The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 1 - Kevin Durant's debut

Episode Date: March 2, 2023

Colin discusses the debut of Kevin Durant for the Suns Comments from Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy and why Colin doesn't like the direction of the offense The market for Aaron Rodgers is shrinkingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfilled conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but the show. celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes,

follow at Clifford and at TikTok's podcast network on TikTok. Thanks for listening to The Heard podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weekday. From 12 to 3 Eastern, 9 to noon Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and FS1, find your local station for the herd at Fox Sports Radio.com or stream us live every day

on the iHeartRadio app by searching Heard. Now let's get this party started. You're listening to Fox Sports Radio. Ah, it's a Thursday loaded up. Here we go. Kevin Durant's already winning in Phoenix. It's the herd.

Wherever you may be, however you may be listening. Thanks for making us part of your day. J. Mack is joining us. So we talked about this when Kevin Durant came over, and I predicted that there's a little big difference between truly great and truly very good. good and truly great works in any era, any time. Wilk Chamberlain, truly great.

Jim Brown, truly great. Walter Payton would be a star running back today. Like the truly great ones, any generation, any coach, any teammate, and Kevin Durant qualifies as that. We fall in love with what guys do in the moment, but I mean the truly greats, and it's a very tiny number. It's 1% maybe of players ever, and Durant was on display last night. Yeah, he was truly great against a Charlotte Hornets.

Someone named J.T. Thor was in the starting lineup. I don't know who that is, and I watch a lot of college basketball. Congratulations to KD on win number one. All right, let me start with this. So part of truly great, not what the media thinks is great, now with the fans, not your merchandise sales. Part of truly great is you work with anybody. Kevin Durant works with anti-vaxxers, NBA basketball players afraid to shoot. He got Russell Westbrook to a final.

Nobody works with Westbrook. He works with rigid guys, limited guys, old guys, new guys. That's the difference between Westbrook and Kyrie, who are one in seven with their new teams. They're really, really good. Never ever has Westbrook or Kyrie won big without Kevin. Devin Durant or LeBron at their side. Patrick Mahomes is truly great. Any era he would work.

Tyreek Hill left. Oh! Won an MVP in the Super Bowl. Didn't matter that they rebuilt his offensive line the previous year, or he had a pedestrian-wide receiver group. Mahomes is truly great. Lamar Jackson's really, really talented. But you have to have a specific offensive coordinator.

a specific set of players around him. There's a big gap between Westbrook KD, Kyrie KD, Lamar Jackson, Mahomes. Truly all-time great. Phoenix is not perfect. Chris Paul's old. They need another defender. D'Andre Aiton has some limitations. They could use more players on the bench.

Watch them start reeling off Ws and move up in seating. And here's the thing. Brady did this. Brady won a Super Bowl, created a dynasty with an old, rigid defensive coach. Then he went and got the loose offensive coach, the party animal in Tampa. First year, pandemic. No preseason. He won a Super Bowl with that guy.

He won with Dionne Branch, crazy Antonio Brown, a college quarterback as a wide receiver, Julian Edelman, Gronk, Aaron Hernandez, good guys, bad guys, small guys, crazy guys, restricted guys, limited guys, Wes Welker, Edelman. Didn't matter. Brady won. He won an MVP with Bill O'Brien. He won with Charlie Weiss. He won with Josh McDaniels. It didn't matter. He won with Byron Lefich. That's truly great. You work with everybody, the coach, the player, the system. There are times you're not going to win the championship or win the Super Bowl. Westbrook's never won big without KD. KD's won with everybody. Kare's never

won big without LeBron. LeBron wins with everybody. That is the difference. Mahalms lost Tyreek Hill and everybody freaked out. Oh, I don't know. Kansas City ended up with the number one offense in the NFL. The year before, rebuilt their own line. This year, pedestrian wide receiver. I mean, as good as Aaron Rogers is,

he lost Avanté Adams. He went into the tank by Aaron Rogers standards. And here's the thing about what truly great does. You don't always have to have all the points. So in basketball, often if you you're scoring a lot or you're good, it takes away from others.

I mean, can you imagine last night, Westbrook's first game with the Clippers, he drops 25 points? He'd have been like, give me the ball, head down, get out of the way. Last night, Katie was phenomenal, and yet Devin Booker scored 37 points. Mahomes can be phenomenal, but Travis Kelsey has 14 catches. Brady wins a Super Bowl. Mike Evans is unstoppable. The truly greats don't get in the worst. way of other people's success. They don't suck all the oxygen out of the room. Kevin Durant walks in,

brand new guy, brand new system, unstoppable, and Booker almost scores 40. So don't put 98% of the players in NBA history now and forever in Kevin Durant's class. He is Mahomes. It just doesn't matter. Coordinator, tight-in, wide receiver, doesn't matter. Go look at the wide receiving core for the Kansas City Chiefs. Skymore. I mean, guy in Pittsburgh they were tired of, guy in Green Bay that was overpaid. Go look at that wide receiving core. Number one offense in the NFL.

In the stronger conference in a good division. Here was KD after last night's win over the rugged Hornets. I feel like I fit in pretty well. Everybody out there was trying to make me as comfortable as possible, coaches and players as well. and, you know, so, um, just got to keep, keep grinding, man. And, you know, this jersey on me will look normal when a couple, you know, as games go on as we start to keep building who we are as a team. And, um, I'm looking forward to it, though.

Truly historically great, Kevin Durant. Mike McCarthy was at it again. You know what? They should, in Dallas, just take the podium away. You can interview them after games, maybe. No more podium talks. So he was asked, Kellyn Moore, their very good offensive coordinator, play caller. Mike McCarthy says, yeah, that was fine.

And we were number two in the NFC in offense. We were highly productive, but Mike McCarthy said this in 2023. Kellan wants to light the scoreboard up. But I want to run the damn ball so I can rest my defense. I don't have a desire to be the number one offense in the league. Kansas City was the number one offense in the league. Philadelphia was the number one offense in the NFC. Because I want to win championships.

If we got to give up some production and take care of the ball, that's what we'll do because we have a really good defense. Wow. Yeah, the scoring thing seems to be working. As Cincinnati and Kansas City and Philadelphia, it's really working. So does everybody understand how good Kellynne Moore is at this job? And we don't use Kellynne Moore much as a topic. But think about this.

The Dallas Cowboys are actually incredibly limited on offense. They are. Zeke, their star running back shot. Their left tackle Tyron Smith is available about every third week. They don't have a number two receiver. Dak is not that accurate to throw over the football. DAC tied for the most picks in the league, and they started backups in several games.

And yet, Cowboys finished as the number two offense in the NFC. And one of the things, when you're in a business long enough, and Mike McCarthy's been in football 30 years. I've been in broadcasting 30 years. It's kind of my responsibility to be able to see around corners a little bit, see problems before they arise. So does Mike McCarthy get that Kellyn Moore is now going to go to a better quarterback and Justin Herbert, a better left tackle and Roshan Slater,

Austin Eccler, Mike Williams, Kenan Allen, capable tight ends. Kellan Moore is going to crush it by September. And Dallas, very likely, because they've got to use that first pick on a corner, they don't have a second corner, maybe a wide receiver, maybe. But Dallas is probably going to pull back, right? Zique is washed. Tony Pollard's a free agent. He may just go.

Your tight ends talented. He's a free agent. You can't afford him. You're paying Zeke and Dak too much. You're still paying Tyron Smith a lot of money. You've got to save up money for Michael Parsons. You're paying Demarcus Lawrence a lot. It's very, very likely that Dallas will be the same or pull back.

And it's almost guaranteed. There's two guarantees in the NFL next year. Denver's going to double their win total with Sean Payton. bank on it, and the Chargers offense is going to get significantly better when they return their left tackle and get a progressive offensive coordinator. You've got to be able to see around corners. By September and October, people are going to make, they're going to be making fun of you for this comment.

And we not only have a cultural gap between offensive coaches and defensive coaches, some of these older guys, Belichick go into a defensive coordinator as offensive coordinator, Mike McCarthy saying, I'll give up production. I mean, Andy reads the outlier, but what are we doing here? Just take the podium away. Like, what are we saying here and what are we doing here? There's every reason to believe that Dallas could be better defensively next year. They've got to solve some secondary issues, and they're going to draft that.

But they're likely to not be quite as good offensively. Ask yourself this, if C.D. Lamb missed a month. Who are they throwing to? Michael Gallup? The tight end may be gone. Tony Pollard could be gone. But when you're working in any industry for 30 years, you've got to see around corners a little.

And this is going to be a ridiculous quote by the first week of October. We've got a lot today. We got a lot today. Two more teams, it appears. This is interesting. Two more teams have taken themselves potentially out. Out. of the Aaron Roger sweepstakes.

Market's drying up. Hey, the Jets better be one of those teams. We do not want Aaron Rogers in New York. And I speak for the entire Jets fan base, all of them, Colin. There's no interest in Aaron Rogers. Titans announced today to their fans. Get over it. We're bringing back Ryan Tanyhill.

Two teams out. The market shrinking. Let me just ask you a question. If Burrow or Mahomes were on the market, there'd be 25 teams after him. Aaron now is down to Green Bay and waiting until you hear what Josh McDaniel said with the Raiders. Three teams are out on Aaron. You love to hear it.

I'm not just, I'm just saying. Great. Kevin Durant's available. A lot of teams were lining up for Kevin Durant. Kyrie Irving was available. Westbrook was available. The Clippers were his only option. Don't confuse truly really good and truly all-time great.

You need to help the people understand it's more than about football, Colin. The locker room matters. We're seeing an unraveling of the Baltimore Ravens locker room right now on social media. It's happening. We'll be talking about it soon. Raiders, if you look at Josh McDaniels this morning, are out on Aaron. Jets, story in the athletic out on Aaron, tightens out. Mahomes is available to the market this morning.

No, Cincinnati's not going to go after him, probably not Buffalo or the Chargers or Jacksonville. 25 teams make a call. Minimum. There's no market for Aaron. There doesn't appear to be a market for Aaron Rogers. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. On Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHeard Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged.

It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman document. recommended it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators,

and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories, that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be.

Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with you? little Kim. Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jay. And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS. on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You're now entering the no bull zone sponsored by credible great rates and none of the bull. So last night's Lakerwin was big. I sat and watched that last night. and Dennis Schrooter rolled an ankle early and then came back and won. No LeBron, no AD.

But the story is AD was 100% pain free and didn't play. So baseball goes through a little bit of this. There's still a very active battle in baseball between what the manager wants to do and the analytic department and the GM wants to do. And analytic teams slash nerds always want to go with the average. What is the data? What does it say? But sometimes in a game in a moment, there's momentum and data can't track them. there are moments among alpha males when certain guys need to step up. There's these key moments. And last night, AD should have played. He was 100% pain free. He's gotten plenty of rest this year. They were

on the road. LeBron wasn't playing. And reportedly, LeBron has been playing through severe pain in his last five or six games. And AD has a reputation, frankly, of being soft. And the medical staff reportedly held him out. That's one of those I'm playing. Now, Dennis Schrooter, they won. Oklahoma City's not much to look at. And Dennis Schrooter, despite a rolled ankle, played a really good basketball game. And so they won.

But this was a step-up moment. This was a leadership moment. This was a I'm playing. This is Mahomes screaming at Andy Reid on the sideline with a high ankle sprain. The media freaking out. And Mahomes is like, I'm not taking my shoe off. I'm not taking my shoe off. Gemi back in there.

Anthony Davis, 100% pain-free didn't play. Here's Darvin Ham, the head coach after. You know, he's frustrated as hell, man. He wants to be out there, but he also understands the process of us managing his foot the right way. And again, it's not like it's a stress reaction. So anything could set that thing off. and the more stress you put on it, the more it's going to react. So it's like you just have to let it, you know, not saying that it flare it up or anything.

He's absolutely playing pain-free. Pain-free. Can we stop pandering and coddling? That was a step-up moment. And this is happening in the NBA now. And it happens in baseball where you have analytic departments and their season-long averages do matter. But what you find out in baseball, you ask a starter to pitch on two days rest.

You ask a starter to come out of the bullpen. The playoff postseason is not the regular season, and the averages aren't the same. We've talked about this in the NBA. Referees swallow the whistle in the postseason. They don't in the regular season. Everybody's equally rested. You're playing a team six, seven straight games. They know your liabilities.

They attack them. Playoff baseball, and right now the Lakers are in playoff mode. They had to win last night. This is not December. It's not November. It is March. You got to win. Now, they did.

Chris Finch, the coach, the T-Wolves, was on the show yesterday. And we talked about this, this load management, you know, these science departments among NBA teams. One of the fastest growing departments in professional sports is the performance department. You know, with sports scientists and all the people that are now giving us so much data about resting and recovering. and being ready to play. Obviously, we have to lean into what they say. It's not our decision as coaches. Unfortunately, in our league, and I've said this before,

resting has become a bit of a status symbol. You're so good that they don't want to play you tonight because they need you later. Well, you're a team like ours, you're 500, and you're fighting for your life. You've got to play every night. Yes. And that's really what the league should be all about anyway.

For Minnesota, you've got to play. For the Lakers right now, Lowe, no, LeBron, you got to play. Stars get whatever they want in this league. I mean, Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn, I'm not going to get vaccinated. He got away with it. James Harden, I'm going to be out of shape in Houston. He got away with it.

You tell me, AD couldn't go to the medical staff and say, yeah, I'm playing. Fellas, I'm playing. Of course he could. J. Mack with the news. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. I like how we disagree on.

load management. But Colin, you're a big numbers guy. You know what your social media numbers are, what pops, what works. You know what topics work on this show, where the ratings go up. You trust the numbers. Why don't you trust the analytics team, the performance team that says, hey, we're not going to play AD on back-to-backs. I'm sorry, we can't. For the same reason in baseball, I believe in analytics, but there are moments of leadership, moments of momentum that data can't track. You can't track. You can't track. Like, okay, a great example. Michael Jordan was never a great three-point shooter until they moved it in for a couple of years.

But he had that game against Portland where he does the... Why did Mike? Because Michael got hot. Michael got into his zone. We see great baseball players struggle. They get out of his own. We've seen great golfers fall out of a zone. Greg Norman, Sunday at the Masters.

A lot of sports, even for the great ones, is momentum being hot. We've seen Patrick Mahomes, not this year, but previous years, have four and five game stretches, he just loses it mechanically, and you've got to bring him back, confidence mechanics. The idea that it's linear. You get the same player every night. How many times have we seen, I remember the footage of Steve Kerr telling Steph Curry on the bench, the world's greatest shooter.

Keep shooting, man, don't lose confidence, because Curry was doubting himself. So you can't track everything. Even great shooters have bad stretches, bad nights. Mahomes has bad months. So the idea that you can always use averages is not true. Sometimes you have to go, guys, they're intimidated, I can sense it. Like you sack a quarterback and you can kind of feel he's rattled. What does data track what you should blitz or not?

The defensive end comes to the sideline, says, coach, he's afraid to get hit. Then you know what? You bring heat the next time you get your defense on the field. That's real in sports. I could have swore one of your favorite quotes earlier during the the football season was work smarter, not harder. Hey, AD, go out there and beat OKC. OKC is reeling.

They're without their best player. Yes. SGA. They lost four in a row. All right, we disagree. Well, it was just a fundamental disagreement on load management, win the war, not the battle. All right. All right.

First up, Atlanta Hawks. They hired Quinn Snyder this week, and he's hoping to fix a melting locker room, scathing report, according to Bill Ryder of CBS Sports, big tennis player, I know him a little bit. He says the Hawks vibe has been described as broken, ugly, and total poop emoji. He also mentioned one NBA GM was especially critical of Trey Young saying you can't win with him. Well, that's all. That's not.

There's no way that's true. So Nate McMillan is known in NBA circles. No fun, very rigid, completely serious. Trey Young is loose and lively, got an opinion sometimes. So what happens is the personality of the country. coach, Nate McMillan, is the opposite of the personality of Trey Young, and the player's going to win that. So now, Quinn Snyder, you know, like Nate McMillan, was a player. A little younger than Nate.

Yeah. And considered it a little more loose. Remember, he had a Donovan Mitchell-Gobert issue and kind of work through it. Yeah. So Snyder is seen as more pro player, will connect more with Trey Young. And I like Nate McMillan, but he is viewed as all business, very good. serious. This is how we do it. He would be in NFL circles. He would be Mike Zimmer. He's a little old school. Yeah. Like very capable, very smart. This is how we do it. And Quinn is much more about

Donovan. He's a feel coach. Quinn feels like, okay, tonight I'm going to let Donovan just go. And he's also, Quinn has worked with conflict because Gober and Donovan last year couldn't stand each other. So he's dealt with that tunnel. I just want to drill down on Kentray Young win in the NBA. I just want to point out to people. He went to the conference finals in 2020. Yeah. Okay? Everybody wants to compare it with Steph Curry. He's not Curry. But Seth Curry didn't make the NBA playoffs until his fourth season. Trey Young's already been to a conference finals. Yeah. And you couldn't name the second best player on that team that beat the Sixers. I mean, John Collins? Listen, I, Trey Young. Like, Trey Young is a winner. I don't want

people knocking him. The personality stuff, he's got to do with this. This is two coaches. I like I think if you take Steph Curry out in the history of the NBA, take Steph Curry out, tell me championship runs led by guards. Small guards, too. Yeah, so Isaiah Thomas is about it. And he also had Chuck Daly, a loaded roster, three or four of the top defenders in the league. Damien Lillard, who we love has been to one conference fund. Yeah, no, so. Like, it's tough?

NBA history says Steph Curry is an outlier, which shows his greatness. you're not going to get championship dynasty basketball with a tiny guard, but he's a hell of a player, and he just needs, it was time for a move. Quinn Snyder's very viewed very much as capable of solving personalities, big personalities. I'll just say this, Trey's player efficiency rating higher than Deerrin Fox, Jill and Brunson, Drew Holiday, and Darius Garland. So Trey Young, good player. All right, next up, L.A. Clippers, 0.3 since signing.

I can't believe they put this in the con. A copy. Former MVP Russell Westbrook. That's for music, obviously. He was traded from the Lakers, obviously, at the deadline. And now he was released by the Jazz. Lans with the Clippers. One NBA executive told John Hollinger of the athletic, I fear them much less now that Russ is. Well, situationally, they're not going to be the same team. Yeah. And he minimizes Kauai and Paul George's effectiveness. This is something I asked Chris Finch about privately yesterday. Point blank, I asked him this question. I won't say his answer, but, Colin, you look at this team and you're like, why is Russell Westbrook starting? He just showed up. You know what he cannot do. Shoot the basketball. Why is he starting?

What is Ty Lou doing? It makes no sense. God, some of his shots are awful. This will be interesting. Will Kauai Leonard, Colin, speak up and do something? Or is he going to just still be the silent guy who's just like, oh. So the problem with this, you don't have a leader on the team. Paul George, passive, Kauai nonverbal.

So, of course, who's going to fill that? Westbrook, whose self-awareness is zero. By the way, we know Paul George pushed for Westbrook to join here, because Paul George ditch him in OKC. I'm just going to put this out there. If this fails badly, I don't think Paul George is on the Clippers next season. Somebody's heads will roll if they can't make a conference finals or the finals. They lose in the first round, sons or something, second round.

Colin, something's going to have to change. This is, what, three or four years in a row now, Paul George or Kauai? I'm looking forward to the NBA off season. here. It's going to be good. Finally, NFL Players Association released their own report cards yesterday. Players graded their teams in various categories that involved staff, facilities, how the players and their families were treated. Mild surprise in the Arizona Cardinals finished second to last ahead of. Drumroll, please, the Washington Commanders. Cardinals players provided a brutal critique of the franchise. Here's what they said. The locker room does not have confidence that owner Michael

Bidwell is willing to invest to upgrade the facilities, he ranks the lowest in that category across the league. The responses that provide the bases for the characterization include the worst ranked weight room, which some players feel as a safety hazard, outdated training room and locker room, and a policy of deducting dinner from players' paychecks should they want to get food from the facility. Oh, that's bad. Oh my gosh. That's bad. Cullen, like the Clemson Tigers have a better weight room than the Arizona Cardinals. You know, Alex, Alabama's got a better facility than Arizona does. Now, what do you do if it's the owner who's being cheap?

Like what? Oh, no, no. We, not all billionaires are equal. Like, there's always been a lower, there's always been a lower grade. I mean, look at the players gave the treatment of families in F, the locker room, an F, nutrition, an F minus training room, nutrition in F minus. How hard is that? J.J. Watts gone.

All the veterans are bailing. on this team. So people like the staff, the strength staff and the training staff got good grades. And the travel, they travel well. But it's some of these owners are bad. I mean, the Phoenix Sun's just got rid of a terrible owner. Now, it's also remember, and this is something. So the Arizona economy is different. It doesn't have a lot of Fortune 500s. And so is, was the Phoenix Sun's owner being cheap? Or the Diamondback owner's cheap? Is the Arizona Cardinal owner cheap? they just don't have the revenue. I mean, Arizona State doesn't have the money of Washington or Oregon, of any of the SEC big docks. So sometimes is the state economy, which is a lot of transplants,

there's not a lot of Arizona Cardinal fans in the state of Arizona. You know, my takeaway is maybe this is an ownership group that doesn't feel they get great sweet support, endorsement support, advertising support, and they go cheap on the facilities. It just feels like to me, why has Arizona got all these we had the worst NBA owner was in Arizona, and this grades as the worst NFL owner. What is the coincidence they're both in the same area? I'm just guessing, but... It feels like they're going to be in the basement for a little while here in the NFC.

Well, I mean, when you talk about these college towns that have better facilities, that's because everybody in the state of, you know, everybody in the area is all in on Nebraska or Alabama, when you have a transplant state where nobody's from the state, and so the, and there's not a lot of Fortune 500, companies. They may not have the same game day revenue as all these Philadelphia Eagles and Buffalo bill teams. But Colin, this drops two weeks before free agency. If you're approached by Arizona, F's seeing Fs across the board on the report card. That's bad. You're not going to want to

go there, but I think, weirdly, Arizona's like a good destination. Well, because people like living in Scottsdale. Warm weather, right? Yeah, it's a winter fall, winter league, and the weather's great. Like golf year round if you want to? No, I mean, it's a wonderful. I have, I just talked to a buddy yesterday, up in Portland, Oregon. He's got a house in Scottsdale, and he absolutely loves it. He goes there half the year and loves it. My dad's good friend is there.

He's considered moving to Arizona, but he's staying in Florida. They got to clean this up. That's embarrassing. When you're getting F-minus on nutrition, your power bars are stale. I mean, how do you get an F-minus in nutrition? J-Mack with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. Man, we got good stuff today. I'm saving a lot of it for the next hour. That's all I'm saying. But coming up next, we decided wrongly that something didn't matter in football. And it does, and it should worry you, this year in the draft.

That's coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. This is Steve Kavino and Rich Davis. And together, we are Kavino and Rich. Kvino and Mitch. Thanks, buddy. That's right. Kavino and Rich, Fox Sports Radio's newest hit show. Heard weekdays from 5 to 7 Eastern 2 to 4 Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the I Heart Radio app.

Every Covino & Rich show is available as a podcast. Just search Covino and Rich wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe. I'm such a rockin' dude. The show features our unique take on sports, inject it with some fun, humor, and relatability. Listen to Covino and Rich five days a week on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's Cobino and Rich. Give me your hell, yeah. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged.

It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hart Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media.

Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment,

and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or we're you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes,

follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said

that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do with Little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jay.

And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode, with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack.

I'm down to talk about crack all day, but just so you all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really?

Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The 2023 World Baseball Classic is coming to Fox Sports, where baseball's biggest names play for National Pride, starting Tuesday on FS1 and Fox. Do not confuse an outlier for a new reality. Russell Wilson was smaller than you'd like, got to a Super Bowl, actually two, should a won both one one and suddenly everybody thought size doesn't matter as a quarterback. Here's the last four first round quarterbacks who were smaller than you'd like. Johnny Mansell, Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Tua.

How's that working out for you? So I saw a piece of video yesterday, Bryce Young at the Combine walking by a prospect and he looked like his little brother. I'm sorry. That's not what Brady and Grunk look like or Dallas. Clark and Peyton Manning or Big Ben or any of the top quarterbacks in their tight ends. I don't love it. It's sort of like when Trump became president.

Well, he's a businessman. I want all my politicians to have a basic understanding of how you know government works. We got into this tiny home trend. Hey, live in 88 square feet. My kids doing homework in the sink. I like my homes with space. I like my politicians to understand government, and I like my quarterbacks to have, you know, six two or upsize.

Bryce Young is small, he's light, and he doesn't have a great arm. It's good. It's fine. It's okay. But you watch those videos, and my first instinct is, he looks small. Well, it's a tight end. Yeah, you should see the defensive ends. You should see the offensive tackles.

He's got to pass the ball over them. I don't know. It's something, right? Albert Breer. We talked about Bryce Young, lack of size earlier this week. If Bryce Young were 6'3 and 220 pounds, we'd be talking about him like he was Joe Burrow or Andrew Luck. You're looking at a prospect who's got very advanced football knowledge, who's got great feel and instinct in the pocket, who's a competitor, who's produced at a high level in one of the best programs, and probably the best program in college football. And so he checks

every single box and tangibles, tangibles, all of it, and the size isn't there. And so that makes it very, very difficult. I think the best comp I've heard out there and one that I've heard from teams over and over again is Drew Breeze. You know, the big question here is going to be how he holds up. So Drew Breeze tends to be a historic outlier. Russell Wilson was a more mobile version of Drew Breeze, less accurate, more mobile. Those are outliers. Just because you had a cousin once, live briefly in an 89 square foot home. It's really not going to become a trend. People like a backyard and space, and they don't want their kids, you know,

doing homework on the oven door, which you had to pull out. So let's take a deep breath. Small isn't ideal. Mansell, Kyler, Tua, it's not ideal. It's not what you want. So this is interesting. I said this earlier. If Patrick Mahalm, Kevin Durant was on the market,

a lot of teams were interested. Westbrook will be a Hall of Famer, so will Kyrie. They were on the market too. Very small market. So if Patrick Mahomes or Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, were on the market, 26 teams would make a call. Now, we know Aaron's a little older, but you'd think he'd have somewhat of a market. Story today, Jets may not be as interested, says the athletic as you'd think. Story today out of Tennessee, the Titans GM, we're sticking with Ryan Tannahill.

and then Josh McDaniels of the Raiders considered a team that would be interested in Aaron. Here's what he said about the quarterback position. You know, look, the goal for us eventually is to have somebody that's going to be here for a long time. I think that, you know, you see the teams that are having success right now in our league, I would say in our conference and specifically in our division. You know, they're young players that were drafted. by their clubs and they're being developed there under the same continuity. Raiders doesn't look like it. Jets, doesn't feel like it, sound like it,

tightens out. Where's the market? I've always felt Aaron's going to go back to Green Bay. But we always talk about do you check certain boxes? Aaron misses on a lot of boxes. So let's think about the boxes. Is he inexpensive? No. Is he young? No. Is he a franchise galvanizer? No, that's not really his thing. Is he always easy to coach? No, he couldn't stand McCarthy at the end and he called out Matt Lafleur two days ago. Does he have recent playoff success?

No. There's a little Kyrie Irving to Aaron Rogers. No, there is. One title uniquely gifted, interesting personalities, but increasingly less reliable in the playoffs. and you're not sure where their heads at. I didn't even mention the Vax thing, did I? If Herbert, Mahalms, Burrow,

Trevor Lawrence were available, you got 24 teams on the phone. You got bad teams, the Jets. You got teams last year that were reeling the Titans. The Raiders. Josh McDaniel's got a winner. He's going to get fired. Robert Solis got a winner.

They're going to get fired. And they don't appear as interested. So what's the market? I mean, it really, there's an old saying in our business. You're a free agent. What's the market? That's your value. Companies overpay a lot of average people.

What's the market? What is it? I mean, when bad teams with coaches on the hot seat and you're going to be a Hall of Famer, this is the same thing with Kyrie. Kyrie and Aaron Rogers, one title, uniquely gifted. Nobody questions that. first ballot Hall of Famers. Don't work well with a lot of people.

There's some coaching stuff you're not sure about. And the truth is, you haven't had a lot of recent playoff success. It's the same guy. It says it's a lot of the same stuff. Now, NBA guys have more power than NFL guys, but Kyrie's really expensive. Aaron's really expensive. That limits the market. You don't know where their head is at.

That limits the market. Kyrie has talked about retiring early. Aaron's talked about retiring early. how good you are is determined by how many people are interested if you're available to everybody. You tell me right now, what's the market? Well, let me point out one big difference between these two. Aaron Rogers has four MVP awards, as in he was the best player in the league. Kyrie Irving does not have four MVP votes in his career.

He's never been the best. That being said, Colin, I just looked at the teams with the biggest cap space because you need to afford Rogers. Number one, Chicago Bears. It's not going to happen. Number two, Atlanta Falcons. Could happen, doubt it happens. Number three, Las Vegas Raiders. Thought it would happen.

Number four, and they're going to have to move some stuff to make to afford them. New York Giants. They're not going to, that's not going to happen. Okay, so then the last two teams, five and six, Bengals, forget about them, and the New England Patriots. And again, they'd still have to move stuff around to afford Aaron Rogers. So I'll, now that you know that those are the teams that can maybe afford them. Where's Aaron Rogers going? Green Bay.

Right. That's where he's going. So, and the report by the athletic is today, it will take, quote, more than people realized to acquire Aaron. You're going to have to give up two firsts, and you're going to have to move pieces because he's so expensive. Do you think this will ding his ego a little bit that maybe teams could have been interested and nobody wanted him? Well, I just, Tom Brady was 43 and he had more of a market than this. the Chargers wanted him were shocked in fact I called the Chargers

and I said hey I've heard Tom is going to be a buck and they were bummed out so we know there was two teams and arguably three there was rumors about the Colts so Tom was 44 and had a market Aaron's what 38 39

and by the way the dolphins got punished for tampering with Tom so they eventually had another market and there's a story to there are stories now that Sanford Francisco is seeking a veteran quarterback next year. And Mike Silver, who covers the Niners, says Brady is the obvious choice. So Tom's now 45-46.

He's still got suitors. Some people are saying the Miami Dolphins could get in the mix. They are $15 million over the cap. So if you want to move off Tyree Kill and all this other stuff, no, so I don't see the dolphins happening. It's just got to be a reality check for Aaron Rogers. Like, whoa, nobody wants me? Who wouldn't be in the moment?

Holmes market. So Cincinnati wouldn't be. Buffalo wouldn't be. The Chargers have their guy, cheap. So you know, like Trevor Lawrence, Jags got their guy. There's four teams we know would not be. But Baltimore with Lamar, they would go with Mahomes. And Lamar's talented. We'll talk Ravens next hour. There's a lot happening there that's not good. But I mean, Mahomes, everybody outside of the guys that have, you know, Philadelphia, Jalen Hurts probably sticks with their guy. I mean, he was great in the Super Bowl. So Philly stays with their guy. And there's, again, I could be overlooking one or two. There may be. Maybe five teams in the league are like, we got a young guy, he's a cheap guy, we love him.

We're not going to blow the locker room up. I get it. Everybody else makes a column of Holmes. Aaron's down to Green Bay. And by the way, Green Bay in a perfect world, I think would move off him, but it's the cap dead money. You're as good as your market. You get fired to market.

I don't care for you're a salesperson. You're a teacher. You're on the market. How long is it? When Kellyn Moore was on the market. Offensive coordinator for the Cowboys. He was on the market for an hour. When Andy Reed got fired by the Eagles, he was on the market for, he was on the beach for a week.

A week. That's when you're talented. Cliff Kingsbury, fired by Arizona, goes on a trip overseas. He's not working this season. There's his market. He's not, is he getting at a head coaching look, offensive coordinator? Like, it's a good point about their market. What is it?

You can brag about it. You can tell me about your merch and your Instagram. What is your market? I'm not trying to be negative here, but the Raiders, basically, their coach comes out and says, what you'd want to do is draft a guy and the Jet Story and the Athletic. And the Titans GM said verbatim, when are you people, the media going to get it? Ryan is our quarterback now and for the future. Those are the words.

And I thought that was a great place. They're out. All right. By the way, we're going to give you a little history lesson next on all these quarterbacks. Who to draft? Hour two next. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. Help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for band. answer. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged.

It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds, I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me.

84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year.

It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for, black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.