The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 1 - LeBron James is aging well

Episode Date: January 25, 2023

LeBron James is aging better than other all time greats The Packers would be fine if they traded Aaron Rodgers Mike McCarthy can't be blamed for all the Cowboys issues See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I lose track of days. Another Laker loss, another day on the air. It's Wednesday. Welcome, and it's the herd. Wherever you may be, however you may be listening. IHeartRadio, Fox Sports Radio, FS1. J. Mack is joining me. Peter Schreger in an hour, by the way, some updates on some coaching moves,

some big things brewing and rather quickly in NFL circles, including our Sean Payton. We'll get to that. You know, you watched the first half last night of that Clipper Lakers. Clippers had 77 points in the first half. If you took LeBron out of the game, the next seven to eight best players were all Clippers. All of them. I don't want to start too hot, Colin, but it's time to trade Russell Westbrook.

Let's get him out of here. Let's bring in Zach Levine, Buddy Healed, Miles, whatever you can do, bring him in, because you can't play Russ against these really good teams. You just can't. You can't. So LeBron had 46. It was one of LeBron's best shooting nights, perhaps ever. He's going to be the scoring champ of the entire league's history in about six games.

He's 178 point shy of Kareem Abdujabar. So the next two weeks, it's the pursuit. But I thought last night was it perfectly represented what his mogul stage, what Los Angeles, his Laker career. has represented. LeBron gets the headline, 46 points. Lakers lose, and he's not to blame for any of it. It's been great for his brand here. He got a title. He's become a billionaire. He's going to be the scoring king. None of it's his fault. He had to inherit Luke, Walton, and all those young guys that couldn't play. Not his fault. Frank Vogel, more of a defensive coach. Not his fault.

Anthony Davis heard again. Phrn't his fault. Front office, not respected, ownership, the kids of the late great Jerry bus, not his fault. This has been perfect. If you look at Peyton Manning's ending, he fell apart physically. Shaq, Michael Jordan, a mess. Even Tom Brady this year, personal, professional, clunky. This has been ideal because LeBron's criteria has changed and it's not his fault. It used to be a guaranteed trip to the finals.

Now it's guaranteed excellence on a nightly basis. He still remains on any given night as good as any player in this league, not name Janus. So there's always been three stages for superstars in professional basketball. The first stage, LeBron got an A-plus, was the show-off stage. Michael Jordan scoring 60, Kobe scoring 80. The early stages of that career, look how great I am. LeBron chasing people down the floor and blocking the shot off the back. board. Remember, he used to do that all the time. That's a show-off stage. The second stage is,

I'm on a good team. I want to be on a great team and win championship. Sometimes you sacrifice something. LeBron moves. A plus for that, got the heat to the finals, four straight years, one, two. And the third stage, and almost all of them do this, it's the mogul stage for NBA stars, which is, I've got to monetize my brand. Michael Jordan, going to go to Washington and want to own a team. It's not about winning. If you win, it's great. But it's really about monetizing. your brand. He's done A-plus, all three stages. Endings for superstars, either you're getting the blame or you're falling apart, or it's sad. This is elegant. It's going to be the all-time scoring champ. He's not getting hurt. Actually, Anthony Davis's injury sort of helps him. He was averaging 26 a night

with AD. AD gets hurt. He's up to 35 a night. He's had to carry more of the load. I mean, if you're watching that game last night, take LeBron off the floor. The next seven best players in uniform, all clippers. AD, not his fault. By the way, you can say, well, what about Westbrook? LeBron wanted Westbrook. Well, the GM pulled a trigger, and Westbrook, because of his style of play, nobody's blaming LeBron for Westbrook.

LeBron's the best player on the floor last night. Westbrook's been for years a bad half-court player. Take out transition. It's why he struggles in the playoffs. You take out cheap buckets. Westbrook and the half-court set where you've got to be a, efficient, good handles, shoot, defend. That's not what he does. So if you look at the endings for most athletes, it is really clunky. Not LeBron. Great season. Has his health. Losing takes none of the

hits. Everybody else takes blame. So the L.A. move has actually been just about ideal. Because the criteria has changed, right? Once you get this expensive, LeBron's not going to bounce around the country. He's got places in Beverly Hills. You're not bouncing around to Houston or Philadelphia. It's not what he's doing at this point. The criteria has changed. They lose.

LeBron's great. The brand rises, monetizes it, and takes none of the hit. Here's LeBron after. I don't know. We'll see when we get there. We'll see when we get there. We'll see will it hit me. You know, just over the last few years,

the last couple of years, since we won a championship. Just a lot of accomplishments have happened and lose an effort. you know so it's been very kind of difficult to kind of even digest some of some of my own accomplishments because I want to celebrate on losses all right so in about six seven games he's averaging about 28 to 30 here six or seven games he's the all-time scoring champ it's fascinating maybe tomorrow we'll look at that when you look at the top 10 list of all-time scores each one is sort of unique you have power forwards you have the sky hook you have the relentless score mj you've got the

Swiss Army knife, LeBron, who's aging well. There's a lot of different games in the top 10 scoring list, and LeBron has certainly earned it. All right. So Aaron Rogers, this is what I like. Aaron doesn't have the rancor or bitterness that Brett Fav had in the end in Green Bay. So it is now officially being acknowledged by Aaron and others. He is in the 50-50, they may trade me category. But again, unlike Fav, he's not bitter.

he's not resentful, he's not angry. I like how that lands. He had a quote yesterday or the day before on the Pat McAfee show on YouTube where he said, listen, I get it if they want to move. I love the organization. I'd have no animosity. I love the city. I love the region.

I'm a minority owner with a bucks. I'm going to be part of the region long after I'm done playing. Got a lot of love for what's going on in Green Bay. I'd love to finish there. I would. I might have finished there. Who knows? What's interesting about this,

And I think it's a 50-50 proposition. But usually when you have a divorce between team and star, one side has an advantage. And I think a lot of people would view this as, who, Green Bay would be in real trouble. This speaks to how well the Packers are run. They're in a very unique situation. The head coach is set. He's an offensive coach.

The quarterback is, in the building, knows the offense, ready to play, and the roster's mostly set. Here's a couple of other advantages for Green Bay. They had a rare bad season at 8 and 9, so they have a good draft spot, 15th. That's uniquely good for Green Bay. They're usually drafting at the bottom of round one, which if you talk to executives in this league, it's no man's land. The 23rd, the 28th, those are second round players.

You're paying first round money to. The 15th pick is just on the edge of the last two or three really elite first round bodies. Most NFL executives I've talked to think the first round has 16 to 18 first round players. And then the next 30 to 40 feel like second rounders. They'll play chance of being a star early or less. But here's the other thing is that if they just made a deal and just got one, first round pick for Aaron. My guess is they'd get two first round picks, maybe a first, two seconds, a third.

But let's say they just got one first round pick. He is old. He's not committed in the offseason. And let's say it's a first and a third, but let's just concentrate on one first round pick this year. Let's say it's Tennessee. Then they'd have the 11th pick and the 15th pick. Well, if you look at two of the three primary needs for Green Bay, go to your mock drafts. They're all over the internet.

network's doing them, including this one. What they need, two of their first three needs are a tight end, another tight end and another receiver. And the 11th pick would get them the first or second best receiver, Jordan Addison, and the 15th pick would probably get them the best tight end, a starter day one, Michael Mayer from Notre Dame. And then they have multiple picks beyond that to go find an edge rusher and another tackle. And Green Bay has a history of never drafting offensive linemen in the first round, and yet year after year, having really good offensive lines. We thought it was going to be a down year for Green Bay's O line.

It wasn't. So it's a very unique situation. You've got your offensive coach. You've got your quarterback in the building. The division's still kind of wonky. Minnesota is not winning 11 straight 1 score games. That's not happening. You can take five of those away.

Last year, they lost them all this year. They win them all. Somewhere in the middle. They'll regress the mean. Chicago's still a disaster. And I like Detroit. But they're a better story than a team. They couldn't make the playoffs in the NFC.

In the NFC. So I think they're in a very, very unique situation. Add this to Green Bay. They didn't make the playoffs. You don't have to bring the band back together. There's not like you're breaking up the bulls here, right? With Jordan. There's animosity.

Oh, my God. We've got to run this. back. Not really. Just got to get another tight end, another receiver, another edge rusher. That's what you need. So I, listen, if you can get Daniel Jones in a better

division to the playoffs, you can't get in a rebuilding roster, you can't get Jordan Love if they had a receiver, a tight end and an edge rusher, green base, uniquely

in a good space. They really are is that if they just got a singular first round pick, and they don't whiff on a lot of their first round picks. Now, we haven't seen Jordan Love play, and they usually go defense with those picks. But if they've ever wanted to rip the Band-Aid off, it's pretty good. It's a pretty good time. I don't think this would be the classic quarterback leaves, crushes, and your left holding the bag. I don't think that's the space for Green Bay. And the good news is, Aaron's not bitter. Farrv certainly was. All right.

So Sean Payton's coaching search, somebody that's very connected to a certain team, let a few things trickle out yesterday, and I can validate some of those. Very interesting with Sean Payton. That's coming up. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1,

and the I Heart 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 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 IHard 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 you're 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 Clivert Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast,

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 J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a 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 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. So former NFL executive, Mike Tannenbaum, not a fan of Mike McCarthy, said yesterday on ESPN program, they should fire Mike McCarthy. So once again, Dallas is blaming the wrong person. Mike McCarthy won 12 games this year and 12 games last year, and Dax's been hurt for some of it. Dallas's issue is they pay Dak Prescott like Patrick Mahomes and he's much closer to Kirk Cousins. They pay Zeke like a superstar and he is now nothing more than a short yardage back.

So Mike McCarthy either inherited these bad contracts or had no control over these bad contracts. They are trapped on those two deals. At least Dak can be productive. Zeke no longer is. So there are holes and bad contracts on the rosters and there are not much he can do about it. the Niners and the Eagles in the NFC because they're not paying their quarterback anything yet. Those guys are running it back. That Niner roster is not changing.

That Eagles roster is not changing. You know, Kansas City had to get rid of Tyreek Hill and ward the corner because they paid Mahomes. Hertz's not making any money. Brock Purdy not making any money. So that, those are, those are two, you know, walls. They're not getting through in the time being. So once again, they're blaming the wrong guy. Mike McCarthy's to me is not an illegal.

elite coach, but he's capable and he is an offensive coach. He won with Cooper Rush. So what's interesting about that is in this story I'm reading this morning, Sean Payton's name is up for a lot of jobs. And the Dallas job, people view the Dallas job because Sean has a house there as something he'd been interested in. Number one is I was talking to Matt Mosley, a reporter in Dallas. Jerry doesn't generally pay the coach big boy money. He doesn't love to do that. Also, Sean Payton doesn't need the Cowboys brand to be elevated. He's considered the best coach on the market by a mile. He's like Harbaugh. He doesn't need his brand elevated. He has a sustained brand. The other thing is, you know, Stephen Jones and Jerry Jones want to control

personnel. I'm not really sure that that interest Sean Payton at all. And also, again, you walk in the Zeech contract, the DAC contract, and there's holes on the roster that need filling, you may have to get a tight end because your productive tight end could be walking out as an unrestricted free agent. So Diana Rusini is a reporter for ESPN. She used to work in the D.C. market. She has very, very good contacts with the commanders people. She breaks a lot of stories there. So she had a tweet yesterday, which is very interesting.

She said there's an unnamed team, quote, waiting in the wings and could get ducks in a row, potentially landing Sean Payton. Now, when she says that, a lot of people are like, oh, we're going to be the cowboys. Let me throw out a team. Diana Rossini has connections to Washington. Throw out Washington. Why? No bad contracts.

They can cut Carson Wentz tomorrow. They have several, several great young players at key positions. Edge rusher, receiver, left tackle, running back, key positions. They've got them. They need to upgrade the offensive line a little. They need a quarterback, Carr Garoppolo on the market, Taylor Heineke and Sean Payton. I mean, Ron Rivera and Taylor Heineke were competitive. What do you think he'd do with an offensive coach and all those young players getting better?

So remember, March, when Diana Rossini says, ducks in a row, does that mean my interpretation is ducks in a row is Washington by March getting their new owners. This is a city 30 years ago may have been the most rabid fan base in the league. Washington 30, 40 years ago, the waiting list for tickets was, you know, I remember watching Pat Summerall and years ago talk about it. It was like thousands, tens of thousands of people waiting list. Now you can't fill the stadium. So waiting in the wings, ducks in a row.

I don't think that's Dallas. I think you've got to keep your eye on Washington. New owners, I've been told they're interested in Sean Payton. For the record, everybody's interested in Sean Payton. He's number one on everybody's list. And he's going through this process. But I think Carolina and Dallas are viewed, keep your eye on Washington. No awful contracts.

Need an offensive coach. Waiting in the wings. a row. What does that mean? To me, it's new ownership by March. That's what it feels like to me. J-Mac with the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

Interesting, Washington, huh? Well, they gotta get Dan Siner out of there, obviously. When somebody who has a history of breaking stories in that area says unnamed, waiting in the wings, I'm not saying that's it. It feels like it. And also,

we know by March, they're going to have new owners. So why would you be waiting in the wings? What would ducks in a row mean? I mean, Dallas's ducks in a row waiting in the wings. Jerry said I'm not firing Mike McCarthy. That's not happening. Just because somebody on ESPN says it is, it's not happening. Right. Off topic. Did you feel the earthquake last night out here in L.A.? I did not. I've slept through six in my life. Did not feel it at all? Did you? Yes, definitely. You felt it. Three of my four family members woke up like, whoa, whole room rattling, wild stuff out here in L.A.

Tough week for the state of California. All right, let's get started, Colin. Tom Brady's future with the bucks up in the air, but one team believes they'll be in the running if the goat decides to continue his career elsewhere. Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports, the Raiders are one of about three teams that Brady would move to if he leaves Tampa,

like everybody says he will, this offseason. Colin, I guess the better question is, if Brady doesn't go to the Raiders, where does he go? I've told you. I think Miami's perfect. Kids are going to be in private school, no state tax, wife lives there, handle the kids. Okay. So if Brady goes to Miami, so Josh McDaniels in Vegas ran off Derek Carr, who spent nearly a decade with the franchise, acrimonious split. He ran him off with no game plan? Jimmy Garoppolo. I think his number one...

Hold on, sorry. You're running off Derek Carr for Jimmy Garoppolo. Is that even considered an upgrade? not to me no but he's worked with Garapolo maybe they have a better working relationship they've also got you know all their draft picks Josh now has more say in personnel um you listen

I they lost a lot of big leads last year it was discouraging but they got a lot of leads on teams if they can get the quarterback right shore up the defense I think the Raiders are going to be a tough out next year I thought they were they had so many games they had and lost. A lot of that was just the back end. They couldn't stop teams.

I think they blew five games, which they led by double figures at halftime. Yeah. I mean, it was bad. But on McDaniels, remember, he ran off Jay Cutler in Denver. What their first thing he did, get out of here, Cutler. So he goes to the Raiders, runs off car. You know what happened after he ran out Cutler, right? Did not go well. He was gone in short order. There's not a lot of margin for error here with McDaniels. I mean, I, maybe there is, you very quickly, very early, said Brady to the Raiders. I'm not saying it wouldn't happen. But I start looking at the things that Brady's looking at in his career.

He doesn't need Vegas for his brand, okay? He doesn't need it for money. So at this point, he's looking for a team he can win championships. Well, you're a wildcard team in that division at best. So, I mean, to me, it's like when LeBron. came to LA, it wasn't, we knew what mattered to him, right? It wasn't the best roster. At the time, they had all these young guys, Coos, Melanzo ball. So Tom's not going to go to the best roster. That's maybe the Niners, but I don't think they're going to go with that. I think he would go

west. If you gave him the Niners roster, I think Tom would go west. But you have to make a lot of concessions with the Niners, right? Because then your quarterback goes from, you know, trade Lance or Brock Purdy to paying Tom Brady, what, 30 million? dollars. I don't see that happening. I think Tom at this point doesn't need the money and doesn't need the brand elevation. What he needs is winning. So I think if you ask Tom,

his choices are Miami or San Francisco. You tend to think it's Raiders first. Winning's going to matter to him. So in Miami, you can win with that offense. San Francisco, you can win with the offense and defense. What are the Raiders offer me that the Miami

and Miami, I get my kids and a great offensive coach. Well, familiarity with Josh McDaniels as opposed to McDaniel. But I did, because I know you've been talking about Colton Miller, left tackle of Raiders, who's very good. Raiders have the seventh pick. They can get this kid, Broderick Jones, the tackle out of Georgia, who's excellent. And if you remember, when Brady went to Tampa, he got Tristan Worf's, who was unbelievable.

You get two-star tackles, and all of a sudden, Brady's got a lot of time to operate. Remember, the line in Tampa was bad this year. Well, the Chiefs have Mahomes, Andy Reed, and the best center, arguably in the sport and the best guard. So their offensive line's great, too. Yes. That's a problem in the division. Are you going to be more loyal to winning in a roster? I don't think Brady is.

I could be totally wrong on this. The best roster available I think he'd leave for. The best offensive kind of scheme, it's very ninerish, is, you know, Miami. So I think Miami and San Francisco are wildly attractive. The kids, the proximity, the roster. I look and I think, or I could go to a guy I like, a coach I like. Brady's half coach anyway. I would offer lifestyle as a now single, what is Brady, a single 45-year-old?

But he goes to bed so early. It's not going to matter, right? Vegas is running out of water. I'll live in, I'll take my Miami, San Francisco. Next up, Bill's GM, Billy Bean, still feeling the sting of that bad loss to the Bengals. I enjoyed this. He was speaking of the media this week and was asked if Buffalo should adapt the Bengals roster construction plan that allowed them to build such a strong receiving

core. Here's what Brandon Bean had to say. They have a good team. I mean, they right now are on the advantage of a rookie quarterback contract. And, you know, they had some lean years and without getting too much into their build. And, you know, I don't want to suck bad enough to have to get Jamar Chase. He's a heck of a talent. I'd love to have them, but you've got to go through some lean years to do that.

He's being honest. He's got a great point. I mean, Bengals fans are excited. We have a producer here on the show who's very stoked about Bengals' life with Joe Burrow going forward. But what was the last 15 years like in Cincinnati? Not good at all, Colin. They were terrible. Marvin Lewis couldn't win a playoff game to save his life.

I know. So I don't think you and I don't think you and I, I have a problem. Most of what Buffalo has we like. But that, there are moments. There are performances. You've seen it in Hollywood where somebody is an ascending actor and they bomb in a movie and the career vanishes. That performance by Sean McDermott, that offensive and game, defensive game plan was so inept. You do have to at least consider they're not going to move off him.

So I don't even know why I'm talking about it. But it was very rarely, have I ever watched, like last year, everybody was crushing. We all were McCarthy the way the Cowboys lost. But it didn't feel like fireable, maybe. Wow. Some thought it was. I thought McDermott was so ill-equipped. Adjustments, game plan, both sides.

And again, he's kind of a rigid, defensive guy. I can do a list of pros and cons. The cons now outweigh. Can't build an O-line. Can't build a run game. Incredibly rigid. Josh Allen's regressing, completely outclassed twice by Mike McDaniel, struggle to beat Scott. The cons are outweighing McDermott's pros, which is created stability, playoff contender.

Those are good, and there's value. That game started tilting into the, wow, is he in times outclassed by sharp young offensive coaches. I know we like problem solving, but there was no quick fix other than firing the coach. I think you just have to run it back. And listen, Dallas had that playoff loss, ran it back. Double-digit wins, second of the division. You know, they won a playoff game. Maybe that's their ceiling.

Like Buffalo's ceiling, though, it's supposed to be Super Bowl. I don't think if you just run this back, you're like the lead. You're like the third best team in the AFC next year, right? Going in. KC. Cincinnati ahead of you? Third. The roster is not going to look as good.

Yeah. I think they overpaid for Von Miller. Terdavius White trending downward. Now they have two safeties and linebackers. I mean, they're going to have to move off people, hit a couple of home runs in the draft. So there's not. Here comes Herbert.

There are worse places to be than Buffalo. Here comes Trevor Lawrence. Here comes the Jets. Okay, finally. Patriots. They hired Bill O'Brien. They made it official yesterday to become their new offensive coordinator. Brutal year from Mack Jones and the offense.

Following the hire, a source close to Mack Jones indicated he's very excited about Bill O'Brien coming to New England with another source adding Mac as looking forward to it. Back in 2021, Mack helped Bill O'Brien learn the Alabama offense after he was hired as their O'C, and Mac was getting ready for the draft. Colin, look at these numbers for the Patriots offense last year. Oh my gosh. Just absolutely brutal. Do you think they can find a solution with Bill O'Brien? Yes, I think I actually think they're one of the teams that didn't make the playoffs that'll make it. I think if you look at Mack Jones' early numbers as a rookie, they were outstanding, and I think the team has added more weapons.

They did draft a wide receiver who played pretty well this year. They don't have a number one. They don't have an A. But I think they've got several Bs. They'll draft another receiver this year. There's nobody when you play the Patriots. Hey, we've got a scheme around that. We've got to worry about that.

There's nobody on that offense you worry about it. Well, the good news is they didn't make the playoffs. They have a pretty good draft position. The first round's got two to three really good receivers. I'd probably go there. Their defense was fine. They had multiple pick sixes and multiple defensive touchdowns. I would go.

I mean, if you look at their roster, there's not a lot of holes in it. There's just not a lot of spectacular. A lot of average in it. Yeah, there's a lot of B and C players. I would go, tight end, wide receiver, and distraff with their picks, plenty of them available. And their quarterback may be a C quarterback. That's what he is. J. Mack with the news.

Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd Lie News. So top of next hour. So yesterday, I said, whenever you get a big game, rank the top 10 players. And we did yesterday. And it was like a who's who of great NFL players. There were five Niners and five Eagles total in the top 10.

If I would have gone to 11, 12, 13, there were a few more Niners than Eagles. Probably would have been, you know, seven to five. Niners, if I go 12 players, who Funga didn't make it, Debo didn't make it, they were 11 and 12. But in the top 10 players, the greatest players in that game, 5 and 5. So I'll now do the Chiefs and the Bengals top of next hour. So who's got the advantage? Generally, if you do it, if you have a 6-4-7-3 advantage, that team does win. Also, we have to consider, is Mahomes number one now because he's not playing at 100%.

Burrough at 100% Mahomes at 75-85-85% Who's the best player in that game? Be sure to catch live editions of the herd Weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. This is Steve Kavino and Rich Davis. And together we are Kavino and Rich.

Kavino and Rich. 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 and Rich show is available as a podcast. Just search Covino and Rich

wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe. I'm such a rocking dude. The show features our unique take on sports, injected 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. Covino and Rich, give me a hell, yeah.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced game. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast, 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-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

A win is a win. A win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. 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-tapped 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 Jek. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we picket 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 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 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.

Sunday, it's the NFC championship game presented by Intuit TurboTax as the 49ers take on the Eagles with a trip to Super Bowl 57 on the line. It all kicks off at three Eastern noon Pacific with pregame coverage starting at 1 p.m. Eastern only on Fox and the Fox Sports app. So I know it sounds sort of absurd saying Sean McDermott, I'd consider moving off. But in football, you don't need to be patient. Let me take some time to describe this. So in football, you can get a roster in the middle of a rebuild, Mike McDaniel, Miami,

Brian Dable Giants, Doug Peterson Jacksonville, first year, Sean McVeigh Rams. If you just get the coach right, you just hire a new coach, get it right, you can be in a rebuild, you don't even have to have a great quarterback, Brian Daibble's. got Daniel Jones, and you can overnight be a playoff team. Sometimes in football, just getting the coach right, Jacksonville, is enough to get you into the playoffs. Just that. So that's the first thing.

The NBA is different. A coach, even Greg Popovich, is totally limited. He's got an awful team the last couple of years. Coaches have a ceiling, right? There's just only so much you can do. a coach can't flip personnel. They just don't matter that much. There's a reason NFL coaches get paid more.

College coaches, college football coaches, make significantly more than your average NBA coach. The second thing is trading your way to improvement is very, very easy in football. It's hard in basketball because salaries have to match. So if you've got a bad contract in football, you can cut it and get rid of it. If you have a bad contract in basketball, you have to inherit other. bad contracts to get rid of your bad contract. Right?

That's why patience is very important in basketball. Firing the coach has limitations. It's much harder to trade your way if you inherit bad contracts. And the other thing, the football draft gets you men, 23, 24, four years in college, men that can perform within six months and help you win games. The NBA draft gets you kids. They're not emotionally ready to do it. anything. They're not physically ready to carry you to the playoffs. So in basketball, you're much

better off being patient and letting things take time. So, and with that, I pivot into the Lakers Clippers. So I think you can look at this Tailu, Kauai Leonard, Paul George thing, and be a cynic and say, I don't know. Well, think about this. The Bucks won a title with Yannis in their their eighth year. The Celtics are on year six with the Marcus Smart, Jason Tatum, Jalen Brown game plan. They still don't have a title. So the truth is, you're only now three years fully vested on Kauai, Paul George, and Ty Lou.

That's it. And Kauai's been hurt for a lot of it. So as LeBron steals the headlines last night, the truth is the clippers are the one team that match up with the Warriors in the West. Since Kauai arrived, the clippers are six and five against the warriors. And what makes that more impressive is Kauai's only played in half those games. Half. So when I look at football, firing your coach is often the right thing to do.

Go to college football. LSU, USC, bad to great in one year. USC went from four and eight to two plays from 13 and one. You can do that. You can trade your way out of trouble in the NFL. You can fire a coach, get a new coach, you're out of trouble in the NFL. You can go to the draft, the Seahawks, the Jets, go out and get four and five starters, impact players. You're not doing that in basketball.

You only got two rounds, and by the 13th pick, you're out of elite players, historically speaking. So when I watched the Warriors lose last night, or the Clippers win last night, my takeaway is they match up very well with the Warriors, with or without Kauai. They're six and five and 11 games. The Celtics are on year six of that group, and there's no guarantees they'll win. The Bucks took a long time with Yannis, the best two-way player, easily in the sport to win. take your time. The Clipper, this is why last year I got burned and I was wrong on it. But you start looking around at the NFL, Kevin O'Connell, Mike McDaniel,

Brian Dable, Sean McVeigh, just changing the coach and a couple of personnel quick moves. You go from losers to winners, playoff teams very fast. The Vikings are still a disaster on defense. May the playoffs. Miami's not very good on defense. made the playoffs. Tua wasn't healthy the last three weeks. Made the playoffs.

So there you go. Okay, so now this is interesting. So I do believe in football, patience, overrated. Basketball patience is underrated. I've almost always going to give the coach and the plan another year in basketball. But what's interesting about the NFC is that the Eagles and Niners rosters, and again, Patience, a bit overrated in this sport. Rams got impatient with golf who got him to a Super Bowl.

Got Stafford won a Super Bowl. Rolling the dice, going big, works in the NFL. Tampa, let's give James one more year. Let's not. Let's get Brady. Super Bowl. It works, right? So you've got an interesting theory.

So a team that is clearly building and has momentum is Detroit, the Lions. A team I think felt like at the end of the year, much more than Miami did with beat up toa or Seattle did. I thought Detroit felt like a playoff team, but didn't win enough games. So JMAX got, he's going to throw this out, and it sounds crazy, and I like golf, but it is worth at least considering. You know, I'm obsessed with team building. I'm minority owner of two teams. And now working the show with you, I mean, for four months, we've been talking about free agency draft as the season's going on.

So I'm doing a mock draft for Fox Sports, and I look at the Lions picking sixth. Yeah. And you and I both like Bryce Young, but I don't think the bear is taking first. He's probably not going second to Houston. There's a chance he tumbles a little bit because of his size. And the key for Bryce Young is a solid offensive line. He's a smaller player. So he can't go in.

Daniel Jones a bigger guy. Yeah. Some of these guys can withstand Bryce Young needs. He can't take the hits of Justin Fields. You put them behind that Chicago offensive line. I mean, Fields got sacked like 55 times. So if you look at how the Niners and Eagles are built, their offensive lines are incredible, right? You had the breakdown.

Especially the Eagles. The Eagles is unbelievable. And the Niners have Trent Williams, et cetera. So Detroit's offensive line is stacked. Goff's cap hit is not awful. I think it's 18th and 14th the next two years. That's manageable. But what if you went and drafted Bryce Young's sixth?

All of a sudden, you're able to reset the money everywhere around the roster, and you can improve this defense, which was bad, but Aiden Hutchison looked good, a couple of rookies. We're in there, and it's like, maybe you can compete with the Niners and Eagles if you're able to get the quarterback on the rookie deal. And you move Goff. Gough absolutely

has a market. You'll have a market, because he's pretty good. Yeah, he's a former number one pick coming off, mostly. He outplayed Aaron Rogers' last game. He's not a massive cap hit. I think a lot of teams, I think he's like Derek Carr, probably a better deep ball thrower. And I think in a dome, in an Atlanta falcons setting, where it's kind of controlled, you

don't have to go outdoors. It's not that brutal weather in that division. If Brady left the bucks, golf is easily the best quarterback in that division. But I'm looking specifically at Bryce Young in Detroit. You've got a superstar offensive line. You've got arguably top five OC and Ben Johnson. Two excellent backs. Backs, receivers.

They're throwing a tight ends I'd never heard of who were delivering after trading Hawkinson. And you can do what Cincinnati did with Burrow. Go buy your defense. Yeah, exactly. And again, Colin, I know this is going to sound crazy to people because they like golf and I get it. But I'm telling you, somebody out there is going to talk themselves into, man. Max Duggan, fourth, fifth rounds, Stetson Bennett.

Can he be our new Brock Purdy? Looking at what Purdy's doing with a stacked roster of skill position guys and fast, awesome defenders. That's kind of the great model right now. Look at the final four team standing, Colin. none of the quarterbacks have been paid massive money yet. Mahomes. Mahomes.

But it hasn't totally kicked in. The cap hit is not brutal until next year, I believe. Right. Well, there is a way. If you look at the top five cap hits for quarterbacks this year, three didn't make the playoffs, and one, Kirk Cousins was one and done. So I think Mahomes was in that top five, and he's Mahomes with Andy Reed. Right.

No, I think it's a classic situation where every single team, every single team, every single team in the NFC South, when or if Brady leaves Tampa, they all need a quarterback. Jared Goff, for all four, would instantly be the best quarterback. Yeah. In all four teams, if your scouting department thinks Bryce Young is special, you have the offensive line and the run game. So it's not crazy. You know who planted the seed is Sean Payton comes in here.

We talked during the breaks. And he asked me straight up point blank. who is the last team that won a Super Bowl with their quarterback having the biggest cap hit in the league? And I was kind of taking it back. I'm like, surely it had to be somebody. I start looking. I'm like, holy cow.

Peyton is aware of this, which makes me wonder about Denver. And does he really want to go there when Russ is taking up so much money? I mean, some of these guys, the team building stuff is really fun and exciting because all the information is out there, Colin. I think Detroit, if you don't think,

I laugh at these people that don't think Derek Carr is a market. He would instantly be the best quarterback for all four teams in the NFC South. That's just one division. And the Raiders would prefer to trade him to the other side. And that's good for Derek Carr as well. It's an easier conference. Good things come to those who wait. The 2032 Mercedes-Benz SUV family proves otherwise.

It should be 2023. Bad copy here. Takes no time to set up a test drive. Go to MBUSA. another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy not quite on humor me with robert smigel and friends me and hilarious guests from bob odenkirk to david letterman help make you funnier this week my guest s nL's mikey day and head writer streeter sidel help an acapella band with their between songs banter where does your group perform we do some retirement homes those people are starving for banter

listen to humor me with robert smigle and friends on the i heart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you 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-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hardway with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences,

having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor? It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen to learn the hard way on the AHA radio app,

Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.