The Herd with Colin Cowherd - 3 & Out - Fernando Mendoza preps for Raiders, Dexter Lawrence requests Giants trade, Lamar Jackson attending Ravens OTAs

Episode Date: April 9, 2026

On this episode, John dives into the news that Fernando Mendoza will forego attending the NFL Draft and discusses whether this should be a big deal, given he is projected to be the number one overall pick. Next, he discusses the lack of top tier talent at the quarterback position in this year's draft.  Later, John discusses the Miami Dolphins hiring Troy Aikman and whether this is something people should object to or if it simply reflects the NFL's trend of hiring media members to join organizations. Follow John on Twitter, and Instagram for the latest.  All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I've been sitting there watching Colin F takes, and I got some thoughts and takes. I'm like, you know what, I got a podcast. So let's fire out some football takes on some of the stories, the news that happened this week, from Lamar Jackson to Fernando Mendoza. to the Giants. And Robert Sala to Troy Aikman.

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Let's start with Fernando Mendoza, who on Tuesday went to Vegas and met with the Raiders. Now, a lot of times, remember when Adam Peters went viral, because he took everyone to top golf beside Caleb Williams, but the next group of quarterbacks, and he just tried to pick out who the alpha was, and everyone's like, you should know. It's kind of part of the process. I actually kind of like that idea. And by all accounts, I mean, if Jayden's healthy, he's an elite player.

but most of the time, if you're not drafting one, hell, he was drafting two, and he did that. So imagine the people that are drafting five, ten, fourteen, twenty. When you bring in these guys on visits, one, you don't know if they're going to be there. And two, you're like legitimately kind of interviewing them. What's he like? How does he interact with people? What's he like with the training room? How's he with the coordinator?

What's his football knowledge? You're throwing crazy stuff at him. There was a famous story that Matt Nagy, because again, the chiefs weren't guaranteed to get Patrick Mahomes, but they really liked him. And when they brought him in on his visit, Matt Nagy gave him the answers to the test before Andy started peppering him and Andy thought he was a genius. But when you're drafting one overall and you know the guy you're taking, the visit is not, can't be normal. If anything, you are prepping him for rookie minicamp and OTAs. there was a report that Brian Greasy, the former 49ers quarterback coach for two years with Brock Purdy,

who obviously knows Kyle Shanahan's system at this point in time, like the back of his hand, which is the Kubiak system because they're the same thing, is teaching Fernando Mendoza the playbook. Because this is a situation where when you get to Vegas, one, I think it's a tricky situation for Clint, Because he said ideally a quarterback sits behind the veteran player, but more than likely, Fernando Mendoza is going to be better than Kirk Cousins.

He's just more physically gifted, especially this version. Kirk is there for $11 million is costing the Raiders to kind of just teach him what is like playing in the NFL, the time in the NFL, how to prep Monday through Friday in the NFL. Here's what I did that works for me, what works. for you might be a little bit different. Like, you just want a veteran presence. We talked about this last week. I don't care who you are.

Having someone to help show you a path is only a positive. And I just don't see if it's a true competition because one of Fernando Mendoza's defining attributes is his mind in understanding of football. He's going to pick it up relatively fast, even though it can be a confusing system and getting comfortable with your back to the center. There's no guarantee that he starts, but if he's able to pick up the offense, how, and they're just going to have a competition,

how he's not going to beat him out. And even if he named Cousins the starting quarterback, if Fernando Mendoza was better in training camp, there's no way you could go with Cousins, not with what they're paying some of these veteran guys having Crosby. So I think the Mendoza thing makes it a lot easier on the Raiders. They know who they're picking. They're already starting the wheels in motion of,

a lot of times these visits, and I was a part of them for a couple years in Philly, they're pretty intense. Everyone's a little on edge. The guys are really nervous because most of us, if you go to a job interview, you're nervous. You know, it can be intimidating. I don't care what you do or who you are. So you're putting that situation, it's just not the most comfortable environment. Then if you get hired, you look back six months later, your buddies with everyone, everyone's relaxed.

It's a different deal. where Fernando Mendoza can go into the quote-unquote visit, he already has the job. He might not officially have the starting quarterback job, but he's unofficially on the team. He's going to be the number one overall pick. They're not talking to him about like questions they would ask other prospects or that are big all ask at all these other places.

When the Giants, when the Titans, when the Chiefs, when they bring all these people into the building. They're trying to get a feel for the guy, How's his football knowledge? How much he loves it? Any question marks they have from their scouting process. So I just think this makes it way more seamless. And Fernando can get a jump on it.

The other report is for the first time since Trevor Lawrence, that Mendoza will not attend the draft, which everyone's different. You know, Joe Thomas famously went fishing. Obviously, Trevor Lawrence was at home. I do, and I get it. Like you already know you're going to Vegas. You're in Pittsburgh, long flight.

You're going there the next day. I do think it's a pretty cool experience. Now, I've never been to one of these traveling circus drafts, which look way cooler than the one I attended, which was damn cool. I went to Radio City Music Hall in the JJ Watt, Julio Jones, A.J. Green, Cam Newton, Vaughn Miller.

It was a star-studded fucking draft. Somehow the Eagles ended up, we ended up with Danny Watkins. But the draft was badass. It was loaded Alden Smith, Tyron Smith, loaded with stars. And I remember my first time ever in New York and Manhattan, and just thinking it was really cool. And it was, it was, it's a pretty special moment going up there. If anyone asked me, like, what would you recommend doing?

Or if you were in that situation, I would 100% go to the draft. Now, I get it. Everyone's different. You know, there are probably some complications. You know, his mother's in a wheelchair. Maybe it's easier at home, which I can't follow. him for that at all. So, I mean, there is variables with him that may differ, obviously, from other people.

But I think, you know, the one problem with this draft, and like I feel it in my own excitement, a couple of years ago with all the quarterbacks, like this quarterbacks drive this sport because they drive the conversation. They drive the way we talk about games. Even though we know offensive and defensive line play really matters and dictates you know, successes of teams. But like, we're not breaking down guards and centers. Even though you better have good guards and centers,

you're going to get your ass kicked by other good defensive tackles. And the quarterback play in this, or the quarterback buzz in this draft is just not great. There's one guy who's going number one. There's one guy that's up for debate whether he's going to go in the top 32. And then there's, you know, a bunch of guys that are probably going to go

the third day of the draft. Now, one thing I saw, I forget who broke this down. but maybe it was Albert Breer was writing about it. And he's like, well, Fernando Mendoza's comp is Jared Gough, which I think is fair, but Fernando Mendoza is a much better athlete. Now, is Jared Gough a better anticipatory thrower coming out of college? Probably a little bit.

They ran, you know, Jared Gough ran like a spread Sunny Dykes offense. But obviously he went on to have and is having a fantastic career, right? If you draft number one and you get Jared Gough's career, ideally you want Brady Manning or Aaron Rogers, but most people would take Jared Goff. I saw someone comped Simpson to Brock Purdy, and I went, well, if you're comps Jared Goff, and he went number one, and then he had a career that he's going to make $500 million, make several Pro Bowls, be a quarterback that started for multiple teams that went deep into the playoffs, like, that's nails. Purdy, who's now having a great career,

was the last pick in the draft. This is what I've been saying. A draft is just a marketplace. It's an economic exercise. And historically, guys like Purdy, hell, Kirk Cousins, who is going to make more money in his career than Tom Brady. Now, it's, you know, Brady's money was a little bit of a Fugazi because he had, you know, Robert Kraft paying him here, doing some other stuff.

but regardless. The point is, Brock Purdy's skill set as a prospect was not a first, second, or third round player. And he, because he was the last pick in the draft

or just any time you're drafted in later rounds, he might end up on a good team and he really benefited from it and he took advantage of. But Brock Purdy is a prospect, if that's his comp, and Brock was a fantastic player at Iowa State.

You know the clip of Dan Hurley walking off with with uh with i fuck my my brains i haven't slept much in the last like two days because i'm up early and then i've coming off like six weeks no sleep caravan or you could tell dan hurley is like in tears the emotion he has for that human he loves that player if you ask dan hurley like over cocktails who's your favorite player of all time he probably said caravan right just it's not his best player but it's his most important and the guy that he loves the most that clip of Brock Purdy on senior

day with Matt Campbell, who's now the coach of Penn State, Matt Campbell's in tears. It was like he was hugging his child, his brother, his father. Like that love he had for his quarterback is unmatched. So Brock Purdy wasn't just a good player. He was beloved. He resurrected

that program. It was the last pick in the draft. So Ty Simpson off one year starting, off a good eight-game stretch is going to go in the first round and his comps Brock Purdy. Again, I'm not talking Brock Purdy, in the NFL with Kyle Shanahan. I'm talking Brock Purdy the prospect

because there are two different things. And we talk about it all the time. The reason that when a guy runs slow, he might end up in the third round, is because running slow dictates where you go. It doesn't dictate whether you're going to be a good player. It just dictates where you're going to go in the draft. Now, I get quarterback inflation,

but you start overpaying, especially in inflationary times, you can get burned. So I think this Ty Simpson thing, to me feels pretty crazy. I just, I don't see it in the first round. Now, I've had buddies in the league that are like, John, you're saying you take the guy pick 50.

Well, if you like the guy at pick 50, why wouldn't you just take him and pick 25? He's a quarterback. This isn't, you know, rotational. Because all these other positions, right, I can take a wide receiver, I can take a defense. They all can rotate.

Quarterback, he either plays or he doesn't. And if you're going to take a guy in the first couple rounds, you're going to view him as a starter. I do think the pressure of being a first round pick is pretty immense. And most guys that are drafting the first round, they get shoved into action immediately. And if not, day one, week one, I would say by week 10. I mean, it went, I would say penics went about as long as possible. And the only reason it went that long is because they just gave cousins $90 million. But most guys, if you're drafted the top 32,

it is a stunning occurrence if you do not start games, your rookie year. let alone start pretty quick, right? Jordan Love, outlier situation. He had Aaron Rogers, I don't know, one of the five, six greatest players of all time. Patrick Mahomes, they were making the playoffs every year. Most times these guys are shoved into action. Joe Flacco is a legendary raven by midseason.

I get Lamar in there. And most of the other guys start immediately. So you take Simpson the first round, no one's going to want to see him on the bench. And you're shoving that guy in year one. on more than likely a bad team. I just, because none of the good teams are going to start Ty Simpson. So I don't know.

I just, I feel like I'm being a hater, but I don't quite get it. I don't. Today's show is brought to you by our presenting sponsor Hard Rock Bet, the official sports betting partner of the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic. We talk football on this show, but the NBA playoffs are right around the corner. And with Hard Rock Bet, every night is a shot to build the same game parlay

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And guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it.

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or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. You know, this is what gets interesting. A couple of things would jump out to me. The Vikings do not have a general manager, right? They have this contract guy running point on it, but he's not going to pick the players. The scouting department has accumulated all this information, but the coaches are in charge. So if this draft works or doesn't work, this is a Kevin O'Connell, Brian Flores run operation.

And I read that George Payton, who is longtime Viking executive, who was like Spielman's right-hand guy, who is now Sean Payton's GM. I just assumed years ago, I'm like, you know, Sean Payton will want his own guy, but it seems like they've hit it off. Denver's a fucking incredible football town. It's a great place to live.

It's, you know, fresh air, just beautiful scenery. If you're making GM money, you can live in the sweet country club. Peyton Manning might live down the street for him. It's awesome. So by all accounts, he's not leaving. He wants to stay, which his ownership's got huge money.

He's comfortable there. Their team's good. I am kind of interested if they truly go on a search, like is someone signing up to essentially be Kevin O'Connell's personnel guy? Because no one's getting that job and just becoming the guy picking the players, right? That's just not going to be handed to you. It's like the argument with Ian Cunningham, which I think the bear should get picks.

But the league said, we've seen this before. you answer to Matt Ryan, so even if he's letting you pick the players, you're still not the boss. And big unprecedented, slippery slope, I understand it, even if I disagree. I think the Minnesota situation is pretty easy because we act like Quessie was just Belichick, right? Or just Pat Riley. No one told that guy what to do. He picked the players and you coach the players. You do what he, no chance.

he's forcing players on Kevin. So Kevin O'Connell already had a big role in the draft. Now it feels like it's all on him. Because there is no chance. Anyone in that room is like, coach, I know you love this guy, but I'm telling you, let's take my guy. And Kevin, like, oh yeah, you're right, take him.

Like, that's not happening. And again, I'm not saying that he can't pick good players. We're about to find out. Historically, in my experience, coaches can be hit or miss with that Because they just view the game through a different lens when evaluating. Some of them are really good evaluators. And some of them who are good coaches, you're like,

what did you just say about that guy? He's called the guy a fourth rounder? He's like a top 10 pick. So some of these guys, because they're like, well, he just doesn't quite understand out of two gap with his arms. Like, who gives a fuck? See that guy bend the edge? See that guy's closing speed?

It's three-time All-American. And other guys, like, you see this guy's effort? Yeah, he's like a 5-240 guy. couldn't get open on me. But it's one of the deals. And the other thing is the Giants, this Dexter Lawrence contract. I guess, you know, at the draft,

Joe Shane said, I don't know where this is coming from. John Harboss called him like a foundational piece. He's obviously coming off a bad year. Right now, holdouts typically are, it's technically not a holdout because it's voluntary mini camp, but when John Harbaugh is your coach,

not a voluntary mini camp. The Ravens used to have a tackle in practice. during OTAs. They got fine. They've got OTAs taken away. You know, the L-O-B did the same thing. John Harbaugh's team, especially brand new coach and you've been shitty.

Like, he wants everyone front and center. And I think Dexter Lawrence's not showing up. Devin A. Chan, didn't show up in Miami. They want more money, which there's a business, all for it. I think the Dexter Lawrence thing's a little complicated. But I also think, and people have written and talked about this, In Minnesota, we know who the boss right now is.

It's Kevin O'Connell. We know who the boss is in New York. It's John Harbaugh that he just gave him $100 million. He gets the answer to the coach for the first time in franchise history. But, you know, Joe Shane is the guy running point with the agent doing a lot of this work. It's going to be fascinating to watch this play out. And the problem is, with the guy who want more money, you can't just be like, well, can you trade him, get some value and just kind of move on and pivot? Well, yeah, in theory.

You could shop him around, but his value is also tied to, he wants a race. So if you trade him to Team X, he does like, okay, I'll see you there at OTAs. No, I still want my race because I'm making $22 million. I want my $35 million. Like, you're coming off like a sack. That's where I think it gets very, very complicated. Now, this is the advantage of having John Harbaugh as your head coach. Ben there, done that.

I even saw a clip of him saying, this happens every single year. This is part of the deal. And having him there gives you credibility in these situations for him to say, not that big a deal. We will handle it. We will see how it plays out. Sometimes every coach kind of says that.

We're like, I don't know how this is going to play out. Like, for example, the A-Champ thing. I didn't quite realize, I said this like a couple months ago. I didn't quite realize how good he was. I don't know about you. I wasn't super locked into every snap of the Miami Dolphins. season. I knew it was a really talented player, but then you look at the stats. Like, God, he was

better than I thought. Then you start texting personnel guys that are like, I'm telling you, bro, this guy is, I had a GM tell me that they thought if they thought about trading him, which they pushed back about it, they set at the owner's meetings, we plan on extending him, he thought they'd get the equivalent of a first round pick.

And the more you look at it, he's young, he's like running backs don't cost that much. Yeah. If I was John Snyder, I'd give up pick 32 for him, and give him an extension. In that offense, he'd be incredible. But they're not going to do it. But they haven't extended him yet, so he's not going to show up at OTAs and risk getting injured, right, until I get my whatever $50 million contract. Not like total. He's running back. It's like three years, $50 million or whatever

he ends up getting. But it's his business. But my point is that when the Miami guys, who I feel like are impressive, they looked apart, they talked apart, they have great resumes, right? Halfley's been a stud the last couple years in Greenfield. Bay. The GM has spent 20 plus years at, I don't know, one of the top five franchises in America in terms of well-run. It could be because they don't have an owner, but regardless, I mean, their front office has been the cream of the crop in the NFL for decades.

It's awesome. They produce great scouts. And I don't know if they're going to figure this out. Just because they say they have no history of doing this, right? John Harbaugh has done this a million times. Sean Payton's handled a million holdouts. Andy Reid's been there, done that. When you're new, you just never know.

Are you trying to drive a hard bargain? Are you willing to overpay? Are you willing to take care of them? Does this guy have a little more leverage? Because your team sucks. What if he just all of a sudden demands a trade? You said you wouldn't trade him. Are you going to reneg on that?

So it's just, it's a lot going on. And this is a fun time of year with some of that stuff. Right? Personally, when it was reported the other day, and I guess Orlovsky went on TV and said something about Lamar Jackson, like an hour later he shows up. had nothing to do with Orlovsky. He was just like, this guy never shows up and then he just shows up.

I do think it is important. Right? If you are a veteran player, like Lamar's the last couple years, I do think it's crazy and I get he's going to make a lot of money of his career. But when you, if you're making 10 grand and then all of a sudden you go to make 100 grand, you wouldn't just give away $1,000, right? Even though relative to your income, $1,000 when you're making $10,000 is 10%. And $1,000 when you're making $100,000,000,

is a percent. So it's worth way less to you in terms of the amount of money you're making, but you would still value that number. When you get really rich, 500 grand, if you're making $50 million, doesn't seem like that much money. Because Lamar Jackson skipped voluntary workouts the last couple years. He gave up $1.5 million.

Now, maybe what Lamar said, well, over the course of those two years, I made $100 million. So it's a tiny percentage. but it's like, bro, I would never just give money away. Right? And part of it, he'd go, I already know the scheme. I like being in Florida. I don't want to be in Baltimore.

Don't blame you. I'm not going to go full LeBron Memphis because I haven't spent much time in Baltimore. But I've driven by it. It wouldn't be the first place I'd stop off. It wouldn't be the number one destination for a fucking vacation and a place to hang. Though I would imagine has some incredible seafood. But my point here, is Lamar didn't really have a choice here, right?

It's like brand new scheme, you want a new contract, our team just sucked and we missed the playoffs, you're coming off a season where you were injured a bunch. People are starting to question, are you trending the wrong way? We just need you here. And part of that $50, 60 million dollars, like, allows you to, and hell, your roster bonus, get a PJ back and forth if you want to go back to Florida over the weekends.

we're working like three or four days. You're literally working out it anyway. But we're setting the scheme. We're setting the tone. And you're our best player. You're a leader. And in fairness, Lamar answered the bell. He showed up.

Made it a non-story immediately. Because I think a lot of people were ready. Lamar didn't show up again. Oh, Lamar. No, he showed up. Because he should show up. It's the right thing to do. And let's face it, the Ravens are going to go as far as he goes this year.

Because let's assume their defense gets a lot better with enter. If Lamar's awesome, they'll be good. If for whatever reason he's banged up or the scheme fits a little weird, they'll have problems. But like, it's him. He's the fucking engine driving this car. Right? And clearly they're, you know, a couple years ago, the defense, it was like a combo. Lamar was unreal and their defense was unreal. And they were the number one seed. And if they don't shit the bed in the AFC championship game, they're in the Super Bowl and they probably win it because I watched to play the Niners on Christmas. and they beat the living, you know, what out of them.

So, like, they blew that moment. Lamar, there's a decent chance he might not play on a team. The next five years is remotely as good as that. But if he's that good, he can take a team, even if their defense isn't as good, to the playoffs. And then if you're a great player, like, you got a shot in the playoff games. But it kind of starts right now.

And so I give him credit. I've been thinking a lot about this because this was such a topic for a long time. And I've been critical of teams that have taken running backs. I thought when they took Saquant. If you watch Saquant of Penn State, you're like, this guy's incredible.

This guy is unreal. I remember talking to buddies about Bejohn that scouted him, like went through Texas. They're like, John. It's one of the best players I've ever seen. I talked to a scouting buddy that's in baseball. And he does like the West Coast, Southern California, Arizona.

And UCLA right now has a guy that they're shortstop who is projected to be the number one overall pick. UCLA's baseball team's like 30 and one. And this guy by far as their best player. So I text my buddy and who's seen UCLA play a bunch. She's like, I've been doing this a long time. He's probably like a decade.

He's like, this guy's easily the best prospect I've ever seen. He is a lock number one overall pick. And so every once in a while in football, no one's saying that about Fernando Mendoza. But Jeremiah, I love right now, people are kind of saying that. You're like, the guy doesn't have a weakness. That's what they said about Bejan Robinson. can do everything.

And he's a high character guy. Total package on the field, total package off the field. Which kind of matters. You know, look at what the Eagles are going through right now, Jalen Hertz. Not a bad guy by any means, but doesn't really listen. Has his own ideas. Doesn't love to, you know, change his plays at the line of scrimmage if he thinks you're an idiot. And then his plays don't work.

And then it's like the coach's fault. But that's football. Happens all the time. Pooka Nakua, causing the Rams a lot of headaches. potentially if he's drinking too much cause himself some headaches even though when you're younger your hangovers don't hit his heart

my point is that taking running backs high used to be viewed as a saying not that crazy anymore because drafts the last couple years haven't been that good I disagreed because I didn't view him at the level of prospect but SpyTech did SpyTech thought he was one of the best players in the draft

in a draft it wasn't that great so he took him at six overall this year the Titans are taking at four. It's pretty clear. Quarterback goes one, two pass rushers more than likely go two and three. Because the Cardinals aren't going to go running

back at three. You wouldn't think. And the Titans now are going, he's been the betting odds are Jeremiah loved the Titans. But then I saw Robert Sala say the other day, like, I love my running back room. And I view

defensive linemen as weapons. We go, what's Robert Sala's expertise? defense what like part of the defense linebacker front guy like that's his bread and butter physicality shit just look at him certified badass

remember years ago two everyone's like oh you got rid of Keenan Allen you got rid of Mike Williams Jim Harbaugh got to take Malik neighbors take Malik neighbors then he takes Joe Alt

and people are like I can't believe he did that and then that night of his press conference, first ever draft pick, he goes, I view offensive linemen as the tip of the spear. Their weapons. I kind of think Robert Sala might be telling you, like, no one disputes Jeremiah Love isn't an incredible player. But are we better off taking a defensive lineman?

And the answer is probably yeah. Now, if there is that this is where you get in these crazy conversations, if you have Jeremiah Love as your number one overall player in the draft, let's just hypothetically say that. and the guy you'd be taking at pick four, you know, you have a couple offensive players, but you want to go defensive line is like your fifth or six. I do understand that.

But if you go, we got them one, and the guy we're going to take is two or three, like I kind of understand it. I guess I still think they might take Jeremiah Love, but I read Robert Salas comments. This is, I bet they are talking and debating this every single day. If they go, Reese and Bailey in some order will go two and three.

Who would we take it for? Is there a defensive lineman that we feel comfortable enough that is worth that pick? Because we know Jeremiah Love. Jeremiah Love is worth the pick. If all players are equal, you would just take him because he'd be the... Hell, the Raiders might take him.

They won't need to because they get... But you know, he's the best player in the draft. Widely consider. I just think these conversations are hard. And this is why drafting is so hard. There is no right. answer. Because if they take Jeremiah Love and he becomes like an elite Bijon Robinson level player, even if the next couple picks are incredible defensive linemen, it doesn't matter. But if you take

the defensive lineman and he just kind of becomes a guy and Jeremiah Love goes a couple of picks later and he becomes Segoin and Barclay or Bijan Robinson, it's like, God damn, we fucking knew it. And that's what's so fun about the draft is because that will be the conversation we're having in two or three years. But as we sit here right now, we got no clue. I say it all the time in football. You're dealing with human beings. Your asset acquisitions are not hotels, are not widgets. These are living, breathing people that are all different.

When you have a kid, everyone tries to give you advice. Everything you see on the internet because our phones are listening to us when you scroll, Instagram is trying to give you advice. Yet every baby's different. Some babies never stop crying. My baby doesn't really cry that much. Some babies sleep right away. Some babies like mine don't sleep that much. You can try to get them on schedule. You can try to do. Good luck. Just like 10 year olds. You can find me five 10 year olds. A couple of them have no problem if you put in a room with a bunch of adults socializing talking. We had some family come over a couple weeks ago, had a young child. It was probably like five or six. It was like,

to talk to me. Not because I'm that scary. It's kind of a quiet. It's just, you know, might be a little intimidated by adults. Then you get another five-year-old that walks right in like he's Michael Jordan. And it's like, I'm here for the party, guys, talking to everybody. It's no different with these players. And it's no different with the wiring that you just don't know. You can do all the research. You can do all the scouting. You can do all the film prep. there's so much stuff that you will learn once you have the player. And a couple of years later, you'll know, and you may be excited about the move you made,

and the good move could get you a contract extension. But you get lucky later in the draft, right? To me, when you draft in the top five, you're not really getting lucky. You're making a decision. You're picking a guy over five or six other guys. And you're making your best educated guess. with your scouting department, with your coaching staff, with your organization. And your heart's always in the right place.

No one ever drafts a player because I think the guy's going to be an overrated scrub in three years. It's why every draft interaction, typically in the first round, but definitely in the top 10, guys are really excited. Remember the viral video when the fight, or excuse me, the Lions, went from 6 to 12, and then they picked this guy named Jermere Gibbs and Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes went fucking berserk. They went nuts.

You would have thought they just drafted Jesus. They would have done that reaction if Jemir Gibbs became Jemir Gibbs or if Jemir Gibbs became a guy that sucked. Because at the time, you believe that Jemir Gibbs is going to become what Jemir Gibbs came.

But a lot of the people, of times they don't. And that's what I think the best part about the draft is on draft night, it is exciting. It is fun. We can argue like when trades happen, if they traded too much or they shouldn't have traded back like last year with James Pierce. I thought the James Pierce trade was nuts. And then he got 10 sacks.

And Raheim Morris would have been like, see that? What would I say? And then he got arrested and he may never play in the NFL game and I'd go, see that? But the point is that what if James Pierce never is just gets the Falcons, kind of gets his shit together, and can handle himself as a human being in society? The Falcons would Matt Ryan and Ian Cunningham would probably be pretty excited. See James Pierce was a high character guy.

Now, if he was, he wouldn't have been there at 25 or 26. He would have gone in the top 10. But let's just say he was a red flag, and then he completely turned his life around. They'd be like, this is an incredible pick. but now you might go to jail. That's what, that's a draft for you. Can I tell you all my friends at Quince?

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Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it.

We just contributed to a... We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts. We're starting a trend. But, This one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys?

I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. We were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this.

We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast where people could call in and say, Hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas. and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs.

And on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jen she went. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface.

Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis Podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. The other interesting thing, and I don't know where I really stand on this because I'm a big, you just, you kind of got a color outside the lines in life. That's the way the world works.

If you follow all the rules, you will get laughed. I see all these people complaining online. One, it's not real life, but two, it's like, if you really feel like that, you got no shot in whatever industry you're in. I'm not saying break the law. I say this all the time. You don't have to, you know, commit crimes, but you got to push the envelope.

The most successful people in the majority of industries push the envelope. And they go up to the point until they're officially told you cannot do that anymore. But I typically like apologizing more than I like asking for permission. And when Tom Brady became, came in this ownership role and then he became the owner.

It really hit a, I don't even want to say tipping point because nothing really happened, but it became explosive once he got caught. Cot would even be, he was just actively there on national TV in the coaching box. And it just went really viral and everyone had an opinion I did to. But then the Rangers were terrible. It's like, you think Andy Reeves lose his sleep over that? And the answer is he's not. But if you tell me in two years,

that the Raiders are a playoff team, Andy Reid, Sean Payton, and Jim Harbaugh will have a bigger issue if Tom Brady is calling one of their games. If you told me one of those guys refused to talk to him and wouldn't let his coaches talk to him, I'd believe you. And so when this report comes out that Trey Ackman a couple months ago is helping the dolphins with their search, it's like, why wouldn't the dolphins do that?

The Raiders can do some version of that. No one's telling me I can't do that. this. And as Troy Aikman, who's been one of the top broadcasting crews for decades at Fox and now at ESPN, it's like, yeah, he knows all these guys. And I'll promise you this, every coach, every player and every front office guy, if Troy wants to BS in the facility, you're talking to him and BSing with him. Probably enjoying it. Hell, you're picking his brain. So he went on a podcast and said, part of the reason that the dolphins would have been interested in him is because he, he knows things that they're not going to be privy to.

And a lot of people are like, he basically said the quiet part out loud. Well, yeah. Once Tom Brady did it, why wouldn't he do it? And it opens up Pandora's box. Should other teams be interested in doing this? I was telling someone the other day, if I was a college and I wanted to, because it's like, am I just going to watch, if I'm Ohio State or Texas or Oregon, how do I have the time to watch every, small school good player. You just don't. And I don't want to waste so much time of like watching every dude at UC Davis, watching everyone at Cal Poly, watching everyone at Fresnel State. What if you just on the side put like one of, you know, a college scouting director? You know what? I'll give you 75K on the side. Every time you're in one of these small schools and you see a guy that you think would play for us, shoot me his information, shoot me his name.

this deals between me and you. If that is not happening now, it should. And if I was a coach, I wouldn't go to a GM because they're doing a million things. I would go to one of the college scouting directors or one of the top scouts and be like, I will take care of you. What's your number? To just feed me some information.

I just thought of that idea. I hope it's going down. If it's not, it should. But that's kind of what's happening here. It's like, you know a bunch of stuff. Tell me who you talk to, who you know. Think how many Packer games Troy Eichmann's done in the last 15 years.

Think how many times he's been around John Eric Sullivan. Just in casual conversations, at practice, talking ball, talking life. Probably knows him pretty well. But here's the thing. A lot like the Raiders,

the dolphins are probably going to suck this year. So it's like, is Mike Vrable or is the Buffalo Bills that worried about Troy Eichman? Maybe not. But if you tell me in two years, those guys have turned it around and are trending in the right direction, you get very uncomfortable, very fast talking to these guys. And this is where I wonder if it opens Pandora's box of like,

it kind of feels like the Raiders are decent now. Now, I don't know how many games are going to win, but they got a bunch of good players like they could. Am I just that comfortable, just telling Tom Brady some of my secrets, that I would never, ever just casually tell someone else on another team? that I like don't know that well. That's where it gets weird. And this is one of those situations where I don't know if the Lee could quite put the genie back in the bottle.

But why wouldn't you if you were the Carolina Panthers or the New York Jets just put Craig Olson on retainer? He's calling all these games. He's in all these facilities. Why wouldn't you do that? And I wonder if it happens. I'd be stunned if another one of these guys doesn't get one of these side gigs for several hundred thousand dollars.

You're talking about pocket change to these guys. So keep an eye on that. That'll do it for today. Adios. Have a great day. Talk soon. The volume. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe.

I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed.

The first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel 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 headwriter, 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.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoffs. moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was funny. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to you. He's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the

IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent. man. Is everyone lying to me about who they are? I felt such desperation. I felt it was what I had to do. Listen to Deep Cover the Family Man on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.