The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 1 - The Patriots are a mess

Episode Date: August 29, 2024

Jason McIntyre steps in for Colin reacting to breaking news from the NFL with the Patriots announcing Jacoby Brissett as their starting QB week 1 over #3 overall pick Drake Maye How much pressure is on Deion Sanders this year? 49ers are a mess heading into the season   Guest: Ian RapoportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that

excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. On The Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 is big to me.

I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild. I mean, it was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 Hardweight with your favorite therapist and host Care Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional

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You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. What is up, everybody? It's me. Jason McIntyre in for Colin Cowherd on a busy Thursday in the sports world. I've been enjoying the time off this week. I don't know about the rest of my staff here. We got Greg and Ryan. The band is back together. We're going to chop up some stuff. and I know Cowherd is listening this morning. He's going to be very upset with some of these takes, folks. A lot of stuff happening.

College football tonight, Dion Sanders. We're going to talk about him. Boy, Dion Sanders, what a disaster right now when he's talking to the media. Oof, gross. Speaking of disasters, how about the 49ers? Not great. But I'm going to start here with the New England Patriots. And before you say, Jay, you're a homer.

You're picking on the Patriots. Stop it. You love the Jets. No, no, no, no. There's some embarrassing stuff going on in New England. And listen, you never want to pick on a rookie coach, right? Gerard Mayo seems like a nice guy. You know, it was a great college football linebacker, drafted by the Patriots.

Spence his entire career with the Patriots, retires, takes like four years off where there's a little gap where he's, I don't know what he's doing, maybe enjoying life with his family. And then he starts coaching with Belichick at the end, coached for four years, and now he's the big boss. and Gerard Mayo is basically turning into a train wreck at the microphone. Folks, he's had the worst week of any head coach in the NFL. I mean, you can't make this stuff up. So this morning he announced, Jacoby Brousset's going to be our starting quarterback. And everybody kind of looks at him like, okay.

And then he didn't want to talk to the media about it. Okay? I'm going to go through the last four days of Gerard Mayo, and this honestly is some clownish stuff. It's amateur hour. It makes you long for Bill Belichick, getting on the microphone and saying, no, I'm not going to talk about that.

We're on to Cincinnati. And like giving nothing, that was funny. Gerard Mayo talks, and you're just shaking your head like, what are you even talking about, dude? What's going on? So this is Gerard Mayo, Patriots head coach, on Sunday, on his quarterback battle between Jacoby Brissette

and the young kid out of North Carolina, Drake May. I would like to see here and say 100%, he's our second best quarterback on her roster right now. Next question. I'm not sure. So Drake May, on Sunday, was the second best quarterback on the roster. So you're like, oh, okay, so Drake May is not starting. Even though Brissette got hurt in the final preseason game and May look pretty good,

the fans are getting behind May. Everything's looking rosy. So, again, that was Sunday. So here is Mayo the following day to the media in New England. It's a true competition. And I would say at this current point, you know, Drake has outplayed Jacoby. Now I'm saying that we have to take in the full body of work, you know, going all the way back to the spring and the beginning of training camp, and we'll see where we end up. Come again?

So the day before you said Drake May is the second best quarterback on the roster, then you come out and say, well, Drake May has outplayed Jacoby Brissette. What are we doing here? And then Mayo really steps in it where he's like, well, if you go back to the spring, Drake May was drafted in the spring. You expect him to instantly be better than the journeyman backup quarterback you got, the career basically backup in Jacoby Brissette? He's been a spot starter and been okay. Mayo's not making sense. The rookie has outplayed the veteran, but the rookie's still the second best quarterback on the roster?

Why should spring matter? What have you done for me lately? That's what matters. And lately, Drake May's been the guy. So then it gets a little worse. After that on Monday, essentially, Jared Mayo was pulling like a high school thing where he's like, hey, or no, elementary school thing. Hey, I know who has a crush on you, but I'm not going to tell you. Mayo essentially announces

to the media. I know who our starters going to be. I'm just not telling you yet. I haven't told the team. It's like, why are you announcing that you have a secret? What? Belichick must just be facepalming all over the place. Like, what? They got this guy following me? So here's Mayo. He just announced a few hours ago, who is starter going to be, and it's Jacoby Brissette? I feel like we're all on the same page from an organizational perspective. There are a lot of factors that led to

this choice. I think, you know, the hard part is thinking in the short term and the long term at the same time. As an organization though, we feel like Jacoby gives us our best chance to win right now. I don't want to get into hypotheticals. You know, we can't go into the season saying, well, he's going to go X amount of weeks.

Like, look, as long as Jacob is going out there, performing the way that we all have confidence in in him doing, he'll be our quarterback this season. Yeah, you mean the guy who was just outplayed by the rookie in camp and in the preseason? That guy? You have a lot of confidence in that? So I'm trying to find a historical perspective of following a legendary coach. And the best one I could come up with is my people in D.C. will remember this.

Joe Gibbs was a legend in Washington. At the time, they were the Redskins. He was winning just stacking Super Bowls, legendary guys like Art Monk. somebody may remember John Riggins, Gary Clark. I grew up in the D.C. area in the 80s. And obviously I was born in New York,

so I came down to D.C. And I'm like a young little punk, of course. Shocker, Jason's a punk. And I'm like, I don't want to root for this Washington team. Screw them. I'm a Jets guy. And of course, the Jets were at bottom feeders, and Washington was dominant.

And, like, you would cross the street to go to school and the crossing guards would like hand out Washington at the time, Redskins, cards. And you would like, Oh, Darrell Green, oh my gosh, amazing. And I don't want those cards. I don't want Washington.

Meanwhile, they're dominant and winning. And then Gibbs leaves. Well, who does he leave the team too? Gibbs and the owner agree, hey, let's give it to the guy who's been by my side, one of my lieutenants, Richie Pettibon. Now, Washington fans will remember him. He took over. They went four and 12, and they dusted him.

This is shaping up as a one and done for Gerard Mayo. Mayo, again, great Patriots player, a loyal lieutenant for a few years with Belich. check. He inherits the job. Kraft is giving his full support. And then Mayo, guys, undeniably, he's been a train wreck. And NFL teams are getting increasingly okay with. I'm moving off my guy after a year. We saw Urban Meyer gone in Jacksonville. We've seen the Carolina Panthers run through coaches pretty damn quickly. Teams are not messing around. I am predicting, and this is not the hot take happy hour to start the show. I think Gerard Mayo won and done. They have the lowest win total in the league per Vegas, and if this team goes 4 and 12,

may don't take off, I think it's over for Gerard Mayo in New England. Now, I'm going to pivot to college football, and there's a, I don't know, I don't want to call it a big game, I don't want to call it a seismic game, but it's an interesting game. It is Dion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes. They are playing tonight against not quite roast beef tech, but they got North Dakota State.

And you guys know the story with the Colorado Buffaloes. Dion Sanders is the story. Okay? I know some of the herd audience doesn't like when I talk about this guy, but, you know, I call Elon Musk a carnival barker, and it's working for him. He is drawing attention to all of his businesses. He's always saying some inflammatory, incendiary stuff,

and that's fine. We obviously know he's super smart. The dude's sending rockets into space and has satellites better dominating around the globe. Like, come on. Elon Musk is doing right things. At the same time, he's a carnival barker, and it's working for him. He's a disruptor.

Okay? That's his DNA. And I'm not comparing Dion Sanders to Elon Musk, but they're in the same zip code. Okay? Dion Sanders gets to Colorado and is talking a lot of smack. Talking junk. And then they pull off three upsets to start last season.

They were the biggest story in college football, and it's not close. Okay? They were the biggest. And I'll never forget, after that third win, Dion walked into the press room, and he's almost, pointing at media members.

You guys probably know Edwarders covered the Cowboys for ESPN forever. Pointing at media members. Do you believe? Do you believe now? Oh, yeah, laughing. We hear. And it's like, oh, okay, this is a great story.

And everybody loved Dion. And it was, Colorado Buffaloes won one game the year before Dion got there. Now they're 3-0. And their ratings juggernaut. They were on Fox a bunch last year, and the numbers were massive. And then it kind of fell off.

And they lost 7 of 8 to end the season. And it was like, ooh. Well, Dion still was the sportsman of the year for Sports Illustrated, which is comical. He won four frigging games and he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Most importantly, Dion Sanders, an absolute cash cow for the university. Okay? He comes in. He is the biggest, biggest name they've had there probably ever.

Colorado had more attention. And a reminder, we're in an attention economy. Can I say so much interesting stuff on the radio that you're not turning the channel? When you start scrolling on TikTok, they have your attention. I confess, I'm an Instagram scroller. I don't mind sitting there for 10 minutes scrolling through and next thing you know it's 20 minutes. But they have my attention. Attention equals money in this current economy.

And right now, Dion Sanders has everyone's attention. And he's got so much power that he's essentially running media members off. A Denver Post columnist was so critical of Dion. he had a couple, you know, negative names for Dion. And that's fine. You're allowed to do that as a columnist. And I had this guy on my podcast. He talked about it.

And it was like, oh, man, he's got some good points. But Dion had enough. And Dion was like, you're done. You're not asking us questions. We're not taking them from you. This guy's covered the program. Covered Yokic. Covered the avalanche.

Covered the Broncos. But you're not allowed to ask questions to the Colorado Buffalo is because you're being negative. And this is another Elon Musk. I don't want to invoke the politician, but it's very, you know, you're with. thoughts are you're against us? And I get that. I totally understand that. Here's Dion Sanders last week,

or sorry, this week, on his critics. You don't care, really, because it don't influence you. I've never read an article or comment and said, oh, that's going to make me go harder. I'm going to go hard regardless. I don't think even in my career when I played, I never talked about what I was going to do contrary to what you all believe. I want to win, certainly that. If you got to be an idiot, if you don't want to win in life or you don't want to win as a coach. That's just stupidity if you don't want to do that. So that's necessary that I say those type of things. But I expect to do some amazing things.

Hmm. Where in college or the NFL? Now Dion is on record. I'm will stay in college. I know you guys think I'm gone. I'm not going anywhere. He's talking tough. That's fine.

When your son leaves for the NFL and Travis Hunter leaves for the NFL, and I think they have two other good players who are probably NFL bound, the cupboard's going to be bare. They're not getting five-star recruits out the wazoo. That's not happening. I'm telling you, Dion is very polarizing. And you start to wonder, man, he's probably just shutting down this stuff, this NFL rumors. Now, I'm staying in college, so he doesn't have to deal with it all season.

I do wonder if he becomes attractive to the NFL if he goes, say, four at eight again. The schedule is tough. And I know some gamblers who are on the under win total. I piggybacked him on the buffaloes this year. there's an element of Dion where he is Tim Tebow-ish. Tim Tebow worked in college football. One, I believe two titles with the Florida Gators

was an awesome quarterback, worked perfectly. But the skill set didn't quite translate to the NFL. Now, Josh McDaniels thought it'd translate it. It took him in the first round. Tebow did win a playoff game. But ultimately, he was not long for the NFL because the skill set didn't quite line up with the NFL. I wonder, does Dion's bluster?

and his tough talking and his flamboyance is disrupting. Does that play in the NFL? And we're starting before the show to talk about settings where that could work. And again, we're talking about an older audience. You guys have seen ballers with the rock. You know what that room of NFL owners looks like. It's a bunch of old guys with white hair. You think they want Dionne Sanders in here talking the way he's talking?

And I don't know that it totally works, but I'll give you one team as we wrap up the first segment here. team where I think Dion Sanders works and you need a desperate team and you need a city where Dion vibes. And for me that's the Las Vegas Raiders. Now, I don't know if they'll run off Pierce after one season. Pierce obviously is going through some

Gerard Mayo stuff of his own in Las Vegas naming Gardner Minchu the starter and it's like, ooh, what are we doing here? Devante Adams is unhappy. He told his buddy Deshaun Jackson came on the herd last week and said that to me. Like Devante Adams is not happy. So maybe there's a world where Dion

lines up and ends up in Vegas next year. But I definitely think he's going to be done after this year in college football. The question is, is it going to be a good year for the Buffaloes? Coming up next, there is one Super Bowl contender that I'm extremely worried about next year. I'll tell you who that is next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the 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. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. 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 Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how

we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, 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.

Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist,

Keer Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough

because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely.

And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast. Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. 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 tontons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to Stuff to Bo Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Folks, I flew to Las Vegas yesterday to sign up for a gambling contest, and in the airport, I discovered J-Lab headphones, and I'm hooked. For that trip yesterday, I made a lot of bets. I'll tell you about them later. But I used the J-Buds Lux, Over-Ear noise-canceling headphones.

You know, as like a pretty famous guy, I got to, like, wear the headphones, so I don't have to talk to regular people who are like, Jay Bag, what up? No, I don't get that a lot. I just felt like tossing that in there. Find the blue box at Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and More, or visit jelab.com. I did really fly to Vegas yesterday. I was on the ground for about like 57 minutes.

It was awesome. And then instantly came back to L.A. It's such a short flight. They said it was 40 minutes in the air. I was stunned. I was like, wow. But then you got a taxi for like 15. Anyways, you guys don't really care about that.

What you do care about is the San Francisco 49ers. And I was all about them last season. And I'll never forget, Calhurt was like mocking me. Like, hey, you got to stop rooting for the Jets. They stink. Find a new team. What about the Niners? I was like, all right, sure.

They're awesome. Yeah. So I rode with them. I was the Brock Purdy champion. It was great. And, you know, like maybe a month or two ago, I was like, I like the Niners to win the Super Bowl. That was like my pick this summer. And now here we are,

the season starts a week from today with the season opener. The Jets don't play the Niners until Monday Night Football. But it's like, holy cow, the Niners are a bit of a mess. Trent Williams still unsigned, and it doesn't look like anything's imminent. And then Brandon Ayuk is really pissing off the Niners. Folks, this Ayuk thing has been, we're like on four months of this now. Can you imagine how frustrated the 49ers must be with this Ayuk situation? It was like, we're not going to trade him.

here he is there he goes the steelers want him he wants to go to washington he's on tic-tok i mean it is it's just like incessant drama and john lynch sounds fed up here he is yesterday about how iukuk uh an old pro last year is still not practicing with the niners you know i've seen these things look dire before and they can quickly turn so that gives you hope um you know that that we've been in these situations before and uh those things can quickly be forgotten so you know we'll remain hopeful. Was it communicated to Brandon's camp at any point, say, in the last few weeks that he would be expected to practice starting to that.

I'm not going to get into our communication again, but, you know, there's, you know, at some point you got to play. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, Niners fans surely are getting nervous. And if you are a gambler and you follow the number, the 49ers were six and a half point

favorites. Two months ago, most of the summer against a jet. in that week one opener. That lines down to three and a half. Essentially, people are, well, not people, influential big money gamblers are saying, wow, no Trent Williams. Oh, wait a minute. Trent Williams out is kind of a massive deal.

Now, again, you don't want to read too much in the preseason, but that offensive line looked bad in the preseason. Brock Purdy's literally running for his life against backups and third stringers. Not great. Okay? And then if you want to go look last year, how did they perform without Trent Williams? the sample size was small, but it was not good. The offense was stuck in the mud.

Now, you could argue, well, Jason, that was against Cleveland, you know, and tough games on their schedule. Okay, fine. You don't think they're playing a first-place schedule? Folks, this is not great at all. I think it's officially panic time if you're a Niners fan. Remember, Hufunga, their great safety. He's not back yet off his injury, which suffered late last season. Greenlaw, they're good linebacker.

He's out. Remember he popped the Achilles. They're hopeful he's back in, like, December, January? Like, those are two horses on that defense. The defensive line has had some turnover. You know, you got Brock Purdy playing for a big money contract. He's probably a little nervous.

You got Iyuk not there. You got Ricky Pearsall, the young rookie receiver expected to slide in and do like big things. Folks, there's a world where this kind of goes sideways. And during the morning meeting, it was like, wait a minute, Super Bowl losers have not really been great in recent years. Now the Eagles lost to the Chiefs and that did make the playoffs last year, started 10 to 1 and they fell off precipitously at the end.

The Bengals did make the playoffs after going to the Super Bowl, did lose to the Chiefs, but you go a little further back and it's like the Rams, the McVeague off team, no way no. 49ers, after they lost that heartbreaker to the Chiefs the first time, Jimmy G got hurt, not good. I've seen some week one numbers. Now listen, it's hashtag trends, which you don't always bet on for gambling.

But Super Bowl loser in week one comes out hungover. Like, I mean, the numbers are there. I'm not saying auto bet the Jets. The number's not what it was. But if you're a Niners fan, you've got to worry about what this team looks like without Trent Williams and Brandon Ayyuk against arguably the best defense in the NFL. And I know Hassan Reddick's not there yet. Doesn't look like he's going to be there.

Folks, he wasn't there last year. And don't act like Bryce Huff, who was not an every down player, is that huge of a loss. Yes, he was effective when he played. But I'm just telling you, a bad offensive line versus the Jets elite defensive front, listen, you know I'm going to be insufferable if the Jets are good. I'm going to be extra, extra brutal that Tuesday if the Jets come out in the opener and beat the Niners. And then you're like, oh, Samfran, we got some problems. Panic ahead, Brock Purdy.

All right, let's go to Ryan Music with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Hey, Mac. Good morning, my friend. Good to have you in the fold, my man. Oh, buddy, great to be here.

I should announce you as Bengals fan Ryan music. Well, listen, I've been called worse. Okay. Let's start off with none other than America's team, your favorite moniker, the Dallas Cowboys. We know their wide receiver. CD Lamb got the bag he was hoping for. Becoming the second highest paid wide receiver in the league

behind Justin Jefferson, of course. Now, all eyes in Dallas on DAC Prescott in the final year of his contract. Well, here's what Jerry Jones told Cowboys Reporter Clarence Hill Jr. about a DAC deal. Quote, we just don't need to get it done before the season because it's in all of our interest, DAC and everybody, to have a great season.

But my thought sitting here right now is we'll have DAC as the Cowboys quarterback in 2025 and beyond. but all I'm going to say is this it's not done yet so remember I had that hot take that Jerry Jones is just letting this stuff string out so he stays in the news

sure we saw that with CD Lamb are you feeling that with Dak I mean yeah it's not unlike Jerry to try and stir things up and keep themselves in the spotlight I think the problem is and this has been pointed out by a lot of people

which is you can't let a franchise quarterback reach the end of the contract unless you are truly prepared to let him walk because that number is going to skyrocket. And that's where Jerry may have backed himself into a corner is if this doesn't get done before the season starts, you run the risk of either paying 10 to 15% above

what you wanted to pay or you truly do have to let him walk in free agency. Especially the point of this is, DAC has the no trade, no franchise clause in his current deal. And I'm reading here that if they let DAC walk, there's a

$40 million dead cap salary hit they have to absorb next year. Correct. That's brutal. So maybe Jerry gets his done, figures out something and Dax's in the fold. And this was much ado about nothing except the Cowboys were in the headlines for four months, five months, five. months? Yeah, I mean, Jerry, the only thing we know about Jerry Jones is as much as he loves

winning football games, he loves being the center of attention to. So I guess it wouldn't be anything I'd put past him. Jerry's history also tells us that inevitably he gives in on these guys. He's always been the type that the Cowboys typically lead the league and giving second contracts to players that they've drafted. Zeke held out, got his deal. C.D. Lamb held out. He's got his deal. Doc Prescott not holding out, but we do presume we'll get his deal. Jerry Jones, constantly the PR master of keeping them in the center of the spotlight.

Who you got Brown's Cowboys Week 1? Browns are favored by 2. He's going to say. I'm personally going to go with the Cowboys. On the road. I'm going to go with Cowboys on the road because, I have to see it to believe it with Deshawn Watson as quarterback of the Browns.

We're going to talk about them later. Yes, we are. Oh, geez. Not great. They got some problems. All right, J. Mack. Can't believe I'm doing this, but I feel obligated. We are going to talk about the Jets here. The Athletic surveyed 31 NFL agents on a variety of subjects. And here's what one agent was quoted as saying about your

beloved Jets in the category of most unstable franchise. Here's what the NFL agent had to say. Quote, there is complete disarray over there. Look at how they've handled Aaron Rogers. Has one player had more power than him? He skipped a minicamp. They have been unable to convert him into a team player.

The vibe inside the building is terrible. It's a haters ball. It hits. Ain't that the truth? I mean, I struggle with this one. To be honest, I feel as though, and this is not to discredit the survey.

Actually, let me also point this out, by the way. That was one quote from one agent about the Jets. The Jets did not take first place in that category as most unstable franchise. It actually was the Carolina Panthers ended up coming in number one there. So let's get that straight. Carolina Panthers got the most votes.

the Raiders got the second most votes and then the Jets were actually tied with the Jags, Cowboys, and Cardinals. So Jets's not the most unstable. Carolina and who was he of Raiders? Rators, correct. Look, I struggle with this. I know Colin has his criticisms of Aaron Rogers. At times, you've been critical of Aaron Rogers.

I think it's fair. The guy's personality has been well documented. I mean, Ian O'Connor has got a whole book on Aaron Rogers right now his personality traits. But to say that they haven't converted him into a team player, he hasn't even like played for the team yet. So this whole idea about like he's not a team player, like, what was he a team player last year in training camp?

It sure seemed like it for the most part. Seemed like he was really energized and on board with this new fresh start in New York. And then yeah, he took time away from the team because he wasn't going to play. Then he did actually return to New York, did do his rehab, said that he was potentially going to try and come back at the end of the season if they were still in playoff contention.

So, like, I don't see this as a particularly fair criticism. Like, okay, sure, he skipped a minicamp or whatever it was. Okay. Not great, but not the end of the world. I wouldn't say that qualifies as him not being a team player. It feels like the jets are low-hanging fruit in an easy target. They miss the playoffs. The owner stinks.

Rogers is a crazy guy. And they're easy to pick on, right? For sure. You could basically throw anything at the wall against the Jets. And it'd be like, yeah, I probably believe that. Now, everything else about this seems like fair game. Like, okay, they're complete disarray. Yeah, the Jets have been some relatively dysfunctional over the past 10 to 15 years.

Have they handled this situation with Aaron Rogers great? And have they given him all the power? Yeah, I mean, that's what it's going to take to get Aaron Rogers to join a team like the Jets. You know, the vibe inside the building. again, I think that's totally fair. This agent obviously is going to rep one, if not multiple players on the Jets. So he may be pretty, he or she may be plugged in with what the vibe is. But like, I don't know.

The team player thing is kind of like, okay, maybe there's one disgruntled guy on defense who Aaron hasn't talked to yet. I think to your point, it's low-hanging fruit. Jets are an easy target. Aaron's quite frankly an easy target and has been for a few years now. I'm going to take that one with a great assault. Just win, baby. You are there alongside the Raiders.

We'll finish with this here. We thought Jamar Chase was back and fully, as you said, my Bengals, fully back from his contract hold in where he was with the team but not practicing, similar to what we saw with a CD Lamb or a Brandon Ayuk. And Bengals head coach Zach Taylor said he looked great and was ready to go for week one. general expectation was he would continue practicing right well not so fast Jamar chase was in street clothes not practicing again yesterday and Zach Taylor admitting quote I think I probably put my foot in my mouth speaking too quickly

this is a day-to-day situation and we're gonna just keep saying that not great J-Mack are you nervous so nervous I am optimistic that a deal will eventually get done or Jamar will end up playing. I am not particularly nervous that this will have a huge impact on week one versus the Patriots. But with the expectation being that this team is right there

in the top tier of AFC teams who could be competing with the Chiefs to get back to the Super Bowl, yeah, that makes me nervous. I think you 100% need a player like Jamar Chase in the biggest games, in the biggest moments

to make the difference. So if they, don't have Jamar for a large portion of the season, yeah, I think it significantly hurts their chances to contend for a Super Bowl. I know you're a homer with the Bengals, but I'm going to be honest, I don't know when all this CEDs better than Jamar Chase. I don't know when that started.

I don't think that's accurate. People are down on Jamar, so I'm looking at his season last year. Jake Browning was a quarterback, who was competent, but he's not feeding. And even Burrow was not himself for the start of the year. So he really only had that like three to four week stretch where Burrow finally got healthy. They like ran the 49ers out of the building to where you were like, whoa, Burrow looks right,

Jamar looks good, like this is what this team could be. I don't see, I think for my money, Chase's second best receiver in the league. But you got guys out there saying CD Lamb is a number one fantasy guy and he's right there with Justin Jefferson. I have CD just a second tier. you know, I have Tyreek Justin and Chase as the top three. Would you agree with that?

Yeah, I mean, I'm, yes, as a Homer, I'm mostly there. I love Jamar and everything that he brings to the table, the physicality. So I'm with you. I'm going to be a Jamar guy over C.D. Lamb. I think C.D. Lam's great. He's great. Yeah, I mean, I think that's where the Bengals are finding themselves in a tough spot is every argument in the book is going to tell you that

you're going to have to find, because they left a very narrow gap in between what C.D. Lamb could be and then what Justin Jefferson's contract was. So you're either going to have to pay him right in line with Justin Jefferson or CD Lamb. So they kind of set the market for you, if you will. All right, Ryan, music with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

Heard line news. All right, coming up next, what the heck is going on in New England with Gerard Mayo and the quarterbacks? And should you be concerned 49ers fans? We'll ask NFL Network insider Ian Rappaport next. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Pauli Fusco here with Tony Fusco. Yo, as everybody knows, we're the host of the award-winning Pauly and Tony Fusco show.

Yeah. But instead of us telling you how great we are, here's how Dan Patrick described us when he came on our show. Quick, knowledgeable, and funny, opinionated. What are you doing? You're interrupting our promo. Yeah. He wasn't talking about you.

You took those clips totally out of context. Oh yeah, well, after this promo, I'm going to take you out and beat you. Let me put this into context. Shut up. Yeah, anyway, just listen to the Folly and Tony Fusco show on IHod Radio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Yeah. 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. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger.

So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. 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-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking.

What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we picket 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. Yes.

I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own

experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses.

Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on Earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing,

growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free, our heart radio app. Search learn the hard way and listen now. 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 tontons 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. Back here on the herd, let's get our NFL Network Insider, Ian Rappaport, into the building. You could see Ian on NFL Networks, The Insider, Weeknights at 7 p.m. Eastern Ian, how are you, man?

I'm good, man. How are you? I'm excellent. Everybody should know I was at Chargers Camp. I brought my kids. And Ian Rappaport, of course, is like on the field, and he comes over to say what's up. And guys wanted his autograph. This is how big of a deal Rappaport is. He's a great guy. All right, Ian, now that... I appreciate that. Yeah, now that I'm embarrassed. It was good seeing you and good meeting your son.

Yeah, yeah, thank you. Now, let's move on, and Jacoby Brissette is officially the starter. I kind of crushed Gerard Mayo earlier. He's been all over the place this week. Drake May's our second best quarterback. He's outperformed Jacoby Brissette. We're going to name Brissette the starter. It just feels like amateur hour.

Well, I would say a lot goes into the decision, and it's much more than just like, all right, who's the best quarterback, right? Because, you know, the Patriots, draft, Drake May, not for this year, but for the next 15 years. And so the only thing that really matters, with all due respect to the Patriot season this year, the only thing that really matters is do they set them up for success for the next decade?

And putting them out there with an offensive line that is, you know, a work in progress at best, I don't think helps Drake May at all. So to me, Gerard May is saying, like, he's our best quarterback or he's played the best or whatever it is. Like, that's a good thing. That's what you want. They drafts him to be the franchise guy, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's ready to be out there

against some of the best defensive coordinators in the NFL from the opening, you know, opening whistle. It just means they're very confident what they have for the future. So I actually like, I think it's the right decision. I think it's a smart decision. And, you know, whatever has been said, I think they did it well today. Okay, the 49ers and John Lynch sound a little exasperated

with the Brandon Ayuk's situation. and oh by the way, Trent Williams is not in the building yet. I know you're not looking at Vegas lines all the time, or maybe you are, but 49ers Jets has gone from six and a half to three and a half, respected big money coming in on the Jets. I think people are starting to wonder, holy cow, is Trent Williams even going to play in the opener? We saw them Ian last year without Trent look abysmal for a three-game stretch.

You go without IUC and Trent to start the season, not good? I say it's panic time for Sanfran. What say you? Yeah, I think there was a time last year. and if I remember correctly, it was no Debo and no Trent Williams, I think. And yeah, they'll

look, we can talk all we want about Brandon Ayuk, and we have for sure talked about him plenty this offseason, more than I could ever imagine anyone talking about Brandon Ayuk in any off season. He is a very good player. Trent Williams is one of their best players. Might be their best player. That is

a massive deal. And, you know, if you say to me, You know, could any player absent a contract extension hold out into the season? He would for sure be on the list. He is stubborn. He has principled. He has made a lot of money. And he means business.

So without the right deal, something that he thinks is a right deal, for sure we can see him sit out to start the regular season. Ooh. Now that's also not good for Brock Purdy, who, listen, he's just not going to be as good without the best left tackle in football, right? I mean, I don't think, I think the whole thing won't be as good. You know, like the whole team. But that's, you know, look, players have leverage, right?

Now, some players think they have leverage and some players really do. Like, for instance, the son Redick has stayed away from the Jets, assuming that they will say, okay, fine, fine, we'll just give you the extension you want. And the Jets have not budged. No. And, you know, look, if they can't rush the pastor in the first, if he misses games and they can't rush the pastor in the first couple of games, then maybe his leverage increases.

Otherwise, they have sort of said, like, we'll see you when we see ya. You know, I would say for Trent Williams, he has real leverage. Brandon Ayuk, we'll find out. Yeah. Interesting situation here, a week to the season and some big names not signed. Let me toss out a big, big hot take for you. So Deshawn Watson, I saw they restructured his deal again. Now we know they gave him massive, massive money.

Okay? I got to be honest, I don't, this is year three for him. He's had some injuries when he's been out there. He hasn't looked great in the Stefansky offense. Meanwhile, Stefansky looked great with Joe Flacco. You know, it's just a little bit of a hot take. What are the chances Deshaun Watson is playing for his job for next season? And maybe we've seen some teams like Denver take on the huge dead money of Russell Wilson.

is there a world where you can envision the Brown saying, hey Deshaun, if you're not the guy this year, we're going to move off you, or we're going to draft somebody and you're going to be the backup? I would be very, very, very surprised by that. I think, you know, the main thing I would look at is, you know, last year, his last game, he led a fourth quarter comeback with a high ankle sprain

and a shoulder that they found out later in that night was broken. That's pretty good. And I think that to Sean Watson that we saw in his last game was the guy that they had hoped to see all along. Now, there were, you know, there was a multitude of issues. There was, you know, a shoulder injury. There was some arm strength issues because of a shoulder injury that either wasn't properly diagnosed or wasn't taken seriously by all parties that needed to be or whatever it was. It was just, there was a couple injuries and it wasn't handled great by anyone.

and then obviously the you know the broken shoulder knocked him out for the season but I think when he's been healthy you know he has definitely shown signs of being the guy that you know the Browns trained for and gave all that money to

I would also say for the quarterback contract as always happens you know the you know he's making in the mid-40s you know obviously it was huge when it happened that has gone far down the list of quarterback salaries as each quarterback gets a little more money

That's a good point. Let me go to the Chiefs. Two-time defending champs. Everybody's excited for Patrick Mahomes and the new receivers. Nobody seems to be talking about their tackle situation. Ian, it looks like the second round kid from BYU is going to start at left tackle, and Joanne Taylor's going to start at right tackle, and he was a unmitigated disaster last year. So the last time we saw Mahomes without two tackles was in the Super Bowl against the Buccaneers,

and it was open season on Mahomes. Are people overlooking this tackle situation in Casey? Yeah, probably. You know, I think it's a real thing. I mean, I would say this. Like, I think if Juan Taylor plays as good as he can play, just talent-wise, I think it's fine. But here's the thing with Patrick Mahomes.

When you have him, it allows you to do basically whatever you want, like really whatever you want. I mean, it allowed them last year to take a receiving group that was up and down and in and out and all over the place. and, you know, he probably got as much production out of those guys as you could ever imagine, right? I mean, and, you know, like, I mean, Rishi Rice is sort of a different situation. He's obviously very talented, but there's not a ton of those guys. That would be great players on other teams.

But he's Patrick Mahomes and he makes everybody better. I would say the same to the tackle situation. But, you know, just like we talked about for the 49ers, like, you know, if you have an offensive line that is not functioning properly, it makes life very, very challenging. Yeah, we could wrap up with the L.A. Chargers, Ian. Listen, I know that Herbert was in a walking boot for a minute. What's the latest? Can they run the Greg Roman offense the way they want it to with Herbert, not 100%?

Or is he 100% according to your sources? I think he'll be 100%, but that's a really tricky injury. You know, I mean, that's the kind of thing about, like, you can play with it, but I'm not sure how comfortable he'll be for a while. it just lingers and it just it actually just really sucks that injury, you know? Like planter fashion is not

not fun. So I don't know if right away he'll be exactly like we sort of think and he also missed a lot of training camp time. So if you say to me like you know, could you see the Chargers starting slow? Like to me that makes some sense. Now like by the

second half of the year will they be among the better teams in football? I think there's a real chance. But there's a couple things that sort of lead me to think that they could be a team that starts slow, knowing that they have the talent to, you know, figure it out along the way. By the way, if I said Lions over the Jets in the Super Bowl, after your laughter subsided, you would say what? I mean, if I didn't know anything about the history of those places, I would say talent-wise,

on the field, that is as good a guess as any. You know, I mean, I think, you know, it's like I got a whole bunch of friends who were jet fans. Like, what do you think? What do you think? I'm like, I think the same thing I thought last year. If Aaron Rogers is healthy, it's one of the better teams in the NFL. If he's not healthy, then sort of back to the drawing board. You know, and then for the Lions, I would say, you know, just as good, maybe a little bit better than last year. He should be in a really good place. Ian Rappaport, NFL Network Insider and good human being. Ian, thanks for your time, man, and good luck this season.

Thank you, man. Always good hanging out with you. Take care. All right. Ian Rappaport, good stuff. Coming up next here on the herd, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning gave us their top four quarterbacks in the NFL. So naturally, I disagree with the greats, and I got my own top five plus one. J-Max Six-pack coming up next. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy,

not quite. Unhumored me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman helped 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. On The Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 is big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick you here, unpack what went down,

and try to make sense of how we survived it with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement

to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the I-Hard 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. 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 weight with your favorite therapist

and hosts 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 or armor? 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 IHard radio app, Apple Podcast,

or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHart podcast. Guaranteed human