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0:36

Welcome back to the

0:38

Adam Shefter podcast coming

0:40

at a Super Bowl

0:43

59 where the Philadelphia

0:45

Eagles beat the Kansas

0:48

City Chiefs. to win yet

0:50

another Super Bowl and deny

0:52

the Chiefs their place in

0:54

history as the first ever

0:56

NFL team to win three straight

0:58

Super Bowls. It didn't happen.

1:01

There is so much going on

1:03

in the NFL and inevitably

1:05

whenever we head out of

1:07

the Super Bowl and into

1:09

the off season that really does

1:12

mark the true start of the

1:14

off season and all that's ahead.

1:16

All the quarterback movement.

1:18

all the player contract

1:21

extensions all the trades

1:23

all the activity all the

1:25

everything it starts now it

1:27

goes into the combine later

1:30

this month and then straight

1:32

into the start of the

1:34

new league year in mid-March

1:36

with free agency and we're

1:38

gonna kick off the off-season with

1:40

a look back at the Super

1:43

Bowl today with the co-host of

1:45

the Pat McAfee show my

1:47

friend my colleague Thai Schmidt to

1:49

usher in this week's episode

1:52

of the weekly six-pack

1:54

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2:08

Appreciate you Shethe, what a season

2:10

it was, huh? And you know, it's

2:12

funny, we talked about this a

2:14

little bit last week. Everyone's saying,

2:16

hey, there's fatigue from the Chiefs,

2:18

you know, no one wants to

2:20

watch this. It was the most

2:22

watched Super Bowl ever. The NFL,

2:24

you know, it just, it is

2:26

what it is. I kind of loved it,

2:29

I'll be honest. I mean, we talked

2:31

on Patcho at Radio Row. I think

2:33

everyone saw an avenue where the Eagles

2:35

would blow out the Chiefs, but I

2:37

don't think it happened. Even, you

2:39

know, going into halftime, it's like,

2:42

hey, I've seen this movie before, you

2:44

know, Mahomes is going to make this

2:46

work, but it just didn't happen.

2:48

The Eagles were the much better team.

2:51

So with that being said, let's get

2:53

right into the six pack topic

2:55

number one. the biggest difference for

2:57

the Eagles was with their Super

3:00

Bowl win over the Chiefs this year. I'm

3:02

going to tell you I learned something

3:04

during the Super Bowl. We're always learning,

3:06

but we usually talk in the

3:09

media, me especially, about the importance

3:11

of coaches and quarterbacks. And

3:13

we always say, okay, usually

3:15

the team with the best

3:17

coach and the best quarterback

3:19

usually wins. Andy Reed is going

3:21

to go down as one of the

3:23

greatest coaches in NFL history.

3:25

Patrick Mahomes is going to

3:28

go down as one of the

3:30

greatest with the chance to become

3:33

the greatest quarterback

3:35

in NFL history. And

3:37

yet, we didn't talk enough

3:39

about what football really is,

3:41

which is a game of big men,

3:43

a battle of the trenches,

3:46

and who controls the line

3:48

of scrimmage. The Philadelphia

3:51

Eagles defensive line,

3:53

outclassed the chief's offensive

3:55

line. As great as Jaylon Hurts

3:57

was, winning the Super Bowl MVP.

3:59

as dynamic as the Eagles wide receivers

4:02

were, this game was won in

4:04

the trenches where most NFL games are

4:06

won. And the Eagles have built

4:08

their lines to the point where they

4:10

are as good as any lines

4:12

in the league, both on the

4:14

offensive and defensive sides of the football.

4:17

And we saw all the money

4:19

that these Eagles defensive lineman made. When

4:21

we look at the list of

4:23

upcoming Eagles free agents, three... free agents

4:26

along the defense of line. Josh

4:28

Sweat, Milton Williams, Brandon Graham, who

4:30

may or may not play again, we'll

4:32

see, and I can't imagine he'd

4:34

ever leave Philadelphia anyway, but do you

4:36

know much money both Josh Sweat

4:38

and Milton Williams made on Sunday against

4:41

the Chiefs with all the pressure

4:43

that they got on my homes? And

4:45

think about when Tom Brady lost

4:47

in the Super Bowls, what was

4:49

that about, right? the Giants getting pressure

4:51

on him, making him uncomfortable, and

4:53

it's exactly what the Philadelphia Eagles did

4:56

on Sunday night. And not only

4:58

did the Eagles control the line of

5:00

scrimmage on both sides of the

5:02

ball, but it's just human nature,

5:04

which I don't think we talked about

5:06

enough. There was a great boxer

5:08

named Marvin Hagler, and Marvin Hagler would

5:11

talk about... How it's tough to

5:13

get out of bed to do roadwork

5:15

at 5 a.m. when you've been

5:17

sleeping in silk pajamas. And that's

5:19

not said the chiefs haven't worked hard

5:21

the last couple of years they

5:23

have, but they've been sleeping in silk

5:26

pajamas tie. They have won the

5:28

championship twice. They have made endorsement money.

5:30

They have done two Super Bowl

5:32

parades. They know that feeling. They've

5:34

been through this. There were so many

5:36

eagles, despite the fact that this

5:38

franchise. had won a Super Bowl against

5:41

the Patriots in Minneapolis. that hadn't

5:43

won a Super Bowl. Cooper DeGien never

5:45

won a Super Bowl. Quing on

5:47

Mitchell never won a Super Bowl.

5:49

Jaylon Carter, Jordan Davis, they never won

5:52

a Super Bowl. There were so

5:54

many people up front that hadn't won

5:56

a Super Bowl. And so this

5:58

was their chance to fight for what

6:00

they wanted when they haven't slept

6:02

in the silk pajamas that the Chiefs

6:05

have been sleeping in the last

6:07

couple of years. And so the

6:09

tougher team, the team that was... better

6:11

up front the team that was

6:13

more talented in the trenches in the

6:15

end that team prevailed and it

6:17

seems so obvious that we should have

6:20

seen it coming I will say

6:22

this on Friday I really felt

6:24

like a lot of times you can

6:26

feel a certain thing and sometimes

6:28

you talk yourself out of something but

6:30

on Friday Jim Kramer on CNBC

6:32

he's a huge eagles fan of any

6:35

text to me he was in

6:37

New Orleans he's like there are

6:39

chiefs fans everywhere I can't believe how

6:41

worried I am I said Jim

6:43

calm down the eagles are winning this

6:45

game. I sent them that text

6:47

and he sent me the text when

6:50

it was like 14-0 in the

6:52

game and I sent him back

6:54

a text. He goes, can you believe

6:56

this? I know it's early. It's

6:58

early. I said, what did I tell

7:00

you on Friday, Jim? You're winning

7:02

the game. And they won the game.

7:05

I felt that late on the

7:07

week. I could just feel that

7:09

hunger having spoken to a couple of

7:11

the Eagles people. It just felt

7:13

like it was going to be their

7:16

game. And I know it's easy

7:18

to say that. I've got records of

7:20

it, records of it, like literally

7:22

documented. I just felt like exactly what

7:24

we're talking about. They were better

7:26

where they were going to need

7:28

to be better. They were hungrier where

7:31

they needed to be hungry. And

7:33

in the end, it showed up in

7:35

the Philadelphia Eagles or your world

7:37

champions. And we talk about it all

7:39

the time, you know, like... being

7:41

able to stack chips on your

7:43

shoulder as a professional athlete, they all

7:46

do it, whether it's perceived or

7:48

whether it's real, that's just a lot

7:50

tougher to do. when you're when

7:52

you're on the Chiefs and you're a

7:54

Chiefs player because you know yeah

7:56

they hadn't been playing great but

7:58

at the end of the day it

8:01

was always hey the Chiefs are

8:03

still the Chiefs you know if you

8:05

want to beat the champ you

8:07

got to knock them out and I

8:09

think for the Eagles like I

8:11

think there was a lot of

8:13

genuine you know kind of angst and

8:16

like being pissed off about feeling

8:18

disrespected going into the game and like

8:20

you mentioned most of those guys

8:22

had you know never want a Super

8:24

Bowl a Super Bowl My thought

8:26

going into the game was, you

8:28

can't let this be a one score

8:31

game, because then the chiefs, they

8:33

just have that magic, they'll maybe find

8:35

a way to get it done.

8:37

Have we seen the chiefs get Blitz

8:40

Creek like that in the Mahomes

8:42

era? I mean, you know, before you

8:44

can, you know, blink your eyes,

8:46

snap your fingers, they're down 20

8:48

points and it's like, well, we've never

8:50

been in this situation before. You

8:52

know, and it's like, like you said

8:55

they're getting pressure. you know, quick

8:57

decisions. I mean, it, it, Cooper DeGine

8:59

had that pick six and the

9:01

game was over. They're just, you

9:03

know, and it, and I, you know,

9:05

not to to to my own

9:07

horn, but I, I, I picked the

9:10

chiefs to win on Friday on

9:12

Pat show, but I did say, I

9:14

said, I said, I don't know

9:16

why, maybe it's because I'm a

9:18

homer, I'm an Iowa guy, you know,

9:20

I, one of my favorite Iowa

9:22

players, also have receipts for that and

9:25

I should have known if that

9:27

happens there's no way the Eagles are

9:29

losing this game there's just no

9:31

way but then also you know

9:33

I was still thinking hey right before

9:35

halftime there the Eagles get the

9:37

ball back they have that you know

9:40

and and it's like if they

9:42

drive down and score a touchdown here

9:44

and then get the ball back

9:46

after half and win that middle

9:48

eight you know you they play the

9:50

worst possible half they could have

9:52

and then you're looking at a three-point

9:55

game instead. my homes throws the

9:57

pick to zak bon and it's like

9:59

you know the final nail in

10:01

the coffin but it just you can't

10:04

of the football that much against

10:06

a good team. And the other

10:08

thing that stood after me is I

10:10

was watching, I don't know where

10:12

I saw it, but somebody played a

10:14

list of all the chief's close

10:16

wins this season. And let me say

10:19

this, that they were incredible, like

10:21

the level of clutchness that they

10:23

showed how they played with pressure. But

10:25

we go back, Isaiah likely he

10:27

just stepped out of balance. The Ravens

10:29

really could have won that game.

10:31

I know we say could have, could

10:34

have, would have, but. His foot

10:36

was two inches away from being

10:38

in. The Broncos have a game-winning field

10:40

goal blocked in Kansas City. The

10:42

Raiders are driving for a game-winning score

10:44

when Aidan O'Connell gets a snap

10:46

in the face and fumbles and loses

10:49

the football. There were six games

10:51

like that where the chief to

10:53

their credit and their talent, they won

10:55

the game because they were so

10:57

good and so clutch. But at some

10:59

point... You're not going to be

11:01

able to do it every single time.

11:04

And the Eagles made it such

11:06

that it wasn't even close. They

11:08

blew him out of the building. And

11:10

again, I think they won the

11:12

game in the trenches. Without a doubt.

11:14

And I guess, you know, anyone

11:16

who picked the Chiefs, we probably should

11:19

have known going in. We talked

11:21

about on paper how good that Eagles

11:23

roster is, how good their D

11:25

line was, but the only thing

11:27

you're holding on to is like the

11:30

mysticism of the Chiefs. Right. At

11:32

some point. That just has to, I

11:34

mean I may, I suppose maybe

11:36

it doesn't, but then guess what, if

11:38

it doesn't, we have a result

11:40

like we did on Sunday where

11:42

they just get their ass beat and

11:45

just get out class. So, you

11:47

know, I suppose we probably should have

11:49

known that going in. Well, it

11:51

happened, the Eagles are the champs, and

11:53

now we move forward. Absolutely. So,

11:55

so, putting the, you know, closing

11:57

the book on this season and then

12:00

looking head to next season, let's

12:02

number two, What do you think of

12:04

the Eagles opener next year? There's

12:06

a couple different options, a couple awesome

12:08

games I think potentially to start

12:10

the game, you know, maybe against

12:12

the commanders or the lions or the

12:15

Rams amongst a couple others. Who

12:17

do you think the NFL is ultimately

12:19

going to choose for the the

12:21

Eagles to face on opening night there

12:23

in Philly? Well, I love this.

12:25

As soon as you finish the

12:27

Super Bowl, you can begin to focus

12:30

your attention to next year. And

12:32

now that the Eagles have won the

12:34

Super Bowl and they're the champs.

12:36

They're going to open the NFL season

12:38

in 2025 at home. Last year,

12:40

they were playing in Brazil Friday night,

12:43

the night after the chiefs hosted

12:45

the Ravens, and Isaiah likely stepped

12:47

out. This year, the Eagles will open

12:49

their season at home that Thursday

12:51

night game, and here are the exact

12:54

possibilities. The commanders, interesting, the cowboys,

12:56

not bad, the giants, the division folks.

12:58

Then we have the bears. Lions

13:00

Raiders, Rams, and Broncos. Now, this

13:02

is interesting. The Broncos would be a

13:04

compelling matchup that came on this

13:06

year, but I don't think the league

13:09

will go that way. The Rams

13:11

would be an NFC championship game rematch.

13:13

I don't know. League can opt

13:15

for that. Don't think it will.

13:17

The Raiders. P Carroll's first game. Probably

13:19

not good enough to put on

13:21

Thursday night. Not what the league is

13:24

looking for. the Lions would be

13:26

compelling, but I also could see the

13:28

league saving that game for one

13:30

of its prime time sweep ratings

13:32

rates where they need to get the

13:34

big numbers. And so we had

13:36

the division opponents, which are always in

13:39

play, always in play, and the

13:41

Chicago Bears, in my mind, become the

13:43

matchup to watch for that Thursday

13:45

night opener. I can totally see

13:47

it now. Johnson's first game in Philadelphia.

13:49

Bears look at the make comeback.

13:51

It's not the Marquis matchup that you're

13:54

giving away early on when you're

13:56

gonna get the ratings anyway with the

13:58

Lions or the Rams, but it's

14:00

a compelling enough matchup that everybody would

14:02

be excited to see it. My

14:04

guess right now is Bears at

14:06

Eagles in the opener. I'm calling my

14:09

shot right now. We'll see if

14:11

it turns out that way. They still

14:13

have to go over the schedule

14:15

and there's so many things that figure

14:18

into this. Who knows the exact

14:20

way it's going to go, right?

14:22

But my early pick for the opening

14:24

game of the year is gonna

14:26

be the Chicago Bears at the Philadelphia

14:28

Eagles. I like that a lot.

14:30

I could see that. I mean, they're,

14:33

you know. Every year with the

14:35

Bears there's so much excitement especially

14:37

now with Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson

14:39

I mean last year we were

14:41

talking about them being a playoff team.

14:43

Hey, there's so much better than

14:45

they were the year before I think

14:48

that's gonna only be heightened going

14:50

into next year And I agree

14:52

because I think the commanders that sounds

14:54

like a classic like Sunday night

14:56

football game I don't know if they'll

14:58

do that week one or a

15:00

Monday night football game. I think you

15:03

I think you hit the nail

15:05

on the head. I think that

15:07

just makes sense obviously The Bears fan

15:09

base and that market you know

15:11

that will deliver huge numbers and I

15:13

think you know the the NFL

15:15

the Bears are one of those teams

15:18

kind of like the Raiders that

15:20

we've talked about like the NFL is

15:22

just better when a team from

15:24

Chicago or one of these like

15:26

classic franchises is actually better. So you

15:28

know, hey, why not put them

15:30

out there week one as opposed to,

15:33

you know, seven weeks down the

15:35

line when there may be two and

15:37

five and people don't care anymore

15:39

and it's like hey this team

15:41

stinks I don't want to watch them

15:44

on prime time I think you

15:46

hit the nail on the head I

15:48

think that does make a lot

15:50

of sense because everybody's gonna watch the

15:52

opener no matter what it's gonna

15:54

get a huge number and whether

15:56

it's the bears or the lions or

15:59

the rams or an FCE's foe,

16:01

it's not going to make that

16:03

much difference than rating. So

16:05

you might as well put a huge

16:07

market team with a compelling opening

16:09

day situation with a new head

16:11

coach and Ben Johnson on the

16:13

opening Thursday night game of the

16:15

season. Mark me down as the

16:17

Bears for that spot on Monday

16:20

night. Again, we'll see what the

16:22

league decides. They haven't even begun

16:24

these discussions yet. So we are

16:26

merely hypothesizing. doing nothing more than that, but

16:29

that's my early prediction for that Thursday night

16:31

opener. I like that. I'm gonna piggyback on

16:33

you there and agree. I think they should

16:35

go with the bears. That does sound like

16:37

a great idea. All right, so that's a

16:40

kind of a fun thing to keep an

16:42

eye on as we, you know, move into

16:44

the off-season and get closer to the

16:46

schedule release, whatever that may be. Adam

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let's move on. topic number three

18:00

of the six pack. We talked about

18:03

this a little bit yesterday with you

18:05

on patch show. This off season is

18:07

kind of shaping up to be the

18:10

off season of wide receivers. We have

18:12

several Marquis names who are gonna be

18:14

available. Debo obviously was just, you know,

18:17

granted the okay to seek for a

18:19

trade. The Rams let Cooper Cup know,

18:21

hey, we're gonna we're gonna be trading

18:24

you as well. And then obviously. T

18:26

Higgins is going to be arguably the

18:28

hottest name on the free agent market.

18:31

What do you see for all of

18:33

these guys? And again, you know, just

18:35

hypothesizing because we don't know what's going

18:38

to happen. But what could you see

18:40

potentially happening with this group of wide

18:42

receivers? Well, first and foremost, you mentioned

18:45

some of the names there, right, but

18:47

this off season, we usually talk a

18:49

lot about quarterbacks and we usually talk

18:52

a lot about quarterbacks and we mentioned

18:54

our fault for focusing on the quarterbacks

18:56

and the Eagles lines being the difference

18:59

maker. in the Super Bowl itself. Well,

19:01

we're going to always talk about quarterbacks

19:03

and where is Russell Wilson going to

19:05

go, where is Aaron Rogers going to

19:08

go, where Sam Darwin going to go,

19:10

the quarterback questions always will reign supreme.

19:12

But I want to read to you

19:15

the list of wide receivers that this

19:17

off-season either will be available or will

19:19

be changing teams. We know about Debo

19:22

Samuel who requested a trade from Kyle

19:24

Shanahan at his exit meeting and then

19:26

was told last week he was granted

19:29

permission. to go seek a trade partner.

19:31

We know about Cooper Cup last week,

19:33

who the Rams told, we are going

19:36

to look to trade you and work

19:38

with you to find you a new

19:40

home. So Devo and Cooper Cup, we

19:43

both expect to be traded. Look, Aaron

19:45

Rogers, not expected back in New York.

19:47

There's no reason to expect Avante Adams

19:50

back in New York if Aaron Rogers

19:52

has gone too. So now we've got

19:54

Devo, Cooper Cup, Devante Adams, all on

19:57

the move. That in and of itself.

19:59

would be interesting. Now I'll read you

20:01

the list of free agent-wide receivers. He

20:03

Higgins. Keenan Allen. De Andre Hopkins, Chris

20:06

Godwin, Darius Layton, Amari Cooper, Stefan Diggs.

20:08

That is quite a list of wide

20:10

receivers to combine with the other three

20:13

wide receivers that are going to be

20:15

changing teams. So when we talked about

20:17

this being a weak free agent class,

20:20

which front offices have already said to

20:22

me, not a great free agent class

20:24

at all, not a lot of depth,

20:27

and that's because teams have done a

20:29

better and better job. at identifying their

20:31

own talent and resigning them and making

20:34

sure that they don't hit the free

20:36

agent market. So this is not going

20:38

to be one of the better free

20:41

agent classes and it's not supposed to

20:43

be one of the better drafts. So

20:45

there aren't a lot or there aren't

20:48

as many great players available this off

20:50

season as there have been in other

20:52

off seasons. But saying that wide receiver

20:55

in my mind has to be considered

20:57

If not the deepest, certainly the sexiest

20:59

position available in the off-season with trades

21:01

and free agents and notable free agent

21:04

wide receivers, there to be had looking

21:06

to change teams, that's where we're going

21:08

to get a lot of headlines this

21:11

off-season tie. And you mentioned it, Chef,

21:13

the... The receivers coming in this year's

21:15

draft, I don't think, you know, it's

21:18

kind of like the quarterback class, I

21:20

don't think we're gonna have the, you

21:22

know, Malique neighbors, the guy who comes

21:25

in and has an 1,000 yard season

21:27

right off the bat, they say it's

21:29

one of the deepest tight end classes

21:32

ever, so you wonder if teams are

21:34

gonna be more willing to spend, I

21:36

mean, that's a hell of a list

21:39

of, you know, guys who have proven

21:41

that they can do it in the

21:43

NFL. So you wonder if teams will

21:46

be more willing to go out and

21:48

spend some money on some of those

21:50

guys, even if they are a little

21:53

bit older, considering that we might not

21:55

have that kind of top flight receiver

21:57

class coming in in the NFL dress.

21:59

Let me give you that list again.

22:02

In its entirety, Debo Samuel,

22:04

Cooper Cup, Devante Adams, Stefan

22:07

Diggs, Amari Cooper, Darius

22:09

Slayton, Chris Godwin, De

22:12

Andre Hopkins, Keenan Allen,

22:14

T. Higgins, a lengthy list

22:16

of wide receivers there

22:18

to be had this off-season.

22:20

Yeah, I love that. So especially as a Packer

22:22

fan who knows that they need to go

22:24

out and get one of these guys and

22:26

you know, so that kind of makes me

22:28

feel okay that hey, maybe you don't need

22:30

to go spend, you know, $35 million for

22:32

T Higgins. You can maybe Davante wants to

22:34

come back home, you know, at a

22:36

reduced price. So we'll see that'll be

22:38

another interesting thing to keep our eye

22:41

on. Let's switch gears here, Chef, and

22:43

move on to topic number four. We saw

22:45

a couple of the names who

22:47

are first time eligible. We talked

22:49

about it down in New Orleans

22:51

before the announcement. Kind of surprising,

22:53

only four guys got in I

22:55

thought, but you know, I guess it's

22:57

just one of those years. It is what

22:59

it is. But the Hall of Fame class

23:02

of 2026 has the chance to be

23:04

an all-time great one. Just a couple

23:06

of the names who are first time

23:08

eligible. Larry Fitzgerald,

23:10

Drew Breeze, Philip Rivers, Julian

23:13

Edelman, Frank Gore, the

23:15

Pounsey Brothers, Greg Olson,

23:17

Alex Smith, just an unbelievable

23:19

class. What are your thoughts

23:21

on the the 2026 potential

23:23

Hall of Fame class? This

23:25

is one of the deeper first

23:28

time eligible classes that I've

23:30

seen in quite some time.

23:32

Lara Fitzgerald to me

23:34

is a lock as a first ballot

23:37

Hall of Famer. Drewberries to me is

23:39

a lock. as a first ballot Hall of Famer.

23:41

And then we start to get into the questions

23:43

about who will and won't go. Jason Witten is

23:46

going to be a Hall of Famer. Only

23:48

question is when. Frank Gore is going to be

23:50

a Hall of Famer. Only question is when.

23:52

Julian Edelman is going to be a Hall of

23:54

Famer. Only question is when. And there are a

23:56

number of other players on that list that

23:58

you can make the argument. wind up in

24:00

Canton one day, we'll see how that list

24:03

distinguishes itself. I think Philip Rivers will go

24:05

to the Pro Football Hall fame one day.

24:07

So to me this is going to be

24:09

a decorated class and it's also going to

24:11

be interesting coming up for a year this

24:14

past year when they selected only four

24:16

players. Now it used to be that

24:18

they selected more and they wanted to

24:20

make it tougher and tighter to get

24:22

into the Pro Football Hall fame, which

24:24

I personally don't like because there are

24:26

people that were on the doorstep of

24:29

Canton Ohio ready to get in like

24:31

Mike Holgren who were

24:33

denied their opportunity to go

24:35

get a chance to get into

24:37

the pro football fan. They're that

24:39

close and the voters holding

24:41

their fate in their hands

24:43

decided that these guys weren't worthy,

24:46

which I can't stand. Like if

24:48

they were brought to vote and

24:50

they were brought to the final

24:52

stages. And they were brought to that

24:54

spot because they were worthy. They were a

24:57

handful of voters that skewed the percentages

24:59

to make it such that they weren't

25:01

worthy. And now they're denied their chance

25:03

to go to Ken Ohio, which would

25:06

have changed their lives. And it's going

25:08

to make a difference if a few

25:10

extra people are in the pro football game.

25:12

It just, that kind of thing drives

25:15

me bonkers. Okay. I was a voter

25:17

briefly, a couple of decades ago.

25:19

And the rule of thumb was if you

25:21

got... to that level, the seniors level,

25:23

it should have been rubber stamped. And

25:25

that's the way it was always approached.

25:27

And the fact that they denied so

25:29

many people this year, we talked about

25:31

Eli Manning being slighted. The men who

25:33

were really slighted were guys like Mike Holgren,

25:36

Ralph Hay, guys that made it to

25:38

the finalist stage and were denied entrance.

25:40

And next year, it's going to be

25:42

even tougher to get into the pro football

25:44

hall fan because we've never seen a

25:46

list. a first time eligible candidates that

25:49

you rattled off that looks as

25:51

deep as it does in 2026.

25:53

It just, you would know better than I

25:55

would having voted for it, but it's,

25:57

it's one of those things where it. It's

26:00

not so much like the baseball hall

26:02

of fame, which I think is about

26:04

as crooked as it gets, but it

26:06

seems like the, like how they decide

26:08

people get in, it's just a

26:11

sliding rule that changes every single

26:13

year. You know, we, as of late, I

26:15

feel like we've argued more and more

26:17

about who deserves to be a

26:19

first ballot guy. And I think it's,

26:21

it's pretty evident based on what

26:24

they did this year that you

26:26

can immediately eliminate guys like. Philip

26:28

rivers like if Eli didn't get in

26:31

first ballot. I don't know how you

26:33

put Philip rivers in Whitten. I

26:35

mean if Antonio Gates doesn't get in

26:37

first ballot I don't know how Whitten

26:39

gets in but you know we talked

26:41

about this a little bit in New

26:43

Orleans like Guys like Venitary. I

26:46

don't know what more he could have

26:48

done in his career. Maybe it's just

26:50

slighting him a little bit because he's

26:52

a kicker but you know No one had more

26:55

bigger moments. He's the leading scorer

26:57

in NFL history. Then a guy like

26:59

Marshall Yanda who you talk to all

27:01

his contemporaries and his peers who say,

27:03

you know, he was arguably like

27:05

the best lineman of a generation was

27:07

the best lineman in the NFL for

27:09

like a 10 year period. It just, it

27:12

is interesting. And then like you said, you

27:14

know, you get this deep of a class. You

27:16

feel for some of those guys who

27:18

are probably pretty deserving of getting in.

27:21

But when you have a class like this like

27:23

this, like. A lot of these guys who

27:25

are deserving are not going to get

27:27

in there and then we're just

27:29

going to start their clock. So

27:31

it's, and like you said, I

27:34

don't understand, just take it only

27:36

four guys, I just don't get

27:38

it because you can't, you can't

27:40

just erase what you've done in

27:42

the past and say, hey, now

27:44

we want to tighten things up, you

27:46

know, we want it to be. Let's see

27:49

this. The voters selected Ralph

27:51

Hey over Robert Craft, okay? Why

27:53

were we making him wait? The guy

27:55

you introduced, you decided on

27:57

the final vote wasn't worthy.

28:00

So why are we wasting time? Why

28:02

are we wasting time? Mike Holgren put

28:04

in a head of Mike Shanahan. Mike

28:06

Holgren to me is a Hall of

28:08

Famer. But we're going to make Mike

28:10

Shatnihan keep waiting. Moronic. Stupid. Dumb. What

28:13

are we doing? We're delaying. We're delaying

28:15

the process. It just, it gets me

28:17

all worked up. And I've seen this

28:19

over time and it's part of the

28:21

process. It's the way it goes. But

28:24

we put these people in the whole

28:26

thing after. Right. What made him a

28:28

Hall of Famer from the time that

28:30

he played for the Raiders to the

28:32

time he was alive to the time

28:34

he left us? What was the difference?

28:37

He's all a Famer. Put the people

28:39

in. Let them enjoy their moment while

28:41

they can. That drives me nuts. I

28:43

agree. I think that is so dumb.

28:45

Just deciding to put a guy in

28:48

after he dies as like a sign

28:50

of respect when yeah, you don't think

28:52

their family would like to enjoy that

28:54

with them while they're still alive. I

28:56

mean it just... And that's the thing

28:59

is it's a process that's probably never,

29:01

I mean it is what it is.

29:03

It's gonna be that way, you know,

29:05

until long after you and I are

29:07

gone. So I guess you just gotta

29:10

make peace with it, but that doesn't

29:12

mean we can't bitch about it either.

29:14

So, you know, I mean, it's, it

29:16

makes no sense. We'll see, hopefully they

29:18

get it right next year, but there's

29:20

a chance that a couple guys that

29:23

probably should go in, are gonna be

29:25

pretty pissed off. Let's

29:27

move on to topic number five chef-dee

29:29

speaking of the Hall of Fame and

29:31

Hall of Famers Randy Moss was back

29:34

on countdown this weekend Incredible video incredible

29:36

video. I mean I got super emotional

29:38

watching that. Oh, yeah I can't imagine

29:40

how it was on set how was

29:42

that whole experience having Randy back on

29:44

set with you guys? Well first of

29:46

all we were told that He was

29:49

trying to come back and was hoping

29:51

to come back and that was the

29:53

goal that he had always said he

29:55

had told our boss Seth Markman that

29:57

Super Bowl was the that he wanted

29:59

to get back by and he was

30:02

angling for that and we didn't know

30:04

officially really till the weekend that it

30:06

was going to happen because he could

30:08

have woken up on Saturday and not

30:10

felt well and decided not to come

30:12

and honestly I love that guy and

30:15

we love working with him we all

30:17

love that guy. He's so much fun

30:19

to be around and we missed him

30:21

this season a whole lot. We got

30:23

the new Saturday. that he was going

30:25

to fly out. And it was one

30:27

of the reasons that Miles Garrett agreed

30:30

to do the interview because Randy Moss

30:32

was a favorite player when Miles Garrett

30:34

was coming out, the one ESPN person

30:36

that he wanted in his house to

30:38

interview him after he was selected and

30:40

then attended draft was Randy Moss. So

30:43

Miles Garrett agreed to talk to Sunday

30:45

countdown in large part because Randy Moss

30:47

was on set. And so Randy flew

30:49

in and I was at the Superdome

30:51

Sunday morning. Super Bowl Sunday always has

30:53

a weird feel and I already was

30:56

thinking about more not being there because

30:58

we would always take a picture on

31:00

the morning of the Super Bowl end

31:02

of the season something the document always

31:04

loved that and all of a sudden

31:06

I'm doing like three different things calls

31:08

coming in checking out a couple last-minute

31:11

items Randy comes over and I wasn't

31:13

ready for him to come over at

31:15

that moment like I want to give

31:17

him a big hugging you're not a

31:19

lot to hug him right now he

31:21

can't get too close to him right

31:24

to him right to Germs or anything

31:26

like that, but get to see him

31:28

there and about 20 30 minutes later

31:30

the show started and they played that

31:32

video At the start of the show

31:34

I got to tell you that video

31:37

made me emotional Oh, yeah, I was

31:39

getting tear-eyed watching it Reposted it on

31:41

my Instagram account my Twitter account for

31:43

anyone who might have missed it. It

31:45

was a tremendous way to start the

31:47

show and of course Randy got very

31:50

emotional now. Here's the great part about

31:52

it Randy only wanted to go to

31:54

lunch together all of us After the

31:56

pre-game show and I told him this

31:58

the last time the egress and Chiefs

32:00

played in the Super Bowl in Arizona.

32:02

We were at a hotel, we came back

32:04

to a hotel, and me and Randy

32:07

went to a large brunch together, just

32:09

the two of us, and we had this

32:11

great brunch. I don't know why I remember

32:13

that the way I do, but I just

32:15

do, because right after the pre-game show

32:17

is always one of the great moments

32:19

of the season. You feel like you

32:21

do when you finish your finals in

32:24

the winter at school. you know you have

32:26

a few weeks in front of you to

32:28

kind of just kind of decompress a little

32:30

bit and it's this great feeling you get

32:32

done with finals and that's a little bit

32:34

what Super Bowl Sunday feels like I know

32:36

there's a lot of work ahead in the

32:39

coming weeks I know there's gonna be all

32:41

these trades and moves but maybe for a

32:43

week I don't have to worry about getting up

32:45

at 4.30 in the morning to drive to

32:47

Bristol on Sunday and so Randy and I

32:49

had this great brunch in Arizona together

32:52

after that show before the Chiefs played

32:54

the Eagles in the Super Bowl. And

32:56

once again, Randy called together everybody

32:58

from our show, and he reserved the

33:01

room at Ruth Chris, the Steakhouse,

33:03

and they reserved the patio for us.

33:05

And after the show, we all went

33:07

there. Now, ordinarily, I don't like to

33:09

leave the stadium on Super Bowl Sunday.

33:12

You've already gotten in past security. You

33:14

don't want to leave, get into that

33:16

traffic, and then have to come back

33:19

in it. That's not what any of us

33:21

want to do. But it. We left the

33:23

stadium. We drove over to Ruth Chris, which

33:25

was about a mile from the dome, maybe.

33:28

Took us about an hour to get there

33:30

in traffic. Sat there for about 90

33:32

minutes. I was getting itchy because I

33:34

want to get back to the stadium. We

33:36

left about 3.30, 3.45 local time

33:39

to go back to the dome. Took us

33:41

about another hour to get back. You know,

33:43

10, 15 minutes to walk through security.

33:45

got back inside the Superdome about

33:47

43445 about 45 minutes before kickoff

33:49

started. Not the way I ordinarily

33:51

would take in a Super Bowl

33:53

Sunday, but I will say this,

33:56

it was for Randy and to be

33:58

around him to have that gift. was

34:00

awesome, saw his wife and he,

34:02

she was telling me how the

34:04

idea of him working towards

34:07

this day to be back for this

34:09

day, helped push him along

34:11

in his rehab. And again,

34:13

just an awesome moment that

34:15

to me was symbolized by that

34:18

video and how much he

34:20

means to so many people

34:22

and the lunch that we got

34:24

to have with him, which was

34:26

really, really nice. It was one

34:29

of the highlights, maybe the highlight

34:31

of Super Bowl Sunday. Yeah, that's

34:33

awesome. I mean, it was, you know,

34:35

because even, you know, I feel like

34:37

that's not necessarily information I'd

34:39

be privy to, and maybe

34:41

it came out, but like

34:44

I was genuinely surprised when

34:46

I saw him on set, and man, that

34:48

video, it did, because, you know,

34:50

not just Miles Garrett, he's a

34:52

little bit younger than me, but everyone

34:54

around my age. no matter what team

34:57

you were rooting for you loved Randy

34:59

Moss everybody loves yeah I was a

35:01

Packers fan and every year you know

35:03

there are always those rumors about how

35:05

far far is trying to you know

35:07

get the Packers to trade for Randy

35:09

Moss and every year I just sit up

35:12

at night and just pray to God that

35:14

there would be a way that he would

35:16

come be a Packer I just it was

35:18

awesome seeing him back and you know hopefully

35:20

he he's feeling better and keeps fighting like

35:23

hell to beat that but He looked great.

35:25

It was just that that was a

35:27

great way to kind of start Super

35:29

Bowl Sunday. So that's awesome. I'm glad

35:31

you guys got to spend some time

35:34

with him as well. Let's move on

35:36

to the sixth and final topic of

35:38

this week's six pack chef. The lot

35:41

of memorable moments from the week

35:43

in New Orleans. I love New

35:45

Orleans as a host city just

35:47

being able to walk everywhere everything

35:49

being so close. The weather was

35:51

fantastic the entire time we were

35:54

there. What are some of your

35:56

most memorable moments of Super Bowl

35:58

week? Obviously I can. only imagine

36:00

how awesome it is being down there

36:02

with your daughter while she's working as

36:04

well. Well here's the thing here's the

36:06

great part so again we're doing the

36:09

six items this week in the six-pack and

36:11

we touched on the Super Bowl we

36:13

touched on the off-season we touched on

36:15

Randy Moss so I want to make this

36:17

last item a little bit of a personal

36:20

fun little item so on last Sunday

36:22

the night before media night a week ahead

36:24

of the Super Bowl my wife who doesn't

36:26

like to fly flew down with me and

36:28

my daughter And my daughter did Media

36:31

Night for Nickelodeon. And that was

36:33

unbelievable to watch her go

36:35

around to all these players and interview

36:37

Nick Siriani and Andy Reed

36:39

and Jaylon Hertz and Patrick Mahomes

36:42

and Saekwam Berkeley and Isaiah Pacheco

36:44

and all the big names in

36:46

the game on the podium and

36:48

have those interviews playback. But she

36:51

had the most talked about

36:53

question from Media Night. The question

36:55

to Travis Kelsey about his favorite

36:57

Taylor Swift album and the funny

36:59

thing is how it is she got off. She

37:02

goes, is that a dumb question? Should I

37:04

have not asked him that? Does everybody know?

37:06

I go, Dylan, there are no dumb questions.

37:08

Ask what you want and what you think

37:10

are in what you think is interesting.

37:13

And she asked and that question showed

37:15

up all over TV and went kind

37:17

of viral. So great job by Dylan. So

37:19

my wife and daughter went back on Tuesday.

37:21

She went back to school

37:24

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. And

37:26

on Friday, my daughter and son,

37:28

blew back down to New Orleans.

37:30

Now they were scheduled to land

37:32

about 630 or so, didn't know

37:34

what time they were going to

37:36

land, didn't know what time they were

37:39

going to land, didn't know what time

37:41

they were going to get to the

37:43

hotel, and so me, for the

37:45

very first time in a long time,

37:48

I didn't make any dinner reservations.

37:50

in the Harris Casino, right?

37:53

Yeah, okay. So I told my son

37:55

and daughter, I'm like, hey, when

37:57

you get down here, we'll just...

38:00

walk across the street to Nobu and

38:02

go grab some sushi. That sound good.

38:04

Great. Well, by the time they got

38:06

to the hotel, it's probably eight o'clock,

38:09

it was a little bit late, I

38:11

don't know, delays from the airport, whatnot.

38:13

We try to get into Nobu, walk

38:16

across, I don't know what was going

38:18

on, but there was, it was a

38:20

mush pit of people everywhere. surrounding the

38:23

entire casino like all the way around

38:25

if you know what I'm saying right

38:27

the French was the back entrance the

38:30

sign like what's going on well there's

38:32

a post Malone concert there apparently that

38:34

we were trying to navigate our way

38:36

through and once we figured out how

38:39

to navigate our way through we got

38:41

to Nobu and they couldn't take us

38:43

to our way can't get until 11

38:46

o'clock like forget that so we walked

38:48

to Krust Street from there to Ruth

38:50

Chris steak house Our weight there couldn't

38:53

go and now I got two kids

38:55

24 and 16 years old cranky having

38:57

flown dad. I'm hungry dad. Why do

39:00

you make a reservation dad? All that

39:02

right I said let's walk towards this

39:04

area. I was here earlier today We'll

39:06

find a place. What do you mean?

39:09

We'll find look I screwed up. I

39:11

thought we could just walk into Nobo.

39:13

It didn't happen. We started walking down

39:16

the street I say there's a bunch

39:18

of restaurants up over here We see

39:20

this one restaurant on the left. It's

39:23

a buffet. Like we don't want to

39:25

go to a buffet. I'm like, okay,

39:27

no problem. There was a guy walking

39:30

two dogs. Clearly he lived in that

39:32

neighborhood. So my son noticed this and

39:34

went over the guy and said, hey,

39:37

excuse me, you seem to live here.

39:39

Can you recommend the restaurant? And the

39:41

guy goes, yeah, Merrill, about 50 yards

39:43

away over here down that street. So

39:46

we walk into Merrill. which we randomly

39:48

came across from the guy walking his

39:50

two dogs and we walked in and

39:53

they said that there would be an

39:55

hour away but as they said that

39:57

we noticed our friend McFarland and his

40:00

wife walking out and Booger went to

40:02

LSU and Booger obviously has deep New

40:04

Orleans connections and Booger spoke to the

40:07

manager and the manager was kind enough

40:09

to get us a table and as

40:11

we sit down at the table a

40:13

guy walks out of the kitchen in

40:16

a chef's cape or apron and he

40:18

introduced himself to us and he said

40:20

my name is E.J. Legossi and I'm

40:23

like Logossi as in Emerald. Yeah, Emerald's

40:25

my dad. Dad, come on out. Emerald,

40:27

Ligasi walks out of the kitchen. Now

40:30

we've got Emerald Ligasi and E.J. Ligasi

40:32

in Merrill Restaurant on Friday night of

40:34

New Orleans in Super Bowl Week. And

40:37

I'm saying to my kids, do you

40:39

realize like this is New Orleans royalty

40:41

right here? Like we're eating in their

40:43

restaurant, eating their food. And we sat

40:46

there. And it was unbelievable. Warren sap

40:48

was in the restaurant. I used to

40:50

work with him and NFLic. He came

40:53

over. He's giving us big hugs, great

40:55

food, unbelievable, murals. Even if we had

40:57

gotten into Noble, it would not have

41:00

been as good as the food we

41:02

had in murals that night. Well, Merrill,

41:04

I should just say, got to take

41:07

pictures with the Lagocis. Like, what's better

41:09

than that? And it occurred to me,

41:11

and we've all had this, where you

41:14

sometimes have days or nights that are

41:16

starting to go a certain way. And

41:18

you're like, you know what, I'm done.

41:20

Time to just go to just go

41:23

to just go to bed. Like, like,

41:25

like, like, like, like, like, like, like,

41:27

like, like, like, give up. Give up.

41:30

Give up. like the day and night

41:32

are just not working out. Very rarely

41:34

does it turn around on a dime

41:37

like that and turn out to be

41:39

the most memorable meal of the entire

41:41

trip. But that's how that happened and

41:44

it was completely random happenstance that we

41:46

wound up in Merrill eating the food

41:48

of Emerald and E.J. Legasi after we

41:50

got shut out at all these places

41:53

and were desperate to eat with cranky

41:55

kids, pestering me. That's awesome. You should

41:57

take a bow for that and make

42:00

your kids, you know. That's it correct.

42:02

Funny you mention that I think it

42:04

was I want to say it was

42:07

Thursday. I was with a couple guys

42:09

from the show, we were at the

42:11

casino, we tried to get into Nobu

42:14

too, three hour wait, okay. So we

42:16

walked around to the other side of

42:18

the casino and Emerald has a restaurant

42:21

in there. We sat down, one of

42:23

the best meals I've had in a

42:25

really long time. It was good, huh?

42:27

Yeah, it was unbelievable. you know his

42:30

son was the executive chef just a

42:32

a stone's throw down the road and

42:34

that he might have been in the

42:37

house we might have you know we

42:39

might have went down there but obviously

42:41

shout out to Booker McFarland too for

42:44

you know getting your right in getting

42:46

the chef's table pulled up that's great

42:48

though that is because I've had many

42:51

of those nights and more often than

42:53

not that night that night That's awesome.

42:55

That's awesome. Yeah, it just all all

42:57

around. I think someone said this on

43:00

Twitter. It should be mandatory that the

43:02

Super Bowl is in New Orleans like

43:04

every five years, I think, just because

43:07

it is. It just, you know, Vegas.

43:09

I love Vegas so much. But I

43:11

think you forget when you've been there

43:14

that like, if you're not walking around

43:16

everywhere and the way everything spread out

43:18

like at these NFL events, like it

43:21

is not easy. navigating that, you know,

43:23

like, you know, getting an Uber down

43:25

there's a nightmare. You can walk everywhere,

43:28

but it's not like New Orleans where

43:30

everything is just stacked on top of

43:32

each other. The weather, we got very

43:34

lucky. I don't think it was too

43:37

muggy. You know, it was perfect, sunshine,

43:39

71 every day and just the feeling

43:41

of hospitality that you get from everyone

43:44

down there. Yeah. It's just the best.

43:46

It's the best. Well, let me just

43:48

say as we sign up on this

43:51

podcast. Thank you to the city. of

43:53

New Orleans for the hospitality. Thank you

43:55

for all the people who work so

43:58

hard to make that event. success and

44:00

you're right the people who are incredibly

44:02

gracious they're very proud of their city

44:04

they take pride in having people down

44:07

there for all the big events you

44:09

think of all the great Super Bowls

44:11

college football games boxing matches sporting events

44:14

that have taken place in the Superdome

44:16

in the city of New Orleans they've

44:18

hosted more big events or as many

44:21

big events as just about any city

44:23

and it's an incredibly convenient city where

44:25

you can walk just about anywhere. Don't

44:28

drive to Ruth Chris after you finish

44:30

Sunday countdown on Sunday and

44:32

don't try to get back

44:34

to the Superdome. Not recommended

44:37

it, but aside from that, it

44:39

really is very, very, um, ideal

44:41

to host big events and a

44:43

huge thank you to all the people

44:45

there who helped pull the week off.

44:48

And for the story of the week,

44:50

we are going with the New

44:52

Orleans Saints. hiring Kellenmore the last

44:54

team to fill their head coaching

44:56

vacancy now as we record this

44:59

Tuesday morning they haven't yet hired

45:01

Kellenmore and for all we know

45:03

tuck still could fall apart but

45:05

I would be shocked if it

45:07

did I still fully expect that

45:09

Kellenmore will become the head coach of

45:12

the New Orleans Saints in the whole

45:14

city of Super Bowl 59 and the

45:16

Eagles offensive coordinator didn't even have to

45:18

leave he could have stayed in New

45:20

Orleans to take the Saints head coaching

45:23

job in what we will now dub

45:25

the story of the week. Story of

45:27

the week is brought to you

45:29

by vivid seats. The official ticketing

45:31

partner of ESPN. Get great deals

45:33

on the hottest tickets. Experience it

45:36

live. All right, Thai, a huge thank

45:38

you to you as well to Dan

45:40

Stanzick, to Ben Smith for putting together

45:42

this podcast and to you the listener

45:44

for tuning in to another Adam Schefter

45:47

podcast. We'll be back in this space

45:49

next week as the off-season

45:51

now, officially is underway. and there

45:53

will be trades and signings and

45:56

moves that we will be analyzing

45:58

here, previewing here, reviewing here should

46:00

be be a tremendous off season. always

46:02

is and it is now it is now you

46:04

you to tie Schmidt Dan Dan Ben Ben Smith and the

46:06

the listeners. Until next week, have a

46:08

great week, everybody.