The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 1 - Mayfield, Durant, Lakers

Episode Date: July 7, 2022

Baker Mayfield was just average for the Browns Kevin Durant isn't talking to anyone right now, but why? Anthony Davis is trying to show he's committed to basketball Jimmy Garoppolo is a good bridge QB   Guest: Kevin ClarkSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but the show. celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your

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Find your local station for the Hurt at Fox SportsRod.com or stream us live every day on the IHart Radio app by searching Hurd. You're listening to Fox Sports. Sports Radio. Here we go. It is a Thursday. We are live in Los Angeles, and it's the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening.

IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1. We are loaded today. Alex Curry is joining me. Joy is on vacation. I think she's back Monday. She is a global citizen, always on the move. So a lot of things happening. yesterday in our last hour of the show is Baker Mayfield has a fresh new landing spot.

Most quarterbacks, when they get drafted, stay with a team more than four years. He did not. He is off and moving to Carolina. So that's how we start our show. It was a little gift that we got at the end of our last show, and we'll just keep it going, see how it goes. All right. As you well know, I always thought Baker Mayfield was a reach at number one.

I argued with Ohio forever. I, of course, was right. That is usually, though not always the case. And so now we look at Cleveland and we look at Baker Mayfield and we have a final report card. So he played 59 games. He had one really good coach for half his games, Kevin Stefansky. He had one really bad coach for a year, Freddie Kitchen. And then he had two coaches who were kind of volatile.

They've had some success, sometime short, shortly, briefly. Greg Williams was an interim coach and Hugh Jackson has had his moments. But he had one good coach, one mess, and then a little volatility. A typical NFL experience. That's the way it goes in the NFL. If you have four coaches in your career, you're going to have a good one, you're going to have a bad one, and you're going to have some, eh, meh, okay, get fired because everybody gets fired except Belichick.

So here are his final numbers in Cleveland. He completed 61% of his throws, had a passer rating at 87.8. And a lousy TD interception ratio less than two to one. That's what he is. Colin, that's not fair. That's not fair. He's a terrible. Okay, I'll take out Freddie Kitchens.

I'll take out, I'll take out Greg Williams the interim year. I'll take out Hugh Jackson. I'll just give you the half of the games that he had Kevin Stefansky. It's still terrible. He completed 61% of his throws. That was 36th. He's not very accurate. His TD interception ratio was 19th, passing yards 27th, passing rating 27th.

It's still bad. Colony was hurt. Come on, colony was hurt. Okay. Let's find the best four-game stretch that Baker Mayfield had in his career. They played the Jags who were the worst team in the league. The Giants were arguably the second worst team in the league. And then the Titans and the Ravens at home.

In that four-game stretch, he was Joe Montana. 70% completion rate, 117 pass rate. Yes, that of course was 6% of his games. And if he played the two worst teams in the league half the time, he would be Joe Montana. That's not how the league works. You don't get to play like the 31st best team and the 32nd best team, half your games. The bottom line, Burrow is in that division now. And Lamar Jackson's in that division now, both dynamic.

And we'll see how can he pick? it works. The argument, statistically, Trebisky's better than Baker if you look at his track record so far. So he was going to be the fourth best quarterback in a division. So my gut feeling, the report card's in, he's average. I think Darnold will beat him out initially in Carolina. But Darnold, because Matt Ruhl is on the hot seat as the coach, will make some mistakes because he plays recklessly. That's who he is.

And then Baker will replace him. And at the end of the year, Carolina will get rid of both. Because Baker's costing them $5 million, and that buys you a cookie in the NFL. And Sam's not costing that much, and his contract, you'll be able to get out of it. Won't be punitive. It'll be done. And they'll get rid of both of them. But the report card's in.

He was averaging Cleveland. In half the games, he had a really good coach. And he had a really bad coach briefly and a couple of volatile coaches. But that's what he is. That's what I predicted. That's what the report card says. I do think eventually he'll win the starting job eventually in Carolina. But he's not going to have that great Cleveland offensive line. He's not going to have

the best running back duo in the league. He's not going to have those tight ends. And who knows if Matt Rule is Kevin Stefansky, who's won already in his career an NFL coach of the year award. Bucky Brooks talked about Baker to Carolina at the end of our show yesterday. It would be interesting to see how this plays out. And I would say that Baker is behind the eight ball because he's joining the team in July. July. six, he gets on the team, they go to training camp. He'll have to learn to playbook in training camp. Sam Donald knows the playbook. And then by all account, Sam Donald has already built relationships with the teammates. So what does this look like? To me, it might be, in wrestling terms,

a loser leave town match. Whoever wins the quarterback position stays, the loser has to go somewhere else. I think that Sam Donald has an opportunity to win this job. I think Sam Donald would be a much better performer in front of Baker Mayfield. Carolina's not going to be very good. I would say this, though. It'd be a really good hard knocks team. They'd be great for hard knocks. The season will be nothing but hard knocks,

but they'd be great for hard knocks. Second story. Kevin Durant has reportedly, quote, gone dark, unquote, meaning he's hiding. Hmm. Let's put us all. Inspector hat on. What is going on?

It could mean two things. One, Kendrick Perkins is right. KD. doesn't want to leave Brooklyn. He wants his buddy Kyrie Irving to get a contract. So he's threatening, I want out of here. And that will ultimately result in Kyrie getting a new deal and he's staying. He's bluffing. Or perhaps more simply.

He doesn't want to play with Ben Simmons. They're getting rid of Kyrie Irving. He's sort of tired of Brooklyn and the mess upstairs. And he told you, Miami or Phoenix is where I want to go. I'm going to go enjoy myself for the summer. Nick Wright was on the show yesterday. He does not believe it's a bluff. He thinks KD is headed out of town.

I think they have mismanaged this top to bottom every step of the way for the last three years. I do not buy for one second that they might actually. you know what? KD's under contract four years. We'll see you in training camp. I don't buy it. They are trying to get the best possible offer. The nets were a nice idea that never materialized. I do not buy for one second that after they allow Kyrie to seek a trade and KD demands a trade and they start talking to teams out of KD trade, that all of a sudden they're going to put the genie back in the bottle

and they're going to run it back with them. I don't buy it at all. Let's be completely frank here. the KD. Kyrie Hardin situation in Brooklyn was an embarrassing mess for the NBA. Hardin quit his team in Houston. Kyrie in the anti-Vax not available stand. KD is simply too gifted and too fun to watch to now have to collaborate with Ben Simmons. KD on Phoenix. KD. on Miami would be fun to watch.

would have a championship level feel, would be good for the NBA, and I like the NBA a lot. But you know what I like more than the NBA? And this is in all walks of life. I like great, talented, and committed people to be in great situations. If you work really hard to get good grades in high school

and then work really hard to get good grades in college, I want you to get a good job. You've earned it. Kevin Durant is a committed basketball player. I feel bad for not just Trevor Lawrence, but NFL and the fans when somebody like Trevor Lawrence goes to Jacksonville. What a bummer. Or when Matt Stafford had to play 12 or 13 years in Detroit and that ownership.

What a mess. What a bummer. A bummer for Matt. A bummer for the NFL. A bummer for fans. When you see how great Stafford is with the Rams, it's like, damn, we could be talking about one of the all-time great guys if you got a decent coach and a great owner. I root for great committed people to end up in great places.

I always say this about SEC fans. They care more. I like to see them win. A lot of people hate the SEC dominates. I think it's a problem for the sport because it's so dominant, but they do care more. They're more committed. NIL, they'll pay more. Small towns, a lot of times not even small rich towns.

And they just pay anything to get an offensive lineman out of high school. They're more committed. I like to see committed people win. I feel bad Mike Trout. He'd be much better with the Dodgers, but much better organization. Angels have had nothing but controversy, nothing but messes for four, five, six, seven years.

Can you imagine putting him right now in the Mets who have Steve Cohn, who's totally committed financially? If Mets finally have a great wealthy owner, totally committed, lives for baseball. Overnight the Mets are really, really good. Put Mike Trout on that team with that owner and that fan base. That'd be awesome. Or with the Yankees or with the Dodgers.

or with the Dodgers. Like, I root for great, committed people to end up in great places. And so Kevin Durant is simply too good to deal with the nonsense of Ben Simmons, the anti-vax weirdness of Kyrie, and James Hardin, who is occasionally committed to, I don't know, getting sleep and being in shape for an NBA season. I think if you put KD with Spolstra, Jimmy Butler, the Miami culture.

Fantastic for everybody. Everybody except the people who have to play Miami. That's what this league is about. Janus deserves the current front office in Milwaukee. They're really good. Jason Tatum deserves the commitment of the Celtic fan base, the Celtic owner, Brad Stevens, and that new young smart coach.

That's what I root for. I don't want Matt Stafford situations. It stinks. If you work hard, high school, college, totally committed, it's better for everybody. You, the country, the league, the sport, the finances of it, if you end up with the right people. Katie is too good to be worried about if Ben Simmons is afraid to shoot when he shows up for the game. Will Kyrie be available? Would James Harden be in shape?

Ridiculous. So good for KD. Phoenix, Miami is what I'm rooting for. 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. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth.

Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became.

became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people

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

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Great Rates. None of the Bull. Credible. So I saw this story. I don't think I'm a cynical person, but there are people when they're trying to prove something. I always say, when you see a story, it's not just the story, it's why did the story leak? Right? You see stuff all the time.

The Lakers, everything leaks. I mean, this is every single thing leaks with the Lakers. A lot of it is to plug holes, to solve PR messes. You got to leak stuff. A bad White House, the Trump White House, every 15 minutes there was a leak. When you don't know what you're doing, you got to leak stuff to save your behind. So Anthony Davis, he's working with a very well-known NBA skills coach, and the skills coach went to Twitter saying, Anthony Davis, 450 a.m. is doing what it takes.

He is really working hard. It's the off-season. He could do that at 8 in the morning. 9 in the morning, 9.15, 10, 10, 45, 11, noon, 2, 10, 10, 40, 1, 9. two, three, four, five. Why, 450 a.m. And why is it on Twitter? He is proving to you.

He is committed. You just told us a couple of weeks ago you hadn't picked up a basketball in two months. You came in after the bubble championship season out of shape. And everybody in the league knows you're not committed in the wait room. Anthony Davis is an old 29 years old. Now, this year, it looks like he's really committed. That's what Twitter says. Can he make up for years of neglect?

I don't know. But if you look at the numbers, he peaked at 26 years old. Some would argue 24. He's never been committed. He's just been gifted. Same with Cam Newton. Cam Newton. He was done by 32.

Brady's 44 and still an MVP-level quarterback. Your body, you re-point you so. Your body, if you're committed, it's committed to you. So AD got crushed for that comment that I hadn't picked up a ball in two months. It's very well known in the NBA. He doesn't work out. He doesn't play through a lot of his injuries. Some he does.

Most he doesn't. And so now he's trying to prove to you. Let's get it out there. I am committed. I'm always a little suspicious of people like, you know, that people that give to charity and have to tell you how much they give the charity. They've got to have seven press releases to tell you how much money they give the charity. Why don't you just help people and worry about the press release later?

When people try to prove me wrong, prove how much I give, prove how. good of a person. You go to Twitter, it's people just telling you how wonderful they are all day. Oh, I'm just wonderful. I'm so nice. I'm smarter than everybody. I give RIP this and RIP that. Oh, yoy, yoy, yoy, just do nice things and be a nice person. How about we start with that? And if you're a professional athlete, get in the gym and grind your butt off. What a LeBron and Janice and Kobe and MJ and KD and Steph and Jimmy Butler and Tim Duncan and Carl Malone. What are they all have in common? Grinders.

80's not. But his Twitter friend is telling you he is really putting in the time. People become their habits. They don't become what they occasionally do with intensity. You will become in life what your habits are. LeBron has become his habits. Russell Wilson and Tom Brady have become their habits. Anthony Davis is putting in the time this offseason.

4.50 AM. I had to get that AM in there. PM, who cares? AM? What a grinder. Just do it. You're a pro athlete. Getting the gym workout every day. Hard.

Two hours of cardio in the morning. Two hours of lifting at night. Six days a week. I'll give you Sunday off. You're a pro athlete. That's what you should do. I don't need Twitter telling me how hard you're working. People are suspicious and cynical for a reason.

And if you look at the history of the NBA, there's no really talented guys who were marginally committed on the list of 10 best players. It doesn't work that way. And that's why he peaked at 25 and at 29 he's old. And maybe he has a really good year. Okay. But I've seen it now for a lot of years. And I know what he is.

Alex for the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, Colin, Chet Holmgren had an honest. Start to Summer League, but yesterday against the Grizzlies, he had a not-so-stellar night. He struggled. Yeah, setting the Summer League record for three-pointers and blocks in the game the night before.

Holmgren went three of 11 from the field for just 11 points last night. He also showed what many considered a weakness in his build, taking a lot of physicality from Kenny Lofton Jr. Now, fatigue may have been a factor since they were playing back-to-back games. Oh, back-to-back for a 20-year-old. That is rigorous. He did say, though, that he did say, though, that. But he was still trying to catch his lungs after having such a long break from his freshman year at Gonzaga. And we know, game shake takes time.

The only way you get into game shape is by playing games. But we saw it last night. This is the first time he was up against an NBA-sized player. He got pushed around. He looked really skinny and really tiny. Well, I think he's too skilled not to work at some level. Yeah. But I think it's ridiculous and naive to not acknowledge.

that we have a history of really thin players that come in. Some like Yonnas become great. Yes. Many others do not. And there's often with this build injuries that follow. So let's not be the sky as falling. I think he's too skilled to not. And the game is really moving into a skill over bench press league.

He reminds me a lot of a very young international player from 10 years ago where he shoots the ball way better than he should for his son. eyes and his age. Yeah. But you have to be honest, if you look at the NBA. I said this, Alex, when he got drafted, I think Joy was on the show that week, before I went on vacation, I said, is I think when you look at his build, Oklahoma City, and I'm sure Sam Presti and the guys that run that franchise would do this, I look at him

and I think that's not an 82 game body. So college, you play 36 games, NBA, it's 82. It's a big jump. Yeah. Now, LeBron can come into the league. That's an 82-game body. Magic is a rookie bird. Certain guys, but there are certain body types, and it's often the tall, lanky kid,

he's not an 82-game body. They should have like a 55 to a 60-game schedule, try to cut back on road back-to-backs, because otherwise, when do you get hurt as an athlete? When you're fatigued, that's what they always say about skiing. Yep. Should I go in a last run? If you're asking yourself, don't. Never say it's the last run.

But that's what they always say in skiing. You get hurt on your last run. It's muscle fatigue. So I look at Chet and I think, let's get him in for 50 games. If he ends up being 12 points a game, six rebounds and two blocks, home run. Then he's put on 12 pounds. He gets the cardio and the physicality of the league. But there's no rush here.

This is a team that's rebuilding. They got a bunch of draft picks. There's no rush for him. But I think if you watched him last night, And I didn't watch last night. I just saw the highlights. He looked tired. Yes.

And he admitted that, too. He said that after the game. He felt like he was trying to catch his breath. Yeah. But he desperately needs to put on muscle or weight. They should be putting him on a program. Food-wise, weight in the gym, whatever it is, because that's only going to benefit him, the team.

He has what it takes. They just have to put in the effort behind the scenes. Yeah. And he'll get there. All right. Well, yesterday was Zion Williamson's 22nd birthday. and what a way to celebrate the design a five-year $193 million contract extension? Now, ironically, last year on Zion's birthday is when he found out that he broke his foot

and eventually ended up missing the entire season. Now he's reflecting on that moment and what he expects for his future with the Pelicans. On my birthday last year is when I found that I broke my foot. And I was out the whole year. It was a tough year. And then for the Pelicans, to come give me this birthday gift, I'm not going to let him down.

I want to prove that I'm a winner. Simple as that. The ultimate goal is to win a championship. And I feel like that's what we're all striving for. Like Griff said, we're hungry. Y'all saw this past year what the team did, and I'm just excited to add to that. He also needs to have a chef, a trainer,

but on the other side of things. I do think, New Orleans is in a unique position. There are people that think they'll get there. I've heard before discussions that the franchise won't last in New Orleans, their bottom third in attendance. The truth is, where Zion really makes sense for them as an organization,

and he may be a player that can only play 60 regular season games because of his body type. He is such a magnet for ratings and merchandise in that market, and it is a great, it's one of the great football markets, college and pro in America. It is an unbelievable college football state. It's an unbelievable NFL town. Their NFL ratings are massive. It's not a basketball city to this point.

And the truth is, you need somebody. You need somebody. San Antonio, I think basketball. Utah, Salt Lake City, I think basketball. New Orleans, I think football. Zion gets my family to that arena. And if he can't play 82 games a year and he becomes a 58, you try to play him in as many home games.

as you can and get butts in the seats. But there's an economic reality of that market and Zion's ability to attract people. That's where I get the contract. I think some people are forgetting how captivating he is because he's only played 85 games in three seasons. But when he was in college, everyone wanted to watch him play. He is magnetic. So if he can stay healthy, stay on the court, even for 75% of the season, it's going to be

a win for the Pelicans. As you mentioned, he's going to draw audience. He's going to draw merchandise. wish the best for Zion. Moving on, PJ Tucker recently signed a three-year, $33.2 million deal with the 76ers after playing for the Heat last season. Now, yesterday Tucker took to Instagram with a farewell message to Miami saying, what a year. True underdogs that really got out of the mud and went against all odds. Miami, you will forever be my home and Heat Nation.

I can't thank you enough for the love you've shown all year through our journey together has come to an end. The love will remain the same. Now his former teammate Jimmy Butler didn't have his heartwarming of a response. He said F you and Joelle Embed. Yeah, I brought him into this. So it's spicy. There was already obviously a rivalry between Jimmy and Mb being former teammates. And then we saw in the Eastern Conference semis this past season.

But now, this is going to be a spicy, fun rivalry. Butler's going to end up getting like a Donovan Mitchell or somebody. He needs it. They need to. Miami has a history of attracting. Miami's always done this. Florida, especially Miami, has always done a good job of attracting free agents. And the heat are so well run.

They'll be fine. Owner, GM coach. I never worry about the heat being bad long. They got rid of LeBron leaves them. They're in a lurch for a couple years. They figure it out. They always do. Yeah, they're just missing that one big piece.

Jimmy Butler was the heat the last three seasons. He brought them to the finals in 2020 against the Lakers. He was their number one player this. past season. So just that one miss and peace. Yep, there you go, Alex, for the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd line news. You know, I was thinking, when Baker got traded yesterday for just a conditional fifth round pick, I think he's worth more than that, in my opinion, but that's what he got traded for. Did he reset the market? And we talk about this all the time. Rudy Gobert got traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves. It's the craziest thing I've

ever seen. Five picks and five players are nine total, four picks or five pick. I guess it's a pick, but the pick's already been selected. So however you want to, is that a pick or a player? It's like nine either picks or players. For Rudy Gobert, not an offensive player. An offense is 75% of the NBA. It's insane. It resets the market. So Brooklyn's going to be like, you're going to give me DeAndre Aiton and McHale Bridges and a couple of picks? Forget it. Do you see what Rudy Gober went for? So sometimes owners in this league and GMs just roll their eyes and are furious. People around the league are upset that Minnesota gave away that much for Rudy Gobert. I like Rudy Gobert. He's not that. He's worth a couple of picks and a player. He's not that.

So, and I think when Baker, when Tyreek Hill went for five picks to Miami, he's not worth five picks. Now, I like Tyreek Hill and he's valuable. But when Randy Moss was putting up big years in Minnesota and went to Oakland, he went for a player and a pick. And Randy Moss is arguably the greatest receiver in the history of the league, he's certainly top five. So Tyreek Hill to me is not worth that. And I like Tyreek Hill. He, I mean, he bends the field. Like there's not a lot of them out there. But when Baker goes for a fifth round pick is San Francisco saying he set the market. That's all we're getting for Jimmy. We might as well just keep Jimmy. I wouldn't. I think it's time to move him. But I here's now, I think Jimmy's a much,

he's a, I think he checks a lot of boxes. He's a winner. He's a great locker room guy. There's no But I do think there's three types of quarterbacks in the National Football League. There's the franchise guys, and we all know who they are. Then there's what they call a bridge quarterback. He's good enough to start and win games. But we're not going to build around him. He's either limited. He's got injuries.

It's a personality thing. We're not selling the farm for him for a five-year deal. And then there's backups. So Jimmy has been a starter, and he's certainly better than that. a backup. And how I view Jimmy Garapolo today is he is the world's best bridge quarterback. Because I think he's more talented as a thrower of the football than Mitch Trubisky, who is also a very good quarterback. And I think he's better than Teddy Bridgewater, who's also a very good bridge quarterback. Gino Smith's a backup. Drew Locke's going to end up being a backup.

I think Jimmy Garapolo is the world's best bridge quarterback. He wins. He's been in good games. He's not that expensive. He's willing to. be a backup. He'll never screw you at the podium. Everybody in the room likes him. He's got dude quality. So everybody jumps on the Jimmy. I mean, if you look like that as a guy and you come in, there's something to be said for quarterback face. You just look like a dude. You look like a dude. And everybody likes Jimmy. Everybody. The veterans, the young guys, the coaches, and he won't blow up a locker room. He'll never give you a snide comment. He is the best bridge core. That's as good as you can do as a bridge quarterback. He's gone into Lambo and beaten Brett Farve. He's played in

cold weather and hot weather. He's played Mahomes in a Super Bowl. He's got good looking guy confidence. He doesn't. He's limited. He gets hurt too much. And that's why he's not a franchise. But I've said this about Mitch Trubisky. I don't want to build around Mitch Trubisky. I think he's a really good bridge quarterback. I got Mitch Trubisky with the Steelers, coaching staff, continuity, wide receivers. Now they have a star running back. T.J. Watt. Minka Fitzpatrick. Hey, for two years, we're trying to get Kenny Peckett ready. Maybe it's just a year. You know, and Trubiskeys are really good bridge quarterback because they didn't pay him anything.

Garoppola is going to cost you more. But we have three types of quarterbacks. And Jimmy now, to me, is the best you can do as a bridge. I mean, it's just how he has handled it in San Francisco is fairly remarkable. It really is. That's why I contend you could bring him to Tampa. behind Brady. It probably bothered Tom more than Jimmy and just say, listen, Kyle Trask isn't ready next year.

We're going to bring him up. I don't know if the finances work. I haven't looked at that. But, I mean, to me, it would work solely because of Jimmy. It just, it would work. I don't know if Tom would like it, but Jimmy would be fine with it. And so I don't know if Baker reset the market. I think Garapolo's got an injury history and a shoulder surgery that concerns me.

I think he's better than a fifth round pick. I think San Francisco at this point, I just want Trey Lance for at least a year to be the quarterback and run the quarterback room without Jimmy G in it. I think Jimmy G's one of those guys that his mere presence, you can't own a locker room if Jimmy G's in it in the cubicle next to you. He's too popular.

He's too well liked. Some guys are too talented to be a backup. Or Cam had too big of an aura to be a backup. Jimmy G, if he's in the room, Half the locker room is going to like him even if he didn't start. He's just the ultimate good dude. All right. Kevin Clark's around the corner.

Oh, I know the sky is falling. I mean, it doesn't matter if it's politics, it's sports. Everybody's freaking out about the new Big Ten. But here, a week later, less than a week later, something very interesting and very optimistic and very positive is happening in college football with these teams that are out there kind of hovering and trying to figure out where they're going to land. We apparently have something that could be very good for a lot of people, and I'll talk about that. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Mike check.

Do you want exclusive insight from the biggest names in the sports game? What's good? This is national champion and former pro baller Chris Johnson. Let me tell you a little bit about my new series, KJ Live. KJ Live is the only show featuring me going one-on-one with the brightest. basketball minds on the planet to get the real. And when I say real, I mean that real. I got legendary Hall of Famers, elite coaches,

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

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

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So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your 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, Tript 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.

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Search learn the hard way and listen now. Well, he's one of the really funny and interesting NFL writers out there. He's also got host of the Slow Newsday videocast. His name is Kevin Clark, and he has been abroad lately. He's very busy. He's a big F1 racing expert. He knows a lot of things, but we're going to dial him down here on the NFL. So your first reaction, Baker Mayfield to Carolina.

what is your first gut reaction? Well, nobody believes in Baker Mayfield right now, and I might put the Carolina Panthers in that category because they gave up less than they gave up to trade up for Matt Corral in order to get him. He took a pay cut. This felt like a little bit of desperation on both sides, frankly. They've now assembled between Darnel and Baker Mayfield,

the two most interception-prone quarterback since they entered the league. Baker is a better quarterback than Sam Darnold. That's good news. The bad news is, is nobody else uses that as a bar for good productive NFL quarterback. So Carolina's got a mess on their hand. It's going to be stadium seating in the quarterback room. This is another churn at the position under Matt Rule. So I'm not sure if anything, really, Colin, is going to be solved.

And Band-Aids don't work at the quarterback position. And a bunch of Band-Aids really don't work. So I think it's a fine option for him. He'll be mad or get to prove everybody wrong, whatever. But this environment is not conducive to a, an incredible season for Baker Mayfield, Colin. Yeah, 27 years as a franchise, seven winning season. So it's not a healthy roster.

You know, I said, so Jimmy Garapolo is still available. And we've had this discussion back and forth. Mike Silver and I, we've talked about this a lot, that Garoppolo is so well-liked. He's got the dude qualities, right? Like, he's just comfortable being Jimmy Garoppolo. And he's won a lot of big games. He's won at Lambo. He went toe to toe with Mahomes.

I don't think you can have him in a room and then demand that Tray Lance owns the room. It's unfair. Jimmy Garapolo had people in the Patriots building that were Garapolo guys when Brady was running the league. So my takeaway is it's just time to move, Jimmy. You get a fifth rounder. You gave a second rounder up and he got you to a Super Bowl.

So my take on, what would you do if you're the Niners on Garoppolo? Well, unfortunately, the shoulders, surgery really hurt him because I thought that I think they thought that they were going to be able to put him in a very nice home and get him a starting position on a contender. And once the surgery happened, that pushed the timeline back to the point, there's really no options. We're not going to trade him to Seattle. And even if they did trade with a rival, do you want to be in Seattle right now? Like, do you want to be in that quarterback room? No. And so it's really hard for him. I mean, there could be an option in Cleveland for a full year where he gets to sort of rehabilitate

his quarterback image and get into a situation where he's due for big, money next year. But listen, I don't think you can have him in San Francisco if you're that committed to Trey Lance. Reason being, you know, I had Joe Montana on Flo Nus Day a couple months ago after the season. And he said, there are people in San Francisco in that locker room who think that Jimmy should be the starter at the beginning of next season. Yeah. You can't roll into a season like that with doubt. If you're going to commit, you have to commit. You know, the old cliche is if you have two quarterbacks, you have none. In Carolina, the old cliche is if you have 10 quarterbacks, you have none. But in San Francisco right now, they've got to make a decision.

It's either another year of doubt or it's Trey Lance. And they've got to make decision pretty quickly before camp because I leave for Buffalo in two weeks. Yeah. The Deshawn Watson situation, I was thinking about it this morning. I don't think it's a coincidence that Cleveland moved Baker now because next week, Cleveland's going to be the noisiest place in the country. Either Deshawn's going to get a very light suspension and the media is going to go bonkers. and some fans, or he's going to get a long suspension, and then you start maybe asking, do we got to get Jimmy G here? Let's say the NFL came out. Deshawn's out for a year.

Well, I think this roster's too good, Kevin and Cleveland, to just bail on a season. Would you call Jimmy Garoppolo if the suspension is over eight or nine games for Deshaun? Yes, absolutely. You can't waste a season. Jacoby Reset is a great backup. He's making backup. up money. And by all accounts, he's super popular in the locker room. Like, yes, Jacoby Brissette is a great person to have on your roster. He's not a great person to start for 10 games in a competitive AFC North that is top to bottom. I mean, the Steelers might be the worst team in that division. And by the way, the Steelers are awesome and a great organization and a

better organization on balance than the Cleveland Browns. And so you have to go in there with the plan because, as you said, that roster is too good. So yes, I make the call. At this point, The only option for San Francisco going into August is they hope he can play a Sam Bradford role where somebody gets hurt and they're able to trade a second or first. But that's a lot of hope. Hope is not a strategy, Colin. And so I go into this and say, if Cleveland wants to offer me third round pick to pick up his contract, I'm good with that. It is in a weird way kind of what we were talking about earlier, a happy home where he gets to at least quarterback a contender for over half a season. So I think that that would be the best case scenario for him right now. All right, I got to throw this out.

You're a lifelong Orlando magic fan. Well, that's not a way to react. Those shack years were very promising. Okay. Dwight years. Yeah, they're okay. It's great. We had two peaks.

It's great. All right. And so they went with a very, very physically ready to play Palo Bancaro for Duke, who is, I mean, he is the part. Like, that kid's ready to play in the league. and they didn't go with Chet Holmgren, who looked like Kevin Durant two days ago and looked like Sean Bradley last night. So where are you on this? Do you think Orlando made a mistake? Because there is your public musings have been very, I would say there's anxiety right now with you. Yeah, I would harp on that anxiety word because a lot of people, Magic fans have said, maybe you should just be more mature about this. maybe you should be emotionally healthy.

If you guys watch Magic basketball, how am I supposed to be emotionally healthy while watching Orlando Magic? It's been a decade. I've seen Shabazz Napier a lot. I've seen Gustavo I own. I don't have an emotionally healthy relationship with basketball. So don't expect me to start now, okay?

Here's my viewpoint. The magic have been in a rut for a decade since they traded Dwight when the London Olympics were happening. That's how long ago it was. And in order to get out of that rut, you know this. It's not a coach. It's not a GM.

It's a superstar, a super-duper-star, a Janus-level game-changing superstar. And I felt the only pathway for that would be Chet with add at least 30 pounds and all the traits that he has. And then in three years, he's in that mix. I do think there's a lower ceiling on Palo Bancaro. I do think, frankly, there was a lower ceiling on Jabari Smith. I think it's possible, we've talked about this with some of my colleagues. I think it's possible Palo Bancaro wins rookie of the year. And after one year we say, this is great.

and after year three we're saying, oh, wait, we realized what the higher ceiling was. So I'm not in the business anymore of Orlando Magic optimism, but listen, he played, Palo plays his first summer league game tonight. I have expectations that'll score, he'll do well, he can take over a game. Listen, if you can't take over a summer league game, then we really got a problem. So the expectations are pretty high tonight. That is true. Kevin Clark at the Ringer, great seeing you as always, my friend. You look rested, healthy, ready to go.

Have a great summer. We'll talk soon. all right see you call yeah that you know it's interesting the point he brings up about paolo bancarro so palo is ready to play he's got an NBA body and this sometimes happens I remember when I covered Larry Johnson at UNLV so Larry Johnson went to a junior college then he came to UNLV and I covered him two years Larry literally had a 38 year old NBA body he was totally yote between hard work genetics but but I always felt like you could fall in love with Larry, but I felt the ceiling was what you were going to get with Larry early in the NBA,

that's what you were going to get. Whereas a lot of guys like Janus comes in and you're not even close to the ceiling. And so that's the argument. Holmgren, people think has this absurd ceiling if he puts on 25 pounds. Bankero is going to come in and be very good early, but maybe that's just what he is. He's just, he'll be productive. He's got a great body. And you've seen this time and time again is that.

Kevin Durant was a guy that was thin, but people thought, oh my God, look the way he shoots. He's going to be a 32 point a game guy. I didn't. I thought he was too skinny. But he was viewed. The people in the NBA that I knew were like he's going to be a scoring machine. You know, I think Luke is a great example where he's a little bit of both. But I think Luca was so skilled, so offensively ahead of his age that by the end of year two, you're like, yeah, Luca's going to score 28 to 32 points.

This is what he's going to be. He's not going to become wildly more athletic or wildly more twitchy or more vertical. What Luke is is what he is. He's not very good defensively. Got a little bit of an odd body and he's a scoring machine. And we saw that by middle of year two, you're like, whoa, that guy gets to 32 points really fast and really easy. And that's not a knock on him. This is what he is because he was so mature because he had played with Europeans at like 14 years old.

So by the time he got to the NBA, dude, that game? Very quickly. Was very legit. All right, our two is coming up in the hurt. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel

help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving. for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with

the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I put on 10 pounds, I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliver Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated.

So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. doing how many men carry a suit or armor.

It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to, listen to learn the hard way on the IHard radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human.