The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 1 - NFL draft, Steelers, Ravens, Paul

Episode Date: April 29, 2022

Thoughts on the first round of the NFL draft Colin discusses the Steelers drafting Kenny Pickett The Ravens did the right thing Chris Paul keeps reminding us how great he is Guest: Albert BreerSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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One of my favorite shows of the year, the day after the first round of the NFL draft and my guys, Doc Rivers and Chris Paul, are going to the next round. I'm in a great mood. Live in Los Angeles, it's the herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1.

What a night. sitting there, pepperoni pizza, total clarity, diet coach and coffee, ready to roll, Joy, Taylor. How are you? I'm great. It was a fun night. It was an interesting draft. I thought there were some really good choices. And, of course, my Steelers have a new quarterback.

Could be a starting quarterback. Could be. So, so much fun. I really do. We've had a really good March in April. I had so much fun last night. So here's my takeaway, I guess, big picture. There were six wide receivers taken in the top 20 picks.

That's an NFL draft record. Receivers going everywhere. There were nine trades in the first round. Crazy town. NFL draft record. Packers, man, do anything. Took two defensive guys. Now they have two picks today.

Not great picks. Like in the 50s, you know, kind of a lot. like yesterday, a couple of later ones. But it's interesting to watch the NFC. Lions in both free agency in the draft. Boy, they have upgraded their offensive pieces, wide receiver. Saints were aggressive yesterday, get a wide receiver. Eagles traded for A.J. Brown.

Arizona. Holy moly. Have you seen their receiver room now? Oh, my God. They went and got Hollywood Brown. All those NFC teams. Arizona this morning, watch out, man, that's fun. All NFC teams, all went for speed, all took big risks, and Green Bay did not.

Now, I will say this. Jimmy Johnson, as good a football coach as we've had, you know, maybe ever, and a great personnel coach, unlike Belichick, he could draft. I asked him a couple days ago on the show, ever struggling the draft. He goes, yeah, yeah, one time when I had an older Dan Marino and I started reaching to find pieces to help him. Green Bay is like, Aaron, you're 38. You've talked 50-50 retirement.

We're not going to reach to appease you. And I should say this, and we should all acknowledge this. Outside of the Jordan love pick, they draft pretty well. Green Bay drafts pretty well. They develop pretty well. I didn't love A.J. Dillon is the second round running back. It's a good pick. A good player.

They draft and develop. And so I look around this morning, I mean, New England can't draft in the first round to save their life. If they took an offensive guard, I made two calls to two executives. You know what they said? They said we have them as a third round grade, both of them. Super Bowl winning GM and another great playoff GM. So listen, if you're Aaron Rogers, and he didn't complain about it,

and the Packers just historically, they don't go for running backs, they don't go for tight ends, they don't go for wide receivers in the first round. But it's one of those things when you're a great quarterback. You want everything. But no quarterback gets anything. Joe Montana, I got the world. Yeah, but he had Steve Young breathing down his neck. Brett Farvin Green Bay, it's my world.

He had Aaron Rogers breathing down his neck. Tom Brady had the rigidity of Bill Belichick. Russell Wilson's got everything. Sierra, he had a 70-year-old defensive coach. Patrick Mahalms, he's got everything. Well, I don't know. You seen that division? Just lost Tyree Hill.

Josh Allen, Colin. Josh Allen has everything. Really? You ever seen the weather in Buffalo in November, December, and January? He'll be playing in blizzards. He'd probably love to play in Arizona. Love to play in a dome. No quarterback, even the all-time greats. Joe Montana had Steve Young breathing down his neck.

Tom Brady was complaining constantly. They didn't take his opinion in the game plans. Russell Wilson's coach was the wrong side of the ball. It does feel like Matt Stafford for this little tiny moment's got everything. something will go sideways here. Maybe the offensive line they'll draft poorly and he'll be running for his life. Aaron Rogers has a pretty darn good life. He's always had very good offensive lines.

He's had back-to-back offensive coaches. Green Bay is not a major media market. He mostly gets favorable coverage when he goes to work every day. They always tend to draft well at wide receiver, and I suspect today they'll go out and find some. It's not a perfect world. Quarterbacks in America are the most powerful people in the world in sports outside of an occasional international soccer star and an NBA star.

Yon is probably now pretty powerful. But Aaron's in that class of five or six guys who are going to get their way most of the time. But even for Montana, even for Brady, there's always something you got to deal with. In Green Bay, they're not going to do what Jimmy Johnson did with Dan Marino. They're not going to reach to appease a 38-year-old quarterback. When Aaron said I'm 50-50 on retirement, Joy is my witness, I said, don't say that publicly. I could be 50-50 retirement. You don't say it publicly.

My bosses are like, well, it's time to find a replacement. I thought that was a huge mistake. And I think Mark Murphy pointed out in the last month, the president of the Packers, we do not have a three-year deal with Aaron. We have three one-year deals. We're not going to reach. It's not who we are. It's not our blueprint. And by the way, we keep winning our division and get into the playoffs.

There are worse things in the NFL. All right. It's my big picture on the Packers. So I want to talk about something. We all kind of knew. I thought I had so much fun watching the draft. Isn't it funny that we didn't have much of a buildup for the draft? But the draft itself with all the trades was so much fun to watch.

So a lot of time you have four or five star quarterbacks. Nobody makes any trades. This thing is you didn't have a lot of star players. So Kenny Pickett went to the Pittsburgh Steelers. And that was great. That was a really touching moment. Drops, drops, drops. And I mean, Joe Burrow is the exception.

The ability to go to a bad franchise and carry it. We all get that's the exception. For Kenny Pickett, this is perfect. Stability, a football coach, Mike Tomlin, that's never had a losing record, good receivers, found their back, have a tight end, great defense. This is perfect. And Kenny Pickett's not viewed as Joe Burrow.

He has viewed more like Mack Jones. Come in, surrounding him with stability, he can manage. He is much more trailer than tractor. He's not going to pull you somewhere. He's got to be kind of pulled. He's 24. So he can play now. He's a four-year starter. So he can play right now. Mitch Trubisky, we thought he was a bridge quarterback may very well be a backup quarterback. That's what it feels like to me. They got Kenny Pickett to start. And I will say this. Of the five or six other quarterbacks that will be taken over the next day or weekend, I highly doubt any of them get

this situation. A coach that's never had a losing record? I mean, what's the Steelers' weakness. Their offensive line could be better. They addressed it last year. They'll address it this weekend. The other thing is when I watched the draft is when you don't have a lot of superstars in the draft, and I don't think it has one, what really becomes important, I mean, Chase Young was going to work anywhere.

Right? We can do that. It's Patrick Mahomes, eventually, we found out, well, that would work anywhere. Kansas City helps. Joe Burrell, I guess, was going to work. anywhere. Andrew Luck was going to work anywhere. But if you don't have that in this draft, what really becomes important is fit. And there were four or five players, I thought, really, very fortunately found the perfect spot. Aidan Hutchison, Michigan, doesn't go number one,

not the pressure of the number one. He goes number two to his local team. By the way, number two picks. Vaughn Miller's a two, one of the bosses is a two. Two's a good spot. Not a lot of pressure. Now he goes to Detroit. It's not a dominating culture. He's not the number one pick. He's a local kid. They're going to be rooting for him, fan favorite. And I kind of like their momentum. The other kid is Jordan Davis, the kid from Georgia that goes to Philadelphia. I thought that was a great landing spot. First of all, he gets to play next to Fletcher Cox, who is just a great guy and a great player. Philadelphia also has a history of drafting defensive linemen doing very, very well at that position. They may miss on receivers. They are good on defensive linemen. So again, not a lot of pressure,

not a top 10 pick. He comes in, plays next to kind of an all-time, you know, interior line guy. He's going to learn from him. They're not going to demand day one that he's dominant. Great place to land. I thought Baltimore had two kids, Kyle Hamilton the safety, Tyler Linderbaum the center. Both come in. Again, I thought they were great value picks. They'll both be starters. It's a position of need. You have a great owner, organizational stability. They won't have to star. They'll be given a year to kind of figure things out.

Bail a little water. They may get overwhelmed initially. It's perfect. And then there's Kenny Pickett. They've got the receivers in Pittsburgh. They've got a great young tied end, an excellent young running back, a front seven. He doesn't have to carry the franchise. He doesn't have to be in shootouts.

Pittsburgh's defense is elite. And Tomlin's an elite defensive coach. what they need is somebody to come in who's got a better arm than the guys they have right now can move a little bit who's got a lot of college starts and will be comfortable day one. It's exactly what Kenny Pickett is. When you have a draft that doesn't have a lot of star power, landing spot becomes crucial to success. And I thought between Aidan Hutchison, Jordan Davis, Kyle Hamilton, Kenny Pickett and Tyler Linderbaum, great fits. I would be shocked if those guys didn't do really, really well.

And who knows? Maybe some of them do become stars. A lot of people think Jordan Davis, I have two executives who I trust both thought Philadelphia got a home run. They're like that may be the best mid-round pick of the draft. So congratulations to a very emotional, Kenny Pickett. And if I have to hear about his hands anymore, I'm just, can we get past the hands thing, folks? I'm just over hearing about Kenny Pickett's hands.

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 you're 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, 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.

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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 and I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence.

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

I'm talking. Trip 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

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Search, learn the hard way, and listen now. My favorite clothes, Fairety brand, all their bestsellers are back. Good quality, great-looking clothes. Go to Fairetybrand.com. Use the code heard 20 for 20% off. So there was a little moment last night, and, you know, Twitter's not real life.

A lot of bots out there. If you walk up and down the street, there are no bots. Well, maybe. But Twitter's got a lot of bots, a lot of fake accounts. People say things on Twitter. They would never say to your face. We all know that. So I don't overreact to Twitter.

And last night, Lamar Jackson got a little worked up. A WTF on Twitter, people freaked out because the Baltimore Ravens traded Hollywood Brown and wide receiver. He wanted to be traded. And he's an erratic player who didn't play well at the end of the year and wanted to be traded. First of all, the Ravens may have had the best first round of anybody. They got the best safety and the best center at like mid-draft and late draft. By the way, they got Lamar into the first round, so they're pretty good at the draft thing.

The Ravens have built up a ton of equity with me over the years. They're always well-owned, always smartly run. They're really honestly between, it's amazing the Steelers and the Ravens are right next to each other. They are brilliantly run organizations. They built up a lot of equity to me. And Lamar Jackson is not a general manager. He's a young quarterback. So they wanted to sign him.

And he's got his, I think his mom is his agent. He doesn't want to sign a contract. And they're like, okay, we're going to protect ourselves here. And we think this is best for the team. And again,

your resume in life is going to dictate how I view you. If you've been a good person, a stable person, a smart person, all right, well, I'm a, I'm a guess.

Yes, you're making moves best for the franchise. I saw a story the other day on Bitcoin. We're like 90% of the people who invest in Bitcoin, like our renters, are megalomaniacs. Yeah, it's brand new. I don't trust your judgment. I'll go with a guy that's been in the real estate business in Wall Street for 40 years and made a great living. I'm sorry, I trust the Ravens here. Hollywood Brown's an erratic wide receiver that didn't have a great end of the season.

He wasn't happy and he wanted to get traded, and so they moved him. this is the reality. By the way, the Ravens hit a home run in the first round. They have nine more picks, and it's a deep wide receiver draft. I say this all the time. If you're a good person and make a mistake on social media, I take a deep breath and go, all right, I believe they're a good person. What we have know in society is people are jerks do one nice thing and we think they're nice,

or they're wonderful people and make a mistake, and they're, the Ravens know what they're doing. They always know what they're doing. They always draft well. They always acquire well. Last year, they were the most beat up team in the, the National Football League. It was crazy. I don't know what the number was. It was like 35 guys were on IR. And they were still viable because they draft were. They were still, you know,

marginally viable in a really good division that had a team make the Super Bowl. So in this instance, I don't think it's a big story. Lamar's a kid, won't send a contract. Sometimes businesses have a right to go, we're good here. And we're going to, we're going to do what we think is best for the team. I think what they really realize is they're going to get back to their roots here. got a good center, going to pound the football a little bit, like to play with the league, control the clock. That's when I think it's best for Lamar Jackson. By the way, the division now has Deshawn Watson and Joe Burrow.

And Lamar doesn't want to sign a long-term contract. I can see Baltimore saying, if we don't get this quarterback thing, are we going to be a third, fourth-place team? I mean, what if Kenny Pickett works? What if the Steelers hit a home run? So I'm on the Raven side on this one. Joy with the news. on the news. This is the

herd line news. Well, the number one overall pick last night was Trayvon Walker and there were a couple of questions about who the Jags would select with the first overall pick and Doug Peterson was asked how they decided to go with Trayvon Walker. There was a lot of pre-draft speculation that

you Trent favored Trayvon and that you Doug favored the offensive lineman Iquanu. Could you talk a little bit about how you arrived at this decision? Did you guys actually have some disagreement about this? Can I just stop you? Yeah. There was there was never this thing was never split. Okay. I'm not saying I'm just saying it was. I'm just saying that I know it's out and I just want to

just go out on record and say it was never that way. I don't know where that came from. There was also some talk and we think we talked about it yesterday that the owner was leaning towards Hutchinson and that bulky wanted Walker. But I also think there's just conversations that go on and People, you know, are going to fight for the guy that they think should be the pick, and that's the coach is going to have their opinion, and the GM's going to have their opinion, and I'm sure the owner has their opinion, and whoever makes the final say, or you guys come to an agreement. So I can see these things leaking out. There was not a standalone consensus number one pick in the way that it was Joe Burrow or we had in past draft.

So I can see this be a conversation. Georgia had five defensive players taken. Yeah, Georgia had a nice draft. So, I mean, first of all, we said last year, we thought the Georgia defense was as good as any defense you and I'd ever seen and were college football fans. I mean, it was as good as any saving defense. They were visibly better than everyone. Significantly faster than any college team I'd seen.

They had five guys drafted last night all on defense. And my takeaway is, is he great? Was a sporting cast great? You can do worse things than drafting Georgia guys. I'll give you an example. Last year, the Packers, I think it was last year, took Stokes, the corner from Georgia. And I got a lot of pushback. And I watched him.

And I was like, I don't know. That guy looks like potentially amazing. Georgia's had a reputation forever. There's been a reputation in the NFL forever that draft Georgia guys and figure it out later. It's like LSU and Georgia. They may not win the national titles like Bama, but Georgia and LSU on any given year

have better players than Alabama. They haven't always had the best coach. They've had less coaching stability. And that really matters in college football. But George and LSU are often, even in Nick Sabin's run here. have as good or better players. So, like, I'm never going to lose a ton of sleep on drafting a Georgia guy first, although wouldn't have been my pick, but I get it.

Yeah, I mean, it's not an outrage. No one saw that and was outraged by it and thought this was a huge swing. Like, you can have your opinion about each guy and everyone has their evaluations and who knows how it's going to work out. Generally, if you're picking at the top of the draft, it's because you're not a good team. And sometimes that factors into how players' careers end up stacking up over the first few years in the league also. Aiden Hutchinson went second.

He was rumored to possibly go there first. Walker was reportedly in a serious car accident two weeks ago as well, but he suffered no injuries. Thank God. He looked good on the couch. I mean, it looked like he was fine, right? Yeah. Yeah.

So, I mean, look, I'm very excited for Jacksonville this year, which is a very rare thing. But I think we got sort of robbed of Trevor Lawrence last year. Like, we didn't talk about him at all. It was all just chaos down there and drama. So I'm giving him a pass on his first year. And I'm excited to see with the pieces that they've brought in and now what they'll do with the rest of this draft to see how Doug Peterson puts everything together down there

and see if they can turn that around. Because I do want to see Trevor Lawrence have success. He was such an exciting player in college. I want to see him have some success in the NFL and he's going to need to start with a culture build in Jacksonville. So USC, Drake London, number eight overall pick to the Falcons last night. He was the first wide receiver taken off the board.

had an ankle fracture, but that didn't stop him from being selected in the top 10. He was the highest drafted wide out by Atlanta since Julio Jones in 2011. Pack 12 offensive player of the year last season. Obviously, the wide receiver position has become a very marquee position. A lot drafted last night. And the Falcons had the worst ranked wide receiver core entering the draft. So this was obviously a position of need for them. And they have Kyle Pitts that can line up opposite London.

I thought this was a great pick for Atlanta. The right choice. Yeah, and we talked about this yesterday. I thought Seattle, Carolina, and Atlanta could have all drafted a quarterback. And instead, with their first picks, they said, listen, we're going to set it up for next. Now, now, they may all go get a quarterback in the second round. But what they said is, we're not going to reach. Right.

When we go draft a quarterback next year, we want to get a little more solid. So Carolina is like, we're going to go get this. And Atlanta is like, we're going to get a star receiver. and Carolina's like, we're going to get an offensive lineman. And I think that was the right call. I mean, it looks like NFL GMs didn't love either quarterback. Right. I mean, that's pretty clear.

And by the way, I saw the mock draft for today. And the rest of the quarterbacks all go today and all go, Joy, in the top 15, 20 picks. So they don't exactly go to the better teams. Which is scary. Yeah, that's right. So less talented quarterbacks to more chaotic teams. So I think Kenny Pickett got really lucky. I think, yes, absolutely.

And look, for all the critics of, like, Kenny Pickett's hands and all that, he played at Pitt. University of Pittsburgh is located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It's cold there. You know where they play their home games? Heinz Field, where the Steelers play. There's not a huge adjustment there.

He's going to move apartments to a nicer one. That's the move. What are you guys talking about? Like, cold weather team, he played in Pittsburgh. By the way, it was a four-year, I think he was a four-year-strander. He put up numbers for three years, but I think he's literally, he's a 24-year-old kid. Yeah, he went where he went in the draft for a reason. Like, he's flawed, as all of these quarterbacks are.

That's why the draft went the way it did. But that is just like, I saw that on Twitter from a bunch of people. I'm like, do you guys know where he played college football? In the building, he's going to be playing professional football. Yeah. Weirdos. Anyway, the Mabs were able to close out the series against the Jazz last night with a 98-96 win. Quite a sports night last night.

It was, I was watching Doc. I was so happy for Doc Rivers. That game was close in the first half, and I thought to myself, oh, don't do this. And then the third quarter, boom. It was over quickly in the second half. But this game was not. This was in a very exciting game. They had an opportunity to win it, did the jazz last night, the last seconds, but Mavs ended up pulling it off.

And Luca talked about his feelings about advancing in the playoffs of the first time in his career. Happiness, man. I think we work really hard to get here. I think we deserve to get past first round. and everybody fight their ass off today. I think we didn't play good today, but everybody was fighting, everybody was staying together

and just keeping everybody together was the key to win this game. I'm happy for Luca. Yeah, it's fun story. This is good for the NBA that he's moved on. Nothing against the jazz, and I honestly felt for the jazz. That was a heartbreaking loss.

Mike Connolly traveled at the end. He's an amazing player, you know, just a mistake. And then Boyan Boganovich had an opportunity to hit the shot for the game winner with 4.3 seconds left but missed it. So they had an opportunity at the end there, but the Mavs are an exciting team.

Luca is a marquee player in the NBA. For him to move on to the second round, I think it's important for the league and for Luca and for Luca's development and growth. It was a really, really, really fun game last night. So the Mavs opened the series against the Sons on Monday night in Phoenix.

They are currently six point underdogs in game one, according to Fox Bet. They're also underdogs to win a series at plus 225. The Sixers, obviously, as you mentioned, closed out with Toronto. They'll play the heats game one on Monday night in Miami. And the heat are currently favored by four and a half to win the game and by minus 189 to win the series. Good stuff. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The herd line news. So I got to talk about the cowboys. You know, when you have one of these big brands, you know, Ohio State football, Cowboys, Lakers, Yankees, people often say, you guys talk about them even when they're not good. You're right. There's a reason. The Cowboys are usually the highest redded telecast on every single network. NFL Network, Fox, they're on Monday Night Football. You're right, we do.

The downside of being the big brand is, is when you're struggling, we also talk about you more than we were talking about the Jaguar struggling or the Detroit Lions struggling or the Bengals struggling. So when the Lakers fall apart and have like a seven, eight years. stretch where they're a mess, we bang on them a lot, even though they're not, you know, a top team. And Dallas had a really poor offseason, not good. The Lakers have addressed their frustrations by leaking stuff to the media and getting really defensive about an HBO movie about their team. Weird.

And Dallas got suddenly very defensive, Jerry Jones, with a smile on his face. The billionaire from Texas got very defensive last night when asked about drafting a guard Tyler Smith who people had concerns over. Let me put it like this. We have both of them. This was printed three days ago below him. Both of those players are below him. Can you see that? Don't show him, ma'am. I'm not going to show him. Are you serious? I'm dead serious. I'm dead serious. No, we really did. We'd have them ready to blow it. No, we really did, both of them.

I probably wouldn't have shown everybody my draft board. Little odd. Like the Lakers getting worked up over an HBO show, a little odd. Jerry also loved Jalen Smith's contract. The linebacker, he's no longer on a team. He loves Zeke's contract. He's a current albatross. He loved Dax's contract, which, by the way, is a $49 million cap hit next year. He likes a lot of things. He also defended keeping Mike McCarthy, although that draw that ran out the clock was really, really, really, bad. Listen, Dallas lost Amari Cooper, a thousand yard receiver. There is absolute data to suggest Dax not as good without Amari. And for letting go of him, they got a fifth round pick. They got fleeced. Look what Kansas City got for their receiver. So the Lakers and the Cowboys, they got too many friends and family. It's like high school wrestling matches. The only people that go are girlfriends and family. You ever seen that? That's what the Cowboys and the Lakers have. Too much friends and family running not enough outside perspective.

And the Cowboys are all run with the Jones family. I don't have a problem with them having the final say. I'd like other voices in the room. More eyes and ears from somebody else. Lakers, same thing. Friends and family of the organization. And both are getting very, very defensive. Listen, this is not deniable what I'm about to say.

A lot of production left the Cowboys this offseason. Amari Cooper's 1,000 yards. One of the best route runners in the league. Randy Gregory is inconsistent, but when he's on, he is a handful to block. Cedric Wilson's one of the more interesting number three wide receivers in the NFL. They're starting right tackle Lyle Collins and Connor Williams, who's not great, okay, but he played a lot in the offensive line. And in return, after losing all that production, they got a guard from Tulsa,

who may be great, but I watched all the draft stuff last night, and he is considered to be a little bit of a project. You know, they always say if you want to lose weight, you got more calories. The calories have to come down and then the exercise has to go up, right? It's the same with saving money. You spend less and you make more, right? Same in the NFL. You lose a ton of production and you don't bring any in.

It's a problem. It's not terribly complicated. I mean, Randy Gregory, Armani Cooper, Cedric Wilson, Lyle Collins, and this is an organization, where you fans don't love the coach. We know close games, Mike McCarthy, it is nail-biting time. We don't feel that way in the NFC with Matt LaFleur or Sean McVeigh or Kyle Shanahan. We feel that way with Mike McCarthy. So these big brands, they do get talked about a lot when they're not relevant.

I get it. Your complaints are heard and understood, but we also, this is who they are. And they also get these big franchises when they're struggling. They get whacked a little bit more and talked about. Lakers, cowboys, both feel to me like deep down they know hadn't been a good last 12 months. They both know it. Just getting a little odd in defending it. New York teams had a good night or did they?

Chris Paul was amazing. I love Chris Paul. I really do. I really love Chris Paul. You know, people, there are certain things. It doesn't take long. to figure most entertainment things out. You can tell 15 minutes in if a movie's good or not.

I mean, honestly, my wife and I all sit and watch a Netflix show, we're like four minutes in, and we're like, the writing's bad and the acting's bad. Like, we give stuff about four to five minutes and we're, you watch American Idol or the voice, you can tell in 45 seconds. Somebody's a hack, somebody's good, somebody's okay, somebody's great. It's the same in sports. You don't, you watch Alabama play Cincinnati in the playoff.

You knew in two series. Yeah, Cincinnati's not going to move the ball much. It's the same in the NBA. I always say, oh, I watch all the games, Colin. If you have to watch all the games to figure out how great Chris Paul is, you're a dummy. You don't know basketball. It doesn't take much. So, you know, it's funny.

There are people maybe two years ago, 90% of guys would have told you Westbrook over Chris Paul, you don't know basketball. You literally don't know the sport. I don't care if you watch every game. You're the guy that sat and watched American Idol. and thought the lousy singer was going to win. It's not that complicated. Chris Paul, can I throw something up with Chris Paul that cracks me up? So I always hear this.

Chris Paul shrinks in the playoffs. I went and looked us up this morning. Here's Chris Paul in his last three series clinching wins. 14 for 14 last night, 33 points. 41 in the conference finals with the Clippers. and 2021 conference semis, 37 points against the Nuggets, 14 for 19. His last three series clinching wins,

37 a game, 77 field goal percentage. Yeah, he shrinks. And you guys all thought Westbrook was better because you know the triple double thing. You've got to be kidding me. If you have to sit and watch Chris Paul and you're like, oh, no, no, you don't know. I mean, I watch Chris Paul.

I don't get it. Stop right there, drop the mic. You don't get it. Like this guy is so good. He knows when to turn it on. He knows when the games are big. Dude's like, it's going to be 37 in like a week. I mean, yes, he sometimes gets injured.

But God, is he good? Can you imagine going 14 for 14 in an NBA playoff game? That is in, that is Jordan shot 55%. I mean, that is unbelievable. He is my favorite point guard, top three or four ever, and the entire time I've heard how he shrinks. You know who shrinks? Blake Griffin, when they broke up.

That's who shrinks. That's who vanished, not Chris Paul. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's me, Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast Inside the Parker for 22 minutes of pipe and hot baseball talk featuring the next. the biggest names and newsmakers in the sport. Whether you believe in analytics or the I-Test,

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Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast 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 which I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clipper 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, 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,

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Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. 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 a little camp? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s.

To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you're just so you're not. But just so you all know. I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed correct. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes.

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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

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One 20 bucks off assorted tulips in their bouquets. 1-800flowers.com code heard. Albert Breyer, senior NFL reporter, MMQB, covered the NFL for almost 20 years. All right, listen, Green Bay's got a strategy. They don't draft receivers, backs tight ends first round. They don't read. Jimmy Johnson told me earlier this week. The only time he failed in the draft is when he reached for offensive pieces to help an old quarterback Dan Marino.

that he had sort of a theory on how to do it. Green Bay said our defense has to get better. We're not going to reach. Should I be mad at Green Bay? Should Aaron Rogers? What'd you make of it? No, I mean, I think that they can win different ways if you're drafting this way. And you look at the players they're bringing in.

Devante Wyatt, the defensive tackle from Georgia, Quay Walker, the linebacker from Georgia. Those are guys who have played at a championship level the last couple of years. They've been in big games against real competition. And that would indicate that these guys are going to be able to come in and play right away for you. And that's really what Aaron Rogers needs. Like he doesn't need projects. If they draft like Christian Watson from North Dakota State, for example, the guy's got a lot of talent.

He might be Vincent Jackson five years from now. But can you count on him to play for you and play a big role for you in 2022 or 2023? And so I think sometimes we hyper focus on certain positions with these older quarterbacks when really I think the most relevant thing is getting talent. in there that's ready to contribute right away. I think the Packers did that yesterday. And the other thing to mention here, too, traditionally, the Packers have found the receivers in the second and third rounds.

You go through it over the years. It's been 20 years since they took one in the first round. And then you look at some of their hits. Randall Cobb, James Jones, Jordy Nelson, and then Devante Adams. All those guys were second and third round picks. You know, so Arizona trades for Hollywood Brown. And I was looking this morning.

I'm thinking they got DeAndre Hopkins, Hollywood Brown, Ron Dale Moore, who's really athletic, A.J. Green, Zachard, James Connor. And you could say, oh, they're just trying to appease Kyler. And I'm like, no, what they're telling me is. They know they got to go toe to toe with Sean McVe and Stafford. I don't know. People think they're just trying to make Kyler happy. I don't have a problem.

I mean, I look at that. And I'm like, my God, that's loaded. I mean, I think there are two things that people might miss here. Number one, they're in three and four receiver sets a lot, so they need depth that receiver more than other teams do. They struck out on Andy and Isabella a couple years ago. They lose Christian Kirk. And here's the second key, Colin,

when you talk about losing Kirk and striking out on Isabella, everyone who's had DeAndre Hopkins on their team, whether it's in Houston or Arizona, knows that you have to be fast around him. He is so much more effective when you've got burners around him. That's why the Texans, all those years ago drafted Will Fuller in the first round, why they had Kenny Stills on the team.

You want to have speed around DeAndre Hopkins because he really can't run like a lot of the other top receivers can run. And so, yeah, this is about Kyler and it's about Cliff's scheme. But I also think it's about getting the most out of your number one receiver who you're paying $27 million a year. And I think Hollywood Brown helps you get more out of DeAndre Hopkins, which is a big thing for them. So Philadelphia goes and gets A.J. Brown from Tennessee.

And I was saying, as we were preparing for the show today, I said, you know, Howie Roseman kind of, I think he kind of senses here. The Giants did not give Daniel Jones the fifth year option. They are going to have a little chaos in a year. Dallas bad off season. Carson went to report this week. He's just a bridge. They were really aggressive.

And I look at, I look at AJ Brown to J.L. And I'm like, I don't know. They haven't drafted receivers. well, that felt like a big get for me for Philadelphia. Yeah, and I think it helps you get more out of Devante Smith because they're contrasting styles. They've got Dallas Goddard at tight end. Like you said, Miles Sanders in the backfield,

their offensive line's been really good for a long time. So I think it gives you the ability to compete in the here and the now. And then the other thing I think that you have to look at here is getting answers on Jalen Hertz. And I know we talked about this last week with Zach Wilson, and we've talked about it over the last couple of months with Tua Tungaweloa. the Eagles are approaching a pretty critical point here with Jalen Hertz. He's going into his third year.

His fourth year is a contract year. And he doesn't have a fifth year option because he wasn't a first round pick. And they have two first round picks next year when maybe a C.J. Stroud, a Bryce Young, a Tyler Van Dyke emerges as a true franchise quarterback, which a lot of people thought this year's draft class lacked. And so I think if you're the Eagles, getting A.J. Brown in there, having Devonte Smith in year two helps you get answers. in 2022 on Jalen Hertz.

And that helps you chart the course for 2023. So it does help you in the here and the now. I think Hallie Roseman does sense a little bit of an opening there in the NFC East. But it also is going to help him with his long-term plans at quarterback because the better you are about around a young quarterback, and you know this, Colin, the easier it is to get a clear answer on who he is. Yeah. So listen, the Cowboys have had an interesting offseason.

They've lost a lot of production. An elite pass rusher, a thousand-yard receiver, a right tackle. I think Cedric Wilson's a really good number three. And they get a guard and they got a little defensive. I got to be honest, this morning, I think I would take Philadelphia to win that division. I don't think. I don't think it's been a good offseason for Dallas. What did you make of their pick?

And Jerry was kind of defensive showing the draft board. What do you make of it? Yeah. Yeah, it didn't look like Stephen was very happy with his dad when he showed that draft. board. Yeah, I look at it like kind of the Cowboys going back to the roots here a little bit. And, you know, when they've been successful and everybody's a product of their own experiences, right, like in the 90s, how did they win? Well, they won with the triplets, but they won behind a big, powerful offensive line. And then you go back like 13, 14 years ago with Tony Romo.

When did they struggle with Romo? It was when they had issues on the offensive line, when that offensive line with Flozel Adams and Leonard Davis got old. And then when did they get successful again. When were they able to get more out of Romo? And when were they able to support Dak Prescott the best? It was when they spent first round picks in, I think, a four-year period on three offensive linemen and Travis Frederick, Zach Martin, and Tyrant Smith. And so to me, I think this is an acknowledgement that that that Tyron Smith's Zach Martin group is starting to age out. Obviously, Lyle Collins is gone now. And this is them investing back into an area where they've always had a foundation when they've been good.

And so I understand what you're saying, Colin. They lost, obviously, a couple of receivers that were really important to them. They lost a high-end pass rusher and Randy Gregory that they really wanted to keep. But to me, this is more of a big picture pick where they're looking at it and saying, we need to start taking care of our offensive line because we've already seen guys like Frederick and Collins go out the door, and we need to start preparing for the days when we don't have Zach Martin and Tyrant Smith anymore. About 45 seconds to a minute. second round's got a lot of good defensive players at the top a lot of SEC defensive players is there

a guy I should keep my eye on in the top of the second round a team or a player what do you make of it yeah I think the corners are something the the corners are definitely worth paying attention to in the first 10 picks or so Andrew Booth I think a first round grade for a lot of teams has a lot of injury issues he's one Kyler Gordon the corner from Washington who didn't run as fast as people thought he would but as a really good players another. You know, and then I think Nkobie Dean, who's got a ton of medical issues, but was a great player at Georgia, he's somebody to keep an eye on. And, of course, I mean, I think the story of this draft, Kenny Pickett's the only quarterback to go in the first round. That leaves four guys that I think are top two or three round picks out there for teams today. So obviously

Malik Willis, Matt Corral, Sam Howell and Desmond Ritter are guys to watch. And Ritter, you know, could go as high as the 35th pick to Tennessee. There's a great relationship there. Of course between the Titans head coach, Mike Frable and Ritter's College coach Luke Fickle. So keep an eye on that one early in the night tonight. Monday morning quarterback Albert Breer. Great seeing you, man. This is fun. Thanks.

Thanks, Colin. You bet. Really enjoyed last night. It wasn't a star-studded draft, but, you know, instead, we got all these trades. And, you know, we always say, Joy, we like aggressive, Philadelphia, aggressive. Aggressive's winning. Saints aggressive, Arizona aggressive. A lot of NFC teams.

Detroit, aggressive. Good for Detroit. They're my favorite bad team in American sports, the Detroit Lions. I thought they had a good night. All right. One hour down on one of my favorite Fridays of the year. We got a ton of stuff. Doc Rivers can coach.

Who knew? Hour two next. 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, S&L's Mikey Day and headwriter, 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 I-Heart 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 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars. related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and

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