The Herd with Colin Cowherd - HOUR 2 - NFL draft, Seahawks

Episode Date: April 7, 2022

The top NFL draft prospectsWhat will the Seahawks do with DK Metcalf?Guest: Greg Cosell Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It is a Thursday live in Los Angeles. It's the herd wherever you may be and however you may be listening. IHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. Joy and I'll give you updates on Tigers 1 under part right now at the Masters. And listen, it's just him being at the Masters is great TV. So my wife, she's gone for the weekend. She's in Chicago. And she said, oh, I'm going to be gone for the weekend.

And I was like, oh, that's so sad. Bye-bye. I'm going to be in front of the television all weekend. You know, it's supposed to be March is now as good as October to me. March madness. This March was insane. I put on about five pounds in March because I sat and watched a lot of television. I try not to, unless it's sports.

Or it's a presidential election year. Then I'll watch some politics. But this weekend is, and I think I like all the big hitters, Brooks Kepka, Tiger Woods, Rory McElroy. I like all, they all have a little alpha. So if any of them are in the running, I'm good. It doesn't matter which one. I'd love to see Tiger do well.

I bet on Dustin Johnson. Do we have a gap anymore in sports? What do you mean? I mean, like, I guess after the NBA finals. Well, Super Bowl, two weeks after the Super Bowl, that's when you and I go and ski or go to, you know. But I'm saying, yeah, and I go somewhere. July. July is the gap.

July. Yeah, because the NBA finals end, like mid-June, they have the draft after that. July is the, you know, for us, it's the dead month. That's all we got. That's it. August is getting everybody ramped up. Yeah, NBA free agency. But I mean, July, I would say two weeks after the NFL and about three weeks in July.

We got about five weeks. But I mean, outside of that. I mean, because this March was just. Insane. Just insane. We had probably six or seven shows where we had breaking news on the air. Maybe more. By the way.

and this is where sports gambling has a great impact. The ratings are going up for everything. WNBA, March Madness. NBA is up this year, 6%. NFL was up. So the ratings are going up, F1, racing, everything. If you can bet on it, people are watching it. And what gambling does, it doesn't make you watch the sport.

It makes you watch it longer. And ratings are not just the size of the audience, but how long you watch. And you're watching bad football games and bad basketball games because you want to see if you cover. Yep. And so it's fun. Now, I want to say this. Greg Cosell is going to stop by in a couple of minutes. We bring him on before the draft a couple of times.

So I was thinking about this this morning. I looked at the draft order in the top 10. And just listen to these teams. Jacksonville, Detroit, Houston, Jets, Giants, Carolina, Giants, Atlanta, Seattle, and the Jets. Those are some of the worst drafting teams in the NFL over the last 10 years. You're going to have a bunch of busts. There's going to be bad decisions in this draft. And it's not a star-driven draft.

So if sometimes a star can overcome bad management, bad coach, bad roster. But a good player is really much more dependent on culture. That's why the Rams don't miss much on their draft picks. It's a very good culture. And this is a lot of bad draft teams and a lot of bad organizations. And the bust rate over the last decade in the top 10 picks is like three out of 10. I'll tell you three players, I'm not going to predict their busts. There's three players, I think, would worry me to draft in the top 10, and three that won't get drafted in the top 10 that I think are going to be stars in this league.

Here's three players that would concern me. Derek Stingley, the corner for LSU. He had an unbelievable freshman year. He looked like he was an NFL player first year at LSU. Since then, heard a lot, no interceptions in two years. he is so tantalizing as a prospect, fast, long, totally looks the part. He doesn't intercept the ball and he struggles to stay healthy. He'll be a top 10 pick.

He would worry me. Evan Neal, Alabama offensive tackle. He's a mountain. He has really slow feet. I had two different general managers say, when he sets up shop, it's hard to get around him. But if you're quick, he's slow. He's 360 pounds. So you have some conditioning concerns, slow feet concerns, but he is a mountain of a man.

And then Kenny Pickett, who has a fumble issue, a hand-size issue, and a majority of his production came in his last year. He was a three-star prospect. You know, I just think I talked to a general manager who in the last five years has won a Super Bowl, and he graded him as a third-round prospect. But in the NFL, we overdraft quarterbacks. So Derek Stingley, Evan Neal, and Kenny Pickett will go top 10 probably. That would worry me. Here's three guys that won't go in the top 10, and I love all of them.

Tyler Linderbaum is a center for Iowa. He will be one of the best run blocking centers in the league within a couple of years. Not only a three-year starter, he's a team captain. He was a great wrestler. He just, every time I watched him in run-blocking cities, situations, he dominated his man. Love him. Kenneth Walker at Michigan State, another Big Ten player, led the college football, all of college football in yards after contact. So he can run away with you or run over you. Never fumbles. Two fumbles in his career. Great ball security. He is

fast. He is clever. You can hit him. He's great after contact. He is a total workhorse. He'll probably go in the second round. I would love to have him on a roster. Another Big Ten guy. Some are saying he's the fifth best pass rushing edge. I think he's number two is the kid from Purdue, George Karloftus. By the way, Alabama wanted him, Oklahoma. He was a big time prospect. Again, relentless, totally committed, great motor. 30 tackles for losses in the last three years, constantly in the backfield.

I'm reading, I mean, look at him. He just decimates people. I would not be surprised if he's not better than Kvon Fibito out of Oregon who got way more hype. This kid is every game I watched him play, monster. I think if he was better than Aidan Hutchison as a pro, I would not be shocked. He is really, really good. So the three guys I like just happen to be Big Ten players. And two of the three guys, I think, are a little overhyped are SEC players.

Maybe I'm wrong, but that's my takeaway on what I've watched. All I know is the bust rate in the top 10 is about 30% in the last decade. With that Greg Kossel, 42 years NFL films. And he's listening to me and he watches all this tape and he's like, what is coward talking about? That kid from Purdue, now I'm just going on games I watched, that Karloftus kid. On the games I watched, I saw Purdue,

I saw him play four or five times as a college player. I don't know. You've seen tape. You think he's any good? I think he's got an issue that I'm very, curious to see how it plays out. He's incredibly strong with his upper body colon and his hands. He was a shot put champion in high school, but his lower body doesn't support it. His lower body is a little inflexible. And there are times when he starts rushing the quarterback and gets

blocked and his feet stop because his lower body does not really support what his upper body can do. So I'm very curious to see what he does in the league. There's a part of me that thinks he'd be really good if you move him inside and that he could work, you know, as a three technique against guards. So we'll see. But he does not have the kind of flexibility in his lower half that you'd ideally like to see from an edge player. Who's the most impressive prospect that you've seen on film in the draft? The most impressive.

Wow. I'll give you one guy who I think, and this is not most impressive in terms of I think he should be the number one prospect. but I think he's not being spoken about at all, and it's simply because he was hurt for the large, large part of this season and only played at the end of the year, which he did not have to do knowing he was coming out. And that's the wide receiver from Georgia, George Pickens, who I think if he had played a full season,

we'd be discussing him as a top 10 pick. Wow. Boy, that Georgia team, they had a lot of players. I'm telling you, Greg, when you watch Georgia play Alabama, it was one of the rare times that I watched Alabama under Sabin, and I thought Georgia had better players. You know, they killed me, Colin, on defense, they kill me

because I have to watch their games over and over and over, because on defense, I believe they have eight players who are going to be in this draft, and I obviously can't watch eight players at one time when I watch their tape. So I have to watch Georgia over and over and over, but you have to because you've got to really learn what the players are. Kvon Thibodeau for Oregon, number one high school player.

He's not big. His size worries me a little. Overhyped, or what do you make of him? I think there are some concerns with him for sure. I think Tibido has some get-off. I think he has some quick twitch as far as his get-off. I think he's strong with his hands, but I don't think he's a great bender. I think he struggles to flatten his rush path.

when he gets to the top of his rush arc. And I think that's a little bit of a factor. He's got some lower body stiffness, and I think that's a concern when you think of him as a great pass rusher. In some ways, Colin, when I watched his tape, and I watched his tape last summer from the 2020 season, they only played, I think, five or six games.

I watched them all. And then I watched, of course, a ton of his tape from this year. In some ways, he reminds me of Judevian Clowny. Guys who are a little stiff, they're strong going forward. they've got some speed to power to them, but they don't bend exceptionally well. There's some lower body stiffness. Yeah, I mean, it's just funny, too. It's also the Pact 12.

And sometimes I'll be honest with the top prospects, not counting quarterbacks, some of the top defensive prospects in the Pact 12, I'm like they don't face as good offensive lines as the Big Ten in the SEC. Sometimes I'm a little conference sensitive on that. Maybe I shouldn't be. But I think if you put him in the SEC, he's maybe. not as dominant as he is in a PAC 12. Does that make sense? Sure. I mean that well right, but those are numbers in a sense. I'm looking at his traits and his attributes and his characteristics.

And while, you know, I just don't think he has exactly what you look for if people want to talk about him as a dominant edge player. I don't think he's quite that guy. Let me ask you about a guy who to me is a really interesting guy to evaluate, Drake London and you're in neck of the woods. So he was a basketball player. I heard about Drake London as junior year in high school from a USC recruiting coordinator who said there's a receiver. People know him as a basketball player. He's going to be a first round pick. He told me this five years ago.

And so I watched Drake London very quickly. He walked into USC and as a freshman at practice was the second best receiver they had after Michael Pittman. Tough. Very hard for corners to bring down individually. a workhorse before he got hurt. They were targeting him 15 times a game. I know. Again, tough. Don't think the basketball, you know, whenever you say a tight end played basketball, you think finesse. He is not a finesse receiver. Long, good catching radius. He's not going to pull away from you. So that's, you know, you got to scheme him open sometimes. I think he can be

very dangerous in the red zone. Good kid, hard worker, injury doesn't concern me too much. What's your thoughts. Yeah, the big question I have with him is there's no real twitch and suddenness to his movement. I don't see him as a boundary X. I've seen a lot of people compare him to Mike Williams and Mike Evans. I don't think he's that kind of receiver at all. I think that, first of all, he made a ton of contested catches in college. Yes. And he was an above the rim player. And I just wonder if you can live like that in the NFL as a dominant, dominant receiver. He'll be a good player. There's a part of me that sees him as a really good slot receiver. You know, I almost think of Marcus Colston, that kind of player. But I don't see him in the way some do based on tape study as a Mike Williams or a Mike

Evans. So I've said this about Kenny Pickett. He plays too casually for me. He's a little loose. I don't think he's, I think he's athletic, but his delivery is a little loose for me. I don't think I don't think his ceiling's terribly high. He feels like kind of a guy. Somebody's going to give him a shot. I think he'd need to be surrounded by a lot of talent. I had one GM who's really good, and one of the top GMs in the league

say they had him evaluated as an early third round pick. Right. What is your takeaway on picket? And I'd love to know the reason why. One thing I heard at the Combine quite a bit was that he doesn't have a special trait. And the thing when people talk about quarterbacks is I always want to know how they define traits because, you know, you hear about quarterbacks, let's say that have really big arms. And they say, you know, he's got a lot of traits. Well, my guess is, Colin, if you spoke to

quarterback coaches and guys who really study quarterbacks in detail, having a power arm would not be at the top of the list or the ability to run fast would not be at the top of the list. What makes for a great quarterback in the NFL. Why is Tom, why is Tom Brady a great quarterback? Why was Drew Breeze a great quarterback? You know, I happen to like Kenny Pickett. I think the hand size, if you speak about fumbles, yes, that's a concern to some degree. But I think the way in which he plays his feel for the game, I think he's a really good prospect. Now, again, that's a relative term. Am I suggesting he's the top pick in the draft? No. But I think you also have to be careful. I heard you say, that he only had the one good season. So did Joe Burrow. You know, I think you have to evaluate

each player as an individual. Okay, so tell me about Kenneth Walker, the running back at Michigan State. Yeah. Because I really like him. I think I like him a lot. He doesn't fumble. He's tough. He can break away speed. I look at him and I think he's going to go to the second round and somebody's going to find themselves with like Denver got Giovante Williams and you look up and you're like, we have a top 10 running back. We're not paying anything to. What do you make a Kenneth Walker? Yeah, I like Kenneth Walker. And it's funny you say that. It's just a function of running backs now and where they're kind of seen in the league.

But I liked his tape. I thought the way I described him and it just came to mind as I was watching him, I think there was a little bit of jazz musician to him. He's kind of a free-flowing back who looks for space. He's got improvisational ability. He's built compact, low to the ground. He's got piston-like feet. He drops his pads.

he will attack defenders. I think there's an awful lot to like about Kenneth Walker. And for whatever it's worth, Colin, you know, people have different views of this. He tested exceptionally well at the combine. So I think he's a really good prospect. You know, there's a lot of receivers this year. The kid at Alabama, James and William's ACL injury. I think Alabama could have beaten Georgia, but both their 1,000-yard receivers got hurt.

Do you like the wide receiver class? Do you like him? I don't think it's quite as good at the high end as the last couple. receiver drafts? What's your takeaway on James and William's at Alabama in the class as a whole? Yeah, well, I like James and Williams, but I don't think there's a Jamar Chase in this class, if that's what you're saying, because I agree with you on that. But Williams, and he'll be fine. I mean, we now know guys coming back from ACLs, they're fine. There are not many receivers with his flat out vertical speed and big playability, and that makes him an impact receiver and a

game changer. And one thing I heard at the combine over and over and over and over again, Colin, from coaches, is you know what offenses are looking for now? They're not looking to run the ball and all that. They're looking for explosive plays. And Williams is a receiver that is going to give you explosive plays. And overall, I think the receiving class, there's a lot of different kinds of receivers, which is why it's always hard for me to make lists. I mean, I cannot compare Jahan Dotson to Traylon Burks.

I don't think they're comparable players. I think they're both really good prospects, and I really like Jahan Dotson. I don't know you're feeling about him. I think Jehan Dodson is going to be a really good pro. He's very tough and competitive for a smaller receiver, and he can get over the top of the defense. All right. The preemptive number one is Aidan Hutchison.

You know, he's not as big as JJ Watt, but plays with like a T.J. Watt motor. I think he's very good. I don't think he's going to miss. I think he's going to be a really, I don't know if he's a star. He's not as physically impressive as Chase Young. maybe he's not quite a bosa, but what do you make Aidan Hutchison? What's the tape set?

I like Hutchinson. He'll be a good player, and you're correct. Hutchinson, you know, he plays with his hands, his hips through his feet. You wouldn't say he's sudden or twitchy. You know, I don't think he's T.J. Watt. I don't think he's that kind of pass rusher. But to use a term that I've heard people use, he can rush from tip to tip, meaning he can attack the high side of offensive tackles on the outside.

He can attack the low side with a great inside counter move. And so I think he'll be a very good player. And you know what really stood out? And this is why I love watching full games of defensive players. You can't just watch highlights. And I'm fortunate to be able to do that with the coaching tape. He had a rush plan in every game. So he has a feel for how to go about attacking an offensive tackle.

He's not simply relying on athletic ability. He clearly had a plan. I love that. All right, Greg. You know I'm into this stuff. I am. I love it, Colin. We can do this all day.

My wife's out of town for a week. I may just call you at home and talk about tight-in. Hey, that's no problem. The problem is I'm not home very much. I'm in my office here at NFL Films watching tape. Great seeing you again, Greg. Thanks, Colin. By the way, you want to shop, finance, purchase your next car from anywhere you want.

How about driveway.com, 200. 25,000 new and used vehicles. Go to driveway.com. It's auto done easy. Good stuff. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart radio app. Search Hurd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like.

Saturday, one of the most famous rivalries in sports is on FS1 is Zander Bogart's and the Red Sox. Take on Aaron, Judge, and the Yankees. Baseball is back. Saturday, 3.30 Eastern on FS1 in the Fox Sports app. Well, the Dodgers have an All-Star team. Last year I said I thought it was the best baseball roster I'd seen since the 75 Reds. It's better this year with Craig Kimball. out of the bullpen.

So I think the dog, and they got Freddie Freeman from the Braves now. If the Dodgers, well, they'll win their division. I'm not worried about that. Would you like to list the 75 since 90s? Oh, I can go every player. It's so sad. Ryan, Colin, please, rain man.

That's one of my favorite moments. I can go to the whole National League West. I can do Padres, Giants. The Giants and Giants were awful in the 70s. Padres, in fact, one year had 69 wins. that's how bad the early pot they had a guy named um randy jones left-hander sinker ball pitcher sorry i'm sorry randy jones was the only guy on the entire podrays team that could silence the cincinnati reds of the mid-70s who were the best hitting team at that time ever in history

and randy jones and the horrible pardres would beat the reds regularly and as a kid i love the reds and I didn't know who Randy Jones was because he was never on TV because the Padres were awful. I had no idea who Randy Jones was. I never saw him pitch because their games were never on. And then eventually you get your cable and you watch Randy Jones pitch and I'm boring everybody. And here's Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. I love in winning time. I was just in Paris and there's a lot of people that smoke cigarettes. still. Like, we're in California. Nobody smokes. Large parts of the countries, people still smoke cigarettes heavily. I mean, from Pittsburgh, it's like you get a cigarette with your coffee. Right.

No one smokes here. Like, I literally don't see people smoking cigarettes. I couldn't tell you the last time I saw somebody smoking cigarettes. Yeah, they make it very difficult on you. You can't smoke in a certain, like, footage from the building and stuff. And it's amazing those old, like, even in winning time, like people just smoking cigarettes, like in the office. In the offices. In the facilities.

In the, like, crushing cigarettes in the office. Yes. If I walk past someone that smokes a cigarette, I'm like, like in your face, just smoking, smoking. It's such a different world. In 1988, this is not that long ago. People smoked on planes. Can you imagine?

I would assault someone if they smoked a cigarette next to me on a plane. I can't even imagine, just for six hours, just crushing Sigs. I mean, that's how I grew up in Pittsburgh. I mean, there's like, you adults just smoked in the room with kids. Well, you were in Paris, so everybody smoked? Everyone, everywhere. Right next to you at the cafe, just everywhere you're going. It's just how it is.

During meals. Yeah, but I'm saying like here in the States, it's the same way in certain cities. Not inside, obviously, not, you know, in restaurants and stuff. Pittsburgh's a smoker city. Yes. Lots of smoking. So the Lakers, speaking of winning time, entered the season with title hopes, and now they are out of the playoffs. So there are rumors now circulating about Frank Vogel's future, him being out as the head coach,

and he addressed them with Bill Orm of the athletic. He said, it's not easy to shut it out. It's not fun to have those reports hanging over your head or seeing it everywhere you look, especially so early in the season. And after what we've been able to accomplish here, but to me, that pressure of expectations has always been here since the day I signed on. We'll cross that bridge when we get here. There were conversations about Vogel early in the season.

I thought those were outrageous. It was clearly not a coaching situation early in the season. He wanted, listen, the Westbrook thing screwed it all up. Yes. I mean, when it comes. a coaching in the NBA. The coaches have been mostly marginalized because players have so much power and ownership has so much money. They just move people in and out without any regard. So unless you have someone like a Steve Kerr or a Popovich or a Spolstra, like there's a very small

amount of coaches that are, you know, in most ways untouchable. They generally also tend to work for very functional franchises. And their reputations precede them. But I don't I don't think this season is on Frank Vogel. No. And I think in any other situation where there wasn't drama and there wasn't the high level of dysfunction that goes on with the Lakers, a coach two years out of winning a championship would not be in the hot seat, let alone have real conversations about being the one to be replaced this year. Yeah.

And when you look at the list of replacements, who's there that's coming in and transforming this organization? Like, Quinn Snyder is a nice coach. he's done a great job with the jazz in the eight seasons he's been there. He won more games than the eight seasons that Vogel did prior to him coming to the Lakers. Quinn Snyder's going to come in here and fix this? No. Like, no, it's a band-aid situation.

And that's no disrespect to Quinn Snyder. There's not a person on earth that can come in and fix this situation. Yeah, there's so many structural questions I have about the Lakers, from ownership to executives to LeBron's power to, Listen, it's just, I've been on this now for a couple years. It is in a very distracted competitive city where there's a lot of great organizations like the Clippers are well run, the Rams are well run. I think the Chargers are well run. I think the Dodgers are brilliantly run.

USC has Lincoln Riley. This franchise, I don't see an easy way out. This could be, listen, last nine years they've had losing season seven of them. But now it's a bad team and an aging LeBron. So he's not playing 25 nights a year. The issue with the Lakers is there a storied franchise with no culture. Yeah. What is the culture?

There is no culture. There's no identity when it comes to the roster. Nothing. And there is no culture with the Lakers anymore. When you think of a team, like the ones I just mentioned, when you think of the Warriors, what is the culture of the Warriors? Smart, efficient, family, developments. Well, think about this in L.A.

the Dodgers have big money, but what they're really amazing at is every time they bring a kid up from the minors, he's great. Like their research and development, the reason the Dodgers can spend big money on these guys, a lot of these players is because their R&D is so good. I mean, like Mac Muncie or Chris Taylor, you know, they just kept bringing guys up and they were all really good really quickly. The Rams, 14 to 22 starters. They don't miss in the draft. It allows them, because they have so many players they're not paying that they drafted. The Lakers problem is, name the last great Laker draft pick. I mean, that's the misconception about teams like the Dodgers and teams like the Warriors.

We just think it's money. They're super teams and it's money. Well, one, you got to be run well enough to have the money available to pay for those veteran players, to bring in somebody like Katie. But they built that organization. It was development. It started with Mark Jackson. That has been a slow build of functionality to get to the point of winning and an established culture.

Yeah, in Los Angeles, it is understood. The Clippers have an elite front office. The Rams have an elite front office. The Dodgers have an amazing front office. They don't miss on draft picks. The Chargers, by the way, are a great drafting organization. What the Lakers are is they'll spend the money like all those teams. They don't draft well.

To your point, the culture's not aligned. because I don't know who's in charge of the team. Does anybody? No. I don't even know if internally anyone knows who's in charge of the team. And because of that, the Frank Vogel conversation is silly to me. Does anyone believe that Frank Vogel had a say over this roster? Well, if he didn't have any major influence over the roster, how can he be responsible

for the outcome? Coaches shouldn't have the final say on players. That should be the GM. But there should be some collaboration on what kind of player you want to bring in. The Spurs have a notorious list. a checklist of things when they look into players are they a spur?

The heat. You have to fit into that heat culture. If you don't like to practice, the heat aren't a team you should play for. Like there are certain characteristics of well-run organizations that every player doesn't fit in and those organizations don't feel desperate either.

They don't feel like they have to try and squeeze a square peg into a round hole and that's where the Lakers are right now. So NBA Commissioner Adam Silver knows there's a bad precedent being set when it comes to star players continuing to sit out games, and he addressed this issue yesterday. The greater concern to me is a trend of star players not participating in a full complement of games.

And I think that's something we, together with the Players Association, need to address. I don't, not standing here saying I have a great solution. Part of the issue is injuries. Are there things that we can do in terms of sharing information, research, sources around the league to improve best practices, rehabilitation, et cetera. You know, I was listening to him talk about this. And I'm a pretty pro player person. I tend to lean towards the player should, the top level players should be more empowered.

They should have more say. They should have more flexibility to change the direction of their career. But this has been a really bad year for stars with influence. We just talk about the Lakers. LeBron missed 23 games this season. Westbrook disaster. AD missed 39 games this season. KD was hurt for a month.

James Harden missed 16 games a season and switched teams. Kyrie played in 27 games this season by his own choice. Yeah. James Hardin kind of quit on one team, ended up with another. Ben Simmons, yet to play this season. Yeah. Kauai, not available all season long. It's not really been a good year.

for teams who submitted to Star's demands. I wonder how it will influence things moving forward. The conversation that Silver is having is a real problem with the NBA. Oh, there's no, listen, the two old school Phoenix guys play every night and Milwaukee guys do. By the way, not a lot of transitional pieces.

They built a culture. Phoenix built a culture. Added a veteran quarterback, Chris Paul. Milwaukee built a culture. brought a great underrated tough guy, plays every night, Drew Holiday guy. So to your point, they're old school. They're not, everybody's standing, they're trying to resign everybody. They have a system.

They demand the guys practice hard. And look at the rest of the teams around the league who are at the top of their conferences. No, listen, I, there is some, that's why I find Milwaukee and Phoenix so easy to root for. They, their players love playing. They built the culture first. they'll take an occasional player. We'll take a Drew Holiday. We'll take a Chris Paul.

But there's a foundational set of players and values. Play every night, play hard. And I don't know the attendance, but Phoenix and Milwaukee have to be near the top. Like you go to the arena, you get everybody playing, and they play hard. And they really commit to the community, to the night, to the game, to the culture. I can feel that as a fan. Yeah, I think the days of the Lodeman. are very much over.

Over. And I do think that the NBA needs to shorten the season. Yeah. And I'm with you on the solve of having shorter first round series in the playoffs. Yeah. So there are tweaks that can be made that can benefit the players and benefit the owners. And as you mentioned, the money is not coming from ticket sales now. It's the television product.

So are you going to have to sacrifice money somewhere? Probably. But for the better quality of the game, you may actually end up. making more money because you have your stars available more. Listen, the NFL added those Thursday games, but they really, they really tweaked it a lot. Like, first of all, it doesn't go to the end of the year. They quit it in like week 14. So when the weather gets worse, the games get, they quit it.

I don't even know if they start. I think they, yeah, they start the year on Thursday, but they quit it early. Also, teams now, they try to have the games between like rivals, so the flights are quick. It's an hour flight, Baltimore to Pittsburgh. so they don't want you flying cross-country for the Thursday game. There's no hitting that week of practice. So like even like leagues, leagues can ask you to do more stuff,

but then you figure out a way to make it easier. It's almost like a second by week after the Thursday. Right. Collaborate with the teams and the players. Make it a collaboration. But I do think that the NBA is in a really interesting space with that because it's, like I said, it's not been a good year for these star players

that have pushed their influence and forced their way out and brought in players to play with. Kyrie not available. Westbrook's a disaster. AD is unavailable. It's just, it will be interesting to see how that cultural shift takes place

when they do get to the new CBA and how things play out over the next year because it's not been well. The NBA has always been known as a players league. I'm totally comfortable. It was when Spencer Haywood played. But that's the way that the league is designed. You can't change that.

People always say this. Well, you don't go to watch the executives in the NBA. well, you don't go to watch executives in the NFL or baseball. Right. But those sports are not controlled as much. Like baseball is controlled a little too much, in my opinion, by agents. NFL has sometimes been a little too much controlled by maybe owners. NBA, to me, is a little too much controlled by the players. I think the NFL has done a really good job to give players more power,

but you've got to commit to us on some stuff too. Of course. And I think the NBA should say, all right, we're going to have some, We're going to tweak this puppy. You guys took advantage of it a little bit, and we're going to tweak it a little bit. And that's okay. Sometimes there's an overcorrection once things start to snowball. Absolutely.

And you realize, okay, this is too much. This has gone too far. Players are not GMs. There are contracts that need to fit into certain spaces. We have to plan for the future. We can't just fall off a cliff once all these contracts go out. There has to be some sort of balance. And leagues generally do find that.

Yeah, baseball's got an issue. They're giving players 10-year, contracts. Now, Mookie Betts, I'll do it. But even Mookiee last three years, the team's not winning on that deal. The player, Albert Poolehol's deal. I mean, you look up and it's like, this is awful. So, I mean, all these sports have little issues, right? I think the NFL's done a very good job better than other leagues to quickly pivot off stuff. I mean, they changed a rule on catches in the Super Bowl. I mean, they will just pivot to make the product better for the fans and television. But none of these leagues are perfect. They're all battling, they're all paddling a million miles an hour

under the surface for injuries and litigation and, you know, the NFL now's got lawsuits with coaches. Well, they're machines. They've got to find a way to make it work. Yeah. So Bruce Ariens recently stepped down from his head coaching position and he handed the reins over to Todd Bowles instead of Byron Lefwich. But Ariens thinks that a head coaching job is in Lefich's future.

I get credit and Brady gets way too much credit for what Byron does with our offense. And one of the reasons I hope he gets all the credit dean of theirs this year to, get a head coaching gig. You know, he had about four or five teams real interested last year. I would anticipate him to be a head coach real fast. Oh, boy. Just another shot at Tommy. It is another shot at Tommy.

I mean, I agree that Leftwich is going to get a coaching job after this year. I think this is all a one-year thing. I think Tom Brady is retiring next year. I think Byron Leff, which is going to take a head coaching job next year, and Todd Bowles will continue on with the Bucks as they are going to be assembled without Brady. I don't know if Bruce Ariens is going to stay in this. upper management job after that. But all I know is I can't wait for the book on this situation.

Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd line. 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. Hey, it's Ben, Ben Maller, along with my trusty sidekick, David Gascon, would mean a lot to have you join us on our weekly auditory journey.

You're asking what in God's name is the fifth hour? I'll tell you, it's a spinoff of the Ben Mather show, a cult hit overnights on FSR. Why should you listen? Picture, if you will, a world where we chat with captains of industry in media, sports and more every week, explore some amazing facts about human nature and more. Listen to the fifth hour with Ben Mather on the Iheart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

You're now entering the no bull zone, sponsored by credible great rates, none of the bull. So this is interesting. Tomovsky is a very, very good Green Bay Packer reporter. He is insinuating or suggesting the Packers should trade a first round pick, late in the first round pick, and a fourth round pick to go after a D.K. Metcalf. So there's a story out today that Jets called the Seahawks on D.K. Metcalfe. And, you know, Seattle said not interested. I think Seattle would have to consider taking a first round pick and a fourth round pick

for D.K. Metcalf. They would ideally like two first. Seattle whiffs on some draft picks, so it's a volume game for them. They need more picks, not just a high pick. And I also think Green Bay is desperate. First of all, you can draft a wide receiver. Good luck with Aaron Rogers and a rookie wide receiver. I mean, they didn't even look at Amari Rogers last year out of Clemson as a slot receiver.

Like, he didn't even get into the game plans, okay? He was a return guy. So Aaron's very precise, very demanding. D.K. Matt Kaff comes in immediately and gives them a one. I don't think he's one of the top five or six strongest ones. He's not Stefan Diggs, Justin Jefferson, Jamar Chase, D'Andre Hopkins. But he's a one in most eyes. And they don't have it.

And right now, then Amari Rogers and Randall Cobb can be your slot guys. And Alan Lazard can be your four. Maybe you draft a couple of guys. But if you're depending on a rookie to come in and get 90 catches with Aaron Rogers, it's not going to happen. And again, this is the downside. Aaron Rogers is a 13 and a half percent cap hit this year. He's a 14 percent cap hit next year. So you're going to have to figure out a way to get the DK Metcalf contract in. It will not be easy. But you cannot, in 2022, you cannot compete against the Rams, the Bucks, the Chiefs, the bills.

I mean, good God, they couldn't beat the Niners at home because of Debo, Samuel, and George Kittle. They don't have enough weapons. They don't have any on the perimeter. So if Rob Domowski is suggesting two picks for DK Metcalfe, now, Seattle, you may argue, good God, he's their best player. Certainly an argument to be made. What it basically says is you are literally starting from the ground floor. Seattle is just saying, we're going to be a top five draft team next year, get our next quarterback. We're giving up everybody.

It's a hard decision, as Joy said, if you give me a first and something else, I have to take the call if I'm Seattle. If it's just a first, I'm not sure. Because I'd probably go draft another receiver anyway. because Seattle, I don't think Seattle's receiving core is great. I think it's competent. D.K. McCaff and Tyler Lockett and Swain, the young receiver from Gainesville, Florida, Florida Gators. They're fine. I don't think they're elite, but it's a good group.

It's a solid, it's one of the strengths of their team. They don't have many. But it's something to think about. This Green Bay situation, you know, Aaron's different. He's not one of these guys. And by the way, in fairness to Aaron, Tom Brady doesn't love rookie receivers either. Brady likes his gronk and his A.B. He connected very quickly with Mike Evans, but not so much with Tyler Johnson, who Tampa

Bay drafted out of Minnesota, good player, but he was a rookie receiver. So Tom can be finicky on rookie wide receivers, too. A lot of these veteran guys are. They get into habits, Peyton Manning, you know, Aaron Rogers, Tom Brady. You're not going to bring some kid in from the ACC, and I'm going to trust him to run all my routes. So, D.K. Metcalf Packers, I think makes a ton of sense. The downside is you're sending him in the same conference. I increasingly, I mean, by the way, Detroit sent Stafford to the Rams.

Detroit's not winning the Super Bowl anyway. You know, I'm going to send a guy wherever. Now, I'm not going to send Russell Wilson across the street in my division twice a year. But if I had to trade Russell Wilson to an NFC team and I got more picks, I would do it. I mean, I think we have to get over that. I mean, I've seen it all the time now more and more. GMs are just like, hey, I want to get what I get. I'm not going to get paralyzed by I might see you every other year in a game, you know.

All right, good stuff. Hour three around the corner. NBA playoffs are Phoenix is starting to rest some guys for the playoffs. So we're getting close. Chris Broussard last hour. It's the herd. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and friends.

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