The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Dak Prescott, Rockets, time off, 76ers

Episode Date: July 15, 2020

Colin explains why Dak Prescott doesn't have much leverage for the contract he wants, why he's intrigued by the Rockets, NBA players not practicing during the break, and his issues with the 76ers. Guests include Peter Schrager, Kevin O'Connor, Urban Meyer, and Bryan Westbrook. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Really tenuous times. It's a fingers-cross situation. And Joy Taylor was joining me on a Tuesday. We got to another week last week. We're ready to go. We're all booked up. How are things? I think it's great. I feel like we're reaching. You know, like when you're going through something along and you're like finally reaching the end, you kind of start to get sad about it? It's like one more day of Doc Prescott.

And then it's over. We've been doing this. We've go through this for so long. Okay, so let's start there. According to Clarence Hill, I know him of the Fort Worth Star Telegram. No more renewed talks. Haven't talked since March.

No long-term deal. That's what he says. In the very beginning, I'm not into being right. I'm into getting it right. I kept saying they're paying everybody else. Why wouldn't they pay him? And now it should be noted,

the cap, because we're not going to have many fans at games this year, the revenue is going to be way down in the NFL. The cap's going to come down $40 to $50 million. It's coming way down. I talked to a former GM this morning. It's coming way down. And it's not going to come down just next year. It may come down the year after.

So with that press, God, I've never understood this. He's got all the leverage. A couple days ago, the athletic had this story. and they interviewed 30 agents. And the agents were all like, oh, Dax got a lot of leverage. Oh, my God, it's about you got nothing but leverage. And I thought, you know, the agents they're talking to? They've got to be Dax agents.

So let's just talk facts. No opinions here. Let's just talk facts. Because I don't buy that Dax got all the leverage. Number one, Dallas has not won a Super Bowl in 25 years. And frankly, they haven't really been close. This is not Tom Brady leaving New England. If Dak left, you're not losing excellence.

You're not losing history. You're not losing momentum. Hell, they're 8 and 8 last year. Again, when Brady left, when Peyton Manning left, you're losing momentum. You're losing tradition. You're losing excellence. You're losing records. You're not losing any of that.

That's just factual. There's no momentum right now. They've underachieved, not overachieved. That's the first fact. Second fact. First four years in the NFL, Dax numbers are closer to Andy Dalton, his current backup, his first four years, than Patrick Malhomes. This is not a transformative quarterback town. This is not Lamar Jackson. This is not Russell Wilson. This is not Aaron Rogers. This is not Patrick Mahomes. Dak and Andy Dalton, first four years in the league. Records, passing yards, passing touchdowns, completion percentage. Hell of a lot closer to Dalton four years into the league. Now, Andy got hurt at the end of his career, so let's

just go first four. Looks more like Andy Dalton to me. And that's with DAC having, I believe, better personnel than Andy had. Number three. Another fact, Dallas has excellent offensive personnel. The defense I got issues with, especially the secondary. This is a top five offensive line. Zeke's a top one, two or three running back. The receiving core now, even pro football focus, has a top two or three in the league. I got C.D. Lamb on top of Michael Gallic, Annamari, Michael Gallup, and Marari Cooper? That's a and Zeke and a top 5-0 line.

Now, come on now. This is not an offense that couldn't find some quarterback and say, oh, hey, Derek Carr, Raiders tired of you. Those pretty good numbers. Pretty good weapons.

And let's go to the fourth fact. There's going to be a lot of quarterbacks available next year. Here are the college quarterbacks and the free agents potentially available. And I just took the good ones. Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields,

Tray Lance, Cam Newton, Philip Rivers, Tyrod Taylor, James, Winston, Derek Carr with these weapons. Yes, Derek Carr, Las Vegas slash Oakland could save 20 million if they got rid of him. And I watch Hard Knocks twice. I don't think Gruden and Carr, it doesn't feel like symbiotic to me. Gruden doesn't like any of his quarterbacks, and I think Derek Carr's top 12 in the league. You're going to have people next year. And remember, about five teams need a quarterback. And there's eight available.

There's about five now. If Dwayne Haskins works in Washington, and I have no idea, coin flip, no idea, looked like it was going to work. Big tall, big strong arm. Ohio State won a lot of games. It looked a little choppy last year. It got better at the end of the year. If he works, we got three teams in the NFL that need a quarterback. Fact number, what are we on, four or five?

Where's the market? Where's the market for DAC? Not a lot of teams need a quarterback. Not a lot of them are going to pay $35 million for DAC. There's not, I mean, listen, leverage is having multiple people fight over you. I mean, you can make the argument the Colts in New England if they get tired of Cam and Philip Rivers after a year, which I think is very, very possible. Philip Rivers and Cam don't feel like long term fits to me. Both move off.

All right, that goes to the AFC. So what? New England said, bye, Garapolo, go over to the NFC. I guess my point is, I keep hearing. about all this leverage that DAC has. Dallas doesn't have any. Let's go through the top five again. We're not losing like records and history.

This is not Troy Aikman. Okay. Secondly, this looks more like Andy Dalton early than it does Patrick Mahomes. This is not a transformative talent that's going to burn you for a year. You let him go and you're just going to watch him beat you for years and years. Let's be honest about this. There's going to be a bunch of quarterbacks on them. market. Let's be honest about this. Where's the market for him? I mean, you start going down the

list and that tells me, Dallas has easily as much leverage, easily as much leverage as Dak Prescott has. Here's the other thing to remember. I thought it was really, really strange when Mike McCarthy got the job. And remember, he didn't call Dak for days. Do you think when Tom Brady showed interest in Tampa Bay. They didn't have those phones in their hands, iPhones. Am I the only person that thought it was strange that when Mike McCarthy got to Dallas, people asked him a week later. You talked to Dak?

No, not yet. If Andy Reid retires tomorrow, Mike McCarthy goes to Kansas City. How long is it going to be before he calls Patrick Mahomes? John Harbaugh, I'm done with coaching. Somebody takes the job. Three minutes later. Hey, Lamar, I'm your new coach. Let's talk.

Let's have lunch. Do we know that McCarthy likes Dack? Now remember this. Mike McCarthy has dated supermodels. Okay, he's been far into Aaron Rogers. He looks at Dack. I mean, it'd be one thing if Mike McCarthy had had Andy Dalton for years. He had far than Aaron Rogers,

who most of you fans kept telling me are like, you know, better than Brady for years. I mean, this agent survey, oh, there's leverage for DAC. Well, I'm reading a story from a respected journalist today. Clarence Hill, Fort Worth Star Telegram, haven't talked since March. No scheduled talks. Now, maybe something happens in the middle of the night. Jerry likes late nights. I mean, who knows what happens.

Deadlines make deals. That's a classic Jerry Jones line. But I don't, I'm missing something here. Caps coming way down. Where's the momentum? big market next year of quarterbacks. Tons of offensive weapons for anybody who sits in. A head coach, I don't think loves him.

Where's the market? Teams aren't, I don't see teams lined up for him. I do think he'd have a bigger market than like a Cam Newton. He doesn't have any injuries. He's won some games. Appears to be incredibly coachable. Total gamer often plays bigger in big games than small ones, although last year was the exception.

But I'll go back on this. I said from day one, sign him. I mean, Kansas City is working out a deal from a Holmes early. Carson Wentz and Philly, early. Seattle, the minute Russell Wilson showed he was unhappy and those rumors came out about New York, boom, got him, done. Teams don't wait a long time if they think they have the guy. I mean, the rule in the NFL is you sign a quarterback early

and it really hurts for about 24 months. and then you feel like you get like three good years on it. That's what Kansas City is hoping. That's what Philadelphia is hoping. But this morning, no talks, no deal, nothing scheduled. Doesn't feel like Dax got the leverage to me. If he did, it'd be done months ago, maybe a year ago. Okay, so I saw something yesterday.

It happened. Doug Gottlie brought it up. You and I just kind of talked about it. And then Westbrook acknowledged he has COVID. Now, there's an assumption. though it's not been reported that he's not the only Houston rocket with COVID. But there's a reason that Houston, and this doesn't surprise me, is once again the most fascinating team in the playoffs.

The only team in the playoffs, if it doesn't work out the way it needs to, you could see GM fired, coach fire, Westbrook moved. I'm serious. Why Houston is the NBA's Tinderbox, and I'm fascinated more than any team to watch them in the playoffs. That is coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the iHeard Radio app.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversy, and the stories behind the headlines.

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TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jett. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack.

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

Yeah. And for me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so rapid. up in the chase, that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing.

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What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

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What are you waiting for? Got to switch by October 7th, though, to get at Geico.com. So yesterday it was announced during our show, first hour, beginning of the second hour, one of them, that Russell Westbrook had COVID-19. He has a coronavirus. So that means he's got to wait a while, then go to Orlando, and then he's got to get quarantined and do a couple negative tests. And, you know, Mike Dan Tony is like, yeah, we'll be fine. They'll be ready to go. There's stories today.

There's a lot of assumptions that James Hardin has it. According to Sham Sharanya, Hardin has just said, I feel fine. I may travel with Westbrook. there's been a lot of, you know, James Harden around town in Houston. Houston's been hit heavily by the COVID. You know, who knows? We know Westbrook has it. But this is the most fascinating team in the playoffs.

Because fascinating is anxiety and tension. There's a lot of tension around this franchise. Let's start with this. The owner is not real happy now. He's a restaurateur. What are the two industries in America that have gotten punched in the forehead, airlines and restaurants. He's a massive restaurateur.

He's dealing with a lot of stress right now. The general manager, Daryl Morey, is under a lot of pressure because the owner right now is under a lot of financial pressure. The head coach is Mike Dan Tony. We know he's under pressure because they made him replace his staff in the offseason.

Wasn't his choice. And the biggest star, frankly, is under a little bit of pressure because he's not done as well as we think in the playoffs. And he also doesn't work terribly well with Westbrook because, you know, it's Westbrook, who doesn't work necessarily well with anybody, though he's a transformative talent. You've got a lot of tension in the building here. You've got an owner who's getting crushed. I mean, let's be honest. Mark Cuban's a tech guy. He's not getting crushed in the pandemic like Fratita's getting with the restaurants. Also, the general manager, Daryl Morey, is the guy that says,

sent out a text that China, a communist regime, was offended by and pulled out of some NBA financial stuff. And that didn't make for Tita happy. It didn't make the league happy. That's a lot of pressure for Daryl Morey. You got a coach who's really good and smart, but not very good in the postseason when it matters. They made him replace his staff. And he's been kind of marginalized by James Hardin, who runs the show, let's be honest, completely runs the show. The plane takes off when he's ready.

the team practices when he's ready. This is a Tinderbox. The other thing is, if you look at the standings, we have eight regular season games until we get to the playoffs. Houston could very likely, they're a half game up on this team, a half game below this team. They could face the clippers in the first round and just get destroyed. And that would mean Dan Tony, boom, Westbrook, trouble.

Darry, uh-oh. The owner, still pissed. No team in the, I mean, the Lakers don't have pressure. LeBron's not going anywhere. Frank Vogel's not going to get fired. Anthony Davis didn't go in anywhere. I mean, they may move Kyle Kuzma. Danny Green's not going anywhere.

I mean, your four big pieces, there's no pressure. There's no real pressure. I mean, the Lakers ownership groups made their money owning the Lakers. They're still worth a lot of money. So when I look at Houston, I think they're the most interesting team in this. They could face Denver, a young team with great chemistry. they could face the Clippers on a young and old team with great talent, and in both cases, they could be in real trouble.

No team's got more lack of cohesion, more of a tinderbox feel, more explosive, more a dynamic. And remember this, Westbrook now has to, he's going to go to the bubble. Now, Dan Tony's saying all the right stuff, but, you know, hopefully Westbrook doesn't have to take seven, eight, nine days in a hotel room, can stay in shape. I never doubt that Westbrook's in shape. Here's Mike Dan Tony, the coach who has to win, has to win now. Everybody else can use the virus as an excuse, except Mike Dan Tony. He's got to win at least one and probably two playoff series. You know, I don't know

when it's going to happen. And nobody here as soon as protocols get out of the way and they all are anxious to get here and they're doing what they need to do to stay in shape. And again, it's this is not going to set us back. We're not going to let us set us back. And we'll be ready to roll here in the next two or three weeks. He's saying the right things. But, I mean, Westbrook Harden, rumor of another player, potentially late to the bubble.

He doesn't feel great. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, Kim Newton has some pretty big shoes. a fill in New England, but he's motivated to prove the doubters wrong, and he's not shying away from taking over for Tom Brady.

We have to talk about the elephant in the room, and it's like, you know who you're coming after. And I'm like, yeah, great. What he was, what he is, it's great, needs no even talking about it. But one thing about it though, you can, Coach McDaniels, you're able to call some stuff that you ain't never been able to call now. I thought, hey, you're getting a dog. You get, you ain't, you getting one of these ticked off dogs.

I'd rather we wait to say that than advertise it up front. Wait to say. Yeah, I mean, that goes without saying. If I replaced Howard Stern, I wouldn't go on the air and say, hey, but you'll be able to talk sports. And Howard couldn't talk sports. It's like, I'd wait to say stuff later. I mean, I don't know. I don't think I have a problem with Kim saying that.

I actually don't think whoever was replacing Tom Brady, right? I think we were going to give a little bit of like a little bit of flexibility to you never want to be the guy that replaces the guy. But Cam is so different than Tom Brady and it doesn't feel like a long-term situation. So I'm not really looking at this as Cam

replacing Brady oddly. Like when I heard the news, my first thought wasn't, wow, that's the new era of Patriots football because they were pitching us. on this Jared Sidham situation as being the next era. And that was what I was reluctant to buy into. That Jarrett Stim is really the next quarterback for the New England Patriots. This doesn't feel like that to me.

And this is his thing. Like this is, this is Cam now. Like Cam is, Cam's got the list. He's, he's petty. He's remembering everybody that said he couldn't do it. And that is the New England way. Like, that's what the Patriots do. It's us against the world.

Everyone's doubting us every single year. So I think he fits perfectly into that. I don't have a problem with him saying that, actually. I think that's why Cam had a small market. Because he thinks that way? I just think Cam stylistically, I mean, he had no market. I mean, even New England's not a market. It's just, here's want to play for free.

I just think when you replace legends, just play. I mean, I don't know. I don't know that Patriots fans have that kind of expectation. Oh, they have no. This is just a, this is not even a. But no one should have that expectation, though. It's the only person that should. have that expectation of himself as camp.

Right? Because New England did not give him a big deal. So this is not a, this is a trial situation for New England. No one in new, no Patriots fan should have expectations of Tom Brady level of play. So it's really just, it's up to Cam. However he, whatever he can do, he's the one that should have expectations of himself. I can't wait to see those fits in New England though. I'm anticipating a lot of fur, go fur, obviously. But a lot of big jackets.

So after only three years in the league, Patrick Mahomes signed a deal worth a half a billion dollars, and Lamar Jackson is looking for the same kind of success as his fellow MVP, but he knows he has a lot of work to do first. He said, I've got to win me a Super Bowl. I've got to get where he's at. He also said Mahomes deal is a crazy number, but he deserves it. This is again why I love Lamar Jackson, because he's never settling for where he is right now. And he has so much self-awareness, right? Like what happened in the playoffs last year was a colossal disappointment, and he knows that. And he's moving on beyond that and working to correct those mistakes.

He obviously wants to win a Super Bowl, but that's the difference between Mahomes and Lamar Jackson right now. Like, I don't really like to compare their talents because at this point, like Mahomes is just ahead of him. He just won a Super Bowl. And that's safe to say. It's not that Lamar Jackson isn't talented or that he isn't going to get to Mahomes level. But as he said, get to that level first. that's how we evaluate this. What's the winning that you do on top of your talent?

It'll be interesting to see if anybody gets near Mahomes because when the cap comes way down, Mahomes got his in before the cap. Like it's going to be fascinating to watch. I just talked to somebody this morning. It's going to come down $50 million a team. Yeah, I mean, there's no way around that. Everyone's getting hit right now.

For like many suspect two years. Like NFL owners are like, that Mahomes, I'm not saying it will be. it could be the last great contract for a couple of years, like the last great all-time contract. So finally, the Bucks had their first five-on-five practice in the bubble yesterday, but Janus was not very happy with his performance. And playing five-on-five today,

how do you evaluate your own personal game today? I sucked. So, no, I was terrible. So, no, I was terrible. But, you know, day by day, tried to get in shape, try to find my rhythm. I mean, obviously, being in shape and being in basketball shape is two different things.

So, no, I've always taken it day by day, trying to get better today. So I know that I'm going to be ready when the scrimmage start and the game starts. I'm going to be ready. Well, season starts on July 30th. The Bucks first game is the 31st. They got to Orlando last Thursday and had a light workout on Saturday. Their last game was on March 9th. So many Bucks players have been quarantined and quarantined.

different places around the country with different accesses to facilities. Chris Middleton hadn't touched a basketball in four months before he arrived in the bubble. So this is going to be a crash course to get in shape and get in basketball shape. I don't even understand that. I didn't touch a basketball for four months. I mean, I don't know where he was quarantined, but. Does Milwaukee not have hoops? Everybody's not in Milwaukee.

I mean, think about it. Everybody has different homes and different places around the country in the off season. This is kind of what this was. So like Chris Middleton, like, this is your career now. I mean, I'm sorry, but LeBron James, I bet you it was shooting at least every other day for four months. Chris Middleton didn't pick up a basketball? Like I don't even know how what does that mean? I can't even believe that.

Is that been reported? This is from the article I have, yes. They were scattered and individually isolated training facilities all across the nation when they were shut down. Chris Middleton, this was the first time they held a basketball in over four months. I'm telling you, this bubble situation That shouldn't get out. We have... If I hadn't touched the basketball, that is not getting out.

We have to be very careful how we evaluate these teams going into this situation. It's really unpredictable. I mean, that would be like saying in the virus, I haven't watched any sports for months. I'm watching every... I watched MLS for two hours last night. I'm trying to watch hard knocks again. I'm trying to watch everything. We broke down to the detail sports documentary of a team 30 years ago.

It carried the show. for six weeks. That is wild. And it's wild that it got out. I mean, that's what I'm saying. It's going to be, just keep expectations manageable for how all this is going to look. That's why I'm saying. I don't know how anybody can predict.

I mean, I'm picking the clippers, but I don't know how we can predict how this is I don't know how you can predict anybody but the clippers. Now the Lakers have lost two guards. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. And Chris Middleton didn't touch a ball for four months. The clippers have to be the overwhelming favorite. I can't even believe that story.

I can't believe it. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lie News. Peter Schrager's an insider. Lots of stuff, actually. I saw a story yesterday about, I'd heard about it about a month ago and yesterday about some masks or something on the helmets.

And Shrags join us. Brought to you my Mercedes-Benz, the best or nothing. Via the Coward Global Satellite Network. All right, Shragues. Update us. Let's start with the easy one. or maybe not easy. Where do we stand with football coming back?

What's the story today? Where are we at, Colin? It changes every day, honestly. So we're supposed to all be back July 28th. Technically speaking, because they play on a Thursday night to open the season, the Chiefs' quarterbacks and rookies and injured players and the Texans' quarterbacks, rookies, injured players, could as early as Thursday report to some camp,

wherever it is in their facility and get their COVID testing started so that they could start training camp on time. But there are so many questions. There are calls every day between the NFLPA and the NFL's management council. I'll give you the latest, Colin. You hit on it during Joy's update. There is going to be a huge financial loss

in the NFL this year, especially if there are no fans, as is expected. I have been told from sources way up high that the estimate is $70 million per team if they play without fans. What's add in the preseason here? Let's add in the preseason because all the players are saying, We want no preseason games.

Don't rush us out there. These teams make a ton of money in the preseason. But here's where the communication is being lost, I think, between the players and the owners in the league. Every dollar that the league loses, the players lose also. That is the spirit of collectively bargaining an agreement. So the salary cap isn't going to magically stay the same because of the COVID and everyone feels bad for the players.

No, they share in revenue. So every dollar that is lost is split amongst the pie. are part of that. What the players need to work on and what they're trying to hammer out with the NFL right now is whether they want to take their lumps in one year and just next year, the salary cap goes down, you know, 50 million a team and sorry if you're a free agent and it's just how it goes. Yeah. Or do you want to spread it out over the next 10 years or the next five years? They're trying to figure it out. But the latest I've heard, Colin, the players don't want preseason. They want zero preseason games. The teams and the owners in the league, they want at least

two, meaning that each team would at least have one home preseason game where they can try out these measures of getting people into the stadium, getting the field ops working, seeing how it would work before we go to the regular season. But regardless, if there's two or zero, the teams and the league are losing a ton of money at that. And now the players are trying to figure out how they can work with the league to get their safety secured, obviously, their football safety secured. Because if you just walk onto a field without having training camp or preseason, you're

season and try to play at full speed. Good luck with your Achilles or your ACL and finally the money part of it. So July 28th and, you know, we're doing raw, raw football is going to be back. It'll get there. We hope and the plan is there. We'll get there. But there are so many things that have to be decided before then. One last note. I know I'm doing a monologue here. One last note. Los Angeles, where you are, California takes a major step back yesterday as far as progress goes. Well, a month ago, we were told by the NFL that every team has to have training camp on their facilities. Well, This is on the assumption that things are going to get better and better and better. States are taking backward steps now.

So is that loose? Is that flexible? Can there be a backup site now? There's so many questions to still be answered. And I'm sitting here talking to you, one of my favorite people in the world and Joy, who I love coming on the show. And I can tell you, I don't know what's in store before July 28th because both the player side and the team side don't seem to know that much either. So Clarence Hill, Fort Worth Star, Telegram reports, DAC Cowboys haven't talked since March. no plan on talking. Deadline is tomorrow.

I saw a story the other day that agents were queried, were questioned about the big stories of the offseason. And many agents said, oh, DAC has got all this leverage. And I'm like, I don't see it. I still think it's bizarre that Mike McCarthy, you know, a week after taking the cowboy job, was asked about Dak. And he said, I hadn't talked to him yet. you would talk to Mahomes within 40 seconds of getting the Kansas City Chief's job if Andy Reid retired. I don't see Dak having massive leverage.

Am I wrong? Tell me I'm wrong. Leverage is he's got $31 million for this year already in his back pocket. He didn't have that last year. So he bet on himself last year with a $2 million contract. He went eight and eight missed the playoffs and still got franchised. So he's still got $31 million. But again, I guess I'm the outlier in this because agents are saying that has the leverage.

I talk to people in the media saying, oh, well, Dak, I mean, he's going to break the bank. Look at my homes. In what economic world are you living in? Like, what world are you living in that suddenly Jerry Jones before the pandemic wasn't going to break the bank? And now post-pandemic is going to say, you know what, let's give Dak Prescott $40 million. I just lost $70 million, but let's give DAC $40 million for the next five years because, well, you know what? Because that's just what I'm going to do. Like, I think DAC has the leverage in the fact that he knows he's already making a guaranteed salary for this year.

Yeah. If the franchise tag them next year, it's more. But I don't think it's the same economic world for negotiating that it was before the pandemic. And Patrick Mahomes and Christian McCaffrey, you said it. Those might be the last huge deals. And what Mahomes gave up was 12 years of negotiating power. So he gave his life and career to the Kansas City Chiefs. Dak wants to sign a four-year deal, not a 12-year deal.

By the way, Mahomes' agent may have been charged. sharper than everybody thinks. Everybody said, oh, Mahalms took a haircut. If you start talking about you, if you start to mess around with a cap for the next eight to ten years, that Mahalms and Christian McCaffrey, you can make an argument for the next 12 months have signed the last big deals. That's very, and by the way, God love both of them. They both deserve it. Hey, Colin, ask any American right now. And I'm talking in our industry, I'm talking the guy who works in sanitation. Would you like a 10-year contract right now for your job? I think a lot of people would. There's something to being stable and having stability. And Mahomes, where's he going? He loves what he's

got. Yeah. Everyone was, you know, a lot of agents were sniping on text to me. Like, what a terrible deal. Terrible deal. He made half a billion dollars and he's in Kansas City with Andy Reef the next 10 years. Sounds good to me. Yeah. Hey, so the camp thing's fascinating. Uh, I think they're real, I thought New England would, I said, I was going to watch one half of Stidham and then I was done with the Patriots for the year. I'm not. not, I mean, I'll watch Joe Burrow over that. But now, I think after Brady and Tampa, I think Tampa is going to be, I think New England's going to be fascinating.

I think it could, I think there'll be eight and eight, but it'll be the most fascinating eight and eight in the league. What do you make a Josh McDaniels, Cam, Cam going on Instagram or a TV show saying, listen, I can run. Brady couldn't. It feels like setting himself up for us to take shots. What do you make of the whole thing? Well, I think what he says, I think there's an elephant in the room like filling in for

Brady, but there's an elephant in. right now also. Like this is a guy who if you're watching the Instagram and you're seeing what he did with the Players Tribune talking to Victor Cruz and Odell Beckham, I'm like really inspired. But I would look at Josh McDaniels too. I always talk about, you know, with Stidham. McDaniels was excited then or the Patriots were that the story was because he could be a little mobile. Now you put Cam Newton in this thing. And here's what people are forgetting. The Cam Newton contract, this was like a no brainer of all no brainers. If Cam comes out and is injured, they still have Stidham. But for one year, potentially $7 million, and Cam as, as what it seems like, as dedicated and as furious and as, you know, chip on a shoulder,

a boulder on his shoulder, you add that to Belichick and McDaniels. Like, they're going to do things that they could not do with Brady. Like, Cam can run. Cam is six foot six. Cam can do that. He can jump over the line of scrimmage. Like, Cam can do things that Brady couldn't. Of course, he's not the all-around quarterback that Brady is.

Their careers can't be compared. But for one year, would you rather a 43-year-old Tom Brady or would you rather a hungry healthy from what we hear, 32-year-old Cam Newton who has something to prove in that new offense that no one has seen him in. Yeah, that's fascinating. All right, Shrey, where are you at, for the record? Are you still, like, in a basement in Baltimore or something where you're at?

I've been a rental house in Long Island, New York. We are working things back towards Brooklyn, Colin. It has been a very interesting few months. Let's just say I've gotten to know my family very well. Haven't we all? All right, Shragues. Good talking to you, buddy. You're the best, Colin.

Thank you. All right. covering the NFL for 15 years, really smart guy. I think he brings up a really interesting point. We're all banging on Mahomes in that contract. And you start looking at now. When I'm talking to GMs this morning, they're like, this thing's coming down, $50 million.

Patrick Mahomes is like, I'll take a little less. Maybe his agent sat down and said, this cap's going to be a mess. We don't have to worry about it. And don't kid yourself. Even if you're Patrick Mahomes, money is stressful. It's just like, who wants to talk? That's what breaks up marriages.

Like Patrick Mahalm said, you know what? I don't have to talk about money, 12 years done. End of his career. It's over. I said this yesterday. When my wife and I got married, we had a bunch of kids. And we sat down and we said, okay, let's go see a therapist.

Let's clean some stuff up. We got to take all the easy stuff off the table. Like we can't be arguing about dumb stuff because six kids, divorced, remarried. There's enough arguments in there. We've got to take the easy stuff off the table. And I'm not saying the money was easy for Patrick Mahomes, but he's great and they wanted to pay him. Don't argue over a million.

Don't argue over four. Don't argue over eight. Like Mahomes may be the smart dude in this whole situation. I don't have to. I mean, owners have to deal with money issues. GMs do. Coaches do. Players do.

Agents do. Patrick Mahomes doesn't. Out. He's like a dealer in Vegas. Done. Out. Like he may be the smart guy in all this. He took the money situation.

The owner of the chiefs will have sleepless nights with money. The GM will have sleepless nights. Mahomes won't. So he got paid less. Less than what? $600,000, $600 million? He got $500,000. Well, I didn't get guaranteed.

He'll be healthy, upright. And I'll go back to this. The big picture on Mahomes is that if Mahomes can have a little better defense, he's not going to get in Andrew Luck shootouts. He doesn't have to drop back 42 times at game. He doesn't have to. That's what happened to Drew Breeze. Took all the money in New Orleans for three years,

and he got into shootouts because your defense can't. Wouldn't it be great if Patrick Mahomes eight minutes left arrowhead? Just hike, hand the ball off, two touchdown lead. That's what's helped Brady. Brady didn't have to get in shootouts for 20 years. Aaron Rogers hasn't had a defense. He's had to get in shootouts. Aaron gets hurt.

Deshawn Watson hasn't had the defense. Has to get in shootouts. Russell Wilson, not injured. Generally with Pete Carroll doesn't have to always win by shootout. Russell can turn the ball. Eight minutes left, hand it off. Like, Mahomes, you don't want to be Andrew Luck. You don't want to be Aaron Rogers.

You don't want to have to throw 38 times. Also, you're trailing. Their pass rushers know you're passing. Mahomes made me the same. smartest cat here. He may have figured it out. Coming up next, you keep telling, everybody told me it was the best plan. I still can't figure out what the plan is with the Sixers. That's coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Feeling older? Don't give up. Go to MDrive from N.com. Driven men, feel better, lean muscle.

So Joy and I are just talking about this during the break. So this story about Chris Middleton. This is fascinating to me. Chris Middleton and a handful of NBA players have said, well, I haven't touched the basketball in three months. Time out. That feels like a choice. Like I get the March 11th, the NBA said, we're shutting it down. Remember Mark Cuban, the reaction on his phone. So I'll give you a month. Are we all going to die? Nobody knows what's going on. And then after about three and four weeks, it was attacking older people. That became very apparent. And it was really bad in certain cities like New York, New Jersey, Seattle. At that point, if I was an NBA player, and remember, Chris Middleton's got tens of

millions of dollars, like hundreds of millions. I mean, he's, I would call my agent and say, get me to a warm state and get me to a place with a beach and get me to a place with a basketball court. I mean, these guys are not, you know, this is not the average American, right? And I'm not, I don't want to pick on Chris Middleton. But if I was an NBA player after about a month, I'll even give you five or six weeks. I'll give you two months. I would have called my agent and said, get me somewhere with a basketball court.

You could go, I could go right now. If I went on my phone and said, I'm an NBA player, anybody in me, anybody in me, Milwaukee have a basketball court, I'll pay to practice. I'll sign autograph for your kids. Milwaukee's got a lot of space and a lot of farmland and a lot of big houses. Somebody's got a basketball court. Somebody. And if not, you call your agent and that's his job.

That is strange to me. Because I got news for you. LeBron James, from what I've been told, has taken this hiatus seriously. You see Zion, he's taking it seriously. You've seen Yokic, he's taking it seriously. Like a lot of these guys, co-operative. Why Leonard? Seriously. Damien Lillard, I mean, you look at some of these NBA veterans, man. They have, I got into this big discussion the other day.

It's like this time off has been difficult for everybody. But there's kids that I don't want to go back to college and there's kids, what's a high school diploma worth? Because it's difficult right now. Who's going to win during COVID is the most focused people? Because there's a lot of people in life that are just looking for an excuse. They're just looking to get off the interstate. the first easy exit they can take, they're off. I've seen it in my industry.

A lot of people don't like doing prep. This has given them a great excuse to don't do prep, mail it in, take a bunch of time off. This is the time for people who are totally obsessed and grownups and adults and serious to like extend your lead on the have-nots. This is the time for the haves and the focus and the never-distracted. to like separate. And I mean, LeBron James is going to be ready to play.

I've seen six pieces of video in the last 24 hours on LeBron James. His abs-tastic. That dude is ready to rock. Reportedly, Paul George is like best I've ever felt. Zion Williamson, I am in great shape. Guys can't find a ball. Am I to being too harsh on that? I mean, I would like to know more about each individual personal situation.

Like, you know, who knows, maybe they have someone. in their family that's super vulnerable so they didn't want to, you know, they wanted to protect them or whatever. Like I think everyone's situation is different, but I mean, if everyone is safe, like you have younger kids who aren't really affected by this and, you know, you can move them, get in a car and drive if you're concerned about flying, to a place where, yeah, I mean, you can just rent a house that has a court in whatever state has been open. I'm not saying go out and, like, go there and party or anything, but go rent a house for a few months. Well, even restaurants.

That has a court. Yeah, I mean, restaurant. Let's say, you're right. There's somebody vulnerable in the family. Totally get that. So how do you maneuver around that? Right. Then I would say, listen, I'm going to go down for weak stretches.

I'm going to go down for five-day stretches and just hoop it. Then I'm going to quarantine. I mean, bottom line, your agent could set up a situation where you have a shooting coach, you and a gym. That's it, one person. And I mean, I don't know. It's weird to me. Like, I just whole- I think when you have the means to,

make, I mean, people who really didn't even have the means, just had family in a state that wasn't as bad. Like, I know a lot of people who are in New York who just left and went and saved with family for a few months because it's so bad there. So if you have the means to get yourself and your family to a place that's either a little more open and you guys aren't vulnerable and or just go rent a house by yourselves and quarantine there, but it has a court there so you can still work out. I don't know. I'm with you. It seems, it seems strange because these, if you have the means, these facilities are available. All over the place. And you're not putting other people at risk either. Listen, I, you know, Google Maps. So sometimes, I'm fascinated with Google Maps. I'm on it

three days a week. I was on it last night. Google Maps? Oh, love Google Maps. I can go look at anybody's backyard in America. I can look at property. I can look at landscaping. I can look at views. I, I dabbled in real estate. So Google Maps is a great place for me. Ooh, I like that part of town. Let me go see Google Maps. Let me see the backyards. What kind of space do you have? In my area of Los Angeles, which has high density. There's probably seven basketball courts. And I live in a beach town, which is everybody's jammed on. I mean, I can hear when the Lakers win a game on the last second shot, I can hear my neighbor scream. I mean, that's where I live. I live in a highly dense area. You go out to Thousand Oaks. They're up a basketball court every third house. Yeah. That's weird to me. I'm being judgmental.

You are. Hour two coming up next. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days of week within the iHeart radio app search heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like last night a blown call changed a game this morning the internet lost its mind highlights are trending opinions are flying and nobody's telling you exactly what happened that's where sports slice comes in i'm timbo every episode we're cutting through the noise breaking down the plays the controversies and the stories behind the headlines we go straight to the source the athlete themselves their locker room stories their reactions the stuff nobody gets to hear

The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap little kid? Kim's boobs at the VMAs?

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

To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day. Yeah, yeah, literally. But just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed, correct.

So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. So, oh. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

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

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Open your free, our heart radio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? this is cliverteller the fourth and on my podcast the clivert show i'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff like being an internet famous referee we're in the middle of a game this linebacker this linebacker walks up to me he goes hey ref my mom wants you to wave at her what time out quarterback on office blue 42 hey rep my mama want you to wave at her what hey miss parker listen to the clifher

show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Ah, here we go. It's hour two. We're live in Los Angeles. This is The Herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. So I watched the MLS for an hour and a half last night. I watched the UFC over the weekend. I'll probably watch some golf this coming up weekend. Brooks Kefka's going to be in the same group with, I think, Rory McElroy and Tiger Woods. That's going to be bombs away. So there's sports, a UFC, tip of the cap to UFC.

They've done a great job. They've had seven, eight cards, whatever that's had. I've watched most of them. They're just fantastic. MLS last night, I thought was really good. Boy, it looked hot in Orlando. Good God, it looked hot. Yeah, Florida heat in the summer.

In fact, they did this morning. They play this morning. Then they take the afternoon off. They play at night. You can't play in the middle of the afternoon in Orlando. Yeah, I mean, yeah. Yeah, you can't do it in the sun. And it's still very hot.

In the morning and night. But at least the sun isn't also beating on you. So we're getting close. You know, I'm crossing my fingers on all this stuff. College football increasingly, I don't know. I just, at this point, I'm not making projections. I saw this this morning. The 76ers coach Brett Brown is now going to move.

He said he's thrilled with Ben Simmons at power forward in early practices. And, I mean, they went and got Al Horford last year to be a forward. Ben Simmons moving to forward. I love Simmons. he doesn't shoot. I think he's an unbelievable, unique talent. Six, ten and a half,

way above average defender for his age. Incredible vision, great handle, scores at the rim, can't shoot. But this is the thing that gets me, and I like Simmons a lot. I wish he would work on his shot, but I've never seen a player quite like him.

Magic Johnson couldn't shoot when he got into the league either, but it wasn't this bad. But this is what I've always been a cynic on the Sixers. I'm not the smartest guy the world, but I can usually see your plan. Like I can see, oh, I get what you're trying to do. I've always said this with football. I can watch two series of a football game and go, oh, I see what they're trying to do.

Now, I'm not saying I'm smart enough to fix it, solve it, or create the plan, but I can spot a plan. I may not be funny, but I can spot funny. I may not be smart, but I can spot smart. I've never understood their plan. The first plan was called the process. It got a jazzy nickname and all of the NBA people. loved it. Oh, it's got a nickname. You know, if you give something a nickname, it's amazing. It's called The Process, and it was, we're going to tank and then draft the tallest a player

available in the draft for the next several years as the league was increasingly becoming a shooter's league. They fired that guy. And the next group comes in, and it's still a shooter's league, and so they go and they accumulate some shooters. I like that part. But they did draft Ben Simmons, who doesn't shoot. But at least they were going to. getting shooters. And I'm a big fan of that. And then that guy had a phone issue, Twitter or something. They fired that guy. And next guy comes in and he's like, I'm going to get rid of shooters. And I'm going to get rid of Jimmy Butler. Okay. And so I look at all the guys they've given up in the last several years in a shooters league. And they've

given up Landry Schammett, Drew Holiday, Jimmy Butler, Robert Covington, JJ Reddick, Dario Sarich, Mario Marco, Bellanelli, Ersan Eliasova. They can all shoot to Shooters League. They're all gone now. So what remains is Ben Simmons and Joel Ambide, wildly talented, often a little distracted and immature, good at home when things are comfortable, atrocious on the road, don't necessarily play well together. Simmons needs an open lane to score at the rim, and Embedd is done.

dominant in the lane. To me, this is, I can't see the plan. It was draft tall guys. Let's go get shooters. Let's bail on the shooters. To me, the plan has always been easy. You can get a lot for Embed. Big guys who get hurt early, get hurt middle and late of their career.

I'd get Ben Simmons and a bunch of shooters. Play fast. Ben is a all-time unique talent. Now, so has Embed, but he's been hurt, missed a couple years, guys don't get healthy, 300-pound guys banging on those feet. Simmons is going to be a healthier player long-term. He didn't have to be a great shooter. I don't buy into that.

Magic wasn't a great shooter. Magic had Kareem and Magic had shooters. And it wasn't even a Shooter's League back then. It was a center's league, and Magic got the ball to the center. I'm not saying I could devise a better plan. The plan to me, it's got to be. be visible. And this also comes down to, I hear a lot of this.

You know, Embed and Simmons, it's not ideal, but it'll eventually work. Here's something you figure out really quickly in the NBA. LeBron and D. Wade weren't really built to play together. They really weren't. It was almost like if you added four inches to Dwayne Wade, he kind of played a lot like LeBron. LeBron's always worked well with shooters. He drives, clear the lane, get the big out of the lane, let LeBron handle the ball,

and just give a Danny Green on this side, Badiere on that side, Ray Allen on that side, Bosch in the corner. And DeWade's not a natural shooter. But it worked immediately. It did not take long at all. Joy was down there. Within about 10 games, De Wade realized LeBron's ridiculous. This is going to be LeBron's team, and they figured it out.

They were just going to be hyper-athletic, run the floor. Bosch was a big that could run. Very rarely, you can see Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen and Paul Pierce really quickly worked together. You could tell very early Westbrook Harden don't really work well together. It's very difficult. You know, your game is your game. If it doesn't work well together initially, it's hard to say, you know, time will make

it better. Sometimes time is not a lubricant. It's an agitator. You get more frustrated. I just don't see Simmons and Embedd working. Simmons can't shoot, has no affinity for trying to get better, and Embed is dominant down low, and I want him right next to the basket.

I don't want to turn Embed into anything other than what he is, a monster within eight feet of the rim. I'm not going to turn him into anything other than that, and I'm not going to try to make Ben Simmons a shooter. He's got great handles, great vision, and all-time talent. I'm telling you, the kid, I've never seen a six, ten-and-a-half guy. handle the ball like that. Pass like that. Magic's the only thing close.

So I don't, I've never been a believer that we'll figure it out. The stuff that works, the Batman's and the Robbins that work in this league, man, they make it work. I mean, Bosch came from Toronto, D. Wade, there, LeBron, about 10 games. Remember they were about 500 for about 15 games? And all of a sudden it was like, boom, couldn't beat him. Following year, set records. Steph Curry, Clay, Drayman.

Kevin Durant. Durant goes to the Warriors. That thing clicked fast. Durant and Westbrook never worked. Durant with even more shooters. Clay can shoot, Steph can shoot. Durant's all time. That thing, how many games before it worked?

Twelve? And it was like, boom, off and running. Simmons, MB, I'm not sure time is the answer. But, you know, maybe I'm too impatient. With that, Kevin O'Connor, the ringer, Love him. NBA analysts. Covered the NBA for a long time, joining us via the Coward Global Satellite Network. All right, you tell me, Kevin, what is the Sixers plan? What is it? Because I can never quite figure it out. Now they're moving Simmons to forward, and they got Al Horford. I think Simmons should just be surrounded by guys who can shoot because he's really good at getting the ball to shooters.

That statistically I've seen before. What are they today? Colin, I heard your rant, and I've been somebody who's criticized the Sixers more than anybody, largely with Ben's. Simmons' inability to shoot the fact he still shoots with the wrong hand. However, I do think you still get to learn how to trust the process here. Joel Embed and Ben Simmons, despite the fact that you're right, they're an imperfect match here because neither of them are great shooters. Fact is, as Philly has still had a lot of success with both of them on the court at the same time. The problem is those surrounding pieces. The solution for the Philadelphia 76ers is not breaking up Ben Simmons and Joel Ambide. It's about finding the right support.

cast around those guys that allows them to slot into the right position. And the move this past week, Brett Brown talked about it, Ben Simmons talked about it, and that's playing Simmons more at the four and having a point guard in there, such as Shake Milton. That's something that's going to allow them to unlock different dimensions of Ben Simmons game, using him more as a screener, having him roll to the rim, a la Dremont Green, allowing him to pick apart defenses with a pass or as a score. But also Simmons himself has said that he's,

willing to at least try spotting up from three. And look, I'm not optimistic that Ben's going to be able to shoot the ball. Effectively, I don't think that he's going to draw the attention of defenses and the respective defenses. But there's a way for this to work. Simmons is still only 23. M. B. is still only 26-year-old.

And even though you're talking about LeBron and Wade, those guys are top 15, 20, 25 players all time. Simmons and Bede are young and they do need time. They do deserve time to get this to work. It's about finding the right surrounding pieces so they can fit as well as they can together. Okay, so Westbrook has COVID. He'll come back, quarantined, take a few tests, he'll be fine to play. There's been some assumptions.

Harden has it. Story out today. He's going to the bubble. He's fine, blah, blah, blah. But I did say this about Houston. There's a lot of, there's a lot of, the cohesion worries me. You've got an owner in the restaurant business. Outside of airlines, it's been decimated.

You've got a GM who I think is really smart. I love Darrell Mori, but he's going to win now, and his owner's not happy with him in the last six months. The China tweet, you've got some tension there. You've got a coach who had to replace his staff and has to win now. And Hardin and Westbrook are wildly entertaining, not sure they work together. There feels like a, okay, fellas, we got to win a couple series here, or people are going to lose their jobs. That's what it feels like to me, that the cohesion is kind of off. Then you add the Westbrook.

COVID, I mean, am I over, over amplifying the urgency? This team feels like they better, there better be pellets on the wall here. They have to win a couple of series or people are losing their jobs. They have limited time. There's certainly pressure. And we saw Darrell Morrie make that all-in move before the trade deadline and swapping Clemskapella out for Robert Covington. They're going all-in on small ball.

This is going to be the great small-ball experiment here with a PJ Tucker, Robert Covington front court. I mean, the amount of spacing that Westbrook was able to exploit after that deal was made was extraordinary. He was really, really good. It was some of the best basketball we've ever seen him play in his career in terms of scoring efficiency and everything else. And Hardin is James Hard, one of the league's best players. So for Houston, this more than anything else is a big experiment here. How does small ball work against these bigger teams like the Lakers with AD and Jamail McGee or Dwight Howard in their front court?

How does it work against Denver and Nicola Yokic? There's a lot of big teams in the Western Conference, and Houston is the one different one with their small size. Yeah, no, we said they're the most interesting team in the bubble. So, I mean, nobody thinks Rajan Rondo. I mean, a lot of people think he's a shot fighter, but he and Avery Bradley are situational players. Avery's actually, I always thought, a very good fit for LeBron,

high IQ, plays both ways, been in big games, hits big shots. Avery and LeBron. LeBron loves guys like that. He loves Shane Badié, Avery. Avery Bradley. You're going to get an effort both ends. I can trust you'll hit a shot if I need it. Rondo's not at that level, but he would be a situational player.

Lakers have lost two guards. It doesn't feel like to me, this is a lot of disparate parts to begin with after AD and LeBron. I don't feel the same with the Lakers this morning as I did pre-Avery and pre-Rondo missing. I don't. Do you? They're going to miss Rondo in Bradley in the short term because you do not. need that point guard stopper on the defensive

of the floor of Rondo. Playoff Rondo is a real thing. I mean, we've seen it in the past. Yeah. It was after a bad year in Chicago or a bad year in New Orleans. He stepped up in the postseason and never mind his prime years in Boston. However, I will say this. This could be a blessing in disguise in the short term to get Caruso some time on the court. You think about the ideal fits next to LeBron. It's a low-usage guy who bust his butt on the defensive end the floor and makes smart plays

and hits open threes and offense. and that's Caruso. So if they can get him going early on and then later down the line, reintegrate Rondo back into the rotation. For Frank Vogel, it's a bit easier with this order of operations here to get the perfect rotation that you need in a playoff situation. So I wouldn't underrate that. You need Rondo for his defense,

but Caruso could have an important role off that bench for the Lakers. Yeah, that's been an interesting one. Caruso is athletic, and he absolutely plays his butt off on the defensive end. he gives you the effort. Okay, so Joey and I are flummoxed. I do not get going four months without touching a basketball. I don't get it. Could I hear this about Chris Middleton?

Explain it to me because I don't get it. I mean, I would assume it's no different than for me, like going four months about playing guitar, lose all the calluses on your fingers. It starts to hurt when you play again. I'm sure for some guys, it's like riding a bike, you know, not to pick up a ball. But for a lot of others, I would assume,

significant adjustment here. I've had a lot of conversations with, you know, coaches, players, executives in recent weeks. And they've, you know, consistently said there's a lot of variables at play here, whether it's, you know, mental health and physical health or just the fact you're playing in empty arenas or, as you said, not picking up a ball for a long time that could impact the overall product on the court, and thus the postseason race. Lakers, clippers and bucks are the clear favorites here. But you can't rule up, rule out a heck of a lot of teams here that could take advantage of some of these variables on playoff series.

Yeah. You play guitar, by the way? I do play guitar. I've played since I think 07, 12, 13 years now. I love it. It's my tied to sports is my number one love. Do you have it right by you or anything right now? Yeah. It's behind the laptop

recording me right now. You're always free to play it on the show. No, honestly. Got the green screen right behind him. I could, we could put me in the studio. right now, actually, with the screen screen. Listen, you're an artist. I'm pro artist. This is all good. Kevin O'Connor,

the ringer's YouTube, The Restart. Appreciate your stuff, man. Thanks. Thank you so much, Colin. Have a good one. You bet, Kevin O'Connor. There are a lot of variables on this stuff. There's a lot of variables. I've been telling you, I don't know how we can really predict with any kind of conviction

who's going to win this. There's so much that can happen. So this weekend, there was a game on and I don't even know what it was. There was a basketball game. It looked like Orlando. And it was in a theater thing. And they had these big banners hanging down. And I thought, that looks pretty good.

Like, is that what they're going to do? Like, I keep saying to myself, how on television, the MLS looks good. They just shrink the screen. You don't see this fans. I think the MLS has done a great job. I think it looks red. And the sound didn't bother me either. No.

So it's funny because the NBA, I'm like, is this just going to look like guys hooping at Rucker Park in New York? And this weekend I'm watching, they had some. basketball game going on and they had these like banners hanging down and I was like, oh, this is sweet. It was really good. And if you fake a little crowd noise, I was like, oh, this is totally watchable. And I didn't even know who any of these guys were.

And I was like, for like 10 minutes, I'm like, this is a totally watchable basketball environment. I think it's just going to be the actual basketball, the sport products that we're going to be focusing on now. You know, I think through advances in entertainment, we've been able to focus on a lot of other things while the games are going on, right? Like we're focusing on the crowd and celebrities are there and there's like, there's just a lot going on. Now it's just going to be, this is just

the game. There's no crowd noise element. It's interesting how you can kind of manipulate a soccer field or a basketball court. Even in the NFL. The NFL smartly said first eight rows, we're going to put ads up. Of course you should do that. So because when I watch these baseball

practices, God, it feels hollow. You can't avoid, you cannot avoid a fly ball and looking in the stands and seeing nobody. It's like acreage. There's not a plant. It's just so massive. It's so massive. And basketball this weekend, I'm watching this like, whoever these guys were, I'm like, if LeBron was there, this is totally watchable.

But also soccer, basketball, and football are both shot at the same space. Baseball, the field is a different shape. So you're seeing more of the stands. The cavernous, emptiness. I just want sports back. I don't care if there's people. No, I sat there for MLS last night. and I poured myself a cocktail, and I sat there for two hours,

and I just messed around on the Internet, and I, you know, and I went to Google Maps, and I watched NLS. It was kind of fascinating. I'm not going to be honest, I had a hell of a time last night. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the I-Hard Radio app. Tomorrow on FS1, the biggest stars in racing battle for a million bucks on the NASCAR All-Star Race. Don't miss the action live.

from Bristol Motor Speedway, beginning at 830 Eastern on FS1 and the Fox Sports app. By the way, fellas, go to manscape.com. Code is herd free shipping 20% off, skin safe technology, nose hair, ear hair, face hair, manscape.com code H-E-R-D, 20% off. Here's Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Patrick Mahomes has already had more success than many get. in the NFL with a league MVP and a Super Bowl win, but he has his sight set on matching Tom Brady's

record with six rings during his career. I don't know if there's a number. I mean, obviously, you try to chase greatness and Tom's got six, so I'm going to try to do whatever I can to at least get to that number. I understand how hard that is, how really, I mean, it was a one-of-a-kind thing for Tom to be able to get to nine Super Bowls and win six of them. And so I'm just going to go about the process every single day of trying to make myself better and do whatever I can to make the Kansas City Chiefs better. Yeah, that's a big number there, Patrick. Brady got a lot of breaks.

He got the perfect coach, actually an owner in his business prime. And Brady also got something that's never been given credit for. He landed in a highly competitive sports market in Boston where the Bruins had titles, the Red Sox had titles, the Celtics had titles. And what does that mean? Never satisfied. You're literally competing with three other storied franchise. for dollars, for advertising, you can't take your foot up.

You can't be satisfied with a Super Bowl. Like in Kansas City, let's say the next four years, they don't even get to the AFC championship because Baltimore is great. Is everybody getting fired? No, no one's getting fired. I do think the fan base will be a little disappointed, especially after a 12-year deal and, you know, just winning a Super Bowl. I don't know if it's Super Bowl expectations every year before that, but now that they've won

a Super Bowl, they're going to expect to be, at the very least, in the AFC championship game. But the break that I think Tom Brady got, obviously having a great coach, being in a highly competitive city, those things are factors. But he also played in the AFC East. That helps. No question. Big break. Peyton Manning was in there for a year.

And they let rid of him. That step one is winning your division, right? They're in a very competitive division. The AFC East has been a disaster for the last 20 years. with the exception of a few spikes here and there. It's a very good point because you can look at the Chargers and roll your eyes because they always seem to beat themselves. But you can't deny the Chargers roster.

It's one of the top five rosters in the league. Right. And I'll say this. Denver, if Drew Locke is as good as I think he is, they got offensive pieces and a great defensive mind as head coach. Denver's going to be no pushover going forward. If Drew Locke is a franchise guy, Denver's going to be a pain in the butt for Andy and Mahomes.

Look, you can have your doubts about all the other teams in that division. That's fair. They all have questions. But it's not like when you compare it to what the AFC East is then. I don't know. I say that as a Dolphins fan. It's just a reality. Like Tom Brady has had that gift.

And that's not taking anything away from their accomplishments at all. But that just is a reality. It's a huge factor in that. You have to win your division first. So knowing that you're going to have these functional teams in your division for years to come and they can't get it together. That's a big factor in why you win that many Super Bowls, even make it to that many Super Bowls. Six is just a, I mean, when you even think about it, it's really crazy that he has that many.

Like it's very, it's an insane number. Well, most players. Not that he shouldn't aspire to that, but that is just, that's a lot. Almost every player in every sport has left titles on the table. Take Michael Jordan. He quit baseball. He quit basketball for two years. Right.

Okay, so you could argue if he'd have stayed into one eight. Like even Michael Jordan, you're like, God, they left a couple on the table. Tom's the only player in any sport in league history. He squeezed every last, and you could say, well, he almost won three others. Well, he almost lost five of the six. Hell, he almost lost six. He could have gone 0 and 9 and 0, and he could have gone 9 and 0. Brady's the only player in my lifetime.

You're like, he couldn't have done better. And by the way, then the minute it feels like, they're not very good. He jettisoned to Tampa. Like he literally just said, okay, we got no skill players. Seacrest out. Well, speaking of that,

pro football focus ranked the top wide receiver units in the NFL for 2020, and the Dallas Cowboys came in first with Amari Cooper and Michael Gallup and first round draft pick, Ceddy Lamb. Tom Brady's new Buck's teammates, Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, got the second spot.

You know what I think is interesting about this list? It's wrong? You and pro football focus, You guys, you guys are on opposite sides of stuff. I mean, if C.D. Lamb is really good, then the argument's interesting. But Mike Evans is a top 10 football player in the league. And Chris Godwin, people think statistically he'll be better than Evans this year. Well, look who's at 10.

Well, you have a Joe Burrell's going to be on his back all year. So is it, man. You look at, how about this? Look who's at nine. Yeah. Denver. And we know Denver's defense is good. Denver's at nine.

I think this is interesting. So you are, you don't like the Cowboys at one. You put the bucks at one. They have the best. Michael Gallup is a good player getting better. I've never seen C.D. Lamb play in the NFL. And Amari Cooper is probably the 12th best, 13th best wide receiver in the league. I like Amari.

I don't love the Cowboys at one. I think they're still on the top five. I would move the Saints up higher. I think I'm going to make my biggest bet in the history of my career on Denver. All in the same division are in the top five. You're going to bet everything on Denver this year? You know what? I'm going to start betting a lot.

lot of money and a lot of stuff. It's the new me. I'm feeling so strongly about it. When I see Denver top nine receivers, I'm like, oh, my God. Look at this. And the Patriots are ranked 30th. Yeah. So the Lakers last Rajan Rondo for six to eight weeks with a fractured thumb,

but Frank Vogel is still hopeful they'll have him back and ready to go for a run at the title. Losing Rajan is a huge loss for our team. But we expect Rajan to be part of our playoff run. You know, we're looking at 60, The week puts us somewhere around the first, second round of the playoffs. Having the deceding games, you know, the way they've set up this sort of schedule, benefits us in this situation for sure. So he'll leave the bubble to undergo surgery this week and is expected to return to basketball activities in six to eight weeks,

meaning somewhere between August 23rd and September 6th. And the first round of the playoffs begin, August 17th, conference semifinals, begin August 31st. Like, Laker fans are kind of getting strange. Like yesterday, I said, I thought the Lakers championship bubble kind of closed. I don't think you can lose two situational guards. You bring in J.R. Smith, who doesn't,

I mean, he hasn't played for the Lakers. And then KCP, Caruso, there's no history of doing anything in the postseason. And Laker fans are like, oh, you don't understand. You do get the Clippers are perfectly built to beat the Lakers. Laker fans. They have four wings. They literally have built.

And now they've got the better ownership and the better front office than the Lakers, which has never been the case for 40 years. It is now. And, yeah, I think Doc and Vogel are both good coaches. I think they're both fine. But the Lakers now lost two situational basketball players in a sport where you may lose one to COVID. And we're not so sure injuries won't be a problem.

At least strains and missing games. You can't lose two situational players. And Colin, you're not going to talk a Lakers fan into admitting that the Clippers are in a better situation to win the title ever. That is a losing conversation. My entire life, Lakers had better owners, better for an office, and almost always better roster. It's all Clippers now. No reasonable fan can argue that. Did you say reasonable fan?

Reasonable fan? That doesn't make sense. Yesterday, all these Laker fans, you don't watch the games. You don't, yeah, I don't watch them. They're in my town. I see it's LeBron. I never watch him. Listen, I still think the Lakers are closer to winning a title than I have them in the bubble.

If I had a bubble, they'd be in the bubble. But losing Avery Bradley and Rajanando is, those are significant losses. On top of the fact that we are all anticipating more losses for all of these teams, because we don't know what to expect. That's 30 minutes of guard play done. 30 minutes done. It's something, right? It's certainly significant, yes.

Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. You know, it is interesting with COVID because part of me is like, who, college campuses, I don't know. Then part of me thinks, I live in a state with 40 million people. If you take out nursing home deaths,

35, 4,000 people in seven months have passed away, almost none of them kids. Of course you're going to have college football. That's why I'm not an expert on this stuff. I don't want to be the Grim Reaper, but I also think it's not about cases. It's about the potential to get really sick. Hospitalizations, death rate. I have no idea on this stuff.

I'm in California now. They're shutting down all sorts of stuff. Jims, barbers, nightclubs have already been done. What else is? Something else is. All indoor dining. All indoor dining is done. And I think to myself, the death rates, what I'm looking at, take out.

nursing homes. It's not as severe. I have no idea. But for college football, this is such an entangled, complex situation. I don't know what you do. Pro sports, I'm go for it. College sports, I don't know. Urban Meyer's got opinions. He's going to be joining us next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete

themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments, to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsSlic on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs?

Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. know what you're thinking, what the hell does George Bush got to do a little kill? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. starting to see there's a through line.

We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing,

we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth?

Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keir Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway.

Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliver Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game.

This linebacker walks up to me, he goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast,

or wherever you get your podcast. I got so many things to talk about with Urban Meyer, who I just found out played golf with the Gretzky's. Because Dustin Johnson, of course. Pauline Gretzky, Dustin Johnson. Dustin Johnson's there. It's in Columbus, Ohio. It's a big tournament this weekend.

It's a bunch of the bombers, Tiger and Brooks Kepka and Dustin Johnson. Is Bryson DeShambo in that thing, too? I think he is. Oh, Lord. It's a lot 330-yard drive. a nice day of golf. Yeah, Urban Meyer, joining us now via the Coward Global Satellite Network, three-time National Champ.

All right, let's start. I got a bunch of questions today. Let's start with this. The guy just got done and finished playing golf with the Gretzky's. And by the way, tell the audience what the Gretzkyes think of me. Let's be honest. Well, the Gretzkies love you. And Wayne Gretzky, the great one, but his wife, we're playing a little skins game.

And I felt more pressure playing Alabama or playing against her than I did Alabama. They're great. He's a killer. Yeah, they're great people. So let's start with this. The Big Ten says, listen, we're going to do conference only. What am I to take with that? Do you agree with that move? Conference only? 100%. It's all about control. Control the environment. Control when you start your off-season. Control when you start the season. And more than anything, they control the protocols for the safety of the student athletes. Because you can do that within a conference. You can't do that multiple conferences. Like, you know, I saw your take the other day.

about your you're a politic and to become the president of the NCAA, which I'd vote for you. Thank you. You got my vote. Oh, that's very kind. Let me ask you this. Could I make an argument that it's all about because college football is so valuable to athletic departments, even if you got seven to eight games in, the bottom line this

year, you want fewer practices, fewer meetings with 75 people, fewer games, and that if you just got everybody. got seven, eight games in, that's enough to pay some bills. And you may have to throw in two or three buys during the season. Is that being discussed now? I don't know that. I think it changes every week. I am on conference calls. I talk to Coach Day, Gene Smith regularly. I talked to a lot of colleagues. It changed. Last week was different than this week. But I think the thing that, everyone so I hear that spring football, and I just don't see how that works. I'd much rather see a shortened conference season.

Try to get some games in. Seattle goes. I mean, it's going to be different in two weeks than it is in another two months. So it just changes every week, Colin. I've got to ask you about a situation. So I talked about, I want to run for President of College football with Joel Klatte. He beat me on the internet. But I had five different plans. And I don't like neutral site games. I like games in Columbus. I like him in Athens. I'm not interested in Nick Sabin refusing to go on the road.

You were willing to. I love Nick, but he likes these neutral site games so he doesn't have to go to Camp Randall. I'm not into it. Go on the road. I don't like cupcakes. I'll give you one. I think everybody should play 10 games. I don't care how tough the SEC is.

Everybody's conference in the middle and bottom is pretty weak. I don't think we need more than four teams. I've never seen the fifth team in the country and thought, oh, wow, they deserve to be number one. And I think we got too many bowl games. I think you should have 12. I named them off. I don't buy into this. We need to have 40.

so the little guy can have a shot. The little guy's not beaten Ohio State in Clemson in my lifetime, so I'm not interested. Which one of these bothers you? Which one of these is nonsense? Which one of these don't you buy into? I do believe that there needs to be uniform scheduling. I do not.

I think you should be allowed to play two non-power fives. I know you have only one. When I was at Bowling Green, we were 3-0 against the BCS conference schools, the Big 12 and the. I think it was a big east at the time. When I went to Utah, we're undefeated against the Pact 12. So, and that was one of the greatest moments of our team. And the only thing I'd say about bowl games is if this is all about money, yes, I think a lot of that's very legitimate.

I just, 33 years ago, I got into this not because of money. I got into it and I coached the little guys. And I think, you know, you're into moments. You're into things that will transform people. You're talking about a kid. You go to Ohio Stadium and find a way to win that game. We went to Northwestern one. We went to Arizona, Oregon, Cal, Texas A&M.

I've had players that are, to this day, they're still talking about. I think that's more important money. I really do. I know that money drives the train right now. It certainly did it back years ago. So I just think the purity of the game of football still needs to be, have a conversation about that. So why would a University of Utah go to Liberty Bowl and play Southern Miss

in the first championship in 60 years? because that transformed people's lives. And you can say it doesn't, I disagree with you. It certainly does. All right, good stuff. So here's an interesting topic. You have always been a fan of multi-sport athletes. By the way, I'm a big believer in that myself.

So Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson, they could have gone to baseball. But my argument's always been. Football's got a cleaner path. You get to be the big man on campus. You get a free scholarship. Baseball doesn't give you a free scholarships. Very rarely does a guy get. all the money paid for in baseball.

Is that the reason? It seems to me that football is winning the battle of the young Patrick Mahomes, Johnny Mansell, I heard, played baseball, Russell Wilson, Kyler Murray. Did you ever recruit against the baseball program to get a quarterback or get a player? I have, but football usually wins over baseball.

You know, just football, especially college football. And if a kid has a chance to go, you know, get drafted right away out of high school sometimes and we've lost a player or two to that, but normally we'll win. And I've had players try to play both. But I'll tell you that my son, by the way, he had a scholarship for baseball, and he went on to walk on at Cincinnati to play football just because of his love of the game, his love of the locker room and training and training like a football player. And so it is different.

A lot of times football wins. I'm going to say this about the multi-sport athlete. It's ironic. Wayne Gretzky and I just had a long conversation about this. on the course. And I just, my experience, right now, 85% I had Fox, Arfollocks, Adam, our Follocks analyst guy, researcher,

85% of the players drafted last year were multi-sport athletes. Wow. I'm a multi-sport athlete fan. There's nothing better than a football player that wrestles or plays basketball. For me to go watch that and watch a kid compete, I couldn't get enough of that.

So I'm a huge fan of multi-sport athletes. Did you ever see Patrick Mahomes? Did you ever see him in high school play? I didn't. I should have. He's one of my favorite players I've ever watched. No, I didn't see him. I talked to his high school football coach last week,

and he said, he goes, listen, he was so good at everything. He's like he was great at basketball. He was great at football. He was great at baseball. And he goes, I think some people just thought, you know, he's just an athlete. He's not all in on football. But, I mean, who in all the years of recruiting quarterback at a high school. You've had a lot of great ones.

Who is the single most talented high school quarterback you ever saw? And you literally drove home and said, oh, Lord, that is going to be all-time stuff. It was Dwayne Haskins. If you talk about pure ability to throw the football, when I went to his junior workout, right after his junior season, I sat there for two hours and watched his kid throw. and he was better than most college quarterbacks that I've ever had in my systems or coached. And he was the one that I remember

I got my car and I called whoever and said, this one's done. This one, he'll be an NFL quarterback because he was so well developed in high school. Yeah. All right. So how did you golf today? Good.

I shot at 79, which is for me at this course, double eagle here in Columbus, Ohio, a great place. It was good. How did... Because I can turn that in. to a 90 tomorrow. Okay. Well, enjoy yourself.

It's the summer. It can be very humid there. Pour yourself a draft. I'll pick it up the check, Coach. I know you never get a free beer in Columbus, so I'll pick the check up for you, okay? I'll send it to you. All right, Urban Meyer.

Thanks, three-time national. You bet. Two Florida Gator titles, Ohio State title, and now he works for us on Fox College football. I will say this, Joy, when I think about all this stuff, the spring football thing is, I'm for it because I like college football, but it is odd. Here's my takeaway.

Like the Big Ten's got a lot of, you have winter. It's easy in the Pac-12. You could easily do in the Big 12, which is Texas, it gets cold. But in the, I live in Pack-12 territory. You could easily do football January, February. It's like 55 degrees. It rains a lot. But in the Midwest, if you're doing spring football, they're like blizzards.

Like you would have football, December, January, February, and March, the weather is terrible in the Big Ten. The SEC in the PAC 12, you could watch the game, and it's not a tsunami. To me, it feels like a major disadvantage for the elite teams in the Midwest, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan, Penn State. You're going to be playing incredibly inclement weather, which always hurts the better team than the worst team. Well, the weather is certainly a factor, but also you have to consider these guys who are becoming draft eligible. And this really applies to the high school students, student athletes too, that are going into their senior year. who need more tape and who are still developing. I mean, if you're going into the draft,

are you going to risk playing in spring ball in that weather in a completely unknown situation going into your draft eligible year? It's a huge risk for you. I mean, there's a lot of factors that people aren't considering when you're talking about moving the college football season or possibly not playing the college football season and the same for high school students as well. I mean, you're talking about scholarships

to the next four or five years of these kids' lives. It's a lot. You know, it's easy to be on the outside and just say play. Right. Don't be afraid. But remember, when you're a college coach and a university, you're like surrogate parents. Many of these kids are not from the state. You are protecting mothers and fathers' children.

But also, not just the children. You have coaches to consider who are not children. You have a whole entire community of people that live around that college campus who are not children, who those kids are going to then go and be around, there are endless factors to this. Yeah. The internet wants to make it simplistic. It is not.

It's a tangled web. Working from home, working out, binging podcasts, use Raycon wireless earbuds. They are phenomenal. 15% off now. Buyraycon.com slash herd, H-E-R-D.

Hour 3 next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source,

the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. SportsSlice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to SportsClace on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people.

I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little kill? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill,

waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed Correct. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person.

Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliver Show,

I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker whops up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her.

What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you at your podcast. Are you okay with feeling older, getting more tired, unwanted pounds? Neither am I. Go to MDrive for Men.com. Check it out. MDrive for Men.com. Seven nutrients, six proteins. You know, it's the DAC Prescott contract will know more by tomorrow afternoon. A report today. There's no talks. Hasn't been since March. It's not going to get wrapped up. The other thing to remember in all this, I've been communicating with people today, this COVID means

no fans or limited fans. As the number spike, that's less fans. The cap is coming way down, like way down. So did Patrick Mahomes get the last great contract? Did Christian McCaffrey get the last great contract for the next 18 months? I'm not saying it's true, but what I'm hearing from people in the biz, the cap is doing this. And the NFL cap has just been moving up and it's moving up and everybody gets paid and it's all great. And it's collectively bargained.

Players get money. Players make, hey, it wasn't that long ago in the NFL. It was not that long ago, 10 years ago in the NFL. Guys weren't making anything close to this. I mean, $30 million. $38, $42. Nobody was doing that. Defensive players making $20 million.

So everybody's gotten rich. Agents, players, coaches, Belichick's making $9 million a year. Pete Carroll's making $8. Everybody's getting rich. Owners get the richest. They provide the capital. I get that. It doesn't bother me.

But this is now, uh-oh, caps coming way down. And Peter Schrager talks about why Dax probably not going to get a massive deal anytime soon. In what economic world are you living in? Like, what world are you living in that suddenly Jerry Jones before the pandemic wasn't going to break the bank? And now post-pandemic is going to say, you know what, let's give Dac Prescott $40 million. I think Dack has the leverage in the fact that he knows he's, already making a guaranteed salary for this year. And if they franchise tag them next year,

it's more. But I don't think it's the same economic world for negotiating that it was before the pandemic. And Patrick Mahomes and Christian McCaffrey, you said it. Those might be the last huge deals. And what Mahomes gave up was 12 years of negotiating power. So he gave his life and career to the Kansas City Chiefs. Dak wants to sign a four-year deal, not a 12-year deal. We just got off a 10-year run in the economy. Since World War II, America goes into a recession every six years. That was the average. We went like 10, 11 years with just a rocket ship to the moon economy.

And if not for COVID, it was continuing. I mean, the market was at like 29,000. It was absurd. So companies were lean. They were cash heavy. Tech is on fire. Airlines full, hotels full, freeways full, unemployment down to three. 75 or something. I mean, they're about interest rates low, inflation not an issue, and COVID's

just wrecked everything. And, you know, it's funny. During this great 10, 11 years of great economy, I kept thinking to myself, because I've been investing for a while, I kept thinking, okay, what's it going to be? Like, you know, 11 years ago, it was the, you know, the housing bubble. And it was like, you know, I talked to people and I'm like, no, the housing, there's not really a huge bubble. There's not a market, you know, all of a sudden COVID hits. It's changed. everything. And these players, this is why it's very important for NBA players. Get through this bubble. Because if players gripe, hotel rooms, food, we're not going to play. You have just given, not only does a cap come down, you're not going to get the money. You have given all the

powers to the owners that have negotiated the opportunity. If a season isn't completed, they get control of it. So this is not me being reckless. I'm, I'm, I'm pro. player getting paid. I got no problem with it. NBA, NFL, college is different, right? You may think they should be paid. They're not, or at least not supposed to. NFL and NBA, you don't get through these seasons. It is going to, the finances for the NFL and NBA players, they may not recover for a long time. So there's a lot hanging in the balance. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line.

news. Well, Kauai Leonard is down in Orlando and is feeling good ahead of the restart. He said he took the time during the shutdown to heal and get stronger and that he's prepared and excited to play again. Doc Rivers also said there's no limits on Kauai right now, but they are going to proceed with caution and be smart about ramping him up for the postseason. Kauai did not participate in training camp and didn't play in the second of back-to-back games this season as he managed his knee issue. And he attended practice on Monday, his first team practice since league was halted in March. Some of LeBron's teams feel like

they're very LeBron-centric. Kauai has been really you know, that move to Toronto, we all rolled our eyes at it and thought, what a crappy move for him, from the great spurs to the Raptors. But the Raptors had a lot of bodies. They were like deep. And so you could pick your

spots with him. And the Clippers could be a perfect last five years of his career. They've got multiple pieces. They're young, middle-aged, older, multiple. wing players. Paul George is almost the closest thing in the league doing. Kawhi can kind of do this play two out of

every three games. He can kind of do it on this roster. He really can. Well, that's part of the reason why he wanted to go there. Yes, that's why he wanted to bring Paul George there. Right. And also because they've committed to managing it that way. I don't know that fans are going to really love hearing that, you know, he has to still be managed after, you know,

several months shutdown. It's like eventually, you know, is he ever going to be back up to speed? But that's that may just be what it is for the for the rest of his career. Like he might just want to manage it that way so he doesn't have another catastrophic injury that he can within his control. And if the team is committed to doing that, that's fine. These are very long seasons. Now obviously this situation is very different. Well, we sometimes we do forget.

Hey, you got to remember is that players have always missed games. Yeah. When you give it a name, the process load management, we pay a lot of attention to it. I always say this. My favorite baseball player growing up for most of it was George Brett. Played for the Kansas City Royals, hairs on fire, running into wall. I mean, George Brett played baseball like it was the last game he was ever going to play. George Brett had a lot of seasons.

He missed 20 and 30 games. And one day I was just messing around the internet. This is what I do. And I went to George Brett. And I was just looking up some old stuff. And I'm like, God, he missed a lot of games. He played hard. It was on turf.

Your feet are on fire. It's 140 degrees in the summer. We tend to think, you know, well, Michael Jordan. never miss games. Shack did. A lot of guys do. A lot of guys have missed games. I don't love, I don't love the idea that I'm going to take my kid to a game and you're not going to be there. So I try not to advertise it as much. That part I don't love. But by and large, let's be honest, Kauai is the exception. LeBron shows up, Hardin shows up. Westbro, you know, Donovan Mitchell.

And remember Popovich started this way back and got fined for sitting players. But it didn't have a name for it. It didn't have a name. Once you give a name to it, then it's like, oh, I don't know if I like that. And of course, the name is kind of weird. It's like, does you really need to do that? Yes, of course. They've been doing this forever.

Once you give a name to it, then it seems menacing or it seems like you're cheating the system or that you're doing something you're not supposed to be doing. It's a very long seasons. And also, to keep in mind, we're not inside Kauai's body. like Kauai might still have lingering pain that he wants to manage and doesn't want to push through and, you know, make it into a longer injury. The majority of NBA players give you 77 games or more. Yeah. It's a very long season.

Yeah. So defensive tackle Chris Jones has been working with the Chiefs in a long-term deal since he was franchise tag in March and with just one day left before the deadline. Jones reportedly agreed to a four-year contract worth up to $85 million with Kansas City. The deal includes 60 million guaranteed. Patrick Mahomes tweeted after the news broke and y'all thought we couldn't with a couple crying laughing emojis. Never mind, hashtag run it back. The deadline is tomorrow at 4 p.m. Eastern. Obviously, we are waiting until then to find out the finality of Dax deal.

It's also looking like Derek Henry is not expected to reach a long-term deal before the deadline as well. So he will be franchise tag. but this is good news for the sheaths. I still find the cap fascinating. Certain teams can afford multiple star players, and New England is out of money and pays nobody except Stapon Gilmore. The Rams a couple years ago literally were a Swiss bank. They were hiding stuff.

They had their own cap. I don't know. I have no idea how that worked. And the New York Jets are like, we can't pay Lavian Bell. You're not even paying Jamal Adams or Sam Narnold. Right. I don't understand it. How can the Jets not pay Lovic?

How come the Jets not pay Lavian Bell? You're not paying Jamal Adams or Sam Darnold yet. You should have like nine more good players. I'm not going to sit here and act like I'm a cap specialist. I have no idea how this works. But it is weird, right? It does not make a whole lot. But listen, you have to have excellence at every level of your organization.

Like some people just have better money people. Like they know how to manage it better and they know how to put together these contracts. And they have the foresight to say this one's going to come up at this time. And this person's going to be worth this. Think about the four best players for the Jets. Jamal Adams, not making big money. Sam Darnold, not making big money. They don't have a star receiver.

They're paying big money. They don't pay any of their offensive linemen, big money. They pay a running back $14 million a year. We're out of money. I don't even understand. And then Cleveland's roster right now, they pay two receivers, a tight end, a running back.

Do they pay one of their pass rushers big? Their secondaries young. But no, they're paying a couple of their defensive linemen. I don't understand. And it is, some guys are just bad at math and they all work for the Jets. I mean, that's what I'm saying. Like there's, you know, they have cap. Each team has a cap specialist.

That's their job. There's only can be so many great people at every position in life. So the Jets are theirs from Jiffy Lou. I mean, I don't know if their cap specialist is good or not, but it just seems like it's weird that some of these organizations can't seem to pay. Philadelphia pays Wents and Jason Peters and they play Fletcher Cox and they still go out in the market and get corners. I don't understand it. I don't either. So the NFL is introducing one way that they keep,

they are hoping to keep players healthy during the 2020 season. The first image of the Oakley Mouth Shield has been revealed. I saw that. It was designed by Oakley in collaboration with doctors and engineers from the NFL and Players Association to mitigate the spread of the virus on the field. The NFL is expected to distribute the shields to all 32 teams this week for testing and the league's medical experts are advocating for their use.

There's currently no mandate for the players to use them. We're showing a picture of it now. It's kind of difficult to see because it's clear. Is it thin? Well, it looks like it has like some holes in it. So you can breathe. You can breathe. But you're breathing out, not.

Well, I just, I wonder if these are going to fog up. Because some guys play with shields anyway, right? Because they have eye issue or whatever. They put some, you know, some tints on the shields. But everybody doesn't like playing with the, with the, The shields, the mouth shield thing, I don't know if they're going to make mandated or not, but I imagine it might be difficult to play with the shield of your eyes and the mouth shield, because wouldn't it fog up at some point with that many shields?

I mean, this looks like this is not actually on your face, right? Like, it's not on your mouth. It's just like covering the end of the helmet. I don't know. Anyway, they're trying it out this week, so they're going to get some feedback from the players and how it works. By the way, I just thought about the Jets and another thing. Who was the guy a year ago, they had this really good punt returner, this kick returner for the Jets did. Like two years ago.

It was really good. They let him go that didn't have the money. How in the hell is this possible? The New York Jets don't pay anybody. They don't pay Quinn and Williams or young defensive line. Their defensive lines really good. They pay C.J. Mosley, Labian Bill and nobody else. I don't understand how any team who has a franchise quarterback on a rookie contract has money problems.

Don't get it. I mean, it's like some people, it's like some people, it's like some. Some people in your family with their budgets, they're always broke. And you're like, you make good money out of money. And then some people in the family are like, I don't know, some people just don't manage money well. There's an expertise to cap management. I'll tell you that. No, absolutely.

That's what I'm saying. And there's only, think of any occupation in the world, right? There's only so many people that are the best, the best of that that. Right? Like pilots, dentists and capologists. 5% are great. And everyone else is okay. And I guess that's how you get in that situation.

Good stuff. with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Lie News. Brian Westbrook's a former Eagle, all-pro running. Becky is joining us via the Coward. Global satellite network, nine years in the NFL, most with Philadelphia.

You know, we were talking, Brian, thanks for joining us today. We were talking about, you know, the cap and the chiefs today are like we can pay Mahomes, we can pay Chris Jones. I mean, they've got, you know, Sammy Watkins. They redid his deal, but they're paying him. When you were in the league, because it's, it's, it's, it's, It's fascinating to me. Some teams have a surplus.

New England pays Stefan Gilmore, nobody else, and they're right up against the cap. They don't even pay any of their quarterbacks. When you were a player, did you ever talk about this with other players? Like, some teams appear to be able to pay everybody, other teams struggle paying anybody. Is this ever like a discussion among players? Absolutely. I think players discuss everything. When it comes down to money, players are always discussing how much one player at your position

makes on a different team and how much another team is willing to play to pay their running back or their quarterback or offensive linemen. So those are the discussions that happened all the time. And I'll tell you the truth, it felt like the Dallas Cowboys had an embarrassment of riches, was willing to pay so many players. And I felt like their team was stacked because of that a lot of the time that I was in the NFL. Jimmy Johnson was pretty good at that cap thing, maybe. So let's talk about DAC.

One of the reasons I keep saying on the air, I don't think he's going to get a big deal. because, in my takeaway, as if Jerry liked him, he would have already paid him. He paid a linebacker, an end, a running back early two years, a wide receiver. Jerry pays people. That's never been an issue. Jerry pays all his offensive linemen. Jerry, we're a day out from the deadline. He hasn't paid DAC. So I keep saying,

if you wanted to pay him, he'd paid him nine months ago. Are you shocked that Jerry's going to just franchise tag DAC apparently? I'm not shocked. I think there was a number, and I think that number is around $35 million a year, that Jerry Jones felt as though he wanted to pay Dack, and he doesn't want to pay a dollar over that. And so he's willing to allow him,

DAC to play on the franchise deal. And I honestly feel that if I'm Dack, and when he signed his franchise deal a month or so ago, he was basically saying, I'm willing to ride it out. I'm willing to basically say, I'm going to take everything and put everything on my shoulders at that point

and not allow the Cowboys to have the leverage that I think they would have if Dack didn't feel that way. He's willing to say, I'm willing to bite the bullet if I get hurt. I'm willing to bite the bullet if I don't perform well. And for Doc, he's been doing that his entire career. He was a 135th pick in the fourth round when you talk about that. He also played out his entire rookie deal. He could have signed a little bit earlier for a little bit less money and had the security

blanket of knowing that he had a contract for four or five years. He had that ability. But he's now saying, I'm going to bet on myself. I'm going to take this thing under my. control. And now I think the leverage kind of shifts back to that. And here's the reason why I say that. Because when I talk about leverage, I talk about

him being able to control how well of the player, how much he prepares, how good of the record they will have. And I think when you're a DAC, you say, okay, last year I'm coming off of the season where I have my best career stats as an NFL player. This year, we add CD Lamb. We have a

better offensive coach and Mike McCarthy. Of course, Zee comes back hungry and because everyone's talking bad about him saying that he's over the hill. He's a top five running back. And now that goes out and has a heck of a year. Now that leverage is back in his corner. Now the leverage is saying, listen, if you want this type of quarterback that can lead your team to potentially a playoff berth,

maybe a longer stretch in the playoffs, now you have to pay him. And it's going to be a lot more than they would have had to pay him this season. You know, we got into an interesting discussion last week, is that I said, I think if I was a quarterback like Mahomes, I'd take a little. less, and my reasoning is this, is I don't want to be Andrew Luck. I don't want to have a bad defense, be forced to throw 39 times a game. Every game I'm in is a shootout. I would rather be Patrick Mahomes in seven years who doesn't have to be in shootouts,

can throw 31 times a game, has a lead, 13-point lead with seven minutes left, can hand the ball off and take a knee and not get hit. But people have said, no, it's wrong. take every penny you can, let the football executives figure out the salary cap. That is not your issue. And I got to be honest with you. I see myself as I would like a good running game. I want another good corner.

I don't want to have to win every game. But money is money. And there's a limit on how much the league allows. Did Mahalms make a mistake by taking a bit of a haircut, a discount, to further enrich the rest of the roster? Well, I think if you're a quarterback and when you talk about taking 500 million bucks over the next 12 years,

I don't know that you can ever say that you took a discount, but I think when you talk about my home's contract in year six or seven, quarterback may be getting paid, you know, $55 million, which sounds crazy right now, but times will change and the TV revenue will continue to go up.

I don't think that, you know, he made a mistake by taking a little bit of a haircut. when you have a contract that length, we're talking about 10 years of pluses two additional years that he already had left on his contract, you know, and that number, I don't think that you can say that you took a haircut and I don't think that you can say

you took less to try to stay there. I think he's going to give his team an opportunity, Brett Beach and Andy Reed, an opportunity to go out there and replenish that roster and sign guys like Chris Jones and sign guys that are important to the success of that football team. The other thing I think is really, really important

is that as a player, I want everyone to do their job. I'm going to do my job as a running back. If you're Patrick Mahomes, you're going to do your job as a quarterback. But I also want the scouts to go and do their job. I want the personnel, the execs, to go out there and do their job. And their job is to bring in young guys every single year that can help us win. And if we're talking about money, these young guys are a lot cheaper. So I want those guys to help us win.

We shouldn't just have to solely rely on high-priced veterans to go out there and win. I want these scouts to go do their job. too. And part of that is finding the best college players that we possibly can find and getting those guys to come in and contribute early on in their career. Should also be noted, Andy Reid and Patrick Mahalms, there may be some skill people that would take a bit of a haircut to play with those guys because you're going to have huge numbers if you're a veteran tight end or a veteran slot receiver. You know this. You played with the Eagles for eight years. Then you went to the Niners for one. And every team in the league has a different

culture. So Carolina, Cam had to work. It had to work. It was the face of the franchise. New England's got a very rigid culture, and they don't pay them much. Their way or the highway. I'm surprised Cam is there.

I think there are two different cultures. Stylistically, the Patriots way and the Cam way are an odd fit for me. As somebody that went from a culture one way to the other coast, will it work? Does it fit? Could it be hard for Cam? Well, when you say things like Cam, Cam can work there

and the culture in New England is a little bit different than what Cam was used to. I think it kind of discounts the fact that athletes are adaptable. Athletes are used to change. I'm sure things when Cam was in college were a lot different than when he was in Carolina. And they're certainly going to be different when he goes

to New England. And I also think it takes away the effect that Bill Belichick will never change. I think he's changed just a little bit. He didn't coach Tom Brady the same way and speak to Tom Brady the same way that he talked to Gronk and probably Richard Seymour and of Vince Wolfwork back in the day.

And so I think you coached every player a little bit differently. And I think he'll coached Cam a little bit differently than he coached Tom Brady because there are different people. And Tom was probably much more willing to take some of that criticism. And maybe Cam's not willing to do that. We got to remember, Cam was the number one over pick, the number one overall pick. Tom Brady was a six round pick. And when you're a six round pick, you're used to taking the beating a little bit more

than the first pick overall. And so I think that when I'm Bill Belichick, I do my homework about everything. And Bill Belichick is one of the most prepared coaches that we have in our league. You mean to tell me he didn't do his homework on Cam Newton? He didn't think about all the different variables that can happen with Cam with the personality traits and different things. I have to believe that he did that. And I also have to believe that Cam did his homework too. And he did his homework and said, you know, I'm probably going to be the best coach situation and the best coach situation as a court.

quarterback that I've been in the long time, especially in the NFL, and I'm going to learn how to be a winner there. And I think that's going to be helpful for the camp, whether he stays in New England or he moves on after the end of the season. So are you a horse owner? I see you in a horse barn right there. Where are you? Yeah, you know, I do own a horse farm. So we're here at my horse farm, Westbrook horse farm, Upper Merlin, And so I was out riding horses and doing work around the fields. And so that's what you see in the background. I'm sure I'm surprised they haven't said anything quite yet because they're usually making a bunch of noise and chewing on stuff.

And I'm usually yelling at them. You see the flies floating around here. So there's always something going on. Always some fun going on here. Former Eagle Pro Bowl running back Brian Westbrook. Absolute pleasure. Good for you. You've done well.

Doing broadcasting. Got the horse farm. Got a Belmont winner behind you there. eventually. That's good to hear. Good seeing. I wish. I hope. All right, Brian, good seeing you. Thank you, guys. Take care. Yeah. All right. Speaking of Cam in New England, Joy and I have talked about, I don't know if it's long term, but it is interesting. Ten most interesting watches. We're going to update our list now. Post draft, post-CAM, post-Jamus, everything. Our new 10 best watches in the NFL. Now, these are what interests me. I'm going to leave one team off and you're

going to go, what are you talking about? I'm talking about the things you know I like interesting. I like marginal car wrecks. I like a little tire fire in my football. I like a little man. I don't like bad football. I like anxiety. I like drama. Ten best watches in the league this year.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending. Opinions are flying. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies,

and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action, with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicalife-Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here.

unpack what went down and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 was big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack, so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now, so.

Then you're finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for Black. Black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Keer Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, We get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross,

because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Keer Gang.

is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff, like being an internet famous referee.

We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me, he goes, A, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What?

Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Okay, feeling older, tired, adding weight, don't. Check out MDrive for Men.com. MDrive for Men.com. So I've said that there's been, it used to be in the NFL you didn't. have trades. Now everybody trades. And you have all these aggressive young general managers in the NFL,

and they're like trade happy. Less need, Howie Roseman. That's just the way the league works now. It's very much like the NBA. It gets your fan base riled up. And they used to always sort of be like, you know, Jimmy Johnson was kind of the guy that created the trade. He made more trades in one year with the Cowboys than the New York Giants had in the history of their franchise. It just opened up. The game's more fun. The GMs in the NFL are big gamblers, and we've got a lot of player movement.

And so I was going to say, these aren't the best teams in the league. These are the most fascinating dramas that I think could be big or a mess. These are the most interesting watches in the NFL for me. Okay, so here's the top 10. Number 10. Arizona.

So I get Cliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray for a second year. They added DeAndre Hopkins. They also drafted a guy many think is good but could be a bust. Isaiah Simmons, the Clemson. They don't know what to do with him, but he's a ridiculous freak athlete. They were a mess defensively last year. They gave you 402 yards a game. Everything's a shootout. It's the only way they can win. They've upgraded the defense, but not that much. They're going to be the wild games. They also face an unbreakable schedule. Nine teams on it that were 500 or better. this is going to be the shootout team in the league. I'm not saying they're going to win a bunch of them.

Wild fun to watch Arizona. Number nine. Denver. So I like Drew Locke, four and one down the stretch, only lost to Kansas City. But what I really like is Elway has gone all in on offense. They went and got Melvin Gordon. They drafted Jerry, Judy, two wide receivers in their high picks. They also went and got A.J. Bouye A.

Corner and J. B'Relle Casey. But you can sense that Elway knows we're not going to stop Kansas City. We got to get some firepower. And they went running, they already had good running back. They went running back, quarterback with a big arm, wide receivers, a fan at the tight end. I think Denver's going to be better offensively than anybody thinks. And I think they match up now pretty well with Kansas City.

Number eight. Baltimore. I think we're looking at potentially a 16-0 team. You're a COVID, no OTA, maybe no preseason. Teams that know what they do well are going to win. of games. And I look at Baltimore right now, and they don't take the playoff game. They were, they were the best team in the NFL week one through week 11. And then a little bit at the end, a couple injuries, league caught up to the offense a little. People think Lamar's going to

regress. I am not, Baltimore 8. Number seven. Cincinnati, it's the Burrell story. You all think he's great. He's been compared to Brady, Joe Montana, LeBron James, and Peyton Manning. I think he's Tony Romo and doesn't have quite Tony Romo's arm. They did add, they drafted T. Higgins, and they got A.J. Greenback, and Jonah Williams was an offensive tackle from Alabama. Really good got hurt. I do think they'll score some points. I just think they'll, I think they're going to get buried in a brutal division.

Number six. Green Bay Packers, Jordan Love. I mean, clearly Matt LaFlewer is building a power team. They're building a power. They drafted a running back, a quarterback to threaten Aaron Rod. and three interior offensive linemen and a blocking tight end. That was Matt LaFleur had influence. He's clearly building a football team that doesn't lean in to Aaron Rogers.

It takes the ball out of the hands of Aaron Rogers. We're going to get a snarky Aaron Rogers if he goes in a two-game losing streak, and I am here for it. I think Green Bay is going to be good, but if they, this team is not, it's not Mahomes. It's not Lamar. It's not giving more weapons. It's like, we're going to take the ball away from you. Very interesting to see how it works.

Number five. Dallas Cowboys. Dak Prescott and Mike McCarthy. And now it's Dak on a franchise tag. I think you could have a nice season. I really do. Maybe it's Jason Garrett. But let's see what it looks like. CD Lamb added. So now it's a very good wide receiving core. Offensive lines getting older.

What's that going to look like? Number four. Cleveland Brown's new coaching staff. Last year, Baker Mayfield was an abject disaster. If he struggles this year, he's gone. He's made too many miscues off the field. He was last in pass-erating in the NFL among quarterback. that started every game and they figured out their offensive line. There are no excuses now.

This is a really good football operation on the offensive side. There are no excuses. Two backs, two tight ends, two wide receivers, two tackles. This is a real football team. No excuses or Baker's done. Number three. Miami Dolphins with Tua. Listen, he's going to play early. He's going to hit it in practice and nobody's going to sit around watching Ryan Fitzpatrick. This team was very interesting down the stretch. They have solved their tackle issue, Austin Jackson. They went and got Matt Breed at running back from San Francisco. Defensively, Byron Jones, the corner from the Cowboys, Kyle Banoy, and we know the head coach can coach defense. If two of plays, watch out. It's going to be a lot of fun, and I think they're a dark horse playoff team. Number two. Camman Belichick,

totally different personalities, totally different styles. We've never seen Belichick, his entire career, pocket quarterbacks. Here we go. Here we go. I don't know what it's going to look like. Cam doesn't have a ton of weapons. My guess is run-centric and they're going to go back to Cam years one, two, three, four. Cam, you're going to take some shots.

We're going to look like Baltimore. We may even run the ball more than Baltimore. I think that's what they're going to do. This is going to be A. This is Cam year three. Number one. Tampa Bay. I mean, aren't we all going to watch this? There's revenge. There's I told you so.

Gronk, Evans, Godwin, Brady, Ariens. Tom's breaking into houses down in Florida. Good God. Now you're saying what about the Kansas City Chiefs? Or the Niners. They're both going to win 12 games. Kansas City is going to win 14, 13, or 12. There's no element of chaos to them. Or San Francisco.

They're going to get to the conference championship. I mean, they just are. All right. I'm done for today. at least. We'll see you tomorrow. Joy, John. Good stuff. In LA, it's the herd. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves,

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that was a big moment for me. Eighty-four was big to me. I'm Sam Jay. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down and try to make sense of how we survived it with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s.

84 was a wild year. I mean, it was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing.

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