The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Best of The Herd: Jul 24, 2019

Episode Date: July 24, 2019

 Colin talks about the constant distractions that are a part of having Ezekiel Elliott on your team.  He does not blame Aaron Rodgers' contract for the Packers having to cut a good veteran players but instead thinks it shows how good of a plan the team has.  Plus, FS1's Nick Wright gives Colin his top 7 NFL QBs entering 2019 and Cowboys reporter Jane Slater tells him that Dak and Zeke will both show up to camp on time  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 to her. 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. 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 SportsRodio.com or stream us live every day

on the iHeartredo app by searching herd. This is the best of the herd with Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports Radio. Ah, it's Wednesday. This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we are live in Los Angeles on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Last night I went to a dinner with a bunch of football coaches.

Joy Taylor, and it was as much fun as I can have. having a steak and talking to football coaches for two hours. That sounds like a good night. I spent some time sitting next to Mario Cristobal, Oregon football coach, who coached under Sabin, played under Jimmy Johnson, Miami guy, and his beautiful wife. I thought about you. We talked about Miami and how he grew up. I think he grew up near Little Ivana, which is where the baseball stadium is now.

Yeah, that's where Marlins Park is. Yep, yep. So it was a fun night for me talking football. It does, it does, it starts to smell different in about. three weeks, the grass, you can start smelling the grass, the fall's coming. I want to start with this. I've always believed this. You deserve the life you are willing to accept. They always say that about politics.

You deserve the candidate that the country elects. In America, you elect them, you deserve them, right? They all campaign. They all make their promises. We have like two years to think about it. are you in Dallas willing to accept Ezekiel Elliott's immaturity, his off-season maintenance? Because it's now officially it's part of him.

It's like moving to Alaska. They've got dark long winters. Okay. Moving to Hawaii. They get some storms. It can be really hot. That's part of Alaska and Hawaii. Part of Zeke is the court dates,

the judicial nonsense, the Vegas videos, the meeting with Roger Goodell. And Jerry Seinfeld used to have an old bit about when the bill should arrive at restaurants. And it reminds me of Ezekiel Elliott. Let me play the bit by Jerry Seinfeld on when you should pay at restaurants. Money, if you think about it, it's a very different thing before and after you eat. Before you eat, money has absolutely no value.

Do you know that you sit down at the table? You like the ruler of an empire. More drinks, more advertisers. We must have everything immediately. the greatest meal of our lives. Then after you eat, first of all, when you're really full, you can't remember ever being hungry,

ever in your life. You know, you got the pants open, napkins destroyed, cigarette butt and the mashed potatoes. You know, it's not really festive. They give you the check, we were like, what is this? I don't understand. People are always mystified by the check, aren't they? They start passing it around the table.

Does this look right to you? We're not hungry now. Why are we buying all this? fruit. So the premise of Seinfeld's joke is you should really pay before the meal, because that's when you really want the food. When you're stuffed,

you're always mystified. I got to pay now. That's how I feel about Zeke. In the season, week seven, fourth quarter on the road, trailing Philadelphia, four and a half to go, I need Zeke. Man, I want to pay for Zeke. I want to pay for Zeke.

The off-season stuff, he has no value to me. In fact, I think he's negative value. I think he's a distraction. And so when I look at Zeke, it comes down to, and my new name for him is TM Zeke. TM Zeke, are you willing to accept that? Because you deserve what you're willing to accept in life.

And these distractions going into a year where the Rams are loaded in the NFC, Green Bay is loaded, Chicago's loaded, Philadelphia is loaded. Are you willing to accept it? Because let's be honest about this. If DAC was as talented as Deshawn Watson, Andrew Luck, Russell Wilson, Patrick Mahomes, you wouldn't be perhaps having all these discussions.

The minute Kareem Hunt became a problem. Kansas said he's like, we don't need you. We got Patrick Mahomes. The minute the Seahawks got noisy, Pete Carroll's like, we don't need you, we got Russell Wilson. The reason the Patriots can bail on players, Dorel Revis, because they have Tom Brady. If DAC was more talented, you would be much less tolerant of the preseason nonsense of Zeke, which tells you probably that DAC is limited.

If you had Patrick Mahomes with this cowboy team, you would not feel beholden to Zeke. By the way, this is one of the things, the Rams. felt they had to give Gurley a contract because Jared Goff is very young. And they felt Jared Goff needed three years of development before he could be the guy they could have B running backs with. But with Jared Goff, now they feel like they need an A. Now Gurley gets hurt. The question is, is he an A?

But they wouldn't pay Gurley a year early on his contract if they had Drew Brees, Patrick LaHolmes, Russell Wilson. They wouldn't have to. This is why quarterback is so crucial in the NFL. If you have an A quarterback and there's about eight, you don't get trapped with nonsense. You don't become beholden to great players who are a headache. This is why Seattle can move off noise, Russell Wilson. Why Kansas City feels they can move off not only troublesome players, but good players,

D4, Justin Houston, Patrick Mahomes. because owners will always be a mixed bag. Some owners are very tolerant, Jerry Jones of players who make noise. Other owners, Seattle's group, not as tolerant. Paul Allen, the late Paul Allen. So it's funny when I look at TM Zeke, and I look at all this stuff. There's more talk today. He may hold out.

He's not holding out. Melvin Gordon, by the way, is for sure. But Zeke's got two years on this thing. This is why you got to get the quarterback right. because in season, Zeke feels worth paying the bill. Out of season, he absolutely does not, but the cowboys, to some degree, are trapped.

How much do you pay DAC? They're trapped. Let me shift to this. This is kind of breaking news. The Packers released Mike Daniels, who two years ago was a pro bowler. He's on the defensive line. Green Bay, this is freak out time.

Because the first thing everybody's going to to do is, wait a minute. We had to pay Aaron Rogers $35 million. Now we can't keep a pro-bowl defensive linemen. That is the consequence, right, of having a great quarterback. But let me defend Green Bay here and let me defend Aaron Rogers. Green Bay, this is a very New England move. Green Bay knew two years ago that they were going to have to pay Aaron Rogers 30-some million a year. and what did Green Bay do? They loaded up on the defensive side of the ball. They now have one of the youngest defenses in the NFL,

and I think it's going to prove to be one of the more talented within a year or two, allowing them to move off Mike Daniels. A very good player who last year had a foot injury at 30 years old, appears to have peaked, even though it was a pro bowler two years ago. This is exactly what New England does. Somebody's recently been a pro bowler. they may show some signs of age and New England cuts bait and they go to Tennessee or they go to the Jets and they get paid a lot and you're like, oh, boy, New England was smart. So the natural reaction today is, oh, Aaron Rogers' contract is why we have to get rid of Mike Daniels.

And the truth is, Green Bay has been planning these sort of moves and you're going to see more of them for the last two years. By the way, Kansas City with Patrick Mahomes, they know they're a year out from the Brinks truck. What did they do? D. Ford, let him go. Niners paid for him. Justin Houston, let him go. Colts paid for him. You got to get comfortable in the NFL, not the NBA, letting go of really, really good players.

You just got to get comfortable with it. And the minute you pay your quarterback $35 million, you better not get caught off guard. You better do what Kansas City is doing this past year with D. Ford and Justin Houston. You better do what Green Bay just did. Don't blame Aaron for this. This has actually been planned for two years. This is a really good sign by the Packers, who I thought for years didn't really have a game plan with Aaron. They never gave him a good running game.

The defense was always averaged to below average. This is a well-run franchise. moving off a 30-year-old, very good player, still serviceable. Somebody will pick him up. Only played 10 games last year, and they got Roshan Gary from Michigan. They've got all these young defensive players. Two years ago, they started drafting defense. Joey and I have talked about this.

They went crazy in the draft. All defensive players for this move. It's very savvy and very smart, and Mike Daniels will be fine. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days of seven days of week within the iHeart radio app search heard 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

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And for more, follow Timbo SlicLife 12 in 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, or 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, our heart radio app.

Search learn the hard way and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever 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 wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to the Clippers 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, and our podcast Point Game is about defying the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves,

I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night bases on offense.

And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball, like, After you go through a training camp with that, I said, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball.

So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Ion Williamson, played for Duke. Now he's a Pelican. You know I love this kid. Played nine minutes of summer league, and that was enough to get him a $75 million shoe deal. I love him. I think he's relatable. I think he's going to be the face of the NBA.

I think LeBron's aging. Hawaiian Anthony Davis don't talk much. Hardin's game is not that likable. Janice is fascinating, but it took us about five years to learn who he was. Now he plays in Milwaukee, more of a team guy. Embed's fascinating, but will he win enough and will his body last? Ben Simmons, again, not a real true score the way we like our scores to be. And Steph, a lot of people, he's just not physically dominant, and we like our athletes,

Tiger, Jack Nicholas, Brooks Kepka. We like them to be big and dominating. and strong and Zion is all that and I could not be happier. But I do think NFL players look at this and think $75 million. I get hit all day. My league is the most popular. My league, our Pro Bowl gets double the ratings of even NBA playoff games. Our Pro Bowl.

And NFL guys are like, we make more, we make less money, we don't have the guarantees, we get cut. In fact, when Zion signed the deal, DeAndre Hopkins, arguably, the best receiver in the NFL said, you all think top NFL players deserve a top NBA player contract? He asked the question. I think we know what he was insinuating. The reality is this.

When you choose football, just like a lot of jobs, if you want to be a school teacher, you know you'll probably, unless you play powerball, not be rich. But you're joining somebody's life at 8, 9, 10 years old, and you will be part of the fabric of a young person's life. Football is similar. You're joining a brotherhood. You're joining a union.

it. The NFL is a massive pond, and it's almost impossible to be a big fish. When Tom Brady retires, the NBA ratings will not miss a tick. Farve left. Peyton Manning left. Tebow Keman left. Didn't matter. Michael Jordan left.

NBA ratings dropped 50%. Magic saved the league. Michael made it global. LeBron made it mobile. We don't think of the NFL in those terms. The downside to being part of a giant machine like the NFL is, you become a part, a lug nut,

and you generally become incredibly replaceable. So NFL players look at their dominance of their industry as a strength, and it actually becomes a weakness, a liability. Zion is worth every penny, with LeBron aging, Kauai and Anthony Davis quiet, M. B'd, maybe doesn't physically make it, Hardin's game, not really ever going to be the face of the league,

this likable, smiling, flashy, exuberant, relatable to a large degree, giant of a 19-year-old. Listen, Baker Mayfield may change Cleveland. He'll not change the league. Zion can help elevate the entire league. Now, the downside to that, and the downside to being a young NBA star, there's a lot of pressure. Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA, acknowledges a lot of our stars are unhappy. It's the great duality of life with the Big Shoe contracts,

With the worship among 17-year-old kids worshiping Zion and worshiping KD and worshiping staff comes enormous pressure and social media criticism and outrage if you don't deliver on the promises. But there's a reason NFL guys don't make NBA player money and that Zion has played nine minutes

and got $75 million. He's worth it. Most NFL players in the big machine are simply not. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. He is the co-host of First Things First. He's my friend, sometimes my arch nemesis. His name is Nick Wright, and he is joining us via the Coward Global Satellite Network. Let's start with the Giants and Odell Beckham. I know you have a relationship with Odell Beckham, and you have talked not infrequently.

I do think he works in structures that are solid. I thought New England would work. I, you know, Kansas City, I think he could work if Tyreek Hill left. What do you make of the giant situation, him talking about being disrespected? How did that land for you? Well, I thought it was odd timing. And then you're right. I talked to O'Dell actually about this yesterday. And the first thing he brought up was that timing is everything.

He did this interview a few months ago shortly after he had been traded when it was still raw. Okay. It then posts now when he's looking ahead to what's going. on with the Browns. Listen, you can call it a gift or a curse. It's probably a bit of both. Odell Beckham Jr. is going to answer the question he is asked, even if it's better for him to zip it. And he thinks honesty is always a defense when in team sports, especially the strict, almost militaristic culture of the NFL, honesty is not always a defense. And so, like, in that interview, he gave some of the most profound and evolved. And I would have to be a

argue important answers on athlete sexuality and his own sexuality. I've ever heard an NFL player give, but it's lost in the wash because he also said, I thought about retiring, but also I'm going to break Jerry Rice's record and screw the Giants. And so, like, he can't get out of his own way in some regards. With all that said, he's going to be one of the most three most productive receivers in football this year. Baker's the best quarterback he's ever had. This is the the best team he's ever been on, and he's going to be awesome. So I don't know how much any of that's actually going to matter in a couple of months. Yeah, I agree with all. I think his production is going to be absurd. I do think he and Landry, it'll be interesting to see how they divvy up the

catches they have in Joku at Tideen, who's also remarkable. So a lot of mouse to feed, but I do agree if you're a fantasy football player, you know, I'd have a lot of Cleveland Brown's offensive players on it. I don't disagree with that. So the athletic came out yesterday with a list of their best quarterbacks. They had eight. And I had, I didn't disagree with any of them. So I hear you have your seven best guys in the NFL. What is your, give me your, your galaxy, your top seven. Okay. So this is one, this is for the 2019 season. All right. This is not based on what guys have accomplished in the past, none of that. So number one is, of course, Patrick Mahomes, who's the best quarterback in football right now. And number two is a rejuvenated Aaron Rogers with a new head coach, the most talented quarterback in

football. Number three, Drew Brees, maybe his last best chance to win a league MVP. Russell Wilson, your guy and my guy, Russell Wilson, the most underrated and disrespected player in the league. Five Tom Brady, we've seen a little bit of deterioration each the last couple years, but unbelievable in the clutch and still one of the five best quarterbacks in the league. And to his credit, he's age 42. At age 42, no other quarterback would be in the top 500. He's in the top five. Number six, Andrew Luck, who you were right on, I was wrong on. I don't say that often, but I was wrong about Andrew Luck.

He was hurt. He wasn't bad. And number seven, your guy, my beloved Baker Mayfield. Now, Big Ben fans, Philip River fans, Matt Ryan, fans are going to be mad. If it was a top 10, they'd be in there. Top 7s are more precise. I don't like top 8 being elite. That's a quarter of the league.

Let's have some real exclusivity here. There's your top seven. Aside from Baker, what could you possibly argue with there? It's a perfect list. I like Matt Ryan more than Baker at this point. I do like Big Ben, although the criticisms of him are absolutely fair. His precision is hit and missed, and there's some leadership issues that cannot be denied. I don't have Baker in my top 10, but I have him in my top 15.

So you have him a little higher. I don't, I am. Carson Wentz, you don't have him anywhere, Deshawn Watson? Well, here's the thing. This is, you're like the NBA fans that are like, here's my top five players in the league. here's 11 guys. Okay, so take Baker out of it. Of those top six guys,

if you want Big Ben, Matt Ryan, Carson, wins, any of those in the top six, who you're taking out? Let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. You can start your franchise tomorrow. Deshawn Watson Baker Mayfield.

No, no, no. You'd take Baker over to Sean Watson. Baker. I would not. Absolutely. Have you watched? Is your TV working? I worry.

I know, listen, and I used to live in Houston. I covered Deshawn. Here's the thing. Both remarkable players in college, both winners in college, to show him one on a slightly higher level, Baker had better statistical production. I just, I, every person I've ever met that has spent time with Baker Mayfield,

well, every person except for maybe one person I've met that spent time with Baker Mayfield has come away from it saying, my God, the guy just has this it factor, this the charisma just it's effusive and I think that matters at the quarterback position also we're not in a vacuum and Bill O'Brien is going to get

Deshawn Watson killed I mean they haven't been able to build an offensive line there for three years they weren't able to this year either I really do like Deshawn I think the AFC with Mahomes, Baker Deshawn and now all of a sudden elder statesman Andrew Luck

once Brady Rivers and Big Ben finally let go of the reins. The AFC is going to be in good hands. And hey, that team with the Jets, Darnold, he might go eight and eight one day as well, which will make you happy. So there's a bunch of really good young quarterbacks out there. Let's shift to the Dals Cowboys, Ezekiel Elliott. I'm calling him now TM Zeke.

I find in the off season, I don't want to pay him. I find in week eight against the Eagles trailing in the fourth quarter, I do want to pay him. Could I make the argument that if DAC was as talented as a person, Patrick Mahomes, a Russell Wilson, that you could let Zeke go. But some of the reasons the Cowboys put up with the nonsense is they still don't know what they have with Dak. A hundred percent agree. This is spot on, and this is why the Cowboys, I fear for Cowboy fans, are about to make

a franchise changing wrong decision, which is paying Dak because of his position rather than Zeke because of his greatness. The reason Zeke's so important is because your quarterback is limited. When the best things you can say about a quarterback is he's always out there, that's the old, oh my gosh, let me tell you about their personality, important, but maybe not the selling point. And so DAC is good enough in this league with a great offensive line, a very good wide receiver, a great running back, a good defense. you're not going to be able to have all those things once you pay him $30 million a year. Right.

And it looks like with Wintz getting 32, that's what he believes he's in the running for. That's why I think this year is the golden window of opportunity for the Cowboys. This is the last year they're going to have all this talent because once Zach, I'm sorry, Zach, Zeke, Dak, and Amari all get paid, plus probably Byron Jones, then all of a sudden you're going to be pairing away at the defense. Maybe one of those offensive linemen gets traded. and then you're like everyone else. Top heavy, not as talented guys 15 through 40. And this year they'll be fine

because they can borrow from Peter to pay Paul, but eventually those cap hits start coming. I think the Cowboys can be awesome this year. I don't want to say despite Dak, but with Dak being a passenger, I don't know that he's ever going to be the driver of the train, but he's about to be, or conductor of the train, he's about to be paid like he is.

Yeah. I want to wrap it up with Zion. signing with the Jordan brand. I do see a lot of NFL players. You know, you go to Twitter, you go to social media, and baseball guys get 12-year contracts, and then basketball guys, 18-year-old guys get shoe deals. And the NFL guys are saying, look at our league,

look at our popularity, look at our ratings, look at our commerce. But my takeaway is Zion could change the league. Sam Darnold and Baker could just change New York and Cleveland. I think he's worth every penny. What say you? Yeah, listen, this is, I, NFL guys are smart. I understand in the moment people see numbers and jealousy comes about, or a lot of these guys maybe thought they could have been NBA players,

but this is just simple math. There's five times as few as many players in the NFL. Like, so the contracts are going to be different, even if the NFL generates more money, it doesn't generate five times the revenue. The NBA superstar is the most very, value commodity in sports. The only thing in the NFL or person in the NFL, I should say, that comes close to it, are star quarterbacks and they get paid like NBA superstars.

But this is when one league has 50 guys a team and another league has 10, the league with 10 is going to pay guys way more. And when one league has guys who wear helmets and face masks and get fined for celebrating, and the other league, the game, the game, the game, the guys is going to pay guys way more. And when one league has guys guys who wear helmets, guys wear jerseys and are allowed to be charismatic and you encourage their personality. Well, guess what? They're going to be able to be more marketable. They're going to be able to make more money. One of the only guys in the NFL that makes NBA player money off the court is Odell and you've got anonymous coaches saying he sucks. You've got people in New York calling him a cancer because the culture of the NFL wants to strip individuality. If people think

that's good or bad, that's for their own discussion. But it's a lot. But it's a culture of the NFL. it's going to always mean that Zion Williamson will be far richer than Jedevian Clowny. That's what it guarantees from day one. And the only thing NFL guys can do is teach their sons to dribble instead of tackle because it's not changing. That's funny. Nick Wright, who just looks fantastic in the New York summer, the heat wave I've been told is over. Enjoy the next month until football starts, my friend. Thank you. You as well. Good to see you. Colin, good to see you, Joy. Have a great rest of your day.

What's up, everybody? John Middlecock here from the Three and Out podcast, brought to you by the Colin Coward Podcast Network. You like Colin's show. You'll like mine. I'm talking all football. Used to scout in the league. Now I talk about it for a living. Why I missed on Christian McCaffrey, why I'm already red flagging Vic Fangio. And what I think of the Tyreek Hill, no suspension. Again, John Middlecop, that's me, podcast. three and out. Go subscribe. All right. So this is kind of funny. People will freak out about this. It's kind of funny. I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't recommend to my player if I was an agent to do it.

But Jalen Ramsey has got two years left in his contract. He's a very good player. But like Zeke, he can be noisy. And he's two years out. And he wants a new contract with Jacksonville. And so this morning, he showed up in a brink's truck. Here it is. They're going to give him his own jail called Jalen County. because these receivers are on 24-hour lockdown.

If you check his pocket, he got eight master locks in his pocket. The mirror. I know what it is. It's time to get this money, money. Listen, if you put that much effort into it, I got to give you props for the effort. I thought it was subtle. Okay, so here's the thing. You would think at a hospital, everybody went to medical school, everybody's got their degree,

everybody gets paid similar, but they don't. The radiologist gets rich, the brain surgeon gets rich, the anesthesiologist gets rich, the back surgeon can get rich. But the pediatrician and the family doctor, not so much. Now, why do you pay them? They both have medical degrees, and they're both introducing life. They're both saving life, right? Well, the difference is difficulty, level of risk, percentage of your career that's specialization. An anesthesiologist makes a mistake.

Somebody dies. A brain surgeon makes a mistake. Somebody dies. A pediatrician drops a baby, inappropriate, but probably lives. In the end, that hospital has a wide gap on what you pay people based on difficulty, specialization of skill, level of risk. What do you pay a cornerback? Jacksonville already pays one of their quarterbacks a ton.

What do you pay a cornerback? Philadelphia Eagles won a Super Bowl. They didn't have a corner on the roster that made a million dollars. Now, New England does pay Stefan Gilmore but won't pay a second corner. What do you pay a great corner? I'll give you an example. I've always talked about how I would build my football team. And it's changed a little bit through the years.

I would pay my quarterback most, my left tackle second, my edge rusher third, unless I had Aaron Donald. Then I would switch defensive tackle four to three. That's just an individual player. If I had Aaron Donald, I'd pay him above an edge rusher. I put edge defensive tackle four. I put cornerback at five, center at six, wide receiver at seven. But a lot of people put wide receiver now because of the rule changes above corners. I'm a big fan of offensive lines and quarterbacks.

Here's the question. I'm willing to pay one quarterback, one left tackle, one edge rusher, one defensive tackle. I'm not paying two corners. And Jacksonville's already paying one a lot and he's excellent. and you're two years out, and this is a bunch of noise. So here's another example like Zichiel Elliott, where you may have the first or second best player at his position in the league. But I'm not paying two corners.

The NFL's not the NBA. You have to get very comfortable moving off really great players. John Gruden was very comfortable moving off Khalil Mack. His takeaway was, I can get two first rounders, a second rounder. I want to rebuild the culture. the franchise in the locker room. So Jalen Ramsey is another player. I'd move off him if

I was Jacksonville. A lot of noise, two years out, I've already got an elite corner. I can't pay him. This is not the NBA. If he's the NBA, I want to pay Steph and Clay and Durant. I'm not letting any of them go if I have a choice. Here, I'd let your best

corner go because my second best corner is going to be much less and he's still really, really good. And now, now I will say Jacksonville historically is what I would call a low self-esteem franchise. And sometimes, you know, Cleveland, Buffalo, Jacksonville, when you have a history of losing, you often feel that you have to pay the rare star you have. But since Jacksonville drafted Jalen Ramsey, they're 18 and 30.

That's what they are. So you got to be careful who you pay. This is another example with Jalen Ramsey. I would move him. There's a very good team or two out there willing to. to pay, get picks, you've got corners, you're now paying Nick Foles. The way I look at sports, quarterback, left tackle, edge rusher, DT, corner, center, receiver. I can't pay two at any of those positions, big money.

Now, Cleveland has decided to pay Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham, so they could prove me wrong. They could absolutely prove me wrong. Cleveland said, we're going to pay two receiver star money. I mean, New England doesn't pay anybody star money at that position. Now, Cleveland argument is we're not paying our quarterback anything, where Jacksonville now has to pay Nick Foles, so I can't pay two corners. So once again, the theme on this over the last week has been, be careful who you pay for in the NFL.

Get comfortable letting great players go. Never let him go in the NBA if you have a choice. Football, sometimes you let them walk. There's always a taker. Nick Foles, Philadelphia is like, thanks for winning. It's a Super Bowl. Thanks for flying United. Jacksonville's like, we don't like our quarterback.

We'll pay you. There's always a taker on the market. And Jalen's a lot better than Nick Foles at his position. Not really close. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Jane Slater. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in 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, 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.

Hey, ref. My mom won't want you. to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam?

It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca.

And Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night bases on offense.

And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get the flying. He run up the court licking his finger. is why he got the ball. Like, after you go through a training camp with that, I said, you figure it out real quick.

Oh, yeah. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It has been covering the Dallas Cowboys for the NFL network for a long time, based in Dallas, Texas, which is where you are when you cover the Cowboys. Jane, follow her on Twitter at Slater NFL.

She's part of the NFL networks inside the training camp live coverage. Starts tomorrow. through August 7th, every day at 10 a.m. Easter, it's an absolute pleasure to meet you. Thank you. Let's start with the obvious stuff. Do you think Zeeke shows up to camp? I do. And here's why. I know that there's been these media reports out there that he's anticipating a holdout. But in talking to my sources inside the building, they don't anticipate that he's going to do that. I think this is his management, making sure that he's part of the conversation, because we're talking about Amory Cooper and Dak Prescott's contract. But here's what I know about Zique. This is my fourth season.

with the NFL network, we came in at the same time together. I saw him go through all of that with the commissioner and the six-game suspension. He would still show up to practice, put his head down, and get to work. And I think he respects his teammates. His teammates respected him the way that he stepped up in that leadership role last year. I don't think that this comes down to him holding out and staying away from his team. That's just not what I've seen from him and not what I'm being told from inside the building. So you got into the Cowboys pre-Dack Prescott.

There's been a lot of questions about what they pay them, but let's get down to the human part. Do you believe in that locker room that Dallas Cowboy players believe in DAC? Absolutely. And I think that's the main reason. You know, when Tony Romo came back from the injury, he wasn't even allowed to compete for his job. A lot of people didn't realize that or remember that. Because his retirement speech, wasn't it impromptu? It was an impromptu speech that I was told not a lot of people were privy to.

So they were as equally shocked that he was passing the torch on that some felt that wasn't his torch to pass necessarily. And so the fact that they, this was a guy that a lot of people also don't remember it was Tony Romo, Kellyn Moore, Jamil showers, who now plays on defense, and then Dak Prescott. So the fact that they saw something in him so early

and weren't willing to bring back a guy like Tony Romo who had such an emotional attachment to that front office as well as that locker room, to me said a lot about who Dak Prescott is as a guy. And if you see him, they do these captain retreats where they go fishing, he hanged, out with these guys. It's all about dominoes. He is, the one thing I will say about

DAC is none of this has faced him. He has completely unchanged. I have not seen a difference in him from four-string DAC to franchise guy with the star in his helmet. Yeah, DAC is one of the, you can tell a lot about a person you become your

personality. Aaron can be a little condescending, Aaron Rogers, and sometimes he led the NFL in throwaways, which can be a little dismissive of the coaching staff. Brady is willful and focused. and that's how he plays. Dak's a grown-up. He walked into this league, like, I would say,

like Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson, and you put him in front of a mic, and he takes all the arrows, and he's a grown-up. I mean, Dallas had this anthem controversy, and Dak stood up and said, I'm with my owner on this, and that's a hard thing to do in today's social media.

Lost in all the cowboy talks and contract is Jason Garrett. Jane, do you feel, Dallas, Jerry doesn't like to fire coaches. He usually gives him a year more than the public or media would. Is there pressure on Garrett this year? He used to like to fire coaches, if you remember early on. Yes. But what works for him with Jason Garrett, and I say this to everyone who doesn't cover this team

and who isn't really on the inside, players talk to me pretty freely. And not one of them has ever lost faith in Jason Garrett. Say what you will about him. he is consistent in the way he delivers his message and the way that he expects players to respond. And so until he loses that locker room, I still feel like the seat is lukewarm. You know, we keep talking about it's the hot seat. It's the hot seat. I do think that this year it's a little bit warmer than before, but I also think he can also point to the fact he's got Kellynmore and John Kittna now in that offensive position.

Now, I will tell you there's a lot of optimism about this new offense. There's a lot of optimism about John Kittna. There's a lot of optimism about Kellen Moore. They're dressing things up differently pre-snap. That's what we've been seeing. And then what we love about John Kittna so far is Dak Prescott's looking like a different quarterback. Where he struggled was his mechanics in the pocket.

It wasn't so much when he was making the loose place. Yeah, by the way, that's why his accuracy concerns me is that as mechanics go, Matt Stafford has this problem. Mechanics go, accuracy goes. Right. Well, John Kittner was all about preaching the footwork. This is where your elbow goes. this is where your foot goes.

And I was told as recently as yesterday, Dak Prescott was up there working out with guys like Michael Gallup and Jason Witten. And so there is this excitement. It seems like his confidence has grown a little bit more. I will just point out that Scott Linehan, there was a lot of frustration with him for the last couple of years. Des Bryant was the first one to sound the alarm.

Then it was Bryce Butler, Terrence Williams, Cole Beasley, all who are no longer in Dallas. But everyone that I've talked to has told me that Kellyn Moore is incredibly inclusive and John Kittness sort of the Kellan schemes it up Kellyn that John Kittness essentially make sure that it's implemented.

So it's an interesting dynamic, but again to answer your question, if there's a better coach out there that Jerry thinks he can go get, I think he makes the move, but until you present that coach to me, I don't see them moving on from Jason Garrett. Jason Witton, why bring him back? What's the, what's the MO there?

And I was told inside the building they were a little split on this because they like seeing the development of a guy like Blake Jarwin. Blake Jarwin was a guy that was on the practice squad. The Eagles wanted. They kept him around. And if you watch that regular season finale against the Giants, he had the three touchdowns. They love seeing where that was going. And their concern

is Jason Witton never came off the field. Jason, what I respect about him is he knows his role coming back. He doesn't have the same locker. That's Zach Martin's now. He says he doesn't have his parking space. But he said he still felt like there was gas left in the tank. And I was back there and I think it was March.

Scott Hanson from NFL Network was visiting Dallas and said, I know you don't want to go up to the facility on your day off, but I want a tour of the star in Frisco. So I took him up there and at the training table in March was Jason Witten with his iPad, his book, just ready to go. And so I think bringing him back is going to be good in the sense that he's going to help coach up the young guys. He's going to be your Y option threat.

He's a blocking threat while we still have some of these questions about the offensive line. But I think you're going to see him nurture and help develop some of those tight ends. and that's a good thing. You were the first to report, if I recall, DAC was not willing to take a pay cut. That was you, right? James Slater joining us for our radio audience. A reporter NFL network lives in Dallas.

Dallas Gerbil, Dallas Young Lady, by the way. That's where you're born and raised. Good for what a job for you. Way to go. Seahawks were never interested in me despite my Seattle heritage. Good for you. So you reported that. When you talked, did you talk directly to DAC on that?

Sources on it. Okay, sources. Do you sense there's any growing animosity? Money changes people. Money conversations. You ever talk to money with your parents, your dad, your boss? There's a respect thing, 100%. You didn't feel that.

I'm not getting that sense. And again, that goes back to, I think Todd France's agent and his team are trying to get him what he deserves. I mean, if you look at Carson Wentz and what he got paid, you could argue DAC has done more and been more durable in his time in Dallas. There's no question about that. So we start with Carson Wint's contract. I don't think he's asking for anything outside of 36 million,

but I think he's looking in the $30 to $32 million range. And when you look again at Carson Wentz, this is on the Cowboys. They should have gotten this deal done earlier if they wanted the hometown discount. But I was told that they are optimistic and hopeful that this contract gets done at training camp. Do Romo and Dat get along? It's my understanding they get along. I wouldn't say that they're best friends or go out in Dallas, but they're also at different points in their lives.

I mean, Tony's got, what, three kids now? He's married. Dach's still young. I think that's why it was so easy for him to gel with this locker room. Things change as you get older. You have different responsibilities. There's a different dynamic. I don't know there to be any animosity there,

but I don't know them to be the best of friends, if that makes sense. No, I think it totally does. It's very abrupt. I don't think Brady would be best friends with anybody that replaced him regardless of it was an injury or non-injury. Look at Aaron Rogers and Brett Favreve. It's difficult. It took a little bit.

Absolutely. Even Nick Foles and Carson Wend. It's kind of an uncomfortable conversation. Jane Slater is here. Cowboys training camp begins July 26 in Oxnard, California. By the way, you've got tons of information. You're incredibly well connected, and it's great to have you on the show. When you go to camp with the Cowboys,

so I've never been to their camp, but I hear about Jerry holding court at No Boo in Malibu. Jerry is the ultimate storyteller. Of all your work at the NFL Network and covering, what's a cowboy camp would Jerry like to cover? Is it intense? Is it chill? What's it like?

Jerry is probably one of the most dynamic people I've ever been around. I always tell people who reminds me of Walt Disney. You were an ESPN employee. So remember we go through rookie boot camp and I remember studying about Walt Disney when we were there. And he is in inmatic that way in the sense that he is sort of the Imagineer. And it's when he wants something or believe something, he speaks it into existence. And he does have this way of spreading optimism when you're around him. So as a reporter, you're always, you try to be careful with that, right?

Like, what is optimism? What's the truth. What I think I've always respected about him is the way that he treats the players and the way the players revere him moving forward. They do. They do because he looks at them as sort of family. And I appreciate them. You saw that with, I mean, even Des and Jerry, when all of that went south,

it was, Des felt that he could just call up Jerry and talk to him. And I thought that was neat because you don't always see that in a lot of organizations. but probably the best part of training camp as a reporter is this private party he puts on at Nobu. All the reporters get to come. He serves you appetizers and drinks. And sometimes you get the celebrities that show up. There's always celebrities at camp. So it's just, it's different.

When you go to other training camps, there's just nothing like it. I appreciate the fact that it's going to be that I'll be a part of this footnote of history with Jerry. You know, the offensive line has been the centerpiece of this organization for years. It is now getting older. It's very expensive. and there's more injuries. My sense is outside the organization. We're talking about young pieces,

but the concern in the building is that offensive line going forward. Do you sense that? I think there's obvious question marks. Travis Frederick with Gianne Barre last year came out of absolutely nowhere. Nowhere. You know, he had started with the Stinger at camp. Then we're hearing he doesn't have feeling in his hands and feet, which of course is important when you're the center of an offensive line.

And then he told me that he felt that he could have played at the very, very tail end of the season. Oh, so he did. He did. But he said that they wanted to obviously be careful with it. And then what he did was he never actually walked away from the team. He was on the sidelines all of last year. He took on sort of a coach hybrid role. He was always in the classroom.

He was intimately involved in Joe Looney's development, who I would submit that Joe Looney did a pretty good job at center last year. Yeah. But at least now you've got a lot of depth there at that position. They're sort of moving him guard tackle. I've been told he's been putting on some weight. I don't know if that translates into making him a better player. Tyrant Smith, we saw that he was breaking down a little bit last year. The way that they're addressing that is these veteran days off at camp and OTAs.

The Rams have done that. The Rams have taken a much less daunting camp. So Dallas is doing that to their older old. They've done that for a while. I mean, Sean Lee, Jason Whitten, Tyrant Smith, Zach Martin, Travis Frederick have always sort of fallen in that category. Sure. Well, what a pleasure to meet you. By the way, one of my producers found this picture from us from the Super Bowl in New Orleans a few years ago. The discouraging part is I look so dynamic at that point and I have just fallen apart. Look at me. Well, there's a story

behind that, Colin. I was a big fan of you and Michelle Beatle on your show. And so I had a sports talk show in Dallas, Elfin Slater. And of course, that's morning. So morning shows are always rough at Super Bowl. As you know, I believe this was after the media party. So was I nice? You were incredibly nice, but I'm pretty sure I just grabbed you and said, I want a picture and can you join my show? And of course, you were busy that day. So I appreciate the fact that I'm here today. But yeah, I pulled that picture up from six years ago. And here we are.

Here we are. Follow her at Slater NFL. Jane's going to be on the NFL Networks inside the training camp coverage live. Starting tomorrow, this is just great stuff through August 7th, each day at 10 a.m. We'd love to have you on again before camp closes. Come on down here. It's great seeing you. Great meeting you.

Thanks so much for helping me on. 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 Slica Life 12 in the TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. 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 acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform?

We do some retirement homes. We perform. 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 Clever 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, A, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office, Blue, 42. Hey, Brett. My mama want you to wave at her. What?

Where's he at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, 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 funny. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow.

Then after that game seven, Marquis come in to you, 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.