The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 03/26/2019

Episode Date: March 26, 2019

Colin thinks Paul Pierce calling Zion Williamson a top 50 NBA player right now is a bland statement and wonders if he's actually more like top 20.  He thinks the Raiders might have a great plan for their team but would like them to actually show it instead of hiding it.  Plus, former NFL RB Reggie Bush talks about the pressure of being hyped coming into the draft and whether OBJ will thrive away from the New York spotlight.  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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Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeart radio app by searching Herd. This is the Best of the Herd with Colin. Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go on a Tuesday loaded show. This is The Herd, wherever you may be, and however, you may be listening. We are live in Los Angeles on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. So many good football stories today.

So many good stories today. Joy Taylor is joining me. Chris Broussard later this hour. Joy, how are you? Great. Good morning. Good morning. You know, here's the way it works.

I was with my daughter this weekend in college. And when you're young, you have so much growth, right? I mean, you're just figuring out the world. And it's the same for athletes. Tom Brady, you know, when Tom Brady's 22 years old, to Tom Brady being 26 years old, he improves a lot. But by the time Tom Brady was about 33 years old, this is now what he is. Drew Breeze is not improving. Same with LeBron James.

He came into the NBA. And LeBron, by about his seventh or eighth. eighth year in the NBA. You can make granular changes to your low post game, but it's established. Your ability to grow massively is over. So yesterday, Paul Pierce, a broadcaster, came out, and he goes, ready for my hot take. By the way, sportscasters, stop worrying about if you have a hot take. Have an opinion, three hours to fill. Our comments don't matter anyway. We're just sportscasters. He says Zion Williamson is already a top 50 current basketball player in the world, Paul Pierce. Folks, that's not even a spicy take.

That's not even a tempid take. That's baby food. Top 50, of course he's a top 50 player. The question is, is he a top 20 basketball player in the world? Okay, all you need to know is this. USA Today, before the season started, came out with a list. They came out with a list of the top 50 NBA players. Gordon Hayward was 31 and Brandon Ingram was.

33. Stephen Adams, T.J. Warren, Kyle Lowry, Harrison Barnes, Draymond Green. You don't think NBA teams tomorrow would trade those players for Zion? I mean, you really think

today, Gordon Hayward, Zion Williamson, who's better? Really? Zion Williamson is 285 pounds. Gordon Hayward could play with dumbbells in his shorts. He's a super quick, super athletic, 285 pounds.

By the way, you keep telling me he's overweight. I've never seen a guy in my life carry 285 pounds at 6'6 and look that ripped. This is an all-time talent. USA Today's top 50 list. There are guys on that list I wouldn't want if you gave them to me. This kid's averaging 22.5 points and eight rebounds this year. less than 13 shots. Under 30 minutes a game in a strict college system with lots of mouths to feed at Duke.

He's also, like I said, with LeBron or Tom Brady or Drew Brees. He is massively improving month to month. Do you know what he's averaging since he got hurt? 28 points, 9 rebounds, and shooting 70% from the floor. In this one season alone, and college basketball seasons are short, they're like 40 games. He's already a different player from pre-injury to post-injury. He's giving you 30 a game now under 30 minutes, shooting 70%. He's shooting 47% on threes since he got hurt.

Top 50 player, Toronto Raptors tomorrow could trade Kyle Lowry for Zion. Are you kidding me? They couldn't pick up the phone fast enough. And Kyle Lowry's a nice player. He was one of the USA Today's top 50 players. Folks, when you're seeing a young player like this, for the next four to five years, Zion Williamson, like Tiger Woods when he was 17, is going to make massive jumps. LeBron James, year one to year four in the NBA, made a massive jump.

He went from a bad defender to an excellent one. He went from couldn't shoot a three to starting to be able to hit a three. Zion Williamson within this season has gone from a 22 point of game guy who couldn't really shoot to a 29 point of game guy, 13 shots a game, who's shooting 70% from the floor. Here's the night. So I started listing players this morning. Here's who he will not be better than next year. And for the record, my gut feeling is he's going to be better than most of these guys in three years. but he will not be as good as

LeBron, James Hardin, Paul George, Kauai Leonard, Joel M. Bede, Steph Curry, Janice, Kevin Durant, Damian Liller, Devin Booker, Anthony Davis, Chris Paul, Luca Dantich, Nicola Yokic, Denver, Kyrie Irving, Clay Thompson, Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler, Kemba Walker.

He will not be better than those players next year. That's 19. That's it. I know he won't be as good as those players. after that, you're giving me a lot of guys Draymond Green, really? Have you watched Draymond play this year? Kind of peaked, right?

This kid is getting better. He would be, I looked this morning, the best player on 14 NBA teams. I could argue 17, I'll say 14. And he, like Tiger Woods when he was a teenager, is making these incredible leaps every six months. This is an all-timer.

Folks, when the college basketball season started, legitimate people were arguing R.J. Barrett was a better player. Legitimate people. I talked to scouts. They're like, oh, oh, no, no, no, he's number one. And so Paul Pierce saying top 50 player, Paul, brough, that is not a hot take.

That's not even a spicy take. He's absolutely one of the, the top 50 players in the world. For the record, look it up, when LeBron James out of high school did not play college, walked into the NBA, go back to the top 50 reported players in the NBA that year. LeBron out of high school was one of the 50 best players. Do you remember LeBron James' first game in the NBA? I do. 20 points, eight rebounds. LeBron was one of the 50 best basketball players in the world as a high schooler. Basketball is not football where you have to redshirt and you have to get big and you have

to get strong and you have to memorize a playbook. Basketball is in baseball where even if you're a great high school player, ooh, can you hit a 96 mile an hour slider? Like basketball, you get great fast and there are gifts. Janus's length. He's been that long for a long time. Zion Williamson is 285 pounds, great passer, excellent touch, absurdly transcendent speed for his size. Top 50, obviously.

All right. Camera back on me, I don't like those gruesome injuries. I don't like watching them. I've never seen outside of the first time I saw it, Joe Thaisman's injury. We've had multiple injuries in basketball and football last couple of years. I won't watch. I believe for the context of the story I'm going to tell, I'm going to show something, not yet, one time. That's it.

There was a gruesome injury last night to the center for the Portland Trailblazers, Nurkich. He's a great player. And it was a gruesome injury, and I'm going to show it if you don't want to watch it, because I'm not going to watch it. I don't know if Joy is going to watch it. I don't know if John and Greg are going to watch it. I am not going to watch it. I have already seen it, so I'm not going to watch it again. Okay.

So I'm going to turn away, roll the tape one time. It's gruesome. I'm not going to watch it. And then we're not going to show it again. For anybody in my ear in the control room, tell me it's on. It's on. He's jumping up. No.

Okay. You're good. Okay. You can watch our show again. For you people on radio, congratulations. You didn't have to endure that. Okay. here's what's so incredible and sad.

First of all, it just shatters the Blazers season with this and the C.J. McCullough injury. It's a bummer because Portland had a really fun team. And this, you can look at the players' reactions. Here's what's amazing. We think of the NFL injuries, right? I mean, we all like go into a season knowing going to have five guys hurt. But basketball, because it's so star-driven and driven on one or two, players or roster has a much bigger injury problem. Gordon Hayward, first game last year,

season over. Paul George Indy breaks leg. Nurkits last night, playoffs done. Remember last year, Chris Paul injured? Houston up on Golden State 3 to 2 completely alters the series. Kyrie Irving broke his kneecap, game one of the finals, as a member of the Cavs. They matched up brilliantly with the Warriors. Kevin Love, Hurt, Kyrie Hurt, LeBron lost his finals. We also saw Andrew Brogit and Steph Curry get hurt, and the Warriors lose their won finals.

Two years ago, Kauai Leonard, up on the Warriors, game one, Western Conference Finals, great matchup, gets hurt. Warriors roll through them. Victor Oladipo this year. Indianapolis, the Pacers, one of the surprising teams last year,

Oladipo, star player, really emerged out of nowhere. season over. In the last five years, I can argue with absolute conviction that the NBA conference championship and finals have been significantly, been more significantly altered due to injuries than the Super Bowl and the AFC and the NFC championships. And this is all because of the business model. The NFL business model is not beholden other than a star quarterback. The other 21 starters, the 25, 28, 36, 42 guys are mostly replaceable. But basketball is very star-driven. By the way, you are rewarded when the stars are likable and awesome. Steph Curry, LeBron James. But what is

interesting to me is we think just sort of, just kind of intrinsically, it's the way we think of basketball. You can always depend on your stars. You have star basketball players. It's not a violent sport. And football, you get roughed up. Go look at the NBA the last five years. Finals, conference championships, seasons completely altered, multiple teams because of injuries. Super Bowls? Not really. Conference championships? Not really. When you are driven by individuals, the upside is LeBron James can carry the league. The downside is LeBron James got hurt this year and the NBA ratings are down across the board.

It is remarkable how often these star basketball players, and I was thinking about this this morning, you know, we don't think basketball is physical. It is six feet nine, six feet 11, seven feet one basketball players sprinting. and jumping in crowds, landing sometimes on other players. Let's be honest, people aren't really meant to be 6'11. This is obviously an awful injury, but it is remarkable how often we are seeing seasons, playoffs, finals, championships altered in the non-contact sport, the NBA more than the contact sport, the NFL.

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Plus a 60-day risk-free trial too. Order now. Simplysafe.com slash her. Be sure to go there. They know who sent you. We did. Simplysafe.com slash H-E-R-D. Obviously, the NFL is not really beholden to one player.

Brett Farr of retired ratings were fine. Peyton Manning retired ratings were fine. I mean, the NFL is not beholden to one guy. Tom Brady will leave and everybody will be okay. College quarterback Mayfield last year was as seriously. It was impossible not to watch. There's a bunch of good young quarterbacks. But that doesn't mean that Aaron Rogers still isn't important

and the Green Bay Packers are not important for the league. At Fox, we have the NFC games. Green Bay's in the NFC. They're really, really popular. And Aaron Rogers is wildly talented and really, really popular. That's why he's on a million commercials. So you would think the NFL does a great job with its schedule. A lot of people, most people don't know this.

Most people listening to my show do not know what I'm about to say. The NFL has been using computers for its schedule for years. They're meticulous. They care about it. You think, well, duh. No, no. Baseball until this year did their schedule on cards. I'm not joking.

It was so completely unsophisticated that baseball would run many of their biggest series Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Until some smart people finally said, hmm, shouldn't we put our biggest games like the Red Sox Yankees always on Friday, Saturday, Sunday? Cubs Cardinals always on Friday, Saturday, Sunday? You never put a big series midweek. And so baseball is, you know, coming out of the Stone Ages, finally figuring out schedules. NFL's been great at it forever. They know exactly where to put Brady, where to put Farv in his prime, where to put everybody. They just figure out this is what they do better than any league that's ever been created.

But I don't like their opening game this year. The Bears and the Packers start the season in Chicago. All right. You want to elevate Aaron Rogers, right? You want Aaron Rogers to be one and oh and healthy, right? So Green Bay has got a brand new baby-faced, coach, a bunch of new free agents, and we'll draft three or four guys that'll start because they have spots for it. And you're going to throw them to the reigning number one NFL defense,

to the team that just won your division, and Khalil Mack was the guy that essentially in game one last year helped really reduce Aaron Rogers season last year. Like, I want Green Bay to be good, and I think Green Bay next year could be good, but they're not going to be great in September. They've got a brand new coach and a brand new offense and a bunch of new free agents. And the new collective bargaining agreement does not allow the practice time it used to for offensive linemen. And they've got a new star offensive lineman. And they're going to draft another offensive lineman. And I would not have Green Bay and Aaron Rogers in the crosshairs of a healthy, rested Khalil Mack game one.

This makes it hard for Green Bay, which is one of the top four brands in this sport. Cowboys Steelers. Packers? I mean, they're way up there. I can argue they're third. This is a rough place for Aaron Rogers and the Green Bay Packers. Remember, last year against Chicago, lowest pass rating of the season.

It's the best defensive front easily in the NFL. It's the only game without a touchdown pass he played. more than a quarter. And good luck. Chicago's young defense is getting better. Green Bay has got a new coach and a bunch of new kids, a new offensive lineman, some new coaches. Oh, I forgot an entirely new staff. They're not going to be, they're not going to be good in September. They can be good. They're not going to be good in September. This is a rough spot for Green Bay. I would not have put Green Bay in Chicago against that team. I would have started them in a couple of teams that didn't have great pass rushes where they could get a little momentum, put them at home, make it a little comfortable.

Bowl. Wow. I mean, this just feels like 0 and 1 to start the season. New coach, new staff, new players, new free agents. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. New Orleans Saints feel like they got robbed last year. They played the L.A. Rams, despite the fact they couldn't make any stops on the Rams in overtime of the last drive.

The Saints didn't like a call. It was a bad call. The NFL missed a call. It does all the time. That's what happens in the NFL in fast-moving sports. You miss calls. I've seen it in the World Series. I've seen it in the World Cup.

I've seen it in the Stanley Cup finals. Yes, I watch that in hockey, and I've seen it in the NBA and the NFL. And every sport referees miss calls. But Sean Payton, who, of course, we know as a member of the NFL's competition committee, has multiple proposals. They want to change the replay rules. and I want to have a replay on stuff like this, and here's Sean Payton.

A handful of things that we've got to be better at right now. And our best at playing and our best at coaching are spending 20 hours, 18 hours a day. Our best at officiating, it's their second job. You know, it's the only sport that that has to change. You know, with all the technology we have available to us, our fans are closer to the game. Our fans are way more intuned and educated as to the correct calls in the game.

And we just need to be better. By the way, NBA officials, are full-time and you're constantly complaining about them. Major-Dig umpires are full-time and you're constantly complaining about them. Full-time doesn't guarantee perfect officiating. You're constantly complaining that stars get the call in the NBA. Those guys make $300,000 a year in their full-time. We rarely get caught up in NFL officiating.

This was the rare instance a missed call. As I've said for years, late in games, refs swallow whistles. advised. If you remember that Ram's Saints game, the Rams defensive backs were so hyper aggressive in the second half because they were coached up because that's what happens in the NFL. Get aggressive late, refs swallow whistles. Be that as it may, are the Saints absolutely sure that a rule change that calls more pass interference is good? Because what is the weakness of the New Orleans Saints? They're corners. Late in games, less talented, players often have to grab, pull, hold to stay close to better players?

I would argue in one year, unless the Saints nail the draft in corners, their weakness will again be corners. And their corners have to grab a little more and reach a little more and pull a little more to stay with elite receivers on their schedule. Secondly, the Saints were the last team to benefit from the sudden death overtime in 2009. They got the benefit of it over time. Every year I pick two teams in the NFL. Every year I pick two teams that I call them pullback teams,

teams that like made the playoffs and they won't. And by the way, statistically, this is the way it works in the NFL more than any sport. Last becomes first, playoffs become duds, Super Bowl loser becomes loser, period. Last year, you remember the teams I picked? Jacksonville was in the AFC champion. I said they're too loud, too cocky, too emotional, they'll pull back. They were awful. Minnesota got to the NFC championship.

I said, series of breaks, abnormally healthy, change quarterbacks, coordinators, they'll pull back. They did. It was 2 and 0 last year. I could go back four years. I'm basically perfect on this one thing I predict, the two pullback teams. Saints are going to be a pullback team. Back-to-back years, overly emotional. endings to season.

Drew Breeze, at the end of last year, I thought physically didn't look the same. They don't really throw the ball down the field. You lose a Mark Ingram. You got a guy retire on your offensive line. I think this team is so caught up, the city, the team, the organization on this blown call, it will affect them going into next year. Don't give me full-time refs, solve everything. They don't.

If they did, you'd never complain about an number. empire, a soccer ref, a hockey ref, or an NBA official. All right. I want to talk about the Raiders. So we've kind of looked at the Raiders and mostly said, they're kind of making it up as they go. We don't know that for sure. We don't know it for sure. But it kind of feels like it.

And John Gruden's a great talker. He and Mike Tomlin are the best coaches in the NFL at the post. podium. Tomlin could be a TV star. No question. Gruden was a TV star. So John's good at talking. My theory is, as much as I look at the Raiders as sort of making it up as they go, they have acquired Antonio Brown, Trent Brown, and Terrell Williams, and Vontes Burfek, all can play. They have more talent today, more talent today than they did last year. By the way, they have four of the first 35 picks. I went to several mock drafts this morning.

And this is what I believe is the greatest prediction of what they will draft. Kenan Williams with a fourth pick. I've been told by two NFL GMs, the Alabama defensive lineman is the best player in the draft. The Jets will pass on him, go for an edge rusher, which they need more. Their first pick will be the best player in the draft. Their second pick will be Josh Jacobs, told by an NFL general manager. last week. He's the best running back in the draft from Bama. The most talented wide receiver in the draft, arguably Marquise Brown,

cousins with Antonio Brown goes 27th according to a mock draft, and then they get a safety which they need from Delaware second round. If you combine those with Antonio Brown, Trent Brown, Torell Williams, Vontes Burfect, Raiders got players. Raiders got a lot of players. My knock on Gruden, Gruden talks every time he steps in front of a microphone, talks too much,

but he's never said the one thing that would validate that he actually has a plan and isn't making it up. When he traded Khalil Mack, we're all like, you're out of your gourd. But the Raiders just won the Sloan MIT Award for the best analytic move of the NFL season. They got two first round picks. Bill Belichick gave up Chandler Jones.

Chandler led the NFL in Sachs next year. They got a second round pick and a guard they cut. So what I'm going to do is what I rarely do because I'm awful at it. But the next three minutes, I'm going to do a John Gruden impersonation. And this is what I wish John Gruden. Oh, wait. Hold on one second, Joy. Hold on. This is not great. It's not going well initially. I'm putting on a visor.

Okay. There you go. So first of all, he says der Raiders a lot. The Raiders. He moves his head a lot. This is what he does. Let's have some press conference sound, John. Hey, Chucky. Time out. Stop. What? That's disrespectful.

Okay. Nobody at a press conference yells, hey, Chucky. That's ridiculous. Let's make this profession. All right. So first of all, hey. Coach Guru. Why did you trade Khalil Mack to the Bears? Listen, I love Khalil Mack. Guys, unbelievable.

Khalil Mack's a once-in-a-lifetime talent, okay? But at $23 million, that's a once-in-a-lifetime contract. And I believe if you look at the history of this league last 20 years, you can pay your quarterback that. And the Raiders, we're about building the culture. We've got a lot of mouse to feed here, okay? Okay. This is the best defensive draft in the last 25 years. We've got four elite pass rushers in this draft, okay?

You've got nine top defensive tackles. Okay. We looked at the Sabre metrics and the analytics here. Okay. I love Khalil Mack. But I got the best defensive draft in 20 years. I got a lot of mouse defeat, the Raiders. You look at the history of $23 million for defensive players. You don't win Super Bowls. Okay, and the Raiders.

Okay. The Raiders here, we're winning Super Bowls. Okay? Any more questions? Is that the first time you've used the word Saber Metrics before? I don't know what the hell I was talking about there. Kind of missed on that one, okay?

This is the bottom line. So my point is... I thought that was very good, actually. Here's my point. That was not as horrible as I hoped it would be. Yeah, I was expecting much worse. Here's the thing. You can make an analytic argument.

that in the best defensive draft, in 20 years, he's got four of the top 35 picks. They've upgraded it wide receiver substantially. But it made sense not to pay a defensive end $23 million. That's what you pay quarterbacks to. That's not really Gruden's style to come out and do what you just did, though. He never shuts up in a press conference. He says he's the most glib guy ever. Could he not just say, if he said, you know, if he said that, Joey, here's what I would do.

okay he's got a plan I got nothing to say he's got a plan if Chris Ballard said that Howie Roseman Bill Belichick Sean McVe all he has to say is it's the best defensive draft in 20

years we got 12 guys who are game changers and I don't feel like paying a guy 23 million okay let me go back to the group one more second just one more John one more quick second put the thing on okay here's the thing

hey Okay, listen. At the Raiders, you don't think we want to win? Anything I'm not trying to win here? We got a salary cap. This isn't baseball. That's why I said Sabremetrics. I got lost for a second.

The bottom line, we got a salary cap here, okay? You can't pay JJ Watt everything. Okay? Got to get your quarterback to Sean Watson. Got to pay him everything. Derek Carr's been in this league now, all right? All right, with the Raiders for like seven years. I'm not getting them on a discount now.

He's not on a rookie contract now. Okay, you get that? Derek Carr's not in a rookie contract. We're not talking about DAC here. Okay. Not talking about Dak. I'm not talking about Dak. I got a veteran quarterback.

Got to pay him 27 million a year. You get that? Okay, baby, Antonio Brown, passing league. Got him $27 million. I can't do, I can't have three guys making all my money. Okay, got it. That's stupid. It still wasn't bad.

I didn't have a problem with the Kaleo-Mack trade. I think it just was very dramatic because it was the first thing that he did. and it's a big move and Kaleo Mac's a big name, their biggest name. I don't think he just went in like, let's get rid of Killeo Mac. I think, I think Gruden had a plan. All he has to do to shut everybody up is say,

I have a plan. Two, three things, because he talks constantly. Just come out and just say, hey, boom, boom, Derek Carr's not on a rookie contract. I can't pay Kaleel Mac 23. Derek 28, I'm out of money. That's all you got to say. Great draft.

I mean, all of it makes sense. And I'd be like, yeah, you got me on that one. I can't do anything. I'm not going to do any more press conferences for a while. I'm going to retire officially my press conference. Are you emotionally exhausted from that acting performance? First of all, Goulet almost ruined it. Goulae came out there.

Hey, Chucky! I'm sorry I didn't take this more seriously. Joey and I are a couple of pros here, a couple of journalists. You think that Gruden would get angry if one of the reporters started the question off with Chucky? Yes. Yes, he would be like... I don't know.

I think he has a sense of humor. I think he's funny. I don't think it's that good when they're losing. I think it's sense of... Well, they're not losing yet. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. Weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Reggie Bush, you had the unique career.

You played in USC at Glamour City. Yep. Then a crazy city, party city, Marty Grono Orange. And then you went to Miami. Yeah. Your most productive years. We were talking about Odell Beckham. And Joy and I were talking about this earlier, that

does the city matter for players? So I could make an argument. The four biggest party cities in America are L.A., Vegas, Miami, and New Orleans. You played in three of them, and all your productive years were in the party cities. So did you see teammates unravel? Why didn't you unravel? Because OBJ now is going to kind of boring Cleveland from New York. And my takeaway is not a terrible thing.

So talk about your own experience. 100% I saw teammates unravel. And so I think it's also predicated on the person. Like the personality, like your character, right, is going to, it's not going to change, but it's just going to maybe, if you go to a party, it may elevate, right? Like they say about money, money makes you more of what you are. Isn't that the saying?

Yeah, exactly. So a nice guy is really nice and a mean guy's a jerk. Yes. And if you had a little bit of a party boy inside you already, then going to Miami or New Orleans, then, yeah, you could. you could get lost in the parting. But I never, it's funny because I never looked at New Orleans as a party city. And I go back to 2006 when I first got there.

I got there six months after Hurricane Katrina. So there was nobody there. And it was a ghost town. And so one of the things that, and this speaks to Odell, actually one of the text events, I hadn't done it yet. But when I look back on my beginning, the first couple years in New Orleans, I wish I would have appreciated the magnitude of the opportunity

that we had in front of us because I was still stuck on, man, it's not sunny here like L.A. It's, you know, there's no palm trees here or, you know, there's not a whole lot to do here. And it took me about two years to really grasp that I have an opportunity to do something special here, that nobody has ever done before. And as to, one, help revive a city restore some faith, but also win a Super Bowl for a franchise that's never been done before. if Odell wins a Super Bowl in Cleveland, he would never have to pay for drink, food, nothing ever again because those are some of the most diehard fans that football has to offer.

I mean, they go to games every year knowing that they have no shot. Right. And now they're one of the most talented teams, at least on the offensive side anyways, in the NFL. And I just really hope that he can quickly grasp the opportunity that he has in front of him. Because you didn't. Because I didn't in my first two years.

And also it had something to do with Hurricane Katrina, the people not being there. And so for me, I was still, I still had the immature mentality as to, man, it's not enough to do here. And so when I was, sorry not to cut you up, but when I would get like two or three days off, I would fly back to L.A. And I did that for like my first year, you know, whenever we would get time off in the off season or maybe a bi-week or something like that, I was, I couldn't wait to get to you to L.A. and then as I got deeper into my career in New Orleans, I really started appreciated the beauty of just what it had to offer. And I just hope that O'Dell can grasp that because, yes, it may not be as much to do as New York,

but you got something special in front of you and an opportunity to do something in Cleveland that you didn't do in New Orleans. By the way, when you were in New Orleans, you didn't quite appreciate Sean Payton, Drew Brees, Jimmy Graham, you had a couple good offensive linemen. The reality is, O'Doneman, Beckham should realize, I think he does, this offense for Cleveland, it's like dudes.

Yeah. Like Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb and Duke Johnson and Jarvis Landry. They got players. Like dudes on offense, it's an all-star team. And now you have the quarterback who has the same energy as you, right? He has that same youthfulness as you. And he plays the game like you do, right? He's in the end zone celebrating, dancing.

So I'm expecting to see a lot of that. But this is the energy and the youthfulness that I think. Odell needs around him. I just hope that the chemistry has got to be right. Chemistry's got to be right. All right. So speaking to New Orleans, they got job last year at the end of the year. They're very upset, blah, blah, blah. So they want rule changes.

I'm not a big fan of the new NFL rule changes. I've always had kind of a belief on, and I'll talk about it in best for last. Do you think the NFL should make major alterations to replay because of the Ram Saints ending? Well, I don't think it should be just because of the Ram Saints ending. ending because that is just that is just one of many right there's a lot of times where games are more and more becoming decided

by referees and it shouldn't be like that right and so that play as we're watching right now that is as blatant as it can get you got two referees who are looking at this play and the NFL has really done a good job at pushing this narrative as we're trying to protect the players

more right we're trying to protect the players head more well you got helmet to helmet right there and you got pass interference. You miss both of those, right? What are you looking at? Because the one thing I go back to is as players, when we mess up, when we miss plays, we get chewed out. And if you miss enough of them, you'll get benched and somebody else will replace you. Steve Wilkes got fired after one year, right? And so referees need to be held just as accountable as the rest of the league, as the players, as the coaches. It all needs to work together. So why this is so significant is because, for one, guys sacrifice

so much year and year out to get to this point, to get to the game before the Super Bowl, right? You sacrifice family relationships. You sacrifice business. You sacrifice a lot. Your body, your brain, you're giving up. And for that call not to happen, to me, it just speaks volumes to where the NFL has gone lately. There's been more and more no calls or calls that decide games, and it shouldn't be like that. The players, the plays need to. side of the games, not the referees, not these, you know, phantom holding calls that we see a lot of times. You got 300-pound linemen that are trying to block each other. You could call holding every play. If that's the case, if it's going to be that tickey tack. If it's not a blatant like the

guy's pulling his jersey, then, you know, what are we doing? So I think they need to definitely use the replay if it's going to mean more fairness for the game. Reggie Bush, joining us, Super Bowl champ 2009, 11 years in the NFL, number two picked by the Saints overall. I want to talk about this. So you had a kind of college career. I've said this before. There's been only about four or five college football players in my life that I thought

needed to get a check when they left the university because of the digital and the merchandising. You're one of them. Vince Young's one of them. Johnny Mansell's one of them. Tim Tebow's one of them. Not many. None of the Alabama players, that stadium's going to sell out regardless. But you four players

really were an industry. You were a cottage industry. You couldn't go anywhere in Los Angeles. It wasn't Leinert's jersey. It was yours. And it's rare the running back over the quarterback. And Matt was great. So there's four guys that I thought the university should just go, listen, you made us $38 million in merchandising. And I've always felt merchandising when you get the rare player, write them a check. Boom. So Zion, I couldn't tell you the last college player. Maybe it's crazy. Christian Leitner maybe, Shaq maybe, that I'm like, oh, no, he's going to walk into the NBA, be a star. You were the NFL jersey sales leader, your rookie year. So you know what it's like. USC was the glamour program.

You were the glamour player. You were the most talked about running back, maybe in my life at a college. So what is he going to experience? If you could sit down with Zion and say, here's a couple of things, big fella. What would you say? He's going to experience the weight of the world. He's going to experience a lot of pressure. People are going to look to him to have these big games week in and week out.

And every game they're going to be looking to Zion to be the savior of the team. Savior is an interesting word because you were seen as a savior type. Yes. And if he goes to a team that's a struggling basketball team, then yes, they're going to look to him to be. To me, he has the kind of the LeBron James factor, right, of coming in, just his side. right, his height and his athletic ability. You know, when he steps on the court, people watch and people notice. And people can't take their eyes away from the TV.

And so he's going to experience a lot of pressure. The one thing, the one piece of advice I would give him is to keep your circles small because everybody and their mom, if they're not already doing it, are going to be pulling at you. You're going to get friends. And it's usually the people closest to you. It's never the people that you think is, you know, distant relatives or distant friends or a coach that comes out of nowhere is usually the people

closest to you. And they start grabbing. And they start grabbing because, and if it's family members, you know, and God bless them, but they feel entitled, right? They feel entitled because maybe they helped raise you or, you know, maybe it's your brother or sister. And so those are the people that, yes, they do deserve, you know, part of, you know, the credit for the journey.

But when it comes to the financial side of it, where it comes to, you know, a lot of things that players deal with, he's going to have a lot of pressure. And if I can give him any advice, I would say to keep your circle as small as possible. How small was yours? It wasn't small enough. It wasn't small enough. 8, 10, 12. Yeah, something like that.

I didn't roll with a big crew. No, in fact, I saw you one time. You wouldn't remember this. I was in, I think I was in Miami for the Super Bowl, and I was at a restaurant, and I looked over. You were in a T-shirt, and we made eye contact. Yeah. And I was like, hey, I didn't want to bother you. And you were coming by yourself.

You were in the corner with like a buddy. And it made me happy. I was like, Reggie's in a T-shirt. Reggie's by himself. Reggie ain't hanging out. And kind of what I'm speaking to is I had somebody very, very, very close to me, extremely as close as you can possibly stole money from me. And it really messed me up, messed up my whole world because this was a person that, you know,

I was family. He wasn't my blood related family, but he was family. And so then when it happened, it just, I couldn't believe it. And I didn't want to believe it. And it really, those are the kinds of things that happen all the time. And that's why I say you got to keep your circle small because you just never know. And it's usually the people closest to you. And God bless them.

You love them. But at the same time, you have to protect your own. And that's one of the hardest things to do as a young. athlete because you never want to look like a sellout, right? You never want to look like I made it and I just forgot about everybody. Right. You want to be the guy, you know, look, LeBron is doing a great job by he bringing his boys into business. But you know what? LeBron demands that his boys have their stuff buttoned up. Exactly. Rich Paul is a rap. I mean, I know LeBron's boys, they got their stuff buttoned up. Every young black kid or every

athlete, young athlete wants to be able to do the things that LeBron James is doing. with his friends. Elevate them on the business side. Help them make money. You know, bring them along with them. But they can't just be hanger honors. Exactly. And that's the,

and that's the issue. And you had like one or two hangar honors? Yeah, I had more than one or two. Hang oners. I had a couple. By the way, years ago, I was in Portland. I won't name the young player. He was a tremendously gifted young player.

And I did a story on him and I went to his house. And I mean, the kid was from way away from Portland. He had a beautiful house. And he had about six or seven guys in his house. and, you know, one or two you meet, they're grownups. And then I went downstairs and two guys were just playing video games for an hour and a half. And I remember walking out of the house thinking, they're just video game guys. Yeah.

And I remember thinking as I walked out, I would want, I would be so insecure about the money and protecting. And you had a couple of those. I had a couple of those. And it's unfortunate because. It's reality, though. It is reality. It's life. And it is life.

and you hate it and you hate to see other people have to go through it. I know what I went through and how much that affected me and the kind of depression I went into and the kind of things I battled mentally because this person was so close to me and he was family. You know what? And you and Zion are also, you know, fun, joyful people. I never had that problem, joy, because I had no friends. So I didn't have any hangar owners.

But Zion's the kind of kid. Everybody's going to want a piece of Zion. Everybody. I mean, you'll watch the way he plays and the way he presents himself. People don't want to be around him. He is fun. His game is fun. It is.

And he seems like the kind of person that he just welcomes everybody, right? And a lot of times what happens is people will take that kindness for weakness, right? And people will take that kindness for weakness to the point to where they do things that, you know, that they shouldn't be doing. And so that's the only piece of advice I would give Zion, man. It's just keep your circle small. make sure you have somebody close to you that you 100% trust. Yes. Because you can't always watch everything, right?

Like you got to have one person that you, I mean like your ace like from day one, your mom or dad, whoever it is that you completely trust to watch things for you when you can't watch. When he's on that basketball court, somebody has to be watching. By the way, I trust moms mostly. Yeah. Yep. You don't hear a lot of stories about moms screwing up.

No, you don't. You don't. Yeah. I'm not picking on dads. Dads or men. We mess up a lot. Egos. That's true.

Not a lot of moms grew up. You very rarely hear, mom sold out her son. You're like, what? That's like a national inquiry story. Yeah. And you're 100% right there. I don't really hear too many of those with moms. Not a lot bad mom stories.

Dad's, though. We'd be messing up. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports

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