The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 2 - NFL predictions

Episode Date: July 30, 2025

Danny gives his NFL Over/Unders for the season Travis Hunter is built different The Bo Nix / Sean Payton combo is very underrated   Guest: MIKE JONESSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Absolute thrill to be here. Thank you very much for tuning in and listening wherever you are. Colin does his blazing five. He's been doing it for a while. What are the Sharps think? You should just ask, what do I think? Because I went 65% in the NFL against the spread last year. You're like, why does he keep bringing it up?

Because that's really hard to do. And it was the best year of my life, although it is back-to-back 60 plus percent seasons against the spread in the NFL. So I couldn't pass up the opportunity being in this chair for Colin to leave you with some wagering opportunities if you see fit, how I see the NFL heading in to the 2025-2020 season. Why do a five-favor-over-under or 10-favored over-under when you can give your 32 favorite over-unders for the upcoming? NFL season. Let's begin in the NFC North, where I've picked the lines to be in the Super Bowl back-to-back years. Not sure if I'll do it again this year, but I'm definitely picking them for over at 10 and a half. 27 wins over the last two seasons, most in the NFL, that's more than the Kansas City Chiefs. Interior offensive line questions, loss of coordinator questions, but if their

defense is just normal hurt instead of extreme hurt, the offense is too good. That's still an 11 or 12 win team. Yes, in that division. Yes, with their schedule. The Vikings were 9 and 1 in 1-score games last year. I like J.J. McCarthy. I love Kevin O'Connell, but that's an under. That's an under if I've ever seen one for them at 9.5.

14 wins felt like a fluke last year. Win 7, 8 games. Have your quarterback for the future. They'll be fine. The Packers are under at 9.5. This division is going to be very bunched up, I think, between two, three, and four. Obviously, those could finish in any order. Two and six against teams that made the playoffs last year were the Green Bay Packers.

And I was surprised. I know they loved Golden, the first round pick. I was surprised they invested another asset into receiver on the offensive side of the ball. They need more pass rush for me. They lived and died by the turnover last year with the new defensive coordinator bump, and McKinney had an unbelievable first year in Green Bay. if they don't have as much turnover luck this year, I think it's more like an eight-win season for the Packers.

And I know the Bears are the all-hyped team, but everything in the world went wrong for them last year. If just a few things go right. The amount of upgrades that they had at coach, play caller, offensive line, defensive line, two tight-end set, second year of Caleb Williams in the pros. People are like, oh, Caleb Williams was a bust. Caleb Williams wasn't good.

that was the best quarterback season that the Bears had had in a decade. Not hyperbole. 3,500 passing yards was the most of Bears quarterback had had since 2016. He'll be better. The Bears will be better. They're a nine or a ten win team this season. Let's go to the NFC East. The Eagles are the best team in football.

The Eagles aren't over team. Their totals at 11.5, which is very high. But they've gone over their win total under Nick's series. Ariani, three of four years. And if they have no weaknesses, it's hard to pick them to not hit their over. You can say, well, it could be injuries, sure. It could be injuries for any team. I'm not going to go 32 for 32, though that is the goal on this exercise. But also part of it for the Eagles is that I think the next two teams that everyone thinks are going to challenge them in the NFC East, the commanders and cowboys, I have both of them going under their win total this year. The commanders might be the team

with the better roster, but the worst win-loss record. I just don't know that you can replicate converting 87% of your fourth downs, which is what they did last year. They lived on the edge, and it was one-score victories, and it was impressive, and it was remarkable that it was being done by a rookie quarterback. But if that regresses to the mean even a little bit, the commanders are an under team. Remember, they beat Tampa in that playoff game by three points. Cowboys under eight and a half.

We talk about Dallas last year like Dak Prescott got hurt in the first game of the season. They were three and five with Dak Prescott with not impressive wins. A end of the game win against the Steelers, a win over the Giants, a win over the Browns. It was just not an impressive football team, and I think they've got a ton of questions on their offensive line.

The Giants are an over team for me at five and a half, Even though their schedule is absolutely brutal, Jeff Schwartz was on yesterday, he had their under there. There's no question the schedule's brutal. But what if they're a top 10 defense? Because they were 8th in Sacks last year and they added Abdul Carter. Their front seven is nasty. Malik Neighbors is nasty.

I don't know what if Jackson Dard and Russell Wilson, it's probably going to be bottom 10 quarterback play in the NFL, and coach and GM are definitely on the hot seat. But if you've got a top 10 defense, you're in a lot of games. Let's go to the NFC South. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the best organization in the NFL that people just don't respect enough.

Baker Mayfield, last two seasons, comfortably inside the top 10 in touchdowns, yards, points. That's useful. Over at nine and a half. Teams in the NFL, quick trivia question, that have made the playoffs five or more straight years, three teams.

Chiefs, bills, Bucks. Now, so that's Tom Brady, obviously, but bucks are a well-oiled machine at this point on the offensive side of the ball. Falcons have bit me before, and I'm going to go back to the well here and say the Falcons get over on seven and a half wins. Michael Penix with his huge arms

seemed to unlock some of the skill position guys. He was like, hey, let's draft Drake London and Kyle Pitts and Bijan Robinson and then not give him the ball. It was a bold strategy, and it did not work out for him. But Pennix looks really good in the three games, even though he's an unconventional quarterback, but he fires the ball down the field. And they've had the worst pass rush in the NFL the last five years, and they used

basically two first round picks to go out and get some young pass rushers, traded next year's first to move up, and then their first round pick this year. So their pass rush is even average. I think the Falcons aren't over team. Same with the Panthers. The schedule's easy, and Bryce Young looked better at the end of the year, and some of the upgrades, like if they are just a bottom They're like the 22nd best defense in the NFL instead of dead last, especially against the run where they were historically terrible, and Bryce Young continues to progress. The guy had seven touchdowns against zero picks in his last three games.

They can win seven games. The Saints, however, cannot win six. The Saints are an under five and a half team. I think they are tanking. I think they are a prime trade candidate. I hope Alvin Kamara does not finish the season with the Saints. The Saints, by the way, went Owen seven in games last. year whenever Derek Carr was not their starting quarterback and producer note

Derek Carr not their starting quarterback to the NFC West the Rams have won over 10 games in six of the eight years with Sean McVeigh it's embarrassing how much I went back and forth on this total just because I do really worry about the injuries on their offensive line but Pooka Nakua Devante Adams Sean McVe calling the plays with Matt Stafford slinging it with Fisk and verse on the defensive line, I just can't quit the Rams. And the Niners, Purdy's not great, but he's good enough. Shanahan's elite. To me, the key is Christian McCaffrey's health. He's worth four points per game when he's in the lineup versus not in the lineup for the Niners.

Kyle Shanahan got Alfred Morris to be productive. Like with Atlanta, with San Francisco, anybody produces in the running game for Kyle Shanahan. You give him Christian McCaffrey. It's a cheat code. All indications are that he is, 100% healthy, changed his regimen, is going to be good to go for this year. The Seahawks at under 8.5. I got huge offensive line questions. I've got huge Sam Darnel questions. How he finished last year in that game against the Vikings and the playoff game.

Going from Kevin O'Connell and Justin Jefferson and that offensive line to everything that he's got going on in Seattle right now, that just feels like a rude awakening, but an absolutely legendary offseason at the bank. And then the Cardinals, under eight and a half, struggled with this one too, but they've only won more than eight games with Kyler Murray once. I like Harrison. I like McBride.

They run the ball when Kyler Murray is in there, but I think the division is really good at the top, and I just can't count on them to stay healthy, and they didn't do anything in terms of additions on the offensive side of the ball. It's because of the AFC. We're doing it like a clock, I was told. Northeast, Southwest. It makes sense.

AFC North. Yeah, it checks. It works. You don't have to double check me on that. Ravens under 11.5. Five of the first six games are against playoff teams from last year. And their offense was so historic. I mean, Lamar Jackson had four interceptions last year. Derrick Henry was healthy. It was an impossible offense.

Feels, even though I think Zay Flowers will be much better this year, feels very difficult to replicate that. I think that they can be a 10-win team that still is very dangerous and has a very high ceiling, but with their schedule, regresses a little bit. It's also because I believe in the Bengals and the Steelers. I have overs for both of them. This Bengals fact is maybe my favorite one of the whole exercise that we're doing here as I go through all 32 over-unders. They average 27.8 points per game last year.

Last five years, if you score 27 or more points, on average you win 12 games. They won nine. Just be competent defensively. Use three of your first four picks on defensive players in the draft, defensive coordinator bump, Bengals are a double-digit win team. Steelers just have to be okay on offense to hit this over. They're 37 and 6 in their last five years if they score 20 points in a game.

37 and 6 score 20. Aaron Rogers, you got D.K. Metcalf and Johnny Smith and Jalen Warren and Fryermuth. Can you score 21 points per game? If you can, Mike Tomlin's going to get you to over 8.5. Let's go through the Browns first six game, shall we? You'll understand why they're under five and a half. Bengals, Ravens, Packers, Lions, Vikings, Steelers. Yikes.

That feels like an 0-and-6 start for the Cleveland Browns. I got them under five and a half wins. To the AFC East, the Buffalo Bills. No one's caught up to them in this division. Patriots have gotten better, no doubt about it, but I think people are going a little crazy there. Buffalo is odds-on-favor to be the one seat in the AFC, the biggest favorite to win a division of any team in the NFL.

Awesome offensive line. A few key defensive additions. The MVP of the league. A balanced attack finally. The young wide receivers like Shakir and Coleman should only get better. They bludgeoned teams in the regular season, best regular season point differential the last five years. Bills are a clear over team at 11.5.

The Patriots, I feel like, raised their floor, but not their ceiling. I love Drake May. I own all the Drake May stock you could possibly own. They've had one year where they've won more than eight games since Tom Brady, and it feels like they're one year away from getting there. I like what they did. It's about the infrastructure and the guts of the team, but I still think they need a little bit more weapons and help

to put the ball in the end zone for Drake May. So I think they're a year away from being a playoff team. I mean, the Jets are a disaster. Jets are an under five-and-a-half win team, and I love Justin Fields as a guy, but he is not in a good situation to be successful. despite any reports that he knew Garrett Wilson in college. Fine. That's not enough for them to win six games this season. And the Dolphins at seven and a half, the injuries are already starting to pile up

and to a, I mean, when he played 17 games, great. When he doesn't, no one else can operate Mike McDaniels offense and talk to a Dolphins fan. They're like, the NFL has figured out our offense. That's not good. If every Dolphins fan's like, yeah, everyone knows what's coming every single play, probably not a good recipe to win eight or nine games. Let's go to the AFC South as we go through all 32 NFL over-unders this year. The Texans were five and one against the AFC South last year and five and six against everyone else, one and five against playoff teams. Yes, they had offensive line injuries.

Yes, they had wide receiver injuries. But C.J. Stroud spent most of the season on his back looking up at the domed ceiling, and then they traded away Laramie Tunsell. I don't get that one, under nine and a half for the Texans. I think the Colts are a good organization with a good coach, and people seem to love Daniel Jones. Okay, fine. I love Anthony Richardson's talent, but they've won eight or more games in four of the last five years. The Colts are good.

The Colts are feisty. They maybe don't have as high of a ceiling as some of these other teams, but they've won eight or more games in four of the last five years, despite having eight different quarterbacks. It's a good organization. Jaguars under 7.5. I mean, Liam Cohn, maybe. I love Travis Hunter, but I got to see it before I believe it.

They've gone under their win total in three of four years with Trevor Lawrence as their starting quarterback. The Titans' offense last year was so historically bad that if Cam Ward gives them anything, I think they hit their over on five and a half wins. Fourth worst in the NFL, averaging 182 passing yards, the last three seasons.

If he gets him to like 225, that's such a massive improvement. I think they can eke out six wins. So the division that people think is the best in the NFL. We'll wrap it up in the AFC West. The Chiefs aren't over team until proven otherwise. It's a cliche, but they know how to win. But they improve their offensive line.

They improve the health of the receiver core. They lost Joe Tooney, but they seem to have upgraded at left tackle. Their defense is top three. in the NFL. 12 or more wins in six of seven seasons with Patrick Mahomes as a starter. Andy Reid is an over machine. He hit his overs when he had Alex Smith as his quarterback in Kansas City. They're a 13 win team until proven otherwise. You guys know I can't quit Justin Herbert and the Chargers, but number one scoring defense, year two of Harbaugh, first round pick running back, second round pick, deep threat wide receiver to help out. Ladd McConkey,

an absolute stud, arguably the best tackle duo in the NFL. Harbaugh goes 11 and 6 last year. This is an over for the Chargers. Broncos went 5 and 5 through 10 games, and then they won 5 of their last 7. They are a very good team. This is a very good division. Someone has to go under, and I'm betting on there being a little bit of a plateau for the Broncos' offense. And we'll see, I mean, Ingram, Funga, Greenlaw, they may.

additions but they also have some injury concerns for me with some of the guys that they added so I'm not ready to say that they're a back-to-back double-digit win team but the Raiders go over on six and a half no team in the NFL upgraded more at coach and quarterback gino Smith is good he's not great but he is accurate he slings it and he had no offensive line there are questions about the Raiders offensive line no doubt but my point is he's used to it and now he gets a competent head coach, he gets Ashton Genty, he gets Brock Bowers.

That's going to be a fun team to watch and a really difficult team to game playing against. So I think the Raiders are a pesky team in the AFC this year. And that concludes 32 NFL over unders.

That feels like what, 29 and 3 against the spread right there? I felt like 29 and 3. A little shaky on maybe the Cardinals, the Panthers. But hey, if you go 65% against the spread of the NFL last year,

You've got to have some confidence heading into the next year. So that's how I see the NFL heading into the 2025 NFL season. How much longer are the Cowboys going to wait to pay Micah? We go around the NFL. With who? Mike Jones. Sorry, I had to. Danny Park is it for Colin.

This is The Hurd. One more Herd? The Herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart Radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Hey, we're Kavino and Rich. Fox Sports Radio every day, 5 to 7 p.m. Eastern.

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Overpromising. Perfect. And remember, you could see it on YouTube, but definitely join us. Listen to Overpromised with Kavino and Rich on the IHeart Radio. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what?

We have some big news. What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a podcast. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there.

But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this.

We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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 Smygel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey.

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Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the Aihar Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in.

I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real.

From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sportslice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome back in to The Herd. I'm Danny Parkins for Colin Coward. Coming up in a little bit, we'll get to a quarterback from last year

who probably deserves a little bit more hype heading into this year, but he's a victim of circumstance. But right now, let's go around the NFL. Our next guest covers the league for the athletic national NFL writer, Mike Jones, with us on the hurries, cover the NFL for the last 15 years. Mike, thank you so much for the time. I began today's show reacting to Jimmy Haslam's comments about Arch Manning because he says he's probably going to stay in college for two years.

It's very rare that we have a college prospect talked about as the number one pick before he's really accomplished anything in college. I get it. The last name on the jersey, Heisman Trophy, favorite, second best team in the country. But I'm curious, how do you think the league at this point views Arch Manning the NFL prospect? I mean, they've only seen a little flashes here and there of him. You haven't seen him in a full-time basis.

So I don't think that anybody's getting overly exciting. Obviously, there's intrigue there because of the name and the athleticism and ability that you see. But let's wait until we see him, you know, as a full-time starter. And, you know, then I think that we'll have a better idea. Obviously, people have been taking notes. They have the body of work that he's shown, even though it's limited. But I haven't talked to any scouts or anybody that's, like, overly excited about him this early. So a guy who people were overly excited about, and I would say for good reason, was Travis Hunter.

And I think he's going to break the record for most snaps played in a season as a rookie. If he just did what he did last year in college, and the pros, he would shatter it. And he did that in 13 games. The Jaguars seem to be very committed to playing him both ways. But everyone on the outside is like, are they really going to play him both ways? How do you think this is going to go? You know, it's going to be a real interesting experiment as we see. them go out there because look you've got to see what his effectiveness is going to be obviously in

training camp and uh the practices he probably looks good you know he's got good conditioning we've seen him play uh multiple seasons this way but the NFL is just another level level up uh the the physicality the speed and everything so i think there's going to be a you know uh maybe a snap count that they have on him early on as they try to figure out what he can handle how he's able to be effective um you know as a wide receiver, as a defensive back. I talked to scouts who feel like he is an elite level defensive back and probably a pretty decent wide receiver. Did talk to one that thought he might be a better receiver

with his ball skills than a cornerback. But he is really excited to see how they handle this and what his ability to handle the workload and play at an high level is going to be like. My theory on it is we are all former athletes, regular people like you and me, media, we are behind in understanding the full impacts of sports science and how amazing the modern athletes are.

The example I use was like back in the day, oh, running back hits 27, they're falling off the cliff. Now we've got Derek Henry at 30 approaching 2,000 yards seasons like it's nothing, right? Athletes have just gotten better. We see in Green Bay they're working out Bull Melton, trying to maybe turn him into a two-way player because of some injuries that they had at corner. I feel like if Travis Hunter works, it could open the floodgates for these elite athletes and we could start seeing more guys try to do it.

Or do you think I'm insane? No, I don't think you're insane. I do think that everybody's going to be watching. I think there are kids in college and coaches in college who are going to be watching. And as you see more guys come out and more guys able to execute at an elite level, if there is a two-way player, then sure. There will be a ripple effect throughout the NFL. And you're definitely right, like the science behind all of this has changed.

These guys have chips on their uniforms, in their pads, that they can look and see how many miles per hour he's running in the first part of practice compared to the last part of practice in the first quarter of a game as opposed to the fourth quarter of a game. So they're going to have all of the science, even if he's saying, I feel good. They'll be able to tell if he's slowing down, if there's a drop off or anything like that. And so all of that science is going to go into the decision on how to how much of a workload they give him, and it's just going to be fascinating. Mike Jones from The Athletic is our guest.

So Trey Hendrickson reports to camp. Terry McLaurin reports to camp. They don't have new contracts yet. My theory is basically in a post-Levion Bell world, it's an endangered species, like the true holdout of missing games. So I know Chris Jones did it. I know Jonathan Taylor did it, but it's way less now than back in the day

because the money is just so insane. It's so hard for these guys to really turn. it down. So I view off-season contract consternation as just media filler. Like, oh, Trey Hendrickson's upset with his contract. Yeah, it's July. He's supposed to be. Or it was May. He was supposed to be. And I think that these are inevitable that they are going to get done. What about you? I do think they get done. It's unfortunate for the players that in the last CBA, they negotiated. And so the teams can find them $50,000 a day. And so that adds up. You hang out for three days and you're like okay that's a hundred fifty dollar fine and then it starts really getting

a little painful and you decide to come back and we'll see more hold ends rather than hold outs um it you know yes i think that eventually these two sides are talking in uh cincinnati the two sides are talking in washington they'll eventually get something done because obviously the pressure is there for these coaches to win uh they need these marquee players and so these owners will drag their feet, drag their feet, but eventually everybody's going to come to the point and get it all done and all this would have been for nothing. What do you think about the reputation that Dallas is stacking up now about how they handle their star players contracts?

It's the cowboy way. It's Jerry Jones. And I think that he loves this because what is he love is the cowboys being on the forefront of everybody's mind and talking about them. Any press is good press for him. And so we've seen him do it again and again. and again drag his feet on paying a top level player, a guy who has proven himself to be very valuable,

and then the last minute he finally winds up opening the checkbook, even though it cost him tens of thousands and millions of dollars more rather than have taken care of the guy way earlier, and then every time somebody at that position signs a new contract, the price tag goes up. And so Micah Parsons is going to wind up surpassing T.J. Watt as far as the highest paid pass rusher. It's just a matter of time. Let me devil's advocate that one, though.

Micah Parsons should make more money than T.J. Watt. He's younger. And Dak Prescott had a no-tag clause and a no-trade clause. So he wanted Jordan Love to sign first. He wanted to sign first. C.D. Lamb wanted to see what Justin Jefferson would do to set the market. Micah Parsons wants to wait for Miles Garrett and T.J. Watt, like, when you have truly elite tier one players at their position with leverage, the player probably wants to wait, too, for the Cowboys to get these deals done.

I'm sure there's part of them that would just like to get it out of the way. But at the same time, I think that's probably part of the reason why Michael Parsons is like, hey, look, I'm coming to work. I owe this to my teammates. I want to be in the best position to be able to help us. win because he knows, hey, eventually it's going to get done. And as, like you said, more guys in my position get paid. My price tag keeps going up, and Jerry's going to wind up doing what Jerry does and make me the highest paid player in the league at my position. And so, yes, it's probably

annoying, having it hanging over, but they know eventually it's all going to work out for them. Is there anything that could happen in Pittsburgh this year where we would even say that, forget hot seat, that the seat was lukewarm for my. Tomlin? I think so. I think this has really the potential to be disastrously bad. You know, I mean, this Aaron Rogers that we see right here is not the same guy that we're thinking of from Green Bay. We did see him look a little better down the stretch of the season with the Jets last year. But if he and Arthur Smith don't gel just right, if the offense isn't clicking, what does Aaron Rogers do when things aren't going well? He starts pointing fingers.

He'll pull back the curtain on the ineffectiveness of the organization. People have said for a while that as great a leader as Mike Tomlin is, he has not evolved the practices of that organization and that coaching staff and the way they do things. And so if Aaron Rogers, if things don't go well and there's finger pointing and things like that that he is known for as of late, then yeah, things will look bad and go poorly and, you know, that seat for Mike Tomlin could heat up because they basically just pushed all their chips into the middle this year, very un-Pittsburg Steelers-like offseason. And if it doesn't plan out well, then, you know, then we could be asking questions.

I want to get your take on my guy, Justin Herbert. The guy is the ultimate eye test quarterback. Four interceptions, even though a couple were off his guy's hands and his interior of his offensive line was collapsing around him. still bad playoff game 0 and 2 in the playoffs but I am just convinced from watching the guy play football that he's a star

and he's going to do great things where do you come out on eye test versus actual results for the team for Justin Herbert I agree with you that he is as talented as they come his ceiling is very high my question is

everything around him I do think that hardball was good for him last year I think another season with him would be good for him the questions are just okay does he have enough as far as weapons around him did they really improve the line significantly enough you know they got mackay beckton but you know he was really good last year with philadelphia which is an offensive line factory and they work together so well is he going to be as effective in a new surroundings um you know does justin herbert have the the wide receivers to go to um enough weapons and because the thing is they're in this division with the chiefs and until somebody proves the they can knock off the chiefs. You know, I will take them every time. So, yes, he's super talented. He gives you everything you could ask for in a quarterback,

but everything around him is the big question one. The guy who has everything around him is Jalen Hertz. And Philly fans get mad at me. Because I say Jalen Hertz is a top 10 quarterback who benefits tremendously from having guys that are better at their jobs than he is at his around him. He's clutch. He's a leader. He's smart. But for example, like, Seyquin Barclay's a better running back than Jalen Hertz as a quarterback. A.J. Brown is a better receiver than Hertz as a quarterback.

Lane Johnson, Jordan Milata, Jalen Carter, et cetera. I don't see that as a knock on Hertz. Anyone would benefit from being in that situation. And then you add, he's clutch. He's a gamer. He's a leader. He's smart. And that's what leads you to bludgeoning teams on the way to the Super Bowl. How do you evaluate Hertz individually amidst the super team that's around him? I think he's super underrated.

I mean, the dude just makes the plays that he has to make when you need them the most. He's got an accurate deep ball. He can extend plays. He's a strong, powerful runner. He's got good instincts. He doesn't force things. He just really basically is disciplined and says, okay, I'm going to take what the defense gives to me. He doesn't care what his stats look like if it means that they're winning.

and he's got the best mindset that you could ask for in a quarterback. And so I don't get the lack of love for him because he just proved this past year what he was able to do and he just, you know, he kept doing it again and again. Yes, he's got a lot to work with. He's got a great offensive line, great weapons, running back, a receiver, great defense. But still, he makes the big plays when they need them the most.

And so I think that he is one of the top of his position. One of the top. So the top, like behind the big four, you would put him right next, right behind Lamar, Burrow, Alan Mahomes. You put him right there. I think he's got to be right there. Yeah. You know, after that, that, those guys, I mean, he's got the Super Bowl ring. He's got the production.

He does. Again, he's got the club play. Well, well, hey. He was 22nd in the league and pass attempts that he had less than 20 passing touch. out. He doesn't have the production. But that's not his fault that they have Sequan Barkley. I would hand it off to him

too, but when you ask him to put the ball in the air and to make the plays, he makes the plays. So, I mean, whose fault is that that he's not passing more? I mean, he could pass more. You know, AJ Brown's frustrated because they're not throwing more,

but they just know that, hey, like you said, we've got an elite running back. We've got an elite offensive line. We believe in balance and it's working. So, First four games the last year, they were two and two when he was throwing the ball 32, 33 times the game, and they're like, we're going to start running more. And again, he's really good. But they won all those playoff games without throwing more than 28 times in the game because they just bludgeon people and then play from a lead. It's a super team.

And he benefits from it. And I feel like that's an okay thing to say. He runs their system perfectly. He does. And also, I really am waiting for the year that we can see him in a system, can say. years instead of changing offensive coordinators every single year because then I think we'll really see him go to another level fortunately they're often fascinated this year has been there for a while so hopefully he has a little more continuity but again the guy makes the plays when you need him he gets

the job done I'm not complaining about him Mike Jones covers the NFL for the athletic thank you sir all right have a good one thanks for having me absolutely it was our pleasure thank you that's Mike Jones covers the NFL for the athletic now that's the craziest jail and hurts that of all of them Going back to college, it's like nine offensive coordinators in nine years. That is ridiculous. And again, it's why I always lead with unbelievably smart, unbelievable leader. But coming up next, last year's quarterback class was historic. And frankly, I think there's one guy who probably should be looking around and be like,

why am I not getting a little bit more love? I'll tell you who it is next. Danny Park gets in for Colin on the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1. and the I Heart Radio app. Hey, it's us, the Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news.

What's the news, name? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts.

We're starting a trend. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name, Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. And we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes.

I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast. But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. 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 eye heart. Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what

happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real.

From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness.

So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me?

Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Back in on the herd, I'm Danny Parkins in for Colin Coward. Insane expectations for Arch Manning in his first year as a starter. We'll get to it coming up at the top of the hour. And next hour, Eric Mangini going to join the show as well. So last year's quarterback class in the NFL was special. I mean, six quarterbacks get taken in the first round.

There's obviously a lot of very, very high-end talent at that spot. And part of this is just how the media works, but Caleb Williams had all the hype. USC celebrity quarterback, number one pick, former Heisman trophy winner, goes to a big market team that's quarterback starved in Chicago. That's going to be a massive story. Then Jaden Daniels, number two pick, NFC Championship. yet. Drake May, third pick, all right, looks interesting, but has nothing around him. We'll get to that in a minute. J.J. McCarthy gets hurt. Okay, fine. We'll punt on that one, but it's Michigan. It's Kevin O'Connell, Justin Jefferson. They end up winning 14 games, fascinating. We get to that.

And then there was Bo Nix, and I know Michael Penix, too, but we'll get to Panics in a second. Bo Nix, if it was not for Jaden Daniels, would be able to say, hey, guys, where's my hype? Where's my love? Because he had more passing yards and more touchdowns passing than Jaden Daniels did. If I just told you Bo Nix's resume, second most passing touchdowns ever for a rookie quarterpour. back and he went to the playoffs and he had Sean Peyton. You'd be talking a ton about this guy. I hate the NFL top 100 list.

I think the players don't apply any consistency to it. They really only rate, it seems like, last year instead of a body of work to truly and fairly evaluate a player. I think it's mostly a useless exercise, but it does sometimes lead to interesting quotes or sound bites. Bo Nix came in ranked 64th among his peers after his rookie year. here. Here's how he responded. I think it's obviously a cool honor for, you know, because that's your peers thing.

That's guys you play, but at the same time, you know, just the way I think, the way I am motivated, I want to continue to, you know, get higher and not even for the ranking. You know, it doesn't really matter what you're ranked. It's just, you know, an internal standard that I have that I want to be the best in the world. there's a lot of guys that I'm competing for that with, and I'm not going to stop until I at least give my best try. So, cliche is notwithstanding, he's on his way. Do I think he's going to be the best in the world?

No, but I'll tell you this, if you watched the Broncos the first three and a half, four games of last season, it was like, yo, does Bonex belong in the league? What is going on here? And then by the end of the season, they've won double-digit games. They're in the playoffs. He had 29 passing touchdowns. And some of his highlights were absolutely insane.

Like Justin Herbert is dining out in a lot of people's mind off that 31 touchdown pass rookie season that he had. Bo Nix had 29 and was in the playoffs and acquitted himself well. and Sean Payton obviously believed in a ton. There have been the Drew Bree's comparisons. I think that's more coach than style, but there are a few similarities that you can see in terms of just pocket pass or that sort of thing. But it's a quarterback class that I find fascinating

because we can reverse order it. We talk about Bo Nix. The Broncos are obviously thrilled with what they got out of Bo Nix. Absolutely thrilled. 3,700. passing yards, three to one touchdown the interception ratio,

just, I guess a little worse than three to one, like two and a half to one, touchdown the interception ratio, and a playoff appearance. The Falcons in three games with Michael Pennix felt like he unlocked their offense in terms of Bejohn Robinson and Drake London and putting the ball in the end zone.

And he's also just fun to watch. A lefty with a rocket arm. It's unconventional, but think about the vote of confidence that Atlanta has shown in Pennix. They gave Kirk Cousins 100 million guaranteed $180 million, and off three games, they're like, yep, Penix is our guy. That's pretty significant.

So Bejohn, Drake London, Kyle Pitts, okay, now you got Michael Pennix. Let's see what the Falcons can do. Falcons, happy with their guy. Broncos, happy with their guy. J.J. McCarthy, Kevin O'Connor. believes in him enough that he traded up one spot to get him. Sam Darnold won 14 games last season,

threw for what, 4,500 yards, was good enough to get $100 million, and the Vikings were like, yeah, we're good. We're turning it over to the guy coming off the injury, who didn't throw it a ton in college, who won national championship, but how much of it was the system around him, how much of it was him,

we're going to turn it over to J.J. McCarthy. That's a massive vote of confidence for a guy who has thrown preseason passes in his NFL career to move on from Sam Darnel. And by the way, I supported the move. The point of this exercise is it is very rare that you can have, first of all, it's rare to have six quarterbacks taken in a first round. But it's very rare that you go through a full season of the NFL, and every team is still happy about the guy they drafted.

Atlanta happy about Pennix, Denver happy about Bo Nix, Minnesota clearly happy about J.J. McCarthy. They moved on from Sam Darnold. In New England, Drake May had the worst offensive line in football. They fired his coach, and basically no one listening right now can name a single pass catcher on the team. And the guy was standing at the end of the year, made awesome throws, carried himself like a pro, got better as the year went on, displayed some. serious toughness. And now all of a sudden,

upgrade a coach, a couple hundred million bucks in free agent contracts later, you add Stefan Diggs, you give him Josh McDaniels, you kind of have the organization catch up to the talent of the quarterback. All of a sudden, the Patriots, when people start making official predictions,

my guess is half the media thinks they're going to the playoffs this year. Vegas has them as an eight or a nine-win team. That's a tremendous vote of confidence for a guy who threw 15 touchdowns, last year. Then Jade and Daniels, no one needs to say anything about. Third down, fourth down, one score games, playoff games, NFC championship game. It's probably the most impressive. When you combine stats and winning, I would argue it's the most impressive rookie season we've ever had because what they were actually asking him to do. And then Caleb, the number one pick, the team that

did not even bring in Jade and Daniels, did not even bring in Drake May, he's the guy that everyone has the most questions about. It's a wild quarterback draft. Just think back to that Trevor Lawrence draft. After year one, it was like, okay, well, we got massive questions about Justin Fields. We got massive questions about Trey Lance. There are some questions about Mack Jones. Trevor Lawrence still hasn't answered it all these years later.

And Zach Wilson, where's he? So it's really rare to have that many quarterbacks drafted. And if we did it all again, obviously everyone would want Jaden Daniels. But other than that, everyone's things. thrilled with who they got. And then there's poor Bo Nix with 29 touchdowns in a playoff appearance being like, no one ever talks about me.

It really was one of the great rookie seasons that we've seen, and we'll see how he builds on it coming up for this year. What do the Browns say about Arsh Manning? Are they already throwing cold water on it? That's coming up next. Danny Park gets in for Colin to hurt. Hey guys, it's us and the Jonas Brothers.

I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it.

We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen.

We don't care where you hear it. 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 D. David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L'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. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano.

It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, The Playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven,

Marquis come in to him, he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Real talent is defined by what people can do, not where they learn to do it. So by

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