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© 2026 The Inner Circle
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A new era of conversations. Real access, untold stories, and behind the scenes perspectives from those who played the game, cover it, and shape it.
24 Episodes
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Send a text This week one of the most plugged-in and respected insiders in all of sports media, Adam Schefter, enters the circle. Schefter joins the show fresh off breaking news, which is exactly how this episode begins... with plenty of laughs about his late arrival after being pulled into the nonstop chaos of NFL insider life. From there, the conversation turns into a fascinating, candid look at what it really takes to be the man at the center of the NFL news cycle. Adam opens up abou...
Send a text Coming to you from Indianapolis at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine, the crew brings you for a real behind-the-scenes look at the biggest “job interview” in football. Aaron takes you back to his own Combine experience, the months of prep, the nerves on the start line, and the moment he lost focus for a split second when a familiar coach talked trash right before his 40. AD shares what he trained for, what teams actually cared about, how the process felt inside an empty stadium, and w...
Send a text This week on the Inner Circle Podcast, Aaron Donald, Zach Klein and Todd France sit down with Baltimore Ravens General Manager Eric DeCosta, one of the longest tenured executives in the NFL and a two time Super Bowl champion who has helped shape a modern powerhouse through the draft, development, and relentless standards. Eric opens with a story that perfectly sums up how long he and Todd have been in the grind together, dating back to the Blue Gray game days when a young To...
Send a text Brian Burns is built to hunt quarterbacks and this season he proved it on the biggest stage. On this episode of The Inner Circle Podcast, AD, Z and T-France sit down with the New York Giants’ “sack man” after a monster year that saw Burns finish second in the NFL in sacks (16.5), earn All-Pro recognition, and become one of the most talked-about edge rushers in football. But this isn’t just a “tell us about your stats” conversation. Burns opens with a behind-the-scenes look a...
Send a text This week we begin with Aaron taking us inside the NFC Championship game and the experience from a retired player’s perspective. Standing for the anthem, feeling the jitters return, and describing that split-second “I could still do this” rush that never really leaves. He reacts to the Rams coming up just short, what it feels like to be that close to the Super Bowl, and why those final red-zone moments decide everything in January. AD also gives Seattle credit for what they did we...
Send a text Matt Ryan is officially off the Inner Circle Podcast roster and on the clock full-time as the Falcons’ president of football, so Zach Klein, Aaron Donald and Todd France keep the show moving the only way you can when a heavyweight exits: bring in another one. This week’s guest is Jim Nagy, the former NFL scout and longtime personnel voice who ran the Senior Bowl and is now coming up on a year as the general manager at Oklahoma. And if you think the NFL front office life is intense...
Send a text The Inner Circle is back for the first show of 2026 — and it’s loaded. It's a wide-ranging, behind-the-curtain episode that hits the two biggest engines in football right now: the NFL postseason grind and the chaos of modern college “free agency.” First, AD breaks down the debate every contender faces in Week 18: rest vs. rust. Using the Eagles as the jumping-off point, he explains how players feel when coaches sit starters, why veteran teams handle it differently than young roste...
Send a text ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit (“Herbie”) joins The Inner Circle for a wide-ranging, funny, and surprisingly personal conversation about what it really takes to stay elite in sports media for three decades and why preparation is still his “superpower.” We open with a full-circle moment: Aaron Donald brings up the Herbie trophy Kirk sent him after AD’s monster 2013 season at Pitt, and the guys have some fun reliving it—before Matt Ryan jumps in with a classic gripe: “Hold on… when did thes...
Send a text This week on The Inner Circle Podcast, the crew hits on the real stuff that defines an NFL season: timing, health, and the thin line between “next man up” and “everything just changed.” We open with the brutal injury news rocking the league — headlined by Patrick Mahomes’ torn ACL and Micah Parsons going down at the worst possible time. Aaron Donald and Matt Ryan break down what those losses do beyond the stat sheet: the immediate hit to a locker room’s confidence, the ripple effe...
Send a text Dan Lanning went from grad assistant chasing Aaron Donald around at Pitt… to one of the hottest head coaches in college football. In this episode of The Inner Circle Podcast, the guys pull him inside the circle for a brutally honest, funny, and surprisingly emotional conversation. Lanning kicks things off with the real AD origin story — including the scout-team quarterback whose collarbone paid the price for a new zone-read scheme. From there, he explains the one mistake he made l...
Send a text Weight checks, trash talk and playoff dreams collide on Episode 14 of The Inner Circle Podcast for an hour that feels like hanging in the locker room after a win. The guys open with the scale – literally. AD reveals he’s back near his playing weight on a one-meal-a-day routine, triggering a hilarious deep dive into NFL weigh-ins, “golden gobbler” Thanksgiving awards, weight clauses, fines, and the very real mind games players have with that number on Tuesday mornings. Matt explain...
Send a text Super Bowl–winning head coach Jon Gruden jumps into the Inner Circle for a no-BS masterclass in real football. At 62, he’s still living like an NFL coach.. in the office early, two servers full of tape, grading quarterbacks on feet, decisions and every throw. and he’s not shy about what’s gone wrong with today’s game. Gruden and Matt go deep on what truly separates great quarterbacks from the rest: protections, communication and timing. They tie Rich Gannon’s late-career breakout ...
Send a text From Pittsburgh to pure chaos across the NFL, this episode of The Inner Circle is a ride. We open with Aaron Donald going home: Pitt rolls out the red carpet, his jersey hits the rafters, he jumps on College GameDay, and yes… the shirt comes off. AD gets real about being overlooked in high school — only three offers, Pitt, Toledo and Akron — and what it felt like seeing that banner drop: “I never dreamed that big… it all came from just working my ass off.” Then we pivot hard to th...
Send a text For the first time ever, The Inner Circle Podcast welcomes a guest — and it’s a big one. Super Bowl champion and MVP frontrunner Matthew Stafford. Stafford gets into the reality of having Sean McVay in his ear, especially during TV timeouts when the clock isn’t running and the coaching points won’t stop. He explains the subtle “cut it” signal he flashes when it’s time to roll, and why he ditched kneeling in the huddle after an MRI showed a season-long bone bruise on his kneecap. H...
Send a text The crew opens with Jayden Daniels’ late-game injury and a debate about whether coaches should keep their star players in when the game’s already out of reach. Matt and AD share the player’s mindset of never wanting to come out, and when a coach has to protect his guys from themselves. From there, Matt gives fans a rare inside look at how NFL teams actually scout referee crews each week. He explains how coaching staffs know which refs call the most holding, pass interference, or r...
Send a text It’s Halloween week on The Inner Circle as the guys open the show debating the ultimate Halloween candy draft.. Reese’s vs Snickers vs Peanut M&M's and the proper etiquette when it comes to handing out the big bars. From there, the group discusses the weekend’s biggest surprises: Miami’s blowout win over Atlanta. Matt breaks down how Mike McDaniel and Tua Tagovailoa completely flipped the script, using a physical inside run game and perfectly timed screens to find rhythm. Aaro...
Send a text AD steps into the broadcast booth for a hilarious on-air simulation gone wrong, while Matt shares what it’s really like when producers talk in your ear mid-broadcast. The guys break down Patrick Mahomes’ trick play magic, TJ Hockenson’s overturned touchdown, and Baker Mayfield’s outburst over officiating. Todd takes us inside the business of stat appeals (did you know you could do such a thing?) fines, and the politics of NFL trades, including a wild story about a deal that fell a...
Send a text It was one of those weeks in the NFL where everything flipped. Bijan Robinson officially arrived with a national breakout performance that had the whole crew buzzing. Matt Ryan called it Bijan’s coming-out party. Aaron Donald broke down exactly how he’d try to stop him — from film study to reading his hips — and Zach Klein said what every Falcons fan is thinking: this team runs through Bijan now. Meanwhile, in Dallas, Dak Prescott played one of his best games of the year and still...
Send a text We go inside the Eagles’ locker room drama and the growing tension that’s turning teammates into rivals. Aaron Donald opens up about being a sore loser on and off the field... including the day he benched himself after his son’s game. Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield steals the show with a pregame tunnel trash-talk clinic only he could deliver, and agent Todd France lifts the curtain on how deals really get done in the NFL. Matt tells us how long play calls are how ...
Send a text The guys kick off Episode 5 with locker-room fines and how players keep each other in check, before diving into Micha Parsons' return in the Cowboys–Packers game. AD thinks Dak Prescott is playing MVP ball. He also breaks down the grind of facing double teams week after week, while Matt explains how devastating it is for a young QB (Jaxson Dart) to lose his top weapon (Malik Nabors) so early in the season. Todd pulls back the curtain on how contracts, bonuses, and inju...
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