The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Ben Leber on Cousins/Zimmer Rift, NFC North Race, O’Connell Expectations

Episode Date: July 21, 2022

First, (3:00) Colin explains why Kirby Smart is wrong about NIL money ruining the motivation of young athletes.  Then, former Vikings linebacker and current analyst Ben Leber joins Colin to discuss his recent viral comments reporting a rift between Kirk Cousins and former Vikings Head Coach Mike Zimmer (8:00), if Minnesota should be favored over Aaron Rodgers and the Packers in the NFC North (14:00), why the franchise hasn’t been able to win a Super Bowl (22:00), the impact of Brett Favre on the ‘09 team (27:00), why playing QB in Green Bay is unique to anything else in the NFL (35:00), and how the Vikings will look different under new head coach Kevin O’Connell (40:00). Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates and check out FanDuel for the best wagering and daily fantasy action! #Herd See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Hi, everybody. Welcome in to our Thursday. morning podcast. Former Viking and now a media member, Ben Lieber made some news this week talking about how Mike Zimmer and Kirk Cousins did not see eye to eye is going to be joining us.

We have a lot of questions. He had some really good time in the NFL. I want to start with this, though. Men who are well compensated and have been in positions of power do not like losing it. I remember Joan Collins,

probably in her 80s now as an actress. She had a line once that made me laugh. She said, it's much harder to age when you're beautiful. She said, if you're average looking in age, it's not a drop-off. She goes, when you're stunning and get old, it's really painful. Yes, there's a great deal of vanity in that quote. But the same thing is true for power. Once you've had it, you don't want to lose it.

Nick Saban, Kirby, Smart, they don't like having less control over kids. So Kirby Smart said this week, got to be careful about the name, image, likeness. He said, you know, freshman, sophomore making $120,000 a year. He said, if you'd have given me $120,000 a year, my first year or two in college, I certainly wouldn't be the Georgia coach. So the insinuation is kids that have some money growing up don't work as hard. That's funny, but Steph Curry grew up with money. And Clay Thompson grew up with money.

And a lot of the NBA stars had dads who were athletes, same in the NFL. Kobe Bryant grew up. His dad was a pro athlete, grew up in Italy. He was the hardest working guy, arguably, for a generation. I don't believe the only people who work hard are people that don't grow up with anything. I mean, if you look at our political dynasties, the Bush family, you think it's easy being a president, a governor running for political office? I don't buy it. The idea that if kids have money early, they won't work as hard later in life.

There's just no data to prove it. The second thing is, I give my kids, and I have since they were fairly young, an allowance. Started with 20 bucks a month, 50 bucks a month. They get into high school. It's a couple hundred a month. College, it's even more. Why do I do that? Well, because I want to see how my kids handle money.

And I'm fortunate. My daughter's always been a saver. She likes to travel, but she's a saver. My son, they'll buy some stuff on Amazon. He's a techie kid. He too similarly likes to save. So I trust them with money later on. And I'm also watching them develop an understanding of what money is and what money does.

Could I not make the argument that so many athletes professionally blow through their first big contract, that the NIL is a protective mechanism. You give a kid $125,000 as a sophomore in college. Yeah, probably going to buy a car, a lot of clothes, a cool watch. He'll probably blow through it. And then he'll go, wow, that dried up fast. And he'll have a greater understanding of money without literally blowing millions and millions. money can be a weapon.

It can be a teaching tool. I like the idea of the NIL being sort of baby steps into greater money for professional athletes. We've all seen the documentaries through the years broke. ESPN did that one about how many athletes are out of money. Many had never had money. They'd never had a financial advisor. They'd literally never talked to about it with a coach, a friend, an ally. NIL is baby steps into professional money, which, let's be honest.

It's overwhelming. What would you have done? NBA, NFL, baseball player, getting millions of dollars at 23. I know what I would have done. Bought an El Camino and put a kegger in the back and rocked all night long and been broke very quickly. All right, Ben Lieber made some news this week. he is a former linebacker for the Charging Vikings and Rams. And then after the Chargers, Vikings and Rams, he got into some broadcasting, KFAN in Broadcaster.

I think that's still the Vikings flagship, also hosts of an unrestricted podcast. And when you're a player and you move into broadcasting, you always have a certain amount of legitimacy because you're behind the rope. And guys like me have sources, but I'm not in those rooms. So you come out with a Kirk Cousin story, which, by the way, I had reported at the end of the season. I said, I hear Zimmer and cousins had a really chilly year. So I had a source inside kind of the ecosystem of the Vikings. And I'm not Jay Glazer here. I'm not breaking stories every day.

I'm an opinionist. But I've been doing this for a long enough. I got people around the league. And then you report it. And hell, when you report it, it's all over the news. So did you think to yourself, okay, I didn't think it was. going to become this. That's exactly what I thought.

I threw out a comment, you know, about their relationship and it just didn't seem like it was ever the way I thought a head coach and a quarterback should interact. And it wasn't, it wasn't new news. You know, we've been talking about that locally now here for really probably the last two seasons. I think it really came to a head during training camp when current. Kirk and others. There are others on the team that decided not to get vaccinated,

but it was like Kirk was being singled out. You could see the disdain that Zimmer had towards the situation. And then we hear reports that Kirk had to go to Zim during the season and say, hey, let's meet. You know, we've never done that before. Let's have a weekly meeting. Let's just talk ball. We're not going to talk about personal lives.

You don't have to be my best friend. Let's just talk ball. I want to hear from a defensive genius. about what we're doing offensively because they had a green new offensive coordinator, right? So we hear all that. And just like you, you start putting the pieces together after a couple of years and a couple seasons. And it just didn't seem like Zim liked the guy at all. So I make a very benign comment, talk about how the defense, now maybe the word crap was a little bit of a strong term.

But the defense the last couple of years, look, it's not Zim's fault, but it wasn't very good. It just frankly wasn't very good. So I make those very innocent comments and all of a sudden it's being picked up by a lot of different places. And I'm like, what is happening? Like this is just, this is news that we talk about every day here at the fan. Well, you're a former player. You're in the room. You're observant.

You're bright, obviously. My people say you're very talented guy. So, you know, that I always say, Mamba mentality, you know, Kobe, the late Kobe Bryant used to always say, they don't hate the good players. They hate the great one. Embrace the hate. I would also say that about embrace when you make news because if you didn't have validity in your community, then nobody would listen to you. So when players feel like they get in hot water, my takeaway is no, bro, that's because you've got information and people respect what you're saying. And you know what's interesting about this, Ben, and I've talked about this in the last year.

Belichick struggled with Brady at the end. Pete Carroll struggled. Mike Zimmer struggled. Brian Flores struggled with his quarterback. And my theory is, culturally, we have a change band in the NFL. The game is now so offensive leaning. Quarterbacks are making like Real Madrid LeBron money. They have more power in the league.

I mean, guys now are demanding to get out, Stafford, and getting the jobs they want. And they want to be respected more. And Kirk Cussons deserves some respect. He's a darn good quarterback. And I think a lot of these defensive guys, Belichick, Carol, Flores, Zimmer, Fangio, they are struggling with a bit of the cultural change and significant of the other side of the ball. And that's my tip. Ben, I could be off my rocker.

But it's weird. All these quarterback issues feel like their defensive coach's quarterback issues. Yeah, I can understand how you could draw that conclusion. And let me just say this for the record, you know, I had some comments, you know, which why do you read comments? But it was as if I had something against Mike Zimmer. I have nothing against Mike Zimmer. You know, the reasons why the defense wasn't very good is not because of Mike Zimmer. Actually, he probably saved them from being the absolute worst in the league.

There was a lot of issues. There were injuries everywhere. Guys just didn't perform to their level that we expected them to. So let me just put it out. Those comments had nothing to do with Mike Zimmer because I, yes, I'm embracing the attention, but I also value relationships. And I don't want it to be out there that there was ever anything with Mike Zimmer and I. So to go back to your observation, though, about defensive head coaches and quarterbacks,

I can only say this about Kirk Cousins. We get it. We get that Kirk is a dork. I mean, the thing that I appreciate about him, though, is he and, He embraces it. He embraces the fact that he's a little nerdy. He's a little dorky. He can be a little stale at times. But you have to respect the fact that he's a really good quarterback. He makes throws every game that even the critics would have to look at themselves and say, that was a hell of a throw. That was a big boy throw. That was an NFL type of throw. I think a lot of these defensive head coaches are looking for personality. They're looking for Brett Farves. those guys don't exist in every draft. They don't exist everywhere. But they have this idea that we have to have this dog as our quarterback.

We can care less about maybe the acumen and how well they can throw because as a defensive head coach, I trust our defense. I'm trusting our guys to win us games. So hand the ball off, make some play action throws, be a great guy, locker room guy that is like that Brett Farm type of guy. I think that they just want too much. That's not the way personalities are built. And he's one of those guys that's, he's a little dorky. You know, a guy who's not dorky but has issues I've criticized is Aaron Rogers. Now, I have the Vikings winning the division this year because I do think with a new offensive coach from the McVeigh system, Kirk will feel supported.

I said it on the air this week. Any of us had a boss that we thought didn't trust us. It would affect performance. It'd be in your head. And I thought in big games last year, there were times it was in Kirk's head. Who, by the way, we don't know if he'll ever be a great big game quarterback. But I thought the last two years, it really got in his head. And I do think Zimmer is part of that.

And I like Zimmer too. But now he gets an offensive guy. Their personnel's great. The running back, tight ends, receivers, their O lines better. They got an edge rusher I like. They're going to be fine. They're going to score points. I don't think the divisions is good.

But I want to talk about Aaron Rogers because I'm sorry. seen as kind of anti-Aaron Rogers guy, which I'm not. First belt Hall of Famer, unbelievable. My knock has always been. He's got a trust issue. I've seen it from family to receivers. He's not a foxhole guy. Great with a lead, but I always thought Matt Stafford better behind. Is that there's certain guys in this sport, they are freaking foxhole guys. Matt Stafford is a foxhole guy. Joey Burrow, you can see. And there's our guys, they're pretty. Good with the lead. Don't think they're there for me. If you And that's always been to my knock on Aaron Rogers.

And there's some, there is some data, Ben, that suggests I'm not that wrong. So I'm not Aaron, I'm not an Aaron Rogers. I'm a critic, but I don't have disdain for him. That said, Vikings have played them well. Kirk's played them well. I think they've got better personnel this year than Green Bay. Am I nuts? No, I don't think that you're nuts at all.

And I think that you look at the way it's going to shape out playing those guys this year. open the season with Green Bay and what a great opportunity when they have, they lose Devante Adams, you know, they all think that Christian Watson is going to be the guy, but can you expect him to have a Justin Jefferson type of rookie year? I don't think so. No one. Moving from North Dakota State to Green Bay and Aaron Rogers and the NFC and the NFL, I just don't, I don't, my money is on the fact that he's not going to be a Justin Jefferson type of receiver in year one. That being said, what do they really have? I mean, obviously they're going to test us with, the run game, which the Vikings run game has not been very good the last couple of years,

I think that's going to be better. But, you know, Zadarius is here. He'll give us a little intel. I mean, I think that's also one of those things where a lot of media says, like, oh, they have so-and-so, they're going to get the breakdown during the week. I've seen some breakdowns of former players that used to be on other teams. They're terrible. They're off.

They're no better than the scout report that we get anyway from the coaches and the advanced scouts. So I just think that there's. familiarity with with them that is advantageous to the Vikings. And I agree that for the most part, you look across the board, they're every bit as talented. I think that they're going to be up and running as an offense quicker than their receiver core and their offense is going to be with Aaron Rogers, even though they've been in the system a little bit longer. So when it comes to just who's going to win the NFC North, I'm really bullish on how the Vikings look. And it's crazy to say that with a new head coach that's never done it.

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embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying.

Yep, that's me, Clivert Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations,

stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok. Podcast Network on TikTok. Minnesota is a really unique town that it's very affluent. It's got big corporate hubs everywhere.

I think it's highest household income outside of the eastern seaboard Midwest on. Beautiful, beautiful area. My wife used to work there and it's like the nicest people in the world. You know, it's an education center, affluent corporate. center, great airport, best airport in the country probably. But for some reason, it's just not been a championship city. Now, some of it is, and I do believe this is true, because let's say, for instance, the winter weather, the NBA is mostly a winter league, right? Like 70% of it, I don't think it's a great free agent hub. It's cold. You know, you get off that plane. I grew up in Seattle,

not a big free agent hub, right? That's part of it. Baseball, they've got money, but they have haven't had an owner that's, you know, willing to do like a Steinbrenner or the Dodgers owner. But football's different is they have had great players. They've had really good coaches. I think they've been well run. They've had more than capable quarterbacks. And they're just this franchise I don't trust in big spots. Now, I'm an outsider.

But you go back to some of the biggest games you were in. there are these weird franchises. Like I always trust the Niners in big games. It doesn't even matter with the quarterback. They just have a way of doing it. Give me the culture of the Vikings, the quirkiness, the realities of it. What is it like?

Because I'm such an outsider on that. Well, first, when you're going down the Minneapolis in Minnesota Twin Cities Love, I was like, did you just jump on Zillow and just hit every highlight that was on there? But then you say the part of it, about your wife, so she would obviously know. It is a great city. The twin cities are, it is flyover country. I think we embrace that. And like you said, we have major corporations

here that even, you know, look, I spoke to the Vikings rookies a couple months ago and let them know that, hey, guys, this is a great corporate hub that really could enhance your brand. And if you play your cards right, 3M's going to come calling, Target's going to come calling, Best Buy is going to come calling. Cargill is going to come calling. You know, EcoLab is going to come calling. United Health Systems is going to come calling. Right. There are so right.

We have a lot of big business, which is fantastic. I think the culture of the Vikings, though, it's, I think that's what's so frustrating. Because everything that you're looking for for a championship team, they have it. Yes. Did the Wills know exactly what they're doing when they first bought the team? No. And they admitted that. They're like, hey, it was a learning curve.

But I think these last couple of years, a last, you know, big chunk of the last couple of years, dude, they're the right ownership. If they want something internally, they get it. Like if somebody in some department wants something, they're saying, hey, cool, give us a little bit of a report on why it's important and how it's going to help us win. And we'll sign the check. It seems like they have big, big, deep pockets to give the organization from a corporate standpoint and from a football standpoint, everything that they want. We have easily a top 10 fan base, not only in the country, but also globally, I believe. The logo and the franchise and the branding is on point. It's up there with a lot of them.

We just don't have the championships. We sell out the U.S. Bank Stadium every single game. We sold out the Metrodome every single game. It is as loud and as crazy and obnoxious for visiting fans as any other place. in the NFL. So Colin, I don't know. I don't know what is the missing piece. And I think that's why a guy like Kirk Cousins is so polarizing because you can point to even the teams that I was on, my first three years, we were number one in the league against the run. We are top 10 defense in the league. And we just struggle to find a competent quarterback. We go out and get Brett Favre and we

crapped a bed in 2009 against the Saints. It's like, what else can we do? What else can we possibly do to get there? And I don't know. I don't know the answer. Was that the craziest game you ever played in? Yeah, yeah, hands down. Hands down the crazy. Take me to it. Well, I mean, obviously for me, it was the biggest game of my career. I mean, we all know the implications of winning that game and you go in Super Bowl. And it's what everybody plays for. You know, having Favre on the team, and I'll mention the 49ers, the game that we play against the 49ers, I believe it was a third game of the season. That was the game that really told us as an organization as a locker room, this is the dude. Like it was back of the end zone, Greg Lewis, you know, walk off touchdown at the end of the game or he had to avoid a rush.

He takes a shot and he throws it down the field to a receiver streaking across the back of the end zone that nobody saw but him. We saw the magic. And from then on out, we walked out of that locker room every game knowing that we were going to beat that team. we didn't know by how much and how it was going to unfold, but we were going to win. I've never experienced the level of confidence in a locker room as I did in 2009. So we get to the Saints game and, you know, we felt really confident about them because we have always played Drew Brees and that offense really well. Our defense, for whatever reason, matched up really well against them. Couldn't speak really for our offense, but I know defensively we felt really good.

You know, we made some mistakes. We feel like there was some miss calls. you know, we had a handful, you know, more turnovers than you should have in three games, let alone one game. We have 12 guys in a huddle in a key situation. We get the interception by far, thrown across his body when technically could he have run for a first down to get Ryan Longwell in a position to kick the game winning field goal? All of that is we're staring at the Super Bowl.

I mean, so to be that close, losing overtime, it was the most gut-wrenching yet most memorable game I've ever played it. You know, what's interesting, Ben, and you see this occasionally. Johnny Damon plays for the Red Sox and the Yankees, right? There is something about Packers Vikings, right? The Packers have had all these Super Bowls in a little tiny Green Bay and well-heeled Minnesota. The Vikings don't.

And you steal Favre. And you were pissed. They didn't like that. It was, I could remember when he went there. I remember the helicopters. I remember. I remember watching like sports And I'm like, I'm like, God, this is like, this is incredible. When Farr came to the Vikings as a former Packer, just take me to the first practice, the first day. To me, it's one of the great sports quarterback stories of my life. I mean, it was treated like the royal family was, I mean, do you remember the helicopters,

practice, the coverage, the plane flying in? I remember all of it. And I'll even, I'll get a little long-winded here and I'll go back even further. Take your time. I talked to Mark Tauscher about this a couple weeks ago. And I said, do you remember or was it widely known in your guys' locker room that Brett was trying to get himself to Darrell Bevel in the Minnesota Vikings the year that he went to the Jets? He goes, oh yeah, we knew.

Everybody knew in Green Bay. So we thought we were just kind of privy to that information inside the locker room. The year before, we tried desperately in training camp to get Brett Farr. Obviously, the Green Bay Packers were like, we're not going to send you right to a division rival. Go take a one-year hiatus in purgatory with the jets. That's how it had to happen. So when it actually finally did come full circle in the fall of 2009 in training camp,

it really wasn't a surprise to us because we knew the year prior, we tried to get them then. And we knew that next year, during the course of that year, like, as long as Brett stays healthy, as long as he stays motivated, he'll be on this team at some point in time in 2009. But then it's the fanfare and it's the soap opera drama thing that follows the whole thing around. I'm sitting in the Vikings cafeteria at Winter Park. We're watching it on the screen. It's like the whole OJ chase. It's the helicopters. It's the SUV.

They follow him all the way into Winter Park. And I remember sitting there with my teammates like, I can't believe this, this S is happening. You know, this is he really just pulling right into Winter Park? Go down the locker room. Here comes gunslinging cowboy Brett with his cargo shorts on. And he's just like, what's up, guys? And we're like, holy crap, that's Brett Farr.

Let's roll. You know, and I got to tell you, man, I've been around Junior Sayout. my rookie year. And he's the only guy that I think that had that level of magnetism where when you're around him, you just enjoy being around him. And he brings everybody together. And Buddy was one of those guys that just brought a smile to everybody's face. Now, he had a little bit larger personality than Brett, but Brett carried that same magnetism. He walked in that locker room and everybody just sort of stood up a little bit taller, the puffed their chest out a little bit more. There was this confidence that he just brought to that locker even though he was 65 years old.

So special player, special time. I really wish that we could have won it, you know, really for him too. You know, Ben, it's pretty amazing if you look at your history. You played with arguably the most popular football player in either of our lives. In his height, Brett Farve, he really bridged the gap of star, rural America, star. You know, like John Madden had this ability, Ben. They loved him in L.A., and they loved him in Appleton, Wisconsin. Yeah.

Like there's not many of that. Brady feels big city, right? Like Tom feels Wernugs. Tom is big city. Derek Jeter feels Playboy, big city. And there's Farf. Like Wranglers, Cargo shorts. But like, if he walked in in a tux to a big event in New York,

everybody would be like, oh my God, there's Brett Farr. It's like you, did you know instantly at practice? Because there's legendary stories that he wasn't always the easiest to coach. He kind of made her up. Did you sense it practice? Like the first couple passes. Did you hear them? I mean, was it instant if you had not known him?

Whoa, whoa, that's different. Yeah. I mean, we saw all those Patrick Mahomes. ask no look passes a lot in practice. You know, the thing I appreciate about Brett, and he's not, you know, I wouldn't say that he's like top 1% of this. There's a lot of guys that are like this, but I think I really appreciate this about him.

A, he kept football very fun. And I thought that it was pretty amazing for as many years that he had played, all the accolades, everything else. He came out to practice with a smile on his face and he was ready to go out there and just have fun. He was out there ready to compete. If it was a one-on-one drill with running backs and linebackers doing a, a pass route drill, Brett was trying to make us look silly.

You know, Brett was talking trash to us. You know, Brett's celebrating a, you know, a little completion on a five-yard out just because of just that thrill of competition watching his running back beat one of our guys in coverage. It made us, I think, get excited for practice. It made you kind of forget about the mundaneness of a week 12 practice. And you're like, all right, here we go. It's a Wednesday.

We've got full pack on today. We've got nine on seven, same old, same old, right? Then Brett gets out there and Brett's having fun. Brett's got a smile on his face. Brett wants to make you look silly and he's going to talk trash to the whole rest of the team about and call you out for, you know, missing a tackle, missing a coverage drop, whatever. He was just fun, you know. And like I said, there's a lot of guys like him.

But playing that position, I think it's that important. to do that. You know, I've said before, it's kind of ironic that even though Aaron and Fav are different personalities, it's kind of ending the same way. They've almost become very similar. And I think part of it, I call it, it's sort of the Green Bay quarterback dilemma. There's no owner. So nobody to call you on your shit a little bit, right? Like, you know, Stan Cronkey can yell at Matt Stafford. He's a million there. You don't have an owner. It's the smallest town. You can't go to a grocery store. You're the most popular person in the state. There's no other pro teams. It feels almost like a high school town with a big stadium. You've mostly dominated the division. So what happens with Farr of Ann Rogers, and this is very human, you are the most popular quarterback. If you're a great Packer quarterback, star Farr of Rogers. You're impenetrable.

You're untouchable. There's no owner. They've always had kind of reticent front office, not out. You know what I mean? Like it's they stay out, right? They stay out. You have to get money raised through selling stock. It's a totally different thing.

And it creates a weird relationship where you're beyond a quarterback. You're almost a rock star. I mean, Kraft could yell at Brady. Erse did yell at Peyton. And so I look at Rogers and sometimes I think, wow, what an ego. And then I think, God, far up at the end in Green Bay was like, I'm not learning a new offense. I don't want to show up for this. And I'm like, I get it.

You know, I do feel there's, there is sort of a reality of Green Bay that as I say this, people would go, God, I'd welcome it. But in life, it's nice to have people hold you accountable. It could be your kids. it could be your wife it makes a sacrifice it holds a you know what i mean ben you know you know you know what you're saying and the first thing i can think of and maybe this is a really terrible comparison and you're right there in l.a it's it's as if they're they're treated like child actors and they they they get so much success so early on and everybody just puts them on a pedestal and in a small town like green bay and really a small state as as wisconsin

is you are a rock star. You are an A-list celebrity. A, I don't know how they can, they can do it and feel like they can live a normal life in Green Bay when they're that status. But I was recently there, you know, this last, this last winter for the Vikings game. And I'd never been through the whole Lambo kind of experience, right? And we were doing some little teaser shots and whatever. So I was getting more access than I ever did as a player. And one of the people that was with me, because I said, I go, I remember, you know, this place before the expansion, before they added the suites all around, before they kind of bold this thing in. And they said, all of that, plus everything that you see out here is because of two gentlemen. And that's Brett Favre and Aaron Rogers.

That's it. And everybody knows it. Everybody knows that they are, they are, they are. one of the most iconic stadiums that they're the economy they're the local economy they they are everything like they're not just the Green Bay Packers they're everything to that city and that state and so yeah

I think it's magnified more than you can any of us can ever imagine and I think all the bad things that come with it yeah that's right it's like the royal family my mom was British and you're like oh the royal family they're all a little weird by the time they hit 35

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Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all. embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast

network on TikTok. The Vikings now have a new coach. They call him the tall Sean McVeigh. And McVeigh is putting together a pretty darn impressive tree. Yeah. And so I haven't heard much about Kevin. I don't know him. I saw him on the sidelines. Tell us about him. What are you hearing?

What do you guys know about him? What's the offense going to look like? Well, that's, I think, the biggest question is, is what is the offense going to look like? And, you know, every disciple of any sort of offensive-minded head coach or defensive-minded head coach, they always have differences in how they see things. and then differences in approach and differences in maybe how they can exploit a defense or offense. So it's not going to be as easy just to go back and look at what Stafford and the Rams did this last couple of years. I mean, it's going to look very similar. But what is what is that 10 or 15% difference? Because everybody's going to want to put their own personality and mark on something. They want to

try something a little bit different. And everything changes with personnel. You know, there are some things maybe that Dalvin Cook could do that maybe the other running backs couldn't do. You know, same thing with the wide receiver cores, same thing with the offensive line. This is an offensive line and you mentioned off the top of the podcast that is getting better. I mean, that's been one of our Achilles heels on offense the last couple years. And I think that they've made the right steps to solidify that offensive line. But again, all different pieces, all different skill sets. We know, we do know, based off of OTAs and mini camps, we're going to see a lot.

more of a receiving Dalvin Cook. He's going to be either split out as a weapon. He is going to be flared out. There's going to be screen passes. There's going to be, you know, choice routes, F angles in the middle of the field that's going to really take advantage of his quickness and his open field ability. And I think that's a plus. I think every game that we walked into last year, we talked as an analyst group, well, what can be an X factor for this game? In every game, you could say, Davin Cook's receiving yards. Because we know what we have in Thielen.

We know what we have in Justin Jefferson. If he can be the X factor and be a third down possession guy or a guy that can, you know, break one off, that can be the X factor. I think we're going to finally see the X factor be a real part of this offense on a weekly basis. As far as personality goes, he's chill. I mean, I don't know what else to say. I mean, he's sort of.

anti Mike Zimmer. He's always smiling. He seems to always be very thoughtful in his answers. I think he gives you enough information without like oversharing. I don't think he is looking for a guy that's going to give you the most honest answer all the time. But I feel like there's transparency, there's communication, there's collaboration with Quasi. He just seems like a guy that the players can really relate to. And I do think that's important.

So I got to ask you finally, you played with Adrian Peterson. And I saw, he's had an interesting life. He's about the best high school running back I've ever seen on tape. Along with Barry Sanders, he's probably the best college running back. It's weird, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, two best college running backs I've ever seen. Now he's fighting Lavian Bell. I just read about that. From what you know in his personality, what do you make of that?

Like it feels, it feels desperate. I know. I know. And I feel like, and I feel like Bell felt the same thing and felt the critics sort of come out and say the same thing. And there's this essence of like, why are you doing this? Like there's got to be a, it's not just about, oh, this is for fun. And Bell came out and said, no, I'm doing this because I want to make this a career. This is something I'm really passionate about.

I actually do want to be a boxer. Now, I don't know if that's true or not, but it was a good deflection off of the narrative of what you heard about Adrian Peterson. Well, Adrian probably needs the money. Adrian, you know, is this a transitional thing away from the league? He doesn't know what he wants to do or get into. So he's going to go in a ring and potentially, you know, pummel his face and head in. You know, so I thought it was pretty smart, PR department-wise, by Levi-on to say, well, this is a career choice. you know, this is something I want to do.

Now, we're going to find out if that's real or not. But I've heard a lot of people locally sort of look at Adrian's situation and say, kind of sad, kind of sad. And they're asking me if I know anything. I'm like, look, I don't, you know, Adrian and I aren't close like that. But I get it. It looks like a guy that seems a little desperate for either attention, finances, or both. And if that's the case, you're right.

He's a Hall of Fame player, one of the best runners we've done. ever seen generational player and he's subjecting himself, A, to get embarrassed. I mean, what if he gets knocked out in 10 seconds? You know, that's not good for your ego. You know, you go in there as a Hall of Fame running back. And what if you, what if you get your ass knocked out in the first round, you know? So the fact that he's doing this, I'm going to watch. Yes, I'll tune in. Yeah. I'm going to be, I'll, I'll check it out. But I hope it's not because there's a financial deal or an attention deal behind it. Yeah. Well, Ben, a bright guy. This is really good. Good storyteller.

You know, I called around and said, you know, I've been doing this so long. In Minnesota, Minneapolis has always had like legendary Paul Allen's obviously very, very well known. You had Sid for years. Who's the guy that works? He worked at WCCO for years, the sportscaster. Is it Rosen? Yeah, Mark Rosen. Mark Rosen. I work with him at the fan every week. Yeah. So it's a really, it's got some of the best local news in the country, news reporters.

So for you to get a job on the air in Minneapolis is something. It's like a really, really, I always said Chicago and Minneapolis and Denver and Boston, local media matters. Like people watch, they're into it. They have strong opinions. It's feisty. It's competitive. And you're part of it. Good for you.

You've earned it. You're really good. And I really appreciate this. No, thank you. And special shout out to our friend Jamie Erdall. She's taking over NFL network as the host for Kay Adams. And she's a Minneapolis gal. She's a Minnesota gal.

Is she? Does she work local TV radio? Well, she was doing, she was the lead sideline supporter at CBS for, you know, the number one game of the week on the SEC. And she was doing March Madness with CBS as well. I mean, she's, yeah, so we're pretty proud of her too. I think she starts, well, I don't know when you're going to air. this. But she starts on Monday, I think, at NFL Network, kind of taking over for Kay Adams.

So a special shout out to Jamie. Minneapolis girl. That's great. Yeah. All right, Ben, appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you so much, man. Make sure to check out the Dremont Green show. I brought Dramon Green into the volume because one of the more entertaining voices in sports, unique perspective, understands behind the rope.

Also chops up with guests like Gary Payton, Zach Levine, Tracy McGrady. Make sure download the Drain. on Green Show, wherever you get your podcast, only on the volume podcast network. Another podcast from some SNL, late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes.

Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey,

or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with athletes, creators and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

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

84 was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.