The Herd with Colin Cowherd - BEST OF THE HERD – Bears & Caleb Williams Regression, NFL Playoff Predictions, Eric Mangini: Not Buying CJ Stroud, High On Cowboys

Episode Date: July 31, 2026

Jason McIntyre fills in for Colin, discussing the expectations for the Bears in year 2 under head coach Ben Johnson and why regression might be on the horizon for QB Caleb Williams. JMac shares some shocking predictions for his 2026 NFL Playoff teams: Why the Broncos are out in the AFC and why the Lions are back in the NFC. Plus, Fox Sports NFL analyst Eric Mangini joins the show to tell JMac why he’s down on the Texans this season and why he’s buying the Cowboys as a real threat in the NFC.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hi, I'm Bob Pipman, chairman and CEO of IHartMedia. I also led the team that created MTV, and my co-founders and I are celebrating MTV's 45th anniversary this month. On my podcast, Math and Magic, stories from the Frontiers of Marketing, you'll hear the untold origin story from the people who built MTV from the ground up. I want my MTV!

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Listen to Podlandia. A.O. Rewatch on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? I'm sports journalist. Ari Chambers. Hey, what's up y'all? It's your girl, Sam Jay. And we're the host of Everyone Watches Women's Sports, a new podcast from Together and I Heart Women's Sports. We're breaking down the biggest headlines. Naomi Osaka, showing out. Shoutouts to you, Naomi. The viral moments. I've been obsessed with Kashan Rock's boxing journey. She looks good.

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Listen to Disgraceland on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Best of the HARD podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports Radio in noon to 3 Eastern, 9 a.m. to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd at Fox SportsRedia.com or stream us live every day on the IHartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. This is the Best of the Hurt with Colin Cowher. Fox Sports Radio. It is Friday. Yes, everybody can feel it.

The weekend is nearly upon us. It's me, Jason McIntyre, in for Colin Cowherd. I'm getting word via carrier pigeon that Colin is returning to civilization. He will be back on Monday. Get excited. If you follow him on social media, you know he's going to have takes galore. He can't keep them in. I'm joined by Rachel Nichols.

we've had a glorious two-week run here. I mean, the LeBron News, NFL camps opening. We both saw Odyssey. I don't know how we're going to top it today. I'm excited. Look, there's so much going on. If you look at the slate for this show, if we have breaking news,

I don't know what we're going to kick out of the show. That's a good point. Yes, we do have a lot happening. And let's get started with, boy, listen, everybody has this one wrong. I'm just going to tell you right out of the game. We're talking about the Jacksonville Jaguars. Yes, we never talk about them. but everybody is upset with Liam Cohen right now

because they think he took a shot at Caleb Williams. Now, it is fascinating that there's this legendary quote, the truth hurts. I think it was started by Lizzo maybe. I'm not sure. And Liam Cohen, the Jacksonville Jaguars coach, gave an interview this week that really shocked a lot of people and everybody's oh, how can you say that?

I'm just telling you, the truth hurts. This is such real talk. from Liam Cohen. Here it is. Here's his thoughts on how nobody at all is talking about the Jacksonville Jaguars. It's the best part of coaching the Jacksonville Jaguars. You don't have to make up telling your player stuff. You don't have to make up the fire. You don't have to make it up. It's given to us every day. I just go, pull on my phone, look at the NFL Network website, and just pop up here. Any column. I'm curious if I see any photos or anything about the Jacksonville Jaguar.

I think I'll just scroll right on through. You keep going, yeah. I think I'll see 40 pictures of Caleb Williams, and I won't see a single thing about any of our players on here. So it's beautiful. Because it's like, yeah, guys, this is great. The gift that keeps on giving. I'm going to tell all these guys how much you all think they suck. How good is that, folks?

That is one of the best sound bites we've had this summer from anyone. in the NFL. And let's be real, Liam Cohen is 100% right. Okay? The Jags won four games two years ago. They won 13 last year. 13 hosted a playoff game and ain't nobody talking about them. Nobody. Jacksonville just doesn't have the juice. They actually had a better season than the Bears. And yet, as Liam Cohen astutely noted, the hype machine for the media is in overdrive on the Bears. Go look at the national media. They are obsessed with this team and a lot of it obviously has to do with Caleb Williams, right? There's no denying that.

But I do want to point out, I was looking for, is there a tidbit? Is there a fact that can show you guys that maybe Jacksonville, I don't know, doesn't get the love? Do you want to guess how many Sunday night football games? Just one metric, one data point. How many Sunday night football games the Jags have had in the last 18 years? The answer is two. They have won this season, and it's because they're playing the Dallas Cowboys, okay? Everybody knows.

Jack DeVille, not a big media market, not a lot of. a lot happening there. People love Trevor Lawrence, but they don't, they're not going to, never been to a Super Bowl, right? We're talking about Jacksonville. Nobody cares. They're not going to get any pub this offseason, yet it's all about the bears. Why is that? Well, Ben Johnson, you know, talking a little trash last off season, backed it up. Ben Johnson, a great head coach looks to be one of the next, you know, in that Sean McVeigh-Shanna mold, and everybody loves Caleb Williams. What's not to love? You know? This was not a shot at Caleb Williams, that there's 40 pictures of him, but Caleb Williams is a star.

He's not quite in, your mom knows who Caleb Williams is. He's not quite in that territory, but he's drifting that way. Like Patrick Mahomes, everybody knows him. Caleb's on his way there. I mean, you're on the cover of Madden, right? You're hanging out at Coachella with the Jenner Sisters. I mean, he's a full-blown celebrity. Now, I know Caleb was famous at USC, you know, he was a superstar quarterback and the first real NIL big deal.

won the Heisman, but do you remember the season after he won the Heisman? That was when, oh, Caleb Williams is going to be the face of the NFL for years to come. When he was at USC cooking. What happened that next year? Well, they regressed to 8 and 5. Caleb really had a brutal game, national TV game against Notre Dame, three picks. And then the backyard narrative around Caleb Williams started to swirl. It was like, oh, I don't know, this guy.

You know, try to make too many plays happen. Just sit in the pocket and win, Caleb. and people started to pick him apart. Didn't win the back-to-back Heismans. They went eight and five. He still went number one, but his first year in Chicago, choppy.

Now, we've written that off because year two was so good. But Ben Johnson got win of the Liam Cohen comments. And Ben Johnson, who's very stern and firm, and remember, he's not smiling a lot in press conferences.

Here's Ben Johnson's response. Well, we're the number one regression candidates. So I think we got to, We've got plenty of motivation ourselves. We talked about Caleb in the past. He's used to handling a lot of attention, so I'm not worried about that. Yeah, look at that face.

We're number one regression candidate. So just contrast the locker rooms, right? Liam Cohen. Hey, guys, nobody's talking about you anywhere and you won 13 games. By the way, the Jags finished last year, 9 and 1. And they nearly beat the bills in that playoff game. Finish 9 and 1. Jacobi Myers, remember that pick?

Oh, you don't remember it. Okay. Yeah. I'm sure you remember every bear's comeback. Caleb's six fourth quarter comebacks, seven if you count the playoff game. He's got a celebration. You know what you need to do to get juice and be on this NFL website that he's talking about? You need a cool celebration. Maybe Trevor Lawrence needs to step his game up and do something like the Iceman. Folks, Ben Johnson's not wrong. They are the number one regression candidate, or one of them right there with the Patriots and Broncos, in the league. Now, I will have my playoff. teams at the top of 10 o'clock out here on the west coast. And I guess we'll just see if the bears make it or not. All right, I want to go to college football, Big Ten Media Week. What a thriller. So many good quotes.

We had a couple great guests, but nobody can top Kurt Signetti, the Indiana football head coach who is just, listen, he's on top of the world. When you take Indiana a dormat for decades in college football and you bring them to the top and you go undefeated. And you beat everybody in your path. And Fernando Mendoza comes out of nowhere to win the heisman. You can talk your talk.

And Kurt Signetti is a bit of a soundbite machine now. Now, college football is going through a weird transitional phase. And can you imagine, just wrap your head around this. If I told you the Indiana football head coach is going to take shots at the SEC and they can't do a damn thing about it, what would you say? because listen to what Kurt Signetti said this week about the Big Ten and the SEC. The Big Ten is the best league in football. I mean, we don't run a hype machine up here in the Midwest.

We believe everything's earned, not given. And when we fall short, we say we fell short. We don't cry, a river, whine, and complain. All right? And that's why we're the best. Woo-wee! Shots fired as the kids like to. say. Oh my gosh, Kurt Signate. Now, who's he talking about whining? Who could that be? Could that be his old

friend, Nick Saban, perhaps? Nick Saban no longer on the sidelines. Nick Saban has now become essentially a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. begging, begging elected officials, please save our conference, no expansion. What we don't want that, not good for us. Can you rein in this NIL stuff? I mean, Nick Saban is groveling. in Washington, D.C., trying to get elected officials to save the SEC. Like, this is a conference that was on top of the world for two decades. I mean, they were totally dominant in every facet. And now the Big Ten has won three straight national championships.

And as you see Oregon on the screen, maybe they'll be number four. And it's just such a wacky turn of events that we had someone in our morning meeting had a great line. Hey, the SEC used to foam at the mouth for college football. Now the only foam in SEC country is when you tap the keg on Saturday's tailgating. I mean, things have changed dramatically. And I didn't totally realize this, but this, the NIL money is, we know it's dramatically changing college football. But have you seen some of the sponsors that Arch Manning, an SEC guy, has gotten?

It's so funny because we know SEC country historically is, you know, the car dealerships are huge. Arkansas has the Tyson food chicken patch. You know, meanwhile, Ohio State has J.P. Morgan Chase. Okay. Slight difference there. But Arch Manning is raining in all the NIL money in the SEC country. But doing it with essentially Big Ten territory sponsors like Warby Parker, okay, Google Gemini. I mean, it's absolutely crazy that Arch Manning is doing commercials for Viori, right?

And he's playing for Texas. It's like, folks, we are just at such a bizarre time. Now, our staff had an unbelievable turn back the clock. So Ed Orgeron famously, you know, had a great run in the SEC. He's just a quintessential SEC coach, right? He did a commercial back in there telling me 2006. which I would say sums up the current era of NIL action in the SEC. Here's Ed O back in 2006.

Hey, I'm Coach O. I just love my Hummer. I believe the Hummer is the best vehicle on the road. Big, tough, aggressive, and it represents everything that we want at Ole Miss. I have my Hummer. You need a Hummer. Tell them about it, Jojo. Mississippi, they are here. The new Rogers-Dab's Ace 3 Hummers are here. The folks of Roger Dab Hummer, the first team, Flores, come see him. Rogers' dads and Hummer like nothing else.

New Age 3 starting at just 32,000. Love it. Jojo, tell them about it. Yeah. In Big Ten country, they don't go to Jojo. They go to Mark Cuban, the billionaire. Larry Ellison, billionaire. Phil Knight, billionaire.

That's the difference here, folks. That's what we're up against. And I don't think this is a slam of the SEC. But honestly, the last three years, Big Ten has daubble. You saw the numbers on the screen. Is it safe to say the SEC is now a college baseball conference? That's where their juice is. The college baseball world juice.

That's what's going on in SEC country. They just can't hang with the Big Ten. Now, there's only three meetings this season with the Big Ten, right? And the SEC. They're all on September 12th. We'll see what happens. Big Ten favored in two of those. Texas at home against Ohio State.

They'll probably need that win. But it is crazy that SEC has basically their regional footprint, their identity has been football. Not a ton of pro teams in SEC country. Of course, there's a handful. But Big Ten country is spread out nationally. And they're just dominating the competition, whether it's first round picks. If you look at the last draft, I mean, it's all Big Ten. They really are taking over.

And I applaud Kurt Signetti for getting out thumping his chest and saying, Listen, stop whining and crying. Nick Saban. Just get with the program, get on the field, and see if you can beat us. So, yeah, we've got a spicy show today, partially courtesy of Liam Cohen, partially thanks to Kurt Signetti. And coming up next, oh boy, what's going on in Dallas? Is Dallas starting to run their mouths to what?

Huh? That's next year on The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, Weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I Heart Radio app. Hey, we're Kavino and Rich. Fox Sports Radio every day, 5 to 7 p.m. Eastern. But here's the thing. We never have enough time to get to everything we want to get to.

And that's why we have a brand new podcast called Overpromised. You see, we're having so much fun in our two-hour show. We never get to everything. Honestly, because this guy is over-promising things we never have time for. Yeah, you blubber lips. Blame and me. Well, you know what? It's called Over-Promise.

be good at it because you've been over-promising women for years. Well, it's a Kavino and Rich After Show, and we want you to be a part of it. We're going to be talking sports, of course, but we're also going to talk life and relationships. And if Rich and I are arguing about something or we didn't have enough time, it will continue on our after show called Over-Promised.

Well, if you don't get enough, Kavino and Rich, make sure you check out Over-Promised, and also uncensored, by the way. So maybe we'll go at it even a little harder. It's going to be the best after-show podcast of all time. There you go. Over-promising. And remember, you could see it on YouTube. but definitely join us.

Listen to Overpromised with Kavino and Rich on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You've heard the chaos. Now you can see it. Hello. My gosh. Watch all your favorite podcasts from start to finish, right inside the free IHard Radio app.

Get the blood going up. Catch every laugh and eye roll on shows like the Tom Green Farmcast and park the bus. Now with full video. We're building a ramp for Tony Hawk. It's the same hosts and the same chemistry with all the hilarious. moments you've been missing right on your screen.

Cheers. Open the free IHard Radio app. Search video podcasts and tap watch. Hi, I'm Bob Pipman, chairman and CEO of IHard Media. I also led the team that created MTV, and my co-founders and I are celebrating MTV's 45th anniversary this month. On my podcast, Math and Magic, stories from the Frontiers of Marketing, you'll hear the untold origin story from the people who built MTV from the ground up.

I want my MTV! Those are powerful words, my, something for me that felt like mine and want. What a powerful word. Listen to math and magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or whatever you get your podcast. The declaration, which is full of these beautifully rendered sentences and paragraphs about enlightenment ideals, does also have this darker history to it. Why is it important for the darker part of the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution? Why is it important that Americans know about it? Well, if we don't understand the full context in which our nation was founded,

we won't understand the full context in which our nation now finds itself. I'm Rebecca Nagel. Gohyn, Taoadon, Julyette, Lik, citizen of Cherokee Nation. Are you guys big chiefs fans? Hell yeah. This is First America, the true story of how the United States came to be, and how we got to this present moment. Listen to First America on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The more you listen to your kids, the closer you'll be. So we asked kids, what do you want your parents to hear? I feel sometimes that I'm not listened to. I would just want you to listen to me more often. and evaluate situations with me and lead me towards success. Listening is a form of love. Find resources to help you support your kids

and their emotional well-being at soundedouttogether.org. That's sounded outtogether.org. Brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal. All right, hour number two on the herd. Are you ready for Super Bowl predictions in July? We will do this again in August because take a guess.

Cowher's taking another video. vacation next month. Hopefully Rachel's around. Oh, I'll need you, Rachel. Late August, it's going to be rough. I got you. I got you. All right. Good to know. We are joining you on a Friday from Los Angeles. We have Adam Turnoff. Folks, listen, if you follow me on the radio, my podcast, you know this is one of the top gamblers in North America. I can't even say where he is. He's that good. But we're going to go through my Super Bowl and playoff prediction. So I'm going to start this out. Our staff has a great note. 36 straight seasons with with four plus new playoff teams in the NFL.

Keep that in mind. If you're thinking chalk, you're wrong. Let's get started. Here we go. In the AFC East, despite my shots at the Buffalo Bills this week and last week, I am picking the Buffalo Bills to win the AFC East last year with the Patriots. The Bills bounced back. They are the largest favorites of any team to win their division.

I am not buying Joe Brady, but I do believe the Buffalo Bills win the AFC East. Patriots fans, Ear Muffet. Here we go. AFC North. I'm going with another team. Well, not another. A team that missed the playoffs last year, Baltimore Ravens. Listen, it was the final game of the season, fluky stuff,

amazing fourth quarter, missed field goal at the horn. I got the Ravens bouncing back and winning the AFC North. Another division winner with a new head coach. Declan Doyle obviously calling plays for the first time in his career, bullish on the Ravens. Let's go to the AFC South. This is a team I like a lot. the Houston Texans.

I know, nobody likes C.J. Stroud. Give me C.J. Stroud, baby. When the public goes one way, I like to go the other. I'm betting on the defense. I'm betting on Stroud being a little bit better. Ten starters back on defense. Holy smokes. The division is going to be better.

I know some people think it's down. I think the Titans are going to be good. Daniel Jones is actually moving around, which is scary. Texans win the South. In the AFC West, this is risky. because of the net differential in scheduling and rest days. I'm going chargers.

Justin Herbert and Mike McDaniel, I think like the world on fire. I will have a Justin Herbert MVP ticket just for fun. I like the Chargers a lot. I'm down on the Broncos. Denver fans, you can, you know, stop watching because I don't have you on the playoffs.

All right, let's go to the wild card. The three wild card teams in the AFC, number one, the Chiefs. Mahomes is back. Reed is back. They did go one in nine in one-score games last year. It was, I believe, 11-0 the year before, they'll win five one-score games and be fine. I don't love this team. I don't have been in the Super Bowl, but I have the

Chiefs in the Wild Card. Next up, wild card number two, the Cincinnati Bungles who were not in the playoffs last year. So for me, if you're keeping score at home, Ravens, Chiefs, and Bengals did not make the playoffs last year. I have all of them in the playoffs this year. I still do think, though, Zach Taylor is terrible. I like the upgrades on defense. The Cowboys upgrade are on defense, so did the Bengals. And the final wildcard team in the AFC, it is not the Jets, it is the Jaguars. We just talked about them.

You know, they did lose three pretty good players, I think, one on offense, a couple on defense. We shall see. I'm a believer in Liam Cohen. I do like that Travis Hunter return from injury is going to be big. This is a good team, man, guys. Stop selling the Jags short.

Liam Cohen is a great coach. So those are my seven playoff teams in the AFC. Let's head to the There it is on the screen. Three new playoff teams. Remember, four every year for the last 36 years. Let's go to the NFC. Right out of the gate, I'm going Eagles.

I don't think there's any doubt about this. I think Dallas is going to be better. I think Rachel's commanders will be a little better. I'm not buying the Giants. Give me the Eagles, 10 or 11 wins. Defense is nasty. A.J. Brown will not be missed. In the NFC North, I will go with the Detroit Lions.

Bit of a surprise. They did not make the playoffs last year. The schedule is extremely fortuitive. And I think that injuries that crippled them late in the year last year, you know, people are overlooking that. This is a good team. I don't love Dan Campbell. I like them.

I think Detroit wins the division. In the NFC South, again, you could basically pick this one out of a hat. I went Tampa, you know, Baker Mayfield revenge season, perhaps. Tampa did not make the playoffs last year. don't love their head coach. He's on the hot seat. I like Baker. I like the offense.

Vita Vaya wants out. Maybe they keep them? I don't know. I don't love this division. I got bucks. NFC West. This is a layup. I think they need no introduction

and we'll talk about them in the Super Bowl. The Rams. If Stafford gets hurt, they're done. But other than that, anything less than a Super Bowl trip, massive disappointment.

So here are my three wildcard teams in the NFC. Number one is a bit of a surprise and it's a late addition. It's the Minnesota Vikings. We're showing McCarthy on the screen, but it's probably going to be the Kyler Marie, Kevin O'Connell's show. And the defense, it can potentially carry this team, guys.

They are very, very good. And how about this stat from our staff? Ten different starting offensive line combos last year. Christian Derisal was down a lot. That is a huge get-back for Minnesota. He is very, very good. Second Wild Card team staying in the division. Green Bay Packers, Jordan Love.

Micah Parsons coming back week six. I had hoped it would be earlier. Just a brutal end of the season last year. Love had some injuries. I like LaFleur, man. I don't know about all this LaFleur on the hot seat nonsense. I like the Packers as a wildcard team. And finally, yeah, I know you're waiting, Seattle.

The Seahawks sneak into the playoffs. They do return 20 of 22 starters, but they lose Kubiak, which is massive. And Kenneth Walker, I think, is a big loss. So there are the three wildcard teams, three new. playoff teams in the NFC, three in the AFC. Now, I know people are not going to like that. We will quickly go my Super Bowl. I'll go

with the conference championships and then the Super Bowl. In the AFC, I have, yes, the Houston Texans taking down the Chargers. I know that's going to have some heads exploding. Obviously, the MET in the playoffs two years ago when it was a bloodbath. I know,

guys, I'm going defense and offense here, and I will go Texans. I can't believe I'm too. CJ Stroud in the Super Bowl. And then in the NFC, I'm going with the Rams over the Eagles. Stafford and Company get it done, and they get back to SoFi for a second home game in the Super Bowl, which is insane. Setting up the Super Bowl, Rams Texans, and give me, I know, chalky Jason.

The Rams, led by Matt Stafford, win another Super Bowl, cementing his Hall of Fame candidacy. I got the Rams taking down the Texans in the Super Bowl out here at SoFi. All right. That was a lot. I'm nervous that they're going to put that online and I'm going to get ripped apart. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. You've heard the chaos. Now you can see it.

Hello. My gosh. Watch all your favorite podcasts from start to finish right inside the free IHurt Radio app. Get the blood going on up. Catch every laugh and eye roll on shows like the Tom Green Farmcast. and park the bus. Now with full video. It's the same hosts and the same chemistry

with all the hilarious moments you've been missing right on your screen. Cheers. Open the free IHard Radio app. Search video podcasts and tap watch. Hi, I'm Bob Pipman, chairman and CEO of IHard Media. I also led the team that created MTV,

and my co-founders and I are celebrating MTV's 45th anniversary this month. On my podcast, Math and Magic, stories from the Frontiers of Marketing, you'll hear the untold origin story from the people who built MTV from the ground up. I want my MTV! Those are powerful words, my, something for me that felt like mine and want. What a powerful word.

Listen to math and magic, stories from the frontiers of marketing on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. The Declaration, which is full of these beautifully rendered sentences and paragraphs about Enlightenment ideals, does also have this darker history to it. Why is it important for the darker part of the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution? Why is it important that Americans know about it? Well, if we don't understand the full context in which our nation was founded, we won't understand the full context in which our nation now finds itself.

I'm Rebecca Nagel. Gohyn, Tao a don't. to like I yetli, a citizen of Cherokee Nation. Are you guys big Chiefs fans? Hell yeah. This is First America, the true story of how the United States came to be

and how we got to this present moment. Listen to First America on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The more you listen to your kids, the closer you'll be. So we asked kids, what do you want your parents?

to hear. I feel sometimes that I'm not listened to. I would just want you to listen to me more often and evaluate situations with me and lead me towards success. Listening is a form of love. Find resources to help you support your kids and their emotional well-being

at soundedouttogether.org. That's sounded outtogether.org. Brought to you by the ad council and pivotal. Oh man, this guy's so good. When I first got to Fox, I would see him in the halls and be like, oh my gosh, it's Eric Mangini, former Jets coach. and it would just be a sponge around him.

And then I started him with the hot takes, and he's like, who is this guy? Let's bring in Eric Mangini. You can catch him on first things first right after us here on FS1. Eric, I always have loved talking to you. Now, you're not going to like it, but I got my Super Bowl predictions. We're going to pop them on the screen, playoffs in Super Bowl. And I do not have the Cowboys. Obviously, your clip went viral this week.

You loving the Cowboys. I don't have them in the playoffs. I do have the Texans, a team from Texas. in the Super Bowl. I have them losing. Any quick early thoughts? Feel free to, you know, agree or disagree? The C.J. Stroud question is so big. Look, after his rookie year and then rookie year of honors and the trajectory that he was on and the way that he spoke and the maturity that he handled himself with, I really believe

that he was going to take a jump the following season, kind of took a step back, and then even last year, he probably should have been benched in the playoffs. I mean, that was about as bad a playoff run as you can have. So what was it? Two touchdowns, five interceptions. He put the ball on the ground another five times. Two of those ended up being turnovers. It's like a 51% quarterback rating.

And that, look, the rest of the team gets frustrated with that. When you're that good defensively and that borderline inept at times at the, at the quarterback position, it's a hard dynamic. And he's got a sort of a tough road to hoe in the early part of the season to kind of make up for the ground that he lost in the playoffs. Yeah, he didn't have Nico Collins. And they had really no number two, Tank Dell, I think, got hurt again. The guy's always hurt.

And it was very clear, like, man, this guy's limited. What about the Justin Herbert love? Maybe we could start there. Herbert getting a lot of love paired with Mike McDaniel. However, it should be noted, he has zero career playoff wins. O and three. Now, you know guys like Peyton Manning struggles early in his playoff career. Matthew Stafford took 13 years to win a playoff game.

I don't know. What do you think about Justin Herbert and the Chargers this season? I love Jim Harbaugh's comments on Justin Herbert. And being with Jim Harbaugh for a few years in San Francisco, that's sincere. The belief that he has in him and the things that he says about him, That's not theatrics. He really feels that way. And that's valuable because when he does coach and critique and push Justin Herbert, Justin Herbert's going to know that it's coming from an absolute place of sincerity and wanting him see him be the best thing can be. And then with McDaniels, Tua was struggling from a confidence standpoint when he got there and he did great things with Tua. So I think combining those two coaches in terms of pushing his progress forward is really positive.

But on the flip side of that, we've talked about Justin Herbert's potential year after year after year about him being one of the great ones. And we're still waiting to see that materialize. And that's problematic as we get further and further on in his career. Yeah. Is it the kind of thing where, you know, if you're a Chargers fan or a backer, and you're watching, it's not like he was terrible against the Jags in that first playoff game, the loss.

He was bad against the Texans, and they were really limited against the Patriots on the road, down there both top two tackles. Like, he really hasn't had a superstar wide receiver, and now it sounds like I'm making excuses for the guy. Well, for a long time, it was he didn't have the right coach. And now you've got Jim Harbaugh, who's won a national championship in college football, took the 49th as a Super Bowl, so you can take that. out of the mix. Say what you want about

Mike McDaniels. He's done a lot of really good things offensively. I think that has a chance to be positive. So we can take the coaching component out of it. From a talent perspective, assuming that they are healthy, they should be as talented as anyone else in the division.

And typically what you see from great quarterbacks is they're forced multipliers. And they make everybody around them that much better. And then, you know, saw with Tom Brady, you saw it with Patron Manning, you see it with Patrick Mahomes, where they elevate everybody. And we're not talking about, hey, you got to get that guy more weapons.

Or, hey, this, it's not always the reasons why they're not successful. It's the reason why they make everybody else successful. And I haven't, we're not having that conversation with Justin Herbert. Perhaps a quarterback we are having that convo with is Caleb Williams, six game winning comebacks there last season and the regular season, then did it in the playoffs against the Packers. But the Bears are viewed as kind of a prime regression candidate. According to their coach, Eric, I don't know if he's trying to temper expectations, or he's looking at the numbers and saying, yeah, we're not going to lead the league in takeaways next year, guys.

Very fortuitous things, you can't live dancing between the raindrops every other week and expect your quarterback to pull you out of the fire. Where are you on the Bears heading into the season, Eric? Well, that's the exact right approach that he should take. And I went through that in New York, went to the playoffs the first year, and then we regressed the next year because the schedule gets that much harder. People study you differently. They play you differently.

You're hoping the rookies will hit a certain way. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes it doesn't. You make personnel changes. How is that chemistry going to work out? And so all the things that you did well, the year before, you have to do better because people are treating you. differently. So I like that approach and he's absolutely right. Last year means

means nothing. They they should be starting a higher point, especially a quarterback because he's not learning the system. But in terms of wins and losses, you don't you don't get to pick up where you left off and the more he can preach that and the more they buy into that and believe that the better off they'll be. Look at the commanders. Yeah. And if you championship game and then a dramatic fall off. Nobody really saw that coming, but it's It's more common than not.

Yeah, let me ask you, so that jet season, was that with Chad Pennington, a quarterback? Yeah, yep, Chad was quarterback the second year, and then we played Kell and some that second year as well. But it's one of those things. The Giants the same way. Brian Dayball's first year, he's coach of the year, and everybody thinks, okay, we got our answer and things are going to move forward here. And you take a step back. Kansas City last year, who saw them finishing with the record that they finished with? after three repeat really did you i didn't call it i was mocked roundly but you know whatever well it's

nice that you know that one but three consecutive yeah you know super bowl runs pretty impressive and then to have the the sort of drop off they had yeah i don't think people thought it was going to be as bad as it was okay i wanted to slow play it so i could get to your cowboys take now some people think Dallas is going to have a big year. Hey, your defense was like 31, 32. If you're 20th, you know, suddenly does that mean two more wins and now you're, you know, maybe an 11-win team, 10-11-win team. The offense is really good, should continue to be good. Offensive line, I like, I don't love it. The receivers are incredible. Are the Cowboys a team kind of being slept on here, Eric? Well, when Brian Schottonheimer got the job, I felt like he was being slept on as a candidate.

and he was my offensive coordinator in New York. So I hired him when he was with the Chargers. And he's really bright. He's put in a ton of years in pro football. He's from a football family, an outstanding football family. And he's open to doing whatever is best for the team. And he has great chemistry with players and coaches. So all those things I thought made it a great strength of his moving into the head coaching role.

And then he came out and they finished 7, 8, and 1. and as bad as that defense was, the offense was prolific for the most part, and they lost four, I think it was five games in a row, and four out of those five games they lost, their opponent scored 30 or more points. So that's, the bar isn't dramatically high in terms of what the improvements you need to make defensively in order for, you know, three or four of those games to go the other way, and now you're in the playoffs.

I also like the fact that Jerry, this has been a uncharacteristic Dallas offseason, right? It's not about splashy headlines. It's about what our needs. Our needs are defensive. Let's go do it in the draft. Let's do it in free agency. Let's do it through trades. Let's try to improve this every way we possibly can.

And then not set ridiculous expectations. And there's not going to be the Micah Parsons drama at the start of the season. We didn't know where Pickings was going to end up in terms of was that going to be an issue or not. That's not an issue. So there's a lot of good things that you really like about Dallas, and there's no reason they can't take another step forward. Let me ask you about this. I'm seeing some Jalen Hertz comments.

I think you guys probably talked about it on first things first. But, you know, usually Jalen Hertz very careful with his words, answering questions. He opened with a statement and said there is zero entitlement with the team. And that was, like, they didn't even ask him about it. He just came out and offered that. And I just wonder, you've been around a lot of players, you know about veiled shots. Was this a shot at A.J. Brown? I absolutely love this comment.

100% alignment and zero entitlement. He should copyright that. They should be making shirts with that. Because that is, that's exactly what every single coach in every single league is looking for from their players, regardless of their ability. Because when you do have 100% alignment, you have such an advantage over everybody else. Because the NFL is so hard to win

when everybody's pushing in the same direction, and it's almost impossible to win when people aren't pushing in the same direction. So to have the 100% alignment and the idea of zero entitlement, that's another amazing thing in a world filled with entitlement, filled with, hey, I need to get mine,

and where that's celebrated probably more, than it ever has been, the idea of moving into a season with those two things, it's huge. And is it a bailed shot? I don't think it's that veiled. I think that it's well-documented that there were problems. There were significant problems, whether it was, you know, AJ reading on the sideline or the comments he said after he left. And look, he is a, he is a great player, and he wanted out, and he was able to get out. And he's now on his third team, though. He's great player who's on his third team. So it's not always the organization's fault. Interesting. So do you think it could possibly be an addition by subtraction,

losing a star receiver and going with a receiver by committee? I'm not of the belief that Devante Smith is like a number one guy. I think he's very good, but they clearly take a step back at the receiver position. They have depth, but no star. Yeah, it can absolutely be addition by subtraction. And, and, you know, As I said, getting people on the same page, and sometimes with guys who have challenging personalities, it's like, how do we get him the ball in the first five plays of the script so he's not angry? And then the guy comes off on the sideline. You know, I've had players come off and say, hey, I'm open, I'm open.

And he's shown him the picture, and he's double team. And he's like, no, no, I was still open. So it's that belief of like, it doesn't matter how many people are covering me. I'm open, which I get. You're confident and you want the ball and you want to make play completely understand, but the role of the quarterback is to figure out who is open and throw him the ball and get him the ball accurately. And that's one of the great things about Tom Brady is if you didn't run the right route and you didn't do what you were supposed to do, you weren't getting the ball.

And it didn't matter if you were a star or if you were down further on the depth chart. if you got open, based on the coverage, he was going to throw you the ball. And you're doing the right thing. I love that. He's going to throw you the ball. All right. Eric, we'll wrap up with this. Baker Mayfield, weird situation in Tampa.

They don't want to pay him. He's one of the lowest paid starting quarterbacks, especially when you factor in playoff trips. It's been to the playoffs. Three of the last four years. I know they cratered at the end of last season. Not totally his fault. This is just a weird situation.

They're willing to move off of Baker Mayfield. he's still in his prime age-wise? I don't know. Are you surprised by this and what do you think happens? No, I'm not surprised. I think it could actually be a really good thing for Tampa Bay organizationally in the sense that how has Baker Mayfield always been at his best when he's got some sort of chip, when he's got some sort of edge,

when he's playing a little bit angry. And he's angry. And he said, hey, I'm going to play well and I'm going to make you pay me more. Fantastic. We'll be happy to pay you more. Go out and play really well. And, you know, for Tampa Bay's got some issues. They're top five guys in terms of salary cap, plus the dead money, makes up 50% of their cap.

So they've got five guys plus dead money making up 50% of their cap. They were over the cap before the start of the league year. They had to redo some deals. And now they're only $8.5 million under the cap. So there's not a lot of room to do big contracts. And I'm sure it's frustrating for Baker, but, you know, hopefully he goes. hits a home run and gets paid even more money. And then organizationally, you're going to be really happy if it takes you deep into the playoffs

or to the Super Bowl and, you know, be excited to pay him as much money as he wants. All right. Eric Mangini, first things first. Great stuff, man. That was outstanding. Eric, good luck today on the show and enjoy the weekend, my man. Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of IHard Media. I also led the team that created MTV, and my co-founders and I are celebrating MTV's 45th anniversary this month

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