The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd for Mar 25, 2020

Episode Date: March 25, 2020

LeBron is the reason the NBA will not cancel it's seasonExperts have now compared Joe Burrow to Brady, Manning and Montana and Colin loses his mindNFL GMs want the draft pushed back and Colin is 100% against itGuest: Emmanuel Sanders, Saints WR talks about losing the Super Bowl and why he chose to join the Saints and Drew Brees Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise,

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Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel 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 with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. 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, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. you just understood.

That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming until he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball.

So listen to Point Game on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to the best of Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday. From 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for the herd at Fox SportsRadio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeartRadio app

by searching herd. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowher on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go. We are loaded on a Wednesday. Thanks so much for stopping by. We're the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening in LA, we're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio.

We're on FS1. Joy Taylor's joining me in one hour from now, the newest New Orleans Saints, Emmanuel Sanders, stops by our show. And I got to say before I start anything, we're in a real challenge right now. We're going to get through this. It's not easy. Post 9-11, it was a difficult time for not just months, but years. We're going to get through this.

I saw something this morning. New Yorkers, 40,000 retired nurses, doctors and medical. personnel, 40,000 in New York that are retired, signed up to go back to work. If that's not America, if that's not New York, I don't know what is. This is why we're going to get through this. We may be divided all year on politics, blue, red, Republican Democrats. I have no idea of those 40,000 people who they voted for, or which way they politically lean. ideologically left or right. But 40,000 New Yorkers who are retired, many of them probably in their 60s, 70s or older said, I want to be part of this. That's why I love New York. And Joy Taylor is joining me. That's why we're going to get through this. We are divided often. But when we hit crisis, everybody, it is amazing to watch. There's 50 companies in America, 50 that produce alcohol that have now all decided. we're going to produce hand sanitizers. We've got car companies creating ventilators. This is what America does.

We yell, snip. This is what we do all year. But when we get into crisis, people rally around each other. And it's just a heartwarming thing to see. Enjoy Taylor. How are you? I'm great. We'll fight with each other, but we'll fight for each other too when it comes down to it. Well, we're a big dysfunctional family, but we come together in terms of a crisis. Okay, I want to start with this. So I've gone back and forth on the NBA. I think it's really important for the NBA to get back. I wasn't very optimistic driving to work Sunday night.

I don't know if it's going to happen. But I thought of something this morning, and I want to start with this, the Chinese Basketball Association, and we've kind of watched what's happening in China with the coronavirus. They were going to restart the basketball operations, and then they put it on hold. And Brian Winhorse says, Uh-oh, is that a bad sign for the NBA?

It's been a really bad week in Asia in terms of restarting basketball. The Japanese League started and failed a restart last weekend. The Korean League was supposed to start this weekend coming up. They've shelved their entire season. And now the Chinese League, which called all their foreign players back with the intention of restarting in mid-April, has pushed until May, which is a four-month hiatus. They have to create a bubble where players, referees, officials, trainers, coaches

can feel comfortable at operating in. and they haven't been able to do it. And that's what the NBA is going to do. And I think it's going to prove very difficult. But I want to say something why I think the NBA has got a real fighting chance here. The biggest brand in this league easily is the Lakers. And the biggest personal brand is LeBron. And it's not really close.

Yannis, Kauai, great players. They're not LeBron's brand. And they're both humming this year. LeBron's humming and the Lakers are humming. both excellent. You really got to get this year in. If the Yankees are really, really good, and they've got a bunch of stars,

and you've got a crisis or a lockdown, you at least know the last images of that season will be somebody in Yankee Stadium potentially hoisting, you know, hoisting the banner, hoisting the trophy. That's a great last image. And I'll give you an example. LeBron's first title in Miami. We never discredit that.

Do you know that was a shortened season? We never talk about that. We never bring that up. Why? Because the last image, we loved Dwayne Wade. We were so happy for LeBron, Chris Bosch. We saw images we knew Pat Riley. We never talk about that. We forget that it was a shortened season.

And we've never won. held that against LeBron James and D. Wade. It's like movies. Usual suspect, good movie. But what makes usual suspects to be considered by many to be better than it was, it's got a great ending. It's got a great last 15 minutes. And it covers up, which is mostly, it's an okay movie. But if you ask people, you ever watch usual suspects, oh, it's like gone with the wind. It's like good fellas. It's like Godfather. It's a best movie. It's an average movie, slightly above average, with a great ending. This is why you got to get this season in. Because if the last image, there's a chance that it's going to be LeBron in a Laker uniform, third team winning a title,

we're not going to 20 years on a 30 for 30 talk about the virus. We're going to talk about LeBron and the Lakers. The last image, the last 10 minutes of the movie are going to be so unbelievable. you are going to go, wow, LeBron, third team. Wasn't that the year? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But, God, can you? That's better than Jordan. I mean, he's way bad.

And all Phil shows for years on, you know, LeBron's better than Jordan. Not that damn virus. And there's another part of this. Whenever there's a downturn, whenever there is a crisis for an American business. And the NBA, this is a crisis, right? Go back to things that are dependable. Go back to the basics. I'll give you an example.

In the 90s, Apple was almost bankrupt. Remember, they got rid of Steve Jobs. And the stories are Apple was about, there's documentaries on it, about three months from bankruptcy. Steve Jobs came back. And what did Steve Jobs do? Do you remember what Steve Jobs did? I got his quotes this morning.

He slashed 70% of Apple's products. The stuff that was new and niche and cool and you didn't really know it. Steve Jobs said, we wanted to get back to basics. Focus on simplicity. The things we knew people needed and loved and were familiar with. They got rid of all the other stuff. In the NBA, you know what the basics are? LeBron, the Lakers.

In baseball, the Yankees for a long time, Jeter. Those are the basics. When you come out of a crisis, you have to deliver for the public, things they trust, things they like, things they know, simplicity and basics. LeBron and Lakers with a chance to be the last image of this season will take one of the strangest, saddest, most tragic years, Kobe's death, the virus. But if the lasting image is that,

that's what we'll talk about 20 years from now. That's the power. That's the power of titles and LeBron and the Lakers and championships and our devotion to sports. Listen, Mark Cuban's a smart guy. and he has been very critical of a lot of businesses during this crisis. But listen to the days he's talking about. The over under would be June 1st and I'm taking the under.

That hopefully by middle of May we're starting to get back to normal and the NBA is playing games. Maybe not with fans, but we're playing games because sports play such an important role. You know, people want something to cheer for. People want something to rally around. People want something to be excited about. And if the Mavs and the NBA in general can get out there and start playing games in May so that they're on TV. I mean, sports is what we need right now. And I think sports

will, you know, I think we're coming together as community, particularly in North Texas, but I think we need it. And I think the NBA is ready to play that role. To give you an idea of the basics being LeBron and the Lakers, if you take out Christmas Day, which is always the highest rated NBA regular season day, if you take that out, the 11 highest rated NBA game so far this year, 11 for 11, LeBron and the Lakers. They got a chance to win this thing. It will cover up some of the awfulness and the obstacles and the bumps and the crisis. Ten biggest grossing movies last year.

Movie theaters, last few years, people aren't going. They were all sequels or franchises. What do people like? What are the basics? What do we know? What do we put our arms around? What do we trust? What are we familiar with?

I think Mark Cuban knows it. You've got to get back. Whatever it is, modify it. Test everybody, but you've got to do everything you can to have a season. 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 like. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

This morning, the internet lost the team. mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered.

Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear 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, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free, our Heart Radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now.

What's up, guys? This is Cliver Taylor the Fourth. 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, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue of 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What?

Where's she at? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro, And I'm Kunky, his best friend and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1021 podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports.

And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We've paid so much attention to the Tom Brady side and the New England side of the Brady to the Buccaneers story. And most of it is because Tom Brady's the big brand and New England's been a dynasty. And Tampa Bay's always been talented in my lifetime, but sort of dysfunctional and bad at quarterback. And it's a quarterback league, you know?

And so we haven't paid a lot of attention to that. But Bruce Ariens was on the Dan Patrick show. And he was talking about the two quarterbacks. post James he was most interested in. It was just take everybody that we think might even hit the market, grade their entire year's work, some even into last year. And let's get a list of who we think would improve us over James. And we really went through about eight guys and came up with two.

Yeah, Teddy Bridgewater is the backup plan? Yes. It's a good plan to have there, Bruce. Yeah, it was amazing to think that those quarterbacks would all hit the market this year. but we were more than ready to try to work and fix James. Now, think about that. Teddy was the smallest quarterback available. May have the weakest arm.

Of all the foals, Cam, Jay – Teddy may have the weakest arm. Tom Brady is absolutely the least athletic. That's interesting. Why would he pick those two? I mean, Teddy doesn't throw the ball downfield. Brady can't move at all. That's interesting. Cam's bigger.

and stronger so is James. Nick Foles can really let it rip. Why? Oh, wait. They're the opposite of James. What Tampa is telling you, we got a lot of good players. If we just get a grown-up, gets through the playbook fast, doesn't turn it over, we don't need an athlete. We don't need a cannon. Tampa's telling you their coaches believe we got all sorts of players. We don't We don't need a superstar at quarterback. We need a guy that can distribute the ball to our scores. Now, Kansas City, teams will tell you, coaches will tell you what drives them nuts. Bruce Ariens is telling you, James drove him nuts, maturity, some maintenance, too many.

Turnovers, bad judgment. Bridgewater's the weakest arm available. I like him, but weakest arm. Brady's the worst athlete available. That's the two they wanted. Kansas City, when they got rid of Alex Smith, did the opposite. Kansas City had Alex Smith. He was safe and he was steady and he was accurate and he was a grown-up and he had very good judgment.

And Andy Reed and Brett Veets were telling you, you know what? We're going to go younger, looser, more mistakes, bigger arm. We think our players right now, the speed we have, the players we have were underachieving. We're going to take a guy that will groom. he's going to make more mistakes. He's not quite ready. He's sort of loose. He's a hit or miss guy.

But they told you what was driving them crazy about Alex Smith. He wouldn't let a rip. He wouldn't let it go. The Chicago Bears are telling you what drives them crazy about Trabiski by getting Nick Foles. Nick Foles is a let a rip guy. Average nine yards an attempt during the Super Bowl run. What they're telling you is Tribisky gets tight and won't let it. rip. Foles is a pocket guy. They're telling you, Trabisky's a good athlete, but he's not very good

in the pocket. Trabisky, Foles. Foles has actually been better in big games. They're telling you, we don't trust Trubisky in big games. They're telling you, too many of the analysts out there, well, Cam's better than Foles. No, no, no, no, no. The bears are telling you what drives them crazy about Trabisky. They wish he was better in the pocket. was more of a letter-ripped guy, is a guy that throws it, can throw it way downfield. Got a big old arm. And by the way, this is why Bridgewater to Carolina. Remember, when Teddy goes to Carolina, I said he's the opposite of Cam.

Carolina is telling you what drove them crazy about Cam. Teddy is focused. Cam's distracted. Teddy is accurate. Cam is not. Teddy doesn't make any mistakes. He'll get you in and out of problems pre-snap. Cam's not as good at that.

So don't get caught up in who's the most talented guy available. Teams will tell you, the Bears are telling you what drives him nuts about Trabisky. Andy Reid's telling you what frustrated him about Alex Smith. And Bruce Ariens is telling you, listen, we got players. We're just beating ourselves. Bridgewater and Brady never beat them. 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-Hard Radio app. My dad was an optometrist. I used to go on Saturdays with my dad to his optometrist office.

I've seen a lot of eyes in my life. But apparently my eyes are not as good as this anonymous NFL scout. He said, Joe Burrow, LSU quarterback. The interesting thing about him, when you look at his face, he reminds me of Peyton. You look into his eyes. You look deep into his eyes and you see the determination. Oh, really? That's funny because I see pupils. Apparently now a scout says you look at Joe Burrough's eyes and you see Peyton Manning.

Oki-dokey. Yesterday, Joel Clatt looked at Joe Montana's feet and said he's Joe Burrow. Joe Burrow reminds me of Joe Montana. When Joe Montana played the game, he played with a smoothness in his feet and a surgical approach mentally attacking the defense that at that point was beyond reproach. He had no peer at that point in the way that he played. Burrow is similar to that. He's so smooth. The basketball background, the absolute competitive nature that you see when he gets hit and bounces back,

the surgical nature in which he sees the weaknesses and the structures. defense and then he goes out and attacks him. I love Joe Burrow, man. Yeah, yeah. His eyes. I look at his eyes and I see Brady. I look at his eyes and I see Peyton Manning and Joe Montana. And there was this gem on the NFL network. Listen to this one.

The comparisons right now are you and Tom Brady. Die! Your response to that. Please don't compare me to the best player of all time. All right. Let me do my own thing. Don't do that to me, please. It's high praise.

though. It is. It is, but it's Tom Brady. Okay. Brady, Peyton Manning and Joe Montana. Those are the comps. Because I look into his eyes

and I see imagery. Oh, he's Peyton Manning. It could be Cooper Manning. You can't tell the difference. You've got to be kidding me. You guys are now all automatrists. All right. Junior year at LSU.

Peyton Manning, my bad, Joe Burrell. 16 touchdowns, 13 games. He threw two against Rice, two against Southeast Louisiana, and four against UFC. Bama didn't have one. Georgia didn't have one. Florida didn't have one. Eight touchdown passes against the SEC

with all those same players. By the way, Peyton Manning came into the league, inherited a Hall of Fame GM, Bill Pullian, by his second coach, Tony Dungey. had a Hall of Fame coach. Montana inherited Bill Walsh. Maybe you've heard of him.

Brady inherited Bill Belichick, Robert Kraft. Joe Burrow is inheriting the cheapest owner. They don't have a GM and Zach Taylor. Could be good, no idea. You don't think that's going to matter? I like Joe Burrow. He's a B-plus prospect. He's a really good kid.

He is a franchise quarterback. It's like I always said about Baker. He's a franchise quarterback. He's not number one. he's not a guy I would draft, but he's a franchise quarterback. Burroughs a way better prospect than Baker Mayfield. But he's not Elway. He's not Trevor Lawrence next year.

He's not Andrew Locke. He can't overcome that. And the other thing is, never forget this, when Peyton Manning came in the league with a Hall of Fame GM and a soon-to-be Hall of Fame coach, Tony Dungey, he came into the AFC East South. I think it was the AFC South now at the end, but it was AFC East, I think. it was mostly dysfunctional. Brady inherited the AFC East. As Joey knows, that's completely dysfunctional.

Joe Montana in the 80s had the New Orleans Ains, that's what they were called, the goofy Atlanta Falcons, and the hit and miss Rams. Joe Burrow is inheriting, in my opinion, the best roster in the NFL now in Post-Free Agency in Baltimore. Loaded.

Pittsburgh gets Big Ben back. and I think outside of San Francisco, they have the best young defensive front, young defensive front in the NFL, Pittsburgh. And I may trash Cleveland. But once they draft a tackle and a linebacker, they'll have a top six roster in the league. I'm dead serious.

I may bang on them all the time. Once they get left tackle solved, and once they get another linebacker, Cleveland is stacked. I don't know if Stavansky and coach, but their roster's great. Receivers, backs. tight ends, pass rushers, corners.

Cleveland's stacked. They need a lineback or a left tackle, probably somebody else in the back end. That division is the opposite. You've got Pittsburgh's never terrible. Tomlin's never had a sub-500 season. Baltimore is rarely bad. So you're talking about Joe Burroughs going to inherit a below-average owner, a sub-optimal head coach, in a brutal.

good division with two of the best ownership groups in the NFL, Baltimore and the Rooney family. Is anybody considering, again, we know this to be true. Where you land matters. This Joe Burrough stuff, people look at his eyes and they see Peyton Manning. You know what? I'm going to look into his eyes in October and you know what? I'm going to see with Joe Burrell. Fear.

Get me the hell out of here. He's going to be facing the Ravens and the Steelers and the Browns pass rushes, which will be three of the top five in the league. You're not going to see Peyton Manning. And if you're looking at his eyes and see Peyton Manning, he'll be Peyton-Lanning running for his life from the Ravens Pass Rush. Yo, my Lord. Hour to Emmanuel Sanders next.

I'm exhausted. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Emmanuel Sanders has been a total pro. He got drafted in the third round, which has always been remarkable about the NFL draft. Half the players are undrafted. Many of the stars are not top 10 picks. He starts with the Steelers, great career. Goes to the Broncos, productive.

Goes to the Niners, just the energy they needed on the perimeter. And now he's going to be a New Orleans saint, which I think makes them probably the favorite or co-favor. it in the NFC, and Emmanuel Sanders is joining us. First of all, congratulations. Boy, if you have to land somewhere, Drew Brees and Sean Payton are not a bad place to land. You're pretty excited? Yeah, I'm really excited. You know, to play in the dome and to play with Drew Breeze and Sean Payton's offense,

you know, obviously Michael Thomas or Almond Kumar in the back field, like, who wouldn't be excited, you know? And so I know that it's exciting sounds. I know on paper we look really good. But, you know, right now I'm getting ready to go outside and run because I know, you know, I know, you know, we got to put the work in order to attain what we want to attain. And I'm all in for it. You know, it's funny. I have some connections to the 49ers.

And I was talking to a person within the organization when you got there. And they said, you know, he's such a veteran that he figured the playbook out quickly. And for those who forget, you walked into the Niners. I think it was game one. You were productive. Why? Some guys can do it and some guys can't, Emmanuel. Why are you able to walk into a complicated offense and figure it out so quickly?

What is it about, I've heard this about Teddy Bridgewater. I've heard this about Randy Moss. Some guys, it's innate. Why did you adapt so quickly to the Niners complex offense? Yeah, I think pressure is something that you put on yourself. And how do you get rid of pressure is by preparing, you know, When I first got to the Niners, right when I touched down, 30 minutes later, Wes Walker is in my room.

We're going over to playbook. And, you know, I ended up studying like three hours that night and got to work at like five in the morning the next day. And that was my first practice. And from day one, I jumped in as a starter and was trying to get every single rap. And another thing that really helped me out as well as San Fran, as the quarterback's coach who was with San Francisco a year prior to me getting there, he was a lot of. the officer coordinator with the Broncos as well.

So a lot of the plays were kind of insane. I just had to figure out the terminology and how to line up in different ways that they call certain things. And so it was a way smoother transition for me than it would have been for other guys and trying to get a mid-season trade and pick up an entire playbook. Let's go back. Fourth quarter, minute 39 left. You beat your man badly down the field.

Jimmy Garoppolo lets it go. What are you thinking? And about what point do you realize, damn, it's going to be long. Give me your thoughts in that moment and the play. Yeah, I mean, I remember Kyle called post route, me and Jimmy connected with it at practice. And I was thinking, just here we go. Games on the line, men the left, just Super Bowl games on the line. I said, here's my moment right here.

I remember getting up on the quarterback's toes and beating him. I didn't even know it was a double team, but I saw the safety running, so I thought it was just quarters, but I come to find out it was the double team. It ended up beating the guys, and I see the ball in the air, and I'm like, go get it, go get it. And then probably about three or four steps after I saw the ball in the air, I realized it probably was a little too far, you know. So I just remember just trying to dig out and I really couldn't get to it. And the guy ended up tripping me and falling to the ground and clapping my hands. because I knew that was a legendary moment. I didn't notice the game was going to be over

and be determined on that play because we still, you know, we still had another opportunity. But, you know, but, yeah, it slipped. It went right through our hands, the entire, you know, the entire, you know, game right there was on the line. And so we didn't end up connecting, but it is what it is, you know, it just wasn't our time. And so credit to the Kansas City Chief,

you know, they're a Super Bowl champion of this year. But, you know, I'm looking forward to the New Orleans. trying to make it up. By the way, Gropolo gets a lot of heat. I defend him. I don't think he's Aaron Rogers or Russell Wilson or Mahomes, but I think he's a really good player. What does he do well that you like, and

what does he need to work on in your opinion? Yeah, I think the difference between Jimmy and the rest of those quarterbacks is if you're going to look at tape, he doesn't have as much film as those other guys. But if you do look at the film and if you do look at the games,

he's won games, you know? And so So, you know, before he got to San Francisco, I don't know their record, but I know once you got there, I think they won like six in a row. So you could say, you know, whatever, well, people could say whatever they want to say about the guy, but he's a winner. And you go and check out his win percentage. His win percentage is high. And that's no mistake. That has a lot to do with him and his leadership and his work ethic. Jimmy can go out and he'll throw two or three interceptions.

But if you look at him, you'll never know it because he just keeps coming at you. He's coming at you. You take a guy like that who really hadn't had that much ill-fair experience in terms of playing in games, and you give him a couple of years to keep working on their game and loving the game, how he loves it. I mean, I feel like a lot of people might take back the worst they're saying about it because as a right now, he's a proven winner. And his first year as a starter, this guy, really has his first year as a start of a full season. He took his guy all the way to the Super Bowl.

It was very close and being, you know, super Bowl. a Super Bowl champion. And so you can't discredit him for all that. Emmanuel Sanders, 11th season in the NFL, Steelers, Broncos, Niners, a Super Bowl chant with Denver, a two-time pro bowler, and a pros pro walks in, productive gets it. So the Packers were interested in you, and the Cowboys were reportedly interested in you,

and the Saints were the guys that land you. Take me through the process. You're talking perhaps to your agent. Did you think there was a moment you'd be a packer? or a cowboy? Green Bay sent over an offer. And it wasn't exactly what I had intended for it to be, you know. And so we were communicating with them back and forth.

But I don't know. Like, yeah, I just go by my heart and I just didn't see Green Bay. And I love the whole Green Bay Packers organization and its history and everything. I just didn't see me, you know, in Green Bay. You know, one thing that was important to me was really I wanted to go to an environment where I was happy. Happiness is everything. You know, once New Orleans called, and I'm from Houston six hours away and to be in the dome and be able to Drew Brees and being in New Orleans back down south, you know, and six hours away from my family. And just everything just worked out that way.

And it was a perfect situation for me. And that's what I was kind of waiting on. And so, you know, I see it as a blessing because, you know, it's a way. Free agency is not easy. You know, you think it's easy with, where a lot of teams, you know, they say, you know, prior to free agency, oh, yeah, they want you bad. But then, you know, once you get into negotiations with these teams, they really try to dumb down everything. And a lot of teams try to bring on my age and instead of talking about my production and a lot of teams try to bring up my height. And I'm like, all right, all right.

Obviously, you guys are trying to get me for the low, but you really insulting me because you want to talk about my age. Let's not talk about A. Let's talk about production. You want to talk about injury history. Let's not talk about injury history because I'm probably one of the only guys who started the season in the Hall of Fame game and went all the way to the Super Bowl and got traded mid-season and played 17 games. So I played the longest season that somebody could possibly be and I stayed healthy during all that. But again, you know, through the whole free agency process, you know, I was blessed to end up where, you know, where I really wanted. it to be with a good team, championship caliber team at the right finances.

So it ended up working out. Yeah, don't let anybody, all you point to is production. Hey, baby, I got gray hair, by the way. Then they want to tell me about how old I am I say, I don't know, Joy and I get good ratings. That's all I care about. It's all about production. By the way, you're a third round pick, and it's really interesting in this league.

Like in the NBA, after about the 10th pick, you kind of know. you run out of players. There's been the occasional 13th, 15th pick. The NFL is totally different. Half the league's undrafted. There are Hall of Famers all over this league that came in the third and the fourth round. I believe where you land in this league is very important. Tom Brady landed with Belichick.

Joe Montana landed with Bill Walsh. Peyton Manning landed with a Hall of Fame general manager and then got Tony Dungey. So you land with the Steelers. So if you go in the first round, maybe it's a lousy team at the top. How much do you think the Steelers initially going to a really good organization help craft your career and benefit you? I think it helps craft a lot. I came straight into a great organization, a team who's like two years removed from the Super Bowl

and a team in my first year that went to the Super Bowl. And if I was a high draft, it probably would have never happened. And so, God, blessed to have, you know, Hall of Fame quarterback and Ben Rossisberger, who, you know, who was hard, you know, who deal with, maybe, you know, hard on us. But, you know, I feel like we learned a lot, you know, from him and how to go about the NFL business and, you know, how to work and how to work hard and how to stay focused and how to stay locked in.

I think that really helped. And I think just my career alone, if you look at my career, you know, I read a stat that saying, you know, if we go to Super Bowl this year with New Orleans, I'll be the fourth player. to the first player in the NFL history to play on, playing for Super Bowl, the four different teams. And I thought that was amazing. And when I looked back on it,

because, you know, me going in a third round and the type of player, I've never really cashed out, like, huge, huge amounts of dollars. But if you look at it, I've always been one of those mid-tier guys who with fair money where I can go to great teams. And these great teams are going to Super Bowl. And so that's why I was able to go to Denver because, you know, signed a mid-range deal and another mid-range deal. And then I went to San Fran, which it was not too much money.

Now I'm in New Orleans because I'm at $8, you know, $9 to $10 million, which is a fair deal. And now I'm on a great team. So I take all of that and count it. And, you know, a lot of people, you know, they might see it another way, but I see it as a blessing because, you know, if you can get paid and you can win and you can go to Super Bowl, I think that that's a win-win-win-all. So, you know, I'm extremely blessed that, you know, I've been granted all these operations. Well, you know what? I just love talking to you. You and your cousin started a company called Fangage, which is actually in this social distancing world we now live in, at least temporarily.

People can connect with you through your company. Explain it to our audience. Yeah, so me and my cousin, which is like a brother to me, we grew up together. Literally, he was born a month apart. Literally, we grew up playing sports together. He was really like my brother. I moved in with him for like a year. His dad, which my uncle is pretty much my dad. We started this way, this app or this company called Fan Gage, because I love being in touch with the fans. Like I love dialogue with the fans.

You know, I've been the type to pick up a FaceTime call with fans on Twitter and always try to interact with him. We're trying to figure out a way to get autographed pictures to fans who can travel to meet their favorite celebrity, who might be in a different country who loves NFL football or loves their favorite celebrity, but they can't connect with their favorite celebrity somehow. So we've created this app in which you can upload a picture to it. And say, for instance, your favorite celebrity is having a signing that day, they can literally sign your picture.

And once they sign your picture and press in, that picture goes. straight through your phone and you get it from your favorite celebrity. And we even went in the details of having a video recording the entire time when your celebrity is doing a signing that he actually signed it. So you can actually see the video of your celebrity, your favorite celebrity or wherever you want,

signing your picture as well. And we just thought it was cool to be able to do that for the fans and for the celebrity as well, someone who probably doesn't even like to do signings in public or something like that where they can sit at home and sign autographs and communicate with their fans and make somebody's day. And so it's been going well for us. And I just think right now, you know, with the entire, how the nation is right now with the virus going around, I think, you know, in order for fan engagement, if you're a celebrity or whoever, or if a fan wants to reach out, I just think it's the perfect time for it. And so we're really pushing this thing for the fans and for the celebrities because we know time's hard.

but if we can keep the energy positive around America, I think that that will help the situation out a lot more as well. What a good, good guy. Fan Gage is the company. It's Emmanuel Sanders. You didn't have to come on. You got stuff to do in your life, but I think you really delivered for our audience.

We are huge fans. You over-delivered. You were better than I thought, and I had great hopes coming in. Good dude, productive as hell, and you're going to win a lot of games down in New Orleans. Take care of yourself and good luck going forward. All right. yourself as well, man. Thank you.

Want more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral

moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo's Slice Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear 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 Clivert 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 walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42. A rep. My mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021. And I'm Conky, his best friend and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1021 Podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA.

Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. NFL general managers are concerned that in this current environment, offseason activities, facilities closed, they will not have enough time to really dig deep. and get all the information they need for the NFL draft. Talk to the hand. Well, these days talk to the fist.

Give me a break. Every top GM in this league has film. You can do the interview thing, but the combine's done and the film's done. If you don't have the answers by now, you're not a good GM. I called a GM about 7,8. days ago, I think it was. I went to lunch with a current college football player. He knew Andrew Thomas, went to high school with him, the offensive tackle from Georgia. And we were just talking about Andrew and he said all these things about Andrew, family football, nice stuff.

I called a GM that needs an offensive tackle. I said, I've got some interesting information. I told him. He goes, yeah, that's exactly what our guys have. This was a week ago. here's the other thing about the NFL. It's a very transitional league. You don't really know if a guy can play until he's in the league. I'll give you an example. Let's take the 2015 draft. You're not going to believe these numbers.

Nine of the top 10 picks from the 2015 draft are now on different teams. None of the top 18 running backs from the 2015 draft are on the team that took them. Two of the 34 wide receivers are still with the same team from the 2015 draft. None of the seven quarterbacks taken in the draft are with the team that selected them. Are you hearing what I'm saying? You don't know if a guy can play until he's in the league. There's about 15 guys a draft. Every GM I talk to says the first 15, 16 picks are your best players.

After that, it's fit. You got about 17 guys a draft. that everybody's willing to pay first round money to. If you have pick 18, 19 and on until the beginning of the third round, they're all good players. It'll depend on the coach they get, the system they fit. There's only a handful of players per draft that can just kind of work. I mean, I'll give you an example. Chase Young is just going to work.

Jeff Okuda, cornerback. He's just going to kind of work. I mean, Zeke is just, Sequin Barkley. They're going to work. They can be a little better here, a little better there. Do the giant have a good offensive line? No, Sequin Barclay still works. Okay, most Andrew Luck was just going to work.

The Colts were a mess. It worked. Elway was just going to work. Marino was just going to work. So you don't know until a guy gets in the league if he can truly work. And those 2015 numbers are when they didn't have a coronavirus. And you had all the information. And virtually nobody, five years later, is with the same team.

If you don't, listen, this league is about a couple of things. Get a good head coach. get a star quarterback, and then protect him and get people that work with him. That's it. And that will ensure a higher percentage of picks working. If you have the right coach, hire a great coach, get a superstar quarterback, and then after that, protect him, get a good offensive line, and then just he'll ensure, he'll be the ultimate lubricator that a higher percentage of your picks work.

Because if you get the wrong quarterback, nobody looks good. And if you get Russell Wilson, everybody looks good. You get Patrick Mahomes. You know how many people that Aaron Rogers, he's made the Packers look like they're brilliantly run. I mean, they win the division, they get to the playoffs. They've been lousy on defense for most Aaron Rogers' career. Russell Wilson's old lines have been dreadful.

Patrick Mahomes overcomes defenses. Folks, get the quarterback right and the coach right. It's the best you can do at ensuring your draft picks usually. work. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where 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 Slic 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 acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What's up, guys? This is Clivert 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 42. Dude. Hey, Rhett, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clipper Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was hiring. You just understood. That's how personal again. Wow. Then after that, Game 7, Marquis come in to him,

he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.