a side in all these things as well that we did not take into consideration. So, I'm a believer in Morgan. I'm a believer in Tepper at this stage. I'm a believer in Canales. And you know what? I don't see any big old backpack on Bryce Young this year. Nope. I think Bryce Young is taking a huge step. I like him to play well as well.

1:53:21Pat McAfee:Give me the Carolina Panthers.

1:53:22Darius Butler:You know, I'm switching to the Panthers. What? I'm switching to the Panthers. No, you're not allowed to do that.

1:53:27Pat McAfee:No, it's going to change. No, it's going to change. It's changed. I'm switching to the Panthers. Four weeks from now. He's back. Keep pounding. The last thought of the Panthers was, like, from last season, like, my last thought of them was they're losing to the Rams. Bryce Young drives down the field in the pouring rain, and they score a touchdown to win the damn game.

1:53:44Darius Butler:And I also forgot that Todd Bowles is kind of in a lame duck situation. I don't like that either. So give me the Panthers, please.

1:53:49Pat McAfee:Okay. I appreciate you joining us, everything over here. The revenge spiteful Baker Mayfield scares me. Me too. It does. The New Orleans Saints, how much – Kamara wanting to stay there when he could have definitely went ring chasing and they would have shipped him, he'd be like, no, I want to be here. And how they played at the end of the year, it's like they're scary as well. I like their offense. I just don't believe in their defense. How about Bajon, Robinson, and Atlanta? Love Bajon. Love Drake. I love their pieces, the young edges. Xavier Watts. Paid everybody. Terrell. I love a lot. But anytime you're going into a season with a quarterback question, I'm probably not going to pick you on this.

1:54:25If you've got two quarterbacks. You've got none.

1:54:28Darius Butler:That's all I've had for three years. And he watched one of those quarterbacks a lot. But, I mean, with that being said, we did have a quarterback battle here. And we got off to an unbelievable start with Danny Dimes. I don't think it was. It was never a battle. You know that. You got the guy number four. You're going to give him a chance. Yeah. You got to.

1:54:43Pat McAfee:Set hut. Drop a snap. Wee wee. Waze ahead.

1:54:50Darius Butler:Where's he at? Yeah, I don't know. Is he helping the Colts? There's an incredible sponsorship opportunity there. He's got to show Danny how to just get out of there.

1:54:58Pat McAfee:Tony, we'd love to hear from you, pal. Just, you know, chat about it all, about what's the season, maybe. Ooh. Be a friend, tell a friend something nice in my change of life. We're in this thing together. See you then. Nailed it. See you then. When? That's the thing to figure out. That was awesome. Who knows? I don't even know when. Yeah, that's what I'm going to figure out. Brought up a little Tony Romo in there. Going to have to get his side of this whole thing. That's an interesting situation. I mean, just in the middle of a cold. He does have documented back issues. That's another one. Trying to activate his glutes hanging off the cop front.

1:55:31Me neither.

1:55:32Darius Butler:The one of him doing the DAC warm-up was real. That's what I thought. That one was real.

1:55:38Pat McAfee:Do you want me to have these flip-flopies on or no? I don't know. That one I don't know. Why is just suspicion? Oh, shit!

1:55:45Darius Butler:What?

1:55:47Pat McAfee:Breaking news. Oh, my God. The Washington Commanders are signing a veteran quarterback. Or veteran wide receiver, sorry. Yeah. Let's go back to the beginning. Oh, let's take guess. The Washington Commanders are signing a veteran wide receiver. His name is? Stephon Diggs. Nailed it. Well, I didn't know if you guys were going to think maybe it was somebody else. Stephon Diggs is now with the Washington Commanders. Congratulations to them and to him. There's been a lot around Stephon Diggs, I think. But if you look back to last year with the New England Patriots, I think they would say he was a perfect teammate for them.

1:56:21Pat McAfee:He obviously contributed in a huge way to a team that ends up at the Super Bowl. Now he's going to the Commanders with Jaden Daniels, who we all have very high hopes for. Dan Quinn, the head coach, fired everybody. Offensive staff, can't win with you. Not going to. Defensive staff, can't win with you. Not going to. A lot of new faces whenever it comes to coaching. Now Stephon Diggs joins them as they go. I think we all believe in the commanders and Dan Quinn, but boy, last year, that looked like quite a step backwards. Will they be able to get back into conversation in the NFC East? That's only gotten better, seemingly, especially with what's happened with the Giants and how everybody views them.

1:56:55Pat McAfee:This is a huge deal. I think this is a big deal that he's going there and not going elsewhere. I think that is the big storyline because I think everybody assumed he was going to head. Maybe he goes back to the Patriots. Maybe he goes to the Chiefs. Maybe he comes to the Colts. Him going to the commanders, I don't think anybody was really expecting, but we did know they were in the wide receiver market. Congrats to both parties. I'm pumped for Stephon. I'm pumped for Jaden Daniels. Yeah, I mean, this is great for him. I mean, a comment could probably speak to him more than I can, but he seemed, like you said, a great teammate off the field.

1:57:23I know he did this.

1:57:24Pat McAfee:Todd Redd. Todd Redd. Jeez. Oh, no. What are you eating? It's 1-59-22 on my clock here. It's five seconds off. It might be the quickest I've seen Ty get out of the clock.

1:57:34Darius Butler:Yeah, me too.

1:57:34Pat McAfee:He was shaking his head at me like this, like calling off pitches. Shake Shack.

1:57:38Darius Butler:He had a burrito. Oh, burrito. No spicy broccoli? No, no spicy broccoli. Spicy chicken, maybe beef in there. I'm telling you, he was looking at me just going like this.

1:57:49Pat McAfee:Big burrito. And then he just slammed that door on his way out. We wish him good luck, obviously. But back to you. I'm so sorry. But no, good safety blanket for a young quarterback. It's about Jaden Daniels. Can he stay healthy? You heard Chuck say you're as good as that quarterback a lot of times. You're obviously rebuilding that defense as well, but it's another veteran along with T-Max, Scary Terry out there. So you got two, you know, valuable guys who have put in a lot of work in this league. I know Stephon Diggs works his ass off when it comes to the offseason. So I'm excited to see him, you know, kind of back close to home where he grew up, you know, playing some ball.

1:58:25Yeah, Conman, you guys loved him in New England. Loved him, yeah. He was unbelievable, especially for a young quarterback, like you mentioned, with Jaden Daniels. And now he's not kind of the number one, you know, with New England. He was the number one go-to guy. Hey, need you here. Big moments. He showed up. That play right there against the Ravens, I believe, was on a fourth and one and helped us win the entire game. But you think about the Buffalo game in primetime. At Buffalo, kind of when the Patriots solidified themselves as real contenders this year, he went for 150, some of the biggest moments of the entire season.

1:58:57So now with Scary Terry, to your point, I know they got Okonkwo. We're talking about him having a really good camp being kind of the number two. So Luke McCaffrey, yep, he was another guy. Now all of a sudden you think the Washington commander's offense is much better than it was this morning where you're kind of worried about him. But the him, while Bill Krosky merit, if you guys remember, he kind of steps into the running back one role because Brian Robinson Jr. goes down to Atlanta. So I kind of love what the commanders are on offense. They picked up Rashad White.

1:59:26Pat McAfee:I haven't talked about him at all in the NFL. At all. I haven't talked about the commanders at all other than his IU could end up there. Yeah. And that seems like that one was kind of blown up.

1:59:37Darius Butler:Yeah. What's he going to do? Dead in the water. Nothing. He's not playing. He's still a niner? Yes. I don't know. Is he technically? Yes, he is.

1:59:45Pat McAfee:I lost track because those videos, my algo will hit him, and I don't know which one's when. Technically it is, yes. I don't know which one's when. It's like, who's he pissing off with this one? Everyone. Yeah. I mean, me watching the videos, I just hope he's good. But as far as him being back on a football field, I don't realistically see it happening. But, you know, wilder things have happened, I guess. Stephon Diggs signing there is obviously a big deal. We'll continue to follow that conversation. The Bears, an all-pro tackle. Darnell Wright signed the biggest deal in the history of offensive line.

2:00:19Pat McAfee:Congratulations, Darnell. Go. 116 million. 93 million guaranteed. Congratulations to him. You know, Chuck Pagano brought it up. Run game, huge for Chicago, obviously, with Ben Johnson. But Caleb Williams, obviously, a massive investment as well. Spending this amount of money on a tackle means you believe in the guy, not only on the field, but off the field as a leader and a pillar of your franchise. He's heading into year four. So they get this done pretty quick, and he gets a massive deal. He's obviously showcased who he is. And Ben Johnson isn't just going ahead and letting somebody get the highest-paid contract of all time unless they've earned it.

2:00:56Pat McAfee:Massive respect for this man. Congrats to him and congrats to the Bears as a whole.

2:00:59Darius Butler:Yes, he was AQ's first team. I think he was first team right tackle or second team right tackle when he did the Shipleys or whatever the hell they're called. Trenchies. Trenchies, thank you. My bad. I shouldn't talk about this team, though, because I don't know if you heard before the show, Butsy dropped the Chargers and picked up the Bears as one of his teams now. So, Butsy, you could maybe take this one away. I mean, look, like you said, as far as the trenches go, that's where it starts. I talked to AQ as soon as this deal came out because I remember how high he is on this guy, how much he loves Darnell Wright.

2:01:27I believe he was interviewed coming into camp, and they asked him, hey, how do you feel about the contract? Are you holding me? He was like, no, I'm not worried about it. I know it's coming soon. And they took care of him. Highest paid ever when it comes to guaranteed money. Young core of that offensive line. Still some questions about the center and the left tackle, and that's straight from A. Kusch.

2:01:44Pat McAfee:Yeah, congratulations. A. Kusch is in there. He's training a lot of these guys. Congrats to the shipyard getting after it. Congrats to Octagon football getting the deal done, the Chicago Bears getting the deal done. He now has earned his way onto this graphic, The highest paid players of each position. He's at right tackle at$29 million a year. Left tackle,$30.1 million a year. That's a lot closer gap than it has been in the past. I think that's because we have more balanced offenses now. And also, we have more pass rushers. So, obviously, as the edge position has picked up, the right tackle position has obviously become ridiculous.

2:02:14Pat McAfee:$50 million a year at edge. $63 million at quarterback. $42 million at wide receiver. Bunner,$4.1 million. Not bad. Kicker,$7 million. There you go. I like what they're doing down there, boys. You look at the center, Linderbaum just obviously flipped that market into a$27 million a year place. Running back, Bijan just signed for that. That's going to change probably in the next day or two. Either Gibbs or Jonathan Taylor. Maybe. Probably going to break that. I think Jonathan Taylor will try to, for sure, because of what he's earned. And this is probably his last big one, you know, at the running back position.

2:02:46I mean, I agree. Definitely should try. Both guys should definitely try. In my own opinion, I think Bijan should be. He's earned a right to be the highest-paid running back in the league.

2:02:56Pat McAfee:Okay, I respect that. I appreciate that. He got his deal done first, so normally he set the tone for everybody. Now let's go to the wide receiver position,$42.15 million a year for JSN. And let's go to the tight end position,$19.1 million, George Kittle. So that is whenever you talk about tight end university and them meeting up and saying, hey, we've got to know our fucking value here. I think there's a lot of that. That's a crazy gap.

2:03:21Darius Butler:Yeah, they're$10 million less than tackle and$20 million less to our receiver.

2:03:24Pat McAfee:Yeah, and they're both, you know, especially at the high end of that, especially George Kittle and what he provides for the 49ers, especially if he's back healthy, which everybody's assuming he's going to end up being. So I think these numbers say a lot. I think the league's very healthy. I respect and appreciate all these players doing what they're doing. But you could probably look at a couple of these positions and assume that over the next couple of years, they're going to get boosted in a big way as well. Yeah, like tight end, you think about Brock Bowers, you know, with the Las Vegas Raiders, when you think about their weapons, He is the one guy that they have.

2:03:52They don't have a wide receiver one, really. They have a couple guys that haven't proven themselves yet. Brock Bauer is going to catch 100 balls and be on the field for every single one of Ashton Jinty's runs. You just kind of mentioned it to me. Tyler Warren, he's the exact same. And he's probably an even bigger impact when it comes to his ability to take snaps under center. I think he did a QB sneak last year. I forget if they actually did that. But he, you know, with Alec Pierce's sidelines right now, he's kind of the Colts' number one receiver. And who knows?

2:04:22Pat McAfee:Because a lot of these guys are the team's number one receivers. He's not number one receiver right now, but I can definitely see him being one of these guys. I think he's just scratching the surface. You didn't see him in the past in offense in college. Now he's in this Ben Johnson offense, which we know how much Ben Johnson does for these tight ends. So he's another guy. There we go. Good game. Back in the fight. Proud of you, buddy. We're talking about the highest paid annual salaries or average salaries for each position group. And tight ends are a long way below the wide receivers and the tackles.

2:04:57Pat McAfee:But tight ends are something we should definitely bring up with you. How do we feel, bud? What happened out there, little loosey-goosey? You sprinted out of here faster than we've ever seen before. Yeah, I started setting in about five minutes into Chuck. So I was battling for about 30 there. I figured, I said, I think I can get to the end. I didn't know when the end was going to be. Once we were off ESPN, I thought, hey, maybe Pat's going to have to take a piss really bad. And we'll hop off here. We'll take a five-minute break, and I'll be able to fucking go do my business then. But nature called.

2:05:28That's not what happened. What are you going to do? I have an upcoming doctor's appointment for my stomach pretty soon. I don't know. Are you going to clear it out?

2:05:39Pat McAfee:Well, I don't know. Will it matter? What's this doctor going to say to you? Yeah, what did they say? What could they do? Sorry, or she. Sorry, that's on me. But what will this doctor say to you that potentially changes anything in your life?

2:05:55Exactly. We'll see. You know when you hear it. I just want to make sure I don't have like an ulcer or anything like that.

2:06:04Pat McAfee:We would like all the negative things to not happen to you as well. That's not fun, you know. It's not fun. But, you know, hey, what are you going to do? What are you going to do? Well, they give you answers, I think, on what you should do. And you say, well, actually, that just kind of makes it worse somehow. Nah, I mean, I've played that by the book. I have pills and medications that I'm actually on. And, you know, those don't do a whole lot either. Are you eating better? What? Well, that's the thing. You know, you eat salads. Nothing but salads for a week and a half. It's a bad time to get the salad.

2:06:38Yeah, I was losing the weight, but is it worth it when you feel like you're getting stabbed in the guts every 10 seconds, and then you take a massive, disgusting shit every time you fart? And what have you been doing lately?

2:06:52Pat McAfee:What's the food today? What was the food, kind of the recipe you think today? I just got your run-of-the-mill ground beef burrito today. Burrito? But ground beef, and I didn't load it up with queso or any of that bullshit. It was basically white rice and ground beef. It was a pretty... Was it the size of your head? That's how big it was. It was a big burrito. It was a decent burrito. But it was, like I said, white rice, cilantro. Beans? Big beans? No beans. Nothing egregious in there. No, no. That's a lot of it. It was a pretty good-sized burrito. It was. What about the drinks? Did we have water with that?

2:07:31Pat McAfee:Mix it down a little bit. I did. I did. I had a couple coffees today. It was an early morning. Did you get any wings? I had one Red Bull. Okay. Any energy shots? No. The coffees, that gets you too. It is, yeah. That is rare. I have been drinking a little, well, no, because I usually have an espresso before I come into work pretty much every single day. Nespresso is a real game. Yeah, they're delicious. They're good. I'm having a headache right now, actually, I think, because I've had too much. I was going to say that's the problem. I used to not do anything when I got in here, and now I'm, you know, shit.

2:08:06It's quick. It tastes good. It's convenient. So I've been having about two of those in here as well.

2:08:11Pat McAfee:Yeah, but those are double-sized. So that's four of those. And then you have one at home. That's five. And then you have the Red Bull. That's six things before we go live. Burrito the size of your head. And also, anything on the side? Nothing on the side? Nothing on the side. No, I did not get any of that today. Hey, thank you for doing that. I did not get any of that today. I like what you did there. I took a bunch of shits last night, too. I figured I was going to be, you know, all cleared out coming into that. I said, I won't take another dump until 5, 7 p.m. Well, I mean, that is a good sign when you shouldn't, though.

2:08:39Yeah. Yeah. It's better than not going. Depends on the poop.

2:08:41Pat McAfee:Yeah, but when you can't control when it's coming, I think that is, some would say suspect. It's alarming. I knew when it was coming, though. I mean, it's been coming down the pipe for about 40 minutes here. I knew it was coming. It was just whether or not I was going to be able to do it without the hullabaloo. And that's what we're talking about. Like, your ability to do so many things at one time kind of reminds me of, like, a tight end position. You know? And what they're getting paid versus what everybody else is getting paid is just crazy. It's not right. It's not right at all. It's not right.

2:09:13That's why I did that, because I want Tucker Craft to get paid. He might reset it. I want him to be the highest paid tight end in the NFL.

2:09:19Pat McAfee:Laporta. Sam. I'm doing it for these guys. Thank you for doing it for them. Thank you. You know, you can buy tickets to the upcoming NFL preseason games and the NFL regular season games. Maybe even give them as a gift at our friend SeatGeek. Let's go. The greatest ticket-buying platform on planet Earth and the moon. Humanoids are going there.

2:09:42Darius Butler:Yeah.

2:09:42Pat McAfee:Okay, I don't know what that means. I'm also saying probably people inside of that. Ticket prices going up up there. Certainly. I don't know what event is going to be live from the moon, but when it is, SeatGeek will give you the best bang for your buck. and right now if you use P-A-T-M-C-A-F-E-E as a promo code, you get$30 off your tickets. Now, granted, SeatGeek will tell you if you're getting ripped off. It's a little red dot next to the ticket. They say, hey, this is a bad price for this particular ticket. They'll also tell you, hey, this is a good price. This is a good ticket. You'll never get catfish.

2:10:10Pat McAfee:What you see and what you buy is what you get. But they're looking out for you. Right now,$30 off tickets using code P-A-T-M-C-A-F-E-E. Probably get into a preseason game. Yeah. Pretty good with$30 off. Now, there are fees that apply. There are some other restrictions that apply, but we very, very much appreciate SeatGeek, and we think they do an incredible job. And we think you should gift some tickets because you're alive, but are you living? Go live and experience something live with our friends at SeatGeek. Top-selling NCAA football games, you might ask? Well, Ohio State and Texas, that's what we do.

2:10:44Pat McAfee:DU versus Notre Dame, huge last year. That's a big one. That's November 7th. Michigan, Ohio State. What do we think, AJ? Jay, this game's always going to matter or no? It better. I mean, it's always going to matter here. I know that. I don't know what they're trying to do to it on the national stage, but, yeah, it matters here. Well, they're saying the game might not matter because what's going on with the rest of the games, it just makes every game kind of the same game. And if the game doesn't matter, is it really the big game anyways? Michigan's new head coach just said it doesn't really matter.

2:11:12Pat McAfee:Coach, what do you mean? That's not what he said. Hatred isn't cool. In so many words. What do you say? He basically said, like, listen, we don't hate anybody. So he said hate's a strong word. Yeah. Read the room, pal. That's soft. Great start. Yeah. Fan base don't feel that way. What everybody in Ohio State say about that. Oh, sweet. This guy doesn't hate us. Cool. We're going to roll this guy like we plan on. What if you guys lose to the guy that doesn't even hate you? That'd be bad. Holy shit. You can't live in your fears. Or hate is what Whittingham said. What I found, that hate can really bring people together.

2:11:47Pat McAfee:I actually wrote a song about it. It'll be out on August 14th. There you go. It's actually a little bit of a heater. A little bit of a heater. Now, LSU Ole Miss, speaking of hate, here we go. There you go. Here we go. Game of the year. And then you got Tennessee versus Texas. Who's UT? Who's UT? That's a good question. That's selling out. Okay, up there in Rocky Top. Definitely. I don't know if it's Texas Longhorns that are fans trying to get up to that sweet, beautiful location in Tennessee and Knoxville, or if they're just excited to see the UT battle from way back in the day on who is the powerhouse.

2:12:17Pat McAfee:Right now you can get$30 off tickets. I think these games, I don't know if$30 is going to be even noticeable. But there are certainly games out there where it will help, and we appreciate them for that. All live events, SeatGeek has the ticketing for you. We appreciate the hell out of them. All right, we're going to get the hell out of here. We're back tomorrow. Big day tomorrow. Huge. All-fam game day. Oh, I can't wait. Oh, yeah, game day. NFL helmets are going to be on a football field tomorrow night playing the game of football with refs, whistles, lights, television, points, you name it. That's right.

2:12:45Pat McAfee:Gambling odds? I'm betting on an NFL game tomorrow. Yes, you are responsibly because you are of age and you are agreeing to do it responsibly. And if you're not doing either of those things, we don't want you to join us at DraftKings. But with that being said, we got some action tomorrow. We got some heat tomorrow. We got some helmets colliding tomorrow. We got pads popping tomorrow. We got a high school football field on display to celebrate the legends of yesterday because we got the Hall of Fame and it's a great day. Yes. Be your friend. Tell a friend something nice. might change your life when you wake up tomorrow we got bull boom oh thank you for getting through an off season with us we appreciate all love for allowing us to do this for a living and if you don't like us you and if you do like us we love you and we'll see you tomorrow be a friend tell a friend something nice it might change your life we're in this thing together great work this week dude bud we'll see you next week hey tomorrow night football life is great football is better boom team on me team on three for the good of sport baby 1, 2, 3 you know when you're locked in Focused and fearless.

2:14:07Welcome to the WNBA. Your vision narrows. You can't look away. Every assist. Every stop. Every logo three. From beyond the logo. Every did you see that moment. You bet. What records are going to be broken this season. All of it right here. Lock in. It's the WNBA on ESPN. All season long. In a sunny Californian suburb, one family's home is unusually quiet.

2:14:39Pat McAfee:When detectives walked into that house, they said that it was like time just stood still. It's 2010, and the McStay family is nowhere to be found. Inside the home, no clear answer where the family could have gone. Husband, wife, and two children all gone, like, poof, disappeared.

2:14:57Darius Butler:The search for the McStays quickly captures the nation. But for years, the search for answers only brings more questions. Who's ever heard of an entire family going missing? A family of four doesn't just drop off the face of the earth with no contact. Is this a family on the run? Or is the truth far more sinister? From ABC Audio in 2020, this is What Happened to the Mixed Days. Coming August 11th, wherever you get your podcasts. Or subscribe to 2020 True Crime Plus on Apple Podcasts for ad-free episodes, early access to new episodes, and so much more.