Trey McBride with Bussin' Boys: 4 Major Disses

 By Walter Mitchell

Having recently watched Trey McBride's guest appearance with Bussin' With The Boys and Paris Johnson Jr.'s interview with the PHNX Cardinals crew, the most obvious common denominator was how the hosts took prolonged lol pot shots at certain people, the Arizona Cardinals and in McBride's case, not only a beat down of the Cardinals, but an unsavory ridiculing of Colorado St. to boot. Link:

Trey McBride Recaps Career Journey From Small Town Colorado to Highest Paid NFL Tight End | Bussin'

Bussin' With The Boys --- 4 Major Laugh Fest Disses

1. "The Cardinals have no fans" (Trey McBride). The Bussin' Boys stated that there were sightings of Cardinals' fans during the 2008 Super Bowl but that once the game was over the fans disappeared. Trey explained that most Arizonans are transplants who are fans of other NFL teams. But, thankfully, added at the end that, "Hopefully, we start winning games and we can bring some of those (Super Bowl) fans back." 

2. A complete ridiculing of Colorado St. Nothing positive was ever said about the university or the program. Trey said that his older brother was playing football at CSU and that they came from such a small high school that he wasn't sure whether he could play well in college, but at CSU he realized he could. When his coaching staff moved on to coach the offense at South Carolina, Trey thought he would transfer there, especially because at first, the Mountain West Conference was planning to skip playing football that year during COVID. Yet, when the conference changed its mind and decided to play and when the new head coach, Steve Addazio, made a passionate plea for Trey to stay, he elected to stay. Being an hour and a half away from home and appreciating that his parents were able to come to every game were contributing factors.

Not only did Trey stay, he went on that year to win the esteemed John Mackey Award as the nation's best tight end. Smaller school tight ends rarely ever are considered for the award. So, after Trey won the Mackey and is drafted in the 2nd round of the 2022 NFL Draft by the Cardinals, he revealed that Colorado St. had asked him whether they could keep the actual Mackey Trophy on display at the university and that a replica of the exact trophy was going to cost $15,000, Trey said the trophy was his and that he was going to keep it and that if they wanted the replica they could figure it out. Trey told CSU to ask their donors. This had the Bussin' Boys guffawing something fierce. And the Boys doubled down by saying to Trey on the behalf of CSU, "we don't have any donors, Trey."

3. "You (Trey McBride) are the only bright light on the Cardinals." After Trey did a great job of explaining how fortunate he was as a rookie to learn from the likes of JJ Watt, DeAndre Hopkins, A.J. Green and Zach Ertz, the Bussin' Boys asked him what it's like right now to be the "one bright light" on the team. Trey just agreed, yeah, "the one bright light." Then he said that going into his 5th season only Budda Baker and one other player have been with the Cardinals longer than he has. 

4. "Actually, the Cardinals' original offer was $12M a year, yeah you know the Cardinals..." This came after Trey had told the story of how his agent called him to say the Cardinals offered 4 years for $64M and Trey wanted his agent to lock that down immediately, save that the agent told him the offer wasn't high enough --- and so the Cardinals eventually agreed to make Trey McBride the highest paid tight end in NFL history at $19M a year. But the Bussin' Boys then asked what the starting offer was.

Comments:

1. What Trey and the Bussin' Boys apparently do not understand, the Cardinals came to Arizona with a sizable fan base from St. Louis and across the country. They may have lost some fans over the years, but I know of a hefty number of fans who have stayed committed to the Cardinals. Thus, to long-time Cardinals' fans in Arizona like Saguaro Sam and Redrun and across the country like Kyle "L'il Rock" and me, who have stuck by the team through all of the rough seasons, the cherished few playoffs' seasons and all the customary disappointments, the notion that "there are no Cardinals' fans" is a major sign of disrespect.

2. Colorado St. did so much for Trey McBride. To watch him diss on them was tough. He appeared so ungrateful. Trey wouldn't have won the Mackey without his teammates and his new HC Steve Addazio (former OC at Florida and HC at BC) designing the offense around him the way he did for Aaron Hernadez at Florida in Urban Meyer's offense. If I were one of Trey's coaches or teammates at Colorado St. watching this interview, I would have been pissed off at how he talked about the program and how he just sat there and let the Bussin' Boys rank on his Rams as if they are the worst program in college football. Fact is, Trey is one of 4 CSU Rams who are currently playing in the NFL, along with WR Tory Horton (SEA), OLB Mohammed Kamara (TB) and LS Trent Sieg (DAL). In 2024 the Rams were 8-4, 6-2 in the Mountain West and lost to Miami (OH) in the Arizona Bowl. It's not like they have never been good. The times I have watched them; the Rams typically play very hard. 

3. Trey McBride is not the only bright light in Arizona but accepted himself as such. He had a golden opportunity to give a few shout outs to some teammates but chose not to. He did not laud a single veteran on the current team (save for saying that Budda, his regular golf partner, is starting to sneak up on him occasionally these days or for conceding that Jacoby Brissett makes tracking the football a tad easier than Kyler Murray because of his height and higher release point). However, later in the show he said some positive things about Jeremiyah Love and Carson Beck. That was encouraging.

4. The irony is --- the Cardinals wound up making Trey McBride, after three seasons (with only one highly productive year), the highest paid tight end in NFL history and yet Trey McBride managed to  throw the Cardinals under the bus for their initial $12M offer by saying "you know the Cardinals." In reality, the Cardinals were making a true leap of faith in paying Trey $19M a year for two reasons: (1) the Cardinals recent history of giving Tyrann Mathhieu, David Johnson, Jalen Thompson and Kyler Murray "too much too soon" contracts after 3 years of their rookie deals; (2) when you look at all the tight ends whom Trey McBride leapfrogged in annual salary like George Kittle, Travis Kelce and T.J. Hockenson, each had previously accomplished so much more --- therefore the truth is Trey McBride hadn't yet earned that kind of yearly salary. The 4 year $64M offer was generous, but Trey wound up saying he wanted $20M. After one highly productive season? Fortunately for the Cardinals and him, Trey responded to the Cardinals' vote of confidence by elevating his game to the highest levels in terms of catches (117 - NFL  record), yards (1,239), TDs (11), for making the Pro Bowl (2nd time) and being named to 1st Team All-NFL (first time). 

Trey McBride is a very likeable person and an electrifying player. I am one of his hugest fans. The Bussin' Boys want to generate good laughs with their guests.  But in this case, the laughs came at the expense of dissing Cardinals' fans, Colorado St, the Arizona Cardinals for having only "one bright light" and still being the cheapest franchise in the NFL. even after they have repeatedly rewarded 3rd year players with contract extensions that are commensurate with the league's highest paid salaries at key positions.

If the Cardinals are going to turn their fortunes around it is going to take concerted efforts from their best players in being strong advocates and ambassadors of the team. I hope that given future opportunities to lift the team up rather than kick the team when it's down, Trey McBride will be a leader in that cause. I could see how he got a little manipulated in this interview by the Bussin' Boys --- they want the laughs --- and they often interrupted Trey just when he was trying to answer their questions. It's just too bad that the laughs were putdowns that have become stigmas for the Cardinals that their players need to work extra hard to erase.