The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 07/30/2018

Episode Date: July 30, 2018

Colin discusses New England Patriots QB Tom Brady's response to WR Julian Edelman's suspension, why LeBron James signing with the Los Angeles Lakers will work, why Dallas Cowboys fans should be happy, and where he was right and wrong. Also, senior NFL reporter Albert Breer stops by The Herd. 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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Listen to Saigon on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Ah, this is The Heard. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening live in Los Angeles, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1 on a Monday. heard sponsored by Firestone complete auto care keep your car running newer and longer and here we are joy taylor i'm starting to smell the grass football's inches away morning calling good to have you in a Monday there is a big difference between you and i working at a company and us owning a company it's much easier to just work at a company i don't have to deal with uh you know HR and payroll and facilities and contracts. I just come to work, blah, blah, blah. I'm an employee.

Tom Brady was an employee forever. And then Tom Brady decided I want to branch out. I'm going to own the Tom Brady Clinic. And I'm going to sell oils and jump ropes and gear. And I'm going to recruit players for the Patriots to join the TB12 clinic and get a big brand. And oh, this appears to be the downside to owning the business. You get calls in the middle of the night. Everybody that's watching this show or listening, driving around, knows the difference between just working at a business like a guy like me and owning a business. And most employees don't, they don't really understand what it's like to own a business. I don't really want to own everything about this show.

I don't want to deal with payroll and I don't want to deal with this and that. Tom Brady opens up a clinic, recruits players to come to the clinic. Julian Edelman comes to the clinic and oops, Julian Edelman gets busted for BEDs. So Tom Brady's got to go talk to the media. And here's what happened. Tom, when Julian tested positive, a lot of people connected up to Alex O'clock. Just what's your reaction to that? No comment.

That's just ridiculous. Tom, I'm out. All right. You can't hear it very well on radio. It's great on television. Tom Brady's asked a question. Do you think it's fair? People connect Edelman to you.

He said it's ridiculous. And then he walks away. And, of course, it's not ridiculous because it's your clinic. And I went this morning to the TB12 page. They're selling supplements and they're selling supplements. and they're selling gear and they're selling pliability lotion. Okay. I'm going to try some of that.

I'm going to go home tonight and try some pliability lotion. And I'll just leave it at that. They got a documentary. They got a book. They're selling lifestyle. Hey, but don't ask any of the questions. Well, Tom, that's the downside to owning a business. Ask every business owner watching this show.

It would be an unfair question if Julian Edelman busted for PEDs and you didn't have a clinic and he was going to using the Patriot staff and people came up and said, Tom, what do you make about that? Tom could say, well, I don't know. I'm just an employee. Julian Edelman has got to take care of Julian Edelman, but now Tom Brady takes care of Julian Edelman. You put your name in a company. You want a brand. You ever notice with Tom Brady, the more Tom Brady branches out into Tom Brady stuff and the less Tom Brady's about New England stuff, we're getting more of this crap? New England, we're getting more of this crap. New England was always the one team in the NFL.

Assistance didn't talk. Coordinators didn't talk. Brady didn't talk. Nobody talked. Grunk, tough guy. Six-seven, 260. I don't know. I'm not going to talk about it.

I'll get in trouble from the coach. There used to be one clear message. And now it's all muddied up and all clouded. And then Tom's got those young receivers and young tight ends and all running backs. And they walk in and oh, my God, there's Tom Brady. Maybe I should be part of his clinic. If I go and be part of Tom's clinic, Tom will like me more and hand me the ball more throw me the ball more and audible more.

And, oh, man, we have a fissure in a business. No longer is it about one voice and one message. There's multiple voices, multiple clinics, multiple trainers. And you have young players, I'm sure, walk in and they want to be part of that Tom Brady 12 clinic because he's Tom Brady. He's a rock star. I mean, if you were a guitarist and they had an opening on you, too, wouldn't you just suck up to Bono? I mean, this is a thing. Tom Brady moved into mogul stage.

I get it. But this is the downside to having those businesses and growing your brand and doing your clinic. And now we got questions. Belichick's already talked about Alex Guerrero, Tommy's trainer, and Guerrero's had multiple quotes. And Edelman gets busted. And the media now, and for the record, you know, the Boston media now is asking very legitimate questions. They were very parochial for the first 15 years of Tom's career, not so parochial to Belmont. They're pressing Belichick and they're pressing

Brady and they're pressing them because there's real issues here. I'm not saying an employee can't have an opinion but I'm saying once an employee wants to be a boss, this is what you get. Rush Limbaugh just wants to do radio and get paid. Glenn Beck wanted to own

his own business. Glenn Beck's had health issues. Glenn Beck's had to fire people. Glenn Beck's had controversy within his employee base. That's the difference between talking on the radio and getting rich and then owning your company and talking on radio and getting rich. It's a choice. Go either way.

You know, I prefer the former, not the latter. I'll just sit here, talk, get paid. But Tom Brady made a choice, and this is the result of the choice. Tough questions. They are not ridiculous whatsoever. So I thought, you know, most of the time, you and I agree on stuff. We agree on stuff. Who's going to win the games?

Who's going to win the series? We agree on 90% of stuff. 10% you and I don't agree on, the stuff that makes the internet, blogs, tweets, right? If I have an opinion that's contrarian. Okay. What I'm about to say seems obvious, and I think you're all the crazy people. Because what I'm about to say is fact-based. So I'm reading a story this weekend.

LeBron talked over the weekend. He's going to talk later today. He's opening an amazing school and Akron. It's awesome. But I'm reading a story about this, and a story came out this weekend. And it was another, I don't think this L.A. is going to work thing. Said a player in the NBA

anonymously, he didn't go to the Lakers, he went to L.A. He's going to L.A. He's not going because of the basketball, i.e. it won't work. During this column, the writer says the Lakers' journey is embarking on. Is it difficult

to say the least? There's no surefire co-star on the Laker roster barring a major trade. There's no clear path to contention. Okay, time out. I am now going to go into a fact-based, fact-based argument. Let me just put up LeBron's career highs last year. So let's establish that he's still great. Games played career high. Assists with that garbage roster career high. Rebounds, career high. Triple doubles,

career high. So let's establish LeBron's really, really good and forget the MVP award. He's the best player the game. Hardin plays no defense. He's the best player in the game. Let's establish that. If you put the best player in the league on any team, I mean, Golden State was good. You add Durant, the second best player, and you can't beat him. You add Chris Paul, a top 20 player to the Rockets. They have Golden State down 3-2. I'm talking the best player, better than Paul, better than Hard, better than Durant. So we've established that he's great. Here's the other thing. Remember how Michael Jordan won three titles, went and played baseball, came back and won three more titles? When Michael Jordan came back and won three more titles, he was 33.

LeBron's 33. But LeBron has multiple advantages that Michael didn't. Number one, Michael Jordan played multiple years of college basketball in arguably the toughest conference in college basketball, the biggest in the ACC. see. He played three years, the grind, the travel, leaned on. Three years on your legs. Three years. LeBron never played college basketball. No wear, no tear. Right to the NBA. From dominating high school, where virtually he took a year off his senior year and still won the state title right into the NBA. So Michael had three more years at 33 of college basketball. Michael also played in a significantly more physical NBA

where centers weighed 270 were domestic and they were there to pound you if you came close to the basket. LeBron plays in a league where they're international centers. They're built like combs. You know, they're like 7 feet 1, 250. And they have no interest in contact. The health and wellness standards are much better today. LeBron eats better, trains better.

foods better, supplements better, nutrition better. Oh, by the way, LeBron's a bigger, stronger person. That generally matters as you age. People get certain DNA. LeBron's bigger and stronger. And oh, by the way, Michael Jordan had a major injury. Second year in the league broke his foot. LeBron's never had one.

Michael came back 33. Best player in the league wins three titles. You do get LeBron's 33, nowhere in tariff. college, a less physical league, a healthier era, bigger, stronger person, no major injuries. And you think LeBron's going to struggle here. Colin, Colin, Colin, wait a minute, Colin. No, you wait a minute. LeBron's going to be the best player in the league for the next three years.

After that, no idea. But who's going to supplement him? Yonis doesn't control the basketball, not a ball handler, not a shooter. Ben Simmons, not a shooter. Kevin Durant. I like Kevin Durant, but this is what he is now. He's not going to another level, therefore he's not surpassing LeBron James. Steph Curry, when he can stay healthy, he's good.

He's never been LeBron. James Harden, come on, physically not the same guy. Well, what about the timing? The timing's perfect. It would be different if Golden State's dynasty was starting. We're already seeing fatigue with their dynasty. Durant multiple times sounds like a wander. Curry got hurt again.

Draymond's getting tired of being the fourth beetle. They showed fatigue in the regular season. PJ Tucker gave him fits in the postseason, down three, two, before Chris Paul got hurt. What about San Antonio and Minnesota? They're very good. And both dysfunctional. What about Houston? Yeah, what about them?

They're not as good as last year. This is the perfect time. Chris Paul's out of his peak. And the spurs are dysfunctional. And Minnesota is going to be, oh, even more dysfunctional. Portland can't figure it out. Westbrook and Paul George will always have limitations. Houston's not as good.

And Golden States, the dynasty closer to the end than the beginning. I don't get it. Jordan 33, major injury, college basketball, wear and tear, less healthy, smaller body, dominated the league. Yeah. Now, Michael came back to a better team, but many would argue the league was smaller, more comprised of elite players and better teams. I don't get it. I just don't understand it. Oh, I don't know what's going to – every story I read, it's like, oh, it's going to be man overboard.

they'll be lucky to beat New Orleans. Folks, 33 is to do 29. That's why Tom Brady's going to be 41 this year, and I just looked it up this morning, is the favorite to win the MVP. 41's the new 36. LeBron's 33, he's going on like 30 compared to Jordan's era. It's going to work.

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SimplySafe.com slash heard. Great weekend for the Dallas Cowboys. If you're a Dallas Cowboy fan, this was a terrific weekend because Des Bryant melted down and you've already gotten rid of him and Dak Prescott was a grownup proving why he's a franchise quarterback and you've secured your future with him. It was a great weekend to be a Dallas Cowboy fan. The cuckoo for Cocoa Puffes, the wacko, the diva, the needy wide receiver who for years we lectured you, he is stunting the growth of Dak Prescott. This weekend it was on full display. Sean Lee, very good football player,

is quoted saying, yeah, you know, I mean, got to be honest with you. Sometimes he was difficult. Sometimes I wanted him to be more accountable. Sometimes I wanted him to be a better teammate. Oh, Des Bryant implodes. Oh, just going crazy. Des Bryant taking shots at everybody. Taking shots of the Cowboys.

Called the owner Jerry Jones Clueless. Yeah, billionaire Jerry Jones clueless. Okay, Des. Sean Lee's a snake. No, Sean Lee's actually went healthy, a really good football player. Des Bryant has showed you who he was. Now, by the way, he's available. everybody.

Cleveland wants him. Okay. Cleveland doesn't need him. Cleveland wants him. This Dallas is a great day. This used to be your pain in the butt. It's going to be somebody else's. If you're lucky, it'll be a rival and be distracting to them. On the same weekend that Des Bryant was being Des Bryant,

did you see, Dak Prescott came out and talked about the National Anthem controversy, he said, it's not the right time or the venue to protest. It takes the joy out of football. So, Dek Prescott, as Des spent the weekend enhancing his image as somebody that inflames a situation, Dak Prescott enhanced his image as somebody that put some cold water on drama, a little bit of a wet blanket on drama. Both were on full display this weekend, the immature and the mature, the chaotic and the calming, the crazy and the smart,

the undependable and the dependable. They were all on display this weekend. Des Bryant, nothing but taking shots at people. Dak Prescott, in the throes of Jerry Jones and the national anthem controversy, Dak Prescott steps up, takes the joy out of football, not the right time or place.

A very reasonable opinion, which, by the way, has always been my opinion. I'm not outraged by athletes taking a knee, but it's not ready the time or the place. I don't come to FS1 every day with a protest, political sign. I can do it before the show and after the show. This is the three hours a day. I've got to show up and do sports.

And that's what Dak Prescott's saying. Not the time of the place on full display. By the way, there is a stat, and I've always said this. There are three games in Dak Prescott's career where Des Bryant was unavailable to play. Look at Dak's stats without him. Three and O, 71% percent. completion percentage, six touchdowns, one pick, and a passer rating nearly perfect. Yep.

We preached it almost lectured for two years. Everybody's had the needy coworker. Everybody's had the high-maintenance coworker. That co-worker is often very talented, but you end up having to kind of babysit him. You drive to work and you think about him and boy, how are they going to react to this? And how is he going to react to that? and you got to make sure when you have staff meetings, you're like, hey, how will Dez deal with that?

We have the Amazon Prime series where Dak Prescott, the quarterback's in another room. Des is in the receiver room blowing up at the coach over a random innocuous comment. But this weekend was great to be a cowboy fan. The headache, no longer yours, the foundation of your franchise, currently yours,

was cooling on. Embers with his anthem quote. By the way, Dak Prescott on our show a few weeks ago talked about spreading the ball around and how much he likes it. When you don't have a big time guy or the number one or whatever you want to call those guys, you go out there and you just spread the ball around and it's not a factor even in your head who gets a catch, who has how many touches. Some of my best games in the NFL have been with eight different targets or so.

Yeah, he's 14 and 2. Dak Prescott. Eight or more targets. Look at these numbers. Eight or more targets, meaning less reliant on DES, he's 14 and 2. Look at the numbers for our TV audience. Less than eight, meaning a lot of throws to DES. He's sub-500.

You got the future, you got rid of the headache. Great weekend for the Dallas Cowboys. All three hours of the herd are always streaming on the Herd channel on the IHeart Radio app. Great to have you in today. The summer, we're moving. moving out of the NBA. We're moving into the NFL and college football. In fact, we're having big executive meetings next couple of days in Los Angeles for all the Fox

broadcasters and famous people in town. And those times of the year where we all button stuff up and get ready for a long football season. Very exciting stuff. Right. Very exciting. So we do it every Monday. We started doing it years ago in football season. And then people said, hey, why don't you do it non-football season?

so I have strong opinions and every week on a Monday here's where I got it right and here's where I got it wrong in the last week so here we go where Colin was right Ah what do you know Des Bryant melted down all weekend

Look at me blasting teammates Des Bryant's always been 80% headache 20% production and he's also one of the worst kind of people everybody else's fault guy Dez you couldn't separate

at the end. You couldn't separate. You were blown up team meetings. So this weekend he's blasting Sean Lee. And by the way, he's blasting play calling. And he called Jerry Jones Clueless. No. You came into this league as a wildly talented young man and you didn't master the route tree and you didn't really, really take coaching serious until you lost a step. And now you're nothing But a headache. This is why we said two years ago. Don't be fear-based. Dallas.

Dak Prescott's the future. Ezekiel Elliott's the future. This guy's going to stunt the growth of both. And this weekend, it was more the charade. Great weekend to be a cowboy fan. This is what you don't have to deal with this point forward. Where Colin was wrong. I'm a big believer in building your football team from the ball out, not the sideline in.

And I am surprised the Rams haven't given a huge. huge deal to Aaron Donald, mostly because they've given a huge deal to everybody else. I didn't get the Brandon Cook's wide receiver deal. He's yet to play a game. He got an extension. Aaron Donald's a much better player. I mean, Brandon Cook's a nice receiver. He's played for three teams in three years. Isn't that kind of a warning sign? I also worry about this. How does this play in the room? Like, players know and support guys who can play. Aaron's the best defensive lineman in the NFL since Reggie White. Unblockable. He's like Indomac and Sue with discipline and coachability.

And I just, I wonder how, I wonder how it plays in the room. Listen, I'm all for giving Todd Gurley a deal. And I, and I like Brandon Cook's, but I would have waited on the Brandon Cooks deal and I would have taken care of Aaron Donald first. Because I think in the room, he is respected and revered, and that is something. These are long NFL seasons. You've got to make sure your stars, no, they get treated well. Brandon Cook's not a star.

Aaron Donald's a star Where Colin was right I didn't love the John Gruden hiring I said listen I like John great broadcaster I said it felt a little too nostalgia for me it felt like Art Shell 12 years ago Art Shell'd been out of the league forever They hire him and it's man overboard

And Art Shell hired some guy who ran a bed and breakfast To run his offense I'm not lying true story Well last week is what I worried about One report Gruden hasn't talked to Khalil Mack Gruden says, oh, I've talked to Kalil Mack. And then two sources came out this weekend. Well, they haven't talked long because Kalil Mack's people don't like John Gruden.

Listen, John, generationally speaking, 10 years, a long time to be away from any business. Again, everybody knows Gruden loves offense. So the first thing Gruden should do when he takes over the Raiders is put his arms around his best defensive player. We know he loves quarterbacks. Everybody in the room knows he loves quarterbacks. What they don't know if is John is all in on the Raiders. defense. And by not embracing Khalil Mack, again, how

does it play in the room? Not good, not a good week for the Raiders. Where Colin was wrong. I used to mock the Boston media. I mean, for a large American city, you know, we've got about seven, eight major cities, you're Atlantis, you're New York, your D.C., you're L.A.,

or Chicago, you're Boston, you're Dallas. In the big-boy cities, the media should be big boys, and they just soft and push-overs, but they got after Tom Brady this weekend. I was wrong on that. showed some teeth. And remember a week ago when they got after Bill Belichick, who they're always coutowing to?

Remember this last week? We have some audio from that. Do you care that the fans want to know more about this? My focus is on a 2018 season. I'm not focused on any of those seasons. They're done. Hopefully you can respect that, but maybe not. I like it.

Boston. Put down the pom-poms. Show a little fight. New York media shows me fight. Boston media has been great in the last couple of weeks. I really like it. I was wrong about that. Not a bunch of fanboys.

Loved it. Where Colin was right. I've been saying this forever. Everybody whines about how much college football coaches make. When you get a great one, just pay them whatever. Alabama, smart enough to figure out, oh, we're going to rework Nick Sabin's deal for the third time in third year, three years. And now he's going to make $10 million a year. And that's underpaid.

Yeah, I said it. That's underpaid. Alabama totally gets it. they're never going to be another Nick Saban. Everybody loved Pete Carroll? Does everybody realize that Nick Saban's dynasties now twice as long as Pete Carroll's and doesn't appear to be slowing down?

I mean, USC was good for about four or five years. This is like the 10th year Alabama's really, really good. The attendance, the enrollment at Alabama, I'm going to talk about non-football revenue is up 13,000 students since he arrived. 13,000 students at $35,000 a year. They pay for a significant part of his contract in non-football revenue. Don't listen to the media that overreacts.

Oh, my God. Nick Saban is worth $30 million a year if somebody was willing to pay it. You want to keep winning nine games at your program or do you want to be a dynasty? You pay Nick Saban $9.5 million. By the way, whoever Alabama's coach would be, you'd pay him five. So you're paying him $4.5 million more a year for dominance? He's the best buy in college sports. Where Colin was wrong.

I don't think this is a huge story, but if you had told me of the five quarterbacks drafted, one would be a holdout, and it would be Sam Darnold. I would have been like, no, no, no, no, Darnold will get that puppy cleaned up real quick. But Sam Darnold has not reported. Now, his agent's Jimmy Sexton, and some of this is just the agent,

and they're trying to clear up language, which they call forfeiture language. It's, for the average fan, even for me, This is too deep to get into. There's certain languages in contracts that Jimmy Sexton is trying to get eliminated, but the Jets have a history of not giving up the things that Sam Darnold wants, and Jimmy Sexton and his agent saying, you've never had Sam Darnold. You've been a mess for the last 20 years, mostly.

We finally got your next Namath. We finally got you. You're Eli Manning in town, and we're going to go toe to toe on this. But I will say, Darnold is about a low-maintenance a kid as I've ever mastered. And if I would have guessed of all the quarterbacks the one holding out, I would not have guessed Sam Darnold. Where Colin was right? 50 NFL people were recently pulled by ESPN, coordinators, coaches, general managers, scouting directors, and they raided quarterbacks.

And I thought they did a great job. It was an ESPN poll. Cam Newton was not in the top 10. Hater raid! I didn't vote on it. Cam Newton was not in the top 10. He was a tier two quarterback, according to NFL executives. Coaches, coordinators, some by the way of work with Cam,

general manager, scouting people. This is what I've always said about Cam. He's not a top 10 quarterback. Now, when I rank my quarterback, it's not going to waste your time with that. I've always had him at about 12 because he's a non-precision thrower and now a precision game. In the 80s or 90s, I could have lived with 59% completion percentage. It's not good enough now.

You've got to be 62. You've got to be 62 and a half. You've got to be 63. and what do you know that he's not a top-tap? Every time I say that, the world implodes. And now all the executives in the league who watch film and tape, some of them on his staff are like, no, he's not, he's not as good as Matt Ryan, he's not as good as Russell Wilson,

he's not as good as Carson Wentz, he's not as good as Andrew Luck, he's not as good as Philip Rivers. He's not as good as Matt Stafford. You know, I mean, they're all saying it, and now I'm not the only guy saying it. Where Colin was wrong. Well, this is me from May, in my stance on athletes wearing their hat backwards.

I hate guys that wear the hat on backwards. Hate it. Hate it. Do not like it. It's my least favorite thing. Don't like it. Not a fan of it. Sends a message.

I'm a goofball. Okay, well, LeBron James had his hat on backwards this weekend. I got to be honest with you, I cringed. That the hat was backwards or that you were so wrong about the hat backwards thing? Oh, the hat backwards guy. It's so Jake. I just... Oh, please, no.

No, Jay Cutler is the vest. The vest with, like, the bucket hat or something. I don't like hat on backwards guy. It's such a you-know-what look. I don't know what. Sophomoric, goofball, frat boy. LeBron just opened a school. I know. I'm going to have to revisit my whole hat on backwards.

I think it's time to retire that one. You know what that is? That's what you wear when you want to slam a bud light with your butt. buddies. I don't think LeBron drinks Bud Light. I know, that's the problem. Because up to this point, every got the... He gets very, very expensive wine. All right. Where Colin was right?

Finally, what do you know? Tim Duncan's no longer in San Antonio. We had our third spur calling out the team, Danny Green. Albeit softly, Danny Green came out and said, yeah, I probably should have gotten a second opinion on my injury of San Antonio. So, I always

said, my problem with Greg Popovich, I think he's a smart guy and a great coach. But he hates the bluster that he himself has. He's got a lot of bluster, but he always tells players, get over yourself. Sometimes Greg needs to get over Greg. And I always said, Duncan was 75% of this great system. Okay. Duncan leaves a third player two years ago to Marcus Aulridge, this year, Kauai Leonard, and now Danny Green. Yeah, yeah, maybe we need a second opinion. Maybe it's not all great here. I like Popovich. I really do. He wouldn't think that. I think he's a great coach. I think he's one of the top three or four coaches last 10 years. But, you know, I always hear

how the system and this and that. The minute Duncan leaves, how's the system? As much as I like Belichick, if Tom Brady leaves, that system wins like nine games a year, eight. It doesn't win 13 in the AFC East every single year. You need the star to lubricate the locker room. When Brady leaves, Belichick won't have it. And when Duncan left, Popovich no. longer has it. Where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong on a Monday. This is the herd podcast. If you've noticed what's been happening this year, we're seeing wide receivers get money, Jarvis, Landy, Brandon Cook, we're seeing running backs get money.

We're not seeing a lot of defensive linemen get money. And the NFL person said to me, he said, this is a copycat league. You start looking at all these great defenses. And once again, did New England have a great defense? they end up in the Super Bowl. Philadelphia had a great defense. New England did what they wanted with them. Garonk got hurt in the AFC championship.

New England moved the ball up and down the field, up and down the field on Jacksonville. Pittsburgh and Jacksonville, supposed to be great defensive balls all over the field. And so, you know, after a while, my source is telling me, people look around and go, it's becoming more of a perimeter game, it's more about offenses, the safety's being marginalized, and Aaron Donald wants $25 million a year. That's like a quarterback. And so, you know, this is the thing about the NFL. Every year or two or five, there is a shift.

This position's marginalized. This scheme means more interesting. But Aaron Donald's great, but what's the value of them? wants quarterback money. By the way, Derek Carr is the quarterback of the Raiders. And Derek Carr now has Jordy Nelson because Green Bay didn't want to pay for him. And Derek Carr this weekend talked about George. And how great he's been so far in camp.

He's just a guy that it's easy to throw to him because he's open. You know, like I said, there's some guys that are good at running some routes, but a guy will be there. They're just strong at catching the ball or whatever. He just gets open. And he is a great route savvy. He's very smart. Again, I can't say enough good things.

I can't believe Green Bay let him go, but I'm glad he's here. For the record, if you were Aaron Rogers, Joy, wouldn't you be rooting for Jordy Nelson to have a great year? Yeah, of course. Because it furthers the narrative that Green Bay never gave Aaron a great defense. They don't keep his guys. Listen, the best eight quarterbacks I've ever seen play. I'm not counting guys that played when they had like leather helmets. The best eight quarterbacks I've ever seen play are Peyton Manning, Brady, Montana, Bradshaw, Elway, Marino, Aikman, and Breeze.

Aaron Rogers, to me, is in the next group. Now, some put FARV in that. To me, he made too many mistakes. I think Aaron's actually better than FARV all time. I'd put Aaron slightly ahead of FARV. Aaron, to me, has always been Steve Young. They both have a Super Bowl. They both have two MVP's.

They're both above average mobility. They're both a little quirky. Young's a left-hander. Aaron's a little smaller than your typical, you know, Brady, Peyton, Bradshaw, Elway, Aikman guy. To me, Aaron's in the Steve Young class. Now, I'm not saying Aaron can't. elevate above that. They both have a Super Bowl. They both were having legends above them. Young grew up

with Montana over him. Aaron came into the league with Favre over him. Both Steve Young had the highest passer rating while he played in the game in his peak. Aaron's got the highest passer rating while he's playing in the game at his peak. They're both above average mobility. To me, Aaron is Steve Young. Now he can elevate if he has five more years and wins in their Super Bowl. But one of the things that 25 years from now you're sitting around a bar, if the narrative is, you Aaron Rogers is not his fault. I mean, they never gave him a great defense. He had Jordy Nelson, then he went to Oakland and had three great years with Derek Carr.

I do think it may not mean anything to Aaron. Those kind of arguments supplement Aaron Rogers into that elite all-time class. Now, I'm just telling you, my all-time eight great quarterbacks, I've ever seen Peyton, Brady, Montana, Bradshaw, Elway, Marino, Aikman, Bree, best I've ever seen. And again, far if I like, too many mistakes. And then I fall into a kind of a stawback. Aaron Rogers, Steve Young thing. Dan Fouts is up there.

But if Jordy goes and blows it up with the Raiders for a couple years, it makes Green Bay look bad, makes Aaron Rogers look really, really good. Catch the herd from noon to 3 Eastern on IHeart Radio and FS1. Via the Coward Global Satellite Network.

One of our favorites, Albert Brear, senior NFL reporter Monday morning quarterback. We love having him on. You were a cowboy beat rider. Now you're a Patriot guy, or at least that vicinity. It looks like that's where you're at today. You wrote an article about Aaron Rogers' quest to be like Tom Brady. Now, it's interesting, Albert, because, you know, sometimes Aaron can be kind of California cool. You know, there's like a distance with, like,

like he cares, but not too much. Does he, does he kind of keep track of stuff with Brady? I think it was more about kind of what motivates him. You know, I think forever what motivated him was how he fell on draft day and how Alex Smith went in front of him and how he had to wait until the 24th pick in that green room. And that has an expiration date. You know, he won two MVPs. He won a Super Bowl in the AFC championship game a couple times in the last few years. And I think it sort of reached the point where that wasn't pushing him anymore. And he needed new challenges. And, you know, he had a knee injury in 2015. And it was something that had been bugging him for a while. He goes and gets a scoped out after the year. And then he starts looking

into his diet and different things that he's been doing. And the new challenge to him became longevity. How do I extend my career? How can I become like Tom Brady has been? And how can I do some of the things that Brady's done? And so I think as much as anything else, Colin, it was about where he's found his motivation. Early in his career, that chip on his shoulder, that was about where he was drafted, how all those teams passed on him. And now it's kind of hard for him to play the underdog. So his motivation is getting to where Brady is, which is to a point of almost unprecedented in longevity. By the way, you're at Brown's camp, my bad, I'll get to that in a second.

Speaking of New England, Dan Shannessie goes after Belichick a week ago. I love that. Brady and his Tom Brady Clinic. Somebody goes after Tom Brady. There is a feistiness in the Boston Press Corps. Like they've been beat up so long

by this dynasty in Belichick, this covert machine, that now they sense a weakness. Do you sense a fraying? of the system. I mean, it feels like there's little tiny fissures in this, right? Well, you know, I think we talked about this last fall, Colin, right around the Garapola trade.

And I really think Tom Brady forever has enabled Bill Belichick's system. It's incredibly powerful for any coach, if your best player is willing to be treated like the 30th player on the roster. And forever and ever and ever, Tom Brady was completely fine with that. He was a program guy. He was on board with everything, Belize. did. And so every coach in that building could coach everyone hard and point over at number 12 and say, look, that guy's taking it. You can take it too. And that kind of trickled down to the way he

was paid, the way he comported himself. Tom Brady came to embody what Bill Belichick wanted in a football player. And when your best player is like that, it means everything. When your best player isn't on board to the same level, it can cause problems. And that's part of what I think they've had to fix over the course of the last six months is, you know, like how do you, how do you take this next step with the program coming off of a Super Bowl loss, if that guy isn't there for the entire offseason program, if that guy is doing little things on social media that look like he's needling the team. I think it makes it a little bit more difficult to run the program the way that Bill wants to run it if he doesn't have that guy sitting there as a symbol of everything

that he wants in a player. And so my understanding is that there hasn't been any sort of great effort to fix everything. I think the hope internally in New England is that they're going to find a way when the game start to kind of compartmentalize everything and focus on winning. I still think this is a 12-win team. I still think he's an MVP candidate, but certainly it's not the way it was. Emin QB, Albert Breer, senior NFL reporter, you know, Jimmy Garoppolo came out and said, and it didn't bother me because he was out of the building. And once you're out of the building, out of the newsroom, out of the office, and you say,

I think I'm better than blank. I'm okay with it. But then Jimmy Garoppolo follows that up with the adult film stars. dinner, Beverly Hills, and guys like me are like, there are certain things in Life, Albert, that don't go together. Toothpaste and Orange Juice and franchise quarterbacks and adult film stars. I don't want to see them together. What did you make of that, knowing Garapolo, knowing his personality?

I had two NFL guys, two of them, one Sean Merriman here, and another one texted me and said, this ain't the first. You believe that? Do you believe that? I had a coach, I talked to a couple days ago, he said that he was pumped to see that happen with Jimmy Garapolo because it means the Niners might be a little bit more vulnerable than people on the outside might think.

So I know NFL people have taken note of it. I think you hope if you're the Niners that this is a lesson he can learn that he is living under a spotlight now that he wasn't living under before. He's been a professional athlete for four years, but this is not the same sort of environment that he was living in when he was the backup to Tom Brady in New England. And so I think part of this is the adjustment that he's going to have to make. Look, he played college football at Eastern Illinois. He was a second round pick. You know, I think, you know, as recently as a year ago right now, he could go out

to dinner in Boston, no one would bug him. It was no problem. He could go to a bar with his buddies, no problem. No one would bug him. He's in a very, very different position now where people know who he is. And that changes the way you live your life. And so I think for Jimmy, this is an important to understand that the circumstances that he's living under off the field have changed. And I know the Niners hope that he's going to take this as a lesson and live his life a little bit differently now. Albert Breer joining us. You're in Cleveland.

I like the fact that it looks like Tyrod Taylor would start the season. I think Teddy Bridgewater should start for the Jets. I have no problem with rookie quarterback sitting the entire year. But I am also realistic. A number one pick is not. not going to sit. They go on a two-game losing streak and that crowd's going to go nuts and they're going to want to see Baker and I get it. What is your feeling on the vibe? Hugh Jackson has to win, Albert. They're not going to give him a two and 14. What is your vibe on the pressure,

Baker, Tyrod, how it plays out? Well, I think the key for all the rookie quarterbacks, this goes for Baker. It goes for Sam Darnold. It goes for Josh Rose and Josh Allen and all the way down to Lamar Jackson. Those guys are going to get on the field if their teams fail. And so that puts pressure on the starting quarterbacks, not just to play well, but also to find a way to win games. And if you want to look back at the last 10 draft classes before this one, right? So that's 2008 to 2017. 27 quarterbacks were drafted in the first round. Only two of those guys were true redshirts, like really sat the entire first year. One was Jake Locker in Tennessee in 2011. The other one was Pat Mahomes in Kansas City last year. The two things that those guys had in common, they were on contending teams. The

2011 Titans were 9 and 7 in the race to the very end. The Chiefs won the division last year. And so it's almost less relevant how the quarterback in front of them plays. It's where the team is. And so if these teams don't win, we're eventually going to see those rookie quarterbacks, whether they're ready or not. Yeah. It's exciting.

I want to see him play. He's got something. Yeah, he sure does. I'll just throw this out to you. So we saw the Eagles great defense shredded in the Super Bowl. We saw the Vikings' great defense shredded in the NFC championship. Pittsburgh and Jacksonville. Everybody moved the ball up the field.

Without Gronk, the Patriots moved like a hot knife through butter, second half against Jacksonville. Aaron Donald is unsigned, yet Brandon Cooks got an extension in L.A. You know how this league works. It's a copycat league. It seems to me I'm getting receivers and running backs and quarterbacks, Kurt Cousins making a fortune. Aaron Donald unsigned.

what do I make of that? Are we seeing a shift that, you know, the game's no longer defense? I understand the logic there, Colin. I think this is more about the market and how the market's changed over the last three years. And Domingen, Sue, got $19 million a year in 2015 when he hit the free agent market. The market for players at defensive positions has not moved since then. Von Miller basically got the same deal the next year, and we've seen no movement. At that point, Sue was making 86% of what the top quarterback was making. Right now, what Sue got, what Vaughn Miller got, that's right at about 63% of what the top quarterbacks made.

When Matt Ryan signed his deal, quarterbacks hit $30 million per year before any other player got to $20 million per year. And so this goes for both Aaron Donald and Kloyal, Mac, and Oakland. Both those guys are looking for a market correction. They're looking for a percentage of what the top quarterbacks make, whereas I think the teams want a little bit more of an incremental increase over what Sue and Miller make. And so that's the question you have to ask yourself, is, is it fair that the gap has grown that big and the way from the way quarterbacks are compensated to the way that everybody

else is compensated? It's a tough one. And I think the leverage for both Donald and Mac is that those two guys are stars on their team, but they're stars off the field too. They're great locker room guys. They embody what those teams want to be. And so if you're Oakland, if you're John Gruden there, if you're Los Angeles, you're Sean McVeigh there, and you're trying to build your program. The Rams are in a win now spot. Bruton's trying to get by him. It becomes a little bit harder

when one of those guys who's done everything right and who's been a great player, and these guys are defensive players of the year, that guy's on the outside locker looking in. That can create problems at locker room chemistry. So that's where the leverage is for those two guys. But I think as much as anything else, this is about the gap between the way the quarterbacks are paid

and the way everybody else is being paid. Good stuff. Albert Brewer, great talking to you, Albert. 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 herd fans need to represent the show.

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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, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, A, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office, Blue 42. Hey, Rep. My mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker.

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