The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, Andrew Luck, & the NFL helmet rule

Episode Date: August 21, 2018

Colin discusses the faith the New York Jets have in QB Sam Darnold, why Cleveland Browns QB Baker Mayfield and Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson are projects, not prospects, why Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck will be fine, and more on the NFL helmet rule. Guests include Greg Jennings, Kevin Clark, and Jordan Palmer. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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on the IHartRadio app by searching Hurd. You're listening. to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, this is the herd, wherever you may be, however you may be listening, live in Los Angeles, Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. Joy Taylor's joining me on a Tuesday. Yesterday is just three hours of football, and today we got three hours of football. Oh, we snuck a little LeBron in there.

A little. A little LeBron is the greatest of all time in there. A little off-speed pitch. Great to have you in on a Tuesday. Good morning. So last night we got a little Andrew Locke going to talk about that. We got some Lamar Jackson, Joe Flacco, going to talk about that. Let me start with this, though.

Anytime you overpay for something, you feel obligated to use it. You overpay for a suit. You're a woman. You overpay for a blouse. It's just hanging there. You feel like, I got to wear that thing. I paid $400 for that blouse. I got to wear that thing.

I had a friend once years and years and years and years ago, overpay for a convertible. a convertible sports car. He overpaid for it. It was his second car. He overpaid for it. The problem was it was 48 degrees. He's driving that thing. His wife's in the seat next to him freezing.

And he's like, well, I paid $60,000 for it. I got to use the convertible sports car. And I thought, anytime you overpay for something, you feel an obligation to use it. And this happens in sports. When you overdraft a quarterback. Lamar Jackson's not a first round quarterback. Tim Tebow was not a first round quarterback.

They were both overdrafted. They were both projects. Okay, Josh Allen's a prospect. Sam Donald's a prospect. Baker Mayfield's a prospect. Carson Wentz was a prospect. Andrew Luck was a prospect. Cam Newton was a prospect.

Lamar Jackson and Tim Tebowar projects shouldn't be drafted in the first round. He's completing 42% of his throws through three games. 42%. Baker Mayfield's at 55. Sam Darnold's at 72. Josh Allen's at 56. Josh Rosen's at 55. And by the way, Josh Rosen is a terrible offensive line, and so does Sam Darnold.

Baltimore's got a decent offensive line. 42% he's overwhelmed. He is last among all the rookie quarterbacks in completion percentage. Passing yards for attempt, passing yards total, or pass her rating, and not close. He's overwhelmed. And they're going to play him like they played Tebow. If Tebow would have been drafted in the third or fourth round, nobody would have clamored for Tim Tebow for two or three years.

But when you overpay for something, you ever had a friend buy a breadmaker one time? You put on 25 pounds. Well, I got a breadmaker, making sour dough for breakfast, sour dough for lunch, sour dough. You feel obligated to use something. So don't overpay for something and don't over draft. I like Lamar Jackson over time. He is a draftable player. Tim Tebow, I've said to this day, I'd love to have Tim Tebow on my roster.

You draft him in the late fourth round. You sit there and you're like, for two years, we're going to teach in the system. But in that time, he can do some special team stuff, upman on the punt, backup stuff, couple red zone things, blowout games, put him in, wins, losses. Games already decided. But it doesn't matter if you get drafted 8th, 28th, or the last draft in the first round. The minute you're a first round quarterback, the owner wants to see you play, damn straight, that owner, that owner, you could have had a linebacker,

you could have had a corner, you could have, you drafted quarterback. First rounders got to play. That's the rule. First round pick's got to play. And the owner wants to see him play. And the fans want to see him play. And the media's going to ask, why isn't he playing? And you got to play him.

This is why I said Lamar Jack. I'm watching him last night. Kids totally overwhelmed. I mean, Josh Rosen isn't overwhelmed. Baker Mayfield's not overwhelmed. Sam Darnold's not overwhelmed. Josh Allen's not overwhelmed. That kid's overwhelmed.

Now, he has moments. I mean, he's a heck of a wrong. runner. They ain't going to throw a ball out there once in a while. But this is what's going to happen. And I said this before the draft. Everybody was like, oh, I said this is going to be Tebow. Both Tebow and Lamar Jackson, profoundly popular in college.

They win a Heisman. Both mechanically don't throw the world's greatest ball in college. Both have great offensive coaches in college. Bobby Petrino for Lamar, Urban Meyer for Tebow, that mask and elevate sort of average throwers. Both get overdrafted in the first round. and both are in proud franchises, Baltimore and Denver,

with loyal fan bases that want wins, and you go in a two-game losing streak, and they're chanting Tebow, Lamar. This is exactly he, I've watched him now for three games. He is exactly the player I was told he would be by all three scouting directors I talked to. That's why I said. Draft a prospect in the first round of quarterback.

Draft a project. late second, third, fourth. Let him sit. Nobody's going to put any pressure on you. Nobody's going to put... You get drafted in the first round. It doesn't matter where. I don't care if one guy's third and one guy's 28.

Doesn't matter. First round changes everything for the owner, for the fans, for the media. Put a lot of pressure on those coaching staffs. Let me shift to this. You ever take a two-week vacation and you come back and it just takes you a couple of days to get back into rhythm at work? And by the way, you're good at work. Whatever you do at work, you're a salesperson. You're an engineer.

You are a vice president of marketing. You're good at what you do. But you go on that two-week vacation. Just two weeks. I'm not saying a month. I'm not saying a summer. You come back on that Monday. It's not quite things.

And then Tuesday you're like, and then by Wednesday you're okay. That's just for a two-week vacation. And you're good at what you do, regardless of what you do. Andrew Luck did not throw a football for a year and a half. No, I mean, he's defensive linemen throw footballs in practice. Andrew Luck couldn't throw a football for a year and a half. He's a quarterback. Andrew Luck this year is going to be good because he's an all-time talent.

He's not going to be MVP. He may not, due to Deshawn Watson, be the best quarterback this year in his division. You cannot go from doing something for years 24-7 and then go to total inactivity for an extended time and come back and just be great. You and I take two weeks off. We come back. We're rusty. He took a year and a half off from not throwing a football.

Andrew looks going to be good this year. He'll be a borderline pro bowler this year. But he's got a new coach, a new playbook, and I don't know, hasn't thrown a ball in a year and a half. By the way, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player. Most people think of all time. I don't. I think he's number two, but I understand those who think he's number one. I don't need to argue about it.

Michael Jordan took a year and a half off in a sport which is easier to get into basketball shape than football shape. I mean, football shape is weightlifting. You've got to build up calluses. You've got to be able to take the hits. It's a precision sport, especially if you're a quarterback. Michael Jordan left for a year and a half. Came back for a season and shot 41%. lowest of his career, including his last year in the NBA when he was an old man and couldn't jump.

Now, the following year, Michael Jordan shot 50% and was the MVP of the league. But you can't go 24-7 something for years, even if you're great like Michael Jordan, go to total inactivity. He goes to baseball, comes back, he wants the same guy. He was a 41% shooter. And Michael O's hovered around 50. By the way, Tom Brady, same thing. Remember Tom Brady? 2007, Tom Brady throws for 50%.

touchdown passes. Now, at the time, it was like the all-time record, right? 50 touchdown passes. Then he breaks his leg. And then Tom Brady comes back totally healthy. And he's like 28 touchdowns, 13 picks, pass a rating in the mid-90s. He was okay. And in the following year, Tom Brady wins the Super Bowl. He's amazing. He's MVP. Okay, I'm talking Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Leave, leave, come back, and they're good, not great. Then a year later, they're back to being dominant. Andrew Luck is probably the best young quarterback I've seen in this league

since like a Dan Marino or John Elwhite. Like walked into the league, you're like, holy, what? How's he winning 11 games with that roster? He was unbelievable. And then he got the, you know what, kicked out of him. And then he couldn't throw a football for a year and a half. And I watched him last night, and I thought, he'll be good this year. because Michael Jordan is still Michael Jordan

and Tom Brady's still Tom Brady and Andrew Luck's still Andrew Luck. But folks, there is a reason that before Jerry Seinfeld is going to fill an arena and do stand-up. Do you know what Jerry Seinfeld does for three months? He goes to small comedy clubs. Gets into a rhythm.

Jerry Seinfeld doesn't write jokes and then go perform in front of 25,000 people. Jerry Seinfeld writes jokes and then he goes to little comedy clubs, tries it out, tries it out, gets into a rhythm, tries it out, tries it out, tries it out, little bigger comedy club, and then he goes to the Pellestra in front of 20,000. There's a reason Jay Leno, there's a reason these comedians before they do the Oscars, before

they have a big appearance, they go to comedy clubs to get it, even though they're great comics, even though they've been doing it for 100 years. You cannot go from inactivity for any extended period to unbelievable. If you're great, like a Michael or a Brady or a luck, you can go inactivity to good. Michael was good that year. He still averaged 27 out of baseball. He averaged 27 a game, but his details, his nuance, his efficiency. Tom Brady was still good, by the way, 96 quarterback. That's better than Matt Ryan all time. But his efficiency, he wasn't quite as accurate. A few more. Andrew Luck's going to be good. He is not, not going to be great this year. Coming up next, all these quarterbacks, all these rookies, there is one team. that has, I think, a really, really tough decision. I think they're sitting talking about this decision this morning,

and I don't think there's necessarily a right answer. Both could be right or both could be wrong. And we'll tell you the team and the dilemma they face with their young quarterback coming up next. When you're ready to buy a new car, Hyundai is on your team. Shopper assurance program, transparent pricing, flexible test drive, streamlined purchasing. Go to Hyundai. shopper assurance. So the New York Jets have a little bit of a dilemma, and it's not a bad thing.

I kind of think part of it's bad and part of it's very exciting if the New York Jets, because there's various stories now out this morning that the Jets really like Sam Darnold a lot, and they're being quoted on it. The offensive coordinator has been quoted now this morning saying, Sam Darnold owns our playbook. The general manager said he is strangely impressive. So they like him a lot. and they're going public with it.

And when you watch all these young quarterbacks, I think it's pretty easy to see the gaps. When you watch Flacco and Lamar Jackson is a huge gap between those two. Flacco's way up here, Lamar's way down there. When I watch Sam Bradford and Josh Rosen, Bradford's clearly better right now than Rosen. It's not a massive gap, Flacco Lamar, but it's a gap. When I watch Baker and Tyrod Taylor,

Tyrod Taylor right now is better than Baker Mayfield. You know, again, I think Baker with a year or two in the league could be up there. But right now, Tyrod's a better player. Tyrod's playing around. I mean, if you look at his numbers in the preseason, he's toying with these defenses. Tyrod's toying with backups. He's a better player than Baker. When you watch Teddy Bridgewater and Sam Darnold,

Teddy Bridgewater today is better than Sam Darnold. This minute, right now, Teddy Bridgewater is a better quarterback than Sam Darnold and probably could win you more games in the first seven weeks. of which five, the Jets were in very winnable games. Probably not going to beat Minnesota, probably not going to beat Jacksonville at Jacksonville. The rest of them they can win. Detroit, Miami, Cleveland, Denver, Indy. They can win those games.

They can match up with those games. But here's the dilemma. Because all these gaps are obvious to see. But here's the difference. The Jets have the worst offensive line of all these young quarterbacks. Cleveland's offensive line is actually a pretty good run-blocking offensive line. Jets offensive line is awful. And their running backs are mediocre.

And their tight ends are not great. And their wide receivers are the best of that group. And that's not special. So you got that. Donald could get beat up if you play them. But here's the other dilemma. Teddy Bridgewater is a viable starting quarterback for a lot of teams in this league. I talked to an NFL source last night who I trust with scouting.

He's like, oh, God, yeah. Teddy Bridgewater is a starter in the NFL. I'm not saying he's a high starter. I'm not saying he's got the arm of, you know, Stafford or Cam or Ben. I'm not saying he's his talented as Breezer Russell Wilson. But Teddy Bridgewater is a starter. And for a starter in this league, you can get a starting offensive lineman to protect Sam Donald.

And you can probably get another pick next year in the second or third round to draft another offensive line. Because you better get that fixed or Donald's going to be Andrew Luck, really good and beat up and out. So there's a real dilemma in New York. You can see the gaps with all these. The only rookie that looks better than his starter is Josh. Allen and Buffalo. He looks better than A.J. McCarran. So he's going to start. You've got to start him. He's better. The rest of them, there are real decisions to be made. But I think, and I think the gap between Tyrod and Baker is greater than Teddy and Darnold. But not by much. Clearly Tyrod's better,

and clearly Teddy right now is better. But you've got to fix that offensive line. And that Jetsail line is the worst of all these rookie quarterbacks. And you've got to fix that thing. And if Teddy's out there? I was thinking this morning. Teddy to me is as good as Ryan Tannanhill, as good as Blake Bortles. I think he's better. I think he's as good or better than Case Keenham. I think he's better than Mitch Trubisky. I think he's better than Andy Dalton. And I don't think, I'll be honest with you, I don't think he's that far below Marcus Mariotta. I got to be honest. I think Teddy could start for, if you put him in a quarterback competition that was open and it was fair, I think Teddy starts for about seven teams in this league. I like him. I like him. I think he's a

great kid, works his tail off, like Case Keenham doesn't have ideal size, doesn't push the ball down the field a ton. Either does Alex Smith and Tyrod Taylor, and they win a bunch of football games. So the Jets have a real dilemma. They're sitting in a room right now going, okay, we're probably a little bit better with Teddy. Right now we're better with Teddy. But we know the futures, Darnold, why not get this offensive line? We can go get a starter right now for Teddy and a pick for Teddy. And by the way, if you look at the schedule, it's a real thing. The Jets open up. It's one of the easiest NFL schedules in the league, especially at the beginning. Five of their first seven games, Detroit, Miami, Cleveland, Denver Indy. Sam Donald, you play him, get him a little better

offensive line. He wins a few of those. You're like, you know, two months in, we're three and five. Sam's making mistakes. We would have been four and four with Teddy, but we're not a Super Bowl team anyway. And we got our future. Josh McCown's a great mentor in the room. So I think the Jets have a really, really interesting I don't think Buffalo has a dilemma, start the rookie. I don't think Baltimore has today a dilemma. Flackles way better. I think Tyrod, that's not a dilemma today.

He's better than Baker. I don't think there's a dilemma in Arizona. Bradford's better than Josh Rosen. I've watched them all play. The Darnold Bridgewater thing, though, it's tricky. You combine that Jetsau line, which is, it was ranked 31st in the league last year. It's no better.

It's awful. and the fact that Teddy's pretty viable as a... You hang Teddy out there and it's like, hey, Teddy Bridgewater's available. Teddy's available, everybody. I'm telling you. Tanny Hills coming off an injury in Miami. Teddy's from Miami. If I was Miami, I'd go get Teddy Bridgewater.

You put him out there to teams. You're going to get takers. In fact, there was a story yesterday. Several teams have already called the Jets interested in Teddy Bridgewater. You put him out there for teams. I would love to have Teddy Bridgewater on my roster. Here's another thing. He's one of those rare guys that's going to be.

Good enough to be a starter, but if he's not, he's great in the room. He's not going to be a jerk. He's not going to pout. He's great in the room. So that's what the jet are dealing with. Here's Joy with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. So Washington addressed their backfield depth needs yesterday by officially signing free agents running back, Adrian Peterson. A seven-time pro bowler says he still has something left in the tank. I'm elated, man. I'm so excited to have this opportunity. It's been a long time coming, and I promise you, I'm going to give you everything I have inside. And for me, I'm just happy to be part of a great organization, a good team offensively and defensively,

and to run behind a great office online. I know a lot of people have a problem with seeing Adrian Peterson go from team to team, but I have no problem with guys playing for as long as they feel like they can. Yeah. This idea that everybody has to ride off into the sunset with the same team that they've played with their entire career. No, no, yeah. If he wants to keep playing and he can contribute and who's to say that he's going to even make the team, who knows? The key with him is the last couple of places he's gone, he's thought of himself as a 20-carry superstar.

It's like, no, no, you're a backup. You know, again, I'll take Josh McCown. A lot of these quarterbacks could play longer. They just don't want to be backups. As long as you can come to terms with Adrian Peterson is, Not that he's a totally shot fighter, but he's a backup running back. Well, he's used to being the every down back, and that's not what he is anymore. And that's kind of was the issue with the Saints.

They have a running back by committee there, and it was just too much. So, again, like, he's going to contribute by being a veteran and helping the young guys and being a leader in the locker room and things like that. And that's valuable. He's not going to be an every downback, and they needed another running back. So we'll see if he makes a team, but I don't have a problem with guys playing for as long as they want. I know everyone's like, oh, Adrian. Peterson. I don't want to see him bouncing around from team to team.

Like, this is his career. He can only play. He can only do this for a very limited amount more time. He's not an engineer. He can't work till he's 70 in the NFL. Let him play for as long as he wants, which is to you. So speaking of veteran free agents relocating this summer, Des Bryant eventually did take the Brown's phone calls and met with Hugh Jackson. And of course, Hard Knocks was there to document the entire meeting. What are you looking for, Dennis?

I'm looking for, I'm just looking for realness. That's all. It's new to me. Just being honest. All this is new. Just being honest, the way you expressing yourself, the way you're talking to me, I barely know each other and I feel comfortable. You know, it's like, that's what these players want.

I want to just be honest with you. I just want that realness. So we'll see more from Des's visit, I'm sure, on Hard Knocks tonight. That sounded like a shot at the Cowboys. that they weren't real with him? A little bit with Jason, a little shot at Jason Garrett. Yeah. Look, I mean, Des will not let this situation go.

You know what I heard yesterday? I would give somebody credit, but I don't remember who it was. I was listening to radio yesterday, and somebody said, it could have been the NFL network. I don't remember where it was, but they said, listen, teams would like to have Des, but if they sign him now, he's going to have leverage over them and they have to pay him. But if you can sign him, like once the seat, season stars. And if there's any problems, you just let him go and pay him for a few weeks.

Teams with Des, they want to have leverage because he has shown behaviorally. Sometimes he can be tough in a coaching room. He can be tough on a coach. He can be tough on a young quarterback. So I think Des is going to find a spot in this league, but teams want to be able to control. Anytime you have a reputation where you can be difficult, companies will hire you, but they want to have some leverage. They don't want to be indebted to you financially for two or three years. Well, that's what it always is. Like, your production has to meet the tolerance. And once the production goes down, the tolerance is higher than production,

you're no longer that valuable to any organization. So, look, I get what Des is saying. Des wants to have an open dialogue. And who knows what happened with the Cowboys? Maybe they weren't very transparent with him. That tends to happen in these situations. And they obviously waited a very long time to let him go. So he does clearly have a vendetta against them.

But I wish that he would move on from it. Listen, when teams dump you, it's like when people dump you. You have a right to be bitter. Sure. I mean, I try not to hold grudges, but if somebody dumps you, a company fires you, somebody dumps you, a team lets you. Well, yes, there's going to, you're ticked off. He is completely within his right to be upset, but the best revenge is to win.

Yeah. So finally, Hugh Jackson remains adamant, the Baker Mayfield will continue to be kept away from getting any reps with the first team during training camp. Here's Hugh on that decision. No, no, no, no, no, everybody's asked me that a ton of times. Why? And I'll tell you the reason why. We are learning a new system, and I think Tyrod needs every rep that he can get with the ones. I think Baker's doing outstanding with the twos. Something happens, and we need to put him there, we will. Right now that hasn't happened.

Yeah, I think Tyrod's actually, to be honest with you, when you, Tyrod reminds me a little bit this preseason of Flacco, it's just pretty effortless. Like Flacco's just kind of, you can tell Joe feels, I think Baltimore's actually a little under the radar. When you watch Tyrod play, he's completing 75% of his throats. He's sort of toying with some of these, because these are vanilla schemes. Nobody's showing you anything. Tyrod's been in this league too long. Sam Bradford was like seven for seven. These starting quarterbacks in the preseason, Brady the other night, they just toy with these vanilla defenses.

Tyrod right now is clearly the best quarterback Cleveland has. Yes. However, I do believe that Hugh is purposely not giving Baker and he reps with the first team as to quell the rise of people calling for Baker to start over Tyrod because he wants that decision to be cemented and just keep that as quiet as he possibly can. He also knows that Jimmy Haslam, Hugh Jackson's owner, has a history with Tennessee football and the Cleveland Browns of being impatient and not giving coaches much of a strain. The last thing he wants to do is put him out there and have Baker, I don't know, do well. Yes. And then it becomes an actual quarterback competition as opposed to just this is his huge decision at this point. Good stuff.

Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Ly news. A multiple-time pro-Boulder, a Super Bowl champ, decade in the NFL, Greg Jennings via the coward Global Satellite Network. So I'm watching Andrew Luck last night. And I said we have Michael Jordan and Tom. Tom Brady, who were both Alzheimer's, left for a stretch, inactivity, came back, and that first year back, they were good, but they weren't the same until the following year.

I watched Andrew Luck last night, Greg, and I thought, oh, he'll be good this year, but he does not quite have the same it thing. That's what I saw. What have you seen in his first two games? Yeah, I agree. I totally 100% agree with your assessment. When you think about what he's gone through, physically and his lack of being present and on the field, there's going to be an uphill climb for Andrew Luck. You don't just miss that amount of time and jump right back in and think that you're going to be right back on the mountain top. That's not how this works.

But I think he understands that I think the Colts organization understand that. for a player who hasn't played in a while in a long time in this situation, you have to allow yourself to mentally grow again, meaning his confidence has to be rebuilt, reestablish. We know who he is. But when you haven't made those throws and thrown in that tight window and seen the plays being made on your end and your receivers in, it's a growing process all over you.

You know, it's interesting. I'm watching the Sam Darnold thing, and I said this a couple minutes ago. I think Teddy Bridgewater, I frankly think he's better than Blake Bortles. I think he's better than Andy Dalton. I think he's better than Mitch Travis Hyl. I think he's better than Tannihil. I think he's better than Case Keenham. And I think he's a lot closer to Marcus Mario than people think. And if I'm the Jets, I do believe, Greg, this morning that Teddy Bridgewater is better than Sam Donald. There's no question if they played 16 games, I'm going to win more with Teddy. but I got two issues here. Teddy can get you draft picks. I can get a starter for Teddy tomorrow.

Secondly, that Jets O line is a mess. If you ran the Jets today, it's not an easy decision. What do you do with Teddy and Sam? It's not an easy decision, but from a general manager's seat, I think it's easier because you understand what you're trying to build. You're not trying to build a team around Teddy Bridgewater. You have your future in Sam Darnold. So you understand that.

Also, when you're a general manager, you're thinking about what pieces can I put around my future. And if I'm looking at Teddy Bridgewater and I see the asset that I possess, I shop him. Yeah. And I retain what I possibly can, which is a potential section. round draft pick. Who knows someone may be in a hole and really need a quarterback solidification at that position and give you a first run. You never know. So you got to shop them. I've watched all these quarterbacks play. The one that looks overwhelmed, completing 42% of his throws, is Lamar Jackson. But I always said, don't overdraft him. Tim Tebow got overdrafted. Tim Tebow

was a fourth round prospect. I think Lamar was closer to a second round early. third, but when you overdraft, just like overpaying for something in life, there's an obligation I'm going to use it. And an owner wants to see a first round quarterback play, whether he's drafted one, seven, nine, or last. I watch Lamar, and I don't think he's ready for game speed. And, you know, what do you do? What is your gut feeling what happens going forward with Lamar Jackson?

So, number one, you just hit it for me. The game, as fast as Lamar Jackson is, and as athletic as he is, the game looks. so fast, it looks like he can't keep up with what defenses are doing. Like, he's more so trying to react a little too late instead of anticipating and having an idea at the line of scrimmage, what he's getting ready to see. And I've heard you say this earlier about Tyraud Taylor. In the preseason, this is as vanilla as you're going to get a defensive scheme. So if you're struggling with this, can you imagine the blitzes and all the idiosyncrasies

that a defensive coordinator are going to throw out a young quarterback? He's just not quite ready. Yeah. By the way, I think Tyrod's better than Baker. But I do think Baker's going to work in this league. I just think he's, I think his ceiling is, frankly, it's kind of Teddy Bridgewater, which is, you can win a bunch of games with Teddy. But there's going to be, you know, the size is an ideal, the arm is an ideal.

But Tyrod's better today. I think the Browns will cave. I think they'll cave. He's a number one pick. The fans, you know, Tyrod's going to take this roster and win seven, eight games, but he'll have a two-game losing streak at some point. And all the owner, all the fans, I think they're going to cave. I think Tyrod should start the year.

What is it? Now, Joy thinks just put Baker in and let him go. What is, how do you wrap up the Tyrod? Because I'm watching these two teams, these guys play. Tyrod is toying with these vanilla defense. He is toying. He goes out there. He's like four of five, 74%. Baker's okay, but he's completing 55.

What are they going to do in Cleveland? Do you think they cave? I do not. I totally disagree with you on this one. I don't think that they cave. When you look at where John Dorsey came from, he came from a similar situation in Kansas City where you draft the Patrick Mahomes and you have an Alex Smith.

You understand going in, Alex Smith is our guy. But the following season, the following, year, okay, let's get rid of him. Let's now insert him after a year of kind of a red shirt year. I think this is the Cleveland Brown's approach. And with Tyrod Taylor, he's a very smart quarterback who's not going to throw interceptions, who's not going to turn the ball over, who's not going to make bad decisions at the line of scrimmage to put your team behind the A ball. And I think you have to take that in under consideration when you're dealing with this quarterback situation. Another thing, this is a great problem for the Cleveland Browns to have.

When is the last time that we've seen the Cleveland Browns in a quarterback with a quarterback situation that we like, that it's favorable for them? This is what you want. You want to start Tyrod Taylor. You have time. Don't cave. Wait till next year. Or wait to Tyrod gives you a reason to move forward with your number one overall pick.

Greg Jennings, 10 years, pro bowls. Are you in your cool room? That looks like your cool room, isn't it? Yes, it is. Can't wait to see you out here, buddy. Thanks again. Absolutely, got it. Coming up next, we always bang on the Cleveland Browns.

Right? We're always like, oh, they always screw up the quarterback. I got to tell you something. They passed on Carson Wentz. That was not good. I think we have that again happening, potentially, in this league. And we're going to know it by October, and it's not the Browns. We're always banging on the Browns.

Let's take a segment off, Joy, from banging on the Cleveland Browns. I think we have Cleveland Browns 2-0, and we're going to know it by late September or early October, and that is coming up next. Good stuff with Greg Jennings. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeart Radio app. Don't be that guy in the room with a long, sloppy-looking Untuck shirt.

Untucket shirts made to fall to perfect length. go to untucket.com. See for yourself. GQ calls on perfection. Promocodes heard for 20% off. Untuck it. Greg Jennings was great as usual. Next hour, Kevin Clark, one of the best NFL writers out there will be on the couch for the ringer. He's great. Last hour, Jordan Palmer, who's just terrific. By the way, top of next hour, I am, people think they know what the First Amendment is and the Second Amendment. I'll give you a new definition at the top of the hour. I am amending my NFL predictions. I give myself a couple of amendments. My first amendment. My first amendment. First Amendment, you know, the right to free speech? That's what you think the amendment is? No, no, no. The First Amendment is Uncle Colin in the preseason, two weeks in, gets to amend his NFL predictions.

And then the second amendment is not the right to bear arms on this show. The second amendment is Colin gets to amend after week three when the starters play the most. He gets to amend his NFL predictions for a second time. I get two amendments, one first couple of weeks, something. catches my eye and then the second time is after week three, I watch for injuries, I watch starters play, there you go. So let me start with this.

We always bang in the Cleveland Browns. They can't get the quarterback right. I cannot believe they passed on Carson Wentz. Let's just take the Cleveland Browns and shove them off the air for a minute. And let's talk about the Chicago Bears. So Joe Thaisman was talking about Deshawn Watson, who could be a Chicago bear, but they passed on him for Mitch Trubisky. And Joe Seisman said yesterday, his quote is, he's more accurate than Cam Newton, he's faster than Cam Newton, he's more elusive than Cam Newton. I don't know if all that's true, but I do like Deshaun Watson a lot.

And here's what is amazing. As much as we bang on Cleveland for passing on Carson Wentz, the Chicago Bears passed on to Sean Watson, who has a multiple year starter. He started two full years and then his sophomore year, he started a little two. And he completed 67% of his throws. 67% of his throws. His coach is not a former NFL guy. It's not known as an offensive guru like some guys have. No, no, no.

It's just dabble us when he's a great coach. But he took that coach, completed 67%. He faced Alabama twice, both times with six weeks to prepare. The best defensive and the best coach in college football next day. and could not stop him, could not stop him. Two times six weeks to prepare. Multiple year starter. College coach.

Remember what his college coach, Davos-weeney called him? Remember when he called Mitch Trubis. He called Deshawn Watson this. I'm just telling you. They pass on Deshawn Watson. They're passing on Michael Jordan. I mean, I'm just telling you. I don't know what the heck I'm talking about.

I'm just a old funky college coach. but Sean Watson is the best by a long shot. Nick Sabin said he's the best player I've seen in college, period, since Cam Newton. Cam Newton was great in college. And the Chicago Bears drafted Mitch Trubisky, who was a one-year starter, 8 and 5, not overly athletic, decent athleticism, not Deshaun, and 6'2. And by the way, his junior year could not beat out Marquise Williams, who is now fourth string in the CFL. That's the Canadian football. I was just there.

It's a beautiful country. Their football's okay. Not great. So, you know, we're always banging on the Browns. I remember. Now, let's go back to what I said. In 2017, here's the quarterbacks who were drafted. Now, Joy, you weren't with me at the time.

Greg, you were with me and Goulet, you were with me. Who did I say was the best quarterback in that class? Believe you were big on Watson. I was big on to Sean Watson. Now, I said at the time, I don't know if he's going to be cam. I don't know if he's going to be luck. I don't think he is. But I said, Tribisky's not a first round quarterback.

I said to Sean Kaiser's own college coach said he's not ready, although there is something there. I said Patrick Mahomes is a wild child, a little Brett Favre, but mostly the bad farve with pecks. And nobody else here I was into. But I had said then, I said, I don't know. no, 67% completion percentage in the ACC, which is a really good football conference, without an offensive guru as a head coach.

I mean, Clemson's kind of known for their defense more than anything. And multiple years starter and Nick Saban had six weeks twice and could not stop him. People always go Johnny Mansell beat Nick Saban. Do your homework. He had faced Nick Saban twice, lost the second time, and the first time Alabama had come off brutal back-to-back games. it was the third week, and they were, for the first half of the football game, Johnny Mansell got fired out of a cannon,

and Alabama was just exhausted from the previous two games. So as much as we bang on everybody in Cleveland, I think we're going to know by September. This kid threw for 19 touchdown passes in a six-game span. No rookies ever done that. And we're going to know real soon. We're going to know by late September, October, oh, hell, there's Carson Wentz-2-0.

And I don't know if I've said with Deshawn, the ACL I don't know. Now, now, but I'll tell you when you watched him play, there's a lot of this. Oh, oh, that, by the way, all these young quarterbacks luck through a lot of picks, Deshawn through some picks, Carson Wentz through some picks, these great all-time talents far early, late through picks. So we're giving, we're giving Cleveland a little break. I think Chicago Chicago deserves

Chicago could have made and I just I think Trubisky has an incredibly low ceiling never thrown two touchdown passes in a game and I actually think Chicago's offensive lines pretty good I think Chicago's wide receivers are okay I think he's surrounded by pretty

good players we'll know by September early October if they whiffed all right so the amendment stuff's coming up the you know I was thinking about this.

If I said to you, we all know, like if you're driving around or watching on television, we all know if I say, who are the best coaches in the NFL? We all kind of go, yeah, Belichick, Andy Reid, Sean Payton,

like we all kind of know. And then even the guys I've criticized Pete Carroll, Mike Tomlin, I know they're not terrible coaches. I think both can be a little too heavy into the emotion, not into the details enough. They're emotors. They're emotors. They're Pete's wildly energetic and Mike Tomlin's big emotion and both teams kind of details wear me out.

But we do know automatically and here's something else we know that if you don't have the right quarterback Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll, you get fired. So two things we know, we all kind of agree on who the good coaches are. And we all know that even if you're one of those guys, I mean, Bill Coward didn't win a lot of games before Big Ben, right? Like he was waiting for something and Bill Coward. Bill Coward got Big Ben and Bill Cowell went to Super Bowl. Okay, and we know Pete Carroll fired, fired, not doing well in Seattle.

There comes Russell Wilson and Pete Carroll now wins his Super Bowl and gets to another one. And we know Bell Belichuk right now is a legend, but he was in Cleveland, couldn't get the quarterback right, and he wasn't actually much of a legend. Is there a coach in this league? I'm going to do it next. Is there a coach in this league that's actually great? I mean, is really great. But he's been undone by his organization.

And I think there is. And we'll talk about that coming up next. Car shopping's confusing. A lot of different terms. Dealer price, list price, invoice. Here's what's not confusing. Truecar.com. Check out their true price. You could save three grand off MSRP. We have a loaded hour to next. This is the herd, wherever you may be. And however, you may be. may be listening. Live in Los Angeles, Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio and FS1, Joy Taylor is joining me for our number two on a Tuesday. Love it. By the way, Urban Meyer News is going to come down tomorrow. He's not going to get fired. He lied to the media, Big Ten Media Day. We've so normalized lying

in this country, he'll keep his job. Probably should keep his job. He lied to us at Big Ten Media Day. He's going to retain it. News is going to come out tomorrow. All right. You know, you think the First Amendment's about free speech, and you think the second amendment is about bearing arms, right to bear arms. But on this show, the First Amendment is, I make my NFL predictions, and then I watch the first couple of weeks, I watch injuries, and then I make an amendment to my NFL picks, and then I watch Week 3, and then I make my second amendment for my NFL picks, and then we go into the season. And I watch injuries, I watch play, who looks better. I'm watching mostly the ones against the ones. It's those first couple

the drives. So I thought, okay, let's go, and I've got one, two, three. I have five amendments. Only one major amendment. Let's start with it. Baltimore, I had as a losing record. I have them as a winning record. In fact, I may amend them again. Baltimore's been the most impressive team. When I watch their ones, and I watch the speed on the perimeter, offense, defense, when I watch, when I watch their line play and Flacco looks motivated. I got to tell you, they, they look good. I agree with you about Flacco being motivated, but are you being a prisoner of watching them so closely because of Lamar Jackson?

Well, I've watched them more closely, but I've also watched like the Dallas Cowboys, the Patriots, you know, the Rams, I've seen every play because I live here. I've watched the Raiders. Here's what I see. Baltimore is as good as Joe Flacco lets them be. And that's mostly in the NFL. Last time Flacko was motivated, they were really good, and they had a good roster.

It wasn't the best in the league. I watch them right now. Baltimore, I had them as a losing record. I think they're going to vie for a number two seed behind the Steelers and the AFC. So Baltimore is my First Amendment. Here's my second one. I had the Jets at 8 and 8 because I believe they would start Teddy Bridgewater and let Sam Darnold grow.

Increasingly, they're going to play Sam Darnold and possibly move Teddy Bridgewater. and as I've said before earlier and today on the show is if Teddy and Sam both played the season, Teddy's better and probably wins you another game that Sam doesn't, maybe even two. I think they're going to play Donald really early. They're going to move Teddy at some point, and so from 8 and 8, I'd say they're 7 and 9.

That all that means is right now, Teddy's better than Sam, and he's especially better in the first two months of the season. Now, by Thanksgiving, Donald Pops gets experience all of a sudden we're like, wow. But Donald's not going to blow you. in September. You're not going to blow you away in October. He may, by November, December, impress you. But he

doesn't have the rhythm against the elite defenses playing against the ones. So the jets, I'm going to pull back to a 7 and 9, tied with the Dolphins in the AFC East for second place. Let's go to the AFC West. They have two amendments. Kansas City I had at 9 and 7. Patrick Mahomes is all over the place against

first team defenses. Don't get me, he's a fireworks show when he's on. I don't know. efficiency is really important in this league. It really is. And they got a lot of playmakers. And they're going to have amazing highlights. I don't know.

I mean, Denver now has Bradley Chubb and Vaughn Miller rushing you. Chargers defense has Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram getting after you. They may go 0 and 4 right there. I don't know. I'm going to pull them back again. And John Gruden's a little like Andrew Luck to me. He's been gone for 10 years. I don't think they're very good, but I think 5 and 11 is a little too harsh.

I saw a couple of things I liked, so I'm going to move them up to 6 and 10. I'm going to give the Raiders a win. Again, Andrew Luck, inactive for two years. He's not going to be great. John Gruden, inactive. John, by Thanksgiving, maybe up to speed, but Joe Gibbs was lost for about a year. I think Gruden's going to be a little off for about a year before they moved to Vegas. In the NFC, I've only got one prediction.

I'm going to alter. I feel really strongly about pulling the Vikings back from 13 and 3 to 9 and 7. They got a new offensive coordinator. We already have injuries on defense. I have the lines at sub 500. I'm going to go even subber 500. Is that a word? I'm going to go 6 and 10.

I don't like. So that's my first amendment. Any opinions on that? No, I feel good about those. I do think that you're slightly overreacting to the Ravens. There's something about it. You know what, man, it's that. Those purple uniforms and Flacco's big and sugs last night,

and you're like, man, they look. And it's, you know, the AFC North teams, they do that to you. They look physical. We've talked a lot of Cleveland. We should work in some Bengals in there. Some Bengals stock. Am I overreacting to Baltimore? I like the way they look.

The thing I kind of agree with you with is that Flacco plays better when he has kind of a fire lit under him. His best season was when he was playing for a contract. And now he has a quarterback that's going to replace him right behind him. And that could make him. him maybe put a little more effort in. Every report in campus, Flacco looks amazing. And you watch him against ones.

It's a joke. Du-D-D-D-D-D-D-D. Flacco's a great quarterback. Well, that's debatable. Is it? Great. Okay. He's better than the mid- Pumpkin pie is a pie.

Chocolate cream pie is a great pie. Apple pie is not... Apple pie is a great pie. Pumpkin pie is very good. If it was very good, why don't we eat it in January? Pumpkin spice is taken over the world. If pumpkin pie so great, why doesn't it last 12 months? We serve it for about four days.

Then we just shelf it. I would eat pumpkin pie. There's sweet potato pie. Apple pie. Yeah, and when to last time in July, you're like, oh, boy, I could use a delicious pumpkin pie. Nobody ever says that. But you say it.

It's a seasonal flavor. All right. Which is kind of what Joe Flacco is. So actually, he's 10 and 5 in the playoffs. So he is a seasonal flavor. He's great in January. I said this last, I wanted to tease this, is that you got to remember in this league, if you don't have a quarterback, Pete Carroll's been fired twice.

He was 7 to 9, 7 to 9 in Seattle. Then he got Russell Wilson. Pete Carroll was fired twice and in big trouble in Seattle, had Matt Flynn had paid for $10 million for Matt Flynn. If they don't get Russell Wilson, Pete's not in NFL right now. You're not winning in that division with that 49er defense. Remember how good that 49er defense was when Pete had to get through it to get to the Super Bowl? You're not winning that suit. You're not getting to the playoffs.

You're not getting out of that division. You're going 0 and 2 against the Niners. Russell Wilson comes in. Oh, what do you know? He's the equalizer against that incredible hardball defense. Bill Belichick fired in Cleveland. We all know who the best coaches are in this league. We all know who the best coaches are in this league.

And but sometimes because of the way the league operates, it's very offensive-minded, I think there's a coach in the NFL right now who's really an elite coach. And I can be totally wrong. I could be swinging for the fence. But I got to tell you, every time I watch the New York Jets play, I think Todd Bowles is an elite coach. There's three reasons why I think Todd Bowles is an elite coach. These are the four quarterbacks he's had to work with.

Gino Smith, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Josh McCown, and Bryce Petty. By the way, he had a 10 and 6 year with Ryan Fitzpatrick. That's number one. He has had, I'm not even saying average. Those are backups. Is Bryce Petty in the league? I'm not sure. Is he in the league? Is he on the Jets? What? Where is he?

Okay. And he is, his record is 20 and 28. That is not a terrible record with those quarterbacks. Number two, in three years, and it's not his fault, the Jets haven't delivered one elite offensive player until, in my opinion, Sam Darnold. Bryce plays with the Dolphins. Bryce was the Dolphins. Okay. So number one, he's 20 and 28 with those quarterbacks. Number two is they haven't given him an elite offensive player.

until Sam Darnold. And number three is, folks, they went five and eleven last year with the second worst roster to Cleveland in the sport, and they lost six other games by a possession. And those teams were Atlanta and New England and Carolina and the L.A. Chargers. And three of their wins, Jackson, Buffalo, Kansas City,

made the playoffs. This is, we all know who great quarterbacks or great coaches are in this league. We know Dan Quinn got to a Super Bowl. We know Dan Quinn's good. We know Andy Reid's good. We know Sean Payton. We know Billa-Chick. We know Pete Carroll.

We know Mike Tom. We know all that stuff. But history shows us Belichick was great. But he got fired because he didn't have the right quarterback. And Pete Carroll just needed the right quarterback. I'm telling you, when I watch the Jets play, even in preseason, that is a really well-coached team. They just have nothing outside of Sam Darnold. Teddy Bridgewater.

They're receiving core. Everybody's like in New York. Oh, this is it. Curse, okay. No tight ends. No running backs. Battle line. Sometimes there's a great coach,

but you're in a business. There's a lot of great salespeople listening to this show, but you don't have a great product. You can't sell a crappy product even if you're a great salesperson. You can be in pharmaceutical sales. But until you get a Viagra, until you get some heart pill, that little purple pill, you get a next. or whatever it's called. Until you get

Cialis, until you get the pill as good as you are as a salesperson, doctors are not going to invite you in. They don't need you. Then when your pharmaceutical company gives you the pill, for heart ache, for heart palpitations, four, you know, stuff,

the blue pill. Then all of a sudden you're a brilliant salesperson. You're always a great salesperson. You just didn't have a product. Coming up next, a coach says, this new helmet rule is going to cost people jobs? And I don't know if it is, but it should be mentioned what happened with this helmet rule, and I've never seen it before. That's coming up.

Don't miss the Big Three championship Friday on Fox. Corrie McGettie, Chris Anderson, and Power take on Drew Gooden and Three's company on the half court in Brooklyn to battle for the Julius Irving championship trophy. Catch all the actions starting at 8 Eastern on Fox or stream it live on the Fox Sports app. Anybody noticed the attendance? They had 17,000 people in Dallas. This thing is, when it came out a couple years ago, I remember saying on the air, I said, it's something. And I said this about the UFC 15 years ago.

When it came out, I can remember watching when the Fratita family and Dana White bought it. I remember saying, like, it's going to work to the level, I don't know, but you can watch a business. When the big three came out, I watched the first game, and I'm like, oh, this is going to work. I went to my boss, Eric Shanks, and I'm like, oh, this is going to work. You got to change the camera angles. I mean, there's some rule things you got to change. they're getting 17,000 people for these games. This league's an hour and a half old.

It's good for them. I think it's amazing when you watch these new, because there's been a million leagues started in my lifetime. They figured this one out. They put it in a dead spot in the summer. It's very short. They get an NBA guys, and the first two years are getting better and better players.

It's really a remarkable business. It reminds me a lot. It'll never be as big as UFC, but it reminds me a UFC 15 years ago. It's like, oh, that's something. That's something. That's going to work. It's not going to be the NFL.

And it's great to watch in person, too. It's great for fans. It's great for families. you get multiple games per ticket. Yep. It's in the middle of summer. I'm watching on TV. I mean, sports is live programming.

It's the last live programming you can get that you have to appointment watching that you have to have. And you have like celebrities. These are like, they're not Kobe, but you got like star players. So Mike Zimmer is a coach for the Minnesota Vikings. He was a coordinator for long, long, long time. Everybody likes some respects him. People think he's a very good coach. Mike Zimmer came out.

Does not like, does not like the new helmet rule. He said this yesterday. Yeah, it's going to cost some people some jobs. playoffs jobs all the whole bit i'm guessing you know i just it's just hard to figure out not no one's ever said to me

hey don't worry about it we're going to call us and you know or we're going to straighten it out in the regular season or we're going to come up with a you know revised rule no one's ever said that it kind of came out of nowhere well

this is what dean blandino said this is a real quote so dean blandino who used to be you know senior VP of officiating. I bring him on as the expert, he and Mike Pereira. He said this, which has never happened before when he was in the league, this is what happened and how they created this rule. Normally, a rule like this, you vet it out, you look at tape, you meet with the players association at the combine.

None of that happened. The league meeting, they had a privileged session with head coaches and ownership. They presented health and safety data. And the next day, they're voting on this rule. Now we're playing catch-up. That's not the way it works. Why did they do it? When you dismiss protocol and normalcy, there's a reason.

Is there a study out the NFL has and nobody else does? Is there new information on concussions nobody else has? I don't know. But folks, if you had organized thoughtful parents and every year you went on a vacation, sometimes even two, you'd go ski vacation, you'd go a summer vacation to, you know, Disney World. And then all of a sudden one night, your parents go, we're leaving for Texas tonight. What?

We got school tomorrow. We're leaving for Texas tonight. Something's going on in the family. Like when you dismiss protocol, when you sidestep protocol, and by the way, the NFL historically, they're willing to do new things, but they're fairly glacial about it. The anthem has taken a couple years. The overtime rule, they put it in preseason,

and it took a couple of years. They've tinkered with replay. The catch rule, they thought about changing it. They talked about changing it. They finally changed it. You know, domestic violence, they have still not given me great confidence in that area. They take time. They generally over time can get stuff right, but they don't do it immediately right.

Like the NBA is different. The NBA says, hey, we've got a new basketball. An hour later, they're like, this is terrible. We're quitting it. The NBA will move quickly on time. NFL will make changes, but it takes them a while. This thing was changed overnight. That is odd.

That to me is strange. And especially strange because you just got really, you just modified the catch rule, which has been a pain in the you know what for like 10 years. And now you just added another controversy. Do they have information we don't know yet that's coming out yet? Is there a lawsuit or something? It's just weird.

Anytime anybody dismisses protocol, kids were going to Texas tonight. We've never done that in 15 years as kids, right? Something wrong with grandpa? They got nervous over something. Yeah. Joy Taylor with the news. No. No.

Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. So despite LeBron being the greatest player currently in the NBA, several former teammates have spoken about the struggle involved with playing alongside him. Channing Fry has added himself for that list. He told USA Today, when you play with LeBron, he does so much. Whether he likes it or not, it's just him. Everyone else fits into a role.

That's going to be the hardest part for the Lakers. Who's going to sit in the corner? who's going to be a defender? What is your defining role? That's very true. This is how you play with him. Channing's a smart dude. Been around the league a long time.

He knows what he's talking about. I agree with him. I don't... It's kind of hard for me to say it's the best approach, you know? Like if you're a young Laker player and you're, say, Lonzo or Kuzma or Josh Hart, you're trying to learn how to be a complete player, it's going to be a little difficult, but you have to make sacrifices to win. I mean, you look at Chris Bosch, they look at Kevin Love.

Didn't everybody have a role? Everybody had a role with Magic. Everybody had a role with Michael. I mean, when you find an all-time great player, you kind of, Scotty Pippen knew I'm not taking the last shot. Like Magic said, okay, Kareem Bigfella, but Magic dictated kind of the tempo, and you filled where magic needed you to fill.

Right. I mean, even the Warriors have a system. They've adjusted how they play for Kevin Durant. Yes. So when you have a player that is as dominant as a LeBron or a Kevin Durant or a magic or a Michael, you have to change the way you play, of course. Yes. So I get certain, you know, there's been a lot of talk like, for example, Paul George, not coming to the Lakers and, you know, staying with Westbrook.

And he has to adjust how he plays with Russell Westbrook. So there's something to playing with a great player. You're not going to get to just be yourself. And those are the sacrifices you make. You got to compromise for greatness. Absolutely. All right. This one's going to get you rattled.

So, as you may remember, the Raiders are going to reportedly pay $100 million over the course of 10 years. for John Gruden. And Gruden recently sat down with Peter King. He not only denied that number, but he also fired up some shots. He said, I'm not making $100 million just so you know. I never thought Tom Cruise movies were any good, but he's making plenty of money.

There's a lot of things that I don't understand. No disrespect to Tom Cruise. I'm sure he's a great actor. Now, I don't know what Gruden's talking about here. First of all, Mission Impossible is the mo, It's the best movie I've seen in two years. You love Mission Impossible. Oh, my God.

In fact, I've revised my top 10. It's like number seven all time. All time. It is an unbelievable movie, and I will not hear that it's not a great movie. Okay. I agree with you. It's a great movie.

It's 97% on Rotten Tomatoes if you choose to live your life by Rotten Tomatoes. 97. I personally do not choose to live my life by Rotten Tomatoes. If I'm going to look at Rotten Tomatoes, I look at the audience rating and not the critics rating. Okay. Because they have Space Jam at 38%. which is an atrocity.

Shark Nato has a higher rating than Friday. Hey, if you're trying to figure out how rotten tomatoes works. First of all, I, my top 10 movies all time. I'm talking about like Goodfellas, Shawshank, Silence of the Lambs, Mission Impossible. It's up there with platoon. You think you're, you, listen, trust me on this. I saw it. I loved it. I'm not putting it in my top ten movies of all time.

That's because nobody likes Tom Cruise anymore because they'll be jumping on Oprah's couch. I have nothing. That was so long ago. I don't have anything against Tom Cruise. I thought it was very entertaining. I kind of knew what was going to happen at the end. Well, of course you did. Okay, so that kind of takes away from the suspense of all of it.

But it was very cool. He was hanging off of the side of cliffs. I just don't know what Gruden's talking about. So is Gruden saying he's overpaid? I don't know what Gruden is talking about. The fact that he's a good quote, most of these NFL coaches are a snooze. So the fact we got to go. The fact we have a great quote.

He's going to be great for content. We agree there. Okay. So finally, Hugh Jackson remains adamant. Baker will not be getting any reps with the first. team during training camp. Here's Hugh on his decision. No, no, no, no, no. Everybody's asked me that a ton of time. Why? And I'm going to tell you the reason why. We are learning a new system. And I think Tyrod needs every rep that he can get with the ones.

I think Baker's doing outstanding with the twos. Something happens and we need to put him there. We will. Right now that hasn't happened. No, no, no. The reason he's not getting reps with the ones is because you don't want the entire fan base asking for him week one. which I understand, but Baker shouldn't worry because he already has a few sponsors lined up, even though he is the Brown's backup quarterback, and one of them is for a company called PSD underwear. Colin was very excited about this picture. Oh, good hell. The marketing campaign for the product is Baker wearing the underwear next to a Rolls-Royce.

There's also a tiger involved. It'd be one thing. Do you like this look? It's awful. Listen, if you want, like Tom Brady does something tomorrow like that, Tom's going to be. got eight Super Bowls. Once you're great, I don't give a rip. Once you're a Hall of Fame, LeBron could go in his underwear without the jeans in front

of a Bentley. I'm okay. He's LeBron. Kevin Durant's stuff. Baker Mayfield's not even going to start. In all fairness, that is Rolls Royce, not a Bentley. And Cam Newton did underwear ads his rookie year. Michael Jordan did underwear ads.

Tim Burton was a transformative all-time talent. He's the number one overall pick. Should have been a second round. But he wasn't. I'm telling you. You think that's a good look. You think that's a good look. Listen, it's not the look for me, okay?

But all I'm saying is he's the number one overall pick. It's not, that fact remains intact. Despite the fact that Hugh Jackson is not allowing him to get first team reps. Rinaldo can do that. But even Rinaldo. Rinaldo has done that. Yeah, because he's Rinaldo. And so is Beckham, Russell Westbrook.

Beckham is like the, you bend it with Beckham. They're doing movies. He's England's all-timer. This guy's playing against. Joe Montana. Again, they're, legend. If Joe Montana wasn't doing it as a rookie.

But Cam did it as a rookie. Cam is as good a college player in the sports history. It's a highest trophy winner. If Cam would have done this as a rookie, I wouldn't have loved it. By the way, I didn't love all Cam's commercials early, but Cam's, Cam is here as a talent. Baker's here. You know what this feels like? It feels like Mark Sanchez.

That's what it feels like to me. It feels like, hey, here's my abs. Let's all hope not that it's not Mark Sanchez. All right. Joy with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News.

I didn't know this guy five years ago. Now I read him every time he writes an article. He is outstanding. NFL writer for The Ringer. That's Bill Simmons Project. More than a project. A real business now. NFL reporter Wall Street Journal.

Before that, let's bring him on. Kevin Clark. Wall Street Journal, Ringer. Guy knows his stuff. I believe you're the second or third ringer guy I've had on. I'm glad to be here. Yeah, Simmons will never text me, but I bring all his employees. So get over it, Bill.

All right. So let's start today with Andrew Luck. I said this. Brady was great, 50 touchdowns. Sure. Got hurt, inactive, came back, was good, following year. Great. Michael Jordan goes to baseball.

Comes back, shoots 41% next year MVP. I don't think, Kevin, you can go from, no matter who you are, total inactivity to taking over the leak. I think Andrew's going to scrap a little this year, maybe. It's offensive to the sport for everyone to think that Andrew Luck can come back and be the guy he was. There are literally thousands of people who are working every day to beat him. And so to come back and be 100 percent to be the quarterback you were to find those tight windows. With the team, by the way, that's not out to beat the world without him,

I think that just shows you it's going to take at least a calendar year. The last time Andrew Luck took a snap was the last time Colin Kaepernick took a snap. It was the same day. It's been that long. New Year's Day. New Year's Day two years ago. And so I just think that you cannot come back and in the modern NFL be as sharp as you would be. Okay. People said I was crazy when I said this.

So when Hugh Jackson went 1116, I said, keep him. And I said, he's not going to be. I know you think I'm crazy. But I said, right now on a macro level, Cleveland is seen as a dumpster fire. If you give Hugh another year, it's telling every other coach and scout. Listen, new day in town. We're not crazy. We're going to give an 0-16 guy another year.

Because frankly, Cleveland at this point is not going to get the best or second-best guy in the market. Doug Peterson's not going to Cleveland. He's going to go to a better owner, right? So when I look at this, Joy is saying, and I think she could be right, you know, Hugh, Hugh's got to win like seven games. That's why they're not putting Baker-Mayfield with the ones. Right. There's a lot of people out there that believe that that if Baker looks good with the ones,

Hugh stuck with a guy that's going to have a lot of bumps this year, Baker. Tyrod is job protection in the short term for Hugh Jackson. Because Taylor is the way you win seven, eight, nine games this year. Baker is now. And I think that there's, who's making the decision? In week six and week seven does it become John Dorsey's decision? I spoke with John Dorsey last month. He says this is a three-year rebuild.

And I assume that means Baker Mayfield takes over week one of maybe the second. second season, and that's the plan right now. But if Tyrod isn't the guy and September looks a little bit murky, maybe there's a quick hook, I don't know. I mean, I just think it comes down. Who's making the decision? Hugh Jackson or John Dorsey? Let's go to the Jets where you can see the gap between Flacco and Lamar. It's pretty obvious. I think you can see the gap. I mean, Sam Bradford right now, to me, is better than Rosen. He looks, he's toying with these vanilla defenses. These veteran quarterback, Tyrae Taylor's completing 75% of his throws. They're kind of towing with it.

Yeah. Okay. And I know today, I strongly believe that Bridgewater, when I watch him, is better than Sam. Sam's still a little fast, can be a little reckless. But the offensive line's garbage, and Teddy's a viable trade quarterback. You run the Jets, Kevin. You can get a starting right tackle and a draft pick for Teddy tomorrow. Do you make the deal?

That's the number one option here, is hope that a team panics and sends a second round pick to you for Teddy Bridgewater. you take it in a second. You do. Absolutely. And then you start Sam Darnold. That's the number one thing. I mean, it's not completely out of line with what happened when Teddy Bridgewater got hurt

and the Vikings panicked and traded for Sam Bradford. That started this whole cycle of NFC quarterback. So now you have this in the AFC. And I think that just generally that's the number one option for you. But if you want to start Teddy Bridgewater, you do for eight weeks, if nobody wants to take that trade. And the two best quarterbacks in the NFL right now, Tom Brady, Aaron Rogers? What do they have in common? They sat. So it doesn't hurt. It can't hurt. I mean, I think that all of these rookie quarterbacks are long-term buys. And I think in 2020,

2020, they're going to maybe rule football. But I feel like in 2018, you're a little better off going with a Taylor, with their Bridgewater in the short term, rack up some wins and let these guys learn. Two big stars in this league. Let's start with Aaron Rogers. You did a Kevin Clark, writer for the ringer, formerly Wall Street Journal. You did a piece with Aaron Rogers. And you said, your commissioner for a day. And we all know Aaron's, we went to Cal, very thoughtful guy. Sure. He'll get into politics. He knows a lot of music. He's a real, he's a sharp dude. So you asked him commissioner for a day. First of all, your takeaway on Aaron and any idea that you loved? Smartest guy in the sport by a wide margin. That's my takeaway. I knew that coming in and this

only confirmed it. I brought up a lot of topics and he had an answer for everything. Any place I went, he went to and he just knew exactly what to say. I think the most intriguing thing was getting rid of the franchise tag. Oh, God, I totally 100% agree. I hate that. Because if you're a guy like Aaron Rogers, you can be under control by the team for three years after your contract ends. It's ludicrous. In the NBA, and I always use this name, Otto Porter has more leverage, and Auto's a nice player than Aaron Rogers. It is outrageous.

It is outrageous is exactly the term for it. And also, just from a league standpoint, think about how much a league can get a boost in the offseason when a superstar moves teams. Kevin, we've been saying that. The NFL has smartly seen every month as real estate. They move their free agency to get some marshall. Can you imagine if you had just one time a year errands on the market? It's like LeBron. The superstar quarterback should be the most famous thing in sports. And the only real in their prime starting quarterback who's moving free agency in this era is Kirk Cousins. And it's ridiculous just from a marketing standpoint that you don't have a decision type

thing with Aaron Rogers. You don't have even a guy, I mean, Matt Ryan, who's not even a top three, top four guy. If he was on the market? If he was on the market, where's he go? Is he going to write a letter? Is he going to go to the boys and girls club? I literally, Kevin, I give July now to the NBA. You should be a baseball month.

All I do is talk free agency. and my numbers, people are fascinated with B-plus players. And they will be. And I just don't know why the NFL, obviously the owners want to keep costs down and all that, and they want to keep these guys in smaller markets. But I don't know if they have the long-term foresight to say, okay, this is something that's going to grow our game. If someone beyond Indomacan Sue and Kirk Cousin switches teams,

Marcus Peter's switch teams, and it was a little bit of a wave, but you have to start getting a Matthew Stafford at 28 years old. on the open market. So NFL running backs. Zekeel Elliott, you know, people are saying, you know, the running back's dead. And then I watched the Rams last year with Todd Gurley. And I know Jared Goff and Sean McVeigh, Gurley was the offense. I mean, literally in the six games that they just decided it's Todd's day, they went six and O.

O'Dell Beckham's best games don't translate to wins. Gurley was good. They're six and O. What do you make of the running back position? Seekwan Barclay went number two. There were quarterbacks of events. The running back position is back, but not in the way we ever imagined it would be back. What do you mean?

Running is dead. The running game is dead. The running back can catch a pass. The running back can get an open space and run these spread concepts. Todd Gurley and Alvin Kumar had over 750 receiving yards last year. That is really rare for two running backs in the same year to have that much over the last 20 years. It just doesn't happen. So guys are just swinging out of the backfield. Offenses have done a great job of spreading out defense. And one of the things that does is open up these seams for these running backs. And so a guy like Gurley, Kamara, Zeke Elliott, if they can catch a ball out of the backfield, they can be as deadly as any receiver in the NFL.

You know, we always bang on Cleveland, and I said this earlier. But I remember when there were, in 2017, there were eight or nine quarterbacks available. And I came on the air and I said, I don't buy Mitch Tribeschi. He couldn't start as a junior. I don't know how great Deshawn's going to be. I don't know if he's Cam's talent. And I don't know if, like, when I saw Andrew Luck, I was like, that's going to work. Deshawn Watson was available to Chicago.

And these were the guys available. And I remember Kevin Clark of the ringer joining us. I remember saying at the time, listen, Nick Saban had six weeks twice and couldn't stop him. Johnny Mansell got drafted because he had one good game in Tuscalo. In fact, it was one good half. Deshawn Watson ate him alive with six weeks to prepare. Dabo called him Michael Jordan. Sabin said, since Cam Best Player I've seen in college football,

if Deshaun Watson pops, is it going to be one of the all-time misses by NFL teams? So let's stay on that analogy for a second. If Deshaun Watson is Michael Jordan, Trubisky's got a good chance if he doesn't pop to be Sam Bowie here. Because I just think that there's a, I think that the team, well, just the bears in general, there's a lot of hype building around. around them. And I think that that's because people see the Eagles model, which is young quarterback, offensive head coach, let's surround the quarterback with talent and see what happens. But the lesson of

the Eagles is not those things. It's to build the deepest roster in football. And the bears don't have that. And Mitch Rubisky's not going to be surrounded with the guys that Carson Wentz or Nick Foles was surrounded by. It's not the same. So I feel like there could be a bit of a flop there. And then if Deshaun breaks out, which the last six games last season were unbelievable. If he breaks out, then we really start talking about that draft as a massive mistake. John Gruden. I see. You actually hear me.

I'm like, I don't know. I think he's quotable, but what's going to happen? I mean, it has this feeling, Kevin. It's going to be messy. That division, by the way, you got, Denver's got two elite pass rushers. Chargers are loaded. Kansas City's roster is frighteningly good. Could the Raiders be a disaster?

The sport of football reinvents itself now every two years, three years. I talked to Lincoln Riley a couple weeks ago. He said the Super Bowl was a big 12 game. That's what it was. Shotgun offense, RPO's everywhere. And so since John Gruden last coached a game 10 years ago, the sport has changed four or five times over. Now, what the Raiders are betting on is that he's going to be able to get up to speed very quickly

and that he was enough in the game in those production meetings that he understands the modern offense. But I think that, you know, he's almost like the Andrew Luck of coaches. He's got a lot of catching up to do. And I think that, you know, this sport just changes so much that you just have to figure out a way to build a modern offense on the fly. You know, Kevin, I've said this before. It's like Silicon Valley.

Yeah. Two years is 20. Absolutely. I mean, literally, it's like MySpace is debt. And Facebook is in big trouble. Like week to week, let's be. legislation, government, coming down on social company. Like, you can't be out of Silicon Valley for a decade.

Now, you can be in the envelope business for 50 years. I mean, there are certain things that just aren't fluid. They don't change a lot. Without a doubt, I remember Mike Shanahan told me this in 2012. He said the iPads are going to change everything because you're going to be able to watch game film from, you know, Tuscaloosa High School. And you're going to be able to say, this is the play I want. You can install it on Sunday. You can do all of these things, and every coach John Gruden is going against has been doing that for five and six years.

He's going to be caught flat footed. He's like a safety. He's going to be caught flat footed, and the train is coming the opposite way. His name is Kevin Clark, formerly Wall Street Journal. Now he's at Billy Simmons Company called The Ringer, and you do great work. You do tremendous work. So go to the ringer.com and do your thing there. It's excellent.

It's dependable, and he's the dude for their NFL coverage. Coming up next two teams, you love them. I don't. I'll tell you why. That's the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. Weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. When you're ready to buy a new car, Hyundai's on your team. Shopper Assurance Program, transparent pricing, flexible test drive, streamlined purchases.

Go to HyundaiUSA.com slash shopper assurance. There's a big gap in college football between your top five teams and your middle five teams and your bottom five teams. There's 120 college football programs. The Alabama Clemsons are going to destroy the middle teams, they'll obliterate the bottom teams. But in the NFL, if you go to the fifth best team, the 15th best team, and the 27th best team,

that could be a field goal game. There's not a big gap. And so in the last five years, the team that's lost the NFC championship, for those five years, they didn't make the playoffs the following year. They didn't make the playoffs the following year. Because in the NFL, luck, attrition, breaks, health matter. Alabama can lose their right tackle, their left tackle, every tackle, and they're going to win 9, 10, 11 games. Clemson can lose five starters, and they can still win the division.

In the NFL, Green Bay loses Aaron Rogers. You lose a valuable pass rusher. You lose a left tackle. You're not the same team. I mean, the Cowboys lost their left tackle, not the same team. Lost Sean Lee, not the same team. Lose Zeke, not the same team. Forget if you lose them all at once because the gap is so small in the NFL.

That's why every single year, there is a team or two that was really good, and they pull back. And the two this year are Minnesota and Jacksonville. Minnesota went 13 and 3 last year. They got major breaks. Chicago in their division started a rookie and not a great one. Aaron Rogers got hurt. Minnesota was bizarrely healthy on defense. Well, now Minnesota, Aaron Rogers is back.

You're playing a first-place schedule. the NFC's never been better. Trubisky's in year two. And you've already had six injuries in the preseason, three on defense. The other one is Saxonville. Jacksonville last year got two massive breaks. Andrew Luck, out for the year. Deshawn Watson, out for the year.

They're both back. Hell, you couldn't beat Tennessee last year. You were 0.2 against the Titans. Now, Saxonville is going to have the, worst quarterback in their division. He's not Andrew Locke. He's not John Watson. He's not Marcus Mario da. When's the last time the fourth best quarterback in a division ruled it for any extended period? You know, so, you know, when I look at the NFL, it's remarkable how I'll get pushback on saying stuff that's obviously going to happen. Four of the last five teams that have

played and lost in the NFC championship did not make the playoffs the following year. The Packers are the exception. They only went 10 and 6 and played a wild card game. They weren't like 12 and 4 the following year, 13 and 3, 14 and 2, they were 10 and 6. Other four missed the playoffs entirely. So there's just this massive gap in college football. You can lose starters, you can lose coordinator. I mean, Alabama wins national titles. They got a new offensive coordinator every other year.

They lose Kirby Smart defensive coordinator. He goes to a rival. They win a national championship. It doesn't work that way in the NFL. You lose a good coordinator. Ask the Atlanta Falcons. You make a major step back when Kyle Shanahan left. I mean Atlanta just all they lost was a great coordinator.

Not the same team. Can I just say this again? I don't mean to make a mountain out of a molehill. This is one of the things that millennials, everybody's got a blind spot. You know, like I'm an older guy, right? So my blind spot maybe is technology. Like I'm not up on every technology. That's why my wife's on technology, my kids, my daughter.

I got to stay up on technology. I'm a little older. I didn't grow up with the internet. I didn't grow up with iPads. So I have to reintroduce myself. I didn't grow up with Facebook, Instagram. So I have a little hole when it comes to technology. So I'm constantly, I feel like I'm playing catch up.

Millennials are great at technology. But here's where millennials have a complete whole. They don't understand a basic premise. You got to be successful before you think you own anything. I only make 22 grand. Who gives a rip? That's what we all made at, 24 years old.

Suck it up. You're not going to be president. Okay? You're not even allowed to be president at a certain age. Baker Mayfield posed for a picture. I wouldn't care if he was Aaron Rogers. I wouldn't care if he was Tom Brady.

I wouldn't care if he was Russell Wilson. Once you get the hardware, you can do whatever you want, bra. But this is a bad pose when you're not even a starter for your team and you're already a target as a number one pick and in a city that has drafted a bunch of guys that kind of play like you that are six feet tall, a little small in a cold weather city, and have all failed.

Colt McCoy, Cody Castler. Like, millennials, this is a hole for you. Well, I mean, you just, you don't do this as a rookie. Like John Wald did a duggy. If John Walled does the duggy after an NBA title, probably first game in the NBA at home. Magic Johnson, by his seventh year in the league, was established as an all-time great player. Magic can do whatever he wants.

LeBron can do whatever he wants. can be in nine movie roles. Shaq can be. You don't want to do a movie role in your rookie year. I don't want to see Ben Simmons in a movie role yet. And I love Ben Simmons. I don't want to see Ben Simmons in a movie role. Shack, by the time he's established, you know, Kobe doing stuff, LeBron, Peyton,

Manning, Brett Farr. I don't love this look for a rookie. Seven years, he's got two pro balls and he proves me wrong. Dude, you can take all your clothes off of that Bengal tiger. You can go naked in front of that Rolls Royce. It's the hurt. This is the herd hour three live in Los Angeles, wherever you may be and however you may be listening. Iheart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1.

By the way, Jacoby Brissette last night. You know, I like him. Jacoby Brissette's a starter in this league, backing up the Colts. Like him a lot. Joy Taylor is joining me for hour number three. Fifteen minutes, we have Jordan Palmer. Now, Jordan's a quarterback coach, and around the country, a lot of people think Jordan Palmer's as good a quarterback coach as the country has. brothers Carson Palmer, of course, going to be a Hall of Famer, I believe.

So he's going to be joining us in 15 minutes. He coached Sam Darnal. He coached Josh Allen. He coached Josh Allen. The kid at Buffalo. And he kept telling us, watch the kid in Buffalo. Watch the kid in Buffalo. Yeah, the kid in Buffalo is real good.

And finally, later, somebody finally gets the greatness of LeBron like we do. But we got a closer look at Lamar Jackson last night. It was not great. So let me start there. Anytime you overpay for something. you feel obligated to use it. You overpay for a suit. You're a woman.

You overpay for a blouse. It's just hanging there. You feel like, I got to wear that thing. I paid $400 for that blouse. I got to wear that thing. I had a friend once years and years and years and years ago overpaid for a convertible, a convertible sports car. He overpaid for it.

He overpaid for it. The problem was it was 48 degrees. He's driving that thing. His wife's in the seat next to him freezing. And he's like, well, I paid $60,000. $1,000 for it. I got to use the convertible sports guard. I thought anytime you overpay for something, you feel an obligation to use it. And this happens in sports. When you overdraft a quarterback. Lamar Jackson's not a first round quarterback. Tim Tebow was not a first round quarterback.

They were both overdrafted. They were both projects. Josh Allen's a prospect. Sam Donald's a prospect. Baker Mayfield's a prospect. Carson Wentz was a prospect. Daniel Luck was a prospect. Cam Newton was a prospect. Lamar Jackson, Tim Tebowar projects shouldn't be drafted in the first round. He's completing 42% of his throws through three games. 42%. Baker Mayfield's at 55. Sam Darnold's at 72.

Josh Allen's at 56. Josh Rosen's at 55. And by the way, Josh Rosen is a terrible offensive line and so does Sam Darnold. Baltimore's got a decent offensive line. 42%. He's overwhelmed. He is last among all the rookie quarterbacks incomplete. percentage, passing yards for attempt, passing yards total, or pass her rating, and not close.

He's overwhelmed. And they're going to play him like they played Tebow. If Tebow would have been drafted in the third or fourth round, nobody would have clamored for Tim Tebow for two or three years. It doesn't matter if you get drafted 8th, 28th, or the last draft in the first round. The minute you're a first round quarterback, the owner wants to see you play, damn straight. owner, that owner, you could have had a linebacker, you could have had a corner, you drafted quarterback. First rounders got to play.

That's the rule. First round pick's got to play. And the owner wants to see him play, and the fans want to see him play, and the media is going to ask, why isn't he playing? And you got to play him. This is why I said, Lamar Jack, I'm watching him last night. Kids totally overwhelmed. I mean, Josh Rosen isn't overwhelmed.

Baker Mayfield's not overwhelmed. Sam Darnold's not overwhelmed. Josh Allen's not overwhelmed. That kid's overwhelmed. Now he has moments. I mean, he's a heck of a runner. He ain't going to throw a ball out there once in a while. But this is what's going to happen.

And I said this before the draft. Everybody was like, oh, I said this is going to be Tebow. Both Tebow and Lamar Jackson, profoundly popular in college. They win a Heisman. Both mechanically don't throw the world's greatest ball in college. Both have great offensive coaches in college. Bobby Petrino for Lamar, Urban Meyer, for Tebow that mask and elevate sort of average throwers,

both get overdrafted in the first round, and both are in proud franchises, Baltimore and Denver, with loyal fan bases that want wins, and you go in a two-game losing streak, and they're chanting Tebow, Lamar. This is exactly he, I've watched him now for three games. He is exactly the player I was told he would be

by all three scouting. directors I talk to. First round changes everything for the owner, for the fans, for the media. Let me shift to this. You ever take a two-week vacation and you come back and it just takes you a couple of days to get back into rhythm at work? And by the way, you're good at work. Whatever you do at work, you're a salesperson. You're an engineer. You are a vice president of marketing. You're good at what you do. But you go on that two-week vacation. Just two weeks. I'm not saying a month. I'm not saying a summer. You come back on that Monday. It's just not quite things done. And then Tuesday, you're like, and then by Wednesday you're okay. That's just for a two-week vacation. And you're

good at what you do, regardless of what you do. Andrew Luck did not throw a football for a year and a half. No, I mean, he's defensive lineman throw footballs in practice. Andrew Luck couldn't throw a football for a year and a half. He's a quarterback. Andrew Luck this year is going to be good because he's an all-time talent. He's not going to be MVP. He may not, due to Deshawn Watson, be the best quarterback this year in his division. You cannot go from doing something for years 24-7 and then go to total inactivity for an extended time and come back and just be great. You and I take two weeks off, we come back, we're rusty. He took a year and a half off from not throwing a football.

Andrew looks going to be good this year. He'll be a borderline pro bowler this year. But he's got a new coach, a new playbook, and I don't know, hasn't thrown a ball in a year and a half. Michael Jordan took a year and a half off in a sport which is easier to get a to basketball shape than football shape. I mean, football shape is weightlifting. You've got to build up calluses. You've got to be able to take the hits.

It's a precision sport, especially if you're a quarterback. Michael Jordan left for a year and a half. Came back for a season and shot 41%. Lowest of his career, including his last year in the NBA when he was an old man and couldn't jump. Now, the following year, Michael Jordan shot 50% and was the MVP of the league. But you can't go 24-7 something for years, even if he's a year. you're great like Michael Jordan, go to total inactivity.

He goes to baseball, comes back. He went the same guy. He was a 41% shooter. And Michael always hovered around 50. By the way, Tom Brady, same thing. Remember Tom Brady? 2007, Tom Brady throws for 50 touchdown passes. Now, at the time, it was like the all-time record, right? 50 touchdown passes.

Then he breaks his leg. And then Tom Brady comes back totally healthy. And he's like, um, 28 touchdowns, 13 picks. Passer rating in the mid-90s. He was okay. And the following year, Tom Brady wins the Super Bowl. He's amazing.

He's MVP. Okay, I'm talking Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Unbelievable forces. Leave, come back, and they're good, not great. Then a year later, they're back to being dominant. Andrew Luck is probably the best young quarterback I've seen in this league since like a Dan Marino or John Elway. Like walked into the league, you're like, holy, what?

How's he winning 11 games with that roster? He was unbelievable. And then he got the, you know what, kicked out of him. And then he couldn't throw a football for a year and a half. And I watched him last night, and I thought, he'll be good this year. Because, you know, Michael Jordan is still Michael Jordan, Tom Brady's still Tom Brady, and Andrew Luck's still Andrew Luck. But, folks, there is a reason that before Jerry Seinfeld is going to fill an arena and do stand-up.

Do you know what Jerry Seinfeld does for three months? He goes to small comedy clubs. Gets into a rhythm. Jerry Seinfeld doesn't write jokes and then go perform in front of 25,000 people. Jerry Seinfeld writes jokes and then he goes to little comedy clubs, tries it out, tries it out, tries it out, tries it out, tries it out, tries it out, a little bigger comedy club, and then he goes to the palestra in front of 20,000. Andrew Luck's going to be good.

He is not, not going to be great this year. coming up next one of the smartest guys he has dealt with buffalo's Josh Allen he was his teacher he has been the shock of the league he said he saw it coming he was right work with sam darnald carson palmer's brother jordan palmer on the show he's now in the coaching business used to be a player now in the coach and a widely respected one on young quarterbacks that is coming up next Don't miss the Big Three championship Friday on Fox. Corey McGettie, Chris Anderson, and Power take on Drew Gooden and Three's company on the half court in Brooklyn to battle for the Julius Irving Championship Trophy. Catch all the actions starting at 8 Eastern on Fox or stream it live on the Fox Sports app. Car shopping confusing dealer price list price invoice. Here's what's not.

Go to Truecar.com. Save three grand off MSRP, Truecar.com. Well, he's the expert. He played in the NFL for four seasons. Bingles, Jags, Titan, drafted in the NFL. NFL, and now he is a personal quarterbacks coach, tutored Sam Darnold and Josh Allen, somebody I rely on. He straightens me out when I'm so woefully wrong.

Let's bring in Jordan Palmer to the show. His second appearance on the show. I love having you on the show. Love it. You like being here. Thanks for having me, Tom. All right, let's start with the Lamar Jackson stuff. I said, to start the show today in the third hour, I said, when you overpay for something, you feel an obligation to use it.

I had a buddy driving, bought a convertible sports car. I can picture him driving in the rain right now. It's 48, and I'm like, dude, and he's like, well, I spend, you know, and I'm like, you feel obligated to use bread, have bread every night if you buy a breadmaker, right? Lamar Jackson and Tebow, to me, are classic overdrafted. They're projects. They need to sit for two years. There's something there with both of them.

You can win games. Tebow won like six in a row at one point in a playoff game. But I watched Lamar and I think, oh, no, no, no, he's not ready. I could argue every one of these other rookies. could start and chop it up a little bit. Am I wrong? No, I agree. I think he's a project. I do, though, think he's a worthy cause. So because of what he brings to the game, the explosive plays, his athletic ability, his vision, it's not that he's running faster than everybody. It's also he cuts at the right time, which is a unique, I don't have a drill for that. Yeah. Because that,

that ceiling is so high, he's a worthy cause. Yes. It's going to be really hard to evaluate halfway way in at the end of the season. How is he doing compared to the other four first round quarterbacks? Because I think they're going to be asked to do different things. He's going to have packages and he's going to be asked to get really good at these specific things versus if these other three guys or other four guys end up starting, they're going to be asked to play quarterback. And I'm more interested in evaluating where Lamar Jackson's at 12 months from today after he's got to play in games, get really good at certain things, and then had an entire offseason of reps to develop.

guys like me, when I miss on something, I think it's usually not that I haven't seen it or studied it, it's that I forget coaching matters. So I watched Josh Allen play at Wyoming, and he was an overstrider. The ball wasn't accurate. And I'm like, well, it's going to be a mess. You're not going to fit it in tight windows.

So I watched him last couple of weeks. I'm like, what happened? Well, why is he accurate at the NFL level more than college? What happened? Well, I think You taught him. Yeah, well, and a bunch of of great coaches have played a role in that, but

I think with Josh, what I've always said is I think he's going to be a much better pro than he was college player. Now that goes counterintuitive to what we think, right? Because you think, he plays at Wyoming, you should dominate. It's easy. Now he's got to play in the AFC East, right? But the difference is in the college level, where they utilizing all the resources that he has.

Same thing with Deshawn Watson two years ago. I said the same thing. So he's going to be a better pro than he was at college. The difference is he was great in college, right? Because Deshawn is so smart and can do so many things before the ball snapped that in the NFL, he's able to use those resources. With Josh, he's smart enough to be a guy who can win it with game plan, to win like Brady. He's, I think he's going to get more and more consistent with his mechanics, and he'll be accurate enough to be an accuracy guy. He's big enough to be a Rothesberger

hanging in the pocket guy, and he's athletic enough to move around and win with it. So he has all of these killer ingredients. Now it's going to be, what is his style of play going to be in the league? You know, at Wyoming, he only played like a year in three quarters, if you want to call that good football. And before that, it was Juko in a random high school. So he hadn't really played enough to develop a style. Nor has he had until now, I think that Buffalo staff's pretty darn good. I do. I do too.

They have an offensive coordinator. Is it Brian Dable? Yep. Who's a Belichick guys, work with Josh McDaniels. He is, to me, the shock of all of them. Now, we both like Darnold. What concerns you with Sam, Donald and the Jets? I think with Sam, the expectations,

wouldn't concern me because he's the type of kid who doesn't, he's an internal processor. What people are saying about him doesn't necessarily move him in any direction, right? When he caught on fire at SC, it was really similar to what's happening right now. It was national championship, here we go, he's the next one, and it didn't change the way he prepared. It didn't change the way he thought about himself. It didn't change the way that he presented himself to the world.

That's not the concern. The concern is those expectations against the resources that he has around. them. I just don't, I think there's going to be enough, enough situations where they have to have a deep threat. They have to be able to have a game breaking plays in the run game. And so that part of that team is underdeveloped right now. And so those expectations, I saw something that said Jetsaya or Messiah. Oh, God. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That's a pretty complex offense. It's a complex offense. He's doing a great job of bringing it. It's going to be the resources. The time that he has to throw and the people that he's throwing to in year one in the first eight games

cannot mirror the expectations. Yeah, I mean, he's going to be choppy. I mean, and I love him, but he can be a little reckless and a little fast. He plays a little fast. He's got a little Andrew luck. He tries to extend stuff and you're like, slide, young man. Slide, throw it away. We haven't seen a ton of Josh Rosen.

Arizona games don't get the national appeal. They don't have high hopes this year. Bradford has looked in the limited time really good. What worries me about Josh has never been anything other than durability. that offensive line's not good. When you've watched Rosen, you know, you've worked with him before you know him, what do you like? What worries you?

Well, I thought he was potentially the most ready to play of the rookies in terms of what he was asked to do in college, how well he did it. He played in more NFL-style situations and had more of those moments that come from behind win versus A&M. And so he has so many ingredients coming into this. I love him going to Arizona because I've been around Arizona. Arizona football for the last couple years and know how that media is not what it is in New York. And the expectations and the pressure are not there. But also, and I think this is the case with all

rookies is having a rookie first round pick quarterback, are his interests aligned with the staff? Are they in the same juncture of their career? And you got a rookie quarterback coming in with a new staff, low expectations. Nobody's going to be able to predict what they're going to do. But he still has David Johnson, who I know he was out last year, but this is one of the best players. in the league. Not one of the best running backs, one of the best players in the league. And you've got a rookie and Christian Kirk that I've said from doing, I think he's going to be a superstar. And you got Larry who is motivated by, he's got some certain numbers he hits this year and that unlocks some things. And so you got a guy who's all in on this year, even if it is a

rookie plan. And then with Sam Bradford, he's going to be going, looking a guy dead in the eyes who is going to think he's just as good or better than that, better than. And I think he's going to have a new form of motivation. In L.A., he played high school here. He played college. here. He had all these expectations at UCLA. Those expectations are gone in Arizona, but he's going to be looking at a guy in San Bradford who has 150 more million, who

he's probably thinking, I'm just as, I'm right here right now with. And that's a different level of motivation. When you see that every single day, that you don't get that in LA. You don't get that at SC, or at UCLA. Baker Mayfield, Hugh Jackson's got to win games. I think this second

Tyrod Taylor is sort of, you know, you can tell he can, he faces those vanilla preseason defenses. Tyrod's just picking them apart. You're seeing Flacco do the same, Sam Bradford. These NFL guys, you know, even against first team defenses, it's pretty vanilla stuff. It's an all-star game. It's an all-star game. They just chop it up. Whereas a Baker or Sam, even against twos, are not quite as efficient, not quite as efficient or is succeeding or as detailed. You look at Baker Mayfield. My takeaway is he looks a little small. I always thought that. Never thought he was the number one pick. But he moves well. He's really accurate.

kind of a gamer. I never like the comparison to Johnny Mansell. I think he's a much better player than Johnny Mansell. I think it's going to work. What do you see? I agree with everything. I think Baker is bad comp as John Manzell. I think Baker's going to be really good.

And all I've heard, not so much in games, but in practices is he's really, really accurate. He's controlling the ball. He's in complete control of the situation at all times. So when you go back to the first round rookie quarterback and the interests aligned with the staff. With Baker, I look at it and I go, this is not a staff who just got here who's, you know, looking to build something over the next four years. This is a situation where they, you know, Hugh and these guys have one year to get it together. Yeah. And so Tyrod, I know he's picking apart preseason defenses, but I also think Tyrod's a really good player. I think that's a

worthy guy to have in front of you. And Tyrod, the way that he worked this offseason, first guy in, last guy to leave. I know it's a cliche thing people say, but he has earned that locker room. And Baker's in a perfect spot with that coaching staff. and where they're in, if they win two or three games in the first half of the season and they put Baker in the second half, the momentum, the energy, the spark that he's going to bring, they can rattle off a couple of wins

in the end and build a case. And we saw this in L.A. a few years ago with the Rams. Drafted rookie quarterback, number one overall. Trade it up to get him. Right? And Jared Gough, Fisher and Les Sneed, both on the hot seat. Fisher doesn't make it. Less Need parlayes that, crushes it in free agency, crushes it in the draft. Now there are a lot

of people's Super Bowl picks. That model is there, but if you start Baker week one, and it doesn't pan out for a lot of reasons that may not have anything to do with Baker. You derail a really good shot at success. And we're seeing on Hard Knocks, this team totally has the capability of eating themselves alive. With this many free agents and personalities, and I've been on those teams. I've been on both sides of it. Yeah, you were on the Bengals, Jacks, Ty. T.O. All kinds of guys. Sedrick Benson, Tank Johnson, Pac-Man, Jones. I've been on these teams. And, And with Cleveland, though, but if Tyrod can play well early and they can rattle a couple wins together,

and if they do shift later in the year to Baker, he brings a spark and momentum, I think you give a lot of reasons to why Cleveland can actually really build something special. Finally, Andrew Luck. I use Brady and Michael Jordan as examples. Great players had an inactive year and a half, one for baseball, one for an injury, comeback, good, not great, great a year later. I watch Andrew Luck and I think details, efficiency, nuance. You can't go from not playing, not throwing a ball.

John Gruden's going to deal with this. I think Andrew's going to be good and there'll be days he's really good. But man, I look at those defenses in that division. I think he's going to be a little choppy. He's going to have some rough starts. Am I wrong? No, I agree. I think when he was playing well earlier, he also had different cast around him.

I can't think off top of my head who their main guys are on offense. T.Y. Hilton. And so I think he had a little bit more talent around him before, but the difference between what he's doing and a baseball player or a basketball player, taking a year off injury coming back is if I'm a basketball player, to get ready to play in games, I can go play in games. I can play pickup games. I can play in the D-League.

I can go play a bunch of games to get in game shape, to make game-time decisions, all of that. I can jump on a treadmill to get in shape. quarterback, you can't simulate that. I'm a quarterback coach. I can't simulate a lot of these things. Not just the drop back in the throw or the reading. You just can't simulate all of the different factors that go into playing NFL quarterback.

And I just think, I think Andrew Luck is a superstar. I think he's an unbelievable player. I think he'd be the first pick in almost any draft ever. I think that coming out of call, all of that, all the ingredients that he has, I just think it's difficult to hop back in. And the other difference is they were one of the best teams in the division when he was playing before, they're now fourth by a while. By, in terms of overall roster.

They're going to be not favored in every divisional game this year. No, they're still in complete rebuild. Totally. Like they don't have a pass rusher. Jacksonville and Houston are trying to win a Super Bowl this year, and Tennessee is trying to make a legitimate playoff run. That's just not where the Colts are today. So he's got more on his plate than he ever had before, and he's coming off of a huge

period of time when he wasn't playing football. In a much better division. Personal quarterback coach, Jordan Palmer. What's your brother new now? He's gone. He's retired. He's retired. He's in, uh, fishing. He's moved to Idaho.

Oh. His kids. He's fishing. He's camping. He's, uh, you'll never hear from him again. I'll, I'll get a, get a text message here in the next couple of weeks. We see how big his beard is now, but, um, he's gone. He'll do a letterman.

Yeah. He'll do David Letterman. He'll just go hide and come back with a beard, do a Netflix special. Good for him. That makes me happy. Yeah. He's just up. That's beautiful country.

He's a big fan of yours, too. Oh, that's nice. That's nice to say. Jordan, you're a welcome visitor on the show. Avenion. He said it. He called it on Josh Allen, and I was a doubter, and I'm stupid now. And that I don't love, but you were right. It's early, but he's going to be a good player. He has chopped it up, ma'am. Joy Taylor with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

So Jalen Ramsey isn't the only one who believes that Deshawn Watson is capable of winning MVP sooner rather than later. Jaileney has some opinions on some other quarterbacks as well, but he was very high. on Deshawn Watson. So Joe Thaisman is also firmly on the Watson bandwagon and believes that he can win the award this year. He says, I think he has a chance to win to be the MVP of the league this year. I thought he was off to a terrific start last year. He has a rare combination of athleticism and ability to work from the pockets. And I agree.

I think I don't look at Deshaun and think Cam. I look at Deshaun Watson and see Carson Wentz. I see a very mobile guy with a nice arm. who can make accurate throws, who really could literally in a game run once and be really efficient. I think Cam needs his legs because I don't think Cam's really a precision thrower.

I think Deshawn Watson's a more precise thrower. I see Deshawn, I see Carson Wentz. I don't see Deshawn. Cam's not the prototype for me. But do you think he can win MVP this year? Deshawn? Well, Bill O'Brien's an offensive coach. No, I don't.

Here's why. Their offensive lines garbage. He has the fourth best odds. Rogers, Wentz, and Brady are ahead of him. Well, Andrew Luck won with a bad old line, so Deshaun's in that class of talent. We haven't seen Deshaun in a while, but he was electric when he was playing. I'm very excited to see him back. He was a 67% completion guy in college.

That's a real, and by the way, that's not Big 12 football in the ACC. And Dabo is not Bobby Petrino. This is a guy that's going to complete 65% in the NFL. That's a big number. You're getting to the Brady, you know, the top guys in the league are in that 65%. I think Deshawn is a precision thrower. I've never felt Camas. And if you look at it as the vision, they're going to do well.

We've been talking about Andrew Luck all day. Yes. So sticking with quarterbacks, more and more signs, points of Sam Darnel becoming a jet starter, which would make Josh McCown the backup probably, which makes Teddy Bridgewater the odd man out. And according to New York Daily News, at least two teams have expressed interest in trading for him.

Let's guess. I think Miami's one of them. Tana Hill's off an injury? You're from there. Doesn't that make sense? I mean, I think I would love Teddy Bridgewater in Miami. I don't, but I've never been a believer that TAN. I think Tana Hill's a competent quarterback.

Yes. I don't think he's the guy that's going to take them to the next level. But I do think that the Jets would be wise to use Teddy Bridgewater to get something that's going to help Sam Darnel moving forward. Teddy Bridgewater, like you said, is a starter. Oh, no, he's just absolutely. It's a very capable quarterback. We got two guys right now who are starting.

starters in the league that are not starting. Jacoby Brissette, who played last night, he's absolutely a starter. Again, I don't know where, but there's six to seven teams he can start for. And Teddy Bridgewater is an absolute starter. I'm not counting the rookies. I'm cutting guys. So Brissette and Bridgewater are starters in the NFL. That's at least worth a second round pick and another player.

Yeah, and if you have McCown, it just makes sense. But you're using Sam Donald. You're probably going to start Sam Donald anyway, right? Like, you feel like there's a different situation with the Browns. I feel like it's different just because of Hugh Jackson needing to win games. So, I mean, you don't believe that Baker's ready to start. I think if you pick him number one overall, he needs to be ready to start regardless. But Sam Donald's likely going to start.

If that's the case, Teddy Bridgewater, you can trade and get crucial pieces to help Sam Donald. By the way, they won five games with Josh McCown last year and lost six others by a possession. So Josh McCown is also a spot starter and you can win games. And Josh McCown is a very capable backup. So finally, the Cleveland hype train has officially arrived in Las Vegas. betters have been backing the Browns to win the AFC North. What? The AFC title and even the Super Bowl

at multiple Las Vegas sports books. At MGM sports books, the Browns have attracted more bets to win the Super Bowl. Then, are you ready for this? The Falcons, the Chiefs, and the Jigs, who are each playoff teams last season. Okay, if you think the Browns have a better chance to win

the Super Bowl than Atlanta, you're an idiot. Because I got Atlanta in the Super Bowl this year. Well, you know what? Vegas wasn't built on winners. Colin. It was built on goofballs. More people think the Browns are going to win in the Super Bowl than Atlanta. Atlanta's got an elite coach, an elite quarterback. Now they've got an elite offensive line, big home field advantage. That's, that is, I can't even believe that's true.

I got to tell you, I feel somewhat responsible for this. We have been talking about the Browns a lot. We may be confusing people about their capabilities. Well, who's reporting this? Where did you, where did that story from? Who is the report? I don't have the source here. Is it a sports book or something?

It's an article. Yeah, it's an MDM. There was one book that said they had more bets on the Browns to win the division than the other three teams combined. Including the Steelers? Yep. In her division? But you can't make any money betting the Steelers to win the division. Of course they're going to win the division. Yeah, but it's better than just losing money.

I'd rather win a hundred bucks. Only the Raiders. This is the Caesar's Palace. Only the Raiders and the Steelers have more bets to win the AFC than the Browns. The Raiders? Well, who's, are these drunk betters on Friday night? Like, are these people betting at midnight? Possibly.

With like six Mai Ties and Jack and Cokes in? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Ooh, mitis and Jack and Cokes? I don't know. I don't know what to tell you, but that's what's happening. If you want to spend some money in Vegas, I would put it on the spurs making the playoffs because that's big. That's a good bad.

Vegas doesn't happen in making the playoffs. Brown's winning the Super Bowl. I think there's better things you could spend your money on. Joy Taylor with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Herd Lye News. All my haters are going to love this.

I'm going to reverse my stance on one of my most controversial topics. That's next and best for last. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart radio app. Search Herd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. I'm all for good sportsmanship. That's why I'm a huge fan of Hyundai's new Shopper Assurance Program, transparent pricing, flexible test driving, streamline,

purchasing HyundaiUSA.com slash shopper assurance. Check it out, learn more. What a show today. I haven't even covered LeBron today. Yeah, the show's not over. So let's do it. Best for Last. After almost three hours, Colin apparently hasn't gotten to the point yet.

Quit holding out on us, Cowherd. It's the best for last. Now, when I was a young kid, I used to work at a bowling alley. Yeah, you know, I'd go to a bowling. alley and I'd set the pins and I've delivered some nachos to people. And occasionally, if I had like four quarters, I'd play a little Atari video game. And that was that, right? But I was mostly a kid that would go home and play sports.

And there had been a big video game player. It's not really my thing. My son likes him and I support my son. But I'm not really a video game guy. I played sports. I like sports. I did a little bit as a kid. And on this show, you know, I've kind of poked e-sports video game guy in the ribs.

more than once. Here's some proof of that. I am not a friend of e-sports. Okay? It's video games. It shouldn't be on a sports network. It's for booger eaters. A lot of people sit and watch video games all day. That's sad.

And these esport people on my Twitter, like they'll send me a picture flexing their muscles. I don't sit there all day. I work out. There's a reason esports nerds get really hyper-sensitive to being called nerds because they're nerds. Yeah, I'm not always the biggest fan of video game players.

Okay, but EA Sports NBA Live 19 released their player ratings. Number one player, LeBron James. 97 out of a possible 100 points. Isn't it amazing? The media can't figure it out. But video game company is like, yeah, yeah, he's the best player. It is remarkable in the past just five years. LeBron has been given no respect.

So in the last five years, LeBron hasn't won an MVP, although we know he's better and in some cases significantly than the five guys who have. Curry, Curry, Durant, Westbrook, Hardin. Oh, it gets worse. No, no, no, no, it gets worse. In the past five years, the Eastern Conference Player of the Month. Now, John, a month is how long?

A month is what? 30 days. Roughly, yes. In the past five years, these players have won Eastern Conference player of the month. The month. So I'm supposed to believe that Kyle Corver was better for a month than LeBron, Damari, Carol, Al Jefferson.

Kyle Lowry? DeMarre de Rosen? Isaiah Thomas? They're trying to spread the love around. Okay. Oh, no, no. It gets worse. Let's go to the Easter conference, Player of the Week.

In the past five years, they've given that out 111 times. LeBron's won at 16. I'm going to read you a list of people who I'm supposed to believe were better than LeBron for a week. Let me read these. Jared Sullenger, Jordan Crawford, Thaddeus Young, Paul Millsap, Kimball Walker, Al Jefferson, Jeff Teague, Al Horford, Andre Drummond, Nicholas Batum, Reggie Jackson, Marcine Gortott, Dionne Waiters, Hassan Whiteside, Victor Oladipo, Tobias Harris, Gorin Drogich, Chris Middleton, Brooke Lopez, Darren Williams, Lou Williams, Mo Williams, Michael Carter Williams. It took a video game company to go, yeah, best player in the league, 97 out of 100, LeBron James. You know what?

The media's job isn't to be fair. It's to be accurate and honest. If I come out and I say New England's better than the Jets all of the last 18 years, my job is not to make sure it's even or fair. my job is to be honest and accurate. EA sports, more than the media, is honest and accurate. He's the best player in the league.

He's the best player every night he plays. He's the best player in every week he plays in the East. The idea that Kyle Lowry, who I like, was better than LeBron for a month. Now, come on now. Joy? They're just trying to spread the love around. That's all. So are you going to play NBA live now?

I've played 2K before. You any good? Am I any good? No, I think you've got to play that. Don't you have to play that stuff for a long time? I think you have to be a little committed to it. I think you have to be a... You're not ready to become an e-gamer? It's huge.

Huge business. It is. So here's the thing I saw today. And I'm going to bang on millennials. I like you millennials. That you see the world differently. but this is the one thing where millennials just don't get it. You're never going to make any money in your 20s.

You know why? Because nobody ever made money in their 20s. Joy didn't, I didn't, John didn't, Greg didn't. Nobody makes money in the 20s. Like millennials think, oh, I can do what you do. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You get into radio. You don't talk, you just listen.

I'll tell you how it works. Nobody's going to listen to you at 24. Nobody cares about your life stories. You're 24. You haven't had life. I've had four of them. Okay. her Mayfield can't pose for this picture. By the way, great guys can. Matt Ryan could. I'd even

give Cam. Cam's been an MVP. Russell Wilson can. Tom Brady can. I don't like this as a rookie. Again, you can't walk into a job your first day on the job and act the same way in a restaurant if you're a chef if you were a James Beard winner or a five-star Michel and Chef winner. You can't. You can't walk into your first job as a young chef and like, like, I own the room. You can believe it, but you keep it to yourself. Once you're Gordon Ramsey, you can say, I own the room because you got networks pitching stuff at you. That's all I'm saying about this stuff. It's not, it's nothing against some flash.

It's nothing against, but you got to earn stuff in life. And if you don't, you're going to turn off so many people. People around, now if Baker ends up being good, this will be irrelevant. But if he ends up being average, this is going to be the picture of him. Bosworth had one of these. Now, if Bosworth was as good as Lawrence Taylor, it would look awesome. But if Bosworth wasn't as good, which he wasn't, that picture with him in a Corvette, you know, when he's wearing that white suit, it's cheesy.

And I do think, I've said this about Baker. I think he's going to start, I think it's like week five. They open with Pittsburgh and the Saints. They'll go 0 and 2. Then they play the Jets. I think they can win it. They have better people one and two. But when they go, here's what I believe is going to happen.

here's their first six games. They're going to go 0 and 2, and the owner Jimmy Haslam is going to go to Hugh Jackson and say, play Baker Mayfield. And Hugh's going to say, come on, you got to give me more than two games. They'll beat the Jets. But they'll go to Oakland and lose and there'll be one in three, and Baltimore Indivision is coming into town. And Jimmy Haslam will say, I gave you tie rod the first time.

But you got to start. We got two home games coming. Indivision Baltimore, Indivision Chargers. By the way, that Baltimore Ravens Week, October 7 is when NBA camp opens. and there's no LeBron. So the city is just dying for a star. October 7th, NBA camps open, Cavs camp opens with no LeBron.

So the city is there. And by the way, the Indians by that time will probably be out of the place. So the city is there to own. And Baker Mayfield starts would be the talk of the city and watch Jimmy Haslam, the owner, and the number one booster for the Tennessee Volunteers Football Program, who is really impatient and has shown at times kind of a disregard. guard to coaches, that's when Baker's going to start. Greg Jennings, by the way, disagreed with me.

He says Baker is not going to play for a long, long time. I also think once Donald starts playing and Josh Allen starts playing in New York and Buffalo, that's going to put more pressure to play, you know, the four and four browns or the two and three Browns are going to have more pressure to play Baker Mayfield. Here's what Greg Jennings said earlier. I don't think that they cave. When you look at where John Dorsey, came from. He came from a similar situation in Kansas City where you drive the Patrick Mahomes and you have an Alex Smith. You understand going in, Alex Smith is our guy. But the following season, the following year, okay, let's get rid of him. Let's now insert him after a year of kind of a red

shirt year. I think this is the Cleveland Brown's approach. It's going to be fun. I'll tell you, he's playing Thursday, right? And I said this yesterday. From a, Baker reminds me a little of Michael Vick. When Michael Vick came in the league, the first couple of years, he wasn't playing a lot. I couldn't wait to watch him. He just completely, I never felt that with Johnny Mansell. I never said, I got a race to a TV to watch Johnny Mansell. I've never felt that with even Tebow during the winning streak.

I'm like, oh, God, it's a con. He can't play. Michael, Vic, and Baker have this quality about him, and it doesn't mean anything. to a coach or a GM. I think an owner, though, it does mean something. Michael Vic was fascinating to watch. Other players wanted to watch Michael Vic. I'm telling you, we have a game Thursday on Fox.

Baker Mayfield, I can't wait to watch it. He's got, as a consumer, and I think a GM and a coach don't care about that whole thing, but I do think owners do. Because owners are looking at the bottom line. And if the calves open October 7th and there is no pop and the Indians are out of it, That city is there for the taking. Here comes Baltimore into town. Oh, Baker is compelling.

He's a compelling kid. Now with a, you know what he is? He's polarizing. Yes. Polarizing with talent. I thought Tebow was polarizing without much talent. Johnny was polarizing without much talent. Baker and Michael Vic, different.

You know, he polarizing with, I guess Mike became more polarizing over time because he had some controversies. Tomorrow, Joel Klatte. going to be on the show. We're going to have a major announcement with Urban Meyer tomorrow. It's the herd. Last night, a blown call changed a game.

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