In a dynamic conversation with expert insights and comedian Theo Vaughn making a guest appearance, the episode delves into the realms of tariffs and American economic strategy. The dialogue explores how tariffs could potentially revitalize U.S. cities by encouraging domestic manufacturing, but also acknowledges the short-term obstacles this might present. With trade deals and long-term economic plans on the table, can this strategy reshape the American economy, or does it risk alienating voters in the short term? Tune in to hear the engaging arguments and form your own opinion.
SPEAKER 09 :
This is Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 08 :
You are going to shut your damn yapper and listen for a change because I got you pegged, sweetheart. You want to take the easy way out because you’re scared. And you’re scared because if you try and fail, there’s only you to blame. Let me break this down for you. Life is scary. Get used to it. There are no magical fixes.
SPEAKER 09 :
With your host, John Rush.
SPEAKER 19 :
My advice to you is to do what your parents did!
SPEAKER 03 :
Get a job, Turk! You haven’t made everybody equal. You’ve made them the same, and there’s a big difference!
SPEAKER 01 :
Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there. It is this feeling that has brought you to me.
SPEAKER 17 :
Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 04 :
It’s Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush. Presented by Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning.
SPEAKER 05 :
Actually, it’s Andy Pate. Party of choice. And welcome to hour number two here on Rush to Reason. I’m Andy Pate filling in for John Rush and joined by Luke Cash. Okay, Luke, quick question for you. Sure. Should 18-year-olds be allowed to carry guns?
SPEAKER 18 :
Oh, Andy. We don’t always agree on everything. But I’m also probably the most two-way person to ever exist on this planet. Andy, I believe if you’re 18 years old and you can afford an F-16 fighter jet, you should own one. OK, so, yes, an 18 year old should be able to carry a firearm.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, I think so, too. And well, the reason I bring this up is Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. She signed legislation this past Friday that allow it changes their state law to allow 18 year olds to own and carry handguns. And of course, there are a lot of people who are saying, oh, my gosh, this is going to make life more dangerous. Why will it not?
SPEAKER 18 :
Well, I mean, first of all, I feel like that shouldn’t even be a question. It is your right. It is your right to protect yourself. It’s a right to own and carry a firearm. The fact that that’s up for debate in any capacity is weird. But then additionally… The people who are going out to purchase and go through the effort to carry a firearm are doing so to protect themselves and their loved ones. If you have evil intent and you live in that state now – How likely is it that you’re going to go out and try and do something stupid when you know every 18-year-old around every corner is probably packing a little something now? I mean, talk about a good deterrent.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, amongst young people, won’t it be the cool thing? I mean, seriously, are you going to be the one who doesn’t have one? No, I don’t think so. Now, obviously, I totally agree with this. And my reasoning is very simple. If they can go to war for us, why can’t they carry it home? Right? You know, it just doesn’t make any sense.
SPEAKER 18 :
You can vote and change policy. Yes, you should be able to own a firearm.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. And but now let me play devil’s advocate. Obviously, 18, 19 year olds are less mature, more emotional, more given to emotions. Could you say, gee, that’s more dangerous to put guns in those hands?
SPEAKER 18 :
I think you could. I think it also depends on how the state system already works, right? I mean, there’s background checks that you got to go through. If it’s constitutional open carry, then anyone’s allowed to open carry. But I know for a lot of states, you still need a permit for concealed carry, which is still a process and you have to go through a class. But I also think sort of, again… Like it’s the right of the person, right? And if someone wants to be dumb and make a very stupid decision, then they’re going to suffer the consequences of that. But I mean, ultimately, it’s your right. It is your right to do it.
SPEAKER 05 :
And, you know, I think it’s even more than you’re right. I think it is you’re right, but what I mean is I believe it brings more safety.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
I think you’re safer when there are more guns legally owned. I really do. I think you’re much safer when people know, wait a minute, if I want to commit mayhem, if I want to hurt people and shoot people up, you know, there are going to be a lot more people shooting back.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yes. There are going to be consequences.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. And that is why where do all the mass shootings happen?
SPEAKER 18 :
That’s all the gun-free zones.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, I mean, they’re in gun-free zones. Gun-free zones, should they be eliminated altogether in, like, schools and so forth? I don’t like schools being gun-free zones. I really don’t because there’s no one to shoot back. It is fish in a barrel. If you want to go in there, if you want to do a killing, Right? That’s the place. And I hate to say that. It’s horrible. But that’s what they do. They target those areas. They always go to the areas where they don’t think somebody will shoot back. So what if people can shoot back everywhere?
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, exactly. I’m very 2A. I am not one of those people who think it should be like state-mandated armed teachers. However, comma, I think if a teacher owns a firearm and wants to bring it to the school for their and their class’s protection, that should be allowed. I’ll tell you this. When the shooting starts, which classroom are all the students running to? That one. The teacher with the gun. Right.
SPEAKER 05 :
That’s where they’re going to run.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, I agree. Okay. We agree too much on that one. Let’s jump to the next one. I want to listen.
SPEAKER 04 :
Let’s get it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Let’s start debating. Honestly, you and I are pretty close on most issues. I think so. We really are, you know, because there are some issues, like even immigration, where we are both pretty moderate on it. You know, we believe, you know, no illegal immigration. You should do it legally. But, you know, that doesn’t mean you have to have every single person who’s here illegally rounded up and taken out. There are some… Some in-betweeners, we can have work visas, we can work something out. Obviously, the dangerous ones should all go. You know, I think there’s a lot of middle ground there that’s pretty easy to relate on. But I want to look at tariffs.
SPEAKER 18 :
Tariffs. Now this hot topic.
SPEAKER 05 :
Very hot topic. And I thought this was really interesting. We’re going to listen to these are a couple of guys. And, you know, one is interviewing Theo Vaughn. Theo Vaughn is a comedian. Comedian. Right. He doesn’t say anything comical here. He’s just talking on the issue. And he surprises the interviewer because the interviewer thinks that the Trump tariffs are horrible. Theo Vaughn kind of has a different look. Here we go.
SPEAKER 07 :
These tariffs are getting getting out of control.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, yeah, the tariffs are getting out of control. All the everyday items that will cost Americans more following Donald Trump’s global tariffs. But here’s the thing with tariffs. The goal of tariffs is that if it costs more for people to bring their products in, then they’ll build them here.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes, that’s part of it, yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
So it’s kind of a long-term play. It’s going to take a while.
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s going to be bumpy for a while, but that’s if it works. So we’ll see, but it might take 10 years.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right. If we don’t try this, though, then I think it’s a wrap.
SPEAKER 07 :
Oh, you think just go for it, bite the belt and go for it.
SPEAKER 06 :
I do, because I think at this point, even from my own perception, we’d probably on this tour, this comedy tour, been probably the top 200 cities like Saz was in America. Maybe, maybe even more than that. And.
SPEAKER 05 :
OK, listen closely to what he’s about to say. He’s been to 200 cities, the major cities. And listen to what he describes here.
SPEAKER 06 :
A lot of them, there’s nothing there. Yes. It’s empty downtowns.
SPEAKER 07 :
Oh, yeah. It’s boarded up.
SPEAKER 06 :
We’re in Amarillo. It’s empty downtown. Shreveport, Louisiana was empty downtown. Toledo, Ohio, right? It’s getting a little bit better there. And that’s just a few. I’m in a lot of places. Montgomery, just empty.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 06 :
And so you start to be like… There’s nothing coming that’s gonna make that different, right? And maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe that’s just how society changes and evolves. And we just end up with like seven big cities in America and the rest of it is just like rural land where people live and have great lives, but they’re not in like a city. And these things…
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, what do you think of that? Because what he’s saying is basically this. Look, if we keep going in the direction we were going, what’s happening is all industry and making things is being sent overseas to every other country. They can do it cheaper. And, oh, by the way, they’re punishing us with all kinds of tariffs, so we can’t send anything there. All right? And the end result of that is we’re losing our cities. They’re being gutted. And he’s seeing it everywhere he goes. What do you think?
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah. I think it’s – I get his point. I get his perspective in that the sort of crux of his argument being we got to try something, right? And I do agree with that, right? You look around and you see the sort of consequences of what the past handful of years have done.
SPEAKER 05 :
The past several decades.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yes, the past several decades. And we don’t like it. It’s not looking good. I’m still – I still don’t think tariffs are the way to go personally.
SPEAKER 05 :
What other leverage, though, could Trump use to get other countries? Because here’s the goal. And by the way, I’m not a tariff guy. I’m a free trader. Okay. But if the other countries aren’t free trading. What do you do? What other leverage can you do? Because the ultimate goal is obviously to get them to bring down their tariffs so that you can sell your products overseas so that we can have people employed in those inner cities again and bring industry back here to sell to them. And then that way we’re selling both ways, not one way.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, and I think it – I don’t disagree with the idea in concept, but I think in execution there’s a lot of nuance that gets lost.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 18 :
Where you say, for example, we’ll just use a very broad example. Sure. Let’s tariff Mexico, right? If you want avocados, right, you’re going to have to pay a lot more money if they’re coming from Mexico or you just grow the avocados here and you pay less money if they’re grown here. But then that also doesn’t take into account all of the components that make up the production of that product. Right. Components that can’t be sourced by America, right? Say, for example, we tariff Taiwan, right? And we want – we don’t – we physically do not have the capacity to make those computer chips here in the United States. We don’t have the minerals. We don’t have the infrastructure. We don’t have the manufacturing.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right.
SPEAKER 18 :
It’s –
SPEAKER 05 :
Although Trump’s Trump’s entire idea is for like Nvidia is going to build here to do just that.
SPEAKER 18 :
And then. What we play, we pay American wages and then the costs still go up because the price to do those things here is still more expensive.
SPEAKER 05 :
The price to do everything is going to be less overseas because they’re paying peanuts. Right. So the idea. So so do we therefore become nothing but a purchasing society where everything is made overseas? because it’s made cheaper because they’re paying slave wages. And then suddenly we don’t make anything. We’re dependent on the entire world to make everything.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah. I mean, I think there’s, I think there’s a middle ground. I think, okay, what is it?
SPEAKER 05 :
Define it. I agree with you, but just go ahead and define it.
SPEAKER 18 :
I was going to say, uh, on one hand, I mean, obviously there’s the ethical implications of purchasing something for cheaper because it’s made with slave labor, but that’s also just the mechanisms of the society we live in, right? That is the capitalism that exists within the world. That’s something you’re going to do. Uh, I mean everyone can stop paying for their phones and computer chips and whatever, but we’re not. Not enough people will at least.
SPEAKER 05 :
No, no, of course not. And I wouldn’t ask that.
SPEAKER 18 :
So I think you could get some manufacturing back here, the things that we have the capacity to make at a reasonable cost, right? If what we make here in the United States is still more expensive than what can be bought overseas, people will still buy what is overseas. They will go towards what’s cheaper and the better product, right? But I think, like Theo Vaughn said, it might be a long play, but what if in this long play it hurts for a while? It’s a 10-year game is the number he gave. Say in the next three years and some odd months we’re hurting because it’s a 10-year play, and then a Democrat president comes in, removes all the tariffs, and we suffered that period of time for nothing because the next administration just chops it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, but now wait a minute. Let’s take a step back. What if in this next 90 days we have 50-plus countries give us better trade deals than we had before? Suddenly we go from – because here’s what happened. Over a number of decades, these tariffs that were on America, they didn’t all come at once. They were mounted. Bit by bit, this nation added this, that nation added that, this nation added this, that nation added that. It’s not just that labor is cheaper overseas, Luke. It’s also that we’re paying 200% tariff to send something to a certain country for them to buy it. Another country like Canada could say, we don’t want to buy any of your grain or we don’t want to buy any of your whatever because we want to protect our industries. And so what you have is… Nation after nation after nation after nation protecting all their industries from us being able to sell things there. So it wasn’t just lower wages that did it. Although, by the way, that’s a huge factor. But it’s also the fact that it’s just it’s absolutely prohibitive for us to be able to sell anything in their countries because of their tariffs. So what if. And by the way, I do believe this is going to happen. So I’m just going to say Trump is over the next few months going to get us an awful lot of trade deals, which will set the tariff levels on America far lower than they were before. I think that’s a guarantee that’s going to happen. We are going to have far better tariff arrangements than we had before. So we’re going to go from worse to better.
SPEAKER 18 :
I’m still personally in the sit back and see what happens because I’m personally not so certain where I’m seeing the immediate ramification.
SPEAKER 05 :
Several nations have already pledged they’re going to lower them to zero. Certainly that’s better.
SPEAKER 18 :
I think pledging is nice. I think once I see a material impact on the United States that proves that these tariffs were beneficial, then I’ll be able to take my deep breath and give a sigh of relief, right? But until that moment, I’m going to remain pretty tentatively sort of on the sidelines.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, beneficial, I think it’s going to go both ways because there’s obviously going to be the inflationary aspect, as you were talking earlier, but also you’re going to get the better deals. I think you’re going to see both, not one or the other. Yeah, it’s very possible. Yeah, and so… Getting back to Theo Vaughn, his point was we couldn’t continue on the direction we were going. On that, I would agree. Something had to be done.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, something had to give.
SPEAKER 05 :
And because here’s the bottom line. We couldn’t continue having the rest of the world charging us ludicrous tariffs for us to send anything anywhere while we were charging next to nothing. I mean, that couldn’t continue. And so the answer is we have to get them to lower their tariffs so that our people can make things here. We needed two things, really. We needed lower tariffs on American goods. And secondly, we needed foreign investment back into America to make goods. All right. Well, Trump has certainly gotten the second one. We’ve already got $5 to $7 trillion pledged that they are going to be building. I mean, they are going to be building here and making products to send overseas and also to send here. That part’s happening. Okay. My question is, how do you get other countries to negotiate and lower their tariffs without doing Trump’s strategy?
SPEAKER 18 :
Don’t know. Couldn’t tell you.
SPEAKER 05 :
See, I don’t have another strategy to do it. And so I kind of look at it like Theo Vaughn. It had to be done. Now, did it have to be done to this extent, not targeted, all across the board in the exact way it was done? I don’t know. I don’t know about that. But something like this to where we looked at a number of nations and basically said, look, it’s going to be reciprocal. If you’re going to charge this ludicrous tariff on us, we’re going to charge a tariff on you. Okay? And that will give you incentive because these countries want the American market. We are a consumer society. They want our market. We’re the best market in the world. Right. Okay? And so if they realize, oh, my gosh, I’m going to get cut out from the American market, I will lower my tariffs. As a result, is that not beneficial?
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah. I mean, I think in theory it sounds beneficial. Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. I mean, I just don’t see how else to do it. It is painful. I… I don’t know. I see a lot of pain here that’s going to happen. I see short-term pain for a long-term gain, but I think the long-term is going to happen. My only concern is this, and I’ll be honest. How many American voters don’t think long term? They never do. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have $38 trillion in debt. Right. Okay, if they thought long term, they wouldn’t support the deficit spending. They wouldn’t say, give me all kinds of free things and tell me it’s good for me, even though I know it’s being piled on my kids. They wouldn’t do that. So I’m not worried about the strategy per se. I’m worried about… upcoming elections in the midterms and in 2020 2026 and 2028 will americans who have had it so easy but we’re losing i mean their cities were being gutted but they had cheaper goods are they going to churn on trump and the republicans and because if they put the democrats in that’s that’s all she wrote we’re going to go right back to where we were going and that was down the sewer You see what I’m saying? It seems like a very painful choice here. I’m not worried about, I know that, what I’m saying is this. I know that if the American public would wait and let Trump hold that leverage until he got better deals, if they would be patient and let that play out and go for the long game, I know it would succeed. And I know in the end we would have far lower tariffs overall. I guarantee it. Now that I know. My question is, will the American public let him do it? Go ahead and answer.
SPEAKER 18 :
I don’t know. I don’t know. That’s also what I was saying, where it’s like if this is a 10-year plan and people hurt for the next three years, then we’re not going to see the rest of that plan because people said, I hurt, vote it out, change it.
SPEAKER 05 :
True.
SPEAKER 18 :
Everything will have happened for nothing.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. If they only see pain for three years, they’re going to vote out every Republican in sight.
SPEAKER 18 :
Right, which is what I fear, which is why I’m not confident in the plan because I think that’s a realistic outcome to expect.
SPEAKER 05 :
I think that the only way this plan works, and I think you would agree on this, and then we’ll go to break, is if he gets a bunch of deals in the next three to four months. They need to see a bunch of deals rolling in where they say, wait a minute, our producers were having to pay 50%, 80% tariff to send something to Vietnam, and now it’s down to zero or very low. If they see that, I think the American consumer will start turning around, but they need to see a lot of these deals, a lot.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, I’d agree. You need to see a lot.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, otherwise we’re in tough shape. Okay, let’s take a break. Up next is Paul Leuenberger. Paul is now an insurance broker representing nine great companies all competing for your dollar. To get the best coverage, call Paul at 303-662-0789.
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SPEAKER 05 :
putting reason into your afternoon drive this is john rush all right luke hey get just a couple minutes here i want to ask you about tsa right now there is a movement within the trump administration to get rid of tsa at the airports altogether and have it be privatized and so every airport runs its own screening what do you think of this
SPEAKER 18 :
I think it’s interesting. I don’t know enough about TSA to have a really strong opinion. I guess the one immediate concern that comes to mind is how do you ensure that there’s almost like a standardization between airports? Because if each airport is private, then the process for going through that private security is probably going to differ pretty heavily.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, you’re going to have safer airports, not very safe airports.
SPEAKER 18 :
Right, so I think it becomes a variety. Like you have super low-income airports who aren’t going to foot the bill for the nice stuff. Those airports suddenly become more dangerous. I think TSA exists as a standardization across all airports. There’s an expectation going through. You know, if I go to downtown Chicago and I know they paid the cheapest TSA and I want to smuggle a bomb on board. Right.
SPEAKER 05 :
Exactly. But here’s the big problem. In 2017, they did covert tests through DHS and TSA agents. They reportedly failed to catch 80 percent of the fakes. And what I mean is fake weapons. DHS sent ringers through airport security with fake weapons. 80 percent got through. Okay. It’s pretty bad. Yeah. I mean, that’s absolutely terrible. And it’s been this way in testing since the agency’s founding. The program apparently is not really working. And perhaps nothing, this article here, it says, perhaps nothing reveals the scam more than the fact that for $78, you can buy your way out of the worst part of the experience and sign up for pre-checked. I don’t know. Mike Lee really wants this from Utah. I don’t like TSA. I can’t stand the experience at the airports. But just getting rid of it, are we unleashing hell? And that’s what I want you to close with. What do you think?
SPEAKER 18 :
Because that worries me. It does worry me. It worries me as well. I think it’s too dangerous to do without a backup plan.
SPEAKER 05 :
What would you do as a backup plan?
SPEAKER 18 :
I’d have some standards. I’d have a phase out. If you wanted to do it, I would phase out TSA and then run in like half TSA, half private security as like a tester to see. Okay, like test markets. Right. And see how it works. Or in some, like say DIA, you get half of those TSA agents out of there and you sort of slowly integrate a fusion of TSA and some private security to see how it goes.
SPEAKER 05 :
Last question. Do they just need to also have a faster process? Because backing up lines in the airports is terrible.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah, you need a faster process. You need a more secure process, too. TSA missed, what, 80%? That’s outrageous. Surely we can be safer and more efficient.
SPEAKER 05 :
I mean, they’re putting us through all that. It’s a completely miserable experience to be ineffective.
SPEAKER 18 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
I don’t get it. All right. Luke, thanks so much. Up next is Veteran Windows and Doors. Hey, they tell you to shop around first, then go to them. You’ll see the difference in price and quality. So call Veteran at 303-529-0720.
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SPEAKER 11 :
Putting reason into your afternoon drive. This is John Rush.
SPEAKER 05 :
And welcome back to Rush Reason. Denver’s Afternoon Rush. KLZ 560. Andy Pate filling in for John Rush on the line right now. We got Richard Rush. Richard, it’s that time.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s not the best time of the year, Andy, and I’m not talking Christmas time.
SPEAKER 05 :
No?
SPEAKER 09 :
I am talking NFL draft season, baby.
SPEAKER 05 :
It is NFL draft season. Richard, why do people get so excited about the NFL draft? Because let’s face it, you’ve got drafts in the NBA, which there’s some excitement. You’ve got drafts in the MLB, almost no excitement. Same with hockey. But the NFL draft, for some reason… People go nuts for it. They are packing bars across the country. They’re getting ready. They are looking at mock drafts for months out. They are studying and studying and just talking about it everywhere you go. Every team thinks that they’re going to get the Christmas presents that put them over the top.
SPEAKER 09 :
And I feel like it’s a few reasons, right? I feel like, number one, the NFL has just done a better job at marketing the draft. They’ve made it part of their year-round mantra, right? To where you watch, you tune into the NFL for free agency. Because, yeah, free agency is big in other sports. But the NFL, it’s like you’ve got this tampering period. It’s just massive. And that’s, again, tied to TV viewership and all sorts of things. I think the other thing, Andy, is the immediate impact. in the NFL with the first-round draft picks, I feel like is sort of second to none. And what I mean by that is you look at the NFL and – or not the NFL, but you look at the NBA and even MLB especially, right? You know, those guys, you know, fall off. But especially the NFL, right? Those guys, ideally, they go to the league – And they make a immediate impact. Right, Andy?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, really quick, if I can jump in. In Major League Baseball, they go into the minors for a few years. I mean, there is absolutely no excitement, even though it’s incredible seeing some of the players that are taken at the top. But, you know, you get this incredible player at the top in the top five picks in Major League Baseball. You’re not going to see him for three years.
SPEAKER 09 :
100%. And Andy, you obviously know the NBA, right? Cooper Flagg from Duke is likely to be the number one overall pick this year, right? And while I think he’s a great player, he’s likely going to come into the league and he’s going to struggle. He’s going to have his moments, but I feel like the NBA takes about two or three years for these guys to blossom. Very, very rarely do you get a LeBron James. He comes in and just strictly dominates the league and the older competition. And I’m with you. I think that there’s a lot of things that are at play here. But number one, I just think it’s the immediate impact. And the NFL just does a better job. They put people forward. and they put prospects forward that maybe they don’t do that in other sports.
SPEAKER 05 :
You know what I mean? I agree. Maybe there’s another reason as well, specialization. Here’s what I mean. You go into the NBA, and, yeah, you’ve got the taller positions, the center, power forward, and so forth, and the shorter ones, point guard, two guard, and so forth. But outside of that, these are roughly the same kind of body types. They’re long and lean, right? They’re fast. I mean, how many shacks do you see? Let’s let’s be honest. And so you go in and you have to be able to do some of pretty much everything. Got to be able to shoot. Got to be able to defend. You got to be able to do this. Got to be able to do that in the NFL. You come in and all you’re playing is wide receiver. And all you have to master is wide receiver, and you’ve spent the last two years doing it in a major college against major competition.
SPEAKER 09 :
Unless you’re Travis Hunter, Andy, don’t you forget it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, yeah, but he’s unique, and we’ll talk about him in a moment. But you can come in, and you have already specialized in one tool. You don’t have to do everything at both ends of the court like you do in the NBA. You do one thing. You block everything. As an offensive tackle, and you’re already 315 pounds with muscle, you run the ball and catch out of the backfield. You are a quarterback. You’ve already been reading defenses probably for six, seven years. You do one specialized skill, and you do it well. Whereas in the NBA, you’ve got to be able to do several things right out of the bat. Otherwise, you see that spot on the bench down there? You enjoy that, okay, rookie? Because I got news for you. Your name’s not LeBron, and you’re not going to mean anything until year two. In the NFL, you can come in right away. I guarantee you there’s going to be receivers come in right away this year and tear it up.
SPEAKER 09 :
And Andy, actually, that’s a great point. Again, we’ll talk about the unicorn that is Travis Hunter and all this stuff. But maybe it is. Maybe it is specialization. Maybe it is this idea that the NFL guys kind of come in and they’re ready. And maybe it’s maturation. Andy, everyone knocks. You know, and it’s been challenged in court and everything else. You know, the three-year rule, right? You’ve got to be three years removed from high school. And so maybe it is that these kids are bigger, older, faster as compared to, you know, again, in hockey, right, Andy? You’ve got these 18-year-old kids being drafted. And I’m not saying that they’re not worth it because they are, right? I mean, look at Sidney Crosby from years ago.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, but if they go right in the NHL, they’re going to get killed. They’ll get run over.
SPEAKER 09 :
You’re 100% correct. And so, well, I mean, even then, even if they do, right, Andy, I think that happened last year, a couple years ago with the Sharks. They drafted Macklin Celebrini, right? I think he was an 18-year-old prospect. So it happens, right? It does happen. However… It’s, again, with the NFL, Andy, I think even the younger side, right, these kids are 20 years old. Nowadays, Andy, some of these rookies, I think there’s a rookie quarterback, isn’t it, Tyler Shaw, I’m not sure how you say his name, from Louisville, right, who was at Oregon and I think one other place. and and that guy’s 26 years old right his name looks like shoe like s-h-o-u-g-h something like that that’s like shuck yeah it’s kind of but i don’t know actually he’s old you make a great point that the specialization piece of it plays a pretty big role in the overall uh i guess how do i say in the well just in in the talent development right and andy the fact that basically the NFL players have been in the minor leagues, which is the NCAA Division I, right? In some cases, Division II. But they’ve been in the minor leagues for three years already.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. And by the way, college baseball is similar to the minor leagues. It is. But college football is the minor leagues for the NFL. And you’re already ready to go. And really quick here, let’s talk about Travis Hunter. He’s coming out of CU. He is… You know, there’s one A and one B. We’re going to talk on Wednesday about our top 10 players. I got mine ready. I’m very excited about this because these are the guys who are going to come in and blow people away right off, right out of the gate. And so we’re going to be telling people on Wednesday, guys, these folks are going to wow you this year in the NFL. OK, and they’re going to blow your minds. And one of them is Travis Hunter. Is he going to play full-time offense and full-time defense? I don’t believe so. So even he, I believe, is going to specialize one or the other and then play about 15, 17 snaps the other way. Let’s not kill the kid. He’s not playing against future accountants anymore. He’s playing against NFL talent, right? But man, is he exciting.
SPEAKER 09 :
Oh, he is a lightning rod, Andy. Obviously, having watched him at CU for the past two years, it was a thrill, and it was really a privilege in a lot of ways because he is a unicorn. Arguably, Andy, if he was just the wide receiver, he’s the number one wide receiver in this draft. if he was just a cornerback, he would be the number one cornerback in this draft. I can argue, I know that there’s some jibs on that, especially on the receiver side of things, but he is just a ridiculously talented guy. And again, I don’t think he plays both ways. However, if you would draft him and you don’t play him at least key moment on both sides of the ball, then I think you’re you’re really missing out on who he can be, which is why I think he’ll go, I’ll just say it, Andy, I think he’ll go top three, right? And we’ll talk a little bit more about that on Wednesday. But I think he’ll go top three. And he’s just incredibly gifted and talented. But, Andy, what you just said, and we’ll talk about it more on Wednesday, is the top ten players and the immediate impact, you just don’t get that in other leagues. No. You don’t get that immediate, consistent impact.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s like we’re talking about 10 LeBrons. It’s so exciting because these guys, Abdul Carter is going to come in and have double-digit sacks right away. You guys had one for years here in Denver. Who did that?
SPEAKER 09 :
He was great right away. Yeah, he was. He was fantastic right away. I think there’s a lot at play. And football is just a different game, Andy, like you say, with just the specialization as far as most guys focus on one side or the other. And it’s just because, again, Travis Hunter is a unicorn. And guys have tried it, Andy. They’ve tried playing both ways. They’ve been unable to do so at an elite level. We’ll see if it happens.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, I’ll tell you what, let me give you my prediction really quick on, not my prediction on what he’ll do. I’m going to say what I would do with Travis Hunter. And when we come back from the break, I want to talk more Denver. I got some questions for you. Okay. If I were Travis Hunter, I would like to see him start at cornerback. And here’s why. Not because he’s better at one or the other. I love them both ways. But in the defensive secondary, you’ve got to work as a – the chemistry is everything. You’ve got to work as a unit, okay? If this cornerback has to, you know, cover tight, and that way the safety can back off and he can shade over here. No, now you’re facing against this wide receiver who’s all world, the next Megatron. You’re going to need safety help, and the cornerback is going to back off a little because that guy’s – okay. All of this affects all four, five, six guys in the secondary on every play, right? Which means that your secondary players have to have great chemistry with one another. It’s almost like an offensive line, okay, back there. Wide receiver, I can put him in for 15 to 18 plays that are built for him, that are packages for Travis Hunter, okay, where I can spring him open, right? And I can do that with him. And I don’t really care if he has great chemistry with the other wide receivers in the field. It means nothing to me. Run your route. Make your read. Run your route. I really don’t care. But in the secondary, I need you to have chemistry. So if I play him full-time wide receiver, which, by the way, the team that I think is going to take him will. The problem is, okay, then you put him in as a nickelback, but he’s not going to have great chemistry with the rest of the secondary. Am I making any sense here? That’s why I would play him corner, and then I’d still play him plenty at receiver, just I would start him at corner. What do you think?
SPEAKER 09 :
I would agree with you. I think it’s easier to fill in from defense to offense, you know, on offense and defense. And I’m not saying offense isn’t complex, and you’re going to get an argument of offense versus defense and all these guys and, you know, Defensive guys are going to say it’s more complicated than offense, and offensive guys are going to say it’s… I’m not even talking that anymore. They always say that. There’s a cohesion in the defensive backfield that has to happen, and if it doesn’t, you lose. And as a defense as a whole, there’s just a cohesion about you. Now, granted, pass rusher is different, and we have yet to have literally a tight end that can go and then also a pass rusher the other way, but I’m with you, and we’ll talk a little bit more about it on Wednesday.
SPEAKER 05 :
I mean, if Von Miller had wanted to, could he have suited up the 10-12 plays as a tight end? Yes. He’s that good.
SPEAKER 09 :
He’s a freak athlete, but like you say, you knew that he was much more valuable getting after the court. And honestly, Andy, I think a lockdown corner, which is what he can do, and like you said, you can throw him in for some goal line packages, whatever it might be, to be able to do that on offense.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, yeah. There are so many packages where I would use them on offense and develop it. Okay, tell you what, let’s take a break and we can come back and talk Broncos. Sound good?
SPEAKER 09 :
Sounds great.
SPEAKER 05 :
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SPEAKER 11 :
We don’t yell at you. We inform you. Now, back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 05 :
And welcome back to Rush to Reason. Denver’s Afternoon Rush. KLZ 560. Andy Pate filling in for John Rush on the line. We got Richard Rush. Richard, what do the Denver Broncos need? You see, right now, they’re going shopping. And unless you are into online dating, you generally don’t go shopping for people. So this is pretty exciting for them.
SPEAKER 09 :
It was frowned upon you for many years ago. You know, this is one of those things, Andy, this year with the Broncos, we are so much better off than we have been in years past in that we don’t, you know, we don’t have to go shopping for a specific position, right? You know, it’s like when you, you’re basically, you know, you, you, You know, you can’t even compare it to, like, going to the store and, you know, you’ve got $1,000 and you can spend it on whatever. Like, this is a situation of obviously you’re getting need.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, you’re not walking into the store saying, I desperately have to have this one thing, forget everything else. You get to look at the store.
SPEAKER 09 :
It’s not an emergency, right, Andy? Yeah. Exactly. It’s not an emergency. You’re not having to go and, okay, we got to be a break class because we got to, you know, we got to get this.
SPEAKER 05 :
fire extinguisher aka quarterback but we’re not sure if the fire extinguisher is going to work very well right you know it’s even big can what’s even more exciting is denver is on the way up kansas city is on the way down and you know it i i hope and you get the key player you get that key player you could be uh leaving casey in the dust next year it’s going to be it’s so big i just i just hate i hate the draft for that reason i’m sure you do i hate watching my other i you know the raiders used to be terrible
SPEAKER 09 :
at drafting, right? Like, same with the Chargers. And they would just draft awful players. Like, you know, when Al Davis took Sebastian Janikowski, you know, with the first round pick. And then he took Darius Hayward-Bey, right? A guy who most people had in the third round. And, you know, they took him in just because he could run really fast. I miss those. And unfortunately, all of the AFC West tends to draft well now. And the Chiefs are likely going to get an offensive tackle. But, you know, it may fall off a little bit. But to me, Andy, and obviously we’re going to talk about this a lot more come Wednesday. Wednesday’s going to be fun. But to me, the Broncos, oh, man, it’s going to be a blast. Because, again, the Broncos have at least found a serviceable, a lot of people are going to say more than that, and Bo Nix, a really good quarterback that they can build around. And you can now go get him some weapons, right? I know running back’s going to be a hot topic for us on Wednesday. We’ll give a little teaser there. You know, running back, tight end, I don’t think it’ll be receivers. But I think it’s for different reasons, right, Andy? To me, it’s due to – to me, it’s sort of the depth of the draft, right? And we’ll talk about that on Wednesday.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, really quick here, because we’ve got just about three minutes left, all right? Running back and tight end, there are four players slated to go in the first round. Any one of them would turn Denver into a contender overnight, okay? Okay. Now, one of them I really don’t think you’re going to get, and that’s Gentee. But you know what? The other three are possible, okay? Especially the second tight end and the second running back. Here’s my question. What could cause Denver to trade up or down in this draft? I’m going to give you an example. Let’s say, for whatever reason… the Raiders decide not to take Ashton Genting, the great running back, at number six. Okay? And I know that’s high for a running back, but folks, this guy had more yards after contact in college this year than all other running backs had total. All right, this is Marshall Falk, the sequel. Yes, you take him at number six. If the Raiders don’t, fire their entire front office. That’s my opinion. But let’s, I mean it.
SPEAKER 09 :
They’re all just hired.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, well, just fire them all immediately. All of them. And have Trump deport their families. I’m sorry, that’s the way it is. We got to be strict. Let’s say they don’t take Ashton Gentry. And he’s falling down close to, because you know the Bears would then at number 10. So he’s falling down a couple picks. If you’re Denver, you trade up, don’t you? I trade the house for that guy.
SPEAKER 09 :
Andy, you’re asking me, right? You know you and I both have a complicated relationship with running backs. We do. Considering my feelings on Saquon Barkley. Yeah, but here’s the thing.
SPEAKER 05 :
Barkley went to a team that had no offensive line. Denver has a team.
SPEAKER 09 :
They’ve already got a team, man. But Andy, to move up that far, and again, we’ll get into this a lot more Wednesday, folks.
SPEAKER 05 :
And I don’t think you’re going to, but go ahead.
SPEAKER 09 :
It would just take so much, right? Like, to get into the top ten of the draft, it would take next year’s first plus probably a second-round pick. And for me, for the Broncos, we’re not just a running back away. As good as Jente is, and I do think he’s really, really talented, I don’t know if the gap from him to Omarion Hampton and then even – maybe even a Travion Henderson, Andy, depending on the scheme.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, there’s a gap.
SPEAKER 09 :
And you’re not wrong, but I’m just, depending on the scheme with how Sean Payton views it, if I told you that Travion Henderson out of a state was Alvin Kamara for Sean Payton, you would take that at pick 20, wouldn’t you?
SPEAKER 05 :
I would. But by the way, I think I’m predicting you’re going to take Hampton at number 20 and you’re going to love him. Omarion Hampton’s terrific.
SPEAKER 09 :
I hope you’re right, Andy. I hope you’re right, because I do like him, too. Honestly, the only guy I’d go up and get if he falls out of the top ten would be Tyler Ward, the tight end out of Penn State. And we’ll talk more about him on Wednesday, because obviously he’s going to fall into my category of one of my top ten players.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, he’s wonderful.
SPEAKER 09 :
But that’s where I would go with it, Andy. Outside of that… I think it’s fantastic. I think that, again, this best is exciting. And we talk about it, right? Spring, you know, flowers, all the other things. Spring, NFL draft. It sort of brings hope eternal, you know, or breeds hope eternal. with what it allows us to do. So again, folks, tune in Wednesday. It will be exciting. You may be bored, but you also may learn a little bit. So tune in to Andy and I. We’ll just talk about all sorts of things.
SPEAKER 05 :
I don’t think it’s going to be boring. I’ve heard people who aren’t even that into football, they talk about when you and I and Walt do that show, it’s so rapid fire going back and forth. They’re just like, man, I don’t even know what you’re talking about, but I’m loving it.
SPEAKER 09 :
Hey, that’s all that matters, as long as we all have a good time, Andy.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right. Thanks a lot, Richard. We’ll see you on Wednesday. Hey, folks, that’s it for hour number two. Jersey Joe joins me in hour three with a lot to talk about. Until then, keep it right here on Rush to Reason, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 1 :
I’m a rich guy
