Ever wondered what it would be like to be a fly on the wall during a pre-draft NFL war room discussion? Well, consider this your VIP pass. Joining me are Matt Lima, a die-hard Cowboys fan, and Garrett Pope from Pope Training and Performance, as we tackle the most tantalizing prospects of the 2024 NFL Draft. We're not just throwing darts at a board; expect our bold predictions on Caleb Williams joining the Chicago Bears, Jaden Daniels' potential fit with the Washington Commanders, and our rankings of the top quarterback talents bound to shake up the league.
Then, we're shifting focus onto the chessboard of team strategies, where the stakes are as high as the expectations. The Arizona Cardinals are in our sights as we speculate on Marvin Harrison III potentially redefining their wide receiver game. But the intrigue doesn't stop there—the Los Angeles Chargers might be eyeing Joe Alt to fortify their offensive line, while the Giants and Titans plot their moves to maximize their squads' talents. It's a veritable gridiron game of thrones, and you've got the best seat in the house.
Finally, I'm donning my Cowboys fan hat to forecast what moves Jerry Jones and the Dallas front office might make to uphold our legacy. The conversation naturally evolves into an exploration of how figures like Jones and the Patriots' Bob Kraft have left indelible marks on their franchises through their draft decisions and coaching hires. Draft day is a fusion of strategy, fortune, and foresight, and with Stephen Jones' burgeoning influence, we're peering into the crystal ball at what the future holds for America's Team. Strap in; it's not just a draft preview—it's a trip through the heartbeat of the NFL.
Ever wondered what it would be like to be a fly on the wall during a pre-draft NFL war room discussion? Well, consider this your VIP pass. Joining me are Matt Lima, a die-hard Cowboys fan, and Garrett Pope from Pope Training and Performance, as we tackle the most tantalizing prospects of the 2024 NFL Draft. We're not just throwing darts at a board; expect our bold predictions on Caleb Williams joining the Chicago Bears, Jaden Daniels' potential fit with the Washington Commanders, and our rankings of the top quarterback talents bound to shake up the league.
Then, we're shifting focus onto the chessboard of team strategies, where the stakes are as high as the expectations. The Arizona Cardinals are in our sights as we speculate on Marvin Harrison III potentially redefining their wide receiver game. But the intrigue doesn't stop there—the Los Angeles Chargers might be eyeing Joe Alt to fortify their offensive line, while the Giants and Titans plot their moves to maximize their squads' talents. It's a veritable gridiron game of thrones, and you've got the best seat in the house.
Finally, I'm donning my Cowboys fan hat to forecast what moves Jerry Jones and the Dallas front office might make to uphold our legacy. The conversation naturally evolves into an exploration of how figures like Jones and the Patriots' Bob Kraft have left indelible marks on their franchises through their draft decisions and coaching hires. Draft day is a fusion of strategy, fortune, and foresight, and with Stephen Jones' burgeoning influence, we're peering into the crystal ball at what the future holds for America's Team. Strap in; it's not just a draft preview—it's a trip through the heartbeat of the NFL.
All right, this is the Good Neighbor podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, mike Zededa.
Speaker 2:Hello out there. Welcome to the Good Neighbor podcast. Normally we talk to business owners about what they have going on in the community, but today, with it being draft week in the NFL, we wanted to do something a little bit different and do a draft top 10 draft, kind of discuss what we think is going to go on with a few folks in the area. We have Matt Lima. Matt is a Cowboys fan. Matt, how are you doing today?
Speaker 3:Doing well, Mike. I'm doing well. How about yourself?
Speaker 2:Hanging in there. It's a little bit hot in the studio here. Norman is breathing heavy and and we're uh, getting excited with the draft coming up in a few days and you have garrett pope of pope training and performance in lakewood ranch pope, how you doing today? Good, good man of many, many words. I can see that. So we're gonna, we're gonna jump right in and talk a little bit about the pot, about, uh, the the upcoming 2024 nfl draft and we, you know we talked a little bit about the upcoming 2024 NFL draft and we talked a little bit before we came on air about what we think is going to happen and different scenarios. I want to try to keep the discussion as to not all the crazy pie in the sky 20 pick draft trades and all this other stuff, who we think, if the teams in the positions they have held their positions, who's the best available person for that team when they draft and we'll try to get as far down as we can go and not go off on a tangent talking about division predictions and all this other stuff. We're going to stick to talking about the draft and I will say this the one thing I did want to say before we get started is I never thought I would do one of these. I do every this. The one thing I did want to say before we get started is I never thought I would do one of these. I do every year, you know, pope, you and I talk. I do like a prediction of how I think the season's going to end.
Speaker 2:Draft stuff I don't really love because it's just made up crap. It's people that have inside information in their air quotes and they talk about. You know what they think is going to happen. None of us know. None of the million Twitter general managers know what their team's going to do, who they like, how they rank people on their board, and the three of us here? We don't know either. We're just going based on what we think is going to happen in the draft, based on our limited knowledge and probably a little bit more of what we hope is going to go on. But we'll jump right into it. So, matt, the Bears have the number one overall pick. Everybody and their grandmother thinks they know who the bears are going to pick. I know who I think they're going to pick. I know who I think they should pick. Who do you think the bears are going to go with at number one well, mike, I'm with america.
Speaker 3:I mean, if you, if you don't draft caleb williams and in chicago everyone is gonna feel like it's a disappointment he's all consensus, number one. I think you have to pick him. What they did in the offseason the weapons they brought in the table has been set for Caleb Williams. I don't see them picking anybody else.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think that you know, trading Justin Fields away, setting some things up, getting receivers that they need and putting some pieces in place. I think if you don't draft Caleb Williams and he goes on to be a, you know, a Pro Bowl quarterback, everybody in Chicago is going to say another quarterback we missed the boat on, I think. I think Jane Daniels is probably better, just a little smaller, but I think they're going to go Caleb Williams as well. Pope, what do you think?
Speaker 4:Hands down Caleb Williams.
Speaker 2:They got to take him. They got to take him. I mean we were talking about this earlier in that the Bears never, really ever that I can remember in my lifetime, have ever had that guy, like they've never had the quarterback the one year they traded with Philadelphia. Right, Philadelphia takes Carson Wentz who, again, I don't think he was all that great, but he got them to a Super Bowl, had one good season and let his career kind of hang on, but the Bears got to go. Caleb Williams number one you come to the commanders. The commanders are at like this position where they can set up the entire, you know, next 10 picks of the draft, depending on who they go with. I personally think Jaden Daniels is the best quarterback in the draft, like NFL ready. My only knock on him, I mean he makes every throw, he can go off script, he can do everything. My only knock on him is his size. I think it's a no-brainer that the commanders take him. But what do you guys think, pope? You think they're going to go in a different direction.
Speaker 4:No, I think they go Jaden.
Speaker 2:Daniels, you think they go. Jaden Daniels, matt, what about you?
Speaker 3:I think they go Jaden Daniels as well. I think it may be a mistake. I have Drake May as my top quarterback. Same, and you know, the RG3 Kirk Cousins may have some kind of similarity there, but I think they go Jaden Daniels for sure.
Speaker 2:All right, so let's pause for a second here. Just the quarterbacks. Let's just talk the top. I'll give you five quarterbacks. You tell me them in order Caleb Williams, jaden Daniels, drake May, michael Penix, jj McCarthy and Bo Nix. Those six guys your order. You both start with Drake May and then who's two through six, matt.
Speaker 3:Drake, may, jaden Daniels, I think, jj McCarthy, penix, caleb Williams.
Speaker 2:And then Bo Nix at the end. Yeah, pope, what about? You I mean I'm surprised by that list. But Pope, what about you?
Speaker 4:Drake May number one. Caleb Williams number two. Jaden Daniels number one. Caleb Williams number two, jaden Daniels number three McCarthy McCarthy is a trend.
Speaker 3:He's got to be in the right system.
Speaker 4:I think as well you put McCarthy on a team with a shutdown defense and all talent around him, he can win. You put him on. I'm just going to use, for example, the honest truth. I'm a Patriot fan, but if you were to put McCarthy on the Patriots, it's going to be a complete and colossal failure. He's.
Speaker 2:Mac Jones, he's Mac Jones 2.0 on the. Patriots. He's Brock Purdy 2.0 on the 49ers.
Speaker 4:Yes exactly Except Brock.
Speaker 2:Purdy was the 199th pick, not the top 10 pick. I mean, that's the biggest difference between the two. So all right. So JJ McCarthy and then Pennix Nix, kind of down the mix there. You don't really.
Speaker 4:Exactly, I like Bo Nix. I like Bo Nix a lot. I think Bo Nix has that intangible, like McCarthy does too. Listen, he doesn't have the most talent in the world. It depends where he goes. If you put Bo Nix on the right team, personally, I think Bo Nix ends up on the Raiders.
Speaker 2:It's possible. I mean I think I don't know if they take him at 13, but all right, so just I want to get the quarterbacks. For me, I definitely think Jaden Daniels is number one. I think most athleticism. I definitely think Jaden Daniels is number one, I think most athleticism. I got to give it to Caleb Williams Overall arm strength athleticism. I think he's a little bit of a head case or could be a little bit of a head case.
Speaker 2:Number three for me is Drake May. He hits all those markers like all those prototypical guy things. For me fourth is probably Penix. I mean, the only thing that makes me nervous. Everybody talks about his injury history, all that Like as a Giants fan I couldn't take Michael Penix because his blind side is protected by Evan Neal and his injury history will come back. It'll be injury present if that's the case. And then you know Bo Nix to me and JJ McCarthy to me. I don't see much of a difference between the two guys. One was in a system where he got to win and the other had to go from Auburn to Oregon, put some ridiculous numbers. But from a standpoint of like I just I'm just not sold on JJ McCarthy for me. I mean I but, again.
Speaker 2:I would readily admit I thought that Ryan leaf was going to be better than Peyton Manning because of the system he played in at the time, et cetera. It's a big, loud wrong on my part, but that's how you guys, we've all had that, we've all had that, oh yeah, oh yeah, so all right.
Speaker 4:So down to McCarthy. How did Michigan win all their games last year? Defense and running the football and defense. How many games did McCarthy have to throw for four yards and five touchdowns?
Speaker 2:No, you're right, no, you're right?
Speaker 3:No, but he didn't make any mistakes either.
Speaker 2:And that's right. So like that's the big thing with a quarterback in the NFL today, you know, and it's not today, it's forever it's the John Elway, brett Favre, gunslinger mentality versus the. And the one guy who's kind of the mix of that is Brady. Brady, early in his career was the quote-unquote system quarterback until he got to a threshold where now he's like look, you can just give me everything and anything, it doesn't matter, there's 12 seconds left. We're down by 10. We're down 28 to 3 with 11 minutes left. Whatever it is Like, that's just him. So like there's those two school of thoughts If you have a roster constructed like the 49ers.
Speaker 4:You can pick the 199th pick and trade away Trey Lance and be done with it and get rid of Jimmy Garoppolo.
Speaker 2:199th pick was Brady. He's the last pick in the draft. He was Mr Irrelevant. Yeah, my bad, good catch. So we all think Caleb Williams number one. We think Jaden Daniels number two. Now we're at number three.
Speaker 2:Okay, now listen, we've all heard the stories about the trades and what could happen and what should happen and all this other stuff. I personally think if the price is right, the Patriots will trade the pick. But I also think the Patriots organization knows the value of having that franchise quarterback. Now they have Brissette came back right, isn't Jacoby Brissette back? So maybe they're thinking they don't need to put a guy in there right away. They can get a guy later in the draft like a Bo Nix and get him. You know, trade back and get him.
Speaker 2:So listen, the draft is. The trade has been floated. Let me float the trade that Pope heard recently in his insider information that Pope has. We're talking the Vikings and the Patriots trading the 11-3 pick this year, plus the Vikings give up the 23 pick this year, plus a first-round pick next year, plus a first round pick next year, plus a first and a third round pick in 26 to trade up to get Drake May to insert him with Justin Jefferson and Addison and that team that they have up there in Minnesota. That was so close to getting there but just not getting over the top. That's, I think, a little far-fetched. I mean, let's just say to keep it chalk here with this if the Patriots have to draft, who do you think the Patriots would take? You think they're taking Drake May. If he's there, drake May will do it.
Speaker 3:Matt, I have to agree. I think Drake May is a better quarterback.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all right, so we're leaving.
Speaker 3:I definitely. Even if they don't pick Drake, may they go quarterback. You have to go quarterback, okay so?
Speaker 4:Be a choice and you said you can take May or that offer from the Vikings is on you got to take the offer. You take the offer, but if it's anything less than that from another team, or they're not. Let's say, the Vikings just happen to say listen, we'll give you the 11, the 23 on our first next year. There's nothing else we're giving you.
Speaker 2:Then the Patriots take Drake May. Even with that, even with three number one picks over the next three. Ok, so you guys both think Drake May's number one. So the Patriots are getting the best value at number three in the quarterbacks.
Speaker 4:In my opinion.
Speaker 2:Ok, all right, so let's just keep it at chalk. So we're at qb, qb, qb. Okay. Number four is the arizona cardinals. I think we all you know we kind of talked about this offline when we thought we were online. Marvin harrison the third is the most complete wide receiver in the draft. They need to get a weapon for their quarterback, kyler Murray. I mean, is there another universe where they take neighbors over Harrison or Alt over the wide receiver? You guys think they could go any one of those ways?
Speaker 4:No no.
Speaker 3:I think it's Harrison, but somebody in the room. There could be a couple of guys in the room who want to get neighbors, and you never know the dynamic, but they're not grabbing Alt over to get neighbors, and you know. You never know the dynamic, but they're not grabbing all over Harrison or neighbors. That's not happening.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think at number four there's almost like this, like at least definitely with running back, right, like running back. I mean I don't want to talk about drafting this running back number two overall, but even like Ezekiel Elliott went early in the draft, sa all. But even like the Ezekiel Elliott went early in the draft. Saquon went early in the draft. You know Adrian Peterson was an early drought. You know those days in the NFL are gone.
Speaker 2:But I think you know if there's any offensive lineman you take in the top 10, it's a, it's a tackle, it's an anchor tackle. But when you get to the interior lineman you kind of want to wait till later in the first round. But I think we all agree. At four, the Cardinals, keeping this chalk has to be Marvin Harrison. He gives an immediate legitimacy to the wide receiver room and he gives Kyler Murray that weapon that he needs. So we're now to number five, the Los Angeles Chargers. Here's a team who lost both of their wide receivers to salary cap contract, can't afford to have them and they have probably a top 10, maybe a top 7 quarterback in Justin Herbert. They definitely could use an offensive lineman, although they do have. Who is it? It's Rashad Slater, yeah, so they have.
Speaker 2:Rashad Slater. But having an offensive lineman be good or do you think they end up going and they jump in and they take who? Do you think they take neighbors?
Speaker 4:No, I say in that position, if they don't trade the pick, they're taking an offensive lineman Because there's so many good receivers that can be gotten later.
Speaker 3:They can get in later. I agree, you have to protect with everything that you got. You have to protect Herbert.
Speaker 4:I love that. Let's just say Joe Alt with Slater.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, Now you got bookends for the next 10 years. You're starting to build a Dallas Cowboys slash Philadelphia Eagle type offensive line for the next 10 years.
Speaker 4:They just signed JK Dobbins. Now listen, I'm not saying Dobbins is hurt every time you turn around, but if he can stay healthy and you have that type of offensive line, oh wow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but he made it past one year. He didn't make it out of the second day of training camp, right I mean he's hurt, he's low on him, he's hurt.
Speaker 3:They're still a year away. They're waiting for next year's draft to draft somebody special. They'll still be at the top seven picks next year, I mean at least they changed coaches right.
Speaker 2:I mean, that was probably the biggest thing that the Chargers needed to do was bring in Jim Harbaugh, because they probably should have been playing in the divisional round two years ago, except they completely folded to Jacksonville. Coaching has been bad there for the past few years and that you know. Coaching has been bad there for the past few years, and that you know. If anything else, you know he has a. Hallbar has a history of taking a franchise that's kind of down like the 49ers were in that little bit of a lull and turning them around quickly and instilling a system that gets them to move forward. So yeah, you're right, probably a year away and they'll turn it around and they'll be playing. They'll be competing with the Chiefs. As they start to lose, their roster gets blown apart.
Speaker 4:If you do one second, somebody's going to poop on the floor. I just got to let them out.
Speaker 2:Oh, go ahead, Take your time while he's pooping, so perfect times. Speaking of poop, we're up to the Giants pick. So for me, the best thing that we can do with the Giants pick in my opinion at this point, if all goes to the Chargers, is definitely pick up neighbors from LSU. I think personally, while Marvin Harrison may be the most polished complete player at the receiver level in this draft, neighbors to me is the most explosive guy that they could get to give them a weapon where he can. He's played inside, he's played outside. They have wandell robinson, they have um, uh, jalen hyatt and then they still have um, darius slayton.
Speaker 3:That would be a pretty good one through four in my book if there's anything we know from the last few years, is that if you draft a wide receiver out of lsu, he's going to be good yeah, I mean there has definitely been a history, you know.
Speaker 2:Listen, we'll go through them. Obj, jamar Chase, justin Jefferson and now Neighbors is the next in that line. So we're going to slot Neighbors at number six to the New York football giants At number seven. Now, with Joe Ault off the board, you have the Tennessee Titans. They have their quarterback, who they think is their quarterback of the future, but Derrick Henry is gone. They've shuffled the deck a little bit. What do you think is the go-to need for the Tennessee Titans at number seven?
Speaker 3:Man, they have a lot of needs. They have a lot of needs. And, man, I would hate to be Tennessee picking right there.
Speaker 2:man, I would hate to be tennessee picking right there. Honestly, um, there's so many weapons that they need on offense. Um, you know they again. I, I personally don't think like I was thinking this. This draft was going to be like quarterback, quarterback, receiver, receiver, receiver, and then these guys were going to get an offensive lineman. But I can't see them. Like Will Levis needs somebody to throw to. I can't see them going wrong with Roma Dunze out of Washington. There's a lot of different options for them to do. At the number seven pick Pope. What do you think about the Tennessee Titans? What do they need to do at number seven, offensive?
Speaker 2:lineman Okay so the Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 4:What do they need to do at number seven, offensive lineman? Okay, so the kid who? The kid from Penn State I can't pronounce his name, it starts with an O.
Speaker 3:So you're thinking they go offensive? Pashanu, pashanu, pashanu is his last name, pashanu. I can't get that first name, so they're going to go.
Speaker 2:You think they're going to solidify the offensive line and go with somebody that's going to give them more protection, more time to give their quarterback a chance to develop, absolutely All right. So here's where the draft, I think for the first time, goes to defense at number eight. Because, in my opinion look, I lived in Atlanta for a long time, it was always, you know, matt Ryan, and they kind of did their thing and their defense would give up 30 but Matt Ryan would score 35 I think that they are positioned with the weapons that they have on offense, at running back a tight end receiver and now at quarterback, although you know, rg3 versus Kirk Cousins, yeah for sure. But I really think they're set up decent on offense. I just, you know, I think they're going to go defense. Where do you guys think they go? At number eight, who are they looking at? Go ahead, bo at number eight.
Speaker 3:Who are they looking at? Go ahead.
Speaker 4:Pope From Alabama, the defensive end.
Speaker 3:Dallas Turner.
Speaker 4:Turner, turner.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think there's no other choice in my opinion to stick with the SEC, go with a defensive lineman who could lock down that defensive line for the Falcons and then balance out their roster a little bit. They're the one team early in the draft I mean even looking ahead to the next couple picks that I think has to go defense. So we'll leave that there. Bears have two first-round picks, so they're going to take Caleb Williams at the top of the draft. Now they're coming up at number nine. I don't think they need an offensive weapon. I mean they could go get an offensive weapon. Who are you guys thinking the Bears might pick at?
Speaker 3:number nine. I like Jared Burse, I think. See, I think they go Terry on Arnold the corner from Alabama. Where the Bears are standing at right now. If they go best available cornerback, best available defensive tackle, they're not going to miss, they can't go wrong, they're not either with one of those.
Speaker 2:So for the Bears to have a successful draft, not trading any of those picks, you get your franchise quarterback and you get a lockdown corner or you get a lockdown defensive lineman. They can't go wrong with either of those. Let's go on to the Jets Now. The Jets are one of those teams that really have a lot of pieces in place. I personally think, at number 10, which is where we're going to kind of round it out, we're going to get in a little bit into the Cowboys, because we know you came on to talk a little Cowboys, but the Jets, I think at number 10, their best bet is probably Brock Bowers to fill out that offense. I mean, what are you thinking? Pope Bowers, all the way? Yeah, bowers, probably, because I mean he's a versatile tight end. He's played with every team he's been on, he's won a couple of national championships and he got robbed of playing in the playoff this year. But what do you think, matt? You think that?
Speaker 3:number 10? I think, with Aaron Rodgers being on his last leg, you don't have very much longer. You get the weapons, you win.
Speaker 2:They got to get, yeah, you got to get him a weapon.
Speaker 4:I mean one thing in the Bowers, yes, he could. You can line up in the slot. He's a hybrid receiver tight end. But there's a kid out of Kansas State. His name is Ben Sineau, s-i-n-e-o-t-t. He's actually going to turn out in the NFL to be better than Bowers. He's a 6'5", 250-pound tight end that lined up in the slot 50% of the time at K-State. That lined up in the slot 50% of the time at K-State. They're drafting him at 10. I'm just saying, down the road he's going to turn out to be a better NFL player than Bowers. Jets are locked in. Jets are taking Bowers at 10.
Speaker 3:Jets are taking Bowers.
Speaker 4:But as the whole of the end of the NFL career, that Ben Sano is going to have a better career than Bowers.
Speaker 2:Okay. So we know what the Jets are going to do. We kept the, we kept the draft in order. Now the Vikings are up at their their position, which all three of us can agree. We think they're going to trade some sort of package to get up there. But now they're here at 11 with what's left on our board. They have JJ McCarthy as an option. They have a Bo Nix as an option. You think they have to go receiver? Do you quarterback? Do you think, if you're thinking like the Vikings, they have the weapons on the outside, they have a decent offensive line, they have a much improved defense. Do you think that could be that scenario for JJ McCarthy? If they stayed pat and didn't give up all the draft capital, that he still would be there at 11 and they could grab him.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Right In this scenario? Yeah, so I don't think that's. I mean, if we're talking about a system quarterback and he's what we consider, that I think he could go there if we kept everything intact and they wouldn't have to give up five, six first-round picks or whatever we talked about. The next up on the list is the oh 12. Who do we got the Broncos at 12. Broncos? I mean Sean Payton is looking for that guy. Where do you think the Broncos go? I mean we have a couple quarterbacks left on the board, can Sean Payton? I mean he took Drew Brees, who was average, slightly above average quarterback, and made him a Hall of Famer. Bo Nix average, slightly above average quarterback, and made him a hall of famer. Bo nicks you think broncos? Take bo nicks. He's right up there in oregon, he's not far, right down the road and he ends up going to the broncos. So we think bo nicks, if we keep everything straight, is going to be a denver bronco. So does that make the raiders michael pennix landing spot at 13?
Speaker 3:yep I think it does and I think the raiders are very happy to get a chance to draft.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, so we listen. Looking at our draft board, I mean we've had, we've had what we had williams, daniels may, then we had jj, bo nicks and pennix six quarterbacks. In the top 13 picks, six of 13 are qbs and then receivers and a couple defensive guys. I mean that's pretty crazy to think that that's the case. This is like the 1983 draft on steroids. I mean, matt, you're too young to remember the 1983 draft. That's correct. But yeah, I think that's. I mean I definitely there could be some mix-ups and some trades and some things that go on there. Yeah, definitely, definitely. So I think we've done about 30 minutes on the top 13 picks. The next couple picks are like the Saints. There's the Seahawks are in there too. There's a couple other picks in there. Is there any team?
Speaker 2:If you're looking at the rest of the draft and we'll start with your team, matt, the Cowboys, and then we'll kind of jump into a couple of different what you guys think, I want to touch on one other thing. But let's jump to the Cowboys. What would be the ideal situation as a Cowboy fan, where you come out of this? You start with the number 25 pick, you have a couple other picks in there. What would you say would be the ideal situation for you to come away with. You have, um, the you know you have straight up. I mean there's, you have the 24th pick in the first round, the 24th pick in the second round, 24th pick in the third round. What would be you leaving the draft?
Speaker 3:be happy. I think if the draft goes exactly how we're saying and seven quarterbacks get drafted in the top 15 or 20, we need an offensive lineman and the more non-offensive linemen are drafted before us gives us a chance to get maybe a JC Latham or the kid from Washington, which he'll probably be gone. There's some good tackles, there's some good guards. We need best available offensive linemen.
Speaker 2:So rebuilding that, what's made the Cowboys so dominant all this time, rebuilding that line from the inside out, would be the ideal dream scenario for you. Honestly, you guys have a ton of talent, mean ton of talent. There's tons of talent on that roster. Um, you know, it's just a matter of do you get the play from your quarterback and listen. Look, I'm a cowboy hater. I'm a Giants fan. I grew up. My best friend was a Cowboys fan. I had to hear about Danny White and Roger Staubach from the time I was a little kid and then, after we got done listening to those about those guys, then I had Emmitt Smith and the Big Three and Michael Urban. I've heard about it ad nauseum for a long time as someone who could look at it objectively. The Cowboys have a ton of talent on that roster. In my opinion, what has held them back for the past, you know, for the past 20 years has been ownership more than anything else.
Speaker 3:I mean jerry is always uncle jerry's fault okay.
Speaker 2:so I mean, and listen, I got two guys on this phone that are contract on this call, that are contrasting ownership other than this stupid thing that just came out on apple. That makes bob craft look like, uh, like a whiny revisionist history baby, you know. I mean it makes him look bad. I mean, think of this okay, had Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson not butted heads in year five of that experiment or year four of that experiment, they would have been doing a dynasty for the 90s the way that the Patriots did it. They just had such big egos in the room that they imploded in year four. Bob Kraft what's disingenuous to me about Bob Kraft is he loved what Belichick was doing for 20 years. And then when Brady leaves and he has a couple of bad years, then all of a sudden Bill Belichick is the devil and he loved Tom Brady. And listen, I get that, he loved Tom Brady, I get all that stuff, but he kind of, 20 years after the fact, after he got all the six.
Speaker 4:As a lifelong Patriot fan, Right F did with Belichick is an exact repeat of what Kraft did with Parcells Exactly. So a lot of people don't realize that these new Patriot fans that have only come on since Brady and the Dynasty and all this kind of stuff, they didn't know or maybe they don't remember or they weren't fans. But Kraft had the same issue. Remember there was the famous comment by Parcells Shopping.
Speaker 2:What was that Shopping, if you that?
Speaker 4:Shopping.
Speaker 2:If you want me to make dinner, you should let me pick out the groceries.
Speaker 4:The groceries and that was because Kraft was. He put in Bobby Greer as GM and said, well, no, we're going to make the picks, you're going to coach the team. And Parcells wanted with the number seven overall pick, he wanted to take a defensive player and Kraft overrode him and said no, we're taking Terry Glenn. Kraft did it back then and then their egos, they couldn't get along. Now he did the same thing with Belichick. The only difference is Belichick gave him 23, 24 years Championship years. Yes, so he had a couple bad years these last couple years. Listen that they were due for that. They don't have a quarterback. Yes, belichick made some. Listen, I love Belichick. He made some bad draft decisions. He definitely did. But don't you have some type of equity built up that you get a pass?
Speaker 2:well, all right. So let's keep it to the draft, because that's what we want to talk about here. You're right. Here's the thing. We just sat here and made 13, 14 picks in the last 30 minutes, talked about our teams, talked about what we want and all that stuff. Here's the thing about the draft, and it leads me back full circle to what I said at the beginning. None of us knows crap about what's going to go on. And here's the best part out of all the 13 picks we just made, about 50 of them are going to pan out and the other 50 are going to be terrible. So like the best thing, in my opinion, looking at it as an outsider for the cowboys, the best thing to happen to the cowboys has been Stephen Jones coming in and playing, being able to play devil's advocate for Jerry Right. Like ripping the Johnny Manziel pick out of his hand and telling him no.
Speaker 3:All of us in Cowboy Nation are waiting for the day that Stephen takes over this franchise.
Speaker 2:So this goes back to what I'm saying. Looking at it as a level headed fan. You got a ton of talent, has they? Have they done? Since Steven Jones has gotten involved, the Cowboys have a load of talent. What happens is when, like, look, is Mike McCarthy a good coach? Yeah, he's a good coach.
Speaker 2:But when the crunch times happen for the Cowboys, they have, you know, bad clock management, a couple little boneheaded plays here. It's, it's there. They just have a little bit of an issue with that. The Patriots are. They're a couple of plays away from being 0-7 in the Super Bowl versus being 7-2 in the Super Bowl. If they just play Malcolm Butler against the Eagles, they probably beat the Eagles. If they, you know, there's a couple plays here and there. If David Tyree didn't make the helmet catch, they win that Super Bowl. If what's his name? If Kyle Shanahan just runs the ball into the line four times and punts, the Falcons win that Super Bowl. So there's so many split-hair things and that's what's great about the NFL. We never really know if a player is—we think Caleb Williams is the be-all, end-all he can come into the league, get hit a bunch of times, flake out, get happy feet and not have the career. That's what makes the NFL where we're talking about. Their season just ended two months ago and the NFL is being spoken about while the NBA and NHL playoffs are going on. That's what makes it so interesting. They've made it a year round thing.
Speaker 2:I think for both of you guys it's kind of the year like. Even you know. For you, pope, especially, you're in a position where your team was really bad. You have this third pick. What is going to be the price tag that lets you give up on a potential franchise quarterback to be able to build that team? I think if there's an organization that has leveraged picks better, there's not many organizations that have leveraged picks better than the Patriots. So I think you're in a great position Thursday night to see that happen.
Speaker 2:Matt, from your perspective, there's some holes to fill, but there's talent there. You guys are like that team that always finishes just good enough to get a crappy not a crappy pick, but not an optimal first round pick. But you don't ever get to see the that ending result. I love it when they're going up there with that card and like you're waiting, like when it says like a trade has been made and they're all of a sudden going to announce it. There's so many cool things. That just makes the draft that trickle down effect where, like the Giants a couple years ago um, you know, I think it was what Jacksonville took the defensive lineman out of Georgia and somehow, you know, kayvon Thibodeau slips to the Giants and he ends up coming in.
Speaker 2:Who, again? You know, you know, listen, all right, we'll end this. We talked about the Cowboys, we talked about the Patriots. We'll end this on the Giants. Polk, you're delusional. I'm a Giants fan. Your delusional thinking is that the Giants have a chance to win the division this year, losing Saquon Barkley, xavier McKinney. You think, xavier McKinney, you think they've done enough to actually win the NFC East?
Speaker 4:I do. I think they're going to have a top five defense. Their offense is still going to be a struggle. They're not going to be a Super Bowl caliber offense. They're going to have a top five defense. They're going to ride that defense obviously to the NFC East. That defense is going to be so underrated they're going to come out of nowhere. Also, remember I said this Book it Somewhere down the line, whether the third or the fourth round, the Giants are going to draft Spencer Rattler. Okay, he's going to end up as the starter by the end of the year.
Speaker 2:So how are they going to win the division and he's going to be the starter by the end of the year. So how are they going to win the division and he's going to be the starter at the end of the year? You're talking out of both sides of your head.
Speaker 4:Oh, Daniel Jones gets hurt once again. Rattler comes in. Rattler just manages the game. So that's why I said they're off. They're not going anywhere in the playoffs.
Speaker 2:So what you're saying. So, if I hear you correctly, what you're saying is the Giants' blueprint to win. The NFC East is going to be what the Cowboys did with Dak Prescott when Tony Romo got hurt 10 years ago however long ago it was and come in and have a fourth-round quarterback, take them, manage them to the playoffs and then lose.
Speaker 4:Hey, remember, remember something, Remember what the Patriots did.
Speaker 2:Bledsoady, mo lewis is should be the mvp. He should be in every patriot super bowl parade that they had every year, because he's the reason they got there. Guys, let me thank you so much for coming on and doing this. Um, matt, is there anything you want to plug? Do you have anything going on? Is there anything you want to promote? Not really, I mean what about your wife's business? Does your wife own her business?
Speaker 3:she works.
Speaker 2:She works for p fit over there in the bexley hub so if you're out in the bexley area, you're listening to this for entertainment purposes. Go out and see matt's wife. She's at p fit in bexley and in the bexley hub over there and then pope, tell people what you do for a living. I think are you a seamstress? What do you do? You do sewing. Is that what you do? Uh?
Speaker 4:I own pope training and performance. It's on the border of lakewood ranch in sarasota, uh, about 45 minutes to an hour from tampa. Um, I do private one-on-one training. Um, I've trained every I used. I used to train a lot of the new york mets. Um, so like I work from athletes all the way down to, I'll give you an idea, my oldest client currently now is a 77-year-old woman. I have a 13-year-old kid. I train people. I think I showed you my one client that lost 200 pounds. I do a wide variety of you know training. Yes, my gym is styled a little bit more on the hard core style. Hold on, will you shut up?
Speaker 3:is that how you train people, you know. Sign me up man.
Speaker 2:Sign me up man so if you're looking for that gentle, that gentle coddling approach to training, clearly Pope is your guy. Guys, thank you so much for being on the Good Neighbor Podcast draft special. I appreciate your time. Thanks Anytime man.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Pascoe. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPascocom. That's gnppascocom, or call 813-922-3610.