The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: 08/21/2018

Episode Date: August 21, 2018

Colin thinks that because the Ravens over spent on Lamar Jackson they will rush to play him and it’s a mistake. He already has some major changes to his NFL season predictions. Plus, Quarterback coach and former NFL QB Jordan Palmer comes in studio to talk about all five of the 1st round QB draft picks and how they have looked so far. 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 humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Life is full of hurdles. So how do you keep going? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we're talking with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness from professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions, about the challenges that shape them and the mindset that keeps them moving forward. At our level, at this scale, being able to fail in front of the entire world. can do anything. I can do anything. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to learn the hard way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It's a

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Heard. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, this is the herd, wherever you may be, however you may be listening live in Los Angeles, Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. Joy Taylor's joining me on a Tuesday. Yesterday is just three hours of football, and today we got three hours of football. Oh, we snuck a little LeBron in there. A little. A little LeBron is the greatest of all.

time in there. A little off speed pitch. Great to have you in a Tuesday. Good morning. So last night we got a little Andrew Locke going to talk about that. We got some Lamar Jackson, Joe Flacco, going to talk about that. Let me start with this, though. Anytime you overpay for something, you feel obligated to use it. You overpay for a suit. You're a woman. You overpay for a blouse. It's just hanging there. You feel like, I got to wear that thing. I paid $400 for that blouse. I got to wear that thing. I had a friend once, years and years and years and years ago, overpaid for a convertible, a convertible sports car. He overpaid for it. It was his second car. He overpaid for it. The problem was it was 48 degrees. He's driving that thing. His wife's in the seat next to him freezing, and he's like,

well, I paid $60,000 for it. I got to use the convertible sports car. And I thought, anytime you overpay for something, you feel an obligation to use it. And this happens in sports when you overdraft a quarterback. Lamar Jackson's not a first round quarter. Tim Tebow was not a first round quarterback. They were both overdrafted. They were both projects. Okay, Josh Allen's a prospect. Sam Donald's a prospect.

Baker Mayfield's a prospect. Carson Wentz was a prospect. Daniel Luck was a prospect. Cam Newton was a prospect. Lamar Jackson and Tim Tebow are projects. Shouldn't be drafted in the first round. He's completing 42% of his throws through three games. 42%.

Baker Mayfield's at 55. Sam Darnold's at 72. Josh Allen's at 56. Josh Rosen's at 55. And by the way, Josh Rosen is a terrible offensive line, and so does Sam Darnold. Baltimore's got a decent offensive line. 42 percent. He's overwhelmed. He is last among all the rookie quarterbacks in completion percentage.

Passing yards for attempt. Passing yards total. Passer rating. And not close. He's overwhelmed. And they're going to play him like they played Tebow. If Tebow would have been drafted in the third or four, round, nobody would have clamored for Tim Tebow for two or three years.

But when you overpay for something, you ever had a friend buy a breadmaker one time? You put on 25 pounds. Well, I got a breadmaker. He's making sour dough for breakfast, sour dough for lunch, sour dough. You feel obligated to use something. So don't overpay for something and don't over draft. I like Lamar Jackson over time. He is a draftable player.

Tim Tebow, I've said to this day. I'd love to have Tim Tebow on my roster. You draft him in the late fourth round. You sit there and you're like, for two years, we're going to teach him the system. But in that time, he can do some special team stuff, upman on the punt, backup stuff, couple red zone things, blowout games, put him in, wins, losses. Games already decided. But it doesn't matter if you get drafted 8th, 28th, or the last draft in the first round.

The minute you're a first round quarterback, the owner wants to see you play, damn straight. That owner, that owner, you could have. had a linebacker. You could have had a corner. You drafted quarterback. First rounders got to play. That's the rule. First round picks got to play. And the owner wants to see him play. And the fans want to see him play. And the media is going to ask, why isn't he playing? And you got to play him. This is why I said, Lamar Jack, I'm watching him last night. Kids totally overwhelmed. I mean, Josh Rosen isn't overwhelmed. Baker Mayfield's not overwhelmed. Sam Darnold's not overwhelmed.

Josh Allen's not overwhelmed. That kid's overwhelmed. Now he has moments. I mean, he's a heck of a runner. He ain't going to throw a ball out there once in a while. But this is what's going to happen. And I said this before the draft. Everybody was like, oh, I said this is going to be Tebow.

Both Tebow and Lamar Jackson, profoundly popular in college. They win a Heisman. Both mechanically don't throw the world's greatest ball in college. Both have great offensive coaches in college. Bobby Petrino for Lamar, Urban Meyer, for Tebow that mask and elevate sort of average throwers. Both get overdrafted in the first round. And both are in proud franchises, Baltimore and Denver,

with loyal fan bases that want wins. And you go in a two-game losing streak, and they're chanting Tebow, Lamar. This is exactly he, I've watched him now for three games. He is exactly the player I was told he would be by all three scouting. directors I talked to. That's why I said. Draft a prospect in the first round of quarterback. Draft a project. Late second, third, fourth. Let him sit. Nobody's going to put any pressure on you. Nobody's going to put it in. You get drafted in the first round. It doesn't matter where. I don't

care if one guy's third and one guy's 28. Doesn't matter. First round changes everything for the owner, for the fans, for the media. Put a lot of pressure on those coaching staffs. Let me shift to this. You ever take a two-week vacation? and you come back and it just takes you a couple days to get back into rhythm at work. And by the way, you're good at work. Whatever you do at work, you're a salesperson. You're an engineer. You are a vice president of marketing.

You're good at what you do. But you go on that two-week vacation. Just two weeks. I'm not saying a month. I'm not saying a summer. You come back on that Monday. It's just not quite things done. And then Tuesday you're like, and then by Wednesday you're okay.

That's just for a two-week vacation. And you're good at what you do, regardless of what you do. Andrew Luck did not throw a football for a year and a half. No, I mean, he's defensive linemen throw footballs in practice. Andrew Luck couldn't throw a football for a year and a half. He's a quarterback. Andrew Luck this year is going to be good because he's an all-time talent. It's not going to be MVP.

He may not, due to Deshawn Watson, be the best quarterback this year in his division. You cannot go from doing something for years 24-7 and then go to total inactivity for an extended time and come back and just be great. You and I take two weeks off. We come back. We're rusty. He took a year and a half off from not throwing a football. Andrew looks going to be good this year. He'll be a borderline pro bowler this year.

But he's got a new coach, a new playbook. and I don't know, hasn't thrown a ball in a year and a half. By the way, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player. Most people think of all time. I don't. I think he's number two, but I understand those who think he's number one. I don't need to argue about it. Michael Jordan took a year and a half off in a sport which is easier to get into basketball

shape than football shape. I mean, football shape is weightlifting. You've got to build up talises. You've got to be able to take the hits. It's a precision sport, especially if you're a quarterback. Michael Jordan left for a year and a year and a lot. half came back for a season and shot 41% lowest of his career, including his last year in the NBA when he was an old man and couldn't jump.

Now the following year, Michael Jordan shot 50% and was the MVP of the league. But you can't go 24-7 something for years, even if you're great like Michael Jordan, go to total inactivity, he goes to baseball, comes back, he went the same guy. He was a 41% shooter, and Michael always hovered around 50. By the way, Tom Brady, same thing. Remember Tom Brady? 2007 Tom Brady throws for 50 touchdown passes. Now, at the time, it was like the all-time record, right?

50 touchdown passes. Then he breaks his leg. And then Tom Brady comes back totally healthy. And he's like 28 touchdowns, 13 picks. Pass a rating in the mid-90s. He was okay. And the following year, Tom Brady went. the Super Bowl, he's amazing, he's MVP.

Okay, I'm talking Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Unbelievable forces, leave, come back, and they're good, not great. Then a year later, they're back to being dominant. Andrew Luck is probably the best young quarterback I've seen in this league since like a Dan Marino or John Elwhite. Like walked into the league, you're like, holy, what? How's he winning 11 games with that roster? He was unbelievable.

And then he got the, you know what, kicked out of him. And then he couldn't throw a football for a year and a half. And I watched him last night, and I thought, he'll be good this year. Because, you know, Michael Jordan is still Michael Jordan. Tom Brady's still Tom Brady and Andrew Luck's still Andrew Luck. But, folks, there is a reason that before Jerry Seinfeld is going to fill an arena and do stand-up. Do you know what Jerry Seinfeld does for three months? He goes to small comedy clubs.

Gets into a rhythm. Jerry Seinfeld doesn't write jokes and then go perform in front of 25,000 people. Jerry Seinfeld writes jokes, and then he goes to little comedy clubs, tries it out, tries it out, tries it out, gets into a rhythm, tries it out, tries it out, tries it out, a little bigger comedy club, and then he goes to the Pellestra in front of 20,000. There's a reason, Jay Leno, there's a reason these comedians before they do the Oscars, before they have a big appearance, they go to comedy clubs to get it, even though they're great comics, even though they've been doing it for 100 years. You cannot go from inactivity for any extended period to unbelievable. You can go, if you're great, like a Michael or a Brady or a Luck, you can go inactivity to good. Michael was good that year. He still averaged 27 out of baseball.

He averaged 27 a game, but his details, his nuance, his efficiency. Tom Brady was still good, by the way, 96 quarterback rating that's better than Matt Ryan all time. But his efficiency, he wasn't quite as accurate, a few more. Andrew Luck's going to be good. He is not, not going to be great this year. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. The New York Jets have a little bit of a dilemma, and it's not a bad thing.

I kind of think part of it's bad and part of it's very exciting if the New York Jets, because there's various stories now out this morning that the Jets really like Sam Darnold a lot, and they're being quoted on it. The offensive coordinator has been quoted now this morning saying, Sam Darnold owns our playbook. the general manager said he is strangely impressive. So they like him a lot and they're going public with it. And when you watch all these young quarterbacks,

I think it's pretty easy to see the gaps. When you watch Flacco and Lamar Jackson is a huge gap between those two. Flacco's way up here, Lamar's way down there. When I watch Sam Bradford and Josh Rosen, Bradford's clearly better right now than Rosen. It's not a massive gap, Flacco Lamar. but it's a gap. When I watch Baker and Tyrod Taylor,

Tyrod Taylor right now is better than Baker Mayfield. You know, again, I think Baker, with a year or two in the league could get, be up there. But right now, Tyrod's a better player. Tyrod's playing around. I mean, if you look at his numbers in the preseason, he's toying with these defenses. Tyrod's toying with backups. He's a better player than Baker.

When you watch Teddy Bridgewater and Sam Darnold, Teddy Bridgewater today is better than Sam Darnold. This minute right now, Teddy Bridgewater. Bridgewater is a better quarterback than Sam Darnold and probably could win you more games in the first seven weeks, of which five, the Jets are in very winnable games. Probably not going to beat Minnesota, probably not going to beat Jacksonville at Jacksonville. The rest of them, they can win. Detroit, Miami, Cleveland, Denver, Indy, they can win those games. They can match up with those games. But here's the dilemma, because all these gaps are obvious to see.

But here's the difference. The Jets have the worst offensive line of all these young quarterbacks. Cleveland's offensive line is actually a pretty good run-blocking offensive line. Jets offensive line is awful, and their running backs are mediocre, and their tight ends are not great, and their wide receivers are the best of that group, and that's not special. So you got that. Darnold could get beat up if you play him. But here's the other dilemma. Teddy Bridgewater is a viable starting quarterback for a lot of teams in this league.

I talked to an NFL source last night who I trust with scouting. He's like, oh, God, yeah, Teddy Bridgewater is a starter in the NFL. I'm not saying he's a high starter. I'm not saying he's got the arm of, you know, Stafford or Cam or Ben. I'm not saying he's his talented as Breezer Russell. But Teddy Bridgewater is a starter. And for a starter in this league, you can get a starting offensive lineman to protect Sam Darnold.

And you can probably get another pick next year in the second or third round to draft another offensive line because you better get that fixed or Donald's going to be Andrew luck, really good and beat up and out. So there's a real dilemma in New York. You can see the gaps with all these. The only rookie that looks better than him. his starter is Josh Allen and Buffalo. He looks better than A.J. McCarran.

So he's going to start. You've got to start him. He's better. The rest of them, there are real decisions to be made. But I think, and I think the gap between Tyrod and Baker is greater than Teddy and Darnold. But not by much. Clearly Tyrod's better and clearly Teddy right now is better. But you've got to fix that offensive line.

And that Jetsail line is the worst of all these rookie quarterbacks. And you've got to fix that thing. And if Teddy's out there, I was thinking this morning. Teddy, to me, is as good as Ryan Tannihill, as good as Blake Bortles. I think he's better. I think he's as good or better than Case Keenham. I think he's better than Mitch Trubisky. I think he's better than Andy Dalton.

And I don't think, I'll be honest with you, I don't think he's that far below Marcus Marioata. I got to be honest. I think Teddy could start for, if you put him in a quarterback competition that was open and it was fair, I think Teddy starts for about seven teams in this league. I like him. I like him. I think he's a great kid, works his tail off.

Like Case Keenham doesn't have ideal size, doesn't push the ball down the field a ton. Either does Alex Smith and Tyrod Taylor, and they win a bunch of football games. So the Jets have a real dilemma. They're sitting in a room right now going, okay, we're probably a little bit better with Teddy. Right now we're better with Teddy. But we know the futures, Darnold, why not get this offensive line? We can go get a starter right now for Teddy and a pick for Teddy. and by the way, if you look at the schedule, it's a real thing.

The Jets open up. It's one of the easiest NFL schedules in the league, especially at the beginning. Five of their first seven games, Detroit, Miami, Cleveland, Denver Indy. Sam Donald, you play him, get him a little better offensive line. He wins a few of those. You're like, you know, two months in, we're three and five. Sam's making mistakes. We would have been four and four with Teddy, but we're not a Super Bowl team anyway.

And we got our future. Josh McCown's a great mentor in the room. So I think the Jets have a really, really interesting July. I don't think Buffalo has a dilemma, start the rookie. I don't think Baltimore has today a dilemma. Flackles way better. I think Tyrod, that's not a dilemma today. He's better than Baker. I don't think there's a dilemma in Arizona. Bradford's better than Josh Rosen. I've watched them all play. The Darnold Bridgewater thing, though, it's tricky. You combine that Jets-O line, which is, it was ranked 31st in the league last year. It's no better. It's awful. And the fact

that Teddy's pretty viable as a... You hang Teddy out there and it's like, hey, Teddy Bridgewater's available. Teddy's available, everybody. I'm telling you. Tanny Hills coming off an injury in Miami. Teddy's from Miami. If I was Miami, I go get Teddy Bridgewater.

You put him out there to teams. You're going to get takers. In fact, there was a story yesterday. Several teams have already called the Jets interested in Teddy Bridgewater. You put him out there for teams. I would love to have Teddy Bridgewater on my roster. Here's another thing.

He's one of those rare guys that's good enough to be a starter, If he's not, he's great in the room. He's not going to be a jerk. He's not going to pout. He's great in the room. So that's what the Jets are dealing with. What's up, everybody? John Middlecopf, 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 podcast. Again, John Middokoff, former NFL Scout, my podcast is called Three and Out on Colin Coward's podcast network. You know, you think the First Amendment's about free speech, and you think the second amendment is about bearing arms, right to bear arms. But on this show, the First Amendment is I make my NFL predictions, and then I watch the first couple of weeks, I watch injuries, and then I make an amendment to my NFL picks, and then I watch week three, and then I make my second amendment for my NFL picks, and then we go into the season. And I watch

injuries, I watch play, who looks better. I'm watching mostly the ones against the ones. It's those first couple of drives. So I thought, okay, let's go. And I've got one, two, three, I have five amendments. Only one major amendment. Let's start with it. Baltimore, I had as a losing record. I have them as a winning record. In fact, I may amend them again. again, Baltimore's been the most impressive team. When I watch their ones and I watch the speed on the perimeter, offense, defense, when I watch their line play and Flacco looks motivated, I got to tell you, they look good.

I agree with you about Flacco being motivated, but are you being a prisoner of watching them so closely because of Lamar Jackson? Well, I've watched them more closely. But I've also watched like the Dallas Cowboys, the Patriots. You know, the Rams, I've seen every play because I live here. I've watched the Raiders. Here's what I see. Baltimore is as good as Joe Flacco lets them be.

And that's mostly in the NFL. Last time Flacco was motivated, they were really good, and they had a good roster. It wasn't the best in the league. I watch them right now. Baltimore, I had them as a losing record. I think they're going to vie for a number two seed behind the Steelers and the AFC. So Baltimore is my First Amendment. Here's my second one.

I had the Jets at 8 and 8 8 because I believe they would start Teddy Bridgewater and let Sam Darnold grow. Increasingly, they're going to play Sam Darnold and possibly move Teddy Bridgewater. And as I've said before earlier and today on the show, is if Teddy and Sam both played the season,

Teddy's better and probably win you another game that Sam doesn't. Maybe even two. I think they're going to play Donald really early. They're going to move Teddy at some point. And so from 8 and 8, I'd say they're 7 and 9. That all that means is right now, Teddy's better than Sam. and he's especially better in the first two months of the season.

Now, by Thanksgiving, Darnold Pops gets experience, all of a sudden, we're like, wow. But Donald's not going to blow you away in September. You're not going to blow you away in October. He may, by November, December, impress you. But he doesn't have the rhythm against elite defenses, playing against the ones. So the jets, I'm going to pull back to a seven and nine tied with the dolphins in the AFC East for second place. Let's go to the AFC West. They have two amendments.

Kansas City I had at nine and seven. Patrick Mahomes is all over the place against first team defenses. Don't get me, he's a firework show when he's on. I don't know. Efficiency is really important in this league. It really is. And they got a lot of playmakers. And they're going to have amazing highlights.

I don't know. I mean, Denver now has Bradley Chubb and Vaughn Miller rushing you. Chargers defense has Joey Bosa and. Melvin Ingram getting after you. They may go 0 and 4 right there. I don't know. I'm going to pull them back again. And John Gruden's a little like Andrew Luck to me. He's been gone for 10 years.

I don't think they're very good, but I think 5 and 11 is a little too harsh. I saw a couple of things I liked. So I'm going to move them up to 6 and 10. I'm going to give the Raiders a win. Again, Andrew Luck, inactive for two years. He's not going to be great. John Gruden inactive. John, by Thanksgiving, maybe up to speed.

but Joe Gibbs was lost for about a year. I think Gruden's going to be a little off for about a year before they moved to Vegas. In the NFC, I've only got one prediction. I'm going to alter. I feel really strongly about pulling the Vikings back from 13 and 3 to 9 and 7. They got a new offensive coordinator. We already have injuries on defense. I have the lines at sub-500.

I'm going to go even subber 500. Is that a word? I'm going to go 6 and 10. I don't like. Oh, so that's my first amendment. Any opinions on that? No, I feel good about those. I do think that you're slightly overreacting to the Ravens, but.

There's something about, you know what, man, it's that, those purple uniforms and flackos big and sugs last night get in, and you're like, man. And it's, you know, the AFC North teams, they do that to you. They look physical. We've talked a lot of Cleveland about. We should work in some Bengals in there, some Bengals talk. Am I overreacting to Baltimore? I like the way they look. The thing I kind of agree with you with is that Flacco plays better when he has kind of a fire lit under him.

His best season was when he was playing for a contract, and now he has a quarterback that's going to replace him right behind him. That could make him maybe put a little more effort in. Every report in campus, Flacco looks amazing. And you watch him against ones, it's a joke. Flacco's a great quarterback. Well, that's debatable. Is it?

Great. Okay, he's better than the mid... Pumpkin pie is a pie. Chocolate cream pie is a great pie. Apple pie is not... Apple pie is a great pie. Pumpkin pie is very good. If it was very good, why don't we eat it in January?

Pumpkin spice is taken over the world. If pumpkin pie is so great, why doesn't it last 12 months? We serve it for about four days. Then we just shelf it. I mean, I would eat pumpkin pie. I would sweet potato pie as better. Apple pie. Yeah, and when the last time in July, you're like,

boy, I could use a delicious pumpkin pie. Nobody ever says that. But you say it? It's a seasonal flavor. All right. Which is kind of what Joe Flacco is. So, actually, he's 10 and 5 in the playoffs. So he is a seasonal flavor.

He's great in January. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. Weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. So Mike Zimmer is a coach for the Minnesota Vikings. He was a coordinator for long, long, long time. Everybody likes some respects him. People think he's a very good coach. Mike Zimmer came out.

Does not like, does not like the new helmet rule. he said this yesterday. Yeah, it's going to cost some people some jobs. Playoffs, jobs, all the whole bit, I'm guessing. You know, I just, it's just hard to figure out. No one's ever said to me, hey, don't worry about it. We're going to call us, or we're going to straighten it out in the regular season, or we're going to come up with a, you know, revised rule.

No one's ever said that. It kind of came out of nowhere. Well, this is what Dean Blan, Dino said. This is a real quote. So Dean Blandino, who used to be, you know, senior VP of officiating, I bring him on as the expert, he and Mike Pereira. He said this, which has never happened before when he was in the league. This is what happened and how they created this rule. Normally a rule like this, you vet it out, you look at tape, you meet with the Players Association at the Combine.

None of that happened. The league meeting, they had a privileged session with head coaches and ownership. they presented health and safety data, and the next day they're voting on this rule. And I think now we're playing catch-up. That's not the way it works. Why did they do it? When you dismiss protocol and normalcy,

there's a reason. Is there a study out the NFL has and nobody else does? Is there new information on concussions nobody else has? I don't know. But folks, if you had organized thoughtful parents and every year you went on a vacation, sometimes even two. You'd go ski vacation, you'd go a summer vacation to, you know, Disney World.

And then all of a sudden one night, your parents go, we're leaving for Texas tonight. What? We got school tomorrow. We're leaving for Texas tonight. Something's going on in the family. Like when you dismiss protocol, when you sidestep protocol, and by the way, the NFL historically, they're willing to do new things,

but they're fairly glacial about it. The anthem has taken a couple years. The overtime rule, they put it in preseason and they took a couple of years. They've tinkered with replay. The catch rule, they thought about changing it. They talked about changing it. They finally changed it. You know, domestic violence, they have still not given me great confidence in that area.

They take time. They generally overtime can get stuff right, but they don't do it immediately right. Like the NBA is different. The NBA says, hey, we've got a new basketball. An hour later, they're like, this is terrible. We're quitting it. the NBA will move quickly on the NFL will make changes but it takes them a while this thing was changed overnight that is odd that to me is strange and especially strange because you just got really you just modified the catch rule which has been a pain in the you know what for like 10 years and now you just added another controversy do they have information we don't know yet that's coming out yet is there a lawsuit or something it's just weird anytime anybody dismisses protocol kids we're going to Texas tonight we've never done it that in 15 years as kids, right?

Something wrong with Grandpa? Want more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. He's the expert. He played in the NFL for four seasons, bingles, Jags, Titan,

drafted in the NFL and now he is a personal quarterback's coach, Tudored Sam Darnold and Josh Allen, somebody I rely on. He straightens me out when I'm so woefully wrong. Let's bring in Jordan, Homer to the show, his second appearance on the show. I love having you on the show.

Love it. I love being here. Thanks for having me, calling. All right, let's start with the Lamar Jackson stuff. I said, to start the show today in the third hour, I said, when you overpay for something, you feel an obligation to use it. I had a buddy, bought a convertible sports car, and he's like... I can picture him driving in the rain right now. It's 48, and I'm like, dude, and he's like, well, I spend, you know, and I'm like, you feel

obligated to use bread, have bread every night if you buy a breadmaker, right? Lamar Jackson and Tebow to me are classic overdrafted. They're projects. They need to sit for two years. There's something there with both of them. You can win games. Tebow won like six in a row at one point in a playoff game. But I watched Lamar and I think, oh, no, no, no, he's not ready.

I could argue every one of these other rookies could start and chop it up a little bit. Am I wrong? No, I agree. I think he's a project. I do, though, think he's a worthy cause. So because of what he brings to the game, the explosive plays, athletic ability, his vision. It's not that he's running faster than everybody.

It's also he cuts at the right time, which is a unique. I don't have a drill for that. Yeah. Because that ceiling is so high, he's a worthy cause. Yes. It's going to be really hard to evaluate halfway in at the end of the season. How is he doing compared to the other four first round quarterbacks? Because I think they're going to be asked to do different things.

He's going to have packages and he's going to be asked to get really good at these specific things. Yeah. Versus if these other four guys end up starting, they're going to be asked to play quarterback. and I'm more interested in evaluating where Lamar Jackson's at 12 months from today after he's got to play in games, get really good at certain things, and then had an entire offseason of reps to develop. Guys like me, when I miss on something, I think it's usually not that I haven't seen it or studied it, it's that I forget coaching matters.

So I watched Josh Allen play at Wyoming, and he was an overstrider. The ball wasn't accurate, and I'm like, well, it's going to be a mess. you're not going to fit it in tight windows. So I watched him last couple weeks. I'm like, what happened? Well, why is he accurate at the NFL level more than college? What happened? Well, I think we taught him.

Yeah, well, and a bunch of great coaches have played a role in that. But I think what Josh, what I've always said is I think he's going to be a much better pro than he was college player. That goes counterintuitive to what we think, right? Because you think he plays at Wyoming, you should dominate. It's easy. You know, now he's got to play in the AFC East, right? But the difference is, are you, in the college level,

are they utilizing all the resources that he has? Same thing with Deshawn Watson two years ago. I said the same thing. So he's going to be a better pro than he was at college. The difference is he was great in college, right? Because Deshaun is so smart and can do so many things before the ball snapped that in the NFL, he's able to use those resources.

With Josh, he's smart enough to be a guy who can win it with game plan, to win like Brady. He's, I think he's going to get more and more consistent with his mechanics. and he'll be accurate enough to be an accuracy guy. He's big enough to be a Rothesburger hanging in the pocket guy, and he's athletic enough to move around and win with it. So he has all of these killer ingredients.

Now it's going to be, what is his style of play going to be in the league? You know, at Wyoming, he only played like a year in three quarters, if you want to call that good football. And before that, it was Juko in a random high school, so he hadn't really played enough to develop a style. Nor is he had until now, I think that

Buffalo staff's pretty darn good. I do. I do, too. They have an offensive coordinator. Is it Able, who's a Belichick guys, work with Josh McDaniels. He is, to me, the shock of all of them. Now, we both like Darnold. What concerns you with Sam, Donald, and the Jets? I think with Sam, the expectations wouldn't concern me because he's the type of kid who doesn't, he's an internal processor.

What people are saying about him doesn't necessarily move him in any direction, right? When he caught on fire at SC, it was really similar to what's happening right now. It was national championship. here we go. He's the next one. And it didn't change the way he prepared. It didn't change the way he thought about himself. It didn't change the way that he presented himself to the world. That's not the concern. The concern is those expectations against the resources that he has around them. I just don't, I think there's going to be enough situations where they have to have a deep threat. They have to be able to have a game-breaking plays in the run game. And so that part of that team is underdeveloped right now. And so those expectations, I saw something that said, Jetsaya or Messiah. Oh, God. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's a pretty complex offense. It's a complex offense.

He's doing a great job of bringing it. It's going to be the resources. The time that he has to throw and the people that he's throwing to in year one in the first eight games can not mirror the expectations. Yeah, I mean, he's going to be choppy. And I love him, but he can be a little reckless and a little fast. He plays a little fast. He's got a little Andrew Luck. He tries to extend stuff and you're like, slide, young man.

Slide, throw it away. we haven't seen a ton of Josh Rosen. Arizona games don't get the national appeal. They don't have high hopes this year. Bradford has looked in the limited time really good. What worries me about Josh has never been anything other than durability. That offensive line's not good. When you've watched Rosen, you know, you've worked with him before you know him.

What do you like? What worries you? Well, I thought he was potentially the most ready to play of the rookies in terms of what he was asked to in college, how well he did it. He played in more NFL style situations and had more of those moments that come from behind when versus A&M. And so he has so many ingredients coming into this. I love him going to Arizona because I've been around Arizona football for the last couple

years and know how that media is not what it is in New York. And the expectations and the pressure are not there. But also, and I think this is the case with all rookies is having a rookie first round pick quarterback are his intro. aligned with the staff? Are they in the same juncture of their career? And you got a rookie quarterback coming in with a new staff, low expectations,

nobody's going to be able to predict what they're going to do. But he still has David Johnson, who I know he was out last year, but this is one of the best players in the league. Not one of the best running backs, one of the best players in the league. And you've got a rookie and Christian Kirk

that I've said from doing, I think he's going to be a superstar. And you got Larry who is motivated by, he's got some certain numbers. He hits this year and that unlocks some things. And so you got a guy who's all in. on this year, even if it is a rookie plan. And then with Sam Bradford, he's going to be looking a guy dead in the eyes who he

is going to think he's just as good or better than that, better than. And I think he's going to have a new form of motivation. In L.A., he played high school here. He played college here. He had all these expectations at UCLA. Those expectations are gone in Arizona, but he's going to be looking at a guy in San Bradford who has 150 more million, who he's probably thinking, I'm just, I'm right here right now with.

and that's a different level of motivation when you see that every single day that you don't get that in LA you don't get that at SC or UCLA Baker Mayfield Hugh Jackson's got to win games I think this second Tyrod Taylor is sort of you know you can tell he can

he faces those vanilla preseason defenses Tyrod's just picking them apart you're seeing Flacco do the same Sam Bradford these NFL guys you know even against first team defenses it's pretty vanilla stuff it's an all star game it's an all star game they just chop it up

whereas a Baker or Sam, even against twos, are not quite as efficient, not quite as efficient or is succeeding or as detailed. You look at Baker Mayfield. My takeaway is he looks a little small. I always thought that. Never thought he was the number one pick. But he moves well. He's really accurate.

Kind of a gamer. I never like the comparison to Johnny Mansell. I think he's a much better player than Johnny Mansell. I think it's going to work. What do you see? I agree with everything. I think Baker is bad comp. I think Baker's going to be really good.

And all I've heard, not so much in games, but in practices is he's really, really accurate. He's controlling the ball. He's in complete control of the situation at all times. So when you go back to the first round rookie quarterback and are the interests aligned with the staff. With Baker, I look at it and I go, this is not a staff who just got here who's, you know, looking to build something over the next four years. This is a situation where they, you know, Hugh and these guys have one year to get it together. Yeah. And so Tyrod, I know he's picking apart preseason defenses,

but I also think Tyrod's a really good player. I think that's a worthy guy to have in front of yet. And Tyrod, the way that he worked this offseason, first guy in, last guy to leave. I know it's a cliche thing people say. But he has earned that locker room. And Baker's in a perfect spot with that coaching staff and where they're in, if they win two or three games in the first half of the season

and they put Baker in the second half, the momentum, the energy, the spark that he's going to bring, they can rattle off a couple of wins in the end and build a case. And we saw this in LA a few years ago with the Rams. Drafted rookie quarterback number one overall. Trade it up to get him. And Jared Goff, Fisher and Les Sneed both on the hot seat.

Fisher doesn't make it. Les Sneed parlays that. Crushes it in free agency, crushes it in the draft. Now there are a lot of people's Super Bowl picks. That model is there. But if you start Baker week one, and it doesn't pan out for a lot of reasons that may not have anything to do with Baker.

You derail a really good shot at success. And we're seeing on Hard Knocks, this team totally has the capability of eating themselves alive. With this many free agents and personalities, and I've been on those teams. I've been on both sides of it. Yeah, you were on the Bengals. Jack.

With Chad, T.O. All kinds of guys. Cedric Benson, Tank Johnson, Pac-Man Jones. I've been on these teams. And with Cleveland, though, but if Tyrod can play well early and they can rattle a couple wins together, and if they do shift later in the year to Baker,

he brings a spark and momentum, I think you give a lot of reasons. to why Cleveland can actually really build something special. Finally, Andrew Luck. I use Brady and Michael Jordan as examples. Great players had an inactive year and a half, one for baseball, one for an injury, come back, good, not great, great a year later.

I watch Andrew Luck and I think details, efficiency, nuance. You can't go from not playing, not throwing a ball. John Gruden's going to deal with this. I think Andrew's going to be. good and there'll be days he's really good. But man, I look at those defenses in that division, I think he's going to be a little

choppy. He's going to have some rough starts. Am I wrong? No, I agree. I think when he was playing well earlier, he also had different cast around him. I don't, I can't think off top of my head who their main guys are on offense. T.Y. Hilton. And so I think he had a little bit more talent around him before, but the difference

between what he's doing and a baseball player a basketball player. Taking a year off, injury coming back is if I'm a basketball player to get ready to play in games, I can go play in games. I can play pickup games. I can play in the D-League. I can go play a bunch of games to get in game shape, to make game time decisions, all of that. I can jump on a treadmill to get in shape. Quarterback, you can't simulate that. I'm a quarterback coach. I can't simulate a lot of these things. Not just the drop back in the throw or the reading it. You just can't simulate all of the different factors that go into playing NFL quarterback.

And I just think, I think Andrew Luck is a superstar. I think he's an unbelievable player. I think he'd be the first pick in almost any draft ever. I think that coming out of call, all of that, all the ingredients that he has, I just think it's difficult to hop back in. And the other difference is they were one of the best teams in the division when he was playing before.

They're now fourth by a while. By, in terms of overall roster. They're going to be not favored in every divisional game. They're still in complete rebuild. Totally. Like they don't have a pass rusher. Jacksonville and Houston are trying to win a Super Bowl this year and Tennessee is trying to make a legitimate

playoff run. That's just not where the Colts are today. So he's got more on his plate than he ever had before and he's coming off of a huge period of time when he wasn't playing football. In a much better division. Personal quarterback coach, Jordan Palmer. What's your brother new now?

He's gone. He's retired. He's retired. He's in fishing. He's moved to Idaho. Oh! His kids. He's fishing.

He's camping. You'll never hear from him again. I'll get a, get a, get a text message here in the next couple of weeks, see how big his beard is now. He'll do a letterman. He'll do David Letterman. He'll just go hide and come back with a beard, do a Netflix special. Good for him.

That makes me happy. He's just up. That's beautiful country. He's a big fan of yours, too. Oh, that's nice. That's nice of you to say. Jordan, you're a welcome visitor on this show. We love having you on.

He said it. He called it on Josh Allen, and I was a doubter, and I'm stupid now. And that I don't love, but you were right. It's early, but he's going to be a good player. He has chopped it up, ma'am. 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. Go to theherdnow.com. If you don't, that's a you problem. And that's a you problem is one of our shirts. Check it out. Theherdnow.com. Theherdnow.com store is open for business.

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