Coaching changes, Contracts and Crushing the QB (Myles Garrett!)

It’s Halloween week on The Inner Circle as the guys open the show debating the ultimate Halloween candy draft.. Reese’s vs Snickers vs Peanut M&M's and the proper etiquette when it comes to handing out the big bars.

From there, the group discusses the weekend’s biggest surprises: Miami’s blowout win over Atlanta. Matt breaks down how Mike McDaniel and Tua Tagovailoa completely flipped the script, using a physical inside run game and perfectly timed screens to find rhythm. Aaron gives a defensive player’s perspective on what happens when a top-ranked defense walks into a game too relaxed and gets punched in the mouth.

The guys also turn their attention to the surging Colts, who suddenly look like a team built to last behind Jonathan Taylor, Daniel Jones, and a dominant defensive front led by DeForest Buckner. Aaron names Myles Garrett his Player of the Week after a five-sack performance, and the conversation evolves into an honest discussion about what it’s like to be a superstar on a losing team—and how organizations try to convince elite players to stay. Todd gives a candid look behind the curtain at how agents handle those situations, from trade talks to managing expectations inside the locker room.

Later, the crew gets into the chaos of the college football coaching carousel, how false reports can spiral into hours of damage control, and the constant buzz around NIL and the transfer portal. Matt and Zach also discuss the tension between media and coaches, highlighting DeMeco Ryans’ testy exchange with Houston reporters and what real communication between the two sides used to look like.

They wrap with a Halloween two-minute drill: favorite and least favorite candies, best costumes, and a few personal stories that reveal a lot more than anyone expected.

A mix of football insight, personal perspective, and genuine locker-room chemistry — this episode captures everything that makes The Inner Circle unique.

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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-inner-circle/id1837695806

Transcript

Zach Klein (00:00)
What it is, Zach Klein, Todd France, Matt Ryan, Aaron Donald. It is the Inner Circle podcast. The leaves are changing in Atlanta. Cooler temperatures. It's probably 80 and sunny. Is that what it is out on the West Coast, AD?

AD (00:11)
89 a day.

Matt Ryan (00:13)
You

Zach Klein (00:13)
So how do you get in the Halloween spirit if it's 90 degrees in the fall? That's what it is. What did you say? Get decorations? We'll get that. So, you know, in the media, you have the first question, you have the final question. So I'm going to start out with the first question. Being that it is this Halloween week, if we're to do a candy draft, what's the number one of one? What's the one seed, the number one overall pick in the candy draft?

AD (00:17)
Costumes, you see the decorations. You see the decorations.

T$ (00:35)
Thanks

Matt Ryan (00:36)
I'm going snickers. It's boring, but it is good. Reliable, consistent, been around for a long time, snickers.

Zach Klein (00:37)
Snickers.

Is that the one?

Respect

it. Todd.

T$ (00:46)
You know, I would love to say chocolate almonds if that was a trick or treat ⁓ candy, but it's not. I will go peanut &Ms. I love peanut &Ms.

Matt Ryan (00:53)
Ooh.

Zach Klein (00:54)
The

one overall seed, peanut ⁓ &Ms. Wrong answer. AD?

T$ (00:57)
I mean, yeah.

Matt Ryan (00:58)
Wrong.

AD (00:59)
That ain't bad. Snickers is my two. Peanut NM's is my three. But I gotta go Reese's. Reese Cups, You gotta go Reese's. That's one. You know what mean?

Zach Klein (01:04)
Yes! See AD? The one of one. You're good people, AD.

T$ (01:08)
I

could go with all of those being one as well. So I'm good with all of those because those are my top three actually.

AD (01:13)
you go see you

Matt Ryan (01:13)
They're good, man.

are, Reese's are good. I feel like I'm the outlier in my family. Everybody else in my family would say Reese's won, but I don't know, man. Something to, like you put a Snickers in the fridge or, and it's cold and it's coming out, it's good, man.

AD (01:24)
Same thing with the Reese's. They

said good.

T$ (01:27)
You know what's good

about Snickers now? They have not only the mini bar, but they have like a mini mini one, which is even like a half of the mini. It's a mental thing. Right, you didn't feel like you did anything. You didn't feel like you really cheated or had a bad meal. ⁓ Yeah.

Matt Ryan (01:33)
I had two of the half minis last night. They were good, man. Post-dinner, it was really good. I felt good about it. Like I wasn't really, no. It probably like 50 calories. It was perfect.

AD (01:33)
Yeah. ⁓

⁓

There you

go, a little fix, that's it.

Zach Klein (01:46)
You didn't have dessert

at two minis. We're good. Life is good. Life is good for two in the dolphins. We've been kind of hard on him on the show of late, but he balled out 20 of 26, two five and four touchdowns. So the previously one in six Miami dolphins go into Atlanta and had the Falcons, their worst home loss in four years. They went up by 24 and gents with a little over five minutes ago in this game. It was 34 to three. Mr. Ryan, how does this happen? How does one week we're crushing this guy's a leader of this team?

Matt Ryan (01:49)
Yeah, life is good.

Zach Klein (02:15)
Chaos in South Florida is a total shit show to him looking like Tua.

Matt Ryan (02:18)
Yeah, listen, I mean, I think there's a lot of factors as to why it happens. Number one, credit to Mike McDaniel, right? Like they've been hearing the noise and credit to everybody else in the building too, of hearing that noise and trying to kind of steady the ship. And I thought they did that. There's a lot of things, a lot of different directions I wanna go when we start here. And some of it has to do with Atlanta.

to be frank, right? Like, and how they performed.

But I thought their scheme was excellent. And I know we're not, you know, heavy into the Xs and Os here, but I thought the scheme from Miami was excellent. ⁓ You know, the Falcons defense had been pretty good ⁓ up until this point in the season. And they played a lot of this five down front, like a bare front type of thing, AD, right? So there's five guys on the ball.

AD (03:06)
Mm-hmm. Yep.

Matt Ryan (03:09)
And in the run game, they made a commitment. think everybody, when they think about the Miami Dolphins, Mike McDaniel, they think of this wide zone scheme, right? So it's like outside zone or this mid zone and they attack between either set of guard and tackle, right? They run behind those guys in the zone scheme. Well, they made it clear they were going to run it right up the middle, smack up the middle with pulling with pullers, right? Or they were going outside. They were running toss crack.

Kind of scheme and they committed to it and they did an excellent job of getting after the Falcons in the run game that way I thought they screened the ball Extremely well, right if you're trying to get a quarterback into rhythm you want to throw a lot of screens I thought they threw screens like very very well, whether it be to the back Or to the wide receivers. There was a commitment to throwing those screens ⁓ So, you know, I thought Mike did a great job of game planning, you know against Jeff Ulbrich's defense with

with the Atlanta Falcons and put to it in position to be successful. ⁓ You know, but then it goes to the other side of the ball. And this is something we're talking about the weather coming into it, right? It's been cold and rainy here in Atlanta. What was the weather Sunday,

Zach Klein (04:18)
It was cool. It was misty. It was rainy.

Matt Ryan (04:20)
It was cold, windy

and rainy. What's the bugaboo on the dolphins? They, they do not take the show on the road, right? Cold, rainy, windy.

Zach Klein (04:24)
that they can't handle. Cold.

But

last I checked Mr. Ryan, that roof was closed. Yeah, I see.

Matt Ryan (04:33)
Open the roof. If you look

AD (04:34)
Yeah.

Matt Ryan (04:35)
at the Atlanta Falcons, right, and how they're built, Michael Pennex is out.

Zach Klein (04:37)
And you were playing chess and I

was playing checkers right there. I walked right into that thing.

T$ (04:41)
I feel

like the show just started now go ahead.

Matt Ryan (04:43)
Right. So if you're the Atlanta Falcons and you're playing against the Miami Dolphins who played in Cleveland the week before the week, we were all talking about how bad they looked. Right. And how disjointed that offense looked. It was cold. It was windy and it was rainy in Cleveland. And that's kind of been the storyline of, of the dolphins since Tua has been there, right? The, the inability, ⁓ to play in poor weather. ⁓ and then on top of that, if you're the Atlanta Falcons,

AD (04:51)
Yeah.

Matt Ryan (05:11)
You're starting quarterbacks out. You've got Kirk cousins coming in. What is the strength of your team? If you're the Atlanta Falcons, run the football and your defense, right? Coming into it, the defense was highly ranked. So like, if I'm looking at it, I'm thinking about all of the factors that you could put, you know, put into it to give yourself a chance to be successful if you're Atlanta, right? Like don't give them any hope. I would have opened that roof. I would have let it get wet. And I know they're big into

Zach Klein (05:17)
to run the

Matt Ryan (05:37)
you know, the fan experience and creating a great environment for the fans. But I think you got to give the fans a win. I think that's the most important thing you can give the fans is every opportunity for your team to be successful. And I just, I don't know, I would have opened that roof. I would have made it ugly for the Dolphins. I would have given them, you know, no hope, try to make it as difficult as possible. ⁓ So I think they, I think they missed the mark on that one.

T$ (06:00)
AD, like from a defensive standpoint, right? Falcons are ranked so high, coming into this game, obviously get blown out. How do you, as a guy, if you were on that defense, how are you handling that? Not just post game and not going into the following week, but even during the game, on the sidelines, like what's going on with you and the players and your teammates based on this kind of game?

AD (06:20)
That's for sure frustration. You frustrated about it, right? To me, it's looking like a Falcons team that probably went in that game a little too relaxed thinking we playing against a one and five, one and six Dolphins team that ain't been playing, going on the offensive side of the ball, thinking that was going to be an easy win. In the national football league, you got to go about it every single week. It's going to be a tough game no matter what it is, right? Sometimes you play a team that's five and one. You go when they're locked in. Sometimes you got a team that's coming in one and six.

You get a little relaxed, right? And then that team come punch you in your mouth. And then it's like, what the fuck just happened? you're disappointed, but the best thing about this game is, you got next week, right? You watch the film Monday, you move on forward, get your body back right Tuesday, come back to wins, they ready to work, right? And come Sunday, you know, it's time to go back to work and trying to find a way to win a game and be better than what you did last week because...

The reality of it, know, there's good games or bad games. It was a bad day in the office for the Falcons, so they just got to come back and bounce

Zach Klein (07:16)
Now, well, they're a surprise for one reason. think we could agree guys. You think the Colts are surprised for a different they've four, a seven and one, one, four straight. Uh, they're balling and give it up to their quarterback, Daniel Jones, man. And we talked about fit and culture and doing things the right way. And he is more than taking advantage of the second opportunity, man. He's just, he became the second quarterback ever along with Brock Purdy to have a passer rating of a hundred or higher each of their first five home starts with the team.

AD (07:44)
Well shit, when you got a running back like they got a running back with that one-two punch, shit, you better. God, They're playing good football, man. They're playing good football.

Zach Klein (07:47)
Hahaha

Matt Ryan (07:47)
You

into the season though, who would have said we're hitting the halfway mark right now, right? And the Colts are gonna have two legitimate front runners for MVP. Two, right? Like I think maybe in a crazy world, you might have thought, okay, Jonathan Taylor, I could see that, right? He could go off. ⁓

AD (08:10)
Yeah.

Matt Ryan (08:12)
But to have Daniel Jones right smack in the center of that as well, I don't think anybody would have seen that

it.

AD (08:20)
Not at

but playing good football consistent. That's crazy.

Zach Klein (08:22)
272 yards, three

Taylor in his 75th career game, he had 174 yards from scrimmage, a buck 53 in the ground, 21 receiving yards and three touchdowns. He's the fifth player since 2000 with at least three scrimmage touchdowns and four games in a season. Joining pro football hall of famers, LaDani and Tomlinson, Marshall Falk, as well as Sean Alexander and Priest Holmes. That's pretty good company right there.

AD (08:31)
Mm-hmm.

Matt Ryan (08:44)
pretty good. That's

AD (08:45)
Hell

yeah.

T$ (08:47)
priest holmes.

Matt Ryan (08:47)
pretty good. And you talk about the reasons.

Zach Klein (08:49)
Should we have Priest Todd?

T$ (08:50)
I did.

Zach Klein (08:50)
Give me a good Priest home story.

T$ (08:52)
I don't know. I I just, I remember the priest, would wait for him to come out after the game. And one time after that, I never waited again. He was like, it was, everyone was gone. was like, did I miss him? There's like, I mean, staff is gone. Security's walking out. I'm like, there's no way. mean, I would know if priests came out because he's priest and every, and he would just finally come out so much after the game. And he would.

Zach Klein (09:01)
Ha ha ha ha.

T$ (09:18)
sit there and then we'd go back to his house and he, I'll never forget, he had ice packs all over his body on the side of his leg. And you tell me how he would take a helmet to the side, like unbelievable. And the only place we can ever go eat in Kansas City was like a Chinese food restaurant at like four o'clock because no one would be there and no one would recognize them until they, they did come over and ask Mr. Holmes for an autograph or something like that. He was great though. He was great. So.

Matt Ryan (09:41)
Priest

was all over the telecast last night. Travis Kelce just passed him for what? The most touchdowns in Chief's history. I mean, Priest was unbelievable, unbelievable player.

T$ (09:46)
touchdowns.

I used to love when he would score,

would open his arms like right when he crossed the ends. It was awesome. It was fun. Fun. Yes.

Zach Klein (09:56)
Shout out Priest Holmes. Good stuff

Matt Ryan (09:57)
Yes,

Zach Klein (09:57)
there. Yeah, he got his eyes lit up. Yeah, shout out Priest Holmes.

Matt Ryan (09:58)
I didn't think we were going there, but I love it. Shout out to Priest. Yes.

AD (10:00)
You

T$ (10:02)
Just wanted

to flex on my age, keep going.

AD (10:04)
Hahaha.

Matt Ryan (10:04)
I want to go back to the Colts though and just talk, yeah, talk a little bit about, you know, what they're doing and, and just, you know, the more you watch them, I think every week it's like, okay, yeah, the Colts, it says at least the first six or seven weeks of the season. Okay. Yeah. The Colts, they played good last week, but right. They played good last week, but I think we're beyond that stage right now. And I think their mindset, Zach, I think is, is shifting, right.

Zach Klein (10:04)
AD- Yeah, go ahead Matt.

Matt Ryan (10:30)
there's an expectation for them to come out here and to be rolling. I just look at what they're doing. They run the ball really well. Jonathan Taylor's playing excellent. The offensive line is doing a great job. Three guys that I played with are still there. Quinton Nelson, Bernard Ryman, and Braden Smith at the two tackles and left guard position. They're playing really, really good football right now. I think the wide receiving core is stepping up and they fit.

They fit with what they're doing from a scheme-wise, like scheme standpoint, really well. Michael Pittman's very good over the middle of the field. Alec Pierce is very good stretching the field. All of those things start to open up when you run the football the way that they are. And then I think on the defensive side of the ball, I think it's a defense that's coming into its own. Luanna Rummo comes over there as defensive coordinator, was in Cincinnati for a long time.

He's an aggressive type of play caller on the defensive side of the ball. And I think it fits their personnel really, really good. AD, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on DeForest Buckner. I always thought he was like an extremely, extremely talented interior defensive player, both versus the run and the pass. He's having a great season.

AD (11:37)
Yes.

I've been a fan of his since he was with the Niners, right? He's been a guy that's been productive in the backfield. He's a good pass rusher. I like that. His chop club is a little awkward. He did his chop club with a high swim, but he found ways to win his one-on-ones. He lived in the backfield, man. I've been a fan of his since he first got in this league, man. And he's playing at a high level right now. He's consistent. Because for me as a player, I don't want to see what you do one. Every Blue Moon, you got to be consistent. You got to do it every single week, right? And I think he's showing up in a big way leading that defense.

Matt Ryan (11:46)
Mm-hmm.

AD (12:10)
⁓ I seen it as a young age and look, what year is this for him right now? Eight, nines, one of them year and still playing at a high level. Six, seven. he's playing good football, man. mean, yeah, he's playing good football right now, consistent ball, man. So he's a rounded player, right?

Matt Ryan (12:17)
gotta be in eight, eight, nine, something like that.

T$ (12:21)
Six, seven, sorry, I had to say that. Hey.

Matt Ryan (12:23)
Yeah.

Zach Klein (12:23)
Hey, Todd,

let's mark that for the pod right there.

Matt Ryan (12:27)
Wow,

yeah.

T$ (12:28)
Sorry, my girls, that's just nonstop.

AD (12:37)
think that's what you need as an interior guy, not just a one trick pony, a guy that can rush the passer, but a guy that can stop the run and play stout, be play finesse, hold the double team, be stout on the double team, but at the same time can make you miss. So he's a problem.

Matt Ryan (12:52)
AD, I want to hit you on one other thing. like, you know, we've talked a lot about stats. We had that really cool conversation talking about, you know, can you, can you send in sacks? Can you get a sack, you know, moved around, like sacks sometimes are, are a by-product of other guys doing things. A lot of times pressures, right. And the number of pressures that you get are just as important as the number of sacks that you're getting. DeForest is leading the league as, an interior defensive lineman in terms of the number he's

AD (13:11)
Yes.

100%.

Matt Ryan (13:21)
you know, pressures that he's getting. Like, how do you quantify that as a defensive lineman of like, you know what, I'm not getting home, I'm not getting the sacks, but my pressure numbers are through the roof.

AD (13:31)
That's production. that's what it's about. So when I played, like you want the sacks, that's fine. But the quarterback pressures, the quarterback hits, getting the quarterback off is more making them uncomfortable, making them throw the... Because most of the time you might not get the sack, but you might affect the quarterback to a way where the pressure is making them overthrow that pass that could have been wide open or the quarterback hit. You're affecting the game in a big way. You might not be cashing in it, but you're affecting it in a way when you're helping your team to win, man.

T$ (13:32)
effecting the quarterback.

Matt Ryan (13:55)
100%.

AD (13:59)
Even if you're a guy that's taking up a double team and you got a game and you got a free blitzer coming through, like you're doing your part. So I think all that add up, man. And I'm a big, big believer of that. I know a lot of people always say we want them sack numbers, want them sack numbers, but them quarterback pressure, them quarterback hits, you're affecting the game in a big way, man. Because the key to the game is to make a quarterback uncomfortable. You let a quarterback sit back there all day, he could pick you apart. But if you got him off his mark, you hit and then you make him feel little uncomfortable.

Matt Ryan (14:20)
Yeah, you gotta make him feel ya.

AD (14:26)
you can dominate a quarterback, dominate a game all day without even having the sacks at all. you know, so that's just how it works.

Zach Klein (14:34)
I wanted to ask you one thing about the Colts before we move on here, Matt, when you were there, how involved was Carly Ursay Gordon? Because I think it's fascinating to see her a lot of viral videos of her on the sidelines, wearing a headset, taking notes, your relationship with her. And I think it's so cool that she's involved and wants to learn more and more and more about the game.

Matt Ryan (14:54)
Yeah, mean, Carly was very involved the year I was there. Obviously in a different capacity, ⁓ you know, with Jim passing, you know, prior to the season, her role has expanded, but she was in the building every day and, you know, around, and that's not always the case, ⁓ you know, with owners, right, in general. I think it's a really good story for the NFL because number one, I think she is incredibly passionate and her two sisters, incredibly passionate.

⁓ about their organization in the Indianapolis Colts. But I also think you think about three females running this organization and ⁓ the example that sets, right? And their ability to learn and to have the pulse of the building. I think she's on top of it, right? She's there all the time.

She's on the sideline, she's asking questions, she's on the headset, she's hearing different things. I give her credit because she's all in, she's all in. And the start that they've had now with her, I think she's the CEO. I think that's her title ⁓ of the organization now. Her as the CEO and to be as visible as she is on the sideline and be as involved as she is, I think it's great. I think it's great for that organization. I think it's great for the league.

Zach Klein (16:17)
AD, I know we save your Player of the Week for later on in the show, but I want to talk about who I think might be your Player of the Week a little bit more in detail. So do you want to go there right now and give us your Aaron Donald, the Player of the Week for this past Thursday through Monday, the National Football League?

AD (16:34)
Yeah, man, I wasn't going, I was going to get right to it, man. I had one guy down. I know they took a tough loss, but Myles Garrett, he put on a show. Six tackles, five sacks, one forced fumble, I think he played hard, he flew around. ⁓ Obviously not the outcome that he wanted or the team wanted, but he did his part. That's all you can do is do your part to try to take over a game the best you can. But take all 11 on the field, right? Take the offensive side of the ball to

the score points and it take all 11 around you to make plays. So, know, shout out to Myles Garrett but I know the frustration of coming from him. Yeah, my bad, clap it up.

Zach Klein (17:09)
Whoa clap it up for Myles Garrett. Let's first clap it up for Myles Garrett

My bad, clap it up.

AD (17:13)
The frustration coming from him, because as great of a performance he put on, it don't mean nothing if you ain't winning, right? ⁓ The frustration still there. ⁓ A guy that had a lot of success in this league for a long time consistently. The one thing he didn't get to do yet is playing on big stages like a playoff game and hopefully one day a Super Bowl. So hopefully that organization can do some things and get some things turned around some way somehow. ⁓

to get this guy opportunity to play on that stage, man, because that's what you work for. That's what you train for. Obviously the individual accolades is great. The stats is fine. But if you're not winning, man, I've been in a situation where I had success, losing games, man, is frustrating. No matter how many plays you make, it's meaningless if you're not, at the end of the day, winning. So hopefully they can get something turned around for that guy because I know it's tough on him. I know everybody keeps saying, well,

Well, he signed for the money and he knew who they're signing up for, but a lot of people was never offered with it $41 million a year. And I'm pretty sure the organization had a conversation when I'm saying they was going to get this thing fixed. They're going to get things turned around. They mindset is to try and win, right? Cause I know when I was there, when I was with the Rams.

We're saying that we want to win for you, right? We want to win for you. We want to see you win the Super Bowl, Aaron. And they did everything they needed to get the pieces to the puzzle to help us do that. man, hopefully that organization can try to find a way to do that for him, man, because...

The Browns, since I've been alive, I ain't never seen the Browns winning team, ever. So, can't even imagine.

T$ (18:36)
the

Zach Klein (18:39)
So I want to dive into this because you bring up very good points and we can see it from both sides. He slammed his helmet in this game. He was sitting by himself, Myles Garrett. was frustrated. Franchise record five sacks. Just the 20th time in the history of football, there's been a five sack game. Of the previous 19 guys, the player who had the five sacks, their team won 16 of those 19 games. Browns lost by 19 to the Patriots. And afterwards, Garrett was asked to talk about his frustration.

to say after you signed a four year, $160 million extension when you asked for a trade back in February and then in March, you signed the deal. The Browns are 55 and 84 and one since Garrett arrived as the number one pick in 2017. They've gone to the playoffs just twice during that span. So walk me through it, Todd. If a star player at that level, AD's level, AD wants the bag, deservedly so. He also wants to play for a winner, understandably. So what is the team telling you?

to make your guy happy to get both things accomplished.

T$ (19:48)
Well, I mean, I don't think they're necessarily having to tell me anything. think they're needed to talk to the player, especially in a situation like that. They can tell me whatever they want. It's the player. He's the one who's there. He's in the locker room. He's on the field. He's at practice. He sees the direction of the team. He knows the pieces they have, the pieces they don't have. And that conversation is going to be between him and the organization. Obviously, I'll negotiate the deal and get him the best possible deal. The reality is a player, not necessarily Myles, but a player like him at that level can get paid by whoever because he is who he is.

The decision of staying there or going to somewhere else has to be with that type of a player, that type of a veteran, a bright guy who's going to be having those conversations. He has those relationships. He has that trust to buy into what they're saying and also to be able to call BS on it if it's something that a player doesn't believe in.

Zach Klein (20:32)
Matt, where do you stand on this?

Matt Ryan (20:34)
You know, I think he's I think he's being genuine when he says he'd give up the five sacks to get a win at this point, right? Because the frustration sets in ⁓ You know, no matter how good you're playing right when you continue to lose And just to fall short the frustration is is is huge But we weren't you know, I think it's hard to it's hard to have an opinion on on these things

AD (20:49)
I don't mean nothing.

Matt Ryan (21:03)
As Todd was saying, when you weren't in the conversations that they were having, when you don't know what was being said or how it was being said, and it's easy from the outside perspective to say, you're not allowed to complain about losing when you took the money and you knew what you were getting into. But I also, I think that rubs me the wrong way as a former player too, right? In the discussions that they have, maybe things

AD (21:06)
Yep.

Yep.

Matt Ryan (21:30)
did go the way they said they were going to go in terms of acquiring people, or maybe they didn't. ⁓ But he's still in there putting in the work with his defensive teammates every week, right? And there's still a commitment to the guys that you're around, regardless of the success that you're having. You're still in it with them. And I think it's hard. It's hard to judge from the outside without knowing all of the information. I think that frustration is real. I give him a lot of credit.

Right? Because to show up with the professionalism that he has day in and day out and to perform at the level that he does given the results that they're having, that's one of the hardest things to do in the NFL is to show up and put out those types of performances when everything around you is not great. And he consistently does it. does it like AB did it against double teams. He does it against chips. does it against scheming.

T$ (22:04)
For sure.

Matt Ryan (22:24)
know, to try and scheme him out of the game. They do do a good job of moving him around. I like that they put him in the middle. They do, you know, try and create matchups for him, but it's hard. And, you know, I give him a lot of credit for showing up the way that he does day in and day out.

Zach Klein (22:39)
Hey D, what did the Ramses, because I think it's a very comparable situation, right? I mean, you guys are both the best at what you did in the world. You wanted to win, it wasn't happening, but Todd said, let those conversations happen between the team and the player, and then he'll take care of the rest. He did that. What did the team say to you to make them, make you believe in them, that if you stood and stayed and resigned with LA, that they were going to follow through on what they were promising you?

AD (23:05)
Well, they brought in a new coach. You got the opportunity to talk to the new coach like I talked about when I met Sean, right? And he said all the right things, right? And you kind of got to believe in what he's saying until you get to get on the grass and get to, you know, obviously be on a practice field and a game field and see the outcome of the games, right? And ⁓ it was more of turning things around, holding people accountable, right? Changing this organization around from a losing team to a winning team. And it's like, you never know what to expect until it's time to put it on film, right? And then obviously,

You play the season and you see the outcome of the season, you start, and then you get to play in a playoff game, even though Matt fucking beat me in my first playoff game. But I'm saying, but you get to experience that, right? And then I'm like, this is what I'm working for. This is what I train for, right? Obviously the individual accolades, it's a blessing to accomplish those things, but it's meaningless if you don't make it to playing these type of games on this stage, right? Cause that's what you work for, right? Them being them big playoff games because...

Matt Ryan (23:41)
you

AD (24:01)
Playoff football is different than regular season football as you know, man. It's way more intense, the game seems faster, everything is just amped up 10 times more, right? And just fast forward to NFC Championship and then the Super Bowl. Like, them are the stages you wanna work in, they had opportunity to play on, man. And when you're a veteran guy that had the all pros, the pro bowls, the defensive player of years, it's like, what haven't you accomplished yet in this league, right? that's, damn, I ain't never really...

Did the Browns play in the playoff game? Did he get to play in the playoff game yet? Myles Garrett, you know? I think they won, but they lost. But I'm saying to play in the playoff game and win and really be a competitive team and have an opportunity to build on it. Like, tonight to get to experience that, it's like, it really is tough, man. So I know they probably told them all the right stuff, but shit, they want their...

Matt Ryan (24:30)
Did go once? Did they go once ⁓ under Stefanski?

Zach Klein (24:31)
I thought it, yeah.

Build on it.

stuff.

But the Todd's,

I think they had to, because the Todd's point, he probably could have got that money elsewhere. So he was buying, he wanted to bring a championship.

AD (24:54)
But I also

don't think they would have let him go easy. They wasn't gonna let that guy just go. I think they would have fought it. They wouldn't have just soaked. His arms was tagged. Much as he would have said this, I think they would have, know, started playing hardball, whatever they do, whatever they do. But it wasn't gonna be an easy walk away from him. That's their franchise player. They need him.

T$ (25:12)
going.

Zach Klein (25:12)
Hey Todd,

how does it affect a player's potential upcoming deal when he's performing at a high level, but the team is not good at all.

T$ (25:19)
I mean, I've never had a guy get compensated on a contract based on team performance. ⁓ It's the individual. I mean, it doesn't hurt ⁓ for owners and stuff to want to spend money when the team is doing well. But ⁓ obviously, sometimes they're forced to spend money when they're not doing well. But it's not as much about the team. If he is individually playing well, he's not going to be penalized necessarily for that. It's his production, and that's the type of conversations that we're having and what he brings to the table.

Matt Ryan (25:48)
the opposite can be true, right? ⁓ being a role player on a part of a good team, right? And that escalating it. Because I agree with you. I don't think you get docked as a player if your performance individually is really good, but your team performance is maybe not the same. I think teams that are looking to win look at guys like that and say, listen, that's a value add for us. I really feel like we can.

Have him be a part of what we're building over here or the organization saying, Hey, we're trying to turn around. We know what you're doing. We want to keep you. We understand your value. But I do think the opposite ⁓ is true when you're part of a winning culture, right? And you're maybe a role player or somebody that is a backup or whatever that may be. I think your value spikes a little bit ⁓ from the opposite.

T$ (26:41)
not

only spikes with your current team, but actually as a free agent, a lot of other teams have interest in you because they want you to bring whatever that culture is, whatever that winning mindset is and that attitude into their building. So from that standpoint, for sure, there's added value in that type of stuff. I'm talking about a guy who's a highly productive guy, you know, he's going to get paid based on his production, or lose. But yes, there are a hundred percent other factors that come into play that can help like to your point, you know, boost a guy who...

Matt Ryan (26:47)
Yes.

AD (26:50)
Yes.

Matt Ryan (26:59)
100%.

T$ (27:09)
might get just inflated, may not have all the stats in production, but he's a good role player, fits in, and other people want him in their building too.

Zach Klein (27:15)
As we get closer to the NFL trading deadline, Todd, and someone's coming to you this time of year, what's the number one stumbling block?

T$ (27:22)
I mean, there's a lot of stumbling blocks saying putting two trades together are not easy. First and foremost, you gotta get your current team willing to move on from you. ⁓ And once they're willing to move on, that's a huge thing if they give you permission to go and talk to other teams. Because technically, if they don't give you permission, technically it's tampering for these other teams to communicate with you. There's nothing I'm doing wrong, but it's the other teams aren't supposed to talk about players under contract. does it happen? Maybe, maybe not. We don't have to get into all that type of stuff.

But the second thing you need is you have to have a dance partner. So once your team says, yes, we will let you go seek a trade, you gotta find someone who's willing to want you as well. Then the bigger piece comes in is will they agree on what that draft compensation or trade compensation looks like? Is it a player? Is it a player in a draft pick? Is it all draft stuff? How does that work? And then probably the most important piece is how do we navigate this to make sure that we guide our player to go where he wants to go?

and where it would be the best fit. The goal isn't just to get your guy traded. It's like, always tell guys when I'm talking to them, the goal isn't to be a first round pick. The goal is to be the number one pick because there's a big difference financially from pick five to pick 25. It's the same thing. The goal isn't to just get traded. The goal is to get traded to a better situation, to a place that you want to be that's going to help you be a better player, maybe reach the playoffs, or whatever it is your personal and team goals are. That's what you're looking for, the right scheme, right coach. So all of those things have to come into play to make it all work.

AD (28:34)
You

Zach Klein (28:47)
So what's clogging up most of your text messages now? Is it NFL guys reaching out to you saying, me from team A to team B, or are the college players and their representatives and their family members reaching out to you saying, hey, we got the transfer portal open at LSU and at Florida and at ⁓ Penn State. Lots going on in the world of college football. And I know you are heavily involved in

T$ (29:10)
mean, my phone personally is blowing up on all sorts of things. One, you're getting closer to the trade deadline. So yes, you have players, whether you have an older player who isn't getting the reps that he wants and you know, almost the monies are relevant at that point to some of them. just want to, you know, if they see the end of the tunnel coming, they want to kind of be on a team where they can contend and they can play. You have others that are just frustrated because they've been there forever and they don't see any signs of things getting any better. ⁓ And they don't want to be part of a rebuild.

AD (29:28)
Mm-hmm.

T$ (29:37)
those types of things. like, yeah, you're having all those conversations and you're having other conversations because you have media people out there putting things out there. I saw a quote from ⁓ the Texas head coach and I'm glad, yeah, I feel his pain because guess what? well, someone, God, ⁓ listen, I would have ripped him if he, I would have shredded him.

Matt Ryan (29:50)
Sark, I loved it.

I think Zach reported it.

T$ (30:00)
I met my daughter's softball game and unfortunately someone put that out about my guy Brian Thomas down in Jacksonville. It's not just a tweet that you put out. The amount of work, it's like an hour and a half.

Zach Klein (30:10)
For those

that are listening or those are watching that don't know the tweet or what happened, educate us on what went down.

T$ (30:16)
No, just someone tweeted out about, know, I don't remember, Starks was about whether he's going to be a coach of another team or go to an NFL or whatever it is.

Zach Klein (30:17)
Okay.

Matt Ryan (30:22)
It

was reported that Sark's agents had reached out to the Tennessee Titans, I believe, that he had interest in coming back to the NFL. Correct. Yes.

Zach Klein (30:32)
Open for business in the NFL.

T$ (30:33)
Right, and mine was

someone just saying that the Jaguars were taking calls and looking to potentially move Brian Thomas, but it was highly unlikely or whatever. Do you know what that does? Well, first of all, I'm glad I got to see it first because I like to be proactive with my clients. I want to let them know, hey, I saw this, I'm on this. And I did, I immediately had to communicate with the general manager and we got on the same page. Then I communicated with the player and let him know. And then I communicated with the family and then the player had questions because...

you he feels some sort of way. So you want to make sure that you're communicating with him. And then you're, you're dealing with maybe the financial advisor calls you because wait, now is this going to impact certain things here? And you just start dealing with this whole spiral of things. And then people in your own office, well, Hey, he's got a marketing appearance next week. Is that going to affect things? Is he going to be able to, it's like all of these stuff. Meanwhile, it was a false report. I don't know why it was out there, but like that type of stuff has such a ripple effect and a cause of, of extra work, you know, which is so frustrating and annoying. And

AD (31:24)
Mm-mm.

T$ (31:29)
had to deal with that type of stuff. And then when you talk about the portal, yeah, you've got a ton of stuff going on with that because of all these firings. like guys always say, know, is a guy just going to throw in the towel, right? Guys have things to play for. Win or lose is one thing. Coach being fired is another. At the end of the day, if it's an NIL guy, they're playing for their next technical contract because those are year to year for the most part in college. So the better he does, the more he can command in the NIL world. And then those guys that are draft eligible,

They're still playing for their stock to go up and they're still being evaluated as it relates to the draft. So they're still playing for a lot. And then of course, they got the guys that aren't in the NFL again, going back to them. Yes, they're players and their families and them want to know, do I stay? Do we go? What is the coaching situation going to be here? What scheme are they going to run? Do we fit in? And we got to start to play that game to try to figure out what's going to make the most sense with that. So yeah, there's a lot of moving parts and a lot of stuff that happens. It's like, it's like when you watch things, people think, the coach got fired.

The ripple effect of what these things do are unbelievable. A media report. The ripple effect on that? Unbelievable.

AD (32:22)
Yeah.

Matt Ryan (32:23)
Yeah.

Todd, any thought to pivoting to representing college coaches at this point, given how these contracts are laid out and how much money is going. And I say that joking, but it's amazing to me to see the ability to move on from a guy like Brian Kelly, regardless of what your thoughts are on Brian Kelly, right? But like.

Zach Klein (32:33)
You

AD (32:36)
Yes, fix.

Matt Ryan (32:50)
He's five and three at LSU right now. And those three losses I think came from at the time number 13, Ole Miss. What was Vandy? They were like 17th, they're currently now like ninth. And then Texas A was number three. Like it's crazy. Sure, I mean, there's other factors and reasons behind it, but like.

T$ (33:06)
The leash is short, the pressure is there. There's obviously other, there's other moving parts with all those types of situations. Yeah. No, what I love about that coach, what I love

AD (33:06)
I'm going to...

T$ (33:13)
about the coaching thing is you just, anyone puts out a rumor that, ⁓ that they're looking at another coach, another team wants him, boom, instant leverage to go back to the table and get another

So I have a question for you on the media side. So obviously, know, Brian Kelly's getting fired. Don't you think it's kind of low to park yourself outside of the parking lot? You're not at the building, you're not in the parking lot, you're not having contact, you're not.

communicating, there's no back and forth conversation. You just have like a tripod set up out on the street to get a glimpse of a coach who you know just got fired to go walk into a building and walk out and then start posting about he's there, he's leaving, he just left. And then watching the players, isn't that kind of like, I mean, do you have to do that just to kind of paint the picture? Is that what you feel you guys have to do in the media?

Zach Klein (34:01)
So what Todd's

referring to is there was video out of Baton Rouge of Brian Kelly going into the practice facility hours after it was out that he was being let go at LSU. I don't feel bad for him. I feel bad for him at the moment, but he's also walking away with $53 million. If you're a media member in Baton Rouge, which is the 95th largest market in the country, that is your story every single day, twice on Sundays, especially when the head coach of that university is fired.

T$ (34:15)
Irrelevant.

Zach Klein (34:29)
You lead with it in every newscast. It's on every one of your digital platforms. It's on every one of your social platforms. So if I'm in that situation, I'm the sports director in Baton Rouge, I am there in that parking lot, which is public space. And I'm going, hey, Coach Kelly, it's Zach. Can we talk to you? At least you're trying to get something out of him. The likelihood of him coming over? Very small. But at least you're doing a drive to get something out of him. Because at that point when the video was there, I do believe it wasn't officially official yet. So you're trying to get some confirmation. ⁓

It's no different from anybody and we've talked about in Green Bay when a plane lands on the private jet, them getting in the, know, Micah Parsons, wherever the quarterback might be. So it's big news in that market and I have no problem with that at all.

Matt Ryan (34:57)
So this.

AD (35:08)
He's

just doing his job, huh?

Matt Ryan (35:09)
AD,

what's your thoughts? Because this gets to the borderline of like, is this paparazzi? Right? And AD, you're in LA, right? Where that is, that's there. It's there, it's prominent. We don't have, that doesn't exist really in Atlanta for the three of us that are living there.

T$ (35:14)
Yeah, yes.

AD (35:20)
Yeah.

T$ (35:26)
Matt, when you and I go to Kill Me Crazy,

the cameras are always on us, right? going to grab a smoothie, like, it's like, there he is.

Zach Klein (35:29)
Ha ha ha ha.

AD (35:29)
Yeah

Matt Ryan (35:33)
There he is,

yeah. Yeah, that's exactly what it's like.

AD (35:35)
I with the territory though. I

come with the territory.

Zach Klein (35:36)
But they're not doing

that every day. They're doing it when news moves, right? You just the two most important figures, Louisianans would probably say in that state are the governor, the head coach of the, you know, in the quarterback of the Saints. And then the head coach and the quarterback of, you know, Louisiana State University. So when you're getting fired,

Matt Ryan (35:53)
To Zach's defense,

right? Like I agree with you on the, you're coming in and out of the facility. Exactly. In Zach's defense here, let me say this one more time. In Zach's defense, you're going in and out of the workspace, right? And I think that is, I don't love it, you know, I don't love it, but I get that. ⁓

Zach Klein (35:59)
You broke up on me. you say that one more time?

T$ (36:01)
No, no,

he didn't break up, Matt. He just wants you to stroke him.

Matt Ryan (36:18)
And I understand that. If it were any place else, that's where I start to think. I do think that's a little bit weird when it's outside of the facility, which happens, which happens all the time.

AD (36:29)
I agree, I think of it as a player or as the person being bothered, right? You don't want to be, but as a person doing a job, just trying to get that content, get that interview, I understand it on both sides of it, but it just come with the territory. That's the best, that's the only way you can say.

Zach Klein (36:43)
Trust me, AD,

when you announce you're coming back to the NFL, man, people are gonna be outside your door hammering right now, what's going on?

AD (36:47)
well, got an

announcement to say right now. Hey Todd, should we tell him? Nah, I'm fucking with y'all. I'm fucking with y'all. Let me stop playing. me stop. ⁓ Nah, I'm just playing. Nah, me stop. Let me stop.

T$ (36:52)
boy, I know.

Matt Ryan (36:54)
It's like, ⁓ shit, here we go.

Zach Klein (36:54)
Hahaha ⁓

T$ (36:59)
Live on the inner circle, that's

Yeah, I know.

Matt Ryan (37:01)
Hey, ⁓

the last thing we can kind of put a bow on this and it'll circle back all the way to the beginning with Sark. I thought Sark's comments were excellent after the game. And Zach, I don't know if you saw them, but thought his, the way he said it, and I don't know if any of you guys saw these, but I'd encourage everybody to go back. I thought he was passionate about it, right? And passionate about his team and having, you know, to...

to just get in front of it for his team and his enthusiasm for what he's doing, the job that he has now or whatever. But then also, and this is a question maybe I have for Zach, like, you know, the entire press, for lack of a better term, taking somebody's report as fact and then running with it and his disdain for that. I thought the way he handled it,

was spot on and I'm biased. I Sark. He was with us two years in Atlanta. ⁓ But you know, I thought the way he handled it was really, really good.

Zach Klein (38:04)
To me, it's a whole episode of The Inner Circle because we mentioned moments ago how Lane Kiffin is going to be paid in this next cycle. Why? Because rumors will get out there that he could be interested in this and he could be interested in that. And who's leaking that information? His team. When Todd is trying to...

T$ (38:23)
⁓ stop it. I'm just kidding. Go ahead.

Zach Klein (38:25)
So,

AD (38:26)
You

Zach Klein (38:27)
you know, these teams, you know, when I talk about the teams, I'm talking about the player, the agent, their team are putting out a narrative that they want out there to increase leverage, just like the coaches are. So as the media, you're trying to figure out what is fact, what is fiction and get to the bottom of it, but you have to chase every morsel. So if Lane Kiffin is reportedly up for...

AD (38:31)
.

Zach Klein (38:48)
the LSU job, you got to track that down. I think, you know, Todd and, you know, the best at what they do play it perfectly. I think it really comes out. It's hard to ⁓ navigate.

Matt Ryan (38:59)
I'm curious

on your end then what is the verification process of like, yeah, you need to hear it. You need to hear

Zach Klein (39:03)
call Yeah, mean, what's bullshit and what's not?

We can talk about the Buffalo Bills. James Cook, 216 yards, 19 carries, two touchdowns and a 40 to nine win over Carolina. When you have a running back like that, Matt, dominating, does that change your mentality of, right, I mean, can you sense in the moment that someone's in the zone and you talk to your OC like, listen, man, this is working. We're feeding this guy. I know we had a game plan to do X, Y, and Z, but can you sense in the moment that something's feeling on fire?

Matt Ryan (39:08)
Why not?

For sure, for sure. I remember early in my career, we had some of these big games with Michael Turner, right? And he would go for 180, 200 yards. He had a handful of those early in my career. And it's less the conversation of quarterback going to the OC saying, hey, man, I know it's usually them coming to you saying, hey, man, I know you want to throw the ball, but shit ain't happening today.

AD (39:44)
screws.

You

He

on fire right now.

Matt Ryan (39:58)
All right, you're going to turn around,

you're going to hand this thing off and we're going to keep running the football. And so you definitely feel it as a player. think, you know, it's interesting to me, James Cook's been really productive the last two years and has been really, really good in Buffalo. I don't think they get enough credit. I don't think he gets enough credit. And I don't think the Bills get enough credit for what they do in the run game.

because Josh Allen is so dynamic and makes some of these plays and a lot of the storyline is driven around Josh and rightfully so. He's so good, but their run game ⁓ is really, really

one of the things that makes Josh so great is his ability to play the game any way you need to play it, right? If it is a gun slinging, go out there and fire it 45 times, 50 times. He's comfortable in that space, but he's also, you know, selfless and, you know, understands how games are shaken out. ⁓ it feels like to me though, the bills, we talk about good football teams beat the teams you should, right? And, and...

The Bills, outside of that Atlanta game, I feel like the Bills just take care of business against the teams they should week in and week out. And if they get a lead, they put the foot on the gas and they're able to bury teams they should beat, probably as well as anybody else. And you go through the year, mean, they had that great game to start the season, comeback win versus the Ravens. But then they've had some teams that maybe aren't as good as...

AD (41:25)
Mm-hmm.

Matt Ryan (41:32)
you know, some of the top of the cream of the crop and they just put their foot on the gas and they're going to end up winning by 10, 14, 17, in this case 30, whatever it was. They're extremely good in that regard, I think. ⁓ You know, and that speaks to, we were talking about Atlanta, you know, before and being a young football team, immature football team, maybe in some respects, that's a veteran team, right, AD?

AD (41:51)
That's a veteran team. A veteran team,

you could tell. A veteran team, the leaders that played in them big games, that know how to prepare, that know how to stay locked in. And if you play on a team that you supposed to whoop their ass, you going out weak, you locked in, go out there, do your job, you dominate just like they do. And that's all about the leadership and the guys that got that experience that played on them big stages and know how to get it done. Playing good football. They'll play off the contending team, hopefully. We'll see what they can do and become a Super Bowl team.

When you got a team like that all put together from ⁓ offense, defense, and special teams, good things tend to happen.

Matt Ryan (42:25)
I think the concerning news coming out of Buffalo is Ed Oliver. I think it was BICEP that ⁓ Todd could probably speak better to it ⁓ than me. But I looked at the injury report this week. I didn't know if he did he go on IR? I haven't seen if he's gone on IR yet or not. But he's going to be out for a minute. ⁓ And I think that's a huge concern. Because I do think the number one issue, at least when I watch him AD, and I wonder if it's the same for you, is their ability to stop the run.

AD (42:53)
They

Matt Ryan (42:53)
on the defensive side of the ball. I think they're a little light in the front seven.

AD (42:58)
built for pass rushing. That's what it is. They built for pass rushing. Yes, exactly. But they got to be better. Like I said, the beat is contending type of team and it gets to where you want to get to. You got to be around the defense. You can't just get out to the quarterback because they're going to be them tough games where you got to stop the run. You're going to play a team that's going to try to pound the ball, right? And a playoff type of game, man. You got to try to find a way to stuff it and play better. But anytime you miss a key to the puzzle.

Matt Ryan (42:59)
100%. So you better get that lead.

AD (43:21)
Man, it's gonna hurt you, but like we always say, next man up, Next man up.

Matt Ryan (43:25)
Next man up.

Zach Klein (43:26)
You ever had a bicep injury?

Matt Ryan (43:27)
Next man up.

AD (43:28)
Who me?

Zach Klein (43:28)
Either of you guys. I know Matt don't really curl much. I don't curl.

Matt Ryan (43:30)
think you have to have a bicep in order to get one,

but... You have a bicep tear?

T$ (43:33)
Ironically, I actually have a bicep tear right now.

AD (43:34)
Nah.

T$ (43:38)
Yes, yes, I do actually. I'm going to get a PRP shot and.

Matt Ryan (43:40)
Tell me

AD (43:42)
No.

Matt Ryan (43:42)
how you tore your bicep.

T$ (43:44)
Matt, obviously you haven't worked out with me, but I will join you on your Monday, Wednesday, Fridays. I know. Okay.

AD (43:46)
You

Matt Ryan (43:46)
No, you texted me, hold on, let's talk about this. This is good for the show. The guy

texts me, I've been working out with a friend of mine and a trainer and we go over and Todd hits me on the side. We've got the three person group text that excludes Zach. We've got the four person text, but then we also have one on ones and Todd texts me on the side. He's like, hey man, can I start coming to work out with you? I'm like, yeah, of course. Tell me when you want to come. This is about a month ago.

AD (43:54)
trainer.

T$ (44:01)
Exactly.

AD (44:03)
Yeah.

T$ (44:16)
No time out. I'll pull my phone out. It's not. It's.

Matt Ryan (44:17)
First of all, I have not seen his ass. He hasn't

texted me about it. Nothing. And you're telling me I haven't seen you work out.

AD (44:22)
Don't be running from the smoke, Ty. Don't

run from the smoke.

T$ (44:24)
time out.

No, I asked him, I, cause he started talking about his awesome workout and what's today's date? What's today's date?

Matt Ryan (44:30)
I wasn't saying it was awesome, I just said I had been doing it.

Today's October 28th.

AD (44:36)
28th. 28th.

T$ (44:38)
Okay.

Okay. It's, it's been a few weeks that hasn't, but, but I have a reason you said it's Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and I've been at a lot of Monday night games. And so I missed the Monday workout. And then I'm like, all right, I don't want to just jump in in the mid week because I want to get the full weekend and I'm dealing with this bicep tear. So I don't want to come in and like not look.

Zach Klein (44:41)
Hehehehehe

Matt Ryan (44:57)
Sounds

like a lot of excuses to me. A lot, a lot of excuses to me. We can do legs. Tell them, AD, we can do legs.

Zach Klein (44:58)
This is lot of spin man, this is agent spin right here

AD (44:59)
excuses.

T$ (45:02)
All right, well, I will be there. I'll be there. This, you know, that's the

yeah, legs aren't a thing for me, but I have to come in on a Wednesday or Friday. I'm coming. Don't worry. I will. I, but I do have to get this PRP shot. No joke. No 2025. Make no mistake. I am still working out. I just not working out in your

Matt Ryan (45:13)
Okay. So I'll see you in 2026. Perfect. New Year's resolution. You'll show up.

Zach Klein (45:17)
You ⁓

AD (45:18)
Hahaha.

Zach Klein (45:22)
How does breakout performance, Todd, affect a guy when the workload's there, asking for more carries and like, man, see what happens when my guy gets the rock? He's running for 200 yards and two or three touchdowns.

T$ (45:35)
You know, look, that's a great question, but the position is very unique. And so a guy like him, he's on his second contract. He might be playing for a third contract. For me, if I got a rookie guy who's on his first contract trying to get a second contract, there's a fine line with production and overfeeding him the rock. I do not want that wear and tear. These teams, they will use and abuse you. And then when you get to the time for a contract, they think that you've had too much workload. They don't want to invest all that money for moving forward because they don't think you're going to last. So like,

that two back system, I love those types of situations. Now, unless you're like, obviously a bigger back and freak like a Derek Henry who, who can put a lot of the pounding on others and all that stuff, which yes, that.

Matt Ryan (46:11)
Shout out to Derek. Pretty big

AD (46:13)
yes.

Matt Ryan (46:13)
weekend

he had this past weekend.

T$ (46:15)
Yes, he passed my childhood hero Walter Payton up in touchdown. yeah, and I talked to him, that was awesome. so I think it always helps from a productive, you know, to have any sort of production, but at that position, I think it's a fine line in terms of workload and overuse as opposed to being just a very awesome productive running back, but not getting, you know, completely overused and beat

AD (46:16)
Cheers.

Zach Klein (46:23)
namedrop.

It was interesting from the media perspective that Houston Texans head coach, Samiko Ryan, I know he's led his Texans to back to back 10 and seven seasons, back to back AFC South champions. They're three and four this year, guys, coming off a win over San Francisco, 26-15, they got it done. And Monday, Mr. Ryan says, nobody wants to talk about the positive stuff.

All anybody wants to do is write about negative things and he's not going to let those negative things impact his football team for one second. Negative, negative, negative, negative. Even though they've gone 10 and seven and 10 and seven in his mind, it's all negative, no positive. And you know what? He says it. And then the beat writers calm on what they thought was BF.

AD (47:56)
ain't know what to say. That was funny.

Zach Klein (47:59)
So what's

that line from the wire? You know, you step at, you know, Omar step at the king. You better not miss. Like he threw it out there and kudos to those beat guys for standing their ground. And you're telling me coach that we've never written anything positive about you. Come on. He wasn't expecting it.

Matt Ryan (48:13)
he was not saying you haven't written anything positive he was saying the majority of what comes out has negative slant

AD (48:15)
Yeah, but the way they...

They haven't been playing great football this year. They beat a good team ⁓ to get theyself in a better position. Hopefully they can go on a run. And they used to them, you know, being a team that's getting it done usually, and they ain't been playing great football. you know, obviously if you're not winning and you're losing, obviously you're going to have some bad things being said about the team, right? Because you got to win to get good pub and you know, no matter what's happening, they're doing their job. you know, it happens, man.

Matt Ryan (48:47)
He's sick of whoever the Zach Klein reporter is in Houston, asking him every week, why the offense isn't playing better? What's up with the offensive line? Why aren't you guys running? Why aren't you scoring points? Why doesn't CJ Stroud look like he looked like in his rookie season? So the overwhelming majority of his questions, I assume, are probably in that light. And I happen to take his side on this one, not Zach's counterpart's side.

AD (48:58)
we start, Yes.

Matt Ryan (49:15)
⁓ in Houston and I'm sure don't get me wrong. There has been positive reviews and I think overwhelmingly positive reviews of D'Amico 100 % of D'Amico. But you have to understand his responsibilities. He's not I don't think he was saying it as I have not received any positive reviews or anything. He's taking ownership of it all right like the players you call out the coaches you called out they fired Bobby Sloak last year.

AD (49:15)
because he didn't argue.

Zach Klein (49:16)
Hmm...

Shocking.

They were hyping them up for Coach of the Year the last two years, gentlemen.

AD (49:37)
The big picture, yeah. Yes, yep.

Yes.

Matt Ryan (49:44)
Their offensive coordinator was under heat all season last year. They've got new offensive coordinator. I'm sure he's been asked about the slow starts of that. I think D'Amico is taking it from the perspective of, I'm like, yes, I am the leader of this building. I take all of the criticism about my players, my coaching staff, the front office, whatever it may be. I take that as personal criticism, right? Because I am the one that's out in front of it. So I get that ⁓ from the coach's perspective.

Zach Klein (49:56)
The leader of the team, as you always-

AD (49:59)
Yes.

Zach Klein (50:12)
Sure. I hear you. It's good point.

Matt Ryan (50:12)
I do think it's fair. think, I think both sides of it are fair.

Zach Klein (50:16)
Listen, to me, if you're asking me what preferred setting for these conversations, don't like the podium, then the space, and then the tables. When I first got in this business, you were there and you were all together and there was less friction, was less get-you-stuff, and it was a conversation. And you could have that dialogue with D'Amico.

and kind of get into it a little bit. And it wasn't personal. It was just trying to understand one another. And I think at times right now, it's too much friction. Am I wrong on that?

Matt Ryan (50:47)
Well, I think it's interesting, Zach, because I ⁓ think back to our interactions of how many years? 14 years of being on both sides of it. Myself as the quarterback, you answering the questions. I do think there's so much value to how we would do it on Wednesdays where it was face to face. There's no separation of, and I get to know you a little bit, and the camera comes off, and then there's a conversation. Maybe that is something for the

AD (51:07)
Mm-hmm.

Matt Ryan (51:15)
for the part where the camera's off, where if I was in that role and saying, you know what, I'm tired of all of the negative, the negative, you know, we don't let it affect us either way. You know, and I think there'd be follow-up questions, whatever, but then maybe off air or off camera, you might say, really? think it's all, because I think we have had those kinds of conversations about different things.

Zach Klein (51:33)
for sure.

AD (51:33)
That's what I was going to ask, did y'all ever

have any little friction between y'all two? Like any little things he said you didn't like, vice versa? Could y'all been in the media space? I don't know. Okay.

Matt Ryan (51:39)
I don't, I can't recall. I can't recall, but I'm sure there's

Zach Klein (51:41)
I don't think so, no.

Matt Ryan (51:44)
conversations that you might've had a follow-up or something that was off camera or something that, hey, did you really mean that? Or maybe even me, like really, like you're gonna go down that route. This is not an issue, whatever that may be. I don't recall anything offhand. My point, I was gonna say my point is I think there was value to those at the locker where I would see you after.

Zach Klein (51:57)
No, when I, yeah, go ahead, finish up.

Matt Ryan (52:06)
Whereas Sunday was a very different setup of I'm at the podium, you're over at the desk, and as soon as I'm done, see ya. There is no follow-up. There is no catch up, how you doing, right? And I think the combination of the two, I don't think coaches get, they're all press conference style, right? It's less at the locker, maybe it's over and there's a little bit of follow-up.

AD (52:14)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Zach Klein (52:29)
To me, everything, everyone's schedule is so tight, so compact from an NFL standpoint. And I think it's a detriment to the relationship between the team and the media. When I first started in the late nineties in working in Kansas city with Marty Schottenheimer as the head coach, we would go to the chief's facility on a Tuesday. There would be catered lunch.

And the first 15 minutes, Matt and AD was just us, the media sitting with coach Schottenheimer and talking about the game that was, you could ask questions. The entire thing was off the record. The entire, entire thing was a back and forth of understanding what happened where you might say, Hey man, you know, the offensive line, you know, look like shit. And you're like, dude, you know, the quarterback, you know, Elvis Gerbak held on to the ball for 40 seconds. What do you think's going to happen? And it helped you frame your questions better and an understanding.

after spending that 10, 15 minutes with the coach about what really was going down. We don't get that anymore. There's no way Raheem Morris or Sean McVeigh or any of these coaches are to spend 10 minutes with the media off the record, educating us on what really went down. it's a shame because it was really beneficial, especially for our young pup in this business, learning how things work.

Matt Ryan (53:40)
Yeah, I agree with you. I think it works both ways too. Like I think there is value to, and it's not necessarily off to record or on the record or anything like that. I think there's value to knowing, yeah, like knowing the people ⁓ that are there on the day to day, right? Because Zach, I would say this, like I guarantee you there's stuff that I said to you after it was over being like, I don't think you're on the right track. Like I think this is,

AD (53:51)
Yeah, learned. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Zach Klein (54:07)
for

Matt Ryan (54:08)
And don't put me on the record for any of this, but I don't think that's the storyline here. I think it might be something completely different. Yeah, for sure.

Zach Klein (54:14)
And it's helpful. And it's based on trust and

relationship. it happens, you know, it definitely looks like you're there in the locker room. That's why I always tell people you got to go. You got to show up. You got to answer tough questions, honest questions, fair questions in your mind. And if it's not, least you give the individual a chance to pull you aside and say, listen, I thought that was over the line. Explain yourself, talk and move on. That's all we're trying to do here. Speaking of moving on, how about a two minute drill, Matt?

Matt Ryan (54:36)
let's get it. Now ⁓ you're going to have to go on the record for these. There is no off the record. You got to answer. Let me get this clock dialed up. All right, two minutes. It's starting. Let me flip my page. All right, Halloween edition right here. Let's start. We already talked about our number one candy. I'm going to say, Todd, you're going to start least favorite candy that you would get in your Halloween, whatever it is, pillowcase or bucket.

Zach Klein (54:40)
Gotcha.

All right.

T$ (55:00)
Oof. ⁓ Any sour stuff. ⁓ That's not my thing.

Matt Ryan (55:04)
How about UAD, least favorite candy?

AD (55:06)
Butterfingers.

Matt Ryan (55:07)
Zach.

Zach Klein (55:08)
Sour Patch Kids.

Matt Ryan (55:09)
Okay, all right, let's start with Todd right here. Where does Halloween rank in terms of holidays?

T$ (55:15)
⁓ I've never been a big dress up guy until I had kids and they just reforced me to dress all the time. A real quick thing. My best thing I ever did with the kids is, and my wife was not happy about it, but I actually, they wanted, they were dressed as princesses and they wanted me to be, you know, a Prince charming. So I literally got the best Prince charming, like Disney quality outfit. And I actually walk, we walk out of the house to go down the driveway to the street. And my wife just like punches me cause she sees that I have

horse and carriage out there all lit up. And we literally took the kids with a horse and carriage like all down the street. And, it was unbelievable. And then, you know, that hill mat by your old house ⁓ going up that street there, there was a house party on the lawn there. And like, was like, it was a screw up with little kids. was screech screeching noise. The music comes to a stop and everyone's like, what is that?

AD (55:43)
I remember you told me about that.

That's dope.

Matt Ryan (55:50)
Of course you did.

Yeah. Dude, probably key to have a horse and carriage. That was an awful neighborhood to walk.

AD (56:01)
You

T$ (56:08)
And all the parents were like, oh my God, it was great. Well, meanwhile, I ended up doing it two years in a row, but go ahead, next thing, sorry.

Matt Ryan (56:12)
All right, AD, best Halloween costume you've ever had.

AD (56:15)
Ooh, just my football equipment. That's all I did. My Hollywood was my football equipment. then when I was a kid, hey, time out, two minute time out, so can tell my little story real quick. I used to have to wear, so my older brother, yeah, so I need a time out. We had one time out left, we had time out left. So with Halloween, I was the youngest, so my older brother used to make me go around two times. The first time I had to go in my football equipment as a kid.

Matt Ryan (56:26)
Todd took up the entire time with his course and carriage story. Keep going, go. That's right, we burned one.

Zach Klein (56:28)
Yeah.

AD (56:38)
and then they'd me like a scream ass and that'd be my second time going around. So I get candy for myself and then I got to get candy for him. So that's what it was. ⁓

Matt Ryan (56:45)
Those screen

masks, they played man for a long time. If you were a kid that was born in the eighties or the nineties, you could wear that thing all the time and it always worked. All right, Zach, how about you? Best Halloween costume.

AD (56:48)
Yeah!

Yes, yes, 100%.

Zach Klein (56:55)
I hated my mother for it at the time. She made me dress up as Raggedy Andy, but I love it to this day. So much love, mom. And who would have thought that 30, 40 something years ago that you're someone be praising you on a podcast with two hall of famers and Todd about Raggedy Andy.

AD (56:59)
You

Hahaha

T$ (57:10)
Matt, what

about you? What about you? Give us one.

Matt Ryan (57:12)
All right, two

minutes is up. My, I kinda like, my mom, one year maybe dress up as a gumball machine. So they got a clear trash bag, blew up balloons and put me in red sweatpants. And I was a gumball machine. That was probably the most creative one that I ever did. My favorite, my favorite, I don't know if my mom has that one, but.

AD (57:25)
You

T$ (57:29)
That is awesome.

Zach Klein (57:29)
That is fantastic.

AD (57:31)
Yeah,

never was it.

T$ (57:33)
I'll be texting your wife for pics, go ahead.

Matt Ryan (57:37)
My favorite Halloween costume was with Sarah. We dressed up as, she dressed up as Larry Bird and I went as Kevin McHale. And we had, we had wigs, we had mustaches and we had the old school Celtics with the short shorts and kind of the thigh or the calf high socks with the green stripes around them and some converse. That was probably our best Halloween costume.

Zach Klein (58:03)
That is epic. We got to get those. We'll get them on our social medias. Let us chime in what you had for your holiday as a kid. And Todd, if this agent thing doesn't work out, you could go to Hollywood. Maybe AD, you got some connections and be a sound effect guy. I mean, that gallop, can you do that gallop again with the horse?

T$ (58:04)
That is awesome.

AD (58:20)
Yeah.

Zach Klein (58:20)
I mean, clap it off. That was really, really good.

Matt Ryan (58:22)
That was good. That was really good, man.

AD (58:23)
You ⁓

Matt Ryan (58:24)
That was

really good.

T$ (58:25)
That's what it

sounded like. was pretty obvious.

Zach Klein (58:28)
We started off the show with the first question about Halloween and we're gonna wrap up with final question.

Big candy bars. Are you going with the two extra extra small minis when you guys go for Halloween? What are you leaving at the front door? Big bars? Little bars? Big candy bars. A- A- D?

Matt Ryan (58:39)
Big candy bars, big candy bars.

AD (58:42)
Big candy bars for

sure. Big candy bars, man. Big candy bars for the kids. Making sure they done them right. So big candy bars.

Zach Klein (58:47)
Todd's not leaving any candy.

T$ (58:48)
No, my wife is definitely leaving something good, I can tell you that.

Zach Klein (58:51)
Which is...

AD (58:51)
Lunchbox,

Matt Ryan (58:51)
Todd

AD (58:52)
lunchbox.

Matt Ryan (58:52)
turns the lights off, turns the lights off, no candy out, get away from my house. That's what Todd does.

T$ (58:55)
Keep the gate shut.

Zach Klein (58:57)
You

AD (58:59)
Hahaha.

T$ (58:59)
Yeah, that's exactly right.

Zach Klein (59:01)
As a journalist, could quote someone and it's correct. Todd France quote, keep the gate shut. You heard it there from Todd France. I'm just quoting the man for Todd France, Matt Ryan, AD Aaron Donald, I'm Zach Klein. Have a wonderful Halloween. Hit us up soon. See you next week on the Inner Circle Pod.