The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast Prime Cuts -  Mike Silver on Brady to Niners Theory, Middlekauff on Bears/Panthers Trade, Draft QB’s, Marcus Thompson on Wiggins Absence

Episode Date: March 18, 2023

This is Prime Cuts! The best of The Colin Cowherd Podcast. First, Colin’s top takes, including  why constant Aaron Rodgers’ offseason talk is a no-brainer, and how Michael Jordan selling his stake in the Hornets pokes another hole in his carefully crafted mythology. Then, longtime NFL writer - and host of the Open Mike podcast - Mike Silver on if Sam Darnold could end up starting over Trey Lance for the Niners, if Tom Brady is still in play for the Niners in 2023, and the best and worst case scenarios of Jimmy Garoppolo to the Raiders. Colin and 3 and Out podcast Host John Middlekauff on the Rams dealing Jalen Ramsey to the Dolphins, if Tom Brady could end up in Miami, why Lamar Jackson needs to hire an agent, which team feels like the clear winner of the Panthers trading up to secure the Bears #1 pick, and concerns about the top Draft QB’s. Then, The Athletic NBA Writer Marcus Thompson on the many unknowns surrounding the extended absence of Andrew Wiggins and if he could miss the playoffs, if the Warriors are still a serious playoff contender, if the lingering effects of the Draymond/Poole punch has contributed to their abysmal road record, and how far he’s willing to dig on the Wiggins story. Follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the test 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.

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org slash problem gambling. Visit www.mdgamblinghelp.org, Maryland, 18778, 8, Hope, New York, or text Hope, New York, 467, 369, New York, 1,800, 522, 4,700, Wyoming, or visit www.1,000 gambler dot net west Virginia. This is Prime Cuts, the best of the Colin Coward podcast. So give me six or seven minutes on this. I've spent this week overwhelmingly on one topic, Aaron Rogers to the Jets. And I know at times it feels tedious, but something I've said probably 25 times in my 30-year career about my shows, radio or TV,

is that you, the consumer, you the listener, you drive the bus. So I'm able to, because I'm on cable television to see every minute of my ratings every day. You can't do that on broadcast TV, but you can do it on cable.

And I monitor it. And I monitor it for one reason. You tell me what you're, bored with, you tell me what you're interested with. I think the height of arrogance as a broadcaster is pretending I know every day what's most interesting. So I follow you. And if I, and this has happened to me multiple times over my career that I've loved a topic, just thought it was absolutely wonderful and fascinating. And the next day I see my numbers and you didn't give a shit. And so I move off the topic. There are things that interest me far more that interest you. And conversely,

there are times I've touched on topics, and I'm really shocked by how much you care. So then it's my job to make calls, take better notes, figure out why you like it, and talk about it. So in the Aaron Rogers situation of the Jets, it's the combination of multiple things. The most popular sport in the country, the NFL, the most crucial position quarterback, one gigantic iconic brand, the Green Bay Packers, and the most polarizing quarterback in the most popular sport, Aaron Rogers. So this week, I can watch my downloads. I can watch my cable ratings. I can, they've all been really, really good.

So I'm going to spend another couple minutes on this. I listened to most of the comments, the clips from Aaron Rogers on the YouTube, Pat McAfee deal. And, you know, that's a friendly place for him to go every week. And I have no problem with that. I used to defend Arsenio Hall all the time when people would bang on Arsinio Hall. And they said, well, you know, people go on there. He asked Puff. Fluffy questions, and my takeaway is it's called the Arsenial Hall show.

He can do whatever he wants. It's his show. You know, some people have said, well, McAfee's just, it's a comfortable place for Aaron to go. And my takeaway is, it's Pat Show. He's a punter. He's not a journalist. He can do anything he wants with it. I can do anything I want with my show.

But I'm not a former professional athlete. I don't have a relationship with Aaron. So I'll defend any broadcaster. This is not the New York Times. I'm in the opinion space. I've said before I liked Aaron. Rogers more than Brett Fav. I think he's smarter.

I think he's more thoughtful. He's a unique guy. Probably wouldn't be my kind of guy to hang out with. But that's okay. You know, there's a lot of great athletes. You know, Tom Brady doesn't have a beer during the season. I probably wouldn't hang out with him either. I'm drinking one right now.

Her draft picks, by the way. Pilsner. But I do think the most shocking revelation to me is that Aaron Rogers, after the retreat, said 90% going in he was going to retire. And then he came out and was surprised the Packers moved off him. It's just remarkable to me that a guy that's that smart would lack any self-awareness. And I'll double down on this. When you're the center of your universe and you ghost people, Aaron has a history of ghosting people who say anything critical of him.

You surround yourself with yes men. And nobody called him out on his shit. You know, my wife calls me out on mine. My kids do. I got friends that do. I have bosses that would. And so the Packers have never. had an owner, right? They don't have an owner who calls him out in his stuff. If Green Bay had an

owner, Aaron Rogers would not take eight to nine weeks to make up his mind. If Jerry Jones or Stan Cronkey would call him up and say, pal, make a decision or we're moving on. So it looks like that's an advantage not having an owner, but I think it's a disadvantage. It's a disadvantage for Fav who kept threatening retirement. It's a disadvantage for Aaron, who kept threatening retirement, and neither guy had anybody that would demand they give him an answer. And then Aaron's not married, you know, he didn't have anybody to call him on his crap like our wives do, right? And so I really do think, I call it the Green Bay quarterback syndrome. No owner, smallest city.

You basically own the franchise. And I think ownership at its best is non-meddling, is highly supportive, but we'll hold coaches, star players accountable. That's Robert Kraft. He said, no, we're not going to trade Tom Brady. We're moving off Jimmy Garoppolo. It was the right move. Brady still had Super Bowls with New England and Tampa left in the tank.

And Garapolo is a B quarterback. Some would say a C quarterback. Got to a Super Bowl, maybe C plus. So I think the lack of ownership has really hurt Green Bay. The other thing is they've been overly frugal. An owner can sometimes step in and say, go get that free agent. make it work. They don't have that.

So in the end, sometimes in life, things you see as an advantage can be a real disadvantage. And it may feel like for Farv or Aaron Rodgers, it's such an advantage not having that hovering, meddling, powerful billionaire. But I think in both cases, Farb and Rogers kind of took advantage of it,

had leverage, manipulated, used it, and in the end, the franchise booted both. I do think Jordan Love can play. I don't think he's going to be great. If he was going to be great, if he was Mahomes or Burrough, they would have already moved off Aaron, not given him an extension. It didn't take very long, one training camp a month in September to figure out Mahomes was really good. Let's move off Alex Smith, who was a pro bowler and making the playoffs when they moved off him.

I also don't think he's Zach Wilson or E.J. Manuel, where you know instantly it doesn't work. He's somewhere in between. My takeaway is if you look at who the Packers play next year and the quarterbacks they play on average in the They won eight games this year with Aaron. I think they're about an eight to nine win team next year with Jordan Love. Barring some injury, I do think they're going to get this deal done. I think they're going to get either a first round pick or a really good player from the New York Jets, but I don't see them capsizing at all.

I do, however, find it absolutely remarkable that Aaron Rogers was surprised when he came out of the darkness retreat. His words, not mine. And the Green Bay Packers had decided to move on. Wow. You could be pissed. That's different. You could be upset. Okay. You can't be surprised. For the second, third year in a row, talking retirement, you can't be surprised. You're not allowed to be surprised as an adult with a functioning brain. You're not allowed to be surprised. You're not allowed to be surprised. Get off the bench. Bet the NBA with Fandul, America's number one sports book. Right now, Fandul is given new customers. 10 times your first bet in bonus bets. Doesn't matter if your first bet is an air ball.

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1-800, 5-2-4-700, Wyoming, or visit www.w. 1,800 gambler.net, West Virginia. All right, we bring in host of Open Mic, Mike Silver. He is a story-breaking maven is what he is. So Sam Darnold has a lot of Trey Lance qualities. Coachable, big athlete, mobile, but not spectacularly fast, not a pretty thrower, not highly accurate, prone to some mistakes.

But good in the room, coachable, big physical athlete for a big physical team and culture. That's what it felt like to me. It feels like Trey Lance and Darnold are battling for the backup, though. Am I too idealistic on this Brock Purdy thing? I think Kyle Shanahan loves Purdy. I think he does. Yeah, he does. And it was settled.

It was over. Purdy was the guy. They were good. Couldn't even touch his contract for the next two years. Couldn't even renegotiate until two years from now. Cheap deal, load up around them. Maybe Lance develops and you flip them. Maybe he's your backup.

Whatever. It was all good. And then if Brock Purdy had broken his leg in that game, nothing would have changed. Ah, tough break, man. We lost. Brock's the guy. He ripped out a, important ligament in his throwing elbow.

So yes, it changed. So what they hope, and obviously based on their behavior so far, what they hope is that six-month timeline is reasonable. And if not, maybe it's seven, maybe it's even eight. But eventually the guy we get back is going to be the guy we had. He'll be able to throw it like he threw it before and we're good to go. And if that happens, then what you said is absolutely right. But they do have to live in a reality now where it might not be that way. And sometimes there's setback.

Sometimes there's scar tissue. Sometimes it just never comes back to what it was. I don't think that's likely. I think the likeliest thing is Brock Purdy will be back at some point. you know, not too late in the 2023 season looking like he did before. But you have to hedge. So after last year's entire offseason of Trace the guy, Trace the guy, Trace the guy, and you and I infamously noted during that offseason that wasn't going super smoothly.

Accurately. Accurately reported it. Yeah. We accurately reported that he wasn't super accurate. that his arm was experiencing fatigue and that he wasn't consistent. We've since been now borne out to be true by including Trey Lance, who was disgusted. But so they have to have a plan C. I wondered if it would be Matt Ryan if he'd want to do it, give it his history with Kyle.

I wondered if it would be a Dalton Brissette type of guy. They went a little younger. Interesting comparison, Donald and Lance. The one thing I'll give to Lance is that Darle is not known for his intelligence. I'm not saying Sam Darnell's not intelligent, for the record. I'm just saying he's not known as a quarterback who just, you know, blows you away with his.

That's a whiteboard. Yeah, a whiteboard where trade, they saw something intelligence-wise before the draft that got them super, super fired out. So that gives me hope that maybe there's a jump to be made. So I think plan A is Lance is the guy, Darnold's the insurance. Maybe Lance starts a game or two, but Purdy's the guy. Plan B is, man, Purdy's not coming along great. But you know what, Lance stepped up.

He's the guy, Darnels the insurance. Plan C is, Trey's not able to do it. He's going to have to be the backup. We'll go with Sam Darnold and figure it out. plan a minus as you know and I will I don't think it's likely but you know John Lynch is going to call Tom Brady in May or June and go hey I know you said for good but it's your hometown team because he's the perfect guy as a hedge against party. If you don't think party is going to be right next year but you think he's the guy in the future, you can just do one year of Brady and. still keep that same plan. It's interesting to me that both the Niners in Miami have constructed their 2023

rosters to basically say, we can win now if our quarterback thing works out. In the Niners case, Purdy's elbow comes back or Lance makes a jump. In the Dolphins case, Tua doesn't keep getting concussed. But, hey, Tom, wink, wake, we're built to win now. And if you came just for one year, whoa. No, you and I are leaning in the same direction. I mean, that's why the backups Donald and Mike White are not really super viable long-term pieces. They are your classic emergency starter, meaning if Purdy goes out, Brady steps in, nobody questions whether Brady's the guy, right?

Right. Yeah, no, I totally agree. And again, so you and I can sit here and say Brady makes a lot of sense. I know they're going to at least try, but are we saying, do we know what Tom Brady's going to want to do? No, he said for good. So I'm assuming it's for good. I just know that if you were going to go back on that, you've got two really attractive situations, one where your kids live and you have a play. and one where you grew up and your parents live. So Jimmy G to the Raiders, you know Jimmy G. Well, there's a lot of stories that can now be told because you don't have to cover him. So I'll throw out what I've been told by the years by people in the building or around the building. He's a guy's guy. There are limitations on his arm, despite being a pretty big, solid guy. He doesn't have much of a whip, not terribly fluid, kind of mechanical.

But he's a great locker room guy. kind of an alpha, could at times not be flaky, but disappear in the off season. They felt like he relied a lot on God's genetic gift to him, size, chest, confidence, wasn't a workaholic. He's as good as he should be considering his commitment. Okay. So first of all, I love Jimmy, like I do. And one reason I love him is because I did write some of that. Last August or September, I came out with a thing talking about how they have the press conference in 2018 after his five wins.

They give him the money. He's the guy. And then they have the big, you know, celebration. And then he leaves. And they don't hear from him again for months. And ghosting them over the offseason was habitual except for the year they drafted Tray Lance. he was really a tent of that offseason. So I wondered how that was going to go for me after I wrote that.

Next time I saw Jimmy, it was all good. And, you know, that's yet another. I do love Jimmy. I think he's awesome. I love his temperament. Yeah. I think he had the best temperament for Kyle Shanahan, who gets really tightly wound and grumpy on game day sometimes, not on game day.

I think it rolled off Jimmy well. He was super popular. I think his arm, I wouldn't say anything bad about his arm. His release is so good. And I don't think there are five other quarterbacks on Earth who really throw it like he does in terms of release and short range accurate, short to medium range accuracy. Like it's, you know, there were a lot of plays that were pointed out to be where it, people said it looked like Jimmy did went through his reads and led this guy perfectly. What might have happened here is Jimmy saw it late, but he gets it out so quick and so

perfectly that it just looked like that. So I do think his arm is really good. People have talked about his deep balls. I don't know. So anyway, is Jimmy Garoppolo, you know, there's a lot of quarterbacks who are not grinders. One of them, we suspect in Arizona because they put a clause in his contract about video games. One of them is trying to get a fully guaranteed deal now.

We should talk about that by all metrics, he deserves relative to Deshawn Watson, and he deserves to get paid way more than Daniel Jones, etc. But I think one of the things hurting Lamar is this perception that he's not grinding in terms of off the field. And Jimmy is another guy who has acquired that reputation. And, you know, will that change with Josh and Vegas? Probably if you look at how he acted when they drafted Lance, yes. And also, look, I love Jimmy in 2022.

I don't give it F Jimmy, which was liberating. And I told him, you know, in late December when he was heard, I said, dude, you realize that the most nine-er thing ever is going to be for you to somehow come back and play the Super Bowl. Like, it just is. And there was a moment sitting in that stadium at the lake early where I'm like, Purdy's out, Josh Johnson's in, Christian McCaffrey just ran through five dudes. They're tied. And I'm like, it's going to happen. Josh Johnson's going to win this game somehow. and Jimmy Garoppolo is going to come back in two weeks

and start the Super Bowl against Patrick Mahove. So it didn't get quite that far, but I don't want to discount what he did. He really bailed them out last year. He played at a Pro Bowl level. He got hurt. There was some tension after he got hurt. The way it was explained to me is that, you know,

Trey Lance, who was hurt, was coming to every meeting and really was engaged with Brock. Jimmy's style was to not show up a lot. Kyle had never specifically said, this is mandatory, get your butt in here. And so he wasn't disobeying anything. It was just a different approach. And it's possible that that's what Jimmy was taught in New England, by the way, that Bill's approach is when you're injured, just, you know, stay out of it. But if there was any tension at the end, you know, it was a three-year breakup.

So, of course, there was tension. But if there was tension at the end, Kyle, I think, was frustrated that Jimmy wasn't hanging around the way Trey was. So I do want to move segue into Lamar Jackson. Years ago, Kirk Cousins got a guaranteed contract. It was highly criticized, dubious to expensive. Minnesota was pretty desperate in a division with Aaron Rogers. And so they offered it. And Kirk, you know, with a chip on his shoulder, said, I'm going to sign it.

However, moving forward, nobody else offered a guaranteed contract, including the significantly more talented Aaron Rogers. My takeaway has always been. I've seen this since I've ran the volume. I'll make people an offer. I'm not going to offer you something just because I feel an inferior podcast company makes you an egregious offer, right? So Cleveland's a desperate franchise, much more desperate than Minnesota was with Kirk Cousins. I don't believe Baltimore, a highly functional organization. should look at Cleveland and go, well, they set the market. If you're not available on Sunday, I can't give you a fully guaranteed contract, right?

You have to, I have to be guaranteed. You know, by and large, Brady showed up every Sunday. Fav showed up. Eli Manning showed up. Daniel Jones shows up. There are guys that get dinged up for a variety of reasons. I love Lamar, but I worry that it's now personal because he doesn't have an agent. And when you don't have an agent, it does get personal because you are discussing people who are, if not lamenting, they are discussing your weaknesses and liabilities face to face.

That's why I have an agent, Mike, so I don't have to deal with these kind of conversations. 100%, which is why when you and I renegotiate our deal, we'll use agents and they can do all that crap. Take the arrows for us. Exactly. Yeah. So first of all, I believe the Ravens are not shiny organizationally. And I have been as big a fan of that organization publicly as anyone for a long, long time. I think they've botched this too. I have written that they effed around and found out. They were willing to go into this season going fine. We'll just play it out with Lamar. And is, am I saying Lamar? intentionally sat out all those games to spite them, no. But he didn't have that feeling that he was taken care of. And his coach came out publicly.

It was like, hey, I think he'll be back in a week or two. And which, you know, I don't love if I'm a player with a bad D. And they lost a winnable playoff game potentially against the Bengals. They didn't have him. So they've botched it too. And if it's personal, maybe it's personal in their ed, too, but they've botched it. So let's assess A, would it be easier if he had an agent? Yes, it would be easier.

Doesn't mean he has to. Does it, you know, Roquan Smith doesn't have an agent and they got their thing done? It'd be easier, especially right now, gauging the market, all that. It would be better, I think, for everyone. But, you know, that's not my decision. Is I'm told. Colin that Lamar's, Lamar can't get past.

And we've all been there, right, in our careers. Lamar can't get past. I'm better than Deshaun Watson. And I'm not screw it up off the field. Like, and I'm not saying he's wrong. I think he is. He is better than, yeah, totally absolutely. He's always been a better thrower than anybody wants to admit.

Yeah. So the, so the, you know, Gene Hackman's fallen sheriff in Unforgiven, says to Clint Eastwood, you know, I don't deserve this. And, you know, Clint says, deserves got nothing to do with it. You know, deserves got nothing to do with it. He deserves to get a guaranteed deal more than Deshawn Watson or Kirk Cousins. Yes.

He deserves to get paid more than Daniel Jones for heaven's sake. For heaven's sake. Daniel Jones, I mean, come on. That deal is not going to age well. I'm sorry. But as you know, it's a lot. all about circumstance and leverage. And he could have signed after year three,

gotten a bunch of money up front, and now be trying to renegotiate from strength. He didn't do that. He didn't do what Kirk Cousins did and play out two franchise tags and put in his organization in a box to the point where they blinked and took Alex Smith and he was free.

And they didn't do what Deshawn Watson. He hasn't done what Deshawn Watson did. And maybe he will. But DeShallne Watson showed up at training camp uncomfortably with an organization that didn't want him, reporters hounding him about something he didn't want to talk about, and fans checking out a circus, and he knew he wasn't going to play.

It turned out he wasn't going to play for almost a year and a half from that point. But by doing that and having the will to do that, he created leverage and the Browns were desperate, and he got that deal. So, you know, you put all those things together. And if you're Lamar Jackson, well, you don't have that kind of leverage or, and you haven't exerted that kind of will. Now, could you? Yeah.

You could say, I'm not playing for $32 million. Go ahead and have fun with Tyler Huntley. And I'm just going to sit weight. I'm not saying he should, but he could. Do you think the Ravens, frustrated by it, would just say, we're going to move on. We're going to draft another quarterback because we like our roster, our culture, our coach, and our defense. You know, maybe, but I also think we're living in a weird world where, yeah, no one has stepped up and offered Lamar because partly because a lot of teams think we're just doing the Ravens work for him.

We're going to give him this deal he likes and they're going to match it. And we're going to alienate the people we have, the quarterbacks we have now who knew we were trying to. to replace them. So why would we do that? If Lamar were free, first of all, different story. Second of all, let's be honest, desperation isn't confined to the Cleveland Browns. And there aren't that many really good quarterbacks, which is why you and I are talking about 93-year-old Tom Brady. Sorry, Tom, I know you're only 45. Yeah. It's why we're talking about Tom Brady. That's why we're talking about lists and Aaron Rogers.

there are only so many transcendent ones. And I think Lamar's transcendent. I'll stick up for Lamar as a player. I think he's one of the very, very best. He won 75% of his starts in the AFC. Yeah, the only, you know, I think there is a little PTSD from the Russell Wilson trade, honestly, because for 10 years we saw a guy be transcendent, in my opinion. And then, oh, whoa, he looks nothing like that guy.

and by the way, Gino Smith is now a pro bowler in his place. So that was, that threw people. But at some point, if Lamar Jackson was like, I'm not playing for you, I'm sitting out, at some point, some owner or some GM or some coach or all three are going to be like, man, our quarterback stinks. We're all going to get fired. Or if you're the owner, we're going to lose. But we could go get that guy. Just go get him. 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. A win is a win. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media.

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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. John Middletkoff, as always, full of insight. Let's go into it. The Jalen Ramsey move, a third and basically a bust tied in from the dolphins who just doesn't play much, is that's not nearly, I'm not sure why they were so impatient. It feels like a salary dump. They're trying to clear something up to make a big move in free agency. That's what it felt like to me.

Now, I don't think Jalen Ramsey's ever been a guy you build a culture around in Florida State, Jacksonville, or L.A. He's just really talented. Yeah. But I think the guys that you build a culture around, like Aaron Donald, Cooper Cup are harder to get rid of. Talent comes and goes. And so I think Jaylon's really talented. He had a very good last game with the Rams and interception.

You know, I'm not sure if it was the best place for the dolphins to spend money. They already have a corner of people like, but their secondaries not very strong. They're all in. Yeah. But for the Rams, it just felt like a, they're starting over. You know, they've got four sevens, four fives. They now have a second, two thirds.

They don't have a first or a fourth yet. So they got 12 draft picks. They're kind of rebuilding this puppy. Before we dive into my theory on the dolphins and why I think, I think this might be leading to something. One thing on McVeigh is, you know, the knock on Gruden over his tenure as coaching was very impatient. you know, changes on you fast.

LeBron has some of that in. He loves a guy that he starts playing with him, then he sours on him. And like, I don't have the theory that they're going to tank because McVeigh almost jumped off a bridge last year losing a little bit. He's not going to coach a season and suck. And he's too good to ever probably get the top two or three picks, especially next year with the with the quarterbacks. But, you know, he loved Matt Stafford two years ago.

They traded for him. Then they extend him. Now he's banged up. And it feels like, oh, they might trade him. Or they would definitely listen to it. So he was good enough to give all this money to, and a year later, things get weird. I'm a Sean McVeigh guy, but it does feel he's got a little gruden in him that he'll change on you fast once he thinks you're not as good as he maybe thought six months previously. So I was told a month ago, and I've set it on the air at Fox, I was told a month ago that the Rams were going to go heavy this off season to the offense.

McVeigh would come back if there was a commitment to an offensive coach, The league's pivoted to that. Give me guys. So who do they get rid of? Bobby Wagner, Jalen Ramsey, Floyd. They've moved off defensive guys. So they're going to draft.

They have a second and two-thirds. They're probably going to go after an offensive lineman, a wide receiver. They may go after a running back. McPhay's like, listen, if I'm going to come back for this thing and have to face the Niners, you've got to get me some weapons.

You've got to get me some help on the offensive side. I mean, of all the people in the Ramsey trade, they got like a third string tight end. You know, I would have thought they would have gone to a backup edge because they don't really have an edge rusher. But, you know, I listen, McVeigh had a lot of success early. People that do often get impatient. They haven't had the long road, the struggle like the rest of us, right? So, you know, I get it.

You probably see that in tech. You see it in football. You probably see it in Hollywood. When somebody hits it at 28, 32 years old, man, your standards and impatience rise. The dolphins. I think over the weekend or maybe late last week, they picked up Tua's fifth year option. I thought that was nuts, you know, given his risk history.

But then when they made this trade, I was like, well, I think you had mentioned last week and it's come out since, you know, the Brady buzz is not going to die. Well, what did they do? They get Vic Fangio. They add Jalen Ramsey. They kind of have their backup plan long term,

just keep Tua under contract. Tom Brady ain't coming to San Jose. It's just not happening. Right. But Miami, he's already. he's getting the taste of the life in Florida now for a couple years, the no state income tax. I think the Dolphins buzz is about to pick up and they're equipped.

I mean, now their defense was a question mark, boom, at a star corner, you know, ad Vic Fangio. I mean, this team, you see that clip of Tyree Kill running, dusting those guys in the 60 meter dash. So I, I, you're the one that I think I saw a clip of you saying that the Tom Brady thing, well, people are, it's not going to die. Yeah, I mean, okay. Okay, so Tom, it's not like, you know, he's single now.

So he's going to, he's not going to broadcast at Fox. He's going to sit around for a year. Just watch football. Tom's connected. And I just think, you know, people say, oh, you spend more time with your family. Kids after a while. Don't want to hang out with mom and dad. They want to hang out with their kids, their peers, right?

So I think Brady, he'll step back. He works six months a year. I mean, you get six months with his family. I know. And whenever you hear, you know, I'm going to go. spend time with my family. It's like, you know, guys get off days, even in the season. You're not at the facility all day. So I think if you have a popular player, Tebow in Denver, and they brought in Peyton Manning, you got to go big. Nobody's going to question Brady fills in for Tua or

Peyton Manning for Tebow. Because Tua will have success with Mike McDaniels. Hell, he was leading in the Pro Bowl voting last year, right? So I don't know what's going to happen with Tom. Brady. I don't have it sourced. But I did have somebody I trust out of the building, not a Fox employee say, he may play football. So, you know, it was somebody who's smart, somebody I've trusted for years.

So he obviously heard it somewhere. But I said this a year ago, and I'll say it again, I thought Aaron Rogers in Miami made sense. I really did. Again, a big star because Tua's got his fans, two is going to have success. Nobody's

complaining about Rogers or Brady in Miami. And I think sometimes when you're a place a popular, I mean, let's face it, last year up until Thanksgiving, the dolphins were one of the better stories in the league. I found pretty lappable, the reaction to the Lamar collusion, no one wants them. Last year, Deshawn Watson was given $230 million. And we all laughed at. Like, that's the most insane contract. Only one or two guys in the league would do that.

This guy wants that contract and no one will touch it. Well, we just said last year that that contract that he wants is moronic. No one would do that. Right. Good player, but under no circumstances, if I owned a team or ran a team, I would trade for the player if I'd get him for a normal quarterback contract, but I can't pay him a guy who's been injured. And he doesn't guarantee me anything.

He's got one playoff win. Well, yeah, I mean, you want guaranteed money. You're not guaranteed a play Sunday. Of his last 22 games, he's missed 40%. He's missed 10. So, that's a lot. Nobody wants to say this because it feels like you're taking a shot at Lamar's mom, but he needs an agent.

agents do two things. First of all, teams are now taking shots at Lamar. Why? Because he doesn't have an agent. You would never take a shot at a star player because he has an agent and an agent represents lots and lots of people. So you don't want to piss off an agent because then he'll steer his clients against you or away from you. When you don't have an agent, and I've had several in my career, it's a vest. It's a little bit like a protective vest is that the agent.

The agent keeps you out of the room with your boss so it doesn't get emotional. The agent makes sure they say nice things about you. A good, powerful agent matters. He's using his mom. And reportedly now he's doing some of it. You know, he's moved her off that. It's like, dude, I got no, you know, if my mom represented me or yours did, they get emotional. We're their sons.

So I think when he did that, you know, I tried to tread lightly and be respectful. You can't have a parent be your agent. Come on. Now, Charles Robinson wrote a really good article where he got a lot of unnamed people in the league, GMs and agents talking. And his point, listen, Mike McGlinchy is going to sign in a couple days. The owner just gives the GM the thumbs up. But when you're doing a contract like this, $200 plus million guarantee, that's an owner run deal. And these agents go right to the owner.

This is not, the GM and the coach ultimately aren't the final say on this one, right? Like they would be with signing a wide receiver or this is the biggest contract that team. has ever given out in the history of the league, potentially. So that's coming from the owner, and he has no direct path to the owner. I mean, it's just, it's, if me and you owned a condo for 200 grand, we could figure out how to sell it on our own. If we wanted a $200 million piece of property, we'd probably get some representation to help us out on the deal, right?

Right. The amount of money that's on the line is too enormous. Like, he's at a major disadvantage, and the Ravens know it. And that's why they did Don Exclusive tag. They go, we're not even going to pay us. much. And we're not worried about people bidding for your services because you don't really know what you're doing. I also think the culture is so strong that between the GM, the owner, the roster, the defense, the assistance, there's kind of a feeling in Baltimore last year.

I mean, shit, they went toe to toe with the Bengals twice at the end of the year with like third string guys. And we're Cincinnati needed a miracle touchdown to win one of those games. So I think they look at themselves and think, you know, we're really at an A level in terms of drafting and developing. If we have to go get Max Duggan in the second round or we have to go get somebody we like, we will. So, I mean, they won a Super Bowl with Joe Flacco, Trent Delfour. They gambled on Lamar Jackson to some degree.

You know, a lot of people thought he wouldn't be great. They've been able to find quarterbacks who others bailed on, who are different. and they've got success with all of them. So I always just sort of trust the Ravens to figure it out. Like I have a rule in life. You don't have to always hire an expert. Hire smart people and they'll figure out complex problems. Baltimore is really good at that.

Speaking of a team that's trying to find their identity, the big trade, the draft trade that happened, I guess would that have been Friday night? on the Panther side, this feels like it's got Dave Tepper written all over it. Oh, God, yeah. He's a financial wheeler and dealer. He's getting bored. He's getting tired of losing because it's a lot to give up, Colin, for this, Trevor

Lawrence is not in this draft. You know, and they've even, it's been reported. They don't even know exactly who they're taking. Last time the Niners tried to do something like that, that's, I would not operate making a trade without the player that you know just to figure out two or three guys. Yeah, this is one of those. You know, if Bryce Young hits, then it looks like a brilliant move. But I thought Chicago essentially solved.

You know, people banged on the Chase Claypool move. But now the receiving core is DJ Moore, Cole Commet, very capable young tied in, Darnell Mooney, a solid two, and Chase Claypool. So they don't really have to go after a wide receiver in the draft, and they've got multiple extra picks so they can attack the interior offensive. They're going to get McGlinchy the right tackle from the Niners. Yeah. You know, they drafted some offensive linemen last year.

A couple of them can play. You know, they can kind of go solve their defense. So Justin Fields doesn't have to be in shootouts. But, I mean, Colquamette, Mooney, Claypool. But DJ Moore was getting a thousand yards a season with Kyle Allen, Darnold, Baker, Mayfield. I couldn't believe. I understand giving away first and two seconds.

Throwing DJ Moore. And, by the way, so you draft a young quarterback. You just lost your best receiver for him. I didn't like that addition at up. I would have given you a corner. I'd have given you something. I would not have given you your best. I wouldn't, if I'm Carolina,

I'm not giving you DJ more. They just extended him last year. So he's under contract for the foreseeable future. I thought this is. Kudos to Ryan Pace because he can do two things. One, find out if fields can play. Now he's got weapons. And if he can't, he has the Panthers pick.

They're probably not going to be great. And if his team stinks, they'd have two high picks to go up and get one of these quarterbacks next year. So that they're actually getting the best of both worlds. Yeah, Ryan Poles is the kid. And I did last year, he got a corner and a safety to start. He got a receiver, Vlas Jones out of Tennessee who played at USC. I could have told him he can't track the ball.

He couldn't at USC. He could never track the ball. So I still don't trust this organization to draft and develop offensive players. But I do think what happens after that trade, John, is now we have clarity. There'll be no more excuses. They're running backs are serviceable. Cole commits a very nice young tied-in. Now you have a real grown-up wide receiver group.

They're going to pay for a right tackle. Their offensive line last year rated 14th. It wasn't the Giants. It wasn't 32nd. It was 14th. And they're going to upgrade it so it's going to be a reasonable offensive line. What it gives you, John, now whatever Justin Fields does, this is the truth. He has more than enough talent now.

You can't say he doesn't have this, this, this. Claypool, Mooney, DJ Moore are three very nice professional wide receivers. See, and I think on the Panther side, you just wonder if Tepper gets involved on who they ultimately want to pick. And it's not the coach and not the general manager's decision. I think Bryce Young is an elite player. He's just short, which, you know, can be risky. But, you know, we've seen him two years ago play, they played Georgia twice. and, you know, a month and went toe to toe with them with a defense full of 11 pros and,

like, first round pros. Yeah. But he's just, he's just small. And, you know, Anthony Richardson, I was texting with Daniel Jeremiah because Anthony Richard's, I said, what round would those guys have gone in when you first broke in the league guys like Anthony Richardson and Will Levis, who were just big physical guys, but, you know, I have a long way to go. He's like, those guys would have been mid-round picks.

Now, both of them are going to go in the top five. So this notion that that position, it's so nuanced, it's so hard. you can't just draft like you can't a defensive tackle and hope he figures it out because time and time they don't. And whoever they pick has this enormous pressure. I've seen it with Trey Lance. All these picks, the whole trade,

it just hangs over you forever if things don't go well. It's hard. Well, the Colts, I think, should move up to three because if somebody moves up in front of them, they're going to get the fourth quarterback in an average quarterback draft. That would worry me.

Now, again, there's Max Duggan, going to be a second or a third round guy, And there's a lot of people that think, you know, a team like Indy could get him. I'll tell you this about, I had somebody text me on this inside the league. It's pretty interesting. So I said, you know, Will Levis's family has some Ivy League connections. He's a four-point student. He's a big, thick kid, good arm.

And somebody texts me in the league and said, look how chiseled he is. He said, name the great quarterbacks that are chiseled. They don't exist. Is that when you get, you ever go, you ever go to the gym and see, a weight lift or try to play basketball. How stiff they are. There's no fluidity to him. No fluidity.

And so this person said he is, this is a danger sign. He's jacked. He's ripped. And he comes off sometimes as a little bit stiff. He doesn't come off as fluid. And he's strong. He's a smart kid. But the Will Leva stuff is interesting because, you know, there's so much of it you like.

Ivy League family, huge arm. You know, his numbers look like Eli Manning's out of Ole Miss, a non-traditional SEC quarterback who, you know, like won 17 games in two years for a basketball school. It kind of feels Eli. But the person who texts me is just like, you know, go look up the chiseled quarterbacks. It's like you see Aaron Rogers, Tom, Brady, Peyton Manning with a tight shirt on.

They're big. They got more of a chest, but you don't see, You don't see ripped guys. It's not what the, you have to be looted. That's why Pliometrics and Brady, you've got to be loose. You've got to be able to be flexible and move your feet, move your hips. And Levis is just ripped and jacked. All right.

Let's bring on Marcus Thompson. I've said this before in my career. My job is to tell you what I know, but I don't always need to know the why. Sometimes it's none of my business. The Andrew Wiggins situation is really none of, my business. I know it's very serious. It's a family matter. What I was told, and now I have two people that have said, it's really, really serious. The Warriors totally support him, but there is some doubt if he'll be available going forward. There's no certainty. There's real doubt. So let's

bring in, Marcus. You know a lot more than I do. I have been told it's extremely serious, and the Warriors completely respect his privacy. And so, again, that's none of my business. I'm not talking anybody's fan. That's none of my business. Let's talk about availability. You're reporting, you're sourcing, you're guessing. Is it a reasonable assumption that he would miss the regular season,

but perhaps be a postseason participant? You know, it's possible. Depending on who you talk to, There's some people who expect him to be back. There's some people who don't want to put that on him. Right. Like, hey, deal with what you got to do. We don't really want to pressure you, right?

You know, you got to handle this. The difficulty about that proposition of missing a regular season to come back from the playoffs is who you getting. I mean, that's two months. Two months of no basketball. I doubt he's picked up the ball, a ball, right? I have to guess his conditioning wouldn't be great. So it would be a.

tall order to ask him and then we don't know what his mental condition will be. We know this. This dude doesn't miss games. Like he just doesn't. I mean, his first six years, he missed like four total games. Like, he doesn't miss games. So whatever it is, it's got to be, it's incredibly serious. Whatever it is, there's a locker room with dudes who want to win a championship who are

like, ooh, this is bad. Like, you handle that. Like, we're not even mad. So I don't know how, I don't know how you come back. from that in the middle of a playoff setting and produce. I mean, we've seen crazy things, but that would be a lot to ask. So I think they just have to start preparing mentally for the fact that he won't be there. And if he comes, like, that's a bonus.

Yeah, I mean, they wanted Jonathan Kaminga perhaps to develop. He's very twitchy, very athletic, can be very forceful around the rim. They wanted him to develop. He doesn't have the touch. He's not the defensive player yet of Wiggins, but he's wildly athletic. but if you could get 12 minutes a night, he didn't do squat in the playoffs last year because Kerr didn't trust him yet.

Do you think Steve Kerr trusts him? Because Iggy now has an injury. How many minutes per night in a playoff game do you believe Steve Kerr would be comfortable with Jonathan Cuminga? I don't really think he has a choice. I mean, the other option is a two-way guy that they're probably going to convert Anthony Lamb.

So, I mean, geez, Comiga was the number seven pick. I do think he does, a couple of things that the words could use. Like, he's a ball pressure. He's good at that. So at some point, they'll use him. I think it's somewhere between 12, 20 minutes,

depending on how he plays, right? They'll probably get 12 baked in. Maybe 15. If they're not good, especially in that second half, then he just won't go back to him. Like, that's kind of how Steve has been. If he's playing it really well, if he's given somebody your problems,

now you up it. because they need it. They don't have a lot of other defensive options, right? Like, they don't have a lot of lockdown guys. I mean, here's the interesting part. Does Gary Payton's second make it back? And how does that impact? Because if you don't get Wiggins and you don't have a GP2,

the only other guy who can do what they do is Dante DiVenzo and Jonathan Camiga, that's it. The rest is like, you're all to dribble. So it's almost like, yo, what do you have to lose anyway? Just right about there. If you don't win, you probably have the seventh seat anyway. So what did you expect? Well, Clay Thompson's having his best year in maybe six.

He is absolutely great. Jordan Poole, Defingenzo, Steph Curry had 50 against the clippers. So it's a team that's guard heavy. And if things don't work out with the movement of Wiseman and Wiggins, they're a small team. And they're not going to be as good defensively. So, you know, I've said this before. I've thrown this out there, is that because Steph can still be on any night the best player in the league on any night against anybody.

Clay has rebounded with an all-star level second half in performance. Draymond is still a catalyst. Wiggins, we presume, would come back. I'll throw it out there. If they got into the playoffs and got pushed around by a big, forget M.B. or Janus, I'm talking Yokic. They got pushed around a little bit by a big. They have the arsenal of guards now, especially scoring guards. They're not moving Steph, but Jordan Poole.

You know, they've got enough guys they can move. This team, I still believe, believes we got a championship left. Could you see them going out and getting, and I'll throw a big at you. You don't have to, he'll give you 22 points a night without designing a single play for him. Anthony Davis. and just say, listen, we know you're not giving us 38 minutes and we know you're not given us 82 games. We're not asking that. And because I look at the Warriors and I think to myself, right now I've lost confidence without Wiggins and Iggy.

I don't think they can get to the NBA finals. I don't. Now, the break is, of course, Marcus, KD's out. And, you know, that's a big thing and I don't trust the Clippers. Have you, let's start with this. Have you lost confidence in this team going forward, getting the, to the finals? Yeah, no question.

They can't win on the road. They lose the teams they should beat. I always thought it was going to be tough anyway. Like, repeating is not easy. Like, it's not, that's why a lot of teams do it. So even if they brought back the same team, it's not like where they had KD and it was like, all right, we're about to repeat.

Like, normally it gets harder in the second year. but now I think they're they'll upset somebody right that third series though would be tough because whatever they do it's going to be on stuff

it's going to be on play right it's going to be on Drayman and now it's like you you fight through one series right you upset somebody and you get another series that's going to be harder now you can start to see it take toll

because keep in mind they've been playing hard all year it's not it's not like 2018 2018 right where they were chilling and knowing like, all right, we're here for a finals run. Like, no, they've been trying to beat team. So the difficulty I see is they've been putting in a lot of work. And on the back end, that catches up.

We've seen this before, 2016, they chase 73, you know, got up 3-1, and the legs are gone, right? And that's obviously a better setting for them. But it's just tough to envision and winning three series to get to the finals and then win in a fourth one. Like, that's a lot. I just think they need to have a good showing. And if they knock off Yokit or knock off KD, that's something real. Now you're talking about, all right, stuff's still legit. Who we keeping out of Draymond and Clay?

Or maybe Draymond's like, yo, I'm out. I got an opt-out. Somebody wants to pay me a max. I'm out. Those are decisions. I don't think the reason I don't think they're going Anthony Davis, the owner wants to go young. That was the whole Wiseman thing. I don't want a bunch of 35-year-olds. So when they fall off, we're like a lottery team again. He doesn't want to do that. He wants somebody young.

He wants to swap out stuff and make it a seamless transition to the next guy. So I think he'll want a guy who's young and ready to play. He wanted Steve Kurtz who played the young guys this year. So I don't think he's going 30 plus. He's going, he might go 25. That might be the compromise. Instead of 21, it'll be 25 instead. But it won't be.

It won't be another 30-something unless he just decides, let's ride the wheels until they fall off with Stefan. So most have observed and speculated that the Draymond pool punch created a bit of a rift in a chasm between young and old guys in the locker room. And they note, and I think with some accuracy, that it's a bad road team. And on the road is where unity factors in. There's almost no explanation, Marcus, for being abysmal. Shit, they're as bad as the Rockets and the Orlando Magic and Detroit on the road. Do you believe it does feel like this is maybe a clickier team? The gap between young and old is sizable.

Oh, I thought that was true from the beginning. I mean, it's literally like a red sea in between them, right? You got the old heads who won championships. And then you have like the Homeroom Squad, right? You got the Hall of Fame and you got the Home Room. They got six guys. who like haven't done much before in the league. And then you have this super high bar of championship standard, right?

It was already like that. I mean, just tangibly just thinking about who they are at their ages, right? Like, I mean, Steph is the nicest guy in the league, right? He gets along with everybody. But he's 35. He's got like kids and stuff. Like he's got IRA counts of business. Like he's not hanging out with 21-year-olds.

Like he'll do, you know. You know, you can put his arm around the guy in a locker room and all that, but you got teenage daughters. They just don't have anything in common. And you could look in a locker room and you could say, this is, this team looks like they're having a bit of fun. There's some like jelling that you probably didn't think happened after somebody got rocked in training camp, right? But what you can't really, there's this like intangible part of the punch that you can't. quantify, right? Like, what happens if they don't have that and they get off to a start? And the chemistry is great. And now they don't lose five straight road games to start the season.

Like, it's like, it's almost like not saving money. You know what I'm saying? You don't lose money, but you don't know what you would have done if you would have invested it. Right. Like, so we don't know how that impacted the season. All we know is they got off to a rough start. It was kind of a mess and it felt like it set a tone for the season. So even if they're fine now, right, even if they're like they've overcome it and gotten through it. There was a cost that they paid that we can kind of see now. And I think it began on the road. First, out the back, five-game road trip, they lose in the Charlotte and Orlando, right?

Like, and they're playing like Stefan. It was not like they had a bunch of young guys. They weren't able to close against bad teams to start. That 0-5 road trip set a tone. So I think there is an intangible like cost from that, even if they might have gotten through it in since. Let's pivot back to Andrew Wiggins. And, you know, again, I put it out there.

I had a couple people tell me they doubted strongly he would return. And my takeaway is, I believe, people. Is it been an uncomfortable story for you because you are a journalist? You're a guy that is constantly looking to uncover things. When you wrote your KD book, Stephbook, you gave me nuggets that I never knew. That's what you do. Has it been hard to cover it knowing it's intensely private? The organization's not going to let it out, but your job is to cover stuff and uncover stuff.

It hasn't been hard because this team just has 58 storylines all the time, right? So we can always fall back on, you know, write about Steph, right about playing, right about Draymond. But the difficulty is this is one of the rare situations. where nobody's telling you anything. That's the difficulty, right? It's like, you know, they've really kind of closed ranks. And this is the same team where they had a videotape leak, right? Like an unprecedented leak of a practice punch.

So I think they just got so fed up that they were like, this is one we're going to stop, right? And that, to me, is the most difficult part where it's like you talk to people and the people who normally be like, hey, man, I'm going to tell you what's going on. Don't write it. Even they're like, yeah, we can't. We're not telling you anything because just know it's bad and just trust us, right? So in that sense, it's been, it's not difficult because, like, I mean, these are pros, man.

They won championships. You know if there was a player who they thought to be on the court and wasn't on the court, they wouldn't know how to bite their tongue. Like, Draybina pop off on the volume, right? You feel volume sports. I'm like, why is this guy not playing? So when these dudes who are professionals at the highest level, right, who are winners, they're like, nah, man, this is bad.

Like, we support them. We rock with them. We're not going to throw, like, throw them under the bus or anything like that. It's easy to trust them because you kind of know who they are and you know what they are. But I haven't been. It's been a long time, Kyle, since I couldn't find out, like, the inner details. you know what I'm saying? Like, it's been a while.

And that's the testament to Wiggins. Like, Wiggins, he doesn't put himself out there like that. And that's just kind of been his deal. And some guys, like, for most people, as you know, it's hard to shut people up. This whole industry runs on the fact that people don't know how to shut up, right? So for Wiggins, though, like, he doesn't put himself out there like that. He's very private and they are respecting it. And I kind of, I respect them for that, right?

Like, I respect them for saying, nah, not a nod. in this situation. Because, you know, they've literally had bites and practice that we found out about. Literally. The volume. Make sure to check out the Dremont Green Show. I brought Dremont Green into the volume because one of the more entertaining voices in sports, unique perspective, understands behind the rope.

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