Takes

Lamar Jackson has a similar skill set to Michael Vick

his skill set is actually kind of similar to Michael Vick's. And it's funny because other than Josh Allen, he's the only other one who's run in kind of a pro-style offense.

Wisconsin will win a national title in Big Cat's lifetime

Wisconsin will win a national title in your lifetime. It will happen. ... I actually think football is a better chance probably, because basketball is a real lightning bolt.

The College Football Playoff won't expand to eight teams for another eight years

There's eight more years of this TV contract right after that. ... the old guard, the old guys, are going to try to keep the Rose Bowl relevant. ... I think in eight years you'll have that.

Bill Belichick was ready to move Tom Brady to keep Jimmy Garoppolo to avoid a late-career decline

I do totally think that Bill Belichick was ready to go to Jimmy Garoppolo this offseason. I absolutely do. That makes perfect sense because even if Tom Brady wins the Super Bowl, Belichick's one mark is that he always gets rid of guys before they start to decline.

LaVar Ball is breaking up the Lakers

LeVar Ball was eventually going to have a problem with whoever was coaching Lonzo and make everything super awkward in L.A. I'm really excited to see how badly he can screw it up, though.

Wild Card Weekend is the second best football weekend of the year

This is the second best football weekend of the year. I might even say first best because we do have the college football finals on Monday.

The Bills vs. Jaguars Wild Card game is going to suck

My hot take for this game, and you're probably not going to like it, I think this game's going to fucking suck... in a bad way. This is one of those games where you look like both offensive lines... and the Jags offensive line's not very good. So no Shady [LeSean McCoy]. I feel like this is going to be one of those games we sit there and like, ew, gross.

Cam Newton will wear a goofy hat or avoid his press conference if the Panthers lose

My prediction for this game is Cam's going to do something that will give us headlines for at least 48 hours, because he always does. Like... wear a goofy hat to the press conference in a loss, or not show up to the press conference.

The Saints and Patriots will play in the Super Bowl

I think it's going to be Saints and Patriots in the Super Bowl.

The Chiefs will easily cover the 9-point spread against the Titans

Andy Reid is going to look like that kid from your Christmas story that can't walk because he's just too layered up... I got the Chiefs easily covering nine points.

The Falcons will beat the Rams in the Wild Card round

I like the Falcons... They have yet to play their best game of the season... I actually like the Falcons as well. I think the Rams are a little too banged up on defense.

The Rams are not built for the playoffs

I think, they're not built for the playoffs... The Rams do not play postseason football. They play regular season football, lighting up the scoreboard. But as we know in the playoffs, you have to stop the run.

Atlanta is the most interesting Wild Card team and can go the distance

The most interesting team to me right now is Atlanta... at that point, we had kind of figured it out. We'd gotten over all the post-Super Bowl stuff that goes with it and understood kind of what we had to do, but it was a little bit too late. I think if we had gotten into the playoffs at that point, we would have been a real problem for teams.

Success relaxes teams like a martini, leading to Super Bowl hangovers

Teddy Atlas always used to say success is like a martini. It relaxes you. And it's true. You think that you can go into the next season and be exactly the same as you were, and you're going to glide through those games, but everybody else has looked at you. Everybody else is playing their best against you.

The 2017 Saints are more dangerous because they finally have a legitimate running game

Now they've actually got a legitimate running game, and they've got backs that can hurt you... to me, that adds a dimension that they haven't had since the last time they went to the Super Bowl.

A smart linebacker is the defensive equivalent of a quarterback and more valuable than a safety

If you can get a linebacker, like a Ray Lewis type... that position is so key because they've got to communicate with the front and they've got to communicate with the secondary. It's the equivalent of the quarterback on defense... it's hard to get the same thing done with a safety of that caliber.

Herm Edwards will win significantly more games at Arizona State than people expect

I think he's going to be great at recruiting. I think he's going to be great with the players. I think he's going to win a lot more games than people give... I'm saying he's going to win significantly more than that. It's going to be surprising.

The Steelers and Vikings should be in the Super Bowl

I think the Steelers should be in the Super Bowl. I think the Steelers, when you look at what they can do offensively... And I like Minnesota. Home Super Bowl.

The sun is a keyboard cowboy and a bitch

So the sun's like basically a little bitch, like a keyboard cowboy. Or the sun is just... We show up to its grill, and we're like, hey, say something to my face. And the sun's like, no, we're good here.

I am going to do five crunches a day as my New Year's resolution

I'm going to try to do five crunches a day... Someone added it up, and it was like 1,900 crunches. I was like, oh, shit. That's way more than I thought.

The Bengals bringing back Marvin Lewis is a strategy to maintain relevancy through being a running joke.

The Bengals... Bringing Marvin Lewis back and continuing his contract and continuing him coaching, it's almost like a running joke they've created themselves that gives them relevancy where everyone can be like, Marvin Lewis jokes. So you at least have an identity that everyone can make fun of Marvin Lewis.

The worst thing you can do at an office job is have people set high expectations for you.

You don't want to be great at your job. You don't want to be really, really bad at your job. You just kind of want to just go with the speed of traffic... That is the worst thing that you can do to yourself is make people have high expectations. It's a low bar in Cincinnati. I love it.

Bruce Arians will be back to coaching within two months of his retirement.

Bruce Arians, he's retired. But as we know, he's not going to know what to do with himself. He's just going to sit on his porch staring out into infinity for two months, and he'll think that's retirement, and then he'll be like, I've got to get back to coaching.

LeBron James never wins NBA championships and doesn't follow through on plans.

If you look at LeBron's career, you see the patterns of a drunk person... He doesn't follow through on plans because he never wins NBA championships. Makes big plans and then just kind of backs out of them.

Jim Harbaugh is not on the hot seat despite criticism from Amani Toomer.

I am not putting [Harbaugh] on the hot seat, but Amani Toomer put him on the hot seat... Amani, you kind of lose everything here by thinking Paris Hilton's a supermodel. [Harbaugh] is not on the hot seat. You're on the hot seat, Amani Toomer, for your lackluster analysis.

The Jaguars' all-black uniforms are a 'grail' and make the team look fast and strong.

The Jaguars, they announced today, they're wearing all black. And so that's a fit... That's a grail. It just screams excellence. Yeah, and it's also just, it looks good on a football field. When TCU does it, it looks good. They look fast. They look, like, strong.

Having two teams from the same conference in the College Football Playoff is bad for the sport.

It's two teams from any conference. Like that just bothers me... If there are more teams outside that are deserving, that there's teams out there that are worthy of playing for a championship that we don't need to take two teams from the same conference... for [Ohio State] not to get that opportunity, I think it's messed up.

Alabama's 2017 schedule was a 'cakewalk' and they were manhandled by Auburn.

Bama's schedule was a cakewalk all season long. Their toughest game was Florida State, who turned out to be garbage... And they got worked by Auburn. They got absolutely manhandled by Auburn, and yet never once did anybody say, oh, wait a second, Alabama's schedule is not that tough.

College football should abolish preseason rankings and not release any rankings until October.

The problem is it needs to be 8 team playoff, but they also need to get rid of preseason rankings because that's really where it comes down to... they should do no rankings until October. Let a couple teams figure it out. See who's good. See who's bad.

The College Football Playoff should be an eight-team system with five conference champions and three wildcards.

I try to get the easiest, simplest solution... And it's five conference champs and three wild cards. And everything would matter that much more because the conference championships would matter... and the three wild cards make those valuable.

The sport of football will be unrecognizable in 20 years due to CTE and lawsuits.

I think football's in big trouble. Like, I really do... It is more about the future of the sport. And I don't know how it's going to continue when you start seeing lawsuits come to fruition, when you start seeing guys hang it up earlier than ever. I would say within 20 years, you will not recognize the sport of football.

It will eventually become illegal to play tackle football before reaching high school.

I think it's going to become illegal to play tackle football before high school. And that's the problem I have. Because I think it should be up to every parent to decide on their own if they want their kid to play or not.

The Browns should take Saquon Barkley with the number one pick and Baker Mayfield with the fourth pick.

If I'm the Browns, I am taking, with my number one pick, I'm taking Saquon Barkley, and with the fourth pick, I'm taking Baker Mayfield, putting those two in my backfield and saying, good luck, try to stop us.

Josh Rosen's outspoken nature makes him a red flag for NFL locker rooms and the New York media.

Rosen is outspoken. He likes to talk. He likes to have really strong opinions. But I don't know if that's going to fit into an NFL locker room... It is a red flag. Thinks too much for himself... If the Giants take him, I think it's going to be a disaster with him and the New York media going together.

Sam Darnold should enter the NFL draft immediately because he is not developing further at USC.

And Darnold, there's reports now he might go back to USC, which I don't think is a good idea. Because I think if he wants to develop, he doesn't need to go back to USC to develop because clearly he's not getting it there. Go to the NFL and start learning your craft and getting paid for it.

Baker Mayfield has the fewest red flags among the 2018 draft's top quarterbacks.

I'm telling you, Baker Mayfield has the least red flags of all of them from what I've seen on film watching him throw.

Florida is the absolute hotbed for football and it's not even close between Texas and California.

Florida is the hotbed of football. It's not even close between Texas and California.

A scorned Nick Saban is the scariest thing in sports

You basically watch Alabama do the old cement mixer on Clemson and just kick the shit out of them for 60 minutes. And [it] proved our theory that a scorned Nick Saban and upset Nick Saban is the scariest thing in sports.

UCF is the number one team and national champions

I've got UCF number one. Number one, national champions. The program that Blake Bortles built. Undefeated.

Joe Flacco sucks — he's not elite, he's not good, he honestly just sucks

Joe Flacco sucks. He's not good. He's elite, maybe. No, no — honestly, he sucks.

The Bills will probably lose to the Jaguars in the wildcard round

The Bills are probably going to lose to the Jaguars, especially without Shady [LeSean McCoy]. But it's almost like the way that they broke the drought, if they had just broken it by being 12-4... it wouldn't have been that exciting.

I am rooting for the Jaguars to beat the Bills in the wildcard round

The Jaguars [over the Bills]. No question. No doubt about it.

The Seahawks championship window is closed

I define the window off their defense, not off Russell Wilson. And I think their defense is closed. I think they're going to lose a lot of guys.

The Seahawks will hire Mike Pettine as their defensive coordinator

I'm thinking that they're going to bring Mike Pettine in. I'm just going to call it right now. The old coach of the Cleveland Browns because he's got a bald head and he's got a goatee and he's a defense guy.

The San Francisco 49ers will be good next year and are my dark horse for the 2018 season

I think the [49ers] could be good next year. They're my dark horse. Their over-under for wins is going to be like nine and a half.

The Patriots' dynasty is coming to an end

I actually think that Belichick is probably furious at Kraft. I think this could be the end of the run for the Patriots.

John Gruden will announce he's taking the Raiders job during the Saturday wildcard broadcast

I think that John Gruden, in one last tip of the cap to ESPN paying him an insane amount of money, is going to announce that he's the new Raiders coach during the Saturday wildcard game.

John Gruden is a bad head coach

Am I the only one who thinks that John Gruden sucks as a head coach? He coached with Tony Dungy's players in Tampa and won a Super Bowl. He had Monty Kiffin calling his defense.

I will lose 15 pounds and weigh 225 by my birthday

I think I weigh about 240-ish... and I'm going to try to get to like 225 by my birthday. [February]. First, like, seven pounds come off by just me, like, not eating breakfast. So take a big dump, don't eat breakfast, boom.

The Big Ten won the bowl season

The first one is... the Big Ten. Won the bowl season. Many people are saying the Big Ten won the bowl season. Seven and one in bowls. And dominated, just dominated everyone.