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John Middlekauff is a former NFL scout and former contributor to The Athletic Bay Area who now appears regularly on The Colin Cowherd Podcast and The Herd with Colin Cowherd. His predictions span the NFL calendar — draft positioning, win totals, playoff berths, Super Bowl picks — with particular attention to teams like the 49ers, Chiefs, and Bears. He digs into roster construction and coaching decisions, whether it's evaluating quarterback prospects like Jaxson Dart and Ty Simpson or debating whether the Steelers are headed for disaster. The scouting background shows in how he frames things: fit, scheme, and where a player lands on the depth chart.
Writes at The Colin Cowherd Podcast (podcast)
Every take from John Middlekauff, including the ones still waiting →
Is John Middlekauff accurate? Across 113 graded calls in 35 articles, John Middlekauff scores 60.95% accuracy and a MissedTakes Score of 12.23, which means their calls were better than a naive guess on the same claims. That is an established record: thirty or more graded articles.
96.01% of their claims were specific enough to check. Most of what they said committed to something.
Every number here is computed from the published methodology, and every call below shows its own arithmetic.
7 of 35 graded articles on this page, newest first — page 2 of 3.
San Francisco 49ers to finish with 9–10 wins
“so I think the Niners probably more likely to win nine or ten games”
Denver Broncos to finish with 10 wins
“if you have a dominant defense with an offensive coach who's proven, like, how are your floor is so high? I mean your floor is immediately like ten wins.”
Jared Goff to make Pro Bowl
“I would say he's going to make five or six Pro Bowls in his time in the NFC”
New England Patriots to finish with 8–9 wins
“Why couldn't they go nine to eight this year?... I could see the Patriots winning eight or nine games.”
Baltimore Ravens to make the playoffs
“The Ravens, the Bills, and the Chiefs will be in a playoff game whether they are win the division.”
Baltimore Ravens to win the division
“Maybe the Chiefs finally don't, but the Ravens and Bills, I mean the Bills of one of what five straight years, feels like the Ravens would be shocking if they didn't”
Houston Texans to win the division
“I am going to hammer the Texans. I'm going to hammer them to win this division.”
Buffalo Bills to make the playoffs
“The Ravens, the Bills, and the Chiefs will be in a playoff game whether they are win the division.”
Anthony Richardson to move to Indianapolis Colts
“I would imagine the next ten days if they get any bit of value a fifth round pick he's traded, it's over”
Buffalo Bills to win the division
“Maybe the Chiefs finally don't, but the Ravens and Bills, I mean the Bills of one of what five straight years”
Kansas City Chiefs to make the playoffs
“The Ravens, the Bills, and the Chiefs will be in a playoff game whether they are win the division.”
Buffalo Bills to finish with 14 wins
“I think there's a fifty to fifty chance there the number one see, I expect them to win fourteen plus games.”
Detroit Lions to finish with 10 wins
“the Lions. Now, I think have established themselves. What happens in the playoffs, who knows, but they're going to be a double digit win team.”
Omarion Hampton to win Offensive Rookie of the Year
“I don't think it's outrageous to go offensive rookie of the year... So I would say offensive Rookie of the Year would be on the table for sure.”
San Francisco 49ers to win the division
“I want the Niners to win the division... I'm gonna I was gonna bet on the Niners to win the division anyway.”
Matthew Stafford to be 1st on the depth chart
“does Matt Stafford start Week one? I would lean yes, even though I have no more information than anyone else”
Daniel Jones to be 1st on the depth chart
“I will stick with what I said. I think Daniel Jones gonna be the starting quarterback.”
Omarion Hampton to record 10 rushing tds
“Could Hampton be a thirteen hundred yard rusher and have ten plus touchdowns”
Omarion Hampton to record 1,300 rushing yards
“Could Hampton be a thirteen hundred yard rusher and have ten plus touchdowns because he's it's pretty freaking good.”
Denver Broncos to finish with 11 wins
“I think the Bronx is gonna be pretty good. And if he's good and you have an elite defense, they're gonna win eleven twelve games.”
Omarion Hampton to be 1st on the depth chart
“So Hampton was gonna start over him regardless... So I think Hardball would ride Hampton like a like secretariat”
Green Bay Packers to win the division
“I'm gonna pick the Packers to win the division.”
Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win the division
“And as we're sitting here right now I'm giving it to the Bucks”
Kyler Murray to move
“And I think there's a pretty good chance that Kyler Murray is playing somewhere else in twenty twenty six.”
Green Bay Packers to make the playoffs
“I mean, I expect the Packers to make the playoffs”
Daniel Jones to be 1st on the depth chart
“Anthony Richardson is going into his third year. I think we all know how this thing's gonna end. Daniel Jones going to be starting week one.”
“I know Sirianni has won the Super Bowl, but I would take Dan Campbell over Nick Sirianni.”
Jauan Jennings to be 1st on the depth chart
“are you niece torn Ricky Pearsall is already injured? Like I am, clearly the number one wide receiver on this team heading into week one, not even debatable”
Patrick Mahomes to finish top 1 at his position, by passing yards
“Like I'm sorry, Patrick Mahomes is one. Like I don't even know how you argue”
Dak Prescott to finish top 12 at his position, by an unstated measure
“I think he's a top twelve quarterback who is really really underachieved in January”
Bo Nix to finish top 15 at his position, by passing yards
“But is he gonna be a top twelve starter, fifteen starter half of the league for sure of this year? Yes?”
Jauan Jennings to record 80 receptions
“I'd be stunned if he got seventy seven balls last year, if he didn't catch eighty plus balls this season.”
Chicago Bears to finish with 10 wins
“The Bears should win ten games.”
“There's no way you can have the Bears above the Broncos. It's impossible.”
Denver Broncos to finish with 10 wins
“if you have a dominant defense with an offensive coach who's proven, like, how are your floor is so high? I mean, your floor is immediately like ten wins.”
Green Bay Packers to win the division
“the reason when we did the segment last week about picking them to win the division is they won eleven games where the quarterback was banged up”
San Francisco 49ers to finish with 9 wins
“They have no excuse to not win. I think at minimum nine games... anything other than nine wins if you're the forty nine ers based on this schedule... would be viewed as a disaster.”