NFL teams have more data and scouting resources than ever. Yet they haven’t gotten better at picking the best college football players. Why not? ESPN senior writer Bill Barnwell joins Richard and Alex to dive into a complicated topic:

* 0:20: Welcoming our guest, Bill Barnwell

* 9:24: The NFL Draft is the biggest deal in the city of Pittsburgh

* 16:31: Why NFL teams haven’t gotten better at drafting over the decades

During this episode, Alex mentions a few statistical studies that researchers have done on pro sports teams’ draft performance over time. You can find those here and here. Producer: Anthony Vito

SUBSCRIBER EPISODE: Longtime pals Ben Solak of ESPN and Derrik Klassen of The Athletic join Richard for this year’s discussion of the college football QBs who will soon become NFL QBs. From Joe Fagnano and Diego Pavia (a statue player in CFB, but probably not one in the NFL) to No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza, here’s how the crew sees this year’s QBs stacking up.

Producer: Anthony Vito

This is a subscriber episode, but everyone can hear a nice big free preview

To get this episode and many, many more (as well as a whole back catalog of evergreen college football history shows, reporting on the coach carousel, and more), become a paid subscriber today.

SUBSCRIBER EPISODE: Richard and Alex take subscriber questions! As the college football offseason hits more or less its halfway point, it’s mailbag time. Among the many questions we answer in this episode, you will find

* 0:55: Utah did not envision that Kyle Whittingham’s departure would go down like that. Was the Utes’ fate foretold by what happened at … Maryland? All the way back in 2010?

* 22:03: Who could be the next Texas Tech?

* 50:15: Does basketball really have more portal activity than football, or does it seem that way because of small roster sizes? (Yes.)

* 52:34: Why doesn’t Richard believe in the sanctity of the one true portal window?

* 54:00: How big is the talent gap between a G6 and P4 position coach?

* 58:43: Was Greg Sankey born on third base? Plus a longer chat about the way college sports media talk about conference commissioners.

* 1:04:13: Why do we express skepticism about USF’s finances?

* 1:11:23: If we could cover any sport other than CFB for a living, what would it be?

Producer: Anthony Vito

This is a subscriber episode, but everyone can hear a nice big free preview

To get this episode and many, many more (as well as a whole back catalog of evergreen college football history shows, reporting on the coach carousel, and more), become a paid subscriber today.