The greatest thing I have ever heard in my whole life.
I could not believe my ears.
In this house, wherever the rules are disregarded, chaos and mob rule.
It has been said today, where is bravery?
I'll tell you where bravery is found and courage is found.
It's found in this minority who has lived through the last year of nothing but rules being broken, people being put down, questions not being answered, and this majority say, be damned with anything else.
We're going to impeach and do whatever we want to do.
Why?
Because we won an election.
I guarantee you, one day you'll be back in the minority and it ain't gonna be that fun.
Hello, everybody.
Welcome back.
It's Friday's Finest.
I am here.
In just a few minutes, I'll be joined by Chip and we got James.
We got the crew back in the house.
It's Friday's Finest.
Glad to have you with us as we go forward.
It is a lot going on.
We got a lot of news, a lot of stuff going on that we have sort of hit on before.
We're going to hit some new things today.
We got the NFL Combine.
We got the fact that Justin Fields may be coming to Atlanta.
Yay.
We've got just so much other stuff, but we also have Hunter Biden.
We've also got the Joe Biden two-step shuffle and everything that's going on.
Plus McConnell is leaving the Senate, but is he really?
Let's take a deeper dive into that today.
But a lot of things going on and also just the tragedy, Georgia.
And for those of you who follow things, I mean, it's a lot of political made out of it.
And Chip and I'll probably talk about this a little bit about the city of Athens and also the response of some of the leadership here.
Over the killing of a young nursing student in Athens by an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who should have never been here to start with.
A lot going on there, but it also highlights a city that most people have just sort of left on their own that has been run the last five to six years by folks who are confirmed socialists.
And it's an interesting mix considering it is the home of the University of Georgia and the things that go around it.
So a lot to go on today on Friday's Finest, but it is time to kick back Get into Friday.
The weekend is here.
Right after the break, James and Chip will join me.
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All right, we're back, everybody.
We're back in the Friday Finest, and all of a sudden, my phone decides to just jump off and start talking to me.
There we go.
Siri, no, I do not need you.
I have Chip and James.
And speaking of that, we're back together.
Chip, how we doing, buddy?
Welcome.
Great, man.
Doing great.
Sorry I missed last week, but I'm happy to be back on.
We're doing great.
Thanks for having me.
Well, Chip, I mean, we got in some, it was pretty funny.
James and I, I don't know if you had a chance to hear last week's, James and I just sort of went off the rails with movies and stuff and like people taking seriously.
It was pretty wild.
I mean, we were sitting back and of course, James, and for those of you who haven't, you know, there's only a few people in the world who've been privileged enough to see James carrying his dog on his shoulders.
I mean, Chip, I gotta hand it to him.
I think we ought to give him...
He who gets the Pat McAfee clap today.
Everybody, James from Dallas by way of New Jersey and carrying his dog.
You're the hero, buddy.
Oh, look at that.
There it is.
There it is.
I don't want to call myself a hero because I don't know if those are the right words.
Oh, man.
Listen, you do what you gotta do for the people and dogs that you love.
Yeah, he's not the hero...
He's not the hero they wanted, he's the hero they deserve.
All good.
Hey, before we jump into it, before we get into Friday's Finest on some of the fun side, we've also got to jump into some really some frustrating points here in the state of Georgia.
I want to bring out one, Chip, and I want to be sort of just blunt about this.
A lot's been said about the young nursing student, Lakin, who was killed over at Riley, who was killed over in Athens, and the issue with Venezuela, and I've done a lot of interviews.
There's been a lot going on.
And The left likes to make out that sanctuary cities and all don't exist, and that Georgia, you know, there's been a lot of, on the left, you know, talk about the vilification of immigrants, which is, you know, frankly, Georgia's not been that place.
But what really got me the other day, and it was a post, and it was just interesting how politics play into this.
Athens, the city of Athens-Clarke County, their unified government over there, they have elected because really most people have moved out of Athens-Clarke County.
It's dominated by the university and so students and then those who frankly have had to stay, most everybody else has moved out.
If you go around the county, it's very Republican.
The county itself is not.
And they elected just straight up socialist to the city council, the government over there a few years ago.
The mayor who's made national headlines, Gertz, Kelly Gertz, who's made headlines for frankly being the most tone deaf politician that ever existed, except maybe for Katie Porter in California, about what happened.
And we've just sort of let this go on.
Everybody just sort of let it go.
And don't think it's not known.
The governor is just from Athens.
I mean, he lives in Athens, Clark County, right outside of the city itself.
But I saw something, and I texted you about this, Chip, and it's just interesting to me.
And a lot of political points to be made, but one was talked about sanctuary cities, and our Attorney General, Chris Carr, made the point that we have this acting, you know, Athens acting like, you know, with a DA and everybody acting like a sanctuary city.
And there was a comment made on it that said, well, why wasn't the state doing anything about it?
If you've known this happening...
Really, how do you see this playing out as far as the presidential race, especially in other races here in Georgia?
I think this puts a face on immigration we've not seen really in a while here in Georgia.
Yeah, Doug, I mean, look, so much to unpack there.
I couldn't agree more with you with respect to just how tone deaf the mayor was yesterday.
I mean, look, you've said it, if I've heard you say it once, I've heard you say it a million times, and I've said the same thing.
Elections have consequences.
And that includes local elections, not just elections at the federal level.
That includes local elections.
And look, I mean, is it the mayor of Athens, Georgia?
Is it his fault that...
The President of the United States refuses to take seriously the problem that exists at the border, no.
But the reality is, it's no secret that Athens is one of the biggest sanctuary cities in Georgia.
And, you know, a byproduct of that is what happened last Thursday.
I don't even want to say his name.
Somebody was here illegally from the country of Venezuela that got through in our southern border in 2002 and committed a crime in New York City and probably should have been deported.
It comes down to Athens and brutally murders, savagely murders a university student out for a run on a nice Thursday morning.
I mean, you know, and candidly, Doug, I'm surprised this hasn't happened more, sadly.
I hope it doesn't happen more, but I think...
I think what happened last Thursday to Lake and Raleigh is going to have a huge impact on the presidential election.
If you ask voters in any survey what the most important issue is to them, immigration is the number one issue and how we deal with that.
It's sad, but I hope other liberal woke mayors, progressive mayors all across this country who provide sanctuary to people that are here illegally and are not here legally, I hope they learn a lesson with what ridicule the mayor progressive mayors all across this country who provide sanctuary to people that are here illegally and are not And rightfully so, because if that happens in their neck of the woods, in their jurisdictions, I certainly hope they handle it.
And are more sensitive to the events on the ground than the mayor of Athens, Georgia was.
I agree.
It's just ridiculous.
ridiculous I think he's actually gotten off social media, which I don't blame him.
Probably would be a good idea at this point, looking at it as you go.
But again, I'm going to take it to another level.
You also have the district attorney in Athens who is...
She's shown herself to be incompetent at best here.
I was talking with another DA who talked about a case in Athens-Clarke County, a murder case, actually, in which the DA lost because they just basically botched the paperwork of the indictment.
They didn't do it properly.
I mean, this is how bad this is.
When she got elected, most of the ADAs quit.
In Athens.
And these were senior ADAs who had been there for, you know, who had been in law for, you know, lawyers for years.
I happen to have one who used to be one of my law partners and he had left.
And now here's just a kick in the face to the voters of Athens-Clarke County.
She is not even going to prosecute the case because frankly, I don't think she knows how to actually do the case, which, you know, again, you got a lot of help over there.
You could do this.
You're an attorney.
She's having to bring in an attorney from the Prosecuting Attorney's Council Well, but thankfully, Doug, that's the case, because I feel, I don't even know, I don't even know who the individual was from the Prosecuting Attorney's Council that ended up getting the case, but I don't need to know that individual, because I'm just happy that DA Gonzalez is not doing it.
Right?
I mean, that's got to make people in Athens thrilled from a safety perspective to know that the DA won't be prosecuting the case, because like you said, I don't know that she's capable of doing that.
Well, I mean, this is, I mean, but my kick in the face to the voters of Athens-Clarke County is they're paying her, you know, $140,000, $150,000 a year to be the chief prosecutor in the county, and she doesn't think anybody in her office can prosecute the case.
Yeah.
Exactly right.
That's exactly right.
That's just amazing.
Moving on, the interesting thing is, and we've been saying this for a while, Chip, the political race in the longest general election season has started completely now.
I mean, Super Tuesday will solidify it.
And I think, if I'm not mistaken, I think Donald Trump can actually go over the number needed next week or at least maybe the week right after he'll have the...
Nikki Haley will no longer be able to say there's a...
Hey, there's a path for me to get 30% of the voters in this state.
It's just not there.
This one, I could see this.
You and I, I think, talked about this on the Friday's Finest before.
If he goes and he sticks to the message of 2016 of immigration, safety, economics, and now actually can say, look, we did this.
This is not a dream.
I actually did this kind of stuff.
That's a very focused message that things like this unfortunate murder in Athens, the inflation issue and others, It gives an opening in states that some political consultants have been saying Donald Trump can't win our former lieutenant governor, who is another interesting case.
But this actually in the suburbs, you know as well as I do, safety is a huge issue to that suburban female upper educated vote.
That is a huge issue.
Of course it is.
And look, I mean, if you listen to Democrat talking heads on the cable news circuit the last few days, they really believe, with every fiber in their being, that they are inoculated against this immigration issue because of a compromise that James Langford negotiated in the Senate that I From my understanding,
just kind of maybe sped up, hired more people to help process some of these people coming across the border and really didn't get to the heart of the problem that exists with people coming across the border.
So, you know, I mean, that's crazy.
Everybody, I mean, look, you don't have to be a politico to know that Even forget about whatever bill was negotiated.
You don't have to be a political expert to know that this is not an issue that Joe Biden is taking seriously.
And whether you agree with what Donald Trump did or disagreed with what he did, You knew that that was an issue that he took seriously.
Folks just want to know that their president's going to take this seriously, and it's a big issue.
And Biden can't give them that.
And the reason he can't give him that is because his sincerity about wanting to solve this problem is disingenuous at best.
And I've always, I think it was Russ Schrieffer that taught me back on a campaign that voters have a really good sense of smell.
And they can smell this one.
They can smell it from a hollow way.
Yeah, this is pretty rank.
I think it's interesting too.
Last thing on politics for the day though, Kevin McCarthy's making a reappearance.
In fact, I was just in New York and this week doing TV. Kevin was up, he's in Fox Friends.
I was up with Maria and we were texting back and forth and then he had a couple of shows.
He is now coming out sort of swinging, in addition to I think what we're going to see him swinging in some primaries here coming up pretty soon as well, with a massive war chest that he has left over from Congress.
But he is making some headlines today on an interview he gave last night about Joe Biden talking from his caulking cards.
Did you see it?
And you see this all the time.
If you don't know what we're talking about, folks, just either look up on YouTube or wherever you want to go.
When Joe Biden's meeting with people in the Oval Office, he looks down at his lap.
What's in his lap is cue cards, or basically, you know, three by five cards, four by five cards, whatever they are, with the talking points and people's names that he needs to have.
This kind of information just feeds, and then you had Corinne Jean-Pierre actually say that he takes, you know, every day is a cognitive test.
Well, if every day is a cognitive test in the White House, Then two points have to be made.
Number one, then sit him down with an actual reporter and let him answer questions without his cue cards, so to speak, or even with his cue cards, but let the reporter be able to ask questions and follow-ups without it being pre-planned.
And number two, you've got to understand that if you're saying he's competent to run the country, then the special prosecutor should bring the charges and not say he's incompetent to answer questions in a court of law.
You can't have both of those in the same hand.
Yeah, and the problem is, Doug, and, you know, Mitch McConnell said it yesterday from the floor of the Senate, Father Tom is undefeated.
I mean, and, you know, this problem gets worse with Tom.
I mean, you know, there are a lot of problems that presidents have, and usually those problems, you know, they spike and then they, you know, they go down and they spike, they go down, they spike, and they go down.
Age doesn't get better.
When you start losing it and you get older, you only get older.
Every time I wake up, I'm a day older than I was the day before.
That's the same for all of us.
Imagine Joe Biden being in that position.
Come on!
It's just there.
Well, speaking of age and father time, and you mentioned it, Mitch McConnell is now saying that he's going to step down as leader in November of the Senate Republican caucus.
He's going to stay in Congress and stay in the Senate until the 26th election, finish out this term.
I mean, the rumors have started flying since then saying this was a reprieve that he was state leader until November because there were some real problems inside with especially the immigration issue and some of the spending bill, the Ukraine issue that's come up.
But for anybody out there, please hear me.
This is going to be a much different than the Speaker election in the House.
Number one, it's a much closer body.
All 50, roughly 49 of the Senators The Republican senators, and I think it's actually not 40. Yeah, it's 49. It's right at 49. The Republican senators, they know each other.
Every one of them know each other on a first name basis.
This is not, I don't know you real well.
They know each other.
They go in a small room and this is where they elected.
And it only takes 20, on a 49, let's just say 26 people, if it was 50, to elect the majority leader or the minority leader, whichever one it may be at the time.
For anybody that thinks Mitch McConnell is just going to sit back and watch this go down without him having his thumb on the scale is stupid, okay?
He's got his thumb on the scale, and also there's a lot of discussion now about him staying in the Senate.
It's going to give him time to prepare either Cameron or some of the others, you know, in his protégés in Kentucky to take that seat in two more years, and I think you'll see that going on.
Look, Mitch did a lot of good.
He frustrated a lot of people, a lot of times, especially on the right, with what he did and how he did it.
He did get the court.
We have to give him credit for the court that we currently have on the Supreme Court.
But he did, I think this is one of those times when you can honestly say he sort of outlived the voter and the electorate in which he was supposed to be leading.
He did, and he did do a lot of good.
I think what we can point to, Doug, that is probably most pronounced is that Merrick Garland is Attorney General today because he's not a Supreme Court Justice, and that I will thank Mitch McConnell for.
But look, it was time, and Mitch McConnell saw that.
But I I think you're right.
I mean, what makes McCarthy going away different than what Mitch McConnell did is Mitch McConnell is...
I mean, it's February 29th.
It's leap day.
He's essentially got...
Just under three years left in the Senate, Doug.
And so what's he going to do?
And I mean, now, granted, I mean, you know, the next seven or eight, nine months, he's going to be leader.
So he's really only going to have two years in the Senate without leader.
But, man, I'm curious to see what that looks like.
That could go a variety of different directions.
Oh, yeah.
I agree completely.
And I think, but again, anybody out there that doesn't, you know, that they think, oh, the Freedom Caucus is going to weigh in and they're going to elect somebody from outside, you know, they're going to elect somebody of the conservative bent.
I'm sorry, folks.
You ain't ready to say that.
And look, Josh Holmes, who runs the Ruthless podcast, who used to work for Mitch McConnell, I saw him today be interviewed on one of the network stations.
And he said, look, there are 14 to 15 to 16 senators that are talking right now.
And there's 28, 29, 30 that aren't.
It's the 28, 29, 30 that are going to determine who the new leader is.
And I think that goes to your point, Doug, about the Senate being, you know, you didn't say this, but, you know, I'll go ahead and say it.
I mean, it's the most exclusive club in the world.
You know, it's far more exclusive than Augusta National Golf Club or anywhere else.
The United States Senate is the most exclusive club in the world.
And yeah, it's certainly the makeup of the Senate, especially on the Republican side, has changed over time.
But it's still a very slow, deliberative body.
And I expect, you know, we'll see.
They don't like to be told what to do.
Let me just put it that way.
No, they don't.
And if you notice, even the conservatives...
You know, that we see is the quote, firebrands name, whichever one you want.
They seem to fall in line, you know, not, they'll push the limits of their group, but they don't push the limits of what people outside the Senate.
That's right.
Which is very unlike the House.
Very unlike.
I mean, that's one of the main differences, the main difference, I think, between being a member of Congress on the House side and on the Senate side.
Yeah, the Senate, that six-year buffer is amazing.
It is just amazing, you know, what you can do.
If you're in the first two years or the first three years, you can probably get away with most anything.
Lindsey Graham is going to get reelected as we go.
All right, we're bringing it back in here.
James, our hero of the moment, you know, the dog whisperer, the dog carrier.
James, we're bringing you back in here because, buddy, we're sort of worried about you, you know.
We're in that just drought of sports right now.
We've been talking about this.
And what's it like now in Texas?
Y'all, it's heating up.
I mean, you're not close to the wildfires, which is good.
But what's going on, James?
I mean, where are we at with the sports world right now?
Well, lucky for me, I like basketball.
Unfortunately, the playoffs haven't started yet.
And we all know, if anybody actually follows the NBA, not that there aren't a couple of good games here and there, and there's some fun.
And if your team's playing well, which mine is not, oh God, the Brooklyn Nets.
I think about this a lot.
March Madness is literally right around the corner.
And that's going to be phenomenal.
It's always good.
You could have the worst March Madness in the world.
It is still better than half the things you watch on television, right?
I mean, upsets.
I mean, hell, New Jersey had two upsets in a row, which was incredible.
You don't understand.
When things happen in New Jersey, it's out of hand.
I mean, you guys saw that with Tommy Cutletts.
But, yeah, so there is a lull right now.
The Dallas Mavericks are playing well.
People care about that over here.
But realistically, we're just waiting to see if Caleb Williams goes number one, right?
That's all people care about.
Is Caleb Williams going to the Bears?
Or is Justin Fields staying with the Bears?
That's the only thing on anyone's mind right now.
And if you're a fan of the Bears, all you can do is sit, wait, hope, and pray whichever way you want it to go.
And most likely it won't go the way you want it to go.
So you guys are Atlanta fans.
So your name has been brought up.
My name, the Vikings, have been brought up about 180 million times as Where's Kirk Cousins going?
What are they doing with Justin Jefferson?
For some reason, they get A-pluses across the board for their...
You guys saw this AP poll with all the teams getting rankings.
Did you guys see this?
Hey, I got a question for you about that, James.
How does the coach of the year get a C-plus or whatever, the B-minus, whatever it was?
I saw something about ownership and everything else.
Chip, that was like the owners talking to themselves.
I mean, what the crap?
Yeah.
Wait, who won coach of the year again?
Wasn't it Bowles?
Yeah, right, right, right.
No, no.
Was it Todd Bowles?
I thought it was.
May not have been.
I don't know.
I don't remember.
All I know is that...
That's how stupid this year was because it should have went to...
What's his name on the Texans?
It should have been D'Amico Ryan.
D'Amico got edged out by the Bengals.
Oh yeah, it was the Bengals coach.
Yeah.
All right.
Here's one.
I'm going to help you out, James.
I'm going to go old school.
And I'm going to go, if you're sort of more liberal, I'm going to go Russert.
I'm going to go Karl Rove if you're not.
And I'm going to show you the draft and what's going to happen.
Look, we're so excited.
We're getting Justin Fields.
Yay.
Okay.
Great.
It's better than what you have.
All right?
Well, that could be said about a lot of things.
But here is the first round draft pick for the Chicago Bears if they continue.
And this is what it's going to be.
It's going to...
Oh, crap.
B-U-S-T. Bust.
You?
They're going to take Caleb Williams and it's a bust.
This Caleb Williams slander will not last on this show.
I know your name is above that title.
But I am the only consistent thing about Friday's Finest.
So I want to make this clear.
You're consistently wrong about Caleb Williams!
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
We haven't even seen him play.
You know, Doug?
Well, I've seen him.
Look, I've seen him play.
Okay, here's my only thing.
Chip's just laughing.
He's having a ball with this.
Okay.
Riddle me this, Batman.
Riddle me this.
Okay?
If Caleb Williams is so good Then why is his record against top five opponents so bad?
I don't think record matters.
Hold on.
Hold on.
Let me finish.
Let me finish.
If his stats are well above average.
Because that defense is absolutely the most disgusting, embarrassing...
They made...
No.
No, no, no.
Doug, Doug, we are...
This...
Has to count for something.
Alright.
I will grant you the fact that he should win those games.
I'm not saying he shouldn't win those games.
How about playing decent in the games?
His stats in those games are for the most part not good.
The interception.
You are barking up the wrong tree, Doug, because I will Google all of this.
He's the Dak Prescott.
He's the Dak Prescott.
You know, Doug, if he's Dak Prescott...
Bears fans will start crying in joy.
I can tell you that right now.
I know he's supposed to be the next great thing, but I don't know.
Listen, I think this is a pointless conversation to have until the Bears make their decision.
But you think no matter where he goes, he's a bust?
No matter where he goes?
I think he could go to...
If he could go to a team that has an established quarterback...
In a system, and I'm going to go back here to something like that.
I still think he's a problem, okay?
I just still think a problem.
But the Green Bay style argument, where Green Bay has actually developed quarterbacks, okay, that may not have been successful coming right out of college, Jordan Love being one, Aaron Rodgers sat behind Brett Favre.
I mean, there's these issues coming in.
But look, I'm just, and here's my thing.
I don't think he is, hear me clearly on this podcast.
I think he is a gifted physical athlete.
I do.
I think he's got a great arm.
I think he has the size, but everybody has become mesmerized by this size and by these throws that he makes against subpar Pac-12 defenses.
But the problem I see with him is his mental state in the games.
I think when the game gets on the line, You remember the movie Training Day?
We always bring back the movie Training Day.
Remember that movie, not Training Day, but Draft Day with Kevin Costner?
Sure.
The world's worst movie.
Yes, continue.
Oh my God.
James.
That movie is hot garbage.
That movie is hot garbage and Kevin Costner should have lost every ability to do roles after that.
That movie is terrible.
Whoever put that together, I want to fight them.
Because...
No.
You know what?
No, we're not doing this.
We're not going to do this today.
Chip, he goes from dog carrier hero to trashing Kevin Costner movies.
All right, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
I don't want to trash Kevin Costner.
You get angry on the butt with your yellow board bust thing.
So you got on the skin.
I don't want to hate Kevin Costner because I like Kevin Costner.
But...
Because the movies he's in, they make me happy.
But this movie was hot garbage.
There were people, they literally had to run it by the NFL, and the NFL was like, you can't do this, this, this, and this.
And it just was dumb, and I hated it, and I know I sound like a six-year-old talking, so I'm going to stop, because I don't want my frustrations to stop me from using real words.
Is Jersey coming out here?
We don't want Jersey to come out.
Jersey can never come back out.
Chip, help me out here.
I'll say this about Caleb Williams, Doug, to answer the question that you asked James.
You know, one of the reason you saw different Caleb Williams this past year as opposed to his freshman year is because...
He doesn't play defense, right?
I mean, he plays offense, and so that defense was so bad that there were games where they were down by more than two scores where you have to make throws that you wouldn't make if you weren't.
Now, I know the...
Yeah, I know the counter-argument to that is, well, if you're the number one pick in the draft, you're going to a team that's going to put you in that position, and that's true.
But I think, look, I don't have a crystal ball to know what's going to happen with the NFL career of Caleb Williams.
I think he's going to be a successful quarterback in this league.
Is he going to be a Hall of Famer?
Gosh, I mean, can we really say that about anybody coming out, right?
But I'll say this, 12, 13, 14 years down the road, when Caleb Williams' career in the NFL is done, I think we're going to look back and say that the sophomore year that we had, I think is going to help him grow a lot quicker than if he would have had his freshman year times two.
He faced adversity.
He lost football games.
You know, and I think that's going to help him grow.
I do.
I still think he has the same as you said, Doug, and as James said.
He still has all the physical tools now that he did when he had that incredible freshman year and won the Heisman Trophy.
And so, you know, look, I mean, Trevor Lawrence.
I mean, Trevor Lawrence was the number one pick and can't miss.
Trevor Lawrence has been a good quarterback.
Is he a Hall of Fame quarterback?
No.
Has he gotten to the point yet where he can lead his team on a long playoff run?
No.
Does that mean that we're not going to see that from Trevor Lawrence moving forward?
You know, we don't know.
And so, look, you're taking risks.
I mean, every one of these teams are taking risks on anybody.
I think the risk on a Caleb Williams is lower than the risk is on a Jaden Daniels or a Drake May.
I just do.
And so, you know, I think if I were the Chicago Bears, I think the upside to Caleb Williams is higher than the upside to Justin Fields.
And so I think it's worth taking a run at him.
And look, if you're the Atlanta Falcons, you're likely going to get, I think Justin Fields is likely going to come to Atlanta.
And I think we're going to be able to get him for less than people think.
You know, I mean, we could have taken him three years ago.
We took Kyle Pitts, who was the can't-miss, you know, the best tight end in the history.
Look, I'm sorry, Kyle Pitts has been a bust.
That's a fact.
And I hope that Kyle Pitts can, I hope a quarterback can help Kyle Pitts resurrect his career.
And I've seen some flashes of brilliance from Kyle Pitts, but there's not one Atlanta Falcons fan or executive that'll tell you that they're disappointed at the production of Kyle Pitts in that position.
And, you know, we could have gotten Justin Fields in the same thing we didn't.
So maybe in hindsight, it was a good thing that we didn't because, you know, we let the first two or three years of his career, we let the Bears kind of take that from a growing perspective.
And then they made a great trade with Carolina and the number one pick fell in their lap again because they didn't think in any way, shape or form that they would be able to pick number one with Bryce Young going last year to Carolina.
And sure enough, that was a disaster, and they do.
And so, you know, look, I love this time of year.
I love the combine.
I love the NFL draft.
And this is a great time of year to play fake GM, right?
And think about it.
Well, and I think that's...
Chip, you brought this up, and James, as well.
And I'll throw this out there.
Look, you're out there looking.
My point is not necessarily...
To play crystal ball and say, who's going to be in the Hall of Fame?
Because if we did, Tom Brady would never have made the NFL. But what I am trying to get at here is, is there a time when we break the fever, if at all possible, of teams who have...
Inherently, Chicago's defense hadn't got a lot better.
Okay?
Chicago is still, in many ways, a dumpster fire.
Okay?
You're going to put a young man who needs stability around him.
We've all just said this.
You both have said the defense was what made him have to do what he did.
Okay, now you're going to put him in the same kind of environment.
Well, Chicago towards the end, though.
Doug, before you go there, Chicago towards the end.
I'm not saying it's good.
I'm saying Chicago towards the end there.
Put up...
Huge numbers on defense because they made trades.
But they also don't have an offensive line either.
You're right.
No, no, no.
It's not a great situation.
Let's be honest.
The first three places usually aren't in a great situation.
Here's my point.
Here's my point.
When will we come and realize, and again, we've talked about this before, and I sent, I think, a meme to both of y'all that said, you know, they had Leonardo DiCaprio saying this is the way the NFL looks at running backs who turn 27. You know, but, you know, when at a point in time do we,
like, the running backs have been downplayed, That we actually take a step back and say, breathlessly, the top three worst teams in the NFL are not gonna just breathlessly run out and try and get what they perceive to be the best three quarterbacks.
Why don't some of them actually draft, you know, if they have an issue with their line or defense, you know, start putting some Pieces together, because we've all seen in the last few years, quarterbacks are a dime a dozen in this league.
We've had three drafts in which quarterbacks, eight to ten quarterbacks have been taken in the top ten picks in each of the last drafts.
And most of them have not panned out because of problems.
However, what screws this all up...
What screws this all up is CJ Stroud.
CJ Stroud is screwing up...
Not that people shouldn't take a moment and think that it seems impossible that CJ Stroud will ever come out again.
Let's be honest.
CJ Stroud did something no one expected last year.
Anyone who told you that CJ Stroud was going to be the best player in this draft is an absolute liar.
Unless there is videotape of him saying it before, they're lying to you.
So, as much as you're talking about guys whose jobs are constantly on the line, and the one thing that can turn that around is a good quarterback.
It won't happen on the defensive end.
You're not going to get a great defensive player if your team isn't playing well on offense and turning around.
And that's why these GMs make these crazy choices, like Mitchell Trubisky.
Let's all remember, Chicago drafted Mitch Trubisky because they did all the research, and then Pat Mahomes dropped a couple spots down and has won three championships and has changed the NFL forever.
So you guys, all your arguments are 100% correct.
You are taking a shot in the dark every day.
Let me go off what James just said.
I won't hit it to you, though, because James just made something that was really interesting, though.
And I'm going to take it off a little bit and say it was C.J. Stroud.
Put in an interesting position and overcame it.
Because you remember, the next pick in the draft was by the Texans as well.
And guess who they took?
The best defensive player in the country, Will Anderson out of Alabama, who had a really phenomenal year and they solidified that defense on Texans as well, which provided...
I mean, I guess what I'm trying to say is we've become an offensive-orientated league.
And everything else seems to evolve, as you said, and I don't get it.
I'm not saying you're not wrong.
Atlanta is a prime example.
We have I mean, just terrible.
But it's just a problem.
Yeah, and I would say this, Doug, to kind of piggyback on something that James said.
I mean, usually the first three or four picks in the draft are dumpster fires.
I think the Chicago Bears this year are the exception to that because, you know, they're only picking, number one, because of the trade they made with Carolina.
Chicago went 7-10 last year, and Tyson Bajent started three or four games for them.
Yeah.
Tyson Bajan was an undrafted rookie out of Shepard College in Division III, West Virginia.
So, you know, I mean, if you're Caleb Williams, I mean, I think it's going to be Caleb Williams.
I don't think they trade it down, and I also don't think...
They do what Dan Orlopski said to today, which is take Jaden Daniels.
I think they're number one pick, and they're picking Caleb Williams.
And Caleb's walking into a much better situation in Chicago than Jaden Daniels or Drake May are going to walk into in Washington and New England.
So, you know, it very well could be that, you know, that that helps Caleb's development.
It certainly helps C.J. Stroud's development.
I mean, look, C.J. Stroud, I think, is a great quarterback.
Would he have been Rookie of the Year?
Had he gone to the Carolina Panthers?
Hell no.
Probably not.
Houston was a better fit, and they were the two picks.
Dan Marino wouldn't have won anything with that team, guys.
That Carolina team is also...
Can I just say one thing?
Drake May is going to the Vikings, guys.
Didn't you hear that we hired Josh McCown, who coached him in high school?
How dumb is that?
Every time I see the, oh, well, they're the 11th pick.
What do you think's going to happen?
We are not trading Justin Jefferson to go get Drake May, guys.
Use your brains.
Anyway, continue.
I'm sorry.
Well, but you got your quarterback who probably will not be there getting a grills, so that's a good thing.
Good.
Good.
Keep those gold teeth in.
We should be paying.
The Vikings should pay for those gold teeth as something to be like, please come back.
We love you and we miss you.
Speaking of which, as we discuss this a little bit further, you know, it is, I mean, for the fan bases in New England, New York, other places, I mean, this is the same old, same old song every year, okay?
Every two to three years, they're drafting another quarterback, you know, and it's just a, like I said, I just, at some point...
Yeah, it goes to show you, Doug, how hard it is to fill that position.
And if you don't have that position filled, you will not make a deep run in the playoffs.
You just won't.
So, yeah, I mean, you're exactly right.
I mean, there's so much risk taken and so much money taken, so much money to go to these players, either in free agency or trades or the draft.
But, you know, if you don't have a good quarterback, you're not going far into the playoffs.
You're most likely not going to make the playoffs.
Lightning round, real quick.
Not a lot of discussion, just lightning round.
If Bryce Young had went to anywhere else besides Carolina, would he have been a better quarterback, or was Bryce Young just destined to be a great college quarterback?
He'd been better, because the bar's low.
He'd be better.
I agree with that.
He'd be better.
I think if Carolina would have taken C.J. Stroud with the one pick, Bryce Young would have put up better numbers in Houston than he did in Carolina.
But I don't know.
I think C.J. Stroud is just a better pro quarterback.
But I don't know yet.
And I know you said lightning and I'm already, you know, rambling, but I don't know.
I think it'll be another two years till we know, you know, till we know what Carolina has because they got nothing now.
And with the trade they made with Chicago, they still won't.
So to be determined on that.
Yeah, Chip's what we call in the South a slow-moving summer thunderstorm.
He's just rolling here.
The thunder rolls as we go.
Look, I'm going to give James a chance to redeem himself on Kevin Costner, though.
But you have to admit, Kevin Costner, and for the love of the game, was actually a great move.
Are you asking?
Is this coming to me?
Listen, I like Kevin Costner a lot.
All right?
I'm a Field of Dreams boy.
Okay?
I even like...
Is it Open Range?
Was the one with...
So you like For the Love of the Game?
I do.
Dude, listen.
I even like Tim Cook.
Great story.
Okay?
I love Bull Durham.
I like Kevin Costner.
I just think...
I just think my problem here is that they put him in this movie because Yellowstone's incredible.
I don't know if you guys have watched that.
What's wrong with draft day?
Draft day is inaccurate.
It's dumb.
How is it inaccurate?
The guy had a bad attitude so they didn't take him and they made the right choice.
You don't know that.
The guy probably went on to have a 5,000 yard season next year.
I don't want to hear it.
I'm sick of it.
But they didn't go into that.
They didn't go into that.
Exactly.
Exactly.
The whole point is they were just like, it's a crapshoot and you're never going to know and you can't say anything about NFL teams and they chose the Browns?
Why?
Why would you choose the Browns?
What, to make the Cleveland fan base happy?
Nobody cares about Cleveland.
We make fun of Ohio in this country more than any other state besides Florida.
I don't want to hear it.
Oh my god!
Now we went from Jersey to Ohio.
Chip and I have a friend, a mutual friend that we both love dearly.
And he made a living in Congress without basically anywhere else, too, just poking the bear.
Lynn Westmoreland would just poke the bear.
And I'm having so much fun just poking the bear.
Yeah.
Did I just offend our Ohio fan base?
Because I'm fine with that.
I'm not really concerned with the Ohio fan base.
I apologize.
For an announcement here on Friday's Finest, for all of those who listen in Ohio and come and send us to DougCollinsPodcast.com, hit the email button, and please just address it to James.
Thank you very much.
As we go.
Looking at it, though, too, I want to bring up the...
Baseball season, which I'm one of those that like to bring baseball up mainly because when I'm driving or in the afternoon, I like to listen to baseball.
I don't like to sit and watch it necessarily because if I sit and watch it, I feel like I have to do something else like read or do something else while I'm watching it.
But the...
Do you think Otani, I pronounced that correctly, right?
Yeah, you did.
How big of an impact do you think he'll have on LA this year?
I think that's an interesting, that's the offseason.
I mean, one, he's a brilliant financier.
I mean, and really for California's tax base, that was hilarious.
For the next few years, take $2 million a year.
Doug, he's going to change.
He changes everything.
All he's going to do right now is hit.
That's all he's going to do right now.
He's not even pitching, which I know sounds insane for anybody else, but for him that's half the reason you took him.
He's literally just going to send like 60 bombs into the stadium.
That's his job now.
It doesn't matter.
He's going to send moonshots all day and he's going to keep LA in the playoffs because they're already a good team.
It's not like he went to the Mets.
He went to LA, who's already a good team.
And then in two years he's going to be pitching and sending moonshots?
They're going to run the table for a while.
I really believe that.
Oh, speaking of, I forgot about something.
Don't do it.
Your Mets fandom.
Why are you doing this to me, Doug?
No, I've got to bring this up.
In fact, as we're on the air right now, I'm sending Chip and James a picture that I took on the plane coming out of New York yesterday.
Just to remind you of what happens most every October in Shea Stadium.
No.
First of all, it's City Field now.
Yeah, City Field.
It's empty.
Yeah.
I know you think this is hilarious.
It doesn't look like the grass has come out of dormancy.
This is a depressing photo.
This is...
This is bad.
There's an old family guy joke where they're like, this is worse than the Mets season, and it's, alright, this is opening day's first pitch, and the season's over.
That is the Mets every year, and we just, I literally just, my friend just texted me, because there's a video of Alex Jones in front of Citi Field, like it's cut, they put his head in front of it, and he's like...
It's the hurt that keeps us going.
And you're like, yeah, that's what being a Mets fan is.
It's being sad all the time.
Guys, the fact that I'm still alive and I'm a Mets, Vikings, and Nets fan is an absolute miracle.
And I want that on record that I fight through the tough times every single year of my life.
That's the way this show will go down in history is, James, you're an inspiration to the kids.
Yeah, the Mets.
Oh, man.
Did I tell you, James and Chip, I had this cab driver.
I'm headed out back to LaGuardia one day.
And we got to talk about baseball and the Mets and all.
And he said, yeah.
He said, you know what Mets stands for, don't you?
And I said, no, what is it?
He said, making every other team superior.
Sounds like a real Yankee fan.
Yeah, well, you know.
I'm going to New York, Doug.
You know where it's at, don't you, buddy?
Yeah, yeah, I know.
Listen, I've been on that one train enough to Bronx Stadium.
They have to deal with those people.
Yeah, but here's the problem, though.
For Chip and I, though, here's our time.
I don't know about you, Chip, but I watch the Braves just for kicks and giggles during the year, but I get ready for the disappointment of October.
At least you guys get to see October!
Oh, yeah, we get to see it, but, you know...
After a while.
I enjoy everything that comes with Braves baseball until the postseason, and then it's not much fun.
Most of the time.
Just a sad indication.
All right.
Well, folks, we've got a lot going on.
Coming up, the spring is here.
We've got some more things that are going on for not only the March Madness coming up.
We're going to have a lot more discussion in the next few weeks about that.
We've also got the draft coming up.
We've got baseball starting up.
And, you know, again, the politics of this year is just getting started, believe me, as we go.
But also, I'm going to be the longest Presidential primary.
I started saying that, you know, Chip and James, we've been on the podcast, and I've said that several times.
We've talked about it, and Chip agrees.
I started saying that on interviews, and you're amazed at how many of the people just sort of look at me and say, what do you mean by that?
And then I talk about, it's the longest one because it's the first time, you know, it's stopped this early.
And I also remind them it's the first time in 100 years, over 100 years, that we've had an incumbent-on-incumbent race for the White House.
Oh, yeah!
Yep, Teddy Roosevelt was the last time.
100 years!
Yeah, when Teddy tried to come back, when Teddy tried to come back, bull moose party, that was the last time you had two people who could say, I sat in the chair and did X. Yeah.
So it's going to be interesting as we go here.
I don't even know why I didn't think of that until this moment.
That's so ridiculous because it's all people are talking about.
Okay.
That is awesome.
See, we get to be a part of history every once in a while.
Some cool stuff.
It's all here.
All right.
Before we get going, James, you Kevin Costner-loving guy, I'm going to start with you for Final Shot.
Final Shot, don't ever go see Draft Day.
But...
Everybody enjoy the combine.
You know, you get to see these elite athletes throwing footballs and shorts and doesn't mean anything until the year starts.
There you go.
All right, Chip?
Yeah, look, I love the combine, right?
Started today.
I mean, the on-field stuff started today.
The interview started a couple days ago.
I look forward to next week when we can talk about, you know, the athletes that really helped their stock this weekend and then the athletes that really hurt their stock.
So I'll be paying close attention to that.
Look forward to coming back next Friday.
That's great.
Look, both of you guys, I agree.
This is the best time of the year to look at this, especially when you're looking ahead and we can just all play crystal ball and not get it.
Prediction, you know, coming up here, I think is going to be on a political side is...
The Biden administration understands how bad this immigration is.
You're going to see next Thursday in the State of the Union, before the State of the Union, they're going to release some executive orders that will be designed to curb immigration, and then he will get up in the State of the Union and blame Republicans for not doing anything on immigration, given the Langford bill that Chip spoke about earlier and others.
And that's going to become their attempt at a narrative through the rest of the summer.
So that's a little bit of prediction, but a little bit of reality that we're seeing now.
But folks, the great thing about it is we can always come back here on Fridays, and between Chip, James, and I, we can always find a movie that is amazing, like Draft Day.
Or we can find things to argue about.
That's what we have this time.
That's why we love y'all guys for watching and being a part of Friday's Finest here on the Doug Collins Podcast.