Having the right people in your corner for life's biggest milestones makes all the difference. Like a friend who's there when you're house hunting or checking out a new ride, State Farm is there too, helping you choose the coverage you need. With a State Farm agent, you know someone is there to help you along the way. And with so many coverage options, it's nice knowing you have helped choosing a plan that fits your needs.
So you can continue celebrating all of life's milestones. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Try angel stuff for you, tushi. It's made by A Soft and sound, budget-friendly. The choice is simple.
A roll that feels like paradise and always. Heavenly prize.
Song In the song. Nothing's not so Pick up a pack today. Angelsoft.
Soft and strong. Simple. Good morning, everybody. Welcome into the Winklerverse. I'm Bart Winkler.
It is the 28th of January, 2026. And on today's episode, Sam Bruckhaus. is going to join us. He's from Sumer Sports. He is down at the Senior Bowl.
on Radio Row for the Senior Bowl.
So the East-West Shrine game was last night. Didn't watch it. But the senior bowl is this weekend. And we'll see if Sam convinces me to watch it or not. Vinny Anthony is a badger that's in the game, wide receiver.
Beats me. But there's some quarterbacks, you know, Pavia and Nussmeier and. There's some running back. I play a lot of college daily fantasy. I've been getting raked in fantasy.
Like, I need to quit. Like I after, so I need to quit MMs. I need to quit, I need to quit a lot of stuff. Uh I need to quit. Draft case.
I have lost. Money on there. And uh Because I did have a big win a while back, like, I did it. But then I realized that was a fluke, and now I'm like even lifetime on draft kings. Which is so pathetic.
I mean, it's better than being down, but. Shit. And then my buddy got me into Cal She, one of these predictive market apps. Oopsie whoopsie. Do I have any bets out there?
I still got some squares for the Super Bowl. I'm going to have to play DraftKings for the Super Bowl. And I got uh Oh, I have a future bet on the Celtics to win the East.
Okay, we'll see. Speaking of that, I do want to get into the bucks here before we get to Sam. On the Dan Chaney YouTube stream this episode, I've got the uh Sam portion podcasted. Good looking young kid used to play football. At Tulane, I believe.
And now he's a Sumer Sports.
So there's some in there's some incentive. If you're tired of looking at my fat face. Um Being at Sam Bruckhouse from Sumer. On the Dan Shaney YouTube. Stream.
All right, so before I bring you that here. I do need to discuss something Bucks related. The Milwaukee Bucks on A random Tuesday loss, 139 to 122 to the Sixers. They were down at half. Nine points or so.
They did they did bring it Into, hey, this could be a game, and then you've seen it before, where then it's no longer a game. And I'm trying to wonder where we're at with the Bucks now, with Giannis self-diagnosing himself. With us having legitimate conversations about if he'll ever play again in a Bucs uniform. I think the answer is yes, even if he does get traded here before he plays again. I think there's some sort of return.
Um But without Giannis, even with Giannis, this team's not that good. Without them, they're a lot worse. And the Sixers were at full strength. And and bead. It's really weird with him, Beads.
Some nights he really looks good. Um I think he did most of his scoring in the first half. Paul George had thirty-two. I don't think that happens much. Anymore.
So the Sixers are they're a little better I think than they thought they would be Uh Bucks obviously a lot worse. At the beginning of the year the Sixers were Um, like a top four team, they're six right now.
So I have not looked. I'm only doing this because I have not looked in a while. But the Eastern Conference standings. The Pistons are the one seed with a five and a half game lead over the Celtics, and then it's a log jam. Celtics, Knicks, Raptors.
So that's your one, two, three, four. Cavs are five, Sixers are six. Cavs They've been winning more lately. They were very much underachieving. They should not be in the play-in discussion.
But they are.
So congrats to so far Detroit. I thought they'd be a team that Uh, would get better. I don't know if I had them as the one seed. But they've been playing very well, and I do think they're for real. And then the play-in is that same Miami Bulls Hawks.
Scrum. And now, with the magic in there, too, magic should be a little better than a one-game over 500 team. We'll see how the rest of the season breaks out for them. But the Hornets are 19 and 28, and the Bucs are 18 and 27. They're both three and a half games back of the plan.
So Bucs have lost three in a row now. Hornets coincidentally have won three in a row, and they've been. If you watch the Hornets, and when you've watched them against the Bucs, or if you see them at all, This is the problem with the Bucs.
Some of these teams that are no good still have life to them. The Bucs don't. The Bucs are lifeless. In his Really not fun to watch.
So three and a half back. Of a play-in spot. I would like to make the play-in just because I would like to be in that. I also do think it behooves the Bucs to lose.
So maybe make a play-in game and lose. Because you still get in the lottery. Dallas showed you that. But the Bucs, so they do have a pick. Tanny, the Bucs do have a pick.
Between their pick and New Orleans pick, the better pick goes to Atlanta.
So right now, the Pelicans would have the three. We're not doing lottery, I guess, um, 'cause th that'll change, but So I won't say they have the three. But they have the third best lottery odds.
So that pick would go to Atlanta. Milwaukee right now would draft seventh. And so I guess the dream is just to keep losing? I guess. We talked about it on mm-hmm this week about Are we going to see Giannis in a jersey again?
A Bucks jersey. Ultimately. I do think, yes, without the technicality, I don't think he's getting traded at the deadline. I think an off-season trade is likely. But I could be totally wrong.
I've been fighting against Giannis being traded forever. I said it's not going to happen. And the thing that is going to break me when it does happen is not that we lost. The best player that's ever played for this franchise, with all due to Kareem. Um It's that When Mm.
he's traded, everyone's gonna have like victory laps. Like the shams of the world. We told you, we told you he wanted out.
Well, If you would have started this this offseason and been telling it, that's different. They could have had. A huge Giannis run, but now everybody looks at them. and rolls their eyes because they've had this huge Giannis Conversation run for nine years. And then a guy like Kendrick Perkins is like, I'm tired of this.
Something needs to happen.
Well, then you've been talking about it for nine years. Nothing was going to happen in that time. And now it seems like Like something is. I was talking to somebody. I'll just keep them nameless.
Uh But he Oh, I narrowed it down. He can't understand. Why everyone's turned on Giannis. Um the quote via text. It's been ugly for a month.
And people are like, fuck this piece of shit. Get him out of here. I'm sick of 'em. But he's the best player in franchise history. You're going to suck when he's gone, no matter what.
Why do you want that to happen quicker? And so that can be a read that people get if they're following the Bucks: like, oh, yeah, we're tired of this. Uh we want him to go. I'm not there yet. I don't think you're there yet.
I think where people are at with Giannis. Is We don't want him gone because we hate him. We want him gone because we love him. We are watching Giannis, a guy who has given us.
Some Unexpected, unprecedented levels of joy. A championship two. NBA Cup. He's given us so much. And it's clear he's very unhappy.
He's unhappy. If the team was better, he'd be happy. But they're bad. And he's here and he's been hurt. A lot lately.
At least he's missing time with injury, I will say. He's missing time with the designation of an injury, I will say.
So he's not having fun. And so We want him for his sake. to go have fun. I think.
Now, the longer this continues, because we're used to the drag out. That's another thing. We're used to Favre dragging it out. We're used to Rogers dragging it out. But Giannis isn't dragging it out.
Giannis is like. Taking five years of will he, won't he, and cramming them. into a three-month bag. Bag. Bog, bag.
Bag. I say bag. I stay vague, my As and O's will get me on the accent area. Uh purse. Satchel.
Suitcase. He's pounding it all into that. He doesn't Want to play for this particular Bucs team. That doesn't mean he doesn't want to play for the Bucs. This particular team just sucks.
So I do think we want Giannis to leave. For his sake. He is still giving us, like, the equity still works. You've given us so much. That you can dip into that equity a little bit.
You know, if you're a really good employee at work. And you show up late. Because you slept in, not even like traffic was bad or whatever. You made a mistake. Oh, okay.
Well, it's been four years. He never he's a great you got equity.
Now, if you're always breaking stuff and showing up late and then you show up late again. You don't have a lot of equity.
Okay. Giannis has a lot of it. He is spending a lot of it quickly. But he still has a lot of it. And we recognize it's not.
Like, we recognize this team. We recognize the stuff that Giannis has to be. unhappy with. We recognize it too. This team is no good.
The coach is no good.
So we For Giannis' sake. And, you know, we'll see if the Bucs can Something different, there's always that factor. I would like to hang on to Giannis for as long as possible. I don't think we'll ever be good again. At least that's how I would go into it.
And that, look, not everyone agrees with me. I think it's an age thing. As well? I think uh a lot of Bucks fans That I see online and I shape my opinions on are like 20 years younger than me. And so Your bucks Like to get a Bucs title, how old would I have been?
36? What a great time. You know To get a Brewer's title, it would mean a lot more for guys like me. Especially guys that were around in 82. Because you've seen a lot more.
If you've just started being a Brewers fan the last five years, you don't get it. You're like, yeah, yeah, we've had some tough playoff losses, but. We're always in the playoffs. And we always do good. The Bucks have been good my whole life.
Yeah, LaFleur and the Packers, they're still making playoffs. Like, if you. If you're in your twenty, I don't know. I do have to, once you get older, I think that's a crime that a lot of people in my business Suffer is they think that You are looking through their lens. But I got to remember: no, there's a lot of people I talk to and interact with and join the show that are of my age.
But there's a lot of people that aren't. Older and younger. And I got to think like for the younger people, yeah, get Giannis out of here, rebuild, have our pick. Whereas I'm like, I saw it. I never thought I'd see it.
He's the one who gave it to us. Let's just ride it out as long as we can. And I think John Horst. You know, as MIA as he is. He has been somebody that's been trying to ride this out.
All of his moves that he makes are not to win a title. They are to keep Giannis Edeta Gumpo. And he's been successful. But then there's the Doc Rivers piece, and there's the Jimmy Haslam piece. And yeah, we clowned, you know, the Lazaries a lot, especially Alex.
They all lose lip lose lips, sink ships. I didn't vote for him. Um I I I like Haslam's a lot worse. And so I think it's fair when you're looking at these kinds of decisions: like, is Jimmy Haslam choosing Doc Rivers over Yannis Adetta Cumpo? It feels that way.
Doc should have been fired. If Doc was anybody else, he would have been fired after every game the last three weeks. Again, this is a franchise, different governorship, but this is a franchise that had Adrian Griffin. With like a 700 record. And they got rid of them because of what Was happening behind the scenes, I'm told, and what they thought was going to happen with him.
Now the worst is being realized, and they're just riding it out with Doc. And Doc's saying, like... I don't think Doc wants to be. Here he's talking about how Joel Allen beads the best player he's ever coached. Who have we just been talking about the last fifteen minutes, dude?
So it's very odd, very strange, very weird. Um Very upsetting, very sad. I asked last week, maybe after a Spurs game, is it time for the Bucs to tank? Since then, they haven't won. And they're three and a half games back of the play-in.
And Doc Rivers, I saw the other day. He's like, oh, we're only two and a half games back in the play-in. Like, it was some sort of accomplishment. No, the play-in is like, fuck, we're in the play-in. All right, I guess.
No one's ever, oh, if we could just get into the plan. The plan is. Your safety net. The plan is you're supposed to be a top six seed. And you fucked up, or you had an injury, and you're in the playing.
The plane is not something you aspire to. We're three and a half back of the playing. That means you suck. Terrible. Oh, that that, I think, bothered me the most.
Abolis.
So I still don't think Giannis gets traded. I know there's some extension. parts of this puzzle that everyone's got to figure out. I love how all these guys got traded for multiple first-round picks, but Yannis, I mean, do you really want them?
Now we're in that weird thing. No, Desmond Bain went for four first, and Mikal Bridges went for a million. We're getting our picks, okay.
So if he gets traded, he gets traded. He clearly wants to. It's just It's unfortunate how things are ending. And not even right now. It's unfortunate that they won a title, had a team that could have done it again.
But then injuries. And they've had injuries every postseason, even when they've taken big swings: fire bud, higher dock, trade for Dame, trade for Turner, sign Turner. They don't work out because of the injuries.
So they're doing all these things. Should they have not done anything and just said we were hurt that season, come back with Bud and Drew? I don't know. This way didn't work, so maybe. But a lot of times, I just find the dichotomy very interesting where you see a team like the Packers.
And everyone's quick to rush about injuries. Oh, Parsons got hurt, Kraft got hurt. But then, when it's the Bucs, we never talk about the injuries. We're just like, oh, and then we did this. We did it.
They've had a built-in excuse for years, they've never used it. and they probably will make more change. Um I think the main Complaint for Bucks fans would be. Obviously, this Gianna stuff is not fun, and watching the team with or without him right now has not been fun. But we want the best for the Bucs and we want the best for Giannis.
Where do those fit in the Venn diagram? The issue is If Giannis is gone and Doc stays, what is happening. If Giannis gets traded and we ride this out with Doc. Did we choose Doc over Giannis? Is that what we did?
Feels like it's what we did.
So I'm intrigued, man. I don't know what's going to happen. There's still report that, you know, Giannis wants Rich Paul or vice versa. They still want to make heavy trades. And then John Morant gets hurt.
And it's just a mess. And it's hard to care when they're three and a half games out of the play-in tournament.
So We thought this could be a gap year. It's turning into a gap year, but it's. not being presented as a gap year.
So instead it feels like a wasted season. Uh Lowe's knows how to turn big plans into real results. Whether it's new appliances or a home refresh, get started with 12-month special financing on purchases of $299 or more with a MyLowe's Rewards Credit Card January 15th through the 30th.
So you can invest in your upgrade now and pay over time. Lowe's, we help you save. Offers subject to credit approval and cannot be combined. Minimum monthly payment required. See storeloweez.com for details.
Into the Wiggler versus brought to you by Happy Place Hemp. The promo code is Bart. 25% off each and every order at Happy Place Hemp. dot com. That again is happyplacehemp.com.
You put in the code BART at checkout. And you'll get the selters and gummies and all these great products delivered right to thine. Door. Stopping into the Winklerverse today, Sam Bruckhouse, Sumer Sports. A longtime friend of the National Show and If you listen to Grant, I think you see him pop up with Grant Bills.
Quite a bit. Sam's at the Senior Bowl in Alabama. We'll talk about that. Good to have you here and good to see you. Yeah, I'm excited to join the new platform.
I've been following along, it seems to be going well. And uh, happy to talk football. This is my favorite time of the year, Bart. Like, we're getting high-level playoff football. I was having a Absolute blast.
Uh watching the Seahawks And Rams game, and then a very different, a much uglier blast watching the Patriots Broncos.
So you're getting high-level NFL football. A week ago, we got the national championship between two teams. I think the multi-team playoff. Really brings out the best college football that there is, and then you also get the drafts.
So there's optimism coming. It's springtime is coming. This is my favorite time of the year in terms of the football calendar, so I'm happy to talk about it. Springtime is coming. We're in the middle of winter.
We had a snow game. That all of a sudden people don't like. I'm seeing so much backlash of the snow game. Like, this isn't how you decide a Super Bowl. contender, but I feel like Big Dome.
Or, like the NFL, something's weird. There's too many people in too many positions that are all of a sudden anti-weather. Look, look, I am not a member of Big Dome. Which that should be the byline of this show, I guess, now that I'm saying it. Uh but uh You know, like, okay, all things considered, the Broncos' story this year was: number one, the defense playing an extremely high level.
And number two, I don't know if we could call it the ascension of Bo Nix. In fact, I'd probably consider it more the ascension of Sean Payton as a certified Hall of Fame coach if he wasn't that already. In that, we literally saw this play out. He built a whole offense around Bo Nick's not getting sacked. Like that was the whole offense.
And it was like Bo Nix is not going to get sacked. As a result, we're going to be able to get our offensive lineman out on the edge. And we're going to win in the screen game. We're going to be able to win with Bonix's legs. I think the game prior, they started out with something like six or eight Bonix design runs on the first twenty to twenty five plays.
Like That was the whole offense. When you slot in Jared Stidham and he is getting pressured and trying to escape, he's not making passes from the pocket. It's just an entire different offense.
So. With that to consider. I do think that it kind of leveled the playing field in a way that I wanted to see at first because. They do have a backup quarterback, and Drake May is probably the MVP of the league this year, in my opinion. But the story of the Broncos was that defense, and we got to see them kind of put the clamps on the Patriots.
What ended up happening, frankly, was Drake May. As is great on the ground, and it was going to come down to: is Drake May going to take two bad sacks or is he going to make two big scrambles? He makes two big scrambles, or frankly, they were designed runs, even though one was. less designed allegedly according to reports it was designed by him and no one else But that ended up being the story of the game.
So I'm fine with the snow until we got, you know, a quarter and a half of unplayable football. Uh but I was fine with the weather for the most part. Yeah, I'm fine with it. I think e I mean if it did anything It kept the Broncos in the game. Um obviously their defense is great, but you know If that was played on a I don't know, neutral side or in a dome, like the Jared Stidham against what you said, like the MVP possibly of the league.
So you got New England facing Seattle. And you know, they came alive. Sam Darnold's really been quieting everybody. Who's ever not liked him? They're like a four and a half point, five point favorite.
And even without that, I do feel like. A lot of people are looking at this game and thinking, oh yeah, Seahawks. I don't know if it's because it's the Patriots and they just had. I feel right now. I'm on Patriots.
I feel like the Patriots are going to get this done. Um, I feel like too many people I don't want the Patriots to win, so I don't know, but I am also saying. Oh and six the last two weekends, so I don't I wouldn't take my. How do you see Super Bowl VI?
So, I think in order to break this down, we have to deeply look at the Rams Seahawks game and basically what ended up happening. Basically, in the early part to the middle part of the season, Chris Shula. Kind of refused to match personnel with bodies, and he instead matched personnel on defense. with by yardage. And so they were running in the first matchup against the Seahawks a lot of nickel and dime.
Against the Seahawks early. uh early on in in in series.
So first and 10, if they came out in 22 personnel, you were still gonna get nickel. Quentin Lake gets hurt in the middle of the season. That makes a difference. He ended up playing in this game. But They changed that strategy the second time against the Seahawks, and all of a sudden they're getting shredded, they got shredded again.
Sean McVay caught a really good game. What does this tell us about the Seahawks? I've been extremely critical in a way that no one really has been willing to be about Clint Kubiak. I watched him with the Saints all last year. He has an extremely low, typically pass rate overexpected, meaning he is running the ball in scenarios where he should probably be passing or it's expected to be passing.
And that was the case from midseason to the end of the season. And their offense was not good. Like, we think of Jackson Smith and Jigba as the offensive player of the year. We think of Sam Darnold as a Phoenix quarterback. Their offense was just simply not good in the second half of the year, they were bad.
They were a terrible running offense. They were not getting it done in the passing game. You see Sam Darnold in the second half of the season basically drop out of the MVP conversation. He's 20-something to in the league in EPA for play. It was not good.
That changed against the Rams. And I think the reason why it changed was because they were getting matched. With yeah. a ton of base personnel. And as a result, Kubiak got what he wanted.
They started passing the ball more. All of a sudden, you're putting up points after points after points after points after points. And the Rams, it basically became a shootout in a way that we don't really expect with the Seahawks.
So I got to give Clint Kubiak his props. That I haven't frankly for two years because when it came down to it, He passed and he passed out of heavy personnels. And they shredded a defense which has struggled down the stretch. They struggle particularly in defense backfield, the Rams do. But they made the adjustments on offense that I needed them to make against.
an offense that was on fire. You look at what, I mean, I'm gonna throw Jackson Smith and Jigba in here. Jackson Smith and Jigba, Puka Nakua. And Devontae Adams all had a yards per route run over 3.5. That's like extremely high.
You don't really see that. Devontae Adams had a touchdown. The other two had over 10 targets.
So you were getting extremely high wide receiver play. The good offense typically will beat good defense. Clint Kubiak had to step up, and he basically did in the biggest. Game. The question is: Is you really break boil that game down?
You really break boil most of the Rams' losses down this year. It comes down to special teams. You're not going to have. A special team's woe against the Patriots. That's not how Mike Frabel did it.
That's not the Patriot way. And so, what it's going to really come down to, I think, is the matchup. Between the Sea Hawks offense and the Ascendant Patriots defense, and if they can maintain. that strategic element of passing more than expected, I think it probably goes the Seahawks' way. But if it goes back to old Clint Kubiak and they're just trying to run into a front which now has Christian Barmore and Milton Williams playing at an extremely high level, I just trust the Patriots offense more.
To tie that into the Packers offseason. You look at these two coaches, Vrabel, obviously. This cycle, joining the Patriots, Mike McDonald. uh joining the the Seahawks and now these guys have their teams in the Super Bowl. I've been somebody who thinks the Packers need to move on from Matt LaFleur.
I think that they have. plateaued or peaked with him. The Packers seem to be fine with what he's giving them.
So they didn't make a change. They bring in Jonathan Gannon. I think that For me, it's like There were some good candidates out there the last couple of years. And when I talk about Matt LaFleur. I say Matt LaFleur should go.
And the pushback that I always get is, well then who are you going to hire? And I don't want to ever admit ever. That I'm wrong about anything. But In looking at this cycle. I mean, the Bills would probably be off rehiring Sean McDermott.
The Browns might hire Jim Schwartz. Like Maybe this cycle, maybe in this cycle, the Packer. I don't know. I just. Your thoughts on where the Packers Have settled still with their special teams coach, hasn't been dismissed.
But it seems like for the Packers And they've got, you know, Tucker Kraft will come back. I understand this. Micah Parsons, and I think Jordan Love's very good. Was this how you would have approached an offseason? Are they closer?
To a Super Bowl than maybe I think they are? Are they like I think they're only going to go as far as their coach is going to take them. That's been my stance. Yeah, I disagree with you, Bart, on this one. I think that many do.
Many, many do. Look, I think that There's a couple of ways to evaluate coaches, and this is really interesting because I was talking to some of the leading analytical minds who have been on the road at the Shrine Bowl, you know, before that, et cetera. And there's a couple ways to evaluate coaches. A key element of it is: are you getting the maximum out of your players? And I think that's the hardest one both to measure.
But you can kind of feel it, if that makes sense. And if we all take a step back. And we say Micah Parsons goes down. Micah Parsons is probably a general, a literally generational player. And I realize people say that a lot about everything.
Like, he's one of the best players of all time. Uh There's not a lot of wide receiving talent on this team. There's a lot of talent in the aggregate. And if Christian Watson is playing and healthy, then maybe we have a wide receiver one, but there's not a lot of high-level wide receiver talent on this team. And you look at the two teams in the Super Bowl, you got Stefan Diggs and you got Jackson Smith and Jiba.
You got Puka Nakua, and you got some of these other guys.
So it's like, The offensive line. Zach Tom is a good player. uh injured a lot of this year Not as consistent. There's just like not a ton of stuff against the offensive line. Matt LaFleur is getting the most out of that offense, I believe.
And with Micah Parsons, they were getting the most out of that defense. And so I think that that key element. kind of overcomes some of the questions we've had about game management. in particular and moreover Yes, the Packers typically do run a lot.
Sort of changed this year, but I think. That The floor Has a level of uncertainty in his play calling that makes defenses uncomfortable. And moreover, has hired defense coordinators that typically try to make offenses uncomfortable.
So, if you look at those three pillars, I do think that there is growth to be had in game management. I don't think there's anyone who would disagree with that. But the hardest element, which is getting the most out of your players, both on offense and defense, I've seen Matt LaFleur do.
So, I don't really think they should move on from him unless there's something cataclysmic. But I am typically, I'm an X player. Like a 21 to 3 blown lead against the Bears? That was cash. Yeah, but I mean, we saw that happen to every team that stepped in the soldier field, right?
Basically, for an entire year. And It's so difficult. And this plays into what I was about to say anyway, but like, As a former player. I'm a true believer that. You win a division, maybe?
Um with true talent and true coaching ability. You don't make it to the, like the Super Bowl, you have to be healthy, you have to be lucky, a couple bounces have to go your way, there has to be some weird penalties, a special team's error, et cetera. I just think those haven't necessarily gone their way. And I do think the talent level is slightly below that of the Rams or the Lions or even the 49ers, if the 49ers are truly healthy or the Seahawks. And so until that talent either develops or Draftics are hit on a little bit more.
And again, It may just be a function of Michael Parsons not playing.
So, you may get Michael Parsons back next year, and that talent level jumps up. That's kind of my thoughts on the situation. He, Micah Parsons, I would say, cost the Packers a couple of first-round picks, although everyone's doing that trade a million times all the time. But just to say that they don't have one this year, and you're in Alabama with the Senior Bowl coming up on Saturday.
So, again, don't this weekend be like, oh, there's no football on. There's a Senior Bowl. And I think. You know, for just the average college football consumer, There's plenty of names that they will recognize do you where do you feel like the senior bulls at right now. We're in a weird era with like NIL.
And some of these postseason games, kids don't want to play, but it is like. You don't have a lot of chances to improve your draft stock from now until the draft. I looked over this roster and I thought, I think there's a hell of a lot of talent that's going to be on that field on Saturday. Yeah, I think the way to posit it, much in the framework that I said, is like your first round pick can get you to. A good quality baseline if you hit on your first round pick.
Like, you're not going to find a two or three win player. Or, I mean, like, if we're talking about different, we can get super data-based about this, where, like, you know, Michael Parsons probably technically worth a point to a point and a hundred. Shador Sanders was in the fifth round and he's a Pro Bowler.
So, I mean, hey, draft pick hit as far as I'm concerned. But uh like the real juice of The Singer in the Shrine Bowl, I think, is like. The second, third, fourth rounds is where the difference, like that difference between being a playoff team and a division winner, a division winner and a conference championship team. That's where that's made. And I think.
An evidence of this is the Carolina Panthers, who have Basically, been the same team in terms of what we would expect them to do the last three years. They've been a three to five win team.
However, You add in a Princely Uman Mialen, you add in a Nick Scorton, you hit on a JC Horn here and there, you get Michael Jackson starting to play well on the defense, and that is. That variance, particularly with the cornerbacks who were very good with turnovers and their ability to produce, is what takes you to that playoff team all of a sudden. And so. You get at the senior in the shrine bowl second, third, fourth, fifth-round guys, and all of a sudden they start to jump and they start to make an impact. A guy who I'm really looking at is Cage Casey.
Out of Boise State. A lot of people have him as a swing offensive lineman. He's an old school. You know, non-NIL went to Boise State, redshirted, and played his three years, and then made the Mountain West. And now he's on to the NFL.
And so. Those kinds of stories, alongside the new NIL stories, there's a guy named Kishon James Wimby, who was at the Shrine Bowl. who started out at Montana Tech. transferred to Idaho. You know, succeeded there, then transferred to New Mexico, succeeded there.
Now he's in NFL draft talks.
So, all that to say is, those are the types of guys that I really care about. Again, I love the draft. I love football. And and I think the margins and drafting well on the margins is how you make that next level. I think the Packers are clearly and solidly in that standpoint where you hit on a second and a fourth round pick, all of a sudden, you are a very, very good team.
Is there um Overall, like, 'cause the Packers, there's a Few positions they might need, they might not, but not even about the Packers. Is there. Is there a position group? That I mean, you mentioned alignment, but are you? There's some quarterbacks we know.
There's some running backs we know. I think there's some receivers that we know. Is there a group, offense or defense, that you're. That there's like a lot of variants that you're expecting, or like one, this game could do a lot, or what just, what are you the most interested in? Where are your eyes going in this game?
So, I think that we are pretty good at evaluating wide receiver talent at this point. I think it is nearing. The quarterback position in terms of the amount of data and descriptive collection of data that we can do, wide receiver stats are typically sticky at the level.
So, like a guy like Tedero McMillan, who was good in college, was probably going to continue to be good in college and probably projects out pretty well to the pros. All that makes sense. Obviously, we miss sometimes, but sometimes that gets caught up in like the 40 with John Ross or Kevin White and some of these other situations. If a guy is productive, he may be productive moving forward. As a result, those guys get pushed up to the top.
So, I do think we're going to see less and less of the Michael Thomas going in the third or second round, and all of a sudden, he's an all-pro player. I think we're going to see more of Oh yeah, Jackson Smith and Jigbo and Justin Jefferson were picked in the first round and they are first round players. Uh it's different for interior offensive linemen in particular. where the development is a lot more and I think it's also difficult different for tight ends. I do think there's a lot of tight end talent in this draft.
I think there was good tight end talent in the previous draft as well. Not a need really for the Packers, but interior offensive line sure is. Especially given the death problems that they've had all year.
So I think this is kind of going to need to be a meat and potatoes draft. For the Packers, whether that's on the offensive line, and I also think on the defensive line a little bit as well. I'll go. Do you, last one here, do you, um. I'm thinking about other sports.
Baseball does their draft totally different, but it's in the middle of the season. This is one of my favorite things. This is what my master's research is in, Bart. If you're ready for me to get really nerdy, all right. Basketball does it like the week after the finals.
Okay. What's the idea? Like, we don't need, I get so annoyed because we're doing this, and there should be a combine, and there should be pro days. And then there's like a month. And I think I've talked to you about this, aka bitch to you about this, where it's like.
Guys are moving up the draft board. Guys are they're not though. All that's happening is someone's making a mock draft, deciding I need hits, putting this quarterback. Nothing's changing, but then the hive mind changes. Nothing happened for at least a month.
When should the draft be? I think it's perfect for the media. And as someone who has worked in the media and like, even that last month of utter bullshit. It's great, Bart. It's fantastic.
And as a data scientist, I get to, in fact, like, I have some of my interns right now working on draft research for this exact reason, where it's like, Consensus big board, when it comes out, how much are we expected? How much are they expected to make?
So that when these guys are randomly picked fifth, We can be like, no, that's not what anyone actually thought about him. He just randomly got pushed up the board. Not randomly, obviously, there's always a reason, but he just got pushed all the way up the board. And so. There's so many elements of this that make it fun.
I mean, teams are doing their research right now. Draft meetings are going on next week for multiple teams.
So, like, the hay kind of is in the barn. Buy the combine. I mean, the biggest joke at this point is that who is the team who has drafted the most defensive players that have been good? The the Los Angeles Rams. Los Angeles Rams typically don't send anyone to the Combine and they spend all their money on getting an airport hanger.
So that Les Snead and Sean McVay can wear flight suits while they're drafting. You know, like it's so it's like, does it mean anything? No, but it's fun to tell the stories. Contrast that with the NBA, where There was a point in time in the late 2010s where it felt like the NBA offseason was the pinnacle. Like you get Kevin Durant, you get news, you get all this.
Well, we're in a standpoint right now. Where The draft is before free agency. And now because the middle class of the NBA has kind of been hollowed out. There's not really as much drama in the middle. Like, you're not going to pick, like, the Knicks had to trade a gazillion picks for Mikhail Bridges.
You know what I'm saying?
So like Now, the free agency has kind of been hollowed out in the NBA. Your drafting teams are planning for free agency, then not getting free agents, then they just kind of suck.
So, that part's very. Where you have free agency basically a month before. You have another month to plan. And then we have Fans, we have teams, we have players who are fully optimistic going into the summer, going into OTAs and training camp. That's how it should be.
That is the best in my opinion. I think it's a perfectly placed draft. Brilliantly into the summer. It's the true end of the media cycle. And You know, if you want to give NFL teams two months to make mistakes.
That's more fun for me, and then I get to research. Yeah, yeah, the NFL never seems to be a good thing. Yeah, and look, I'm not saying they make mistakes. They have processes and they stick to it and drafting is extremely hard. And, you know, I'm more random walk than most people.
And I think that's why the Ravens and the Eagles continue to draft well, because they have a million picks. And thus it looks like they're drafting really well. Uh All that to say, I think it's perfectly placed. All right, the case is settled. Sam Bruckhouse, Sumer Sports.
Sam, enjoy the rest of the week, and we will be in touch. And thank you for. stopping into the winkler verse thank you so much i'm in the i am into the winkler verse Refresh your bathroom with big savings at Lowe's. Reimagine your bathroom with up to 40% off select faucets during our bath savings event. Needed today?
Order by 2 p.m. for same-day delivery by 8 p.m. Shop for your bathroom. Refresh at Lowe's. We help.
You save. While supplies last, selection varies by location. Same-day delivery on eligible in-stock items, subject to availability. Fees vary. Visit Lowe's.com/slash same-day delivery for full terms.
Thanks again to Dan Shaney, Danshaney.com. My insurance agent can be yours. Um not an official tagline, just something I'm saying. But uh Sam Bruckhouse and then my Buck Soliloquy both. on the YouTube stream today.
I got a call here on the Carls Place voicemail line. Remember Carl's Place. They're bringing you every week. They're bringing you the Carlos Ortiz national perspective. I've got links on all these YouTube videos.
I've got them in my link tree. But just take it, check it out, see what they have. A lot of great. I mean, if you're able to put a golf simulator in your house. Do it with them.
They're The best in the game at that.
So If you're not able to. Find a buddh who is and tell them about Carl's place. And uh the links are all Video link tree. Etc. Find my link tree.
Like, you know where that is. I linked it in my Twitter bio. Anyway. I got a voicemail 402-915-BART 402-915-2278. It is the Carls Place voicemail line.
It's David in Buffalo. Uh with this Voicemail. Mark, what's up? This is David from Buffalo calling in here, doing some takes here on the AFC and NFC championship game. Let's start with the AFC game first.
That was like watching the British Open, man, where 75. Is a good scorer. I mean, you know, in that game, anything could have happened. I mean, the biggest thing I thought with that game was Sean Payton, that bonehead decision to go for it on a fourth down. You know, Sean Payton years ago went for that on-site kick in the Super Bowl, and he got it.
I mean, the Saints pulled it off. Imagine if he didn't get that kick in that game. We'd look at Sean Payton, probably how we look at Ron Rivera right now, a guy who's a pretty good coach. But came up short in the big game, most likely. And that's what he did yesterday.
And Jared's did him. I'm going to say something that nobody else is going to say on any show, any guy, Peter King, nobody's going to say this. Jared Siddham is only in the league because his wife's father has a big job in the world of sports. He's a backup quarterback. And, Bart, let's be honest, man.
There's Canadian League and Arena League quarterbacks who are better. I mean, I'm serious right now. Sean Payton would have had a better chance to be called Brett Farr to play in that game to win than Jared Stinham. The Patriots did enough to win. They're going to have to do a lot more in the Super Bowl because I'm going to say that Seattle.
Showed on offense they can really move the football. Credit to Sam Darnold, man. I'm going to do another golf analogy here for you. Sam Darnold for years was like Greg Norman at the Masters, man. He choked when it mattered most.
And the reality is he came up big on Sunday, dude, and the Vikings have got to be kicking themselves. I heard a guy calling to Jim Rome earlier today. He made an email, and a guy that was in the smack off ripping the Vikings brass. Look, that's the gamble you take. You know, if you wait.
You know, on a guy, and you think there's a rookie out there, you're trying to win on a rookie. Yale, that's the problem with McCarthy instead of Darnold. Darnold had a lot to prove. He learned a lot about being a quarterback in San Francisco and Minnesota. Prop to him.
And hey, Sean McVay, special teams do matter. And by the way, I think your team got very tight. As the year went on, because I can imagine him being like a perfectionist in practice. In the laboratory, seemed to be the season wore on the Rams got tired, they got tight, and it carried over into the playoffs, man. I mean, the Rams were probably very lucky to be where they were at.
They won two road games, they win three to go to the playoffs, to gain Frank Reich in the ninety-two bills. Thanks for the vine, Bart. Wait, this isn't the Kim Rome show, is it? By the way. I guess I'd have to say this as a Bill fan, let's just please hire an offensive mind so we can get Josh Allen.
to a Super Bowl, we can finally win one. I'm out. Oh, I'm going to need another voicemail from David now that they hired Joe Brady. I don't do I remember if David liked Brady. I'm not sure David liked Brady.
I don't think he liked anything over there. I think he wanted a clean house.
So David, I look forward to your next one. I picked the Patriots. I kind of am going off to the Seahawks now. It doesn't matter. I just, I'm 0 for six the last two weekends.
And I'm not a gambler, I don't talk about gambling a lot. I do it a little bit. I do a lot of draft kings, like I said. Um That stupid Cal Shea apps got me betting on games. Oh, I'm sorry, the predicting market games.
And I'm losing them all.
So. You know, there's times in your life where you're not. getting a paycheck stub every two weeks and Those seem to be the like I'm buying more scratchers than ever. Or I could just work on a resume. Although not a great time to be looking for a job.
Seems like all these, all these Resume websites, career websites. Lotta bots. A lot of bots. Anyway. We're going to be the real thing.
We're going to keep being the real thing here at the Winklerverse. We thank you for your uh servitude and your earship. That's not a word. Why don't I just sign off? Why am I trying to make something happen?
I don't know. Thank you, as always, for stopping into the Winklerverse. The new year brings new health goals and wealth goals. Protecting your identity is an important step. Your info is in endless places that could expose you to identity theft, leading to lost funds.
LifeLock monitors millions of data points per second. If your identity is stolen, our restoration specialists will fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Resolve to make identity health and wealth part of your New Year's goals with LifeLock. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com slash specialoffer.
Terms apply.
