The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 08/31/2021 - HOUR 1 - Cam Newton, Patriots

Episode Date: August 31, 2021

The Patriots have released Cam NewtonBeing reliable is very important in New EnglandMac Jones played better than expectedGuest: Christian Fauria Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the Hurt at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the IHart Radio app by searching HARD. We're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a lively news breaking Tuesday in Los Angeles. The show is called The Hurt, wherever you may be, however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1, news coming down an hour ago. Cam Newton went from the starting quarterback to released in a week.

Joy Taylor is joining me. Well, well, well, just the one thing to remember here, Joy, it doesn't matter if you got COVID last year, right? Like you say, well, anybody's, it doesn't matter. The league is set up protocols. If you are not vaccinated, they don't care if you got it last year. You're the quarterback. You're not vaccinated. You're going to have a much greater likelihood of these constant.

snafus and disruptions to practice in games. Well, we've already seen it with several other teams already around the league. And if you're in a quarterback battle, missing significant time, it's going to play a role whether you win that. So here's the story, the Patriots Cam Newton released. By the way, I'm hearing this this morning. And Cam's always been bizarrely coddled by the media. I can never figure out why the media chooses to support.

some players and not others. Like Lamar Jackson gets more crap. The guy wins 80% of his games. He gets better every year. Cam Newton never had back-to-back winning seasons. But Cam has been bizarrely coddled by the American sports media his entire career. And these 59.5% completion percentage banged up guy who, two COVID issues with the Patriots and they let him go. I was told this morning by a source I trust, the COVID stuff.

last straw. One thing about inconsistency. One thing about last year. This year, they were done with it. Okay. And so in the end, Ron Rivera and Bill Belichick, both defensive coaches, both smart coaches, both successful coaches, both been in Super Bowls, both bailed on cam. And they're both, what?

No nonsense head coaches. Ron Rivera and Belichick have no time. for nonsense. The quarterback is the position that has to be reliable. I don't want to hear this morning that Mack Jones won this job because he was good against fourth stringers in the preseason. That didn't hurt, but you don't go from backing up to being the only really starting viable quarterback in a team because you were great against the fourth stringers. Don't kid yourself. This COVID nonsense, don't listen to anybody. I got its source. It drove them nuts. I said this last week. New England leaked the story last week. They were unhappy with this COVID snafu by Cam. New England only

leaks what they want out. There's a new book out by Seth Wickersham on the Patriots in their 20-year dynasty. There's stories in there. None of us have heard. Ten stories none of us have heard. New England lets out what they want out. And a day after the COVID snafu, the story leaked they were unhappy. Why? Because when they, and I told you this last week, when they moved off Cam, they wanted you to know. It's on him. It's not us. And we're pissed.

This is not just Mac Jones winning the job because he was good against four stringers. And he did a good job. And I'll get into that in a second. He did a good job. Mac Jones did a good job. And he deserves opportunities. And I'm excited. The AFC now has got all young quarterbacks except Big Ben and Tannahill.

It's all young guys. And it's exciting. But there's two things here that the Patriots gave you heads up what was happening. Number one is they leaked the story last week, how disappointed they were. So when they moved off Cam, it's Cam, it's not us. The second thing is, did you notice four to five different veteran New England players? James White, Matthew Slater, Brian Hoyer, these are all Belichick's guys, Dante Hightower. These are all Belichick's guys.

All leaking stories in the last week. Oh, Mac Jones is. so mature. He's won the locker. He's a remarkable player. You think it's a coincidence? They made sure they put some veterans out there. And they said nice stuff about Mac Jones, how mature, how ready, how he'd galvanize the locker room. Between the leak last week and those press conference quotes from players, they were telling you, it's time. Listen, we all knew it was a Band-Aid. We all knew the Cam thing was a Band-Aid. Listen, I thought, I thought, I thought it was a weird fit.

But I was like, he's coachable. It's a bridge year. You lose Brady. They signed Cam late. I mean, nobody here expected. I didn't, you didn't enjoy. We didn't expect New England win a Super Bowl. They had eight guys opt out.

It was a weird year. We all knew this was a Band-Aid. But I think the second COVID issue and Mac playing well in the preseason, let's just rip it off and go. But remember, what is the one thing that Belichick truly loved about Brady? wasn't his arm, wasn't his athletic ability, wasn't his size. It was Tom's reliability. You got the same Tom every day. He was the first at practice, the last to leave, watch the most film.

Tom Brady's not flawless. But if I just said Tom Brady, reliable. Nobody works harder. Nobody said the right thing more. Nobody was as dependable and reliable as Tom Brady. It's snowing. He threw the same ball than if it was sunny. Zone man to man, press coverage.

You got the same quarterback. Cam, the last word you could use is reliable. And so everybody today is going to say, you don't go from starting to released because Mack Jones tore it up against four stringers. The second snafu, COVID, it's a thing. It's a thing. Oh, by the way, I'm told the Colts are not. happy with unvaccinated Carson Wence.

And I believe Minnesota would move off Kirk Cousins in five minutes if they weren't trapped with this horrible contract. We all make decisions. You agitate. You'll get released. Fast. Fast.

All right. Let's talk now, Mac Jones. You know, and I've said this before, is I think Tua and Mac Jones, who ironically meet in week one in Foxborough, New England's favored by about a field goal, they're going to win games because they have excellent head coaches and excellent defense. And where you land matters, the coach you have matters. Jared Goff looked like a bust to a Super Bowl because they got Sean McVeigh.

Mitch Trubesky looked like a bus to made the playoffs twice. Matt Nagy, offensive guy. So Mack Jones is a starter. Here's the good news. As we've noted, where he landed is perfect. It's a patient franchise with a great coach, a great coordinator, a great offensive line, depth at running back, maybe no stars, but very good at running back. Look at the schedule for New England.

Ten of the 17 games, Belichick faces a young quarterback. Is there any bet in the NFL over the last 20 years, I'll ask Joy, that is safer than bet Belichick when he faces a young quarterback? Even Josh Allen. Terrible numbers. It's basically a lock. It's a lock. And 10 of the 17 games. with New England's defense are against young quarterbacks.

Now, I will say this. Whenever quarterbacks come out, I always have a strong opinion. And yes, I don't consider myself a journalist or just an entertainer. But it's more fun for me when I come out with strident opinions on quarterbacks, because if I'm right or wrong, then you can come and shoot arrows at me. And that's what's fun doing this job. I'm not a reporter. I'm not a classic journalist.

I'm not really a host. I'm an opinionist. And so I've always got strong opinions on all the quarterbacks. quarterbacks and five went in the first round. And the one I was most critical of was Mack Jones. I said, number one, he's hard to evaluate. He never got touched in college. He always played with a lead. He had the best receivers, best offensive line. What's the wow? I don't see it. I will admit, of the five first round quarterbacks, for the five, I still feel the same way. I think Zach Wilson, small, good arm, but could struggle. I think Trevor.

Lawrence is the most gifted. I think Justin Fields and Trey Lance, it's all about the offensive line and the support. They could fail, but I don't think they will. But I will say this with Mack Jones, and I have no problem admitting I'm wrong. I don't know how great his upside is. I think his ceiling is low. But boy, he looks comfortable. He looks really, really comfortable, and he looked really, really comfortable.

The first snap, and I watched it, and you watched it. So of all five quarterbacks, the one I've gone, oh. a little better than I thought is Mac Jones. Between the O-line, the run game. Now, New England did, let's be honest here. They played a lot of starters. So I still think Mac Jones is hard to evaluate. Okay, they open up with Brian Flores in that defense.

That is a, even at home, that's a tough opener for Mac Jones. Hey, it's tough for two, but he's got some snaps in this league. But I will say this. Mac Jones from the first snap looked like he could handle it. Didn't look like he would unravel. Now, they played a lot of starters, but that's a complex offense. Josh McDaniels, this is not easy. It's hard.

It takes weeks. And he picked it up quickly. His feet were good. His accuracy was good. His tempo was good. It was good. There's not a lot of wow factor. I think his ceiling is really low.

But I do think young quarterbacks, even with low ceilings, Two and Mac Jones can be highly effective, not saying win in Super Bowls, but they can be highly effective if they're surrounded with the right elements. And we said this from day one. New England was literally the perfect fit for Mac Jones. They've had a guy that doesn't look physically the part. His name was Brady. They've had a guy that doesn't move well.

It's Brady. They've had a guy that's, quote, smart but has a lower ceiling. It's Brady. So they've seen, they've had this type of quarterback. You know, Brady from Big School, Michigan, Mack Jones, big school Alabama. I don't know how it's going to work. I think he could struggle against Miami. I think he could struggle against Brian Flores.

I can see that being a really low-scoring football game where two in Mac Jones, you know, the game's played inside the 20-yard lines. There's not a lot of scoring. But I'm excited for it because I think this league is built on young quarterbacks and old quarterbacks. and a lot of the old quarterbacks are leaving. Drew Bree's just left. Brady's close. Ben's close. Peyton Manning left a couple years ago.

So I'm all in on the new guys. Good luck, Mac Jones. All right. There we go. A lot of stuff today. Cam Newton released. We'll see if the market, how the market interprets it.

We'll see if he can get a gig. But, you know, I know a lot of you out there, your agitators, not lubricators. and you're just going to keep arguing about all this COVID stuff. But remember, it doesn't matter that Cam got it last year. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. The NFL has rules.

And if you're unvaccinated, they're going to be way tougher on you. And by the way, so is Delta Airlines, so is Disney and so as Netflix and so that the big companies are doing. You want your freedom from their quarterbacks. They want reliability. Cam gets released. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games.

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on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Jersey Mikes has a new grilled portabella mushroom in Swiss. Delicious. Try it. Fresh ingredients make a sub above. Jersey Mikes be a sub above. So Cam Newton has been released. Christian Fourier, former Patriot. Many of his touchdown receptions were via Tom Brum. Brady. He'll be joining us now. As, you know, there's the reality with Cam Newton is New England leaked a story last week. They don't leak much, but when they do, they want it out. This is the way, by the way a White House works. This is the way politics works. When the White House wants something out, regardless of who the president is, they leak it out. They find a

reporter. They leak it out. This has happened my entire career in this business where if a team is considering acquiring a player, they'll leak it out to a member. of the media. That happened a lot when I used to listen to WFA in a New York. They leak it out. The host talks about it. You get reaction from the fans. This happens all the time. So New England leaked last week. They were disappointed with the COVID snafu by Cam. And they did it for a reason. They don't leak much. They do it when they want it out, which is, hey, when we bail on them, this is the reason. They also had multiple veteran players saying how great Mac Jones was. Now, I do think Mac Jones played well, but it's hard to interpret. New England played starters. Not many teams played

starters. About 75% of this league didn't play any starters. A snap. New England played lots of starters as they tried to decipher what they were. And if you're playing starters and I got Belichick and starters and you have a coach less than Belichick and second and third stringers, both these quarterbacks look good. Mac looked good and Cam looked good. And my guess is they would go with Cam because this division's better. You can't mess around. I think they wanted to give Mack Jones more snaps, more snaps. But once Cab now is sidelined for five days, Mac got all the snaps, and that coaching staff looked around and said, he's more reliable. There's not a gap now.

The gap between Cam and Mac is tinier and tinier and tinier and tinier and tinier. And now it's just we feel we can trust him. This is what I was told. We can rely on him. We can trust him. And the Mack Jones era begins in earnest. How good will he be? Well, there's a lot of good about New England.

If you get my yellow pad of paper test, take your yellow pad of paper. What I like about New England, what I don't. It's a lot of what I like. I have them at 10 and 7 this year. I'm not going to change them. I said last week, Cam could go 10 and 7 and 7 and Matt could go 10 and 7. I still believe that. I think both quarter, they're different.

Mac, you're going to get more of a, you know, distributor, Cam a little bit more of a shooter and a score and a guy in the red zone that will, yeah, 12 rushing touchdowns last year. So Cam's a different quarterback than Mac, but I think both in this system could get you 10 games. So why is one released and one starting? It's not just because they've, both tore it up against third and four stringers. But Mac, they don't worry about anything

other than he'll show up early, leave late, and he'll get it done. So that's the situation. We have Cam's last 17 starts are ugly eight touchdown passes 11 picks. Let me support him, though, on this. Those stats look really, really bad. So Cam Newton's last 17 starts, you can really pick on him. But let's be fair about this. Tom Brady. Look at Tom's last year in New England and his first year in Tampa. Okay. Cam didn't have a lot to work with here. So everybody in Boston, Boston Sports Radio has just been picking apart Cam for the last year. Folks, they led the NFL in opt-outs.

Belichick has not drafted tight ends and receivers well. Cam's numbers, let's be fair here. There's a reason New England went out and spent $120 million on free agents, mostly wide receivers and tight ends. they didn't have any. They didn't have any. So one of the people will say, well, you like Cam starting. I did because I took his numbers last year.

And we were joking about this. I mean, people in Boston were just rooting against Cam. A lot of diehard Patriot fans were rooting against him. When you kind of consider all of it, they were a play in Seattle and a play from Buffalo from potentially getting into the playoffs. And those are good teams. I mean, the Seahawks won 12 games. Buffalo win 11, 12 games.

So you got to be fair on Cam. overall numbers. It's really been bad in his last 17 starts. But when he left Carolina, that wasn't his fun, wasn't a great team. They're rebuilding, right? They've been rebuilding last year. And New England, offensively, who's going to star? I mean, maybe Mahomes, but Russell Wilson, but who was going to take that team to the playoffs last year? So let's be fair with Cam. The COVID stuff, I have no time for Carson Went, Kirk Cousins, and Cam Newton not getting vaccinated. I got no patience for it. It doesn't matter if you had it last year.

Doesn't matter. NFL set up protocols. Unvaccinated, we're going to make your life miserable. Delta Airlines has done it. This company's done it. Netflix has done it. Disney's done it. It doesn't matter if you had it.

Take it or you're going to be a problem. And I think as a quarterback, Kirk Cousins, get vaccinated. Carson Wentz, get vaccinated. Cam, good luck on the open market. There's a big difference now between the Vikings and the cults who are trapped with their unvaccinated. They can't do anything. You can't get out of Kirk Cousin's contract.

It's a $46 million contract next year. Terrible. There's a difference between that and CAMs now on the market, unvaccinated. Brough, there's not going to be much of a market. And they're not going to be much of a market. One thing of a team is trapped. And by the way, this isn't just quarterback. This is life.

If you work at a company right now and you're unvaccinated, that's one thing. But if you're unemployed looking for work and you're not vaccinated, it's a different thing. I'm not bringing you in. So I think the market for Cam was small a year ago. I don't know. People are talking about the Dallas Cowboys today. Like they needed another disruption. I wouldn't do it.

I wouldn't do it. I would not bring an unvaccinated quarterback in the league. Again, I'm not a mandate guy. If it was an unvaccinated outside linebacker and you were great, I'd consider it. But quarterback, 60 touches a game, most valuable. label guy in the locker room? I can't do it. I can't. If I had GM or a coach, I just can't do it. It's one thing if you decided that and I'm stuck with you. It's another thing if you're on the

market, it's a hard pass for me. So I don't know the market for camp. But we have to be fair. Don't just pull out his numbers from last year and go, look at those terrible numbers. He had nothing to work with. I mean, that was the worst receiving tight end core in the league in forever. Since the 76 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Steve'sbury, it was terrible. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

While rookie quarterback, Trey Lance might not be fully available for the 49ers season opener, according to Kyle Shanahan, Lance suffered a small chipped bone in his finger during Sunday's preseason finale. They showed it to me. It's a microchip of a bone that's off. He chipped it, which is a small chip fracture, which is worse than a jam. That's why it's not going to take. just heal on its own without taking them. I mean, you can't take snaps and do all that stuff right.

I can heal and hopefully he'll be good next Monday when we get into practice. Well, that probably got Jimmy Garoppel the starting job. Yeah. Yeah. It's always something. Well, I mean, this is obviously a little interesting because Kyle Shanahan has said that they were going to use Trey Lance in the game regardless of who the starter was. And they haven't named a starter yet.

They haven't named a starter, although this helped him make that decision. it's an injury situation, but he's saying it's going to hopefully be healed in seven days. But Tray Lance was going to have packages within the game, so they're not going to be able to do that now either. So look, these things happen, and I'm sure he's gratefully has Jimmy Garapolo on the roster at this point to be able to just turn it over to him and not worry about it. And Mike Silver told us yesterday, longtime NFL reporter, and Mike had told us that Garapolo in the eyes of Kyle Shanahan has had a very strong camp. For the record, I want Dalton to start week one, Garoppolo to start week one, Garoppolo to start week one, and I was Cam week one.

So I tend to lean veteran. Joey and I, this is one of our rare disagreements. I tend to start the veteran early. You can learn some stuff if you're Traylans and have one start in 600 days. So I tend to lean, unless you're Trevor Lawrence and let's just go. I mean, they don't have any other options. Or Zach Wilson. I mean, they've moved on from Darnold.

They don't have any other options. In that case, just go with a young guy. But I think in this instance, there's variable. and circumstances why guys start and why they don't, and the COVID situation help Mack Jones, and the chip in the finger helps Jimmy G. Yeah, and I mean, Tray Lance was the one situation where I did feel like it would help him.

I would have been fine with him starting week one if he was available, and now he's not. But I do think because Tray Lance has had so little experience in the last year actually playing football, despite the fact that he has looked good and poised and had some moments in the preseason, he's in kind of a different category to me than some of the other ones, because he only played one game of football in the last, you know, however many months.

But he's not going to be available. They open the season against the Lions, and we'll see how it is in about seven days. But it looks like Jimmy Garoppolo is going to be starting week one for the Niners. So running back, J.K. Dobbins suffered a season-ending injury in Saturday's preseason finale, but the Ravens head coach, John Harbaugh, is sticking by his decision to play his starter. There are other teams that don't play their guys at all. They don't play or start as even one snap. Like any injury, which happened and will happen throughout the course of the NFL and different teams,

you just have to approach it and overcome it. It's adversity and we'll have to deal with it, and we will. We have the players to do it. We have the team to do it. Our guys are excited today again to practice and I have full confidence in the rest of the running backs that are here. You know, should pick up the load and to do a great job for us. It's funny. I was driving to work this morning thinking about this, off the top of your head,

after J.K. Dobbins. Name a starter that's out for the year. Cammakers. Okay, that's just good, good. That was my reaction this morning. The reality is, in my lifetime, there's always a handful of players. Sure, they get injured during the preseason, whether it's training camp or... We lost two running backs.

So the truth is, this not playing starters thing, it's kind of big. Benefitting. Well, I mean, I'm sure we're not thinking, you know, I'm sure there are others that we're not thinking of. But, you know, it's not like it's been a rash of injuries around the league. And we've had that before. Yeah, we have. I mean, Cam Acres was in practice. So that's kind of.

No contact real too, I think. That's kind of unavoidable. Like you're not going to not practice. This is one of those situations where, you know, you could make the argument. It's a running back that's he really need touches in preseason games. He only played 23 plays with a total of 10 touches in three preseason games. in games and he tore his ACL in the ninth play of the beginning opening drive of Saturday's game against Washington. It's just, it's unfortunate because these games don't count. And this is the

fear of having your starters out there and why it's a fair argument against it. And like, if you put the guys in that situation, you got to deal with the consequences of that. And it obviously sucks for J.K. Dobbins to be injured and have, lose a season from a preseason game. So that's, I mean, that is obviously the very clear argument against it. That's right. It doesn't affect winning. Either way, we've seen that not playing your starters does not have an effect on whether you're going to have a successful season or not. Or you can go 0 and 4 in the preseason. There's no history that says it means anything.

Right. So it's really a matter of preference from your coach and older coaches tend to lead towards playing some guys. So rumors started swirling yesterday that the dolphins might be interested in trying to trade for Deshawn Watson. Head coach Brian Flores didn't specifically refer to Watson, but he did address what Miami is looking. looking for when acquiring new players. That's tough. That's smart. That's competitive.

That loves to play. That's team first. I mean, we have a high standard for the people we have in the organization. So we want the people with high character and throughout the building. So he didn't directly say anything about Deshaun.

We talk about this all the time. If a story gets out, it's because somebody wants it out. Yeah. So perhaps this is. coming from Deshawn's side, but if there was no interaction whatsoever from the Dolphins... Brian Flores would have denied it yesterday. Yeah, I don't know why you wouldn't just come out and deny it.

Because here's the poison that this is creating. You have Tua in the building, and there is a significant rumor that you are in talks with the Texans to bring in Deshawn Watson. So the lack of direct denial from the Dolphins says to me that this has been a conversation. which throws some shadow and doubt over your young quarterback into us. So I really do believe if you are not interested in Deshaun, you should come out very, very loudly and say that you're not. Well, it's very interesting. So Charles Robinson, and I could be wrong on this.

I do apologize to reporters if I'm wrong. So Charles Robinson is a very good reporter and he broke the story. But he also said there were five teams interested. So that leads me to believe, and this is not a shot at Charles, that Deshawn's camps do in talking. They want it out there. There's a lot of interest. Oh, it definitely benefits to Sean.

No question. But when Miami doesn't deny it, and if you look at the teams, they all made sense. You know, like Denver, Miami, Carolina with Darnold. Yeah, teams that don't have a secure starting quarterback. So I do think it's somewhere around the, I mean, Miami doesn't want this out, obviously. They don't want it out. But once it is out, if it is not true,

there is a great benefit to actually denying that it is true because you want it's not just about you know flora's talked about the team blocks out rumors and speculations that could cause distractions and sure everyone inside the building may be blocking it out although i don't completely bind it there's there's humans in the building they're going to talk about things that are being discussed outside of the building but you have a fan base as well that is getting behind to it and loves to it and not now all of a sudden you have this, wait a minute. Like, is he not going to be the quarterback now? Like, there is, there is a value going into the season of backing Tua up and saying that he is our guy. Right. And if you don't openly, very clearly deny that this is happening, I don't know. I just feel like it, it sheds a little bit of doubt. Are you really truly all the way in on Tua?

And even if you are, if you don't deny it, it can lead to that. Ian Rappaport tweeted this morning that the Texans are not expected to trade Watson before today's 4 p.m. cut down day deadline. So barring a dramatic turn, Houston is positioned to keep him in the regular season at least. So that's where we are right now. So, you know, there's a deadline today. We'll see what happens. You know, I would have, we were talking as a staff this morning about this story.

And until the criminal investigation gets wrapped up, I'd just have a hard time. Like, listen, if I want, let's say I'm Miami and I want him. And I would just go to the agent and say, or I'd go to the Texans and say, listen, We'll give you three ones and three twos or whatever the number is. But I have to wait for this thing gets solved. I, Joy, I cannot. I just, the idea, I'm lying awake at night thinking, I have to wait for a court's decision.

Like, give me the decision, render the decision. It's not. Well, it's more than just the court and the civil cases. What is the NFL going to do? Yeah, we don't know that either. Is the NFL, because the NFL does not have to have a criminal case. It does not have to have a conviction. It doesn't even have to have an arrest in order to put a player on the exemplar.

So what is the NFL going to do? Because the court of public opinion is one thing. They're going to be split on cases like this regardless, no matter what you do or say. So you're going to be dealing with people who don't like the move and people who do support the move regardless of what happens in the criminal or civil cases. Yes. What does the NFL going to do? Because if you give up that much to bring him in and then he can't play, that is a catastrophe. I've been critical of Tua.

And by the way, I said he can win games, ceilings low. I wouldn't make the move on Deshaun. I can't make it. And I got to get certainty on this. I mean, it's one thing to give up picks. That's a little uneasy. I remember when the Lakers went out, Jerry West went out and traded for Shaq.

And you knew Shaq was great. It wouldn't even an argument. And he's like, I couldn't sleep for a week. That's with Shaq, okay, who was fun and lively and dominate. So like GM's struggle giving up. five picks. When it's, you know, Matt Stafford to the Rams, you know he's good. It's a known commodity, yes.

When I got two major unknowns, the NFL attorneys, it's like, I can't do it. It's just too much. It's a massive risk and there is also the elements of you are going to have a lot of noise around the move as well. So I think there's a great value in denying it

if it is deniable. But this is going to be a continuous story throughout the season because we don't know what's going to happen with DeShan. All right. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Herd Lye News. All right, Mac and Cheese. It's not a great nickname. Mac and Cheese makes me sluggish, so I don't love the nickname, but Mac and Cheese is starting. We'll go to Foxborough next. Be sure to catch live editions of the Herd weekdays

in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire, with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod pushing the same tired narratives down your throat every day. Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest sports headlines,

accurate stats to help you win big at the sports book, and all the best guests. Do yourself a favor and listen to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre 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. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped 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 a little kill? 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 it 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 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you 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. Thank you for finishing that sentence. 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 Hard Way 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 that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person.

Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun,

thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tontons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith Rule of Two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, I've known Christian Fourier for a long time,

couple of Super Bowl championships, both with New England. It was a second round pick of the Seahawks in the mid-90s. He does radio now, very popular radio in the Boston area. Nine playoff games, seven and two. Got a lot of touchdowns from Tom Brady. He joins us now live. All right, Christian, I had a source tell me this morning that I trust that there were two reasons for Cam being released, and one of them is, listen, this is an organization that doesn't have any time for nonsense. and the COVID snafu did not play well. They were not happy with it. So let's address that first. What have you heard about that?

I think that's fair. And we were hearing some things similar to that. And when that happened, you know, my example was, you know, Bill always talking about guys during snowstorms and guys that want to leave during, you know, the bye week. And he would always say, hey, don't call me Sunday night and tell me that you're going to be late. Hey, it's a big snowstorm. Make sure you show up on time.

And don't call me on your way to work saying you're stuck because there's too much snow. Like the fact, I think they're similar. And I think those things matter to him. And he was irritated by it. Because ultimately, I have to trust you. And if I can't trust you to do the little things to recognize how important it is for you to be available and on time. I mean, it's a big problem for him. And I think that was an indication.

that, okay, this is too risky of a situation. Now, if he was playing great, it was doing everything unbelievably, then I think it would be a different discussion. But ultimately, you know, I think that had a lot to do with their decisions. Now, let's talk about Mack Jones. Now, I have said this. I thought he had a pretty low ceiling, but that doesn't matter. You don't have to.

Phil Sims didn't have a huge ceiling. Phil Sims won a lot of games because he was coachable, he was reliable, and he did with the team ass. So when I watched Mac Jones, I said, last week. I see some Phil Sims. I think you can win a lot of games with him. But I will say this. It's hard for me, Christian, because the Patriots did play a lot of starters. You know, by the way, Aryans played starters, Belichick, Ron Rivera, like veteran guys. And a lot of teams didn't. So I watched Mack and I'm like, all right, it looks good,

but I don't know what I'm seeing here. What are you hearing about just the, frankly, the Cam Mack battle as on the field? Forget everything else. Did Matt, just beat him out there too? I think it's, you know, there was a lot of deception, I'm calling red herrings when it came to preseason and the reps and everything else and, you know, does the veteran need to take

less rest because he's the veteran? And if Max's going to be the starter, he should, you know, if Cam's going to be the starter, he should take more reps. You know, but it just, you never really know in that situation, so I try not to read into it. I said this yesterday on my show. Like, it's time to declare a winner. When it came to who won the quarterback battle,

Mac Jones won the quarterback battle. Now, I mean, and I'm looking at this unbiased. I don't have a dog in the fight. I don't care. I just want to look at who I think's the best. Like, I'm just judging him purely on that. And Mac won. And I don't think it was close.

I don't. You know, because my biggest concern with young quarterbacks is they come into the huddle. They call the play, and there's a question mark at the end of the play. Yeah. Like, they don't know what they're doing. They're looking at me. They're like, on one? I'm like, I don't know, whatever you will.

on. So I believe that there's a, there's a big, there's like a huge understanding of what he has to do. And what I would also say is this team is set up perfectly for a young quarterback. He's not in Jacksonville. He's not in Cincinnati. He's not in some, you know, terrible system with a new coach and no weapons and no, you know, overall philosophy on winning. He's in the right system. Like if this was last year, I'd say, uh-oh, it's going to be rough. Yeah. Not this year. Good defense. Lots of studs, weapons on the off-fight, great offensive line, and a deep running back core. Yeah. Christian Fourier joining us, two Super Bowl rings. You know, all these young quarterbacks, I was saying we went and looked in the last several years.

Last 10 years, there's been 32 first-round quarterbacks. Seven are stars. So not many. And by the way, twice that many were busts. But give me a sense on my concerns about Mack Jones. you know, he doesn't move. Overrated. Okay, because my takeaway is, boy, he doesn't move a lot.

He's very static. Tell me why it's overrated. Yeah, I just feel like there is this, in my opinion for me, if you're not fast and athletic and run a four or five, okay, well, you better be compensated some other way. You better have good anticipation. You better be accurate. You better be able to,

you know, you know, inform your receivers what you want them to do. That to me is more valuable than speed in my book. Now, if you can do both, great. But, I mean, there are so many quarterbacks, great quarterbacks that none of them can move. So suddenly it's like the most important thing. I don't think so. We had Matt Jones's trainer, the guy that was training him for the draft on the show. And he was like, listen, he's not like an overall athletic guy, but he's not some chump either.

You know, but what he does is what I've seen all through camp. He throws it a really nice catchable ball. And I think, I don't want to understate that. As a receiver, I want you to make it easy on me. Like, don't drill me with the ball. Don't throw it down at my toes. Don't completely make it uncatchable. Give me something I can catch.

You know, put me in a position where I can make us both look good. He does that. Camp is a little bit different. It's a little hit and miss with him. But back, I like the way he throws the football. this is good stuff. Christian Forier, two rings. He does Ordway, Merlone, Forier on W-E-E. Actually, it's just Merlonian Forreya now. Ordeway retired. He had enough of this. He's living in Arizona now. He ran him out of town.

He had a hell of a career. Christian, it's good talking to him. Take care. Yeah, man. Hey, go bus. There you go. Colorado Buffalo, Christian Fourier. So he heard the same things I heard this morning is, listen, some of this is Mac played really well. Nobody's denying that. But the COVID stuff is, it doesn't play well in New England. Quarterback is, and this is something I talk about. I love having, one of the reasons I love having a co-host here is that she hears everything I say. So when I'm wrong and I'm right, Joy's here. Ryan is not paying attention. He's getting hockey scores, so forget it. But Joy's paying attention. So I've been on this for years, is that I was tough on Baker Mayfield in college.

Yeah. I was tough on James Winston. I was tough on Johnny Mansell. Why? judgment matters. Reliability matters. So now, now, Jameson Baker are franchise quarterbacks, in my opinion. But judgment matters. And why hasn't Baker been given an extension? Because the judgment. They want to see how he performs now that he's had success. Josh Allen, Lamar Jacks, all the young guys are getting their money.

Justin Herbert's going to get paid early. Why isn't Baker? Judgment. Okay. So the, the, the, When you make a decision, Carson Wentz, or a Cam to not get vaccinated and you're the quarterback, that is judgment. And I don't like it. I don't like it.

But, you know, Indy's trapped. They can't do anything. Right. It's the same in Minnesota. Yeah. The Vikings, listen, don't kid yourself. Mike Zimmer's come out multiple times. Completely 100% pro-vaccination.

That is a message to Kirk Cousins. He is telling you, line in the sand. I don't like what my quarterback's doing. I believe they'd move off Kirk Cousins tomorrow if they could, but they did that stupid extension. I didn't like it then. I don't like it now. I think they have to pay him $46 million next year.

It's awful. I think the culture furious with Carson Wentz, but Jacob Eason's not ready to play, and they spend a lot of money. But Cam now, they're not paying him anything. So it's like, all right, the young kid, I mean, there are things today that Cam absolutely does better than Mack Jones. That is undeniable.

There is no question. that Cam Newton in the red zone is a more dangerous weapon than Mac Jones. That's not even deniable. He had 12 rushing touchdowns last year and missed games. Okay, and the old line is way better this year for New England, and their running back depth is better, and their receivers are better. But in the end, it's judgment, and don't kid yourself. They talk about it before you get drafted, when you get drafted,

if they're going to give you an extension, if they're going to cut you or keep it, you start you back up. It matters. Hour one done, hour two next, the hurt. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite on Humor Me with Robert Smygel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier.

This week, my guest, S&L'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. On The Look Back at it podcast.

From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was 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.

It 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 I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences,

having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you not to be played with, And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen and learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human.