The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 1 - Rodgers, Simmons

Episode Date: February 25, 2022

Joy Taylor in for ColinAaron Rodgers is rumored to want $50 million a yearMore on the rift between Ben Simmons on the SixersGuest: Jimmy Butler Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Welcome to the herd. I am Joy Taylor, filling in for Colin Cowherd today. No Alex Curry with me. We have Ryan Music in the booth. Sometimes you see him behind my giant hair. That's what I'm most well known before. Yes. Or in the back of my selfies, which you then unfortunately get tagged in and get the grief of Twitter. Oh yeah. That is my different space that I've never been exposed to. in those pictures. But thanks for joining us today. Colin is enjoying some time off, some well-earned time off. I took mine last week in the beginning of this week, so we will be in for Colin today. We have an exciting show today, myself and Ryan and the crew. Jimmy Butler. Let me listen. It's right. Jimmy's on with me. I'm the heat fan. Jimmy Butler is on with us today, six-time NBA All-Star, a big coffee guy, and he is the leader of the Miami Heat.

very excited to talk to him. We'll talk to him in 15 minutes. Taylor Rooks of Leacher Report, Ryan Rosillo. I have some questions about Zion. He had a, you know, he has great insight into the NBA, but has a theory about Zion. I want to ask him about. And Emmanuel Ocho will join us in studio as well. The NBA is back from the All-Star break. James Hardin makes his debut with the Sixers tonight, which is very exciting. And we'll break down the quarterback markets. There are a lot of names being thrown out there, a lot of teams being discussed. in the conversation for adding or removing quarterbacks, but I don't actually think there's going to be as much movement as we think.

We'll discuss Zion, as I mentioned, the Lakers, Ben Simmons. But let's start where we've started pretty much all season, which is Aaron Rogers. So there's a new wrinkle to the Aaron Rogers situation. I don't want to call it a saga. Not sure what we can refer to it as at this point, but we're all on this journey on this roller coaster with Aaron Rogers together right now. waiting for his decision about what he's going to do heading into next season.

And the new report is from Diana Rusini, who said from the conversations I've had with a lot of people in the league, he wants to be the highest paid player in the NFL by a wide margin. So we're talking about 50 million a year. She also reported that he will be informing the Packers of his decision soon and that multiple teams have already made offers or have the offer. ready for Aaron Rogers. So this is a kind of a confusing new wrinkle in this situation to me. Not because people like to make more money. All of us want to make more money.

That's not the confusing part of it. We know that the NFL is a salary cap league. And sometimes in this league, if you are the best player, it becomes important to be the highest paid at your position. That's something that we hear guys say from time to time. Sometimes it sounds ridiculous. Sometimes it's reasonable. You've earned it.

haven't been the highest paid player. It is something that, you know, can be said about your career that matters if that's something that you're into, and most people are into making a lot of money and being compensated at the level they deserve to. So if Aaron Rogers had never been the highest paid player, which would be kind of crazy, then I would say this is a reasonable thing for him to be asking for at this point in his career. He's back-to-back league MVP, obviously had a wildly successful career so far, has done a great job for the Packers. still playing pretty well, back-to-back MVP's postseason is a different conversation. But with his current contract, he'll have the fourth highest-based salary, the second highest

cap hit. And he's already been the highest-paid player in the league before. He was the highest-paid player on his 2018 contract and four seasons since then. So this isn't the first time he would be this. It's not the first time he would have that title of the highest-paid player in the league. So as usual, I have no idea what's going on with Aaron Rogers. Now I know we keep saying we're going to stop guessing and we're going to stop assuming, but we're really not in that situation as media and fans to just stop guessing and stop trying to figure out what Aaron Rogers is going to do.

He has the entire league in a holding pattern and this new report confuses me even further. I don't know what he's trying to accomplish and it sort of feels like at this point, point, it's just validation. Because we know he hasn't had an extreme amount of success in the postseason by the standards that Aaron Rogers and the Green Bay Packers should have. They haven't been back to the Super Bowl since that 2010 season when they won. They've been to the NFC championship game four times in 11 seasons. So basically we're at the point with Aaron Rogers where he's super into regular season accolades and regular season accomplishments. And if this report it turns out to be true, that will only further validate it.

Because what is it that you're trying to prove at this point in your career? Now, again, there's really four options on the board with Aaron Rogers. He stays with Green Bay under his current deal, which runs through 2022 and you can opt out in 2023, and then we'll all be having this conversation again about what Aaron Rogers is going to do with his future. He can demand a trade, which the GM of the Packers recently said he didn't actually ever promise Aaron Rogers that he was going to trade him. we're all assuming they're not going to make it a contentious situation.

If Aaron really wants out, they will oblige. He can retire, which nothing would shock anyone at this point, but I think that would be the most shocking outcome. Or he can rework his deal with Green Bay, if this report turns out to be concrete, and become the highest paid player in the league, which circles back to one. He stays in Green Bay, but it's going to be a very different situation.

My other question with this is, Aaron's been pretty vocal about wanting a lot of say in the roster and what goes on in the organization and bringing guys in. And, you know, he really wants people around him that he's comfortable with and that he can win with. Well, being the highest paid player in the league, with a team, by the way, that is in cap hell, is not really the construct that's going to get you past

where you've already been in the postseason, which is not the Super Bowl as of late. So we've used this stat before on the show, and I found it to be very interesting and extremely telling. I don't get too crazy about numbers and statistics. But sometimes they matter. And I do think in this situation, it's more than a trend. And that is if your quarterback takes up a significant amount of your cap space,

you're likely not going to win the Super Bowl. So we're showing it here. Sorry for the radio audience. But it's the percentage of cap space that the winning quarterback takes up on your team. So Matthew Stafford's 10.7. Tom Brady is the highest 12.3. And this is since 2011. So from 2011 to 2021, the highest cap hit for a Super Bowl winning quarterback is Tom Brady in 2020 at 12.3.

So essentially, if your quarterback takes up 12.4 or more percentage of your salary cap, you're not winning a Super Bowl anymore. That's pretty much the trend. And Tom Brady is at the highest of all of these numbers outside of who is the second, Eli Manning in 2011 at 11.6. Now, you have a couple outlier numbers in there. Nick Foles, 0.9, Russell Wilson, 0.5, that probably drag this down a bit. But the results are there. So if your cap pit is right now at 22%, and you're restructuring your contract to be paid around 50 million, not great at math, but the way that the salary cap is going to expand,

it's probably going to be around 30% of your cap, give or take. Where are you going to fit anybody else? and you're not winning with the incredible roster that you had this year. It really felt like this year was the last dance. Him and Devante posted the picture at the beginning of the season. Everyone felt like they had the roster to be able to do it. They had the defense. They had the offensive line.

Aaron's playing at the highest level. And they didn't get it done. It was a very disappointing end to the season. So how becoming the highest paid player in the league is going to solve your quest to get to the Super Bowl? I don't think that's the answer. Again, I'm not counting anybody's money. if this is what he wants to do at the end of his career, make as much money as possible.

I'm cool with that. Get all the money you can. I like for everyone to be paid. I'm not paying them. I'm not writing that check. It's not a bill. I have to run. So it doesn't matter to me.

But I do think it reflects what you want around you because we live in the reality of the NFL being a salary cap league. So it's a little confusing, as usual, with what Aaron Rogers is going to do. I think he's already made his decision. I was leaning heavily towards he was leaving, and now that it's being drawn out a little bit more, I feel like he's staying. But either way, he has the entire league holding pattern, as I mentioned, which leads to the other thing that I want to start with, which is the Jimmy Garoppolo situation. And the new development in the Jimmy Garoppolo situation is that Tim Kawakami reported that Niners haven't gotten the trade offer that they want. He said, I don't think there's great value for him.

So the Niners are essentially not getting the offers that they expected to get for Jimmy Garapolo. Jimmy Garapolo is pretty much the best option on the market without all of the other intangibles around his situation, meaning Deshawn Watson, obviously, you know what's going on with that. We don't know if Rogers is really on the market. Russell Wilson would be obviously a great option, but we don't know if he's going to be on the market. So if the guys who are available, Jimmy Garoppolo is at the top of the list, whatever you may think of Jimmy Garapolo. if you remove Aaron Rogers, Russell Wilson, and Deshawn Watson, at this point, you have to. So why is this happening? Why is they not getting the offers that they thought they were going to get?

Well, Colin floated a theory yesterday because we were hearing a lot of Trey Lance isn't ready. And from big trusted names, such as Steve Young and Adam Schaefter, this is what they had to say about Trey Lance. Now, Trey Lance, we don't know. And Trey doesn't know. If Trey was ready, Trey would have played. Trey needs to get ready in this offseason. This needs to be the biggest boot camp effort in history

to get him ready to be expansive. But we cannot wait for that. We've got to get, if that's what we're going to do, we've got to get them ready. And then we've got six months to do it. Trey Lance was probably further behind than people realized. Trey Lance is greener than people realized. Trey Lance is going to need more work than people realized.

And they have a roster that can win now. He didn't play college football at all two years ago. He's coming from a small school to begin with. And there is a steep learning curve for a quarterback like that who's blessed with a lot of talent. So Collins's theory was that possibly that the Niners are putting out these feelers or putting out these quotes the team is to try and drive up the price for Jimmy Garapolo. I think the price for Jimmy Garapolo isn't going up because everyone knows what Jimmy Garapolo. Garapolo is, and the price for him was going to be the price regardless, because that's the market. But also, nobody's going to make a move on Jimmy Garoppolo or trade for Jimmy Garoppolo until Aaron

Rogers makes his move. So first is Aaron Rogers, then we'll see what Jimmy Garapolo is worth. But I really believe that everything it's being said about Tray Lance is true and that he's just not ready. It doesn't benefit the Niners to damage public trust and confidence in Tray Lance with their fans, with the media, with the locker room, and with Trey Lance, who is a young player who's not been mixed in controversy, but has been in the conversation around whether he should be starting

since he's gotten to the Niners. Joe Montana also had something to say about the situation with Trey Lance, we have a quote from him. He said, I think they keep Jimmy until you find somebody else. I don't think Trey's ready to play yet. Myself and after talking some of the players, if you can keep Jimmy healthy,

he plays well enough to get you to the Super Bowl. This was always the conundi. with the Niners. And we've talked about this a lot, that the Niners fans are very excited to move on to Tray Lance, it's tray season. But be careful what you wish for, because Jimmy Garapolo, while he does have his flaws,

has experience, and he finds ways to win. Like, you've had a lot of success with Jimmy Garoppolo, not Super Bowl winning success, obviously, but some success. And if Tray Lance comes in very raw, which we keep hearing that he is, in this division, things could get rocky pretty quickly. And I think the reason that Montana and Steve Young and Schaefter are saying these things is because Trey really isn't ready yet, which I think is fine. He's essentially a rookie quarterback.

It's going to be bumpy. You have to manage the expectations for Trey Lance. But it doesn't make the organization look good to keep putting out that he is not ready and he's, it's a mistake to move off from Jimmy Garapolo. You spent three first round picks and a third round pick to get Trey Lance. So levels to it here. Aaron Rogers has to make the move first before anything else happens in the league. Jimmy Garoppolo's price is probably always going to be Jimmy Garapolo's price. And the Niners are kind of in a bit of a situation with him because they probably don't want to send him just anywhere.

So that makes it difficult on the team because you want to get the best deal, but you want to do right by Jimmy. And Trey Lance probably has a lot of work to do, which really should be fine. And the team and the fans and everyone should manage their expectations for him because he is essentially a rookie quarterback. We're going to talk to Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat when we come back. But first, Hustler Turf, the brand lawn care professionals have trusted for years when it comes to premium zero-turn lawn mowers to run their business. And for us, weekend, Joe's. HustlerTurf also has a full lineup of residential mowers.

Visit hustlerturf.com to find a dealer near you. HustlerTurf.com. 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, Clivert 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

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Joy Taylor in for Colin Cowherd today. So enjoying some time off after a very long and extra long NFL season this year. So much deserve myself and Ryan are in today. And let's go out to Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat. Welcome, Jimmy. Thanks so much for joining us. I don't know if you know this, but I am, I'm the official. Miami Heat spokesperson of the national media. So I'm very excited to have you on.

That means you give us a lot of hype. I do. I do. And I also I also had a wonderful time when you guys were in the bubble because I got to brag and talk to trash to everybody, which was very enjoyable. But first, you're the honorary chairperson of the blockchain.com paddle open. So tell us a little bit about the tournament and how you got into paddle. paddle was just another way for me to compete and run, workout in the summertime. And then it just became a competitive thing. And now it's in Miami all the time. The Miami Paddle Open is there. All the best players in the world. So I get an opportunity to watch them do what they love to do. Now, you fit in perfectly with the Miami Heat's culture and energy and attitude.

what was it about this organization that made things so fluid for you? I think they just allowed me to be me knowing the way I say things and do things may not always come off the right way, but it's meant to win. It's meant to make everybody better. They're okay with that. I'm okay with that, so I think that's why it fits. I've always described the Miami Heat, the organization, the city, and the fans. as being very comfortable with being the villains.

I started my career in Miami during the Big Three era, and it was the number one most hated place on Earth. And, I mean, we were thriving. It didn't bother us at all. Do you think that's an accurate statement? I'd agree. I think we have a saying around that we're not for everybody. I know that I'm not, that's for sure.

But everybody like that's welcome in the Miami Heat Organization in the city of Miami as a whole. They just want you to play hard, go out there and compete, and eventually bring them a championship. We're talking to six-time NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat. You had a quote recently that I use a lot. You said it a little differently, but it's luck favors the prepared.

You were talking about how being comfortable in your surroundings and, you know, kind of the routine of things makes it easier when adversity comes along because you're prepared, essentially. What is it about this particular roster and team with the Miami Heat that makes you guys feel comfortable and work together? I think we've been hit by the injury bug. Everybody's been in and out of the rotation and we still have found ways to win games. And that's what I mean by that.

Like everybody's so comfortable in whatever role you throw at them, whether it's starting or coming off the bench. And I just believe that when you have a group of guys that have been put in so many different situations, when it's time to like everybody come together and win, I think it makes it easier to do it. Got to ask you about Tyler Hero. He's putting together a really good season, probably six man in the year level season. And he's had a little bit of a roller coaster in his career so far,

kind of a busting out and, you know, a rival in the bubble and then, you know, ups and downs. What's been different for him this year? He's just crazy confident. He's not worried about with any. everybody is saying, you know, I'm happy for him because he knows the works that he, that he always puts in. It's on display every single night. We need him to be that player. And he's just been incredible all year long. It's going to continue to be that for us. I'm telling you,

the six men of the year thing, it's real. But he's not paying attention to it. He's just out there hooping. And if it happens, it happens. I feel like he's, he's kind of matured a little bit. I mean, he's very young, and when you get put into a role in a spotlight like that early, expectations can kind of skyrocket. And if you're not there as a player and, you know, as a young person, it can kind of get overwhelming and affect your play. It feels to me like he's matured. He has. And he understands that there's always going to be ups and downs of the year, your career, from game to game.

You don't want to get too high. You don't want to get too low. You just stay in the middle. But more than anything, he's fun to be around. So I think it makes his job a lot easier because he's very likable. Everybody wants to see him succeed because we see that amount of time and work that he puts into his craft. And that's why it's just been playing at an incredibly high level. He does right by everybody, and he goes out there and plays hard.

We're talking to Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat. So I am a Pat Riley zealots. Like Pat can do no wrong to me. He's the godfather. but he has this sort of this aura about him. What is he like? Is he secretly, you know, like kind of a softie? Is he easy to talk to?

What's something about Pat Riley that people don't know? That he really doesn't have to say anything. It's like you already know what he expects out of everybody. So if you see Pat walking towards you, you know that it's going to be real. But at the same time, the dude is just incredibly loving. He embraces everybody and he just wants to be. best for everybody. He's an incredible individual to be around, but when it comes to basketball and winning, he's definitely going to want you to do that. You play the Knicks tonight, second in the

east, but it still kind of feels like, even though you were just in the finals and the bubble, and you've added some new pieces, the young guys are improving, just talked about Tyler Hero, you have a great culture. The heat are still sort of overlooked. It's some other brands that are kind of being paid attention to the other stars around the east. Do you like being a team that's overlooked or you'd prefer being a team that has high expectations? It doesn't matter to me either way. We're going to go out there. We're going to compete.

You know, there's a lot of really good basketball players in the lead in the East. When all these teams get healthy, their full star power, it's going to be tough for anybody on any given night and in the seven-game series. But we'll see what happens when that time gets here. Obviously, one of those teams is going to have high expectations is the Sixers and, you know, that team. So how do you think that that transition is going to go? Hardin makes his appearance with them tonight. I think it's going to go incredibly well.

Joel's, you know, been playing at an MVP level. James is, James, you know, one of the most unguarable players in the league, can score in a multitude of ways. I know I'm going to be watching along with everybody else because they play great basketball and together I think it's going to be even better. So Jimmy, I need you to teach me your ways because I read that you drink like nine or 10 cups of coffee a day. Right. Okay.

So I have my coffee here too, but it's not big face coffee. But I can only drink like one or two cups of coffee. How do you get to sleep? Does your body just accustomed to it now? It is very used to it. but I'm getting my nine hours of sleep, no matter what, coffee or not. I just choose to have coffee. I love it.

It lets me have a bunch of different conversations with a bunch of different type of people. And I get to learn about people and see how much I have a common with it. Coffee is a good meeting place. It's good to have a good conversation over coffee. Well, I'm actually more intrigued on how you get nine hours of sleep every day because a huge napper and nine hours is, I mean, that's tremendous. How do you do that? shut my eyes, fall asleep, and wake up.

Do you have like a sleeping chamber or something? No, I just go to sleep and I stay that way. I practice it, though. I really do focus in on how much sleep I get. That's remarkable. And I hope you write a book because sleep is a huge part of my life and nine hours of sleep. A night would be, I'd be a different person.

But good luck to you the second half of this season. Jimmy, thanks for jumping on. Make sure you check out the blockchain.com paddle open. and love the heat, love what you've done there, and best of luck to you the rest of the season. All right, thank you. That's Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat, nine hours of sleep, Brian. We could only all be so lucky. What?

I mean, I'm a pretty good sleeper as well, but I would say I do not get nine hours every night, and him simply explaining it as, I shut my eyes, and then I wake up, I mean, if it were only that easy for everyone. I mean, he's, yeah, that's like, that's like, that's some non-anxiety sleep. Like, it's just time for bed. I'm out. I get like a good six or seven hours. Well, what's interesting, too, is a lot of people talk about for athletes coming off that high of like an intense game. Right.

And a lot of times they're going to whatever time zone they're in, but, you know, 10.30, 11 at night. By the time they get home, it's not as easy for a lot of people to just be shutting it down and going to sleep right away. So he's got some sort of special talent. in addition to all of his basketball skills. Yeah, I mean, sleep is like a thing. There's studies and sleep podcast. We're just going to ask Jimmy. He's got to figure it out.

Thanks to Jimmy Butler for joining us here on the herd. Joy Taylor in for Colin Cowherd today. Let's get to Ryan with the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Well, one story everyone around the NBA is keeping their eyes on is Zion Williamson, and we do have a bit of an update here. Christian Clark of Nola.com is reporting that the detachment with Williamson has shown up with the Pelicans is because of his lack of trust.

Williamson and his camp didn't trust basketball, president of basketball operations, David Griffin, to be truthful. This comes after former teammate JJ Reddick accused Williamson of being a detached teammate this week. And also, Zion has drawn a lot of criticism for his weight and rehab efforts and is currently rehabbing away from the team. the Pelicans are currently on their third head coach in three seasons since drafting Zion and are on track to miss the playoffs for the fourth straight season. So there's clearly a lot going on on multiple fronts. I would say this. In addition to part of this report that we didn't have here is this all stems from the time that

he got drafted and them taking a very cautious approach to bringing him in. And he was expecting to miss just a beginning portion of the season. They ended up holding him out for like over half the year. year. I understand his frustrations with that, and there's plenty of blame to be put on David Griffin and the ownership, but they have been proven correct up to this point with his body and him struggling to stay healthy. So I do struggle to see how that can be the breaking point of where you're coming from when they're looking at it like, dude, you are our entire franchise. We were just trying to keep you healthy, and up to this point, they've been right.

Yeah, it feels like there's something else going on because there's not equal blame. I don't know how you want to divvy up the pie of blame with what's going on with Zion and the Pelicans. But Zion hasn't been healthy. He's missed 58% of his games. The Pelicans don't want him to not play. They need him and want him to play. So I understand being overly cautious with someone who is injury prone. and that person also being frustrated and wanting to play.

But at the rate at which Zion has not been playing, he's missed 58% of the games. Well, you're not available. So there's something else going on here, and that isn't all on the Pelicans. We knew we had this conversation before Zion was drafted. His body, his weight, and the injuries were probably going to be an issue. And that has proved to be true.

Well, injuries, some guys are just injury prone. if you're a bigger guy like Zion, you play with the torque and power that Zion plays with, you're probably going to have more injuries. But the weight situation is on Zion. You can control what you eat. Now, obviously, we all have trouble with controlling what we eat. It's not that simple. The same is Jimmy.

Like, you just go to sleep. We all have these struggles. But if it's your job, you know, if it was my job to, you know, be a model, or an actress or something and I need to weigh a certain amount and I don't weigh that. Like, that's on me. I have to control that. If you're a professional athlete and you're supposed to weigh a certain amount to get to the point where you're healthy and able to play, you have to control that.

And with lower extremity injuries, it's hard to do that because you can't do any cardio. Right. So the weight just continues to pile on. Totally. And now in his defense, like, there are tons of issues that have been going on with New Orleans. And this goes way back before him. You know, Anthony Davis, part of the reason. that it was reported at the time when he wanted out and ended up on the Lakers was

his main frustration was constantly feeling like they were being treated like the secondary thought process by the ownership group because they also own the Saints. Which they are. Right. And so you totally understand where if maybe early on Zion's starting to feel that same type of situation like, hey, look, I'm doing everything I can to get onto the court, but you guys are treating us like we're not even that important because you're constantly worried about what's going on with the Saints, maybe that's what's leading to the detachment.

Yeah, I don't think it's all on Zion at all. That's what I'm saying. I don't know how you want to give out the blame. It's not easy to be like 50-50. It's a little bit more complex than that. I tend to lead more towards Zion side than the Pelicans because the Pelicans have the history, as you mentioned, of, you know, this being an issue. Well, let's turn our attention to the NFL, Joy. And it looks like it could be kumbaya down in Arizona. We do have a bit of an update on this Kyler Murray's situation. NFL networks Jane Slater reported yesterday that Kyler Murray and the Cardinals are back on the same page and moving forward. That's right. Yes, Slater added the team is working on the former number one overall pick and exercising his fifth year option and working on a long-term deal.

This comes 10 days after Kyler scrubbed his Instagram of all the images of him with the Cardinals and released a statement about his commitment to the game. Kyler did come under fire with the Cardinals because they were reportedly looking for Murray to make progress with his maturity and leadership, centering around his behavior at the end of their playoff loss to the Rams. Now, earlier today, Cardinals owner, Michael Bidwell, went on local radio and was asked about whether Kyler Murray and the Cardinals and where they are today. I spoke to him last night. We've had good conversations nonstop.

I'm not a social media guy, so I don't know the nuances of some of this stuff, But I think there was a lot of interpretation around that that was inconsistent with the conversations that not just I have had, but I know Cliff and Steve have had. And so the positive conversations that are going in the right direction, we know we've got to get better. I mean, you saw that the Kyler put out a statement, you know, love me or hate me, I think was his terms. You know, I'm going to get better. Put me in the category of I love him and I know he's going to get better. So it looks like they're heading everything in the right direction. For the ownership standpoint, I hope they took a step back, checked their ego, and just said,

hey, take a look at where you were before, Kyler, take a look at where you are now. Is he a perfect quarterback? Of course not. Hardly any of them are. But you need him on your team. So let's start working towards a proper deal. Kyler Murray, there were reports about potentially his leadership, he was quiet, maybe some maturity things. The mistake he made was playing directly into those reports by immediately going

to Instagram. That was his big mistake here is if you know those rumors are out about you, you can't play into that because now everyone's like, oh, look, they were right. And now people are going to be like, oh, maybe ownership has a point. Yeah, the leadership thing is always a funny conversation because depending on who you talk to within the organization, they might give you a different answer. Now, you don't hear that about certain people,

which would lead you to assume that they are good leaders because you never hear that about them. But I'm just grateful to hear this honestly because I don't want to spend the next year of my life talking about Kyla Murray's contract. So selfishly, it's like DAC 2.0.

No, no, please. Selfishly, I'm really glad they're working this out. First of all, Kyler Murray is the future of this organization. So it's silly. Don't do what the Cowboys did. That was a mistake. Jerry Jones, very shrewd businessman, very, very wealthy, very smart, said he wished he hadn't done that. Just don't do it. There's no point. You know that Kyler Murray is the guy. Is he perfect? No. Does he need to mature a little bit? Maybe. I don't know. Sure. Let's say yes. So what? Look at what is your other option? What would you rather be? How about you just go back to the year before

Kyler Murray was there? Right. You want that? Especially in the NFC West. You'll get left behind for a very long time if you do not have a quarterback. It was nice knowing you. I enjoyed watching you for a couple seasons. Of course Kyler Murray's the future there. And I'm glad that they're working this out. Obviously what you pay someone based off of the production that they have, what they can potentially bring you, all those nuances. Do you make him the highest paid? All that. This is a different conversation. There's

outlier contracts. Patrick Mahomes being one of them. Some of them set the market, but you got to pay Kyler Murray. So just figure it out. Put that one on the books that you're going to pay Tyler Murray. We'll wrap it up with this. As we all know, Tom Brady announced his retirement from the NFL after 22 seasons, seven Super Bowls. Then there is no shortage of speculation about whether or not he's going to make a comeback. And the possibility of Brady wanting to play for his hometown 49ers, their defensive back, Jimmy Ward, was asked about that. He said, I think some of the media is using that for a story. I don't think Tom Brady is coming out of retirement.

I'm not saying he can't do it. I feel like he can. He's proven it and that he can go to another franchise and win a Super Bowl that year. Brady did lead with 43 passing touchdowns and over 5300 yards this season at 44. It's hard to say a lot of things would shock me. but for Tom Brady and everything we know about him and the way that he operates to announce his retirement and in a month do a full 180 and come back, I would be pretty shocked by that. I would be like, wow, did not see that coming.

Did you see Giselle's Kravmaga posts? I did not. Yesterday, and he was talking about I need to, I got to make sure I do the dishes. Jizel is not letting Tom Brady come back. It's over. I honestly, I would be disappointed. It would feel like the whole thing was silly. Tom Brady is a very intentional person.

That is beyond his brand. Everything he eats the amount of water, he drinks the amount of sleep he gets. If he has alcohol during the season, everything he does is intentional. Now I'm supposed to believe that he just made this decision to retire from the NFL, the greatest player ever, just on a whim. And then he gets a little restless and decides to come back a month later. I'll put it at 1% that he comes back. Just to cover your...

Just so I'm not, because I don't like speaking in absolutes. There's a 1% chance he comes back, whatever that means. I don't think he's coming back. And it would feel to me very, like, it would feel disappointing. We know he could have kept, continued to play. He was in the MVP conversation this year. He's obviously very capable, as Jimmy said, of continuing to play. But if you retire and you're Tom Brady,

I feel like you have to stay retired. Right. That's not a, uh, maybe I'm going to come back thing. With Brett Favre, it felt like it fit. Like, Farv was always kind of just winging it, making it up as he went. Yeah, whatever way the wind blows. That was just who he was, that was how he played. So when he was constantly wishy-washy on, am I coming back, am I retired?

Am I going to play for another team? I want to play for this team? That made sense. That's not Tom Brady whatsoever. That's why it would be so shocking. You're absolutely right. It's not his brand. I would honestly be disappointed because it would feel it would feel silly.

You wouldn't be mad. You'd just be disappointed. I mean, it takes a lot to get me mad. I have to like to like really be mad. That's a switch. Once the switch is flipped, it's a lot that happens there. So I try to avoid the mad.

I don't think I'm going to be mad at Tom Brady. I would genuinely be disappointed though. It feels like we mourned him. Like we've mourned the career. I've moved on to the reality that I'm going to watch an NFL without Tom Brady now. Now you're just back. Where are you going to go? Are you going back to the buck? So what are we doing here? You can do that to us?

Yeah. I mean, look, he can do whatever he wants. He's given us a lot. But it just, it feels a little silly and it doesn't go along with what Tom Brady has done his entire life, which is be extremely intentional. So that's Ryan with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. Fun show today. You know, I get excited when I got to talk to anyone from the heat. The heat of the last team that I allowed to hurt my feelings.

I don't have a lot of feelings left. I have no nerves and like one feeling left, and the heat are the only ones that are allowed to bother it. The dolphins just frustrate me at this point, and we're separated. We're filing paperwork. We'll talk to Taylor Rooks at 1015, well, 115. I always forget about the East Coast. Sorry, guys.

Ryan Rosillo and Emmanuel Ocho will be in studio later. But next, Ben Simmons, there is this idea that he needs to apologize to the 76. I strongly disagree. We'll talk about that next on the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. I'm George Reister, host of the Reister or Wrong podcast. This is the intersection where sports, business, society, and pop culture meet the truth. Absolute fire on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

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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.

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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 yeah, yeah, literally. But just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, 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 middle health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

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Taking the day off. in with Ryan. So Ben Simmons has obviously been discussed for years now and the fit that he was with the Sixers

and what's going to happen with him now with the Nets and obviously the ending of his time in Philadelphia was not as smooth as you would like. And now there's

this conversation out there that Ben Simmons might owe the Sixers an apology. And Seth Curry, talks about this and the relationship between Ben Simmons and Curry and the rest of the team. And he said, business is business. Even when he was out early in the season, people were asking me if I feel like, if Ben comes back,

should he apologize to us? I understand the business. He doesn't need to apologize to anybody. When he's on the court, I know he's going to do his job and he's going to do what he does. He was doing what he felt was best for himself, business-wise and personal-wise. I tend to agree. There's a lot going on with the Ben Simmons situation, but I don't need Ben Simmons to apologize.

First of all, I'm not a big apology person, just on a personal note. Like, if you do what you do, and if you feel you need to apologize to me for it, I'm going to need you to do that of your own free will. I don't ask people for apologies, especially because if I'm asking you for an apology, you probably don't want to apologize to me,

which means you probably don't feel that you need to apologize to me, which means we have other things to talk about. So asking for an apology or expecting an apology is going to put you in a bad situation anyway. But also, we don't have full clarity on what the Ben Simmons situation is or was or will be. He's still not playing. And it's not because he's physically not ready to play. It's because he is mentally not ready to play, which is affecting his ability to physically be on the court. We're also, you know, waiting through these muddy waters of how to discuss mental

health and how to be appropriate about it. And I maintain we should talk about it as we do physical health because we wouldn't question if a guy was physically ready to be out there. But Ben Simmons' personality has played a role in people's speculation about his availability and the authenticity of it, which I find very uncomfortable because if it turns out that you made this very aggressive play to say that you were not mentally ready to play and it was all a lie, you're not coming back from that on any level. That's not something to lie about.

And anyone that vouched for you or demanded that that was true would also go down with you. So I have to assume that he's being authentic in the space. And there was one moment that happened with Shaq that really validated that for me when Shaq was talking about Ben Simmons. And I believe he called him a baby. And this happens on NBA on TNT. He sent me a text. I showed you guys a text, but I'm not going to talk about, you know, how to respect for him. what was in the DM, but, you know, he's going to do some things right now, so I'm going to back

off. As an L as you're your brother, I'm going to back off. Like, when I say something, you have permission to come back, right? Because it's because with me, it ain't personal. If I say something just how I feel at the time, you don't like it. Hallow at me. He hollered. I, slash we, we criticized them because we got criticized. And for the great ones, the great ones step up to criticism. That was a very telling moment for me. The fact that Shaq said, I'm going to back off. whatever Ben Simmons said to him made it very clear, this is not a game what's happening

and the reason that I'm not out there. Now, listen, Ben Simmons not working on his shooting, Ben Simmons falling apart at the end of the game, everything that's gone on. That can still be up for debate. Who's wrong? Who's right? We can all discuss that.

But it is very clear that whatever is happening with Ben Simmons mentally is actually quite serious. And that moment, I think, validated or should have validated it. Because Shaq doesn't know anybody anything. He doesn't owe anyone an explanation. and he said that that changed his opinion of the situation. So being critical of someone's play and all of that is fair game. Ben Simmons is going to be available when he's available,

but the idea that he needs to apologize to the Sixers, I think, is a little exaggerated. Apologize for what? We don't even know what the situation is. And on top of everything else, this is business, as Seth said. And that's a whole different world. You can't apply these personal, emotional terms to business. loyalty, apologizing. It's all a bit too much. We'll talk to Taylor Brooks, Ryan Mucillo, and Emmanuel Ocho coming up, and I'll break down the quarterback market for you next on

the herd. 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. 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'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host Care 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. How many men carry a suit are armored? It signals to the world that you're 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 AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

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 gal. far, far away, such as the biology of taun tons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human.