COLLEGE FOOTBALL’S MONEY WAR

The Inner Circle is back for the first show of 2026 — and it’s loaded.

It's a wide-ranging, behind-the-curtain episode that hits the two biggest engines in football right now: the NFL postseason grind and the chaos of modern college “free agency.” First, AD breaks down the debate every contender faces in Week 18: rest vs. rust. Using the Eagles as the jumping-off point, he explains how players feel when coaches sit starters, why veteran teams handle it differently than young rosters, and what matters more once you’re “in the dance” — seedings, travel, or simply being healthy and ready to roll.

From there, the conversation turns to incentives and the uncomfortable reality that business decisions can clash with personal milestones. Todd details how those conversations actually happen when a player is sitting just short of a bonus, and AD adds a blunt, hilarious perspective on what changes when the incentive is truly life-changing.

Then it’s time for flowers: AD gives major respect to Myles Garrett’s monster sack season, including the nuance of doing it on a team that wasn’t winning, the “asterisk” talk around 17 games, and why he believes production is production in today’s NFL.

Finally, Todd takes listeners inside his wildest season: NIL + the transfer portal. He explains what it’s like getting flooded with calls from GMs, coaches, and staffers, why “NIL” has basically become college free agency, and how many reported deals are structured in ways fans don’t realize. Zach and Todd even play a rapid-fire “cost of doing business” game by position — from quarterbacks to edge rushers to offensive tackles — and Todd makes it clear: the real numbers can be jaw-dropping.

Plus, a fascinating look ahead at the NFL Draft pipeline: training facilities, combine prep, speed work, interview prep, and what prospects don’t know until they live it.

Appreciate you being part of the Inner Circle family and thanks for listening! 

https://www.youtube.com/@TheInnerCirclePod

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

Transcript

Zach Klein (00:01)
Hey, how we doing everybody? Zach Klein here on the Inner Circle podcast. Thanks for hanging out with us this week. And this week we're down to three. One of the co-hosts, our Matt Ryan's got a lot going on in his world and all three of us definitely respect what he has in front of him and what may or may not happen.

He's a very busy man. respect his time and we hope to catch up with Matt in the future, but he will not be with us on this week's episode. But AD and Todd and I are here and Todd is bringing it, man. His NIL world right now in college football is insane. A hundred calls a day from GMs, from coaches, from position coaches reaching out to him about his clients and how they could be a fit in their university, their franchise. And the numbers that are going on right now are insane. Quarterbacks north of four million.

Todd had her three million dollar wide receivers. Are you kidding me? Todd does a deep dive into that. Plus, A.D. breaking down what's going on in the playoffs in the National Football League. He's reflecting on his time when his season came to an end and he had to do exit interviews. That's going on in the National Football League right now. So what are those like? What are you planning for in the offseason? How much time do you take down before you get after it? A.D. some fascinating insight on what he went through when his season came to an end. So all of that and more.

on this week's edition of the Inner Circle Pod. As always, we appreciate your time, much love, and enjoy the episode,

playoffs. And I was fascinated, ⁓

get your opinion on the Eagles resting their starters was still something to play for. They could have been the number two seed. So if you were in that Philly locker room, how would you have reacted? Has that ever happened to you? And is there a difference between, you know, the two and the three seed

AD (01:35)
I think that's a coach's decision, right? think obviously we did that before with Coach McVeigh. He made the decision to sit guys because he didn't care if it was, I think at the time it was like a fifth or sixth seed. It was like, who cares? We got an opportunity to play for it all. We still in the playoffs. So it depends, right? It depends how your guys are, how healthy they are. Do they need to rest? You had that conversation with your veteran guys. I'm hoping he did as well, but.

You know, me as a player, obviously I would want to play, be out there. But at the end of the day, I'm like, we in the playoffs, we got an opportunity. Do it matter who we play? If we got to travel here or travel there, it is what it is. We in the dance to play for it all. So I would care some type of way, because I would just want to play. But at end of the day, I'll be like, shit, we in the playoffs and we still playing for it all, man. So you know what mean?

Zach Klein (02:21)
What's that old adage, rest versus rust? Is there something to that? Whether it's coming off a buy or taking a week off, getting into the playoffs.

AD (02:29)
Well, I think

with Philly though, it's different because they got veteran guys that been doing this for a while. They played at these playoff games and Super Bowl games. They got their experience in it. So it's different. Now, if you got a younger team, that's what you worry about. These guys need them reps. Some guys need to go in the game with some momentum and some things like that. But I think the Eagles got a veteran team. Maybe guys need the rest. Maybe a couple of guys would bang it up. I don't know. I'm not in the locker room. I'm not having conversation with the guys, but I'm just assuming, right? So.

We got a veteran bunch like that that got experience. You tend to be like, I don't care if we're a two or three seed. At end of the day, we in the playoffs. Let's make sure we're prepared, we ready to go on this run. We about to go on, rest these guys. So once we get, we back on the field, it's time to go. We plan for it all. So I think that's where he was.

Zach Klein (03:16)
What about you, man?

You know, if you got a client out there or there's a guy with incentives and they're like, you know, a couple yards away from making a bonus or a start or whatever that you have in their contracts and the coach has said, hey, man, you know, I got to take care of the team. And they're so close to that incentive what they worked the entire year for. then the final week of the season, nothing.

TF (03:37)
I mean, that's a tough conversation. That's situational for sure. There's no question that, you know, we would make the team aware and depending on what it is, is it just an active bonus where like if he dresses that he gets it and doesn't actually have to play, then, you know, there's a way to work around that as opposed to just, you know, on the sideline, not dressing and not receiving that bonus depends how many yards, you know, if it's you're saying it's a running back, for example, he's got to get AD yards. I mean, that's significant. That's playing a lot in a game that they're not playing guys. So

AD (03:39)
Deal it.

TF (04:04)
Conversations can be had and I think it's case by case and definitely situational. And it's hard to put your individual self in front of the team from the team perspective. But at the same time, there's a fine line and I'm sure some of that can be taken into consideration.

AD (04:18)
And it depends what that incentive is. If it's like a million dollars or $2 million, shit. Hey coach, come on man. Let me get that. Let me get that work, man. Put me in. I need a sack. Let me go get that sack so I can get that. That's different, yo. That's different, so.

Zach Klein (04:25)
I'll hook you up. I'll hook you up with that 10%. We'll get you something.

TF (04:29)
Yeah.

I don't know that

don't know that underhanded deals are going and I don't know that agents should be putting in a million and $2 million incentives. If you put that in, you should probably get more in the damn deal instead of putting it in the what if category for my guy. yeah, but yes, 100 % AD is right, depending on the level of it and what he has to do to achieve it, like how much is left to get there, all that is going to get factored in.

Zach Klein (04:36)
Yeah

AD (04:37)
Hahaha!

Zach Klein (04:52)
AD speaking of sacks man, nothing but love and respect for what Myles Garrett did.

AD (04:56)
Hey, clap it up for Myles man. Clap it up. Hey, one hell of accomplishment, obviously. 23 sacks in one season. And not just do it, but to do it on a team that's not that good, right? They won five games. ain't like, you know, they wasn't in league a lot, you know, for him to go out there and be able to, you know, get 23 sacks in one season. That's tough. I know how it was for me playing.

Obviously when I got to 20 sacks I know them teams was game planing like, hey, whatever you do, do not allow this guy to break this record. I know they did the same thing for him, but he found the way to get there and accomplish it, man. So I'm happy for him. I know he put a lot of work in accomplishing something like that. Obviously the season ain't what he wanted it to be, but ⁓ to be able to put his self in history, that's pretty special, man. So I'm happy for him, proud of him.

⁓ And now the next step is to be able to, you know, have some team success getting that playoff run that you go. Go get that guy a ring now, man. It's time to get him a ring, man. He earned it.

TF (05:49)
A.D.

A.D. Do you put any I mean it's hard right because you see all these different people talking about it and I agree with you like a guy who's playing from behind all the time I mean you know where the team doesn't have to have as many throwing opportunities as opposed to a guy you know maybe straight hand when he was doing it they were you know we're winning all the time so the guys on the other team were throwing to play catch up and he had more pass rush opportunities I have no idea it's hard to compare but people are saying a lot about well there was an extra game

AD (05:59)
Yes.

Exactly.

TF (06:17)
that he had to do it. that, I mean, obviously the number is the number, but is it, have an asterisk mark.

AD (06:24)
Man, who cares? It's 17 games now. We can't think about the past. We here in 2026, down to 17 games of the season. He accomplished it. He did it. He asked himself for history. So it don't matter if it was 12 games, 16 games, 17 games. That's what it is now. He accomplished it, man. So who...

TF (06:42)
I thought it

was pretty cool when the teammates all celebrated it and everyone was really well aware of it.

AD (06:48)
But I see how mad the bangles were. They like, how you stop for five minutes to hold everybody running on the field? We trying to get the momentum going. ⁓ I know they're little mad they lost, but I'm like, it was a big moment though.

TF (06:52)
Yeah.

Zach Klein (06:55)
man. They got to stop crying about that AD. mean, he broke

a record. You had nothing to play for. You weren't going to the playoffs. Give him his flowers. Enjoy the moment and move on. Stop bitching.

AD (07:07)
I

just think they're a little salty they lost to though, but it is what it is, man. But it was a hell of an accomplishment for him to do that. I think he ain't had no sacks for like the first four or five games of the season, right? And to go on that stretch to 23, that's pretty special. So he don't even need 17 games. It wasn't 17 games he got the sack. Obviously a 17 game during the season, but he went four or five weeks without no sacks and then they all came in bunches, man. So that's pretty special.

Zach Klein (07:10)
For sure.

TF (07:35)
It's awesome.

Zach Klein (07:35)
What do you

respect most about his game?

AD (07:38)
He's a rounded football player. think when you talk about, I'm a hard work guy. I hear about the work he put on in the off seasons, the way he take care of his body. I believe in you put in what you get out, right? You put the body work in, it's gonna pay off for you in the long run. So I love the work that he put in, right? Obviously him being a rounded football player that's not just dominant in the pass game, but can play the run game as dominant as well. He's overall a great football player.

When you talk about who's the best defensive player in the National Football League to this date, consistently they've been doing it. It was him and TJ Watt for a while, but I think, you know, right now he's holding the crown. You know, he earned that, he deserved that, and he did that. So right now, Miles Gere, you know, he's the top dog right now, for sure.

Zach Klein (08:23)
go down, clap it up for him as impressive 23 sacks. Clap it up.

AD (08:26)
Good job, big dog.

Good job, big dog.

Zach Klein (08:29)
He's done, right? So he and so many other of the NFL teams, obviously not playing for anything right now. So what does that look like, AD, when the season comes to an end? exit interviews. How does that work? Who do you talk to? What's discussed? Is it a two-way conversation when the season ends? And you kind of walk me through that process when your NFL season comes to a close.

AD (08:49)
Let me think, it been a while, man. Let me think about it. But you got your exit physicals, you got physicals, you meet with everybody through the building. Obviously you go to your head coaches, your defensive position coach and all that. And you just talking, right? It's things that you need to work on this off season, what you can do better, what you gotta work on. And vice versa, you talking to your coach, what you feel like we should have did better, what we could do better, what you feel like we need. Obviously as a veteran guy, you got to, you know, to voice, be able to, you know, voice your opinion like that. So.

It's one of them things where, you know, they making sure everything's good, you getting cleared. Okay, this guy's healthy, so we know you healthy, now you leaving, so you better come back healthy kind of situation. Then you talk to your coaches, had them conversations like that. And then for me, it was go back home and get ready to go back to the East Coast and get back training. That was it for me. You know, I wasn't a guy that did too much traveling. You know, I was just strictly, you know, with my family and keeping myself in shape all year around, right? So.

You know, that was, I guess, my gift and my curse. felt like, you know, my work was what made me successful, had me, you know, accomplish things I was able to accomplish. But, you know, you miss out on a lot of things that, you know, I guess the fun stuff that you could or could have did and traveling and things like that, you kind of push that to the side because my main goal was to continue to be consistent, obviously ⁓ keep myself healthy, but understand that when you make a name for yourself, man, it get...

10 times harder, so I gotta keep myself in shape all year round. I don't wanna fall behind, I wanna stay ahead, so that's what it was for me, you know, so.

TF (10:18)
I talked to a lot of my guys, AD, about the offseason and getting ahead, you know, as opposed to stopping and then having to play catch up again and, you know, put on weight, then have to get the weight off or completely shut down conditioning and then have to get back in shape. It's a lot easier to stay in shape as opposed to get out of shape and then get back in shape. how long, just in general, you know, obviously people talk about when college the pros and they're like, the speed of the game and you know, that's all great.

AD (10:29)
Yeah.

Yes.

TF (10:43)
But I think one of the hardest things for all players is trying to figure out how to take care of your body and what works for you and what doesn't. so whether it's eating and what is the right thing for me and whether it's the nutrition aspect, whether it's the massage and the body and any cutting edge stuff, whether it's dry needling or whatever it might be, figuring out that routine, how long did it take you when you were getting into the league to come into what you're...

AD (10:49)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

TF (11:09)
you eventually you figure it out and you were like, this is what I do and when I do it. And I know money also comes into play because not all guys can go spend and hire a private chef, but there's still ways to take care of your body. Don't you agree? And do you see it around the locker room a lot? Just guys not figuring out or taking a while to come up with that routine.

AD (11:14)
Yeah, 100%. Yes.

Yeah, and I do, but I think that's normal. think, but you see a lot more younger guys asking the veteran guys like, what do you do during your off season? ⁓ What are you eating? How are you training? How many days you train in a week? Like kind of follow your regimen that you're doing. You're just trying to give them some knowledge because coming in as a rookie, right? You know, I was a little chunky kid, still had my baby fat. You know, I was a hard worker, but I still ate whatever I wanted to eat. I was like, okay, I train every single day.

I can eat a cheeseburger and french fries. I'll work it off tomorrow, but it don't work like that because that affects your inflammation in your body, your recovery period. as I got older, I think around 2017, 2018 is when I started to really see a change in my body. That's when I kind of switched my eating habits, right? From training, training, and instead of going to get a cheeseburger, maybe I'm eating something that's a little better, a grilled chicken or something, a salad or whatever it was, just from a recovery standpoint. And I started to feel a lot better.

didn't feel as fatigued when I trained. I started to look a little different. My skin started to shine a little different. So as you get older, you'll Obviously, the financials help as well because it's not cheap. having a chef and having somebody prepare three meals for you every single day is a big plus too. Because a lot of people try to go out and try to figure out what do I eat? Where do I go to eat? It's hard to find somewhere, right? So having a chef was a big...

step up for me, a big help for me from a, you know, just from a, you know, health standpoint and what I'm consuming and what I'm trying to take care of my body. So, you know, it's a lot of things that go into it, man, that, you know, the world don't get to see, the world don't know about, they just see what we do on the football field, but they don't see, you know, the, the film studies, the taking care of your body, the treatment, all the stuff that go into it for that top athlete to become that top athlete, you know, it's a lot of work to go into it, so.

Zach Klein (13:15)
Todd, do you tell your clients to follow the lead of an Aaron Donald when they're young and you're their rookie getting ready to go in that, you know, their second year in the league about what to do and, you know, follow the footsteps of the greats before and this is the plan they have the off season and, you know, you might not have chef money, but you should do X, Y and Z to take care of your body and follow the lead of those before you.

TF (13:36)
Yeah, you know what? I don't tell them necessarily to follow what Aaron Donald does if it was in that situation. Obviously if they can, mean, he's created a blueprint that clearly works, but guys got to find out what works for them. And not everyone is the same. So what I do say is talk to Aaron, talk to this guy, talk to that guy, not all on his team, on any team. I'll connect them with guys. I said to pick their brain because if you hear from Aaron and you could...

AD (13:48)
Exactly.

Mm-hmm.

TF (14:01)
take a thing or two away from what he does. And you could take a thing away from this guy and this guy, and then customize it to what makes sense for you. And some of it's trial and error for these guys to actually figure out what works and what doesn't work. And not all of it is just body. A lot of it also is the conditioning part, but also like, how are you studying? And film study. And that's not just off season, that's in season. How much film do you watch and when do you watch it? And pick their brain, because Aaron, what tendencies is he picking up from offensive linemen? They give away maybe what they're gonna do, whether it's a run play or be like, you

AD (14:19)
In season, yep.

TF (14:30)
because there's little hints that the guys can share. And so I do love the chemistry of bringing my guys together in any form or fashion. And now as an agency, we do a lot of things where a lot of guys all come together and just having them bonding and that connection is great for picking the brain and figuring out what everybody does and applying it to themselves that makes best for them.

AD (14:33)
Always.

Zach Klein (14:50)
interesting because you think the offseason is all about relaxation, resetting your body, resetting your mind, getting stronger, staying in shape. But to your point, like they need to get in the lab and learn more, know, pick the brains of people, the tendencies of their opposition, how they can improve what they're doing and be better. Yeah, and be better in the playbook.

TF (15:05)
the good ones. If you

AD (15:06)
Yeah,

TF (15:07)
want

AD (15:07)
that's what I

TF (15:08)
to be good, you got to do that. You got to get ahead. If you want to be the guy who takes the offseason for the offseason, then you'll have plenty of offseason, believe me, because you aren't going to be in the league long.

AD (15:14)
Yeah,

Zach Klein (15:14)
Yeah

AD (15:16)
and that's the difference from good and great, right? Guys that satisfied, that's just getting by, the guys that's putting in that work, that extra time, that's the guys that's gonna show, come back full season around on a field, you'll be like, that guy look different. He's moving different. He look a little stronger, look like he's in better shape, right? He can play for four quarters and not be tired. So you gotta prepare yourself and get yourself to ready to go to war every week. You can't allow yourself to fall behind.

TF (15:42)
And to that point also is like, everyone's not created equal and, you know, the guy's got to work harder and to get ahead and like those that rely on their just natural God gifted, you know, given talent, like that catches up because at this level, so many of them are so good. And so what separates the good from the great are the extra things and what you could get away with at another level in college because you were so dominant and were so much better.

You can't really get away with that as much at this level. And it catches up and it exposes you because guess what starts to happen? Body breaks down, injuries, lack of production. And it's obvious to see. look, there's guys on the other side that bust their ass, do everything there is and still can end up with a soft tissue injury or whatever. But you at least increase the odds and minimize your exposure opportunities of getting hurt and all that stuff if you're taking care of your body by eating right and doing all that type of stuff. Because everything's connected for sure.

Zach Klein (16:36)
was at the Falcons facility earlier in the week, AD, and the guys cleaning out their lockers and they have these big, massive, hefty trash bags that they're cleaning out and they're putting in gloves and cleats and eye black and jerseys and t-shirts and sweatpants and all this shit in their bag. I'm like, man, they're just, they're massive bags over their shoulders. And then they're having the guys also FedEx them stuff. Did you keep stuff?

AD (16:42)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Zach Klein (17:00)
Were you like, all right, I'm done. cleaning this out. What did you what did you hold over from your locker that you still had with you in the offseason and kept?

AD (17:07)
I got a million game worn spikes. got game worn gloves. I got game worn girdles. I got everything.

TF (17:13)
And when he's saying

GameWarn, just to clarify, that's because those are worth money, just so you know, right? And I'm not lying, I mean, he's not going to, but there's plenty of deals out there on the marketing side, on the memorabilia side, where people pay to get signed GameWarn X, whatever it is, shoes, cleats, whatever, jersey. So that's a whole nother world. So when he's saying...

Zach Klein (17:19)
You

AD (17:25)
Yep. Yes.

Yes.

TF (17:36)
Game war in this and game war in that. He's, he, he, he, there's an asterisk. I know I'm reading between the lines. I know what he's saying.

AD (17:37)
Game on. Yeah.

Yeah, there's still

Zach Klein (17:43)
Bye.

AD (17:44)
dirt stains on this. I got everything. I threw everything, even workout clothes. Yeah. But I got all that, man. I kept everything. So, you know.

TF (17:46)
And he's got a piece of tape on it. guarantee he's got a piece of tape and tells you what game it is and the date of it. 100%. Oh yeah, that's money.

Zach Klein (17:57)
⁓

Right below the Emmys right there, there's a space for some signed stuff. So I'll Venmo you whatever you got, man. But give me right there, right there at the spot. I think I'll put that right there.

AD (18:03)
Dug-

TF (18:04)
Venmo,

let me speak for my client. Venmo's not gonna cut it, okay? Hey Z, I got a question for you though. Before I know we're gonna talk some NIL and also talk about like rookies, mean guys from college transitioning to the pros and training and all that. But real quick question, you're in Atlanta.

We obviously it's very highly publicized along all the different coaching firings across the league and Black Monday and all that. But in your own town, you have a head coach that gets fired. You got a GM that gets fired. What's going on in your world that you have to deal with? And obviously publicly there's certain things, but what are you doing behind the scenes and working that out? Regardless of Matt Ryan situation, just in general, I know that adds a whole nother layer of chaos because of the...

AD (18:32)
Yes.

TF (18:47)
know, popularity and the name and the PR, you know, of all that. But just in general, what are you dealing with?

Zach Klein (18:52)
Well, Arthur Blank is the owner of the Falcons, is very sensitive to public opinion. And when you look at the landscape of the National Football League, Todd, the two teams with the longest active streak of missing the playoffs, you have the New York Jets at 15 years and then the Atlanta Falcons at eight. They haven't been to the playoffs in eight years. They're on their third coach in what, six, seven years right now. So they had to make a change. The public was obviously not happy with the product on the field.

AD (19:09)
Mmm.

Zach Klein (19:18)
Not happy with the way things went down with the Kirk Cousins, Michael Penneck situation. Some people felt they had enough talent to compete and get to the playoffs. And if you look at the losses that they had, if you just beat the New York Jets, you're in the postseason. We might not be having this conversation, but once again, they had a losing record. Once again, they missed the playoffs and there was moves that had to be made. ⁓ know, obviously what's going on with Matt and interviewing for the pro, you know, the director of football operations, wherever that lands, you know, whoever takes that job.

AD (19:30)
Yep.

Zach Klein (19:46)
wants a clean slate and you know, Terry has been there five years. He had to go and whoever comes in and running point that circle is now smaller right to making the decision. So they want to control who the head coach is in the GM and everybody's on the same page. So from a local standpoint, there's a lot of decisions need to be made, you know, whether it's Kyle Pitts is coming back, Drake London furious that he's, know, not involved in them playing in a postseason game. He's so animated. He's so good. And all he wants to do is play postseason ball. So you feel for him.

AD (20:14)
As he should.

Zach Klein (20:15)
As he should, mean, he's won. And Bijan, you're racing a 2000

AD (20:16)
Yeah, as he should. That's how every player should feel. Right? That's how you should feel.

Zach Klein (20:20)
yard scrimmage, unbelievable year from him.

TF (20:22)
And I'm

not even talking about like what's wrong with the team. I get it. They had to make a move. It's clear. But from a media perspective, what are you doing? Are you, are you working the phones? Are you trying to figure out who the next head coach is going to be? Are you trying to fire the GM? Were you on top of this and trying to figure this out before it was happening? Like knowing a head coach was going to get fired or GM or do you just wait for it to go down and then make sure you're reporting it? Like, because it's got to be busy in Atlanta. I mean, all the talk shows are talking about it locally, everything.

Zach Klein (20:41)
No, yeah.

When they were eliminated, Todd, from the playoffs over a month ago, that's when we start talking, right? So they, mean, they, yeah, they finished strong, their longest winning streak, four straight wins, AD, and you know, prime time, you you beat some good teams down the stretch, but you were eliminated from the playoffs around Thanksgiving. And that's when people start talking about change, right? So you're, you're talking to people in the organization, you're talking to agents around, you know, football, you're talking to, you know, people that are involved in the search process, what they're looking for.

AD (20:51)
Mm.

I was about say, I feel like they finished strong though. They beat some good teams. Yeah, that's crazy.

Yeah.

Zach Klein (21:15)
it's very fluid. It's very moving. And I think once they get some direction on who's going to run the show, I think things become clear.

from the Cleveland Browns.

TF (21:21)
think all the usual

names are going to be in all the different openings across the league. I think a lot of people are doing all that. Sometimes if there's one hot guy, sometimes there's a race for that guy that people want. So we'll see how it all shakes. I was just curious, behind the scenes.

AD (21:23)
Yeah, I was about to say, yeah.

Zach Klein (21:36)
Yeah,

AD, but when it comes to coaching changes, how does a new staff go about earning trust? So whoever comes into Atlanta or Cleveland or LA or Las Vegas, New York, how do they go about earning trust in that locker

AD (21:51)
Well, you starting over from scratch again. You clean house, right? There might be guys that's, you know, they've been here for a while. That might fit the new scheme or fit what the coach want there. They clean house and bring who they want in, right? I feel like you starting all over again. Now they gotta figure out, who's gonna be the leaders in this locker room? Who's gonna carry the team as what we need to do? Who gonna set the example, set the standard where we wanna set the standard and who's gonna follow that? So I always say every time...

you know, I experienced having a new coach. felt like it was starting, you was going to a whole new team all over again. You gotta earn that trust. You gotta get a feel for a new coaching staff, how that's gonna be, figure out the schemes, figure out how they gonna use you and see if it fit with you, right? So, you you start from scratch. It could be good, really good. Obviously my experience was really fucking great. And some for some other teams was really bad, right? It all depends on the type of coach you bring in, the type of coaching staff he brings with him. And obviously...

the pieces to the puzzle that he add to the team that can help, right? You talk about a team like the Falcons that got a lot of really good pieces. Now it's like, okay, what are they gonna add to a pretty good team that got a lot of great potential with hopefully a great coach that's gonna lead them and get them in a situation where they can be a team that can be seen in the playoffs and have success, to have opportunity to win it all. So, you know, it can be good, it can be bad, but it's starting over from scratch again. You gotta earn the trust, earn the respect.

you know, from the coaches and the coaches got to, you know, trust and believe in you. So you got to earn it. You got to go out there, do an OTAs camp and then, you know, earn a name all over again. That's how I look at it. All over again.

Zach Klein (23:24)
Yeah. So it's chaos in

the NFL, new teams, new coaches, new players. But that's just, mean, if you look at the grand scheme of things and how chaotic the NFL will be for the next month, I would assume Todd that has nothing on what's going on in college football. I read as of what yesterday, what 35, 40 % of the players are in college, are in the portal, some 4,000 kids, 5,000 kids in the portal. What is your world like right now?

AD (23:49)
Get outta here.

Zach Klein (23:52)
and name, image, and likeness, which has nothing to do with name, image, and likeness. It's just basically college free agency. What's going on?

TF (23:58)
Yeah, no, it is. It's exactly right. It's called NIL you want. It's the NFL 2.0. ⁓ There's just no CBA and it's wild. And it's been wild for a while and a lot going on. And that's why you hear everyone talking about like they need the calendar changes because you have quote unquote free agency starting when teams are still playing and just all the moving parts and

AD (24:03)
Thanks.

Yeah.

TF (24:20)
you know, for, for agents that actually are real agents that actually represent NFL players and are helping out in this NIL rev share world, there's a lot going on because the season is still going on. And, and then, and now you're trying to deal with all the NIL stuff. It's, it's, it's crazy because in this world, you know, in free agency in the NFL, it's totally different compared to, and we'll talk about that on a different show down the road, but it's not the same as this college free agency, because in college, you know, you're dealing with the

forgetting like the GM for the team who's calling you about your player and trying to, you know, structure a deal or get a deal done with that school. But you could be, you're dealing with probably multiple schools trying to do it, but then you have position coaches, coordinators, players on those teams, hounding the players, hounding their families. And like, it's like recruiting, it's full-fledged recruiting.

AD (25:06)
Yeah.

TF (25:06)
I mean, you got coaches flying in to go see players, sit down with them, tell them they're not going to leave until the kid commits there. Kids are leaving the dinner, calling me and the parents saying, what do we do? You know, we don't want to be pressured. Like it's just, and that's just one thing for one school. But you have, know, if it's a top player, which I'm generally going to be dealing with, you have so many schools after this one guy and you have the parents and their opinion and then the player, and then the parents have to have their, I mean, it is ongoing.

craziness and you know these deals people talk about the deals and it's you know a million dollars well like you gotta just you gotta divide that a lot of these schools will say it's a million dollars but then you you get the actual term sheet you're like it's a million dollars over 18 months which is two seasons it's not a million dollars you know and and but the family doesn't realize that and so you got to educate you got to explain to them that and how much of the money is actually coming from the school as opposed to

AD (25:50)
Yeah.

TF (25:59)
know, promised marketing deals or whatever other things that these schools are all trying to do to create this deal to get this player to come there. And what's lost in translation of all of it is we're talking money, money, money. And yes, money does matter. But if it's an NFL potential guy down the road, what's the best situation? You know, and I don't look at it as I'm not just your NIL agent. I get it. If this kid has no chance of making it to the league, get the money while you can. Get in the portal every year if you have to. Now, personally, I'm not putting a guy in the portal.

AD (26:15)
Yes.

TF (26:27)
Unless I know I have a deal and a job like I, and I know you're not allowed to, you know, tamper and whatever, but I got to have a good feeling. Cause I have good enough Intel and good enough relationships to have a good feeling. I'm not going into the portal and having musical chairs happen. My guy's in there and then there's no chip. The music stops and he's, he's got no home because that's, that's something you don't want to deal with, but a lot of people are doing it. They also don't understand the grass isn't always greener. So you really got to dig into the situations and understand if it's a receiver, you know,

AD (26:29)
Mm.

Zach Klein (26:41)
Nothing.

AD (26:43)
Yeah.

TF (26:54)
Who's the quarterback? What's the returning offensive line? What's the coaches, you know, what stability is the coach? And is this your junior year? Is it your senior year? Do you want to transfer in a year that's your final year? Because if it doesn't go right, like that's it, you know, or do you want to go your junior year? But then if you go your junior year and it doesn't work, then you're having to leave again. And now you've been to three schools. Like, how does that look? So there's a lot of things to get in and out of to try to figure out what is the right thing to do and not and control the situation. Don't let the situation control you. Again, money's important.

AD (26:56)
Yup.

Yeah.

TF (27:23)
Absolutely, I mean that's my living and I'm gonna get every damn penny there is that this kid's value is. But there's other things that go into it to try to figure out what the right situation is.

AD (27:29)
Yeah.

Zach Klein (27:32)
Take me to the beginning. Say you're representing Zach Klein and I call you. said, Todd, I'm hitting the portal. I just put my paperwork in. Let's go. When that becomes public to all the other schools, who's calling you? Are you calling them? Walk me through it from the very beginning when one of your guys, Zach, says, Todd, let's go. I'm in the portal.

TF (27:49)
It wouldn't happen. wouldn't say, let's go to the portal. And I say, Zach, you have a job, like stick with it because by the way, I don't know how you have a job. There's no other team that's signing you, Zach. just go below radar, hope no one realizes that you have a scholarship and that you're actually on the roster. But hypothetically, if you were a football player, no, in general, their teams are reaching out to the players directly. They're reaching out to the agents.

Zach Klein (27:57)
Ha ha ha.

AD (27:58)
Yeah.

Zach Klein (28:00)
Okay.

Yes, yes.

TF (28:17)
database necessarily of who the agent is, but a lot of times they can go on Instagram and they can see, you know, that for business inquiries, contract, you know, so and so at athletes first, you know, and so they'll know there's an agent there and we have so many agents that were powerful and big and connectivity and we represent coaches and stuff. So there's a general understanding of who has who and that type of stuff. There's also proactive things that are happening, us reaching out to two teams and us connecting with schools and finding out.

what the needs are. we have a good internal communication system also to kind of know who's looking for what in terms of, a Texas tech is looking for receivers. This one's looking for that. But also there's just a lot of behind the scenes things going on where like they're targeting specific guys as well. It's not like you're calling a team and they're like, let us go watch film on this guy. Like, no, it's fast paced. They have a, they have a board.

AD (28:51)
okay.

They know. Yeah.

TF (29:05)
Just like pro personnel guys have a board in the league when they know a guy's getting released, they have them ranked. They don't go, shit, this guy just got released. Let's go watch film on him. They know who's there, how they stack up compared to their guys, and how it all blends together. It's very similar on the college side. And that's actually why a lot of these college teams are trying to now set their front offices up like an NFL. And a lot of NFL personnel guys are now becoming GMs in college. And so they're trying to make it and set it up that way. And then they're trying to set up their cap that way. They're trying to set it up where, where

Zach Klein (29:32)
you said, NFL 2.0.

TF (29:34)
Yeah, no, they're trying to set it up also like, all right, if we pay this guy, how does it affect this guy? there, instead of looking at people, they're saying, what's the value? How much money of our cap? What percent do we want to invest in the secondary, in the D line, on the O line? And then the puzzle starts with, if it's X percent, X dollars, how do we divide that up and make sure it's there? And then they can't just take care of the star guys.

AD (29:35)
Yeah.

TF (29:54)
Otherwise they're going to lose their backups and their depth and their guys that are rising guys. So there's a lot of moving parts to these things that these guys got to deal with. And every year in college is free agency. It's not like the NFL where this guy, hey, he's stuck for four years because we got him on our contract unless we release him. These guys are kind of having to constantly backfill. And I saw a stat something like on Indiana and all these other teams, there's like 40 guys. They go in a portal they're getting. it's nuts. It's wild. And it's fast paced. And it's

AD (29:55)
Yep.

That's crazy. That's crazy.

Zach Klein (30:19)
So if

I know you've represented some of the best running backs in college football. And I'm wondering if how many schools reached out wanting to get that college running back as opposed to if you had a star running back in the NFL in free agency, how many teams would be interested in it?

If the NFL teams comparable to the college teams wanting that those star players or because there's no cap in college that there's more teams wanting the elite players.

TF (30:46)
It's not that there's only an OKEP. There's going to be more for college just because also there's just more teams, right? There's just, I mean, you've got so many different teams. Yeah. And I mean, and but not everything is a fit, right? Like if I'm a when I had Quinn Sean, Jenkins and we were at Ole Miss and entered the portal, we're not going to go to, you know, a lesser school. Right. ⁓ You said it. So I'll say Kansas. We're not going to we're going to try to stay at the same level or better. And so he went to Ohio State, right?

Zach Klein (30:54)
130 teams, yeah.

Kansas, my school.

TF (31:14)
because you're not going to take a top kid and go to a lesser program that you're going to try to get to a good program. So it does limit it from that perspective. But, everyone's going to take their shot now because guess what? If they got money, they could get the kid. So there, cause there's a lot of players out there that don't care that the program is X. They're just looking at going, Oh, they're giving me a million dollars. This school is only giving me 600. I'm out. I'm going to that school. And that might've been a B school instead of an A school. So it's, it's, it's wild. There's not as much in the, in the league.

AD (31:18)
You second.

TF (31:44)
in the NFL because not everyone has those needs and it's a lot more strategic. And in the NFL, rosters aren't only filled in free agency, they're filled through the draft. So they don't have to, like, this isn't the only time they can improve their roster. This is, you know, in the NFL, they're like, we're going to go for it in March in free agency. If we don't get the targeted guys at the price that we want for the needs, then we're just going to fall back and go address that in the draft. In college, if you need USC.

AD (31:57)
Yeah.

TF (32:12)
They lose their Balintnikov ride receiver. If they don't go get replaced that where they don't have the receiver. So they got to get the guy. And then all of sudden it becomes a desperation situation. And you know, if you're an agent, you may or may not want to take advantage of that situation financially for your player. If you have a top guy, you know.

Zach Klein (32:19)
Big drop off. Yeah.

AD (32:19)
Yes.

Zach Klein (32:28)
All right.

So, speaking of money, I want to play this game. The New York Times said that this is the cost currently of doing business in the portal. So, AD, I'm going to ask you what the range is for these positions, what you think the range is. And then Todd, you're going to tell me if he's correct and what the New York Times had to say. So we're going to play a little game here. All right. So, AD, the cost of doing business for quarterbacks in college football, what's the range?

AD (32:53)
to 5 million.

Zach Klein (32:55)
2 to 5 million, according to the Times, is 1 to 4. So AD was pretty much spot on. Todd?

TF (33:00)
Yeah, I think it's fair. mean, listen, every single one of these things that you were gonna mention, the market determines the price, right? I mean, you can have a car and you can think it's worth $1,000. If anyone's only paying 500 bucks, your car's worth 500 bucks. But if your car's worth 1,000 and you can get someone to pay 3,000, your car's worth 3,000. So these ranges are fine, but I don't know how accurate they're gonna be. I can tell you that right

AD (33:14)
But yeah.

No.

Zach Klein (33:24)
Alright, so the quarterback is the number one slot AD. What position do you think is that has the highest upside in terms of? Going to the portal and then go into another school and cash in what position other than quarterback you think is number two.

AD (33:36)
I would have to say a pass rusher. The guy trying to get to the quarterback. Yeah.

Zach Klein (33:39)
Edrusher, Edrusher, AD Knows His Ball,

$500,000 to $2 million for Edrusher, Todd. Was that a good range?

TF (33:47)
I I know a lot of players at other positions that are surpassing that top end of that range. I can tell you that, including defense, defense, I mean, I can tell you wide receivers for sure. there's definitely some.

Zach Klein (33:51)
Really? What positions?

wide receivers are making more than two mil.

AD (33:56)
Really?

never seen no wide receiver in college. Well, I don't know. I never heard or seen nothing that said this wide receiver was making a couple million dollars. I know about like 400,000 or something like that, a half a million dollars, but it said, she look tired. Like, what you talking? Dang, I forgot.

Zach Klein (34:11)
Yeah, AD, their range, according to the New York

Times, was 500,000 to a million. So AD's range, if he was representing a guy, AD's in that range. Todd's shaking his head.

AD (34:15)
Yeah. Yeah. ⁓

TF (34:20)
You know what? don't know. Right.

AD (34:20)
But that's Todd though. Todd can get the house, he

can get anything from him, baby. That's Todd. That's Todd friends. That's different though.

TF (34:26)
will say I can't speak for others ranges. I'm just gonna tell you my ranges are gonna be different than the ranges in the New York Times. Okay. And I've not stroking myself. I'm just saying like, just, they're not all accurate.

AD (34:28)
Yeah, there you go.

Yeah.

Zach Klein (34:36)
Alright, offensive tackle. AD, what's the range?

AD (34:40)
I would say about 200,000, 300,000 or something like that.

Zach Klein (34:44)
600 to 1.3 million.

AD (34:46)
Damn. Okay. Well, it protecting the quarterback, so I would guess so.

Zach Klein (34:50)
And then interior D lineman, had 500,000 to 1.5, corners 250 to a million, safeties 250 to 900,000, wide receivers 500 to a million, and then running backs, this seems low Todd 400,000 to 900,000.

TF (35:05)
definitely low. I'm not going to name names or name deals, but you know, I can tell you a few years ago, those numbers were, those numbers were surpassed. And now those numbers are supposed to be bigger because there's rev share and money and all that stuff.

Zach Klein (35:17)
So you had a guy a few years ago running back, making more than $900,000 in one year.

TF (35:22)
I'm not going to name names. I'm not going to name situations. I'm just telling you that's low. And it was low as a few years ago for sure. Years ago. I can't imagine. I don't have a running back right now. So I don't know what it is, but yeah, no. And listen, supply and demand and how good your player is. And that's it. And you want your guy to get taken care of and treated right. I mean, I'm not even going to get involved right now. There's deals going on. You guys would, your minds would be blown. We're talking about portal guys.

AD (35:27)
Mmm.

Hell, man.

That's crazy.

Zach Klein (35:35)
And then, yeah.

And you'd eat.

TF (35:49)
What about guys that are top guys in the 26 and 27 class that haven't even stepped on the field yet in college that they're getting paid? Your minds would blow. I wish I could literally share some of the numbers. We'd be blown.

AD (35:59)
So you saying straight

from out of high school going to college getting paid like this? Already? I don't, yeah, I don't want you to, but I'm like, as a player, don't know if that is a, as a young guy, I don't know what I could, a couple million dollars coming out of high school to college.

TF (36:04)
I'm not gonna name, I'm not gonna put.

Zach Klein (36:08)
I want you to name names, names of names, let's go.

TF (36:11)
I'm not.

I'm not saying the dollar value. I'm not saying all that. Yeah. Right. Which, yeah, I mean, we'll see how that plays out because the mama we made it like, you know, does that change their their motivation? Love? Does that change their work ethic? Do they feel like they've already been there? Done that. And then there's just like, they never realized their true potential because they're not the hunger's not there. And as you know, and as you know, because you're older, I two million dollars.

AD (36:17)
Mama, we made it. Mama, we made it. Golly.

And in that.

Yup. Yeah, that's what I always say.

Zach Klein (36:35)
Are you finding-

TF (36:40)
If was paying you $2 Aaron Donnell, I mean, it's out there. I he was scheduled to make a lot of money and walked away from it. So $2 million wouldn't have been the deal for him. And I'm just saying, you think it's a lot of money until you really get in the league and you realize what real money is. So, no, I get it.

AD (36:53)
Yeah, exactly.

Zach Klein (36:55)
You're 18 though. You've

never had a job. Now they throw two million at you. Yeah, the motivation. Do you feel? ⁓ for sure.

TF (37:00)
I get it.

AD (37:01)
That's life changing money.

TF (37:03)
It is, but

two million is really one million. Let's not forget. Okay. Got a partner. His name's Uncle Sam's taking 50%. So, no, I'm not. I trust me. I pay for myself and then some. I can promise you that. Okay.

Zach Klein (37:06)
Yeah. And then Todd's taking the rest. So there goes that other million. Yes, you do for sure. You get

AD (37:06)
Yeah. Yeah.

Zach Klein (37:16)
the value, the best of the best. Are you finding more coaches and organizations, Todd, wanting to invest in college players that they've already seen and proven? Or to your point about these young guys that are coming out of high school, those five star kids that haven't stepped on a college football field yet.

TF (37:31)
Different.

different for different schools and different situations. And I think you have to have a blend if you're going to do it right, you know, because you want to you want to develop talent to write in the program and bring them up through the program because you can't pay everybody. So you're going to need to hit it on high school guys in development of guys as opposed to only to go into the portal. I mean, it's just like the teams in the NFL. They you try to build through the draft. You don't try to build through free agency. And obviously you go and pluck a guy here or pluck a guy there and free agency to fill some some serious needs, especially where you might be in a

window

to win and you don't have an opportunity to go develop a guy who's going to take a couple of years to be an impactful player right then.

AD (38:02)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

TF (38:08)
that I will deal with.

AD (38:09)
So Todd,

what does your off season look like? Do you have an off season? Where's your window that you got some time to be like, at least you got like a month off or something like that, that's always nonstop.

TF (38:19)
It's nonstop. It's

it's nonstop. mean, because so right now, and you probably remember, I'm going to remind you because you're probably not just thinking of it. But we're talking about portal and we're talking about college guys. And we're talking about my NFL guys that are done with, you know, the season. But what about all the guys that are declared for the draft that are now getting ready to go train to get ready for the combine and to get ready for their pro days and to get ready for the draft? So right now as an agent, the

The time is all your players that you've signed out of college, you're getting them all set up at the different training facilities throughout the country that specialize, yeah, 100%, rental cars, all that stuff.

AD (38:55)
Cars, apartment to stay in. Shit, you did it right. I remember Todd

was like, what car you want? I'm like, I could pick any car. I'm like, I could pick any car. I picked the Camaro though. That's when Camaro's was hot. I had me a Camaro. I felt like, oh, I felt good. Nice little apartment. First time in Arizona. I felt like, okay, I can do this.

TF (39:05)
Yeah.

Do you remember, because obviously we met you out there in Arizona, at baggage claim, got you in the car, took you over to your apartment, had all your stuff laid out, all your logo gear that we had for you that was my company, and we got you some groceries, so had some healthy snacks all set up in your apartment, ready to go, so you had your basic toiletries fully furnished to place, and then I think, I don't know if back then, I can't even remember, probably had like MapQuest.

AD (39:18)
Mm-hmm.

Yep, pardon me. Yep.

Yep.

TF (39:42)
printouts of how to get from the apartment to the training facility and reversed because you didn't have ways, you didn't have things like that. So we probably had a little folder and things to do in Phoenix and Scottsdale. So you had some on your free time. But yeah, we made sure of all that. And then you.

AD (39:43)
It did, you did, Yep.

Nope.

We were set up

and it was go time. Work, go to the facility, get to meet all the guys. Little nervous, cause it's like you in a new environment, know, out of your element. Cause for me, I was in Pittsburgh my whole life. First time I left Pittsburgh is when I went to Arizona for what, one or two months, whatever long I was out there. I'm like, I'm a Pittsburgh kid, grew up in Pittsburgh, went to college in Pittsburgh. Now I'm in Arizona by myself. I'm like, this is different. So I was a little nervous, but they had everything set up.

TF (40:15)
months.

AD (40:23)
for me, obviously getting to the facility, meeting the guys, being around the guys. And then you was back in the locker room all over again, know, building that relationship with the guys. And then they had your three meals a day. You had your breakfast, you had your lunch, you had your dinner. So by the time you were at home, I'm tired anyway. I got to wake up early in the morning and do it all over again. I was a guy that, my free time wasn't no free time. I was in the house relaxing. I didn't want to go out. I wasn't partying. I'm like, I got to go. I'm trying to go to the, go get myself together. I want to run this fast 40 at the con band. That's the only thing I was worried about.

and trying to get myself moved up to be able to draft it where I wanted to get drafted to, man. And obviously you brought Chuck Smith out there to work with me for the senior bowl. So I was out there working with Chuck. So, man, it was just working, man. I still talk to Chuck. We still talk. We still talk. Yeah, we still talk.

TF (41:00)
Yep.

And know Chuck now is a Chuck now is the D line coach for the for the Ravens. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah he's he was

good. Yeah. So you you're looking at what facilities make sense for your player and you don't necessarily want to have a cookie cutter approach because all facilities aren't the same and all player needs aren't the same. So Aaron Donald comes out of school and he's all banged up. I got to make sure the place he goes has a plus level in-house PT and treatment because we got to get him healthy.

you know, if a guy is, is definitely more of a speed guy, then maybe there's a facility that specializes a little bit more, has better results in speed or whatever it might be. But we're, you know, we're looking at different facilities for the different guys. Sometimes guys want to go to a certain facility because a teammate went there and had success or it's geography or weather. So you're trying to figure out what facility each guy goes to. You're trying to get them all set up there and then they're there to train. It's a different training, Zach. It's like, they're trying to train for a 40, they're training for a five, 10, five, they're trying for a three cone.

AD (41:45)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

TF (42:00)
bench press reps at 225, that's just the physical stuff. And then there's obviously the position work stuff. And then there's the mental stuff, the interview prep and getting, yeah, getting ready for how to handle interviews and how to handle, you know, the team when you go to the combine, they're going to put your worst clips up and you're going to have to talk about that and how you're to handle that. And, and, and how, how, you know, up to speed are you on X's and O's on, do you know your position or do you know the entire D line and what their responsibilities are?

AD (42:01)
Yep.

NWD, prep you for all that, yo. Everything.

TF (42:26)
the secondary, the linebackers, what everyone's doing, or you only know what you do. And all these teams are looking at every little thing. And so what we'll have on over the next several weeks leading up to the combine, we'll get a speed coach on, we'll get the PT guys on so they can talk about kind of what they do to how to get these guys right because you're not preparing for a game and you're not training for a game. As a matter of fact, when you go to a 40, I mean, you'll see when the speed coach, they might run the initial 40 to get a benchmark time.

and then maybe one mock one at the end to see where they're at. But other than that, they're doing tens and twenties the whole time and they're never truly running forties. And it's like, how many steps is exactly does it take to run this 40? Oh, the get off. Yeah. Do do you pop? Do you pop up? Listen, I've watched it so much. I swear to God, I could run a 40. I mean, I can't.

AD (42:55)
Yup, exactly. Yup.

Yep, it's all about the get off. It's all about the get off. That first five yards, first five yards, pop you wanna stay low, get off is everything.

TF (43:14)
But I could, my technique would be phenomenal. I'd still be slow, but like, when are you fully, you know, stand upright and your face, you know, relax your face. You can't be like tense and stuff and all that stuff goes into it.

Zach Klein (43:14)
Hahaha

AD (43:21)
Yup. So it's

a lot of work though. It was a lot of work, but it was good work. was in Arizona, did an amazing job. from, you know, you got to go where you want your weight to be. They make sure they feed you, to make sure that your weight, they weigh you every day. Your recovery process is there. Obviously the weight room work, explosive work to just prepare yourself. Like everything they did was great. And when I was able to go to the combat and I was comfortable, I was relaxed. I'm like, all right, now this is, I'm in t-shirt and shorts. This is just.

Back yard ball, just go out there, do some drills and show what I can do. And that was it, man.

TF (43:54)
he skipped one step because before the combine, he went to the senior bull and mobile Alabama, which we'll talk about in a couple of weeks. And that's when, and that's when he destroyed everybody there too. But yeah, that's what's going on in my world right now is getting everyone. So I'm dealing with NIL, I'm dealing with all my players in regular season ending, and then you're getting the new batch of guys, you know, getting ready to go dominate the process because they have one chance and one chance to do it right. And I want to make sure I'm giving them every tool and every tip.

AD (43:57)
yeah, I did.

Zach Klein (43:59)
Yeah.

Remember John Gruden.

AD (44:05)
Mm-hmm.

TF (44:18)
I can possibly give them because there are no do-overs and I want them to achieve their dream and go as high as they can. I can't get them drafted, but I can prepare them and give them all the ammo and give them all the tools so they have no regrets looking back.

AD (44:25)
Yeah, exactly.

Zach Klein (44:29)
We'll definitely take a deep dive into the combine process when that comes around the draft process, but I'm looking at AD's results from the combine. Do you remember what you ran a 40 in?

TF (44:38)
Now hold on, will say, weren't you sick at the combine? Something wasn't right. You didn't run your bet. I know you weren't at where you needed to be.

AD (44:42)
I was.

Yeah, see,

no, so what I did, we talked about staying low. was so, Brian Cox was the D-line coach at the Falcons. He was my D-line coach at the Senior Bowl. And he was sitting right in the front row and I kept telling him, I'm gonna run a fast 40. He said, don't be up there doing all of your steps, trying to get yourself settled. He said, just get down and run. And I took my time looking, I remember looking at him like this and smiling and he start laughing. But my 40, I popped up a little bit. So I ran a four or six, but I think I could have got a little lower. If I would have just stayed a little lower and got off a little better.

I think I could have got a little closer to like a

TF (45:17)
What

were we weighing when we did the four six? Yeah, which is absurd, Oh.

AD (45:20)
like 280. I was.

Zach Klein (45:21)
Yeah, officially listed as 285468

and very Zach Klein-esque 35 bench press reps.

TF (45:30)
Right,

here, but so the popular thing, again, we'll talk about this later when we have a speed coach on all that. The popular thing is the 40 time, but I would be curious what the 10 time was because for a D lineman, they want to know what that 10 time is.

AD (45:31)
Hahaha

Zach Klein (45:41)
1,

1, 6, 3. That's move. OK, Joe, in comparison, OK, so you ran a 1, 6, 3. I remember with Todd when he had Jameer Gibbs going. And it'd be like midnight, AD. And we go down to the bottom of hotel, and there's Gibbs just training on those first couple steps. Midnight, I he's still working at it. He did run a 4, 3, 6, but he was a 1, 5, 2. So you're like neck and neck with what Jameer was doing. Not too bad, AD, not too bad.

TF (45:44)
Yeah, and if you start comparing that, I don't remember.

AD (45:45)
I don't know. I don't even know if that's good. I don't even know if that's good or not.

True, yup. Yup.

Not too bad, not too bad. At 285 too,

Zach Klein (46:12)
And he didn't do the bench press.

AD (46:12)
At 285.

Zach Klein (46:13)
you know, he didn't represent like you and I did 35 reps.

AD (46:17)
I could do more than that now, by the way. I could do at least 40. I could do 40. And I was doing 40 during the season when I was playing. We would do a heavy bench press day and then after that we would put the 224 and just rep how many you can do. The most I did I think was about 40 after I got done bench pressing. Chats already fatigued. So I got a little stronger. got a little stronger.

TF (46:17)
Yeah, well... Yeah, of course, are we...

Zach Klein (46:19)
How many think you could do? 40? You're a sick puppy.

TF (46:39)
Golly.

Zach Klein (46:39)
We're going to come out to

LA, hang out with you. We'll go through the combine, all the little techniques and see what you do now. Retired. Yeah, you're out in California. Is that where you are tired right now? Yeah. So I want to do a deep dive into this because I think it's fascinating and our audience would love to know what really goes on because as AD's you were there for a month, almost two months, for that. So what are you guys working on? I think it's a show we can definitely dive into.

TF (46:44)
I worked out this morning, but I feel like I got to go back and work out again because I don't feel like I cut some corners. Yeah. Yeah.

AD (46:50)
You

TF (47:07)
Oh

yeah, for sure. Yep, we'll have GMs on, we're gonna have GM, we'll scouts, we'll have speed gap, I mean all of it, just to get into the weeds of behind the scenes, what people don't actually know other than they hear the name called on the draft day.

Zach Klein (47:08)
all those topics, 100%. ⁓

Yeah, I had no idea. Again, Jameer Gibbs, after midnight, training in the bottom of hotel with some of your guys to just work on those first three steps, first three steps, and he crushed it.

AD (47:21)
Yeah.

TF (47:28)
Yeah, that was at the, yeah,

that was at the combine. Yeah.

AD (47:30)
Yeah,

I forgot they had that at the combine. You go down there, you can practice your 40s, can stretch, warm up, need a massage, you got a massage. They had everything set up for us, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was set up for sure. First class, First class.

TF (47:38)
We'll get all into all that stuff. It's awesome, for sure.

Zach Klein (47:45)
As we wrap it up, man, just real quick on your LA Rams, you're in the playoffs. How you feeling about your boys?

AD (47:51)
Feel good, man. I think, you know, towards the end, they started to slip up a little bit, but got back on track with that last game of the season. Finished strong, and I think, you know, they get to go back to Carolina, that rematch when they lost there last time was there. I think this could be a little destiny season for them, man. And I think they get the job done, but you go out there and compete, but they got an opportunity to play for it all. That's all that matters. You in the playoffs, you got an opportunity, you know, to go, you know, trying to be the last team standing. So I think they're in a good position.

I think they're in a good position. I think they get some guys back that's banged up, that's healthy. You know, going this run, man. It's going to be a lot of fun football this week, man. I think there's some good games, obviously Eagles and 49ers. ⁓ Rams and the Panthers is pretty good.

Zach Klein (48:33)
Mm.

it's not sexy ad but Jags bills. But Trevor Lawrence, I like that. I like that.

AD (48:41)
I like that, I like that. Jax is playing good

ball, man. They mean business. They mean business, man. They do. I just texted Liam and I just texted Liam and I told him I'm proud of him, bro, how he came and changed our organization around. Them guys is playing good ball for him, man. So, hey, that's gonna be a good game

Zach Klein (48:46)
They got some swagger, right? Dooovo! Yeah, they're feeling it right now.

AD (49:01)
That Texans

Zach Klein (49:00)
Yeah, so you got Steelers Texans,

Jags Bills, Patriots Chargers, got Panthers Rams, Eagles Niners, and Bears Packers. So you got rivalry games, got rematch games. A lot of fun, Some good ball.

AD (49:09)
Some good, some good ball, man. Good ball. And

it's from what? When the first game? Saturday? We got Saturday, Sunday. We got college football Friday, College football. Thursday? What's Friday? There's another game Friday?

Zach Klein (49:16)
Monday. Thursday, starts Thursday with the Fiesta Bowl. Friday's the Peach

Bowl in Atlanta. You got Oregon and Indiana in Atlanta. And you got NFL. Yeah.

AD (49:24)
I see we got football till Monday. man. See, when I played,

I was never a guy. I used to never watch football. At least I was studying somebody or studying a team. Now I'm retired. You know, I don't mind watching football now. I'm like, give me something to watch, right? So, yeah man, I'm excited about this week, man. There's gonna be a lot of good ball being played. Yeah, I'll be at the house.

Zach Klein (49:39)
You be watching the game from your house? Rams game from your house?

AD (49:42)
Yes.

Zach Klein (49:43)
right.

AD (49:43)
Yup. I'll be at the house.

TF (49:45)
say one thing. AD, I would love if you were, if this was, you were actually coming out right now again. Let's go run, let's go, let's run it back. Let's get drafted again. Let's go do the whole thing again. It would be so, it would be so much fun. I'd watch him do his 40 reps, him crush the senior ball, have him run four, whatever at a 280 something. It would be amazing, but I'm looking for the next AD too. So it's all right. All right. Appreciate you guys, man.

Zach Klein (49:53)
Yeah

AD (50:02)
There you go, there you go.

Zach Klein (50:06)
Keep grinding, brother. He's out there. He's out there.

AD (50:08)
Yup.

All right fellas.

Zach Klein (50:09)
Hey, man, much love. Happy New Year. First show in 2026. Big things planned for this year. We appreciate you all for listening and following and ⁓ watching us as well. So much love to you. Thanks for being a part of the Inner Circle Fam. For Todd A.D., I'm Zach. We'll see you next week, everybody. Appreciate you.

AD (50:12)
Yes.