The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 1 - Shedeur Sanders is not being setup to fail, Caleb Williams feeling the pressure from Ben Johnson

Episode Date: August 6, 2025

Colin pushes back against the idea Shedeur Sanders is being sabotaged and gives examples why he is not being setup to fail. He believes Ben Johnson is sending a clear message to quarterback Caleb Williams with some recent comments about the offense’s poor performance in training camp The Steelers offensive line might be Aaron Rodgers' biggest enemy this seasonSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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A lot of things happening today. Joe Thomas stops by way in on Shadour Sanders, who's getting the start Friday against Carolina. I'll get to that in a second. Philip Rivers is stopping by the show as well. One of the great trash talkers of all time. Many, many subscribe to the belief he is a Hall of Fame or some do, some don't, but an interesting guy. He'll be joining us.

Shamak, I don't like to lecture the American sports media, but I've said this before. In politics, there's a lot of conspiracy theories, and I'm hoping that in our business, We try to stay away from those, but there's one that's dangling out there that is patently absurd right now, and here it is. So, Shador Sanders, Kevin Stafansky, they have had all sorts of quarterback injuries. He's going to start Friday, and he's only had one, he'll only have one practice with the ones, and he's going to start. And this is now being called sabotage, and this is not just like crazy internet dweeb.

it's like network people it's sabotage Cleveland doesn't want him to succeed okay let's start with this Josh Dobbs was acquired by the Minnesota Vikings and had to start and did not get a single practice remember that game

three touchdowns no picks 102 passer rating completed 66% of his throws didn't know the playbook teammates coordinator coach didn't get a practice won the game. Baker Mayfield. We're friend of me's now.

Baker Mayfield came to the Rams on a Tuesday, had to play Thursday against the Raiders. 98-yard, fourth quarter game-winning drive with a single practice in the highly sophisticated Sean McVeigh offense, a timing offense, a rhythm offense, one practice. Shadour Sanders has been with the Browns, through OTA's rookie

mini camp and training camp. He knows the playbook, the head coach, the coordinator, and his teammates. And because he only gets one practice with the ones it's sabotage. You've got to be kidding me. Stop pandering, stop protecting

media. The great ones would consider this an amazing opportunity. And he probably does. But we've got to stop this. If I was Kevin Stafansky, and they're hemorrhaging quarterbacks because of injuries, and we don't need to see

Joe Flacco. The last thing we need to see it is Joe Flacco. I would make an argument, well, rich dad, famous dad, let's give him a little turbulence. Let's give him a little challenge here. So if Kevin Stefansky, and I don't think that's the reason they're doing it, but I could absolutely see a coach saying, famous, rich, I mean, wasn't it, wasn't it Shadour who called himself legendary? the draft room, let's see if he is. But the idea at some level of sabotage, maybe Kevin wants to just see what his speed limit is. The other part of this that's ridiculous is,

how many reps do first team guys play in the preseason? He's going to end up playing with twos, threes, and fours, which is what he's practicing with. Cleveland, and there's not, if you look at Cleveland's wide receiving corps, they're not a big gap between the ones, two, threes, and fours. It's one of the worst receiving cores in the league. And they're

dealing with massive injuries at quarterback. So there's absolutely no value in screwing over Soudrelanders. He may not be the future, but the perfect scenario actually is he plays kind of well, establishes himself as a backup. You move off Kenny Pickett,

get a draft pick, probably a fifth or sixth seventh rounder. And then at the end of the year, because he's shown himself to be a capable backup, You get another sixth, seventh round pick for Sodor, and that gives you more picks to get Arch Manning or Drew Aller or the Nussmeyer kid at LSU. That's all Cleveland's doing this year.

They know they're not good. They would love Shador Sanders. I mean, would there be a better story for Cleveland? If you said perfect scenario, well, perfect scenario is getting Arch Manning next year. But to get him, you'll need extra picks. The perfect scenario to get you some help out from under that awful Deshawn Watson contract is Chador is good this year and Arsh Manning is great next year.

You're home free. That's what Denver did with Bo Nix. Oh, the Russell Wilson dead cap money. Oh, Bo Nix is good. And he's mostly free. So the idea, I mean, first of all, sabotage is Kevin Stafansky's trying to retain his job. The owner, I don't know if you've noticed, is a little impulsive in Cleveland, right? There's Nick Sabin rumors. There's a connection between the Mannings and Saban and Jimmy Haslam and Jimmy Sexton. So this is just a ridiculous story. I mean, I'm not a huge fan of Brock Purdy, but Brock Purdy was third string.

And then Trey Lance wasn't good. Quickly he was second. Then Garoppolo gets hurt in the game. And he thrust into the starting role midgame. He had no reps with a one. Ten days earlier, he's a three. And he took advantage of it. That's what the great athletes do.

They have a level of arrogance and belief that they look at this as an opportunity. And I think Shadur probably does. But the idea that this is like gaining steam, multiple day trending. Well, you know, they don't want to see him succeed. It's Cleveland. The world's best scenario, he looks great against Carolina. They can move Kenny Pickett, get a six-round pick, and then move Shadour next year and get another one. They need as many picks as they can if they win five games.

have the number two pick to give up the house to get Arch Manning. Here's Kevin Stefansky on Shador, the situation of the start coming up. We'll play Shador at quarterback. We just signed Snoop Huntley, as you guys saw. We'll see get Snoop back up to speed. My expectations for Shador are no different than the rest of the guys. Honestly, Mariké, we expect them to go operate. When you get in these preseason games, you try to keep it very simple so that guys can play fast.

All concepts that our players know and can kind of, not think too much and just play ball yeah josh dobs no practices baker mayfield one in by the way mcvay system and kevin o'connell's system those are complex system no practice one practice and baker and josh dobs saw it as an unbelievable opportunity and both crushed okay so um i'm just doing basically daily updates on caleb williams so whenever i see the word sloppy like, well, it's sloppy, a lack of focus, a lack of effort. So Ben Johnson said, he was saying Sunday after Caleb Williams' performance, he said, you know, we're sloppier than I'd want to be at this point. We had a couple good practices. We had a step back. I just, we're not where

we want to be at this point. Okay, okay, okay, fine. Okay, okay, fine. But did you hear what he said about Caleb Williams' backup Tyson Paggett. Man, he's been phenomenal. I mean, he's smart as a whip. Appreciate the seriousness and intent that he brings every time he walks into a room. You know, meeting room, walk through, it doesn't matter.

He's locked in. He's focused. He's preparing the right way. And I couldn't be more thrilled that he's here with us. Tyson, Bajit. Okay, so, now just think about that. Coaches with young quarterbacks tend to be very careful with their words, very intentional.

He's serious. He's focused. He's locked in. Smart as a whip. The other guy is sloppy. I'm sorry. If a director of a film says right now our lead actor, you've got to be patient. But, boy, I'll tell you, the supporting cast, they are locked in and focused. That's insinuating the lead isn't locked in. I don't know. It's something.

You don't have to be Sherlock home to connect these dots, right? I think we have to be honest about this. Ben Johnson has worked with the number one pick before, Jared Goff, and he's now worked with undrafted quarterback Tyson Bayes. So he's got, you know, the variables of what he's work with are pretty wide. So he's seen gifted and he's seen hardworking. And now I read something recently, which I thought was an interesting take. And sorry for not giving it credit, but it was an interesting take.

Somebody said that Ben Johnson and Caleb was always going to be a little rough because Ben Johnson, like a Kyle Shanahan, has a precise precision-based offense. Jared Goff was second in NFL completion percentage last season. Here's the play, follow the play, follow my scheme, distribute the ball accurately. That's Ben Johnson. That's what Kyle Shanahan loves. That's what Kyle Shanahan loves. Okay.

And Caleb's the opposite of that stylistically. So there is an argument out there that these two, what Ben has coached so far, is actually more Shanahan-esque, more schematic-based follow the play. You can add live a little. But by the way, Sean Payton, he wants you to run his play. And that's not really Caleb's style so that the two are not an ideal fit. That does not mean they can't work. But I do think, let's be honest, if this thing is ugly, Ben Johnson came to Chicago with a pre-nup.

He's going to win this divorce. Okay. He's the boy genius. Multiple teams interested. Caleb's already had a bad year. If he struggled with a second coaching staff, you start pointing at the quarterback. So it's just, I don't know. It's not that big of a deal that, you know, Caleb was a little sloppy.

Okay. But the other guy, whew, hoist, he locked in. Kind of felt intentional. Like, he was trying to say something. But again, I don't want to be out here throwing heaters, J-Mack. That's not what I do. I'm not out here to ruffle feathers, but it was kind of, you know, it was a little over the top, locked in, prepared, focus, smart as a

whip. That's a little, wouldn't you have just thought of like, I'm not going to go overboard in the backup? Be like, hey, he's a hustler. He's going to be a great backup for us. He is. He is doing a great job. A little intentional in the wording. I think he's sending a message pretty clearly, right? I mean, that's the goal here. We got to get Caleb up to speed. He's sloppy. It's not working. Let me ask you, Colin. We brought up the whole, will Caleb be benched this year? I'm going to, I'm going to fast track it. Will he be benched once before Halloween? So we're talking first eight weeks of the season, will Ben be so fed up? He's like, Caleb, I'm pulling you.

I don't know. I'm not going to bet that. You're afraid, huh? Because you think it could actually happen. No, I just think, I think what I've read in recent days, and I think it's a fair take, is that Caleb's style, and he got into some really bad habits,

as we've discussed his second year at USC, because he didn't trust the O line. They got blown out at Notre Dame. Lincoln Riley didn't want to get him hurt. Lincoln didn't trust the O-line. Caleb didn't trust the O-line. He got into really bad habits of Hero Ball. It got really bad.

His tape was probably better the year before, even though he was a year younger than the second year when he started playing Hero Ball. And when you do Hero Ball, your mechanic struggle, and then last year's staff wasn't capable enough to correct that stuff. I think Ben Johnson is and is holding him accountable. But I do think it's interesting the wording used for the backup, Tyson-Baj. I just think the wording was fairly intentional. Yeah.

Colin, I will note, we're now on two straight seasons, as you just noted, of hero ball and bad football from Caleb Williams. He was bad in his final year at USC, we would agree, and he was not good last year as a rookie in Chicago. So it's two straight football seasons of subpar football. I think, I think, you know, Ben Johnson nickname should be the janitor. He's just trying to clean stuff off in Chicago. He's trying to clean up the culture. he's trying to clean up the offense. He's trying to clean up the offensive line.

He's trying to clean up Caleb Williams. This is a heavy lift. He's got a lot of stuff to clean up. Could take a year. Yeah, and by the way, Vrable does in New England as well, but Vrable's got a quarterback that looked pretty good. They had $300 million they spent on free agency. So Vrable's got to clean some stuff up,

but that franchise has a history with that ownership of winning a lot of big games. But Chicago's not winning big games. They don't have the culture. They can't get the old line right. They can't get quarterback right. Now they've got Caleb. There's some urgency issues.

So this is not an easy. Matt Lefleur taken over for Mike McCarthy and trying to get on Aaron Rogers' good side. That was a pretty easy lift. That was a pretty, I mean, you've got to get on Aaron's goods. Aaron was closer to his prime. Aaron just wanted a new guy generationally. They were closer in age.

Chicago is a big lift. This is not an easy. job. Remember, Drake May was not brought into Save the Patriots. He was not a generational talent. Caleb Williams asked to do both of those things. People were asking, would Caleb be the greatest quarterback in franchise history? Nobody said that about it. Nobody's saying that about it. There's no pressure on Drake May. Like I do think Caleb is going to start to feel the weight of what's going on in Chicago. Yeah, no, I do think this is, and it's also Chicago. It's a big loud market, you know, rival with the Packers. It's a big, big lift.

I mean, nobody thought Bo Nix is going to be John Elway. Nobody thinks he's Peyton Manning. John Payton just wants him to be as close to Drew Breeze as he can get to get this organization winning again. So Bo Nix doesn't have a lot of pressure. Washington was a dumpster fire during Daniel Snyder's ownership. There wasn't a huge pressure on him. Drake May isn't viewed as Brady. So even Michael Pennix, when you drop, you know, when you go to Atlanta, how much pressure is it?

You could argue it's an SEC market as much as an NFL market. Yeah, you could argue. There is heat on Caleb Williams. J.J. McCarthy probably has the second most pressure from that class, given that they won 14 games with Darnold last year. Yes, that's fair. I would say that that's totally fair. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific

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We have some big news. What's the news, new? Huge news. We've created our own podcast. called Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to a...

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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 to. 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, unhumored me with Robert Smygel and Friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L'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 Smygle and Friends on the I-Heart 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. Highlight

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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 Slic Life 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. Jenshin won. 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, Lina 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 know, I've talked about this before, and it just, it's the way our brains usually work.

The more beautiful or aesthetically pleasing something is, film art sports, the greater stature we hold it in. A great example is Larry Bird had a beautiful game, the three-point shots, the clever passing. I mean, who doesn't love watching old Larry Bird highlights? You watch old Tim Duncan highlights? Magic, Bird, MJ, Dr. Jay, aesthetically pleasing. We think of them so fondly.

Tim Duncan, there's an argument was, you know, it's better than all of them. There's an argument. But it wasn't pleasing. I always said this about Brady. Brady retires. Brady wasn't beautiful to watch. He was smart. He was efficient.

He got rid of the ball quickly. The minute he retires, five minutes later, Mahomes is better. It's like, no, Tom, they played a couple times, like in a Super Bowl, in a big AFC showdown in the playoffs. Tom won both of them. Yeah, in Kansas City, Super Bowl. Yeah, Tom won both and has more trophies and is the greatest quarterback of all time. But the minute Tom's out, oh, Mahomes, because Mahomes game, he's throwing left-handed,

the sidearm stuff. It's a beautifully, aesthetically pleasing game. And I've always said It's hard with athletes like that When they get old Like with Brady Like at 44 He felt like he was 34

Because he was still smart Still efficient Still got rid of it quickly And And and But like with Aaron Rogers His resume Is how you view him

Not his reality So there is another story Out of Pittsburgh Christopher Barbery of Steeler Nation.com Raising Red Flags on Aaron's training camp.

It sounds so much like the Jets. Not enough balls down the field, too many short passes and checkdowns, and he doesn't trust a number two receiver yet. That's the Jets. Here's the thing. You're not into reality

with Aaron because he's so beautiful to watch throw the ball. It's Marino and Aaron until the prettiest ball ever. Peyton Manning doesn't. Tom Brady doesn't. and so you're all into the resume. You have such fond memories and not the reality. Do you know that since 2022, Aaron's last year in Green Bay,

he has fewer big plays downfield than Derek Carr. You think of Derek Carr, you're a ding-dunk guy. But Derek's not beautiful to watch. Aaron is. And so this is what I've said about this team. Aaron's 41-year old guy. He don't want to get hit. He didn't trust the Jets on line.

He got rid of it. He doesn't trust the Steelers O-line. He shouldn't. PFF this morning. Had the Steelers O-line under the Jets O-line last year and going into this season. He doesn't trust them. And he shouldn't. Defensive head coaches can struggle with O-lines.

Robert Sala, like him. Mike Tomlin, like him. O-Lines can't figure it out. McVeigh figures it out in an off-season. So does Andy Reid. So does Sean Payton. Sean Payton fixed the Denver O-line in four months. And so 41. year old wealthy quarterbacks, there are certain things that are true. They don't want to get hit.

And 61 year old rich guys, there are things that are true. They don't want to change their oil. They don't want to go to the DMV. They don't want to sit in coach on a plane. There are just truths about as you age if you are financially comfortable. Aaron, you don't want to get hit. And DK Metcalf is their only proven star receiver. So your team's are going to roll the coverage over and say beat us with scotty miller beat us with a run game trust your offensive line sit in the pocket like you can see what's going to happen here so as i've said before it's not right now the steelers defense which is good it's not great let's not kid ourselves it's it's not philadelphia last year it's not that good it's good tomlin's good at it's not

that good um is dominating erin in practice and i think a lot of this is errant's rich 41 one close to the end and he didn't want to address that offensive line he's not going to sit in there for an extra second an extra beat i don't blame him here's tomlin on the steeler's offense i just think as usual for this time of year um defense is usually developed a little faster than offenses um to get to know the cohesion that's required to be good um it's just a component of it and so no alarm bells there okay he's right for the record defense which is more about playing fast and blowing stuff up. It's, you know, they talk about this in baseball, like pitching can be ahead of hitting or vice versa.

Defense is usually ahead of offense. It's not in Cincinnati, by the way, with Joe Burrow, according to reports. But that's some of it. But I think the bigger picture is the reality of a 41-year-old who's recently had a big surgery with an O-line he doesn't trust, I would be the same way as Aaron Rogers. I'm not sitting in there for an extra second. J. Mack with the news. No, no, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news.

All right, Colin, let's get started with the Buffalo Bills. My pick to win the Super Bowl this year, just keeping that out there. Well, their nemesis in the postseason has been the Kansas City Chiefs who have eliminated them in the postseason four of the last five years. Bill's GM, Brandon Bean, says he can't focus on the past. He told the media, we just have to keep moving. moving forward to try to keep there. It's a play here or a play there.

We're close. We can't just prepare the team to beat the Chiefs. There are a lot of good teams in the AFC. I don't think we're far away. We just have to make a stop here or there. We haven't made the stop we needed. We feel like we've upgraded our defense for that reason. We've got to get key stops.

Hard knocks, by the way, Buffalo Bill's hard knocks. Josh Allen's impossible not to like. Here's an interesting stat. 18, Josh Allen has accounted for the most total touchdowns in the league. 262 to Mahomes, 259. So I think with Josh Allen, we can't hold his career to just, well, he doesn't have a bunch of trophies. He is an all-time player. He is an all-time talent.

Do you believe, and this is not a shot at Sean McDermott, who is more than capable? He is more than capable. If Josh got Reed and Mahomes got him. McDermott. You think Josh would have one? I do. Not saying he'd have as many, but he'd have one. So we have to contextualize all these quarterbacks. It is an advantage to get Andy Reed or for Bo Nix to get Sean Payton. It's absolutely an advantage. And I love Bo Nix. But do I think he would have done as well if he went to Atlanta, Rahim Morris? No, I don't. So when I look at Josh, I'm like, I don't really care.

I've never been a big stats guy. I don't really care. He's one of the three most talented quarterbacks in my entire life of watching football. That's how good I think he is. Well, I mean, so Dan Marino goes against Shula, and you're like, oh, that's a great parent. They still couldn't break through. You know, Josh has to, I'm not blaming the coach for all this. Some of them in the past, like last year, Colin, remember the playoff loss to the Chiefs?

They kept doing the brotherly shove, tush push. It wasn't working. That's bad coaching, right? It's not working. You hadn't prepped it. No, I felt like they were ad-libbing in a playoff game. We set it on the air. They did not.

Tom Brady was the best before the tush push. Tom Brady, obsessed with preparation. Was unbelievable on fourth down. Josh Allen looked like they were winging it. And so, yeah, again, this is not a knock. I think I like the owner of the bills. I like the GM. I like the coach.

I love the quarterback. But I do feel like we got to be honest. about this, who your coach is as a quarterback matter. Go look at John Elway. He got Mike Shanahan. They started winning Super Bowls. That's not to say that Dan Reeves wasn't a good coach. Mike Shanahan was a better fit as a coach. It could be, Colin, that against the Chiefs in January, everybody gets in their head a little bit too much. Remember the Ravens who had, I think, a top five running game two years ago. Stop running. And their game plan was let's throw the football. It was mystifying.

I think the running backs had like four carries, some ridiculous number. No, there's no question. Teams went into Foxborough and Brady's Prime, and they melted. Like they made mistakes that didn't normally make. There were many times. I felt New England wasn't as talented as the Baltimore Ravens team they played in the playoffs. How about Kyle Shanahan? Kyle Shanahan up 10 in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl

and just gag it away against the Chiefs back in Miami pre-COVID. Let's go to the next story. Oh, it's the Dallas Cowboys. Colin, Jerry and Micah's War of Words continues yesterday at camp. Jerry started telling a story about when he bought the team and how the deal went down, taking a shot at his star pass rusher in the meantime. Take a listen. I bought the Dallas Cowboys with a handshake.

It took about 30 seconds. And I gave the number of Shokans. The details we worked out later. As a matter of fact, one of the details involved a lot of money. We had to flip a coin over that, but the fundamental I'm buying and you're going to sell it to me for that range, that's done. And those are done with eye contact and handshake. In the case of a player contract, you have to have it in writing. All parties do.

We have a contract in writing, yet we're still talking about and renegotiating it. Colin, there's a report on the Internet that when Jerry bought the Cowboys, he took a horse and buggy to the meeting. when he had that handshake deal. Things have changed a little bit in the ensuing, I don't know, what, 87 years? Well, no, let me just say. Wait, you're not defending Jerry. No, not, I'm just saying

if, in fact, they did have an agreement. And they said, I mean, I've done this before, I'm not going to get into my stuff, but I've done this before where I've talked to somebody over the phone or I've met him and said, listen, here's the number, here's the years.

You want to do it? And I, and we don't, nobody. backstown. I've never had a boss back down if they agreed in a meeting. So if they did agree, you should have ethical values when it comes to that stuff. Not everything has to be down. And if they had a meeting or if they sat down and went years number guarantee and they made eye contact and shake hands. In my life, anytime I've agreed to somebody in person, nobody's ever backed out and I certainly haven't. That's not fair, Colin. Because Micah Parsons is not well-versed in contracts and the market.

That's not his job. His job is to play football. He can't go into a meeting and make some handshake deal on his contract with Jerry Jones, who's been negotiating contracts for decades. That's not right. To me, isn't Jerry trying to take advantage of his guy, Micah? Well, of course. Management always is. So that's wrong.

So you're siding with that? You're siding with management? Taking advantage is a little strong, but I think, you know, management. Jerry wants to meet you in person. He doesn't want the agent. Management always wants to meet you in person. They don't want to deal with the agent. I mean, that's the way it always works in every industry.

I cannot believe that you're even a little bit thinking Jerry's in the okay. No, I'm not. I'm saying I don't know what happened. If they met eye contact talked and agreed on something, I think that holds. But, you know, Jerry wants to, for the record, talk to the person. player individually and not the agent because he feels he can get a better deal. I've seen that happen a lot in a lot of businesses. I'll say that.

So he's trying to take advantage of his star. Let me tell you something. Billionaires are always trying to take advantage of millionaires. That's just the way it works. All right. You fight for the billionaires, buddy. I will back the little people. I will be a defender of the little guy like Michael Parsons, who's going to make $40 million

a year. Anyways, let's go to the final story, Colin. and, oh, the New York Giants, the G-Men. Oh, Malik Neighbors was a stud as a rookie. Well, guess what? Russell Wilson is really viving with his star wide receiver. Brian Daibble says the veteran quarterback has been a huge help to the young fellow. I think he's had a very positive impact on Malik.

They have a good relationship. They spend a lot of time in the meeting room, and then they spend time outside just in terms of body maintenance. how Russ takes care of his body, the things he's done to have a long career. Leaks kind of grab hold of that, asks a lot of questions, is very involved. I'm talking about Malik in the meetings, communicative. I think the biggest obstacle for the Giants is that schedule in the first six weeks. I've never seen.

It is easily the toughest schedule in the league in the first six to seven weeks. It's brutal. So even if they played well and executed, They could go 0 and 6. It's tough. So I know you're a big fantasy football guy. Neighbors was a beast last year. And I know nobody watches the Giants because they're garbage.

But I'm just telling you, if neighbors can be like Pickens was for Russ last year, they could start fairly well. Those two will have a connection. And the run game was kind of good with the young kid, I believe, from Purdue, Tracy. That was solid. They just don't have enough good players. And I think Brian Dable is a dead man walk. Yeah, tough schedule.

They're not without talent. Left tackle, receiver, offensive coach. I think they upgraded their O-line, pass rushers, Dexter Lawrence. They've got players. They're not without talent. Don't have a quote. Well, and also Philadelphia's got the best roster in the league, and they play them twice in division.

So, I mean, a lot of it is, in Washington's a totally different franchise. So the Giants are not without talent. They've got some. If they get a great quarterback in a draft, then it's, I don't think they're that far off. There are a couple of teams. The Giants are one of them to me. If they got a great quarterback, you'd look up and go, it's a viable team. I really do.

I believe that. I don't think they're that far away. Jay Mack with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd line news. You have worked so hard to get. Now has some equity now that you purchased it.

That's the part of the home you actually own and not the home. the bank. How do you turn that equity into cash? Go to rocketmortgage.com today. Rocket Mortgage LLC licensed in all 50 stage, Rocket Mortgage. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays at noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's us to Jonas Brothers. 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 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. 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, for 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 SportsSlice 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. 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. Genschen went. 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, Lena Rubakina 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, Up. I heart women's sports. Tonight, Christian Yelich and the NL Central leading brewers take on the Braves, starting at 7 p.m. Eastern, right here on FS1. So we've been talking, because we're talking so much Caleb Williams to start, it makes us harken back to the two young quarterbacks last year that crushed.

Jaden Daniels, Washington, Bo, Nicks, and Denver. And I'm going to get to the story in a second, which I think is really fascinating about why you should spend money on coaching and why coaching in college and pro, you're always better off to just pay the money for a really elite proven coach. But Bo Nix, as we talked about yesterday, is it's really good. And because he's in Denver and not in the NFC East, playing the Cowboys and the Giants and the Eagles, Bo Nix's season got a little bit lost. He had the most passing yards.

He had the most passing touchdowns. He had the most completions last year in a division that had better defenses than the ones Jaden Daniels faced. Steve Spagnol in Kansas City, Jesse Minner and the Chargers defense was top one or two in the league. So he got a little overshadowed, and from week four until the end of the regular season, he had 28 touchdowns, nine picks and a passer rating over 100. And Sean Payton says in this camp, he looks even better than last year. If you look at it, you got like these 12 seconds, you get the play, the cadence, the snap count, and then, you know, can you remind the back, hey, you might be the, you know, the little reminders, he's way much, I mean, he's light years further along. He's going well.

So there's another story today that I think is really important. Remember when the Chargers, you know, they were looking for a coach. and I said, just to solve all your problems at once, your defense is way better than it played, again, with Brandon Staley, go spend the money on Jim Harbaugh, go spend $20 million on the staff. And they went and got Jim Harbaugh, and instantly the culture was different. And I said the same thing with, you know, like Denver, either hire, they were going to hire John Harbaugh was getting talked about, or Jim Harbaugh or Sean Payton. Just there's certain things you should spend money on, mattresses and head coaches. With both, you'll sleep better at night. But there's a great quote here from Seth Wickersham about drafting Bo Nix when he drafted him.

And it says, I'll get criticized for taking Bo Nicks at 12. Peyton told Wickersham. I don't give a blank. Three years from now is what I'm worried about. And because Peyton is going to make it into the Hall of Fame as a coach, he can be more authentic and truer with his acquisitions and trades. Remember when Harbaugh got to the Chargers? Everybody's screaming, you've got to take a receiver.

Harbaugh's like, nah, I'm going to take Joe Alt. Well, you already got a great left tackle. Roshan Slater. Now I'm going to take Joe All. I'm going to take a right tackle. Nobody questioned it. The locker room, the front office, the ownership, galvanized, you trust Jim.

Young coach, right tackle over, you know, whoever the great receiver is. This is classic. That's why you spend the money on a Jim Harbaugh, or a John Harbaugh, or an Andy Reid. And remember, when Andy Reid goes to Kansas City, I mean, were there that many buyers on Alex Smith?

You know, like, and he just kept sticking with, Alex Smith. And he believed in Alex Smith. Well, if Andy does, I believe in him too. And that's like with Aaron Glenn. We don't know if he's any good. He's a good coordinator. We don't know. And so not only do championships validate you with Peyton and Jim

Harbaugh at college or pro, but I think when it comes to player acquisitions and draft picks, when you have the big name coach, it's easier to galvanize a locker room. It's easier to get the truck. of the ownership. Like I think, for instance, Kevin Stefansky's excellent. But I think Jimmy Haslam, I think a lot of times he's breathing down his neck. And I think Stafansky's great. So I think

you're allowed to take bigger swings when you pay for the big coach. I think you're allowed to be truer and more authentic to what you really need. But just Sean Payton, who's got a healthy ego and confidence, acknowledging in this story, acknowledging, oh, I'm going to get crap for this. Sean Payton saying, yeah, I'm going to have to endure this. I better be ready for it. It tells you the truth about the NFL is that how the media reacts has always mattered. I've seen this before. When I used to work in Connecticut, I would listen to WFA and very popular New York radio station.

There was no question that that radio station in its prime was absolutely listened to by baseball teams and football teams. There was no question. I can remember one time in particular, the Mets, everybody was banging on the Mets. It's like, you got to make a move, the Yankees are making move, and they went and got an outfielder. I think it was Jason, was it Jason Bay? I think it was. And he just didn't fit at the time. He didn't fit the Mets.

It wasn't going to be the fit, but they're like, I mean, I thought it was like, oh, you're just influenced by this powerful, highly listened to, highly effective. radio station. And I felt it all the time, that the GM listen. You know who, and I've been told this before. Owners listen to sports talk radio, and they read the columns. GMs are busy and often they don't. But the owners and the owner's friends do. So you get cultural buy-in when you get a Sean Peyton,

or you get a Jim Harbaugh. And I think there are just certain things I would never go cheap on. Head coach, mattress. You'll sleep better at night. all right um i i also think well by the way

if you've missed this this was from a couple days ago and i know in a summer in august everybody's listening patterns are different on this show i want to play this again um because i played it yesterday and he was on two days ago but i want to play this again Sean Peyton and he had texted me

uh and i've been up front with this Sean really liked bo necks he liked him a lot and Sean and I had talked about it uh i was surprised he took the Denver job but I had said before, Peyton's taken Bo Nix. It is, I just, listening to Sean over dinner, the 20 interviews I did with him, I know what Sean likes, and I knew what Bo Nix delivered. It was a perfect fit.

But Seth Wickersham came on the show and said, beyond that, there was a little secret sauce in why Sean Payton, like Bo Nix from Oregon. I sat down with Sean Payton, and this was in March of 2020. Everybody knew that the Broncos were in the market for a quarterback. He opened a folder, and there was all this data on the folder, and Bo Nix was at the top of the list. And I was like, what is this? And Sean Payton had developed his own analytics formula

to try to judge processing speed of college quarterbacks, and he started it back when he scouted Patrick Mahomes in 2017. And when he ran the 2024 quarterbacks through the formula, Bo Nix was by far the most efficient, and it wasn't even close. And Caleb Williams, by the way, was one of the last ones of the first round, of the guys who ended up going in the first round.

I thought that was the bite of the week on our show, that he had devised his own analytic formula. And for the record, Jimmy Johnson. Remember, Jimmy Johnson is the guy who developed his own draft chart. Like, what should we get if we make a trade? You can't just wing it. Jimmy Johnson, and teams still use it today, devised his own draft chart. I look at it often.

Like if I'm trading for a third rounder, what do I got to give up? And teams kind of just ad-libbed it until Jimmy Johnson created that chart. And again, it doesn't mean it's a perfect chart, but the things that matter to Sean Peyton, like when you have 12 seconds on the clock and you've got to call an audible and move a running back over to Chip Block, and you've got a rookie tight end, and you've got to make sure there's a lot of stuff you're looking for, and I think through the years with Drew Breeze,

I think probably Sean has certain things that matter a lot to him and that final 11, 12 seconds of the clock, the efficiency, and Mahomes was at the top of the chart, Drew Breeze would have been, and Bo Nix was, and that's why he drafts him. All right, Jay Mack, Joe Thomas stopping by the, my lead today was there is, There is a rising chorus of people that think Shadur Sanders starting Friday

is low-level sabotage by the Cleveland Browns. I mean, listen, let's remember. Tom Brady doesn't become Tom Brady if Drew Bledsoe doesn't get knocked the hell out by Mo Lewis of the New York Jets. And Brady goes in and the rest is history. Maybe Shadur gets his chance in the preseason, crushes it, and he secures the number one job. I will watch. I know that. 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. 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, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice 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 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. Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless. And at the French Open, only the toughest survive. I'd know. I competed there for decades. Join me, Renee Stubbs, on the Renee Stubbs tennis podcast for no nonsense breakdowns of the biggest matches, the toughest players, and the moments that define Roland Garris.

She's an outsider to win the French for me. And she likes Clay. Listen, Lina Rubakina is arguably the best player in the world right now. and I actually can win on any surface. Listen to the Renee Stubbs tennis podcasts on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHart Women's Sports. This is an IHart podcast.

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