The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 05/03/2021 - HOUR 1 - Draft grades, Packers, Jets, Cowboys

Episode Date: May 3, 2021

How Colin grades the NFL Draft for each teamThe Packers will be fine IF Jordan Love can playThe Jets need to be patienceThe Cowboys had a weird draftGuest: Albert Breer Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Colin was wrong, there is plenty of both. I love the draft. Sat there all weekend. I know. Joy Taylor is joining me. I love it. It's my thing. It was actually a very packed sports weekends.

The draft all weekends, Kentucky Derby, the Ruiz Areola fight. It was a busy weekend. It was. Lakers looked like they're in trouble. LeBron got hurt. We'll get to that. So let me start with this. I don't give draft grades.

I think they're very consumable, but sort of ridiculous. I'm not going to pretend I know how well your sixth and seventh and mostly your fifth round picks are going to do. It's silly. I mean, I saw this weekend, oh, Patriots get an A plus. If Mack Jones is average, it's a bad draft. Oh, the Jets draft. Can Zach Wilson play? Or is he completely overwhelmed for two years, my prediction,

in the best defensive coach division in football? I'm not going to make grades on drafts. I mean, these teams that drafted quarterbacks, if your quarterback doesn't work, it's a terrible draft. Chicago's could be a great draft, or it could be terrible, so I'm not going to waste time. Now, I will say this. my job is to give you as potentially accurate an evaluation as I can.

So what I've done, anybody that's listened to me, Joy has been here. What I do every Monday after the draft, I think has a much greater chance to be accurate. I take your top two or three top free agents, your top two or three draft picks, and then those guys, it's a much greater chance they hit. And I thought there was three teams that got an A-plus. and they were already really good rosters. I thought the Cleveland Browns get an A plus for their offseason. The L.A. Chargers get an A plus for their off season.

And the Kansas City Chiefs get an A plus for their off season. So let me explain. Cleveland's already got a nice roster. They made the playoffs and they won a playoff game. But their back end was awful. They not only addressed their linebacking and secondary, they massively upgraded. That was as good a weekend as the Cleveland Browns have ever had in terms of addressing more of their issues. So you get Jadabian Clowny, Troy Hill, John Johnson.

These guys have played in the league. These guys have, these are grownups. These are men, not boys in the NFL. Then you go get a corner Greg Newsom, who I had going in the first round earlier than they got him. And maybe the linebacker from Notre Dame. So what you get here is a mix of veterans. You get a mix of youth. You get guys who have called plays.

John Johnson for the Rams has been calling plays for a defense. You get grown-ups kids and you attack your one weakness. And I already know you got a good coach and can win a playoff game because I saw it last year. That is an A-plus off season. You had a weakness. You solved it with veterans and draft picks. Not just kids. I don't want to hear, oh, we drafted nine.

I mean, you got, most GMs in trades don't want nine picks because half these guys don't pan out. So Cleveland A plus. Let's go to the Chargers. Really good roster, but a bad O line. Not only did they solve their O line, it could be as good as any not named Kansas City or maybe the Colts in football. Corey Lindley Pro Bowler, from bad at center to a Pro Bowl center. then they got Roshan Slater, Asante Samuel, and Josh Palmer. Josh Palmer is going to be the surprise third round pick in the draft.

Had a bad college quarterback. Kids a stud. So they attacked with Justin Herbert. They attacked their weakness, got a Pro Bowl center, many graded the top left tackle, and then they got the best corner drafted in the second round. And again, Jared Cook, Corey Lindley, and the Steelers, I didn't put it here, but they got a Steeler Guard as well. Major upgrade.

And it's not just upgrading for any quarterback. It's upgrading for Justin Herbert. They already have good weapons. And the team that's not getting mentioned that had a great offseason is the Kansas City Chiefs. Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes, what do they need to make it work? A good quarterback. Check, Mahomes. A good offensive line.

That was a huge issue in the Super Bowl. They not only made their offensive line great, they added depth. They got Orlando Brown, Pro Bowl left tackle. Joe Tuny, Pro Bowl Guard, Kyle Long, out of the football. retirement. Austin Blythe, top 10 center. Then they drafted Creed Humphrey from Oklahoma, the best center. Now they have two legitimate elite centers. Their weakness linebacker, they got Nick Bolton, who I thought should have been drafted higher. These are playoff teams already. These are good rosters already that had a hole. And the Browns attacked their

linebacker in secondary. The Chargers attacked their offensive line. What the Chiefs did to their offensive line is beyond attacked. Shark NATO. They got stuff flying all over here. They added a great center, then a college center. And again, you're giving Mahomes, Justin Herbert, Baker, Mayfield. These are guys that can, these are big time, you know, I got my issues with Baker, but he won a playoff game. So to me, those are A plus off seasons. Stephansky won coach of the year. Herbert was the best rookie quarterback and Andy Reid Mahomes, enough set. Now I want to mention two other drafts I thought were really strong because the coaches used to coach in college. So I predicted they do well in the draft they did.

Jacksonville in Carolina. Again, Urban just out of college. Matt Rule one year out of college. I thought both of them showed a complete direction. Both went heavy into offense. They're both offensive coaches. The Jacksonville Jaguars went quarterback, running back, offensive tackle. They're telling you right now, we're going to build a running game.

we're going to build a running game to take the pressure off Trevor Lawrence. For the first time in a decade, Jacksonville's got a direction, I believe a culture changer and stars offensively. They're not going to be very good defensively. They'll score points. Same thing for Carolina. They're not going to be a great team. But they went out and said, we're going to get hyper-athletic quarterback Sam Darnold.

They got the best corner in the draft. And then look what they did. Wide receiver, left tackle, tied in. I'll say this. Chubba Hubbard is going to be potentially the steal of the draft. So I don't think those off seasons are as good as the Chiefs Browns Chargers, but these teams, these offensive coaches said we're going to be explosive. Now, if you want me to just trade best draft, I don't do it because I don't know what

your fifth, sixth, seventh round guys are going to be. But I will say the Miami Dolphins on sheer draft, five picks, four could be high-end starters and Hunter Long may eventually start at tight end. I thought Miami in terms of just drafting. I love their draft last year mostly, too. But Jalen Waddle now gets to play with his college quarterback. So the 3A plus off seasons, Browns, Chargers, Chiefs, the two teams were the college coaches with an offensive background, clearly head in the offensive direction.

Urban and the Jags, Matt Rule and the Panthers. And just in terms of draft, I thought Miami crushed it, just in terms of draft picks. Okay. So the Aaron Rogers situation, it's so weird, and I actually love, you know, Aaron is the gift that keeps on giving. So Aaron Rogers, Day of the Draft, Charger or Packers burned him a year ago, I'm going to burn you. And so right now the story is the ball is in Mark Murphy's court. Aaron wants the Packer GM out. The GM of the Packer is Brian Gudenkins.

He went and got Jordan Love last year, apparently went a little rogue. Here's the whole thing here. It's not that complicated. If Jordan Love, who they drafted last year in the first round can play, your problems are really not that dire. What you do after June 1st, you trade Aaron, so you split up the salary cap hit. you call Denver, say give me three first rounders and Jerry Judy the wide receiver.

If Jordan Love can play and you drafted him in the first round, he doesn't cost anything. So the dead cap hit for Aaron Rogers isn't the end of the world. It all comes down to can Jordan Love play? I'm not saying problem completely solved. But think about this. if you could go to a Denver, and that appears to be the leader in the clubhouse for him, and get like Jerry Judy, their receiver last year, I'd have Devante Adams, Jerry Judy, Aaron Jones, a top five offensive lineman, and Robert Tanya, the tight end,

had 11 touchdowns last year, and Matt LaFle the coach. In a division with dysfunctional Detroit, Kirk Cousins, and rookie Justin Fields. Green Bay would win the division. Would win the division probably easily if Jordan Love can play. and that's why you took him right in the first round. I always said, I got the Jordan Love move. I understand it, but it only works if he can play. But instead, Jordan Love is a beautiful mystery in the words of Aaron Rogers.

Is he Paxton Lynch? Some say he is. Is he potentially a B plus Mahomes? Some say he is. He's had a year in the system. Can the dude play? We don't know. Because of COVID, the media is not allowed to go to practice.

So nobody knows. Is he Paxton Lynch? Is he Patrick Mahomes? But, but, I mean, there have been more UFO sightings in the last seven days than Jordan Love sightings in the last year. So this whole situation with Aaron Rogers, if you're at practice and you're watching him and you're like, he's 85% of Josh Allen or Mahomes, you've got no issues. Aaron's 37, two collarbones, very expensive, prickly, difficult to get along with.

It's a divorce. He wants to go play West. He's dating somebody from Hollywood. He's doing jeopardy. You're fine. I mean, your division, let's be honest, is dysfunctional. Chicago hopes Justin Fields can play. Dan Campbell, Lions, Kirk Cousins, Limitations, Minnesota.

This all comes down to a general manager in Green Bay. who said, hey, this kid is potentially great. All right, it's on you. If he is, this is not that big of a deal. I mean, don't get me wrong. Aaron Rogers will leave, but it's not like if Aaron goes to the Broncos, he's going to line up nine straight Super Bowls. He's 37.

He's never had that Tom Brady, I want to play forever, Gene. He's already doing jeopardy. You know, Aaron's had injuries. Tom didn't have those kind of injuries. And frankly, if you go to a division with Justice, Herbert and Patrick Mahomes. I'm not, that is a lot of barriers to go through to just win the division, forget Super Bowls. But if Jordan Love can't play, then you got to fire the GM because it was a terrible

pick. You may have ruined the culture of the Packers and you ticked off your franchise quarterback. So it all comes down to the general manager, Brian Gungis. Do you know what you're doing? If Jordan Love can play, It's not, this is pretty easy. I mean, when Mahomes, they recognized he could play, the Alex Smith situation, see you, buddy, thanks from entering.

All comes down to that. Brett Veach and Andy Reed, draft a guy that none of us watched playing college, didn't know anything about, well, you got Alex Smith. Is Alex Smith going to be offended? Oh, boy, he's pretty good. No problem. If Jordan Love can play, move Aaron. Get picks. Jerry, Judy. You're going to win your division.

Most problems, I tell my kids this all the time. Most problems get overstated. God, go to social media. Everything's the end of the world. We just had a pandemic. California had a $15 billion surplus in a pandemic. Today in L.A. County, we didn't have a single death. There's 10 million people here. The COVID rate in L.A. County is 0.6%. This is the most diverse county in America. We're through it. A pandemic. Economy's flying. Nothing's the end of the world as long as you're prepared. If Jordan Love can play, then you're prepared.

All right. We got a lot of stuff. By the way, Cleveland, I talked about this about three weeks ago. Remember when I said, schedule release is May 12th. It's Wednesday. Everybody thinks schedule release is, you know, overrated. It is so important for Cleveland. Also, thoughts on the Jets all weekend long.

What do you think of the Jets draft? I'll tell you what I think of it. That's coming up next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the I-Hard Radio app. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying.

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Enter my name, Heard. Two dozen multicolored roses, $2,99. So everybody wants to know, oh, our draft grade, one of the teams, obviously they pick second. They got Zach Wilson. How was the Jets draft? And my thing is, it doesn't matter. They're a fourth place team. The Jets fans don't need a draft grade.

What they need is patience. It's a bunch of firsts. You have a first-time head coach and a sports. first-time play caller and a rookie quarterback from a small town and several offensive players who were in their first or second year. It's a fourth place team. Just be patient. Miami was 10 and six. Great special teams, great defense, and had a great offensive draft. You're not, you're not finishing ahead of them. Buffalo was 13 and 3. Has one real weakness pass rush. First two picks, pass rushers. New England spent a fortune in the offseason.

has the best football coach ever, Cam Newton year two, and eight players opt back in. You're not beating them. They were seven and nine, and that was a disaster for them. The New York Jets are a fourth place team. Listen, there's four teams in the NFL that I think are going to finish last. Two, I would pick today, Detroit and Houston. Two others, Philadelphia and the Jets, I presume they're fourth place teams. Zach Wilson looks 11, small town, Utah, big city New York.

this is going to take time. You've got to be patient. I mean, God, Zach Wilson's mom looks 28. Forget Zach. This is just a young kid. This is a brutal division, defensive coaches, best defensive coach division easily in the NFL. Zach Wilson is going to be completely overwhelmed for two years. That's why I said you could have made an argument to keep darnold because at least he's seen the coaching in this division.

So you're starting over at quarterback. This is Sam Darnold is a rookie. The difference is he has a competent general manager and a much better left side of the offensive line. But how did the Jets draft go? I don't know. It doesn't really matter. How is your patience?

That's going to matter. Don't call sports talk radio when they're one in five. That's what they're probably going to be if they have to face Belichick and Brian Flores and Sean McDermott early. Everything's perspective. Perspective will control your. happiness. If I said to you, you're a 6 and 11 team, that's not necessarily a disaster if you'll lose a bunch of close games and Zach Wilson can play. If I was a jet fan today and you said,

Zach's a, he's a hit. And we lost a ton of close games. I'd take 6 and 11 tomorrow. Tomorrow. Now, if you tell me, you're 7 and 10 and Zach Wilson had 17 picks. And to be honest with you, you got some scheduling breaks. Cam got hurt. You didn't play them twice. You just got to sit back, let it play out, let this puppy bake. Because you've got a first-time head coach and a first-time play caller and a rookie quarterback and rookies everywhere. And I got no idea how it's going to turn out.

By the way, nobody does, including Robert Sala and Joe Douglas. No team in the NFL is a bigger question mark than the Jets. You cross your fingers. You hope it's good. You hope the kid can play. But he's going from small town, Utah to the biggest city in America and the surliest media. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, I don't know how patient Chicago fans are going to be, but head coach Matt Nagy says they're not rushing Justin Fields onto the field next season. They did make an aggressive move up to get him, and he is not making any guesses about when Fields will make his debut. you. For him, it's going to be exciting for him to just come in here and learn how to be a professional quarterback. It's not going to happen overnight. When the time is right, I promise you,

every single person will know, including Justin, when it's the right time. And that's naturally how it happens. Well, it's not the Kansas City, Alex Smith, Patrick Mahom's situation. This is Chicago, and both of you are on the hot seat, yourself and in the GM. And Chicago has not had a quarterback in decades. And you just made an aggressive move up for a guy that a lot of people had ranked second right behind Trevor Lawrence. And some people even thought he might be a better prospect than Trevor Lawrence. He will play this year. So yes, we're going, we're going to see him on the field. If you're, you know, questioning at all how people feel about your current quarterback situation without Justin Fields. You can go and check the mentions under that QB1 post that you guys put up with Andy Dalton.

Also, look at the schedule. Remember how last year, a couple years ago, we predicted when Lamar Jackson would start. Remember we nailed it? We predicted we could. 11. And we kind of predicted when tool would get an opportunity. Wait until the Bears schedule comes out. If they get a buy or the lions are coming up in week nine, you know, I don't even think it'll last that long. I don't either, but there's a time to play him. So listen, if it's Green Bay at Lambo, you're not going to start him. Look at your schedule. Matt Nagy's going to look at that thing and go, okay, we got the lions, then a buy, and then home against blank. then you build some momentum.

So he's going to play. My guess is, first couple weeks of November, he'll play. Yeah, I don't think it's going to be very long at all. First of all, the fan base wants to see him. Second of all, what is your quarterback situation? Nick Foles and Andy Dallon. So how are either of them going to fare against the Green Bay Packers? The fans are going to want to see him.

And I don't subscribe as much as other people do to like rookie quarterbacks need to sit for a year. I think if you have a very, stable organization. If you have a situation where the coach has no heat on them, the GM has no heat on them, which is not the situation in Chicago. You guys are coming off a great season. That's everything that was going on with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. They drafted their quarterback of the future.

They had a very stable situation. Alex Smith, great pro, was playing in the playoffs. This is not the same situation. So I don't think that it's always the best thing for a quarterback to sit as a rookie. Like there is some value in learning what not to do when you lose, how to recover from getting blown out. I didn't think that was a good situation for Tua last year. If he was healthy, I think he should have been out there.

You also have more to evaluate when you let a rookie quarterback start. This is a different situation, obviously, because they're in the hot seat, so they may try and win a few games to your point before they put him out there, but let them get blown out once or twice, and there's not going to be any patience from the fan base anymore. So the Roncos, who I thought sure were taking Justin Fields, did not draft a rookie quarterback this year. so they will have a competition between Drew Locke and Teddy Bridgewater. In the preseason, when asked how he would split reps between the two head coach,

Vic Fangio says he expects it to be 50-50 throughout OTAs and training camp, and both Locke and Bridgewater will have an equal chance to get the starting job. I think that they're still in the conversation with Aaron Rogers. I don't think that this is – I mean, how could you pass up on Mack Jones and Justin Fields, unless that was the scenario? It's interesting because Aaron Rogers, there was a story that leaked this weekend. he was interested in the Raiders. It's like, timeout, time out, time out. Aaron.

Denver's actually, the last two drafts, has gotten a lot of good players. Like, Denver, if I told you tomorrow, Aaron Rogers on Denver, that's a good football team. I would feel better about Aaron Rogers on Denver's team than Oakland, or sorry, Las Vegas for sure. Yeah, if I told you Aaron Rogers on the Raiders, you'd be like, well, they'll be in a lot of high-scoring games with Mahalms and Justin Herbert. Right. So, like, I think Denver is one of those places that it was almost like Peyton Manning years ago. Peyton Manning looked around and went, you know, Denver just needs a quarterback. I think Denver's once again in the just needs a top quarterback.

Plus, could you see Aaron Rogers and Gruden? Well, it's good for the. I mean, it's good for us. It's good for the marquee. Yeah, but, I mean, do you think the two of them would, is there enough room? Is there enough air in the room for the two of them? My first job out of college was Vegas. Sigfried and Roy always look good on the marquee.

Gruden and Aaron's great on the marquee. It doesn't mean it's going to win. You could not get a ticket for five years. I would love it, but I'm just saying I don't know if that's a long-term winning situation. And we know at the end of the day, Gruden is the one with the contract. So finally, it's a little trouble in Lakerlands. A little. LeBron was back on the court Friday after missing over a month with an ankle injury.

his return did not help the Lakers much. They lost 110-106 to the King, the Kings, and afterwards LeBron says he doesn't think he'll ever be back to 100%. And then last night, they lost again to the Raptors. LeBron was held out of the end of the game with soreness and his ankle, and they lost 121-14. It's totally off. Well, here's sort of the issue.

So I'm sure you saw LeBron's quote about the play-in tournament. So the Lakers are six in the West, 36 and 28. The next five games are the Nuggets, Clippers, Blazers, Sons, and Nicks. And there's eight games remaining in the season. And seeds seven through ten in each conference will participate in the play-in tournaments. Seven will face eight and nine will face ten. And then the winner between seven and eight will become the seven seed in the playoffs. The loser of seven and eight will face the winner between nine and ten for the eight seed in the playoffs.

So these next five games are very important. Yeah, and they play good teams. They do not want to slip into the play-ins ornament. And they really have right now, they just have no chemistry at all. And you've got LeBron who just kind of feels all year. He's been a little bitter. You know, LeBron generally, at the end of his season, to the next season gets 120 days off. This year he got 70.

Now, he's getting older. So he wants more, not fewer. So he got almost half the time off. He didn't want an All-Star game. He didn't want the season to start. He doesn't want the playing tournament. Older LeBron is like, he's telling you, he is deeply concerned about his body. Boom.

He got hurt yesterday. Yeah, I mean, and I get it. And if I was LeBron, I'd feel the same way. Same way. But there's a whole league. That's right. So, you know, these are things we have to do. Like, you have to have an All-Star game.

You have to start the season so you can get back on track for next year. You have other teams and other players who need to get the season in. And, of course, we don't even want to talk about what would happen if we didn't because the CBA would blow up. So yes, I get it. And I'm sure Lakers fans don't want to hear that either. But that's the way that it's going this year. It's unprecedented times.

Not a great weekend for the Dodgers or the Lakers. What's happening? Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd line. Well, it was starting Thursday, a magical weekend. We all knew it was going to be Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson.

And then nobody knew what was going to happen. Number three, Niners go Trey Lance. It's Albert Breer brought to you by. Mercedes Ben's the best or nothing. M.M.Q.B. Okay, so, you know, there's a lot of different stories out there. I don't think it was a smokescreen. My takeaway was Kyle Shanahan wanted Mac and got voted out.

That was always kind of my feeling. But, you know, who knows, what do you believe happened the shift from Mac to Tray Lance? Well, I just think the gap, like the gap closed on where Mac's biggest advantage was, which was the part of the game that happens above the. neck. Really, like if you talk to enough teams about this, what they'll tell you is he was so advanced. He, like, operated so fast. And I'm not talking about foot speed. Just the way he processed the game was so fast that you can see him overcoming his physical limitations. And, you know, the Niners were pitting him against another guy and two other guys, really, that didn't have those

physical limitations. And I think the Niners learned about Trey Lans, what a lot of other teams learned about Trey Lans. His football IQ is off the charts. character's really good. He just needs to play more. That's really it, you know, and he only played 17 games at the collegiate level. There are issues there with the fact that you didn't see him playing from behind very much at North Dakota State. I think you'd argue the gap between North Dakota State and their competition is larger than the gap between Alabama and their competition. And so there were a lot of like critical situations that you didn't see Tray Lance in. So he is a little bit more of a pure projection. But I think the difference for the Niners was the one area where

Mac Jones held a lead over the other two guys, I mean, really over the course of the month between the trade and the draft, Trey Lance was able to close that gap to the point where the Niners felt they couldn't pass up on the upside that Lance brought to the table. You know, before we get into the Aaron Rogers stuff, I'm not a big believer in draft grades. It's consumable. I get it. It's fun. I did think Miami just in terms of first four or five guys taken, I thought, boy, that is a, that is a good draft. You know, it's funny, when I watched Miami's draft, my takeaway is the Jets are a fourth place team, is that Buffalo's better.

New England's got all the opt-ins. And I thought Miami, which has great defense and special teams, went offense. I guess if I said best draft weekend, is there anybody for you that stands out? You know, it's funny you said mentioned the Jets. I think the Jets did really well. And let's move the quarterback aside because it's unpredictable what'll happen with the quarterbacks. But I really think if you look here, Colin, there's almost like a self-awareness here of how they screwed Sam Darnold. You know what I mean?

Like over the last three years, a big reason why Sam Darnold hasn't, didn't reach his potential was because of what was around him. And I don't know if Sam Darnold's ever going to make it as a franchise quarterback. But I think there's still a lot of unknown there because the situation around him was so broken. So what does Joe Douglas do? He hires, you know, a head coach who's going to put in the most quarterback-friendly system in football. And if you look at their first four picks, okay, go right on down the line, high character guys. Beyond the quarterback, you've got an offensive guard and Oliver Vera Tucker that's going to play next to Mackay Beckton. So now you've got two foundation pieces on the offensive line.

You give them a slot receiver in Elijah Moore, who's going to create easy completions. And then you give him a back in Michael Carter who can catch the ball out of the backfield. And so, you know, I think it's hard. to grade things a couple days after the draft. But I think just looking as far as value goes, you look at where they got Vera Tucker. I thought that was a good spot to get him. A lot of teams viewed Elijah Moore as a first round pick. They got him at the top of the second round.

And I don't think very many people at all expected Michael Carter to be there in the fourth round. They got him. And what I really like about it again is there's an acknowledgement that they need to do more around the young quarterback to really figure out who that young quarterback is. And so I think now they're giving, you know, they're giving, you know, they're giving Zach Wilson a much, much better chance to succeed in New York than they ever gave Sam Donald. All right. You talked to Brian Gudenkuntz yesterday, the GM of the Packers.

I had said earlier in the show today, listen, if Jordan Love can play, this would make this all much easier to digest. But again, we've had more UFO sightings than Jordan Love's sightings in the last couple of weeks because COVID, no media is around practice. So I have no idea. So take us to your conversation as much as you can tell us about the GM of the Packers yesterday. Yeah, I mean, he's got his feet planted in the ground on this one. And I think it's an important detail to remember. He was with the organization in 2008 when all this was going on with Brett Fav. And so, you know, I brought up to him the parallels there.

I mean, Farv was mad, if you remember at the time, column, because they hadn't been aggressive enough around him. And really the flashpoint was not getting Randy Moss, the year that Randy Moss went to New England. Then you look at the general manager, the relationship between the general manager and the quarterback. There was a coaching change involved. It was to Mike McCarthy with Barb.

It was to Matt LaFleur with Rogers. So there are a lot of parallels there. But when I asked Goodacus about that and how his experience there might serve him now, basically said that it was different because the organization in 2008 made a decision they were going with Aaron Rogers. And he told me point blank,

we're not making that sort of decision right now and we won't be making that sort of decision for the foreseeable future. And if you read between the, the lines calling, I think he hit the nail on the head there. And this isn't coming from Goudicun. This is coming from other people who I think would know. I don't think they think Jordan Love's ready. And I think they feel like they've got a championship team right now, a team that obviously has been in the championship round the last two years. And I don't think they think it would

serve that team particularly well to put Jordan on the field, Jordan Love on the field right now. And so I think as much as anything else, this is again, the belief that they really, they really do think that Aaron Rogers has a few good years left at the level. he played at last year. But beyond just that, I don't think that they feel like they've got the, I would say, answer for right now on the, on the roster. I'm not sure if they feel like there's any doubt long term on him. But as far as the answer for right now, I don't think Jordan Love is it. All right. Listen, Ryan Pace, I've been critical of him. He felt like in the last year, he's on the hot seat. But I do think it takes some guts to go up and get Justin Fields, who I think is

everything Andy Dalton is not, you know, big arm, athletic, young, super inexpensive now. Kind of take me through that move by the Bears from what you can tell happened. Well, really, you know, Matt Nagy's had his eye on the guy for over a year. He's got a really close relationship with Ryan Day. The two played against each other as quarterbacks in the Atlantic 10 over 20 years ago. They've known each other since. And Day really put Nagy on to Justin Fields back in March to the point where, and Nagy told me this late last night, he would make a point of watching Ohio State's games on Saturdays

when they were on the road from the team hotel because he was really just fascinated in fields as a prospect. Now, I think there was a limit to how far they were willing to go to get him, but once he got past that little rung of, you know, where we expect some quarterback movement, you know, the lines potentially trading down from seven didn't happen. The Panthers and Broncos didn't take quarterbacks in eight and nine. That was the point where they needed to get aggressive. And so I know the Cowboys weren't willing to move too far down. They didn't want to go beyond what was the perceived cliff in the mid-teens. So they wind up moving back two spots.

And then, of course, the bears were able to find a trade partner in the Giants. And I can tell you, there's a belief that the upside here with Justin Fields is very, very high. Yeah. I'm not sure how quickly they get them on the field, Colin. But I think it's important to remember that Matt Nagy was in Kansas City in 2017. team part of the process in, part of the process in scouting Patrick Mahomes and also part of developing Patrick Mahomes that rookie year when he was redshirted. So I'm not saying Justin Fields is going to be redshirted, but I do believe him that they feel like what's best for Fields is to wait until

he's truly ready to put him on the field. And maybe that happens in September, maybe it happens in December, maybe it happens in 2022. But I really feel like they think because of the way that Nagy handled the development of Mahomes back in 17, that if they, can serve this kid right just, you know, in terms of his development, there could be something really special there. Albert Breer, Monday morning quarterback, good seeing you get, but I appreciate it. All right, thanks, Colin. All right, why next Wednesday is a massive day for the Cleveland Browns and what to make of the Cowboys draft. It was kind of odd. Thoughts on both of those coming up next, plus Colin Wright, Colin Wrong, top of hour two. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, Weekdays,

Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's Ben, host to the fifth hour with Ben Mallor, along with my trusty sidekick, David Descon, would mean a lot to have you join us on our weekly auditory journey. You're asking what in God's name is the fifth hour? I'll tell you, it's a spinoff of the Ben Mather show, a cult hit overnights on FSR. Why should you listen? Picture, if you will, a world where we chat with captains of industry in media, sports, and more every week, explore some amazing facts about human nature and more.

Listen to the fifth hour with Ben Moller. on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media.

Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger.

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Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman

documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 was big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so...

Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes, I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years. for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase

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Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. All right, welcome back. Good day. Have you on a Monday. Colin right, calling wrong, top of next hour. Next Wednesday is a huge day for the Cleveland Browns because next Wednesday is the release of the schedule. Now, of course, it's the release of the schedule for everybody. But of the six or seven really good roster, in this league. Kansas City, Tampa Bay. I mean, we kind of, we know the good rosters. Cleveland's one of those. Cleveland's going to have potentially nine new starters on defense. Now, Kansas City has rebuilt their offensive line. That's going to take a while for it to work. No question. But it's Andy Reed. It's Mahomes. It should work quickly. Next Wednesday, if you go look at who

Cleveland faces next year. I already know who they play. I don't know when they play them. So you look at their schedule and there's four dogs in it. Lions, Texans, Broncos and Bengals are getting better, but they're not great. You want to face those teams perhaps early with all these new defensive starters. What you don't want to face early is offenses that bring back everybody. Green Bay.

I don't want Andy Reid. By the way, say what you want about the Bears, but Matt Nagy's only lost two games ever coaching in September. Next Wednesday, everybody wants to know who do we face and when you face them. Of all these Super Bowl level rosters, one is going to have nine new starters on one side of the ball. And I love the Browns off season, but you've got to watch out here. Cleveland faces, think of all these coaches they face next year. Matt LaFleur, Bill Belichick, Andy Reid, Harbaugh twice, Zimmer, who Vegas thinks Zimmer is one of the best coaches, Mike Tomlin twice. That's a lot of good coaches.

And they bring back experienced veteran offenses in many cases, and you've got nine new guys on the defensive end. That's why I've said, Cleveland's schedule is going to be fascinating. Where does it land? We know they're going to be good, but they could be. be a little bit of a hot mess on the back end of that defense in September. Guys running all over the place. So next Wednesday, schedule release, got to break down that brown schedule. The other draft that's fascinating that hasn't gotten a lot of talk today.

Now, we all know the Dallas Cowboys are a huge brand. But as you bounced around the channels today, there's not a lot of talk about the Dallas Cowboys draft. And that's because it was weird. It was a weird draft. They didn't get a great edge rusher. We're not sure they got a great corner. They took a couple of stabs on some red flags guys, meaning guys with some, you know,

a little sketchy personal history, character stuff. What the Cowboys did, and this happens in life too. You go on a date and it starts clunky. Okay, go to the bathroom, get your confidence back or something. out start over. There's an old saying, don't let a bad loss become two losses. Like, get over it. Dallas got sort of disjured because they wanted a corner and we all had them taking a corner and the two were off the board. And then they didn't quite know what to do. So Dallas goes, okay, we'll take a linebacker. And they didn't really need a linebacker. And in fact, they took two linebackers. And I'm not sure

they really needed two linebackers. And I'm not really sure the corner they got from Kentucky is a hit. And the corner from Oregon State was a massive reach. And there's some red flags on some of the guys they drafted. There's a reason nobody's talking about the Cowboys draft is the offense is going to be way better than the defense. And I don't know what it's going to look like. But I felt Dallas's draft was sort of the classic.

We all thought we knew what they were going to take. and I think Dallas thought they knew what they were going to take. And all of a sudden, J.C. Horn went earlier than everybody thought. Then Sir Tan's gone to Denver. We thought they were taking a quarterback. And Dallas looks up and goes, whoops. We don't really need a linebacker, but he's the best player. And we're going to take one and see what happens.

And I just felt the Cowboys were sort of off the entire draft. Not that it's a disaster. Let's just wait and see it play out. But it's really uneven with some reaches, some personality quirks, some guys that could be good, but could be really just a massive reach. And that's why to me, I think it's a riddle wrapped in an enigma. I don't know what Dallas did in the draft. Obviously went heavy defense.

They took an offensive lineman who had some sketchy background stuff. no big question mark for the Cowboys. Just the one thing they needed was a corner and an edge rusher. I'm not sure they got it. I'm really not sure they did that great. Okay, so top of the hour, Colin right, calling wrong.

We'll give you the very latest. We'll keep updating you on the Packer situation. Folks, they're either moving them this year or next year. He's not going to be there in two years that we know. This year could be a little bit too much of a cap hit, but

One more year, Max for Aaron and Green Bay. Hour two next. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel,

help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me. with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. On the Look Back at it podcast.

For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors.

Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.