The Herd with Colin Cowherd - David Griffin, LeBron James, NFL Contracts and Ezekiel Elliot

Episode Date: August 2, 2019

Filling in for Colin, Doug Gottlieb talks about New Orleans Pelicans President David Griffin’s comments on LeBron James, contracts in the NFL, and why he feels Dallas Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliot is holding out. Guests include Chris Broussard, Greg Jennings, and LaVar Arrington.   Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Welcome in. This is The Herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be making this part of your day. Thanks so much on the IHeart Radio app on Fox Sports Radio and here televised on Fox Sports One. I'm Doug Gottlieb filling in for Colin Cowherd, who I'm sure at some point in time will invite me to hang out with him today like he usually does.

Hey, why don't you come up to Utah on Friday? Because I'm filling in for you, big boy. I appreciate the invite, though. Oh, but did he miss the smorgasbord of topics we have today, including LeBron James, the gift that keeps giving? I mean, the gift that keeps giving. So I don't know why David Griffin did it. Maybe it's to steal from Carmelo Anthony who was on TV today. Tried to deny what everybody knows to be true.

Speaking his truth, it is. It's a bit odd. that David Griffin, who is employed in the NBA, as a general manager now with New Orleans Pelicans, who just pulled off a blockbuster deal to trade with Rich Paul, LeBron James, L.A. Lakers, Anthony Davis, for all the guys LeBron didn't want, airs out at least some form of dirty laundry in his work that helped secure a championship for LeBron James in Cleveland. But he did, and we will reap the benefits of it. Thank you very much.

So apparently it ain't all that much fun to work with LeBron James. This has been uttered by people in Miami. This when he left, there were hard feelings. It wasn't a sullen

goodbye. This has been uttered by Phil Jackson, who talked about how much Miami still didn't really like the culture that LeBron James brought to Miami and how he fought, how Pat Riley wanted to run that organization. It's why we were told Kyrie Irving left Cleveland, not because of playing with LeBron James,

but everything that went into playing with and for LeBron James. It's why Kevin Durant, early in this last season, said, hey, thanks, but no thanks. I don't want to play around LeBron James because it's an environment filled with toxicity. So David Griffin sat down with, had two different parts to it. One was Sports Illustrated. And of course he had, he was on the WojPod as well. But the Sports Illustrated article has some money quotes. Quote, everything we did was so inorganic and unsustainable.

Frankly, not fun. I was miserable. Literally, the moment we won the championship, I knew I was going to leave. There was no way I was going to stay for any amount of money. Well, that's just David Griffin speaking out of his backside. That couldn't be the case in dealing with LeBron James. He's most people's greatest player in the generation and some people's greatest player of all time. It has to be fun to finally win a championship for LeBron and for the city of Cleveland,

especially David Griffin, who, by the way, is from Cleveland. Magic Johnson had a good time working with LeBron, right? Remember when Magic Johnson decided to quit? The last day of the season with the Lakers, he did mention how much fun it was. I was happier when I wasn't the president. I like to be free. And then I got a great life. I was like, damn, I got a great life outside of this.

What am I doing? You know, I got a beautiful life. I want to do the things I used to do. So I had to weigh both situations, and so this is better for me. Oh, okay, listen, Magic saying he'd rather tweet about other NBA players than actually work in the front office is a little off-putting and maybe tells you more about his work ethic. But when enough people say the same thing about a similar situation working with the same guy, his friends and his teammates can deny it all they want. But this is a narrative because it's true. Colin says it all the time.

Look, reputations after a while, they are earned, not given. When Pat Riley and David Griffin and Magic Johnson all walk away going, that was not fun. In nowhere did they say he's not a great player. In no part did they not say that they weren't on some point successful, although LeBron is yet to be successful in a Lakers uniform. The assumption is that if he stays healthy, they're going to be good this year. where they win a championship or not, you got LeBron, you got Anthony Davis, you got a better team around him.

But it's not fun. And no matter how much you want to run onto a court during an AAU game, no matter how much you want to smile and joke and do the Taco Tuesday, it's just not fun. Again, that doesn't mean it doesn't ultimately end up in competing for a championship because he is that good. But this is who he is. This is what it's like to work with LeBron.

James. People are bothered by the quote that David Griffin gave them when he said, you know, it's everyone else's fault. Everyone else has taken the blame except for LeBron James. That couldn't have possibly happened in Los Angeles, right? Well, okay, Luke Walton took a little blame. He lost his job. Magic Johnson took a little blame. He quit and was deemed to be inept. Rob Palinca's Caught a little blame. He doesn't know what he's doing. Lanzo Ball and Brandon Ingram and, heck, name a Laker. They're not good enough.

They caught a, yes, that's what happened. Is it a bit of an overstatement to say LeBron James gets no blame? A little bit. But when they lost to the Warriors the second time. The first time, okay, Kari, gets hurt, Kevin Love gets hurt, what are you going to do when you lose two of your big three? But when they lost to the Warriors, it was, well, they have Kevin Durant and we don't. Okay, well, you still had Kyrie Irving, you still had Kevin Love, you still had Tristan Thompson,

you still had the makeup of the team that won the championship the previous year. LeBron James was the guy who was bested by Kevin Durant at the same position. even going back to his last year with the calves. I will grant it, it was J.R. Smith's fault that he didn't know time and score. But as I said, on this very set at the time, LeBron James' body language when they went to overtime in game one was one of, I can't believe I'm working with idiots. I can't believe he does. Which is not what you're supposed to do as a leader.

You're supposed to do, hey, it's okay. next play. Let's keep going. Get your heads up. Instead, he was done. He was finished. He's not wrong to feel like it was J.R.'s fault. He's not wrong to feel like the other team had better players because Kyrie Irving had said, it's not fun. I want out. But this whole idea that LeBron James takes all the blame is a complete departure from the truth. Completely departure from the truth. The only time he took a healthy amount of the blame was when they lost to the Dallas Mavericks. And in all honesty, might not have been all that much his fault. Right. That team wasn't ready. It was his first year. And oh yeah, by the way, Mike Bibby was the starting point guards game one through five. Didn't even play in game six

because he was so inept. Nobody pointed that out. He actually took the blame in that loss, but didn't take the blame after that. When they lost the final time to the Spurs, it was not LeBron's fault. Dwayne Wade's aged. Roster's not good enough around him.

And so he left and went to Cleveland. I don't, I'm not sure I know the win here. Poor David Griffin. You're still in the league. Rich Paul is close friends. with his client and longtime friend LeBron James. So you're going to have to do business with Rich Paul? So that also means there's no reason for him to have to lie.

And that's probably why he said it. I'm tired of lying. And if you actually read the quotes in the context of the quotes, he talks about how they won a championship and he was falling crying because he knew there was no way he was coming back. Because the process, the inorganic way in which they were doing it, was unsustainable. David Griffin is saying, yeah, I had to do the Tristan Thompson deal.

I had to do the J.R. Smith deal. I had to do the Kevin Love deal. Long-term deals that weren't good deals, that weren't good business that in his heart of hearts he knew would not prolong the run of the Cleveland Cavaliers. But he had to work with the ego of LeBron James, the desire to only work with certain people. I don't want to work with David Blatt. I don't want to play with that player. LeBron operates in a world in which he doesn't even have to say what he wants.

He is the king of being passive aggressive. So you have to try and read his mind. He's surrounded by sycophants who won't tell him the truth. Even his tweet yesterday, after this David Griffin story came out, shows you how passive aggressive he is. Aide, I'd, enough is enough. The throne has been played with too much. And I ain't for horseplay ether coming soon.

I don't know what any of that means. Does anyone know what any of that means? A lot of emojis. Fire emoji, smiley face emoji, crown emoji, hashtag James gang, hashtag brown fist. I got nothing for you. Like a smile and ether in flames combined. Like, look, LeBron James last year, when he was injured, when he hurt his groin, disappeared from the team, would show up at the games, wouldn't show up on time,

would come out to the court after the game was already taking place so he could get his own standing ovation, walked into work with a goblet of wine, which is completely and totally unacceptable. He's done his own thing. And you know what? It ain't that much fun. And Pat Riley said it,

and David Griffin said it, and Magic Johnson said it, and the people defending him are, are just like the argument about AAU basketball and parenting. They're moving the line. No one talked about him as a parent. You don't know if he's a good parent? I don't know if he's a good parent.

I like that he shows up and he roots for his kid. And his kid seems like he handles it with a ton of grace. But dude, you can't be on the court during a game. I don't care who you are. And don't hop in to lay up lines with your son. Like, what are you doing? What are you doing? in what world is that acceptable?

It's not, especially when you're arguably the greatest basketball player on earth. You're held to a higher standard than everybody else. Not a lower standard. So look, LeBron James is a great player. He's been a remarkably successful player in multiple stops. And he has a chance to win a third championship with the third franchise, the most storied franchise in NBA history. but you want to put the team around him?

It's about the now. You have to figure out what he wants, and it's not going to be fun. No matter how much he tweets out, smiles, and emojis about Taco Tuesday. Coming up next, Jerry Jones added a layer to the Ezekieliot saga, plus, tell you the truth about NFL contracts.

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Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue with 42. Hey, rep, my mama want you to wave at her.

What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode. The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on to Ernie Stewart the chip.

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The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here.

Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. Doug Gottlieb in for Colin. the herd, Fox Sports Radio IHeart Radio app and Fox Sports One. Chris Broussard will join us in about 10 minutes. We'll also catch up with John Gle with the news. Yeah, how dare David Griffin, right? How dare he not want to have a team that was in the luxury tax that didn't develop young players

that didn't get, you know, a GM that didn't get to pick his coach and a team that didn't practice? Like, how dare he not want to be the general manager of a team that doesn't practice? So you're talking about with the culture. Before we get to that, though, Ezekiel, it's still a no-show. He's in Cabo. And Jerry Jones said this in regards to his level of confidence that they'll get a deal done. You're worried all by this not getting done?

I don't consider, no. I don't, I don't in any way, whenever, ever not done one. You just keep plugging. I don't want to be a cliche, but it's, It's what we tell these guys. It's just one foot in front of the other and go and do what you have to do the next play, which has put somebody else in there and just keep going. So Jerry Jones offered a non-answer answer,

but did say, when have I ever not gotten a deal done? You might ask yourself, and I have, why would Ezek get in line? Why would he cut in line? Like, Dak Prescott's his quarterback. He's made Bubkiss the past couple of years. Jerry has said he's in line for a contract extension. The question is not if, it's how much.

Amari Cooper comes over and completely changes the dynamic of the offense. He's set to make $14 million this year. He too is in for a contract extension. On the defensive side, you got Byron Jones, among others, you got Jalen Smith. You have other guys. who you're cutting in line. And remember, in the National Football League, it's not like Stephen Jones and Jerry Jones go,

oh, we saved a couple million dollars on Zeke. Let's put it in our pocket. No, there's a pie. And if you take a bigger slice of the pie, somebody else's pie is shrunk, right? But there's a reason that Ezekia Elliott wants his pie now. It's because of the market. This is the same reason that in real estate-driven markets

like Southern California, you're seeing so many more for sale signs. On average, I believe it's every six to eight years historically we've had recession. And like we're entering into year 10 with no recession. We've been going housing prices up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up, up and up. But just yesterday, Fed, they're going to lower rates, right? And what are they saying? When our GDP is down, when our growth is down, is now below 3%. we're creeping closer and closer into the R word.

Recession. And so people want to cash in now. Hey, if I sell my house now, maybe I'll rent, and then I'll buy once the market either levels off and it's a market correction or it's a downright recession. But I don't want to hold on to a house and when I bought out the peak,

I could have sold, made some money, and instead I had to rat it out through the down and then the backup. That's a five, six-year deal. The difference is the running back market is not only dipping, but it may never recover. And the wide receiver market is spiking, right? Quarterbacks up, Aaron Rogers, over $30 million, now the highest paid quarterback. Michael Thomas, wide receivers, up, right?

Last year, it was Sammy Watkins, who's making over $14 million. St. Milwaukee was like the fourth best wide receiver, fourth best pass catcher on the Rams, and probably the same on the Chiefs. And he's having like $14 million, which, by the way, is the same amount that Todd Gurley makes. Now you've got Michael Thomas making $20 million.

Zeke Elliott is cutting in line because he knows that running backs are becoming a depreciating asset. Like, look, the big story yesterday was the chargers won't even offer the opportunity. to trade Melvin Gordon. Why do you think that is? Because nobody wants to trade for Melvin Gordon.

It's not that he's not good, but if you trade for Melvin Gordon, you have to do so. Keep in mind, you're going to pay him somewhere between Levion Bell and Todd Gurley money. And they don't want to do that. They don't want to do that. The top three running backs, salary-wise, are Todd Gurley, who was replaced by C.J. Anderson late in the season, and C.J. Anderson was on his couch, on his third team of the year. was Levyon Bell. How good is that Levy on Bell contract? Mike McCagnant negotiated it. He was fired shortly there afterwards.

And David Johnson. David Johnson's contract so good with the Arizona Cardinals that they went through two offensive coordinators last year. They got rid of their rookie top 10 quarterback. Their head coach got fired as well. And by the way, Jerry Jones saying you don't have to have the number one, you know, top running back in the league. how would he know, he's had it three of the past five years. Hasn't won a Super Bowl. DeMarco Murray led the world in rushing. Had that work out for the Cowboys. And Zeke's better than DeMarco Murray.

I'm not, Zeke's a tremendous talent. He can play at all three downs. He can block and pass protect. He can catch out of the back foot. He can run the football. But Zeke is cutting in line not because of any other factor than he sees the running back market plummeting. and teams aren't stupid, right?

The franchise tag is the average of the top five salaries. And if that comes down as it may or it doesn't spike as it looks like it will not, the franchise tag is going to be less than $13 million. And so if you're Melvin Gordon, who is reportedly offered 10 a year, going to make five this year, franchise tag next year, you might want to take that money. Melvin Gordon and Zeke Elliott are not free agents. They are under contract.

And by the way, they can be under contract for the next three, four, even technically five years if they wanted to transition tag them. They won't, but at least four years. And these dudes are cutting in line for one reason. It's a selfish reason, but it's they see the recession coming in the rudiment. running back market. Compare that with the wide receiver market. The wide receiver market is spiking. Michael Thomas, OBJ, Antonio Brown, Mike Evans. The league is spoken. Hell, they even put in a new rule in the off season, which you finally saw implemented last night, which is like,

if at first there's no pass interference, maybe you missed past interference. You can throw a challenge flag because there's got to be pass interference, right? Zieg's cutting in line because he sees the recession coming. Chris Broussard joins us in a moment. I'll get his thoughts on David Griffin's comments. Also, Carmelo Anthony had some interesting comments moments ago. We'll get to both of those in a moment. But first, here's John Goulet with some herd line news.

No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Doug, you just alluded to this. The value of running backs going down, value of receivers going up. When the Saints gave Michael Tom as a $100 million deal, the second happiest person might have been

Julio Jones. He is expecting a new contract, but he is not holding out because he has faith in the Falcons to get it done. You can see why, after hearing what Falcons GM Thomas Dimitrov said about the potential deal last night. We believe that he should be the highest paid player. Sorry, I did not say player.

The highest paid receiver in the league. Breaking news. The highest paid receiver in the league. And I know he believes. believes that. It's just, it's how we're going to approach this and how we're going to get it done. I believe it's right around the corner, but I don't know when it is. It's a fairly easy negotiation when the team believes they should pay you more money than anyone's ever gotten at your position. Does he deserve to be the highest paid receiver in the league?

Should they have to top Michael Thomas's contract? I don't think Michael Thomas is the best wide receiver league, even he has an incredibly high catch rate and he had the most catches in the NFL. I actually think that John Gruden, I like John Gruden won when Michael Thomas got that deal because I think Antonio Brown's better and Antonio Brown makes what $4 million less per year. Granted, a little bit longer in the tooth, but over the three, really a three-year contract.

Julio, by the way, has the greatest catch in Super Bowl history that everyone's forgotten about because they lost up 31 to 3. The catch right before the comeback is, I've never seen a catch like that in a game that big. Better than Lynn Swan's catch. Better than Julian Edelman's catch. Like that catch was, I don't even know how he did it. I just, I don't understand.

I never understand when teams do this, when they put themselves in that corner. Rex Ryan did it with Dorel Revis. And they end up, you know, giving Dorel Rivas a ridiculous contract. Like, look, you know, I get it. He's the best or in the conversation of the best. But that doesn't mean he has to, you have to every year redo his deal and pay him $1 more than the next guy. You still have Devonte Freeman in the backfield. You have to have him healthy.

You've got to have Muhammad Sanoo. You've got to have an offensive line to block from that, Ryan. You've got to have Calvin Ridley. You've got to have all these other pieces. And like I tried to explain, like there's one pool of money. And Thomas Dimitrov doesn't, oh, hey, listen, I can take five bucks out of my pocket and put it in there. Like, it's not how it works. One pool of money.

If you're giving it all to Julio Jones, you're taking it from somewhere else. Or you're limiting yourself in the future and giving him guaranteed money in the future. Well, and also, as a negotiation tactic, saying we want to give him the biggest deal ever. You can't go, well, you know, you're getting older. Maybe you're not worth, like, he's kind of lost all his leverage on that. Julio can ask for anything you wants now. Right.

I mean, like, I just, I get it. I understand you're trying to, they're human beings, you're trying to reward a guy's greatness. And he showed up. And he showed up. He's not making a show of it. He's not going on social media. He's not having, you know, sycophants go on television and say what bad people,

the Atlanta Falcons are. But they reworked his deal in the podcast. passed to give him a little bit more money to keep him happening. Not long ago. I just, I don't understand at what point in time do you not have to be the highest paid guy. Because that doesn't always put the best team around you. So history was made last night in Canton. The Atlanta Falcons haven't won a Super Bowl, right? They had the biggest choke job in Superhistory. Shouldn't that be their focus? And getting back there? Well, that's why he has the leverage because he can say, it's the same thing with the Saints.

They have to win now. So you can't, can't afford to lose them. history was made last night in Canton. It had nothing to do with the Hall of Fame, though. For the first time, a pass interference call was challenged. With 219 to go in the second quarter, Broncos cornerback Lyndon Stevens was called for past interference. Vic Fangio, despite dealing with a kidney stone, tossed the challenge flag after reviewing the play.

It was upheld. A lot of people freaked out about this rule. How are we going to deal with Hell Marys? You think this is going to be a problem? all year? Is that kind of just what we're going to see? Do you challenge it, upheld, took a minute, back to play? I think it's always the law of unintended

consequences, and I think the unintended consequence is we're going to have, it's going to change the two-minute drill greatly. Yeah, right? And that's the big thing, is late in the game, how are these non-penalties reviewed? That's, you know,

because you've always had to manage timeouts and understand time and situation down and distance, and where do we have to get to kick a field goal or to score a touchdown. Now, a sudden, you have the ability to overturn, and I believe in the last two minutes the booth can overturn, right? Can overturn an uncalled pass interference call. So it's not just length of game, but how it affects end of game.

How it affects end of half. I think is more interesting than whether or not you can correct a blown call. The other part to it is that a lot of times, and again, it wasn't called last night, a lot of times the offense pushes off to create space. the defense closes up that space and there's contact. When do you start calling pass interference? Not just at the end of the play, but do you go back and review and go, hey, not only is there not defensive pass interference, there's actually offensive passenger. Listen, it's an overreaction to one of the worst miss calls in NFL history, right?

That's what all this is. There should have been pass interference in the NFC championship game. We tend to overreact. I believe this rule is only scheduled to exist for a year currently. So they after, it almost says, let's do this for a year. Everyone will hate it and then we'll get rid of it and no one will remember that we ever tried this. Yes. I also think the angle that we continue to show from the backside makes it more blatant than it actually was in game at the point of where the no call was made.

And we forget that the Saints had multiple opportunities to stop the Rams and they could have scored when they got the ball first in overtime and did not. But again, nobody pays any attention to that. It's like Bill Buckner. That was the end of the series. Yes. It was actually another game. Right. And finally, in shocking news, Clemson and Alabama ranked one and two in the coaches poll. The preseason coach's poll. No way. I was stunned. Clemson got 59 of 65 first place votes. I believe this is the first time they've been number one in this poll entering a season.

Georgia, Oklahoma, Ohio State finished out the top five. Jim Harbaugh and Michigan came in at number seven. Is there any chance? that the championship game is not Clemson, Alabama this year? Absolutely. I mean, look, Georgia had Alabama. Had them. Had them.

And I think, I'm like, look, I'm a buyer into Michigan. I really am. I understand that they look sluggish against Ohio State. They lost the bowl game, but they didn't have four stars. They're getting ready for the NFL. They've changed the offense. They've opened that thing more up. They've recruited athletes for years.

They've solidified the offensive line. I think there's... And look, Ohio State has a dynamic quarterback who could have been the starter at Georgia. And they have a very easy schedule. I think the way I could see it not happening would be if it was like a couple years ago where they both made the playoff, but they face each other in the first game. So therefore, that's what, you know, when we had Alabama... I don't see a scenario where they're both not in the playoff,

but maybe one of them loses a game and is the four-seat as opposed to one-two. It's not likely. Like, look, Clemson's... The schedule, like the toughest game of their schedule might be at Syracuse. Like, literally, that might be the toughest game on their schedule. And Syracuse beat them a couple years ago. And game a hell of a game last year when Alabama's got hurt. Biggest out-of-conference game is their 30-point favorite against Duke.

Yeah, they've got to go to A&M, I think, this year. Yeah, out of conference. Right. I mean, Georgia and the SEC championship championship. Look, they're overwhelming favorites for a reason. Could I see a scenario? Yes. Does that mean it happens?

No, but we're all just one hit away. And now with no jail and hurts as the backup to Tua, what happens if Tua gets her? What happens if Trevor Lawrence gets her? We just make this assumption. Clemsons had stinkers in the past. I mean, even when Deshawn Watson won a national championship, they lost it home to Pittsburgh, Nathan Peterman at quarterback. So there are scenarios, but it does create a, like,

it does create a Cleveland Golden State type of feel to this season. That's John Gullet with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. All right, the big story of the day is David Griffin, who's now the president of basketball with Norland's Pelicans, was the general manager for LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers before his contract was not renewed. We'll get Chris Broussard's thoughts on David Griffin's comments about being so completely unhappy. even during the championship run and comeback with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

What does that say about LeBron James? We'll find out next. I'm Doug Gottlieb. This is The Hurt. Be sure to catch live editions of the HARD 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.

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Doug Gottlieb in for Colin, this is The Hurd, wherever you may be listening, and however you may be making this part of your day, thanks so much. In for Colin Cowherd, who has invited the entire staff out today to be with him in Utah. Hey, dude, we're working, we're working, but try and join you afterwards. kidding, of course. Colin will be back on Monday, what Colin got right, what Colin got wrong.

But let's go to the Herg Global Satellite Network. Let's go live to New York, where Chris Broussard joins us. Oh, there's just, the NBA just keeps giving and giving and giving. Any idea why David Griffin would now tell us

about how miserable he was during his time in Cleveland? Well, Doug, I texted with Griffin. this morning and he said that the quotes, you know, everything was taken out of context. He said his misery stemmed not from LeBron himself, but from the constant media scrutiny. And he also said he's going to speak on this publicly later today. So I guess he'll make some type of statement or appearance or something later and discuss it in more detail. But, you know, I don't know if the writer took stuff out of context or not,

but what shocked me the most, Doug, was I felt like the lack of appreciation for what LeBron had done. I don't want to say it like just for Griff, but, you know, the fact that he got to serve in the front office for a player like LeBron. Because of LeBron, David Griffin has on his resume three trips to the finals. one NBA championship, the first in the city's history, the first championship of any kind in 52 years. And largely because of that success, Griff, who is a good general manager, but he's very highly respected,

got a very good job with New Orleans. And I would tell you if LeBron James never goes to Cleveland, Griff probably isn't in this position. the article kind of came off like Griff, at least the way it was written, like he would have been happier maybe if LeBron doesn't come and he builds around Kyrie Irving. He gets to mold the team organically. He kind of used that word inorganic.

He gets to mold the type of team he wants. And he gets to relish in the challenge and the small victories of maybe making the playoffs, of can we become a second round team? can we become a conference contender? Can we get to the finals? That type of thing. But here's the deal. There's a high likelihood that if LeBron doesn't go to Cleveland,

Griff gets to build the team his own way, and they never make the playoffs. And ultimately, after a few years, Griff gets fired, and then he's not in this position to get the job with the Pelicans. I know, but this is the control group, right? I mean, the control group is in New Orleans, where we think he'll be able to build, organically in a small market where no one's been able to have any sort of success,

let alone sustained success. And we'll find out. Some of that is how the article is written. But even in his, like I understand LeBron's, his comment about LeBron isn't an animal about winning like he used to be. LeBron himself said, I have nothing more to prove. I mean, he has in fact said that. He has changed some of his focus in the.

offseason. He was the one who showed up at work while injured with the Lakers with a glass of wine. Like it is he isn't the, like these are inarguable facts and simply telling you how it felt. And by the way, doesn't the toxicity of the media and the coverage of him, doesn't that mirror what Kevin Durant said? Is this, this is a widely held perception, isn't it? All right. Let me first address the LeBron isn't an animal about winning anymore. After 2016, which is when Griff said this trend began, if you will, the next year LeBron has a great individual season, 2017, leads them back to the finals.

They run through the East. I think they're 12 and 1 in the playoffs. And they just run into a far superior Golden State team. The next year, didn't he lead the league in minutes or no, played all 82 games? And then gets them back to the NBA finals. Yes. So I just can't buy the league.

this notion that after 2016, LeBron wasn't that interested in winning. I will give this, I will lend credence to the notion that after 12 straight years of finals or bust, really championship or bust, from 2007 when

he first reached the finals to 2018, 12 straight seasons of championship or failure for LeBron James. I will buy the notion that there was a part of him that was kind of looking forward to a season, the first in LA

of the not, doesn't have to win the championship, isn't expected to get to the finals. And you know, hopefully we'll make the playoffs, make a little noise. But this year I get to kind of take a deep breath and get away from that. And then when we

get a free agent, they ended up getting Anthony Davis, but he probably thought they'd get another free agent at some point. Then they can compete for titles. If he wasn't about winning anymore, why in the world would he essentially ruined the locker room this year by making such a stink about getting Anthony Davis. So I do think, now, I think he has other interests.

I think he moved out to L.A. because of family and business and stuff too. But I do think he still wants to win. Chris, it didn't say he doesn't. And it has reason to win. It didn't say he doesn't want to win. Like you're taking it a step that it doesn't say. He said he wasn't. Where is the evidence that he's not in the 90s, that he's not just committed to win?

When he was in Cleveland, they didn't practice anymore. He would not practice. Again, but he didn't show up to practice. No, did not. You said could not. Would not? They did not practice. That was part of the culture problem.

That's what made it unsustainable. That's what made it hard to make adjustments. He didn't practice. He's an older player. Again, I'm not arguing about that. He's an older player. There are a lot of guys at that stage that don't practice. He didn't, but hold on.

He didn't, not the whole year. He didn't say he didn't want to win. He said he wasn't the same. same animal about winning, right? He said he didn't like the culture. He didn't, I'm sure he didn't like doing all those deals with Tristan Thompson and J.R. Smith that they were pressure to do because they were rep by Rich Paul. Like, he didn't, in no way did he indict LeBron James the player or LeBron James the

competitor. He just said, one thing. He's not done really in the animal as far as winning anymore. Isn't the same animal. He still got, how many more years is he going to play after 2016? He might play seven more years after, you know, dating back to. 2016, six years, whatever. None of them he was really trying to win anymore?

Not at the same level. He doesn't play defense at the same level. He doesn't have the same level of attention to detail. Is none of that because of age, Doug? Maybe, but it's the amount of effort you put into it. Let's shift really quickly to Carmelo Anthony, who just went on TV and said, hey, Chris Paul said he had nothing to do with it, but Darry walked in 10 games in and said,

your services are no longer needed. He claims to not have a problem now with coming off the bench, thinks he belongs in the NBA. What's your takeaway from Carmelo Anthony? Well, look, I will agree with this. I think Mello is better than 60, 70% of the players in the NBA. There's no question he's good enough to play in the NBA. The question and the problem is where does he fit?

A young team that is going nowhere wants to develop its young players, and see who's a keeper, see who they can build around. They don't want to give 15 shots, you know, 30 minutes to Carmelo Anthony. They need to see what their young guys can do. A challenger, a contender, you know, how do they fit Carmelo Anthony into their system? You know, it's easier to fit a role player in than a ball dominant former star who, you know, is going to want to play a certain way and get a certain amount of minutes and shots. So I can only look at a couple, a handful of teams that he might fit.

And I don't have evidence that any of them want him. I don't think he's getting back in the league. But a Miami, a Detroit, a Washington, a Charlotte, you know, teams that aren't at the bottom and aren't full of young players, but certainly aren't contended. They're kind of sputtering. They're not going anywhere. You know, it's amazing. But I think a Carmela Anthony maybe could go there.

But it's just, I said a year ago, oh, Niz. show, the herd, that Carmelo Anthony should retire because this, I hate to see a guy that I consider a first ballot hall of famer begging like this. Now, I think he says some great stuff and represented himself well on the show. But ultimately, there's a part of this that just bothered me because it felt like he's desperate and he's begging people to put him back in the league. And it feels beneath a player that great. Oh, I don't have any problem with him begging and get back in the league, but he didn't.

He didn't say he's willing to do the little things it takes. He's willing to practice. He's willing to play defense. He's willing to understand that his role and to help. He said other things. He didn't say, he didn't mention defense and things like that. He mentioned, I'll come off the bitch. You can hide, you can hide one guy, but you can't hide a role player.

And he's a mid-range shooter. He doesn't fit in today's NBA. And like you said, he may statistically be better because he scores more points, but what does he do to the chemistry of the team? Does he truly accept the role? And how much does he hurt you on defense? Like, look, LeBron James is one of his closest friends. He's had multiple opportunities in Cleveland and in L.A. last year.

And in L.A. this year to say, hey, sign him for a minimum deal. And he hasn't wanted to, if your best friend doesn't want you to fit any sort of role, why should the rest of the league? That's, I think, the take, you have 15 seconds. Now, it reminds me of Allen Iverson. I mean, now it's getting beyond what Iverson went through, but they couldn't accept not being a star and a superstar. Iverson could have, to me, become a Lou Williams,

a Jamal Crawford off the bench, but he couldn't accept that role. And I get it. That's fine, being a superstar. I don't want to be a role player. It's really hard. But if you don't want to be Vince Carter, then you're going out like this. All right, thanks, Chris. We'll get to Dak Prescott upcoming next in the herd.

One more herd. The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart radio app. Search herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Welcome in. This is The Herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be making this part of your day. Thanks so much. I'm Doug Gottlie, filling in for Colin Cowherd. Greg Jennings will be alongside in a moment.

We have one preseason football game in the bank. We've got the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremonies this weekend. Our own Tony Gonzalez, who's a longtime friend of mine. I actually played AEU basketball with Tony going in this weekend. Should be amazing to see, by my estimation, greatest tight end of all time, going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. And we're left with a desire, and that desire will be satiated for more football, more and more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more, more.

But with more football and more football games on TV is more money and more desire for money. And it's fascinating to watch the Dallas Cowboys, right? You have Jalen Smith and Byron Jones that at some point need a new contract. You got Amari Cooper who's making $14 million this year. And then you have Zeke Elliott who's holding out, Dak Prescott, who's there.

Dak, of course, has made very little money because of where he was drafted. And I find it interesting. Like, DAC wasn't listed among the top 100 NFL players, which would put him not in the top 15 quarterbacks in the National Football League in the NFL network's top hundred guys. Now, if wins and losses are a quarterback stat, he's 32, 16 and zero, he's never had a losing record.

but if we're honest, when he didn't have Zeke, they fell apart two years ago. He walked into a tailor-made Super Bowl team three years ago as a rookie. And last year had an up-and-down season, which was solid yet unspectacular. 22 touchdowns, eight interceptions. He threw for 3,800 yards. And the team got better and better, better down the stretch when they had Zeke and when they added Amari Cooper and when their offensive line was the healthiest it had been. If everything is right,

tax a good quarterback. He's fine. It's good. Like, would you rather have Pat Mahomes? You'd rather have Pat Mahomes. Right? Would you rather had Jared Goff? You'd rather have Jared Goff. Would you rather have Matt Ryan? You'd rather have Matt Ryan.

Would you rather have Tom Brady, Drew Brees? Would you rather have Philip Rivers? You know? But that does. doesn't mean he's a bum, but let's be honest, he's an average quarterback, which considering where you got him in the fourth round, considering how bad a shape you look like you're in when Tony Romo went down with a broken bone in his back after just one preseason hit, it looked bad and he was solid, even if unspectacular. So now you're trying to evaluate like how much

do we pay him? And I actually think I have the parallel. Well, two parallels. First, here's Dak Prescott on his level of personal motivation because he wasn't named in the NFL network's top hundred players. 100% it motivates me. Motivate you, makes that chip bigger. One of the biggest compliments is from a peer. So it's also, I guess you can take that the other way,

as if when you're not getting it, it should motivate you. And it should motivate anybody. And even those guys on that list, I'm sure all of them are motivated for wanting to be higher. But yeah, when you see that list comes out, come out and there's 100 guys, yeah, it lights a fire. You know, it's interesting. Everybody points out the 13 and 3 rookie year when he threw for over 300 yards just twice. Like, I get that he was better than we expected, but it wasn't like he was lighten up the world. Last year, he had the one game against Philadelphia where he threw it 54 times and 455 yards,

but he had two games over 300 yards passing. That's it in the entirety of the season. Now, some of it is based upon the construction of the team, but if you thought the Cowboys were super happy with their offense, why'd they change play callers in the offseason? I would offer to you that Dak Prescott's career parallels two guys. Draymond Green and Kirk Cousins. Here's why he's Draymond Green.

Draymond Green is an integral part of the Golden State Warriors. They don't win three championships if they don't have Draymond Green. I would guess because he does all of the little things that Steph Curry doesn't want to do, that Clay Thompson doesn't want to do, that so many big guys can't do. In guard positions one through five. He can play some point guard, play some center. He'll score just enough. He'll get just enough rebounds and just enough steals

and play just good enough defense at each one of these positions. But he also doesn't need the ball in order to be great. Dak Prescott, when surrounded by Zeke, who's in the conversation of best running back in the league, supported by the best offensive line at times when healthy in the league. When he has a talented wide receiver. And now they've brought back in Jason Whitten because they were without a star tied end going back to last year. When all of these things, and they have a good enough, they have a very good defense.

When all of those things are right, Doc Prescott, he does the little things in terms of leadership, runs for a first down, doesn't turn the football over, just solid and steady. Put Dak Prescott in his own team, put five guys out wide, trying to have him win football games in his own, can't do it. same thing with Aaron Ross same thing with um same thing with um Draymond Green like Draymond green next year's

free agent put him on his own team say hey dude we need to score 25 30 a night he may you're not going to win because of it which brings it to Kirk Cousins right we're comparing his contract to Aaron Rogers and the 30 million a year guys Kirk Cousins with a fourth round pick

Kirk Cousins was franchise tagged a couple times and he got a three year guaranteed DL What did we say it was? It was $84 million. It's basically three years guaranteed $84 million. And if you compare numbers, Kirk Cousins pale and compares nearly a thousand more yards passing through the life of the season.

Now, Dac might be better in a big spot. Dack may be more solid, more steady than Kirk Cousins, who seems to struggle and bring moments, but Kirk Cousins is a better pure quarterback. And if he's worth 84 over 3, isn't that about what Daxworth? Why are we comparing him to the top five quarterbacks in the league? He's not a top five quarterback.

No one believes that. Whereas if I said compare his career arc to that of Kirk Cousins, you go, okay, yeah, fourth round pick who deserves to get paid, leader of a team, does the right things, not a superstar, don't necessarily win because of him, but he helps you during the process of winning. That to me is the. accurate comparison. He's both Draymond Green and Kirk Cousins. With that, we bring in a Super Bowl

champion and NFL on Fox analyst. Greg Jennings joins us in studio. Who was born too early. Because I said this and I feel like the reason Zeke and Melvin Gordon are holding out is they see what's happened to that running back market.

The idea of the franchise tag always goes up, doesn't feel like it's going up. as opposed to wide receivers, that market continues to spike, Michael Thomas, Odell Beckham, even Antonio Brown. Am I crazy to think that the only reason for Dak to cut in line is because he sees that the running back market is not as fruitful as it used to be? Yeah, I mean, when you look at Ezekiel Elliott and you look at what he's worth and value to that Dallas Cowboy organization, or just across the league, he's worth every dime.

from a talent perspective and what he production lens. But then you look at the real, the rility of the numbers surrounding running backs, they're just not there. Right. Like they're not there. And so I'm like, I understand why a guy like Ezekiela and a Melvin Gordon are like, you know what? No, I'm not going to allow that to affect what I feel like I'm worth.

Well, look, I understand that. That sounds good, you know, when you're sitting around with a group for your boys, or you're sitting around with your family or your agent. But look at Todd Gurley. He's not right late in the season. They get C.J. Anderson off the couch. And C.J. Anderson, in many ways, is the better back late. Look at what James Connor did in Pittsburgh.

Laveon Bell's a great back. A better back than James Connor. He doesn't play. And James Connor had a damn good season. Again, not as he's not, I'm not sitting here telling you James Connor is as good as Lavion Bell. I'm not going to make that argument. but the difference is $14 million in salary,

okay, I would take that and spread that around to somebody else. You would, but here's where these guys make it hard to do that because they afford you a lot more from an offense perspective. Like C.J. Anderson, he's not going to be a threat in the passing game as well. He's just solely a running threat or he's not a dual threat. These guys like Ezekio Elliott and Melvin Gordon as well as Todd. These are dual threat. Alvin Kamarro's like they are hybrid style running backs where they are just as effective

when you put and split them out wide or you get them in open space in a passing game as they are within the hashes. That's what separates them. That's why they want that receiver, if you will, money. Yes, but other teams, and you mentioned, I mean the Saints, up until this year have had two different running backs, right? They spread the money around and Kamara is

able to be like Reggie Bush was back when he played with the Saints. Put him anywhere and you can find a usefulness to him but you know then they had Mark Ingram back there to kind of be the between the tackles back. It's like why give one guy? I mean look at Devante Freeman with you know when he gets

hurt after getting the big contract. You know, why put all your money in one guy who could get hurt when you can have three guys for less money and if one goes down, you can replace that guy off the street. That can be said across the board, with the exception really of quarterback because it's only one on the field at a time. And you really are only going to bank on one because it's all about chemistry, it's all

about rapport. So you don't want, no one wants that revolving door. But at receiver, you have more than one on the field at a time. Running back, you need more than one effective running back, but you definitely need that one. And so we can always say these guys are replaceable. Everyone's replaceable if we look at it from that lens. But do they have the same impact? The right now impact.

And I think that's what these running backs are struggling with. Like just pay me my worth. Don't try to compare me to any and everybody else. Just how do you value me and what do I bring to us as an organization as a team? It's a great question. It's the you're worth what somebody is willing to pay you. Yes. And that's the hard thing for, I think, Melvin Gordon, right?

Melvin Gordon, his agent came out yesterday and said, hey, look, we asked for the right to find a trade partner and the chargers wouldn't let us. But I think the chargers wouldn't let you because they know that nobody wants to trade for Melvin Gordon at this point in time, not just what the value would be in the pick, right, a former first round pick. You're not going to give up a second round pick and definitely not a first round pick. But then if you trade for Melvin Gordon, you have to give him the money that he wants. You're not going to give him the $10 million a year because that doesn't appear to

be enough and that you're you're worth what somebody's willing to to pay you even if you're super valuable in many ways to the LA charges. Greg Jennings is our guest here in studio in the herd. I'm Doug Gottlieb filling in for Colin Cowherd. I did want to ask you about last night's preseason game just from this perspective. Now we've actually seen it play out where you can throw the challenge flag for a pass interference. Give me your best guess on how this works out in the regular season. It's, you know, oftentimes we see a lot of these new rules implemented, and we see the more officiated and shown in the preseason

because not only our coaches wanting to get a feel of how it's going to be handled, officials need to know how to handle it as well. So I don't think we're going to see a ton of it because, again, the same rules apply. I mean, if you're wrong, you're wrong, you lose that time out. No one wants to risk that time out, which event, eventually ends up being more valuable when you need it in the late waning games unless you have just a clear-cut pass interference that is uncalled. And typically that does not happen in our league.

I want to ask you about the Miami Dolphins, a franchise that you played for. Kind of weird. Brian Flores, they've been in camp a week, and he already said that Ryan Fitzpatrick's kind of in the lead there at quarterback. Does I guess I don't think it's that big deal. It's a little bit of a deal what it says about Josh Rosen. I guess I'm wondering why is Brian Flores saying it after only a week? Probably to light a little more of a fire under Josh Rosen,

but it's what is reality. Like Ryan Fitzpatrick, he is a lighted up quarterback, especially in practice and in the moments where it's most pressure packed. It's like... Dude, I get it, but how many times do we have to see the Fitzpatrick thing? We saw it in Buffalo. We saw it like, pick the place that he goes to. What comes with a guy like Ryan Fitzpatrick,

you don't, you have to understand the guy. Everyone loves him because he's just an outgoing personality. So you, he absorbs and attracts the guys around them. Which is not what Josh Rosen is. Exactly. You have to have that at quarterback. You want that at quarterback when your eyes tell you they're in control. you see things like that.

And then he's a guy that you know he can get hot. He's like a streaky shooter in the NBA. If he gets hot, man, everything, the rim looks like the ocean. But if he's not, then it's like you've got to live with what the reality of him is. And that's kind of a flashy up and down roller coaster. But when he's on that high, it's special. We've seen it. Yeah.

And the dolphins are in need of that high. Last thing, we started by talking about wide receiver. and obviously Michael Thomas getting paid. Feels like Amari Cooper is going to get paid. Probably not to that level. Julio Jones now, you know, Thomas Dimitrov comes out and is like, well, look, we think he's going to be the highest paid guy, so there's not much negotiating there.

I feel like John Gruden won this week, right? Because Antonio Brown does have warts. He is 31 years old. But that guy's a freak, right? If he's not the best receiving the league, he's right there. And to get him for $16 million in change, and look, he would have had to pay Amari the exact same amount of money, maybe a little bit more. And Antonio Brown's better than Amari Cooper.

And I would say he's better than Michael Thomas. He's different, I know. But I feel like John Gruden kind of won and no one's giving him an attaboy. Well, I don't think we have to give him atta boy. He definitely won if you put it in a perspective in a lens like that. When you look at what he acquired and what he had to pay for it and what he could eventually, have been paying had he waited and Kepamari Cooper and whatever. But when I look at John Gruden, he's been in this football league for a reason for a long

period of time. It's not because he's not smart. He understands what he has to work with. He understands what he needs to get done his way and his style. And the special thing about an Antonio Brown, why you would be willing to pay him, regardless of what he does and what we've seen on television outside and off of the field is because his work ethic. One thing about Antonio Brown that is never and will never be in question is will he work. Will he continue to sustain his level of work ethic and drive and passionate about the game of football?

The answer has always been yes. When you have a guy who will work, you're more apt to pay. him and bring him on board regardless of what he carries with him. He's Greg Jennings. He'll see him on all our TV shows, of course, watch him, call games in the NFL on Fox. He's a Super Bowl champion, former Pro Bowl wide receiver. Greg, thanks much

for catching up with us. Absolutely. All right, up next, we'll dive deeper into LeBron's tough week. Plus, members of the U.S. women's national soccer team joins us. I'll come next time. Doug Gottlieb. This is The Hurt. Be sure to catch live editions of the HARD weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m.

Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the iHeart Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo.

Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the 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 made.

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 SportsSlice 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. 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, because 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, as 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 Fourth.

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

Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the I-Hard Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. American soccer is about to explode.

The World Cup is coming. Ramos sending on to Ernie Stewart the chip. I'm Tab Ramos. I'm Tom Bo. On our podcast, inside American soccer, you'll get the real storylines. I'm not worried about Policic. I'm not worried about Balagan. I'm not worried about McKinney.

My only concern is what happens in the back. The biggest decisions. If you're going to look at stats and numbers, he has no shot at making this World Cup team. And the truth about the U.S. national team. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if our team ends up in the quarterfinals or potentially a great run into the semifinals. The World Cup is almost here.

Experience it all with us. Listen to Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tab Ramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. MLS action kicks off tomorrow on Fox's reigning MVP Yosef Martinez leads Atlanta United against one of the top teams in the Western Conference, the L.A. Galaxy. It all starts at 430 Eastern on Fox and the Fox Sports app. 16 goals for Zaltan, third in MLS, right?

Zlatan. Zlatan Ibrahimovic. It's got a great man ponytail, right? Like, great man ponytail. I'm not a big, like, man bun type of guy, but part of the reason I'm not big, because I just couldn't, you know, I just couldn't do it. Just couldn't do it. tried the mullet once in life.

It was a child. First time it was in. I was playing football at the time and I was playing quarterback and I thought it would be cool to have the hair out the back. It just wasn't me. But Zlatan's hair is pretty outstanding, as is his post-game commentary. Got some more thoughts for you on John Gruden. I got a ton more on LeBron. We got a bunch of things to get to.

Well, we got a great best for last later today. We got a couple members of the U.S. Women's National. soccer team, they're going to join us. First, though, let's get to John Gullet with Herdline News. No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the Herdline News. After a tumultuous 2018 season that saw the Steelers miss the playoffs for the first time since 2013, the team has actually been pretty quiet this summer. Big Ben has decided to talk less, but when he does talk, I would say it clearly has a message. This is what he told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, quote, I feel like I love football again

I don't know if I can put my finger on a particular reason but it just feels that way I think a lot of things can contribute to it you get a rejuvenated feel at this point in your career you can either just go through the motions or you can get it going I feel like I got it going gee what's different this year as opposed to the past year

I would say this is pretty obvious shot at two players who are no longer Steelers last year at this time they were dealing with the Levi-on-Bel-Combole. contract, getting asked about that every day. Then Antonio Brown, obviously, was a handful in the locker room, and they eventually had to get rid of him. I think Big Ben's taken a pretty clear shot at two guys that are no longer with the team.

I would say yes, but I would also say that the way you painted it is also accurate. It's a little bit like the LeBron discussion, where is it about those two guys a little bit, but is it about the fact that, like, every day you kind of come in and answer a question? like, yes, it's not fun. Right. It's not... The Levyon Bell thing was a big thing this time last year. Just no one knew when or if he was going to show up.

Well, the lineman thought he was going to show up. Right. And then he changed his mind and that's why they got upset. Actually, excuse me, I believe it was two years of that, correct? The first year they franchised him, he came very late. Came late. And last year he never showed up at all. And so that's why they all thought he was going to show up and nothing changed.

But I just, just imagine if... When you go to work, somebody asked you about somebody else. You know? Right. So, I mean, I, I, we've had times here where if somebody asked you about something else at work, you'd be like, it's not really any of my business or, like, I just come in and do my thing. And I, I do think when people start to kind of understand that, like, I get the media plays a much more vital role than players and coaches and even fans give it credit. We promote the teams. We also give kind of storylines and reason to be interested in the teams.

And that was an interesting thing. But I actually understand why Ben Rathesberger, who last year was working through a new offensive coordinator. I remember that was last year. New offense coordinator didn't know when he was going to get his running back back. And they felt like he had that terrible performance against the Jacksonville Jaguars, which cost them the end of that season. Like, remember that. And now this year it's like, hey, nobody's saying it's just a,

football. They know the offense. They know what their running back is going to be. No other wide receiver is going to be. They kind of bought back into the culture, reinvested in what makes Pittsburgh special. I kind of get why they might not be as good, but it'll be more enjoyable. There's a lot of similarities there to what

David Griffin was talking. And he's said he's going to talk less, which is good, but I think he's still going to get his shots. I don't think he can help himself from taking a little jab there. But that one's not that bad. That's who he is. Let's stay in the AFC North. Coach John Harbaugh, Ravens Coach John Harbaugh, recently said Lamar Jackson will run as much as he did last year. If not more, there was a number thrown out how many carries.

He said, take the over. Jackson set the NFL single season record last year for rushing attempts by a quarterback with 147. And he didn't start until halfway through the season. But it sounds like Lamar doesn't really see things the same way. He said on the Rich Eisen Show yesterday that he doesn't expect to carry the ball as much. Take a listen. I've been throwing a lot, way more than running. So I don't think I'll be running as much as I did last year.

There was a lot of RPO's, a lot of sudden changes in Lashes games and stuff like that. So it's just going to be totally different. Probably not a great sign that the head coach and quarterback aren't quite on the same page. Could I make the argument that Lamar probably sees himself as a better thrower than maybe a coach would? He's probably a little more self-confident about his throwing ability. Maybe that John Harbaugh knows that people. They can't really win with him throwing as much, and they need to run. Whereas Lamar Jackson thinks, no, no, no, I can throw, and we can do it this way.

Well, and in practice, what's the point of running him a bunch? Because nobody can touch the quarterback. Right. So you're better off letting him throw more. Like, Lamar's not wrong. We are throwing more in practice, but once you get to the game, they're probably going to run you a little bit more. I would also tell you that some of it may be the old okie-doke. We're trying to bring you up into the box.

You know, I mean, they went out and got Hollywood Brown for a reason, right, to stretch the defense. Lamar does, he can throw a good ball downfield. His problem is accuracy and processing reading defenses. And it felt like the charges in the playoffs really exposed his lack of accuracy. And, you know, and that team last year was constructed completely differently. Because their defense was so dynamic, so dynamic that you could have, you know, you could shorten the game and play to your defense and run the football. And you'd be fine because your defense would keep you in it.

They change Eric Weddell's gone. They bring in Earl Thomas. How much does he have left in the tank? How does he fit? And, of course, their defensive front is different. So I don't care what anybody says. I don't think he's a great thrower long term. I don't think he evolves the quarterback position.

But I also am not going to take either's word for it because I don't think Lamar sees that you can't run in a bunch of practice, doesn't do any good. And I don't believe John Harbaugh, I don't believe anything these coaches say about what they're going to do. It's what they actually do that I believe. If they need to win a game and throwing it's not working, he's going to run. Sure. I mean, that's just what he's always going to fall back on. And finally, the agent for Chargers running back Melvin Gordon told ESPN's JosbN's Joe Zena Anderson that he has requested a trade after the team has not changed their initial offer of about 10 million per year for the running back who is holding out.

Chargers GM, Tom Telescoe told Gordon's camp, they do not have permission to seek out a trade partner. The Zeke holdout is somewhat overshadowed Gordon's to most people, maybe not to use. you, you are probably the only Chargers fan, I know? Ever. Yeah, I think so. Do you think Gordon gets a deal or will they have to trade him or neither?

I think he's going to show up and play out his deal. That'd be my guess. The offer was made a couple weeks ago and then like three, four weeks ago and then like a week and a half ago, it kind of got leaked out by his camp that he's going to

hold out. And he felt like who is disrespectful. But I don't think the charges come. It's been reported at $10 million guaranteed a year for a couple years. I don't think they're going over that. And the reason that Zika Elliott's holdout has overshadowed Melvin Gordon is because Zeke Elliott overshadows Melvin Gordon because he's a better football player. There's that, yeah.

And that's really what it comes down to. Is it name brand of team? Sure. But it's also like, no one's going to argue that Zeeke is not a better player. And by the way, it doesn't help that the Chargers were 4-0. last year without Melvin Gordon. They're a better football team with him than they are without him. But he's not a free agent.

He's under, neither these guys are free agents. It's not like, ah, they hold out, they go sign where they want, like, no. And I think the dirty little secret is here, Tom Telesco is doing them a favor. Because if he said, go ahead, go find a team, go find a deal. You don't just have to have somebody who accurately compensates the chargers. You got to find somebody who's going to appropriately by Melvin Gordon's, I do. you're going to compensate Melvin Gordon. You can give him 13, 14 million dollars.

It lowers the asking price. I'm not going to give up a top pick and pay them, right? Either. Right. Not both. No one's going to do either. No one's going to do either. And that's John Goulet with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Lie News. I'm also an angel fan too. Like, I'm that guy. Right? I actually have friends that are angel fans, you know, or people that go to Angel Games and wear Angel gear,

but like I'm actually both. When I get asked back home, are there any Angels fans around? I go, I know one. Yeah. Yeah, that's, that's me. I'm that guy. Hey, let's bring them in. Rose Lavelle and Samuas, of course,

are two stud members of the U.S. women's national team. And they're holding the World Cup trophy. This may sound silly because I know it actually mirrors, I believe, the men's World Cup trophy, but the Stanley Cup is actually a cup. Why isn't the World Cup a Cup? I don't have an answer to three on that one. I mean, listen, who wouldn't want to party with a cup instead of party with a trophy,

even though you guys did? You guys went hard, like surprisingly hard, I think, to many people after winning the World Cup. Yeah, it was a little surprising to me, too. I didn't expect myself to rally that much, but it only happens once every four years. Did you party so hard that Jill Ellis had to retire? You partied her into retirement. I don't know about that, but we did party a lot. I was thrown out chest bumps.

I chest bumped Megan Rapino so hard. I broke her sunglasses. So we've been dealing with the financial situation of that about me paying her back for those. What kind of sunglasses? Expensive ones. You're like, wait, wait, they cost how much? Yeah, they cost like $300. Like, they cost how much?

And you know what happens to? sunglasses is the freebies you never lose. The expensive ones that you buy, you always lose or you always drop. Those are the ones you drop or you crack, right? Or you chest bump. Or you chest bump. Jill did announce her retirement. What has made her such a special coach for the U.S.

Women's National Team? Yeah, I mean, I think she's done so much for this team. And as much as she's done for the team, I feel like she's done so much for the future of this program. Federation and I feel like I feel like I have grown so much as a player over the past three years because of her so I am like

selfishly sad this year ago but I'm really happy she's going out on top and gets to spend some time of their family now. You guys look it's completely different than the men's team from this perspective you guys are expected to win right? Like it's like hey don't come home unless you bring home the hardware and this is second consecutive

time you're able to do so what was it like to prepare and play with those expectations? It's a huge honor. I mean, neither of us was on the team in 2015, so we came into this in the cycle, and we knew that there were high expectations going into the tournament. But being surrounded by a lot of experienced players who were there in 15 and who have really been around the block and done so much with this team, it gave us so much confidence, I think, to just see them out in the field there with us.

Was there like, is there a secret sauce? Because it did feel like, you guys, you know, Megan brings on so much attention to herself and to the team. But you guys, you guys are, like fed off of it and played better because of it, which so many times great athletes, like, look, that's a lot. And to challenge world leaders, to challenge the rest of the world and to stare conventional wisdom in the face and go like, hey, bring it on and then perform as well or better. What's like the secret sauce to the ability for your team to deliver? I don't know.

I feel like the mentality of this team is just something so special and it's hard to explain unless you've experienced it. I think we even say even in the England game it was the 80th minute and we get a PK called on us everyone was just like you know what whatever happens happens if they score we still have 10 minutes to score again

and I feel like that was just the mentality of us the whole tournament was that whatever happens we're prepared for whatever's thrown at us okay so here's my issue with the Thailand deal it wasn't that you guys were celebrating too hard with every goal it was that at 12 you set the record right it was 12 nil you set the record

and it was done was there ever thought of like, hey, let's just bring it out and run it, run it out instead of 13. Because I don't, I don't necessarily understand the, I understand a little bit of the criticism of celebrating, like, you're supposed to have fun, but the 13th goal felt like adding one on. From basketball analogy, it's like pressing when you're up 30. Like, did you need to? Like, I understand ultimately ends up, you know, winning the biggest matches, but you guys

did receive some critique for the 13 goals against a Thailand team as a first time there. Was it too much in hindsight? No. I think in a World Cup goal differential matters, and we don't know how any of the other games are going to play out. But there had never been a game ever in the history of the Women's World Cup where somebody had any World Cup, where it had been more than 11-0.

Like, it's like 12-0. We didn't even know that. We don't like pay attention to record. No one said that. No, no. We had no idea. I think we were just playing the best we could. And I think we ended up winning and ultimately still talking about it.

is pretty funny to us because we really weren't thinking about it. We didn't really listen to much of the criticism. I think we just did our job and we did what we had to do. All right. How's it work with the trophy? Did like each one of you guys get a day with it, a week with it, who travels with it? How does it work? The team keeps it.

We haven't had a day with it. But when we do see it, like everybody takes pictures with it, it's always fun to bring it back around. But no, we don't do like the take at home thing. Maybe we should. Huh? You should? Maybe we should. Yeah.

I mean, I, I, I, why not? Right? Now is your moment. Look into the camera. I want my moment with the trophy. Your most memorable, you close your eyes 30 years from now. You're surrounded by family and friends. Your first World Cup, 2015, in France. What's your most poignant memory? I don't know.

I mean, I guess probably when the whistle blew and everyone was running on the field and we got to hug each other and celebrate, probably that moment. What's your moment? I think seeing my family in the stands after. and just seeing them and the joy that we got to share being there together. I think I'll remember that. It's a huge stadium. I felt like the France game was a zoo.

Was it kind of amazing? What was the best of the atmospheres? Because maybe it was how it was sold on television because you're playing in their place. What was that like? The France game was crazy. The crowd was so into it. It was unbelievable. But I think that being in Leone and kind of everyone knowing that's where the

the final was going to be the crowd was just like electric and i think we had so many of our own fans there that it kind of felt like a home game for us so i would say the final on the own the crowd was unbelievable i mean you guys it's one thing to talk it's another thing to walk it and you guys i mean it was it was amazing to watch amazing to watch i'm sure it was incredible to experience uh rose and sam thanks much for joining us i know you got an entire day showing up that trophy around our fox campus thanks for being our guest thank you all right two world cup champions, members of the U.S. women's national team. John Gruden

might not be as clueless as some may lead you to believe. We'll get to Y. Next in the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. Weekdays at noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed the 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 Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

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 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 that's two different levels of trust I want you to just really be a good person join me Kear gains 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 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, 42. Hey, Wreck, my mama want you to weigh better. What? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what. He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows without Luca and Austin Reeves,

I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid. He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night basis on offense.

And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nass would get that thing. That man, hell get the fly. He running up the court, licking his fingers, why he got the ball. Like, you go through a training camp with that, Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Doug Gottlieb in for calling. This is The Hurt on Fox Sports Radio, the IHart Radio app, and Fox Sports One. Hope you're having a great day. Great day. Getting ready for a great weekend. football will be on your television this weekend. Not football that matters. We're still a couple weeks away from that.

90-man rosters in the National Football League. Look, if you're not on a roster now, I guess Brandon Marshall is working out for the Indianapolis Colts. You need to add Brandon Marshall to that list. Last night saw Matt Schaub as quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, and you're like, what the hell is Matt Schaub doing here? He's still in the league. kind of fascinating, right?

Quick aside, Carmelo Anthony goes on TV today and he doesn't understand why he's not in the NBA. Chris Broussard came on this show and does it. Well, he's better than 60% of the players. First of all, no, he's not. He's not. If Carmelo Anthony was that good, he'd be on a team. And the reason he's not on a team is not because of,

we look at, we do this thing where we're like, how many times can a guy make a ball go into the basketball, in a private workout. That's how good and how many times previously in his career. Did he make a ball go through a basket? He didn't work in Oklahoma City. He lasted 10 games in Houston. He couldn't work in New York.

Denver was done with him. LeBron James has had multiple opportunities to walk in to Rob Polinka's offense to go, hey man, why don't we sign Carmelo? And he hasn't done so. You know why? Because Carmelo Anthony can't accept where he is at this point his career. and where the NBA has gone. There is no place for a mid-range scoring four

who can't guard anybody in the NBA and can't accept his role. Like the reason the match jobs are still in the league, the reason that these backups stick is because they're willing to do whatever it takes. The reason that Vince Carter is still in the NBA is because he's willing to do whatever it takes to help the young guys learn.

and accept whatever role you want to throw at him. We'll play five minutes, five minutes. Now, you're going to have to show up a practice. You're going to have to get the extra shooting in. You're going to have to be ready. Ha, wave that towel, dab guys up. You might not get in. That's not who Carmelo is.

And that's not an adjustment that he can apparently make. Like, Darryl Morey's getting attacked because he saw something 10 days in that was like, this ain't going to work. Not going to work. And Mello's reaction is, well, I was only 10 games. Dude, it was enough. It was enough for them to know how it would go.

Look, dude, we got 82 games and we got the playoffs. We don't have time to worry about your feelings. We just don't. Your feelings don't matter when you're not one of the top players. They just don't. It almost feels like Jeremy Lynn and Carmelo Anthony should go get the same therapist. Isn't it?

Jeremy Lynn turned down a deal with CESCA in Russia, which is the top paying team in Russia. And he's sad about not being wanted by the NBA. Like, look, dude, you made like $70 million. You had a knee injury. You came back. You couldn't get time, but you got a ring with Toronto Raptors. Now you can make a million dollars or so a year playing in Russia.

Like, this is not the worst gig on earth. But you have to buy in and accept the role. Otherwise, don't play. feel zero sympathy for Carmelo Anthony. None. None. It's really hard. When you've been a solo act, a go-to-score, to try and find, this is what makes Larry Fitzgerald so great.

Is that Larry Fitzgerald was an outside wide receiver? And they're like, Fitz, you don't have the speed to be an outside guy. Fine. I'll be a great blocker. Fine. I'll be a great slot wide receiver. Like Mello one on none or one-on cone? Unbelievable.

He's the best one-on cone hoodie wearing off-season player in the history of the NBA. But guess what? There's nine other dudes on the court. There's 14 other dudes on a team. You've got to figure out how to get along with all of them and with your coaches. And you've got to go over the top in terms of relating to other people, selling them that you are bought into the role.

So spare me the, did you see Mello in that internet, Twitter video? how many jump shots he made in a row. Dude, don't care. He's at a position in the NBA where you have to be able to guard somebody he can't. He's a ball stopper, not a ball mover. He's a mid-range player in a long-range game. And the Rockets had him for all of two weeks of regular season play

and said, we're good here. And they didn't have to pay him much money. Last thing for this hour before we get to LeBron James. John Gruden was called every sort of name in the book last year, this time, and throughout the beginning part of the season. But it kind of feels like he continues to win this thing. Not only did he get out of the Kaleel Mack sweepstakes where no one argued whether or not Killele Mac was great.

It's just he would have had to give Kille Mac $90 million that the bears gave him. and he wouldn't have been able to feel the team and the team that he had with Cleo Mac wasn't any good. Last year this time, people said he's crazy, he'll never get two first round picks for Calil Mac, and he did. Then Amari Cooper was dealt for a first round pick. And now Michael Thomas signs for $100 million over six, it's really $60 million over three years.

And Michael Thomas is a really good wide receiver. And he's getting paid partially because he was a second. a round pick and getting tidied up by the Saints, but the Saints are spending too much money on him. But I kind of think John Gruden won this thing. Like, I don't love Antonio Brown's act, but on Sundays, that guy can play. Two guys sometimes can't contain him. He's a freak of nature. He's a workaholic, and he only makes 16 million a year. Gruden actually got a deal on the best wide receiver in the league. All right, we'll get to what LeBron James is reacting to. Next in The Hurt.

One more HARD. The HARD streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHart Radio app. Search HARD to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Welcome in. This is The Hurt, wherever you may be. And however you may be making this part of your day, thanks so much.

I'm Doug Gottlieg, doing in for Colin Cowherd. You're live from Los Angeles on the IHart Radio app, Fox Sports Radio, and, of course, you're televised on Fox Sports One. What a story we have to get to here in the third hour of the herd.

Everyone's reacting to the David Griffin piece in Sports Illustrated in which he had some interesting things to say. Yes, I would say interesting things to say. I think the money

quote is that it wasn't fun, right? It wasn't fun. That here you are, you're in the middle of winning a championship for your city. And LeBron James and David Griffin, his former general manager, said, quote, everything we did was so inorganic and unsustainable and frankly, not fun. I was miserable.

literally the moment we won the championship I knew I was going to leave, there was no way I was going to stay around for any amount of money. Now, what should be noted is in this piece, some of the sentiment was sentiment that David Griffin basically echoed of his own going back to the Wodge Pod, Adrian Worsionowski, earlier this month. It wasn't a process that you would ever hope to replicate because the circumstances couldn't ever exist again in the way they did.

Again, LeBron's on one-year deals. He's come from a championship environment. Our players had to that point been in the lottery several years in a row, and we had not organically learned to play for each other. Our guys were told, you've never been good enough. Here's LeBron, be good enough now. That's what the outside world said to them. That's a horrific way to raise young.

players in the NBA. So that's part of the context that David Griffin wants us to be sold on. Like, look, this is not a great way to raise a young team. In fairness, though Kyrie Irving stuck, they went and got Kevin Love, who hadn't been part of a successful team, and he was part of the kind of culture change. And slowly but surely, they added some other pieces like J.R. Smith, who was barely in the league, and LeBron made it work. This is funny.

I remember, like people are going to be critical of David Griffin for pointing out that it's not fun to play with LeBron, that he's getting all the credit. And I remember Chris Bosch, who won two championships with LeBron James in Miami, when Kevin Love was traded before Kevin Love's first season, he said this, quote, it's going to be very difficult for him,

even if I was in his corner and I was able to tell him what to expect and what to do, it still doesn't make any difference. It's extremely difficult and extremely frustrated. He's going to have to deal with it. Pat Riley, when LeBron got there, they talked about the LeBron effect and how LeBron challenged him. And even when LeBron left, Pat Riley sent him a text,

win this and be free. And what else is David Griffin being criticized for? The fact that he said after winning a championship in Cleveland, after that incredible come from behind victory, game seven on the road, being down three games to one to the Golden State Warriors, he didn't have the same, it wasn't the same animal when it came to winning. It's funny because do you guys remember what LeBron James said in 2007? they're in Boston to shoot around.

He said, it's nothing I need to get in this league. I don't already have. So everything else to me is icing on the cake. Even though I love the process, everything I go to to, to be able to compete every single night, put teams in position to compete for championships, there's nothing I'm chasing or feel I need on the end of my career. LeBron said he's not the same guy.

He said he's climbed the mountain and he's seen the top and he still enjoys the process, but there's nothing he's chasing. But when David Griffin says there's nothing he's chasing, that he's not the same animal, David Griffin's a bad guy. When Chris Bosch says, hey, it's not going to be that much fun to deal with,

he's the bad guy. How about this? You guys remember what Kevin Durant said earlier this year? Why he wasn't into playing with LeBron James? So much hype comes from being around LeBron from either people. He has so many fanboys in the media. It's not even about basketball at certain points.

So I get anyone who wouldn't want to be a part of that environment because it's toxic. It's not LeBron's fault at all. It's just the fact that you have so many groupies in the media that love to hang on every word. It's the media. It's the fans. It's the pressure.

David Griffin said it was an unsustainable culture. What is the culture? What do they talk about? Remember, LeBron's last season there, he didn't practice. Didn't practice. How would you like to be the general manager and you don't really get to pick your own coach? You don't really get to pick the players. You don't even necessarily have power in negotiation with the contract because in order to try and keep LeBron James happy,

you have to deal with his close friend who's his agent who represents other guys on the team. And then you have to overpay those guys in a Tristan Thompson and a J.R. Smith. and then you have to explain it to your owner who doesn't get along with the player why the owner is paying the most luxury tax in the NBA. Does that sound like a good time? Well, you know what it is? It's just Cleveland. It was only not fun because it was Cleveland.

Clearly Magic Johnson, when he left the Lakers this year, had a great time managing LeBron James and his teammates. I was happier when I was. the president. I like to be free. And then I got a great life. I was like, damn, I got a great life outside of this. What am I doing? You know, I got a beautiful life. I want to do the things I used to do. So I had to weigh both situations. And so this is better for me. Here's the quote from Griffin. LeBron is getting all the credit and none of the blame. He said of the challenge of playing with and playing for LeBron James. They don't like being a part of

that world. Who got the credit and who got the blame for not pulling off the Anthony Davis deal last year? LeBron? Rich Paul maybe a little bit, which is an extension of LeBron. The team's chemistry was awful. Who got the blame? LeBron or did Luke Walton or the players? How many times Josh Hart's two in his feelings?

Brandon Ingram, Lanzo Ball, LeVar Ball. if you're the best player that's who your team is and when LeBron James is playing against the Indiana Pacers and the house is on fire and you're like nah it's just getting a little warm in here there's three seats in between you and the rest of the team don't give me the this is the chair I always sit in

not tonight not tonight he didn't lead he didn't build great chemistry they didn't have great character They didn't have a good culture with the Lakers. And frankly, the culture with the calves clearly sucked. Otherwise, David Griffin would have had a much better time,

would have enjoyed himself more. Look, this is part of the lasting legacy of LeBron. It doesn't take away from how great he is as a player. But it shows how difficult he can be. And in all candor, there's lots of stars across the board that are very difficult. right from from Hollywood types only wanting to be shot from certain angles right to not want to work with people in my industry I won't work with him I won't work with her I only do a one person show only do a two person show I need to start up I've I've worked with people who they want to make

sure they they say the last thing on every segment really that's important yes and sometimes when you're good enough at what you do, you get carte blanche to do that, to say that. But the problem with LeBron is, this is how he's been since he was put into the league. He's never been told no, with the exception really of Pat Riley, who wouldn't fire Eric Spolstra

when LeBron, in his own LeBron way, hinted at it. And that was where LeBron had his most success. And David Griffin, if you actually read the context of it, points to the fact that he had open and honest conversation with LeBron James, but led you to believe others did not. Here's Lakers reporter Dave McManumannerman on LeBron's camp responding to this story. I checked in with people in LeBron's camp. They're shocked that this would come out in this fashion

because the understanding was that David Griffin and LeBron have maintained a very positive relationship in the years since Griff part of ways with Cleveland. My understanding, David Griffin has reached out to LeBron's camp and offered up the thought, that, hey, there's some context missing in the piece. And LeBron's camp response is, if there's more context, go on the record and explain it.

Because right now, we don't understand where this is coming from. It's coming from the heart. Because otherwise, what's the win for David Griffin? In saying that he was miserable and crying when they won a championship knowing that he would never return. No matter how much money, think about that for a second. no matter how much money he was offered. And of course people always say that.

I won't do it, no matter how much money. But he did say, matter how much money he was offered, he would not return. To work with one of the great players of all time, arguably the greatest player of our generation, or of this most recent generation, inarguably the most consistently successful of the last decade. and he wanted nothing to do with the LeBron circus and Kevin Durant wanted nothing to do with the LeBron circus

and Paul George last year wanted nothing to do with the LeBron circus and Magic Johnson and look do I think that LeBron's the only reason? No but he wanted to have fun again. LeBron's a lot of things. Fun to work with ain't one of them. Culture building ain't one of them. And he has this way about him in which he's completely selfish in an unselfish way.

Like, that's how he plays. Yes, he loves, and he said, I love the feeling of passing to somebody and them making the game winning shot. But he wants to make that pass, just like he wants to create careers for all of his friends, where they didn't previously exist. He wants to be the reason that Kevin Love

and Tristan Thompson and J.R. Smith and Kyle Kuzma and everybody, they get new contracts. He wants to be the king and he wants to knight other people. And as long as you can accept that when things go wrong, it is going to be your fault.

As long as you can understand that you're not going to ever get a clear message from him. Even the tweet he sent out yesterday. I have no idea what this means. I would think it's not good. All right, all right. right, enough is enough. The throne has been played with too much.

And I ain't for horseplay, ether coming soon, smiling emoji, a bunch of fire emojis, a crown emoji, hashtag James Gang, fist emoji. Well, I don't even know what that means. But that's part of working with LeBron James. He's never going to tell you what he really means. You've got to try and read him. And you know what that is like for a general manager?

Or president of basketball? It's not fun. I don't get to hire who I want as a coach without hearing it from you. We don't necessarily get to get the players that we want. We try and got to work them around you. There is no style. It's get the ball of LeBron James and get out of the way. And when things go wrong, it's everybody else's fault.

Don't believe me? Who's left in L.A. from last year? Coach isn't. Magic Johnson isn't. Hell, Rob Polinka held on by There were people that said Genie Bus should sell the team. Half the team is in New Orleans.

So David Griffin telling his truth when he had no reason to do so. As a matter of fact, if I was advising David Griffin probably made a calculated mistake because no matter how he wanted to come out, it's seen as criticism towards LeBron. And it's got to make his job a little bit harder unnecessarily so. He didn't have to do any of this.

Could have simply talked about the pressure he put on himself, but that's not what he said. LeBron James is a lot of things. Fun to work with? Not one of them. 13-time Pro Bowl with LeVar Arrington will join us. I'll get his thoughts on how the Cowboys should handle Zeke, and if any team would trade for Melvin Gordon.

What did I say? You said 13-time. 13-time? That would be impressive. It felt like 13-time. Because he only played in the league for seven years. 13-time. You know what?

13, he's much bigger and stronger and better looking than me, so I'm going to call him a 13-time pro-lopolar. Lovar Arrington next in the Hurt. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where sports slice comes in.

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This is The Herd on Fox Sports Radio, the IHeart Radio app, and Fox Sports One. Let's welcome in three-time Pro Bowl linebacker, stud at Penn State. LeVar Arrington is our guest in The Herd. Fascinating to watch kind of the evolution of football. And, you know, like, look, as much as as the offensive side has changed, the defensive side has changed. Sure. Right? I'll never forget. I talked to Josh Rosen last year before a game he started against the Chargers. And he's like, I said, what's the biggest difference in NFL to college? And he's like, honestly, the body types are all kind of the same now in terms of linebackers and defensive backs.

There's maybe 10 pounds different as opposed to. It used to be, you know, 260 pound linebackers. Now they're 230, 240 kind of flying around. The DBs are more than the 220 kind of variety. But it feels like, that's what's happening with Zeke on the offensive side is that these running backs, Gordon, Zeke Elliott, they're looking at their market and how it's flat, relatively flat in comparison to the wide receiver market, and they want to get out ahead of it,

and that's why they want these deals a year early. Is that a crazy way of looking at it? I don't think it's a crazy way of looking at it, Doug. Listen, the economics of the game are seemingly always increasing. The economics of how it applies to a certain position seem to always be evolving. So right now what you're dealing with is when you had guys like Adrian Peterson,

the Jerome Bettis's, the Marshall folks, you had a golden age of the running backs position. They were able to do a lot of different things, catch the ball out of the backfield, pass block, run the football. Culturally speaking, as it applies to, football and your reference to Rosen and the things that he sees. The reason why things have changed so much is the culture

of how the players are being developed has changed quite a bit. And the culture of how we consume these players has changed quite a bit. So it's on a couple different fold, right? You look at the seven-on-seven culture that has really, really taken youth sports

by storm. It's really one of the major ways that talent is being evaluated and look at. Well, what are the two positions that you look at the most when you're watching seven on seven? Quarterback and wide receiver. There you go. You're not looking at running back.

You're not looking at, and honestly speaking, you're really not looking at linebackers either. So now when you look at the value of what a running back and a linebacker represents, what is it? You're saying, okay, the linebacker that can get to the quarterback, a Khalil Mack, you know, a Vaughn Miller. Joey Bosa. Joey Bosa. So now you have these hybrid guys that could be. be a linebacker or a defensive end, but you're using them purely in the vein of getting to

the guy who's throwing the ball. You're going to give your money to the guys who can stop the guys from catching the ball, and you're going to give it to the guys that can catch the ball, and you're going to give it to the guys that can deliver the ball. Yeah. Yeah, it's really, it's many ways similar to basketball, right? Basketball has evolved. Sure. Power forward is gone. Power forward is maybe the middle linebacker, I think, right? I mean, it's possible. Yeah. There's still middle. There's still middle. still Luke Kikley's out there. There's still some, whereas there aren't any, not really power forwards. But, you know, now you have a center who can either protect the rim or one that can stretch

the floor and shoot as opposed to back. Or one that can do all of the above. Right. Well, that's like a KD being. Right. Well, no, that's a Joel and B. Yes. Right. And then you have all the wings are hybrid players, right? They can handle some. They can play on the ball. They can play off the ball. Like the old, I was a true traditional point guard. Like, those guys don't really exist or have a ton of value. It's difficult. But a lot of that's the officiating as well, right? Because they've made it so difficult to defend wide receivers.

They've given so hard to put any pressure on quarterback or touch a quarterback. They want those guys clean. On the other hand, they haven't changed any of the rules for running the football. Between the tackles, it's the same game. And so it beats those guys up. So I guess here's the question. You're the Dallas Cowboys. technically you got Zika under contract this year,

fifth year extension next year, if you want. You can franchise tagging for two years. You are under no pressure, and you've got to deal with the DAC stuff, with Amari Cooper, you know, there are several defense players, Byron Jones, for example, Jalen Smith. There's some other guys.

If you're advising Stephen Jones, what do you do? Well, let me first start by saying this. The most interesting phenomenon to all of this, Doug, is the amount of coverage on what a person makes. I think that that's the craziest phenomenon. I was asking the team in the back, if I asked you what this person is making, what that person is making,

what that person is making, would you know? And the conventional answer is, no, people don't really know unless you're just forthcoming with saying what it is that you make. People don't generally know what other people at the same workplaces make. This is one of those strange phenomena that governs and drives and pushes a lot of the aspects that take place in professional sports.

So when you look at the situation that continues to replay itself out over and over year and year out with players, I look at Dallas Cowboys brand. It is one of if not the strongest brand in sports. It's up there with the New England Patriots. It's up there with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Giants as you're talking football brands and franchises. it's labeled America's team. I don't think there is good a team if they don't have Ezekiel Elliott in their backfield.

But then now you have to ask yourself the question, Doug, is it more important to win games or is it more important to keep intact what your business model is for how you approach what you're doing, where your dollars are going to go and how they're going to be spent? And I think that that's going to be the largest question.

and if the answer is we want to win a Super Bowl and we want to win games, then you have to find a happy medium of where you can win as a franchise and Ezekiel Elliott can win as a player. If it's based upon the economic surrounding the position and where it has evolved to and what it represents now, then you're now making a decision that says

we are going to basically begin to move away from Ezekiel Elliott if he's not going to back down on what it is that his demands are and quite frankly the reality of it is is at this point in the game you can replace a running back easier than you can replace other players on the field no question and that's there's two reasons

it's a great point you bring up about people don't know what other people make I bring this up often the Sunday paper which people don't get the paper anymore, but people used to get it or still get it. That was the deal. Especially the Sunday paper. They would have the parade magazine in there?

That was when all Americans mattered. Parade all Americans. No, no, no. But they had the parade magazine would also have, once a year they'd have what people make. Right? And they'd be like, Poston makes 70 grand? Like, man, what?

The second you find out what somebody makes, you make a determination about if they're good or not good at their job. The difference is in the NFL, there's one pool, as you pointed out, it's one pool of money, right? like Stephen Jones saves $5 million on Zique, he puts in his pocket. He's got to use that money somewhere else. Somewhere else. So I do think that it's got to be increasingly difficult when you got one guy who's holding out, you got a quarterback, you can't play without a quarterback. They have no plan B there. On the other hand, they don't actually have to pay DAC. Technically, next year,

they could franchise tag him as well. Same thing with Amari Cooper. Like, it's a very hard calculus, especially when guys like Ezekieliot want top dollar and the last team to give a guy top dollars, Todd Gurley, and that doesn't look like a good deal a year later because Todd Gurley couldn't stay healthy. It's always high risk, high reward when you're talking about paying players. You know, there's also the example of Aaron Donald. You know, and we use Todd Gurley. Aaron Donald ends up getting his money. He plays. It's a production driven business, right? We're sitting in a production driven business. You got to produce or they're going to find somebody who else who else can produce. And when you're when you're dishing out top contracts, major contracts, are you, you have to

understand what the thought process is as to why you are signing on the dotted line to, to allot that money, allocate that money, and invest in the player to that degree. And that's why I thought it was so interesting, you know, and not to, you know, jump all over the place, but since we're talking about different players, I mean, you think about the situation, the exchange with an Odell Beckham ending up in Cleveland in a market that desperately needs to have athletes that can drive their market. And no greater example than what LeBron was able to do with their economic market when he was playing there. It makes you wonder, you know, what's it worth to let O'Dell Beckham go from a New York franchise,

the New York franchise in terms of football, how does he get away? And you start to look at the economics of it. What are the implications of it? What were the ramifications of an O'Dell Beckham leaving the New York Giants? Well, I mean, I think obviously it's got to be cultural. It's got to be like they felt like they didn't have

the control they wanted within the locker room, the proper structure within the locker room. And right or wrong, I don't think anybody argue with his talent, his insistence that he was the reason on TV, like, look, when the Giants play the Cowboys, they're on Fox at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. It doesn't matter who's playing. That's the way we roll.

I think that John Gruden had a good week. Okay. Let's jump to John. Okay. Just because last year people said, he's nuts, he inherited a teen that was bad. They had some good pieces. And for those good pieces, he got some salary cap relief, and he spent it on, who's a, a guy who's arguably the best wide receiver in football,

not without flaw, but he spent it on Antonio Brown, and if you look now at what Michael Thomas is making and what Odell's making and what others are going to make, it's a lower dollar figure. I kind of feel like Gruden, a year after being roundly criticized, doesn't look nearly as dumb as people would lead you to believe. I think the verdict has to still be out on that one.

And I think it's because there are some questionable decisions that they made in terms of guys, that they drafted, people that they've brought in, people that they've let go. I don't think it's wise in any situation to let a guy of the caliber that Khalil Mack is let him go for cat relief. But they couldn't, it's $90 million guaranteed. They were bad, we agree they weren't a good football team, where Khalil plays from or doesn't play for him.

Well, sometimes you're not as far away from being a better team than you are. They went further away from being a better team when they allowed him to go. No question. No question. But they weren't, that wasn't a playoff team. They're in, they're in division with Kansas City and the Chargers who have, who are both loaded with talent, one in the offensive side of the ball and now defensively with Kansas City. And the Chargers have an immense, they've collected an immense amount of talent. They just didn't have it. And so to give him $90 million, they wouldn't have been able to improve the rest of their roster the way they were able to. Like I, I, no one's arguing that Cleo Max awesome. He's awesome. He's just not so

awesome that you can sacrifice building a roster when your roster isn't particularly good around him. We're looking at a situation where a coach and a GM are trying to probably, in essence, rebuild a broken organization. Correct. Let's be clear on that. Yes. Now, when you're looking at it from that perspective, what are your wins? What are your goals?

What are you going for? Because you ultimately want to try to create as many positive outcomes as you possibly can as an organization. By saying that you save money by not giving Antonio as much money as some of the other guys that have gone to other places, you'd have to assume that you're going to get the type of production out of Brown

that you saw him get in Pittsburgh. Now, if that plays out, then John Grouton looks like, and Mayotte looked like they did what they needed to do as it applies to that position. if it doesn't play out that way and you don't get the type of production out of them that you were anticipating getting,

which you'd have to assume if the team isn't improved in some of the aspects that they've needed to improve in, you can't expect that a team is going to allow Antonio Brown to beat them. And you can't expect his production to be what it needs to be when you look at a guy like Julio Jones

who's in a stable environment. You look at, you know, I look at the, situation in Cleveland and I'm not so sure that that was a great a great move for O'Dell Beckham. I really don't. And and you know everybody's excited about about how much talent that they have in Cleveland. But you know, I've played on dysfunctional franchise teams that had a ton of talent from top to bottom and they were unable to win. They're unable to turn the corner and it's culturally, you mentioned culturally earlier. It's culturally, it's culturally driven. It's not talent driven.

Right. And so. there are so many different components and moving parts as to why something will work versus why it doesn't work. So it gets very difficult because it can get very convoluted in terms of the information that it takes to be able to justify one decision over the other. He's three-time pro-bowler? I said 13-time. You don't mind if I said 13.

I mean, I would love 13. I get depressed every time this time of the year because I know I'm not going to get a gold jacket. I wore like more of an olive-colored jacket. I know the ceremony is tonight. I won't get a gold one, but I mean, this is kind of a cool color for a jacket to wear. Thanks so much, LeVar. Levard, Eric.

Appreciate you. Let's get to John Goulet with the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So after David Griffin came out talking about how tough it is to deal with LeBron and how LeBron doesn't have the same commitment anymore, you knew one guy was going to have to get a word in, Magic Johnson went to Twitter, said, Laker Nation, I can tell you first-hand let LeBron James is committed to bringing a championship back to L.A.

He promised the people of Ohio he would bring a championship to Cleveland, and he accomplished his mission. Isn't magic the last person who should be talking about this, considering LeBron came to him for a year and he quit? Yeah, but again, this is who, this is, this is the magic, John, the role that he wants. Right. Everything is awesome. Everything is awesome.

Lakers are great. Right. Nothing is ever wrong. He's basically, what's the, what's the character? from the Lego movie? Right? Everything is awesome. Everything is cool when you're part of the team.

I remember the song. I don't remember his name. He's Emmett. He's Emmett. Everything is awesome. Everything is cool when you're part of the Lakers team. Yes. I mean, this is, he wants to be an air of positivity.

And so, no, no, no, he's totally committed. Me, I only showed up once a month. Right. LeBron totally committed. He was so sure. And the one time a month I was there, LeBron was always there too. He was so sure a title was coming. Wouldn't he just stayed on and been like, yeah, I'm going to let Rob Poling could do everything.

I'm just going to sit here in title only and get another ring. I don't. Whatever. Look, again, what is the... We can get into why David Griffin would say it when he's still in the league. He's not writing a book. He's like giving away this content for free. Kind of weird.

But you can see the people that all these guys, Kyle Kuzma tweeted out and Kendrick Perkinsweet, now. And, you know, you say something which is perceived as negative is negative. I mean, Nick Wright has going to lose his, had to lose his mind today. There's a cottage industry now on criticizing LeBron James. Like, no, there's not a cottage industry. I think Nick walks around the streets of New York just screaming about LeBron James to anyone to listen.

Brad James! There's not a cottage industry. He's a, what, four-time MVP? Yes. He's how many time champion, three-time NBA champion? Three. He's in the discussion of the greatest players ever. And his former general manager said he was miserable if they won a championship.

That's not a cottage industry. That's a guy who's an inside source telling us what it was really like. To all of you people tweeting out, it's a cottage industry. You have to look up what a cottage industry is. That's not it. And finally, Arizona Cardinals rookie quarterback, Kyler Murray, said yesterday he doesn't feel the pressure at all, but he understands that if he doesn't perform, there's going to be plenty of people of people not happy with him.

Take a listen. No, I don't feel pressure. I got to go out and play well. And if I don't, then people are going to be mad. I'm going to be mad. Everybody's going to be mad. So my focus is to play well. He's a confident kid.

He's always going to be no matter what. Dude, when you're 5 foot, nothing, 100 and nothing, and you're playing quarterback in the NFL behind the worst offensive line. Yep. with a coach who with a coach who looks the part and drew it up in the dirt but couldn't win at Texas Tech like you better have confidence because it's this is the great experiment that's what I was going to say is Murray and Kingsbury together has to be one of the biggest question marks for this season because no question for the

we won't make we won't make we shouldn't make grandiose statements based upon what is this first year in the league And it's Cliff Kingsbury's first year in the league. If you told me they go two and 14 because they're awful, I go, yeah, I could say it's a bad roster. If you say they win six or seven games because no one can stop them on offense because no one has a game plan for it, I could see that happening, right? Especially early in the season. I don't know what they're going to do. I mean, you can criticize Cliff Kingsbury. He didn't win at Texas Tech, but they scored.

They always scored. And Kyler Murray is a better quarterback than he had at Texas Tech. I know Mahomes better NFL player, but in college, I would say Kyler was more productive. No, no. Mahomes was more, I mean, go back and look. I think that team put up like 7,000 yards of offense. Like that team was, now Mahomes turned it over a little bit more. Sure.

Mahomes is crazy good. He did clean up some stuff during his year of sitting behind Alex Smith. Absolutely. But whatever, we're arguing a guy who won a Heisman trophy. You are right, though. is the ultimate experiment. If this works, you're going to see this a lot. If it doesn't work, you might never see it again. His best line.

They asked him what his favorite part of football was. You know what his line was? What was? Winning. I love that. I love the Kyla Murray thing. I just think he's tiny. I mean, he's legitimately... You don't think that. You know that. But he's, I don't believe he's as tall as he measured out at the combine. Oh, this is the foot injections thing again?

I don't know. His foot injections? or he got those lifts from Seinfeld or whatever it was. They measure your barefoot. No, I think he had his socks on. There's got to be some big socks. I've done the thing where you can kind of lift up your heels there, right? I don't know. He's little.

Like, most quarterbacks walk in. They're not Cam Newton where they block out the sun. But most of them walk in and they're bigger, they're all, you know, six two to six four. They're bigger dudes. Russell Wilson, obviously, the exception. Like, this is a little human being. A crazy athlete.

crazy competitor. And a guy who's literally won everywhere except his freshman year at Texas A&M. That was the only place he won every game he ever started in high school. Everyone. And nearly won everyone in Oklahoma last year. But this is a grandiose

experiment. And that's John Gle with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. All right, we'll get the best for last upcoming next. Why preseason football is a must watch. That's next in the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon

eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Doug Gottlieb been for calling. This is the herd. Fox Sports Radio, Iheart radio app, Fox Sports One. You should do yourself favor. Check out the Hurd Now podcast network. My podcast is called All Ball, All Basketball. Got a great discussion with Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton. It's a little bit long, but if you're going for a long cruise this weekend, amazing, amazing personal story, including one embarrassing tale. He was named an assistant coach at Stephen F. Austin and told his wife, was in Austin. And Austin, they started looking for houses, looking for the school.

Stephen F. Austin, not in Austin. It's in Nacadocious, Texas. So just word to the wise, just in case you didn't. Listen, Manhattan, Manhattan College, not on the island of Manhattan. Not sure how many people know that one. So I'll give him a pass that it's not actually on the, island of Manhattan. You know what? We've got this saved. It's really good. I was watching the NFL last night. I thought this would be perfect for the best for last. It's almost the end of the show,

but that doesn't mean we're phoning it in. Nope. We grind to the very last segment. It's time for best for last. So if you're watching on TV, you see Brady, Rogers, Breeze behind me, right? But you don't see, or Matt Ryan, I believe, who's behind me now. But you don't see. But you don't see, yeah, but you don't see, and that's Matt Schaub. I saw Matt Schaub play quarterback last night for the Atlanta Falcons, and I had no idea that Matt Schaub was still, well, Matt Schaub, quarterback in the national football. Pick six Matt Schaub. That couldn't be possible, but he's in the league or fighting to be in the league, all those veteran old head backups. So we thought we do a list of guys, are they, are they, are they, am I guessing what team they're in or are

these guys that are in the league? These are guys that are in the league, but you're going to have to guess what team they're on. Okay. Yes, I don't know that these guys will be on a team in a month. It might just be currently. Okay, look, listen, it's really hard. Those veteran quarterbacks guys have gotten a shot. It becomes like Mark Sanchez late in his career about can you get the starter ready more than can you play.

All right, John Goulet, give me one. What team is Matt Barkley on? Who I know this one? Philadelphia Eagles. Do you want another guess? I do. Ooh, ooh, uh... I'm going to go Buffalo Bills.

There you go. He is a Buffalo Bill. How about Gino Smith? He, uh, he started over Eli, got a coach fired. Yeah, he got coach fired. I mean, listen, it was beginning of the end for the Jets as well. He got his Jets coach fired as well. Carolina Panthers.

No idea. Seattle Seahawks. That's right. He is. He's fighting to be the backup. for Russell. I didn't know that. Good for you. I forgot about that. How about A.J. McCarron?

Okay, he was Buffalo, then Oakland, Cincinnati before that. Former Alabama guy. Right, right, right. Houston? Wow. Do you actually know that or is that a lucky guess? No, I thought I'd,

I mean, I'm like one of those, like, I'm on Twitter all the time, so I see these random deals. I would say I only knew that because I think I follow his wife, and I believe she put something up there about the Texans. Excuse me? Catherine, whatever. Blake Bortles. She's a lovely lady. Blake Bortles, I do know this one. He's with the L.A. Rams. That is correct. Actually, that was in the news.

It was with the news, and then I saw him some of the scrimmage yesterday against the L.A. Chargers. He doesn't throw nearly as pretty a ball as Jared Gough, but he didn't look terrible yesterday. I mean, he was, he was in the AFC championship game not that long ago. This is everyone's favorite backup. Blaine Gabbard, what team is he on now? Okay, he's been in San Francisco. He's been in Jacksonville, obviously. Jets.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Okay. Yeah. Be interested to see what James does under Bruce Ariens, who's been, had the Midas touch with quarterbacks. How about Paxton Lynch? Oh, boy. Didn't work out great with the Broncos.

No, did not work out great. Is he in San Francisco? Don't know. Seahawks. Also, so Gino Smith and Paxton Lynch. Heeded battle to be Russell Wilson's backup. He did battle. He did battle. How about Deshaun Kaiser? He's still in Green Bay.

That is correct. That one I knew. Yeah. I saw him riding a skateboard yesterday to work. That's how I knew that way. How about Trevor Simeon? Who was a starter for the Broncos two years ago? It was actually a good pick for the seventh round. Seventh round, yes. Chicago Bears.

New York Jets. New York Jets. How about Tom Savage? Great name, right? Fantastic name. Great name. Not the best player. Once upon a time was supposed to be the guy in the draft and maybe for the Houston Texans.

Tom Savage. Tom Savage. New England Patriots. Former Patriot coach Detroit Lions. Matt Patricia. Yeah. All right. Last two, real quick.

Mike Glennon. Oh, I know this one. I knew this one earlier today. Is Glennon with the Raiders? He is with the Raiders. Good call. Last one, Brett Hunley. UCLA Star, former heir apparent

with the Packers until they saw him play. Kansas City Chiefs. Arizona Cardinals. Arizona Cardinals. And that's the best for last. That's my favorite part of the Who dis new team. will call this. Who dis new team?

All right. So look, we've decided that LeBron James, super talented, but not exactly fun to work with. Don't believe me, we have all these historic markers and people that work with him. But of course, his sycophants will come out and defend him and say, you're all wrong.

But they're all saying the same thing. I'm Doug Gottlieb. This is the herd. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. heard to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like.

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