The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 03/01/2019

Episode Date: March 1, 2019

Doug Gottlieb fills in for Colin and thinks that the only way Jason Witten would leave the broadcast booth is if he was promised a future coaching role with the Cowboys.  He thinks Kyler Murray needs to be Steve Jobs to be successful and explains why.  Plus, 2x Super Bowl Champion Mark Schlereth explains why the combine is useless.  Presented by Perky Jerky. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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you just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to her. He's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs.

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watching herd. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports Radio. What up? Welcome in. This is the herd wherever you may be, and however you may be making it as part of your Friday. Thanks so much. Alongside the very talented Joy Taylor, I'm Doug Gottlieb, filling in for Colin Cowherd.

It is March, which of course is the greatest college basketball and arguably sports month of the year and, man, did the end of February go out with a boom? We actually have baseball to talk about with a record-breaking contract for Bryce Harper. We got football to talk about with Kyla Murray being a little bit taller than people thought that he was. And Jason Witten leaving the broadcast booth, we'll get back to that. We got basketball to talk about with outstanding college hoops, huge upset on Fox Sports 1 last night. And of course, the NBA tonight, LeBron, the old. older model against Janice, the newer model.

We're starting to get into, hey, Lakers are must-win territory. They've competed well against the top of the league. Now you're getting the team with the best record in the league at home tonight. We've got a lot of things to get to. Morning to you, Joy. How are you? Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. What was your reaction when you heard that Jason Witten was leaving the Monday night

football booth after just one year? I was very surprised and curious. surprised because that's a huge job to leave and an even bigger job to take leaving the NFL. So you would think that that's something you're very, very committed to. And it's curious because I don't know what to expect from him after a year off from football, which I think everyone is just assuming he's going to pick up where he left off and mentally. And as far as his, you know, teaching abilities and locker room guy and all that, I'm sure it will be seamless. but the football field stuff is what I'm not sure about.

Yeah, you don't get faster. Everybody else does a year away after having 63 catches but not looking great doing it. It's going to be fascinating. Listen, I agree with you. I was surprised. And look, none of us are blind, deaf or dumb. Oftentimes people who have sat in an analyst chair are a little bit more reasonable in terms of their analysis of it. It's a hard gig.

It's a hard gig to do, especially when you're judged. by the entire world. You're the only game. You're a standalone game. Whereas if you're on a Sunday at a one o'clock or a four o'clock game, you know, even if there's some other big guys on it, there's parts of the country that don't hear you. Everyone hears. And it's Monday night football, which has been synonymous with the very top in the field. Whether or not they don't get the Super Bowl, they only get one playoff game. But the fact is, being a standalone game, everyone parses every word you have. And when you're compared against your former quarterback, Tony Romo, it's really hard because everybody loves Romo.

And look, there's flaws in the hiring for ESPN. They had a completely green crew. Like as much as everyone loves Booger McFarland, he never called NFL games. As that much as everybody loves Joe Testator, he never called an NFL game. So there's no NFL chops, no equity with the audience.

It was hard and he rightfully got some criticism. But it makes no sense to leave one of those four chairs. Right? It's why I sat here in this very chair before Calhurt ever got a chance to comment on it, when Tony Romo left playing in the NFL to be the lead broadcaster, lead color man analyst for CBS. They said he's not going back. Because once you have that chair, you're at the top of the mountain. You didn't have to climb.

You didn't have to fight. You didn't have to wait for a guy to retire. You leapfrogged a bunch of steps. You didn't have to do ESPN news overnight, right? You didn't have to call NFL Europe. you didn't have to slog it out. You got one of those big chairs, never give it up. So on many levels, it makes no sense.

They were going to try and figure out a way to make it work. He would have been better as time went on. They likely would have moved Burger McFarland into the booth. And that would have been a good three-man booth. And we would have started out, okay, you know what? I understand the Witten thing. He would have gotten better. Our expectations would have lessened.

They would have grown together as a crew. He had a four-year con. It makes no. sense to leave one of the four big chairs covering the biggest professional sport in the industry to go back to playing tight end for the Dallas Cowboys unless. Hey, why did Josh McDaniels change his mind from the Indianapolis Colts where he might or might not have had Andrew Luck. Remember at the time we didn't know about Andrew Luck's shoulders?

Why would he go back to the New England Patriots? Do we really believe it's because Bill Belichick was going to open up his vault of knowledge? Or was it a wink deal? Or he's the guy. It feels like we're all missing that if you just look in a vacuum, do you leave Monday Night Football to go back to the Dallas Cowboys with a one-year deal, three and a half million where you're making more money with an easier job. that's a 30-year. Look, being a broadcaster on Monday night football or in any of these,

it's like a lifetime appointment. It's like being a federal judge. Those guys, he might not have had Monday night football after four years, but it's not like they were going to fire him. And if he decided, if they mutually decided to part ways, there were other networks that would have hired him to do maybe lesser games. Why would you walk away from what feels like a layup? 18 week 18 months 17 monday not even 17 Mondays right but 17 games plus one playoff game why would you walk away and then you start to think about it jason garrett last week was not renewed there was no extension on his contract heck if you go back and you listen to jerry jones and his son they have said we're in win now mode we're kind of in prove it mode

And then you start to think, wait a second. Kellen Moore is the new offensive coordinator. He's been with the Dallas Cowboys with Jason Witten. John Kittner is the quarterback coach. He's been the backup quarterback with Jason Witten. Rob Marinelli's doing a good job with that defense. All they'd have to do is change out head coach and tight end. And remember, Jerry only hires Jerry's guys.

He's hired outsiders in the past. Bill Parcells did a good job. but they didn't get along in it. Jimmy Johnson, of course, works here, did the best job. Jerry wants Jerry's guys. Cowboys. I want a cowboy to be the cowboy head coach. That's what he's got now.

And this is part of what Jerry has done previously. If you go back to the 2013 season, they were 8 and 8, they missed the playoffs for the third straight year under Jason Garrett. Go back and look. Their offense coordinator was Bill Callahan. Their defensive coordinator was Monty Kiffin. Even their special teams coach, all three coordinators had previously worked for John Gruden. When John Gruden was a head coach in Oakland, Bill Callahan, or in Tampa, Monty Kiffin.

And what he put in place was, hey, look, Jason Garrett thing doesn't work out. I'll just slide John Gruden in. He's already got his guys in place. Why would, why? would you leave one of the top four positions? The chair is analyst. From Monday night footballist Danny Don Meredith all the way to John Madden to John Gruden.

Why would you leave that to go back to the Cowboys? Take a listen to Dallas Morning News columnist Matt Mosley on my radio show, which follows this one, 12 to 3 Pacific, 3 to 6 Eastern on most of your Fox Sports Radio affiliates. Why would you leave? Take a listen to Matt Mosley. This gets him out of the booth, into the California, Cowboys locker room where he's more comfortable, and then we can see Dallas Cowboys.

Now, look, I actually think you're more valuable to a team if, like John Gruden, you're going and watching everybody else, Pratt, talking to every other coach, you understand the entirety of the league. But being a plant for ownership, for the general manager, to be in the future head coach, already having kind of the deity status that he has in Dallas, the only thing that would make sense to leave a Supreme Court justice-like lifetime appointment of being a color analyst

with no chops at all Monday night football in the second year of a four-year guaranteed deal is if he got a promise that he's the next coach of the Dallas Cowboys. It's the only thing that makes sense. Like, look, does it make sense that he didn't like criticism? Sure, that here's a guy that, you know, back when they were players,

Romo got all the heat and he got all the praise. And now Tony Romo gets all the praise and he gets, yeah, some of that. And I'm sure some of it isn't fun when, you know, you want to be out there playing and you don't have it fully out of your system. Like, I get all that. But the Cowboys said they built up Blake Jarwin. They're probably going to draft a tight end. Like, look, he raised a pregnant woman two years ago and came in third. He was not running particularly well.

So the idea that it's simply because he missed football and once he's. get back on a football field and wants to be in that locker. I'm like, okay, okay, you don't want to be a shell of your former self. You're more likely to get hurt as well as being effective as, you know, we're all joy's rightfully like anybody else questioning what he has left in the tank. To me, the only possible, reasonable explanation for, dude, you don't give up that job. Don't ever. Make them fire you. If you die in that chair, great. That's a life well lived. the only thing that makes sense is if Jerry, who has done this before,

he tried to put it in place for John Gruden, is if Jerry said, you're my guy. 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. Yesterday, always interesting to see guys' true measurements. I don't know if he did the tiptoes thing.

I don't know if he had thick, thick, socks, but I was told from several sources. Like, hey, Calais, like, just a hair under 5.10. He's like 5.9 and 3 quarters or 5.9 and 7.8s, whatever. Yesterday, he measures in at 510 and 1 eighth. Whichever. So much better, right? Like, this much tall.

Like, okay, now he can play quarterback in the National Football League. Now we're good. It's not the Olympics. Right? There's the famous Jerry Seinfeld deal about the Olympics, right? The difference between a gold medalist and fourth place is like, greatest guy in the world, never heard of them. You know, it's like that.

It's literally that much. But I kind of think we're sort of missing a little bit of the point on Kyler Murray. Think about this for a second. Look, Kyler Murray was, and I believe I sat in this chair, or on that chair, Joy, and I said Kyla Murray's going to win the Heism. Kyle Murray is Doug Flutty with Mike Vicks athleticism.

And what's happened is because his measurements are similar, not the same, hand size much smaller, he's slightly smaller, and actually weighed a little bit more, 207 as opposed to 204 to Russell Wilson. We're like, well, look, if Russell Wilson

can win a Super Bowl and play in another one, Kyla Murray should be your number one overall pick. That's the correlation we're making. There's a couple different parts to it which are interesting. I think we would agree that Russell Wilson and Drew Brees and even Baker Mayfield are outliers. Now, can we say the league has changed over the last 10, 15? Yeah, like a blind man could see.

The league is changing. It's evolving. On the other hand, you have some of these older quarterbacks that have stood the test of time. I mean, look at Philip Rivers. He started, what is it, like 207 consecutive games, and he can't move at all. He was a bad athlete before he tore his ACL,

before he was in his mid-30s. Now he's a terrible athlete, but he's a really good quarterback because you don't have to have the type of athleticism that Kyler has in order to have long-sustained success. You still throw from the pocket. That's where your success is. And so the idea that a,

an undersized quarterback, which is what he is. Whether he's 5'9 and 3 quarters or 510, and whether a guy who weighs roughly 200 pounds, probably below, like I think the reason he didn't run yesterday, which I would like to see him run, which is he probably put on weight for the combine, but he knows that that weight is going to hurt his 40 time. And he, Baker Mayfield told me at the Super Bowl,

he's a 4-2 guy. So maybe he's a 4-3 guy, but if you're running with 15 extra pounds, you're probably a 4-4-4-5 guy, regardless of which, whatever his size is, he would have to be an outlier in order to be successful in the NFL. And this reminds me of the you don't need college guy. Do you need college?

I don't know if you absolutely positively need to graduate from college. And I understand that there's a lot of reasons some people never make it to college. parents can't afford it. They grow up in an environment where it's not valued or they have a troubled childhood. They're moving around houses or they simply don't have not everyone's educational base is like our own. Sometimes schools don't provide the right level of, you know,

core curriculum in order to help kids do well in the standardized test. Maybe it's just not, again, not valued. And so people like to point out, and Cowherd never, never graduated Eastern Washington. And he's as successful as anyone has ever been in this business. Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg. Now, in case of the point, they had to actually get into Harvard in order to withdraw from Harvard. Larry Ellison, who owns an island, right?

Like how many islands are there in Hawaii? He actually owns one. That's the biggest baller move of all time. You can tell me about Zuckerberg and Bill Gates trying to save the world. Larry Ellison actually owns one of the Hawaiian islands. That's a mic drop, isn't it? Didn't finish college. Now, he did go to the University of Chicago, which is one of the ten best schools in America.

But he didn't finish. But if you want to say, like, hey, I don't need college. Larry Ellison didn't need college. We did get into University of Chicago, so there was some ability to be competitive. One, can you be competitive in high school? and two, do you value on some level your core education or to get into those schools? But I don't need college guy is a little bit like, I know that through the 50 years of the NFL, there's been like five guys smaller than six feet tall who have been successful as quarterbacks in the NFL.

But that, by definition, is an outlier. But here's the other problem. Here's the other problem with the Russell Wilson comparison. Forget about the fact that Russell Wilson had to lose weight before. the combine and Kyler had to gain weight. Or the fact that Russell Wilson has longer arms and is a little bit more of a pocket thrower. Like, here's what we forget about Russell Wilson.

Kyla Murray has a chance to be the number one overall pick in the NFL draft. And how we evaluate the number one pick is different than any other pick, especially a third round pick. So if I were to tell you that Kyla Murray comes into the National Football League and this year with the Arizona Cardinals, with the air raid skis, game with Cliff Kingsbury as their head coach, he has nine games of less than 200 yards passing. He has zero games of 300 yards passing. Would Kyler-Marie live up to the expectations and hype of being the number one overall pick?

No. What if in his second season he had just two, 300-yard passing games and six games below 200 yards? would you say that he was a good quarterback to be taken number one overall? Of course not. Of course not. That's what Russell Wilson did. See, Russell Wilson, yes, he's become a very good, maybe great, but very good quarterback in the national football league. But he walked into a deal where they had the Legion of Boom, not yet in their prime.

They had a great running game, a good offensive line, and he didn't have to do anything other than hud-hud hike, hand off the ball and occasionally scramble and complete a pass on third down. That the diminutive outlier quarterback that's become a star in Seattle that Cowherd has moving on went to the Giants in a year or two or something because his wife doesn't like Seattle. That's what happened. That our view of him is skewed because we're looking at him now and not understanding the context of where he was taken and how he was protected. Look, if Kyler-Marie goes to the Arizona Cardinals,

they have no offensive line. None. That's one of the reasons Josh Rosen was bad last year. None. And the expectations in that system is going to be to throw it all the time because that's what air raid quarterbacks do. That's what Cliff Kingsbury is going to do. So you compound the fact that he has to be an outlier.

A no college can still succeed. Walt Disney didn't go to college. It has happened. Five foot 10 quarterbacks have made it. But then you put, he's the number one pick potentially, playing in a system where they're going to make him throw. They're not going to allow him to develop and evolve as a pro quarterback. Feels like a recipe for disaster to me.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending. Opinions are flying. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo.

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with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlic on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 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 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.

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Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never. ever seen before. And he knows.

Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall.

And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass would get that thing. that man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers why he got the ball.

Like, after you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clifford Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show,

I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker. You know these kids. This linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What?

Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Here's what's interesting about the LeBron thing.

Tonight they take on the moment. they take on the Milwaukee Bucks at Staples Center. And there's going to be a little bit of the older model and newer model, right? On offense and on defense. And granted, Janice is not, and he may never be the shooter that LeBron is, as LeBron has become a very good shot maker after sometimes struggling with his jump shot early in his career. But it's fascinating.

You know, there was a quote from LeBron a couple of days ago after they beat the Pelicans two nights ago about how teams, you know, are going to go at him on defense and he's still, like, bring it on. Like, Julius Randall had 35 against you, dude. So I would offer this up. We can debate whether or not LeBron is the greatest player of all time, the second greatest player of all time. It's great for TV shows.

It's great for radio shows. I host one, and I'm guest hosting in here for Colin Cowherd. But sometimes we get lost in the, is he an all-time great historically? And is he one of the best players now? And I would offer up that LeBron James, so far, based upon his play at both ends of the floor, is not playing like a top 10 player in the NBA. He's just not. Like has he had a better and more impactful year at both ends of the floor than Janus and Tenacupo?

No. You can give me the raw stats about how, well, you know, he's averaging. slightly fewer points and, you know, and less assists, less rebounds or whatever. But if you watch the other end of the floor, you're trying to hide LeBron James. Trying to hide him. It doesn't move the same. We're looking at raw stats. He had a better year than Paul George.

More impact at both ends of the floor. Has he had more impact than James Hardin, then Kevin Durant, then Kauai Leonard, then Joel Embedd, then Nicola Yokic. Then Anthony Davis. Then Steph Curry. What if right now in the NBA, though historically, no question at top 10, likely a top five, and on some people's list, the best player of all time? Right now in the NBA, why is LeBron James considered a top 10 player in the NBA?

Because in the past, he's carried teams and the past he has. This is not the past. This is today. This is 2019, 34 years old, coming up. off of a groin injury. You show me where he's a top 10 player in the NBA. You want to give me his stats? That's fine.

I'll give you Russell Westbrook stats. He had another triple double last night. They didn't win. But if you just want to give me stats, I'll give you he's averaging a triple double for the third straight year. And with that, we bring in Chris Broussard, who of course has his own radio show along with crazy uncle Rob Parker, where they argue for three hours every night, 7 to 10,

Eastern Time, 4 to 7 Pacific. And of course, you saw him on undisputed. You see him on all of our TV shows. Wow. right now. You just dropped a bomb, the godly. Not really. Like, not really.

Again, like, this is, I don't think it's being as disrespectful to LeBron as a LeBron as like, like Nick Wright right now is probably tweeting furiously. But like, the reality of it is like, look, dude, he's 34. His contemporaries are, are Dwayne Wade, who is, you know, petering out in Miami with a miracle last second shot. a couple nights ago and of course last night. Carmelo Anthony. Right. Like those guys aren't even in the league. If LeBron fell off from tonight forward, he still has had a tremendous career. He's still a top 10, top five, maybe best player of all time. He's played more games, way more games than Michael Jordan did, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, all those guys.

I would say, look at, see, LeBron hasn't had as good of a season as a lot of those guys on that list. He's not going to be first. first team all-N-B-A, which is a trip. But before he got hurt, he was on pace to be first-team all-N-B-A. He had carried that team to the fourth seed from a 35-win team before to the fourth seed. And I think my feeling is I still have LeBron as the best player in the world. Here's why. I think he's earned the benefit of the doubt to not, he's played nine games since the injury.

And you're right. He hasn't looked great. He's looked atrocious at times on defense. But I think he, I need to see more of a sample size. If he does not get them into the playoffs and they continue losing to these bad teams, in part because of his play, then I'll give you he's not the best player in the world. But I just think he's earned the benefit of the doubt to say, I'm not going to take that mythical title from him after nine games.

Because before the injury, the 18 he missed and the nine games, It was arguable. I mean, you were saying Duran, I think, at that point, and certainly people could make arguments for other guys. But I think most people still, through Christmas Day, believe LeBron was the best player in the world. And he was carrying that team to a nice season. I think, like, look, they were 17 and 10 at one point in time.

But if we remember back, like, okay, we're cutting out the first 10 games where it really wasn't, really, you know, a while to get adjusted. I mean, part of the whole Lakers thing is they were learning how to play with LeBron and just as they start to learn how to play with him and with his style, then he goes out, now they got to learn how to play without him, then they come back. And oh, yeah, by the way, while they're out, Joy pointed out, they've had a litany of injuries, not just LeBron. And then when they come back, now their schedule is more difficult.

My issue is we're judging him, evaluating him against the best players. Some of these losses have been against the worst teams. It's not like they're losing to, it's not like when you're losing. When they lost to the Sixers, the Sixers are really good, you know? You lose to the Warriors, the Warriors are really good. You lose to the Grizzlies, the Pelicans. The only reason they beat the Pelicans is the only played 20 minutes. Otherwise, they lose that game.

And so I'm just evaluated based upon what the body of work this year against everybody else's body of work at the top, and I would tell you that their body works better. I could argue, again, these last nine games, without question, I mean, he hasn't been the same. But I don't know, did he get out of shape when he was hurt? Did he not know how to respond to the longest absence of his career? you know, is he still working his way back?

Like, I think he's earned the right to, for the benefit of the doubt, to a larger sample size. And I typically say you don't become the mythical best player in the world in the regular season. Let's see what you do in the postseason. Tracy McGrady, if you just look at the regular season, he's a Hall of Famer, and I think deservedly so, I know you argue that. But regular season, I think you would be like,

oh, without question, he was a Hall of Famer. But then you look at the postseason, and even though he actually performed well individually, he never could lift a team to win. So Janus has never won a playoff series yet. Durant has certainly done it. And that's why if it's not LeBron, I would say it's Durant right now based on the postseason he's, you know, performances he's had rather than Janus. But if Janus comes out and is great in the postseason, then I would say it's Janus.

One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours in. Today, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Gotliven for Colin. This is the herd. And this is not soy milk. What?

There's supposed to be soy in my latte, and that's not soy milk. I know the difference in, too. Sorry, what? I just, you drink it, and you're like, no, like, no. There's no way you could tell the difference. Between soy milk and regular milk? Yeah, I mean, I get almond milk. good in here, but if they, if they tricked me,

there's no way I could just, like, taste it and know the difference. It's phone. Well, you're not a milk connoisseur then. You can't taste the difference in soy, almond and... I don't drink milk. So you would be able to tell if it was if it was cow milk? So you're saying there's regular milk in there? Yes. Yes.

Gottlie would like his soy milk. Come on, Joyce. I mean, I don't know. I'm not... Cowherda has the minions when he walks around. I do not. I do not. I just, I I think that one, I think that one got lost. You go soy milk over almond milk?

No, I like almond milk. Here's the secret to the soy milk thing. Starbucks soy milk has vanilla soy milk. So it's like sweetened as well. I actually like the almond milk. It just depends on what kind of drink it's with. Like if I get a cold brew and it's already sweetened, then I'll put some almond milk in it. You put a lot of thought into this.

I do. I mean, you ask the question. Stink is a regular milk guy, right? No. I went all. I've gone almond milk later. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, just the unsweetened almond milk. Yeah. Stink, when you played, I don't know if you've ever gotten to this on this network. I need you've gotten to the other one. When you played, how much did you weigh? I usually weighed about between 285 and 290, pretty much my whole career. And then as soon as you got done, you lost the weight? Yeah.

How much do you lose? I went down to 220. How did you drop that weight? Quit eating. Pretty much. See, there's this thing. I'm saying. When you consume less calories than you burn. Yes.

I think it's science. I'm not 100% sure. I think that that is science. You actually lose weight. It's the craziest damn thing. If you don't eat, you don't. I understand, but like, did you like, did you give up? It's Carb Friday here, by the way.

They only had me in on Carb Friday. We had this group. We have bagels. And we now have pretzel bagels. They used to be salt bagels. Now they're pretzel bagels. As well as one of those other bagels that you guys fight over. there's actually like plastic, well, there's only two Asiago bagels, and that's like, they start,

they get out, they sharpen the plastic, and then they have the, what's the other, what's the sweet ones? Cinnamon raisin bagels. French toast bagels. French toast bagels. We're getting your food all wrong this morning, huh, Doug? French toast bagels. So, like, did you give up carbs?

What did you do? No, I literally quit eating. I literally just, I quit. I quit lifting. I quit training. I quit doing everything. And I just, you know, quit essentially eating. and I end up losing a lot of pounds.

Now, here's the flip side of that. I'm heavier right now than I have ever been since the day I retired. I wasn't trying to bring that up. So I did step on the scale the other day, and then I got to the point where I was like, oh, my goodness, I need to get back on the don't eat any more diet because I'm way too heavy. Mark Slayer, a three-time Super Bowl champion joining us.

Five foot 10 and an eighth, 207 pounds, 9.5 inch span of his hands. It's Kyle Murray big enough to play quarterback in the NFL. Listen, the game has changed because you're playing 60, 65% of the game is out of shotgun.

He had less balls batted down at line of scrimmage than any quarterback in college football last year, I believe, only five times was a ball batted down at line of scrimmage. So if you've got, I think one of the things you have to understand when you're watching film, guys that have great pocket awareness, that don't stare at the rush but feel it, can slide, can find windows,

and deliver the ball accurately on time. Whether you're 6-5 or whether you're 5-10, it doesn't really matter. I find it fascinating, though, that, you know, people and scouts and just general people that cover the league are like, oh, he's 207, now he's a legitimate, you know, first overall pick. Like, that is so faulty. That is so stupid. Like, one, are you going to be able to retain that weight during the season?

Probably not. We used to play this game when I was playing for the Broncos, me and Tommy Nail. So both Tommy Nail and I would weigh somewhere between 84 and 88, usually, somewhere in there. So we get all dressed for practice, helmet and everything on. We'd step on the scale and get our weight. And Friday, well, actually, it was hat days. We only did it on hat days. So we didn't have a helmet on.

So had days where if you won on Sunday, like we got not to have, we didn't have to wear helmets on Friday. So we'd be in shorts and, you know, jerseys and hat day, right? So we'd weigh ourselves on the scale before we went out to practice. And then we would consume water at an ungodly rate. You'd be sloshing around out there to see who could gain the most weight during an hour and a half practice. By the end of practice, men, you've got to urinate, you're sloshing around, you're totally uncomfortable.

Then we would rush right in to see how much weight we would gain. And I literally could gain eight to ten pounds during an hour and a half practice by just drinking water. I mean, we would sit there between the defense and be doing whatever they're doing. And we're just, you know, you guys have the little score bottle things. We'd just be pounding water. It was, I mean, it was the most ridiculous thing. You have to do something to keep yourself entertained.

But 207 pounds, like, who cares? You think about this, Doug. The last time I ever ran a 40 was 1989. I went on to start for 12 years in the league. The last time I ever did a vertical jump was when a team was testing me in all these. The last time I ever did the 225 bench test was 1989. Then I went on to start for 12 years, and it didn't matter anymore. If it's such a great indicator of your football skills, why do we not do it every year?

By the way, your dad still benches 225 reps it out. I don't know people have seen pictures of his dad. His dad is built like a Greek god. Right. And there's pictures to prove it. Okay, so if that's not what playing quarterback's about, some of it's on film. Yeah. And some of it's also, there's a leadership component to it.

Absolutely. Okay. You played with Doug Williams won your first soup poll, right? Well, no, Doug Williams I played with. It was before I got there. So I played with Doug Williams for a year, but I didn't win a Super Bowl with Doug Williams. Mark Rippin, and then two with John Elway.

Okay, so Rippin, Doug Williams. That's three Super Bowls for those counting at home. Hold on. Three. Okay, so. Who's counting? I am. Doug Williams, Mark Rippin, John Elway. Yeah.

And tell me if I'm wrong. When they walk into a room, all three take over a room in terms of personality, persona. Yeah, in different ways, though. Explain. Like, different ways. Like, Rippin was. Happy action, fun, love, you know, just goofing around guy. But when it came time, you know, to play on Sunday, man, he was dialed in.

He's ready to roll. You know, Elway was more subdued business-like. So that was kind of his. But when he walked in the huddle, it didn't matter what the situation was. When he walked into the huddle, then you knew you had an opportunity. You could be down 14. And you're like, okay, we got them right where we want them. Let's roll.

Like, that's the kind of presence he had. Doug was very much the same way. I remember the first game I ever started was a game against the Philadelphia Eagles in the vet. The number one defense they had, I mean, it was Jerome Brown and Mike Pitts and Reggie White and Clyde Simmons and Byron Evans and I mean, they were loaded, right?

And I'm sitting in the bus and I'm scared to death. I mean, I'll just flat out honest. I am scared. I don't know if I belong. I honestly don't. And I knew it wasn't going to be. be a lack of effort that was going to get me booted out of the league, but I didn't know.

And I was sitting on the bus and Doug Williams walks on the bus and he walks right by me and all of a sudden he stops and you can feel his presence behind you. He stops. He backs up, taps me on the shoulder and he said, hey, listen, the only difference between you and them is they've had an opportunity to make a name for themselves. And he goes, and today, you're going to make a name for yourself. And he goes, I have nothing but the utmost faith in your I went out, got a game ball, and wreaked havoc, you know, got in a fight, the only fight I've ever been in. It was awesome. I mean, it was, because Mike Pitts, I was dispensing justice on Mike Pitts, and Mike Pitts is so frustrated because he thought he was going to be player of the game

and have, you know, four sacks and go straight to the Pro Bowl, right? And I'm wearing his ass out. And Mike Pitts takes a shot at me, and I swear to you, I, my wife's over there, she'll, as you can tell you, I took double hands. I tried to break his freaking jaw. I mean, I just wham! And then Ernest Biner came flying and tackled him and it was melee and everybody's pulling us apart, you know, and flags are flying and stuff. And it was just my way of saying, I may be a 10th rounder out of Idaho, but you're not going

to punk me. Like, I didn't come here to get punked. And I bring that up because one of the, I think the biggest discussion point is people want to say, well, Baker-Makefield was in the same system. and Kyler surpassed him statistically. And there's a difference in Baker-Mayfield and Kyle Murray. Like Baker-Mayfield, you know, people may not like his persona, but there's a persona and his teammates seem to love it.

But in Oklahoma, teammates love it. In Cleveland, teammates seem to love it, right? There's a get behind me, you covered him, you know it. And then I saw Kyler Murray. Take a listen. This is Kyler on with Dan Patrick at the Super Bowl. Are you going to the combine? I don't know

Dad, is he going to the combine? Dad had no comment there. Pro day? I mean, that's after the combine. Yeah, are you going to do a pro day? Yeah. Now, look, it's an... It was a bit of an uncomfortable Q&A

because, remember, he's under contract with the A's, in fairness to him, and he's just a kid. and look, he won every high school football game he ever started in the state of Texas. He's a legend in the state of Texas. And here's a guy who started as a freshman at A&M, lost his gig, and then goes up to Oklahoma and comes out of nowhere, wins the Heisman trophy and leads them to another big 12 time. So he is accomplished. He is no dummy.

He's a bright kid as well. Right. But there is a difference in the personality, in the presence that quarterbacks have. And I don't know if he has it. And I almost feel like we're questioning the wrong things about it. Yeah, I think there's, I think the combine's a joke, okay, first off. It's a test of athletic ability. It has nothing to do with your football ability.

I always say this football is easy for football players. It's really hard for athletes. And all you're figuring out here is who's the athletes. So it goes back to the film. It goes back to the intangible stuff, how much you're willing to prepare, how much you're willing to work, what you're able to understand, and how quickly you can make decisions. So all those things are more important. I think it's medical is the most important thing you're going to do here.

Two is personality. Let me talk to you. All the 40s and all that garbage is exactly what it is. If we lined up and ran 40s and the team that ran the fastest 40s got to win the – look at the fastest 40s in football. Like the fastest 40s ever recorded at the Combine. You know, John Ross, how's he done? He's got 22 catches over the last two years?

They want to trade him in Cincinnati. Right. I mean, so – and there's a bunch of other ones. that fall into that. So you've got to take that stuff with the grain of salt. But I'm 100% with you. I don't know what he is, but there's not one cookie cutter guy that can lead a team.

Baker Mayfield, Baker Mayfield, you walk into Cleveland, man, there is no doubt who's in charge. You watch a Friday practice. I mean, you know, John Dorsey's like, that dude's all balls.

Like, that's who he is. Like, he is in charge and everybody gravitates towards him and loves him because of that. So you've got to have whatever it is, and it comes in all kinds of different forms and fashions. But I think the bottom line is you have to be authentic. And then the other thing that you have to be able to do is play.

Yeah, if you can't play. Right. If you can't play, you can't because you can't fool players. Right. Like I remember the story you had and tell me if I'm wrong. You're in Washington. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

And you guys drafted Heath Shuler in the first round. Right. And in the seventh round, what was the guy's name? Gus Ferrat. Gus Ferrette. He did the headbutt later on in the cement wall, whatever. And didn't you watch? lock up to somebody.

Very first day. Very first day of minicamp said, boy, I tell you what, the seventh rounder is going to be 10 times a quarterback of the first rounder. You can just see it. And sure enough, you know, Gus Ferrett went on to play for 15 years and he Schuller flamed out. And there's a lot of processing how quickly you can process information and all those different

things that are important. I think authenticity, the way you lead authentically is really important. But the bottom line, you got to play. And John Elway once told me this, your guys' job first and second down. I leave that to you guys. Go out and have fun. Play. You know, be great. My job

is to convert on third down. That's what they pay me for. They don't pay me to play on first down. They don't pay me to play on second down. They pay me to play on third down. And that's what a quarterback has to be able to do. Play on third down. Can you do it? You're going to find out. Last thing.

You have your own radio show in Denver. Obviously, John, I always a friend of yours. Sometimes. Sometimes closer than other times. depending on what I say. I understand. So my thoughts on the Flacco thing were I actually think it made sense. I think it's a short-term solution.

A guy who is solid is fine. They can still go out and try and find the next guy. But because he's not going to make a ton of money, they can fix some of the other holes within this roster. What's your reaction to the Flacko move? My reaction is he's better than Case Keenum, but very much like Case Keenum, if you don't fix all those holes you talked about,

you're still going to be on the outside looking in to the playoffs. So you've got to fix a lot of things. Here's the issue right now is you're going to have Case Keenham and Joe Flackle. You're going to have a bunch of dead money from Case Keenum. So you're paying essentially Aaron Rogers pay to Joe Flacco to run your football team. And you look at them right now. They've got free agents. I think they have four or five free agents right now that Bradley Roby doesn't look like he's going to be back.

Matt Paradis, I don't think he'll be back. Max Garcia, Jeff Hiramann, there may be one other guy. If all four of those guys are gone, they won't have one draft pick on their team from the 13, 14, or 15 draft. You want to talk about the mismanagement of the draft, and they've got two players from the 16 and 17 draft that actually kind of contribute as starters,

Justin Simmons and Garrett Bowles. And Garrett Bowles is a question mark. So, I mean, they have not done a great job. Last year's draft, notwithstanding because it was really good. So to me, you still have a ton of work to do to be even mentioned as a team that's going to compete for a playoffs. And you have the Chargers that might have the best talent in the league and the chiefs who might have the best young quarterback in the league. He's Marshall. Slare, the three-time Super Bowl champion.

Giving so many thoughts on the national football league course. You see him covering the NFL on Fox. Think great stuff as always. Thank you, buddy. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments

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