The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Hour 2 - Will the Rams keep Matt Stafford?

Episode Date: February 25, 2025

Thoughts on Matt Stafford reportedly wanting $50 million a year from the Rams More on the Lakers playing the Mavericks tonight and how Luka Doncic has been playing since becoming a Laker   Guest: Daniel Jeremiah   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Find your local station for the herd at Fox SportsRedio.com or stream us live every day on the IHeartRadio app by searching Fox Sports Radio or FSR. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. All right, hour number two. First hour on a Tuesday was feisty the way I like it. Jay Mack and I not agreeing whatsoever. I like my broadcasters to have teeth. Get after players. I mean, if you're making $50 million a year, you can handle a little criticism.

Remember when Adam Silver a couple years ago said, oh, our players are miserable. They're on Twitter. Here's a solution. Get off Twitter. Go play basketball. Work out, have fun, hang out with friends, socialize. Stay off Twitter.

Maybe that would help. I did that last week. It was so therapy. So did I. Yeah. Awesome. So the story today, Peter Schrager, works at Fox, NFL Network, came out to say that Matt Stafford. We talked about this yesterday.

The Rams and Stafford have a fine relationship. They don't love when stuff goes public. A lot of times with Stafford, the Cooper Cup stuff. I'm told the Rams don't love that stuff. But Stafford, according to Schrager, wants $50 million a year. to play this year for the Rams. So my take is I would give Stafford a two-year $100 million contract. I would make it short and expensive.

I would not give him three and four years. So the good news for the Rams is that their defense is the cheapest in the NFL by $20 million. Why? Because they have nailed the last two years all their defensive draft picks. Their defense is great. It's getting better, and it's the cheapest by $20 million. dollars. Basically, they don't pay Pooka Nakuwa on offense and Kairn Williams. They're two best offensive players outside of Stafford. They pay Rob Havenstein a good right tackle, but they don't

pay him exorbitantly, and he's always been willing to kind of, you know, on an annual basis, play the game and, you know, manipulate his contract a little to help the team. So the bottom line, they can afford it. The Rams have one bad contract. Cooper Cup has aged very quickly. That's not a great contract. Philadelphia's got a bad contract, too. Everybody's got a bad contract. Everybody in the league outside of maybe the Packers has a bad contract. They can afford to pay them. What they don't want to do is get trapped. The Cowboys are trapped. The Cleveland Browns are trapped. When you pay a quarterback too much, they get hurt, they're not available, they're not as good as you think, because

quarterbacks age very quickly. Big Ben, after that elbow surgery, got old fast. Cam Newton went from MVP to just didn't run very well. Carson Wentz, dynamic to DOA. Aaron Rogers. Kirk Cousins last year in three weeks aged overnight. So what the Rams don't want to do, because Matt Stafford is one of those guys that will sit in the pocket to the very last second and take a bomb from an edge rusher. Matt Stafford has taken a ton of hits. He's not mobile. He's a pocket guy.

He's a tough guy. He's always a little dinged up by week three on. He's bleeding somewhere. And so they don't want to get trapped. They don't want to beat Russell Wilson in Denver, and Matt's a lot better than Russell Wilson. or they don't want to be the Cowboys and Dak, Stafford's a lot better than Dax. I would pay him because they've hit on every defensive draft pick. And I mean the last two years, every one of them is better than you thought they would be.

And when you do that, they don't pay anything for their defense. I mean, literally, it's like it's the cheapest in the NFL by $20 million. And they don't pay Pooker or Kiron Williams. So they can afford to pay them, especially if their first pick is a left tackle. They're looking at the kid from Oregon. If they get him, that means now they're cheap at left. tackle. So I think they're going to pay Stafford. I think they're meeting an indie at the combine. I think they want to make it two years, not five, and that's where they are right now.

I think the team is too good. Again, we talked about it yesterday. The Rams were driving in Philadelphia in a snowstorm down to the 15-yard line, if not for Jalen Carter, would have beaten the Philadelphia Eagles. So this is a really good team. I wouldn't disrupt it. Stafford's great, but he has taken a ton of hits in his day, and they don't want to get trapped. And with that, he's joining us live from the NFL network at his 23rd NFL Combine, Daniel Jeremiah. For the record, take today's Combine this week and your first. How is the Combine changed in relevance, importance, access, all those things? Well, Colin, I remember my first combine. I was a gopher for the Ravens.

It was before I'd even been hired there full time. And I remember walking the halls of the old RCA dome, walking back to the hotel. and I remember thinking, what in the world are John Clayton and Chris Mortensen doing here? There were two media members here. That was absolutely it. It was just a scouting exercise with no attention. And now today you can't walk five feet without running into another reporter. Somebody else from TV, it's just a massive, massive media event.

The NFL is king of making these events. So there's about four players in this draft I love. I love Abdul Carter, Mason Graham. I think TeamAC, the receiver from Arizona is a really special player. It's a small group. I do think it's the best running back group I have seen in recent memory. I mean, the kid from North Carolina, maybe better than the kid from Boise State. And there are some group.

But overall, just my opinion, I don't see a lot of star power as somebody that's been a scout for multiple teams. How would you view this, if you were director of scouting for the Chargers tomorrow, how would you view the draft? Yeah, I would say it's a starters draft, not a star draft. I think Abdul Carter, Travis Hunter, to me, up there at the top, have some star potential for different reasons. But for the most part, you're looking at starters. And when I evaluated a draft when I was with teams and the way I look at it now, if you can find three starters in a draft, Colin, that's a heck of a draft.

You mentioned the Rams. Look at how they've kind of rebuilt and remade their team, especially on the defensive side of the ball with back-to-back drafts where they were rock-solid collecting all of these starters. and once you have those position filled with starters, now you can go shopping in the free agent market in future years. Now you can invest some high resources elsewhere. But, man, there's a lot of holes you can plug in this draft.

So I said earlier my favorite part of Chedur Sanders, and I think Cam Ward is the better prospect, because he's more dynamic, bigger arm, moves better, he'll be more of a playmaker. My favorite part of Chadur isn't that he's Deion's kid. It's that he had a terrible run game and a terrible O-line for two years. So he knows, and this is what happens when you're a lottery pick, draft pick. You go to bad teams and bad rosters and bad old lines.

Shadour has had the worst run game in college football for two years. He's had no help. He's played from behind. He's played with a pass rush. I think that's incredibly important. As a prospect, what do you think of him? And does he have a comp? Yeah, it's a great point.

You know, it's something that you go back and, history now different style of players but Josh Allen had that at Wyoming um Patrick Mahomes you know he started every game down 40 points I think at Texas Tech I think that was a rule in the big 12 at the time um so you know these guys have had to deal with real adversity and a lot of times you're seeing it with with Caleb to some degree like that's this is real adversity hitting him hard for the first time so there's going to be an adjustment I believe he'll get on the other side of that but there is there's legitimate value of having had to struggle and and not have better players than everyone you play against,

which a lot of the quarterbacks we've ushered into the NFL over the last few years have been, LSU, Ohio State, Alabama, where they're playing with superior players, there can be in a little bit of an adjustment period. He's got his butt kicked. So I think there is value there. The negative side of that is you can get into some bad habits. With him maybe drifting a little bit in the pocket at times,

holding the ball too long, you know, trying to make things happen. and you know those are things you kind of navigate and work through in terms of comps he's a tough one for me I would say you know he if Joe Burrow is a tree of quarterbacks of that style he's not anywhere you know near the top of that tree where Joe is but that's the style that's the format it's the processing it's the anticipation the accuracy you know maybe that over you know more overwhelming physical traits that's the you know that's kind of the North Star that's the high high end I don't necessarily think he gets

there, but that stylistically is a fit. Okay, so Cam Ward's got a big arm. It's a little backyard football for my taste, but I do think some of that you can coach out of it. How do you view him? Cam Ward, who's his comp? Yeah, you know, you can see a lot of Caleb in his game, to be honest, from last year. Just, you know, there's the tools that jump out at you, you know, the live arm, the ball

jumps out of his hand. I think he's got a lot of twitch not only in his release and the way the ball comes out, just in his feet. And not in the sense of I'm going to go run for 50 yards, but I've got a free rusher. I'm real twitchy and explosive to be able to sidestep him and then deliver the ball with accuracy. He's still loose.

You can watch the cow game and watch him throw across his body and cringe at a couple of those moments. But if you've tracked him throughout his career, I think he's improved in that area and cleaned it up each and every year. And had a big year last year, speaking of someone who didn't have a defense, He didn't have one at Miami last year either.

So there's a lot to like about him. I'm going to chase the ceiling versus the floor if I'm taking a quarterback high in the draft. I just think when you look around that conference, specifically, the AFC, and there's one cyborg after another, Colin. So you've got to go try and get somebody that can go toe-to-to-to with those guys. I don't want to go with a floor pick, and then three years from now realize, okay, he's not good enough to navigate through the borough, the Lamar Jackson's, the Josh Allen's, the Herberts, and on and on we go in the AFC.

So you're on the Chargers broadcast. Highly respected. His account moved the sticks. He's on podcasts everywhere. It didn't surprise me. I had the Chargers making the playoffs. It did not surprise me. They had the decision.

They kept Bosa and Khalil Mack, and they went Joe Alt. So it's classic Harbaugh. They moved off wide receivers. Now, I argued, I argued, if you go to San Francisco, his best receiver was Michael Crabtree. at Michigan, they rarely threw the ball. It was a run game. So his DNA is, listen, we're not going to be, we're not Mike March's Rams here. We're not the greatest show on turf.

That's not what we do. It does feel like the chargers in this draft have to get more dynamic on the perimeter. Does it not? Can you give us a little insight with Harbaugh's second class? Yeah, I think that you can look at Detroit is the roadmap. You know, Detroit went and got all the big rocks in the jar. They went and got the offensive lineman, the defensive lineman. They had the quarterback in place.

And then they were able to go out and get the explosiveness. And you saw once you have that foundation built and you drop in a Jamir Gibbs, James and Williamson Williams to go along with Ammonrae St. Brown, and Leport is an athletic explosive player, then that thing goes to the next level. So I think that's the next thing to do for this team and for this offense. But Colin, I think a lot of teams have decisions to make here. And I always advise, you know, hey, don't go to the toy store. until you've gone to the hardware store first.

So I think the Chargers did some hardware store shopping last year, and this year they get to go across the street and go find some toys at the toy store. So I want to talk about this Stafford thing, because in Los Angeles, we're all kind of interconnected to a lot of the football teams and sourcing. I'm told the Rams love Stafford, and Stafford likes the Rams.

And I can't see him going to the Giants and playing outdoors with a shaky O-line. Like, it's a really good fit. And because the Rams have hit on so many of their defensive draft picks, they're paying nobody on that side of the ball. They're not paying Puka. They're not paying Kiron Williams. Havenstein's got a realistic deal.

He's excellent right tackle. They may draft a left tackle with their first pick. They could pay Stafford. But in your dealings in the NFL, what you don't want is a Cam Newton, a Bannaker cousins. All of a sudden, the Thanksgiving, and your quarterback looks really old, really fast. What do you think is a reasonable compromise for the Rams and Stafford? What would you believe in all your years? Because I could see two years 100 million walk away and draft Riley Leonard in the third round.

Your guess on what they'll do and what they're looking for, because reportedly they're going to sit down at the combine tomorrow and the next day and try to make a deal. Yeah, I mean, you mentioned the reason to me with how close they were. and an NFC that's not nearly as stacked as the AFC is right now, they're right on the doorstep. They're literally feet away from being in another Super Bowl last year. It would be hard to turn the page. Now, the only thing I would say is the Rams have been progressive

and a lot of things they've done. They're very well-run. They're very smart in how they approach things. And how many times have you heard from well-run franchises in different sports, Colin, that we're going to move on a year too early versus a year too late? So if this is something that Stafford's camp wants a longer-term commitment, I could see them literally putting a whiteboard up and saying Matthew Stafford at this

price point for the next several years versus all that we can do with the savings and money over here on the other column. And I guess you have to have some comfort level with who you could have to replace them. Is that Sam Darnold? Is that somebody else that's out there? But I think that they'll explore those two opportunities. The sweet spot to me is right where you are. It's a short-term deal.

It's two years. More than one, not more than two. To me, that's that sweet spot. They're right there. They're right on the doorstep and get into a Super Bowl. All right, NFL Network, NFL Plus, provide live coverage. It's the Combine. It's the 23rd.

In all your years of covering it, you have Abdul Carter, I think, is your number one player. Generally, has there ever been a shock at the Combine? Has there ever been a player that you went, oh, my Lord, he is way beyond. I can remember the tight end from Maryland. Is it Vernon Davis? I took his shirt off. I'm like, well, what's going on? That was a moment to me that jumped out.

Give me a combine moment that you can reflect on. That was a shocker. To me, Calvin Johnson, borrowing a pair of shoes, and I think he ran in a low four-threes at 6-5, 235 pounds or something like that. That one jumps out to me. The other one which took place underneath the stadium is I had watched, I had done all the quarterbacks this year, and had watched him.

And this guy was obviously incredibly talented. And I remember walking in the hall, and under the stadium, they were getting ready to the way in. So he had just his compression shorts on, and that was it. And I walked by, and I was walking with a buddy, and I said, what defensive end is that?

He goes, that's Cam Newton. I went, oh, my gosh. Yeah, that was eye-opening to see somebody as big, as massive as he was, to move around like he did, was pretty nuts. Daniel Jeremiah NFL network analyst he's sensational good seeing you as always Daniel good to see bud yeah I remember years ago when I worked for the other place I did I think I may have done the cam draft and I remember and it's all fuzzy but cam was

bigger than the first defensive end taken and I remember because and I remember the defensive end was there I believe in the building and did not perform particularly well in the NFL and I remember thinking when I came off that draft coverage on the other place on the radio network was size really does matter like your initial view of something is just it it does matter abdil carter for pen state when you see him you know and when you see him in games and how how he's cut he looks like a nine-year NFL vet miles garred out of college you were just like okay that doesn't look like a college athlete I remember seeing uh uh jimar chase at lSU and thinking he's just he's a he's a an NFL player playing on Saturday. Like nobody in the SEC could stay in front of him, his catching radius. Well, you got a great memory, Colin. I just looked it up. Cam Newton, first edge rusher was Vaughn Miller, went to.

He's smaller. No, that wasn't the one, no, it was, it wasn't that. It was, so it wasn't. Alden Smith was also in the top ten? No, who was, maybe it was the year before. Maybe it wasn't the Cam Newton draft. I was doing ESPN Radio at the time. And maybe it wasn't the Cam Newton draft.

it was either a year before after that, and it was the first defensive end taken. And I swear he was from Clemson. He was Southern, and I was just so underwhelmed with his size. And I just remember thinking

he just doesn't look like an NFL player, and he didn't do a darn thing in the NFL. So it wasn't the Cam Newton draft. Because Vaughn Miller came out. Von Miller was great. He was big. He was Texas A&M. He was a dominant college player. All right, Chris Finch of the T-Wolves, wild win. He's going to get fined by the NBA, so he's controversial.

That's who we bring on. That's last hour, live in LA, 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, 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 Letter 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.

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All right, all sorts of good stuff going on. Daniel Jeremiah, his 23rd Combine, which it is interesting to watch how the NFL has grown through the years. They moved, they extended their draft. It's now four days. They brought it back. They wanted more TV. They have the combines now, I think. They moved their free agency.

So, again, these leagues, like college football is making all these moves, and people are complaining about the moves, and my take is, do you want to grow or not? Like, what do you want to do as a sports league? Do you want to get better? Baseball took forever. Finally, they put in the pitch clock. Oh, what do you know?

Ratings went up 12 percent. Like, oh, let's get rid of the defensive shifts. So when people complain about college football making moves and the NIL and the transfer portal, you can sit and gripe about things that are happening, or you can move on. Like, stop romanticizing. and collecting baseball cards. Like, grow up, things change. Like the NBA right now needs some tweaks.

I think they have to figure out a way to make the game not quite as monotonous. I also think, and I've been saying this for years, I think the NBA's got, it's not a regular season issue, because even during Michael Jordan, it wasn't like we all sat around and watched regular season NBA. I think the NBA's got a playoff problem is that March Madness, even the WNBA or Women's College basketball and March Madness, they feel so urgent,

becoming more of an event society where UFC Saturday night, college football, pro football, World Cup, Olympics, they're all doing great. NBA playoffs, that's the bigger issue. That's their best numbers, but their numbers should be double what they are because it's ridiculous to have a seven-game first-round playoff series between a one and an eight seed. To me, it's not a regular season NBA issue. David Stern, the late commissioner, used to tell people privately the big secret about the NBA is nobody watches our regular season.

I got news for you. People weren't watching Michael Jordan play the expansion Toronto Raptors. Nobody was watching that. But the ratings for the playoffs were magnificent. The NBA's playoff ratings to me are disappointing. There's no urgency. And the society today, we have become much more of an event society. We are incredibly distracted.

It's TikTok. It's social media. It's Instagram. There's a million channels and platforms. You have to create urgency. three game first round NBA playoff series. From that point forward, five game series max. Well, what about the history?

Get over it. The world's changing. Jay Mack with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Go to the NFL with Josh Allen, Colin. I mean, the MVP of the league.

Just a spectacular season was had by the Buffalo Bill's quarterback. And yesterday at the combine, Sean McDermott spoke on. his quarterback's MVP journey. It validates everything that he's been doing for years. It validates his leadership this year, the way he's played on the field this season, the way he's matured off the field, on the field, his decision making and how that's improved. So all these areas that were perceived, call it gaps, Josh has answered those gaps and he's closed those gaps.

And when you do that at the level that he did it at on a consistent basis, the result was was the MVP. And so to me, as I said during the year, later in the year in particular, he deserved that. Very rarely degrade quarterbacks get trapped. You know, they create so much freedom. I think it's fascinating. How many years in a row is defensive coach Sean McDermott been unable to stop the Kansas City Chiefs in their last game of the year? And it's amazing. Kansas City could not move the ball against Houston and could not move the ball against Philadelphia. Could not move the ball.

Up and down the field against Sean McDermott's defense. Okay. Some referee-aided calls, shall we say, in that game. I mean, I feel like, how many more years are we going to run this back? It's tough. I feel bad. A little bad for

Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson. They got to get over the hump, but we saw the Chiefs in the Super Bowl looked pretty weak. I think Buffalo would have put up a better fight. Would you agree? The Raiders gave the Chiefs. more problems defensively than the bills did. Am I wrong?

I don't remember many Raiders games. They're too irrelevant, but you could be right. Moving on, let's get to the NBA. Obviously, tonight's big story in sports is Luca Donchitz and the Lakers hosting the Mabbs. First time since the Blockbuster Trade a few weeks ago, and Kyrie Irving discussed his expectations for Luca and the Lakers tonight. You know, outside of just the obvious of us being, you know, being in LA and being a former team, you know, of Lucas, obviously the narrative's already written. I don't know what else. I could really add to that. I'm pretty much focused in telling my guys just to focus on the high level game that we got to win.

You know, I would love to get into the motions after the game, with you, but before the game, it's just about having fun and making sure that we lock in and have a deep focus. They're going to come in, you know, and be ready to play against us. Lucas, Luke is obviously going to have a lot of confidence. That game, he played well last game, so he's feeling good, and we just got to be aware of it. I bet you LeBron has 18 assists. All the Luca.

So a subplot, I know obviously we're focusing on the Lakers, but the Dallas Mavericks really need this game, Colin. They are falling. They're currently eighth in the West, and they're only a game and a half in the play-in right now. That's it. Like, there's a chance that they miss the playoffs. San Antonio losing Wembe is an opportunity for Dallas to sneak in.

Who's going to win it? Sons or Mavericks? Who gets in the playoffs? Kevin Durant and Booker or Kyrie Irvin? I don't know if the sons can get together. If Dallas was healthy, I think Dallas is actually really good. They're not healthy. I know. They're really good.

Anthony Davis, Gafford. What's the over under on Lucas points tonight on the gambling? I haven't seen one yet. I will continue to look at. It's got to be 35. He hasn't gone off really like that. Denver, Denver he did. He did, and then he got to sit a little bit because they were blowing him out.

This could be a blowout tonight. You're going to bet that. Somebody just sent me, hey, Jay, what about the first half bet on the Lakers tonight? They could be too amped. You know, you get too excited. Luca, we got to get you going. All I know is JJ Reddick and LeBron are going to make a point. Everybody on that roster is going to make a point to get Louie the ball.

Yeah, that would be smart all the time, not just tonight. Final story, Colin, is your Golden State Warriors. I've got to call them yours because you like them now. Jimmy Butler has been added to the team. They're now five and one. Last week, Draymond Green said ahead of the All-Star game that Golden's State will win the championship this season, and he has since doubled down on his podcast. I believe that we got the pieces to do it. And like I said, I know what that look and feel like.

So it's a lot of people like, oh, man, how he going to say that didn't have done it? What did they say? How are you going to talk about how to do it? They never did it? Like, you got all these people out here talking about what I said and how I'm going to do it. But you did it before. And over and over and over and over. I know. I know where to look and feel like. I have 1,000% wholeheartedly stand all 10 toes down on everything I said. Over under on Luca, the staff told me he's 31 and a half. I'm taking the over. He may drop that in the third quarter.

So hey, real quick on, Traymond, I just look this up. So the Warriors are currently in the plan. Colin, if they get to the playoffs, they will either likely face Denver as the 7th seed. Well, Denver would beat them. It's a bad matchup, but Denver can't defend, so it would be a good series to watch. Okay, and then the other option if they get the eight seed is OKC. Are they beating OKC, Jimmy Butler and Steph Curry? So like this, I've got to tell you, that would be the series. That would be the best first round series in the NBA.

Oh, I'll be really good. Old veteran, cranky warriors and the new kids on the block. That would be a great series. It would be great. Can the Warriors win this year? Now, and here's what you worry about if you're SGA. So Carl Malone, who lived at the free season. throw line didn't quite get the whistle in the playoffs. James Harden, who lived at the free throw

line, never quite got the playoff whistle. SGA lives at the free throw line. NBA officials do not give you the regular season whistle, especially once you get to the second round on. So Oklahoma City, just the way it works, Hardin and Carl Malone were guys that feasted on sitting at the stripe, and you don't get that whistle. I mean, you get to... Second round, conference finals, finals. They let you play. Referees let you play. So Oklahoma City is not going to get that friendly whistle like they do now.

By the way, you think Curry and Draybond are intimidated at all by OKC? Jimmy Butler? Do you think they're afraid or no? You know what's great about it? We've got to go to OKC for two. Oh, no. Geez, guys, we got to focus. You know, we talked about this yesterday.

Jimmy Butler gets a lot of pushback because he's very old school. He's got a little bit of Kobe's and Michael Jordan's sort of mantra, which is practice hard, play hard. I mean, if Jimmy's missing a game, it's because of the heat or suspending him or he's hurt. Like, he likes to play, and he likes to practice hard. And he's very intentional the way he plays basketball. Like every possession matters. Very old school. Well, Draymond's old school.

And Steph Curry is a workaholic. So he really was, as everybody was worried about, because I read a couple of stories, they said, you know, analytically it's not a good fit. But emotionally and intellectually, Jimmy Butler is a great fit to the Warriors. And you've got to be careful about analytics. Like sometimes, like if you go back, I've always said this about the Miami Hedels. They didn't fit. First of all, they had no size. They had no true point guard.

And D. Wade and LeBron are kind of like different versions of themselves. What happened? They brought in Badié, Ray Allen, D. Wade, E. D.A. Adonis Haslam, Chris Bosch. It was the smartest team in the league, and they just figured out how to play. They just outsmarted people on a nightly basis, matchup, spacing, because they really had no size. They were a bad rebounding team in all four finals. So I think Golden State, Butler, again, Dremont, Curry, that's a team that Kerr the coach, they'll figure out ways to manipulate a playoff game and steal a game or two in a series.

They shouldn't win. OKC has no experience in that space. I came back. Are you done? Yeah, I've done, done. All right, J-Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The Heard Lye News. No, we're in this, we're in this new studio. How long are we going to be in the studio for like three months? And it looks like the old thing, but it's much smaller. I actually, I really like it. But they have a candy cabinet back here. And I'm not only candy per se. Or at least I didn't think I like candy.

I've gone through 27 Sour Patch kids in the last two days. I am flying. Did you see they just restocked the Swedish fish? Oh no, the gummy bears, they're coming out of the drawers back here. I didn't even think I like candy. I'm living on it. Today, forget the omelet.

I had a green, orange, yellow gummy bear omelet. That's what I had for breakfast today. God, if they get corn nuts in that place, I'll never do the show again. I mean, I'll be picking stuff out of my teeth. Chris Finch, T-Wolves coach last hour, LA, The Hurt. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, F.S.1, and the IHeart Radio app. Hey, is 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 IHart 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 story. 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 and Rich Live on Fox Sports Radio on 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 Codney. Covino and Rich, wherever you get your podcast, and of course, on social media. That's Kavino and Rich.

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 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. Well, 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 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. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking, criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this went 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 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 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 Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The fastest racing on earth is coming to Fox.

The 2025 indie car season gets underway in St. Petersburg. The first stop on the road to the Indy 500 Sunday at noon Eastern live on Fox. You know, I was thinking about this. People always talk about the bias in, you know, political media and, you know, main media, legacy media. There's so much bias. You know, there's no question to me in my lifetime. The media has leaned left more than it has moderate to right, you know, and they're paying the price now. A lot of consumers have spotted it and done.

don't like it. But I always felt there was, in sports media, there was an East Coast bias. It's not a big city bias. It's an East Coast bias. In a prime example, and I've been reading stories over the last couple of weeks, when I worked at the other place, the offseason was dominated by the Red Sox and the Yankees because George Steinbrenner refused to lose. He'd fire Billy Martin eight times.

He didn't care. He would pay. His kids don't have his net worth, apparently, nor do they have his passion for baseball. because the Yankees don't have the money of the Mets. Forget the Dodgers. They don't have the money of the Mets and Steve Cohen. So now everybody is complaining that the Dodgers are going out and buying all the best players. Those players are available to every billionaire, number one,

and secondly, they're deferring payments, which everybody else could do. So when the Yankees had the advantage with the Yes network and would dominate, I mean, C.C. Sabathia didn't even want to be a Yankee. He had said, yeah, I don't want to be a Yankee. And then they finally just said, okay, we're going to pay you of way more than the rest of the market. That was totally celebrated by the media. Oh, it was unbelievable Red Sox and Yankees. Cincinnati Reds, Pirates, Royals couldn't compete.

Nobody thought a thing of that in the East Coast. Now the Dodgers dominate because they're deferring payments, and let's be honest, it's a great organization. I looked at a stat yesterday. Only $18, money in baseball only accounted for 18% of the wins. There was some analytic, that, you know, Dodgers obviously can go by better players, but Otani didn't even pitch last year. He was just a batter.

This year he's going back to pitching and hitting. But it is interesting when you talk about bias in the media, I swear to God, when I worked at the other place, all I heard, my bosses would come bouncing down the hall every time there was a trade or an acquisition that benefited the Yankees or the Red Sox, and now everybody's in a tizzy because the Dodgers have richer owners. But the other thing about the Dodgers is they just care more. just like George Steinbrenner. Steinbrenner cared more than his kids do.

That's a big part of it. And the Dodgers, anybody, all these billionaires could defer payments. They've just figured out with some risk a way to do it. It hasn't always panned out. A couple of their acquisitions have not gone as planned. They didn't turn out to be the human being they thought or the player they thought. But I don't buy all this, oh, what the Dodgers are doing, it's ruining baseball. The bottom line is

baseball, once you got out of the 70s and early 80s, the big markets have always had an advantage. I mean, the Atlanta Braves are well capitalized. They always have good players. Houston Astros. That's a big city with a lot of money. They sell out their stadium. They have unbelievable support.

They can go pay for players that maybe in Arizona or a Seattle or an Oakland couldn't. That's baseball. If you want to have a rigid salary cap, owners could do it. They don't want to. but yeah this this i i just i'm reading stories as we're going at when we're in spring training now give me a break about lamenting what the dodgers are doing anybody could do it uh i was thinking about this this morning i was listening to stephen jones so the cowboys obviously have multiple problems their roster's not very good um they've overpaid for dac all

you dac fan boys in dallas how's it feel like now he's going to be a 90 million dollar cap hit next year. Josh Allen is less than half that. Now you can manipulate that and work around it, but I don't know how you can get it down. You're not going to get it down to 30 or 40 million, so you wanted him to get paid. Here's what it looks like. But Stephen Jones, the Cowboys don't only have a production problem. They have a messaging problem. Here's Stephen Jones. We're going to look at everything we can. We're going to be selectively aggressive. We obviously, you know, there's things in this league. You have to, you know, you have certain. amount of resources they allow you to have.

And we'll look at that. But we're going to try to improve our football team. Not try. We're going to improve our football team. And we expect to have success next year. Their messaging is a downer. We're going to be selectively aggressive. How come Philadelphia is just aggressive?

Not selectively. They pay their quarterback and A.J. Brown and Alice Goddard and Devonte Smith, they will, and Sequehwin. Berkeley, and they slay in the back end and defensive linemen. I mean, what is this selectively aggressive?

Philadelphia is just aggressive. I saw a story this morning. Eagles interested in Miles Garrett. And the Cowboys are cutting coupons and groupons? Like, what are we doing here? So it's... Dallas right now, and the

Lakers were in this space until Luca arrived and they stole him from the Maverick. the Cowboys are a downer. I mean, there is more hope next year with the Chicago Bears than with the Dallas Cowboys. You know, and a lot of this is, I mean, you know what they become, the Cowboys have become the classic house poor, where you go over your skis a little bit on your mortgage,

and you have 11 bedrooms and 13 bathrooms, but you can't afford, you know, you got Brian Schottnheimer on the grill for dinner tonight. You don't have much because you can't afford anything else, and that's the DAC contract. But, I mean, they just don't have a diversified portfolio. It's C.D. Lamb, overpaid DAC, cross your fingers on Micah, and they're coming off back-to-back drafts that just didn't relinquish much. But I find the Cowboys messaging is how long are they going to be up against it?

Like, how many years? I mean, the Denver Broncos get really behind the eight ball with Russell Wilson's contract. And for a year, it's ugly. The following year, they're in the playoffs. They get Bo Nicks. They hit on like four draft picks. They're fine. Like they're getting out of the woods.

Like a year and a half later, they're getting out of the woods. Now, Cleveland's a mess, but if Cleveland gets Shadu or Sanders or Cam Ward, they'll be fine. Like, how many years do you have to hear about the Cowboys? Well, we'll be selectively aggressive. What does that mean? I mean, at one point, the Rams were paying Jared Goff's salary in Detroit and Matt Stafford. And they were still aggressive. You start examining the Dallas Cowboys, and the messaging is bad, and it's a downer, and it's a bummer, and they don't have any money.

Again, I'm looking at who the Ravens are paying. They can afford Derek Henry. I look at Buffalo. They're paying a lot of people. They pay themari Cooper. Philadelphia is paying everybody. San Francisco is paying a lot of people. I don't know.

When I read the Eagles are pursuing Miles Garrett, and you're going to be selectively, aggressive and Zach Martin just retired, it seems problematic. You know my favorite moment today on the show? J. Mack. And this got J. Mack. J. Mack's been on this now for weeks which is Channing Fry

coming out and I think taking a shot, I do believe it does feel a little bit like a shot at Barclay. And Charles obviously is I mean it's an entertainment vehicle. They do tend to

bash more than, certainly more than other NBA shows. But they're a league partner. That needs to be said. As a league partner, they're bashing, right? We're not league partners here at Fox with the NBA. TNT is. Continue. Well, okay, that's a good point.

League partner. Should commissioners be telling journalists and opinionists what to say? No. I don't think so either. But when you turn on any show that does an NFL pregame show, are they blasting the players and ripping them? Oh, they're not that good. But they're not as good as Dan Marino.

What are the consumers saying? The consumers are telling you this is the one show we like. Of course, because hate travels much faster than positivity. Look online. It's all hate. It's a haters' ball, a haters' cauldron online. So Barclay and Shaq, that's what they do. They just take dumps on every player.

Are we haters? We're not haters. I mean, I don't like certain teams, but I'm not a hater. So this is the Channing Fry sound that J-Mack, and I think he could be right, is just taking a shot at Charles Barkley. Nostalgia is killing the NBA. The 90s basketball, Michael Jordan and Kobe, was not as clean as y'all think it was.

Every great player, whether that's Aunt, Wembe, Braun, you know, Steph, this, that, this, that. You know, they compare them to? A motherfucker 40 years ago. The rules weren't even the same. Nobody celebrates these new people. So why the fuck would anybody? want to be the face of this league

we're going to get on every network for not being somebody from 40 fucking years ago. Braun is one of the greatest players ever to play. Stefan Curry is one of the greatest players ever to play. Janice is one of the great. Yokic.

And you know what we do? We talk about Michael Jordan. All this superstar era is over. Hey, by the way, you know Gilbert Arinas, right? Yeah. Former star.

Talented. He also has taken shots recently. I was on vacation with somebody sending to me about the inside the NBA crew and just a constant negativity. So that's now, Channing Frye, Gilbert Arenas, Jason McIntyre, Colin Cowherd. No, no, no. It's starting to go out. No, no, don't, starting to see it. Don't lump me into that. I think it's the best show by far, and I think it's the one NBA show where I get a real honest opinion. I like it. I think guys, you mean from guys protecting their era? Oh, 90s, we were the best ever. No, I've said before. I think it's, I mean, that Nick's Pacer's,

series, the Reggie Miller, Spike Lee stuff, you can do documentaries all day long. There were 50, 60 free throws in those games. The games weren't nearly as good as people. 97-94. 90s? There were scores in the 70s. Yeah, I mean, come on. It was brick.

It was masonry. It was bricks everywhere in free throw shooting. So I don't romanticize the 70s NBA. I love Jordan and I love magic and Bird. I thought the Warriors, Kevin Durant, was as much fun as I've had watching the NBA. LeBron winning at Golden State. LeBron winning at time. I was like emotional watching that.

I had more fun watching the Hedels that I'm not one of those guys. You know, J.J. Reddick is in my camp on this. When he was doing his podcast, there's some guy, some New York radio host, Mad Dog. And Reddick kind of went at him. He was like, listen, Bob Coosie couldn't dribble with his left hand. Go find a video of Coosie dribbling was the left hand. And of course, this Mad Dog guy, his head explodes. And Reddick went after him.

Well, look at the video. He's not dribbling with his head down. Well, no, no. He's very much an old. He likes talking, you know. 60s, 70s, yeah. That's his style. That's very New York.

They love the old days. They don't think anything of Zach Levine, who would have averaged like 97 points a game in the 60s. But I'll push back on this. Also, Barclay has hammered the Lakers for years. By the way, he should. By the way, not very well run in Kobe's last five years. Not very well run.

Fine. You can bash. Tobier. LeBron gets her, they win a championship. Now, you know who Barclay's old best friend used to be, a guy named Michael Jordan. So he's protecting Michael Jordan by taking shots at LeBron. Jordan won't talk to Barclay anymore. Well, they're not friends anymore, but Barclay still, obviously, everybody wants to be friends

with Jordan, he's Michael Jordan. So Barclay's always bashing LeBron. Remember recently, LeBron had a ridiculous junk, and Barclay goes, why are we showing this for, like, the seventh time? Like, what? You don't hear that? You got me a Josh Allen touchdown pass? I'll watch it 75 times. Like, I don't know. I think I think ratings are a bit of a true

serum. And I think the ratings for that show are very strong. And because people feel they're getting a straight, unbiased, brutally on it. They're saying stuff that everybody says in their living room watching the game. That's what they're doing and people respond to it.

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 Headwriters, Street,

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. The story I've told myself can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown,

If you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole, this podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to deeply well with Debbie Brown from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down. Orsha accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They hold and Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew.

Pinky has financial issues. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real House Wise franchise, the drama, the alliances, M&T, everybody's talking about. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the King on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

This is an IHart podcast, guaranteed human.