The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 2 - Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

AJ Pierzynski joins The Herd to talk about how dominate the Dodgers are looking, the greatness of Shohei Ohtani, the rest of the National league, and more Don't put so much stock in the body of an NFL QBSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was crying. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis keep coming to you. 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. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday on Fox Sports

Radio in noon to 3 Eastern, 9 a.m. to noon Pacific. Find your local station for the herd at Fox SportsRedia.com or stream us live every day on the IHeart Radio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. listening to Fox Sports Radio. All right, welcome in, hour two. It is Wednesday. Jay Mack and I are off tomorrow and Friday. We're going to let everybody watch the NCAA tournament games, March Madness, a lot of fun.

We are going bracket for bracket. He's got Duke flying through. Keep your eye, I say, on Rick Petino and more experienced teams. The SEC was, however, unbelievable this year. And 14 teams in. I have Tennessee and Auburn getting in. Not that anybody cares. You're going with traditional Duke, which is very young.

Remember, we've seen these great young Duke teams with young star players and they don't win the tournament. Keep doubting my man, Cooper Flagg. He's good. I like Cooper. What he's got tonight, Xavier or Texas? That's going to be a good game. Texas. Okay, I got Xavier.

We'll go head to head again because we love going toe to toe to toe. Here we go. So I will say this before I get to our guest. What a start to the baseball season for the Dodgers and Shoah. I'll get to that in a couple minutes. But I saw a story this morning. If the New York Giants don't land Aaron Rogers, then what? well then nothing they'll be drafting at the top of next year's draft too is something is happening in the nfl

i do not think it's a good thing it feels very much like the nba and i don't think it's a good thing is that because the league is so quarterback reliant the rules are now all to protect the quarterback that if you don't have a great one you're not viable like by mid-october you're unwatchable last year we had 10 teams that's a third of the league this is very nbaa 10 teams 10 teams with five or fewer wins last year. That's tied for the most since they expanded to 16 plus games. And we talked about this last year is I found myself by mid-delayed October last year. There were seven or eight teams.

I would have rather, you know, called a friend than have watched them. You gave me Tennessee and Carolina last year, not interested. So I don't remember ever being a year like that. So we are a month away from the draft. I could tell you right now who's going to be at the top of the following draft. It's going to be the Giants and the Jets. It's going to be New Orleans. It's going to be Cleveland.

Keep your eye on Jacksonville. So I don't think it's a great thing. That's why I say I root for Shadour Sanders and Cam Ward and Jalen Milro. And I root for all these kids to hit. First of all, it's, you know, you don't want to root against people in life. I want all these young quarterbacks to hit because the quality of the game is better. It's more fun to watch great teams. Cubs are a good team.

Dodgers are a great team. That's why I set my alarm for 3.45 in the morning. And with that A.J. Persinski, 19 years in Major League Baseball, Fox Baseball analyst is joining us. Listen, you know, it's funny. I said this last year. There you go, baby. Before you get started, wait. You picked the wrong team, Colin.

You picked the wrong team in that bracket. That's what I hear. That's what I hear. You know, I noticed this in the World Series last year. When Garrett Cole wasn't pitching for the Yankees, AJ, the Dodgers looked so much better and deeper and more athletic. The Cubs are a good team. But, I mean, we don't have bets plan.

We don't have Freddie plan. We don't have Shohei pitching. When you're calling these games, I mean, even the relievers for the Dodgers, These are big men, 100 mile an hour. Does it feel like when you're watching it as a former 19-year veteran, we're just watching an all-time great Dodger lineup? It could be. It could be a – listen, forget the lineup.

Let's talk about their pitching staff. We saw their three and four pitch, and Suzuki would be one and two on any other team. We didn't see Snell and Glass now. We forgot about them. They were on vacation in Tokyo for the last week, right? I mean, we saw basically their threes and fours with the stuff they had. And they went out and got Tanner Scott, the best reliever on the market. Kirby Yates, who was unbelievable all-star last year for Texas.

And they still have Blake Trinan, Evan Phillips, Michael Kopeck, Vescia, Bonda, all these guys that helped them win a World Series last year. This team is ridiculously loaded. They have the deepest team in baseball. I don't want to hear about, oh, the Yankee system. The Cubs are a good team. They're not a great team. They're flawed. They have some holes that were exposed.

Their bullpen, their back in is what the Dodgers do. But this is what Dodgers do to everybody. They pitch count them, they wear you down, until they get into your bullpen, and you make a mistake, and they score runs. Yes, Freddie and Mookie weren't there, but their lineup is still ridiculous. Yeah, no, that's what they do. They wear you down. They get to your bullpen, and then you throw up a middle reliever against, you know, that lineup in your toast. We saw that in game one.

So, listen, we know Otani's great. That goes without saying. I think an underrated part of him is his speed. You know, I mean, the guy is, there's a lot of guys. you played with guys that could run, it doesn't mean they were great base dealers. There's an art to it. And that, AJ, that tells me that beyond being talented, he's a grinder. He's watching film. I mean, that's what impresses me beyond just that all you guys are great talent. What blows you away with Otani? Well, first of all, size. I don't think people realize how big show hey is until you stand

next to him. I'm 6'4-250, and he's way larger than I am in person. That's what I think people don't realize. And then it's like five steps, count the steps. I know it's like more than five, but it seems like he takes five steps and he's a second base sliding. His speed is because he's quick, he's big, and it takes him less steps than the average human to get there. But he also gets great jumps. And don't forget, Dave Roberts is his manager. Dave Roberts stole a pretty large bag in his day against the Yankees in a 2004 playoff game where they went on to win the World Series. So Dave Roberts knows what he's doing this. Coaching staff knows how to maximize everything he does. And he's just an unbelievable talent, something that we'll probably, I don't know if we'll ever see what he can do

again. You know, I was thinking about this, you know, you look at the, I mean, because since the Dodgers started, they got new ownership, they got a lot of money, but in that time, the nationals, the Royals have won a World Series, so it's very possible. Like, this doesn't guarantee anything in baseball, there's injuries. If there's anything about the Dodgers that would worry me, and this is for all athletes, all athletes now make so much money, social media, salary, shoes, whatever, and that can sometimes, you know, grow some ego. is that the, I look at the Dodgers starting staff, and there are guys that would get 25 starts for every other team. They may get 17.

And there's also guys that could bat third on teams that may bat sixth. Do you worry a little bit about having to kind of Dave Roberts kind of walk on eggshells a little bit on a nightly basis with the order and the staff? No, I was in their camp last week, and they are the most self-list. team I've ever been around. I played with Freddie. I played with Mooky. I played with a lot of of these guys, some of these guys, not a lot of them, but I played with them, the superstars. And they just want to win. That's the biggest thing. You talk to Max Muncie. You talk to Freddie, you talk to Mookie, you talk to Will Smith. You talk to these guys. All they want to do is win. Teoska Hernandez is all about winning. He came back to the Dodgers again,

took less money because he wants to win. The starters, they just want to be ready for October, whether it's Blake Snell, whether it's Tyler Glassnow, whoever it is, Yamamoto, Sasaki, they just want to be ready for the postseason because they want to do what we're showing right now, which is jump up and down and celebrate another World Series. Can another team win it? Absolutely. Listen, their division, Arizona is a really good team. I don't think people talk about them enough, and they're the last team to beat the Dodgers in the postseason.

The Phillies are really good. The Mets reloaded, right? That Braves, if they have strider and sale, that's a pretty good one-two punch. You can shut down anybody. The National League, I believe, is way better than the American League. As we saw last year, if you get through the National League post-season, season, you have a great shot to win the World Series if you can get through it. Well, Adam Wainwright brought up this point yesterday, and I thought it was a good one. He said, listen, if I was Soto, I would have just stayed on the American League side. Yes!

What's the point of going facing the Braves and the Dodgers? And listen, I'm never going to tell an athlete to take less. Were you surprised that he goes to the much tougher? It's like choosing trying to get out of the SEC compared to the Big 12. Were you surprised by it? No, because they gave, well, he said they didn't give him the most money, but it seemed like it's where he wanted to go. Even last year, you heard Aaron Judge said, oh, he ended up where he wanted to. Well, guess what?

He's where he wants to be, and now he can kind of form a new legacy because the Yankees have their players, they have their guys that are set in situations. Aaron Judge is the captain. Well, now he goes to New York, the other side of town into the Mets and City Field, and he can be the guy. He can be the man. Yes, Lindor is there. Yes, Alonzo's there. But Juan Soto was there for 15 years and $765 million. So he's going to have to be the man, and that's what he wanted. Now he gets to prove it.

Will he? We'll see. But, boy, I would like to have 760-filling five million reasons why. Yeah. A.J. Persinski, he is like a good dad. He's leaving our show in two minutes to go watch his kid. You're coaching him is what you told me? No, no.

Gosh, no. I used to coach. I had to quit because, listen, Colin, as a dad and a coach, it doesn't work very well. Because sometimes I love my kid to death, but we just, we disagree. agree a little bit on certain things and understandable. It's been a much better relationship since I walked away. Hey, man, we always appreciate you having you on the show. It's going to be a great year of baseball.

I've been getting up in the morning, and they've been wildly entertaining. I appreciate you stopping by. No problem. And by the way, go Gators. There you go Gainesville's best. Go Gator. A.J. Presensky, Fox Sports. Yeah, those games are entertaining.

It is crazy, though, that you have, I was reading this today. there are four starters for the Dodgers that could be aces on about half the teams in baseball, three MVP caliber players. Like, we're watching history. How about that when that Shohei came out of the outfield and the cameras on that stuff? Every time I watch that Tokyo Dome,

it looks like the stadium I went to as a kid, which was the kingdom. So I can literally see it in my head. A guy named Bill Leisure, picked me up at my house. We got lost on the way there. showed up. And the game was starting in like 10 minutes. It was the first game ever at the Kingdom. And I sat in right field and Joe Rudy hit a home run, basically in my seat in the left

field for the Angels. But what was remarkable about this, all the pressure on Otani, and he was both games, money. The only guy I can think of you with your greatest athlete ever rant earlier is like the Bo Jackson, Dion Sanders, guys who played two sports. Like Michael Jordan tried to pride baseball, he just couldn't do it. Otani's doing pitching, hitting, Dionne Sanders did football, baseball, Bo Jackson, you know, both. I think Otani's in that class. Like, he's that dominant, man.

Well, again, Babe Ruth was a power pitcher and a power hitter. Otani can hit for average, and Otani will steal 50 bases. How many steals for Babe Ruth in his career? Like, come on. Yeah, it's, I mean, I know I'm talking a lot about baseball and calling you, well, why baseball? We're watching history. We are watching a team.

When you're as deep as the Dodgers, you know, and you can just rest guys. Guy has a little tweak in his shoulder. We'll see in three weeks. What do you feel more confident about the Dodgers in the World Series or the Lakers in the NBA Finals? No, Dodgers in the World Series. The Lakers have something, though, now.

And I never said LeBron didn't tweak his groin against Boston. He did. But it was very clear, I'm going back to L.A. I think LeBron New... I got to watch my son win a state championship, which is understandable. I do the same thing. LeBron knows his body.

But what the Lakers have, and that's why it was encouraging last night how the Warriors won, is the Lakers now have three elite initiators of offense. And what you're seeing now, Lucas said it last night. Like, you guys are not paying attention to Austin Reeves.

This guy's dropping 30 in the NBA. So, you know, maybe I was a little hard on him. Yeah, coming around on all Austin Reeves. Maybe you can get him on the show. You know, I don't think. He's emerging as like a kind of a cult. He's got a cult following in L.A. out here. I'll be serious.

Well, people love Austin Rees. It's never been a question whether he can initiate offense and be a score. I mean, I've said, if he's your fourth best player, like Derek White is the Celtics' fourth best player, that's a championship team. I think Austin's clearly their third. Rui's there for. But what you're seeing now is it really frees up Luca and LeBron to take a night off. Take a possession. possession off.

Austin gives them, and you know, this is these, LeBron's got a lot of wear on those tires, and for LeBron to know I can hit the bench, and we still have Luca and Austin initiating offense. You don't think about this. So much of this, like this is why Jimmy Butler so valuable, is getting to the free throw line. Yonah's sketch there but can't hit the free throws.

Austin can't. So much of playoff basketball is getting the whistle, getting the line, getting people in foul trouble. Austin, Lucan, LeBron are all great at that. It's a tough comp for Austin Reeves, like, historically, like, who is he like? I mean, I keep coming back to Larry Bird, but that might be a little rich for Austin Reeves. It's tough. Like, he's 6-7, great handle, gets to the line, like you said. He's not an amazing defender, but he's a good defender. He's solid. He's not getting destroyed. I don't know

what his comp is. I, you know, I don't know what his comp is. I'm not off the top of my head, but I know this. He is good with contact. Winning player. You know, the winning player, and, you know, there's the old saying about, they'll talk about wide receivers. Anquan Bolden was the first receiver. People talked about this. He could catch in traffic. You know, just Anquan was just, it was like box you out. If you threw the ball up to Anquan Bolden, he just catches the ball.

DeHop does some of this. They can just catch it. Pooka's got some of this. And that's Austin Reeves. He's very good in conflict. He's very good when he's hit. A lot of guys hit. They're shot.

SGA is very good at this. Can get a really quality. shot off balance after contact. That's Austin. I'll never forget. He was in the NCAA tournament at Oklahoma, and they played a loaded Gonzaga team, and you could look it up on YouTube. He was the best player on the court, and that Gonzaga team was stacked. And Austin Reeves went for like 28. Nobody could guard him. And I was like, that guy's a first round pick. He's really good. And since that, Austin, what a fine by Rob Polinkin the Lakers, man. He is a joy to watch.

Well, Rob take swings. The Westbrook thing didn't work. The Luca thing obviously did. But I mean, it's unlike the Cowboys, because I've said the Lakers and the Cowboys can be a bit insular. They can be a bit like family business. The difference is the Cowboys haven't drafted very

well outside of their first pick. The Lakers have found some guys. They've done a pretty good job on trades. Again, the Westbrook thing was a swing. It didn't work. A lot of that was on LeBron. Let's be real. LeBron pushed for Westbrook. We get that, you know. You're not going to

bat a thousand. Picking up free agents. I mean, he hit on Kevin Love, you know. Like, he's done a really good job. That didn't work out, but they're fine. All right. Live in L.A., it's The Herd. 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, it's us to 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... 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 did 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. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... 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?

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Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface, because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court-side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of I Heart Women's Sports. Jalen Milro, I think that's the fastest 40 time ever for a quarterback. I'm just throwing that out there, 437 at the Alabama Pro Day.

But you and I got into this discussion. One of the things I didn't like about Will Levis was he was ripped. Brady Quinn came out. He was jacked. I want fluidity with my quarterback. Tom Brady talks about this. Pliometrics. I don't want, I want some pudding.

You're going to get hit. I don't want some guy that's on the internet showing me his abs. That's not what quarterback is. Is 437? Isn't that mobile and pliable? No, that's fast. That's fast. So you're putting Milrow in the Will Levis territory or no?

No, no. Well, a little bit where like athlete, gun show, big arm, wildly inconsistent. like, Kallin DeBore is a good offensive coach. Like, they were really frustrated. Alabama's got really good old lines and wide receivers and tight ends. Look at the traps on this guy. Come on. I'm not denying it.

But quarterback, again, I'm not saying that he can't play some, but Anthony Richardson blew everybody away. Will Levis blew everybody away. Let's go to the best body the last 10 years at quarterback. Did Peyton Manning have one? Did Mahomes have one? Did Josh Allen have one? Lamar came into the league. He was so skinny.

And so, I'm not saying it, I'm just saying it's a quality that it doesn't matter. I am looking for fluidity, movement. That looks fluid in the pocket there, Colin. No, I watched him play ten times. He gets, he's mechanical. Now again, Jaden Daniels, by the way, fluid,

thin. I mean, Caleb Williams is strong. He's not ripped. You know, you said Lamar Jackson, and it just clicked. That's probably his comp coming out, not current Lamar. Because remember, coming out, Lamar fell to the end of the first round. He didn't go until the very, I think the Ravens had to trade into the back of the first round to get him. That's probably the best comp for Milro.

Then the question is, Colin, do you build an offense around his skill set? And that's what Baltimore did. They said, hey, we're going to run the pistol. Yeah, but Lamar. And it worked. Lamar is one of the greatest. Now he is. But he wasn't coming out.

Well, he was. He started week 11 his rookie year. He was excellent day one. By year two, he was better in the pocket. By year three, he was great in the pocket. Why couldn't Milro be that with the right offensive coordinator because Lamar was never mechanical. Will Levis is mechanical. Jalen's mechanical. It doesn't look.

In fact, one of my knocks on Bo Nix is that he's so jacked up. I wish Bo was a little more fluid. I've seen Bo Nix up close. on the sideline in Oregon when you can see the gun show like he's ripped and I think

what may you know they always talk about this with cornerbacks you need hips it's all about the hips I just think being ripped I would take much less of that

I remember when Brady Quinn came out I mean Brady is still you know kind of a jacked up guy but he wasn't a it wasn't real fluid and pliable interesting I

you got me on this Lamar last two years in college had almost 60 touchdown passes with Louisville talent. Milro had 39 with Bama talent. Wait a minute. Milro, they had the change of coaches, Sabin

to your guy. A couple of stiffs. And you're in the SEC as opposed to the ACC. Let's drill down on those numbers and see Lamar was torching the Georgia Texan. Lamar wasn't playing with five-star players. And Lamar almost averaged 30 touchdown passes

a year. And he was unbelievable running. Do we have Lamar's 40 time at the Combine or program? I don't remember. I bet you it's similar to this. I bet you it's a Well, Steve Kime, who was an NFL GM for 10 years, is now the GM of Clutch Sports football a couple of weeks ago. He likes Milro a lot.

Here's what he sees. I haven't seen many guys that can throw the football like him that have that kind of speed and explosiveness for a quarterback at 225 pounds. He's probably a sub-4-40 guy. He's a tremendous runner with the football on his hands, and he's got the size and explosiveness that's rare and off the charts. I think he's going to be a guy that under the right tutelage and the right coaching, I think he's going to develop into a great pro.

So again, that's my take. He needs the fit. He's not a natural. He's a great athlete and a great kid, great parents. Like, everybody loves him. But I watched him play a ton, and I think Bama fan would tell you this, it doesn't look natural. It's just not, yeah. It's kind of, it's like I always say with Will Levis.

Even now, Will Levis, it just looks clunky. Right. So a couple things. So Breer said that Pittsburgh Steelers would be a fit. And I totally disagree. You and I are on the same. No way. You're my guy.

But that's not. I don't believe that all. Now, regarding fit, remember, Patrick Mahomes came out of like the air raid system, the Big 12, no defense. I'm just curious what the world looks like if he doesn't get Andy Reed as his head coach. And he goes to, you know, Tennessee, Jackson, whatever, without like an offensive-minded head coach. There's about, there's a half a dozen GMs in the league that thought Mahomes was the next far. Like it was a, they kept him quiet. And he fell to what?

11. 10, 11 overall? Yeah. So I don't, this is not the same situation. I know everybody I talked to in the league and I've asked everybody they're like the first thing they say great kid unbelievable athlete I'm not sure and so it's different by the way now these are unofficial times Michael Vic ran a 433 Lamar a 434 Jalen a 433 7 now Jalen is more ripped than Michael or Lamar he's they they're busy he is he is and again there's so many things to like but Cailen de Boar had Michael Pennix and I mean just I mean it It was so consistent. Every Saturday was beautiful. I mean, he struggled. I mean, remember that bandy game? Like, there were halves that they couldn't move the ball. Wasn't Pennix like a fifth year guy? He was like 23, 24 years old. Millrow was a little younger than that. He sat for a little while.

But he's super mature. He's supposed to be a super mature kid. Based on this discussion, I'm planting my flag. I'm a J-Lillamil-Mil-Robie. I hope he goes to the right spot. I want him to succeed. I'm with you. I would love to see, you know, I would love to see a team. I don't know. If he goes to the Cowboys, forget it. It's over. It's not happening. His careers, it's dead on arrival.

I'm just telling you, if he goes to the Brown second round early, giant second round early, those are home runs. He's not going top five or six. No, no, I said second round. Oh, second round. I don't know that they do it, but would Minnesota draft another quarterback second round? Kevin O'Connell? Like, you could be McVeigh or Kevin O'Connell. This guy's going to the moon.

Seriously. I can't figure out. Are the Rams in the market for drafting a quarterback? They have to be, right? Stafford's got one or two years left. I think when you get to like the 20th pick on, you just take the best player available because that's no man's land.

You kind of have second round picks. So when I've talked to the Rams, it's like, hey man, when you get, when you're a really good team like Kansas City, Philadelphia, every year, but the time you, you know, like the Rams thought about moving up for Brock Bowers. And they couldn't get there, right?

But if the bad team's mostly dropping the top 14, and that's where the really getting's good. When you're end of first round, there's a couple wide receivers. There's Loveland the tight end from Michigan. If he fell to 23, you just take him. Milrose is one of those guys. If he's there at 23 or 24, Andy Reid may be like, I'm just going to take him. There's also Josh Connerly's an offensive tackle for Oregon, young, really good. If he's available at 25, I think you just have to take him,

although he may be a year away from starting in the NFL. So you just don't get too clever late first. You just take what's available. Whatever. Need, forget need. Just take the best player available. Jay Mackle of the News. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. All right, let's start in the Pacific Northwest with the Seahawks and your guy. Cooper Cup had his introductory. press conference yesterday. I know you're disappointed to know he's wearing a hat backwards. Yeah. He's wearing flannel, Pearl Jam, a little nod to the Pacific Northwest there, perhaps. It's a bit of a

homecoming for Cup. Played college football at Eastern Washington. That factored into his decision to join the Seahawks. I really do like the Pearl Jam T-shirt. Here he is talking about playing against the Rams twice a year next season. Yeah, I am. I am looking forward to it. I didn't play into the decision to come here.

It's a nice little thing on the side to be able to go against those guys and know a lot of those guys have so much respect for the coaching staff the way that they handle things down there, the players down there. I am excited about, though. It's going to be a really cool thing. And when that time comes, you know, it will be, it will just be football at that point, you know. But I am looking forward to it.

I would be very happy if I was Cooper Cup, his family, and his agent, because I thought there were a couple of players I thought were overpaid. Milton Williams for New England got about twice what I think I would be comfortable paying. Cooper Cup got a really good deal for somebody that no longer separate. Got a really good deal. Lock the room leader.

Nice guy. I think he could slide right into the slot. You move JSN outside. I think he's got the fast feet. He gets to eat. Right? You know, slow feet don't eat. You love that last week. So I'm going to bring it back. I'm a cup guy. You know he's a character guy. He went to Eastern Washington

University. That place produces character. All right. Let's move on. Eastern Washington. Isn't that the Smurf turf or whatever? Anyways, let's go to the next story. Oh, man, this was a heartbreaker for St. Francis, my guys. Alabama State threw a literal Hail Mary pass. Bing, bang, boom, right into the guy's breadbasket.

He lays it in with one second left. Alabama State gets the win. Heartbreak City for St. Francis. And the Hornets, they advanced two-face. Number one seed, Alabama, tomorrow, where they are probably like, a 30-point underdog. Did you watch any of that game? No.

And I didn't watch the North Carolina game. I just kept checking my phone as I was watching something else and laughing that North Carolina was leading by 40. How'd they get in the tournament? It's outrageous. They lead by 40. They had like 14 threes. Final story.

And I want to give this some room to breathe. It's your boy. Joel Clatt has a new mock draft. I'm not going to say anything. I'm just going to tee you up because I already have thoughts. I don't want to impact yours. He has Cam Ward going. one, like everybody, he has Travis Hunter going two to the Browns, followed by Shador to the Giants,

Abdul Carter, Will Johnson rising up his charts, the Michigan Corner, Mason Graham, Will Campbell, the offensive tackle to my jets. I disagree. Jalen Walker, a couple of Georgia guys, and then Banks to Chicago, another offensive lineman for the Bears. Let's drill down on two. What do you got? Yeah, I mean, Travis Hunter is a great athlete, so I'm not going to say bad pick. I mean, I think Travis Hunter will be the most dynamic player in the draft. And I also think Kevin Stefansky is an excellent coach, so he'll figure out a way to use him, so I don't think that's bad at all. I mean, it's not a good enough draft to argue. Like, I love Mason Graham and Will Johnson from Michigan.

I would have no problem. The guy that's sliding is that wide receiver T-Mack from Arizona. He is salivating. It's a mistake, but whatever. You and I both like him. Yeah. Where's Tyler Warren? Anyways.

You have said, and I know some of your takes now, because I've been on the show, what? Two and a half years, I don't even know. Time flies when you're having fun. Yeah. You've said wide receivers are accessories. On what planet do you take an accessory ahead of a quarterback when you don't have one? Well, I think generationally, as Urban Meyer said, Travis Hunter is so unique. He has an ability that Urban touched on that you don't see much.

So when Michael Jordan was in his prime, Michael would go play 36 holes of golf, come back, go to the arena, and drop 45. And we've all had a friend like this in our life that they're just built different, like just genetically, they've got more energy. Travis Hunter literally can play 80 snaps. And on the 80th one, he has snap seven energy. That's what Urban said. He is literally blocking downfield on the 73rd snap of a game.

He's such a unique all-time athlete in a weak draft. Maybe if it's a great draft, he's 8, 12. But you're Cleveland. The idea that he could be a number two corner in your number one receiver with a clever offensive coach, I'm here for it. So you're okay with taking Travis Hunter a receiver over a quarterback when you don't have one. Well, they do have one. Who? Deshawn Watson.

quiet. He's not their quarterback. They're done with this guy. They don't want him. He popped his Achilles twice. Isn't he on the roster? He's technically on the roster, but they don't want him. They don't like him. He's the major reason that everybody in the organization is depressed. He's going to cost Dufansky his job if he's your starting quarterback. No, I think Szafansky's set.

I think next year's the quarterback class. And my take is you can get that quarterback in the second round. Young man out of Syracuse, Kyle McCord. Stop with the Kyle McCord. Kyle McCord's second round. Don't be shocked if he's not. Remember Mean Girls, the movie, where one girl's trying to make fetch happen

and she stopped, stop trying to make fetch happen? Stop trying to make Kyle McCord happen. I know you like him, and you have guys telling you stuff. Hey, let's... I'm doing my own homework on this. I'm breaking down film. You know Joe Rogan do my own research guy on quarterbacks. By the way, at some point,

and people have asked me this on the staff, when are you going to say to Colin, next year we keep hearing about all these quarterbacks? Who is it besides Arch Manning? Who we don't even know? Kid it at Penn State's very good? You want to roll the Notre Dame tape of Penn State quarterback? I know he's got some toolsy. Yeah, I don't know. We always say this. Next year's quarter. Next year.

Hey, next year I'll get around and cleaning the garage, Colin. That's what I tell the wife all the time. J-Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lie News. Here was, Albert Breer came on about 50 minutes ago. On the decision now, the Vikings have said to Aaron Rogers, no thanks.

Now it's down to the Steelers. It's down to the Giants. And here's Albert Breer. The Giants are sort of analogous to what the Jets were when he went there two years ago, where you've got a promising young core, and you're asking Aaron Rogers to come in and lift all those guys up, right? So, Malik neighbors, Andrew Thomas,

Dexter Lawrence, Kavon Tibado, Brian Burns, they're asking him to come in and take a franchise that's been down for a while and lift it up, whereas with the Steelers, it's different. He's jumping on a moving train. He'd be kind of sinking up with some more of his peers, and it'd be a

different deal in Pittsburgh where he's more of the final piece than somebody who's going to lift all boats. Yeah, that's what it's been reduced to. All this stuff is fun. These clat comes out with his, you know, I will say this is that, you know, there's been a lot of talk about, oh, the NBA's ratings, nobody likes it. The ratings for the NBA are on par with last year. And I think the playoffs will beat last year's playoff numbers significantly because Steph's going to be it.

LeBron's going to be it, and the Lakers have a chance to get to the NBA finals. I think the Lakers' chance is better than the Warriors, but they both have a chance. But right now, what's interesting is basketball as a whole, women's basketball, up. WNBA is up. Men's March Madness is up. These conference championships are up. We love basketball in this country. We love basketball. We don't always love this load management nonsense, which I think Adam Silver, the one thing the late David Stern attacked very quickly was load management when the spurs started doing it. I think Adam has been a little too easy on players. I would levy heavy finds. Even Magic Johnson this week was talking about that he didn't watch the All-Star weekend. It was so

bad and that he a couple you know a couple weeks ago went to watch a game and both stars are out he didn't want to watch the game so um but the idea that we don't love basketball we love it the NBA just needs like baseball the right guys playing in the right markets so for spa like comfort at home navian tankless water heaters you know i love keeping things simple navian does it with a tankless water heaters you see the results right away no more waiting around for your water to heat up. Doesn't matter if you did three loads of dishes, two loads of laundry, and wash the dog. It does not matter. They only heat water when you need water so the hot water doesn't run out. You'll keep your utility bills low. They're a leader in green technology,

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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-Hard Radio app. Hey, it's Steve Kavino. And I'm Rich Davis. And together we're Kavino and Rich on Fox Sports Radio. You can catch us weekdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and, of course, the IHeart Radio app. Why should you listen to Kavino and Rich? We talk about everything, life, sports, relationships, what's going on in the world? We have a lot of fun talking about the stories behind the stories in the world of sports and pop culture.

Stories that, well, other shows don't seem to have the time to discuss. And the fact that we've been friends for the last 20 years and still work together, I mean, that says something, right? So check us out. We like to get you involved, too. take your phone calls, chop it up as they say. I'd say the most interactive show on Fox Sports Radio. Maybe the most interactive show on Planet Earth. Be sure to check out Covino & Rich live on Fox Sports Radio

and the IHeart Radio app from 5 to 7 p.m. Eastern, 2 to 4 Pacific. And if you miss any of the live show, just search Covino and Rich, wherever you get your podcast and, of course, on social media. That's Cabino and Rich. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, 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 throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how did 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. Oh, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers was... 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 I-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. answer. 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

podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis and I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs and on the

Renee Stubbs tennis podcast I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every up set and what it really takes to win on Clay. Jenchen won. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay.

Listen, Lena Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now, and I actually can win on any surface because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs Tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. The road to the Indy 500 runs through thermal as Indy car heads to the California desert. The fastest racing on Earth is back.

Sunday at 3 Eastern Live on Fox. So, you know, this is the time of the year that NFL teams could submit rule changes to the NFL. Belichick would do that every year. He'd come up with clever stuff. So the Packers have made it official. anti-tush push rule. And basically what the Packers are selling to the NFL is, you cannot push a quarterback from behind.

I agree with that. You don't want to eliminate quarterback sneaks. And, you know, everybody uses them. Brady used him to perfection. So do the Eagles and Jalen Hertz. But you can't to prohibit an offensive player from pushing a teammate who was lined up directly behind the snapper and receives the snap immediately at the snap.

So you just get the guy behind pushing. I totally agree. It's bad aesthetically. You get somebody hurt. And it just feels like one of those things. It doesn't help the game. Also, this is an interesting one. The Lions proposed a bylaw.

I don't like this at all. That would allow wild card teams to be seated higher than division winners based on record. That would have actually helped the Vikings last year. Bottom line is, it can't just be record because there are. are easier and harder divisions. Win your division. Divisions are never going to be equal. College football, the SEC has been better than everybody by a mile

except the Big Ten for the last 20 years, and last year was one of the first years I remember that the Big Ten was better was the best conference in college football. And I think they will again next year. A lot of that's NIL and money and, you know, Washington, Oregon, USC moving in. So I like the Packers' Tush Push proposal, you know, win your division. And this idea when people get upset, well, they won their division, they're nine and seven, but they're not very good.

You know, life's not fair. Some people grow up, you know, money, some don't. Life's not fair. You've got to make the most of it. Oh, and by the way, the story of the day at the pro day is that Jalen Millroll ran like a Michael Vic Lamar Jackson, 40, I don't think Pittsburgh is a good fit. If you go look at Russell Wilson's last five games, including the playoffs, he was 0 and 5,

and, I mean, six passing touchdowns, four giveaways. The offensive culture in Pittsburgh is broken, and after the raw, raw stuff melts away by December and January, Pittsburgh's bad at the end of years offensively. How many straight years? I just don't think there was sophisticated offensive culture. And so I think Jalen Milro needs, maybe like Bo Nix, needs the right fit to flourish at least early in his career. Here's Albert Breer earlier on Jalen Milro and his, you know, dynamic pro day. He does have freakish athletic ability.

And like the easy comp is to another guy who played at Bama, which is Jalen Hertz. A couple of guys who evaluated both have told me is to be Jalen Milro, or to be Jailen Hertz, you're walking a very narrow path. He was special as a competitor, special from a work ethic standpoint, special football character. Look at the distance he's got to go as a passer to be an effective NFL quarterback

and then try to determine whether or not he's got, you know, upstairs and in his gut what Jalen Hertz had to make himself into what he is today. So I was thinking about this. When I looked at Russell Wilson's last five games. JMAQ, who are the two quarterbacks that we still think can play at a decent

level, a B-to-B-B-plus level, some Sundays, that couldn't find a team. It's... Aaron and Russell. Both seen as high maintenance. It's, I'm telling you, I've had so many times,

I have talked to NFL people in the building, and they will reference, hey man, that's what the NBA does. We're not a player-driven league. That's not what we're going to do. The minute, you'll tolerate a little bit of it when OBJ's in his prime. The minute a player gets out of his prime and there's maintenance.

I want this coordinator and I want this player. Don't forget, before he went to the Jets, Aaron did not have a big market. Russell did not have a big market. Well, Russ flamed out Seattle and Denver because of that stuff. but I don't recall too much shatter in Pittsburgh about demands. But that's his brand now. Russell is seen as a little cringy, hopelessly optimistic, not necessarily great locker room.

Fair or not, why is Russell go to Aaron's last 10 games last year, go to Russell's season? It flamed out, but Russell wasn't bad early in the year. So do you remember where Aaron Glenn dropped the hammer on Rogers and said, hey, man, you know, if you want to come back, None of this podcast every week getting paid and throwing the flame throw on people. And some people said, oh, that's so stupid. Let him do his thing.

No, it was creating drama, right? So, I don't know. Are the giants in the Browns trying to draw Atlanta? Well, I think the giants are so desperate they would take whatever they could get. Yeah, I just, that's not a good place to be. No. Desperate for Aaron Rogers? Whatever.

Mercedes-Lewis, former Packer, been in the NFL forever. He's going to be joining us. He knows Rogers a little bit, right? Did you, you know what, I didn't watch college basketball last night. I watched some Warriors box. It is interesting. How do you watch that with no Curry? It was a good game.

I mean, I'm watching the war. By the way, Curry could miss a playoff game. By the way, okay, so you watch NBA last night? Next four nights, it's all college hoops room, right? Right, right, right. So I don't know what's crazy stuff could happen in NBA, and it's like it goes under the radar because of college basketball. But isn't it crazy?

how sports changes so quickly is that Yokic and Wembe, Wembe enters the league after Yokic, and you're like, well, there are seven footers who can shoot jumpers and pass and dribble. Yonis looks like outdated. He has no jumper.

No mid-range jumper. Forget the three-point. Can't shoot free throws. And it might take it. It's very Tim Duncan. Tim Duncan today would not age nearly as well as Larry Bird would. Like LeBron, Michael Jordan, they'll work anywhere. But Tim Duncan in today's game, he didn't shoot. No mid-range, no long range, doesn't handle the ball. In his era, like Shaq today, in his era, the power stuff worked.

What would Shaq be today? Well, we know he couldn't guard the pick and roll. Sorry, Shaq. He couldn't. We just put him in a blender on the pick-and-roll all day. I mean, I mean, that's, I'm looking, you want to guess how old Janus is? 30. 30.

He turned 30 in December. You're saying he's outdated already. That's a little scary. I'm not saying, I'm saying his style of play when you watch Yokic and Wembe, he's a limited player. It'd be different if he shot 78% from the line. He's missed more than 100 free throws. Last night, Draymond, who was five inches shorter, shut him down. go ask Draymond about Yokic.

He laughs. He's like, yeah, white flag. It would surrender. Nobody can stop Wembe. Nobody can stop Yokch. They have so many demands. I'm saying with Janus is, it's not, he doesn't have a ton of dimensions. Foul him, get it.

Now, if he has a physical mismatch, he will take you to the basket and score. Nobody's saying he's not great. But man, basketball, these bigs now are so talented that it just like, all right, him, get him to the line. That was the knock on for Duncan for years, just foul Tim, get him to the line. He got better as he got older, but, um, oh, oh. Hey guys, it's us. 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 Smigel 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. Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless.

And at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast for no-nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the toughest players. And the moment's set to find Roland Garris. Jen, she's an outsider to win the French name. And she likes Clay.

Listen, Lernerabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the Iheart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Hey, I'm Diana Maria Riva. And on my new podcast, How Hard Can It Be? I call on my Gen X squad from Ohio to Hollywood as we navigate midlife's most fan

Fantastic BS. Unfiltered conversations from night sweats to futas to scheduling sex. Wait, what sex? Is it just me or does every woman my age want to look at Pinterest instead of having sex sometimes? They say we can't polish a turn, but we're sure going to try. So let's get blunt with laughs, tears, or tears of laughter. Listen to How Hard Can It Be with Diana Maria Riva on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human