The Herd with Colin Cowherd - LeBron Always Going to LA, Same Old Johnny Manziel and Kevin Durant's Rabbit Ears

Episode Date: July 27, 2018

Colin puts to rest the debate over multiple suitors for LeBron, stating he already had plans on moving to LA considering his recent business ventures within the first sixteen days of living in LA.��Johnny Manziel shows his true colors yet again trying to defend Jimmy Garoppolo. And Tom Brady is the entire backbone of the New England Patriots and they have no identity without him.  Plus FSR weekend host and NBA analyst Chris Mannix stops by.   Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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and FS1, the herd sponsored by Firestone, complete auto care. Keep your car running newer, longer. Joy Taylor's joining me in a Friday. We have a packed show today. Good morning, Colin. Good morning, Joy. You look weekend-y already.

You've got the floral thing going on. I'm bright today. Bright today. I feel great today. And I want to start with this. So I'm watching yesterday. And there's all sorts of news out. LeBron has the new HBO show.

And they've already got episodes of it. They got, you know, staff's already set up. Got episodes. The editing's already been done. I've done five, six shows in my life, TV shows. They take a while to hire a staff, get the production facilities, pay the people, get payroll set up. LeBron's already got stuff done. He's editing stuff.

They're talking stuff. That comes on the heels of him announcing 10 days ago. that he's already got a TV deal. He's already had dinner with Al Pacino and Leonardo DiCaprio. So let's think about this for a second. LeBron announces he's a Laker on July 1st. It is July 27th. That's 26 days, of which 10, he was gone.

He was in Europe. LeBron's been in Los Angeles 16 days. That's it. He already has a production deal for a movie, dinner with stars. and HBO shows all lined up, but he had a pizza promotion. In 16 days. Folks, it takes six months to put TV shows together.

It takes 15 meetings to get TV deals. The Sixers were never a contender. The Cavs were never a contender. Houston was never in the running. San Antonio was never in the running. This thing was decided a year ago. I don't think Miami. I don't think going back home.

to Cleveland was decided a year in advance when LeBron James and Magic meant on July 1st. That wasn't a recruiting pitch. That was a strategy meeting. This is why Magic Johnson was teasing Jerry West six months ago. We got him. We got him because they did. It's why Magic Johnson said before the signing, give me two years.

If I don't have it done, fire me. because he knew he had LeBron. LeBron did wait to the very end in Miami, did wait a long time before making a decision to go back to Cleveland. A year ago in September, Peter Vessie reported. A year ago, it's done. Peter Vessie, though, is no longer mainstream. He's retired.

He used to be the guy in America that broke the stories in the NBA. He was woege pre-woge. He said a year ago, it's over. It's done. decided. I'm watching all this stuff about his new HBO show, and I'm watching clips, and I'm watching all the stuff. Folks, I've been in TV 20 years.

16 days, you got TV deals? 16 days, you got movie deals? Folks, I agreed to a new contract with this company a month ago. I still haven't signed the contract. It takes forever. There's agents, there's meetings, there's staff, there's HR, there's people. 16 days. I got a TV deal.

I've got a TV show. I've got staffs hired. Are you kidding me? He's had a pizza promotion. He's had dinner with stars. His baby was done. This is why Magic was goading people. When they sat down in LeBron's home for three hours,

we all thought it was a recruiting pitch. Magic sold it as a recruiting pitch. The guys like me. No, it wasn't. They sat down with a board a strategy. He goes, Rondo's available. Do you want him? And LeBron said, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I like Rondo. He's tough. He competes. I competed against him. I like Rondo. He's super smart. He'll make Lonso ball tougher. Get him. They did. He said, Lance Stevenson's available. We can get him. Do you like him? LeBron? And LeBron said, oh, I played against him. He competes his ass off. I like him. He's crazy. He's not intimidated by anybody. He won't be intimidated by the warriors. Get him. They did. Magic said, what do you think about Boogie Cousins? LeBron said pass. Not interested. By the way, there were rumors last year. Palinkin' Magic like Boogie. Funny. never made an offer. Everybody was surprised. Why? Because that three-hour meeting was not a recruiting pitch. It was a strategy meeting. He said, Javail McGee, you like him? And LeBron said, yeah, let's take

him off the Warriors. He looked pretty good in the finals. Go get him. They did. Michael Beasley. This was all strategy. I'm looking at that thing yesterday about the HBO show, the dinner with Al Pacino and Leonardo DiCaprio, the pizza promotion. Sixers were never in this thing. Cleveland was never in this thing. Houston was never in this thing. Do you remember a year ago? A year ago, Rob Polinka had a press conference after they acquired a player. Who do you think he's talking about here?

When Rich texted me and said, hey, let's talk. It was like, you know, a lightning bolt hit us. And we said, gosh, this has to be our focus. We got to find a way. The stories in the book of Genesis, where there was a time when the Israelites were wandering in the desert and all of a sudden bread came down from heaven. That's kind of what today feels like for us.

Oh no, he's not announcing LeBron. He's announcing KCP, who played for awful Detroit, who couldn't make the playoffs and you never watched play if you didn't live in Michigan. Bread from the heavens? Who's KCP represented by? LeBron's guys a year ago. All right, let's shift to this. You got to make a choice in life and they're opposite choices.

You want to be cool, bro? Or do you want to be a worker? Because if you want to be cool, take off work early. Meet you for margaritas at five. Bro, drinks on me. You, no rules. Push back on management. That's one lane in life.

The other lane is, now I'll pass. I've got to stay late tonight again, and I got to go home and do work. You want to be cool, bro, or you want to be worker. In comedy, Dane Cook and Dice Clay want to be cool. Eddie Murphy was the funniest guy in the world. Got less funny, the cooler he got. I just watched Chris Rock special. He used to be funnier when he was less cool.

Jim Carrey used to be funny, too. Now he's political. He's cool. He's an artist. He's cool. Jerry Seinfeld's never been cool. Jerry Seinfeld's a worker. He's never been cool.

Jay Leno was never cool. Same with quarterbacks. Tom Brady does a documentary. He's married to a supermodel. He's in his pajamas watching film all day. Jay Cutler, too cool to care. Mark Sanchez, I'm cool. Cam Newton got wardrobe picked out before I look at game film.

Johnny Mansell broke into this league, and I said at the very time, he's not wired to be a franchise quarterback. He's a cool bro. Johnny Mansell tanked. Then on the last six months, Johnny Mansell has been telling us. I am a new man. I am a worker. No more that cool bro hang out with guy stuff.

No more margaritas at four. I am a worker. I am strident, I believe, in working. I'm in a new lane now. I'm not in the Dane Cook lane. I'm in the Jerry Seinfeld lane. I'm not in the Jay Cutler too cool condescending lane. I'm in the Brady lane.

Matt Ryan. Andrew Luck's not cool. By the way, Russell Wilson's got the most beautiful wife in the world. He's still not cool. Johnny Manzo told you I'm in that lane. That's what he told us. And what do you know? A little bait this week was thrown out.

Just a little bait. Jimmy Garoppolo dated a porn star Mansell talked about it asked about it on his podcast and changed man worker answered this way what's wrong with it

what's wrong with it all these soft NFL reporters saying oh man he's going on a day with a dude let the guy live his life he's going on a day so what anything that's going to make him play better on a Sunday anything he's going to play better on a Sunday or a Monday.

Jimmy G. Live your life, whatever you want. Whatever you want. He's backing it up on the field. He hasn't lost a game. Nothing. Guys doing everything he's needed to join life. So be it.

And with that, Johnny Mansell and the NFL will never be mentioned in a sentence again. Because he had fooled all those NFL GMs. I am no longer cool, bro. I am committed, bro. A little tiny bit of bait. And he went back to who he is. Here's the real Johnny Mansell. The cool, bro.

Being a comedian and a rock star is not cool. It's spending all day writing jokes, going to bed thinking about jokes, waking up, sitting there with a yellow pad like Seinfeld, who's worth $750 million, writing jokes all day. It's not cool. Cool comedians don't do that. They're too busy wearing leather jackets and being cool. And they don't write jokes and the material sucks.

And it's the same in the NFL. Tom Brady, married to his supermodel, still doesn't come off as cool. Matt Ryan, great-looking dude, Russell Wilson. They're not cool. Cam is, Cutler is, Mansell is, Sanchez is. Johnny Mansell. He's cool guy. He's cool, bro.

And he tried to fool you. And the minute a little bait came out, He swallowed it whole. Live your life, man. You just do you, man. And with that, his NFL career, and the window was like that, it officially closed.

Good to have you in today. So I find Kevin Durant to be fascinating. I find Kevin Durant to be endlessly fascinating. And yesterday he did it again. He fired back at the media about social media. I am loving Kevin Durant. He is giving me more topics than I deserve. And he talked about it again.

And I've got a theory behind why Kevin Durant has become insatiable. He can't stop the social media stuff. And he reacted to it again yesterday. That is coming up next. Welcome in. Good to have you. Very interesting. Listen, here's the way it generally works in life.

We all have certain insecurities. You don't know a lot. Very few of us at 15 years old are securing ourselves. Criticism bothers us when you're young. And it may bother you when you haven't proven yourself, you haven't gotten the job, your social life isn't great. Being insecure is almost a right of passage when you're 15 and 25 years old. Go to Twitter. Everybody's insecure.

But generally the way it works in society is then when you start piling up money, success, titles, Grammys, achievements in your professional life, then, you know, you're kind of in a new galaxy, and it doesn't bother you as much. I'm just speaking for men. I don't know how women think, but for men, we're all kind of insecure. High school, you're getting your pimples, and girls are rejecting you, and you don't have a very good job, and people making fun of you, and you don't feel good about yourself. Then you get into your 30s and your 40s, you got an awesome wife, you got an awesome family, got an awesome job.

You start compiling things, start feeling pretty good about yourself, and criticism doesn't hurt. Criticism doesn't bother you. For pro athletes, find me the superstars in any sport who are bothered by random people. There's one, Kevin Durant. LeBron doesn't react to anything from random people. If he does even react to us in the media, he's dismissive, making us almost feel stupid for asking the question. Kevin Durant reacts to everything. This week, he reacted again.

He sat down, talked about Twitter. Here he is. Because every time I say something, I go about my business. So when I say something, who's the house of highlights and bleach your report, gash y'all up and y'all run with it. And as soon as I say something back, I'm the sensitive one. I mean, I know y'all try to make me look crazy and discredit me and strip me up my credibility.

But I see what you're doing. But I'm going still keep standing. Kevin, you're great and you're likable. Nobody's picking on you. Nobody's trying to make you look sensitive. you are sensitive. You have what's known as rabbit ears. And for the record, I love KD.

I really do. But he's got rabbit ears. This is an old term they used to talk about umpires in baseball. They hear everything. And they try to please people. And they start to overreact. Umpires start to overreact. They get chippy when they hear things from crowds and the dugouts.

It's called rabbit ears. Number one rabbit ears in the NBA, in NFL, in hockey and baseball is Kevin Durant. Never forget this. When there's a line, I got to read you this. And again, I'm not picking on him. I think it's funny. When Kevin Durant chose to go to the Warriors, remember when he chose to go to the Warriors?

There was a quote. Kevin Durant said, quote, he said, I didn't leave my bed because I was like, man, if I walk outside, somebody might try to hit me with a car or say anything negative to me. What? You're equating getting killed with somebody's, saying negative about you? That's called rabbit ears.

He is really bothered by this stuff. And it's very strange. Because generally, we're all insecure young, right? I can't speak for women. I'll speak for men. We're goofballs. The girls turn us down. We have crappy jobs. We got the pimples.

Everybody's insecure. 15, 24. I get it. You overcompensate. You puff your chest out. I'm the man. That's just insecurity. It's a shield, right? It's a chest protector, but you're really insecure. But then once you start, wife, kids, success, money, accomplishments, Grammys, awards, employee of the month, MVP of the finals,

then you kind of go to the next level and it just bounces off. You don't care, except Kevin Durant. It is remarkable. Never forget, he was so hurt by a headline in a small town newspaper, the Oklahoma, which after a basketball game called him, Mr. Unreliable, the paper had to retract it. He was, he's reading the newspaper? You're the guy in America that's still reading a newspaper.

He had to literally, they retracted it. He was so offended by it. Now Jason Whitlock, my friends always had a theory on Kevin Durant's personality. My level of respect for KD has never been as high as everyone else's. And so again, he's a bit of a mama's boy. And he's, and again, I, I've always called. him hug life. He's not an alpha.

I just find it remarkable. I really do. That he is still burner accounts, random people reacting to me. Everybody's like he's authentic. Yeah, authentically, really, really sensitive. And it's just generally success and accolades and titles and MVP's. We're looking at the second best player in the NBA.

For now a decade. When he was in Oklahoma City, it was understood. LeBron's the king, and he's whatever's one slot below the king. And he's still the number two player in the NBA. He's the one, not Steph winning the MVP finals, MVP's. He's winning the rings. He's winning the awards. He's winning the plaques.

He's winning the trophies. He's got money piled up. This is why I keep saying, I think he's going to leave. He's a wander. I've come to the conclusion that the noise motivates Kevin Durant. It's the only rational explanation for being this reactive to everything that said about you. And Kevin Durant has largely been given a pass throughout his career because of LeBron James, where LeBron gets constantly criticized for every up and down, everything he tweets, everything he posts,

everything he says. If LeBron is a bad quarter, it is our lead the next day. Exactly. So all of the criticism has fallen on LeBron, despite the fact that Kevin Durant has consistently been the second best player in the NBA, you would think he would receive some of that criticism to his play. But it's always Westbrook's fault or Oklahoma didn't put together the right people around them. Like there's always something, some reason why Kevin Durant has been given a pass by the media.

Everyone loves Katie. Who doesn't like him? You can't guard him. He's unstoppable. He's finals MVP. He got his ring. His career is validated. It is so bizarre to me. I've come to the conclusion that he gets motivated by this. It's the only logical way to look at it.

All right. The instigators around the corner. He's getting ready to instigate. Here's Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. I bet Rob Parker could get KD to respond on Twitter. You know, Kevin Durant, actually, I'm not going to mention the person.

DMs somebody at this network, and I think it would surprise you who it is. I know who it is. Okay, yeah, me do. We don't have to say it, but he's, do you see him, you know. Well, I think I know who it is. Yeah. Yeah. Should we just say it?

No. All right, former Brown Joe Thomas will be heading into the hall. of Fame in a few years, and he thinks that another unlikely player could join him down the road, and that is Tyrod Taylor. Thomas said he believes Taylor's performance with Cleveland in 2018 will be so strong it'll ends at Canton. Let's take a listen. Well, I have really high expectations for the Browns. I think they can win at least eight games this year. I think they got a great opportunity to try to go to the playoffs. I think Tyrod Taylor is going to go right from Cleveland to the Hall of Fame by taking the Buffalo

Bills to the playoffs for the first time in what, 19, 20 years, and then doing the same thing for the Cleveland Browns and back-to-back season. So I love Tyrod. I think he can do great things. He's looked great all spring, and I think he'll lead the Browns to the playoffs. He's not going to the Hall of Fame,

but what he's saying about him is true. Donald's got Teddy Bridgewater in front of him. Teddy Bridgewater's a good little player. Baker Mayfield's got Tyrod Taylor in front of him. Tyrod's a complete. playing this league. He doesn't make any mistakes. I have no problem with Tyrod. I think Tyrod is a very solid quarterback. My only issue is you don't draft a quarterback number one overall in the draft to then sit him for a year behind Tyrod. I'm sorry, he's not sitting behind Brett Farr. He's not

sitting behind Tom Brady. He's not sitting behind Tom Brady with Bill Belichick there. No disrespect to Hugh Jackson, but that you won zero games last year. You do understand that Tyrod Taylor's going to be like four and four at Thanksgiving. They're not going to be able to play Baker Mayfield. You can't pull him if he's I think Cleveland's going to be viable. At Thanksgiving, and I don't have a problem, Baker, but this thing is funny.

You know who the coach wants to play. He wants Tyrod Taylor to play. He wants to win games. Of course. If Hugh Jackson gets fired, he's done being a head coach. That means he's not going to make $3 million ever again in his life

and he's still got 15 years to coach. This is this big payday. I don't disagree with anything that you're saying. All I'm saying is don't tell me it's for the better of the franchise. It's not. You drafted him number one overall. Either admit that you made a colossal mistake taking him number one overall.

Did. Okay, but admit that. Well, they won't. Or admit that you were just trying to win games. You can't tell me this. That's not what it's really about. So Tyrod's going to the Hall of Fame and Jarvis Landry thinks are going to the Super Bowl this year. So hype train fully off the rails there.

Malcolm Butler was mysteriously benched in the Patriots Super Bowl lost to Philadelphia, as we all know. And now he's Tennessee Titan. And he was asked, if last season's Super Bowl benching has given him a little added motivation this season. Oh, most definitely. I'm very few. You know, I always been this way, but just got a little extra gas in the tank.

But, you know, I'm just here to help my team win. Do you think we'll ever find out what actually happened there? Oh, I think we know what happened. I think Malcolm didn't have a great week of practice. Malcolm got sick. Malcolm was late to a plane and Belichick said, okay, I'm sending a message you're done, which I think deep down probably he knows ruffled feathers.

including Tom Brady's. I think we know the story. And the other thing is, the Patriots wanted Malcolm Butler to sign a team-friendly deal that season, and Butler said no. So Belichick, he was on thin ice with Belichick to begin with. Then after a bad week of practice, got sick.

Belichick said, all right, there you go. I'm out. Don't you make maybe an adjustment, like an in-game adjustment for the Super Bowl? Well, but you know how people are. If you go on a date with your wife, and you're in a bad mood the minute you're going on a date. It's very hard halfway through the date to go,

okay, I'm happy. It's hard to get that off that Ferris wheel. If you're mad, if you got a grudge, if you've made a decision before a Super Bowl, it's hard at halftime to go, well, we're in the game, we're moving the ball at will. I think... Okay, but let's say you're on this date.

Let's say you're like a woman, right? Reverse it. You're in a bad mood. But you have a good hunch at the end of the date. You might get a ring. Maybe you adjust your mood a little bit. Call an audible. I don't know.

That's pretty funny. So you can see that ring at the end of the day. Revisit that argument at a later day. So you and I are fighting, but you see a little bump in my pocket. Yeah, I have a little scoop. I have a little information, little inside information. There might be a ring at the end of this meal. So you turn it around and be nice to me.

Yeah, maybe you just, you know, go in the bathroom, kind of take a deep breath. It's a good point. Suck it up. Women's perspective. Sneak off, take a shot at the bar, get over it. That's a good point. Just saying. Never thought of that.

Well, I have. And finally, Carmelo refused to come off the bench last season with the Thunder and doesn't appear that he's willing to do it this year unless it's his choice. He told Jamal Hill, I've been undefeated. I know how to play this game of basketball. I've been playing it for a long time when I feel like I'm ready to take that role, then I'll take that role. Only I know when it's best for me to take that role.

I'm not going to do that in a situation where I still know my capabilities and what I can do. And we all remember when he was asked if he was going to come off the bench what his reaction. action was. Jack wasn't good. He laughed at people. When they suggested in Oklahoma City, he'd come off the bench, he was literally laughing at them.

How do you feel about, you know, starting at the four, or the concept of starting at the four, or even coming off the bench? And the second question is... Well, me? I guess that answers that part. I mean, I don't know where that started,

when I came from. Hey, Pete, they said I got to come off the bench. I mean, he doesn't get it. Like last year, he was a bench player. He was a 40% shooting bench player. He doesn't get it. I don't know. Houston will be a very exciting regular season team.

Like I think we were last year. Joy, Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd lie news. Rob Parker, get over here. The FS1 instigator. Who's got, I think we may have, we may have finally found common ground on one thing.

Uh-oh. Me and you finally. we have something? What is that? Self-awareness is a beautiful thing, and Carmelo doesn't have it, and he never has. This is why he's underachieved. It's not going to work in Houston, right? Right? Houston, we have a problem.

I mean, I don't, why in the world are they bringing Carmelo to this? It didn't work in OKC? We just saw this movie, didn't we? Yes. We just saw it's not going to work. Ball-centric guard. It's mellow comes over and pouts. Right.

It's not going to work. He doesn't want to be a spot-up three-point shooter, which is what he was relegated to. I saw, I get it. Guys, when you're a big star, you don't want to feel like, okay, they want me off the bench or whatever. But sometimes you have to make that adjustment. To this day, I always believe that Alan Iverson could have played five or six more years in the NBA. If he was willing to come off the bench, be that guy, you know, be the, the dominant guy with the second unit

where you get to score and put up the shots, it could help the team win. Yeah, I mean, this has always been my thing on Carmelo. In the history of the NBA, your great players are not only talented, they're get it guys. D. Wade gets it. Bird got it. Magic got it. West got it. LeBron gets it. Duncan gets it.

Duncan took less money. You know, LeBron, Michael Jordan for a long time wasn't the highest paid guy. David Stern made more money than Michael Jordan. Yes. You got to get it. And Ray Allen gets it. And Kevin Garnett gets it.

Carmelo's talented. He's a doesn't get it guy. Like he just has this wall. Derek Rose, by the way, to me, was always a doesn't get it guy. Didn't Mike Dan Tony quit the Knicks because of Carmelo Anthony? Mike Dan Tony makes every player in the NBA better offensively. Carmelo's an offensive guy and Carmelo ran him out of town. Yes.

I mean, literally Dan Tony goes to Phoenix. Steve Nash is the MVP. Twice. He goes to Houston and Hardens the MVP. MVP. He goes to New York. Carmelo's like, ah, I don't work. He's the league's best off. In fact, Dan Tony's, the biggest knock on him is he doesn't care if you play defense. And that's Carmelo. Yes. And this is why I think this is going to actually drop Houston. You know, Houston had the best record and led to West and had home court and all that.

I think they're going to be third. I got OKC actually jumping up above them when you look out where. I think that this is going to hurt them. They don't need Carmelo Anthony. I don't understand why they're making this move. Is it just to add a name because they like the idea of having another name guy? Addition by subtraction, I actually think, to your point, Oklahoma City will be better this year without Carmelo. I absolutely believe that. I do, too.

I don't think they'll be 12 wins better, but I think they'll have less chaos, more fluidity, Paul George Westbrook. I actually think this year without. Mello, Oklahoma City goes into the playoffs and wins a playoff round or maybe two. But the flip side for Houston is the same problem that happened in OKC. You remember last year they couldn't win. They had those three guys. People forget this. They couldn't win.

They struggled. Paul George kind of worked. It didn't work. It wasn't a disaster. Paul's numbers came down a little. Mello's the guy that didn't work. He won't play with other stars. And that's why I think Houston is making a big mistake here.

I don't get it. It makes no sense to me. It's not what they need. They'd be better off. They lost defensive players, right? Good ones. Guys who made a difference. And the ad Carmelo makes no sense.

I think this is where you just starstruck and you're not looking at your real team needs. Okay. I got a basketball question before the NFL. Kevin Durant, Joy and I are kind of rolling our eyes. Generally in life, we're all insecure in our teens and our 20s. we're all insecure. We can't, girls won't pay attention to us. Absolutely.

We're all insecure. But then once you start... You said girls won't pay attention. What about your 50s? Is that count too? Well, I mean, if you get older, you should be had... They say you get a little happier. But generally the way it works for pro athletes is, you know, they start collecting

paychecks, rings, accomplishments, they get more secure. They don't care about... I mean, Kobe's not getting in Twitter wars with random dudes. The only exception in any major sport is Kevin Durant. He's the world's most sensitive guy. I get it when he broke him. into the league and Westbrook's better than you, dude, Hardin's better than you. I get it.

You're now the second best player in the NBA for like eight years. Why is he so sensitive? It makes no sense. And you just said it. The guys won two championships, two MVPs in the finals. And instead of people thinking of him as the second best player in the league, he is officially the Massot. What's that?

The most sensitive of all times. So he's the Massoud. Because he is that guy, Colin. he's got a burner phone. Who has a burner phone who has two MVP's in the NBA final? Who cares of Johnny in his basement eating French

fries and drinking Dr. Pepper doesn't like you or says something that you got to respond back to him? Kevin Durant should be in Europe on vacation, somebody feeding him grapes. That's what he should be doing. What kind of life are you living where you're worried about

the fans and what they're saying? Or the sports writers. The story you said about the Oklahoma recanting and taking back a headline is, what? Are you kidding me? A small town local headline, they had to retract it. He was so mad about that. It's like, Kevin. Are you, I mean, you're the number two basketball player on the planet.

How many people in the planet? Seven billion? You were the number two player. And if it wasn't for maybe the best player ever, you'd be the best player in the world. There's no way I could have worked in the test. where he played. Some of the columns I've written, I'm serious, Collin, if I went back and gave you some of the

stuff that I've written, you wouldn't believe it. All right, just stay here, because I want to address a couple things. You have a thought on the Lakers, also Johnny Mansell, so don't go anywhere. All right, I'm ready. What was that? Fafote.

No, Massote. Most sensitive of all time. Masote. Instead of the goat, Kevin Durant's the Massote. Rob Parker, also at the top of the hour, John Gruden, this is an absolute mess, and we'll get to that. Rob Parker, we held him over. So I started the show saying today, I'm going to throw my theory out. I started my show saying today, I'm watching yesterday in the last 24 hours, LeBron's got this HBO thing.

And, I mean, it's already rolling. He has a TV movie production deal now. It's already in the work. So he's been in L.A. 27 days, of which 10. And he was in Europe. So 16 days he's been in L.A. And he's got a TV show humming. He's got a movie deal.

He's had a pizza promotion and dinner with Hollywood stars. And my theory is, Rob, Peter Vessie said a year ago. Peter Vessie was woge before woes. No doubt about it. He said a year ago, LeBron's a Laker, it's a done deal. You know what? Magic didn't meet LeBron to pitch him. It was a strategy meeting.

It was done. Magic was telling people in town like Jerry West, we got him. Peter Vessie came out. You cannot get this much done in L.A. in 16 days of work. Have TV deals, movie deals. I think it was done a year ago. Absolutely.

Vessie was that guy, and he used to break all the stories in the early days of the NBA, you know, in the 80s and whatnot. He was the story breaker of the league for 20 years. Absolutely. So when I saw that and as definitive as Peter was, I believed it. I said, you don't go that strong being a newspaper guy. for as long as he was and put that out there without feeling really confident. So I think you're right.

But if I'm a Laker fan, the problem I have with this and all the other stuff he's doing is that this signifies to me that LeBron is out of the championship business. He wants to be Merrill Street. That's what he wants to be. He wants to be like a movie star and what is it, Toddman, Bill Todman and, you know, doing the TV shows and all those. the production company used to do all that stuff. He wants to be involved in all this other stuff.

I'm a little concerned if I'm a Laker fan, if he's serious about winning. Because LeBron never goes to a situation where the deck's not stacked for him. So for him to come to L.A. and make that commitment without knowing where the other shoe is going to drop and whether or not it is even going to drop. There's no guarantee that you're getting that second guy. The one thing, Colin, we've got to be honest with. No one has ever come to play with LeBron, ever. He could not get anyone in Cleveland to come play with him, right?

He's the greatest player on the planet. He never got anybody to come. He had to go to Dwayne Wade's team, right? Kyrie walked away from him. And then you have Paul George had a chance to come back home to L.A. LeBron's here. Hey, they're going to set the world on fire and knock out the war. he wants no part of it.

Why does no one want to play with LeBron? Think about it. Didn't Chris Bosch come to Miami? Didn't they kind of agree? No, but he wouldn't go to Cleveland is what I'm trying to say. Oh, okay, okay. You're right. Chris Lash. Think about it. So it's Cleveland's fault. But no, that's not. That's LeBron is there.

That should wipe away Cleveland. It's about LeBron. Why don't other great players want to play with him? Because they're not smart enough to realize they'll win a bunch of rings. No, they realize that it's all about LeBron, and it's always going to be if things go right, LeBron gets all the credit, things go bad, it's because he doesn't have anybody. Man, that's interesting, Joy. It's kind of interesting. No.

Joy, what are you saying? Yes, Joy. I mean, I just, no. Chris Bosch came to Miami. No. Chris Bond, yeah, he came to Miami, but he didn't come. I'm telling you, nobody comes to. LeBron could have stayed in Cleveland and done the same exact thing and said,

Hey, let's form a team here. Don't tell me about the weather and playing in Cleveland. Chris Bosch preferred to live in South Beach over Cleveland, which is completely understandable. People won championships in Green Bay and all these other god-awful places. You know, so you're only there for six months. You're only there. You only play 40 home games. You can live wherever you want.

It's just an occupist. It's where you work. Do your business. If I'm about LeBron and he's that guy, I want to join up with him. Nobody wants to join up with him. Three minutes left. Jimmy Garapolo with a porn star. I hated it.

Joy said, Johnny Mansell said, a lot of people said, Sean Merriman told me yesterday on the show, he thinks Garapolo, this is who he dates regularly, adult film stars. What do you make of it?

If I'm the 49ers, you've got to say, maybe we made a mistake. Because it's the lack of judgment. You could date whoever you want. There's something that doesn't look right when the face of your franchise is out with a big-breasted porn star in the middle of a Beverly Hills restaurant.

It just doesn't look right and you're just going to start to question what else is going on in this guy's life. That's all. That doesn't mean she was wearing a very provocative outfit, Beverly Hills, paparazzi steaking a restaurant. It makes those, you call takeout, you know, if you're dating a porn star. We're eating in, baby. That's the way I'm playing. See, that's my thing is that there's a lot of things that. there's a lot of things that happen in pro sports that I don't know about.

So I'm not going to judge you if I don't know about them. In fact, I'll give you credit. Absolutely, because you kept it quiet, right? Yeah, I still come down to I just don't like it. I just don't. By the way, the next day he apologized. Why? Because John Lynch and I mean, I believed every word of it.

That was a very authentic apology. No, I don't think it was. I don't think it was an apology. But there's a reason he did it is because John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan said, Bro, you're $150 million quarterback. What are you doing? I don't want you on TMZ. If you own a dealership and you wanted him to be the spokesman for your BMW dealership in San Francisco,

is that not done? You don't think the wives who help make decisions when they buy these cars would say, that's the guy with the, we don't want to go there. I'm serious. No, and I don't think he needs a car dealership commercial. No, but I'm just saying as far as how it looks. There are certain things that just don't go together. I joked yesterday.

Orange juice and toothpaste. They don't go together. They don't go together. Franchise quarterback and adult film star. It just doesn't fit for me. It doesn't. I, you know, and I'm not, you know me, you know me, Joy starting to meet me. I am not a moralist.

But I'll say this. I could put anything on my Twitter. But the two things, the one thing that if I put on my Twitter by accident was porn, the internet would implode. Cowards got porn. I hit Twitter cowards looking at I can put anything else on there Right Why would people react that way?

I mean, you know, it's no big deal To date an adult film star It's different Adult film stars are different I'm not saying it's different It's not different I agree with you I'm just saying I don't think you're outraged

about it either The whole point is that he's a face of a franchise Yeah It's just to me I just think it's hypocritical of us to ask people to be authentic and then when they are authentic, whether we agree with them or not, we get mad at them. Rob and I just order in. Just order in.

Whatever you want, baby, we'll send out for it. No problem. Hour two next. Ah, this is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, live in Los Angeles. Iheart radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. Joy Taylor is joining me, hour number two. Greg Jennings will stop by Chris Mannix last hour

on the up and down roller coaster ride emotionally of Kevin Durant, one of the NBA's great reporters, Chris Mannix and Greg Jennings, Super Bowl champ, Pro Bowl, bottom of this hour. Joy, great to have you in on a Friday, very floral today, very festive. Thanks, Colin. So last year, a lot of discussion last year. NFL ratings dipped. NFL ratings dipped.

Well, first of all, all of linear television is going down. linear television, thanks to Netflix and Amazon Prime, everything's going down. So the NFL, by comparison, wasn't down much. And then people say it's the anthem controversy, and maybe that's a little bit. But what nobody is just admitting about the NFL is we watch great offenses. I've always said this for years. Everybody says they love defense. No, you don't.

You love if your team has a great defense. But if I told you there's a football game, tomorrow, This year's national championship game, whoever's in it's going to be six to three, a defensive struggle. You'd be like, no thanks. If I said it's going to be 28, 27, a fireworks show. Ooh, I can't wait to watch. You don't love defense. You don't love defense.

Top 30 jersey sellers in the NFL, 25 are offensive guys. Fantasy football has only amplified this. You like offensive guys. And so last year, everybody talks about the ratings are down. Number one, TV ratings are down everywhere for everything. They're down for everything, except political shows. Why would that be? Because our president's divisive.

But here's the other problem last year. Points per game, down, completion percentage down, pass a rating down, totally yards per game, down, down, down. Down, down. Everything was down offensively. That's going to change this year. The reason football was down last year, some of it was, it wasn't very much fun. to watch. Think about 30% of the NFL this year. 30% a third will be more interesting just because a quarterback play. Okay, let's start. I'll give you just the 10 teams that will be

more captivating simply because of quarterbacks and it's a quarterback league. Number one's Aaron Rogers in Green Bay, obviously. He got hurt first quarter of a game against Minnesota. Counting that game, they went three and seven without him. And they were unwatchezing. They were shut out twice at home without him. Shut out at home. They hadn't been shut out at home in over a decade. They were shut out twice without him. By the way, three wins.

Two of them were overtime over bad teams. Aaron Rogers is back. Packer ratings up. Carson Wentz. On track to be the MVP. Got hurt last month, didn't play. Nothing against Nick Foles. I know everybody in Philly likes him,

but if I gave you a choice today, who would you rather watch? Wentz or Foles? Who would you rather watch? Wentz over Foles. Carson Wentz is back. To me, the next great superstar quarterback in this NFL wasn't around counting the playoffs for the last six weeks of it. Deshawn Watson, Houston. Did you watch what happened to Houston last year when Deshawn Watson got hurt? They were a grease fire. I think they lost their last six games. I mean, they were using like CFL guys, AAU guys. It were awful. Meanwhile,

Deshawn Watson had the most touchdowns for any player through seven games ever. I don't know. I think he's kind of exciting. Houston's a major market. I picked him to win their division. So is everybody else. He's back. Andrew Luck. I don't know. Have you seen the Colts with him? They win 11 games. They score 30 with him. Have you seen the Colts without him? Maybe the worst team in the league. They were last in yards per play without Andrew Luck. I'm going to roll the dice and say they'll be top 10 in yards per play with Andrew Luck. He didn't play a down last. He didn't play a down last. year. He was before Carson Wentz, the next great generational quarterback. He returns. How about Jimmy Garapolo? Beginning of last year, he was a backup.

Now he's 7 and 0 as a starter and dating an adult film star. I don't like the choice, but he's interesting. He made a very interesting personnel decision, an adult film star. San Francisco, unwatchable for the last two and a half years. Now you've got Tom Brady with more interesting partner choices. Do you think that's going to be interesting in the third biggest city in the country, fourth biggest city? Now to guys we don't know about that are really exciting, though. Patrick Mahomes, loaded roster in Kansas City, one of the great play callers in Andy Reed. They traded up, moved up to get him in the draft.

People are saying he has the strongest NFL arm ever. like Favre-like, better than CAMs. They've got all sorts of amazing skill people. Tyreek Hill. Yeah. Travis Kelsey. You don't think that's going to be more interesting? I think they're going to be interesting.

Then there's Baker Mayfield. I don't know, semi-controversial. Play, not play? I got to say this. I wouldn't have picked him number one. But if he's on television this year, I'm watching the Browns. Were you watching the Browns last year at O'N16? Not if you live anywhere outside of Ohio.

Their ratings are going to go up. There's Lamar Jackson, an exhilarating talent, a great college player, and I believe has a Tebow quality. He is going to create a firestorm in Baltimore. Because much like Tebow, profoundly popular and successful in college, first round picks so fans want to see him play, and Denver's fans and now Baltimore's fans aren't happy with the current situation at quarterback, you don't think

Joe Flacco, Lamar Jackson's going to be a fascinating story this year. That is going to be a firework show. And I guarantee you, the media is going to want to see Lamar Jackson. He hasn't had anything more than like an OTA, and I'm already reading Lamar Jackson stories. He's the East Coast version of

Tebow. They're going to be demanding he play very early. How about Josh Rosen, the most political outspoken quarterback in this year's draft in Arizona, a team that desperately needs a quarterback? I mean, he's already controversial. He was controversial in college. Hot tub, dorm room.

You don't think Arizona is going to be more watchable this year? Sam Bradford, Josh Rosen. And then finally, Sam Donald. Maybe you've heard of New York City. It's a big place with tall buildings. They have, in my opinion, along with Carson Wentz, the next transcendent quarterback in the league. Listen, a third of the league is significantly more interesting

at the most compelling position. Unless Donald Trump gets, You know, impeached or something, which good God, it's possible. And that would obviously move a lot of eyeballs to political shows and off, you know, sports on Sunday shows, meet the press and such. Unless that happens, I think your ratings are going to move up. A third of the league is simply more compelling. A lot of what was hurt in the NFL last year, points down, passerating down, touchdowns down, interceptions up, yards per game down, completion percentage down.

nobody wants to watch crappy football. And like you said, major injuries to superstars. Superstars. O'Dell, JJ, Watt, Aaron Rogers. I mean, I got to be honest with you. The Garoppolo 49er story to me, fascinating. I mean, there's not a team in the league I was less interested in watching last year than San Francisco. I'm not sure there's a team in the league I'm more interested in watching this year than San Francisco.

So I, and by the way, now I've, I also say this. We got John Gruden in the league. Gruden's going to be a firework show. We got a coaching story that's going to be a massively interesting show. So I think it's going to be a great year in the NFL. Let me shift to this. I thought this was interesting in regards

to LeBron James. So he's got this new show on HBO and they're showing some clip or something. He's got some new show, some talk show, or whatever this is. And they showed a clip of it and he talks about his son. And this is pretty interesting. Go ahead.

I still regret, given my 14-year-old, my name because of that. Right. Like when I was younger, obviously, I didn't have a dad. So my whole thing was like, whenever I have a kid, not only is going to be a junior, I'm going to do everything that this man didn't do.

They're going to experience things that I didn't experience. The only thing I can do is give them the blueprint, and it's up to them to take their own course whenever that time. Here's what's amazing. I've seen video of LeBron's kids. I know the names Jeffrey and Marcus of Michael Jordan's kids.

I've seen video of and Chris Paul's son, Greg Anthony. The NBA has something going for it. And I wish the NFL would watch this. The NBA, we know something about America. The NBA is a star-driven league and America is more star-obsessed

than it's ever been. One plus one equals two. That's why I talk 30% more NBA now than a decade ago. I was always a football show guy. I talk more NBA than ever. Why? Because my numbers, my digital, my ratings, my podcasts go up when I talk it.

You drive the bus, I don't. You tell me what you like. I put out of Kevin Durant rant yesterday. Get to a million people. I see it. I track it every day. Why do I talk it? Because America is obsessed with stars and the NBA is star-driven.

Hockey baseball, football, system-driven, shield-driven, coach-driven, GM-driven, owner-driven. This is one of the things I think the NBA should take a page from, the NFL should take a page from the NBA. Free agency, it used to be the NBA season ended and I went right into the NFL or baseball. Now the NBA season ends July 15th. I'm July 20th and where are we at now, 27. We still mix in occasional NBA because free agency is just talking about superstars. The NFL locks in their quarterbacks. You know, Aaron Rogers yesterday reports to camp, talks about his contract. It's irrelevant.

He's got two years left. They don't have to renegotiated. Then they can franchise tag him three years. He's trapped. Aaron Rogers can't go anywhere if he wanted to go anywhere. He's trapped. If the NFL was smart, and I know this sounds counterintuitive, the NFL would allow quarterbacks more freedom to be mobile.

because in March, once your season ends, in March, like NBA stars, in July, we would sit there talking about where's Andrew going to go, where's DeShon going to go, where's Aaron Rogers going to go, where's Garoppolo going to go. The NFL's always been keenly tuned to the publicity they get from the media. They love being talked about. But what happens is the season ends and we're kind of done with it until late April for the draft. The NBA's figured this out. America is obsessed with stars. That's the culture. So they let their stars have more ability to move.

Now, some owners complain, but let's be honest about the NFL. It's not like four great quarterbacks would all go to the cowboys. A, you've got a salary cap, and they want to start. If you let your quarterbacks, your top 10 quarterbacks, have a little bit of leeway to move around, do you know the free publicity you'd get in March and April in the NFL? there's no way I couldn't talk about it. If Aaron Rogers, Andrew Luck,

Deshawn Watson, Jimmy Garoppolo, Sam Darnold, on the block, occasionally, but as it is now, Aaron Rogers is the LeBrona basketball. He can't move. He's trapped. Can't go anywhere. Two years left in his deal, they'll franchise him three years after that. He's massively underpaid now.

If they franchise him, he'll be massively underpaid then. Sometimes you've got to give to get, and the NFL is too consumed with locking in their play. Players. You can't go anywhere. Players, get rid of that franchise tag. Take a little less money. Get rid of it. You'll make more on the other end. But I think that's one thing the NBA has done brilliantly.

They've given their players a little more right to leave. What's happening? It's July. It's football, baseball. Every show in the country I drive around. How do I not talk about Durant LeBron? Every time I do my digital numbers, my podcast, my numbers, That's America. Aaron Rogers can't go anywhere.

The fact that I know about LeBron's kids. I know MJ's kids. I don't know. Does Big Ben have kids? Does Alex Smith have kids? I don't know Tom Brady's kids. I didn't even know if they have them. I know NBA Star's family life.

They're kids. I've seen them on videos. Michael Jordan Hall of Fame speech talking about his kids. I've seen videos of his kids. They played basketball. One was a walk-on. How do I know that? I don't know about any quarterback's kids.

Well, I mean, it's fundamentally it's difficult, right, because they wear helmets. So it kind of prohibits you from having the relationship, the individual relationship that you have with NBA players. But there's ways to eliminate that. Overall, the entire culture of the NFL, not just the mobility thing is restrictive. It's restrictive. And they need to pay attention to the NBA because if nothing else, you have to pay attention to the idea of social media. What is it at its core? social. You want to follow people. You want to know them. You want to feel like you have some sort of

relationship with them. If the NFL was to empower its stars, even the tiniest little bit, everything that you were just talking about that happened last year, major stars went down. If you had enabled other stars to be themselves, to show their personalities, to have some sort of ownership and partnership, if you will, with the team, with the owner and not just be about the team and the owner and the shield, maybe that wouldn't have happened because you have other stars. You can celebrate. There you go. An NFL executive rips the Patriots, and he's right.

That's coming up. Great to have you in. So a scout in the AFC was talking about the New England Patriots. And the story that broke today by Matt Miller, Bleacher Report, is that a lot of people in the NFL think Brady's closer to retirement than, you know, there's a lot of different speculation. I don't have any idea. I get tired of talking about it.

So I don't know. I think he's got one or two years left. But there was a quote in the story that's interesting. Said a scout, take Brady off that roster. They don't beat the Browns. I'm not joking. That is one of the worst rosters in the entire NFL. But you never hear about it because Brady's so effing good.

Well, first of all, he's right. This is what I said two days ago and got pushback. Aaron Rogers gets hurt. They go three and seven, shout out at home twice. That's what Green Bay's roster is without Aaron Rogers, which is why I've criticized Green Bay. You take Tom Brady off that roster. He rolls an ankle week two and Brian Hoyer fills in. What are they?

What are they? They have one elite player. And an elite is marginal in their front seven defensively. Okay, like Carolina's got five. They've got one, Dante Hightower, who's been to one pro bowl. So he's not exactly Vaughn Miller. He's not Khalil Mack. They have no pro bowlers in their offensive line unit.

They're wide receiving core. their running back unit or their defensive line. If you look at their best players, we all know that Brady is brave. Take Brady out. They're two best players. One is a tight end, which you rarely see more than one drafted in the first round.

It's not a crucial NFL position. It's a position where you have a handful of stars, but Travis Kelsey didn't win in a bunch of playoff games. Gronk wouldn't win without Brady. How many playoff games was Antonio Gates winning? a tight end is their best player, five pro bowls. Their second best player is safety. Devin McCordy, who by the way,

safeties are now over the last five years because of the spread offense, been marginalized. That is, again, a position. You don't get a lot of first round safeties. It's not a crucial position in the NFL, and it's less so than ever. Then they have Dante High Tower, who's been to one pro ball. Stefan Gilmore is a nice corner.

He's a good corner. He's been to a pro ball. That's it. Okay, you go look right now at the range. Rams Chargers, Philadelphia Eagles, Kansas City Chiefs, Houston Texans. You start looking at these rosters around the NFL, and they're not close to that. They are not close to that. Their best player outside of Brady is a tight end, and the second best is a safety.

And I think one of the things that saves them is that the reason Green Bay went into the tank without Aaron is because the NFC is also really good. if you look at the Patriot's schedule, they got about six games that appear loseable. Texans, Chiefs, Packers, Jets, Vikings, Steelers, they'll be heavy favorites and the rest. And what really gives New England a break and it masquerades a lot of their issues is their division, they either go 6 and 0 or 5 in 1 every year. I'll give you a test. Think about this.

In the last decade, when is the last great, year by a quarterback not named Brady in the AFC East that he plays. So the AFC East named the last time a quarterback had an elite year. You've got to think about it, don't you? And you can't count Ronnie Brown the running back in Miami during the Wildcat year. That doesn't count. He's a running back. Why? That was such a great year.

It was. And he had a great year. He tripped everybody. But that may be number two and he's a running back. The last great year by an opposing quarterback. And this is really what masquerades a lot of New England's issues. On a week-to-week basis, they don't face elite throwers. It's Chad Pennington 10 years ago, who, by the way, didn't have much of a suit bone for an arm, smart as hell, worked his tail off. It's a good year, though.

That's 19 touchdown 7 picks. So, listen, I love Brady. But when you know you can roll through your division and you never have a losing streak because every other week you're facing a sense. a backup quarterback. You know, you go on the NFC right now. You lose your star quarterback. Oh, here comes Carson Wentz to town. And Aaron Rogers.

And Kirk Cousins. And Dick Prescott. And Jimmy Garoppolo and Cam Newton, Andrew Breeze, and Matt Ryan. I believe the scout. I don't love New England's personnel. They have two elite players. Philadelphia's got seven.

Rams nine. Chargers six. Chief seven. Eagles, how many ever? A lot. I think you like the Giants roster better. Giants have six elite players. OBJ's elite.

Nate Solders, one of the best tackles in football. I'm sorry, but Alec Ogletree is going to be a borderline pro bowl linebacker. Landon Collins, Janoris Jenkins, Max Harrison. These are really good players. One front seven guys, a pro bowler. One-time pro-boulder, Dante Hightower. That's it. They had Chandler Jones, let him go.

Joy with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So Jason Tatum just completed one of the better rookie seasons that we've seen in some recent years, but he's not relaxing. He's trying to take his game to another level, and he's working out with the Black Mamba, Colin.

He's working out with Kobe Bryant. He posted on his social media, Kobe training with him. Everyone started flipping out, How Dare, a Laker, try and make a Celtic better. Come on, who cares. Go get Jason Tatum. I love it. Jason Tatum rolls out some money and says, I want to be great. If you want to be great, talk, listen, and work out with great. Exactly. Well, Kobe actually reviewed Jason Tatum on his show detail, and Tatum has said that Kobe is his favorite player of all time, and he actually had this to say about Kobe reviewing his game. That was really cool for me. You know, growing up, that was my favorite player. I really noticed he was talking about. about one of my drives that, you know, my foot was pointed towards the airport instead of pointing to the basket.

It was just something he noticed. I mean, it made a lot of sense, you know, when he pointed it out. He said he watched it 25 times, and that is true. You need to have your feet pointed towards the basket when you're shooting. It's all on the hips, Colin. All in the hips. By the way, anybody noticed Kobe Bryant? He's put on about 15 pounds.

Those NBA guys, when they get off the treadmill of the NBA season, look at Kobe. Kobe looks thick. Look at Kobe's arms right now. That's not what Kobe looked like a year ago. Kobe looks thick. Well, he's not running up and down a food anymore. You're not burning 7,000 calories chasing. Don't you just love this new Kobe though?

I do. This sweet old wise, Kobe? I like it. I love him now. I'm back to love. I loved him forever. Didn't like him the last two years in L.A. I love him again.

Speaking of putting on a little weight, Ben Rathesberger is no spring chicken anymore. He's 36 years old. He's heading into his 15th NFL season. but he has decided to cut out sugar and carbs from his diet this off season to lose weight and lighten some load on his body. Should, should. You know, knees, ankles, being lighter.

You know, those are all positives when it comes to this age and playing football. You're spurted. You know, you're pounding on your knees. You've had a couple of knee surgeries. So anything you can do to lighten the load on your knees and ankles, I think is important. You do everything you can to really say, okay, I'm going to be the best I can be physically, mentally for this season. but I think if you continue looking after your body and keeping yourself healthy,

it can lead to more years, hopefully. You know what? That TB 12 methods rubbing off on the whole. Well, once Tom, honest to God, once Tom Brady came out with that documentary, ask yourself, have you ever heard more quarterbacks talking about their bodies since Tom? Tom put that thing out there, and it made every quarterback in the league go, oh, crap, I'm not committed enough. He's in Costa Rica wearing pads and a helmet.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Which it should be. He's the greatest. And that's what he's doing. We were just talking about Jason Tatum trading with Kobe. You want to be great? You got to do great things. That's thanks for Ben Ruffisberger, though. No more Permanagh sandwiches for him. Have you ever had a Permanati Brothers sandwich? No, no. I've seen him. It's a sandwich with the fries in it. Yeah, and the coleslaw. Oh, they're amazing. You got to hold it like kind of like this, though, because they're so big. Really yummy. Anyway, finally, the Ravens released their first step chart of training camp and have listed the long. Lamar Jackson as their third string quarterback. Joe Flacco is, of course, first, and RG3 is second.

I don't have a problem with this, because I do think Lamar Jackson is a bit of a project, although I do kind of liken his game to Deshawn Watson, who I love. She I like Deshaun. Deshaun is way more NFL ready than Lamar. Yes. But you were just talking about this a few minutes ago when we were talking about the NFL being exciting this year. Do you think that Lamar Jackson ends up starting over Joe Flacco this season?

No. But I think it's a controversy. I think it's a controversy. And I never like the comparisons with Deshawn Watson and Lamar Jackson. I said it before. Deshawn Watson was the best quarterback in that class. Mitch Trubisky was not. Deshawn Watson faced, not only faced Nick Sabin twice,

he faced Nick Sabin who had six weeks to prepare twice, and he riddled him. And those Alabama rosters at the time had like 10 NFL guys. When Johnny Mansell, people forget this, when Johnny Mansell beat Sabin, this never gets talked about. It was the third straight, tough game for Bama. And they came in totally flat and were awful in the first half. And then Alabama came back, came back, came back, came back, came back, almost beat him. Nick Saban had six weeks to prepare for Deshawn Watson twice and couldn't stop him either time. Don't let me wrong.

I love Deshaun Watson, and I agree with you. He was on another level coming straight into the league. That's why I thought it was ridiculous that he wasn't going to start for a whole. He needed a whole extra half to get ready to start, but that's a whole other thing. But I just, I think that that Lamar Jackson has a similar athletic, like, ability that Deshaun Watson has. Yeah, yeah, I guess. He needs a little more development. Yeah, I think Lamar.

I think Lamar needs work. I think Deshaun was ready day one to play. Lamar, Mar's talented, but I think he's a project, not as much a prospect. And I hope he didn't get rushed in because I don't. I don't think he's right this moment ready to play. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Line News.

So yesterday, we said it was a big story. Came out, John Gruden hasn't talked to Khalil Mack, his second best player. Now, Gruden came out yesterday and said, no, no, no, I mean, we've talked. So he reacted to it. I want to bring on Greg Jennings because I couldn't believe the story. If I got the Raiders job, first called Derek Carr, second call Khalil Mack, and I'd get in a plane and say, we've got to talk fast now. And they have it.

So, you know, first of all, this sounds crazy, but I think coaches have egos, and coaches protect their brand. That's not crazy at all. Okay. Pete Carroll, by the way, went to USC, and they were rolling. Reggie Bush, Lendale White, Matt Lennie. He fired his offensive coordinator. Then they suddenly became a defensive program.

Why do you do that? He goes to Seattle. Where's he spent all the money on defense? Like Russell Wilson still has a terrible offensive line. Like coaches take care of the. themselves, their brand. And I look at the Kaleel Mack story, and Greg, part of me thinks Gruden's taking care of his part of the ball, which he's an expert at.

And if it flourishes, we think Gruden's a genius. Gruden's a genius. See, he knows offense. How do you not call Kalee Mack once, twice, three times? How do you not having coffee? Yeah, I'm baffled by the news and the reports, if it is true. My issue for me, Khalil Mack has a C on his jersey.

Captain. He's a captain. When you are a head coach and you are hired, I don't care who you are, John Gruden, it doesn't matter. You want to reach out to the guys who you know already have an influence and a voice on that team, who you identify with as your leaders going in. Khalil Mack is one of those guys. And for this to even be a conversation that we're talking about,

this is all on John Gruden. This should have never even been, I don't care if the conversation, I'm not saying go to his house, knock down his door. I'm just reach out, let him know right away, even though you know he's in contract negotiations. Hey, look, I'm supporting you.

You know how this goes. I have no impact in this. But I want you here. We need you here. You're a huge part of our success in the direction that we're going for the future in this franchise. That's it. I don't care if you don't talk to him anymore, but you've let him know that, look, I'm looking forward to working with you.

But to have not reached out and to your point to your defense, who was defensive player of the year two years ago? Oh, no, no. of the three or four best defensive players in the league, Von Miller, hands down. Aaron Donald, Khalil Mack. Hands down. And for me, that's problematic. And to your point, it shows how ultra-focused he is on one side of the ball.

The other thing is, if I was John Gruden, by the way, John Middilkoff, a former NFL scout who covers the Raiders said, it's ugly, it's tense, Max people are not happy, don't get this twisted. Gruden's in complete control of everything that goes on football-related. I have heard said Middil's camp. They don't believe John truly values defense. If you're Gruden and you come into camp, you know that Khalil Mack thinks you don't like me. Because Gruden's an offensive guy.

You got to go the extra work with Cleo Mac. Derek, Derek Carr, I'll get to you. You know I love you. We know Gruden's into quarterbacks. To me, I go to Khalil Mack first. I'm going to show you love. You think I'm a quarterback guy? You're my guy.

I am, where's your house? I'm flying to it. We're getting this deal done today. Yeah, Gruden's the only one that can change that narrative by what he does. There is no doubt in my mind or anyone's your mind that Derek Carr probably couldn't stop seeing those text messages or his phone from ringing from John Gruden blowing him up. But for him not to have reached out to a guy who has won defensive player of the year could have got at last. Like, that is a slap in the face of disrespect to not only defensive players, but your defense. This is the voice. This is the face of your defense.

And your head coach hasn't even reached out to him. Now, Gruden says I did. It's not my thing. You know, we got Reggie McKenzie. But I go back to this. Gruden's brand is quarterback guy. When you come to a football team, you got to show extra. love to the defensive star because he's going to think, oh hell, here comes quarterback guy.

Here comes quarterback guy. They had a defensive guy, Jack Del Rio. We shoved him out the door. Now we're going to become offensive guy. And to meet Khalil Max, the guy you really got to take care of. You know why Minnesota has been so successful? Because Mike Zimmer has found a way to become a head coach. He, defensive guy.

We all know he's a great defensive. But he shifted his mentality of just being a defensive coordinator. And now I'm the head coach. So that means I have to have relationships with my quarterback, my offensive coordinator, my receivers, my run. I need to know what makes them tick. I need to know what they're doing, how they're running their offense. That's what makes head coach is ultra successful. And for me, when I watched Mike Zimmer, he made an extra effort.

He didn't have to make an effort to the defensive guys. they knew they were going to see him. But he put forth an extra effort to come to the offensive side of the ball and make sure he was involved. That let us know that, wow, he has our back to a degree. Absolutely. By way, in Seattle, I really believe there's offensive people that think Pete's not on their side. They have another bad offensive line.

Like at some point, if I'm Russell Wilson, I'm like, coach, I'm your quarterback. I've got the league's worst line. I'm quarterback like for a while you can't keep selling you can't keep telling me things I got to see action

ego is in everything there is no question that head coaches who are defensive or offensive-minded aren't thinking about their side of the ball performing well they don't want to be the reason or the excuse of why we're not being successful like if we're losing

well it's not because of my offense my offense my offense is putting up numbers the defense, we just got to get that in check. But I'm not a defensive guy. That's right. That's the mentality of a lot of offensive and defensive coaches. You have confirmed my beliefs. Coming up next, excellent Aaron Rogers, Kevin Durant.

You played with one of them. Interesting comparison between the two hypersensitive guys. Are they the same guy? That's next. Greg Jennings, the herd. Tonight on FS1, Toronto, welcome some of the biggest names in basketball for this week's big three battles. The three-on-three games begin at 8 p.m. Eastern on FS1 or stream it live on the Fox Sports app.

Greg Jennings returns, 10 NFL season, seven in Green Bay, a Super Bowl and a Pro Bowl. So Kevin Durant is the only star I can think of him in America, who is one of the top two or three players in the world and is really sensitive. I say that with you on the set knowing there's one more person, Aaron Rogers, who to me can be sensitive. So here's Kevin Durant talking yesterday for the umpteat, time about Twitter and people that push back and burner accounts and whatever. Because every time I say something, I go about my business. And when I say something, who's the house of highlights and police report, gas you all up, and y'all run with it.

And as soon as I say something back, I'm the sensitive one. I mean, I know y'all try to make me look crazy and discredit me and strip me up my credibility. But I see what you're doing. But I'm still keep standing. I don't think anybody's trying to strip him of his credibility. I think Kevin Durant's sensitive. You play with Aaron Rogers.

And again, this comes off as criticism of Aaron Rogers. But I always felt he's in the stratosphere of great. And generally, the Joe Montana's, the Brady's, they just don't fire back. The MJs, the Kobe's, they just don't fire back. Aaron, to me, has always been kind of that guy that reads everything, has rabid ears. He'll be passive aggressive, but I, you know, like, he's fooling me, but I'm like, oh, I know what he's doing. He's hearing the criticism, right? 100%. 100%. You're 100% accurate on that. My thing with Kevin Durant, I don't know Kevin Durant personally. I only know from a fan's perspective. And in my experience, I believe fans are just if not more sensitive. Because when an athlete responds to the things that you are saying, social media, and social media has kind of made us all this way.

but when an athlete gives a rebuttal, then all of a sudden, oh, he should have never responded. Well, you're saying something that's triggering a response. So if I then decide not to respond, then you look at me one way. But the moment I decide to respond, now I'm sensitive. I don't know if it's so much of Kevin being sensitive or him just speaking his feelings. Like bottom line. Did it bother Aaron when people took shots at him? see because I know Aaron because I have a relationship there or let me let me stop because I have a

relationship yeah that in and of itself the fact that I don't even have that relationship anymore that should say enough right there right you know what I mean he doesn't like public criticism no and if you if you go against anything that is kind of anything against him it's like, really? Why would you say something like that? And it's truth telling, honestly. For me, it's truth telling. And so I know I have a relationship there. So I know

there are some sensitive ingredients mixed in there. With Kevin Durant, I don't have a relationship with him. It comes off as sensitive, but a part of me says, this is him saying I don't care what you say. I'm going to say something back. Some people just do

like the pushback. It's not my personality. I'm I got family, kids, business. I have no interest arguing with a guy in West Lafayette, Indiana, who's a bird on Twitter. But I know people I work with that really like it. Like that's former attorneys. Some guys like to argue. Some guys like to argue.

Some guys like to argue. I'm not an arguer. I'm not an arguer. I'd find it debilitating. Yeah, me either. I don't like it. I just, I'm an arguer. Like I don't like it.

I don't find, you know what I think of the psychology is? I grew up with parents who yelled at each other. So I've been to enough therapy in my life. I don't like that kind of conflict. I grew up as a little boy, hearing my mom and dad argue, and I didn't like it. When you're a little kid going to sleep at night and you're seven years old and mom and dad are yelling at each other, I went to a therapist about this. I'm like, I mean, not that I like sports and battling, but I don't like conflict, interpersonal conflict.

So for me, it's a psychology from my childhood. It's like, I believe it's like that for most people. I didn't grow up with parents arguing. So for me, if there was something, an issue that I had, I didn't always voice it. I would just internalize it. I would deal with it my own way, but I wouldn't, I wouldn't let it dictate my next move.

I wouldn't let it just completely move me for moving forward, if you understand what I'm saying. So for me, when I see things like this, when I see a Kevin Durant responding, dude, respond, shoot back. If, if, if, and his level of play stays the same,

that's the same, with Aaron. Like my criticism of Aaron Rogers has never been his performance on the field. Like, I've never questioned how great of a quarterback he is. Leadership, the way he carries himself as far as

relations and within the locker room, to be questioned. But the way he conducts himself on that football field? On Sunday. None better. By the way, Johnny Mansell gave Jimmy Garoppolo. stamp of approval for dating an adult star.

What did you make of that? Johnny Mansell said, I think you should live your life and I think it's great. And is that the end of Johnny Mansell's NFL career? I sat there and I thought to myself. Let me tell you something. Johnny Manzell, this is me. You're talking to a receiver number one.

I've just, I've never been a fan of Johnny Manzell. I'm not either. I've never been as a quarterback. Forget everything else. Like, he is not an NFL quarterback. Thank you. He's not. He's not.

He's not. He's not. He's tiny. By the way, when he went to the combine, his measurables, he's not that athletic. People look at Andrew Luck and go, Andrew Luck and Cam

had the same vertical jump. Cam and Andrew were athletic. I don't understand what all this, he's ruining his opportunity to get back. No, he, Johnny Mansell was who Johnny Mansell was in Cleveland and he

exited himself out of the NFL. because of his play. If he was as good as we all potentially think that he could have been or he thinks that he could have been, it would be a Josh Gordon situation. Josh Gordon is good enough to kind of hold on and say, wait a minute, hold on. This is worth rethinking, reconsidering. Oh, yeah.

Johnny Mansell, he doesn't pose that to you. He doesn't, no, absolutely. So is it the ultimate stamp of approval for Johnny Man? No. This is a guy who loves football who's not going to give up on his dream, and I will tell him never to, but sometimes dreams don't come true. They mostly don't. And his dream of getting back to the NFL?

Los Angeles is full of people who move from Nebraska to be stars. 95% are never stars. There are waiting tables in Hollywood. Hollywood is full of actors waiting tables. Most people from Ohio that move here, they get a toothpaste commercial, they have a walkthrough. I'm still sitting. I'm coming to L.A. trying to sit on that side and have you sit here. It's not going to happen.

I'm killing your dream right now. Your dream is done. You're a dreamer. All right. Chris Mannix, good stuff with Greg Janice. Chris Mannix around the corner. Good NBA stuff. Oh, Howard.

Number three, this is the herd. Live in Los Angeles, Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Joy Taylor is joining me. Chris Mannix, a great NBA guy throughout a wild theory yesterday. He's coming up in 15 minutes on the show about where Kevin Durant will play next year, after next year, and it's not with the Warriors. So he's going to show up in 15 minutes. He also has some thoughts on my Kauai Leonard Stealth shoe commercials. We have some Bill Belichick, Malcolm Butler, News and Best for Last.

But Joy, LeBron is inked to deal with HBO. And I'm going to start there. LeBron announces he's a Laker on July 1st. It is July 27th. That's 26 days of which. 10, he was gone. He was in Europe. LeBron's been in Los Angeles 16 days.

That's it. He already has a production deal for a movie, dinner with stars, and HBO shows all lined up, but he had a pizza promotion. In 16 days, folks, it takes six months to put TV shows together.

It takes 15 meetings to get TV deals. The Sixers were never a contender. The calves were never a contender. Houston was never in the running. San Antonio was never in the running. This thing was decided a year ago.

I don't think Miami, I don't think going back home to Cleveland was decided a year in advance. When LeBron James and Magic meant on July 1st, that wasn't a recruiting pitch. That was a strategy meeting. This is why Magic Johnson was teasing Jerry West six. months ago. We got him. We got him because they did. It's why Magic Johnson said before the signing, give me two years. If I don't have it done, fire me, because he knew we had LeBron. LeBron did wait to the very end in Miami, did wait a long time before making a decision to go back to Cleveland. A year ago in September, Peter Vessie reported a year ago, it's done. Peter Vessie, though,

no longer mainstream. He's retired. He used to be the guy in America that broke the stories in the NBA. He was woge pre-woge. He said a year ago, it's over. It's done. Decided. I'm watching all this stuff about his new HBO show and I'm watching clips and I'm watching all the stuff.

Folks, I've been in TV 20 years. 16 days, you got TV deals? 16 days, you got movie deals? Are you kidding me? He's had a pizza promotion. He's had dinner with stars. His baby was done. This is why Magic was goading people.

When they sat down in LeBron's home for three hours, we all thought it was a recruiting pitch. Magic sold it as a recruiting pitch. The guys like me. No, it wasn't. They sat down with a board a strategy. He goes, Rondo's available. Do you want him? And LeBron's said, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I like Rondo. He's tough. He competes. I competed against him. I like Rondo. He's super smart. He'll make Lons old. ball tougher. Get him. They did.

He said, Lance Stevenson's available. We can get him. Do you like him? LeBron? And LeBron said, oh, I played against him. He competes his ass off. I like him. He's crazy. He's not intimidated by anybody. He won't be intimidated by the Warriors. Get him. They did. Magic said, what do you think about Boogie Cousins? LeBron said, pass. Not

interested. By the way, there were rumors last year. Polinkin Magic like Boogie. Funny, never made an offer. Everybody was surprised. Why? Because that three-hour meeting was not a pitching pitch. It was a strategy meeting. Do you remember a year ago? A year ago, Rob Polinka had a press conference after they acquired a player. Who do you think he's talking about

here? When Rich texted me and said, hey, let's talk. It was like, you know, a lightning bolt hit us. And we said, gosh, this has, this has to be our focus. We got to find a way. The stories in the book of Genesis, where there was a time when the Israelites were wandering in the desert and all of a sudden bread came down from heaven. That's kind of what today feels like for us. Oh, no, he's not announcing LeBron. He's announcing KCP, who played for awful Detroit, who couldn't make the playoffs and you never watched play if you didn't live in Michigan.

Bread from the heavens? Who's KCP represented by? LeBron's guys a year ago. All right, let's shift to this. You got to make a choice in life and they're opposite choices. You want to be cool, bro? Or do you want to be a worker? Because if you want to be cool, take off work early.

Meet you for margaritas at five. Bro, drinks on me. You, no rules. Push back on managing. that's one lane in life. The other lane is, I'll pass. I got to stay late tonight again,

and I got to go home and do work. You want to be cool, bro, or you want to be worker. Tom Brady does a documentary. He's married to a supermodel. He's in his pajamas, watching film all day. Johnny Mansell broke into this league,

and I said at the very time, he's not wired to be a franchise quarterback. He's a cool bro. Johnny Mansell tanked. Then on the last six months, Johnny Mansell has been telling us. I am a new man. I am a worker. No more that cool bro hang out with guy stuff.

No more margaritas at four. That's what he told us. And what do you know? A little bait this week was thrown out. Just a little bait. Jimmy Garoppolo dated a porn star. Mansell talked about it, asked about it on his podcast. And changed man worker answered this way.

What's wrong with it? What's wrong with it? All these soft NFL reporters saying, oh, man, he's going on a date with a... Dude, let the guy live his life. He's going on a day. So what? Anything that's going to make him play better on a Sunday? It's not about playing.

It's not about playing. It's not a Sunday or a Monday. man jimmy jill live your life whatever you want whatever you want he's backing it up on the field he hasn't lost a game nothing guys doing everything he's needed to join life so be it little tiny bit of bait and he went back to who he is here's the real johnny mansell the cool bro being a comedian and a rock star is not cool. It's spending all day writing jokes, going to bed thinking about jokes, waking up, sitting there with a yellow pad like Seinfeld,

who's worth $750 million, writing jokes all day. It's not cool. Cool comedians don't do that. They're too busy wearing leather jackets and being cool. And they don't write jokes, and the material sucks. And it's the same in the NFL. Tom Brady, married to his supermodel, still doesn't come off as cool. Matt Ryan, great-looking dude, Russell.

Wilson. They're not cool. Cam is, Cutler is, Mansell is, Sanchez is. Johnny Mansell. He's cool guy. He's cool, bro. And he tried to fool you. And the minute a little bait came out, he swallowed it whole. And with that, Johnny Manzell and the NFL will never be mentioned in a sentence again. Belichick and Malcolm Butler, do we have closure on it? Chris Mannix around the corner. Chris has a suggestion, a thought, a theory on where Durant ends up. And it's not Golden State. And he's connected. By the way, we have a great last 45 minutes of the show. A lot of pushback yesterday on something I did from around the country. And I'll revisit that with John Gruden and the mess, I think potentially that will transpire in Oakland. But first, senior writer Yahoo Sports,

former senior writer Sports Illustrated podcast Chris Mannix on iTunes covered the NBA for 15 years. Chris Mannix, who threw a crazy thing out yesterday on Speak to Yourself. And you just kind of threw it out there. And we went to commercial. I'm like, what was that? We were talking about Lee Jenkins came on this show once and that Kevin Durant is a little bit of a wanderer. And he's very comfortable. You know, a lot of Americans, most Americans on average, never leave more than 18 miles from their mother.

That's a stat. 40% of Americans never leave their area code. Okay, I've been in eight states. I'm comfortable. I didn't have a traditional family. Kevin Durantz moved all over the country. Three different high schools. High school, college, Texas, Seattle, Oklahoma, Golden State.

Very comfortable with moving. And we now live in the mobility era. And you believe he's not finishing in Golden State. I don't. I don't think he finishes in Golden States. Look, after next season, he's going to have. of $80 million in his pocket from the last three years and probably three championships. So at 30 years old, Kevin Durant is basically going to have a blank canvas.

He can do whatever he wants, knowing his legacy is secured. And no question, there'll be a lot of teams out there trying to recruit him. I think Kevin Durant wants to hear those recruitments. I think Kevin Durant will be open-minded next summer when it comes to where he wants to go. But I keep going back to Oklahoma City. And I keep going back to the fact that everything we know about Kevin Durant, the sensitivities, how much he hates the fact that people say he jumped on Steph Curry's bandwagon and the fact that there has been no bridgeburned with Oklahoma City.

The relationship with Russell Westbrook seems to be the best it's been since he left Oklahoma City. I know, Colin, that there's some financial gymnastics you have to do to get a Kevin Durant on the roster, but I really believe that come the end of the year, he's going to take a long look at Oklahoma City. You know, Chris, we have history here. And I'm a big believer in just looking what's happened. All right, what's happened in the NBA? Dynasties never last as long as we think. That is just a fact.

They just don't. And they last shorter. Now, people always say, what about the Celtics? And what about magic? Didn't have social media then. Egos are amplified. Tension is amplified. Players now have 150 million net worth.

They're American royalty. The NBA stars are our royal family. I mean, even outside of like an Aaron Rogers, top five NBA stars are the biggest stars in American sports. Easily. Mike Trout can walk through a mall in America. Hat on, don't know him. Six-nine, LeBron, Kevin Durant, they are Beyonce.

They're Jay-Z. I think the thing that I keep noticing is players have been empowered in the NBA and they want to control their narrative. And what has Kevin Durant got to prove if they win again? There's nothing there. No. And by the way, I'm not sure Steph, loves him quite as much.

I don't know that that relationship is bad. I do think when David West at the end of that year, one of the things he said was like, you guys don't know, I think that that meant the tensions in that locker room were much higher than they ever have been before. Now that doesn't mean that they hate each other, but it does mean they went through some stuff during the year. And look, you've got a guy like Draymond, who I'm sure off the court they all like, but at the same time, how often do you have to kind of play Hall Monitor with Draymond and kind

to rein him back in. How tired must an Andre I Godala be in having to be that veteran locker room presence? I think that there's a good chance at the end of this year that that relationship may not have sour, but maybe Iran's course. I mean, Kevin Durant in every way was a mercenary going out there. He signed on to win championships and he accomplished that. In Oklahoma City is the only place he can go to where he can kind of complete his narrative. We can get everybody off his back. That's why I just, I just keep thinking. I mean, does he want to go to New York? Well, maybe. I mean, but he doesn't like being near his family on the East Coast. He never considered the Wizards a few years back for that reason.

Does he want to go to L.A.? No, no. A guy like Kevin Durant with three championships, you don't get to that point and say, I want to help LeBron win a championship. You get to that point and say, I want to win more championships than LeBron. I think that's the biggest reason

that a Kevin Durant wouldn't go to L.A. So I keep going back to Oklahoma City, a franchise that won't have a championship next year, but would be well positioned to win one if Kevin Durant came back in the mix. Carmelo Anthony is now, Houston Rocket. I said this earlier. The great players in the NBA are not only talented, but they have self-awareness. Duane Wade, LeBron, Steph, Jerry West, Magic Bird. The great

players understand on a macro level, I need help. Pass more. These guys could all drop 40 a game, okay? But at some point, Kobe needed Pau Gasol and went to the organization. I'm leaving here if you don't get me. Melo's to me is, oh, that's been a hole with Melo. He had Mike Dan Tony, who's good for every offensive player, who doesn't care about defense. He ran him out of town. He's in Denver. He forces the Knicks to give up a draft

pick and players, instead of waiting three months, going and using all those to get another player. He lacks self-awareness. I look at Houston and Carmelo, and I think, he's a bench player now, right? Like, isn't he a bench player? He laughed at that suggestion.

I don't know how it's going to work. Do you? No, I don't think that, look, the Rockets didn't get better in all this. Once he eventually signs, you can't look at them and say they're a better team than they were last year. You might be able to say that if Carmelo did say he was sixth man. I mean, look, I think Carmelo could play to lose 40. I think as a sixth man, he can still cook those second unit defenders. He can still give you 15 points per game playing 25 minutes per game against second unit guys, but he just won't accept that not playing the first six minutes of the game is okay. I mean, look, Con, he doesn't play at the end of the Oklahoma City season. Who was on the floor in the fourth quarter

of big games at Carmelo's position? It was Jeremy Grant. He was playing a lot of those minutes because he defends better. He's more athletic. He fits in what the team wants to do around Westbrook and Paul George. If Carmelo really believes that it's starter or bust, this could be his last season in the league. Because I don't know a team out there, at least a contender, that would say I want to take Carmelo Anthony on, put him in the starting lineup, and I think I can win. It's either sixth man and play for a winner or starter and maybe out of the league. Everybody myself included micro-analyzed Westbrook Paul George. They actually worked okay together. Yeah. They were fine. They weren't great. They were fine. It was the first year. Wade and LeBron were clunky in the first

year. But Westbrook, Paul, George, and Mello, Mello was a disaster. Like we have, again, I go back to something I always do on the show in the morning when I prep for the show. what's precedent? Like, I think the Mellow Houston thing could be a mess. Now, I said this to start my show today. LeBron, July 1st, I'm a Laker. It's July 27th. He's been here 27 days.

Oh, wait. He left for Europe for 10. He's been in L.A. 16 days. He's got a TV show on HBO. He's got a movie deal, dinner with stars, and a pizza promotion. A year ago, September, Peter Vessie said, it's done. he's going to the Lakers and he was adamant about it. Now, Peter

was pre-Wosh for about 20 years. When I watched this HBO thing and the promo I got for it and I watched it, I thought, come on. You can't just get deals done in this. Well, let me just correct. I would say this because, you know, from my boxing background, I know a lot of the HBO guys, that's been in the works for a while.

Like, Maverick Carter, as, you know, spends a lot of his days inundating showtime at HBO with ideas. I mean, they have. That's LeBron's best. friend. That's his best friend. Yeah, it is business manager, the guy that does the entertainment side of LeBron James, Inc., so to speak. So that part of, I think, doesn't have much to do with L.A. It's the next level stuff that has everything to do with L.A. That's where I kind of agree with you that, look, I don't know that it was a foregone conclusion back in September because we've seen

a lot change during seasons. Would things have changed if, say, the Cavs that won a championship? If they'd been able to make a mid-season deal to acquire a player that LeBron really wants to play with a lot can change in that period of time. But once it went the way it went, the other stuff started to come into play a lot more, the being kind of a media mogul and thinking about the next chapter of his life. I mean, he's been here, he's been in town 16 days. It's just a thing after a thing, after a business thing. It'll keep being that way because everybody will take a meeting with this guy. Everyone will sit down with him and discuss whatever project he wants to do next. So, Kauai Leonard, I keep hearing he doesn't want a shoe deal. And I said earlier, if I would have

told people five years ago, there's going to be a hip-hop version of a fact. founding father, the guy on the $10 bill, and it's going to take over Broadway. You'd have been like, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. It's called Hamilton. If I'd have told you there's going to be a business where random strangers come to your house, pick you and your kids up and go places. Who are they? No idea.

It's Uber. A lot of things sound crazy. I can't believe that a finals MVP at 22, best two-way player in the league, maybe one of the best defensive players in a long time, can't get a shoe deal. So I created a shoe. I said, what do you think of when you think of Kauai Leonard? Do you think of defense under the radar, covert, private, black gray jersey? We created the stealth.

Now, I'm going to show the commercial we also created for it. Here's one of our commercials. I think it works. He's the most secretive player in the NBA. He flies so under the radar that even his own coach couldn't figure out where he went for the last three months of the season. Stealth by Kauai Leonard, a shoe so under the radar. Maybe it'll be at the shoe store. Maybe it won't.

We just don't know. So my thing is, can you get a massive shoe deal in Toronto? Of course you can't. I mean, we're well past the days where market is the most valuable thing out there. I mean, think about what Durant was in his last year in Oklahoma City. I believe he was one of, if not the most endorsed player on the planet. LeBron James forever has been one of not the most endorsed player on the planet. If Kauai Leonard is successful and goes back to being the top three player in the league,

he absolutely will get a shoe deal. And I think we have to remember, Toronto's not basketball Siberia. I mean, Toronto's one of the best cities in North America, one of the best cities in the world. It's a tremendous city to be in. If Kauai is the same player, he is not only going to get a shoe deal, it might be one of the largest shoe deals of anybody in the league. Really? I believe it.

Look, I just... He doesn't talk. That's a bigger problem, though, than market. I mean, look, I have had so many bizarre experiences with Kauai Leonard. When he was coming off that finals MVP season, I went down to San Antonio with basically a promise of being on the cover of Sports Illustrated. All I wanted was like 15 minutes. He whittled it down to like 35 seconds.

That's all he would give me and we're walking around the practice facility. He doesn't want attention. He doesn't want to talk to the media. He doesn't see any value in talking to the media. That's a bigger issue when it comes to. shoe endorsements than wherever he's playing. So you, because the way it works for our audience, players will do interviews, stars, if they get the cover of a magazine.

It's a nice, nice hook to have you. You go to Kevin Durant. We'll give you the cover of SI if you give us 35 minutes. Yeah. And Kauai gave you 35 seconds. 35 seconds. It was one of the most surreal experiences I've ever been a part of. Bad guy or just odd? No, good guy. Good guy.

And just not interested at all. He's got people around him. You know, his uncle Dennis has been a prominent figure in a lot of stories about Kauai. He's got people around him that speak a lot and are great at giving anecdotes and telling stories. But Kauai himself, he just doesn't see the upside in having those conversations. In a way, he's a lot like Russell Westbrook. Russell Westbrook also doesn't see the upside in letting people into that side of his life. Kauai doesn't see it, and that's what would stop him from getting a good shoe deal. By the way, a Celtic Jason Tatum, love that,

is in Los Angeles with a Laker, Kobe Bryant, and they're training together. What do you make of it? I love it. I don't know that you get, I don't know if a player who works out with another star, former star, for a couple of weeks, gets a lot out of them in terms of the game. Like, I don't think Jason Tatum is going to come back to Boston and all of a sudden start playing with Kobe Bryant-like moves. I think for a guy like Tatum, who's only 20 years old, he's going to learn more about the way to approach a practice, the way to approach a game, just the mental side of it, being around Kobe for a couple of weeks. I felt the same way when we saw Akeem Elijah want out there working with other players, dream did it for a little while. You don't necessarily learn their moves, but you learn their approach, but I think it's just as valuable. By the way, I have on my sheet here, this is interesting.

Rich Paul wanted LeBron to go to Philly. I think, well, look, I think the meeting with Philadelphia was far more Rich Paul and LeBron's team inspired than LeBron himself. I mean, Rich Paul represents Ben Simmons. Ben Simmons is a major client for that agency, the next potential big star in this league. So LeBron's dudes, one of them, was heavy Philly. I mean, look, I think L.A. was probably the favorite for everybody. But I think the meeting with Philly took place at the behest of Rich Paul, who was more interested in that side of going to the East Coast and being with Philly than LeBron was.

I think LeBron was already pretty locked in at that point in L.A. Yeah. I do think LeBron and Ben Simmons would be unbelievable. Oh, I don't know. How does that work? I don't know. I don't have a... I'm not one of those people that says it's never going to work. Like it's stupid, but...

I mean, if you go back to Dwayne Wade and LeBron, they really weren't ideal. They never fit perfectly. Neither one was, at the time, great perimeter shooters. Duane always felt like a smaller LeBron. He liked to finish at the room. I mean, Ben Simmons, though,

is the point guard, and LeBron, for most of his career, has been the de facto point guard. This is why the L.A. stuff continues to be wild to me. I mean, this is going to be such a carnival out there with the style of play that they're going to play,

with the characters they have in that locker room. And this call, not to change the subject, but this is one of those issues that I think will affect L.A. in the summer of 2019. Star players want functionality from their franchise. As you sit here today, do you think the Lakers at end of June next year are going to look back on the 18-19 season say, boy, what a functional season? Like how great was that year? Like the Knicks are going to be terrible.

But they look like a functional franchise. They will look like a functional franchise this year with their coach, their front office, everything kind of running smoothly from that end. Very exciting. Good stuff. Chris Manix. What's your podcast again? The Yahoo Sports NBA podcast. It's up right now. Cool stuff. Good seeing you, bud. You too. We got a great last half hour. I got a lot of pushback on something I did yesterday.

I want to revisit that. That's coming up. First, Joy, Taylor, with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. All right, Colin, I've been saving all my outrage all week for this. Okay. I wasn't outraged over the Jimmy G situation. So I'm going to pour all of it into the this. You know, I don't like to react to LISBN, they're out of line with this one.

So they rank the best college championship teams of the last 20 years. Of the last 20 years? Yes. And as we all know, 2001 Miami Hurricanes are, of course, the greatest college football team ever assembled. They were good, yeah. They're the greatest college football team ever assembled.

Okay. And they put Vince Young's 2005, Texas Longhorns, at number one. Followed by Tebow's, 2008, Florida Gators, which is just complete disrespect. And then the hurricanes. You know, my takeaway is there's no Alabama. Because Alabama's been so pedestrian a quarterback.

All right. Let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we? Miami beat Nebraska in that championship game, 37 to 14. While Texas beat USC 41 to 38. That 2001 Miami Hurricane team, would you like to hear the starters for that team? Oh, they were great. Ken Dorsey, Clinton Portis, Andre Johnson, Jeremy Shockey, Brian McKinney, Brett Romberg. The bench?

You're going to hear the bench? Wilson, McGee, Vernon Carey, Frank Gore, Kellan Winslow, Jr., Rashad Butler, Chris Myers. That was the bench. Defensive starters, Ed Reed, DJ Williams, Vilma. On the bench was Vince Wilfirk, Sean Taylor, Antrell Roll. You know what I've said before. Miami's the only program ever.

I think when Miami was great, they were the best. I've said this before. I think USC was second. In the Pete Carroll era, when Clay Matthews couldn't start at linebacker, then went into the NFL and was defensive rookie of the year. The best Miami Hurricanes are the only college program where their players not only went to the NFL, they were often better pros than college players,

and they were stars in the NFL. Alabama players for all the ones in the last decade, you know, Julio Jones is a star. A lot of their guys are just good or average. I mean, that team produced three Hall of Famers, Frank Gore, Ed Reed, Vince Wilford. No, I don't disagree. the best college football team

I've ever seen was I think it was the maybe the end of Jimmy Johnson. There was a, there was one Miami team and I was just like it was, by the way, Bush Davis could recruit like nobody's business. He gave it was like a 2001 team

they've had, I say Miami Yeah, the 2001 National Championship team. Yeah, I say Miami at its best is the best I've ever seen in college football. And I think USC with Pete Carroll, he had two teams that were absurd, where it was just literally Clay Matthews couldn't start at linebacker as a senior, went to the NFL and was the NFL rookie of the year defensively.

Couldn't start because they had three NFL linebacker. I know this is designed to just upset me, but it worked. So Tony Romo's early Super Bowl AFC team pick are ready to pick up where they left off last January. Remember who he picked to the Jags off to the Super Bowl? After finishing the season a win away from the Super Bowl, Blake Bordals has made it clear. It is championship or bust for the Jags in 2018 NFL season. Our goal, you know, our goal here is to make it a playoff, is win the AFC South and go win a Super Bowl.

And we got two out of the three done last year and obviously came up short on finishing that last goal. So, you know, in a sense, it does feel as though it's unfinished business as far as, you know, we didn't finish, you know, what we said this time last year, what we were going to do. I don't buy it. Third in the division, taking a major step back. I mean, I don't know what I'm supposed to do with that. Yeah, taking a step. But listen, Andrew Lucks back.

I didn't buy into the Jags last year. They're a great defense. Deshawn Watson's back. Andrew Lucks back. The AFC's better. Sorry. The whole division is different this year. Yeah.

I mean, aim high. Totally different. But I don't have to buy into that. Finally, Sean McDermann has decided to start camp with Nathan Peterman, taking snaps with the starters. A.J. McCarrans with the second team and Josh Allen's on the third team. The bills were off to a great start. Check in on that decision.

And Peterman's first pass. He was way too close to reliving his unreal NFL debut by throwing a pick six. There you go. Lord. Sorry, Nathan. Peterman had the worst game by an NFL quarterback in 40 years when he threw five interceptions in the first half against the Chargers. Also, Josh Allen doesn't know how to work a revolving door. So they're in good shape there.

Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. So earlier this week, I ever... Every Tuesday during the NFL season, I do something called the herd hierarchy, 10 best teams. And this week I did something called the herd dumpster hierarchy, 10 teams that will unravel. And the reason I did it is because every year, a third of the league unravels.

And here are my teams 1 through 10 that I think will underachieve. They've got higher hopes. And I think all 10 of them, there's a combustible component to all of them. Raiders, Tampa Bay, Lions, Ravens, Panthers, Dahl. dolphins, bears, Seahawks, Jags, and Broncos. And I got a lot of pushback. And I got calls from people who are like, oh, my God, my local radio guys are talking about this. And we called it the herd dumpster firearchy.

And what I said was, listen, you know that a third of the league is going to unravel. And if you think I'm wrong, just go to the end of last year. And the reason the genesis was this, John, the reason I started doing this because John Gruden came out and said, I haven't spoken with Khalil Mack. And then yesterday, John Gruden goes, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I've spoken to Cleo Mac. And then John Middalcoff comes out for the athletic and says, no, Kalil Camp, Kalil's camp, Kalil Mack's camp, not happy with Gruden. So there's just too much stuff going on.

So I have the Raiders as the biggest dumpster fire potentially in the league. Doesn't mean it'll happen. But I guarantee you half these teams, watch out. Well, let's go to the end of last year. A third, 11 teams last year in the NFL. Like 11, 1-6 or less. Only won the Jets, we didn't expect to be good. The Jets are the only bad team in the league last year that overachieved.

I picked the Jets to go like 0-1-16. The Jets actually had six wins and played their arses off. But at the end of last year, let's go to what the top 10 unravelings were. Number one was Cleveland. Nobody picked them to go 0-N-16. They went 0-N-16. They were an absolute mess. Number two, did you pick the New York Giants to go three and 13?

Because they were 11 and 5 the year before. None of you predicted that. The New York Giants ended up at 3 and 13. They were the second biggest mess in the league. By the way, Denver, did you really think they were going to have their worst Bronco team in, I mean, God. They almost fired their coach. Denver doesn't like fire coaches. five games in. By the way, Tampa Bay, James Winston improving, there was huge promise. They ended up

being 5 and 11 and a mess, dead last in their division. Oakland went 12 and 4 the year before. Last year they were 6 and 10. Nobody expected that. We all loved Eric Carr. They fired their coach. They were a mess. They unraveled. How about the dolphins? Sorry, Joy, but the Jay Cutler situation was worse than expected. It didn't turn out too well. Number seven, the cold. Andrew Luck never played a game. We went into last season. Most people thought he would play a game. He never did. They were awful. Number eight, the Houston Texans,

lost to Sean Watson, lost their last six games. Couldn't move the chains, couldn't pick up first downs for a month. Green Bay lost eight of their last 11. Anybody predict that? No, Aaron Rogers got hurt. And finally, Washington went from a playoff team to seven and nine

had the most injuries of any team, any roster I recall, in years. So, last This year, you had 10 teams that were significantly worse. We didn't think Cleveland would be great. Do you think they'd be 0-16? So I'm not critical of the Raiders, but Gruden not talking to Cleo-Matt, Gruden out of the league for 10 years.

They need defense. First couple of picks, two at three were offensive linemen. Not a lot of momentum. Reggie McKenzie Gruden, do they get along? A lot of different stories here. I just think the Raiders are incredibly, incredibly. combustible. My number one on the herd dumpster

hierarchy. Coming up next, Bill Belichick finally opening up about the Patriots drama. That is next in best for last. An exclusive documentary series is coming to Fox follow the NFL's number one draft pick as he navigates his way through the complex world of professional football. All the way up,

Baker Mayfield, Part 1 Sunday at 3 Eastern on Fox or stream it on the Fox Sports app. Excited for that. We talked a lot of. about Kevin Durant, the very, very sensitive, Kevin Durant. You know, it is interesting. I don't think Durant. Chris Mannix just said it.

I don't think Durant's going to end his career as a warrior. I don't. I think he's an incredibly sensitive guy. He's had, he talked yesterday, and this must be the 15th time. He sat down. He's talked to burner accounts. He's talked about how people think of him. And he went from Oklahoma City to Oakland to fill a void, right?

He was going to fill a void. He couldn't win the big game, so he goes there. I'm going to fill a void. and it hasn't worked. Basketball is not filling the void, whatever the void is. He's kind of got a wanderer personality. Lee Jenkins came on our show once in a very long interview with Kevin Durant, and he just said he's just a different guy. Durant's still a searcher. He's still somebody who seeks things out. I think he's still the kind of person, just knowing him a little bit and the way he sort of seeks out different challenges.

He could seek out something different at some point. I don't think that's beyond the realm of the possible. I'm not saying that would be next season or even the season after. But he's still somebody who may at some point want to show what he can do. I mean, Durant is just a different dude, and it's not a bad thing, but we have a kid who's comfortable with change in an era of change. And, I mean, now it's funny, it used to be even five years ago when a player left for another team he was criticized.

Now you look at people and they go, God, why wouldn't Clay Thompson leave? That's weak. like you get criticized for not leaving and upgrading your profile and your status. So it's for guys that are comfortable moving like LeBron and Durant, I don't think they're going to stop moving. And I have always felt the Warriors are really Steph Curry's team. Now, I think Durant's the overall better player, but I think as far as changing basketball all time and influence on pace and play,

Curry's the more valuable player on the team. It's just that in a series, a seven-game series, Durant's really impossible to stop. He's a seven-footer who is a mid-range whiz and a three-point ace. There's not a lot of Kevin Durant's all time. Whether or not he went to the Warriors, to me, he was going to be a top 20 player of all time. I mean, I think he's significantly better than Scotty Pippen. And Scotty Bippen's a top.

Is Scotty Pippin a top 20 player, top 30 player? Top 30. I mean, it's debatable. You look at his championships and what Michael was without Scott. Is he better than D. Wade? I think he... I don't know. He's clearly a better offensive player.

I think he's going to end up because I think... You can't ask me this, Colin. I know, but I think he's going to end up better than D. Wade and better than Scottie Pippen and better than D. Who, Durant? Yes. Oh, I thought you were trying to, is Scotty Pippen better than D. Oh, no, no, no.

Is Duran better than he weighed? Oh. I think when it's all said and done. And I think it's going to be tough for LeBron's legacy if Duran it keeps winning this way because what value do you put in championships during the LeBron era? They're not everything, but there's something. There's no question Charles Barkley and Dan Marino would be a little higher on the list if they had a title. Just one.

No question. All right, it's time every day. Best for last. After almost three hours, Colin apparently hasn't gotten to the point yet. Quit holding out on us, Cowherd. It's the best for last. Well, so the NFL ratings were down last. I would surmise from that, we lost all sorts of quarterbacks.

And offense was down, touchdowns down, completion percentage down, yards per game down. And just to give you some sense, this is really weird. We put it together today. Just think of how, joy, how bizarre last year was, how off-brand the end. NFL. Everybody thinks, well, the anthem is why the ratings are down. No, we love stars and we love offense. Here's a look at the bizarreo year of 2017 in the National Football League. Seven potential MVP candidates got injured. Aaron Rogers, Carson Wentz, Deshawn Watson, Odell Beckham Jr., Derek Carr, J.J. Watt, Andrew Luck missed the season. The Dolphins were

excited about their new quarterback, Jay Cutler, the Giants benched Eli Manning for Gino Smith. Statistically, the best quarterback in the NFL was Alex Smith. Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky played an entire game, completed four passes, and the bear still won. The Chargers played home games in a soccer stadium. Nobody knew when a receiver caught a ball and when he didn't, which is sort of important. First time in the Super Bowl era, the Cowboys, Redskins, Packers, Giants, and Niners all missed the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Bills, Titans, and Jags made the playoffs. Jaguars almost made the Super Bowl

I repeat the Jaguars almost made the Super Bowl Star quarterbacks leading their teams to the championship games were Blake Bortles, Nick Foles and Case Keenum, yikes. The Super Bowl MVP was a backup quarterback

and finally the Browns. It was a weird, weird season. And I'm not saying the anthem thing didn't tick off some people, but points per game, completion. percentage, passer ratings, totally yards per game, all down, interceptions up. Quarterback play stunk.

Stunk. Just in one division, the AFC South, Deshawn Watson and Andrew Luck return. It's going to be a different division. Jags aren't going to dominate it. Jags went 10 and 6 last year, 4 and 0 against those guys. Never forget the Jags went 0 and 2 against Tennessee. So it was a, it was a, it just, it can't be, I just think this year we've also got this batch of young quarterbacks, Sam

Darnold in New York, Baker in Cleveland, Lamar Jackson and Baltimore. Those are real good stories. We also have a coaching story that's fascinating. John Gruden in Oakland. So you've got a fascinating coaching story, three really captivating rookie

stories at minimum, and then you've got, you know, you've got like MVP's coming back to play. So I think we're going to have a very, very interesting NFL season. I always say I can tell when we're getting close to the NFL season and the football season because I can start smelling grass. We're not there yet.

It's still too hot. But I am almost close to grass, the smell of grass. You can think of all the quarterbacks. Our guys are putting them on the wall here that return that didn't play at some point last year. Aaron Rogers, Carson Wentz, Deshawn Watson. Like didn't play last year, big chunks. Andrew Luck didn't play the entire season.

Like it's a star quarterback league. These are the guys, Jimmy Garoppolo is a backup to, start last year. Now he's a starter. Think of all these big name guys. Patrick Mahomes at Kansas City with a loaded roster. It is remarkable. It really is. Linear TV is going down anyway. But if you look at all the mayhem, look at all the new stories at quarterback. Some of them are like Lamar Jackson and Darnold. I guarantee Lamar Jackson and Flacco's a controversy. I guarantee it. And I say this. I think he's a better NFL prospect than Tebow. But if you look at Baltimore and Denver, they're kind of the same. Above average franchises have Super Bowls historically have had all-time players.

John Elway, Ray Lewis, Jonathan Ogden, these are proud franchises. They're used to winning. Tebow arrived in Denver and they didn't like their quarterback and they weren't winning enough. And Lamar Jackson arrives and they have a veteran quarterback but they're not winning enough. Rival Steelers now own the division. And both Tebow and Flacco are first round quarterback. So in the eye of the fans, they should be playing. And it's going to take about a month, but you watch. If Flacco sputters in the first month, it's going to become Tebow-Mania, where Lamar's not quite ready.

Tebow wasn't. Tebow was like third string on their depth chart. Not quite ready, but you're going to have fans and media, every question, and you're sputtering on offense, and they're going to roll the dice and put him out there, and it's going to be interesting. Whether or not I agree with it, it's going to be absolutely. If Lamar Jackson starts a game this year, I am watching that game. The Garoppolo thing in San Francisco to me,

now the added element of the adult film star is really must-see TV for me. For joining everybody here, we will be back on Monday. Later in the day, check it out. Speak for yourself. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in.

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