The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 08/16/2018

Episode Date: August 16, 2018

Doug Gottlieb fills in for Colin and says that Jalen Ramsey is talking about his competition the way most athletes do behind closed doors. He talks with 3x Super Bowl Champion Eric Mangini. Plus, is Rob Gronkowski being a dumb jock for real or just part of his brand that makes him more money. 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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Find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app by searching Herd. This is the Best of the Herd with Colin. Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. What up? Welcome in. This is the herd. However you may be and wherever you may be making this part of your day. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Doug Gottlie, feeling in with a legendary, legendary Canadian explorer.

Colin Cowherd. All things Canada today is Colin will return from Canada. Be back on air Monday. Speaking of Canada, I'm joined by one of Canadian Canada's finest. Rachel Bonetta joins me as well. back from her Russian tour of duty covering the World Cup. Rachel's so nice to have you alongside. Thank you for having me.

By the way, I love that you say what up. It's very millennial of you. Is it? No. No. No. I don't know. Listen, you have a thing.

You do your thing. That's kind of my thing. I love it. I'm just saying. Colin knows it. Ah! Which I don't really know. It's not even a word, but it's ah, but it is Collins.

Speaking of having a thing and doing your thing, isn't that what Jalen Ramsey is? is doing. We'll get to Jalen Ramsey in just a moment. Eric Mangini is going to join us. The Manginia's half past the hour. Bruce Feldman will join us as we'll talk a little college football, the stuff going on at Maryland and what might go down today or very

soon at the Ohio State University. We got some gronk. We got some great Eli Manning for the first time ever with a kind of drop the mic quip, if you will. We'll get to that. Daryl saying that LeBron is the goat by a pretty substantial

margin. I'll give you my thoughts on that. And we'll get you ready for a good slate of preseason NFL games, which, look, if you watch preseason NFL games, that's cool, but do not overreact. Like you have to watch them going, don't overreact preseason football, don't overreact preseason football, don't overreact preseason football. Also, really difficult to tell you, don't bet on preseason football. I'm not sure where the pantheon of things you most want to bet on, but somewhere in the neighborhood of WNBA scores are that WNBA is where preseason football.

football ranks and things I would not bet on. All right, we got a metric ton to get to. I want to start with this, though. Jalen Ramsey just supplied us with an unbelievable amount of sports radio and sports television fodder, didn't he? He, like, did our jobs for us. Listen, don't get me wrong, we are all excited about football season because we become a football country, and we're mere weeks away from college football kicking off, and then a couple weeks further away from the NFL kicking off.

One of the issues that sometimes you run into during college football season, during the NFL season is sometimes Wednesday you don't have the games to talk about and there's not anything else to talk about. And in the off season, you're just hoping, hoping. Like this is just years of research. Tons of stuff. Thank you very much, Jalen Ramsey. He had an interview with GQ, apparently got very comfy and started doing what,

we wish guys would do. Jalen Ramsey said what he thinks. Huh. Shocker there. Here's the cold, honest truth. Jalen Ramsey's saying that he thinks Ben Rotheslisberger is decent at best, or he thinks that Jimmy Garoppolo is all schemes. I guess I could say he's good.

That's how dudes talk. That's the real language of sports. it's not about, you know, his throwing motion, his arm angles, you know, his reading his progressions. That's how analysts talk. And that's how we want sports to be analyzed on TV and maybe analyzed in a boardroom for a team as to whether or not you're going to take a guy or not take a guy. But in the real world of football, this is the way that dudes talk. Like in basketball, it's really simple. steps on the court, shoot her. No left hand. Can't shoot. And the problem is that, and we've talked

about this with yesterday, with Aaron Rogers saying a couple days ago, his young wide receiver's effort in one drill or a series of drills was piss poor, the rest of the world is so not used to this actual discussion, right? It's like when you walk into a bunch of mechanics sitting around drinking beers on a Friday at 515 and you're like, wow, I can't. believe how they sound. Like, yeah, but that's because you're not a mechanic. That's how they sound, dude. This is how truckers sound when they're sitting around in the truck stop.

This is how football players' defensive backs out when they're talking about quarterbacks. Joe Flacco sucks. Matt Ryan's overrated. Andrew Luck, who, by the way, statistically, pass a rating 137.5 against Jalen Ramsey. I don't really think he's all that good. You don't have to think the stats would tell you the opposite. But again, that's not even the point.

The point is, at least in the first part, is that Jail Ler Ramsey is talking like dudes actually talk in locker rooms. And if you don't like it, that's okay. Because the other part is guys argue in locker rooms about. That's how our sports shows are built. We'll get to what Daryl said about LeBron James, but that's the jumping off point for every argument. in every barbershop or even in locker rooms.

And I'm still a Jordan guy. I'm a LeBron guy. Some people are still in the league are still Kobe guys. They really are. Stats be damned. They think what they think and there's no convincing them of it. And Jaylon Ramsey's point is like, look, I've stared down the barrel of the gun of some of these dudes and this is what I think.

I don't think he did anything wrong. Matter of fact, I think he did everything right for the brand that he's trying to build. Make no mistake about it. This is position dependent, but at this position, there have been guys before him, like Richard Sherman, who have built on,

one, their ability to not just talk it, but actually walk it as well, but then capitalizing it out from behind the face mask. I don't know how many of you, even sports fans, knew what Jalen Ramsey looks like. He doesn't have Richard Sherman's hair. The Jaguars' hair.

have been the laughing stock of the NFL for years, since Mark Brunel's faded off into the sunset. They have been a team that has continually shot themselves in the foot with draft picks that have gone wrong with quarterbacks that weren't good enough. And now after just one year of being good, one year, suddenly they're the talk of the NFL. Why?

Because Jalen Ramsey is super, super talented. And here's the crazy part about it. The guy in the opposite side, A.J. Bouye, who you couldn't pick out of a lineup if there was like one other dude in the lineup. A.J. Bouier actually has a better sounding name. Like, A.J. Bouye.

Like, that's just a great sounding. He was created to be something cool and something hip and something worth discussing. A.J. Bouye is, he's like Casey Hayward, Patrick Peterson. These are the best cornerbacks in the business, and J.L.R.M.Z. is among them. But once you talk it after walking it, suddenly now, you kind of elevate yourself to a different

sort of brand. We saw it with Dion Sanders. He's capitalized on it time and again from the bling he wore when he was in college, when he was prime time. Look, Dion Sanders was also great. He's inarguably the best cover corner in the history of the National Football League. That's not for me. that's from guys that play the sport.

But he also is among the world's greatest talkers. And even through all the mess of off-the-field stuff and things that have gone on in his life that are just playing bizarre, Dionne Sanders is still a major figure on TV. Why? Because the image and brand that he created by saying things that he thought and getting his message out there

before the days of social media. We see this in entertainment. right there was share there was madonna then there's lady gaga right it's like the same plan pink even like pink can sing lady gaga is an amazing musician but you know not everybody can be areitha franklin who passed away today at the age of 76 where you just have the goods you have the voice you don't need all the dancers you don't need the huge show the um who am i thinking of uh the british singer who Adele, right? Not everybody can be Adele.

If you've gone to an Adele show, my wife and daughters are going to a Dell show where it's just Adele and a microphone and a stool and a glass of water. Like, not everybody can do that. Not everybody has those type of goods. And oh yeah, by the way, as incredibly well respected as Adele is,

like, I don't know how long that lasts as a stadium show in comparison to Madonna, to Lady Gaga, who somehow dramatically jumped off the roof of the Super Bowl and then still survived. Some bad CGII, huh? TBT. Yes. So the point is that Jalen Ramsey's just created himself a brand.

He's achieved greatness in now the sudden America knows who he is. Sure. He's got a walk it like he talks it. And Richard Sherman did. And Richard Sherman benefited to the point where he's got other TV commercials. it's getting out from behind the mass, getting out from behind the shield. It's an incredibly difficult thing to do.

But it's been done before, it's been done in this very same fashion from this very same position. Now, is he right with all of them? I don't know. I mean, how does he really know? How does he really, really know about some of these rookie quarterbacks

that he saw once on TV? Josh Allen. didn't have glowing, didn't have glowing, he sucks. Like, all right, you saw Josh Allen in college, Wyoming, and you were quoted twice saying he played against Iowa State. It was actually against Iowa. But I believe it was on the Big Ten network. Thank you very much for watching one of the Fox family of networks when you watch that game. So sometimes he's talking out of his rectum.

But that's what dudes do. And I am not bothered by it. This is so much better than the coach speak or the quarterback speak and the idea that, that you have respect and admiration for every opponent. No, you don't. Oftentimes, you can't. Man, dude, I can't wait till we play this dudes. Why?

Because everybody's going to get their stats. I can't wait until I play this guy because he's going to throw a lollipop and I'm going to pick it off. Also, who listens to those interviews? I just tone out when they start talking about stuff like that. Correct. I've interviewed a million athletes

and as soon as they start giving me a very black and white answer, I'm like, you're wasting my time, man. Yes, yes. Like there's, you know, and I don't know if we do it here, but one of the other places that I've, one of the other places that I've worked, you know,

you send out your show notes at the end of the show. And like, man, we got Derek Jeter on, right? Like, Derek Jeter, unbelievable. Or now you get like Alex Rodriguez on. Like, those are going to say anything. Anything. Anything. Because their brand is their name,

their performances. They just, I'm not going to say anything. Because it doesn't fit my brand. cornerbacks are different wide receivers are different they can talk it they can whether back it up or they get burned it doesn't even matter

it does work if you're good enough it does work nobody's talking about Casey Hayward who's just as talented just as elite a guy who you're not going to throw to his side of the football field for the charges or Patrick Peterson

who's been to seven Pro Bowls three time all pro and is by the way a really interesting dude. But I haven't heard his thoughts on Russell Wilson, Jared Goff, or even his own quarterbacks. And oh yeah, by the way, I do love that he didn't call out Blake Bortals, but he didn't actually throw loving, gushing support. He'd do what he got to do, which I do take for exactly as it's written, as it reads as not exactly glowing praise and tells you

everything you need to know. You do what he got to do. Well put. Well put. So do I think people react to it negatively in the locker? I'm like, no. I don't know. I think he could have a target on his pack this, this season. If I was more than the guys that he trashed, I'd be like, I got your number now. Sure. Throw to him. That's what he wants. That's what you think they weren't. Like the idea, this is the team, the guy guaranteeing a victory. What you don't think, You think any athlete ever thought he walked into an NFL game or an NBA game, not thinking they're going to win a game? Of course they do.

Of course they do. Does he have a target his back? He's not a rookie. He's really, really good. He's really, really good. Now, again, yes, our guy's going to laugh at him if he gets burned, if he gets, sure. They can talk trash to him if that's one of the quarterbacks that he says isn't very good. Matt Ryan doesn't, he thinks he's overrated?

Sure. But there is the chance that everybody knows he's really good. you throw it in his direction, he's going to take it to the house, and there'll be that confirmation of everything he's said. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. He's a force multiplier. Actually, he brought the term force multiplier to modern day cable television. He's Eric Mangini.

He joins us here in The Herd. Jalen Ramsey sat down with a GQ rider, got super comfortable, and just went through quarterbacks and game a line on each one of them. as a long-time former coach in this league and a former head coach in this league, what's your reaction? Yeah, I was unimpressed by it. I don't know why you need to do that.

I can't imagine that Tom Coughlin was very happy with it or Doug Marone was very happy with it. I don't see the value. It seemed like one of those things where maybe he started talking the interview and then just got on some sort of role. But I've coached a lot of really good cornerbacks, really tough. talented guys and they never felt the need to attack somebody else. They may talk about how good they are, but it was never about there being a GM or talent evaluator and talking about everybody else. No, but this is the talk of the locker room, isn't it, isn't it though? Like, didn't he give us a glimpse into it? Again, it's not, there's no analytics, there's no true analysis there.

It's just first thing you think of. This does give us a glimpse into how dudes actually talk if they didn't have a filter, doesn't it? Well, I don't know if guys are sitting around. talking like that and talking about the range of players in the league. Maybe they're talking about their Madden ratings and disagreeing with things like that, but it seemed a little bit more

malicious than just casual locker room talk about how you feel about one guy or another guy. How do you manage it when it feels like somebody's trying to make themselves into a personality? Like, look, Dion Sanders did this and obviously

he was successful in a football field, but he also used it for his second life afterwards. Dorel Rivas has used this and he's become, he has, he has ads on TV. Look, he can draw, I mean, I'm not Dorel Rivas, sorry, shoot, Richard Sherman. Richard Sherman has done this and he's got ads on TV. Like some of this does feel like, hey, I'm going to make myself into a personality for, for financial gain outside of the world of football. How do you manage that when you're a coach or your member front office. Yeah, I get that guys want to improve their brand and the rise of social media and all those things. And I'm fine with that. But there's, I don't know how many advertisers are that

excited about someone who feels the need to tear other people down. Dion, to me, was a guy who talked about himself and his ability. And people can relate or admire someone with extreme self-confidence. That, to me, is a great trait. And, It's a great trait for a quarterback. I don't think attacking other people is necessarily that same trait. Sometimes that's a characteristic of insecurity. In terms of managing it, you know what you're getting typically when you draft most guys. And if they have the tendency to do that, you can't be surprised when they do that.

Now, I imagine that they'll sit down and talk with them about it and talk about the team's perspective on it and why they don't like it. Now, whether or not that's enough or it happens again, I don't know. I would imagine it will happen again. Let's go to the Cleveland Browns, which, again, another team that's, they won one game the last two years. I do think they have enough talent to be better.

In matter of fact, they bring in to Rod Taylor, who helped lead the bills to the playoffs last year. He's their starting quarterback. There's been discussions now all of a sudden from Hugh Jackson about maybe Drew Stanton as the backup quarterback. how much of this comes down to how good Baker Mayfield is, or how much of it comes down to what you actually need in a backup quarterback? Well, right now I wouldn't put any merit into anything in terms of a depth chart.

At this point in preseason, it's more of a rep chart. You're trying to make sure that you get guys enough work in different spots. It'd be unbelievable to me if Baker Mayfield wasn't the number two. And ideally, what you're looking for from your backup quarterback is a guy that can go in and run the same system that the starter runs and not have to change what the other 10 guys are doing. And ideally it's a guy who is young, who is emerging, who is learning, which, you know, Baker is going to be in there sooner rather than later.

I don't know how long Tyroddle will last there. Yeah, how hard is that to not play a guy who's a number one overall pick? Like John Dorsey can tell us, hey, you know, I didn't play Pat Mahon. We didn't play Pat Mahomes last year in Kansas City. That's the 10th pick. This is the number one pick in the draft, and your Cleveland has won one game the last two years. The fans need hope.

Like, how hard is it to sit a guy, even if you have all the good intentions at heart, and you have a capable starter in Tyrod Taylor as the starter? Well, it's the same situation that they're facing in New York with Sam Darnold. The owner came out and said that this guy is a franchise changing quarterback, and you don't need to be a GM or a head coach to recognize great talent. Sam's going to start, and he's going to start sooner rather than later. And it's the same thing with Baker.

You took him number one overall. Ownership's going to want to see him play. The city of Cleveland is going to want to see him play. And season tickets are down. The amount of people that go to the games are down. And an exciting young player like that, that gets people back into the stadium. That's important to the organization. It's important to the owners.

Hugh's an interesting guy, right? guys generally like him. He's seen as, he thinks of himself as a quarterback whisperer because he's the one that got Andy Dalton to be a higher level than expected quarterback in Cincinnati. But you got two real vivid personalities with Todd Haley and Greg Williams as the coordinators. And then you have Hugh trying to be player-friendly at the top.

What's your thought of the personalities and how it's structured at the top of the Cleveland Browns coaching staff? I've never been accused of being player friendly, so that's a little bit less relatable to me. But I do think that the most important thing is that you're true to whatever your personality is. So the most important thing is you get the guys ready to play. They're prepared. They understand why you're doing the things that you're doing. And however you do it, it's in a sincere way.

So if that's Hughes way, I'm all for it. Now, typically with coaches, if Hugh's a player, coach and it doesn't work out. The next guy they're going to go get is going to be a disciplinarian. And when you have a disciplinarian and that doesn't work out, you go and get a players coach. And sometimes those, oftentimes those labels are misleading. You just need to be the coach that's sincere and honest and true to himself. We're going to see the Patriots tonight taking on the Philadelphia Eagles rematch sort of of the Super Bowl, even though it's preseason.

last year they didn't have really enough playmakers defensively and they found a way to make it work and get to a Super Bowl, nearly win a Super Bowl. Offensively this year, not going to have Edelman first four games. They've already cut two wide receivers expected to contribute. What do you thought on just the talent that the Patriots have in relation to the talent of other teams atop the AFC? Well, they have the most important talent.

They have Tom Brady, so that's the starting point. They retain Josh McDaniel. They retain Dante Scarnacki, the offensive line coach. They still have Bill. And there's been a history there of players that become household names when they go to New England or when they get a chance to play in New England. I remember early on we had David Patton and David Givens and nobody knew who those guys were and they ended up helping us win Super Bowl. So Tom has a way of making those guys into names that we all appreciate and, and, um, you know, and recognize. It's about the scheme. It's about doing the right thing, being in the right place.

And if you do, Tom's the most selfless quarterback in the league. He'll get you the ball. If you're not in the right spot, regardless of how much talent you have, we saw that with Chad Johnson. You're not going to get the ball and it's not going to work. Yeah, couldn't line up in the right spot so they couldn't keep him, no matter how talented he was at that given time. Last thing, Gronk did an interview. He said never spent a penny of his NFL money. It's all been endorsements. how much of the gronk meathead thing is an act? I don't think, I think that's a guy who's true to his personality. I think that gronk is who gronk is.

Now, will it get exaggerated at times? I'm sure it gets somewhat exaggerated. And there's a different way that you can play to your brand or market or be a personality. Granc does it in a way that's not negative. And a lot of people really enjoy it. and I think he may play it up more than, than, you know, what it truly is. But I do think there's some sincerity

into what we see from him. Yeah, I would say the same thing with Bill, though, right? Like Bill, Bill has a personality there. He may not let it out. He stays on brand, especially at the dais of the press conferences, but he plays it up there a little bit as well. Eric, thanks so much for joining us. Go ahead.

We got time. I was just going to say with Bill, he's, his philosophy has always been with the media. If I win, they can't touch me, and if I lose, they can't save me. So he's not really interested in promoting any brand. He's interested in saying the least amount that he can possibly say and protect the advantage that he has in terms of what the Patriots are going to do. But at Personnel Field, yeah, he definitely has that.

But, you know, what you're getting up there is he's just, he's not helping anybody in the media ever. All right. Last thing quickly, I got 30 seconds. The rookie quarterback, you've been most important. pressed by is who? I can't even go there yet with two weeks into the we're going to the second game in the preseason. There's no coverages, there's no game planning, there's very little offensively. I'd say next week is the week that you really start to get a glimpse of who these guys are and yeah I

don't have a frontrunner yet. All right he punts he punts on his first opportunity to go forward on four. I told you yeah it was fourth and twelve. What's up, everybody, John Middlecough, the three-and-out podcast, brought to you by Colin Coward's Podcast Network. If you like Colin's show, you'll like mine. I talk a ton of football. This week, talk about Sam Darnold. He has it.

Talk about Hugh Jackson. He's terrible. Talk about Jalen Ramsey. He sure gives a great quote. You can find me wherever you listen to your podcast. Again, John Middlecough, former NFL scout, my podcast is called Three and Out on Colin Coward's podcast network. I don't, I think there are certain jobs in this world to which people believe they know what that job entails and they actually have no idea, no idea.

I remember I was, I was at one of the other places I worked at and it was NBA draft day. And there was a kid, Kendall Marshall, I think this is that Kendall Marshall played North Carolina. Very good point guard, North Carolina. And I still, and this is not a contradiction. I contend to this day. It's in 2012, right? Wasn't that when Kentucky won the national title? 2012, Kentucky wins the national title.

Had Kendall Marshall not gotten hurt, broke his wrist against Creighton in the second round of the NCAA tournament? Had he not gotten hurt? I believe that Carolina was the better team. They played Kentucky at Kentucky, lost in a last second shot or had a last second shot to win the game. And though both teams have improved, I thought North Carolina was.

going to be the better team. And Kentucky never played them. Anyway, it was draft day, and I said, hey, look, I wouldn't draft Kendall Marshall at all. And he was viewed as a lottery pick or first round talent. And my logic behind it was, I didn't think he was good enough to be a starter because he wasn't a great athlete. He couldn't guard anybody. He wasn't a great shooter.

But more than anything, if it didn't work out as a starter, I didn't think he was good enough to be a starter. He couldn't be a backup point guard. And what happens in people's minds is they think they're like, well, if you're not good enough to be a starter, why couldn't you be a backup if you're just this much not, you're just this close to being, you know, end of the league starter? Well, that's because the job of a backup point guard is completely different than the job of a starter. Now, look, I end up being right. It was helped out by the fact that Kendall Marshall Tours ACL and never really recovered from it, but he wasn't a good NBA player. He just wasn't. And the reason was I couldn't find a place for him because it can't be a backup. This is RG3 had the exact

same problem. Like RG3 and I think he has the same problem in Baltimore. Like RG3 does look like a guy who can still play football in the NFL could still potentially be maybe a spot starter. But the problem is that the job of a, there's only, there's two types of backups in the NFL. Two. One is the future starter, right? And that's what a Baker Mayfield would be if a Sam Darmes, was one or a Josh Allen, to which you learn from the starter and you just get ready for your day. But that window is only really a first year or two years in the league, really. I mean, that's it. You know, maybe it grows.

But you only get that when you have a solidified starter. But the true backup quarterback, these Scott Tolzines of the world that aren't really good enough to be started. like, why do they survive? It's because the job's different. I listened to what Hugh Jackson said about Drew Stanton and the potential for Drew Stanton to technically be the number two quarterback in Cleveland. And that's what it reminded me of. Take a listen.

I've said from the beginning, you know, again, I think experience is important. So right now, Drew still has that experience and we'll see how that all unfolds as we go. I know what you're asking. I haven't made that choice just yet. But I think his veteran presence says a lot. You know, he's playing a lot of games against a lot of teams. We're going to start off against and play against. So I think that's important to definitely consider.

So people will freak out and say, wait a second, Drew Stanton is better than our number one overall pick. That's not what he said. Did he ever say there was anything about talent? No. What he's saying is like, look, we're playing a bunch of teams at start of the year, and Drew Stanton's got the book on those teams. He knows how to prepare. He knows how to get, whether it's Terad Taylor or whether it's Baker Mayfield,

knows how to get them ready. I harken back. And I don't often harken back, but Rachel, on this Thursday, I am harkening back. I don't even know what that means. Well, the harken back is to look back, to think back, to remember. But my millennial ears don't understand. Right. You've been on your phone the whole time.

That's not true. texting Facebook Live, actually IG and your friends. Sorry, sorry, it's millennial. You're IGing and IG Live. You get your own IG broadcast. Go on, go on, go on. I harken back to something that Derek Carr said, I think it was last year.

This is Derek Carr telling the story about when he was named the starter his first year in Oakland. He told me that day that I was going to be the starter. Asked me if I was ready. I said, yeah, I'm ready, you know. And the next day, I walk in to watch film and Shab, sitting there. He shakes my hand. He said, congratulations. He said, obviously, you know, I'm mad.

You know, I think that I should be playing in those things. And I don't think he worded it that way. I'm just saying. But he said, whatever you need, I got your back. Whatever you need, I want you to know out of anybody in this building, I have your back. And from that point forward, he proved it every single day. He was never rooting against me. He never wished ill will. All he did was help me and teach me how to play quarterback as a professional. Right, this is Matt Schaub, pick six Matt Schaub, right? Mac Schaub, who was, he was the backup in Atlanta, became the starter in Houston, and then all of a sudden he got in this stretch there.

Greg Tooie, of course, remembers it well. He harkens back to the days when Matt Schaub was throwing touchdown passes again and again for the wrong team, right, Tewie? What was like six games in a row? Straight games with a pick six. Six? Yes. It was perfect. Six games with a pick six.

It was really remarkable. It's like one of those, it's like one of those, you got Joe DiMaggio's hit streak pales in comparison to sit it takes a level it takes a level of of succotude that we have not seen before or since to throw a pick six and keep your job in six straight games anyway Matt shops a pros pro he became a true backup backup point guard backup point guard doesn't play like a starter a backup point guard has to change the pace of the game. You actually have to be many times the opposite of your starting point guard. You have to press full court. They want you to change the dynamic offensively, change the dynamic defensively.

You got to be a little bit tougher, a little bit crazy because you're missing something talent-wise that keeps you from being a starter. So if you're backup point guard, you either come in and you're Jamal Crawford and you just try and get buckets, like don't care about anything, or you're the Matthew Delavadovas of the world, right? Who all you, you just, you make life a living hell for the other team's backup point guard. It's the same thing in, in the NFL. Like the NFL, the backup quarterback's only job is to get the starter ready.

Again, unless you're that future guy that you're just, you're not really a backup, you're just a starter, they haven't named the starter yet. So when you see, when you hear, hey, Drew Stanton might be the backup to start the year, it's not because they don't think that Baker Mayfield's good. it's that Baker Mayfield can bring nothing to the table to help to Rod Taylor get ready for week one. He just can't. There's nothing he can say. He can't say like, oh, that time we were playing Iowa State, I did this.

Like that doesn't help me at all. Doesn't help. And then look, there are just jobs in sports. Hell, there are jobs in life that I don't think people truly appreciate what they are. You know? And that they don't necessarily mean that you can, you know, in television. I'm told the AD position, the assistant director position is really, really important. The director talks to the camera, people, picks the shots, and it's how you look on TV.

But the AD kind of sets the table so that the director looks good. Doesn't mean that the AD will eventually be a director. I'm sure most every every D thinks they'll eventually be a director or a producer or whatever. But it all, it means their job is incredibly important, but it's not the same job as the director. It's just not. The backup quarterback is not the same job as the starter. And so I don't freak out when I hear that from Hugh Jackson. I think Hugh Jackson's lived, understands this league.

And as much as Todd Haley has been an offensive coordinator, has been a head coach. You know what he hasn't been in his league? He hadn't been a quarterback in his leg. Whereas Drew Stanton has. You use him for all the information to prepare him. And then, like eventually when Baker Mayfield becomes the starter, which is merely a formality, what happens in week one or week 15 or doesn't have,

happen until next year. Then you hope that Tyrod Taylor can either be that guy or you have Drew Stanton to be the consummate backup only trying to help the guy, only trying to help the starter, which again is my fear for RG3. And it's the reason that Colin Kaepernick is not a backup in this league. This is, I implore you if you cover the NFL and you're one of these guys that is so woke that you watch these backup quarterback, you're like, he sucks, he sucks, he sucks, why is in Kaepernick's better. Kaepernick is, but nobody's arguing. Kaepernick is better.

Is there the protest part and that's gotten in blackballed? Sure, that's part of it. But part of it is his personality, the reason he lost his job in San Francisco to begin with, was he wasn't about everybody else. Had his headphones on, was about himself. And then when he goes and meets with Seattle last year, they even said he's a starting quarterback.

The translation to that is he's not about getting Russell Wilson ready. He's not about, he's not about what can I do to make Russell Wilson look good or to make any other starter look good. You factor in that with the protest, with the idea that Twitter might explode, not if you sign him, but then if you cut him, you factor all those things in and you're like, oh, well, that's why he's not a backup. It's not because he's not any good. And now he hadn't played football obviously in a year and a half. You start running out the clock on him a little bit. Coming up next. Dak Prescott has lost his mind. mind. Lost his mind.

Casual. Huh? Casual. Casual? Yeah. Lost his mind. Is that a millennial word? Is that I'm not catching out? What, casual? How casual fits with Dak Prescott losing his mind? Just the way that you said it. Dak Prescott's lost his mind. It was a casual tease. Listen, I'll teach you everything. Stick with me. Also, hate the fact that you said woke. Can we cross that off the list? Why? Come on now. It's already. Woke has jumped the jump the shark? For you? Yeah.

Really? I think so. But when I say media people... I wouldn't say woke. I didn't say you did, but I'm describing people as woke. You know there are people who all they do is troll social media all day for something that will somehow offend them and automatically respond without any context, without any knowledge of the situation, right? Uh-huh. Those are the people that are woke. 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. man whenever you'd like. I don't know if you guys saw this, but Gronk did a sit-down interview with, what is it called? The Undisputed? Uninterrupted. Sorry, we have undisputed.

I didn't know if they copied the name, whatever. Uninterrupted. Uninterrupted is a really weird name. Anyway, it feels like a double negative even though it's not a double negative. Is it a double? I don't know. And he was, take a listen. He was talking about the rumor or the story.

story out there that he has never spent a dime of the money he actually made in the National Football League. It's interesting you talked about once that you only spend money from endorsements. You hadn't touched any of your NFL contract money.

Is that still true? It's still true. Yeah, if you see my NFL money, how much I made, I got way more than that, baby. Yeah, he's made $45 million in his NFL career. Gronk said they hounded us on school talking about his parents, hounded us on school.

And that he's, this is kind of, it's a little bit off brand to even admit that. But that I actually cements to me, do I think he has meathead in him? Sure. Right? Like I've met his family. I've seen them on TV.

Apple trees make apples. We all realize like that is a, that is a household to which bro is said a lot in. It just is. That said, some of this is playing up to his brand, right? My brand is kind of meathead. You can't play for the Patriots if you don't have a high football IQ. You just can't, especially playing on the offensive side of the football.

Eric Mangini joined us last hour, and he said, you know, it doesn't matter about your talent. Chad Johnson was a perfect example. Chad Johnson couldn't remember where to line up. It sounds so easy. It is in fact complicated. You do have to study, but you also have to have a football IQ. And so I think when you hear that, you're like, man, that's really, really smart. I don't think he's a complete idiot.

I think some of it is, that's his brand. His brand is, I'm going to be the big meathead dude. I kind of come from that kind of family. But secretly, financially, his house is completely in order. Now, if anybody thinks that he doesn't need the football money, that he's going to not play for long. Like, Gronk's going to shut it down. Drew Rosenhouse was hired as his agent two years ago.

You don't hire Drew Rosenhaus as your agent unless you're looking to get every last dollar out of your football career. That's just a known fact. It's a lot like when you hire Scott Boris as your agent in baseball, you're like, I'm going to fire my agent, hire Scott Boris. You're not looking for a hometown discount.

You know, nobody goes like, well, I got Scott Boris, but I'll take a hometown. discount. No, Scott Borst is going to write a book about how great you are, and then they're going to take every possible major league baseball team, hold them upside down, and shake them for as much money as they're worth. And whoever has the most money that falls out of their pockets, that's where you're going. That's what happened with Bryce Harper this offseason. So I don't think this means that Gronk has protected himself. I think it means that Gronk completely understands that

there is strength in this brand. Like, look, Jessica Simpson didn't come across as the sharpest knife in the drawer, right? When she had a reality show. Remember what? Buffaloes don't have wings. Remember the Buffalo wing comment? But Jessica Simpson's actually financially pretty smart lady. Even the Kardashians. Well, that thing is played up. Like there's a little financial genius. A little idiot savant there. Absolutely. To what they do. Like playing dumb actually sells. Playing smart doesn't sell. People feel intimidated by bright people. They just do. Like you want, it's like a whole idea of dumbing it down. Do I mean, look, the guy who, the guy who is occupying 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, he figured this thing out. Change your language. Use more

average terms. I don't know if whether it was, this is actually how he speaks or how he's been told to speak, maybe a little bit of both. But it does play. It does work. Whereas when you try, like, look, President Obama was brilliant. But brilliant can be boring. It just can. And I think Gronk gets it. He gets his brand. The brand is meathead.

Catch football, spike football. Meet Grunk. Love to party. I don't think that's necessarily who he truly is, but I think he understands the profitability of it. So are you saying that he is some kind of genius underneath this? I don't think he's, look, I think he's a lot smarter than he lets on, right?

Can I say that when you're making that much, money. He says he's what, only spending his sponsorship money. Yes. That's probably easy to do. Yes, of course. Plus when you're drunk and you play and you play the happy go lucky guy, like you're not ever picking up the tab. Right? No, me like you can just, you don't have to buy beers for anybody. But even if he is, he's probably totally set with just his sponsorship money. Yes. It also shows how dumb other guys are, how wasteful other guys are. 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 and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

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