#92Noon! 10am Hour 3/2 Pete Najarian!

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3:05We'll bring you every heart pounding moment. Coverage starts this Thursday on KFAN, a KFAN+, presented by James Hardy, the number one brand of siding in North America. Also in for PA, it's vocal maintenance season. The host returns tomorrow. And in studio with me now is Pete Najarian, Pete Najarian via X, follow him as I do, outstanding Gofers linebacker in the 80s, spent time in the NFL with both our beloved purple, the Vikings as well as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But and this all came together, by the way, with the most exclusive lunch invitation in the greater Twin Cities area, cheers to Howard Bournstein, who is most certainly listening to he'll call the he'll call the 800-320-532-6 on end for all three hours. He'll send me 30 text messages.

4:05You too, yes you will. Opinions both solicited and unsolicited and that's why he's he's one of the best, but but Pete, I must admit, you know, by name equity, I'm aware of of your background and what you've given to sports here locally and beyond. But I kind of know you more at my age at 40 as as the options guru. It's market rebellion. It's you and your brother John. It's the hair. It's the bits. It's TV. What little hair be both half by the way, we got some on the back at the best we can absolutely. But but thank you for hanging out. This is this is absolutely awesome. That's my pleasure, man. It's great to be with you. I listen to you guys all the time, as you know, I mean, we go back and forth once in a while. But, you know, I know a lot of the different hosts here and they're great and Justin Guard, of course, being with the golfers all these years and he and I've developed a great friendship. And at the Cal Minnesota game this past year, at halftime, he had me out on the field with him talking about what was going on and all that stuff. So really a lot of fun.

5:06I have a lot of ties to K fan. No, that's it. Absolutely. You do. And you know, before we get because the pathway forward as we've kind of framed it up nine to noon with with the Vikings is, I mean, this is the time slot that is typically Uber positive, right? I don't look for reasons my team's going to lose. I look for teams reasons on why my team may win. The pathway forward is is dire, but I do want to start on the college side. You mentioned it. Your connection to the golfers, of course, and your work with JG and all that, that's tremendous. But just kind of at the outset, a guy that played at a high level, we were joking about the combined during the break, the evolution of the players themselves is one thing. The evolution of the business of college football is a whole different beast and trying to navigate. And I'm just curious is as you've been close to this, this program for so long and just watching it move forward the way it has and how PJs operating things now, like what, where's your head at when you think about college football and it's, it's a, it's a, it's

6:08a younger Pete Nigerian, making plays on Saturdays and marooning gold to now watching it on the sideline. Yeah. Uh, what hits you when you, when you think about just how much things have changed? It's professional football. I mean, it's an easy answer. Yeah. When you think about the portal, that's your free agency to look at an IL money and obviously that's your salary, um, but that's what it's really become. And one of the things that bothered me early on and I was very vocal about this was, hey, look, I, I don't, I don't mind at all. I think players should get some sort of money, maybe some sort of cut though, so to speak. But I think that they go, they've gone way too far and I also think that early on I would have said, you know what, why is the NFL so much bigger than the NBA, the NHL and everybody else? They have these salary caps and I know we're going to talk about that with the Vikings because they've got some issues with the salary cap. But I think that that would be something that would at least be helpful. I think they also should have figured out, hey, look, we don't want these guys to transfer every single year to another university, which we're seeing more and more of that all

7:08the time. And the problem with that is at the very end, let's say you made some money along the way. You probably unfortunately got rid of a lot of that money on various things, cars and whatever it might be. Yeah. But the reality is you don't have a degree either because how on earth can, how do they even stay in a position academically to be eligible to play? I don't know how they do it. I was a pre-med guy and I would, I'd studied day and night when I wasn't on the football field. I was always wanting to go in my dad's footsteps and become a surgeon and all the rest of that. But I was fortunate enough to get in and play football long enough that I thought, you know what, at 30 years old, I don't want to start medical school. I think I'm going to go a different route. So I went the financial route, but you know, when I look at these guys, I just feel bad because they, where is their path, you know, you were mentioning path, where is their path? They get out of college. They don't make it in the NFL because very few do. And then what do you do? You don't have a degree. Now you've got to figure out what do you do the rest of your life and you probably did

8:11spend a good chunk of whatever that money is. And I really wish that the schools could do a much better job with, with letting them not only academically do better, but I think specifically what, what do they do with that money? Do they understand taxes? Do they understand the fact that if you're in Minnesota, you pretty much lose about 50 percent, right? I mean, because you've got the state tax, you put that on with the federal tax and you, you're making a hundred grand. You're really making 50, but you're going to spend a hundred grand. Yeah. No doubt about it. And that's a problem. Yeah. And, but that's been, you know, jumping kind of coupling the NFL, it's, it's been interesting to watch. You hear really sad stories and times from people that, hey, how is it possible to this guy made $60 million in his NFL career? And now you hear he's involved in some weird Medicaid scam or something like that. And, and there's, sadly, some former Vikings that we've heard kind of doing, you know, fraudulent activities and such. And, and, you know, whether it's the NFL, they bring, I believe they bring rookies in. They have these various seminars and like, you know, effectively, it's like, well, here's

9:15a jacket account. I've done some of those minor facts. What's that like? I, um, I spoke to the giants a couple of years ago, this is going back probably 10 years ago. And I just told him my, you know, about financial literacy. And I've talked to various teams in the NFL about this or groups on the team. I did running backs with, because, uh, I'm a really good friends with Kennedy, Palomolo. And, um, you know, so we spoke, I spoke to the, the running backs about, hey, this is really how it all works because how does Warren sap make $100 million in his broke, right? I mean, that, that one's a Tampa Bay one, my old world. But well, sadly, some of that has been public side. I guess it's not all, it's not all mysterious, sadly, with Warren, HLF as he is, but there's a lot of guys out there that, you know, the, the money that they've made is gone. And you know, I, I go through a, a very quick, um, sort of analysis of where it goes and how fast it goes. I mean, the easy part is what I just mentioned. So basically if you're not in Florida or some of the other no tax states, you're going to give up about 50% of whatever you're making, right?

10:16Very close to it, you know, you know, so that makes it more difficult. So the money that you're making, you're still going to spend it, right? Because you're in the NFL. So you've got to have a big suite is all get out truck. You also have to have some sort of a speedster sort of a car. You also have to have all your clothes made for you. You don't want to just go in the store and buy it because everybody's got that. Exactly. So by the time you go through all these things and these numbers and, and you know, let's be honest, you're, you're probably unfortunately because it's the NFL. You're going to get divorced if you're married, but or you're going to get married and have some kids and that's going to cost you money. All those things kind of come into play and you know, I can make fun with it a little bit, you know, along the way. And the guys do laugh and everything, but the reality is when it's said and done, how much is left? Yeah. And that's where it's a problem because you've got to buy Mama House and you've got to do this and you've got to do that. And I respect a lot of the spending that goes on, but it unfortunately turns into something far bigger than people ever really expect. And I think that they, they just don't, they don't keep track of all that money as it's

11:20going out, you know, and they, you know, if you don't get that next contract, that's a problem. No, it's a real problem. And the next year is never promised as we know with the NFL in particular, but bringing it back to the gofers and in college athletics in general, some would argue that's a reason why that there should not be a cap. There's a reason why they will chase every school because I kind of romanticize the, the idea of putting on the helmet or the jersey. Now I can say this from the comfy confines of the studios here. I didn't, I never put on the helmet or the jersey for a high end D1 institution, institution. But as a rube as a fan, the idea that this guy chose this university, he's going to stay here. He lives out those four years, makes those memories. We root for him on Saturdays and then hopefully see him on Sundays. The argument for it would be, yeah, because that money is fleeting down the road. So the ability for whatever it is as a 19 year old kid to put a couple of coins in, maybe

12:21does buy the vehicle and doesn't realize that, maybe insurance and maintenance and maybe five years from now, it's on blocks, sadly, but one way or another, at least giving them that opportunity, there's a benefit to that too. Oh, there's no doubt about that and I'm not against it. Like I said, I just start off, whatever amount of money they want to give, I mean, Corp, Quay Parish is a great example. He could have gone to Ohio State originally, he came to Minnesota anyway. He's, you know, from that little podunk town here in Minnesota, right? That goes fine. That goes best. And he's a great kid, great athlete. He's probably one of the best athletes I've seen at the University of Minnesota ever. And I mean that when I say ever, and we've been around for a long time and been around a lot of guys who are very athletic, but he has, he's really special. But I knew that at some point he's just going to have, you know, the taste is out there. Yeah. Oregon has a pretty much unlimited amount of money. No, Knight does a pretty good job of making sure that you Knight's done it. Yeah.

13:21But, you know, I was happy that we had him as long as we did because I thought we might lose him in Ohio State, tried to get him last year, they didn't get him again. And then this year, of course, we lose him to Oregon. So I don't mind them chasing a little bit. I just think it, you know, there's got to be some loyalty at some point in time, right? I mean, there's something that I think has to happen. And it's okay if you leave once, but I mean, how many guys of you and I both read about over the years who three, four schools, I started Auburn. I go to Clemson, then I go over to Texas, you know, and I finish at Texas A&M. It's like really, yeah. First of all, you're not getting that degree because of that. And yeah, you made a lot of money, but you probably spent a lot of that money. So you're back into that same spot that you probably would have been in anyway. Well, first of all, he's 27. So he probably should have an MBA. And secondly, all the freshmen, he's buying him beer. So at least, he's not the truth, right? There is some good, some good aspects to that. But as part of that, I mentioned this to you off air. Michael Lombardi has been a terrific guest with PA over the years and former executive with

14:26the Patriots. He's in personnel. They're winning Super Bowls with Tom and Bill and Bill goes to North Carolina to the Tarheals. And incomes Michael Lombardi is a general manager. And that kind of hit me as I, I tried to get him on as a guest right around Super Bowl time. We love to do Super Bowl stories and Lombardi's got several of them working with Belicechek. And he's like, I'm sorry, Nords, love joining you guys can't do it because I'm fully locked in. I'm not doing media right now because I'm with the Tarheals. And that's all good. But I'm just thinking about it, just the GM, just again, you nailed it. It's professional football, man, and they're hiring these positions and paying these guys a fair dollar to really manage these dollars and cents now at a level we've never seen before. And then the band-aid's been ripped off, the floodgates have been open, man. I mean, it's a cool opportunity for somebody that wants to be a GM. It just kind of hit me around Super Bowl time. Like, yeah, this ain't the same anymore, right? Right. Well, and the SEC actually, I don't know if you saw this today, but the SEC came out and

15:28said, hey, you know what, we're trying to figure out how we can get this where you can't transfer every single year. And it's interesting that they're the group that actually starting it off. I actually would have guessed it might be the big 10 or somebody like that, but yeah, the SEC and you know, LaVarde is an amazing guy. I know him well, and by the way, he, he was the very first hire at North Carolina by Bella Check. First hire, not the OC, not the DC, none of that was on party. I didn't know that. He was the first guy he grabbed. Just shows you how important he thinks that really is to have that. And it is because they really do control the personnel now, right? I mean, that's who's going to run that whole thing. So it's an interesting, and you know what college, college sports, especially football, I think the general manager is really a key element to this whole thing. And you know, I've had conversations myself with different universities about this role. Some of them are interesting. Some of them not, but it's always flattering to be asked some questions about that whole thing. No, certainly. Let's, let's do this actually because we kind of went off on the college side of things.

16:31I, I do want your insight in terms of just how you see things with the purple moving forward. So we're going to pause, and then we're going to go long form Steve's marathon segment style on the Minnesota Vikings here post combine some financial levers that have been pulled that still need to be pulled, eight or nine selections in the upcoming draft lots of work for Mr. Brazinski and his bunch. Pete Najarian, you heard his voice. He's in studio. And we're going to transition to the purple here around the corner, Nordo and for PA nine to noon. Come check this. I heard in TikTok have come together to create something new. I love it. The world of TikTok meets your playlist three words that will change your life. I heart TikTok radio. The biggest hits across I heart radio. What's trending for you on TikTok? Tony, it's better than this. Plus TikTok's most influential creators all in one place. Don't miss the debut of I heart TikTok radio tonight at 10 right here on your radio and on the free I heart app. Presented by Geico, the exclusive launch partner of I heart TikTok radio.

17:35Geico is proud to support a new way for fans to discover music, creators and what's trending now. It feels good to have the best playlists. It feels good to Geico segregation and the day integration at night. When segregation was the law, one mysterious black club owner had his own rules. We didn't worry about what went on outside. It was like stepping on another world. Inside Charlie's place, black and white people danced together, but not everyone was happy about it. You saw the KKK? Yeah, it was dressed up in that uniform. The KKK set out to raid Charlie, take him away from here. Charlie was an example of power. They had to crush him. From Atlas Obscura, Rococo Punch and visit Myrtle Beach, comes Charlie's place. A story that was nearly lost to time. Until now, listen to Charlie's Place on the I heart radio app, Apple podcasts or wherever

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21:44March 5th or the 8th Minneapolis Convention Center is the newest fishing and outdoor gear. Boats, RVs, travel, and power sports. And you enjoy the fans. Nordow here, listen to right now, Friday the 6th from 4 to 6 p.m. for a Friday night fish fry. DetailsKFAN.com, keyword calendar, KFAN.com, keyword calendar, personal file, flipping. Hey, have a seat for a second. Pete Najarian in studio will be a Steve's appliances marathon a segment. Thank you to Steve's appliances, Steve's appliances.com, and I got my washer and dryer, I got my fridge, my range, my dishwasher from them, 2025 was a big year for the Nordquist household as

22:48it pertained to two appliances. Pete Najarian remaining in studio to the Minnesota Vikings. You want to talk about fridges or you want to talk about football football, man, you say me. Let's do it. I love it. I've never been tired of it. I swear it yet. I did it for a long time playing wise, and then I actually was coaching back in the original XFL. So I would work on the trading floor in Chicago. And then in the owner when he called me up, he goes, hey, can you come coach with our guys down there? And I said, I'm a full day trader, man, I know. He goes, could you make it on Fridays or Saturdays and I go, sure, I can make that. He goes done. Well, I coached live backers for the Chicago team. Well, well, well, change, well, change practices until after the bell. That was pretty much it was really fun. It was really fun. And then for a while, I did, I did, you know, can I say a four-letter ESPN? Can I say that? Yeah, that's fine. I was, I did a cool show on there. It was, it was sort of like the red zone, except for it was called goal line.

23:51It was its own channel back in the day. So I did that for like two, three years. I literally, you could jump to almost, well, whatever the number is of games going on in one day and on TV. And it's probably close to 80, total. We could pick every single one of those. But if we owned it, if he is, or we, but if he is, you know, we could jump immediately. Otherwise, it was like a five-second delay, sure, or whatever it was. It was great, man. It was fun. It was the hardest work I ever did because I'd work in the financial world during, by day. And then on Saturdays, I'd go up there and it was noon to midnight. No commercials. Are you kidding me? Me and a play-by-play guy. Well, that's, first of all, that's a dream for someone that has that passion. I loved it. But on the roof side of things, I mean, that's the weeping in national teeth now, where with, with red zone and everything, hold on here. Why are we minimizing screens? And now we got a state farm ad or something like that. No, I respect the state farm. State farm wants customers and clients, but I was sold that red zone was a commercial

24:56free operation. And it wasn't. Yeah. Unbelievable. Yeah. Now, the guys, we're in a GMC hat. What is going on here? It was great. But, okay. So now I'm kicking the Vikings can down the road just a bit farther because you mentioned XFL. And even at a base level, just coaching at that time and being connected to it. What was the, what were the conversations about the future of a non-NFL league? Because I think in the, in the business of the NFL, the brilliance of the NFL is that they don't have to have a development league. That's what these colleges, so they don't have to put that additional investment in there. But the idea, whether it was the XFL, it's the UFL, there are probably somebody up there working with the, what is it, the Montreal Allowettes that has dreams of maybe playing in the big league just south of the border. But what were the conversations like in terms of the XFL as a league that could at least co-exist and retain fans and provide an outlet for athletes that they were not able to

26:00be behind the shield? It was great. It was absolutely great. And I think a lot of what we have seen over the years, I actually played in something, I don't know if you know this about me, but I played in the world league of American football. What? That's a good one. You're right. You're right to say that. Actually, no, but it was great. I played in Sacramento. I was a third pick in the draft and I went to Sacramento. I loved it. Played two years there. Had a couple of injuries, but we won the World Bowl at the end. But it was the first, it was the opportunity for the NFL to watch how things went because we had teams that were in Frankfurt and London and I think there was the same league like the Ryan Fire and some of these other, was that that's another one? Okay. Yeah, that just shows you how many leagues that have tried to do this type of thing because I do remember that in the 90s, though, it was 91, 92. I had just gotten an opportunity to be with the Raiders, but then got cut and blah, blah, blah. And the next thing you know, I'm in the world league of American football, but it was really cool. Montreal was one of the cities. There was a team in Ohio, there was a team in Birmingham, a team in Texas, San Antonio

27:04and all the rest of it. And we were California. I think it was 10, 10 teams total and I think there were three over in Europe. But it was great. And then eventually the NFL actually bought it because they thought, wow, this is pretty cool. And it was NFL Europe. Is what they called it. That's what they called it. Yeah. So they turned into NFL Europe. So again, just showing, you know, again, 91, 92, I was six and seven. So NFL Europe is what I remember. No, but to that end though, it was cool to watch those games and even in the 90s, specifically with NFL Europe. I thought it was cool. I had no maturity or analytical bent to really understand kind of the business of that. Right. Still, by the way, like Sacramento, no, that's the Sacramento as a city. But you know, they get tested all the time. That's one of those cities where they want to make it work. Okay. I mean, like right now, where are the Oakland days? Well, they're in Sacramento. You know, it's amazing how that city seems to be able to attract and get that.

28:07By the way, we did sell out every game. Not huge stadiums. It was like, it was actually huge stadium. I think it was like 25,000, 30,000, something like that. But we'd sell them out. That's super cool. It was great. And I'll give you this after we did win the World Bowl by second year. I think we ended up with 10 guys in the NFL and two of them were all pro the first year they got the NFL. For real. So a matter of fact, a kid that I helped out become a linebacker. He was a running back from Missouri and the Raiders picked him up and then they gave him to us because there was a thing there where you'd have an exchange of certain players that you could have. And so the Raiders gave us this guy, Mike Jones. Mike Jones is the guy. If you remember going way back when he for St. Louis, he made the, the, the game changing tackle at the one yard line to keep the guy from it. That was Mike Jones. And I was his, his coach, the coaches at AP, you got to teach this guy how to be a linebacker. And I'm like, great. So I'm, I'm teaching another guy to take my spot. That's fantastic. But I'm a team player. So I helped him out. Well, years later, did you get to at least see the ring?

29:08Oh, well, I'll see it. Yes. He's the greatest guy. Oh, we're, we're friends to this day. We had a bunch of those guys. We had another guy who was an all pro defensive end up at the Seattle Seahawks. I mean, we, we had a quarterback who actually stepped right in Atlanta and was the starting quarterback after being our quarterback for the year. So there was talented players in that league. They're really were. I mean, that, that world league was, it was, it was not, you know, it was only 10 years and 10 teams. So, you know, it was great opportunity for a lot of guys to get out. You know, who my nose guard wasn't that? You might remember this name, Bill Goldberg. Remember the pro wrestler? Yes, I do as a matter of fact. He was my nose guard. Nice guy off the off the field and out of the ring. Yeah, and he, he might have touched a chemical or two in his lifetime. By the way, it's possible. He got pretty thick and big man, but just something changed. Don't know what it was. We're great. We've heard growth spurred at 26 years old. Yes, that's very, very odd, but it happens, but it happens. What it, what does intrigue you with the Vikings in terms of this quagmire they're in and,

30:12and this, this progression forward now post combine free agency in the draft? Sure. I think that they, if, if I were a part of the Vikings, I would be very aggressively looking at specific positions because I do think that there's weaknesses in a lot of different pieces for the Vikings right now and they've got to figure that out. From that standpoint and, you know, it's difficult to draft certain positions in my opinion. How many years have we heard about the Vikings going after a corner back in the draft? Yeah. Who busts? Is a bust. I would go for the, for the free agent side, I'm going to go for a guy who actually can play. We've already seen him play in the NFL and we have, we already understand, yeah, this is the kind of player he is. So from that perspective, I like that, but I'll tell you what, I was watching the combine like I do every year and, and it, you know, I still have, I must have 40 books from Mel Kuiper for God's sakes that, you know, over the years until it became as big as it is. But I'll tell you what, this Caleb Banks is the guy. If I was the Vikings, I know it's not a sexy, sexy first round pick, eight number 18,

31:14but there's a, this kid Caleb Banks at Florida, Florida is, is exactly what the Vikings need because the problem with the Vikings in my opinion from a defensive standpoint is they're too small on the inside. The two linebackers are very small, relatively speaking, you know, 225 pounds is pretty small these days, you know, as a, as a linebacker, but they do it because they're faster, right? I mean, so that's part of the rationale behind it, but it just doesn't work because if you can't stop the run, you've got a real problem on, on defense. And I think when you've got a guy who's six foot seven and three hundred and 35 pounds that can move the way this kid can move, I would look at the defensive lineman or offensive lineman, because we need both, but I think defensive lineman can step in and play, right? Usually offensive lineman take a little while to get into things. I mean, think about the left tackle for the New England Patriots who was getting will cool, yeah. And I love the kid and tell me this one, Nordo, why didn't somebody, either the offensive coordinator or variable at some points, hey, look, let's help the kid out.

32:14Why not chip that defensive end just a little bit so that, you know, get a fullback over there, maybe put another lineman or a tight end over there, but help the kid out. They never did it. They just let them get beat for the entire game. And I just sat there watching going, you know, I like you've rapes, but you are not, you're not watching the same game, man. Well, you know, I would assume in Brables case, you know, the same way that Kevin O'Connell, he's going to put a ton of faith in Brian Flores. And so whether it's Caleb Banks and him, you know, I've looked at detackle and safety. Those are two things that I think about right out of the gate, step defensively. But the faith that variable would have in a Josh McDaniels, who's been there, who's been there, he's been, he's done that. And they just had no answer there, right? And they, and they didn't, and by all accounts, did not appear to make an adjustment. So never did you can't have Travion Henderson on the field because he's awful in past protection. You mentioned Will Campbell. Oh, wait, I think it's Jared Wilson. He's a rookie right next to a left guard.

33:15Then they got Garrett Bradbury, who's undersized and had his own physical struggles. Right. They could have put three tight ends on Will Campbell's side. And I don't know, I don't know if they're going to stop trying one. No, man, just give, just give them one. I'm, I'm totally, I'm totally with you on that. The, uh, so, so in Caleb Banks, what a name, by the way, he's, he's a terrific player. And get a mountain like that, right? I mean, I, I think who cares? You know, how many times do you need your guy who's the inside guy, um, on top of the center and the guards and all the rest of it? How often do you really care if they get towards the quarterback? Really isn't that big of a deal. Stop, they, they take up two or three guys alone. Yeah. So if we get him and we get somebody else with a little bit more size, um, I think we would have a much better defense than we were. And I, you know, and I'm not overly critical about the defense coordinator. You just mentioned his name, but the one issue I had was when we went through that streak where we went one in six in the middle of the, the, the year or whatever, uh, we couldn't stop anybody.

34:15Right. We seem to want to talk about the fact that we're giving up yards on the run that were just absolutely ridiculous. And I think part of it is we're pretty small at linebacker. We're pretty small defensive line. So why didn't we adjust in some way? And I think that was part of the problem is we weren't big enough there and strong enough to be able to, to slow down somebody who, and by the way, once you finally do cheat up a safety, then they just throw the ball on it. So that's a problem. That's the problem with not being able to stop the run. And that's what we struggled with. It's kind of an interesting thing. So the last two years, and I, I don't have this in front of me, but you had the, the fifth best scoring defense in the NFL, I think in 2024. And then it was similar. Let's call it five, six or seven somewhere this, this last season. But if you look at the two years, you saw a significant commitment against the run in 2024. So that's, uh, that's Jonathan Bollard that is, uh, Harrison Phillips is still there. It was difficult to run on floor as his bunch, right? You could get around the gym through the air.

35:17Well, now fast forward a year later, you see these additions of Hargrave and Jonathan Allen, uh, in the end, just looking at box scores and stats. They're the second best past defense in the NFL. They are atrocious. They can't stop the run. They can't stop it. You're the only other guy saying it, man. I'm telling you, you, I don't hear anybody talking about that and I, and I'll give you a real quick. Can I give you real quick numbers? Sure. So, um, let's see. We gave up 27 yards rushing against the chargers. We gave up another 150 to ball to more 140 to Chicago, 146 to the Packers and 125 to Seattle. We couldn't stop anybody because once you can run the ball, you can throw the ball. You know, I mean, it's just, that's just part of it because you finally started. All right. Enough of this. We're going to try to stop it. And then they, they start throwing the ball on you. Now what do you do? Or once, or you know, I mean, that, that bloodbath that Thursday night game at the chargers, come on, even though no one had even know that was like his breakout game. It's got his whole fans, grammars in the stands. The whole thing.

36:17Everyone's excited. Carson Wentz's shoulder looks like it's going to fall off. I mean, just, but, but sometimes once you start throwing the ball, or running the ball like that, you don't have to throw the ball and you find your way into the, into victory lane. Now, the, the biggest conundrum, um, for, for this team moving forward and, and you follow it, it is, is post quacy Adolfo Mensa with the head coach in the year five, been to the playoffs twice, Oh, and two in the playoffs, sadly. Mm-hmm. This quarterback situation, that has been kind of the a topic. So guys like you and I, we're sitting around, we're watching, they, we're watching the combine and then you'll catch these little ticker bits. Oh, Kyler Murray's probably going to be released if they can't trade him. Right. Oh, Gino Smith says he still's got it. Derek Car might come out of retirement if he finds a team he thinks he can win a Superbowl with you. Probably seeing all of these bits, there's a broad spectrum in terms of what they can do. But, but that is the conundrum and the a topic of the team. So just kind of starting with JJ McCarthy, you know, level of, level of interest in giving

37:19him some grace and some leeway and the trust in the coach to develop and where, where's your head at with, with JJ and, and this team? You know, everybody has jumped all over JJ, right? Yeah. He's not what we thought we can't do this. We can't do that. I would say a little bit differently. I would say this, how about we get an offensive line and how about we don't go into free agency and sign two offensive linemen that are on IR when we signed them? I mean, honestly, how difficult is that to figure out? It's one thing to be a college kid who gets an injury, right? And, and you know what? Kayla Banks is one of those guys. He had an injury to his foot. Well, his foot don't look too bad right now because that big guy was running around and doing everything. So I'm not worried about him. But the offensive lines got to be able to stop somebody. He gave up 60 sacks. Now, some people will say to me, well, Pete, but the quarterbacks are holding the ball too long. And I'm like, no, they, no, they weren't. By the time JJ would get back on his fifth step, you know, dropping five steps back, he's getting hit. He's getting hit by the time he's planting his back foot. And I, you know, and I'm not some guy who wants to be a college, oh, yeah.

38:21You know, he's, he's, he's not this great. He's not whatever. I just watched him get hit, take day after day, you know, night after night, all these things. He's a winner. Yeah. Yeah. I know I hear everybody say, well, but he throws to the tight ends. So what? Whoever he was thrown to, he did pretty good when he was at Michigan. He did the same thing in high school. I grew up his, he grew up right by me when he was still in Chicago before he went down to the trailer. Yeah. Okay. The kid is, the kid's a winner. He's, he's got a really nice arm, but give him a little bit of time. I mean, and if you, if you think I'm wrong, well, why is it that Carson Wentz, like you just said, was walking around without a right arm? I mean, he was getting hit. So we basically put him out there to just get his, slammed as much as he could possibly take until he couldn't take it anymore. And then we finally put JJ in. Well, then JJ started to get hurt, right? So I tell you what, if, if we decide to get a guy and we better have somebody like Kyler Murray who can run, because he's going to be on the run unless they do some improving of that offensive line.

39:22And they, they, it's not the biggest fix in the world, but it's something where you could do it through the draft, I think, because there's a lot of really good offensive line in this year. And from a free agency standpoint, right? If you're afraid of the young guys, okay, let's go into free agency. We did it last year, but we didn't really do it the right way. Yeah, I, I think, I mean, in the end for me, I, I think it's going to be Ryan Kelly's not the answer. Right. And terrific career that he's had the, the head injury specifically, the concussions. This is just on, it's unsustainable. Yeah. This is a thing, by the way, that they knew when they signed up, there was an injury history associated with him as good as Ryan Kelly's been, so they knew it, but that's kind of the spot. It feels like you want the evolution to Donovan Jackson. This is a fresh year for Christian Derrissoff, you know, you think a, we, we used to have a tally. It was almost up here on this beautiful, natural bricks around that we have people. It does look good. We did have, we had one point had to add a whiteboard up there to note how many online combinations that the Vikings were using throughout the season, so it was nutty.

40:26But, but to that end, what, what I'm curious about, put your, you know, maybe coach your own GM hat on is the reason I talked about KO fifth year is, do you believe that there is pressure that is added to this conversation where I want JJ McCarthy to get a fair shake and a fair run. I'm, and I'm talking for myself too, personally, that's what I want. This best case scenario is at the spring this summer that there is a jump and an evolution. And if KO rolls into 2026 and he says, I've seen, I've seen what I need to see. He won whatever competition he creates via free agency, et cetera. And JJ is the guy I'm going to trust in the coach that he's making the right decision. Sure. But is there pressure associated with the idea I'm into year five? And there is so much unknown about JJ. So therefore, I can't roll in just assuming that he is grown, which could then potentially say, I'm bringing in a guy that's going to start right and JJ is going to ride the

41:26pine. And then I got this weird fifth year option thing to think about a year from now, with very, very little equity to work off of like, how much do you think that any potential pressure to win now plays into this quarterback conversation? Well, there's got to be some pressure. And I say, say there's got to be some because how about the fact that we got rid of for the guy who's the quarterback whisperer, which I hear all the time, right? Yeah. Daniel, Daniel Jones, sure, looked good down in Indie, right? Yeah. And then the little fella who had decided to go out to Seattle, looked like he was pretty dead on good quarterback as well, right? So if you're the whisperer, how do we miss that? How do we not say, wow, this guy has made another step higher and another step higher and he's doing the right thing? And it, you know, but he has a different offensive line than what we were putting out it there as well. And that's another reason why I say, you know, it was probably tough for the whisperer. I give him a hard time a little bit, but well, well, by the way, even Darnell was sacked 50 some times in 2024. Yeah. So he, you know, he, maybe there's a veteran element to it.

42:29I just wanted to note that the offensive line, if we really dig into it, has been a talker for longer than just a few years, yeah, they're getting beat, beat left and right on fortunately. No, I was six with my dad watching you in the world football league the last time they had a not as a man that long hasn't been that long. But it's been a while Sacramento, gosh, it was fun football, man, but I'll tell you what, no, you're right. And there's a lot of different elements that come into this whole thing, whether it's the offensive line or is it sometimes the quarterback and I'll tell you what, I've seen enough, I went to some practices this past year and watched him throw the ball around a little bit and JJ threw the ball around and looked pretty dag on good to me. So I don't think that there was anything wrong with him. I do think that offensive line unfortunately is where you got to point the finger. And what are we going to do to fix it? Because it doesn't matter who the quarterback is. If you're getting hit day after day after day and whether, you know, and, and Sam Darnel's

43:29a tough kid. I mean, he, he really is a tough kid. I was always harsh about, you know, USC quarterbacks, but he actually has turned into a pretty damn good quarterback. Right? No. Yes. And there aren't very many of them that are very good. No. So I give him a lot of credit for what he's done. I'm trying to, I'm trying to think now USC cubies that have really turned out very few. There's only really one that everybody hangs their hat on and it's the guy who went to Cincinnati and they went to the Super Bowl and all that kind of stuff. I, I, I'll sudden I'm dropping it in my head, but, but, but if you look around for now, it's Darnel though. Yeah. Now it's Darnel. Absolutely. And he's doing well. He, I mean, what a year he had. It was unbelievable. Let me, let me ask you this a couple more for you and I just can't thank you enough for your time this morning. That's fun. The, the idea of molding the scheme to the player or molding the player to the scheme just in terms of what we see out of this offense and I'll give you an example. So large part of the conversation last spring a year ago, wasn't just, man, if Javon

44:30Hargrave stays healthy, man, if Ryan Kelly stays healthy, et cetera, wasn't just that. It was, ooh, this Jordan Mason cat, I kind of like what I saw. Yeah. It touched down against this, I think it was week two, 2024. And he's kind of that cool Yang to the Yen of an Aaron Jones. Yeah. And so is this, and the, into four, into the fourth year, is this the year that KO absolutely commits to running the ball? And this is a team, of course, when with, with Justin Jefferson on it, I want to get that guy in space, right? And that's, that's 180 targets if I can get it to him in a, in a season and, and then we just didn't see that. Right. We didn't see that and haven't seen it consistently is, is part of that process or that conversation related to the offensive line as well. Is that something legitimately on a to-do list for a coach where, whether it's, it's a Geno Smith, oh my goodness, or a Derrick car or, oh my goodness, or a Kirko, oh my goodness, or it's JJ McCarthy, regardless of who it is.

45:32Is that kind of on a to-do list for a coach like one way or another, I do need to be able to make this a thing that defenses respect on a weekly basis. You have to be able to run the football. You just do. And, and I think that's something that, the, the, is he willing to go that far, to actually put it more into a running game, I'll tell you what, it would open up for JJ, it would be. Not to clomp on it Carson Palmer. How do we? Yeah, Carson Palmer. That's it. Well, hey, don't, don't apologize. You were looking for a lifeline and I got nothing, I was trying to, I was putting my mute button, trying to sit some water, but, but I'll tell you how I think that JJ would do great in that kind of an offense and I'm talking about JJ, the receiver. I think that he, he needs us to be able to run the football, to open it up for him and get those guys off of him because they, they are going to start peeking in, whether it's a cornerback or a safety or whoever it is. And they see this guy starting to run down field. They already cover him more differently than, than probably any other receiver save a

46:36jamar chase in the NFL. Yeah. For all the right reasons, he's as good as, as advertised and he doesn't a fantastic job, but it sure makes it tougher on him if the quarterback doesn't have any time back there to throw the ball because all we do is try to throw the ball and we don't commit anything to a running game. So if we can commit to that running game, but it, it also comes right back to the offensive line again. Right. Our offensive line blow up when holes really, very often, really not all that often. I mean, Aaron Jones does a great job and I know that now we're going to have to get rid of him and see, you know, obviously we got to clean it up when we got, that's the other amazing thing. How are we 40 million or 45 million over the cap with what we've got, it just doesn't make any sense at all. So they're going to have to clear it out and give us an opportunity now, but that does hurt on who are we going to be able to sign, right? I mean, because those numbers are going to be big offensive lineman get paid pretty damn good right now. They do. And I, there was a kid that who placed for the Denver Broncos right now who I helped coach

47:38him in high school when I was in New Canaan, Connecticut. And I watched this kid and I'm like, wow, this guy's going to be in the NFL and, and lo and behold, he just signed a contract last year. I think it's like four for 180 million or something like defensive tackle. I mean, just special kid, really a really nice kid went to Boston college, did great. And you know, everybody else said, I don't think this kid's going to make it in the NFL. And I'm like, I don't know, this guy's got something special going on here. And you know, so you need to find some more of those, but they get paid money as my point, whether it's offensive line or defensive line, they're making the same kind of money these days as some of the other positions, you know, that are very meaningful. So it's amazing. Last one for you here. And Quasi Adolfo Mensa relieved of his general managerial duties and Rob Urzinski has been with the team for a long time. And then just, you know, you're opinion on the idea. So some have said kind of, well, Quasi's out. But they did all this time talking, they spent all this time talking about collaboration.

48:39And you just picture this room and everyone gets, they hold like an egg timer or something like that. And then gets three minutes to talk and then, and then Quasi holds the gavel. Everyone else is still there. So all the scouts in Mr. Brzinski, assistant GM, personnel guy, everybody else is there. That's static. And then Quasi is really the only variable that has changed, whether it's, it's the analytics lean, how you position a draft board. I still feel like this is potentially a significant change philosophically on how they can handle things. You can speak about collaboration, I, you know, my kids get collaboration in the house. Guess what? Their opinions only matter for so long. And then it's over. And I get the final say. So this does feel regardless of scouting department, personnel guys, it's simply maybe from a philosophical level that this is a significant change that we could still look forward to seeing something different from the draft board and maybe what we see at

49:43the end April. How do you see it? Yeah, I think that it's going to be interesting, you know, Brzinski's an amazing guy because he's been with the Vikings for how many years, right? And he at one point in time was the GM, you know, he played that role along with being the financial guy and all the rest of it. Then we have Spielman and then we've gone in this other direction, but can he handle it? I think he can't. Does he want to? He probably does, you know, whether people say he doesn't or not, I don't necessarily agree. He likes the idea of it. And I have heard other people try to convince me the other side, but we'll find out in a few, I don't know how long it's going to take, but we'll find out. But see, I just think I, I mean, I can't speak for him. I think he likes chilling in the background, being the cap guy that ever is wrong with that, right? I mean, that's a great spot to have. And as long as he's executing on that, it's great. But now he's getting a high-end taste of what the path forward could be and what the future looks like for Mr. Brzinski. That's cool. I'm going to be interesting to see how this thing unfolds. I think there's a lot of positions in there though that I don't know if they need fresh

50:46eyes or what they need, but they need something because it clearly hasn't been working. I mean, if you go back over the last two, three years or whatever of this regime with Quasie. I don't want to look at the drafts. Don't ask me to do that. Well, the drafts have been terrible, but free agency. We've hit on some. Yeah. Let's be honest. I mean, Blake Cashman, I love that kid. He's a great kid. Yeah. I think we're in art in Van. Really see how that would work and it really works. And great. I think, but there's a lot of misses along the way too. So, and those are free agent misses. I mean, it's one thing to miss on a draft pick just because that can happen. Sure. But when you're doing it with the free agents, that's a little bit of a different story because you've seen what they are and you know what they are and you get them and they are who they are. Right? And it's not that good sometimes. So I think it's something that they're going to have to really polish that up and make sure that that gets done better because it has not worked in the last three or four years. I agree with you there. Yeah. Thanks for hanging out, man. It's all fun, man. It's great to be with you, Nordow. No, thank you to Pete Najarian, Pete Najarian via X.

51:49Thank you, Howard. Bornstein and everyone. I just love mentioning Howard's name. He deserves it. He is there. Oh, yeah. I know. I'm going to get six phone calls about it. No, good to see you, brother. Have a awesome day. Good to see you. We'll catch up. If it's cool, though, maybe we'll catch up closer to the draft again. I'd love to. I'd love to have more conversations with you. That's Pete Najarian. We're going to pause a little news around the corner and then we'll check in with Alec Lewis of the athletic in the 11 a.m. hour. It's Nordow and for PA on. Come check this. I heard in TikTok have come together to create something new. I love it. We're the world of TikTok meets your playlist three words that will change your life. I heard TikTok radio. The biggest hits across I-Hart radio, what's trending for you on TikTok? Tonya Sound that's better than this, plus TikTok's most influential creators all in one place. Don't miss the debut of I-Hart TikTok Radio tonight at 10 right here on your radio and on the free I-Hart app.

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53:51And I'm Grandma Stewart. And our podcast, Game Recognized Game, has never been done before. Two active players giving you a real look at our lives and what we actually think on and off the court. Nothing's off-limits. We talk trade requests. What's the vibe of that when it's like your star player is like, well, I want to leave, and then actually now I'm going to stick. We talk tanking. I mean, honestly, like, I might get in trouble for this answer, but I think it's like definitely happening in the WBA. And yeah, we talk about our mistakes, too. They pulled me to the side and was like, hey, man, we got a call last night, man. You can't be wrong around the city like this tonight for games, no, you know, doing this, doing whatever. And of course, family stories. And we're like, mommy, why did you miss that? Mommy, do you play basketball? Check out Game Recognized Game with Stuy and Miles on the I-Hart Radio app Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. You can accomplish a lot in a decade. You could earn a bachelor's degree and a master's degree back-to-back.

54:53You could compete in two separate consecutive Olympic games. Well, we made my favorite murder. It's spent 10 years of true crime, 10 years of conversation, and a hundred years of swearing. Here's the thing, everyone. Polite-ness. Good f**k yourself, this is what s**t gets to you when someone sneezes from now on. We have something for everyone. Advice, support, and a safe space for your feelings. This is terrible. To go. Triflers need not apply. Stay out of the forest. You're in a cult. Call your dad. Don't worry. Toxic masculinity ruins the party again. They said, Dad, what the hell? What are we going to do? And he goes, I don't know what the hell. I don't know. We're going to sally forth. Sally forth. We're going to sally forth. You guys stay sexy. Don't get murdered. And this? Do you want a cookie? A cookie? Listen to my favorite murder on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Goodbye. Usually, on this podcast, we'll kill you. We talk about the diseases, infections, and biological threats that can make us really

55:55sick. But right now, we're doing something a little different. We're stepping back and looking at what the human body needs to keep going. When you consider what we know about sleep in humans, there's one rule that comes out. We are predictably unpredictable sleepers. We're talking about why sleep works the way it does, why our bodies don't follow neat rules, and why modern life makes rest so hard to come by. The second half of our series takes us to the digestive system, with a multi-part series on what happens after we eat. OK, I just have to say that all of my favorite words apparently are digestive. Yeah. It's fink-dur, parastelodins, duodenum. It's fascinating. It's funny, and it matters so much more than you think. Episodes of our new series run from January 20th through February 17th, with new episodes every Tuesday on the exactly right network. Listen to this podcast, we'll kill you as part of the exactly right network on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A fan. What up, news to Nord brought to you by Vecacino at Canibary Park, CanibaryPark.com real quick,

57:07and then we will transition to Alec Lewis to kick off the 11 o'clock hour, and Canibary Park.com, feeling the felt all year long, but some news nuggets from Brett. Number one. What was your favorite David Montgomery in Detroit moment? Yeah. He is on the way out. He's on the way to Houston to the Texans get Montgomery. The Lions get a fourth round pick, offensive Lyman juice, Scruggs, great name, and a seventh round pick in 2027. That's all it took to get David Montgomery. So Knuckles, leave Sonic and his outs of Detroit, your thoughts. Well, first of all, hit me with that trade equity again, because I had just seen some Adam Schefter. Somebody, there were a few, and thank you, by the way, I'm not, I'm not trying to diminish this when I, when I say it this way, but 64686 Bradshaw and Brian KFA and TechSlide, a couple of people sent in a links to a link to an Adam Schefter post about it on ESPN. I saw they just flipped them for a fifth round pick.

58:08That's what I'd seen. Yes. I saw several people like, you know, Montgomery was trying like, well, I'm not, I'm not stopping everything with a breaking new sounder, but I, but in all seriousness, I appreciate it. I thought it was just a fifth round pick. So they're saying it was a fifth round, like quality, I guess. So Schefter had the updated compensation. He tweeted it out. Oh, really? Yes. Yes. Schefter was wrong out of the gates. Or maybe they were just cloudy about it. I don't know. So the lions get a fourth round pick, juice scrugs, and a seventh round pick in 2027, which is a sweet name. It's so good. I don't know what, I don't know what Montgomery was making. I don't know if they're, if they're getting out while the getting is probably still good. The fact is, I mean, I look at this almost more from the Texans side of things, whether it's, you know, they've tried Nick Chubb, they tried Damien Pierce, they have Woody Marks. And now, and now Montgomery, just like how brutally the Texans have continued to fail

59:14at every turn. Now, I don't believe they've failed with Woody Marks, but in terms of creating a running back stable that they can win a ton of games with, I'll be if they were a playoff team. We're on the outside looking in, so go Texans, I guess, but to that end, if you're watching them, you, you know that they have struggled at that spot. So maybe Montgomery provides that same type of change of pace, goal line and short yardage related role that he used to offer to Jamir Gibbs. And so it's not, it's not world changing and shocking to me, just kind of feels like they're very, very confident that here in Detroit, over in Detroit, that they're ready to make him the feature creature. And then he's going to do absolutely everything for that team, which he showed out in a massive way. I'll be at a disappointing season for the Lions. He showed out. So best of luck to David Montgomery. And I'm about to learn more about juice shrugs, offensive linemen. Yes. Well, what's interesting about that, too, and best of luck to juice in Motown, the, and

1:00:17I know we, we gave up on Ed Ingram. And you see a cool highlight on X and suddenly you think Ed Ingram in Houston is the next Marshall Yanda area on the earthery. We want to root for the best go for his connection, Skyumah down in Houston. Their offensive line is not very good. And so if they are willing to flip juice shrugs for, for this running back transaction, I don't see him jumping in for Christian Mahogany or Tate Ratlage. I guess is he a tackle or a guard, you know? So quick search says, I see one thing that says is a center and one thing says a guard. So probably one of the center guard flexibility teams. I wouldn't mind that break Blake Brandle, though, played every freaking position on the field. It felt like for the Vikings this year. You need that. And the Lions part of the quick change for them has truly been just the, I mean, precipitous downfall of quality at the old line spot. So maybe the, maybe the Lions are just like the purple and the draft talking with Pete,

1:01:20whether it's the center spot, Graham Glasgow, just wasn't good enough last year for them. Maybe the, maybe the kiddies are going to try and, uh, try and snipe us on, uh, on a center in, uh, in April's draft. We'll see, but, uh, welcome juice to the kiddies covenant and best of luck to Mr. Montgomery, uh, to work with Woody Marks down in Houston. That's cool. Anything else? Real name. Frederick Henry Scruggs, nicknamed juice. I like juice a lot better. I think that's a, that's a good move for him. Yeah, I don't know. Scruggs. That's not Freddie. What about Freddie? Freddie Scruggs. I thought that's kind of good too, actually. Yeah. I don't mind that. You know, he's like Freddie Krueger in the trenches. Tough. Brilliant. Give it a D line nightmares. See? There you go. Yes. I'm, I'm proud. So as long as he is in Detroit, I will not call him juice. And what a weird thing to where this would happen, where I actually met juice Scruggs.

1:02:20And he's like, I prefer juice. Then I would call him juice, probably the case. So I, but I don't foresee a personal interaction ever taking place. Hmm. So best of luck to Freddie, the nightmare that he can be on the interior, moving man for Jamir Gibbs. I don't know. Juice is cool, but Freddie, I'm pro Freddie. Anything else? No, that's it. Okay. It's central snooze in order. Yeah. That's bits and bets. Yeah. And of course, wild loss, three one to St. Louis. We did that in the, in the weekend, rap Roman Schmidt, kind of a blue liner. They added Boris Kuchul, heads to Philly, Tampa, in town tomorrow night, looking forward to that. A little later puck drop. I think it said just some primetime hockey taking place on a Tuesday. Wolves. It's three in a row. It's like six of their last seven. They beat the nugs yesterday, rising to the occasion against a contender. We dig that. And MPA, he was at the game yesterday, mile high. So when he returns tomorrow, we'll chat, we'll probably chat about that and maybe even

1:03:21have the head coach on. So we'll find out about that. But next, Alec Lewis, one of our favorites, he was an Indianapolis for the better part of a week with the NFL, scouting, combine, steam rolling, writing a ton of content. He's got this QB piece that he just dropped this morning that I want to dig into him, dig into with him. It's Alec Lewis of the athletic. He joins me next, final hour ahead, 9 to noon. Come, tick this. I heard and tick talk have come together to create something new. I love it. We're the world of tick talk meets your playlist. Three words that will change your life. I heard tick talk radio. The biggest hits across I heard radio. What's trending for you on tick talk? Tonya Sound that's better than this. Plus tick talk's most influential creators all in one place. Don't miss the debut of I heard tick talk radio. Right here on your radio and on the free I heard app. Presented by Geico, the exclusive launch partner of I heard tick talk radio. Geico is proud to support a new way for fans to discover music, creators, and what's trending

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