The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 1 - Watson, Mayfield, Adams, Stafford

Episode Date: March 21, 2022

The Browns continue to be loud at the QB positionDavante Adams didn't thank Aaron RodgersMatt Stafford made the smart play by taking less moneyGuest: Rick Spielman Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Here we go on a busy, busy Monday. Expect breaking news today around the NFL and quarterbacks. Live in L.A., it's the herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. One hour from now where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong, plenty of both. Your brackets are probably busted. The best team I saw all year, Arizona is still intact. outside of that

most of mine's in flames this morning. Joy Taylor's Dark Horse team, UCLA, looked really good. Michigan looked really good. So, you know, what's funny about college basketball, you know, it's all the young kids.

Like in the NBA, you kind of know how good Draymond Green is, how good stuff is. You kind of sense in the NBA. I mean, John Morant's growing, but these are 28, 29. In college basketball, they're kids. So if you watch UCLA or A Gonzaga in December and you watch them now, you're seeing developing players, developing programs.

It is, I've never seen a March madness that's more wide open. Well, it's similar to kind of how all sports are trending right now, which is there's just a lot more parity. The talent is more spread out. There's not a lot of teams that are head and shoulders above the rest. So it kind of makes it anyone's game. Yeah. So let's start with this.

A lot of movement. So it is official. Cleveland is always noisy at quarterback. They continue to be. Baker Mayfield out. We may learn more today. Deshawn Watson in. Let's talk about the Baker Mayfield part.

This is going to be the conclusion of Baker at the Cleveland Browns. I'm not going to go on and on and on. You know I was right. You know how I felt. No reason to waste any time patting myself in the back, although I love to occasionally do that. People show you who they are. He showed everybody what he was in college at the Senior Bowl.

there were ugly reports, calling out the medical staff. People show you what they are. Even the way he's leaving Cleveland is who he is. And I got nothing against the kid, but his classic line, trade me to the Colt. It doesn't work that way, bro. It doesn't work that way. You don't tell teams where you get traded unless you're Deshawn Watson or Russell Wilson and have a no trade clause.

This is in college football. You can't enter the transfer portal and go wherever you want. Can't do that, Baker. So you're going to go probably to Seattle, which, by the way, has a bad O-line, and they don't have Nick Chubb. So good luck with that in a tougher division. But he was always emotional, too often snarky, too much of an ego, not nearly as talented as he thought. It ended how it started, turbulence. So reportedly, according to Mary Kay Cabot, for all you Baker fan boys, he was going to hold out this year.

Now, that's the story. He was going to hold out this year. Congratulations. You supported him for years. I told you. People show you what they are. He was going to hold out and upend the entire franchise because he didn't get what he wanted. So let's just move off the Baker stories. Let's move to Deshawn Watson. Once again, very turbulent. For all those who are deeply offended by the Brown signing him, I get it. totally get it. He is better than Baker Mayfield. That is indisputable.

But he hasn't played in a year. This contract is going to put a ton of pressure on him. He may, my guess is he's not even going to play in September. He's going to be suspended minimum four games. I would guess eight. Kareem Hunt got eight game suspension. I think Deshaun Watson could get six to eight. And the Bengals and Steelers have had terrific.

off seasons. So be careful about expectations here. Also, he still has 22 civil cases. How long is that going to last? I have no idea. I'm not an attorney. But I will say this, they're better at quarterback, but he should not be the highest paid quarterback in the league because he's not a top five, six quarterback. He's somewhere between, you know, seven, eight, and twelve. He has not played in a year. He's had ACL stuff in his career that worries me, and they overpaid for him. But sometimes you have to do that to move off in a relationship. They did. They're better today.

And I wish Deshaun Watson luck. But if you're outraged by it and sickened by him playing, I get it. My wife won't listen to certain artists musically. She won't watch certain movies if she thinks people have been bad actors or done bad things. I get it. I would say this about the Cleveland Browns though this morning. It's still loud at quarterback. Baker loud isn't as sinister as Deshawn's loud, but it's still a noisy mess.

And Pittsburgh usually isn't. And Cincinnati isn't any longer. And either is Baltimore. So you've moved to a better quarterback. I think you have to lower your expectations. The division's better. I don't think Deshawn's civil cases all end quickly. I think he won't play in September and perhaps most of October.

and the AFC, I'm not sure if you've noticed, is ridiculous. It's like in college football, you think the SEC is better than everywhere else. That's the NFL, maybe even more so with the AFC. So you move from one noisy situation to another. If it offends people, I get it. But in the NFL, a lot of times in pro sports, you have to separate art from artist. That's the reality of it. Same in a lot of industries.

And they are better athletically at quarterback to. There is a story also today that Deshawn Watson actually chose Cleveland. Believe it or not, and this is one of the things where I get it. He looked at that offensive line and he goes, I've been running for my life in Houston for the last five years. And he said, I'll take the Cleveland offensive line. So I read that story this morning and I read it without cynicism. If I was a quarterback and I wanted to extend my career, Cleveland is an unbelievable place to go because they have to me the most talented offensive line in the NFL. So Deshaun and Cleveland begins here pretty quick, although I don't think as quickly as everybody predicts. Let me talk about this.

So again, I'm going to put my cynical side away. Devante Adams, this happened after the show. Devante Adams is now a Las Vegas raider. He left the Green Bay Packers. Did anybody think it was crazy on his Instagram post? He thanked the Packers organization. He thanked the City of Green Bay, And he never thanked Aaron Rogers personally. I mean, he thanked teammates and stuff, but wouldn't you, wouldn't you thank your guy? I mean, if I left Fox, wouldn't I thank Joy personally? I mean, we do the show together. I mean, I can say thanks to the Fox family, but I'd be like, and especially to Joy,

because, you know, we're sharing a microphone here. I saw us. Okay, Colin Cynical. Okay, I'll get off that because he did thank teammates. Listen, there are two teams that, two moves, I should say, that you're going to see an immediate impact in free agency. A lot of free agent stuff is nonsense. And a lot of teams have gotten better, some worse.

Seattle's worse than I don't. But the Denver Broncos are a much better football team today. That is indisputable were Russell Wilson. They are, his optimism, his athletic ability, his maturity, his talent. the Denver Broncos and Nathaniel Hackett, the rookie head coach, doesn't even have to be great. They'll be better because Russell will make that offense work. And the second thing, the second move that absolutely is going to resonate in this league is Devonte Adams leaving Green Bay.

I talked to an NFL general manager this weekend. He said Green Bay not only has no number one receiver, they don't have a number two receiver. And when the Rams signed Alan Robinson, there is no market. there's nobody out there. Robert Woods went to Tennessee. Look around the NFL. The final teams left. As great as Belichick is and as great as Aaron Rogers is,

they were won and done in the playoffs. You cannot overcome a lack of weapons. The game has changed. Aaron Rogers could not engineer a single touchdown drive at home off a buy after the opening drive against the Niners. And Belichick could not stop. Josh Allen. The best coach, and in your opinion, not mine, the best quarterback couldn't stop the other guys. One guy couldn't score. One coach couldn't stop them because the league has changed.

I don't want to hear about your quarterback and your culture. Do you have weapons? And Green Bay is not a place that free agents choose. OBJ chose the Rams. Robert Woods, according to reports, chose Tennessee. They could have gone to Green Bay. They don't want to go to Green Bay. So now you have a diva quarterback who does not work very well with young receivers and the Packers' only hope to be empowered at wide receiver is one of these great college receivers drops in the draft, highly doubt it, or you roll the dice with an old guy like Julio Jones, praying his hamstrings for the first time in three years are good.

Green Bay is not a Super Bowl team. This is bad for Green Bay. And don't tell me, DeMonte Adams, is not going to work with the Raiders. He's going to be a home run immediately. Hunter, Renfro, Darren Waller, you can't bracket Devante for four quarters. They got too many weapons. So it is a massive, and Green Bay is in a weird spot. They've got like two identities right now.

A, we've got the highest paid quarterback in the history of football. And B, we're going to have to go to the bargain bin thriftway to buy our receivers. That is a bad place to be in the NFL. We have the highest paid quarterback. back in the history of the world, and we don't have an answer at wide receiver and not a lot of money to pay him. And oh, by the way, everybody in this league, all the good teams got better at wide receiver. The obstacles in the NFC for Green Bay, Tampa, oh, they added Russell Gage.

Rams added Allen Robinson. You guys notice what's going on around the league? All the good teams and all the good GMs, they're adding wide receiver talent. Green Bay lost not only Devonte Adams, they have no number one, no number two, and as an executive in the league told me, most of their threes would be fours on the bucks or the Rams or the chiefs. Where are you going to get him? Aaron, yes, Aaron can work with Jordy Nelson and Devonte Adams, but those relationships took years to develop.

He's not going to trust some 21-year-old at Ohio State. So I thought the Russell Wilson move absolutely makes Denver better, and this move absolutely hurts Green Bay. And by the way, I hear this too. Oh, Packers were 7 and 0 without Devante Adams. I went and looked at all seven games. Folks, my wife can leave for a week. If she left for 17 weeks, the house would implode. She can leave for a week.

You can lose Devonte Adams for a game they did against Kansas. City and won. Oh, Patrick Mahomes didn't play. Well, they beat Arizona without him. Oh, Kyler Murray got hurt. Well, a couple years ago, they beat Dallas without him. Yeah, Dak had his worst game as a pro, three picks. You can win individual games without Devante Adams. But if you think I can game plan the Packers without Devante Adams or with him, and I'm a coordinator on the defensive side, you're out of your mind if you don't think he's a massive, massive loss for the Packers. They have no elite playmakers,

and the market is a finger cross at this point. All right. So much going on. Tennessee volunteers broke my heart. They were my 25 to 100 dog. You know the worst thing about it? I'd already spent the money. I know.

Joy, I already bought like four jet skis, some cool sunglasses, a watch. I had spent my money. and imploded. In total faith. Iowa was my other sleeper team that did not go very well for me. I was happy that Michigan, John Howard,

bumpy year for them. He showed a lot of class after the game. So it wasn't all bad. But it's funny because in the NBA, you kind of know what you get. It's a seven game series. So the veteran team over seven games will beat the kids. College basketball,

it's one game. A bad four-minute stretch can end your season. Arizona's almost out of this tournament. Yep. I mean, Arizona's almost out. Duke's almost out. And these kids, these teams are so young. You get a different team now than three and a half months ago.

Keep your eye on UCLA. I was kind of blown away by their two games. Did we underestimate? We shouldn't. They're three and a half minutes from where we sit right now. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard 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 IHard 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. Clipper Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show.

This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next, we'll talk about life, mental health. 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.

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So you would not have known this, if not for the Los Angeles Rams Twitter account, that Matt Stafford agreed to a four-year $160 million deal. That sounds like a lot of money, and it is, but Matt Stafford took less than he could have received. This is the rare, very smart move. making less money. He's worth more than 40 million. Okay. Let's start with this. Anybody noticed the AT&T commercial he's in? One year in L.A. has already got a national commercial. L.A. at the marketing promotion endorsement thing is really good. Chris Paul was the face of state farm in L.A. playing for the Clippers. Caleb Williams, USC quarterback, $7 million N.I.L.

deal. He's been in LA an hour. It's what Los Angeles does. If you win, you make the money up in endorsements. And Stafford also is smart enough to realize he had a really good year, but he's trying to shift a legacy here. And this is really important. What I'm about to say is not an opinion. His cap hit because of this contract's only 6.7 percent, half of Aaron Rogers. And most of you think of Aaron Rogers as an all-time great and Stafford is really talented. But Stafford was a much better high school quarterback. He was number one in the country. Aaron had to go to a junior college.

Stafford was a much better college quarterback. He was picked number one, Aaron in the 20s. He was also Stafford, a much better NFL quarterback in the first four years. Of course, Aaron couldn't get off the bench for three. Stafford was winning a playoff game. And then there was 11 years when everybody fell in love with Aaron Rogers because he was just fantastic and that I will not deny. And the lions were mostly irrelevant.

And Stafford could not overcome, though he had a winning record three or four years with Jim Caldwell. He just couldn't overcome the nonsense with the lions. But after one year in Los Angeles, one single year with a functioning franchise, as Matt Stafford takes less, because he understands its legacy building now, not just dollars. Take a look at their playoff resumes this morning and I apologize to our radio listeners.

I'm not going to read through all of it. When loss record, percentage is better with Stafford. Game winning drive is Stafford. Completion percentage, Stafford. Passing yards a game, Stafford. Yards per intent, Stafford. Passer rating, a draw. One year in L.A.

One year in Los Angeles. He led the NFL in second half passer rating. He was the best fourth quarterback in the NFL, 14 TDs, no picks. I rarely tell an athlete, take a little less. This is really smart. He could get 44. But instead, like Brady, he's a 6.7% cap hit. Tiny for a star quarterback.

Aaron's at 13-something. And we know that you can't win a Super Bowl if you're more than a 12% cap hit unless your last name is Brady over the last decade and a half. So I saw him on an AT&T commercial today and I thought, watch Matt Stafford, end of next year, have four national commercials. You'll see him all over TV. Chris Paul did it as a member of the Clippers. The underachieving Clippers and Chris Paul was the face of State Farm.

Smart move. He's building legacy. Matt Stafford, four or five good. years to end this career in Los Angeles? I think you're going to look at he and Aaron Rogers much differently. Joy with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. Well, Deshawn Watson has made his decision, but there were two teams that we were discussing heavily on Friday because it seemed to be, it was reported to be, that's what he's narrowed it down to, the Falcons and the Saints. Right. Well, either one of them got him,

but they did very publicly pursue him and the Falcons have Matt Ryan. So Ian Rappaport reported that the Falcons have fielded trade calls for Matt Ryan over the last few days. He'll earn a $7.5 million roster bonus if he's a part of the team today at 4 p.m. Eastern. I think he gets traded today. That's my prediction to the Colts. So that bonus was initially due on Friday and Matt Ryan agreed to push it back until today because they were in pursuit of Watson. And as I said, it was reported that he was choosing between the Falcons and the Saints. So they could add to Matt Ryan's contract if he's not traded today

because he did accommodate them in their pursuit of the Sean Watson. Lance Sirline reported that Ryan's agent wants the Falcons to sign him to a new three-year deal. I don't know how excited Falcons fans would be about that. I would sign him if I was the Colts to a two-year deal with a team option for a third. Now, you may not get that. I don't have a problem going with Matt Ryan for two years behind that offensive line and that run game. You're talking about the Colts. Yeah, I don't have a problem with the Colts in here.

here's two guaranteed years. It's like Cleveland. You give me a great running back in a good old line. I don't need a wildly mobile quarterback because Matt Ryan is seen, if you talk to executives as a declining expensive player. Okay. So how do you get the most out of them? Protection, good run game.

That's what they did with Philip Rivers. That's right. And made the playoffs. Right. So I think Matt Ryan to the Colts, that's a playoff team. But what do the Falcons do? They only have Felipe Franks under contract. Okay.

So what the Falcons do is probably in that trade, take some. picks, go get a backup and draft a quarterback. I mean, again, it's not a Super Bowl team with Matt Ryan. Maybe you can accumulate picks and go get your quarterback. But I... They haven't made the postseason since 2017. They lost the Super Bowl in 2016, obviously, to the Patriots. I mean, they're in a rebuilding mode.

And now if Matt Ryan moves, Joy, the good news is that's a financial balloon that just left the fuel off out of the building. 48.7 million dollar cap hit this season under his content. right now. I'm with you. I think they have to do something to kind of clear the air now. Adding to his contract obviously would be a nice thing for Matt Ryan, but you very publicly tried to move off of him even so much that he accommodated you and moved back his signing bonus. I think he wants to continue playing, obviously. He has still, I think he has football left to play, whether or not he's a Super Bowl winning quarterback. I don't know. But he's certainly

capable. And I agree with you, a place like the Colts would make a lot of sense. something like the Seahawks, I do not think would make sense. It would be a terrible move. They don't have the offensive line of the run game to support him. In Indianapolis, Matt Ryan, with that line and Jonathan Taylor, you're like, yep, that's a ball control offense. Doesn't have a lot of sizzle. May not win a playoff game, but they feel like a playoff team. And last year, you had a guy that had question marks about him as well, and Carson Wentz.

And it didn't end well. So LeBron passed Carl Malone as the NBA's second all-time leading score in Saturday's 127-19 lost to the Wizards, and he spoke about the accomplishment after the game. You know, just to be a part of this league for as many years I've been a part of it and to be linked with some of the greatest ever played this game, guys that I either watched or studied or read about or inspired to be like. It is, honestly, I was just lost words for it. And, you know, it's an honor for myself and for my hometown and for my family,

and my friends to be able to live these moments throughout this journey. And that's exactly what I do it for. So he ended the game needing 20 points to pass Malone. He finished with 38 on 16 of 29 shooting. So with 36,947 points, he only trails Karim of Doljebar on the all-time scoring list. Karim has 38,387 points. So he needs 1440 more to pass him. Well, you know, we've said this.

for those of us who think LeBron who think LeBron is the first or second best player of all time, I don't care what you think. The argument for LeBron is Michael scored every point he was going to score. LeBron has always had the ability to score more points. And for those who

don't think it's true, he may win the scoring title in year 19. So LeBron, and I think he had every right to do this, said, I don't know if I trust the front office, this is a bad roster. I'm going to score this year. This is the first year in LeBron's career. Maybe in his life, he's been a little bit of selfish basketball player. He's earned all of it. And frankly, it's a legacy year. He's say, listen, we're not going to go anywhere. But I'm going to

go score. I'm going to go score. And I think this league, this year, we will look at this years from now. And we'll say, remember the year LeBron was on that terrible Laker team and decided, I'm just going to score and led the league in scoring. That's almost a Wilt Chamberlain moment where Wilt decided one year, I'm going to lead the league and assists as a center and did. And LeBron in year 19, think about this. In year 19, the only player in league history that is close to as good as LeBron is in his 19th year was Kareem. And he averaged 14 a game.

And I watched that year. He was done. LeBron may win the scoring title in year 19. It's in, and it's, he's earned it. And I kind of like get how he thinks. This year's me, because I don't try. anybody around me. See, I don't even think he's being selfish. I don't think he has a choice. If they're going to stay competitive, he's all they have. He's the star and Anthony Davis is not available.

So I guess you can look at it as being selfish and he's going to get these statistics, but I also think he has to. He's had to carry the burden of this team being available and being the star that he is. So that's the only way that they're going to say competitive at this point. Westbrook's not doing anything. He is the scoring. So I don't even know that I look at it as a selfish thing. I think it's wildly impressive that he's doing this, but I also think he's had to and he's had to step up. That to me is more about the legacy of this year

for LeBron James. He said he's not thinking about chasing Kareem until the record is upon him, which he shouldn't. He still has other things to play for, but it's still an incredible accomplishment. So Arizona has been many people's favorites to win the NCAA men's side of the tournament.

This was nerve-wracking. Yeah, it was some game. They narrowly escaped over TCU with an 85-80 win to advance to the Sweet 16. They blew a nine-point lead with less than eight minutes left. They needed a clutch three-point shot to tie it with 12.9 seconds left in regulation

75-75. It was a wild game. This is so good. Yes. It was incredible. It was a very exciting game. We've had lots of great games throughout the tournament so far. Duke, Michigan State was great. But it was funny because Duke Michigan State, I don't feel those are championship teams.

With Arizona, and you saw it in this game, they have these four. and five-minute spurts. They look like the best college basketball team kind of easily, but they turn the ball over. They've had 35 turnovers in two games. Yeah, they're a little wild. A little wild.

But boy, when you watch them play, they got dudes. They're like athletic and twitchy and long, and they can shoot. They're the best team. The question is, will they beat themselves? There's also been a lot of talk about the officiating throughout the tournament as well. They benefited from a non-call near half-quarter. Can we address this?

Okay. So the NBA has 70 officials. Right. All of them are well compensated. All of them make six figures. More than half make over like 350. 70 officials all well compensated. For this tournament when it starts, you need 235, 240 officials, most not well compensated.

It's a math equation. College basketball has 350 Division 1 programs. You need three officials mostly for the games. So they have over 1,000 officials. Most make $40,000 a year. Now, there are some SEC officials that make better money. The NBA's got 70. They all make six figures.

Many make close to a half a million dollars a year. So what's my point? The quality of the NBA officiating is it's not diluted. It's a tiny group of officials who were all experienced. In college basketball, the sport just demands so many people that you're going to have some bad officials. Yeah, there's just not that many great officials. It just doesn't pay enough to get the NBA officials. It's not even if it doesn't pay.

Yes, the pay obviously is one side of it, but there's just not that many grade of anything. That's right. So eventually when you have to multiply these numbers, especially for the tournament, then you have the women's bracket as well that needs officials. There's just too many. There's too many.

There's not many great short stops in the world. If you had 75 baseball teams in Major League Baseball, you'd have a lot of bad short stops. You got some bad officials. Well, Arizona will play Houston on Thursday. Houston leads the nation. field goal percentage defense and has held opponents to 37.5% shooting. So that would be a great game.

Great game. And St. Peters continues to dance. Did you see there? There's always a team. There's always a team. Yeah, it's great. I think it's, this is what that's part of obviously what the tournament is about. As you get a team that starts dancing and has this amazing story and you get to learn about these players and learn about this school.

And it's awesome. It is. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stop. I think people sometimes forget you have 350 Division I. That's just Division I. You have women's programs. How many Division I women? You need so many officials for college basketball. There's just not that many great people can do it. The NBA's got 70. And by the time you get to the playoffs, they use about 50. Those guys, because everybody's got the day off, you can fly officials

all over the country. And they're critiqued. They get report cards. The league looks over what they do. like there's an accountability. It's a different sport. Listen, if you look at who's left in the tournament, it's always the same. It's mostly Blue Bloods. Duke's around. UCLA's around.

Arizona's around. Michigan's around. You know, Villanova's around. Gonzaga's around. And you have, you know, St. Peters or Houston. And by the way, if you watch Houston play, like, you get why they're here. They're like really fast and really good. But in the end, officials aren't changing the tournament.

They can change momentum, but in the end, we got a lot of blue bloods left. And that's, you know, I watched Duke Michigan State the whole game. I thought Duke was way better the whole game. And then I looked up with five minutes left and Michigan State led. But in the end, Duke had better players, more depth. And they should have won. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, this is Jason McIntyre.

Join me every weekday morning on my podcast, Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre. This isn't your typical sports pod. pushing the same tired narratives down your throat every day. Straight Fire gives you honest opinions on all the biggest sports headlines, accurate stats to help you win big at the sports book, and all the best guests. Do yourself a favor and listen to Straight Fire with Jason McIntyre 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 I-Hard Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clever Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skis. hits, 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 what you need to be.

Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with a little 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 yeah, yeah. Just so y'all know.

I mean, at this point, this is the second episode where we've discussed correct. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah.

For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way with me. your host and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, 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,

or 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, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose. On my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free Our Heart Radio app.

Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Strong belief today. There'll be movement in the NFL at quarterback. It could be Matt Ryan. It could be Baker Mayfield. But there are strong indications we could have movement before the end of the show today at quarterback. Rick Spielman for a decade was a general manager of the Vikings, six playoff appearances in those 10 years.

He is joining us live. So let me just explain to me that I was never a Baker guy, way too turbulent for a marginal player, Deshawn's a much better player, though it does come with a lot of legal situations here. He's going to be probably suspended. But kind of give me your feel on Cleveland rolling the dice here on somebody that is going to be offensive to a large percentage of the fan base. The contract, Rick, makes him the highest paid player in the league or highest paid quarterback. How does it fall for you as a former GM? Yeah, first before we get started, I'd just like this Sunday.

my condolences out to John Clayton's family. He was a longtime friend in the media and just recognize him and Pat and the tragedy that they're going through right now. But a great human being, great reporter, and what the business is about. But to get into this call, and what I'd like to do is just, while you put on your ownership hat, and let me walk through some of this stuff with you. So you're the owner of the Cleveland Browns. And I've been in some of these meetings. inside. So you know the football player, you evaluated the football player, there's no question about his talent on the field. What you're dealing with is what's coming into your building and what you're going to have to deal with not only from a PR standpoint, but these civil

lawsuits, and I don't know enough about it, but they're still pending out there. What direction is that going to go? As an owner, I would ask you, did you talk to our sponsor? and our sponsors on board with this because I've been in meetings where we had to talk through that situation and is it a possibility some of your sponsors or some of your partners may abandon you because of this signing? The other thing is I wondered if they, and I'm assuming they did, if they talked to everybody in an organization, especially the females at work in the organization and how they felt. I understand this is a football business,

and you're hired to go out there and win games and making such an aggressive move like this, which I believe is a great move if you didn't have to deal with all those other issues, especially off the field. How are you going to present him to the fans when he comes in on his press conference? How are you going to sell that to the fans?

How are you going to do if the potential protesters come out? if they're out there during OTAs or they're out in front of the building. So there's a lot of things that I think needed to be discussed before they pulled this trade. And I'm sure that if you were an owner, would you go through all these things to make sure that everybody's on board with the decision? And you have to do this pre because, as you know, these trades happen so fast. And once you get going and it sound like this came together very quickly, they were out and all of a sudden they were back. in because it sounded like they were willing to make the adjustments to the contract that needed to be made to make then the frontrunner in this trade. But again, you'd have to address all

those issues to make sure you were comfortable with that side of it as well. By the way, listen, I wasn't a Baker fan out of college. I'm not giving up anything for him now. He's expensive. He's got one year left. He was reportedly going to hold out on camp. I just, I'm not I'm not into it. I want more maturity from a quarterback. I mean, I never thought for a second DAC would hold out. I never thought DAC would hold out. The fact that it comes out today, Baker would have held out is like, you know, this is why I was never my kind of guy. Nothing against him personally, but my franchise quarterback, I want something different. What would you give up if you're Seattle for Baker-mainfield? Six-round pick? What will be looking at?

Yeah, no, I think you're going to have to go back and look through the history. He had two very good. years. Last year he was hurt. How significant was that injury in his performance? He's been inconsistent through his first four years. Two good, probably two not so good seasons. But as you sit there and body weight to tape, you're not only looking at last year, but you're looking at the whole body of work and what he's done since he's been in the NFL. The other thing is you have to go back and see what you said in your college reports. Where was your character? What was football character. Do you think this guy can come in and lead your team? You know, me personally, as I was looking at this, you know, first thing I thought is, well, I'm going to miss those commercials,

you know, when he's locking up the stadium. He was very good in the commercials. But those are the things teams are going to have to decide. And also, if you don't do a Baker-Madefield, and I do believe you're, you know, potentially, I don't know if they're going to ask for a second-round pick. I don't know if a Garapolo comes into play or maybe right now as you were talking about Matt Ryan moving potentially. But those are things that they're going to have to work out. I know when the trade went down, I talked to some people that were involved in that trade with the Russell Wilson trade. That was a month process. Wow.

Getting to getting to the conclusion of that trade. Wow. Which I know we'll talk about here in a minute. But I get each team has a value on when they watch these guys and it's so subjective. Every team looks at it differently. I mean, did the way Carson went, that he played in Indianapolis last year, was that a good deal or did they overpay in Washington? Well, in Washington's mind, and I'm sure they've watched all the tape. They did their research. They played against him when he was in the division before, but they felt very strongly that this was the guy that's going to lead their franchise, and that's why they made the trade. Yeah, you said the Russell Wilson deal, so now it's out now.

And Russell alluded to it during the press conference. This had been going on for a long time, despite the fact Seattle denied it. My concern was Seattle, because Russell has a no trade clause. So Seattle doesn't necessarily get everything they want because Russell's telling him, no, no, no, yes, I'll go there. That's tough for a GM. I'm not going to get the perfect deal. I thought everything Denver gave up, I thought Denver got the better edge of the deal.

That's my takeaway. You. Yeah, no, I agree. They gave up a lot of draft capital, but if you look, George Payton did a great job. I mean, they used some of the capital that they got from the Bond Miller trade. Yep. They still have nine remaining picks in this year's draft. Yep.

So they're still going to be able to add to their roster, and they got a franchise quarterback that may potentially be a future Hall of Famer. The other thing you have to look at is when you made this trade and you know that that organization and that franchise is up for sale by getting Russell Wilson as your quarterback and into that building, how much did that increase the value of that franchise when they sell the team? And I don't know, I was going to ask you, do you think it's $100 million, $500 million? But now that any potential owner that's going to buy the Denver Broncos, their price probably just went up because of Russell Wilson and the transaction they just made.

Yeah, no, I said this with LeBron and Dan Gilbert. He made $500 million the day. He re-signed LeBron James, and I think Russell Wilson, for a $3 billion franchise, it's probably worth $300 million. I think that's realistic. We've got a couple of minutes here left, just a couple. I talked to an league executive this weekend that said, losing Devante Adams, he said, Green Bay no longer has a number one receiver.

They don't have a two in the building. It's a bunch of threes and fours. Rick, you can't get, Aaron's not going to be playing with three rookie wide receivers. I thought that was a huge loss for Green Bay. Your thoughts? Yeah, but, you know, I went through a similar situation with Stefan Diggs, and I don't know all the internal discussions, but Stefan wanted to move on.

We were able to trade him and got some, got the draft value that we thought was fair when we traded into Buffalo Bills. Yeah. And we were very fortunate. We replaced them with Justin Jefferson. Last year, you saw Chase, Jamar Chase, come in, and what a significant impact. that he made for the Cincinnati Bengals.

So I know this is a very strong receiver class in this year's wrap. And I believe that internally, they're not going to have three rookie receivers out there. But they are feel very strongly. I'm assuming that they're going to be able to fill that with one of these potential rookies that can be a potential superstar. The other thing, too, is you have to remember Aaron Rogers is not an ordinary quarterback. Aaron Rogers is the type of quarterback that elevates a team, and he makes the players better around him.

So they feel pretty confident in the receivers that they have. Who knows if they're going to sign another receiver in the secondary market. And plus, I bet they're going to be pretty aggressive trying to fill that position during the draft. Yeah, Amari Rogers, they drafted him last year a slot from Clemson. So if he becomes a two, Randall Cobb's your three or your four, you cross your fingers in the draft. Spielman, former Viking GM, fascinating day ahead. Many speculating Matt Ryan, Baker-Mayfield. We could have moves today.

Rick Azohas, good luck to you in your pursuits. I'll keep them private right now of the jobs you're looking at. We wish you the best. Okay, thank you. Thanks for having me on again today. You bet. Rick Spielman, former Viking GM, a lot of playoff appearances. Now, it should be noted.

There is not a Jamar Chase or a Justin Jefferson in this draft. It's considered a very strong receiver draft. But, I mean, Jamar Chase was a one-of-one. Like when Jamar was out, we were saying on this show, he was an NFL receiver who just happened to still be in college. He was so much better than every other receiver. It's a really good draft, and it is a position that has exploded over the last five, six years. They're just college football team. I was talking to Chip Kelly, UCLA coach over the weekend.

Just receivers everywhere. If you go to rivals a college recruiting site, of the top 50 players in L.A., like 20-year-old receivers, these seven-on-seven camps, the quarterbacks from the receivers that high school football is now delivering to college is insane. That you can go look at it online. It's insane. Colin Wright, Colin Wrong next. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite.

Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, 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 I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast'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. 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's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. many men carry a suit or armor. It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to, listen to learn the hard way on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, 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 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 Bole Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.