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[Assistant] Actually threw down the, uh, $240 it was to get a sack of crawfish imported from Louisiana. I wanted like a 30 pound sack, ended up getting a 41 pound sack. And so I bought this Loco Cooker's 30 quart rig, ended up doing like three or four batches of crawfish. It wasn't


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[Assistant] It was like a lot of scheduling. Like you'd throw.


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[Assistant] Like you'd throw ingredients in, you'd set a timer, then you'd throw others. Like it's a consistent temperature, right? Like you just have it at a rolling boil. It was just, it was, it was a lot of steps. It was a lot of fun. The food was fantastic. It was not too spicy, uh, but it did certainly have a kick to it. We had,


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[Assistant] 10-12 people over, uh, they greatly enjoyed it. That was a great time. Can't wait to do some sort of seafood bowl. Obviously crawfish season is very short, but you can do the same thing. Crab legs, shrimp.


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[Assistant] It's alright, and I invited Krookey and said he also no-showed. What did you have on the grill? And then please enlighten us with Bunkmate's trip to the ER.


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[Assistant] Yeah. You can't just, you can't just make burn ends like you. No, I know. So you're gonna, you're gonna buy, you're gonna buy a brisket, you're gonna do a brisket.


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[Assistant] Some sort of mid afternoon flight. I am glad that you mentioned our trip. It's going to be a very special podcast.


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[Assistant] Uh, next week, a very special edition of the Golf Channel podcast with Rex and Lev. Rex and I were both invited to attend USJ Media Days next week. We actually thought that this was like a prank.


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[Assistant] We did not think this was a real invitation, but on Monday we have been invited to play Los Angeles Country Club, one of the most exclusive courses in the country and host of the upcoming Men's US Open. The next day we are playing Pebble Beach, which is the host site for the first time.


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[Assistant] of the women's US Open. Which course are you most looking forward to, but more importantly, how is your game?


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[Assistant] Uh, I cannot wait to play either. I've never played them before. I am working through a little bit of a swing change, uh, trying to get my right elbow tucked closer to my side. Thank you Ricky, uh, for that helpful hint while keeping my head back and keeping it there. You know, I tend to lunge at it using all 170 pounds.


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[Assistant] Uh, a screaming one and a half year old and a four year old who's been nothing, uh, but hellacious has recent t ball games. It should be a great podcast next week. I need to somehow figure out how to do a podcast on the move. Hopefully we can record it.


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[Assistant] On the shuttle ride trip from Pebble Beach to the airport for our red eyes. I think that would be a lot of fun to recap.


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[Assistant] Yeah, memorial after that. Yeah, there's a lot of golf, especially for those Texas guys, just the way the schedule is formatted. Will be very interesting, Rex Roy McRoy. I would imagine.


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[Assistant] Is going to speak to the media before that tournament. I'm sure he'll be asked why he is the lone player so far, uh, to skip two.


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[Assistant] Mandatory events. Alright, that's gonna do it for this incredibly robust edition.


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[Assistant] This is a new record high. This was even a longer podcast than when Tiger won the Masters in 2019. I hope you guys enjoyed it. It was a lot of fun to do the draft. I'm sure you guys can find that on YouTube if you missed it or golfchannel.com.


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[Assistant] Next week, we'll be back with a recap of our trip as well as the world of golf. It should be a good one. Can't wait to bring it to you. We'll talk to you next week. Thanks, A. Jolly.


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[Assistant] Welcome into this edition of the Golf Central Podcast presented by Callaway Golf. I'm Lav, soon to be joined by Rex. In this week's episode, we'll look at the breaking news regarding Augusta National and the 2023 Masters in their qualification criteria.


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[Assistant] We'll recap the PNC Championship. How did Tiger Woods look? What does it mean?


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[Assistant] Or out of bounds, we'll also touch on a few other happenings in the world of golf. But first.


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[Assistant] Callaway has developed their longest irons ever in the Rogue ST line. These irons are breaking ground with a high strength 450 AI face cup that's never been seen before in the industry. Callaway has continued to push innovation.


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[Assistant] It's chewing a, uh, company get together.


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[Assistant] At Ravidus Pig, about 20 minutes, uh, from your home, uh, instead to play golf with your son. Uhm, tell me, uh, how did that experience go?


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[Assistant] Sounds like, that sounds like a ploy and certainly a plea for Ethan to hook you up with a new putter. Is that, is that what you're going with here?


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[Assistant] Zero desire to play that golf course, particularly during NCAA championship when it's like 110 heat index.


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[Assistant] This building, this building is not built on the back of shoulders of people who walked away with 80 or 90 up.


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[Assistant] Mmm, charcuterie board, a bacon infused, uh, old fashioned, which was fantastic. And then some steak frites, uh, which were delicious and definitely did not, uh, make me overly full as I drove the two hours back to Pada Vida. At the back end of this podcast, right, we will recap.


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[Assistant] Uh, your visit to Stamford, that was a cliffhanger.


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[Assistant] On the last edition of the Golf Central Podcast presented by Callaway Golf where I was passing the baton.


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[Assistant] Uh, to you, we'll be basically cross paths, uh, in the White Plains airport, so I'm curious to get your thoughts on Stanford. We will do so at the end of this podcast. Now in the intro, we did reference some breaking news. We actually paused this podcast for like two minutes, uh, so that I could read this, this statement


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[Assistant] From Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley and here's the big takeaway folks, although Augusta National Golf Club said they are quote, disappointed


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[Assistant] In the developments, uh, of 2022 with Live Golf and the PGA Tour clearly at a crossroads and fracturing the game at the very top level. Here is the big one.


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[Assistant] As invitations are sent this week to the 2023 Masters, we will invite those eligible under our current criteria to compete in the 2023 Masters. Now, as we have said in the past, as Augusta Nationals speaking, we look at every aspect of a tournament each year.


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[Assistant] Any modifications or changes to the invitation criteria for future tournaments will be announced in April. Rex, what's your quick read on that as it comes to Augusta National?


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[Assistant] No, I agree with you, uh, just to fact check you that there is nine live players currently ranked inside the top


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[Assistant] 50, as it is right now, there's, I mean, it's about a dozen and a half, uh, live players who would be eligible through their various...


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[Assistant] And so this is going to feel and look like a very similar master's tournament. And I think that's good. In this statement, which I kind of glance over, quote, our focus is to honor the tradition of bringing together a preeminent field of golfers.


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[Assistant] This coming April. That's what folks we've been saying for months now. This is a battle between the PGA Tour and Live Golf and the DP World Tour. This is not the majors' fight.


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[Assistant] To participate in, as you said, let the world ranking run its course, let the courts decide what is eventually going to happen between these two warring sides. There is a court case involving the DP World Tour in February. Uh, the PJ Tour live case is at least slated, uh, right now for January 2024, although that certainly


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[Assistant] Could be delayed. Let the world ranking run its course. It's not going to be.


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[Assistant] Anymore a Phil Mickelson in that field to make it feel as though it is a major championship. And so we're definitely in a territory now, Rex, where there are going to be four times a year.


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[Assistant] Where the PGA Tours best players and Live Golf's best players are brought together. To me it just makes the major championships that much bigger and ratchets up the anticipation that much more.


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[Assistant] What's your read on any modifications or changes to the invitation criteria for future tournaments will be announced in April? To me, that's certainly leaving open the door.


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[Assistant] Fred Ridley on the line calling you for any sort of clarification or expanding on these ideas that he released in the statement. So just to recap here folks, Augusta National made it clear that it does not like and does not support


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[Assistant] For the 2023 Masters. That means Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith, Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson, etc. Will all be teeing it up at Augusta National the second week.


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[Assistant] of April. Now Rex, you've been busy over the past couple of days covering the PNC Championship where


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[Assistant] Uh, as has been custom now for the past three years, Tiger Woods and son Charlie, who is now 13 years old.


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[Assistant] We're the headliners. You were out there at the Ritz Carlton in Orlando for three or four days last week. What was your kind of read on the week with Team Woods tying for eighth, which I believe was actually the worst finish ever, uh, in this parent child tournament.


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[Assistant] You didn't see anything, you didn't see anything from Tiger. We've, we've not seen him play outside of 12 holes at the match when, which he was clearly the worst player with Roy McIlroy, Justin Thomas, and Jordan Spieth. Clearly the worst player at Pelican Golf Club about 10 days ago. Other than that, we hadn't seen him since the Open Championship in mid, mid July.


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[Assistant] He's got a, he's got a separated shoulder. Jalen Hurts is not playing, it's like football or otherwise.


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[Assistant] It's like a Steph Curry shoot around, essentially.


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[Assistant] Although Steph Cruz got a bum shoulder too. I'm not sure that's an apt analogy.


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[Assistant] You took, you took nothing from his performance. Absolutely nothing.


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[Assistant] Made the cut in the first two majors of the year. The Masters, of course, is a limited field, but...


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[Assistant] Major championship golf. Are you completely discrediting what Tiger was able to do?


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[Assistant] With a body that 14 months earlier was, uh, apparently at risk of amputation and losing his right leg.


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[Assistant] He keeps saying like those close to me know exactly what I've been through.


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[Assistant] Why don't, why don't you let us all know? Like, we would have a better appreciation, a better understanding, uhm, perhaps we'd be a little bit more realistic with our expectations if he just let us in just a little bit.


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[Assistant] of, of what he'd actually endured. Instead, you were at the hero world challenge when he said cryptically,


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[Assistant] During his pre-tournament press conference that yeaah, I had a couple unplanned surgeries. Plural. Surgeries.


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[Assistant] Procedures plural. Two. Two. Two or more.


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[Assistant] In, in 2022 without giving an exact timeline or what.


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[Assistant] If he wants us to understand, if he wants us to appreciate, if he wants us to place realistic expectations on a guy who's soon to be 47, it starts with being even more open about what he's actually dealing with and has dealt with in the past.


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[Assistant] Uh, each and every April just hoping to catch lightning in a bottle as he did.


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[Assistant] In 2019, I guess after watching the PNC, I mean, and you saw it up close and personal, so I would, I would certainly defer to you, but just watching on television, I came away a little bit more encouraged and I would think overall, and I wrote this for,


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[Assistant] I think anyone who watched Tiger hit shots at the Masters, hit shots at the PGA Championship, hit shots at the PNC even though he was just hopping out of a cart


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[Assistant] And doing his thing clearly knows that he is still capable of extraordinary golf. Like he can still perform at a very high level even on the brink of turning 47 even after all the mileage that he has accrued.


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[Assistant] On his body. But it is becoming glaringly obvious, and he has even alluded to


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[Assistant] Just the most basic tenet of competitive tournament golf, which is walking all 72 holes. And so now as we look ahead to 2023, it's four months in change until the Masters begins.


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[Assistant] Obviously he would love to play in the Genesis, a PJ Tour event that benefits his foundation. He'd love to play in the Players Championship, just a couple hours from his Jupiter home, the flagship event of the PJ Tour, now that he's certainly staked his legacy in this Tour battle.


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[Assistant] But, but Tiger has this unique challenge where...


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[Assistant] He needs to properly prepare to take on the best players because he's only going to be competing against the best fields and he clearly just wants to win one. But he can't push himself so hard and go so far that


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[Assistant] He does what happened here in December, which is develop plantar fasciitis and is unable to play in even a 20 man exhibition and needs to require a cart.


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[Assistant] at the PNC Championship. There's a breaking point that his body is going to reach.


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[Assistant] And the trick for Tiger over these next four months, something he's clearly gonna have to figure out with his doctors and his trainers and his entire team with the chicken wire and duct tape is, is, is preparing to tackle


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[Assistant] These great players against the strongest fields while not going too far. I don't know if he's found that magic form and clearly he hasn't because he wasn't even been able to come back.


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[Assistant] For the hero. But that's a really tricky dance, uh, to do over the next couple of months.


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[Assistant] That was quite a contrast, cause Kyle Montgomery a couple days earlier was like, Oh, Tiger should have said goodbye at St. Andrews. It was a mistake to keep playing. He's got nothing left. And then a couple days later, Patrick Harrington says, Oh yeah, I think he can still win a major. I think the truth is somewhere in the middle.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I mean, I'm clearly not a doctor. I'm not sure how much more...


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[Assistant] No, I'm not sure, I'm just not sure how much more improvement he can realize in that lower right leg. He certainly alluded to the potential of not having that limb in the future, which I think speaks to the dire nature


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[Assistant] Of the crash and the injuries that he sustained. It's gonna take, it's gonna take a miracle.


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[Assistant] Uh, I think for him to win, everything needs to fall in line. He needs to somehow have four great days of tournament competition. He needs to somehow be able to grit through the pain that he is going to experience, uh, walking around a golf course for 72 holes and it's going to take, uh, the strongest fields in golf somehow faltering.


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[Assistant] Uh, for Tiger Woods, uh, to get back in the winner's circle. You've got your sausage finger up. Please, go ahead.


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[Assistant] Okay, that's exactly where we're going. I was actually going to say that Tiger might not have actually been the woods who was most ailing during the PNC Championship. Tiger says it was gross spurts


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[Assistant] That were causing, uh, Charlie to walk around, uh, like his leg was mangled. Uh, Noda Begay said on the telecast that he rolled his ankle.


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[Assistant] Uh, I believe before the Pro-Am round, what, what was the deal? Because, I mean, he clearly mimicked all of Tiger's, like, post-shot injury reactions, like he was, you know,


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[Assistant] He clearly was gearing up for this all year long. He knows how special it is to his dad. And for him to sustain some sort of injury, we don't know whether it was, maybe it was just growth spurts as Tiger Woods said that it was. To have that happen on the eve of the tournament, uh, and kind of hinder him.


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[Assistant] Uh, during the competition was certainly disappointing. This is look, I think it's night and day difference from what we saw Charlie when he debuted in this tournament in 2020 and what he is now, he, uh, has clearly grown significantly.


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[Assistant] Over the past couple of years, his game is very sharp. He's, you know, he's hitting 160 ball speed, uh, with a driver, which is nothing to scoff at. It looks like he hits it 275, 280, uh, which you have never done in your life and, uh, numbers with which you could only dream about.


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[Assistant] Oh, sorry, did I say that out loud? And he's, and he clearly has, uhm, some, some niftiness and some craftiness and some artistry to his game, which I guess, as Taika Wood's son, you would expect, but you, it, it, it,


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[Assistant] It suggests, at least hearing you, that you didn't like...


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[Assistant] The coverage of Charlie, did you think it was too exhaustive? Did you think, uh, it was too predictive? Did you think it was too slobbering? What's your main beef with it?


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[Assistant] Doesn't that suggest to you that Tiger Woods, one of the most guarded and secretive athletes in history, him putting Charlie Woods on the podium suggests to you


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[Assistant] That, that Charlie might be ready to handle this, that Tiger is ready to expose him to this sort of


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[Assistant] It's, it's a little bit cringy. There's a lot of folks on social media who are taking things too far as they tend to do on social media. I think the fact of the matter is it's only gonna get worse. He's 13, what's that, like a 7th grader?


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[Assistant] College recruitment is gonna, is gonna begin here in a couple years. It's clearly, it's, it's, it's obvious that even though Charlie Woods is not a world beater at his age, he has tons of game, he clearly has a passion, a love, appreciation of the game. I don't see that waning anytime soon. Tiger Woods seems


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[Assistant] Uh, at least from the outside to be hands off and kind of letting Charlie do what he wants to do with the game. But I mean, every single college coach in the country is going to be after him. He's going to attempt to qualify for U.S. junior amateur tournaments. Those are broadcast.


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[Assistant] On television, the scrutiny is only going to get up. I actually thought the coverage of Charlie was better this time around.


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[Assistant] Then it was the previous two years, which were really nauseating and too, I think it was too forecasting. Like just, just let him be Tiger Woods son. Let him enjoy it. Like why do we have to forecast? Can this kid be the next Tiger Woods? Let's just enjoy.


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[Assistant] The parent child event for what it is, but the era of, of having him under an intense spotlight in the media, uh, is certainly coming, uh, particularly when, uh, college recruitment, uh, becomes right around.


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[Assistant] Now, Rex, another story, uh, that broke during the PNC Championship week, it actually happened, uh, about a month and a half earlier, was Liv.


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[Assistant] Chief Operating Officer Atul Khosla residing from his post. To me, at least, this seems like a significant move with so much still to be determined on the live, on the live side from a domestic TV deal.


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[Assistant] You have altered your competitive futures by signing with Live Golf. That is, that much is indisputable.


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[Assistant] Uh, which is surprising to me since, uh, that's been rumored about for months. It's clear that Roy McRoy, Tiger Woods, John Rahm, uh, and the like all want to see him go if there's any sort of path forward. And there really hasn't been. The New York Times reported this last week.


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[Assistant] Uh, that Kosla, uh, resigned following, uh, the season ending tour championship. There wasn't any details over why. It didn't say whether there was like a power struggle at the top with, with Greg Norman. It didn't, it didn't state whether Kosla was uncertain or unrealistic or


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[Assistant] At the end of 2022, and we shortly recap this, uh, on our Newsmakers podcast. Like I think, I think Liv exceeded most anyone's expectations for 2022, but Liv officials have also been adamant that this was just a beta test.


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[Assistant] This was just kind of a soft launch in that 2023 with the full league format, $405 million on offer, uh, the 14 tournament schedule, uh, the actual 48 man field, which is not going to be changing. Like that is the real test. And so I think December 20th, 2023,


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[Assistant] We're going to have clearly a much better idea.


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[Assistant] Those, those answers, will they, will they actually get world ranking points? Uh, you would think that question would be answered over the next 52 weeks as well. So when it comes to live golf, uh, so much is to be determined. Now, Rex, you were back home in Florida. It has been an adventurous journey.


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[Assistant] I, I, I already, I've already made, uh, my impressions known about Stanford, the embassy sports building, which I thought was fantastic. It was like our old golf channel building on steroids, but I'm curious, uh, what the 48 hours you were able to spend there, uh, at a time


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[Assistant] When the office was just about to shut down for the holidays, what was your takeaway?


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[Assistant] You didn't see my makeshift studio in there with the garbage can turned over, the light which flicks off after 15 minutes apparently?


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[Assistant] I was in there for about three hours. Uh, I did, yeaah, it was a quick, I mean it was a quick rental car drop off. I didn't quite realize, I mean I got in at 10, 30, 11 o'clock, and I didn't quite realize just how small that airport is. Folks, it is essentially a bus stop.


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[Assistant] Like there's like two or three gates and everyone just sits in this like section on benches and then when your flight's about to take off everyone just stands up and shuffles over to your gate and then you fly out. Like I will never make the mistake of getting there.


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[Assistant] Any sooner than, or any earlier than like 15 minutes before my scheduled departure. Cause it's just, just unnecessary.


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[Assistant] Never ever making that mistake again. I'm sure you and I will be called from the bullpen when literally everyone else is either on vacation, sick, indifferent, uh, no one calls on thegolfchannel.com writers, quite like the TV folks, the second week of December right with the studio.


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[Assistant] Is about to shut down. Now you and I are recording this podcast five days, Rex, before Christmas. Two, two questions. One, what are you asking Santa for? And second, what are you cooking for Christmas Eve or Christmas dinner?


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[Assistant] That's what I got going on. What are you getting? Just, just crushing the dreams of everyone listening. And what, and what are you cooking? What are you cooking for either Christmas Eve or Christmas? You had, you had the four per, you had the 400 person Thanksgiving, so I can only imagine how immaculate, uh, your Christmas spread's gonna be.


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[Assistant] I'm not even sure like Myron Mixon does that, uh, on Christmas Eve. Just before we go to church? For, for, for church?


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[Assistant] Picking some ribs out of your teeth.


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[Assistant] Oh, that certainly sounds, uh, good. I don't know what I'm getting for Christmas. I'm not a huge surprise fan. Uhm, I like to spell out exactly what I'd like.


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[Assistant] I am getting an outdoor kitchen, uh, which is the biggest, best Christmas gift of all. I've also been- Quite expensive.


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[Assistant] I've also been stockpiling any sort of spare cash I could find, uh, did a master's journal story, sold some other driver.


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[Assistant] Uh, we're trying to sell some furniture in the backyard. I'm scraping out as much cash as I possibly can, uh, to get a new, uh, Shirley 24 by 36, uh, offset patio smoker. I'll certainly, well, I'm not sure if it'll come by the time the player's championship rolls around, uh, but I'm optimistic that it will. The outdoor kitchen should be done in the next month or so in which gets you an eye.


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[Assistant] No, the outdoor kitchen definitely will be done by the players. It's a question of whether I'll be able to get the smoker in time.


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[Assistant] Uh, does a fabulous beef tenderloin. If you've never had one before, it is an extremely expensive cut of meat. I'm a little bit afraid, uh, to do it because the worst thing you can do to beef tenderloin is overcook it. And though, even though I have hundreds, literally hundreds of dollars worth of, uh, probes,


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[Assistant] Uh, to cook after the holidays because they were on super sale. Uh, shout out local Publix. I also bought a Christmas ham, uh, which I will do a twice smoked ham sometime in the next couple of days. So there'll be plenty of happenings, uh, at the Labner household, even though the outdoor kitchen.


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[Assistant] Is not yet finished. But thank you guys for listening to this edition of the Golf Central Podcast presented by Cadillac Golf. We appreciate you.


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[Assistant] We love you. Happy holidays to everybody. We will talk to you next week.


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[Assistant] With our year in review, our personal favorites, we'll hand out some awards.


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[Assistant] On 2022. 2022, yeaah. Hard to see it, cause then of course, we'll be back the next week with a Kapilua preview and we'll forget everything that we just said in our year in review. But happy holidays to you guys, have a great Christmas, we'll talk to you next week. Get at me.


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[Assistant] Welcome into this edition of the Golf Channel podcast with Rex and Lab. In this week's episode, we're diving into Kalamorikawa's Unraveling at Kapalua, John Rahm going on another Rahm page and a few other highlights and lowlights from the 2023 Lidlifter at Kapalua. But first, Rex,


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[Assistant] 65-7 beatdown in the national championship game. My dogs, back to back. Can you believe it? They went 41 years without winning a national title. When I was in school from 05-09, they had great players.


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[Assistant] I'm like, they were so, I'm not sure how much you watch, like they pulled Stetson Bennett, the quarterback, with 10 minutes left.


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[Assistant] Uh, demolition in a championship game. And I don't want to get too ahead of ourselves, Rex, cause this is just the beginning of 2023.


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[Assistant] So, this is very interesting. So back in 2020, when he first took the reins, I wanted nothing to do with Stats of Bennett. I thought he was a joke. I thought it was actually an embarrassment to Georgia that a walk-on was starting for like a top 10 program.


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[Assistant] That's kind of how I see him. I think NFL teams would love to have him as like a fourth, fifth, sixth round pick.


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[Assistant] Type scenario. Not, I'm not saying he is a starting quarterback for the NFL, but I think NFL teams will definitely grab him for, for


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[Assistant] There was a pretty infamous story that came out, I think from this fall.


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[Assistant] Give him, give him whatever he wants. He owns the state of Georgia. It's one of the most unbelievable stories that we've ever seen in college football. I am proud to be a Georgia.


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[Assistant] Hold on. Rex, we will move on. That was five minutes.


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[Assistant] A football talk. Uh, the, the, the reviews say that we need to button that up. So we'll move on to the century.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, contact around the greens that much more challenging. And so that is, you're basically changing, not to use an old tiger phrase, release patterns, motor patterns, like that's what he's trying to change around the greens, something that's been ingrained for the past 25 years. The putting though,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think is sustainable because you and I have had this debate


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[Assistant] Uh, on the podcast before, whenever he seems to win major championships, he putts well. Whenever he seems to putt well,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That was kind of guesswork, Rex. Like he didn't know what was working well. It was just, it just sort of clicked that week.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But he didn't really understand the why. Steven Sweeney has done a lot to refine


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Like the, the, the putting prowess that he showed particularly through I'd say like 63 holes is sustainable.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And it just kinda let him down as is, is want to do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When you have these pressure situations like trying to close out a tournament for the first time in 17 months.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I actually talked to Haziger about this at the President's Cup. He and I were watching, I think it was the first or second hole at Quill Hollow. Obviously very grainy Bermuda.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] He's currently, he's currently undergoing an MRI.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Or did John Rahm win it? I think, look, it's certainly a little bit of both. I would say...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] 70-30 Morikawa lost to John Rahm. One of the reason I say so.


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[Assistant] The entire PJ Tour season. But this, this tournament, Rex, was lost.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And Kawamura Kawa didn't just make his first bogey of the tournament. He made three in a row.


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[Assistant] Over that stretch to basically gift this one to John Rahman. It really wasn't even close as Kamorakawa played the final two holes and so during that stretch there was missed ten footers, there was bladed bunker shots, there was


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And if he, if he plays anywhere close, if he just shoots the field average.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On Sunday, he wins. All he has to do is play average. It was 68 and a half. 68 and a half is the field average. Like that's all he has to do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That is just not going to get it done on a Sunday. I'm glad you mentioned John Rahm's driving because it always seems, I wrote about this on mondayscrambleongolfchannel.com. It always seems, Rex, like the default answer


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To the question, who is the best driver on the PGA Tour? Like, everyone just says Rory. Like, no one does what Rory McElroy can do with a driver. He launches it.


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[Assistant] Specifically for a guy who's five foot nine, like it's just unfathomable the distances that he can hit it. However, factually, statistically, accurately, John Rahm is the best driver of the golf ball.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On the PGH tour. He was last season and he is this season as well and what I really like


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Kind of leaving it on the top shelf where you have the hanging lie. It's either going to be like a four or a Morikawa hit of five wood.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] How do you, like how do you not pick this guy to win five or six times? Like he's so good, he's so talented, he's so complete throughout the bag. The putting is not John Rahm's weakness, it's not.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, his short game, or his chipping and pitching. Regardless of what you saw with his Strode's game metrics. It's his approach play.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Because he's that good, he's that complete, and he's that, he's that talented, and I think now he has a little bit of a chip.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Scottie Scheffler, no. Cam Smith, I don't know, we haven't seen him play against a good field in a good long while. Like, John Rahm is an absolute menace and I think he's poised for a monster year here.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you've covered this for a number of years before, uh, you know, that first class ticket to Kapalua was one of the first things to go in our revamped travel budget. But look, I think...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Has changed in recent years, like I remember watching when I was younger.


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[Assistant] In December and they're showing up now at the first event of 2023 with, I mean it was a 2.7 million dollar first place check.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For first place, like guys aren't content anymore just to get a vacation out of it. Like they, they understand.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The, the points, they understand the money, they understand the prestige.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And I think that has made a better product.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Than this designated feel, like it feels...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Important now when in the past and you could probably speak to it where it was just kind of laid back and chill.


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[Assistant] What do you think of that? Look at those new graphics. Well done folks. Our names are bold. They're big. They're block letters. How did I get top billing?


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[Assistant] I don't know. I think that's how it went. I don't know. I feel like your negotiations did not go well if I ended up with top billing. How did that happen? Seniority over beauty. I'm not quite sure what the order is going with there. Rex, you mentioned the trip to Sony.


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[Assistant] Uh, TCU alum Tom Hoagie, who flew from Maui to LA to watch the game, to watch his Horned Frogs get beat down 65 to 7 and is now flying back.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To Honolulu, embarrassed, humbled, uh, certainly disappointed in going to play the Sony Open. Look, he, he said it was like- Why are you taking such a-


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] From the Tournament of Champions, you mentioned Xander Shafle. Oof.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That is just a bad beat on my part. I picked him to be player of the year. So he turned up.


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[Assistant] Uh, media remarks afterward. He, he sounded a little bit concerned just because he's never had a back injury before. Doesn't know what's going on and it kind of popped up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Which is a kind of kryptonite for every golfer is a little bit concerning at this stage of the season.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Including next week's tournament at PGA West. So keep an eye on that. Speaking of back injuries, Will Zaltouris returned for the first time in four months out of 65 in the final round. That's eight under.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, on the plantation course. Oh, what Kyle Morikawa would have given for that to finish T11 in his first start back. That was good to see Tom Kim.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, I thought we learned even more about him having, having Christmas dinner.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, one other interesting thing that I wanted to point out was Patrick Cantley revealing that he doesn't just need a new apparel partner, but he is also an equipment free agent. He has played Titleist Clubs exclusively.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Extension. So when I think back to this, I think Brooks Kepka is the, is the perfect example of a player who bettered himself and just kind of played the equipment that was best for him. Worked out and he won four major championships.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On this podcast, there is no way that a single equipment manufacturer makes


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] On our hit for golf today on Wednesday, make sure you guys check that out on golf channel, but we will get out of here Rex with this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] What's on the grill? It's super wild card weekend. Our Jacksonville Jaguars, our hashtag our Jags, uh, are in the playoffs the first time in five years. I need to switch out to my Jags hat. I was about to say.


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[Assistant] Uh, I do not yet have the plans. Cam's got a flag football game.


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[Assistant] On Saturday, which is gonna kind of, uh, eat into my plans. I'll definitely do something. I sent you a Snapchat from, from the Blackstone, uh, which you don't have, cause you have a great TV as well.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We did some smash burgers. Uh, I'm thinking of doing a pork butt that could feed a whole lot of people if we have a party. There is just so much going on.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The roof, uh, of the pergola is finally being put on today.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And so for a pergola, like literally everyone can put that up. You can put that up, I can put that up. It doesn't really matter. Where the HOA comes in is that you are not allowed to have a fixed


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That my friends at Acadia Outdoors have done is like this plexiglass roof.


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[Assistant] This sounds so shady. Like technically, technically Rex, it is not fixed, but it is built to withstand a 175 mile an hour hurricane. So could it, could it be removed if the HOA president wants to roll up and give it a final inspection? Sure, it could. It would probably, uh,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] In that design. I'm looking forward to it. I'll send you snappy chats along with any other thing else that I cook on the Blackstone.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Actually pretty good field. We'll talk more about that as well with these non-designated events on the PGA Tour. Go Dogs!


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Doing well. I mean, my bracket's busted, so I'm not as lucky as Will Princeton at this point to have an 11 seed just climbing through into the sweet 16, but hey, here we are.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They'll definitely make it more intriguing, I think, for the first year. They'll make watching it better because, to your point on the stat from last year, really


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] This has been a declining trend, I think, as we've tried to play with the kickoff.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, formations that the pre-kick kind of rules as far as how many players can light up on each side.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] No wedges, everything that goes along with it. It's become kind of an afterthought. And you know, the NFL hates that very similar to the PAT, which became an afterthought, right? The touchdown scored. Everyone gets up to go to the concessions to go to the bathroom, to go take a break from watching it on television because they assume the PAT was going to be made.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They changed that rule, now not so much due to player safety, but I think if you look at that play, it was probably became more of a dangerous play than an influential play in any way.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now we've seen that change kind of the, you know, the course of kickers and somewhat of the accuracy that we typically see with PATs. Similar fashion here with kickoffs now, we're looking at it saying to ourselves a few things. We feel like this...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Formation presnap will make the play safer for all players involved, maybe with the exception of the returner.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And on top of that, I think you get more returns. And let's not forget, this was a league last year that hit a record pace of unders during the course of the season. I was down in scoring and that's been a concerning trend too.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So how do you create, you know, more scoring? You create a more advantageous field position for a touchback. You create more of an opportunity to get a return, one of which that might end up in an explosive play, end up in a big play that are field, you know, position or starting field position.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So all those things now are back part of the conversation, uh, and then Special Teams becomes more involved, or at least more involved piece of the game. So, uh, I'm more curious than anything else as to how this will play out on a much larger scale than what we saw in the XFL.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, but I think it has taken out the element of surprise. Doos, you know, nowadays, if you're going to then go for an on-site kick, how are we going to handle that?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, no, I mean, clearly it's going to be a safer play in the context of you don't have guys who are much further apart who in one side, one case for the return team is running backwards then to try to go block a guy who's been running for the past 40 yards at them full speed. So there's definitely an element to more player safety from that standpoint. I even think for the return man outside of catching the football, fielding the football,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, you're going to have a better sense for the blocking in front of you, right? I mean, they're not that far apart from one another. You know, as opposed to guys running with their backs turned to the guy they're blocking, then turning back around to get their head onto a swivel to go make that block on their designated player, where they may miss him the last second, now you're going to make an adjustment as a returner.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You're gonna know which guy's free and which guy's probably covered up for the most part leading up to when you're fielding that ball. So that's one part of it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do's though touched on something that I mentioned back when this rule was thrown out there, uh, probably a month or so back and I mentioned, hey, just move it back. That'd be the simplest form of keeping this. And it was more about out of an effort to


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Keep the onside kick element to this because if you don't, not only are you taking out the surprise onside as Deuce touched on, but


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Now we have to go about looking at how are we going about onside kick. So we just flat out giving up what we're saying and we're going to tell them, hey, this is how we're going to try to implement an onside kick with the way we're formationing things. Um, it's almost a throwaway at that point.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] For that whole surprise element, the border kick element, a lot of the things that I think that you used to be able to see implemented. Uh, I'm sure special teams coaches will get creative with this, but I think the whole element of scheme and strategy, uh, is going to take a hit to some degree. And I know again, we're doing it with the veil of player safety as part of this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Again, I tend to disagree with others, like I didn't think that was overly necessary considering even though it's considered an unsafe play for the rate of recursion per actual return.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Again, returns were down. And if you're trying to get more returns, simply move it back. That would have been the simplest way of fixing all this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know what I'm gonna miss, guys? I'm gonna miss guys like Deuce, alright? Cause sometimes he had to be back there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Right, as part of the old school days, part of the wedge, or old school days, just one of the bigger guys who's back there helping to create a path for the return man. But every once in a while, you get that swim kick.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And you get the big guy back there, the ball boy, and Deuce is picking it up. Now he's running and now you're going to bring down a big boy running down the field on special teams. That's what I'm going to miss because you don't get an element of that now with the way this setup is going to be. It's just two return men back there. So.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I love seeing the big men show off their athleticism when they're back. They're returning the football usually in special teams play or everyone. So I see like a fumble where they pick it up and they start rumbling, bumbling, stumbling. Like I'm gonna miss those days.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's already hard enough having to adjust to the Los Angeles Chargers or the Las Vegas Raiders. For many of us, we've been, you know, in the NFL or following the NFL for such a long period of time. I mean, heck, Pete Prisco still can't get it right half the time, but the Chargers are in LA and they're not in San Diego anymore.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] One thing I do think you'll see, Tyler, is from my understanding in watching the XFL, it felt like there's a lot more sideline returns, uh, with this format, with this setup. It felt like you don't, you quite...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can't quite get set up a lot of those middle returns where there's either a little bit of misdirection by the return man or some cross blocking the way it could be set up even under the new rules to create more of a middle return.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, or a left middle, right middle, however you look at it. It feels like things usually get kind of strung out where the ball ends up kind of finding its way to the sideline either way. So there might be more returns. It might be more, more accustomed to the sideline returns of anything else.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You came down here to tell us that your date is missing.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, it's, it's really forcing defenders once again to have to adjust for the sake of player safety. And that seems to be the route that the NFL always goes. It's a bit lazy. I think when you look at it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, Deuce and Sully, you have to understand how do we get here. The game's more spread out than it's ever been before.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And because of that, you get more angle tackles. These angle tackles have led to defenders who already aren't tackling as well as they used to back in the old days, in part because they're going up against more skilled defenders in space. That's a piece of it.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] But also because we don't have as much hitting as we used to. It's not as a trained technique the same way we used to and we're teaching it a different way. We're teaching more of a rugby style tackle and that rugby style tackle that the NFL


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, of the league remaining attacked and, and, uh, correlating it with head injuries and CTE and football and the way we're tackling, it's led us to this rugby style tackle. We're trying to take the head out of football.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Well, unfortunately, that's now led us to the hip drop tackle because guys are taking angles that force them to have to put their head on one side or the other.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] When they're using their shoulders and they're trying to wrap and roll. Well, if you end up, you know, picking wrong and the defender's ahead of you, or excuse me, the ball carrier's ahead of you and you put your, your head opposite on his backside of it, you have, you can't do anything else other than try to grab onto that ball carrier, use all of your weight to stop his momentum moving forward since you're not in front of him.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And try to bring him down. And that's really the job of any defender. So, uh, it's...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's tough, especially when you see the NFLPA came out against this in the first place, which you very rarely see when it comes to a player safety issue. I know there's a lot of players who are advocating for this.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Being penalized, being outlawed. The reality is, where does it stop? It's gonna be really, really hard for defenders to do their job in the future and not get penalized or not get fined. And it only leads to more subjectivity amongst officials. That leads to more frustration amongst the fans.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's the hard part is it depends on the officiating crew, right? You know, we have some officiating crews who we all look at holding. We all can tell what holding is, but.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] During the course of a game, in an instant, you have to make a call whether or not really that holding impacted the play. Like that's the interpretation of it is...


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] It's on the backside of an outside run to the right and it's on the left hand side of the offensive line.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] We always see these rules put in print. How they're then applied becomes something else. And I think the one thing I'm a little bit curious about, and I know this is the first year for this rule, so this is probably why they're not doing it is,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] If you dive into what they did with intentional grounding and what they did with, uh, you know, for example, roughing the passer, they've allowed the NFL replay assistant to basically correct the call.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That should be what the NFL is focusing on. That should be where the NFL is trying to eliminate any sort of subjectivity out of a lot of the officiating in the NFL and apply that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] to almost every call if you can. Very similar to college football and how they've implemented the replay process. Call player safety, call it whatever you want, but the reality is these officials need help in real time, especially as they continue to create more and more rules in limiting what players can do.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I think what the cause and effect of any implementation of replay.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is that officials are gonna let plays go that are reviewable. At least they should.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's typically what they're being coached to do are the mechanics of the officiating.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Dean Blandino and Mike Pereira might disagree with what I'm saying this, but I've watched enough football to see that at times.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] They will let plays play out because they know they can rely on replay to help bail them out in that scenario. You see it in college football. You'll see it from time to time in the NFL. It's one of the reasons why again, I think I'd like to see more jurisdiction under the replay assistant.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] To be a part of that process, because then at least we know every single officiating crew can rely on that, and they're probably going to call it, see it very similar, knowing they can rely on replay to be able to fix it. Now the question becomes, how do we expedite or make more efficient the replay process?


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I keep going back to college football because they've been able to have a little more practice with this, having a replay assistant at each game, being able to, you know, comb through a bunch of plays, scoring plays, turnovers, targeting.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Maybe targeting's not the best example of that, but it's a slow down process because you might be ejecting a player sometimes. But they still, in large part, do a very, you know, quick job or fast job of making a decision on whatever that play was based on the call in the field.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The NFL could implement something very similar. I don't know that it's really going to change the pace of the game a whole lot, but I think how they implement it would be one in which they kind of teach the officials. We understand we still give you a ton of power control in the field, but that replay assistance there for you, utilize them in instances where it does feel a little bit gray out there.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I don't know if you want a shot clock on some, some of these guys, you know, they might feel a little bit too much pressure to make a call. No freak out. The other thing is as far as the mechanics behind the process, just so people know at home.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You know, when you're a part of a TV crew, the officiating crew is using your array of cameras to then figure out the best angle to review something, to sometimes piece together the right call, or try to see if they can overturn a call, uh, or maybe there's something there, right, if it's challenged.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uhm, that's the other hard part about it is it's not always on the officials as part of this review process.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Sometimes it's on the TV networks, sometimes it's on the trucks, sometimes it's on technology to be able to find the angle that they're looking for, run it back, run it back, let's go back and see it. Uhm, sometimes these TV trucks are kind of old, not to like put anyone on blast, alright, but the reality is sometimes the technology doesn't work as fast as we're accustomed to at home.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That becomes part of the, uh, the issue with expediting that, that review process sometimes to make sure we're not waiting. It's, it's really not the official's fault at times. It's just a matter of technology and we're just not quite there in regards to all the technology behind the scenes with a lot of the networks.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The ability to get a challenge right often times, you know, they should be awarded just to get one right to get the third one and then how it plays a factor in the second half of the game, uh, plays into the, the gamesmanship, the schematics of, of when you challenge the first time, how you go about challenging, which plays and all that. So, uh, I've no, I've no qualms with this, you know, again, I'm the type that


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] I don't think coaches are going to use challenges all the time. If we give them an unlimited, you know, source of challenges, I don't think any head coach, any coordinator wants to be challenging every single, you know, play that's constantly out there. Uhm, you know, so if there's a concern about the pace of play from that standpoint, I don't, I don't see it happening quite as much.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] So again, not as big of a deal for me. I think the NFL replay assistant and it being able to correct some of the, uh, the intentional grounding rough in the past or penalties. That's a much bigger deal. I don't think it's getting as, as, uh, applauded as much amongst the masses in the media for, for the NFL kind of slowly going in that direction of making a


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] A pretty monumental change in my estimation of how things are gonna be officiated moving forward.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And to your point about the play clock, you know, really, when it gets down close to zero, if you talk to any edge rusher, a lot of times if they're aware of the play clock going down or if they have a blitz on, they're gonna be, you know, licking their chops.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Watching that kind of paying attention to then, to then break on it. Cause they know once that thing hits zero.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] The snap has to come, so they know they can get a nice jump on the ball if the offense waits that long.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] That's kind of one of the things that, you know, you typically best play to the offensive advantage if they get a little extra time to get a playoff. Cause now those guys might be second guessing that jump where they do have to start paying attention to the ball as opposed to paying attention to that play clock. But that's been something that you see once it gets to five.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] And that defense is kinda walking around, getting ready to try to pressure a blitz. You know as a quarterback, eventually they're gonna present themselves. And so you can hold it as long as you want, but once it gets close to zero, you gotta snap the football too.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] You can only do so much to help out your offensive line discern who's butzing, who's not, who might be dropping and showing their hand before the snap of the football. So it definitely helps to, uh, to a degree. I'll be curious too, to see how offenses obviously adjust to that with the change in the rule.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Yeah, I think it's interesting to move back to week nine and that's uh, obviously me being a guy who anticipates the league.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Going to an 18 game schedule at some point in time in the near future, especially as the league looks to continue to keep growing its revenue. That's one way of doing so. So as of right now, we look at it and go, oh, week eight to week nine, man, that's a little more than half the waypoint.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Pump the brakes on that one. It will be once again, the halfway point, but brings dues does bring up a good point in the sense that my concern is the team start tanking.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Do we start seeing teams, depending on how far we push this back, I know it was initially proposed to push it back to week 10, they set it on week 9. If you do get to that point that's, you know, past the halfway point,


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Is there a fire sale? There are a bunch of teams that really aren't going to be competitive down the stretch, uh, who end up kind of unloading players on the roster for some teams to make a playoff run and for those teams to load up for the draft for the following year and essentially try to find their way somewhere in the top 10, top 5 of the draft.


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[Assistant] I think that's the one concern you've got to have if you are the NFL, uh, about pushing it back too far and again,


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[Assistant] The other thing that brings to mind as, as there's similar topics around the NFL, for example, the NFL is looking at having a doubleheader on Christmas.


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[Assistant] Look, that used to be the NBA's like, you know, that was, that was their deal. That was their holiday. They put the best matchups, the biggest matchups on Christmas day. Now the NFL has infiltrated kind of, uh, that holiday, if you will, for the NBA, kind of just blowing them out of the water.


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[Assistant] And I kind of see the trade deadline being pushed back as part of that, because if I'm not mistaken, this is close to the beginning of the NBA season, so...


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[Assistant] To continue to kind of take over during the course of the week in between those, you know, Thursdays and Sundays and Mondays where we've got games. So this is just the NFL in my mind taking another step in the direction of just trying to dominate


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Every single professional sport out there with their storylines throughout the year, throughout the week, not just on Sundays.


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[Assistant] That would be, that'd be about it. I mean, I can't imagine that the, the wash-in.


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[Assistant] Commanders would trade back out of that and risk going into the season without one of the top quarterbacks in this year's draft class. So, if anything, I'd be thinking maybe they're talking about trading up.


[User] Please transcribe this text

[Assistant] Uh, to the number one spot, it wouldn't cost them that much to move up one spot. Uh, not quite the Kings ransom we've seen in years past, or even the fact that the commander's organization has been a part of in previous years. So.


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[Assistant] It's hard to believe right now, uh, it's kind of that time of year where, uh, you know how our, how I know your lines because your lips are moving. Uh, it's gotta be, you gotta be careful what you read for the tea leaves or the owner's meetings or anything really leading up to the draft at this point.


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[Assistant] Potentially, yeaah. I mean, I think the big question about him is the medical.


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[Assistant] For me, you know, he would be the guy that I would take a good, long, hard look at because his play the last two years


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[Assistant] I think he moves well under pressure. I think the biggest thing working against him is the fact that he didn't play his best game in his last game. But outside of that if you just


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[Assistant] I think there's a lot to like about Michael Pennix. Uh, you do have to get comfortable with, uh, the fact that he's a left-handed quarterback. So the way you might configure your offense, call your offense is going to be flipped or different from a righty. Uh, a lot of people too get concerned about, Hey, now your left tackle is on your blind side. Now is your, your, you know, front side tackle.


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[Assistant] Uh, and you're right tackle you better feel good about. In today's NFL, you're going to have two good tackles because usually most teams have two good edge rushes. So that's not a big of a concern as I think as it used to be. Uh, but he'd be definitely a guy to take a look at. Bo Nix is another one.


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[Assistant] Uh, extremely accurate, well prepared for the NFL level, had a litany of offensives that he went through from his time at Auburn to his time at Oregon as far as the different play callers, so.


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[Assistant] He'd be another guy that I think gets some consideration, uh, based on his, you know, his trajectory and path throughout the course of his college career.


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[Assistant] Yeah, look, I think he knows his quarterback in this draft class better than anyone else in regards to J.J. McCarthy and what he had over the course of his tenure in Michigan, so.


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[Assistant] Do we expect him to talk highly about his former quarterback who helped him win


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[Assistant] Multiple Big Ten Championships and a National Championship, of course, but I also think there's a fair amount of honesty too, because I think there's been some questions about JG McCarthy within the Michigan offense and what he was asked to do or not asked to do for that matter.


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[Assistant] And I think Jim Harbaugh's out there trying to kind of correct the narrative and saying like, look, we didn't need to, uh, open up JG McCarthy to do a bunch of different things. I mean, if anyone looked at their personnel too in Michigan.


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[Assistant] That really wasn't what they leaned on in recruiting and development anyway. It was their offensive line, their running backs, tight ends. When they asked J.J. McCarthy to make throws, he made throws. There's instances of him having to compete in shootouts and showcasing the ability to make throws when the pressure was on.


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[Assistant] I think there's a lot of honesty in what he's saying. You can see it if you break down and watch his tape. I had the opportunity to be around the team a lot this year. And I think he also touches on a lot of the intangibles that teams are looking for in a guy, by the way, who's


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[Assistant] Not like, you know, Bo Nicks or Michael Pennex or, uh, some of the other quarterbacks that we're talking about in this draft class who are much older too and have played a lot of college football at this point. Uh, Jayden Daniels for example too.


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[Assistant] He's a player who's a little bit younger, a little bit greener, but maybe that's not such a bad thing because they do feel like there's so much more upside for him as compared to a guy who's 24 years old, might be more of a finished product coming into the NFL.


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[Assistant] I'll bite Solly. I'll go ahead and play crazy with you here. Uhm, it would be amazing. Like, there's a thought too that I'm like, well, if you do love him so much, you could just draft him at number five if he ends up being there, right?


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[Assistant] Uh, then you just look at maybe trading Justin Herbert and, and seeing the bounty of picks you would get for Justin Herbert because you would still have some suitors out there, right? Like we're, if that ended up being the case, okay, that means we probably saw quarterbacks go one, two, three, and JJ McCarthy was not one of them. So that's three quarterback media teams that are now off the board.


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[Assistant] That still leaves you Denver. It still leaves you Las Vegas. It still leaves you Minnesota. So you would have three suitors right there that you could potentially deal off your quarterback to. Now, the finances, I'm not going to get into that because again, we're playing crazy here. Okay. It's like when I asked my wife to go on a shopping spree, uh, there's just no limit to what she's going to do.


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[Assistant] Maybe it seems willing to mortgage the next three first round picks, the second round pick. Who knows the bounty of picks they could get. And if you're Jim Horrorball and you're in this rebuild mode, why not sit there and say, well, I know what I'm getting with this quarterback from the college days. He's going to know the offense day one. And if we're rebuilding the first year anyway,


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[Assistant] Why not get younger, cheaper if possible with that rookie quarterback and then try to get a slew of picks back for it. So again, crazy idea.


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[Assistant] Definitely probably not gonna happen, but it's still fun to entertain and think about the fact that there would be a number of suitors out there that would


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[Assistant] I mean, you'd at least would think you'd get two of their first round draft picks this year alone that they've already accumulated.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I don't know if they have the draft capital without mortgaging the long-term future of things. And I'm kind of curious to think, uh, or to see what the new ownership group thinks of Sean Payton.


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[Assistant] They've moved on from Russell Wilson, so they've given Sean Payden his wish.


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[Assistant] And then build back this roster to be a contender in a division in which you play with the defending's two times Super Bowl champ.


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[Assistant] Uh, it's a tough spot to be in. Uhm, you know, is Jarrett Stidham going to be the guy this year? He looks like he's in that pole position right now, but there's some veterans out there they could get, and maybe Denver takes a flyer on a guy in the second round that they really like if they find themselves in that spot.


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[Assistant] Uh, or maybe in the first round, you know, maybe they, they do what some people believe would be over drafting a quarterback in that spot. Who knows, but.


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[Assistant] Sean Payton's in a tough spot, and I think it'd be great to think they could move all the way up, but in years past, we've seen teams really pay a premium to move that far up to be able to take a quarterback, and are you willing to do that for what would be assumed to be the fourth best quarterback in this draft class, at least based on


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[Assistant] How the, the one, two, three would go. And again, that would be a first. We've never seen four quarterbacks go one, two, three, four before. Uh, I'm not sure this is going to be the year it happens.


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[Assistant] And the time that it came out, right, free agency had happened and also the big trade with the Vikings, right? Getting the extra first round pick. And one was a couple of those picks to try to move up even higher in the draft. So it's just like after that happens and then the draft comes out, you're like, this makes absolutely no sense.


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[Assistant] Well, I think the thing is like we saw this a few years ago where the San Francisco 49ers, I believe we were trying to move up to the number two spot, but the Jets were like, no, there's no way because we're definitely taking the quarterback.


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[Assistant] I think you can kind of say when you look at Chicago Bears and the commanders, I think they're solidified in their spots.


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[Assistant] Like, I don't know if there's enough giraffe capital for them to move off of the number one and number two spots knowing that they can get their guy of the future, their future quarterback, and they feel real comfortable with the two top guys. The thing is that the Patriots, right? If they don't feel comfortable with the third guy, do they potentially move back? There's even the scenario.


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[Assistant] Where they think Marvin Harrison Jr is our world. Maybe they don't want to move off of that. They take him because the Cobra set, right? He's a quarterback. You can win games with so he can be a perfect bridge guy and then they can even maybe take a guy in the second round or maybe next year's draft.


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[Assistant] To sit behind Jacoby Brissette and be that bridge guy. So you look at a guy like maybe Bo Nicks going in the second round. Could they potentially take him in the second round and let Jacoby Brissette start the season while Bo Nicks sits and learns behind him. Makes a lot of sense that now you actually have a foundational piece of Marvin Harrison Jr. at pick number three.


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[Assistant] What you have to throw in there also, Brinson, was the scenarios they were put in, right? The situations they were put in. So to your point,


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[Assistant] If you're the Patriots, you're like, yeah, we can grab a quarterback, but if our roster is not good any now, he'll be one of those quarterbacks on the 50% hit rate that didn't do well because we didn't set him up for success.


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[Assistant] Where if you take a guy like in the second round and you get a guy like Marvin Harrison Jr. Or even trade back and get more draft capital, you can get a couple frontline pieces. That way when you do put the young quarterback in, he's in a better situation to thrive.


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[Assistant] Yeah, it's interesting that it took this long for him to sign in free agency and then you look at the number. Uh, it was actually a pretty, you know, strong financial, you know, number for the sake to give him this late in free agency. I believe he's getting $13 million for one year and a lot of people are wondering like how healthy is he? Right? What does the knee?


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[Assistant] Potentially look like because that was always the issue with Chase Young going forward and I would say in the beginning of this past season.


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[Assistant] Brinson, he started off on fire, right? Five sacks and seven games gets traded, like you said, to the San Francisco 49ers. And then nine games only has two and a half sacks and isn't really making the imprint now. Had a really strong Super Bowl. So I think that's now maybe what kept teams a little bit enamored. And this is almost like a one year proof of deal for him. But my question is, what are the Saints going to do? Because


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[Assistant] How they, you know, maneuver around that lineup and also Peyton Turner was a guy they took in the first round a few years ago before that. So you talk about a lot of high draft picks on that defensive line for the Saints and then Carl Grandison who has been a consummate pro just has developed and got better, better every year, a homegrown guy that they, you know, gave a deal to and he was deserving of it.


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[Assistant] Alright, so this was my thing, but not to cut you off, like we were talking about this on Spotlight last week and I gave them, uh, we were doing winners and losers from free agency. I had the Saints as losers, losers and people were, you know, like a little pickled by that, but I'm like,


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[Assistant] There's no way you can look at the rest of the division and see what the Atlanta Falcons did, the Tampa Bay Bucks did, and stay Pat. Now again, I get it, you're in cat purgatory, but you're in that every year because you keep kicking the can down the road with some of these bad contracts.


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[Assistant] Is that what your legacy is going to be with the New Orleans Saves? Like if your ownership there, are you comfortable being in that?


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[Assistant] Yes. We're gonna have to win eight or nine games. We're in a not so good division. Maybe we could sneak in and win a division at nine games. No, the Tampa Bay Bucks got significantly better, right? The Atlanta Falcons got significantly way better.


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[Assistant] Yeah, if you look at Carolina, even technically got better, even though they lost Brian Burns, but they've solidified the interior of that offensive line traded for Deontay Johnson. Like they're making moves and yet you're staying pet.


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[Assistant] And you're kicking the can down the road and you're going to win with another eight or nine games. Like this is my thing with the Saints. That's why I had them losers in free agency because you can't stay Pat and think you're going to change, right? That's, that's literally the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over and over again. It's going to change. Exactly. Right.


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[Assistant] If it's already leaked, you might as well put out a more clear cut version of what you were trying to do marketing wise. Put that out there. So fans are just looking at this picture, which looks like he's at the bottom of a stadium, a high school stadium at that or maybe an old baseball field, right? Uh, the, the fellow that got leaked, but.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I like this new uniform by the Texas. I mean, I wasn't mad at their old uniforms. I thought they were pretty good, but it's the simple details like.


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[Assistant] You see Nico Collins uniform, the horns, right? People probably don't even notice that. That's actually two horns coming in. That's the Texan horns. And then the curvature of like the three on Tankdale. It's like the supple thing that make the uniform clean. Now, not one of the best uniforms, but a clean uniform.


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[Assistant] dark blue with the cliques too that make it seem like everything is one color and you can't even tell that you got socks on. It's all one color. So like there's a lot you can do with that uniform. Like I said, the supple things that make this uniform clean and for players, you can really accessorize with this type of uniform.


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[Assistant] EK, to be honest with you, man, with free agency and draft, I haven't had a second to even look at a bracket. Like I'm gonna have to go home and just put it together real quick before they actually start.


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[Assistant] I want to sprinkle a little something on Iowa State. I think Iowa State, even though they're still a number two seed, which is ranked really high, a lot of people thought they could be a one. I think this could be an Iowa State year.


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[Assistant] I was right around there. I gave him a B minus because the loss is up there. You talked about the offensive line losing. Not only your starting right tackle, but your left guard as well.


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[Assistant] You look at Patrick Queen and what he's meant to that team. Him and Roquan Smith, probably the best linebacker duo in all of football. And then you add losing your defensive coordinator, Mike McDonald, but a name that isn't up there.


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[Assistant] But they get those compensatory picks back, right? And then they find another Zeno stone and they find another Patrick Queen. So if you look at who's going to be playing next to Roquan Smith is either going to be Malik Harris.


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[Assistant] Who, uh, resigned with them or Trenton Simpson, who they took in the draft last year. So what they do, they just do a really good job of developing. And then you look at the tackle position. It's like Daniel file Lele a few years ago. I think they're hoping that he can take that step and be that right tackle for them as well. So I just gave them a be modest because they lost so many pieces.


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[Assistant] On defense, and then like you talked about, half of their offensive line won't be there. So it's all about continuity. Now you can build that up in the off season, but they haven't made any moves to shore up that offensive line or really bring in the defensive help in besides the guys that they groom. But that's who the Ravens are, right? They're going to build through the draft and teams that have success, they can do that. So I gave them a B minus.


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[Assistant] I thought that Jerry Judy Trey get him for two late round draft picks. Agata has a ton of potential that went in the first round. You're hoping now with Kevin Stefanski and getting a fresh start, we can finally realize that potential with the Cleveland Browns. And then a name that's not up there as well, Jordan Hicks, I thought was an underrated signing at linebacker. They did lose Anthony Walker.


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[Assistant] Jordan Hicks has played, you know, at a high level and they're getting Zedarius Smith back. A very versatile guy that could play inside and outside. That was a big get back for the Cleveland Browns. I gave them a B plus.


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[Assistant] We'll get to the quarterback room in a little bit because that's a discussion on its own, but getting, uhm, Patrick Queen, right?


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[Assistant] Taking away a strength from the Ravens and getting stronger on your side of the.


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[Assistant] You know, the defense makes a lot of sense for the Pittsburgh Steelers also like what they did. If not, I'm not mistaken. I think they signed to Sean Elliott at safety to, um, side adding him with Mika Fitzpatrick makes a nice tandem at the safety position. Deontay Johnson. We know there was a lot of ups and downs there, but getting, um,


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[Assistant] That's a fair alliteration. Come on. I mean, that was, that was big because that was a weakness for them opposite of Joey Porter Jr. Now again, they still might attack the corner position in the draft, but now you got Dante Jackson who can play in the inside and the outside. So now even if you do draft the guy, you can slide Dante Jackson inside at the slot position where he's very comfortable as well. So I gave them a B and then when you add, bring it in.


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[Assistant] Kenny Pickett last year, there's a unwritten rule, and I think it's the dumbest rule ever, that you can't lose your job to injury, right? Right. Uh, but that's the case, we never have the greatest player of all time in Tom Brady. Right, except you. So that's a ridiculous rule that I've ever heard. Like, you absolutely can lose your job to injury, right? Your best ability is availability. You gotta be on the field.


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[Assistant] Supposedly there were rumors that Kenny Pickett was upset once he was healthy enough that he wasn't put back in the starting lineup. Not only did Mitchell Trubisky take snaps, but Mason Rudolph led this team to the playoffs, so there was no way they were going back to Kenny Pickett, and then they brought up the idea of bringing in Russell Wilson, and supposedly he wasn't receptive to it, which


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[Assistant] Because this is the NFL. You gotta compete to play and compete to stay. Like I don't know what this attitude is of these kids like feeling a certain way. Like you're getting paid for this job.


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[Assistant] The NFL don't owe you anything, right? Go out there and compete. Even if they say Russ is going to start off as a starter. Will you go prove the Steelers right for taking you in the first round? I could not understand that. I think this is a message just to test.


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[Assistant] Justin field psyche, kind of like they did with Kenny Pickett, right? They're always evaluating you, Brenton. There's always times where coaches put out little messages just to get it back to the team.


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[Assistant] And you're comfortable going out there with Russell Wilson as a starter from day one. I said it right after the Kenny Pickett trade. I was like, if I'm the Steelers, I'm calling the Chicago Bears right now because I'm not comfortable with Russell Wilson being our only like.


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[Assistant] You know what Justin feels is done. We've seen the progression over the last few years. Everybody wants to know, can he really develop inside the pocket? That's been his biggest question. We know how electrifying he is. Well, with this office, the office, like you said, it's going to be based off of running the football. So you think it plays into what both of these guys do well. The only thing is.


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[Assistant] I believe this will be a competition. I'm not saying Russell, Russell Wilson doesn't start the season, but I can see a scenario if he comes out the gate slow that they turn because they've done it already, right? They did it with Kenny Pickett. They did it with Mr. Biscay. Like they will turn to the next guy. I thought this was a home run trade.


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[Assistant] I gave them a B for it because we don't know how the quarterback room is going to technically work out and there's still a lot of holes.


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[Assistant] On this team, when you look at, they're still going to need probably another pass catcher and probably even another corner as well. And they're getting a little older on the defensive line. So I would have liked to see them sign somebody a little bit younger on the defensive side, but they could address that in a draft. They do just like the Ravens in regards to developing guys and then getting them paid or letting them leave and getting compensatory picks back.


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[Assistant] Man, I literally put this down, you saw it Brent, I said B+, but if they sign Trent Williams, I mean Trent Brown, it goes to an A and that's exactly what happened today right before we got on air. So when you look at this Bengals team, I was worried that maybe they had already missed their mark, right? Because once you pay the quarterback,


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[Assistant] In their right mind, right? And when they're locked in two of the better tackles in football and I actually just interviewed Trump Brown the other day, you know, going into free agency.


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[Assistant] And his thing was like he doesn't worry about all the accolades and people will say like he shows up when he wants to and he's had injuries. But when you ask defense events in the league, who's one of the hardest guys to go against without a doubt. It's Trent Brown. It's not even a close for gotta be that size and be that nimble that he is and with the arm lift that he plays with. I mean.


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[Assistant] When he's locked in, he's one of the, I would say he's a top five offensive tackle in the league, right? And then Orlando Brown, you know, with the pedigree he has coming from not only the Ravens, but the Kansas City Chiefs as well. So now you got two book end tackles as well. You worried about, you know, your quarterback, Joe Burrow getting banged up. You should be solidified at that tackle position.


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[Assistant] For sure. Then you talked about a Sheldon Rankin's a sneaky good pick. He's just been a really good D tackle his whole career doesn't get a lot of the accolades that some of the other D tackles get.


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[Assistant] And like you said, DJ Reader losing him hurts, but Sheldon Rakins and BJ Hill make a really good tandem at the tackle. I talked about Geno's phone and my affinity for him, but what's not out there is Von Bell is going back.


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[Assistant] He was just like Mike Hilton. He was a really good slot corner. They just thought they were going to move him to safety and thought it was going to work out. And I just for the life of me didn't understand why they had that try to that train of thought.


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[Assistant] Be interesting to see, do they move him back to corner? Maybe he plays more in those dime packages and gets, they get him out of the safety position because Gino Stone and Vaughn Bell will be a nice pairing. I'm like you, I gave them an A. T Higgins coming back on a franchise tag, especially with how strong the draft is. I don't think a lot of teams are willing to give up that much draft capital for a receiver right now.


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[Assistant] We have, get your phone out, CBS Sports app, see the QR code, join the group.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I'm a little bit higher than you. I gave them my actual A. When you look at what they've done, right, you talked about losing Jonathan Grenard, who's a young, ascending player, but now you get to Neil Hunter, a guy.


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[Assistant] I think you even get a little bit better at the linebacker position there. Name that's not up there. Danico Autry, to me, has been the most underrated player, Brinson, in the NFL for the last decade. A guy that is versatile, that can play inside and outside. So they've literally revamped their D-line, even though their D-line was actually pretty good because they lose Sheldon Reagan, they lose Jonathan Grenard.


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[Assistant] But I think they get a little bit better on defensive line, which when you look at the Miko Ryans, right, coming from San Francisco, that's what he wants. He wants at least four to six Russers that can constantly create havoc in the backfield and get after the quarterback. So I love right there and a sneaky good pick.


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[Assistant] Pick up Jeff Akuda, a guy that can slide into the slot for them. You know, they'll probably get another corner still because it looks like Stephen Nelson will most likely leave a free agency. But I like them picking up Jeff Akuda, a former first round pick. I can play that slot corner position. They'll get another guy on the outside and then you also got Stingley on one side as well. So.


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[Assistant] Uh, this was a team that exceeded all expectations last year. You still got a quarterback on his rookie deal only in the second year. Dalton Schultz coming back was massive. Had a real rapport with him as well. I love what they did. I gave them an A.


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[Assistant] Well, I'll push back on that. I love what the Jaguars did this all season. When you look at Calvin Ridley, right, you have to, there's a lot of things that


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[Assistant] You have to equate to him potentially not signing back with the Jaguars. One is age.


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[Assistant] He's 29 years old. He wasn't like a lot of guys that hit for agency at 24, 25 years old. He came into the league already old and then essentially almost two years of playing time with the Atlanta Falcons before he signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars. And then when Kristen Kurt got hurt last year,


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[Assistant] That's when you expect the Calvin Ridley to step up and be the guy. And it just didn't happen. It was more Evan Ingram stepping up than actually Calvin Ridley though. There was rumors that he had issues learning the playbook. He also had some concentration drops last year when you look at what they were going to have to pay him compared to what you're paying Gabe Davis.


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[Assistant] I think it's a home run, like, and I know people say Gabe Davis is hit or miss, but then when you look at it, right, there's a reason why.


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[Assistant] There's an issue between Stefan Diggs and Josh Allen, right? When you look at the target share compared to Gabe Davis and Stefan Diggs, where there was games where Gabe Davis didn't even get a target in the game, or he may have had two targets while Diggs was getting 14.


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[Assistant] Vividly, I remember a couple games last year. The Eagles games come into mind when Gabe Davis was right open and Josh Allen missed them and they were arguing on the sideline. There was another game after that.


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[Assistant] He was the number two receiver, a fourth round pick, and they named him captain. That kind of lets you know what his teammates...


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[Assistant] And being with D'Amico Rhymes makes too much sense, but him going to Jacksonville, they needed a guy that could rush the pocket from inside, right? To pair with a, you know, uh, Trayvon Walker and also Josh Allen. So that made a lot of sense. Then they kind of shored up the interior that offered the line bringing over Mitch Morris, who's been a consummate pro.


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[Assistant] Really short of the interior that office a lot and then there's Williams I thought played really well and I struggled down the back end of the season. They cut him and they bring in Ronald Darbley who had a hell of a year for the Ravens when nobody expected him to start last year for the Ravens. He played really well. So getting him for like five million a year was a big, uh, a big get for the Jacksonville Jaguars. So I like what they did.


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[Assistant] To me, like when we talked about the Sean Watson, this Jaguars team comes down to Trevor Lawrence. Like, is he gonna take that step as the golden child as everybody has called him? Like, will he be that guy that everybody expects him to be?


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[Assistant] Only time will tell, but I know this for sure, Brenton. They've given, they've taken away every excuse he has not to have success with the Jacksonville Jaguars.


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[Assistant] And remember, everybody kind of scoffed at that Christian Kirkdale, but when Kirk got hurt, that offense plummeted downhill. That lets you know how important he is to that offense.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I gave them a C because they added or re-signed a lot of their own homegrown talent, which makes a lot of sense. Grover Stewart, Michael Pittman Jr., Zaire Franklin, all were guys that grew up.


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[Assistant] You know what I'm saying? So like they were right there. They were at the precipice and didn't get in when nobody gave them a chance. Again, coaching matters, right? What, uh, Coach Steichen has done there has been night and day from what they were.


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[Assistant] Who's starting and who isn't? And they paid both of them great money. So it's just like, it was a weird signing to me. They lost Zach Moss, but obviously with Jonathan Taylor there, then that shouldn't be a big major loss, right? Gardner Minshew leaving, getting Joe Flacco. To me, that's kind of like a,