The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 1 - No Patience for JJ McCarthy, Jim Harbaugh Might Be The GOAT

Episode Date: September 17, 2025

Colin pushes back against people preaching “patience” for Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy by explaining the NFL is not a league of “patience” and the pressure to perform has already arrived. He argues Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh might be the greatest coach in football history based on his success in both college and the NFL. Colin explains why Arch Manning may not be ready for the NFL after this season.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It is a Wednesday. It is great to be here, and we are live in Chicago. It's the herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening. A lot of choices. Thanks for making us your place to stop by, at least temporarily. We hope longer. So, J-Mack, I was thinking about this driving in today, not driving, but taking the train in. I was thinking about this.

It's easy when you're outside of a building to say be pace. Like it's very easy to say if you're the Ohio State Buckeyes and Ryan Dago's in a two-game losing street, be patient unless you're in the building in Columbus. You can be patient at Miami of Ohio. You can't be patient at Ohio State, right? You have their different strains and different pressures. And I want to talk about that with J.J. McCarthy. Dave Roberts wins a World Series. Literally has a bad first half.

Fans won him out. And owners listen to fans, and so do GMs. So I hear this about J.J. McCarthy, the Vikings young quarterback, who in seven of eight quarters, has been awful. And I'm hearing this, hey, you've got to be patient. Not really. I hear that about CEOs. Be patient. See the vision, long-term growth. They have quarterly earnings calls with investors and shareholders. Yeah, speed her up, champ, or we'll find the new CEO. This Vikings team, number one could lose their great defensive coordinator by the end of the season. Brian Flores do a head coaching job.

Number two, their amazing left tackle. Christian Dariselle is 26, but he's already had one major surgery and several other injuries. Left tackles are hard to find, especially as good as him. And the roster's too good, so it's going to get really expensive within the next year to two years. I mean, this team in the last couple of years has won 13 and 14 games, two out of the last three years. I know patience is a virtue. I understand that, but you ever go to an NFL practice? They don't have virtue drills.

Ready set? Virtue. Uh-uh. And Green Bay, your primary rival is great right now. And because of the youngest roster, they're only getting better. So let's be patient for three years and go 0 and 6 against your rival. I don't buy it. This whole thing about people that preach patience. Patience is for parenting.

or training, potty training a puppy, or gardening. But the Packers can be patient. They don't have an owner. The Vikings do, and owners listen. They listen to people on the street and talk radio, and they read columns, and their GM's under pressure. This isn't baseball, where if you're in a hitting slump, well, we'll just send you down to the minors.

This isn't the NBA where, yes, he's struggling, but he's only 19 years old. I mean, he's only a year out of high school. J.J. McCarthy's last five years of coaching, Jim Harbaugh for three years, and Kevin O'Connell now for two. That is world-class coaching. Be Good Sunday. Okay? Like, it's different, too. Jared Goff, when he got to Detroit, he'd been to a Super Bowl with the Rams, and he was a number one pick, and he was very good.

Okay, I'm going to wait a couple of years for Jared Goff because he's proven he's good. And if you sold your first startup for a billion dollars, I'm going to give you some time with your second. and startup. But like Bryce Young at Carolina, it's three years. You're not winning games. I got to move on. And quarterbacks in 2025 like J.J. McCarthy have private coaching seven-on-seven summer camps. I mean, it's just different. They have more information at their fingertips. I mean, they should be better. They have far more snaps early than they ever did. So again, I will be patient potty training a puppy. But J.J. McCarthy does not. get to pee on the carpet. He's got to be good. In the next seven, eight weeks, I've got to see something.

And if you look at seven of his eight quarters, they've been terrible. And again, he was with Harbaugh for years. Kevin O'Connor, there's an argument. No coach in the history of football is better than Jim Harbaugh. And I mean that, and I'll talk about that in a second. And then Kevin O'Connell, he's called the Tall Sean McVeigh. Five years of that coaching. I'm not waiting. I'm not waiting any longer. So I just don't buy it. I think gardening and parenting, but all these teams are owned by billionaires,

and they listen to fans, and GMs are on the clock. You want me to be, I mean, Caleb Williams has Ben Johnson and Lincoln Riley the last four years. I've got to see something fast. Speaking of Jim Harbaugh, I was thinking about this.

So in basketball, they have the Basketball Hall of Fame. You could be a Harlem Globetrotter, and make a basketball Hall of Fame. Football's different. There's the pro football Hall of Fame, and then there's the college football Hall of Fame. But I was thinking this morning

that if you combine it like basketball, and it was just there was a football Hall of Fame, you could count college and pro. I would make an argument today the greatest coach in the history of football is not Bill Belichick or Bill Walsh or Vince Lombardi. It's Jim Harbaugh, the greatest coach ever. Think about this.

He's never failed. He's five for five. At San Diego, Stanford, San Francisco, 49ers, Michigan, and the Chargers. He's never failed. Saban and Urban, unbelievable college legends struggled in the NFL. He's also not tied to a single player. What's Belichick without Brady? Not great.

The only person that kind of compares to him is Jimmy Johnson. My friend and your friend, Jimmy Johnson. Great in college, great in the pros. But even Jimmy took over a Hurricanes program that had won a Natty, and they won after he left. And then he took over the Dolphins, and the previous two years, they were like 10 and 6 and 9 and 7 before he got there. And then he left, and then Dave watched that, took over, and Dave got him to the playoffs. With Hardball, he's taken over five messes. They're all very good by year two, some by year one.

and when he leaves, the Niners were unwatchable for four years after he left. He went from Super Bowl to, is this the worst team in the league? I mean, it's unbelievable. He left Stanford. A couple years with David Shaw. Now Stanford, not good, not close for several years. And so, and I think a lot of it, I mean, it's like Harbaugh takes stuff, and one day it's Bar Rescue, and the next day it's Michelin Star.

And it's amazing to watch Justin Herbert. We all knew Justin Herbert was good. It wasn't a matter of that. But if you look at Justin Herbert's last three seasons with Brandon Staley, he'd become an average quarterback, 93 pass-for rating. If you look at the last two seasons, 20 games, 19 games with Jim Harbaugh, he's in a running for the best quarterback in the league. And now, Jim was a quarterback, so he's very good at that.

But the defense was last. It's now first. college and pro now it's harder in college Stanford and Michigan took some years although they got very good very quickly but like at Stanford it's hard to get players in

and they were the worst program in college football when he took it over but very quickly he went to USC and Pete Carroll as a 41 point underdog and one in the Coliseum without many players Pete Carroll even recruited and I really think it's very rare

he takes over messes they're good immediately and when he leaves they're awful and my question is why? I mean, as great as Jimmy Johnson is, he left the Cowboys, they won a Super Bowl, he left the Hurricanes, they won a Natty, he left the dolphins, they made the playoffs.

And the only thing I can wrap my brain around is that when Jimmy Johnson left, you lost a great coach. When Jim Harbaugh leaves, you lose the soul of the franchise. He is so authentic, such a unicorn, such a unique personality,

Eric Mangini years ago was in the offices of the San Francisco 49ers, and he's been around Belichick and great coaches. And I asked him about Harbaugh, and he said, yeah, I've never been around a coach like Jim Harbaugh. And he's been around a lot of great coaches. He goes, there's nobody like Harbaugh. It's not about the meetings. It's the personality, the relentlessness, the obsession with football.

He is obsessed with football. He leaves an organization. You don't lose a good coach. you lose your personality. And I asked Julian Edelman yesterday, I said, how do you change a culture everywhere you go that quickly? Do you can get fundamentals down, not turn the ball over, not beat yourself with pre-snap penalties.

That's how you change a culture right away. Not with all the talking, not with this. It's with the actions that they're showing that they're doing. So they've looked very good. I think when a coach comes in and establishes that if he wants to be a tough football team, tough football teams don't beat themselves. And Herbert's interceptions, Herbert's turnovers under Staley go up, under Harbaugh, they mostly disappear. So, I mean, I think if you counted all coaches, usually there's always been this sense that a college football coach has a certain personality.

You know, he's kind of glib, he's got to talk to the donors, he's got to be a great recruiter. But the NFL guys, they're kind of academic. They're miserable. They look all a little overweight and a little tired under a 13th cup of coffee. And there's something that Harbaugh does that, and what's most remarkable, Michigan was a mess. Stanford was a mess. The Niners were a mess. He makes them great.

He leaves. There is a noticeable drop-off overnight, noticeable. And I think, again, he's not a coach. He is a soul of a program. And you're just, I mean, it's like when Steve Jobs left Apple, you didn't just lose a smart guy. He was the soul of Apple. Phil Knight briefly stepped away from Nike years and years, a couple decades ago. Like overnight, stock plummeted.

Fills the vision and fills the soul of Nike. So here we are. You know what else? I made sure I wanted to talk one more day, J-Mack, about a guy. Now, he's a little bit of a gunslinger. He's a little old school, but Baker Mayfield. Oh, yeah. There's a stat, and I think this speaks well of Baker Mayfield.

The two quarterbacks in the league that have had the most interception-worthy throws are Boe-Nicks and Baker Mayfield. And I was thinking, as I was writing this morning, I was writing notes for the Harbaugh thing, rant. And I thought, you know, what makes Baker great is that in Cleveland, his personality was seen as flammable. he's kind of the same guy in Tampa, but it's not a flammable franchise. But the fact that he leads the NFL right now in interception-worthy throws, it speaks to who he is. He is a gunslinger. He is a lot of farve, and I think that's incredibly appealing to a lot of football fans. Totally agree.

And he actually ties into your earlier point about J.J. McCarthy. Because just imagine if the Cleveland Browns has had some patience with, Baker Mayfield. They wouldn't be cycling through a litany of quarterbacks every year looking for a guy. I think that's a great point. Baker has that gunslinger. It didn't work in Cleveland, but it necessarily wasn't Baker's fault, right? Because Baker is an excellent quarterback right now. I mean, he was one of the leaders in yards and touchdowns last year. I also think Tampa's a different feel. I think Baker's matured. I think the Browns are just a flammable organization. Stephansky's brought the temperature down considerably.

But even with Stefansky, they guaranteed Deshaun Watson a contract. They draft Shedur Sanders and nobody thinks Stefansky and Andrew Barry wanted him. So that's just who they are. And when you combine Baker's kind of raw personality with that culture, it just

didn't feel right. Now he's kind of the same guy. Primatured a little, but it feels perfect in Tampa because it's not a flammable organization. It's kind of it's almost a sleepy organization. I think if you're doing top 10 quarterbacks, you cannot leave Baker out of the top 10. All right, right now he's absolutely in it.

Hey, I mean, and not just two games. Last season, he was incredible. The season before that, he was very, very good. He is playing out of his mind, yeah. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHard Radio app. Hey, it's me, Rob Parker. Check out my weekly MLB podcast inside the Parker for 22 minutes of pipe and hot Facebook.

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I've always felt Joel Clatopper next hour that, you know, certain people have been born too early or too late. You know, Magic Johnson would have been a good basketball player, but he was so physically big for the point guard position, 6-8. Now you've got a lot of big guards. He also is not a great shooter. Now the NBA is about shooting. I mean, Steph Curry would have worked much better now than later

because he took shots that you weren't allowed to take in the 70s, 80s, 90s. I don't care how good you were at shooting. them, the math hadn't been figured out in the NBA, and Steph Curry would have been shooting them, and they would have said, well, you're hitting 38% of them. And Steph would have said, yeah, but if you do threes and twos, it took the analytics community to convince people, and still the Lakers forever would not embrace the three-point shot. So Steph Curry, born in the perfect era, a small guy, not physical, not a great defender, but his shot, which has been totally embrace because the sport changed.

Like the sport changed. And I, you know, I just think the reality is Baker Mayfield has had a great couple of years in Tampa. But it used to be Staubach and Aikman and Terry Bradshaw and Dan Foutt. You got drafted by a team and you crossed your fingers. They would eventually get you the right coach. Eventually, Dan Fouts gets Don Correel, right? And eventually Elway gets Shanahan. But you kind of just stayed with your team.

But young GMs now, GMs are younger. Everybody trades. I mean, Michael Parsons just got traded to a great team in the same conference, Green Bay from Dallas. And so if you look at Baker's first five years in the NFL, if he'd have been born in 1950, it would have been done. He was under 500. His passer rating was mid-80s. He completed 61% of his throws. He had 100 touchdown passes, 65 picks.

He would have never been given other opportunities. But in this era, sleepy Tampa, which has always been able to get the roster right, but until Brady could never get the quarterback right, looked around and said, well, McVeigh liked him. He didn't get to a playoff in Cleveland, and they put their arms around it. And Tampa's a very sleepy brand. Like, we all know the great brands in the NFL. like the Niners and the Eagles and the Ravens and the Steelers.

And then we all know the bad brands. They can't get out of their own way. You know, the Jets and the Panthers and Cleveland and Chicago a lot. Tampa's one of those that's much closer to the top than the bottom. People tend to think they're in the middle. But since 2002, the Buccaneers have more playoff wins than Buffalo. The Vikings are well-run team, the Broncos. By the way, they have more Super Bowl wins in that time than the Niners and the Cowboys.

And oh, by the way, only New England and Kansas City, the last 23 years in the NFL, have more Super Bowls. They're on a long list of two or a short list. So Tampa's always been well run. They just can't get the quarterback right. And they've got quiet owners, a great GM, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin. Now they've got another young star receiver. It's never been a personnel issue in Tampa. I covered them years ago.

They've always had players. But I think Tampa is one of those sneaky good businesses. But I think Baker Mayfield, and Sam Darnold deserves this. And Gino Smith, they would not have been able to get these massive contracts and get a third or a fourth team. People gave up on you. People just gave up on you. Here is, by the way, Baker Mayfield with the Kelsey brothers this summer talking about the fit in Tampa.

This isn't to be it on the other team. No, man, you already know. You already know. But like when you step in and your GM and your head coach say, hey, just be you. Yeah. After I've been told at every stop and everywhere I go, hey, you need to tone it down a little bit. You need to be a franchise quarterback. It's just not who I am.

Like I wear my emotions on my sleeves. We hung out. You guys know me. I'm going to talk to. I'm going to do whatever. But when it's time to turn the lights on and go do something, I'm going to do it. So when I stepped into the building, they all told me to just be myself. And so it's been not to say like comfortable, but it's,

felt like home since the beginning. Yeah, and it does. It looks like home and it feels like home. And the NFL now is a very transactional league. And it's been great for Baker Mayfield. Because you go look at those first five seasons. He didn't suddenly get more talented. He got bad fits, weird cities, bitter media. Five seasons in, in the 70s, nobody is rolling the dice and say, you're our guy.

He feels like a perfect fit in Tampa. And I do. I believe, you know, I always hear about, you know, young people are struggling, young people are struggling with their mental health. And I do think some people have old school mentality. They want to stay in their hometown and society's gotten incredibly transactional and fast and fluid in my industry. There's a change every six months. Some people just aren't built for it. It's they, they were born too late. Baker got it right. I mean, this is, a great story, but it wasn't a story that feels that possible, even

like 15 years ago. The league's gotten incredibly transactional. Young GMs are willing to trade anybody. Jay Mackle News. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. You know, the other thing, Jay Mack, you talked about this

yesterday, is when you look at the great quarterbacks in this league, very rarely, they were all on the market. I mean, Baker was on the market after Cleveland, and Josh Allen did not go number one, or Mahomes, or Jordan Love, or Aaron Rogers. I mean, how many teams could have had Dan Marino? Like the idea of Peyton Manning goes one or a John Elway, when you look at the best

quarterbacks in the league, Ohio State had Joe Burrell, then he went and won a Natty at LSU. Generally, they're available to all the bad teams. Baker was available to the league, and four or five teams that could have had a shot at him are still bad at quarterback. And when, think about Brady. Brady came out in New England as the goat. Two teams aggressively went after him.

Tampa and the Chargers. And for the next three years, he was still a top three quarterback in the league. So I don't feel sorry for teams in the NFL that struggle. Baker was there for everybody. Sam Darnold was there for the Raiders. He'll flourish in Seattle now. Yeah, by the way, hearing Baker with the Kelsey brothers, Colin, it makes you wonder, geez, Shedore Sanders,

the Ravens wanted you. The Baltimore Ravens wanted to draft you. A good organization. You said, no, I want to go to the Browns because I have a chance to start. Baker basically just unloaded on the Browns to the Kelsey Brothers. I mean, what a disaster. Anyways, let's move on to the Chicago Bears, Colin. Listen, they're 0 and 2. Okay?

Caleb has not looked great off the scripted plays. And the media, they're starting to come out with their knives. The Chicago Sun Times has an article placing the blame on, wait for it. GM Ryan Poles. Not Caleb. Not on Ben Johnson. The article basically says Ryan Poles roster construction has been awful. Meanwhile, Detroit's crushing the draft, Minnesota's finding guys in free agency,

and Colin our staff put together, you know, Ryan Poles drafts over the last few years. Okay. And unfortunately for him, he has zero pro bowlers in that time. Now, Roma Dunzee looks pretty good. He does, but I would agree. And zero all pros in that time since he's been drafting. It's not great. And all of a sudden people like, oh, they've got a terrible roster.

It's the GM's fault. Let me ask a couple questions here. Number one, do you think Ben Johnson is already this upset that his camp is maybe starting to be like, hey, hey, it's not my fault. It's not Caleb. Take a deep breath. Look at the GM's track record. Do you think this is a deflection of the blame game?

Or is it too early for that? No, I think, you know, years ago somebody told me Texas football, Texas Longhorn football. They said it out from the outside. that looks like the best job in college football, but it's very political. Mac Brown was very good at dealing with that political stuff, but that Texas football has had a lot of failed coaches. Yeah, it's hard. It's a hard job. The Chicago Bears is a very political organization. You've got a lot of McCaskey kids. You're trying to curry favor with the kids. You're trying to balance that. It's a proud football city where a lot of people have opinions. They've been trying to move

this stadium now. It's going to go to Arlington Heights. Not everybody's happy with that. Ryan Poles got an extension. I didn't get it. A lot of people that I trust in the league didn't really get it. So I just think it's, you know, one of the advantages the Packers have, which I always thought was a disadvantage

and now is an advantage. They don't have an owner. You know, the Packers just don't have to answer to an impulsive owner or the crazy kids in the family. So I think this job, I think people, Well, people, Ben Johnson knew there were some politics with this job. I think there's probably more than he guessed.

It's a heavier lift than he thought. So I just, I think this job is a lot. I think the Jets job is a hard, hard job. I think that, you know, New York and Chicago make hard jobs harder. Yeah, it's, what's really tough is the draft is an inexact science. And we have on the screen, the Bears first and second round pick center polls. None of them have totally hate. I agree on a dunce.

But the problem is, for instance, Darnel Wright, remember him going 10th? It felt like a reach. Do you know who went 12th? Jamir Gibbs of the Detroit Lions. You don't have to face him twice a year, and he's absolutely crushing it. And you look in that draft,

Christian Gonzalez, who's heard a lot, is a potential stud with the Patriots. So, listen, I'm not going to kill the guy for the draft, but you'd like to see some hits here, Colin. And you're not really seeing them. I would agree, Romo Junzee looks like a bit of potential stars. There are picks he's made that I didn't love. like Beelis Jones, third round receiver, did not like that pick.

I didn't have a problem. I wasn't a huge Luther Burden fan. Colston Loveland, I think, is a good pick. I think Roma Dunzee is excellent. You know, I backed the Caleb Williams pick. Some of these guys are just young and haven't worked into the system. Can we start targeting Colston Loveland? Like, I mean, I bring up my awesome fantasy team,

but they're not getting the ball to Loveland. Like, why would you draft in that high? I just, some weirdness is going on, but you know how this works, Colin. Once things start to fail in any business, the finger pointing begins and everybody's looking out for themselves. They want to keep their jobs. Especially with the Bears, again,

a very political job. Yeah. Polls clearly needs to watch his back. Next up, Colin, hey, we got a birthday to celebrate. Patrick Mahomes, 30 years old today. Some people think he's a goat.

I think it's a little premature. He could end up there. He is pretty on his way. What would be? Some people think. It's early. It's a little early for that. But listen, he's super accomplished three Super Bowl rings already.

By the way, he played the goat in the Super Bowl and got crushed. And got smoked. Brady has beaten him twice. Remember what Brady went into Arrowhead with that overtime drive before they change the rules? Anyways, obviously, colleague Tom Brady, the goat. Here's a chart comparing the two before turning 30. And Patrick Wilhomes extremely accomplished. You know, when you get handed Andy Reed,

not a bad start to your career before 30. But Brady's strength is his longevity. Just why LeBron is the goat, because he's still putting up incredible numbers. Brady did this into his deep 30s and 40s. And let's be fair to Brady. Brady entered this league. It was not a passing league. It was a passing league Tom's last five to six years in the league.

It's been a passing league for a decade. Mahalms entered right in the beginning. I mean, I would say that it had been established as a passing league. and Andy Reed is the great passing head coach. So some of these stats, what I care about, the only thing I really care about is playoff wins and Super Bowls. So that's what I care about. Brady face him in an AFC championship and Arrowhead and beat him.

And Brady faced him in a Super Bowl and blew him out. So Tom is the goat and it's not particularly close at this point. I agree. Hey, by the way, I'll just say this. I don't remember Tom Brady missing the playoffs in his prime. Do you? I'll have to double-jack. but I don't remember other than the year he got injured, obviously.

Colin, I'm just telling you, there is some pressure quietly on Mahomes this year. Hey, man, all I keep hearing is you elevate everybody else. I don't want to hear this. We need Xavier Worthy and Rishi Rice back. That's the answer. I'm just saying if Mahomes misses the playoffs this year, we need to put this goat nonsense on the shelf, okay? He could get there, but he ain't there yet.

Final story, Colin is Dabo Sweeney and Clemson. One and two on the season fell out of the time. Top 25 after lost to Georgia Tech, Dabo is really fired up defending his program. If we stink because we haven't played for the national championship since January of 20, well, I guess we stink. Or we haven't won it since January of 19.

We haven't won the national championship. Well, then I guess we stink. But why are we held to a different standard from all these other teams out there, who ain't ever won nothing? We're not perfect. And we may suck this year. We may lay a freaking egg and go six and six.

But I don't think so. They want me gone. If they tired of winning, they can send me on the way because that's all we've done is win. So if they're tired of winning, we've won this league eight out of the last 10 years. Is that not good? I'm just asking. Oh, really? You know what is what I like to have?

I think there's a little Mike Shoshchewski here. So Mike Shishowski was a great coach and had Natty's. And then here came the first. one and done. And he said, I don't want to do one and done. Oh, that's good. And then Shishowski went, while I'm getting beat by one and done teams. And so Shoshowski put his arms around, one and done, and went on to an under Natty. So Dabo has championships. Here comes the NIL and the portal. And Dabo's like, I'm not going to play that. And now he's getting beat by teams who are heavily invested in the NIL and portal. And the truth is he's gone the other way. And I think

it has a Shishovsky feel where at some point Mike Shishovsky went, listen, the world has changed, the culture has changed, the great athletes are not standing college two and three years. They're not. I mean, even Stanford tells it smartest students. Leave. Go pursue your ID. You can come back. If you're a great basketball player, you're a prodigy. Leave college early. You do it in academics all the time. So I think he needs to take a step back and look at Mike Schiazschofsky and go, Mike didn't get it right initially. But Mike got it right eventually. Dabo isn't doing it right on NIL. You don't have to have 20 guys a year.

But I think there's a number somewhere between like 8 and 12 where I'm sorry, but the NIL isn't just for finding stars. Jason, a lot of times it's like we need depth at linebacker. College football seasons now, if you end up in the playoffs, Jason are at 15 games. Yeah. You just lose. It's not 11 games anymore.

You should go to the NIL for a number three receiver, a number two tied in, like a number two guard. Like it's not just getting stars, it's adding depth because we all know with recruiting, half the guys never pan out. So I think NIL you think it's all money and it's getting stars. A lot of times it's just getting depth. It's just getting another corner because you're going to lose three over the course of a 15 game season if you're in the playoff. Yeah, listen, this happens across every business, right? Hey, you know what? A lot of people are watching YouTube.

You need a YouTube page. Hey, you know what? A lot of the eyeballs are on TikTok. Get on TikTok. You've got to adapt and change. I don't feel Dabo's done that. And Colin, I'm going to be honest. I don't want to hear I win the ACC every year.

Whoopty damn do. You're in SEC country, bro. That's not the standard anymore. When you win national championships, you've got a certain standard just keep going for. And he's just not there anymore. Nobody doubts he's a good coach. Yeah.

But nothing kills a great coach. Bobby Knight's a great example of rigidity. Yeah. I mean, by the way. Mike Shosheski looked up and went, yeah, Carolina's doing one and done. We got to do it too. By the way, just, Colin, real quick, when they have like six players drafted in the first and second round, people are going to look and be like, why wasn't Clemson better?

They had all this talent because they're going to have a lot of guys drafted high. Yeah. And all of a sudden it's like, oh, Clemson stunk? Or they were nine wins, that's it? Well, you know, the other thing about the NIL, Georgia doesn't feel as good today as they did pre-NI. transfer portal. Why? It's not that they've lost their stars. They've lost their depth. You know, you play an SEC schedule, you lose four starters. It used to be Georgia's backups where five-star kids ready to play, but they get poached in the NIL. So even Ohio State last year, you lose the left

tackle, you don't have a guy available. So what's happened to the big dogs, the margins are shrinking because your backups get poached. Louisville comes in, Purdue comes in, Indiana comes in, and says, you don't have to play back up to us. You're our starting left tackle. You're a back-up right tackle at Bama. And so what's happened here is that it's not that Clemson doesn't have great players, but do they have the depth of players of Ohio State? And that's where, you know, Ohio State can go buy Caleb Downs,

but not every guy you buy is Caleb Downs. Some are number two receivers and number three corners. Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping back. The herd line news. has pushed back a little on Jalen Hertz. J-MAC, you know, J-MAC likes the shorter guys.

I'm not going to get into why, but he loves the shorter guys, but there is an NFL exec that kind of summed it up on Jalen Hertz, and we'll talk about that next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the IHard Radio app. 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 did 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. Oh, we were thinking I'm originally calling it one of the early names of our band. Before Jonas Brothers. This is how you guys remember it going to be. 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 headwriter, Streeter Seidel, 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 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 athletes 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 question. 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 Slical Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapulted Jacob, it's a woman. to an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee,

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Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. It's fair to say that Arch Manning will not be coming out of college football this year, that he will come back for another year to Texas. It's been a disaster. And I've got my theories on why Danny Connell yesterday or the day before. talked about. Is it mental? Is it kind of a Ben Simmons thing? A Markle Foltz thing where it's

above the shoulders. He's struggling. He's lost confidence. I don't know. I've never played quarterback at the college or pro level, so I don't necessarily disagree. But this season's been bad. He is literally last in the SEC among all quarterbacks in completion percentage and near the bottom in everything else. Of 14 quarterbacks with three plus starts, he's 12th or worse in virtually everything. It doesn't look good. The production's bad. Now they're missing and some receivers and bags, and the O-line is young, the defense is much better. It just doesn't look right. Now, to support him, it should be noted that Bo Neck spent five years in college,

so did Jaden Daniels, and Justin Herbert spent four. So, like, time on task in college football matters for quarterbacks in the NFL. The other thing is, if your last name is Manning, you don't have a lot of turbulence. Jalen Hertz had a transfer, and Baker had a transfer, and Joe Burrow had a transfer, and Cam Ward had a transfer. and that turbulence is incredibly valuable for you. It's incredibly valuable. And Alabama quarterbacks and Texas quarterbacks

and USC quarterbacks historically don't have as much turbulence. They play with better players. So I think I was thinking about this this morning. Take quarterbacks like 31 years or younger. Don't take Stafford or Aaron Rogers. Let's talk about this generation of quarterbacks. Let's look at the quarterback mountain in the NFL. So the 10 best quarterbacks, and we,

can argue who it is, but right now, so far this season, here are the 10 best quarterbacks. Now think about this. Patrick Mahomes had a losing record in college. That's turbulence. Josh Allen, small school, Wyoming, awful his first year in the pros. Joe Burrell had to transfer multiple injuries. Lamar Jackson passed over by everybody, including the Ravens in the first round. They got him with their second pick, and many believed he was a receiver and not a quarterback. Justin Herbert, probably the best route. I'll get to him in a second, though.

Dak Prescott, fourth rounder, non-traditional power, couple of injuries. Here he is today, a top 10 quarterback. Baker Mayfield, multiple teams, had to transfer in college. Jared Goff went to a non-traditional football power, got crushed. First year, Jared Fisher, gets to a Super Bowl, eventually gets traded to losing Detroit. Jalen Hertz, second rounder, had to transfer. Bama bench. him in a national championship game.

And Jordan Love, non-traditional power, Utah State, lost a lot of games, had to sit for three years. So of all the top ten quarterbacks, the young quarterbacks, this generation's quarterbacks, Herbert's had it the easiest. And think about this. He was a three-star player, not a five-star. He had three different coaches at Oregon, and Harbaas is third coach in the pros. So it took him his fifth coach to get a legendary coach. And that's the easiest route.

Justin Herbert's route's been like, oh, Oregon. Well, yeah, Oregon was good, but they couldn't get the coach right during his stay there. Because he started like five or six games into his, I think, freshman year. And he goes to the Chargers and two coaches don't work. Now, he's put up great numbers at Oregon and great. He's got the easiest route. So my take is on Arch Manning, he's never had turbulence. He grew up with money.

He grew up with fame. He's a great-looking kid. He goes to Texas. He was on a dominant high school team. This turbulence is important. It's not a coincidence that all these guys had to overcome stuff. All of them. Here's Sark on Arch's struggles and why they help.

I think you hit the nail on the head. I think some of this is really good. Here's a guy who's had an awesome life. The way he's grown up, where he played, the school he went to, the people he's been surrounded by. But I think you learn a lot about yourself through adversity and overcoming adversity and getting on the other side of adversity. And so to have some of this adversity that he has right now, and when he gets on the other side of it, I think all of this is going to serve not only well for him, but well for us as a team. And so love the challenge for him, love the challenge for us. Yeah, and it's just, you know, I read a story.

It must have been like 10 or 15 years ago, and somebody was writing about UFC fighters and how most of them grew up with brothers, roughhousing. They grew up physical kids. Sometimes older brothers picking on them. And it's like, yeah, if you're going to be that tough, when you're 28, at 18 and 8, you probably had to defend yourself at some point. And I look at Arch Manning, and if it was just, hey, the best high schooler goes to the best college, goes to the NFL, that's the Peyton Manning story. That's the Matt Stafford story, and he ended up with Detroit.

It almost never works that way. It's unbelievable. At one point in the NFL, there were three quarterbacks starting from NC State and none from USC or Alabama. I mean, in most of these Alabama quarterbacks, it's not that they're not good kids. but you know Mac Jones to a you know when you lead every football game this has been my knock on J.J. McCarthy

he didn't have to throw they won, he had the best coach, he had the best offensive line, he had the best defense outside of Ohio State he always had better players so I mean think about how great Ohio State football is I would say it's the second best college program of my life C.J. Stroud is their only

great NFL quarterback and right now he's reeling and last year they couldn't keep a receiver healthy. The left tackle had an off year. This year, he may have the worst offensive line in football. Now he got to the playoffs. I think he's excellent. But C.J. Stroud, he is living a real life.

I mean, I always say that. I remember when Matt Liner played at USC, they were so dominant and the Pac-10 was really bad at that time. I think one year he got sacked like 11 times. He got popped in the mouth once at Arizona State and he had a bloody lip, but I'm like, I've never seen that with Matt Liner. Like, he lived this life. He sat in the pocket.

He threw the great players five stars. Like, man, that's not preparing you for the NFL. C.J. Stroud, the last year and a half, can't keep a receiver healthy, doesn't have a run game. It's easier for the Texans now to block a punt than pick up two yards near the goal line. They can't run the football. So, I mean, we have right now, we have starting quarterbacks in the NFL. Think about this. From Utah State, Wyoming, Delaware,

Cal won from USC. And by the way, he's bounced all over the league, Sam Darnold. He bounced all over the league. So I think this stuff, I think this stuff for Archmanning, I think it's Caleb Williams, well, Oklahoma USC, half of this, six of the other, you know, whatever. Caleb Williams, I guess. By the way, off to a rocky start.

So, J-Mack, I guess my point is, when you look at quarterback mountain, there are no easy pass. There are no drafted number one, went to a good team, like even Patrick Mahomes, sat for a year. I remember I watched Patrick Mahomes twice in college.

I thought he was way too wild. I'm like, this conference is crazy. He was winning 54, 45. This is nonsense. It's like Arena league football. That's what it was. It's like 60 to 54. But a quick note.

So I happen to see Joel Klat downstairs this morning. We were chatting. And I was like, I know Colin's been pumping up this quarterback class for the next year's draft a lot. Archmanning, Nussmeyer, all these young guys. Hey, Joel, have you noticed they've largely stunk up the joint so far this season? He's like, well, you could be on to something.

We're done talking Arch Manning in 2026. That's all right. But I am curious. Clubnick has been dreadful. He can't read a defense to save his life. Nussmeyer, other than that first game has struggled. Colin, I think we need to readjust for the 2026 draft. I think you're on to something.

And there's a kid out west. Oh, gosh. Here we go. USC, Jaden Ma. I have a... Our tuna. 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... We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being an ass quick. 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 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 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 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, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where sports slice comes in. I'm Timbo, and every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in

sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsSlic. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicalife-Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. I'm Michelle McPhee, and I've been unraveling the strangest criminal alliance I've ever reported on, a Mormon polygamist and an Armenian businessman. Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets,

a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human.