Transcript

NFL Wild-Card Weekend, CFP Reaction, and ‘“Nothing Makes Me Nervous”

From Game Over with Max Kellerman and Rich Paul · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 12 min · 13,823 words · 329 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "NFL Wild-Card Weekend, CFP Reaction, and ‘“Nothing Makes Me Nervous”", an episode of Game Over with Max Kellerman and Rich Paul published January 9, 2026 (1 h 12 min, about 13,823 words). It mentions 12 people, works and ideas, including FanDuel, Anita Baker, Eagles, Cam, Michael Irvin.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Anita Baker, Easy E
  2. – 20:00: Michael Irvin, FanDuel, Nipy Hustle
  3. – 30:00: FanDuel
  4. – 50:00: Dallas Mavericks, Ted Leonis, Zack Leonis
  5. – 1:10:00: Eagles

Notable quotes from "NFL Wild-Card Weekend, CFP Reaction, and ‘“Nothing Makes Me Nervous”"

  • By the way, Easy E came to my neighborhood and shot that video. He was there.
    about Easy E · at
  • But with that being said, are you a Anita Baker or Sha person?
    about Anita Baker · at
  • Who I don't think's getting enough shine, right? So I'm listening. I'm listening. I'm okay, Nipy Hustle.
    about Nipy Hustle · at
  • Game over is presented by FanDuel.
    about FanDuel · at
  • I love Michael Irving, man. Michael Irvin, I don't care what you say about Michael Irving. That energy that Michael Irving brings infectious.
    about Michael Irvin · at
  • Then you have a ownership group in Monumental led by Ted Leonis' son Zack Leonis'. You're not going to find two better people than Ted Leonus' and Zack Leonis', right? So those two components, then you have the coach who again was at.
    about Ted Leonis · at
  • So you got to go by the best fit. If you are the Dallas Mavericks, you're looking at, okay, we own our own first round pick for this year.
    about Dallas Mavericks · at
  • Time on it. the ners the ners don't have a defense. I don't think they're going to beat the Eagles without a defense particularly when I think the key player in the game is…
    about Eagles · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Anita Baker — Person · 3 mentions · first at
  • Cam — Person · 3 mentions
  • Michael Irvin — Person · 2 mentions · first at
  • Easy E — Person · 1 mention · first at
  • Nipy Hustle — Person · 1 mention · first at
  • Ted Leonis — Person · 1 mention · first at
  • Zack Leonis — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Then you have a ownership group in Monumental led by Ted Leonis' son Zack Leonis'. You're not going to find two better people than Ted Leonus' and Zack Leonis', right? So those two components, then you have the coach who again was at.
  • AD — Person · 1 mention

Companies & orgs

Full transcript with timestamps

I crushed you on what? On the comments of the the the top three albums and I I didn't I knew that was going to happen the chart time.

No, no, no, no. What I'm saying is I didn't even really dig deep in my bag of of of albums. I I really let you off the hook.

I took my three favorite records. Now, my taste is exquisite. You have to understand it's it's it's it's unimpeachable. So, of course, they're not always going to be the most popular.

Your style take was a was a very popular take. I got Cam's mad at you behind that.

Cam's not mad at me. I just talked to Cam's not mad at me. He had some slick remarks, but what else is new? Like, that's I mean,

but see, I knew but mob style is very specific. You have to be of a certain age.

I'm mad at him. I'm mad that that he let that he We'll talk about this. We we'll have a conversation of old not old school but hiphop album covers,

right? And what they you know and Cam's Confessions of Fire. This is a whole another conversation we'll have at another time. So, I'm not he's But he's not I talked to him this morning. He's not mad at me. Can't be mad at me.

I don't know. But I do I'm just saying I It was like 60. It wasn't It was a landslide.

It was 2 to1 ratio 33. Yeah. Yeah. So, you took you took Snoop, you took But I left out Life After Death.

We both We left We both left off Big I left out Eternal 99. Um, Bone Thugs and Harmony, which was was

Yeah, you left out classic. I know. I left it out because I didn't want people to say, "Oh, well, he's just doing that cuz he's from Cleveland." You know,

one thing, but but one thing I don't know about the whole album, they had a couple of singles.

Monsters. Not a couple of singles for the love of money. Monster. Obviously, thuggish ruggish.

By the way, Easy E came to my neighborhood and shot that video. He was there. And I remember getting out of school. I was going to Chambers

uh elementary school. And I wanted to go past the video shoot so bad, but by the time I was going to go past there, it was a shooting. And so it was

there are some songs that drop where you're listening to it and you go I'm listening to the future or some like like the first time I saw

I left out brothers for the struggle. The first time I saw the Jordan threes I thought like I'm looking at the future right like I'm looking at something I haven't seen before. The first time I heard Thuggish Ruggish Bone I was like incredible.

I was like I'm listening to the future. But but I felt that way about CNN too. And in war before war report dropped, I heard stick you on a mixtape from up like I got it uptown and I was like what? Who is this?

Next we got to do R&B. But yeah, I want you I'm going to buy you this from the '9s or period.

I want you to download Brothers for the Struggle if you can download it. My brother and I used to go to our family reunions and rap these verses.

See, I gave you mobstyle. You can't download it. You got to get away. I know you probably can't download Brothers for the Struggle either, but I didn't even go in my Tony Draper swab house bag. I didn't go to my a G2 a key dating family bag.

Listen, I have another bag for you off this topic. This is my question because I've been to your place and it's so everything is crisp like you're on a on your house. Everything looks like you're on a movie set or or a TV set. It's all perfect.

Told you I have an OCD. But so do I. That's the thing. So, I'm, you know, just moved back to LA a couple months ago and I'm setting up the house, getting the house set up, and I'm going through boxes, right, of my daughter's things, too. Like, cuz the whole house got packed up and moved out here. And it is so hard for me cuz I'm sentimental to decide what to throw away and what to keep from them. You know what I mean? Like, they have

I'm going to send you some help. I have people that can really maybe I need I need the help. But then sometimes I'll throw something away. I will literally go back I'll go back down to the garage and take it back.

Here's what you have to do cuz it's from when they're 5 years old. It's a little thing they

have my people come over. They'll call you. Yeah. They'll come over and make your life so much easier.

They will not throw anything away. But what they will do is label everything so you know what's what. And when you have time, you can. But but they'll do all the other organizing things for you.

I think I need that. I'm too sentimental about my kids, man. I can't let go of there's no question you need it. Yeah.

But with that being said, are you a Anita Baker or Sha person? I have to choose.

That's why I asked. If I have to choose, I need a baker. I need a baker. really

I have to choose just because that first album she dropped the music is not I gave you all the you don't you don't

of course with shock okay I'm just saying but I but I have to agree because I am every week by myself riding I got to put that rapture love I got to put it on I have to put it on

one of the most gangster things I ever heard about MJ was he would sing to people giving you the that I got.

Oh man. Giving him work. That is gangster. While he's giving and that explains the white socks with the dress shoes.

Yeah, that is very gangster. If if that if if he did that, I'm going to ask him if he did that. But

singing Anita giving you the best that I got. But Anita Baker, man, Shade's music was more like the musical part, the the actual instrumentals were more advanced than Anita Baker. There's something about Anita Baker's songs that sounded so good to me.

Oh, listen. Playing that type of music. I'm from the Mid Midwest. So, we have this thing called

Coming Down. It's when you basically take a old school car, you put a bunch of music in it. We We go

too far. It's to the extreme. But the most important thing is the music. And you would think like when Lil Wayne block is Hot came out and there was a song on there called Lights Out, Lights Off, the way it started, like a lot of people better move out. But if you have these speakers in your car and it's not the bass, see, people always think about the bass. It's not about the bass. Our thing was, I want you to be able to hear the words just like when you go to a concert.

Yeah. I want you to be Jay-Z was special at this. When you go to a Jay-Z show, he focused on you hearing every single word. There was no

m like Frank Sinatra or something. Yeah. Yeah. But it was the same way when when we focus on the and and that's how you can tell if someone had the right sounds. But when you play Shade or Anita Baker or when I was in sophomore in high school, maybe a junior, Mary's Share My World album, No, hold on. Mary's which one was that? Which I'm trying to I don't remember what what was called. I remember the first

411 then it's my life. Then I think it's my life to me is it my life. Oh, my life is a classic.

Not not just the classic. My life. When you talk about let's say you had a desert island, you had to take 10 records with you. My life is coming.

Yes. Yeah. So is Forever My Lady for me because I'm just saying when I was a kid, I I remember we stayed in we moved back from St. Louis and we stayed in Americana out in UCLA as a suburb. My dad had a little honeycomb hideout joint and and and um we had to move there. It was a one-bedroom and we all had to move there, me and my brother and sister. But my sister, I wanted my ears pierced and um her friend was our friend named Darnisha. She pierced my ear. The first time I ever had my ear pierced and I came in and it was they was she did this in the kitchen with like a needle on the stove and alcohol. But the Jodicy album had just came out. Oh, it's

and they were playing it and it was So anyway, not to get off topic, but those I'm just like I much rather listen to that music

when you see in New York it wasn't in New York it's not like you don't see the old school caddy. However, once in a while you will see

some dude like at least my age or older, usually a little older than me in a in a car like that, right? that they hooked up playing some teddy pengrass or something.

Oh, it's beautiful. Driving down the street slow and you look at this dude be like, "It's the happiest."

Teddy be the true player. He had the jeans. Teddy bear Jones. Could he had the jeans? Teddy Bear. Everything recycles itself because Nelly had Apple Bottom. But like Teddy Pendergrass, you ever saw that documentary?

No. Oh, you have to watch it. You never saw it. Mm-m. You okay? You got some homework, Max, cuz you

you're at the barbecue. They're putting extra sauce on your ribs at the barbecue. So

Oh. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I'm invited to all the cookouts. Yeah. It's all good. But you know where you do see these cars at?

In LA. Oh yeah, for sure. Cuz Nipy made summertime in that as I'm like I always thought about like 6'4s and things like that, but no, it's actually the same kind of the same as it was for us

when I first got to LA. This is going back 15 years, something like that. Came out to do a radio show on ESPN LA with Marcelus Wy. And um I'm looking I'm thinking, well, a guy from New York's going to be on LA radio. I should look, let me dig in and find out an LA artist who I don't think's getting enough shine, right? So I'm listening. I'm listening. I'm like, okay, Nipy Hustle.

I'm going to this 2010 maybe. So yeah. So fairly early Nipy, right? Right. It was like, you know, like and I would play radio friendly like I'm feeling myself for uh Keys to the City, right? I played those two, right? So

Keys to the City is they're both great songs. So I'm playing it and my point and I was thinking about there was a DJ back east decades and decades ago who was just going to play Sinatra until Sinatra called the station,

right? Once he got Sinatra on the line, like in the 50s probably, something like, who knows? So he kept playing it, kept playing it, and event Sinatra let him do it for a month and then he called him. So we got a month of

actually pretty cool and smart by Sinatra. So I say the same thing on the air. I'm like, I'm going to keep playing these in and out of every commercial break till Nipy calls. It's a sports show, but I'm going to play them as intros and outros. Nipy called like later that day. I was like, Nipy, what are you doing? You were going to get a month of burn on on ESPN radio. And he goes, yeah, my manager told me, this is on the air. He's like, "Yeah, my manager told me don't call, but I figured."

But you know what that is? That's if you knew him. That's I didn't know. That's But that's the like the

right here, right now type of Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's actually That's a pretty cool story.

Yeah. All right, let's get to the show. We got We talking sports. I don't want to talk sports.

Got to start the show. No, we have to talk. I know we have to talk sports. I didn't want to. I seen the sweat like what? I mean, we could just hang out and talk, but eventually we're getting

That may be a cool thing. I don't I don't know what our producers would think about that, but I I love to hang out and talk

for sure. But if we're hanging out and talking, we're getting around to Miami, Old Miss. We're getting around to the NFL. We're getting around Trey Young.

I'm going to see if I can get in touch with AD's agent because there's rumors he might be

going to Atlanta. See, we don't have to talk about I mean, I got his agent's number in my phone.

We don't have to talk about everything, but we could talk about most certain things. Yeah.

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Rich, another classic college football playoff game. That was a classic last night.

I love Michael Irving, man. Michael Irvin, I don't care what you say about Michael Irving. That energy that Michael Irving brings

infectious it's it should be you should be able to find that in like airwan like that is a health

I got a Michael Irvin story for you actually since you brought him up but but here's what I'm saying it's it's just a the passion that he he's not even playing he's not even playing the game

I'm in my I had an apartment downtown by Washington Square Park going this is going back now 20 years maybe at least maybe more at least 20 years. All of a sudden, um, I get a door man rings me up. I'm on ESPN at the time. Michael Irvin is in the lobby. I don't know. He was in New York. He just swung through to say, "What's up?" I go downstairs. He's in like one of his like It looks like pajamas almost. You know what I mean? Like it's a track suit, but almost looks like pajamas. And every doorman's there taking wants to take P. There's a whole like staff in the bottom of the building, right?

Everyone's taking pictures of him. He just came by cuz he was in the city and I don't know even remember how he got my address or anything but wanted to swing through and say what's up and chop it up for a few minutes but everyone like he comes into the lobby and everyone's lit up.

Yeah. It's just that you know what I need if our friends at Mitchell is watching send me the Michael Irving I want the white Michael Irving Mitchell jersey.

Yeah. I got I I have to wear it. I have to. He's got one of the best personalities in

I ran into him at Bo one night. I won't have the conversation here, but I loved the conversation. Loved it. It's like I ran into my uncle. It was It was [ __ ] great. Loved it.

That game. Yeah. Right. Every the pageantry, everything around the game. Yeah. But that game

and it was like Raven Steelers to me in a sense that it starts off not slow, but it's a struggle to score. So that as the game goes on in the second half, the scoring starts to go back and forth. It like reaches a crescendo. But the thing that really, and by the way, it felt to me like Old Miss was destined to win that game. It felt to me like

kept saying that. I know. It felt they felt like a team of destiny to me. Maybe it's Trinidad Shamblas. Maybe it's that they lose their coach, but they're still balling. Whatever it is, it felt like a movie story.

Definitely two well coached teams. It's one of those games where you hate that someone has to lose. But the way they lost bothered me. Like I understand the ref's point. Like the last play of the game, the last play of the game,

no PI is called and on the broadcast they kind of brushed by it. Well, no, they're not. You're not going to call that whatever.

Rich, it's not just that they're fighting for the ball. The defensive back has two hands on the receiver pulling him, stop, holding him, stopping him from making a play on the on a catchable ball. That is defensive pass interference. And if that is called properly, which it should be, the way it works in college, you're not going to get it on the one yard line. You're going to get 15 yard penalty, repeat the down. So they were on like the 35. So they'd be, now think about this, they'd be on the 20 and Trinidad Chamblas has one last shot to win the game for Old Miss. So what what bothers me about the play is not just that they call it differently then than they would do it earlier in the game. But the philosophy why the refs don't do that is they're like, "We don't want to decide the game.

Let's the players decide the game." Actually, if they call it correctly, the players do decide the game. We get an even better ending because we get another shot this time from 20 yards to see if they can if see if they can score. It would have been better.

Max, you are a true fanatic. Yes, you are. Don't you think that's PI? You are. You know what I thought was PI?

When Randy Moss against your Giants was running down the field, they were all over him. Never called. And your Giants talking about you didn't think that was PI. So why you think this is PR? And by the way, by the way,

you don't have two hands on the guy pulling. Why would Listen, man. Like you you want to like watching a game with you?

Yeah. It's like you want the perfect play is the enemy of the good ending. The perfect like what are you just watch the the Did you have like

chips and dip? Like no chips and dip. Actually, I went to dinner. I took I I went to dinner after the game.

Okay. But I'm just letting you know right now when you So I did have chips and guac, but that was at dinner.

When you come over my house Yeah. Don't come to my house as Max Kellerman. Do not come to my house as Max Kellerman. We watch games.

Come to my house as Max. I don't want Max Kellerman at my at my house watch. If you Hold on. Was that PI at the end or not?

I don't know if it was PI or or EU. Whatever it was. Miami is going to the national championship. It's gonna be the biggest tailgate in Miami. And because they beat my Ohio State Buckeyes, I'm looking forward to Miami winning the national championship because it would make me feel better.

Yeah. If the team that beats your team goes on, that's all I care about. Uh, by the way, Carson Beck, maybe he's the best quarterback in the draft. Like played he played spectularly down the

But I tell you what he is. He's smart for transitioning to Miami when he chose to and he's also the most experienced.

Yeah. I mean, that's what he is. Mendoza is about 42 years old. Like that whole Indiana Mendoza is playing. Why Why would you talk about Mendoza like that?

Well, I'm not It's like Joe Burrow was also old when he went into the league. It's okay. He's just more experienced. It's not I'm not downing him. It's just a fact. These Indiana has an older team than other teams. It's one of their advantages cuz they're grown men.

It's NIL. Everybody has an older team. Didn't you see Coach Cal talking about the man had to go pay his uh insurance bill or something and then come like this? This is the way.

Well, everyone's complaining about NIL and all the games a mess and this and that. And I would say that that's true. Like if you look at college men's college basketball, it's not what it once was.

College football has been good. College football. College basketball. We have to we we have to figure something out. football playoff has been unbelievable.

They're knocking out the park. College basketball, men's college, women's game is in great shape.

Women's game is great. The biggest problem with college basketball today is not because of college basketball.

It starts in youth sports. We have a youth sports problem. That's what we have.

Only someone could fix that. That would be great. Maybe I will. All right. I'm in.

That would be my give back. Um, but I I bring up Carson Beck as maybe the best quarterback in the draft. Todd the best says, you know, between Fernando Mendoza and Dante Moore who are facing each other tonight to see who plays Miami, right? Uh, Indiana and Oregon that between those two guys, even though Mendoza is a presumptive number one overall pick and Mendoza's got a great personality and he's played great the whole like he's played great when he's had to, he's played great all season. Menoza has a great personality. Because he looks in the camera when he's talking to the media.

He knows how to because I'll tell you why. You will sometimes get a quarterback or a leader of a team who says the wrong thing. Okay? Do you put that in one category? You have a leader of a team who says the right thing, but they didn't really drink the Kool-Aid.

Wait a minute. You could see that you have a leader of a team that says the wrong thing.

Yeah. You can have a leader of a team. I don't make me call guys out right now, but

Call them out. Call them out. You make me You try to make Have you never experienced watching a quarterback say something and you're like, "Dude, come on."

Either in delivery or or in the message where you're like, "Okay, don't call him out just in case we represent one of them."

This is what I'm saying. No, don't call him out. So, I'm not going to Who knows? But but the point is every sports fan has experienced this like what he just That's not the way you do it. Then you have some dudes who get on the podium and they say the right things, but you can see that they're calculating what to say.

Well, is that genuine? No, because what what they genuinely feel? So, it's manufactured.

Is it right? It's not authentic. Then you have some guys. So, you are you saying that his nickname should be manufactured?

No, no, no, no, no. Cuz I like Mendoza and I don't agree with you with that. Me, me, too. There are guys though that do that and you're like, no. When you say, "Why do I say Mendoza has a great personality?" Then there are guys who get up on the podium and they say the thing you want to hear your franchise quarterback say and you know that they believe it. They have they have they drank the Kool-Aid and they believe the things they're saying. So when I say Mendoza has a great personality for your franchise quarterback, that's what I mean. He gets up at the podium, he says everything you want to hear your quarterback say. Yes. And there's no there's no sense that he's not comfortable in his own skin like he has to he has to do some calculation. Okay, I'll give you an example of a guy who would have to be very circumspect during his career. Um much better after

No, don't say it. Don't say it. No, he's a retired player. Okay, you can say it.

So, take a guy like A-Rod. When A-Rod was in his prime, you A-Rod's my friend. Don't say it.

No, no. I'll say this to A-Rod. Like I think he's I think now that he's on TV as an analyst, a lot of the pressure is off and he's able to be himself and he's great.

But when he was a player, a lot of the times you got the sense that he was making a calculation about how this is going to sound to other people when he spoke as opposed to a guy like Jeter who said the thing you wanted him to say and and you thought because he just believes that. So when a dude like A-Rod's talking sometimes you feel like he's doing that because what he really has says wants to say he thinks isn't going to land well.

Well, I would say my opinion of Mendoza is he understands the assignment. He does. And you and and when you are a quarterback, you know, oftent times people don't want to act the part. And I do think in professional sports, and I say this to my guys all the time, there's like 80% 85% like really being who you are, etc. And then there's another 15% in understanding that you also have to act the part. That doesn't mean be fake. That means like, okay, autograph signing. That means um, you know, the give a kid a DAP in in the in the front row or whatever. Or, you know, you you you conversate, have dialogue, maybe you wait after, come back out, you know, and take pictures with it. It's all part of

accept the responsibility of and leadership also. spills off the floor into okay setting up dinners with the teammates and you know fun things if if you are the leader of the team

and Mendoza seems to me to check every box check those boxes he seems like the guy that if his teammate dropped a wide open pass his body language isn't going to say

show him up right he's going to come over and say don't worry about it catch the next one and as a leader and you know I play quarterback back for the Sims Raiders in ' 91.

Every time I ask you about it, you get younger and younger, though. How old were you when you stopped playing quarterback?

Uh, well, I think I was like 13. Okay. All right. Yeah. But anyway, that's part of it.

Those guys get that's when everyone starts to grow. Like, nope, that dude's coming off the edge.

Maybe they should move me to safety. Free safety at that. Yeah. Yeah. I'll just make sure that

I'd be crazy to play football. No, but I like I like Mendoza a lot. But if if if Todd McShet said something.

Oh, so so Mcsh says I'm rolling with Todd, right? What what he says is Meno like the presumptive one two pick. It's Mendoza and Dante Moore and they face each other tonight to see who goes to the title national title game and Indiana's favorite although Oregon blew out Texas Tech and the whole thing. But he thinks that if you not who's ready to play as a rookie more, but McShane said that if you project out like Patrick Mahomes had a year to develop. He only started one game and then started really as a as a secondyear player. Yeah.

And then took the league by storm. He said if you do that, you give a development year to

Nobody thought Patrick Mahomes would be as good as he is. Like that was insane.

They didn't see on his tape. That was it. But but he said if you do that then he likes Dante Moore's future best. I but I don't think that's negative towards Mendoza. I think it's all about I always say it's fit over pick and no matter what

fit over Oh, you mean like what coach he's going to, what system he's going to all.

Yes. I think most people and in my profession, most guys are selling, oh, you're going to be a top pick and this and that. Since I said this on our show, Clutch Academy years ago, it's it's always fit over pick because are you sure you want to be the number one pick? What if you go into the number one team and there's so many different things that's that's not there? It's going to be incredibly hard for you to be successful. Does your ego say, "Ah, yeah, but I still want to go number one." versus if I can get to number four and you plug and play, my career has a better chance of being successful. I individually have a better chance of being successful. My team is going to win more. To me, that says a lot about the individual. Now, you can't stop a team from taking you, but I do have I've have

But you can do things like what Eli Manning and did with Yeah. Philip Rivers. But

I do have I do because they went one and four. Yeah. But again, he was self-aware. There was that to me. And he also had a dad who had

unfair amount of experience. Yeah. And so and so kudos to to them. And you see Eli went to the Giants and he got two Super Bowl rings and the rest is history.

But it's it does say a lot. And so it's all about fit over pick though. Game over is brought to you by FanDuel. Football fans, we've waited all season for this. It's time to flip the switch to playoff mode on FanDuel, America's number one sports book. Right now, all FanDuel customers can get in on the action with a wildcard reward for the NFL wildcard round. Just pick your card and you can win up to 100% profit boost. Head to fanduel.com/gameover for a chance to double your winnings for the NFL wildcard round. Play your game with FanDuel, an official sports betting partner of the NFL playoffs. 21 and over and present in select states or 18 and over and present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. Optin required. Rewards are nonwithdrawable. Restrictions apply including bonus and token expiration, leg requirements, and max wager amount.

See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling problem. Call 1800 gambler or visit rg-help.com. Call 1888789777 or visit ccpg.org. org/hatin Connecticut. While we're on the topic of uh college football quarterbacks, you see De Man Williams Jr. in Washington. His agent came out and said he's parting ways with him because he committed and now he's

No. What? Like because I think I would No, no, I would like because he's supposed to be in one place and all this. The the the the point is I want to brand this like a under the hood or something like that. in your experience behind the scenes, how how do you read the De Man Williams situation and his agent saying we're parting ways because

do you want the truth or you do do you want me to just are we really going under the hood?

We're going under the hood. Yeah. This is very simple. All this is is and I don't know who his agent is, but if his agent came out, and I've been in a situation before where he had to part ways with a guy in and it's all different reasons, but in this case, this is very simple. I can almost guarantee you if you just look if you really looked under the hood,

this is his agent choosing the coach who they probably represent and the university who they probably represent 10 to 15 guys from this same school over this one player

client. Yeah. And that could be because of a number of things, but I can guarantee you one thing. if that player was gonna be the number one pick in the NFL draft, whether it's this year or next year or whatever, or if that player's name was Archie Arch Manning, he wouldn't have done that.

So, the Mong have enough juice to keep the agent. I don't want to go too far under the hood.

Yeah. Because I would need my roller as a mechanic. Like, this is just us like changing the

This is you looking from a distance and saying this is what this says to This is just us changing the the the the fluids and putting some changing putting some oil in. We're not we're not taking the whole oil pan out and we just

sure the car needs some oil. But that's what this sounds like to me. And I've like I said, I've been in a situation where I had to part ways with someone. Whether you put out in the media that it was mutual for the best of everybody or whatever the case may be, this smells a little different. So if the agent comes out, just a short hand is if you see an agent come out after a player makes a decision to leave a program. If your read of that is generally like reflexively, um the agent had more business interests with the team than with the player.

If you really the the team's business interest represent a bigger business to the agent,

you looked under the hood. What this says is the coach of the team and what team was it? Uh Washington University of Washington,

the Huskies. Yeah. The coach, I can almost guarantee you that coach is probably signed to the agency of the agent that came out and

Gemini, there's some there's some can we get can we get something some kind of search engine sponsor? there's a conversation amongst them and it's like look you know you have to choose

right or that might not even have been was understood doesn't have to be said yeah don't even have to be explained and so that's what it looks like to me but this is the dark side this is the dark side of NIL this is the dark side of you know our business and

what's dark about it the dark thing about it is that kid is what what you and also what you're doing in that case is because I saw it on ESPN and it read the kids name agent parts agent parts ways with the kid

with Dean Williams Jr. Right. So what that does is because because they basically this whatever the agent was he got out in front of it.

Right. So therefore it's not reversed because it could be reversed. Right. And it also reads like the way that positions the story is Dean Williams Jr. made a commitment to one place and now because he's not honoring the commitment I must part ways. Best of luck to him. When the reality is that has nothing to do with it. It's that there's more business interest. Your read of it from a distance is there's more business interest that the coach or whatever or other players he has or relationship he has with the university represents bigger business to the agent than the players.

That's what most listen in in our business, most agents are team friendly. Why? Because they're going to have more bites of the apple. team isn't going nowhere

because the teams are the buyers and they're going to be buyers forever. Players come and go. So, in this case, who cares if the kid wants to go to this school or another school? If you're still the agent and you're doing the work and getting paid it, you want that, right? In a normal instance, you want to have multiple options. What this is saying is we have a a relationship with you that I push guys to you in this in this company in return in a situation like this. I'm not standing next to this kid who right because if he leaves this school one thing and if he goes back

and the added wrinkle is since he since he got out of in front of it in the media the agent did it also kind of frames the agent as the good guy and the kid as the guy who's a snake kind of

and I don't I didn't see the wording so so on Wednesday you we brought out the whiteboard and you did a whole anatomy of a trade the way it works you know and in this case we were talking about Trey Young right and then Trey Young actually got moved.

Who did he get moved for? One of the thing Well, we're going to get into that right now. It was CJ McCullum and Cory uh K. Now, what was interesting first of all is no draft picks were exchanged at all.

Why would there be? You in your on your whiteboard, you thought draft picks were going to be exchanged.

I said asset management, meaning the GM that was trading him out did would not want to connect draft picks to the trade out. And I said the GM that was trading him in would want.

Right. But they didn't get him. Okay. Well, I didn't say it had to be. Now, McCullum and Kispert, it's an interesting trade to me. I want to get your analysis. Here's my take. McCullum is a a winning vet. Good guy to add, period. And Kiss is because he's not really a three and D guy, more of a three guy. Maybe the eighth guy on a, you know, like he's a specialist who comes off the bench and can hit shots and stuff and knows how to play ball. Smart player. Um, McCullum could stay. Now, once you take Trey off the team, the team gets better this year anyway because it's happened twice and both times the team got better. So, that's already addition by subtract,

but the team you can say the team got better, but the team played better. Okay, but they their record was better without him than Okay, fair. So, already better. And now you add a couple of nice pieces, complimentary pieces that should help. So, now they're better. But McCullum's contract plus Porzingis's contract plus they kept their draft picks they can there's a lot of speculation they could make a move for AD Bill Simmons on his pod. Rich speculated that a lot of that is is uh uh the you know they're running the okey do because what they're trying to do is pressure Milwaukee to give up Giannis because otherwise we're going to go get AD. So it drives the price down on Giannis because supply goes up, demand goes down. There are two guys in the market instead of one. Hey, we'll go get AD. If you don't, that's Simmons theory. Either way, you now have the McCullum contract if you're the Hawks, the Porzingis

contract, and your draft picks to make a move to make you title contenders right now and set you up going forward. And if that doesn't happen, you added two nice pieces for a piece that wasn't helping you. From the Washington point of view, you got he he's going to opt into his 49 million most likely is a speculation. Trey Young, you have one year next year to evaluate. Can Trey Young buy in and be a part of something good here and we can extend him or do we let that contract just lapse and take him off the books? I think the trade makes sense for both teams.

So, what are you asking me? What's your analysis of the trade? What is my analysis of the trade? Yes, that's a very broad question.

Let's start with do you think the trade was good for Atlanta? Was it good for Washington? And then we can spin it forward and see what this means for AD and Orian.

Yeah, I think it was good for both. If it wasn't, it wouldn't happen. So, in in Atlanta's case, they're saying, you know what, it's probably best that we just move on. It's no sense of having this guy, this player still around the locker room, etc. And we were able to get some expiring contract in CJ McCullum. They already have expiring contract in Porzingis. You bring a player like Chris who they could flip. But at the same time, it depends if Quinn Snder likes him a little bit due to the fact that they have the kill Alexander Walker who's actually been playing better.

Dyson Daniels not the biggest shooter. Jaylen Johnson who is their all-around guy. You got Big O. So the shooting aspect of it with Chris.

And you also bring up you also bring up IQ players like when the eighth guy on your bench knows how to play.

Yeah. He's going to know as well. He's one of those guys. Well, this is by the way they have another guy Kyle Corver. Yeah.

In their front office. Chris becomes somewhat that. But in addition to that, the CJ McCullum piece of it is big for Atlanta and what they're trying to build from a culture perspective. Now, I would imagine once he gets there, they're going to love him. They're really going to want to keep him around. And CJ's easy going. He's a Cton, Ohio guy. Easy going, smart guy.

He's a good player. Really good player. Like still really good. Can he he won games. He beat Milwaukee with the step back going right uh step back uh to win the game. And again, I'm sure Washington was probably like, "No, you know, because obviously they want to this is one of the last years of their rebuilding situation." Um and so at that's Atlanta, right? Not to get into anything else. That's Atlanta

in Trey's case. Also, again, remember I told you controlling the narrative about this entire thing. And when you're in a situation like this, I think it's classy for an organization not to [ __ ] on a player and I think it's classy for a player

not to do the same to organization because you just never know where things come back around to and you don't want to burn any bridges. But what I

also just the way you it's even not transactionally, just the way you conduct yourself matters. Yeah, I think that matters. In Trey's case, this is actually a situation that could become good for him. It depends on his attitude going in because you were once a top five pick by the Atlanta Hawks. They paid him, you know, he got the max contract,

traded for Luca, he was an all-star, traded for Luca, etc. But I don't even I don't count that because that really wasn't We make a sense of that, but that wasn't that that wasn't that thing. Um,

what do you mean that wasn't that then? Because when you're in a draft like that basically Dallas, I mean, uh, Atlanta had what? Dallas had five, they took Trey, Atlanta had three.

Dish took two. Wait, what? No, Donic would went three. Bagley went two. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So, but that was done already. That was a done thing. So, it wasn't really like you were traded for Luca. That was done before. But anyway, in Dallas's I mean in in in Trey's case going to Washington, here's what I will say. Will Dawkins came from OKC with Sam Prey. So you have a general man a general manager who understands what it's like to start over and not just start over, but to start over in the right in the right way. I will tell you this. During the pre-draft process, the last few years that he's been there, every one of my guys that's been to Washington DC, Wizards have said, "Bro, I hope they draft me."

What that means is they're doing all the little things right from a culture perspective. Then you have a ownership group in Monumental led by Ted Leonis' son Zack Leonis'. You're not going to find two better people than Ted Leonus' and Zack Leonis', right? So those two components, then you have the coach who again was at OKC, understands it, they drafted pretty well, right? And so I imagine whether Trey opts in if he I mean it's a $49 million player option.

He's going to opt in. Well, it depends. Unless they do a normal Well, here's the thing. In a situation like that, should he opt in? Probably. So, but

$50 million. Yeah. But if you're opting out, so you got 50. So, what am I making on top of that? Because you can't make up for the 50 if you opt out anyway. So you opt, but if you do opt out and you say, "Okay,

what am I gonna make on top of that?" That's just a structural that's just a structural thing.

And um so the so Washington has to make the decision. Do we offer him something that takes that 50 down a little bit but gives him an average but gives him a ton of more guaranteed money and from his and and or do we let him play that season on the opt-in to see if this thing is going to work and if it works we extend him and if it doesn't work okay he goes.

That is all that is all the options. That is that is that is that probably makes the most sense. Trey has new representation. So what his new representation is probably gonna want to do is have him opt out and get a new deal to be spiteful towards his old representation so they don't get paid on the last year of that deal.

Who was his old representation? Don't matter to us. But I think I'm pretty sure I know them.

Nevertheless, I do think that there's a situation where um if Trey does opt in and the Wizards are saying, "Okay, let's evaluate this thing." That would probably be the smartest thing to do for them. But if they feel good about it, he's not going to play this year anyway. He he's coming off an injury and you probably don't want to rush back for that. And it makes sense, right? Because they're not they're still evaluating a lot of your young players and you know what you have in a Trey Young. Now it's about all those other pieces and how he really wants to fit because it's a different because you can't go

I'm sorry. I can't get past this optin thing with his old representation. What percentage of the 50 million give or take it's 49 does the old representation get? Because I imagine if I'm the old representation

and he doesn't and and he doesn't opt in instead he restructures. That's part of business.

50 even if you're only taking 2% of 50. That's a million bucks. No, but it don't matter.

That keeps the lights on in the office for a year from that's a pretty big deal.

But that's part of the business. And I I'm not going to spend no time. I'm just giving you the the the spitefulness of what things take place, you know, and that's that's our business. But it don't but but also,

you know what it's like? It's like uh when who was it? Was it the in the Godfather when he says uh when Salaso tells him, well, if half a million dollars cash is just uh

But sometimes you get salute to you, Don Corone. Sometimes you get penalized for doing a great job. But but that won't stop. That won't ever stop. Rich, that's seven figures out the door.

So what? That that should never stop you from doing a great job. That's part of the business,

right? Okay. They don't they don't they don't call him poor Paul. But at the end of the day, you know, I I think the the wealth is in the mind, so it don't matter.

But but I I do think I do think that um um he's in a I think he's in a great I think he's in a really good spot because of But but again, the approach is in this situation. The approach is what matters more than anything.

Okay, we we covered the Washington Atlanta. Now everyone's going to look forward, Rich. And this is the part people are really waiting for as they're fast forwarding through the pod. Wait, wait. When are they going to get to the AD stuff McCullum Porzingis have all their draft capital AD is sitting out there. Giannis has come out and said, "I would never ask for a trade."

I don't understand that. It makes me suspicious that Simmons I take that back. I

would be correct, actually. No, I do understand that because it's not me. Everybody, if they come and get me, if I wind up in Atlanta, it's not my fault.

Yeah. I look, no player wants to hear their name in trades. No player wants to be the one that acts out. Very few players wants to take on that

because the fan base turns against them and stuff. Yeah. That's just not who they are. Players don't like confrontation. That's just not who they are. They just That's just not how they're built. They don't like that for the most part. Very few players like the confrontation.

So when you hear Giannis say that as you are AD's representative, AD is and Giannis are the two that are mentioned as potentially

the two biggest trade partners for the Hawks. Because AD is several years older than Giannis, it is thought that probably correctly it will take more to get Giannis than it will to get AD. So you if you're the Hawks and you believe both are available, you have a decision to make. Do you want Giannis going because you think he has more years of his prime going forward than AD does and are you willing to give up more for that or do you want AD and you can hold on to more of your resources and slide AD into this team immediately either player they're title contenders.

I think if you are looking at the Atlanta Hawks they don't need Giannis. They got Jaylen Johnson.

Mhm. So you got to go by the best fit. If you are the Dallas Mavericks, you're looking at, okay, we own our own first round pick for this year. After that, we don't have a first round pick until 2031. So, we have a decision to make. Kyrie's not there, so we can't see this group whole. Cooper flags a rookie. Remember on the

timing doesn't line up. I had that's what I pointed to timeline. Now, you could do whatever you want, but if you're looking at this holistically and you the Dallas Mavericks, once you got Cooper flag, in my opinion, if I'm running the team, which I'm not, don't plan on doing it. Um, everything changes. Now, my timeline totally changes. If I'm sitting there and I'm looking at a Kyrie Irving and a Anthony Davis on one two punch, that's also a different

sure timeline. If I had the ability to see what the sample size of Kyrie, AD, and Cooper look like, that's also

really what you're saying is unfortunately your evaluation of Cooper flag so far is that he's already good. He's gonna be really good. And that actually changes the calculation for the team about Kyrie and AD because you look at Cooper Flag and you have to wonder coming out, is he good enough to build around? And you look at him now and go, yeah, that's a build, that's a foundational piece.

But you can look at it one or two ways. You can say yes, but we also have two players that we know are former champions, perennial allstars, all NBA

when they're healthy are a lot. Exactly. with a young player already that is proven somewhat that hey, he's going to be really good down the road and next year maybe you get uh I don't know $50 million in production and he's only making X. That's kind of where you want to be at. And it would actually make a lot of sense given the fact that you know you're that's that's what you want. But then you have to look at the positions as well. And so if you're saying

is Dallas is incentivized to get draft capital for Anthony Davis. It depends on which direction they want to go in. If you're saying if the goal is to start young, then you're starting with a really, really, really good piece in Cooper Flag.

A ton of draft capital. Well, the the draft capital is I we have our own draft pick this year, which right now they're 12th in the West or maybe 13th in the West after losing last night in in Utah. I think they lost. But in that case, that pick could possibly become Darren Peterson, AJ Deansa, Caleb Wilson, and you could still be sitting there with all that and the AD and a Kyrie, but then you start to, you know,

but AD will be 33 next year. Yeah. But it don't I mean, it's again people Let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. as AD's agent, do you get nervous if if you think Atlanta's a good spot for AD? Obviously AD and Atlanta would be great for each other. Um because Atlanta's loaded. They're they're ready now to win and going and in for the foreseeable future they're set up. And if they add AD, Jesus, right? Does it make you nervous like, oh man, when Giannis says something like, "I'm not asking for a trade." It signals maybe that actually the Milwaukee is working on something with Atlanta.

No, nothing makes me nervous. Do you know where I'm from? Can't get nervous. There's nothing There's nothing in this industry that can make me

It's not going to kill you, right? So, but at the end of the day, here's Let me rephrase. Does it make you think, damn.

No. No. Because talent always have options. What? Here's what I tell you. When you're thinking about a Giannis and an Anthony Davis, just like when Houston was thinking about Kevin Durant, when you trade or even think about trading for these type of level of talent, type of players,

right? It just means you feel like you can actually contend. That's what it does. And if you are able to get, I'm not saying who is and who isn't, but if you're able to get this level of talent, then it will put you in a better position than you once was. I can guarantee that.

Right. And so that's the way you have to look at it. But no, I don't get I don't I don't I don't get nervous about it. And and I say that because you know, you get people on social media this Listen,

I don't mean nervous. What I mean is if you have things like I just put I mean this is just simple empathy, right? Like you put yourself in someone's position. If I repped AD and I saw what Atlanta just did, I'd be like oh this is perfect. Then if I hear what Giannis says I'm like no because okay well listen if you un when you are an agent your focus is one thing. How can I position my player to maximize his earning potential? That is it,

right? I don't give I don't care. Uh uh that's not entirely true, Rich. Because for example,

if I said to you, here's the story now. You're not going on a bad team, right? Right.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not you because you want your players to win and be happy.

Yes. But I'm thinking, you know, that's already baked in. Yes. I'm not You can't That's the premise.

Well, that's that goes back to the last trade. like you but again no but in but in some cases if that's all you have if your only market is a bad team then you got to that's just part of it but what I'm saying is in this case it's not a matter of what someone else is doing

the the shift going to be the shift no matter you're saying the ad has so much value when he's on the floor

yes that if it if it doesn't work out with Atlanta there's New York if it doesn't work out with Atlanta or New York there's like a million other teams where where or like basically every team in the league has a ad on

exactly not with this second apron. No, that's not true either. Okay. What I'm saying is if you're just talking purely talent, these level of talent players helps any team.

So, they have options. Yes. But with the second apron, it gets harder. AD has a 62, correct me if I'm wrong, million dollar player option.

So in that case, there's no team going to have that cap space. And if they do have that cap space, then that means they don't have anything else to Atlanta. Porzingis is expiring. McCullum is expiring and they have draft capital.

Yes. Which gives them a lot of flexibility without But how many other teams are there are like that? like where you could do I'm not

for cat you could do AD well I'm not putting players involved I'm just saying Atlanta has a lot of flex the trade they just made

gave them a lot of flexibility which is why the the basketball theories and the fantasy basketball trades and all these I don't I don't like to do any of that

sure but it is what it all this stuff is public so we can talk about it but that puts them in a great spot to do whatever they need to do to help improve their team.

When we talk about Dallas, you're right about the timing of course and everything, but if, for example, nothing were to happen, and I I would assume that something will happen. They'll make moves. If you're

if nothing were to happen, I would love to see a healthy Kyrie, a healthy AD, and Cooper Flag play together.

Yeah. Well, then then then in that case, then there's some decisions to be made across the board.

Kyrie's want a chip with LeBron. AD's won a chip with LeBron. Yeah. And Cooper Flag is putting up the best numbers at his age since LeBron.

Yeah. Great. Listen, I think there's a lot of positivity everywhere. Yeah. My my job is to

look at all things and do and do what's best. There is a uh big NFL wild card weekend.

Letters so big. You need glasses, Rich. You know I need readers. You need more than readers. I like to see I like to be able to see it from back here.

What? Yeah. I hope your phone letter is not like that. No, you have a protective screen on your phone.

I I have the You can see No, no, I have It's normal. But I do have that little um So when it when I drop it, it doesn't

Yeah, you got to be careful, man. Those letters is way too big. But go ahead. Uh really put my my vision on blasted. Um,

don't play with a detached retina, by the way. That's a real Too late for me, man. I already had the whole thing.

That's a real thing. Yeah. Uh, so NFL wild card weekend. I got to tell you, people, a lot of people are like Patrick Mahomes isn't there and it takes and and neither, by the way, neither is Lamar Jackson or Joe Burrow. But without Mahomes, it takes like the wind out of everyone's sales in the AFC, like in terms of their enthusiasm. The exact opposite for me. I I I wouldn't I don't know if every game this weekend is mustsee, but like what's the worst one? Rams at Panthers is maybe the worst.

Worst. Well, because the Rams are big favorites. Yeah, but what have they Well, I'm not going to say that.

Well, look, the Rams have been trending. Let's start there. This is the worst game on the schedule in terms of competitiveness and interest. The Rams were most of the season the best team in the NFL. Have been trending in the wrong direction. We know the way the NFL works. It doesn't matter who's the best team all season. It matters how you're playing toward the playoffs. That's like actually

Well, for someone that lives in LA, you want as many playoff games in SoFi as you can possibly get,

which they're on the road. I know. And by the way, they're on the road. You know, when people say it's hard to beat a team twice in the same season. Part of that is because if you're playing them twice, a lot of the times it's because each team has a home game, but the Rams already lost to Carolina at Carolina and Carolina's the home game. So is the home team. So, the Rams have to travel to a place where they have already lost this season.

Okay. So, who you pick? Because Okay, Ram. Let's move on. You like the Rams, too.

We've been talking about having a shorter show and I realize what our issue is. Our issue is you.

What you It is you. How is it me? Because I go back and watch every show. Yeah.

And I watch my takes versus your takes. Yeah. Your takes are you go on these rants and the Giants and blah blah blah. And every time you do that, you're adding minutes. Now, we lucky this is not like I'm going to go. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to time it.

Okay. Well, let's go. The next thing you got the Rams Packers at Bears. Bears. I'm going for my brother Kevin Warren and the Bears.

And And I am being Mr. Bias. Well, we we No, I can't be Mr. Bias. I'm just going to go for the Bears. I'm going for the Bears. The Bears should win the game because they're playing better recently and because the Packers don't have Michael Parsons.

Wait a minute. Is Jordan Love playing? Yeah. Okay. Well, then the Packers have But Jordan Love also has not looked at Look, right now I would take the Bears quarterback. I would take and and and the other thing is in this rivalry in recent years when it's been a rivalry, the difference has been one team had, you know, Aaron Rogers and the other team had Jay Cutler. The team with Aaron Rogers has the advantage. And before Aaron Rogers, it was Brett Favre. I mean, it's been a long The Packers have been not as much as Aaron Rogers. Oh.

So, the Packers have been the team that you would rather be rooting for than the Bears for a long time. So, this is like a big deal for Bears fans.

I want the Bears to be good. I think we need Okay, so we going Bears, unfortunately for the Packers. If Parsons was playing, I would maybe feel differently, but he's not. Um, Bills at Jags on Sunday. Oo,

that's the highest stakes game maybe for me. See, I I don't like that game. I don't like that game for the Bills,

right? I don't like that game for the Bills. You don't have a run defense. This is one of those things where

you're on the road and here's the here's the thing about how are the Bills on the road and they played so good all year.

Here's the thing about Well, the Patriots is the answer to that. Here's the thing about the Bills too and Josh Allen in terms of the stakes. Like at a certain point the details get lost.

You've been in the league. Well, we have to talk football. I'm just saying, are you picking the Bills or the Jags?

No. You think Listen, I am taking the Bills, but that that's that's not the point. We need to talk about the game.

Our viewers got 55 TVs. They've heard everybody talk about the this and the that.

No, no, no. We should talk about You're not interested in in the Bills and and Jaguars. You're picking the Bills. I'm picking the Bills. What else you want to talk about? How great Josh Allen is.

There's a lot to talk about. Okay, let's go. Josh Allen, just know you're on the clock.

Josh Allen is high stakes right now because Patrick Mahomes is not is not playing right now.

Okay, this is a good topic. And the thing, right, and the thing that people notice is that like me is that Josh Allen has not been on any deep playoff runs in his career. So, you're saying, "So, how about we do this?"

Yeah. Josh Allen, this is your chance, right? Do not screw this up. But, but he has to go on the road

against part of the That's part of it. against the team. This is all part of that has been playing extremely well this season.

It really won't be a road game though because the Bills Mafia travels. They do travel. Bills Mafia is a real thing. And and if I'm Josh Allen, he need as many sunny days he can get.

Here's the thing. So Trevor Lawrence also, like we did, I talked about Trevor. Trevor Lawrence don't have as much

Trevor Lawrence. Trevor Lawrence came into the league with higher expectations than Josh Allen.

Yeah. But Trevor But since he's been in the league, he has not had a higher expectation than Josh Allen.

No, but he's finally started to he's finally started to fulfill. Yeah, but Josh Allen has more Josh Allen has more to lose in this scenario.

Of no question. Wait, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Stop rushing rushing. Do this. It's good stuff.

Fanatic. Trevor Lawrence has finally started to fulfill expectations and he's on overall probably the better team right now and he's playing at home. There is and Trevor Lawrence has not been good in the one playoff game he's played in. There is huge pressure on Trevor Lawrence in this game and there's huge pressure on Josh Allen.

Okay, so who's who has the most pressure? I think Josh Allen does and I think he will be Superman and that will be enough to get them the road win. But if he loses this game in the year that Mahomes is not even in the playoffs when Burrow has at least been to a Super Bowl,

this is my point I'm making. This is a bigger deal for Josh Allen than it is Trevor Lawrence.

But that's not the question. I agree with that. The point is there it's a big deal for both quarterbacks. A huge deal.

Of course it is. It's a playoff game. But what I'm saying is Josh Allen has more Josh Allen.

I'm sorry, Rich. We have to move on now. Okay, fine. 49ers at Eagles. I'll get your I'll get your prediction if you want to just do predictions because we don't have to spend a lot of time on it. the the the ners the ners don't have a defense. I don't think they're going to beat the Eagles without a defense particularly when I think the key player in the game is Lane Johnson. Throughout his career when he has played the Eagles have won and when he has not they're not nearly as good but it looks like he's going to play. So the line looks set except for maybe Jurgens at center hasn't been good. He has not been like Kelsey groomed him and everything to for this moment but he has not been good. Um but if Blaine Johnson's there I think they're okay. I think the Eagles defense is too much for a team without a defense and Herz plays best in his biggest moments. So I like as much as I like Perie, I like the

Eagles here. I like the Eagles, too. And I really want the Eagles to win. So Michael Price is available on Monday because if they lose, he won't be he will be no good.

Yeah. No good. So no, don't Yeah. Don't Eagles have to win. Yeah. Eagles will win.

You want to talk about a fanatic? you I mean I knew Carson Wentz was not good anymore and trending in the wrong direction because this dude would not stop sending me all 22 like you know it's unbelievable. Yeah.

Um Chargers the Patriots I'll give you my take. The Patriots is this a pickup? Well, the Patriots have had a great season, but have had a notoriously bad like soft schedule and they have not really faced great defenses.

How do you get a soft schedule in the NFL? Just happens. Just the way it breaks.

Just the way it breaks. If you don't have a good record the year before and you know, and then on top of that, whoever you're playing when you're playing, if certain guys are hurt or the team the

Browns never get a soft schedule. Then who? The Browns. Yeah. Well, the schedule never looks soft when you're not good.

Since 1964, you never had a soft Well, first of all, it's your division. It's tough because you got the Ravens and the Steelers and Joe Burrow.

There's no such thing as a soft schedule in the NFL. But no, they haven't. They the Patriots have not faced a real defense. And they're facing a real defense with the Chargers.

But so out of 16 17 weeks, you didn't face one real defense. I mean, not like a conference of their own.

Not like the Chargers defense. No. I mean, in the division, there aren't great defenses. Obviously, not the Bills, you know, but but Justin Herbert, like everyone's talking about Drake May as the MVP potentially, and he's had a great season. Justin Herbert has done what Josh Allen's done all year, but doesn't get the credit for it. He has his offensive line does not protect him at all. And somehow they're in the playoffs.

Why doesn't he get the credit? Because, you know, the Chargers Charger and so like he's made to look bad. I never heard that before.

Yeah, but and and but like Jake Drake may may win MVP. If we're just talking about who's better at quarterback right now, Justin Herbert's playing as well as anybody. He's been unbelievable. Um

you think Drake May's the MVP? No, I think Stafford. That's this year. It's a great question. It's a great question. I think like who actually deserves MVP is probably Josh Allen. I don't think he's going to get it. So, it'll be between May and Stafford. And I think it's going to be close.

Okay. Yeah. Who do you like, Patriots or Chargers? You pick the Patriots? Yeah. You going to take the Chargers just so we have something to talk about?

No, I'm going to take the Chargers so we can go to the game. Max, get your head in the game.

That's right. So fine. It's all the same. It's all the same. I mean, yeah. Although I do like Robert Craft, but I'm not going to New England to a game right now.

You're right. You know what? I should change it just cuz I should so that way I could root for the Chargers. I mean, I'll root for them anyway because

put it this way. If the Patriots won, I wouldn't be upset. But if the Chargers won,

do they have a game next week at home? If the Chargers w and they have a game at home, then I would be that would make if they don't have a game at home, then it don't matter.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, in that case, then I'm going with the Patriots. The Rams. Hold on. Would the Rams have a game at home? Are the LA teams not going to have any home games?

This would be terrible. No home games for LA. They're both in the playoffs and even with wins in the first round, they there would be no home games.

God. Yeah. That's the worst. Yeah. Are you kidding me? A nice suite all empty. Well, they should have a viewer party.

At least give us something. Or we should have a viewer party at the sofa somewhere. All right. Now we have something. That's why you can't rush through the NFL, Rich.

I wasn't rushing through rushing through the NFL. I was rushing through your take because

But that's the the take is what we're doing here. But you can't be a fanatic while giving a take. Those are two separate things. How am I being a fanatic? I'm I'm trying to analyze it.

Okay. Well, we have another game. Well, except let's we can save that for next week because it's on uh for Monday because it's Monday night.

Steelers and Texans is going to be Monday night. That's my favorite matchup. Okay.

Yeah, we're going to have a Monday show before Monday. Yeah. Well, you got to save something. Leave something. Got to leave him wanting a little bit more.

I'm so glad because it probably would have took you another 15 minutes to get through that and then we'll be sitting here and we go over. We have to pay for this stuff every time. It's like a concert. Every time you go over, they charge you for these things.

No, they do. Who? What do you mean who? Who charges? Production people, craft services, this like we get charged for this stuff, Max. We never been on a real set before.

Max Kellerman, Rich Paul, I guess. Game over. Have a great weekend. Yeah, have a great weekend.

Go Browns. I'm still But go Giants. Don't let Harbaugh wind up in Miami. No, Harbaugh. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. By the way, they got rid of McDaniel quick. That was all about Harbaugh. Of course,

that was all And that that doesn't make me feel good. It's a killer. That was all about Harbaugh. But my man,

I think Stfansky's probably heading to New York and Harbaugh's heading to Miami. That kills me. I mean, like Stfansky's Cleveland. What do you mean?

I don't know. You have to figure that out yourself. But you know what? If my if if if Harbaugh goes to Miami, I'll be happy for for for Steve and and and and and the team, but I would be sick for the Browns.

Yeah. I don't know. Brown's going to have to find someone. I don't think it's going to be Harball. And you can't even say it's like you can't even say double the price because I mean between Steve and Jim they both money is not an issue come down to money for Harbaugh his market is what it is.

I know. Yeah. I know. I know. All right. But doesn't he like to snow? I think he would prefer I think I mean everyone all when you see the analysts all coming out hey I wouldn't rule out Miami as soon as they get rid of McDaniel it's because people are hearing things usually nine times out of 10

that makes me feel like it's done I hope not that makes me feel like by the way nothing against Stfansky Stfansky is really good but what like what losing franchises need is a is like

is like what Shawn Peyton did in the Broncos you need to turn the whole thing around

doesn't have a business school named after him in Michigan for nothing he's a shrewd business guy.

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Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "NFL Wild-Card Weekend, CFP Reaction, and ‘“Nothing Makes Me Nervous”"?

Max Kellerman (Host), Rich Paul (Guest).

What is discussed in "NFL Wild-Card Weekend, CFP Reaction, and ‘“Nothing Makes Me Nervous”"?

In order: 0:00 Anita Baker, Easy E; 10:00 Michael Irvin, FanDuel, Nipy Hustle; 20:00 FanDuel; 40:00 Dallas Mavericks, Ted Leonis, Zack Leonis; 1:00:00 Eagles.

What is mentioned in this Game Over with Max Kellerman and Rich Paul episode?

12 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including FanDuel, Anita Baker, Eagles, Cam, Michael Irvin, Dallas Mavericks. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "NFL Wild-Card Weekend, CFP Reaction, and ‘“Nothing Makes Me Nervous”"?

The episode runs 1 h 12 min; the transcript is about 13,823 words in 329 timestamped sections.

More from Game Over with Max Kellerman and Rich Paul

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 10, 2026.