The Herd with Colin Cowherd - NFL free agency, Giants, Lakers, LeBron James, & the Raiders

Episode Date: March 14, 2019

Colin discusses who the big winners and losers were in NFL free agency, the problems with the New York Giants, the story of the Los Angeles Lakers considering trading F LeBron James, and why he believes we have been too hard on the Oakland Raiders. Guests include Bucky Brooks, Warren Sharp, Bill Oram, and Joe Banner. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. Help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter.

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

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That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in to her, he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast.

Be sure to catch us live every weekday from 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1. Find your local station for The Herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day on the iHeart Radio app by searching Herd. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, here we go. This is The Herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening, we're live in Los Angeles on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, Sirius XM Channel 83, no television today, but we will send

all sorts of clips out on Twitter, on Facebook, on YouTube today. It is a radio-only day in our beautiful studio near Beverly Hills. It's great to have you in today. I love days like this. Bringing all sorts of fun guests on. My staff knows how much fun it is for me when it's sort of a radio-only day. We can screw off more. You're a lot more fun on radio-only-olds.

I am a lot more fun. I'm a lot more giving. Like substitute teacher, Colin. I know. I really am. I'm screw-off, Colin. It's great to have you in. So I've always been a football guy.

My first day I ever went on syndicated radio 15 years ago to another network. I remember replacing Tony Cordyzer and I said, okay, I'm a football guy. However that lands for you, I'm a football guy. Not to say I don't love an NBA basketball or don't have a big fight. Baseball playoffs are fun. March Madness is great. But I'm a football guy. And I'm watching this free agent thing.

And I think it's wildly entertaining. Actually, the team I thought did the best was the Green Bay Packers. They got three defensive starters and a starter on the offensive line. They went and got four starters, three for sure. And they didn't pay a fortune for any of the defensive guys. So I thought Green Bay had a really good free agent signing period. You know, Raiders obviously made a big splash. Cleveland made a big splash.

But, you know, the thing about this business is if you do marginal homework, you can find out there's a lot of nonsense out there. This idea, the New York Giants, are going to literally be, they're going to detonate because O'Dell Beckham lost is laughable. They were awful with O'Dell Beckham. But I just want to remind everybody of this. I'm going to give you a bunch of teams that lost their star-wide receiver. Now, in some cases, this receiver is not as good as O'Dell Beckham,

but this receiver at least plays every Sunday. Odell Beckham's missed 16 games in two years. It's a real problem. He broke his ankle. He's a speed guy. So New England lost Brandon Cooks. He was their speed guy and their deep threat. What happened to the following year?

They won the Super Bowl. The Saints lost Brandon Cooks. What happened following year? One play from the NFC championship. The Rams lost Sammy Watkins. They got better and went to the Super Bowl. The Miami Dolphins lost their number one receiver Jarvis Landry. Six and 10 to seven and nine.

Better without it. him. The Bears lost Al-Shan Jeffrey. They improved by two wins the following year. Philadelphia lost to Sean Jackson, comparable, you know, athletic and style to OBJ, 10 and 6 and 10 and 6. Calvin Johnson, who's going to be a first ballot Hall of Fame wide receiver, retired from the Detroit Lions. They went from 7 and 9. He left. They went 9 and 7 to the playoffs. The Patriots bailed on Randy Moss. They went 14 and 2 without him. Cincinnati bailed on Ocho Cinco, 4 and 12 to 9 and 7. Now, I think they had A.J. Green as a rookie coming in.

But the point is, Des Bryant left the Cowboys. They got better, non-playoff team to playoff team. This idea that you lose a star receiver, dominant wide receivers often create an unhealthy imbalance, where the quarterback becomes paralyzed, especially in first halves, getting him to ball, getting him into the game, calming down his ego. We saw that with Des Bryant and Dak Prescott. Dak Prescott got better the minute Des Bryant left. Everybody was freaking out.

Even in New York, the Giants were four and 12 in their last 16 games with Odell Beckham Jr. When he didn't play, Eli Manning spread the ball around more. So I don't ever buy. I think it's complete nonsense that if you lose your star receiver, you know, it's like anything. Let's say I have a sports card. I've always compared wide receivers to sports cars. They're flashy, they're popular, but they're not as good when the weather turns. You can't have a convertible sports car out when it's snowing.

And wide receivers, star wide receivers have never dominated the playoffs, even last year. It gets cold, it gets windy. You bracket them. I mean, basically, the Patriots took Tyreek Hill out of the game for Kansas City. And it's like a sports car. If somebody took your sports car from you, well, you'd just drive your SUV more. Maybe you'd lose a couple of great days, but it's not what you build your franchise around. You don't build your transportation around a fiat.

In most of the country, you need an SUV, a four-wheel drive, some car that can handle bad weather. You know, that's all the wide receiver is. It's a flashy sports car, which, by the way, is often great September, October, but by November and December, they erode in impact. So, you know, I just, I don't buy. The Giants issue is not losing Odell Beckham Jr. The Giants issue is they took a running back last year with a number two spot and passed on a quarterback. That's their issue.

If Sam Darnal was a New York giant, O'Dell Beckham would still be a New York giant because he wouldn't be unhappy. And they'd be winning more games because they wouldn't have a quarterback who's a complete shot fighter who's unathletic. Darnold's young, but he's athletic. He's a gamer. He's played very well at the last month of the season. So just you do a little bit of homework and this idea that O'Dell Beckham is going to change everything for anybody, he can't stay healthy. And frankly, you're going to feel like you have to get him the ball in Cleveland and they've got great running backs, a great tight end, a great number two. There's a lot of mouse to feed in Cleveland. This will not

go perfectly for them. Let me shift to this with the New York Giants. I find this is one of the great mysteries in sports. And, you know, sports is about superstition, but there's not very many mysteries in sports. We solve stuff in sports. Sports has finality. You win, you lose, you're in, you're out, you're traded, you get an extension, and a lot of mysteries in sports.

I think the greatest mystery in sports is why are the New York Giants so paralyzed by Eli Manning. Cut him. He'd save $17 million. The last six years, he's 38 and 57, and he has nothing left in the tank. Now, I want you to think about that for a second. The Colts moved off Peyton Manning faster than the Giants can move off Eli. Payton was coming off a 10 and 6th season, got hurt, and they moved on to Andrew Luck. And Peyton Manning still had gas in the tank. The great Peyton Manning, Colts moved off him quick. The Packers moved off Brett Farr, who just got him to the NFC championship. Still at a ton left in the tank.

Let him go. The Niners moved off Joe Montana, four Super Bowls. He had a 14 and 2 year, got hurt the following season. Exit stage right. They moved off. Eli's a bad quarterback with nothing in the tank. Why are they terrified? The Colts moved off Peyton Manning after nine straight winning seasons.

The Cowboys moved off Tony Romo to play Dak Prescott, a fourth round quarterback once he got hurt. Philadelphia was 11 and 5. Donovan McNadd led him to the playoffs. He had led the Eagles to the playoffs in eight of ten seasons. They trade him to the division rival Redskins. Yet the New York Giants can't move off Eli Manning. Remember when the Rams moved off Kurt Warner? He was like 14 and 2, got hurt.

they moved off him, he eventually ends up with Arizona, leading him to a Super Bowl. I mean, Eli's got nothing in the tank. Farv had something in the tank. Peyton had something in the tank. Warner had something to tank. Montana had some of the tank. So not only would you move off him and save money, he wouldn't come back to burn you. Like the Packers knew there was a chance.

Farv would come back to burn them. The Colts knew. He was a free agent. Peyton, Denver could come back to burn them. the 49ers, Montana, went to Kansas City. He would succeed. Marty Schottenheimer. I understand when teams are a little reluctant,

letting go of a star in division. I don't want to face him twice a year. I get the Steelers saying, we're not trading you to the Ravens. We're not trading you to the Bengals or the Browns or the Patriots. That's too close proximity. I get that. And I also get when he's still a star player,

it can be painful. You know, you know, I mean, the Steelers know, Antonio Brown on Sunday, he's going to be lighting teams up. And people are going to say, oh, Pittsburgh. But Eli's got nothing in the tank. You'd save 17 million. The Colts were less patient with Peyton. Well, that's because of Andrew Locke. Yes, in some instances, there has been somebody out there.

But there was for the Giants, too, Sam Darnold. and they were petrified to move off Eli. What does New England build their entire framework around? Always move off people early and never late. It is the great mystery in sports. What in the God's name do they owe Eli Manning? Retire his jersey, put him in the ring of honor, Seacrest out.

It is amazing. Teams have moved off quarter of, with all sorts of suitors and talent left. And they can't move off Eli. And they can't move off Eli is why they're a mess. They're not a mess because they lost O'Dell Beckham Jr. They were four and 12 in the last 16 with him. They're a mess because they are somehow terrified and paralyzed

to move off the less talented Manning brother, the great mystery in sports. Good to have you in today. Joe Banner, former Brown and Eagle president, Bill Orham of the Athletic. You know, I got into a, he covers the Lakers, I got into this discussion yesterday with a friend. When you live in a city, I lived in Tampa, and, you know, you kind of pull for the home team because you cover them. It's much more fun to cover a 12 and 4 team than a 4 and 12 team. When I worked in Las Vegas, you know, UNLV.

It was fun when they went to the team. tournament. I got to go to a couple final fours. In Los Angeles, you know, it's cool when the Rams make the Super Bowl. Like everybody's having parties in my neighborhood. It's cool to live in a city where the teams are doing well. It's probably a lot more fun to live in Alabama when the Crimson Tide are good than, you know, during the

Shula years. But I also think when you live in a town, you see the warts of a team. And maybe I'm just too cynical, but I think the LeBron Laker thing is dead. And I don't think it's getting better. I really don't.

That and why we got to slow down a little bit on the Raider hate, myself included. And it's not because of Antonio Brown. That's coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, weekdays and noon Eastern 9 a.m. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHard Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

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Good, have you in. The, you know, it's funny, usually when coaches get a job, Goulet, you've been with me for years. I usually give a coach a year to get the act together. My kind of theory on coaches, I mean, Nick Saban lost Louisiana Monroe his first year. Pete Carroll's first year at USC, 6 and 6. even guys who hit it out of the park, college or pro, Tom Coughlin's first year with the Giants was a mess. Outside of Urban Meyer in college and Bill Parcells in the NFL, historically, it just takes coaches, you know, at least a year to a year and a half to get it together. You got to build a roster, you got to implement your culture.

You know, I use the example all the time. Starbucks opened in 1971 in Seattle next to Pike Place Market. 14 years it took for them to become national. And another of about seven after that for them to become part of our culture. Amazon started by selling books. Netflix was selling videos, DVRs, VHS, that kind of stuff, VHS tapes. So it just takes a long time. I contend Bill Belichick, even though he was very good early.

I just read his book by Ian O'Connor. He made a ton of mistakes in Cleveland. And I love Belichick, but man, he made a bunch of PR moves and personnel choices that were lousy. And so, but this year, John Gruden, myself included, we all sort of clobbered him from day one. And my takeaway on John was, you can't be out of an industry as fluid that evolves as quickly as the NFL for a decade. I compare it to Silicon Valley. You can't be out of tech for 10 years. You could leave the post office for 10 years, come back, and you'd be fine.

You can't leave tech for 10 years. You can't leave the NFL for 10 years. Come back and just crush it. Forget the fact that he has to build his own roster and implement his own culture. But, you know, I'm watching what the Raiders are doing. And I'm not talking just about Antonio Brown. But I think we have to officially now, now we can start judging him. Because here's what, if you're brutally honest about it, here's what John Gruden has done so far.

So he came in and. and he had a draft. Well, his seven guys he drafted all played in at least 10 games. So there were no busts of everybody he drafted. It may not have been the best draft. We'll see how Colton Miller pans out. But Colton Miller's going to start it right tackle this year. So it wasn't a disaster.

He traded two stars and you may not like it, but he accumulated more draft picks. While he did that, he didn't get taken to the cleaners. He got all sorts of draft picks. The team played well down the stretch. And in this free agency period between Tyrell Williams, they got from the Chargers and Antonio Brown, they're much better perimeter. Trent Brown left tackles overpaid, but he's a good player. Lamarcus Joyner of safety cleans up their safety position.

They're now set there. So they got three first round picks for the top 35. his first draft, all seven players, played a minimum of 10 games. It's not man overboard. Now, I still think he feels like more TV star than coach sometimes. Mike Mayock is a draft guy. Gruden acknowledges that's not his strength. His strength is coaching quarterback's football and offense.

But, you know, my entire career, I've always preached sort of patience on coaches. even the guys that have hit it out of the park tom coflin with a giants pete carol at u s cnick sabin that first year is choppy it is choppy barry alvarez at wisconsin choppy let's take a deep breath with gruden they've got a ton of draft picks nice free agency period and Antonio brown talked yesterday sounds like gruden was pretty buttoned up well mr gruden played everything in my decision we're coming here. Obviously, he's an officer guru. You get excited just talking with him. He got so much knowledge of the game, so he knows what it takes. And when you have a coach like that, you know, it's like your dad, you know, you want to be around him because you know he's not

going to build you up for what you're doing. You know, he's going to encourage you on how you always could get better. And when you got a guy like that who always going to help you improve and grow, that's the type of guy you want to be around. And that's the guy the guy you want to play for. They're an interesting team. Now, their division's really hard. Kansas City's really good. And the charges are really good. But I think it's been too much man overboard for Gruden.

He's had some real missteps. But you know what? Good free agency period. Accumulated a bunch of draft picks. Found his own GM. They played well down the stretch. They beat the Steelers. I will say this.

Now, they got smoked late in the year. by Kansas City. That's no great crime. You know, Cleveland, the Browns, Baker Mayfield, everybody loves them. They got smoked by Kansas City last year. So, you know, that's okay. Kansas City, depending on when you played them, was no day at the beach. The Colts were pummeled in the playoffs by Kansas City. Let's just wait on Gruden a little, just a little, because I think they're going to be fun.

Now, if he moves off Derek Carr, I'm out. this idea that Derek Carr, you can't build around two years ago before he broke his leg, he was an MVP candidate. And that was Jack Del Rio at the time was his coach, a defensive guy. So I think you can absolutely, John Gruden and Derek Carr can be, have a fruitful relationship and win a bunch of games. And if nothing else, offensively between Terrell Williams and Antonio Brown and Trent Brown. And by the way, they got a lot of draft picks. You know Gruden's not putting all those draft picks on defense. Okay, Gruden's going to pick some offensive guys.

You know that to be true. And it's a good wide receiver draft. It's a good offensive tackle draft. It's a good lineman draft. So Gruden's not spending all those picks. I do think his first two picks are going to be defense. I absolutely think he's going to go after a pass rusher somewhere in the first round. That I know.

He needs it. He wants to prove the Kaleel Mack thing. A couple times last year, they had leads and they couldn't get to the quarterback. and people just bled the clock out on them. So they're going to get a pass rusher in that first round, one or two of their first three picks. But they got a lot of accumulation of draft leverage here. And that's not man overboard it yet.

Veteran newsman John Goulde. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. Okay, so good news, Colin. the player a third of the NBA is tanking to get their hands on is back. Zion. Zion Williamson has been cleared to return from his sprained ankle in tonight's ACCC tournament game for Duke against Syracuse.

He'd been out since February 23rd when he hurt his ankle and his shoe exploded. Yeah, there are three and three without him. There's definitely been some talk that they thought maybe he wasn't going to come back. He was already the number one pick. Maybe he was going to wait for the NCAA tournament. Turns out he will be back tonight with that game. at 9 o'clock Eastern. How much more excited for Duke are you now with Zion back? The three best teams I think in the country are Duke when Zion plays.

Gonzaga and North Carolina has got some. I had dinner the other night with Ryan Rosillo. He thinks North Carolina has a chance to win it. They got a bunch of good parts. Roy Williams has kind of done the J. Wright thing where it's just not NBA guys. He gets guys. He doesn't do the one and done thing. Villanova doesn't do it.

Gonzaga didn't do it. And those teams are having real success right. Now, Gonzaga and Villanova right now are as good as Duke. In terms of last four or five years in the tournament, they've been fantastic. So I think Zion is the, we were talking about this as a staff. I don't remember, maybe Christian Leitner, who was the last college basketball player that got you to a television set? I think Zion, I'm trying to think, was it, Christian Leitner's 15 years ago.

I'm trying to, Larry Johnson at ULNLV was early 90s. So was Leitner. I mean, I mean, when's the last college basketball player that was so gifted that he got you do a TV set. I do not remember. Now, there was that Florida team that had four pros, but none of them were, you know, it was a defensive-minded team with Billy Donovan. They were great, but that's the last great college basketball team I've seen that second team that won the title back to back. But I don't remember a college basketball player that got me, this kid has a Reggie Bushfield to him in college. Like, you cannot wait for him to play.

Yeah. So last weekend, ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy mentioned the idea on the broadcast of the Lakers trading LeBron and Mark Jackson made fun of him and everyone thought he was just being crazy. Well, according to Rick Buecker of Bleacher Report, Lakers owner Jeannie Bus, has at least contemplated the idea of trading LeBron. This just came out a few minutes ago. So this is from Buechor's article. When rumors engulf the team at the February trade deadline that it was willing to trade anyone other than LeBron to acquire All-Star Forward Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans,

James Agent Rich Paul was widely accused of spreading those rumors. because Davis is also one of his clients. Paul denied that he leaked the Lakers' interest in Davis, but Lakers owner Jeannie Bus suspected otherwise and was furious. The idea of terminating the franchise's relationship with Paul by moving James at least cross Bus's mind, the team source said. Apparently, Paul, he even had to kind of clear the air with Jeannie. Now, I haven't heard a lot of other people confirm this,

but this is also someone who fired her own brother to get him out of the way so we know she can be cold-hearted if she needs to be. Do you buy that story? Yeah, I do buy that story. I don't think it's outrageous. I mean, and I'll get into this in a couple of minutes is this thing not only didn't work this year, I'm not convinced it's going to work. You know, we've seen this before.

Brett Farve went to the Jets. It didn't work because the Jets didn't know what they were doing. Then he went to the Vikings. The Vikings had better management, and Brett Favreve did work. It doesn't matter how great a problem. player is. If the management's not great, you get stuck with bad rosters and average coaches and no momentum. And I think this, you know, I trust Buker. He's one of the guys I trust. And it doesn't shock me at all. I mean, this thing right now in Los Angeles, if you, if you don't live here and you

don't hear as much as I hear from people around the Lakers and the organization, it's a mess. It is a hot mess. And those rumors did really disrupt the team. Oh, God, yes. Oh, God. It makes sense that Jeannie would might go, you know what, this is not worth it. We want to have control of our own players. And finally, last night, even without Kevin Durant, the Warriors beat the Rockets, 106, 104, Clay had 30, Boogie Cousins, had 27. After the game, James Hardin kind of shrugged off the loss, but their head coach, Mike Dantone, didn't.

You know, sometimes you don't learn a lot when you win. We try to teach them when you win. That's easiest way to do it if they will be receptive to it. But if this didn't get their attention, they weren't in big trouble. I mean, there's no doubt. It'll get their attention. We've just got to figure some things out and just do a better job. This was a game where both teams kind of said going in.

Like they were trying. Yeah, no, no, no. Wanted to win this game. Warriors didn't have Durant. The score, I thought, a little misleading. Because Golden State had a big lead. Right. The Rockets made a late push with about 90 seconds to go.

But I thought it was pretty telling that even without Durant, the Warriors were in Houston and won that game fairly easily. You think I'm nuts when I say this. I think only two teams match up with Golden State at all in the playoffs. Houston a little and Boston a lot. I said this before the season. I predicted Boston will win the championship. Boston matches up the best.

Kyrie Irving is a matchup problem because Steph's not a very good defender and it would force Steph to have to play defense. I also think, you know, Jason Tatum on the wing, Draymond Green has not played as well. There's an advantage there. Durant will score his points, but they got a vet. and Al Horford. They're smart. They've got, they would force the Warriors to actually, at times, play a little bit of defense. And Golden State's defense is a hobby, not an occupation. They do

it when they kind of feel like it. So I think Boston's the only team in the league that matches up. They would force them to have to play defense. There are a couple of matchups that would make Golden State, like Houston, if you can take Harden out, they can't score in it. That's where they're going to get most of their points. Boston, Gordon Hayward gets hot. Jason Tatum gets hot. Kyrie Irving can take over basketball games. I think, and I also think they have the best coach, arguably in the league in Brad Stevens. I think Boston's the only thing that truly matches up.

And deep down, Steve Kerr would look at that roster and think there are some matchup issues for us. A veteran newsman, John Goulet. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping back. The herd lie news. You know, I was saying this, when you live in a town, you kind of want your teams to do well. I'm not a fan, and I've only lived in Los Angeles three and a half years,

but you know, you kind of want your local teams to do well because it's just better for the city. It's fun to be in a city where people are happy and the team's great and every game's on every night. You know, Dodgers last year, World Series team, you know, Dodgers are on in my house. You know, they're winning games. The stadium's erupting. I have friends in the neighborhood that go. You go to a couple games. It's fun.

But I've always worried that when I moved to a town, I don't want to be a homer. So I tend to be overly cynical and critical of teams I cover knowing the audience thinks I'm a homer. So this could be overly cynical. But I think the Lakers are far more hopeless than people in Los Angeles think. First of all, Magic Johnson and Rob Polinka, according to my sources, good guys, but not considered elite, like a Daryl Morey as a general manager. So they're not elite in management. I'm not saying they're incompetent, but they're not considered elite. they don't have any shooters on the roster, and it's a shooter's league.

They inexplicably gave up Lou Williams. They had him. Now he's a cross-town with the Clippers, crushing it. LeBron appears distracted, and he's frankly, he's just older. We are way into the VAC 9. The head coach is Luke Walton. I think he's solid, not spectacular, and he's a lame duck. The two young stars they have, Lanzo and Brandon Ingram, cannot stay healthy.

I don't see a ton of light at the end of the tunnel. I think they're going to end up getting Boogie Cousins, who's a really lousy consolation prize. At best, I think they land Jimmy Butler, who struggled in every relationship on every roster he's had. The 4Ks, Kauai, KD,

Clay and Kyrie, they're not coming. Stop. They're not coming here. So, I mean, I just ask yourself a question. Do the Lakers have elite management? No. Elite ownership. Elite star in their prime? No. Elite momentum. No. Elite roster. No. Well, you don't go from that to great. That's not the way the game works. Now, the Celtics acquired two stars like the Lakers possibly could,

but you have to remember, they had Doc Rivers, respected veteran coach, Danny Aange, respected GM. So their management and their coach were B to above. They also had Paul Pierce in his prime. LeBron's not in his prime. The Miami Big Three. Dwayne Wade was out of his prime, but they recruited two guys in their prime, and Pat Riley was elite. So they built a good roster.

Eric Spolstra was better than anybody knew. So maybe I'm being too cynical on this. I just don't see light at the end of the tunnel. To go from bad to elite. Lakers management last several years has given up on players who are flourishing elsewhere. Lou Williams, DeAngelo Russell, Julius Randall. I mean, Dave, I don't see the light.

I don't. I think they're going to end up. My guess is Boogie Cousins is almost guaranteed. Warriors are not going to fight for him. And so he'll be cheap at $10 million. He's not a great locker room guy, talented. But again, there's Boogie Cousins doesn't, he won't even play late in Golden State Warrior playoff games.

That's a bad consolation prize. And I think you may make a run at Jimmy Bullitt. Jimmy Butler struggles with teammates. He struggles with young teammates. He struggles with veterans. He's struggling with Ben Simmons. So I don't see it. Maybe I'm overly cynical.

When people ask me, I'm always like, I don't see it. Maybe you do. I don't. I have a question about Josh Rosen. His contract, the Arizona quarterback, his contract is for $2 million a year if you acquired him. You could probably get him for a second round draft pick. Am I nuts or does this have a Jimmy Garoppolo feel?

Is the rest of the NFL or the seven or eight teams that need a quarterback just not paying attention? Remember we said that for years? Jimmy Garoppolo's out there. We've seen him play. He's got talent. And finally San Francisco made an actual phone call and got him. Bucky Brooks, former NFL football player, now a scout NFL network. We'll be joining us next.

In L.A., it's The Herd. Be sure to catch live editions of The Herd, weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Welcome back. Good to have you in. Looking forward to Bucky Brooks, NFL network analyst, who's a former NFL defensive back for the Packers and Bills, Jags, Raiders, Chiefs, and former NFL Scout Panthers and Seahawks help build those roster. And he is joining us this morning, Bucky. How are you? I'm good, Colin. How's everything? Well, it's good. You know, I was saying just a second ago, we've all kind of bailed on John Gruden, but they have four of the top 35 picks. They've absolutely upgraded at wide receiver.

it looks like their tackle positions are more solid now, Trent Brown left tackle. Colton goes over to the right, Colton Miller. They solve their safety issue to some degree, it looks like, by getting Lamarcus Joyner. And again, they've accumulated a lot of picks here. And I imagine most of them will be used to solve their defensive issues. Were we too harsh to bail on Gruden? Does it look like this morning that maybe he does have a little bit of a plan? Oh, yeah. I mean, I think, like, reacted to the fact that he let two stars go.

He let Camille Mac go, and then he later traded Amory Cooper. And there were two guys who were drafted high and would play pretty well for the Raiders. And in the scouting community, typically what you like to stick to is, hey, draft a talented player high, let them play well, and then resign them. Obviously, though, John Gruden got in there, assessed the situation and maybe he didn't value those guys like we. on the outside did, and he felt like that not only could he get draft capital, but he could get some free agents to come and give him what he really wants. Having played for Coach Gruden, coach Ruden wants guys, veteran guys, that he doesn't have to keep them develop,

that he can get them going, they can take the plan and go play and have success right away. I think what we're seeing now, he wants veteran players to fill them the holes, and they will eventually get it right when it comes to the draft. You know, it's funny, teams that have bailed on big receivers, Calvin Johnson retired from the Lions, they actually got better. Deshawn Johnson, Deshawn Jackson left the Eagles. They were the same team. Odell Beckham's a remarkable talent, but I come back to this. Their issue isn't trading Odell. Their issue is they had Sam Darnold last year passed on him, and now they have a shot fighter at 38 years old with no athletic ability, no mobility.

And the whole thing's unraveling. If they'd have picked Darnold, they'd still have OBJ. I do worry that OBJ has missed 16 games in two years. Do we get too caught up in flashy star-wide receivers when the history shows us? Patriots got rid of Brandon Cooks, won the Super Bowl. Rams got rid of Sammy Watkins, spread the ball around more, that sometimes a star receiver, a young quarterback can become sort of beholden to feeding them the ball and forget others. Yeah, I think it's kind of complex when it comes to the wide receiver evaluation

because everyone likes to point to the Patriots, but the common denominator with the Patriots, that's coach in football, that's quarterback in football. They make everybody right. And also, the Patriots have Rob Grankowski, who in essence is their number one receiver. I do believe when you're looking at wide receivers, they're not all created equal. You have to have a pastor that can get them the ball, and the pastor has to have a certain style that plays to the style of the wide receiver. In New York, it's unfortunate that OBJ was playing with a quarterback that couldn't

consistently get him the ball in his sweet spot. Elon Manning, look, to be honest, Eli-Manning has never been an elite quarterback. Eli Manning has won two Super Bowls and has been a two-time MVP, but he's never been a guy that we have viewed as a top-five quarterback. And so for OBJ, he has been hamstrung because the quarterback of the team could never get him the ball and allow him to do what he does very well. Even though he ran up those great numbers, the last couple of years have been frustrating to watch Odell Beckham Jr.

because the quarterback has so many limitations. And so you are right in the sense of if the Giants were going to rebuild and this was going to be the rebuild, they should have taken Sam Donald so then you could grow Sam Donald with OBJ and the other offensive weapons, come back and get a running back later. I was under the impression that they took Sequine Barclay because they felt like they still had something left with Eli Manning to allow them to elevate the offense. It obviously played out on the turf. Eli Manning is a shell of himself. He can't get it done.

And now the Giants have traded away their best offensive player in O'Dill Beckham, Jr. to start a rebuilding project with a quarterback that can't play anymore. Freddie Kitchens is the coach of Cleveland. only been a coordinator for eight games. Now he's the head coach. You're going to have Odell Beckham. It's a star-studded offense. There's going to be a lot of expectations.

John Dorsey can be kind of heavy-handed and dominating as a GM. I don't think this is the easiest team in Cleveland to coach, and I'm not sure Freddie Kitchens is the guy. Can you see a situation where maybe he gets engulfed by the whole thing? Well, I mean, I think it's obviously a challenge. First-time coach takes over a team that now on the outfit. side will have Super Bowl expectations. But I actually believe it is better to be in the situation that Freddie Kitchens is in

than maybe a situation where Brian Flores is in. Freddie Kitchens is taking over a team that has talent. When you look at the Cleveland Brown's roster, you can make the argument that there aren't any big hole. This is a team that offensively on paper could rival the Kansas City Chiefs in terms of the personnel that they have. OBJ, Jarvis Landry, you will get Kareem Hunt eventually. you have David Injoku, a talented offensive line, a quarterback that played really well in Frady Kitchen system.

You go to the defense. They're blue-chip players all over the place. It is better to have a team that has enough blue-chip players that can give you a chance to win. What Frady Kitchens has to do is find a way to manage the personalities, distribute the ball, and make sure that everyone's getting enough touches that the ship continues to go in the right direction. But if I'm a Cleveland Browns fan, I feel great about it. where we are because I think by far they're the best team in the AFC North. What they have to do is just play the game the right way.

And we're talking about a brown team that is in the playoffs and a brown team that could be damaged in the playoffs if everything goes the way it should go according to script. Pro Day, Kyler Murray yesterday. How'd you like him? Loved him. I mean, like the kid is impressive. I've known since he was in high school. He came through the elite 11 camp circuit with Trent Dilfer and myself and other guys.

being a part of it. He has always been a winner. 42 and 0, 43 and O during the time in high school, Allen High School, three state championships, goes to Texas A&M, then transfers to Oklahoma. The one season that he starts to Oklahoma, he was terrific. And I think the pro day showed everything that we have all seen, talented thrower, a plus thrower, kind of like an MLB pitch in terms of the amount of pitches that he had. He can throw with touch, timing, anticipation, can drive it, can throw it deep, can work side to side. he can do all of those things,

and then he gives you the added bonus of being able to run around and create in a way that is very similar to Russell Wilson. I think the one thing that people will have to dig down on is what's his personality like? He's a quiet, reserved kid, but he has this athletic arrogance about him. And to some that don't know him, it may turn him off because normally when you're quiet and reserved and you're cocky, you just get a sense that they're arrogant and you don't like it. but he's a winner and his teammates like him. I think you saw that during the workout.

His teammates kind of flocked to him. I just believe this kid is a terrific player. And I'm saying that knowing that I still rate Duane Haskins over him because Duane Haskins is more of the traditional pocket passer that has played successfully in the league for the last 25 to 30 years. Bucky Brooks, NFL Network analyst. We'll see you here in studio hopefully soon. Bucky, have a great day.

Hey, thanks so much for having me all, Colin. You bet. Bucky Brooks. Yeah, I mean, Carter Murray's going to play in the NFL. I mean, he's a sensational athlete. He does throw good football. I watched about an hour yesterday, NFL network stuff. I was checking out Kyler Murray.

throws a great football. That's what I always say about Baker Mayfield. Listen, Baker just throws an incredibly accurate football. You're not going to fail. Doesn't necessarily have all the things personality-wise I like. Same with Kyler Murray, kind of a weird personality. You know, that Dan Patrick interview was awful. Dan asked all the legitimate questions he couldn't answer any of them.

But as far as just throwing the football, he throws a really nice football. Just an easy ball out of his hand, good release point. The hour I watched the NFL network yesterday, and again, it's a pro day. You know, it's shorts. But some guys, it doesn't look that good. It looked really good. I still think he's small. I think he's still think he's really small.

So that's where we're out. We have a great show today. Orham the athletic covers the Lakers, Joe Banner, a Warren Sharp, one of the smartest young analytic guys around football is going to be joining us next hour. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the IHeart radio app. Search Hurd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Hour 2 in L.A. This is the herd. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening. I Heart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, Channel 83, Sirius XM, no TV today.

So it's just screw around day. Barely shaved. Hair looks good, though. It's a bummer, I'm not on TV. Salon perfect. That's incredible. I was sitting there. There's all these Kyler-Marie things.

And Kyler Murray, this quarterback pro-day, small guy, Oklahoma, Heisman. He's becoming polarizing, which is so good. for the NFL, is that, you know, Baker Mayfield came into the league polarizing. If you look at what's happening in the NFL right now, over the last couple of years, I mean, we all know there's like 10 or 12 really good TV products in the NFL, the Eagles, the Cowboys, the Chiefs, the Patriots, the Steelers, the Seahawks, you know, Matt Ryan, Carolina and Cam, Colts in Luck, New Orleans, Chargers, Rams, Green Bay. You know, they're good teams. They're on, you watch them.

But, you know, accompanies as good as its weakest department. You don't want to be the NBA where you've got about nine teams that are just unwatchable for the casual fan. The NFL has had multiple unwatchable products in recent years. Cleveland was unwatchable. Then the controversial Baker Mayfield takes part. And last year, I thought they were must-watch television. Odell Beckham's going to make that more so. The Jets have been unwatchable most of the last four years.

Now, Lavian Bell, controversial player with Sam Darnold, must watch. Baltimore, Joe Flacco, boring. Lamar Jackson replaces him, a little bit of controversy, getting rid of Flacco, here comes the kid. I thought Baltimore was not exhilarating as an offense, but fascinating to watch. If you're the NFL commissioner, you've got a route for Kyler Murray to go to Arizona.

Controversy equals ratings. I found myself last year, Baker-Mayfield, Cleveland. They weren't a great team. They finished in third. They got blown out four times. They were not a great football team. They got smoked by the Chargers, smoked by the Steelers one game, smoked by the Chiefs. Somebody else blew them out.

But, you know, I mean like Cleveland, Jets, Arizona, Baltimore, San Francisco with Garoppolo. Quarterback play resonates. Controversy resonates. And it's almost impossible to go in the NBA from unwatchable to fascinating. That's what Cleveland did. That's what the Jets are going to be with Lavian Bell. That's what Arizona would be with Kyler Murray. You couldn't keep your eyes off them.

So it's, again, you know, the NFL is obviously the most popular league. And we've always known there's a bunch of good, you know, there's a bunch of good obvious teams with star quarterbacks. Even Cam Newton, not a star quarterback, never had back-to-back winning seasons. But he's interesting. If Cam's playing, I'm watching. He's interesting. Man, you're taking some of the dregs of the NFL, and I'm not going to be able to take my eyes off Arizona if they have Kyler, the Jets with Levian and Sam, Baker and O'Dell in Cleveland. Baltimore, Lamar Jackson.

I think that's going to be fascinating now with Mark Ingram. I also think Garoppolo and San Francisco. Those are five of the toughest watches in the NFL in the last two years. Like hard to watch, like Orlando and the NBA, Memphis, you know, like teams that are just, it's just rough watching. And now they're some of the best watches in the league. It's great. You know, the other thing is occasionally,

occasionally I will speak. In the last couple of weeks, I've had a couple of speeches to people in radio TV, blah, blah, blah. You know, they ask me a bunch of questions. And, you know, you try to give wisdom or opinions. I'm not a big believer in advice. I'll give you my opinion on something. You take it for what it's worth.

But one of the things I always say to young broadcasters or young executives in radio and television, there's never be loyal to a platform. and never be loyal to a sport. Baseball used to be much more popular 25 years ago. Boxing was more popular 25 years ago. I follow the audience. NBA is more popular today than it was 15 years ago

with Tim Duncan running the league. Cleveland Tim Duncan in the finals was like getting sevens. That's what the Pro Bowl gets. So I've always followed the audience. I'm not loyal to a sport. College football has gotten very, very insular, very, very southern. So I've scaled back my coverage because I watched the numbers come down on all the networks.

That's why I watch the ratings. You tell me what you like. I am loyal to you. I'm not loyal to a sport. I do more NFL now than ever, more NBA than ever, less college football and almost no college basketball. And I'm also not loyal to a platform. I mean, if streaming tomorrow was where all the people were going to listen to radio,

then I'd get off radio and TV and I'd do streaming. I do podcasting if that's where all the money in the audience went. So I'm not loyal to platforms. I'm not loyal to sports. I'm loyal to where my audience is going. And fans occasionally ask me, how come we don't cover college basketball? Well, the reason is because college basketball 20 years ago, Patrick Ewing came back for a fourth year. Florida in 2006, 12 years ago, had four NBA players won the title.

They all came back the following year. I covered UNLV, Larry Johnson, Stacey Ogman, Greg Anthony, won a title. They all came back. sports is all about emotional, visceral connections between you, the players, and the teams. There was a time when leaving early in college basketball meant you left after your junior year. Now college basketball is a two-week sport. And Zion Williamson's coming back to play tonight, which makes me very, very happy. But he's an example of why I don't cover college basketball.

because Zion Williamson, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, I know it would be coming back next year and the following year and maybe a senior year. And I'm not blaming the player. The world changes. But the one and done has crushed college basketball. Just crushed it. First of all, it's diluted the talent. You used to have NBA guys, Leitner, Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill.

They'd come back for multiple years. You had great teams. The last great college basketball team was in 2006 with Florida. You had four pros. They won a title. all came back the next year. That was a great college basketball team. One of the best defensive college basketball teams I've ever seen in my life all time. Offensively good, defensively unbelievable. I remember they shut out a UCLA team that second year in the tournament,

just put the clamps on them. So I tend to cover sports where you have a strong emotional bond. It's hard to have a strong emotional bond with people you don't know. And you have no idea who's starting for Kansas next year and no idea who's starting for Syracuse and no idea who's starting for Kentucky and Duke. So when you're constantly being reintroduced to players, it's very hard to have a deep emotional connection. You root for the Kansas Jayhawks. You don't root for players.

I mean, Clemson in college football is a great example. Trevor Lawrence is their quarterback. He is going to be an unbelievable, unbelievable, all-time great quarterback talent. You know you get two more years of watching him in college football. I can't wait to watch Clemson this year. That kid is the best quarterback out of college since Andrew Luck. I think he's a better arm talent than Andrew Luck.

So I used to talk college basketball a lot, but I'm not loyal to sports and I'm not loyal to platforms. Now, I do watch a lot of college basketball. I watch it, not as much as I used to, but I watch it because I like it. I just don't talk about it on my shows as much. The three best teams I've seen so far, and I don't care that Gonzaga lost to St. Mary's, I watched that entire game. I sat there with Ryan Rissilla when we sat and watched it. for an hour and a half. Watch 90% of it.

Gonzaga is one of the best teams I've seen when Zion Williamson plays Duke's one of the best teams I've seen in North Carolina. Those are the teams I would bank on. Biggie's tournament is today. I think it'll be pretty interesting. Zion is, just think about what college basketball used to be. Patrick Ewing came back for a fourth year. Can you imagine knowing Zion Williamson's coming back?

Oh my God. We're just falling in love with him now. And he has already shown an ability to move the TV ratings. He's bringing about 700,000 people every time he plays additional to the television set. Yeah, yeah. Christian Leighton played in four final fours. That's why you should talk college basketball more. So, you know, there's a reason I talk NBA.

Even if you don't like the NBA, let's say you don't like the NBA. I can go up to an average sports fan as long as his IQ is a of an avocado. And I can say to you, give me the Warriors four players, and he can name them. Give me the Celtics, three or four players. Give me the Rockets, three or four players. Go to the Sixers and give me, and even if you don't like the NBA, you're like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that Embed guy, Ben Simmons, Jimmy Butler, and you don't even like it. You can love college basketball, love it, and you have no idea who's playing for Kentucky next year. Some 17-year-old in high school. So I cover what you're emotionally moved by and connected to. Zion's playing today,

I wish he was in his junior year because I got to tell you, I tell people this all the time that I'm old enough now, mid-50s, I wish people for young 20-year-olds, you have no idea how great boxing was and no idea how great college basketball was 25 years. years ago. Boxing was incredible. Sugar Ray Leonard, Hearns, Hagler, Duran. God, it was huge personality. Legendary fighters. Vegas sold out. Every star in the world going to the fights. And 25 years ago in college basketball, guys like Duncan and Ewing were dominating the sport and coming back for their senior years. Go YouTube Faislamma. Jama. It looks like an NBA team, mostly because it was all NBA stars. Drexler and Akeem and Michael Young,

Larry Mushu, Rob Young, oh, Lord, you just don't have it anymore. That's why, like, Duke, get it when you can get it because they got the top three picks, well, three of the top four picks in the NBA draft. Just think about college basketball. Those guys would all be coming back at least two more years, some of them for three more years. Yeah, when Chris Weber left after two. People are like, whoa! I think Magic left after two. Or one or two. Do Magic leave after one or two? Two.

He had, he and Judd Heathcote was the coach. Greg Kelser was the forward. Magic was the point. He came out after his sophomore year. Magic Johnson? I mean, today, six, nine and a half, Magic Johnson would even go to college? I mean, with, with,

currently he would, yes. But I mean, if it was no one and done, would would Magic even go? Gamak was so good in college. Michigan State. So good in college. One of the really smart guys, Warren Sharp, Sharp Football Analysis.com. I brought him on the podcast last week.

He is one of these analytic guys. And it's kind of fascinating. What does he make of the Raiders acquisitions? What does he make of Cleveland's roster analytically? Not just nonsense, fluff talk. What are the numbers say about how Baker and OBJ are going to work? Derek Carr and Antonio Brown. How is it all going to work?

Plus Bill Orham, the athletic Laker reporter before the end of the hour, story out there that Jeannie Bus did consider shipping LeBron out. I don't think it's crazy. I still don't think it's crazy. I've said that before. I don't think it's off the table because I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. And I don't think if you do land Anthony Davis, which I don't think they have the pieces anymore, because Brandon Ingram has a medical condition and Lanzo's always hurt.

I don't know if you can cobble together enough assets to get him. I think everything's on the table. Everything's on the table. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHard Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

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

give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice. radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slice Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests. I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the

pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't really really. that we are in possession of the thing, and we're still chasing it, and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person

while you hear on earth, or are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing,

growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hardway. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen, kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting. the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across.

When Jacob met Levan this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Life throws hurdles big and small.

The question is, how do you conquer them? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout, Kate Martin, and rising hockey star Layla Edwards. boy can do it. I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't feel like. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas

and Katie Ladeki. The ability to show gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world, like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. Cold and flu season, Trivix Sinex nasal spray works up to 12 hours when congestion strikes. Well, I followed him on Twitter for a while and read his stuff and then they sent me a book.

and Warren Sharp is making a name for himself in analytics, a no-nonsense look at football without all the opinions, other than opinions based on data and what the numbers say. If you go to Twitter, it's at Sharp Football. SharpFattsD.com or SharpFootballanalysis.com. He was recently at the MIT Sloan Conference. Adam Silver was there. Daryl Morey, where you have the smartest people in sports

and their theories on what's happening. I am a fan of analytics. I also believe in analytics, because I do think you're talking about young men in their 20s and alpha males. You don't want to reduce everybody to a number, but there's so much value in the data. And I just had Warren on last Saturday in my podcast, and we invite him in again here today.

Warren, how are you? I'm great calling. Let's talk about a free agency. There are quarterbacks have certain sweet spots. There are certain throws Tom Brady makes to a much higher completion percentage and more accurate than other throws. When you look at Baker Mayfield, my takeaway, my eyes tell me he throws a really catchable, accurate deep ball, and Odell Beckham likes to run deep route.

So my guess is, analytically, Baker and Odell Beckham, this puppy should work. What does his data say? It should work. He had a lack of talent at the wide receiver position, especially some of the deep balls, and so there was a high drop rate. But Baker was pretty accurate with those. and now that they actually have a partner like O'Dell to be able to catch those balls on the other end, we're going to see a much higher completion rate on those passes.

So the accuracy is what the quarterback can control. Obviously, catching that football and being in the right position is what the receiver can control. Odell has been very good at that. Eli doesn't target the ball down the field nearly as much. His deep ball is not quite as good as what it used to be. So I think there's going to be a higher ceiling for what O'Dell is going to be able to do in Cleveland with Baker as his quarterback. Yeah, that seems to be the case. Just if you watch

the games, those two should be able to converge very well. They also, you know, people now have Cleveland as a Super Bowl team. I do like some of the young players. I like Miles Garrett. I like Denzel Ward, Jarvis Landry. Baker's obviously talented. You know, Sheldon Richardson, to me,

has never played up to his contract. Olivier Vernon, likewise. From an analytic standpoint, how good is their talent? Well, they certainly are up there in terms of the key is what you have to protect the quarterback. I mean, offensive line is very underrated. You obviously talk a lot about the offensive lines as well.

That's a very important position group to excel at, and they do have a very good position group there. They certainly have the talent at the skill positions. Of course, Baker, I think, is the guy that's going to be running the show that is important to have above-average expectations out of, and they do in that position. In addition to that, he's on his rookie deal. So they're able to make a lot of other moves for other pieces.

And we've seen a lot of teams. The only ways that you're getting to the Super Bowl lately and especially winning it is when you can build out a complete roster. And you're doing that by having a quarterback who's taking less than what he's worth. In New England's case, it's Tom Brady taking well below what he probably should be paid. In other cases, it's some of these quarterbacks that are on their rookie deals, their first four years, significantly lower than probably what they're producing in many cases. So they have all those things going for them.

Are the odds fair at this point, I guess is one question that we could talk about. And Cleveland Browns right now in the AFC North are plus 125, I believe, and the Pittsburgh Steelers are down a plus 250. I just feel like there's an overhype right now of Cleveland in the futures market. And I believe that a team like the Pittsburgh Steelers is still going to be highly competitive. They are the best team in the NFL over the last 10 years at drafting wide receivers. Yep. They have the highest hit rate. And so if anybody's going to be able to replace Antonio Brown, it's going to be Kevin Colbert.

Drafting is largely hit and miss. Like it's very difficult to be consistent in that. But I believe that there are certain general managers, certain talent evaluators who are better at evaluating certain things than others. Colbert's very bad at evaluating DBs. But for whatever reason, he's very good at picking wide receivers at a high hit rate well above average. So that's a thing that's working in their favor.

Warren Sharp at Sharp Football, Sharp Football Analysis.com. Speaking of Antonio Brown, I always felt that Big Ben was a perfect quarterback for him because he broke off his routes. He's a speed guy. And Ben is a patient quarterback. A lot of pump fakes. Sit in the pocket can take hits. And one of the great deep ball throwers, it feels like to me. Derek Carr and Antonio Brown, do their styles mesh?

We obviously know both are talented, but that doesn't necessarily mean, again, you know, Cam Newton's talented, Christian McCaffrey's talented, doesn't mean a lack of precision from the quarterback gets the ball into his hands at the right spots. What do you make of A, B, and Derek Carr together? I don't love it as much as I love it with Ben. You're absolutely right. A lot of the abilities that Ben has due to his size and his willingness to hang into the pocket, which have sometimes hurt him, but they've revised the offense a little bit to lower

the number of hits, but he still is a guy who will take that time in the pocket. pocket. Very different than what we saw Derek Carr, especially at some point last year with Gruden, where they will come to the sidelines and have like a sneering contest back and forth because Carr was just chucking the ball out of there and ducking away from a oncoming hit and really didn't show that tenacity and courage to stand in the pocket quite as much as I think Gruden wanted him to do. Now, it's never a coach's desire to have their quarterback get hit, but you do need to hang in there to make some of these completions. That's one of the things that Nick Fulzick saw that with the Philadelphia Eagles,

why people hold him in high regard as his ability to do that. I think it's going to be a work in progress. I think the offense that John Gruden runs is well designed for a receiver like Antonio Brown. I mean, they didn't have anybody last season, as we both know, Jared Cook was like their leading receiver, and he's a tight end, and he's a good tight end, but not a great tight end at that. And he was, you know, the main cog in terms of driving their passing game, many games.

So I think it's going to be useful and, I think, very helpful to have a guy like in Antonio Brown in this offense. But in terms of the deep falls, I think that there will be a drop-off. I think there's going to be a lot of the underneath stuff that's really going to have better success than going deep. You know, it's funny. Of all the free agent classes, the one I actually liked was Green Bay. I think they got a starting safety. Amos from the Bears. Preston Smith, they got a pass rusher.

I thought they went out and got three starters minimum, but they were mid-level free agents. Analytically, if I asked you, you weren't, analytically, of all the acquisitions so far, is there a team you like? Jets obviously went out and got a couple stars. Yeah, I mean, the numbers are, it's difficult to rate and evaluate these guys because it's hard in many cases. I think a lot of teams that focus too much on free agency, regardless of who you're taking, tend to overspend for those players. And so, you know, many teams do not actually win,

especially in year two, by having a strong free agent acquisition class. Obviously, there's a couple of teams that had better success than others. I think, you know, you mentioned Green Bay. I also agree that they're a team that did very well. I think the Buffalo bills overall, I think we're okay, but I really like their acquisition of Tyneschi at tackle. He's going to be very valuable for them well,

underrated type of a player. I also think that at this time of year, that actually going out there and making trades instead of acquiring free agents, now that you can game the system, because the comp picks can be traded. And so the comp picks are just as valuable as any other pick. And third round pick at the end of the third, start of the fourth, are extremely valuable. And what we're going to see is more and more teams they're going to game the system by not going crazy in free agency. Rather, letting guys walk, letting them count against the comp pick system so that you get extra picks and instead do these pick swap trades where you're trading players with draft picks and acquiring new players. That's what New England did last

season. We also saw a team do that this season, which was very intelligent, and that was the acquisition of Deshaun Jackson by the Philadelphia Eagles, who's a perfect fit for Carson-Went and that offense, their ability to throw the ball deep. Carson Wentz is actually very well-rated. in the NFL throwing deep. He just hasn't had anybody to throw to the past couple of years, whether it was Mike Wallace getting injured or other guys not working out, like Smith in the 2017 season getting hurt too. So I think that's a very underrated acquisition that really will open up that offense

even more for the Philadelphia Eagles. Warren Sharp at Sharp Football, SharpStats.com. Finally, a couple years ago when Jimmy Garapolo was backing up Tom and had been on the field four or five games, I remember saying, I lived in the New England area and watched him, and I said, I don't understand why somebody wouldn't give up a second or a third round pick for him. There's eight teams in this league that are a mess at quarterback. Similarly, Arizona's already paid Josh Rosen all the money.

Next three years, he's basically free. He's a $2 million a year player. I'm surprised. Some of these teams, you know, Giants have 12 picks, New England's 12 picks. You don't have to pay Josh Rosen. You can get a very talented thrower for maybe a second round pick, and you don't have to pay him anything. I am shocked that Josh Rosen hasn't been moved.

Or are people just bailing on him after his rookie year? What do the analytics say? I watched Jared Goff. He was a disaster year one. I think Goff and Rosen have some similarities. What do you make a Rosen as a prospect? I mean, there's so much to dig into here, but you're absolutely right. Rosen is a better prospect than what he looked like last season.

Last season, the worst pass blocking offensive line, the worst run offense in the league. bad coaching, a coordinator change, young, inexperienced wide receivers, coupled with, it's just a disaster all the way around. But we see that often by guys in their rookie season. They're drafted by bad teams. They have bad coaches, and these teams don't look good, and therefore the quarterbacks obviously are not going to look good either. Josh Rosen's rookie season was better in all accounts against Jared Goss,

better than Eli Manning, better than guys like Matthew Stafford. So there's definitely a higher ceiling than what people are envisioning. A place like New York absolutely makes it too much sense, in my opinion, for Josh Rosen to go to. They need to move on from Eli Manning. It's been far too long. And Dave Gettleman is basically making decisions at a disaster to the team after what happened with that pick where he couldn't get the number one pick. And he got the number two pick and took Seqquan Berkeley. Once Baker Mayfield was off the board, he said, if Baker's gone, we're going to take Barclay and we're going to run the ball.

Every single decision after that has been trying to catch up and make up for that mistake. And it's hurting their team and their long-term prospects. I liken it to, you spill a glass. My kids spill a glass of milk on table. The milk's dripping down all over to the floor. They jump up and grab a bunch of napkins and start wiping up the floor. Meanwhile, milk is still pouring out of the cup and getting dripping down. You've got to pick up the cup, set it up and clean up the whole mess.

You can't just try to wipe up little bottom part on the floor. That's what they're doing with their decision-making. I think Gettleman has really been a problem for this franchise, and I think that they need to get a quarterback of the future. And I think Rosen is very undervalued, and that's the type of guy that you could be looking for. Warren Sharp, cover him. Sharp FootballStats.com at Sharp Football on Twitter.

Very thoughtful. Warren, love following you, and having you on. Thank you so much. Thanks, Colin. Great stuff. Veteran newsman, John Goulay. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So yesterday at Kyler Murray's Pro Day, the potential number one pick, got weight again.

He was only two pounds lighter, so he kept that bulk on. From all accounts, including we had Joel Clad on the show yesterday talking about it. He looked really good throwing the ball. Yeah. I'm not going to go with his completion percentage stats at a pro day because I think that's stupid. Yeah. But what was interesting was he declined to run the 40 or do any kind of agility drills saying, quote, I think the film kind of speaks for itself.

Now, he's right, but he didn't run at the combine. He didn't run in his pro day. If you're a great runner who's super quick and agile, wouldn't you want to show that off? Well, I read a bunch of stuff yesterday on that, and one of the things people said was, and I thought it was interesting, that if he ran the 40 and burned it and was great,

everybody would talk about his 40, and he wanted to go there and throw the football, because we all know he can run. What do we give a rip? We can run. He didn't want his 40 time, which would be, you know, gazelle-like, to get in the way of his throwing, which was really impressive.

And it was. He threw a beautiful deep ball yesterday. He really throws a beautiful ball. He also didn't get measured again. Yeah, that I'd like to know his height. I don't think I'm asking too much. I'm guessing he may be measured higher than he thought he would at the combine, so why throw out another number?

Like, it's not going to get any better than that one. But that conspiracy that he somehow inflated his height is still out there now that he didn't get measured again. Remember the tell all was going to be if he got measured at his pro day and he didn't. Yeah. So at his introductory press conference with the Raiders yesterday, Antonio Brown mentioned some really lofty goals

for what he wants to do the rest of his career. Well, I'm here. My goal really is to catch Jerry Wright. I'm playing with a guy like Coach Gruden. Obviously, you know what it takes to keep me upright and fresh and they keep me out there for a long time. So,

Gruden had a lot of connections to Jerry Rice. I believe he was a coach with him with the Niners, and he was his head coach with the Raiders in his first stint. Catching Jerry Rice kind of thought to be impossible. Basically, Antonio Brown, as greatest his career has been, is about halfway

there. Yeah, I mean, why set that stuff up? So that tells me he's into individual stuff. It's like, I remember one time talking to a program director in radio, and I said, like, what are your goals for this station? And he was like, I want to be number one in the market. And I'm like,

an AM radio station is not going to be number one in this market in Los Angeles. So you've set unrealistic goals, and now you're going to do stuff based on an unrealistic goal. Like if you start a company, it's like, we're going to be IBM tomorrow. Well, now you've overhyped it. You'll start making bad decisions based on swinging for the fence to become what you can't. Antonio Brown trying to make Jerry Bryce's record. Jerry Rice's record is dumb. And by the way, does that mean if he has three targets and two catches one game?

he's going to implode, because you have to average about 11 catches a game for the next seven years to get there. Or he'd have to play for another 12 years when Jerry Rice did. I don't even go there. I don't even want to hear stuff like that. I feel like his goal should be to match the amount of Super Bowls Jerry Rice has. That would be a... Jerry Rice planned for the bad 1970s Chicago Bears.

You know, he would be the late Walter Payton, which, awesome, but we don't bring him up much. He was just a great player and a bad team. Like the Super Bowls is why Jerry Rice comes on radio shows constantly. Well, it also helped that he, I believe, three different guys who won an MVP at quarterback threw passes to him. Montana, Young, and Rich Gannon. Yeah. It kind of helps. And finally, Ravens quarterback, Lamar Jackson, made some news yesterday.

He posted a video on Instagram of himself driving his Mercedes at 105 miles an hour. Not great. And you could see the seatbelt light was on, meaning he was not wearing a seatbelt. Oh, Lord. He later removed the VIII. video, tweeted an apology saying I made a bad decision and will set a better example going forward. Hashtag

My Apologies. Franchise quarterback behavior? Not really, but... Not the end of the world for a 23-year-old kid, but not great either. I mean, that's the difference is if he was a wide receiver, nobody would care when you're a quarterback. This stuff matters. This is the kind of stuff the owner and the jam are going, Lord,

maturity matters. I mean, I think the thing that bothers me the most might be that he filmed it. At 23, I'm sure I hit some high speed limits on a freeway here or there. But the fact that he was kind of bragging about it, like, hey, look how fast I'm driving and how reckless I am. Probably not great, considering they just traded away Joe Flacco and have basically handed him the keys to the franchise. No, I mean, listen, if you see that and you're the GM, you call him in for a meeting. I mean, it's like Jimmy Garoppolo and the adult film star. You have to call him in for a meeting.

You don't have to call in Tom Brady for meetings and Drew Brees for meetings and Russell Wilson for meetings. Stuff like this matters. Veteran newsman, John Goulet. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Live news. Could the Lakers really trade LeBron? Bill Orham, Lakers reporter from the Athletic next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon

Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Bill Orham has been covering the Lakers since 2013, and he was hired by the Athletic. That's the subscription-based business model with some of the best riders in the country. and he is all over the Lakers. I follow him on Twitter, among other places, and read his stuff. And Bill is joining us today on a Thursday.

Bill, how are you? Good, Colin. How are you? I'm great. Rick Buecker, a guy I know, and I think you know, Bay Area-based, covering the NBA for a long time, says Jeannie Bus contemplated trading LeBron. She was so furious with the rumors that were splitting her roster through via Rich Paul, potentially. What do you make of that story? Well, I think it actually decided to part ways with LeBron James.

I mean, especially when you consider the loyalty that the Lakers have shown to their superstars over the years, LeBron James represents this whole shift for the organization. And obviously this season has completely gone off the rails and deviated from the plan. But when you look at the way the Lakers extended the contract of Kobe Bryant, even when he had his tour to Achilles and then the years that followed, for LeBron to choose the Lakers, I think Jeannie Bust took as a really personal statement about kind of the value of the franchise. guys and the city of Los Angeles and all that. So I think trading LeBron would serve as a very, very strong rebuke of all of that. I don't think that's the Lakers M.O.

But what I do, I know for a fact the Jeannie Bus was upset about the way everything was playing out in the middle of the season, especially with the Anthony Davis rumors. And obviously we were at Sloan talking about fake news and all going to Rich Paul and saying, hey, we'd like to remind you that we have the power in this situation seems like the right thing for an owner to do. LeBron James does not have a no trade clause. He is an employee of the Los Angeles Lakers. And so if Jeannie felt like LeBron slash LeBron's people were trying to commandeer the organization,

she, it sounds like, at least reminded them of who has the power in this situation. And it is, for better or worse, it is the Lakers. It is Jeannie Buss and her handpicked staff of people. So to me, it's more like a bid for her to get kind of control of the narrative and of the situation and keep it from going too far off the rails or giving the impression that Rich Paul is the shadow agent running the Lakers. You know, in the NFL, half the league is undrafted. There's seven rounds. There's a surplus of volume of football town in America. I mean, we're going to have a spring football league, Canadian football league. There's just a lot of football town in America. The NBA draft gives you about eight domestic players a year who end up, you know, signing a third and a fourth NBA contract. It is hard to rebuild a team unless you landed Duncan or a Ewing.

LeBron is not in his prime, I do not believe. A Magic and Polinka are in jobs they've never had before. We have a lame duck head coach. The two young players I like, Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball are struggling with health. I don't see a ton of light at the end of the tunnel. Even Anthony Davis doesn't solve the problem. without shooters. They had Lou Williams let him go. By the way, Zubox, this kid, the Clippers now had. They looks like they fleece the Lakers. I don't see the light, Bill. I don't think it's

an elite management. I don't love the roster. I think LeBron is clearly in the back six holes of his 18-hole golf venture here. Do you see the light? Like, what am I missing? I think you are, I mean, Colin, I tend to agree with everything you just said. I think that this is the unlikely outcome is probably the one that everybody's hoping for versus the likely outcomes of players coming. I mean, free agency this year, Kauai Leonard, who the Lakers will see the night in Toronto, has not signaled an interest in the Lakers since they got LeBron. Kyrie, Kevin Durant. Those guys aren't coming in free agency. And when you look at the Anthony Davis trade, you mentioned the health of Lanzobal and Brandon Ingram.

I think Brandon Ingram is unfortunately from a trade system. standpoint, untouchable for other teams. I agree. Hopefully he gets healthy for far more important reasons than that. But, I mean, it has to be consideration for the Lakers as they look at things. And so I just, I don't know, it's going to take probably an outcome that we can't quite yet envision for them to get as good as fast as they hope to. This year has not given them the step up.

I think that they anticipated. I think this season was supposed to be kind of a bridge year to next season when the Lakers would truly become contenders. and that doesn't seem likely at all. Even if they get, say, Jimmy Butler to come in free agency, you still have to fill out a roster around those guys. And that's where Magic Johnson and Rob Polunka have shown themselves to be deficient in their roles. Yeah.

I mean, the one thing Magic Johnson has done has gotten LeBron James, but everything else has been a disappointment. I feel, I don't think Luke's Brad Stevens. I think he has, I don't love his substitution patterns are a little off. You know, he reminds me of Mac Brown, the college. football coach. Telegenic, I like him. I'm rooting for him, but I can never figure out what his offense is. And if I can't watch you and figure out kind of where you're going, your point of view offensively, I struggle putting my arms around you. I don't think Luke's awful. I think

he does work well with people. But if I said to you, magic's never bought into him. He didn't hire him. And LeBron didn't buy into him that Luke never had a chance here. Is that unfair? Am I just reaching or do you believe that? That's what I believe. I think there was a real strong organizational support for Luke Walton when he was hired from the top all the way through the organization, starting with Jeannie Bus down through Mitch Cupcheck and Jim Bus to Luke. But unfortunately, for Luke, the management structure was always going to change shortly after his arrival. Jim and Mitch got fired and replaced by Magic Johnson. And whether Magic Johnson ever believed in Luke Walton or if he just said the things that Jeannie Bus wanted to hear initially,

you know, we'll never truly know. But I think Magic's action have spoken, volumes over the course of these two and a half seasons. When you go back to the LeVar Ball situation, and Magic didn't come out and support Luke then. That was, I thought, a misstep. And then earlier this season, getting in Luke's grill, so that we've already acknowledged as flawed

to then and make a big deal thing then. And then when he acknowledged kind of that showdown publicly, all he said was Luke will not be fired before the end of the season. Well, he has a year left on his contract. So you're really not setting him, you're not, that's not, that's not exactly a vote of confidence. That's, we're going to do him a favor and not fire him before the end of the year, even though that's what we may want to do. So I think it's been an uphill battle for Luke Walton really ever since Magic got here. And I think that that probably

starts with, with Jeannie Bus, who was a huge fan of Luke Walton, but if she had made it, if she had insisted to Magic and pass that message through Magic onto LeBron James, that the coaching position was going to be non-negotiable, that Luke Walton was their organizational choice and that he was not going anywhere in no uncertain terms. I think it could have been a different outcome for Luke Walton. But, you know, SARS come in. They want to have stay on the coaching staff. Magic Johnson, no doubt, wants to hire his own coach. And so I think that's how we got to where we are. About a minute and a half left, Bill. Gut feeling. I think Lakers get boogie and Jimmy Butler. I don't know if they have the assets to pull Anthony Davis. I really don't from the Pelicans.

I think Brandon Ingram's off the trade market. I'll just throw it out there with no inside knowledge. A minute left. Butler Boogie Cousins is my guess. What is yours? I think probably one of those two guys. I could see one of them coming. And then you just have a fairly combustible situation,

both really big personalities who may or may not mesh well with LeBron. And then you're going to have basically, I tend to think that the Lakers will start unbundling their young guys and making smaller trades. maybe trade Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma for a mid-level type star. Yeah. Something like that, just to complete the roster because I don't think you can bring these young guys back with LeBron after the way this season went. Certainly not en masse like they've had them this year. So I think probably landed Jimmy Butler to Marcus Cousins overpay to get to get one of those guys in here and then try to make some moves around the margins.

But, I mean, that is still not a team that can contend in the West, at least not with teams like Houston, Oklahoma City, and those Warriors. Yeah, I completely agree. His name is Bill Orem. He's covered the Lakers for years now with the athletic, subscription base, but absolutely worth it. Bill, thank you so much for taking time today. I, like you, don't see a ton of light at the end of the tunnel. There's a lot of water bailing. I still can't believe they let go of Lou Williams, who's crushing it in the same arena for the Clippers.

Good talking to you, Bill. You too, thanks, Colin. I think the Clippers are actually one of the great stories in the league this year, playing their butts off. Lou Williams is ageless. Everybody in the league wants Lou Williams. Everybody in the league's looking for a guy like Lou Williams comes off the bench and can drop 30 or 40. And the Lakers had him and let him go.

Now, I did get them moving off Nick Young and DeAngelo Russell. But Zubach was a guy everybody in town liked, and he's become a great little rim protector for the Clippers. I tell you, Jerry West, it's not a shock that the Clippers have made some really nice acquisitions. You know, when the season started, they had Tobias Harris Harris. and everybody was saying, Tobias Harris, you're going to have to pay him a max deal.

And I went and watched the Clippers play twice. Nothing against Tobias Harris. He's not a max player. And they got rid of him. So I think the Clippers really know what they're doing. I really do. I think they know what they're doing. And I, Jeannie Bus contemplated trading LeBron.

God, is this thing not worked out or what? Lord. Joe Banner, former Eagle President, great NFL guy. I love talking football in March. Washington Capitals take us. on the flyers tonight. Discover card key matchup.

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Fox Sports Radio. FS1. Joe Banner, Philadelphia Eagles in 30 minutes. He's a really good personnel guy. Rick Buechran in a couple minutes. New story out today. Jeannie Buss contemplated moving off LeBron. Yeah, there's so many, it's funny right now, there's some huge brands in American sports that are really a mess right now.

The New York Giants, the New York Knicks, the Lakers, the Washington Redskins, the Raiders, Chicago Bulls. And in almost every instance, without exception, it's because of ownership or management. They just don't have elite people up top. I mean, the Clippers bring in Jerry West, and they've just made a bunch of really smart moves. and they have a chance to make the playoffs and they don't have a star. So, you know, I mean, they got the right coach. Lawrence Frank upstairs, smart guy, analytic guy. They steal Zubotch from the Lakers, Lou Williams, Patrick Beverly.

They got a bunch of mix of young and veterans, and they play their butts off. They play defense. And they're not gifted, but they're a playoff team. And you can sense their direction. They need to land a couple of really good athletes. Kauai Leonard would be perfect for them. But like in the NFL, you need four things. I've always had this rule.

Owner, GM, coach, quarterback. If you don't have a B-plus or above in three of the four, you're not an elite franchise. The New York Giants right now, coach quarterback GM, not elite. Dave Gettelman's not elite. Pat Schumer's not elite. And the Mara family was always considered elite, but they've had a string of really bad coaching hires. Kansas City Chiefs, by the way, are 4-0. Hunt family, stable.

GM, Brett Veach, A. Andy Reid, A. Mahomes, A, 4-0. That's why they're going to be in the AFC championship for most of the next decade. Seattle, I would have given them four high grades. Paul Allen passed away, unfortunately, and they're in a holding pattern with the ownership. But Pete Carroll, John Snyder, and Russell are B-plus or above. That's why Seattle was able to rebuild quickly.

post that polarization of the locker room. The Chicago Bears, I still don't think they have great ownership or a great quarterback, but Ryan Pace is a great GM, and Matt Nagy's a really sharp coach, and they won their division. Philadelphia is 4-0. You know, Howie Roseman, Wentz, Doug Peterson, Lori, the owner, Colts are 3-1. I don't love their owner.

Chargers. You know, Spanos family takes some shots, but I love their GM. quarterback's very good. Coach, we're not sure about, but that's probably why they didn't end up in the AFC championship. We're not quite sure if Anthony Lynn's the guy. I know they like him in house, but the Giants are one and three. So when you see these massive brands that should really, they have such advantages.

I mean, let's be honest, a lot of young people that love football, scouts, they grew up Steelers fans and cowboy fans. you have advantages as a traditional rival. I mean, if you're a young scout and the Lakers call to the Memphis Grizzlies and you're a 45-year-old guy, there's a romance about the Lakers. There's a romance about the Bulls. There's a romance about Pat Riley, Pat Ewing, and the Knicks. You have advantages when you are a major brand.

I mean, that's why it doesn't take very long. I mean, USC football is a mess. But if you got the right coach, if Urban Meyer tomorrow said it's my job, you know, 12 games later, they're really good. It's always easy to turn around big traditional powers in college basketball, college football, even in pro sports, because there's just a lot of people that want to work for them. They're usually well-funded. They're in pretty cool cities. They take care of their employees, but it just goes to show you. We've got seven or eight massive brands in the country that are just a mess. And almost all those instances, I would go to ownership or

the management in the front. I think the Lakers don't have, I'm not going to take a shot at Jeannie Bus. But, you know, Magic's never done this before. Rob Polinkas never done this before. So I think it's very hard to not do something. And then you suddenly do something and you're great at it. It's like TV guys who do radio, they're fine at it. But if you've done television for 20 years and somebody says,

hosts a national syndicated radio show, well, you're not a radio guy. You're a TV guy doing radio. You can be fine. You can be passable. You can stay on the air. but to be great at anything, you've got to do it for a long time. It's just the reality of everything. It's why medical school takes a long time.

They want eight, ten years of schooling and internships to even allow you a bad job in a hospital, in a weak hospital. Forget the great ones. Forget the great places in America. You know, John Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic. So, you know, light at the end of the tunnel, I don't see it. Yes, it was funny yesterday hearing all these stories about the about the Cleveland Browns and how they're going to turn it around.

I think they're going to be a really interesting team, but it was so funny because does everybody remember the Cleveland Browns were 7, 8, and 1 last year? We're blown out four times and were 1 in 5 against playoff teams. I mean, it's not like they were just knocking on the door. they beat one playoff team. That was Baltimore when they had Joe Flacco, who was so bad he got replaced. By the way, they were 2-0 against Jeff Driscoll. Those were two of their wins.

They got blown out by the Chargers, blown out by the Texans, blown out by the Steelers, blown out by the Chiefs. And it's just amazing. You bring in a couple free agents. Super Bowl! I like their players, but they were 7-8-1, 1-5 against playoff teams. I want to go to Rick Buecker, Bleacher Report, Senior Writer, Buker and Friends podcast, listen to them all the time.

And a story this morning, Jeannie Bus considered moving LeBron. I suggested that a week ago and said I don't think it's the craziest thing in the world. So, Rick, I'm sure you'll get blowback from some people on this. But let's talk about the story itself. I don't think it's crazy at all because I don't see light at the end of the tunnel. And I think he's your best asset by far. What did you make when you heard it? Yeah, I agree that it is certainly it's something they have to

contemplate and people around the league are saying it's something they have to contemplate. The difficulty is what are you going to get back? And that's probably the most shocking thing that I learned is that other teams looking at acquiring the LeBron are not looking at it like LeBron is the answer to all our problems. They would they would want to couch what they are offering. They don't want to offer up their best player because they're thinking at this point, well, if we want to do more than what the Lakers did this year, we need our best play. Like, we need to have a quality player next to LeBron. We can't just give the farm for LeBron,

because LeBron plus whatever we have left over is not enough to get us anywhere. And then we're basically sacrificing our entire franchise for a guy at 34 who now has had a, what people look at is that was missing 18 games with that injury, presumably not being the same even since he's come back. It is raised an alarm. And here's the other part. And Colin, you're in L.A. So you know this.

It's a matter of if you move LeBron, you can't, this is not Milwaukee or Charlotte or even Houston where you can say, well, we're going to trade and we're just going to get building blocks. If Kauai Leonard shows up with the clippers and you're the Lakers with building blocks, that is not going to sit well with. Lakers fans. You have big price tickets to sell. You need a star that's going to sell them. And, you know, as I'm looking at it right now, I don't see the star that the Lakers could trade LeBron for that is going to carry the water. So that is the, that's the problem that they face right now, is can they get a star equal anywhere close to LeBron if they decided to move him? Because that has to be part of the packet. Yeah, I mean, my gut feeling is they get boogie cousins and maybe a Jimmy Butler. You know, I just had Bill Oramon and I said, you know, in football you have seven rounds of draft

and half the league is undrafted. There's a massive volume. You can really turn around a football team very quickly. You get the right quarterback. You have a good GM. You can just do it fast. But in basketball, you got two rounds and after about the 12th player, you run out of guys. There's about eight guys domestically a year that signed two and three and four contracts. They're prodigies. You only have two rounds, and the second doesn't give us a ton historically. So the Lakers don't have shooters. I find it very difficult to believe in one offseason,

and they're going to have a bunch of shooters. That's what the league is. I don't see light at the end of the tunnel. I don't with the Lakers. I think this thing has failed, and I don't see this beaming light that I'm close coming down the tracks. Do you? No.

The exact opposite. I mean, what has transpired this season, and especially, again, I hate to reiterate it, but the injury to LeBron really makes you question, okay, is this the first sign of the downturn? Yeah. And if it is, where do you go from here? How do you build this quickly enough to take advantage of whatever he has left? Now, when it comes to the free agents out there, the one that intrigued me the most is Kyrie. reuniting with him. And the reason it intrigues me is because the one thing that Kyrie wanted

from LeBron in Cleveland was to be recognized as a peer, to be recognized as I'm an equal and you need me. And this is an instance where they strike out on every other front. Kyrie gets to come into L.A. And it is clear that LeBron has no chance unless he has Kyrie by his side. Maybe just maybe that addresses it. But as of what I'm hearing right now, I've heard more about Kyrie in New York if he leaves Boston than rejoining LeBron. I've heard that he's open to it, that it's not, you know, whatever discord or anybody there was between them, that that has dissipated. But would he actually go so far as to join this particular ship? I'm not hearing that it's at the top of his list.

Segwaying to Kevin Durant, because you're in the Bay Area, I had somebody tell me yesterday that the Warriors believe. Now, this doesn't mean it's going to happen. But in the building of the Warriors, they think Kevin's gone. They think he's gone. That doesn't mean he's going to be, but they just don't have a ton of confidence at all. Confirm that, believe that? What do you make of that? I believe that.

I haven't been told by people. I haven't been told that by people in the building, but from everything that I'm hearing, around the league, that is the prevailing notion. And there's been nothing that's happened within the Warriors. I understand why the Warriors feel that way, even if he hasn't said anything directly to them. Because particularly last year, the one thing that I noticed in the locker room was that Kevin and Draymond Green in particular

were as they were butt. Like after a game, they were always one be headed out to I'll text you. They were going out to dinner. They were hanging a lot. I don't see KD particularly close to anybody. He has his locker in the corner and his interaction with everybody else in the locker room. There's been an invisible force field that has gone up. And I understand that he and Draymond have mended fences to a certain extent,

but the atmosphere around KD feels like a guy who's holding himself a little bit apart because he doesn't want to be emotionally. invested in something that he's taking, that he's going to depart from very soon. I think it would be the craziest move ever. I swear to God, Rick. This is a, I can't even get my arms around it. The idea, Steph Curry is the greatest teammate as a star in the league. Kerr shields you from everything.

You're going into a new arena. They're going to win this year. You could go four for four. I think it would be a. tragic mistake. Listen, ownership runs sports. Dolan? That front office? How do you leave

the best pro player organization in American sports? The Bulls didn't treat Michael Jordan well. I remember Jordan fought with Reinsdorf from day one. Like, I've always gotten that. The Steelers banging their players. The Patriots,

you know, they trade you early before or later. Like, I can get great organizations where players move. I get it. Dan Gilbert LeBron. I get it. But I do not get leaving the Warriors. This is why when it comes to KD.

Because KD will never be fully embraced by the Warriors. He will never by the Warriors fan base, by the culture, whatever you want to call it. He's always going to be the guy who joined the band. And for

him, there is, for the same reason that he left O K.C. and he went to Golden State and, you know, everybody said that was crazy. You can't do that. KD has demonstrated he's going to do what he wants to do. And I believe in terms of fully exploring what he's capable of doing as a player, and as a businessman, that there is a, okay, so what's the next frontier? And returning the Knicks to some level of glory is the next frontier.

I mean, I think you're looking at it, you're looking at the money in the bank, which is the Golden State Warriors and Championship. I like money. I like money in my bank. I understand that. But you know what? Katie has so much money in the bank now, or he's had the money in the bank. And I always go back to Aaron Rogers, the comment he made after winning the Super Bowl. And he said, is that all there is?

Like, like, I got the thing that everybody says I have to have. And is, this is it. Like, this is it. What else is there? And it doesn't mean that Aaron or Katie don't want to win more championships, but it's a little bit like, okay, now have I experienced that, what else is there for me to experience? And I can, I turn it on its head, and I look at,

if you go into New York and you just get New York, If you get the Knicks to the finals, you don't even have to win or just get them to the finals, which by the way, F. Tadie compares himself to LeBron, he says, I go to the east. I'm working with Scott Perry and Steve Mills, not Tim Dolan, but Scott Perry and Steve Mills, and they can put a couple pieces around me. I can do what LeBron did. I can at least get to the finals. And if I get to the finals in New York, I'm going to be a God in a way in New York that I never will be in the Bay Area.

At some point, winning matters to me. Well, look, and it's not to say that it doesn't matter to KD, but it's your part in that winning. Colin, you're at the forefront of what Fox and FS1 has put together. They're riding with you. There's a lot of other people on that train, but they are riding with you. You're in the driver's seat. Katie wants to be Colin.

That's what he wants to be. He wants to be Colin Cowher somewhere. He'll never be Colin Cowherd with the Golden State Warriors. Those words will never be uttered again in America. I really stretched that analogy. Once I was in, I couldn't stop. Bukes, it's great talking to you. Good story, good stories on the Lakers and LeBron.

Thanks, buddy. You got it. All right, Rick Buker. Yeah, like I get that. You know, listen, what he's saying is basically you want to be the centerpiece of something, and I totally get it. But the difference is when I came here to Fox, it was a well-run company with a great reputation of building things, The Simpsons.

The Knicks have James Dolan. Like, you're as good as your management. I remember when I was looking at other companies. You know, I told my agent, I'm like, oh, I know. Nobody thought Fox News would work. People laughed at the Simpsons. I mean, everything Fox does works. I mean, they, you know, their movies worked, their regional's worked.

So I have no problem leaving if you trust management and you think, okay, these are people that can elevate me. Man, to go from the Warriors to James Dolan, there's just no way I could do it. There's absolutely no way I could do it. You look good, man, you can't overcome bad ownership. I've said this before. I'm the luckiest guy in the world. I've had great management. My first job in Las Vegas was owned by a guy named Jim Rogers, smart, progressive guy, built a great empire.

And then I, you know, I worked at ESPN, Fox, Portland had great management when I was there. In Tampa, we had bad management. It was the most talented newsroom I ever worked in, and we were in fourth place. We had all sorts of talent. We had great reporters and great anchors and huge sports department, unbelievable weather department. We had nothing but talent. Really talented local people. Most talented newsroom I ever worked in locally.

We were last place. Our management stunk. You couldn't take me from the Warriors to Jim Dolan? I mean, that would be like going from the Patriots to the Al Davis six years ago, Raiders. It's not going to do it. If I'd given a choice as a quarterback, not just as a random offensive guard, the quarterback. They'd be like Brady going, you know what? I'm done with Belichick.

I'm going out and I want to live by the Bay Area. I'm going to go to the Raiders six years ago. Raiders now much better than six years ago. At least they got hope and draft picks and stars and I just don't know if I could do that. Yeah. Warriors are, that's how you run a franchise. They got the perfect star, the coach, the GM, the culture. Shush.

I mean, you got Clay Thompson never says a word. How many stars in the NBA are like that? that. Steph Curry is the most redeemable guy, most accessible and amenable to change and other teammate star in sports. So you've got the

quietest star and the easiest star to work with. And the coach who's been in the media that deflects everything. That was a player. God, it's perfect. I mean, the only thing you got now is Draymond Green is a little crazy town, but he's mostly harmless. And the bottom line, you can

make an argument that everybody on that team wear skinny jeans and he's the one guy that can get into a fight that you kind of need. He's the bouncer at the bar. I mean, the nightclub can have all the great assets, but you've got to have a bouncer. He's the bouncer. And Draymond's fine. Lord. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports

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Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back.

Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this plant to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive?

The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On hurdle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness,

professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WMBA standout, Kate Martin and rising hockey star, Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you,

but don't ever feel like you don't feel on. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs, Gabby Thomas, and Katie Ledecki. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win. more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire

world. Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. A sports team need to be informed, make smart decisions to build a champ no different when it comes to selling or trading in your car. When you're ready to do it, go to truecar.com. Check out the true cash offer, which is not available in all areas. Here's veteran newsman John Goulet.

No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So good news, Colin, that came out this morning. Zion Williamson is back. He will play for Duke against Syracuse in the ACC tournament game tonight. I believe that game is at 9 o'clock Eastern. That's good because he's basically the one player.

All of us want to watch in college basketball. Sure is. So he'll be better. I'm a little, are you a little surprised? I know some people thought, I know Clay Travis thought this was all a scam and he wasn't going to play again. Some people thought it wouldn't be until next week. I didn't think it was a scam.

I just thought Mike Shoshiewski's out of relationship with Nike and maybe they'd, I don't know. I just kind of felt like, boy, this is going to be a big risk. But in the end, I guess if you were Nike, you'd want him to play. You wouldn't want to seem like that injury was devastating. You'd want him back on the floor proving he just slipped. Right. Also, I think I'm glad it kind of hurts the notion that everyone thinks,

oh, college basketball is evil and kids don't want to play. Like, no, he wants to play. It's fun. It's a tournament. No, I want to play. This is, listen, I watch a lot of college basketball starting every year in about mid-February, and I can't wait for the tournament. Big Ten's really good.

To SEC, he's got a great team, and it's not Kentucky. I think Carolina Duke and Gonzaga should be the three favorites. So it's a, you know, it'll be fun. According to Ian Rappaport of the NFL Network, people close to the Patriots and Rob Grudkowski think there is a growing belief that he is more likely to return in 2019 than retire. You said before you're hearing the Patriots really think they're going to have an amazing team next year, even better than the Laster's team that won the Super Bowl.

They're going to draft a tight end. It's a very good tight end class. Iowa's got two. They got a ton of picks early. I think what they're going to do. I'm surprised they haven't made a move for Josh Rosen, but I think New England, of the two or three things they're going to draft, pass rusher with one of their early picks,

and there's about five really good ones out of college. At least they, you know, speculation will be good. And I think they need to tie in. And I also keep your eye on Golden Tates, the Patriots. That's getting rumored about it. Do you think that that kind of has a role in this decision for Grunkowski that he knows, like, wow, we're going to be really good. I could get another ring out of this.

I think he likes the way they played him. You know, they used him primarily as a blocker last year. Which is great at. He's really good at. And then he was really good against the Chiefs and he was really good against the Rams. So, I mean, he's not a guy that's going to give you 18 great Sundays. But I thought he was very good in very key spot second half against the Rams and against the Chiefs when it mattered. And finally, somewhat mercifully, the Blake Bordell's era in Jacksonville is officially over.

The team released the former third overall pick yesterday after a. I'll call it a strange five years in Jacksonville. He had a 35 touchdown season. He made the AFC championship game, but was also benched and a lot of criticism. I feel like he's the nickelback of football. He's awful, but probably gets criticized more than he should. Like, he's not as bad as people on the internet think. I don't think he's great.

I'm not saying he's bad, but I'm just saying he's like a punchline of a lot of jokes. He was in the AFC championship game not that long ago. I know. What I would say about him, he never took it to the next level. He came in, and he was big, and he was thick, and he had a decent arm, and he was mobile and athletic, and he seemed like a good kid. He never was in trouble. And he just never, his ceiling was way lower than I thought it was. Yeah, people have said he's great Monday through Saturday. He's like a great guy. Yeah, no, he has a lot of qualities I like. He was mobile. I mean, you could look at him, just look at him and Andrew Locke, forget the stats, and you look at him, and you'd be like, there's a lot of similarities. The difference is luck. has a much higher ceiling. He's a big strong kid who can move. He's a good, that's a good backup to have, right? He'll get picked up by some of the guys in this league. You know, Ryan Tannay will be a nice backup to have. I don't want to build my franchise around him.

Even a nice backup to have. Good kid. Then get in trouble. You know, Adam Gase had a winning record when Ryan Tannihill started. People forget that. Like, if you give a kid the right coach, look at Kyle Shanahan and Matt Ryan, turn him in an MVP. So coaching is a lot of that in that dynamic. dynamic with the quarterback is who's in the huddle with them, who's in their headset. John Goulet with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The herd lie news. He was the president for the Eagles for almost 20 years. Brown CEO, recently a Falcons front office consultant and a friend of the show, Joe Banner. Joe, you know, free agency period, there's a little momentum in the league now. The Eagles did it a couple years ago. The Rams did it last year. teams appear to be a little less reluctant. For years and years, it was kind of thought of as silly money.

Why do you think now we've got a little momentum, people are stepping up, even good teams? Well, I think the excess amount of cap over billion dollars, the first air free agency, when you're trying to build a team in a tight cap, when you're building a team in a tight cap, draft picks are invaluable, and trying to keep all of your good players as impossible.

When you're functioning in an environment where there's an excess amount of cap, then keeping your own players is doable as well as adding crucial free agents. So I think that strategy, all the smart teams started doing this a year or two, with a mixture of what used to be primarily draft picks, is totally dictated by these increases in the cap. Former team for you, the Eagles, Howie Roseman, has been aggressive. You know, the Colts had 100 million, haven't done much.

They've re-signed some of their own guys, finished second, I think, on Preston Smith. Niners went out and got D-Fort. Is there a move in particular to you liked so far? I think the Sean Jackson has a chance to come back and make a difference.

And, you know, it's under the radar a little bit, but Malif Jackson, if he can play like he did in 16 and 17. Yes. And you put him next to Fletcher Cox. Are you kidding me?

Who has two guards that can block those guys? So, you know, those were two deals that they didn't give up a ton. And they got some incredible value. I mean, Luke Jackson's average your $10 million.

I don't need to, you know, be little $10 million a year. But, you know, when you look at the other deals that are out there and what lasts three years and probably really five of the last six years, you put them on a team next to Fletcher Cox. That could be an incredible combination. And listen, I'm just a big believer we've discussed this before. Get great quarterback play. Dominate both lines of scrimmage. And you're going to be one of the best teams of the league. There are a few teams that have built like that.

I mean, Cleveland has done that now. the egos have done that now. You know, it seems like the perennial strong in those areas. Patriots do in a different way. They don't want to leave the league in Stacks. They want to leave the league in forcing them. There's no place to step up. And they get players that are incredible.

A group of teams that are focused on that. And there are other teams, you know, to me, the Jets, they signed a lot of players that I actually really like. But they didn't really improve either line that much. Yeah. So they'll be better. They'll be better. I think the coaching will be better.

And at least the offensive side, I think Donald will be. get better. Put the same amount of money into really creating dominant lines. They'd be a much better team than I think they're going to be. So I always look at the teams that are focusing on trying to dominate those lines of scrimmage and have a good quarterback. And too much of the money in my mind is being spent differently than that. Listen, that's how the Colts lived forward last year.

They rebuilt an offensive line in one year. They went from one of the worst lines in the least one of the best lines. In fact, I think you could argue the best line in the way. And I just think they looked for some opportunities in a defensive line here that didn't emerge. and I don't think they're done. And I certainly think you'll see them addresses in the draft. And if they fix that, they'll be as good as anybody out there.

What I worry about with Cleveland is Freddie Kitchens had never been interviewed. I mean, really, he was only a coordinator for eight games. And OBJ, you know, you can ask Ben McAdo and Pat Schumer and Dave Gettleman. He can be a little difficult to coach. You've got big personalities now, Sheldon Richardson, never quite played up to his contract. John Dorsey himself has. strong point of view. Freddie Kitchens is a kid compared to that. Do you worry that he could be a little engulfed by all of it? Because if you were going to put together that kind of a cast of

characters, you'd want an incredibly strong head coach. Yes. And I actually think under the circumstances, it was reasonable to give Kitchens the shot, but I would not describe him as an incredibly strong coach. And you really only gave him a partial list. I mean, Joku, Landry, Hunt. I mean, there's a lot of plays in Mayfield. There's a lot of plays. There's a lot of plays. players in the team that will need some strong guys. Listen, I go back to my basics. I think Mayfield's going to be very good. I think their lines right now

as good as anybody in the league. You add Vernon to the line they had. You add Richardson if they can get him to show up on a regular basis, to awaken meetings and play reasonably hard, and they've got some depth there. I don't see many offensive lines that are going to be able to block that group. So that's going to make the whole rest of

the defense better. So the Eagles do that in years ago. So, I was managing the group. I think that was what Dorsey did in Kansas City. didn't fit so well with the people there and how they approached the game. And I think that's to be determined. I think the most in the NFL is getting what keeps that from happening there. Freddie Kitchens, yeah. You know, Joe, the Niners moved off Montana and the Colts moved off Peyton.

And Green Bay moved off Farrve. Philadelphia, Donovan McNabb, eight out of ten years had been to the playoffs. They moved off him. Kurt Warner had a lot of football left. Rams moved off him. for some reason the giants appear to be terrified to move off Eli Manning. Why? I don't understand it. The other thing is, Joe, is he's not going to come back and burn you.

I think he's kind of done. I am shocked by their paralyization moving off Eli or you. Yes, Dave, gentlemen, on interviews I've done and tweets that I've put out, and I'll feel a little bad, but I just am completely baffled. I mean, this week alone he said, we have a plan. No kidding. everybody has a plan. He said he admires the way the chiefs have done things. What is

he doing that resembles anything the chiefs have ever shot? But by the way, they moved off Alex Smith who was getting him to the playoffs. They moved out. Yeah. By the way, I worked with Andy Reed for 14 years. I know exactly what he thinks. It's nothing what like Dave Gettleman is doing in New York. And then he announces, by the

way, he's comfortable. So you have a team now. You have create no discomfort in the walk of at all. Not just, not really bad players, but I mean, Vernon. I mean, you know, so he isn't perfect. Are you kidding me? You're running out of the team. A strong defensive pass rush who's only 28 years old. So I just have no idea what they're doing. And then if you break down the individual evaluations decisions they've made in last year,

well, were they going for it last year or not? You trade a draft pick to get Ogletree. You can't cover anybody who's making $10 million a year, but you're building a team for the future. You can win and rebuild at the same time. Of course you can, but there's nothing you're doing. that indicates you're going to be able to do that effectively. And then the Eli thing, I mean, you know, listen, it's great to be loyal to a player that's giving you so much, but at some point you've got to start to make the 60 players who are standing there right now, risking their health and well-being every day they're on the field.

It's amazing. You know, Joe, Arizona has already paid the money to Josh Rosen. He's $2 million a year for three years. I think he, as a thrower, stacks up with almost everybody in this class. Patriots have 12 picks. Giants have 10 to 12 picks. I am shocked that Arizona is not getting calls for Josh Rosen. I mean, this is not a great quarterback class by anybody's draft analysis,

and you don't have to pay him anything. He's a $2 million a year player. Boy, I got to think if I was in New England, a second or a third round pick. I'm surprised there's not. I mean, if you were in the league and you had, I mean, I think he's as good player as a Teddy Bridgewater potentially, a Ryan Tannahill, Andy Dalton. I mean, Jared Goff didn't look good as rookie year. He bounced back when he got the right offensive coach.

What do you make of the Rosen situation? Upside than everybody had just mentioned, then maybe Bridgewater. I was a Bridgewater fan of that draft. I think he played pretty well from Minnesota before the injury. And he does throw the ball extremely well. What we don't know is there were all these stories and rumors last year, but what went on with him in college and how committed he was and everything else like that, there may be more believing of that stuff than we realize happening around the league.

And, you know, the Patriots are purists about quarterbacks. You've got to be a genius. You've got to be an incredible lead. You've got to have every – so I think if they actually market this guy, they will get a decent draft pick back in return from – I'm not sure it's a one because the teams that are most likely to want him have really high ones and they may not want to give that up. But I actually think if they market him, that this will correct itself and they'll get solid compensation.

But right now, as far as we can tell, they're just kind of sitting there and not doing anything. And who knows? Maybe keeping them. Maybe the Kyler-Murie stuff isn't real. Or maybe they're planning on picking Kyle and they're just waiting until a later date to... It says to me, because teams like the Redskins that may have been involved won't be involved anymore, at least for the moment. So it's a little mystifying. But I think if they market him and they truly are going to pick Murray, that they'll still get a good deal for Rosen.

Yeah. You know, Joe, love having you on the show when you're a little bit of the show when you're a little bit of in Los Angeles or we set up a camera where you're at. I love your insight and I really appreciate you stopping by today. Well, I always appreciate being awesome. Pleasure talking to you. Thanks. Joe Banner. Yeah, he doesn't like the Giants what they're doing either. I just don't get it. That's a, that's the mystery in sports. Colts bail on Peyton Manning. Giants can't bail on Eli? Coming up, a rumor about a big change coming into one of the most famous sporting events in the country and it seems like everybody's excited. Except me. That's next. Best for last.

Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Well, there's a rumor that baseball is changing the home run derby, so the winner gets a million dollar prize. And I told my staff I still wouldn't watch it because I don't watch the home run derby. And those guys are already millionaires. And they started asking me about other sporting events. I have no interest in watching. So we're going to play a game.

Goula is going to give me a sporting event and see if I'll have any interest watching it. Here we go. All right. First one, the NBA slam dunk contest. I actually do watch that. Seriously? That seems so anti you. No, I've been to two of them live and I've watched it, so I will watch that.

I do watch it occasionally. Okay, then. So that's kind of the NBA comparable contest. Yeah, okay. How about the Heisman Trophy presentation ceremony? No, I think it's absolutely boring. I think it's stupid that it's in New York. It should be in the South.

I don't watch it. It's an hour long. What if the Heisman Trophy ceremony was presented by Johnny Mansell? I would watch it then. Nothing against Chris Fowler. but I would watch it if it was hosted by that train wreck. How about the Pro Bowl, but all the top vote getters actually play instead of staying home? No.

There's no value. That's the worst football game professionally played in America. What I'd like to see is what they had in the 70s, where the college football national champion plays the worst NFL team the previous year. I would like to see that's what I'd like to see something like that where a college All-Star team plays a bad NFL team.

Kids won't even play in bowl games anymore. I know. I don't think they're going to be in that one. How about any remaining Lakers game this season? No, I was at a bar last night two nights ago with the Bulls Lakers and I did not turn from my vodka. Didn't even watch it. I wouldn't. What about the Atlanta Hawks

versus the Memphis Grizzlies? No. What about actual Hawks versus actual Grizzlies? Yes, I would be more inclined on YouTube to give that a look, yes. How about the closing ceremony at any Olympics? I could not tell you the last time I watched that. I didn't even know there were. I thought they were just opening.

No, there's opening and closing. Yeah. Those must be stellar. Well, nothing like celebrating you're done watching something. Yeah, I've never, I've watched a few of them. The opening ceremonies, I'll watch an hour maybe of it. I'm not nearly into the Olympics. I've kind of replaced the Olympics with the World Cup in terms of international competition.

I watch soccer all year, so it's easy to segue into more soccer. I don't watch Luge ever, so I'm not interested every four years in that. You're not a big javelin guy? No. How about the NHL All-Star game? I've been told it's good. I never watched it. What would it take for you to watch an NHL game?

Well, players were on fire because if they were on ice and there was flame, That's always been my answer. That's it? That's all that would have to happen. That sounds terrible because I actually go to like two or three hockey games a year. Have you proposed to the NFL lighting their players on fire? No, I've just, this is a terrible joke. I don't watch hockey on television. I watch that snow-getty outdoor game a couple times.

Yeah, I watched that a couple of years. And then it's just got tired. But I don't like, the only All-Star game I watch is the Major League Baseball All-Star game. That's the only one I watch. I don't watch the NBA. I don't watch the NBA All-Star game. What I watch is I'll watch the slam dunk contest, three-point contest. But I don't even think I watched the game much this year.

I don't think I did. I watched about 20 minutes. This is the best anyway. All right, last one. Would you watch a rerun of the Patriots Rams Super Bowl? Oh, God, yes. I think, yeah, I think I may have already watched half of it. Not the 2001, the one from a couple months ago.

Oh, yeah. I watch old NFL games all the time. Oh, yeah. Yeah, in fact. It was 13 to 3. It doesn't matter. That was a brilliantly scheme. defensive gridiron battle.

Nothing like watching not converting on third down. It's very exciting. Listen, it's almost like when you watch a movie for the second time, a scary movie, that you don't have the tension and so you see it more clearly. Like when I watched Silence of the Lambs the first time, I miss some stuff. I watched it the second time. I wasn't

freaked out. I knew the ending. I got more clarity with the movie and the plot. But that's a classic. This Super Bowl was not a classic. It was a Patriot fan. It was one of the great all-time games. Forget Super Bowls. I was. I was riveted. All right, we'll see you tomorrow. We did radio only today. That was it. You know the last time I watched the Pro Bowl? Walter Abercrombie was a member of the game. Look that one up.

That's the last Pro Bowl I watched. It's the hurt. 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. I'm Timbo. And every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlice on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Sliced Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Oden, Kurt. to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes.

Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Cliverts Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me, he goes,

hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Quarterback on office blue 42. Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Where's she at? Hey, Miss Parker. Listen to the Clippers show on the I-Heart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm CJ Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, Point Game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was finally.

You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game 7, Marquis keep coming to him. He's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball.

So listen to Point Game on the I Heart Radio. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.