The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 03/15/2019

Episode Date: March 15, 2019

Colin gives his NFL free agency grades, why we need to slow down on the Cleveland Browns, and getting rid of Arizona Cardinals QB Josh Rosen. FSR host Rob Parker also stops by to discuss the issues with the Los Angeles Lakers.  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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This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. It's a Friday. We are ready to go. This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening live in Los Angeles, Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1, an absolutely packed show one hour from now. I'm going to hand out the grades, all the grades, spent time on this on the off-season moves, the free agency moves in the National Football League.

There's three teams, I think, got Aves, a couple of teams got D's. Maybe we'll hand out a failing grade, a couple of Cs. I think you'll be surprised that is in one hour. Let me start with this. Generally, here is the way it works. A flyover country, Indianapolis, Green Bay, Kansas City, you don't pay attention to us. You're always paying attention to New York and, you know, Boston and Los Angeles, So generally the feeling in America is when New York does something, they get way more credit than they deserve.

Except here. Does everybody get Lavian Bell was the free agent signing? Just because the car was in the garage for a year with a cover on it doesn't mean it's not a Lamborghini. Folks, Odell Beckham Jr. struggled to stay healthy the last two years. He had 108 touches over the last two years. The last time Lavin Bell played, he had 406 touches in one year. He's the scrimmage yards leader career-wise in NFL history. Per game, nobody averages more yards per scrimmage than Lavian Bell.

Jim Brown, behind him. Barry Sanders, behind him. Is it because you don't like New York? You don't buy into Sam Darnold. This was the home run. This is the most impactful player signed. He will change first down. You can't bracket him like you can bracket a wide receiver.

I get Antonio Brown's flashy. But if the Raiders' offensive line isn't good, Derek Carr's not going to have time to hit him deep. Yes, I think Baker, Mayfield, and OBJ is going to be fun to watch. If OBJ can stay healthy. And if Freddie Kitchens, who nobody knows if he can coach his way out of a paper bag, can design games where there's balance in the offense. They got a lot of mouths to feed.

The Jets do not have a lot of mouse to feed. Lampian Bell's the overwhelming star of the offense, and he's right behind Sam Darnold. Just because he had a cover on the sports car in the garage for a year, what the Jets are actually doing is what the Rams did with Jared Gough. You draft your West Coast quarterback, who was very, very good in college. One year later, you fire a defense.

offensive coach. You're bringing an offensive coach. Then you go find an upgrade on the offensive line. Rams did that with Andrew Whitworth, a pro bowler. Jets just did that with a raider guard, a pro bowler. Then you go find him a slot wide receiver. Robert Woods came from Buffalo to the Rams. And now they went out the Jets and got Crowder from the Redskins, a veteran slot receiver. you know, and then you make sure you have a star running back. You sign to a long-term deal, Gurley and Lavin' Bell. The Jets are doing what the Rams did. They draft a quarterback.

The first year you had a defensive coach. You get rid of them. You upgraded coach. You upgraded slot receiver. You upgrade O-Line. The Jets reportedly are also going to draft O-Line as well. And like the Rams, who had already Aaron Don. some nice defensive players.

The Jets have nice defensive players. Leonard Williams, now C.J. Mosley, Jamal Adams to keep the games close. So Lavian Bell is the impact guy. 400 touches to 108 the last two years for OBJ. This is what you do. This is what you do with a young quarterback going into his second year. You get him a better offensive coach. You get a better slot weapon.

You upgrade the O line. you ensure he's got a star running back who can touch it 250 times. I mean, then, I mean, I just, I'm surprised how many people, maybe it's because I'm so pro Sam Darnold, it'll just be massive pushback. But if you watch Darnold play last year, the Jets had the second lowest rated running backs and the second lowest rated wide receivers, and they have massively upgraded four yards behind Sam Darnold. I mean, Lavian Bell's in the Jim Brown territory.

We're talking about a guy that's going to touch the ball over. 300 times a game. Who hasn't missed 16 games in the last two years with injuries. He just rested. Came back, said it yesterday. I'm healthy. I've never felt better. And by the way, the jet schedule, they were a last place team.

It ain't a tough schedule. It is not a... Their tough away game is Philadelphia. They don't face a lot of Pro Bowl quarterbacks. They face the bills, the dolphins. They face the Redskins, Ravens, Bingles, Jags. Giants, they don't face, they don't face a lot of Pro Bowl quarterbacks. They don't face a lot of dynamic offenses.

They face the Patriots twice, and they'll face Philadelphia who has a chance to win the Super Bowl. So I am just surprised because it is New York, and because it's an unbelievable, all-time Jim Brown-level talent, Lavian Bell, it's not getting more love. I know it's not flashy. I know we like receivers more than running backs, but hello people. It's a major, major deal for the Jets. Now, if the guys cross town in New York, could get it together. Let me shift gears to this.

You know how we have the Powerball lottery in America, and individual states have like lotteries and stuff, you know. You live in Delaware, Florida, or Texas, or Illinois. Everybody's got their own lottery, right? California, we got our own lotteries. There's a Powerball lottery. And I don't really play the lottery much. But then, you know, about once every couple years, it gets up to like $700 million or something.

And you're like, oh, I'm going to play the lottery. Everybody plays the lottery. Folks, what you're watching in college basketball right now, and they just had a powerball lottery, get to $1.2 billion, everybody played it. Zion Williamson, let me give you a date to put in your head. May 14th, NBA lottery. That may outrank the actual playoff game that night. This kid is different.

There's four players in the history of basketball that I watched either in high school or college, and you knew they were going to alter the league. Patrick Ewing, LeBron James, Shaq at LSU, and Zion Williamson. He is going to change so many things about this league. Devin Booker's a nice player for the Sons. He doesn't do anything for the overall league. Luca Donchage is a great player for Dallas. Zion Williamson is different.

He's going to alter television ratings. It used to be that you just tanked for the number one pick. You are tanking for Zion. And there's six to seven teams now that are or more. In Los Angeles, they won't call it that, but it looks like that. Last night, Zion Williamson was on the floor. Forget 13 for 13. The second best basketball player in college was on the floor last night.

and was invisible. He is the most exciting game-altering prospect to come into this league in 16 years since LeBron James. And before that, it was Shaq. And before Shaq, it was Patrick Ewing. You're talking about a kid that's going to take a franchise and if you're worth $2.5 billion the day he enters. He will change shoe company deals forever.

He's going to change television ratings. He will sway conferences. People will draft to stop him. I talked to an NBA scout a month ago, and I said, you know, I'm hearing a lot about, you know, different players going number one. And he goes, you don't have a choice. You have to draft him number one. He is going to be so discussed, so talked about, so fascinating.

I mean, Zion was on TV last night, and so was LeBron. I watched every second of one and not a second of the other. and you can figure out who it was. It wasn't LeBron. Syracuse head coach Jim Beheim, who has seen he's been coaching for 40 years. He was in the Big East when, you know, Ewing, Chris Mullen. Here's what he said after facing Zion last night.

I've seen a lot of great players. I'm not saying he's better than those guys, but he's a different player. He can do things that nobody has done in this game. I mean, Charles, like I've said, it was close, but this guy's bigger, stronger, and I mean, he's crazy, different type of player. There's not guys like him. There wasn't anybody like Shaq. Nobody was that big and fast.

There was nobody like LeBron, 6-9 point guard at a high school that handles the ball and passes like that. The knock on Patrick Ewing was he dung. too much. This kid sighs, his speed, his touch, his first step, his passion, his joy for the game. Folks, the second best player in college basketball was on the floor last night. He was as anonymous as a prank phone call. Who, where? Nobody cared.

Total game changer. You get one of these. This is Tiger. This is Bryce Harper. And everybody will say it's too much. They almost always live up to the. hype. Shack lived up to it. Ewing lived up to it. Tiger lived up to it. Bryce Harper now, going to make $330 million. The guys that become the guy every 10 years in any sport,

we get one of these kids about every 8 to 10 to 12 years. Zion's it. And they almost always live up to it. John Elway and Dan Marino both lived up to it. That's the greatest quarterback class ever. They both Tiger. They all did. Be sure to catch live a. of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. I don't remember the last time in the middle of March.

There were so many fun things to talk about this week, big college basketball, Monday, bracket, show, all that stuff. Fun watching Duke, Syracuse last night in Zion Williamson. And we've had a ton of NFL moves. The new reality in the NFL, it's a win for me, it's a win for you is NFL free agency. Star players moving around.

I will hand out grades at the top of next hour. We have a pack show today. Just can't wait. There's just so many great things today. And thanks for stopping by our show. So the Cleveland Browns general manager is John Dorsey. He's a very aggressive guy. Always has been.

He was lucky. He walked into both Kansas City and Cleveland and they had a lot of cap space and he spent the money and he's drafted. He's a very good personnel guy. There's a lot of ego. That's why Kansas City sort of moved him out of town. Cleveland just wants to win. Their standards are much lower than Kansas City or a New England

or a Pittsburgh or a Philadelphia. Philadelphia, the standards are pretty low for Cleveland, right? Like, they're just freaking out because people are paying attention to them and they got some nice players. And so yesterday, John Dorsey said, listen, OBJ's talent outweighs the challenges of coaching him. And you know what I think Cleveland next year is going to be incredibly predictable. I think they're going to be a louder, less mature, less well-coached, less stable, less buttoned up Kansas City Chiefs.

I think they're going to be all sorts of fun. But their GM is loud and abrasive. their coach is a puppet, their quarterback is cocky, their owner is impatient, and their two receivers, Landry and OBJ, are really talented and, let's just say, challenging. That's a reality show. If you were the president of HBO today, there is only one other team you would even consider for hard knocks, the Raiders. The Raiders in Cleveland, you wouldn't even have to call it Hard Knocks, just call it the Browns.

They're going to be wildly fun, and I think it's a very predictable team. Baker Mayfield is accurate. throws a very accurate deep ball. He and OBJ are going to work. OBJ leads the NFL in slants, yards on slants. That's a great pass for Baker. He's super accurate. He's also got speed and a good deep threat.

Baker throws a terrific deep ball. My issues with Baker are not his arm and not his accuracy. So it's very predictable. They're going to work. OBJ and Baker are going to work. This is not an X's and O's debate. Okay. I deal with data analysts and sources

and executives. Cleveland next year is not an X's and O's debate. Their offense is going to be fun. This is a cultural debate. They're going to be loud with a puppet head coach and an ego-driven GM and a quarterback that's cocky, an OBJ who wants the ball, and Jarvis Landry who talks, and Sheldon Richardson, who's talented but never quite played up to his contract. So this is not, when I see Cleveland, I see Kansas City, but without the say, wisdom of Andy Reid without the stability and the patience of the Hunt family. I see the Chiefs, but the Chief's culture, although there's a lot of fireworks, Patrick Mahomes is a grown up, Andy Reed's a grown up, Hunt family grown up, Tyreek Hill, I never hear him talk.

I never hear him talk. Sammy Watkins, I don't hear him talk. Eric Berry, Total Pro. D. Ford, never hear him talk. It's not a challenging roster. Kansas City is just exciting and talented and fun and all of that is what Cleveland's going to be. This is not an ex and O's debate with us. They're culturally, though, loud. And it's interesting because in their division, the Steelers have been loud and loose and fun and underachieved. So I think they're a very predictable team next year. Scamatically, a blast, a bunch of points, depth at key spots.

But culturally, you got a head coach Freddie Kitchens. This would be a tough locker room with a veteran head coach. I mean, OBJ unraveled McAdo and Shermer couldn't quite go to a podium and give you a legit answer. And I like OBJ. I really do. I like him a lot. I think he's a good kid. Gets hurt a little.

And when I talked to him two weeks ago, I told him, I said, my number one concern with you is you're small and you miss a lot of games. It's not your personality. I can deal with that. He wants the ball. He wants to be an all-time great. And I don't think he misses the New York Giants. You know, he was tired of. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific.

You know, so much of sports is upstairs. You know, we pay attention to the players and the coaches and they're the ones the interview. And you buy the jerseys of players, you know, not general managers. But this league's all about upstairs. If you can't get your act together upstairs. You know, the Lakers have had nothing but trouble since the great Dr. Buss passed away, handed the franchise to his kids, and they just haven't made great decisions on coaches, on players, on executives. Lakers aren't as formidable upstairs.

Nothing against Jeannie Buss. She's on the operation side, not the basketball side. But you see this all the time. For a long time, Al Davis, I thought, hurt the Raiders at the end of his life. Cincinnati always feels like it's limited upstairs. Pittsburgh does not feel. Green Bay doesn't have an owner. Dallas and New England have aggressive owners. Rams have an aggressive owner, Stan Cronkey. So, I mean, this offseason has really defined why the Philadelphia Eagles are going to be at the top,

first or second place, playoff team win the division or a wildcard team for the next decade. They're really smart. They had a great offseason. They passed on Golden Tate. This is a great example. They brought in Golden Tate, didn't give up anything for him. they got a couple of good playoff moments out of Golden State and at Golden Tate and they bailed on him. And the New York Giants, who don't know what they're doing, massively overreached and gave him four years and a ton of money. You know, this is why the New York Giants right now are a second tier franchise. I've been saying this. I think they have this second worst winning percentage over the last five years next to like Detroit or Cleveland.

This is a bad football operation in New York. And a great stockbroker knows when to buy a stock. stock, but the great ones know also when to sell a stock. And Nick Foles, they squeezed every ounce of talent out of Nick Foles, and then they let the Jags overpay for him. Jacksonville doesn't have the coaches, the offensive line, they don't have the general manager of Philadelphia, and Nick Foles is going to go down to Jacksonville and not play up to his contract.

It's guaranteed. And Golden Tate is not going to have the quarterback in New York. He's not going to have the tight end, Zacherts, deflecting some of the coverage. He's not going to have the Giants'O lines, not the Philadelphia O'line. And frankly, the Philadelphia Eagles, Howie Roseman, as good as any GM in the league. As good as any GM in the league. Chris Ballard, the Colts, Kansas City, Bruce Veitch, Ballard, Howie Roseman. These guys are as good as anybody in this league.

and this is a classic example of a really smart team Philadelphia picking a stock getting a little out of it and selling it and the sucker coming buying it and Jacksonville with Foles Nick Foles will never be as good in Jacksonville as the man as and you look at the NFC East right now this is why the Eagles are going to be at the top of it and in Dallas by the way I think is is much less dysfunctional than everybody claims. Washington, once again in free agency, dysfunctional. Giants, I have no idea what they're doing.

Joe Banner was an executive in that division for years with Philadelphia for like 17 years, and he built a consistent winner. Joe Banner got fired eventually, but Joe Banner built a consistent winner for 17 years in Philadelphia, and, you know, he said yesterday on the Giants, what are they doing? So I just have no idea what they're doing. And then if you break down the individual evaluations, decisions they've made in last year. Well, were they going for it last year or not? You trade a draft pick to get Ogletree.

You can't cover anybody who's making $10 million a year, but you're building a team for the future. You can win and rebuild at the same time. Of course you can, but there's nothing you're doing that indicates you're going to be able to do that effectively. And then the Eli thing, I mean, you know, listen, it's great to be loyal to a player that's giving you so much, but at some point you've got to start to make the decisions.

They're on the field. Yeah, Giants just don't know what they're doing. in Philadelphia really used him. Golden Tate's a great defining example. I want to shift to this. Marvin Lewis coached in the NFL for a long time. He said he would not draft Kyler Murray as the number one pick at quarterback.

It was not that Marvin Lewis didn't think Kyler Murray had talent, but Marvin Lewis touched on something that's a reality in the NFL that never gets talked about. That if you draft Kyler Murray, you have to start from scratch. You put in a completely different offense.

You're drafting different players, players and you just did that with Josh Rosen. I will say this on the whole Kyler-Marie situation is that it is remarkable how often teams bail on people, young people. Never forget, Janus averaged

seven points a game as a rookie, Jimmy Butler 2 and a half, Paul George 7, Troy Aikman was 0 and 11 and had 9 TDs and 18 interceptions. Derek Carr lost his first 10 games. Antonio Brown's rookie year he had 16 catches. Not in a game for the season.

He had 167 yards. Peyton Manning was 3 and 13 and led the NFL in Pecks. Who in God's name would have won in Arizona last year? They went through two coordinators, had a defensive coach. The coaches were over their head. Who would have won there last year? And what's funny is we've seen the Josh Rosen thing. We saw it with the Rams.

Thin frame, Pac-12 quarterback, came in, Goff and Josh Rosen came from some money, struggled under a defensive-minded head coach rookie season. We've seen this before. You know, by the way, the Arizona Cardinals did not start the year with Josh Rosen. He finished the year. And if you looked at the Arizona Cardinals numbers, when, by the way, they were going through all this chaos with coaching,

they were a much better team with Josh Rosen. O and three without him, three and ten with him. six points a game without him, 16 with him. 190 yards without him, 250 with him. Passing yards went up 30%. So they were a much better team with Josh Rosen. And now, the problem is, I think once, what decision would I make? Well, once you hired Cliff Kingsbury, you've got to ask Cliff, who do you like?

Because you've handed the franchise over to Cliff Kingsbury. If he doesn't work, everybody's getting fired there. They're cleaning out the building. Steve Kimes done, they're all done. So it comes down to what is Cliff King? I would not have hired Cliff Kingsbury. I think he has not proven he's a successful college coach. He's a good quarterback guy. But Freddie Kitchens in Cleveland work well with Baker Mayfield. Doesn't mean he's a head coach. So what would I do? I would ask Cliff Kingsbury once he was in

house, who do you like? But Marvin Lewis said, no, thanks for a reason. Got to start from scratch, different ideology, different offense. You'll build your line differently. You'll build the defense differently. Josh Rosen became a starter in week four last year. Just a reminder, Arizona was much better offensively in the middle of chaos. He was a better quarterback Josh Rosen than Jared Goff was his first year. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. All right. So here we have all these teams making all these moves. And I thought I'd look at eight or ten of the teams. and give you sort of my feeling of what I saw in the free agency.

And I think there's a lot of things to consider. Did you add good players? But are they a chemistry issue? Did you get some value out of them? Or did you overpay for them? Did they fit your scheme? Did you go and attack the side of the ball that needs help? So I thought little music maybe I'd run through my off-season report cards.

Let me hand out first in A. I thought the New York Jets hit it out of the park. First of all, Lavian Bell is exactly what Dack got in Zeke and what Jared Goff got in Todd Gurley. A dominating running back presence. Nothing helps a young quarterback more. They also upgraded at slot-wide receiver and offensive line. This plan looks a lot like, a lot like the Los Angeles Rams. Bringing a slot, upgrade the old line, dependable running back.

The Jets already have some nice defensive pieces. They have the third pick, which I've been. told they'd move down if they could get more pieces. They need a center and they could use another corner. I thought they did a really good job. By the way, Levy & Bell's contract is not bad. It is not an outrageous contract for the production he will add. Next up, Cleveland Browns, I'll give them a B.

Odell Beckham's missed 16 games in the last two years. And I think between Sheldon Richardson, Odell Beckham, and Jarvis Landry, this is a challenging team to coach with a rookie head coach who's only been a coordinator for eight games and nobody else in the league would have even interviewed Freddie Kitchens for a coordinator job,

forget giving him the head coaching job. They did let go of a starting safety, Jibril Peppers, who's a good player, not a great player, and they feel they've got that solved. I don't question, I do not question the X's and O's of the Browns, but I do question the culture.

A lot of egos, a lot of strong points of view, and a head coach who appears to be a puppet. I'd give them a B. Thought the most underrated class of everybody was the Green Bay Packers. They didn't get a star, so I'll give them an A-minus. But linebacker Preston Smith is a baller. He will come in and start. Adrian Amos, a safety from the Bears, will come in and start. Offensive lineman Billy Turner's expensive, but worth it, in my opinion.

I think they went. got Zadaria Smith. They went and attacked the defensive side of the ball, which, by the way, they also did last year in the draft. So now, a minus because I don't think they got a guy that changes losses to wins, and I don't love, and I consider this part of free agency, who they hired as a head coach. But I do think they were smart. They got mid-level free agents.

I'd give the Packers an A-minus. Raiders up next, I would give them a B-minus. Trent Brown was massively overpaid at left tackle. They had a much more affordable guard. I know it's not as crucial a position, but the Colts' Quentin Nelson proved guards matter too. I thought they overspent for the pieces they got, and they lost a couple of guys.

Jordy Nelson's another, who I think are good locker room guys. They did upgrade on the perimeter, but I don't think their offensive line is perhaps as good. I think they just overpaid massively for Trent Brown. He's not the highest paid offensive linemen in NFL history, and I don't think Dante Scarnicchio basically saved his reputation last year. There were a lot of people that didn't know if he was a top-starting left tackle, period, in the NFL. Forget the highest pay to give the Raiders a B-minus.

Niners, I'd give a B-plus to. Under the radar, they went out and got a highly athletic linebacker, Kwan Alexander. He's a really nice player. They went out and attacked the defensive side of the ball. D. Ford's expensive, but I like him a lot. I know the Colts were interested in D Ford, and then Kansas City franchised him. Jason Barrett is a corner, a decent corner. They did not answer.

They need a top wide receiver. Right now, the Niners do not have a number one wide receiver. Dante Pettis is a really solid two. Had a nice rookie year. They have a star at tight end. They upgraded with Tevin Coleman. They're running back situation. And, of course, they get Jimmy Garoppolo back.

They didn't answer wide receiver. I think they will do that in the draft, not with their first pick, which is the number two pick, but with their second and third picks. Ravens, I'd give a C-plus. I like Mark Ingram, and Earl Thomas is not worth the money, but they just lost too many defensive starters. A four defensive starter, C.J. Mosley, linebacker, you just can't replace that guy. There's nobody in the draft class you can replace. Nobody on the market you can replace.

So they get dinged for that. But it's a little better than just average because I think Mark Ingram, second DeLavian Bell can really help a young quarterback. Listen, it's not math here, folks. It's not algebra. Young quarterbacks flourish when you give them a dependable workhorse behind them. Dak and Zeke, golf and girly. It's not compliment. By the way, Patrick Mahomes had better numbers with Kareem Hunt than without Kareem Hunt.

So they got Lamar a running back. I like. He's not a pop guy, but he's a solid workhorse guy. Philadelphia Eagles, I thought they did great. I thought arguably did better than anybody, not a shot, great GM. First of all, they added Malik Jackson next to Fletcher Cox, and then they re-signed Brandon Graham, a great young defensive guy up front. That defensive line's the best in football right now. Malik Jackson, Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham is great.

I also love what they did. They got a couple of nice moments out of Golden Tate, then they moved off him. That's how you play the game. They got a couple of nice moments out of Michael Bennett, who I still think can play. And then they moved off him. Nick Foles, they squeezed every ounce of pulp out of that orange, and then they moved off them. The Eagles didn't even have cap space.

I also think Deshawn Jackson's a really nice get. For the price they paid for Deshawn Jackson, he and Carson Wentz, very nice. Next up, their indivision rival, the Redskins, I just hated everything about it. Landon Collins plays a position that's dying and they gave him $84 million. They lost Preston Smith, a linebacker who I really like. Case Keenham's fine. I would have gone out and got Josh Rosen. I mean, I don't know.

I never love what they do in free agency. This is an organization where I don't trust the owner. I just didn't like what they did. Giants were worse. I'd give them a D-minus. It's not losing Odell Beckham. That's not it. It's your reluctance to move off a shot fighter at quarterback.

Olivier Vernon was a nice player. You don't have him. Golden Tate, I like, is a number two or a three guy. I thought Philadelphia used him wisely. I like Golden Tate. I'd love to have him on a football team, but not for $38 million. I just can't figure out what the plan is. The one thing I'll say about the Giants last couple of years,

they've attacked their offensive line, and they've done a pretty good job with their offensive line. They drafted a great kid last year, Will Hernandez. They got a starter from the Browns this offseason. That's why I didn't give them an F, a D-minus. And finally, the Jaguars, they upgraded a quarterback, but more than anything, I'm giving him a C-plus, not because they attained Nick Fulz,

because they moved off late Bortles. They lost Malik Jackson, who's a really good player. The offense now is Nick Foles and Leonard Fernette. Furnett, I'm not sure, loves football. Remarkably, he's, with that body type, he's hurt a lot. And I'm giving him a grade as C-Polns. Plus because they were able to move off Blake Bortals and the New York Giants are proving that's apparently incredibly difficult for a lot of teams to just acknowledge we're moving off a guide that isn't productive enough. So there are my report cards.

My A's went to the Eagles, the Jets, and the Green Bay Packers. 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. Oh, we got a lot of stuff with Rob Parker, the FS. one Indigator, Ha, instigator, part of the fastest growing sports radio show in the country, odd couple with Chris and Rob Parker. It's very funny.

It's a great show. You're the crazy loony part of the show. You already know, and Chris is the voice of reason? Is that how it goes? Okay, Odell Beckham to the Browns, everybody's freaking out. People in Cleveland, I've watched internet videos of Cleveland fans screaming and yelling.

How big of a success is it? I think it's way, way, way premature. And I'm not saying that the players that they've put together in a nice group. I like it, especially offensively. But Colin, let's just be honest. Look at who they beat a year ago. They beat one team over 500.

That was Baltimore early in the season. With Flacco who got benched. Yes, and it was 12 to 9. Now, you go and look at the back end. They beat up a terrible Cincinnati Bengals team twice. With Jeff Driscoll. That gave up 500 yards, you know, gave up defensively. They were awful.

They fired their defensive. coordinator. All I'm saying is pump the brakes. Also, you got all these diva receivers who are going to want, somebody's not going to get the football, somebody's going to pout and moan. I know that they're good friends and everybody acts like everything's

great. That's a bunch of bull. It is until they don't get the ball. Then that's when there's an issue. So are they better? Absolutely. Offensively, they have a lot of mouse to feed. Yes. And, you know, when when there are going to be games, people are going to

bracket OBJ. And I also don't know if Freddie Kitchens the coach, this would be a hard team to coach for Belichick. And he's never been a head coach in this situation. So there's a lot going on and defensively, it's a bad football team. Well, they've

upgraded up front defensively. Miles Garrett's good. He's not special. Denzel Ward's good at corner, but he got hurt last year. I think they're good defensively up front. But I will say this again. They have a different defensive coordinator. They have a new head coach. as New England says, not about collecting talent.

It's about building a team. Their schedule is a little harder. And they're not going to sneak up on anybody. This is a big difference. This is what people don't understand. When you get OBJ, don't tell me that you're going to come in thinking, oh, this is the Browns of old. Not at all.

So it's going to be different. I still like the Ravens in the division. I think Pittsburgh takes a step back. But I'm not handing over the AFC North to Cleveland. because they got, you know, arguably one of the best receivers in the league. You grew up in Queens. Were you a Giants fan? No, Jets.

Because I used to take the train, the number seven train, to Shea Stadium when they played at Shea Stadium. I froze my butt off many a Sunday. Watching Joe Namath and Shea. You know what I mean? At Shea Stadium. So what do you make of what the Giants are doing? I will say this. I think they have the last two years upgraded their offensive line.

Tip of the cap. I love offensive line play. Outside of that, what do you make of it? I think it's a total mess. Now, I was in Detroit when Matt Miller was the general manager, arguably the worst general manager history of pro sports. Just a disaster. And Gittleman here, I don't know what the plan is.

I really don't. When he came, do you remember his press conference? I didn't come here to trade Odell Beckham Jr. Do you remember that? Yeah. Oh, okay, wind up trading him. Eli, we don't know what we're doing. No, no, Eli's coming back.

Eli's been washed up for years. and they're still hanging on to the two Super Bowls. I get it. They had the parade. They celebrated him. But enough already. I don't know where they're going. And Golden Tate, is that your answer?

Well, actually, they have Sterling Shepard. So Sterling, there's duplication. Golden Tate is like Sterling Shepard a little better after the catch. So they have duplication. They don't have a one. They have two-toes. Yeah. I don't know.

I think if you're a Giants fan right now, you're disappointed. And I'll tell you, you could say whatever you want about Lavian Bell and the jet. I think it's a great move. So do I. I think it's going to make Sam Darnel 100% better overnight, only from the standpoint that he can run the football, Lavion, and he can catch out of the backfield. Now he has a valve, you know what I mean, to get the ball out to somebody. He's got the best checkdown in the league.

The thing with Lavian Bell, DAC got Zieg helped. Gough got Gurley. Patrick Mahomes last year, the numbers went down when Kareem Hunt was released. Young quarterbacks all flourish, almost no exceptions, with a star running back behind them. Okay, a story came out this past week. Jeannie Buss asked about Magic Polinka, the possibility of trading LeBron. Didn't do it, but at least talked about it. she was so furious with the trade rumors that imploded the young locker room.

What do you make of it? Now, we had Rick Buecker who wrote that story right for the Bleacher Report. We had them on the radio show, Colin. Yes. And our thing was, were they really serious about making a trade? No, from this standpoint. And Rick admitted it. Because if there was really where she picked up the phone and started calling people,

then that would be serious. but she never picked up the phone and never talked to anybody. But did she think about it? She thought about it. And here's the problem. People are giving everybody, LeBron, all these excuses. He came here to take a team that did make the playoffs the last five years and make them better. He did not do that.

It's a fail, epic fail everywhere. I don't care what anybody says about the injuries. Colin, when he came back, they were still in the hunt for the playoffs. You saw the bad losses that they had. Atlanta, Memphis, New Orleans without AD. The Knicks. Right, the Knicks. And I mean, just like really bad losses.

So my point is he came here to change that. That didn't happen. And I think go back to what KD said about being around LeBron and the problem. And he used to, he said it's a toxic environment. And this is what the Lakers got. I don't think that they were ready for what comes with LeBron. Pat Riley told people, I've got pretty good connections to the Miami-Heaping. Pat Riley told people that LeBron comes to your team and they want to run the team.

And Pat Riley was never willing to relinquish that. So when LeBron went to Los Angeles, where Riley has, they're steeped in Pat Riley history, Riley said, you're about to see the tsunami that comes with LeBron and clutch sports and their clients. And so when Kevin Durant said that about LeBron, it's fairly toxic. It wasn't a shot at just LeBron. It was a shot at the entourage. The whole piece. I just said this 10 minutes ago.

LeBron comes with suitcases. There's a lot to unpack. No, there's no doubt about it. It's not just his game. And that's what the Lakers are finding out, because look where they are from this standpoint. They have no shooters. Right.

But everybody said this when they first put the team together. That was the first glaring thing. And then here's the other part. If you're the Lakers, the only way you really could be able to move LeBron to me is if you talk to Kevin Durant and some of these other stars will say, if he's not there, I'm interested in coming to the Lakers.

Here's the other scary part. If the Pelicans decide, no, we're not doing business with the Lakers under any circumstances, who are they getting? Who are they getting to come with LeBron next year? Nobody. Colin, it's going to be a mess. This is going to be a four-year mess. Everybody laughed at me when I said he came to Los Angeles to be Merrill Streep.

Do you remember that? You laughed. And I'm telling you, I'm right on this. He came here for the Hollywood stuff first. And if he wins, he wins. If he doesn't, but what he didn't realize is the fans here, they won't accept that. They want to win. They want to win a championship.

Staples Center is not Hollywood. Hollywood is Hollywood. Staples Center is a lot of working, like every team in the country, New York's full of rich people. Go to Yankee Stadium. It's working class people outside of the first 10 rows behind the plate. You've been to Yankee Stadium. There's a handful of movie stars at Laker Games.

It's mostly regular people. They're not into Hollywood. And I think it's a huge turnoff. Kobe lived in Orange County, helicoptered in. He stayed away from Hollywood until the very end. Then he got into it. Kobe always knew that Hollywood and the Lakers are two. By the way, Shaq dabbled in Hollywood, turned off the Lakers front office,

and they moved Shack when they had to make a choice. because I was told at the time they just felt like Shaq was too distracted and Kobe was all in on basketball. But when Kobe retired, he went right to Hollywood. And you know, Colin, I was out shopping recently. I'm going to tell you how much L.A.'s turned off to LeBron. Let me see it. So, you know, I was out shopping and I was going to get an early Christmas present. You know, I run into you at T.J. Max all the time.

Look, it's already 50% off at T.J. Max on LeBron. They're already moving on. I mean, look at this. Do you watch Zion last night? Oh, man. Oh, bro, boy. You know what I love about him? What?

He wants to play basketball. I love the idea. Once he became healthy, you play. You're 18 years old. And also, you got a chance to win a championship would do. Like, you and I both agree. If a college football player skips out on the Liberty Bowl. We get it.

But you don't skip out playing, if you're for Clemson, playing Alabama. No way, no matter what. I thought, I'm surprised. I didn't think he would come back because I think he's such a generation. money machine that people would get in his ear. I just figured he'd be pressure to not play. I love the fact he did play. I do too.

I just think that a kid like that, 18, if he was on Rutgers and they were playing in the NIT, you know what Colin and I say, you should sit this one out. Right. You got nothing to gain here. But you're playing at a prestigious basketball school with a lot of history. Why wouldn't you want to put a banner up that you helped win as far as for your history? You know what I mean? No.

I really, I like the kid more than a lot. ever after last night. Rob Parker, have a great weekend, odd couple with Chris Broussard on radio later today. It's The Hurd. What are the wise guys wear? I get asked that from time to time. The answer is the new gear from theherdnow.com merchandise store. We are now officially open for business.

We have all the apparel, diehard herd fans need to represent the show. Go to theherdnow.com. If you don't, that's a U problem. And that's a U problem is one of our shirts. Check it out. Theherdnow.com. Theherdnow.com store is open for business today. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

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