John opens up the Middlekauff Mailbag and answers your football questions. Is Dak Presscott a better QB than most give him credit for? Should Jerry Jones and the Cowboys trade Micah Parsons? How do the Falcons fix their issues on defense?
0:00 // Start
0:37 // Ranking Dak Presscott
3:21 // USC is in a bad spot
6:48 // Should Cowboys trade Micah Parsons?
8:48 // Could other sports GMs be an NFL GM?
12:52 // Steelers should blow it up and rebuild
15:28 // Combine insights and player movement
20:14 // Can Patriots make the playoffs?
21:45 // Defining football talent
23:48 // John defends his Aaron Rodgers to Amazon take
29:43 // Packers are trending up
30:35 // Falcons defensive woes
Follow John:
https://www.instagram.com/johnmiddlekauff/
Tweets by JohnMiddlekauff
Subscribe to the Podcast:
https://apple.co/3S27Glf
Follow The Volume on social media:
https://www.instagram.com/thevolumesports
Tweets by TheVolumeSports
https://www.facebook.com/TheVolumeSports
https://www.tiktok.com/@thevolumesports
Learn more about The Volume:
https://www.thevolume.com
GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER, (800) 327-5050 or visit gamblinghelplinema.org (MA). Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY).
Please Gamble Responsibly. 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org (CT), or visit www.mdgamblinghelp.org (MD).
21+ and present in most states. (18+ DC/KY/NH/WY). Void in ONT/OR/NH. Eligibility restrictions apply. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino & Resort (KS).1 per new customer. $5+ first-time bet req. Max. $150 issued as non-withdrawable Bonus Bets that expire in 7 days (168 hours). Stake removed from payout. Terms: sportsbook.draftkings.com/promos. Ends 3/16/25 at 11:59 PM ET. Sponsored by DK.
44 Comments
Never happen with Parsons. But if he does leave we'll take him in Houston. Can he play WR?
Hydrate John!! Don’t fall into the lies of big chapstick
John might have a heart attack after finding out Brandon Staley got another high level nfl job
Coming in clutch before the big day
Middlekauf really making sure all his bills are paid before he goes on honey moon lol
Micah doing all he can to for cowboys to trade him
You’re wrong about USC and you will see this year !!
People are delusional when it comes to Dak lol
10k in 8 hours, good shit Middlekauff
Dak 11-14th QB
cowboys should consider a rebulid, they need alot to be good again and not even elite
Two ones a 2 and a 5
Jalen has a hard time going threw his progressions. So many times AJ Brown and their other receivers were wide open and he missed them check it down
Ive never seen a grown man apply more chap stick than john. Lol homies lips look like he glosses them.
Parsons might get you two 1s. But two 1s AND a 2nd??? Feels like a package only for a QB.. a bit much
Dak , pics in playoffs.. Lamar… Pics in playoffs.
Fields should go to eagles or ravens. Be good backup option for those teams.
God, you like Chris collinsworth? Yuck. My least favorite announcer.
Some teams like the Eagles pay players a year early on relatively good deals- Devonta Smith. While others like the Cowboys use the tag and leave it to the last moment to pay at a premium. It seems to me the Cowboys like to mitigate risk in case a player gets injured but otherwise can't see a benefit. For players would it be better to get paid early or wait for a bigger bag? I think if you get paid early, you end up better off as there is more time to make that money work for you. Good financial planning and sound investments can probably make up the difference and then some.
Herbstreit isn’t even close. Chris Fowler, Greg Olsen, Joe Davis, Kevin Burkhardt better
Dak needs a full team of pro bowlers ( like hurts does ) to go deep into the playoffs and now that can’t be accomplished since Jerry is paying top of the market for lesser players. Cowboys don’t have a howie to pick their FAs and draft for them so they will continue to struggle.
How does any team get better, dumping their young ascending stars? Keep Parsons.
Trading him for picks, when most 1st round picks are a toss up as to whether they work out or not, is not really smart.
Dak isn't Top 15
Keep fields, trade Pickens for parsons, run the ball and play defence.
I will say it's much more difficult to hit on NBA draft picks if they're outside the top 10
Speaking of Dak, it’s not JUST the playoffs he plays poorly. It’s whenever they play a good team.
Love to see Micah’s reaction if Eagles pull a fast one on draft day moving way up (with combo of picks & players) and draft Philly native sensation Abdul Carter……since Micah is a near Philly guy ( Harrisburg)
You almost get the feeling with these talking heads and the endless "trade Micah" bull is their hope in two years to revisit the issue with the all too predictable…."HOW DO YOU TRADE A GENERATIONAL PLAYER LIKE MICAH?? ANOTHER JERRY BLUNDER!!!!"
GMs can cross over in some of the business aspects but as you know as well as anyone, the jobs are 10 levels deep in complexity and no one is that smart except AI. Even AI would struggle with many of the crazy unpredictable owners. Howie grew up in the biz and has taken 20 years to hit the tremendous stride he’s on.
Lol😂😂😂😂 Fly Eagles Fly,, the Cow-girls are an ILLUSION, remember the movie The WIZARD OF OZ,, LOL,, JERRY is the little guy behind the curtain taking all the cow-girls Fans Money, Guys DAKOTA is a 4th round pick for a REASON,, Scouts are not always wrong, it’s like putting Lip Stick on a Pig?? It’s STILL a 🐷 Pig!!
Bro why you talking about the USC schedule for the beginning of the year? Everyone plays cupcakes at the beginning of the year 😂😂 Such a clown move John, what about the Division II teams the SEC or the ACC play on their schedule??
You a hater plain and simple…
I will agree with you that Riley might not have it to build the culture needed to compete at a high level.
I’m a SC fan as well and John is 100% correct. I’ve had the same criticism of their team for the past decade. They are SOFT in the trenches. D’anton Lynn made a lot of improvements on the defense this last season, but they still have a mountain to climb before they can even hope to not get blown off the field by elite teams.
Dak sucks when playing good teams. He ONLY plays well against bad and mediocre teams! He’s a trailer and a big drag financially.
News flash: USC just flipped a top QB from Oregon.
Micah Parsons is NOT getting 2 1s and a 2. Whoever trades for him has to pay him most likely the most money for a defensive player ever and he’s got both injury concerns and a history of off field pot stirring. Insane take.
NFL Gm way harder than NBA. Nba GMs make it hard analytics + politics
16:43 Also, as an added note, the teams that are in your division have gotten to scout all of your players, as well as competing against them, twice a year. So they get to build a much more solid knowledge base of what those players are capable of, and what they believe they could be worth in terms of value, compared to the rest of the league. Sometimes that means they are willing to pay the player more money than your team was. Sometimes it just simply is about that simple. Those teams have seen more of that player than anyone else. Meaning the other teams just haven’t seen enough of them to maybe have the same kind of value on them as teams in the division.
22:17 we define talent completely differently. What you view as talent, is what I define as measurable traits. To me, your talent level is defined by your ability to maximize your measurable traits. You could have all the physical traits and abilities, but what exactly is the value of any of that, if you just can’t maximize your ability to use it. Look at Sam Darnold. Big durable body, easily capable of being sufficiently mobile, Hoosier of an arm, can throw as good as anyone in the underwear Olympics. And then what happens? His traits get nullified by his talent being in a death match with Casper the friendly ghosts’ not so friendly cousins.
Being a football GM is much harder than any other sport because every team has over 50 players and the average career is only 4 years so you're constantly tweaking the roster.
You way, way overvalue Micah. He fades in big games, and top tier tackles can shut him down. If the cowboys can in fact get a couple of 1's, they'd be nuts not to trade him. So as an Eagles fan, PLEASE overpay and sign him. Dak + Micah = too much money, too little big moment performance.
I disagree on Micah. He is like an elite scorer in the NBA that can’t play defense. You can run at him and abuse him. Sure every team can’t, but I’d give a 1st and a 3rd or 4th. I don’t want to pay 35 million for an undersized edge that has a podcast. If it’s about putting seats in the stands in NO I get it, but no competitive franchise will give up two first and a second for a guy that has glaring flaws, is outspoken, and has not shown up in big games. He’s Aaron Rodgers in the playoffs without the ring
You’re takes are typically spot on but that USC take lacks proper knowledge. They’ve been building an excellent front office around LR. The coaching staff is also very improved. They currently have a top 2 class in 26’ … USC is going to turn it around.
Parsons to the Bills. Milano, Keon Coleman & 1st to Dallas
Make Howie Roseman GM of the sixers and guarantee you he does better than they have the last 20 years