The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd for Jul 21, 2020

Episode Date: July 21, 2020

The Kansas City Chiefs are getting a little ahead of themselves, LeBron James is the MVP and it isn't even close, and NFL players are getting what they want and deserve.Guests: NFL HOF Coach Jimmy Johnson and Seattle Seahawks TE Greg Olsen 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 is big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down,

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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 Heard. is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Oh, here we go. In a beautiful Tuesday, we are live in Los Angeles. Welcome in, this is The Herd, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1, back off a four-day break. Yesterday may have been the nicest beach day since I've lived in California. 80 degrees, nice breeze, not.

hot but warm enough you had to jump in the water once an hour beautiful day hung out with the fam Joy Taylor is joining me you were on the beach in Venice yeah I rode the bike there's a really nice spike path that goes up from Venice to Santa Monica so I go run a bike right up the right you ride from your house down no no no okay no no no because it's it's fun getting down there but once you get down there and then you ride up and back and you have to ride back that's when it's like oh this is This is a lot of work, actually. It's not for being a leisure thing to, like, a serious thing.

I have a friend that did that two weeks ago. He showed up at my house on a bike, and I said, where'd you come from? He said, Beverly Hills. I said, what do you mean? He goes, yeah, I'm going to ride home. We had a bottle of wine. He got back on. Bike home.

Oh, no, no, no. We can't be riding bikes in Toxkey. That's a bad idea. The hair cut looks good. Your hair looks good as well. Thanks. So here we are. We got a cut, right?

Yeah, I got a cut. Yeah. Very exciting time for me. So we start our Tuesday show with this. I'm from one of these cities in America that has been tidal starved. Seattle. Okay, so I grew up as a kid. And University of Washington, you know, won a Rose Bowl.

Seahawks didn't do anything. Mayors didn't do anything. All I had, my entire life until I was like 45 years old, all I had was one Sonics championship in the 70s. I can remember it. I had, it was red hot and green hot. in smoking. Green was the team colors. Freddie Brown, Gus Williams, John Johnson, Lonnie Shelton, Lenny Wilkins, the coach.

You know, Marvin Webster, Jack Sykma. You remember that when you have won. Some of you people from Boston, New York, L.A. You've got all these titles. But for most of us, we're title-starved. And when you get a title, finally, when you get a little taste of it, you binge on that team because it's all you've ever had. Kansas City is one of those towns. And they've got a lot of championships.

And the last 30 years, not a lot of championships. So this year they got a little taste. We gave them a little morsel. They got, mm, delicious. Now they're binging. Now they're gorgeing. Now they can't stop talking about it. Chris Jones just signed a new contract.

He's got them lined up for seven more parades. I swear to God, listen to this. This is only the beginning. Be prepared to have another parade and another parade and another parade. Because we're going to make sure we bring not one, not two, not three, not four, but five plus rings to Kansas City. You know, it's been 50 years. The weight has been great, but the weight

is over now. It's time to create a dynasty. Oh, you just give them a little morsel of food, and it's like, honestly, it's like my dogs. I have to give them a, my dogs go crazy. If I just lay all the food out there, they go crazy. Professional athletes and starve cities are nuts. They're crazy. Fans

are crazy. Media's crazy. They start guarantee. I'm reading Kansas City columnists. I go in seven. And the players go to go in five. Fans are going to win nine. You give them when these cities are starved, you give them a taste of a championship, and it's just binge

eating. They just can't stop. God, I'm reading Kansas City columnists. I listen to fans. I listen to talk radio. I listen to players. Folks, I'm going to give you five real simple reasons. They're not going to win five. Let's start with number one. The highest paid quarterback in the NFL, the last time they won the Super Bowl, was 1994.

Steve Young. once Mahomes start making money, once Mahomes starts making money, you're not going to be winning these championships. Now you're paying Mahomes and you're going to pay Chris Jones. Offensive lion's going to struggle. Secondary is going to be bad. 1994 is the last time the highest paid quarterback won a Super Bowl. And your financial structure was much different back then.

Now it's harder, hard cap. Number two, his name is Lamar Jackson. When you have a well-run organization, like the Lakers when they were well-run, and you give them Kobe? And then you give them Shaq? It is your plan for second place. They got a good owner. They got a great quarterback.

They got a good front office. They got a great coach. Lamar Jackson's going to be a problem for everybody in the AFC for a decade. This is going to be a big problem. Number three. I'm going to throw out a what if. What if Drew Locke is good? He looked good at the end of last year.

Vic Fangio. the best defensive coach in that division, easily, because the other three coaches are offensive guys. Denver has a history of being well run. They've got two great defensive ends, and now they've got Noah Fan at Tide End, a bunch of good young receivers, two good running backs. What if Drew Lux's good? Hell, what if Justin Herbert is? We like the Chargers. Here's number four. Is Bill Belichick still alive in coaching? Because they need a quarterback. I mean, Philip Rivers may last in Indianapolis, Listen, Cam Newton may work in New England. But what if Belichick gets Trevor Lawrence or Trey Lance or Justin Fields?

Because there's not a lot of teams that need a quarterback outside of Jacksonville. What if Belichick gets one? You know, he's always got a plan, right? You know, I can't start Cam early. I got a quarterback battle. They go six and ten, number nine pick, move up with 13 of their picks. Well, what if he gets a great quarterback? quarterback. And number five is, you do get this winning in the Super Bowl's thing is hard.

This year, Kansas City, with a cheap quarterback, who's the best in the game, they trailed Houston 24-0, San Francisco in the fourth quarter and trailed Tennessee. They trailed in every game. They had a home field advantage, and they were trailing in games. I mean, in the history of the Super Bowl, there's only four teams, four franchises ever, Pittsburgh, New York, England, San Francisco and Dallas that have four more Super Bowls. This is what, I'm from one of these cities. I'm from one of these cities. We're title starved.

And then you put the plate out and you say, here you guys, the championship. And we eat that and we're like, we're now starving. We start binging. We start going crazy. We can't control ourselves. We just can't control ourselves. It's like Kansas City, take a step back, take a deep breath. Lamar Jackson, Bill Belichick, Drew Locke, highest paid quarterback, Super Bowl.

Bowl winning is impossible. Like, you know, very few cities, like win a championship. And then, like, four days later, they're like, all right, we got to get working. New York's got that. L.A.'s got that. Boston's got that. There are these cities that they've won a lot of championships. But even well-capitalized cities, like Washington is wealthy.

And Philadelphia's got a lot of money. And Russell Wilson's unbelievable. and Pete Carroll is a Hall of Famer, and the Saints are well run, and they can't get to the conference championship. And Green Bay's got Aaron Rogers in Farr, and they've only got one in the last 15 years, and it's just really hard. Title starved cities just don't. They just can't manage themselves. It's just too much. Hungry for that long, finally satiated, it gets really difficult to control.

yourself and your emotions and your comments. And I love Chris Jones. He came on the show. I love him. And I went in five. It's just not happening. With Andy Reed, with Patrick Mahomes, they're not winning five. If they win half of that, I'll give him three. Thank your lucky stars. You will have been given several breaks. Somebody got hurt. Somebody got fired.

Drew Locke stinks. You'll get breaks if you can get the three. All right. I heard this. So the bubble thing in the NBA appears to be working. A bunch of tests. Nobody tested positive for corona. It's like 340 tests.

Nobody tested positive. So that's real good news. And everybody said LeBron's in great shape. LeBron's now, it kind of feels like we're getting close, and I'm hearing LeBron press conferences, and they set up a place to get haircuts. It's all good. So LeBron James is talking about this whole thing.

He's like, you know, MVP boat's going to happen here in a couple of days. And LeBron would like to win the MVP. I would vote for him. a second. LeBron was talking about the MVP vote and he said, you know, you folks, you always used to say, well, you're doing it in the East. He goes, I'm over in the West now. And he has a right to say this. I don't want to hear about he's getting cocky. LeBron, he didn't say this to be cocky. He said it to be honest. Listen. As far as the MVP race, I think, you know, show what I'm capable of doing,

you know, not only individually, but from a team's perspective. us being number one in the West. There was a lot of conversation about, you know, LeBron can do those things in the East, but if you ever came to the West, what can you do? You know, so, you know, I heard all that. And to be able to have our team at the top of the Western Conference and playing the way that we were playing at that time

and the way I was playing, you know, that's definitely a good film. It has been funny. We've always romanticized how tough the East was for MJ and how bad the East was for LeBron James. But it's funny. I remember watching Michael Jordan on a couch with my girlfriend in Las Vegas in the 90s. And I remember I said to her, like, who's the second best player in the league? Like Barclay?

He's not as committed. Akeem? That was when like centers didn't shoot or ball handle. David Robinson. Carl Malone. Never hit a big shot I can remember. The gap between Michael as the. best player to the number two player who, you know, I always thought it was kind of Charles

Barclay. It was folks. It was the Grand Canyon. But when you look at LeBron James now, let me ask you, who's the second best player? Kevin Durant, those injuries were past that prime. He's never had the physical or emotional resilience of LeBron James or Michael. Steph Curry, love him, but he's small and can't defend. James Harden, one-trick pony, average athletically.

I think Janus is good but can be marginalized. You want him taking a big perimeter jumper jumper late? He's not going to distribute to other players. Kauai Leonard, I love Kauai. But can we be honest about Kauai? He misses 30% of the games. What is the gap between LeBron and the second best player? Forget East and West.

It's the same gap Jordan had. I mean, as great as Tom Brady is, even in his prime, Did we ever consider him the greatest? I mean, he broke into the league. It was Favre. Then the prodigy Peyton Manning. Then you guys lectured me on Aaron Rogers, and now it's Mahomes. Well, as great as Derek Jeter is.

He's not even the most talented person in his prime on the left side of the Yankee infield. Arad was. Magic Johnson was a poor defender, not much of a perimeter player, and Magic's the third best player I've ever seen. LeBron is so good that he hasn't had a contemporary for the last. last eight years that compares. So we compare him to a guy that hasn't played in 20 years. That's how good he is.

We don't have anybody to argue with. And we argue for a living. Well, he's not as good as the guy that's 50. Who is great. Folks, the gap between Michael and second was the Grand Canyon. The gap between LeBron and second is Grand Canyon. It's never been about the West and the East. And I will admit, the East has some really bad owners and really sketchy general managers.

But they also have the Celtics and they had Doc Rivers and they've got Pat Riley and they've got Miami. And, you know, there's been some Eastern teams that are well run. God, look at Toronto's done the last four or five years. Excellent. So when I look at LeBron and he smirks about, you know, you told me I couldn't do it in the East and I'm over to the West, all I know is this. This is all I know. I watched Jordan sat in the couch with my girlfriend, and I remember commenting,

who's the second best player in the league? And I feel the exact same gap with LeBron and Kauai Leonard, who, by the way, his career assist average is two and a half. Meaning as great as Kauai is, you know, when he plays, he doesn't really elevate others. He's just a great player on both ends. But the gap between that and the king is the gap between Michael Jordan and Carl Malone? Ask yourself this.

When's the last time unless you live in Utah, you and your buddies told Carl Malone stories. Let's start with never and work our way from there. 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. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim?

Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 was big to me, not just because of crack.

I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah.

For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Keer Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we

are in possession of the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person

because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way.

Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Cliver Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game.

This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What?

Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down. Gorsha accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They holding Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew. Pinky has financial issues.

I like the bougie style of Housewives show. I think it looks like it's going to be interesting. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real Housewives franchise, the drama, the alliances, and the team everybody's talking about. As an executive producer in reality television, I'm not just watching it.

I understand the game. As somebody who creates shows, I'll even say this. At the end of the day, When people are at home, they want entertainment. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the King on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. So yesterday, the NFL made an offer to the players, the NFLPA, the NFL Player Association. And they said, okay, we'll get rid of all the preseason games. Now, for years and years and years and years, we've heard this, oh, you've got to have preseason games.

They are essential. They are crucial. But the players now with COVID in all these sports, they have leverage. It's like my wife's pregnant. I'm not going to play your game if you don't improve your safety issues. Right? Like I'm the one out there playing and touching and sweating. And players have leverage.

Baseball players had it. NBA players had it. And for the first time in my life, all the players have a little bit of leverage. Now, I've never been one of these anti-owner guys. You can't have a league. I mean, the XFL had to go under. Why? Because the owners are like, we can't make any money.

You've got to have owners. And there's just not that many people that can, you know, buy teams. And so we have a history in pro sports. The better the owner, they hire a better GM. They don't meddle. They hire a better coach. Owners are, there's a reason, Kansas City, good owner. You know, for years and years, Seattle, good owner.

Philadelphia now, good owner. Most of Baltimore, good owner. Most of your good owners are where your good teams are, Because they select the people who select the players, including Patrick Mahomes. Kansas City moves up. Why? Because they have a good owner who hired a good GM, who hired a good coach, who hires good scouts. I mean, you get the way it works.

And so the owners for years have been push, push, push. Yesterday the players were like, yeah, we don't want preseason games. Boom, done. There you go. They wilted. And they were like a deck chair in the stormy seas. They just caved. Of course they caved because you don't need preseason.

Preseason is a rip-off for players and it's a rip-off for fans. For fans, when you pay for season tickets, you pay for 10 games. Two of those are pre-season. Hell, if you wanted to give them away, you couldn't. If you wanted to sell them, you couldn't because fans have figured out the pre-season's terrible. A couple years ago, the Rams said, we're not even going to play any of our good players in the preseason. They went 8-0 to start the season. And it's also bad for players because players don't get paid in the NFL until week one, meaning they're basically college guys.

in the preseason. They get per diem. That's it. Probably more, but per diem. It's bad for players. It's bad optics. It's bad for fans. It's a rip-off.

And I've never bought into the argument, ad nauseum, multiple times on this show, that the sport needs it. I'm not anti-rich guy, but you've got to push back on the powerful. And in professional sports, owners have had the power for far too long. And now, strangely, due to COVID,

players have some leverage. and they're getting rid of stuff that's always been a bad idea. If you love football as much as Joy loves it and I love it, and you want to ensure football works, there's one or two things that are going to be really important. And one of them is humans are getting bigger, stronger, and faster. If you look at 1950s and 60s football, I mean, I've watched like old video of it.

I think I could have played. I mean, are you getting tackled or the players just fall on you? Human beings are getting bigger and stronger and faster. High school kids now are yoked. I watch high school recruiting video. It's scary. I'm not sure I'd want my son playing against some of these great high school players. College football?

Yikes. NFL? Watch out. Just everybody's bigger, stronger, faster. The collision. So how do you ensure that it lasts? Safety measures, better helmets, fewer hits during practice, and limit the number of games. Like when we play, it counts and we play.

No four warm-up games. You know, I'm not a big, you want to add a 17th game? I'm not a big fan of it, and I should be selfishly a fan of it because it extends the NFL season and the NFL's great for my ratings. But if you love football, I mean, I can look at every pro league in America. I could make an argument you could get rid of six teams and you could cut the season by a third. Baseball would be better. The NBA would be better.

everything would be better. Except the NFL. There aren't really seven teams you can cut. I mean, the small markets, I would argue right now, are more interesting. New Orleans, Baltimore, Green Bay, Kansas City, even Buffalo's growth. Hell, you can have the NFL teams in New York. I think the small market teams in the NFL are more compelling.

It doesn't work that way in other sports. The unglomerous place, is in the NFL are fascinating right now. The league is led by New Orleans in Green Bay and Kansas City and Baltimore. And if Indianapolis can get themselves a quarterback, they'll be a dynasty, potentially. The other thing is,

I'm not a fan of having more NFL games, but somewhere around 14 to 16, it feels right. NBA 82, how about we go 68 and call today? Baseball 162. Can we stop at 100? I can figure out after 100 games who can play and who can't.

But one of the things the NFL has done really well, they don't gorge. It's like we got about the right number of teams and about the right number of cities and about the right number of players on a team and about the right number of practices. The roadblock to all that was always, what the hell do we do with this preseason? The games are awful. You don't even pay the players. Fans feel ripped off. Stadiums are empty.

TV networks don't like the way it looks. Sometimes you just got to push back a little on the powerful. NFL players did and not only got what they wanted, they got what they deserved. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. One of the people that works on NFL Fox Jimmy Johnson's a Hall of Famer, multiple Super Bowls, national champions at University of Miami.

And Jimmy is one of those guys that every Sunday when I come to work during the football season, Jimmy's the first guy in the building, just like he was as his coach. And I've always gotten smarter with Jimmy. I'll ask him a question.

He knows everybody. He's got an explanation. And we only get him a few times a year on this show. And I love when I get him. And we're going to bring him on via the Coward Global Satellite Network. I imagine he's down in the keys.

He's got a beautiful place in the Keys. He's in his coach's office. You're in the Keys, right? You're in the Keys? Oh, without question. I don't leave the Keys unless I go to LA. Yeah. So I want to start with this.

The Cowboy negotiation with Dak, as a coach, were you ever, whether it was with Jerry, Wayne Heisinga, was there ever a negotiation, and you're a coach, and you'll want something? Are you banging on the table to your owner?

What do you think Mike McCarthy's going through? he needs a quarterback. I think he probably likes Dak. Is it a tough position for a coach to be in with an owner who's like, I made you a good offer? That's what it is. I really didn't get into anything. You know, that tragic.

Of course, we wanted to sign Emmett, you know, to a long-term contract. He held out a couple of weeks, and that was a little bit frustrating, but we got it done, and we ended up winning the Super Bowl. one time Jack Del Rio when we had the Plan B a free agency I exposed him in Plan B I didn't think he'd leave

because we had a great team and I thought I had a good relationship with Jack and he was upset that I exposed him on Plan B so he left and went to Minnesota so that you know that was disappointing had I known he was going to leave I would have not exposed him

so there was a couple of them but for most part, it was pretty smooth throughout my career. When you look at the DAC situation, I think he's a good player, but I always have this rule in my head that you pay great money for great players. But you get into trouble when you pay great money for good players. That's trouble. And my takeaway is, DAC's a good player. Good player.

Do you think Jerry made a message? stake not giving him a long-term deal? Colleen, I think he tried to give him a long-term deal. I don't know who actually fouled up the thing. Was it the agent? Was it Jerry? Was it back? You know, Jerry is a hard-line negotiator.

And I think because it is a new head coach, McCarthy, I don't know how much McCarthy loves DAC. And so I think it's a weight and seed type process. Let's see how he plays this year. But I just think that they didn't want to overpay. They didn't want to pay him like a Patrick Mahomes. Yeah, they wanted to pay him like a very, very good player. That's what he is.

He's a very, very good player. He's a great leader. He's a great person. But it's a wait-and-see type process this year. You know, one of the things you told me about Belichick years ago that you really were impressed with Belichick is his ability week to week to change the game plan, to be very flexible. And so I look at Cam Newton and I think, well, I mean, Belichick will just switch stuff up. It'll move the pocket.

You think it's going to work? I think it's going to work. As long as Cam stays healthy, I think he's going to be very exciting. You know, Josh McDaniels is going to work with Cam. They can do all kinds of things. Of course, Josh had Tim Tebow, you know, there in Denver. So, you know, he can do some little running stuff. style type thing. And Cam

right now looks to be healthy. I know that Josh has had some conversations with Norb, you know, and Bill has had conversations with Norr Turner who worked with Cam. So I think everybody's on the same page. And you know, they're going to throw him out there and just see if he can make

plays. And I think he'll make plenty of plays. Yeah. You know, it's interesting. The Brady move, because I haven't talked to you since then, the Brady moved to Tampa's interesting in a couple of fronts. Tom, you know, like you, When you would add your success at Miami and then in Dallas, there's an expectation. Tom's been great forever and he does things his way and he's pretty darn rigid about it.

Now he goes to Tampa and they haven't done squat. And he's going to bring that intensity into Tampa. And I just wonder when you bring that intense guy into a building if Tom may not, you know, Jimmy, Tampa's easy living, beers at 4.30. Bruce Arias. Yeah, Bruce, he's not going to be. there at 10 o'clock at night. I promise you that. So I do wonder

about Tom, and embrace it as the wrong word. But once you've been successful, Jimmy, you kind of bring that New England thing down to Tampa. Could it rub people the wrong way? I think the expectations are probably a little bit

over what they should be. But they are a very talented football team. They've got great receivers. I think Brady will utilize those offences. players and they will be explosive offensively. I think he will protect the ball the one thing that Winston did not do. And then, you know, the one thing that's overlooked, you know, Tampa's got an outstanding

defense. They've got a great defensive coordinator. And so they're going to have a very good football team. Now, are they good enough to win at all? I don't know that they're good enough to win at all, but they're going to be very good, very exciting. You know, Jimmy, when you look at dynasties in sports, you know, we were talking about this,

they almost never materialize. Seattle didn't. Aaron Rogers didn't. You had one that worked. And Kansas City now, everybody's decided they're going to win six Super Bowls. And it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down on this stuff. If you could sit down with Andy Reid and say,

Andy, Andy, I built a couple dynasties, one in college and one in the pros. Here's a couple of things to be worried about. What would you give Andy Reid as a mentor if he asked? A couple of things that dynasties aren't as easy. as you think. I think Andy right now has an open highway to have a dynasty because he he has a team that's the strength of the AFC. He's got the two major ingredients, a great coach and a great quarterback and not just a great

quarterback, the best quarterback. Now, the one thing that I would say for all those things, the strength of the NFL right now is in the NFC. The NFC has about three or four teams that are good enough to win it all. The AFC, it's Kansas City. The two things that I would say is, you know, hey, you've got the coaching, you've got the quarterback. The one thing that every coach in this league has got to look at right now, with some of the knuckleheads that they're coaching, it's going to be, you know,

they're going to be easily distracted. Distracted by COVID-19. distracted by social injustice. There's a lot of different things happening. So the biggest hurdle for any coach right now is to have his teams focused on football. I would have a couple of two or three people in my organization that worked daily

on giving them a roster, having them a sheet every day. Here's what you've got to do today, testing this, do this. So the thing won't have to work. worry about those things and make sure that you keep your players focused on football because they're going to be easily distracted. Well, yeah, and the endorsements start pouring in and the opportunities start pouring in. Now, the preseason, owners have said preseason, we'll get rid of it. Now, coaches love the preseason. And certainly, the bottom players on the roster, I think it's

bad for them, for a guy trying to make the league. But Jimmy, you were known, when I've asked other coaches about you. They always say, Jimmy was a great personnel guy. Jimmy could spot talent immediately. So I would argue this, Jimmy, how many darn preseason games does Jimmy Johnson need to be able to tell that corner can't cover and that tackle can't block? Why do you need four preseason games? I hate it preseason. As long as everybody's playing by the same rules and not having preseason, I would have been happy not having a single preseason game. Give you a little story. We had our first preseason game when Eric Williams was a rookie, third round pick from Central, you know, Ohio.

And so I asked Tony Wise. I said, Tony, I said, you know, we need to put Eric up in there in starting position at the starting tackle. And he said, he's got to earn it. He said, coach, he said, you know, Kevin Goggin is really a solid tackle. and, you know, Eric hasn't, he's just a young rookie. He hasn't beaten him out. And this was our first preseason game. And I said, well, isn't it inevitable that Eric's going to be the guy?

And Tony said, well, yeah, I guess so. I said, okay, put him in the starting lineup. You don't need preseason if the guy's a player. Now, we did move Kevin Golgan. We said, well, hey, I think Kevin might be one of our five best. And, you know, I said, we'll move him to guard. He said, moving to guard. He's 6'7.

I said, I don't care if he's 6'10. Move him to guard. He's one of our best players. It turned out to be a good move. Yeah. So I love this. You're the only coach I've ever heard that didn't like preseason. I think you're the only one I've ever talked to.

I was bored. I was bored in preseason. You know, people weren't trying to win. You know, we played in Tokyo, and I pulled all my players out after the first quarter. and so Jerry Jones got so mad because we lost the game to Houston. And I went to the airport and he wouldn't speak to me. I asked his wife, Gene, what's the problem with Jerry? Oh, he's upset.

So we got back to Dallas. He wouldn't speak to me the entire plane a trip back to the States, back to Dallas from Tokyo. And so I went in his office and said, Jerry, what's the problem? him. He said, Jimmy, he says, he said, you know, they had one of those big, big dolls that they gave to the winner of that ball game. He said, and Bud Adams got that big old doll. He said, and they gave me this little old drinking doll. He said, you know, as a runner up. He said, I wanted that big doll. So after the season was over with, and we won the Super Bowl, I walked in at Jerry's office, I said, Jerry, you got that Lombardi trophy. Have you drawn to have that or that big

I love your stories. Jimmy Johnson, you still look like a million. Have you gone fishing today yet? No, we got bad weather right now. In fact, I thought the weather was going to mess up by internet, but I didn't fish today, but I will. I'll go lobster in here probably next week. All right. It's great seeing you. Look fantastic. 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 whenever you'd love. like. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap little Kim's boobs at the VMAs?

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And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, A, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out.

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It's one of my favorite guys in the NFL. He's played for almost a decade and a half. Chicago with Jay Cutler, Cam Newton and him. We're buddies in Carolina now. One of my favorite human beings on the planet, Russell Wilson, gets the gift of Greg Olson, and he is joining us from Bellevue. That is a nice area via the Coward Global Satellite Network. So I was just telling joy that when you were trying to make a decision on where to go,

I kept texting you. I'm like, Russell Wilson's amazing. There's no state tax. So you can be honest now. I led you to Seattle. Can you just be honest with it, Greg? You were the guy. When they called me and told me to make a decision, what it came down to, I said, Colin,

Colin knocked, you know, he hit the nail on the head. He gave me all the positives or all the negatives. And your decision making has always proved to be. to be fine. I figured I would, I just keep the streak alive. It's interesting. You go from Jay Cutler,

big arm quarterback, not super mobile, to Cam Newton, one of the great athletes to ever play it. Now to Russell Wilson. It's a third style of quarterback play.

How are you preparing for that? Yeah, so obviously, Russ and I have known each other just as competitors from the opposite size of the sideline for a long time. It felt like for years there, we played Seattle,

you know, multiple times a year, you know, one regular season game and then a few times in the playoffs. And just got familiar with his style, obviously as a competitor. It felt like even games, I remember we had them down like 30 points at halftime in the playoffs one year and then had to recover an onsides kick to win. Like he was never out of it. And I always just had such an appreciation for him as a competitor from the other side of the field. And when the opportunity came that they were interested and I could go continue my career and join, you know, you just saw a DK and Russ, I had a chance to go work out with them a week or two ago out in San Diego with

Russ. And, you know, he's just so impressive. I mean, as a communicator, what he wants, what he sees, his ability to, you know, get that information across to his teammates. He's, he's as impressive as everyone had told me he was. He's been that and more in just a few months now that I've gotten to work with him. So Brady goes to Tampa, Cam goes to New England, Greg Olson goes to Seattle. There's playbooks. So tell my audience, because Joy and I have talked about this. Quarterbacks have to know a little bit of everything. Where a tight end, you have to know certain things, but there are plays that are fundamentally more important for you.

How long will it take a guy like you or a Cam or a Brady who understands the language of football? You've been in the NFL for a long time to truly learn the Seahawk playbook. Yeah, you know, I was spoiled. For my last 11 years in the NFL, I really was in one system. last year or two in Carolina, I mean, in my last year or two in Chicago, we ran pretty much the same system that I would run the last nine years in Carolina. Same, same words, same formation, same digit system. This is really the first time in a long time I've had to learn a completely new system. There's not a ton of carryover, how they call plays, how they call their no huddle two minute.

So there's definitely, you know, a learning curve. It wasn't ideal learning it remotely. I would have loved to have been out here in April and OTAs and really be able to. sit in the classroom with the coaches and the players and really ask a lot of questions. But, you know, these were the cards that I was dealt. I feel like I have a good handle on it. You know, I think there's always little intricacies of every offense. You know, I run my dig routes for 10 years at 14 yards. They might do it at 12, right?

I set my angles on my corners to the inside of the pylon. They might want it set to the outside. There's so many details just because on paper it says run 14 yards and run a square. And there's 10 different ways to do that because of the other routes and what the quarterback sees. So there's a lot of detail that you take for granted when you're in one place and you've kind of seen the evolution of that system take hold. I'm now joining a system that's been in place for years before me. And I got to play catch up not only to learn it, but really be able to put that to life and bring it to life on the field. And it's really hard to do until you get in person.

That's why, as I said, I went out a couple weeks ago and worked out with Russ. And it was the first time we were ever on the same field together talking through routes, going through no huddle calls, talking about signals. You know, here's how I signal is very different from how CAM signaled. So it's just learning human behavior, learning what quarterbacks see, learning what he wants. It's been a fun challenge, especially at this point in my career. But I'm anxious to hopefully next week finally sit in the same room as my teammates and my coaches and really dive into this. I would argue that you not having a preseason, you may be the prime example of this is great for you. I mean, honestly, Greg, you're probably going to go a year with a Seahawks.

If it goes great, one more, but you'll segue into broadcasting at some point. But I look at you and I think to myself, God, if I was Greg Olson, this is the year. The one upside of the pandemic is your body is getting so much rest. Is that how it feels for you? Yeah, outside of learning the system and missing OTAs in that regard, this is a dream for a 14-year veteran. I hate to say that selfishly because the entire world has been turned upside down, but I got to train with my people, my trainers, my soft tissue, my massage,

my chiropractor, my chef in the comfort of my own home in Charlotte, where I have roots and my family and wife and kids, and we were all in one spot. So for the past five months of porn, quarantine, you know, I was forced to do nothing else but prepare my body and prepare physically to go play another season. And, you know, that's not always the case during OTAs, right? You're working out with 90 other players and the coaches are developing a schedule and a workout program that fits everyone. It's a little bit more like college where it might not be everything you need,

but it's kind of a blanket cookie cutter program. Everyone, I got to train to what I needed. I knew where are my faults, where are that parts of my body that need more attention, what areas of my game was I not happy with last year. I got to get back to run and I got to get back more explosive off the line. Whatever the case may be, me and my trainer got to only worry about me. And that was a huge advantage. I feel healthy for the first time in probably two years after dealing with all my foot stuff. And then everything else seems to get out of whack from that. This is really the first time since probably 2016, 17, where I'm like, all right, this is how I'm supposed to.

to feel when I'm running routes. This is how I've made my career, running, getting in and out of breaks. So I'm hoping that it carries over into the season. But as far as an off season, you're 100% right. This has been, this is a veteran's dream. It's very similar to the lockout in 2011.

I'm old enough to have lived through that. You really get to spend unlimited amount of time on yourself. So outside of learning the playbook, this has been great. You have a new podcast out. It's called tight end won, the NFL

tight end conversations with Greg Olson. It's a series focusing on long-term interviews with some of the NFL's elite tight ends. A couple days ago, Joy and I started talking about this. And I said, you know, everybody always talks about I'm overpaid or underpaid. I said, you want to know who's underpaid in the NFL? And I didn't know you were coming on.

I said, tight ends. I said, the franchise tag for a receiver is 18 and a half million. For a tight end, it's 10. And I said, time out. They block. They don't get marginalized in bad weather. In bad weather, actually, tight ends become more valuable. They're more important than a perimeter player in the red zone, which is, that's the scoring zone.

And I said, the other thing is you can roll over coverage to a wide receiver. There is no safety that matched up with gronk or no linebacker that can run with Travis Kelsey. And then I said, I feel honestly like tight ends literally need to go to the CBA and go, we're the one position in this league. we have become wide receivers as a tight end. Did you ever have this conversation thinking, I got to block? I'm more valuable in the red zone in bad weather. Why am I half of a wide receiver?

Do you ever think about stuff like that and talk about your podcast? Yeah, the joke that I've always said is I got to block the same guys to tackle and I got to run routes against the same guys, the receiver, and they're going to pay me half. right and that's been uh that's kind of the story of the position since i've been in the league now it's come a long way and nobody feels sorry for us but it's a perfect segue so in one of the episodes of the podcast that you mentioned uh te one coming out next month i had this conversation with tony gonzalez um you know obviously the most prolific and accomplished tight end in NFL history and we don't we kind of jumped into it as it related of course the you know the elephant

in the room is how much money is kiddle going to make and another guy that i interviewed in a different episode. And my point to Tony was, and I think I kind of confused them in the beginning, but I think he came along. It's kind of Tony's fault. For so long, Tony was the standard of NFL tight ends, right? So when he walked in to renegotiate his contract, for 15 years, he negotiated against himself. He was the best in the market. And what's the team, you know, so there was no one else to ever jump him. The old NFL, you know, draft system, quarterbacks, defensive linemen, wide receivers, they were drafted top five, top 10. So you could get Matt Stafford to come in and reset the quarterback market.

Sam Bradford or Calvin Johnson, all these top picks. Very few tight ends were drafted year after year at that level. So you couldn't artificially reset the market. So the top players of the position had no one ever to reset it other than themselves. So the market stayed very flat. It's going to take guys like Kelsey. and Kittles probably our best shot at it, right? He is, he's the guy that if he doesn't just break through the ceiling,

you know, Gronk did that long-term deal after a few years in the league and he was kind of always stuck in it. Kittles really the first guy that can blow the ceiling off this, and we'll see if he does. But it's been a very interesting market now for over a decade. I mean, at least since I've come in the league, it hasn't moved a whole lot. And to your point, outside of the quarterback, nobody has to know every aspect of. the offense like a tight end. You can't, we don't get to move. We sit in the room with the O-Lyinder and run install, a pass protection install.

And then we go sit with the skill players for past game install, hot, sites, adjustments. There's really not an aspect of the game that the position. And I think the topic of our, the conversation that we had with all these, you know, all-timers at the position was, you know, this evolution, we started with Dicca in 1961, this evolution of 60 years where the tight end now is really like a vogue position. Yes. It's a superstar position played by superstars. But it hasn't always been like that.

And our series, TE-1, kind of chronicles that evolution. And, you know, through the words of some of the best who've ever played it. Yeah. Kettle's a little unhinged. I find him fascinating. Did he? He's like a pro wrestler with a good 40 time. What did you make of him?

He was awesome. I got to know George a little bit. We crossed pads at a couple events at a Super Bowl years back. You know, we worked with the same agency. so we've kind of crossed paths here and there. I really enjoy him. I think his energy and his love for the game kind of jumps out at you, both on the screen when you watch them,

but also when you play against them. He's kind of like running around. He's a WWE character who's exceptional at football, and he's got a very unique personality. But it's funny, so many of the tight ends. And, you know, I got to talk to two of them. Kelsey's got a great personality. He's got his own little style, obviously Kiddle, gronk.

I mean, the tight end position, I don't know if it's a prerequisite or what, but the guys that have really come along these last, you know, five or so years, they bring a little different, they bring a little different vibe to the position. I think it's fun. I think people love it. And they've really brought like a breath of fresh air, you know, to the game and to the position. And I enjoyed, you know, Kittles' conversation was amazing talking.

He got mad. He said his dad was mad at me because I went and did for NFL Network. I did the combine. and I guess I said something about his stance as I was like standing on the field and he said and my dad called me. He's like, who the hell is Greg Olson? What the hell does he know? And I said, well, let me tell you something. I said, did you widen your stance? He goes, yeah, my stance was way too narrow. So you were right. I said, so your dad got mad at me, but I was right. That's right. We had a lot of fun. The conversations were awesome and the guys that that agreed to

come to it were just, they were a huge treat. Okay, TE1, put it up on the screen again. Tide-in one, NFL tied-in conversations with Greg Olson, a series, long-form interviews with some of the NFL's elite tight-ins. It really has become a glamour position. There you go. Boy, that looks slick right there, doesn't it? It really has. We had Dicka, you know, Mike Dicca, having a conversation with him was just amazing. I got drafted in 2007, and you learned really quick that Dicca is the man of Chicago, right? I learned what that was like. So I got to talk with him, Ozzie Newsom, you know, who's as relevant to the conversation as anybody even now is a talent evaluator and general manager, Shannon Sharp, Tony Gonzalez.

I mean, some of the best guys who've ever played. It was an unbelievable experience. Probably exceeded my expectations when we set out to kind of capture this story. And everybody who agreed to do it just opened up and gave us great stories and we had a ton of fun. Oh, Greg. It's great seeing you. It's going to be great to see in that Seahawk Blue, buddy.

And say hi to my one of my favorite players. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the inner. lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice 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. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network. on TikTok. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band

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On The Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s.

84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to Look Back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you. You get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host, Kier Games.

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