Bald Guys On The Bench
Bald Guys On The Bench
Bald and Bold: 150 Episodes Strong
Recorded April 27th, 2025
A landmark 150 episodes in the making, Graham and Scott crack open celebratory beers to mark their podcast milestone that started as a "pipe dream" on a California back porch. What began as friends talking sports has evolved into a thriving show with loyal listeners and plenty of hot takes.
The 2025 NFL Draft dominates the conversation as the guys dissect the most shocking storyline of draft weekend - Shedeur Sanders' unexpected slide to the fifth round. Despite being considered by many as the second-best quarterback in this class and enduring more hits than any QB prospect last season at Colorado, Sanders fell dramatically amid concerns about potential drama. The hosts theorize that Deion Sanders' comments about wanting to coach his son in the NFL scared off teams who prioritize stability in their quarterback rooms.
The conversation shifts to team-specific draft analyses, with Scott praising the Chargers' selections that align perfectly with coach Jim Harbaugh's physical brand of football. Graham expresses satisfaction with Pittsburgh's tackle-focused first round pick while debating the merits of the DK Metcalf trade and addressing rumors of Aaron Rodgers potentially joining the Steelers. Both hosts emphatically dismiss "expert" draft grades, arguing they're meaningless until players have developed for several years.
The duo rounds out their celebration with passionate Stanley Cup Playoffs discussion, highlighting the unpredictability that makes hockey's postseason so captivating. From Vegas battling Minnesota to the Kings-Oilers showdown, the intensity of playoff hockey provides the perfect complement to football's offseason drama.
As Scott and Graham raise their glasses to 150 episodes together, they remind listeners why they started this journey: for the pure joy of talking sports with friends, family, and each other.
#baldguysonthebench #graboneandcrackone #nfldraft #draftrecap #shedeursanders #nhl #stanleycupplayoffs
Welcome to another episode of the Bald Guys on the Bench podcast, with your hosts Graham Cohen and Scott Wasco.
Graham:What's up everyone? Welcome back to another episode of the Bald Guys on the Bench man. It's finally happened. The draft finally happened. The wait is over. Our birthdays are next week. So much excitement, scott. How you doing brother.
Scott:I'm doing great, but the most exciting thing is this is the 150th time that either you or I get to say it to each other. Let's grab one and crack one before we start talking about sports. I'm sorry what? How many times 150. Let's go.
Graham:Let's go baby.
Scott:So with that being said do it, let's go. Who would have ever thought?
Graham:I mean right Back in the day when we thought about it. I was hoping, but you know, back in the day. It's just like something that starts off as an idea. You know it was a pipe dream. Yeah, it was a pipe dream.
Scott:And what did I save in the beginning? It's just like something that starts off as an idea. It was a pipe dream.
Graham:Yeah, it was a pipe dream. And what did I save? In the beginning I was like look, scott, we love talking to each other anyway for hours at a time. Let's try it out. If it turns into something, great. If it doesn't, we're still going to talk to each other the same amount of time anyway. Why the hell not?
Scott:Right, and the best part about this whole adventure is all of our boys that love sports. Listen, text us both about the episodes. Some people not going to mention their names grammar police try to call us out and make us try to feel dumb. Well, you know what You're dumb? Because you're an adult male. Never mind, we're not even going to get into it. But our other friends enjoy it. Listen to the shows and it's fun. Our family, our friends this is what we did this shit for. You know we used to get hammered on my back porch in California. You know we used to get hammered on my back porch in California. I'll never forget one of the greatest nights of you and I drinking beer, talking sports was about the NBA, a sport I could give two shits about.
Graham:Right.
Scott:And it just went on, and on, and on.
Graham:I know I remember that night.
Scott:And here we are 150 episodes. But dude, it is what it is. Let's get it cracking, let's get the party started. We had the draft the other night. We got Stanley Cup playoffs, Some controversy in the NFL draft with Shador. We got some controversy playoffs, some controversy in the NFL draft with Shador. We got some controversy with oh boy, the Falcons defensive coordinator's son, Frank Collins, Shador, Dude, some things we have never talked about before concerning the draft. But before we even jump right into all that, gee, how was your weekend.
Graham:You know there was work involved, but I'll say this did not give a beep Um, and what I mean by that is what I've been waiting for for four months has finally happened. The NFL draft, all the excitement, all the off-season moves. Now pieces are in place for each person's individual team to move forward and say, all right, 2024 was in the past, this is 2025. These are the new pieces and let's see what we can make work. So, to be honest, I'm not even getting into it, but I'm happy with what my team did. I had a great weekend. I'm enjoying the NBA playoffs right now and, since it is playoff time, I'm actually even enjoying hockey right now. So I'm doing good. Brother, how about you?
Scott:Wow, did you bring up hockey?
Graham:Yeah, I'm doing good, brother, how about? You Wow Did you bring up hockey?
Scott:Yeah, I'm watching it, brother. Okay, I like it. I like it, ain't mad at that. My weekend was good. You know, watched the draft starting Thursday night. Watched it Friday night, you know, watched a little hockey playoff. Woke up yesterday morning sick as a dog Kellen got me sick, didn't leave the couch all day, went out to dinner for our boy Billy's birthday, and you know that's about it, dude.
Scott:Today was the first practice for Kellen's flag football team that I coach and pretty excited for what I got to see for day one. Granted, my assistant coach literally calls me as I'm pulling in the parking lot to tell me that he's not going to make practice because he has a special events business. And basically we had a big thunderstorm roll in last night and he had a wedding that he was doing and got canceled and moved to today night. And he had a wedding that he was doing and got canceled and moved to today. So he wasn't there. Yeah, neither were his two kids. But you know I got six people from last year's team and four new kids and, pretty excited, threw a new wrinkle in the waffence.
Scott:It worked out well. The kids loved it, kellen loved it. But you know, watch the. But you know, watch the Knights. We're not even going to get into that yet. Backs against the wall. But draft as a Charger fan going into this draft, there wasn't one area that we needed to hit on. Defensive line was the area and edge, but we also needed some offensive weapons. So you know I was cool, but anyhow the draft was wild, dude, dramatic, all because of Deion's son. I don't remember in recent history of something like this.
Graham:That's because there's not been.
Graham:Ever, right Ever for sure. Well, I mean for sure ever, just because of the way of social media and everything for sure. Also, it's very rare that a player who is coming into the league is a son of a former player. That's not very rare. But being a son of one of the arguably best players ever to play the game, I mean some people say the best at his position. I mean, when you're that guy, you have high hopes. It's like jerry rice's kid you got high hopes. Michael jordan's kid you got high hopes. Tiger woods you got high hopes. And being judged on what your parents did is not fair to the kid. But there are certain parents that I don't want to say this, you know, it's how they raise them within the spotlight. And when you're just so and I'm not hesitating because I'm thinking of anything mean, I'm just trying to think of the right way to say it it's just Dion is Dion right, and he's always been Dion Right.
Graham:And he's a show it's what's his nickname primetime and the thing is, it's just like sometimes people don't want to show that you know the thing that sucks is.
Scott:His son was the second best quarterback in this draft.
Announcer:Yeah.
Scott:I don't care what anybody says. Granted he didn't throw at the combine, he didn't run at the combine, don't care. He stood in the pocket at Colorado and if you go back and look at the stats, how many hits the guy took, he got stacked more than Cam Ward, than anybody drafted before him. And guess what? He got up and he kept clicking.
Announcer:Yeah.
Scott:His interviews that everybody were talking about were awful. Well, that's fine and dandy. I think the thing that hurt his draft status the most and we've talked about it for three days was Deion saying he wanted to coach his son in the NFL. And these head coaches and GMs were all like nah, not even going there.
Graham:I mean I would agree with that.
Scott:I think it hurt him. Am I saying he's the greatest quarterback? No, I mean, we all know this quarterback class was not the greatest and, like I said last night to you, cam Ward is the luckiest person ever because of the way the draft class was.
Announcer:Oh, oh yeah.
Scott:But, dude, the poor kid kept falling and nobody wanted him. You're telling me he's not better than who's the 27-year-old kid the Saints took. That was Herbert's backup at Oregon, Gabriel is that his name.
Graham:Is the juice worth the squeeze? A?
Scott:one of my most favorite sayings from one of my most favorite movies ever. Name that movie Hands up, hands up.
Graham:Why do you catch me every time on the moment.
Scott:It's one of my favorite movies of all times I don't know dude, I know it, I just canadian. I think she's canadian, the actress you think she's canadian blonde Blonde, the Girl Next Door.
Graham:Oh yes.
Scott:Alicia Kuthbert.
Graham:Dude, I haven't seen that movie In what was that like 20 years?
Graham:Amazing, amazing movie yeah, classic, wow, yeah, I wouldn't have got that. I mean it's just Classic. I mean, look, I mean it's just classic. I mean, look, wichador. I mean it's a combination of things Like, yes, they know he has the talent, but it still comes down to like I was telling you last night if you didn't really have him as a first rounder, okay fine. If you didn't really have him as a first rounder, okay fine If you did. You know people were thinking, all right in the second round, but then with all the other outside stuff you're not taking him in the second. Now he slides to the third right Quarterbacks usually, and folks and there's air quotes here usually quarterbacks that are taken in the third round or later are not quarterbacks that are starters in the NFL Usually. No, no, no, I didn't say don't become starters.
Graham:I'm not saying I'm saying they're not drafted in the third round or later as the starters is what I'm saying. I mean you could just go back to the fourth. I can't even think of his name right now, dec Prescott. He was taken in the fourth round. He won the job. You know what I mean. Things happen, I get that. My point in saying it is it gets to a point with an organization that if you're already on the edge with Shador as a starter because of the outside noise with him, are you telling me you don't think there's going to be extra noise that's brought into your organization if he's the backup? Organizations don't want drama at the quarterback position. That's the main position, that they're like yo, straight and narrow, come in, do your job, do well, we're good.
Scott:They don't want drama with any position.
Graham:Yes, but the quarterback position. I mean what I'm-.
Scott:Even the backup. I mean especially-.
Graham:Especially the backup. What I meant by that was there's other positions where players could have a sketchier background and they're like all right, we'll let you slide and we'll still bring you on, but as long as you produce, it's okay. The quarterback position they're the face of the franchise and teams just don't want distractions. They don't want every week. Oh how's she doing.
Graham:Oh, how's he dealing with this? How's he dealing with that? An organization is one goal, one mind let's win. It's not oh blah, blah this, oh blah that. So it's just like, as he was falling, I mean, look, I didn't want him on pittsburgh not that I didn't want him specifically, and I feel like I've said this before, it wasn't him. I just didn't want pittsburgh to take a quarterback in the first, I wanted the tackle.
Scott:Yeah, we know that. We know that.
Graham:Exactly so we didn't have a second. Then, once it came to the third round, you and pretty much everyone else thought Pittsburgh was going to take him. But I mean, when you have that running back right there and we need a running back, it's just like you know. And honestly I bet you that the Steelers were kind of like you know what, if he's been sliding right now, we might be able to get him later. And to be fair, I personally believe that in the fifth round, if the Browns wouldn't have traded up to get him, I think Pittsburgh would have taken him instead of Will Howard. Just my personal thought. Who knows?
Graham:if that's true or not, it is what it is.
Announcer:But it's just.
Scott:Hey you ain't wrong. I mean the running back you guys got from Iowa, right.
Announcer:Yeah.
Scott:The biggest loser in the draft for Pittsburgh, in my opinion, is Warren.
Graham:Yes and no. Warren knows he's not the starter.
Scott:Yeah, he's's gonna get all the Passes and this and that, but dude's a stud. But we'll get into that in a minute. The Chador thing, dude, bizarre to me and I sent this tweet screenshot to you the other night. The Browns have Flacco Kenny Pickett on their depth chart and they passed on Shador five times through three rounds and even took a different quarterback.
Graham:Dylan Gabriel in the third. That's what doesn't make any sense to me. I brought this argument up to you the other night. If you're taking a quarterback in the third and that's your guy to be your developmental guy, what are you doing? Bringing in Shador in the fifth? Wherever Now you have two developmental guys, You're basically saying, all right, we'll give you a shot. Whoever does better will go with you. But, that being said, you don't take a developmental quarterback in the third. There's still so many quality players, especially in this draft, in the third round that you're saying why would you waste it on getting not even a backup but a potential to be your backup? That was what was confusing to me. To be your backup.
Scott:That was what was confusing to me. So you got five dudes in your quarterback room heading into OTAs. Four, but you're technically five dudes yeah one of them, we all know ain't playing. You're only going to keep three.
Announcer:Are they?
Scott:So yeah, you're not wasting four roster spots on the quarterback position. Pickett's the odd man out From the Browns, you're keeping Gabriel, sanders and Flacco.
Graham:But what if? Yeah, but.
Scott:You got to have a veteran with some leadership in that quarterback room, which we know is Flacco.
Graham:Yeah, folks.
Scott:Remember.
Graham:Pickett is not old.
Scott:We know that, but remember the new rules. You can have that third quarterback, emergency quarterback, on your roster that doesn't take up a game day roster spot.
Announcer:Right.
Scott:Hence why the Chargers got Trey Lance when you got Herbert and Heineke and now Trey Lance. But the Browns All right.
Scott:Dude. Just, I mean going into looking at the browns and you know, everybody knows it, but I saw it last night. I was just like, oh my gosh, dude brown starting quarterbacks over the last 25 years. Okay, there's a shit ton of these people. I don't even know the number. I'm looking at the names Tim Couch, some dude named Wynn, doug Peterson, kelly Holmcombe, luke McCown, jeff Garcia, trent Delfer, charlie Fry, ken Dorsey, derek Anderson, brady Quinn, bruce Gretkowski, jake DeLim, seneca, wallace Colt McCoy, thadarius Lewis, brandon Whedon, jason Campbell, brian Hoyer, connor Shaw, johnny Menzel, austin Davis, josh McCown, kevin Hogan RG3, cody Kaiser, deshaun Kaiser, tyrod, taylor, baker, mayfield, case Keenum, nick Mullins, jacoby Brissett, deshaun Watson, jeff Driscoll, pj Walker, dorian Thompson-Robinson, bailey Zappi, jameis Winston and now Flacco Pickett, dillian Gabriel and Shador Sanders.
Graham:Yeah, and do you know who the best quarterback was out of that entire group?
Scott:Somebody that ain't on their team, no more.
Graham:Yizzer and folks, if you couldn't pick up on the tea leaves, obviously that was Baker Mayfield, because obviously none of the other people were on the team. But like, yeah, I mean, granted, flacco has a storied career, but he's what? 48 now.
Announcer:Yeah.
Graham:I just look. I like the fact that they took Shador in the fifth. I mean I'm cool with it. I'm just surprised because now they're making it a quarterback competition just to be the backup and it sucks. It sucks because Okay, how about this? Who do you think is the starting day quarterback right now.
Scott:Day one yeah, it's a no-brainer. Day one, yeah, no brainer Flacco 100%, 100%.
Announcer:Yeah.
Scott:And, just like I told you last night, you know, remember they had the number two overall pick and Jacksonville offered on that trade. I still think that's dumb as shit. Why? Because the Browns have no superstar dude. They have Miles Garrett, okay, they have Miles Garrett. They don't have somebody that's called a generational talent like Travis Hunter to get people excited about at the number two spot. They have nobody on offense, dude Okay.
Scott:They drafted some guys. Yeah, how many people have they drafted in the last 25 years? A lot, but they don't have that guy for fans to rally around to be excited about yes, but they don't have that guy for fans to rally around to be excited about. Yes, they got Mason Graham and they got an early second-round pick and they got a first next year. But how good have the Browns' early draft picks worked out recently?
Scott:Look I agree with you. I mean, imagine this, okay. Imagine the Browns staying home at two taking Travis Hunter, and then, with the first pick in the second round, taking Shador. You got the college quarterback wide receiver combo coming to town. How exciting is that for the Browns fan base that hasn't been excited about anything.
Graham:I get your point, I'm just, I really do. The only thing I would say Go, finish your point.
Scott:I'm just trying to say that because it gets the fans excited.
Graham:All right. So what I'm going to say is this as someone that has lived in the vicinity of the Cleveland area, the one thing I could say is the Cleveland fan base alone is like I'll show them respect because to be fans they're loyal.
Scott:I'm not even talking about the Browns.
Graham:I'm saying of all their teams. The Indians are guardians, now the Cavs and then the Browns. They're loyal. I mean they're loyal amongst loyal, 100%. My point in saying that is this they're still showing up, they're still supporting and they're still going to have new optimism every year based off what they added in that year's draft.
Graham:I have close friends. Every year when I talk to them they're like hey, at the start of the season. They're not like my friend Ted, where it's like, oh, the Dolphins, we're going to the Super Bowl every year. Like no, they temper their expectations but they at least have hope and this is having hope after the previous season of them winning three games or four games. So my point in saying that is your discussion about bringing in a player that will get them excited, yeah, I agree with that. But I think that works better more in the team that they traded with with Jacksonville, because in Jacksonville you have to find a reason for fans to stay fans. There's more reasons for people to be, I mean especially in Jacksonville. There's more college football fans there than there is Jaguar fans there, so it's not even close than there is Jaguar fans there, so it's not even close.
Scott:Like we said the other night, adding Travis Hunter with Brian Thomas Jr. The heat is on Trevor Lawrence.
Graham:Oh, facts.
Scott:The heat is on.
Graham:Facts. Especially with their 12-year-old GM pulling all those oh 100% and look, sometimes you have to swing for the fence In the NFL. You got to do things.
Announcer:They did.
Graham:I mean, you got to buck the trend right. If you're doing the same thing, you got to do something differently. So I was to be honest. I think it was a both move, I'm sorry. I think it was a great move for both teams. Look, you're going to get a first-round pick for them next year and look the way you're talking about it right now.
Scott:Should be a top 15 pick.
Graham:Exactly, it could be between 10 and 20. 10 and 20. And for what's coming out next year?
Scott:And the Browns are going to have two firsts. That's the thing that is bizarre to me. You have those two first-round picks next year that you can move up.
Announcer:Right and there's a lot of quarterbacks, but yet you took two quarterbacks in this year's draft.
Scott:That's what I mean Build, build, build. This was a draft made for what the trenches.
Graham:I agree, and they got. Why do you think they drafted Graham? Why, like I, get that?
Scott:They got Mason Graham to pair up with Miles, but then you took Dylan Gabriel.
Graham:Yeah, well, they also took that stud linebacker from UCLA who a lot of people had as the best inside linebacker in the draft, so they got peace and look Cleveland like well, this is going to sound redundant, but Cleveland's been a quarterback away the last couple of years with what Stefanski's been doing.
Announcer:Absolutely, you're not wrong.
Graham:They've had a good run game the wide receivers have been pretty good. The defense has been good. You know, it's just it's been the quarterback play, so I don't think they're that far away. It's just they need to get it right and the fact that they got two this year, I think I will say this, and I'm going out on a limb I think, personally.
Scott:honestly they got the best tight end in the draft. Homeboy from Bowling Green Really in the draft. Homeboy from Bowling.
Announcer:Green Really.
Graham:Not even your boy from Michigan or my boy from Penn State.
Scott:I think he's the best tight end in the draft which brings you this question. You got Njoku and this dude.
Graham:Yeah, two tight end sets.
Scott:But anyhow, like the rest of the NFL media, I'm over talking about Shador sanders. I'm tired of listening to it. Let's move on, please.
Graham:Jesus, baby jesus I, yeah, I I I mean I just, I just want to say this one thing I'm done with it. In the beginning I was just like because, were we clowning him? Were we, were we not? Yeah, a hundred percent no and I'm not saying like in a way, I'm just saying my point, saying it is is this after a while, as he kept falling and falling, there was a part of me that kind of like felt bad for the kid, to be perfectly honest there wasn't a part of me that felt bad.
Scott:There was all of me that felt bad. All of me, dude, all of me felt bad for him yeah, I agree not even gonna lie.
Scott:and then he gets prank called by the falcons defensive coordinator's son, dude. And apparently Tyler Warren from Penn State was prank called too before the Colts took him. That's unbelievable, dude insane. But anyhow, let's keep rolling, dude. Stat of the day right here You're welcome. Ashton Gentry becomes second highest paid running back in the NFL before he ever number one puts on a raiders jersey and number two ever takes a snap. Dude.
Scott:only saquon barkley is making more guaranteed money what when I saw that, I was just like wow, and I like how is this possible? And it all comes down to where they're drafted and this and that.
Graham:Certain generational players. I don't want to say deserve the money, but at least get the opportunity to get the money, and we haven't had very many of them in the last 10 years. A handful.
Scott:Less Dude Saquon. Okay, guaranteed money is 36 mil. Genti 31. Mccaffrey 24. B John Robinson 21. Jonathan Taylor 19. And just like that King's score, let's go.
Graham:I mean, I don't have the stats in front of me and folks, as you've been listening to us for 150 episodes now, you know we're not a stat show. So, that being said, how many running backs in the last 10 years or let's say 15, well, no, let's just do 10, because that's when the market really started dipping for the quarterback. I'm sorry for the running back market. How many running backs have been taken in the top 10 in the last 10 years? Three, dijon. Yeah, mccaffrey, because that's been within 10 years.
Graham:Saquon, yeah, mccaffrey, cause, that's been within 10 years. Uh, saquon. Uh, well, it's been 10 years. Trent Richardson, it's been 10 years, oh my.
Scott:God, what a dud Jiminy crickets. And then remember when the Colts traded for Trent Richardson.
Graham:I know Cleveland was like.
Scott:Oh, dude, and Colts fans had a Chubby the size of Texas when they got him and then he was a dud, I know. Oh, so the Kings just scored. Tp, text me. I know you're recording, but let's effing go and. I was like I'm watching him recording. He's like whoever scored first in this series has won the game. I'm like hell yeah, let's go. But dude Ashton Vinty is a stud, he's an amazing player. He's small, he's smaller, Whatever, Don't care. Raiders made some moves. Did you see the ex-Raider Hunter Renfro tonight?
Announcer:I heard.
Scott:Signed with his hometown team.
Graham:Can I get a little golf clap here?
Scott:Dude the Panthers.
Graham:I thought Hunter Renfro got the short end of the stick. I mean, he just was not treated well on this way out of the Raiders he produced. I mean, dude, he was their leading receiver two years ago. Yeah right, I think Maybe produced. I mean, dude, he was their leading receiver two years ago. Yeah right, I think maybe maybe. So yeah, whatever I'm not gonna hold you to it, but yeah, yeah, um, the dude got talent and look, the panthers made moves they got t-mac.
Scott:Yeah, apparently the rams were trying to trade up into the top 10 with the Panthers to get TMAC.
Announcer:Really.
Scott:Could you imagine him and Devontae, massive bodies catching passes for the Rams?
Graham:And don't forget, they still got this guy yeah exactly. He used to be 17. I think he's at 11 now. Puka Nakua, you ever heard of him?
Scott:Yeah, could you imagine. That?
Announcer:Yeah.
Scott:Insane, crazy.
Graham:Dude, I hope Bryce Young turns it around. I really do. The shit that he got for his rookie year that was so unfair, warranted, warranted.
Scott:Look at who his head coach was.
Graham:You got a problem with Frank Wright. Yeah, he's garbage.
Scott:He's garbage, garbage, but they have the right head coach in place now.
Graham:I agree.
Scott:Who was, remember, the offensive coordinator for Tampa when Baker turned it around? I can't think of homeboy's name. You know all the shit that happened in Carolina last year with him getting benched after the Chargers laid the wood to him and then I forget who was the backup? The Red Rocket, right? Andy Dalton, red on the head like a dick on a dog, andy Dalton, what it's, andy Dalton? You know? Red head.
Scott:You got to throw it out there. Oh my God. Anyhow, a lot of teams did good things this year, dude, but I don't care about a lot of teams did good things this year, dude, but I don't care about a lot of teams, I just care about my team, your team and the broncos and chiefs fucking up did they though?
Scott:no, the broncos first round pick was stupid good but, and the offensive tackle that fell in the chief's lap was stupid good. But word on the street is green law quad two. I mean I think he played in like three or four games last year. You know, I don't want anybody to get hurt unless you're a bronco or a chief, but you know, whatever it's what it is, my bad, you're unbelievable, don't care. Having a couple of days to think about my chargers draft first round and you know, seeing how it unfolded for us, I love what we did. Everybody was questioning the pick of Hampton. When you have Najee on the team, well, najee only signed for one year, right, okay, we got Hampton under control for a minimum of five. Then we got the wide receiver from Ole Miss who was banged up last year. Big dude, finally have that true X receiver for the Chargers and then third round defensive lineman from Oregon, stud. But the craziest thing and I said it to you last night, are you ready for the question of the day?
Announcer:Hit me.
Scott:How on earth does the SEC Defensive Player of the Year fall to the fourth round?
Graham:I got a second question. How is the SEC Defensive Player of the Year a cornerback?
Scott:No, he's Edge.
Graham:Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you said it was a cornerback.
Scott:No Edge from South Carolina.
Graham:Oh, my apologies, Dude. Sometimes awards don't mean anything, I don't know. Look, every team has their evaluations, the pro days, every exactly and it's just. And look, we also have to realize the fourth round. We're still talking about the 120th best player out of all the college football players. That's pretty fucking good, studs.
Announcer:We're not picking bumps here at this point.
Graham:So let's. Oh, it's the fourth round. Yeah, 120 out of 2,000.
Scott:I'll take those odds all day Studs.
Graham:All day so.
Scott:I mean, yeah, but the coolest thing for me, obviously, being a Virginia guy a local wide receiver from my area who actually played high school football where my wife went to school at Maury High School in Norfolk was drafted in the fifth round by the Chargers, started his career off at Penn State and then went to Auburn. And the craziest thing about it all is Keandre Lambert-Smith is Cam Chancellor's nephew. We all remember who Cam Chancellor is, right.
Graham:I mean, he was alright.
Scott:I mean the centerpiece of the Legion of Boom.
Announcer:Yeah you know, ugh Pretty good.
Scott:Pretty good. Dude, dude, I'm stoked. Big dude, big target. You know I'm stoked with who we got in the draft.
Announcer:Right.
Scott:I'm pumped. All our draft picks were basically about how the Chargers are starting to play football. The second running back. You're going to have Najee and Hampton wear out a team. You got the right side of the line who are massive. You wear them out, wear them out, wear them out and boom, second half hit them with the play action. Thanks for playing. You got Trey Harris, who's now that X receiver. You got Mike Williams coming back. You got Lede Day and you know, don't forget the tight end from the Jets Conklin.
Graham:Ain't mad at it, there's still someone you're forgetting. Who am I forgetting your?
Scott:former first-round pick from two years ago, quentin Johnson.
Graham:Yeah, I'm only bringing it up because I know how much you hate this guy.
Scott:I don't hate him. I don't hate him.
Announcer:You don't hate him.
Scott:I don't hate him. He was used in the wrong way his rookie year when Mike Williams went down. He's not a 50-50 guy. Right, he's a yard after the catch guy and when Mike Dubb went down they tried to make because of his body. He's a big dude, it's not the way he plays.
Scott:No, he's a slant guy, would I say we could have been better with that pick Duh. How do you do? Do you have wooden balls? Does a whale shit in the ocean? Yeah, I mean we could have picked Zay Flowers. We could have picked Addison. I mean, god dang, we could have picked Graham over here. He wouldn't have dropped that ball against the Ravens last year. Oh, maybe, but anyhow, dude, I'm pumped.
Graham:Seeing that drop in person was brutal.
Scott:But anyhow, I like what we did. Let's don't talk all about my team.
Announcer:Let's talk about your team.
Scott:We all know that you were ecstatic because you took homeboy from Oregon with your first overall pick, love it and the best thing about everything was it was so much fun for me every episode to give you shit about guaranteeing the steelers were taking a quarterback in the first round until it happened. And I'm like, yeah, I've been bullshitting you forever. We were listening to that episode today, kellen and I on the way to practice, and I'm like kellen, listen to this. I've been bullshitting with graham for four months about this and he's like why? I'm like because I know how to get my boy riled up and chad was dying, dude dying, fired up, dying. But you know, it is what it is. I just like I told you last night I absolutely hate that the Pittsburgh Steelers, one of the greatest organizations in the history of the NFL, are throwing all their eggs in the basket of someone that does not like his mom and dad and broke up with Danica Patrick.
Graham:I hate it.
Announcer:First of all, it's the second half of that Look.
Scott:That's a goddamn penalty. If they don't call it, I'm throwing something Power play for the Kings.
Graham:Alright, I understand where you're coming from with that comment. I agree with you and, to be honest, it's not like I said. I had the most positive things to say about Aaron Rogers these last couple of years anyway, and you're right. That being said, the position in which the Steelers were in, especially with this offseason, we didn't have that many options. I mean, the free agent quarterback market wasn't very sexy. But, to be fair, when is the free agent quarterback market sexy? Never, maybe once, once every 10 years. It's not so.
Graham:That being said, we knew what we had with Russell and Justin Fields. We knew it. They were in our facility for that year. So if we knew what we had with Russell, that's why we let him go. Or should I say we didn't re-sign and bring them back? Could we have, possibly, if they didn't know what was going to happen with Rodgers? I still believe that Rodgers is going to sign. I think he's just taking his time and he's being himself. Am I happy about it? No, but the way the Steelers positioned themselves in the draft by not taking quarterback until the fifth, I get it. They're going to rely on him.
Scott:Here's a question for you Would you rather have Rodgers as your quarterback going into this season or Kirk Cousins? That's a tough question. Rodgers Only because of the financial aspect, I think you're not getting Cousins unless it's a trade and you are not taking on his salary.
Graham:The falcons are gonna have to eat a shit ton of that I know that it's either eat they're still eating it it's just, are you, from what I've been hearing, with that? It's okay, we'll eat half of that you got to pay the half in no draft picks or we'll eat 75% of it. But then we want draft compensation. You know, a few picks with it and not like high picks. I mean high as in like fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh. I'm talking like second, third type stuff, which we're not going to do.
Graham:Look, obviously Rogers is a bandaid. No, bandaid is not the right word. Rogers is the filler for this year in a win now. We got players that are in win now mode and which is why we're not relying on, you know, drafting a rookie quarterback. A rookie quarterback's not gonna help us. Cam Cam Hayward is 36, bro, he ain't around for much longer. Minka is not a young whippersnapper anymore. Tj Watt is not a young whippersnapper anymore. It's go time now. And Rodgers, if he can play to the level in which we're used to him playing at, then that gives us the chance right, and that's all you can ask for right now. We know that next year is going to be the year that we're taking the quarterback and for as long as I've been a Sealer fan. Granted most of my years of being a Sealer fan, I've been privileged, I'll admit it, starting to be a Sealer fan in 2001, two to three years before we got Ben Roethlisberger understanding now what it's like drafting a Hall of Fame quarterback.
Graham:After it's over having Ben as our quarterback, I feel like I took him for granted. I took him for granted, I mean, I knew how good he was for the team, but it's just like yeah, that's our boy, get out of this. But it's just like. Pittsburgh, to be fair, has had two quarterbacks that have been worth a damn in their entire existence. I just happened to be alive for one of them and in my prime of watching right.
Scott:So I'm fortunate We've talked about this numerous times. I know you as a steelers fan, me as a charters fan. I got to watch drew breeze and then go straight to rivers who played for x amount of years and now go to Herbie Spoiled.
Graham:The friend that brought you and I together, badger he went from. Brett Favre, to Aaron Rodgers, to Jordan, love, fuck you.
Scott:And then you look at franchises like the. Dolphins, Cleveland, I mean.
Graham:Detroit, new York, exactly Bringing it back. I'm happy with our draft picks. I knew we were going to wait on the quarterback for next year. Look in the Steelers we trust In Omar Khan, in Art Rooney we trust. If they didn't draft someone, I believe that they think that we're for sure getting Rodgers Rodgers. And that's the only thing we can do, because, look, like I said, we let Fields walk, we let Russell Wilson walk and, honestly, I really believe we would have re-signed Fields. I really do, but I just think the number that Pittsburgh wanted to pay him was not anywhere close to the number that the Jets gave him. That, personally, that's what I believe. So, that being said, it is what it is. We put ourselves in this position. I get it. So if Aaron Rogers is going to be the guy draft the positions that we need to fill, to plug and play in the holes that we needed to fill, obviously losing nausea to you guys. We needed a running back, yeah, but you got younger.
Scott:You got younger at that position, yeah, but you got younger, you got younger.
Graham:At that position we couldn't stop a nosebleed in the run.
Scott:Derek Hartman, thanks for playing Like that's huge, but remember, half of your cap is all invested in your defensive side of the ball.
Graham:Yeah well, bro, we still haven't paid TJ yet.
Scott:That's my point. We're going to, and that's you know if anybody listened to, we got money to spend, not a lot. And if anybody listened to the episode the other night I remember beating the book he was like, oh, steelers, invest another first round pick in a defensive player.
Graham:No, but look, I get why he would say that because he's the outside looking in. Look, we've been known for defense. I get that, Bro. We couldn't stop the run.
Scott:I don't disagree with you.
Graham:If you can't stop the run.
Scott:But when you give up a second round pick for Metcalf to pair up with Pickens and then extend Metcalf and you put a lot of investing into a wide receiver, I'll counter with this If we didn't make that move, what are we taking in the second round?
Graham:that would make everyone so happy.
Scott:Younger wide receiver. Look at the league right now. Look at the league right now. Who are getting paid? Boatloads of cash Receivers.
Graham:I still would rather have DK than any receiver. We would have taken the second round Granted. It's just the money while you're saying that, and I get that yeah.
Scott:I'm just saying it because now you have control over this dude for four years.
Graham:Right, no, I get it. But okay, if you want to give that point, then I'll say this point to you. It's happened more recently, so I'll take what I'm going to say with. You know, besides five wide receivers, who has come out? I mean, if you take away puka, justin jefferson, you know the people that have gone in the.
Graham:you know who beside like five or six guys have really been like all right, we're dominating the league that we're going to take within the first two rounds and you have them under control in a rookie contract yeah, yeah, and then look what. Then look what happened when they just paid Justin Jefferson and when they just paid Jamar Chase and when they just that's what I'm saying you have this rookie receiver under control on a rookie contract for four plus years.
Scott:Yeah, look what the Bengals got to do with Chase. Look what the Vikings got to do with Jefferson rookie contract. Look at what the chargers are doing with the day. Look what the Vikings got to do with Jefferson rookie contract. Look at what the Chargers are doing with Lede. Look at Brian Thomas Jr.
Graham:But we got Metcalf, for I'm not going to say pennies on the dollar, but compared to the Chase and Justin Jefferson contracts, it's not even close. They're making almost $40 million a year. Well, Metcalf.
Scott:I mean, isn't half the wide receiver that Jefferson and Chase are? You're being a homer.
Graham:Seattle doesn't throw the ball they run. If you swapped Higgins for DK Metcalf, they would be like I'm not going to say this.
Scott:Higgins for DK Metcalf. They would be like I'm not going to say this, but I think I'd rather have Higgins than DK.
Announcer:Shut the.
Graham:What, what Are you serious?
Scott:A hundred percent.
Graham:Oh, my Hold on, hold on a second.
Scott:A hundred percent.
Graham:I need to take a shot right now, a hundred percent.
Scott:Where's my booze? Like I, I need to take a shot, right now A hundred percent.
Graham:Where's my booze? Like I need to go to the bar right now. This is unbelievable. You know what? All right, I can't with you right now. How about this? This is a perfect little transition. What I will say is this I'll finish this off with the Steelers.
Graham:I love our first round pick, derek Harmon. Derek Harmon, love it. I love Caleb Johnson. I didn't realize because I was at work when it happened.
Graham:I hate repping Ohio State, but we got two of their boys Jack Sawyer in the fourth Ain't mad at that. We got another defensive tackle. We signed Will Howard Love it. And then, you know, in the seventh round, we got two guys. It guys. It is what it is now, since this is the 150th episode. This might be the first ever dual kicks rock moment, and we haven't even talked about this yet. But what have we been saying off air before we started with the nfl draft? Everyone and all these quote-unquote People in the media, the gurus, nfl draft grades you know what about your draft grades? Kick fucking rocks. Oh, pittsburgh got a C or a C plus. The Chargers got a B minus. Just because you don't like the guys that you got, I'm sorry, just because you don't like the guys. That the teams got has nothing to do with how they fill into the team's needs and what they can do Like it is absolute bullshit with these grades. Oh well, the Patriots got this, this and this. You know what I mean.
Scott:We said it the other night and it was like, come on. We said it the other night and it was like, come on, you can't grade a draft class until three years down the road. Facts, facts, okay, what do you think? What do you think and here's a funny one what do you think the Chargers got as a grade last year, with trading up and taking LaDaeDae in the second? How'd that work out? Right, not only did we trade up, but we also got an extra fifth round pick trading up with the Patriots, and we got Still from Maryland. So we got LaDaeDae and Still. How'd that work out for the Chargers?
Announcer:Exactly.
Scott:The day after the draft it was like oh, what the hell they're doing? Shut up, dude. All you guys are media guys like graham and I. You don't have a clue? Badger will sell us all one you know, it is what it is.
Scott:I mean, we're just all dudes talking about it. Unless you've been in a war room, unless you've been, you know, on a scouting team aka daniel jeremiah. What's the dude? Three and out podcast, middle croft, whatever. Yeah, you can't say anything. Dude, you think I give a shit about what fucking Pete Crisco thinks about my charter picks? You're a dork dude. You probably got beat up in middle school and you were the last person picked on a goddamn kickball team. Shut up, dude. I mean don't care, just I mean don't care at all. I mean go F yourself and your glasses, you nerd. But anyhow, let's move on real quick.
Scott:We're like 55 minutes in we got Stanley cup playoffs going on Once again. Proven Stanley cup playoffs is the craziest dude I mean, so intense, so wild. You know my Knights won the opening game, then got the lead to them in game two and three. Then we score early in game four and we're down one goal heading into the third yesterday on the road at Minnesota and we're down one goal heading into the third yesterday on the road at Minnesota. And Jerry texts me dude, minnesota is undefeated this year with a lead heading into the third and we win in overtime Even the series heading back to Vegas.
Scott:Game five Tuesday night. Pumped about that. Kings dude. They're up 2-1 in their series against the Oilers after a brutal, heartbreaking loss Friday night when they were up 1. The Oilers score, the Kings rookie head coach challenges it, cp yelling through the phone. This is the dumbest challenge I've ever seen in my life. The challenge is reversed, the goal counts, the Oilers are instantly on a power play. I mean, the Kings go up one to down one in like 25 seconds, lose game three. It was brutal, brutal. They're playing right now. Kings are women dude. The blues smoked the number one seed jets today five to one. I think their series is tied two to two. Caps canadians caps just one. So they're up three games to one. Hurricanes and the Devils. Hurricanes are up three games to one. Panthers-tampa been a brutal, hard-hitting series so far. Everybody knows the Panthers are a heavy team. They like to hit Tuchuk. Got away with a hit the other night, didn't get suspended, which was like wow, can't believe it happened yeah couldn't believe it.
Scott:Avalanche stars tied at 2-2 and then toronto dude and the senators been in overtime I two of the four games. Toronto's up 3-1 against the Senators. It's been wild, it's been great. It's the Stanley Cup playoffs, dude, that's all you can say. It's literally. Since I've been a fan of hockey, it's the only postseason where it doesn't matter the seeding dude postseason where it doesn't matter the seeding dude. Yeah, it's how the hot team and the hot goalie are.
Graham:Kind of like the NFL. You just got to be hot going into the playoffs.
Scott:Yeah, ask the Giants. When they beat the Patriots they were the last team in and got hot. But anyhow, the most important thing on my mind right now is 150 times at looking at your ugly face across the country talking sports. I'm just kidding, you know, I love you. I know, uh, but dude, I love it. Nfl draft Once again proving why NFL is amazing, because we're talking about it year round.
Graham:Yes, yes, agreed.
Scott:The greatest thing I heard about the draft came out the other day with Roger Goodell saying the first round time it needs to go to like seven minutes or something like that.
Graham:Oh, I didn't hear this.
Scott:Yeah, please, baby Jesus. And how about when we're watching it live, when it says the pick is in, can we announce it Not eight minutes later? At least?
Graham:they stopped Eight minutes later At least they stopped. They stopped the camera crew showing the person that gets picked when they're on the phone before the guy's actually picked Like thank you, and the best thing I saw was homeboy from Ohio State getting the call and he's taking a shit. And his mom answers the phone.
Scott:Bro, that dude's going to get shitted on for the rest of it. All I could think about when that shit was going on was my son, because Kellen, as a 14-year-old, takes more shits than anybody I've ever met in my entire life, and I was like, if my son is blessed enough to be in this situation, guaranteed he's squeezing one out when the phone calls.
Graham:No food. No food on draft day for him Dude.
Scott:Amazing so good. No food, no food on draft day for him dude. Amazing so good. But you know, the next best thing that happens in the nfl world is may 14th. We're not even going to talk about it.
Graham:So two days after your birthday and on my mom's birthday.
Scott:So I'm hoping we get a little, a little special love.
Graham:Please pay for Jesus, but anyhow, your boy is going.
Scott:Got the phone call tonight going to Cabo. Oh for Maddie's wedding alright, congratulations next April, and there is a certain NFL offensive coordinator that is also a groomsman with your boy. Let's get it started. Let's get it started, but anyhow.
Graham:I love you to death. I'm so excited. This is our 150th episode. I'm super excited. My birthday's next is a week from today it's funny if we didn't do the draft special my birthday would have been our 150th episode. I'm totally fine with it. It is what it is. But, that being said, because 150, if you do the math, three year anniversary is June 9th. Three years we've been doing this podcast. That is unbelievable. Scott, I love you to death. It's been an absolute pleasure doing this with you. As the best homie always says Buh-bye.
Scott:And for the 150th time goodnight friends. Pete Prisco, you're a nerd. You don't have a clue. You're so goddamn stupid. Take your glasses off and learn if a football's stuffed or inflated. I'm going to tag you in this. We're going to make it real and I hope you talk shit to me.
Announcer:Buh-bye real and I hope you talk shit to me. Bye.
