The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Cam Newton, Patriots, where Colin was right & wrong

Episode Date: June 29, 2020

Colin talks about Cam Newton signing with the Patriots, why it won't have a huge impact, why he feels New England is a shady team, and where he was right and wrong over the weekend. Guests include Albert Breer, Geoff Schwartz, Aaron Jones, and Chris Hogan. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Ah, here we go. It is a Monday. We've got real NFL news live in Los Angeles. This is the hurt. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we're on IHeart Radio, we're on Fox Sports Radio, we are on FS1, one hour from now. One of my better Colin Wright, Colin was wrong. That is one hour from now, top of next hour.

Albert Breer later this hour from a New England perspective on signing Cam Newton. And Joy Taylor is joining me in a Monday. Joy, how are you? I'm great. Wow, that was a little news to get in the middle of the afternoon yesterday. It's more interesting than Jared Stidham with the Patriot. I think I yelled a little bit. It's more interesting.

It's wild. Yeah, it's fun. I mean, we've said this before. I don't remember a time in my life where the NFL's had more different types of quarterbacks, the big strong, the small runaround, the pocket guy, the old guy, the young guy, New England's going to be interesting. Now, I don't think Cam's going to take New England to a special place. And here's five or six reasons why. Number one, it's a very complicated system, and he has not taken a snap in it.

Number two is he's not going to get all the snaps. Jared Stidham is going to get a lot of snaps. Tom Brady wouldn't let his backup have snaps. Jared Stidham's got fans in that long. soccer room. Fans on that coaching staff. He's going to get some snaps. Number three is Dante Scarnackia, the best offensive line coach in the last 20 years retired. And I don't think this is a great offensive line. Number four is New England doesn't have any deep threats. I mean, one of the things about Cam, he's a home run hitter. You can not like Cam all the time.

He's not the most efficient guy, but he's a home run hitter. They have no deep threats. Number five is they don't really have a workable tight end. Tight ends. They drafted a couple. tight ends generally struggle in the NFL first year. It's just one of those positions. The blocking assignments are difficult. The offenses are more sophisticated. Let's be honest. This offense is built for like Brady. It's built for efficiency and detail. There are no two play drives. This is a 10 play drive, 11 play drive, don't make a mistake. You know, efficiency detailed. They don't have any game breakers. I mean, Patrick Mahomes doesn't have to be great with details. He's going to get some cheap home runs with that offense between Andy Reid's schemes and Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelsey.

There are some cheap touchdowns there. They just got guys beaten guys. This New England offense, this is what drove Tom Brady nuts. It has to be meticulous and precise because nobody's, remember he was screaming last year? Get open. Separate. Nobody does. So this is kind of built for efficiency and details.

And I just don't think that's Cam's game. his career completion percentage is 59%. Brady is career completion percentage. Never went under 60. It's about 64, 65%. Now, I do think they're going to go from a boring six and 10 with Jared Stidham, not dynamic at all, to a more dynamic 8 and 8 and fun to watch. I'm in.

I said after about two quarters of Stidham, I'm done with it. Oh, I'm totally in now. They'll be like Cleveland. I don't know if they'll be good. They'll be fascinating to watch it grow. But Cam's been in the NFL for nine years. If you're in the NBA nine years, the NHL nine years, the NBA, the MLS, I kind of know what you are. He's dynamic.

He's not terribly efficient. But this is the thing that's going to be interesting. So in Carolina, he was the number one pick, and it had to work. And they really built everything around Cam. So every year, they got offensive linemen that worked, running back. that work, not that he was coddled, but at Auburn, at junior college, and at Carolina, the system was built for Cam. He was, he really was Panther football.

I'm not even know, you know, I mean, he, for that period, he was Panther football. That's not the way it works here. They got a system. They won way more than Cam without him. There's no coddling. They're not building it for him. Here's our system. Hope it works.

That's not going to be easy for Cam. Now, I think he's talented enough. that he'll just make plays. And I do think he did himself a huge favor, working his ass off and putting videos every third day on the internet. It showed me, I'm committed, I want to get wins, I want to be a guy. I thought that was a real important sign of maturity from sometimes a quarterback that's not the most mature and the most focused.

I thought in the last three months, I'm into it, I'm focused, I'm driving, I'm working out with Odell Beckham, I'm working out. I think Belichick and guys looked at that and thought, all right, I'll roll the dice with that. That's the kind of commitment I want. But it's different now. Carolina, it was built to make it work. What kind of commitment does New England have? They're not giving them all the snaps.

It's a one-year deal. I mean, if I said to you, Cam Newton, New England, do you think it's a relationship in 10 years? No. Do you absolutely think it's a relationship in five years? I bet most of you say no. So when you go into any relationship, business, person-on-person relationship, what's the commitment going in? This feels like, yeah, it's some sizzle.

It's fun. Here's a year. I think the best Cam Newton can do show he's healthy, show he's focused, add a little sizzle to kind of a rigid, not very dynamic offense. And then I think in a year from now, the market will open up for people. And they'll say, all right, he's 32 years old. He looks like he's healthy.

He will get better protection in New England that he got in Carolina because I think New England protects their quarterbacks. I don't know, better than any franchise I've seen ever. Like, that's what they do. I saw pictures yesterday of Cam Newton in a Patriot jersey and there was like grass on it. And I'm like, oh, no, he won't hit the turf much. No, I mean, this is what New England did with Tom Brady better than anything else. It wasn't always about great defenses.

They didn't always have great defenses. It wasn't always great weapons. New England protects their quarterback. That's what they do. So Cam's going to get lots of opportunities, three and four seconds to make throws. But nobody's going to be open. Nobody's going to be open deep. You're not getting much from the tight end position.

I think it's an awkward fit, player to system. And I think it's a Hollywood marriage, a lot of fun. fun and sizzle. It's not going to last real long. But hey, I'm going to watch it. And I'm a consumer of football. But I mean, if you look at Cam since the MVP Super Bowl year, you can just look at the numbers. And that's where they were trying to get coordinators and coaches and players that work for him. Here, we don't care if it works for you. We got a guy if it doesn't work. We'll draft another guy next year if it doesn't work. Come on in. Do your thing. think the winner here is Cam Newton if he can get the Belichick seal of approval.

If he's healthy, focused, work hard, win some games, and Belichick in the end says, hey, we really enjoyed Cam. This was great. We really enjoyed it. We got some other things we're looking at, but we really enjoyed this relationship. That's the win for Cam. It's not this job. It's the job after this job.

And I'm rooting for him. I actually am. Okay, so New England. So New England, this is what they do. So news this morning I was going to lead about this story. The Patriots have been fined $1.1 million. They lost a third round draft pick next year. They can't have TV crews film any games next year.

That was going to be my lead today. That was going to be the lead on undisputed. Speak for yourself. First take. And every show and every network. That was going to be the lead story, which doesn't make Robert Kraft look very good. Or the Patriots. And then 17 minutes after the Patriots learned that from the NFL, they signed Cam Newton.

And Cam Newton's a fun story. All you and I have been talking about with football since the draft is COVID stories. Cam's an actual player. He's polarizing. And it's kind of like a feel-good story, right? Like we all know Cam's good enough to start somewhere. I heard the story. I'm like, oh, that's fun.

I mean, I don't think Cam's ever been my kind of quarterback, but it's a fun story. It's an actual player playing for an actual great coach. And now that's the stories. I was driving in this morning. I bounced around all the stations. Nobody was talking about the $1.1 million fine in the draft pick. It was all Cam all the time. This is what New England does.

This is the funny thing about New England. And so, you know, like think about LeBron and the Cavaliers. The Cavaliers have been a mess, my whole thing. life. But when LeBron showed up twice, he sort of added a refinement and a polish. And we forgot all that. Cabs basketball. They're winners. They're winning games. Winning series. And then LeBron leaves and they're back to being who they are. In fact, you can argue with the Lakers, they were a mess for seven years. And then LeBron came in and we all think now, number one in the West, man, they really know what they're doing. Not really. It's not a brilliantly run organization.

LeBron makes it look polished and refined. It's still kind of a mess. is sort of aspirational. He's got sort of a Joel Osteen with a helmet quality. Like it's make a better life for yourself and, you know, doesn't drink beer during the season. And he, he adds sort of a polish and a nice guy and a work hard. He's an overachiever and he's a family guy and he loves his kids. And he's kind of corny. He's kind of a suburban corny dad joke guy. But he added a polish to an organization that for the third time in 13 years, sort of got caught cheating. But if you take the polish out of New England,

not very likable. Not very likable. I mean, Edelman got arrested this off-season. Belichick's grumpy with a hoodie. Robert Kraft had the Florida thing. Tom Brady and LeBron have an amazing quality that they just, beyond their great athletic skills, they added. a certain gravitas or a sense of aspiration and greatness and polish and refinement,

the Lakers aren't well run right now. LeBron's great. The Cavaliers were never run well. LeBron was great. New England is about as likable as the Sopranos without Brady. I mean, it's like there's a lot of hoodies and a lot of grumpiness and a lot of incidents and a lot of problems and Edelman's in trouble and Kraft got in trouble and Belichick just got his hand slapped and Tom always made

his think, well, I know, but Tom to the rescue, he was like a Captain America of football. You take him out. New England just kind of look shady. Right? I think they're going to miss that.

I think they're going to miss. I think the calves miss LeBron, not just the basketball, but the organizational excellence and the stature of LeBron and the polish of LeBron always says the right stuff. New England lost their shield, their nice guy, their don't drink a beer during the season guy. And if not for Cam Newton, what would we be talking about this morning?

Kind of shady again. They're going to miss that. Coming up next, for all the nice things I say about Tom, he's either got the world's best timing or he's the luckiest guy in the world. and I'll explain that coming up. 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.

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griller for grillers and built like a tank. They're fantastic. So timing is obviously, you know, everything in life. It's a huge component to life. Just luck, just timing. Tom Brady has really got good timing. So Tom Brady, every year he was in New England, it always felt like, I must have done this story 15 times.

New England got a lucky schedule. It was always like, how's their schedules? They've won their division. It's the first place schedule. Tom Brady elects to leave. Cam Newton comes in. for the first time ever, New England has the toughest NFL schedule in the entire Belichick era. Go look at New England's schedule next year, what Cam would have to play.

We've got to be fair with Cam here. So they play out of division. They play the Seahawks at the Chiefs, at the Seahawks, 49ers, Ravens, at the Texans, at the Rams. Last year, those teams had a combined record of 69 and 27. They also play out of their division the Broncos, Cardinals, Chargers, and I think both Joy and I, well, I think some of this. I think those are the three most improved teams in the league this year. I think Denver and the Chargers are going to look totally different. And I think the Rams have sort of solved their offensive line issues

and the girly tension locker room issue. You got to be kidding me. I mean, that's what, this is the toughest schedule in the NFL, according to the people who look at the winning percentages from last year. Plus, Brady, the entire time Brady was in the division. Buffalo, the Jets, Miami were running through coaches. a lot of bad coaches. He leaves, and it looks like Sean McDermott, coach of the Bills,

and Brian Flores, coach of the Dolphins, it kind of looks like, oh, finally, grown-ups. These guys are going to be around forever. We also now have Josh Allen, Darnold, and Tua, I think's going to pop. And the whole time Brady was there. It was a revolving door of coaches and just bad quarterback play. And meanwhile, Tom, maybe this was a plan, He segues to a division where Carolina's in a rebuild.

Atlanta's got a lame duck coach. And Drew Breeze has what, a year left, Jason Hills, the next guy? Like maybe it's all planned by Tom. Maybe he looked at the schedule and went, at Seattle, at Kansas City, Ravens, I got no weapons. I'm out of here. Or maybe Brady as the greatest luck of any player of my life.

Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. is the herd line news. Well, Norv Turner was the last person to call plays for Cam Newton in Carolina. And he told Albert Breer that Bill Belichick called him this off season to talk about the former MVP. Oh. Norv gave Cam a glowing review, and he doesn't think his health will be a problem moving forward.

He says when Cam was healthy and we were there with him in 2018, we were six and two. Just look at the tape, played his ass off. His issue was more health than anything else. And for what I understand, I don't think these health issues, these are health issues he can't overcome. He's had the time off now. I think it'll be great. I think it'll be really good for Cam, and I think it'll be good for the Patriots. Yeah, there's been a lot of people in the NFL. I talked to a GM about six months ago, and he said, if you watched Cam play, something was wrong with his shoulder. Right. You just look at it, something's wrong. So is that better? I don't know.

But I'll tell you this, when you watch all these videos, he looks spry. He looks a little thinner. He looks athletic again. He's got a pop to everything. So good for him. Well, I mean, he had surgery on his foot recently. So if he was rehabbing his shoulder, he wasn't having to put that through any extra stress. He has had a lot of time off. When it comes to these injuries, especially with football,

you don't really ever have the time off, especially at that position because you're rushing back. So breast is as important is coming back and testing out whatever is injured from your body as well because there is a little bit of a mental aspect to coming back from these surgeries as well. So I think this is a great move for the Patriots.

Obviously, you and I were on the same page about Jared Stidham, I'm just completely not convinced. Turns out maybe we were a little right about that. They're running Cam Newton. But this is exciting for me. Like I did not see this coming just because I did not. I mean, it's a Patriots.

I didn't, this is, did not see this coming. But Bill Belichick, he's always got a trick up his hoodie. And this one shocked me yesterday. I mean, we are, look, we are looking for content too. And it's like the Patriots, Tom Brady, Cam Newton, have been the gift of this, this time for us. It's great. Who was I telling this to this morning?

The league's better with Cam in it. Of course. That's why I'm such a big Cam fan. He is, and some people just have a little extra on them. They're just stars. We like them. They're energetic. They have a gravitational pull about them.

And you can't explain it. It's this X factor. When Cam is healthy and is playing at a high level, the league is more fun. And it's also, he's polarizing. And leagues need villains. Leagues need teams. to root against. I mean, like, I always say, baseball's better when the Yankees are great, because then half the sport hates them. Like, it's okay for, you know, it's great when Ohio

State wins because it's South. The Cowboys are great. Yes, just like Cam's got Baker Mayfield. People think I hate him. He's great for my show. He's great for the league. He's getting people take I like athletes. People think I don't like him. How many segments have I done on Westbrook? You take sides on him. He's a polarizing guy for sure. But I'm in an impossible spot now because I thought I was done with having to watch the Patriots. Oh, now you're not. Or you have to pay attention to them. Now they're going to be competitive if Cam comes in healthy.

Yeah. Like this is supposed to be the Bill's year. It's supposed to be like the AFC East. They've finally taken a turn. Bill. All right. So the NFC South has some strong quarterback talent in it this season. And Matt Ryan is going to be facing teams led by Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Teddy

Bridgewater. But he's confident in his abilities. He was asked on, pardon my take, if he thought he was the best quarterback in the division right now. And he said currently, yeah. He also thinks they would. win around 12 games. Matt's pretty confident in his squad this year. Well, he's a good player.

He's, what is Bucky Brooks always said. He's, there's tractors and trailers. Like, he needs to be pulled a little bit. He's not going to pull average. But, you know, Atlanta, to the organization's credit, he's had pretty good weapons. They do have great weapons. They've always given Maddie pretty good weapons to play with.

And, I mean, we don't, none of us really have a good gauge on what Todd God Gurley is, but if Todd Gurley gets back to 90% of what Todd Gurley was before all these injuries, we're just forgetting that he's there now because we didn't like how it ended with the Rams. But Todd Gurley could be a huge X factor for them this year. This division is just going to be crazy. Yeah, it's going to, it's the best quarterback division of my life. There is, if Teddy Bridgewater is the worst quarterback, that's the best, that's the best, that's the best fourth best quarterback.

And also Teddy's got Matt Ruel and Christian McCaffrey and DJ Moore and Curtis Samuel. It's like that's going to be a very good offense, and that's the fourth best team in the division. It's really impressive. So the NBA released the schedules for the seating games in Orlando. The restart will kick off Thursday, July 30th, with the Jazz and the Pelicans, followed by the Lakers and the Clippers. The Lakers did not catch any breaks in Orlando. They have the third toughest schedule based on the opponent's winning percentage. But Zion has a great chance of getting the Pelicans into the playoffs with the easiest schedule.

So these are for the play-off, play in games. Right. To finish the season and decide the seating. Pelicans have the jazz, the clippers, the grizzlies, kings, wizard, spurs, kings, and magic. And the toughest schedules are the raptors, heat, Lakers, Nuggets, Trailblazers, and Grizzlies. Pelicans are trying to catch the grizzlies for the last spot. So we may end up seeing Zion in the playoffs after. I have a weird feeling Portland's going to under-deliver.

Like Damien Lutter has been, like, cool on the whole thing. And Memphis is so excited to be, given this opportunity. opportunity. There's my upset in the first round. Memphis knocks off Portland. I just, I'm really looking forward to this, but I really have, I am not comfortable predicting anything that's going to happen down there because there's so many X factors in this restart that it could really go. It could be anyone's championship at this point because there's so many different things that could happen. I did like Adam Silver came out late last week and acknowledged, listen, this bubble thing's not perfect, but we're not built not to play. Like this virus, we don't have a

vaccine. So you can shut down all the businesses again, but like our country's economy cannot take that. We have to shut down bars, but you can't shut down all restaurants again. So I let Adam Silver, you know, he said, listen, we're going to have to get through this. We're going to have players to get this. This is the reality of this. Thank God we have great therapeutic help, great doctors. They have to manage it. You have to just manage this thing. Like when this whole thing started with COVID, if you suggested four months ago, we're not going to solve this. Let's manage it. It was outrageous, like you lacked empathy. Now commissioners are acknowledging, we're just managing this thing, which has been,

not that I'm right on this, because I don't know anything about it, but health crises in my life, nobody solves suicide. Nobody solves all. We can't solve the flu. That's why we have a flu shot. We can't even solve it. So you just go into this thing. You have all the therapeutics, all the doctors.

You try to socially distance, wear masks. And if 9% of the players get it, hopefully in and out, boom. They're doing the best as they can. And the player's safety is very. important to them. It's not like they're rushing through that part of it. Good stuff. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly News.

You know what's interesting about Cam? I was thinking about this. So he signs a one-year deal with the Patriots. It is remarkable. Everybody's always romanticizing the past and excited for the future. But sometimes you just have to own what we have. And it is amazing. the quarterback playing this league. I was going to do this. We have like eight different categories of quarterbacks in this league now. And I mean, from the boring reclamation project, Ryan Tannahill,

to the young and small and fascinating Kyler Murray. Cam back in this is just ask yourself, is it an interesting story? Hell yes. That it's great for the league. I mean, it's just, it's what now the good guys are playing longer. The young guys are better sooner. It used to be like it was kind of like you got good at 20. seven to about 33, and then you were done.

Now we got guys at 22 that are popping, guys at 42 that can still play. This business model has just expanded, and so I think Cam's just a fascinating story. And if Ryan Tannahill, if his reclamation project works, you can't quit on Cam yet. If Ryan Taniel can go and win games with a different staff,

then Cam can. I don't think it's New England long term, but I think this is going to expand the opportunities for him. Let's bring in Albert Breer via the Coward Global Satellite Network, brought to you by Mercedes-Benz, the best-or-nothing, Monday morning quarterback. So let's start with this. Albert, how long was this in the works? Well, I can tell you that the Pagers have been making calls on him for a couple of months.

It intensified over the last few days, but Bill Belichick talked to Norv Turner and some other coaches who've worked with Cam. I'd say in March and April, and it was sort of one of those things that was, slow burn on the table for them. And then I'd say over the last couple of weeks or so, some of the Patriots' offensive assistants started making calls on Cam. And the people around Cam started to get the idea that this thing could happen. Does it mean New England's out on Jarrett Stidham? Not necessarily. I don't think they're going to hand the job to Cam Newton. That said, I think Cam's clearly the favorite for the job now. They're going to make them earn it. What's so fascinating about this, Colin, is they basically spent the entire offseason preparing

Jared Stidham to be the starter, putting him through all that, developing him as a young quarterback, giving him personal attention. And now in the doorstep of training camp, they're giving him competition. They've got him under contract for another couple of years. They can continue to develop him. So in a lot of ways, this is sort of giving Stidham some competition. You see if he's ready. Chances are you're going with camp.

maybe he wows you. If he doesn't, you've got a great answer for right now. And either way, you're throwing multiple darts of the dart board. Don't forget, that's how the Seahawks found Russell Wilson 10 years ago. They struck out on a lot of guys Pete Carroll and John Schneider did before they found Wilson, guys like Matt Flynn, Charlie Whitehurst. That's basically what the Patriots are doing now. They're throwing multiple darts at that quarterback dart board. So I'll tell you where I'm not pessimistic, but I have questions. This offense does not have a deep threat, doesn't really have a proven tight end.

I don't think it's one of the more talented O lines and Dante Scarnacchio retired. It is not an offense built for easy touchdowns. It is going to need 11 play drives, no fumbles, no penalties. Now, Cam is dynamic, but he has not always been consistent and efficient. It feels a little bit like you're asking Cam to be what he's not, instead of saying, hey, be yourself, you know, do what you do, be dynamic.

I don't think they have the pieces around him, regardless of how good Cam is, to be special. Is that a fair devil's advocate take? This is going to test them, Colin. And I get all of your points, right? I'm going to take you back two years to 2018. The Patriots were looking at Lamar Jackson. They really liked Lamar Jackson.

They toyed with the idea of drafting Lamar Jackson. Part of the discussion in that room was we would really need to blow up what we are offensively and what we've been offensively for almost two decades to make this work for Lamar Jackson. Go back two years before that. Look at what they did for Jacoby Berset. You may remember he started on a Thursday night.

Basically, on three days notice, they were able to flip their offense upside down and run a totally different offense to accommodate Jacobi Berset. They beat the Houston Texan 16 to nothing that night. And so I get all the points that you're making. No one is better at tailoring a offense or a defense to what he's got on each side of the ball. than Bill Belichick is.

We've seen it in just about every other position on the field. We haven't seen it so much at quarterback. Now we'll get to see it at quarterback. But I promise you, if Cam Newton's the starter, the Patriots are going to look a lot different offensively than they have the last 20 years with Tom Brady. So the Cam Newton announcement came, you know, 17 minutes after the cheating, the fuzzy, shady situation with the filming of the Bengals practice.

the skeptic in me says they kind of did that on purpose, right? Yeah, I don't think you're, I don't think you're way off base there. I think there was probably some attention there. You know, look, like, I even believe their story. Like, I think this was an honest mistake. But if you're the New England Patriots, Colin, what is the one piece of equipment that you cannot be caught doing anything nefarious with? The cameras.

It's a video camera. This is like the Astros getting caught doing something with a drum, right? So I think the league looks at this and has to say, well, we got to do something here. And I think what's most interesting about it, look, the $1.1 million penalty is certainly significant, even if it is a drop in the bucket for Robert Kraft. I think the draft pick part of this is really, really important because the Patriots had pushed for this to be seen as sort of a non-football violation by adding the draft pick in. They are basically telling Patriots football operations, you are responsible for this.

So that was sort of the interesting twist there. I do believe on the surface that this was an honest mistake. And I also understand where the league has to come down on them for this because of their history. By the way, DeMora Smith, a Players Association president says the Tom Brady stuff, the Russell Wilson stuff working out is not healthy. To that, I would say it may not be healthy, but it is about winning. And Russell Wilson and Tom Brady, this is who they are, man. They're driven cats.

I mean, what are you hearing behind the scenes? Is the league really bothered by it? or is it one of these eye rolls like they want to pretend like they're bothered? I mean, I think it's, you know, basically a message to the public that we are taking this seriously, the same way the protocols were. You know, you got those nine pages of training camp protocols. And I think a lot of the teams said, well, this is basically a press release. This is a signal to the public that they're taking COVID very, very seriously and that

we're all going to have to adjust as we go. But some of the stuff and the protocols weren't practical. And it's also probably not practical in such a competitive environment. to tell quarterbacks not to gather all of their skilled position players, people in one place and get to work if they know everybody else is working. And this is happening everywhere. We saw Dak do it earlier in the offseason. Matt Stafford has done this a couple of times.

Matt Ryan, I'm telling you, Colin, basically ran a nine-week off-season program for the Falcons in both California and Florida. And most recently, Kyler Murray paid for all the Cardinal skill position players to fly to Dallas. They all worked out at his high school, Allen High School for a few days. So this is happening across the NFL. It's such a competitive environment.

I think the NFL knows there's no stopping it, but they have to at least signal to the public that they are taking these things serious. By the way, when does Cam report to New England? He goes, NFC to AFC, warm weather to cold weather, a totally different environment. When's you going to show up in New England? Well, he would, the report date for quarterbacks

is going to be a few days before the report date for everybody else. but the Patriots open on the first Sunday of the regular season and all the teams that start on that first Sunday have a report date of July 28th. So July 28th would be the veteran report date. My guess would be that Cam Newton would be in probably sometime less than a week before that. Yeah, it's going to look so different in a Patriot uniform.

It's just crazy. Albert, great stuff. Monday morning quarterback lead strategist covered the NFL for 15 years. Thanks, but appreciate it. All right. Thanks, thanks Colin. Top of the hour, Colin Wright, Colin Wrong, some thoughts. You know, there's so many different angles on Cam Newton. I want to address another one.

And why we should all just sit back and be thankful. Incredibly thankful on what we're seeing now. It's a revolution in football, and it's awesome. That's coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. 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 question. questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlice 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. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking.

What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jay And I'm Alex English Each episode We pick it here unpack what went down And try to make sense

of how we survived it Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill Waxing all about crack In the 80s To be clear 84 is big to me Not just because of crack

I'm down to talk about crack On day but yeah yeah But just so y'all know At this point Mark this is the second episode Where we've discussed crack So I'm starting to see There's a through line

We also have AIDS On the table right now So Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really?

Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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, 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, rec, 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. The story I've told myself about love or relationships can then shape my behavior. And that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection.

This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown and explore the journey of healing, self-discovery, and returning to yourself. We explore higher consciousness, emotional well-being, and the practices that help you find clarity, peace, and self-mastery in a world that can feel overwhelming. The world is becoming lonelier. We're not becoming more social and social. connected. We're becoming more individualized, but we actually need people in connection. If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole,

this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Cam Newton's 31, passed a physical. A source told Adam Schaefter, both the feet in the shoulder check out well. I did have a general manager or three tell me if you looked at film last year a cam something's wrong with his shoulder. It wasn't right. His mechanics have always been, he's a little like Matt Stafford, that when your arm is that good, you know, you get a little sloppy, you know, because Cam can throw off his back foot and Stafford can throw off his back foot. And Stafford's mechanics have always been hot and cold. When he's on, he's on, but he kind of, you know,

when you're gifted, sometimes things come easy, and there are throws for Cam and Stafford that kind of come easy. You know, Brady has to have flawless mechanics. He's getting old. He doesn't have a huge arm. So the guys that have to have great arms, you know, again, Drew Breeze has to have perfect mechanics because that's not a canon. So I think one thing we have to come to terms with is we are living in a time like I've

never seen in the NFL for quarterbacks. We have so many different categories of quarterbacks. In the 70s, 80s and the mid-90s, quarterbacks kind of looked and all played the same. I mean, Steve Young was crazy. He was left-handed and moved around. Right now we've got these young dynamic guys. We've got like Kyler Murray and Lamar Jackson,

Deshaun Watson. They're like playmakers. And then we've got these guys with cannon arms, Josh Allen, Mahomes, Carson Wentz. Then we've got these legendary old guys who are going to be first ballot Hall of Famers and own the record book, Brady, Breeze, Big Ben. Then we've got these middle-age guys

who are really all-time talents, Aaron Rogers and Russell Wilson. Then we've got stat compilers that we know they get a bunch of numbers, but they drive us nuts like Matt Ryan, Kirk Cousins, Matt Stafford, like, okay, I get it, you get all the numbers, but you don't win enough. Then we've got the guys that do win a lot, aren't always stat compilers, but we're still criticizing them. You know, Dak Prescott and Jimmy Garoppolo and Jared Goff.

Like, they're winning. They're getting to Super Bowls. They're winning divisions and we're not really into them. And then the other guys are stat compilers who have great stats, but we're not really into them. We have a reclamation project that we all gave up on Ryan Tannahill and you're like, hell, he's in the AFC championship. And then we have Cam Newton. And Cam sort of his own category.

You know, it's Cam is, without talking about politics, he's sort of political. You can't convince the Trump fans anything's wrong with him, and you can't convince the Biden critics anything's right with him. People will find what they want and gravitate to it. And that's where I feel like Cam is very much that. Cam Newton, if you love him, is going to give you enough glimpses of what you love about him

and you're going to see say. Brady couldn't do that. Just did him. And if you're not into Cam, and I'm not a huge Cam fan, he's going to give me plenty of opportunities to go, wide open guy in the flat, red zone, touchdown, blew it.

Cam gives you, whatever side you're on with Cam, he gives you enough ammunition to love him or hate him. So nobody that doesn't like Cam is going to like him by the end of this year, and nobody that loves him is not going to like him. So Cam is, kind of his own polarizing political self. He's very Westbrook to me.

Like, Westbrook can't shoot. It's a shooters league. I'll always have that. But then he'll have nights when he scores 38, and I'll be like, okay, he pretty much won the game single-handedly. Now, I've said before is that there are certain quarterbacks that just drive me crazy. Baker Mayfield, Jay Cutler has this quality, Cam Newton, where it depends on the quarter or the day or the series. It's uneven. I'm never sure what I get. I tend to prefer the Andrew

Luck, Russell Wilson. I know what I get physically. I know what I get emotionally. I know what I get in effort every single play. Andrew Luck's not perfect. He threw too many picks. You know, Russell Wilson's not the elegant thrower of Patrick Mahomes. But that's just the quarterback I like. I like the quarterback where I know what I'm getting physically, emotionally, effort on every play. Baker, Cutler, Cam, drive me nuts. It would be very hard for me as a GM to sign him or a coach to coach him. I just don't know what I get. But nobody that likes Cam's not going to like him after this New England experiment.

Nobody that doesn't like him is going to love him after the New England experiment because he doesn't have enough good players around him here to win 12 games. They just don't have enough good players. I mean, they really don't. Last year, everybody was like, ooh, their defense is special. And then they started playing better teams down the stretch than their defense. Wasn't that special? Buffalo's defense was special.

So I think we are so lucky. though, we've got so many unique categories of quarterbacks. The young guys are better than ever and better sooner than ever. The old guys are better than ever and lasting longer. And then we've only got about two guys right in the middle that are absolute Locke Hall of Famers, Russell Wilson, Aaron Rogers. And we've got a couple guys around them that will get votes, Matt Ryan. Maybe Matt Stafford, I doubt it.

But I think the CAM thing is Joy, Lerner, likes him. And so she's going to find a lot of moments where I'm going to come in on a Monday and go, yeah, he won the game. He just did crazy stuff. He's got a huge arm. And then there's going to be Mondays I'm going to come in and say, you know, he's 18 and 34 and missed like four open guys. I will say this. The people I don't think Cam has a huge market, but I do think if he gets the Belichick stamp of approval and he's healthy and takes him to eight and eight. Let's just say, you're not right. He's going to be great. And I'm not great. I'm not right. let's just meet in the middle.

They're 9 and 7 and don't make the playoffs. Because let's be honest about it. Buffalo's got a better roster. Baltimore's got a way better roster. Pittsburgh's got a better roster. The Chargers have a better roster. Kansas City's got a way better roster. Did I say Baltimore?

Cleveland's got a way better roster. Houston, I think,'s got issues, but a way better roster. So I think it's very possible that Cam goes like 8 and 8, 9, and 7. They miss the playoffs. But I do think his market expands. Then there's about three teams that go. Listen, we don't have our guy. He looked pretty good.

God, New England's got no wide receivers and no tight ends. And if we put them with our guys, somebody will talk themselves into Cam. I think if Cam's not great, but he's focused, he's healthy. And it's a new look for him. He now has to fit into New England. Carolina doesn't have to fit into Cam. And I think if he comes in, head down, works hard, good teammate. I think you're going to see an expanded market for him.

I don't know if James Winston or Nick Foles, it'd be hard to convince me. There's a lot of guys in the room saying, yeah. But I think Cam's kind of got that appeal and that style stylistically. I think if he pops a little, I don't think he has to be great for them. If you told me today, Cam goes, I'll throw numbers out. They don't have much at wide receiver and tight-in. If Cam goes 23 touchdowns, 11 picks, 61.5% completion percentage. They go 9 and 7.

His passer rating is 91. He's going to get offers. And he's healthy. He's not limping off the field. And that may be with that offensive personnel, that may be about it. He's a little more accurate, a little more efficient. He's not going to pop for 35 touchdown passes. They don't have any freebie touchdowns on this roster.

Like they don't have any. But you know what? He and Nikiel Harry may actually generationally, stylistically, they may work better together and then Tom Brady and Nikiel Harry. We'll see on that. Good stuff coming up. Geico, 15% credit in your car, motorcycle, and RV insurance. If you switch by October 7th,

go to Geico.com to learn more. Colin, right, Colin, wrong next. 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 its mind. Highlights are trending. opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice 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 athletes 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. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people.

I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on The Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack.

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

Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 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 mama wants you to wave at her. What? Where's she at?

Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Jordan. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody! Please! But there's so much more to me than me. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian. And recently, I've become quite the helper myself.

And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike! I'm a comedian! I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant, and recommend some of of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary.

Oh, cream a chicken suit. Hey, cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrat as part of the MyCultura Podcast Network available on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Ah, here we go. We're live in L.A. It is our number two, and this is The Hurt. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. Jeff Schwartz, who's played with Cam and covered Cam, will be joining us in 15 minutes. Aaron Jones, great running back for the Green Bay Packers, joins us in an hour in 15 minutes, all fired up for him.

Yeah, I don't, you know, I watch all these athletes trained, and I'm like, you know, they're pro athletes. I mean, just Albert Breer said that Matt Ryan's had a nine-week camp. It's like, it's what it is, man. You can't ask people. You know, if Tom Brady was going from practice to nursing homes, I'd be like, that's irresponsible. Tom Brady hanging out with his family that doesn't have COVID, hanging out with an hour and a half every day with players who are getting tested and don't have it. It's not like he's going out to Applebee's and bars late night and homework, homework, young

athletes, best shape in the world. Maybe you've got more empathy than I do. As long as we're not jamming people into nursing homes and, it's like four or five places that are really problematic. Meatpacking plants, boats, cruises, churches, indoors. That stuff worries me. But pro athletes, you've got to be kind of an alpha. You've got to be kind of aggressive to be a pro athlete.

You ever watch UFC fighters? I watch them this weekend. They see the world differently. They're going to a ring to beat on each other. And it's like they're wired differently than I am. And then most of us are. Joy Taylor is joining me. Joy, how are you?

I'm good. I mean, they're also not doing anything illegal. It was a guideline. If we were still in the stay-at-home orders and no one was supposed to be around each other and they were out doing this, I would have a big problem with it because everyone is supposed to be home. Yeah. But we're not quarantined anymore. Well, the other thing I always hear is, you know, Tom Brady is sending a bad message. I'm a grown-up.

Do you think, oh, Tom's not wearing a mask? I won't wear one. Well, unfortunately, everyone doesn't think like that. They don't? No, they don't. they do not. Some people really actually just don't wear masks because they see other people not wearing masks as crazy as that is. I know it doesn't make any sense. I went for a run yesterday for instance. I don't wear one when I run because I'm flying by people. I'm moving around them. If I see them, especially if I see older people on the walk where I'm running, I make sure. You need social distance. Stay away from other people if you can. Am I irresponsible? If you're going to be next to people indoors wear a mask.

I wear it to Best Buy. I wear it to the grocery store. I wear it to the pharmacy. Of course. I went for a run yesterday and I'm flying down and I'm flying down. I can't breathe. And it's like I went with a buddy who I know doesn't have it because we've been tested. And we went for a run and I saw old people. I just moved seven feet away. Plus I kind of put my, you know, I angle my head. If I see somebody, I'll kind of turn the other way. Am I irresponsible?

I don't think so. Neither do I. I think we're all supposed to be taking care of each other in this time. So wearing a mask when you're in closed quarters. You know, what the doctors are telling us to do, just do that. It's real simple. Are you doctor? No, I'm not a doctor.

So whatever the doctors tell us to do, just do that. All right. it's Colin right, Colin wrong. I'm plenty of both on a Monday. Oh, is it this time? Here we go. Where Colin was right? Well, clearly Jarrett Stidham is not blowing everybody away, despite what everybody has claimed for the last six months, even people I like. Listen, they wanted to bring back Tom Brady at 43 off his worst year in a long time, and they brought in Cam for a reason. Velichick seen every snap of Jared Sidham. He's obviously not blown away by it. I watched Stidham in college. He was okay. 18 touchdowns at Auburn. They had plenty of NFL guys on the O'L

running back, tied end and wide receiver. He's fine. My guess is Jared Stiddle will end up being a career backup. But all this chatter and talk about how great he was, Belichick keeps telling you how great he thinks he is, and that ain't much. Where Colin was wrong. Cam Newton in New England doesn't feel like an ideal fit. I think it's interesting, and I'm in the interesting business.

I would have, this just didn't. A lot of people suggested this, by the way. I just never bought into it. It just didn't feel like a right fit. New England's system is kind of rigid, details of efficiency, low turnover, you know, win by defense. You know, Cam's dynamic and a risk taker and a big arm and it doesn't feel like he fits them or their personnel fits his style.

I mean, they don't have a cheap touchdown on that roster. So it's a weird fit, but it's a fit, and I was wrong. Where Colin was right? I am a big believer in the 49ers and I love hyper-aggressive teams. And last week, they went after Jamal Adams of the Jets, reportedly two different sources. Niners would like to make a deal for the star safety for New York. Listen, they have been aggressive on Jimmy Garoppolo.

They sign him before anybody bought into him. They've been aggressive with Trent Williams. They're aggressive now with DeForest Buckner. They moved him. Aggressive wins. And the 49ers not only play aggressively, they operate aggressively. I think John Lynch has come in. And much like John Lynch was as a player, and I covered him,

John blew stuff up and apologized later. San Francisco's taken a wildly aggressive stance on how to run a franchise, and I really love it. Where Colin was wrong. I like this, but I'm shocked by it. Major League Baseball for the next 60 games in the postseason will allow a runner to start at second base and extra innings. It is gimmicky. It is sticky. I'm for it. But this is a sport that's paralyzed by tradition that strongly.

that struggled for years to get instant replay right. And for them to go, yeah, we're going to do this thing that we tried it in the minor league. We're just going to start a guy at second base. So we don't have these 17-inning, laughably inane baseball games in the middle of a week where the game ends at 1.45 in the morning. I don't think it's a bad idea. I don't think the universal DH is surprising. that was going to happen eventually.

Baseball guys were coming to terms with its 15 more jobs for sluggers and old, well-known players. D.H. should be in baseball. Who wants to watch pitchers hit? It's awful. It's like watching punters pass. What's the point? Where Colin was right? Zion Williamson, what do you know?

He got the easiest schedule in the NBA. What do you know? Zion Williamson also will be the first game back on July 30th. Who's going to be in it? Not the Lakers. Zion Williamson. You ever notice how the critics got very quiet on Zion?

They were just picking him apart. He can't shoot. He's not big enough. He's not ready to this. Here's what he is. A star. Unique body. Unique game.

Unique power. He's just a fascinating kid. And he was so incredibly likable at Duke. I mean, we all knew he was going to last one year. And he came out and said, no, I'm going to play three. my injury and I'd really come back and play another year. I love college basketball, but everybody tells me I got to go pro. You can't define Star. I mean, like Magic Johnson, the game,

the name helped. Some guys just pop. Other guys are good, but don't pop. The NBA gets it. Let's get them into these games. Let's get them up first. Let's highlight him. Let's put them on television. Nothing against Brandon Ingram, but that's not why they're playing first at Zion. Where Colin was wrong. Not the only real criticism I've ever had of Adam Silver. I think sometimes he needs to be more defiant and stronger. And I've heard he is behind the scenes, but I thought he did a Roger Goodell move, and I actually liked it last week.

And it surprised me. He came out and he said, listen, COVID-19 is with us for the foreseeable future. We are left with no choice but to learn and live with it. No options or risk-free. We're very comfortable in Orlando. and some media people won't like it and some players won't like it. But this is exactly what the NFL is doing. We're going to roll the dice.

It's not perfect, but these are world-class athletes. And if they do get COVID, we've got the doctors, we've got the therapeutics. We cannot. We're not built to shut down the league. And by the way, if the league got shut down, it would be horrible for the players. The cap would plummet. The NBA owners have a right if this season's canceled to rip up. the CBA and start over.

You want to have another lockout? I mean, LeBron James is the face of the league. You want him not playing now and not playing next year. You got to be strong. You've got to be defiant. The chance of a player getting critically ill is incredibly low and life is full of risk. And I applaud being wrong and Adam Silver being strong on that. Where Colin was right.

LeBron and Maverick Carter on the cover of Bloomberg business, a $100 million deal for Spring Hill Entertainment. This is called the mogul stage. I've been told by somebody close to LeBron, he loves L.A. He's never moving from L.A. That it's a perfect fit for him. And though he's never loved basketball more, the ability to make deals is exactly why he moved to Los Angeles,

where the big financiers in the cities have all opened up their ears and their wallets to him. this is exactly why he didn't choose the Sixers who had a better roster. For the record, I don't think the Lakers are very well run right now. I still think there's all sorts of issues, but this is exactly why we thought the Lakers was the best fit. Where Colin was wrong. I've always defended Adam Gase of the Jets. I think he's smart.

I think he's intense. He had a winning record with Ryan Tannahill in Miami, 13 and 11. And he had a winning record last year with Sam Darnold, who had no help and monomone. and the roster stinks. But boy, is he toxic? Greg Williams last week does not respect him enough to hide during the Jamal Adams contract situation.

Greg Williams, let me talk, ask me questions. Oh, yo, yo. Jamal Adams is leaking stuff and firing shots at him. Listen, I think he and Donald worked. I think he's demanding and intent, and I think he's a really smart football guy. I think he's got a lot of Kyle Shanahan. but maybe because I like him, I don't see the toxicity as much.

But, I mean, he just, they're just certain people that drive other people crazy. And this guy's got a lot of enemies in that locker room and around this league. Where Colin was right? I've always thought the fitting conclusion to this DAC situation is a franchise tag. He's the perfect franchise tag quarterback. Last year, he did not play well down the stretch. He did not play well against good teams. I think he was one in six against playoff teams.

Let's see him with McCarthy for a year. Well, we got two weeks left, and there is no more chatter from Cowboy Insiders of a contract. I have been hearing about a contract for a year and a half, and I've been saying the entire time, Dallas pays everybody. We know the numbers here. Show me the money. I'm not interested in anything else.

Two weeks left now, and it's a franchise tag. And I think this is inevitable. I think it's the right move. I don't think it's a shot at DAC. I think there's concerns in the building that the league seen him and there's limitations. I actually do think he's going to play pretty well with Mike McCarthy and probably get a really tasty long-term deal. But as of now, I'm right on the contract, which has not materialized.

Where Colin was right? Nobody manipulates rules and the league quite like the Patriots. 17 minutes after New England was tagged with a million point one dollar fine, they signed Cam Newton. This is so New England, it hurts. They knew this was going to be the story on every talk show, which is not good for Robert Kraft and the brand. So Robert Kraft says, anyway, you could get this off the front page of every newspaper in America. And what did the Patriots do? It's just a crazy, wacky coincidence.

they signed Cam Newton. Now, I think they were going to sign Cam Newton anyway, according to reports. But 17 minutes after the story is handed down, it's just so patriots. They, they, I'm not saying it's, they just manipulate everything. Cameras and rules and footballs and just what they do. All right, Jeff Schwartz, knows Cam, played with Cam, understands Cam, lives in the same town as Cam until the next week. He's going to be joining us next.

Aaron Jones to the Packers last hour all coming up. Live in L.A., it's The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. 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 story. 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 Slica Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jay. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont waxing all about crack in the 80s.

To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. Dude. Hey, my mama 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. Hey, I'm Jordan Arano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody! But there's so much more to me than me. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian.

And recently, I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hippocrat, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff rant and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice. One ring is too scary. Oh, cream of chicken suit. Hey, cream.

Cream of chicken soup. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Cultura podcast network available on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Major League Baseball has announced for the 2020 season will begin on Friday, July 24th, with MLB on Fox, returning July 25th with Fox Saturday baseball, and we could not be more excited about this great news for baseball fans across the country. baseball is back. And of course, America's home for baseball this summer, as always, will be Fox and FS1. Good stuff. Jeff Schwartz played in the NFL for almost a decade. His brother now is an elite offensive lineman, a pro bowler for the Kansas City Chiefs protecting Patrick Mahomes.

And Jeff Schwartz is joining me via the Coward Global Satellite Network here on a Monday. All right, so you know Cam, you play with him, you talk about him a lot. He's a huge, huge. I mean, listen, he is the Panthers for the last eight to nine. years. Now he's going to be a one-year deal for the Patriots. It's a whole different feel. But let's start with this. Do you think it works in New England? I think it does work because both parties need to make it work, right? Cam Noon needs us to go well because he wants to revive his career. If he plays well in New England, he can obviously resign with the Patriots, but go somewhere else for a big, a big contractor. He can revive his entire career doing this. And Bill Belichick wants

to give a middle finger to everyone who doesn't think he can win without Tom Brady. So both parties need to make this work. It's just a one-year deal. It's not a five-year deal. It's not a six-year deal. It's a one-year deal. And both parties have a lot of incentive to make this go as well as possible. I think it does work.

Assuming, in this whole discussion basically, assuming Cam is healthy, right? Because that's a big part of this. He's not healthy. It's not going to go well. But if he is, I think it's a great combination between the brains of Belichick-McDaniels and what Cam Newton can do as an athlete from that position. It feels like a little bit like an audition. Like nobody thinks they're going to be married.

It's the classic Hollywood marriage. A lot of sizzle. None of us think it's going to be around in 20 years. This feels like an audition. Is that too cynical? Yeah, it's a one-year deal. I mean, it's for the minimum. I mean, I'm shocked at how cheap they got them.

The leverage was obviously on the Patriot side here. As Cam wanted to start, it was very clear from the beginning of franchisee. There were not a lot of places for him to go and start. And New England was one of them. So they got him for very cheap. And yeah, it's an audition, especially for Cam. He's been hurt for the back half of 2018. He was hurt for most of 2019.

People are questioning his health, obviously, after being hurt for that long. And this is a huge deal for him. He goes to New England, right? I mean, if you play well in New England, we've seen what happens to Jimmy Gropolo, to Matt Castle, to guys that play well in New England, they get big opportunities elsewhere.

And if Cam can prove for the one year that he can do it, he's going to get paid a lot of money next season by somebody. It might be New England. It might still be in New England, but he's going to get paid a lot of money somewhere. Yeah, I mean, we saw Dorel Revis get paid out of New England. We saw Dionne Lewis, the running back get paid out of New England. I mean, that's the reality. So here I'm predicting the stats.

Now, I don't know if he starts week one, because it may be a situation where we have limited practices. 3,100 yards, 22 TD's 11 picks, passer rating in the 89 completion percentage, 61. he'll have better protection than he's generally had, but he didn't have any dynamic, easy, home run threats. You look at those numbers, what do you make of it? That's my projection. In 2018, he played with Norv Turner as his OC. We know Norv Turner, excellent OC for many years in the NFL.

It was the first time in his career he played in a traditional, more traditional pro-style type passing attack. The first eight weeks a year, when he was healthy, he completed 68% of his passes. So we've seen him do it. I've been as hard as anybody on Cam News accuracy. especially in the Charlotte region where people just don't want to hear anything, but Cam is the greatest quarterback ever.

But he convinced me in that eight-game sample size, small sample size that he can do it. He can play an offense that is more traditional, that does feature less down-the-field bombs as what Shula had in the offense for so many years, and just more of a steady offense, and he did that. I think in this offense now, that's what they've done for years with Tom Brady, right? You're just five yards, seven yards, eight yards, take a shot here and there. I think he's going to complete about 67 percent.

of passes like he did. I don't know how many yards he throws for, touchdowns he runs for, or throws for. I mean, that's kind of, you know, just depending on the weapons, like you said, he doesn't really have. But I think he will be very functional in this offense. And I do think they'll work in some wrinkles with his legs. I don't think it's going to be a part of the offense that people think it will be. I think they'll use it very situationally, but make sure to put him a situation where he can succeed. And then they'll have some wrinkles off of it. They'll have some cool play action passes, some trick plays. They always love

trick plays. It'd be a lot of fun to watch this connection. as it begins to happen in camp. Okay, so let me ask you this. There's going to be people in that building that have formed a relationship with Jared Stidham. So Cam's not getting every snap. I mean, what does this say about Stidim? Is this say Stidim was always a smokescreen

and Belichick doesn't like him? I thought it was. I mean, look at the history of the NFL. I know Tom Brady's the outlier, Russell Wilson is Dak Prescott, but most franchise quarterbacks are in the first or second round. And I never bought Stidham as being the guy. one thing to consider here that it's very unique to just this offseason is you look at Cam Noon as a veteran, right?

He's seen it all. He has not playing this offense. But coming into training camp this year, you're going to have probably less practice time just because of a ramp up period to get guys in shape. You're going to have possibly only two preseason games. You're going to need a guy to play positions, not just the quarterback for New England, but there'll be spots around the league where veterans get the nod because they know what they're doing. Stidham has not been the building the entire offseason. Get to training camp. Who do you trust to be ready to play? Do you trust Cam Newton who's done it for so many years now who's won an MVP?

Or Jared Stidham, who's thrown a handful of passes in the NFL. I trust Cam Noon to be ready to play week one. It's unique to this offseason. If it was a different offseason, I'd say, hey, look, maybe Sidham's the guy. But I do think day one, if Cam is healthy, again, big if, that he will be the starter day one who'll get the first reps with the ones. You know, I said Tom Brady's got to be the luckiest kind of the war. So his entire stay in New England

it always felt like they got scheduling breaks. This year, for the first time in the Belichick era, first time, it's the toughest schedule in the NFL at Seattle, at Kansas City, Ravens, Texans, and then they face a bunch of teams who I think are going to be massively improved. Denver, Chargers, Arizona. I look at this and I think to myself, the timing's a little suspicious.

Do you think possibly Brady looked at that and thought, we got no weapons? I'm not going to face that offense. juggernaut. What do you make of that schedule for Cam? Oh, I'm sure that Tom Brady looked at that. The guy looks at everything in his life. Every detail of this life is thought about. I'm guarantee you looked at the schedule. It's tough, right? I mean, they finally go to Kansas City after three years of the Chiefs coming to them. That's obviously a big game there. The bills are going to be better. I don't know about the Jets.

I have faith in Sam Darnel, but not really the coaching staff there. The Texans are going to be tough as well. I'm not sure the Rams. I don't really buy the Rams this year. Chargers could be good depending on what happens. It's a tough schedule. I mean, it really is. But I get Bill Belichick. I get Cam Noon. Again, I have to say healthy Cam Noon. I like their chances.

I'm never going to bet against the Patriots. You don't make money betting against them. And I'm not going to do it now until proven otherwise. By the way, so Tom Brady's practicing. Albert Breer told us an hour ago. Matt Ryan had a nine-week camp. Russell Wilson's putting out videos. Take me to how an NFL player thinks with this pandemic training and going against

what the league wants them to do guideline-wise. Well, first of all, most NFL players feel invincible in general, right? So I think their general feeling is, hey, obviously there's a pandemic happening. We have to protect my family and loved ones. But personally, me, personally,

I'm not going to get sicker. If I am, I won't show symptoms. I'm going to go out and train because, look, training camp starts in about a month from now, approximately. You cannot use the excuse of, hey, the PA told me I can't work out with my friends. I wasn't ready to play.

that doesn't fly with teams. So guys right now in their head, their heart, they know that they have a month till camp. They know they have to prepare to get ready to play on the first day training camp. And that's why you see Matt Ryan, Russell Wilson, obviously, you mentioned Brady. There's other guys around the NFL that are working out together,

that are getting right. You have to do this. I think that you can't tell, I mean, you can tell them, but they're not going to listen. They have to play. Tom Brady knows one month from now when camp starts, he has to be ready to. go from day one to get ready to play in the first game. And I think that any of your

play, I would have done this too. I would be working out. It wouldn't get ready to go. I would think to myself, hey, man, I'm going to take the precautions needed to not get sick and make it work. Yeah. By the way, last week, the graphics department here, who were strongly considering replacing, I said during my morning meeting, I said there was a story out about Dwayne Haskins. And I said the five most catchable balls in the NFL. Well, they put up the top five arm talents and the internet exploded. And I said it's not an armed talent argument. It's they throw incredibly catchable balls.

I said, Wilson, Brady, Breeze, Kyler Murray, Jared Gough. The internet imploded because I didn't have a guy in Kansas City on it. What did you make of my list? Any list of a positive quarterback trait that doesn't include Pat Mahomes is not accurate list. He is everything. I mean, catchable ball. I mean, he's on the back of his foot, throwing the ball to.

to Tyreek Hill. I mean, obviously, the throw here to walk in, there was a throw against Baltimore this year when he's backing up, he hits a guy. I mean, I think that obviously any list that, I mean, just from now until he retires, any list that there is, just like you put Russell Wilson and Tom Brady on every list you have,

Pat Mahomes is on every single one of them as well. I mean, this guy, it's unbelievable to watch him, to watch him play. He just doesn't, he, he just can sling it, man. I mean, even last year, when his, when his kind of feet were messed up and his ankle was messed up and his knee. and then he just still found a way to make it work. And obviously in the playoffs, he was healthy, and we see all the throws he made here.

I mean, it's incredible. Look, these balls are so beautiful. By the way, congrats on your new pool for your family. It looked like that. It came the perfect time. I'm so glad we put in right before this started, and now it's ready. It's awesome.

Thank you. Where to go. Congratulations. Jeff Schwartz, former NFL offensive lineman. And Joy Taylor now, joining us with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. I believe Jeffrey tweeted the list and said, did Pat Mahomes retire? Yeah, I, listen, that was his initial reaction. The graphics department is reeling right now. I felt for you a little bit. I tried to defend you. Oh, you did? Yeah, I asked everyone to stop yelling at you, and then I started yelling at me.

You said that I was trending for like a half hour in America. Yeah, people were very upset with you. People are not upset about the Cam Newton signing. He's getting another chance in the NFL with Patriots this year. Players around the league reacted to the news when it broke yesterday. Couldn't be happier for Cam Newton. Patriots are getting a stud from Greg Olson. Odell tags Cam Cam and says, you've been working.

You deserve that. Swaya. A bunch of crying emojis. Cam Jordan said we all saw it coming. The AFC issues now. Healthy Newton is going to be a problem. And then Jamal Adams said, I salute Coach Bill Belich for that. That's real.

congratulations, Cam. Jamal's got a little angle on that. Well, you know, there's a lot going on there. It is really, it's one of those stories and one of those situations where it doesn't surprise me that this is the reaction around the league. Because Cam is just

Cam is such a unique personality and talent. It's just, I can't even think of someone like him. Like it's that polarizing and discussable. And when he's great, he's so great. When he's not playing great, he's so criticized and so well liked around the league.

He's just very unique. If you, you and I have one thing absolutely in common is that we like, you know, I always joke, a good tire fire is good for our freeway drive. We need stories. Right. There's a lot of good athletes, but they're not, they're not that captivating. We both like interesting. Yes. And like, I don't, my thing with Cam is when I first saw this story, I'm like, oh, I'll watch their games. I had told you, I thought they were going to be bad and boring. And you can be bad in the NBA.

Last year, Cleveland was bad. Never boring. Arizona was bad. Yeah, and we don't root for teams to be bad. But if you're bad and captivating, it's good for us. It's good for the league. New England's not going to be terrible because they have the best coach and their defense. Let's be honest.

They're going to keep people in the low 20s. So they're going to win some games. I think they have gone this morning from 6 and 10 and boring. to eight and eight and fascinating. And that is a huge win for everybody. There must watch television. Of course they are. Whereas we both agreed,

I was probably going to watch them less than you, but we're going to see what this Jared Stidham situation is. And then we're probably going to turn out the way that we both think it will. And then we'll be off to whatever other team is interesting. But like, I was finally in a space where I felt comfortable, like at least for this year, if they're really going to roll out there with Jared Stidham, which I always kept a little tiny piece of anxiety that that wasn't really actually the plan.

Turns out that was true. It was not the plan. This is a long-term plan for next year, right? So they're obviously not tanking or you wouldn't have brought Cam Newton in it. Well, yeah, I mean, there's just so many, there's so much to unpack. I also think that the league is changing. Belichick's always been in front of the league, not behind it. They kind of stayed with a pocket thing because it worked.

They were winning Super Bowls. I think there's a lot of disc- One of the reasons they like Garoppolo is they could move the pocket with Garapolo. So with Brady, you kind of like, you didn't do a lot of what the league is doing. Part of me thinks, part of me think, not cynically,

let's coach Cam for a year. He's not going to be here long term, but if we get Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields or the kid from North Dakota State, they're all runners. So the New England staff says, why don't we experiment with Cam, for a year because in one year, we're going to draft the guy that's more similar to Cam

than Tom Trevor Lawrence can run. Justin Fields is unbelievable. And the North Dakota State kid, which everybody keeps sending videos, he's a runner. So is part of it just like, hey, let's kind of go that route for a year? Yeah, I mean, it may be. He's on a one-year deal. If it turns out a better situation, like the Ryan Tannihill situation and he gets a couple more year's contract. Who knows? But either way, everyone's going to be watching that. So Tom Brady

continues to work out with his Bucks teammates, despite the Players Association urging them not to get together until training camp and NFLPA executive director, DeMora Smith, made it clear. He does not agree with the decision that Brady and other players have made to work out together. He said those practices are not in the best interest of player safety. They're not in the best interest of protecting our players heading into training camp, and I don't think they're in the best interest of getting us through an entire season. There's two ways to look at this, and Jeff was just talking about it. So my issue is that they're not doing anything illegal, right? So obviously they have to make this statement because we are in a pandemic still. But if this, if the government was still saying,

you need to stay at home. No gather, no social gatherings, no workouts, nothing of the sort, right? Everything all, nothing is open except for essential businesses. We all just went through this. And then they were out there doing this. I would disagree with that because we've been told to stay home. But we are no longer quarantined, right? Like there are certain businesses that are still shut down. They had to shut down bars because, well, you know, you talk loud and yell in each other's faces in the bars and you don't wear masks. So for the time being, that makes sense while the numbers are surging, right? Jims are open, pools are open, salons are open. Those are way more dangerous than practicing with nine guys. This doesn't look dangerous to me.

But there's another health factor to this because they are going to continue doing their jobs in a few months that requires them to be in a certain type of shape or they're, They are going to get injured. Like they can't go from sitting on the couch or doing band workouts in their home to going on the field and working out. So while the NFLPA, I understand, has to put out this statement. I also see it from their perspective of I can't just go cold into training camp. I need to be doing workouts like this, not just running around in a circle around my neighborhood. I have to get my body in that kind of shape.

Otherwise, someone's going to get injured, which is going to then cause problems for their future. So as long as they're being responsible, I don't have a problem with it. Finally, the Lakers are reportedly finalizing a deal to sign J.R. Smith for the rest of the season, and he is expected to be on the roster. Lakers submit to the league on Wednesday. The two sides have been in talks since Avery Bradley decided to opt out of the restart in Orlando. Kind of felt like this was coming. There was a lot of buzz about this.

Even before, I believe, Avery Bradley said he was sitting out. He's a big athletic body who's been in big games. He's not as good as Avery Bradley in the dependability or defensive side. But J.R. is bigger than you think. He's a big athletic body who can shoot threes, and he's been in a lot of big games. And all these games are going to feel big, so it works. Also, LeBron feels comfortable with J.R. Smith, clearly. I mean, when we think of J.R. Smith, obviously, it's going to be tough for him to ever live down that game one dribbling the ball out situation.

We know that. But J.R. has hit big shots. He's someone that LeBron feels comfortable with. I think he'll fit in perfectly. And these rosters have to be expanded because of the risk of COVID down in the bubble. So they're going to have more guys in the team. J.R. fits perfectly there. Makes sense.

Yeah. Good stuff. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lide News. One of the best backs in the NFL. Aaron Jones of the Packers is going to be joining us next. Never talk to him. Can't wait. Plus Chris Hogan, former Patriot,

will be joining us last hour. But Aaron Jones coming up next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. Weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. 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 Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush

didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s.

To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really?

Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Cleaver 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, 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at?

Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Jordan Arano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells help on the internet. Help! Somebody! Please! But there's so much more to me than me.

I'm an actor. I'm a comedian, and recently, I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, Hope from a Hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike! I'm a comedian! I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff, rant, and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice.

One ring is too scary. Oh, cream a chicken suit. Hey, cream a chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the MyCultura podcast network available on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Well, Aaron Jones of the Packers, not only great, he has a fascinating story. His parents, Alvin and Burgess, have been two military sergeants. Almost 60 years combined time in the service.

He's lived everywhere. So going from U-TEP to Green Bay, not culture shock. He actually is joining us now be the Coward Global Satellite Network, tied in the NFL last year with Christian McCaffrey for 19 touchdowns. So just to introduce you to our audience, we obviously know you the football player. you come in a military background. You lived in Germany for three years. So you were telling something, tell me something off air.

So when did you live in Germany? And just tell me something about the experience. From when I was two to five, I lived there. Me and my twin brother went to a German daycare, so we became fluent in German. We would go to the grocery store, and we would translate for my parents. And so it was pretty fun. When we got back to the United States, it was only me and my brother. the family who knew German.

So we were speaking amongst each other, but there was really no German tutors around at the time, so we kind of lost it. Well, and then your dad, your parents like retire, and they start a marketing company because they want to promote you to the recruiting services. So you're not getting recruited by the big dogs, by Texas, Oklahoma. You go to U-TAP. You smash all their records, and you still drop to the fifth round of the Packers, even though you had 4,000 yards at U-TAP,

most rushing yards in the history of the program. So you have been overlooked. You were overlooked in recruiting. You were overlooked in college. You were overlooked in the NFL. Has that given you a little chip on your shoulder as an NFL player? I mean, I've had a chip ever since I was little. I mean, coming up, I mean, you know, as a kid,

you want to go to those Army All-American games, those Under Armour All-American games. And you're not even getting a look. then you feel like you could play with the best players in the country, and you don't even have stars, and you look up to have five stars, and that just keeps adding to the chip on your shoulder. And you don't forget those things, and you let it show in your play, and you just continue to work, and your time will come.

You know, it's interesting. When I watch you run, I don't know if I see anybody else. I think you have your own style. I think you're hard to bring down, and you've got a burst. When you were starting, when you took it, the ball when you were six years old. You're a little boy. You want to be a running back. Was there a running back or something like, I don't see anybody else. I think your style, like if you were a silhouette and you didn't have a jersey on, you have a unique style.

Is there somebody you patterned after? I mean, my favorite running back growing up was Emmett Smith. But, I mean, I watched a lot of running backs all the time, Damien Thomas and who else? I'm drawing a blank right now. Jamal Charles, sorry, Marshall Falk, watched numerous amount of people. So I think I kind of try to take a little bit of everybody's game. I know speed kills and you get vertical quick and defense plays on lines and different things like that. So you get vertical.

You'll always have a chance. Well, the other thing, Aaron, is, and you're very unique, some guys can taste the end zone. You had 30 high school, 30 touchdowns of senior in high school. You were a touchdown machine at El Paso. Even with Aaron Rogers throwing to Devante Adams, you're a touchdown machine in the NFL. You've got to feel for it and a taste for it. When you went from U-TEP to Green Bay, that's a culture shock for most people. But you obviously felt very comfortable, very quickly in Green Bay.

Take me back to your rookie year. You go to the smallest professional sport city in America. It's cold. it's isolated, but it worked for you. Did you immediately feel like this is family and I fit? Definitely. I mean, you get the college feel from it being such a small city and everything there is about football. And you just feel the love from everybody.

And then I always have my parents coming up there. And so it just felt like home and it still feels like home. And I love it there. And the people there get me going. So I've been critical from time to time of Aaron Rogers and people think I don't like him. And I say he's a Hall of Fame or he's first ballot. He's very unique. But he's very, very demanding.

And so you go to your first camp with Aaron Rogers. He probably barked at you a few times because he barks at everybody and he's smart and he's demanding. But it's interesting. If you go back to your very first year there, again, it looked like you and Aaron connected on some level. He trusted you. Take me back to your first year with Aaron. I wouldn't even say demanding. I would say he just expects you to be professional.

He knows what everybody else is doing on the field from every receiver to offense alone into running back to what the O-line call is and what blitz is coming. So he expects you just to know your job so the office can run smoothly. So that's the only expectation he puts on you. So he's a great leader, a great teammate. And he just he has an eye for guys who are ready to come in and work and about their business. And that's what I did. I just came in and it was about my business, put my head down and worked. And practice just kept gaining his trust, trying to make as many plays as I did in practice.

So when it did come game time, he knew he could trust me or call my number. So was there a moment? So you come from, you're a fifth rounder, you come from El Paso. And then all of a sudden you go to the NFL. And the party is probably like, I think I can play here. I'm really good. But I don't know. Like a lot of fifth rounders don't make it in the NFL. When was the first moment in camp or a game that you knew? I'm going to make this team. I'm going to make it in the NFL. I'm going to be an NFL football player.

When Devonte Adams came up to me and he was like, we had drafted three backs at the time in my class. And he comes up to me and say, hey, you're my dark horse. Don't so many people on the team got you as winning the competition. But I got you. Coming from him, I mean like, man, this is our. This is our best receiver on the team, one of the best receivers in the league. And he's telling me this, he sees something in me.

And then when I stepped on the field, I think it was week four against Chicago. To take my first offensive snap, ERA told me, I'm one of your biggest fans in this organization. You got your opportunity now make the most of it. And I just took those words and I ran with it because, like he said, when you get your opportunity, you have to make the most of it because you never know when the next opportunity will come. Okay, now, how are you staying in shape? I mean, you could sit in a treadmill all day and lift weights, but do you feel that if you compared this year, Aaron, to last year at this time,

are you in reasonably close shape to a year ago? I'm in better shape. I mean, I have a go. I had a nasty taste in my mouth since we lost to Santa France, so I've just been continuing to work. I'm out here in the desert, so I got sand hills. I got everything I need here. So I just continue to work and work on my craft and try to help my team get to the Super Bowl next year.

Yeah, what a total pro. Tell me about the pandemic. Has anybody in your family been affected? What's kind of your, I mean, obviously you, in amazing shape, are one of the handful of Americans that probably would be asymptomatic or suffer very little. Just you're an elite American athlete. But family, has it hit your family? Do you know anybody? Are you a little uncomfortable going to camp?

It hasn't hit anybody in my family. We've been taking measures and steps to avoid it. Just being healthy, clean of your hands every day when you come in and taking showers, just different things like that. I do feel comfortable playing, but I trust the NFL to get it right. And they'll know when the time is right. But like I said, I'm excited to play. play. I'm ready to get back on the field.

Now, you spoke German, and then you stopped speaking it, but I have to believe you remember some German, right? Like, could you say, hi, Colin, thanks for having me on the show in German. I do not remember any German. Okay. Hola, how much is I can speak a little Spanish. I mean, I'm here in El Paso now. A little Spanish, poikito. There you go. Well, congratulations to you. Now, when do you head up to Milwaukee? when do you hand up to Green Bay?

July 28th. You look like you're in shape to me, bud. It's great meeting you. Yes, sir. Congratulations. Thank you. Great story. And thank you so much for coming on our show.

Yes, sir. Thank you for having me. All right, Aaron Jones, total pro. What a great story. Germany, lived near the Mexican border. He lived in multiple, I think Virginia, Tennessee, U-TEP. Nobody recruits him. He's like a no-star running back, two-star running back.

ends up just crushing it at U-TEP, then goes to the NFL. Last year, he had 19 touchdowns on what we perceive as a throwing offense. He tied for the most rushing touchdowns last year with Derek Henry. He is a great player. He tied. So he tied with Derek Henry on rushing touchdowns. They're a running team. He's on a passing team.

He tied for the most total touchdowns in the league with Christian McCaffrey, who's seen as the best receiving back in the NFL. He's a machine. high school college pro he just gets to the end zone how about that and his parents are alvin and virgins they served in the military for 56 combined years when he when he talks you can tell you it's not a surprise it's very thank you thank you very much i mean there's something to be said about his background is military get up do your job like he's very habit discipline there's a construct discipline um that's night there's so much talent in america

He's a fifth round football player. Everybody in the league passed on him for four and a half rounds. I mean, there you go. Because I don't know where Green Bay picked in that fifth round, but it was probably low because they're always pretty good. Chris Hogan's coming up. Former Patriot, former Bill and a Patriot. Now, Buffalo's actually got the better franchise, in my opinion,

or at least the better roster. That's coming up hour three in L.A. It's the Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, weekdays at noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. So we had Aaron Jones on the Packers on earlier, and his story, this is what's great about the NFL. Half the league is undrafted. And Aaron Jones grows up in Germany.

His parents were in the military. He bounces around. None of the recruiting services give him any love. He goes to U-TEP, crushes it. And then falls to the fifth round and ends up being last year 19 touchdown, tied for the NFL lead for a running back. And he had 16 rushing touchdowns tied with Derek Henry. And that's with Aaron Rogers in a passing offense.

So it's remarkable. And my next guest, Chris Hogan, has a similar story. So Chris Hogan goes to Penn State on a lacrosse scholarship, not football. He red shirts his sophomore year. And he's like, I got a year left. So after going to Penn State, he decides, I'm going to go to Monmouth and play football. One year, one year of eligibility. Well, he was good enough that the Buffalo bill said, come on to camp.

He stays four years in Buffalo. Then the Patriots are impressed enough. They go and get him. Three years in New England. Wins two Super Bowls. And now he's in Carolina. Now he's actually a free agent. And he is joining us, Chris Hogan from his car,

running errands today on Long Island via the Coward Global Satellite Network. You know, it is interesting. So there's so many ways to look. Let's first talk about, Chris, the culture of New England. It looks like, as a sportscaster, it's complicated. It's intense. It's demanding. When you went from Buffalo to New England,

explain to my audience how different it was and how demanding it appears to be. It took a little bit getting used to. But I would say that the second that you look into that building, you know, you can kind of feel that that demanding presence, you know, that do your job mentality everywhere, you know, in that, you know, in that facility. and in the building. And for me, you know, you kind of, it's just one of those things that everyone in there really has the coach,

people that work in the front office. So it's something that I think that Bill does a really good job of getting guys to completely and know it. We're still working on his phone connection here. It's something that you want to buy into. So let me ask you this. So Cam Newton style, he's all right, we're going to adjust here real quick. Talk to me, Alex.

What are you going to do? All right, we're going to wait one minute, get back to Chris Hogan. We're going to adjust. It is remarkable. And I told the story this summer that technology just, I can't figure it out. This summer or last summer, we sent my daughter to Cape Town, South Africa for a leadership council. Yeah. And so one day, I'm on Manhattan Beach walking on the water.

and she calls. And she's in a tiny room in South Africa. I'm on the beach in Manhattan Beach. And it's crystal clear with no delay. FaceTime, right? FaceTime. And I was like, I don't understand this. This doesn't make any sense to me.

She was in a, her door was closed. She had a roommate. Her door was closed. And I'm talking to her. And there was like a half a second delay. And I'm on a beach in Manhattan Beach. And it's, you know, whatever midnight, she should have been to bed by then.

And it's noon here, and I told her at some point, I'm like, I'm as fascinated by the technology as I am with my daughter. I don't understand how we're talking right now. And it was crystal clear. So it's amazing. I was telling our staff this last week, because of the COVID virus, we have a lot of calls we take now from all over the place. Guys are in their trucks, are in their cars, they're at home, they're in gyms, they're upstairs, they're in basements. Roger Goodell had the NFL draft from his basement. So Chris is driving around Long Island now.

he's just kind of tooling around Long Island in his car. So our guys are trying to get it all set up before we go back to him. But I think it's what he said with the first question is Belichick does kind of a good job. Here we go. Here, Chris is on the phone now. So let's go back to this. So Cam in Carolina, the system was kind of built for Cam, Chris. In New England, the system is the system.

It's not built specifically for his style. You played with Cam last year. How do you think his style fits New England's culture and offense? I mean, about New England is that they adapt to the players that they have. And Bill's going to put the best 11 guys out there in offense on defense, and they're going to use their strengths. They're not going to, you know, if someone's not great at something or they have weaknesses at something, they're either going to get better at it during the year or they're going to use the strength to, you know,

the best that they can that they put themselves in a good position. So I think putting Cam, if Cam is the quarterback in New England, I think that they're just going to do what, you know, Cam is good at. And they're going to, you know, obviously it's going to be a learning curve, and they're going to have to adjust. You know, I think on both sides, Cam's going to have to adjust. You know, learning a new offense and a new playbook and new receivers, new everything. And, you know, I think they're just going to have to feel each other out.

But I think at the end of the day, if Cam is quarterback in front of England, you know, they're going to do what Cam is good at. So when you played with Cam, and you had an injury and you played with him early in the season, and then Cam got hurt, is Cam style different than Tom? And that, you know, Tom comes to the line. He's been doing this for so long. He's audiblying in and out, constant communication. Is Cam more of an ad libber?

Does Cam audible as much? What is Cam style like as a wide receiver to work with? I think the time that I got to spend with Cam, in the first few weeks before, you know, he was. a sidelined. I think, you know, no one's, no one's, Tom Brady. I mean, let's just put that out there. You can't really compare it to him, but when I was with Cam, the communication, there is,

you know, he was using audibles. He was using different handsig. I was trying to put his guys in good positions. And I think the offense that he was in also, you know, maybe it didn't, you know, wasn't as freeing or, you know, limited into what he could do. I think in New England's offense, I think he, you know, the way that he sees the field and the time that I spent with him and how well, you know, I thought he had a good feel for the game. I think, you know, I think he's going to do well, honestly.

You know, it is interesting. Belichick is perceived as intense and hard, and it's not for everybody. It's not, it doesn't feel pro player. But yet you walked in and had great success with it. Why did the system work for you, Chris? I bought into it. You know, I wasn't, I knew where I was at in my career, first of all, and And I was going to do whatever they told me. I mean, I was like, you know, I was undrafted, played four years in Buffalo. You know, now I get a chance to play with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. But, you know, it wasn't no-brainer for me to kind of go into that with whatever they wanted me to do on the field, regardless of what it was.

Bill asked, I was going to do it to the best that I could. And I think that the guys that succeed and that do well there have that mentality. And I think a guy like Cam, you know, going in there at this point in his, career, you know, people kind of, you know, writing him off, you know, a lot of people doing that coming off an injury. I think Cam's bought in. I think he's got to, the drive has been there like never before. I think he wants to, you know, I think he wants to win. I think he's going to go into New England and he's going to do whatever Bill asked him to do. And I don't think he's going to change his personality, but I think he's going to go there with a pretty open mind, you know,

ready to work. You know, I want to shift to Brady in Tampa because you know Tom very well. It's fascinating. So New England is a political sports hub, an academic hub. It's intense cold weather. I lived in Tampa for a couple years. It's fun. It's loose.

It's Ebor City. It's a party town without much history. Tom is going to go down there, Chris, and he's intense. And, you know, Tom doesn't have two game losing streaks. He won't be in the mood for it. It's interesting. As Tom goes down into this, a

little looser, more, you know, chill culture. Do you think some of the players, you know, Tom starts barking, I think it'll be easy for Tom. But do you think they're ready for Tom's intensity in Tampa? I think so. I think he's, you know, you see what he's doing now with all the guys and trying to get to know people. I think, I think Tom's intensity is no secret. You know, everyone sees on Sundays. They see it all over the media. You know, Tom hates to lose. I mean, his competitive nature is unmatched. I think that everyone on Tampa, knowing that Tom's going down there, is fully aware of what they're getting themselves into, you know, with how demanding he is, you know, how competitive he is and, you know, his willingness to win. I mean, you know, he wants to win, and I think he's going to do whatever it takes.

So I think those guys will buy into it pretty quickly. Did you sense, and I always said this, I'm always amazed because many of the great. Like Scotty and Pippen, Scotty Pippin and Jordan didn't last forever. Shack Kobe didn't last forever. It's very rare that you can get like Brady Belichick lasted 20 years. I'm actually stunned. I'm stunned that it lasted that long. Did you ever see even little bits of wear and tear where like a marriage?

You could see times they were wearing each other out. You're around anyone for 20 years. You're probably going to have a little bits of wear and tear. I think just Tom is just at a point in his career where he was ready to take on a new challenge. That's what it was. I can't really speak for Tom or for Bill. The relationship that they had was they wanted to do whatever it takes to win football games. I think anything off the field, it was what it was.

But when it comes down to playing football and win the football games, they were on the same page. If you go back and look at your career, Penn State Lacrosse Scholarship, play at Monmouth, go to Buffalo, then it's New England. is when you're in the center of the football universe, was there ever a moment when you just took a deep breath and thought, God, I'm playing lacrosse at Penn State. I am literally on a Super Bowl team playing with Tom Brady. Were there ever moments that you, maybe with your bride, maybe with your friends,

you're like, oh, my God, this doesn't even, people wouldn't believe this if it was a movie. I'm going to be working on the movie soon. I think it's got legs. But I think after the first Super Bowl, I think I finally took a breath just because everything happened so fast in the offseason and just trying to learn that playbook and fit into that team. And I think I took a breath for a few minutes and just realized how special and how unique of an opportunity that was to play a Super Bowl from where I had come from the previous years. So special. And then to go back to back to back to that, you know, two more after that was even more and crazy.

So you're a free agent. You would play, I imagine, if offered. Are you in good shape now? How are you working out? It's probably, it's been a while since, you know, it's been three years since I didn't have, I wasn't playing in the playoff. And I had an injury, so I think I went right back to working out

probably January 1st, and I haven't missed a day set. Wow. Knee is healthy. You know, I had to navigate a little bit in the quarantine and, you know, making things work. But, you know, I have a lot of good people out here around me that I've been able to, you know, work out pretty intensely. And I am just waiting for rainfall.

And hopefully all this quarantine stuff and, you know, we can figure it out sooner rather than later. But I'm just looking forward to playing football again. That's all I want. Yeah. We're looking forward to watching football, believe it or not. Yeah. Chris Hogan, free agent. Great talking.

to you, bud. Thank you so much for coming on our show. Thank you so much, Colin. I appreciate it. You bet. We've all been spending more quality time with family. Why not grill with family? When I think of family, I think of grilling, I think it's summer. R-Tek-Grills with N S.com. Built like a tank and built by grillers for grillers, the co-founder, the founder will give you his phone number, rec tech grills, R-C-E-C-E-C-Grills. Joy with the news.

No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd-line news. Well, some pretty big news. Cam Newton signing yesterday. Dramatically overshadowed the other news from the Patriots yesterday. Oh, what would that be? Which was that the NFL handed the Patriots their punishment for violating league rules.

By filming the Bengals sideline last season, the team was fined $1.1 million and lost a third round draft pick in 2021. Their in-house TV crew will also not be allowed to film any games this season. And senior club officials will have to go through training on league operation and games. Oh, I'm sure Belichick will love that. So you can no longer plead ignorance the next time that you are clearly breaking the rules that everyone knows about. You mean, you can't film? It's so funny to listen to New England fanboys defend them. Of course you can't do this.

And plus those guys that got caught were like, whoa, we were just, camera wasn't on. What do they say? Like, they'll erase it right now. He's like, that's not how this works at all. It sounded like a couple of weasily guys got caught. Listen, I am not someone to fake outrage. If I am outraged, it's because I genuinely feel that way. This does not make me outraged.

No. Does it disappoint me? No, because I expect this from the Patriots. As a matter of fact, when this news first came down, I was like, well, they'll good, fine, they'll move on. They'll still be great. Well, here's the thing. Let's say Warren Buffett's a legendary stock guy.

Yeah. If you found out, like, twice in his 50-year career, that he got some information because he was at a lunch, and somebody said, hey, so and so and so, would I, and it was probably the FCC could probably, SEC could probably look at it and go, hey, that was, you know, kind of, you're not supposed to get that.

Would you think he doesn't know what he's doing? Like, I know New England's great. I just think they pushed the envelope, but it doesn't make me think they wouldn't be great without this. Brady would still be great, and Belichick would still be smarter than everybody. I mean, they just get caught so much. I have to imagine that they just,

They just bend the rules a lot and they take the losses where they come. Clearly that's what they do. Like, they know what they're doing. And I mean, in the case in the scenario, you just drew up, you're supposed to go to jail for that. So, you know, I don't think if you take those kind of risks that I can like look the other way. In this situation, like, a million dollars is not hurting them. Obviously, we know that. There's precedent for it.

So that's why we know that's what they're getting fine for. I just think at this point, it's tough to look at. the Patriots and not, like, you can't tell the Patriots story without talking about how much cheating they've done. Well, that's right. That's the fair thing to say. It's like you can't tell their story. There's too many instances now, so, and they don't really care.

Look, they don't care. And it's not that I don't care that they're cheating. Like, what I like for them to do this fairly? Sure. But it is what it is. They're going to keep doing it. Clearly, they don't care. It's just one of those are things.

They clearly don't care. Like, you know this is the rules. There's no way that you can say. at this point that the patrons don't know every single rule. They're so good at stuff that they change rules because Bill Belichick takes advantage of the rules. Like he finds ways around them all the time. Well, I mean, John Wooden coach UCLA for years. He had a legendary booster who paid the players.

Now, we know Wooden is an all-time great coach. Of course. But he probably landed a handful of great players because a booster paid for it. And so do I think less of John Wooden or do I? I think everybody was kind of doing it. He was just doing it with a better booster and a better name. And I don't think less of Wooden, but I do think when you write the story of wooden, you have to include a paragraph about, I forget the guy's name.

It was Sam something. I just think I'm a realist. So I find it difficult to look at things as pure. That's right. I don't believe in purity. So when things like this happen, I can't pretend to be shocked. Should I be more upset? Maybe.

or maybe I'm a bit callous in that regard like you said like everyone's doing it so how outrage can you really beat? Is it wrong? Yes. Should they be punished? Yes. It's just going to be part of their story and that's just something Patriots fans and the Patriots organization to have to deal with. So Jamal Adams once out of New York but Judge Jets coach Adam Gase hopes that

Jamal can find some common ground with the team and can get to a place where he's happy. Gase said yes I want Jamal on our team. We've always gotten along well. This is a tough part of the business when one of your best players is working through things to our organization. We have to figure out a way to get in a good place, which will get him back in the right spot and ready to go. Yeah, because he's your best player, so you'd ultimately want him.

And can I just say this? They're not paying that many people. They're paying C.J. Mosley and Lavian Bell. They don't have huge contracts. So to me, if you just pay him, don't worry about precedent because nobody else is that good. And I think everybody realizes, like everybody gets this, that Lavian Bell, and he's a good player, but even Lavian knows, I got about a year here, and then they're going to try to probably move me. Everybody likes

Labian, but the feeling with Labian, who I think is going to have a good year with a better old line. But the thing with the Jets is, Dallas is paying seven guys. They're paying two to just pay it. Just keep him pay it and let's go. Because the team actually has some really interesting pieces.

Don't blow the season up before it starts. I don't really buy into the idea that they've always gotten along well. Obviously, negotiations can turn sour and things can go badly pretty easily. I just feel like this never should have happened to begin with. The purpose of drafting players is that you hope they develop into stars.

Yeah. And then you pay them. Yeah, especially when they're the best player probably in the league in a position. That's the whole idea. That's a credit to you that you made a great choice. Now he far exceeded expectations being the best in the league. Now it's time for him to get paid. That's how this works.

You play well, you get paid. That's how it works. Finally, the UFC is still getting Fight Island ready to go to host events next month. And Dana White, T's Preparated. with this picture of a unique feature of Yaz Island in Abu Dhabi. He posted a picture of the octagon being built right on the beach and will be set up for fighters to train as they prepare for their fights. I can't wait to watch.

I think UFC's done a great job through this pandemic. They have. I watched them this weekend. They've done a great job. UFC 251 will be on Fight Island. It's on July 11th. So coming up in the next couple of weeks, we'll get to see all the features of Fight Island. I want them to do some behind the scene stuff too.

So we can see, you know, get more content. out of this, like I want to see what's going on on this, on this island. Dana White is just never ceases to amaze me with his, like, he's just a genius. Like, he finds a way to make the craziest stuff happen. Like, this is wild. They're going, they're taking fighters to Abu Dhabi on Yad Island to have, it's, it's like a movie. No, I think if you look at Dana, Dana, to, to become a sport in a world that had enough sports, you have to be so strong and so resilient and willful to be able to take a sport. John McCain threw it off cable.

Yeah, and not just any sport. A extremely violent sport that was too violent for America. Budweiser, sponsors, networks, and then you get thrown off cable. You come back. And there's also, in your lane, there's another sport called boxing, which has history and money, and you go right up against it, and you certainly become much more discussed. The story of UFC is a great American business story. and like all those great American business stories,

it's been bumpy and hard. Only they could face a pandemic, and they're like, no, no, we're built for this. We got thrown off cable. We are totally built for this. And add a completely new element that makes it all the more interesting. Yeah, and I watched it again this weekend. The fight cards are wildly entertaining.

Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. Next and best for last. How many quarterback moves have we had this off season? All grade all of them coming up next. Start your day with MDrive Start.

It's so fantastic. A industry leading seven clinically tested ingredients, six forms of protein. Check it out. MDrive Start.com. MDrive Start.com. At half a banana. Best shake of the day.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. Weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. During Casper's 4th of July sale, get 10% off your entire order now through July 13th. The code is keep cool. limit one offer per customer and order. Look that picture of Tom Brady. Look at that thing.

Cam Newton agreed to a one-year deal with the Patriots. This offseason has been a lot of quarterbacks, re-signing, signing, moving around. It's probably the most quarterback-rich environment of my life. Look at that picture of Cam in the Patriots. He looks skinnier in that, doesn't he? It looks thinner. Dark colors do that.

So here we go. Here's my best for last. I'm going to grade all the acquisitions. All right, Professor Colin. What grade are you giving the bucks for signing Tom Brady? Well, I think it's an A. They've got the pieces. They just need efficiency and leadership.

Pro football focus says they're the best, fifth best offensive group, fifth best roster. This to me is not about lacking talent. What they sort of need is an adult, a winner, kind of a culture change, a little more responsibility taking care of the football. So this is a, I think everybody in,

Tampa knows. They don't need Tom to be himself dynamic. Just distribute the heck out of that thing. Lower the mistakes. And this is a 10 and 6 team if you just distribute smartly. What grade to give the Saints for resigning Drew Brees? I think they need to start looking at the future.

I'd say an A-minus. Again, this is a great roster. They add Emmanuel Sanders. I do think they need to get serious about the backup. I don't think Taysom Hills are friends. franchise guy to me. But again, this roster is a lot of distribution at this point. It's a lot of getting the ball to players that can do it themselves. So I think for another year, this works. But they got to step on it because I don't think Taysom or James is probably their future. Well, great to give the Titans for keeping Ryan Tannahill. C-minus. A lot of money for Ryan. Let's not kid ourselves here.

He threw for 369 total yards in three playoff games combined. You know, they were too good to get draft pick. Tennessee's one of those teams. Had they moved up for Jordan Love? I would have argued it made success. You know, Tanna Hill's the classic. Good enough to win games. Mostly takes care of the football.

He'll give you about one or two shots downfield a game. But I think there's a ceiling on this. It's pretty low. And I think they overpaid for him. But great to give the Colts for signing Philip Rivers. C-minus. Didn't love it. He's the least athletic quarterback in the league.

here's the good news. It's a tremendous offensive line, and he'll have time to throw, and he was good two years ago. But he's never really been good in big games, and I think they look at that organization. They're good enough to win games. They want to win games that matter now, and he's not been consistent in those. Last year he had 20 picks, so I don't think the Colts have the Chargers weapons. I think the Colts have the better O-line. So, you know, you can't move the pocket with him. It's kind of a limited offense, so I don't love it. What great are you giving the Panthers for signing Teddy Bridgewater? I thought that was the sneaky move of the offseason.

A minus. I mean, he's not a huge talent. But Matt Ruhl brings in a new offense. And Teddy is one of these pick up a system fast. He's a grown-up, totally focused. Again, I think Carolina's weapons are better than we think. McCaffrey's a monster. And I think DJ Moore and Curtis Samuel are really good players.

So I think he is kind of the antithesis of Cam. are limited, but you get a guy who, few mistakes, focused, distribute, to me, he's Drew Breeze. He's Drew Breeze. That's what you're looking at. And I think I'd pay money for Drew Breeze. Well, he certainly stepped in for Drew Brees last year. What grade do you give the Bears for acquiring Nick Foles?

I say B-plus, but the more I think about it at C-plus, listen, I don't like Nick Foll's contract at all. I think what they did, though, I will give them the high-grade. for this. They admitted the Trubisky thing is a con. We whiffed on it. We butchered it. It's not good. We're not going to fake it. So to bring in Nick Foles at that dollar amount,

the general manager is acknowledging, I whiffed. And that's you know, you know you have a problem. The first step is admitting you have a problem. They're not faking out. They're not tricking us anymore. They're like, we've got to get a pocket guy who can throw the ball down the field. What grade are you giving the Saints for signing James

Winston? A B. I think he's worth a small contract. I think he's productive. I'm kind of interested to see if he gave him two years there. Does he get rid of all the bad judgment pick sixes? There's something there with him. He's big with a good arm. I've seen him win shootouts.

He's productive. People like him. You know, the question for me is, okay, can you just clean him up? Just clean him up. A lot of bad throws. The Raiders signed Marcus Marieto. What are you giving them? I didn't like it, D.

First of all, Derek Carr, could you put him? your arms around him for an hour? I mean, God, the guy's already got self-esteem problems. So you bring in Marioada who, I mean, let's, Mario da, is kind of limited. You know, he's kind of a nonverbal guy at a verbal spot. He's a good backup, but does it, does he take snaps away from Derek Carr? Does he make Derek Carr think, good God, you guys aren't, like at some point,

you got to show just a little love for Derek Carr, who I've got is about the 12th best quarterback in the NFL. I mean, I, you know, you can keep telling me Derek Carr can't play, but my, eyes tell me. He's got a little Tony Romo to him. I don't think he's quite as good, but he's pretty good. And I think this is just disruptive. What grade are you given the Cowboys for franchising DAC? B plus. I just want to see him win McCarthy. I think he'll have a pretty good year. I want to see him with McCarthy. I also, the offensive line is getting old. It's not as good as it was three years ago. He's not going to have the support up front. So let's kind of see how this

works out. Now, the good news is between C.D. Lamb and improving Michael Gallup and Mari Cooper, this is now a really, really good wide receiving core. So my guess is, Dax's going to sign a franchise for a year. He's going to be better than he was at the end of last year, and he'll get four to five years at a big price tag. Finally, Professor Colin, what grade are you giving the Patriots for signing Cam Newton? Kind of a CC minus. It's a weird fit. The one thing I'll say, it feels like to me they're saying, next year we're going to get a mobile college quarterback.

We better figure it out with Cam first. So it's kind of an experiment on, you know, this is a Hollywood marriage, a lot of sizzle, probably not going to last forever. But I think they're saying, we're going in this direction. Let's at least get a year of cam before we officially go in this direction, which is big quarterback who can move around and run. And we are out of time. Good stuff today.

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