The Ryen Russillo Podcast - The Real NBA Contender List and Write-Off Teams. Plus, Booger McFarland on the Dangerous Chiefs, Tomlin’s Future, and Caleb Concerns.

Episode Date: January 17, 2024

At roughly the halfway point of the NBA season, Russillo opens with the list of teams who could win the title and explains why other teams didn't make the cut (00:36). Next, he chats with ESPN’s Booger McFarland about how dangerous the Chiefs really are, why Mike Tomlin and the Steelers need to make a drastic move, why he’s worried about Caleb Williams, and who he likes in the divisional round this weekend (27:00). Finally, the guys close it out with some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (1:04:07). The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please check out theringer.com/RG to find out more, or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Booger McFarland Producers: Cliff Augustin, Steve Ceruti, and Kyle Crichton Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I love today's podcast. We're at the halfway point of the NBA season, a deep dive, the contender list, and the write-offs. We're going to spend some time on it. Booger McFarlane, we're talking playoffs, we're talking coaching changes, and some draft stuff stuff and life advice. Dish soap, definitely doable. Sunshine, that's no. A bottle of wine, yeah. And a snow day, again, no. But blueberry muffins with the delicious crumb topping, total yes.

Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol and select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. We're at the halfway point of the nba season and i wanted to enter in to the contenders conversation i have a contenders list the concept is simple if at the end of all of this in june one of these teams is holding up the nba championship you wouldn't be like how the fuck did that happen i didn't want to swear so soon,

but I just felt like that was the best way to describe the concept. So my contenders list is this. As of right now, Boston, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Minnesota, Oklahoma City, Denver, obviously the Clippers, and I'm keeping Phoenix in this list. Does it feel like I'm doing them some favors? Yeah, it does. I don't feel great about it. And look, if you very simply want to say Phoenix isn't winning the title, that's ridiculous. You're probably right. But I was trying to compile the list where if it happens, you know, that's the point. If it happens and the confetti's coming down, you know, like, all right, you know, Phoenix figures some things out, you know, maybe somebody adds something. And then

there's kind of the write-off list of some other teams that I'll get to. So the point of this is let's talk about the good things with each of these teams and also the bad things. This is coming off of last night's win for Philadelphia against Denver at home. And Bede was incredible again. I think that win meant a lot for Philadelphia. And, you know, you start watching the matchups play out and you're like, could this actually be an NBA final? So let's dig into some of this stuff. All right. So Boston's on pace for 62-63 wins against the number two hardest schedule so far in the NBA. They're number three on offense, number three on defense. The depth is terrific. They have playoff shot making that we've seen

despite some of the concerns about their late game offense. I think it's a little different when a team makes it to the finals in the Western Conference Finals as opposed to a team that we like, and then you're like, how come this team can't get out of the second round? So sometimes when I hear about the disappointment of Boston and who they are, I'm like, yeah, but it's not like they're never getting out of the second round with this group. So clearly, Prazingis' health is going to be a concern when you look at his track record and how many games he normally misses. And he's taken a bit of a dip offensively, but he provides them along with Drew,

along with Derek White, on top of Brown and Tatum, just a lot of different shot creators that we would expect to hold up in the playoffs. And then, of course, you've got to worry about Horford, who was so good in certain moments last year, he felt like he was rejuvenated. I felt like he also, I don't know if he tired out, bad matchups or what, but he ended up not being able to make any shots. Their offensive settling. This is a bit concerning as I did a really deep dive over this on the holidays where I was going like, all right, what, is there a number that proves that they're a drastically different team during clutch situations, during playoff stuff. I looked at drives. I looked at isolation. And a lot of the numbers would tell you your eyes are wrong. I'm

sure if I wanted to keep digging, I could find something. They don't drive it as much as some other teams. And there's a settling number here that I don't like, where if you look at their attempts from 25 to 29 feet, they have 29 of those attempts per game, which is number two in the NBA, but they're 39% of those. So when you look at the regular season last year on offense, they were 117 per 100 possessions. You're like, okay, so it must've dropped off in the playoffs. It didn't really, it was only 116. So even though there are these moments, I think any of us that watch the Celtics regularly, you're like, are they going to start settling again? Are they going to start driving again? It can get frustrating. I would also add Boston last year was 28th in

free throw attempts per game. That's up to 15. So maybe that's a slight improvement. So overall, we expect a really good team and another run from them. Minnesota is 28 and 11. They're number 20 on offense. They're first in defense against the number one toughest strength of schedule to this point. They're fourth in three-point shooting. Sometimes I watch them late on offense. I'm like, are they going to have enough spacing with the way Gobert is positioned for Edwards to cook the way we'd expect him to?

He's just going to have some big playoff moments. That's the kind of player that I think he is. But the three-point shooting overall, especially with the guys like Towns and Nas Reed, they're like, man, they can dial it up, and even McDaniel. So the big options that they have with their lineup, I believe this, and it's going to be a negative to some other teams. You may not at your core have to play big, but to go deep in the playoffs, you need a big option. You need some kind of lineup that you think is at least impeding the other bigger teams, whether it's Jokic, whether it's Minnesota, if Anthony Davis and the Lakers are able to put

together some kind of run, we'll get to them later. But you get my point. I like the versatility with teams to be able to say, we have a big option. And clearly Minnesota maybe has that better than everybody else. I don't like the Gobert touches. I just don't. I think he's one of the worst good players with the ball in his hands. And I worry about the spacing sometimes. I would admit to the overtime loss at Boston kind of scared the hell out of me if I'm a Timberwolves fan because they doubled the hell out of Ant. They didn't really figure it out. It led to the ball getting out of his hands, some turnovers late, not to say they can't figure that out and be ready for it against the same concept in a playoff series. But as great as Ant is, there's some teams, and I put Minnesota in

this group, I'd be like, who's the second scorer that I really trust? Kat's overall numbers are absurd for a second scorer. He's 51, 42, and 89%. But is he somebody that's going to be able to create? I look at some of the drives and I think they're clunky, but then you look at the numbers and his points per possession on the drives and it's actually pretty good. I wish McDaniel didn't foul out of every single game. He's so good on the ball. I think he provides some spacing, but I don't really see him as any kind of shot creator. And as mature and smart as Conley is, it's a diminished version of him offensively. So it's going to be late offensive stuff in the playoffs. And who's the second score when Anthony Edwards doesn't have it going? Milwaukee, they're second on offense. They're

19th on defense. They have this great record and they've won some really nice games recently. And then I was like, okay, are they maybe figuring it out defensively? Their last 10 games, they're 24th. So no, the numbers say it's getting actually worse. A positive though. Middleton, I think the last two months has looked really good. I think just watching his movement from the start of the season has been an improvement. Less minutes now, but if you look at the field goal percentage numbers, they're up. I also like Beauchamp and Andre Jackson being a bigger part of the rotation,

playing more minutes per game this season in January than at any other point. So maybe it's a defensive option. Beauchamp just kind of impacts the game with his energy and athleticism. And Jackson, you know, I think is a tough player who also is really good with the ball in his hands making decisions. Not somebody you'd be looking for for scoring, but it's nice to see them developing those younger players to maybe have a different look. But it'd still be asking a lot if they're deeper in the playoffs to be taking away somebody like Middleton with his playoff resume and just a shot making that provides as the third option after Lillard and Giannis. Maybe Lillard and Giannis are just that unstoppable. I mean, it might just be as simple as that, but the defensive numbers continue to slip. They've had the third easiest schedule to this point. They have the second lowest opponent's three-point percentage. Some people will tell you it's scheme. Some people will tell you that's luck. So we will monitor that one.

Oklahoma City, fourth in offense, sixth on defense. Really good numbers. Last night was a great win by the Clippers. I'm going to spend some time on the Clippers because they deserve it, so we'll get to that. If you look at SGA and who he is, I'd put him on the short list with Luka, Jokic, Tatum. It really might just be Curry, Jokic, SGA.

As far as, hey, am I going to get a good offensive possession? If you had to think of that list, and I know Embiid feels like it because he's been so dominant, but playoff scenario, picture it right now. The score's tied under a minute. Am I going to get a good look? And I think Luka's there. I think Jokic is there. And SGA might be in that group of three. Steph, just with his movement and his gravity, might be the fourth one. It feels a little dismissive of the talents of Embiid or Tatum, but I think that's

kind of where I'm at with those four. Willing to be wrong on it. So the part of SGA that's so incredible, I looked at this number. If you look at the top 50 isolation players as far as isolation possessions per game, the top 50 in the league, SGA's number one at 1.21 points per possession, and he's tied with Kawhi. he's tied with Kawhi. So that's been one of the best things in the league, his isolation. And it doesn't feel like his isolation stops everything else that's happening. I think there's still a part of it where the rest of the team knows that they're still involved in the play, even if he's working with the basketball so much. So I don't know if it's as egregious or gross at times as some of the other high usage guys. So you have these great possessions, as I mentioned, but I worry about their size. Chet's been terrific. As far as these unicorns at this size that have these perimeter skills, I think his stuff looks more comfortable

than a lot of these dudes. I'm not saying he's Durant, but that was the miracle that was Durant. He'd be like, how is he that big and that good off the dribble getting into his stuff? Chet kind of has those moments, but they are so small. Look at their rotations. The other Jalen Williams is basically out of the rotation now. And other than Chet, I worry about this team as far as their front line. And I thought there was times where Chet's out there fighting, but even against a Clippers front line, Zubac is terrific, but it just felt like at times, physically,

he's just getting shoved around because he's just not there yet. We've mentioned the age thing in the past. We did that big Thunder breakdown. History tells us these teams do not win titles. Not impossible, though, if you look back at the 15 Golden State Warriors. Denver, benefit of the doubt stuff here? Absolutely. The offensive numbers are 7 seventh in the league.

Defense, they're 12th. They are not great against teams that are 500 and above. They're 10 and 11 after last night's loss. I feel like part of me wonders if I'm holding them to a different standard based on the record, the seeding against better teams. I'm like, are they as good this year? Well, their net rating last year for a title winner was kind of absurd. It was only 3.3 points.

That was sixth best in the NBA. This year, their net rating is plus 5.3. Some of the net ratings could be skewed because the bottom five teams in the NBA individually would be historically bad, and now it feels like we have five of them all at the same time. Some of the net rating stuff maybe from last year could be their road numbers you know this year they're not great on the road again i learned that mistake last year with them i guess it just doesn't matter usually that's an indicator of a really special team to have a nice road record it doesn't seem to matter with the nuggets they also had that late vacation which

may have messed up some of their numbers so last last season. So look, even if they're the three or four seed, I don't think it matters. There's some Jokic shooting stuff that's kind of funny. In wins, he's averaging 15 shots per game. In losses, he's averaging 20 shots a game. So they mentioned this last night on the broadcast. And you think, okay, does this mean now defensively teams are going to want him to become more of an isolation scorer and double team him even less? That could very well be true. I mean, his mindset, he's not going to look as it's not going to be as visually appealing as some of the other top scorers in league.

And this is something I touched on last year. You know, it's kind of like how awesome certain receivers look because you're like, look how physically imposing this guy. Look how fast he is. Look how great that catches. And then there's the other guy coming out of the slot. You're like, is he as good as the other dude? It just doesn't look that way. I think Jokic suffers from that at times. I just would think most of that stuff's in the past after the finals run, right? So if you look at those splits and wins and losses in his field goal attempts, it feels more like it may happen when they're losing and he decides to take more shots.

Because it's happening with Steph too, with this Golden State team, where you're just like, yeah, he's just not going to be as efficient right now because he's taking just harder and harder shots because he knows he has to carry them. It might be a little bit like the rushing attempt stat that people used to think was insightful 20 years ago, where it's like, hey, this team wins this many games. Their winning percentage when they run it 27 times is this, and when they run it 15 times, they lose way more. And you're like, okay, is that because that's what they're doing or the game dictates that you just want to run the clock out a little bit more? So I wonder if that's not an approach that's wrong. It's just the circumstance

of being down in some of those games. And that leads to more shot attempts in those losses. I mean, clearly Jokic doesn't want to shoot the basketball nearly as much. I looked at the numbers going into last night. He was third in field goal attempts for his own team in January. He was behind Murray and Reggie Jackson. He was averaging 12 shot attempts per game in January. He took three shots against Detroit. He just decided if you watch that game, like, let's just see how dumb this can be. He took three shots, maybe the best player in the world, and his team still scored 131 points. Yes, I know it's Detroit. I don't think there's any more Murray questions as a second scorer after the Lakers series last year. I think you're always going to have

questions about Michael Porter Jr., how locked in he'll be. We've seen them close. I don't know how many games it would be where just late they were like, you know, we're just going to do something different there. Free throw attempts, they're just low. It's 27th this year per game, but it was 24th last year. All right, let's dig into the Clippers because they deserve a lot of time. They're 6th on offense, 14th on defense,

but they are scary right now. So after the 0-5 start with Harden and the Westbrook rotation change, they, since November 17th, have gone 23-7, which is the best record in the NBA. During that stretch, they're the number three offense, the number 12 defense. They play at the third slowest pace, which is not a shock with the way they're designed and hard and running things now. Kawhi's numbers are once again absurd. We already mentioned the isolation stuff. Paul George has the best true shooting percentage of his career. His splits are 47, 42, and 91, which are all the best of his career. Their usage collectively here for George,

the lowest in six years, Kawhi, the lowest in seven years, Harden, the lowest in 12 years. Harden right now is taking like 11 shots a game. And I'd say this too, I think they're all better collectively defensively. You know, Harden's had some games, the Golden State game where I'm like, you know what? He's just more locked in, it feels like, than he was in the past. Maybe it's the

contract part of it. Kawhi's block on SGA last night, and then to save it at the baseline, get the ball back and go coast to coast for free throws. That's some peak Kawhi stuff, even though I think he picks his spots a little bit. So if the Clippers can go Harden in a third role, Kawhi, who just feels like whenever he's playing, you look at the numbers, you're like, I guess he's just awesome all the time, which explains the three-year extension despite his health concerns. And then Paul George, who closed it out last night in a couple of threes he hit last night were just absurd. And you put in a Norman Powell who can create on his own or a Terrence Mann,

who you probably like better defensively, with Zoo, or maybe they go small at times in the playoffs. It's just a scary team. It just is. Now, for anyone going, well, did you like the trade? No, I don't like being in business with Harden, but this might have been the only team that would get this version of him because, as he said in the athletic interview,

he said, I wanted to go somewhere I could get paid. That was the first thing he said. And he said it as if it was like, you know, and all right, cool. So you think you're getting a locked in version here. If you're telling me the Clippers, Kawhi's healthy, George is healthy, and Harden's now the third option really for the only time in his career, the Nets thing can be debatable, but they were all sort of interchangeable with the injuries. And he doesn't have the pressure on him in the play. It's still going to be hard for me to believe there's not going to be this absolute mental dud game from Harden in a huge spot.

But this team, as it sits here right now, even with the lack of depth for a big, with Plumlee just coming back and they had Tyson in the rotation and Zoo out, it's real right now, but yes, I'm still going to have my doubts as far as them being a long-term safe bet to win a title, but clearly they're in this group. Let's talk Philadelphia. Philly is, there was a couple of numbers here I didn't like because you start looking at them as a true contender, right? Of this whole thing that we're talking about. So Philly, fifth on offense, fourth in defense. That's pretty good. 12th from three.

There was a number that I was tracking here with them against teams over 500 that I didn't like. Because if you looked at it, they were at one point, like before this week, they were 5-10 against teams 500 or above. But the most important thing about that Philadelphia number against the teams 500 or better is that I went through it and Bede's missed 10 games, but he missed in that stretch a game against Minnesota, New Orleans, Boston, Miami, Orlando, and Sacramento. So that number, and I know I could dig through it for every team, but that number, as bad as it looks, is actually entirely misleading

because Embiid missed so many of them. When you look at Boston, they're 17-7. Milwaukee's 12-8. So you're like, all right, is that a bit alarming? Because they did have that stretch for like two weeks in December. I was like, are they going to play anybody good this month? Because it just felt like they were smoking everyone. month because it just felt like they were smoking everyone. I thought Van Gundy was fair, but then was really critical of Embiid in the playoffs because that's what we're left with. Whatever

we're seeing right now, maybe the most dominant guy going in the league, the numbers are ridiculous, they're historic, we all understand all those things. But I don't think it's wrong to have some concerns where you're like, all right, well, let's see what this looks like in the playoffs for a guy who's never gotten out of the second round. I think the biggest issue with Embiid is some of the raw numbers are still really impressive and that I think there are big possessions late where Jokic can get into his own thing, Luka can get into his own thing, Tatum can, where Embiid still needs some other piece that prevents some of the things that are happening against him defensively

where there's a late double, there's an immediate double, there's a double on the catch, there's a double on the dribble, where it's hard to find it because it's so few possessions. I just know that I've seen it enough. Now, if you want to look at just the raw metrics here, if you look at Embiid's win shares right now this season, he is at.304. It is the best in the NBA. That is an absurd number. When you get north of.3 on that, it is rare, rare stuff. So that all makes sense because he's been so good this year.

The league average is.100. The last three playoffs for Embiid, he was at.197,.117, and.090 last year. You want to tell me he wasn't healthy? That's fine. But that's not the production you're looking for when we're hearing about how he's the greatest player ever. So, well, ever. You get the point, like right now.

And I also think because of last night in the loss, it relitigates all the stuff about Jokic and Embiid over and over. I thought that would be over after last season's finish and what Jokic ended up doing. I'd ask Sixers fans of this, and be honest with yourself. If you woke up tomorrow and it was reported that Embiid was traded for Jokic, would you be upset? And if you say yes, I think you're lying to yourself a little bit.

Okay, the last team here is Phoenix. They're 11th in offense. They're 16th in defense. I don't know that their stats mean anything. I just don't. I look at all the stats and go, it doesn't really matter. For them to be down 20 points, eight minutes left to go, come back and win. They're the second team in the last 25 years to do it. They're putting together a bit of a stretch. They kind of have their guys again. I just think it'd be really dismissive when we haven't got to see the entire thing

for like a month straight to just say they are incapable of winning a title. But we already covered that in the beginning. All right, let's look at the write-offs here. I'm just writing them off because I think as of right now, if these teams won a title, you'd be like, how did that happen?

Miami may feel dismissive after an all-time run last year. I still think it was kind of fluky. There's some numbers that you don't like, a number that's a nice excuse. They're 19th on offense, ninth on defense. Here's one number for you. In clutch games, they've had 20 of them this year. They're 12 and eight, but they're a minus 14 net in those clutch situations. Last season, Miami was 32 and 22 in clutch games. That was the most wins in the NBA, and they were plus 14.7. We could get into some of the net rating stuff, 20 games. Maybe there's some really stupid numbers baked in and all that, but Butler has missed 15 games, Heroes missed 19, and Bam has missed 10. Maybe that's the excuse Miami has. I just don't think it's going to happen back-to-back years.

New Orleans, 12th on offense, 7th on defense against the fourth toughest strength of schedule. Zion's missed eight, which is great. Ingram's only missed four, which is great. CJ has missed a bunch. They did go from 9-9 to 15-8 in their last stretch here. The last 15 games is the number one defense, number one net rating in the NBA. So maybe they've actually figured this out and they have great depth and they have all sorts of options. And I'll mention their matchup here when I get to Sacramento. Dallas started nine and three, 15 and 14 since. Kyrie's missed 16,

Luka's missed seven. They're 14th in three-point percentage. They were eighth last year, so it's not massively different. They do not rebound the basketball. They're 29th in three-point percentage. They were eighth last year, so it's not massively different. They do not rebound the basketball. They're 29th in rebounding rate. They're 8th and 13th against teams 500 or better, which is the worst record against 500 or better of the top eight teams in the West. Sacramento, they're the seventh seed today, 15th on offense, 17th on defense.

Not great. It's been a really fun story. When Fox and Monk get it going, it's incredible. Keegan Murray, after the early season shooting slump, has fixed it. 44, 42% from three the last two months. Versus big teams, I worry about them. No more so than when I watch them play against the Pelicans and I see their wing defenders against either taking their pick against Zion

or Ingram or Valanciunas swallowing up Sabonis. And Sabonis has these absurd nights where he fills the stat, but I think they have a real size problem. And they've been getting smoked in some of these Pelicans games. Lakers, 22nd on offense. It's the worst of any teams I'm even going to mention, including the contenders in the write-off list. 13th on D. They're 20th from three, which is also the worst of any of these teams. They're searching for rotations.

I think they're on rotation number four, where they went back to the original rotation. They have D'Angelo Russell on their team. LeBron in January slowing down a bit. You can see it, and you can see it in the numbers. Six rebounds per game right now. 28% shooting, even though he's 39% from the floor. That's 28 from three, 39 on the season from three. The January numbers are just dropping a bit. And defensively, they're

slowing down there as well. And they're just searching for answers. The Knicks, 7-17 against teams 500 or above, 16-0 against anyone under 500. I'll wait. This could be a TBD with OG. Still feels like it'd be a shock if the Knicks won an NBA title with all these other teams in front of them that we're talking about. So as I go through some of these teams, I think Sacramento, Oklahoma City are examples. I wonder if the trade deadline is going to lead to a rush for size because I know the center is for the most part, unless he's one of the special ones like Embiid or Jokic, who's really more of a point guard here. Like, do I want to spend my money on one of these dudes? But I wonder if like the Nick

Claxton thing gets held up where they don't really want to pay him. Or if Atlanta goes, look, let's just trade Capella and keep a Congo, you know, does Miles Turner finally get flipped here? Even though there was a story that they're actually trying to load up is Vooch actually valuable just to have some size out there, even though you don't really think of him with defense? The Aiton thing hasn't really worked and he hasn't played a ton with Portland. So I don't even know if he would be available. I just wonder how some of these teams expect to survive, especially out West or against a Boston frontline or against Embiid or against Milwaukee. I don't know how you're going to small anybody to death over seven games. So I'll be looking for that before the trade deadline.

After an incredible NFL super wildcard weekend, we're on to the divisional round for these teams. It's win or go home, but you always have a spot in the playoffs with FanDuel, America's number one sports book. That's best part you don't get eliminated you just come back next week fanduel has so many ways for you to pick up a w okay um regret last week a little bit but i was trying to zag did not work so do i not zag here if we're looking at public money coming in the most public money is actually on the texans plus nine, plus nine and a half. FanDuel has it at nine and a half as of right now, which is probably a little surprising, but maybe everybody fell in love with CJ Stroud and like, man, I'm getting nine and a half. The second biggest public play, the Lions, minus seven or six and a half.

Six and a half on FanDuel as of right now at home against Tampa. I kind of like that one, but I feel like I'm trying to get money back from Tampa Bay owing me after last week. Packers plus nine and a half. This one, more public money on the Packers. So maybe following the same Stroud theme, like the most recent thing you saw, I'm like, that's all those points. Look at that great quarterback. But I'm just going to go with the Bills. It's the Bills time. Minus two and a half at home against Kansas City. I hate the idea of betting against Patrick Mahomes. I didn't really want to pick a favorite in this one. So I just am going to feel better about losing against Mahomes than I would be Baker Mayfield back-to-back weeks.

So does that rationale make a ton of sense? Nope, but that's what I'm going with. So the Buffalo Bills, minus two and a half. That's the play. So if you want to follow my picks, go to FanDuel right now. We're going to have a four-leg parlay for you on Friday. New customers get started

with $150 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. Just visit FanDuel.com slash Ryan, R-Y-E-N to join today. That's FanDuel.com slash Ryan. Make every moment more with FanDuel, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL.

Sportsbook partner of the NFL. From ESPN's coverage of college football and the NFL, former defensive lineman from the league and good friend, Booker McFarlane. What's up, man? First of all, I don't know if you're ever really a former defensive lineman. The way my fingers look now, I feel like I'm always going to be a defensive lineman, dude's fair i don't want to take that away from you i forget who i introduced once you know all the phoners all the interviews over the years at espn where

i like brought in was like 11 year vet the guy's like 13 years because he was like he had missed a season and maybe i just looked it up too quick and And then he was IR'd in the last season. And I'm like, dude, I don't think the people from the NFL pension are listening to this right now, and they're going to readjust what's happening to you. But it's always one of those deals. You introduce somebody and like 30% of them will be like, nope, actually this. So I think I just stopped doing it.

I don't even know why I did it there. Maybe I'm just so comfortable around you. Yeah, man. I mean, if you're going to add in the accolades, those IR years count, especially when it comes to the 401k. Yeah, no, it's nuts. I mean, you guys, I would say, do you think the public has any idea how nice it is once you're so many years in the league? It's nice, right? Yeah. Once you become a vested guy, which is three years and three games or something like that, Once you become vested, the benefits are amazing. I'll give that to the NFL.

They've never wanted to do insurance for life, and so they created a bunch of other things, kind of like the NCAA when, I forget the kid from UConn who said he didn't have anything to eat, and then the very next day they had food forever. The NFL is the same way. When the players

started complaining about insurance for life, they were like, no, we can't give you that. But here's what we'll do. We'll create this fund to pay all your insurance bills. That way you don't need insurance for life. So it's kind of, it's kind of funny how they come up with this money. Yeah. It was Shabazz Napier. Yeah. There you go. That was weird. I'm like, I don't know, man. I mean,

I didn't play in a game anybody gave a shit about and I wasn't going to go hungry at school. Find a way. I mean, but it was crazy, though, because he said, like, man, we got down playing the game and there was nothing to eat. And amazingly, the next day they had buffets for everybody. Yeah, look, the quote got a lot of attention. And there may have been an instance in that time. But I don't know. I'm not going to sit here and debate Shabazz Napier over and over again.

I think my favorite Shabazz Napier anecdote is that LeBron tweets about how nasty he is and Miami drafts him and then he leaves and goes back to Cleveland. So that was like, maybe we should just take this guy. Keep LeBron happy. Okay, I want to talk to you about Kansas City in a transition here. We know the offense is just not what we'd expect. The defense is incredible, which may be the reason people are picking them this weekend at Buffalo.

And look, Mahomes, clearly. But it looked really good considering the weather. We know Miami was down five super important guys on defense. But I want to go back to your career because you were traded to the Colts in October of 2006. And I brought this up yesterday. But when you looked at the Colts rush defense, it was historically awful. It was the worst in the NFL.

And then boom, as soon as the playoffs start, you know, you're in the mix. Bob Sanders comes back. I don't think it's the same because I don't think I look at Kansas City's offense and go, it's this historically bad offense don't think I look at Kansas City's offense and go it's this historically bad offense it's just our expectations with Mahomes uh is there any correlation though is there anything that you understand being a part of something like that where once it was for real

everything felt different because I'll never forget Herm Edwards and that Chiefs team going up against you guys being like we're just going to run Larry Johnson because they couldn't do it all year long and then in the first two series is like this isn't going to run Larry Johnson because they couldn't do it all year long. And then in the first two series, it's like, this isn't going to work. So I don't know if that's anything that reminds you of what we're seeing with Kansas City. I think what can happen, Ryan, is that once the playoffs start, and it's amazing what mindset changes, because I remember that year, like we were 12-0. I got traded to the Colts. They were 5-0.

Then we got to 12-0. And then all of a sudden, we couldn't stop the run for the last four games. We were 0-4. Everybody kept saying, Tony, what are you going to do to change? And Tony kept saying, we're not going to do anything. We're just going to do our job better. And I think the correlation you're making is, what type of focus can a group have who's been generally been good, and then they go through a long lull where the games necessarily don't mean anything.

And then all of a sudden, once it's win or go home, then that singular focus comes back. And I think we may see something like that with Kansas City because the offense is, I mean, let's be honest, the offense has looked shitty for like the last two months. Then all of a sudden, the first game against Miami, to your point, Miami's down a bunch of players, but the offense just looked different. down a bunch of players, but the offense just looked different. And so I think the correlation I would draw is that there's a singular focus that comes in our mind when we know on that given day it's win or go home. And so the attention to details become a little bit more finer. I think the focus becomes a little better. And I think just from a mental mindset standpoint, everybody starts to focus, man. It's kind of like you, man. And you know exactly where I'm going. There's a difference between a regular workout and a match day. Okay.

Like, like, like there's a difference. Like if you're just going to go in there and give me three sets of 10, you're like, okay. But if it's one rep match day and you know, Saruti is going to spot you and we're going to Instagram live this thing. There's a different level of focus. I think it's the same way with the NFL come playoff time.

I'm going to be honest with you. I didn't want to say that publicly, but that's exactly... I wrote it down in my notes, so you nailed it. That was perfect. If Saruti's spotting me, I'm just like, no help. No help. Let me die. Let me die for this rep. Who are you picking? Kansas City or Buffalo?

I'm always going to go with the team with the better defense, man. And that's Kansas City. And I know Buffalo has prayed for this game to be at home for like the last five years. They've already, they always say, can we get Mahomes out of Kansas City? And it's amazing. Finally, they get Mahomes in Orchard Park. It's going to be cold. The wind's going to be blowing. But Buffalo's defense is not as good. Like, Von Miller's a shell of himself. There's Notre Dame's white. Matt Milano is out. They lost the other kid, Bernard, the other day.

Like, they aren't really the Buffalo defense that we're used to seeing. And so I think Kansas City, even as butterfingery if that's a word as travis kelsey has been lately i think he's going to be able to dominate the middle of the field and i think the middle of the field is where buffalo has really been susceptible because there's no milano and there's some of those other guys that aren't there and man when you look at kansas city's defense ryan it's it may be when you look at all the units that are left in football, I think Baltimore's defense is one and Kansas City's defense is two. Probably followed somewhere in there by Houston's offense. And then you can kind of debate where else. But I think those three

units are like the top three units. If we were to look at the, what are the eight teams and 16 units left? Like Kansas City's defense is really good, man. So I'm were to look at the, what are the eight teams and 16 units left, like Kansas City's defense is really good, man. So I'm going to go with the team with the better defense because I'm a firm believer, especially after that Super Bowl where the Broncos and the Seahawks played in New York. When the Broncos came in there and Peyton was scoring 50 a game, but Seattle had the better defense. And everybody talked us into saying that the offense was going to win that day. Defense dominated that day. And so ever since then, man, I've gone back to, in these big games, I'm going to go with the team with the better defense.

Yeah, and having Mahomes on top of the equation doesn't exactly hurt. You had mentioned after the Philly-Tampa game how badly Philadelphia was outcoached. And I think it gets thrown around a lot. But when you say it, it makes me think about it a little bit more. And I would also say, based on just watching it, I'm like, Oh, so now they're just going to pass it like 18 times in a row. Oh, full blown pressure here from bowls. And they're never going to adjust to any of this stuff. You know, and I know they have no AJ and they lose Julio Jones. When you look at a team being outcoached and you notice it, what are the things that you notice that we probably don't?

So part of studying a team is to understand who you're going to play and understand what they're going to do. You know, going in, you're going to face Todd Bowles. He's going to blitz you like you're going to get pressure. You may not know where you're going to come from, but you're going to get a ton of pressure. That's number one. Number two, offensively, you're going to get Mike Evans deep and you're going to get Chris Godwin in the slot. And so all the things that Tampa brings to the table, you have to have an answer for. You have to have an answer for Chris Godwin working the middle of the field. They didn't have an answer for that. You have to have an answer for Todd Bowles bringing pressure. They had zero answers for that. The week before against Wink Martindale, they had zero answers for that.

And so when I talk about being our coach, not only does Ty Bowles go into the game blitzing, he had answers for everything that Philadelphia was going to do. Hey, you're going to run the football. That's what we're going to do. We're going to bring in an extra lineman into the game to take away the run, to make

you want to throw the ball, and then when you throw the ball, we're going to heat you up. So the little nuances of point, counterpoint, adjustment, counter-adjustment that you see being made, and they were all made by Tampa. Because let's not forget, Philadelphia came down to Tampa in September, October and rushed for like 200 yards. Well, the adjustment was Todd Bowles bringing an extra lineman in the game.

We're going to take the run away. So what does Philly do to combat that? Nothing. Jalen Hurts has been struggling. No A.J. Brown. So I promise you, I would have given Devonta Smith 20 targets. I would have thrown the ball to him 20 times. They didn't do that. They fed him a little bit, but he didn't get 20 targets. The best thing that Philly does offensively is run the ball. Why didn't you run the quarterback? They didn't do that. So like all the little things that you can do to adjust and make adjustments, those adjustments were all made by Tampa and none made by Philly. And then the final point I'll say when it comes to our coaching, Ryan, is this, is that when your team is not ready to play, that's the responsibility

of the coach. And Troy Eggman said it best during the broadcast. Philadelphia looked like they didn't want to be there. And that was the final nail on the coffin when I was like, this team is just not prepared. This team is not ready to play. And at some point, it falls on the guy that's his job, and that's the head coach. So between Sirian and McCarthy, is it so bad bad this past weekend you think you'd get rid of them if you were running those organizations uh sirianni no mccarthy yes and here's the difference i i think sirianni was a byproduct of the two coordinators that he had in gannon and stykin it's amazing how when those two guys have left, the program just kind of went downhill.

And so when you look on the other side, I would allow Sirianni an opportunity to come in and rebuild his staff. As far as Dallas is concerned, man, like Dallas has got a ton of talent. And I just think where Dallas is in their build with always kind of coming up small in the biggest games, I would make a change to find me a coach that's always on the details. And that's either Mike Vrabel or Bill Belichick, because those two guys are known for meticulous details. Their teams are always prepared. Ryan, look at the Tennessee Titans the last game of the season.

They had nothing to play for. Did you see how hard they played? Did you see what they did? I think they played Jacksonville. They had nothing to play for. The Cowboys had everything to play for, and they barely could bust a grape. So between Belichick and Braybill, I would love to see one of those guys in Dallas. As far as the Eagles, it wouldn't bother me if you changed the coach, but I would allow Sirianni. I mean, he's coming off a Super Bowl, man. It wouldn't bother me if you allowed him to come back and kind of rebuild his staff a little bit. The turnover bothers me just in general. I look at Rabel, and I'm glad you brought him up because

I taped an episode with Chris Long last night on his podcast, and we were going through some of the coaching stuff. And I was like, well, and when I'd asked around about it and I'm not a reporter, but I knew at least someone, I'd be like, what happened down there? And they're like egos and, you know, Rabel gets all the credit and it's like, well, he should get all the credit. It's not a very good roster. And the fact that they were competing with these other teams with just better name brand quarterbacks and there's Tannehill putting up these huge numbers and they're even in the mix, like that to me is incredible. And Chris made a great point. He goes in the 90s, we're able to coaching their 15 years. He just is. You're like, Hey, we have a great coach.

We had some down years. We're not a super talented team. We don't want to get in this cycle of constantly changing it over, thinking the new thing's going to be better, especially we don't have this great team. And now we've got a young quarterback. So maybe that was part of it where they they're just so enamored with what has actually worked more places than it hasn't with the young quarterback mind calling plays and all that kind of stuff and developing Levis. But you know, Vrabel wanted to stay. That's all I'd need to know if I own the Titans, but like, Hey, do you want to stay? Yeah, I want to stay. Okay. Done. You're staying. Cause I don't want to try to find somebody that I think is better than you of, I think the term or the phrase was hiding their floor. Like, Rabo may hide a team's floor better than anybody,

and I can't wait to see him get another job because I think he's going to be really good again. But that's not what it is anymore. And McCarthy, I'm not going to argue with you. Sirianni, I would have a major problem with. You're telling me a year after almost winning a Super Bowl and he loses both coordinators that he's just incapable of doing it? Look, they got rid of Peterson after they won it, what, three years later.

So it's not like this would be unheard of. It just feels like this is not – I know it's different. I know there's more tension and there's more pressure, but I don't know if the solution is just like, all right, let's just start it all over again, as bad as they looked at the end of the year. And it was awful. That's one of the worst fall-offs I've seen from a team in recent memory. Well, here's what I say when it comes to the head coach.

Most GMs want their own head coach. It's kind of like you. If you're going to host a show, you're probably going to find a producer who you want to work with. You're not just going to go choose a guy that's going to be like, no, I like this. I don't like this. Here's what we're going to do.

You can be like, hey, but it's my show. You're going to find a dude that fits you. And I think when you look at the new Tennessee Titans GM, Rand Carthon, like, he wants his own head coach. And ultimately, the power struggle before Rand got there, I forget who was the GM there. I can't think of who was the GM. But either way, it was basically Mike Vrabel's show.

And so for Mike Vrabel, now you get a new GM. And ultimately, anytime I see head coach and GM that were hired differently, my antennas go up that at some point one of those guys is not going to be there. And Vrabel comes from the Belichick Street. He wants control. And Rand came in, and I think Rand took some control from him. So it was always going to be that bumping of heads. But I genuinely agree with you.

I want a head coach that's going to go through some down years, and he's going to be better off for it heads uh but i i genuinely agree with you i want a head coach that's going to go through some down years and he's going to be better off for it just look at pittsburgh man i mean pittsburgh has been nine and eight uh eight and eight but they continue to stick with mike tomlin realizing that they don't have the quarterback now i do believe let's just play hypothetical let's just say mike tomlin trades for justin fields and he goes two years and can't win with Justin Fields, then I think the mantra in Pittsburgh would change because you would look at Justin Fields as a franchise quarterback. And so I think the people in Pittsburgh have always been patient.

I think the people in Tennessee had been patient until they got a new GM. And when Rand Carthon came in, my antennas went up that at some point, one of those guys was going to have to go. And ultimately, it was Mike Brable. Yeah, it was John Robinson until 21. It also kind of mirrors, I think the New England thing even makes less sense. Like I know they want to draw Mayo. I have guys that have played with him. I have friends that have worked with him. They fucking love the guy. And that's awesome. But now this new hybrid, no new voice front office, unless you just believe that the front office was doing all this work and Belichick didn't listen to any of them except on the Mac Jones pick, which I now think it's interesting that it's

being reported that Belichick didn't want him. And maybe he didn't, but you know, every time some stuff slips out in the aftermath, the obituaries that go in different directions, I'm kind of like, wait, like what, what are we like? What about the rest of the picks? What about the free agency signings and all that kind of stuff? So I'm kind of like, wait, what about the rest of the picks? What about the free agency signings and all that kind of stuff? So I think for New England, when I look at it, I'm like, why would you start this off this way? But they wanted Mayo first, and I guess they're going to figure out the rest of it. I want to stay on Tomlin because I've had moments throughout his career where, and I think because everybody was raving about him, and then I'd be like, wait, is he really that good you know there was but it's

like okay but he's going up he's running in New England sometimes you know you get the Super Bowl early so that helps you get a lot of leeway the rest of the way but then after talking with you know whether it was Ryan Clark or Willie Colon guys that played with him I remember one time I even suggested like is Tomlin perhaps overrated and Clark wanted to come through the booth and fight me in the studio. He was so upset about it. And then I think of all the different personalities that they've had, uh, that Tomlin kind of kept it in check. And like, I think lesser coaches with less control, this thing would have been way disastrous during different stretches here. So like I've come full circle of going like he has to be a great coach because you couldn't keep doing this. The fact that that team was even in the playoffs this year,

as absurd as their stats were, as bad as the quarterback play was to use those three guys. And who knows a picket even has a career in front of him. We know that Pittsburgh is patient, but there's no question that he's good at this unless they just feel like they need another voice. So I would be, I still think I'd be upset with that, even though I think they were kind of a fraudulent playoff team. Yeah, I agree. They were fraudulent, meaning fraudulent that they couldn't compete once they got in, not fraudulent that they didn't deserve it because they deserved to get in. I think when you look at Pittsburgh,burgh man that they fall into that category of sometimes when you're middle of the road you're almost better off being really bad but

mike tomlin is never going to coach a really really bad team to get a high enough pick uh it's kind of like what he told one of the wide receivers one day during the game he's like man you're a bad dude he's like uh i hope to never be in a position to draft you and he's like he's never going to be in a position to get marvin har he's like, he's never going to be in a position to get Marvin Harrison jr. Or Malik neighbors. Like he knows that because his team is never going to be that bad, but it's kind of the crux of it because you're also not in a position to get one of these quarterbacks.

They need a franchise quarterback in Kenny Pickett. Hopefully they, excuse me, other than Kenny Pickett, hopefully when this is all said and done, they're able to move on from Rudolph and Pickett and find the guy. I think Mike Tomlin needs to, if he's going to stay in Pittsburgh, he's got to make one more, he's got to make a move.

Like he's got to make a drastic move, whether it's trading future picks, whether it's packaging some players. But if you're Mike Tomlin and you're going to make one more run on your way out, you got to get a quarterback. Because you go into the season with Kenny Pickett and Mason Rudolph and you're telling your team that we're going to be nine and eight again at best 10 and seven. And that's just not good because those quarterbacks aren't good enough to take

you to the next level in order to win with those guys, everything around them has got to be perfect. And let's face it in the NFL, it's never going to be that way. Like you got to have a quarterback that can put your team on his back and just make the layups. Those guys sometimes don't even make the layups. And that's the issue sometimes with these kind of below average quarterbacks. They can't just make the layups. Whereas when you get a prime example, Kirk Cousins, if Kirk Cousins is in Philly, excuse me, in Pittsburgh, then that team, instead of being nine and eight, that team is 12 and five. Because Kirk Cousins is in Pittsburgh, then that team, instead of being 9-8, that team is 12-5.

Because Kirk Cousins may not wow you, but I'll be damned if he can't make the layups 98% of the time. Now, you're going to fall into that situation where he can't step above the layups, and that's where everybody gets frustrated with Kirk Cousins in Minnesota. But with that being said, guess what? You can win a lot of games with a guy like that. Yeah, when I look at these other teams looking at making decisions, I would just go, all right, yeah, you're frustrated with Dak. All right, let's run it back next year.

I think the 2-0-1 is a little bit more interesting because you wonder. Would you pay 2-0? No. No, I wouldn't pay him the going rate. I mean, he's going to want 40, maybe 50. I wouldn't. I just wouldn't. I would do the, I would do the fifth year option and go, you know, everybody that talks

about it. And I touched on it in yesterday's pod about the Tuesday decision is you go, well, can you have the face of the franchise? Can you have the guy in the locker room? How's everybody else going to react if he's on a one yearyear deal on the 50-year option and he doesn't have the long-term contract like i think sometimes in sports you know this is the part of belichick that i kind of admire is it to be like okay cool thanks for your input like that's what i'm doing you know because it makes the most sense you know like we we spend a lot of time creating

what all these things could mean like Like put us in the locker room. If you had somebody on a one-year deal, how many of you are actually doing your jobs differently because it feels like the front office and ownership isn't completely sold on the guy behind center? Nobody, because everybody in the locker room knows who deserves the money. Now, here's what I would say with Tua and both Justin Fields. They are probably university-liked in the locker room. And what happens is, if you get a couple of people on their side, like DJ Moore and Tyreek Hill, guys that are above average at their position,

they can start to make a little noise. But generally speaking, to your point about the locker room, guys in the locker room, we know who deserves the money and that's where i think you don't really hear other than dj moore and tyreek like you don't really hear everybody coming out of chicago or miami saying pay that guy or we better keep that guy i mean every now and then you hear somebody church but it would be really really loud if it were that way so i agree with you i would i would pick up the fifth year option with Tua, make him play it out one more. I would definitely pick up the fifth year option with Justin Fields and make him, make him play it out one. And if he doesn't want to play it out, then fine.

I'd move on. But you know, my friend and cohort, Dan Oloski, he has a statement and it took me a while to kind of get along with it. He's like, never, never pay good player, great player money. Never play a good player, play a great player money. And generally speaking, I disagree with that because the NFL is about the market and what somebody's willing to pay you. But the quarterback position has gotten so out of hand, man, where, I mean, Dak Prescott may be forced to make the Cowboys make him a $60 million

quarterback or else they're going to have to lose him. And, like, that's a drastic difference between no Dak or $60 million. And so if the choices are pay those guys or lose them, I'd be willing to lose both of them. those guys or lose them i'd be willing to lose both of them yeah the average annual salaries coming in here um we're looking at like five guys around 50 million for that number uh and that's where i would be like you guys can write whatever you want write write a million stories write too many of them but i'm not just going to do that. Because in the past, there's other quarterbacks where I've gone, hey, that's kind of the rate. That's kind of the rate. This guy's up. And when you're up, you kind of surpass everybody else. The agent gets like a

dollar more guaranteed money, or he gets the average annual salary to look like it's the highest, but it's actually less than the guy that has twice as much guaranteed money. There's some fake contracts that have happened where you hear the announcement, you're like, oh my God. When you dug into Kaepernick's contract, we're like, wow, he got the a hundred million dollar deal. And you're like, yeah, it's like 17% of it's guaranteed. And you're like, okay. So somebody just desperately wanted the a hundred million dollar headline for him. And I know I don't have the numbers to the number years removed from it all, but it was one of those where I was like, okay, let me dig into this. And you're like, look, this is totally different than

the other ones. Um, I just don't see the issue there with, with saying with Tua, like, Hey, it was great that he was healthy. It was awesome. But I think you said something that actually wants me to pivot before we get to the rest of the game. So I have a couple more things that I want to do with you if you have time for it. Is you said you'd pick up the fifth-year option with Fields. And in comparison to Miami maybe being not as loud because Chicago has been really loud about, like, let's keep this guy, the players that are in the locker room. So would you fifth-year option him and then trade out of the number one pick? Or would you fifth-year option him and have Caleb watch?

Because that brings its own distraction that maybe is a little bit more than just people talking every week. Well, I would probably fifth-year option him. I draft Caleb and probably say, you know what? Either way, I'm not putting I'm going to either way. I'm not putting Caleb Williams out there week one. I think if you look at what Bryce Young did, like he wasn't ready. Anthony Richardson. I mean, he had to run so much.

He finally got hurt. Like the one anomaly, CJ's crowd has been phenomenal. But generally speaking, quarterbacks need to sit for a little bit. And so I would draft Caleb Williams or Drake May or Jayden Daniels, whichever one you think is best. I haven't done all the tape study, but whichever quarterback you think is best. I draft them number one. I pick up the fifth-year option.

And I'm going to play Justin Fields for the first two months of the year. And if Justin Fields is really, really good, then guess what? I'm either going to decide to keep him or trade him. But either way, I'm going to make sure I have a quarterback. I think if you're Chicago, what you cannot do is this. You cannot say, we're rolling with Justin Fields, we're trading the first pick, and a year from now, they have no quarterback. So if you're Chicago, you have to guarantee when the 2024 draft is over, you have your quarterback of the future. And I don't know of any other way you can guarantee that without having two guys and trying to develop one. And then if that one doesn't develop,

develop, go to the next one. Like other than that, it's going to be a roll of the dice either way. See, this is where I would sound like I'm contradicting myself on the Tua drama, which I wouldn't think is real by not extending him to a huge number that keeps him at the same see this is where I would sound like I'm contradicting myself on the Tua drama which I wouldn't think is real by not extending him to a huge number that keeps him at the same level of all the top quarterbacks and being like go ahead I think if you did that to fields like the first 16 30 game with two picks and Caleb Williams is sitting there with a headset on I don't I don't know how that really like in real time, I think that plays out as like, what are we doing here?

Because everybody is going to want Caleb after every single bad half that Fields has. Okay, so let's play that out. So then you put Caleb in and he goes 15 for 30 for three picks, then what? You get to keep switching them all season long uh are you are you with me that it's caleb and then the the argument starts after him it sounds like you you might not be with me on that because you didn't want to start him right away no uh well again i thought bryce young from a processing standpoint was the best quarterback i've seen in a few years since joe burrow and bry and Bryce Young proved that the NFL game was too fast for him here's what I'll say about Caleb in my

early study Caleb reminds so many people of Patrick Mahomes that's why they're so enamored with him and I get it my concern is you know most NFL offensive coordinators they want things to run on time they want things to run in rhythm they want the ball to come out he doesn't do that uh rossillo he is anything but that like he is like fuck it i'm gonna drop back and i'm gonna run around and make a play that's number one number two i gotta deal with the daddy i heard the daddy has some serious like he is in the way he is a part of you may as well be drafting him drake may like if if you look at Drake May, Drake May has kind of been like, he's been up and down, like early on,

you're like, man, number one pick can't miss. Then you're like, and kind of regrets this year has kind of been up and down. He looks the part. He can process it as good as any of them. And then the guy who's probably made the most improved player I've seen in the last year in college football is Jaden Daniels. And so you have to ask yourself, can he continue that trajectory with the added athleticism? Because his top speed is different than anybody else probably in the league except Lamar once he gets in. So do you want the athleticism, and he doesn't get hit, so do you want Lamar-like athleticism from a

guy who has grown in the last 18 months as a passer more than anybody we've ever seen? Because we're looking for the upside. And Jaden Daniels, I mean, one of the Heisman's trophies, he was outstanding. So, like, he's got the best deep ball in the draft. You have some questions

maybe about the underneath accuracy and i get it but i'm telling you here today caleb will probably go one but don't be surprised if jayden daniels goes to the jayden story is incredible i mean you'd have to watch it every week for two years to go that guy turned into this guy and you know to be to be entirely like there was some stuff with burrow from the beginning of his like when burrow in his first year with lsu it was like hey cool like we finally know who's coming back next year and then it turns into what he turned into so this is this is remarkable because like i remember i was still like i'm not sure i'm not sure you know and then i would i would dig through and it's like okay last year this was his number

on this throw and now it's triple okay this this corner post that he loved like this is again i should just call it the corner but um this thing is like kind of uh right you kind of date yourself when you say corner post right so when you looked at that route, you were like, this was his completion percentage. This was his rating on it last year. And you're like, oh my God. And you're like, now that's the best in college football. And it was just all these different things. And you're right to like for a guy that could run and to get to his max speed as quickly as he can at his size. And I don't like guys default running. You know, I think it's a nice piece to it. And I think that's the future of the position where everybody's literally going to be able to drop back on third and seven and keep a defense honest. It's just what it is now. Um, he doesn't get blown up like some other guys he finds way like, look, nobody's Anthony Thomas. I think maybe there was one time I saw him get hit clean in his entire run at Oregon, but Jaden's got a bit of that, especially for a larger target. And I have to remove the doubt or

his lack of trust or them having to like sit him down halfway through the last season going, dude, we need to go over everything all over again here and figure out like what you like. And Boutte turning around being like, I want to transfer. This guy can't get me the ball. It is remarkable. I wonder if he would go one, if he only had this year's tape and not last year's. And I just think at this point, like I can't even think about last year. The thing you said about Caleb being off schedule, I think it gets so ugly at USC that it was just like, hey, save us every possession that it just turned into mayhem and that he has that. Even if the easier part, you'd like to be better where he's more on schedule. The fact that he has this creativity to keep these plays alive and to get his arm in a position where

it looks like he has no chance to put some velocity on the football down the field it's so rare that i can't i can't pass on it i can't like he has the hard part down i'll worry about the easy part later that's a good way to put it and i'm gonna steal that just so you know come draft seasons so i'm gonna let you know right now i'm gonna steal that hey when you steal it i'm'm going to feel great. I'm not even going to be upset. Okay. Let's close with the other. Okay. All right. Here's a better question. We can debate the quarterbacks.

To me, the better debate is who's the number one, two, and three receiver. I love Rome. I'd probably take him over neighbors, but I still think, and I'm deferring a bit to the draft people, that at Harrison's size and the crispness of his route running puts him still above Rome, despite Rome being somebody when the ball is up. I'm never worried about it. It's his football. Not to say that Harrison doesn't have that in him, but I think Rome was the best at that on those deep shots where you're like, it doesn't matter. You can be step for step, right?

You can be in his jersey and he's going to end up with a football. I love that about him. That's why I have him over neighbors. But I still think the route running, especially like the short stuff with Harrison, is really special. You know what's amazing is I've talked to a couple of different scouts early on. One had Harrison Jr. number one. One had neighbors number one, and one had Rome number one. And that's the reason I brought that up. Because I truly think that we've come into this era where everybody, like we've heard all along for the last two years, Marvin Harrison, generational prospect. But it's amazing when it comes time to draft these guys, when the NFL

scouts dig in, it's amazing the differing time to draft these guys, when the NFL scouts dig in, it's amazing the differing of opinions you start to hear that are different than the SportsCenter highlights. That's all I'll say. How do you have them ranked? I think football is a big man's game. So I'm going to lean to the bigger guy if things are equal and so i would probably have marvin one neighbors two um rome three um the kid from uh florida state uh i'm drawing a blank right now number uh colman uh keon colman another another louisiana guy he would probably be four like the fact that keon colman's coming up fourth in this conversation you know that feels That feels like it's unfair to him, but that's just how special these top guys are.

They just are. I mean, you want to talk about someone like, hey, throw a bad ball and still come up with it in traffic. Some of the stuff, like I know how much you hate the fade in the end zone. Like with Coleman, I go, we need it. It's the worst, but with him, I'm like, we got to do it once. We got to do it once we got to do it once

because that's who he was it'll be a little different in the nfl but i'm glad you brought him up because he's he has moments that are just as spectacular as the other three guys okay last last thing here um previewing the game so you like kansas city on the road do you like any of the other road teams san francisco green bay houston bal, Baltimore, and then, of course, Tampa, Detroit. I like Tampa and Detroit. I like Baltimore against the Texans, even though I think that game is going to be a lot closer than the experts think. Shout out to Lee Corso.

I think San Francisco houses Green Bay. I mean, just houses. Okay, let's go there. Why? I mean, just let's go there. Why? Because I think finally they have they have been waiting to go into the postseason with the bye healthy quarterback healthy and got this team at home. What they do or what they've done well all season, Green Bay hasn't done well all season. Green Bay's defense has been terrible. Now, I know they played well against the Cowboys, but to me, that's the anomaly, not the norm. I think they're going to revert back to the mean, and I think Kyle Shanahan is going to carve Joe Barry up.

You got Kyle Shanahan against Joe Barry. I know them both. I've been in the same room with them both. I'm friends with them both. I just think one is going to carve the other one up, okay? And I'm just going to be honest with you. We're friends with them both. Yeah, exactly. I mean, C.J. Stroud,

listen, as good as he's been, Russillo, I think Baltimore's got the best defensive football. And that's a tall task to go on the road into that crowd, into that building against this defense, against this coordinator, Mike McDonald, who's probably the hottest coordinator in football that nobody talks about.

Like everybody wants to talk about Bobby Sloat. So now you got Bobby Sloat against Mike McDonald. I'm leaning toward McDonald in that game. All right. I love it, McDonald in that game. All right. I love it, man. It's great to catch up. Let's have you on. I know we're going to have you on again,

but let's have you on one time with McShay as we get closer to the draft, all right? I'd like to listen. I'd just like to get out of the way and listen to you guys talk. Yeah, I would definitely love that, man. I'm telling you what we could do. We could actually, hopefully, at some point,

we can get this together and we can do like a... I know you did like a live audience pod and it was cool and Chris Paul was amazing, I'm sure. Maybe we can do like a live workout pod where we just kind of take turns on the bench press and just talk about some things, you know? I'm into it.

And I've got all the Muay Thai equipment now. I've started dialing that back up the last few months so we can just go back and forth and put the shin guards on listen let's do it kicking you in the legs is probably a waste of energy no actually punching you in the back would be the least the least effective thing ever with uh the what you have going on that body of yours uh you're the man, dude. Thanks, Booger. Always enjoy it, man. Later. You want details? Fine. I drive a Ferrari.

355 Cabriolet. What's up? I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So, now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required.

The email address is lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. What is up, Steve? What is up, Kyle? We had a few follow-up here. We had somebody chime in and said hey uh i guess this isn't so much life advice but request um for a suggestion box here i've always loved life advice and the portion of the pod and after about the one with the not so clean roommate with the multiple refers to the photo was terrible had me thinking it'd be awesome to

have a twitter or something set up where you share the photos associated with the life advice pod obviously nothing that puts a person's image out there privacy in danger but man some of the photos sound too good to not see uh you know what he was right at first when i'd read it i was kind of like dude we can't do that you know with photos or like hey check out this girl that dumped me and whatever like hey guys here's the girl from today uh we'd never do that but when we had the vending machine by the way the vending machine guy needs to follow back up with us after yeah it that was weird it was we did get that picture out though didn't we we did go out yeah i just tweeted it out after one of the show one of the episode retweets so we put that out um

i mean i guess you could just kind of do a show account or i could retweet kyler srudi i guess i don't know i don't know that i want to add that layer to it but it does feel like it's leaving people out but i always felt justified in leaving out the visuals because more often than not it was somebody who was wanting to stay anonymous at least sharing it with me they're like hey this is you know who i used to date or this is what i used to look like or you know all these different things i just never wanted to do that to the people that were sending in stuff it makes me nervous because you guys ever seen that dude on like instagram or tiktok whatever where like you send him a picture and yeah he could find the earth yeah and it's it's unbelievable

and i feel like people would maybe try to do that with you know i'm not trying to criticize the audience but like people have a lot of time on their hands sometimes. And it's like, hey, you know, I see like there's the ocean and here's a license plate and start just I don't know who knows doing some like crazy investigations. Yeah. And also, if you dedicate an account to it, it's just like then like if we don't do ones that are appropriate, it's just like, all right, we don't have pictures for 70 percent of these.

So this is a 30 percent of the account yeah where sometimes the the uh the whatever we decided isn't too uh cagey from life advice goes and you have to then listen to it before to know what we're talking about so like if i think it's it's just it's too hard to execute properly unless somebody was like dedicated to it all the time if it makes you feel better too i see basically none of the images. Mostly just Ryan sees them. So he'll tell me, like, oh, yeah, you know, this, this, and that. I'm not also viewing them. He's like, wow, this dude is hot.

And I'm like, okay, sounds good. There's a couple where we'll get a picture in the text chain, but most of them I'm also blind blind. Yeah, you know what? That's fair, too. So he's like, man, I'm just as left out as the rest of you guys are so I think

there's been a couple times where I've sent it to Sruti because it was like you had to be involved or while we were reading it but I would say overall give myself a D a D minus potentially on involving Sruti in the photo stuff so hey man welcome

yeah alright evolving sruti in the photo stuff so hey man welcome it's all right yeah i'm not mad yeah all right um so we got a blocked on instagram guy uh coming in 29 year old runners bod tall lanky pickup game resembles a young samuel dallen bear i love that one yes block block shots get bored let's kick it out to the sharpshooters i live in a northwestern city in the u.s recently went on a great date with a girl from one of the apps so here's the big issue i'm blocked on her instagram and she obviously does not know that a little while back i created the account to follow accounts i didn't want people to know that i followed for my main page so i can lurk on pages

freely free lurking what nothing too nefarious just a second account just second account stuff not nothing too bad. Yeah, just you don't have a lurking account, dude. What's wrong with you? Nothing too nefarious. I had a second Facebook account so I could play that stupid campus game. Remember that one? Yeah.

And then, well, whatever. I mean, just. Campus game? What is that? Like you had to go on campus it was terrible it was terrible the game was terrible but i was on the road all the time and i was like all right let me update my credits here real quick and then you fucking sit there you know and just like i have to have you'd have to pay to not wait and i'm like i'm not i feel like mostly a loser but not fully a loser not a paying loser i just didn't want to not a car carrying loser right so anyway our guy's got his lurking page up um gambling sites

swimsuit models twitch streamers a couple years ago it also uses account of you girls instagram accounts that i matched with from the dating app so all right so that actually makes a little bit of sense matching the app and then it uses account. I don't know. I don't know why you can't just look at it on your own. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. I would look at their stories, view posts, but never comment or like anything on their page.

Typing this out made me realize how weird this was. And I'm now paying the price. Well, it turns out if you're just a normal woman, you see a random account looking at your stories, you get prone to block them as you have no idea who they are. So I believe this happened to me with a few Instagram pages I would look at with women in my area instagram has a

feature that allows you to block this account and any others they may create hence my issue this woman who i wanted a great date with uh i do remember that i matched with her a couple years ago wait wait wait wait i mean this woman who i on a great date with with i i do remember that i matched with her a couple years ago she did not remember as i brought it up on the date okay so this is the most they matched years ago and then they went on this date he brought it up she didn't remember i believe i may have viewed her page from my fake instagram on a couple occasions during that time and i am now blocked on my real one as i cannot find her account for my profile from our date we did not exchange instagrams only phone numbers and a kiss humble brag but i'm now

stuck on what to do how do i explain the situation was sounding like a complete creep i don't want to delete my whole social media presence to avoid an awkward conversation which may be an option any guidance would be huge as i have a date plan with her this week and believe asking about seeing each other's instagram counts may be in play oh this is tough this is actually tough right could deleting the the one that's linked you guys together probably not right if you delete your lurker one which you know maybe those days are over what do you think maybe maybe it's time um if you delete that one would that like sever the tie probably not right you're probably blocked blocked as blocks right i would assume not yeah i would assume not i mean it's worth trying but i would oh here's one here's one right what about this

like instead of like you give them like it's like what's your number and you say it you're like here just give me your phone i'll put it in you search unblock find yourself and unblock it does it work that way that's who are you who the fuck you think you are that's insane no no no it's just you're searching it copperfield i don't know like what do you do with my phone like you've had a phone for three minutes while you're trying to search is it three minutes what do you mean oh because oh you know you don't know where instagram is on her on her you know on her phone, no. It's like here, search for mine and then you... I don't know. Maybe that is weird, but I don't know.

If you're just searching your name on her Instagram and then maybe there's just an unblock button or no. I kind of feel like the only option is just to play dumb. Just play dumb. When it comes up, it's going to come up and just say, I don't know. I don't know what happened. And just that if when it comes up, it's going to come up and just say, I don't know.

I don't know what happened. And just that's it. And hopefully it just blows over. Because otherwise, like, yeah, there's no like I definitely wouldn't tell her about your burner account. You know, you block my lurker. Yeah, your lurking out. It's so funny. This new features.

I know they're always adding new features oh man so yeah i love that kyle thought he was gonna be able to pull it off in enough time where it wouldn't be totally weird and by the way you don't know her deal what if she's dming dads all the time like she just loves dads and so then she's gonna hand you the instagram and she has some sketchball in her history and you know so she's not even she might not even want you to look at it, but then to go into her account, go to settings, block the account. Do you have to go to settings?

Scroll through. Could you just search? I don't know. Could you just search your name in like you normally would when you're like, here's what my Instagram is. And then maybe there's like a friend.

Think about how smooth you'd have to be to do that. You wouldn't have to be pretty smooth. I'd be sweating my ass off the whole time. Not settings, you're right. You could type yours in. I wasn be sweating my ass off the whole time. Not settings. You're right. You could type yours in. I wasn't suggesting going through a settings function here. No, no, no.

I'm just wondering if you could search it and then be like, oh, fuck, it's not coming out. Either it comes up and you can do the quick five second unblock. I don't know. I've never had to do this. Or you're just like, oh, weird. It's not coming up. Do you know anybody who knows her that can do that for you somehow is that another option like

i don't know do you have any mutual friends i that won't rat that won't rat you out and be like i just got the strangest request from this guy you just started seeing i think you gotta play dumb that's it yeah i I think I would too could you turn the lurker account into something else where it's like a mental health and wellness and you post a couple pictures of the field and some yogurt and then you put like just a bullshit bio like dm for collabs and like the avatar is a joke so she thought it was like spam and then blocked it and then that one's unblocked without her realizing that she's actually unblocking yours or like you resell shoes or video games or something just something that is just like it's not a deal breaker but no so you make you make the lurking account

something that was bad yeah it would make her realize why she had blocked it um so the only thing is like so if she's looking at that account like how do you she's never gonna see it again they're gonna be after yeah they're all gonna be after uh you you met yes no no but wait wait i'm just trying to think of like she if you didn't want to just play dumb which is probably still the best advice but if you just said as simple as like hey i don't know like she's like oh you're blocked or whatever and you'd be like wait you blocked me and you know so you have to keep this up so i don't know what your poker game is like but you would just have to kind of be like wait you blocked me and she'd be

thinking like how did i block you then she goes through blocked accounts and maybe that would be worth and she's like you're into yogurt and wellness is this your side account like i don't know would you be able to figure that out from the other side of it of like the blocked account that's linked to the other one it's a good idea but yeah i i don't know that you can go can you go back there's a good chance on his lurk account he also hasn't posted a ton right it's probably just like it's probably no posts right so so it's not even like he can go back and doctor old post he probably has zero posts on that account which might actually be better then you can just be like it's this thing that i it was a business page that never never took off and i just uh whatever yeah it could be that maybe turns out not a lot of paintball need in in this town or

something like i don't know like the the paintball supply store didn't work out yeah i would just play dumb i think that's the best bet hopefully like she likes you after three or four times this really sucks that does suck though it is it is more complicated you know there's another because at first when i was reading it i was kind of like what dude and um i don't know man good luck let's know how it goes all right midlife crisis question mark love the pod six foot 203 very specific 315 on the bench for four reps. Baseball comp Juan Samuel. We don't want those, but we appreciate it. Okay. Ryan, I did change my mind from MJ to LeBron for the GOAT. We got one.

Wow. 45 years old, no kid, no wife, no mortgage, high paying job. And I've always loved automobiles. I had a vehicle every year now since I was 18, 19 years old until 2020 when the pandemic hit, I got rid of my vehicle. I've been without a vehicle for the last two going on three years. I've always liked nicer or I've always had nicer luxury vehicles, usually leases as it wasn't a need, but a want and a toy for me. I've been thinking about getting another vehicle, but wasn't in a hurry since this purchase primarily a liability. And to be honest, I wasn't truly excited about any vehicle I could afford until I started looking at prices for the 2016 model supercar I've always loved. This car used would run me between 95 and 105K, depending on options. I have a fully vested 401k three personal investment accounts,

fully funded emergency account. What's your emergency account at right now, guys? I don't have one. Six cents, six cents. Actually, every time I,

I can tell you that because every time I put stuff in it and then I have to take it out three months later, there's just 5 cents that doesn't come out of it or six cents. You have an emergency account. You know, actually I've got several because when I moved out of my house, I got kicked out of college. Right. And then, so I was, uh, well, I got suspended. I didn't get kicked out. It wasn't that bad. And so my dad started charging me rent and I was just like, I can't believe this. Like I'm paying rent to live at home. So then I moved out and i had this whole big plan about how much everything was going to cost and i made like four bank accounts at the uh hudson valley federal credit union and one of them is like

my checking account one of them's like gas and food account the other one's a savings account and the third one is christmas like i was gonna start saving for for Christmas gifts at 18. I still have all these accounts because the shout out to HVFCU, now just HVCU, they dropped to federal, doesn't charge you to keep accounts open. But I have all these, I have all these accounts. And every time I had to move stuff around, you know what I mean? I could, there's 5 cents that stays in the emergency account. So that was a long story to let you know.

Less than a dollar. That was not an answer i was expecting nope nope never is yeah so you mapped out once you were said i'm just gonna move into an apartment but i've got a budget i've got a budget properly yeah like all right food clothing how christmas gifts for you guys you open a bank account for every single expense you thought you were gonna need and then and then he really hit me with he was like wait you think you're taking the car and i was like yeah he was like that's my car and i was like oh fuck i didn't even think about that so everything got thrown off so that was a bus dude didn't have a bus budget

how often did you wipe out the christmas account non-Christmas items? You know what? After a while, the Christmas account didn't even, there was never anything in there. But like the savings account got wiped out constantly. Gas, food, checking. It was all just like, come on, we're hand to mouth here. This was stupid. Yeah. Now I got to figure out how to break this lease.

This guy has his emergency accounts are funded as well. A high yield savings account, which I never let go below a hundred thousand and wouldn't go below that number, even if I decided to buy this car. So our guy is liquid right now. Our guy's doing pretty well and he's been planning this stuff out. And that's what happens when you, you know, you don't, you don't get divorced. I'm getting older. Stepfather died at 52. i'm wondering if i should live a little and let go of the financial responsibility rope a little and buy this car since inflation is still high i'm giving myself a year to see if the market lowers the cost of the

car is this a midlife crisis should i buy this car continue to pack away money for my later years i may not even get there well wow, thanks boys. Look, this is an auto yes for me, but it sounds like the only thing holding it up is that you're so meticulous about your finances that you're thinking of luxury item, not going to retain its value. Don't really need it. Like there's all the things on paper that you go why would you do this this doesn't make any sense this is a bad purchase you know what i mean there's luxury items you can be like all right well at least this might hold its value or this on the resale is worth this like when you look at a new boat a new boat and you're the first owner the depreciation on that is like

astronomical right i mean you think a car is bad like all right your boat's in the water dude you're down 30 and here are your keys so uh you sound like you're so uh rigid uh mature whatever activity you want to throw at this you have a great way about you that's almost so great that you're not allowing yourself any kind of reward for making sure your finances are all in the right place. This isn't about, oh, what is somebody going to say? Because I always hate when people do that. I look at this guy who has a white Ferrari in town. It's got this matte white finish.

He brings it to the gym. I think it's about a half a million bucks. I look at that thing. I'm like, that thing is so fucking sweet sweet good for him okay dick joke me to death see you later make them while i'm driving past you you know sure uh i don't know if i'd ever get in that world because i just like being higher up in the trucks and the suvs and stuff um you know i'm sure there's not a financial thing about that purchase that made any fucking sense to him. But guess what? He's got a fucking Ferrari.

Good for him. So that's how I look at the world. You know, granted, if you can't pay your mortgage and you're getting kicked out and get kids and they can't go to better schools and all that kind of shit, like don't get the Ferrari. I think they were all kind of on the same page with that one. But our man just laid out a plan that tells us he's not even going to take a hit. And he's done all the things right. And he threw in a little death thing at the end, which is just sort of like, you need us to tell you to go lease this car? Like, go do it. Well, while this could be in like a midlife crisis range of time, like you also, it's not like you're trading in your trusty honda that you're you know

that you've paid off after five years and it's even a car i know that's what i'm saying it's not like you're like you know you're doing this because like you didn't you don't have a car you can be like hey i've also got a car think about i like i want to have a car just why not it's like a it's a it's a pretty normal thing also think about if maybe you need to trick yourself a little bit like how much money did i save by not having a car put that towards like now how does that factor into your you know into your depreciating asset nightmare that you're having here like whatever just like hey look what i've done by not having car insurance not it not uh not paying off a lease or whatever like think about that maybe that maybe you just need to trick yourself and and like you know fudge

the numbers a little bit in your head so you could be like yeah fuck yeah i discerned this i i i this is time yeah it feels like this is a midlife crisis without the crisis you have the finances you seem like a pretty reasonable dude and this is something that you want and can kind of afford and not have it fuck up the rest of your life. I think the midlife crisis thing is like, are you doing something irrational that is like dumb? This is not dumb. I mean, you could afford it, it seems like,

and it's going to make you happy. So yeah, maybe you're having like some midlife thoughts about how long you're going to live and you wanted to, you know, get every, you know, squeeze every ounce out of life. But I don't see like, I don't feel like this is a crisis. So I think you're actually okay. You've thought about this enough where I don't think

it's an irrational decision. So go for it. We're all on the same page with this one. And it's also something that you're passionate about, like be thrilled that you're passionate about cars and that you've always had them. You know, some people do things in your life like, oh, I can't believe that guy does that or spends his money on that. Who gives a fuck? people do things in your life like, oh, I can't believe that guy does that or spends his money on that. Who gives a fuck? Let him spend his money how he wants to spend his money. It's his money with the caveat of, well, is he spending money that's messing up everything at home or he's not going to have any money when he retires and all those things you start feeling as you get a little bit older. You're like, have I done enough or what will my plan be? Is there any way that I can bring

in extra income? All these things you start thinking about as you get a little bit older. You're like, have I done enough? Or what will my plan be? Is there any way that I can bring in extra income? Like all these things you start thinking about as you get a little bit older. This guy checked every single box that tells us he doesn't need to worry about any of these things before he suggested, Hey, this isn't like he said, Hey, I want to spend a half a million dollars on a Ferrari. He wants to spend a hundred thousand. By the way, a luxury car right now is kind of in that ballpark range anyway. So you're not even going so aggressively that you're like hey it doesn't make any sense if i ever lease a ferrari it'll be a terrible decision it'll be a bad decision people will make fun of me publicly they'll make fun of me privately and i don't give a fuck yeah this guy it sounds like this guy's been like eating at home for so to speak for

years you know what i mean like it's like oh should i do this no fuck that we got food at home like he seems like a guy who's just been eating at home for you know 30 years and now he can have a supercar that's the words that he used supercar fuck yes dude and he'll probably have like a plan when he buys this thing too it sounds like he'll probably open up some other you know go down the coast or yeah like i'm not even no not even that like that's what you're saying i just like trust this guy to like make that money back i don't even know him so like yeah grind extra hard yeah i just say i say go for it yeah the fact that he said he's going to wait a year to see how inflation impacts the price moving forward see that's the biggest. It's not a midlife crisis.

It's not is it right or wrong financially. It's that this guy is so precise in every financial decision that he's made throughout his life that everything kind of has to be a win. He won't enjoy it as much when he's in it if he knows he paid like five grand more than he should have.

This is the guy that doesn't want to buy a house because the rates went from four and a half to five. You're like, dude, you like the house? Well, then take the rate at five. the rates went from four and a half to five yeah you're like dude you like the house well then take the rate at five the rates went up it sucks you know you outside the window you didn't get the rate locked in and all so well i can't do it because it was a four and a half and now it's a five so i would say i would say do it and update us on where that Christmas account is. Just don't dip into that. Yep. Imagine being 18,

kicked out of the house, and whatever money you were making, were we talking Models? Models and the melting pot. I was dishwashing at the melting pot and on my way to managing Models. And thinking like, I'm going to slide a 20 into the christmas account i'm not gonna touch it i'm not gonna touch it does it that just tells you what a stand-up guy kind of

was like that became my head was in the right place yeah like his head was really it was completely irrational but his head was in the right place yeah it's an amazing attribute but you should put that on i mean you're you're you're obviously a happily married man now but that should have been like the front thing on your dating profile i had a christmas account since i was 18 was there ever a dollar in it yeah i did yeah early on there was and then it was like no who are you who am i kidding who am i kidding okay tell me about the first time you withdrew from it from it i mean it was probably like a month into living uh at my spot on academy street i think it was just like it was like we're going

to the grocery store to you know it was probably even bus money too like i was i was asking dudes for bus money that's how fucking bad it was i mean it was a dollar 75 i think at that time and it was just like this like, this is not happening. This is terrible. I was just sticking it out out of pride. Luckily, my roommate was so bad with the issues he was bringing into the place that the dude approached me and was like, hey, we can break this lease if you want. I'm not going to charge you.

And so I was like, I think it was like September to May or March. So it was only a couple. It was like six, eight months. But it was, thank God that guy approached me. Because I was thinking, I was like, I can't sustain this. I cannot sustain this. I can't. Opening Models at 7 a.m. and closing the Melty Pot at 1 a.m.

And it was just like, how the fuck? Like, I missed the last bus home because we closed so late. 7 a.m and closing the melting pot at 1 a.m and it was just like how the fuck like i was take that i missed the last bus home because we closed so late i would have dudes drive me home but then they would party and like exchange for it so then it's just like i can't even go to sleep it was terrible stay in school yeah man stay in school uh but so we nailed it the fact that your your heart was in the place that you were like i I need to open a Christmas account, get everybody straight with gifts, and then we'll figure out the rest of it later. Well, I had a gas and food account too,

and that's because I thought I was having the car. My dad was like, you're not getting this car. What the fuck? In what world? And I was like, yeah, I guess I didn't think about that. So the gas and food account really didn't get much use either. They were cracking down on a young Kyle. Thanks to Kyle. Thanks to Cerruti. Ryan Russo cracking down on a young Kyle. Yeah. Thanks to Kyle.

Thanks to Saruti. The Ryan Russo Podcast, back on Friday, Rigor Spot. Must be 21 and older. President select states. FanDuel is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under agreement with Kansas star casino, LLC gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit fan duel.com forward slash RG in Colorado, offering online sports wagering in Kansas under agreement with Kansas Star Casino, LLC. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit fanduel.com forward slash RG in Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia.

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