The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 1 - No excuses for Brock Purdy, Sean Payton pulled off a steal

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

Colin looks at the 49ers struggling with injuries in training camp and explains why he doesn’t want to hear excuses for quarterback Brock Purdy if the offense struggles to start the season He talks about Sean Payton pulling off one of the greatest steals in NFL history  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas.

We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick.

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

You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come into it. He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball.

So listen to Point Game on the, IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life? That is not the look of an innocent man. Is everyone lying to me about who they are? I felt such desperation. I felt it was what I had to do.

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Thanks for making us part of your day. John, I was sitting with my wife last night in front of the fire. And I want to relay because you're a new parent. So, and this story with the Niners reminds me of last night. So I want to start the show, John, here. I was sitting with my wife and having, you know, cocktail in front of the fire. We have six kids between us. And I made the analogy to my wife.

We had a little thing going on. I said, you know, honey, you and I are firefighters. And occasionally one of our six kids becomes an arsonist. They just start in fires. Sometimes the key is, he don't have. two or three arsonists at the same time. So you've got to really, when you have issues, parenting's not about when your kids are eating their vegetables. And everybody's getting good grades and playing nice. That's not parenting. That's like babysitting. That's easy. Parenting is crisis.

What happens when there's fire starters? What happens? You've got to come in. You're the firefighter. You're putting that puppy out. And that's a little bit like being a quarterback in the NFL. everybody's good with a stacked roster. What happens? Ask Jalen Hertz. You lose your top offensive coordinator and receiver gets hurt. Oh, that's real quarterback play. That's real quarterback play.

I mean, tip of the cap to Justin Herbert making the playoffs last year, that number one first round pick or that first round pick receiver, Quentin Johnson can't catch. His rookie slot was his only legitimate, dependable wide receiver. And he made the playoffs. That's quarterbacking. So the Niners this preseason are a mess. DeMarcus Robinson suspended three games.

They went and got Sky Moore yesterday. Andy Reid bailed on him. Probably not going to work. Russell Gage, who was being counted on to help for the injured receivers. He's now hurt. He's out for a couple weeks. And since 2018, with the exception of one year, and I don't have an explanation for it, the Niners have been top 10 in injuries.

A couple years, they've been number one. one. I mean, you could only wear pads so many days. You can only practice so many days. I don't know what it is, but I know this. That's the separator. Patrick Mahomes won two Super Bowls, and the wide receiver situation was a mess. Whiffs, suspensions, drops. I think for a couple years, Kansas City led the NFL and drops as Mahomes was winning Super Bowls. By the way, DJ Stroud last year. Stefan Diggs out for the year. Tank Dell hurt.

Nico Collins hurt. At one point, he's like working with a left tackle having a bad season. And his number three, four, and five wide receivers are his one, two, and three receivers. Anyone will playoff game. And Josh Allen, when the MVP, his number one wide receiver is a slot guy from Boise State. That's quarterback. It's like parenting. Parenting is when stuff gets messy.

That's real parenting. All right. Parenting's not everybody's eating their beans and get nays and you're not helping with homework. That's not parenting. So I don't want to hear any excuses for Brock Purdy. Because to me, this is the separation. The separation in this league is, oh, your O line lost your center and right tackle. Michael Pennix right now in Atlanta. They traded Drew Dolman or Drew Dolman signed with the Bears, a great center. and now they have two other offensive linemen hurt. Michael Pennix, this is not Washington, where you had one of the top 10 O lines and a great coach.

Now you've got a defensive coach and your O'Lines phone apart. In camp, that, that is quarterback play for Michael Pettix, and this is quarterback play for Brock Purdy. Nobody's healthy at wide receiver. Debo leaves. Ayuk's not there yet. The guy you brought in to replace, at least for the time, being your injured guy he just got hurt a Kyle Shanahan addresses the mess at wide receiver right now

for the Niners it's pretty tough I mean it I promise you guys if it's a challenge for the fans I promise you guys it's a bigger challenge for me just dealing with all this but you know we haven't had the best luck this year down probably more guys than we've had it's you know it's just a tough situation you got to keep practicing because we got to we got to improve we got to be ready for the season we got to continue to get better for the season but it does make that a huge challenge with the number of guys we've had down. Now, I said last year, stacked roster,

Brock Purdy's getting you to conference championships. Last year, beat up old brittle roster, a lot of guys hurt, one and six against playoff teams. So the schedule's easier, Kiddell and McCaffrey are back, San Francisco's going to be better. They're not going to be one and six against playoff teams,

but this is quarterback playing in the NFL. Brock Pertie went to Iowa State that prepared him for the NFL. Pass rush, second best roster, not always the best coach. So this Michael Peddix and Brock Purdy already between camp and preseason, up against it, real, real injury issues. And that schedule, at Seattle for the Niners, Arizona plays them tough,

Jags, Rams, bucks. Okay, I got to talk about this yesterday. I got to text. from a couple of front office people yesterday. The Broncos, Sean Payton made a deal. You know how Trump wrote that book, Art of the Deal? This was Art of the Steel. The Saints are delusional.

They don't realize they're going to rebuild. A year ago, Sean Payton drafted an old receiver out of Utah. He entered the NFL at 26 years old. Entered the NFL at 26 years old. he's now 27 he'll be 28 in the season they draft him in the seventh round and they traded him yesterday they flipped him for a fourth and a seventh round pick and the saints are going to be bad so that's going to be top of the fourth and top of the seventh art of the steel the kids played one year in the NFL he's already older than cd lamb so he's probably got two to three years of prime left and sean peyton knew it and this is what great offensive coaching does You find insane value later in the draft. You make it immediately productive within your system. And then you sign it like a Brock Purdy or you flip it.

So they're going to get a top of the fourth and a top of a seventh round pick. For a receiver, there'll be 28 by December. And he knew next year when he turns 29 in a season, you're not going to get the value for it. People are going to go, well, he's a year away from his prime. So Sean knew this is the time to move off him. You know, it's really smart. So it's that Jordan Belfort, Wolf of Wall Street, you know, sell me this pen. That's what it feels like.

And so it's amazing the Saints got work because I had Sean Payton in the building for 15 years. And they still got worked. But it's a great example. Offensive coaches, find value late. Niners have done it a couple times with Shannon. And find value late, make it immediately productive, and either sign them early to a good deal, get them signed, because you got them for free for four years, or flip them early at the top. And Carolina, by the way, Carolina has a really sharp young GM, a former player, Dan Morgan. Carolina did this last year, where they got a fourth round pick from the Cowboys for Jonathan Mingo, who's like a number three or four receiver in the league.

they got a fourth round pick he's heard he's on the iR and he had five catches for the cowboys last year so in every business in every single business the smart guys the haves are working the distracted and the delusional the saints are delusional they're in a rebuild what are you doing the sharks eat the minnows the hammers meet the nails and that's a great example you wonder in your how is how is Sean Peyton made this roster how has he made this offensive line number two according to PFF in like two years it was mediocre bottom third of the league it's this kind of stuff just knowing offensive personnel look what he's done to that receiving court and that offensive line the reason they can move off uh devon valet the reason they can move off him

talented kid by the way the reason they can move off him because they've drafted and developed and hit on wide receiver talent so it's just it's just a little deal but sean knows the Saints aren't going to be good. The kids are going to be 27, 28 years old in season. In one year, I probably can't move him. His age will become a real topic. And they get two good picks. Hammer, meat, and the nail.

That is, and Mark Slareth was on our show. It was either yesterday or the day before talking about how Sean Payton has just changed the Denver culture. The difference between last year and this year was last year we hope we could win. This year we know we can win. And one of the big moves we made, even if it was a popular player, we got red of popular players that weren't the right guys. Guys that want to be here, guys that want to contribute, guys that want to work hard, guys that want to sacrifice for one another. That's how we're building this roster. Yeah, I thought that was, when people reach out to me in the league and

they're like, whoa. It's like uninitiated. I didn't, you know, I responded, but I didn't send it out. And I was actually distracted, and my phone lights up. And it's like, yeah, I mean, that's just Sean doing Sean stuff. And we've talked about this before. I don't have the stats in front of me, but the late great Tony Gwynn is one of the best peer hitters I've ever seen in baseball.

But, you know, he wasn't hitting Oral Hirschizer in Orals Prime. Nobody was. You got to get those hits off. the number three and four starter, the average middle reliever, the average setup guy, in almost every business I've ever been a part of is you've got to take advantage of the people that are delusional and distracted and don't put in the prep or the work. You're not working the best people. You're not taking advantage of great.

You've got to find people that are not paying attention or have a higher belief in reality. And New Orleans makes that move, like that's the kind of move that can. can win games now and get us into the playoffs. That's not where New Orleans is. They're in a rebuild. It's not where they're at. 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.

He's by Carmen. I'm Dan Byrd. We have a fantasy football podcast called I Want Your Flex. That's right, Dan. Every week we're going to scour the waiver wire to find the pickups to turbo boost your fantasy lineup. Sit, starts. fantasy football players rankings to get you ready to dominate the competition.

Listen to I Want Your Flex with Mike Harmon and me, Dan Byer, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers, and guess what? We have some big news. What's the news, huge news? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas, we invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra.

special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it and... Oh, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band before Jonas Brothers

was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast where people could call in and say, hey Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad Hey Jonas and offered it up was a potential title for the podcast.

But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman

help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs, banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting

through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. straight to the source, the athlete themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs. And on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Jenchian win. I mean, she went down at three to Rabakina, but I'm delighted.

Yeah, she's an outsider to win the first. French, me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Leonard Rabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. You're now entering the no bull zone sponsored by credible great rates and none of the bulls. So this is important. The college football playoff announced yesterday, revisions, much-needed revisions to the selection process. Well, what do you know? New metrics now for the committee will weigh to a larger degree strength of schedule. And you'll get credit now for beating great teams,

but it will minimize the damage done to lose. losing the great teams, meaning the Indiana Hoosier scheduling Florida International, Western Illinois, and Charlotte out of conference, and the media loving the sob story of the little guy, media softer than cookie dough. It's always, let's include the little guy. Little guys don't win natties. And even in a 12-team playoff, they don't necessarily, I mean, Indiana never beat a ranked opponent, got dragged by Notre Dame in Ohio State. I thought it was a cool story, but don't confuse cool story or good story with great team. And this is what I said last year. When Ohio State lost Oregon, I predicted before the season, you're going to look it up.

I said, Ohio State's going to lose close at Otson. They'll meet them later in the year, and Ohio State will win it and vie for the title potentially. And it happened. Why should Ohio State be dinged for losing on the last play of the game at oxen against one of the best teams in the country. That's a net positive to me. If Texas goes to Ohio State, Ohio State has the two best players in the country, Caleb Downs, Jeremiah Smith, two best players, in my opinion, in the country,

if Texas goes into the shoe and it's 38, 34, and Texas is trailing and driving for the win, 12, 10, 9, ball batted down in the end zone, that's a net positive. That tells me one thing. It doesn't tell me Ohio State's great. You should win your home games in college football against 23-year-olds. It tells me Texas is good enough to win the Natty. If you can go against Ohio State on the road and balls in the air with a chance to win, the one thing I know for sure is Texas is going to win its home games

and has a chance to win the national championship. And that's what I said about Ohio State last year. And the media does this. And then political media, business media, sports media, inclusion above everything. How about we start with competency? We can have inclusion second or third. I'm not saying it's not important in life. It is, but it can't lead everything.

This is sports, meritocracies. And I love this. The metric now will reward teams defeating high-quality opponents, meaning schedule legitimate teams, while it will minimize the penalty for losing to such a team. Exactly. And that's what I've asked. you for years. If you're going to punish teams for losing to rivals, like Ohio State lost

to a bad Michigan team, yet won the Natty. It happens. It's a big rivalry game. Great Alabama team, once lost to Auburn on a quirky kick return or a field goal that was short. They returned it all the way. You're like, what did I just see? Weird stuff happens with an oddly shaped ball over three and four hours. So no more rewarding teams for, you know, for scheduling Mercer. I mean, I always said this. I love Nick Saban, but he worked the system. After about three years, they'd never do a true road out of conference game.

They always had a buy in front of their LSU game or an Auburn game and too many Mercer's and Panera Tech, Panera Bread Tech. Like, get out of work in the system. Go face big teams. And if you lose, if the Longhorns lose, close, competitive, driving for the win, I think more of you, not less of you. John with the news. No, no, no, no, turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. Okay, Colin, the Steelers obviously hits their wagon to a 41-year-old future Hall of Famer and Aaron Rogers. And Ben Rothlessberger actually has been high on the addition and says that Rogers and D.K. have something special going, but he knows that Rogers' success will come down to one thing. Can Aaron have enough time to throw the wall? and that's not a knock on the line.

That's just a question I'm going to ask. Because if he can have the time to throw the ball, you're going to see some crazy stuff happen. We've always talked about the question of the line, but it always is you're only going to be as good as your line is. If they can give Aaron time, watch out. Well, it's not just that to me, John. It's a run game.

Because Aaron can have all day to throw if it's third and nine and people are bearing down on you. So to me, in a 17-game schedule, the way to make your defense better and your quarterback better, the one thing that ensures it, Asbrock Purdy, is have your number one back and be able to run the ball consistently. So line protection deteriorates even for Jalen Hertz if somebody brings the house. The key is Jalen Hertz rarely has to throw now because of the line in the run game on third and nine. It's third and one. Yeah, I don't think anyone's been comparing the Steelers' offensive line to the mid-90s Cowboys for the last, I don't know, decade.

you know, one thing Ben could do is he could break tackles and get out of things. He was kind of like the early version of Cam Newton. Rogers and then what Ben became at the end, it was hard for him, right? And same thing with Aaron. Last year he did not want to get hit. I don't blame him. 40 years old. Tom at the end, it's like, hey, 40 years old, made a lot of money.

Like, what am I doing here? So it's a concern with Stafford. But, you know, the reports, I like the guy in college, but the reports out of training camp is Caleb Johnson been a little slow. And they tried to replace Levi-on-Bell, with Najee Harris and it didn't quite work. So, you know, Levy on Bell, when their offense was really humming, what, eight, nine years ago, he was a big part of that.

So I agree with Ben. Yeah, I got him about eight wins. Your thoughts, eight, nine wins. I think best case scenario, if they have an elite defense, which is a big question mark. They added a defensive lineman in the first round, T.J. Watt, if he has a defensive player of the year type season, they're DBs. You know, you add Jalen Rams, you add Darius. Slay. They already have Joey Porter's son who's a good player. Maybe their defense can be really

good and they could just be one of those rough and tumble 10-11 win teams, but that's asking a lot. I mean, can Aaron stay healthy? That to me is a big question mark too. Speaking of at the NFL, Michael Parsons and the Cowboys have yet to come to a long-term deal as we get closer to their week one matchup against the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles. Despite the lack of contract extension, head coach Brian Schottenheimer is still confident he'll have the star edge rusher available i think at the end of the day we feel like mike is going to be out there when we can line up against philadelphia here in 15 days or whatever it is and um you know so no answers i feel good about that yeah what's the what's out of contract extended i feel good that mike

is going to be out there against the philadelphia eagles man i'm glad somebody does other thing is he's not practicing so even if they signed him in 10 days he's not ready to play he's not working with a team he's not work. I mean, I don't, I don't, he's, I think when you get hurt, John, is when you sign late and you're, you didn't get that three weeks of hitting in practice, that's when you get banged up. Well, what would be the point of giving him, you know, $130, $140 million guaranteed and then shoving him right out there in a couple days against one of the best offensive lines? Do you remember a couple years ago? Not apples to apples because the chiefs hosted the game. The Cowboys will be on the road. But Chris Jones wanted a new contract. He didn't play in the game, but he went

to the game? Like I do think, you know, this saga, Jerry Jones, the drama, I think everything's on the table. If you tell me this contract is not signed, he's not playing in the game. But would he show up and be in Philadelphia for that opening game? I mean, it could get really weird. I mean, it already is really weird. But this situation, I mean, almost feels a little untenable at this point, doesn't it? Yeah, it does to me. I don't know, it's been a weird camp. Trayvon Diggs, Michael Parsons defensive side. Remember, John, this was not a good defense last year with those guys. So it's like, it's problematic.

Now you have a coach a little over his head too. Okay, last but not least, Shador Sanders. He obviously had the great debut with the Cleveland Browns in the preseason game. But then he got an oblique injury. And during practice, it's been held out the last couple of weeks. Shador returned to practice yesterday, but Kevin Saffansky hasn't committed to playing him in their preseason finale Saturday against the ramps. Baker Mayfield had some advice for Shador, basically telling him,

control what you can control. What's this season going to look like with Shador not being able to play in these last couple preseason games and probably starting the year as the four-string quarterback? Yeah, if they released, is it official, John, if they released the death chart yet? No.

Not really. I mean, there's a reason they're not doing it. I think they're going to do the, you know, Flacco's the one and then pick it or Gabriel or shit-sanders. You do one of those. Here's the problem. These pre-season games, Honestly, when you're the backup, but definitely when you're the third and fourth string quarterbacks, like Gabriel and Chador Sanders, if you're not able to play in those, once the season starts, you, the backup quarterback typically runs the scout team.

The third and fourth string quarterback don't do that much, especially the four string quarterback. How do you get reps? He's going to be in a difficult position now. These guys are all going to play. I think by the time we pass, I don't know, Halloween and it's really ugly and Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco have both played, But remember, they drafted Gabriel before they drafted Shador Sanders. You and I have been talking about this since the draft. The head coach and the GM are going to play Gabriel if they're both healthy,

I would imagine, before Shador Sanders. We could be looking at mid to late November before Shador Sanders, regardless of how many quarterbacks they go through ever gets on the field for the Cleveland Browns. Yeah. John Middlecock of the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News.

So I thought it was interesting. We had Mack Brown on, the former national champion coach, broadcaster at Texas, Carolina, two different stays there. And he's now retired living in beautiful Austin, Texas. And we had Mack Brown on yesterday. And one of the obvious questions to ask him is how does he think Bill Belichick will do at a program, Carolina, that Mack Brown knows very, very well? Chancellor Lee Roberts has committed to football big time for the first time in North Carolina history. They are really wanting football to be good, so they're all in. Bill is arguably the best coach of any sport.

I mean, you win that many Super Bowls at whatever level the man can coach. He can evaluate because he had to bring in all those kids at the Patriots. And now administrators don't like to say it, but we have profiling. football at some level in college. We no longer have amateurism. So I do think the fact that we are much more like the NFL than ever before will really help Bill with this transition. And I agree in premise to that. But here's what's really interesting to me. This is why it's so fascinating. If you look at Belichick, his last seven drafts in New England, where he's evaluating college talent, he was awful.

There are so many misses and so many complete whiffs and so many reaches. Even in the early rounds. I mean, from 2017 to 23 where Bill really controlled personnel, they only drafted two players that made a Pro Bowl. One was a punter. The other was Mack Jones, who made a Pro Bowl because a bunch of quarterbacks opted out of the Pro Bowl. He was a poor evaluator of college talent.

He didn't do well. Now, as a defensive coach, A++, plus ever. As a culture creator, A++, I'm not saying Bill's not smart and can't do things. But when he was controlling the drafts and having to evaluate college talent, he over-evaluated average players all the time. And this Carolina program just brought in 40 transfers. That is, come on, man, that's half your roster. And they're not landing like five-star transfer guys.

They got some good players. We don't know much about their quarterback, G.O. Lopez. He played at South Alabama. So, and he also, he's using Freddie Kitchens as his offensive coordinator. And Freddie was an interim head coach and ended up in the NFL being a tight-ins coach before he went to college. Like, he didn't have an NFL market. So is he going to work at college?

We'll see. Nice enough guy. but like he lost options in the NFL. That head coach thing at Cleveland was a mess. And they're not asking him to be a head coach, but is he the guy? Is Bill's personnel up to snuff? So it's what makes Dion Sanders at Colorado so interesting is,

and I remember the weekend that, you know, like Dion got the job at a Thursday or Friday or something. And I remember thinking about it that weekend. I'm like, this is not going to work. You know, he's college. Colorado is kind of a, quirky way left, you know, like not really an athletic outside of skiing, not really an athletic part of the country, Boulder, you know, we all know Boulder. And it worked, kind of. It got a, it sold out

games, Belichick will do that. It was got good TV ratings. Belichick will do that. But mostly lost the good teams. And, you know, the hype was, real and fun and I still like watching Colorado with Dion. It still gets me to a TV set. But I have no idea how good the team's going to be. And I look at the scheduled, I'm like, oh, they've got to win 10 games. I've talked myself into actually them losing to TCU. I know it's at home, but I know what I get with TCU. I have no idea what I get with them. Yesterday somebody was talking to Bill Belichick and asked him the difference between college football and pro football.

we've done a lot more live work here than we ever did the NFL at any team I was ever on so that part of it's been actually an interesting thing to see you know some of the the coaches that are on our staff that have had a lot of college experience have talked about the necessity to do that again obviously without preseason games it's you know we do need to do it and we've done it so remember after two seasons to Colorado with a Heisman trophy winner at quarterback You know, I mean, my bad. Travis Hunter won the Heisman, but Shudor was really good. So with a star quarterback and the best player in college football, Travis Hunter,

they were 13 and 12. Right, right. So Shudor was a, say what you want. Shudor was a really good college quarterback at the most important position. He was a really good college quarterback, and Travis Hunter is an insane, Otani level athlete potentially. And 13, 12. And they got doused a lot by the good teams.

And I think it's fair. You could say, well, Belichick's a better coach. No, Belichick's a better pro coach. But, I mean, Dion Sanders, pre-Colado, was racking up wins in college. How do we know that Deion's not the better college coach than Belichick? Dion won his first college job, won his conference. And Colorado was a mess before Deon got there. Dion made them viable first game against a good TCU team.

Or at least TCU's a good program. I don't know if that team was that great. So it's a lot of unproven stuff and a lot of I don't knows. Greg Kossel is joining us top of the hour. Urban Meyer, who says, I just wrote a quote this morning that Jim Harbaugh should be suspended in the NFL. I'm going to push back on that. Coming up next.

So Vegas rarely makes a mistake on betting lines, almost never, and futures. They didn't make a mistake. in my opinion last year twice. I pled with you last year. Bet the over on Sean Peyton and the Broncos. Bet the over on Washington. And we hit on both those. I thought those were obvious mistakes.

I think they've made only one this year where I just think they made a mistake. And it's an opportunity for you to jump in and make some lettuce on it. I think they made one clear mistake. And I'll talk about that next in the Hurt. Be sure to catch live editions of The HARD weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers. And guess what? We have some big news.

What's the news, new? Huge news. We created our own podcast called, Hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a first people to do podcasts. Pretty, yeah, pretty wide range of podcasts throughout there. But this one's extra special. So how do we actually come up with a name Hey Jonas, guys? I honestly don't remember. I think it was on a call about what we should call it. Well, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band.

Before Jonas Brothers was... This is how you guys remember it going down? Yes. I have a very different memory of this. We were talking about a thing, a bit for the podcast, where people could call in and say, hey, Jonas. And then I wrote down on my little notepad, Hey Jonas, and offered it up as a potential title for the podcast.

But thanks for remembering that, guys. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smigel and Friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel. help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

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

give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice. radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. The French Open is one of the toughest tests in tennis. And I know firsthand because I competed there myself. I'm Renee Stubbs.

And on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast, I'm breaking down everything happening at Roland Garris. Every match, every upset, and what it really takes to win on clay. Jenchian win. I mean, she went down in three to Rabakina. But I'm delighted. She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lernerabakina is arguably the best player in the world right now.

And I actually can win on any surface. Because if she's serving, well, good luck. Consider this your court side seat to the French Open. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Phil and DJ, some of the biggest names in golf are team championship in Michigan.

Catch coverage of the quarterfinals tomorrow at 2 p.m. Eastern, the semifinals Saturday at noon, and the finals Sunday at 4.30, all on Fox. By the way, Indianapolis showed up in a big, big way, huge crowds in Indy. It was wild to watch. Michigan may break those records. Michigan's a great golf state, by the way, underrated golf state. So there's a difference between something crazy happened. and a mistake.

A lot of people struggle during COVID. A lot of businesses struggle during COVID. Nobody can predict a pandemic, right? Like, it's some stuff just businesses could not survive. A lot of great restaurants just could not survive. Doesn't mean they're bad restaurants. So Vegas does not make a lot of mistakes. Last year, when Minnesota reeled off like 14 wins,

that wasn't a mistake by Vegas. That was an outlier. Nobody thought Sam Darnold would be the best quarterback in the league for 14 weeks. Nobody saw that coming, including Kevin O'Connell. That's not a mistake by Vegas. They made just two mistakes last year on future bets. They had Washington at six and a half. And I went on the air, I said, folks, Jaden Daniels is going to look a lot like Lamar Jackson.

He's got a lot of college starts. He's electric. And they flushed out all those toxic people in the organization, specifically Dan Snyder. and they bring in really, really smart, smart people. They're going to do better. They're going to do, I didn't think they'd go 12 and 5, but I'm like, they're going to get to 7, 8, 9 wins on Dan Quinn, Cliff Kingsbury, Jaden Daniels, Terry McClore, they're going to win.

That was a mistake by Vegas. Then they had the Broncos at 5 and a half wins, and I said, you've got to be kidding me. Sean Payton alone's getting you to 6. Bow Nix has 61 college starts. They've got a top 10, 12 roster. I don't know how many games are going to win. I don't know.

I'm not sure if they're a playoff team. they're going to be a 7, 8, 9, 10 win. They're not a five win team. So those were mistakes. Vegas doesn't make a lot of it. Minnesota's not a mistake. It's just, good hell was Sam Donald on fire for the first 14 weeks. Nobody knew that.

I went through all the future bets today. The AFC, I think they're right on the money with everybody. I don't think they made a mistake in the AFC. There's a couple of teams in the NFC, and by the way, it's not the Bears. the Bears are at eight and a half. That's exactly where they should be. I think optimistically, they win nine, a little less optimistically, eight wins feels about right. They struggle in division. Chicago is, you know, 12 years, I think once or twice they've had like a above 500 or 500 record against their division. They don't beat Green Bay and they're not as good right now as Detroit.

And if J.J. McCarthy can play, they could get swept by Minnesota. So that's a good number for Chicago's eight, nine win team. That's what they are. but here's one that I think is a glaring mistake. Seattle at eight and a half. So Seattle went 10 and 7 last year with a rookie head coach figuring out how to be a head coach and creating a culture on the fly. Gino Smith was the quarterback

and the offensive line was Houtred. 31st, according to PFF. Well, they've certainly helped solve the offensive line drafting Gray Zabel who is grabbing and picking up players like Chris Jones in the preseason. He's been unbelievable. And Sam Darnold to me is an upgrade. The other thing to think about was Seattle.

They got the AFC in the NFC South, the two weakest divisions. So they play New Orleans and Tampa and the Colts at home. Jacksonville, they play Houston at home. I mean, Tennessee, at Tennessee, They've got a much better roster than Tennessee. So would you be shocked if they got six out of eight games against the AFC and NFC South? Would you be shocked if they won six? Hosting New Orleans, hosting Tampa, hosting Houston, hosting the Colts,

and at Carolina and at Jacksonville are not big home field advantages? So I think they can win six games just against the AFC and NFC South. also San Francisco is falling apart and Seattle gets to open at home against San Francisco. Their wide receiving core is falling apart. And by the way, they play the Rams in week 11 and week 16. Will Matt Stafford be standing upright? We know Matt's going to be ready for the opener. Is he going to be available?

So I, to me, take the over at 8. half. It just year two of a head coach, they got the culture built. I think Sam Darnold had an upgrade, maybe slight over Gino. Offensive line can't be as bad as it was last year. And their schedule, AFC, NFC South, heavy favorites in some of those games like New Orleans at home. And they're healthier at running back than last year. So, you know, people say, oh, they lost D.K. Metcalf. There's a reason they must. moved D.K. Metcalf. He was viewed as a little bit of a distraction. Now, there's one other team. Now, I wouldn't make a big bet, but I do think Green Bay at nine and a half is undervaluing the Packers.

Again, they won double digits last year, and I'll argue that Jordan Love was not healthy the entire year. He wasn't healthy early, and he didn't look like he was healthy late. And again, if you look at that schedule, oh, once again, you got some, you got some Carolina at home and Cleveland and there's some very, very favorable matchups. New York Giants, Carolina, they're just better than those teams. So I think nine and a half, although the schedule is tough, you know, they open with Detroit and Washington, but they're both at home. So those are tough openers both at home. And their buys a little early, but they do get a buy before they host Joe Burrow. So if Joe Burrow is the best quarterback you will face, and I believe he is because they don't play Kansas City and they don't play Buffalo,

if Joe Burrow is the best quarterback, you get two weeks to prepare for him at home. So again, that's a little bit of a scheduling break. It's always easier. You come in rested, you come in healthy, you're off the buy. I mean, we know what Brady did when he got the buy in Tampa, seven and five became don't lose another game. So last year they went 11 and 6 without a healthy quarterback. And by the way, they were really young at wide receiver.

They still are, but all those guys except their first round pick are a year older. And remember, the division has been a little loud. Chicago's been noisy. Minnesota been a little noisy. Detroit lost their coordinator. So Detroit will not be as good as last year. That is a fact. They're not going to be as good.

Chicago should be better, but we don't know. And Minnesota is a mystery. I mean, I'm just going to say this. I'm going to make a bold prediction. Minnesota's not winning 14 games. I'm going to go with that. I feel strongly about that. So I think Seattle at 8 and a half,

I see them as a 10-win team, maybe 11. And Green Bay, 9 and a half, I just think the Packers are winning 10 games. games. The Jordan Love injury is non-throwing hand. I don't worry about that. I don't worry about that. Yes, the Green Bay roster is young, but it's a year older than last year when it was the youngest roster. So the good thing about young rosters, when players get hurt, they recover more quickly. That is the upside. NFL is getting younger across the board, but young rosters heal quickly. Old rosters do not. So John Gregg CoSell top of the hour. I, I, let's just

stay with Seattle. And I know I'm from the northwest, but I don't think of a Northwest Homer. I've banged on the Seahawks. I also think, let's play a bite first. Here's Matt Hasselbeck. He's high on Seattle, too. Let's play the Hasselbeck bite, and then we can react to it. People are pinching themselves. Like, this is the best the Seahawks have looked in the preseason in a long while. So it is preseason, but I think you see like getting rid of Tyler Lockett, D.K. Metcalfe, you're scratching your head. And then you're saying to yourself, like, what's the plan? Well, the plan is to be a physical, be the hammer, not the nail, kind of a run game, and call more runs than passes, and then play great defense. Last year, the CX didn't make the playoffs, but they were a top

10 defense in the NFL, and I think they're, you know, I think they're looking to and expecting to take a jump again this year. So I think, John, between good drafts, some stuff happening in division, getting the Niners in week one when they're falling apart physically at wide receiver, I do think there's these little breaks you get facing the AFC, NFC, NFC, South. Zabel, the draft pick, has been a monster on the offensive line. Do you feel as strongly as I do about Seattle? I thought Seattle, of all the teams that have division winning potential, have the craziest, longest odds.

Like, you typically can't get a team that had the same record. It's not like they won 10 games last year in the team that won their division, won 14 or 15. The Rams had the same record. Seattle wins that division last year of Sam Darry. Arnold doesn't make the play of his career. You know, when he threw that touchdown in the left corner of the end zone in Seattle. And then that cost, you know, Mike McDonald.

Here's the other thing. Typically, when you get a new coach, he's taking over Jacksonville, Oakland, Vegas, right? These teams are terrible. Pete Carroll was fired, quit. However, that thing shook out. They had won nine games. In the previous two years with Pete Carroll, they had won nine games. Now, that had fallen from where they had been back in their heyday, but they were not some joke operation.

Two years ago, Pete's second to last year, they made the playoffs as a wildcard team. So there are players on this. And they have one of the best GMs in the league. So they get a new quarterback. They get a new offensive coordinator. Well, the quarterback and offensive coordinator, Kubiak, know each other because Kubiak was on the staff with Shanahan and San Francisco. Now, their wide receivers are a question mark.

I think that is fair. But Mike McDonald, I think, would tell you, our defense is going to be so much better, and we're going to run the ball. Charbonnet, the Michigan guy that he transferred to UCLA, pretty high on him. I've always liked Kenneth Walker. He's got to stay on the field. But running the ball, they got Jalen Milroy. He can bring him in for some trick plays.

Yep. But to me, I'm with you. I think Seattle, their roster is really, really good. And getting that Niner game, week one. Oh, huge break. Now it's at home. So you might have won it even if they're healthy. But still, I mean, the Niners are kind of in shambles right now health-wise.

You know, there's no way around that. So I don't hate it at all. I think Seattle could easily win 11. World Games. Yeah. So Greg CoSell, Urban Meyer. Greg is coming up right around the corner. There's a lot to talk about. We've seen starters playing. We've seen this

year's preseason better than last years. More high-end guys on the field. Hey guys, it's us. The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called. Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it.

We get to ask other people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it, but, you know, tired and sick. Tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen. We don't care where you hear it.

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

Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season,

and I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was hiring. You just understood. That's how personal it. Yeah. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming till he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Turn someday into right now with Buddy by Jake Radio, nonstop workout music and expert tips 24-7. Hey, head over to iHeart.com. Search Body by Jake Radio and stream it for free right now.

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