The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Jake Paul Beatdown, Mike Silver on Russ/Pete Power Struggle, Rodgers Dark Horse, Lamar + Carr Landing Spots

Episode Date: February 27, 2023

First, (3:00) Colin explains why Jake Paul’s ugly loss to Tommy Fury exposed him as a pro boxing wanna-be, and why it’s clear the Lakers will have to deal Anthony Davis in the upcoming offseason. Then, longtime NFL writer - and host of the Open Mike podcast - Mike Silver joins Colin to discuss reports that Russell Wilson tried to convince the Seahawks to fire Pete Carroll and GM John Schneider, if the Packers and Aaron Rodgers are finally done following his ‘darkness retreat’, which dark horse team makes sense for Rodgers, where Derek Carr and Jimmy G could land, if the NFL Scouting Combine is overrated, and if the Bears are really ready to trade Justin Fields. 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 #VolumeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 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 IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Volume. It's the Colin Coward podcast presented by Fandul. The NBA season, kicking into gear, baby, no better place to get in on the action than Fandul.

FanDul app is safe. You get paid fast. A lot of ways to play. The spread, the money line, team totals, players, props, a lot of stuff. Over unders. jump into the action. Same game parlayers are my favorite. Just use the promo code Colin and download the Fandul app today. All right, everybody. After a week hiatus, Colin Coward podcast is back. Mike Silver will stop by in 10 minutes, and he's got all sorts of things to talk about. As we've discussed many times, these young general

managers in the National Football League are wheelers and dealers. And your going to see March be a bevy of trades, stars, quarterbacks, up-and-comers, ascending players. Can't wait for it. So a couple of things. I want to start by talking about the pay-per-view event, Jake Paul, the polarizing semi-boxer, certainly working hard at being one, was going to finally fight a real fighter, Tommy Fury. Now, Tyson Fury is a two-time heavyweight champ from Great Britain. Tommy Fury is more a model who can box a little.

And so let me give you a story years and years and years ago. They opened up a casino in Vegas called The Paris, right? And it was a replica of the Eiffel Tower. And so I had a friend who was like, hey, let's go to, I saw it as we flew in, but he said, let's go so you can see this replica of the Eiffel Tower and they've got a good restaurant inside. And I was like, all right, fine. And we went and I saw it. And I was impressed, you know, by the effort.

But once you saw the replica of the Eiffel Tower, there was really no reason to see the replica of the Eiffel Tower for a second time. And that's sort of how I feel with Jake Paul, is that I thought the story was really fun. And as he was knocking out football players and washed up UFC guys or MMA guys, that was fun. I wanted to see him fight a real fighter. And I did. And it wasn't a great real fighter. It was Tommy Fury, who I'd seen two pieces of videotape of him fighting earlier, and he was mostly awful. And he completely controlled the fight.

He was more refined, more polished. He actually had a jab. It was highly effective. He was confident. He really controlled the fight. I had two rounds going to Jake Paul and one of them in the final round because he briefly knocked down Tommy Fury for about half a second. Nobody ever really got hurt in the fight. But Tommy Fury is not athletic enough or dynamic enough to be a great fighter.

His brother, right, is the two-time champ. Tommy's just a pedestrian athlete, good-looking kid, you know, great body, but doesn't have the power or the athleticism to be a great fighter. But he controlled the fight. And, you know, there's a lot of really talented people out there. And they have a two-handicap. They're not close to playing on the tour. They can go out with their buddies, shoot one under par, two under par. They're not close to being on the tour.

tour. Jake Paul is a big, strong, tough kid, hard worker, made a name for himself. I do think it is interesting when he fights recently retired football players or washed up mixed martial art guys. That's fun. Can he, you know, we watched an NFL player for years. A tough guy retires, goes and fights Jake Paul. That's interesting to me. But watching him face boxers, it's like going to to the Paris casino. All right. I saw it. It's kind of fake. And I'm done with it. And so totally supported Jake Paul, thought he would win the fight. And instead, the real boxer who'd fought real fighters was more refined, really kind of did whatever he wanted to. He landed significantly more punches than Jake Paul did. Jake Paul, remember the baseball player Adam Dunn.

if Adam Dunn was a boxer, he would be Jake Paul, would not hit for average, swing for the fences, and occasionally land. That's sort of Jake Paul. Combinations were not great. There's no real jab of note. Kind of outclassed. But I love the effort. If he keeps fighting, that's fine. But, you know, I'm done buying his fights.

Unless he fights a really, really popular all-pro-level NFL guy that retires, that would be interesting maybe. Second thought. So, you know, so much of the NBA now is three-point shooting. And I watched, as I was flying home from Florida, I watched the Mavericks jump out to a huge, huge lead on the Lakers, mostly because the Lakers couldn't hit threes. And the Mavericks did in the first half. 27-point lead for Dallas. Lakers came back to win. Jared Vanderbilt was excellent.

But I did say when the Lakers went out and got Jared Vanderbilt and DeAngelo Roussel and Malik Beasley, I said, this is going to be a team that's going to be a team that's going to be. into the playing tournament in the end and probably make the playoffs, bottom wrong, you know, Western Conference playoffs. And I still believe that. But in this game with this comeback, the most notable story was LeBron James got hurt again. And after the game, there's video of him limping off. I think Rob Polink and the Lakers deserve a lot of credit for assembling very quickly a better shooting team with more versatility on defense, more size and length, they deserve a ton of credit.

And it's a great example of how one player can ruin chemistry. Just getting rid of the toxicity with Russell Westbrook, the ball moves much better. I think they move much better on the defensive end. They're longer. Westbrook no longer plays defense, won't set a pick, can't shoot, blah, blah, blah. we've gone on and on. But just getting him off the floor. And the team plays a better brand, a more watchable brand of basketball, especially late in quarters, late on the shot clock, late in the game. They played pretty well. Sometimes Westbrook just got in the way as athletic as he is.

But I think when I watch the Lakers for all the positives, when LeBron hobbles out of the arena, it is the reality they're going to have to move Anthony Davis. And I know he's still on his best nights. He's really good. He had the most crucial shot in that Laker comeback went over Dallas. But, you know, even on the great nights, 27-point deficit come from behind W on the road, even on the great nights. LeBron, and this is just what he's become, limping out of the arena.

So two things can be true. Rob Polenka, the GM, deserves a ton of credit for creating a viable fun to watch basketball team. And they're still going to have to make a move as soon as the season ends. You cross your fingers that Anthony Davis remains physically viable because he's a top six-seven player in the league when he's healthy. But there's limitations here. What's the old Einstein?

The definition of insanity is you keep doing something over and over again and it fails. LeBron limping, this is what they are at this point. in the franchise. As a small business owner or hiring manager, success depends on the team you surround yourself with. That's why you should check out LinkedIn jobs. Hire qualified candidates more efficiently by matching open roles with people who have the skills, values, and experience you want. That's what LinkedIn jobs does. They go beyond resume data by using insights from your job post, company and their 875 million member profiles. To put your post in front of the most qualified candidates.

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I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. With the NFL season over, all eyes in the sporting world turned everything from the NBA to college hoops to the NHL. Plenty of games to watch are even better, plenty of games to get out of the house and actually go to. That's why the best way to get your hands on tickets, when you want to go to one of these games, check out game time. Fastest growing ticket app in the U.S. game time. offer amazing last minute deals on tickets to your best favorite NBA hockey NCAA teams. Top of that, they sell last minute concert and comedy show tickets too.

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Well, as I was talking in the preamble, former players, GMs, younger GMs, it used to be that baseball was really the sport that had a fairly profound off-seasons, hot stove. And then over time, the NBA kind of moved into that territory. Now it's just the NFL. These young GMs have no problem turning over a third of their roster. I love it. I think we're going to have a wildly active march and I can't wait for it. It's also now, you know, star quarterbacks are willing to move. You know, Russell Wilson, Matt Stafford, Tom Brady.

With that, we bring in the volumes Mike Silver. So I want to address, even the week I was off, there were three or four stories. So Russell Wilson has denied it, but you and I had talked about it at some length on an earlier podcast that John Schneider, Russell Wilson, and Pete Carroll. It's a total power struggle. By the way, Pete Carroll and John Snyder had a little bit of one, right? As I was told for years, Pete could sometimes cherry pick on the draft and kind of use some influence. And it would frustrate the scouts for the Seahawks.

I was told that two times by two different people that had worked with Seattle. They loved Pete. So Snyder wanted a little more control and more money. He almost went to the Lions, remember? But when the story came out, I wasn't surprised by it. I also wasn't surprised that Russell Wilson immediately denied it. What was your take on the story? You know, it had gotten really, really bad,

and they kind of patched it together for that last season, which, by the way, ended with Russell coming back, playing well, and beating an Arizona team that at the time needed to win to try to win the division and on the road. So it ended kind of nicely. But yeah, there was a power struggle. And, you know, John and Pete, look, for two people who didn't know each other and were matched together, they've had the model relationship.

So there's been some push and pull. You know, maybe the front office wanted young players to play more. you know, kind of your typical coach versus personnel philosophical divide. But they were very much aligned on, we think this has run its course with Russell. And Russell, in fairness, had tried to get out the previous year. I mean, it was dressed up as, hey, we're not asking for a trade, but we're going to publicly list four teams. Yeah, I mean, so Russell kind of acted out and tried to get out. They passed it together. He got injured. It didn't go great.

It was time for something to happen. And you have a relatively new owner, Jody Allen. She's been around. Hadn't been the owner for most of that time. And so did Russell technically go to them and say, it's me or them or was it couched more as this can't go on the way it is? And so maybe that gives, there's some defensibility there. But what I would say to all of it, though, is that it'd be one thing if we were hearing about this now

and Russell had gone on and had a really good year with the Broncos and Seattle had kind of struggled to find its way. But the entire season, as seasons go, was a complete referendum on who was right and who was wrong, at least in the short term. Russell looked nothing like the guy we'd seen for 10 years, that Gino Smith was a pro bowler. you know, it's kind of like year one of Brady Belichick. Like, I think it means Brady was the winner because he went to the Buccaneers and won the Super Bowl and the Patriots, you know, struggled.

So, you know, obviously it's it's never that simple. But, you know, Russell, I think, is emotionally intelligent enough to understand what's writing on his and Sean Payton's potential partnership. that's his way back. And so maybe a lot of the convictions he had before have changed to, yes, Sean, that's a great idea. And Sean Payton has that credibility. And I think Russell Wilson has those feelings about him in the first place. And for the record, another story leaked this weekend late that the upstairs office, second floor office for Russell Wilson was a distraction, was uncomfortable. And here's what I worry about with Russell Wilson.

Seattle stuff leaked. Now, Denver stuff is leaking. You know, I say this all the time. The story isn't just the story. It's why am I hearing about the story? Who is leaking it? There are a lot of people that find some level of joy in releasing stories that make Russell Wilson look bad.

Yeah. But first of all, I'm pro-Leak. So I just want to get that out there. And leak is kind of a misunderstood word, and I won't reveal all the secrets of the trade. But, you know, a lot that we normally would have reported between 2020 and 2021 did not get reported at the time because of COVID and lack of access. Right. You know, people like we were still, you know, texting and calling and all that, but it's not the same as when you're around each other. So I think we're going to keep hearing about things from that period as time goes on. But, I mean, clearly Denver was a problem. And it's a ridiculous, in my opinion, oversimplification to say, well, it was Nathaniel Hackett as a first time head coach and he mismanaged it. and now it'll all be okay. Sure, you want Sean Payton as your head coach over someone who's never done it, for sure.

But I don't, you know, if anything, I think Hackett, who had put up, you know, who had come from a situation that was weird and trending weirder with Aaron and the backers, but obviously worked really, really well partly because of Nathaniel Hackett, and both Matt LaFleur and Aaron Rogers would tell you that. I think that kind of informed his thinking, which is, right, now Russell's the guy. I'm going to tether myself to him and be all in with him. And yeah, you know, you and I talked about the office and some things like that earlier, you

know, during the season, you know, a six-person team cruising around with him. I mean, I just kind of want a hard about I get the job so I could envision the, you know, who's this? Oh, hey, coach, that's my personal performance coach. he's in charge of making get out of here that would have been that would have been fun but

you know effectively Sean Payton's going to do the same thing which is hey buddy you know you're a quarterback you're my guy we're going to be partners but you're going to be at your locker and not in an office that's bigger than your head coaches

it's just a weird look yeah well speaking of something that is a little bit of a weird look you know the the darkness retreat which again Again, however people get right mentally, I'm for. I don't care.

Want to smoke a joint? Hold on. I'm having a little darkness retreat. Oh, I see. Very clever there. There you go. Whatever it takes. You know, whatever it takes.

I do think there's enough credible reporting now. I thought when Aaron Rogers said, I'm going to do this retreat and it'll get me closer to my answer. I thought, timeout. You got to have an answer after the retreat. Right. You can't. It's like, honey, I'm going to go with some really cute girls to Vegas and that'll get

me closer to if I want to continue our marriage. Like, that's not the answer you got to get, right? Although, unless charitably, maybe like it's darkness retreat, ayahuasca. Maybe that's the doubleheader. Yeah. And by the way, like, I agree with you. Whatever gets you through the night, and I totally respect Aaron's process on it. It's easy to make fun of.

He offered the information, so people are going to, you know, have some fun with it. But, yeah, I just, I know that the Packers, you know, organizational attitude has changed from two years of, okay, we got to find a way to make it work with that. Right. like under any circumstance to listen man if you want to go back to being all in and you're into this we can do something cool here but anything short of that you know whatever so that makes me think they're going to get to a place where Aaron says hey you know I want to go here and then whether they'll send him where he wants as another question but um you know they believed that You know, well, I mean, just look at the optics. We saw Patrick Mahomes throw it with his new receivers, all these quarterbacks getting together with people. Aaron blew off the offseason, which is his right, but, you know, didn't organize throw sessions. And that kind of seemed to act a little disdainfully toward the rookies. They clicked late, made a run, fell just short. And I think the Packers believed that they paid.

him all the money which was good he'd earned it but then he took the money it was kind of like okay you're trading devante getting these new guys in um i'm gonna just you know dial it back a little bit and it's a position where you kind of got to be right and so he's so he's so talented and he'll probably find a way to get an edge and a chip and on his shoulder and come back for someone and be fierce. I'm trying to figure out a way that that happens in Green Bay. It feels less likely. Yeah, I think somebody I trust inside that organization I ran into in the Super Bowl at the Super Bowl.

And I had made a comment to this person inside the Packers organization. This is somebody that wears the uniform about Aaron. and there was a little bit of an eye roll by this person who said, yeah, we're all kind of waiting for Aaron to make up his mind. And it wasn't said with anger or disdain, but it was, yeah, what you're seeing is what we're seeing. And, you know, and we know this, Colin in all sports, right?

Like when you are performing at a transcendent level, as Aaron did the previous two years, there's a whole lot that instead of eye roll, It's like, that's our quirky guy, you know, like you put up with a lot. But the second it starts to slip, especially when effort is perceived to be part of it, then that's what, you know, and the Russell Wilson thing is a great example. Then it all starts coming out. Like, oh, do you realize what we got to put up with?

I mean, Tom Brady, you know, it's a testament to Tom Brady that you didn't hear that stuff this year, despite the fact that he was clearly going through some stuff, as he said, he was gone for a big chunk of trading camp. He was allegedly going to miss Wednesdays. I don't think that actually really happened much. But, you know, there was all this separation between what Tom Brady normally would have been doing and what Tom Brady was doing. He played well. He didn't play transcendent, but he played very well. But what a testament to him that we didn't hear much about, oh, my God, Tom Brady, they let him do anything.

And obviously, he has a lot of capital on the bank. But that's, I think, what we're getting with Aaron now. I think there would have been moments of eye rolling in 20 and 21, but he was just so good that in that building, they were like, hey, man. Yeah. That's our guy. Yeah. Well, one of the things that seems fairly obvious is you'd want to send him to the AFC, which has already been reported, and you'd want to send him to the Raiders because of that division, right? The Raiders are a fascinating team.

So if you let go of Derek Carr, I don't think you can back into the season with Jarrett Stidham. You're going to take a big swing. It's like when the Broncos were losing Tebow, they went with Peyton Manning, right? Solve that problem. You want to quiet the crowd down. And Derek Carr, say whatever you want, is a pretty popular guy, right? Pretty capable quarterback. So, you know, the Jarrett Stidham reports, you know, to me, he's a backup or a really,

really like 28th best quarterback in the league guy. What do I know? But I do think the Aaron Rogers, I could see the Raiders saying, we'll give you a first, one of our fifths, a first in that division. that feels right for Aaron Rogers. But I also look at Robert Saul and the Jets. And I think, Mike, they're really behind the eight ball here. They got real issues.

And they hired Hackett as the opposite. So what, give me a Raiders, Jets, Aaron Rogers. Where do you land on that stuff? And by the way, let's throw the Titans in there. Yeah. I think that's a fair thought. Yeah, so I think with the Raiders, if they make a move for Aaron Rogers, that's ownership-driven. I think if it was just Dave Ziegler and Josh McDaniels, based on what I know, they might poke around Aaron, but they're not thinking, hey, man, that's the answer to our dreams at this point.

They probably fixed him, who in the one game I saw him live did look like the eighth best quarterback. Like he was dealing. Yeah. And they came down to Earth, the next. state. But they're probably thinking Stidham and then go get a young guy. They have a pretty high pick in this draft, do something like that, which I don't know if that's a sustainable solution, if you're Josh and battled. But I think that would be the team building preference from the front office. But then, you know, Mark Davis was the guy who wanted to Russell. Mark Davis wants a star.

He wants someone to put in that new stadium and give them a new identity. And so, I could see Mark Davis saying, you know what, let's do that. And, you know, the owner's always got that kind of sway. I don't know that it's going to cost as much as a one end, simply because they're under, you know, because of the contract, if they decide, hey, we're moving on, you're going to, you know, we're parting ways. They have a great deal of incentive to get out from under that.

cap hit and Aaron knows that and so that can be used against them and so A, I don't know how much it's really going to take to get them and B, more important, this whole, oh, well, they're not going to send them to a team in the NFC. I don't know that. I mean, Aaron's got leverage in that he can say, fine, I'm coming back even though we don't want to be with each other. He can also say, go ahead and cut me because your, you know, your cap situation with this, you know, deal as it currently stands is not good. And he can also, you know, force or, you know, figure out with the new team. Well, can we change the contract to make more team friendly? So I think Aaron's a part of this.

So I don't know for sure that he's going to not go where he wants. It's possible that the Packers will have their way, but it's possible he'll have leverage. And with all of that said, the Jets make a lot of sense to me because, you know, if you're Joe Douglas and Robert Sulla at this point with an impatient owner, with an owner who essentially made you change offensive coordinators and you hire the guy who has the relationship with Aaron, you, you had an incredible draft. You've got a lot of pieces around you, but you're in a very tough division. And I think there's a lot of reason where you'd say, yeah, let's do anything to get Aaron Rogers and put him with this team in this town. So I'll throw a wild card in. So going back, pivoting back to my replace Tebow with Peyton Manning. And, you know, John Elway, I was told this during the entire Tebow, Denver run, that Elway just did not buy into it at all.

All. Yes. He thought it was a joke. But he knew there's a strong Christian community in Denver and they would be chanting Tebow. So John went out and said, we got to bring in a headline band and the undercard is overwhelmed, right? I mean, Colin, I'll tell you this. The second the Peyton Manning news broke, I tell. I texted someone who was pretty high up in that organization,

and the reply text, instant reply was, bye, bye, tip. It was not, yeah, we got Peyton. It was like we solved this problem. Even if Peyton never plays a town for us, we don't have Tebow anymore. So you're absolutely right. So let me go back to a wild card for Aaron, AFC.

San Francisco. cap situation wouldn't allow Aaron. But the AFC version of that is Miami. And because Tua has a following. And because he's been kind of bounced around

between the Deshawn Watson rumors and Ryan Fitzpatrick, you bring in Aaron. And Aaron looks at that and goes, I get a left tackle, Gaseki, two receivers, no state tax, single guy down by the water.

and you bring in some, and no dolphin fan complains about replacing Tua. In fact, Tua probably doesn't, you know, I don't know if it's possible, but they don't have a lot of. Coach who can skim it up, too. That's one I just keep thinking, San Francisco light is Miami. Yeah, and by the way, I don't believe the foreigners couldn't do it half-wise. It would change the way they have to approach the next couple years cap-wise. You're still going to pay Bosa, but you would lose some of those guys. You could do it, though.

I think the problem is if you do it, but you think you kind of caught lightning in a bottle with Purdy for the future, you're hoping, obviously, if the arm is okay, you don't know when. That's why Brady always made more sense to San Francisco to me, because it's the perfect thing. We don't know what Purdy's going to be in 23, but we'll just do a year of Brady and then we can go back to our model with quarterback on a rookie deal

and build around him. I think if you're the Niners, you ask Brady again. I think you let the death settle for a while. It just makes too much sense. Now, especially Purdy with the surgery, being pushed back, which A is kind of signed,

like this whole he's going to be back at six months is not, you know, written stone. B, it's, it does push the timeline, you know, already very, very close, best case scenario. And they won't know until they get in whether they have to do a, you know, a complete Tommy John surgery. We're parsing terms. But the kind of surgery that would probably knock about for most or all of the year, or this one where they think it'll be six months. And of course, you never know if it's going to be what it was before, but you hope so. So I think they call Brady again. And if not, then I, you know, you think about Aaron, but I think you're looking more like a,

are you thinking about a Jacoby percent or an Andy Dalton or a Matt Ryan or someone as a hedge with Lance as you try to get him to a point where he can be your guy? Looking to get more out of the NBA season? Well, now is the perfect time. to download Fandul, America's number one sports book. Right now, new customers get a no-swet first bet up to $1,000. That's free bets back if your first bet doesn't win. The promo code is always Colin. FanDuel has tons of betting options. I like the same game parlay. Bet a little, win a lot. FanDuel's app is safe, secure, easy to use, and you get paid your winnings really fast. The no-s

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Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So I'll give you a quarterback, and you tell me where you think, lands. You can do it quickly if you want or take time. Derek Carr. That's a good one. I want to say Jets right away, but then I'm kind of thinking Aaron and the Jets makes some sense. You know, it's got to be somebody who will step up and pay that money.

So I think you put him in the same pool as probably the next guy you're going to ask me. So how about David Tepper, Frank Reich, bad division? Yeah, I'm thinking Jimmy goes there. So I would say Carolina for Derek Carr, it's a great call, but I'm going to save it for Jimmy. How about Houston? You've got the car full circle situation there. Just throw it, you know, let's throw it out there. All right.

if you think Garoppolo is in Carolina, let me throw out the most enigmatic bizarre situation. Lamar Jackson, who's won 74% of his games in a division now where Kenny Pickett looks semi-viable, won seven of his last nine games that he played in, substantial snaps, Burroughs second, third, best quarterback in the league, Deshaun Watson should be at least, you know, he's talented. Where's Lamar Jackson going to end up? Weird. Man.

Yeah. And, you know, I immediately start thinking about Miami and Lamar, you know, hometown and the two kind of elephant of the room with the concussions. And, you know, what Mike McDaniel, who's a genius, especially in the running game, but, you know, really great at, you know, coming up with game plans and calling plays. But what could you do with Lamar? And they've already done in Baltimore. Greg Roman's done some great things with them.

But, you know, I wonder about things like that. You know, probably he'll get tagged. Probably he'll be gone for part of the off-season program, and then he'll just come sign the tag and play a year, is my guess. but, you know, that could go a lot of different ways. Let's say Miami. All right. So Lamar, Miami.

You sound like you have car going to the Jets. My guess is... No, I have Rogers to the Jets. Derek Carr, where? We said Houston, but now I'm starting to rethink this. But don't you think Houston's got to step up and do something to signal to their band base after all

this crap, the Easter B and the end of the Watson era and firing two coaches, three coaches in a row, two after one year, and Davis Webb is going to be the I mean, excuse me, Davis Webb, now the

quarterback's coach of the Broncos very happy for it. Davis Mills is going to be the guy, which is kind of like, really? I feel like if you're the Texans, you've better do something. Now, maybe it's just Bryce Young and away we go, right? But I don't know. I feel like I also think the Titans are in this conversation somehow. And I've tried to wrap my head around are Derek Carr and Mike Vrable a great fit? Maybe not. But I think teams like the Titans

are poking around there too. As much as I love the NFL, I scale back on covering the combine about four years ago. I just didn't think, I've always said that the NFL, I talk about 65%. I don't watch the Pro Bowl. And increasingly, I think the combine's a little bit of a time-waster. I don't think it has the influence. So when Matt LaFleur announces, we're just not taking our coaches to it. And you're getting some pushback where, you know,

people are saying it's a little bit of an uncomfortable meat market. I think we've overvalued the combine. I really do. I honestly, if I have four years of game tape, the idea that you're going to come in finely tuned, you're basically, what you're basically doing, it's like an SAT, you're just studying for a singular test. It doesn't mean you're brilliant. Some people are just really good test takers. Yeah, and it's not a very good place for the player Who already is being told where he has to play I mean, I'm very like, you know, I'm the son of union side labor lawyers

So forgive me Yeah, like I think this notion that they'll do anything You know, my favorite combine story is what Dion tells the story where some team The Giants wanted him to take like this you know, three-hour personality test that they give and he looked at them and he said, where do you guys pick?

And they were like 10 and he goes, I'll be gone by that and just walked out. Very few players have the ability to treat it that way. But I never went to the combine when I was at Sports Illustrated all those years because it did seem like a meat market

gross, weird thing to me. And I agree, it's outsized importance. So then I finally started going when I went to Yahoo in 07, and I realized, oh, it's spring break for coaches and talent evaluators. So the access is incredible. So I kind of, you know, I marginalized the combine part of it. And you could see that on TV if you want. But like, I'm there to, you know, be in the same bars and restaurants and hotels with all the people I cover and people I want to meet and redo acquaintances with. And, you know, that's why I go.

but I can understand how coaches would at some point think we're not necessarily getting great work done. The GMs are meet with agents, meet with each other, laying the foundation for trades and moves, and obviously talent evaluators like to talk to these guys and all that. I do think you need to reward the coaches and the scouts and such because we, you know, live in this world where it's so serious all the time and even the Super Bowl, you know, it's not like Andy Reed, but that was some great outlet for him. Yeah. That night he got to celebrate.

You know, I was there at the Chiefs Victory Party. But like I feel like we need a week where we can all just, hey, you know, like pass each other other on the street. When McVe, who kind of was the pioneer of this newest movement, when McVeigh decided, you know, I don't want to go to the combine. I've got new coaches. I'd rather spend work. And then last year after he won the Super Bowl and the Combine was back, they decided not to go.

And I remember saying to Sean, I go, dude, isn't the whole point of winning the Super Bowl getting to like strut around Indy for seven days and have everyone come up to you and be like, hey, nice. You know, that's awesome. I mean, I don't know. The Combite to me has a lot of value that transcends the stupid reason for existence. And I also would say this because I've been on all sides. As a media member before and after I worked in NFL Network, you have zero access at the combine. They let fans go sit in.

You're watching TV. It's insane. Now, when I was in NFL Network for eight years, I had full access and I could go to everybody's suite and see coaches and GMs. It was awesome. But now that I no longer have that and back to the way it was, I wouldn't like, I guess you could go do group interviews with some of these guys.

It was interesting when it was like Matt Titeo, you know, or certain polarizing people. But for the most part, like, it's a TV show. So just, you know, I don't think, I think it fuels the overall ridiculously high emphasis on the draft as transformative when it really. often isn't transformative. And you know, you've got a 50% hit rate essentially in the first round even. And yet we operate in this realm where a, you know, the 13th overall pick is so sacred. And that's why I've enjoyed seeing teams like the Rams just go, you know what, screw that.

We're going to go get a guy. And you mentioned there's a new wave of GMs and they're trading and they're getting after it. And that's all good. And draft can be transformative if you draft Peyton Manning. But, you know, one pick later, the Chargers took Ryan Leaf. And by the way, I love Ryan. Soap at the Super Bowl. Incredible story.

It's doing great. But that was transformative at the time, too. And not the transformation. The Chargers were looking for. Right. Mike Silver at the volume. And this is in about, what is it, March 15th is when it really ramps up. So we got about two and a half weeks, and it really, really ramps up.

Now, just because March 15th, you can, I guess, officially start talking, but are teams for the next two weeks talking? Yeah, of course. It's weird. Like, there used to just be like, okay, ready, set, go, go. And then it would be like, hey, I made my decision at 1201. I've considered all my options carefully. I've had my agent call that team, and we hammered out.

a deal. So like that's felt weird. So then they're like, okay, fine, fine, fine. It's ready set go, but for 48 hours before that, we're going to do legal tampering where you can talk, but you can't technically agree. Well, we know what that means. Right. People are agreeing.

And so, I mean, whatever, of course people are going to talk. And the combine's a convenient place for, you know, if a GMs meet with an agent at the convent. mine and the agent's got a couple players on that GM's team, like, oh, what were you meeting about? Oh, we were just meeting to talk about, you know, the two clients that agent has on our team, even though you could be talking about prospective other people that the agent represents. So it's, you know, none of it bugs me that much. I mean, I think I just don't even believe in tampering.

Like, go ahead and tamper. Look at the NCAA, by the way. Like, that's real tampering now. and to the players' benefit. But, you know, go ahead and tamper. Like, if you can convince Aaron Rod, you know, you can convince George Kittle, he doesn't want to play for Kyle Shanahan anymore.

He wants to demand to trade to the Titans and be part of Mike Ravel's team. If you can pull that off and get that to happen and actually get him traded to your team, cool, go ahead. Like, tampering's weird. Like, they're not possessions. They're just dude to play for you for money.

Yeah. So I believe, like, go ahead. Just, you know, like, we live in this weird world where, like, you can't tamper, heaven forbid. It's bad form if you sign a guy off someone else's practice squad. The GM might get mad. Like, whatever, man. Just everyone's trying to win the Super Bowl. Like, if you could get someone to sign with you or by giving them more money,

there's a salary cap. I say just turn it loose and then have a day when the transactions start. I didn't ask you this, but it is something I've thought about. So as Justin Fields, it's hard to lose 10 games in a row in the NFL. I mean, Houston took the Chiefs to overtime, okay? And they're in a complete utter rebuild. So when the Bears lose 10 straight, of which I think Justin Fields played in 8, and two years in, not a ton of improvement.

And this GM and this coach didn't draft him. And there have been flashes of brilliance. But two years in, he's completing not enough throws, not a ton of growth. And John Middlkoff said something as a former scout the other day on the volume. And he said, if you have Bryce Young graded higher than him, we'll reset the clock, then go draft Bryce Young. It's like Kyler and Josh Rosen. Yeah. So I covered the opener, by the way, at Soldier Field. The Bears beat the Niners. So that made a lot of sense, you know, down the road. You know, I just think

we have to be careful. Like, we know what we think, but I guess I need to do a little reporting, hopefully, in Indy, about what the Bears think. Because we think, we thought in mid-November, that quarterback class sucked, but Justin Fields is the shining star of it. And then Trevor Lawrence elevated, you know, from that point on. And now we would say, okay, Trevor Lawrence is the guy in that class. You know, we haven't seen Lance essentially. Zach Wilson's a bust. Yeah. You know, Mac Jones is. Jack Wilson's a bus. Mac Jones is okay.

Davis Mills is, you know, maybe we'll see Kyle Trask. Kellyn Mon's already on a new team. You know, it's, it's, um, so I would be curious to see what the Bears think. Because I think the kids, like, insanely talented. And when there's insane talent, I'm always on the side of figure it out, man. The bills, Josh Allen's, 45%. And you know what? They got Brian Daevall, and they figured it out.

Steve Young was, I mean, I covered Steve Young back in 89 and 91, 92, and 49er fans were up in arms, and he can't read defense. All he does is run around. And I was like, figure it out. You know, then Mike Shanahan came, and he was throwing six touchdowns at the Super Bowl, and he's the first ball of all favor. So I feel like my view is see if you can make that killer. And, you know, Bryce Young's kind of a smaller guy.

It's not like Peyton Manning's sitting there. You know, it's a, you know, Kyler's smaller guy has obviously proven to be better than Josh Rosen. But I agree with that philosophically. I just don't know what the Bears really think of Justin Fields and those quarterbacks in the draft. But it's a fair way to think. Yeah. I think what works in Justin Fields' favor, he's a big, strong athlete, Bryce is smaller, and historically northern teams that play outside, Flacco, Big Ben, even Jay Cutler's arm,

you want a strong arm quarterback. Stafford could throw. That ball cuts through a Chicago Green Bay winter. And Bryce Young is a California kid, 180 pounds. He doesn't look like you'd want you. your bare quarterback to throw like Cutler or look like McMahon or Justin Fields. Seriously.

Yeah. And look, one of my favorite moments of the season is that clip where Mike McDaniel says, stop it. You know, what Justin Fields has run for another long game right by his sideline, and he just goes, stop it.

Like, it's demoralizing. And, you know, he's an insanely good runner. You know, Like there's a lot of good running quarterbacks. Josh Allen's really good. Lamar's amazing. But this guy's, you know, got a different gear.

And he's a good thrower and he's intelligent. He had some bad habits in college. He's lost a lot of games. They didn't have a lot around him. But if you're smart and you have a good arm and you're that talented at one thing, I would love to see them trying to make it work. Yeah, I'm still kind of a 60-40. It's going to work.

I do think they need to chase Claypool and Mooney. I think they need another receiver. And I think they'll double down on their interior O line a little bit. But yeah, I mean, he's, what you worry about is that, and Cam Newton had some of this. Zach Wilson had some of this. And so did Sam Darnold. where they're YouTube quarterbacks. You see these unbelievable glimpses of brilliance.

And then it's like, Sam Darnold's pastor ratings, 81. Right? Like, like, and. Well, Cam was different than that. Yeah, Cam was better than that. Before he got beaten down. He was the MVP. Right.

He went to the Super Bowl. But he was, if you watched a Carolina game, a four-game stretch, you got variations of Cam. You got bad mechanics, moody, you know, missing McCaffrey in the flat by eight yards. Cam was like young Ben, you know, Ben was kind of like that. I'll just extend the play and I'm big and strong and guys will bounce off me and, you know, I'll find a way. And, yeah, and honestly, Josh Allen started out. Yes.

It was a, they weren't very good and he was like, oh, I'm big and strong. You know, by the way, Josh Allen still got another level to get to. I mean, he's, he's a great player. I think Borough and Patrick are. Oh, no, Josh, Josh has some YouTube qualities where if you put his six best plays of the game up, it's the most amazing stuff you've ever seen. But you watch entire Bill's games. He makes them really, especially in like the red zone.

He makes bad decisions a lot. lot. And part of that in fairness is they've put a lot on him. Obviously getting digs was a game changer, but, you know, they have not had that, you know, they haven't had anyone as good as Joe Mixon. You know, they haven't had, you know, they haven't had the speed threat of Tyree Kill style. So, you know, it's never perfect. But I would like to see a, you know, a little bit more potency in that bill's running game.

You can't have everything. I also would have loved to see the bills down the stretch with a healthy Von Miller because they got him for a reason. And then, you know, when you didn't have them, that was a big hit. Mike Silver, my man, great talking NFL. It's going to be a busy next six weeks. It starts in about two weeks. NFL free agency mid-March. Good seeing you.

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