The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Herd - Hour 1 - What will the Giants do?

Episode Date: July 17, 2023

The Giants are trapped by Daniel Jones' new contract and may eventually lose a valuable player in Saquon Barkley because of it DeAndre Hopkins choosing to sign with the Titans over the Patriots and what this says about the current state of Bill BelichickSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It is the herd, wherever you may be, and however you may be listening. Thanks for Megan S, part of your day, one hour from now where Colin was right, where Colin was wrong. There is plenty of both. J-Mack filled in very capably on Friday with Alex. I appreciate that. Got some sun over the weekend, hung out in a lake yesterday. What did you do this weekend? Let's see.

Welcome back my family after a two-week excursion and took my kid to camp, which is always a fun, fun experience. Play a little volleyball on the beach. Where were you? Oh, it was Barry and I was on a lake in Utah with some fam, and it was absolutely stunning. Not a cloud in the sky, nothing better. Inter tubing and trying to wake surf and that didn't go well. I'm sore this morning. Nice.

So today's a big day for the New York Giants. If by 4 o'clock Eastern, 1 o'clock our time, they don't come to a long-term agreement with Saquan Barkley, their star running back, he's franchise tag. That's an NFL rule. They probably have to sign him to a long-term contract. That's what they're doing today. So Daniel Jones' worst year, lowest passer rating, was in 2020. That was the year that Sequewan Barclay played like a game and was hurt.

So the giants, and by the way, this is what happens when you have a very average quarterback that you've committed nearly $40 million a year to. And for you to be good, he has to flourish. And they're totally dependent on Sequin Barclay being here. In fact, we have a graph that we'll put up right now last year. I mean, this is the, what, fourth year of Daniel Jones. Justin Herbert, Burrow, Mahomes, they pop early. Jalen Hertz pops in year two.

four years in, if he has less than 100 yards rushing behind him, he's bad. 86 pass-a-rating, 5, 7, and 1. He is totally dependent on a run game, and Seyquan Barclay's obviously great. So this is really, though, the Giants are, and I know you think I'm picking on New York, but it is again an illustration of why New York teams are always seemingly for the last decade a mess. They've got lots of money. They think they can buy championships.

But the Giants had an owner, and it looks like, though it will be denied, that he meddled in these negotiations and signed him to a long-term deal because he looks like Eli Manning and had the same college coach as Eli Manning. And he can sense Eli Manning. And Eli Manning took a while to get going. But Eli Manning was a lot more talented college quarterback than Daniel Jones. Now, this is also a Giants team where the coach and the GM currently both very good are trying to recover from a previously incompetent head coach. an incompetent general manager. And it's also a roster, Jets, too, where most of your talent is on the wrong side of the ball. But at least the Jets go out and get Aaron Rogers.

The Giants are now stuck with Daniel Jones. Add in, and you see this all the time with New York team's unrealistic expectations, the over-under for the Giants is a very reasonable seven and a half wins. I bet the under. Seven and ten, I'd bet the under. My guess is J-Mack would bet the under. why are they in this mess? Because Dave Gettleman tried to buy a bunch of players and almost none of them worked. So smart teams like the Chiefs come in and get Tony, he'll be highly

productive, and the Giants couldn't figure out how to make it work. Welcome. The baseball teams, the Yankees are now tied for last place. The Mets are unraveling. Huge payrolls. Nobody can hit. Your basketball team, the Brooklyn Nets, was a disaster. They tried to buy relevance. Classic New York. and the Jets are trying to get Aaron Rogers to solve their long issues. They haven't been to the playoffs longer than any other team, and that includes like Washington, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago. And their NFL teams basically are both rebuilding, but neither wants to admit it. So what the Giants really are, and it's a bad place to be in sports, they're trapped.

But in the NFL, it's the weakest players union. And so you've got to be poorly run to get trapped. Like in baseball, there's nothing. than you can do. If you want Mookiee bets, you better sign a 10-year deal. If he gets hurt three years into it, what are you going to do? In the NBA, again, the players union, the players have more power. Same in international soccer. But in football, you can get rid of anybody. Could have gotten rid of Tom Brady in his prime and it wouldn't hurt you that much for more than a year. New England for 20 years never got trapped. They moved off players constantly. By the way,

the Kansas City Chiefs, Orlando Brown, see ya, Honey Badger, see ya, Tyreek Hill, see never got trapped. The Giants are in the place. You should never get in the NFL. There's no excuse for it because it's not a terribly strong players union. You can identify talent because unlike basketball, you get three and four years of videotape. You should do your homework and have fewer whiffs in the draft. NBA teams get, you know, one year a college video, high school video becomes important.

I understand whiffs in the NBA. There's no reason to whiff constantly on draft picks. no reason to overspend in free agency. It's not a strong players union. You shouldn't get trapped. And here the Giants are. Today, absolutely trapped. So they're going to have to sign a running back who I like a lot with a history of injuries

to a big contract or else they'll franchise tag him and he's not going to be happy. And this all started with reaching for a quarterback who sort of looked like Eli Manning, who had the same college coach as Eli Manning, and they took a big swing and they reached. and everybody knew they reached, and now they're four years into it, five years into it, and trapped. There's really no excuse for it. The good NFL team, by the way, Philadelphia Eagles, they bottomed out for a year. Boom, back on top. Rams, Super Bowl, bottomed out.

This year's draft, replenishing, probably a year away. They'll be fine. That's the way it has. It's okay to bottom out. But there's no excuse to be where the giants are. And I think because you have an average quarterback that you've put basically $37 million a year into because he won a couple of games against the Vikings awful defense, now you have to sign Sequin.

That's not where you want to be in this league. I mean, the Kansas City Chiefs had a running back who they were disappointed with. They went and got a one in the seventh. They move off Tyree Kill, Orlando Brown, Honey Badger. So we'll keep you updated on the Giants, though. My guess is they're going to have to sign Sequan Barkley because he doesn't want to play in a franchise tag. Daniel Jones without Sequin Barclay, this is a bad football team.

It really will be. Their talent's almost all on defense. All right. So I saw this yesterday, and we kept going back and forth on this. DeAndre Hopkins was down to New England or Tennessee. And I think, you know, a good player, he's not Randy Moss anymore, but he's a good player, is going to go to a good coach and a pretty good organization. So he should help them win another game in a wonky division.

but it's more of an indictment on New England. Think about this. So I'm a star receiver and you know in the NFL you're as good as your wide. Even Larry Fitzgerald's numbers came down when the quarterback position wasn't as good. Look at Randy Moss, how great he was. Look at his numbers with Tom Brady. Look at his numbers elsewhere. So DeAndre Hopkins did not choose Belichick, you know, with six, seven Super Bowl rings,

did not choose offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien, who won. a division with Brock Osweiler. He didn't choose Mac Jones, a first round pick who's clearly their number one quarterback. No, he chose Tennessee with a shaky offensive line, running back dominant, and you have no idea what the future is at quarterback. Will Levis, Malik Willis, Ryan Tannahill, and yet Vrable sold him on it. And that's all this was. Free agency is salesmanship.

It's a little bit like college football inserted into pro football. Mike Frable's younger than Belichick, probably a little less rigid, former player, and he sold him. And I don't think, we're not talking about DeHop is, is going to change everything. But if you told me DeAndre Hopkins, now with Trey Berks, is worth a game in that division, the difference between 9 and 8 and 9 that got a very good defense, that's the difference between not making the playoffs and making the playoffs. It's a weak division. There's only one weak division in the AFC.

The other three, AFC East, AFC North, and AFC West are stacked. Okay, stacked. So New England really needed him. Tennessee needed him. And Tennessee got him. Patriots paid $33 million potentially for Devonte Parker three years. Titans paid $32 million for the much better wide receiver for just two years. They don't like it.

They can get out of it. So I think Tennessee wins here. And it is just incredibly hard. This is not a strong opinion. This is obvious for all of us. It's hard to win in 2023 without weapons. New England has none. I mean, if the Patriots were a car, they'd be a stock-based model.

You know what I mean? No key fob. Have to roll up your own windows. You'd be driving on four spares. I mean, there's just nothing there. Juju Smith-Schuster should be a three. That's what he was at Kansas City. Sometimes a two.

So it's a, I mean, you're talking about. Dihot may not be Randy Moss, but at least he's power steering. He's fresh new tires. He's automated. To me, this is more of an indictment on New England again. Can't sell their vision offensively. I mean, Bill O'Brien got to the playoffs four different times. Belichick's a legend.

Mack Jones, say what you want is clearly the future at quarterback. They couldn't sell that over a run. I'm a wide receiver. a run dominant team with most of their talent, overwhelmingly their talent on defense, and they don't know what the quarterback is by November. And then they won. So I think, you know, in that, there's only one weak AFC division. Does D-Hop equal one more win?

I think he does. I think he takes them from 8 to 9 or 9 to 10. And that's why, you know, we're all looking at these great divisions in the AFC. But the truth is the NFC South is a hot mass. And the AFC South isn't much better. So the wildcard team may very well come from those divisions if you can get to 10 wins. So I think it's a fairly substantial move. Not a great player.

He's a good player for a team that desperately needed another receiver. All right. Good to have you in today. NFL scouts, GMs, coaches are ranking the top 10 quarterbacks. And boy, what a good day for JMAC on that one. What a day for JMAQ. Isn't it nice, even when family's gone for a while? Isn't it nice to have the family back?

It is excellent to have the family back. You know what's even better? I just looked at the Tennessee Titans last year. I'll give you a fun little test here. What was her record against playoff teams last year? Tennessee Titans were DeAndre Hopkins going because he thinks they have a chance to win. Well, generally, Vrable's good against playoff teams. Generally.

Generally. But last year, they probably, I would guess, two and six. Close. They were 0 and 9 against playoff teams last year. Oh, and 9. And he chose them. Yeah. Because they gave them the money.

Well, if you and I were receivers, I would go quarterback, O-line, and hopefully you're not run dependent. Because $6 million for D-Hop salaries and bonuses, I would not, New England's not run dominant. They don't have a star back. They have good backs. New England has a better offensive line than Titans. And a clear picture of quarterback, not as run dominant, and needs him arguably more.

At least Trey Berks feels like he could be a one this year. They don't have a one in the building in New England. It's weird. We hear about all the NBA office. offers that are out there. What is people offering for Damien Liller? We still don't know what the Patriots offered DeAndre Hopkins. Are we going to get that number? Because it's pretty clear it was much lower than, you know, the 26 mill over two years. That's why Vrable could be a college coach. You got to be able to sell occasionally. Doesn't take

that many players, but three or four times a year a coach has to put on the college football coach hat and sell. Nope. Listen, they're going to be competitive with Jacksonville in the division. That went down to the final week of the season, remember? Yeah, no, I mean, I say He doesn't have to be. I'm not looking for a superstar, but for that team that's got some elements, he wins a game for them. 80 catches, 1,000 yards, maybe 7, 8 touchdowns?

Is that reasonable? In that division, that wins you a game. That's the difference between 9 and 10 in and out. Yeah. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1, and the I-Hard Radio app. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not

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So executives in the NFL, coaches in the NFL, scouts in the NFL. At ESPN, Jeremy Fowler ranked the top 10 quarterbacks for 2023. I agree with most of them. The top three, I totally agree with. Mahalmsboro, Josh Allen would be my top three. They have Dak Press got at nine. I have him closer to 10, 11, 12. but it goes Mahalmsboro, Allen, Aaron Rogers, Herbert,

Hertz, Lamar Jackson, Trevor Lawrence, DAC and Matthew Stafford. I keep saying, folks, Stafford a year ago was great. Bad old line got hurt, he's good. They got Dak a little high. But the one that I think's really high is Aaron Rogers, who's off his worst year and now no longer moves. He doesn't want to get hit.

And I get it. I wouldn't want to either. But it is funny that scouts and GMs and executives and often coaches fall in love with just talent. And I've argued for years that quarterback is 50% talent and 50% intangibles. If it was just talent, Dak Prescott's not in the league and either is Kirk Cousins.

Right? Like, Dak Prescott is all about intangibles, almost all of it. But there's a reason that Dan Marino, with the winning as coach in league history, an absolute legend, had one Super Bowl trip lost in 17 years. And John Elway went to five. They were both talented.

Marino threw the prettiest ball to this day I've ever seen. Aaron second. And people were mesmerized with Dan Marino and they're equally mesmerized with Aaron Rogers. Combined, 32 years, two Super Bowl trips, one win. I don't think it's a go into this. I don't need to get personal, but there were things about Marino that I thought he was so far behind Elway, it wasn't close. Elway didn't even get along with his first coach. His first team was mostly all defensive stars.

he had average offensive players mostly around him his entire career. Five trips to the Super Bowl. Marino won with a legendary head coach from day one. Aaron's been in the league 15 years, always had offensive coaches. One trip. Frankly, hasn't been that close that many times. So between the two of them, the two prettiest balls I've ever seen, absolutely Marino and Aaron Rogers, and people in this league get mesmerized.

But look how many times Elway and Montana and Burma, Brady got to Super Bowls. Tom almost got to one every two years. Twenty-three years, ten trips. I'm not saying he's not talented. Brady's talent's always been better than anybody wants to acknowledge. He's got a way better arm than people would acknowledge. He was drafted by a major league baseball team due to six five. Great technique. Super smart. But a lot of Tom's success and frankly, a lot of Montana success. Teammates loved him. Teammates adored him. Walked into a room, had everybody's attention. And so prettiest ball in the league carried Marino forever until a coach Dave Wonstadt had to say it's over and he didn't like it. And Jimmy Johnson had to say the same thing.

And Dan didn't like it. You know, Jimmy and Dan Marino did not get along because he had to tell him the truth. And I think Green Bay kind of had to tell Aaron the truth. Aaron, you're prickly. You're not committed. The leadership thing, the coaching thing. You've gotten super expensive. Probably not going to work here.

But the intangible part of quarterback is completely undervalued. If it was just talent, 32 years, Marino and Aaron Rogers have more than two trips to the Super Bowl. And don't blame lack of surrounding talent. Marino had good players around him. Aaron never had a bad offensive line. He got the Bonte Adams, Donald Driver, Jordy Nelson, Greg Jennings, plenty of talent. And he ended his Green Bay run with top running backs, too, as well. J. Mack with the news.

No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. We had a lot of fun last week with the Justin Jefferson top five quarterback list where he left his boy, Kirk Cousins, off. I saw that. Jefferson had Mahomes, Rogers, Burrow, Hurts, and Allen. Yeah, he really can't complain. But we did quibble whether or not it was just not cool to leave off your quarterback.

Right. So Kirk Cousins was asked about Justin Jefferson's list, and here we go. I didn't even see it. This is the first time I'm hearing about it. As a competitor, yeah, you always want that. People have to be honest and share what they think, and I'm not going to tell somebody what they need to think. And hopefully in 2024, I'll be on his list.

We'll see what we can do this year. I don't know. You buy that? I didn't see it. I do. Oh, please. He's very much a family guy. Oh, he goes to church.

He hangs out with family. He's not a guy where... He doesn't turn on the TV in the summer, right? He's not... His generation. may not watch TV. I think he's very much into his family and his current family, his parents, I think Kirk's not

into that social media nonsense. Good for him. I don't think he, there's a lot of people out there. Remember, 23% of the country's on Twitter. 77% are not. They're not out there watching all this stuff. You and I have to because of our jobs. I think Kirk Cousins, I've always said, he's DAC without the brand, is that he's very capable, very good guy, very much an adult, never gets me in trouble.

Don't see him like going toe to toe with the grates and out dueling him. But I don't think he spends a lot of time worrying about what others think of him. It's possible that he's not online. I jumped on Twitter this weekend and I was like, it's dead here. His Twitter turned into MySpace. Did Zuckerberg kill it? There's no topics, no anything. It was just kind of weak.

Well, it's the summer. It's fair. And there's nothing going on. And Twitter's driven by politics and sports. And Hollywood. Hollywood's on strike. There's no sports. and no politics.

There's no sports. What are we doing here? We're doing a sports show every day. We've got juicy topics. We've got fun stuff. We've got to make up juice. So let me ask you. Vikings fans, you know, Ear Muffet for a second.

What is there over under? Nine and a half? Whatever it is, it's too high. Where's Kirk Cousins playing in 2020? I can see somebody doing a Jimmy Garapolo and absolutely giving him a two-year deal. Absolutely. I don't think he's getting... You know the two-cors.

Francisco gets discussed a lot. But if you bring it... Well, there's another one. What's the other one? What plays out here? So Kevin Clark came on my podcast and he's like, you know who loves Kurt Cousins? Every time you talk to him, McVeigh and Shanahan love Kirk Cousins. They both had him in Washington.

He does, he's coachable. He doesn't get hurt and he delivers strikes. But, you know, I'm not... It's weird how Kirk Cousins is like considered mid, as the kids like to say. Well, guess what? If Shanahan and McVeigh like him a lot, that's a lot. That says something to me about Kirk Cousins. Those are two of the best offensive minds in the league.

People get upset when I criticize Dack, and people equally would mock me if I complimented Kirk Cousins. We put something up three weeks ago. I had somebody reach out to me. They're literally the same quarterback. I mean, literally, completion percentage, TD interception ratio, passer rating. The difference is DAC has had a better O line in his career.

That's the difference. Yeah. They both had some star running back. and star receivers. So Kirk Cousins, at this point, I think Dax's a little overvalued and Cousins is undervalued. They're the same guy. I would take Dack in a big spot. But I also watched last year, Kirk Cousins go into what Buffalo and literally go toe to toe with Josh Allen. It was one of the best games of the year last year. So don't tell me Kirk Cousins can't play. Have you ever hypnotized anyone on this show? Ever in your radio career. No, I have. I would just love to hear like,

McVeigh truth serum on Kirk Cousins. Like, why do you like him so much? What is it? Like, we know what you like, but like, like, a lot of people just don't think Cousins is that good. Yet McVeigh and Shanahan absolutely adore this guy and love him and want to coach him. Well, both of them are offensive coaches with, by the way, an offensive mindset where they would prefer that you follow the script. Instead of, right? And Kirk is very much a follow the script guy.

And apparently play action as well. Cousins is just awesome with it. And then both the Niners. By the way, if you go look at what really hurt the Rams last year is when Gurley left, Cam Acres fumble issues, they didn't have a productive run game. If the Rams run the ball, in McVeigh's history, he got golf to a Super Bowl.

And Kyle got Garoppolo to a Super Bowl. McVan, Shanahan's offense is really predicated on a 1985 run game. It really is. They both love the power. run game. All right. Speaking of the run game, Colin, this story is a little troubling.

So Austin Eckler, remember, he had an issue with the Chargers. Yeah. And he has been extremely vocal about running backs being undervalued. He went on the Rich Eisen Show and kind of went off here about the running back position right now. I'm looking at some of the backup receivers out here that are still making more than me, and that's going to piss me off, right?

I'm a little bit, I'm like, okay, wait a minute. So you're telling me, these people are the number three receivers. is going to make more than me. And I'm the starter. I get more carries. I touch the ball more. I have more of an impact. It causes us to question, right? We're going to fight for that. We're going to fight for, hey, I'm bringing more value to the team than this person. I think I should be compensated for that. And so that's where the fight comes. It's not even, it seems like it's about money, but it's about principle. It's about the principle of adding value to a team. You know, it's interesting. You and I tend to be like, you know,

don't need running backs. But there are instances that they're valuable. Sequin Barclay has remarkable value now for the Giants. Derek Henry with Tannahill has had huge value. Joe Mixing with Burrow, he's taking a pay cut. Echler's a fascinating one. So they haven't paid him anything for all these years because of where they drafted him. He came from a small school. So they've never already paid him anything.

As Justin Herbert's been growing, often behind a bad O line, he's been very, very productive. And they're also in a situation here where very quickly Herbert's contract is going to get enormous. So I think they'd love to pay them for like a year. But their concern is, see, I think they have to make a move at some point this year or next year between Mike Williams and Keenan Allen and they just extended, I think a year ago, Mike Williams, they're going to have a tough decision with Keenan Allen. They're going to because of his expense. But I think it's a tough one because you haven't paid him anything. He's been productive. He's not necessary because of Herbert and the receiving corps, but, but they're a, he's really productive and really good. I mean,

he's a tough one that, and the, and the Chargers, Tom Telesco, is not a guy that wants to give running backs long contracts. So I think this one is his argument. Okay. is pretty legitimate, although teams don't care about your principles. They care about your talent and your contract. They don't get too caught up in your principles. A few things here. So, number one, you want to guess who led the Chargers and Targets last year? Eckler.

Right. You want to guess who led the Chargers and receptions last year? Hold on by over 30 receptions. What do you mean? He had 30 more receptions than the number two guy. And the next was Mike Williams or Keenan Allen? The next one was Josh Palmer. That was the kid they drafted.

a few years ago. Austin Echler had 107 catches for them. Basically, he was the offense. Now, I wonder, Colin, you know Kellyn Moore likes to go down the field. Yes. Last year's guy was Charlie Checkdown. Was it Lombardi? He liked the dink and dung. Yes, he does. I do wonder

if Echler is getting a whiff of the game plan and getting a whiff of Kellamore and sees his stats are going to be going down on the receiving end. And now he knows, like, damn, I'm not going to be getting paid. You have to wonder if Echler's worried about the offense changing a little bit. We think it's for the better.

I'll tell you this. If they had cap space, if I was the Rams, I'd move off Cam Acres and get Austin Echler tomorrow. More mature, better receiver, willing blocker. But Stafford's making a ton of money. You can't pay the running back. I know. If you want to find a spot. The Rams don't love their tight end or their wide receiver group.

Echler is like another receiver. You go to the teams that just drafted quarterbacks. Bryce Young, who is running backs? Carolina, quarterback on the rookie deal. You can pay a running back. Houston. I know they have the kid who was good last year, Pierce. But Atlanta has a guy. They just drafted Bejan Robinson. You've got to find teams that aren't paying the quarterbacks that can pay the running back.

But our staff came up with some numbers here. These receivers have a higher average annual value than Eklickl. Cedric Wilson, Russell Gage, Michael Gallup. These guys are making more money than Austin Echlin. He's got a good point. If you don't watch the Chargers, you don't get his value. He's really good. He's probably, there's a short list of most underrated players in the league.

Yeah. I mean, because of where he got drafted, they haven't paid him anything, and he's been wildly important to Justin Herbert's growth. But when he sees guys like Zeke, who's 28, Kareem Hunt, I think is 28, and they're like unemployed, you've got a tiny window here for Austin Echler to get paid, man. You know what? If you're the Rams,

do you call them and say, listen, give us Keenan Allen, you can then sign Austin Eccler. I don't know. Another big tell with the offense, Colin, is they just drafted the big kid out of TCU. Quinton Johnson, he's like the 6-4 receiver. So they're going to move off one of those two receivers, probably Keenan Allen.

But they're going to be throwing the ball down the field. They didn't get Johnson to throw like eight yard out. So a lot happening with the Chargers, a lot of it's not great. All right, final story. Kyrie Irving. Oh, geez. Kyrie Irving.

I know how much you love Kyrie, and you know my thoughts on him. I'll let you take this one. So LeBron jumped on social media. yesterday after a fan posted about Kyrie saying this has nothing to do with his all-time ranking, but this is the best player with the ball in his hands we've ever seen. LeBron, of course, shared it and said, ever. Nobody ever has been better with the ball in his hands than Kyrie Irving.

He's very, he's way up top for me. He's top five ever. Ever? I'm not talking about wanting him as a franchise cornerstone. Handles? Jason Kid. Magic Johnson. Come on, there's a ton of guys.

Magic's way up there. I'm saying, I don't, I think he's too erratic. I don't think he has the self-awareness I'm looking for. I'll never deny his talent. Okay, if he's so good with the ball in his hands, why is he only one once in his career with him on games? Okay, but that's different. You're talking about structural issues.

No, no, no, I'm talking about you got the ball in your hands. You better win them games. Well, tell me outside of Steph Curry, the small guys that lead people to wins. When he got LeBronny won a title. Small guys outside of Steph Curry never. Isaiah and Stephers. exceptions. Little guys don't win titles. John Stockton got the two finals. I know he had the mailman. I mean, led the, I think assists and steals most in NBA history by a mile. And two finals, never

won. I mean, there's a big difference. You know how they always say, can you separate art from artists. Yeah. Right. I can. Like, I know some of our artists are flawed, but I think they're important for society. Some of them are creatives and out there and do things that I don't think are appropriate. But I can separate art from artists. And by the way, you do too, because I see who goes to concerts and movies and they're not all good people. By the way, so the second question in that dynamic is, okay, separate art from artists. Can you separate

unbelievable talent from good for the team? Kai is an all-time talent. For his size, he's one of the great finishers in league history. I'll agree with that. I would not. If you can't get along with LeBron long term, LeBron makes everybody better.

Takes most of the leadership stuff, the media stuff, the defensive stuff, the passing stuff, If you can't play with LeBron, you can't play with anybody. And Kyrie, it couldn't handle it. Final thing on Kyrie. LeBron's setting up some future stuff here? No. Listen, everything he does is calculated.

I talked to LeBron Thursday. You talked to LeBron last week. Let's hear all about it. We broke it down. No, he didn't. They're not going to, the Lakers who have no interest I've been told in Kyrie. What's LeBron's level of interest? LeBron's very happy with the current construct.

And Darvinham, I know this. He told me, very happy with Darwin Ham, very happy with the Lakers offseason. Yeah, you know, we don't like to hear the positives. We're the negative. What's LeBron negative about it? I just think there are people in my industry that may be about issues. I'm not going to deny their talent. People are good or they're not.

Like, Kyrie's a huge talent. He's just, he's too erratic. He's too ira. I mean, Ben Simmons came into this league. Wasn't he all NBA for a couple years? 6-10 guard finish. He was all-M-B-A at some point. Yeah, I was like, Ben Simmons was unbelievable. I've moved off him, but to deny his talent, stop being a kid.

Like, that's ridiculous. He was an unbelievable. He was considered the best prospect since LeBron. He's like 6-10-and-a-half. Great defender. Long. Finish at the rim. It just didn't work out.

So some of these guys, I just move off. I've moved off Harden. I moved off. I was never a Westbrook guy. Never a wall guy. But I was a Kyrie guy for a while. I've moved off him. You're a LeBron guy.

Any other fun facts that he dropped on? Is he a big watcher of the show? No, I don't know. I didn't ask him that. He was always very supportive of friends of mine. And they had an uninterrupted. His company had a movie festival. They had a couple of movies and they included Draymond Green podcast in it.

So I went. LeBron came over. I didn't want to bother him. He came over to me. Tap me on the shoulder, shook my hand. We talked for a little bit. Could not be more gracious. I'm told this was not.

just the VIP section, but the VVIP were like they portion you off from that. Listen, it was brief. It's nice, but I, I, the Kyrie, it is okay to support somebody on Instagram or something. Yeah. Just to support people. No agenda. Yeah, just say like, I played with a guy. LeBron likes to get along with everybody.

I mean, there are guys, I do have eventually a really good story from that party, an off-air story. Here we go. All right. I'll share it during the break. It's a good one. Can't wait. J-Mack with the news Well, that's the news

And thanks for stopping by The Hurd-Lie News Here's the thing So J-Mack and I We like To find dirt I mean J-MAC's I mean J-MACs

We don't like dirt Well we like sourcing and that It's fun for us We like juice But that doesn't mean we can always share Every piece of information I have a piece of NFL information today I may be able to share

But it's some dirt on something And so I got to make a couple calls. And I did learn something from that. I'm not going to share it on the air, but it was really interesting about an NBA player. Let's get to commercial break and get the show on the road. Don't have to share everything we have. We don't have to do that.

No. This isn't a podcast. We don't have to swear and share everything in our private lives. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern 9 a.m. Pacific. Hey, what's up everybody? It's me, three-time Pro Bowl of LaVoy, Arrington, and I couldn't be more excited to announce a new podcast called Up on Game. What is Up on Game, you ask?

Along with my fellow Pro Bowler, T.J. Hushmanzada and Super Bowl champion. Yep, that's right. Plexico Burris. You can only name a show with that type of talent on it. Up on Game. We're going to be sharing our real-life experiences loaded with teachable moments. Listen to Up on Game with me, LaVar Arington, T.J. Hushman Zada, and Plexico Burris, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast from. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds.

I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'll say it. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions,

my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, the Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations

with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations,

stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes,

follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far far away, such as the biology of ton-tons and wampas on the ice planet hot,

or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to stuff to blow your mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Yankees in last place, tied for last place. Let's not talk about that. Mets, Circus. Nats terrible. Jets will save New York City. Boom.

No, Jalen Brunson is going to save New York City. Okay. They're 15 in the east and they're going to save New York City. Just one more little subtle, smart move. It's a good team. Now, you know we make bets. Whenever the quarterbacks come into the league, I'm not going to sit on the fence. You wouldn't respect me.

I tell you who I like, I don't like. I told you Johnny Mansell. Don't like him. James Winston. Baker Mayfield. Zach Wilson. All you jet fans forget that. but the one guy I really liked and didn't work was Sam Darnold.

Tough, coachable, teammates loved him, basically hero ball at USC to save a bad coaching staff. Always had a quirky delivery, but he's never had an elite coach. He's always been running for his life. Hasn't had many great players around him. So I've said this before. Where you land in the NFL matters. And Sam Darnold is not talented enough. He's not Andrew Luck.

He's not Trevor Lawrence. He's not. He's not Joe Burrow. He's not Josh Allen. He's not Lamar Jackson. He's not talented enough to overcome bad coaching and battle lines and chaos. He's not. But Kyle Shanahan liked him.

And they don't like currently Trey Lance. Darnold, they think, can win a lot of games. And Darnold was on a podcast, pardon my take, and talked about what he's already noticed. Just in camp with the Niners. Guys are open. There's a lot of guys open on dang near every play. It just seems like there's a ton of answers.

Great run game. I mean, whenever you can have a great run game as a quarterback, that's always a comforting feeling. So in the NBA, Steve Kerr, Greg Popovich, and Eric Spolster, those are considered the three best coaches. They've all got trophies. In the NFL,

all the, what we consider great coaches, have a trophy. Belichick, Tomlin, Pete Carroll, Harbaugh, Andy Reed, Sean Payton, Sean McVeigh, all got a trophy. In baseball, Dusty Baker was the last holdout. A great manager finally got his. Bochie's great. Francona's great. Tony LaRusa was great. All have hardware. Is Kyle Shanahan the last great coach in our big three sports world? Not to have a ring. I would say that's true. he got Jimmy Garoppolo and Matt Ryan to Super Bowls. He goes 8 and 0 with Mr. Irrelevant, the last player in the draft, Brock Purdy when healthy, virtually every running back, every single one works in his system.

And so do I think Sam Darnold, if given the opportunity as Brock Purdy gets healthy, if Sam starts within this system in September for four games, could Sam go four and no? Absolutely. Baker Mayfield got an offensive coach. He got a great offensive line. He had massive protection. He had Nick Chubb. He had excellent weapons.

At least good weapons, David Injoku, OBJ, and Baker screwed it up. Sam never got a chance. I don't think Sam is great. Certainly not great enough to overcome mayhem. That's for guys like Herbert, Brown, Hertz, Lamar. And there's about seven of those guys on the planet. But I've got to say, three head coaches, all for Sam felt over their skis. Offensive lines, never an elite one.

He got nothing. Now, his delivery is slow, and when rushed, he tends to try to play a hero and makes bad decision. Sam's issues have always been the same. Big, strong, athletic, great kid. But his delivery is a little slow, just a beat slow. and when pressured, he'll uncork about two throws a game that are really bad. He tries to make a play. It worked in high school.

It worked beautifully at USC. That stuff doesn't work in the NFL. By the way, Josh Allen's got some of that. Josh Allen's got some of that. But Josh Allen got Brian Dayball. Josh Allen got no chaos. Josh Allen got great defense, excellent coaching, good support system, good ownership. So there's a lot of stuff.

Now, I don't think Donald is Josh Allen. But selfishly, I would love to see Darnold at least be equipped with the same surrounding cast that Baker got for a couple years. Baker got a great O line, a great running back, excellent tied in, better than average receivers. Offensive coach, it's all I'm saying. So I do have a right to occasionally root for something. I would love to see Sam Darnold get four starts in September, go three and one, look the part. and people go, oh, it's amazing. You know, I say this all the time about,

be very careful about bailing on kids. Some kids are slow learners. Some kids need more support. Not everybody can be a superstar. So it's, I'm going to be, I know I'm not supposed to root J-Mack, but on this show, you're rooting for Aaron Rogers and the Jets.

I'm rooting for Darnal to get three or four starts in September. Don't think he's the full-time plan. Three or four starts as Brock Purdy gets healthy and to see him succeed. just to get a fair chance. Three or four starts will be at Pittsburgh, at the Rams. One and one. Vers the Giants.

Two and one. Versa Arizona. Three and one. And then Purdy comes in. Pittsburgh's really good. It's on the row. But if he's three and one with three wins in a row, why are you pulling him for Purdy? Pretty good question.

I'm not sure. But I think, but I, but at least we can watch it and say, okay, the kid has a shot. Good left tackle, good tied end. He's telling you, stuff's open. At practice and the defense knows what we're running, stuff is open. Finally, our two decks. 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.

Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal, but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it all, embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year. Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

On the Look Back at it podcast. For 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam Jay. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s.

84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.