The Herd with Colin Cowherd - THE HERD - Hour 1 - The Chiefs dynasty is close to the end, the Commanders will regress, Steve Wyche

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

Jason McIntyre fills in for Colin discussing Travis Kelce’s engagement to Taylor Swift and if this means the Chiefs dynasty is nearing its end as Kelce might be leaning towards retirement He argues the Washington Commanders will take a step back this season for one major reason Plus, he talks to Steve Wyche from the NFL Network about 49ers QB Brock Purdy and why he’s already established himself as an elite player in the NFL  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It's me, Jason McIntyre, filling in for Colin Cowherd. He is breathlessly. texting the updates about Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey. And I'm relaying them to Rachel Nichols, who I'm joined by again today. Rachel, no, Colin's not actually texting. I was going to say, I'm not sure this is quick. This is his last hurrah in, maybe he's on the golf course today. I don't. But Rachel and I listen, we've been hit with breaking news every day, so keep it locked.

I know. Who knows what's coming down. Now, we did get a little tease about some not great news, which will get you shortly. Kansas City Chiefs fans tune in. But I'm going to start the show, obviously, with the big news in sports. Travis Kelsey, Taylor Swift, engaged. Now, I know sports fans are already sick of it.

Their wives, their girlfriends, their sidepiece, and whatever, talking about... Hey, wait a minute. What kind of wedding dress is Taylor Swift going to wear? Do they get a DJ? Or do they do a band? Do they do an international wedding? And there's all this updates on all the celebrity websites and also sports websites talking about this union. And folks, I'm going to take it in a different direction because we do sports here on the show.

And I'm going to say, how does this impact the actual football product of the Kansas City Chiefs? And it keeps coming back to one thing that's fairly obvious that this has to be the last dance for the triumvirate of Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, and Travis Kelsey. right i mean you guys remember a few years ago baker mayfield led the nfl in commercials and on the field the product was not great well what are we doing with travis kelsey i mean he's talked about retirement he's among the league leaders in commercials he's a full-blown celebrity now okay he's engaged to the most famous woman on the planet and now they're going to be planning a wedding by the way side Travis Kelsey's dad gave a random interview to a Cleveland TV station. I don't know.

There's some kind of connection there. And he said, oh, yeah, basically they got engaged two weeks ago, which then makes you wonder about that whole podcast appearance. I don't know. Listen, there's just so much happening here. But guess what's not happening? Football. And I mentioned the last dance because Jordan Pippet and Phil Jackson,

they knew that that was it. It's over. on some level, guys, Patrick Mahomes has to know this is it. I mean, Travis Kelsey turns 36 in October. He's going into the final year of his contract. He's openly talked about retirement. I mean, he's laying the groundwork for a post-football career. I mean, he's podcasting.

He's in Happy Gilmore, too. By the way, just a quick review. I didn't think the movie was great. It was okay. But I did think Travis Kelsey was kind of good. I thought Bad Bunny was good. I didn't even know it was bad bunny. But, like, Travis Kelsey wasn't terrible.

And, you know, he's doing a lot of commercials. I have a feeling he's going to have a pretty lucrative post-football career. But that's post-football. We still have a season to go. And again, I don't think there are a Super Bowl team. I had them third in my Super Bowl tier yesterday. Shocker, Chiefs fans did not like that. But when you kind of drill down and start thinking, like, man, maybe this is a

this coming to an end. Every couple of years, Andy Reid, who by the way is 67 years old, he's talking about retirement. So, you know, if Kelsey and Reed walked away after this, it would not shock me. I think the dynasty is over. They had their shot in the Super Bowl. They got smashed. Folks, the Rishi Rice news that's emerging right now, you know, Adam Schaefter reporting looks like it's going to be the first six games of the season. That's putting even more pressure on Travis Kelsey, who, oh, by the way, is coming off a career low in receiving yards, touchdowns. Like, things are not looking great, especially for Shea Rice is cooked for the first six games. So I'm going to say, I know it's a saying, you know, don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.

That's how I'm feeling about this Chief's run. As you see Mahomes running around celebrating, they had a great run. It's over. And Travis Kelsey, you know, he can have a great swan song. I'm sure he's going to play better here. Listen, don't. When you run a mile and you're older, you know, you want to come out of the gate hot. No, I'm competing.

of a whoa, you're running out of gas quickly. Kelsey's going to have to step up here early in the season if for She Rice is indeed suspended for six games. I don't think this is going to go as great as everybody's predicting. I know they have Mahomes and they have Reed and they have Kelsey, but for how much longer? This is probably it. Now I'm going to shift my focus to a team I actually love, and that's the San Francisco 49ers. Another team that I had yesterday that was mildly controversial in my Super Bowl tiers. I had them in the first tier that was met with a lot of scorn and derision

on the internet, but that's what people do online. And the focus here is going to be a certain seventh round quarterback by the name of Brock Purdy. So our friend Albert Breer was at 49ers camp recently and he spoke to Shanahan,

Sala, Lynch, and Purdy. And Brock Purdy had a really interesting quote that jumped out and all the aggregators went wild. Here's the question. quote from Brock Purdy. I felt this pressure last season on myself to be a Superman type guy go out and make plays off schedule. And I did look and yes, his rushing numbers were up last season. A lot of that was running for his life because when you're a star running backs out and

your receiving rooms depleted, you know, you got to try to make plays. Now, I do need some context here because Brock Purdy last year was playing for a contract. He was making like $800,000 on that seventh round dead last pick in the draft rookie deal. And he was looking to get elevated to be a 40 or $50 million a year guy. Now more context needed. So this Niners team last year, we should have seen the drop off coming. Okay. They had a five-year run where they went to two Super Bowls and two conference championships. Purdy got hurt against the Eagles, the other one they lost, and the one year Jimmy Garapolo got injured and they missed the playoffs.

But I totaled it. 12 playoff games in a five-year span. So it's no surprise that half the defense was hurt last year, and you see guys dropping like flies. Twelve playoff games is almost another entire season. Remember the Golden State Warriors kept going to the finals and then really broke down rapidly. That was the Niners last year. But I've got a couple things about Brock Purdy that I'm going to hit you with now that are going to be a surprise. So the narrative was that, you know,

he wasn't good last year. And he was trying to be Superman. He was playing for a contract. And hey, as Colin likes to say, the weather was bad and Brock Purdy crumbled. Well, you know, I do not like the blind taste test when it comes to quarterbacks. I feel like it's cheap and people kind of cherry-pick stats. But I this morning, just looking at stats for Brock Purdy last year to go with these quotes, and then I looked at the leaderboard, I'm like, wait a, Brock Purdy was not that bad last year. So, folks, here is the first of two. I'm going to compare Brock Purdy to another quarterback in the NFL last year.

So you see it's passing yards, Purdy, plus about 100. Touchdown, interceptions, Purdy, more touchdowns, more interceptions. Yards per attempt. He was not a checkdown artist. 8.5, much better than this other quarterback and better in passer rating. Let's see who the other quarterback is. Oh, oh, Matthew Stafford, the much-beloved Matthew Stafford. I like Stafford.

I'm a Stafford guy. But Stafford wasn't great last year. So if Stafford wasn't great, how was Brock pretty awful? Okay, that's number one. Now, the staff came up with the second one. I don't know who this guy is was. I knew the other one was Stafford. So here are the numbers.

Stafford, again, more passing yards, more touchdowns, even interceptions, way better in yards per attempt and better in passer rating. Let's see who the quarterback was compared to Brock Purdy. Last year, C.J. Stroud? Oh, wait a minute. Brock Purdy in his down year was better than Stroud statistically and better than Stafford? What? So Brock Purdy wasn't bad.

Okay. Their staff is telling me right now, he has. have one more blind resume again this wasn't run by me so i have no idea who this guy is um touchdowns even yards per attempt edge to purdy um completion percentage dead even all right let's see who this quarterback is brock purdy versus oh my no is that justin herbert so so again we can bag on brock purdy all we want the numbers facts say he was better than justin herbert nat staff and C.J. Stroud last year. That's a bit of a boom. My kid likes to do truth bomb, you know, with the head exploding emoji. That's what I'm seeing there for Brock Purdy.

So we have Greg CoSell last week. Now, I was on vacation. Calhurt brought in Greg CoSell to take shots at Purdy. I don't know if he took shots. Here we go. In terms of being what we call a post-snap operator, in other words, when he takes the snap, He has such an intuitive feel for what he sees, and therefore he's a really, really good timing and anticipation thrower. It's just innate to him. He sees it really quickly. So Purdy is a high-level post-snap operator. He's a really, really good player.

Purdy is a really good quarterback. He's just not a dynamic athlete who's necessarily going to make those kind of special plays on his own. But as a pocket quarterback, he's pretty high level. Hmm, Cocell dropping a little truth bomb there on my guy, Brock Purdy. So I do want to say, I try to help you guys out, okay? Try to help you be a little smarter on the gambling front, the fantasy, the takes. And sometimes you don't want it or you want to just argue with me. Folks, just a few facts here.

The 49ers this season are favored in 15 of 17 games. 15 or set. They're going to be awesome. And the only two times are dogs. They're short road dogs against, I think it's the Rams and Bucks back to back. Okay? So they're going to be good. I don't care that you think, oh, the defense is washed, all these new guys.

They're going to be really good. Yeah, there it is. They're at the Rams and Bucks back to back in weeks five and six. They are slight dogs. That schedule is Cupcake City. Go find me the elite quarterbacks outside of Stafford on that list. And take your time because there aren't any. Folks, the Niners are going to be really freaking good last year.

Now, I'm going to be honest, if I asked you, the audience, give me the best offense and defensive coaching combos in the league heading into this season. And I'll give you one right out of the gate. Andy Reid and Spagnolo, they can be number one, okay? Who's second best in the league? If you want to say Sean Payton and Vance Joseph, I'm not going to fight you, okay?

I'll give you that. But I'll tell you right now, Kyle Shanahan and Robert Sala has to be top three, top four at worst. Okay? I know you're going to bag on Sala. Oh, it was a disaster with the Jets. Actually, guys, Robert Sala in two and a half seasons with the Jets, the defense, first in points per drive, first in EPA per play, third in defensive success rate. It wasn't Sala's fault as a defensive coordinator running the Jets D.

It wasn't on him. Aaron Roger stunk and he got hurt and the jets are a full-blown disaster top down every year. But it wasn't Salas' fault. I'm just telling you, the Niners are going to be really good. You can get on board early and do the victory lap with me come November when they're looking at a number one seat. Or you can just continue to have your opinion. Ah, Brock Parties a seventh round pick. He's garbage.

You know who you sound like? The guy who was bagging on Tom Brady early in his career. Oh, he's a game manager, J. Mack? He's not that good. Drew Bledso was the man. And you kept saying that about Brady until you just couldn't say it anymore. And he became the greatest quarterback in NFL history. Like, stop being wedded to your take.

Open your eyes. Brock Purdy last year. Better than Stafford, numbers wise. Better than Herbert. Better than C.J. Stroud. 49ers. Favored in 15 of 17 games. I'm telling you right now, get on board.

You don't want to be left. behind. Now, Rachel, I know that's a big plea to the audience. Hey, you can rock with me or you can just like argue with me, but I feel irrationally good. You're laughing. I'm laughing. I think you're right, first of all. And I'm laughing because for people out there who don't buy what you're saying, you said, oh, it's a cupcake schedule. It's the easiest schedule. It's 32. It's number 32. It is the easiest schedule in the NFL this season. My concern, and we talked about it earlier in the week, is just the injuries. I mean, that wide receiver. room has been decimated. And Christian McCaffrey's still healthy. That's good. He's made it through

preseason healthy. Yay. But, you know, we've talked about it that he is, I don't want to say fragile because no one who plays that position is fragile, frankly, but someone who has had an injury history, right? So you just kind of worry if some of those tools at Brock Purdy's disposal are going to be available, right? That's my concern. We need Brennan Ayup back. That would be nice if he could get healthy. It's not going to be immediate, right? So he's still recovering from the knee injuries. So, you know, it's one of those things where health and luck, as always, have to help these guys out a little bit. But if it's even normal health at luck,

which they have not experienced so far in the preseason, but hopefully once the season gets going, if they can just return to a normal amount of injuries, then I'm with you all the way. I think this will surprise some people. We talked about the NFC West. I am not as bullish on the Rams being, you know, I just, Stafford, I don't know if he's going to make it through the whole season.

So I think that we talked kind of by the 49ers. All right. I love agreement to start the show. All right, coming up next. Stat emerge yesterday on Rachel's commanders. That is going to surprise. I was stunned by this. Is it going to hold them back from the Super Bowl?

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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 a... 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 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, 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 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.

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Listen to Sports Slice 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. 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 business. man catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world. He doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey.

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Back here on the herd, got Steve Weish of NFL Network coming up in about 20 minutes. He's really locked in. Now, I know he knows the Falcons well. They had a big injury this week. Not great for my Falcons futures. But let's go to a team that someone actually cares about, and that's the Washington Commanders. What a story they were last year, right? You had the Daniel Snyder having to give up owner, he loses ownership.

You got the new group coming in, new front office, new quarterback, new coat, new everything. And it clicked on a level that, I mean, I can't recall seeing that rapid of a turnaround. Shout out to Dan Quinn, great job. But a stat came out yesterday about Washington kind of blew me. away. The Washington commanders now have the oldest roster in the NFL. And oh, by the way, it is the oldest roster in the NFL in the last 20 years. People actually track this stuff. I get it. When you are rebooting with a new owner, new front office, new coach, new rookie quarterback, you need some veterans. So last year, they brought in some veterans, you know,

Zach Ertz, linebacker, Bobby Wagner, who was ridiculous last year. He graded out as the third best middle linebacker in the league. Okay, he's like 34, 35. And that's, I don't mean to make, be like an ageist, but let's be real. Once you hit 30 in the NFL, outside a quarterback, you're getting old. And they brought in Austin Echler running back who's on the older side. This year they bring in Von Miller, Laramie Tunsell. Like, they're an older team.

Debo Samuel's kind of older. So they've got all these veterans. But then you start to look at the history of the oldest teams in the league. and it's not pretty at all. And you start to wonder, okay, so last year they got a little lucky, eight and four in one score games. It wasn't Kansas City Chiefs 11 and 0,

but eight and four is really, really good. And oh, by the way, they beat the Bears on a fluke Hail Mary. They survived the Saints on a two-point conversion deal. Remember, Jaden D'Nals was incredible in that game. Jane Daniels was pretty incredible all season. Okay? This stat is arguably like a top five stat from, last season in the entire NFL. So fourth down, if you can go 50, 60% on fourth down, that's amazing.

Right? You get every other fourth down you go for you. That would be incredible. The Washington commanders were 20 of 23 on fourth down last season, 87%. That is unsustainable. I don't know if that'll ever be matched when you look at the amount of attempts they had. 20 or 23, I would kill for that as my free throw percentage of my men's basketball league. Washington did that on fourth down. The highest leverage down, defense coordinators are empty in the kitchen sink on the blitz, a lot of pressure. 20 or 23 is ridiculous.

Can Jaden Daniels do that again? Probably not. And then you start to wonder, like, is this old roster like they got through last season? What happens if there's an injury to Bobby Wagner? What happens if there's Von Miller can't really be a factor? Zacherts gets banged up. These guys are getting older. And you start to look up it on the schedule

and you're like, oh, this is a very tough schedule. This is arguably a top five schedule in the league. You get the layup against the Giants early. It is a divisional matchup. Could be tricky, right? With the Giants front seven, maybe they surprise a hell out of you. But, I mean,

Packers, I think the Falcons are going to be good. You get the Chargers. I mean, Minnesota Vikings are going to be good. We know the Broncos are hella good. Detroit Lions, like that is a difficult schedule. And you start to wonder, all right, I know they were one and four against playoff teams last year, but who cares, Jay? And by the way, that one win was week 18 against Kenny or whatever, I don't know if it was

week 18. It was late in the season when Jalen Hertz got hurt and Kenny Pickett had to like fill in, like, guys, what are we doing here? Now, they did beat Detroit and Tampa in the playoffs. awesome but a lot of things are lining up to make it look like Washington could have could have a very difficult season ahead let's go to rachel with the news turn on the news this is the herd line news well we got breaking news you want a breaking news oh yeah yeah sure we got breaking news jason rishie rice was facing a potential suspension from the league for violating the personal conduct policy you may remember he has under the under

investigation for several felonies about causing an accident, racing at high speeds with a Lamborghini on a highway. Well, according to Diana Rusini, Rice has accepted a sixth game suspension from the NFL after they originally were looking to hand him 10 games. So he's decided to accept six. It says a couple impacts here, right, is that first of all, his arbitration hearing, if they had gone to that, if they really actually gone to the battle, it wasn't going to be until September 30th. So whatever games he had missed would have been in the middle of the season, or if the NFL had got it in his way almost to the end of the season, right? Yeah.

This way, he accepts the six games, which is better than 10. I think they had been looking for four, but better than 10. And it will start right at the beginning of the season. So we can see the schedule up there, Jason. You can see kind of how much that's going to hurt them. What do you think is going to happen with the Patrick Mahomes and the offense here? Well, I'm just looking at the depth chart. So Hollywood Brown listed as questionable. I feel like he came out of the wound questionable. Xavier Worthy is good, but he's more of a gadget guy. I don't think he's like a rice you can lean on him for 10 catches, right?

Yeah, and he's still, you know, young-ish, right? Youngish, yes. Travis Kelsey and Noah Gray then? Listen, man, I don't think this is going to be easy. They're running back room unchanged, really, Pacheco and Kareem Hunt. Rachel, again, I know I sound like a hater. I don't see this as going great this season for the Chiefs. Now, you could look at this as good news that they've now got an extra, what,

eight days to prepare, 10 days to prepare for week one, knowing Rice is not going to be there. Just pull them out of the game plan. Yeah. Can they go four and two without them, or is that too generous? I mean, if you look at their schedule, right, go back to that, then they start with the Chargers in Brazil. They're still going to be favored to win that game.

Yeah, Chargers play them tough, though. I know, but they're still going to be favored to win that game, right? They were facing the Eagles in week two, and they were favored in that game. game and now, I don't know, right? Yeah. Well, coming back, well, there's not a lot of data coming back from Brazil. What's that, what's that trip like?

Right. And then Giants, obviously, they should still win that game. Yeah. Right? Ravens, going to be very tough. Yeah. Jaguars, despite you deciding Jacksonville is one of the powerhouses of the NFL, mysteriously, we don't know why.

Yeah. They should win that game. Lions, I mean, it gets tricky. To be all right, three and three, four and two? Right. Somewhere. And now, they go five and one, lights out. You know, going to the playoffs, they're going to, you know, get excited.

But interesting how they don't have to go on the road for the Eagles or Ravens or Lions. Exactly. NFL did them a favor, huh? Wow. Tough games all in Kansas City. Maybe Sir Taylor could attend the games. Yeah, exactly. They want to make sure that they get her up there a lot.

Oh, I have math for you on that, by the way. She was on the podcast August 13th, and if you do detective work on when Kelsey's dad said they got engaged, that was a 10th. Maybe after the podcast debut? Maybe. I don't know. She did seem giddy on the podcast video. He did. I think it was right around the same time. There you go.

No Chiefs Red from Rachel today. Black for the few dollars. Exactly. All right, let's hit the Dallas. Drama continues around Michael Parsons' contract negotiations, no end in sight. The Cowboys kick off the season in Philadelphia for the first time Brian Schottenheimer actually admitted persons could be limited even if he does play a week one. Take a listen.

At the end of the day, as soon as he get out there, it's great. But again, there'll be a ramp up plan for him. And when he lines up out there to play, you know, do I think he would play 75 plays and every play? Probably not. You know, I don't think that that's real. But I do think that he can be very disruptive, like we all know. The best way to get good at football is to play football.

And so I would say as soon as possible would be the desired effect. The desired effect would be as soon as possible, Jason. So important to really take it. Yeah, yeah, definitely. We need him back. I know. My question for you, though, is so Dak Prescott signed on literally the day of the season opener. But he had been practicing the entire time, and he had no injury, right?

Micah purported to have had back tightness. He's now been medically cleared. We can decide how much of a negotiating tactic that was. but he hasn't practiced at all. That's a little surprising, isn't it? And so, well, I mean, not from his perspective, but yeah, so at what point would you, if you were coaching the Cowboys, and you had the balance trying to win a very big high-profile game, but also not wanting to get your 40 million-plus player hurt? What day would he have to return to practice for you to feel good about playing him,

even in a limited number of snaps the way Shottie's talking about? Man. So what do you say is limited number of stamps? Like situational, if it's third and seven or more, let's put him in, just go get the quarterback. You don't have to worry about the run game or that's a tough one. It's hard. The number he threw out there is like, oh, he's not going to play 75 snaps. Well, yeah, of course not.

But is he going to play, as you said, just on like sort of tricky third downs? Is it going to be a lot? 20 snaps? 30? Because you know the Eagles are going to identify, hey, he's on the field. He hasn't practiced it forever. He ain't ready. Let's go at him.

They only have three days of practice scheduled at home, and then they fly. Yeah. It's starting to seem like maybe he shouldn't even play if he's not back like by this weekend. Right. At those three practices, right? Yeah. I mean, I know he's been around the league, what, for four years, five years? Like, he can just go in and make plays.

It's physical, though. I mean, that's the question to me is physically, I mean, the thing you cannot have happen after all of this is for him to get hurt and miss a month, right? So I wonder, what do you, I would love to get Michael on your, hey, what's your workout like since you're not practicing with the team, they're out there grinding two a day's, you know, what exactly are you doing? I mean, your workout guide, like,

there's a huge difference between I lift some weights and I ran on the treadmill and actual live football. That's, yeah, so I don't know, maybe you're selling me, like, I don't know that he's going to play that much at all. Hey, Jerry, let's blame Jerry for this. Can we do that?

Of course. Why not? Play me to believe. Let's go over to the Bears. Ben Johnson has been looking to leave. leave his mark on their, his new team as he heats into the first regular season game. One thing he has talked about since the beginning of training camp, though, was the slow starts from the offense. And he said, it's more than just the quarterback. It's not Caleb. It's everybody. It's everybody. And it's coaches included in all this thing.

And so we're not pointing fingers. The whole thing is we just got to be focused. We've got to be intentional. We like to talk about, you know, if we get 70 plays in a game, those are 70 bullets for us to shoot off and we need each one account. We can't be missing. We can't be wasting. There are no breather plays in this league. Each thing is really important. The details are really important and I think it's going to add up and we'll be just fine. You buying that? I don't know. Rachel, I don't want to be body language expert guy. But if you look at all these Ben Johnson clips all summer, he doesn't seem like happy. He seems like tight. And you don't see a lot of smiling. He almost looks frustrated.

Am I reading too much into that? No, I think you're right. I mean, look, I think he's a high-intensity guy. Maybe he, yeah. But I asked you guys this morning in the meeting, have we heard him sort of wax poetic about Caleb Williams ever? Has there ever been sort of a like, man, I really see a lot in him. He still needs some polishing.

But I haven't listened to every single quote this guy has had after every single practice. So that's more why I'm asking the question. But he has not projected overall a lot of positivity about the, the quarterback he's working with. And I just wonder, in a new head coach quarterback relationship, there's no question that Williams has a history of starting slowly. And this is exactly what he's talking about. This is a lot different than Jared Gough.

Yeah. He's starting to get bad vibes about the Bears. Maybe I'm being too negative. But, you know, football war analogies. Like, it's different being like a lieutenant and a general. He is in charge of everything. In Detroit, it was just Jared Gough. Like you said, and the office.

I could create some jazzy plays and hook and ladders. That's easy when you've just got one thing to focus on. But this is like I got to deal with the media every day. I've got to deal with my quarterback. What's going on with special teams? And maybe that's why he is not really seeming like he's having fun? I don't know. I mean, this is a problem.

They have to clean it up. Last season, the Bears ranked 30th in terms of slowest starts in the NFL. So you can't start that way. Yeah. Oh, that's not. Any of those teams good? That last preseason game, they were down 17-0 before they scored finally a field goal. Yeah, not ideal.

I just don't think this is a playoff team this year. You got them in the playoffs or no? I don't. Yeah, I don't. Yeah. But, you know, Collins in Chicago, he might have a different story. Rachel with the news. Well, that's the news.

And thanks for stopping by. The Hurd-Lie News. All right, coming up next is this really the end of the Chiefs with Travis Kelsey likely bouncing after the season. And who blinked first in Dallas? That's next. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, it's us, the Jonas brothers.

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

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. Well, 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 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 type.

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

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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,

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I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross,

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as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast. Learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Back here on the herd. Let's bring in Steve Weish, NFL reporter, NFL Network.

He's been there since 2008. Steve, thanks for joining us on this day with more breaking news involving the chiefs. This is actual on-field product as opposed to the Kelsey Swift engagement. But obviously, the Rishi Rice news just broke. I'm curious, A, your reaction. What do you think the impact will be on Kansas City's offense? Yeah, my colleague Tom Pelliserro broke that. And what's interesting, remember, he had a date set for late September, right?

So that would allow him to play, find out his fate, all of this stuff. By now he's getting this out of the way. So he's suspended for six weeks, according to Tom. He'll be able to come back in week seven, and then they can get rolling. So that allows the chiefs on the field to kind of. set their rotation and everything from now. It allows Rice not to go back and forth. Like we've seen some players go back and forth in the past. Are they going to play again? Remember with Zeke Elliott? Are they not going to play? So that just clears a hurdle of the unknown.

So we'll see how Rishi Rice, who's a valuable part of what they do, how he figures in when he comes back midseason. But again, for the Chiefs, football-wise, it just allows him, let's establish this. This is out of the way. Now, all of the way. now all sides can function, kind of knowing what is there. Yeah, it's weird. Rice, he hasn't played enough for us to know if he's great, but in that one season, he kind of popped.

He looked like he had top 10 receiver potential, right, with the speed and the strength? Yeah, I mean, he helps up what they like to do in that offense, right? Remember, he does the up-the-scenes stuff. He kind of helps Kelsey clear things out in that middle of the field. Plus, you could tell him a Holmes really likes him. I mean, they've got a chemistry there. I think they're both Dallas area guys, Texas guys, and they train a lot in the offseason together.

So that chemistry helps. And so not having him, they knew it was a possibility. They didn't have him most of last year. They worked around it. So now they'll work around it again, find a way. And when he comes back, it could be kind of a cherry on top type of thing. Now, last year the receiver room was not great. Certainly bottom half of the league.

Now you're looking at Hollywood Brown, Xavier Worthy, Juju Siss Schuster. Does this put more pressure on Travis Kelsey, who, oh, by the way, is 35 and almost 36? No, I mean, look, the Chiefs do what they do. Last year, the issue wasn't so much the receiving court, but it was the offensive line.

I mean, they just didn't play well. They had issues that left tackle. Then they moved Tune out from guard to tackle some uncertainty at that guard spot for a while. I think if that part is solidified and we know they did some things to try to change that offensive line, including drafting someone in the first round, if that part

solidify, the chiefs are going to do what they do. I mean, as long as you got number 15, if they've got a dink and dunk, they'll do that, they're going to stretch the field here and there, they'll do that. So I don't think it's so much on Kelsey and that receiving crew as he is on the guys up front to let that offense function the way Andy Reid wants it to function. So let's go to Kelsey real quick. Obviously, you know, he's a celebrity now. He was in a movie.

He's podcasting. He's engaged to Taylor Swift, also entering the final year of his contract. He's talked about retirement in the past. He's talked about all the surgeries he's had. we would, it's safe to assume this is his last ride. And I'm just curious, do you think, you know, Andy Reid is 67? There's been speculation previously whether or not he hangs them up. I mean, is there a world where this is really the final run for Reed Mahomes and Kelsey together?

It could be. I don't envision it. I mean, knowing those guys as much as I do, I mean, maybe Travis steps away. I'll tell you this, he's got his body really together. I saw him some stuff this offseason. He looks different. He looks fresh. Maybe not that he's engaged.

You know, he's going to be super fresh. I don't know. But with Andy Reid, he seems someone to me like he just, I don't know what he would do without coaching. And I just think that's kind of something he hangs on to because he knows he impacts lives in a lot of ways besides just on the field. And with his staff. And, of course, Patrick Mahomes is going to be there. So I don't envision it. That's not to say it couldn't happen.

But right now, I don't see Andy Reid saying, you know what? this is one last rodeo. We're going out. Let me pivot to Brock Purdy, if you don't mind. I am a Brock Purdy guy. I think he's undervalued significantly. He had a quote to Albert Breer saying he tried to do too much and be Superman last year. I mean, Steve, their whole team was banged up.

He's playing for a contract. I think he can be Superman. I mean, we have a couple years worth of data on this guy. He's really good. Is he not? I'm with you. I've been a Brock Purdy guy ever since he can. in midstream as a third stringer against the dolphins and put up numbers like he'd been playing

all the time the third stringers don't get reps so the fact he played that way showed me he's got something to him i could see him trying to overextend himself last year because there's a certain standard with the 49ers and with you know Trent williams down debo samuel down brandon i you know not having a good year brandon i yuk down a lot of defenders down this just wasn't the same team so a lot of times guys are going to try to do more than what they're not necessarily capable of doing, but do more than what they should do to live up to the standard that's been set. I think this is a reset with some of the changes on that roster on both sides of the ball, with a new receiving crew, and with CMC back, the opportunity is there for Bach Purdy to do some big things.

I think this is kind of a refresher for the 49ers. I don't know if they'll be dominant early, but we'll see if they gain some traction and get going as the season goes along. but I think Purdy is the least of their worries. I think he's kind of the North Pole that everybody can kind of look to to guide them, to guide them through it. I like that. I don't want to be body language expert guy

when it comes to Ben Johnson, but Steve, we keep seeing video of him at the podium looking unhappy. Now, maybe he's a serious guy, first-head coaching job. He wants to look like a, you know, a tough guy who's really locked in, but it doesn't seem,

and it's early, like things are going great with him and Caleb Williams. Rachel had a good point earlier that he's not praising Caleb a ton. And a lot of it is criticism. And I don't know. Caleb is a little fragile. We had the stuff from Seth Wickersham about how, hey, he didn't want to go to Chicago in the first place. What do you make of all this? Well, I didn't see Bill Belichick ever very happy. I know Andy reads a nice guy, but he's not the most jovial so in terms of how guys appear at the press conference,

I don't really know. You know, having been in these situations, it's like the meeting rooms and stuff. If a coach is like glazing you up or are beating you down in front of the team in the meeting rooms and really humiliating you in front of your peers, that's where things really tend to ruffle feathers. Now, some guys, you know, get bent out of shape by what said in the media. But I don't know Ben Johnson. I've been around him.

but he's just an intense guy. They're an intense coach. You've been around Sean McVeigh, that dude never relaxes. Now, he is kind of captain positive. Yes. But, you know, there's just different coaches

with different styles. And Ben Johnson's got my benefit of the doubt until he doesn't. So we'll just, we'll see how this works out. I do think, you know, and I heard the quote that he said, it's going to take a minute

for this entire offensive going. They've got a new offensive line, a lot of new pieces. It's going to take a minute. But once they get it going with Ben Johnson, with what he did in Detroit. Defensive coordinators fear some of his scheming.

We'll see if it translates now that he's in this new role. I love to ask you guys in the media. You go to camps, you talk to people. I mean, we're just out here blathering. Is there a team that you see that's maybe undervalued with respect to what everybody else is saying? I want that team to be the Atlanta Falcons, a team you know well.

They got an injury on the line this week that's really bad. Is there a team that you've seen that you think, hey man, nobody's really talking about X. I think they could pop. It's the team that's in Atlanta's conference, and that's Tampa Bay, the team that's won the division. I don't think we talk about them enough. Roster-wise, they are solid pretty much through and through. But when we talk about teams with a culture, that's a team that's got a culture.

We don't talk about it. There is a standard there now in Tampa Bay. When new players come there, they understand defensively, you better be physical no matter what you do. offensively. You better be precision on time. And we talk about how, you know, first Dave Canales and Leon Combe got the best out of Baker-Mayfield. Maybe Baker is the kingmaker.

I think Tampa Bay is a team that we better start paying a lot more attention to just because they've got something institutionally now that's been in place for four or five years that we've neglected. I didn't think

about that. Maybe Baker's the guy, not all these coaches that they keep cycling through. The Baker story is fascinating, how he was kind of kicked to the curb in Cleveland. It was over, and then he was Rams, and there was one other team, and now he's like a full-blown pro bowler, right?

He's legit, and when you got Mike Evans, and you draft Abuka, who all reviews out of him coming out of camp, had been great, you know, with Godwin on the shelf to start the season, he's got an opportunity to keep doing some things. And look, he's kind of started this thing. you see Gino Smith kind of following there.

Can Sam Darnold following there in Seattle where maybe it's more you get the talented player in the right situation and then that talent can start to shine as it meshes with what they do mentally and the confidence fact. Yeah, it's similar to Brock Purdy. Like nobody viewed him as being a guy

who could put up these numbers and take a team to the Super Bowl, put him in the Shanahan offense. Hey, that's fitting. Same with Lamar Jackson and Baltimore, right? By the way, who do you have coming out of the AFC, Steve? Well, I love Baltimore. I mean, that's just a team.

And, you know, spending some time at training camp. And I've probably been with the Ravens like the whole time. You know, you've got the Chiefs, you've got the bills. But the Ravens are just so complete. I think the fact that their defense has its footing. Remember last year they started with a lot of question marks. The offensive line started with question marks. Those are solid right now.

So I think they could continue to rock and roll with Lamar doing what you. Think about that. 41 touchdowns, four picks, and he wasn't the MVP. Amazing. Steve Weish, NFL network. Great stuff, Steve. Keep up the good work. Love your work.

Appreciate you guys. All right. Steve Weish, excellent reporter. The Ben Johnson stuff is interesting. Rachel made me think. Now, Steve's got me. I don't know. Could go sideways in Chicago.

What do we do at second hour, Rachel? How are we getting in trouble here? Will there be more breaking news? Yeah. Are we actually doing more breaking news? More? Yeah. You got to wait to get there, though.

This is making life so easy. All right. We'll be back. Hour number two. Is there a college football team ready to do the unthinkable? That's next. 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. Nice. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it.

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We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the ice. 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, 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 headlines. 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. on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slicelife 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Winning on Clay is an art. The rallies are relentless.

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