00:00Giants legend and entrepreneur Carl Banks joins us from San Francisco to talk John Harbaugh,
00:12the Giants coaching staff, the Super Bowl, and of course the latest from his starter Super Bowl
00:17collection. And if you stay, he's going to tease something really great for the big game towards
00:22the end. We're going to do that towards the end. Banks, I see you rocking the Super Bowl
00:26collection now, man. You know me, I'm an extra medium. If you got any inventory left, I'm
00:32your man. You know, I'm your man. You know who to ask. Jessica, make sure you get whatever
00:36you need, bro. Whatever you need. All right, let's just jump off just by talking about,
00:40you know, John Harbaugh. He's coming, he's stepping in, new head coach. They threw the bag at him.
00:46Does the fact that Mike Vrabel just took a back-to-back 4-12 team to the Super Bowl put pressure
00:54on John Harbaugh? Like, do you think this is the guy that can bring the Giants back?
00:59Well, I think the two are independent of each other. But what Mike Vrabel did
01:07is evidence of what good coaching, what a standard can do to an organization.
01:17I think I've known the Harbaugh family since I was in high school. His father recruited me
01:24coming out of high school. They eat, sleep, drink football. Everything they do is about
01:29winning, about the standard, and everything necessary to do it. So when you see what Mike
01:38Vrabel did, it's the blueprint of Bill Belichick, right? It's attention to detail. It's mental
01:44toughness. It's physical toughness. It's, you know, preparing for everything. And when you
01:53listen to Coach Harbaugh talk, if you know what's in his DNA, he's at 18 years in Baltimore,
02:02and you see the program that they built. I believe wholeheartedly that things will get
02:09turned around really fast. Is it Super Bowl fast? I don't know. But one thing I do know is you're
02:16going to see a change. It's going to be probably uncomfortable for some players. But I think they
02:23will all embrace it because they all want to win. That's the thing. When you listen to this giant
02:29locker room, they're all tired of losing. They just don't know how to win in a way that is
02:35sustainable. And I think what Harbaugh, Coach Harbaugh is going to do is to put in place a standard and
02:43parameters that are uncompromising and non-negotiable. And those players, it's going to be, you know,
02:51it'll be a slight shock to some. You know, some guys are already at that level. Brian Burns is already
02:57playing at a level that is sustainable for success in being an example of what to do.
03:07But these guys want it. They say they want it. And I believe them. It's going to be uncomfortable
03:13for, you know, probably a month or so until they're like, OK, we're going to, you know,
03:17we're going to have to walk across glass and bare feet for a second. Now we got it. Now we're ready to go.
03:22So let's stay on that standard on the defensive side of the football. Denard Wilson is going to
03:27take over a defense that we all felt underperformed last season. What type of immediate impact do you
03:34think we're going to see on the defensive side of the football now that Denard Wilson is going to be
03:39calling plays? I think utilization of talent, right? When you have five guys up front that you can
03:46create different actions with, you're going to see that. You saw it a little bit with,
03:52Charlie Bullen at the last four games of the season where he was having three man and four man
03:59action with Burns and Dexter and, and Abdul Carter. Just making sure those guys are just not easy to
04:09find. They can create matchups wherever they want them. When you have those three and then you have a
04:15Roy Robinson Harris or Darius Alexander, who you can put in the mix. It makes it difficult for teams
04:22to say, okay, we got to double this guy. When all three, three of the four guys are all worthy of a
04:29double team. So it's going to be a matchup problem when he creates certain actions. And I think that's
04:36one of the things I look forward to, but I also look forward to with, with coach Wilson is a more
04:42fundamentally sound defensive backfield, right? Um, Deontay banks is, he's going to be a giant.
04:50He's under contract. They're not going to get rid of him. And I would be shocked if he allowed his
04:58career to descend to that of a glorified kick returner with the skill, with the skillset that
05:05he has and the ability that he has. I think they got to find a way to connect with him. I think they
05:11will. Um, and I think he will be motivated. Um, guy like Dexter Lawrence didn't have his best year.
05:19I don't care what anybody says. And even if he felt that he played well, good, but it wasn't the
05:26dominant Dexter Lawrence that we were accustomed to seeing for three straight years. That will
05:32change. He will become more dominant again. And the one thing that I miss about Dexter outside of
05:40that dominant play is he didn't smile. He didn't. And I'm not saying this in a bad way, but Dexter
05:45always had fun. He talked trash and he had fun. This year was more like work. And it just seems like
05:52he just wasn't, you didn't see that, that, that million dollar pearly white smile from him
05:58enough. And it was just, and I guess losing brings that, you know, that level down, but it just looks
06:05like he just wasn't enjoying the game. I'm asking you that same question just from the other side of
06:11the football. How do you think Matt Nagy, that hire impacts the offense?
06:16Well, for those who say he's a bad hire, I would ask them to name anything that they knew about the
06:27coordinators that John Harbaugh hired prior to them becoming coordinators with the Ravens. I think
06:37Nagy's going to be good because again, he's not just going out on his own. There's a standard going to be
06:44set. Coach Harbaugh will set the type of team he wants. They're going to coach to that standard
06:50and the players will play to that standard. I have no problem with the creativity of Matt Nagy. He's
06:58going to, he's going to utilize the personnel. They've got a diverse group. They've got an offensive
07:04line that is good and going to get better. So I think Nagy's going to do a good job. And I think
07:12he just brought in, um, was it Greg Roman? He just brought back in. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. So I mean,
07:20there's going to be creativity in the room and again, they're only going to coach to coach Harbaugh
07:25standard, not their own. So whatever it needs to be done, I think he'll get it done. And one thing that
07:32we've seen, if we've watched a coach Harbaugh is that if it's not working, he'll change it and fix it.
07:38So let's talk a little Superbowl here before we talk about starter Superbowl collection that you
07:44guys are, uh, are dropping. Uh, what's your kind of, what's your thoughts heading into this game?
07:49You got Sam, Sam Donald versus Drake may, are there any storylines that you're paying attention to
07:55most during the big game? Yeah, I I'm, I'm looking at the, the little things are unexpected.
08:03And when I say that, I think both teams are as equal as you can get. Both teams have good defenses.
08:11Both teams run the ball. Both teams have good wide receivers. Both teams have good cornerbacks.
08:18But the one thing that I give the Patriots the edge to is Mike Vrabel's ability to prepare his team
08:26for the things that will come up in a, in a game like the Superbowl. It's always the unexpected.
08:34If you look at, you know, when Mike played as a Patriot in Superbowls, it was always some little
08:43thing that made the difference, whether it was special teams, defense or offense that the other
08:48team didn't expect, or the other team did something expecting the Patriots not to be prepared for it.
08:55And they were, and a classic exhibit of that is the Seattle Patriots game where everybody in the world
09:06thought that Marshawn Lynch was going to get the ball, but the Patriots prepared based on personnel
09:12and based on probability of what could happen out of that personnel. And Malcolm Butler was right there
09:19to make the interception. I'm sure Pete Carroll said we got them because everybody in the world
09:24thinks that they're going to run the football down on the goal line, but they were aware,
09:31looking at personnel changes is not just window dressing, but something that they were planning
09:36to do. And the Patriots prepared for it. That's the edge. I give this 2026 Superbowl Patriots that
09:43they're going to be prepared for all of those different things.
09:46So when you look at both these teams, the way the roster is constructed, then the DNA of this roster
09:53Giants pick at five for the draft. What position do you feel as though they should go that could come
10:00in and grab a guy or, or a player in a certain position that can impact the Giants the most?
10:07I think any player picked in the top five should be an impact. I don't have the data or of how these
10:16guys are ranked. Obviously people talk a lot about the Texas tech defender. They talk about the three
10:23players at Ohio state. But there are a lot of good players in this draft. The Giants have needs just
10:29about anywhere. They could add a player at wide receiver. And if that player produces is going to be a
10:36great pick. But I guess it's this thing they call value, right? So do you take a linebacker at number
10:45five if he's not valued to be a fifth player overall in the draft? I don't know, but the Giants,
10:51I think they'll get a good player. I think the track record over the last couple of years
10:56has said that they've, they've been picking some really good players for the future of this franchise
11:03or for the now of this franchise. All right, Banks, let's get to the fun part. Everybody's sitting
11:09around. They see the gear, they see the helmet in the back. Everybody wants to know about Starter and
11:14your involvement. You guys got the Starter times Averex collaboration. That's a throwback. You got
11:21the Starter Super Bowl collection. And you guys just dropped the news that you're going to be working
11:28with the biggest artists on the planet. What can you tell us about Starter's involvement with the
11:33Super Bowl? Yeah, we just dropped the Bad Bunny Super Bowl collection. And yeah, it's a whole thing
11:41right now. Super limited, super limited out here. I don't even know how many pieces we have left in
11:48store. But you can go to starter.com starting Monday and pre-order yours. And I think Fanatics has it.
11:56But I would say, if you want this collector's item, this is, this is, this is epic. Like, when you see this
12:04jacket, and it's on, you know, it's on the Starter Instagram, it's on NFL Instagram. And it's on my Instagram
12:11as well. This is a collector's piece. And it's, it's very unique. I'm super excited that we have the opportunity
12:21to work with him and to, to drop this, this really special piece.
12:26Well, it makes me feel cool, too, because you guys send me gear for Giants games. Now you got Bad Bunny
12:31rocking the gear as well. I mean, can't get any bigger than that. Brandon Lennon and Bad Bunny
12:36right there. Like, those are two great. There we go.
12:38Just have your merch on. That's right.
12:41Well, Carl, appreciate you hopping on. Enjoy the Super Bowl. Keep crushing it on the, in the
12:45entrepreneurship world. And we absolutely love what you have been able to do with the
12:49Starter brand, bringing it back. Because for a lot of us, we grew up with that brand. So,
12:53you know, it's like, no doubt you're all over again. I'll see you.
12:56Appreciate it, bro. All right. Thank you, man.
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