Episode #32: We React to ESPN’s Quarter Century NFL Team, And Call Out the Biggest Snubs

[Music]

Welcome back, everybody, to the Sport Shots Pod! I am sitting here with my big glass, well, my big mug full of beer that I got for Father’s Day.

And I thought you were about to go in a totally different direction with that.

Yeah, I kind of fumbled that.

Well, yeah, ’cause it sounded like you wanted to, you know, say, you know how we usually introduce ourselves in the party chat, but maybe that’s a little bit…

Oh yeah, yeah. Maybe that’s a little bit PG slash rated R, which is not really a problem, but…

Well, it’s rated R, but we’re being positive about it.

Yeah.

You know, it’s compliments to each other, but then we could end up on a list, you know, for how we compliment each other.

Well, mine isn’t compliments; it’s bringing out the BS. And I would have a lot of ammunition right now.

Yeah, yeah, it’s true.

But Kyle, what’s in your cup?

What we got? What we got? Oh, whoa!

Add tequila.

Yes, sir!

T a guave! I hope that bottle slam was emphatic to prove a point.

Uh, pro—I mean…

That’s just, well, that…

Uh, you know what? No, we’re not going to do it over. I’m going to take these two recordings and just mash them together.

Alright, we’re not doing this over.

Make sure you don’t include this part. So, what the hell happened? Did you hit X?

No, so I have—my mouse has a forward and back button on the side, and I actually clicked the back button, so it goes back to what the previous page was, and the previous page was not the recording. That feature actually helps sometimes, but…

It does, it does. But accidents happen.

So, no, that’s what happened. You’re in control. You’re in control of 100% of your outcome.

Yeah, exactly.

Just for editing purposes, it is 240 exactly on OBS.

Alright, cool. But alright, you shared your beer mug. You got your German-style, Boston-style, heavy glass beer-slammin’/mad-at-the-Red-Sox type of beer mug.

Never killed no fox. I once had dreadlocks.

Alright, I’ll stop writing.

Okay, I’ll stop writing.

Yeah, but let’s go ahead and just jump right in to some sports. Unless you want to continue on small talk. I mean, we could use sports as a distraction. You know, we’ve kind of had a [__] up past few days.

Of course.

Especially locally here in Minnesota. So, yeah, we can jump right in.

Oh yeah, no, yeah, I get you. I’m having a—I mean, the court is nowhere near as bad as yours, right? But having to plan a one-year-old’s birthday party—my boy, a few days from today will be one. But my gift arrived today.

Maybe next weekend?

Yep, yep.

Good things come in small packages, Kyle.

Good things.

Yes, it did, because that was very underwhelming when I saw that. I actually thought it was going to be something, but it better be the most fun that he has. So, then that would be true: good things still come in small packages.

Yep, yep.

So, but yeah, let’s go ahead and get into ESPN. As of today, June 18th, they just released—

Don’t give them credit! Say the four-letter network!

ESPN’s NFL [__]. They released a quarter-century team, meaning the best players from 2000 to 2005, and they released a 53-man roster right now. I don’t think they listed who’s starting, but I mean, whoever you can list first is probably the starting, right? So, this—who was even written by? ‘Cause I want to roast him.

Aaron Shatz.

Well, Aaron, I tell you what, you shited all over this 53-man roster.

Hey, we’re lower on the totem pole to get sued. Watch it!

Yeah, exactly. Know what? Sue us for all the pennies we got!

Alright, you’re right. First thing is, our sports—our sports podcast ends.

Hey, Donald Trump only got a dollar when he tried to sue the Bills or the NFL for trying to buy the Bills. Only got a dollar out of it.

Well, yeah.

So, I’m going to go ahead and read you off the list, starting with offense first. Now, let’s get through the offense first, and then let’s talk about our opinions on this. Right? So, quarterbacks—three quarterbacks on the roster: Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Patrick Mahomes.

Okay.

Three running backs on this roster: Priest Holmes, Christian McCaffrey, Derrick Henry. One fullback: Kyle. Six receivers: Randy Moss, Calvin Johnson, Julio Jones, Terrell Owens, Marvin Harrison Sr., Justin Jefferson. Three tight ends: Gronkowski, Travis Kelce, and Tony Gonzalez. Left tackle: Joe Thomas, Trent Williams. Left guard: Alan Fka, Steve Hutchinson. Center: only one, Jason Kelce. Two right guards: Zack Martin, Marshall Yanda. And finishing off at right tackle, we got Lane Johnson and Willie Anderson.

Now, Kyle, you were about to say something about QBs. You were just about to jump right to it. What were you so eager to say?

Uh, nothing really on the QBs.

Well, yeah, actually take Mahomes. I’m sorry, swap Mahomes with—

No, ’cause he has—I know. That’s why I had that same thought. But it’s like…

He’s proven over Breeze.

If we’re talking—if we’re talking century.

Listen, Breeze is like a great stat guy, right? A great…

And that’s what they’re basing these metrics off of.

Probably. He probably has more 5,000 passing yard seasons than all these guys combined, because you’re basically punishing him for playing in the same era as Brady and Manny? Yes, yes, yes. He is being punished. And you know he didn’t play in the same conference as them. He did one year, right? When Brady switched to, uh, the NFC, and he did beat Breeze that year. But, um, let’s do an honorable mention at four, right? So we could throw… he’s on their, he’s on their practice squad, their quote-unquote practice squad, which is over now. Would you put him or Rodgers? Let’s say, like, you have to choose one.

Yeah, you have to choose one. Like, we’re bringing four QBs out. Let’s say we’re this modern offense; we don’t use fullbacks. Right? Take out Kyle Yuszczyk. Who you putting in, Breeze or Rodgers? Both have one Super Bowl; uh, Rodgers has more MVPs.

I’ll still stick with Breeze because I… I would stick with Breeze. I like Breeze a lot better, right? Personally, on and off the field. Aaron Rodgers is more talented; I think that’s fair to say, right? By far.

Right? I keep Rodgers up there just because he killed the Cowboys a lot for us. So, in that… His sole mission was to eliminate the Cowboys in the playoffs.

Yes, so… but taking everything else into consideration, Breeze all around had, pound-for-pound, better seasons than Rodgers if you were to put them side by side with each other.

Yeah, for sure, I agree. Um, Breeze never played with… I mean, how many Hall of Famers can we say Breeze played with? Jimmy Graham is not a Hall of Famer. Is Marques Colston a Hall of Famer? I don’t think so. You know, how many legit Hall of Famers did he have? Robert Meachem? Nope.

Uh, exactly. What other… what others did he have?

Play with Bush for a little bit. Bush might be a Hall of Famer. No, he’s a College Hall of Famer but not an NFL one. Uh, but yeah, Aaron Rodgers… now Aaron Rodgers probably only played with one, right? Davante Adams might end up going in the Hall if he keeps it up a few more years. You know, but I could name more of Rodgers’ targets than…

Very good… not Hall of Fame?

Yeah. Uh, Jordy Nelson, below Adams, right? Greg Jennings? Did he have a solid tight end there in Jermichael Finley? He’s pretty good.

But yeah, I mean, Rodgers… I mean, he was also the… I mean, both… I was about to say he’s the benefit of winning the weak division. Well, so was Breeze during that time, but Breeze also had Matt Ryan to, uh, battle against for a lot of years. You know, Rodgers didn’t really have to worry about…

No, I can’t… Who do you have to worry about? Uh, what’s that? What’s that? Jay Cutler?

Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, look, look, one year they did meet, and Stafford… late, but he did meet Jay Cutler in the NFC title game one time. So, there is that.

So… yeah, I still don’t know how the… I don’t even know how the Bears got there. I don’t even know. I was watching NFL Network, and they were doing their, like, that’s not cold takes but like long shots, right? Michael Irvin said that Jay Cutler could be an MVP, and it was like after that, it was like one of his worst years of his career.

That had to have been one of his worst takes also, probably. But yeah, anyway, moving on to running backs…

Also, well, okay. Yeah, running backs. I’m happy to see Priest Holmes on that list because he was my favorite running back when I first started watching the NFL, uh, between him and Dante Hall. Those were some of my favorite players watching when I first…

Hall was a receiver, right, for the Chiefs?

He was, yeah. Receiver, but most of his highlights came from kick returning.

Yeah.

Um, that one play where he just juked out like four or five dudes in that one motion and made them tackle each other…

Yeah, I think it was against the Broncos in that highlight. I still randomly go back to watch that. Um, I don’t really have a problem with the running backs, really.

I started to question McCaffrey because I started to question it. But then I’m like, okay, if you’re going… if we really are crunching down the numbers, he is the best, the best receiving back, pure receiving back that we’ve seen. Because I was… because the reason why I questioned is that we’re having these guys on the list and we’re leaving out people like Tomlinson, who I watched growing up. You know, and like he, he set the standard for running backs for me.

I would put two running backs over Priest Holmes, but I’ll…

Yeah, same, same. I mean, if I can just off of my head, if I could just think of, um, you know a running back that we can replace with Priest Holmes? I mean, I guess you’ll have to throw in Shaun Alexander…

Yeah, what you said, LT, you know.

L… Yeah, I already said, yeah, him.

And then I don’t know why I want to throw his name out because of… because this list that ESPN… I’m sorry, the four-letter network put out was… I already said it.

I know.

Um, they’re only focusing on post-2000, which one, we’re getting older. Yes. Two, if we are focusing just on that one, I’m also shocked that Peterson didn’t get on here. They left him off as an honorable mention, which is another reason why…

Yeah, I have a handful of running backs that I would put over Holmes.

Now, Priest Holmes to me, I’ll just jump in right here. He’s more of a nostalgia pick in my mind. That’s why I said I was happy. That doesn’t mean that it was the right pick. Yeah. Because I enjoyed watching him, you know, when I first got in. But a running back that I just think is under the radar that I want to just throw in there just ’cause Thomas Jones. If you remember him. Curtis—Curtis Martin? Yeah, that’s a curveball. Yeah, Curtis Martin is another one. And he’s actually in the Hall of Fame. Um, what’s another guy that [__]? I guess you could just throw him in because if we’re just talking, this is a nostalgia pick, just because I was just watching some film on him the other day. [__] Brandon Jacobs was a unit. Oh my gosh, that man was huge! He was like 6’4, 240! He was there carrying memory. Yes, he was! He really was. Um, what’s some other running backs we could throw in there? I mean, they’re considering post-2000, so I don’t know how much—I mean, a lot of these other guys on the list are going to have careers longer in that century. Like Edgerrin James, that’s another one. Um, Marshall Faulk, he had a good 2000, enough time. Yeah, I mean, the greatest, the greatest show on turf spilled into the early part of the 2000s. Um, you know what? You know who else to put up there? Frank Gore. Who, Frank Gore? Longevity, right there! Third most rushing yards. Fifth. Third? Okay. Yeah, third. I thought he was like fourth. Third. Yeah. Um, Fred Taylor is another guy I think of when we’re talking about post-2000. So we got, real quick, we got Emmitt Smith, 18,355; Ricky Williams; Walter Payton, 16,726; and then Frank Gore with 16,000 exactly, you’re rushing yards from—that’s how you know. 2020, which tells me that that guy that you named that made this list is under the age of 28. No dude, this guy’s old. This guy’s older than us. He might be older than us combined. He looks kind—let me see. Let me see! Give me a second; let me do some—this guy who wrote it, one of the guys has 20 years of experience writing in the NFL. So which means he saw all of Frank Gore’s career minimum, you know? Yeah. Know what? I’ll take all three of these guys out. Give me LT, give me AP, and give me Frank—you know, LT? Yeah, because I paused really hard for a long time when I saw McCaffrey on his list. I mean, Derek Henry, I understand, but it’s like—I’ll keep Henry! I’ll keep—I’ll—you know, it is. But I’ll still keep—I’ll still keep Henry on there because when it’s said and done, he will be in the Hall of Fame. Oh! And pound for pound—pound for pound, he is one of the—I think he’ll go down as the scariest running back ever. Over? Um, because I’m—and what’s the guy for the Chiefs? Aiyuk? Christian Aiyuk? Remember that little bit where Steve popped him? Like one of the biggest running backs. Yeah. But yeah, I think he’ll go down as the scariest running back to ever do. Um, and I’m also considering his college career too when I’m putting Henry in the Hall of Fame. The dude is an [__] animal. Might as well go all the way back to high school. You know, man, I think he—like, 50 times a game, his coach made him do it! Yeah, I saw that! I saw those numbers from his high school. That’s crazy! You know, another guy that we can throw in for honorable mention? He probably won’t have the numbers to back it up, but he’ll—because it came in bursts, but we love going back watching him run the ball. [__] Mike Alstott, and we talked about him on here before—the A-train! A-train! Like, dude, he could—we could have thrown him on here. [__] Eddie George—that’s what I was getting ready to say earlier! But see, I don’t know how much of the 2000s that he was in that they would have considered, so that’s why I just kind of went away from him. But another dude that I’m thinking of in my head? Warrick Dunn. Okay, do you remember him? Yeah, I do. That—’cause he was—’cause he played after the A-train, and then he went over with Mike Vick? Yeah, like Priest Holmes, like them putting Priest Holmes is like someone who’s a little bit older than us putting like CJ2K, right? It’s just like a nostalgia thing! Yeah, and you know, when you think about it, that was—is it fair to—is it fair or unfair to say one-hit wonder, CJ2K? No, it’s unfair because Peyton Hillis was a one-hit wonder. Okay, yeah, that is unfair. It’s very unfair. I—I—Peyton is like the bar for like one-hit wonder. Hey, that one-hit wonder landed him on—he’s still alive, right? I know he had that like freak incident where he went to go try to save his kids from drowning, and like he almost drowned. He had like a really— I thought that was another athlete! That was— That was— that was Pay—he went to go save his kids! He’s still alive! We’re good! He’s alive! He’s still alive! Yeah, he’s still alive! He’s still alive! We’re all good! I was about to say, we’re not about to do dead or alive on this podcast. Nope. Yeah. Yeah, but yeah, no, I mean, you had a lot. Yeah, same!

Because there was an athlete that did die for trying to save his kids in a rip current. I can’t remember who it was, but it did happen recently. I know Pinahitus almost died from doing that. Like, he did save his kids. Maybe it was an almost death. Lost his life. No, but I know it happened. I know it happened, though, but I don’t want to think about death like that right now.

So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, but, um, I mean, we have a lot to say about the running backs, right? I think we could mix and match a lot of our…

Yeah. Yeah. We spent, we spent about a good 10 minutes on just the running backs. All right, moving on to the receivers. My biggest reaction, we put on—whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Don’t disrespect the fullback like that, man. Come on. We got the receivers, Vonte, the receivers. You know what? We’ll take out Kyle Cheek, put Vonte Leech. I loved using Vonte Leech in Madden. Monte Lee was…

I don’t have a problem. I don’t have a problem with you because of his, you know, one thing. One thing, his route running as a fullback. He always hits the blocks. He’s that guy. He’s that. He’s that gadget dude that you want that does all the dirty work.

Yeah, yeah, I agree. But yeah, that’s all, that’s all we’ll mention.

Yeah, yeah, because fullbacks have faded out anyway. Um, we’re putting Justin Jefferson on there already, out of all the receivers. We’re leaving out, we’re leaving out Andre. Okay, we’re leaving out Colston. We’re leaving, we’re leaving out Tory Holt.

That’s the one guy that I would automatically take out Jefferson and put Tory Holt. We’re leaving, we’re leaving out Chad Johnson. We’re leaving out, um, we’re leaving out Brandon Marshall. We’re leaving out Rod. We’re leaving out Rod Smith. We’re leaving out Miles Austin. Uh, yeah, leave him out. Leave him out of here.

We’re leaving out Jordy Nelson. We’re leaving out Greg Jennings. We’re leaving out… Gosh, I did not see Larry Fitzgerald on this list. Oh my goodness. You’re right. Get him out. Jesus Christ. He is royalty.

Yeah, dude. No, man, I got a problem with this. All right? I mean look at, look at, I’m telling my case right there. I’m going to tell you Fitz’s stats. Ready? He has more tackles than drops. Leave it at that. Dude, 117,000 receiving yards. We’re putting Justin Jefferson, who just got drafted in 2020. We’re putting him on this list already? No disrespect to the dude. He’s on, he’s on the fast track, but he just landed his first contract recently, and we’re already putting him on here out of all the other receivers that I named and didn’t name yet. Agreed?

You could have put both Harrison and Reggie Wayne on here. Yeah. No. Yeah, I mean, Jefferson, again, is like a recency bias pick, honestly, if you ask me.

That’s very recency bias. I would take out, um, you could take out a couple on there. Well, actually, no. I mean, I honestly think the next one that might go is like Julio. Call me crazy, but…

Yeah, call me crazy too. You know, I think I would take out Julio for Tory Holt. And, you know, I’m going to compare Marvin Harrison’s 2000 career to Tory Holt’s 2000 career. When I first really wanted to start playing football and I thought that my dumb ass could be a receiver, I wanted to be like Tory Holt.

Yeah, like he was the standard for me when I first started. Between him, Andre… um, sh—give me some others in that area. Well, Harrison. Harrison. Um, Andre Reed was like ’80s, ’90s.

That was before. He was more ’90s. He was pure. Um, let’s see… Still in my lifetime, but not when I’m, not in my viewing. But I think the receiver I remember the most in the early 2000s was T.O. Like, that’s the one receiver that I just, like, you know, like I, I liked T.O. when he was with the Eagles. If he was with Dallas, like, I had fun watching T.O. But yeah, I would take out…

I had fun playing with him in Madden when he got to, when he got to the Eagles. Oh [__] I bet. But personally, I would take out Harrison and Jefferson, and then replace him with Tory Holt.

And you take out Harrison?

I would take out Marvin Harrison. I would replace him with Tory… Wow. And Fitz?

No, I would take out Harrison. I don’t want to do Julio like that, but all right. Between…

I mean, I would… I mean, I would. Between Julio…

Uh-huh.

Okay, no. Answer this. Answer this for me. Between… Can we just say Randy Moss and Calvin Johnson? Locks, like those are guaranteed.

That’s right. Okay, so I’m about to call some [__].

Oh my God. Tell me which one, which one do you sacrifice? Julio or Randy?

Oh, Julio. I want Randy.

Okay. Give me Randy Moss and Calvin Johnson are locks for this century.

All right. No, I’m not going to argue. I don’t care even if Jerry Rice came back, I’m not going to argue that.

Okay, no, no, no. That’s fair. That’s fair. That’s fair. ‘Cause I was leaning like Julio is the, the wildest wild card to drop off of here.

He is. He, the thing with Julio, Julio could have been so much better. Calvin is a lot simply because he had to sacrifice his body for that garbage ass franchise and only played what? Nine years? Eight years? Pulled a, pulled a Barry Sanders for the same…

He said, “I’m done.”

Keep Moss, keep Calvin, um, put in Fitz, put in Tory Holtz. Uh, you I would keep Marvin Harrison as a five, and then, uh, Torio has to be in there.” So I would take out Julio and Jefferson.

I got a problem with the tight ends. Why?

‘Cause I watched Antonio Gates growing up, okay? So that was my, arguably, number four. Right now, Kelsey is in there for longevity and stats, right? He has Super Bowls, right? Take him out. I don’t need this list being infiltrated with [__] Swifties. Take them out.

Listen, I want to agree with you, right? But I’m trying not to be biased. But Kelsey is the most boring top five tight end for sure. Like, he’s considered, right, one of the best tight ends, but he’s the most boring.

Gronk Gonzalez? I’m not, I’m not taking Gonzalez out. Gronk, I’m going respect. I’m going respect, Gronk. You got to respect the All-Pros, the Pro Bowls, the Super Bowls, the record-breaking seasons. I’m going respect it, I’m going respect it. I’ll be a dumbass, ’cause, and then longevity. I didn’t realize that he’s, you know, he’s been playing for that long.

Well, you know Brock missed like 32 games. He missed, and that, and that’s my knock on him, but he’s been in the league. He’s been in the league since 2010. Yeah, believe it or not, him and Kelsey are the exact same age. M, and Kelsey’s just catching up to Gronk and all these things.

But then it’s like, if you’re going to talk longevity, then you have to give it to Kelsey because who played more games.

Yeah. Yeah. No, no, I get that, right? There’s a whole game. And don’t—and then, okay, for your four-time Super Bowl to three-time Big W. All right, one more.

All right, so if I had to drop one,

If you say the wrong guy, it’s biased because I actually like Gronk more. Like, I’m not—take the Swifty factor out of it. I would take Gronk over Kelsey 100%, 100%. I would, ten out of ten times. And I don’t think I—think it’s even a biased take.

It’s not a healthy Gronk; a healthy Kelsey, I’m taking Gronk. Because I need, I need my tight end to block and finish the block. And Gronk finishes the block. Gronk finishes everything. Everything. Gronk has that attitude. Gronk has that attitude where he’ll talk [__] and then he’ll fight you. Kelsey will just talk [__]. Kelsey looks like he makes business decisions.

He does. He does. And I haven’t seen one lean muscle on Kelsey since he’s been—and I haven’t seen Kelsey block dudes into the sideline like I constantly see with Gronk. Dude, that’s why Gronk was always hurt.

So, and that’s why it’s not—and that’s why it’s not fair to look at stats alone for tight ends because you got to look at the overall picture of what they do.

Yes.

Like, how was, how was the run game with them in it versus without them? The Chiefs kind of have a hard time running the ball lately if we kind of, you know…

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know what they do. And that’s not to say that the tight end is the sole purpose of that, but just in general, you look at—you just look at what contributing factor there is with it.

Like Drew said, the greatest pass game help is a good run game. You know, you run to set up the pass; I’m a believer of that.

Yep. Play action. It’s a beautiful thing that no one does anymore. Now it’s just all our R, our POS’s. I mean, it’s simple, like logic. If you have an effective run game, you’re going to have those safeties creep up close, right?

Exactly. Now, the thing is, with me, Kelsey has 77 touchdowns, right? Awesome, congrats! Gronk has still 15 more touchdowns than him, and he hasn’t been playing for years.

That’s great. You know who else has a shitload more touchdowns than Kelsey?

No, who?

Antonio Gates.

Thank you.

Over 100 receivers. Can you also throw in the fact that Gronk came out of retirement and padded his stats, won a Super Bowl? Yeah, I mean, he had like a—was it maybe like a 500-600 yard—uh, the fact that he got up off his couch because he said, ‘I would rather retire than go to the [__] Lions [__] you, Patricia! I’m not going with you.’

So, you know, and then he out…

Yeah. He said, ‘If I’m not playing with Brady, I’m not playing with no one.’

Exactly. And then another honorable mention—another honorable mention that I’ll put is, uh, Dennis Clark.

Throw him in there.

Good one, D. You know what I’m saying? But I would switch out Gates for Kelsey. Just, I get it, Kelsey’s been playing. He’s got 12,000 receiving yards, 77 touchdowns, and three Super Bowls.

Watching the early years of the Texans and Peyton Manning and Dallas Clark tearing up the middle of the field because we don’t know how to stop—well, first of all, we can’t stop the run. You know that? I’ve seen that enough.

Yeah.

So I’ve seen enough of the Colts. I remember being so elated the first time the Texans beat the Colts on a December game back in, like, 2006, I believe. It was like a real big deal ’cause that’s how badly that their asses was constantly being handed to them.

Agreed. Okay, for time’s sake, we’re going to move on to the offensive line as a whole.

Now, do you have any disagreements with it? I have one right, and it’s for center. Now, Jason Kelce: great player, a lot of pro, a lot of all pros, which I highly value. All pros. Um, longevity, multiple Super Bowls. Um, actually one, right? I think just one Super Bowl. Um, but I would replace Kelce with Nick Mangold for the Jets. How I was thinking about him or Jeff Saturday.

Jeff Saturday for the Colts; Nick Mangold for the Jets. That’s who I would put in there, ’cause I remember even playing Madden Ultimate Team, and I was like, “Okay, my center when I have—when I grind enough, my center is going to be Jeff Saturday or Nick Mangold.” ‘Cause they were always the best center there during that time. Now, that’s crazy. They don’t have the all pros orders. Does Jeff Saturday have a Super Bowl? Did he—did he win with Manning, right?

Yes.

Okay, just making sure. So, but of course, they don’t match the all pros. But it’s like centers nowadays—who are you—who’s there to compare to the center if you just have one guy that’s good every year, you know? But that’s it. That’s my two cents. I agree with left tackle Joe Thomas, Trent Williams: awesome picks. Uh, Marshall Yanda, Zack Martin—I think those are the two best. Steve Hutchinson, awesome. Vikings, Seahawks, right. Lane Johnson: probably one of the most athletic tackles ever. And then he—he’s talking, he’s still playing right now, and he’s saying that he feels better than when he was 29. You know, he’s sounding like Brady. You know, the man might play till he’s 40, which he probably will.

But I’m reading, looking at Alan Faneca. The only one I would probably go in is, like—is did Orlando Pace was the majority of his career in the 2000s or the ’90s? Uh, I know he was drafted in the ’90s, so…

Yeah, I knew he was drafted in the ’90s, but I don’t know. But that’s one that I would kind of mention. I’m looking at this piece on Alan Faneca. He said he only missed one game from—’cause he was drafted in ’98 and last played in 2010. Only missed one game from 2000 on, and that was a rest in a meaningless Week 17 game. So, wow. Wow. That’s like—that’s comparable to Joe Thomas’s, like, 12,000 snaps, who also didn’t end up on his list.

Who?

Which Joe Thomas?

No, no, no. Yeah, they had him at the left—left.

Oh.

Right here, thank you.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah.

All right.

Him and Trent Williams.

Yeah.

But yeah, no, that’s—I mean, that’s—I don’t want—I mean, I can’t get into it too much, right? But that’s—I have that problem at the center position: Jeff Saturday or Nick Mangold. And maybe that’s just a nostalgia thing, right? But all right, let’s go to defense due to time constraints. Uh, we spent a lot of time on this. I didn’t even—I—I don’t know who is on defense, so this is going to be live reactions.

All right, cool. So I’ll go position by position for you, right?

I’m not even looking at the list.

Okay, well, here, let me—let’s do it like we did offense. I’ll go through the whole thing, and then we’ll talk about it. Right?

I am getting a lot of sun. Edge rushers: DeMarcus Ware, Jared Allen, Miles Garrett, Julius Peppers; three defensive tackles: Aaron Donald, Calais Campbell, Chris Jones; one nose tackle: Vince Wilfork; one versatile defensive lineman: it’s [ __ ], but whatever, J.J. Watt; five linebackers: Ray Lewis, Bobby Wagner, Brian Urlacher, Lavonte David, Luke Kuechly; five cornerbacks: Darrelle Revis, Champ Bailey, Ronde Barber, Richard Sherman, Patrick Peterson; four safeties: Ed Reed, Troy Polamalu, Brian Dawkins, and Earl Thomas.

Kyle, your instant reactions, please. You’re on me, sir.

Where’s the wife? Remy, where’s Jason Taylor?

Take Miles Garrett out.

Whoa, Miles Garrett?

Yeah, take him out. Um, you can keep—keep—where—

Agreed.

Oh, Allen is a [ __ ] lie. Yeah, he is.

That was my dude when I was watching. He—man, I can’t tell you. Jared Allen was one of my favorite players growing up. His retirement, um, was great. It was amazing. Golden—him riding off to the sunset—sunset, right off the sunset.

I wish—I wish—I wish I thoroughly enjoyed watching his technique, his positioning, everything that he did at the defensive end position. I loved watching him play. Jared Allen was the reason why I love the number 69. I love Jared Allen, 69.

I feel—I feel like a guy like him will purposely pick 69 as his number for sure. Uh, um, dude, yeah, take—I don’t have a problem with Julius Peppers on here. He—he could be a lock from—yeah, he—he could be a lock too.

Big Dy big.

Um… where’s Javon Kearse? m Titans. There you go. Eagles, yeah, that too, that too.

Where’s Javon Kearse? Where is he on here? Um, you know, I—I thought they were going to go like a recent bias and put, like, T.J. Watt on here.

Honestly.

Well, he’s on honorable mention.

That’s—and that’s a problem. Also, him—him and Strahan.

[Applause]

They got Strahan honorable mention. That’s crazy. Two-time Super Bowl for Miles Garrett? Nah, man, that ain’t right.

I mean, there’s so—there’s so many directions you can go.

Where—hold on. ‘Cause he’s probably—to be fair, Strahan played half his career in the ’90s.

He—he won Super Bowls in the 2000s. But what happened? What happened? What do you see? Kyle’s visibly upset. He’s banging his desk. You can’t hear, but he’s banging his desk.

He’s flabbergasted.

I’m not banging over there cuz I’m on his granite account. Oh yes, I’m flabbergasted. And I’m not banging it because I’m on this concrete countertop, and I don’t need to [ __ ] up my wrist. Where the [ __ ] is James Harrison? I’m unlisted on the line. He is not listed on the linebackers. He’s not listed. He’s not listed on the edge. He’s nowhere on his list. Nowhere to be found. Where is he?

You know, you know when I thought that was funny? It was like they added one nose tackle, right? Vince? Vince for… Yeah, that’s fine. That’s fine. I mean, you could have put Nagata in there. You could have, but I would take out… I don’t think Kles Campbell was a DT. He was a big DE, in my opinion. He was. He was not a DT. I would put… you could… you could not… um, go… ah, who am I thinking of? Uh, BJ Raji? You could throw him in there. A BJ Raji for the Packers, dude. Huge, huge human being. Ah, what a [ __ ] thought. The thought… thought has lost my head. No worries. No worries. But the defense definitely could have been way better, like in all positions. I’m actually hurt I don’t see James Harrison anywhere on this list. I don’t have a problem with Louis. Of course, he’s a lock.

No. Uh, I don’t have a problem with Wagner. I don’t have a problem with Erlacer. I for [ __ ] sure don’t have a problem. No, no, I don’t. The thing is, I don’t have a problem with any of these guys on the list, though. That’s the problem. I don’t have a problem with any of them. I do.

Which one? I do. I would take out Wagner, and I would put Patrick W. He, he is the wild card tech out.

I would put Patrick Willis. Dude, that was my favorite linebacker watching before Luke Kikley. Patrick Willis had the power, the speed, and the knowledge. Your wife and all other Cowboy fans better give me respect for this. You could even probably put in Shaw Lee.

Oh, don’t tell me. Don’t tell me you can say Shaw Lee.

Are you going to say Shaw Lee?

Yeah, put him in. You can.

Wow. Wow. Now, he was a great cover linebacker. Amazing.

He was a great general back there. You know, he did get injured from time to time, though. Now, I can understand the pass. That’s why you leave him off. ‘Cause… Yeah, yeah, I can understand Patrick Willis being left off because of injury, but then why do you have Luke Keekley? Or a short career, right? Luke Keekly had a short career. Jonathan Vilma, Derek Brooks? You put Levante David over Derek Brooks?

You know what I’m saying? I would take Levante David. I’ll put Patrick Willis in a heartbeat.

Where’s AJ Hawk? Where’s Clay M? Where’s Clay Matthews? In Edge? You know, now I’m going to say this. I think Ardon is the best DT of all time, second.

I’ll say it to his face that he’s not.

Oh my gosh, Kyle. That’s the last words you’re going to say.

I’m just kidding.

Those are the last words you’re ever going to say.

The man’s working… still working out. He’s retired. He’s working out with active football players and burning them out. [ __ ] man, I can outb him. Oh [ __ ] man, [ __ ] 500, bro.

I’ll stop. I’ll stop before he challenges me.

Oh, he will. He don’t care who you are. He’ll challenge you right real quick.

Now, [ __ ] [ __ ] do it! Give us exposure. Now, okay, let’s, um, I know for real, right? Let’s uh, let’s go to quarterbacks. Rivas, agree. Bailey, agree. Ronda Barber? Sure. Patrick Peterson, agree. Now, Richard Sherman? I get it. Won a Super Bowl, was the Legion of Boom, Legion of Boom. Uh, but where the hell is Charles Woodson?

Guess it’s as good as mine. Or even Tai Law? What are these Hall of Fame quarterbacks? Of course, you, the Patriot fan, would throw that out there. This, and I have to… Tai Law, Hall of Famer. Peyton Manning feared Tai Law. Picked, picked Peyton Manning in the playoffs.

But like Charles Woodson, brother, would you put Sherman over Woodson? Nope. That’s why… that’s why we had this podcast, because we agree on [ __ ] like this. We’ll probably do better if we disagree with everything that we said.

But now, the safeties? I have two safeties that I wanted to see. I could tell three of them are a lock. Only one of them is the wild card, or…

I know, hold on. I know exactly who your locks are. Ed Reed, Palamalu, Brian.

Yes.

Those are your locks. Right now, I would replace Palamalu with two white safeties.

Can I guess one?

Can you? You could guess one. Go ahead.

Lynch?

No. No, Lynch played in the ’90s, didn’t he? I don’t think it spilled into the 2000s. He played from ’93 to ’07. So, yeah, half his career was ’90s, half his career was 2000s. But, uh, one guy who played similar to Lynch, white safeties… one is still playing, actually.

Okay, Harrison Smith?

Uh, Harrison Smith. Now the other white one is… he’s an old guy, but one is suitable with the Rams… when… when… when did he be? Eric Weddle?

Okay.

That man was a coverage lock.

Yeah, he was. He was career Weddle. Earl Thomas is not better than Weddle in almost any stat. I don’t know why you’re putting Thomas. I mean, I love Roth Thomas. Hook ’em, Longhorn, right? But when it comes to NFL and it comes to 2000 safeties, I had Harrison Smith as my strong safety and Eric Weddle as my free safety. I had a wide safety background. They had that middle locked up in Madden Ultimate.

Had it locked up like Massa. Now we could just talk special teams real quick just to wrap this segment up. Um, kicker Justin Tucker; punter S. Shane Leckler, 100% agree. Uh, return specialist Devin Hester, 100% agree. Specialist Matthew Slater, 100% agree. Long sniper Morgan Cox? Sorry, I don’t care. Uh, but I would take out the kicker Justin Tucker. Yes. Why would I freak on there? Can I cast? Can I? All right, let’s say it at the same time on the count of three. Okay, we’re going to say we’re thinking the same kicker. All right? Last name only. Last name only. One, two, three. Vinitary. Vinitary. Yes. Okay. Yes. All right. Yes. The most clutch kicker in history. Longevity. You want to know even in the guys, the other top contenders that they look have on this list underneath, underneath the freak, underneath Deshan, uh, white version of Deshun Watson. Okay, they mentioned, they mentioned Adam Venitary, Sebastian Janikowski, Phil.

They left off Jason Akers. Oh yeah, didn’t he hold the record at one point for longest field goal made? I believe so, like 63 yards, 64 yards. But yeah, I would put Vince for not only he did everything just Tucker did, but has the Super Bowls. Yes. Uh, Lawrence Tynes is another kicker that comes to my mind. Where is Mason Crosby? Mason Crosby, long time Green Bay Packer. Very clutch, very consistent. Agreed. They could have done better with the kickers, way better. So, I think, I think the fact that they went, they went with the freak on here. They went, they went with massage boy, like, and um, but I think the, I think the only position they got right is the quarterbacks. Yeah, really everything else. I, I guess, I guess the edge rushes too, if we’re talking defense where Jared Allen, Dre Peppers, Garrett, right now where they fumbled the bag on offense is running back personally.

Yeah, yeah, I would agree with that. And where they fumbled the bag at receiver, where they fumbled the bag on defense, I would say back safeties. Yeah, there a lot of players everywhere, really everywhere except corner. Yeah, cornerback. I, I like it. Cornerbacks, I, I didn’t have a problem with it. They could have put, yeah, like I said, they could have put Tai Law up in there, Charles Woodson, but I, yeah, or either, or, uh, or maybe even, well Rod Woodson was more, he was corner. Well, Rod played earlier. Ah, he’s 90s. He’s 90s. So, all right. Damn broke down the whole list. Uh, round speed round robin. Uh, who you got in the finals tonight? Does OKC close it out or Indy wins?

I called it a week and a half ago, OKC in six, and I’m sticking to it. I think they close it out. I think they go ahead and close it out. Uh, we didn’t even get into this. Uh, [__] Laker sold for 10 billion. What would you do if you acquired 10 billion off of a sale? What’s the first thing you’re doing? First thing I’m doing is buying, uh, 20 acres with a mansion. I’m buying a [__] country. [Laughter] Kyle is buying a third world country and becoming the dictator.

Well, hold on. Let me, let me, I promise this year I would be a better person. 10%, 10% is going to the church. So the church gets a billion, but I would still buy, you know, you want to know what’s funny? What? I will pro, whatever that 10% will probably still be more than what I spent on the country that I buy. Oh, for sure. For sure. For sure. Then I would put half a billion in, uh, in the stock market to then get set for life because of, um, dividends. So once I put that, I would get set for life for dividends, and then I would buy my favorite sports teams in the three big sports that I, I like watching, ’cause I should have enough money. I would buy the San Antonio Spurs, 4 billion. I’ll buy the New England Patriots for four billion, and then I’ll buy the Houston Astros for, I don’t know how much is the Astros, maybe two billion. I’ll be in a bidding war with a mattress m.

I don’t even, I don’t even think I would break a bill for the c. What country, okay, what continent would that be in? Would that be Central America or would that be in Africa for what I’m trying to think which country I would buy? I’ll be in Central America. Um, oh for sure, Central or South America, man. Yeah, because, yeah, ’cause then I can also, um, take over the drug trade too. So I can, I can have, I can have full GTA here. I, I, I will have full control over every revenue stream that comes into that country. I wouldn’t be a dictator; I will make sure the people, well I will be a dictator, but I will make sure that the people are living decently. Okay, I’m not going to be no Kim Jong-un, you know, I mean we got the one up here that that wants to be like him, you know, I’m, you know, I will make sure that there’s jobs, people can live comfortably, but

I would not call [__] with other nations. I wouldn’t; I would, but I wouldn’t. I would have to, other nations might cause [__] with you. The problem, see, that’s why you, that’s why you got to form alliances quick. So I will have to like really see who I can be shoulder-to-shoulder with at the same time because I can’t, at the same time I can’t, the, the problem is the nation that I will buy.

It would be kind of like the same scenario if Texas was to secede from the Union. Like, you know, the United States will see a sovereign nation full of brown people with oil, and they will invade within day one. So, that would be the issue that I would be contending with. But I would still have at least 7 billion in the bank to buy someone off influence. So, yeah, it’s u you know. We need to have an open discussion on what country I can buy with 10 billion and what friends that I can have. And one of those friends, hey look, as long as that nation has nuclear weapons, I’m good. So, you know, I don’t know what Jenny, I don’t know what Jenny Bus has plans for that 10 bill that she got off the Lakers, but if you are going to buy a country, you’re going to want the people in that country to be on your side. So make sure they good before you start [ __ ] [ __ ] up. That’s all I got to say to that. Yeah, no, yeah, that’s a good healthy way to spend 10 billion.

Now, uh, talking about free agency. So we’ve talked about, you know, Kevin Durant, you know, where is he going to be traded to? He wants to be traded. Giannis interested in Giannis being traded to. You are, you’re defy talking. I don’t know if you’re trying to say something, but, um, they’re fixing this [ __ ]. Uh, I still think the Spurs are going to get Giannis. So this is what happened. Speaking of that, there was a trade that was inquired about Giannis. The San Antonio Spurs wanted Giannis, and they made a trade. However, the Bucks wanted, demanded this: Stfan Castle, reigning rookie of the year, Deon Vaccell, three-point shooter, great defense, Jeremy Showan experiment, the 2025 second-round pick, the Hawks first-round pick controlled by the Spurs, and then five additional first-round picks. So, seven first-round picks, Stefon Castle, the rookie of the year, Devon Vel, and Jeremy Souljan. I wouldn’t give up the whole future for Giannis. I would not. Not especially not the reigning rookie of the year. [ __ ] you got Yiannis. That’s. Yeah, listen, we have Fox, Giannis, and WBY, and then that’s it. Ah no, I don’t think that that’s all we need. I think we need a decent bench if we ship everybody. And it’s like Giannis plays 30 minutes, Wy plays 30 minutes, Fox plays 36 minutes, was like, “Oh, is not playing 30 minutes a night.” Well, now he is. The first year he wasn’t. He was playing only 24 because of his ankle. But no, I wouldn’t accept that trade if I was GM. What the Spurs. What injury did he have, or was it his deep thrombone? What, that sounds like something un-basketball related. That sounds. First year? You talking about this year, or next, or? This year, this year he had blood clots. Blood clots, okay. In his shoulder.

That’s what happened. I don’t know, dude. We had the Patriots had Christian Bar who had blood clots too, and then sideline him for the whole season. And it’s a serious thing where if you don’t get it really checked or fixed that you’re done, like, forever. That’s what um, that’s what that is. But what the Bucks demanded from the Spurs, that is for Giannis. Giannis point. What, a blood clot in the shoulder could be, I’m sorry, I went down a rabbit hole. Can be a sign of deep vein thrombosis. Whatever that is. This type of blood clot can form in the veins in the upper extremity, especially in the subclavian vein and auxiliary vein. Several factors can contribute to the development of DVT in the shoulder, including injury, inactivity, and underlying medical conditions. And there’s your WebMD for today. There you go. But yeah, um, so since that trade didn’t happen, I think the next big headline news is going to be the Kevin Don trade. And Kevin want to go to the Knicks. The Knicks said, “No, we don’t want you.” And so now the Minnesota said, “Please come here.” He said, “No, I’m good.” Uh, so it’s going to come down between the Spurs, Rockets, and Heat. Yes.

Uh, honestly, I was, I was at first saying that I’m good on Durant. I don’t want to mortgage the future um for, you know, load management and maybe he plays a little defense, maybe he does a little bit more than scoring. But at the same time, if a 52-win team adds Kevin Durant and can get past Golden State, which next year you’re talking about an older Golden State, their core, but then the younger core would you would think that would be better. So, um, can the Rockets with Kevin Durant, maybe, maybe not Jaylen Green. He’s probably going to be in that package, Kevin Durant, Al Perian Gun, Amanda Thompson, Fred Van Vleet, and Jabari Smith. Connect that team. I thought I thought you. Well, I think Jabari Smith would be part of the package. Then you have. I think he’s going to be. Yeah, I’d rather kick Jabari. I know, I know, I know you ra Jabari, but this ain’t a six-man, you’re trading for. Take Dylan, just stick with me now. You know this. Kevin Durant, Kevin, Katie, Ali, Jaylen, Fred, and Jabari. That team can make it at least to the Western Conference final. Oh yeah, 100% agreed. I’m I say if that gives us the best chance to give us a title.

I’ve never seen everyone or in my circle that’s older than me can tell me what they were doing when the Rockets won. I can’t. I, I, I, I, you, you can rub in your face your five rings. Okay, I, all I can do is sit on—oh, well, not saw them all, but some.

Uh, I can, I saw them all. I, I can’t—all I can do is just sit here and cry about them going 0 for 27 in game seven and just keep harping on what they did in ’93 and ’94 or ’94-’95. I’m tripping; I was born in ’93.

Yeah, um, what if I told you I never saw them win, so make the move? What if I told you, though, Kevin D would be 37 next season?

Don’t care. He brings, he still scores 30 a night.

He does; I’m not lying. He puts up at least 27.

Yeah, but no, he still, he’ll still give you that.

I want the Patriots. The Patriots, son of a—I want the Spurs to stay young. Don’t bring it— you already have Chris Paul. You already have a leader of vet like in him. Don’t bring in another one that just puts up more points, you know? Bring in a younger guy. Bring it—trade for Jayen Brown. I don’t care; I’d rather trade for him than Kevin Durant, I’ll be honest.

But anyway, let’s go ahead and move on to our last topic ’cause we’re already at hour and three. This will be our longest.

Yeah, we can save that for the next episode; that’s fine, I don’t mind that.

So for the next one, we, we got too excited with the, with the quarter NFL’s quarter century team and bashing it.

Mhm.

So yeah, but thank you guys for listening.

Mainly bashing it.

What? Mainly bashing it?

Oh yeah, for sure. We only agree with like two positions.

Wait a minute, ain’t that game tonight? No, it’s tomorrow night.

Jesus.

What? Wait—

I hate this, I hate this damn schedule.

It’s, I honestly, I think it’s probably Friday night, but I want to say it’s, it’s tomorrow night.

All right, I, I’m studying the whole night then.

All right, I seriously thought that game six was tonight.

No, it’s tomorrow night. It’s because they take two days off.

Yeah.

Yeah. Tomorrow, NBA—it’s about to be [__], July. Wrap this [__] up.

It is.

All right, let’s go. All right, end the end episode ’cause like I’m over here trying to check for the score ’cause—

All right.

Yeah, go ahead.

Score has changed. Don’t worry about it. Leave, leave a comment on the YouTube, on the IG, or wherever you’re listening. Tell us about your top 25. Where did they get it wrong? Because they did get it wrong. But thank you all for listening; we’ll see y’all next time. Peace.

[Music]